He opined that today the major challenge faced by the industry is how to use its supply chain strategy as a competitive advantage rather than just a bottom line enhancer tool. Thus the focus of the session was “Building Competitive Advantage through lean and agile supply chain”.
Mr Sukumar initiated with clarifying the basic concepts related to SCM. To the delight of the audience the complex, theoretical concepts were put forward in a very simplistic and practical manner. He explained about the traditional supply chain practices in sectors like Auto and Retail. Today apart from these traditional domains SCM is spreading its scope to sectors like Banking, Pharma and even Human Resources. Objective of SCM today is evolving to provide full value spend to an organisation i.e. how to extract more value from each rupee spent.
As the contemporary business environment demands highly dynamic strategies, so is the need from an organisation's supply chain. Mr Sukumar, spoke in detail about the various initiatives taken by corporate in this regard. He divulged that today the efforts are made to improve parameters like integration, flow, flexibility, synchronization, efficiency and service. As the consumer preferences are changing very fast and the product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter, speed to market is the key performance area for a supply chain strategy. With demand fore-casting becoming more difficult flexibility and synchronized supply chain is the need of hour. He emphasised that there is a paradigm shift happening, for good, from cost of purchase to total cost of ownership. Vendors have to become business partners and elasticity of the capacity is the key to success. The major problems faced by Indian industry are lack of movement tracking and lack of movement visibility, long lead time, skewed production, low productivity, and sub optimization of facilities. The answers lied in lean manufacturing, Just-In-Time, six-sigma, and SMID.
The lecture was full of real – case studies and examples and was a truly interactive session, where the students asked intelligent and profound queries to the expert. It was apparent from their satisfied looks that it was indeed a enlightening and rewarding experience for them.
At the end his closing remark was “ No strategy can be static and success will lie in adapting to new learning : SCM will have to look into new domains and keep evolving in order to keep providing a competitive edge to businesses”. With this he urged the students interested in this domain to widen their scope of learning and truly inspired them to add more value to themselves.
The panelists were Mr. P.K Sinha, GM, Corporate HR, Raymonds, Ms. Gauri Sarin, President, Approach international, Dr. Sunil Abrol, Director General, Consultancy Development Centre, and Mr. T Venkateshwara, Director, Track Resources. The panel was chaired by Prof. K Mamkoottam and Dr. Tanuja Agarwala, eminent faculty members in the area of Human Resource Management at FMS.
Prof. J.K.Mitra, Dean, FMS delivered an inspiring Key Note Address remarking that the World is theirs for those who are willing to improve and grow everyday. He added that in today's corporate world, the value you bring to the table is more important than anything else.
The first panel focused on the Manufacturing Sector. Mr.P.K.Sinha made an interesting observation that the dynamic workforce is changing the rules of the game; he quoted instances of increase in practices such as working from home, flexitime and so on, as well as changing office layouts to incorporate more 'parking places'. Ms. Gauri Sarin observed that movement across sectors requires unlearning and then learning afresh. She also remarked that increasingly, executives are looking for cross functional exposure.
In the second discussion the panelists focused on the Services Sector which is experiencing many HR challenges due to the rapid pace of its growth. Dr. Sunil Abrol stressed the importance of firstly, attracting the right kind of talent and then ensuring its retention. Mr. Venkateshwara compared recruitment and retention to marriage; he opined that organizations must concentrate on the first fifteen days when an employee joins to make him feel valued, otherwise discontent that starts building can impose heavy costs to the company at a much later stage.
Enthusiastic participation from the students, academicians as well as human resource practitioners ensured that FMS Human Resource Conclave 2007 was a resounding success.
One sees several examples where Mentors at CAT coaching institutes, who are assigned to students for delivering personalised guidance, in fact end up misguiding them for one of several reasons.
Be it the large institutes like TIME, Career Forum, IMS or Professional Tutorials, aspirants have large number of complaints about Mentors playing truant in their CAT preparation. There are equal number of complaints about the smaller one-man shops in the B and C towns of India, whose credentials and credibilities are seldom questioned.
Siddharth from Hyderabad, who is attempting CAT 2007 took his first CAT in 2005 with support from Career Launcher, only to realise in the end that his mentor had not guided him on how to tackle an unpredictable change in pattern. He had good support in terms of preparation and theory books, but lack of strategy planning ditched him.
While Ankit (name changed on request) who took a diagnostic test and demo lecture at IMS was made to believe that his scores couldn't get him through IIMs but a similar performance by one of his friends, in the real CAT, got him calls from 6 IIMs.
Often, students are supplied with incorrect information about sectional cut-offs required to get into a school and B-school comparisons on quality. They are often recommended to apply to B-schools that have a tie-up with the coaching institute to sell their application forms. Pagalguy.com spoke to a number of people from the CAT coaching industry to get a better insight into the problem. Many of them defined the role of a Mentor as very important in shaping the career of an aspirant.
So what do mentors do and how do they analyze every student's case on a personal level? Gejo Srinivasan, Product Head, IMS Learning Resources, says, “As mentors we help our students to clear CAT by inculcating discipline, helping them understand their weak areas, tracking scores and after CAT, by helping them build confidence to ensure that they do not compromise on their career goals. Personal interaction is important but it gets difficult to have it with every candidate, considering the huge number of students handled by a single mentor.”
Bharat Jain, a senior faculty with TIME, Hyderabad says, “We take into account the performance across 20 mock CATs of a candidate and then depending on their goals, advice them on what to do and what not to.”
