GliMPse - The much awaited Second Issue!

It’s been a fun last couple of months and we are excited to present to you the second issue of the GliMPse Magazine 2011-12. This issue comes with enhanced design features, ease of access and diverse range of content - viewpoints and special-interest articles, interviews of faculty and alumni, some fun stuff, GMP batch and campus events.

And many thanks to our generous supporters who have responded with feedback, and told us ways of improving what we do with the magazine.

We hope you enjoy this issue and do drop in a line or two at glimpse@xlri.ac.in to let us know what you think! We always appreciate your feedback and support. Wish you all a very happy new year. .

http://www.scribd.com/doc/76595225

GliMPse Committee 2011-2012

General Management Program

XLRI Jamshedpur

XMAS at XLRI!

It goes without saying that at XLRI we celebrate and rejoice at the drop of a hat! Pasted below are some awesome photographs of the Christmas Decorations on campus.

Merry Christmas!!

We’re looking forward to bringing the New Year already.

Photographs by: Venkatesh Iyer (GMP 2001-12)

XLRI brain to boost teaching of Social Entrepreneurship

Jamshedpur (The Telegraph, Dec 8, 2008): A mentor in the steel city is leading the way to author a social entrepreneur’s bible in India.

XLRI professor Madhukar Shukla, who heads the institute’s Fr Arrup Centre for Ecology and Sustainability (FACES), will team up with seven academics from across the nation to produce a teaching handbook on social entrepreneurship to guide faculties and students alike.

Shukla, who was recently presented the Academic Contributor Award for 2011 by the Villgro Innovation Foundation and IIT-Madras’s Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, conceptualised the handbook that the group aims to pen within six months.

Shukla co-authors are Shambu Prasad of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar; Harish Chaudhary of Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University; Sourav Mukherjee of IIM-Bangalore; Ankur Sarin (IIM-Ahmedabad); P.K. Biswas, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal; Satyajit Majumdar, TISS, Mumbai, and Krishna Tanuku of Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad.

He explained that few dealt with social entrepreneurship as a subject in India. “There are many who would like to take up social entrepreneurship as a teaching course... As most of them tend to get no support, the teaching handbook has been planned to streamline issues and topics in the area for their benefit,” said Shukla, a faculty member of organisational behaviour and strategic management.

The group of professors met at the Khemka Forum on Social Entrepreneurship at ISB-Hyderabad to discuss the initiative in November.

The handbook will comprise guidelines for starters, besides an outline of related courses offered by institutes and professional bodies and classroom material such as case studies, articles, documentaries and research papers.

“We will upload it on the Internet. It may also be given the shape of a social networking site or website. We may later publish hard copies,” Shukla said.

Ensemble 2011 - All the final day drama!

November 13, 2011: ENSEMBLE 2011- The three-day Business Extravaganza at XLRI Jamshedpur concluded on Sunday, bringing to a close a succession of gruelling multi-domain contests in the fields of Human Resources, Marketing, Finance, Strategy and Operations accompanied by high emotions and unadulterated entertainment. With an overwhelming participation from some of the top B-schools of the country, the fest certainly turned out to be an amalgamation of the force of passion, struggle of business acumen and magic of expression.

Day3 which commenced with the Jamshedpur Mini Run – the city’s first ever mini-marathon charging to wake up an entire city to our nation’s obvious and subtle socioeconomic inequalities. The day continued with cluster of events in diverse domains: marketing strategy event – Circus Maximus, Pandora - an event based on game theory and strategy, Banker’s dilemma - a competition based on banking sector cases, business strategy event - Strategikon and general quizzing event - El Dorado.

The Day also saw continuation of Idea summit presentations which revolved around the theme of Ensemble - “Bridging the gap”. Mr S Siva Kumar, Chief Executive of Agri-Business Division of ITC, who is the architect of ITCs famous e-Choupal concept, addressed the audience by first stating the reason of the divide between haves and have-nots in the world and then zoomed it to India by bringing forth the plight of Indian farmers. Banking on his experience of working with the farmers through the e-Choupal, he stated how information technology could be leveraged for that strata and giving them what they deserve. He put forward service to nation in pure business terms and explained the vision of ITC in that direction. The students appreciated the fact that profits and nation building can go hand in hand;

Later in the evening Mr Krishna Kumar, the Managing Director of the State Bank of India gave a lecture on the Role of banking in Indian growth story. He dwelled upon various causes of income disparity throughout the world. Mr Kumar, a Delhi School of Economics graduate, accentuated the need of financial literacy to fill this gap. He also gave illustrations, how SBI is working towards same by their rural branches and special schemes for small entrepreneurs and self-help groups.

