Intaglio Day-1
Intaglio Day-1 Report
(9th January 2009)
The Jokatimes Intaglio Series
Modulus
Modulus, described as one of the most intense events of Intaglio, was conducted successfully today at IIM Calcutta. The event tested the financial acumen of the participants and the proverbial capability to “think on their feet†in a live trading market. This event was conducted in its entirety across three rounds. The first round saw tremendous participation from the student community with over 100 teams registering for the event. Thereon 8 teams were selected for the final round based on their proficiency in data modelling and securitization. The final round was the trading round wherein all teams were given the target of maximizing the worth of their portfolio in futures trading market. The complete trading round and the rounds before that were conducted online, with the provision for a stand-up-and-shout-your-bid, which gave the venue the feel of a real market place. Participants from IIM Calcutta, Lucknow and Kozhikode made it to the final round.
The event was designed in-house by the events team of Intaglio. The high quality planning and execution of the event reflected in its conduction.
Consulting Knights
The most awaited national consulting challenge, Consulting Knight, was back this year at Intaglio, IIM Calcutta. The knowledge partners for the event were McKinsey & Company. The popularity of this event can be gauged by the fact that above 1000 teams registered for it and participated in the qualification round. However, only 6 select teams from IIM Bangalore, Calcutta and SJMSOM IIT Mumbai were able to make it to the final round.
The innovative design of the event had the first round based on the unique concept of an audio pitch of 2 minutes. However, the final round was as intense as the role of a professional consultant. The participants were exposed to real life business problems by consultants from McKinsey and Company. This included simulated client interviews and detailed information regarding the business problem.
The participants were clearly impressed by the innovation and challenge of the event. Talking about the event, finalists Shouvik Nandi and Avishesh from IIM Bangalore said, “The event was refreshingly different. We were surprised by the audio-pitch round as it was a totally unique way to display your persuasion skills and understanding of the pitch.†The well-structured format of the event also drew appreciation from the participants. Mayank Jain, a finalist from IIM Calcutta said that the event was very conducted very professionally and the deadlines were very strict. The best part, he said was that they felt like real consultants.
Deloitte Consulting’s talk on “Disruptive Innovationâ€
Day 1 of Intaglio witnessed a number of exciting events and discussions in different areas of management. One such event was the seminar by Mr. Santosh Anoo, Head of Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice in India. Mr. Anoo spoke on the ‘Disruptive Innovation‘ framework, which is based on the work of Michael Raynor of Deloitte Consulting LLP, co-author of the bestselling “The Innovator’s Solution“. Mr. Anoo is an actively sought after speaker in the areas of Technology, Media and Telecom convergence and disruptive innovation, and has more than 15 years of experience in the industry.
A packed auditorium full of students buzzing with excitement had gathered to listen to the expert and Mr. Anoo, with his pinpoint analogies and light hearted humour, managed to capture everyone’s attention. We listened enraptured as he compared growth to a “Sisyphean taskâ€- The more you grow, the higher the expectations and therefore the more you need to grow.
Mr. Anoo went on to explain how companies often innovate beyond what the market desires, and therefore there is a great opportunity for companies who realize the need of the market. Disruptive Innovation is all about redefining the market instead of refining the product. Mr. Anoo recounted that in many cases Disruptive Innovation has presented the new entrant with a great opportunity to challenge an established player, for example Wal Mart challenging Sears or Nirma challenging Surf. In both these cases Disruptive Innovation helps explain how the players sidelined competitors in the market to reach their destination.
One could sense the atmosphere of learning as the future leaders of India sought to learn from one of the stalwarts in the industry, and when Mr. Anoo concluded his talk a number of hands shot up in the air, refusing to end this brilliant session.
Talk By Hemant Kanoria
Yet another talk that ran houseful on Day 1 of Intaglio was the one delivered by Hemant Kanoria, the Chairman and Managing Director of SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd., one of India’s leading Non Banking Financial Institutions and the only private sector infrastructure financing NBFI. His talk was based around his experience for the last 20 years in the company and the lessons any manager could derive from it. Unlike many other industry stalwarts, he stressed on hope in the current financial crisis. He elaborated that crises in the past that looked like the end of the world seemed so insignificant today, and this cycle would repeat over and over again. He pointed to positive aspects in the Indian economy, such as the growth rate, which is 7% today at its worst, whereas 20 years ago it was 3% at its best. “There is too much panicking today†he said.
