Saturday, 19. January 2008, 16:46:54
Entrepreneur
What do you get when you add a tinge of Damodaran-humour to Walter-masala of ideas flavoured with Ernest condiments and serve to the gluttons of knowledge striving to feed themselves and others? A spicy book launch!
This was the recipe the management trainees of SIMSREE (Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education), popularly known as SIMSREEMANs and SIMSREEMATIs got a taste of on Thursday at the official launch of the book ‘Entrepreneur: I Believe You Can Move Mountains’ by Walter Vieira, former chairman of the world apex body of the International Council of Management Consulting Institutes (ICMCI), organized by the Membership Services Committee of the Bombay Management Association (BMA) and attended by distinguished guests and numerous management students from Mumbai, who were inspired by quotes from 261-page masterpiece by the author himself which would go a long way in moulding their careers.
Saraswati Vandana began the event followed by lighting of the samai, felicitation of guests, welcome speech by the director of the institute, Dr. M.A. Khan and introduction by Mr. Bhaskar Joshi, chairman MSC, in which he described Mr. Walter Vieira as the ‘Peter Drucker of India’.
The highlight of the day, which saw attendance exceeding the seating capacity, was the enthralling address by the chief guest Mr. M. Damodaran, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which was fraught with humour and anecdotes all along. ‘I’m not always at a loss for words, except in case of release of books’, he joked, ‘Long after I became a CEO, I was learning what it was like to be a manager’. He lauded the book as eminently readable, concise, without any footnotes or numbers; in essence, a straight, simple yet interesting read, which preaches and is there to stay within the value system. He described the ‘demographic dividend’ in India, which has an enormous workforce between 18 and 45 years of age, making our country now popularly called a Young India. ‘India, one of the fastest growing economies, is witnessing a nearly jobless growth. A growth which has not brought an increase in employment numbers’, he cited, encouraging through his valuable words young men and women to recognize the spirit of entrepreneurship within. This is the second time Mr. Damodaran has launched a book in his capacity as SEBI chairman for Mr. Vieira, who hopes the trend continues and culminates into a hat-trick soon.
Mr. Walter Vieira, a senior management consultant, business journalist and visiting professor on international marketing at various US universities, in his 11th book has cited reasons for young budding managers do adopt and imbibe the spirit of entrepreneurship. ‘There are 90 million jobless people in India today and the number is expected to rise by another 90 million by 2010. Where will they go? Entrepreneurship is the only answer, providing employment to oneself and to many others.’
‘An entrepreneur should have a helicopter vision. He should be a Jack of all Trades and a Master of one. Merely being a specialist doesn’t bring success to an entrepreneur’, were his words. He also briefed the audience, glued to their seats, on Extrapreneurship, which Walter claims as his patented word. ‘Be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or simply disappear as sheep’, he added.
He concluded by underscoring the significance of Marketing and Innovation, claiming them to be the only two revenue streams in an organization, the rest being mere cost centres. ‘Networking is the key in entrepreneurship. Finally, followership elevated to leadership, and leadership elevated to transformational leadership make a successful entrepreneur’, he ended.
The BMA contributed with comments from Mr. Ernest Fernandes, former President, BMA on entrepreneurship being the need of the hour, the role of leadership, teamwork, networking and risk-taking in entrepreneurship and the myths associated with it. ‘Entrepreneurship is often misunderstood. In organizations, we get to practice management to a very limited extent. The crux of management is really entrepreneurship, wherein you get to decide your product, its price, your strategy on your own. Management degree is opium now. We should have institutes of entrepreneurship instead of management’, he described citing examples of Birlas and TATAs who started as entrepreneurs many years before they became big and successful.
Indeed, Entrepreneur is a book to motivate young people with or without skills, with or without capital. It is for those who have a spark of entrepreneurship which can be fanned into a flame that can spread into a raging fire throughout the nation.
Swapan Jhulka (2007-2009)
Sunday, 11. November 2007, 07:46:23
Sydenham Institute of Management, Alumni day, SIMSREE
27th October was the day to be on campus. Never before has the campus witnessed so much youthful energy, nostalgia and buzzing activity. This time the meet was in the form of an Alumni Day – a different way of celebrating an occasion. (Yeah!!! SIMSREE just turned 25).
One pleasant fact we would like to share is post all the publicity (the Alumni Day hoardings, the personal invites etc.), the turnout has been the highest till date for any Alumni Meet. About 210 alumni graced the occasion. We are very happy with the response and look forward to better times ahead. The Alumni day witnessed activity right from 1.30 pm in the afternoon to 10.30 pm in the evening. In short, SIMSREE turned 25 this year and the SIMSREE family celebrated it with grandeur and style.
The occasion was celebrated at the college itself. Many of the alumni were pleasantly surprised by the changes that have happened at SIMSREE. The infrastructure has been revamped to a great extent to include a well furnished conference room, new administrative offices, faculty rooms, new computer lab, a comfortable canteen and a comfortable air-conditioned seminar hall for holding guest lectures, panel discussions and inter-collegiate B-school competitions. Besides, the campus has also been WI-FI enabled. Yes, the tiling has also been changed; white boards now accompany the black boards, overhead projectors have been installed in the classrooms accompanied by a speaker system. The library is yet to follow suit. It still serves as a connection to the past.
