Marketing Conference
Marketing Transition – From Digital Silos to Integrated Teams The 2016 IILM Marketing Conference on ‘Marketing Transition – From Digital Silos to Integrated Teams’, held on 23rd of August, 2016 at the Lodhi Road campus, was a great success. The objective was to connect industry practitioners, digital marketing enthusiasts and all stakeholders in organizations, to serve as a spring-board for sharing the digital marketing initiatives and best practices. With the evolving online behavior of the modern customer, digital marketing is the mantra for the modern day businesses who wish to acquire, connect, engage and retain their customers through various digital platforms and communication channels. Ms. Babita Baruah, Senior Vice President & Head PO1 Unit at J. Walter Thompson, India, commenced the session by talking about how Digital Marketing has transformed the way marketing works. She underlined the necessity to trigger “a feeling in the consumers” in order to make them buy a product and explained how Digital Technology can help achieve this. Mr. Aman Mishra, Director Strategy, Havas Media India and Mr. Deepinder Singh, Head Strategic
Unit National e-Governance Digital India, Govt. of India then discussed the relevance and application of content driven marketing. Touching upon terms such as ‘subliminal content’ and ‘calibrated communication’, they emphasized need for bytesized advertising content to create connect with the audience. Mr. Ankur Warikoo - Founder & CEO, Nearbuy, Mr. Nitin Bhatia - Director & Founding Member of the Indian operations of Meltwater Group and Mr. Biraja Swain – Chief Growth and Innovation Officer, Neo Ogilvy enlightened the audience about mobile and location based marketing. They demonstrated how location based services (SoLoMo) have changed the use of a mobile phone from a tool for communication to an all-round tool for shopping, ticketing, socializing… Students from all three NCR campuses attended the IILM 2016 Marketing Conference and interacted actively with the panelists and speakers. The conference was well appreciated by students as well as faculty.
Employee Retention Strategies By: Anindita Chatterjee | Assistant Professor - OB, HR, Leadership and Negotiation
Employee retention refers to the ability of an organization to retain its employees. Retention strategies are important because they help create a positive work environment and strengthen an employee’s commitment to the organization. Employee retention is important because of the direct costs of replacement, which can include a lengthy training period, and the indirect costs of lowered productivity that can result from high employee turnover rates. The loss of a single key employee, for example, can cause a company to experience a decrease in competitive advantage, particularly if the employee had developed productive work-
ing relationships with other key personnel or with clients. Creating a positive workplace begins with having a set of effective employee retention strategies. Some companies measure employee engagement and try to maintain it because it leads to increased customer satisfaction, higher revenue and higher profits in many cases. Employee Retention Consultants / Organizational Development Consultant – An employee retention consultant can assist organizations in the process of retaining top employees. Consultants can provide expertise on how to best identify the issues within an organization that are related to
turnover. Once identified, a consultant can suggest programs or organizational changes to address these issues and may also assist in their implementation. Steps for employee retention include effective tracking retention rates, with the help of technology, offering good benefit packages, and hiring the right employees. Providing incentives, better employee-management relationships, and providing financial rewards for high performing employees are additionally followed for employee retention by organizations. Employee Retention Strategies can be both monetary and non-monetary. Some of the employee retention
strategies adopted by leading organizations are: 1. Conducting Employee Satisfaction Surveys to gauge the employee satisfaction levels. The outcome of the survey is minutely studied by the management and action taken to increase satisfaction amongst employees and reduce attrition. 2. Grievance Handling - HR has to have an open door policy to handle grievances and address them. 3. Conducting Skip Level Meetings - Leading organizations conduct skip level meetings of the employee with the immediate manager to find out the satisfaction level with their Line supervisors. 4. Stay in Interviews - In addition to performing exit interviews to learn why employees are leaving, HR focuses on longer-tenured employees on why they stay. Questions such as: Why did you come to work here? Why have you stayed? What would make you leave? And what are your nonnegotiable issues? What about your managers? What would you change or improve? Then that information is used to strengthen employee-retention strategies. 5. Exit Interviews – By including exit interviews in the process of employee separation, organizations can gain valuable insight into the workplace experience. Exit interviews allow the organization to understand the triggers of the employee’s desire to leave as well as the aspects of their work that they enjoyed.
