Singapore International Meet 10th Oct 2015

ALUMINOUS OCTOBER 2015 Issue

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On a rather bright Saturday morning, students, faculty and eminent leaders from the industry gathered for the 3rd edition of the Annual Flagship HR event of NMIMS Mumbai- The HR Conclave 2015, held on 22nd August 2015. It aimed to serve as an interactive platform for those associated with the field of HR, such as corporate manag-ers, faculty members and students, to learn and interact with eminent industry HR leaders. The domain of HR is ridden with various ambiguities which rarely have explicit solutions. The HR professionals thus have to assess contrasting alternatives and make a smart choice. The theme of the event, therefore, was “Unraveling HR Dilemmas – Making a Smart Choice”.

The dignitaries from the college that graced the occasion were Mr. Debashish Sanyal, Dean and Vice Provost, SBM, NMIMS and Ms. Seema Rawat, Chairperson, MBA HR, SBM, NMIMS. Mr. Ashutosh Telang, CHRO, Marico, set the tone for the event, by unraveling HR Dilem m as -Making a smart choice. On the dilemma 'High Tech vs. High Touch', the speaker proffered a fresh perspective: The answer is not a binary either/or. It is a combination of the two subjective to the needs of the organization. The key note speaker was Mr. Prithvi Shergill- Chief Human Resources Officer, HCL Technologies where he spoke about High Performers vs. High Potentials. He underlined the importance of being unconventional to stay relevant.

Conclave's title sponsors, Reliance Industries Limited, posed a very profound question, "When everything is going well with you, why should you change? Is it possible to innovate and devise workforce solutions that address the challenges of today's Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world without shaking the strong foundational values of the firm?” To help us answer these questions, we had amongst us Mr. Ashwani Dahiya, Senior VP & Group Head (Performance & Reward), RIL. With his rich experience he carried with himself, he led the session: Reliance Reflects-Organizational Culture in the VUCA World - Evolve or Stay Rooted

The conclave considered itself privileged to have venerable professionals such as Ms. Divyangana Srivastava, Mr. Sandip Groveer, Mr. Ashish Ambasta, Mr. Rituraj Sar and Mr. Ritesh Joshi am ongst them. Given the treasure trove of knowledge and experience they brought with them, the discussion was a reflection of industry trends, dynamic ideas, best solutions, perspectives and dimensions. It was an interactive session where a lot of HR related issues were discussed, opportunities were thought upon and students had a lot of knowledge to carry with themselves.

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It is with great pride that the NMIMS Business School Alumni Association announces the inception of its new initiative, aptly named ‘Lend a Hand’ Scholarship Fund. It has been over thirty years that this business school has churned out executives, who today are leaders in every walk of life. It was our good fortune to have the intellect as well as the financial capability to achieve the dream of studying in this esteemed B-school of India. The alumni of SBM, NMIMS are today stalwarts of various industries and leaders in their respective fields. We wish to extend such an opportunity to students who have the intellect but find it a challenge to put together the financial resources to back their dream. It is with this objective that we request you to donate a part of your good fortunes towards a deserving candidate. Your contribution will allow a students’ aspiration see the light of day. The fee structure for the current academic year includes a tuition fee of Rs.7.5 lakh per year to be paid in two installments to the institute. The total expenses including tuition fee, hostel fees and other essential living expenses are estimated to be at Rs. 22 lakhs for the two year flagship MBA program per student. Many top students choose to attend other institutions that offer more competitive financial aid packages, sacrificing their chance to learn from world-renowned faculty and study with a diverse group of fellow students at NMIMS. An accessible education has always been part of the NMIMS mission. That's why scholarships and your contribution make a difference. Making a donation to an Alumni Association scholarship fund can impact the future of a deserving student and provide unmatched personal satisfaction. Please write to us on alumnicellnmims@gmail.com for further details regarding the process.

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This month marked the inaugural ceremony of the much awaited library of SBM NMIMS, Mumbai. The inaugural ceremony was held on 5th September 2015 at 4:30 pm. The event was compered by Ms. Seema Rawat, Chairperson, MBA HR, SBM, NMIMS and was graced by Shri Amrish Patel, Chancellor, NMIMS, Dr. Rajan Saxena, Vice Chancellor , NMIMS, Dr. Debashis Sanyal, Dean & Vice Provost, SBM, NMIMS and the esteemed faculty of NMIMS.

The library is named after Professor Y.K.Bhushan who has been in the field of education, human resource development and entrepreneurship for the last 57 years. He holds a Masters’ degree in commerce from the Uni-versity of Delhi, is an MBA from Indiana University, Bloomington, USA and obtained a Fulbright Scholarship in 1966. He headed and built from scratch, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai which is now a Deemed University. He has been the Senior Advisor at ICFAI Business School in Mumbai since December 2002 and is also the Chancellor of ICFAI University, Nagaland & Vice Chancellor of ICFAI University Meghalaya. He is the Chairperson of Federation of Universities of ICFAI group of Universities.

