IBSAICON 07, the 3-day 2nd International Conference with the theme : Globalization – Opportunities and Challenges, organized by IBS (Icfai Business School) Ahmedabad began on 27th December was successfully concluded on 29th December 2007 at SPIPA Auditorium, Opp. ISRO, Ahmedabad.
HIGHLIGHTS
The event was a grand success. 7 plenary sessions – 5 sessions on 27th Dec., and 3 sessions on 29th December, with 24 technical sessions on various themes formed part of the annual academic event of IBS Ahmedabad. More than 300 delegates from different parts of the country and 50+ delegates from 15 different countries inclusive of USA, UK, Germany, Australia, Iran, Mauritius, etc. took part in the conference spread over 3 days – from 27th to 29th December 2007. The audience comprised of high-profile academicians, from abroad and different parts of the country, industry leaders, media and student community. Of the 400+ papers received from all corners of the world.
230 + papers have been presented. The distinguished speakers at the Conference included :
- Padma Bhushan Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Former Director, IIT-Madras.
- Prof. Atanu Ghosh, Faculty, SJM School of Management, IIT-Mumbai
- Prof. Rajiv Saxena, Dy. Director General, NIC.
- Prof. Jaideep Motwani, Sr. Professor (Strategy & Operations, Grand Valley State University, Miami.
- Mr. Srinivasan Iyer, CEO, MPower Business Facilitators Ltd., Mumbai.
- Prof. T.V. Rao, Director, T.V.Rao Learning Systems, Ahmedabad.
- Mr. Vijay Ranchan, IAS, Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Gujarat.
- Prof. D.V. Mavlankar, IIM, Ahmedabad.
- Dr. Darshini Mahadevia, CEPT University, Ahmedabad.
- Dr. Amarjeet Singh, Commissioner, Health & Family Welfare Dept., Govt. of Gujarat.
- Dr. B.K. Swain, Faculty, NIRD
- Ms. Jayshree Vyas, M.D., SEWA Bank, Ahmedabad.
- Prof. Vijayan K. Pillai, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Arlington.
- Dr. Bharat R. Kolluri, Chair & Professor, Economics, Finance & Insurance, Barney School of Business, University of Hartford, Connecticut.
- Dr. Rashmi Gupta, Asst. Professor, School of Social Work, College of Health & Human Resources, San Francisco State University.
- Prof. Sanjay Mehta, Asst. Professor – Marketing, Sam Houston State University.
- Ms. Waltraut Ritter, Managing Partner & Research Director, Founding President of the HK Knowledge Management Society, Knowledge Enterprises, Hong Kong.
- Dr. R. Gopichandran, Scientist, CEE, Ahmedabad.
- Mr. Nayan Parikh, Management Consultant, Ahmedabad.
- Prof. R. Natarajan, Former Chairman, AICTE, and former Director, IIT-Madras.
- Prof. Amarlal H. Kalro, Director, ASE Post-Graduate Institute of Business Management, Ahmedabad, and former Director, IIM-Kozhikode.
- Prof. D. Pestonjee, Former Professor, IIM-Ahmedabad
- Prof. G.S. Gupta, IIM, Ahmedabad.
- Mr. Ajit Mantangini, President, Arvind Mills, Ahmedabad.
- Prof. Pramod C. Verma, Former Professor, IIM, Adjunct Faculty, IBS Ahmedabad.
- Prof. P. Bala Bhaskaran, Director, IBS, Ahmedabad.
The Conference began with the welcome address by Prof. Saji Kumar, Faculty-Economics, IBS Ahmedabad. This was followed by lighting of lamp by Padma Bhushan Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Ex-Director, IIT-Madras, Prof. Pramod C. Verma, Chairman of the Conference Committee & Sr. Faculty, IBS Ahmedabad, Prof. P. Bala Bhaskaran, Director, IBS Ahmedabad and Prof. Pankaj M. Madhani.
At the request of Prof. Pramod Verma, Prof. Indiresan & other dignitaries on the dais had released the "Executive Summaries" book containing abstracts of about 230 selected papers. This book was published by IBS Ahmedabad, and distributed freely to the delegates who attended the conference and presented their papers.
Setting the conference in motion, Prof. P. Bala Bhaskaran, welcomed the dignitaries present on the dais Padma Bhushan Prof. P.V. Indiresan, Ex-Director, IIT-Madras, Prof. Atanu Ghosh, Faculty-SOM, IIT, Mumbai, Mr. Rajiv Saxena, Dy. Director General, NIC, Prof. Jaydeep Motwani, Sr. Prof., Grand Valley State University (US), Prof. Pramod Verma, Adjunct Faculty-IBS, Ahmedabad.
The First Plenary Session of the day with the theme " Technology Driving Business & Growth" was chaired by Padma Bhushan Prof. P.V. Indiresan. In their speeches, all the speakers spoke on the link to be established between education, investment in technology and research and development. Further they reflected upon how the business sector in India is gaining competitive advantage by wide scale deployment of technology specially through IT & IT enabled services.
