XLRI Garden of Business & Human Resources

Happy New Year (XLRI GMP Class of 2011)

Elephant in the room

Article by Anurag Behar (92 BMD, XLRI Jamshedpur), Co-CEO, Ajim Premji Foundation

The policy of having a school near every habitation has built in a difficult challenge for our schools and teachers

I am writing this from Shorapur, a 10-hour drive from Bangalore, and I am admiring India’s achievement in the past couple of decades of having schools at accessible distances from habitations. In this truly remote block, every village that I have visited has a government school with a decent building.

This is not surprising, because by 2006, 98% of habitations in India had a primary (up to Class V) school within 1km, and 86% had an upper primary (up to Class VII) school within 3km. The numbers have grown since, with a clear focus on “being near every habitation”.

This means a staggering increase in the number of schools. At the time of independence, India had about 130,000 schools. Today we have about 1.4 million. About 7 million people work in our school education system. This is by far the largest education system in the world.

Factor in the cultural, linguistic, socio-economic and developmental diversity, and you also face the most complex education system in the world. This system has about 210 million students.

This massive expansion has not resulted in actual learning in those schools. We have lots of schools now, but precious little real education. The causes and challenges are many, this column is about a specific one.

The design of this expansion has inadvertently “in built” a difficult challenge for our schools and teachers. This is one of the hurdles in the path towards real learning and improvement in quality of education. As a result of this strategy of “being near every habitation”, the number of students in our schools (especially rural ones) is small. Each school has just about as many as can come from the nearby habitation. Within that small number, the students span all age groups. A school may have 115 children, but the children will span an age range across 6 to 13.

Now, even if this school were to have three teachers, which is more or less at the current national average of one teacher per 39 students, the teachers would need to handle multiple age groups simultaneously. This is called “multi-grade” teaching—in this case seven “classes” would have to be handled by three teachers.

If you talk to practitioners, they say this is much more difficult then handling a class of same age children. It requires special training, different methods and different skills.

And we have built this challenge of “multi grade teaching” into almost all village schools by the way we have handled the expansion. One of the most complex teaching challenges has become a part of the everyday job of most village teachers, who by general admission are inadequately equipped and ill supported to deal with academic challenges.

It’s not as though we did not have a choice of another model of expansion. China in comparison has about 700,000 schools, including vocational training ones, and spanning about 250 million children.

The Chinese system has about half the schools, and about 20% more students, compared with India. Roughly, the average student number per school in China is 2.25 times that in India. China has followed a route of consolidation; we have followed one of dispersion. The former leads to an exponential drop in the “multi-grade” load of teachers, as is the case in China.

Two factors played a dominant role in the choice we made.

The first was our policymakers’ single-minded focus on “literacy”, and keeping learning outcomes and quality of education on the backburner. The second was the pragmatic assessment that getting children to travel away from their habitations, with our kind of infrastructure, was not possible. There seems to have been an almost implicit assumption that “let’s do literacy first, and then we will see about quality”. The whole expansion got designed for that. I would speculate that things like “multi grade teaching” and its challenges were practically overlooked.

Those choices were made under certain circumstances. Sure, these could have been better, but they could also have been a lot worse. What matters is that there is now no way to unwind or reconfigure the system.

We can and must still deal with it. That requires significant teacher capacity development, improved classroom practices and appropriate curriculum. It’s these fundamentals that need to be worked on and invested in

In fact with a capable, well-trained teacher and appropriate curriculum, multi grade teaching can be a learning enhancer. In Machagondal Camp, 10km from Shorapur, I met Uma who, in her early twenties, is a government teacher in the local school. She has handled class 1 toV for the past two years, all on her own, and the children have learnt. She was the only teacher in this one room school till a couple of months ago.

I have seen this happen in other government schools in this block, alive with enthusiastic well-trained teachers, using the “nali kali” curriculum.

