The Corporate Connect - Mr. Sachin Shilavat

Corporate Relations Committee, SIMSREE organized a Corporate Connect session on 31^st October with Mr. Sachin Shilavat. Mr Shilavat is currently Head-Motor and Automotive alliances at Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd with a vast experience of more than 15 years in General Insurance(Retail & Bancassurance), FMCG- Retail/ Institutional sales, Insurance- Retail, Alternate Channels, Direct channels, Channel management, Automotive Alliances.

Mr Shilavat spoke on the evolution of the insurance industry from the time when customers had to wait in long queues for an insurance to the current where getting an insurance takes only a few minutes. The insurance industry, like any other, has grown massively with the entrance of many private players into the picture as oppose to the presence of only government institutions initially. He emphasized that only product innovation and technology can prove to be a differentiating factor when there are so many companies targeting the same customer base and with an increased level of awareness about the different products among the customers. Although the government is trying to encourage people to get automotive insurance, a lot more needs to be implemented in terms of execution of regulations  in order for people in general to understand the importance and necessity of having an insurance. Till then the companies will find it difficult to reach to a wider base of customers especially in reaching the two wheeler vehicle insurance customers in rural areas. Any other effort by any company in increasing the awareness about insurance product would be seen as a strategic move to enhance product sales. He also spoke about his professional journey in the varied industries and his learning from them. He concluded by stating that a marketing personnel needs to show ownership of the business he/she is selling and take complete responsibility for the job.

The session provided students valuable insights in the insurance marketing sector. We would like to thank sir for his valuable time and knowledge sharing with our students.

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The Corporate Connect - Mr Mohandas Menon

On 19^th of August, 2015, the Corporate Relations Committee of SIMSREE organized a corporate connect session wherein ten students got a chance to interact with Mr.​Mohandas Menon, Director & Commercial Head - CLC & Head Automotive Sector, Hellmann Worldwide Logistics India Pvt. Ltd at Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research & Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE) campus. Mr. Mohandas Menon is an expert in Supply Chain Management with over 28 years of experience working for companies like Exel, NYK Logistics, and Future Supply Chain Solutions and has held various domestic and international positions.

Sir spoke about his journey and shared some of his experiences over the years.The session started with discussion on JIT sequencing techniques in the automotive industry and its impact on supply chain and delivery. Mr Menon stated that the current market is not a supply chain but rather is a demand chain. He stressed on the fact that a good operations manager should have inventory management on his/her fingertips.

Mr. Menon answered questions on the impact of the proposed GST bill on operations delivery. He spoke about how GST will make VAT, service tax, octroi etc. disappear and thereby affect multiple processes from procurement to delivery. Sir stated that due to GST implementation the cost to market focus of supply chain will switch to time to market focus to increase efficiency.

The interactive session helped students in gaining an insight into the world of supply chain management and delivery. Mr. Menon also discussed the differences in supply chain between Indian and foreign markets with specific examples related to delivery. He stated that India still lags behind in terms of proper infrastructure required for efficient operations but was optimistic about future growth. He also discussed the effects of globalisation on operations management.

It was a very fruitful session for the students who got an opportunity to interact with him. We thank sir for his time and invaluable inputs.

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HR Conclave'15 - Shaping Tomorrow's Leaders

The Corporate Relations Committee of SIMSREE organized its 1^st major event of the new academic year, HR conclave on 10^th September 2015 to discuss various aspects of leadership and its effect on organizations. The HR conclave is an annual event where HR heads of reputed companies assemble at SIMSREE to express their views on a topic that has relevance to the current market scenario. The topic for this year’s HR conclave was “Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders: Learning from the past”. The guests that graced the college campus for this event were: Mr. C Srinivasulu (Vice President - HR, Lupin Limited), Mr. Atul Joshi (Head HR (Automotive Division), Mahindra & Mahindra), Ms. Meena Jagtiani (HR Advisor - Projects, Group Human Resources, Aditya Birla Management Corporation Pvt. Ltd), Ms. Diptii Das (Head HR - South Asia, Aramex International) and Mr. Srinivas Chunduru (Chief Human Resources Officer at the Piramal Group). 

