SIBM – Bangalore,

It was the cool morning of last Sunday, 1^st November. One call woke me up from the deep sleep (I was too tired doing nothing the previous day). It was Abhishek, to remind me about the SRC event (ASER) I had volunteered for, few days before. While waking up I was calculating the opportunity cost – the first Sunday at SIBM Bangalore as an official holiday!!!! My roomie was still sleeping. But it was my pleasure to wake up someone in deep sleep. He was also there for the event. After the quick breakfast,  me, Ankit and Sumit left for Bagaluru village in shivajinagar. We reached at Bagaluru at around 10 am, met with the ASER volunteers and the delegate from Deutsche bank.

Bagaluru is a small village, around 70 km far from our college. Our aim was to take part in the ASER (Assessment Survey Evaluation Research) to evaluate the learning level of students between age 6–14 in the village. We had to cover a total of 20 households having school going children. The ASER volunteers were planning to cover the 20 houses with the whole team together. But we applied our managerial skills, came up with the suggestion of ‘Division of Labour’ and divided ourselves in to 2 teams so as to finish the work soon.

I would like to introduce 2 children whom we met with, during the event – Navas(8) and his brother Sameer (13). One reason why they caught our attention was that they knew Hindi (our inability to speak Kannada was a constraint throughout the survey). We met with Navas on his bicycle in midst of the survey. Very smart child; he accompanied us to the next households, watched the survey and took part in it. He knew Kannada and Hindi; did extremely well in Maths. He wants to become a pilot in future.

Here comes his elder brother Sameer, who was eager to take part in the survey. But he couldn’t…… The survey was meant only for school going children. Sameer is not a student; he is an employee working in the nearby workshop to earn something for his family.  He stopped studies 2 years back in 6^th. He remained with us for a long time, reading the books we had with us and trying to answer all the questions in those. It was wonderful to see the twinkle in his eyes, when I congratulated him for solving one tough question. I asked him if he wanted to study further. He looked down, without saying anything. I knew, what he meant……….poor chap.

We went along with the 2 brothers to their house made of clay. Their sisters were there. They also took part in the survey. The ‘future pilot’ was still cycling as we were returning.

Now, I am thinking……. I am doing my higher studies after 2-3 years of work experience. Still my family is there to support me. A boy with half of my age, perhaps a brighter student than what I was in his age, quit his studies to earn meals for his family. It’s neither his mistake nor his family’s. But it is pointing to the bottlenecks of our country’s system. As a future manager, I am worried about the recession, interest rates, BSE and NSE indices………yes, I have to be. But, it’s also my responsibility to look around myself to identify those who need help. It’s the responsibility of our state to concentrate uplifting these ‘diamonds in the garbage’ rather to concentrate raising the stock market index.

• Dr. Jyoti Navare, Head of Dept. (Marketing & Enterprise), Middlesex University Business School
• Mr. Sambasivan, COO, Deutsche Bank
• Mrs. Kalpana Balasubramaniam, Director, KPMG
• Dr. Harkant Mankad, Dean Emeritus, Russell Square International College, Mumbai

Prof. Pankaj Gupta, the Director of SIBM, welcomed the guests of honour and mentioned an anecdote about animals sensing the tsunami much before their human counterparts by keeping their feet on the ground. The simple fact that a majority of human beings did not have their feet on the ground has led us all to the current recessionary times. What better time than this to discuss about risk?

Dr. Jyoti Navare addressed the students first, giving her academic insights about change and risks in the world today. She posed a simple question – Is this a changing world or a changed world? This question made several rounds in the discussion even when the others were speaking. She narrated how the world has changed from the 80’s and 90’s and mentioned that risk is inevitable where there is a will to succeed. Risk is the driver of change as per her opinion.

She discussed about globalization and its aftermaths. The globalized world has led to a lot of detraditionalizing of values and of late a deprofessionalizing of people in her view. She mentioned that the middle class of the future will be the drivers of global economy. The business strategies are re-orienting to fit themselves to this fact by decreasing premium and increasing volumes. She explained how the Indian culture is being embraced by the British in several aspects leading to a ‘Recolonization’. All these cultural fusions are leading to huge changes in men and methods and generating lots of fresh risks. She summed up by saying that, “The world now is not more risky than it was in the past; only the balance and positions of risk has changed in this changed world now”.

Mr. Sambasivan provided a banker’s view on the risks in the business environment today. He stated how the unchecked greed of a few in the banking industry has placed the economy in perils now. He described the current student generation as a fortunate one that has got to witness all the worst scenarios before even entering into the real business world.  His take on the next big risk the world would face in future after the sub-prime mortgage crisis and its domino effects is credit card defaults. As quoted by him, trillions of dollars are outstanding in credit card transactions and this is the next big bubble that may break any time.

