Guest Lecture by Mr. Hemant Malik

SIMSREE was honoured to welcome Mr. Hemant Malik, COO- Trade Marketing and Distribution, ITC Limited on campus. Mr. Malik took a guest lecture with the students in which he covered the basics of marketing and distribution. Mr. Malik started out by asking students why people buy particular products, what is the meaning of brand loyalty, and how availability of products affects loyalty.

Using ITC’s operations as an example, Mr. Malik explained various concepts including the problems faced by an FMCG major. Some of the problems Mr. Malik spoke about were getting the products on time to different kinds of stores, including convenience stores which would not have much storage space. The main problem is managing the inventories of various kinds of stores, each having different storage and display formats. Customers prefer buying the freshest possible goods. In fact, some even switch brands if they do not find a fresh product of their brand of choice.

Mr. Malik also spoke about logistical difficulties like ensuring efficient transportation of goods. The example given was that of wheat flour and Bingo chips. According to regulations, each truck can carry only 9 tonnes of goods. With wheat flour, 9 tonnes would only occupy half the space (in terms of volume) in the truck resulting in wastage of space. However with Bingo chips, only 1 tonne (in weight) would occupy the entire space (in terms of volume) in the truck. So the solution the company came up with was to carry 8 tonnes of wheat and fill the remaining space with 1 tonne of chips, hence making optimum use of space as well as meeting regulations.

Mr. Malik also spoke about various issues that companies have to watch out for including making sure that their products are placed in a visible place in stores. Convincing stores to carry the products also requires serious effort in the case of big stores, because such stores are more interested in increasing category sales rather than the sales of simply individual products. So in order to convince them one has to resort to measures such as negotiating margins. Also one has to manage warehouses which are used for storage to ensure that products move in a first in first out manner. In stores too, older goods have to be placed in front of newer ones otherwise customers would buy the newer ones and the older ones would never be sold and would eventually have to be discarded.

It was a very informative session for all the students present as we got to hear firsthand how a major company like ITC manages its trade marketing and operations. We hope to have many more sessions with Mr. Malik in future.

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Asia’s Best B-School Awards

SIMSREE is proud to announce that we have won the award for the Business School with the Best Industry Interface and our professor, Mr. Ashish Pawaskar, won the Best Professor in Advertising and Communications Management at the Asia’s Best B-Schools Awards. Prof. Ashish Pawaskar is also an Alumnus of our college from the 1994 MMS batch and an active SIMAA Director.

The CMO Asia Advisory Board and the Advisory Council of the World Bank Congress took the task of identifying Asia's Best Business Schools. Participating countries included China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Israel and many many more. The jury included dignitaries such as Bhaskar Chatterjee, Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises; Michael McDonald, Global Chairman, World HRD Congress; Jonathan Peters, Global Chairman, Stars of the Industry Group; Dr. Prasad Medury, Partner, Amrop India Consultants Pvt Ltd and many more besides.

This is but one of the many accolades SIMSREE has received. We hope to continue our efforts with the same perseverance and dedication as now and ensure that milestones such as these are achieved in the years ahead.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Munjal Kamdar

SIMSREE welcomed yet another dignitary on campus. This time it was Mr. Munjal Kamdar, Enterprise Risk Solutions, Deloitte and also an alumnus of SIMSREE from the 1996  batch. The topic for the day was ‘Succeeding In Your First Job’.

Mr. Kamdar started off by telling us about himself. He described what life was like for him immediately after he left SIMSREE. With graphic examples and personal anecdotes, Mr. Kamdar explained some of the common mistakes made by most management trainees. These mistakes covered a range of areas from etiquette and office protocol to performance and goals. He also emphasized that failures are natural and eventual but the key thing about them is to recognize, acknowledge and ultimately work towards rectification of past errors. Another very interesting point he brought up was the progress of an individual from unconscious incompetence to conscious excellence. Conscious excellence is something that all of us must strive for from the very day we embark on our careers. He concluded by describing his journey so far and also gave us some useful tips on the corporate world and how to smoothen our progress through it.

Mr. Kamdar’s session was an extremely interesting and informative one and we are very grateful to him for sharing his valuable insights with us. This knowledge is not to be found in a classroom or textbook but can only be learned by experience and we appreciate the same. We hope to have many more of such educational sessions in future.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Tushar Murdeshwar, Johnson & Johnson

SIMSREE was proud to have on campus yet another distinguished personage, Mr. Tushar Murdeshwar, alumnus of the 1993 batch of SIMSREE and now Head of Marketing, Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products Division-India. The topic for the day was ‘Integrated Marketing Communication.’

The lecture started with a note on how different media channels have sprung up and grown in India in a relatively short period of time. Just two decades ago, television used to be the main mode of communicating with the masses, via short commercials on just a handful of television channels. But with economic progress of the nation, media has also grown in terms of the various channels offered as well as in terms of reach into the nooks and corners of the country. The fact that the customer has also evolved has just added to the complexity, with information being bombarded on the customer every second of the day.

Mr. Murdeshwar also commented on TVR ratings, a measure of how many people can be reached through the medium of television. A point worth noting is that the ratings have seen a drastic reduction over the years from 16%- 24% representing peak viewership to a meagre 2.5% at most today.  Hence, it has become crucial for the creative media agencies to make the brand message more focussed to create a sharp distinction between them and their competitors. He then spoke on copy strategies, that is what a television commercial should say. The key elements of these were ‘Who?’, ‘What?’ And ‘Reason to Believe’.