The results of Biz Quiz conducted by quiz master Bishwabijoy Sen were declared; teams from XLRI grabbed top two positions with team from IIM Lucknow emerging as third. GENESIS a social B-plan event was won by DIMAT-Raipur, NITIE and IIT-Kharagpur emerged as first and second runner ups.

 St. Xavier’s College Kolkata won the quizzing event El Dorado followed by XLRI as runner up. Clairvoyant - a Sales & Marketing sponsored by SHELL was won by XLRI followed by IIM-Shillong.

XLRI maintained their dominance in field of IR by winning IR event “Strike or Yield”. XLRI also won Evolvere - a marketing case study event brought in association with Aircel, with IIM-A being the runner-up. Results of Banker’s Dilemma were also declared; XLRI got first position and NMIMS-Mumbai second.

Quest Adventura, an adventure sports event, which was conducted in association with Jharkhand Tourism, continued for the third day with participants sweating it out for the thrill of competition. Cultural committee Dracula continued with assemblage of cultural & informal events, street plays on social issues, couple mania and face painting events.

The day ended with renowned Kochi based rock band, Motherjane. The performance was truly an adrenaline rushing experience. The songs “Mindstreet” and “Brocken” mesmerized a crowd of more than 1000 people at Tata auditorium. They also sang some songs from their album ‘Maktub’ along with many contemporary and legendary rock numbers.

Ensemble Celebrations - Day 2

November 12, 2011: The second day at XLRI Ensemble 2011 continued the promise of providing intellectual stimulation in diverse fields of Management along with entertainment in the form of adventure sports and cultural events. The highlights of the day included thought-provoking sessions by Dr. Kiran Bedi and Mr. Rajeev Dubey, President (Group HR and After- Market) and Member, Group Executive Board, Mahindra and Mahindra as part of the Idea Summit speaker series.

Dr Kiran Bedi arrived at XLRI at 1 pm and her talk lasted for an hour and a half. She spoke about the Leadership of Today and Tomorrow. She started the session by talking about the poor state of affairs in Jharkhand, MP, UP and Bihar whose human development indices are comparable to some of the poorest countries of Africa. Dr. Bedi urged the students of XLRI and other management schools to take up a more proactive role on the national front. She asked the faculty member of XLRI to include such courses and projects in the curriculum which make the corporate leaders of tomorrow more empathetic and sensitive to the grave problems our country is facing. To quote her, she asked the youth to “Take charge. This country is ours”. Motivating the educational institutions to invoke patriotism in the youth, she said, “More than a professional degree, it is the spiritual degree which is important.”

While Dr Bedi’s talk stimulated patriotism in the minds of the listeners, the session by Mr. Rajeev Dubey satisfied the hunger for business knowledge amongst the future corporate leaders from the top B Schools of the country. The session by Mr. Rajeev Dubey emphasized that the source behind a successful business is human resources and thus their potential must be completely utilized. He stressed upon “Trust” to develop strong relations with the employees so as to makes them walk that extra mile which results in excellent performance by the organization.

 XLRI witnessed massive participation in the events throughout the day. The result for Flagship Event War of Wits (HR Management Event) was announced where the team from ISB Hyderabad stood first followed by Delhi School of Economics at the second position. In Prometheus, Flagship event for Finance Management, XLRI stood first, followed by IIM Indore. Helios, flagship event for Operations Management was won again by XLRI followed by Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. In ENT(HR)ONE, domain event for HR Management, XLRI stood first followed by ISB Hyderabad at the second place. XLRI maintained leadership in CASCADE, domain event of Operations Management followed closely by IIM Ahmedabad at the second position.

The day concluded with a rocking performance by the original Bodhi Tree! Satadru Bagchi and Abhishek Narain delighted the current batc h of XLers with their scintillating performances.

