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The conference co-chairs are Dr V aSeenua Srinivasan, Stanford University, USA and Prof S Sriram, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India. Dr Dipak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA will be the keynote speaker. Research papers related to creating value (market research, competitive analysis, product, service, pricing), communicating value (consumer behavior, branding, advertising, personal selling, promotion), delivering value (channels management, wholesaling, retailing, CRM, web-based marketing), and their integration (marketing strategy, competitive strategy, marketing processes, marketing organization) will be presented.

This academic marketing conference will serve as a platform for faculty and doctoral students to showcase and share their insights and findings on consumer behavior, branding, marketing communication, market research, retailing, services marketing, marketing strategy, and other topics.

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This was followed by a panel discussion on contemporary issues in Banking Consolidation, moderated by Tamal Bandyopadhyay. The members of the panel were Nipun Mehta, Head & Executive Director, SG Private Banking India, Dr Rajendra Vaidya, Professor, IGIDR, Ganesh Shankaran, Executive Vice President, HDFC Bank Ltd., P Ramesh, Senior Partner, Deloitee, Prof Hani Alfeeli, Member of Board of Accountancy Dept., College of Business Studies, Kuwait.

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Some aspects of the lecture were the brandas strong growth and immunity to brand cannibalization in view of the emerging market competition, the proliferation into the Indian market with the introduction of the amonopacka and the vast cultural differences between promos of Alpenliebe around the world.
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After completing her Bacheloras Degree in Arts, she pursued her Masters Degree in Management Studies at the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS). Post her MBA in finance she joined the erstwhile industrial finance company ICICI in 1984 as a management trainee - Project Appraisal & Monitoring and worked on projects in a wide gamut of industries. In 1993 she was deputed to ICICI bank as a part of the core team to set up operations and pave the way for its entry into the commercial banking business. By 1997 she was heading the large corporate clients group and in 2001, she went on to head the retail vertical too. She became a part of the top management at ICICI when she was promoted to the post of CFO in 2006 and finally made the Joint MD in 2007.

Her appointment comes at a time when the world is reeling under a financial crisis and India and its financial institutions are not fully decoupled from it. ICICI is going through a transitional phase itself as it faces the changing financial environment. Ms Kochhar joins a list of alumni from JBIMS like Mr Harish Manwani, Mr Nitin Paranjpe, Mr Ajay Piramal, Mr Uday Kotak, Ms Vinita Bali and others.
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The need to increase revenue per employee (*see footnote) and the number of management consultants in the IT industry is both an opportunity and a challenge for technology and subject matter experts. On one hand, they would do well to pick up some management consulting skills, progress beyond routine technology or engineering roles and get into management consulting. They can travel the world, work on a broad range of assignments, get exposure to different industries, and interact with senior management in client organizations. But on the other hand, are they ready to become management consultants yet?


Consulting deliverables are not pre-defined unlike technical deliverables. For example, an engineering firm knows exactly what to do when a motor company asks them to manufacture steering assembly parts. However, when this motor company wants to improve their steering assembly, it would be difficult for them to respond because technologists think in terms of finite and familiar solutions. Their typical response would be to ask for more information from the client or put in a bid with a list of their past success stories and hope to win the contract.


A consulting firm on the other hand will take a solution development approach. As a first step, test their cars on different terrains, conduct a consumer satisfaction survey, study what steering technologies are available, and analyze the motor companyas strengths and weaknesses. As a second step come up with a set of options with cost benefit analysis and present it to the management. Finally, guide them on selecting the best option to create the final project plan.


How does one make a transition from a technologist to a management consultant? Getting an MBA will certainly help. After all, all leading consulting firms seem to prefer a combination of an engineering degree with an MBA. This is because Business Schools provide a foundation in business studies and cultivate analytical thinking through working on case studies and project work. Though in my opinion, it is not enough.


If you are considering a career in consulting, you should develop this analytical thinking ability with a passion. Interview process in consulting companies is quite heavily slated towards testing this ability. A method called hypothesis based issue analysis can help you strengthen this capability. Seasoned consultants literally live by this tool.


This tool allows a consultant to avoid the 'solution first' trap. To explain this, take the example of a good detective. Before she arrives at the murder scene, she will think of the motives. Who would want Mr Nanda dead? Did he have a large insurance policy? Did he have enemies? Was he in financial trouble? Or was it simply a petty thief who got caught in the act? The detective would create an exhaustive list of possibilities or hypothesis. Then she will arrive at the crime scene and systematically eliminate or validate each hypothesis on the basis of evidence or information she gets.