There is hope, but to truly address the problem, we have to first notice and acknowledge the elephant in the room, inadvertently let in by having schools in every habitation.

Anurag Behar is co-CEO of AzimPremji Foundation and also leadssustainability initiatives for Wipro Ltd. He writes every fortnight on issues of ecology and education. Comments are welcome at othersphere@livemint.com

To read Anurag Behar’s previouscolumns, go to www.livemint.com/othersphere

(source: http://www.livemint.com/)

Article by Anurag Behar (92BMD, Xlri Jamshedpur ), co-CEO, Ajim Premji Foundation

3rd National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship @ XLRI (Jan 28-30, 2011)

Time: Friday, January 28, 2011 at 11:00am - Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 2:00pm

Location:
XLRI Jamshedpur

CH Area (East)

Jamshedpur, India

This conference on the theme - Youth, Development & Social Entrepreneurship - aims to create a platform for the youth (young professionals and students) to explore social entrepreneurship, and to help them to understand the nuances, challenges and opportunities in this field. The conference design will allow the participants to interact wit social entrepreneurs, development professionals and those engaged in the various sub-sectors of social space, around the following themes:

* Youth, Volunteerism and Social Entrepreneurship
* Challenges of Being a Young Social Entrepreneur
* Creating Markets for Marginal Producers
* Promoting Livelihoods and Employment
* Leveraging Technology for Social Development
* Sustainable Models for Underserved Markets
* Options for Funding and Investments
* Supporting Ecosystem for Social Entrepreneurs
More information at:
http://3rd-se-conference-at-xlri.blogspot.com/

XLRI '85 batch Homecoming

Christmas@XLRI

Fr E. Abraham S.J., Director, XLRI Jamshedpur conferred Lifetime Achievement Award by NHRDN

Father E. Abraham S.J., Director, XLRI Jamshedpur was conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the National HRD Network (NHRDN) during the second day of its national conference in Gurgaon on 2nd December 2010.The award to Father Abraham is in recognition of his excellence in HRD and his several contributions to the subject of HR management.

At the award ceremony Fr. Abraham thanked his mentors as well as his students for this achievement at the NHRDN conference. “I wish to thank all my colleagues for their support and the mentors who helped me in doing my research work. XLRI has been the home of HRD research. I also wish to thank all the students of XLRI who are implementing the lessons learnt at XLRI in their respective organizations.”

Fr. Abraham is the Director of the same B-school from where he did his PGD in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations. Prior to pursuing his PGD at XLRI he studied Sociology at Hindu College, University of Delhi. He also did his BA in Philosophy & Theology from Jnanadeep Vidyapeeth, Pune. He did his Ph .D Psychology (HRD) from Gujarat University.

This is not the first time that Fr. Abraham is leading XLRI. He was also the director from 1989-94. He later joined XIMB, where he served as the Director from 2000 to 2007. Since 2008 Fr. Abraham is the Director of XLRI, his alma mater.

Fr. Abraham has authored several research papers, some of which are: ‘HRD Practices in Indian Industries’; ‘HRD Climate in Indian Organisations’; ‘HRD Climate in Banks’.

The Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony was one of the major highlights of the NHRDN conference, which was attended by over 1200 HR professionals and management educators.

National HRD Network, an association of professionals in HRD sector, was set up in 1985 and has completed 25 years of service to HR community. Presently the Network has 30 chapters across the country with total membership of over 8500. Recently the association took a series of forward looking steps to further improve its governance, engagement with HR community and strengthen its network.

more at

http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/3989/XLRI-Director-conferred-NHRDN-award

XLRI Ensemble 2010

XLRI GMP 2011 Profile

XLRI GMP Profile at http://www.xlri.ac.in/downloads/gmpflash/index.html

XLRI Alumni Homecoming 2010

The word homecoming world-over signifies a tradition of welcoming back the alumni to their Alma matter to celebrate the spirit of conviviality and to connect with batch-mates, juniors, seniors as well as on-campus students. At XLRI the event - typically a two day affair organised by the alumni body of XLRI in association with the Jamshedpur chapter of the country wide alumni committee - is a concoction of sports and games, speeches, musical performances, and formal dinners.

