Experts Converge at Digital Summit 2013

Srini Raju Centre for IT and The Networked Economy at ISB organised the Digital Summit 2013 at the Hyderabad campus. The Summit brought together key stakeholders from academia and industry to explore successful and emerging business models which leverage the Networked Economy & Digital Media.

Kirthiga Reddy, Director of Online Operations and Head of Office, Facebook India set the ball rolling with her “Vision statement for the Future of the Digital.”

The two day summit stimulated the participants to think about strides made thus far and the collective journey ahead, in the digital space.

4th International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets

ISB hosted the 4th International Conference on Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets at the Hyderabad Campus. The two-day conference was held in India for the first time. The conference series brought together researchers from around the world investigating the impact of corporate governance on firm performance and economic development, and the role of legal, economic and political institutions in shaping corporate governance systems in emerging markets. 

While the new Companies Bill awaits the presidential nod, practitioners and researchers at a roundtable that was part of the conference discussed the success and challenges of corporate governance in India. The panel ended on agreement that the Companies Bill represented much-needed reform, while a few panelists cautioned that the compliance-oriented culture in the Indian corporate sector could prevent real change.

Indian Business Stories Find their Voice in Global B-Schools

This annual global case competition aims to identify and publish the best case studies on Indian businesses, a fast growing area of interest in management studies both in India and abroad. A team from the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), Mumbai bagged the first place in the fourth ISB-Ivey global case competition, which is aimed at expanding the pool of cases on Indian organisations. Authors of  the winning case study, “EVOE Spring Spa: A Positioning Dilemma, ”  Ashita Aggarwal Sharma, Renuka Kamath, both assistant professors at SPJIMR, and Sunil Rao, a PhD scholar, beat 97 other entries to win the award, which comes with US$4,000 in prize money  and a publishing deal.  In second place, with an award of $3000 and a publishing deal, was “Reboot Systems: A ‘Frugal Innovation’ Approach to Bridge India’s Digital Divide (Part A),” by Srividya Raghavan, Assistant Professor, Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad

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CMD, Bank of India speaks on “Steps to Success”

Vijayalakshmi Iyer, the Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India visited the Hyderabad campus and spoke on “Steps to Success.” This session was hosted by the Women in Business Club as their Curtain raiser for the year. Iyer’s talk focused on improving one’s own self and identifying ways and means to self-improvement. The students were particularly struck by Iyer’s take on Fear. As one student recounted, “Learning to think of Fear as ‘Face Everything and Rise’ is a new way to look at the uncertainties in life.”

Workshop on Product Designing

A one-day workshop on product design, “Discover the Inner Designer in You” was held at the Mohali Campus recently. Organised by the Munjal Institute for Global Manufacturing (MIGM) at ISB, the workshop was conducted by Abhimanyu Kulkarni and Koel Chatterjee from Philips Design and Arun Rajappa, former manager at Microsoft.

The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to gain both insights and practical experience on designing techniques. It also highlighted the importance of understanding the persona and life cycle of the clientele while designing products.

At the workshop, groups of participants designed clay models of products for specific clientele. One such interesting idea that emerged during the session was that of an exercise machine designed for middle-level executives. The idea was to convert the chair of an executive into an exercising machine with pedals for feet and arm rests as weights. The backrest of this chair would automatically recline if no physical activity was performed out for 15 minutes, encouraging regular movement while working.

Kiran Bedi on Tenets of Leadership

Kiran Bedi recently visited the Hyderabad campus to interact with the students and discuss the tenets of leadership. Hosted by the Women in Business club, Bedi’s talk centred on the importance of being good from the inside out. Students need to be self-aware and understand the tenets of good behavior before aiming for leadership roles, she urged.

Energised by the talk and Bedi’s responses to the questions, an inspired student recounted her learning as “[my] takeaway from today’s session is self-introspection and being the change instead of asking for change.”

ISB Super League flagged off

Centenarian Marathoner Fauja Singh flagged off this year’s International Sports League (ISL) at Mohali recently. The ISL in Hyderabad campus was inaugurated by Micheal Kasprowicz, former Australian cricketer.

Conceptualised on the lines of IPL, the ISL emulates the franchise model where each franchise builds their own team through player auction. The Hyderabad league has four franchisees - Hurricanes, Hyderabad Nizams, Raging Bulls and Team Titans while the Mohali campus has three franchisees - Punjab Hukums, Mohali Mavericks and Sultans.

Through the ISL, students have an opportunity to learn management practices outside the classroom.