With hypothesis based issue analysis, a consultant does not fall prey to accept issues at face value. Issues can be symptoms or imaginary problems just like the detective who could have encountered decoys and misleading information. A good consultant always relies on his trusted hypothesis tool to get to the root cause of the issue.


The second area to develop is the ability to inspire confidence and develop a relationship of trust with clients. To do this consultants always go the extra mile. They deliver more than what they promised and delight the client. Consultants typically end up spending 20 pc to 30 pc more time over the official billing hours.


Consultants will always let the clients take the credit for success. Since good consultants always work with client teams, this is not that much of an anomaly. When Tata took over Corus, did anyone read anything about any consultants doing a great job in the newspapers? So whenever you see large M&A; deals, spin-off, IPO or when Apple launches their next cool product, think of the unsung heroes behind those successes. On the flip side this is how client-consultant relationships are built and repeat business starts to flow in.


Technologists are hired for their knowledge but consultants are hired for their ability to solve problems. Itas not what you know but its what you can figure out. Typically 80% of a consultantas time is researching, analyzing and determining root cause of issues. 20 pc of the time is then spent on developing a solution. Each consulting engagement situation is different; there are no cookie cutter approaches. Itas all down to thinking out of the box and being creative in developing solutions once the root cause is known.


Which brings us to the next tool in the consultantas toolbox known as 'frameworks'. Frameworks are structured methods to arrive at solutions. A good framework has two important qualities. The solution you develop using a framework should have 'client acceptance' and that it is 'viable and practical'. To best explain a framework lets go back to how the consultancy firm had taken a 'framework' approach to developing an improved steering assembly. If you go back and read the stepwise approach the consultancy used, they took into account the motor manufacturers limitations, strengths, and technology available to jointly arrive at the most optimum solution.


In job interviews, Consultancy firms will ask framework (or case interview) style questions to see how good you are at thinking out logical steps to arrive at your answer. A typical framework question might be aHow much rice is consumed in India per year?a A bad answer is a direct guess. A better answer is to start with the population of the country, then break it down per region, then estimate the age groups, then the eating habits, then household income, and finally make individual estimate per region, and income groups to aggregate the final answer. Thinking it out in small steps towards a final answer wins more points.


There are also well known generic frameworks. For example the BCG Growth Share matrix suitable to assess an organization for investment or divesture, McKinseyas 7S and Kaplanas Balanced Scorecard for improving organization effectiveness. In interview questions (and relevant to real live consulting engagement also) you may be asked to solve a case where the application of generic frameworks is appropriate.


For example, you could be asked how you can help a company analyze where to invest for growth. Here BCG Growth Share matrix may be quite appropriate but not always. It really depends on the situation data given to you. There are no rules or 'standard methods' in consulting. Itas a paradigm shift for professionals in India, particularly in the IT and ITeS industry where process is followed to the letter.

The best way to practice creative thinking skills in would be to work on live consultancy projects such as market research studies, competitive landscape analysis, consumer behavior data analysis through secondary and primary research. Most leading B-Schools have consulting societies. You can create one at your school if you do not already heave one. Enter into competitions hosted by leading Business Schools on writing business plans. If you can write winning 'go to market' strategies in your business plans then you are good at frameworks. The more creative and original your strategy, the more likely you are to succeed as a consultant.


Indian professional services landscape is set to see a big change in the next decade. To compete with other emerging economies such as China, Brazil, and Russia she will need to move from standard well-defined engineering and technical solutions to Research & Development, Program Management, and Management & Technical Advisory Services. All of which will require creative thinking, relationship development and problem solving skills. In other words, India will need lots of professionals with consulting skills.


Some recommend reading and references. The McKinsey Way by Ethan Rasiel, The Trusted Advisor by David Maister and Management Consulting by Sugata Biswas & Darryl Twitchell.


* Typical consulting billing rates are 3 to 5 times higher than

corresponding engineering roles. Rising costs in India from salaries

and infrastructure costs are forcing service providers to enter

consulting markets. The one big barrier today is lack of aconsulting

talenta in India.


Saibal Sen is the founder of ZENESYS, a professional services

training organization. ZENESYS has trained hundreds of engineers in

consulting skills at leading consulting organizations in India and

abroad. ZENESYS also runs distance workshops for consulting

certification. Saibal was formerly a management consultant at Arthur D.

