Industry Stalwarts In The Domains Of Operations And Strategy Grace Iim Amritsar For Sankshetra’21
Amritsar : Indian Institute of Management, Amritsar successfully conducted the Fifth edition of their annual Operations and Strategy Conclave, Sankshetra’21, on December 19, 2021. The main highlight of this conclave was the fact that this was the first offline conclave which took place in IIM Amritsar, since the pandemic.
Sankshetra’21 provided a dais where the veterans from the industry interacted and reflected with the budding managers on the recent trends and developments in the domains of Operations and Strategy. It was a one-day event with the forenoon slot allocated for Operations and the afternoon for Strategy. The event was covered live on the various social media handles of the institute, and by the designated Media Partners ETNOW and CNBC. During the event, the Director of the Institute Prof. Nagarajan Ramamoorthy shed light on the various industry trends taking place in the Operations and Strategy domains, and enumerated the various learnings the industries had in the past 2 years. He further went on to speak about the necessities to pass on those learnings to the budding managers of tomorrow, thereby talking about the relevance of the conclave. Speaking about the institute, he talked about the various new initiatives the institute has come up with, like the Leadership Summit tentatively scheduled for the end of January 2022, and the Social Involvement Project where students from the institute help the District Administration in 21 key projects. The event was also graced with the presence of Prof. Mukesh Kumar, Media Chair of IIM Amritsar and Prof. Chetan Chitre, the Students’ Affairs Chair.
Brief on Panel-1: Operations
The theme for the first panel was “Aligning People, Processes, and Innovation Across the Supply Chain Spectrum”. Introducing the theme to the Panellists and the audience, students of IIM Amritsar shared their presentation on the theme. Mr. Aravind A R and Mr. Pratik Sankhe shed light on the various disruptions which took place in the recent times; the semiconductor shortage, fuel shortage in the UK, and antibiotic shortage in Kenya to name a few. They further talked about the most important concept in the topic- which was further discussed during the panel discussion- the People Process Innovation Triangle. They concluded the presentation evaluating the overall transformation strategy, and was able to capture the audience with the explanation of a lot of real-life cases.
The panel was ennobled with the presence of; Mr. Karthikeyan Natarajan, Executive Director and COO, Cyient Ltd., Mr. Gagan Bharadwaj, Senior VP Supply Chain, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Kapil Sabherwal, Director, Operations-India, Morning Star, Mr. Deepak Jaiswal, Director, Imagenous Engineering Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Neeraj Rajbehari Lal, COO, Appolo Hospitals International Ltd., and the Keynote speaker of this panel, Mr. Shekhar Tiwari, MD, Accenture Operations, Supply Chain and Network Operations. Mr. Natarajan took up the mantle of the moderator for the panel discussion.
The keynote speaker if the panel Mr. Shekhar Tiwari started his address with a video presentation which discusses the major changes Supply Chain went through in the last century, starting from Warehouse Optimisation and going on till Digital Supply Chain Network. He appreciated the Institute for organising the conclave in an in-person mode, and commended the students for their active listening. He said that the right way to handle the kind of supply chain innovation that we are facing now is by properly taking care of the people-process-innovation triangle, with customers in its centre. He further explained the triangle, explaining each component of the triangle in detail. He made sure that the audience was always with him with his witty and interesting way of presentation.
The moderator for the discussion Mr. Karthikeyan Natarajan cited the various changes in the model which happened in the last 20 years, be it globalisation, product development, or security. He elaborated on the various disruptions the pandemic brought about. He commended the healthcare sector of India for having a robust supply chain which enabled us combat the pandemic. Capturing the audience was never an issue for him as he cited various anecdotes, which made the crowd listen to him with rapt attention. He concluded with the hope that the future managers shall not go behind jobs, but create them instead.
Mr. Neeraj Rajbehari Lal, coming from healthcare sector, shared his experiences in the domain during and post-pandemic. The sense of urgency in the hospital-sector was well elaborated on by him, and he cited the various challenges the sector faces extensively, covering points such as public opinion. Mr. Lal went on to explain the various technological advancements the sector is going through, including the automation of ICUs and OPD.
Coming from the consulting sector, Mr. Deepak Jaiswal started off with talking about the importance of people in the supply-chain domain. He explained the topic with lucidity and clarity, and cited simple anecdotal examples to make the students understand the significance of digitisation in the sector. He concluded citing the challenges in the consulting sector due to digitisation in their supply-chain, which included information overflow and communication gap.
Starting his address off by talking about the improvements the pandemic has brought about, Mr. Kapil Sabherwal mentioned that India really adapted to a work-from-home culture. He was positive that going into 2022, we would see a huge rise in job roles and job opportunities, no matter what the domain will be. He reiterated the importance of making people understand that automation will not take jobs away but will provide newer avenues.