In addition, we decked up the college for the Alumni Day. It looked really lively and colorful. It was welcomed by the Alumni as a change from the routine celebration at a 5 star venue. The day started with ice-breaking events. We had the following events going on in the rooms
Nostalgia Room: Served as a museum. We had put up pictures of the previous batches for the alumni to browse through. The old SIMSREE magazines and other releases, placement brochures etc. were kept in that room to revive old memories.
Village Room: Every occasion when graced by a social cause becomes even better. We provided an NGO with the opportunity to set up a handicraft stall in this room. This room was also decked up in a different and lively way so that the festive mood in every heart gets revived.
Games room: Various games such as Hockey-Golf, Dart, Brick Game, Seven-up-seven-down were organized for the alumni to try their hand at. We must mention that we have great dart players among the alumni.
Seminar Room: Interaction, fun and happening events like Just a Minute Games, Antakshari etc. were held here. Besides it was in the comfort of this room that the alumni shared their experiences with their good old friends and students. An informal briefing by SIMAA was also conducted in this room. By the way, this same room doubled as our discotheque in the late evening and everyone (alumni and students alike) danced their heart out.
The evening saw the presentation being delivered by the SIMAA core committee envisaging the vision for SIMSREE .This was followed by our Alumnus Mr. Amit singing Kishore Kumar songs…and he did put up a great show. Two entertaining dance performances followed. This was then followed by a live chat show featuring Mr. Neeraj Roy (CEO, Hungama.com), Mr. Kapil and Mr. Kartik Ramaswamy (GM, Lenovo India Pvt. Ltd.)
Then we had a cake cutting ceremony (SIMSREE turned 25) where Dr. Khan, our director, along with SIMAA members cut the cake. We then had fire-works to mark the occasion. Animated conversations were to be heard everywhere. A sumptuous meal followed suit. Some of the alumni left for the jam session (the discotheque). After some time, the draining effect of all the activity began to show and people bid farewells and left after spending a satisfying evening in the company of their friends and batch mates feeling younger than before.
… A literal commentary on the happenings of the Alumni Day. The pictures would give you a better idea… So please go ahead and check them out here!!!!
Thursday, 18. October 2007, 13:11:13
Rudyard Kipling once quoted, ‘Indians are a race destined to be ruled’, but no one would dare to say that today. From the Sensex breaching 18K to Dhoni’s team winning the T20 cup, there is a sense of optimism in the air for India. The change in spending patterns of rural Indians, shift in demographics and emergence of organized retail offer new opportunities for the FMCG sector. But every opportunity comes with a challenge and SIMSREE students heralded to take on the future of FMCG sector.
SIMYOJNA 2007, an event organized as a part of Silver jubilee Celebrations of Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE) called upon the brightest sparks of management schools in Mumbai and the stalwarts of the industry to pave the way ahead for the FMCG sector. This included a paper presentation competition on ‘FMCG-The way ahead..’ by students from IIT Mumbai’s SJMSOM, NITIE, NMIMS, TISS and SIMSREE, which was followed by a discussion by Mr. Lalit Kumar, President and CEO, Reliance Pharmaceuticals and Mr. Vikram Garga, Regional Manager, Colgate Palmolive.
SIMSREE’s Director Dr. M.A.Khan inaugurated the event with a welcome speech. Participants from SIMSREE evoked de-verticalization of supply channels and use of data analytics. The team from NMIMS suggested some out of the box strategies to create new customer segments for existing products. The NITIE team focused on consolidation in FMCG sector and conjured RFID implementation and virtual supply chain. Focus on rural markets for volume and urban markets for value was the mantra given by the team from SJMSOM. The team from TISS suggested personalized products which capture exact needs of the customer. To prove their point, they actually suggested a health drink ‘VitaNexT’ with all the technical specifications.
After the brilliant and professionally made presentations, the extremely knowledgeable and experienced judges elucidated the audience with their svelte perspective. The judges provided a nexus between the theoretical understanding of participants and the practical implications of the strategies commended by the students. The judges acted as the torchbearers and pacified the curious and interrogative audience in an intriguing Q&A session. All the participants were judged on well defined parameters with the competition being very stiff but the glory of resting on the zenith was bestowed upon the team from NITIE. In culmination, the audience was imbibed with an apt notion for the way ahead for the FMCG sector. Unarguably, the budding managers have fastened their seat belts to embark on the mission to take FMCG sector to higher altitudes.
RUCHITA SHAH (2006-08)
SWAPNIL DESHMUKH (2006-08)
Wednesday, 3. October 2007, 04:54:39
SIMSREE
SIMSREE turns 25 today !!!
Long live and prosper !!!
Tuesday, 2. October 2007, 15:31:18
Just like that..., MANAGEMENT
India vs England Natwest series 2007 – Match 5: Robin Uthappa hits 2 boundaries to win the match for his country. The Indian supporters erupt with joy and exult to the tunes of Chak De India. What? Chak De India in a cricket match!!! Wasn’t it a movie on hockey? What the heck – does it really matter? After all, India ne England bowlers ko chak diya na? So why not use the brand to symbolize the victory. I hope Mr. Chopra was watching the match – he might realize soon the power of his brand.
