SIMSREE students meet the FIRST LADY OF USA, Mrs. Michelle Obama

It is with great pride and joy that we put this news down on paper. Adding another feather to the already well-adorned cap of our alma-mater SIMSREE, a group of our students has gone where many prominent personalities can’t even imagine of going. They are a part of the select few who met and welcomed the US first lady, Ms Michelle Obama on 6th November in Mumbai.

A few weeks back, these SIMSREE students made the college proud, by winning MUNIJAN 2010. Mumbai University inaugurated MUNIJAN (Mumbai University New Initiative for Joint Action Now) competition this year which is a student social responsibility initiative. The aim of this competition was to encourage students to think in terms of their responsibilities towards the environment, the world and society. The winning SIMSREE team consisted of Akanksha Sharma, Michelle Rodrigues, Akanksha Bhalla, Upasana Koul and Pratik Mittal. Their idea was called ‘Ecobinders’. The plan consisted of implementing a system to rebind unused pages from notebooks into new books. This idea was judged the most implementable and sustainable, as well as being very relevant to the lives of students.

Now these five people have gone a few steps ahead and have taken the college to new heights by getting a chance to meet the first lady of the United States of America, Ms Michelle Obama. After the historic meeting, Akanksha Bhalla said, “Our project reminded her of her early days when she was involved with social work and had worked on many social issues. She said she could relate to it and had done similar projects after she graduated from Harvard Law School.” The meet was initially scheduled for 5 minutes but it extended to 20 minutes as Ms Obama got really engrossed in interacting with the team. Another team member, Michelle said this after meeting her namesake, “Our idea not just provides a solution to deforestation, but also promotes education. She loved our idea and told us that since it is an important project and is relevant globally, so we must take it to a global level”.

It was an opportunity that many people will give an arm and a leg for and these eco-warriors got it on merit.

Even during the MUNIJAN competition, ‘Ecobinders’ had fascinated everyone present and these invitations put another stamp of approval on this ridiculously simple initiative and also on the quality of students that come out of SIMSREE. Kudos to them all.



Here are a few links about the same that was covered in various national and regional newspapers.

DNA - http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_university-students-to-give-green-tips-to-michelle-obama_1461910

Indian Express - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/At-University-library--Michelle-to-meet-kids-and-budding-managers/707272/

Gulf News - http://gulfnews.com/news/world/india/michelle-to-meet-poor-kids-pupils-1.706593

Pudhari - http://epaper.pudhari.com/epapermain.aspx

DNA - http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_mumbai-university-students-impress-michelle-obama-with-their-idea_1463138

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Bharat Shah

In the medium to long run markets will remain bullish and by the end of this decade the BSE Sensex will reach 6 digits. Though it may sound startling, this was the first message that Mr. Bharat Shah, CEO and Managing partner at ASK Investment, gave us during his guest lecture on 21st September 2010. Mr. Shah stated that this valuation of the markets is based on the growth numbers and opportunities that are present in the economy. Historically if we see the markets have grown by a multiple of ten in each decade- rising from few hundred points in the 1980s to the current five digit levels. But the 6 digit forecast is not merely based on the past trends, rather it is based on the expectation of growth that is still to occur.

In terms of Purchasing Power Parity, India produces around 7.5% of the world's total GDP. If we compare the price that we pay in the market for Indian businesses it is around 2.5% of the total capital markets. Also the global portfolios have Indian presence at a mere 0.35%. Hence we see a clear value-price gap in the numbers. Also the value itself is an upward rising number. This is not because the GDP of other countries is not going to grow or show a negative growth but because India's GDP will grow considerably faster than most other economies. So as the price and value will converge, we will see a CAGR of around 18% in the Sensex taking it to 6 digit levels in the next decade.

Let us dig deeper into the growth story. Amongst the EMEs, Brazil is driven mostly by agriculture, China by its manufacturing and Russia by its resources. Only India is driven by agriculture, manufacturing, services and  (to a small extent) resources.  The huge domestic consumption of India (around 83% of GDP) fuels this growth. This also means India is much less exposed to shocks from the developed economies than its BRIC peers. Being a country with an average age of 29 years, India has higher energy to  pursue higher levels of growth. Mr. Shah said that with a better governance India can achieve a double digit growth rate within the next three years. 