A mentor is selected on the basis of his ability to interact, his domain knowledge and strong motivation to be part of the coaching industry. He is put through a clear structured training program and mock class sessions before he starts training a real life class. Why are there incidences of misguidance still, and what steps does a institute take to avoid them? Arindam Lahiri, Director of Academics, Career Launcher explains, “Realistically, such cases of misguidance do happen but they are rare and may be because initially a trainee mentor is attached to a senior mentor. Though this can never be foolproof, we do keep a track of what is happening and if there is a repetitive misguidance we take stern action.”
On Mentors strongly recommending B-schools whose application forms are being sold by the coaching institute, he said, “It doesn't happen and a recommendation is entirely based on the Mock CAT scores. People out here do not have overlapping functions and therefore a Mentor has no role in marketing a B-school but we are cautious and if we find something like this happening in a particular center we investigate if it has a genuine background or is it purposely done.” Also, Mr Srinivasan adds, “We never promote such activities and here at IMS. We have created a software that stores and compares the profile and the kind of institute offered to a candidate, with the previous years students.”
How can you make sure you're not being misguided? With changing times, there are newer ways to access information about B-schools and verify how sensible your suggested strategy is. Besides guidance from your mentor, you should make it a point to network with existing students in B-schools through your peer group and online communities. Whenever in doubt, check the veracity of facts by searching on the Internet.
Also, to trust a Mentor or not, entirely depends on individual preparation styles. Like for Abhishek Narain, who is an XLRI, Jamshedpur graduate of 2006 says he was hardly dependent on his mentor for the written exam but he could get through XLRI at the interview level because of his mentor at IMS, Delhi who gave him a right direction and helped him gain confidence.
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* Building, measuring and managing brand equity
* Gauging the effectiveness of a brand
* Development of a transformational brand strategy
* Inspiring employees to live brand
* Brand conflicts and consumer choices
The first one to speak was Mr. Sudhir Sharma, Managing partner Chromosome advisory and consulting. He started with the concept of brands and the origination of the same, giving us the concept that brand came from the word burning. The path breaking presentation made by him was a perfect way to kick off the mega event, he gave us insights into how and when did brand came into existence into India. Marketing strategies and branding existed in India way back in 7383 BC when Valmiki wrote the “Ramayana” .According to Mr. Sudhir Sharma “Ram” is the biggest brand that is sold in India and will continue to be so.
He said that it took an eternity for some one to recognize the potential “The Ramayana” had and it was not until the 16th century when Tulsidas brought “The Ramayana” and “Ram” into the world of the common man and since then there had been no looking back for the brand “Ram”, the least promoted but the biggest brand in India.
The next speaker was Mr. Sundarajan, AVP HCL Technologies Ltd. who is involved extensively in the enterprise brand building activities at HCL. Mr. Sundarajan brought with him a fresh concept of how brands are built. All students were given valuable insights about the lifespan of a brand building. He shared with all of us the methodology with which HCL was made a potent brand in the market. This was lacking some time back because there was an air of confusion about the market targeted by HCL. He made it clear to all of us, that how he went about the tough job on his hand, and showed us some of the advertisements that had been a part of the marketing campaign of HCL, explaining us the meaning and significance of all the advertisements of HCL which had been a major part of their marketing strategy off late.
The third presentation was taken by Mr. Praful Mishra CEO Netcarrots.com. He cracked a lot of jokes and made the atmosphere light. Mr. Praful shared his experiences of working with Microsoft, JCPenney, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Hewlett Packard, Dell, GE, Hero Honda Passport program etc. for market research, advertising, direct marketing and consultancy. His main effort was to make us all understand that consistency in performance is what made difference from the companies that have created brands and those who have failed to do so.
The fourth session was taken by Mr. Lokesh Aggarwal, VP SRS Retail. He made us to write down 1) the 10 brands we remember the most 2) the values we adore in any brand 3) the limitations we hate in any brand 4) Who contributes to create and carry a brand 5) as an employee what you expect from your company etc. He then made us understand the mission, values, and vision of a brand and the path to make it a successful one. And finally explained how branding is strategized in retail sector.
And finally, we had a panel discussion wherein questions were posed about successful brands. The guest speakers gave a great value addition to the students with the day long event
Also accompanying him was Mr. Ashutosh Bhatt, part of the IBM HR Team and Programme Management, University Recruitment for India and South Asia region. They spoke extensively about the power of Entertainment and its role in increasing the 'Brand Experience' for its customers.
The talk mainly centred around IBM's strategy to innovatively use new media and reach out to more and more people. Mr. Hiremath spoke passionately about the initiatives undertaken by the company to use digital media such as Second Life, U-Tube as well as traditional media such as CNBC UK, which are increasingly gaining importance with the youth.
He also stressed that IBM is a company which provides business solutions and elaborated on this by giving examples about the company's role in programmes with National Geographic about DNA mapping to unravel the mysteries of common ancestors and also allowing the New York Police Department to develop a network which allows quick processing of data to fight crime.
The talk was concluded by Mr. Hiremath, by explaining a shift in marketing strategies of all brands in the face of changing consumer behaviour and therefore the need for innovative ideas to increase brand visibility, experience and recall.
Mr. Murthy urged the students to be a “Trend setter” and not a “Trend follower” by stressing on the harsh fact “Trends means ends”. He aroused interest when he stated that the longer one stayed in the system; the harder it was to break away from it and that this very system could kill the entrepreneur within us.
Revealing the greatest gratification of being an entrepreneur, his inspiring and highly motivating words, “Life is all about maximizing assets. It's not the money but the experience that matters and enriches your life. Every step of an entrepreneur's journey is self-discovery and self-actualization” left the audience spellbound giving a new dimension to their thoughts.
