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Ms. Jayashree Mohanka, Senior General Manager – Marketing for Eveready Industries Ltd. visited Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad (MICA) on Wednesday and delivered a lecture on “Rural Marketing in India.”


Ms. Mohanka talked about how rural India was still a very important market for companies and how its dynamics are changing constantly. She tackled issues such as rural India's lack of awareness of brands, the role of price, the challenges of counterfeit products and brand loyalty. Throwing light on consumer behaviour in rural markets, she pointed out cyclical cash flows and distribution as key factors in a successful marketing thrust in rural India. The role of the retailer also came in for scrutiny as Ms. Mohanka and MICAns jointly went in for a brainstorming session.


The discussion also succeeded in shedding light on the absorption of villages into outskirts of towns and the consequent changes in consumption habits. While discussing about the communication challenges in rural markets, Ms. Mohanka emphasized the need to avoid subtlety in the message. The lecture was well-received by the MICA community.


Ms. Mohanka is a 1983 alumna of IIM Calcutta and was associated with Titan Industries and Jenson & Nicholson before her current stint at Eveready.


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The Department of Industrial & Management Engineering (which conducts the MBA Program), IIT Kanpur organized a two-day workshop on globalization at its campus. The workshop witnessed enthusiastic participation from not only the MBA students but also the M.Tech & B.Tech students of the institute.

The guest faculty for the lecture was Dr. Anup Sinha, Professor (Economics), IIM Calcutta. Globalization is a special research interest area for Dr. Sinha and he has authored a number of books in this field. He also has more than 20 yrs of teaching experience and has also been a consultant to organizations such as ICICI Bank, ITC, ASSOCHAM etc.

At the very outset, students were asked to organize themselves into four groups. Each of these groups was allocated an industry (FMCG, Heavy Engineering, Knowledge based, Financial Services). The students were then asked to specifically focus their thought process on their allocated industry, drawing inferences from the ongoing presentation and decide upon the impact of globalization on their business and to devise ways to cope with changing business environment.

Dr. Sinha started his presentation by tracing the origins of Globalization, late 17th century, to the present times. The focus then moved towards analyzing the features of a globalized economy and how it is affected by the various factors at play. The main focus centered on the following features of a globalized economy:

1.Integration of Markets

2. Innovation in technology

3. Instability of GDP growth

4. Inequalities of Incomes and Wealth

The analysis was deeply enriched by facts and figures providing empirical justification of the thoughts presented. This coupled with some astonishing realities as pointed out by Dr. Sinha (for ex. How many of us know, that, today out of total international trade of $1.4Trillion, the share of goods and services is only 20%, rest all is currency trading!) made the workshop really interesting.

At the end, the students were asked to make brief presentations on the kind of learning they had from this exercise and apply the knowledge gained to their allotted industry domains.

All in all, an extremely enriching experience!

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Also to feature on the talk are Alok Kejriwal of Contest2win and Rashmi Bansal of Jam Magazine. The webcast shall go live on Friday, November 11, 2005 between 3 and 6 pm.

Keep visiting here for updates and link to the stream! Now is the time to worship your F5 button.
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Allwin Agnel aka Pagalguy, founder of PaGaLGuY.com broached up the concept of 'arrogance of thought' as a trait dearest to all entrepreneurs.


CEO of Contest2win Alok Kejriwal called on students to break existing perceptions in their minds and rebuild them, in the manner of a 'demolishing a brick wall and reconstructing it'.


Rashmi Bansal, Editor of Jam Magazine talked about there being no wrong time for chasing your dreams. A graduate of IIM Ahmedabad, she talked about the hardships of being an entrepreneur in the media business



Discuss this article in the Forum!
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XIM has recently signed an MOU with the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB), South Africa, for international collaboration. The Director of XIM, Fr. Abraham, had visited the campus and also met other international collaborators of USB. The first initiative towards XIMB-USB Collaboration would be a student exchange program over a one week elective that would provide an overview of South African Economy and Business Management in the overall context of international business. To begin with, around 10-15 students from the current second year batch at XIM would spend seven days at USB sometime between the last week of February and the second week of March 2005. In the next academic year, the same process would occur, with students of USB coming down to XIM.

