Horizon May 2015 Issue

SIS
HO
OR
P
M
A
T
E
M
May 2015
EDITORIAL TEAM
Gita Sashidharan
EDITOR
ASSISTANT
EDITORS
Avantika Garg
Aswathi Pillai
PGDM RM (2014-16)
PGDM RM (2014-16)
Sushmit Chakraborty
Mukti Osta
PGDM (2014-16)
PGDM (2014-16)
Neerja Bavishi
PGDM (2014-16)
Ankit Jain
MMS (2014-16)
Nihar Jajoo
PGDM (2014-16)
Arun Chaddah
PGDM Com (2014-16)
Design, Layout & Printed at
Printania Offset Pvt. Ltd.
You can reach us at [email protected]
Horizon, SIMSR Magazine is published twice annually by
K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research
CONTENTS
VISTA
4 Director’s Message
1 The Director’s Diary
30 MANASVINI
40 War of Bands
COLLOQUY
5 SGMC Workshop
6 2nd International HR Conference
7 SIMSR Global Supply Chain Conference
8 4th SIMSR Annual Finance Conference SIFICO 2015
INTERFACE
9 Confluence
10 MAKE IN INDIA
11 E-Retailing WorkShop
11 Igniting Minds
12 International Business Session
13 National Retail Summit
15 An Enlightening Interface
16 An Insight to Private Equity and Venture Capital
16 ODDVERTISING
17 Make In India - Evolving HR in Emerging India
Knowledge Sharing Session ON
19 "FUTURES AND FORWARDS”
MINDSHARE
20 CII Summit
23 TEDxGateway Campus Connect @ SIMSR
24 Say 'TATA' to Cancer
at Hamburg School of
25 Lecture
Business Administration
FOCUS
26 Congratulations
26 Kudos to Prof. Isaac Jacob
27 Tower Run
32 MELANGE 2015
34 Mauj at Melange 2015
35 WEAVING MAGIC ON THE RUNWAY
36 Pravartana @ Melange' 15
37 QOMBAT - A War of Analytics
38 CRESCENDO HR & Leadership Quiz
39 RAZZMATAZZ
28
‘Knowledge Alone
Liberates'
FOCUS
41 TEDxGateway Campus Connect @ Melange
42 The Last Man Standing
OUTREACH
43 Bech Daal
46 COMMERCIO '15
44 Samavesh 2014
SPECTRUM
45 The 'CYCLFIE' Contest
45 Kurukshetra Battle Contest
47 Christmas Fiesta - Jingle all the way
48 APL Stands the Test of Time
49 SIMSR Talkies
50 Finstreet Fiesta
50 REWIND
56 Navikaran 51 STRATINNOVA
57 Saraswati Puja
52 ICON 2K15
58 TATA Motors Mindrover - Season 4
59 Telegram Rebranding
59 Theme Quizzes
60 YUDH
IMPACT
54 Metamorph 5.0
61 Green Trade 2015 'Can You Carbon-Trade?'
62 Resolution 2014 - Be The Change
64 Entrepreneurship Week-2015
66 Entrepreneur Expo'14
67 Crucible Pushups
67
"Transcend-Rise beyond ordinary"
Mock GD PI Session
68 Lock, Stock and Trade
69 Quantinuum Report
70 Students' Achievements
ALMA MATER
75 Enlighteneus 2015
76 Alumniscence
76 Samagam
61 YUDH
FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR
Hello & Warm Greetings!
The May 2015 issue of Horizon - the SIMSR magazine, brings to you the theme 'Metamorphosis'.
"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations."
- Charles R. Swindoll
Ever had the opportunity to watch a chyrysalis hidden within its cocoon? The penultimate moments before
it emerges as a butterfly compose what science terms as metamorphosis and transformation. The
metamorphosis of a chyrsalis though trying and painful is finally a beautiful & colorful butterfly.
We too go through a process of several moments; trying, difficult, rigorous to achieve the possible and the
impossible. At the end, what emerges is a wonderful outcome of triumphs and successes. This is the
metamorphosis that continuously emenates around us and perfects us too.
At SIMSR, the metamorphosis is plainly evident as we strive to deliver laurels to our Institute. We are
constantly evolving, developing & maturing.
This year, the Educational. Series conducted by ADCOM was a huge success and truly a transformation, a
metamorphosis.; exposing the rich culture of the Institute across the country to several aspiring students
and prospects.
'Melange', our flagship event fully driven by students and student Committees always seeks to bring in an
element of novelty to all its events. This year too was no different. 'Melange' had an array of novel and
interesting events on display that transformed and shaped the success of the entire program.
APL organized by the students of MMS was a one-of-its kind unique event that was a runaway success.
The successful and heart-warming alumni interactions at various cities in the country and also extending
outside the country's borders to Singapore and Dubai was another brilliant metamorphosis of adding a new
dimension to continued alumni interface.
Placements transformed itself to reach newer heights, and took a huge leap forward as it set new records.
Dr. D.G. Jha's insights shared in his article “Say 'TATA' to Cancer” evokes a deep sense of compassion &
pity; and reflecting on the imperative transformation needed in our country's healthcare system.
Be it conferences, seminars, research, student activities, guest lectures, speaking forums et al we are
always taking giant strides ahead towards progress and success.
Horizon's sections Colloquy, Interface, Mindshare,
Focus, Outreach, Spectrum, Impact & Alma Mater
speaks eloquently of the metamorphosis within the
SIMSR campus activities.
Metamorphosis is all pervasive. As this issue goes
into print, we also have a change of leadership. Prof.
(Dr.) Monica Khanna, known for her enthusiasm,
diligence, & ‘never-say-die’ spirit has taken over as
the new In-Charge Director. Change is synonymous
with progress and we are all geared at moving
towards success and scaling new heights.
Until next time......happy reading!
Adios
Gita Sashidharan
VISTA
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VISTA
Director's Message
A Very Warm Welcome to All of You !!!!!!!!
I
t is indeed my pleasure and a proud privilege to inform you that
the management of Somaiya Vidyavihar Trust has appointed me
as the Acting Director of K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management
Studies & Research from 15th April 2015 onwards. Prior to this, I
was associated with the Institute in various capacities of teaching,
research and administration and have been actively involved with
the growth of the Institute.
The Institute has been in existence for more than three decades
and it is now time to self-reflect, introspect and define a new
growth path for ourselves. If there are many challenges in the area
of delivering management education in today's technology driven globalized world, there are equal or more
number of opportunities to gear up to the new demands from our stakeholders - the current and potential
students, alumni, industry, recruiters and the community. There are visibly huge benefits and opportunities
in learning from the knowledge, experience and best practices of the management institutes in the
developed world and equally from the under privileged strata of society in under developed and emerging
economies of the world.
The focus at SIMSR is to nurture and develop young talent into global managers through value based and
research led education. The faculty at SIMSR are committed to transform the latest knowledge and
practices in the field of business management into actionable learning. The staff is dedicated to support the
students and faculty in achieving academic excellence. A bouquet of carefully selected electives in every
area of specialization gives the students a chance to develop expertise in their chosen and allied field of
specialization. The focus of SIMSR is also to develop collaborations with industry and universities around
the world.
The Institute provides all learning and personal development resources in terms of state-of-art
infrastructure, learned faculty, well endowed library with 70,000 books and approx 27,000 titles, online
databases and journals, computer labs, wifi across the campus, various sports amenities including a world
class athletic track and a truly academic environment in a lush green campus in the heart of Mumbai. Apart
from the regular PGDM programmes, the students will have an opportunity to explore other learning
opportunities in the sister Institutions of Somaiya Vidyavihar including foreign languages like Mandarin,
Japanese, German, Spanish and French etc.
The Institute is certified as ISO 9001: 2008 and ISO 29990: 2010 by Bureau Veritas Certification. It has
received the South Asian Quality Assurance Certification (SAQS) accreditation by Association of
Management Development Institutions in South Asia (AMDISA). It is also a member of 'The Association to
Advance Collegiate Schools of Business' (AACSB).
On behalf of the faculty and staff of our Institute, I take this opportunity to recommit ourselves into
developing SIMSR into a world class business management school and look forward to partner you in your
journey towards excellence.
Best Wishes,
Prof (Dr.) Monica Khanna
Incharge Director
4
May 2015
COLLOQUY
10TH SIMSR GLOBAL MARKETING CONFERENCE
Engagement Marketing - Consumers. Markets. Technology
I
t has been the proud privilege for the Marketing
Department at our Institute to host the 10th
edition of the Global Marketing Conference on 24th
& 25th Feb 2015. The theme for the conference
was Engagement Marketing - Consumers.
Markets. Technology. The conference was held in
academic association with College of Business
and Public Administration, California State
University, San Bernardino, USA.
THE TEAM - SGMC
Engagement Marketing, sometimes called as
Experiential Marketing or Participation Marketing,
is a marketing strategy that directly engages
consumers and invites and encourages
consumers to participate in the evolution of the
brand. The quest of every company is to acquire
customers quickly, grow their lifetime value, and
convert them into loyal advocates (who in turn,
influence new customers thereby creating a
virtuous cycle). But today's digital, social, mobile
world has made it very hard to drive this cycle. The
ever changing marketing media environment has
indeed made brands think for the consumers. The
era of mass marketing has been equated with the
presence of innovation and technology. The
changing time demands for Engagement
Marketing.
This conference aimed to provide a platform that
recognized the evolving marketing environment
and made an attempt to understand the vibrant
marketing domain, which is extremely relevant in
the present trends in marketing and its growth
prospects.
We received 50 research papers and shortlisted 37
of them to be presented during the two days of the
conference. Academicians and industry personnel
The quest of every
company is to acquire
customers quickly, grow
their lifetime value, and
convert them into loyal
advocates
from across the country and abroad participated in
this prestigious conference. Selected abstracts
were published as Conference Proceedings in the
form of a book with ISBN Number ISBN: 978-817039-292-7. Prizes for the best three research
papers were distributed carrying award of Rs.
20,000; Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 5000 respectively. In
addition, a Best Research Paper Certificate was
awarded to an internal faculty of the marketing
department. These awards were decided based on
the criteria of research rigor / research
methodology, overall contribution to the body of
knowledge and future scope for academics and
industry.
Eminent industry professionals Mr. Madhukar
Sabnavis (Vice Chairman and Country Head,
Discovery and Planning Ogilvy & Mather India, Mr.
Tarun Chauhan (TSC Consulting) and Mr. Vivek
Krishnani (Head of Revenue and Marketing for
Motion Pictures at Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd.
(Sony Entertainment) were keynote speakers on
the theme of the conference on the first day. The
second day started with a very insightful speech on
the theme of the conference by Mr. Hitesh Gossain,
Managing Partner - Onspon.com.
During the conference inaugural, the fourth edition
of the Strategic Brand Management was launched
which is authored by Prof. Kevin Lane Keller, E. B.
Osborn Professor of Marketing at the Tuck School
of Business at Dartmouth College, Mr. Ambi
Parameswaran, Advisor, FCBUlka Advertising and
Prof. Isaac Jacob, Professor - Marketing, K J
Somaiya Institute of Management Studies &
Research.
The event was sponsored by FCB Ulka and
Godavari Biorefinaries.
May 2015
5
COLLOQUY
2nd International HR Conference
Emotional
intelligence is not
the opposite of
intelligence. It is
not the triumph of
heart over head it is the unique
intersection of
both.
HR Conference - Discussions
T
hese were the words by our esteemed guest of honor, Dr. David Caruso - Management Psychologist
from Yale University, California. He develops and conducts emotional intelligence training around the
world.
The 2nd Human Resource Conference on 'Emotional Intelligence' was organized on 22nd and 23rd
January, 2015 by the HR department and supported by Humanist - The HR Club of SIMSR. The convenors
were Prof. (Dr). Hemangi Bhalerao and Prof. (Dr). Shailja Karve.
On the first day, a conference on Emotional Intelligence was organised which was attended by dignitaries
from both corporate and academic domains. The diverse audience from all corners of the world, were
enthralled by the interactive session conducted by Dr. Caruso.
He emphasized that emotional information plays a critical role in our working lives since the relationships
we form are governed by rules of behavior - of cooperation and dominance, among others - that are
triggered by our emotions. Being able to understand this information, and its impact on personnel and the
organization, is what makes an individual, at least in part, emotionally intelligent.
Next day, we witnessed an enriching paper presentation discussion by mavens from different spheres
including academics, corporate and defense who shared their research on Emotional Intelligence and its
implications in an organization.
The participants discussed that the business leaders who can embrace the emotional side of an
organization will infuse strength and meaning into management structures, and bring them to life.
Also, people high in EI will build real social fabric within an organization, and between an organization and
those it serves, whereas those low in EI may tend to create problems for the organization through their
individual behaviors
The panels were moderated by Prof. (Dr.) Meenakshi Aggarwal Gupta, IIM Indore and Prof (Dr.)
Satishchandra Kumar, HOD Department of Psychology, University of Mumbai.
Altogether the conference was a great success and provided a platform for immense learning experience
and industry-academic interaction.
6
May 2015
COLLOQUY
SIMSR Global Supply Chain Conference
T
he second annual SIMSR global supply chain
management conference was held on 5th
December 2014. It was an informative session
discussing the multiple aspects of the systematic
and strategic coordination management for
supplying products and services required by the
end customer. The key objective of the conference
was to cover the benefits of SCM in creating supply
chain surplus, building a competitive infrastructure,
synchronizing the goods supply and leveraging the
logistics worldwide.
In the current economy, persistently evolving
global companies are forced to keep looking for
production center with least cost of labor and raw
material to compete in the global market. To
support this, SCM acts as a strategic and
operational backbone for the organization.
The event was inaugurated by Prof. Issac Jacob.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Apurva Jain, PhD
from Prudue University and a professor of
Operations Management at Fosters School of
Buisness. He was welcomed by Prof. J S Lamba
and Dr. Pramod Shetty.
The session was followed by a Panel discussion on
Disruptive Supply Chain Management bythe guest
of honor Dr. Dirk Hartel (Head of Department of
Supply Chain in DHBW University Stutguard,
Germany), Mr. Arun Rao (Head Solutions Design &
Operations - Contract Logistics & Supply Chain
Services with All Cargo Logistics), Dr. Naag and
Prof. Lamba. The panelists discussed that a
breakthrough is an enterprise scale business
innovation which is significant enough to shape the
business enterprise for the future either by evolving
the company's core competencies or by moving
the business into new markets and new business
models. In essence, successful breakthroughs
change the firms and often its markets forever.
Proliferation of tablets and other mobile devices,
adoption of social media platforms within the
enter prise and the
increasing pervasiveness
of the cloud technology are
some of the major
breakthroughs in the
current global scenario.
The customer experience
is being shaped by
companies like Apple,
Amazon and eBay, which can identify consumer's
behavior whenever they enter the browse/buy/use
cycle, identify their purchase history and buying
patterns and tailor their propositions accordingly.
The feasibility and implementation of such
technological marvels are possible not only by
what appears in the front end to the consumer but
are driven by more smarter technological wonders
in the backend processes such as internal
operations, supply chain and logistics,
relationships with suppliers, partners and
associates be it in terms of usage of Drones, Big
data, RFID etc.
The panel discussion was followed by the paper
presentation in which there were prominent
industrial speakers who spoke on various aspects
and ways of reducing risks in the supply chain.
The post lunch session was an interesting Round
Table conference on 'De-risking the Supply chain in
global environment. The panel consisted of
eminent industry experts such as: Mr. Deepak
Jakate, Mr. Surendra Deodhar, Mr. Chitur Devraj,
Mr. Rajesh Padnekar, Prof. Lamba.
The panelists discussed that Risks can come from
uncertainty in financial markets, threats from
project failures (at any phase in design,
development, production, or sustainment lifecycles), legal liabilities, credit risk, accidents,
natural causes and disasters as well as deliberate
attack from an adversary, or events of uncertain or
unpredictable root-cause.
They very aptly explained how the risk of supply
chain disruption had become more prevalent over
the past few years owing to the globalized nature of
the supply chain, just-in-time inventory
management, consolidation of vendors through
strategic sourcing activities, and overall geopolitical changes, amongst other areas.
May 2015
7
COLLOQUY
4th SIMSR Annual Finance Conference
SIFICO 2015
A competition was also held wherein
various corporate dignitaries, professors
and financial enthusiasts presented their
research papers. The winner of the
competition was Dr. Anil Gor, who
presented a paper on the “Impact of
Mergers on post-Merger Market Value
Addition”
Dr. Srinivas and Mr Kalia with Dr. Pankaj Trivedi (Faculty Mentor, Finstreet)
The conference was a great learning
experience for one and all present.
Finstreet would also like to extend
gratitude towards the international
dignitaries, Prof. Berger and Dr. Wengert,
for their gracious presence and their
invaluable contribution during the
conference.
F
instreet conducted the 4th SIMSR
Finance conference this year on 7th
February, 2015.The theme was,
“Contemporary Issues in Modern
Finance”. This time it was conducted on a
larger scale involving participation from
not only India but other countries as well.
Post inauguration of the session, the key
note address was delivered by Mr. S C
Kalia (Senior Strategic Advisor - YES
Bank). The guest of honour was Dr Aditya
Srinivas (COO & Chief Economist, BSE
Brokers Forum). The session ran on three
tracks  Track 1 - Risk management and
Governance
 Track 2 - Capital Market
 Track 3 - Financial Inclusion
Dr. Anil Gor - Winner of the Competition Felicitated by Dr. Pankaj Trivedi
Participants and Facilitators
8
May 2015
INTERFACE
CONFLUENCE
onfluence 2014, on 6th December ‘14 was
enlightening as it always is! This year there
was a vibrant panel not only in terms of quality but
in terms of variety as well. The panel consisted of
alumni from Morgan Stanley, Talwalkars, L'Oreal,
Kidzania and Channel V. The topic for discussion
was the HBR article on Primal Leadership. The
central idea was about the role of emotional
intelligence in decision making. Every manager
gave an invaluable insight on the topic by sharing
their personal experiences. The event started with
Prof. Isaac Jacob, welcoming the Alumni for the
homecoming event, one of its kind.
C
manager. The story of her professional journey was
then followed by some honest opinions,
suggestions and experiences of Mr. Sandeep
Kriplani Business Head, L'Oreal. He emphasized
on the importance of Emotional Intelligence by
recommending Daniel Golman's book on
Emotional Intelligence and also shared how
students from IIM undergo EI assessment tests. He
was kind to describe his college days at Somaiya.
Top L & Bottom : From the horse’s mouth - The panellists sharing their experiences, Top R: Enthralled audience
The event began with Mr. Nisheeth Neelkanth
Group head, Channel V who spoke about how the
media industry revolves around emotions that
require precise mentoring to tap ‘out of the box’
creativity. He concluded by describing how our
professional lives have invaded our personal life
and that it is not easy for an individual to separate
the emotions experienced while trying to balance
the two.
