IMPRINTS
Volume 10, Issue 1 MayJune 2011
Contents
Business World Ranking 2011 Summer Internships 2011 Faculty Speak Know your Alumni 3 5 8 12 Nissan Student Brand Manager Profile of PGDM 2011-13 Batch Campus Captures My First SIMSR Memory 4 6 10 13
EDITORIAL TEAM
Abhishek Sehgal Namrata Mishra
Editors Desk
Whats different about the months in the middle of the year i.e. May and June? For one, it is usually vacation time, when school children, getting a temporary respite from school bags and time tables, accompany their parents merrily to Grandpas House. For students on the threshold of college, it is entrance exam/admission timetwo months which have to necessarily be waded across to know which college or course awaits their fate. Yet another distinct category is that of MBA students- for whom the word Summer is invariably the precedent to Internship or Final Joining Date as the case may be. Read on about how Batch 2010-12 of SIMSR was all over the country this summer, proving their mettle to the companies they were working with for the crucial 2 months. Batch 2011-13 joined on 20th June and underwent their 2 week Induction Programme, a step forward in becoming part of the SIMSR family. All this while students and alumni alike celebrated SIMSR being ranked 9th in the Business World Survey this June. Faculty Speak has Prof. Pattnaik talk about his experiences in RBI, while a very dear alumnus of our Mr. Anand Ramaswamy shares his memories of SIMSR in My First SIMSR Memory. Know Your Alumni gets us into conversation with Mr. Sachin Parekh who is currently Marketing Manager at Merck. Meanwhile do let your eyes soak in lush images of the beautiful vibrant campus that SIMSR boasts of in Campus Captures. Happy Reading!!
The college's incredible performance in the Rankings is a tremendous boost for the students, faculty and alumni. This once again reaffirms the standards the college sets and the quality it produces. We, at Alumni Committee wish to congratulate you on this achievement, and thank you for your continuous stream of inputs that have aided us and the college to plug the holes, and change with the changing times.
The rankings were covered in the June 27th Issue of Business World. The rankings are also available for view at: http://www.businessworld.in/businessworld/content/Objective-Survey-Overall-Rankings.html-0
This is the second year of the initiative and this invited applications 150 colleges spanning across 15 cities in India. The company aims to target 1,200 entries for appointing 20 NSBMs and the tenure of the program will be for a period of a six (06) months starting from July to Dec2011. The 20-selected Student Brand Managers will play a key role in bringing brand Nissan closer to both - the student community and the public in general through innovative marketing initiatives. After undergoing training, the students will work closely with company officials on a variety of initiatives. Besides an array of key initiatives, it will include creating unique events to create buzz about brand Nissan among the student community. Apart from K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research, some of the short-listed colleges for selecting students include , S.P.Jain MIR- Mumbai, IIFT - Delhi, University Business School - Chandigarh, IIM - Kolkata, IIM - Ahmedabad, Loyola Institute of Business Administration- Chennai, Department of Business Studies, Christ University - Bangalore amongst others.
This year, the jury members consists of eminent personalities from the Advertising and the Automobile
fields such as Mr. Prahlad Kakkar - Ad Guru, Genesis Films, Mr. Harish Bijoor - CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc and Mr. Hormazd Sorabjee - Editor of Autocar India Magazine.
PROFILE
OF
PGDM 2011-13
The students of the 2011-13 batch are from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. 72% of the students are engineering graduates but there is significant diversity in the engineering disciplines pursued by them in their under-graduation. There are also students who hold a post-graduate degree in varied disciplines like bio-technology, pharmaceuticals, etc.
The Data and Figures are attributed to information as on 20th July 2011
PROFILE
OF
Though 80% of the batch has prior experience in the IT industry, the remaining students have had varied professions ranging from hotel management to fashion technology.
The Data and Figures are attributed to information as on 20th July 2011
FACULTY SPEAK
Prof. R.K. Pattnaik K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research
Prof. R.K. Pattnaik is currently Full Time Faculty member (Economics) at SIMSR. He has a PhD in Economics from IIT-Bombay, and has a rich industry experience of about 32 years in RBI in areas of Macroeconomics, International Economics, Monetary and Fiscal Policies, Banking and Public Debt Management. His articles have appeared in several national dailies. He has been teaching for more than 7 years now. We are eager to know what your experiences as a student have been like. I completed school and college from Orissa. Those days securing a Government job or going for the Administrative Services was what students aimed at. The subject of my choice has always been Economics. Internet was unheard of that time, and competition was tough, therefore I would read several journals and classics to develop an analytical insight of my subject. Yet in retrospect, I realize that study patterns back then were less practically oriented and more theoretical in nature. Completing a PhD from IIT Bombay was indeed a major milestone for me. Please tell us what your experiences in the industry have been like. My years in RBI were rewarding in more ways than one. I transformed from being just a student of Economics to being a Policy Economist. RBI is a mine of learning and opportunities, and I got to travel to several countries during my tenure. My expertise lies mainly in Policy related economics and I had the privilege of attending several International meetings, and being Coordinator in meetings of multilateral agencies like SAARC and IMF. I treasure the experience I got in my exposure to the Parliamentary Committee, and the chance to work with people like Dr. Rangarajan, Dr. Y.V.Reddy, Dr. Rakesh Mohan, Dr. Subbarao and Mr. Tarapore, each of whom guided me to becoming a complete economist. Before joining RBI I taught Macroeconomics in Graduate College in Orissa, so I always had a weakness for teaching as a profession. My interaction with students at SIMSR, particularly those of PGDM (IB), has been really rewarding. I admire their inquisitiveness, willingness to learn, sincerity and honesty. It makes me truly glad to be part of the SIMSR family and I feel very optimistic about the future of these students who are so hardworking, willing to keep themselves updated and participate in class.