Little and founder of KUBER consulting in Boston MA. He can be reached

at [email protected]



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Inaugural Address was given by Deepak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Talking about the Indian education system, he said aIndian parents concentrate on giving their children the best education. He cites this as the differentiating factor that will keep India aheada. Dr Seenu Srinivasan, Professor of Marketing, Stanford University gave the keynote address and discussed about a research paper he had worked on which dealt with customer priorities.

Zubin Mulla, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai and Venkat R Krishnan, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai presented a paper on the topic aTopic: Do Karma Yogis make better leaders? - Exploring the relationship between the Leaderas karma-yoga and transformational leadershipa. The paper validates James Macgregor Burnsa hypothesis that moral development is a critical qualification of transformational leaders. Sayantan Sen, a student of Great Lakes Institute of Management presented a paper on 'Environment, Business Strategy and Sustainable Competitive Advantage' which he co-authored with Prof. Joffi Thomas from IIM K.

Other papers presented during the event include:
1) Crisis as Capital & Capital as Crisis: The Entrepreneuras Post Meltdown Dilemma by Ashok Vasudevan, Preferred Brands International, USA
2) Winning Strategies for conquering the financial crisis of 2009 by Krishnan Dandapani, Florida International University
3) Win-Win Management: An Indic approach by Prem Saran, IAS, Government of Assam
4) Going green is a winning management strategy by Sivan Nathan
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Mr Gururaj Deshpande, Chairman, Sycamore Networks asked the graduates of today to be part of the resurrection process of the economic engine. Entrepreneurship, he said is the most challenging occupation that one can pursue but the rewards are incomparable. Mr GRK Reddy, MD, MARG and Chairman, CII, Chennai Zone emphasized on the potential of the youth of the nation. Dr MS Krishnan, Professor, Stephen and Ross School of Business, University of Michigan gave insights about the field of innovation. The New Age of Innovation consists of Connectivity, Digitalization, Convergence of different parts of technology and Social networks. Mr. Ravi Kant, CEO and MD TATA Motors shared his thoughts on means of responding to the global financial recession. Mr R Seshasayee, MD, Ashok Leyland pointed out that by sticking to the fundamentals the current financial crisis could have been avoided. Mr Sunil Rai, CEO, Mumbai Business School said that leaders should cooperate with each other to tide over challenging times.

Panel Discussion on the topic aCan India Grow while being a part of global economic system and overcome the current crisis or does it need insulationa included participants like Dr Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist Aditya Birla Group; Dr YV Reddy, former Governor RBI; MS Sundara Rajan, CMD, Indian Bank; and Dr Bala, founder and honorary dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management.

The fest also included other events for participants from B-schools and the corporates. The events included a B-Plan contest KAALTEET, a Marketing Strategy game for re-launching a failed product DVIJA, an operations Strategy Game KUMBHAKA and the Business Quiz JIGYA.SA. Prabhakaran SK from IIM K won Rs.70, 000 as the first prize for the B-Plan contest, while Shuchi Verma and Ravikant from IMT Ghaziabad won the Marketing Game. The operations strategy game was won by the team from IIT Bombay. The Business Quiz, was hosted by Mr Giri Balasubramaniam and was won by the team from Sun/Sanmar.
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The first lecture was given by Mr Veerendra K Jaitly, President,
AstroWix (USA) and founder dean of Jaypee University of
Information Technology. He talked
about how a successful project manager must simultaneously manage the
four basic elements of a project: resources, time, money, and scope.



