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It’s a socIal web out there

Global reImaGInG: manufacturInG excellence...

world class: made In IndIa

MANDATEBUSINESS

Contents Vol . xxxx No.11

EDITORGp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd)

LAYOUT EXECUTIVED Rajaram

SECRETARIAL ASSISTANCEK Pandiarajan

Designed and Published byMADRAS MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATIONNo.21/11, 3rd Cross Street, Seethammal Extn. (Opp. SIET College), Teynampet, Chennai - 600 018Phone: 2433 3757 / 2431 3757 / 4207 4220 e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], www.facebook.com/mmachennaiPrinted at Shree Balaji Printers Pvt Ltd

B Santhanam

Dr rekha Shetty

JANUARY 2015

Vinay kamath

t S JaiShankar

GaneSh kumar S

PraShant ramamurthy

r Venkatanarayanan 09

12 25

20

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the real secret to retIrInG early

a cartful of Ideas

retentIon: hold on the talent when everyone else wants them

a new year GIft for you…….

ananDa Chaitanya

e+ optImIze yourself: anGer manaGement

F

Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd)

The Year 2014 has been a year of radical change in all fronts. We witness several political, social, economic, cultural events which have caused

dramatic changes in the society we live in. The worst is over. India is regaining economic momentum and better days are ahead. The Make in India campaign is gaining momentum and MMA All India Management Students Convention organized in consonance - “World Class: Made in India” was a grand success. But it is also time to see how micro, small and medium enterprises in rural India can be a force multiplier. I believe that 65 percent of rural labour is engaged in non-farm livelihood activities. Hence, it is imperative to create an enabling environment for the growth of micro, small and medium sized manufacturing and service enterprises in rural areas. If you look at the list of top 100 firms today, you will find a sea change in that list. New entrepreneurs have come into the list. These are some of the gains of liberalization which we must cherish nurture and develop… We must do all that we can to revive the animal spirits of our businessmen. In this direction, we are indeed happy that MMA Chapters established at tier 2 & tier 3 cities focus on empowering SMEs to enhance their skills & professional management.

MMA flagship event - Annual Convention 2015 will be on the theme “India 2015 – The Year of Resurgence” will be held on Friday, 20th February 2015 at Hotel Taj Coromandel, Chennai. I would like to take this opportunity to compliment Mr T Shivaraman, Chairman, Convention Committee and other Convention Committee Members and our Knowledge Partner, McKinsey & Company who are working tirelessly to design and conceptualise a great Convention which will be addressed by a galaxy of distinguished speakers. Please do block your diary to attend the Convention.

The acceptance speeches by Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai will certainly inspire the young and the old to do their bit for the eradication of child labour in India and Pakistan. When Mr Satyarthi said that he was listening to “the sound of silence and the cry of innocent”, these were the words that moved everyone deeply. Malala’s “why are most powerful countries so strong in bringing war and so weak in bringing peace” was an innocent but a powerful question. The question becomes more pertinent in today’s circumstances. We live in isolation on this earth, each one of us isolated and separated from the rest of mankind. This separation may be one of the reasons why we do not live in peace. If one were concerned about others, the world would not be as miserable as it is today and our deep condolences to the families who have lost their children in Pakistan due to terrorism. Some of the timeless value in life are about expressing mutual understanding, promoting attitudes of sharing, and exhibition of tolerance and a willingness to be adaptable are a few traits we inculcate and promote in the events organized by MMA.

Finally, I have come to appreciate with the tyranny of the e-mail inbox, how important thank you note are. If there is an outstanding achiever out there who is doing great work, sure, I can tweet, but mean more if I write a note.

Let me know what you think about everything that’s happening at MMA. Send me an email at [email protected]

“Vaishnava Jana to tene kahiye” was possibly Gandhiji’s favourite hymn. I reproduce an adapted version for you to reflect on its universal ideals.

“A godly person is one

Who feels the pain of others;

Who shares another’s sorrow,

And forever, disdains Pride”

We look forward to the New Year 2015. With a lot of hope and ambitious plans. With your support we will succeed!

Happy reading…. and a brilliant New Year!!!

From the editor

Dear Members,

I am going to speak about the subject “World-Class: Made in India” in three parts and these three entities needs to

come together to make things world class in India. The First part is Government and I will elaborate what Government can do and is doing to deliver world class manufacturing or world class services out of India. Second part of it is about what companies have to do; the few things that they have to get it right for being world class in India; whether it is products or services. And the last and most important part is YOU. What is expected of you to do something which is world class? There is a lot that you have to do.

There are quite a few a good examples of world class in India. I will share few relevant examples predominantly from this part of India for better assimilation. The whole concept of mono-dosing and sachet revolution was really created here and it went all over the world today. CavinKare and prior to that the Velvet Shampoo had created the whole revolution of mono dosing; world class idea originated from the bicycle stands of Tamil Nadu!

We had successful launches of Chandrayan and Mangalyan. These are outstanding examples of frugal approach with high quality success. When I say ‘frugal’ I want to distinguish that from jugaad which we are familiar with. Jugaad is making do somehow but frugal is really achieving the objective at very low costs, resources and time. ISRO today stands as a testimony, with a significant history with whatever work that was done in the 60’s and 70’s spurred by our President Abdul Kalam. ISRO continues to be engaged in world class projects and thanks to the foundation that has been laid by its leaders!

Take the field of healthcare; city of Madurai revolutionized the cataract surgery for other cities of India and even

WorlD ClaSS: maDe in inDia

for the world. The entire eco system of products and services and the surgery done for Rs. 1000/-; otherwise costing Rs. 30000/- to 40000/-, a factor of 30 reduction is unthinkable and considered as a unique case study at the Harvard University and the University of Michigan. Narayana Hrudayalaya has revolutionized heart surgeries and has taken to world class levels. It works more like a factory, making sure that everything is systematic and processed to deliver a world class surgery at very low cost. Today, Mr. Raju, the MMA President is trying in his own way to create a world class diagnostic network which can deliver high quality medical diagnostic at a very low cost. Thus showing that through a combination of technology and scale we can achieve many things unique.

Even though there are many successful examples, there are certain outstanding examples which have not been quite successful. The Tata Nano is a fantastic product, beautifully designed and very well made. As a concept it is fantastic but failed to catch the public imagination. It was more of a branding failure than a failure in

Mr B Santhanam President - Flat Glass, South Asia, Malaysia & Egypt Managing Director, Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd

the engineering design or concept of the product.

There are many good examples of companies arising out of India in terms of being world class, making world class products and services. The IT revolution started by FC Kohli of Tata Consultancy Services in 1968, is a 100 billion dollar industry today which is probably one of the few companies that may have come within the global 100 brand companies. There are a lot of products, services and ideas from India that have really made it to the world.

When you look at the above as a country with 1.25 billion people (2013), there is a certain amount of discomfort. Is it good enough? Are we really happy with these 10 or 15 examples? Are we happy repeating the Mumbai Dabbawala story on six sigma excellence when we do not have that in most of our governance or companies? Therefore there is a certain amount of sense of skepticism and cynicism when we talk about world class in India. India was coasting quite well till the mid 2000s. But somewhere in the years between 2005 and

A summary of the Inaugural Address delivered by the Chief Guest during the 13th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2014 on the theme “World Class: Made in India” held on 31st October 2014 at Chennai

5 BUSINESS MANDATE | JANUARY 2014

Fountainhead oF excellence

2012, we became complacent about our own strengths; we felt that customers as well as foreign investors have no choice but to be in India because we have the famous three “D”s, Democracy, Demography and Demand as quoted by our Prime Minister Modi in his recent speech at Manhattan. Essentially we became so arrogant leading to complacency and we losing our way. Our government lost its way and in the last four to five years we have left many things adrift. We have a world class factory which is the best factory in the world for Nokia; we allowed that factory to go down because of, I would say, a ‘bureaucratic indifference’. It was not anything else. Today we have the world class factory which was the lowest cost producer is closing down not only because of the problems that we created but also the problems created by the company itself.

A year ago, if you had asked me to speak to you in a similar student convention I would have felt troubled in giving you optimism and hope. What a difference has one year made! One year ago the only guy and the face you see is my fellow IITian Arvind Kejriwal, I don’t know where he is now, but definitely not on the TVs. All you heard was that everything in India was bad; governance was bad and corruption was worse. We had extraordinary level of judicial activism encroached on to the Executive. We had a government which could not do anything at all. There was a huge sense of despondency amongst a lot of us. But that is the beauty of India. Just when we think everything is going down, we figure out a way to come out of it. Over the last eight or nine months our citizens have been delivering a message “I want better governance, I want better economic conditions and I need growth, I need employment”. This whole movement started in December when the first phase of the election took place in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. There is a resounding hope for better economic conditions and better governance, culminating in the election of this current government with full mandate. Whatever be the ideology of the government, what we need is a government which can go about its ideas of whatever it wants to do, with a mandate, without having to worry about whether they have the right

mandate to carry through parliament. I am extremely optimistic that whatever path we choose we have an opportunity to do that. Rightfully today, I think the “Make in India” campaign is really making a big difference.

I will give you a concrete example. Recently, in September 2014, we inaugurated our fourth facility in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan which is 60 kms away from Delhi. We believe it is one of the largest if not the largest of such facilities in the world. It is a very advanced manufacturing facility. I sent out about 400 Invitations to the fellow CEOs whom I know very well. You will not believe, almost 90% of them responded saying, it is too short a period and they could not make it. At the end of the day they said, “I am really happy you are making ‘make in India’ happen!” Essentially what happened is that what started as a very nice idea has been branded and today CEOs and companies are talking about “Make in India”. My Chairman who runs the 54 billion dollar conglomerate out of Paris, talks about Make in India. That is really what “Make in India” slogan has really made it. When we look at the Press Reports and other reports where we see that lot of skeptics who doubt it saying will it happen? I will ask you all a question. Most of you have heard this Make in India campaign. How many of you have been to the web site of Make in India? I have gone through the website as I did not want to talk about “Make in India” without going through the website. It is an impressively done website with loads of information, focused on sectors. I would suggest you visit the web site since you have some more time to go for your graduation and if you want to do some project work, I think it will be useful for you. The website does not convey only to make products or manufacture in India. It call for to make design happen in India; Make innovation happen in India; Make engineering services happen out of India; make R&D happen in India. It comprises of 25 to 30 sectors that cover about 50% of the Indian economy from manufacturing, to construction to IT to health care to tourism; probably 50 to 60% of GDP is covered there. I believe that there is a clear intent from the Government.

