Guest Lecture by Mr. Ashish Bhasin

Mr. Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India and CEO South East Asia at Aegis Group and alumnus of 1988 batch, was the first guest on campus to address the batch of 2013 - 2015. 

He started the session by sharing his experiences at SIMSREE. He then spoke to thestudents about Sydenham Institute of Management Alumni Association (SIMAA) and how it encourages Alumni to contribute to the institute in Academics, Infrastructure, Industrial Relations, etc.

Mr. Bhasin also spoke about careers in Advertising. He defined the key skill set required to excel in an advertising career as – passion, resilience and ability to withstand stress. He also urged that the students should be very well informed not only about their areas of specialization but also about global business affairs. “Knowledge is Power”, is what Mr. Bhasin firmly believes in

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Naresh Katara

The students of SIMSREE had an opportunity on the 25th of March 2013 to have with them Mr. Naresh Katara, Director, Selling Excellence & SFE ,GSK Asia at GSK. He benefited the students by informing them about the Pharma market, India and abroad; and about the company GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals.

The pharma scenario of the country is changing; people are now ready to spend on quality. 900 BILLION USD is the global pharma market. Sir talked about the high rates of drugs outside India owing to the patents and astronomical amounts of money spent in R & D. He also threw light on the emerging medical tourism and the foreigners coming to India for a few surgeries due to the affordable prices. He helped the students with some statistics and facts regarding the top pharma companies in India and globally. He also told that the medical expenditure per person in Asia is expected to be more than double between now and 2020 to almost equal levels with USA. Thus the Pharma market is rapidly growing. However, the medical expenditure in India is just around 0.3% of our GDP.

He , then talked about the patenting and generic drugs. He explained the phases a drug needs to pass to finally enter the market and hence the importance of patents for encouragement of new drug delivery. Also, there is generic jumping after the patent expiry. Then he differentiated between the pharma market of India and China; and Brazil and Russia.

Coming to the Indian Pharma, he informed that it is an 11 billion USD market. There are 250 large manufacturers, 3000 pharma manufacturers and 4,60,000 is the workforce. India produces 105 of the global drug output. He also told us the reasons of the growing market namely, increasing literacy, increasing per capita income, improved health care access and increased market penetration.

Then he talked about the marketing methods of pharma companies, including surrogate marketing. Brand building is the key driver to growth by increasing demand and access. The question and answer session followed and he satisfied the students by giving good answers to their queries.

The session was indeed a very insightful one and we look forward to such sessions.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Tushar Murdeshwar

Johnson & Johnson, manufacturer of household brands like – Johnson’s Baby products, BandAid, Savlon, Benadryl, Listerine, Stayfree and many more, is a 126 year old American company specialised in medical devices, pharmaceutical and consumer products. 

On March 25, 2013, SIMSREE students welcomed their alumnus (’93 batch) Mr. Tushar Murdeshwar - General Manager (Head of Marketing), Johnson & Johnson - to share valuable insights on “Brand Management in FMCG and Pharma sectors with respect to Johnson & Johnson” 

Mr. Murdeshwar started with the basic difference in marketing a pharma product vis-à-vis a FMCG product. Students learnt different schedules in pharma industry and how companies market products in each schedule. He elaborated the history of Benadryl and why its marketing was changed over the years from direct-to-doctor to direct-to-consumer. The effect of advertising the product was also shown with the help of a sales/prescription vs time graph. 

Mr. Murdeshwar explained in detail how pricing of an FMCG product depends on the channel through which it is sold. Indian shampoo market was taken as an example to show how shampoo usage differs across India and how marketers decide their strategies accordingly. He shared Johnson’s baby powder example to explain how changes in price affect consumer’s perceptions. 

While answering queries asked by students, Mr. Murdeshwar threw light on role of retailers in marketing any product. He compared the life of an MBA student with brand building and discussed how marketers go about launching a new product. 

