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EDITOR’S MESSAGE
From the desk of IN-SYNC Faculty Advisor
W
arm greetings from Alumni Relations Committee, VGSOM!
Welcome to the 17th edition of In-Sync, earlier known as Scuzzy, the annual newsletter of VGSOM.
Dr. Prabina Rajib
Alumni committee coordinators Kamya Sharma Murali Kumar Prakash Murali Rajib Layek Subhasis Barman Tripti Srivastava Bharathi Ramadoss Jagannath Manivannan Madhav Parashar Ravindra Kumar Sayantan Sarkar Sonal Bhavsar Soumik Majumdar
The Placement process Vantage 2014 yet again continues on a high note. The placement process till now saw some top notch companies hiring our versatile students of the 2014 batch, something which VGSOM is popular for. Recruiters offered some of the most sought-after profiles. As many as 47 companies from almost all sectors of the industry participated to grab the best of the students and offered best of the compensation packages. The highest annual compensation offered was Rs. 20.03 Lakhs Per Annum and average compensation package stands at Rs. 11.78 Lakhs Per Annum. As of now 65 students out of 70 are placed. VGSOM had a PPI to PPO conversion rate of 100%. The students of VGSOM brought ever greater laurels to the college by winning contests from all across the country.
With July started the new academic year and new batch of students. 58 students from thirteen different fields of engineering were inducted into the college. With almost 67% of the batch having
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“Thi syearwedec i dedt oc hanget henameoft hemagaz i nef r om ‘ Sc uz z y’t o‘ i nSync ’keepi ngi nmi ndt heval uest hatVGSoM f ac ul t y andst udent sshar ewi t hi t sdi st i ngui shedal umni .Theal umnimi ght beawayf r om t hec ampusbutt hi smagaz i newi l lal waysbeamedi um t obr i dget hedi st anc e. ”
prior work experience, the batch is the perfect blend of fresh talent and students with work experience. The batch saw a slump in people with more than 36 months of experience than the previous batches. 9% of the students have an experience of more than 3 years. The summers for the batch of 2015 started off with a rush of dream companies offering lucrative packages and sought after profiles for interns. More than 10 companies have visited the campus for the same. Around 45% of the batch has secured a summer internship with many more companies to come. Various interest groups and clubs were dynamic throughout the year. This year we organized our annual business fest named Purvodaya with a motto of “Rise Believe and Achieve”. The event was a great success held in full pomp and show. Teams visited the campus from all across the country to participate in the competitions organized by the various clubs and committees in VGSoM. Don't miss to read the details of the event in the section dedicated to Purvodaya. We are also featuring contributions from students, faculty and research scholars at VGSOM and we are sure that you will like all of them. In-Sync will take you through all the nostalgic emotions that you would have never expected. So what are you waiting for? Turn on your nostalgia and start sifting through your dose of the happenings in your alma mater! Happy Reading!
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Clubs & Committees
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Conne c t2013 Carrying forward the tradition of conducting alumni meet which evokes nostalgia among the alumni for the life led at VGSoM, Alumni Committee successfully organized “Connect 13” , the annual alumni reunion in four different metros, which brought together alumni from varied backgrounds and work experiences on a common platform to relive their memories of the fantastic time. Alumni from Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and nearby regions turned up in huge numbers for the meet. The enthusiasm to meet batch mates and revisit the good old college memories was obvious from their faces and Alumni Committee along with the faculty members left no stone unturned to fulfill their expectations. The meet started with welcome speech followed by introductions, speeches by Professors and videos reviving memories of life at VGSoM. The video made all the alumni emotional and nostalgic about the hostel life, the VGSoM building, the eating joints in campus and all other things which made their life memorable at VGSoM. The recent happenings in VGSoM were shared with the alumni. The new club and committees and their achievements were introduced to the alumni. The events like Purvodaya, Vinculum, Vaarta and workshops were briefed to the alumni. The alumni were then asked to come forward and share their experiences about their stay at IIT Kharagpur. Alumni expressed their regards to all faculty members of VGSoM . The interaction with the alumni was treasured. They also communicated to us that they are happy to help VGSoM and its students and they also gave their valuable feedback and suggestions for the betterment of VGSoM. They all have praised Alumni Committee for organizing the
meet in such an unprecedented manner. One of our alumni, Jishnu Roychaudhuri, mentioned that this time it was one of the highest turnouts ever in Kolkata reunions. Then came the party time! Food and drinks were served and everyone started socializing with each other. Promises to stay in touch, exchange of numbers, enquiries about work in different management streams, suggestions to juniors, call by nicknames and on and on. The chattering had reached its peak towards the close of night. Alumni cherished the time spent and wished for the longevity of the night. It was time to depart but the urge to meet again with the family of VGSoM was conspicuous in everyone’s eyes.
Truly said, to meet and depart is the way of life, but to depart and meet is the hope of life. We part only to meet again!
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Mi l a p2013 A new initiative taken to have a better bond with our alumni and maintaining a good alumni network . Our professors like Prof. Kalyan Guin, Prof. Sangeetha Sahney, Prof. Anand Teltumde, Prof. Biplab Datta visited cities like Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata to meet the alumni to get valuable inputs from them to improve the quality of VGSoM one notch higher than now and also for placement purposes. Some of the important insights brought up during Milap -2013 were 1. Management Development Programme(MDP), customized to suit particular organizational contexts should be started just like other B-schools. 2. Create Alumni Meet Chapter for each location. Also formulate different positions like president, Treasurer, Secretary and Members for each location. 3. Industry recognized certification courses should be started in campus. 4. To target niche industry areas for placements. 5. To target companies with respect to specific profile of students for placements. 6. To do thorough industry research and analysis of companies. 7. To include a subject on innovation in the curriculum. 8. To do Visionary exercise by Alumni or industry professionals in the beginning of session, in order to make new batch aware of current Market Scenario and Corporate World. Indeed Milap-2013 was a grand success with many of our alumni turning up and hence our alumni bond got more strengthened . We are looking forward for valuable insights and guidance from you always in future. Alumni meet during admission process: A new initiate was started last year 2013 to include alumni for admission process of the VGSoM students. Few alumni turned up giving presentation about VGSoM to the aspirants. We are expecting alumni to turn up in future to take the interview of the aspiring candidates to maintain the quality of students intake and helping in admission process.
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Me e t sa tagl a nc e
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Va nt a ge Fi na lPl a c e me nt s2014 The placement committee at VGSoM,IIT Kharagpur takes pride in announcing this year’s interim final placements report “Vantage-2014” for the flagship MBA program.The school has achieved new heights by recording placements for more than 90% of the batch during the first round placement week & achieving the rare distinction of 100% PPI/PPO conversion. VGSoM has played host to many reputed firms during this round of placments. Several new recruiters along with a multitude of regulars participated in the selection process. Students were offered challenging roles acrosssectors like FMCG, consulting, BFSI, manufacturing, analytics and e-commerce. We thank our illustrious alumni faculty & the students for their exemplary support & look forward to their continued association during remaining placement season.
