Pgp2014 – Page 2 – The IIM Kashipur Blog

Guest Lecture by Mr. Hirak Kayal

The students of IIM Kashipur had the privilege of listening to the guest lecture by Mr. Hirak Kayal , the Vice President of Applications Outbound Product Management at Oracle India. His prime responsibility is to drive Applications success and particularly Fusion Application adoption in India. He holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and did his post-graduate studies in Business Management from IIM Calcutta.

The agenda of the seminar was to discuss the emerging trends in technology and introduce the students to the latest business reality of SMAC, an acronym for social media, mobile, analytics and cloud. The convergence of the said four is considered to be the next huge disruptor in business technology since the evolution of internet.

The paradigm shift from the ‘buying’ model to ‘subscription’ model and its impact on business was discussed. The rise of social media, with over 1 billion subscribers, offers a great opportunity for companies to market their product. Approximately 83% of the internet users can be found on social media. The emergence of Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn has led to more targeted and innovative methods of marketing. But it has also come with its own share of problems. A customer is connected virtually to a large network of people who are further connected to other networks. In such a scenario, the information flow is quick and any negative or positive comment about a company can reach far more number of people than earlier. A popular example of the ‘united breaks guitar’ was also talked about in the seminar to give an idea about the ramifications of this connectivity and the power of a single customer in current market.

The emergence of smart phones has also had an impact on industry. The seminar briefly touched upon the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy followed in industry. With the continuously increasing subscribers of mobile, it is imperative for the industry to cater to customers through this channel efficiently. The emergence of social media and internet usage on mobile led to the collection of a large amount of data. This data, which was initially not utilised to the fullest, is now an input to analytics that transforms this data into useful information using powerful tools. Data about the history of a customer shopping pattern, to know his preferences, helps in providing a customized service.

The recent emergence of cloud computing is a game changer. The various services that are offered are software as a service, platform as a service and infrastructure as a service. The seminar also gave insight about the various models like private, public and hybrid cloud. The consumerization of cloud services was also explained to the students.

Road to Excellence: Plant Visit to Parle

Being located in one of the densest industrialized belts of the country has its own perks and IIM Kashipur misses no opportunity to make the most of it. The plant visit to Parle Products in Rudrapur, marked the first industrial tour of the PGP 2014-16 batch of IIM Kashipur. It started with the screening of a virtual tour of a standard Parley’s production plant and an overview of the product line.

The virtual tour was followed by an actual tour of the production plant. The representatives were kind enough to personally take the students through the production process step by step. First, students gained insights on how testing of raw materials takes place before entering the production process. It was followed by an explanation of the working and importance of individual units of the automated system. It included the mixing of raw materials to form a mixture that is then further moulded into the requisite shape and size. Once the moulding is done, it is baked and undergoes a cooling treatment to catalyse the process. Finally, the students were lead through the packaging unit of the plant where all the items were being packed in a variety of packages.

At the end of the tour, a query session was also organised where the students got an opportunity to interact one to one with the representatives of Parle. The discussion was not only limited to the quality management and efficiency of the production process, but also forayed into other areas like how the location of a plant is decided and how production is varied according to the demand forecast from the marketing and sales department. Further discussions were done on the industry as a whole and how the three factors of price, taste and quality affect the success of a product.

Students took back a unique and educating experience with them when they left the plant.

Welcome PGP 2014 | Inauguration Ceremony

IIM Kashipur welcomes its fourth batch PGP 2014!!
Speaking on the Inauguration Ceremony Dr. Ghosh,Dean IIM Kashipur, said that we understand that students come here with two considerations. One – placements, and Two – Choice of place. “You will be equipped with success mantras here”, he said. “Organizations do not create jobs for you, it is for their own survival and growth and they need people, and they need the best ones. So what you would require is, “One – the basic understanding of the concepts of management, Two – on how to implement them in real life situations, and Three – the environment within which a manager works”, added Dr. Ghosh.