                           

(From Left to Right :  Mr. C Srinivasulu, Mr. Atul Joshi, Ms. Meena Jagtiani, Ms. Diptii Das, Mr. Srinivas Chunduru)

The panel discussion was moderated by Ms. Jagtiani who gave a brief introduction of the topic to the students. After the introduction, the discussion was started by Mr. Srinivasulu who being a home-grown leader himself, shared his thoughts on how a company can groom its employees through succession planning and leadership identification processes by giving an example of Sundar Pichai. The discussion was followed by Mr. Joshi who gave an insight to the new trend of Gen-Y leaders. Ms. Das who spoke next, made the atmosphere lively with her highly energetic talk on the current volatile world and how a leader who has a hybrid portfolio is best suited for this environment. Mr. Chunduru stressed upon the importance of values like integrity and humility which are essential for any leader in today’s world. The discussion was then concluded by Ms. Jagtiani by expressing her views on the trends of future, loyalty and leaders.

The crux of the discussion was whether a company needs a home-grown leader to tackle the challenges arising due to a global and complex environment or a lateral hire who has a vast experience across industries and organizations. The panel unanimously acknowledged that the most significant thing that mattered while electing a leader were his/her innate qualities like humility, general management skills, professional competence etc. though both company loyalists and laterals had a few distinct advantages which made them more suitable than the other in a few instances. The other part of the discussion was on the challenges faced by women leaders in the industry and ways to overcome it. 

                                 

The discussion was followed by a Q&A round for 30 minutes. It was a great and insightful session for the first year students. “The various facets of leadership became very clear to us” quoted one of the students.  They also got a chance to understand the expectations and qualities that organizations look for in a leader which is a vital part of corporate life.

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Guest Lecture by Ms. Monica Tata

The Corporate Relations Committee, SIMSREE was honoured to have Ms. Monica Tata as a

guest lecturer on the campus on 23rd July 2015. Ms. Tata who has over 25 years of

experience in the industry gave her insights about the Media and Entertainment industry.

She has been featured in the ‘Next 30’ most powerful women to look out for in 2010 and

was also featured in the top 50 influential women in media, marketing and advertising by

IMPACT in 2012 and 2014.

Ms. Monica Tata spoke about her splendid journey in the industry. Ma’am started her

career in the Dalmia group and quickly went on to win the Star Sales person award in 1991.

After her stint as a sales person, she made a career shift to advertising within the same

company, and then began her splendid journey in the industry.

She also spoke about how STAR changed the way Indians viewed television entertainment.

She was the second employee of STAR in India and worked as part of the leadership team at

STAR and was instrumental in increasing sales, effective negotiations, profit and loss

analysis and strategic implementation of business operations. After working in STAR, she

moved on to work with HBO and served as a Managing Director and was responsible for the

launch of HBO Defined HD that led the way in airing  popular series like Game of Thrones,

Better Call Saul, etc. Ms. Tata then discussed in depth about TRPs and advertising sector in

India.

The overall session was very engaging, as students asked many questions related to the

industry and Ma’am answered all the questions patiently. Ms. Tata reiterated the fact a

number of times, that follow your dreams through crests and troughs of life. We thank Ms.

Monica Tata for taking time out and sharing her knowledge and thoughts with the students.

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SIM'ergence 2015 was successfully organised by SIMSREE

SIM’ergence is the annual flagship corporate event of SIMSREE which is organized by the ‘Corporate Relations Committee’ in association with the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange). With the aim of bringing about an interaction between management students and corporates, the event is being organized successfully since the past one decade. It is an annual academia-industry interface, wherein, the stalwarts of the Business and Industrial world come together to discuss various issues faced by different organizations and to identify what could be the future business trends. Continuing with this trend, SIM’ergence ‘15 was organized on the 13^th of March, 2015 at BSE’s International Convention Hall.  Keeping up with its tradition of having themes that are related to the contemporary industrial and economic scenario, the theme for SIM’ergence ‘15 was ‘Renaissant India: Development & Sustainability’.

