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NEW DELHI, JANUARY 30 :
THE campus of Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS) , got a makeover, when students delved deep into youthful exuberance at the zonal preliminaries of Anugoonj, the Annual Cultural Festival of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.

A number of events and competitions catering to a variety of disciplines such as music, literature, dance, poetry, theatre and fine arts were a part of this zone-2 fest.
This year the topics for the events were very topical and related to the recent happenings which have left an impact on the nation.

The topic for debate was "Thanks to Social Networking Sites- there is no face to face interaction", "62 years of Republic India" for painting competition and "Politics, Corruption & Lokpal Bill" for collage competition.

The 'fashion parade' and 'Mr and Ms Anugoonj' marked the conclusion of the colorful gala event at JIMS's Rohini Sector-5 campus.

"The underlying aim of 'Anugoonj', the youth cultural festival is to promote the hidden talent of the students. Such events play a significant role to foster friendship and brotherhood among participating students. Students learn to focus their energy and the importance of team work," said, Dr. J K Goyal, Director, JIMS.

Anugoonj is an annual youth festival, where students from all the affiliated institutes and University School of Studies of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University showcase their talent.

The winners of the zonal prelims are the participants of the event. This year Anugoonj will be held from February 2 – February 4, 2012 at the University campus at Dwarka, New Delhi.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 12 :
SHIKSHA.COM , India's education portal, has introduced a common application form to facilitate MBA aspirants applying to multiple B- Schools. It is modelled along the lines of 'The Common App' which is accepted by over 400 college/universities for under-grad admissions in the USA.

There are approximately 4 lakh MBA aspirants in India every year and about 2.15 lakh of them appearing for the CAT this year.

This platform seeks to help these students avoid the tedious and time consuming process of sourcing and filling up multiple application forms for different colleges.

MBA aspirants can now create their profile on Shiksha.com and thereafter use that profile to conveniently apply to MBA colleges of their choice. The platform enables aspirants to track their application form status, correspond with institutes and pay the application fees online.

To start with eleven MBA institutions have come on board this platform including prestigious names such as Institute of Management-Nirma University, T.A. Pai Management Institute, Loyola Institute of Business Administration, Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship, Institute of Public Enterprise, IFIM Business School amongst others.

This platform helps the Institutes by providing them with an additional distribution point for their application forms thus attracting more applications and widening their talent pool. The Shiksha team aims to get at least 100 of the leading B Schools on this platform.

On this initiative, Mr Hitesh Oberoi, MD and CEO, Info Edge India, said "This product is a win-win for both students and institutes. MBA aspirants have about 8-10 institutes in their consideration set and end up applying to about 5 institutes. Students gain enormously as this product provides a one-stop access for applying to multiple institutes as well as tracking the application status. "

"For institutes, this product provides a platform for increasing the number of applications that they receive and for complete online management of the application process," he added.

Commenting on the same Prakash Sangam, Business Head, Shiksha.com said "Shiksha.com common online application platform overcomes the challenge for the students of remembering the application deadline for different institutes, sourcing and purchasing each individual form, filling up the same information multiple times and tracking the application status at each institute by providing a single window for all of these activities. We believe that this is a tremendous value add in the life of an MBA aspirant and hope that it makes the application process simpler and stress free for students."

Since its soft launch 15 days ago, Shiksha.com common online application form has received more than 12,500 visits and about 885 completed forms.

TCS will initially directly invest S$6 million in the new TCS-SMU iCity Lab over the next three years. The investment provides scholarship funds for SMU post-graduate students in Information Systems Technology & Management, and research funds for SMU faculty.

In addition to the direct investment in the iCity Lab at SMU, TCS is supporting the initiative under the TCS Co-Innovation Network (TCS COIN™) initiative, with collaboration from its global network of Innovation Labs. The iCity Lab is be located within SMU’s School of Information Systems (SIS), and will draw on faculty from SIS as well as from the other parts of SMU.

“TCS’ investment in this joint initiative with SMU strengthens our commitment to Singapore, which we see as a hub of innovation in in Asia”, said Girija Pande, Chairman TCS Asia Pacific. “Tomorrow’s cities will be specifically designed and built with a sophisticated IT backbone to enable integrated urban management, improved quality of life for citizens, and inclusive economic, social and sustainable growth.

