CEO CONNECT presents Mr. Sanjeev Sinha, MD of Siemens Information Systems Limited

Department of Management Studies (DoMS), IIT-Madras hosted Mr. Sanjeev Sinha, MD of Siemens Information Systems Limited for the CEO CONNECT session “The Role of Corporate Strategies “on 26^th October 2009. In CEO CONNECT, eminent business leaders are invited to the campus by the department to share their experiences and lessons of excellence. The essence of the event is to provide the students an opportunity to get the perspective of the captains of the industry.

Mr. Sinha comes with a rich and an extensive experience of 28 years from the manufacturing industry to his current position, amassed over his entire professional career with steel producers, consulting firms, and plant engineering companies.  After having completed his education in Electrical Engineering from UVCE, Bangalore University, he began his career in 1980 at Tata Steel in India. He started his career with Siemens as a project manager for steel and aluminium plants and has worked in most European countries, U.S.A., South Africa, Southeast Asian countries and in Brazil.  Mr. Sinha has held various positions within Siemens playing significant roles in sales and marketing, project management, engineering, strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions and other corporate functions. Mr. Sinha largely worked in an international environment on varied and complex portfolios. Before returning to India after having stayed in Germany for 25 years, he was on the Executive Board of Metals Technologies (MT) at Siemens AG and also on the Boards of Siemens VAI GmbH & Co, in Linz (Austria), France, Spain and UK.

 Mr. Sinha started the presentation with an introduction about Siemens and its long journey o f 162 years. He pointed out the role of the “value system” of Siemens as an organisation in its sustainability against many odds. He emphasized that the value system is the guiding spirit of the Vision of any organisation which in turn decides the strategies to be followed in the long run. He elaborated on how Siemens aligned their strategies by focussing on the emerging “Megatrends” and their significance.

Siemens is well perceived as a benchmark of “Innovation” and Mr.Sinha provided some valuable insights into what Siemens does differently. He stressed the importance of a long term strategy rather than using tactics for short term benefits. He also defined this often “misunderstood” term innovation as small steps at a time towards excellence. He concluded with these very valuable words of wisdom – “Compare yourself with the best and benchmark yourself against their strengths”.

The audience engaged Mr.Sinha with their questions regarding Siemens as an organisation, Innovations, factors affecting Innovation and the intricacies of Strategic Management. The hour long interaction with Mr.Sinha was a rare opportunity for the students of DoMS, IIT-Madras to closely read a MD’s mind. The session ended with a hope of yet another association in the future.

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011

THE AWE-SAMPARK 2009

Sampark-the first Business Conclave organized by the Department of Management Studies (DoMS), IIT-Madras lived up to the buzz it had created over the last week. The theme for the event was “Innovation” and it was sponsored by Business Line Club and Karur Vysya Bank. The highlight of the event was the eminent speakers who came from diverse backgrounds but bonded by the common thread-“Innovation”.

The event began with the Head of the Department, Dr. C.Rajendran delivering the opening address.Dr.M.S.Ananth, the Director of IIT-Madras, lauded the selection of the theme for the first conclave and stressed on the fact that the passion towards success supersedes any failure in the process.

The session began with the keynote address by Mr.Naveen Kulkarni, Director (Business Development) - Philips Research Asia. He shared his experiences as an Entrepreneur before joining Philips and had the audience glued as he articulated how “entrepreneurship” was a gene and not just a trait. He described how the anatomy of “entrepreneurship” works with knowledge in the brain, passion in the heart and fire in the belly. He then moved on to share what they do differently in Philips. He underlined the importance of creating a fine balance between exploration and exploitation for meaningful innovation. He also gave a deep insight on the broad approach towards innovation followed in Philips. He ended his address with his philosophy for future entrepreneurs-“Think big, Start small, and Scale fast”.

The second speaker for the day was Mr. Rajaram Venkataraman, Principal Innovation Architect - Infosys Technologies Ltd.He set the tempo for the day with his opening words- “Innovate or Die”. He started off with some startling statistics regarding the decline of some major companies which substantiated his earlier words. He then moved on to discuss more about “Process Innovation and the role of IT”. He drew similarities between 2 very successful companies, Toyota and Infosys, which conscientiously lived with the philosophy of “The best never rest”.

The post lunch saw the most interactive session with the highly energetic CEO of Consim Info (BharatMatrimony Group), Mr. Murugavel Janakiraman. He also happened to be the youngest speaker and struck an instant rapport with the audience. The audience listened to him as he shared the journey of “Bharatmatrimony” from an idea and how it has become the second name for “online matrimonial services”. He was quick to point out that he too found his soul mate through the site. He emphasized on the importance of “incremental innovation” for sustainable success in this competitive and demanding business scenario. He ended his speech with the words which reverberated in the hall along with the applause he received from the overwhelmed audience-“Do not wait for any breakthrough idea for innovation. Your passion can create and drive innovation”.

The stage was set for Dr.Ravinder David Koilpillai who is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras to take the session forward. He spoke about “Technology Evolution and Innovation-A Telecom Perspective”. He engaged the audience with some insights into the history and development in the field of Wireless Technology. He elaborated on the basic flowchart of Innovation process and also spoke about the importance of patents. He ended the address on a positive note expressing his optimism and excitement about the immense potential in the field of Telecom.

As the session moved towards the last lap with everyone engrossed in reflecting on the various speeches on innovation, Mr. N.K Subramaniyam, Executive Director Saksoft limited took the stage. He introduced the topic “Business Intelligence and Innovation” and elaborated on the reasons for choosing the topic. He started with the concepts of Data warehouse and Data Mart and their commercial viability in current business scenario. These techniques have found immense applicability in the banking, manufacturing and marketing sector for Data mining, for making business decisions and for helping in coming up with newer business strategies. Mr.Subramaniyam ended his lecture stressing on the fact that business intelligence would be the top priority requirement in the near future.