He demonstrated the above concepts with the example of Neutrogena-right from how a brief is given to a creative agency by identifying the key problems, key challenge and core target segment to business objective, strategy to be followed, and equity challenge. Ultimately, a way to establish consumer connect is identified by hypothesis testing and building a database of information on consumers.  He stressed on how it is important to create relevance for the product category by highlighting the core purpose-why it is necessary to use the product and what need gap it fulfils.

According to sir, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is about the right person, the right message connection, the right channel mix and the right impact. The effectiveness of advertising can and needs to be measured. He emphasized that every big idea must connect with the audience, differentiate & stand apart, and be scalable-that is grow well with the business, and the key is that “Less is More”.

He further continued with the steps to be taken once the big idea is arrived at, with the communication objective being used to tell (i.e. awareness generation), recommend and engage (two-way communication) with the customer to finally come up with the integrated communication strategy and plan, an integrated channel plan, and integrated selling plan.

The lecture concluded with an example of J&J’s treatment of ‘Top to Toe’ and an interactive question-answer session with the audience. It was indeed a very interesting and informative session and we hope to see many more of the same in future.

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Nissan Student Brand Manager Program 2011- SIMSREE Student Wins

Nissan Motor India recently launched the second edition of their Nissan Student Brand Manager Program wherein entries were invited from over 150 institutes around India. The aim was to choose 20 bright youngsters to spend six months interning with Nissan as Brand Managers to learn the job.

We are extremely proud to announce that one of the winners is Subir Pinto, a SIMSREE student of the PGDBM 2010-12 batch. Other winners included students from illustrious B schools such as SIBM and IIM K.

Nissan Student Brand Managers- Subir Pinto (Second from left)

The NSBM programme is of six months duration, from July to December 2011. The selected 20 Student Brand Managers have the important role of bringing the brand closer to the general public and especially to the Indian student community via creative marketing initiatives. Following training, these students are to work with the company officials on a number of projects. Also, apart from working on different projects, these students will develop unique events for creating a buzz around the brand in the student community.

The competition was open to all students who have completed one year of management studies. Participants had to complete a pre-specified task which was judged by eminent personalities such as ad guru Prahlad Kakkar of Genesis Films, Autocar India Magazine Editor, Hormazd Sorabjee and Consults Incorporated CEO, Harish Bijoor, all from the automotive and advertising world.

There were over 2843 entries from 450 colleges in 15 Indian cities. Around 20-25 entries were shortlisted from each of the four zones, with zonal finals happening in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore in front of the jury. Out of these, 36 were selected for the final presentation in Mumbai, with 18 finally winning the competition.

Congratulations Subir-you have done us proud!

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AICTE Approval for PGDBM

We are extremely proud to announce that the Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) offered by SIMSREE has been approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). 

This is the result of sustained efforts by our esteemed director, Dr. M.A. Khan, his predecessors and successive batches of SIMSREE students. Congratulations and a big thank you to all involved in making this happen!

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SIMSREE Orientation Programme

In keeping with SIMSREE tradition, an orientation session for future SIMSREE aspirants of 2011 was held on Saturday, 2^nd July 2011. The session was intended to be an introductory session for those who expect to join SIMSREE as part of the 2011-13 batch. It is also an opportunity for the prospective juniors to interact with the senior batch and get a preview of what their life will be like for the next two years.

Attendees were given a snapshot of life at SIMSREE and were also given an opportunity to get all their doubts clarified. They were free to ask virtually anything-information on the CAP rounds, the various committees at SIMSREE, the academic curriculum and numerous other queries. The enthusiasm and interest of the audience was a very positive sign of things to come. We are sure that the future batch will keep the SIMSREE standard flying high.

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Guest Lecture on Capital Markets by Mr. Sunit Joshi

SIMSREE was honoured to have Mr. Sunit Joshi (EVP, Head - Capital Markets, SBI Capital Markets Ltd) with us on campus for an interactive session on the Capital Markets. The agenda for the session was to give the batch an overview of the Indian Capital markets as well as clarifying students’ perceptions. The lecture was organised by the SIMSREE Finance Forum, and it was very good of Mr. Joshi to take time out from his busy schedule to spend a couple of hours with us.

The session was a very good learning experience for all the students present. Mr. Joshi started out by giving a brief introduction to the Capital Markets, both equity and debt. The floor was thrown open for students to ask him all the questions they had. Some of the topics discussed included reasons as to why the prices of most IPOS are low today. Mr. Joshi said that most IPOs were launched when the market was buoyant, but today it is dull. That is why price is below expected.

There was emphasis on the debt market, since most people have a clear idea about the equity market, but debt market is still a bit of an unknown entity. People had questions about why companies still prefer to raise money from banks as compared to taking loans via bonds. The reason given by Mr. Joshi was that the bond market is not very highly developed hence interest in participation is not very high. This is also the reason why FII in the bond market is less. Since the market is not fully developed, it is difficult to exit before maturity.

Mr. Joshi also discussed why the impact of FII entering or leaving the Indian capital markets was so high. He said that when FII money is exited from India, it flows to other countries, so it has a high impact. Whereas when domestic investors remove money from equities, and invest in some other financial instrument like mutual funds, it indirectly goes into equities via some other route. Hence the impact is not so high.

It was an extremely informative session, and gave the students a new perspective on the Indian Capital markets. We hope that Mr. Joshi would be able spend more time with us, and help the students in understanding more about the Capital Markets.

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