XIMB has also taken the initial steps towards an international collaboration with the Graduate School of Business Economics - Higher School of International Commerce and Finance (GSBE-HSICF), Warsaw, Poland. The agreement involves the exchange of two students per year for a semester. The process is likely to begin with the current first year students of XIM. The cost would be US $ 230 per student for a month towards course fee, food and accommodation besides the travel expenditure. A one week elective option has been suggested by XIM, in order to enable the students to get a European perspective of Business Management.

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The first speaker to address the seminar was Mr Sam Balaji, Partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and MD, Deloitte Consulting India. Starting his talk on the topic "Consulting in the Telecom Industry" on a humorous note, he said that the world's first consultant was probably the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. He mentioned that the business model pioneered by Indian companies, of outsourcing all technical operations while retaining only the marketing function, could become a model that's followed worldwide. He noted that ethics play a very big role in the consulting industry, which is marked by confidentiality issues and conflicts of interest.

Mr James P Hogan, Managing Consultant and the Chief of Party on the DRUM (Distribution, Reform, Upgrades and Management) Project, PA Consulting Group, then spoke on Development Sector Consulting, He detailed the unique characteristics of development sector and government consulting. Speaking primarily about public sector energy utilities, he noted how energy, especially electricity, was a vital ingredient to economic development. Due to the scale of this sector and the sheer number of stakeholders involved, he said that even partial success can make a huge impact on the lives of millions.

Mr Abhishek Goenka, Partner of BMR & Associates, spoke about consulting in general from his varied consulting experience in the Big 4 firms. Stressing the importance of client loyalty and the large costs of a dissatisfied client, he said that it is necessary to underpromise and overdeliver. He emphasized the crucial need for people skills, since no matter how big your firm is, consulting still boiled down to one person talking to another. “Daily life as a consultant will seem to be a never-ending sprint, but you will still need to retain your long-term perspective and presence of mind to plan out your life as a marathon” said, Mr.Abhisek.

Mr Rajat Sud, Senior Principal Consultant, GRID (Government Reforms and Infrastructure Development) Consulting, PricewaterhouseCoopers, explained that government sector consulting opportunities have greatly increased in recent times due to several change drivers, like the increased focus on governance, risk management and regulatory compliance issues, the innovative application of IT, the right to information act, and rising decentralisation. He stressed that in the public sector, there were so many large and competing interests that it was necessary to focus on implementable rather than ideal solutions.

Ms. Sabitha Rao, Head, Chennai Office, Cerebrus Consultants, gave a holistic picture of Human Resource consulting. She mentioned that right since she passed out of IIM Calcutta, over two decades ago, B-School students have been averse to choosing HR as a specialization due to the perception of Finance or Marketing as being more glamorous. Ms. Rao stressed upon the fact that personal credibility and professional respect were indispensable for any consultant, especially when dealing with the senior management of a company.

Ms. Kanika Goyal, coordinator of Konsult 2005, said, “I did have a general idea about the consulting field, but this seminar brought many small details into sharp focus. I got a new clarity and insight, especially in the field of government and development sector consulting.”

On this occasion, Mr Balaji, Partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP, launched the new issue of Spandan, the bi-annual student management journal of IIM Kozhikode. Conceptualized, designed and developed by the students of IIMK, Spandan was first published in 2000. An online copy is available at http://intranet.iimk.ac.in/spandan/

There was an evening performance of the ancient martial art of Kerala, Kalari Payattu, performed by CVN Kalari. This is the same team that has performed in movies like Asoka and the recent Jackie Chan-Mallika Sherawat starrer, The Myth. The seminar was sponsored by Deloitte Consulting, and Rediff.com was the media partner.

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Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad(MICA) today organized a talk by Velvan Subramaniam, Director South Asia AC Nielsen BASES on Simulated Test Marketing.

Simulated Test Marketing (STM) was developed in the 1970s and refined over the next 20 years, STM has supplanted traditional in-market testing as the predominant method used by packaged goods manufacturers to evaluate new products, line extensions, and other new business opportunities prior to large-scale in-market introduction. Relative to traditional test markets, STM's are faster, less expensive, more secure, and more accurate with regard to their forecasting capability. STM systems combine consumer reaction to new product initiatives with marketing plan information to forecast likely sales volume. The talk was enthusiastically attended by over 70 students of the two year courses of PGPCM of MICA and Mr. Subramaniam patiently answered their queries after the talk.


