National Conference – Jan 2014

24th and 25th January 2014

Global Economic Crisis: An Opportunity in Disguise

 

 

 

 

 

 

The two day National Conference attracted participants and papers from over 30 colleges in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

Over 200 invitees, including delegates, Senior academics from sister institutions and special guests and invitees were present at the Inaugural session. In her opening remarks, our Director, Dr. B.H. Nanwani outlined the issues raised by the current economic crisis and also posed a few queries regarding the same. What were the structural changes required to sustain the Economy during such crises? What was the kind of leadership that was required?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Raj Agrawal, Chairman AIMA, inaugurated the Conference and gave a birds’ eye view of India’s economic growth-and-decline from a historical perspective.

SVIMS also released the first issue of its new ISSN Journal, Dawn, devoted to Contemporary Research in Management. An ISBN Publication carrying 28 other papers registered for presentation at the Conference was also released at the hands of the dignitaries present on the occasion.

Mr. Rajan Navani, MD, Jetline group of companies, was the key speaker and theme explorer at the second session. He gave the delegates a brilliant talk which focused on his personal experience of the economic crisis which hit Thailand in the late 90s and outlined the strategies that his company adopted to survive the same.

Dr. K. Ramesha, Dean, NIBM, was the key speaker during the post-lunch session. He gave us an excellent account of how irresponsible banking triggered off the latest recession in America. He also dealt with the contradictions in the Indian banking system between priority sector lending and lending to SMEs and other growth related  sectors.

The final session of the first day was devoted to paper presentation by delegates. Over 40 papers had been sent to us for publication/presentation at the Conference. Ten of the best papers were published in our ISSN Journal after due process of peer review. Twenty eight papers have been published in our ISBN publication of the Conference Proceedings.

Quite a few of the research scholars presented their papers before session chairs, and the DCCIA (Deccan Chamber of Commerce and Industry) came forward to sponsor Trophies for the best paper presented at the conference. The Chairpersons for this session were Dr. Gulshan Gidwani, Principal, St. Mira’s College and Mr. Kishor Sidhwani, former VP, Chicago Pneumatic Construction Equipment and GM, Atlas Copco. The papers covered a wide variety of topics including Green Marketing practices, Training and Devpt and its impact on HR, Risk Assessment and Insurance, India’s unsatisfactory HD index, Revisiting Bank lending in crisis scenario, and ethical HR practices, Empowerment of self help groups, Vision for 2020, Advertising ethics, and Globalised villages for a new India, to mention just a few..

Mr. Balasubramanyan , CFO, Zensar Technologies, was the Key Speaker for the opening session on the second day. He had the entire audience in rapt attention, when he spoke of all the positive things that India has going for her. He gave us a quick global perspective on the Economies of Europe, Asia, the U.S. the OPEC countries, Latin America and Africa and focused on what makes India different – the ability to innovate, make the most of a bad situation and the competitive spirit  that never says die!

The next two sessions were devoted to more paper presentations. Gen. Israni , CEO and Trustee, Sadhu Vaswani Mission and Mr. Nari Mirchandani, Corporate Trainer, were the session chairpersons.

The Valedictory address of the Conference was delivered by Dr. Shubhro Sen, Director, Tata Management Training Centre (TMTC), Pune. His talk focused on Leadership in times of Crisis. Interestingly, he also touched upon the “Feminization of Leadership”, i.e. the need to bring out the softer, the more women-oriented attributes of leaders that would enable them to handle difficult situations with tact and empathy.

Overall, the feedback from the participants was excellent, especially with reference to the key speakers and the interactions with them. It was indeed a very rewarding and insightful conference for the organizers as well as the delegates.