The day long intellectually stimulating interaction with all the speakers lived up to its promise of delivering the 3 Es-engage, exchange and empower through this event-SAMPARK. The speakers spent time answering queries of the students even after their respective sessions. The event concluded with a hope that the coming years would take this initiative to a new level altogether. 


Team DoMS Interface,
Batch of 2011

DoMS IITM organizes Sampark '09: A business summit

Sampark is a business summit conceptualized by the Department of Management Studies, IIT Madras. The summit would deal with a wide range of issues that matter to the success of businesses and would act as a unique forum to meet thought leaders, present path-breaking ideas, establish new networks, and showcase managerial talent.

The core objectives of Sampark are:

• To invite top managers from companies operating in diverse domains to engage with the students .
• To provide a common platform for exchange of ideas on contemporary management issues.
• To empower students to become productive citizens

Date and Venue:

24th October 2009 at DoMS, IIT Madras 0930 onwards.

Sampark Blog: http://samparkdomsiitm.blogspot.com

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011

DoMS student releases report on PE-VC market. TVS Capital MD, Mr. Gopal Srinivasan accepts first copy

This September witnessed an event that rewrote the history of DoMS in bold golden letters. Ashish Deshmukh, a second year MBA student, in his summer project, analyzed the scenario of Venture Capital and Private Equity in India in the year 2009, under the able guidance of faculty member Dr. Thillai Rajan A.. The studies and learning’s were compiled in the form of a report and released in the presence of Mr. Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director, TVS Capital Funds, who also received the first copy. The report was the fist of its kind for the PE-VC market in the country from a neutral point of view.

In a gist, the report spoke about the time from 2004-2008 that had been a glorious period for Venture Capital and Private Equity (VC & PE) investment activity in India. It was during this time that India emerged among the global leaders in the VC & PE industry. Going beyond the investment trends, the report tried to address some of the interesting questions such as: Is it true that money is chasing deals in India? Does the state of capital markets influence venture investment activity? What kind of new companies are attracting VC & PE investments? Are investors itching for exits? The report brought out the intention of the FII's who targeted stable companies during their growth stage. In 5 years, there have been 252 exit incidents, 1503 companies that were targeted, 1912 transactions and Rs. 4.19 trillion of investment.

Mr. Srinivasan appreciated the report in extremely strong words and encouraged the department to come up with a yearly report like this. He complemented Dr. Thillairajan, the project coordinator. The report he said, would benefit the industry tremendously. He sighted examples saying that great companies like Apple and Cisco were supported by VC & PE in their initial stages. Mr. Srivivasan is a member of the CII and is working with SEBI and the RBI to check regulatory measures to attract VC & PE. The target is to have their investments achieve a 2% share of the GDP.

He spoke about the 4 E's of capital: Ecosystem, Environment, Entrepreneur and Excellence. He supported the report's finding that PE is local business and with a long range business, e needs sharpshooters on the ground! He promised the help of the CII's PE unit for more networking with fund companies. He concluding by saying that "capital goes where it’s welcome and stays where it’s comfortable".

Team DoMS Interface

Batch of 2011

Nomura Holdings MD Mr. Koichi Ikegami visits IIT Madras, wins hearts with his energy packed speech

On 29th of September IIT Madras had the privilege of being addressed by Mr. Koichi Ikegami , Managing director, Senior CommunicationOfficer , NOMURA HOLDINGS. Nomura Group, a Japanese firm, which was founded in 1925, now employs over 26000 people over 30 countries and 5 business lines. The core vision which drives the company is based on the three pillars: Change, World Class, and Speed.  Nomura acquired Lehman Bros in 2008 to emerge out as the core firm to manage the financial markets of Asia.

Mr. Ikegami joined Nomura in April 1979; he had been working with various departments over the 25 years. In June 2006 he was appointedas the Managing Director along with which he also shared his financial knowledge with students in various Universities in Japan and China.

Mr. Ikegami told that when 30 years back he joined Nomura he had a core belief that one day the Asian era would come. The economic development of UK markets was far ahead of any other markets in the world in 1900s. Then from 1930s the US era began, after 1970 markets of Japan and Germany went bullish and after 1989 the major market that is expanding is that of Asia with fairly good improvements shown by Australia, Africa, Russia and Brazil. Now after the recent recession the Asia is all set to dominate the world economy. In the Asian economy China and India would be the two major players which would drive the market with some support of Japan.

Mr. Ikegami made everyone realise, the time has indeed come for the Asian giants to rise. He told that India had a great advantage which it should cash on. First strength for India is its English speaking population which is lacking in China. Secondly the business would go where there would be brains. The Indian brains are respected in the international market for the acumen which would prove to be a great asset. Thirdly, its strategic location, as it’s positioned between South Asia and European markets. Asia is slowly becoming the financial centre of the world and India is in the Centre of Asia. So it would be benefited being in the centre of the centre.

He stressed on the fact that, the financial business is the key for the success of any society.  Therefore education and investments are two cores areas where the governments should concentrate for developing a country. Then he shared about his views on the social responsibility every company has towards the society. Nomura designs  and supports the finance courses for the university student. It provides special support for the Nikkei Stock  League. They also develop practical education material for schools.

Mr. Ikegami called everyone to come together to create a better world and in the end he left the audience with the words: “Go for it young generation...Go for it!!!” which left people spell bound reflecting on their capabilities which they never realised before.

Team DoMS Interface
Batch of 2011