The talk was a part of an initiative of MICA Lecture Series (MLS), a committee of MICA in a constant endeavor to keep student abreast with practical inputs from corporate world in the field of marketing and communication strategies.

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With prizes of more than INR 1 lakh and a lot of attention, both from industry and academia involved. Conquest promises its participants a highly challenging and rewarding experience. Its previous winners have gone on to win various other national and international business plan competitions. They have acquired the necessary skills and contacts to startup, and some of them have already started up.

After a highly successful run over the past two years, the competition is gaining increased visibility. This is in part due to its judges from top-notch positions in the industry and also due to the high quality of talent it attracts. With sponsors like Agilent Technologies and DELL this year, it's bound to become one of the best business plan competition.

Set up jointly by the faculty, students and alumni, CEL is an active entrepreneurial cell in the country. It works to encourage entrepreneurship among the student community. It is also a co-founder of the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN). More information can be found on the website; www.celbits.org .

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The event began with a panel discussion on disability and impairment, chaired by Mr. Nishit Kumar, director of Cause promotion and Head of the Management team at Loksatta, Maharashtra Chapter. He is a Fellow from IIMA and is a management advisor to ICMH, Childline and other NGOs. This was followed by a cultural program by the differently abled artistes. The talented participants wowed the audience with their performaces.

The idea for Ehsaas'05 germinated during a marketing assignment for the first year students of the MBA program. The students assignment was well received and graded highly. But the story did not end there. Intrigued by what management graduates could do for the differently-abled, students played around with the idea of having a cultural programme by the differently-abled in an effort to understand and appreciate their special skills. Guidance from Prof. Neerja Mattoo, head of the DOCC at SPJIMR and Prof. Renuka Kamath, head of the Marketing Area put wind behind the sails and the concept gradually took shape. From being a purely entertainment venture, Ehsaas'05 metamorphosed into being a platform for interactions between various NGOs working for the differently-abled, both as organizers as well as entertainers. Over the next one month, the first year students of SPJIMR's MBA program started to lay the groundwork for Ehsaas'05.

The program began with a musical performance by sightless musicians from the National Organization for Disabled Artists (NODA). A flute recital was followed by a duet sung by one artist who effortlessly switching between the baritone and soprano to provide both the male and the female voices for the song.

The children from PODS [Parents of Down Syndrome Association ] dancing with gay abandon and amazing co-ordination of movement and expression, got the crowd wildly cheering at their performance. Gaurav Sejpal & Rishi Sahani from PODS ardent fans of Tv actress Nausheen Ali were so excited to see her that they dedicated one performance to her.

Performance on the Casio keyboard by Ravi Kanakiya from Spastics Society of India, a magic show by Shiv Shankar from Natyashala, a lazeem folk dance by NASEOH and a mime by Natyashala were some of the other highlights of the evening. The children were highly excited and motivated by the presence of Shaktimaan- Mukesh Khanna, actress Krutika Desai and producer Tinu Verma.

The panel discussion held earlier in the day, explored the reasons on why disabilities are still not accepted in the mainstream and the differently-abled had to fight for their rights. While legislation is being framed to help and involve them, there is still a large proportion of the population in rural areas who require assistance on this front. Not only was it tough for the differently abled in rural areas to find training, but they lacked opportunities to display their skills and earn a livelihood.

The panel chaired by Mr. Nishith Kumar, included Ms. Sudha Balachandra, the Director of NASEOH (National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped), Mr. K. Ramachandra, the General Manager of IDBI, an alumnus of SPJIMR '83 batch and the first blind person to complete a post-graduate program in management, Mr. Jamshed Mistry, legal advisor to many an NGOs and Mr. Nilesh Singit, who is the coordinator (West Zone) for Disability Rights Initiative and an active voice in the ICHR.

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IIMA's international management summit Confluence got off to a rollicking start that has set the pace for the entire event. Conceptualized with the tagline “Where ideas converge” this mega-event is truly living up to its ideals with over 600 Indian and international participants descending on campus for the 4 day event. This number represents largely those teams that have reached the final rounds of various events and hence the total participation is many times that number.