The TCS-SMU iCity lab is particularly relevant for fast growing economies like China, India and others in the region. Globally over US$100 billion is expected to be invested in the intelligent city segment over the next 10 years,” he added

“This industry-university partnership is a first of its kind in Asia-Pacific for integrating cloud technology with the relevant business know-how to create urban management IT solutions,” said Professor Steven Miller, Dean, School of Information Systems, SMU.

“Through TCS-SMU iCity Lab, we will be partnering with surrounding urban centres across the region to change and re-imagine the way the IT hardware and software infrastructure of cities is going to be designed, built, integrated and managed in the future, he said.”

The partnership combines TCS’ industry leading IT services expertise and culture of innovation with SMU’s globally recognized focus on research and education and for the world of business and management across both the public and private sectors.

Both TCS and SMU are known for their ability to integrate IT with business in ways that creates innovative IT solutions that meet public and private sector management needs.

As well as being an intelligent city research center, the iCity Lab will also be a digitally interactive user-experience center where city managers and planners from the urban areas of surrounding countries can come to visualize and interactively explore scenarios for transitioning to the new generation of cloud-based information service delivery.

The lab will also serve government and commercial organizations via the rapid development and prototyping of intelligent city solutions in the context of real-world scenarios.

The iCity Lab will leverage TCS’ existing suite of urban IT applications, as well as its large global organization and partner ecosystem. The lab will also carry out R&D and solution development in the areas of cloud platforms and software solutions, mobile applications, business analytics combined with consumer, citizen and social analytics, the Internet-of-Things, and also in the areas of business models for developing, scaling and operating cloud-based iCity solution platforms.

Strategically located in Singapore, a country recognized for leveraging leading edge technology solutions for e-governance and urban management, the TCS-SMU iCity Lab is well positioned to be a regional hub for the development of intelligent city IT architecture and solutions. The lab will work together with selected partnering cities in China, India and other rapidly developing ASEAN countries to create urban management solutions .

The outputs of the joint TCS-SMU effort will be to create holistic solutions and transition frameworks, service related process models, and working prototypes of new cloud-based IT service delivery solutions for delivering city services for health-care, education, utilities, environmental management, transport, public safety and security, together with related G2C & G2B, and citizen social media services.

At the summit, Mr Chaturvedi presented AIMA IOCL Award for the Best Motivational Practice to IFFCO Ltd and Adani Gas Ltd. for the manufacturing and services categories respectively.

He further opined that organizations should refrain from the practice of outsourcing HR. In-house HR operations are instrumental in ensuring involvement and engagement of the available talent and to foresee how productivity can be increased.

Mr S Y Siddiqui, Summit Director and Managing Executive Officer, Admn (HR, Finance, IT), Maruti Suzuki India highlighted that in times to come, the business environment around us will be changing very frequently than what we had apprehended.

No employee in an organization is useless, but is used less. In today's dynamic business environment HR plays a crucial role in defining a competitive edge within an organization.

Technological edge is no more the game changer for an organization, but what matters is how a company maintains its competitive quotient and its responsiveness to the industry scenario. Companies today should consider practices such as talent nurturing, success imaging, and follow strong internal communication policy, amongst others.

While welcoming the guests, Mr Kamal Singh, Director (CMD) – AIMA said that in this fast changing business arcade, HR plays a strategic role and to make a significant impression of the same, eminent speakers from top notch organizations will share their experiences at the two day AIMA 10th HRM Summit.

Mr Nishchae Suri, Managing Director, Mercer India outlined that the HR function should focus on talent management in order to ensure superior employee performance. Within talent management the areas of significant importance are instilling leadership qualities in employees and empower them.

Companies should have a matrix model to assess the talent of employees. Lastly the number of touch points for decision making processes in an organization should be reviewed to enhance efficiency.

During the session on 'Positioning HR as a business partner' chaired by Dr Y V Verma, Chief Operating Officer

LG Electronics, the speakers Dr Arvind N Agrawal, President (Corp Development & HR), RPG Enterprises; Mr Saugata Mitra, Chief People Officer, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable ; Mr Amandeep Gupta, Executive Director (HR), Dalmia Cement (Bharat) ; Mr Rajiv Kapoor, Executive Vice President (HR), JCB India deliberated on the need for a enhanced role of HR managers who could then partner with businesses and help them to reach new heights.

