Ahmedabad – January 18, 2019: The 22nd Nirma International Conference on Management (NICOM), organized by the Institute of Management, Nirma University (IMNU), commenced at 10 am on 17th January, 2019. NICOM hs been an annual event at IMNU providing a platform for an interactive discussion between academicians and industry veterans on a plethora of topics under a common theme. The conference will have academicians and practitioners from India and abroad, presenting their research in as many as 60 sub themes viz, Transforming Business Institution into an Integrated Development Institution, Business: Fostering Stakeholder Value Creation, Economy: Current & Future Challenges, The New Paradigm of the Knowledge Economy, etc., in four track sessions (with 4 sections in each session) spread across the three days Conference. Three plenary sessions are also arranged, during which the prominent personalities from the industry will be addressing the audience on various topics.

The first day ended with the launch of the book “Business, Economy, & Environment: The New Normal”, followed by four track sessions discussing papers like “Payment Banks: Digital Revolution in the Banking Sector”, “The Indian Economy & the Risk of Rising NPAs”, “Human Resources: The Ultimate Weapon in Business”, and many more.

The second day commenced with a Plenary session by Prof. R. Parthasarathy, MEGA Chair Professor & Director, Gujarat Institute of Development Research sharing his views on the “Economic and Social Aspects of Rural Development”, chaired by Prof. P. K. Chugan Prof. Parthasarathy explained how Rural Development is a multidimensional concept, and the difference between development and growth. He showed the evolution of rural development in correlation to the nation’s overall development through the five-year plans. Rural development can be enhanced with the help of various trusts and institutions; such efforts are made by the government majorly after the green revolution. These efforts involve employment and area development programs, infrastructure development, and planned development. He explained the concept of the Eminent Domain principle and also explained the demographic aspects of migration on rural development, while demonstrating how people not only migrate to urban areas from rural areas but also migrate to semi urban areas and towns and how it is necessary to differentiate a village and a town.

Shri Kandaswamy Bharathan, alumnus- IIM A talked on “Globalization of Indian Entertainment Industry- Opportunities & Challenges”. The session was chaired by Prof. Rajesh Kikani. Sharing his experience, he said that the industry has become fast growing. He also mentioned how he reinvented himself from being a producer to a professor. The industry is not structured; hence it requires management principles to make it more structured. Principles like Inventory management for costumes, set materials & accessories can be employed for the same. According to him, “Just like gravity, you can’t deny globalization.” 20-40% of the Bollywood audience is non-Indian; they are now getting connected to Indian songs, dance and music, and the influence is growing rapidly. This is globalization in the field of entertainment. India produces an average of 1200 movies every year in 23 languages. After Hollywood, the Indian Entertainment Industry is the second largest grossing film industry. The main pillars of globalization, namely Production, Capital, Technology, Talent and Market, need to be reinvented to make the Indian film industry truly global. He ended the discussion by mentioning the challenges of globalization, like creating smart partnerships, inefficient distribution infrastructure, Ensuring cross cultural appeal, and more. He ended with the quote, “You can put a movie on any number of screens, but you cannot make people like it.”

The track sessions held on Day 2 included discussions of research papers on topics like “Make in India – Review of the flagship campaign”, “Big Data Hype: The reality of its application in the Indian Context”, “Semiotics: A Paradigm in Marketing”, and many more.

About Institute of Management, Nirma University

‘Institute of Management’ is a constituent of the distinguished Nirma University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad. The Institute was established in 1996 with a view to promote excellence in management education and to prepare young men & women to meet the challenges of the developing corporate world. It has been A+ status in rankings published by Business Standard. The flagship programme offered by the institute is the residential 2 years MBA program. It also offers MBA (Family Business and Entrepreneurship), MBA (Part-time), Doctoral programmes, Executive and Management development programmes. The institute has also started a 5-year integrated BBA program. The college has tie-ups with institutes in USA, Australia, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia.

For more details visit https://nicom.org.in; http://www.nirmauni.ac.in/IMNU