MDI Gurgaon organises conference on Emerging Themes in Strategy; witnesses participation from top experts

Witnessing the participation from industry experts, professors, acamedicians and organisational heavyweights over 2 days, Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon recently concluded the conference centred on the theme of strategy to make its management students industry ready. The format of the conference was as innovative as its content. Apart from paper presentations by faculty members from universities like IITs and IIMs across 12 sessions, there was an interesting inaugural session, two panel discussions on emerging themes in strategy and writing workshops on writing for popular media and academic journals.

Actively participating in the ceremony, Chief Guest, Prof. S P Narang, Member of the Board of Governors, MDI Gurgaon said A good Strategy needs to be a timely activity which should also include proactive thinking, new themes and innovative ideas. The agenda of organizing the conference is revisiting the strategy in view of Global developments

Sharing about the conference, Prof. CP Shrimali, Director, MDI, Gurgaon said, The concept of strategy is centuries old. However, business strategy has emerged as a separate entity only during the last century. The turbulent and fast-paced business environment means that strategists needs to adapt and evolve to keep ahead of the times. There are also various emerging themes at corporate, business and functional levels that require expert strategizing and this is exactly the focus of this conference.

The first day of the conference opened with an inaugural session and the lighting of the lamp. The welcome address was delivered by Prof. M P Jaiswal, Dean (Research & Accreditation), MDI Gurgaon. This was followed by an address by Chief Guest, Prof. S P Narang, Member of the Board of Governors, MDI Gurgaon. The gathering was addressed by the Guest of Honour, Praveen Rawal, MD, Steelcase India, Singapore and South East Asia. The panel discussions on Day 1 focussed on the emerging themes in strategy with Nita Kapoor, COO (Domestic), Godfrey Phillips India Ltd., Vinod Sood, MD, Hughes Systique India, Mehmood Khan, Managing Trustee, Rasuli Kanwar Khan Trust and Sandeep Soni, Founder & CEO, Algorithm.The conference was organised under the mentorship of Prof. Rajesh Pillania.

Day 2 of the conference kick started with networking followed by a panel discussion around the rise of chief strategy officers presided over by Dr. Amit Shekhar, Chief Strategy Officer, Birlasoft, Sonia Sahni, Chief Strategy Officer, Publicis iStrat, Narayan Devanathan, Group Executive & Strategy Officer, Dentsu India and moderated by Dr. Rajesh Pillania. The day came to a close with a workshop on popular writing and publishing for newspapers. The 2 day conference was a brainstorming event.

Management Development Institute (MDI)Gurgaon, established in 1973, a top ranking business school in India with vision to be a Global Business School, is a centre of excellence in management education, high quality research, executive development, and value added consultancy. The institute integrates knowledge, research, industry experience and international exposure to offer comprehensive programmes.
It is the first Indian Business School and second in Asia to be accredited by Association of MBAs (AMBA), UK. MDI is also South Asian Quality Systems (SAQS) accredited by AMDISA in 2005. Various surveys have consistently ranked MDI amongst the top B-Schools of the country. Its PGPM has been awarded A Grade by the National Board of Accredited All India Council for Technical Education.