Mr. Shah also gave SIMSREE students some cardinal rules to be followed if they want to invest in the equity markets. He said that investing is a very serious activity which should not be subject to the roll of the dice. The trick is  to identify a good business, ascertain the capabilities of management and most importantly to buy gold at the price of silver. This is one sure way of making huge profits in the equity markets. It requires a disciplined approach towards valuation and a rational view about the markets. At the conclusion of the lecture all of us were very optimistic visualizing the four decades of wealth creation that lie in front of us. 

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Mangesh Vaitla

Our esteemed alumnus and Director at C2L BIZ Solutions (HK) Pvt Ltd, Mr. Mangesh Vaitla took a guest lecture on 17th September 2010. The general area of discussion was how different management specializations have their  own application in the field of IT and his lecture changed the way most of us look at the IT sector today.  The learning that made a mark was that IT is not all about coding. According to Mr. Vaitla, IT is all about making use of the technological advances to make businesses more efficient. Be it Sales, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources or Operations, each have their own place in IT and IT has its own place in each and every one of them.

Big businesses globally are changing the way they look at IT. In many cases they do not treat it as a separate vertical anymore. Rather, IT is seen as the core which will ensure processes, which are unique to the firm, are at the center around which the personnel can rotate. This ensures that even though the people keep changing the fundamental knowledge and practices of a firm remain intact and are passed from one set of employees to another. Many firms, therefore, are now unwilling to outsource some of the critical parts of their business.

Sharing his thoughts on outsourcing, Mr. Vaitla said that most of the outsourcing from USA is based on need. Without the cost effectiveness provided by outsourcing, it would be very difficult for many firms to maintain same level of profitability. Hence the demand for IT outsourcing and in turn the demand for Indian IT services sector shall not see a huge dip in the coming years. However, according to Mr. Vaitla, Indian IT companies should not focus only on outsourcing which makes a huge chunk of their profits today. He said that it is time for Indian firms to move to a product oriented approach and spend more on R&D. Some companies have already started taking steps in that direction. We thank Mr. Vaitla for giving us such a deep understanding of the sector which has been one of the major driving forces of the India growth story.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Kapil Khandelwal

On the 5th of September, SIMSREE proudly welcomed our prestigious alumnus, Mr Kapil Khandelwal on campus for a guest lecture. Mr Khandelwal is an alumnus from the batch of 1992-1994 and is someone who regularly visits the campus for guiding the students with insights he has gained through his long career in the industry. Currently he is the Director and CEO at Makven Capital and is also an Independent Board Member at Healthcare and Life Sciences Venture. He works closely with the ministry of Human Resource Development and the HRD minister Mr Kapil Sibal. He is one of the business leaders in healthcare and life sciences and information, communications and technology (ICT). He serves several boards in the sector and brings unique operations and consulting experience of connecting the healthcare and life sciences value chain from early drug discovery, drug development, care delivery, healthcare providers and intermediaries and payers. He has over 15 years of industry and consulting experience. Mr Khandelwal holds the unique distinction of being among the elite club of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) in the early-phase drug discovery in the world. 

During his interaction with the students, Mr Khandelwal talked about the three economic depressions he has faced in his working life and told us how he tackled them and came out on top in all three cases. He also made us realise that the new education policy that allows foreign universities to set up shop in the country will mean that we will be facing a new kind of competition in the job market and believe me, it was a sobering thought! He also urged all of us to think about some international tie-ups for the institute and I’m sure steps will be taken in this direction soon. The session in its entirety was a great experience and we sincerely hope that more such sessions take place in the future to make us more aware about the ground realities of the business world.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Boman Moradian

Mr. Boman Moradian, 1975 Alumnus of JBIMS, Proprietor Telesis Consultancy Services, Director Essel Propack, Director Garware Polyester Ltd, took a lecture with us  on 31^st August 2010. The topic of the lecture was “Introduction to Operations Management”. 

The audience which included both the seniors and the juniors were totally absorbed in the 4 hour long lecture. Mr. Moradian made use of three examples- an automobile plant, a person being checked into a flight and the movement of documents in the creation of a new credit card to explain how the basic process flow remains the same, regardless of the unit being worked upon.

Mr. Moradian started by telling us that text books are unnecessary to truly understand Operations Management. Instead you need to simplify your thinking. In fact, that was the key point in his lecture- simplify, simplify. He recommended a number of books which would help us bring about a change in the way we think. Mr. Moradian also turned several myths on their heads, such as, buying new machinery to increase production and efficiency.  He said that new machinery rarely solves problems, rather it creates new ones, because it has never been tested before. Not only that, it is very expensive and does not give adequate returns on the investment. Instead, he said that it was much more sensible to buy one generation old machinery which is in good condition.

