GMPians Ankush, Lisa's day out with CEO of Reliance retail Mr Bijou Kurien

Reliance Lifestyle's CEO, Bijou Kurien has spent a complete day with 2 students of XLRI GMP and discussed the strategies, his success mantra, and the future of organized retail in India. This is a part of the concept “XLers Date With Excellence” launched by the XLRI GMP students of the 2010-11 batch.
XLRI GMP Students Ankush and Lisa spent a day with Mr Kurien.

It is a great opportunity for the students to learn the business nuances from the CEO of Reliance Lifestyle,  a man with 30 years of experience in the retail sector.

Following were some of the highlights of this event:
Mr Kurien shared his insights on the retail industry in India - the organized and unorganized sector, Reliance Retail's growth strategy and the future of Retail in India.
A perfect platform which showcased the blend of academia and corporate - MBA education and its application in the real world.
The students got an opportunity to closely observe the working style of the CEO and his day-to-day work.
Mr Kurien shared his secret of success and given suggestion to the next generation of future leaders.

Here's the complete article

Organized Retailing – the buzz word today! And with so many players, big and small, everyone seems to have a pie in this huge cake – that’s what the CEO of Reliance Lifestyle, Bijou Kurien, says. Ask him about the future of retailing in India and he very optimistically mentions – India will always have fair share of both, the organized and unorganized retailing and the brick and mortar stores are not going to die for a long time in the future.

While these thoughts were crossing our mind, we were also curious to see what do CEO’s generally do in their day-to-day work? We all get inquisitive and as MBAs fresh from college, the excitement is even more to see how CEOs work.  And this was our day to actually go and see, learn from the CEO himself. As we entered the cabin of Mr. Bijou Kurien, we received a warm welcome from the CEO which was then shortly followed by the rendezvous. 

Being an XL alumnus, he was very enthusiastic while speaking about the old timers of XLRI – the professors, the alums who are holding top positions in other companies and the administration office staff. The nostalgia drove in as he mentioned that that he was a part of the XL-IIMC Sports meet during his time – one of the most happening events at XLRI. 

We were indeed very fortunate to spend an entire day with the CEO of Reliance Lifestyle. The day went very smoothly starting from talking to Bijou on various topics like retail and its future in India, Reliance retail’s growth strategy, its philosophy behind the expansion, the jewelry business, sports specially Badminton, to relishing the delicious lunch at “The Great Kebab Factory”. As we climbed  the steps for lunch at the Mantri mall at Malleshwaram in Bangalore along with Bijou and his other colleagues, they showed us the 7 stores of Reliance Retail – aptly reflecting  the heavy expansion strategy of Reliance in the last couple of years!

MBA education actually made a lot of sense for us when we sat for the meeting with the “Property Approval Group” of Reliance Lifestyle along with the CEO. As we gathered, the meeting was held to decide on renting the best location for opening Reliance stores. Retail location analysis and detailed study was done to find out the best place for the Reliance stores to be located. Theories and concepts of Retail and Category management made a lot more meaning as we saw its use in the Reliance Lifestyle business. Education makes more sense when we see its application in real life and nothing better than the day with the CEO of Reliance Lifestyle business could have given us. We could experience the perfect blend of academia and corporate as time passed.

The second half of the day after lunch was spent mostly accompanying Bijou in his meetings on the jewelry business. We could sense Bijou’s knowledge of the industry and his style of working as the day progressed.  His knowledge about the retail sector and his insights during the meetings were very impressive.

What makes a great leader? As the day was drawn to close we got the answer to our question. It is the simplicity and the honesty towards your work that differentiates successful leaders from others. Here, on this day, we had met a man with 30 years of experience in the industry still very much enthusiastic about work, fresh with a huge pool of knowledge in him and an asset that is priceless and hard to find these days – simplicity!!. Once again, old truth started flashing in our minds as we were about to leave Bijou’s office – the most valued possession lies in the sincerity with which one works and holds on to his/her fundamentals  - rest everything falls in line.

