Events @ VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur

Marketing ‘MADness’ grips VGSoM.. March 5, 2008

Students of VGSoM are gearing up to hit the ‘MADison Avenue’ this weekend. Yes, this is the name of the marketing and branding workshop being held at VGSoM on the 8^th and 9^th March ’08, coined after the Marketing and ADvertising club – the MAD Club of VGSoM. The club is actually a group of students dedicated to promoting activities and learning related to the ‘marketing’ function of management and its associated fields like branding, advertising etc.! MADison Avenue, which is planning to go global in its very first launch, will bring to its participants, a plethora of online events like quizzes and case study competitions which will be open to all corporates, B-school students as well as aspirants. Apart from these, there is also a workshop and lecture series on various issues related to branding which will invite eminent dignitaries from various corporate giants and brand leaders like Airtel, Cavin Kare, Cognizant, ITC Foods, Fortune Park Hotels, Pantaloons, Zee Sports and more, some of whom are also sponsoring this fiesta. Some of the other sponsors are Tata Mcgraw-Hill and Voltas. Also, PaGalGuy.com is the online media partner for the event.

Check out the all the MADness happening on MADison Avenue website.

Keep checking this space for more updates!!!

Off the beaten track.. Hiking all the way….. February 12, 2008

3 Days – 3 Nights full of Fun and Adventure..!!

For three gruelling, action-packed and fun-filled days, students of VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur got an opportunity to test their physical and mental limits and learnt to push themselves beyond it. John Buchan once said, “The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.” The students of VGSOM learnt the art of eliciting this greatness at the TASF camp.

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Purvodaya – National Conclave @ VGSOM March 30, 2007

With rich natural resources, an ample and able talent pool and carefully engineered industrialization,
Eastern India stands poised to take its place as an economic hub.

Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT Kharagpur, has conceived a platform where policy-makers, corporate doyens, academicians and the student community can bring this grand vision to fruition.

PURVODAYA – National Conclave is where both the opportunities and obstacles that line this path can be explored.

While economic growth is important, it is imperative that the development process is all-inclusive and the spin-offs of the process trickle down to all sections of society. Several issues like striking a balance between agrarian and industrial interests, SEZ’s, need to be explored and debated to enable informed decision-making. It is such strategic, social and geo-political issues related to the development process that will be set before the galaxy of distinguished speakers at PURVODAYA.

The conclave would encompass vital sectors, which would play a prominent role in “Ascent of the East”. The program is divided into four sub-themes each focusing on a key area namely Mining & Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Service Industry and Sustainable Growth along with Manthan – The Panel Discussion.

Speakers who have confirmed participation (till date) include dignitaries like:

Mr. G. Ojha – Director Personnel, SAIL

Mr. Debasis Som – Managing Director, West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation

Mr. S.Shivram – Director, Deloitte

Prof. Prakash Apte – Director, IIMB

Mr. Sunil Mitra – Power Sect. West Bengal Government

Mr. Mundhra – Chairman and Managing Director, Simplex Infrastructure

Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta – Partner, PriceWaterhouseCooper

Mr. Vivekananda Pattanayak [IAS (Retd)] – Head, Bhubaneswar Stock Exchange

Padmashree Prof. G. C. Mitra

Mr. Suman Chattopadhyay – Editor, Kolkatta TV

Mr. N.K. Chaudhari – Ex-CEO Mittal Steel kazakhistan

Dr. A.K Chanda – Chairman, Kolkatta Port Trust

Mr. Kaushik Bhatacharya – IBM

Mr. Gautam Wahi – Asst. Commisioner, Indian Revenue Services

Dr. Y.P Saxena – VP, Ambuja Cement

In addition, the event also includes a challenging competition for students across the nations. Titled SARVUNNATI it aims to bring together the future leaders from different B-schools across the country to present their innovative ideas on various issues of the resurgent east.

PURVODAYA, we hope, will generate ideas that will leave their impression on the “sands of time” and give solution to those outstanding issues that act as roadblocks to the growth of the East.

PURVODAYA welcomes you to shape and share its vision for the Ascent of the East.

To know more about the event click here.

University of Nebraska, Omaha – Exchange Programme March 12, 2007

Students and faculty from the University of Nebraska, Omaha (UNO) are in IIT Kharagpur in reciprocation of the visit by students of IIT Kharagpur’s Vinod Gupta School of Management to Omaha last year (to meet the Oracle of Ohama, Warren Buffet and to interact with students and faculty from UNO).

The students have spent a few days in India and are recording their thoughts online at http://unoindia.vox.com

More on the visit later …

MEGACORP @ Occasio ’07 January 28, 2007

For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight
– Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Occasio launches MEGACORP – The Business Plan competition, that seeks to reward those who strive, who seek, and never yield. Rewards come to only those who struggle for them, and Occasio invites those who have a dream and the will to achieve it to come forward, and stand up to be counted.

The participants are required to choose a sector of their choice and develop a business plan.
Cash Prizes of INR 25,000 for the best of the best!

For more details log on to http://www.som.iitkgp.ernet.in/occasio/Megacorp.php

KIBITZER @ Occasio ’07 January 28, 2007

Today, the real estate and infrastructure sectors are booming.
Private savings are covering up fiscal deficits.
Stock markets remain volatile and debt markets still immature.
Infrastructure finance is a hard nut to crack.