The organization can then use this information to make necessary changes to their company to retain top talent. Exit interviews must, however, ask the right questions and draw honest responses from separating employees to be effective. 6. Rewards & RecognitionsEmployees are awarded as “Best Employee of the Month” / “Year” based on their targets achieved. Usually done in a town hall scenario where all the employees get to meet each other along with the management. The rewards are not limited to cash bonuses. Gifts that show a personal touch are often given to high performing employees. 7. Employee Welfare Activities: like Birthday Celebrations, Family Picnics and Festivals are often celebrated together. 8. Meal Subsidy / Loan from the company / Insurance in terms of Mediclaim, Accidental Death on Duty, statutory benefits like PF, ESI, Gratuity, Bonus and Maternity benefits, are provided for employees. 9. Work Life Balance - Flexi Work Timing for Women, Work from home and having a crèche at the work premises encourage retention of women employees. 10. Identifying training needs and filling the skill gap by the requisite training goes a long way in retaining employees. 11. Promotion of employees through Internal Job Postings increases employee morale. 12. Promoting Employee Sug-
gestion Scheme for employees to give feedback to the management to improvise any processes fosters employee connect with the organization. A 2009 McKinsey Quarterly survey found that executives, managers, and employees rate -nonfinancial incentives such as praise from one’s manager, frequent promotions. Opportunities to lead projects and chances to join fast track management programs, among the six most effective motivators when the main objective of the exercise is retaining people. Financial Rewards are usually centered on an effective Employee Compensation Plan. Other options could be deferred compensation arrangements such as employee stock option (ESOP) that may either be wholly or partially vested or have limited transferability as well as long term incentive plans, which can be availed after completion of a fixed term. In the current scenario when competition is immense, the cost of hiring a new employee is huge and we can easily see that long term growth of the organizations is directly linked to an effective employee retention strategy, especially because good employees are increasingly difficult to find. Securing and retaining skilled employees plays an important role in any organization, because employees’ knowledge and skills are central to the companies’ ability to be economically competitive.
Human Resource Management for Officers of Military Engineering Services IILM Institute for Higher Education, Lodhi Road campus conducted a two-week-long training programme from 22 August – 3rd September 2016, focusing on human resource management for officers of Military Engineering Services. The programme was aimed at leaders and the various themes included in the schedule were: Managing People, Developing Talent, Effective Communication, In-
tegrated Leadership Perspective, Managing Change, Performance Management, Workplace Diversity, Responsible Management, and so on. The various modules of the training programme were conducted by faculty members of the institution. The course material was largely drawn from latest research and scholarship in management, specifically from the areas of Organizational Behaviour , HR & Leadership, HBSP (Harvard Business School Publishing) and Mc Kinzee being two of the major sources. The pedagogy revolved around a highly interactive and participative discussion mode involving cases, lectures, management games supported with industry research reports and latest research findings. One of the highlights of the two-week long programme was Mount Everest, a very popular management simulation which was used to help the participants experience and understand team dynamics, leadership, negotiation, conflict resolution and collective decision making. Various esteemed speakers like Mr. U N Pani (Director, HR, NTPC), Ms. Babita Barua (VP , J W Thomson) Mr. R Wanchu (Chief GM, HR, NBCC) to name a few, addressed the audience. One of the expected takeaways of the programme was the ability to apply the learnings in the MES context and bring about more efficient, transparent & dynamic decision making which is in sync with the changing times.
