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Press Release - Confluence 2003 Introduction As the Director of IIM Ahmedabad, India's premier B-school, Professor Bakul Dholakia is looking forward to November and Confluence. "IIM-A is known internationally as a centre of excellence in management education, and Confluence builds upon this formidable reputation to add value to our students and other participants through various forms of industry interaction and intellectual endeavour." Beginning 1999, IIM Ahmedabad set out to provide a unique platform for stimulating productive interaction among academic thought, budding managers and pillars of industry. Now into its fifth edition, Confluence has grown to the stature of the largest B-School conference in the Asia Pacific region. Second year student Nishith Kamthan is a busy person. As Student Coordinator of Confluence 2003, he faces the formidable task of taking this year's event beyond the dizzy heights of Confluence 2002's success. According to Nishith, "Confluence 2003 has a clear agenda: Management sans frontières; where budding managers cut through the limitations of contemporary business practice and surpass boundaries of thought, culture and geography." This envisions a forum where 300 management students from across the globe will compete, learn and share their thoughts in workshops, lectures, simulation games, panel discussions and case contests across five fairs: Finance, Marketing, Strategy, Systems and Operations. In addition, Confluence 2003 will see an Online Game pitching the mental abilities of the participants against the mood swings of the capital markets. Bizquizitive, the business quiz, will be conducted by none other than Mr. Siddhartha Basu, India's leading quizmaster. Bringing it all to a resolution will be Confabulation, a unique event attracting renowned achievers from diverse fields, each one of them leaders and managers in their own right. Stimulating lively discussion among participants and probing questions from an audience which is an eclectic mix of domestic and international management talent, it will illustrate the boundless nature of leadership that has surpassed known frontiers of knowledge and practices - Management sans Frontières. The event will draw upon the richness and diversity of the Confluence participant base for its audience, and will be telecast on a leading television network. Participation Corporate Partnerships A list of sponsors for Confluence reads pretty much like the who's-who of Indian industry. In its brief history, Confluence has forged enduring alliances with leading corporates like the Tata Group (Principal Partner, 2002, 2001) and McKinsey & Company (Principal Partner, 1999), which see tangible benefits in their association with the event, and keep coming back to the campus. Media partnership with Confluence has always been accorded a distinct status. In previous years, Confluence has been associated with premier publications like Business World (Media Partner, 2002, 2001) and Business Standard. This year, talks are in progress with prime news and business television channels for comprehensive coverage of the event. International Business Schools Confluence has a history of participation from schools of the stature of the MIT Sloan School of Management, Stanford Graduate School of Business, London Business School, Richard Ivey Business School and the IIMs. This year, Confluence expects to play host to more than 20 domestic and 20 international business schools. This eclectic mix of management talent from across the globe gives the conference its international flavour. Synergies through Internationalization In the words of Professor Indira Parikh, Dean, IIMA and Faculty Co-ordinator for Confluence 2003, "Confluence is one event that reflects the global vision of IIM-A and the international nature of activities at the Institute. Confluence creates an atmosphere where national and international participants share with each other their learning experiences and set new standards of excellence in the application of business knowledge and aptitude." This is essentially a process of continuous improvement, a virtuous cycle wherein students from participating campuses discover through keen competition where they stand vis-à-vis the best in the world, and endeavour to attain new heights of perfection. Thus, Confluence contributes directly to raising the bar of management education, not merely within the country, but abroad as well. Learning ground for launching new courses Over the years, Confluence has been utilised by students and corporates alike to pilot guest lectures in new learning areas founded on the latest business practices. In the previous year, fruitful industry interaction which began at Confluence has resulted in several guest lectures on campus. Notable among these are Mr. Amit Bordia's (Deutsche Bank) Negotiations Workshop as a part of the Organizational Dynamics course in the first year of the Post-Graduate Programme in Management and a lecture about Personal Leadership Experiences and their Relevance to Organizational Transformation by Mr. K. Ramachandran, CEO of Philips India. With case competitions and simulation games featuring in a big way in the marketing, finance, strategy, operations and IT fairs, the stress on academic pursuits cannot be overemphasized. Such competitions present mutual benefits for sponsors and participants alike. While the former gain through fresh insights from independent minds, the latter get the opportunity to hone their problem-solving skills and their grasp of real-world business problems. Event date 21st to 23rd November 2003 Contributed by - |
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