Mr. Moradian also explained the basic terms of Operations Management and the basic concept of a process consisting of a number of operations. He also explained the three basic measures- the Credibility measure, the Opportunity measure and the ROCE measure to us.  Mr. Moradian also explained some basic truths to us, like, the Customer is the CEO.

All in all, it was an amazing lecture – interesting and informative. We hope we get the opportunity to have more lectures with Mr. Moradian. 

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Forex Workshop by Mr V. Rajagopal

Mine! Yours! Thanks nothing! Yours or Mine? These were the thoughts going around in the heads of the second year finance students at the end of a two day Forex workshop conducted at SIMSREE. Mr. V. Rajagopal, once chief dealer-Forex treasury in ICICI and Kotak Mahindra bank, introduced Forex markets and its various terminologies on Monday 29th August 2010. In a four hour session he explained the working of international Forex markets and the role of a dealer.

On Tuesday 30th August, he along with his colleague Mr. Subramanium conducted a day long workshop. In a setup which had 8 different banks with their respective currency dealers, information screens and phone lines, Mr. Rajagopal created a simulated Forex market. He kept all the dealers on their toes by constantly changing the macro-economic conditions. At the end of the session the students were both thrilled and exhausted. The workshop helped clear many concepts that had been studied in textbooks but never practiced. 

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Vasant Sanzgiri

After a host of people from the world of finance who enlightened all of us with their insights in the seemingly incomprehensible world of finance, SIMSREE today welcomed an eminent personality from the field of Human Resources. Our esteemed alumnus, Mr. Vasant Sanzgiri, visited the campus today 26th August 2010 for a guest lecture on his field and to throw some light on his wide experience of almost 25 years. The wealth of experience Mr Sanzgiri has can be gauged from the simple fact that most people attending the lecture and listening in rapt attention were not even born when he joined his first job.

Mr Vasant Sanzgiri currently holds the post of Group Head, Human Resources at Shapoorji Pallonji Group. Previously he has held important positions such as Executive Vice President HR at ICICI Prudential AMC. During the lecture, Mr Sanzgiri spoke about his experiences with various companies and how each of them helped to grow into the person he is today. He also provided some information about the working of the human resources department in a company and most importantly what recruiters look for in a candidate during an interview. It was a very good experience for all of us and it cleared many of our doubts.

The interest in the lecture was apparent from the fact that people were lining up to ask questions to Mr Sanzgiri. The session was immensely engrossing and helpful for everyone and we sincerely hope that we have more of such interactions in the times to come. 

- Vipul Aroh

PGDBM 2010-2012

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Chetan Sharma

It was a guest lecture with a twist. Rather than giving a theoretical lecture, Mr.Chetan Sharma -alumnus of SIMSREE and Vice President, Bancassurance, Royal Bank of Scotland on 25th August 2010, chose to share some of his experiences with us. He spoke about all the problems he has encountered and the mistakes he has made in his career starting from his days at SIMSREE. It was of particular relevance to us as it is likely that most of us will face similar decisions in our careers.


Describing his initial tough time during his summer internship he told us how he learned to take work seriously. When he started work at IDBI he faced number of difficulties such as managing people much older than him. After his spell at IDBI, he moved on to DCB and then onto ABN AMRO. He told us about his swift rise; he got two promotions in two years and was finally made Vice President. He was one of the youngest ever Vice Presidents. 

Mr. Sharma also gave us some tips on investing and the stock market. He said he himself had made a few mistakes and ended up losing a lot of money on the stock market more than once. According to him, contrary to popular belief, investing in the stock market is not a gamble, but both an art and a science. He recommended a number of books to us, to read in our two years at SIMSREE. These books will help us understand the stock market much better.

We also had a question and answer round, in which the class asked him a number of questions, including how he managed to balance his professional and personal life and how he assumed a position of authority over people twice his age. Mr. Sharma answered all our questions finally ending the session with the promise to help all of us should we need his guidance. It was a really amazing session, as we got to hear about how life really is in the corporate world, and what we have to do to reach great heights in our careers. He told us that anything is possible, provided we give our all, and are really clear about where we want to go.