The students truly had a great experience as they got insights on brand management. The learnings from various examples helped them understand the corporate reality.

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Guest Lecture by Mr. Anil Joshi

SIMSREE was privileged to have on campus Mr. Anil Joshi, President at Mumbai Angels, for a guest lecture to throw light on the topics of Venture capitalist, Private equity and future career opportunities.

Mr. Joshi started the lecture by narrating his journey of his days of engineering to the president of Mumbai Angels. He described how in spite of getting good jobs he was not satisfied with what he was doing and how he made up his mind to be an entrepreneur.

Mr. Joshi also gave the students an idea as to how to pitch your idea to your investors. He gave the students the key points that the investors look into any project and the level of knowledge that the students need to have before going to such a pitch. He spoke about proprietorship, angel investing and gave simple examples of various popular brands to put forward his points.

Mr. Joshi made the session very interactive and students were more than happy to get as much knowledge from him as possible. His experience and knowledge helped the students gain insights on how to go forward with their budding ideas. It was a great learning experience and we hope to have Mr. Joshi for many more such interactions with students.

His advice to students,

“You have it in you. So be an entrepreneur, do something different and leave the normal job for the needier!”

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SIM'ergence 13 : Shifting Focus Rural India

In a country where approximately 70% of India's population resides in rural areas and 56% of the overall consumption comes from there, it is inevitable that the corporate world has started focusing more on Rural India. Keeping this in mind, the Corporate Relations Committee at SIMSREE organised its annual business conclave SIM'ergence 13 based on the theme ‘Shifting Focus: Rural India’ with the objective of capturing the views and ideas of industry stalwarts on rural markets and understanding the role that they will play in fostering inclusive economic growth in future. 

The conclave was held at the BSE International Convention Hall on Wednesday, March 13 and was graced by a number of eminent personalities from corporate India. The Guest of Honor was Mr. Mangal Prabhat Lodha, an MLA from the Malabar Hill Constituency and the Founder Chairman of Lodha Developers, one of the leading real estate developers in the country. The event was inaugurated by SIMSREE’s Director Dr. M.A. Khan, Mr. Lodha and Mr. Ashish Chauhan, the MD and CEO of the BSE. 

Following an inspirational message from Mr. Lodha to the audience, Mr. Chauhan took us down memory lane to some of the roots of Indian culture and history and encouraged us to preserve the traditional heritage that our ancestors have left behind. He also highlighted the growing importance of the SME sector as a driving force for rural empowerment. 

The stage was then set for Mr. Anshuman Singh, the Managing Director & CEO, Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd. He spoke about how difficult it would be to eradicate poverty unless the poor were given basic facilities like primary education, healthcare and food security. Mr. Singh also emphasized the need to reduce regional disparities and bridge the gap between urban and rural India. 

The keynote speech for the event was delivered by Mr. Anil Kamath, founder Chairman of Esemcee Advisers and a former Managing Director at Wockhardt Hospitals. Mr. Kamath prepared a wonderful presentation citing various live examples of companies and individuals who have positively influenced the lives of thousands of Indian villagers. 

Mr. Ajit Menon, Executive Vice President and Head – Sales at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers Pvt. Ltd. was the Corporate Speaker at the event. It was indeed, interesting to hear from an investment banker how rural financing has evolved over the last few decades and Mr. Menon was kind enough to share some of the unique strategies that can be adopted while targeting rural markets. He cautioned against sterotyping rural India and stressed the need to innovate in order to ‘tap the bottom of the pyramid’ successfully. 

Given the increasing importance that is being given to rural empowerment through financial inclusion, the afternoon session commenced with a panel discussion on ‘Future of the Indian Banking Industry – Financial Inclusion and Improvement in Payment Infrastructure’. The panelists for the event were Mr. Bharat Sampat, CFO at Development Credit Bank, Mr. Malcolm Athaide, President at Yes Bank, Ms. Dipti Kataria, Country Head of Global Payments, a JV with HSBC and Mr. Sanjay Sinha, Founder of Citrus Advisers. The discussion which was moderated by Mr. Kunal Pande, Partner at KPMG, revolved around developing commercially viable solutions to provide banking services to the unbanked at an affordable cost. The panelists advocated an increase in Micro ATMs so as to overcome operational and distribution challenges in rural banking. 