The speakers talked about how in the current global economic turmoil it is imperative for businesses to sustain their performance over a long period of time and such results could only be obtained if HR professionals could take active part in all strategic business decisions for the benefit of the organization at large.

AIMA's 10th HRM Summit provided opportunities for learning through sharing of experiences of business leaders that have championed HR innovations.

The experts through this two day summit brain-stormed about critical issues related to HRM like talent retention and managing attrition, role of technology & automation of processes, job satisfaction, job enrichment and job content, and the likes.

The Summit saw participation from over 350 diverse industries, corporates and academia. Amongst others speakers for the day were Mr V C Agrawal, president Corporate (HR), RPG Enterprises; Mr Aditya Vijay Berlia, Co-founder & Pro-Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University; Mr Jacob Jacob, Chief People Officer, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise ; Mr James Thomas, Country Manager-India Operations, Kronos Inc.; Mr S Varadarajan, Executive President, Tata Teleservices .

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NEW DELHI, JUNE 10:
“BUSINESS responsibility is necessary for our own survival, as the intensity of expectations from the society is accelerating. Businesses need to be accountable to self. A good business has to cover social, economic and ecological dimensions,” said Mr DK Mittal, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India.

He was speaking at the inaugural session at the AIMA’s 4th Business Responsibility Summit” He further added that there is an urgent need to setup a National Foundation for Corporate Governance to bring in India centric reporting guidelines on business responsibility. Shareholders’ awareness about the concept of responsible business is necessary.

Mr BC Tripathi, Chairman and Managing Director, GAIL (India) opined that government and businesses have to play a complementary and supplementary role to ensure responsible business operations. For instance business can create entrepreneurial solutions and government can provide key policy and framework support. Such models can be extended to domains like developing enterprising ideas, raising performance levels amongst others. The concept is a promising model to get evidence based outcome, wherein the community is the focus of all actions.

Mr T Krishnakumar, CEO, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages delivering the key note address said, ‘as businesses are expected to generate economic value, be ecologically sensitive and ensure social progress, it is imperative to follow business responsibly. The only variable businesses have today is a new business model which encapsulates responsibility on its part.”

“The concept of responsible business revolves around inclusive growth, healthy community, transparent operations and adherence to regulatory standards. The time is apt for organizations to proactively embrace significant challenges, relook at their operating models and ensure protection of human rights,” he added.

Mr Bharat Wakhlu, Summit Director and Resident Director, Tata Group, stated that any change start from the top and thus more businesses got to make responsibility of their board agenda. An entity has to engage the stakeholders in an effective manner so as to take care of their rights and establish a strong consumer connect.

The last session of the Day 1 was chaired by Mr R Mukundan, Managing Director, Tata Chemicals . He stated that externally driven focused proactive approach is required for responsible business. As following transparent business policies are becoming a trend, businesses have to ensure that they maintain sensitivity towards the society. As a generalized fact, most of the changes are seen as threat, whilst responsible ones follow what is best for them. We need to encourage those who are following right direction.

Among others who spoke at the summit was Mr Bhaskar Chatterjee, Secretary, Ministry of heavy industries and Public enterprises, Government of India; Rajeev Dubey, president (HR, After-Market & Corporate Service) Mahindra & Mahindra Mr RS Sharma, former CMD, ONGC , Mr SY Siddiqui, Managing Executive Officer, Admn (HR, Finance, IT & COSL) Maruti Suzuki Indian.

The Summit saw participation from over 150 diverse industries, corporate and academia deliberating on the concept of responsible business. Welcoming the delegates, Mr Kamal Singh, Director CMD, AIMA stated that AIMA promotes and creates responsible business in the light of nine pillars and recognizes this as a differentiator. Responsible practices will ensure sustainable business in future.

NEW DELHI, MAY 06 :
"SUSTAINABLE Development will be an integral and important element of the 12th Five Year Plan apart from the traditional high GDP growth and inclusive development.

The focus on sustainability is all the more crucial given the fact that it is a livelihood issue, unique to India particularly when we have very limited resources", outlined Mr Jairam Ramesh, Minister of State (IC) for Environment & Forests, Government of India.