Putting to rest the apprehensions regarding difficulties faced by an entrepreneur, Mr. Murthy shared his views “Irrespective of the initial setbacks, an entrepreneur would have lived a full life and would have seen and enjoyed more colors of rainbow than others”
The workshop provided the students a fresh perspective on being an entrepreneur and gave them direction to focus on setting the trends through “Sustainable Competitive and innovative ideas” and transforming their dreams into reality.
Coming from one of the most well known business families of India, namely from the TVS family, he has worked hard for more than a decade towards successfully reviving the business of TVS Motor company from the hard times it faced during early 1990s. He has been instrumental in making the company stronger and finally by 2001, strong enough to split with Suzuki on favourable terms and start manufacturing on its own. Under his stellar leadership, the company won the coveted Deming International award for quality management in 2002 for its successful Total Quality Management (TQM) practises.
Mr.Srinivasan talked about the characteristics of a successful leader, namely integrity and vision and related these to quality of leadership and quality of processes. He said every institution has a finite life and quality helps in making this life respectable and determines its relative longevity. Quality supported by standardization of processes results in costs becoming less finally. Total Quality Management is an approach towards this, focussing on breakthrough in selected areas identified strategically and continuous improvement in other critical areas. A system of excellence is built by appropriate training, discipline and ordering of things - the manthra of Japanese quality covering the breadth and depth of processes. Such a process doesn't give birth to extra-ordinary people but brings out extra-ordinary results from ordinary people. A typical TQM model involves identification of critical problems, finding solution, standardization and passing it on for control and further improvement. Such a model is applicable to all cultures and countries. Talking about entrepreneurs, he said the greatest challenge for an entrepreneur is to make his creation bigger than himself and TQM would be an effective tool to achieve this. Finally he talked about the respect that every employee in an organization deserves and the importance of moulding them as leaders. Leadership builds culture in an organization and culture builds next generation leaders. This ensures that there are quality leaders in pipeline, which is the concept of sustainable leadership.
The speech was profound in thoughts about quality leadership and inspiring for the students. After the formal questionnaire session, Mr.Venu Srinivasan stayed on for a while for an informal chat with the students and it proved to be an enriching interaction for them. This session was again indicative of the respect Great Lakes commands in the industry. Needless to say students couldn't have asked for more!
The first session began with a welcome address by SIIB's esteemed Director Dr.Rajni Gupte. She went on to explain the rationale behind the day's lectures to the guests and the audience, by citing examples of the old age challenges of strikes and VRS faced by many industries over a long period of time. In the present context however, with the boom in the business world, the impact of HR on recruitments alternatively is immense. Thus, the topic of discussion for the revered speakers, “Challenges for HR – The Changing Spectrum.”
A flowing tribute from Dr. Majumdar, Chancellor,Symbiosis International University followed, where he mentioned the times and experiences he shared with Late Mr. H.K Firodia, back when they were on the institute's first advisory board together. From his former colleague's life, he cited examples of exemplary leadership and noble ideas which helped make SIIB the brand that it is today. The founder of the Symbiosis society expressed immense satisfaction & delight that the institute continues to remember and honour one of its greatest stalwarts year after year.
Speaking on the eleventh HK Firodia Memorial Series in the memory of his father, Late Mr. H.K Firodia, held at SIIB, Pune, on 7th September 2007, Mr. Arun Firodia, Chairman, Kinetic Group, began with a tribute to his father and thanked Dr. Majumdar, Founder, Symbiosis Society and Dr. Rajni Gupte, Director, SIIB for commemorating his father every year for the past decade.
As a keynote speaker for the event, Mr. Firodia dwelled on the issue of the lecture series, Challenges for HR - The Changing Spectrum. He began by citing examples from the past, the strike problems caused by various labor forces and the VRS scheme as challenges for HR managers. HR mainly dealt with inter-industry relationships as well as intra-industry relations, in short, trying to make the work environment a better place was the only prerogative of an HR manager.
But with the changing times in the business world, the winds of change have also blown across the HR spectrum. Citing the example of Infosys, he emphasized that retaining the work force rather than recruiting was now the major issue the companies are faced with. This was valid for all the changes that our society has seen and not only at the work place. The biggest example of this can be seen in the form that none of the current generation can count back on the knowledge acquired in school days as the times have undergone a complete make over which renders that part inadequate.
Thus he re-iterated the need for one to keep learning as they moved on in life. An example of medical electronics playing an important role in our lives was cited as earlier the medicos were completely unaware to electrical systems. However with changing times and technology, these two now go hand-in-hand. So much so that one can't do without the other.
Mr. Sanjay Muthal , President HR, Nicholas Piramal, was the first speaker of the day and keeping in mind the points raised by both, SIIB director and the keynote speaker, Mr. Arun Firodia, Mr. Muthal talked about the paradigm shift in not only the mindset of the people as the workforce but also the coming up generation. India's population may have once been considered a curse but today demography is the major force behind the Indian economic revival. Today's age is of the generation of abundance as compared to the mindset of scarcity in the past. A monopolized market changed to a market economy to further a consumer economy as the consumer became king. He emphasized on the fact that it is the consumer who makes or breaks a brand as he picks and chooses on the basis of both the quality as well as cost.