SREI Infrastructure Finance Ltd. talks about its organization structure and activities and challenges the participants to come up with ideas that seek to solve the complex problems faced by this sector.
So pour in with your entries and win cash prizes worth INR 30,000!!!

Find more at http://www.som.iitkgp.ernet.in/occasio/kibitzer.php

Kshitij ’07 – On the spot events January 25, 2007

Kshitij (1st to 4th Feb, ’07) is the annual Techno-Management Festival of IIT Kharagpur. And being a part of IIT KGP, VGSOM has always been a hyper-enthusiastic participant. But it’s not just about participating. It’s also about organising. And quite a few of my batchmates have been working really hard at helping ensure that Kshitij goes off smoothly.

Some of the On the spot events they’re organising are …

BizQuiz

Drive thy business; it will drive thee
– Benjamin Franklin

Business Battles; Legends and Myths; Trivia and Classifieds.

Dig up the archives! Run search engines!! Scratch your brains!!! Press the panic button!!!! In other words, get set for a nerve-wracking ride through the corporate world! Find out who keeps abreast of the ups and downs in the business world, at the BizQuiz, a series of shocks and surprises await you. That’s a promise!!
Last year the quiz was conducted by none other than Mr Giri “Pickbrain” Balasubramanium. This time it’s Barry O’Brien!
Cash Prizes of INR 20,000 on the stake!

India Inc

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!
– Albert Einstein

From the days of Indus Valley civilization to Param 10000, several Indians have left behind golden imprints on the pages of history encompassing innovation in the field of management and technology. From Chanakya to Amartya Sen, from Aryabhatta to Vinod Dham, India has seen it all. This quiz is a celebration of India’s glorious history in the field of technology and business.
Conducting the quiz will be none other than the new face of infotainment in India – Avinash Mudaliar himself; a quizzer’s delight!

Cash Prizes of INR 20,000 to take away!

Atelier

In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. Management cannot be expected to recognize a good idea unless it is presented to them by a good salesman. -David Ogilvy.

In today’s world of media, marketing and advertising, only the ones who can be dynamic, enterprising and resourceful will ultimately emerge winners. In this impromptu ad design competition, participants get a chance to prove that they are the best when it concerns producing something creative in the blink of an eye.
Cash Prizes of INR 10,000 for the one who’s able to AD it up!

El Matador

That acutes most of your stock. I knew it had been dumped on the market, so I sold short.
 – My man Godfrey (1936)

It takes just one rumor and a few minutes to make the wealthiest the poorest. Welcome to the stock market where patience, nerves and uncertainties go hand in hand and where bulls and bears are involved in an immortal clash of the titans. No one knows what lies ahead. A heady blend of neurons, courage and a lot of luck. So if you want to be a Wall Street whiz kid, declare your presence in the arena. Who says you need to be on the floor of a stock exchange to feel the heat? Welcome to the only stock market in the world that remains open throughout the weekend.

Cash Prizes of INR 16,000 for the bravest of all!

Exemplar

Your attitude determines your altitude
– Shiv Khera

Have you always been the one with an itch for adventure? Have you often felt that you could have done better than the Ambanis or the Tatas if you had had that kind of money?
Well Exemplar gives you that opportunity. Enter the exciting corporate world where you plunge through fierce competition, a vacillating government and a treacherous market. Fortunes can be made or lost within no time. Only the sharpest and the smartest survive.
Virtual Money to play with but real prizes to be won!
Can your conglomerate be an Exemplar?
Cash Prizes of INR 16,000 for the best of the best!

You can find more information at http://www.ktj.in

Article courtesy Anuja Gulati, Batch of ’08, VGSOM

“Occasio” launched January 24, 2007

Schedued to take place on the 10th and 11th of February, VGSOM’s Management Event, Occasio, has been officially launched. More information can be found at http://www.som.iitkgp.ernet.in/occasio

Kudos to the team behind Occasio!

VGSOM & University of Nebraska – Student Exchange January 24, 2007

The most powerful force in the promotion of international understanding and peace is exposure to different cultures. The world becomes a smaller, friendlier place when we learn more and more about people from different geographies.

Going by the same ideology, VGSOM dons a whole new look come March 2007 when 34 students and 7 faculty members from University of Nebraska (Omaha & Lincoln) pay an educational visit to UNO’s sibling university, IIT Kharagpur and VGSOM, as reciprocation for VGSOM’s visit to UNO last year when VGSOM students got to interact with Warren Buffett himself.

The trip, spanning approximately two weeks, from March 7, 2007 to March 19, 2007 and 3 metros – Bangalore, Delhi and Kolkata, provides the students of VGSOM with the opportunity to meet people from other lands and to experience their cultures. This plants the seeds for a lifetime of international understanding.

For the visiting students, the trip includes; apart from VGSOM & IIT-KGP; a visit to India’s path-breaking corporate giants like Infosys and Biocon along with an interactive session with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs. Last but definitely not least the visiting students get to attend a talk by the world famous ‘Mumbai Dabbawallas’!

Not to forget, the trip also includes visits to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Taj Mahal and the Mysore Palace among others.

An experience like this benefits both sides equally. For the visiting students it’s an eye opener about ‘The Journey called India’ and for the VGSOMites it’s yet another aspect of being tomorrow’s ‘Global Managers’. Should be quite an experience.

Article courtesy Prachi Khandelwal and Anuja Gulati, Batch of ’08, VGSOM