India is on the cusp of reaping her demographic dividends. The Indian economy has metamorphosed into a knowledge economy steered by the services sector, leapfrogging the intermediate manufacturing driven stage seen in the developed economies. However, as we see the wage rates spiralling upward in China and the manufacturing sector in India getting a fillip, companies are now looking to manufacture in India and export.

The theme ‘Renaissant India - Development and Sustainability’ resonates well in the current scenario. As future managers, this is very relevant to management students.  With development comes the onus of sustainability. While a boost to manufacturing will add a new dimension to our growth story, we should not overlook our services prowess. The rapid growth of services in India is not only sustainable but is also poised to help drive manufacturing in the country.

SIM’ergence ‘15 provided the platform for the students to meet and understand the views of corporate stalwarts from across several industries which would guide them to prepare the necessary strategies when they actually start dealing with challenges in their corporate career. This grand event was witnessed by both 1^st & 2^nd year students of SIMSREE and by many students and professors from other eminent business schools from Mumbai as well.

The event started with the traditional 'Lighting of the lamp' along with Saraswati Vandana.

Dr. Sandhya Dhabe (Director, SIMSREE) delivered the welcome note in which she summarized the idea behind the theme of this event, wherein she said that true knowledge is a combination of classroom teaching and practical understanding.

 Mr. Shankar Jadhav (Head of Strategy at BSE & Director on the Boards of Bank of India Shareholding, Marketplace Technologies and BSE Investments). "How to improve infrastructure and employ more and more people every year is the big question, the young population thinks of getting jobs, we should change our mind-sets to think of how to create jobs." According to him, it is important to create jobs.

SIM’ergence'15 was honoured to have Mr. Raj Nair (Founder & Chairman, Avalon Consulting Group) as the Chief Guest for the event. Renaissant means rebirth, there is immense opportunity in the “New India”. While sentiments have been good in 2015, they will change in 2016. This can be seen on the BSE index as a parameter, which can be called as the temple of Indian capitalism. The Indian middle class is ever growing, predicting that nearly 80% would be middle class in next years.  He gave many examples including his own, citing the story of “Avalon” and motivating the students to emphasize that it is important for management students to understand the big picture and not get lost.

Mr. Satish Jamdar (MD, Bluestar) was the Guest of Honour at SIM’ergence ’15. According to him, with increasing growth, there is an increase in demand for skilled people, but there is shortage as many are unorganised and unemployed. Skill building is critical. He encourages students to add value to themselves by means of education. Sustainable inclusive growth would happen when maximum portion of the population participates.

Keeping in line with the theme, the first panel discussion was based on ‘Inclusive Growth: Role of Corporate India’.  The industry stalwarts participating in the discussion were:

1.       Ms. Amisha Vora - Joint Managing Director, Prabhudas Lilladher

2.       Mr. Anand Pillai- Sr. Executive VP, CLO, Reliance Industries Ltd

3.       Ms. Aparna Sharma - Country Head, HR, Lafarge

4.       Mr. Himanshu Goyal – Country Manager, IBM India

5.       Mr. Ullas Kamath, JMD & CFO at Jyothi Laboratories  (Moderator)

The esteemed moderator opened the discussion by discussing the topic and inviting all panel member to air their views.

Ms. Aparna Sharma started off the panel discussion by saying that sectors such as agriculture, energy, and infrastructure are the pillars to sustain economic growth and that the composition of these sectors is critical. Elaborating on this, she said that corporate India’s contribution should be to enhance productivity, reduce labour issues, focus on skill development, reskilling in the unorganised sector, participative leadership and reducing the gap between public and private sector.

According to Mr. Anand Pillai, “the Government has no business to be in business”. Academic institutions should be involved in imparting skills to students to remain competent in the industry and focus has to be tailored for the skill and not only for the purpose of seeking or getting a good job. The role of corporate India is to bridge the gap between corporate and college, motivate the people to be skilful and channelize corporate social responsibility towards this. He encouraged students to introspect.

Ms Amish Vora highlighted the fact that to pursue inclusive growth, India should focus on increasing financial literacy. People need to start saving and investing those savings. In view of this, she feels the “Jan Dhan Yojna” is indeed a step towards growth as less than 2% of our population have DeMat accounts. We need capital to grow and retail investors participating would be the key.

