Marketing

In response to
http://www.coolavenues.com/placements/2005/maya_madhukar_1.php3

The farcical nature of B-school rankings and their impact is too
conspicuous to be unaware of. And talking about the scoring pattern of
the schools, there is an inherent confusion among aspirants regarding
what's best for them. Usually they end up looking at the salary
figures, as they are the most tangible benefits they can decipher of
extracting from a B-school.

Most of the aspirants have little or no work experience, and some of
the terminology is alien to them. They fail to appreciate the
importance of the value addition. Spending two years trying to do
something isn't unheard of, especially in India, where unemployment
levels are high. And this has lead to the shooting competition for
B-schools today.

The figures are impressive; we have something to boast about. Yes, the
world is a market place, and the most successful people are the ones
who can sell themselves the best. However substance one might have,
but it all comes down to being able to package oneself. And that's the
reason why B-schools have been advertising high figures, which may not
be too close to reality. This explains why Microsoft products are so
popular, they have less than 2500 technical people, and over 22000
marketing professionals!!

I think that instead of B-schools, we need courses in marketing in the
undergraduate levels itself. That might reduce the burden of so many
aspirants trying to make themselves eligible for the schools. The
marketing bible by Kotler has its own predicaments. All examples are
American, which one can hardly relate to, unless one has spent 10 odd
years in the Yankee lands. But we do read, and do so to put our GPAs
in place. How much of Kotler do we actually use in our real lives?
That's an open ended question. Let me get some answers from people who
have faced the industry much more than me.