I often go to Delhi and meet Government Secretaries. I have seen that Secretaries

and Jt. Secretaries never used to come to work on time. So the previous government introduced a card swipe system. The Secretaries and Jt. Secretaries gave the cards to their peon for IN punching on their behalf at 9 o’ clock. It was not unthinkable and every one was marked present! The new government has introduced a very simple thing. Daily you have to open your computer, go to the website and enter the Aadhar number which is like an ID number and hence you do not give it to others. As soon as you enter it, it clocks you a time when you logged in. By 10 o clock the Cabinet Secretary would know about the attendance of the Secretaries. A nice call is made to those who are not available in their respective department conveying that they need to report for work in time. It was done in just one week’s time. I think this kind of change is possible.

Recently I was asked to head an extraordinarily large Public Sector Corporation. There are people who are trying to change the system. I think there is a whole body of intellectuals, thinkers, doers who are working with this government to make the Make in India a reality. This is what gives me a sense of optimism and a sense of renewed hope that change is in the air. I wish it does not become what happened to Obama. I think it is much better because we have today a leader who is really detail oriented, who reads his brief, who questions and who believes that execution is more important than the idea. I think all of us who have been CEOs know that execution is more important. I believe that even the biggest drawback or the friction or the viscous force that was dragging us down which is the government; is really coming into action. We had a few environmental clearances which were pending because we refused to budge. I just find that in the last one month we got most of the environmental clearances happening automatically. These things happened much quicker than I had expected. There is beneath the surface, the government is getting its act even though apparently all these are becoming visible in the coming quarters because to change India is not something very easy.

I see that the government is getting its act and therefore the Make in India



world class products in India is much easier than what it was. We being in this country for 15 years; started the plant in Chennai in 2000; we have a huge facility in Chennai, another one in Gujarat and one in Maharashtra and recently the fourth one in Rajasthan. We have found that over the past 15 years it is possible to be able to do things world class in India without changing our ethical conduct. It is really possible that today we have over 50% market share in the country and we export advanced value added products to the rest of the world. Going by our own example, I definitely believe that there are many such companies and we are not the only one here.

To make really world class in manufacturing, there are few things that the companies and entrepreneurs have to do. One of the most important thing is that we need to do is to keep customer at the centre. We have to remember that the old perception about the Indian customers have changed and today the customer is not only looking for value, irrespective of being a B-to-B customer or B-to-C customer; but also about his future aspiration being met and surpassed by being associated with the brand or with the company. A number of entrepreneurs, when they start with a product or idea or a service, they do not start with an idea about the customer, what the customer wants now and what he wants in the future. You find that there is a big challenge. When we started we looked at the customer first and the rest of the things fell in place. The second point

is about technology. One of the issues is that many companies in India assume that technology is given and is static. I think in a rapidly changing country, technology is also rapidly changing. You have to look at the future trends. Let us assume that the trend that took Europe or U.S 15 years will happen in one third of the time in India because Indian consumers are aspirational, they are adopting at a much faster rate, and therefore it is absolutely vital for us not to be locked to the technology platform which is outdated. We have very good examples in India. We have car companies which came with the big fanfare and essentially very few of them survived, even though they are International names. I would say that there are very few of them have anticipated the emerging trends in India rather than the others who thought that this is the product that we can make at this price and Indian customers will pay this price!

The next important issue whether it is for the government or not is really skills and education. World class companies can get your customer part right; you can get your technology part right. If you don’t get your people part right, people in terms of skills and competencies and the attitudes that are required, it is a big challenge. The companies that have got the people’s part of equation correct are extraordinarily successful. The Companies which did not get the people part correct, I think are struggling today. If you look at the successful companies, it is those who have put their employees and other people at the fore front rather than putting them as

another factor of production.

Since Mr. Ashish is going to talk about Brands, I am not going to dwell much on this aspect. Clearly the brand makes a big difference. We created a brand for Saint Gobain in India. We have 73% of the top of the mind recall which is possible in India and we really have a higher recall than we have in our home country which is France. That is possible in India; but really you have to invest diligently and you have to work at it. Brand, therefore, is very central to any connection, what is it that you want to convey, what is the proposition and how do you want to deliver it continuously.

Therefore, customer, technology, people and brand are the four elements which the entrepreneurs or companies coming into India do not look at seriously. Where they are focusing more is on setting up the factory, land, labour reforms and in such cases, you will not be able to start world class in India! So for the entrepreneurs I would say that, focus on the Customers and the innovation that is coming out, technology that is scalable, modular and flexible, people focus which is relentless and of course a brand where you can make a difference to the consumers. These are the four axis I would like to look at.

Now I am going to spend a few minutes on what YOU have to do. Many of you today who are entering graduation are lucky as you have not passed out in 2013 and you are passing out in 2014. That was not determined by you, but by your parents! Essentially in 2013, someone has started and you find that there was a starting trouble in their career and that continues. There are enough research that says that if you have started in a bad year in the economy, your career takes a flatter path, whereas if you are in a robust year like what you are starting now, your career will be bright. Therefore you are lucky to start in a very good time. I have a few simple IDEAs for you as to what really we expect from you if we want to be world class or if you want to be an employee of the world class.

The first thing is that many of you ask questions about your career and your aspirations, what will be the career path? If you ask Ramesh, Raju, Ashish or I, or for that matter Captain who started his career in Air Force, I don’t think we knew that



we will be here, in this period because at the beginning of our career we thought where we want to be. We all immersed ourselves. We did not question whether this is useful or it is relevant. I will give you a personal example. Raju is the President of MMA. I think in 1981, he joined Cadburys. If I am not mistaken, he was posted in Kashmir. He was a manufacturing person and a Chemical Engineer and hence he was asked to set up a plant. Raju realized that it was an extraordinarily difficult challenge to set up a plant. He learnt all his entrepreneurial skills in those 4 years. He did not question that “I am a manufacturing person. I will not get involved into getting the licenses and permits. That is the job of the Admin or HR or legal departments. Get me the permits, and then I will start the Plant!” He did not say, get me people, train them, then I will put them on the job! Like Raju, most of us got immersed in the work without realizing whether it is useful or relevant and where it is going to lead me to. The first thing I would say for you to really become something of substance in a World class company is, immerse yourself in the work that you are going to identify for yourself. In a superficial world that we see today, it is not going to be automatic. But immersing yourself, suspending judgement, whether it is relevant, useful or not, makes a big difference. The courses I hated when I was in IIT were Psychology and Economics. In IIM, we had courses on Organisational Design, Behavior and Change Management. We used to think why these subjects were taught and why the professors were wasting our time? Today 80% of my time goes in for organizational design, change management, people and psychology and may be now it is cognitive psychology. 80% of the work I do today is on subjects which I disliked intensively when I went through that program! I did not realize the utility of those subjects then. But that really makes me stand where I am today! So, you actually do not know what you want for your future. If you are given a buffet of theories, cases or anecdotes, you really have to immerse in them and make best out of it.

The second part of it is ‘D’ to develop your skills. I think the most important skill that helped all of us is not the analytical skills that we all possess in abundance but the

human and conceptual skills. The human skill comprises of the Social intelligence and Emotional intelligence. That’s where I am disappointed when I saw this crowd today. The social and emotional intelligence are the single most important aspect that is going to take you ahead. In order to do any work well, you need to have a basic IQ level which is 100 to 110. I think most of you will cross that range and all of us possess the basic intelligence and analytical skills; the IQ to do a good job, everywhere. Generally IQ cannot be changed easily as it is determined by the genes. So you have to focus on social and emotional intelligence skills if you want to do something useful in a world class company.

The third aspect is, embrace diversity. When I say diversity, that is where I am bit disenchanted when I see you all here. I see separate rows of girls and boys. When you are going for a job, there will not be an office for boys and office for girls! I think this inherent desire in India to discriminate and differentiate is something which you, as youth, have to fight against. If I have the power I would ask you to sit randomly and not cluster together and chat amongst yourselves. Embracing diversity starts with simple practices like you learn the most from somebody else who is very different from you, from a culture which is different and from ideas which are different. Embracing diversity is the core of innovation. Today companies are embracing diversity at the heart and are not confined just in terms of the gender; it extends to people, background, economic profile and nationality. Embracing diversity does not come naturally because we are all tribal. We are so tribalistic in our instincts, we clutter among ourselves, and we group among ourselves like I see here today. We do not go out and I think you are not going to get new ideas sitting with your own group of people, whom you have been with for years if not for decades. That is the 3rd part, embrace diversity.

The last part in the IDEA is really Act. I think every time something tells you that you have to procrastinate, you have to delay, and I think that is the time for you to Act. I can tell you that there are a number of things that I have delayed and later on found that the time I have spent

in thinking or procrastinating actually did not make a difference. So if you are able to act decisively and quickly whether it is learning, whether it is an ideation, whether it is an implementation - I think that is where I like today’s Prime Minister and the Team. They want to act decisively and quickly, they have realized that they have a short time, have a fantastic mandate but just have 5 years to get a lot of things in place. When you want to be part of world class company, you have to immerse yourselves with suspending your judgement, you will have to develop your human and non-analytical skills, embrace diversity and you have to act immediately. So these are the IDEAs for that.