Mr Himanshu Goyal was of the opinion that perspective matters. Advancement of technology inculcates constant learning and advance planning of the needs of the industry. Industry and academics become one when the industry demands are put forth in the curriculum of the students. Due to the computer science subject, the services industry thrived. Vertical skill focuses on specializing while horizontal skill broadens horizons.

After this, the moderator, Mr. Ullas Kamath started the discussion by posing questions to the panel members - what should industry do to make people employable? Is India’s service industry threatened by China or Japan? What should the government of India do to ensure companies continue to grow?

He summed by emphasizing on the role of planning, the role of continuously honing skills, providing an ecosystem. “Why is it that South Korea, Japan became world class? India has lagged behind due to limited Government support, but collective intelligence in India is good”. The Build-Operate-Transfer model needs to be more willingly adopted.

There were various questions posed to all the panellists which they patiently answered and the students would have continued asking questions, was there no paucity of time. We are thankful to all the panelists for taking time out of their busy schedules to interact with the students.

The topic for the second panel discussion was ‘Triple Bottomline – The Sustainability Mantra?’ which aims to discuss the 3 Ps – people, planet and profit as a sustainability strategy for companies. The industry stalwarts participating in this discussion were:

1.       Mr. Akalpit Gupte - Director Compliance at Deutsche Bank AG

2.       Mr. A.V. Suresh - President, International Operations and CEO, Eureka Forbes Limited

3.       Mr. Bhaskar Bhattacharya - AVP, CHR, Hindalco Industries Limited

4.       Mr. Praveen Vashishta - Chairman, Howden Asia & Middle East (Moderator)

5.       Ms. Shraddha Pradhan - Director- HR, Bristol-Myers Squibb

The moderator Mr. Praveen Vashishta kicked off the session by saying that in the 19^th century, profit was not the sole factor behind doing business, it was looked upon as a by-product of doing business. Sustainability is now being looked at seriously by many as now there are awards being given for sustainable practices and legislations are also being passed in support of sustainability. Sustainability can be difficult to measure. The 3 pillars of sustainability -people, profit and planet form the triple bottomline of a sustainable strategy.

Mr. A V Suresh explained the difference between CSR and sustainability saying that the 2% donated by companies is CSR but providing employment that results into growth in the community is a sustainable model. Every rupee spent by a company should be with a view of sustainable growth. People should be given the opportunity to earn. Raising awareness about the environment, educating others and investing in technology all lead to sustainable development.

According to Mr. Akalpit Gupte, the industry is driven by profitability. It is however importance to find out the ways and means by which this profit is generated. After the 2008 sub-prime crisis, banks changed business practices. The entire banking system needs to be remodelled for sustainability with more focus on ethics and values. Steps should be taken to change people’s mind set and make them think about how their actions affect others to make a more socially responsible society.

Mr Bhaskar Bhattacharya highlighted that most people start and end business with top line and bottomline and therein arise the problems and the concept of Triple bottomline came to be established. The Government earlier used to have only the fire department which later added the pollution control department and later still, renamed it as Environment department. All companies today have a department pertaining to Health, Safety & Environment. We must be sensitive from the perspective of greenery, pollution, clean water etc for the next generation.

Ms. Shraddha Pradhan added a psychological dimension to the discussion saying that sustainability is the responsibility of every individual for which values are list of Dos and Don’ts. A person’s conscience is the best guidance for responsible behaviour. A satisfaction survey mainly consists of customer, people, community, stake holders and shareholders. If the customer, employees and community are taken care of, there is sustainability. There is degree of correlation among these factors. 

The discussion threw up many insights like more transparency required in all transactions, sustainable development needing more awareness, education and advertisement. The panel agreed that if sustainability is practised the right way, it will not affect profitability. People and companies must be willing to change their mind-set and attitudes about sustainability and at the same time have courage to do so. There are many dimensions to sustainability and it is in the hands of the people and companies in a way to be the change they want to be. Many questions were posed to the eminent panellists by the student audience and the guests were very patient to answer them all.

