Students from the Net Impact club at ISB along with the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (WCED) organised “Diffusion,” a two-day workshop in Pune that provided non-profits with essential management skills. Nine students from the current PGP class including Sriram Sabhapathy, President of the Net Impact Club, presented modules to participants in relevant topics such as fundraising, technology, governance and finance, social impact measurement, social innovation, and social media. Net Impact Pune Professional chapter was the partner for the event. Based on their classroom experiences, the students devised different ways of teaching the modules. Through interactive case studies, group activities and expert speakers, they brought alive the condensed version of management studies to the participants.
The Ethics in Business Forum welcomed Sandeep Baldava, Partner and Head of Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services at Ernst & Young, to lead a discussion on “Understanding Corporate Frauds.” A veteran in his field, Baldava has conducted over 200 investigations across various industries, government bodies, and NGOs. From his experiences, he spoke about the context underlying the frauds, the profile of the fraudsters, and the role of ethics in fraud prevention. Poor judgments can escalate small indiscretions to frauds of alarming magnitude. Coupled with enabling mechanisms, and involvement of multiple individuals, frauds perpetuate over time. Baldava discussed case studies that included shocking details of frauds covering top IT companies, innovative cyber-crimes and land mining scams. Globally, the monetary impact of frauds is as high as 4% to 5% of organisations’ revenues and has an even bigger direct impact on the company’s bottom line. Industries such as retail where the average revenue is only 5% hurt the most due to such frauds. To dismiss the misconception that regulation and public sector are the breeding grounds for fraud, Baldava also presented research data from the private sector and NGOs. He left the audience mulling over the talk with an apt quote from Albert Einstein: Relativity applies to Physics, not ethics.
The Finance Club at the ISB recently organised its Annual Finance Conclave that featured panel discussions on Banking, Capital Markets and Private Equity. Fifteen noted panellists – CEOs, business heads, regulators and noted lawyers – contemplated on the topics and interacted with ISB students. Some noteworthy insights from the discussions: The lack of bargaining power of SME implies that they are the worst hit during financial crises, as their larger corporate customers prioritise their lenders and slow down payments to the SMEs. Some panel members conceded that securitisation of SME credit and factoring of their receivables can solve their financial woes. Vikram Kotak, panellist and former CIO at Birla Sun Life Insurance declared that India’s savings in the next five years will exceed the savings made by the US. However, he wondered if these savings will find their way into the financial markets. The panel on private equity, moderated by students who are also members of the Finance Club, debated the importance of PE Investments for India and the most promising sectors for these investments. Hari Buggana, a panellist and MD of InvAscent shared a nugget of wisdom that summed up the day's discussions: "Entrepreneurs are genetically optimists; investors need to be pessimists to balance it."
The Energy, Manufacturing & Operations Club organised the Energy Summit 2012 at its Hyderabad campus to understand the perspective of industry leaders on the issue. In two panel discussions, experts discussed the “Opportunities and Challenges in meeting India’s energy demand.” Some of the challenges facing the Indian energy sector that were discussed included: the fluctuations in the coal prices and supply shortages; energy demand and supply gap; lack of gas transportation infrastructure; highly regulated gas prices; tariff rates for the renewable energy power; and apprehensions around how the renewable energy certificates will fare in promoting the growth in renewable sector in the long run. Panellists also debated on renewable energy sources in India, specifically the government initiatives such as renewable energy certificates and renewable energy purchase obligations. Proponents of wind and solar energy presented their views on how current policies have impacted their sectors.