- Ami Parikh

MMS 2010-2012

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Dhananjayan Govind

Mr Dhananjayan Govind, CEO, Home Entertainment Business, Moser Baer Entertainment took a very interesting session for us on 17th August 2010. He is an alumnus of the 1991 MMS Batch of SIMSREE and has about 20 years of experience in the industry. He has immense experience in the paint industry, telecom sector and the entertainment industry.He began the session by giving us a brief of SIMAA(Sydenham Institute of Management, Alumni Association). He told us that SIMSREE has come a long way from the time he was part of the institute in 1991 to today where it is a very well known college in Mumbai.Sydenham being a student-driven college implies that there are tremendous opportunities for one here. He encouraged us to make full use of the resources at our disposal to become the best. He stressed upon important factors such as the importance of self-learning, attending brand summits and conferences to enhance our knowledge and even higlighted the fact that we as SIMSREE students should make full use of the learnings obtained from this college.He gave us his own personal example of his college days where he and his team of friends had come up with some novel ideas such as 'Biz Snippets' and a booklet on 'The great authors of Management'. He brought out all the aspects of entreprenurial activities and gave us a very detailed description of entrepreneurship.

We had a brief Q&A session with him where he highlighted the fact that we as B-school students have to go that extra mile to achieve our dreams. He told us that time management is of the essence alongwith having a voracious appetitie for reading. He brought about the importance of taking a decision only after one has weighed its' pros and cons.He also said that not only is IQ of utmost importance but also EQ(Emotional Quotient) is required today.

He discussed why India is not on the forefront of the global growth spree, as compared to China. According to Mr. Govind, it is because India is primarily focussed on the services industry and the only break-through innovation possible in this sector is that of the process itself, a philosophy that is heavily bordered on the six sigma approach.

Furthermore, the path-breaking process innovation methodology in the services sector can be imitated, but technological marvels like the iPad & iPhone are products that give us the competitive advantage. “Competitive advantage is something that cannot be easily replicated,” he said to the students, “It is no longer innovation, it is execution.”

With respect to the industry, he told us that manufacturing and HR are the growing sectors for today. Finance and Marketing are not as lucrative as they have been and as such these fields face tremendous challenges. In marketing, he made it very clear that it is of prime importance that one understands all the nuances of sales by working in that field for 3-4 years and then proceeding to better marketing position. This, according to him, would make a marketing manager adept at taking the right decisions  when it comes to marketing.

He ended the discussion by telling us that we should constantly look to update ourselves with the latest in the field of management. We should also strive to make a difference to the institute and should always be grateful for the help and encouragement that this institute provides us. 

-Subir Pinto (PGDBM) & Akansha Sharma (MMS)
Batch of 2010-2012

               

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Purvesh Shah

SIMSREE organized a guest lecture with one of its prestigious alumni members Mr. Purvesh Shah on the evening of 16th of August, 2010. Mr. Shah currently is the Executive Director UBS Investment bank’s Asia Equity Sales. The guest lecture was a highly interactive one that broadly focused on the role of investment banking and the outlook of investment banking industry on emerging markets. He had a stint in London for three years before coming down to Mumbai. The inclination towards this sector stemmed up from a summer project that he had done with DSP that had continued beyond the two month tenure at SIMSREE when he was a student here.

The biggest learning given by him was that he stressed upon analytical thinking and building upon a perspective while formulating any strategy. The other aspect he pointed out was that one could make the most out of one’s job by being in a firm for a significantly longer period of time for a better understanding of the organization and to build a track record in the company for oneself.

The lecture was followed by queries on the part of students wherein many topics were touched upon like the role of emerging economies like China and Latin America in the world. Being our very first guest lecture, it was indeed a great learning for us and helped us greatly in refining our thinking to analyse upon a wide range of issues. Also, it put forth a broad perspective before us regarding Investment Banking as a career choice. We are very grateful to Mr. Shah for taking out his time and interacting with us.