The second discussion aimed at understanding the effectiveness of various rural marketing campaigns in an attempt to analyse the approach, tools, skills and strategies required to be successful in rural markets. The topic for discussion was ‘Measuring Marketing Effectiveness – Looking Back to Rural Areas’ and the panel consisted of eminent corporates like Mr. Kewal Handa, Former MD at Pfizer Limited (Moderator), Mr. Pradeep Lokhande, CEO at Rural Relations, Mr. Anand Pejawar, Executive Director – Marketing, SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd, Dr. Vinod Juneja, MD at Binani Cement and Mr. Ravi Rao, Leader, South Asia at Mindshare. While agreeing that the rural economy has been given a boost in the recent past, they felt that many areas are still under-penetrated, thereby presenting numerous opportunities for all sectors. 

All in all, SIM’ergence 13 was a grand success and credit for the same goes to the students of the Corporate Relations Committee of SIMSREE who worked very hard right from the inception to the execution of the event. The constant support and guidance of our Director Dr. Khan along with the faculty members was also instrumental in ensuring that the entire event went off smoothly. 

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Guest Lecture by Mr.Shanoj Subramanian

Every business involved in international trade is exposed to some form of risk. An exporter needs to be ensured that he is paid for the goods that he provides. An importer, on the other hand, needs to be paid only for the goods that he agreed to purchase. There are a number of factors that can jeopardize the success of dealings. Hence banking has a huge role in managing risks and helping international trade.

Thus, to throw some more light on the same SIMSREE students had an opportunity on 16th March 2013, to welcome Mr.Shanoj Subramanian, Head, Trade Products and Services, Dhanalakshmi Bank Ltd.

He firstly explained the various banking activities, and the important terms like savings deposit, term deposits; the various accounts like the current account, Non-Residential external account, Non-residential ordinary account, foreign currency non residential account and the differences between them. Then he explained the difference between fund based lending and non-fund based lending. He said that fund based lending is exchange of money and in the beginning it might be a cash credit for capital purchase for a particular tenure, usually in retail segment. In case of non fund based lending, the lending bank does not commit any physical outflow of funds. As such, the funds position of the lending bank remains intact.

Then he told us the reasons of cross border trade, i.e. potential market outside the country, competitive advantage, scarcity/availability of resources in some countries, globalization and liberalization. Then he gave us an insight on the various processes and players in this sector; i.e. Insurance for risk mitigation, customs for regulations, SWIFT/Banks for payment platforms, handling of documents, payment guarantee and financing.

Then we the students were informed about the details of flow of trade and risks involved. Trade settlement methods , Regulations, documents required, letters of credit were also taught. Sir, in a short time covered a lot of topics and the session was highly beneficial and the students learnt a lot. We look forward to such sessions.

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Sankalp 2013: An SSR Event

“We are the angry and the desperate, the hungry, and the cold, we are the ones that kept quiet and always did what we were told”.

Women in our country are given the status of “Laxmi”, “Saraswati”, “Durga”  and even that of “Sita” but do we practice the value of the epic Ramayana that we worship and emphasize so excessively, so profusely, is the question that needs to be answered. When Raavana abducted Sita and kept her in confinement for 365 days, he did not touch her even once. Will that happen in today’s age? If a woman gets kidnapped today do you think a man will refrain from touching her? Or will she have to sacrifice her life in order to prove her sanctity, her innocence? Just like Sita did. Education is imparted about gender equality and values but is it practiced?