Stressing further on the point of the paradigm shift, Mr. Muthal cited the example of recruitment policy in almost all the organizations today, so much so that even the most erratic of employees are in huge demand. Not only the human resources but also the intangible assets and technology that an organization possesses are the driving force for its way ahead. Coming to the point of challenges being faced by the HR managers, attrition was highlighted as the focal point given the fast moving business world of today. The reasons discussed for such high rates of attrition have moved beyond money as the new generation takes charge. Another highlight if this discussion was about work culture as the speaker stressed that none can be taught the work habits of an organization in one day. It always has to begin at the top level of the hierarchy and only then will the rest follow. .
Ms. Kumkum Nongrum, Vice-President Learning and Development, ABN Amro, continued the lecture series in the second session of the day and her take on the issue at hand, challenges for HR was a five point discourse for the students. She began by asking them to channelize their thoughts and compartmentalizing their minds. She asked them to mutli-task almost all the time and added that this will only help them add skills in their repertoire. Further more on her list was the point of innovation. Everyone must have some ideas at different point of time in their personal or professional career. The need is always there to be different but more than that the need is there to be able to stand up for those ideas especially when the going gets tough. The next point was actually a complaint against the Indian mentality of working. Adherence to time is of vital importance when one enters a professional career. She emphasized on the need to be a literal person and not only an educated one. Education comes from books but the qualities of being a literate person can only be acquired if one has an open mind. Last but not the least she outlined the importance of one's own self to the company. An HR manager's job becomes a lot easier if the labor force can actually evaluate their usefulness to the cause of the company and then either put in more effort or submit their resignation.
The last lecture of the pre-lunch session was taken by Mr. Suresh Pillai, Head HR, Saint Gobain. He shared his own experiences as they were very much the challenges for any HR manager. As he entered his current organization, he was asked to bring about a major change in the work culture of the organization. As a result, exit polls and surveys among the employees themselves were conducted, which enabled his organization to formulate various policies, which in turn helped not only the organization but also the people working there. The main question facing him was whether the decision to be taken was to restructure the entire company or just redesign the entire structure. The scenario in the Indian market was just opening up to the global players and thus the time frame decided for any action was just one year. The strategies employed by the team then completely turned around the fortunes of the company. And this is where Mr. Pillai stressed again and again. To innovate and inspire the labor force by different strategies, in order to get them to work together.
the post lunch session began with Mr. Suvamoy Choudhury , Regional HR Director, South Asia, Reckitt Benckiser. The core problem identified by him in the changing spectrum was the skill gap which was beginning to emerge in the industry especially in the mid-level of the hierarchy. This was happening because the inter-personal relations were beginning to become non-existent within the organization. In order to over come the problem, he stressed on the re-organization of the labor force and the only solution is to transfer people and practices across different sectors of the organizational structure.
The last speaker of the day Mr. Vijay Rai, Chief HR Officer, Apollo International recognized the talent management on global competitive level as the major problem. First of all he emphasized on the fact that any HR challenge was a shared responsibility of the organization and the employees. They have to identify that it is the talent of the individual and not the person who is the missing link in the structure of the company. The solution provided to this posing problem was to brand the talent and not the individual. Branding the talent means to make the skills of the labor force as the flag bearers of the company. However this can be only done if the top brass of any organization is directly involved in its HR operations. Furthermore there is the need for the individuals to come out with their skills, i.e., to say in terms of their innovations and ideas. Any company would need these and there would be obvious perks and bonuses offered in exchange. Thus, both value and gain to the employer and as well as the employee. Last but not the least, he emphasized on the need to train the work force to enhance their skills without which none of this is possible.
As the evening approached and the lecture series eventually came to a close, the in-charge faculty, Prof. Avinash Purandare thanked the speakers for sharing their insightful experiences with the audience, commended the students' organization committee for a good job done and thanked the director of SIIB, Dr. Rajni Gupte for her un-ending support. Until next year.
The conference was organized at the Majorda Beach Resort on the 8th and 9th of September. Samriddhi'07 invited eminent personalities from leading companies to discuss various issues playing a vital role in financing India's development.
Top finance luminaries such as Dr. Ajay Shah, Senior Fellow, National Institute for Public Finance and Policy, MR. Rajnikanth Patel, MD and CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd., MR. N.V. Ramana, CEO, Basix India, and MS. Lalita Gupte, Chairman, ICICI Ventures were invited to discuss the challenges faced by the country and the role of finance in resolving them.
“Per capita income has increased from $250 in the 90's to around $500 these days. But still it is pretty low. Urban population is growing and 80pc of people do not have access to money even if they want”, added Mr. Vishwanath Krishna Director Cognizant Technology Solutions. He also emphasized on IT and Telecom as important tools to unleash the power of finance.
“We always look at America or some Western economy, but there is also some learning at our backyard, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, South and East Asian countries”, said Mr. Ramesh Negi, Finance Secretary, Goa, referring to the innovative ways in which microfinance was being used in our neighbouring countries to solve the problem of poverty. He spoke of the great disparities that exist in the country and the need to ensure that the poor people do not get left out while India grows. He added that “more people have cellphones than bank accounts in India as the minimum deposit required to open a bank account is about Rs 5000 whereas a cellphone costs about Rs.1000.” In such a scenario microfinance can be used effectively to ensure inclusive growth in the country.
India gets more FIIs and China more FDIs. FDIs indicate development in infrastructure. FIIs reflect good governance, safety and integrity of the nation's stock market. FIIs come because the investors have faith in the government policies, plus they know that they can withdraw the money whenever they want.
Speaking on the global integration of stock markets, Mr. Rajnikant Patel spoke of the immense success of the Indian Markets over the last few years. He said, “160 IPOs were raised in the last year, this was the highest in the last 6 years. From Jan 2006 to Dec 2006, the Sensex gave investors 46% returns. No other stock exchange in the world has given this kind of rate of returns in a single calendar year.”