Shri Subir Raha, Chairman & MD, ONGC was the Chief Guest at the inauguration ceremony. The inaugural address also included speeches by Shri Suresh Prabhu (hon. MP) and Dr. J. J. Irani (Director, TATA Sons). None of them requires introduction. While two are doyens of the industry, already living legends, the third is one of the country's most promising young politicians and his work as Ex-Power minister has made people refer to him as the country's best ever power minister. The students attending in the auditorium and outside (the interest among students was so great that the hall capacity was overshot very quickly!) could not have asked for a more inspirational panel of speakers.


Starting things off, the Confluence Secretary Pradyumna Agrawal put things in perspective by outlining the driving motives for holding this mega-event. They are:
# to facilitate genuine networking among students
# to sensitize young Indian management students towards global leadership by exposing them to students and leaders from overseas in a competitive as well as non-competitive environment.
# to provide a direct linkage between competitive events and speaker sessions for maximum impact.


It is these objectives which have inspired the Confluence team at IIMA to deliver, since Confluence is not simply a business festival or competition, but an international management summit attempting to throw up real solutions not only for India, but for the world stage.
Dr. Bakul Dholakia, Director IIMA pointed out the importance of industry support to events of this nature. In addition to the monetary support he was especially enthused about the generous support in terms of quality time and expertise that the Indian industry has lent by way of the Advisory Cell and large number of distinguished speakers attending the summit.

Elaborating on Corporate Governance Mr. Raha spoke very candidly on a subject obviously close to his heart. Unlike professionals in medicine, law or defence services management professionals don't have to undertake an oath before being inducted into the profession, but it is of paramount importance that managers observe high standards of morality in business. He stressed that as the CEO of your company the buck stops with you and your stakeholders expect ethical behaviour in all aspects of company dealings. And only some of them are shareowners.
Mismanagement and corporate fraud have been making news in the US. In India too it is rampant but does not come to light as much. Mr. Raha pointed out that in the last 15 years about $20 Bn worth of private investment has simply disappeared. Investors have been left in the lurch as listed companies have suddenly folded up and vanished into thin air. There are immense losses in the Public Sector due to mismanagement. But he exhorted not to blame it on the system, since managers make up the system and hence can change it.
According to him ownership is not the issue, exercising your judgment at the right time even with incomplete information is critical for a manager as he or she must be prepared to take risks. Eventually, even if things turn out to be unpleasant you must be satisfied with your actions and the belief that it was the right thing to do at the time. To that extent of course one must be prepared to lose out on the next promotion, or increment or even one's job to do the right thing! If only more CEOs followed his advice, the world would be a much better place!


Next, Dr. J.J. Irani (Director, Tata Sons) shared his views on the importance of corporate governance and how it is increasingly being demanded from various quarters. He stressed on the necessity for a triple bottom line instead of merely profit being the sole goal of an organization. Triple bottom line includes not just financial but social and environmental factors which are of prime importance in today's world. Success achieved by unethical means is increasingly being frowned upon in corporate circles .This are areas where Business schools have an important role to play. He felt that presently Management Education in India is not doing enough to inculcate values, ethics and corporate governance as an integral part of its course curriculum. He also praised the efforts by students of IIM-Ahmedabad for taking a step in the right direction by organizing such enriching talks on such a pertinent topic. He was next open to a question answer session where he laid emphasis on how mindset needs to be changed among students about corporate governance and ethical values so that they can contribute better to not just management world but society as a whole.

Next Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Member of Parliament ,who was earlier referred to by Mr. Subir Raha as the best power minister India has ever had, addressed the gathered audience on how the word governance itself connotes efficient administration and not just being in power and forming a government. Giving the example of increasing electoral fainess in Bihar, he made a point about how one man alone is sufficient to bring about a huge difference to governance. He gave an interesting Insight into how administration and management are intertwined by stressing on the importance of organizational practice of accountability. Indian bureaucracy is crippled by lack of punishment for those who do not deliver. Rewarding those who are successful alone is not sufficient but needs to be matched with a check on those who are not delivering in the government. He key to holding people accountable to tasks assigned is by fixing exact deliverables which facilitate monitoring and help in weeding out inefficiencies within the government. He felt that good public governance would automatically lead to good corporate governance. The session ended by a discussion between Mr. Jayant Verma, Dean IIM Ahmedabad wherein a growing need for a change of mindset amongst people not just towards corporate governance but governance as a whole was reinforced.

The students found the interactive lectures highly enlightening as it brought forth ideas and perspectives are currently of great relevance to society.