I just want to end by saying that this “Make in India” campaign, skepticism and cynicism not-withstanding, we believe that one individual or a party cannot make it happen. But when we look at most of what seminal changes that have happened in India; whether it is ‘Poorna Swaraj’ in 1930s, in the 60s we went through a huge crisis in terms of famine and we did not have food for ourselves. The green revolution by Dr. M S Swaminathan has single handedly made the change and today if our stomach is full from products, cereals out of India; we are really thankful to one individual. If you are drinking milk today, we need to thank Verghese Kurien of Amul for the White revolution in 1970s. Later in the 90s we had E Sreedharan who single handedly shown that even in the public sector you can really run a world class project, delivering a world class service to consumers. Our former President Abdul Kalam, who was not a scientist but just a Masters in Engineering, with no Ph.D., showed that through project management we can really put ISRO and India on the world map and is still continuing.

So it is possible to imagine that right now the “Make in India” can become very real, but you really have to play a very important role as much as the Government and Entrepreneurs. I really wish you very best. I think you are starting your career at a very appropriate and propitious time. You will do more than what we did in our own period when we were young. Thank you and good bye.



The New Year lies ahead like a seed, ready to germinate. Within every seed sleep a thousand forests. May you realize the potential of all the seeds that lie sleeping in

your life.

Do Not Make A Bonsai Of A Tree

You cannot make a bonsai of a mighty tree.By pruning its spreading branches,By trimming its luxuriant roots;For it has known the glory of the heavens,And the tender warmth of the living earth;It can never becomeA conversation piece in a bowl of china blue.Do not try to make a bonsaiOf a mighty tree.It is better,That the tree should die.

This year change your Genes ‘I got it from my parents’ is a statement we often hear from people trapped in physical or other limitations. People will gracefully sink into a state of gross obesity, diabetes or alcoholism, blaming it on their genes. Everything from bad temper to migraine and heart disease is blamed on ancestors who gave them bad genes. Now, science tells us that genes are not an immutable heritage. Like karma, everything responds to persistent effort.

The new science of epigenetics indicates that biological mechanisms can actually switch on or switch off these genes. The ‘light switches’ can be turned off and on by our own efforts or by the efforts of those who nurture us. Regular exercise can turn off the FTO gene which causes obesity. To put a simple spin to it,

a neW year Gift for you…….Dr Rekha Shetty Managing Director, Farstar Distribution Network

the length of your lifeline is inversely proportional to the length of your waistline. So do learn some form of movement that changes your apple shape and whittles your waistline. Anything will do—yoga, Bollywood dancing or belly dancing.

Cardiologists across the world now subscribe to Dean Ornish’s view that you can unblock your arteries by changing your lifestyle with that holy trinity of diet, exercise, and meditation. So put on your walking shoes. Cover territory instead of covering your seat. Walk through your neighbourhood, instead of being a mouse potato (you get this by adding a computer to the couch potato!). Shop for fresh vegetables and avoid refrigerated meals.

Stay home and cook your own meals. This can increase your chances of survival in the next ten years by a whopping 47 per cent.

Action Plan to Recharge Your Genes: � Get eight hours of sleep. � Eat a good breakfast and a light dinner before 8.00 p.m. � Drink eight glasses of liquids every day. � Include five helpings of colourful fruits and vegetables. � Keep in touch with five or more close friends. � Build your extended family network. � Find ways of de-stressing. � Maintain half an hour of silence. � Feed the birds. � De-clutter your cupboards. � Avoid processed foods. At least be aware of what you are eating.

This year embrace adversityThe kala chakra, the wheel of time shows us that winning and losing are one part of a cycle and neither is permanent. Both victory and defeat carry gifts in their hands, if only one can see them. Defeat can make us recreate ourselves, strive to improve our knowledge and generally make us more compassionate.

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776BC At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the state—a run of approximately 192 metres (210 yards). It was approximately 1500 years later that a young Frenchmen named Pierre de Coubertin decided to revive the Games; consequently, the first Olympics was held in Athens in 1892.

It was in the year 1900 that India first participated in the Olympic Games. Our lone athlete, Norman Pritchard, won two silver medals. Today, 112 years later, Indian athletes over the years have won a total of twenty-two medals, mostly in field hockey. I, as



an Indian, am proud that my country puts such an emphasis on participating, because I believe the gift of the Olympics is much more than medals. Its greatest moments come from training the bodies and minds of our youth to face victory and defeat and ‘treat those two imposters just the same’. The Olympics, along with other sporting events, proffers to Indians the most invaluable life lessons that one can learn—that of disillusionment and disappointment, and that of hope after picking oneself up from the disappointment. One begins to understand that it’s not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game. Of course, everyone watches the Olympics for the keen competition; the field of athletes who lost helps the winner to stand out. ‘How boring it would be to see only triumph and never defeat!’ rightly say the idealists.

One is often reminded, especially by those who have never had first hand experience, that hardship refines the soul. I found this difficult to believe until I started growing bougainvillea.

This hardy shrub flowers only when it is starved. In the midst of the hottest summer in April and May, it is not watered for a week. The leaves grow yellow and fall. The branches stand gaunt and ghostly in the pitiless sun. After these weeks of this stern discipline, it is watered twice a week.

One morning I noticed tiny buds blistering the tips of every stem. Then I began to water them profusely.

Three weeks later the garden was a blazing dazzle of colour. Branches of multi-coloured flowers exploded on every branch in an incredible celebration.

Then, it rained. All the earth was green with rejoining. But the flowers of the Bouganvillea began to drop in great unsightly handfuls. Till not a single flower was left. Leaves covered very limb, but not a single flower appeared.

Somehow there is always something flabby in those who have never known the exhilaration of the struggle. There is a loss of the sharp – edged flash of brilliance that comes only with the conquest of unbeatable odds.

This year, seize the day!A phrase from Latin poetry by Horace, ‘Carpe diem’ means: ‘Seize the day, putting as little trust as possible in the next day.’ The ode proclaims that the future is unforeseen, and that therefore, one should scale back one’s hopes to a brief future, and drink one’s wine. The poet Ovid uses more words to describe this phenomenon: enjoy, seize, and make use of. ‘Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth,’ says he, as he writes about the brevity of life. Mindfulness of our own mortality is key in making us realize the importance of the moment. ‘Remember that you are mortal, so seize the day.’

Every day can be an occasion for celebration, if we decide to set apart time for joy. Every morning can be a time to wipe life’s slate clean of disappointment, anger and resentment. It is an occasion to celebrate the opportunity of a fresh new day. Every month can herald the coming of new goals and joyful opportunities. Keep a thanksgiving diary, where every day, you record all the things you are grateful for. This will keep your temper sweet. Seize the day, Carpe Diem! Embrace it.

It’s an exhortation to live life to the fullest, getting the most out of each individual day. Unfortunately, many times we get so caught up in the details of day-to-day living that we just don’t have time to seize the day! We’ve got deadlines and commitments, problems and priorities, distractions and obstacles, and though we really want more fulfilment from every single day, it just doesn’t seem to be within our grasp.

Apostle Paul believed in this philosophy of life—Carpe Diem. He shows us three simple steps to living a more fulfilling life.

� Find Your Purpose. � Forget The Past. � Face the Present.

Celebrate the small pleasures of life, such as the blooming of a new flower, the flash of a bird wing in the garden, a cup of coffee with a loved one… Celebrate occasions—a birthday, an anniversary, a special secret date, the first step of your child, his first word; celebrate also the big achievements—a promotion, a child’s first job, a house that is built—all of it.

Action Plan to Find New Ways to Celebrate the Day: � Enjoy a mid-morning cup of coffee in a new location. � Listen to half an hour of your favourite music as you work. � Write a letter to a friend you have been out of touch with.

Prepare a treat for yourself and your family: fresh popcorn, chocolate cake or a new flavour of ice-cream.

� Send off your favourite life-changing book to a promising young person.

This year build your social capitalWe all try to amass wealth, by putting money in fixed deposits, dabbling in shares, buying gold or land or a house. Cold cash is a favourite option, but the latest research shows that social capital could be your greatest asset. An oven (physical capital) or an MBA (cultural or human capital) can increase productivity. In the same way, social contacts certainly enhance the productivity of individuals, teams, families and communities. Anything you own will not really help you, especially during a crisis unless you have goodwill, fellowship, mutual sympathy and affectionate interactions with your family, neighbours, friends and work associates. The man who has no social capital will find no support when faced by financial loss, medical emergencies or any catastrophe, where he needs a helping hand. Everyday life would be lonely and boring. Those without social capital are more prone to illness. This idea is backed by heart specialist Dean Ornish, who claims, that those who have five or more close friends are far less likely to get heart attacks than those who don’t.

Therefore, do what is necessary; gather your social network close around you like a warm multi-coloured blanket. Keep in touch, whether by telephone, sms or the internet. Although they are not the best solution, all of these channels can actually enhance the quality of the best mode of communication that there is—face to face.

Action Plan to Improve Social Capital: � Organize a social gathering to welcome a new neighbour. � Join a Rotary Club or a similar social action group. � Register to vote and do vote. � Support local merchants.

1 0 BUSINESS MANDATE | JANUARY 2014


� Volunteer your special skills to an NGO. � Donate blood (with a friend). � Start a community garden. Exchange plants and seeds. � Mentor someone of a different ethnic or religious group. � Surprise a new neighbour by making a favourite dinner—

and include the recipe. � Tape record your parents’ earliest recollections and share

them with your children. � Plan a vacation with friends or family.

The New Year awaits in the wings, a mysterious presence, still unknown. What are your plans to welcome this new phase of your life? Here is your opportunity to bring about change. To create a brand new life

� Look at 2014 and identify what you really loved and would like to enhance.

� Identify areas and events which you would like to avoid � What happy activities, would you like to include in your life? � What would you like to give up and let go?

The answer to these questions will guide you on what must stay in place and what must go. Make sure the coming year is a challenge, by spicing it up, by learning a new skill. It could be drawing, dance, music, gardening, and writings, learning a new language or improving your social media skills. Anything that will challenge you and develop new neural connections. Ignite your mind to a better life.