XLRI homecoming holds special significance owing partly to the long tradition of hosting batches after batches, on campus, since 1960 and partly to the overwhelming participation from world over. The prominent attendees from last year itself include Mr. B. Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel, Mr. Kalyan Ganguly, MD, United Breweries Ltd., Mr. Bushen Raina, Chairman, JUSCO and Mr. Rana Sinha, MD, Telcon all from the Business Management program.

Scheduled this year between the 20^th and 21^st of November, the homecoming is expected to play host to close to two hundred alumni. The event will kick off with an inauguration ceremony involving a presentation by Fr E. Abraham Director, XLRI and an address by the National President of alumni association Mr. Bushen Raina welcoming the Alumni back on campus.

The two days that follow are packed with activities to keep the alumni engaged. These include the prestigious JRD Oath taking, the alumni award ceremony, formal dinners and community lunches. In addition to these more traditional events there are several activities aimed at increasing the level of interaction and association the alumni will want to feel on coming back to campus. The Nukkad-Natak – a street play performed by a contingent from the seniors and juniors batches - reflecting the XLRI value system and an evening of rock and country folk music by the Shiva band – being brought in especially from Kolkata - is sure to touch a chord and make the event an unforgettable one.

Diwali @ XL

There are just some of those occasions when no matter where you are you miss your family. Diwali, the beautiful festival of lights and hope, is definitely one of these. The very thought of being away from home on this day would bring feelings of despair. But ask an XLer and you will surely be hit with a different viewpoint.

The B school rigor doesn’t permit you to be home for Diwali but the beautiful XL culture ensures you make it a grand day in your calendar. So let’s begin with how it all started. The day started with people waking up early in their hostels (and this does include boys hostel :P) and gearing up for the celebrations. People put in hours to make their own little efforts which included internal room decorations, beautiful rangoli designs, lightning. The hostels transcended from mere buildings, they shimmered and glittered in the spirit of the festival.

As the sun dawned the actual efforts being made since morning started taking shape. Lighting illuminated the entire campus - trees, bushes , buildings. There were diyas and candles on every road, every path. The regional association in charge of the arrangements (COWBAXI) did a fabulous job, the members ran the entire day to make sure everything was in place. Evening saw everyone volunteering and lighting innumerable candles and diyas across the entire campus :). Then the celebrations began; everyone gathered for the traditional puja and recited the prayers. After the puja ceremony we all moved to the lawns where special arrangements were made by the faculty members. On our way to the lawn we could see the splendid amount of effort put in to ensure every nook and corner of the campus was brightly lit up. We met our excellent faculty at the lawns and were overwhelmed by their hospitality. There were stalls for everything right from snacks to main course to desserts and everything was a pure delicacy. It was a blend of cultures in the most delicious manner; there were idlis, dhoklas, cholle puri, jalebi, rabri and other mouth watering items. There was a crackers bursting session which saw participation from several students and faculty members. The entire XL family was in one place filling the ambience with extreme warmth and togetherness.

This was followed by a small cultural night put together by the students in our favourite JLT arena. The setting was exquisitely traditional – khatiya, badam milk and an excellent show. There were numerous games and stunning performances by the students. There was a stupendous display of fireworks; the sky was brightly lit in red, blue, green, golden and other wonderful shades.

The day made us fall in love with XL all over again, with the spirit of XL culture, the invaluable bonding and togetherness. It was an experience that goes into the diary of each one of us amongst the most cherished times and like all such experiences you just have to be there to feel it.