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"Whatever you do – just overdo it"

This was the golden rule that was followed by Mr. Ashish Kumar Chauhan which fetched him the “World's TOP 100 CIO” at a young age (in his late thirties).
On completion of his post-graduation from IIM-A, he started his career in IDBI.After the volatility witnessed in the stock markets during the Harshad Mehta times, Government of India decided to take control of the situation & IDBI was given the responsibility of setting up a stock-exchange which would ensure greater transparency for investors, which was the major drawback of our stock-markets especially B.S.E. So a team of six people was formed to implement this project, of which Mr. Ashish was the youngest as well as the only Engineer (IIT-Bombay), others being Economists & Cost Accountants.

The team worked on the project by studying foreign markets. So, he was sent abroad to study the stock exchanges as well as the VSAT technology (which the committee was planning to implement for the first time in India).The outcome of the study was as follows:
* Most of the major stock exchanges abroad were floor based, but the team decided to implement screen based exchange.
* Needed satellite based telecom system for the running of the exchange.
* Needed a stock exchange which adopts the principle of an order driven market.

The cost of implementation the above was around 50 million dollars.
So, the NSE Set-Up consisted of 3 parts:
* Operational
* Informational
* Corporate governance

When NSE was set-up there were 35 brokers transacting with a group of 25 members assisting them.Today through NSE, 25 lakh trades take place a day, which is a lot more than what was thought off while setting up the exchange. Today NSE is the third largest stock exchange in the world in terms of the number of trades.

After his stint with IDBI he joined the Reliance Group, whose Infocomm project was revolutionizing the Indian telecommunication market by introduction of C.D.M.A technology . While the project was in its nascent stage, he was made the CIO of Reliance Infocomm.

However, this job was much challenging as he said, “Getting 1 million customers every month to Reliance Infocomm didn't go off as smoothly as expected”. So, the main task of the CIO was organizing the processes in an efficient manner to take care of the major flaws like data dropping and non-availability of a consistent customer database, which was causing a lot of concern to Mr.Mukesh Ambani.
Setting up Real Time Data Entry System on their own network which was not heard off ever—fetched him the CIO 100 award.

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What is a qualified doctor like you doing at an MBA institute?

I did my bachelors degree in Homeopathic Medicine from Anand, Gujarat and have zero work ex. Honestly speaking, I wasn't too keen on doing medicine in the first place. Having done so due to parental pressure, I wasn't very pleased with the idea of continuing the profession all
my life. I believed an MBA would give the much-needed direction to my career, and fine tune my inherent strengths. I always dreamed of being an entrepreneur, and I thought an MBA would help me get there quicker than anything else.

What was your thought process like while selecting the right b-school
for yourself?

Primarily, I relied upon guidance from my coaching institute. I had faith in my teachers there, as they knew where I was coming from, and what stakes I had in the game. Word of mouth did help, too. Third party rankings were a big no-no, as I didn't quite think the parameters they used for ranking were in sync with my own priorities and objectives for doing an MBA and I doubted their credibility as
well. However, I had decided that it had to be the top 10 -15 institutes of my choice, or no MBA at all. Giving up a lucrative career in medicine (and at an established setup at that - my mother is practising since the past 30 years) meant I had to justify what I was doing - first, to myself, and second, to the world as well.

How would you rank the following parameters in your choice of universities?

Quality of education
Quality of faculty
Campus life
Quality of batch mates
Placements
Amount of on-campus research
City your B school is located in
Rank your B school gets in 3rd party surveys

How did you go about taking on the CAT?

I had joined Professional Tutorials, Baroda. Since I was doing my internship simultaneously as I prepared for the exams, the times were rather taxing - both physically and mentally. I was more focused on CAT than any other exams, and Quant was a big obstacle for me. I remember taking the first mock CAT with a score of 22 - 0 - 0 (Language - Quant - DI, respectively). I hadn't attempted any questions in DI and Quant!!! The only preparation I did was attending classes regularly and taking mock tests. Towards the end, I did put in some focused efforts, particularly on data interpretation techniques and questions on probability.

The toughest part of my preparation was to simply persist - coming from an alternative profession to the world of management meant I had to break the mental barriers. I hardly had anyone supporting me -everyone including my parents thought I had gone crazy. I paid my own fees for coaching. And repeat the word 'yes'a 1000 times, to everyone who wanted to know, if I thought I was doing the right thing. These are the same people who now claim they always knew I would succeed, and what a great idea it is to do something different.