-Vishuddha Thakkar

MMS 2010-2012

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Freedom

Freedom is the state of being free from all evils,
Freedom is the road full of all challenges,
Freedom is the opportunity to rise above self,
Freedom is the language which has no barrier,
Freedom is the science of discovery of inventions,
Freedom is the right of excellence,
Freedom is the duty of being right all the time,
Freedom is the choice of transparency over even translucent,
Freedom is the essence of democracy,
Freedom is the culture of multiples,
Freedom is the music of harmony,
Freedom is the race to kindness,
Freedom is the honor of compassion,
Freedom is the judgment of inclusion,
Freedom is the exclusion of cynicism,
Freedom is the credit of all debts,
Freedom is the art of belonging,
Freedom is the collection of collaboration,
Freedom is the prank of innocence,
Freedom is the seclusion of isolation,
Freedom is the technology of connecting,
Freedom is the energy of soul,
Freedom is the medicine in time,
Freedom is the minerals of body,
Freedom is the mechanism of creativity,
Freedom is the cost of salvation,
Freedom is the behavior of morals,
Freedom is the lecture of discipline,
Freedom is the blend of all ages,
Freedom is the border of privacy,
Freedom is the communication of intuition,
Freedom is the map of one nation,
Freedom is the species of all universals,
Freedom is the game of courage,
Freedom is the movement of rivers,
Freedom is the rock of mountain,
Freedom is the determination of willingness,
Freedom is the bound of commitment,
Freedom is the moment of truth,
Freedom is the test of humility,
Freedom is the friendship of youth and old,
Freedom is the marriage of conviction and courtesy,
Freedom is the foundation of great thinking,
Freedom is the history of social,
Freedom is the connoisseur of commensurate,
Freedom is the act of silence of embarrassment,
Freedom is the statue of peace,
Freedom is the award of restrain,
Freedom is the law of civilization,
Freedom is the hypothesis of principles,
Freedom is the approximation of accuracy and perfection,
Freedom is the desire of least but best,
Freedom is the blessings of forefathers,

For whatever Freedom more is, its priceless!!
--- give it a thought.. Happy Independence Day

                                              - Dinesh Agarwal                    

                                                MMS, Finance  

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Dr Welukar at SIMSREE

Dr. Rajan Welukar, Vice Chancellor of University of Mumbai and the ex-director of SIMSREE, greeted the batch of 2010-2012 at SIMSREE yesterday. In his first visit to the campus after becoming the Vice-Chancellor Dr. Welukar shared some of his plans for the Mumbai University in the years to come. It is his vision to make Mumbai University more student centric and have a great level of student involvement in all activies. Talking about his role as a Vice-Chancellor he said, "I do not want to lead the University of Mumbai. I want University of Mumbai to lead all the universities in India." We at SIMSREE are proud to have been associated with a visionary like Dr. Welukar. We hope to continue this association and we would be very glad to help in anyway to make his future endeavours successful.  

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SIMSREE Welcomes Batch 2010-2012

We (the 2009-2011 batch) officially welcome the batch of 2010-2011!  The induction programme for the new batch kicked off today with an address to the batch by the Director I/c Dr. M. A. Khan and some of the faculty members of SIMSREE. This was followed by few ice-breaker activities. Over the coming few days the induction committee plans by way of many activities to get the juniors in the groove for MBA. Once again WELCOME TO SIMSREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Marketing & Me

As I stepped into the exciting field of marketing little did I know that it is more a study of human behavior, a kind of human anthropological study wherein lie the real answers (well, most of the times at least) to most of the questions marketers since ages have pondered upon! It is not just about the art of buying and selling anymore. We as a dignified consumer want an overall experience- after sales services, support, tech updates, the works basically!

“Striking the deal” starts well in advance when the consumer gets all his information beforehand these days. Resources are ample- the Internet, magazines, media, word of mouth, peer circles, the information is out there and it is fast to hit you by- On Your FACE! The point is what you make of it!

As a consumer it is overwhelming sometimes with the kind of new products and services that are hitting the market these days. Everyday there is some new gizmo, a new technology almost smothering our already over cluttered minds. When all this happens is it that a helpless consumer stands there gazing in blank space about this bombardment of information around you? And the answer is a surprising no! As the choices around us increase, we make some rather predictably irrational decisions of buying! There have been an increasing number of studies about what exactly lures us into buying something, a thing sometimes which we really don’t “need”. As any amateur marketer, we were taught that people have needs and wants- well we may be thirsty and refreshing cool water drink could suffice our basic need but a Cool new ad showing our favorite celebrity gulping down a Pepsi makes us want it to satisfy our parched souls! Our aspirations are aroused by subtler instincts like our peer groups following a certain trend, our idol effortlessly carrying out a grotesque task using a certain facilitating product! We have these impulses getting triggered for more than once for making a decision that somehow does not validate at the end of the day.