Philosophy of Project Management was discussed by Mrs Seema Giri, Chief
Operating Officer, AstroWix. The next presentation was made by Ms
Rachna Vishnoi, and Mr Praveen Tiwari, both Engineers with CAD design
Specialization and have experience in delivering training to various
corporate clients like Larsen & torbro ltd, Punj Lloyd, GMR
Infrastructure etc. The session provided practical demonstration of the
tools used for Project Management Primavera 6.0.
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The Jury consisted of the Chief Economist of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG), the Editor of Business Today (BT), Publishing Director Business Today and CEO and Founder of Naukri.com. The competition got off to a start with the first semi final between IIFT- Delhi and IIM-Bangalore. The topic was aCut Prices, not Production in a Downturna. The second semi final between IIFT, Kolkata and SP Jain was debated on aVoluntary freeze is a good way to help your company fight slowdowna. IIM, Bangalore and S.P.Jain qualified for the national finals of BT Acumen 2008, and it was special because both the teams had qualified for the BT National Debate finals for the first time. Finally the team from SPJIMR emerged as winners.
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KK Pai, Chairman TAPMI, Dr Ramdas Pai, Chancellor Manipal University, Dr HS Ballal, Pro Chancellor, Manipal University, Dr Raj Warrier, Vice Chancellor, Manipal University, Dr H Shantaram, Trustee, TAPMI, Ashok Pai, Chairman, Manipal Cooperative Bank, Sathish Pai, MD and Gautam Pai, CEO, Manipal Press, H V Kamath, Secretary, Dr TMA Pai Foundation, MV Kamath, renowned journalist and Hon. Director Manipal Institute of Communication, Lt.Col. PS Shetti, Vice President, MEMG, MS Rajagopal, Chief Engineer, Sundaram Architects, VS Shanbhag, AGM, Syndicate Bank, Manipal, Pandu Kumar Shenoy, former AGM, Syndicate Bank, Mr Vishwanath, President, 80, Badagabettu Panchayat were present at the Pooja. Chairman, KK Pai thanked the representatives of MEMG, architects, contractors, equipment suppliers and presented Thambulam.

Dr AS Vasudev Rao, Director-In-Charge, TAPMI, welcomed the guests and briefed them about the campus project and the new infrastructure created. He informed that the institute has invested around Rs.60 crores to develop infrastructure and buildings having around 2, 50,000 sq.ft. area at the new campus. The campus will have Wi-Fi and internet facility. Looking at the future, R Radhakrishnan, President of TAPMI Student Body believes that the new campus would appeal to both future students and recruiters. For Sameer Mardekar, Convenor of TAPMIas Annual festival Atharva, the new campus presents an opportunity to conduct a global B-school festival.

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The Box allows villagers to make a call by simply pressing a button which will connect them to an operator at Open Mind. He can inquire about anything related to farming, trade, market, society, travelling, current affairs etc. and the operator will provide a suitable answer for the same by searching for relevant information over the internet.

The Indian representatives of OMF Dr Nikhil Agarwal, Ashish Thakur, Nishant Agarwal, Ravi Parasrampuria, Project Delivery Members from OMF, Students from EABS and members of local Zilla Parishad were present on the occasion. The Question Box was inaugurated by making a telephone call over it. The proceedings of the event were recorded by Mike Peterson, a documentary film director from the UK, for a documentary film to be aired on BBC and the American Network. More Question Boxes will soon be installed in other villages.
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As part of the initiative, Dr Prahalad will be travelling to Goa in the second week of January 2009 to speak at an event hosted by GIM on the theme aGlobal Restructuring of Industries. Is there an India Advantage?a. GIM has also invited Mr Anoop Madhok, Professor at the Schulich School of Business, York University to conduct lectures at the institute.

Mr Alan DaSouza, Director, GIM of the association said, aAs part of our value system at GIM, we emphasize on providing a good quality education to our students. We encourage students to view an MBA degree/diploma not merely as a passport to a well paid job, but as a first step towards a good future career. Remuneration should come as a byproduct of value delivered. Iam sure our association with committed individuals such as Dr CK Prahalad and Mr Anoop Madhok will add value to the institutea.

For additional information visit www.gim.ac.in
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Other competitions at Megabucksa09 include:

Markstrat, the Market Strategy Contest
CXO is a business simulation game involving business problems, environmental issues, and organisational resources that imitates reality through a back-end software application. It will place your team in charge of a company with resources such as stocks and cash. CXO is an exciting way to learn about management functions, business drivers, financial reports, products and markets, teamwork, and making decisions.

AdMad, the Ad Design Contest
AdMad, the Advertisement making Competition, has different categories of competition a PrintAd, PhotoAd, WebAd, RadioAd and TVAd. For all those looking to make a career in marketing, watch this space for details on internship opportunities with the advertisement agencies in the country which AdMad a09 will offer.

There are more such events during Megabucksa09 including a Reality Entrepreneurship Contest and a Business Quiz hosted by quizmaster Avinash Mudaliar. The registrations for hospitality are open. Log on to iitk.ac.in/megabucks for more details.
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aThe economic slowdown will affect MBA applications for foreign business schools as only candidates with work-experience apply to such programs. If pink slips are handed out then it is natural for people with work-experience to strive to do an MBA at B-schools abroad. In India, the scenario is not the same with fresh graduates constituting up to 85 percent of applications at a business school and I do not really believe that the economic slowdown has significantly contributed towards a spike in applications,a opines Professor JK Mitra, Head and Dean at Faculty of Management Studies - Delhi (FMS).