"Strategic Brand Management for B2B Markets" - by Prof Sharad Sarin (XLRI Jamshedpur)

Strategic Brand Management for B2B Markets

by Prof Sharad Sarin (XLRI Jamshedpur)

Sage Publications (Response Books)
ISBN: 9788132105220

This book aims to uncover the hidden and unexploited power of leveraging from the concept of brand and brand building for B2B marketers. It focuses on the need of B2B marketing from the point of view of Indian markets and economic conditions at home.

With extensive discussions on the three most respected corporate brands in India—Tata, Larsen & Toubro and Infosys—the author demonstrates how these companies have created value through brands and how their branding initiatives are benchmarks in their journey to success. With three decades of experience as an academician and consultant in B2B Marketing, the author argues that a brand-driven business can accelerate the transformation of all the big and small B2B marketers to gain competitive advantages. He advocates the need is for a holistic brand management approach and illustrates his point through six case studies of leading brands

Prof Sharad Sarin (B.E. (Jodhpur), PGDBA (IIMA), Ph.D. (Pune)) has been with XLRI since 1976. Before joining XLRI, he worked in industry for four years. He is currently on the Boards of XLRI Jamshedpur, Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad and Tata Refractories Limited. Over the last 30+ years, he has been a corporate consultant to several large and well-known Indian companies. He has conducted more than 100 programmes and workshops on Strategic Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Relationship Marketing, Strategic Management and Customer Satisfaction, both in India and abroad. He has been Visiting Faculty to IIM-Ahmedabad, University of Colorado at Boulder and Rhode Island in the USA. His areas of interests are: General Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Competition and Globalization, Relationship Marketing and Marketing’s Role in Development.

Prof Trishit Bandyopadhyay's book: A Regional Energy-Economy Model - A Case Study Of Karnataka

A Regional Energy-Economy Model - A Case Study Of Karnataka: Incorporating penetration of new and renewable energy technologies in a multisectoral intertemporal optimizing framework

by Prof Trishit Bandyopadhyay, XLRI Jamshedpur

Publisher: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing (14 Oct 2010)
ISBN-10: 384335992X
ISBN-13: 978-3843359924


It is widely being acknowledged that renewable energies will become important in future and we are already getting a glimpse of that now.In order to study the impact of penetration of new and renewable energy technologies in a regional economy,under a planning and policy analysis context,-it is often desirable to have a unified framework which integrates all forms of energies,both conventional and renewable,that have reasonable potential of being harnessed.This integration has been achieved here by developing a multisectoral intertemporal optimizing model which allows the study of interactions between the energy sector and the regional economy and thus would be a valuable tool for energy planning and policy analysis.Equity related goals could also be introduced into the model,as shown in the book while assessing the impact of gap reduction in per capita household energy consumption as heat between rural and urban areas.The working of the model has been demonstrated by energising it with data from the state of Karnataka,India.The energy policy analysts,the regional planners,and students including practitioners interested in applications of optimizing models should find this book useful.

Prof. Trishit Bandyopadhyay, B.Tech(IIT Kharagpur), Fellow(IIM Bangalore] teaches Strategic Management of Technology, Innovation and Operations at XLRI Jamshedpur. He has earlier worked in public and private sector organisatons in areas such as Electronic Switching R&D, Project Implementation and Production Management.

Our class profile brochure is out!

Our class profile brochure is alive and kicking at:

XLRI GMP 2011

It can be accessed from the XLRI website in following ways:

Home >> Placement>> One Year Full time GMP batch >> Click here for Individual Profiles of GMP 2011

Home >> Academic Programme >> General Management Programme >> Class Profile >> Click here for Individual Profiles of GMP 2011

Our guys had been working on this for quite sometime, amidst all the quizzes and “9 hours a day” class schedules. Kudos to them for the great work!

Krish Shankar, ED-HR, Bharti Airtel @ XLRI

“The future of HR is all about strategy. Ten years down the line, the foremost concern of HR managers would be harmonious alignment of organizational goals and strategy, capability building and talent sustainability. And the biggest challenge then will be managing distinctive aspirations of a diverse set of people,” said Mr Krish Shankar, Executive Director, HR at Airtel. He was delivering a talk on ‘The past, present and future of HR’ to management students at XLRI Jamshedpur on Friday.