The catch is we do make some predictably irrational decisions when we buy, and that too unconsciously! Have you ever noticed we always have an anchor price, a model, a prototype in our mind when we purchase anything? Well we haven’t noticed this consciously till now, however it certainly makes sense. Now let me explain what does it mean. An anchor price is like a threshold value entrenched deep in our minds- like the first time you just dropped by while window shopping on your favorite flat screen LCD, you register its price, features – all this time without the intent to do so! Then when we really go to make the real purchase of that much touted flat screen just before the FIFA world Cup, to enjoy our game with a whole new experience we subconsciously compare those already registered features, price when we look at those other new models in the store. This “ANCHOR effect” price and features are wired into our brains once we see that perfect gizmo we want to own. The fact is that the power of the first decision can have such a long lasting effect that it will percolate into our future decisions for years to come.

Socrates once said: “ The unexamined life is not worth living”. The adage holds true to most of our first anchors that we register in our brains until we get wired to them.  These anchors illustrate many choices that we make – from the trivial to the more profound ones!

What also intrigues me that how some marketers show a flash of genius when they want us to sell something which can be something which we may not really need. We always use relativity while taking those supposed important decisions. There was a very interesting study done on supposedly smart set of group of people- Scenario1:A popular magazine subscription is made available with 3 choices, option one: a internet subscription for Rs.600/annum (with access to all the articles since last 10 years), option two: a print subscription for Rs 1250/annum and option three: a internet plus print subscription for Rs.1250/annum. Now what would a clear thinking , rational individual decide in this case: clearly the internet subscription is better than the option two, however the marketer for this magazine has been smart over here with offering us the third option with print along with internet subscription which seems more value for money. Obviously most of these smart people who were a part of this experiment opted for the third option seeking its more value for money goodness offer!

Now in second scenario this same group of smart individuals were given only two options; option one: either the Rs.650/annum internet subscription of the Rs.1250/annum print subscription. Interestingly it was found that most of them unlike in scenario one, in here scenario two opted for the first internet offer which now made more sense! Clearly the marketers knows that we as consumers go through this dilemma most often, hence they make our life simpler with providing us with options which will be easier to choose from. In scenario one, while the print alone offer made little sense, the print+internet offer gave all the more impetus to go ahead and take it up immediately. That is the truth of smart marketing- and the power of relativity!

Another of the most enthralling discoveries for my marketing journey has been that how a completely unassociated, non related, independent group of large people can together paint the reality which is better for most of the times, than a learned focus group specially called upon to present their takes. A huge crowd traditionally has always been thought of being a disturbance in coming up with a certain sane, intelligent conclusion, a huge gathering allegedly, is rather inconclusive in presenting their results in a comprehensive format. However this does not hold true (on a larger scale). World’s biggest market research agencies collect data from distributed independent people  from all across to present their preferences about a certain product, latest TV soap to the latest political campaign! Certainly this industry has grown huge by tapping into this “wisdom of the Crowds” and providing their clients with conclusive research about what really the consumer likes and wants!

These humble observations made on my side are just a stepping stone to this journey which has just begun, many more such facets are yet to be discovered and to be written about! Till then, long live marketing!

- Priyanka Titkare

 PGDBM, Marketing

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Does Outsourcing Spell the Extinction of In-House HR?

Throughout my first year with MBA, I have heard people, students and professionals alike, disparaging the profession of HRM. It is a common belief that ‘The best and the brightest don’t go into HR’ and when people asked me about what I wanted to specialise in, I have faced various discouraging responses like, “There is no scope in HR”, “HRs do no work” and so on. A popular question most HR aspirants encounter is “Why HR?” A short question that is never easy to answer, at least never to the satisfaction of the interviewer. One such interviewer told me that soon HR departments would cease to exist and all functions would be outsourced. Although I debated passionately, I found myself pondering on whether I was going to be redundant in this field I had chosen.

According to Mary F. Cook & Scott Gildner, "Human resource (HR) outsourcing means having a third-party service provider or vendor administer, on an on-going basis, an HR activity that would normally be performed internally."

HR outsourcing can be classified into two broad categories: (a) Transaction and Administration Outsourcing and (b) HR consultancy. While transaction and administration outsourcing deals with the day-to-day and month-to-month activities like payroll management, employees benefits management, and pension management, HR consultancy is a much more complex process that constitutes management of strategy and policy functions of the organization.