He spoke about the complicated financial packages that are easy to buy and sell because of their complexity. This complexity of theirs has forced the people to merely accept them without analyzing. He credited the RBI for protecting the Banking Sector of India with a vision. He discussed about the three pillars – Risk Management, Costs and Efficiency. Risk Management and Regulation is an appealing career opening up in the Finance sector. All firms are focusing on tighter regulation policies, ‘Know Your Customer’ method and No Tolerance attitude. Hitherto unexplored areas are brought out in cost-cutting measures now. Efficiency is given a greater importance and every firm is striving to improve its operational efficiency now. He said the picture is definitely not gloomy and it will in the long run lead to a more disciplined, better risk-managed and beneficial market.

Mrs. Kalpana, in her speech, gave an optimistic vision of the future. She talked about globalization in family and career. Simply put, Globalization, she said, is the cause of her young son being aware of Pizzas, Idles, Google and the like. The major enablers of globalization are i) Technology, ii) Transport and iii) International Capital Flows, iv) Change in economic, cultural and political systems and v) Education. India has established itself as an important factor in global business today. The entire world is focusing on India as a target market, source of knowledge and as a prospective leader.

Globalization has brought lots of benefits to the industry and the consumer alike. In addition, it has given rise to newer risks. Cultural Barriers are shrinking in a globalized work environment. Management of information and information security have become primary risk elements in the internet world. Organisations are adopting vastly different work ethics. Brand reputations have to be maintained globally- which may be easy in Manufacturing but not so in Services. In such a world India has created its own space and leads due to its English proficiency, education and powerful venture capital interests. Ms.Kalpana summed up with a report by Goldman Sachs that predicts that India would outdo China by 2025 in GDP growth.

Dr. Mankad, a man of great wisdom, shared his vast experience with the audience through his speech. To him, the speed of change is the driving force of all risk that makes the world such an unpredictable place now. What was latest two years ago is obsolete now. He discussed about McKinsey trends – briefing about all the likely changes to come. Centres of Economic activity would shift; Demographic structure and consumer landscape will change; Battle for talent will intensify; Technological connectivity will change life. The change that comes will be global and exponential.

The risks that it brings along are negativism, over reaction, atrophy, misjudgement, communication lapses, dwelling on the past, irrelevance, meaninglessness and absence of trust. To mitigate these, one should understand the magnitude and direction of change, anticipate and be pro-active, prioritize and act. People who can question the Status Quo and communicate clearly and stay flexible will tide over these risks and emerge as leaders in the future.

The event concluded with a brief question answer session where the dignitaries took on different questions from the students. The Colloquium gave a rich insight on change and risk and provided suitable and relevant guidelines to tackle it in the future.

Mr. Singh started the session by asking the students,  “How do you want to grow ?”,  to which he received a variety of answers – practical and theoretical. He then concentrated primarily on the telecom industry and provided the students with various practical examples from that industry itself. Mr. Singh said that one major challenge for the telecom industry was that prices of products had gone down in recent times and it was thus difficult for the telecom providers to get more money out of the users.

Mr. Singh emphasised on the importance of learning at all stages in life and said that quality and adaptability were very important facets as far as people were concerned. He said that the operations model was changing from hardware box scales to software/services driven but that cash continued to be on high premium. He said that the main mantra of management was to control “Financial Waste”.

Leadership was the next  topic dealt with by Mr. Singh .He discussed valuable lessons like the importance of Communication, Innovation, Inspiration and how it was important to win together, put the team ahead of you  and focus on customers. He also told all present there not to hesitate to hire a person better than him/her.

The session concluded with a brief interactive round where the students asked Mr.Singh various questions . He  was satisfied with the interest shown by the students and to quote his own words , he said “I liked the interaction with the budding managers. They are so full of energy and enthusiasm. I am positive that this generation will take Indian industry forward. Wish them all the success.”

The session started off with an advertisement video of i2 Technologies Inc. which talked about how smooth operations management helped optimize the entire value chain and also helped in minimising additional environmental pollution. The entire concept of the advertisement was brought out effectively by the statement “Let’s make it our business to make a difference”.

Next, Mr. Sandu followed up with a detailed presentation on supply chain management where concepts like fluid supply chain and solution drivers and the competition these days is WITHIN supply chains and not companies and how supply chains can make or break companies were discussed. Mr. Sandu also discussed companies like Cisco, Nike, Chrysler, Reebok and Adidas in these contexts which helped the students relate better to the concepts. He also said that some of the most spectacular business successes over the past twenty years have come from finding effective ways to deliver products/services to consumers and he gave the example of Dell and Shaadi.com in this regard.

To help the students better understand the idea of a supply chain better, Mr. Sandu took the example of one of America’s largest family footwear retailers which he called “Creative”. Through this particular case study he helped us understand the importance of focussing  on the work floor, understanding the initial point of issues affecting the company, importance of in-season forecasting to meet customer demand, importance of currency and also the essentiality of having the right mix of goods at the right place right time and at the right price.