Ensemble 2011 - Opening Day Delights!

November 11, 2011: Ensemble 2011, the annual management festival of XLRI, kick started with a grand inaugural ceremony at which Chief Guest, Mr Allen Sequeira - Executive Vice President, Mahindra Group along with the Guest of Honor, Fr Michael Thanaraj - President Jamshedpur Jesuits Society and Fr. Abraham - Director XLRI graced the occasion. It is the 10th consecutive year of the fest and this year’s theme is “Bridging the Gap”. The aim is to challenge the students and Corporate India to strengthen their resolve to tackle the increasing divide between; the rich and the poor, the rural and the urban population, the haves and the have-nots; that is prevalent in our country. In their addresses all the eminent personalities acknowledged the importance of the theme and urged the student community to be sensitive to social issues and work towards the goal of inclusive growth.

Mr Allen Sequeira in his address emphasized on India being home to “islands of prosperity“, growing at more than 7% when economy around the world are going through a tough time but said that this growth will be of no use if not equitable and spread across. He also stated that Ensemble is synonymous to “passion and dynamism” and pledged his hope that Ensemble will bring about a change quoting Mother Teresa as “Every drop in the ocean creates a ripple”.

Fr Micheal Thanaraj addressed the gathering by sighting examples of the social upliftment Jesuit society is doing since its inception, XLRI being an integral part of the same. He also added that the world is becoming increasingly “transnational” which has led to depletion of natural resources and environmental instability. He shared his concern on the lopsided development of the country and the increasing divide between the rich and the poor. He remarked that the theme of Ensemble “Bridging the gap” should find a definite impact.

Teams from the top B schools of India like ISB Hyderabad, IIM A,B,C,L,I, MDI Gurgaon, IIFT Delhi, IMT-G, NITIE, IIM Ranchi and Delhi School of Economics have gathered to be a part of the extravaganza. In the next two days over 200 participants from B schools across India are expected. Mahindra is the official sponsor of Ensemble 2011 and various events are sponsored by Colgate Palmolive, Cognizant, Aircel, SBI and Shell.

Day 1 was marked by various flagship events like Pallas Athena, sponsored by Mahindra, which is a three day multi domain event where the business acumen of the students is tested, Helios where the teams battled in the simulation games on planning and logistics and Prometheus where the participants were exercising their skills of valuation of an enterprise and acquisitions. The flagship HR event War of Wits too place where the participants were tested on their Recruitment Strategy skills, this was sponsored by Colgate Palmolive.

Ensemble is not just about people and presentation or lecture and learning, there is more to look out for, Quest Adventura and other on the spot events like Dominari and Cascade and fun events like Bollywood Quiz and What’s your word worth were a crowd puller. Quest Adventura, the one of its kind event, organized in XLRI Jamshedpur in association with Jharkhand Tourism, differentiates itself from the others by being a package of thrill and nail biting moments. The participants compete in obstacle racing, rafting, wall climbing and treasure hunt.

Students are looking forward to Responsible Leadership Conclave to be organized in the evening which shall be followed by the Cultural night, the personification of the true XL spirit of celebration. Day 2 shall be marked by the inspiring lecture to be given by Dr. Kiran Bedi as a part of the Idea Summit, the lecture series.

XLRI-Ensemble: Ethics kick-start XLRI extravaganza

Jamshedpur, Nov 11, 2011 (The Telegraph): Ensemble, the three-day big-ticket XLRI fest, started on Friday on an ethical note, as budding managers were asked to bridge the gap between the rich and poor to stem problems such as Naxalism.

“India has islands of prosperity. The 7 per cent economic growth won’t help the country if it is not equitable,” the chief guest of the inaugural session, Mahindra Group executive vice-president Allen Sequeira, stressed in his address. He also attributed Naxalism as an offshoot of this economic divide.

Quoting Mother Teresa, he said: “Every drop in the ocean creates a ripple.”

Fr Michael Thanaraj, president of Jesuit Society of Jamshedpur, said: “The pursuit of corporate profit should not exclude the less fortunate or the less skilled,” he said.