Most of the major economies around the world have undergone deregulation and globalisation wherein the rules of the game have changed. Markets are wide open for entry of new players including well-established MNCs and private entrepreneurs. Technology is changing the business of human resources. Research indicates that an HR department spends 80% of their time in managing tactical and transaction oriented HR operations. If these processes are outsourced then the trained HR staff could be re-deployed to the core process which will add substantial value to the organization. With-in the past decade, HR professionals have embraced technologies that offered freedom from often daunting levels of administrative work. The vendor's investment in technology gave employees better, faster service and cost efficiency making it a winning proposition.

The areas impacted by HR outsourcing in the past include some of the most transaction-heavy functions of personnel. This covers areas such as hiring, payroll processing, health benefits and retirement account management, collections, employee training, and IT areas that support the information and records needed by personnel.

Outsourcing takes on an entirely new meaning, however, when there are viable products in the market offering companies the opportunity to outsource every facet of HR work--including the function itself.  Their marketing strategies have overtaken the heads of HR and are now aggressively directed towards CEOs and CFOs.  Some industry sources believe that outsourcing is the future of HR, thereby quickly resulting in the extinction of in-house HR departments.

While technology has transformed HR and will continue to, technology should be seen for what it really is--a delivery channel. Likewise, outsourced services are not a threat—they are a tool. The HR's challenge is to effectively deploy all available resources. This requires understanding the possibilities and limitations of each service delivery option. In today's global business environment, where competition is fierce and talent is relatively scarce, HR plays a critical role in creating outstanding products and services that create a shared experience of the company by employees.

A popular argument in favor of outsourcing has always been its cost advantage. In a competitive market, many companies are looking for ways to cut costs. Outsourcing has been a popular strategy to reduce operating costs. However there is a pivotal difference between cost and value. No outsourcing arrangement can ever be an effective surrogate for a company's culture--this is why HR needs to be a vital part of the organization.

Rather than being a threat to HR, outsourcing certain non-core functions can be a way to quickly gain a competitive advantage by reducing costs, improving quality and concentrating on the core business. However it is important to note that there are ripple effects and impacts to placing these responsibilities in outside hands. If the staff of a company perceives outsourced HR companies as a threat, internal conflicts could arise. It usually is not a popular move to eliminate internal jobs and switch to a provider service to save money. This could lead to job insecurity and employee dissatisfaction within the company. Outsourcing also increases data privacy risks and the complexity of managing that risk. Even if an internal employee is overseeing the outsourced operation, there are still many issues that can go unnoticed and unaddressed, threatening the security and confidentiality of stored information. 

In the past mainly lower level jobs were outsourced to cut costs, but today almost every profession is in jeopardy; the jobs of accountants, analysts, tax-professionals, architects, attorneys, radiologists, or technical writers, to name a few.  Threats can be seen as opportunities and people are generally known for their resilience in turbulent times.  Whether we choose to perceive outsourcing as a threat or an opportunity depends on our mindset, our actions, and most of all: our approach. An interesting teaching from Buddhism tells us, "As we are the ultimate cause of our difficulties, we are also the solution. We cannot change the things that happen to us, but we can change our responses."  I chose not to be afraid of my career choice and the changing world, but rather to do my best with all the resources that are on offer.

- Cheryl D’Souza
PGDBM HR

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Credit Suisse visits SIMSREE Campus

Credit Suisse - Mr. Sandeep Kripalani, MD, Credit Suisse & Head of Prime Services

In today’s world the customer is looking for two things -diversification and customization; said Mr. Sundeep Kripalani, MD Credit Suisse and Head of Prime Services Asia Business Development. He visited the SIMSREE campus on Wednesday 28th July for an interactive session with the students.

Mr. Kripalani talked about the changing roles of private banking, investment banking and asset management – the three core areas of business for Credit Suisse. The boundary between these is blurring very rapidly. The roles of each are also changing like providing a diversified portfolio to a private banking client or giving a personalized service to an investment banking client. Since most of the financial institutes now are not pure-play investment banks or private banks, they already have the infrastructure in place to meet this requirement. The challenge is in deciding who benefits how much from each transaction.

While discussing his own department he explained how Prime Services is the most valued of all departments in an institution like Credit Suisse since prime services gets it revenue directly from clients by way of brokerage. He showed how Prime services can cover more and more functionalities climbing from Trade Booking to Product Development.

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Reminiscence'10,Alumni Day on 20th March,6.30 pm onwards

Dear Alumnus,



Invitation for a fun- filled evening to rejoice and relive those wonderful days of SIMSREE.


