And the Saga continues… Team Gyaana in the finals of Bzzwings at Vista ’07, IIMB

Saurabh Shukla, Souma Kanti Paul and Sidharth Shyamshukha of team ‘Gyaana’ have been short listed for the ‘B-Plan Contest-Bzzwings’ at Vista’07, IIMB. Bzzwings is an open theme business plan contest; an event where wannabe entrepreneurs can make their future. The team Gyaana has proposed a Media and Entertainment plan with a flavour of Social responsibility.

In addition to the prize money, Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning (NSRCEL) at IIMB would be offering incubation for the winner and direct entry to the second round of the II-tier incubation selection process to the runners-up.

Go and Get it guys..!! We would be waiting eagerly for the first entrepreneurship venture from the class of PGDSM-MIT (07-09).

Finals: 13th October 2007
Time: 9.30 AM – 2.30 PM
Venue: IIM Bangalore
Other teams in the fray: ISB, IIMB, IIMI, IIMC, Early Stage Entrepreneurs, VGSOM IIT Kgp
Event details: http://www.iimb-vista.com/bzzwings.html

Saurabh Shukla in the finals of Spandan'07 at IMI Delhi:

Spandan is a foundation for Human Values for Management and Society at International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi. Saurabh would be presenting a paper on- “If I were to teach Human Values”.

The aim of this contest is to sensitize the prospective professionals on the role of human values in work situations as part of work ethic and culture, and as an instrument for enhancing organizational excellence so that they are able to contribute in evolving value-based organizations and professions.

Way to go dude..!!

Finals: 3rd Oct. 2007
Time: 2:30 PM onwards
Venue: IMI, Delhi
Event details: http://www.coolavenues.com/bschools/060911/imi_spandan_1.php

FMS Delhi conquered: Roopak and Varsha win grand finale !!

Another feather in the crown, Roopak Nair (PGDSM-MIT) and Varsha Krishnan (PGDM) of team “Achievers” have won the paper presentation contest “eRetailing: Is India ready for it?" held at FMS, Delhi. The event was a part of the ClickIT conclave conducted by the SYNOPSYS Society of FMS. There were over 130 entries received from B-schools all over India out of which only 5 teams made it though to the finals. The finalists were from IIM A, IIM K, IIT Chennai, IIT Delhi and SPJIMR setting the stage for a tough competition.

e-Retailing is one of the fastest growing segments of the global economy and the second-largest in the US both in terms of establishments and employees with estimates that e-Retail will grow at 10-20 % CAGR over the next few years. The sector has seen a huge surge in demand in e-ticketing, books, music, etc. But still a lot remains to be done in various sectors like Education, Legal Services, etc. which offer good opportunities for e-Retailing of services. The paper needed to address the best suitable e-Retailing model tuned to Indian environment.



The entire event was very enticing with the team from IIM A and IIM B focussing on supply chain models and the future of e-Retailing in India. The team from IIT Delhi spoke about how post offices could be used as web-kiosks to enable e-retailing. IIT Chennai focussed on the different aspects of e-retailing. Team Achievers, Roopak and Varsha covered the holistic perspective of e-retailing in India from all aspects like organisation, environment, technology, kirana stores and customers.

It did not take the esteemed panel of judge much ado to notice team “Achievers” brilliant delivery and superior quality of content. The victory announcement was so exciting that when the judges asked the audience who the winners would be, the only voice that came out from the crowd was “SP Jain…SP Jain…SP Jain”. Team “Achievers” received a whooping twelve thousand INR in cash prize.

To add to the win one of the judges, Mr.Manish Agarwal, VP marketing, Rediff was so impressed with what team “Achievers” had to present that he asked the team for their presentation and was interested in going for further research projects and internships in this area.

Kudos Roopak and Varsha :)

Cognitive Networking indeed..!

All good things have to come to an end someday and so was the case with our very first spree with the Doctor, research scientist, professor and world-renowned expert in Wireless communication and Cognitive networks, Dr. Luiz DaSilva. Technically speaking the sessions have come to an end but the learning has just started. The wonderful man from Brazil-the land of culture and football, not only taught us wireless communications but gave us sneak peeks into football culture. I bet he would have loved the FIFA tournament organized the day before yesterday! Legacy speaks for itself…

We had the wonderful opportunity to share his opinions about the much debated topics in the Indian educational front. In a 45 minutes interview, he spoke of the similarity between Indian and Brazilian culture. He loved the warmth and hospitality with which Indians accept a foreigner into their system. On the contrary, he said that Americans have a professional in their demeanor and approach.