Mr. Gagan Bharadwaj cited examples from the pharmaceutical sector and discussed about the various disruptions and its solutions. He cited the importance of automating mundane work so that people can be more focussed on carrying out more important roles. He said that more willingness to adapt has come during the pandemic, and when asked about the component in supply-chain which is here to say, he answered that it is disruptions.
Brief on Panel 2
The discussion on the afternoon session revolved around “Business Strategy on Carbon Neutrality: Next Steps for Sustainable Climate”. Introducing the theme of the discussion to the audience, students of MBA-06, Mr. Ajay Narayan Khandagale and Ms. Tanisha Dawar delivered a presentation. They started off with explaining the terminology; discussing about terms such as Carbon Neutral, Carbon Negative, Carbon Offset etc., and then went on to discuss deeper concepts like internal carbon pricing, carbon neutrality measurement, etc. They further talked about various industry examples citing the actions plans of various MNCs, and concluded with a discussion on the roadmap for India and their recommendations.
The eminent panellists for the discussion were; Mr. Subir Hazra, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer, GMR Group, Mr. Rajesh K, Chief Quality and Sustainability Officer, Licious, Mr. Mandar Joshi, VP, Tech Mahindra, Mr. Amit Dutta, CSO, Ampersand Group, and the keynote speaker of the panel Mr. K S Rao, CSO & Executive Director, Market Development, Sales and Proposal, ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions.
On his keynote address, Mr. K S Rao warned everyone to look into the Carbon emissions seriously, no matter what it costs, since the world is now warmer by more than 1.2 degree Celsius from the 19th Century, and the CO2 emissions have risen more than 50%. He further explained the sector-wise Carbon Emissions in India, and then across industries. He talked about the Carbon Value-Chain with lucidity and commented on how India can become Carbon Neutral by 2070, enumerating various action plans. During his address, he congratulated IIM Amritsar for the offline-mode of the conclave, and concluded speaking about the various strategies adopted by his company, ThyssenKrupp.
The moderator for the panel discussion Mr. Subir Hazra ensured that the discussion was as lively as possible by inviting questions from audience at regular intervals. Various focus areas like onsite renewable energy, adopting low emission transports like EVs, developing green-building infrastructure etc. were touched upon. He further mentioned the climate actions at IGIA, and said that it is high time we move from “best practices” to “next practises”.
Mr. Mandar Joshi said that it was a privilege to be present in an offline conclave conducted by IIM Amritsar, and shared his invaluable wisdom in the topic. He said that looking at Carbon Neutrality in isolation is never an option, and said that it is the right mix between environment, social, and governance which will help us achieve the same. He emphasised on having AI based solutions to achieve Carbon Neutrality, and said that there are industries and companies which emit carbon, and that there are ones which solve them, and a right balance has to be struck between the two. He concluded by remarking that it is more important to have a solution rather than trying to solve quickly.
Mr. Amit Dutta exclaimed that the term Carbon Neutrality came into being in just the mid-2000s, and that it will be the point of discussion until Neutrality is achieved. He remarked that the issue of climate change will hit the marginalised and vulnerable the hardest. His concluding statement was that the most important step to be taken to achieve Carbon Neutrality would be to create awareness about the topic and bringing the issue to light.
Mr. Rajesh K commenced his address with the statement that companies now are willing to pay premium for Carbon Neutral technology, and that there will be collateral benefits if one strives to achieve the same. He captivated the audience with the witty remark that no other panellist talked about cutting down on the meat industry- the industry he represents- to reduce carbon emissions. He said that the most challenge is the analysis part- whether to have a uniform yardstick across the globe or to have geography specific ones. His concluding remark was that every industry and nation at large should look for the right balance, and must prioritise with a thought about the posterity as well.
The students of IIM Amritsar showed great enthusiasm during the panel discussion. The discussions were made highly interactive through a healthy Q&A session between the panellists and students. A video which showed the journey of IIM Amritsar was played after the conclave, created by the Media and PR Cell of IIM Amritsar.
About IIM Amritsar
Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Amritsar is an institution of National Importance established by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India in 2015. It is the 15th IIM set up by the Ministry of Human Resources Development with the support of the Government of Punjab.
IIM Amritsar offers a two-year general Master of Business Administration (MBA) program and a specialized MBA in HR and Business Analytics. The institute also offers a two-year Executive MBA (EMBA) and various customized short and long duration Management Development Programs. These programs have been designed to provide world-class management education to meet the requirements of organizations across sectors for management professionals. The institute is committed to imparting solid educational foundations and values in the thoughts and actions of future managers.
EMBA Admissions open till January 31, 2022.