Complete the unfinished tasks. Get your house in order –literally and metaphorically. Get rid of old animosities, like bundles of old newspapers. Get rid of inefficiencies. Say no to things which will just waste your time. Invest in long term relationships, plant trees smell the roses, give away seeds. Nurture people, build bridges. Make your life a gift to all who know you. Create secure new networks of loved ones. Take care of your body, it is the only one you will ever have. Take care of Planet Earth, it is the only home you have.

A 22 million dollar home a trophy, wife, three children and a worldwide fan base, would make anyone ecstatic. But to one of the most loved actors our time, Robin Williams, it meant nothing. He committed suicide right in the lap of all that luxury. Death by asphyxia due to hanging! So this year, may you have abiding contentment, joy and happiness in your own life.

Celebrate what you have and reach out for new goals. Keep your loved ones close. Reach out. Reduce clutter. Avoid noisy aggressive people who want a piece of you. Walk in inner silence, appreciation and love.

Have a great 2015!

- Based on “Everyday Happiness Mantras” by Dr. Rekha Shetty, published by Rupa Publishers.

This is to remind you that the Annual Subscription of the Madras Management Association is payable in advance on the first day of April each year as per Rule 5(d) of the Memorandum & Rules of the Association. We request you to kindly renew your subscription for the year 2015-16 at the earliest.

We also request you to kindly intimate us your current email id and mobile number in order to ensure effective communication regarding all MMA activities and also enable us to serve you better.

We are pleased to inform you that a new online system of payment for renewal of subscription introduced last year for the convenience of our esteemed members has been a grand success. Thank you for your support and kindly use the URL http://members.mmachennai.org for renewing the membership. We look forward to enhancing your overall experience by using this simple and convenient process.

For details please contact: Madras Management Association21/11, 3rd Cross Street, Seethammal Extension, (Opp. SIET College) Teynampet, Chennai 600 018Ph: 044 - 2433 3757 / 2431 3757 / 4207 4220 | E-mail: [email protected], Web: mmachennai.orgFacebook: www.facebook.com/mmachennai | MMA Voice: i-radiolive.comVideo on Demand/Web Streaming: www.liveibc.com/mma : Twitter Page: www.twitter.com/mmachennai MMA STUDENT EMPOWERMENT DRIVES Group in Facebook

FOR THE KIND ATTENTION OF MMA MEMBERS



In our culture, we greet someone by saying “Namaste”. We fold our hands and bend down based on knowledge,

age, power and position. Why do we greet this way? What does it mean? When you say Namaste, ‘nama’ means ‘salutation’, ‘the’ means ‘to you’. It means “I salute you, I respect you, I appreciate you as you are”. In a given relationship, if I respect you, not based on my expectation or need but by simply what you are, and you also start respecting me as I am, our relationship is bound to be healthy. This is the basis of life and today we will be talking on this in detail.

If we observe ourselves, definitely we all are efficient. But the problem is that our efficiency fluctuates may be based on our moods, based on the situations and based on different reasons. Constantly we are not able to deliver. All of you are efficient people and I don’t want to talk more on it. Efficiency levels fluctuate because of lack of appreciation. You can say, may be lack of motivation. If you are being appreciated as you are, if you are being accepted as you are, I am sure, your efficiency will keep improving. Deep within, we are not being appreciated. That’s why, we need to get appreciation, we need to be respected and we all are in the rat race. We all want to run. But for what? I am not being appreciated, when I am not being respected as I am, there is a pressure in you and you want to prove yourself. When I try my best to prove myself, there will be stress.

Today’s topic is Anger. When I am not in a position to handle myself, what choice do I have other than anger? Now let us go to the topic Anger management.

e+ oPtimize yourSelf: anGer manaGement

Caught between Yes and No ….Anger is something which is known to us. All of us have experienced anger. But the problem with all of us is that we know anger, at the same time, we do not know it. How? I will give you a beautiful story. There was one incident. A wise person was living in a village. People used to call him from the nearby cities and he used to give regular lectures on Anger management. Then villagers came to know that he is giving lectures to the city people and they wanted him to address them too. But somehow the wise man was not interested in doing so. You know, when you do not want to do something you always want to find reasons for staying away. He also did the same thing, but since the villagers forced him he agreed but he did so with a condition. The condition is that he would be asking few questions and the villagers should give proper answers, and if not, he would leave the dais. The villagers agreed to the condition. He went to the dais and asked, “Do you know what I am going to

Shri Ananda ChaitanyaFounder, Vidya Vahini Trust & Yoga Vidya Centre

A summary of the Address delivered by Shri Ananda Chaitanya during the Talk on “E+ Optimize Yourself: Anger Management” held on 4 November 2014 at Chennai

talk? The villagers said, Yes! The wise man reacted and said, “If you know what I am going to talk, is it necessary for me to talk?” Now villagers did not know what to do. The wise man left the dais. Then the people apologized and called him back. He again asked the same question. The people said they do not know! He said, “If you say you don’t know, then you won’t even understand what I am about to speak! He left the dais again! Now the villagers did not know what to do. They thought, let us be smart and thus they rehearsed the answer. Again he was invited and he asked the same question saying that this was the last chance. He again asked the same question. As it was planned, some of the villagers said yes and at the same time, some of them said no. He said, “Thanks to all of you. It has the job easier for me. Those who said yes, please do talk to the other group who said no. I am going!”

If we look at this, we all are caught in between Yes and No. Whenever there is a problem in your life including anger, it is



related to yes and no. How is it possible? It is because we know and at the same time we do not know. Whenever we know in general and we do not know in detail, there, the problem arises. So also is anger. We all know anger; we know anger in general. But we do not know in detail. Because we do not know in detail, we try to control. Remember, the more you try to control your anger, the more you destroy your system. At no time one should waste time in controlling anger because one cannot control anger. More you try to control, stronger becomes your anger. Here you need to learn to manage. You have to give importance not to the practice but to the understanding. By any sort of practice, you cannot manage your anger. That’s why, what we do, you try all sorts of techniques and later on say, Oh! I was angry and I did not know what to do! All your practices will not work at the right time.

Anger is a reaction..Anger is a reaction, confusion and a judgement. Whether you like it or not, when anger is a reaction you never plan. I request all of you, please get angry at least for few seconds! All of you are smiling! What is happening to all of you?! I am requesting you to get angry, you are not getting angry. Because, very simple, anger is a reaction. If it is an action, I can plan to get angry. We never plan to get angry. So when it is unplanned, as you call it is your reaction, you need to look within. What is the reason for you getting angry? The reason is that it is a conclusion. When you come to a

conclusion, the first conclusion is “I am right”. Unless and otherwise you come to a conclusion, you cannot get angry. It is impossible to get angry unless you come to a conclusion. Now when I have come to the conclusion that I am right and you are wrong, I also want to teach you; I want to prove you that you are wrong. That means, when you are angry, you are trying to prove yourself rather than communicate yourself. The more we try to prove, the more we become fail! The more I try to prove in any given relationship, whether it is a wife, a husband, a father or son, at home or office or anywhere, the more I get frustrated in my life. If the other side is wrong and people do not understand it, I have to communicate it. Even if others are wrong according to you, you have to be very careful. I will give an example. I am looking back some 30 years when there was no packet milk available. Everyday in the morning, at around 6.30 am, the milkman comes in a bicycle and delivers milk. Your day starts at the time the milkman comes because without coffee the day never really starts. That day you started boiling the milk, milk gets spoilt. Remember there is no packet milk! Now what will happen to you the whole day? Since you are so much habituated with coffee, there is no milk and you cannot have black coffee! The milkman gave the bad milk. Now you await the next day; there is no choice for you as you don’t have any other alternative way for milk supply. Generally you wait for the milkman from 6.30 am onwards, now you look forward to him at 6 o’ clock itself. Now unfortunately, he did not come

at 6.30. Now every second, not every minute, is painful for you. Let us say, he comes at 7 am. You know how angry you feel. Without listening to him, you start shouting. He says, he was delayed because the calf drank almost all the milk and he somehow managed to come. Now you come down. Why did you come down? According to you the milkman was wrong and you are right. You want to punish him because you paid the price for it. Now the whole day, did you punish the milkman or did you punish yourself? Please understand this. The more you get angry the more we punish ourselves. So, anger cannot be called as a healthy emotion. Because the moment I am insecure, there is a sense of insecurity in me. That sense of insecurity is being challenged and I consider that I am not being respected as I am. Now anger comes to protect myself. How it happened? Of course, without knowledge our own parents have taught us. I was talking in some place. There they said, without getting angry, work cannot be done! Is it so? If this is the case, I will give you an example of how this happens. When we were children, I have seen for myself, when I was not eating properly, my mother used to make a long face. Now I develop a sense of loss because my mother is not happy with me. So in order to make her happy I start eating. Sometimes I get angry. So out of a sense of loss or to make her happy, I have to do something even if I did not want to. Later on, I saw the same thing with my father. He wanted something to be done and if not done he will get angry. So out of fear I used to do what he wanted. Now as I started growing off, if I want some work to be done by someone, let me behave like my mother or my father! Does it happen in your case or not? Just observe yourself. Without our knowledge this thought has been injected by our parents. If we believe in this way, what will happen? When I am right and others are wrong, let me learn to communicate. In any given situation, I must learn to express my views and not myself. There is a big difference. Expressing my views, my understanding



or my stand point is entirely different from expressing one’s own self. If we observe ourselves, most of the times in our life we express; the more I try to express myself the more I prove to the world that I am helpless. The more I prove to the world that I am insecure. In any given situation, I must learn to communicate and not to vomit.