Lisa Mohapatra & Ankush Gupta

Students of GMP 2010-2011

XLRI, Jamshedpur 

GMPian Ankit Arora's article on financial markets published by CoolAvenues

Good news friends !

One of our GMP colleagues- Ankit Arora has been published as an author on CoolAvenues.

Ankit has written an article focussed towards recent developments in Indian financial markets and how one can avail the business opportunities in this space.

Here is the excerpt from the article:

"The Indian financial markets are undergoing major transformation since the last 2 years. We are witnessing lot of new developments in Indian financial markets. This article attempts to cover some of the recent developments in Indian financial markets and the possible business opportunities that one can avail.

To begin with, recently [Apr 2011], NSE, National Stock Exchange of India introduced the Smart order routing [SOR] which would allow the orders to pass from NSE to various other stock exchanges. What SOR does is that it looks for the best possible price across various exchanges. So if Reliance is trading at 995 in NSE and at 1000 in BSE, this SOR system would execute your order on NSE and thus save you Rs 5 per share."

To read the complete article, please visit:

http://www.coolavenues.com/mba-journal/finance/recent-developments-and-business-opportunities-indian-financial-markets

XLRI covered in the Fun@BSchools column by ET

Some parts of the famed XL life have been explored by today’s Economic Times in its Fun@Bschools column:

Check out the full column in today ET here: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/index.asp

Cheers to XL!

Updates on Sports Tournament

Updates !

Day 3 [ 17 Mar 2011]

Table Tennis

As expected, TT competition today also comprised of some fiercely contested and topsy turvy games in this ultimate challenge race for supremacy and honour. The event witnessed large amount of sports enthusiasts who bore the heat and space constraints to support their respective players and teams. All the games were played in true spirit with players from both groups fighting hard to gain valuable points for their teams amidst loud cheering and support from the audience. It was a great treat to watch and the spectators got their money's worth. The day witnessed matches of great skill and bitter competition with Belal-Narendra Santhanam and Mrigank-Ananth matches being the standouts among all. Today was a day for the Blasters as they blew away their Acer opponents in most matches. Himadri,Ashish, Rishi and Ananth held fort for the Acers while Abhinav,Belal, Harish,Anuj Jhawar and Animesh kept the Blasters flag waving high with pride. Kudos to the competitors specially Balaji and Lavish who fought hard making the opponents sweat for their victory.

Cricket

Much awaited cricket match between Acers and Blasters was played on 16th morning. The weather was good and both teams eager to show their skills on the battle field. Match started with Acers won the toss and decided to bat first. The starting was not good, in the first over of match itself Acers lost their first wicket. After this, Acers batted carefully and steer the match towards a decent total of 102 Runs in 19 overs losing all the wickets. Top scorer from Acers was Lavish (31 runs) and from Blasters Ankush took 4 wickets while Animesh took 3.

Blasters started with a blast by putting 13 runs in first over of the match, but in second over they lost their 2 wickets and continue to loose wickets till a good partnership built between Ankush and Kapila but duo couldn’t save the Blasters from defeat of 22 runs. Kapila scored highest from Blasters side (21 runs). From Acers Junaid took 4 wickets and Manoj took 3. Chinmay and Anupam Aloke grabbed 3 catches each.

Tennis

Acers once again had a good day at tennis, winning both their games comfortably. Brijesh won against Prashant Sahay 6-0 and Anupam won against piyush 6-1. The third and the last match of the day between, both Blasters players, Ankush and Deepak is yet again a one sided affair with Ankush winning 6-1. With this the preliminary round almost comes to an end and the quarter final matches are scheduled to begin today at 5:00 PM.

Badminton

Two games we played - one an evenly contested match between Jerry and Narendra which Narendra won after a tiring battle on the court. Second match between Junaid and Yatendra comfortably won by Yatendra in direct sets.