“There are two types of movements in the market: one is physical movement of the money i.e. selling and the other is information impact on the sales”. Mr C J George, promoter MD of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd, emphasizing on the importance of information added that markets are driven by globally integrated sentiment, which is why if NYSE grows by 5%, NSE grows by 10% all based on sentiments. He also stressed upon market volatility in the context of the Indian markets which has increased with global integration.
“The only thing that can hinder India's growth is poor infrastructure. If infrastructure cannot be developed, the growth rate will stay at 7-8% only as against the requirement of 15pc”, said Mr. S Subrimanian, Head of Investment Banking, at Enam Secirities Pvt Ltd. Addressing the gathering at 'Samriddhi', he wanted to stress upon the fund requirement in India to attain the 15pc GDP growth.
Mr M Balachandran, former CMD, Bank of India who was also present on the occasion spoke openly about the hindrances that were stopping India from becoming the third best in PPP(Public Private Partnership), the best indicator of growth, he stated “Infrastructure, bottlenecks, bureaucracy and Investments” as the main Impediments.
“Not only in terms of capital, but also the ability to reach. Unless we grow we wont be able to compete globally” was one of the most assertive statements made by Ms . Lalita Gupte, the Chair Person of ICICI Ventures and former Joint Managing Director, ICICI Bank, who went on to categorically state that one of the main challenges facing the Indian banking sector is the implementation of the Basel II norms. She added that “The convergence of Indian accounting standards with world accounting standards is very important because it will make easy implementation of Basel II norms”.
Samriddhi-2007 is the latest in the series of initiatives from the students of Goa Institute of Management, to foster closer ties with the industry. These conferences also provide a platform for students to interact with luminaries various sectors.
Commenting on the spate of recent M&A;'s globally, he emphasized the need to eliminate the short-sighted HR policies that organizations inadvertently fall into in their pursuit of short-term return on investments. He opined that in addition to these organizations' efforts towards employee return and integration could drive home better profits in the long-run.
His remarks on the existing HR policies in companies highlighted the need to shift the focus to results than processes. This is likely to reduce unnecessary controls on the employees in turn promoting creativity and fostering individual responsibility.
Later, Mr. Singh later veered the discussion towards roles of HR personnel in the industry. His lively responses clarified queries about relating HR to the other functional areas of the organization. In the free wheeling discussion that ensued Mr. Singh remarked that every individual in the organization should understand that the profit and loss statement is the ultimate truth in any company. He went on to add that the knowledge of HR in addition to marketing and finance can help one get the overall picture of the organization and pull the right levers to restructure it.
At the end, responding to one of the student audience on choosing one' specialization, Mr. Singh said “It will be the interest in your work that will keep you going and remember that there will always be someone earning more than you”. With this he urged the students to identify and follow their inclination in order to add value to themselves and their work.
“Dare to dream and begin it” - that was his tip to the students and the members of the Entrepreneurial and Venture Capital club at the ISB. Recounting the start of his journey – from a village child who went to a regional medium school, barefooted, and then his short stint in the Army, from which he took premature release because he knew he wanted to pursue an alternative dream – Captain Gopinath shared the interesting tale of his first experiment as an entrepreneurial farmer, when he took over a barren, un-reclaimed land and converted it into a model farm, which yielded him much profit.
“Energy and passion is most important, capital will flow in if you have the integrity and the persistence to follow your dreams,” he shared with the audience. It was his indomitable will and “inventional courage” which he converted into a helicopter company in the year 1997, after a journey of obstacles and negations from all quarters. A period before that, shared Captain Gopinath, there was not a single helicopter in India for public charter. “It was my dream to erase that aura of formidableness and make helicopters as accessible as a taxi,” he said. The company grew along with the Captain's dreams and today is the largest helicopter company in the country with 8 bases. He also saw other applications of the helicopter, other than chartering politicians and film stars – medical evacuation, geo-physical survey, in mining etc – in fact, Air Deccan is the only company that does geo-physical survey in India, he pointed out.
Around the same time as his helicopter enterprise took off, the country was awakening into a “new, resurgent, optimistic nation”. It was during one of his trips from Goa to Bangalore on a helicopter that he witnessed a drastic change in rural landscape – “dish antennas sticking out from mud huts.”
It was a time of aspirations for New India and Gopinath realised that to build a successful business, it needed to be inclusive of the 'Other' India . Airline tickets were outside the aspiration of the Indian middle class – Gopinath translated this aspiration into a scalable business plan – to tap the 250 million odd middle class in India. “Here was an opportunity to change the economic landscape of the country – there were around 500 airfields in this country that were unconnected, there were these small towns that were straining for connectivity – we decided to tap this potential area, and translated it into a scalable business model,” shared the Captain.
Today Air Deccan has 45 aircrafts flying 350 flights every day, bigger than Indian Airlines in scale. It also has the largest route network in the country covering 66 cities. It is the New India that is flying, according to Captain Gopinath. In addition it is the largest e-commercial site in India and buying an airline ticket has become “as easy as buying your grocery.”
“Listen to that inner prompting and have allegiance to that one dream, hold on to it, step up the stairs” – that was the mantra to the future entrepreneurs at the ISB from one of the greatest entrepreneurs of recent India.