He was speaking at his inaugural address at the AIMA Conference on "Winning Strategies for Sustainable Development"

The minister further added that environmental issues in India are needed to be addressed in a more holistic manner as these are directly related to the habitats and affects the health of its population. Corporate India also needs to be sensitized and work in tandem with the government bodies for sustainable development.

Furthermore the climate change issue affects Indian subcontinent in a major way as far as monsoon, Himalayan glaciers, water, coastal region, forests etc. are concerned. As most of the nations see declining population, India's otherwise trend calls for intelligent consumption of resources which doesn't endanger these in next 40-50 coming years.

He specifically outlined that apart from facets like sustainable agriculture and sustainable habitats, we have to talk about sustainable manufacturing and sustainable industries. The accelerating consumption patterns in India need to relook if India is ready to accommodate such a boom.

He said that any violation in regulations should be strictly taken up in a market friendly way without any inspector raj.

Mr Gautam Thapar, chairman and CEO, The Avantha Group and president, AIMA while welcoming the delegates to the conference said, "Sustainability explores ways to consume resources in a way nature stocks them, as the world population is expanding by the resources are not. Considering development of technologies aimed at intelligent utilization of resources, the world today has to ensure that such technologies should not be cornered by those who are at the top."

Ar the Session I on 'Sustainable Development: Managing the Opportunities and Challenges of Tomorrow', Mr Avinash Patkar, Chief Sustainability Officer & ,Head Corporate Safety, Health and Environment, Tata Power stressed upon caring for environment, community, customers and employees to make a value system aimed at bringing the concept of energy efficiency.

Ms Bhavna Prasad, Head, Business & Industry, WWF India said, "One has to look at the rationale to undertake sustainable operations. The strained resources are going to impact business considering the fact that 18 months are required for earth to regenerate what we are consuming today. Thus we have to look how can we combat over-consumption and explore better resources in addition with upholding long term value creation."

The last session on 'Win-Win Sustainability Strategies for Business: Shared Value Creation for Business and Community Chaired by A.Damodaran,Professor Economics & Social Sciences,IIM, Bangalore analyzed business contributions to sustainable development and showcased various case studies of the successful implementation of sustainable partnerships

The key speakers Mr YK Saxena,Chief of EHS & Sustainability,Jubilant Life Sciences stressed that sustainability is all about attitude development and not about following any guidelines Bharat Wakhlu, Resident Director, Tata Sons shared few pathways of winning sustainable strategies.

He said that the time has come where we start working from day one with communities, increase stakeholder engagement and start concerning about the right of employees.

"We need strategy where we collectively work together to find the solution of complex problems",he further added.

Mr P Chidambaram, Union Minister for Home Affairs with award winners and office bearers of AIMA. (L-R) Rekha Sethi, Director General AIMA; Raghav Bahl, Founder & Editor, Network 18; Rajiv Vastupal, Sr VP AIMA; Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman of the Jury and past president AIMA; Tarun Das, former Chief Mentor, CII; Gautam Thapar, president AIMA; Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Chairman, Hero Group of Companies; Rahul Bhatia, Group Managing Director, Interglobe Enterprises ; N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD , Tata Consultancy Services; BC Tripathi, CMD , GAIL (India).; Abhinav Kashyap, Director, Writer & Actor; Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives & Rural Development; Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO, ICICI Bank ; Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, HT Media.

NEW DELHI, APRIL 21 :
IN its efforts to acknowledge the exceptional contributors in various fields for showcasing outstanding performances, All India Management Association (AIMA), on Thursday announced Managing India Awards 2011 here. This is the second edition of the annual awards.

Mr. P Chidambaram, Union Minister for Home Affairs conferred the winners with the awards. While congratulating the winners, Mr Chidambaram said “I am happy to give 10 of AIMA’s Managing India Awards today. The good work has been acknowledged and recognised. This represents that India is continuously moving towards embracing the change since the liberalisation and has achieved a lot during a short span of time.”

He further added, “Every institution is a miniature India, and we have issues and contradictions within the system which are frightening and exasperated. Each one of us has to be willing to embrace change. I recall that there were a lot of resistance during the 1991 Indian Economic Reforms. A few who managed to acknowledge the opportunities became successful, and others were left out.”