Mrs. Sona Mazumdar - Head, Kidzania shared her
own emotionally enveloped professional journey
and how these emotions have changed from a role
that required her emotions to be nurtured to a role
where it is expected of her to nurture the emotions
of people who are affected by her decisions as a
Last but not the least, Mr. Vishal Rupani CEO,
Talwalkar HIFI, shared his personal experience at
Talwalkar by stating an incident where right
application of EI skills yielded him excellent results
and also proved profitable to the organization.
What was even more fascinating to hear was the
fact that he initiated the magazine 'Horizon' which
started out as a finance magazine and how it
added to the successful journey of all students who
were a part of it.
The session came to an end with invaluable
suggestions and advices given by the panellists
and also answering to some queries from our
students. A vote of thanks given by Prof. Radha Iyer
ended the session on a good note.
May 2015
9
INTERFACE
MAKE IN INDIA
Entrepreneurship Opportunities in the Entertainment Industry
amavesh is an event where the various
student-driven committees of SIMSR hold a
series of panel discussions on their areas of
expertise annually. This year E-Cell did an
exceptional job at attracting student audience to
the discussion. The panel is given a different topic
each year, on which a rich discussion takes place.
Industry experts with experience in the chosen
industry are invited.
S
Abhigyan Jha, Harikrishan Pillai, Satish Kataria, Vaibhav Modi,
Lavin Mirchandani
The discussion highlighted the
multi-dimensionality of
Entrepreneurship Opportunities in
Entertainment Industry.
career in this industry and also their experiences.
They discussed various opportunities, challenges,
future and growth of the entertainment industry.
Audience came across various new concepts and
technologies used in this industry. They
participated actively during the discussion and
made the session interactive. Many queries were
raised regarding the plagiarism of the ideas, crowd
funding, and fiscal issues etc that were resolved by
the panelists. Not only the audience, but also the
panelists got an opportunity to see the industry
from perspectives of their colleagues. The event
ended on a positive note where students realized
the numerous entrepreneurship opportunities in
the entertainment industry and hope to build their
careers in the same.
This year, Pathfinder Innovation and Entrepreneur
Cell invited a panel of five members including a
moderator who shared the stage to discuss the
topic - 'Make in India - Entrepreneurship
Opportunities in Entertainment Industry'. The
discussion highlighted the multi-dimensionality of
the topic. The event took place on 13th December
2014 in the Red Auditorium where the panel
witnessed audience of more than hundred and fifty.
Five enthusiastic entrepreneurs from the
entertainment industry were invited to share their
thoughts and ideas about the entertainment
industry. The invited guests were as follows:
E-cell members with panelists
Ÿ
Mr. Vaibhav Modi, CEO and Director, Bolt
Media Ltd.
Ÿ
Mr. Satish Kataria, Managing Director, Starting
Blocks Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd.
Ÿ
Mr. Harikrishnan Pillai, Founder, The Small Big
Idea
Ÿ
Mr. Lavin Mirchandani, Founder, Mirc Media
Ÿ
Mr. Abhigyan Jha, Founder and CEO,
Undercover Productions Ltd.
Mr. Lavin Mirchandani was the moderator of the
event. The panelists shared how they started their
10
May 2015
An enraptured audience
INTERFACE
E-Retailing WorkShop
The workshop was an insightful session
on E-Retailing in India, trends in Global
Retailing, Technology trends and its
impact on Digital Media and Shopper
Marketing.
T
he 10th SIMSR Global Marketing Conference
started on a great note on 9th February with a
scintillating session on 'E-Retailing' from Prof. (Dr.)
Venkatesh Shankar, Professor and Coleman Chair
in Marketing and Director of Research at Center for
Retailing Studies, Mays Business School, Texas
A&M University. Even with a constantly updated
curriculum offering various subjects like Digital
Marketing, Shoppers' Experience and E-Retailing
itself, the students were ever-so eager to hear
about the topic from the master himself. Dr.
Shankar has published various academic works on
E-Retailing, Mobile Marketing and numerous
related topics, some of which he could give the
students a glimpse of, in the short time he could
spend with us in the workshop. He is the co-editor
of the Handbook on Marketing Strategy and the
author of Shopper Marketing. He is a widely cited
expert in the areas of Marketing Strategy, Digital
Strategy, International Marketing, Innovation, New
Product Management, Pricing, Retailing and
Branding.
This workshop was attended by faculty members
and students of the Postgraduate program in Retail
Management. It was an insightful session where he
emphasized on E-Retailing in India, trends in
Global Retailing, Technology trends and its impact
on Digital Media and Shopper Marketing. He also
discussed new concepts like Anticipatory
Shipping, SMACIT (Social, Mobile, Analytics,
Cloud, Internet of Things) and augmented reality
that has the potential to be the 'next big things' in
the field. He talked to the students about the
numerous research opportunities in Shopper
Marketing.
The workshop was an interactive session between
the audience and Prof. Venkatesh Shankar. The
students and the faculty alike, had questions for Dr.
Shankar about opportunities in anticipatory
shipping, multi-lingual websites, seamless
shopping, online retailers in pharma and some
supply chain related queries too. The workshop
was a great learning opportunity for everyone
involved and the first leg of 10th SGMC workshop
was, by all means, a fabulous experience.
IGNITING MINDS
P
rofessor Isaac Jacob conducted a session on
“Breakaway Brands from Emerging Markets”
a t t h e H a m bu r g S c h o o l o f B u s i n e s s
Administration (HSBA) in Hamburg (Germany) on
the 13th of April 2015. The session was well
attended by MBA Students from HSBA and
Industry professionals from Nivea, KPMG, etc.
May 2015
11
INTERFACE
International Business Session
International
Business Session
at IBS Samavesh
was a great
learning
experience on the
International
Market scenario.
Speakers at IBS Samavesh with the students
n 13th December 2014, the SIMSR annual
event - 'Samavesh' began with the
International Business Session organized by
IBS@SIMSR. The event had on board some of the
leading industry veterans to share their
experiences and insights with the students. The
speakers were Shri V Somasekhar - VP of Treasury
and Forex, Axis Bank Ltd, Shri Ashok Dhar President of Industrial Marketing - Reliance
Industries Ltd, Shri Durgesh Buxy - Senior
Manager of Exports, Raymond Ltd and Shri Anuj
Bhargava - CEO of AB Associates. Faculty
members of the Samavesh Committee and
Professor C P Joshi, faculty mentor (IBS@SIMSR)
along with the student members of IBS@SIMSR
welcomed the esteemed guests.
O
The event started with the Campus prayer, followed
by the welcome address by Professor C P Joshi.
The first speaker of the session, Shri V
Somasekhar spoke about the Emerging Trends in
International Trade Finance. He pointed out that the
EXIM policy of India is yet to be formulated for next
5 years and put forward the impact of FDI and the
current account deficit. He also threw some light on
'External Commercial Borrowings' and the
associated risks.
Next, the presentation on Cross Border Alliances,
Mergers & Acquisitions by Shri Ashok Dhar
reinforced basic learning on the topic with recent
examples. He broadly covered the motives, types,
processes, challenges and risks of Mergers and
Acquisitions. He also answered queries from the
audience on 'De-mergers'.
Shri Durgesh Buxy through his experience at
Raymond depicted the challenges of 'Taking Brand
India abroad'. He accounted for the logic behind
Raymond leaving Iran because of US sanctions.
He also highlighted how the successful 'Made to
Measure' concept of Raymond helped it to enter
even prestigious markets like Dubai. He gave a
handy tip of registering one's brand in a country
even if one is not entering now as it takes more than
a year to do so.
The concluding speaker, Shri Anuj
Bhargava adopted a unique approach. He
narrated his anecdotal experience as the
Country Manager in Belgium for TCS to
highlight the role of a Country Manager.
He also shared his contrasting cultural
experience in South Africa. The audience
was impressed by the strategies he
adopted and the success he achieved.
Audience at IBS Samavesh
12
May 2015
Students interacted with the industry
panelists after each presentation. The
conference closed with the vote of thanks
to all the speakers, participants and IBS
members, given by Prof C. P. Joshi.
INTERFACE
NATIONAL RETAIL SUMMIT
Retail Branding & Private Labels
N
ational Retail Summit
2015 (NRS), an
initiative
by
Retail
Management Program of
K. J. Somaiya Institute of
Management Studies and
Research, Mumbai, took
place at our campus on 5,
6 and 7 of February. The
theme of NRS 2015 was
'Retail Branding & Private
Labels: The growing trend
of private label brands and
its prospect in the
upcoming years'.
Rajagopalan, CEO of
Retailer's Association of
India
(RAI)
in
the
honorable presence of Mr.
Lawrence
Fernandez
from RAI and Mr. Deba
Adhya, currently heading
private
label,
merchandising & store
design at Tata Croma. Mr.
Kumar
Rajagopalan
addressed
the
enthusiastic
students
Behind the scenes of Retail Mela
about the Retail Market in
India, RAI's presence and how it helps the retailing
sector in the competitive global scenario and
NRS was initiated five years ago by the students of
entertained their various questions. Mr. Deba
Retail Management Program. Our main objective
Adhya gave the keynote address on the theme of
was to bridge the gap between the academic world
the summit, 'Retail Branding and Private Labels',
and the retail industry. The three-day event was
and shed light on the growing strength in Private
Labels.
Prof. Ralston Rajvaidya, Pooja Telavane, Pranav Soman
& Kunal Yadav on 'Careers in Retailing
Kurukshetra, the flagship event of NRS, had an
online preliminary round and a final on-campus
round on 5th February, in which 6 teams were
shortlisted to participate. The case studies were
real-time cases provided by the event sponsor,
Tata Croma. The event saw participants from major
B-Schools such as NITIE, JBIMS, GIM and SIBM,
Pune along with SIMSRites. The competition was
judged by Mr. Manish Pradhan, General Manager
of Infiniti Retail Ltd and Ms. Pooja Telavane,
Marketing Manager at Aura wellness and healing
services pvt ltd. The first prize of Rs. 15000 and
goodies along with the Kurukshetra 2015 Trophy
spread with various facets of the World of Retailing.
NRS comprised of Kurukshetra, a National-level
inter-B-School Retail Case Study competition - the
only one of its kind in the country, panel
discussions on various niche aspects of retail
management, a successful retail entrepreneurial
story to encourage the budding entrepreneurs, and
a series of flamboyant retail activities organized by
students in the campus. This unique blend of
academia and corporate world shares the
significant contribution, challenges and constraints
faced by retail industry in India.
The ceremony was inaugurated by Mr. Kumar
Dr. Monica Khanna, Kumar Rajagopalan & Deba Adhya
at NRS 2015 Inauguration
May 2015
13
INTERFACE
Assistant Manager of Brand &
Marketing Communication at Pizza
Hut. The panel discussed various job
profiles and opportunities in Retail
Management, higher career options
and the pros and cons of working in
retail, and the moderator, Prof. Ramki
kept a buoyant note to the panel
discussion.
Sachin Kamat about his venture Enrich Ltd.
The third day had a lighter touch on its
events. The alumni of RM batches of
SIMSR visited their juniors under the
event, 'Reconnect'. The students from
all over the college along with the
alumni were entertained by the stand-
was won by JBIMS and GIM bagged
the runners-up prize of Rs. 5000 and
goodies.
Two panel discussions took place on
the 2nd day. The first panel consisted of
Mr. Manish
Pradhan,
General
Manager of Private Labels at Croma,
Mr. Vivek Rastogi, Head of SAP Retail
& IT Applications at Best Seller India
Ltd and Mr. Francis Pereira, DGM Marketing at Pan India Foods
Solutions Pvt Ltd. The panel
discussion on “Unlocking the potential
of Retail Branding and Private Labels”
was moderated by Prof. (Dr.) Monica
Francis Pereira, Vivek Rastogi and Manish Pradhan (left to right)
Khanna, leading faculty in the
on 'Retail Branding and Private Labels'
Marketing Dept of SIMSR. Together
up comedians, 'The Laugh Factory', consisting of
they discussed and debated about the possibilities
Akshay Shinde, Hijab Moosa, Aakash Mehta and
of growth for private labels in the retail arena, their
Govind Menon. National Retail Summit also hosted
pros and cons, the differences between the global
a 'Retail Mela' within the campus for everyone to
and Indian scenarios and ample amount of
shop at, lavishly. They were a huge success among
examples to support their points. Their consensus
students & faculty and the green benches in front of
was that private labels were a strong niche to be
the college boasted boisterous retail stalls which
recognized in the retailing sector with huge
made the three-day event very lively and colorful.
marketing possibilities and a great strength to
retailer chains.
The afternoon session included a success story of
retail entrepreneurship by Sachin Kamat, Director
of Enrich Hair & Skin Care Solutions Pvt Ltd. The
second panel discussion of the day was on
'Careers in Retailing' and was moderated by Prof.
(Dr.) Ramki, Marketing Department at SIMSR. This
panel consisted of Ms. Pooja Telavane, Pan India
Ad, Sales & Marketing Manager at Media Plus, Mr.
Pranav Soman, Manager of Operations at Infiniti
Retail Ltd, Prof. Ralston Rajvaidya, faculty at
Marketing Dept of SIMSR and Mr. Kunal Yadav,
14
May 2015
Kurukshetra Winners with Prof. (Dr.) Vandana Khanna
INTERFACE
A
N
E
N
L
I
G
H
T
E
N
I
N
G
I
N
T
E
R
F
A
C
E
on
“GROWING CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN”
A
panel discussion on
'Growing Challenges for
Women Entrepreneurs' was held
on 3rd March 2015 for an hour at
K. J. Somaiya Institute of
Management
Studies
and
Research. Pathfinder Innovation
and
Entrepreneurship
Cell
organized the panel discussion
in association with Women's
Developmental Cell as a part of
Women's week celebration. The
discussion was moderated by Dr.
Radha Shyam Iyer, Associate
P r o fe s s o r,
General
Management,
SIMSR. The
panelists were as follows:
ª
Sameera Iyengar - Co-
Panelist in a Discussion
founder, Junoon Theatre
ª
Sheetal Meher - Founder, Innocent Heroes
Foundation
ª
Shalini Datta - Founder, After Taste
ª
Prapti Doshi - Founder, Creative Catalyst
The main objective of the panel discussion was to
allow the participants of diverse professional
background, expertise and experience in
entrepreneurship to share their perspectives on
the challenges for women to succeed in
entrepreneurships, with a view to promote and
motivate future women entrepreneurs in SIMSR.
Insights from Panelists
The whole event was very interesting and
informative as all speakers brought in with them
different perspectives of looking into the
challenges for women in entrepreneurship. The
audience too had an enriching experience which
was proven by the fact that they were also equally
involved in the discussion through their responses,
enthusiasm and appreciation throughout the event.
Women Entrepreneurs Panel
May 2015
15
INTERFACE
An Insight to Private Equity and Venture Capital
F
instreet had the privilege of hosting
an interaction on “Private Equity and
Venture Capital” facilitated by Mr. Sridhar
Sethuram on 10th November, 2014.
management of firms like CashTech,
Datamatics and Accenture.
It was an extremely enlightening and
interactive session where students
gained a lot in terms of learning. Mr.
Sethuram covered not only the basics of
private equity and venture capital but
also gave deep insights of the
entrepreneurial market in India along
Mr. Sridhar Sethuram
with noteworthy tips for budding and
aspirational entrepreneurs. The session was vastly
enriching and left the students wanting for more.
Currently, Mr. Sethuram is a partner in
Suyash Advisors - a firm which manages
investments across multiple asset
classes such as mid caps, private equity
and venture capital, real estate and
alternate assets. He has 13+ years
expertise in asset management and has
managed assets to the tune of US$ 1.5
billion across various asset classes.
We take this opportunity to thank Mr. Sethuram for
his valuable time and all the students and faculty
members for their enthusiastic participation and
making the event a huge success.
Mr. Sethuram is an IIM Ahmedabad alumni. He has
more than 20 years of experience in the field of
private equity and venture capital in various
organizations namely Suyash, ICICI, Hathway and
Actis. He has also been part of the senior
Crowd attentively listening to Mr. Sridhar Sethuram
ODDVERTISING
P
rofessor Isaac Jacob and Dr. Monica Khanna presented a
Research Paper titled “Oddvertising: A Route to Building Brand
Saliency and Brand
Conversion Using Kinky
Creative in Low-Risk, Low
Involvement, Low Unit
Priced Product Category
combined with Ubiquitous
Distribution” at the CMC
2015 (20th International
Conference on Corporate
and
Marketing
Communications) at the
Izmir University of
Economics, Izmir, Turkey
on the 16-17th of April
2015. Professor Jacob
was also the Chair Track
for the session on “Issues
in Marketing” at this
conference.
16
May 2015
INTERFACE
Make In India
Evolving HR in Emerging India
The Panelists L to R: Ms. Renu Mukherjee, Mr. Biplob Banerjee, Mr. Arun Vishwanath & Mr. Anand Desai
H
umanist - the HR Club of SIMSR, organized a
panel discussion as part of the annual event
Samavesh on December 13, 2014. The Topic of the
discussion was 'Make in India - Evolving HR in
Emerging India'. Given the popularity and doubts
about the effects of the ongoing 'Make in India'
campaign, the students flocked the auditorium to
hear the experts speak and to get their questions
answered by the esteemed panelists.
Ms. Renu
Ü
Mukherjee, Principal Consultant and
Partner, Vector Plus Consulting
Mr. Biplob Banerjee, General Manager, Human
Ü
Resources, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals
Ltd.
Mr. Arun Vishwanath, Founder - Trainers Forum,
Ü
Executive Coach & Learning Facilitator
Mr. Anand Desai, Founder and CEO, Dheya
Ü
Achievement Centre
The event started with welcoming the panelists and
a short introduction of Samavesh. A brief
introduction about the panelists helped the
students know the expertise of the panelists and
get ready with the questions.
The panel discussion began with each of the
panelists sharing his/her views on the topic of the
discussion.
Ms. Renu Mukherjee opened the discussion with
sharing her experience in the HR domain. She
talked about the industry forecast of jobs that would
be created due to the Make in India initiative. At the
same time she also highlighted the issue of
qualified vs. skilled workforce in India. She drew
attention towards the reinvestment of the company
profits in Talent and Skills development. According
to her, while 60% of the population is ready to
contribute towards GDP, only 25% are actually
suitable for market. Ms. Renu also talked about
'Talent Supply Chain', a new term buzzing in the
Talent Management Area. She also expressed the
need to update the content and delivery of the
academics to map with that required by the
industry. To the existing concerns she guided the
students to be aware of their own job expectations
and the requirements of the industry for a given job
profile and to be focused and dedicated in building
one's profile.
While Ms. Renu Mukherjee shared her thoughts on
the Talent Demand and Supply, Mr. Biplob
Banerjee shared his experiences of hiring talent
over the years. He pointed out the 4 crucial things
lacking in today's talent force - Curiosity to learn
new things, Insight - having opinions and new ideas
about the available information, Engagement Usage of emotion and logic and finally
May 2015
17
INTERFACE
Determination to deal with stressful situations. Mr.
