Jan 2013 - S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research

Rainbow colours of innovation
December 11, 2012
Mr. Rajan Venkateswaran, General
Manager - AMS Delivery, Bristlecone,
addresses PGDM participants
Mr. Rajan Venkateswaran, General Manager - AMS
Delivery at Bristlecone spoke on 'Managing Customer
Expectations' in a guest lecture attended by PGDM 1st
and 2nd year students at SPJIMR. Headquartered in
Silicon Valley, Bristlecone is a leader in strategy and
business process consulting, systems implementation
and integration, outsourced business services in Supply
Chain Management and is present in four Indian cities
namely – Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Noida.
After a brief introduction of the company, Mr.
Venkateswaran talked about the general processes in
place at Bristlecone. He went on to brief the
participants about the predominant projects handled
by the company in supply chain management, the
alliance with SAP and Oracle products and how
customer satisfaction drives the business at Bristlecone.
Mr. Venkateswaran also gave insights on the client
processes at Bristlecone and shared some of his
personal experiences with the students.
The last part of the presentation was about “Customer
Expectation Management” where Mr. Venkateswaran
spoke about how Bristlecone adds value to the
customers' businesses and the challenges they face as
a support team.
Sptember 29, 2012
Importance of Inflation Expectation
Mr. Deepak Mohanty, Executive Director, RBI spoke to
the students of PGDM, PGPM and PGCIM at SPJIMR in
a guest lecture on the 'Importance of Inflation
Expectations'. The lecture saw Mr. Mohanty emphasise
the point that the central bank gives due importance to
inflation expectations while formulating monetary
policy.
He gave insights on the different surveys conducted by
RBI and other organisations on inflation expectations.
“Over the years, these surveys have moved from
qualitative to quantitative, removing subjectivity of the
data as far as possible. Also, the time frame surveyed
has moved from 'the next three months' to 'the next
year', thus smoothening out the impact of smaller
events,” he said.
He mentioned that inflation expectation, which was on
an average less than 5% during the period 2007-
2008, has increased to more than 7% in 2012-2013.
He suggested that the survey should be extended to
semi-urban and rural areas, and also discussed the
idea of inflation indexed bonds.
‘You can never lose in business', says Prof
Sunil Handa at SPJIMR's 'Laboratory in
Entrepreneurial Motivation'
Dr. Sunil Handa, a professor at IIM Ahmedabad and a
motivational speaker on entrepreneurship, stirred the
participants at SPJIMR at a 'Laboratory in
Entrepreneurial Motivation' workshop organised by
the Entrepreneurship Committee. His straightforward
approach to entrepreneurship struck a chord with the
students, when he talked about defying the established
paradigms of placements and seven figure salaries.
With numerous anecdotes of his students who have
established multimillion dollar enterprises, he showed
the good, the bad
and the ugly side of
entrepreneurship.
His first message to
the audience was
to ”never jump the
gun”. He said that
an entrepreneur
should choose a
field that he or she
desires. But it is
v i t a l t o g a i n
knowledge about the
sector and the industry. Prof Handa gave the example
of his own pharmaceutical company. Being an
electrical engineer, he had little idea of the pharma
industry when he started out. But the drive to learn
made it possible. He then advised the audience to
always start with the manageable and to remain
mindful of the cutbacks one needs to put in place when
starting a business.
Prof Handa emphasised how work ethics serve as the
primary source of credibility and motivation for
customers as well as employees. He said if we destroy
the milieu that we grow in or if we do not gain respect
from what we do, it is not worth doing.
He wrapped up the session with a very strong
message: “You can never lose in business”. He
elaborated his statement by saying that if one keeps an
eye on the market trends and customer reviews and
makes rational decisions based on the same, there is
little chance one loses in an entrepreneurial venture.
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