The four-day 9th PAN-IIM World Management Conference (WMC) themed “Entrepreneurial Innovation and Digital Governance for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth” and held at IIM Sambalpur from Jan 21-24, had a number of thought-provoking Panel Discussions including IIM Directors’ Panel, Accreditation Panel, CHRO Panel, among others.
AICTE Chairman Dr TG Sitharam, delivered the valedictory address where he spoke about initiatives to shape leaders and drive world’s third largest economy. He said: “We are entering an era where India will be a global leader. Quality, skilling, and leadership are our key weapons, and this conference has fueled our fire to forge a brighter future.” Recognizing the immense strides India has taken in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, Dr. Sitharam informed, “Today, India is the fifth largest publisher of research papers and patents globally. We are poised to become the third largest economy by 2027, a testament to the power of our youth and infrastructure development. AICTE is committed to empowering the next generation of leaders and innovators.”
The Directors’ Panel was focused on “Building Managerial Capacities to Enhance Collaboration between Industry and Society.” During the Director’s Panel Discussion Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur; Prof. Kulbhushan Balooni, Director, IIM Kashipur; Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore; Prof. Bhimaraya Metri, Director, IIM Nagpur, and Prof. BS Sahay, Director, IIM Jammu, Prof. Umakant Dash, Director, IRMA shared insights on enhancing collaborations between society and industry as well as effective management practices.
Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur, cited about a project empowering traditional weavers, resulting in significant sales turnover growth and said, “Our Master Weavers project, called BunkarValleys.com, aims to digitalize as well as connect the products and businesses of master weavers to digital marketing platforms like Flipkart and ONDC. Such initiatives illustrate that we are working for a larger society and not only for big industries.”
During the interaction with editors of Top Tier Research Journals Prof. Varsha Jain, AGK Chair Professor of Marketing, MICA, Ahmedabad; Prof. K. Mathiyazhagan, Chairperson of the Research Centre, Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai; Prof. Dongmei Cao, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom; and Prof. Surajit Bag, Program Director, MSC. Supply Chain Research Center, Léonard de Vinci Pôle Universitaire, France, shared their valuable insights in terms of presenting the Research Paper.
The event witnessed as many as 712 active participations across various categories, including 18 participants for the Doctoral Consortium, 29 contributors presenting Case Studies with teaching notes, and 665 submissions in the form of Extended Abstracts for Research, Conceptual papers, full papers.
The CHRO Panel Discussion on ‘Building organizational skills for the Industry 4.0 world’ witnessed the eminent speakers like Mr. Devi Prasad Dash, CHRO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Limited; Ms. Jaya Suri, CHRO, Kimbal Technologies; Ms. Jayanthi Jagannath, CHRO, K&S Partners; Mr. Krishna Padhi, Head HR, Hindalco Ltd, and Mr. Subrahmanya Sastry, Partner, PWC. The participating speakers delved into crucial aspects of challenges posed by Industry 4.0, exploring strategies for human resource development.
The workshop on the Case Writing & Teaching convened by Prof. (Dr.) Gita Bajaj. The conference also saw inspirational session by the famous motivational speaker, Mr. Shiv Khera.
Some other highlights at the conferences included:
Accreditation Panel Discussion by Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain, Director, Sparsh Global Business School, Noida; Mr. Nishit Jain, EFMD; Prof. Sanjay Padode, Chairman, Centre for Developmental Education, JAGSoM; Prof. DK Mahalik, Sambalpur University; Prof Atish Chattopadhyay, Director, JAGSoM, Bangalore and Prof. Bidhu Bhusan Mishra, VC, Sambalpur University shared the practices for maintaining the standards and upholding the quality of B-School education standards.
CEO Panel Discussion on the topic ‘Develop Strategies to address Challenges of implementing ESG initiatives’ Mr. Sachin Trivedi, Director, Deloitte Consulting; Mr. Ratnesh Jha, Executive Director, UN Global Compact; Ms. Shraddha Danani, Tech-Entrepreneur and Mr. Keshav Rao, Director (Personnel), MCL Auditorium shared the sustainable practices adopted by their organizations.
Keynote on ‘Digital Governance and Public Policy’ by Dr. Sudhanshu Sarangi, IPS, Director General, Fire & Emergency Service, Commandant General, Home Guards and Director, Civil Defence, Odisha.