Banerjee also highlighted the difference between
High Performance and High Potential, which many
fail to identify and expressed that high performance
need not guarantee high potential and training is
required for every job profile. Finally he discussed
on Learning Agility and the verticals under it People Agility, Change Agility, Result Agility and
Mental Agility.
youth. He expressed the need of focus and
dedication among the youth. He briefed the crowd
about his social venture, 'Dheya' and shared his
experiences running the venture in various parts of
the country. He threw light on the demands and the
thought process of the rural youth, the existing
concerns about their employability and the growing
skill gap. Mr. Desai's views revolved around
Employability and how the 'Make in India' should be
rightly channelized in employing the rural youth.
Mr. Arun Vishwanath took the discussion forward
on suggesting a 6 step process to efficiently
harness the talent supply chain - Plan the hiring
process, Hire Right People, Develop the acquired
people, Monitor their Performance, Energize and
engage them with various initiatives, Plan for
Succession. He also discussed the Tata Motors
Leadership strategy and shared his insights about
the same. The importance of People, Results and
Business Strategy in an organization was revisited.
He explained the Tata Motors Model, which is built
around 4E's - Employment, Education,
Entrepreneurship and Employability, explaining the
needs and the required steps to be taken for the
same.
Ms. Dipika Attavar concluded the session with a
vote of thanks in which she thanked the panelists,
faculty members and students for taking out time
from their busy schedule to attend the event. She
also thanked the Public Relations team and the
Humanist team for organizing the event with zest
and zeal.
Mr. Anand Desai had a different perspective
altogether to share. He talked about Frictional
Unemployment and the herd mentality among the
In all, the panel discussion was a success and
admired by students, faculty and the panelists
alike!
Later the panelists also discussed around topics
like Role Centering and Role Entering, Bell Curve
concern among the HRs and expressed the need
for the candidates to be Innovative, Questioning
the norms, gather as much Knowledge, and have
Business and Communication acumen.
Attentive audience
18
May 2015
INTERFACE
Knowledge Sharing Session
ON
“FUTURES AND FORWARDS”
F
instreet on 5th December, 2014 had the privilege of organising a knowledge sharing session on the
basics of “Futures and Forwards”. It not only garnered a lot of positive feedback but also huge
appreciation from both the senior and junior batch. The basic motive of the session was to make a humble
attempt in making students understand an important topic in finance and to help them prepare for the
placement season in an efficient way.
The presenters were:
µ
Sahil Jain - PGDM(IB)
µ
Miti Sutaria - MMS(B)
Lokesh Dash - PGDM(Core)
µ
It was an hour and a half session where the three speakers covered
the following topics:
v
Forwards and related terminologies
v
Futures and related terminologies
Contract Descriptor
v
Settlement
v
The speakers made sure that the audience comprehended all the concepts properly. The session ended
with an intense but enlightening Q&A session.
Overall the session was a huge success. It left the audience greatly satisfied with a fresh hunger for more
learning.
Some excerpts from the 'mails-of-appreciation' received:
“The Finstreet lecture
was a great learning
experience. The three
speakers patiently cleared
even the silliest of doubts that
anyone of us had.
“This lecture has laid the
foundation of market-based
knowledge of finance. Now it will be
easier for me to further enhance my
knowledge. Looking forward to more
of such sessions.”
Anuma Kulshrestha
Nitin Shenoy
“Keep up the good work
Finstreet, looking forward to
more of such sessions!!!”
“ Ve r y
informative session. I
was looking forward to learn
new stuff and that's exactly what
happened. Definitely beneficial for
placements too. Content was crisp
and examples were apt. Will surely
attend the forthcoming
sessions.”
“I would like to thank
and appreciate Finstreet
Members for organizing a very
informative knowledge sharing
session on Forwards and Futures. Since
Sakshi Agrawal
it was conducted by our very own peers,
it was very easy to ask our most trivial
doubts. The patience with which
our doubts were answered is
Prateek Saravagi
highly appreciated.”
Revilla Monteiro
“The objective of any informative
session should be to effectively communicate
and disburse information in a way that the
audience is able to comprehend and retain it with
ease. Finstreet did it very successfully. On the
whole, I was satisfied with the session and I
would like to attend more of such sessions.”
Siddhant Sethia
May 2015
19
MINDSHARE
CII SUMMIT
Changing the Conversation about Conservation
Role of Industry
Conservation conversations - CII YI team
Conservation conversations - The Role of Industry
T
he CII Western Region organised a conference on 2nd December, 2014 on “Changing the
Conversation about Conservation - Role of Industry” at the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai. The conference
was on how the industry could and is working towards contributing to their immediate environment.
All those present indulged in a healthy discussion after the speakers presented their thoughts and
opinions. Various topics such as new policies and environment conservation as a part of CSR were
discussed. It was unanimously agreed by the industry leaders that forcing environmental conservation was
not a solution. Feasibility of wildlife tourism in India as is being followed in South Africa was deliberated.
Successful projects like Project Tiger, how these projects were executed and if it could be replicated were
also discussed. The common perception that private companies are not proactive about environmental
conservation was also addressed. Speakers like Dr. Laxmikant Naik and Dr. Deepak Apte gave examples
to prove otherwise, like turtle habitat protection and vulture habitat rehabilitation by TCS and the
preservation of local environment by NPCIL.
This conference enlightened all about the need to develop the human aspect of the surrounding society as
well as the environment which each company affects. Through various discussions it was concluded that it
was upon the present and future generations to come up with more successful and innovative ways of
ensuring conservation while facilitating progress.
Conservation conversations - Dr. Laxmikant Naik, Dr. Deepak Apte and other dignitaries
20
May 2015
MINDSHARE
CII SUMMIT
Maharashtra in Transformation
Towards New Beginnings
Maharashtra in Transformation
O
n the eve of Maharashtra Day, Tuesday, 3rd March 2015, CII organised a business session on the
topic, “Maharashtra in Transformation - Towards New Beginnings” at Vivanta by Taj, Cuffe Parade,
Mumbai.
With an active new government coming in, the state of Maharashtra is undergoing a transformation and
hence the focus of the Annual Day was “Towards New Beginning”. Recognising the importance of ease of
doing business in the state's economic development and progress, the state government had begun its
reforms with reducing the number of permissions required to start a business substantially and has
promised to reduce it further. It is also gearing up to fulfil the Hon'ble Prime Minister's vision of “Make in
India” by way of enhancing the investor-friendliness quotient of Maharashtra and taking up the challenge of
skilling the working population to enhance employability and strengthen the base for manufacturing in the
state.
The session's objective was given by Mr. Ashwini Malhotra, Chairman, CII Maharashtra State Council, MD,
Weikfield Foods Pvt Ltd. The session also had a Panel Discussion on the topic “Building a more Prosperous
Maharashtra” by eminent speakers like, Ms. Shaina NC, Politician, Fashion Designer & Social Worker, Mr.
Subhash Desai, Hon'ble Minister - Industries, Government of Maharashtra, Mr. Richard Bale, Consul
General, Consulate General of Canada, Mr. Praveen Kadle, MD & CEO, Tata Capital Ltd & Ms. Vandana
Lulla, Dean, Podar World College. The Moderator of the Panel Discussion was Mr. Pradeep Bhargava,
Director, Cummins India Ltd. Mr. Bhargava guided and directed the discussion in an excellent manner. The
session was inspiring for all of us who attended and gave us a broad outlook about the governance of
Maharashtra State.
Maharashtra in Transformation - CII YI team
May 2015
21
MINDSHARE
CII SUMMIT
Make In India
Achieving Growth & Creating Social Impact
A
seminar was organised by CII on 'Make In India Achieving Growth & Creating Social Impact' on
16th March, 2015 at the Taj President, Cuffe Parade
Road. The focus of the seminar revolved on the vision
of 'Make in India', Ease of doing business, and the
Manufacturing capabilities and Skilling of our nation's
working population.
Mr. Radhakrishnan Pillai, the management guru and
acclaimed author of the book 'Corporate Chanakya',
expressed his views about how the 'Arth Shastra' and
Chanakya's philosophy of doing business can be
relevant in today's business world. Prof. Tan Khee Make In India - Achieving Growth & Creating Social Impact
Giap, Associate Professor & Co-Director, Asia
Competitiveness Institute - Lee Kuan Yew School of
Public Policy, National University of Singapore, gave a
great insight to the audience about today's competitive
framework and its influencing environment i.e.
macroeconomic stability, government and institutional
setting, financial, economical & manpower condition,
and the quality of life & infrastructure development. He
emphasized that a company's business growth is
mainly influenced by maintaining an economic
vigilance & attractiveness to the investors. Singapore,
which is ranked as the number 1 country in ease of
doing business, has grown its inclusivity by
institutionalizing the systems with less income
Prof. Tan Khee Giap speaking on Make In India Impact
disparity, speedy execution and protecting the poor.
It was a great learning experience for the students as the conference clearly laid down the key challenges
faced by the investors and the possible measures of improvement that can be taken for making the 'Make in
India' campaign a success in near future. This can be achieved by changing and influencing our nation's
mindset on gratitude, accountability and the pride in work.
Make In India - CII YI team
22
May 2015
MINDSHARE
TEDxGateway Campus Connect @ SIMSR
T
he New Year commenced
with the second edition of
TEDxGateway
Campus
Connect, which took place on
6th January 2015. This event
was organized by SIMSR in
association with Pathfinder
Innovation & EntrepreneurshipCell. Around 40 students had the
opportunity to attend this event. It
was initialized by informing what
a TED talk is, the audience were
explained the difference
between “TED” and “TEDx” by
the TED Speaker, Deepak
Ramola.
TED Speaker Deepak Ramola (4th from left) with students
lyricist, Deepak is working on eight feature films
slated to release later this year and early next year.
He currently works as a Creative Executive
producer and Script Analyst for a production house
in Mumbai and continues to conduct theatre
workshops for NGOs and school & college
students all across India.
Felicitating Deepak Ramola
Deepak Ramola is the Founder and an Artistic
director at FUEL. FUEL stands for Forward the
Understanding of Every Life lesson. They conduct
life skill workshops by turning every life lesson into
an interactive exercise.
Apart from being a life skills educator, interacting
with more than 1500 differently abled, aged, tribal
and under privileged people, from the ages 4-96
years old, all across the country in 2013 alone,
Deepak Ramola is a gold medalist in Mass Media
Studies from the University of Mumbai. He has
gained his experience in theatre after having
worked with the National School of Drama, Quasar
Theatre Productions and No License Yet and has
interned with both print and electronic media
houses. As an actor, he has worked in Rajshri
Production's “Isi life mein”, with Salman Khan in
“Bodyguard” and in the show “Sasural Simar Ka” on
Colors. As a spoken word poet, he has
participated, performed and won many poetry
slams and Open Mic competitions in Mumbai. As a
The event progressed with an activity before the
commencement of an interactive Question and
Answer session to which audience responded
enthusiastically. He shared various stories of
people who wrote to Project FUEL and explained
the life lesson of each of those stories. He
concluded the event with another activity where the
audience was asked to participate by writing a
letter to them as a third person. The audience
enjoyed and learned from the experiences of the
speaker and the event ended with a poetry recital
by Deepak Ramola.
A smiling audience
May 2015
23
MINDSHARE
SAY ‘TATA’ TO CANCER
Mission of developing India, health
tourism, Make In India all look
absolutely great action plan on paper,
wonderful topic for debate and
discussion until someone in the family
or in your neighbourhood or amongst
your closest friends gets detected with
the dreaded disease called CANCER.
And then the series of investigations &
emotional turmoil begins…….
“43,000 new patients… from all over
India” and only one Tata Memorial
Cancer Hospital……?
Dr. Rajendra Badwe in his column from
the Director’s desk underlines the
philosophy of TMCH as “Affordable
medicine is a magic word for all
healthcare systems whether it is
developing world cancer care or
developed world nationalized health or
A visit to Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital
insurance based system. Devising
Dr. D. G. Jha
(TMCH) makes one understand the
affordable intervention can be one
trauma cancer causes to both the patients and to
plausible road for clinical research. Under this
the members of the family & close friends. The fear
umbrella would be novel indications for existing
of death looming large on the face of the patients,
drugs (reducing the time and cost of such drugs
the anxiety of the relatives while 'running' around
when proven successful), comparing affordable to
from one part of the hospital to another, from one
expensive but proven technology and challenging
section to another, from one building to another
dogma to trim and redefine standards of care.”
braving the crowd and making way through them is
TMCH - Parel, Mumbai is the name synonymous
enough to understand what this dreaded disease is
with cancer, it is time that TMCH - Parel, Mumbai
all about. Staying positive amidst all this is a
changes its nomenclature from being synonymous
herculean task.
(with single one-stop facility) to being a
benchmark, standard, a guiding institution for
The scene outside on the footpath is still grimmer;
recreating such “TATAs” in every state.
the poor patients from far - off villages perhaps
waiting for a bed or an appointment with the
Tata Memorial Hospital has rich historical
surgeon, spend their entire day in their makeshift
authenticity; initially commissioned by the Sir
dwelling on the road (direct sunshine/ chill winter
Dorabji Tata Trust on 28 February 1941 as a center
winds, rains…). As a school going kid most of our
with enduring value and a mission for concern for
essays on social themes would begin with “….root
the Indian people. In 1952, the Indian Cancer
cause for all the problems in India is its
Research Centre was established as a pioneer
population…” and on seeing these, the kids would
research institute for basic research, later called
certainly understand why our population is our
the Cancer Research Institute. In 1957, the
liability.
Ministry of Health took over the Tata Memorial
Hospital. The administrative control of the Tata
The efforts put in by all at TMCH is commendable.
Memorial Centre (Tata Memorial Hospital &
The problem areas are - pressure on the
Cancer Research Institute) was transferred to the
infrastructure, too little space to cater to….
Department of Atomic Energy in 1962. The Tata
Memorial Hospital and Cancer Research Institute
“Every year nearly 43,000 new patients visit the
merged as the two arms of the Tata Memorial
clinics from all over India and neighbouring
Centre (TMC) in 1966 as a classic example of
countries. Nearly 60% of these cancer patients
private philanthropy augmented by Government
receive primary care at the Hospital, of which over
support with a mandate for Service, Education &
70% are treated almost free of charges. Over 1000
Research in Cancer.” Public-private participation is
patients attend the OPD daily for medical advice,
the need of the hour. This experiment needs to be
comprehensive care or for follow-up treatment”.
replicated soon if the Government of India wants to
convert its dream statement of ensuring better
While the above quotes from the website is indeed
delivery of health care into reality.
laudable and speaks volume about the most
trusted and reliable set up, it also indicates the
The rise in the working population aged 15 to 64
sorry state of India's current health system years, from 62.9% in 2006 to 68.4% in 2026 as
24
May 2015
MINDSHARE
indicated in every presentation highlighting the
advantage that India has, makes us believe that the
population is it’s biggest asset and attracts the
worlds' attention towards us making India one of
the growing consumer markets. It’s ironical (though
we may sound pessimistic) that our business
pundits soon latched upon this advantage and as a
result we have now malls spread across all the
cities be it tier I, II or III… but when it comes to
creating quality, affordable and reliable health care
institutions, we have miles to go. We need to
change our country from ‘Mall every Mile to Smiles
every Mile’ by ensuring at least primary and
preventive oncology centers in every district of the
admirable and imitable TATA’s standard….
Lecture at Hamburg School of
Business Administration
P
rof (Dr) Monica Khanna had an opportunity to
address the Ph.D students of HSBA Hamburg
School of Business Administration at Hamburg
Germany, on 14th April 2015. The session was held at
the Claussen-Simon Graduate Centre at Hamburg
which was built by its longtime Chairman of the
Board of Beiersdorf AG George W. Claussen to
commemorate the 100th anniversary of Beiersdorf
AG. The topic of the lecture was “Research
Challenges in India.” It was highly appreciated by the
Ph.D students.
Prof. Dr. Monica Khanna addressing Research Scholars
Prof. Dr. Monica Khanna with Research Scholars at HSBA
May 2015
25
FOCUS
CONGRATULATIONS
P
rof. (Dr). Swatee Sarangi from K. J. Somaiya
Institute of Management Studies and
Research bagged the prestigious Best Faculty
Award by Bombay Management Association
(BMA) along with Prof. Attarwala from Kohinoor
Business School for the year 2015. She received
the award from none other the doyen of Indian
industry Shri. Ratan Tata. BMA hosted their
Diamond Jubilee Celebrations this year by
felicitating achievers from the industry and
academia on 16th February, 2015 in a function
organized at Y. B. Chavan Auditorium. BMA awards
are conferred after selection by competent and
independent jury drawn from both industry and
academia.
Shri Ratan Tata presenting the award to Prof. (Dr.) Swatee Sarangi
Prof. Swatee has over sixteen years of academic
experience. She bagged this award on account of
her outstanding all round performance at K. J.
Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and
Research. She has been an excellent and
extremely popular teacher, who has both taught
and developed various courses in the area of
Human Resource Management. A good
researcher, she has both national and international
publications to her credit. She has also been a
prolific and active trainer facilitating management
development programmes for business
organizations. Her efforts towards institution
building have been commendable.
Prof. (Dr.) Swatee Sarangi with the dignitaries
Kudos to Prof. Isaac Jacob
Strategic Brand Management IV
Edition (Pearson Education)
authored by Kevin Lane Keller,
Ambi MG Parameswaran and
Isaac Jacob was launched during
the 10th SIMSR Global Marketing
Conference on 24th February
2015.
Proud display - Prof. Isaac Jacob with Mr. Parmeswaran
26
May 2015
FOCUS
TOWER RUN
their tweets. The “DO YOU KNOW” facts on
Facebook and Twitter, and the preparation
selfie contest on Facebook called attention to
this initiative.
Tower Run women's team Event Winners
M
umbai experienced its First Tower Run on
23rd November at the World Trade Centre,
Cuff Parade organized by CII. With an intention to
create health awareness among the corporate and
to bring the rapidly expanding sport to Mumbai, CII
succeeded in waking up Mumbai on a Sunday
early morning.
Recognized and promoted by World Tower
Running Association (TWA), based in Austria, and
supported by Municipal Corporation of Greater
Mumbai (MCGM), Tower Run
had two events:
➢ An individual event
➢ A relay of four members
Creating awareness about the
event in a week was a challenge
for CII YI SIMSR team. But they
accepted it with full enthusiasm.
CII YI SIMSR offline promotion
team visited major colleges of
Mumbai to popularize this event,
few among those colleges being
NITIE, TISS, RUHIA and
Welingkar. The students in these
colleges tasted the importance
of healthy living when they had to
win short races to achieve free
passes for the event. CII YI
SIMSR online team had already
created a buzz in these colleges
about the free passes through
The organizing team of CII had a well
chalked-out plan of the kind of support we
could provide them. The entire CII YI SIMSR
support team had a pre event training on Sat,
22nd Nov 2014 about the activities of the
event. On the final day, our support team
provided assistance to the participants
throughout, starting from registrations till
refreshments after the event. The event saw
diversity in the participants ranging from
school children to gym professionals,
corporate dignitaries and elder citizens.
SIMSR's All Women team left their mark by
achieving top position in the women's team
event.