Shankar, an alumnus of the 1984 batch of the institute, joined Airtel in 2007 after 21 years at Hindustan Unilever Limited.

Describing the strategy of top Silicon Valley companies like Facebook and Apple, Shankar said, “They just do not let the best minds leave. If an employee is the cornerstone of your firm, there is a need to recognize that fact and do everything possible to retain him.”

Of all the changes taking place in businesses across India, he identified three major fields of opportunity. The first is technology, which is now “completely out of this world” and even the most incredulous of ideas cannot be discounted without due thought. This advance has resulted in an accelerated cycle of changes and transformed business dynamics, which form the second field of opportunity. “There are new winners, new losers every 5 years. Nokia, which was earlier the undisputed King of Mobiles, is still wondering what went wrong after the iPhones and RIM took away their share of the pie. The lesson is that you have to be on your toes to keep ahead of the market,” he explained.

Talking about the youth, whom he termed as Gen I owing to their impatient, indulged and individualistic attitude, Shankar said they would spur faster growth. “None will be content with waiting 25 years to be CEO. Also, talent is coming from Tier II cities and that is what corporates should look for,” he added.

Leaving students with a final nugget of advice, Shanker said: “We are about to embark on the age of entrepreneurship and widening choices. As managers, always understand the big picture.”

Typical Day @XL

“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnng!”

I half-opened my eyes.

“Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnng!”

“Thud”. I found myself wide awake and on the floor. The jazziest and noisiest calling bells of XLRI GMP hostels can do just that to you! The alarm clock at my bedside table said 7:30 am. Who else but the dhobi to give you a warm wake up call at 7:30 am in the morning!

After collecting the clothes from the dhobi (and making sure none of them had casualties), I got down to the tasks for the day - boot up my laptop and check out the time-table for the day. Classes at 9:00, 11:30 and 2:30 - one of those rare days when they don’t stretch till 9:15 pm. However, 2:30 classes meant no time for an after-lunch power nap!

Dumped the required notebooks and handouts into the bag and proceeded to get ready for classes. By the time I got ready, it was 8:45. A quick rush down the stairs barging straight into the canteen! Grabbed a couple of slices of bread and a cup of coffee and rushed the five minute distance to the learning centre.

So begins a typical day in XLRI! One would presume that all the caffeine and the rush to reach the class would have jolted me into full consciousness, but no – as soon as the class warms up, my brain hibernates! On some days, I would brave the storms of sleep for the first one and a half hours, but the second battle is almost always lost!

Daddu’s chai shop round the corner serves as a beacon as the clock inches towards 10:30 and sometimes becomes the only pleasing thought that my mind hangs on to, to escape getting caught dozing.

Daddu’s is not just a chai shop – it is an experience. Its own story is heavily intertwined with the history of XLRI and it has been around ever since the institute was just the admin building and the learning centre. Daddu’s has marvellously integrated with the culture of the institute and has found its way into the numerous marketing, operations and even quant examples that Professors discuss in class!!! All important conversations happen in front of Daddu’s and all notices are pasted in front of Daddu’s.

Come 12:30 and there is a stampede down the stairs to reach canteen. Lunch hour often witnesses us gobbling up food and retreating into our rooms to catch a quick nap before the afternoon grind begins.

It is always a Herculean effort to pull myself out of bed at 2 and walk back towards the learning centre. The hot and humid weather does little to help the cause! Somehow all 120 of us manage to get into the cool air-conditioned recesses of our classes, with sighs of relief!

Come evening, all the pent-up energy of the batch comes out! People can be seen milling about, armed with tennis or badminton racquets. Shouts of victory or disgust can be heard from the C-block TT room. It is a different set of people that you come across in the evenings. And beware of fast-flying footballs if you feel like taking a stroll in the park!

