FRONTLINE SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM [FSDP]

Front Line Skill Development Program[FSDP]

To become Industry-specific Job-Ready and Launch Career

1. Design and Direction: This unique program is designed by Prof. Ranjan Das, Professor of Strategy, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, teaching at Indian Institute of Management Calcutta [IIMC] since 1994 and other IIMs. Prof Das, who is the Founder Chairman and Chief Mentor, The Strategy Academy, is the creator of Smart Learning & Transformation Solution [SLTS]. Prof. Das will be personally directing this program.

2. For Whom:

• 22-24 years old young engineers, graduates and diploma holders, with proficiency in written and verbal communication in English. Candidates should have the potential to work as INTERNS for 6 months in various business organizations.
• Candidates will be selected based on an online test and personal interview.
• Interested applicants must have their own PC or Laptop at home with broadband connection since a significant part of the course will require active use of PC/ Laptop with broadband connection.
• Working executives, not having any formal business management qualification and with less than 2 years experience can be considered for admission to this program but such working executives will not be required to do any internship as they are already working. However, in place of internship, they will have to complete 4 Action Learning Projects on-the-job.
• Recent engineers and graduates who are yet to decide whether to [A] go for a job immediately after some job/ industry-specific training or [B] do a 2 Year MBA/PGDM now itself at a substantial cost and postpone working for another 2 years [The Strategy Academy recommends action [A] unless the concerned participant can join any of the top 20 business schools in India]
• Holders of 2 Year MBA/ PGDM are NOT eligible to apply

3. Duration: The program will be delivered over 9 months and will have 3 PARTS:

• I. First part of the FSDP will have [A] coursework comprising 60 hours of faculty conducted 100% LIVE and 2 way interactive classes plus 120 hours of pre and post class desk work plus [B] Field work of 20 hours per week]. Internship of 6 months will only start on successful completion of PART I comprising [A] 3 months of course work plus [B] fieldwork
• II. Internship [6 month @ 49 to 54 hours per week, to start after [I] is successfully completed]
• III. Second part of course work [spread over 3 months and comprising 60 hours of faculty conducted 100% LIVE classes plus self paced learning of 120 hours] will start along with start of PART II. It should be noted that INTERNSHIP mentioned under PART II and faculty conducted 100% LIVE sessions relating to the Course work of PART III will take place side by side since the faculty conducted 100% LIVE sessions of PART III will be scheduled outside working hours during 8 to 10pm.

The delivery of all faculty conducted 100% LIVE sessions will take place – OUTSIDE working hours- over the first 24 weeks of the 9 month FSDP @ 3 to 4 sessions per week

4. Content of Faculty Conducted Sessions [120 hours] plus Field work:

PART I : FOUNDATIONAL INDUSTRY ORIENTED LEARNING PLUS FIELD WORK EXPERIENCE

• 1. Understanding Self and Inter-personal relations and how does an organization work [structure, systems, process, team and group working, and Superior-Direct Repartees relationship]
• 2. Customer and Competition analysis, Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning and Marketing Mix decisions – a broad overview
• 3. Industry and job specific Product and Process training [considering requirements of industries/ organizations where INTERNSHIP [coming under PART II] is likely to take place post successful completion of PART
• 4. Understanding Financial statements, costs, cash and financial impact of operating decisions – a broad understanding
• 5. Basic Statistics and Introduction to data processing, analysis, data presentation and interpretation

PART II : FRONTLINE EXECUTIVES’ SKILLS: CORE CONCEPTS AND INDUSTRY PRACTICES

Marketing and Sales:

• 1. Product and brand management and pricing
• Business Development, Sales, customer service and channel management

Operations, Supply Chain and Project Management:

• 1. Quality, Reliability, Efficiency and Productivity in Operations: Concepts, tools and techniques for measurement, controls and improvement [including TPM, Six sigma, Lean manufacturing, forecasting, application of analytics etc]
• Supply chain and project management

NOTE: Topic 3 of PART I and Subjects of PART III can be made INDUSTRY/ COMPANY SPECIFIC if a company [or companies] wish to have a minimum of 15 to 20 interns with industry-specific/ company-specific specialization. In such cases, the design of Topic 3 of PART I and Subjects of PART III will be finalized after discussion with the concerned company/ companies.

5. Pedagogy:Concepts, interactive case discussions, field work and experience sharing by both faculty and participants. Talk by industry experts will also be there.

6. Session timing: Faculty conducted 100% LIVE sessions will take place three or four times a week on Weekdays and/or Saturdays [during 8 to 10 pm].

7. Delivery: The program will be delivered using an innovative solution called Smart Learning & Transformation Solution [SLTS]. Details of SLTS are available in www.thestrategyacademy.org SLTS will enable participants to attend faculty conducted 100% LIVE sessions – totalling 120 hours [PART I & III together] – from his/her Home or Office or ANYWHERE, using the Academy’s way interactive and real time DIGITAL Content Delivery Network [with streaming Audio plus Video feeds]. No special training is needed to attend from ANYWHERE all 100% LIVE sessions conducted by faculty in person. For information, more than 60 companies have already used SLTS and also the just mentioned Content Delivery Network of The Strategy Academy to conduct their In-Company Corporate training Programs.

8. Infrastructure required to attend faculty conducted 100% LIVE and 2 way Interactive classes from ANYWHERE [home/ office/ while travelling]

• A PC or a Laptop with
  • A standard headphone
  • A broadband fixed line or a Data Card capable of delivering a minimum 256kbps of broadband during each 2 hour session; this is a must for smooth audio and video live streaming

OR

• Smartphone or a Tab with 4G Connection

9. Recording of faculty conducted Sessions: To be made available for 4 weeks after the last formal session conducted by faculty in person is over.

10. Evaluation and Grading:

• For PART I & III: Each participant will be evaluated along following dimensions on a continuous basis:

I. Level of attendance during LIVE sessions conducted by faculty in person,

II. Level of participation/ engagement during class discussion,

III. Surprise quiz

IV. Group work

V. Industry/Company specific reports on field work cum desk research done [applicable for PART I; for PART III, there will be an action learning project, In place of report on field work, covering the work being done as an INTERN]

VI. Formal presentation of field work cum desk research over 100% LIVE Audio and Video Platform of the Academy and

VII. Final examination

• For PART II, evaluation by the organization, providing INTERNSHIP opportunity –will be considered as formal evaluation of PART II. Successful completion of PART II is a basic requirement of completing successfully FSDP.

11. Certificate and Grades: FSDP Certificate will be issued by The Strategy Academy Centre for Advanced Studies. It is possible to get this Program Co-Certified by a Leading University/Institutional with a marginal increase in course fee mentioned below.

12. Fee:

• Rs 80000/- Plus GST, payable by Cheque or online bank transfer in favour of The Strategy Academy Centre for Advanced Studies; the fee includes the cost of soft copy of reading materials and faculty PPTs
• Payment of fees will be as follows:
  • 40000/- + GST at the time of admission
  • Balance @ 7000/- per month + GST after commencement of INTERNSHIP

13. Minimum Batch Size: 30 participants, who will be selected on the basis of an online test and personal interview.

14. Start Date of the Program: The start date will be announced as soon as the number of interested participants exceeds 20. These first 20 applicants will get an early bird discount of Rs 5000/- on program fee provided they deposit the requisite fee with GST [net of early bird discount of 5000/- ] within 7 days of receiving the advice from the Academy.

15. If any applicant wishes to discuss with Prof. Ranjan Das, who is the Program Director of this program, regarding any aspect of the program described above, he/she may please call 09874882778 or 03340632066 for setting up a time for telephonic discussion with Prof. Das.