With this Blasters take 10 pts lead over Acers for the first time in the tournament and we come to the quarter final stage today with lots of points and pride at stake.

XLRI GMP Presents Acers [Sec A] vs Blasters [Sec B]

XLRI GMP Presents

Acers [Sec A] vs Blasters [Sec B]

Dr. Mine Cinar's (Director, Center for Global Management & Responsible Leadership, Loyola University, Chicago) testimonial on XLRI-GMP

Dr. Mine Cinar's (Director, Center for Global Management & Responsible Leadership, Loyola University, Chicago) testimonial on XLRI-GMP:

XLRI Dream Run 2011

XLRI Dream Run

Davos 2011 - Vineet Nayar, HCL Technologies (XLRI Batch 1985)

GliMPse - January Edition

GliMPse - Issue 3

XLRI GMP Students’ Experience With The Chinese

In his book “Making Sense of Chindia”, Environment minister Mr Jairam Ramesh wondered if it would be possible for the two countries (India and China) to begin respecting each other and rise to commanding heights in the comity of nations.

“Well, if our recent experience is any indicator, then it does seem we are getting there” says Prof. Jittu Singh, head of International Relations department at XLRI Jamshedpur. What Prof. Singh is referring to is the recent interactions of XLRI students with Chinese and Taiwanese schools and institutions.

Nikhil Uppal, an MBA student of XLRI Jamshedpur had a “Chinese experience” just a week ago. Nikhil participated in and won “Olympus”, the flagship pan-India business leadership competition at IIMC`s B-School fest - Intaglio-2011. The participants came not only from top Indian schools such as all the IIMs, ISB and MDI but also from schools across Asia Pacific such as “China Europe International Business School” (CEIBS), Shanghai. “I found the Chinese participants very eager to learn about India, our education system and our core values” – says Nikhil when asked about his experiences. It seems Nikhil won not only the event, easily one of the toughest competitions in the b-school landscape, but along with other participants also managed to impress the students from across the Himalayas.

Carlos Conde, a contestant at Olympus and an MBA student from China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Shanghai, was all praises for the quality of Indian b-schools and their students:

“Although it was my first visit to India I felt the warm welcome of the organizers and competitors. Over the three days we bonded and formed friendship, but especially we had a lot of fun. I am very impressed with the high level demonstrated by Indian students, proving the high caliber of the business education in India".

Cut to Taiwan- China’s richer cousin. Recently, a few XLRI students from the 1 year MBA program – GMP, visited Taiwan’s Fu Jen Catholic University to understand the macroeconomics of one of the most developed cities in Asia. Not only they received grand welcome, but were much sought after not only by the local students, but also by the dignitaries from the industry as well as other institutions. For instance, they were invited by the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) which was interested in knowing the viewpoints of future business leaders of India. Lawrence Shan, Senior Vice President of TWSE greeted the students warmly and spent an hour discussing about Chinese macroeconomics and stock markets. “They have excellent long term vision. They wish to exchange ideas with our young talent and also attract them as investors in their future growth” says Amit Temurnikar the lead representative of XLRI student contingent in Taiwan.

“XLRI firmly believes in collaboration with top universities around the world and especially looks forward to exchanging management lessons with Chinese universities and their students”, sums up Prof. Singh.

Books Junction: Online Book Rental Library

http://www.booksjunction.co.in/ is a book rental library started by Deepak Agrawal (GMP '09, XLRI Jamshedpur ) in the NCR region

Online Book Rental Library, Fiction Library, Circulating Library - Books Junction run an online book rental library service in Delhi/NCR (Gurgaon, NOIDA, Ghaziabad and Faridabad). You can start reading books from our vast collection by registering with us and becoming a member.

MAXI Fair: XLRI plays brand games - 2-day consumer insight fest

Jamshedpur, Jan. 16 (The Telegraph): All work and no play makes brand survey a dull job.

XLRI’s MAXI Fair, an annual survey for corporate brands and consumer behaviour, goes into gaming mode to ferret out people’s insights of what makes certain brands tick and others don’t.