He believes that Indian market is in a much coveted dimension and is a sure shot destination for many around the globe. He loved the fact that Virginia Tech, as always, was one of the few to identify this activity and associated itself with SPJIMR four years ago. He visualizes the job market in America to be in bleak position, hard-hit by off-shoring. However, he is extremely optimistic about the job market in US for Indians who are professionally qualified. He is particularly positive about the prospects for people specializing in areas of business development and systems management.

His love for teaching and passion to share knowledge was what propelled him to quit a senior level management position with IBM and pursue research.

It was a wonderful session wherein the professor shared his opinions with us on a plethora of topics including Buffalo networks (a sensors project he is working on), Cognitive networks and economic game theory (we believe we got a sneak peek into his next paper to be presented in the IEEE conference J ), his love for Zico, his tete-a-tete with potato pancakes (masala dosa), his dislike for Britney Spears and finally his experience with us over the 5 days!!

Prof. Luiz left for Canada loaded with pictures, heated discussions on football and a pending game as well, souvenirs in the form of an ethnic wall painting and eager students ready to shoot off mails with numerous doubts!!

Cheers,
Avdhut & Prathibha

Un Dos Tres…

With a hugely soccer crazy junta at SP Jain, the ‘FIFA 2007 Online Gaming Contest’ organised by the Sports Committee generated a great deal of excitement. Spread over a week with a gruelling preliminary round, the finalists Aishi Dipta Lahiri and Rajninath fought it out at Dome 3 in the ‘Clash of the Titans’! Doing PGDSM-MIT proud, Aishi walked away with the top honours in a keenly contested game.

In the prelims, contestants were divided into 4 groups each of 4 people. The top 2 from each group made it to the next round. It was then up to the 8 quarter finalists to prove their mettle in order to enter the semis. On the way to the finals, Aishi met Dhruv in the quarters (8-4)and got a walk over in the semis from Shailesh who had an equally great run till the semis.

Large screen, incredible sound, two competent players, and an equally enthu audience set the stage for an electrifying finals. The scores at the end of the game read ‘5-1’ at home and ‘5-4’ away in Aishi’s favour.

Way to go Aishi!! :)
And Kudos to Sports com for coming out with an innovative game and holding it in the true SP Jain isshtyle.. :)

Cheers,
Manisha & Aparna

Gurgaon Post

1780 kms...covered in 2 hours 40 minutes…jet lite helped me in the endeavor :-) Reached delhi at 4.45 pm. Delhi gave a warm welcome. At 35 deg Celsius, it couldn’t be warmer! Took a pre-paid taxi for DLF phase 3..300 bucks. A black thing that used to be a maruti 800 in its hey days comes to a screeching halt in front of me. The kid driver (donno whether he was above 18) came out, got busy n hurled my luggage into the backseat. He had a ‘navigator’ cum his Man Friday in the front seat. Off we go. In under 30 minutes, we are in the midst of a caravan of beautiful, well built buildings. A caravan..except that they don’t move. Neither does the traffic in front of them.. in peak time, that is. Got treated to dust therapy. Fished out pg acco contacts that Saurabh had sent. Started calling up..The voice of the land lady says that the acco is in phase 2. Took the taxi till there and then bid adieu to him. The caretaker of the acco took me around the building. I thought I could do with a better option.

Quite an adventure to have 4 pieces of luggage on your shoulders and hoping to find some shelter. Took a cycle rickshaw (‘risk’shaw, actually). Next stop – Sahara mall. Sahara, City Centre, Metropolitan malls are all in a huddle..Kamall hain yaar! Itz almost as if the city police want to get all the traffic to same place and then catch some 'wanted' criminals..Good good. Got a call from Tarun..he gave me the address of his acco where there was a vacancy. Saviour! Took an auto rick…played merry-go-round in sectors 23,22,21..and finally reached the house. Nice place plus apna Tarun in the same building. Settled down. Had great dinner. Slept like a log.