The speaker for the session was Ms. Kshipra Narain, Senior Consultant, Trainer and also the head of HR at TMI (Time Managers International), a Denmark based HR consultancy and training organization. She has extensive experience in consulting for big organizations like TCS, AC Nielson, Unilever, Hewitt Associates and many more. She set the tone of the session by connecting with the audience by talking about the importance of emotions through a small story.
The speaker focussed on the importance of putting heart and mind in your work rather than working mechanically. The motivation to achieve, perform best is the biggest contributor to high performance. It is important to have control on our emotions and it should be used at the right place, for the right purpose, to the right person, at the right time to be efficacious. The essential premise of EQ: to be successful requires the effective awareness, control and management of one's own emotions, and those of other people. EQ embraces two aspects of intelligence:
* Understanding yourself, your goals, intentions, responses, behaviour and all
* Understanding others, and their feelings
An effective leader differs from manager by channelizing emotions in a better manner and being aware of the emotions of others around him. The speaker involved the students in the some small acts so as to emphasize the importance of the emotions in our behaviour and how does it affect our relationship with people around us. The topic was relevant for the budding business leaders for tomorrow considering the fact that in today's scenario the interpersonal and intrapersonal skills are gaining importance. It is important to break the stereotypes of traditional management sense of only IQ was the only consideration and let the emotions play their role in a constructive manner when used intelligently.
“The campaign started with the identification of areas and villages by the rural management students of XIMB, followed by extensive research for finding out the right women for this project. HUL-Shakti project provides an excellent opportunity for women of rural India to contribute to the family income after completing their household chores,” said Sumit Gupta, Team Leader of the RMAX team for this project.
As part of this campaign, HUL introduced a gamut of products namely- Red Label, Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Wheel, Surf, Rin, Vim, Lux, Rexona, Ponds, Breeze, Sunsilk, Clinic Plus / All Clear, Pepsodent and Annapurna salt. “All these products enjoy a good brand recall and some of them have been customized to suit the rural people, therefore the women entrepreneurs will have to do little for marketing these products,” said Amitava Munshi of HUL.
“Gone are the days, when women used to be dependant on the men for every necessity. Women are more confident to face the outside world and are eager to contribute to the family income. We have seen this from our experiences in different parts of the country,” he elaborated.
Currently there are over 25,000 'Shakti Enterprenuers' (SE) in 15 states of the country and about 3,500 of them are in Orissa. This project was initiated in Orissa around three years ago and the company is planning to add another one thousand SE in this calendar year.
After this promotional campaign launched by the company in association with rural management students, several women SHGs came forward to become Shakti Entrepreneurs. “This project is a very viable proposition given the fact that we can pursue it during our leisure time and these are everyday use products with high popularity and demands in the villages,” said Nishamani Pradhan an inquisitive women to become Shakti Enterpreneurs in Khurda district.
During the campaign, Kumudani Satpathy, SE from Madhya Kachha village in Cuttack district shared experiences of running the enterprise in her village. She informed the prospective SEs about the expected benefit from this venture. Four students of XIMB- Santanu Thakur, Baijanti Mallick, Amulya Mishra & Neetu Chhapolia steered the campaign and facilitated women through pep talk. The District Rural Sales Promotion Executive Manoj Kumar Mohanty deftly answered their queries and convinced them to take up the enterprise to become self sufficient and fulfill their dreams.
The company facilitates SEs through providing support services like doorstep delivery of the product and training to market them successfully. No doubt, the HUL-Shakti initiative has empowered women has brought new zeal to take a step towards better education, clothings and prosperity of their family.
He is currently in charge of Human Resources and Staffing and was instrumental in building Google's reputation as one of the best employers in the region. Prior to Google, he has extensive work experience with DELL, Maruti Udyog Limited and Infosys Technologies Limited in areas such as Manpower Planning, Organisational Development, Training and Staffing.
Mr. Varghese spoke about the current job scenario that is witnessing unprecedented growth on account of the employment opportunities in the service sector, growth in talent pool and overall upbeat economic environment. He emphasized the fact that 'Intelligent Recruitment' is a key factor for organisational success especially as the work environment gets more complex, competitive and unpredictable. He elaborated on various problems faced while recruiting such as low employability due to lack of soft skills, reach of the brand in attracting skilled labour and retention of this labour. The fact that Google spends a considerable amount of time and energy on the recruitment and development of its people is what makes it one of the best companies to work for.
Mr. Varghese shared various interesting view points and the students gained a number of useful insights. The talk captured the attention of all present and was an afternoon well spent.
He is currently managing a team of 350+ professionals in India centre. For about 2 hours he spoke elaborately about the topic, illustrating it with quite a lot of examples from his own experience as a consultant and as a leader of a top notch company with consulting as the mainstream business.
He defined consulting as “sale of advice” – unbiased recommendation and solution to problems faced by various client firms with an “outsider looking in” approach. He said that, the three fundamental steps in a consulting project are: to diagnose the problem, device solution and implement it. He stressed upon the importance of knowledge management in a consulting business ie… knowledge acquisition, consolidation and exploitation. It is important to learn by experience dealing with customers and apply this knowledge appropriately for a new problem and a new customer. He observed that it is difficult to always find all the right people a customer wants in terms of specialization and credentials, in which case it is necessary to collaborate with competitors and exploit the synergy of resources. He also touched upon the fundamental differences in the way core consulting firms like Bearing Point and other multi-business companies with consulting as one of their verticals operate in Indian scenario.
Talking about the growth opportunities in India, he noted that global clients increasingly want to exploit the off-shore advantage which India provides. The overall domestic demand is also on the rise due to booming sectors like financial services, knowledge management, entertainment & media, aviation, hospitality and retail sector. He was optimistic about the upswing in global demand for both analytical consulting based on data crunching and management consulting by working closely with clients.