Mr. Kanoria highlighted the five principles that have been the underlying factor for Srei’s phenomenal success story, viz. innovation, thinking a case through like in a game of chess, entrepreneurship, teamwork which averages out individual errors, and benchmarking against the best in the industry, no matter how big they are. Among these five, he positioned Innovation as the cornerstone. “The Indian mind is always adept to changeâ€, he said. He pointed out that the only way out of crises is to innovate. “Do not worry that you may not get a job. Go innovate and create themâ€. He illustrated that it was Srei’s innovation tactics that has made it not only survive the competition from world leaders such as GE Cap, but dominate the market with over 36% share as compared to the second highest slice of the market, 6%, belonging to GE Cap. He said that the Srei model in India was so successful that they have implemented it in Russia too.
He concluded by bringing in ethical aspects of companies in the corporate world, and how CSR should be taken up for the sake of helping someone, and not for the sake of getting a tag. He believed in the proverb “Give a man a fish and he won’t feel hunger for a day, but teach him to fish and he won’t ever feel hungryâ€, and implemented this philosophy through Srei’s various CSR Programmes.
This enlightening and inspirational talk was followed by a Q&A session, wherein participants quizzed the speaker on various issues ranging from Srei’s business models to its rural innovation programmes, all of which Mr. Kanoria answered convincingly.
GIC
The Great Innovation Challenge was a refreshing attempt at promoting corporate entrepreneurship. Sponsored by SAIL, Infosys, Johnson & Johnson the event also had Deloitte as its Consulting Partner and the likes of CRY and TIME as the other knowledge partners. The event saw 2000 participants in the initial round, out of which 80 teams were selected for Round II. Round II saw the teams working with the various Knowledge Partners, submitting a basic proposal containing innovative solutions for branding, models for equitable justice, internet marketing etc. The teams were given feedback on their projects by senior practitioners from Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice in India and the final 9 teams were whittled down and flown down for on site interactions with the knowledge partners. The selected teams made their final presentations during the event at Intaglio 2008-09 and were judged by an eminent panel of judges comprising Mr. Santosh Anoo, Head of Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy and Operations practice in India, representatives from CRY, J & J and Prof. Ravindra Chittor, Professor in Strategy, IIMC. Mrs. Shailaja K., GM Marketing, J&J spoke on the concept of innovation during the course of the finals and all the judges remarked on the high quality and creativity of the student presentations.
Prof. Sougata Ray represented Infosys and Prof Ravindra Chittoor formed the panel which judged the two teams which worked closely with Infosys. The participants personally thanked the event organizers for conceptualizing such a hands-on event and putting on a good show and it was cheers all around as the Great Innovation Challenge drew to a close.
Addict
Procter & Gamble sponsored the Marketing Event Addict in Intaglio 2008-09 and the event turned out to be a roaring success. Unlike traditional promotion events which involve ad-making, Addict required its contestants to launch a new product and brand in the existing laundry market in India. Interestingly, the company the brand was supposed to be coming from was a multinational young in India, not the established stalwart like P&G! Event coordinator Aniruddh Soory revealed that he had researched into a number of product developments in several multinational companies before setting a problem statement encompassing consumer segmentation, brand positioning and launch, communication strategy, right down to allocation of budget to different communication channels. About 600 teams participated in the event with only 6 teams selected for the finals. Judged by Mr. Shivendu Nadkarni, India head for Fabric Care, Health Care and Rural Marketing, P&G, participants delved into ideas for fabric softeners, colours and whiteners with relish. Mr. Nadkarni remarked that he really enjoyed the presentations and shared his own view on the future trends in the Indian laundry wash market. Mr. Nadkarni lauded all finalists for the quality of their thought and Intaglio for organizing such a get together. Finally, Mr. Nadkarni drew attention to the fact that none of the participants were targeting the economy segment and suggested that while he was happy that the participants did not take the easy way out, there was still enormous potential in the Bottom of Pyramid marketing in the country.