I was a part of making history - we were a batch which got a mock CAT from the IIMs themselves! That's right, I took CAT twice - in November 2003, and again in February 2004. November 2003 had been a disaster and I was glad I got another chance. The only thing that changed in the two months was my strategy - I decided I was going to push myself at least for 80 attempts. I managed a score of 97.67 percentile -quant let me down again with a miserable 75 percentile, which ensured I would not clear any schools where sectional cut offs were in place.

How did you prepare for the interview and group discussion?

I knew for sure they would want to know why I was pursuing an MBA after medicine, and that was a question I was well prepared for. It was all gyaan, of course, never once did I mention that I wasn't
inclined towards medicine. I gave some weird theory on how homoeopathy and HR were natural progressions of each other, and how I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I gave elaborate 5 year and 10 year plans of how I wanted my career to be. I think that helped. At MDI, they asked me
about the Sensex, the companies at the top, what public sector companies are, etc.

According to me, brutal honesty doesn't help. Instead, it's a good idea to package your thoughts well. If you are from a profession which is offbeat, its better to behave like it's the best thing to happen to their B-school, rather than being defensive about it. Clarity of objectives is also essential.

We had a group of students from our coaching class who regularly met and discussed current affairs and various probable GD topics. I think this carried most of us a long way - I still use those documents we prepared as write ups for the sessions! If you can find a group of people who'll participate in something like this, nothing can be better. I realised that students at B schools are just like I am - no one is super human. As all of us struggled to meet deadlines and run hither- thither during our summers, I realised that competition often brings out the worst (and the best!) in people. My rose coloured glasses came off - relative grading changed the way I looked at co-operation - I think it made all of us rather selfish.

{pagebreak}

So what is life at MDI Gurgaon like?

My Life at MDI? In two words, it's amazing. A plethora of experiences and you learn how networking is more important than anything else. As I learn clichéd aspects of 'How HR should be a Strategic Business Partner', I realise that at the end of the day, its all about how you market yourself - how you create a brand out of yourself and sell it. The opportunities here are endless - there is something here for everyone; from social service to trading stock on the floor.

I am still awed by the intellect of the professors here, and their accomplishments. And when I interact with other students, I realise most of them have experienced what I have experienced in life - the triumphs and the tribulations. Makes me feel a lot more normal. Like I said before, relative grading is awful, it brings out the worst in people. Politicking and scheming become a way of life. I hit a low every time a case study is given out before exams, and we turn into a covert operation of the CIA, not sharing information with anyone.

Five things you can't do without at a B-school

A laptop (I regret not having one)
Jargon and Gyaan - it's all pervasive
THE Internet - its my lifeline
A cell phone (Coordinating with group members can be a nightmare)
Good time management skills and getting used to sleeping 4 hours a day

So where would we find you after you get your MBA degree?

Since my course is a specialised one, I am sure of where I will be in terms of functional area (HR). I know I would prefer a service sector firm, and corporate HR at that. But since placements are a game of luck, I'd rather not think too much about it. My intention is to be in a firm where I can get maximum learning to enable me to start my own venture. In that sense, I'd prefer a small firm where systems and processes are not very streamlined, and I have opportunities to do exactly that.

What is your survival trick in a B-school?

Just be yourself. In the world of aspiring B-schoolers, it's difficult to just hang in there, with all the advice and gyaan flowing in from everywhere. Just trust one or two people who can guide you, and stick to that. More than anything else, follow your instincts.

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“Conquest is a novel, unique and innovative event. It is a new concept developed by CEL and encompasses all spheres of business activity. It starts right from scratch -preparing a Business Plan followed by intensive mentoring by top-notch professionals/academicians and finally tests the participants through Business Simulation rounds. The rigorous competition provides them a good exposure to Venture Capitalists and also illustrates the art of managing successful enterprises.

Within a short period of three years, Conquest has become quite popular among lots of Business schools and has received widespread participation from IIM's, IIT's, ISB and several other Business schools of high repute.”

The spirit of entrepreneurship is definitely going to rule the world and CEL shall provide the platform for that. STAND TALL!!!

