"Pricing of public services" - a session by Dr. P.K. Goel

A lecture on a subject like pricing can’t be ingrained by a class of 68 executives of varied experience without being enunciated by the guru himself. Dr. P.K Goel, Chief Commercial Officer of Northern Railway, Indian Railways, the man behind the IRCTC e-commerce service was at IIM Lucknow (Noida Campus) to teach the IPMX students the nuances of “Pricing of Public Services”.

Dr. Goel’s vast experience and intrapreneurial instincts that he has demonstrated during his illustrious career at Indian Railways was itself a big story for the class. He walked the class through the Concepts of pricing using various examples from his experiences at Indian Railways. The class was able to inculcate the nuances of pricing structure, efficient pricing and competitive pricing through the session. IPMX students were able to correlate the pricing concepts taught in the class during the workshop. Unaware of the pricing mechanism used by the government owned entities, IPMX students learned the pricing structure for different types of services offered by Indian Railways.

Dr. Goel explained how IT systems are being utilized to run a behemoth such as Government controlled Indian railways. At the tail end of the workshop, Dr. Goel gave special emphasis on the unique service, tatkal, offered by Indian Railways that transformed the way Indian Railways has been adding value to the Indian populace through its services.

Overall the 4 hour workshop was full of learning in which the whole class participated and well concluded by Dr. Goel.

 

Shekhar Kumar

IPMX05 – Media Committee

“Global Business Workshop” by Kelley School of Business

A new chapter of long alliance with Kelley School of Business was written when the school conducted the “Global Business Workshop” at IIM-L Noida campus on May 20th . It was a unique and discerning experience to interact with their faculty and alumni. The workshop focused on “New direction in strategy and Entrepreneurship”, one of the ever burning topics in the MBA fraternity.

Idalene Kesner, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research & Chair of strategic management, offered a deeper view on formulating the business strategy in the continuously changing global environment. The focus was on the emerging markets such as India and China that are going to be the epicenter for the global strategy in near future. The session was captivating and answered many contemporary questions pertaining to competitive strategy for corporations, regions and nations. The discussions on concerning issues such as regional strategy for global leadership, contemporary strategic-planning processes, and real world strategies for seeking competitive advantages gave food for thought to the participants.

Another esteemed professor, Patricia P. McDougall, the winner of “21st Century Entrepreneurship Research Fellow” award, provided an insightful session to all the potential entrepreneurs present in the workshop. She elucidated the anatomy of entrepreneurship to satisfy our curiosity around this exciting subject. She helped us to dig deeper to find answers to questions such as where does the opportunity exist? How do I capitalize on it? Do I have all the resources?



Prof. Ash Soni, who is currently doing his research work in the area of “Development of Business Analytics Programs”, took us to the journey of business analytics. He discussed about the evolution of the data analytics and how the field is growing annually at 40% rate and changing the businesses around the globe. Knowing about Business Analytics Landscape that includes Predictive Analysis, Analytical Modeling, Data Mining, and Data Visualization was an overwhelming experience for all of us.

Altogether this workshop was an excellent opportunity to imbibe learning from the academic experts in the area and to interact with some real life entrepreneurs and strategists.

- Vijay Pal Sharma

Labor Day celebration at IIM Lucknow – Noida Campus

The euphoria was high as new batch of IPMX started interacting and engaging with IIM Noida campus staff. Around 25 hard working people of IIM Noida campus staff participated in the event.  The event kicked off by honoring and appreciating the efforts that staff put to help the new students settle in and adjust to their new home. IIML staff has done a stupendous job at responding to the needs and queries of students and teachers equally.

 

The enthusiasm of staff was mesmerizing. Brijesh and Ajit – energetic lads in mess lightened up the whole environment by singing few bollywood numbers – “Pathar ke sanam”, “Akele hi akele chala hai kahan”. It was a marvelous surprise to watch staff sharing a leg with students. I must say they outperformed the students. In musical chair game played amongst 30 folks, Brijesh excelled.

 

From playing cricket with us to making delicious food and facilitating us in our hostels, staff members have done a fantastic job. Overall, it was a satisfying experience to know our staff and to build up camaraderie.  The event concluded with sweet distribution.

 - Siddharth Asthana

Career Counseling session by Mr. Rishi Tyagi, Global Head of EAS Product Management Group at Headstrong

Mr. Rishi Tyagi interacted with students on career management. Students had very meaningful interactions with the speaker. The session highlighted the importance of introspection and self-analysis as the key to a meaningful career.

