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The 3rd PAN-IIM World Management Conference hosted at IIM Indore came to a conclusion on December 18, 2015. The day began with a Keynote Address by Professor Ashok Som, Professor of Global Strategy, Management Department, Founder Director, India Research Center, ESSEC Business School, France on the topic ‘Brand and Talent: The next decade for India’.
Setting the theme of the conference at the outset, the session chair Professor Yogesh Maheshwari, Dean (Planning and Development), IIM Indore, laid down the canvas for ‘India: The Next Decade’. He said that currently India is in an orbit. The years 2020-50 will be another orbit, much higher and with an upward slope. Referring to the IMF World Economic Outlook 2015, he said that the challenge ahead for India will be to board that orbit. Once India does that, then the sheer momentum will carry it through the journey 2020-2050 and by 2050 India is poised to be among the leading economies of the world.
Professor Ashok Som in his speech, while discussing about various countries, mentioned that Switzerland is known for watches, Germany for automobiles, France for luxury brands and so on. He mentioned that these countries need talents to sustain the brand. ‘Strong brands are required to attract young talent and young talent is required to sustain the brand and nurture it further. India has those talents which give our country a scope to accomplish the transition from being a service specialized nation brand to a ‘Make in India’ brand’, Professor Som noted. He concluded his talk by discussing the balance required to know what to buy and what to sell, and when.
The last day witnessed paper presentations that were related to government initiatives like Jan Dhan Yojna as well as on the various investment tracks in the economics and finance area.
A panel discussion was also held on the topic ‘The Institutional Influence in a Fast Changing Global Business Environment: The Case of India’. The panelists included Professor Somnath Lahiri (Moderator), College of Business, Illinois State University, USA; Dr. N Ravichandran, former Director, IIM Indor and faculty, IIM Ahmedabad; Dr. Vijay Pereira, University of Portsmouth, UK; Professor Surender Munjal, Leeds University Business School, UK and Mr. Debashish Sarkar, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India. The discussion revolved around how an institution can work with respect to the changing world in an impactful and sustainable way while being independent of time constraints. The panelists mentioned that every institution required empowered leadership, with a non-invasive environment which is relevant in its own way to build a stable and strong procedure.
The function also saw announcement of the Best Paper Award and the Best Poster Award. The Best Paper Award was given for the paper Towards a theory of Organizational Decision Making for Transitioning into New Hybrid Form, authored by Anjan Ghosh, Shahzad Ansari and Sougata Ray. Sponsored by Emerald Publishing, the Award consisted of a certificate and Rs. 2 lakhs.
The Best Poster Award was given for the poster Whether Indian Firms Experience the Process of Financialization? An Empirical Analysis, authored by Sushrut Risbud and Sushil Khanna. The Award consisted of a certificate and Rs. 50,000/-.
Dr. Mihir Shah, Member of the International Steering Committee of the CGIAR Research Programme on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) and former Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, was the Guest of Honor for the valedictory session.
Dr. Shah mentioned about the challenges India has been facing in the rural areas like farmer suicides, malnutrition, water crisis and the falling quality of water available. ‘These are the problems we cannot ignore but we don’t have a definite answer to their solutions even now. In the coming years, if management institutions include courses like ground water harvesting for the students, the budding future managers may be able to find the answers to these problems which would raise a question in the coming decade’, he noted. Mentioning facts and figures, he mentioned that a large population of India depends upon ground water only and it is the backbone of water availability as of now. But its over extraction is leading to depleting water levels in many areas of the country which is a serious issue. ‘We need managers today who can deal with such problems with utmost efficiency and help India in the coming years to eradicate such problems’, Dr. Shah concluded.
In his closing remarks, Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Director, IIM Indore express his sincere gratitude to the Ministry of Human Resource Development for their continued support to IIM Indore. He also thanked the co-chairs of the conference, Professor D.L. Sunder and Professor Ranjeet Nambudiri of IIM Indore. Professor Krishnan announced that the 4th PAN-IIM conference will be hosted by IIM Ahmedabad.
The three day conference came to a conclusion with a formal vote of thanks delivered by Professor Ranjeet Nambudiri.