Monday, August 23, 2010

Confluencia 2010- "Miles to go Before I sleep"

The second day Confluencia was attended by the some of the big shots of the Industry who enlightened the students about the various aspects of management.

The day started with the first speaker of the day Mr Sanjeev Prashar , Professor, Marketing Management, IMT Ghaziabad. He gave an enthralling presentation about Branding and Segmentation with examples of various ads in the domains of telecom and Aviation Industry.He lucidly explained about the importance of colors and the concept of Brand Association.
The second speaker of the day was Mr A.T. Raman, a business journalist and Chairman of Standards for Educational Advancement & Acreditation(SEAA).He spoke at length about the standards used for ranking the B-schools, knowledge mapping and Intellectual capital development.
The third session was addressed by Mr Rakesh Kohli,CEO of Stag International, he spoke in length about the challenges faced by the entrepreneurs and the ways by which these challenges can be faced.He emphasized about the Importance of Perseverance and foresightedness for becoming an entrepreneur.

The fourth speaker of the day was Sudeshna Datta, Vice President and Co-Founder of Absolute Data.She gave her experiential insights about Market Research Analytics.She explained about how proper marketing research can help businesses improve their productivity.

The concluding lecture on second day was delivered by Mr Dinesh K Jain ,CEO of Zee Turner Ltd.He spoke on the topic “A Paradox of Compromise”.He expressed his views about the competitive field of marketing and how one has to persue the strategy of “give and take” to accomplish his marketing targets.
The event concluded with a note of thanks from Dr Rajat Aggarwal,Assistant Prof Department of Management studies, IIT Roorkee.This was a memeorable and successful event which has given us insights and motivation to move ahead in new dimensions with a new Zing and Zest.

Confluencia 2010, 21st August.....The Journey Begins

Confluencia 2010, a national level symposium at Department of Management Studies , IIT Roorkee, was organized successfully on 21st and 22nd of August 2010.This event celebrates the power of knowledge and was attended by the luminaries from the Industry, Government and Academia. It aims at bringing together the people ,with experience of working at the topmost echelons of Industry and revolutionary thinkers, whose management principles have changed the rules of the game.A host of Big Shots like CEO’s , Vice Presidents, MD’s of top notch Corporations and PSU’S and Professors from premier B-schools graced the event.



Confluencia 2010, started with Mr.Madhukar Sharma, country manager at American Society of Mechanical Engineers, delivering a masterpiece on the topic” Lean thinking and functional integration”. He also talked about lean tools like the Japanese 5S,Value Steam Maps,Mistake Proofing.He concluded with examle from Toyota about getting optimum results from average people by improving brilliant processes.
The second speaker, Mr.Sanjay Gupta, MD, PNB Housing Finance Ltd. Expressed his opinion on” Indian Retail Mortgage Market Its Inefficiencies”. He strongly advocated the need for deregulating the secondary markets so as to ensure robust growth for Indian Real Estate sector.
Third speaker of the day Mr.Sunil Aggarwal, freelance financial consultant and former vice president of IDBI bank , gave his experiential insights about private equity. He gave a cost comparison with the conventional methods of raising capital. He explained risks and rewards associated with private equity in the context of current economic turmoil. He discussed the risks for both the promoters and investors.
After speakers from Finance and Operations it was time was experts from I.T. to enlighten and enthrall us with their knowledge so our Fourth speaker of the day Mr Vikrant Chaudhary, Country Manager, FSS Cluster (Software Group) at IBM gave a brilliant presentation with a video depicting integration of various services offered by IBM in Singapore. He helped us understand how the technology can facilitate funtional integration in various businesses. He effectively talked us into the difference a technical advancement in any field can make and how that contributes to the national economy.

Our Fifth speaker of the day Mr Manoj Sharma is a Former industrialist and an N.G.I.(Non Government Individual). He gave a new dimension to the event and talked about the concept of “Social Entrepreneurship”, the emerging trend for people with the will to contribute back to the society.He described the trials and tribulations faced by various tribal communities in Uttarakhand.He also described the various social projects like small scale hydel projects started by him.

The First day at this symposium concluded with the presentation of “Cycle Rickshaw Project” which is being developed by Dr.Rajat Agarwal, Assistant Professor, DoMS IIT Roorkee and Mr.Ashish Sharma, an alumunus of IIT Roorkee and supported by Mr.Rahul Arora, Head of value advisory group at IT Power India Pvt. Ltd and supervised by Dr Bhupinder Singh, Engineering Consultant and youth counsellor. Along with the improvement in the design of the rickshaw, this project was aiming at improving the income of the poor Rickshawallah. This project was a classic example of functional integration with emphasis to optimize different processes.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Confluencia 2010 - The Speakers

Confluencia 2010,  with the theme as “Goal Oriented Functional Integration in Business” aims to understand the importance of functional integration in different department of an organization in order to realize the goal of the organization. With difficult years behind us, the question now facing everyone is how to effectively apply functional integration in Business. As the urgent and complex problems are fast gripping the world, the imperative for functional integration is growing even stronger.