As the sun sets, so does the adrenaline rush. Suddenly the topics change into the assignments that need to be completed by the following day. Groups can be seen huddled together, engaged in animated conversation over laptops.

The dhaba adjacent to the canteen becomes active and several rounds of tea find their way into sleepy hands. After dinner and a quick smoke, everyone take their way back into the respective dens or to the library for some study or handout-reading. By about 2 am, traffic resurges. People emerge from the hostel and the library to meet for tea at the all-night canteen. There is no dearth of food for the hungry at night! The aloo-parathas and cheese-maggi at the all-night canteen are among the tastiest ones in the world! The badminton court adjacent to this canteen is filled even at this time! Finally by about 4 am activity comes to a halt and the night is at last serene – awaiting the commotions of the next day!

- Written by my colleague Radha.

GMP arouses media interest – Our Dean interviewed by coolavenues

Since last few years, 1 year MBA has been generating a lot of interest in India. Sensing this trend and the need for more information about some of the top 1 year MBA programs, coolavenues recently interviewed Dr Pranabesh Ray, Dean(Academics) and asked him specific questions about GMP.

 

Some of the insightful comments by Dr Ray were:

“The average experience level in GMP is about 6.5 years which is neither too high nor too low for executive education. We have noticed that at this experience level, a working professional has gathered useful industry knowledge and more importantly has a clearer sense of direction. This makes it easy for them to get back to school and learn fast for the long haul. “

“Starting with the current batch, GMP is now our flagship program. So it goes without saying that we take this program as seriously as we take our other programs. The same features which XLRI stands for – the faculty, the coursework, the infrastructure and the unique XLRI culture - make this program one of the best executive MBA programs in India. “

 

“GMP was launched in 1996 when no one had heard of a 1 year full time MBA program for executives. It was initially available only for executives of Tata group of companies, but we opened it to public in 2002 when requests from industry for such students started piling up. I can say that the industry wanted to build a strong middle management layer in their organizations and we responded with GMP.”

Here is the full interview : http://www.coolavenues.com/mba-aspirant/dean-talk/colloquy-dr-pranabesh-ray-dean-academics-xlri

GMP Newsletter - October Edition

GliMPse - October 2010

XL Utsav 2010

The faculty, staff and students of XLRI are all set to revive an old and extremely important part of XL culture -- The XL Utsav. The event, a cultural extravaganza set to last from morning to night on Oct 2, will feature sports and games that pitch the faculty and staff against the students on a level playing field.

After lunch, some fun events are scheduled. Food stalls offering delicacies from all corners of India will be put up by the various regional committees. The day is set to culminate in a grand cultural night. Lots to look forward to!

Keep checking back for more updates.

Here are some memories of XL Ustav from the past:

http://lifeatxl.blogspot.com/2007/08/xl-utsav-family-festival-aug-11-12.html

http://xlcampus.blogspot.com/2004/10/xl-utsav-2004-celebrations-abound.html

Outlook magazine ranks XLRI "Top Private B-School in India"

GMP News letter

GliMPse - September 2010

GMP Football team

XLRI GMP TT Tournament

Semifinals

Finale

Winner - Prashant Sahay (R)
Runner-up - Bhuvan (L)

Alumni Homecoming 2010

We are all set to welcome the XL alumni for this year's Alumni Homecoming, scheduled to be held during the weekend of 20-21 November, 2010.

This little note is to politely remind you of our XL family get-together that strengthens our XL bonds and fosters camaraderie amongst us. The institute is happy to invite you for all the events that are being organized in connection with the Homecoming 2010.

Please grace the occasion with your presence. For further details, please check out the Alumni Portal at:

http://alumni.xlri.ac.in/homecoming2010/

For those of you who have not registered yourselves in the Alumni Portal (http://alumni.xlri.ac.in/) please do so at the earliest. Ms. Padmini Singh from the Alumni office will assist you in registering your name. Her contact details are:

Email: alumni@xlri.ac.in

Mobile: 9955132937/9135358468.