In his welcome address, Mr Gautam Thapar, president, AIMA and Chairman & CEO, The Avantha Group, talked about the genesis and rationale of Managing India Awards.

He said, “AIMA conceived the Managing India Awards to inspire, commend and acknowledge exemplary achievers across various sectors. In that direction, AIMA has been associated with the management fraternity through e-courses, international series, evaluation series for management capabilities, etc.”

“Through these awards AIMA intends to promote management in every sphere of life and be recognized as a patron of management in varied fields. AIMA has brought the vibrant disciplines of commerce, arts, sports and cinema, which reflects the state of advanced development in an economy, under one umbrella through this ceremony”, added Mr. Thapar.

Mr. Sanjiv Goenka, Chairman, Managing India Awards Jury and Vice-Chairman, RPG Enterprises while explaining the selection process and the criteria for selecting the industry stalwarts said, “Indian continues to be a leader in social change, media, business and sport. We have to enrich India’s global standing with visionaries entrepreneurs and business leaders.”

Mr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Chairman, Hero Group of Companies, was honoured with the Life-Time achievement award by the jury members. Mr. Munjal who has contributed massively to the development of automobile sector in India said, “This honour indebts me to all my colleagues and specifically my sons.”

Ms. Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank while accepting the award for Transformational Business Leader of the Year said, “It is a pleasure and honour to get this award. As India has witnessed transformation, tough decisions were to be taken. ICICI over the years has managed to catalyse India’s growth; this award is truly dedicated to my team and our esteemed customers.”

Mr. N Chandrasekaran, CEO & Managing Director, Tata Consultancy Services, credited TCS’s success to its 2 lakh employees spread across 80 countries.

While receiving the award for Outstanding Contribution to Media Ms. Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director, HT Media . said, “It is a great honour to receive this award. Ours is not just a constant product, but we have to keep innovating our product in a dynamic fashion to keep our customers engrossed.”

Corporate Citizen of the Year was awarded to Mrs Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, wherein she said that the award will give a renewed impetus and motivation to her team.

Mr. Rahul Bhatia, Group Managing Director, InterGlobe Enterprises Ltd was overwhelmed to receive the Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He credited the success of his Indigo Airlines to the utmost dedication and discipline of his employees.

Director of the Year award was given to Mr. Abhinav Kashyap, Director, Writer, Actor. Mr. Kashyap recounted his efforts while directing his most proclaimed film Dabaang and how he wanted to showcase the rampant corruption in the system in a lucid and entertaining manner.

Outstanding Institution Builder award was received by Mr Tarun Das, Former Chief Mentor, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Mr. Das said that in the last 25 years, CII has enabled to establish a strong network between the policy makers and corporate world and going forward India needs to strengthen its institutional framework.

The Outstanding PSU of the Year was conferred upon GAIL (India) Mr BC Tripathi, Chairman and MD, GAIL said that this award recognizes GAIL’s efforts and will be a motivation factor for other PSUs to match us.

Media Person of the Year – Mr. Raghav Bahl, Founder & Editor, Network 18 dedicated the award to Indian economic and liberalization reforms of 1991.

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22 :
ALL India Management Association (AIMA), on Tuesday conferred the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award for Management’ on Mr. Ratan N. Tata, Chairman, Tata Group. Mr Sam Pitroda, Advisor to Prime Minister on Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovations and the chief guest at a function presented the award to Mr Ratan Tata.

As part of AIMA’s endeavour to recognize the contribution of managerial potential, the Lifetime Award has been instituted to distinguish management personalities, who are acknowledged leaders and achievers in the business space. The award, reiterates that Mr. Ratan Tata is a dynamic thought leader, a change agent, an innovator, besides being India’s best known and most respected entrepreneur and management icon.

While receiving the award Mr Ratan Tata said, “I appreciate and cherish this honour. While listening to my award citation, my mind went to the late eighties, when JRD Tata informed me about me taking over the group, I wondered how I can put myself in his shoes. Since it was not possible for me, I decided to do things my own way. I was fortunate at that time as JRD Tata has instilled a strong value system and integrity in the group."

