Posts Tagged ‘National Reputation’

India’s premier business school, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the glitches that happened on its first online CAT (Common Admission Test) has put a lot of aspirants in a state of limbo. While rumours are rife that there is going to be a written re-test in January nothing is clear yet. All seven IIMs had signed a 5-year contract with Prometric to conduct online CAT tests all over the country.

The first three days of the test had problems ranging from server crashing to hours lost in finger-printing and photographing, to a few getting more time for their test while others having PCs crashing mid-way. The fourth day had lesser problems but had its share of problems as well.

A recent update on the CAT website says, “The decision to conduct computerised CAT was taken unanimously by all IIMs. The contract for delivery of computerised CAT was awarded to Prometric, a world leader in computerised test delivery. IIMs were responsible for generating questions for the tests and Prometric was responsible for conducting the test…”

IIM Lucknow director Devi Singh said: “There is a certain level of output that is expected and everything will have to be reviewed. We will evaluate the entire experience of CAT 2009 after all this is over, and if problems pile up, everything concerning the 5-year contract with Prometric will need to come back to the table afresh. We will be professionals,” he said.

The IIMs are India’s pride and the focal point for multi-nationals looking to recruit the crème of the country. So there is a global reputation at stake now for the CAT but to be fair they have never had to deal with any  dent in reputation in the written tests that have been conducted all these years. So mighty is the IIM brand reputation and the national reputation it gives to India that this is an issue that need quick solving.

As for Prometric, after bagging this prestigious order itis now having to do some serious company crisis management of its own. This was the make or break deal, damage limitation should be the way ahead for them. Watch this space for updates on whether they will scrap the online tests all together or plough on with the decisions made.

Reputation is a delicate thing and built into it at some sub-conscious level is a sense of fairness. Most good reputations are built around people or organisations being fair to others.

There is a certain irony in Dubai effectively bouncing a cheque on its creditors when ironically it is illegal to do the same in the emirate itself. Will the directors of the Dubai World get taken to court… I doubt it somehow.

What is coming out in the wash from the backwash of Dubai’s credit problems is the real  state of Dubai’s economy and legal framework. If you are foreign you are low down the pecking order: lowest are the Indians and Asians doing the building work and domestic work who often enjoy very little legal protection against harsh employers.

The world credit markets may be spooked, but this embarrassment may well lead to the rulers of the emirate rethinking how they treat the people living in there.

Dubai’s reputation for both business acumen and business honesty continues to dissolve. The request from Dubai World for a standstill on their debt is just latest evidence of the financial whirlwind that the state is reaping after a decade of profligate spending of other people’s money on increasingly hubristic projects. The decision to release the statement after the markets closed for a long holiday won’t do anything to assuage the anger of investors who will see this as another naked attempt to massage the sentiment of the market.

Default swaps on Dubai’s sovereign debt are now higher than Iceland’s which is evidence of the market’s appreciation  of Dubai’s real position. Expect a dignified firesale of national assets like Emirates and Dubai Ports.

Dubai always tried to present itself as the place in the Gulf to do business, but the financial situation and the opacity of the nomenklatura is rapidly destroying Dubai’s reputation for business ethics and honesty.

Unpaid workers strike, contractors are taking principals to court and increasingly Dubai’s business enviroment is being seen as the Vegas of the Gulf. In the end all that glitters is not gold!