FMS, Delhi has interestingly enough with 75,604 applications recorded a rise of just over 14,000 applications for 2009-11 admissions while an increase of all of 21,000 was recorded for 2008-10 admissions. aFreshers usually work in sectors such as IT and IT enabled services before enrolling in an MBA program and some shrinking has happened in these sectors but nothing noteworthy as such. The recession may have had an impact on this yearas applications but that can be deduced only at the time of GD-PI when candidates will be asked about the options they had at their disposal before opting for an MBA. Intuitively speaking, I think about five percent of the 20 percent increase that we have recorded in admissions will be due to the recession. The remaining portion would be because of simplification of the application process with a provision of online payment being provided from last year onwards and an increase in awareness of the school,a Professor Mitra goes on to explain.

By November it was clear that the world was in the middle of a global economic slowdown. CAT 2008 was taken by over 2.75 lakh MBA aspirants. Applications for institutes such as Management Development Institute a Gurgaon (MDI) and International Management Institute a New Delhi (IMI) which accept CAT scores were open till November 15. TA Pai Management Institute a Manipal (TAPMI), FMS - Delhi and Institute of Management Technology a Ghaziabad (IMT) were MBA colleges that had application deadlines of December 1. aI appeared for CAT but do not think that I have scored enough to get admitted to an IIM. Apart from CAT I did not write any other MBA entrance test as I had thought that placement from IIT Delhi was guaranteed. By November, news of the economic slowdown had come through but I still thought that getting a campus placement from IIT would not be an issue. Placements here began on December 1 and I havenat got placed yet. There are five to ten people whom I know to be in exactly the same situation and we regret not having filled application forms for MBA. Placements have been very surprising with companies promising to recruit ten-fifteen students and eventually hiring about two or three people. A lot of us are trying for off-campus placements and have begun approaching companies for jobs,a says Ankit Gupta, a final year student at IIT Delhi. The gravity of the placement situation can be gauged from the fact that a world renowned company such as Schlumberger Limited recruited three students from the institute and then proceeded to revoke the offers.

Applications for 2009-11 admissions at TAPMI a Manipal have in fact witnessed a minor drop with respect to last year. The business school received 4,500 odd applications for the past two years but had recorded 7,500 applications for 2007-09 admissions. aThe last date for applying to TAPMI was after CAT and with coaching centers providing comprehensive analyses after the examination, students are in a much better position to judge the schools at which they stand a realistic chance of admissions and hence go about applications in a very systematic manner. Low marketing may have contributed to applications to TAPMI not increasing. Students also have not taken the recession seriously as the Indian economy has not yet been affected in major manner. Actually, MBAs are oblivious of the world around them till placements get affected!a said a member of the admissions committee at the institute.

IMI - Delhi has recorded an increase of 2,500 from admissions in previous years with 10,000 applications being received for 2009-11 admissions. aA big factor behind this is that for the first time we closed our admissions before CAT. Nowadays, with CAT analyses available soon after the examination, people know exactly how much they will be scoring vis-A -vis cut-offs at Indian business schools. We closed our admissions before CAT because we wished that more students apply to IMI. Also, a lot of ranking surveys have a parameter of number of applications per seat and a high number of applications is necessary to score well in this regard,a explains Dr CS Venkatratnam, Director a IMI.

IMT - Ghaziabad and Indian School of Business a Hyderabad (ISB) are two institutes which have reported increases of ten percent and 40 percent respectively wherein the rise in application numbers is also influenced to an extent by a larger intake of students from 2009 onwards. At IMT the number of seats across its branches in Ghaziabad, Nagpur and Dubai has increased by eleven percent while ISB plans to ramp up its seat intake from 440 to over 500 students if not 560 which is what the institute claims to be seat intake for which the business school was initially planned. Interestingly enough at MDI a Gurgaon, the number of seats has increased from 180 to 240 from 2009 onwards but there has not been a significant increase in applications. The institute has received 25,000 applications for 2009-11 admissions which is a marginal 2,000 higher than the applications received for the previous year. aThe reason behind this may be the fact that the last date to apply for MDI was a month or so earlier. It is also possible that since we have a relatively high cut-off requirement for admissions, the application number for MDI has stabilized,a comments Professor Subir Verma, Chairman a Post Graduate Program in Management at the institute.

