The annual seminar debated on contemporary service sector issues with business leaders, academicians and management thinkers. The seminar was organized on December 15-16, 2007, in Delhi. The keynote speaker was Mr Douglas Baillie, Managing Director & CEO, HUL.
The seminar was divided into specific sessions like 'Value Space: Escaping the parity game', 'Expansion Beyond: Creating synergy across boundaries' and 'Servepreneurs: Drivers of New India'. The event also included presentations on competitions including Taksha- The Paper Presentation, Dwandh-The Battle of Views, The FaMouS Cribler, Servepreneur- The B-Plan Contest Mark Thy Alter Ego- Surrogate Ad-making contest. Some of the B Schools that took part in these events included IIMs, ISB, MDI, SPJIMR etc.
At the seminar, Mr. Atul Dhawan, Partner, Deloitte Haskins and Sells, introduced the belief that change is the common denominators to organizations, their processes; the consumers , their expectations and value creation. He gave the 'Blue Ocean Strategy' as a solution to the breaking free from the parity game.
Mr. R. Balakrishnan, Chief Creative Director- Lowe India, gave the marketers perspective of the consumers value space. He said, "The intangible component of an advertisement is more important than the features of the product itself". He exemplified the same through some of his memorable TV Ad campaigns for leading brands like Bajaj Avenger, Surf Excel and Lifebuoy. The common feature of all these ads was the subtle way in which they communicated an attitude and not the product per se.
Ms. Charulata Ravikumar, Managing Partner, JWT India spoke about the trends in the Communication and advertising space.
On day two of the seminar, Mr. Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults gave a view of the Experience economy. He said that different products have different service avatars. According to Mr. Bijoor, "Service is a cutting-edge differentiator and a momentary value ultimately. He also introduced the concept of PVC- Perennial Value Creation. Mr. Bijoor also spoke about the evolution of customer service to customer satisfaction to customer delight and now to customer ecstasy.
Mr. Mukul Kansal, Head, SaReGaMa India Ltd., an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies, emphasized on the fact that change creates opportunities for entrepreneurship and thus entrepreneurs. He said, "The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it and explores opportunities". He gave the perspective of the Service Industry in general and the Entertainment media industry in particular.
Certamen- The B-School and Corporate Quiz which was hosted by renowned Quizmaster Mr. Joy Bhattacharya.
The principal partner for the fourth edition of Serveksriti was Vodafone. Oil India was the knowledge partner for the annual seminar. IFFCO-Tokio and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) were the associate partners for the event. Zee Networks as the TV media partner. Radio Mirchi is the partner for the cultural event. India's leading management portal MBA Universe.com is the Online Media Partner of the seminar.