Ke ySt a t i s t i c s
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INSIDE STORY
Ba t c hof20132015 Ba t c hPr of i l e
The new academic session was started in July and new students were inducted into our VGSoM family. 58 students from diverse educational background and work experience joined the college. Although less in numbers but very energetic and enthusiastic with a perfect blend of fresher’s and work experience.
After the first week of registration and a couple of classes came the weekend that everyone was looking forward to – the induction weekend. The first day of the programme, ice breaking session, the perfect way to start interacting with seniors and classmates, and to break the formal atmosphere. Many activities were organized by seniors for juniors so to blend them with the culture of VGSoM. Already some students have shown active participation in different competitions and won awards and have started bringing laurels to VGSoM. I NSYNC |9
Ac hi e ve me nt s With plethora of awards and achievements by its students in all fields of management competitions, Vinod Gupta School of Management kept its flag high among the top B schools across the country and continued its grandeur. Below is a mention of the top 18 achievements by the proud VGSoMites.
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Pur voda ya Pur voda ya2013-Ri s eoft heEa s t It all began here in our own VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur with a dream, a vision, which few of the brave hearts of VGSoM had for their college. Days of sweat and storm, opposition from a lot of others still couldn’t undermine their souls and thus was born PURVODAYA. The annual management festival of VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur was incepted this year in November but the seeds of the brilliant idea of having a single business conclave combining the best of “Madison Avenue” and “Saamanjasya”. Prof. Golo Weber from Singapore,who shared his cosmopolitan views on going global.
Carrying the legacy forward, Purvodaya was a grand success in 2013. It was started on November 8 2013. Prof. Sushmita Mukhopadhyay, Prof. Rudra Pradhan and the honorable Dean of VGSOM, Prof. Kalyan Kumar Guin graced the inauguration ceremony of Kalakaar Vikas ! Flagship Entrepreneurship events like- Srijan, Consulting events like Insight, guesstimates, Quizzard, Finance event - Bull's eye, Marketing events- Leaders challenge, Bedazzled, NDTV Coca Cola support my school, Operation events Vorhersage, Quiz on Disaster Management, Saamanjasya events- Wired, Parishram, Shaastraarth were indeed a grand success and we witnessed a replica of Mahabharata battle, but of minds!! There was also session conducted on Global Business World - International Managers by
Purvodaya saw participation from renowned B-Schools of the country like IIMs, IITs, IMT, XIMB and the rest, it was a huge success and reinstated VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur’s image as a leading B-School of the country. Some of our generous sponsors were LIC, eBay, FinancialFinancial express, Indian Express, SIDBI, Ministry of Textiles, Coca Cola NDTV support my school, Micro tunes, and Spykar. Purvodaya provided the ideal training ground for young managers and budding business owners to sharpen their skills, test their wits against their peers before heading out for the actual battle. The virgin rays of Purvodaya will shine over the eastern skies for times to come and will return next year much bigger and better.
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HAPPENINGS IN IIT KGP
Convoc a t i on 59th Annual convocation of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur was held on 27th July 2013. Event saw over 2000 students conferred with graduation, post-graduation and Ph. D degrees. It was homecoming for hundreds of students who had recently passed out from the college.
Honourable Minister of Human Resource Development, Mr. M M Pallam Raju graced the occasion with his benign presence. Conjointly, the Senate and Board of governors granted the highest honour, the degree of Doctor of Science to Shri Arun Sarin, the telecom veteran & ex Vodafone CEO and to Shri Y C Deveshwar, for his visionary leadership in helping ITC gain a global identity. The day started with My Imprint Marathon, an initiative of the Institute Development Program organized by Students' Alumni Cell of the Institute. The proceedings shifted to a grand make-shift structure constructed at the Tata Sports Complex where the main convocation took place. Alankar – the Annual Magazine of the institute was released at the event by the Technology Literary Society. The day concluded with mesmerizing performances by sitar legend Padmasree Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan and table maestro Pandit Subhankar Banerjee.
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HAPPENINGS IN IIT KGP
I l l umi na t i on DI WALICELEBRATI ONS Diwali is celebrated in a special and unique manner in IIT Kharagpur that everyone will cherish throughout their life. Illumination popularly known as Illu is celebrated on the festival of Diwali, when thousands of diyas brighten up the campus and fill the heart of everyone with delight and cheerfulness. Gigantic structure conveying some message are created with Diyas and colors of Rangoli are spread on the floor in a way that they speak of a story at their own. The effort that goes into the Diwali celebration at IIT Kharagpur can never be comprehended by someone outside the college. This year also illumination filled the campus with its aroma of passion and flaunt of talent. All the halls participated in high spirits reflecting the fact that when technical minds are at work they can create wonders.
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HAPPENINGS IN IIT KGP
N. S. S. C. NATI ONALSTUDENTSSP ACECHALLENGE National Students Space Challenge is the sole technical fest of its genre dedicated to promoting space enthusiasm in India. It was conceived by Space Technology Students Society, a group of IITians from various disciplines working towards a common goal of motivating space interest among the student community of India, which is trying to emerge as one of the major forefronts in the field of space technology. Officially, spAts is the student body of Kalpana Chawala Space Technology Cell (KCSTC), the contact point of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), at IIT Kharagpur. Various events like Water rocketry, Drilldroid, Minestroid, SpaceTrek, Submerge, Spacebin were conducted at NSSC ’13 which provided an overwhelming opportunity to students from pan India to tackle real life space problems and take a step further as a budding space scientist. It also created a pathway to all minable asteroids to meet the demands of ever decreasing natural sources and provided a platform to build the next generation rover for a rescue mission or a water-rocket, design an underwater rover and battle with the best brains of the country. Cash prize worth Rs. 2,50,000 was given to the winning team
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HAPPENINGS IN IIT KGP