aThe number of students appearing for SNAP this year is 1,10,000. This is an increase of 20,000 from last year and in my opinion, this is an expected increase and not a significant number. As for whether the economic slowdown has impacted applications, that can be inferred only when the applicant pool is analysed and quality of students determined. Personally speaking, I do not expect any drastic change in admissions for this year,a says Professor KS Subramanian, Director a Symbiosis Center for Management and Human Resources Development a Pune (SCMHRD).

A spokesperson at Ma Foi Management Consultants commented, aIndustry pundits as well as HR professionals feel that each and every industry vertical has been severely hit because of the economic slowdown. Students graduating from business school in 2009 will definitely have a tough situation at hand. The scenario will get much better in the next four-six months and drastically improve in two-three years from now. This is the best time to apply for admissions at a B-school. With the job market the way it is, people are not looking for jobs and hence they should certainly go ahead with their plans for MBA, enroll at a B-school, forget about placements for now and focus on the course curriculum at hand.a

The 2008-10 batch of students at top Indian B-schools such as IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Calcutta consists of an overwhelming 90 percent engineers. With placements at the IITs being severely affected and a lot of engineers not having planned for an MBA and relying on plum placements from IITs, how should the cream undergraduate talent of the country handle the situation? aThe economic slowdown has resulted in lesser number of companies visiting campus and making lesser offers. Also, a smaller number of finance and consulting companies has taken part in recruitments and hired fewer students. The scene is dull as far as placements is concerned, on campus and off-campus. Notwithstanding this, it may be worthwhile for a student to take up a job rather than spend a year exclusively for CAT preparation and have a yearas gap in the resume. The placement process is slow this year and while it usually winds up in February, this year it may extend to March or April,a commented Lt Col (Retd) Jayakumar, Deputy Registrar - Training, Placement & Public Relations Office at IIT Madras.

aThis is not the year to make deductions. Even if changes are identified, they may not be the arighta changes. Next yearas admissions will make a lot of issues clearer. I look upon the slowdown in a positive light and firmly believe that some level of self-correction was required in the system,a concludes Professor Subramanian of SCMHRD, Pune.

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Himanshu Aggarwal, event coordinator for 'Call for Arms' said, aThe major source of information for aspirants aiming to join an MBA are B-school rankings provided by various sources, but more often than not these rankings donat show the true picture. Call for Arms is designed to test the aptitude, skill and application of students from across B-schools and decide on the best B-school based on pure merit.a


The event 'The Next CEO' with a first prize of INR 1.5 lakhs is aimed at testing the skills of individuals in a scenario which would depict the real life settings in an organization. Manfest has also launched its first Social initiative for the year 'Prerna a The Social awards'. The awards are a means of identifying substantial work being done in the field of CSR and sustainable development. For more details visit www.iimlmanfest.com

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Prof Sriram, Executive Director, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai started off by welcoming one and all to the International Marketing Conference. He pointed out that Great Lakes wanted to position itself as a marketing school and 'customer centricity' was its theme. Dr Bala Balachandran, Honorary Dean and Founder, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai talked about the decision that he had to make when he started his pet project Great Lakes. He wanted Great Lakes to be known as a center of excellence in a functional area of management.

Dr Xavier, Professor of Marketing, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai began his talk by saying that it was an honor to be made the recipient of the Kotler Srinivasan Center for Marketing chairship. Marketing in India was not as evolved as in the US. He outlined his plans to develop a marketing portal which would allow people to interact with people like Dr Seenu and Dr Phillip Kotler. Dr Seenu Srinivasan, Professor of Marketing, Conference Organizer, Stanford University talked about the fact that the conference delegates had come from mostly the US, Canada as well as Australia and other parts of the world and that this conference had created a community of marketing professors who could take marketing to the next level in India.

