Horizons 2008 at IIM-K Saw Record Number of 25 Speakers Across 3 Industries Come Together

Horizons 2008 at IIM-K Saw Record Number of 25 Speakers Across 3 Industries Come Together

Horizons, the Annual Management Conclave of the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, was held at its scenic campus from 10th to 12th of October 2008. The seminar was organized by the Industry Interaction Cell of IIM Kozhikode. Horizons 2008 revolved around the theme,

"Looking East: Redefining Global Dynamics". The primary focus of this three day event was on Real Estate, Retail and Media & Entertainment Sectors. The event saw a record number of twenty five speakers across three industries come together - the highest to congregate for any event across all B-schools.

Horizons 2008 kicked off with the dignitaries lighting the traditional lamp marking the beginning of the event. Delivering the welcome address, Prof. Anandakuttan B. Unnithan welcomed the guests by stressing on the need for a platform as Horizons, where industry leaders and practitioners can share and enlighten the future managers on the challenges and opportunities of the real world. Mr. Sachin Pilot, Member of Parliament, one of the key speakers couldn't make it due to other commitments. However, in a letter to the students of IIM-K, he emphasized on the relevance and importance of the three sectors to the Indian economy and society.

Mr. K. Thiagarajan, CEO, Maytas Properties, the Chief Guest to the inauguration delivered the inaugural address by enlightening the eager gathering with the emerging real estate opportunities. Starting with a brief history of the realty sector in India, Mr. Thiagarajan spoke about the current scenario and emerging trends and formats of realty products. He lamented about the talent dearth in the industry and opportunities in terms of career in the realty sector.

Ms. Sathya Saran, Editor, DNA-ME, former editor of Femina (1993-2005), a women's journalist since 1979, shared her experiences on the various phases of change of the Indian women and the role of media in the same. Citing numerous examples from her long career, she related the success and failure of many international luxury brands in India with their media partnerships. Ms. Sathya also emphasized on important factors as distribution channel, customer service and understanding the buying patterns of Indian consumers which, according to her, many reputed international brands failed to understand, making them unsuccessful.

The first day of Horizons had an entertaining panel discussion as a part of the media summit. The participants of the panel discussion, Mr. Dinesh Jain, CEO, Zee Turner Ltd., Mr. Deepak Chaurasia, Editor, Star News, Mr. Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia, Ms. Sathya Saran, Editor, DNA-ME and Ms. Nisha Narayanan, Project Head, India, 93.5 FM, discussed extensively on the topic of 'New Media & Next Generation'. The panelists brought about the good and bad influence of media on the new generation and talked about the bad effects of news sensationalization done by various news channels.

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Contributed by -
Harshad Karandikar,
Media Cell,
IIM Kozhikode.

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