Anger is a judgement..Anger is a judgement. When anger is a judgement, mind is already closed. An angry person cannot have control over mind. Never waste your time when a person is angry. Better respect and accept him. You don’t have any other choice. There is a beautiful statement: One says and other listens. Both of them are called wise. When one talks and the other does not listen to, both of them are called otherwise. So when you come across a person who is angry, please respect that person and his anger. I will give an example. Suppose somebody vomits in front of you, what will you do? Let it be even your own loved one! What you will do is to ensure that you are in a safe zone! I am sure you will not say, ‘vomit on me!”, unless of course, you are a mother. Mother will not look at anything. Now tell me about anger. Is it vomiting or not? So what do you do? Be in a safe zone! But we have come to a conclusion with reference to one’s own anger that I am right and I must teach the person; I must change the person. In this world, you cannot change anyone. This is the truth. Neither can anybody change you! Then you have the question, why I am here and for what I am talking. I am not here to change you either! I cannot and nobody can change anybody. But this is my job to inform to you and communicate to you that there is a change. If you decide to change, I am sure, you will be able to change. If you do not decide to change, nobody can change you. When I get angry based on a judgement, I want the other to change. I was trying to change people but in the process I discovered that I cannot change anyone, then I got changed!

Attachment leads to anger..How this anger is being developed? What is the cause of anger? Unless we know this we cannot manage our anger. It is like managing a vehicle. Without knowing about the vehicle, how can you drive a vehicle? So also is with reference to our anger. In Bhaghavad Gita it is said: When a person starts dwelling upon a given object, given person or given situation, slowly the attachment comes. More I start dwelling upon anything or anybody, now without my knowledge there is attachment. When I am attached there is some desire in me, although there is nothing wrong about it. But that desire leads me to conclude that without that object or person, I am not complete. This is the conclusion. This is a judgement. If I don’t have a smart phone, I am not a smart person. If I don’t have an i- phone I am not an executive. When I come to this conclusion, without that person or that object or that situation, my life is not complete. So when I am not comfortable, I am not complete within, I try my best to achieve, to get it. Suppose I am not in a position to get it, some obstacle comes, and then what happens to me? I either get depressed or agitated. First agitation and if that agitation cannot be expressed, it will lead to depression. That agitation can take the shape of anger. Whenever I am angry, it is very clear that I consider that I am not a complete person. And because I am not a complete person, to protect myself, I come to the conclusion that I am right. Have you seen a child? When a child does some mistakes and knows that it has done a mistake, how the child behaves? Please observe. Deep within we are all grown up children. My anger is nothing but an expression of discomfort within me and through anger I try to achieve comforts. That is why the one who gets angry may be able to get external comforts but deep within he cannot be comfortable. Have you have seen the limitations of external comforts? If you have not seen that, what will you do? I don’t mind to go for external comforts. I have an example. I bought a car to go to office. Later on I go to the office to maintain my car! I look for external comfort to be comfortable within.

Appreciate yourself…Please understand before trying to look at your anger, you have to learn to appreciate yourself as you are. Unless and until you appreciate yourself as you are, you respect yourself as you are, I am sure, you will not be able to learn to manage your anger. First and foremost, let me learn to appreciate myself. Do you all appreciate yourself as you are? Or because others appreciate you and that is why you appreciate yourself? Which is right? Most of the time, the second answer is right! Why others appreciate me? Because that person has got something to do with me! That is why I started my talk with “namaste” to all of you. I appreciate, I respect you as you are and not as what I expect you to be. When looking at my anger, I cannot run away from anger. After all it is me – it is my dissatisfaction and it is my sense of insecurity.

Don’t suppress anger. Learn to suspend anger..Anger is something that you cannot suppress. When I want to suppress my anger, it is dangerous for me and after sometime it is dangerous for others. And being a reaction, I have to express. How to express it? That is called anger management. Expressing anger to the right person, to the right degree at the right time, for the right purpose and in a right manner is called anger management. So I need to communicate when my anger is being expressed. If I don’t express and only vomit, there is no communication. But why am I not able to do it? Let us hear this story of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is called as Neelakanta because his neck is blue because of poison. When churning of the ocean happened, everybody took away the best things and nobody wanted to take the worst things. That is what life is all about! Who can take the worst? We say it is Lord Shiva who stands for discipline. A disciplined person, a responsible person a committed person can take the worst. In fact whoever is ready to take the worst is a grown up and matured person. Only that matured person can take the worst in life. As the story goes He goes on to take the poison. Now when He started



drinking the poison, if he swallows, He will be destroyed; if He vomits the whole universe would be destroyed. What did He do? He had to suspend the poison in his neck! That’s what is called anger management. I have to learn to suspend. How? I need to resolve the conflict that is within me. Because whenever I am angry, I have to understand that it is because of a conflict in me. If there is no conflict in me, I will not get angry. Instead of resolving the conflict within me, if I try any method to manage my anger or control my anger, I will not be successful. I will only end up developing a sense of guilt. The more I try to control my anger, the more I end up developing a sense of guilt. That’s why it is essential that I learn to resolve the conflict that is in me. And the more I give time to resolve this conflict in me, the I more I can be sure of managing my anger. As Lord Shiva stands for discipline, so also should we aspire to have a disciplined life. If I am not a disciplined person, whatever tricks I follow to manage or control my anger is not going to work at the right time. For all know, it may work at the wrong time! That’s why the more I am disciplined, the better I will be able to manage my anger.

Learn to smile…Watch this video “Charlie bit my finger” where the boy puts his finger in the mouth of Charlie and screams of pain. This is life! Who put the finger? Did the small boy Charlie ask him to put his finger in his mouth? He wanted to have fun. Do we do like this in our day to day life or not?

What you should do? Learn to smile! If I ask all of you, how many times in a day you smile? I met a Hotel Receptionist who told me, “My lips are paining and I want to take leave”. When asked for the reason she said, “I work in a hotel as receptionist. Every time I have to smile and that is why my lips are paining and I have to take leave!” I asked her, do you really smile? For money’s sake, you smile. Your parents have done so much for you. Do you really smile when they say something? How many times you really smile in a day? Whenever a customer comes in! Whenever you see some business prospects, you show all your 32 teeth! Learn to smile. Statistics

says that a child smiles in a day 300-400 times. We all have done it as children! But now, hardly three to four times a day and that too perhaps! Some days we don’t smile at all! In any given situation, don’t hesitate to smile.

Learn to exhale more..That person is an angry person who has a tendency to grab and not to give. Observe yourself. That time you are angry when the tendency of grabbing is predominant in you than the tendency of giving. Any time if you are intended or you are brainwashed that I need to grab, grab and grab, I am sure nobody can help you. Remember, a child always grabs. The more you grab, the more you are a child. The more you give, the more you are a grown up person. What happens to all of us? As we grow old, instead of giving, we always try to grab in different ways. The more you grab, the more you will get angry in your life whether you like it or not. Nobody can help you. Remember, if things happen, it is good; if it does not happen, it is better! Sky is not going to fall. Long before you came to this world, world was continuing. After you go away, it will run in a better way! In our life, let us learn to exhale. If you do not exhale will you be able to inhale? The more you exhale, the more you will inhale. Why we have stress? That time we are stressed when we have the tendency of grabbing more than giving. You don’t need to learn any management for this. Look at your system. The moment I get angry, I will not be able to breathe properly. Breathing will

not be systematic and rhythmic. That’s why you emphasize on your exhalation. If possible exhale two times and inhale only one time. It should be at 1: 2 ratio. Do it consciously.

Start your day for yourself…Most important thing is, please start your day for yourself. If you are starting your day for others, you are really wasting your time. Your life is a waste whether you accept or not. If you don’t accept, you will realize it at a later time. Let me stop with the story of Alexander the Great. Before he passed away, it seems he said, when my coffin is being carried away, make sure that both my hands are kept outside the coffin. I would like to give a message to the whole world that Alexander the Great could concur and get everything but while leaving this earth he could not carry anything in his hand!

I only want to say, please live for your own self. If you live for yourself, you live for the universe and that is called the purpose of living and once you know that, anger will be your slave. In fact, we must learn to get angry. For example, when somebody does something that I don’t like, I say, “Hey! Don’t do this!” What does it mean? I communicate! Raise your voice and do not raise your mind. If you want to communicate or if you want to get your work done, you must learn to raise your voice. But generally we raise our mind instead of our voice. Don’t do that!



And consumers spend the most time there. So, where consumers go, brands need to follow

It’s funny how things evolve. Social media, a phenomenon which is barely six years old, was touted at first to be a medium where people could be exactly that: social. Exchange photos, updates on each other and a medium where one could keep in touch with friends around the world and feel good about it.

That businesses are now scrambling to be on social media, many of whom don’t understand this new beast, was brought home strongly at a recent seminar organised by the Madras Management Association.

The Social Web 2.0, a seminar curated by Bengaluru-based social media company Autumn Worldwide, had the digital heads of Pepsi, Luminous, Bharat Bambawale and Associates and The Boston Consulting Group together to talk about how brands are grappling with social media.

Hear the conversations?Again, think about it, a few short years ago, organisations wouldn’t have invested in talent to head a digital business. As one of the panelists, Rishi Dogra, head of Pepsi India’s digital business, points out, “The digital space has evolved so rapidly you need to recalibrate your thinking every quarter; it’s that fast. FB came to India around 2009, by 2010-11 it became a marketing tool and now it’s an integral part of marketing.”

Says Anusha Shetty, CEO of Autumn Worldwide, “The world speculated about this industry being a bubble. Many would have

it’S a SoCial WeB out thereMr Vinay Kamath

smiled and would have been happy to say “I told u so”, if they were proven right. But today, this speculation is being hushed and a storm of brands and teams are rushing to learn the art of driving conversations on the web.”

Why is it imperative for brands to be on social media? It’s because, points out Sreyssha George, head of digital of BCG, that’s where most of the conversations are happening. “In the last 15 months or so, companies are not choosing how to communicate with consumers; they are choosing it themselves. The choice is no longer there for corporates, so they have to engage with consumers on the social web.”

A recent BCG analysis shows that India (unlike the US) exploded from ‘internet to social’ directly. While the US slowly climbed the social media reach over time as its internet penetration grew, India’s internet explosion and social media explosion have grown together. The analysis also confirms the age group 25-34 years and 35-44 years as being potentially big, unlike the belief that social is for those in the 15-24 years age group only.

