The second day of the 3rd PAN-IIM World Management Conference hosted at IIM Indore revolved around discussions about marketing strategy, global and international new ventures, social entrepreneurship and finance. The technical sessions for the second day also had paper presentations by various delegates from across the globe.
The day began with a Keynote Address by Professor Manjit Yadav, Professor of Marketing, Editor, AMS Review, Department of Marketing, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University on the topic ‘Enhancing Marketing’s Strategic Influence: Call for a Renewed Focus on Impactful Theory’. Professor Yadav discussed about the increasing size of the digital footprints, including social media and it’s used since the past few years. He mentioned that with the advancement in technology, innovative digital products have also played an important role in empowering the customers. ‘E-commerce has been a major factor of empowering customers; and e-retailers and shopping apps like Instacart, Flipkart and Snapdeal are the examples how quickly the scenario of the market has changed’, he noted. Professor Yadav while discussing about various disciplines mentioned that it is now a time to make room for impactful conceptual work; wherein the scholars are required to play various roles at various stages of their career. He persuaded the researchers to get rid of the ‘Disciplinary Inertia’ and advance towards theory development, enhancement and interdisciplinary research. He also guided the researchers on how they should proceed on this path.
This was followed by an expert talk by Professor Elizabeth Rose, University of Otago, New Zealand who spoke on the topic ‘International new ventures: Where do we go from here?’. In her talk, Professor Rose discussed about what are international new ventures and how are they different from global ventures. Sharing her experiences about travelling various different countries, she mentioned that India is a great place to learn and study about international new ventures. This was followed by a Q&A session with Professor Rose wherein the delegates got an opportunity to learn from her experiences.
Another expert talk was by Professor Israr Qureshi, IE Business School, Spain. Professor Qureshi discussed on the topic ‘Social Entrepreneurship: Avenues for Research’, where he highlighted various wicked social problems including poverty, income inequality, significant unmet needs like lack of bank accounts, lack of financial services etc. He noted that many people in the world are still paying the cost of being poor, facing the problems of long distance markets, are been exploited by traders and are still paying high prices for commodities due to unawareness. ‘Social entrepreneurship models like pay-per-use, no frills products (where there is no compromise in the product’s quality) and contract production are the ways to help the poor find their own ways to indulge in income generating activities which would help in self-sustainability’, he concluded.
Among the expert talks by the invitees, one talk was by Professor M.S. Sriram from IIM Bangalore who discussed on the topic ‘Micro Finance & Financial Inclusion’. The session acted as a platform for doctoral students to collaborate and share their ideas with the speakers and to assist them in their research work.
The panel discussion for today was on the topic Make In India, which had Professor Sumit Kundu, College of Business, Florida International University; Professor Kunal Banerji, Eastern Michigan University; Shri P K Dash, IAS (Retd.), Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of M.P. ; Shri Prafulla Nilosey, CEO, Bhandari Foils & Tubes Ltd, Dewas and Mr. Prashant Mehra, President and CEO of SRF Limited as the panelists. Professor Kundu was the moderator for the panel discussion. The diversified background of the panelists gave a multi-pronged approach to move ahead in the ‘Make in India’ initiative. On one hand, some panelists talked about the utopian world present for India’s manufacturing sector in the coming decade, while other panelists highlighted the issues that the country may face due to competition, regulations, labor laws, policies and infrastructure related issues. The panelists also pointed out the urgent need to resolve the social problems that India is facing, so that as a nation it is able to exploit the advantages of these initiatives to the optimum level.
The second day of the conference concluded with Dhrupad Performance by Shri Gundecha Brothers who filled the auditorium with immense melody and harmony.
The third and the last day of the 3rd PAN-IIM World Management Conference tomorrow will have a Keynote Address by Professor Ashok Som on the topic ‘Brand & Talent: The Next Decade for India’ and the valedictory address would be given by 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.