Mr. Sam Pitroda while felicitating Mr Tata said, “The leadership style and the culture innovation brought to the group under the guidance of Mr Ratan Tata have been the catalysts of growth. Philanthropy, innovation, and leadership are really the hallmarks of the Tata group. Furthermore, the brand ‘Tata’ has global recognition and the diversity of business signifies the commitment by Mr Ratan Tata, wherein the philosophy of reaching out to the bottom of the pyramid through innovation was introduced.”

Mr OP Bhatt, Chairman of the AIMA Award Jury and Chairman, State Bank of India while talking about the significance of the AIMA Lifetime Achievement Award , complimented AIMA for recognizing management excellence and initiative.

He said, “Mr Ratan Tata has successfully reinvented the group as dynamic conglomerate. Today the group finds place amongst the top 50 of the latest 500 global business brands in addition to business followed under his guidance ensures that bulks of profits are diverted to social causes. I extend my heartiest congratulations to the most deserving winner of this title.”

Mr Gautam Thapar , president AIMA and Group Chairman and CEO, The Avantha Group, said, “AIMA is indeed privileged to confer this honour on someone like Ratan Tata, who has been instrumental in transforming leadership ethos of the Indian business dynamics and placing India amongst the top global markets.”

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 21 :
THE Indian infrastructure major SKIL Infrastructure and leading UK institution, the University of Strathclyde, are to start first courses as the joint B school initiative from the 2011-12 academic year.

The joint initiative will deliver undergraduate and postgraduate management courses at the first Indian campus at Greater Noida in the National Capital Region of New Delhi.

In the first year, the campus will be offering a postgraduate degree course in Management, which has already received accreditation from AMBA, the world’s impartial authority on postgraduate management education.

The Masters in Management (MiM) is a two year programme aimed at developing entrepreneurial and dynamic business leaders. In the following years, the School will also offer a three-year Bachelor in Business Studies, and the globally renowned, one-year Strathclyde MBA programme, which has already seen international success in Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Athens, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur,, Muscat, Singapore and Zurich.

This is the third major exercise in education by SKIL which has recently decided to acquire a stake in VSAT education network company Everonn Education as a co-promoter, followed by a significant investments in New Horizons a company which offers services in the areas of IT, vocational and domain skills training, technology services and supplementary education.

Mr Nikhil Gandhi, Group Chairman of SKIL, said: “Together with Strathclyde, we have embarked on this new mission to enhance the standards of management education to enable the younger generation to meet ever increasing stringent global competition.”

Professor Susan Hart, Dean of Strathclyde Business School, said: “India’s strong commitment to education reflects the ethos of the University of Strathclyde, and we are delighted to be strengthening our relationship through the joint campus.

“The programmes are being developed in partnership with colleagues at SKIL and senior academics in India, and are tailored specifically for students and employers in one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The increasing complexity of the business environment has placed a premium on those who understand business in a cohesive, cross-functional way, and the first course – the Masters in Management - has been designed with this in mind.”

Mr JP Rai, Group CEO of SKIL said “Our teams have worked hard to ensure that the original Strathclyde curriculum is redesigned to be delivered in the context of the role that Indian managers will be expected to play on the world stage. The Noida initiative is the first step, with many more such campuses coming up in the future, with ever widening disciplines being covered. Currently, we are evaluating the possibilities of setting up campuses at Mumbai and Chennai.”

In phased developments over the next couple of years, more than 1,200 students are expected to join the School, where they will be taught by 40 internationally recognised staff from India and Strathclyde Business School’s Glasgow-based faculty. The recruitment process for the academic staff is underway.

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 14 :
IN a bid to discuss marketing as a strategic business function, which has been constantly evolving, Asia Pacific Institute of Management, a premier management institute in India, organized a National Conference on ‘Marketing: Yesterday-Today- Tomorrow’ at its campus in Jasola.

Dr Mithileshwar Jha, Professor, IIM-Bangaluru and co-author of ‘Marketing Management – A South Asian Perspective’ (Pearson, 13th edition) by Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller and Abraham Koshy , delivered the keynote address as the chief guest at the inaugural session.. Vineet Kohli, Consultant, Digital Marketing, (previously an EVP with UTV New Media and Senior VP, Zed Digital – the digital company of Zenith Optimedia India) was the special industry guest for the day and Dr Ravi Shankar of IIT Delhi was the guest of honour.