The ‘Digital Influence’ is growing and while the e-commerce industry is estimated at $6-10 billion now, India’s digital influence could be creating a market size of around $30 billion. And at this rate of growth and explosion, the digital impact is expected to increase five-fold to $150 billion by 2016.

Digital influence means, for instance, if somebody is buying a car, the consumer does all the research on it on the web before actually venturing into a showroom to buy one. There are many such instances of consumers researching gadgets on the web.

Hours up for grabsWhy is it important for brands to be on the social web? It’s because that’s where consumers are spending the most time. A recent survey by Autumn Worldwide on media habits (between the age group 18 to 24 years) showed that if there were free time, 58 per cent would log into a social network while 42 per cent said they would watch TV. A little deep diving showed, while they watched TV they would also be on multiple devices. It was never just TV, it would be TV plus a mobile phone (logged into a social network) or TV plus laptop/tablet (logged into a social network again). The study also showed that they averaged at 1-2 hours in a day in front of TV while they spent a cumulative 4-6 hours on a social network. That’s an enormous amount of mind space that brands would love to capture.

Shagorika Heryani, one of the panelists, and former digital head of Airtel, says in the telecom company they realised that the conversations that the company was initiating were not the same ones that its customers were having on social media. “Being on



social media gives you multiple benefits from helping develop your content to instant feedback,” she points out. Pepsi’s Dogra, though, cautions that brands can’t have it all since on social media they are competing not just with other brands but with families and friends who are assailing users with information. Luminous Technologies’ AVP, Marketing, Munish Bajaj, says that getting real-time information from its consumers on social media helped it refocus its advertising and other communication and transformed it from being known primarily as a company that sold invertors.

Sadashiv Nayak, CEO of Big Bazaar, in a presentation, explained how a brick-and-mortar retailer was trying to leverage digital. With a large store presence, the retailer, Nayak said, was evolving its own hybrid model of digital and physical stores. In some of the smaller stores, he pointed out, all the stock keeping units of a particular product may not be stocked, but consumers could go through a touch screen display, choose what they want and pick it up later or have it delivered home. Also, many of its older customers may not be comfortable with ordering through the net. For them, Big Bazaar has agents who travel with tablets on which these consumers can order online and purchases can be delivered to them from the nearest store.

Time to reinventThe social media marketing industry in India has been around for six years now. Early movers and teams tried several ways

to connect on social media with consumers. “This phase saw brands try a lot of initiatives, from contests and gratifications to fan acquisitions. Marketing circles prided themselves around ‘Numbers’. A natural progression of this evolution was to now question the stretch we can take in social media. Is social media about freebies and contests? Is it about acquiring fans? Will the social initiatives always be tactical?” asks Shetty.

She points out that logic says if the number of users and the time they spend on these platforms is increasing, then brands need to be there and participate strategically. “The industry needs to look at unique ways to drive real value for brands. Strategic orientation and alignment to business goals and objectives is the need of the day. We all need to move away from the basics and reinvent new ways to connect and engage,” points out Shetty.

The social world is seeing power because people make a choice to connect and talk. Brands need to learn the art of triggering the relevant conversations. “The answer is in engagement and not in fan acquisition. And to do so, while one needs to carry the principles of brand building, one also needs to shed, unlearn and disrupt the traditional marketing book to reinvent the new,” she explains.

Article kind courtesy: The Hindu BusinessLine



Members of MMA Managing Committee along with German Delegates led by Mr Mark Hauptmann, Member of German Federal Parliament during the 500th MMA Managing Committee Meeting held on 21 November 2014 at Madras Club

It is my pleasure to deliver the keynote address in this conclave organized by MMA-KAS on Global Reimaging:

Manufacturing Excellence for Growth and Employment.

Today everything is global! The market place is a level playing field with equal opportunities for all players. The ground is becoming more and more even with the geographical boundaries blurring and being replaced with competitiveness.

Globalisation and localization are two sides of the same coin.

There is a strong view point that the world is actually getting less integrated with each passing year. The Global world is made up of Countries which are unique with their own political, social and economic realities and most importantly their regulatory systems. Majority of the global players are busy localizing for success. Speed along with competitiveness is the key for success. Global canvas is the opportunity where local factors are leveraged to get ahead.

According to economists, manufacturing is a wealth-producing sector of an economy, whereas a service sector tends to be wealth-consuming. Hence Manufacturing sector is attractive despite environmental/health issues involved which are managed through the legal route.

The role of manufacturing in the development of an economy cannot be ignored. The earlier days where England, US, Germany and Japan depended on manufacturing industry to create wealth and power, the new ones to join the group is Taiwan, Korea, China etc.

The manufacturing industry is the foundation for a healthy economy as it leads to development of the “means to production” in terms of capital goods. Hence it is a sustainable path to development.

Global trade is based on goods, not services. According to the WTO, 80% of world trade among regions is merchandise trade — that is, only 20% of world trade is in services.

GloBal reimaGinG: manufaCturinG exCellenCe for GroWth & emPloymentMr T S Jaishankar Executive Vice President & Director (CD), Toyota

The major advantage of the industry is that it creates jobs – directly and indirectly. And according to the Economic Policy Institute, each manufacturing job supports almost three other jobs in the economy.

Quoting from the report of the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, India’s manufacturing sector could touch US$ 1 trillion by 2025. There is potential for the sector to account for 25-30 per cent of the country’s GDP and create up to 90 million domestic jobs by 2025.

The huge market potential combined with the need for cost competitiveness in manufacturing can contribute to this.

(McKinsey) India’s growth in the manufacturing sector over the last decade has been good. It was ranked the fourth most competitive manufacturing nation in Deloitte’s global index for 38 nations in 2013. Its economy also experienced significant expansion during the period 2006-2011, achieving a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 per cent.

India’s growing economy offers domestic entrepreneurs and international players many opportunities to invest. Under the leadership of Mr Narendra Modi, we can look forward to huge support and investments in this sector.

A summary of the Keynote Address delivered by the Guest of Honour Mr T S Jaishankar during the MMA-KAS-Layam Conclave on “Global Reimaging: Manufacturing Excellence for Growth & Employment” held on 20 November 2014 at Chennai



A number of initiatives have been taking by the GOI in line with the “Make in India” vision.

If we want to build a strong economy it is imperative that we revive and develop the manufacturing sector. There are opportunities and challenges – one thing is for sure…. in this dynamic world, need to adapt to changing times by corporate leaders as well as policy makers is a must.

The need of the hour for policy makers is to be grounded in reality with comprehensive understanding of factors that determine a location decision.

First task is to see how we can make India an attractive destination for Investments. How is our regulatory environment compared with other countries? Traditionally the biggest risk seen by Investors eyeing India or similar Country is the volatility of the political system. Fortunately, we have a majority government in power today.

We need to aggressively address issues that inhibit investments to India. Stability and predictability is what the Investors will watch for. The ease of doing business is not amongst the best and that is a major cause for concern. Policy makers should seriously think about how to bring about reforms to change this perception.

Despite experience like Nokia, the mood in India is one of confidence and optimism in the long term growth of the Country. Now we need to build the trust and confidence in the investors.

The second factor to address is the shortage of skilled manpower.

GOI has put skill development in the high priority list for the next decade. While initiatives are being floated at various levels, the concept of vocational training in India itself has had a slightly negative connotation – is associated with school drop outs. Unless this idea is challenged, the quality of the training will always be under threat.

Skilling up will support in building a competitive edge that that will take us beyond just the cost factor.

It is also necessary to take this step higher to highlight the need for developing global competencies. Be it strategy development which is much more complex when dealing with borderless world or Innovation through robust R & D, the management bandwidth needs to be developed. Hence the quality of engineering and management capability has to be prioritized too.

The third factor is how connected can we be to the customer. The customer dynamics have changed drastically over the years with their expectations being set to global standards while being extremely price sensitive.

Manufacturing is slowly but very definitely making a come back in the national economic scenario. The challenges are indirect taxation, poor infrastructure, high cost of utilities like power, high cost finance etc. However we have our youthful population as our biggest asset. Building quality workforce is our challenge and our passport to success.

The optimism runs high with majority government in power and initiating actions in the right direction. However as on today we are still clutching at low hanging fruits but the time is right for some bold decisions like rolling out of GST or opening up of the Insurance sector.

Paradigm shift is necessary in the thought process since usually it is the mindset that creates the slip between the cup and the lip.

The lead time between policy introduction and its impact is long and hence there is an urgency to initiate action. All eyes are on the Budget!!

“With economic reforms gaining momentum, long-term prospects

for growth remain bright for India,” said Onno Ruhl, World

Bank Country Director in India. “To realize its full potential,

India needs to continue making progress on its domestic reforms

agenda and encourage investments. The government’s efforts at

improving the performance of the manufacturing sector will

lead to more jobs for young Indian women and men.”



Context and Objectives of the ConventionResurgent India

The worst is over. India is regaining economic momentum and better days are ahead, if leading think tanks and election campaigns prove right. The IMF and World Bank forecasted an identical 5.6% growth this year and a step jump to 6.4% growth for 2015. A historic election has renewed and restored collective confidence in the state. Prime Minister Modi has wasted no time in riding this wave and taking centre stage, both at home and abroad, modeling the paradigm shift needed across the nation.

Reality is not far behind. Fundamental economic and governance reforms have been proposed and are underway. Improving monsoons could boost both domestic and export outputs in agriculture. Greater capital inflow and transparency are expected to further revive investor confidence. Policies being announced to debottleneck infrastructure may put this capital to more efficient use. Earlier this year, industry clocked its highest quarterly growth over the last three years. Inflation fell to a five-year low at 2.4% and food prices have declined. A consequent softening of interest rates could spur industrial growth and consumer spending to new levels. Indian industry may finally make its comeback by 2015.