G. E. S. GLOBALENTREPRENEURSHI PSUMMI T2013 Ove rt hec our s eoft hi sye a r ,Ent r e pr e ne ur s hi pCe l lofI I T Kha r a gpurha sunde r t a ke nva r i ous a c t i vi t i e s ,i nc l udi ng t he Ent r e pr e ne ur s hi p Awa r e ne s sDr i ve ,a pa nI ndi ai ni t i a t i ve t os pr e a d e nt r e pr e ne ur s hi pi nc i t i e sa c r os sI ndi ai n20c i t i e s . TheGl oba lEnt r e pr e ne ur s hi p Summi t( s c he dul e df r om 1 1t h13t hJ a nua r y ,2013) ,t hea nnua l f l a gs hi pe ve ntoft heEnt r e pr e ne ur s hi pCe l lI I TKha r a gpur , pr ovi de doneoft hebi gge s te nt r e pr e ne ur i a lpl a t f or msf or a c a de mi c i a ns ,ne wa gee nt r e pr e ne ur s ,e mi ne ntbus i ne s s pe r s ona l i t i e s ,ve nt ur ec a pi t a l i s t sa ndt hes t ude nt st oga t he r a t onepl a c ea nds ha r et he i re nt r e pr e ne ur i a l e nde a vour sa nd e xpe r i e nc e s ,a ndt opl e dget ot a kee nt r e pr e ne ur s hi pi n I ndi at ogr e a t e rs c a l e s . The2013e di t i onofGES i sno e xc e pt i on,a ndf ol l owi ngi nt het r e ndofpr e vi ousye a r s ,i t wi t ne s s e dGue s tLe c t ur e sbyva r i ouse mi ne ntpe r s ona l i t i e s !DrHa r i s hHa ndeMa na gi ngDi r e c t or SELCO–I NDI A, a l s oa ne mi ne nts oc i a le nt r e pr e ne ura ndHo nour a bl eRa ma nMa gs a ys a yAwa r de e ( As i a ’ sNobl ePr i z e )i na ugur a t e dt hee ve nt . Fol l owe dbyhi mt hes ummi twi l lwi t ne s se xpe r i e nc e da ndi nnova t i ves pe e c he sofe mi ne ntpe opl e s uc ha sMrNa c hi ke tMor ,MrHa r i s hBa hl ,MrGa ur a vMa r ya ,MrAbha y aAga r wa l,MrK Cha ndr a s he ka ra ndot he r st i l l 13t hofJ a nua r y . Thes ummi t e ndswi t hi t sc l os i ngc e r e monyf a c i l i t a t e d byHonour a bl ee nt r e pr e ne ur ss uc ha sMrVi ka sGut gut i ya( Founde r&Ma na gi ngDi r e c t or , Fe r nsa nd Pe t a l s )a ndMrMa da nMoha nka( CMDTe gaI ndus t r i e s )s uc c e s s f ul l y . Wor ks hops ,f oc us e donbui l di ngt hee nt r e pr e ne ur i a la c ume nofpa r t i c i pa t i onbyMi c r os of t ,De l oi t t e , Fr a nkl i nCove y ,St a nf or dBi o-De s i gn,HDCFonva r i ousi nt e r e s t i ngTopi c swe r ec onduc t e d. Thi svi de oc onf e r e nc i ngs e s s i ons e r ve da sac onc l a vef ordi s c us s i onofoppor t uni t i e sa ndpr ogr a ms a i me dt owa r dspr omot i nge nt r e pr e ne ur s hi pi nva r i ousUni ve r s i t i e sa c r os st hewor l d. Thec onf e r e nc e wa sf ol l owe dbyadi s c us s i ona mongs tt heEnt r e pr e ne ur s hi pCe l l si nI ndi aa boutt heI ndi a ns c e na r i o a ndhowbe s tt ogoa boutpr omot i nge nt r e pr e ne ur s hi pi nt he i rr e s pe c t i vec a mpus e s . . TheGl oba lbus i ne s spl a nc ompe t i t i on,Empr e s a r i oa ndEnvi s i on,t hepr oduc tde s i gnc ompe t i t i on s a we nt r i e sf r oma r oundt hec ount r y . Anot he re ve nt ofme nt i oni st heSt a r t upCa mp, whi c hi nvol ve d i nt e r a c t i onofEnt r e pr e ne ur sa nds t ude nt sa nda i me da the l pi ngSt a r t upst or e c r ui tt hef i ne s tt a l e nt ofI I TKha r a gpurs t ude nt sf ori nt e r ns hi ps / j obswhi l egi vi ngt he ma noppor t uni t yt ome e tt hebi gge s t VCa ndAnge lI nve s t or si nI ndi apr e s e ntonc a mpus . 30s t a r t upsf r om va r i ouss e c t or sr a ngi ngf r om s oc i a lve nt ur e st ohe a l t hc a r et ot e c hnol ogy ,f r oma c r os sI ndi apa r t i c i pa t e di nGES2012.
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FACULTY SPEAKS Dr. Prabina Rajib PGP, ‘95
MBA (VGSOM), PhD (IIT Kharagpur) Specialization: Finance & Accounts Professor (Finance & Accounts) with Vinod Gupta School of Management IIT Kharagpur, Dr. Rajib has been a Fulbright Pre-doctoral Fellow at Purdue University. She has been bestowed with a Ph.D in International Finance by IIT Kharagpur apart from her Masters in Business Management majoring in Finance at the same institute.
Ca mpusCr i c ke t On a bright Saturday morning in late January, staff members as well as students of IIT KGP assembled at Tata Steel Sports Complex. T-20 cricket match was to be played between faculty and staff, as one team and students forming the other team. Scent of freshly prepared Vada and Samosa from the adjacent Tikka pervaded a part of the stadium. Kids of faculty and staff members ran here and there in gay abandon. Wives of faculty members sat in one corner of play area and were busy discussing the campus life. The rules of the match were revised before the match started. But before the match started, need for breakfast got the better of the players. Customary saturday breakfast of campus consisting Kachori, Alu tarkari and Jalebi from Bimla Sweets was served to all. After discussing and debating about the shrinking size of Bimala’s Kachori and Jalebi, both teams got ready to formulate the rules of the game.
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FACULTY SPEAKS
With lots of brainstorming, the following rules were formulated: • Umpire will be chosen from faculty and the umpire’s decision will be final and binding. • The score keeper will also be from the faculty side. • There is no “wide ball” when faculty team will be bowling. • There is no “no ball” when the faculty team will be bowling. The match began with faculty members winning the toss by default (there was no coin toss as it is always the faculty team that bats first). That has been the tradition and no challenges by the students were observed this time as well. Despite all the heavy odds, the first ball saw the HOD getting clean bowled. The middle stump was uprooted, yet the bowler knew that he should not believe what he saw. Rightly so, the umpire announced that the game was yet to start. It was a practice ball. Finally, after a lot of confirmations, the game officially started. HOD started the innings cautiously this time. He firmly stood at the crease and occasionally hit the ball, with a younger staff member running between the wickets. After six overs, the umpire decided it was time for the HOD to be out as he hardly garnered any runs for the team. The game went on with regular supply of cold drinks and Pakodas from Tikka served to the team members. The faculty team completed 20 over with 65 runs and 6 wickets. Students’ team came and conquered the game within 13 over at the loss of 3 wickets. Everybody joined for lunch with discussion hovering about all and sundry including what the losing team should have done to win the game. With a great deal of camaraderie between staff, teachers and students the day came to an end. Being one of them who were a part of this interesting and immensely enjoyable event, it got me thinking – even when everything was tilted against students, they won the game. It also made me realise in a very subtle way that if we have inherent strength, even when the whole world conspires against us, we will still be able to stand tall and make a mark. As management professionals, we have jargonised this – as a core competency.
By
Prabina Rajib 25th January 2014 Tata Steel Stadium, IIT Kharagpur
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Al umnusi ni t i a t i ve Ennovation Consulting
Ennovation Consulting, a leading Indian outsourcing company, provides a range of virtual assistant services to individuals, small and medium enterprises and large organizations across different industry verticals. Gobinda Roy, founder of this company, is an alumnus of VGSOM 2008 Batch. After 11 years of Industry experience, he has set up this online venture Ennovation Consulting in July 2010 to provide business operation supports and consulting services to small business owners from USA, Europe, Australia and many other advanced countries.
MR. GOBINDA ROY PGP, ‘08
Our Vision:
At Ennovation, we strive to give our clients the best solutions and a great return on their money spent. We want to provide them with an intellectual knowledge base, where the Ennovation team will not only be a mere service provider but also an innovation generator.