Good morning Gurgaon! 2 paranthas + 1 katori curd + butter + chai for breakfast. From zero breakfast in Mumbai to this + that + one more that in gurgaon..its a good life. The cycle riskshaw will now balance better as I gain weight. Sector 21 to Shankar chowk. I give 100 bucks. No change. None of the road side hawkers gives any change. Plan b..bought a banana. Now comes a khool sales model. He does not have change for most denominations…and there is ‘something’ to give away for every denomination instead of cash. If he does not have 50 paisa..1 mentos. Does not have 1 rupee..2 mentos. 2 rupees…4 mentos. Some learning here! In coupla months I would have collected enough mentos to set up a shop in Manesar or Kancheepuram. Perfetti! Btw, check out mentoshelpline.com

Shankar chowk to Sahara mall. Auto? He says he will take me to IFFCO chowk which is ‘near’ the mall. This..for 5 bucks only! Bulk breaking anyone? Zillions of companies line up the sides of the highway. Indiabulls to multinational bulls..they are all here! Met up a chap in the rick…who is working with Denisco. Started talking about 3PL.. Now, this auto rick is no laila from rgv’s aag. It is a more-space (wid due respect..Logan kinda more space) auto rick. 4 passengers outside..facing outside, that is. 8 in the middle and 4 on the driver’s seat! It is difficult to figure out who among the 4 is actually driving the rick. After 10 minutes..I kinda figured it out. Yes! It is the guy who turns back every 10 seconds! The other 3 are too scared to move and keep their eyes on the road :-)

Saw a hotel board that offered ‘Madhu’ Vada at 5 bucks..hehe.. Soft data, u know. I guess this place has great potential for goggles and sun screen lotion. It is still underserved. Very sunny! A hoarding here is heralding the onset of India’s first jus-for-women radio station. And hold your breath…itz called Meow 104.8 FM!! Thppbt!

Cheers,
Ganga

First Impressions! :)

What happens when two creative minds set out to make a mark in an ad workshop with the country’s best competing for the crown?? Adrenaline rushes.. Tons of ideas spring out.. Sparks fly.. Many a whacky fundas are explored and designs created!

MARKSFETE’07, NITIE Ad workshop case: Colgate Maxfresh has a 10% market share in the freshness segment of toothpastes. The market leader in freshness segment is Close-up (70%). Colgate Maxfresh wants to enhance the market segment to 20% and reposition the brand from the freshness segment into a different segment. The participants were also asked to make ads to market the same.

This being the problem statement, Team ‘Pratham’ from PGDSM-MIT comprising of the ever calm and never faltering Nishant and suave and creative beyond bounds Rajat was indeed the perfect marketing mix!

With a primary research of asking different questions related the brands which focussed on stain-free and freshness segment brands to 54 people which revealed that in the freshness segment, Close-up was the popular brand and Colgate was more popular in the Stain-free teeth segment. With this as background, team ‘Pratham’ proposed a marketing strategy for Colgate with ‘stain-free freshness’ as the tagline.

The distinguished judges for the event were Executive Director, Rediffusion; Vice President of HR, Rediffusion; Vice President of Creativity, Rediffusion; Head of the department of Marketing, NITIE and two Asst. Professors, Marketing, NITIE.

Fundoo financials from the team from ISB, MICA exploring marketing concepts left, right and centre, NITIE coming up with a creative two tube concept coupled with complex numerical analysis, JBIMS pitching in with mother-kid concept for marketing, VGSOM with its naughty freshness – none of it could do the trick that PGDSM-MIghTians could do! :)


The team from SCMHRD which stood second had ‘loose control’ as its punch-line and a smashing ppt. Their concept was interesting in many ways and revolved around rural youth.

While the remaining 6 teams had come out with graphic and print ads, ‘Pratham’, with a terrific billboard ad and a short video ad rocked the show! The judges were so impressed not just by the uniqueness of the campaign but also by the brilliant strategy that ‘Pratham’ proposed, that they recommended the ad to be sent to Cannes festival. The team faced a gruelling Q and A session and came out with flying colours.

Needless to say, ‘Pratham’ stood first (PRATHAM, in fact!) in the competition and proved that creativity can create fresh ripples in any segment of people… :)

The team came back home with cash prize of Rs.6000, only to realise that their party to the rest of the class would by far be heavier on their pockets! :D

Virginia Tech Contact Session - Dr. Thomas T. Sheehan

It is indeed a great pleasure for us to extend a warm welcome to Dr. Thomas T. Sheehan.

Dr. Sheehan, the Director of “Master of Information Technology” Program, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia will be here along with us from September 10th to September 14th 2007. He would be teaching “Systems Approach to Business Modelling” to the participants of PGDSM-MIT04.

His presence will indeed be a great opportunity for all participants of SPJIMR to interact and gain insight into his areas of expertise.

To sir, with love

September 5th, yet another day in yet another year, but the zeal and enthusiasm to thank the teachers comes up with a renewed vigour and straight from the heart. So it did at SPJIMR. It was 4 ‘o’ clock in the evening and all the participants were ready to give the teachers their greatest gift – show them their gratitude. The students of all the programmes were united in their efforts to come up with a plethora of programmes for the momentous evening.

