The one-day programme was a mix of presentations by students and panel discussions, which focused on how companies manage their global vision, while at the same time customizing their product and services to retain the Indian flavour.
Further, in a unique workshop, pre-selected ISB students worked in teams of six, along with a Brand Manager. Each team worked on a case presented to them on broad themes of Retail and Telecom and an alumnus mentored them. The teams analysed the given issue and presented several interesting recommendations before the panellists, comprising of Vijay Ramachandran, Head, Marketing, Citigroup, Elango T, CEO, A.P Circle, Airtel and D Shivakumar, MD, Mobile Phones, Nokia India and Nirmal Dayani, Director Marketing, ESPN/Star Sports. From suggestions about a zero cost handset, to developing retail work force, to a hub and spoke model for the Indian retailers, the students displayed innovative ideas, all backed with scalability, and taking into account all local concerns.
D Shivakumar presented his thought model about the “beaten to death”, Think Global Act Local theme. He went a step ahead and said, “Think global, manage regional and act local.” Shivakumar added, “Marketers run into the risk of either being hopelessly global or mindlessly local. Smart marketers strive to strike balance between the two.” In an attempt to define ‘local’, Shivakumar put forth an out of the box adage, “Listen to global and then go do your own thing.”
Vijay Ramchandran simply asked, “Why bother?” He urged to go beyond binaries of global and local. “Most multinational brands look for consumer similarities and not differences. Most of these brands are founded on a single human insight that transcends markets, “he concluded.
Guest speaker for the event, Dipak C Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, delivered the closing address. “A better phrase for Think global, act local could be – Global presence, local relevance,” Dean Jain suggested. He said that the idea of an institution like ISB was a perfect example of thinking globally and acting locally. “The students here get a global perspective but use it in a local environment,” said Dean Jain. He said that world today is becoming bipolar and that we need to go beyond ‘global’ and ‘local’ and think not in terms of geographical areas, but changing demographics.
The conclave proved to be an excellent learning and networking ground, giving the students an insight into the industry mind. It also proved useful to showcase their own forte and gave them invaluable team experience and contact hours with industry experts.