Our Mission:
Our mission statement:” Solution simplified” symbolizes the core principles of Ennovation. We are always concerned about our customer’s needs and strive to provide the best of services in the shortest span of time. Our mission is to provide clients with the best experience possible and give them the highest quality services in return.
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Our services:
We provide a range of online services for small business owners to assist them in planning and managing their ventures. We help them both in pre start up and post start up phases. Our services are as following: • Business Analysis supports: PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, Market Analysis, Industry analysis, GAP analysis. • Market Research – Online market research, Competition research, Kew words analysis • Niche research – Health and nutrition research, nutrition panel development, nutrition and recipe apps development for I phone and Ipad . • Business Support and operation (Virtual assistant): Social media marketing and account management, Email Marketing supports, Lead generation, online marketing supports , human resource support etc .
Milestones achieved:
In last 4 years, we have successfully delivered over 450 small, medium and big size projects. We have managed to get over 40 % repeat clients and ensured above 90 % customer satisfaction levels over the years. We are proud to work for many INC 500 companies in USA. We have in-house team members, consultants and offshore delivery support associates (based in Bangladesh and Philippines) to support our business operation and services.
Our marketing initiatives:
We have developed our client base based on our extensive online marketing initiatives over the last few years. We have been developing the sales funnel through building and showcasing our products and services on various online platforms (such as Elance , Crunchbase , few other niche forums). But our major leads come from our referrals networks.
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Our future Initiatives:
1. Content marketing strategies: We like to create a strong online brand through a new set of online content marketing campaigns. 2. Reinforce our branding by improving user experience: We are now upgrading our website to accommodate more structural changes and enrich with rich contents for our prospective clients. 3. Major initiatives on new products: We are looking for introducing Google analytics based products and services for our clients.
Our challenges as a small online venture:
1. There is a huge demand for small business consulting services in USA, Australia and other developed nations as their local people have strong entrepreneurial mindset. Many online and offline startups are coming up every day and they want supports in form of online marketing, market research, business support and day to day operation support . But Ennovation has been facing a tough challenge to recruit and retail talents on an ongoing basis to serve this market. 2. It being an Indian company, we have been facing strong entry barrier to establish our company as a strong brand in USA and other developed countries. We need few more years to establish it as a trusted brand. 3. We have limited budget for new technology and process training, so we need to take more time to launch a new product in the market.
Visit us at: www.ennovationconsulting.net
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CLUBS & COMMITTEES
CORPORATEANDMEDI AI NTERACTI ONSCELL It was another eventful year with Summits and Guest lectures being conducted during the year.We at CMI, make sure the students get enough corporate world exposure through “VAARTA� our guest lecture series.As a part of VAARTA 2013 we had a lot of guests from varied backgrounds, visiting VGSoM to deliver guest lectures.
EVOLUTION OF THE STOCK MARKETS: IMPORTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY NehalVora - Chief Regulator, Bombay Stock Exchange Ltd MrNehalVora took us through an elaborate journey of evolution of stock market and SEBI in past one and a half decade where he emphasized on the role technology has played in the securities of market in India. We were introduced to KYC and how it reduced the chances of faking and forgery as all the KYC forms were uploaded on one server with the KYC registering authority.Next in line was the reform of dematerialization of all the shares in the market and transform them into electronic certificates. He concluded the session by talking about the multi-level surveillance system of BSE Ltd. Recently E-boss was launched to add on to the safety and integrity of the BSE. THE BUSINESS OF ENTERTAINMENT Mr. Narayan Ranjan - Chief Financial Officer, Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd. Mr. Ranjan began the discussion after a clip, showing the growth of Viacom 18 network. He spoke about how Indian entertainment has had a global impact and is spreading and growing in
many countries. He pointed out something surprising, that motion pictures or movies which would be expected to be the most growing or developing segment in media, in fact have a very small share in the media world. It is the gaming segment that is growing by leaps and bounds.
Students also learnt about the major challenges in the media and entertainment business - cost structuring, piracy, funding challenges, regulatory environment and business sensitivity. He also spoke about the growth in the importance of media and entertainment and how major technology companies are venturing into this business. Mr. Ranjan concluded the discussion by showing how widespread Indian entertainment is in the world and how much scope and opportunity we have to progress faster than other countries in this industry.
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BUILDING LEADERSHIP SKILLS WHILE IN A BUSINESS SCHOOL Mr. Ravi Santhanam - Founder & CEO of MetaDrsti Advisory Mr. Santhanam brought proven expertise and hands-on experience in leading large teams, developing strategy, building brands, and forming & nurturing strategic alliances. With this, he started his lecture on the need and ways to build leadership skills in a b-school.
individual’s strengths and those of others, we can challenge the situations and encourage the team to live by their strengths. Lastly, he spoke of the importance of collaboration. By collaborating with people, an individual goal becomes a group goal and there would be more supporting of the goal. The level of creativity would increase and there would be people with diverse strengths. Mr.Santhanam concluded the lecture by encouraging the students to follow the path and improvise along the way to develop the skill most sought by the organizations. THE GROWTH IN SAP AND BIG DATA Mr. Rohit Tripathi - Vice-President, product and innovation board area at SAP labs India, Pvt. Ltd Mr. Tripathi started out with a brief introduction to SAP and Big data. He spoke about how many companies are now shifting towards big data without fully understanding it. He spoke about the main markets that SAP plays in - applications, analytics, mobile database and Hana, and finally cloud.
The first part of his lecture focused on why there is a need for leadership skills in people working in organizations. Organizations need leaders who can ‘align’ the people in the organizations, ‘build’ synergies and ‘create’ faith to move towards worthy goals even in adverse and uncertain conditions. He then explained to us how one should build leadership skills. The first pointer involved training the mind. A clear and focused mind would receive and process the information better, enabling the leader to respond with the flow. The second directive involved focusing on the
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He then spoke about how development in products should be a non-disruptive process for existing software customers. He went on to shed some light on HANA, which is disruptive innovation that is being brought in to the existing databases. The session ended on a high note with Mr. Tripathi telling the students a few anecdotes about him running half marathons. In his inimitable aplomb, Mr. Tripathi went on to link an organization with a marathon runner. He flawlessly extracted the challenges faced by a runner during his run and compared them to their respective equivalents in an individual’s life.
and the importance of women in several industries and organizations, the Corporate and Media Cell of Vinod Gupta School of Management decided to conduct a national women's summit, Voice of Women, VoW 2013. Different guests from a wide variety of backgrounds were invited. A panel discussion on the topic “Role of Women as partners and forerunners in the development of the nation and increasing emphasis on Women as harbingers of the change movement and re-defining leadership in all walks of life” was set up.
