Conclave on operations, strategy concludes at IIM

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 9

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Amritsar, successfully conducted its fourth annual Operations & Strategy Conclave, Sankshetra’19, on Saturday.

The conclave witnessed well known experts from various industries across the country having perceptive discussions on different aspects of operations and strategy. 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.

The theme for the operations panel discussion was ‘Managing the unexpected: Building resilient supply chains amidst disruptions & complexities’, while the theme for the strategy panel discussion was ‘Dynamically Sustainable Approach in Creating Competitive Advantage’. The conclave commenced with the lighting of the lamp by Prof Nagarajan Ramamoorthy, director, IIM Amritsar.

The eminent panelists in operations panel included Vikas Bhaskar (head, solutions design, programme management and business excellence, Stellar Value Chain Solutions Private Limited), Rakesh Sinha (global head, supply chain, manufacturing & IT, Godrej Consumer Products Limited), Salil Kapoor (mentor, supply chain labs & former COO & EVP, UPBG, Voltas Limited), Joydeep Sarkar (chief operating officer, Hicare Services Pvt Limited), Shailen Shukla (head logistics, Jumbo Electronics Company Limited), Ramnath Sadasivan (SVP & head, distribution & logistics, Reliance Retail).

Introducing the theme for discussion, students delivered a presentation on the theme of the operations panel and briefly introduced the audience about “Managing the unexpected: Building resilient supply chains amidst disruptions & complexities”.

Vikas Bhaskar stated that supply chain was the orchestrator of supplier to the customer. He emphasised that the world was getting volatile and inflexibility was getting in the system pretty fast. So, in order to deal with the situation, all businesses should follow a customer-oriented approach and contingency and flexibility plan should also be in place.

Dr Rakesh Sinha explained that disruptions were both on the demand as well as the supply side. While the supply side disruption is easier to deal with, the demand side disruption is often severe and risky. Companies should have flexibility in entire value chain and should make use of technology to deal with the situation.

Ramnath Sadasivan said, “India is a country with multiple tastes and requirements, so the constant use of planning and data analytics can help in a great regard. Companies need to be aware of the ecosystem, always have a contingency plan in place and switch to the alternative source if the situation demands so.”

The eminent panellists in strategy panel included, Ankur Dhawan (chief operating officer, Buddy4study), Avinash Chandra (senior director, Capgemini), Aditya Singh (head, jewellery international business, Titan Company Limited), Satish Pandey (head, strategy, marketing & corporate quality management, Siemens), Saurabh Saith (COO, Orion Nutritionals), Anuj Chopra (head strategy planning & operations, Haier).

Introducing the theme for discussion, IIM Amritsar students delivered a presentation on the theme of the strategy panel and briefly introduced the audience about and “Dynamically Sustainable Approach in Creating Competitive Advantage”. Arvind Singh Bakshi of MBA-5 batch emphasised the importance of having a strategy and the need for organisations to have a sustainable approach with respect to economic, social and environmental factors.