The event seeks to address the above issues in business in today’s world. The professors of the coveted IIT Roorkee along with other speakers from the industry and academia will outline how the challenges are being handled and should be handled in the future; countering the difficulties they face outside and inside the business domain, the lessons learnt and the benefits derived.
The luminaries who have promised to share their years of experiences and learnings by being a part of the event this year includes people from different domains of business. The comprehensive list include the following dignitaries as they take up the role of messengers of wisdom:


2. Mr Rakesh Kohli - CEO,Stag International



5. Mr Sanjay Gupta - MD, PNB Housing Finance Ltd






Friday, August 13, 2010

Confluencia--2010--Goal Oriented Functional Integration in Business

Department Of Management Studies(DoMS) IIT Roorkee, in keeping up with its reputation of being one among the premier B-schools of the country has been organizing events concerning economy ,industry, social sector all the year round. These events give an opportunity to its students to interact with the Avant Garde in different domains on one hand and also gain experiential insights into what real management perspectives are on the other.

Continuing with the tradition started in 2008, DOMS IIT Roorkee is going to organize “ Confluencia” a national level symposium on 21 and 22 of August 2010, with theme as “Goal Oriented Functional Integration in Business”.

Over the years this event has been a Conglomeration of luminaries attended by distinguished speakers across different domains including Industry,government and academia .They have nurtured and moulded the aspiring managerial minds with their experiential understanding of business.

The first wave economy was based on land and farm labour.The second wave centered on machines and large industries the third wave economy is knowledge age. In this Information age, a successful business is one that can achieve seamless integration and synchronization of different functional domains. The requirement has only aggravated in post Recessionary world with the need for leaner, meaner and effective organizations. The symposium aims at bringing together the people with experience of working at the topmost echelons of the Industry and revolutionary thinkers whose management principles have changed the rules of the game.

We sincerely believe that with ardent determination of our organizing Team and Co-operation from our ever supportive faculty , this event will be a grand success and will surely prove a milestone in success stories DOMS IIT Roorkee has accomplished.

Given below are the highlights of previous “Confluencia” events that were held in 2008 and 2009 with the who’s who of every domain ranging from marketing, finance or operations gracing this event by their distinguished presence and making this “Confluencia” a festival of celebrating knowledge. We would just like to conclude with these lines by Robert frost summarizing our endless pursuit for excellence;

“Woods are lovely dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep…….

Confluencia 2009—-Role of Knowledge Economy in Post Recession Business Scenario


Inception of Confluencia 2008 was a grand success, which inspired DoMS to take Confluencia Brand to the newer horizons. Confluencia 2009 began with lot of enthusiasm and energy to make it an even bigger event. Confluencia 2009, organized on 22nd & 23rd September 2009, focused on a very contextual topic of that time i.e. “Role of Knowledge Economy in Post Recession Business Scenario”. It intended not only to present a good problem statement, but also to dwell on the creation of innovative sustainable solutions through extensive discussion among the industry, academia and government. The event made an earnest attempt to identify how various sectors got affected by the global financial recession, and how they tackled this scenario and the attempts being made to come out of the misery.

Key Note Speakers of Confluencia 2009 were: ---


Mr. S.M. Mahajan, Ex-Executive Director, BHEL-Haridwar

Mr. Anil Shukla, Head CII, UP state council, Lucknow

Mr. K.Srinivas, Publishing Manager, Higher Education, Pearson Education

Prof. U.Kachru, Professor, Fore School of Management, Delhi & First CEO of Maruti Udyog

• Mr. Somesh Yadav , Managing Director, Kleen-Tek Solutions

Mr.Sandeep Goel, CEO, Acuvate Software

Mr. K.Raina, Training and Consultant, Glaxo Smith Kline

Mr. M.Rajagopala Rao, Group General Manager & Chief Knowledge Officer, ONGC

Confluencia 2009 saw tremendous participation from all spheres of industry, government and academia. It really saw a perfect blending of knowledge where flow of ideas eroded all the barriers. Below we are sharing the extracts from the speeches of the few of the key note or eminent speakers who graced the occasion with their presence.

Mr. S.M. Mahajan, Ex-Executive Director, BHEL-Haridwar, gave an enriching talk which was categorized into 3 parts: basic term definitions, picking up effects on industry, then concluding by talking on a case in particular of BHEL. He also talked about Indian Economy in particular, substantiating on impact of global financial crisis along with future value projections of growth parameters. Educating attendees with more holistically perceived recession as "witnessing of slowdown for consecutive 2 quarters of a financial year" he helped students to have a better perception of things. He correctly pointed out 2007-08 recession as 10th slowdown in history.