Amid all this, the socio-cultural rhetoric is shifting as well. As the Prime Minister told the world in his Independence Day speech, we have the skill and the talent. With every passing day, India adds hordes of employable youth to its workforce. As we invite the world to sell anywhere, but “Make in India”, the bar for the nation has risen and its youth are now raring to go.

2015 holds promise as the year of resurgence and the baton rests with industry now.

This Convention will seek to pin point what the core drivers of economic growth going forward will be via focused sessions on three broad sub-themes:

1. Making in India – spurring innovation

2. Making Indians industry-ready – building skills and talent

3. Reaching out to the world – creating industry-connect

The above topics will be covered through a mix of lively speeches, intense panel discussions and interactive Q&A sessions.

MMA ANNUAL CONVENTION 2015 Theme: India 2015 - The Year of Resurgence

Friday, 20 February 2015 | Hotel Taj Coromandel Chennai

Who Should Attend

CEOs, Senior and Middle managers, academicians and individuals looking to hone their leadership skills and fast track their growth in a turbulent economic climate. Entrepreneurs looking to develop their pipeline of leadership talent and to develop leadership at all levels of the organization which can help translate their vision and strategies into execution and management students.

For registration please contact and send your nomination along with your Cheque/DD in favour of ‘Madras Management Association’ to

The Executive Director, Madras Management Association 21/11, 3rd Cross Street, Seethammal Extn., (Opp. SIET College),

Teynampet, Chennai - 600 018 | Ph: 044-2433 3757 / 2431 3757 Email: [email protected], Web: www.mmachennai.org

Your Key Takeaways

The MMA Annual Convention 2015 will equip the delegates with an appreciation of the following:

¾ In the newly resurgent economic climate, how can businesses take advantage of the growing opportunity in India?

¾ What role can businesses play in identifying and triggering growth in the broader economy? How should businesses play an ethical role in building more inclusive growth?

¾ A deeper look into the intrinsic factors contributing to India’s growth - how social, economic and political environments are helping

¾ Role of individuals in shaping the next curve of India’s resurgence; what can the next generation of leaders do?

¾ Understand the challenges facing India in getting to this growth

¾ Opportunity to interact with and participate in stimulating discussions with top executives from industry and listen to first hand experiences on how different executives/companies are taking advantage of the opportunity

Delegate FeeCategory Fee

Corporate Members ` 4000 nett

Individual Members, Academicians & Management Students ` 2000 nett

Non-Members ` 4500 + 12.36% Service Tax



‘Key Talent’ is the most critical factor in making our dream of ‘Manufacturing Excellence’ a reality. Therefore ‘Hold on to the Talent when everyone else wants them’ becomes top agenda not only for HR leaders but for the CEOs as well.

I represent Rane. We are in the auto component manufacturing space. We pursue total quality management as an operational excellence philosophy and have been rewarded with the Deming Grand Prize (DGP) in several of our businesses.

Let me share some ideas on where we are heading because we are again romancing with manufacturing in the country today! “Make in India” has become a symbol of optimism and hope.

If you look at a span of 20 years, Indian manufacturing GDP has just doubled and countries like UK, Germany and France have declined a little bit. If you see the India’s GDP growth last year and this year, India is growing from 5.6 to 6.3%. The absolute value of Indian manufacturing GDP has grown but its percentage in the overall GDP is coming down. The other sectors have grown higher than manufacturing.

In the global landscape Indian manufacturing has moved up significantly. Our aspiration has shifted its gear as the opportunity ahead is immense. In global manufacturing context India’s competitiveness has increased because of China’s decline as a result of Yuan’s appreciation, wage inflation and rising energy cost. If we consider the labor cost (USD/hour), India is at 0.9 and China’s is at 2.8.

retention: holD on the talent When eVeryone elSe WantS them

‘Talent’ lies as a challenge between the opportunity and the execution. Several recent global reports about manufacturing have resonated the same concern. Everything is finally converging on making sure that we have the required talent at every level in the manufacturing space. If you have to accomplish the kind of targets we have set for ourselves which is 25% of GDP by FY 2022 which means that we have got to grow at a CAGR of around 15% annually, we need to look both at talent and opportunities. We have to create talent for opportunities and opportunities for talents. Creating opportunities for talents would mean setting up a very robust training and development system and employment generation. Employment generation opportunity in manufacturing is huge and it calls for the attention of industry and policy makers.

There is lot of optimisms today. 90% of the Industry leaders hope that there is going to be good growth in manufacturing industry in the next 3 to 5 years.

We expect 60 million additional jobs to be created by 2030 in manufacturing sector,

Mr R Venkatanarayanan President - HR & IT, Rane Group

A summary of the address delivered by Mr R Venkatanarayanan during the MMA-KAS-Layam Conclave on “Global Reimaging: Manufacturing Excellence for Growth & Employment” held on 20 November 2014 at Chennai

and 36 million college graduates will join the workforce in the coming decade. We must create opportunities and build competent workforce. For a competent Gen Y or Gen Z, opportunities will be available globally, not restricted to India.

Auto component is another important area in the manufacturing space. Now it is USD 40 billion dollars and it is going to grow to USD 120 billion dollars which is 3 times in the next 6 to 7 years. It is huge both in terms of meeting the domestic requirements and in terms of meeting the export opportunities. I am saying all this because talent development, retention, attraction, – everything should be seen in the backdrop of opportunities which is going to present itself driven by a change in the employment landscape. We are at the cross roads and there is going to be a major transformation.

Effective ‘Employee Engagement’ that establishes ‘Emotional Connect’ is vital.

Talent excellence obviously leads to manufacturing excellence. Retention of Talent is an outcome of several aspects.



There was a time when retention was not being talked about. We did an analysis of Google search trends. We found that search trends for the word ‘Attrition’ and ‘Retention’ have been stagnating and declining respectively. However the search trend for the word ‘Employee Engagement’ has moved on significantly. Why has this happened? There was a time when the term ‘engagement’ perhaps was used only in the context of weddings. But today it is used entirely in a different sense. Therefore, you find the word engagement is far more popular than either attrition or retention.

The organizations are moving towards proactive practices rather than reactive. They ensure that they engage with talent meaningfully. Therefore talent stays back. Engagement is the key to retaining talent.

Employee engagement is the process that leads to output such as performance and emotional connect. Customer satisfaction is the outcome of performance, similarly retention is the outcome of emotional connect. Hence emotional connect becomes crucial in keeping your talent pool intact. Establishing and sustaining strong employee engagement practices are the need of the hour.

Let me share the engagement philosophy at Rane. We believe in the simple TQM way of life; as an organization what it articulates and what it stands for is customer focus, continuous improvement and total employee participation. Our employment engagement practices stem from our ‘Employer Brand Promise’ which consist of ‘Challenge’, ‘Learning’ and ‘Career’ along with value ‘Fairness’ and ‘Transparency’.

‘Focus on Key Talent’Though the overall engagement practices address our entire talent pool, our focus have always remained on the ‘Key Talent’. Key talent are the employees who deliver high performance and are high potential. We have systematic and structured process for identifying these key talents. It is always the ‘Key Talent’ which gives disproportionate contribution

and therefore you as an organization have competitive advantage. So, at a philosophical level, it is important to see that we differentiate while recognizing and rewarding the disproportionate contribution.

What is the percentage of retention that you have in your key talent population? This is a better question than the overall attrition.

Alignment between organizational strengths and employee aspirationsIt is important to have an alignment between organizational strengths and employee aspirations. The question is how do we match employee aspiration with our strengths? How do we articulate? Our employer brand promise would address these questions. Communication and effective Integration of new hire plays a critical role in this perspective.

It is equally crucial to keep reinventing and innovating some of these practices continuously, to remain meaningful, impactful and relevant for talent across different segments.

Engaging with multiple generations of workforce with equal ease is a challenge. Today we cannot overlook this factor, when a significant percentage of the population is under thirty years of age. To be able to relate to these multi-generational-workforce, we need to have a very involved kind of policy formulation, policy roll out and implementation processes. It’s like walking on a tightrope.

The meaning of ‘Loyalty’ is changing. Once 20 years of service was considered as loyal but today two years of useful service is considered loyal. “I have done extremely well and exhibited my loyalty for the last three years. Please allow me to go. My passion lies somewhere else”. This kind of comment from your employee does not evoke surprise anymore. Satisfactory underperformance throughout the life time is not loyalty but outperformance for a short period is critical.

Few key practicesLet me share some of our key practices. Employees’ involvement in ‘innovation’ creates meaningful challenge. We have

launched organization-wide innovative initiatives. We picked up several projects where we are involving our talent so that they get an opportunity to work on certain unique projects. When there is a meaningful challenge, there is a stretch and there is learning. These initiatives have enhanced the learning and the sense of contribution among our employees; as a results have improved employee satisfaction.

The next practice is ‘Key Talent review’ which we carry out twice a year at the group level. This is the forum which is chaired by Chairman and we have all CEOs come in together to discuss the top talent comprehensively – what are their development plans, what they need to do to accomplish etc.

We focus on our Professional Development Architecture (PDA). We have programs at different levels – Managing self and others, Managing People, Managing Managers – these programs are refined over time and to keep it relevant in the changing context we refresh them at an appropriate interval. Our dedicated employee development center, a US LEED Certified Green Building have facilitated and developed Functional Competency, Management Education and Leadership through 34000 Man-days and over 800 programs in the last five years.

High Potential Leadership Development (HPLD) is another our flagship initiative. Under this initiative we identify and select potential future leaders every year, put them through a structured process of development centers. It is a multi-method approach to assess the key competencies for understanding individual strengths, potential and development needs that provides inputs to individual’s professional development. This competencies such as entrepreneurship, ambiguity tolerance, passion at work will address our business aspiration as well as business challenges.

We have several other engagement practices which are based on the philosophy of Great Place to Work – Credibility, Fairness, Respect, Camaraderie and Pride.



The way we analyse whether a person is successful or not today is majorly dependent on the money

the person earns and the personal network that he has developed. The majority of people are dependent on their jobs as their source of income, some are into entrepreneurship, and some are running businesses as a means to earn income and achieve their dreams and goals.