The two-day National Conference on ‘Marketing: Yesterday-Today-Tomorrow’ was concluded with a special valedictory address by Prof A P Arora, Professor of Marketing at MDI, Gurgaon.

With an aim to delve upon the marketing strategies for the present and future and to provide a platform to share research based marketing knowledge among academicians and practitioners, the institute has organized this conference which has been immensely fruitful for both the students as well as the faculty.

The conference also provided an arena which will showcase the technological advancements in the field of marketing and the shifts in the socio-cultural behaviour of consumers which have put marketing in the transformation mode.

Dr Mithileshwar Jha, Professor, IIM-Bangaluru and co-author of ‘Marketing Management – A South Asian Perspective’ said, “The topic on Marketing taken by the institute is extremely relevant for discussion in today’s times. 90 percent of the prediction did not come true. American Marketing Association defined marketing for the first time in 1935, it was revised 50 years after in 1985. The next revision happened in 2004, which generated a lot of controversy and resulted in a modified definition in 2007."

"Marketing which started as a business function, broadened its horizon to non-profit and social aspects around 1969-1971 and finally the prevalent concept of holistic marketing (incorporated in our book by Mr. Kotler, Mr.Keller, Mr.Koshy and me) was propounded in 2005. The four pillars of holistic marketing is internal marketing, intergrated marketing, relationship marketing and performance marketing. We ,as true marketing professionals, should accept criticism with all humility and need to ponder over these issues as to how do we do better in future,” he said .

“I am just offering a wishlist for a sustainable and dignified future. We should move from promoting indiscriminate consumption to responsible consumption; promote balanced, multiple customer focus; promote marketing as a philosophy by becoming a custodian of multiple customer interest, by balancing rigour with relevance and developing ‘right’-impact matrix. We should also try to re-establish links with the parent disciplines of marketing,viz. economics, anthropology, sociology and psychology. Let us dream of a robust and respectful identity and make it happen, ” added Dr. Jha.

Commenting on the evolution of marketing, Dr Ravi Shankar, Professor, IIT, Delhi said, “Marketing as a strategic business function has evolved constantly to adapt to changes in the perception of consumers as well as the market it functions. It was seen that during 1900-1920, emphasis was on producing and distributing new product categories. Gradually the market was dominated by the concept of 4Ps (product, price, place and promotion) as the tactical tools for marketers."

"Over a period of time the idea of marketing evolved from product orientation to sales orienatation and then to marketing orientation. However today’s marketing is all about providing information about consumer needs, helping businesses to be more profitable and effective, and serving consumers better through proper distribution, added value and better customer service, " he added..

"Advances in digital media space are not only helping marketers to market a product better by reaching out to customers in a better manner but are also helping in adding value by generating effeciencies through supply chain management. However, what is necessary in this competitive age is to run faster than the competitors through strategic marketing that is ever-evolving. Only the fittest and fastest will survive in the future world of marketing, ” he said.

Explaning the importance of digital marketing, Mr Vineet Mathur, Consultant, Digital Marketing said, “Digital marketing is creating unprecedented opportunities for businesses to acquire a deeper understanding of the consumers and the market position. Marketing managers are now tactically advertising in the digital space. The mantra of digital space is to engage consumers with the brand to the optimum level. ORM or Online Reputation Management is gradually capturing the eyeballs of the marketers. ORM scans the entire blogosphere, webosphere and takes out what is important for the brand, unlike Google which takes things with the highest traction. ORM is all about an engagement with consumers. "

"It is very important for the marketer to realize that the main objective should be brand awareness and consumer engagement and the digital medium proves very handy in fulfilling such objectives. By using the appropriate digital marketing intelligence, businesses can refine their digital content, commerce, advertising and communications initiatives to enhance the effectiveness and return on investment of their marketing spending, enabling them to build more successful businesses. Online medium is a platform when one can experiment and implement without shelling out too much money with innovative techniques, ” he added.

Dr S N Dash, Officiating Director, Asia-Pacific Institute of Management, said, “The aim of this conference is to bring together leading marketing scholars, academicians, industry executives and members of non-profit organizations to share and develop their experience, ideas and insights on development of the marketing discipline. This conference offered a unique opportunity for our students as well as our faculty to address and contribute innovative approaches for the wider benefit of the society.”

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