All in all, the entire event was a grand success. Students of SIMSREE got a lifetime opportunity to interact with many industry stalwarts and that too on the single stage. They got tremendous amount of knowledge from the eminent guests that served the purpose of the event. SIMSREE thanks all the guest speakers who graced SIM’ergence ‘15 despite their tight schedules and making the event a grand success.

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The Corporate Connect - Mr. Bhavin Sanghavi

On the 19^th of September, 2014 the Corporate Relations Committee of SIMSREE organized a ‘Corporate Connect’ session wherein ten students got a chance to interact with Mr. Bhavin Sanghavi (Associate Director at BNP Paribas Securities India Pvt. Ltd.). Mr. Bhavin Sanghavi is a Chartered Accountant and has vast experience in capital markets and risk management.

The interactive session held at his office helped students of SIMSREE to get an insight into the functioning of capital markets. Sir spoke about his journey in this industry and shared some of his experience over the years.

The session started with a discussion on the recent trends in the finance industry. Sir emphasized upon the fact that change in investor sentiments towards India after the election of a stable government at the centre has resulted in a high amount of foreign capital flowing into the country. He stated the role and importance of FIIs for an emerging economy like India. For young investors, Sir stated the importance of conducting an in-depth fundamental research of a company before making any investments. He advised the students to concentrate on certain companies or sectors, study the reports and follow their stock prices on a regular basis before investing.

Sir then spoke about the various derivative instruments available and the pros and cons of each of them. He explained the risks associated with the use of derivative instruments as a tool for excessive speculation stating the example of the financial crisis of 2008.

Sir explained how dedicated apps and online portals have made it very easy and convenient for people to invest in the markets and this has resulted in a direct connection between the brokers and the investors. Furthermore, he also answered questions on topics such as Mark to Market, Asset Management, Bargain Hunting, High Frequency Trading and e-commerce.

He ended this knowledge sharing session by advising the students to have patience and self-belief and to be persistent in their efforts. He also spoke about the importance of balancing work and family life. All in all, it was a very fruitful session for all the students who got the opportunity to interact with him. We thank Sir for his time and his valuable inputs.

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The Corporate Connect - Mr. Ajjay Tavaadia

On 15^th Feb 2014, Corporate Relations Committee organized Corporate Connect with Mr. Ajjay Tavaadia at SIMSREE. Mr. Ajjay Tavaadia is Regional Manager for Wireless Business Development SME at Tata Teleservices Ltd. With more than sixteen years of rich and unique experience across Sales, Marketing, Distribution and Operations, he has worked in three sectors namely Telecom, Retail (FMCG) and Banking. He has held positions of AVP – Current Account at HDFC Bank and Chief Manager – Operations at Reliance Retail.

The session began with Mr. Tavaadia sharing his career transition from a non technical field of commerce to managing technical businesses like telecom, banking and Retail-FMCG. At HDFC Bank, Mr. Tavaadia was instrumental in setting up CANI project (Current Account New Initiative).

Mr. Tavaadia delivered a talk on the “Telecom Puzzle” which encapsulated how the telecom structure in India is on a path of constant change and evolution. The sector was opened for private player operations in August 1995. The mobile phone subscriber base has moved from 5mn in 2001 to 940mn in 2013 with 80% market of GSM. With the launch of the New Telecom Policy in 1999, private players entered the business to offer landline connections. It marked the introduction of the Internet and its convergence with Telecom, moving slowly to mobile internet (2G, 3G), ISPs, DTH, FTTH (Fibre To The Home) and an extension to 4G LTE (Long term Evolution). He gave more insights on the current scenario of all telecom companies and how some players entered the business and have exited over these years. The real puzzle, as per Mr. Tavaadia, could be solved most probably by the end of this calendar year with a lot of changes expected that involve JVs, mergers and acquisitions happening.

