Conference

For several years Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute for Management Development (SDMIMD) has been organizing multiple international conferences every year. Keeping the COVID-19 situation in mind, SDMIMD organized the first International e-conference on “Adapting to the new business normal- The way ahead”, on 3-4 December 2020.

 

Welcoming the participants, Dr. N. R. Parasuraman, Director, SDMIMD, spoke on the challenges and opportunities on doing business in the pandemic era and released the Conference Proceeding CD. Dr. Mousumi Sengupta, the Conference Chair, briefed the participants about the objective of the conference and emphasized on the need to get virtually connected, for the purpose of collaborative research.

 

During his keynote address, eminent international academician, and researcher, Dr. Moez Bennouri, the Director of the MSc Programs, Montpellier Business School, France, spoke on the issue of female leadership in organizations. In the context of Corporate Governance in the current business scenario, he emphasized on the significance of the involvement of female leaders at the top management level.

 

The keynote was followed by paper presentation session. More than 100 participants and paper presenters have taken part in the conference. Papers have been presented in different tracks grouped under Marketing, Finance, HRM, Economics, Operations, Analytics, and IT.

 

In a panel discussion on “Adapting to the new business normal” distinguished corporate personalities, such as, Mr Ravikumar, Head – HR, Feedback Consulting; Mr Hemant Galagali, Associate Director – Enterprise Digital Strategy, IQVIA Inc; and, Mr Divakar Gupta, Global Product Manager, Expedia; shared their experiences on the various challenges at work, in the present time. They emphasized on several strategic decisions, companies need to make, to cater to the new normal business context. Dr. Sugant, Professor, SDMIMD acted as moderator, during the panel discussion.

 

During the valedictory session, Mr. Anujeet Varadkar, CEO, Svatantra Microfinance, delivered the address and spoke on the importance of microfinance in the Indian economy. He highlighted the issues, which are typically faced by microfinance companies.

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Dr. N.  Muthukumar, President and Whole Time Director, Meritor Limited., delivered a Special Address as the Guest of Honor during the inauguration of the 8th International Conference on ‘Managing Human Resources at the Workplace’ organized by SDMIMD during 6th and 7th December 2019.  

 

Dr. Muthukumar said ‘today there is no dearth to funds or technology; if India wants to be in top 100 countries in the world by 2030, it all depends on how we make average person into extraordinary. You can’t manage everybody the same, they are not machines, people are not same, everybody needs different treatment that is where leadership is making much more important and leadership counts. According to research, in intellectual productivity, India is four times higher than America but unfortunately, we are failing to deliver’.

 

Earlier, while welcoming the gathering, Dr. N. R. Parasuraman, Director, SDMIMD, emphasized on the role of HRM, as the strategic business partner, and stressed upon the need for an organization specific HRM policy framework, at place. Dr. Mousumi Sengupta, Conference Chair, presented the theme of the conference and highlighted the need for managing human relations and intelligence, in the context of emergence of Industry 4.0. 

 

Dr. Susanne Wilpers, Director International Programs, Faculty of Business and Transport Management, Heilbronn University, Germany, in her virtual keynote address, indicated that, using mobile technology, social network and predictive analytics have been the recent trends in HRM practices in Germany. 

 

Distinguished speakers from India and abroad, Dr. Ashly H. Pinnington, Dean of Research, the British University in Dubai; Mr. Tajas S J, CEO, GI TAGGED, Bengaluru; delivered invited talks. In a panel discussion, distinguished women leaders, Ms. Suchitra Royroth, Vice President – Operations, Cyient DLM; Ms. Mary Vinay Uttarkar, Training Consultant, Theorem Inc; Ms. Nisha , Manager – HR, Mypol; and, Dr. Juin Choudhury, Director, Acharya School of Management, Bangalore; deliberated on issues and challenges for women executives at work.  

 

The conference witnessed participation from 200+ delegates, across the country. During the conference, over 120 selected highly researched papers presented. 