Nike should seriously consider advertising its new range of women’s sports goods/accessories with the punchline ‘Chak De India’ in order to capitalize on the spurt in popularity of sports amongst the female population in the country.
Pepsi promoting a new flavor of soft drink during the Twenty20 world cup, cheering for the Indian team as the lead sponsor, with the ad with the punchline played every time India wins a match wouldn’t be a bad proposition either. Encouragement for our heroes would be an added advantage.
Bajaj Auto may launch its new power-bike or Honda Motors its new sports car may jolly well use the brand for the promotion of these fast and furious machines.
The recent Lead India Initiative could have had ‘Chak De India’ as its theme too.
Yash Chopra, after all, deserves to reap in huge dividends for the copyrights of his magnificent masterpiece, which is a trend among the youth of today.
SWAPAN JHULKA (2007-09)
Saturday, 8. September 2007, 10:28:54
Just like that...
Animation has come a long way since its inception. From classical animation to 3-D animation, from Mickey Mouse to Shrek. There is no single person, who can be pin-pointed as the ‘creator’ of animation. One of the first works of animation can be dated back to the 1900’s. At that time, artists usually used the technique of classical animation, wherein successive movements of the object were drawn on different sheets and these sheets were then rapidly shot in a sequence, so as to give an illusion of movement. This optical illusion was possible because of persistence of vision. The first colour cartoon was created by Walt Disney in 1932 and the first full length animated feature film was released in 1937, which was none other than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Animation techniques rapidly evolved into superior ones. These included rubber-hose animation, rotoscopy, stop-motion animation etc. Rubber hose animation gave the artists a lot of leeway, because they didn’t have to follow the laws of physics or anatomy as the other techniques did. Rotoscopy involved physically tracing out the actor’s outline onto a drawing, frame by frame. Stop motion animation, on the other hand, involved physically altering the scene and then shooting it.
These animation techniques involved a lot of manual labour, and as technology evolved, so did the process of animation. With computers coming of age, came 2-D animation. This involved editing, or creating and editing, 2-D bitmap graphics. Then came 3-D animation, where along with modifying characters, other effects could also be added. This is the technique responsible for life-like characters in movies like Shrek and The Incredibles.
Animation may sound simple and fun, but it takes years to make an immaculate 2 hour animation film. A lot of hard work and perseverance goes into producing one movie. The creation of a motion picture can be roughly divided into the following stages : storyboard, animatics, design and timing, and layouts.
Storyboard, as the name suggests, is a systematic way of developing a story for the movie. It involves drawing of various plots along with the story, in a sequenced manner. After the storyline has been finalized, the voice recorders record a track, according to which the story moves. Animatics involves synchronizing the sound track recorded with the storyboard and mistakes in the storyboard, if any, can be corrected that time. After the animatic has been approved, the characters are created. Design includes design of the main characters and props, as well as the background. These characters are created with different poses and expressions depending on the needs of the storyline. Layout begins after the designs, during which the director decides which character goes into what frame. After all the above mentioned stages are completed, the actual animation begins using any of the techniques.
Today, most animated films are created using computer graphics, whether it is 2-D or 3-D. A number of software products are available for the same, the most famous one being Maya. Animation is an upcoming field and analysts estimate the industry to be worth $9 billion by 2009. So if you have the urge and creativity to go wild, happy cartooning!
STUTI THAKOR (2007-09)
Wednesday, 15. August 2007, 08:51:27
SIMSREE, Poem
Aaj yaad karo un veero ko,
Gulami ka kiya tha jisne khatma,
Par aaj bhi hai hum gulaam chand logo ke,
Jal rahi hai aatma,
Kuch toh karna hai desh ke liye,
bhale na ban sake Mahatma,
Sacche mann se aaj salaam karo tirange ko,
Kabhi na jhukegi apni Bharat Maa
HIMANSHU SHETH (2007-09)
Tuesday, 14. August 2007, 15:40:44
MANAGEMENT, Just like that...
Be it Business or War, it is very essential to know your strengths (that's the reason why they ask you that every time you sit for an interview). And it's even more important to know your weakness (that's the next question in the pipeline).
Yes, even more important than knowing your strengths, as it may happen that your one single weakness nullifies all your strengths (which could be otherwise lethal for your competitors/ enemies).
Ignorance may be bliss; but not on the battlefield.
Your ignorance about your weakness can mean a final blow for you. So, it’s very important to be aware of your weakness and not nurture it or pamper yourself for the same. Be convinced of your strengths and aware of your weaknesses. Remember that.
The strength of a chain is the strength of its weakest link.
Let your weaknesses somehow make you more potent as a weapon. Be a man who uses his vice to drain poison out of his body rather than to saturate it.
SAGAR PARMAR (2006-08)
Friday, 10. August 2007, 11:35:12
SIMSREE
I guess the new batch had their first lecture today.
Hope they enjoyed it and am sure they will contribute positively to the long glorious tradition of SIMSREE.
WIDGETIZE