Towards the end of the lecture, he spoke about the values, ethics and passion that one needs to inculcate and the need to align what one does, sees & says, for succeeding in a business. He cautioned that while starting a business, one has to be conscious of the following: wrong reasons for choosing a business, importance of being passionate, choosing the right team, right business plan and how one is different from others while doing that business.
The session was an eye opener for the large group of students at Great Lakes who have ambitions in consulting career. The lecture gave a holistic view of the challenges and opportunities in consulting business and the thumb rules to follow when one gets into it. The audience enjoyed the experience and it showed in the enthusiasm with which they interacted with the guest of the day. Mr Gupta on his part expressed happiness on the high level of participation and enthusiasm displayed by Great Lakers and pledged his continued association with the institute.
The Marketing Cell of IIMC organized a day long workshop in collaboration with Nokia. The workshop, titled Beyond Voice, provided an opportunity to the students to be exposed to realities in the world of marketing and interact with the industry stalwarts.
The workshop gave industry insights into the problems faced by a FMCD company and the amount of effort and out of the box thinking it takes to create a brand like Nokia, the importance of advertising and brand building process, the finer nuances involved in the area of organized retail, the various challenges faced and the innovative strategies resorted to capitalize on the opportunities posed by growing organized retail market.
It was a very interactive session which also saw participation from other management colleges from Calcutta such as AIM, IIFT Kolkata and IISWBM to name a few. The enthusiasm level among the students was high as they utilized this one-of-the-few opportunities to have all their queries answered by the bigwigs of the industry directly.
The main speakers for the workshop were Mr Raghuvesh Swarup and Mr Manish Sabnis. Mr Raghuvesh Swarup, a post-graduate from the XLRI, Jamshedpur (1993 batch and currently the Head of Product Marketing for Nokia was in particular liked by many for his engaging presentation. Mr Manish Sabnis, a JBIMS alumnus (1993 batch) and the National Operator Accounts Manager shared his experiences in Organized Retail.
“Marketing is a function where consumer insights play a great role and such insights are acquired only from experience. This workshop was thus an opportunity for students to go beyond classrooms and get a feel of the real world challenges”, said Anupam Chaudhury, the President of Marketing Cell IIMC.
The workshop ended with a case presentation competition where the five teams from IIM Calcutta who were shortlisted initially on the basis of their analysis of a marketing case, especially designed for students of IIMC, came forth and presented their strategies before the Nokia panel and the audience. The best two teams walked away with the latest Nokia7500.
The Conclave comprised of stimulating discussions on various topics related to the challenging retail sector in India today, such as mass, luxury, food, and entertainment retailing. The eminent speakers were:
Mr. Subhinder Singh Prem, MD, Reebok India
Mr. Atul Joshi, CEO, Subhiksha
Mr. Atulit Saxena, Senior VP, Future Brands
Mr. Satyaki Ghosh, VP – North, Spencer's Retail
Mr. Ashish Kapur, MD, Yo! China
Mr. Rajnish Wahi, Chief Officer – Business Development, E-City Ventures.
The Welcome address was delivered by Dr. Harsh Vardhan Verma , Faculty of Marketing at FMS Delhi, wherein he shared his perspective on the changing face of retail in India, while taking a closer look into the minds of the Indian consumer. Dr. Varma later on chaired the panel in the first session inviting interesting questions from the audience.
Mr. Subhinder Singh Prem, MD, Reebok India started the session with an "India Poised" video. He emphasized on the rapid changes coming up in the Indian retailing environment and went on to explain the success factors and requirements for tapping different Indian consumer mindsets. Mr. Singh focused on the field of luxury retail and spoke on the importance of understanding the psyche of the Indian consumer. He left the students enthralled with his captivating presentation.
Mr. Atul Joshi, CEO, Subhiksha, is a marketing professional with two decades of experience across diverse industries such as consumer goods, telecom, financial services and retail. Mr. Joshi said that retailing is not a business but a concept. He discussed the mass-retailing concept in India and gave an insight into the hugely successful model of Subhiksha.
Mr. Atulit Saxena, Senior VP, Future Brands, has a Brands experience of 19 years with the likes of Nokia, Nestle, and Dabur. Mr. Saxena put forth the idea of a world of free brands irrespective of conception, production, marketing origin & control. He also talked about certain interesting facets of retailers depending on their behavior of operation, categorizing them into Servants, Monkeys, VIP's, Cost Warriors, and many others.
Mr. Satyaki Ghosh, VP, Spencer's Retail talked about the key dilemma, being faced by the Indian retailers, of balancing growth and its profitability in the current scenario of margin crunch. Through a comparison with international retailers like Wal-Mart, Mr. Ghosh presented the real issues being faced by the industry and provoked thought in a meaningful direction.
Mr. Ashish Kapur, MD, Yo! China, brought in an entrepreneur's perspective into the whole discussion. He provided incisive insights into food retailing in India and its opportunities. Mr. Kapur left the students with an inspiring thought – treat poverty with respect because it is the training ground for the next wave of global entrepreneurs.
The Conclave concluded with an address by Mr. Rajnish Wahi, Chief Officer - Business Development for Fun Multiplexes (Essel Group's multiplex chain). Having an in-depth understanding of the retail and real estate scenario of the country, he provided a detailed insight on its evolution and progress of entertainment retailing.