 

The 5th International Economics Conference - 2019 was organised on November 15 & 16, 2019 on the theme of “Economic Growth and Sustainable Development: Emerging Trends”. The two-day conference was inaugurated by Dr. Sébastien Chantelot, Director of La Rochelle Business School & Vice Dean-Academics of Excelia Group, France. 

 

In his keynote address, Dr. Sébastien elucidated that the future corporate managers need to possess the core skills such as complex problem solving, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, creativity, judgement and decision making, people management and coordination with stakeholders to implement sustainable business practices. He said that every company needs to justify the triple bottom line such as economy, environment and society. People, planet and profit are postulated as the central aspects of sustainability. He also raised concerns on increasing pressure on the environment and opined that sustainable development goals (SDGs) could be achieved through responsible management education. Dr. Sébastien argued for the need for industry-academia collaboration to instil sustainability practices. Further, he expressed his apprehension over ethical dilemmas and sustainability practices in business.

 

Dr. H. Gayathri, Deputy Director, who spoke on 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of United Nations which is built on the principle of “leaving no one behind” focussed on the holistic approach to achieve sustainable development for all. 

 

Dr. B. Venkatraja, Conference Chairperson, introducing the conference theme said the event had been organised to deliberate on the factors driving growth and causing economic slowdown in the emerging global open market. 

 

The two-day event featured technical sessions, panel discussions and paper presentations on different issues related to the conference theme. 

 

Ms. Anjana K R, General Manager – HR, Tata Consultancy Services, Dr. M. Indira, Ex-Chairperson & Professor of Economics, University of Mysore, and Sri. Bharathram Lokkur - Director, Lokkur Investment Advisors Private Limited delivered talks during technical sessions. 

 

A panel discussion on “Sustainability & Business Economy” had Dr. Gavin Melles, Professor of Sustainability, Swinburne University, Australia, Dr. Rajagopal R, Founder & CEO, KnowGenix, Mumbai and Jyotsna Belliappa, Head- CSR Assurance at BlueSky as panel speakers. The panel was moderated by Dr. M.R. Suresh, Professor, SDMIMD. 

 

Sri. K.R. Viju Parameshwar, Former President & CEO of Kluber Lubrication India Private Limited was the Chief Guest to the valedictory session of the conference held on November 16.

 

Members from academia, industry and research scholars from different parts of the country and abroad presented 140 research papers and case studies on the theme. The conference was attended by 200 delegates. 

SDMIMD organized 2nd International Conference on Marketing on Friday, October 18, 2019 on the theme Value Driven Marketing. 

 

Dr. Sheb True, Professor of Marketing, Interim Director – MBA Programs, Coles Colleges of Business, Kennesaw State University, Atlanta, United States, inaugurated the conference and delivered the keynote address. Dr. Sheb True said “Studying or teaching a popular course is right, but everybody will be learning the same. So, what is the differentiator? How we change what we do? Should be the focus of the institutions or university”. The address introduced various studies on the keynote topic and the speaker shared the resources for further readying. He also focused on relooking at the value created by business education and how business education is changing globally.

 

Dr. H. Gayathri, Deputy Director and Professor – Marketing, SDMIMD who also spoke on the occasion said when marketing has shifted from product driven to customer driven, the discussion and deliberation on the ‘value driven’ is more appropriate as value driven is oriented for customer in a value chain.

 

Dr. Jayakrishnan, Conference Chair presented the theme of the conference and said over the years marketing moved from product centric era to human centric era. “Marketers need to identify, understand the anxieties and desires of the consumers to fulfil their needs. The Triple Bottom Line Concept is being embraced by several firms bringing together – economic value, environmental health and social progress. In the current changing market environment, the objective of ‘International Conference on Marketing’ is to provide a platform for the industry, marketing practitioners and academia to share their knowledge and experiences of marketing in the value driven marketing” he added.

 

The conference attracted more than 43 research papers on the conference theme and the papers were presented during the track sessions. Mr. Aditya Singh, Head – Jewellery International Business, Titan Company Limited; was part of the technical sessions of the conference. Valedictory speech was delivered by Mr. Nagachethan S.M, Senior Vice President & Product Head, Chaitanya (CRIDS).