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Incidental to its silver jubilee celebration, the President of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam is visiting LIBA for an informal interaction with the management students, first ever in the history of B Schools in India. The presesident is likey to touch up on issues that range from the impact of new technologies and how business schools have to reorient themselves to adapt. He is also likely to touch up on issues of ethics and corporate governance, matters close to the heart of Jesuit education.

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Mr. Pinckney talked about Amway, which, after entering India in 1995, is being seen as an expanding and established player in the direct selling paradigm. He picked some entrepreneurial lessons from the company which is now one of the world leaders in the direct selling industry. He also mentioned the various roles and opportunities that the independent business owners (IBOs) now possess. The fast growth potential, global nature and less risk of the model and the industry were also highlighted.

Companies entering the Direct Selling network, for example, Hindustan Lever Ltd, were also noted as the indicators of increasing impact of direct distribution. Loyal customers and business owners, combined with the advantages of a 'push' model interested the audience and provided them with a new perspective into successful network building.

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A few of the eminent personalities who were part of Convention in the past are:

● Mr. Arun Maira, Chairman, Boston Consulting Group
● Mr. Vivek Gupta, M.D., A.T. Kearney
● Mr. Ramesh Sobti, CEO, ABN Amro India
● Mr. D.S. Brar, Ex-MD, Ranbaxy
● Mr. Sarvesh Swarup, Head India, Global Consumer Bank, Citibank
● Mr. R. Ravimohan, CEO, CRISIL
● Mr. Rajeev Nair, President, Microsoft India

Theme Details

Phase 1-The Vision Next
What We See India As…….
Phase one is intended to analyze Brand India and its growth from the view point of those who are known as the 'Guides of the Corporate World', i.e., the leading academicians and consultants. What will India Inc look like in the coming times? In which sectors will growth exceed expectations? Where will we lag behind? Who and what will challenge India Inc the most in the future? And of course what will be the antidote? The first phase will discuss these issues under 'We See India As…..'

Phase 2-The Money Next
India Finance: Beyond Bubbles and Booms
How robust is the financial DNA of India Inc? Has India Inc evolved beyond bull rallies and bear slumps? How attractive will we be for the FII & FDI flows tomorrow? Is a new banking revolution about to come? What holds Indian finance from taking the Escape Velocity? All these questions will become the center point of discussion in the phase two. The participants would be from the major financial players who keep a close track of the growth of the economy and the performance of India Inc with respect to financial benchmarks.

Phase 3-The Market Next
And the Future Entails……….
In Phase three the discussion will explore the paths for expanding the current market and venturing into new avenues for India Inc. Is the retail revolution about to come in India? What will the new product market look like? What new avenues will open in the Service sector? How will core sectors like Infrastructure and Energy perform? What new challenges does India Inc foresee? Phase three will aim at finding answers to these questions with the help of those who play a pivotal role in deciding the future of Corporate India.

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E-Cell aims to create the requisite support structure that an individual needs in his quest for the unknown and unexplored zone of Entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship Cell, FMS has association with TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and Silicon Valley Bank for 'Venture Capital' funding.

The 'Board of Directors' of Entrepreneurship Cell, FMS includes:

● Mr. Vivek Gupta (MD AT Kearney)
● Mr. Kashinath Memani (Former Head Ernst & Young)
● Mr. T.N. Ninan (Editor & Publisher, Business Standard)
● Mr.Ashok Lahiri (Chief Economic Advisor, Government of India)
● Mr. Ajay Shriram (Chairman & MD, DCM Shriram Group)
● Mr. A.S. Narag (Ex Dean and Professor, FMS Delhi)


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He had the crowd in splits when he was reminiscing an incident at St.Joseph's college, Trichy in 1950-54, a time when he remarked most in the gathering “were not even ideas”. He was referring to his “Moral science” class which was taken by Reverent Father Rector Kalathil who helped them “learn something bigger than us”.

He also shared with the students an incident at the Rashtrapati Bhavan when he was receiving a group of 60 final year students from MIT, Boston. When asked what they would like to do in future, 45 out of the 60 said they would start their own enterprise, either individually or join together for software, hardware or any other enterprise. Of the remaining, 15 wanted to go for further research while around 10 people had not made up their minds. The President used this instance to drive home the fact that evolving entrepreneurship was integral to the growth of the country.

