Let’s imagine a company we called Nile, Inc. Nile is a vegetable retailer who has the following metrics – Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) = $365 Average inventory = $10 (they have low levels of inventory in general) Sales = $1095 Accounts Receivable = $30 Accounts Payable = $30 Based on these metrics, we can do … Continue reading Working capital and cash conversion cycle – MBA Learnings
As I reflected on my graduate school experience the other day, I was reminded of the fact that there have been many unsung heroes who’ve gone a long way in making this experience meaningful and memorable. While I naturally thought of the many support staff at school who’ve helped with the many “small things,” the office of … Continue reading KIS – MBA Learnings
The MBA learnings series has two objectives. The first is to develop the discipline to synthesize and share some powerful concepts I’ve learnt while at school. With about four and a half months left at school, I’m hopeful that I’ll continue to do this after I graduate as well. The second has been de-mystify what the journey … Continue reading The recruiting journey through self doubt – MBA Learnings
Let’s take a situation where a firm decides to buy a smaller technology firm for $1 Billion. Every decision that is made is typically the result of a cost-benefit analysis. In some cases, this analysis is entirely quantitative. In others, it has a huge qualitative element (e.g. fit with strategy). Either way, the costs of the acquisition are … Continue reading The cost is not just the cost – MBA Learnings
Marketing strategy, to me, came down to one central insight – “Be cheap or be different.” Everything else is a losing strategy in the long run. A brand, on the other hand, is just a set of associations. Image source – Example associations for McDonalds Wal-Mart, to take an example, is built on the “be cheap” strategy. And, it … Continue reading Thoughts on Marketing Strategy and Branding – MBA Learnings
How can a relocation and a significant life move not be stressful and, instead, be a growth opportunity? This was the question I asked myself when I got my offer of admission for graduate school. I hate relocation. It was going to be a pain. But, I needed to figure out a way to make it … Continue reading I’m in, now what – MBA Learnings
During my time as a consultant, I had a couple of memorable experiences working with extraverted managers. My favorite collection of experiences were with a very extraverted client manager who also became a very close friend. We had a running joke – every Friday, we would check in with each other on our plans for the … Continue reading Designing for introversion – MBA Learnings
Just last week, we looked at why Amazon’s first physical bookstore in Seattle made sense. The central theme here is that different products are suited to different kinds of retail channels. As you might imagine, shipping individual cartons of milk or toilet paper isn’t cost effective as the delivery costs likely outstrip the cost of … Continue reading Amazon’s Udaan program – MBA Learnings
Amazon opened its first bookstore in Seattle yesterday. This led to a many interesting questions in the media – has Amazon taken a step backward by jumping back into traditional retail? Didn’t Amazon start an online store to improve on the traditional bookstore model? To understand this, let’s begin by taking a walk down memory … Continue reading Why Amazon’s first physical bookstore was both inevitable and smart – MBA Learnings
Technology analyst Benedict Evans shared an interesting image from a classic 1960 film “The Apartment.” The scene is set in the office of a large insurance company in New York – drones laid out at desks almost as far at the eye can see. Each desk has a telephone, rolodex, typewriter and a large electro-mechanical calculating machine. … Continue reading A few notes from my Big Data and Analytics classes – MBA Learnings
A Learning a Day 