The CII YI SIMSR team that helped make this event
successful had their bags filled with lots of learning
and experiences. The team gained hands-onexperience in event promotion both digital and
personal marketing as well as event handling.
This very first initiative was such a huge success
that it promises to excite and enrich us yet again on
29th Nov 2015.
SIMSR Support team for Tower Run
May 2015
27
FOCUS
‘Knowledge Alone Liberates’
Educational Seminar Series by SIMSR Admission Committee
Dr. Sivakumar conducting the Seminar
T
he Admissions Committee at K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research is
consistently dedicated to help and promote the well being of MBA aspirants and students across the
country. This year they came up with a landmark initiative of conducting a series of seminars at various
locations, reaching out to the student community and answering their doubts at a grass root level.
The first ever out-of-station seminar took place at National Power Training Institute, Durgapur, West
Bengal, on 17th November, 2014. Prof. S N V Siva Kumar, the Faculty head of the Admissions Committee
went to conduct this seminar on 'Importance of Management Education' and he was accompanied by
Saptarshi Das, student member of the committee. The seminar was attended by 55-60 participants, most
of them in their final year of their B Tech course and some also from the PGDC course. They got some
valuable insights about management education and future career opportunities which would help them in
preparing for MBA entrance examinations and admission processes of the year.
The second seminar was coordinated at
Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on 18 December 2014. The team that visited the campus included Prof. S N V
Sivakumar, Prof. Rajkumar Bagadia and Jithin George, student member. Around 110 students
participated in the interactive session which began at 12 PM in the Main Auditorium of SCT College of
Engineering. Most of the participants were doing their final year engineering course and were keen on
pursuing management education for their career development. The seminar helped open a forum for
healthy discussion between the faculty coordinators and aspirants. The interactive session ended by
around 1:30 PM.
Further, Team Adcom organised two seminars in Hyderabad which were held at Sree Nidhi Institute of
Science and Technology and St. Peters Engineering College. The crowd turnout was around 250 at each
venue. It was a very engaging discussion with students. The Q&A session was great where Prof Dr. S N V
Sivakumar and student member Venkat Akella drew a clear picture for the students regarding MBA
courses. Also, ITER college in Bhubaneshwar saw the seminar happening on 22nd Jan, 15. Prof. Sunil
Parmar and student member Anuj Patra coordinated the presentation and Q & A session. The event was
28
May 2015
FOCUS
attended by 120 aspirants who
were thoroughly impressed and
gave a very positive feedback.
Having enlightened young minds
about the importance of
management education across
the country, the initiative was
brought to a full circle in our own
premises. A stimulating seminar
was held at the K.J. Somaiya
Institute of Engineering & IT in
the Ayurvihar Campus of
Somaiya in Sion, Mumbai. It was
attended by about 120 students
from KJSIEIT. The team sent for
this seminar included Prof. Sunil
Parmar and student membersProf. Sunil Parmar addressing the aspiring students
Aman Dua, Nidhi Daftary and
Tejas Vaidya. The audience, a mix of final and pre-final year students, were very interactive and interested
as Mr. Parmar ran them through various aspects of management studies. The seminar went on for about an
hour, however multiple groups of students approached the faculty and the discussion continued for another
half hour.
All in all, the series of educational seminars were very well received everywhere and proved to be a
humongous success among students. Standing true to their convictions, the Admission Committee has
already included the seminar series as a permanent feature of their calendars. They wish to touch upon
even more lives and career paths in the second round of the event next year.
Engrosed audience at the seminar
May 2015
29
FOCUS
MANASVINI
W
omen Development Cell @ SIMSR, is a vibrant and incessantly active collaboration of students and
teachers, who work the entire year to create a more inclusive, tolerant and gender sensitized
community within campus as well as in society
In the pursuit of bringing together
voices, the Women Development Cell
at SIMSR organizes meaningful
programmes that could bring
awareness about women related
issues at a very grass-root level.
Last year, in the month of November,
we organised the Self Defence
workshop by Grand Master Jeong Hee
Lee who is the 7th degree black belt
holder from Kukkiwon and is the coach
of Indian youth Taekwondo team.
The month of March was dedicated to
the celebration of Women's Week that
Cherishing the moments at NGO - Bal Anand Ashram
is "Manasvini” It is a weeklong
celebration in which multiple events
take place like Gyanspradha, Vaqyudh, Moviethon, Kalakriti, Treasure Hunt, NGO Visit and many more fun
events. This year for the first time we went for inter-collegiate competitions like quizes, debates and movie
making competitions.
One of the most important event of Manasvini was Aparajita, the case study competition. It was an online
contest conducted across B-schools all over India. Students from leading business schools including
SJSOM, IMT Ghaziabad, XIMB and Great Lakes Institute participated. The case required participants to
propose solutions to help bring about women empowerment and gender equality and also cite examples of
the women leaders who have overcome the barriers to rise to the top. The quality of solutions reflected the
amount of research done by the students as well their understanding and knowledge of various womencentric issues. The evaluation was done by our esteemed faculty Mrs. Supriya Rai, whose expertise helped
in choosing the best of the solutions.
Among various events conducted, one of the events was NGO visit. The Members of WDC along with other
interested volunteers visited Bal Anand Ashram, Chembur, an orphanage that looks after both boys and
girls of age 1 month to 16 yrs. It also works for the adoption of these children. The total number of children in
Bal Anand Ashram is seventy.
We planned various recreational activities for the children including singing, dancing, games etc. We
sponsored their evening snacks which included cheese sandwiches, fruit juice and biscuits. Overall, the
event was successful and all the volunteers were really happy after meeting such free spirited kids.
WDC also conducted Reel time- a short film competition for students. The theme for this competition was
'Celebrating Womanhood'. The first round was a movie submission round in which the participants had to
submit their entry which was then uploaded on the WDC Facebook page. The participants were judged on
the basis of their creativity and innovation, and the total number of likes they procured on Facebook.
A free health check-up camp was also held, which included dietician consulting, breast and cervical cancer
awareness session, blood test, BP and Thalassemia check-up. Dietician Dr. Komal addressed the
consultations and also delivered a very informative session on "How to live healthy?"
30
May 2015
FOCUS
The event that was appreciated the most in Manasvini was the games organised for the support staff.
WDC endorses the view that in order for a society to be healthy and flourishing, it is very important for its
children to be safe. One of the steps in that direction taken by WDC members was organising a Child
Sexual Abuse (CSA) awareness program in association with The Childline Foundation. The volunteers for
this program were trained and then allocated a school to conduct the CSA awareness sessions that
requires 30-40 minutes.
Vaq-yudh, the debate competition held as part of the women's week celebration at SIMSR was a
magnanimous success. Ten teams participated with our esteemed judges Dr. Poonam Chauhan and Prof.
Gita Sasidharan, presiding over the event. The topics were women-centric and covered a variety of areas
from reservations for women in private organizations to the ban on the documentary, 'India's daughter' and
making abortions illegal. The participants brought their knowledge and thoughts to the table while talking
about the topics in depth. It was enlightening and a pleasure to see fresh ideas as well as the differing and
refreshing thought patterns of the young minds.
WDC organized a panel discussion on topics ranging from Growing challenges for Women Entrepreneurs
to Work-Life balance that was both informative and interesting.
A fine display of art at the art competition 'Kalakriti' was witnessed as a part of the women's week
celebrations. This platform was used by the participants to showcase their artistic talents.
Panelists at the talk on Work-Life-Balance
Battle with words
Display of art at Kalakriti
Childline Foundation talk
WDC Sports Event for Girls
May 2015
31
FOCUS
MELANGE 2015
Dr. Preeti Rawat handing a memento to Satyajeet Bhatkal of Satyamev Jayate fame
H
ave you ever found yourself in an exhibition of
the most phenomenal events taking place,
where each earnestly begs for your attention
simultaneously..!!
He is a digital marketing professional with over 12
years of experience. He has worked with over 200
brands in designing their mobile strategies. Prior
to OMD, he has worked
w
ith
brands
like
Melange, the management and
K. J. Somaiya Institute of
Mobile2win, Valuefirst,
Management Studies & cultural festival is the flagship event of Mauj, TOI and Reliance
SIMSR. Melange 2015, the biggest Infocomm. His expertise
Research witnessed the
biggest extravaganza- extravaganza was purely MAGIC that i n c l u d e s
designing
MELANGE'15,
the
complete strategy over
provided a platform to be all you've mobile and his exposure
management and cultural
ever wanted to be.
fest which was from 12
to social media gives him
Feb 2015 to 14 Feb 2015.
the edge to design
MELANGE'15 has grown in stature over the years
innovative mobile campaigns. To top it all,
and buoyant with our sponsors, it had mavericks
MELANGE was honored to host TEDx gateway, the
and enthusiasts attend events in numbers like
entrepreneurial talk show, the chief speakers being
never before.
MELANGE'15 was honoured to have stalwarts like
Mr. A. K. Singh, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax
Department as a Keynote speaker for the
Inauguration on 12th February.
Day 1 began with events like workshop on Mobile
marketing, wherein there was a pie for everyone to
appeal to. This Workshop was conducted by Mr.
Amit Lall, General Manager, Omnicon Media
Group, UK. He is a sociologist and works with
Omnicom Media Group as GM - Digital & Mobility.
War of Bands
32
May 2015
FOCUS
got to interact with the
industry BigWigs and it
made
ever ybody's
greycells blast with
excitement. The day ended
with something that was
cherished by not just the
SIMSR'ites but also by the
music lovers across the
city. “Indian Ocean” the first
Indian
R o ck
Band
performed live in the
Somaiya
Campus.
Adrenalin rushed through
the audience as they
jumped and cheered to the
tunes of Raghu Ram and
his counters. The band,
which primarily plays
Indian Ocean Live performance at Melange 2015
fusion music produced the
most urban and soulful
Arvind Rangnathan, Shalini Jatia and Karan
tracks
that
made
people
across all age groups
Chaphekar. Mr. Arvind Ranganathan is a 16 year
unwind
and
relax.
old musician and composer. He is also passionate
about math and technology. Ms. Shalini Jatia
is a leading philanthropist with more than 15
years of experience in medical aid and
pediatric oncology, awarded for
“Contributions to Society” by the honourable
PM of India. Mr. Karan Chaphekar is the
founder of KCbots and has been building and
selling REPRAP based 3D printers to
engineers and designers since 2011. The
cultural events brought out the creativity in
each individual with events such as War of
Bands Fun, an innate characteristic of
MELANGE, hosted by Chuck Gopal
Comedians.
After the endless rounds of iterations over a
span of 2 months to find the Alpha Manager
and the Brand Mavericks, Day 2 was the
amalgamated dooms day of testing all the MBA
lessons learnt by the students of the top notch
Business Schools across the country. The day was
marked by the final rounds of the Premium events
such as Stratinova, Alpha Manager, Markyudh,
Qombat etc. It was a day of intellectual turbulence
where the likes of Mr. Satyajeet Bhatkal, the creator
of the Epic “Satyamev Jayate” shared the ideas and
rationale behind the selection of the topics for the
show with the students and the faculty. It was really
informative and helped us to understand the
importance of communication and media in
bringing social awareness by using a mass
outreach medium. It was a phenomenal day as we
Paintball@Melange
Day 3 was the day when the budding managers of
tomorrow transformed into the Damsels and Divas
when they walked the ramp for Gliterrati. From
head spins to one-hand stands, the multitalented
leaders made everybody bite their nails in
“Razzamtazz”. It was a day of Glitter and Glamour
with the retro theme as the background of
Melange'15. The students who had been working
tirelessly for the past 3 months finally closed the
event on a happy note with the most awaited Prom
Night where Melange made the Eve of the
Valentines Day seemed a little more magical for all
of us.
May 2015
33
FOCUS
These three days were much more than just
a timeline of events. It was a mix of all the
feelings a person has, from the fighter spirit
that rushes into you when you get hit by the
first paintball in the game to the competitive
feeling one has when he is the last manager
standing. From the happiness one gets on
walking the ramp cheered by his friends to
chilling out with friends at the PS4 stall. From
climbing up the wall of the academic building
to being on top of the moon when the person
you ask, for the Prom says a “yes” which
makes you feel like being 16 all over again.
MELANGE is not a Festival of events where
Floral Rangoli of Melange
people come together and compete for
winning some prize money in the plethora of
Management and cultural events. MELANGE is purely MAGIC which gives you the platform to be all you've
ever wanted to be.
Mauj at Melange 2015
M
auj, the official band of SIMSR performed at Melange 2015 in front of a jam packed auditorium. The
performance was an opening act for War of bands in which colleges from different parts of the county
participated. This year members of Mauj enthralled the audience with performances of greatest hits from
the Hindi and English genre. With Mihir on the drums, Clinton on piano, Ishaan and Manan on the guitar and
the vocalists, Nidhi, Arpit, Anita and Navti;wooed the audience with their performances.They all put up a
great showwith their captivating performances and it became a memorable evening for one and all.
Performance by the Mauj Band
34
May 2015
FOCUS
WEAVING MAGIC ON THE RUNWAY
‘Glitterati’- the Fashion Show held
at Melange displayed oodles of
style, designs, colour, and talent.
The event set the tone of vibrancy
and added the glamour quotient to
Melange 2015.
S
tudents Activity Forum organised a fashion
show- “Glitterati” on the final day of the
Melange'15. Glitterati means the fashionable set of
people engaged in a glamorous activity, which
could rightly define the teams which participated in
the event. There were teams participating from
many colleges. All the teams were dolled up in their
most attractive attires, walking the ramp from the
theme of hippies to zombies. The judges were
overwhelmed by watching such talents and
enthusiasm in each team. The team Zombies stole
the show and ended up as the winners for the
event. The vivid colors of different cultures,
extravagant designs and astounding themes of
glitterati made it a successful event on the last day
of Melange'15.
May 2015
35
FOCUS
Pravartana
@
Melange’ 15
A
s an integral part of Melange,
Finstreet presented Pravartana
2015, a financial product modelling
contest on 13th February, 2015. It was
a pan-India contest open to all
BA/PGDM students. The participating
teams had to come up with a new and
innovative financial product and
analyse the risk and returns of the
portfolio, using different parameters.
The teams were asked to develop a
financial product, based on the
instruments available in the capital,
derivative, commodity and debt
market. The competition had three
rounds: an online quiz followed by
synopsis submission which contained
the details of the designed product,
and lastly the stage round wherein the
finalist teams presented their products.
The Winning Team with the judges at Pravartana
Pravartana is a stellar
event aimed at
ushering innovation
to financial products.
Like every year, Pravartana witnessed
an overwhelming participation from
various colleges all around the country.
This came across as a sign of
increasing enthusiasm for finance,
amongst the youth of the country. The
event was sponsored by NSDL
(National Securities Depository
Limited). The judges for the event were
Mr. Manoj Sathe (VP, NSDL) and Mr.
Ashish Kyal (Founder, Waves Strategy
Advisors Pvt. Ltd.)
The team from JBIMS emerged as the
winner and was awarded a cash prize
of Rs. 15000 while the team from KJ
SIMSR were the runners-up winning a
cash prize of Rs. 8000.
36
May 2015
Judges for the event - Mr. Manoj Sathe & Mr. Ashish Kyal
Runners up of Pravartana with the judges
FOCUS
QOMBAT - A War of Analytics
T
eam Quantinuum conducted QOMBAT during Melange, the Annual fest of SIMSR. It was an analytical
quiz which tested participants' ability to recall and apply various quantitative methods. An
overwhelming response was received from 21 cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Goa, Ahmedabad
etc. More than 110 teams registered from 45 different B-schools of India including IIM-B, IIM-S, IIM-Indore,
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, IIT-Bombay etc.
It started with an online elimination round on 2nd February, which tested participants' analytical skills, as
well as business acumen. Out of 110 teams who entered the war zone, 8 teams from MICA, IIM-Indore,
SPJIMR, SIMSREE, SIIB and three from SIMSR succeeded in entering the final on-campus round. On
13th February, the ultimate war began in SIMSR campus. The warriors fought frantically till the last minute
but at the end, teams from SIMSREE and SIIB were declared the winner and runners-up of the event
respectively.
Participants at Qombat
The event culminated with the prize distribution ceremony wherein the faculty mentor of Team
Quantinuum, Prof. N. S. Nilakantan shared his valuable feedback on the performance of participants. The
winner and the runners-up teams received a cash prize worth Rs.8000 and goodies sponsored by Kotak
Mahindra Bank.
Qombat Winners with Team Quantinuum
Team Quantinnum
May 2015
37
FOCUS
CRESCENDO
HR & Leadership Quiz
H
umanist, the HR club of SIMSR, in association
with Melange organised Crescendo, a HR and
Leadership quiz on 13th February 2015. The oncampus quiz consisted of the semi final and final
round and had students from institutes all over the
country from IIM Indore to Welingkar Institute of
Management,
Bangalore
pouring
in
to
demonstrate their prowess in the domain of HR
and Leadership skills.
In the third place, winning a cash prize of
RS.2000/-, was team Human Rangers from
Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai while
the second place along with a cash prize of INR
4000/- went to Team Reds from SCMHRD, Pune.
The first place however went to our very own
SIMSR with Jithin George and Vikas Raj winning
the quiz and a cash prize of INR 6,000/-
Participants & Prize Winners of Crescendo with faculty & team Humanist
The quiz started off with the semi-finals which was
a pen and paper round that covered questions
ranging from the domain of Organisational
Behaviour, Human Resources and current HR
trends in the Industry. The top six scorers of this
round proceeded to the finals; the finals consisted
of four brain churning rounds - The Dry Run,
Situation Analysis, Reverse Gear and The Last
Call. The final round was an extremely close call
with all the teams performing exceptionally well,
however the final question decided the winner of
Crescendo 2015.
38
May 2015
Finally, the event ended with Professor Virendra
Shukla, Dr. Swatee Sarangi and Prof. Dipika
Attawar handing over the certificates and cheques
to the winners. Prof. Dipika Attawar concluded the
session by congratulating all the finalists and
appreciating their effort to travel to SIMSR from
various parts of the country to participate in
Crescendo.
In all, Crescendo was a learning experience for
both the participants and audience alike providing
an opportunity for them to brush up on their existing
concepts and add to their knowledge.
FOCUS
RAZZMATAZZ
Dazzling dance performances mesmerized the audience at Razzmatazz,
a stunning show-stopper event of Melange 2015.
M
elange 2015 is an eloquent mix of various cultural and management events. A college festival is
always incomplete without a scintillating dance competition. Razzmatazz 2015, the group dance
competition of Melange was held by the Students Activity Forum. The event was judged by Director and
Head of Dance Villa Productions. One of the most loved events of the season, with 7 outstanding teams,
Razzmatazz was a huge success. We had teams from different colleges like KJSCE, IES, SIMSR and
many more. While one team mesmerised us with their patriotic performance, the other ensured our eyes
stayed glued to the stage throughout. The winners of the competition were the extremely talented and wellknown team Gyrations. They stole the show with their ace choreography and a jaw-dropping performance.