And in its 32nd edition now, the event, organised by its marketing association, has become a respected brand in itself.

The two-day fair that concluded today, has since last year, bagged the prestigious ISO 9001-2000 certification. And this year, it saw participation from reputed companies across diverse industry verticals such as Castrol, Reckitt Benckiser, IDBI Bank and Nestle.

In addition, it also saw participation from academia. And to draw maximum footfall, and hence, accuracy of results, organisers have decided to conduct the fair on two consecutive days, instead of just Sunday which was the case previously.

“With four companies and academic research, the MAXI fair tried to understand consumer behaviour through interesting gaming open for the public. Participation by visitors in various games helps us understand brand preferences affected by many factors,” said Himanshu Joshi, a senior member of MAXI and a second-year student of personnel management and industrial relations.

Around 120 student volunteers worked tirelessly for months to execute every aspect of the fair, ranging from sponsorships and media to logistics and entertainment.

The fair kicked off on Saturday afternoon, drawing over 500 participants within the first few hours of its opening. The evening was pure entertainment with game stalls, rides for children and a concert by XLRI’s in-house band, Bodhi Tree. Food stalls saw brisk business. In two days, footfall count was around 1,000-plus.

The stall researching for Castrol drew youths who discussed bikes and their maintenance. “At the Castrol stall, we hosted bike-related discussions with people that were captured on video. The company will get to know valuable insights into consumer behaviour from the footage,” said Pathik Krit Basu, of second-year business.

The idea of MAXI fair was conceptualised 32 years ago by marketing professor and visionary Sharad Sarin.

Every year since then, major Indian corporate houses bring their market research problems to students of XLRI, who design elaborate games around them. Hosted on XLRI grounds, the fair is open to people who have a good time apart from winning prizes in games. Students, on the other hand, get useful data on public preferences, which they analyse to solve problems faced by companies.

Stage set for MAXI Fair, XLRI to conduct market research

January 15 (The Pioneer): The Marketing Association of XLRI, popularly known as MAXI, is set to organise its annual MAXI Fair on January 15. Started in 1979, the MAXI Fair is a unique and innovative approach to conduct market research in a fun format.

Officials of MAXI informed that this year, several companies are taking part in the MAXI Fair. While some wants to understand consumer behavior and preferences their categories others plan to understand the tastes of the consumers.

The idea was conceptualised 31 years ago, much ahead of its time, by Sharad Sarin, Professor of Marketing at XLRI and a visionary. Year after year since then, major Indian corporate houses bring their market research problems to the students of XLRI, who design elaborate games around them.

These games are hosted in the XLRI grounds, and are open to public who visit the fair and have a good time apart from winning prizes. The students, on the other hand, get useful data about public preferences, which they then analyse to solve the problems faced by the companies. This makes the task of conducting the otherwise boring and mundane research easier and interesting.

“This year we planning to make it more academic oriented than fun and fair. We have made special arrangements for the event this year where the students will carry research work,” said a member of the organising team.

It may be mentioned that Brooke Bond tasted success to the tune of `100 crore with the idea of newly packaged tea. Pepsi in 2006 decided to give a new design to its packaging. ITC decided to venture into the biscuit market. These are some of the few success stories of brands which were once just ideas of XLRI students.

XLRI’s National Platform for Youth

Jamshedpur, Jan. 14 (The Telegraph): Social entrepreneurship is high on XLRI’s radar this month.

After the success of its previous two national conferences related to the social sector, the top B-school is hoping for a hat-trick with its 3rd National Conference on Social Entrepreneurship, to be held from January 28 to 30. The theme this year is Youth, Development and Social Entrepreneurship.



The three-day event will bring around 25 prominent experts on a common platform. Padmashree and Magsasay award winner Deep Joshi will give the inaugural address.