Calling India a “land of contradictions”, he added that indigenous people were the “worst affected in the country’s pursuit of economic success”. Citing hard-hitting figures, he said: “Despite 16,000 colleges and 6,000 institutions of higher education, one third of the population is illiterate.”

XLRI director Father E Abraham hoped Ensemble, as “a platform for the brightest minds from India’s top B-schools” would help students bridge the economic gap.

Student teams from IIMs of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Ranchi and Indore, ISB-Hyderabad, MDI-Gurgaon, Delhi School of Economics, among others, listened to the insights.

Inaugural session over, it was time to pit their wits in events such as Pallas Athena, a three-day contest to test business acumen. The flagship HR event “War of Wits” saw students getting tested on recruitment strategies.

Crowd-pullers included the outdoor event Quest Adventura as well as a fun Bollywood quiz.

XLRI also saw the opening of the three-day national convention hosted by the Centre for Global Management and Responsible Leadership and the Ensemble team to share case studies on responsible corporate leadership.

XLRI holds Private Equity Conclave in Mumbai

On Friday, November 4th, XLRI Jamshedpur, one of the premier B-schools in the country played host to some of the biggest names in corporate India when it held its annual Finance Conclave, Gnosis 2011 in Mumbai. The Conclave focused on the role that Private Equity has to play in our country’s growing economy and was titled ‘Investing in India’s Future – The Role of Private Equity’.

The Private Equity sector is tipped for tremendous growth in the immediate future, and speaking about these exciting possibilities were some of the most experienced stalwarts of the industry. The Conclave featured personalities like Mr. Shankar Narayan, MD, Carlyle India; Ms. Rupa Vora, CFO, IDFC; Mr. Subir Nag, Director, ICICI Venure; Mr. Nainesh Jaisingh, Standard Chartered PE; Mr. Siva Shankar, Director, Citibank VC; Mr. Jacob Mathew, MD, Mape Advisory; Mr. Pramod Ahuja, Partner, Tata Capital; Mr. Srinivasan Bharatam, Managing Partner, Milestone Religare Investment Advisors.

Each of these is an expert in his or her own right, and they shared their ideas and opinions, formed over years of consistent achievement in the field, with professionals from the industry, Investors, Media, the student community, and the public at large. The Conclave was aimed at addressing existing dilemmas and even perhaps generating new ones that would point towards the future state of the sector and its influence on the Indian economy, and it more than lived up to its billing.

Speaking at the Conclave, Mr. Shankar Narayan, MD, Carlyle India, explained how the PE firm create value for its investee company, by giving it an access to global network, better corporate governance, risk management etc. Another Speaker, Ms. Rupa Vora, CFO, IDFC presented how the value is created and derived in PE.

Mr. Nainesh Jaisingh, MD, Standard Chartered PE, stressed on the growing significance of India as a target for investors over the last decade, with perceptions about the country among investors having changed at a rapid pace.

After the keynote speeches, the event organizers, Finance Association at XLRI (FINAX) took the opportunity to outline its plans to help further nurture the sustained student interest in the Finance domain at XLRI. Thereafter, Professors Sabyasachi Sengupta and Uday Damodaran, who were representing the XLRI finance faculty at the event, extended an invitation to the audience for lunch.

Post lunch, the esteemed panel gathered at the venue engaged in a wonderful discussion on the topic “Outlook of Private Equity in India” bringing forth various insights about the current scenario of the industry in India. They also discussed the opportunities and challenges of dealing with varied stakeholders, ranging from promoter groups to retail investors.

XLRI holds Sports Marketing Symposium

XLRI Jamshedpur (Sept 27th, 2011): The Marketing Association at XLRI (MAXI) hosted industry veterans from the area of sports management and sports marketing on occasion of the second edition of MAXI Mindscapes. The symposium which was aptly titled “Dimensions of Sports Marketing” provided tremendous insight into this very nascent field of sports marketing. Not only were the discussions insightful, but they also aided the students’ understanding of the field which was previous considered to be esoteric business.

Former Indian athlete and Arjuna awardee Charles Borromeo graced the occasion by his presence. The winner of the 800m gold at the 1982 Asiad, Borromeo, who now works with the Tata Sports Foundation was a keen listener throughout and lauded the efforts of sports marketers in promoting and patronizing Indian sportspersons.