As the country is gearing up to welcome the New Year with much enthusiasm, India Inc. is readying up to use technology to spruce up security aspect of business. Companies across management, services and financial sectors are falling back on use of latest technology to secure themselves and will see a jump in the use of technological systems like Radio Frequency Identification Devices (RIFD) and business process modelling (BPM) across various sectors.
Customer profiling, yet to become a practice with the Indian Industry, will be adopted by companies across all sectors, with instruments like data profiling, demand forecasting will be brought into use for the purpose. These research findings on “Business and Information Technology Survey” conducted by SJM School of Management, IIT-Mumbai, were presented by Prof. Atanu Ghosh, a faculty with SJM School of Management, IIT-Mumbai. The survey was conducted with the purpose of developing a ‘baseline’ understanding of the impact of information technology on business practices. He said “the bug of security concern having set in almost all important sectors, be it services, management and financial management and across large, medium and small enterprises and as such there will be increased use of RFID in various segments of life”.
While addressing the audience Dr. Jaydeep Motwani, Chair & Professor, Grand Valley State University, Miami, U.S.A, said “the new world order that has emerged following the advent of globalization is characterised by world-wide communication and boundary-less collaborations throwing up several opportunities. However, it has also posed several challenges. The globalization phenomenon has challenges posed by political system, regulation, data-sharing and connectivity challenges. It also poses demographic challenges like differing rates of population growth and clash of national cultures.”
The Second Plenary session's theme was : "Harnessing Human Capital". Addressing the audience Dr. D.M. Pestonjee, who chaired the session, spoke on the culture and value impact in the modern age. Other Panelists of the session are : Prof. T.V. Rao, Director of T.V. Rao Learning Systems, Ahmedabad, and Mr. Srinivasan Iyer, CEO, MPower Business Facilitators Ltd., Mumbai. Speakers discussed the major challnges and shortcomings of HR management by Indian Companies. The faulty and monotonous human resource policy and induction system was held responsible for the high attrition difficulties being faced by the companies.
Addressing the audience, Mr. Srinivasan Iyer, CEO, MPower Business Facilitator Ltd., Mumbai, said “the huge demand for educated and skilled manpower is forcing companies to change the outlook of their recruitment policies. The solution to all HR related problems lies in thinking of-of-the-box and hunt for an entire new segment of workforce. This includes housewives, collegiates, retired public sector employees and ex-servicemen. India has a huge resource of untapped talent. The companies to adopt a model that helps in harnessing this resource. The companies must develop a system to bring these people in the line of production. They must be provided special privileges not as a part of corporate responsibility but because of the need of the hour.
In his speech, Dr. T.V. Rao, Director, TV Rao Learning Systems Ltd. spoke on the importance of HR in companies where induction of employees is of great importance. He stressed that a lot of man-days and man-hours are lost where there is no proper role definition and lack of proper planning by the managers. He said “the earlier attempts by companies to hunt for professionals among their competitors have failed as the new age employees are now changing jobs at a faster pace. The focus should now be on retaining the employee. He added that the employees of a company are major asset even if they don’t show up on the balance sheet.”
"Challenges Before The Social Sector" was the theme of Third Plenary Session of the day which was chaired by Shri Vijay Ranchan, I.A.S. (Ex-addl. Chief Secretary, Govt. of Gujarat). Other panellists of the session were : Dr. Amarjeet Singh, I.A.S., Commissioner of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of Gujarat, Prof. D.V. Mavlankar (IIM-A) & Dr. Darshini Mahadevia (CEPT University). While addressing the audience Mr. Ranchan spoke on the culture and challenges. Dr. Amarjeet Singh made an powerful presentation on success achieved by the "Chiranjeevi" program piloted by hi in Gujarat. Prof. D.V. Mavlankar addressed issues related to Health, Water and Sanitation. Dr. Darshini Mahadevia spoke on human development in contract with economic development.
The Book “Globalization : Opportunities & Challenges” containing the selected full papers was released by the panellists at the beginning of the session.
Dr. C. Gopala Krishnan, Professor, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, chaired The Fourth Plenary Session with the theme " Micro finance and Sustainability". Addressing the audience Dr. Bijoy Kumar Swain, Faculty, NIRD, enlightened them with the micro-finance initiatives taking place in Andhra Pradesh. Ms. Jayshree Vyas, M.D. of Sewa Bank, Ahmedabad, shared her views on micro fiancé as a tool for women empowerment The Fifth Plenary Session, the last one of the first day, with the theme "Infrastructure & Environment" chaired by Mr. Nayan Parikh, a leading Management Consultant of Ahmedabad. In his address he had enlightened the audience on the issues and challenges in the infrastructure sector. Dr. Gopichandran, Scientist, CEE, Ahmedabad, shared his views, knowledge and analysis of the development and growth of infrastructure and its impact on the environment.
The second day of the Conference, 28th Dec. 07 has witnessed a galaxy of delegates presenting their papers on a wide range of subjects/themes in 24 different technical sessions throughout the day.