The evening kicked off with a surprise quiz for the teachers, which was modelled in the same way as done while facilitating the learning of the participants. The results of the same were announced at the end of the programme. Of course this was to start the occasion on a lighter note.

The celebration started with the invocation of a prayer – “Tumhe ho matha, pitha tumhe ho….” by one of the student participants. The teachers were immediately presented with an innovative song – “Munna sikhaye, tumhe teacher ka funda…” by two other students, imitating Munna and Circuit of Munnabhai fame, the content of which included various managerial terms like Porter’s strategy in a hilarious fashion. It was followed by gazals and instrumentals performed by a few students, who kept the audience in rapt attention.

The innovations of the student participants knew no bounds. They came up with myriad entertaining shaayaris, the best ones being those made with the names of SPJIMR’s teachers. May be for the first time many people noticed that the names of the teachers really had wonderful meanings. One another student came up with a beautiful English poem exhibiting the importance of teachers in one’ life and the reverence the student community shared with them.

What’s teachers’ day if there is no place to showcase their talents? A small game was organised for the teachers that offered the student participants to witness the innovative and the lighter side of their gurus. It rained brilliant performances by the teachers – a few sang, a few came up with some activities as they were requested to do so and several others. With each performance they reiterated the fact that teaching keeps one young and all their performances matched the best of those hard practised performances given by the student participants.

All that begins well ends well. But the student- teacher occasion is here to stay forever. The programme ended on a touching note with a video made by participants of PGDSM-MIT. The message was stark - “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops”. Clearly, the video stole the show with the hall resounding with a standing ovation.

The programme ended with a fitting prayer, dedicated to the teachers, delivered by all the student participants in the auditorium.

Guru Bramha Guru Vishnu Guru Devo Maheshwara
Guru Sakshaat Param Bramha Tasmai Shri Guruve Namah!

Cheers!
Ashwin

Invisible angels - a poem dedicated to teachers

INVISIBLE ANGELS
- Prathibha Ryali( PGDSM-MIT04), SPJIMR

Warmth to qualms
Canopy to cliff
Life is never easy
When you make a necessary shift
So said my mom
To my tear-singed eyes
Why was school necessary,
Wasn’t home nice?
For all the tottering alphabets learnt
Unbound plethora of
Questions churned
For every drop of hesitation,
Every hint of fear,
The assuring touch
So warm and dear
But now unleashed into the jungle called school
Eyes would pry,
Sarcasm would drool
No guiding hand when I falter
Oh god why this transition from mom to teacher?
And that night I did dream
Of a wonderful lady
and her teacher’s glory
Said she
"I had a little girl too"
"Was she you daughter?" I whispered
"Does it make a difference?
I was her teacher!”
Bated breath and eyes wide
I stared her in surprise
"I taught her not history nor mathematics
And not any ambitious career plans
Nor a peek into textbooks
But held her hand
To take her through the fantasies of the never never land
Help unleash the great potential hidden within you
Patiently guide the endless experiments new
Every stumble every failure pains
Unbound joys are every single student’s gains
Teaching you to live together
Teaching you strive for better
It is only then
That you grow to become mature men and women
And then we see you smile from those once questioning eyes
Nurtured to be smart, astute and wise
You may go far and wide
But between us there is never a divide
You will always keep coming back to me
For sharing, happiness, advice and grief
And then one day you bring your little one and place her in my hands
I once again mould her with the magic wand
And bubble up with the immense pride
For the success of every one of the thousands of kids
who in my heart reside
A mother to numerous little angels in disguise
Incomparable is the teacher’s paradise”
No more were qualms and worries
But only pelting glee
I got to up to go to school
a world of faith beckoning me.

Making a Mark!

With several B Schools rolling out their business events it wasn’t much of a surprise that PGDSM MIT participants made their presence felt by qualifying for the finals in several of them.

Team Pratham in the finals of Marksfete ’07,Nitie:
Nishant Pradhan and Rajat Chowdhary of team ‘Pratham’ have been shortlisted for the ‘Ad workshop Case’ at Marksfete’07, NITIE. The teams were required to prepare an advertisement for “Colgate Max Fresh Gel” based on a set of positioning strategies given to them. The finalist teams are now required to design communications and answer questions related to their advertising strategies to the panel of judges.

