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