The 6th Plenary Session of the Conference, and the first one on Day 3, Dec. 07 “Reinventing the Higher Education” was chaired by Prof. R. Natarajan, former Chairman, AICTE and former Director, IIT-Madras. Other panellist of this Session is Prof. Amar H. Kalro, Director, Ahmedabad Education Society Post-Graduate Institute of Business Management and former Director, Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode.
Prof. R. Natarajan, in his presentation “Re-engineering Education”, made an insightful comparison of 20th century and 21st century education scenario and the changing paradigm. Suggested a model for the new shift and discussed important issues concerning the emergence of India as a Knowledge Super Power. He had highlighted that India has had a historical backlog of poverty and deprivation. The phenomenon of globalization and the emerging knowledge economy offers us a golden opportunity to overcome these backlogs. But, then the education infrastructure is grossly inadequate to this challenging task. This too for a country whose culture and civilization has survived through the trials and tribulations of millennia, only because of the un-extinguishable power of its knowledge base. The higher education scene in India needs tremendous re-engineering.
Prof. Amar H. Kalro, discussed important issues and impediments facing higher education and briefed what is needed for re-inventing and re-engineering the higher education. He said “the need of the hour is that Universities have to : (a) rediscover values; (b) cultivate wisdom, (c) create technological awareness, (d) impart ethics and morality, (e) educate on social responsibility, (f) help knowledge generation; (g) take measures for faculty motivation; (h) encourage leadership; (i) community engagement activities.
The 7th Plenary Session and the second one on Day 3 “Globalization Strategies of Indian Companies” was chaired by Prof. P. Bala Bhaskaran, Director, IBS Ahmedabad. Other Panelists of the Session were – Mr. Ajit Mantangani, President, Arvind Mills, Ahmedabad, and Ms. Waltraut Ritter, Managing Partner & Research Director, Knowledge Enterprises, Hong Kong. Prof. Bala Bhaskaran spoke of the opportunities that are present but there are risk-takers with a new mindset who can go global. Mr. Ajit Mantangani spoke of the important factors pertaining to the inside-out, outside-in and simultaneous approach. He gave numerous examples of companies who had adapted these approaches and succeeded. Ms. Waltraut Ritter, in her address to the audience spoke on the knowledge management issues, with special reference to her study of Innovation in India and China. She said “India has a lead in intellectual knowledge, software services and outsourcing hubs. But the country needs a broader perspective, like China, to diversify the growth factors and maintain current rate of growth. India’s spending on R&D is far lower compared to China and this may hamper its growth in the future. China, though still seen as a manufacturing hub of Asia, is investing heavily in R&D only to ensure that the higher growth sustains over a longer period. R&D is just emerging in India and this is proved by the number of patents filed by the country. However, this is still very low compared to China and other developing countries.
A special post lunch session was convened to deliberate on the “Recent Trends in Management Education”. The panelists included : Dr. Bharat Kolluri, Chair & Professor, Economics, Finance & Insurance, Barney School of Business, University of Hartford, Connecticut, Dr. Vijayan Pillai, School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Arlington, Dr. Rashmi Gupta, Asst. Professor, School of Social Work, College of Health & Human Resources, San Francisco State University, Dr. Sanjay Mehta, Asst. Professor – Marketing, Sam Houston State University, Ms. Waltraut Ritter, Managing Partner & Research Director, Knowledge Enterprises, Hong Kong, and Prof. P. Bala Bhaskaran.
Dr. Vijayan Pillai, in his speech said “India has a long way to go if it is to achieve its dream of inclusive and sustainable growth. And this includes ensuring education for women at least till the high school. Educating women till high school should be taken up by the government on priority basis to make the economic growth inclusive and sustainable. Involving more women in development will change unhealthy social practices like female foeticide, which has led to the skewed sex ratio. In her speech, Dr. Rashmi Gupta said “It’s true that women are still at a disadvantage. By educating them and fulfilling basic necessities, we can actually sustain economic growth. India needs to address issues of value based education, because if we don’t do it now, we will be way behind other developing countries that are taking better care of this problem for their long term growth.
Addressing the audience, Dr. Bharat Kolluri, said “India can follow western countries while bringing reform in the education system. By charging higher fees for higher education, government can use those funds for imparting elementary education to the ones who are in dire need of schooling. This way it can actually impart value-based education on one hand and increase literacy on the other. India has an advantage with its large pool of young population but the matter of concern will be to manage it well and create employment for all.” Prof. Sanjay Mehta mentioned “not long back, teachers used to be held in reverence by their students and it didn’t matter how good they were, their word was always final and absolute. Today, in the globalized world, the students are demanding their money worth from teachers and challenging them in the class rooms. The educationists have now begun to realize the changing times. Today’s teachers need to entertain their students along with teaching. We need to capture their attention and imagination in order to teach them; the days of serious classrooms with strict discipline will soon be a thing of past. New classrooms have to be informal.”
Certificates for the delegates who presented/submitted their papers in absentia were issued and mementoes were given to the distinguished panelists of various plenary sessions.
The conference was concluded with vote of thanks to the distinguished speakers, delegates, sponsors, media and staff. |