Finals: 8th September 2007
Time: 2.30 PM – 5.30 PM
Venue: NITIE Auditorium
Other teams in the fray: VGSOM, MICA, SCMHRD, JBIMS, NITIE, ISB
Event details:
http://www.nitie.edu/marksfete/index1.htm

Pratibha Ryali in the finals of Anveshan at Manthan ’07,TISS:
Anveshan is a platform that provides an opportunity to test one's personality orientation and managerial competencies. Anveshan, is conducted in two stages. In the first stage candidates have been shortlisted on the basis of their responses to a set of questions. In the final stage, short-listed candidates will go through simulations and situational exercises. Professional experts in the field would be the assessors judging contestants and zoom in on the best amongst equals. Finals: 6th September 2007
Time: 9.00 AM – 7.00 PM
Venue: TISS
Other teams in the fray: IIMA, ISB, IIMC, SPJIMR, IMT Ghaziabad
Event details:
http://www.tisshrmlr.com/page.php5?man07_anveshan

Team Chanakya in the finals of Spardha, NITIE
Kartik Chandrasekharan, Sidharth Shyamsukha, Arunav Roy and Amit Holey of Team Chanakya have qualified in the event ‘Spardha’ conducted by NITIE. The qualifying round of Spardha was an online business game designed to test the mettle of participants in a typical business scenario. The event evinced great interest from B Schools across the country with a whooping 111 entries.The grand finale will be held on October 14, 2007.
Other teams in the fray: NMIMS, IIML, NITIE, TAPMI, XIMB and K.J Somaiya.
Event details:
http://rcas.co.in/spardha/

Wishing all the teams the very best for the finals :)

"Paricharcha" - Knowledge is Power!

Knowledge is power - And what better way to attain it than gaining knowledge from your own peers."Paricharcha" a current affairs discussion forum hopes to achieve just that!

Started by the ITEA committee members the core concept of Paricharcha is "Peer Learning" and keeping ourselves updated with all happenings around us from all dimensions of life...

Participants were asked to come prepared with prior reading of topics to enable a more fruitful discussion. The topics for this week were "Sub Prime Crisis - Challenges of globalization?", "123, US-India Civilian Nuclear Deal” and "Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Gas Pricing Issue ". A participant with superior knowledge on the topic is asked to be the moderator who starts the discussion by giving a brief overview.

Right from the word go Paricharcha evinced great interest and active participation from the batch which saw in it a unique opportunity to share their views and gather information. Most often reading articles in the newspaper gives an overview of the latest happenings but falls short of creating an opinion. By actively debating on these topics, this gap can be fulfilled.

The fantastic response has motivated the committee members to have this discussion on a weekly basis with topics ranging from Sports to Politics; Finance to Marketing and Systems.

The best is yet to come :)

Cheers,
Sidharth and Manisha

ADMAP – Learning with a New Perspective

Prof Parimal Merchant, a respected faculty at SPJIMR, Mumbai is widely renowned for his innovative initiatives. Enriched with Twenty-four years experience in industry, consultancy and capital markets, he comes across as a person who is not bigoted to the orthodox theories of management. We had a chance to taste the flavour of his style of pedagogy just after the completion of our first term. As a co-ordinator of ADMAP (Assessment and Development of Managerial Aptitude & Potential), which in itself is a unique initiative at SPJIMR, he addressed us on the “Traits of a Leader”.

To everyone’s surprise, he started the talk by ridiculing MBA as a degree. He challenged everyone to come up with a valid and convincing reason to do an MBA. He countered the explanations given by the startled participants with aplomb. Gradually, he builded the platform to explain the true essence of a management degree and bought forward the unique pedagogy of SPJIMR’s ADMAP program.

He urged the participants not to take this course just as a mean to good placements, but to imbibe the true essence of management. He elaborated on the philosophy of this course by asking us to develop and inculcate qualities which will ensure their success in today’s era of cut-throat competition. He mentioned eleven traits of a true leader based on various findings and research which are mentioned underneath:

• Hard work
• Analytical ability
• Initiative
• Attention to details
• Leadership
• Entrepreneurship
• Influencing without power
• Perseverance
• Team skill
• Value for values
• Persuasiveness

The session ended with a movie on Aditya Vikram Birla, former chairman of the Aditya Birla Group. Aditya Birla was a great visionary who himself set out a bold, uncharted path that proved that Indian businessmen are second to none when it comes to creativity and adventure. We could clearly identify all the above traits in him.

Finally, when the session got over, everyone was bubbling with enthusiasm and energy of new found wisdom. We realised the rich heritage we are part of and experienced the truly unique approach of learning, tutored only at SPJIMR.

Cheers..

Saurabh Shukla