Mr. Tavaadia laid out a fair and competitive structure for telecom business in India, the factors for which are as follows:

1.      Focus on Quality Customer Acquisition

·         Stringent process for acquisition, attractive schemes and customized tariff for bulk customers

·         Service through defined TAT and processes that are audited

·         The current cost of acquiring a customer is less than retaining, so back-end processes need to be improved

2.      Focus on Retention

·         Understanding the customer and his pain points

·         Offer / solutions (call top 100 revenue generating customers and present them plans to get their feedback)

·         Focused and tenure based tariffs for existing customers

3.      Focus on Productivity Enhancement

·         Stringent productivity norms for employees and channel partners (dealers / distributors)

·         Loyalty Rewards/Bonus for high productivity

·         Customized Payout model – “Battle for Survival Strategy”

In the final phase of the session, Mr. Tavaadia answered all the queries put forth by students. Some of which involved technology up-gradation in telecom (2G to 3G to 4G), its impact on the business. He informed the students that firms have invested heavily in each of their technologies including 3G, so companies will be cautious first to cross break even and start earning profits before moving to new technologies like 4G. Even the license fee for starting the telecom firm is exorbitant in India compared to that of the US, Europe.

SIMSREE is thankful to Mr. Ajjay Tavaadia for sharing his insights and delivering a very informative session on Telecom industry in India and challenges faced by it. Many more such opportunities of interaction with him in the future will definitely be looked forward to.

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The Corporate Connect - Mr. Bhupendra Bhate

The Corporate Connect gave SIMSREE students a chance to interact with another veteran from the corporate world - Mr. Bhupendra Bhate, Head, Industrial Products, Integrated Engineering Services (IES), L&T.

Mr. Bhate has a strong experience of more than 30 years. Sir started his career with Godrej & Boyce Ltd. where he worked for nearly 10 years. After that, he joined Atos Origin as General Manager and then moved onto Softdell Systems Inc. where he was the COO. For the last 11 years , he has been working with L&T.

The session was conducted at L&T office, Powai on January 23, 2014. Mr. Bhate started the session with an introduction to the company and its verticals. While talking about the culture of his current organization, he said that the mind-set and culture of the company, which is influenced by top management, play a vital role in product development and its success. The designer or the architect should be given utmost importance in any undertaking. But in Indian companies they hardly get their due attention. Improvement on this front will help in developing better products.

He compared western culture to the Indian culture .He elaborated how the analytical ability accompanied by individual goals has resulted in a lot of inventions and discoveries in the Western world. A small country like Israel has achieved its success on the same principles. He stressed upon the need of more rational and analytical thinking.

Mr. Bhate talked about the importance of core education. He advised that students should possess thorough knowledge in their graduation specialization and a post graduate degree like MBA should act as polishing tool.

Mr Bhate then illustrated how the application of these principles has guided his organization to the number one spot in all respects. His organization encourages employees to develop new ideas and to act upon them. The result is that IES has 79 intellectual properties to its name. This has helped IES to stay way ahead of its competitors.

It was a pleasure interacting with Mr Bhupendra Bhate and learning many things in the little time that we got. We whole heartedly thank Mr Bhate and hope that we find many more opportunities to interact with him in the future.

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The Corporate Connect - Mr. Rajendra Saboo

The Corporate Connect continued going from strength to strength, this time having a freewheeling interaction with Mr. Rajendra Saboo, Senior General Manager (Corporate Affairs) & Company Secretary, Supreme Industries Limited.

Mr. Saboo has been with Supreme since 1987 and is involved in every aspect of corporate management, such as strategy, planning, review of acquisition and joint venture proposals, driving top line growth and net results to name a few.

The session was held at Supreme’s office at Nariman Point on January 15, 2014. Mr. Saboo started the session with an introduction about Supreme and the sector in general. He explained about how the company came into existence and how it has grown leaps and bounds, especially in the last decade, the products that Supreme develops and why they are the leader in the sector.

The session then turned to technicalities with Mr. Saboo giving intrinsic details about every sector Supreme is in and what their future targets are. He talked about how a strong distribution network is essential for business like theirs. He said that the company’s focus is on localised marketing, which is the key to success in this industry. On being questioned about China being a competitor, he turned it down straightaway, explaining about the manufacturing processes and constraints plaguing the imports in this sector due to high freight cost and when asked if he sees volatility as a challenge, his answer was simple: Volatility is the game now.

Mr. Saboo also talked about the management principles followed in Supreme Industries. He talked about how good management and good business model, both are essential; one factor cannot substitute for the other. He also advised students to be aware of what his happening in the world around and read at least one financial newspaper daily for developing business acumen.