Mr. Adille Sumariwalla, an Arjuna awardee himself and the working President of the Athletics Federation of India, took to the stage to begin the proceedings. He spoke distinctly about athletics, swimming and gymnastics being the “mother sports” for all other sports and urged the corporates to do more towards these sports.

Mr.Harish Krishnamachar, Senior VP, World Sports Group and an XL alumnus, spoke about the changing sporting landscapes and new business models emanating out of Asia. He stressed on the need for sports marketing firms to become business or ownership partners with federations, events and venues. Mr.Tarun Chaudhari, Group Director – Sports Marketing at Innocean Worldwide spoke very eloquently about the mismatch between a brand’s expectation out of a sport and vice-versa.

The panel also had a very familiar face in Mr.Gauraav Kalra – the Sports Editor at CNN-IBN. Gaurav looked at the business of sports from the perspective of the media as a whole. He very strongly stated that sport needed to understand the role of television in this modern era, and that television has always been receptive to a great sporting idea. Mr.Chandradeep Mitra, an IIMC alumnus and CEO of Pipalmajik provided an academician’s view on the emerging topic. Chandradeep narrated his experiences about teaching sports management as a formal subject in school across the country. At the same time, he emphasized the need for literature, systems and processes pertaining to sports management.

Chandradeep then moderated a very healthy panel discussion which followed a quick break for tea. The discussion mainly revolved around building and developing sporting properties and models suited for television consumption. Some big, brave bets were made on the scope and possibilities of sports marketing on the whole. The panel also answered a lot of questions thrown at them by the audience with consummate ease and eloquence. The whole discussion was interspersed with a fair bit of wit and humour – all in all a very invigorating experience.

The first ever MAXI Mindscape Symposium resulted in the formation of the interdisciplinary behavioural lab at XLRI. What is the future of sports marketing at XLRI? We’re waiting with bated breath!

Prof Ram Kumar Kakani (XLRI) co-authors book on Strategic Thinking

Strategic Thinking: Explorations around Conflict and Cooperation.
Saha, Biswatosh and Parthasarathi Banerjee and Ram Kumar Kakani
Sage Publications, Sept. 2011,
ISBN: 978-8-13-210690-6

Strategic Thinking is an exploration of the world of strategic action centered on the strategist actor who remains immersed in the multi-faceted conflicts and contests of the pragmatic life of business. This book explores the various modes through which nodes of power holders are formed or decimated in the organization. It embraces the twin dimensions of strategic motives-deterrence and novel market making-around the theme of governance, without conflating the differences between these differing motives riding on differing dynamics of decreasing and increasing returns.


Dr. Ram Kumar Kakani B. Tech (Andhra Univ.), Fellow (IIM Calcutta) is an Associate Professor of Finance & Strategic Management Area, XLRI Jamshedpur, India. He has worked with industry and was a residential scholar at Copenhagen Business School Denmark, Singapore, & U.A.E. He has authored and co-authored ten management books.

XLRI eyes sporty career

Sept 24, 2011 (The Telegraph): No, it’s not all play, but taking up sports marketing management as a career can seem like it. Especially when you get paid for a job that involves professionally managing the careers of idols, ranging from a Sachin to a Saina.

Sports marketing management is on XLRI’s radar. The premier B-school in Jamshedpur is focussing on the scope of careers related to marketing methodologies in sport before launching a full-fledged course on the subject.

Globally, the sector worth around US$ 38 billion, involves innovative commercial plugging of a particular discipline as well as personalities associated with each.

Marketing Association of XLRI, popularly called MAXI, which is one of the societies of XLRI, will host “Dimensions of Sports Marketing” a symposium, which will be a part of the annual MAXI Mindscapes.

The symposium will comprise well-known sports and business personalities.

This is a much-needed warm-up to XLRI’s plans of launching a course in sports marketing management, as experts thrash out the pros and cons of the up and coming career option.

“Though the field is expanding rapidly, it is still relatively an uncharted territory. The meet will thus deliberate on what exactly the field is, what are its strengths and weaknesses. The symposium will also discuss marketing of any sport through various media,” said Sanjeev Varshney, faculty member of marketing and consumer behaviour, XLRI.