 The time to discuss, debate or march with a candle in hand about issues relating to Dowry, Eve Teasing, Molestation, Sexual Harassment, Incest, Rape and lot more has long gone, now is the time to take action or else it will be too late. With such strong views in mind and resolve to change, the SSR Committee at SIMSREE organized Sankalp 2013, an inter-collegiate competition, on International Women’s Day. The event proceeded with the first hand narration of the day of infamy, 26/11 terror attacks of Mumbai by the real life ‘Dabangg’ or call him ‘Singham’, Mr.Vishwas Nangare Patil, IPS officer and addl. Commissioner of police (West zone). He explicitly described his experience of that gloomy day as he was one among the very few armed policemen who were present at Café Leopold within the very first hour of the firing, who pursued the four attackers inside the Taj Mahal Palace and Towers Hotel. The words that he spoke skimmed the souls of every one present.

Following which Mrs.Nisreen Mamaji, alumnus and proprietor at Moneyworks took on the stage to educate and inspire the female to invest wisely. She gave some really wonderful ways to calculate the actual amount of savings that one must plan and invest for the future. She even proposed some truly good opportunities in which youngsters can start investing for a brighter future. Mrs.Usha Laxman, Director at Muktangan instructed the audience about the activities which are carried out at Mutangan. Muktangan is an initiative of Paragon Charitable Trust, a pioneering educational programme with an innovative model, working in close partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. It is an educational programme that offers alternatives to orthodox educational practices. The project seeks to offer a sustainable model of quality education at an affordable cost for the economically deprived sections of the society. Mrs. Usha Laxman is the daughter in law of the well renowned cartoonist Mr.R K.Laxman. At the end the duo announced the winners for ‘Drishti’ poster ad making competition the subject for which was Promoting Education.

After which ‘Kalpana’ the case study competition initiated. The case was based on REAP “Reach Education Action Programme” (a Mumbai based NGO) which was born out of a need to combat illiteracy and ensure every child is in school. For millions of children out-of-school and in child labor, education is still a distant dream. Yet, it is a known fact that primary education is the key to development and that the future of the country is shaped in her classrooms. From a modest beginning of 15 literacy centers in 1998 REAP made giant strides and within a short period expanded its network to over 450 centers by 2005 covering more than 10,000 learners. These include children on the street, slums, rag-pickers, child laborers and tribal children. Every year about 3500 children are mainstreamed in formal education. REAP also networks with government schools to upgrade quality education and prevent drop-outs.

Lastly, Mr.Alyque Padamsee, an Indian theater personality and ad film maker a.k.a the Brand Father of Indian advertising came to address the spectators on his initiative about the Zero Tolerance Campaign for Sexual Harassment against women.  He is probably best known for his English-speaking and for playing “Muhammad Ali Jinnah” in the film Gandhi. For 14 years, Padamsee was the CEO at Lintas who built Lintas India to be one of the top ad agencies in the country. Over the years he has built more than 100 brands. Presently he is the CEO of AP Advertising Pvt. Ltd., the well-known Image and Communications Consultants, who provides consultancy services to a number of national and multinational companies, as Creative Advisors.

Mr.Ruben Mascarenhas, who accompanied Mr.Padamsee, also works as a part time activist and volunteers for the Zero Tolerance Campaign. Mr.Padamsee spoke about how each woman in our country is a vulnerable victim to sexual harassment & molestation. Almost every woman passenger who has commuted on the suburban railways has a horror story to tell. Male hawkers selling their wares in women’s coaches are another problem, not all behave like gentlemen. But few women object to hawkers on board as the convenience of buying knick-knacks overrides security concerns. It all starts with a wrong mindset and attitude which must be rectified. Both the men spilled some beans on their progress to stop sex crimes against women. Lastly the winners for ‘Sangharsha’ the ad video making competition were announced.

It was a great initiative that was taken up by the SSR Committee and all those who were present had something to learn. SIMSREE applauds the efforts put in by each and everyone to make the event a great success.

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