It was a pleasure interacting with Mr. Saboo and learn so much in so little time. We whole-heartedly thank Mr. Saboo and hope that we get many more opportunities to interact with him in the coming time.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Salil Kallianpur

The Corporate Relations Committtee, SIMSREE organized a Guest Lecture by Mr. Salil Kallianpur, Commercial Head – Classic Brands and Established Products, GlaxoSmithKline at SIMSREE on 7th January, 2014. He leads the commercialization of GSK’s off-patent (classic) products and branded generic products in four therapy areas- Respiratory, Cardiovascular, Metabolism and Virology across geography of emerging markets. The topic of interaction was “Changing Landscape of Pharmaceutical Industry”. 

Mr. Kallianpur spoke on the gamut of opportunities available for management graduates in the pharmaceutical sector. He began the session with how the pharma sector had thrived in spite of the global economic downturn. In spite of the presence of about 23000 pharmaceutical companies in India, only 30% of the 1.2 billion Indian population has access to basic medicines. The major reason for this is policy paralysis and the only solution to this is Public Private Partnerships (PPP).

Currently, India spends only 0.9% of its GDP on health care and the government has plans to increase this amount to 1.58% of the GDP in the next five years. However, the WHO recommends that 6% of the GDP should be spent on Healthcare. He explained how the pharma companies thrive despite the increase in the number of essential medicines (whose prices are regulated) from 74 to 378 by the Drug Price Control Order. The concept of Evergreen Patenting (and how ethical is it?) along with section 3D was explained in details. He stated that the top 10 companies together have 39% market share and the leading company enjoys a market share of only 5.1%. In the end there was a Q&A round and he enthusiastically answered all the queries put forth by the students. He also shared ideas about the possible entrepreneurial initiatives in the pharmaceutical sector.

The Corporate Relations Committee, along with the whole batch is thankful to Mr. Salil Kallianpur for taking out time from his busy schedule and presenting an insightful session on the pharmaceutical sector.

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Strengths Workshop for Career Development by Mr. Ganesh Ramakrishnan

The Corporate Relations Committee, SIMSREE organized a workshop on “Strengths Workshop for Career Development” on January 5, 2014 for the first year students. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Ganesh Ramakrishnan who is Senior Director, Human Resources at Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd. He has spent over 24 years in the IT industry in various areas of the business including software development, product architecture, quality management, pre-sales and relationship management. In recent years he has conducted workshops on strengths approach for career development under the aegis of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and HR Infotech Association.

Mr. Ramakrishnan began by giving us an overview on what exactly is the Strengths Approach. It is an innovative and practical tool for helping one with one’s career planning and development over one’s lifelong journey. It provides useful guidelines that are based on research, to identify areas to attain excellence. The workshop involved lots of interesting activities that were done by each participant individually and in groups, to aid self-exploration and self-understanding.

While tracing the path to excellence, he made the citation from the movie ‘3 Idiots’ – ‘Don’t run after Success, run after Excellence, success will follow you’. Building on one’s strengths helps one to achieve excellence. Strength is not having some attribute or ability. In strengths’ approach, strength is a consistent, outstanding performance using the abilities that one is good at or those in which one has a natural preference. Any job requires numerous competencies but if one were to aspire to achieve excellence in all of them one would end up with excelling in none. Mr Ramakrishnan illustrated this with the example of people with outstanding performance in various fields. He emphasized that their excellence stands out in some areas but their performance in other areas is average.

Talents, skills and knowledge are components that make up strengths. Mr. Ramakrishnan elucidated how to identify one’s dominant talents. He stressed that one should be sincere and honest with one’s inner-self and pointed up that self-awareness is a lifelong journey. He expressed that ‘Fixing Weakness is damage control and damage control is not the path to Excellence’. We should overcome them to the extent that we do our job well. But there could still be things that one may find difficult or unpleasant despite the efforts. One should work around our weaknesses and retain enough time to build on one’s strengths.