Big names who are expected to discuss the dimensions of sports marketing include CNN-IBN sports editor Gaurav Kalra, Athletics Federation of India president Adil Sumariwalla, World Sport Group senior vice-president (South Asia) Harish Krishnamachar, Innocean Worldwide group director (sports marketing and events) Tarun Chaudhry, and PipalMajik chief executive officer Chandradeep Mitra.

“We are seriously planning a course in sports marketing for students, but nothing has been finalised as of now. I hope this discussion helps us take a stand on the matter,” added Varshney.

The symposium will thus be a good opportunity for marketing students to search avenues in the emergent area, discover what management studies refer to as the SWOT — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats — of any particular enterprise.

The discussions will also enrich XLRI’s faculty members, who can assess the potential of the field before taking the formal plunge.

XLRI to Map Speedster's Minds

Sept 20, 2011 (The Telegraph): For XLRI, thrills on wheels for teenagers are all in the mind, which needs some urgent and hi-tech probing.

Young drivers swerving through busy roads, speeding and honking incessantly and cutting through fellow motorists are attitude problems.

Changing them will prevent accidents, hope the experts. Close on the heels of the tragic death of Mohammad Ayazuddin, former Indian skipper Mohammad Azharuddin’s son, who speed-crashed on an imported bike and more than a month after two teenagers were crushed to death in Ranchi, XLRI decided to map the brain of youngsters to understand the deadly thrills of speed.

The research lab of the premier B-school of the country, inaugurated on September 17, will undertake the study on drivers between the ages of 16 and 25 years to try and find a comprehensive solution that can be later used for social campaigns.

“We hope that the study brings about a change in teen attitudes with respect to behavioural and emotional aspects when they take to the wheel,” said Sanjeev Varshney, an XLRI marketing department faculty member.

He added there had been a surge of the number of road mishaps — most involving youngsters — in the recent past.

“We are very interested in trying to find out the lure of speed as far as schoolchildren and teenagers, who are most prone to rash driving, are concerned,” Varshney said.

Varshney, also the brains behind behavioural marketing research lab, expressed hope that research would help reduce the number of accidents.

“Youths need to change mindsets in order to undergo behavioural change. Thus, armed with the research results, we will definitely create social campaigns against speed,” Varshney said.

According to initial plans, the group of students selected for research will have to undergo a written test to help researchers peep into driving attitudes.

The respondents will participate in a group discussion in front of cameras. To know cognitive and emotional responses better, the target group will also play video games, wherein their behaviour will be measured directly by a direct response time machine. XLRI also plans to collaborate with the district administration to make the research a joint effort between the B-school and East Singhbhum traffic department.

Welcoming the move, traffic DSP J.N. Singh said the administration would support any research XLRI undertook to help curb mishap casualty.

XLRI Inaugurates Interdisciplinary "Behavioural Lab"

Sept 17th, 2011: XLRI inaugurated the "Behavioural Lab" to become India's 1st management school to have an interdisciplinary lab to study human behaviour.

A brain child of Dr Sanjeev Varshney, Chief Coordinator and Area Chairperson (Marketing) and MAXI (Marketing Association of XLRI), "the Lab is equipped with software and equipments to run experiments based on the principles of cognitive psychology, like direct response time machine, and will help in understanding whether the stimulus shown to people is having emotional or cognitive impact. The Lab also has got facilities like one-way mirror observation rooms for group experiments etc. It has subscribed to other software to enable students and researchers in testing image-based stimulus rather than textual stimulus and thereby facilitate product and campaign effectiveness testing," informed Prof Varshney.

The Lab will be available for use across all functional disciplines of XLRI comprising XLRI faculty, Fellow researchers, and postgraduate students. The Lab will also collaborate with researchers and institutes of repute in the field and looks forward to establishing itself as a one-stop solution for all behavioural and neurological research in management sciences. It aims to bring in new and innovative insights in the field of management.

As the first project of the “Behavioural Lab”, the city-based XLRI School of Business has started conducting research to study the behaviour of youth that leads to road accidents. Prof Sanjeev Varshney said that rash driving is matter of great concern for the city. They have started the research considering the rising number of deaths among young motorcyclists.

