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 has 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 third day began with track sessions on topics like “Plastic Ban in India: Why and How?”, “Choices that affect the Climate Sustainability”, “Effect of storytelling advertisement on consumer’s perception towards brand”, “Nepotism in Organizations: A Blessing or a Curse?”, “Bridging the rural urban divide – business as a driver for sustainable growth”, and many more.

The first speaker of the final day of NICOM 2019 was Prof. Shailesh Gandhi, Professor & Dean (Programmes), IIM-A, speaking on the theme “Driving Organizational Performance through Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship”. The session was chaired by Prof. Nityesh Bhatt.

The valedictory session speech of NICOM 2019 was delivered by Shri Dilip Chenoy, Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), on the theme “Future of Jobs from Indian and Global Perspective”.

The guest of honour was Dr. Samir Shah, Associate Clinical Professor, Drexel University, USA. He talked about customer relations and engagement. He explained how customers are an important aspect of an organization. As it is the tendency of customers to trust other customers more than the company, it is important to focus on that aspect. Dr. Shah said that customers evolve as does the customer base, and companies need to evolve according to these changing needs.