The session ended with Mr. Sandu talking about i2 Technologies Inc. and its body of work. He also interacted with the students and answered all their queries regarding the supply chain and concluded by promising the students that he would be back for another session soon.

In his speech , Prof.N.S.Ramaswamy glorified the Indian civilization , the one and only civilization to survive out of the 49 civilizations that existed before the Christian civilization. Mother India marks the pinnacle of cultural heritage. He quoted Swami Vivekananda’s words that the entire world will turn to India in the 21^st century for its spiritual values. He told that the 21^st century will be India’s century. As an esteemed management professional , he reiterated the other dimension of management that is Management of Life. He urged the student community to add value to their life by learning to manage their life prior to the learning of business management. He shared his book that speaks about how the world’s most intellectual people thought and valued India.

Prof. Pankaj Gupta, the Director of SIBM, asked the students in his speech to focus on adding value to their profiles. He told them to use this Independence Day to draw inspiration for getting rid of the fear – the fear of placements, the fear of recession and the fear of failure. He wanted the students to look at life in totality and to build on their core values and skills.

The student from SIBM and SIMC showcased cultural performances later on . Through four dance performances (two by the SIMC students and two by the SIBM students) , they lit up the event with patriotic fervour. The tunes of patriotism and their dance provide a fitting finale to the celebrations .

Voluntary blood donors from  the college – students and staff including- enthusiastically took part in the Blood Donation camp from 9 AM onwards. The camp was organised with the help of Indian Red Cross with doctors and trained nursing staff monitoring the process throughout. In addition to several veteran blood donors, many inspired first-time donors also came forward to contribute to the cause. The medical crew of Red Cross helped them to get rid of the initial fears that most first-time donors have about blood donation.

Efforts were taken by the Social Responsibility Team to spread awareness about blood donation to the students. The facts about donating blood and answers to common doubts about blood donation were mailed to the students prior to the camp in a bid to enlighten them about the noble cause.

Nearly 70 enthusiastic donors came forward to participate in the camp that extended all the way till evening , sneaking in between their busy academic schedules. The heart-warming response for the camp highlighted the good spirits of the SIBM youth

Rotaract, started in 1967-1968 by the Rotary International, is a service club for young men and women between ages 18 to 30. It has 7300 clubs in 150 countries across the world. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they’re sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true “partners in service” and key members of the family of Rotary.

This particular session saw Mr. Karthikeya Reddy, President of the RCBI, Mr. Gurmeet Randhawa, past President of the RCBI and Mr. Harisha Anand, Director Youth Services, inform the students about the various facets of the Rotaract Club. They talked about how the Rotaract Club not only gives one a chance to serve the community but also helps develop professional and leadership skills, build contacts, develop public speaking and language skills and teaches one to work within an organised body.

The students showed their curiosity in the Rotaract Club by asking the present dignitaries a number of questions on the projects carried out by the Rotary, their modes of funding and their association with companies on corporate social responsibility projects.

The interactive session ended on a positive note with a number of students showing an interest in joining the Rotaract and helping team Daayitva fulfil their social commitments to the best of their capabilities.

The objective of the lecture was to throw light on the role of a finance manager in a firm. He spoke about the primary role of recording and reporting financial transactions, which till recently was the only role of finance professionals in firms. He then gave an idea of how the finance people work in close unison with the operations and marketing departments now.

The importance of treasury management and the scope of business plans, budgeting and performance analysis were explained in detail. The auditing norms and the validation procedures during mergers and acquisitions were taught to the students. According to him, the finance manager has the need to backup all his opinions with facts and figures to make sense in a board room. The Management Information System (MIS) gains significance in this context.

A finance manager’s basic expected traits- prudence, judgement, humility, negotiation skills, speed and accuracy- were showed by example of him during the lecture. He stressed those aspirants for a Finance specialization to develop these traits too. The lecture thus proved to be an eye-opener for the Finance MBA aspirants of the batch.

In these changing times, it is important for everyone, especially the youth, to keep a track of the factors that drive the nation’s wealth as these factors in turn affect the growth or decline of the nation’s budget. The Share Market defines the current and the future wealth of the nation. It brings different industries together on the same platform and forecasts their market competitiveness thus, giving an idea about the overall progress.

The discussion started with Mr. Apurv Dingra and Mr. Nishit Mehta introducing the basics of the business world to all those uninitiated. Rudimentary concepts like equity, shares, bonds, dividends and many more were discussed in great detail. The need to understand the basic necessity for any company to call out its share, the determinants of the market value of any company share and the factors that cause them to vary, the different types of preference shares and the benefits and losses involved in them, the types of share capital, principles of capital reserve, and modes of issuing a share were few of the areas which were touched upon.

Being an informal gathering, the students were encouraged to interact with the presenters and to clear their minds of any doubts they may have had on the topics being discussed. The session proved to be a great success not only in terms of the turnout but, also because it provided a unique opportunity for all those uninitiated to finally start exploring and understanding the wonderful world of finance.