He stated that every year the country was generating 7 million 10+2 students in India and 3 million graduates apart from big schools like b-schools like the IITs. He was of the opinion that the government, the centre and state don't have the employment potential. This found him persuading the UGC, university grants commission, AICTE and various educational institutions to carve out in the 3-4 years course, entrepreneurship skills in the 10+2 level secondary education period in addition to the 10+2 certificate .He tried to draw a comparison with the degree course in it being imperative that they be given a diploma certificate in addition to their training certificate. “If education does not give, then it is not good education”, he added. He was of the opinion that when the student goes out, he should have got trained in entrepreneurship skills. These two combination of skills makes him “a person to take his own way and he becomes a generator of employment”, he said.

He was of the opinion that all what was happening in the big, developed world was not a “big big industry making the economy”. On the contrary he said it was “the millions and millions of small entrepreneurs who generate the economy”. The President added that the entrepreneur “has to see possibilities where others do not, always search for new opportunities and challenges, then be creative, think out of the box, constantly strive to do things better, be confident about taking risks, be proactive and focus on the future and have a good knowledge and skill base.”

He then went on to talk about Organizational dynamics and its relevance today. He urged the student community to never fail in acknowledging contributions made by team members. The President also enlightened the students on the “Law of development”. This law, he said demarcated countries into two categories, the “developed” or the “developing”. What differentiated the developed countries from the developing countries were their “competitiveness” and their ability to “market aggressively”. He was of the opinion that the common factor between developed and developing countries is competitiveness. This competitiveness was based on three factors, cost, and quality and just in time market. With this the President added that mere competitiveness was incapable of ensuring survival in any organization. Ethics, he believed, was a contiguous factor for sustaining a competitive advantage.

The President also shared with the gathering, his experiences with the Cosmic ray scientist, Prof.Vikram Sarabhai who he believed had great vision and foresight. Other visionaries who he believed had contributed immensely to India's growth were C. Subramaniam, Prof. Swaminathan and Varghese Kurien. He said the country owed its economic prosperity to young entrepreneurs in the IT industry, the Pharma industry and small scale enterprises.

He then went on to emphasize the fact that Management education should train one on confidence and on being a creative leader. When asked by a woman from the audience on his take on partiality towards women, the President said that there was a need to “emphasize there is no difference in performance between men and women”. He added that women provided stability of performance and continuity; two traits that would help them become winners.

On being asked if Nano-technology would change the way goods were consumed, distributed and produced and in turn cause a lot of jobs to be lost and a social upheaval, The President replied that it was going to be competitive compared to the other power sources. He said Nano technology, Information technology and Bio-technology were going to converge to “make miracles”.

Having spent well over forty minutes interacting with the students at the Management School, the President concluded by quoting a few lines from the Bible which read “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

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The play 'Suraj Ka Saatwan Ghoda', adapted from Mr. Dharamvir Bharti's popular novel by the same name, opened to a packed house, which consisted of high end corporates of Ahmedabad and their elite customers. While the first day was a corporate show, the next two days i.e. 5th and 6th of December were for the general public of Ahmedabad. The play attracted over 270 theatre enthusiasts every day who came from areas as far as Gandhinagar and Baroda to witness the play.

The play revolves around the romantic involvement of the protagonist with three women from different strata of India's social hierarchy: the lower-caste, the middle class, and the intelligentsia. In Allahabad, every day the bachelor Manik Mulla tells stories to a group of friends at his house. Over two evenings, he tells his friends three different stories of his love affairs to define what love is all about. These three stories are independent stories about three different women with whom Manik had relationships, first as a pre-pubescent boy, then an adolescent and lastly as a mature adult. After each story, the friends discuss about the human traits and the definition of love. Each story is intertwined with the notion of love, romance and separation. Manik plays with a handful of characters tossing them in different patterns for each story.

The play unfolds in parts which are woven together to form a single narrative involving humorous dialogue .The play spread across seven afternoons goes on from being frothy, light-hearted stories to poignantly dark evolution of characters leading themselves to self-destruction and ending on a hopeful note signified by the sun's seventh and last horse.

The main sponsors for this year's show include SBI, Coke, Silver Touch Technologies, and Gopi Group and Radio Mirchi who was their Radio Partner.

Sankalp is an amateur theatre group that has been started by the students of Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad. It is a non- profit, entirely student managed activity, where all aspects of theatre, from acting, marketing to sets and costumes are managed by the students. Every production so far has been selected so as to cater to the taste and preference of the Ahmedabad audience.