Article 1: HOW TO MEASURE YOUR LIFE

1. Could you relate to the article? If so, why?

Yes I could relate somewhat to the article. I am an advocate

for living a deliberate life-- that is, being cognizant of the
decisions you make in how you spend your time, your money,
your energy. Those decisions should align with what your real
priorities in life are. Too often, we measure success in life
against the progress we make in our careers. Profit is
important to the health of any business. But I have long felt
that there is something much more important. Integrity,
quality, and responsibility to name a few. There is nothing
wrong with money or wealth, but unfortunatly money, wealth
and power have become mis-prioritzed. The great news is
that wealth or profit does not go away when it loses its #1
priority status. Profit and wealth actually become more
sustainable and healthy when they are a by product of
ongoing good intention and passion to serve. The powerful
motivation in our lives shouldnot be money; it should be the
opportunity to learn, grow in responsibilities, contribute to
others, and be recognized for achievements. The most
valuable take away for me is the idea that although I may be
investing today in things that appear to be very important
and will get me the short-term things I want (career success
and money), as a human I need to be very careful to look to
the long term and see if my efforts are going to result in the
long-term things that I want (happiness, health, fulfillment)
because all around us people and companies are making the
mistake of short-term success but experience ultimate failure.

Relationships are the most important investment we can

make and the most rewarding in the long-term.
2. Why did SIMSR refer this article now (even before
joining) ?
SIMSR wants us to be self-satisfied. People shouldnot
confuse purpose with priorities, which is a knee-jerk
default in todays hyper-connected multi-tasking
world. Life, while rewarding, is hard. So we must
know how grapple with it. SIMSR wants us to accept,
work with and appreciate what we have . Todays
world provides too many scapegoats and shortcuts.
SIMSR wants us to know them. It wants us to see
everything from the margins a narrow purview.

3. According to you, what are the three major themes

you feel are important in this article and why?
According to me, the three major themes important
in this article are:
Powerful Motivator in our life is not money. It
is the opportunity to learn, grow in responsibility,
contribute to others, and be recognized for
achievements, and be recognized for making
difference to people. We shouldnot be worried
about the about the level of individual prominence
we have achieved, We should think about the
individuals we have helped to become better

people. In the end, the only way we can measure

the significance of our own lives is by valuing the
lives of others.
Management is the most noble of professions
if its practiced well. No other occupation offers
as many way to help others, learn and grow, take
responsibility and be recognized for achievement
and contribute to the success of a team.
Management is getting people together to figure
out how to transform inputs into outputs. In the
process of figuring out the process of how people
work together, you've got to figure out who's got
what responsibilities and how do they work
together. You can either do it in a way that
minimizes or demeans people who work in this
enterprise that you've created, or you can make
them feel noble, like they've achieved something,
like they've learned something every day, and that
they really are important to the enterprise. It is
rightly said as "Doing deals doesn't yield the deep
rewards that come from building up people."
How to live a life of integrity. Justification for
infidelity and dishonesty in all the manifestations
of life lies in the marginal cost economics of just
this once. We have got to define for yourself what
we stand for, draw the line in a safe place and
stand by it.

4. Has the article made any impact on your plans of

what you'll do at SIMSR for the next two years?

This article has taught me mostly 3 things:

Finding happiness in career- Most people think
getting rewards for jobs (i.e. money, benefits,
vacation) will increase happiness. Instead these
factors merely reduce dissatisfaction. Whereas,
Challenging work, recognition, and responsibility
will increase our satisfaction in a job. This is going
to be my mantra while I am here in SIMSR.
Finding happiness in relationships- I found the
point of treating ourselves and people in our lives
in a particularly fascinating way to look at life. The
main takeaway I got was to stop placing so much
emphasis on building a career and THEN focus on
relationships, instead make the time and apply the
effort to building both-even if that means an
engaging project has to wait until tomorrow.
Staying out of Jail- The shortest section of the
book, this part deals with living a life of integrity.
This chapter in summary states: set a boundary
and never violate it...not even "just this once." This
is very much required to sustain in life.

Article 2: DISTANCE STILL MATTERS

1. Outline briefly what do you understand by the term
Globalization. Is understanding it important for PGDM
International Business students. If so, why?

Globalisation is the ongoing process that is linking

people, neighbourhoods, cities, regions and countries
much more closely together than they have ever
been before. This has resulted in our lives being
intertwined with people in all parts of the world via
the food we eat, the clothing we wear, the music we
listen to, the information we get and the ideas we
hold. It is the process of international integration
arising from the interchange of world views, products,
ideas and other aspects of culture.
Globalization is indeed an important subject for a
student pursuing PGDM International Business. We
would be dealing with the globalized business

environment when making strategic decisions and in

managing ongoing international operations. We would
be doing commercial transactions, e.g., private sales,
investments, logistics etc. which would take place
between 2 or more regions , countries and nations.
So, it is highly important for us who are pursuing
PGDM International Business to know the relations
between both of them.

2. Do you think the world is really moving towards a

borderless free world for unrestricted movement of
goods/services, capital, technology and people
across national borders? Explain the rationale for
your answer.

A borderless world refers to an open world which

can bring influences upon people. It may bring about
changes in their culture, beliefs, traditions and others.
A borderless world means we would be having one
government for an entire world. This brings us back to
the problem of too much power in too few hands but
it also creates another, huge problem. Managing in a
Borderless World -identifies the purpose for the
companies to go abroad and trying to invest in
foreign countries regardless of the way to enter it, like
joint ventures, wholly owned businesses, licensing but
effective global operations require a genuine

equidistance of perspectives. In a borderless world,

people might not be willing to pay taxes and all the
revenues which woulkd be required for the
betterment of the individuals. So, in my opinion a
borderless world is not possible where there would be
unrestricted movement of goods/services, capital etc.

3. Explain briefly the CAGE framework elaborated in this

article and give an example from your experiences so
far of when and where you experienced the
importance of any one or more dimensions of the
CAGE framework.
CAGE stands for Cultural, Administrative, Geographic
and Economic Distance. Cultural distance means how
people interact with one another, with companies
and institutions. Administrative distance is the
difference between countries based on political rules.
Geographic distance means the difference in size of
different countries or regions. Economic distance is
the difference between a rich and a poor person in
the country.
Cultural difference can be widely seen in the country
where diverse people stay over here having differentr
backgrounds, colour, creed, caste and food habits.