- Marketing Management, Kotler and Keller: This one does not need much introduction. Every MBA student has at least referred to it a few times. It forms the basis for approaching any kind of marketing or strategy case during summer and final placements. The frameworks given here also help in case competitions. It is also unique in the sense that the textbook is made in a very interesting manner. Interspersed liberally with examples and short sub-sections, it does not become tedious at any point. It’s only drawback perhaps is that its utility continues to diminish in the real world of marketing.
- Marketing Research, Malhotra and Dash: We had this course in the second term while we had Kotler in the first term. The first thing our professor told us was that we would need to forget the learning from the previous course in order to understand this one! This textbook talks about the various statistical methods for gauging trends or classifications in marketing. It also teaches us how to form questionnaires and surveys, while keeping the language unambiguous and simple.
Finance
- Financial Accounting, Kimmel, Weygandt and Kieso: One either hates or loves Corporate Financial Accounting. There is no middle path. I am among the former. But there is no denying that is unarguably one of the most important courses. This textbook explains how to read financial statements, how to design and understand Cash flows and how financial ratios are used as proxies for understanding how a company is performing.
- Corporate Finance, Ross, Westerfield and others: This was one of my favourite textbooks and courses. It is very mathematical and gives one a practical, albeit simplistic, understanding of how time value of money works and how companies decide which projects to go for and how they measure expected returns. The textbook has many example problems and a sincere reading of this would give one a clear idea of corporate finance to work on.
Strategy
- Contemporary Strategy Analysis, Robert Grant: This explains the various strategies followed by companies and industries in different stages of their growth. The true utility of this textbook arises when one pairs it with good case studies given by the professor for the course.
Economics
- Microeconomics, Bernheim and Whinston: This is a standard textbook that explains the basics of microeconomics with good graphs and illustrations. Since I had studied some microeconomics earlier, a lot of this was not new.
- Macroeconomics, Dornbusch, Fischer and Startz: This textbook goes beyond the usual macroeconomics that one may have learnt in school or college. We are introduced to new graphs and factors at a macro level. As IIM-C has splendid economics professors, this course was one with a steep learning curve.
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