Alum ‘81 and COO of Accenture India visits GMP: Ms Rekha Menon on Success, Leadership, Core values and more

It is tough to be a CXO in today’s interconnected world. You have to be ultra careful in each decision you take and that makes the job much more difficult. The solution is to define your core values and be true to them whatever you do. This was only one of the personal insights shared by Ms Rekha Menon, COO of Accenture India and an XLRI alumnus, while she was talking to the current students of General Management Program(GMP) at XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Ms Rekha Menon, the gold medalist from 1981 batch of XLRI, graduated at the time when women were seldom seen outside their homes after 6 pm and the top recruiters of those times refused to hire women for business management functions. How she got successful by fighting such a discriminating system and still managing to retain her core values was an insightful learning for the current students, especially the numerous female students of XLRI.

The audience was particularly enriched by Ms Menon’s ideas on leadership qualities needed for a top leader in today’s corporate environment. She said – “Since the industry is changing at a phenomenal pace, ambidexterity and adaptive capacity of a leader is absolutely essential today.” She also cited “ability to learn from the crucible and challenging events in one’s life” as one of the differentiating factors between great leaders and the rest. However the most fundamental and defining quality of all is one’s integrity and a set of other core values which one needn’t “wear on the sleeve” but withhold supremely in all one’s actions.

This last quality is especially relevant in today’s context when in addition to imparting quality management education; it is increasingly becoming important for Bschools to teach about the value systems. And that’s exactly what got reinforced by Ms Menon today. “Look at the mirror hard”, “Think what you will be remembered for” were some of the expressions which threw the budding managers in introspection.

 

 

In the ensuing question and answer session, the students also sought Ms Menon’s insights increasingly relevant areas of corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, scarcity of successful entrepreneurial ventures in India and the threat to Indian IT industry from China and Latin American countries.

Ms Rekha Menon is an XLRI alumnus, and the gold medalist from 1981 batch. Starting her career on the shopfloor of Eicher Goodearth, and then moving to Ashok Leyland, she has also served as the General Manager (Human Resources) with Aditi Technologies. She co-founded of India's first CRM company, Talisma, in 2000, before joining Accenture in 2004. During her tenure, Accenture India has shown a multi-fold growth from a 3000-people company to now more than 57,000-strong company (and the largest Accenture operation globally).

XLRI students’ date with social issues

Jamshedpur, Aug. 24 (The Telegraph): In a unique initiative, XLRI for the first time has decided to undertake a series of social projects on the outskirts of the city under the guidance of senior professor M.G. Jomon.

Elaborating on the project, which kicks off tomorrow and will continue for a week, XLRI officials said 12 teams had been formed to be assigned programmes such as organising medical camps at different localities to spread awareness on healthy lifestyle.

“We have chalked out a list of programmes to be carried out in different areas. Our objective is to help students learn about human behaviour. The students will mingle with the people and try to understand their problems and help them overcome it,” said Madhukar Shukla, a senior professor of XLRI.

Professor Jomon said they would soon organise a fun fair at Kalyan Niketan, run by All India Women’s Conference in Kadma. The first phase of the project will involve identifying an orphanage in Jamshedpur and encouraging the inmates to participate in various fun-filled programmes. “The idea is to make them feel that they are not alone and they too can lead a normal life,” said a student of XLRI, who would participate in the social live projects.

The B-school also intends to organise a daylong eye-checking camp for underprivileged children on the premises of Gyan Deep Vidyalaya in Birsanagar. Opticians and doctors would be present at the camp to check the students and to offer them the necessary diagnosis.

A career counselling session would be conducted on XLRI campus to make students aware of the different career opportunities available to them.

“It will be conducted among students of Class X to XII and their concerns regarding different career paths will be addressed,” said another student of the B-school.

