The second day November 27, 2010 of Confluence 2010 at IIM Ahmedabad revolved around the theme of Challenges in Formulation and Implementation of Inclusivity in Governance.
The morning sessions were opened by Prof Sebastian Morris, a senior professor at IIM Ahmedabad. To begin the discussion, he raised several issues ranging from the increasing role of the private sector to enhanced state support for the poor (now flush with cash as India powers along at 8.5% GDP growth per annum) to the vast potential of e-governance and information technology in improving inclusivity. The panel consisted of Mr Anil Swarup, the Director General of Labour Welfare, Government of India, Mr Alok Kumar, Secretary of the Central Electricity Regulation Commission (CERC) and Mr HK Dash, the Chairman of the Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage Board (GWSSB). They addressed the issues put forward by Prof Morris through the examples from their domains.
Statecraft
Statecraft is one of the few Model United Nations Summits to be hosted by a business school. Colleges such as IIM Ahmedabad, IRMA, MICA, National Law School – Bangalore, National Law Institute University – Bhopal and SPJIMR Mumbai participated in the event. At the end of two days of the event, the ‘Best Delegation’ award went to the United States Delegation from NLIU Bhopal. In second place were the delegations of India and Libya from IIM Ahmedabad and MICA respectively. The winner of ‘Best Delegate’ was the delegate of Vietnam from NLU Jodhpur.
Corporate Combat
Corporate Combat, Confluence’s flagship event, started on the second day with 6 teams competing to be adjudged the best at combating crises in a corporate environment. The teams participating were IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow and SPJIMR Mumbai. The game involved running a boiler company that had presence in three geographies and having a total of 9 customers. The teams went through four rounds of simulation and made two presentations addressing the marketing, strategy, financial situation and public relations of the company. The event continued until Day 3 and after a final presentation to IIM Ahmedabad’s Prof Ajay Pandey, IIM Lucknow was adjudged the winner and IIM Bangalore took the second place.
Podium
Podium was one of the new events launched this year at Confluence – aimed at making the participants work on problems of the marginalized. The theme of Podium on Day 1 was ‘Innovations in business’. The theme on Day 2 was ‘Innovations in governance’ and saw participation from IIM Ahmedabad, SPJIMR Mumbai and others. The winning team on Day 2 was IIM Ahmedabad, which spoke about corruption in India and suggested several ways, including a call-in helpline to combat the lower-level corruption.
Omniscient
Omniscient is a unique event in Kronos that pits teams against each other through not just one, but multiple casesin a variety of contexts. After the initial shortlisting, five teams from NITIE, Great Lakes, XLRI, IIM Shillong and IIM Ahmedabad had made it to the finals. The teams presented an analysis of their case to a panel of judgesand for the final round, modified their presentations on the basis of feedback. The event has been really close andthe competition promises to go down right to the wire. Results are eagerly awaited!
Masterplan
Masterplan, a business plan competition with a prize ticket of Rs 2 lakhs finally concluded on the second day after a tough battle. The teams had presented their business plans in the first round, and in the second round, the judges grilled them by playing devil’s advocate to their plans. Two teams from IIM Bangalore and IIF Delhi emerged as joint winners and ISB Hyderabad were the runners-up. Several contestants considered this event as a showcase of their plans and were in fact serious about actually building up these ventures rather than keeping them just contest entries.
Sectorama
After the initial shortlisting in this Consulting related event, six teams had been invited for the presentation — including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, SPJIMR Mumbai and MICA. Presentations were delivered on a variety of sectors like Education, Transport & Logistics, Media & Entertainment, Financial Services, Tourism, Automobile & Ancillaries. The teams identified lucrative business opportunities in their respective sectors and then chalked out a comprehensive strategy for entry. The winning team was SPJIMR who presented on the Education sector and the runner-up was the IIM Bangalore team which presented on Logistics.
Nestle Case Study
Nestle Case Study was a unique case study competition where participating teams came up with new products in the ‘Cafe mixes’ product category, identified the growth drivers and came up with a marketing strategy. Out of a total of 176 entries, 5 were called to present their ideas in the final round. Out of the 5 teams that reached the finals, two were from IIM Ahmedabad, and one each from IIM Bangalore, SPJIMR Mumbai and SDMIMD Mysore. The event witnessed comprehensive presentations, which were followed by a Judges’ question and answer session. Judges took special note of the fact that each team came up with a unique product mix, and were particularly impressed with the innovation of these mixes.
Valedictory Function
The Chief Guest of the valedictory function was Kiran Bedi who spoke about the use of innovations in daily life. She gave examples of how she used innovative practices in her stint as an IPS officer, especially during the time she handled traffic management in Delhi Police and when was posted as Inspector General at Tihar Jail. She encouraged students to think different and to have the courage to take actions on their thoughts.
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