Prof Pranabesh Ray (Dean - Academics) said that the Lab’s future plans include acquiring more equipment and software for carrying out neurological research by collaborating with local and national level neuro-research centres and leading hospital chains in India. The collaboration process has already been initiated.

“We have plans to study and conduct research on Consumer Behaviour Studies, Organisational Behaviour Studies, Behavioural Economics and Behavioural Finance, to name a few of its primary areas of interest,” said Prof. Ray.

Divine season with joy of giving

Sept 17, 2011 (Yahoo! News): Durga Puja in the steel city will be celebrated with a touch of B-school philanthropy this year.

Organised by XLRI, Joyfest or the Joy of Giving Week will start on October 2. This year, the campaign will have new initiatives, which aims to promote acts of kindness like giving one's time, money and skills freely to the needy.

The festive holidays will not be a barrier for volunteers from B-school, NGOs and corporate firms who will be taking part in the campaign.

Apart from Vastra Samman, a clothes collection drive, which will be held in collaboration with New Delhi-based NGO Goonj and giving dry ration to the needy, the campaign will also host an eye donation camp through XLRI and Roshni, a city-based NGO.

Another NGO, Cause for Change, has come up with the idea of collecting usable medicines and donating them to those who need them.

"There are many who have unused medicines at home. Most of the time we throw them away even if they have not crossed their expiry date. We will first collect medicines, segregate them and then donate it to primary health centres where they actually need it," said Joydip Paul, one of the partners with the NGO.

A group of XLRI's entrepreneurship students have decided to recycle used A-4 sheets into notebooks, which will be distributed to city and rural schools for the underprivileged.

Management students will also train village women in business development skills.

Kalamandir, another Jamshedpur-based NGO, will distribute mosquito nets in the villages of Dumaria and Potka blocks.

Leadership Lessons, In Uniform!

Hosting CEO’s and having them talk about Leadership and challenges with MBA Grads is not uncommon in business schools. The leaders share their experiences and enlighten the students about various topics that range across Human Resource Management, Strategy, work-life balance and life in general. However, to have a highly decorated Lieutenant General from the Indian Army, dissect the concepts of leadership and tear apart the notions held by the students about corporate leadership, is definitely not a common happening!

XLRI Jamshedpur, proudly played host to Lieutenant General Vijay Kumar Ahluwalia, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command, Indian Army. A recipient of the Ati Vishisht Sewa Medal, Yudh Seva Medal and the Vishisht Seva medal, the Lieutenant General is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and has had a long, distinguished and meritorious career. The session was attended by Professors and students from the General Management Program, Business Management and Human Resource Management programs, the three flagship programs of XLRI.

Photography by Sandeep Kashyap (GMP 2012)

The Lt. General was in a particularly reflective mood and began by telling the students about his role model Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, and reminiscing about a speech given by the Field Marshal during a parade of which the Lt. General was a part of. Interestingly, the Lt. General followed by highlighting the current “Age of Turbulence” (referring to rising unemployment, poor economic conditions and the like). The emphasis was on “fighting the fog of war”, a metaphor to the shakiness of the turbulent times, through six leadership mantras.

The talk progressed to discussing about the Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (abbreviated to VUCA) environment that was further complicated by the lack of emphasis on a long term vision in the corporate offices. Through his past experiences in the famous Kargil and Tiger Hills, he provided valuable insights and helped emphasize the importance of leaders understanding and effectively managing their teams.

Photography by Sandeep Kashyap (GMP 2012)

Citing numerous examples and anecdotes, the Lt. General sent a strong signal on the importance of having a long term vision that looked beyond just profits and revenues. He also drove home the points on the far reaching benefits of training people and having a skilled workforce.

Photography by Sandeep Kashyap (GMP 2012)

The Lt. General concluded his speech by expanding on the 6 leadership mantras namely Compelling Vision, Character, Competency, Communication Skills, Innovation and being Technology Savvy. It is but human nature to warm to somebody with whom we can relate, his humility was palpable in his final quote “A leader is all, because of his team”. And there was as much food for thought for all of us after the address as there was admiration for the man!