There will be a project christened ”Samarpan — a ray of hope whereby tribal families around Sundernagar on the outskirts of the city would be invited to participate in a host of recreational activities.

Joy of Giving Week (Sept 26-Oct 2, '10): XLRI to anchor Jamshedpur JoyFest on grand scale

Jamshedpur (August 20, The Pioneer): City-based leading B-school XLRI is gearing up to celebrate Jamshedpur JoyFest 2010 as a part of the nationwide event, Joy of Giving Week (JGW), in grand scale this time. The JGW event is scheduled from September 26 to October 2.

In a meeting between XLRI students’ committee members of SIGMA (Social Initiative Group for Managerial Action) and CII-Yi (CII-Young Indians), plans were chalked out for the JGW.

Prof Madhukar Shukla, chairperson, external linkages, XLRI, said that this was the second meeting for the purpose, and they were also joined by student club — Sankalp — of NIT Jamshedpur. In an earlier meeting in July with local stakeholders and NGOs, some ideas had been brainstormed to celebrate the week.

“We have decided that many events held last year will be repeated this year too including “Vastra-Samman” however, it was also discussed that the initiatives launched during this week should have wider, longer-lasting and sustainable impact.

This year it has been decided to design and launch a training programme on “basic accounting” for the Self-Help Groups through collaborating with local NGOs, such as Kalamandir and to participate — and give time and skills —in the education programme run by the Rotary Club.

Officials informed that plan this time is to involve the schools children more actively through Design for Change programme, which is a nationwide event, give in terms of one’s time and professional skills to counsel the school students for vocational guidance.

NIT students club —Sankalp — offered to use their engineering skills to develop inexpensive technologies such as smokeless chulhas, water filters, which can be provided to slum-dwellers and in rural areas.

The school music bands will be organised to create a musical evening to raise funds for charities and NGOs. The reach of the XLRI alumni network will be used to create larger awareness of the JGW, and involve them in the planned events, through use of social media.

It was also noted that last year, the key initiative of Jamshedpur JoyFest was Vastra Samman, through which over 4 trucks of wearable clothes were collected and distributed to the needy in the rural areas through the NGOs.

Last year the celebrations started with a bike rally on September 27, with students, staff and faculty rallying around the city to spread awareness about the “Joy of Giving Week’’ through gifting clothes to the less-privileged.

This day was also dedicated to the senior citizens. The students visited Nirmal Hrudaya, an old-age home. Special performances were arranged to entertain the residents. The students performed dance, played music and distributed sweets.

"Marketing Management: A Decision Making Approach" - 5th book from Prof P Venugopal, XLRI

A contemporary discourse on the rapidly changing environment of the world of marketing, this book provides the mantra to transform short-run sales into long-term marketing growth. Starting with the basics of marketing, it takes the reader on a smooth journey to understand various strategies of correct 'decision-making' in the market. In doing that, it provides an in-depth analysis of how to build a sustainable customer base in the ever-growing competitiveness and dynamism of the Indian marketing arena.

The author defines marketing to include all activities associated with identifying the needs of the target customers and making them 'want' the product. Thus, the book redefines the need hierarchy, allowing marketers to look at their technical product as more than one marketing product, and develop a marketing product concept.

Prof P Venugopal is a Post Graduate and Fellow in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, is currently the Dean (Academics) and Professor (Marketing) at XLRI, Jamshedpur. He has been a Marketing faculty at XLRI, Jamshedpur, since 1994. He was the Dean (Academics), XLRI during 2004-2010. Prior to his stint at XLRI, Prof. Venugopal held managerial positions for 10 years in the marketing divisions of two agribusiness companies.

Professor Venugopal has authored the books on four books, including “Marketing Channel Management: A Customer Centric Approach” and “Input Management, The State of the Indian Farmer: A Millennium study”, and has also been involved as a consultant with several projects for both the profit and non-profit sectors.