It is time to kindle old memories, meet long lost friends and talk about old times. And also, it is your time to share your new experiences and moments of life.


So we welcome you to the ALUMNI DAY-2010.

REMINISCENCE '10

Events Highlights:
* Dinner with Cocktails
* SIMSREE Leadership Forum
* Live performance by Radio Band
* Musical Fusion by SIMSREE students


Address :
Mahila Vikas Mandal (M.V.M) Banquets,
Opposite Y.B. Chawan Centre,
Jagannath Bhonsale Marg,
Near Mantralaya, Mumbai 400 021.


Directions from CST : http://tiny.cc/Un3nh
Directions from Churchgate : http://tiny.cc/2E0Yd
Please tick the option of include large map to get full map view from the two points.


Contact:
Saurabh Aggarwal  9769683345
Urvisha Dodia        9819935084
Dinesh Agarwal      9324296928
Vidita Shah            9870570399
Saagar Vijan          9892699228
Archit Bansal         9920700450
Varun Doshi          9372992465
Rohit Khot             9820893928

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SIM'ergence 2010

ABOUT SIM'ergence:

SIM’ergence is a word derived by combining SIMSREE (Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research & Entrepreneurship Education) & convergence. It symbolizes an effort of SIMSREE to provide an interactive platform to combine ideas & thoughts by corporate’ who are stalwarts in their area of expertise.
This years’ corporate event summit SIM’ergence 2010 is held in collaboration with Indian Merchants’ Chamber (IMC).

DETAILS ABOUT SIM’ergence 2010:

‘India Today: A storehouse of untapped Potential’

India, one of the rapidly growing economies in the world, is a host of number of economic activities. In spite of its robust growth, India is said to house a huge untapped potential. Tapping this potential is the need of the hour for India in order to sustain its growth. What can India do to become a developed nation by identifying the potential?

‘Emerging SMEs, Energizing India’

India has nearly 3 million SMEs, which account for almost 50% of industrial output and 42% of India’s total exports. SMEs contribute around 18% to GDP of India. As most of the developed economies struggle to recover from the sub prime shock, SMEs can be very instrumental in propelling India in the league of the developed nations. What lies ahead for the SMEs who already are playing a vital role in the Indian economy?


Event Details:

Date: 11th March, 2010
Venue: BSE Convention Center
Timings: 09.30 am – 05.00 pm

Guest of Honour:

His Excellency Shri K. Sankaranarayanan – Governor of Maharashtra

Keynote Address:

 Mr. Ajay Piramal, Chairman Piramal Enterprise.
Guest of Honor:
• Address by Shri. Rajesh Tope, Hon'ble Minister, Higher & Technical Education, M.S.
Corporate Speaker:
• Address by Shri. Dilip Dandekar- President-elect IMC, Chairman and MD (Camlin Limited)

• Shri J.S.Saharia – Principal Secretary for higher & Technical Education, M.S.

Panel Speakers:

Panel: ‘India Today: A storehouse of untapped Potential’

 Mr. Suresh Kotak – Chairman, Kotak & Co. (Ltd.)
 Mr. G. Chandrashekhar - Chairman, Agri Business & Food Processing committee (IMC) & Associate Editor, The Hindu Business Line
 Mr. Amarjeet Singh - CIO of Indiabulls
 Mr. Girish Agrawal – Director, DNA Money *

Panel: ‘Emerging SMEs, Energizing India’

 Mr. Manish Dhameja- MD Standard Chartered.
 Mr. S. Venkataraman - Senior Director - Research, CRISIL
 Mr. Deepak K. Doshi – President Indian Small Scale Paint Assn. Star Paint & Oil Industries*
 Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti - Managing Partner, Haribhakti & CO.
 Mr. Sanjiv Saraff - Vice President ICICI Securities Limited*
 Mr. Ashwin Merchant - Founder & Director, Marketing Klinic (World Plus)*

(*- Tentative)

Expected Audience: 500 (A mix of corporate & students across India)

Contact details for SIM’ergence 2010:

Sanket Chatwani - +91 9819 277 625
Vinay Deshmukh - +91 9920 922 939
Tushar Bansode - +91 9820 597 490

Corporate Events Committee
Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research & Entrepreneurship Education

Registration Fees:
For Corporate: Rs.700/-
For IMC Members: Rs.500/-
For Students: Rs.300/-

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