The FMS Retail Conclave 2007 provided an opportunity to learn from stalwarts in the dynamically transforming Indian Retail sector. The Conclave was a platform for the speakers as well as the students to delve upon sensitive issues related to retailing, which were discussed, argued and debated, resulting in a very educational and enriching experience as a whole. It was branded as a successful event by all the participants who consisted of the students of FMS, its Faculty, participants from other business schools and industries as well.
The event started with a very warm welcome by Martin Jalili, Chairman, DHRF introducing members to Prof. Christopher Abraham, Sr. Vice President – S P Jain Center of Management. Prof Chris, as he is fondly addressed by his students, very eloquently presented the unique learning ambience being created by SPJCM in its endeavour to create leaders for the future corporate world.
Reg Athwal, Founder and Chairman, Raw Group enthralled the audience with his very lively and entertaining talk on effective recruitment and talent management practices that bring higher Return on Investment (ROI) on Human Capital. He said that companies while hiring should consider the long term strategic benefits and not take short-term views on calculating cost per hire to fill up gaps which can hamper the system later.
The main highlights of the presentation included creating a total workforce plan, finding and attracting and most importantly tracking the top talent followed by a series of tips on how to best interview them! He suggested ways of going for performance based interview wherein one should objectively evaluate the candidate, rather than a personality based one.
Reg classified people and talents into three categories. A, B & C players and illustrated on how each category contributes to the success and failure of any organisation He advised HR professionals to map out the type of people beforehand rather falling prey to last minute hiccups. The session concluded with Question and Answers from the audience.
Mr. Martin Jalilli thanked S.P. Jain Center of Management for the hospitality and stated that he would look forward to a long professional association between SPJCM and DHRF.
Last year SITM organized Communiqué 06- The X National Telecom Seminar, which focused on the theme “Enhancing vision for growth across the telecom panorama- Changing with Growth “. It involved understanding the future trends across the telecom industry, the thematic address for which was delivered by Mr. Sam Pitroda, Chairman, National Knowledge Commission, India.
In keeping with the tradition, this year the theme for the XI National Telecom Seminar Communiqué 07 is “Service Oriented Growth – The Roadmap for revenue”. It will discuss key issues pertaining to the Telecom Industry on 22nd & 23rd September 2007 at Symbiosis Vishwabhavan, S.B. Road, Pune.
Year 2007 was declared as the “Year of Broadband” by the government of India, to encourage rural Broadband and overall Broadband penetration. The next session focuses on Broadband for all. Eminent people from the Telecom Industry would express their views on growth of Broadband Services in Developing Markets, Mobile Broadband: Profitability for operators, Technologies for delivering broadband services, Unfolding WiFi/ WiMax for Indian Market: Value proposition, Broadband access: Achieving the last mile, The economies of Bridging the divide: Services to drive revenues in rural market, The Broadband success story: Strategies adopted by successful telcos. The panel discussion focuses on Delivering on the Broadband Promise: Services, Deployment and Directions forward.
With decreasing ARPU and voice increasingly becoming a commodity, content has become the differentiating factor for a service provider. Eminent people from the industry like Mr. Manoj Dawane, CEO, People Infocom Pvt Ltd. (MAUJ), Mr. Vishal Gondal, CEO, India Games, Mr. Nitish Mittersain , CEO, Nazara Technologies and Mr. Kapil Sood, Director Telecom, Sun Microsystems would discuss the topic “Cashing-in on Content Delivery”.
Convergence of media is the buzzword in any industry. Apart from focusing on creating content for their core media, which is television, most companies are looking for a presence in other media such as mobile or Internet. The session on Convergence will see the discussion on Fixed Mobile Convergence, Converged Billing systems, IMS and the challenge in moving towards an all IP network. Mr. C.S. Rao, Chairman Telecom Committee, Assocham, Mr. Deepak Maheshwari, Director Corporate Affairs & Legal, Microsoft India, Mr. Avi Basu, CEO & Founder, Connectiva Systems, Mr. Madhwesh Kulkarni, General Manager OSS/BSS & IT Consulting, Wipro Technologies, Mr. G.K. Chakrapani, Country Manager, Nokia. The topics of discussion would include Business Transformation route to Convergence, All IP Networks: The deployment challenges, IMS: The Enabler of Convergence, Approaches to Convergence Billing, Impact of Convergence on Enterprise Mobility, and Reality.
Drawing from their immense experience on the research of global business trends, Mr. Sunil Soni, Head-Banking Strategic Initiatives, Perot Systems; Mr.Ravi Gulati, Head, Services Solutions India, Nokia Siemens Networks; Mr. Narayan Tripunithura, Manager Business Development, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and other dignitaries discussed the impact of IT in India and the latest opportunities in the first round of panel discussion which focused on theme of the event "Emerging trends in IT services and management"
Second round of panel discussion provided an insight on how companies are tackling challenges with regards to IT marketing since Software marketing involves influencing the end customers based on qualitative benefits unlike traditional marketing which revolves around tangible returns. These challenges, under ever growing competition make it more difficult for the software marketers to sell the products and services in the absence of tangible benefits or evident ROI.
Mr. Prabhat Ummat, Lead- Business solutions, Microsoft during the discussion firmly stated that "IT Marketing in India will be successful only if companies focus on tangible RoI and Business Value, from usage of their products and services. This alone is not sufficient; the same should be demonstrated and backed by voice of customers to make it more credible."
The analysts and the experts together with academicians discussed the future that lay for the IT industry in India and that the promise rests very largely with future management graduates from institutes like IMT Ghaziabad. All in all an event that brought together the best of the IT discussing what is best for the IT, leaving the audience spell bound and asking for more.