Dr Dipak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management talked about his days at Tejpur, Assam at a time when India was backward and it took a long time to for letters to reach abroad as well as secure scholarships for post graduate programs. He talked about his academic journey. He talked about the fact that Kellogg was known for Marketing and had managed to establish itself as a brand which he said was lacking with the Indian B Schools. He also talked about the opportunity for Great Lakes to create a marketing brand in India. He said that it was important to take risks and do cutting edge research and to be known for creating something new and revolutionary. The challenge ahead of you is never tougher than the force behind you.
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The team faced tough competition, especially from Prashanth Sampath and Sandeep Mathew Olickal from IIT Mumbai, who earned the highest points at the Bourse Game. The closed-door segment required the teams to work in a simulated environment and deal with the forex market and money market instruments. Conducted by Mr Ashish Gupta a Structuring, Citi, the participants were guided to work out winning solutions in the face of real markets developments and fears.

The next round of the debate was judged by Ms Debopama Sen and Mr Ashish Bajaj of Citi, l Shivkumar of ICRA, and Parikshit Suri from Jones Lang La Salle Meghraj. They appreciated each teamas effort as they displayed admirable critical thinking and reasoning abilities as well as communicating skills when speaking on topics related to the Indian economy, terrorism, etc. The Quiz was hosted by quiz master Andrew Scolt from Derek OaBrien & Associates.
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The exhibition was organized by i-focus, the photography club of IBS-Mumbai, under the chief mentorship of Prof. YK Bhushan, Senior Advisor & Campus Head of IBS-Mumbai. The pictures captured the melancholy of the 26/11 attacks and the spirit of Mumbai.

The competition was judged for the best photographer, the best photograph and the best team by Mr Asad Tungekar, CEO of Samaroh Event Management Pvt. Ltd.; Ms Aditi Kelkar, Direct Marketing Associate with Times of India; Prof Rita Rangnekar, Soft Skills Faculty and Course Co-ordinator at IBS Mumbai and Prof V Rajini, Soft Skills Faculty and Language Lab Trainer at IBS Mumbai. The best photographer for the season was awarded to Sujaynanda Das, the first runners up were Surbhi Pratap; the best photograph was awarded to Dhwani Turakia and best team was awarded to Reflex.
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1) Professor John Summey, University of Illinois (USA)
2) Professor Ramendra Thakur, University of Lousiana (USA)
3) Mrs Sonu Pant, CRM Consultant
4) Mr Arun Srivastava, VP Airtel

The various sessions to be held during the seminar are:
1) The employment of CRM strategy in industry in Global corporations
2) Raising wallet share through Relationships in Western Markets
3) CRM in Auto and Pharma industry in India
4) Retention strategies in Indian Telecom Industry
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With the regime of low interest rates, rapid economic growth, easy leverage and rising portfolio company valuations ceasing to exist, tough economic times lie ahead. The market sentiments are at an all time low and this crisis of investor confidence has forced capital markets to come face to face with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. This entire economic conundrum is going to have far reaching implications for the private equity and the venture capital industry. The summit will take a closer look at these implications by focusing on the central theme. The entire VC & PE sector will be analyzed not only from the investorsa perspective but also from the perspective of different industries that benefit from the financing and guidance provided by the VC & PE sector. Special emphasis will be laid on seeing the impact and effectiveness of the VC & PE sector in emerging economies like India, especially in the light of the current credit squeeze. Questions like whether PEs are all about financial engineering or do they create value in the portfolio companies and does the current scenario warrant a paradigm shift in the way the PE and VC firms will function, will be discussed.

A highlight of Leverage 2009 will be the B-Plan showcase which is being organized in association with Epiphany Ventures. Epiphany Ventures is a Sector Agnostic Fund, with a size of $25 Million. The Fund will focus on early stage investments, but is also looking at investing in later stages if the opportunity is suitable. Mr Gaurav Saraf is the Director of the Fund and Mr Rishi Khosla is the advisor for the Fund. Entries will go through an evaluation process after which the top 10 teams will be invited to present their plans to industry experts, academicians and investors.

Leverage 2009 is guided by an advisory committee, which includes the following members:

a Prof. Ajay Pandey a Professor of Finance at IIM-A and Chairperson of the Post Graduate Program in Management. He is also the chief advisor to Leverage 2009.

a Prof. Jayanth R. Varma a Professor, IIMA. Director on board of Infosys BPO, Axis Bank Limited, Onmobile Global Ltd.

a Prof. Anil K. Gupta a Executive Vice-Chair of National Innovation Foundation set up by Dept. of Science and Technology, GoI.

a Sandeep Singhal - Nexus India Capital a Apart from Nexus, Sandeep is also the co-founder and Managing Director of eVentures, a Venture Capital firm focused on early stage investments in India since 1999.