The crowd witnessed pure magic and gave them the rightly deserved standing ovation. Taal - the official
dance troupe of SIMSR was brilliant and added a lot of energy to the evening. Melange 2015 saw such
outstanding talents and we hope this continues in the years to come.
May 2015
39
FOCUS
WAR OF BANDS
A
nother feather in the cap of Melange'15 was the War of Bands organised by the Students Activity
Forum. The war of bands featured an eclectic line up of bands. The rocking musical night had crowd
cheering from the beginning to end.
The bands performed on every genre from heavy metal folk to jazz. Mauj - the official band of SIMSR
commenced the musical evening with its scintillating performance. The battle had bands participating from
colleges like TISS, IIT Bombay, Oriental College of Commerce and Technology etc. The event was judged
by Shravan Shankar from Narkasur band. Narkasur band is a thrash/groove metal band from Navi Mumbai
formed in august 2013.The performance from each band made the crowd go bananas and created an
ambience of merrymaking!
40
May 2015
FOCUS
TEDxGateway Campus Connect @ Melange
S
IMSR has always tried to integrate arts, sports
and culture into the academic framework to
reiterate the need of holistic development of
students. In this pursuit, SIMSR organizes
Melange, our annual inter-collegiate business and
cultural festival. Melange 2015 was conducted on
12th-14th February and one of the key events of
this festival was TEDxGateway Campus Connect
on the opening day. It was organized by SIMSR in
association with Pathfinder Innovation &
Entrepreneurship-Cell. After Cynthia Koenig,
Anand Damani and Deepak Ramola in the
previous TEDxGateway Campus Connects at
SIMSR, people were excited to hear from the three
new speakers. This time we got a chance to hear
from Shalini Jatia, Arvind Ranganathan and Karan
Chaphekar and around 220 people were lucky
enough to witness their ideas.
Our first speaker of the evening was Karan
Chaphekar. Karan is the founder of KCbots, has
been building and selling REPRAP based 3D
Printers to engineers and designers since 2011.
He strongly believes that, “Anyone can be a maker,
given an idea and the right user-friendly tools”. He
has also developed extremely user friendly but
powerful 3D printers which deliver reliable and
consistent output. His focus is on offering key
support and training resources for customers to
maximize their utility from these excellent
machines. His talk was then followed by the
interactive Question and Answer session and
students responded to him enthusiastically and
were amazed with his products.
The next speaker of the day was Arvind
Ranganathan. Arvind is a 16 year old musician
living in Mumbai. He not only plays a variety of
instruments, but also composes a multitude of
different genres of music, ranging from classical to
rock to electronic, and has had his compositions
professionally performed in New York and New
Hampshire. He is also passionate about math and
technology, and has won several international
robotics competitions. Arvind played music using
hand gestures that surprised the audience. It was
the first time when many people saw gestures
being used in music. He was asked lots of queries
on how he did it and he reverted with a convincing
answer and that made students realize how even
simple ideas can be so creative.
The last speaker of the day was Shalini Jatia.
Shalini is a leading philanthropist with more than 15
years of experience in medical aid and pediatric
oncology based in Mumbai, India. She has been
felicitated for her “Contributions to Society” by
Honorable PM of India Shri Narendra Modi's
political organization, Friends of Namo; Shalini
Jatia continues to provide her service to
underprivileged children with cancer with an
unwavering commitment. She started with a story
of two underprivileged people, who fell in love after
they were diagnosed with Cancer and how they
used to take care of each other. Audience was
stunned by this story and realized even a
contribution of time and support is important and it
doesn't have to be money always.
Inspiring Talks and eager audience at TEDx Gateway Campus Connect
May 2015
41
FOCUS
The Last Man Standing
Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory. - George S. Patton
W
ith this beautiful and inspiring thought in
mind, the contestants of various colleges
entered the battlefield of Alpha Manager - The last
Man standing. It was the ultimate business
challenge which gave contestants a chance to
prove their mettle in various managerial abilities,
be it Crisis Management, Business Acumen, PR
skills or Listening ability.
Finalists of Alpha Manager
The event began with an initial online quiz wherein
questions spanned across various topics such as
current affairs, history, philosophy and managerial
fields such as marketing, finance and human
resources. The second round was an online casestudy round where the contestants were asked to
showcase their PR skills by solving business cases
on Times of India, Deepika Padukone, Brand Rahul
Gandhi and Uber brand building. After this round,
six contestants were selected and six were
waitlisted. The final shortlisted round saw
candidates from reputed colleges institutes such
as SIMSR, MICA, NITIE and SJMSOM (IIT
Mumbai) putting in their best of efforts to win the
title of The APLHA MANAGER.
The Grand Finale consisted of four on-campus
rounds which gauged the candidates on various
parameters. The first round was the audio round in
which the candidates were evaluated on their
listening skills. The candidates were made to listen
to an audio of speakers with varied accents. They
were then made to jot down the key points of the
speech and based on their analysis, the scores
were given. The second round was the business
42
May 2015
simulation round which analyzed the supply chain
and logistics knowledge of the candidates. They
were given a live case on managing the logistics of
a company and they had to build an automated
system for the same. The third round was the
marketing and B-plan round wherein the candidate
had to device a marketing business strategy to
diversify an existing, well-known brand in a
completely new industrial arena.
The brand-product pairs given
were J&J - Wines, Moods - Kids
Toys,
Old
Spice-Tampons,
Cadbury-Masala,
KingfisherAgarbatti (Incense sticks) and
Apple-Lingerie. The candidates
were asked to choose one
amongst them and a time frame
was given to them to make an
impactful business plan. The
final round was the face-off
round wherein the candidates
were put into high pressure
strenuous,
simulated
circumstances and were judged
on the basis of their responses.
After the rigorous battle of wits, communication,
negotiation & persuasion, Gaurav Jain from NITIE
was the last man standing and hence won the title
of The Alpha Manager. He was rewarded with
prizes worth Rs.25000. The participants were
immensely captivated with the way the event was
conducted. The skills applied in the different rounds
helped them to hone their holistic personality. In
entirety, the event was a tremendous success.
Team Public Relations expresses their gratitude to
one and all and wishes more participation in the
forthcoming years.
The 'ALPHA' Manager
OUT REACH
Bech Daal
Bech Daal Team & Participants
ENACTUS Somaiya Social Cell
Touching Hearts....Challenging Destinies...
“Bechdaal”, the biggest socio-marketing event of
SIMSR was organized by the team of Enactus
Somaiya social cell (Enactus SSC). Enactus SSC
is a dedicated member of the Enactus, an
Bech Daal Participants
international network of students, academia and
business leaders committed to the cause of
bringing betterment to the society by helping the
underprivileged not financially but by instilling the
spirit of entrepreneurship in them. The prime
motive of our team was to promote Warli art, a 400
year old tribal art form, originated in the Thane
District of Maharashtra, in the western part of India
in a village also known by the name Warli. Typically,
Warli paintings show multitudes of tiny human
forms, hunting, dancing or cultivating the land.
Through the “Bech daal” event, Enactus SSC aims
to create awareness about this valuable art form by
promoting the products made by the Warli tribe, to
earn them a living and save their art from going into
perils. There are several products made by these
talented artisans. With this event, we planned to
sell these products in various markets throughout
Mumbai. This social stunt was executed by the
management students from K.J.Somaiya Institute
of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai. A
total of 30 teams constituting of 150 students
participated in this event. With this exercise, the
students fulfilled their social responsibility and
enhanced not only their salesmanship skills but
management skills, to the core. There was
absolutely no assistance provided to the students,
except providing them with an INR 5000 inventory
and a rule book. Students had to use their
management skills in fetching, handling and selling
the inventory. This was a 6-hour management
exercise which would never be accomplished with
classroom training only.
Bech Daal Participants
May 2015
43
OUT REACH
The product mix sold included pen stands, mobile
phone holders, paper-weights, key rings, t-shirts
and wooden trays. All these products depicted the
Warli art form.
Enactus Somaiya Social Cell has taken up this
initiative of helping the Warli tribe in their upliftment.
Younger children are also taught this art and
provided with a platform to showcase their talent
and use it as a source of livelihood. “Bech Daal” is
one such platform with which we strive to achieve
this social cause.
Bech Daal - Team Evil Monks
The Team behind Bech Daal
Samavesh 2014
Samavesh is an annual panel discussion event
conducted in K. J. Somaiya Institute of
Management Studies and Research where
industry experts are invited to share their insights
and experiences about their area of expertise. This
year, Enactus Somaiya Social Cell had the
opportunity to listen to 6 eminent industry experts
on the Topic: CSR in Evolving India. Speakers were
Dr. Kumar Iyer - Associate VP, JSW, Ms. Meera
Tenguira - Founder & CEO, Aarohan
Communications, Ms. Shoumashree Dey - CSR at
Welspun Ltd, Mr. Moloy Chakraborthy - CEO, Tulsi
Chanrai Foundation, Mr. Pradeep Talpade - Ex
CEO, L&T and Mr. Ameya Dabli - CEO, Swades
Foundation.
The discussion of few hours gave all the students a
bright idea of what exactly CSR is and how
44
May 2015
important it is in any organisation. It also gave an
overview of the career opportunities in CSR.
Overall, it was a great platform to learn and know
about the current industry norms in the field of
Corporate Social Responsibility.
Enactus Samavesh Panelists
SPECTRUM
THE 'CYCLFIE' CONTEST
students of SIMSR with many innovative and outof-the-box entries. The judges had a really tough
time in deciding the winner but finally declared
Aniket Kumar to be the winner of the contest and he
won prizes worth Rs. 1000 for his 'innovative cycle
selfie'. The contest was a great success and also
played the part of spreading awareness about an
economic way of reducing pollution - Save fuel,
Use cycles.
T
eam Yi-Chakra of Young Indians Committee at
SIMSR which is an integral part of CII
(Confederation of Indian Industry), as an
innovative means of promoting the cause for a
clean and green environment by using bicycles
instead of pollution-spreading motor-driven
vehicles, organized a 'Cyclfie' Contest. The
participants had to just click a selfie with their YIChakra cycles and post the same on the CII Yi
SIMSR Facebook page and get as many 'Like's as
possible to win the competition. The event created
a buzz in the entire campus and the Yi-Chakra
team received an overwhelming response from the
Winner Aniket Kumar (Left)
KURUKSHETRA BATTLE CONTEST
Kurukshetra Battle contest aka KBC was held at
Melange 2015 on 13th February - the only
B-school quiz across Mumbai about Indian
mythology. There were 2 rounds in KBC. First round
was conducted online and 150 candidates
registered from B-schools across India. The quiz
consisted of questions from Mahabharata and
Ramayana. Candidates had to solve 25 questions
in 15 minutes. 5 top scorers were shortlisted out of
150 applicants for the campus round.
GITA CLUB Winner
KBC Winners with the sponsors logo
The campus round that followed replicated the
iconic TV show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati'. All five
finalists received a different set of questions and
also had ‘lifeline’ options similar to the KBC TV
show. The participants showed great enthusiasm
at the format of the competition. The winner for
KBC 2015 was Mr. Chetan Rane from SIMSR and
received INR 5000. The runner ups were Mr.
Vishesh Saran and Mr. Abhijeet Deshpande from
SIMSR and received a cash prize of INR 3000 and
2000 respectively. We felicitated the winners and
the runner-ups with prize money and some exciting
coupons. We are grateful to our event sponsors,
Snovel Audiobooks and Devii Jewellers.
May 2015
45
SPECTRUM
COMMERCIO '15
n 13th Feb 2015,
Philippines, along with
IBS@SIMSR's
specific sectors where the
annual
event,
opportunity for success
'Commercio' was held as
was perceived to be the
a part of Melange 2015 best. For analysis, the
the Institute's annual
participants used models
flagship festival. The event
like Porter's Five Forces
had 8 competing teams
Model, Porter's Diamond
presenting on a country's
Model,
Hofstede's
business environment
Cultural Typology and
and country entry strategy
L ew i s M o d e l . T h e
for a suitable sector. The L to R : Shri Ankur Mehta, Ms. Priya Bhumkar, Prof. C.P. Joshi, presentations covered an
with participants
event started with the
in-depth analysis of the
Campus prayer, followed by the inaugural address
chosen sectors and also explained the bilateral
by the Director, Dr. Satish Ailawadi. The event had
trade benefits of the selected country with India.
O
Ms. Priya Bhumkar & Prof. C.P. Joshi with participants
participants from various prestigious B-schools
like S. P. Jain Institute of Management and
Research, Symbiosis Institute of Business
Management (Pune), Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Sydenham Institute of Management
Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship
Education and our own K. J. Somaiya Institute of
Management Studies and Research.
The Country Analysis was done by participants on
country related parameters as under:
l
Political Environment
l
Legal Environment
l
Economic Environment
l
Cultural Environment
l
Demographic Factors
l
FDI & FII Trends
l
Infrastructure and Institutional Framework
l
Level of Technological Development
The team presentations included countries like
Vietnam, Ukraine, Turkey, Thailand and
46
May 2015
L to R : Prof. C.P. Joshi, Dr. Ailawadi, Ms. Priya Bhumkar,
Shri Ankur Mehta with students
The two independent judges - Ms Priya Bhumkar,
Managing Director of Soujanya Color Pvt. Ltd. and
Shri Ankur Mehta, Assistant Vice President at
Marsh India evaluated the presentations based on
parameters like clarity of thought, relevance,
innovativeness, presentation skills and persuasive
strategies for the chosen country and sector.
The winning team was Team Falcon from S P Jain
Institute of Management and Research and runner
up was Team Invictus from K. J. Somaiya Institute
of Management Studies and Research. The
esteemed judges shared some valuable insights
for improvement with the teams and the audience.
The event concluded with the prize distribution and
vote of thanks to all the guests, judges, participants
and IBS members, given by Professor C. P. Joshi,
Faculty Mentor IBS@SIMSR, Dean TYMDP,
Professor and Area Chairperson (Strategy,
International Business & General Management) &
Program Coordinator PGDM, PGDM(IB).
SPECTRUM
Christmas Fiesta
Jingle all the way
S
tudents Activity Forum at SIMSR organised an event - “Christmas fiesta” for celebrating the joyful
festival. It was organised on 22nd December, 2014 at the Amphitheatre which was decked up in green
and red and a bit of white for the snow with beautifully decorated Christmas trees all over the theatre. The
Dress code for the event was Red and White, which was followed stupendously by everyone. The event was
commenced by the Christmas carols and continued to prizes won by the best dressed male/female,
dancing to the tunes of the in-house DJ along with introducing the official dance club of SIMSR - “TAAL”.
The new logo for the committee was also launched in this event. The pre-buzz of the event included playing
the custom game of the festival, “secret santa” which was a hit and showed the participative spirit of one
and all in each batch. Christmas Fiesta ended up by celebrating the good times together at SIMSR.
May 2015
47
SPECTRUM
APL Stands the Test of Time
T
he 3rd and 4th of March saw a horde of
classmates take over the cricket field. The
students of MMS - A carried on the legacy their
seniors left behind. It was the third instalment of the
annually held MMS - A Premier League, the annual
cricket tournament of the MMS - A students.
Inspired by the ongoing world cup and inspired by
the Men in Blue, the students armed with cricket
bats and stumps laid siege to the field.
The participation was in encouraging numbers.
Boys and girls alike were all charged up for the
game. The auction was held a week prior to the
commencement of the tournament. A hypothetical
corpus of `150000 was given to the six ladies, who
were made the “owners”, out of which they had to
buy a team of eight. The auction saw various
hilarious and comical moments and in the end the
players were auctioned. Some of them went for just
the base price of `1000 only (not just the girls),
while some players were bought off for a whopping
`60000-70000. In the end, there emerged from the
heat of the auction six shimmering teams - Swat
Kats, 9 Crusaders, Assassins, Love Charzzzers,
Pink Panthers and the MMS Blasters.
Each player, be it the nerdy one, the hip one, the
class clown or the sporty one, sweated it out during
the week before the tournament. The practice
sessions showed the bonding and the oneness the
students of MMS - A had amongst them. The girls
were the ones specially determined to be at the top
of their game. While the boys showed off their
Ankit Jain - Winning Captain of APL 3
cricketing prowess, there were some girls who
displayed a hidden talent of their own.
The D-day dawned on the 3rd of March where 6
teams battled it out in the group stage matches,
where two of them would bite the dust and the
remaining four would be still standing in the arena
fighting it out for the final glory. The first day of the
tournament saw The Pink Panthers, led by Ronak
Mota and the 9 Crusaders led by Akash Chaudhary
go down. The second day saw the remaining 4
teams sweat it out in the cage. All the four teams led
by Harsh Shah, Sahil Shah, Mohit Gala and Ankit
Jain fought tooth and nail against one another. But,
in the end, there is only one winner. The Assassins,
led by Ankit Jain, who took away the prestigious
trophy emulated their seniors The Kryptomaniacs
(APL 2 winners) led by Dhairya Kajaria emerged
victorious.
This 3rd instalment of the
APL was a welcome break
from all the pro-action and
was refreshing to see the
novices to give it their all.
From what we saw that
day, MMS - A truly justifies
their
war
c r y,”
Chhaerahenge night and
day!!! MMS - A!! MMS - A!!”
- Dhrumil Sangharajka
MMS A (2014-16)
ASSASSINS - APL 3 WINNERS
48
May 2015
SPECTRUM
SIMSR Talkies
SIMSR Talkies came out with a Filmy Quiz- The
Hunt for the "Sabse Bada Filmy Keeda" which was
a grand event with students participating in huge
numbers leading to a packed auditorium. The event
held on January 7th, comprised of 5 rounds.
Round 1 was an online round with 30 questions to
be answered within a time span of 15 minutes
where people participated in teams of 2. 111 teams
registered for the first round and 75 teams
appeared for it from which 57 qualified for the next
round which was another written round with
questions of medium difficulty level. 10 teams
reached the next "Hollywood Bollywood" round
where they get to choose Hollywood or Bollywood
and further the genre of movies they would like to
answer a question ranging from horror to romantic.
Then the most fun round of them all was
"Dumbcharades" where one team mate had to
enact a movie and the partner had to guess the
movie and then answer a question related to that
movie. This was followed by an Audio Visual round
where the soundtrack was played first then the
movie poster was shown and then a scene from the
movie was played. The team can answer at any
stage, the faster the better. Team Aspirers won with
a cash prize of 1000/- and Runner Up was Team
Wah Wah Productions who won a cash prize of
500/SIMSR Talkies proudly screened Border - a cult
movie, an inspiration that makes everyone feel
proud of being born in a country with an army which
can take on any enemy with ease!! The movie or
the star cast needs no introduction.
Released 18 years ago, Border still raises a feeling
of patriotism, that fighting spirit in us and trust in our
army! Nominated for multiple awards, this movie
has management lessons of visionary leadership,
group dynamics, fighting for what you believe in
and comradeship - qualities that are valued in any
budding manager !
