Picking up the right MBA course is not an easy choice. Students relentlessly contemplate a career change and consequences of their actions many times. No wonder why most of them get stuck in the middle, it’s like you are stranded on an island with a boat but not able to decide which way to go. You spend days and nights devising strategies and alternatives that would help lead to the desired destination but still you would find many conflicting views propagating inside.
Therein raises another concern for young experienced professionals who have been predominantly serving their employers for more than five years or so. The mid-life career crisis starts its onset much earlier than expected, for the present generation, the career cycles are much shorter and more frequent as compared to the earlier generations. The effervescent feeling of joining a new company with mediocre salary dies down within 3-4 years and eventually employees lose their identities and values within their firm, a most commonly used phrase for these situations is that they suffer from brick wall syndrome. Manufacturing engineers, for instance, have worked at sub-units or even sub-subunits of a company throughout their journey at different verticals where there is intense competition among the peers and senior personnel with everyone eyeing for promotion. This ultimately becomes a laborious task for the young engineers to climb the ladder of success no matter how much potential and skills they have at their disposal.
So, what’s the solution?
Jump onto the MBA Bandwagon?
Yes, of course, an MBA seems to be the trigger for career advancement yet again a manufacturing engineer has to decide which MBA market to venture into!
Should the aspirant enter in an already overcrowded MBA market and face intense competition among students of varied domains and expertise!
Or should the aspirant differentiate himself/herself in the market and look for other specialized MBA courses rather than going for a plain vanilla approach!
The above statements bring quite an analogy with an organisation’s blue ocean strategy of breaking away from the competition and achieving differentiation. The Indian education system is doing exactly the same by offering specialised sector based ‘niche’ MBA courses, which are mostly focused on one particular area of operations and are aptly designed for those who aspire to become leaders in Indian Manufacturing sectors. With Narendra Modi’s “Make in India” initiative to promote manufacturing in India and with challenges looming on the horizon, many foreign firms are looking ways to expand their businesses in India. It certainly indicates that India may emerge as manufacturing hub 10 years down the line and will open doors of opportunity for young engineering professionals.
Now all these ideas lead to the much-awaited question, why PGPEX-VLM?
Does the program cater to the wants and needs of the aspirants who have worked in manufacturing sectors?
Yes, it does to a great extent.
Here is the reason why PGPEX-VLM has been highly sought when it comes to taking strategic decisions!
Post-Graduate Program for Executives – Visionary Leaders for Manufacturing (PGPEX-VLM) is a unique offshoot of collaboration, meant for globetrotters. In an era of Joint Ventures, where many companies do tie-up to gain a competitive advantage over its peer, why should the education system fall behind? IIM Calcutta, IIT Kanpur and IIT Madras have successfully nurtured this program since its inception. The alumni of this course have more of techno-managerial roles, who are often referred to as Leaders, mainly due to their capabilities and positioning in the versatile industries. This alumni base is getting bigger and stronger year by year.
The course is not for those who do not like the life of a wanderer. The rigours of this program demand its disciple to lead a life of a nomad for a year. C-K-M-J-C: Calcutta-Kanpur-Madras-Japan-Calcutta are the Gurukul centers wherein the entire batch of 40 students are groomed. One of the main mantra, which is taught during the course- “Jump into the Fish-Bowl and swim with the fishes” has exposed a new dimension of how to perceive surroundings. The Fishbowl is sometimes turned into oceans and fishes vary from Catlas to Sharks - the application of this principle is left to its student.
The 15-days international immersion at Japan under the aegis of JICA & CII has coveted this MBA program. The students get hands-on experience of Japanese industrial culture under the able guidance and mentorship of Prof. Shoji Shiba, an international expert in “Total Quality Management” and widely known for Breakthrough Management.
This program represents a new frontier of excellence in industry-academia partnership and aims to become the shining torch for executive education for years to come. The program has cultivated the minds of young engineers, moulded them in the crucible of excellence at the three premier varsities and transformed them into the leaders of tomorrow. With this said PGPEX-VLM has successfully completed 10 years of its journey of creating visionary leaders for the manufacturing sectors, definitely a moment of pride for the entire VLM community.
The current batch of 2018 has completed their journey at IIM Calcutta where they were engulfed with assignments, case studies and project deadlines. They have been crafting their strategies day in- day out and analysing various forces responsible for making their career attractive. The holistic knowledge about various verticals of management, which has been taught by the elite faculties of the program has given a boost to the learning curve. Carrying an average work experience of 5-6 years under their arm as a safety stock, the future leaders are known for maintaining 100% cycle service level and have a legacy monitoring their energy replenishment on both periodic and continuous basis. The group has started their journey at IIT Kanpur from August 10th, 2017 and has many practical assignments up their sleeves. Keep following #Life@VLM.