SUMMITS
Apart from guest lectures, Corporate and media Interaction Cell, VGSoM also conducted summits during the year 2013. We first witnessed a national level women’s summit as a part of the annual day celebrations of VGSoM, and later conducted the second edition of “The Talk” – a HR Leadership Summit. VOICE OF WOMEN – NATIONAL LEVEL WOMENS SUMMIT Ms. Archna Wadhwa - Global Head of Production Management Solutions HSBC,Ms. Indrani Gupta Real Estate Developer, Social Worker and District Secretary, Rotary International, Ms. Geetha Vishwanathan - Propretrix of PREYASI, a leading fashion studio, Ms. Subha Rajan - Director, External Affairs, CII, Ms. Parvati Tampi - Communication Specialist and Journalist The role of the moderator was taken up by Prof. Anita Sarkar of XLRI Jamshedpur. eeing a growing focus on women empowerment,
They delivered fabulous discourses on what women are today in India. The students' responsibilities as youths of today were communicated crisply. The charity works taken up by the guests were immensely applauded by the students who were greatly overwhelmed. 'Give a man a fish; you would feed him for a day.. Teach a man how to fish and you would feed him for life', a thought which continued to linger in the students' minds. Examples of how micro-credits were utilized to serve the poor and the needy Mr. Arokia then made his presence felt with a great opening where he cited the importance of I NSYNC |2 3
were communicated. The roles played by women as an employer and also as a home maker and how they balanced work life with their personal life were communicated to apprise the ladies at VGSoM. THE TALK 2013 – HR LEADERSHIP SUMMIT Mr. Prasanth Nair, Global Head, HR, Cipla, Mr. Sandeep Dash, AGM(Academic) & Senior Faculty, MTI, SAIL, Ms.Radhika Muthukumaran, Lead, Diversity & Inclusiveness, ABB India, Middle East, Africa, Mr.Ahmad Sabih Kidwai, Director, HR, Schneider Electric, Mr.Radhakrishnan Nair, CHRO, Federal Bank, and, Mr.Arokia Sagayaraj, Head, HR & Communication, Renault India.. The whole discussion was moderated by Prof. Santanu Sarkar from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
The workshop was regulated by Mr. Sandeep Dash, AGM (Academic) & Senior Faculty, MTI, SAIL, who indulged in a series of interactive events that brought the crowd to life. He preached the value of creating informal setups in order to achieve cohesiveness in an office space. This was followed by a formal address by Mr. Prasanth Nair, Global Head, HR, Cipla where he talked about how Cipla catered medicine to those who needed it the most. We then had our concluding session that was a panel discussion comprising all the 7 dignitaries. The post lunch session saw a thoroughly effulgent synergy of opinions on the topic ‘Managing diversity at workplace and creating a culture of collaboration’.
The Talk, this year focused on the theme “HR: Connoisseurs of managing diversity at workplace” In the light of the summit, there was an inaugural workshop on ‘The importance of social & emotional intelligence in managing diversity’.
Mr. Dash pronounced the discussion open with his enlightening speech that circled around idea mapping, where ‘HR inputs’ plotted against ‘various issues’ helped pinpoint pertinent solutions to the problems. He also insisted on leveraging the concepts of mass contacting and contribution theorem while deciphering diversity conflicts.
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digesting macro views that implicate the trailing micro views to be in place. Mr. Kidwai was the next delegate to share his views. He was of the opinion that diversity management dealt with living with the amalgamation of differences rather than phasing it out. Hiring diverse employees, harnessing their capabilities and synchronizing multitudes of ideas, was his agenda. The lady of the lot, Ms.Radhika mentioned about diversity and inclusiveness and about welcoming, respecting and valuing each person involved in the company. She also talked about the reasons for gender diversity and the need for empowerment of the fairer sex. The next luminary to talk to the students was Mr. Radhakrishnan Nair. He strongly advocated his thoughts against discrimination of sorts. He urged the audience to start acting out on their
principles contrary to just talking about them. Mr. Prasant ended the discussion with his experiential thoughts on the topic. He felt that casting high performing individuals into high performing groups was the essence of managing diversity. Furthermore, he reiterated on creating a common theme that resonated. This was followed by a dynamic Q & A session where some imposing questions received some impervious retorts. Prof. Santanu Sarkar then rose to the dais to consolidate the discussion. He exemplified his speech with some real life examples and quotes and stated that union cropping was an effective way of maintaining limited number of people from the same territory thus, ensuring harmony. Overall, the HR summit was a grand success that rendered in our hearts, an illimitable passion for learning.
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Cul t Comm VGSoM continued its tradition of following its culture of “We share, we care”. The cultural committee, meant to keep alive and mould this VGSoM culture to build a strong family of students who work together for bringing home the pinnacle of glory, kick-started the academic year 2013 with a bang by welcoming the batch of 2013-15 through the Freshers’ Party. The party was made special by the special talent on display - be it the Gangnam Style dance, the Chavat Boys Group dance, The Telugu and Tamil Dynamite dance or the inspirational and heart touching singing by the students well supported by amazing guitarists. The Fantastic Four girls group did steal hundreds of hearts with their lungi dance number. The Indian Idol skit gave the audience plenty to laugh out loud. The Mr. And Miss Fresher was held on the lines of Miss India Contest where contestants were
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involved in a ramp walk round followed by Q&A by judges to arrive at the winners. Ultimately, the coveted and cherished title of Mr. Fresher and Miss Fresher were conferred to the deserving students who also celebrated their win with the cake cutting honour on Freshers’ Nite. This was followed by a huge bash at Hotel Greenland where seniors and juniors celebrated in a grand fashion. The set was set on fire with almost everyone dancing to their favourite numbers played by a DJ. Not only that, Cultural Committee took initiatives of celebrating the birthdays of each and every batch-mate, designing posters and quotes on every special day like Ganesh Chaturthi. In short, it went the extra mile in keeping the culture of VGSoM alive and kicking.
Spor t s Comm Olympia exists to make sure VGSOMites never forget the saying 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'.We provide a breath of fresh air to the pressure packed life @ VGSOM and inculcate the all important sportsman spirit in our peers. Olympia conducts a host of events through out the year. If Racquets brings out the stalwarts in badminton,table tennis and squash to the fore,the Futsal Super League does the same among football enthusiasts. Not to forget the VGSOM Premier League
that takes cricket to a whole new level. With more and more events to get the adrenaline going and whole hearted participation in all of them, Olympia makes sure all the sports lovers are on the edge of their seats always.... Game on!!
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Sa a ma nj a s ya “Saamanjasya� is a unique endeavor pioneered by the students of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur. It is the first and only social event of IIT Kharagpur. Saamanjasya is being organized with the aim of bringing together Corporate, NGOs, and academicians on a common platform to ensure inclusive growth and inculcate a culture of giving back to the society in our aspiring and educated youth. It seeks to highlight the importance of a symbiotic corporate-NGO- academic relationship. India, a nation that symbolizes "Cultural Diversity" is the nest of the world's largest variety of art forms, some of them dating back to centuries. While the age of globalization has seen India's stellar growth in various spheres, it has also seen some of the most ancient art forms of India fading into oblivion. In the nooks and corners of rural India, live many such artists whose only source of pride and income is the art that they have carried forward through ages. We, the students of VGSOM came up with this initiative called Kalakaar Vikas to rejuvenate these dying art forms by these traditional artists with a wider platform for acceptance and sustenance. As a part of Saamanjasya, Kalakaar Vikaas provided a platform for artisans and craftsmen from Bengal, Orissa and the nearby regions to showcase their work of art which came in the form of outstanding creations like jewellery made of buffalo horns, jute chappals, wood carving, terracotta craft paintings, clay models so on and so forth. The event turned out to be a Celebration of Art and Creativity, with stalls throbbing with from all over India appreciating and endorsing the work of the artists. Workshops for micro-insurance and
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other creative skills were also conducted for these artisans to promote sustainability. As a part of Purvodaya, , team Saamanjasya organized this highly successful event to give the guests a visual treat through the marvelous works of the artisans from different parts of India and
help preserve the diversity of art that forms an integral part Indian culture The other event Parishram was aimed at involving the students from various parts of the country to provide original and practical solutions to real life issues faced by NGOs and CSR wings of corporate houses.The event was divided into 2 rounds. In the first round, a real time case study was given to participants which states the main issue of
Sa a ma nj a s ya of common man & elaborated on how the marketing strategies for such issues can be different from normal marketing programs. It also focused on various bureaucracy issues and how to deal with them. There was also an event called Shaastrath, which was a parliamentary debate competition. The highlight of this event was that we had participation from the students of DebSoc, IIT Kharagpur. All these events called for immense participation from various B schools and other institutes and proved to be a grand success
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Fi nt e r e s t TheFi na nc eCl ubofVGSoM ‘Finterest’- as the name suggests, was started with the following goal in mind: “To build a knowledge centre in finance and provide a platform for VGSOM students to enhance skills by sharing, analyzing and applying concepts.”
