The elimination round, a precursor to the main event, was conducted on August 26, 2007, with only 6 papers out of 15 making it past the rigorous and stringent criteria set by our eminent judge Prof. Sidney Prabhu.
In his own words, ‘Bajajites are winners. What sets them apart from the others is the class they have, the unconscious super competence that they exhibit. The winners were chosen based on the originality and topical nature of their dissertations’ .
The topics of the short listed teams are as follows:
1. Online Gaming
2. Carbon Credits
3. Social Sensitivity Index
4. Indian Airports Development
5. Developing India’s Debt Markets
6. Grading of NGOs
The research topics this year are not only contemporary, but also relevant to today’s fast changing economic and social scenario.
Pravin Chordia, member of one of the short listed teams had the following views on his paper ‘ Quantifying the impact that a corporation makes on society by its sheer presence is a challenging task. The SSI (social sensitivity index) aims to strike a fine balance between a mathematical model, public acceptance, and corporate participation ‘.
Commenting on the online gaming paper, Prof. Prabhu said, ‘Online Gaming is the future of the internet, of the gaming industry.
For the NGO Grading paper, he had the following encouragement, ‘While the reach and funds garnered by an NGO are important, it is the quality of care that they impart that is of paramount importance. Good job ‘
After the unenviable task of grading the papers, he had the following words of advice for the current crop of students, ‘ We are living in a gloabal global village which is run by very few people. And these people come from the few elite and reputed institutes with a great history. Bajaj is one of them. Our Alumni is testimony to it. You have a great legacy to live up to. It is up to you prove your worth. ‘
With such motivation, in-depth research and analysis, and an acute sense of how to apply it to real time business, corporates are already lining up to associate themselves with these innovative ideas. The confluence of big wigs of corporate India, best of business pedagogy, and bankable yet saleable solutions will make the main event of Strategym, one business spectacle to watch out for.