In the month of march, SIMSR Talkies conducted a
Movie Marathon, a selection of most popular
movies from a wide array of genres. Day 1
showcased "Pulp Fiction" which was widely
considered the most influential American movie of
the 1990s and "Hera Pheri" where three
unemployed friends accidentally intercept a
ransom demand and try to make a quick buck off
the misunderstanding in this rip-roaring comedy
hit. Day 2 showcased an intense, inspiring, and
well-acted movie "Whiplash" a brilliant sophomore
effort from director Damien Chazelle and a riveting
vehicle for stars J.K. Simmons and Miles Teller. J.K.
Simmons won the Oscar for Best Performance by
an Actor in a Supporting Role. Day 2 also featured
"Paan Singh Tomar" the true epic journey of a
talented runner who turned into a rebel.
May 2015
49
SPECTRUM
Finstreet Fiesta
F
instreet Fiesta is the year-end finance festival of Finstreet. It was
held from 18th to 23rd December 2014.
Fiesta 2014 included a series of 4 events:
­
An on-the-spot Article Writing Competition which was held on 18th
December 2014. The winner of this competition was Sourajeet
Pradhani (PGDM-IB)
­
A Business Quiz for quizzing enthusiasts which was held on 22nd
December 2014. The winner of this competition was Team
Layman Bros (Gaurav Dutta & Trimurti Gupta) and the Runner-up
was Team 205 (Harsh Harwani & Anubhav Chaturvedi)
­
An Equity Research Competition was held on 23rd December
2014. The Final Round of Equity Research Competition was held
on 5th January 2015. The winners of this competition were The
Titans (Gaurav Maheswari & Varun Verma) and the runners up
were GetRight (Sahil Sanghvi & Smit Shah)
­
A Guest Lecture on Equity Research conducted by Mr.
Vivekanand Subbaraman (Research Analyst, HDFC Securities)
which was held on 23rd December 2014
This year's Fiesta was done in association with Corporate Bridge, which not only awarded the winners with
cash prizes but also gave them the opportunity to undergo finance training modules at Corporate Bridge
Academy.
REWIND
A
fter proliferating the 'quizzing cells' of students
throughout the year, Acumen-The Quizzing
and Debating Society of SIMSR, decided to end
the year 2014 with a bang !!!
REWIND 2014 was a quiz designed to test the
students, exclusively on events that happened in
2014. The response from the students was
overwhelming with nearly sixty teams appearing
for the written prelims round. Six teams took one
step ahead towards victory by qualifying for the
Finals.
The year 2014 was truly an eventful one, with new
governments, new business deals and amazing
changes in the business environment. The
Winners
50
questions covered all possible events ranging from
Maryam Mirzakhani's Fields Medal to Zomato's
Food Porn Website.
Ankit Redkar and Dhrumil Sanghrajka emerged as
the conquerors in battlefield of wits and know-how.
Shreyansh Kejiriwal and Vishesh Saran bagged
the runners-up position giving the winners a tough
competition.
Team Acumen looks forward to another Amazing
Year and even more enthusiastic participation from
students. Till then
HAPPY QUIZZING..!!
Team Acumen
May 2015
Runners-Up
SPECTRUM
STRATINNOVA
presentation. The rounds conducted were an
online quiz, online simulation round and case study
round.
Runners up- Team Oasis, SIBM Bangalore
S
tratinnova is the annual case study competition
organized by the Consultancy Committee of
SIMSR during the annual college festival, Melange.
This year, the team was successful in taking the
event a notch higher by having Rs. 1 lakh worth
prize money. The esteemed sponsors for the event
were V-Xpress in association with 39 Solutions.
Stratinnova received over 500 registrations from
colleges all over India. Stratinnova consisted of 3
major rounds before the shortlisted teams were
invited on campus for the final case study
Presenting Memento to Mr Basesh Gala,
Founder and CEO, 39 Solutions
Institute of Management
Winners - Team Invictus, MICA
The top 6 teams from the prestigious colleges - IIM
Indore, SP Jain, IIT Bombay, MICA, SIMSREE and
SIBM Bangalore - battled it out to win the ultimate
cash prize of Rs. 40,000 for the 1 st place and Rs.
20,000 for 2 nd place. The teams went through
some challenging Question and Answer rounds by
the judges. The winners of Stratinnova 2015 were
Team Invictus from MICA. The first runners up were
Team Oasis from SIBM Bangalore.
Presenting Memento to Mr. Sachin Nair, Marketing Head, V Trans Group
Consultancy@SIMSR (Stratinnova team) with judges and participants
May 2015
51
SPECTRUM
ICON 2K15
I
CON
2K15,
the
Vidyavihar station road
technical fest organised
along with the volunteers
by the MCA Department
of the Arham Yuva Group
of SIMSR, just GOT
NGO. This was followed
ICONIFIED. This year it
by a day of pure fun. There
was bigger, better and
were mini games like
brilliant than ever. The
Three Wise Monkeys and
whole of SIMSR building
the money spinner 7 Up 7
was decorated by the
Down. There were
various social media icons
amusing activities like
and the entire campus
Photo Booth and joy rides
was abuzz with the
on the Segway.
thrilling atmosphere. The
Pre Buzz Day 1 Photo Booth
sponsorships and support
This year also saw Icon
from Gizmos, Pizza
establishing a tradition of
Express, Fortune Enterprises, TrickNowTech
fulfilling a wish. A Wishing Wood was created near
Hosting Solutions, Ice Cream Works, Subway,
the amphitheatre for the purpose. Everyone... from
Pacific Plastic Industries and Achija really helped
the director of the institute to the students of
Icon be a successful fest.
various colleges tied their wishes on the wishing
wood, of which one wish would be selected at
random and fulfilled by team Icon.
Swach Vaidyavihar Abhiyaan
This year Icon was organised with the intention of
spreading a social message amongst the youth
and at the same time making it more enjoyable and
entertaining. The theme of the fest was Socialise
and the purpose was to project Social Media and
the wave that it has created in today's world. Icon
joined hands with Arham Yuva Group NGO for their
campaign called Pasti Se Pustak. Magic boxes
were setup all around the Somaiya campus to
collect old newspapers that could be recycled to
make books for the less fortunate. By the end of the
fest, Icon was able to contribute 1400 KGs of scrap
paper and old newspapers for their cause.
The fest kicked off with Honourable Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on the
morning of 26th February. The students of the MCA
department cleaned the College campus and the
52
May 2015
The main event was inaugurated on 27th of
February by Chief Guest Mr. Gaurav Jathar who is
an alumni of SIMSR and currently working as a
Software Engineer for a foreign exchange product
FXT. Every faculty of SIMSR was invited to the
grand opening by special personalised cards made
by the creative Gallery Team of MCA. The fest
started with a mind-boggling, bone tickling and yet
thought provoking skit. The skit was themed on
Social Media and raised the issue of addictiveness
of the youth to the internet, the unrestricted access
to age inappropriate content and it ended with the
message of using Social Media as a platform for
expression of thoughts and not misuse it. The skit
was conceptualised, scripted, directed and
enacted by the students of the MCA department. A
ICON Team
SPECTRUM
visually appealing gallery was created by the
students that depicted the various social media
platforms and their important facts.
This year of Icon had many interesting events, all
geared to give the participants a stage to showcase
their talent. For the technical geeks, there was
Codo-Hunt and Web-Master. For the innovative
minds, there was Pixelise and Film-Making. For the
resourceful, there was War of Words and
Presentagram. For the ingenious there was
Quizzila and Pseudo-Sense. For the
entrepreneurs, there was Start-up and ofcourse no
fest is complete without LAN Gaming and Box
cricket. Students from various colleges all over
Mumbai participated with great enthusiasm and
made the fest truly iconic. The SIMSR campus
could be seen bustling with the various activities
that really made it look like a fun fair. A variety of
stalls were setup on the green benches. Love
Shona's Collection had brought an exclusive
design of tiara, ear cuffs, mid rings and many more.
Gizmos had a wide array of trendy phone covers
and there were a host of food stalls that could make
anybody's mouth water. Subway and Blossom
gave a huge relief from the usual Canteen food.
The aroma from the tandoor roasting kebabs and
tikkas at Hotspot was simply divine. Bhagu chat
wala with his yummy chaats and fresh juices and
tasty dabelis at other stalls was huge treat for all
present.
The valedictory function at the end of the two days
of extravaganza was another jovial affair. The
winners of the various events received their cash
prizes with big smiles. The incredible skit was
performed again amidst thunderous applause,
concluding the astounding fest and making it a
grand success.
So until next year Icon says – Pin! Tweet! Post!
Repeat!
#Get_Iconified
[embedd video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om71ldGnO1I ]
Day 2 event - Lan Gamming
Inauguration of ICON 2K15
Day 2 Event - War of Words
Day 1 Box Cricket
May 2015
53
SPECTRUM
Metamo rph 5.0
'Youthopia' - Be The Change
“Coming together is beginning, Keeping together is progress, Working together is success!”
-Henry Ford
M
etamorph 5.0 – Be the change! 'Change for
the betterment of the youth, serving social
causes and for the overall improvement of the
society' - this was the central theme for the annual
part-timers' festival at SIMSR, Metamorph 5.0 held
on 14th, 20th and 21st December 2014. Metamorph
Season 5 saw a wide array of events were hosted in
SIMSR premises including management games,
sports, cultural and fine arts. Depicting and
encouraging the truly talented amongst young
management professionals, this is one event that
has made a deep impact on the already colorful,
vibrant and zestful SIMSR campus.
The event was blessed and guided by none other
than our director, Dr. Satish Ailwadi. It was
encouraged by our very helpful and supportive
pillars Prof. (Dr). Sujata Rao and Prof. Reena
Mehta. This event made its strong presence felt
amongst the SIMSR management fraternity. Due
to efforts by all its organizing team members who
left no stone unturned, all teaching and nonteaching staff and most importantly its participants,
the event was a massive hit. From amongst 720
part-time students, approximately 300 students
participated in the event. The event was also open
to inter-collegiate participants too.
Management Events
'Daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward;
they may be beaten, but they may start a winning
game.'
This was the arena for all management
professionals to showcase their managerial talent.
If you have the business plan making skills and can
woo your audience by your presentation skills then
'Trade Mantra' is your game. If a leader roars within
you, and you can guide your team to victory then
'Netagiri On ' is the game for you. To the creative
minds with marketing skills, 'Mad Ads' posed the
challenge. The quiz wizards gave their best shots
proving existence of their grey matters in 'Grey
Matters'. There was 'Bet-To-Win' for the business
enthusiasts wanting to build virtual empires for
their business. This was the second successive
year for management games receiving a good
response at the inter-collegiate level too.
54
May 2015
Sports
'The first thing is to love your sports. Never do it to
please someone else. It should be yours.'
These thoughts proved to be true as large numbers
of sports enthusiasts participated in various sports
events including football, cricket, chess, track
events. The sports event that got a maximum
response was a new introduction to the seasonbadminton. Girls' cricket which also entered into its
second consecutive year saw amazing response
from participants and spectators. This was one
event where the festival received an overwhelming
response and an equal organizational effort by the
committee members was required. Well done
Team Metamorph!
Cultural events
'Where would you hear the soulful music, the
rhythmic heartbeats of the dance steps and the
spice and drama of life!'- nowhere, other than
Metamorph 5.0.
A huge response by one and all was received by
this event and it truly fulfilled the theme of this
event- Be the change. Wide arrays of talents were
displayed and SIMSR part timers made a proud
discovery of many budding singers, dancers and
dramatists amongst the young professionals. The
new introductions here were street play where the
students witnessed acts on various atrocities such
as women abuse, child abuse, drinking and driving
etc. Such were the talents that ZEE India was
forced to pick up ideas for advertising its upcoming
serials from amongst the talented dramatists and
script writers. To add to the beautiful and soulful
evening, there was a band performance by the
band 'Ekamsath'- led by part-timer student Mr.
Ronson D'Costa. What a way to conclude the
evening musically!
Fine Arts
'Art is when you hear a knocking from your soul and
you answer.'
Fine arts were one of the new introductions this
season from Team Metamoprh 5.0. The event
tested the creative talents in the field of arts,
SPECTRUM
drawing, sketching, paintings, rangoli and making
the best from scratch. A perfect platform to unleash
the creativity within!
The festival led showcased some very beautiful
and artistic decors from the creative team in the
form of brochures, pamphlets, flyers, posters,
promotional videos. The prize distribution
ceremony that was held later brought jubilant
smiles on the faces of organizing members,
winners and participants.
Ratish Shetty, a first year student quotes 'It was a
privilege to be a part of an amazing Metamorph
team' whilst looking forward to raising the bar for
Metamorph 6.0! Shrikant Jungam, a fellow thirdyear student and an advisory board member
summarizes his learning at Metamorph as 'When
any problem is dancing in front of you, just keep
calm and work on it and solve it'. Deepak Jadhav, a
core-committee member quotes 'It was a learning
from all tangents of a wheel. Tangents like humans,
emotions, coordination and execution. These
tangents centrifuged the wheel of Metamorph- the
spinning wheel. All the best for future batches!
Keep up the momentum! ' Nevertheless Manshi
Sachde, one of the Metamorph Management
games winner puts it her words as 'Metamorph was
the most enthusiastic event this year…We as the
participants, the committee members, volunteers,
were all in full swing to make this event a
success…Wonderful environment and very
collaborative efforts..Kudos to one and all'. She
also jovially mentions it was an icing on the cake to
be one of the prize recipients!
To pen down this gem of an event has been a jovial
task. Amidst the smiles, tears and hullabaloo of a
festival what remains behind is a management
student in a complete sense- more learned, wiser
and ready to take on the challenges of life.
Finally we would conclude saying that this event
has been very good growth opportunity to all the
organizing committee members as well as the
participants. It has been a valuable feather added
to our learning cap.
Kudos & Cheers Team Metamoprh 5.0! Keep up
the spirit!
May 2015
55
SPECTRUM
Navikaran
N
avikaran, the event for which the entire marketing fraternity of SIMSR eagerly awaits for, was
conducted on the 30th and 31st January 2015. This Marketing Fest is conducted by Interface, the
marketing club of SIMSR. The fest began with a number of pre-buzz fun activities. To celebrate Halloween,
“Trick-o-Treat”, a photography booth was organized. Students from all courses came together dressed in
funky costumes. Diwali was made more colourful and bright with the Mera Diya Wala Selfie contest. It was a
Photography competition on social media platforms. Brand Treasure Hunt was conducted where QR codebased clues were given to the participants to unleash the treasure.
The first day of Navikaran marked the final round of Mark Yudh - a Case Study event, in association with
Choice Equity (Investment Banking and Management Consultancy firm). It was a 3-stage event wherein
the participants had to send a write up for initial selection, based on which teams from B-schools across
India were shortlisted. These teams then had to submit a presentation with their marketing plan. For the
final on-campus round, the top 6shortlisted teams had to deliver their strategies to help Choice in their
endeavour to capture larger market in a cost-effective manner. The esteemed panel of judges comprised of
Mr. Amit Singh, VP - Institutional Sales, Mr. Arjun Gill, Marketing Manager and Mr. Sunil Kapoor, HR head,
all servicing to CHOICE. While Christ University's students took the runners-up award, a trio from SIMSR
was adjudged the winner of MarkYudh'14-15.
Furthermore, for the marketing aficionados, a first of its kind workshop on Google Analytics was organised.
The guest speaker was Mr. Rohit Onkar, Project Manager - Social Media at SMG Convonix. This workshop
attracted participation from various colleges across Mumbai and was highly appreciated by all.
The second day of Navikaran was the final round of Ranniti - the Flagship Case Study event of Navikaran,
in association with Where Is My Pandit (WIP). The participants had to suggest a marketing plan to create
brand awareness and recommend cost effective solutions for promotions and backend operations. The
event was again a 3 phase event running on similar lines to Mark Yudh with the difference of 9 teams
battling it out for the ultimate prize in the final round. The judges' panel comprised of Where Is My Pandit's
Director, WIP- Mr. Ronak Agarwal, Mrs. Shivani Bansal, VP, WIP and Mr. Arun Poddar, CEO, WIP. While
SIMSR marketers took the runners-up award, participants from Goa Institute of Management were
declared the winners.
Navikaran '14-'15, also witnessed the launch of two new events which enthralled the marketing
enthusiasts. One was 'InfoGraphica', an online infographic designing competition anda Twitter-based
competition called the 'Elevator Pitch'-which tested the negotiation and selling skills of participants in a
span of 3 tweets.
In its entirety, Navikaran'14-'15 provided marketing enthusiasts with a plethora of opportunities to display
their marketing skills and showcase themselves in front of experts on a much grander scale. This fest
added a lot of value for all the participants and truly justified the Team Interface's mission - to mark alive
Marketing.
56
May 2015
SPECTRUM
Saraswati Puja
T
he festival of Basant Panchami is
celebrated across India to indicate
the outset of the spring season. In
order to commemorate this auspicious
day, students of SIMSR come together
every year on this day to worship the
goddess of knowledge, Saraswati. This
year the puja was organized on the
25th of January 2015 by Bengali
Association of Students of SIMSR.
Starting from arranging the decoration
material to preparing the menu for the
prasadam, the students handled
everything with great responsibility.
A night before the puja, all the plans
Saraswati Puja
came into action. The fervent students
made beautiful rangolis by choosing
vibrant colours. They also used decorative lights and small lamps to lighten up the place. This was a
wonderful experience wherein students from different genres came together to be the perfect host for the
arrival of the guest.
The puja was organized in the table tennis room, on the ground floor of the Boys' hostel. Flocks of students
from different courses gathered in their best traditional attires, to chant the hymns of Goddess Saraswati.
Saraswati Puja - In the Festive Spirit
Prof. Sujata Rao seeking blessings
The puja began sharp at 8 a.m. in the morning, followed by 'Pushpanjali'. After the puja was completed,
'Bhog' was served to everyone in the form of prasadam. It comprised of a 'Bengali-style khichidi', which was
a sheer treat for the taste buds. The festivities continued in the evening with puja along with cultural
activities. This definitely proved to be a refreshing break for the students from the hectic schedule of the
academics. Dr. Sujata Rao, the hostel in charge of SIMSR also graced this occasion with her presence and
sought blessings of Goddess Saraswati.
On the next day of the festivities, everybody was feeling heavy in their hearts. Finally the time to bid adious
had come. Students were present in huge numbers for enchanting the final prayers and giving farewell to
the idol of Goddess Saraswati.
This depicts how people belonging to different genres come together to offer their prayers to Goddess
Saraswati. Everyone sang in unison the hymns & the feeling of devotional love lingered amongst one and all.
May 2015
57
SPECTRUM
TATA MOTORS MINDROVER Season 4
I
t all started with a bang at
the auditorium of K. J.
Somaiya Institute of
Management
and
Research. Students kept
pouring in to witness the
astounding and enthralling
fight of the students from
various B-schools in India.
With the auditorium power,
packed with enthusiasm
coupled with vibrant
anchors for the evening,
the event started with a rap
song for MindRover
followed
by
the
introduction of the
prestigious judges who
were the top-notch
executives of Tata Motors. Team from IMT Ghaziabad, The Three Budbaks - Winners of Tata Motors Mind Rover Season 4
The Chief Guest of the
engaged. The event “Hot Seat” was organised by
event was Mr. Gajendra Chandel - Chief Human
Ms.