Knowledge Sharing Sessions and Workshops:
Finterest organized several knowledgesharing sessions and workshops around the year, thereby helping the students to be acquainted with changing economy and its impacts. • A workshop on Wholesale Banking by Mrs. Sanghamitra Das (CFA), Guest faculty at FINPLAN institute. • A session on Equity Research by Mr. Saurabh Das (CFA), Investment analyst at TATA Asset Management Limited.The session covered career planning aspects in equity research, pre and post requisites of the job, skill sets and sources of developing those skill sets. There was also a discussion on how equity research is done, the importance of local and global macro, technical
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and fundamental analysis, basics of growth and value investing myths and facts. • A Workshop on Capital Market conducted by Bombay Stock Exchange and SEBI to build awareness about financial instruments, stock trading and risk & return. • A session with Mr. Kartik Palaniappan, Equity Advanced Specialist at Bloomberg to demonstrate various features available in Bloomberg terminal software which is used for market research, financial analysis, economic and financial data, and business reports.
Competitions and Exams Conducted By Finterest in Partnership with Third Party
• "StockMIND: A Nationwide Contest” conducted by ICICIdirect Centre for Financial Learning. StockMIND is a nationwide contest on Stock Market which provides a platform to learn and to help students hone their analytical, critical thinking and decision making skills. • We have continued to make students aware of certifications in the Finance Domain by reputed organizations. This year The FLIP National Challenge – Season 4was conducted. A student from 2012-2014 batch made it to the top ten and five people ranked among top 50.
Fi nt e r e s t Purvodaya:
Bull’s Eye, an online stock trading competition was the main event of Finterest in the annual business festival of VGSOM, Purvodaya. Participants were provided a virtual stock trading platform and had to try to increase the portfolio value as much as possible by the method of Day Trading. After the end of trading round, five teams were shortlisted for presenting their ideas and strategies to an esteemed panel of judges at IIT Kharagpur. The top five battled for being the best and finally ‘Difteenos’ from IIM Ahmedabad emerged as the winner and ‘Maximizers’ from XIMB was the runner up.
Brown Bag Session:
Taking forward the trend of brown bag sessions, Finterest organized its first Brown Bag session for the Academic year 2013-14 on the topic 'Banking Sector in India'.
The session was quite interactive and participants provided their own inputs and views and clarified their doubts regarding the topic being discussed.
Mark2Market:
Gurukool Series of Lectures:
There was a guest lecture by Mr. Sayan Das Director at Royal Bank of Scotland on "Macro Noise in the markets and its implications for managers".He talked about the difference between market “information” and random changes in markets or “noise”, the impacts of this noise such as changes in the rate of inflation, expansion and recession and how managers ought to cope with them.
Our newsletter, Fin-O-Menal had a history of success. Hence to take it further Finterest came forward with the idea of publishing a magazine about the financial sector. Our magazine “Mark2Market” consists of articles by students from premium B-schools of India. The valuable contribution by our faculty and industry stalwarts also enriches our magazine which has been widely appreciated.
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M. A. D. Marketing & Advertisement Club of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur started with a vision to enrich the knowledge of marketing enthusiasts by channelizing their thoughts and ideas into real problem solving. MAD provides numerous case study competitions and quizzes which are capable of provoking interests in students and redefining their conventional way of thinking, making their ideology suitable for the marketing environment. Some key events, which make MAD a step ahead are, 1. MADison Avenue 2. MADazine 3. MAD quizzes Induction of MAD’13 was seen in the month of August when 7 MADizens cleared the most memorable interviews of MAD, sensing the chilled NDTV Coca-Cola Support My School and energetic work culture ahead of their course. We at MAD Club are also aware of our social The year 2013 marked the splendid performance responsibilities and joined hands with Coca-Cola of MAD Club .Description of the events presented "NDTV Coca-Cola Support My School" - an effort through which education should not be out of reach to the under-privileged Venalicium children. The campaign aims at raising the Venalicium’13 is the first pan IIT Kharagpur quiz awareness among the public about education of contest with over 100 teams registering for its first girl child and importance of education for round, which is an online round. 4 teams qualify development. for the final on-campus round, and compete with each other to win the exciting prizes. The phenomenal success of this event in the year 2013 proved the iron of MAD Club among the IIT Kharagpur community.
Leaders Challenge
The event challenges the minds of future marketers and tests their strategy building acumen. It draws the participation of teams from almost all the reputed top notch B-Schools of India. The enthusiastic participation and innovative approaches of the team set the benchmark, with a team from XIMB emerged victorious crossing all the barriers. NSYNC 32 |I
MADazine
MADazine is an annual magazine of MAD which consists of articles from students, cross-word puzzles, marketing trivia and ad-analysis. It also contains excerpts from marketing analysts. There is a write-up covering the year-round activities within and associated with VGSOM conducted by the different clubs and committees of the school.
Cons ul t i ngCl ub VGSoM CONSULTI NGCLUB Attracting plethora of companies for the coveted roles in consulting since many years, Consulting has been the forte of Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur. Mantradharin, the Consulting Club, leaves no stone unturned to take this strength to the next level by inculcating the spirit of peer learning and industry interaction through live projects, workshops and panel discussions. To provide an impetus to the zeal of students interested in consulting we, a group of consulting enthusiasts, organize sessions on Harvard case discussions, client consultant simulations, guesstimates etc. Data has an important story to tell, it relies on you to give a clear and convincing voice. We organized an event “Insight” under Purvodaya, a fantastic opportunity to tell the story of data provided by us. Participants used different tools to crunch the data and came up with interesting
visualization of the data. We also organized an event “Guesstimates” under Purvodaya. Guesstimates was an online event to find the best consulting minds. A test to make a rough approximation or an educated guess for which no better information would be available. The whole episode of Guesstimates lasted for 5 days. It was an event to scan logical, analytical, and interpretation skills. The challenge was to use the best possible approach to get closer to a reasonable solution.