There is so much focus and time spent in schooling, and almost 22 years go by as people work through education in order to learn the skills required to start working for someone else. However, very little time is spent on learning the real ways to make money and build relationships in the real world. Salaried workers’ incomes are dependent on one single source: the employer; they also have a bracket to their earnings, meaning they only have a limited amount of time to work. Therefore, to improve their income capacity, they have to improve on their skill set, which isn’t happening in many instances. People are expecting salaries based on their experiences and the number of years in the company, so the ideal way to get promotions and increase your income is by investing on yourself. By upgrading your skills through learning more, attending seminars related to your field, and getting certifications, your salary is on the way up.

But, is that alone enough for a person to retire rich? Given the inflation rate, is it possible to gauge exactly how much money is required to maintain one’s current lifestyle for the rest of one’s life? What if the person lives beyond his/her life insured period? Does one have enough savings that will take care of one’s health

no matter what age that individual is?

One of the best solutions for people to retire early and rich, and, at the same time, to never be bothered about maintaining their lifestyle is passive income.

What is passive income? I define it as an income that people receive without having to put in much effort like they do at work or running a business. This is an income in which people can make by carefully planning their investments, and executing business ideas that can help them earn income regularly every month without having to spend time or effort.

Many people are stuck in a job or business that may not be of interest to them, but they are in it only for the sake of the money they get. Imagine a life doing things that you don’t like, just so that you can live a lifestyle that you cannot maintain for the rest of your life. Really sad, isn’t it?

Generating passive income can be done in many ways. The way to start is to generate one investment/business where your income starts flowing, focus on growing it, and set systems in place, then moving on to start the next one. So, since you don’t need to spend much time in managing the business, you can start multiple, identical businesses. Now that is when it becomes interesting: you are creating multiple sources of income. Now money can start flowing from different directions instead of you being dependent on one source of income, which is very risky given any market conditions.

The goal is not earning passive income; the goal is to become financially independent. Different people have different definitions for financial independence, but I am going with what Robert Kiyosaki, author and

the real SeCret to retirinG early

financial literacy activist believes. When the passive income you generate is more than your expenses, you are financially free; you don’t need to work to maintain your lifestyle for the rest of your life. Now this is interesting, isn’t it? Let me explain that with an example. Let’s say you need 1 lac rupees every month in order to meet your current lifestyle. When your passive income (money that flows as income from investments and business that can run automatically/with very low intervention) goes beyond Rs.1 lac every month, you are financially free. Now, when this is happening, this changes your world upside down, at least for most. When money inflow is taken care of, I bet many people will start focusing more on doing things that they love to do. What you love to do might be different from others. Maybe you will donate money to charity every month. Or, maybe, you might start doing a job that pays less in money, but offers you a lot of satisfaction and

Mr Ganesh Kumar S Author, Get Rich Now - 27 Practical ways to make money while you sleep



happiness. You can also fund others who

want to start a new business, take a few

months off every year and travel the world,

but, ultimately, you have the freedom to

choose how you want to live, rather than

be constrained to the concept of money.

One of the most important things to note

is that you have to invest your money into

assets, businesses, and opportunities that

will generate income for you every month

or so. You should immediately look at your

liabilities column, check which liabilities

are taking money away from you every

month, and plan to get rid of them as soon

as possible. Look at your high paying loans

first and clear them using loans with lesser

interest (loan consolidation). You have to

analyse the properties of the potential

future and see if it really makes sense on

paying those huge EMI and waiting for the

property construction to be completed 2

years from now.

Saving money from your account every month towards becoming financially free is very important. As many studies suggest, you should allocate at least 10% of your income towards investment. This money should never be touched; it should be transferred to another account every month and then sent towards investment. Having a disciplined approach towards investment will ensure you success at a faster rate. This 10% is not something that you will use for any emergency or any other trip plan of yours, but is to be considered as something that does not belong to you. After the money is transferred to that account, the most important factor is to look at how to invest it. Just transferring money into a different account will not make you financially free; it has to start making more money for you. The other option is to look for business opportunities that will provide you income with very minimal involvement on

your part. You have to be very careful and calculative in this, as there are hundreds of bogus business opportunities online. Be sure to be smart and choose your investments carefully. My advice is to start with a business that is interesting and close to your heart, that way it doesn’t become a pain when you have to focus on setting it up.

Slowly, you’ll have multiple investments and businesses that will take care of your income without you having to work for it. Awareness is the key; keep an eye on every single opportunity that comes your way, and be ready to analyse these businesses in order to begin your journey to financial freedom.

Now you know the real secret to retiring rich and getting richer every year!!!

Best wishes. Live your Passion!!!





Registering Memories13th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2014

Theme: World Class - Made in India

(L to R) Mr M M Singh, Mr R Raghuttama Rao and Mr K Srinivasan during the Business Session on Building World Class Made-in-India “Products”

Ms Padmaja, Chief Mentor, Victory Insights & Social Media Consultant, MMA moderating the Grand Finale of “Chanakya- The Mastermind” Award Competition for the Year 2014

(L to R) Mr Vineet Taneja, Mr Venky Rajgopal, Mr Ravindra Shahane and Mr Partho Chakravarty during the Business Session on Building World Class Made-in-India “Brands”

Dr Kannan Pugazhendi, Sports Physician & Founder Director, SPARRC Institute during the Special Session on “Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body”

Chief Guest Mr B Santhanam and Guest of Honour Mr Ashish Mishra releasing the Students’ Convention Special issue of MMA Business Mandate during the 13th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2014

Mr Ajay Antony, Vice President, T.I.M.E. Pvt Ltd conducting the Think Tank: The Master Brain, Management Quiz Competition

Mr M S Jagan, Management Consultant, moderating The Big Debate on the theme “Industry, more than Government, has to lead the effort in making India, the Manufacturing Capital of the World”

Mr Raju Venkatraman, President, MMA presenting memento to the Chief Guest Mr Ravi Viswanathan, President – Growth Markets & Head Chennai Operations, Tata Consultancy Services during the Valedictory Session



Visit of German Delegation led by Mr Mark Hauptmann, Member of German Federal Parliament

to MMA (Chennai & Puducherry) from 19th to 22nd November 2014

Dignitaries during the inaugural session of the One-Day Conclave “Global Reimaging: Manufacturing Excellence for Growth and Employment”

The German Delegates attending the 500th MMA Managing Committee Meeting on 21st November 2014 as Special Invitees

The German delegates interacting with the Office-Bearers of MMA during the meeting held on 19 November 2014 at Hotel My Fortune, Chennai

Mr Mark Hauptmann, Member of German Federal Parliament, the Chief Guest delivered Inaugural Address during the Conclave on “Global Reimaging: Manufacturing Excellence for Growth and Employment”

Dignitaries during the Seminar on “Challenges to Succeed - Creating Manufacturing Excellence – Make in India” and Installation of Office Bearers of MMA Puducherry Chapter for the year 2014-15



Registering Memories

(L to R) Mr Ramanathan, Mr Harbhajan Singh, Mr G S Ramesh & Mr S Ravi during the panel discussion on “Re-engineering the essence of industrial relations” at the One-Day Conclave on “Global Reimaging: Manufacturing Excellence for Growth and Employment”

Distinguished Panelists during the Panel Discussion on the theme “The Real Power of Social Media” at the Seminar on “The Social Web 2.0”

(L to R) Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM, Mr Adesh Jain, Dr A Sivathanu Pillai and Mr R Srikanth during the one-day Conclave on “Project Mindset… The Key to Competitiveness”

Mr T Shivaraman, Sr Vice President, MMA & MD & CEO, Shriram EPC Ltd addressing the delegates during the Seminar on the theme “The Social Web 2.0 “

Mr C Siva Kumar, CEO, Prabha Engineers presenting a memento to Shri Ananda Chaitanya, Founder, Vidya Vahini Trust & Yoga Vidya Centre during the talk on “E+ Optimize Yourself : Anger Management”

Mr Sadashiv Nayak, CEO, Big Bazaar delivering the Keynote Address on the theme “Transformation - Offline to Online” during the Seminar on “The Social Web 2.0“

Mr R Elango, Ex-Panchayat President of Kuthambakkam Village addressing the members on “Success Stories – How it was done! - An Inspiring Leadership which Transformed the Lives of Entire Village”. Mr K Suresh, President & CEO, India Cements Capital Ltd chairing the session

Prof Karthik Muralidharan, Associate Professor of Economics, University of California, San Diego (UCSD) addressing the members on “Achieving Universal Quality Education in India: Challenges and Opportunities”. Mr Chand Das CEO, ITC Ltd. Education & Stationery Products Business is chairing the session

Members of MMA Namakkal Chapter along with Mr K V Ganesan, Chairman, MMA Namakkal Chapter during the Evening Talk on ‘An Insight on Future Trends and its Impact on Business” addressed by Gp Capt R Vijayakumar, VSM (Retd), Executive Director, MMA

Registering Memories



(L to R) - Mr A G Giridharan, Chairman, MMA Hosur Chapter, Mr K Suresh, Member, MMA Managing Committee, Mr C Siva Kumar, Chairman, MMA Board for Chapters during the lecture on “Managing Portfolio Maximising Wealth” held at Hosur

Mr R Srikanth, Vice President, MMA presenting memento to the Chief Guest Dr A Sivathanu Pillai, Founder CEO & MD, Brahmos Aerospace during the Conclave on “Project Mindset… The Key to Competitiveness”

A cross section of the delegates during the Conclave on “Global Reimaging: Manufacturing Excellence for Growth and Employment”

Mr K Subramanian, Global Head - Delivery Excellence, TCS, Mr Muthu Kumaran, Sr Vice President, Cognizant along with Mr Karthik Ramamurthy, Founder, KeyResultz and Mr K M Padmanabhan, Member, MMA Managing Committee during the Conclave on “Project Mindset… The Key to Competitiveness”

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