The entire workshop was extremely interactive and quite unique in terms of the learning methodology.
We all, at SIMSREE are indeed thankful to Mr Ganesh Ramakrishnan for sharing his valuable insights through such an interesting workshop.

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The Corporate Connect- Mr. Asgar Khorakiwala

The members of the Corporate Relations Committee (CRC) of SIMSREE had an enriching interaction with Mr. Asgar Khorakiwala an entrepreneur who runs Akbarallys Furniture. In this interview he discusses his family history, commencement of the business, challenges faced and values that helped him go up against all odds.

Mr. Asgar Khorakiwala comes from the reputed family which owns India’s first department store -Akbarallys. The family has a remarkable history. In early 1897, Mr. Akbarally Ebrahimji had bought a small 30-square-foot space near Bombay’s Gunbow Street to start a “department store”, selling a range of items, like imported articles, toiletries and biscuits. In the course of its operations of more than 100 years, Akbarallys has established itself as a brand known for quality and integrity.

The Interview:

CRC: Sir, could you tell us how this business started?

Mr. Khorakiwala : In 1984, my family had a place near a store vacant. We wanted to start a new business here. I played a key role in determining which business we would undertake. In retail; the options were Electronic Goods, Footwear, Furniture, Fabric and Travel. After doing market research, weighing all the options available and understanding the intricacies of the businesses, I decided to go ahead with Furniture manufacturing and retail.

CRC: How has been your journey so far and what were the challenges that you faced?

Mr. Khorakiwala: At its commencement, I expected a good start because of the strong brand name of Akbarallys. But to my surprise, it didn't pull customers. So the smooth start that was expected didn't materialize and I had to think about the further course of action. After a few days there came an excellent opportunity which speeded up everything. The firm got a contract from a television manufacturer to supply wooden casings for their television sets. There was no upper limit for the supply and we could sell as much as we could produce to the TV manufacturer. This went on for a few months. The TV Company went bankrupt. This stopped the continuous orders and work. The payments for previous orders were also pending. It was a tough time for the firm.

CRC: Sir, how did you overcome these challenges?

Mr. Khorakiwala: In this period, we concentrated on the core business of Home Furniture. We managed to get the money from the TV Company. The business ran just fine with some orders from retail customers. But this alone couldn't have helped the firm to survive and grow. We decided to offer total home furniture package with the best quality. The package we offered was expensive. But due to the values that our business follows, people trusted us. Within a short time the package became very popular and resulted in a perennial supply of orders.

We introduced a lot of variety in home furniture with unbeatable quality. This strategy helped the business grow. We expanded our manufacturing facility. After this we entered in the office furniture business. There also we gave turnkey solutions to many customers. But the main focus is still home furniture. Now we have three furniture retail stores in Mumbai.

CRC: Sir, please tell us about the furniture industry.

Mr. Khorakiwala: In India, the furniture industry has few big players. Most of the players are small manufacturers. The transactions in the retail furniture are small, so there is a lack of accurate official record of all the transactions. This makes it difficult to understand the volume of the industry. But yes, the industry is large and promising. Organized sector is growing in the industry but at present its share is quite small.

CRC: What are the marketing strategies that have helped Akbarallys Furniture?

Mr. Khorakiwala: The furniture brand was built on three core values, Transparency, Ethics and Quality. This created loyal customers. Only print ads were used for promotion. This promotion ensured demand large enough to completely utilize the available manufacturing facility. We modernized our shop display. The home furniture package that we offered was displayed in the shop. It would have occupied a space of around 220sq.ft; which would have been difficult to display in an overcrowded city like Mumbai. So we developed a miniature model for all the merchandise. The total set now occupies only 75sq.ft of area and also gives the customer a real feel of the product. We conduct exhibitions in Goa, annually. This has helped us garner orders from Goa also.

CRC: Sir what is your message for budding entrepreneurs and MBA students?

Mr. Khorakiwala: Business has many uncertainties and unforeseen challenges. An entrepreneur has to work on his toes. The scenario can change drastically, he has to adapt to the changes and evolve with the new circumstances. Values play an essential role when one thinks of long term. Only strong values can retain the customers.

CRC: It has been a pleasure talking to you, sir. Thank you for spending your valuable time with us.

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