ECe l l ENTREPRENEURSHI PCELL As a part of this nascent club we have organized flagship event of Purvodaya- Srijan-2013. It saw a huge participation from colleges across the nation. This was a fiercely contested event in which the finalists from IIM Kolkata, IIM Kozhikode, BIM Trichy, XLRI and domestic team from VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur battled it out. The winners - IIM Kolkata and IIM Kozhikode won a direct entry in Empresario
where they will battle it out in front of angel investors. We are also planning to collaborate with the start ups from in and around Kharagpur under Entrepact with some of the companies having their roots attached to STEP, IIT Kharagpur. This collaboration would help us fetch some live projects for coming batches as a part of Winter Internship. I NSYNC |3 3
Dr i s ht e e DRI SHTEECAPI TAL-ope ne nde de qui t yf und Investment Horizon : Long Term Benchmark : CNX 100 Investment Objective : To learn through implementing theories of macro-economics, interpretation of financial reports, valuation techniques, portfolio management theory and security analysis and relate these to real-time market phenomena. The goal is to build a portfolio based on this analysis, take entry and exit calls based on the target price range, derived from the valuation techniques applied and technical analysis, and beat our Benchmark as well as CNX NIFTY.
Benchmark
In line with the process of analysis followed by Drishtee Capital, we have gone beyond CNX Nifty stocks and identified potential stocks in various sectors. CNX 100 is more diversified and represents all sectors of the economy. Since it represents the majority of Drishtee Capital portfolio and analysis process, we have considered CNX 100 as our benchmark. PERFORMANCE REPORT
DECEMBER 2013
Duration : Indicative Figures:
24-Oct-2013 to 31-Dec-2013
* Annual risk-free return is taken as 9.05%, 10-year G-sec as on 24/10/2013
Declaration: Drishtee Capital is run by students of VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur for the sole purpose of learning. The content of this report is not meant to act as a guide for investment decisions.
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Dr i s ht e e Portfolio Allocation (as on 31-Dec-2013) S e c t o r A n a l y s t s
Automobiles Sinjana & Vaibhav BFSI Nevil & Sinjana Consumer Durables Aditya & Viral FMCG Atul & Satish Healthcare Aditya & Deepan IT Atul & Rashmi Media & Telecom Madhav & Rashmi Metal & Mining Deepan & Viral Oil & Gas Satish & Vaibhav Realty Sailendu & Satish
C o n t a c t
Aditya Dhatrak aditya_sym@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Atul Nagpure atul.nagpure89@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Deepan Loganathan deepanl@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Madhav Parashar mdhv@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Nevil Paul nevilpaul@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Rashmi rashmi.singh2202@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Sailendu Kumar sailendukumar@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Satish Nemalipuri satish_nemalipuri@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Sinjana Ghosh sinjanaghosh@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Vaibhav Koticha vaibhavkoticha@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in Viral Jesalpura viral90@vgsom.iitkgp.ernet.in
Sector Performance
DRISHTEE CAPITAL - A Student Driven Fund VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur drishtee.capital@gmail.com
Declaration: Drishtee Capital is run by students of VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur for the sole purpose of learning. The content of this report is not meant to act as a guide for investment decisions. I NSYNC |3 5
Sc ope
ScOpe, the Supply Chain and Operations club of VGSoM is a students' association, which seeks to equip the students with the knowledge, know-how and the resources to be conversant with the happenings in and around the field of Operations and Supply Chain. It aims to provide students the necessary exposure to build successful careers in Operations domain and thus present opportunities to promote excellence in this field. The responsibilities of the club include providing insightful information about the operations industry, raising awareness and interest among the students and equipping the students with the tools and resources necessary for careers in the Operations domain. The club’s mission is to build a healthy relationship between VGSoM and the leading Operations firms and to create opportunities for career exploration and development in
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Operations through events such as on-campus networking, Case Studies, Guest Lectures, and Industrial Visits etc. Abraham Lincoln said “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it”. A forecasting model is intended to capture the way things move, not just where things are. ScOpe team has organized a case study competition ‘Vohersage’ for Purvodaya, Bschool fest of VGSoM; where the teams will forecast the demand for a new product in a highly volatile Automotive industry.
INKED IN
M
istakes… Sometimes, because you are too early…. Sometimes, because you are too late, Sometimes, because you are right at the wrong time…. Sometimes, because you are wrong at the right, Sometimes, because you are you are with a wrong person…. Sometimes, because you are not with the right person, Sometimes, because you did not do this…. Sometimes, because you did that, Mistakes are Lessons… The learning from one mistake cannot help you from making another… It just adds up to your learning by letting you make a mistake in a different way And finally, a mistake may not turn out to be a mistake, by mistake….
By Hima Varsha MBA-2nd Yr
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Fe wmi nut e st oda wn. . . .
T
he hands of the clock are tied to each other They want the time to stop and move no further... As the heat from the tea swirls up in the air Knock..Knock..? Ohh its Life whispering into my ears.... Why haven’t you realized that it is all over again Huddled and cuddled you will drown yourself in pain Why do you conceal yourself again and again?? Little do you realize it has always been in vain” Books on top of books.. pile up by my side Confused and afraid I have nowhere to hide... As I keep digging through the scrabble of my mind Only in search of the answers I shall never find Fear keeps me awake through the autumn`s haze Patience stands in front of me with a poker`s gaze It is unconditional, it happens, isn`t what love is supposed to be? Trapped in my prejudices i forgot to set it free If I had ever missed the opportunities that came by It is more important to realize that time does fly As my eyes long for the early rays of the sun Resting in the pillow of faith i know life is more fun So don`t you run in circles of futile happiness And gallop through the byroads of darkness Love resides in the small & simple pleasures of life Every now and then ask “Hey how’s life??”
By
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Aniket Sarkar MBA-2nd Yr
INKED IN
Whe nt hec l oc ks t r i ke s12
A
s the fairytale goes, Cinderella never really cherished when the clock struck 12. From October 2013, the brands that preferred television as their most important medium of advertising will share the same feeling with Cinderella. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come up with a ruling that all the broadcasters to need to cut down on their advertising inventory to 12 minutes per hour from October 1, 2013. Of those 12 minutes, 2 minutes can be allocated for promos of shows on their respective channels. The broadcasters are effectively left with 10 minutes of revenue generating advertising inventory. The channels will be losing revenue due the trimming of their ad inventory and hence, quite understandably, they are opposing this ruling. But in TRAI’s defense, they ensured that the change was gradual. They first asked the broadcasters to cut down the advertisements to less than 30 minutes per hour. Then, the news channels will have to limit the ad time to 20 and 16 minutes for news channels and the rest respectively till 30 September, 2013. And from October 1, 2013 the standard ruling of 10+2 minutes of advertisements will apply. Thus, giving the broadcasters enough time to formulate their pricing model. It is expected that Hindi GECs might hike their prices by 25% and the Hindi movie channels might do it by 35-40% The broadcasters are not the only entity that will be majorly affected by this rule. There are the Brands too which depended too heavily on the television advertisements. Such brands will also have to strategize new ways to negate the drawbacks that this ad-cap will bring about. But how will they do it? Here‘s how..