Shruti Yadav- Manager- Marketing &
Resource Officer at Tata Motors.
Communication, Tata Aria and Tata Safari. A theme
Game
was also played to motivate the audience
MindRover is a unique Tata Motors case study
and
energize
the speakers. A Live Screen was
competition that invites solutions to challenging
constantly
displaying
the Tweets and people were
problems from the best minds on the best
winning
countless
amounts
of Goodies for the
campuses! The objective of this inter B-school
Twitter contest and the Selfie contest. This was
challenge is to provide students with an exciting
handled
by a special Social Media team which
opportunity to work on a live business problem
comprised
of the students of KJ SIMSR.
identified by Tata Motors.
The daylong event covered a gamut of programs
like on-the-spot quizzes and online contests. There
was a band performance by IIT Bombay. Various
events were conducted to keep the audience
The war of words started with the first team
'Achievers' from NMIMS, Mumbai with a small
introductory video about their team and followed by
the main presentation. Teams from NMIMS, IMT
Ghaziabad, MDI Gurgaon, GIM Goa, IIFT
Delhi tussled to win the battle. One after the
other, the teams went on captivating the
judges as well as the audience with their
performances. In addition to judges, the
competing team could confront and question
the presenting team as well.
Treading across the various hurdles of the
competition, the ultimate winners were the
THREE BUDBAKS from IMT Ghaziabad.
They headed back with the cash prize of Rs
1Lakh and a pre-placement interview. The
event was an enriching experience for
everyone present.
Esteemed panel of Judges
58
May 2015
SPECTRUM
Telegram Rebranding
O
nce the fastest means of communication for
millions of people - the humble and iconic 163
year old telegram service in our country was put to
rest in 2013 after it was nudged out by technology SMS, emails, mobile phones. Just to make it stay
alive in the memories of people, Retail Lab came
up with Telegram Re-branding. It was an idea
generation competition wherein the participants
had to come up with a new branding strategy and
the twist was that all they get to put forth and
explain their branding strategy within a limit of fifty
words, just like a regular telegram. The contest was
held in two rounds. During the first round the
contestants were asked to design a re-branding
strategy for well-known brands like TATA, Body
Shop etc. Out of the 140 teams which registered,
13 teams were shortlisted for the second round.
The shortlisted teams were given specific
situations where the brand needed a new rebranding strategy; something similar to developing
a re-branding strategy for Spicejet post its recent
fiasco and they had to devise a plan in maximum 50
words. The competition saw some phenomenal
solutions in the form of infographics and
presentations. Finally the teams from IMI, Delhi
and IIM, Shillong were declared the winners, for
their creative and powerful ideas.
Theme Quizzes
T
eam Acumen has been coming up with a
number of quizzes, but this year a new concept
of theme-based quizzes was introduced.
This idea of keeping quizzes on a particular theme
proved to be a great success in roping in more
people by quizzing them on things they loved; be it
sports, harry potter or the all-time popular show
Friends. Just as the Sunday Evenings came along,
the whole of SIMSR looked forward to the Sunday
Evening Quiz Championships (SEQC).
The Bold and the Beautiful Quiz was organized on
Woman's Day to show respect towards the women
fraternity. The football quiz was held for all the crazy
football fans who hadn't really got a chance to
show-off their love for the sport.
The idea was to get out of the routine and have
some fun in a way that will engage everyone. In
order to try something new for the Friends quiz, the
concept of dart-board quizzes was introduced
which was an innovative way of mixing the
questions along with a game. Some really
interesting books were given as prizes. The thing
which was really heartening was that people
participated even without any prizes. It was a
perfect portrayal of the passion for quizzing at
SIMSR.
Taking forward this wonderful response, Team
Acumen wishes to continue this trend and engage
more number of students with such fun quizzes in
the forthcoming years as well.
May 2015
59
SPECTRUM
YUDH
IMSR turned into a sporting battleground for
three days when the SIMSR Sports
Committee organized Yudh'15, the annual InterCollegiate Sports Fest of K. J. Somaiya Institute of
Management Studies and Research from 30th Jan
to 1st Feb. 2015. The event featured premium
B-Schools across Mumbai like SJ Som IIT
Bombay, JBIMS, Welingker, IIM Indore (Mumbai
Campus) and few others, fighting it out for the
coveted,'Urzza Cup'.
S
A total of 11 sports
were played at
Yu d h ' 1 5
which
included Basketball,
Volleyball, Throw ball,
Football, Badminton,
Tennis, Table Tennis,
Chess, Athletics and
Cricket. The event
saw some gripping
action, with all BSchools matching a
blow for a blow and
not
giving
the
slightest chance to
the other team in
pursuit of victory. At the end, a professional allround display across various sports saw SIMSR
win the winner's trophy, and lift the Urzza Cup.
60
roped in to provide media coverage for the event.
Lifestyle and Powergym provided goodies and gift
vouchers to all the winners.
Yudh'15 also saw the Sports Committee's calendar
coming to an end. Disha Gupta, the Vice-President
of the Sports Committee who streamlined most of
the backend preparations and guided the juniors
throughout the event, was delighted with the way
the junior committee handled the event. Her exact
words were, “Yudh'15
is the flagship event
of
the
Sports
Committee, and it
was important that it
was executed well. I
am delighted with the
kind of maturity our
juniors have shown
during the three days.
I must say, the SIMSR
Sports Committee is
in very safe hands.”
Yudh '15 also came in strategic association with
various partners that added to the sheen of the
event. Bisleri Urzza were the title sponsors as well
as the energy partners for the event. The Yudh '15
trophy was named after them. Sportskeeda.com,
one of the leading sports website in India were
Satya Teppala, the
President of the
Sports Committee,
and the man who has worked very hard for the
betterment of sports at SIMSR over the last two
years, believed that Yudh'15 has gone a very long
way in building the brand SIMSR. “Planned and
executed to perfection, the sports fest was an
enriching experience for sports enthusiasts across
various colleges in Mumbai. We would also like to
thank our sponsors for showing faith in us. I would
also like to wish the Junior Sports Committee all the
very best for the year to come”, he further added.
KNIGHTS & ROOKS
Teams Sweating it out in the Game of Football
May 2015
IMPACT
Green Trade 2015 ‘Can You Carbon-Trade?'
CII Yi Winner Team from SIMSR at Green Trade
T
he most awaited & happening festival of
SIMSR, CII - YI had its most competitive
event, Green Trade, a simulation game on
carbon trading. The event consisted of two
rounds - the first was an online elimination
round, where participants all over India
brainstormed to solve a critical case. The
case study round witnessed a participation of
more than 100 teams from B schools all over
the country. Based on the critical evaluation
of the Case study solutions sent by the
participants, the Top 5 teams were called for
the final on-campus round in SIMSR. The Top
5 competing teams were from NMIMS
Mumbai, SJSOM - IIT Bombay & SIMSR.
CII Yi Team at Green Trade
The final round, the actual game itself,
consisted of 3 simulation rounds: first, a live
auction of companies; followed by a
production round & finally the Carbon
Trading round. The essence of the game was
the maximum production of units with the
least carbon emission to create a healthy
environment with the least amount of
greenhouse gases.
CII Yi Green Trade Participants
All the teams used their own strategy to try
and win the game and the winning team was
from SIMSR. The event was a huge success.
The CII YII Team at SIMSR is grateful to their
sponsor, Dhanuka Cold Storage Pvt. Ltd.,
and the participants, who made the D-Day a
fun and exciting event.
May 2015
61
IMPACT
RESOLUTION 2014
Be the Change
Y
oung Indians Committee at SIMSR
organized an event in campus,
'RESOLUTION - Be the Change', on 21st
December 2014. Two main competitions
were conducted as a part of the event and
participants from premier B-Schools came
and participated, aiming to be the winner in
what was undoubtedly, a fiercely fought
battle. The entire purpose of the event was to
find winners who can give innovative solution
for the problems faced by the society, politics
and our country as a whole, today. Spread
over two days, RESOLUTION tested the
mettle of participants in every vertical of dayto-day life and management. The stakes
were never higher, with the prize money
worth INR 25,000.
Winners of Abhiyaan - Prasanna Pujari and Chetan Shinde, SIMSR
Event 1: ABHIYAAN - THE MARKETING
EXTRAVAGANZA was the first battle to be fought
to present their marketing plan. This round was
judged by Mr. Kumar Sawant, the creative director
of Lowe Lintas. He has worked for many brands
such as Parle, HDFC Life, Tide (P&G), Bajaj,
Reliance, ACC Cement, Mahindra &
Mahindra, Cadbury Oreo, HPCL, Con-Agra
Foods, Vanitha, Nivea, etc. The participants
were judged on presentation skill, market
research and analysis and creativity and
there was a tough competition among the
teams. Finally, the team from SIMSR
represented by Prasanna Pujari and Chetan
Shinde won the first prize and team from
SIBM-Pune represented by Varnika
Shrotriya and Rahul Kumar won the second
prize. The event concluded with Mr. Kumar
sharing his experience in the advertising
Industry and appreciating all the teams for
the effort put in by them.
Judges of Abhiyaan - Mr. Kumar Sawant and Dr. Reena Mehta
by participants as a part of Resolution '14. It was an
event where teams from all over India participated
in big numbers. There were 50 participants from Bschools like IIMs, SIBM, SIIB, GIM, etc.
The qualifying round was off-campus, where they
had to present their print ads and a write-up on their
marketing plan for SWACHH BHARAT ABHIYAAN
launched by the Modi government. We were
overwhelmed by the creative and innovative print
ads and the ideas behind them. After a lot of
discussions and pondering, we selected 5 teams
for the on-campus round where they were required
62
May 2015
Participants of Abhiyaan
IMPACT
Research, SIMSR, who was also the honourable
judge for the occasion. The teams put in their best
efforts and proved their mettle in the competitive
spirit. The cumulative scores of the two rounds
were considered to arrive at the final scores and
Mohit Juneja from SIMSR was crowned the One
Day PM, 2014. The team from NMIMS - Honey
Garg and Manish Porwal came second. Overall, it
was very nicely conducted event and was well
appreciated by the participating teams and the
audience.
Winner of One Day PM, Mohit Juneja, SIMSR
Event 2: The first edition of ONE DAY PM was a
huge success. The journey started with 91 teams
from premier management institutes all over India
taking part in an online general awareness quiz.
The top 40 teams from the first round were required
to submit their party's development agenda and
communication strategy as a short write-up for the
second round of screening. Based on their
submission, 6 teams were selected. These finalists
met at the SIMSR campus on 21st December,
2014 to battle it out for the crown of One Day PM.
The first round was the Cabinet Meet where the
teams were given a topic, based on the write-up
they had submitted, and one person from the team
had to give an extempore speech for two minutes
after discussing with the teammate. The speech
was followed by a brief Q&A session where other
participants and members from the audience put
forth a few observations. All the teams were adept
in handling the extempore and Q&A. The next and
final round was 'Parliament' which was a debate
round - a series of 3 debates, two teams at a time.
The topics were decided by Prof. (Dr.) Shaila
Srivastava, Chairperson of the Centre of
Excellence in Economic Policy Analysis and
It is very appropriately said, “Individuals play the
game, but teams beat the odds.” Organizing an
event is unquestionably not a one-day match. It is
just the right team work that helps in bringing out
the best decisions. It all depends on how the team
manages its time. Resolution was all about fun
embellished with learning experience. The efforts
put in by the team from start to end was well
reflected in the success of the event. Participants
CII YII Team at Resolution
as well as the organising team had a great
experience. We look forward to making this event
even bigger in the coming years.
Participants of One Day PM
May 2015
63
IMPACT
ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK-2015
E
-Week is designed to build public awareness
and support for entrepreneurship. It focuses
public attention on today's biggest opportunities
and encourages participants to reflect on their role
as leaders and innovators. The campaign is led by
the National Entrepreneurship Network and
supported by the Wadhwani Foundation and other
partners.
SIMSR got its opportunity to be a part of this event
and celebrate Entrepreneurship Week this time.
We started off with some pre buzz events like
Minimalistic Poster Making Competition with the
theme 'entrepreneurship' and Blog Writing
Competition, where students were asked to write a
blog on 'Future of Entrepreneurship'. We had
almost 60 entries where people from IIM Rohtak,
Xaviers Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar,
Fore School of Management and many other
colleges had participated apart from our
SIMSRites.
E-Cell members with Mr. Venkatesh Iyer
Mr. Venkatesh Iyer with our esteemed faculty
Audience Engaged
64
May 2015
The main events of the Entrepreneurship Week
were scheduled from 23rd to 27th Feb 2015, each
day comprising of at least one event. On day one,
we had 'Marketing Mackathon'. People from IIMs,
XIMB, MICA, IIT, SIIB, IITs, IMI and SIMSR had
participated. The event was a challenge to the
participant's ability to lead a marketing team from
the front. Each participating team were given one of
these
star t-ups
w w w. w o h l i g . c o m ,
www.chess.riidl.org, www.eventbaksa.com, Moto
Stallion and GoAlert. The participants interacted
with the entrepreneur of the respective start-ups
where they had to understand their requirements
and design a marketing plan accordingly. Also the
time constraint of 2 hours was an additional hurdle
they had to face. It was wonderful to see the teams
make beautiful and elaborate plans and
presentations in that short span.
The event on day two was 'Mera Business' where
the participants had to create a facebook page
about any real or imaginary product or service and
Harsh Gada and Gaurav Jakothia at Marketing Mackathon
Mr. Venkatesh Iyer
Mera Business
Marketing Mackathon
IMPACT
promote it online and then present it in 3-5 minutes
to our panelists. The presentation was a formal
Business Plan or an informal elevator pitch. Again,
time was a major constraint here. So to convince
the judges in the stipulated time allotted to them
was a difficult task and made them concentrate
only on the details of their B-Plan. It was a new
learning experience as it was something different
than the normal B-plan competition.
On day three we had 'Case Study Competition'
where the participant had to create a feasible
marketing plan of www.lawangi.com - An online
shop for crackers. Students from IIM Rohtak, IIM
Indore, Welingkar, JBIMS and SIMSR participated.
The session added value in terms of knowledge
and innovation from different B-plans and helped
lawangi to redesign their marketing campaign.
The event on day four was an 'Interactive Session
by Mr. Venkatesh Iyer - Founder of Goli Vada Pav'
The discussion was about how a branded Vada Pav
worth Rs. 10 was giving a competition to
McDonald's burgers. He explained how this idea
clicked for him, how he started the business and
how he is expanding the business all over India. It
was a good interactive session, which helped to
sow the seeds of entrepreneurship among the
student community.
On day five, we concluded the E-Week with a
'Workshop on Business Analytics by Mr. Mohan
Rai - Manager, SME, Reliance industries' It was
attended by approximately 50 students. The key
points of the session were the difference between
business analytics and data analytics, its industry
scope, what can be the career path and what all
skills are required. Q&A followed it for few minutes
and that brought the Entrepreneurship week to an
amazing end.
Our esteemed panel of judges included Mr. Harsh
Gada, Mr. Gaurav Jakhotia, Mr. Ashutosh Tiwari,
Dr. Rakhi Sharma and Dr. Radha Iyer. Prizes worth
Rs. 50,000 were awarded to the following students.
We appreciate such an overwhelming response
from the students and hope that the future of
entrepreneurship keeps blooming more and more.
By far the largest entrepreneurship activity in the
country, E Week's dramatic results in the past building support for entrepreneurs - was
encouraging even more participation. The
campaign saw active involvement of many
organizations that support entrepreneurship;
corporate entities; industry captains, experts, nonprofit organizations, and faculty leaders to inspire,
encourage, and guide students.
Names
Aarathy Krishna
Institute
IIM Rohtak
Event
Minimalistic Poster
Making Competition
P osition
Winner
Yash Goradia
Amol Sonaje,
Jaspreet Sandhu,
Dhairya Kajaria
Mohit Juneja,
Krishna Thakkar,
Mansi Gorasia
Amaresh Sahoo
Rahul Vangani,
Shankar Gajara,
Pratik Bendale
Gaurav Patole,
Nishant Pandita,
Minal Dhondge
Jitesh Jain, Ankur
Bhagat, Vignesh C
SIMSR
SIMSR
Blog Writing Competition
Marketing Mackathon
Winner
Winner
SIMSR
Marketing Mackathon
First Runner
Up
SIMSR
SIMSR
Mera Business
Mera Business
Winner
Winner
Welingkar
Case Study Competition
Winner
IIM Indore
Case Study Competition
First Runner
Up
SIMSR
Case Study Competition
Second
Runner Up
Mohit Juneja,
Mansi Gorasia
May 2015
65
IMPACT
ENTREPRENEUR EXPO'14
P
athfinder Innovation & Entrepreneurship Cell
has organized an event named Entrepreneur
Expo'14 which was a two-day event that took place
on 8th and 9th of December 2014. It was a platform
where ten entrepreneurs from various sectors
were given an opportunity to present themselves to
more than four hundred MBA students. It provided
a perfect opportunity to the entrepreneurs as well
as students to interact. The objective of
Entrepreneur Expo'14 was to provide a chance to
such wavering young minds to wet their feet
through concurrent projects and internship
opportunities.
December 8, 2014 was marked by the following
companies:
1. Gozoop: It is an industry leading Internet
Marketing Agency which offers professional
consultation and management services across
multiple areas of online marketing.
2. Edubridge: It is an organisation started by a
group of IIM alumni and professors in October
2009 based in Mumbai. It has been setup with
the vision of fulfilling the skill gap that exists
currently between the youth in semi-urban and
rural areas and the skill requirement of the
corporates.
3. Testbook: It is an EdTech company - founded
by IIT graduates - committed to provide the best
online learning experience. It brings one stop
personalized learning experience to students
globally through its innovative technology and
content.
4. uFaber: An Edutech online marketplace, lists
courses on professional skill-development,
hobbies, crafts, academics as well as vocational
courses for students to build on their skills
through online courses.
5. Shop4Prop: It is a real estate firm based in
Mumbai.
December 9, 2014 was marked by another 5
Companies:
1. Snackbar: It is a student initiative planning to
open a canteen in K. J. Somaiya, Vidyavihar
campus.
66
May 2015
2. Paintcollar: It is India's finest marketplace for
inspired artists. They offer artists, the
opportunity to reach out to thousands of people
by transforming their art into trendy
merchandise products and earn by selling them
online.
3. Windchimes: It is a social media agency that
specializes in helping brands use social media
to engage with their consumers effectively and
create awareness on online platforms.
4. TripKitchen: It offers last minute prices on air
deals, hotels deals, transfer deals, package
deals, sightseeing deals and travel deals.
5. UCID: Unconventional Crafts and Ideas is the
newest advertising and communications outfit
in Mumbai. They are a team of advertising and
marketing professionals who believe in tapping
opportunities that don't seem so obvious.