- Karthik Bharadwaja

Session on Effective Corporate Communication and Media relations strategies by Mr. Sharat Chander

Mr. Sharat Chander is the Joint Director (Media and Communication) for the Prime Minister’s Office. He had an engaging session with the students on elements of good Corporate Communication and Media Strategies. In this age of constant interaction with various media, students found the session very useful and picked up some insightful perspectives on the subject. In the session, Sharat Chander detailed various aspects of corporate communication like internal communication, external communication and branding activities.

- Karthik Bharadwaja

Workshop on Values and Ethics by Dr J J Irani

May 26, 2012

 It was a warm Saturday morning at Noida Campus. After a hectic week at IPMX05,  workshop on Values & Ethics by Dr. Jamshed J Irani (Chairman Board of Governors of IIML & ex-Director TATA Steel) was a motivating session.

Dr. J J Irani, with his charisma and clarity in thought, won over the students of IPMX05 in no time. He took the class through different cases where TATA group demonstrated the power of value and ethics followed.  He covered the CSR initiatives of TATA group and how the group shares the wealth and prosperity with the local community.  When it comes to development of the society, company looks at the needs of the people to determine the budget, rather than defining a percentage of the profit as the budget.  Crux of this topic was – It is not the short term growth, but the long term growth and sustainability that matters.

Next he talked how corrupt officials and politicians could be dealt with, students had their own apprehensions. Question was – a giant like TATA could do it, but how can a startup entrepreneur do the same. Wouldn’t that be end of life for the startup? Simple and clear answers given by Dr Irani were enough to clarify these apprehensions among the class. He explained how situations could be dealt with live examples.

JJ Irani likened values to a lighthouse. It will act as a beacon in the times of uncertainty and guide us to the right path. Overall, it was an engaging session that lasted around four hours and class was clear about the paths to be followed when they go back to the industry – following values and ethics is the way to long term sustainability.

-Bijumohan

Shubh-Aarambh: An Ode to a New Beginning

The aspirations of a lifetime
Like the rays of the rising Sun
Breaking over the horizon
Usher in a beautiful Dawn!
This is what signifies the start,
The beginning of something new
Where hopes and dreams combine
To create something that is fresh as early morning Dew;
And with such lofty dreams in their eyes
Came together a band of achievers,
And thus begins the story
Of the New Age Musketeers-We the IPMXers!!!

The dreams of 68 achievers, who decided to choose the path less trodden, and entered the hallowed gates of IIM-L, got off to a crackling start. Full of energy, zeal and passion, the incoming batch of IPMX 05 at the Noida campus was not content to sit back and go with the flow but rather chose to take command and there by start what shall hopefully become a tradition in the years to come. And thus 'Shubh-Aarambh' was conceived.
With meticulous planning and near perfect co-ordination the entire event was conceptualized in less than a week's time. And thus began our first lessons into the art of management. Right from managing the event to marketing it, everyone's grey cells went into an overdrive and what came out was a fantastically put on show, lending credence to the abilities and skills of the IPMXers.

The memorable evening was inaugurated by lighting of the traditional lamp under the beautiful canopy of golden Noida sky by the Director of IIM-L Dr. Devi Singh along with the Dean of Noida Campus Dr. Archana Shukla. What followed was a performance of sorts starting with the rendition of the now ubiquitous viral hit 'Kolaveri Di' that got the audience to their feet. And this was just the beginning.



As the evening gave way to a starry night, so did the performances that took a 'Starry' turn. The infectious zeal and enthusiasm soon caught on and transformed the entire batch into a bunch of carefree students from the good old college days. And off course, what event can be complete without a tantalizing treat for the taste buds? True to the tradition, a sumptuous food fest was on offer to provide gastronomic delights to the ravishing crowd.

The event was made even more memorable and delightful when the seniors from IPMX batch 4 turned up to grace the occasion and officially pass on the 'Baton' to he incoming batch. The seniors shared their words of wisdom and provided meaningful insights to the entire batch.

And finally, it was time to let the hair loose to the foot tapping numbers dished out by the DJ. What started as a trickle soon grew into a raging stream as more and more IPMXers joined in to the insane head banging and all contouring dance form.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9PQsrMyD7o]

Continuing late into the night, the entire event served to build a bond of camaraderie among the motley bunch of young and dynamic achievers who have embarked upon this monumental journey of self-transformation and excellence to become the leaders and visionaries of tomorrow!



- Parag Deshpande

IPMX05