4th SIMSR-Asia International Marketing Conference

The 4th SIMSR-Asia International Marketing Conference took place in the premises of KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai on the 4th and 5th of January. Eminent academic personalities from around the world, and also from India, came and participated in this mega international paper presentation conference. The broad categories of topics for paper presentation included such diverse management disciplines like General Marketing, Brand Management, Retail, General and Consumer Behavior. For the past three years this conference has been bringing together some of the best minds from across the globe in the field of management. This year was no different. Excellent papers were presented and a wealth of ideas was discussed through the course of 2 days.
The event was inaugurated by Mr. AD Sawant, Pro VC of University of Mumbai and the paper presentations ensued thereafter simultaneously in four different classrooms. The presenters featured academicians from famous Indian institutes like University of Mumbai, SIMSR, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi, Vinod Gupta School of Management (management wing of IIT Kharagpur), Welingkar’s, NMIMS and many more. Also, there were management academicians from institutes of Mauritius (University of Mauritius Reduit) USA (Siena College Loundonville, Angelo State University, San Angelo) Denmark (University of Southern Denmark), France (Ceram Business School, Sophia-Antipolis) and Oman (College of Applied Sciences, Ibri Ministry of Higher Education, Sultanate of Oman). The event also featured corporate personalities like Wockhardt Hospitals MD Mr. Anil Kamath, LOOT India MD and Chairman Mr. Jay Gupta, DraftFCB + Ulka CEO Mr. M.G. Parameswaran and many more. The audience involved students from SIMSR and other institutes who immensely benefitted from the wealth of knowledge being discussed.
The discussed and presented topics encompassed a gamut of issues like Employee Engagement among Sales Professionals, Medical Tourism, Religious Factors and Consumer Behavior and much more. While some of the issues highlighted the Indian context, a few others touched on international flavors like Niche Market Strategies in SMEs in Mauritius. This fusion of ideas gave the event a truly global and relevant perspective.
The conference was finally rounded off on Monday (5th January) after one and half days of presentation and knowledge sharing.

Samavesh 08

Samavesh 2008 was schuled for 11th, 12th and 13th December with array of Speakers who had done exceptionally well in their in life and also are seen to be an inspiration by many in the society. Samavesh was divided into various sessions and each session was dedicated toa particular topic for discussion.

The event began with the lighenting of the lam by our esteemed Director General, Prof. P.V. Narasimham. Mr. O P Mishra, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU was the key note speaker and gave some insights on the market scenario. 

Session 1: Human Equations
Topic : Employee Engagement - Challenges in Current Scenario.

The event started with an address from Santosh Dixit, Senior Consultant, Watson Wyatt, S K Dutt, Head Group HR & Admin., ABG and Dr. Uday Lajmi, Dean Mgmt Education Training and Development, REMI. The theme of Human Equations was Employee Engagement and Emnerging Issues and Challenges in HR. 

The next module of the event consisted of Mimansa- the case study contest which witnessed participation from all over the country. The judges for Mimansa were - Mr. Raj Dubey, Chief Training and Development Manager IOCL, Ms. Falguni Thakkar, CEO, Ensamble, Mr. Suhas C Biswas, Bhatia Shipping. The winners of the event were Ms. Rashi Sharan and Ms. Shirley Aranha from SIMSR, while Mr Manuj Bansal and Mr. Rohit Kataria from NITIE emerged as runners up.

Session 2: Entrepreneurship

The Event started with a Bang, as Mr. Rajeev Samant, Sula Wines started with his story as to how he became a successful entrepreneur. He had completed his graduation from Stanford University and then he was working in Oracle Corporation.
Then after working there for two years he returned back to India – Nashik and bought a huge grape plantations => wineries in Nasik, itself. 
It took him two years to get a license. Till then he arranged for finance, plantation preparation, etc. As a result there was just 4-5months time lag. The company was named after Mr.Sawant’s mother.
In the 1st year the company sold sold 4000 cases and the production increased to 3 million bottles in 2007-08.
As of now it is the Biggest premium wine company in India.
The company has 40 wineries in Nashik and around 250 employee. They export to 15 countries – US, UK, France, etc
Took a big risk when he left US, but it paid off well and now India is the fastest growing wine market.

The next module was a panel discussion on Challenges for Entrepreneurs which was followed by question and answers. Below is a excerpt from the same.

“In the economic downturn, how do entrepreneurs handle different aspects of building organizations?”
I] How is this downturn different from the previous one?
1It is Integrated economic environment and countries like India, China etc also impacted but not to that extent
2.This time, downturn was driven by poor spending habits
.3.Impact is higher when you bump into a speed breaker while running at a faster speed.

Remedy – cut down our earnings for the betterment of the society.
II] Any specific characteristic of the downturn that affected any particular sector or company (of the panelist)?
Very nice opportunities for start-ups as job losses are high, Customer are facing problems as they require Faster response time and on top of it, this is bad time for Venture Capitalists due to fall in stock market.

III] Can we avoid VCs?
They are Vulture Capitalist and not Venture Capitalist so we can't avoid their eyes. Also the funds are sacrosanct.

IV] Massive bail-outs by government for companies, are there any incentives for self-employment?
Self-will and motivation should be the driving force. Govt. comes later. Entrepreneur needs to bail himself out. Make value for self. Also it is observed that Healthcare and agriculture are not much affected by the downturn. One key point is to “Keep the government as far as possible”. And during this recessionary times Deserving people will get jobs, undeserving will get corrected.

V] Would you start a new venture at this time? In which sector?
Yes, new venture is always an option. It might be Outsourcing or legal outsourcing busines, online book ordering, other online services. Also Movie rentals like seventy mm and bigflix are also good options.

VI] Recent attacks would put India in a different zone of terror. Does the attack put you on the back foot with your key competitor?
Even US had its 9/11. People respect you more if you come out stronger of all this.The world is together for terrorism
Tourism will be affectedand new opportunities like security ventures , karate classes for kids etc. can be looked into

At the end : 
Mr. Prashant Bhaskar
“Befriend the top-graders, as they would be your future employees. Make them feel you are in awe of them and at the same time let them make them look up to you”.

Thus, Day 1 at Samavesh Ended with encouragement for all the budding Entrepreneurs and also giving inspiration to be an Entrepreneur.

Samavesh Day 2: 
International Business and Excellence in Operations

Topic of Discussion : Globalisation and Challenges for Indian Companies

Speakers: 
Shri R Balasubramaniam, President, Tata International Ltd.
Shri Anil Shekhar, Regional Manager North and West Africa, Tata Motors Ltd.


Samavesh Day 3:
Economic Meltdown - Challenges for India

Speakers:
Shri B S Nagesh, MD Shoppers Stop
Shri G V Nageswara Rao, MD Fortis
Shri R R Mokasi, ED Care
Shri Ramesh Damani, BSE
Shri V Shanmugam, Economist MCX
Dr R Gopal, Dir, D Y Patil Institute of Management Studies

The event ended with Case stud competition by Draft FCB Ulka in association with Tata Sky.

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