On 26th
September 2015, IBS@SIMSR organized their flagship event PANGEA 2015 – The
International Business Conference. The event had on board some of the leading
industry veterans to share their experiences and in-sights with the students.
The speakers were Mr. Arvind Mehra, Regional Sales Head (Middle East and South
Asia)- Cobham Surveillance UK, Mr. Ankur Mehta, VP- Marsh India Insurance
Broker Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Durgesh Buxy, Dy. General Manager- Raymond Ltd and Mr.
Mangesh Kukalkar, Marketing Manager- Pfizer Ltd. The aim was to give exposure
to the management students to the evolving industry practice, complement their
classroom learning and garnering essential industry insights which will help
the budding managers at SIMSR, Mumbai.

The Conference began with the college’s
tradition of lighting the lamp and reciting the Campus prayer to invoke the
Gods for their blessings. The first speaker of the session Mr. Arvind Mehra
spoke about the Emerging Trends in International Trade Finance. He in a very
engaging one hour session took us through a myriad of topics such as short
term, medium term or long term trades, sources of International trade finance,
institutions involved in international trade and documents associated with it.
He also pointed out that for international trade products and norms become
different and trust and insurances are important. He also used a detailed
analysis of a coffee factory as an example to help us understand the concept
better.

Next, the
presentation on Risk Management and Emerging Global Trends in Insurance
Business specifically brokerage by Mr. Ankur Mehta gave us valuable insight on
significance of insurance and role of insurance brokers. He with the help of a
very concise presentation took us through how changes have come in the methods
employed to procure insurance and emerging trends in India in field of
insurance brokerage. He also answered queries from the audience on concept of
re-insurance, umbrella insurance and normal cycle of insurance broking.

Mr. Durgesh
Buxy shared his experience at Raymond to help us understand ‘How to make a
brand in India and take it global‘. He accounted for the logic behind Raymond challenging
conventional wisdom by opening stores in Bangladesh and Pakistan. He also
highlighted how the successful ‘Made to Measure’ concept of Raymond helped it
to enter even prestigious markets like Dubai. He gave a handy tip such as to be
able to survive and flourish a foreign business must respect the law of the
land also registration of the brand is extremely crucial. He narrated his anecdotal
experience to make us grasp the concepts in a more engaging way.

Last but
certainly not the least the concluding speaker, Mr. Mangesh Kukalkar made us
aware about the current challenges faced by pharmaceutical industry and how
despite of health care being an important industry the growth is stagnated. He
with the help of a very informative and impressive presentation explained how
pharmaceutical industry has moved from suitability to value addition and
various measures taken to bring substantial growth in the industry, such as
companies collaborating for research and development and sharing resources,
researches, talents, etc. to bring product faster to market. He also used this
opportunity to make students aware of various prospects in pharmaceuticals
industry for those who are not from this particular field.

Students
interacted with these imminent industry experts after each presentation. The
conference closed with the vote of thanks to all the speakers, participants and
IBS members, given by Prof C. P. Joshi, faculty mentor (IBS@SIMSR).

– Nirupama
Rai (PGDM- RM)