Mr. Somesh Yadav, Managing Director, Kleen-Tek Solutions, covered basically facility management services, entrepreneurship, as well as his personal experience on cause and effect of recession. He shared with attendees ground-realities of business and profession e.g. how major chunk of new ventures close down within a year of their inception. He also elaborated on entrepreneurship versus administration, stating how entrepreneurs involve a greater responsibility, risks in comparison to limited liabilities of an administrator. He advised to quest for traits in self for being entrepreneur or into administration. Putting in his personal experiences forward he capitalized on fact that how one should take calculated risks in decision making.

Prof. U.Kachru, Professor, Fore School of Management, Delhi & First CEO of Maruti Udyog, stated that what "7-things” that changed the world in the span of just "19-days".In addition to these he also explained what steps we should take for the future. He also shared with attendees, protectionists measures taken by G-20 nations. He further educated students how managers of today need to learn and managers of tomorrow need to model new strategies; as existing management models cannot suffice to existing and upcoming challenges. He concluded by stating that: Value addition is indeed in giving higher benefits at same cost OR giving same benefits at lower cost”.

Mr. Anil Shukla, Head CII, UP state council, Lucknow, strongly categorized the divide in terms of per-capita energy consumption between USA (only 5% of world population) and BRIC countries (50% of world population). Then, he gave the major signs or symptoms with which a recession can be diagnosed. He discussed the effect of recession in US on export based industries (diamond, textiles), Auto, Engineering and Infrastructure, IT, Banking and finance etc. He also gave a comparative study of classified Indian industry sectors of high, moderate and negative growth.

Mr. K.Raina, Training and Consultant, Glaxo Smith Kline, gave a small & enriching anecdote of "The carrot, the egg and the coffee bean" which captured the essence that recession is "what is felt by us". We can be like coffee beans; instead of heat changing its properties coffee changes water itself; i.e. making something good from the difficulties we face; learning new things; developing new knowledge , acquire sharper skills and abilities; growth in experience. There are 2 ways to gain more customer satisfaction: Either reduce the Price or increase the value. He told that later is the better. Few of the key tips given by him included: Don't forsake the branding path. Always follow it. Patience is the key. Never bring your vision down just redraw the cathedral by changing the drivers, actions and critical enablers. Encourage innovators etc.

Mr. M.Rajagopala Rao, Group General Manager & Chief Knowledge Officer, ONGC,  gave an extremely enriching talk which covered varied topics like: --
It takes “money” to make “money”  a Syndrome
It takes “Value” to create “Value”  a Proposition

He also talked about different types of economy like Industrial economy, knowledge economy & wisdom economy. He discussed how Confluencia is a summation of different streams united one knowledge stream.

In this way, Confluencia 2009 lived up to its name & expectations. It brought immense exposure to the students of DoMS and also brought future mangers more nearer to the problems & issues of the industry. It proved to be a great learning experience where students interacted with eminent personalities & gained from their vast experience. It also brought in focus the key issues of the industry & provided a great platform for discussion & analysis of those issues which in turn will help the society at large.

Finally, Confluencia 2009 ended with a legacy & a hope that Confluencia 2010 will supersede it & take Confluencia brand to a newer horizon.

Confluencia 2008—The Journey Begins---

Confluencia as an annual event was started in 2008 when it was held in September for four days namely, 6th, 7th, 16th and 17th. It was started with the vision of providing a platform to the eminent people from the industry and academia and of varied disciplines to share their views and ideas on the topics related to the industry.

It focussed on the problems faced by the management fraternity in the highly competitive world. It aimed at providing the solutions to the problems which were identified by using the knowledge from the key men who hailed from the government, industry and academia. It also provided for a learning experience through the various sessions.

It is a showcase event of the department and was attended by not only the budding managers but also students from other institutes as well as students from the other departments of IIT Roorkee. It provided them with a special chance of improving their knowledge through interaction.

Each day the focus was laid on diverse topics related to management, and the sessions were addressed by eminent people from that field of expertise.

The topics were as follows:

Day 1: Indian Financial Markets: Past, Present and the Future.

Day 2: Sustaining leadership through IT and Consulting In the changing Global Scenario.

Day 3: Sustaining Competitive advantage in the era of ONE.

Day 4: Operations Management: The new strategic focal point.

Among the others, the speakers who graced the event were as follows.

Dr.AlokPandey, Professor IMT Ghaziabad
Topic: Changing face of Indian Financial Markets

Mr.Sanjeev Krishnan, Pricewaterhouse Coopers India Ltd.
Topic: Due Diligence and Transaction Structuring

Mr.TusharPandey, Yes Bank
Topic: Paradigm shift in Indian Financial Markets

Mr.RajanSehgal, Pro Fin Capital Services Limited
Topic: Changing Face of Indian Capital Market

The entire event was organized by the students with the help of the faculty, making it a truly wonderful experience for everyone who was a part of it.