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DENIAL OF SERVICE No. I am in no way suggesting brands to spam websites so much that they become inaccessible. But the following explanation might make it clear how brands can use DoS strategy in their favor. As per this strategy, brands will need to target those channels which attract the most viewers and negotiate well with them and sign bulk deals. What will effectively happen is that the brand will hold a bulk of the limited inventory, thereby blocking its competitor from having a presence on primetime on a top viewed channel. Yes, the cost of the inventory will rise steeply. Yet the returns for brands investing in bulk deals would be much more in terms of intangible benefits like denying a competitor a chance to advertise. Hence, I would reemphasize the notion that bulk deals could be a game changer once the ad-cap comes into effect. BRAND INTEGRATION WITH PROGRAMS So what if the advertising inventory has been drastically slashed to only 12 minutes per hour? No one is stopping the brands, or the broadcasters for that matter, to use the remaining 48 minutes as advertising tools. All that the brands need to do is to identify the right shows that can act as an advertising medium during the content period of 48 minutes. For example, kitchen utensils manufacturing companies like Prestige can piggyback on the success of shows like Masterchef India to showcase their products. Nothing advertises a product more strongly than the product itself in use. The brands can reach out to niche programs that they feel would be the best propagator of their products.
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THE OBVIOUS RECOURSE When one door closes, you need to find another one that will open. Well, if TRAI is regulating the television advertising market, the brands need to explore other options and use new media vehicles. When we try to conjure up mediums of advertising other than television, the first that comes to mind is the online or digital marketing. Traditional ways of advertising which were left behind in the race for the best advertising medium like radio and billboards (which is one of the methods of Out-of-home advertising) might get another chance for revival post the regulation. This is because the brands would look for a far-reaching and a cost effective medium. Talking of cost effective yet impactful advertising, the relatively new concept of Guerilla Marketing, which does not depend on huge marketing budgets, is slowly but surely making its mark. This model of advertising is creating a buzz because it relies on being very creative and catching the audience off guard. The advertising industry is a challenging and a dynamic industry already. Now the imminent ad-cap by TRAI will create a stir. It will be interesting to see how both brands and broadcasters will go about handling this change in the coming few months. As they say, ‘Every adversity presents an opportunity within itself.’ And so will this new regulation by TRAI. It is up to the brands to seize the moment and strategize early on how to handle the ad-cap and get the first mover advantage. By
Abhishek Jain MBA-1st Yr
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GAMI FI CATI ON -TheToolf orGENXi nDi gi t a lMa r ke t i ng INTRODUCTION amification is an art that uses intelligently game design techniques in non-game contexts to encourage people to perform that they consider boring, such as completing surveys, reading web sites etc. It was coined by Nick Pelling in 2002. Basically, gamification applies to non-game applications and procedures in order to promote them. It can also affect buyer’s persona. Gamification demands a lot of engagement from the user’s side as it knows that humans have a high inclination towards gaming and problem solving. It thus takes full advantage of human being’s this very psychological behavior. Gamification is widely used in digital marketing. Small businesses are using technology to help them operate more efficiently and cost-effectively in an increasingly competitive environment. Gamification has become an important tool for building brands for such small businesses / start-ups that can’t compete directly with the already established market leaders. For example- In a $5 billion-plus potato chip market, San Francisco based upcomer Popchips can't begin to compete with a giant such as Frito-Lay when it comes to money for
G
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advertising and marketing .So to counter this, Popchips teamed up with a San Franciso based smartphone App Company which was already into inserting real world prizes into mobile apps. The app company started inserting redeemable virtual coupons for free bag of Popchips into hundreds of mobile apps. In this way, Popchips used gamification as a tool for marketing its product. Recently, Lufthansa cargo used gamification as a strategy to increase their popularity and create customer touch points. They imagined an entire new game on the lines of Tetris where pieces of Cargo in certain shapes derived from real world cargo were used and they had to be stored in a predefined room resembling the cargo room of a lufthansa plane. Different challenges were created where the cargo must be stored in a certain order to ensure an easy unloading at different airports. Social media was used extensively for promoting this game. The main benefits that they received were : A. Exposing people to lufthansa cargo in a fun, not work related way. B. Easy and relative cheap way to engage playfully with customers. C. Possibility to recruit young blood for lufthansa cargo. It is estimated that the business spending on gamification would increase up to $ 2.8 billion in 2016. Many small businesses/start-ups, as well as many global organizations, will be using "gamified" applications for a number of business management purposes ranging from marketing, sales, promotion and advertisement and employee training by 2016. Initiative taken at Popchips helped it to increase its sales by almost 40% in 2012 and it is projected to touch almost $100 million mark. Small businesses are using gamification as part of their inbound marketing strategy which is offering them a whooping investment to return ratio of almost 1:40. Clearly, SMEs and start-ups are the winners in the race to fully exploit the resources of gamification. It has become one of the hottest technological trends in the world. A year ago, Deloitte Consulting rated it among its Top 10 Technology Trends for the year 2012.
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In the last few years, we have also seen a phenomenal rise in the number of companies that deliver gamification services and solutions. Prominent players include Bunchball, BigDoor Media, Badgeville and Gigya. DEMOGRAPHICS OF GAMERS According to ESA (Entertainment Software Association): “As of 2012, around 55% of gamers are reported as being male while 45% were female whereas female (18 or above) represented a game playing population of almost 31% which was far ahead of boys age 17 or younger (around19%). In 2012, the total consumer spending on video/online/mobile games reached around $20.77 billion. Astonishingly, the average age of a game-player is 30 years contrary to the worldwide perception that games are meant for boys. One of the very big reasons of the above experienced trend is that parents play with their kids more often in order to socialize them. This very psychological behavior of parents can be easily tapped through gamification. The demographic break-out for frequent game-purchasers states that almost 54%. game-purchasers are male whereas 46% are female. �
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MARKETING TACTICS AND GAMIFICATION Corporations throughout the world are adopting various marketing tactics within gamification that not only offer various incentives to the audience but also drives them to move towards the organization’s strategic goals such as identifying leads, make sales, create awareness and carry out promotions. Gamification ensures that games are made not only for entertainment but could also be used to encapsulate a strategic communication/message linked with the company. These days we can find many popular games on Facebook such as FarmVille, Criminal Case, Howazaat etc. that are having millions of players each month. The surge in gaming in recent years, especially on social media platform, suggests the fact that it has become a very important tool for relaxing away from the usual demands of our day to day life. But before going for gamification of any product, we should always remember the fact that the ultimate goal of a game is entertainment and in order to succeed, the game should offer its audience the benefits which they like it to deliver. Some leading brands using gamification • Xbox Live -: Leaderboards • Nike -: achievements, badges, challenges, rewards • Lufthansa -: Tetris for cargo • Microsoft -: achievements, contests • American Airlines -: progress bar • LinkedIn -: progress bar References • http://www.theesa.com • http://www.gdconf.com/ • http://gsummit.com/
By
Nikhil Mehrotra MBA-2nd Yr I NSYNC |4 5
Ra nki ngs
and the flag goes higher and higher... Fol l owusa t
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VI NODGUPT ASCHOOLOFMANAGEMENT ( e s t d. -1993)
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