NGO event
Intaglio 2008-9 saw an innovative event aimed at bolstering social entrepreneurship in the region. An event involving NGOs displaying their products for sale and a team of students competing with each other to hard sell the products onto willing customers made for a Christmas viewing. With NGOs Silence from Kolkata and Crafts Council of West Bengal setting up one and two stalls respectively, selling handicrafts, waxworks, jute and pottery, Intaglio was a place for people interested in these finer arts. But it was not just about the products. Buying from Silence, for instance, was much more meaningful because of the sterling work they do with the deaf and dumb children. Silence also promotes the ideology of fair trade in the ruthless world of business. CCWB, which had two stalls, is renowned for its work in reaching out to village and home craftsmen and providing them a consolidated audience base to get heard. The NGOs manning the stalls were very happy with the response of the students, who themselves were delighted with watching applied social entrepreneurship before them. All in all, a meaningful event worth repeating for many editions in future!
Jaagore! – Awaken the voter in you
The Jaagore campaign was taken up by IIM Calcutta as a part of Intaglio to encourage students in the age group of 18 to 30 to vote and also be aware of a lot of facts and myths behind the Indian electoral process. To get all the participants from our other events to register, we ran a quiz on the elections which was actively contested by over 2000 contestants. All the contestants of Intaglio were sent a mailer on the Jaagore campaign and the benefits attained by registering at the site.
Continuing the good work, we used the services of our campus relations team to publicize the campaign and reach out to 85 B-Schools and over 175 corporate houses in the country. Some of the pictures are in the album whose link is given above. We sent across posters for the campaign which were put up at these colleges. During the event, we put up a booth for registration and helped a lot of students to register at the site. GD PI sessions were held for students from undergraduate colleges who are in their final year & had the topic on the electoral process “Voting – The first step to Democracy” which propped up many students to register at the site.
Corporate Dinner
The second day of Intaglio saw its marquee corporate dinner being held at the Fortune hotel. Situated close to the new Howrah Bridge, the hotel premise was nestled in a tranquil spot, away from the city bustle and was the ideal location to host such an event; its sprawling lawns and grand architecture only adding to the already immaculate atmosphere.
The highlight of the evening was the talk by Mr. Sabyasachi Hajara, CMD of the Shipping Corporation of India. He is also an IIM Calcutta alumnus from the 8th batch. He started his talk with something which is very much on all our minds – the global meltdown – and its effects on the shipping industry in particular. Interestingly, the Shipping Corporation of India has been working on a profit margin of 20 – 30 % on total revenues of around one billion dollars for the last 3-4 years! All of this, despite the extremely competitive nature of the shipping industry.
Mr Hajara, then delved into the differences in the functioning of a PSU and a private company, and how a person who is willing to take responsibilities and make decisions may actually be more satisfied with the former. All in all, he spoke with the confidence and affability, characteristic of a thought leader addressing his beloved alma mater.
The second half of the evening saw the finalists of the prestigious Olympus give a brief introduction of themselves along with a candid choice of another candidate whom they felt was their most serious threat in the competition. This year, Olympus attracted two international students – David Larson, from Wharton School of Business and Joo Ohk Yi from China Europe International Business School. The eight finalists were filtered from over a hundred applications from the 6 IIMs and 2 international B-Schools, through a rigorous process, which consisted of evaluation of resumes and essays by IIMC faculty and interviews with senior executives from industry and academia. The result is a group of highly accomplished individuals from extremely diverse backgrounds, including I-banks, consulting firms, private corporate companies, PSUs and NGOs.
If the choices made by the candidates are anything to go by, then it looks like this competition is a two-horse race, with David and Joo garnering seven of the eight votes; the lone IIM vote going to Harsh, from IIMC.
After the completion of the candidates’ introduction, the house broke for dinner.
January 21st, 2009 at 3:54 am
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January 21st, 2009 at 3:59 am
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