The library continues in its efforts to improve services, introduce new facilities and increase awareness of the services available. Reference services were made available to the user community, especially to the faculty and Ph. D. students. It provides extended services to the users by securing the membership of the British Council library. To increase awareness of the e-resources that the University subscribes to, the library continuously conducts user training programs. The library owns 50000+ Books, 120+ Periodicals, 1,25,000+ EBooks, 30,000+ E journals and 30 Databases. Students also have access to Harvard Case studies, British Council Li-brary and IIT & IIM Library. Li

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SEEKING CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP FOR THE GRAND ALUMNI MUMBAI MEET, 2015

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1. You grew up in a decade where the glass ceiling was a more serious issue for women than it is today. What helped you break the ceiling and climb up the corporate ladder? The biggest enabler has been my family i.e. my parents, followed by my husband (and his parents) who never distinguished between a man and woman when it came to education or career. It came quite naturally to them to see me study minimum up to post-graduation and get a respectable job. In fact good education and a career were base expecta-tions and not a “nice to have”. This gender-agnostic support can be a big enabler for any woman who aspires for a career.

2. The world is witnessing a boom in the social media. Companies are eager to reach out to more cus-tomers via social media and also run the risk of being judged for every response they make online. In light of your role with Kimberly Clark, what are Kimberly’s moves to keep pace with this boom? Kimberly Clark is the leading FMCG Company in ecommerce across Asia Pacific and equally cutting edge in its social and digital campaigns. K-C saw the changes in the social landscape early on and staffed up with the right capabilities proactively. Further we have been very entrepreneurial in our digital approach - be it setting up of digital labs to crowdsourcing to creating engaging consumer campaigns that have gone viral, such as the Huggies Dancing Babies Campaign in ASEAN or the Kotex Catwalk video in China.

3. Did you notice any major differences between the work cultures of India and that of Singapore? What has enabled you to sail through it? India is familiar territory from a cultural standpoint and that helps overcome challenges from an infrastructure/bureaucracy standpoint. On the other hand Singapore is very organized with great infrastructure, however it’s truly multicultural. Having an approach to unlearn and have an open mind enabled me to adapt from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

4. While you have had a number of achievements in your 15 years of career, what has been the proudest moment of your professional life? The truly rewarding moments have been when I have made a tangible difference (as part of my CSR responsibility) for the lesser privileged – be it when I developed P&G’s Shiksha program now in its 11th year which built hundreds of schools and empowered lakhs of children or now having the fresh opportunity to develop Kimberly Clark’s "Toilets Change Lives" program focused on creating access and awareness on sanitation. 5. What are the major challenges in handling corporate communications for a group the size of Kimber-ly Clark? 1) Diverse needs between developed and developing markets across APAC – each one is at a different stage from a reputation/equity standpoint and needs a different treatment from PR/communications. 2) The proliferation of social media that makes any issue leap frog overnight and spread faster across markets. 3) Increased expectation from Governments/ regulators to improve one’s environmental footprint.

6. Data and analytics are disrupting every business sector out there today. Do you think PR has evolved in terms of measuring effectiveness and demonstrating actual return on investment to clients? PR continues to evolve in measurement especially when you look at its contribution beyond impressions – the moment you think of and execute PR holistically in terms of influencer marketing, expert credentialing or Government advocacy you can measure its impact tangibly on both top & bottom line. 7. Could you please share any anecdotes that you recollect from your time at NMIMS? I have only great memories of my 2 years at NMIMS. It’s a strong institution with a holistic curriculum, experienced faculty and a pragmatic approach to learning. I had the best friends, teachers and learning! But the most enlightening conversations happened over chai-samosa outside the college. I hope those still take place. 8. How challenging is it to maintain a work-life balance as one moves up the corporate ladder and how do you cope with this challenge? It depends on the organization you work for and your personal ambitions. Both organizations that I have worked for have been very supportive to women as they go through different life stages. Hence I have been able to have a good work life balance. It's probably more important to have your spouse take equal responsibility in raising your children and I have been supremely lucky on that front. Finally you need to keep making choices on a daily basis to maintain that balance.

Ms. Shweta Shukla is presently the Communications & Government Affairs Director at Kimberly Clark Asia Pacific in Singapore. She has a rich experience of 15 years in Communication and Government Relations at India and Asia. Previously she was the Head of External Relations at P&G, India’s fastest growing FMCG company. She is a topper and a gold medallist M.B.A. in Advertising & Communications from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, from where she passed out in 2000. In this interview, she shares her experiences in the industry & about her time in NMIMS.

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The Alumni Editorial Team Vignesh Nityanand

Cherie Rawat