“The conference aims to provide a common space to development sector professionals. There will be discussion on what could be improved in various types of social sectors. This year, the conference will focus on the involvement of youth in the social sector,” said Madhukar Shukla, event co-ordinator.

The conference will have three broad categories — challenges, opportunities and getting started — with diverse topics such as involving youths to volunteer, creating markets for marginal producers, promoting livelihood and employment, leveraging technology for social development, options for funding and investments and supporting the eco-system for social entrepreneurs, among others.

“Each session will be addressed by three or four practising social entrepreneurs and development professionals. The participants will also be able to interact with the speakers in a free-wheeling interface,” said Shukla.

The event is open to all. Corporate organisations, NGOs and students will have to pay a registration fee of Rs 8,000, Rs 4,000 and Rs 800, respectively.

Those who want to attend the event can also log in at seconference(at)xlri.ac.in
Details at:
http://3rd-se-conference-at-xlri.blogspot.com/

GMP Student – Nikhil Uppal wins “Olympus” at IIMC!

  It gives us great pride to break the news that Nikhil Uppal, a GMP student, has won the finals of the Olympus, the flagship pan-India business leadership competition at IIMC`s bschool fest - Intaglio-2011.

The competition lasted 3 hectic days and saw the battle of 10 participants from all the IIMs, ISB and CEIBS, Shanghai.  Nikhil had contested from the "non IIMs" bucket as the wild card entrant and went on to defeat all the other participants. This indeed is a great achievement for XLRI and for GMP!

The link is : Intaglio Olympus

Kudos Nikhil !

Youtube Channel for XLRI GMP

New Youtube channel for XLRI GMP is live now.

This channel would feature many vidoes that we took during various occasions as GMP parties, International Immersion, Internships, Bithdays, Music, Group Hungamas and lot more.

Be connected with GMP youtube channel - GMPTube http://www.youtube.com/xlrigmp1011

GMPian Interview - SRIHARI Adventure Trip and Learnings

GMPian Interview - Lisa on Sports

CVL Srinivas joins Starcom MediaVest Group

Srinivas shall head the organization as MD, LiquidThread APAC, and chairman, Starcom MediaVest Group, India.

Starcom MediaVest Group has appointed media veteran CVL Srinivas as managing director, LiquidThread - APAC and chairman, Starcom MediaVest Group, India. Srinivas will report to Andrew Swinand, president, global operations, SMG and Brian Terkelsen, president and managing director, LiquidThread, SMG. He will work closely with Srikant Sastri, country chair, VivaKi India and will be a member of the SMG Global Management Group.

The post of chairman at Starcom is a new one; given the growing importance of India, SMG has created the position of chairman to oversee the India operation. A dedicated CEO for SMG India will be appointed soon, and this person shall take over from Ravi Kiran who had announced his decision to move on from the group in September, 2010.

On his new role, CVL Srinivas says in an official communiqué, "SMG's promise to be the Human Experience Company is fascinating and future-focused. I look forward to working closely with the teams at LiquidThread and SMG to translate this vision into tangible value for our clients". Srinivas will take charge with effect from January 5, 2011 and will be based in New Delhi.

For the record, LiquidThread represents the next stage of audience aggregation and content development for SMG. In line with the network's digital, open source approach, LiquidThread will increase the scale and innovation of SMG's content creation, moving beyond branded entertainment to create communities, conversations and advocates for brand properties. LiquidThread was launched in the US in April 2010 and will now be rolled out across the Asia-Pacific region.

CVL Srinivas has a Bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani and a Masters in Business Administration from XLRI Jamshedpur. He has previously worked at Maxus and Madison in leadership positions and was part of the start-up team at Fulcrum (now Mindshare Fulcrum) on the Unilever business. His latest assignment was at The Times Group as director, Private Treaties.

For more info :
http://www.afaqs.com/news/story.html?sid=29253_CVL+Srinivas+joins+Starcom+MediaVest+Group

GMPian Sanjeev Batra's Daugther - Siya Birthday

Last few hours of 2010 @ XL