Given below is the statistics on how many students
had applied and how many students were selected
for the concurrent projects:
Name of the
Company
Gozoop
Edubridge
TestBook
Ufaber
Shop4Prop
SnackBar
Paintcollar
Windchimes
TripKitchen
UCID
Total
No. of
students
applied
116
41
36
34
53
27
97
62
53
60
579
No. of
students
selected
5
3
7
14
1
6
6
4
7
3
56
Entrepreneur Expo'14 made a huge difference to
all the students as well as the entrepreneurs who
participated in the event, as they could get students
for their interesting projects and students could get
a good learning experience with those projects.
IMPACT
C
r
u
c
i
b
l
e
P
u
s
h
u
p
s
T
ATA Crucible is the mecca of all quizzing
events. Held at 34 cities and with more than
1000 colleges all over India participating, the TATA
Crucible National Champion is a title every
quizzing enthusiast dreams for. With a view to
continue the tradition of a strong performance over
the years from SIMSR, Team Acumen decided to
hold Crucible Pushups, a mock simulation of the
event as a preparation for the main event.
It all started with an introductory session on Feb 25,
a month before the Mumbai edition of Crucible.
This session introduced the Quiz and explained the
format which had undergone some changes. More
importantly, sources for preparation and crucial
tips and tricks were shared with everybody.
It was followed by the first of five pushups which
were held every week leading up to the D-day,
March 22. Extensive research was done in
preparation of the quizzes, keeping in mind the
type and pattern of questions that kept on cropping
up in Crucible over the years. And staying true to
the format, all Pushups were buzzer only events.
This was witnessed for the first time at SIMSR.
Buzzer format was an area many SIMSRites did
Team Acumen
not have prior exposure to, and hence it was
extremely well received. For one of the pushups,
the Navi Mumbai Runner-up, Sagar Surve was
invited to host the quiz and share his invaluable
insights.
This mock event proved to be very impactful for the
participants representing SIMSR in the Final
Championship. A lot of questions sounded familiar
to them which gave them an edge over the other
participants in the quiz. In its entirety, this was a
wonderful platform to familiarize with the event and
hone one's quizzing skills.
“Transcend-Rise beyond ordinary” Mock GD PI Session
H
umanist, the HR Club of SIMSR, kick started
with its flagship event “Transcend-Rise
beyond ordinary” in the month of October, 2014.
Transcend is a mock GD and PI event for the
students of SIMSR to help them to get a cutting
edge in placement process.
The event was spearheaded by the members of
Humanist. The main focus of the event was to
enable students to crack tough group discussions
and tackle difficult interview questions. The USP of
the event was to provide valuable feedback to the
students on the same.
Facilitator of the event, HR Faculty Prof. Dipika
Attavar and Prof. Shreya Shah commented on the
performance of the students and suggested ways
to improve the domain knowledge and articulate
those to present in a better way.
The GD was followed by personal interviews (PI)
specially conducted for each student by Prof.
Dipika Attavar and Prof. Shreya Shah. During the
interview comprised both frequently asked
questions in Interviews and trap questions. The
interview was conducted in a simulated
environment which reflected that of an actual
interview.
Lastly, Prof Dipika addressed the students and
gave them collective feedback. Also, she discussed
the strategies with the students to tackle group
discussions with abstract topics. Apart from that
she also highlighted various facets of on framing of
self introduction and dealing with trap questions.
She stressed on the importance of conducting a
SWOT analysis for the self and understanding the
importance of using the right words and good
vocabulary. The event was finalized by taking a
round of questions from the participants and giving
them further guidance.
Finally, this event provided tremendous insight to
students regarding group discussions and
interviews. This will help them to succeed in the
stepping stone of their future endeavours.
May 2015
67
IMPACT
Lock, Stock and Trade
Lock Stock Winners with Finstreet team
F
instreet brought session 2014-15 to its
culmination with a fresh and innovative event –
Lock, Stock and Trade, a stock trading challenge
which gave people a chance to showcase their
stock picking and trading skills. It was organized on
8th April 2015.
The event took place in 2 rounds. The first round
was the online quiz and the final round was held on
campus. It was played in a closed ring format
wherein 7 companies from different sectors were
traded. Each participant was given Rs. 1 lakh of
virtual money for trading. Participants could buy
companies only once at the beginning of the game
from the Exchange and thereafter they had to trade
amongst themselves. From the list of news
provided at the beginning of the round, certain
news items were flashed that fluctuated the market
price of the stock. Eight teams qualified for the final
round, commencing a run of three hours of energy
driven dynamic speculation.
After the rigorous
final
round,
Shreyansh Kejriwal
and Lokesh Soni
from SIMSR were
declared winners
and were awarded a
prize money of Rs
3000. The runnersup Adamya Peshkar
and Mohit Arora
were awarded a
prize money of Rs
1500. It was a highly
fruitful event which
t a u g h t
t h e
par ticipants the
intricacies of the
stock market.
Lock Stock Runners up with Finstreet team
68
May 2015
IMPACT
Quantinuum Report
Q
uantinuum is the data analytics committee of
SIMSR formed primarily to connect students
to the significance of numbers in our day-to-day life.
The influence of numbers is deep rooted in the
career of a management graduate and it is
necessary for all of us to understand its
significance. An extensive acquaintance with
numbers aids in quantitative and qualitative
decisions.
Quiz is to inculcate the interest of Quants amongst
the students and to give them a platform to test
their proficiency with numbers. This helps to
emphasize the need for a management student,
irrespective of the specialization, to hone his or her
understanding with numerical ability. This year
Quantiz'14 was held in the month of September
2014 wherein a total of 81 teams participated from
various courses.
What we add to SIMSR?
Nostalgia 2014 - Annual Alumni Meet at SIMSR
Quantinuum is a conclave which addresses the
need of one's love for numbers and provides inputs
and opportunities to challenge our current
understanding of numbers and quantitative
techniques. The forum not only emphasizes core
quants but also its effective application in all walks
of life. It is a place where students get hands-on
experience of solving mathematical problems that
handle data and complex real life situations.
On 8 November 2014, Team Quantinuum made
their markin Nostalgia'14 by organizing a stall. The
theme of the stall was “Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)
- Mangalyaan” in-line with the theme of Nostalgia
which was “Safarnama - Road back to 77”.Team
Quantinuum conducted a quiz by commemorating
the stats involved in the MOM journey. Many alumni
actively took part in that quiz. A lot of positive
feedback was received from the aluminiabout the
activities of the committee. It provided a podium for
the Team to interact with the alumni from diverse
fields and many ideas for the improvisation of the
committee were taken from them.
Faculty Mentor
Prof. N. S. Nilakantan has been the mentor of
Quantinuum since its inception in 2009. With 32
years of experience in various industries and 8
years of teaching experience in management
institutes, he imparts students with industryoriented skills in the area of Quantitative methods
in business situations. He has been with the
institute since 2007 where he teaches various
Quantitative methods-Statistics, Operations
research, Research Methodology & advanced QT
in specialized functional areas.
-
Quriosity
Guest Lecture
Our monthly newsletter “Quriosity” - the quant
magazine of SIMSR, covers a wide range of topics
through its news digest, and other features like
main story, feature article, book review, Quant
Guru, Quant App etc. Quant fun is an interesting
part of the newsletter dealing with puzzles,
Sudoku, and Quant trivia.
Team Quantinuum, organized a guest lecture on
28th January, 2015 by Mr. Purv Shah. He is a
freelance Trainer of Financial Markets. The lecture
was interactive as well as informative and received
positive feedback from the audience.
Quantiz'14
Quantiz, an intra-college Quants quiz, is designed
to examine the individual's analytical thinking and
retrieval of numbers in conjunction with logical
reasoning. The entire notion of conducting such a
Knowledge Sharing Sessions (KKS)
Team Quantinuum, organized Knowledge Sharing
Sessions (KSS) spanning wide range of topics
emanating from the world of numbers. Some of the
topics covered during the last year were:
Excel Macros
Binomial Distribution
Quantinuum Annual Day (QAD - 2015)
The events that were part of our Annual Day were
as follows:
Ø
Brainostorm: It was a National level quiz
competition based on analytics and quants
skills. 71 teams from B schools like IIM B, IIT
May 2015
69
IMPACT
Position
Winners
I
Runners-up
II
Runners-up
Name of the Participants
Contact
Pushkar Ralegaonkar
[email protected]
Samir Neve
[email protected]
Monysh Bandyelly
[email protected]
Dattatreya Bhandarkar
[email protected]
Santhosh Venu Gopal
[email protected]
Sri Harsha
[email protected]
SIMSR
SIMSR
IIT – B
Bombay, XIMB, IFMR and various other
colleges all over India registered themselves
and 6 teams were shortlisted for the finals.
The winners and runners up were given cash
prizes worth Rs.10000 and which was
sponsored by Kotak Mahindra bank.
Q - Stocks: It was a virtual stock exchange
Ø
event which was conducted by Mr. Purv
Shah.
Trading Procedure:
It was an open market arena wherein buyers met
sellers. The concept was that of the trading ring
under which negotiations occurred. Post
confirmation on rate and quantity, the transactions
were recorded in a sauda block. The participant in
the end with maximum cash and portfolio net-worth
won prize sponsored by Kotak Mahindra Bank.
Abhishek Pan from PGDM-RM (2014-16) was
awarded High Bull Award.
70
College
S NO
Name of the Student
1
Learning outcomes:
 Effect of demand-supply on price
determination.
 Effect of external and internal business
environment on price.
 Trading mentalities and emotions of
investors.
 Investor reactions and behaviour.
 Investment techniques and tactics.
Ø
Best quants performance: From last year,
Team Quantinuum started a new activity of
rewarding best performance in quantitative
subjects across all the programs.
Accordingly, best overall quants
performance in subjects like Business
Statistics, Operations Research, and
Business Research were recognised. This
year three students were awarded best
performers in quants. An award and cash
prizes were given to them which were
sponsored by CENGAGE PUBLISHERS.
Contact
Course
Chandan Trehan
[email protected]
PGDM – B
2
Vasudha Sharma
[email protected]
PGDM – B
3
Sankalp Patkar
[email protected]
PGDM – B
May 2015
IMPACT
STUDENTS'
ACHIEVEMENTS
Varun Purohit
2013-15
1st TISS
Manthan Udghosh TISS
Rahul Vagani
2014-16
2nd Impressions NMIMS,
Mumbai
Nihar Jajoo
2014-2016
2nd ICICI Stockmind
ICICI Bank
Trimurti Gupta
Gaurav Dutta
2013-15
2nd Bizdom, VAMNICOM
Adarsh Jain 2014-16
Ronak Shah 2014-16
3rd Literathon 2015 SIMSREE
Vivek Dole 2014-16
1st Private Equity, NMIMS, Hyderabad
Priyanka Shah 2014-16
1st Mergers and Acquisitions, NMIMS, Hyderabad
Vikas Raj 2014-16
Jithin George 2014-16
3rd Kwiznation 3-Business Quiz, DSIMS, Mumbai
Trimurti Gupta 2013-15
Gaurav Dutta 2013-15
2nd Maddiction, The Marketing Quiz, NITIE
Prerna Malhotra 2013-15
Best Summer Internship Project in Marketing
E4 Intercollegiate Summer Trainee Awards 2014 (India Region)
E4 Development & Coaching Limited
May 2015
71
IMPACT
STUDENTS'
ACHIEVEMENTS
Ankit Redkar 2014-16
Chetan Rane 2014-16
2nd Marksense-National Level Case Study, NITIE
Shankar Gajara 2014-16
Nischal Shah 2014-16
1st Space of Hygieia-BPlan Presentation IFMR, Chennai
Trimurti Gupta 2013-15
Gaurav Dutta 2013-15
1st Brand Grind Business Quiz, NIFT, Mumbai
Ishant Kathuria 2013-15
Utsav Sanghvi 2013-15
1st E-Summit, IIT, Bombay
Harsh Jha 2013-15
Bhaskar Kumar 2013-15
1st E-Cell Inceptum BPlan, IIFT, Delhi
Trimurti Gupta 2013-15
Gaurav Dutta 2013-15
1st USHUS BizTech Quiz, Christ University, Bangalore
Nihar Jajoo 2014-16
Pushkar Ralegankar 2014-16
2nd Quiz-o-thon 2015 (FINDROME)
Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management &
Engineering
72
May 2015
IMPACT
STUDENTS'
ACHIEVEMENTS
Gaurav Dutta 2013-15
Bhaskar Kumar 2013-15
2nd Melange General Quiz, NMIMS, Mumbai
Abhishek Kumar 2014-16
Shishir Suman 2014-16
2nd NITIE Investment Club "Arth Week", NITIE, Mumbai
S. Vikas Raj 2014-16
Gaurav Dutta 2013-15
1st Business Quiz, IIT, Bombay
Anita Fernandes 2014-16
Hitesh Bhatija 2014-16
2nd Vagyuddha-War Of Words, NMIMS, Mumbai
Chetan Rane 2014-16
Aniket Suryarao 2014-16
1st Indiapreneur-B plan competition
Indira School of Business Studies
Ravi Agrawal 2014-16
Siddhant Bhansali 2014-16
Dinesh Gurijala 2014-16
1st Innuendo Unmarked, LBSIM, Delhi
Mohammed Faruki 2014-16
Pulkit Bhardwaj 2014-16
Sivakali 2014-16
2nd Bizz Q, Vidyalankar Institute of Technology
May 2015
73
IMPACT
STUDENTS'
ACHIEVEMENTS
Trimurti Gupta 2013-15
Aayush Velaga 2013-15
Vikas Sonwane 2013-15
1st Market Shastra, SIBM, Pune
Jithin George 2014-16
Joel George 2014-16
Varun Ratnakaran 2014-16
2nd Runners Up Marketing Villa 2015
IIT Kanpur
Priyal Doshi 2014-16
Nikita Goenka 2014-16
Sweta Malankar 2014-16
1st Nirvikrti-Case Study Competition
SJMSOM, IIT Bombay
Priyal Doshi 2014-16
Nikita Goenka 2014-16
Sweta Malankar 2014-16
Track Winners Lock stock Trade '15
SPJIMR, Mumbai
Nihar Jajoo 2014-2016
Rithesh Kumar 2014-2016
Harsh Harwani 2014-2016
Rohit Sarangi 2014-2016
Abhisek Samanta 2014-2016
1 st Enactus Bech Daal Social Marketing, SIMSR
74
May 2015
ALMA MATER
Enlighteneus 2015
Enlighteneus 2015 held on
31st January 2015, was truly
'ENLIGHTENING' in the literal
sense of the word! The speakers
for the day were successful
alumni from diverse sectors of
the IT industry. The event started
with an introduction of the
alumni. The alumni had selected
a different topic to discuss. Prof.
Rekha Rao introduced the
alumni in an informal way and
shared some experiences she
had with the alumni, when they
were her students.
Ruling the mike - The speaker in Enligteneus encapturing the audience at SIMSR
Mr. Rahul Joshi, an alumnus with the firm L&T as a
senior manager, chose to speak on 'Why agility
succeeds?' It was an interactive session. Topics
like Software development lifecycle, evolution of
agile methodology and basic requirements for
agility to succeed were discussed. He also
explained about 'devops' a combination of
development and operations.
The second speaker was Mr. Hariharan Anantha
Krishnan, 'The successful backbencher', as
described by Rekha Rao madam. He works with
Palladion networks as a senior consultant and
project manager. He spoke about 'Information
security'. The topics of cyber security, hacking, key
logger, click jacking, ethical jacking were
discussed. He also spoke about CISSP and CISA
courses and their certifications.
Mr. Sohin Shah elaborated the concept of 'Internet
of things'. He is a senior software engineer with
NESS technologies. The various aspects about the
topic were discussed. He explained to the students
'The wisdom pyramid'. Another speaker, Mr. Ravi
Ved, who is a colleague of Mr. Rahul Joshi
discussed about 'Big data'.
After this, the alumni responded to the various
queries that the students had about the current
placement scenario, how do they prepare
themselves to face the placements, what all skills
need to be honed and what are the different fields,
apart from programming, where the students can
work. The alumni very patiently, answered to all the
queries and told them about the different fields of
network operation, system testing, system
administration and software development where
the students could make a decent career.
Rekha Rao madam ended the discussion with the
beautiful lines “Only machines can be perfect as
t h e y
a r e
programmed” and
“Never give more
importance
to
machine
than
oneself”.
Prof.
Kanika
then
concluded by giving
a vote of thanks to
everyone who made
the event successful.
Thus, the SIMSRites
stood enlightened.
One shot for the memory - The team of Enligteneus posing with the speakers
May 2015
75
ALMA MATER
Alumniscence
Audience listening intently to Mr. Anuj Bhargava, President of
the Alumni Committee of K. J. Somaiya
T
he Alumniscence session on 11 th Feb 2015
was taken by Mr. Anuj Bhargava, President of
the Alumni Committee of K. J. Somaiya and an
esteemed Alumnus of the college. He addressed a
class of 180 students across courses and
explained in detail how a student should take on his
or her day to day life while pursuing MBA. He told
the students that it doesn't matter what college they
are a part of; what matters is what they make of it
and how much they learn. He shared excerpts from
his interviews with various companies and showed
us how confidence changes everything. He
encouraged students to create their own
perceptions and their own benchmarks.
Beyond this Mr. Bhargava shed light on the
changing nature of the industry. He told the
students how digitalization is changing the way
market operates and how more and more jobs are
Mr. Anuj Bhargawa, President of the Alumni
Committee of K. J. Somaiya in Alumniscence
being eliminated than being created. The middle
men are being removed as there are more reliable
automated services to take their place.
He impressed upon the students the importance of
always having a plan B in life. Also, he was very
vocal about students trying their hands at
entrepreneurship. He had a very different view
point about investments as well, and encouraged
students to try and predict what may happen in the
future and made them understand that everything
is not as golden as it seems.
In conclusion Mr. Bhargava explained to the
students that these two years are very important for
them. They can only be successful if they learn and
they would have to work smartly and consistently to
achieve it.
Samagam
current Alcom teams. The main idea was to provide
a platform where the Alumni of Alcom could share
their valuable experiences and give their two cents
to the current team for improvements.
Putting on the thinking cap - The present and former Alumni
Committee members sit together and discuss the
future course of the committee in Samagam
S
amagam was a new initiative taken up by the
Alumni Committee where the team invited all
the Alumni Committee members of the passed out
batches for an informal get together. The event was
structured in a manner that it facilitated interaction
and sharing of ideas between the former and
76
May 2015
Alcom alumni from all walks of life turned up at their
alma mater. They shared their fond old memories of
working in the committee, organizing its various
events and in the process forging many new
connections in the corporate world with the help of
SIMSR alumni. They discussed this year's
accomplishments of the committee and also gave
many novel suggestions which will help Alcom
immensely in deciding its mission and goals for
next year.
All in all Samagam was a great success and
alcomers are already looking forward to its next
version.
K. J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research
Vidyavihar, Mumbai - 400 077, India,
T. (91-22) 67283000 / 3050, F. (91-22) 21027219,
E. [email protected], W.simsr.somaiya.edu