What advice do you have for students at SIMSR? I would like to urge all my budding managers to acquire as much knowledge as possible while they are here. They should inculcate the habit of reading classics and financial dailies extensively (it helped me immensely when I was a student). We are really fortunate to have access to such a well stocked library. One never knows where some bit of knowledge might be useful. There can never be a short cut to real success. I would also like to emphasize the importance of being a good listener, as well as having good oratory skills. Keeping an eye on global developments on a day to day basis is necessary. Websites like those of the Ministry of Commerce, RBI, Bloomberg and IMF must be logged onto on a regular basis. I wish all my students well and would be really glad if I get to see many of them in top positions in firms during my tenure here. Most importantly I wish to see them as happy, complete human beings living a good life.
CAMPUS CAPTURES
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CAMPUS CAPTURES
Evenings on campus
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Mr. Sachin Parekh Marketing Manager, Merck Ltd. Alumnus 2002 Batch
Mr. Sachin Parekh is currently the Marketing Manager of MultiCare Division at Merck Ltd. He has over 10 years of experience in Pharmaceutical Sales and Marketing. Following are excerpts from an interview with him. a) What has your experience in SIMSR been like? SIMSR has taught me how to apply theory to practical situations, helped me groom and improve myself with respect to simple things like enhanced reading, teamwork, leadership and most importantly time management. The faculty at SIMSR ensured that there was no dearth of opportunities to learn the basics and nuances of management. My stint as Placement Committee Member for both years taught me to adapt to both difficult and good times with importance of teamwork and networking. b) What has your experience in the industry been like and how has your learning at SIMSR helped in your workplace all this time? I have more than 10 years of experience in the Pharmaceuticals industry and that has been enriching. This is one industry that has not been impacted by recessionary times as much as others. The opportunities and growth prospects are very good, be they in Indian companies or MNCs. Getting promoted twice in a short span of just 3 years bears testimony to this fact. The SIMSR brand without doubt gave me good edge at the entry level, post MMS (Marketing). c) What advice do you have for current students at SIMSR? Always remember that there is no shortcut to continued success. Shortcuts may result in success sometimes but not always. Keep your goals with regard to the industry and specialisation you want, in focus, and do not let them waver just because your friend or roommate prefers another industry or specialisation. It is not just your achievement but also people skills (peers, subordinates and superiors alike) that are essential in taking you to the top of the ladder. Hence, learn to respect and appreciate people around you. Keep networking - it is actually not a necessary evil as opposed to popular opinion. All the Best and Cheers...
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Mr. Anand Ramaswamy, an alumnus of Batch 1997 (MBA-Finance) is currently Head Projects (Debt Servicing Management Group) at ICICI Bank, Mumbai. He has a lot of experience in multiple roles at ICICI, ranging from Head - Special Projects and Analytics to National Sales Head Alternate Channels. A man of varied interests, he loves to spend time with NGOs which take care of underprivileged children. He enjoys music and plays various keyboard based instruments in his spare time. Andy (as he is known) is currently also visiting faculty member at SIMSR. He is teaching Marketing of Financial Services to the 2nd year students of the full time MBA program. He takes us down memory lane during his days as a student at SIMSR.
It has been 14 years since I passed out of SIMSR, yet I distinctly remember the days when I got admission and subsequently joined as a student. We had a very nice time there! I wish some of the concepts of movies like Time Warp actually existed, as it would be fun to go back in time and relive the days when we were a bunch of mavericks at Somaiya. Thankfully I had a very short commute as I stay pretty close to campus at Chembur. I used to go to college on a BSA-SLR cycle. It is hard imagining that today! We used to have classes for almost 6
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Coming to think of it, my daughters yearly fees for her kindergarten, is almost 1 lakh these days. Moneys worth has really eroded. Most of our batch guys would remember with relish our trip to Alibag. We took a ferry from Bhau Cha Dhakka (Marathi for Ferry Wharf) and stayed at a place which had a few shacks for shelter. Boy, that was a complete night out with the whole batch. lying on the sands with the waves at our feet. We spent the whole night on the beach sitting in the waves. I would give anything to get to spend such time again. Aman sent out some of the snaps recently. One more instance that comes to my mind was the farewell of our seniors. Some of us were doing the organizing. Prof. P.L.Arya (Director then) had retired for the day. The party was organized at the Institute terrace. We were all dancing to the DJs music and it was the last song for the night, Alice. Everyone belted out the muted lyrics full throated so loudly that the Director came back to college only to give us a mid night terrace gyan session of values and decorum! Life has come a long way since. I still maintain my association with the campus as I am a visiting faculty member with SIMSR for over 8-9 years now. The dramatic improvement in infrastructure is something that really makes the institution stand out amongst the rest. Most alumni would not have seen the campus of late, and I urge them to come and have a look around. The auditoriums, the enhanced building, the compulsory hostel block, the jogging track (with an absolutely Olympic look and feel) and the tennis, badminton, squash courts etc. really make SIMSR different from what it used to be.
It definitely feels nice to be an alumnus of SIMSR and I shall continue being in touch with the campus for as long as possible.
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Or mail us at alcomsimsr@gmail.com
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