Indian Startups:
Bird’s Eye View of Policy Status-Quo Dr. Anshu Dawer Associate Professor IB & Economics India ranked third in launching new startups globally. Despite becoming the third-fastest growing base for startups worldwide, many of India’s startups fail to take off due to lack of support. India has moved up by one position, behind the US and the UK, to become the third fastest growing base of startups worldwide, with the number of startups crossing 4,200 by end of 2015, registering a growth of 40 percent year-over-year. The US leads the pack with around 47,000 startups, and the UK has 4,800 to 5,000 technology-driven startups, while India is placed third with 4,200 to 4,400 new-age companies, according to National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), which represents the IT, ITES and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry in India. Currently, India has 18,000 startups valued at $75 billion, employing 300,000 people. More than $5 billion of investments have gone in funding these startups this year, compared to $3 billion in 2014. Various central and state government initiatives are further supporting this progressive phase of startups in the country. The majority of the 1,200 new startups were B2C, primarily present in three segments -- ecommerce, consumer services, and aggregators. Since Q4 2014, there has been over 70 exits, amounting to more than $650 million. This includes acquisition of Taxi4Sure for $200
million and that of free charge for $400 million. MORTALITY RATE The bad news, however, is that the mortality rate of Indian startups are said to be over 80 percent despite a thriving ecosystem in the country. About 10 percent of them do very well, another 25 percent will stay afloat, while rest will down their shutters after some time. Though these startups raised nearly $5 billion this year from venture funds and angel investors, access to capital and also mentors is a dream for many of them. The main issue that bothers them is it takes more than four years to shut down the failed venture compared with 19 months in OECD nations, as bankruptcy of such firms in India are governed by the archaic Provincial Insolvency Act of 1920. With such stiff competition and even if well-funded, elements like weak strategy or execu-
tion, inadequate guidance, and incomplete overview of the ecosystem can lead to a startup’s failure. What may also add to such a situation is competing with rivals and deviating from decided growth path. NO ENABLING POLICY To overcome the problems faced by these new-age companies, the government should evolve an enabling policy environment for these budding firms that addresses the needs of both the business and its management teams. The much expected startup policy will focus on manufacturing, promoting innovation, and also offering tax incentives to small unlisted startups. This will help encouraging enough people to start-up. The number of startups could grow over five-fold in the next 10 years, and will target a value of over $500 billion. The country will be a $10 trillion economy by 2030, and the huge growth can be driven by entrepreneurship.
THE REAL-LIFE MBA Jack Welch & Suzy Welch
Book Review by - Col Kailashnath Chaube Published by Harper Collins 2015 ISBN: 978-0-00-813790-8
The book aims to supplement one’s knowledge acquired during MBA course. It sets out the content in three parts: Part 1- It’s About the Game, Part II – It’s About the Team, and Part III – It’s About You. Part I - Explores the Essentials of Business: Jack- a former Chairman and CEO of GE who made the GE as most valuable corporate in the world and Suzy a former editor of Harvard Business Review advocate the growth and innovation as cornerstone of any business. They unequivocally argue that innovation is the driver of growth. Interestingly, innovation, the authors say, does not require big geniuses, instead it is simply everybody’s job. It can be as simple as just an incremental improvement. It calls for only a new culture in the environment- “I am going to find a better way to do my job today”. The investment is as little as that of only recognizing the talent in the enterprise. The authors propound “Five Slide Approach” which sets out the pre-requisites of the game as – “Who are the Competitors? What is their market share? What are their strength and weaknesses? What are their recent activities (in terms of product, technology and people)? and What worries you?” But, to answer these questions, the authors hold CEO responsible who ought to have his team consisting of “best minds, fully engaged; who can differ, debate and disagree; who are knowledgeable, curious and passionate”. Now, CEO is ready for his big move to change the course of the game. Here, the authors advise CEO, to be careful of resistors who are capable of derailing the process and ensure that either they mend their way or else they have to go. The authors aver, “in nature, anything that isn’t growing is dying.” Part II – It’s About the Team: the book talks about
importance of teams. Welches say, business is not a “me” thing. It’s “we” thing. Here authors take a look at the essentials of leadership.. Two basic things that authors take a close look at are, in their own words : 1. Truth and Trust. 2. Ceaselessly seeking the former, relentlesly the later. Welches say that great teams start with great players and advise for hiring from the outside sixty percent of time and promoting from the inside more than 80 percent. The chapter explores the inescapable traits of a leader. Integrity remains the most critical trait. It is “go-no go” case. Other most essential traits are- “emotional Intelligence, self awareness, internal motivation, empathy and social skill besides a critical trait - discernment”. Another trait authors explain is “open-mindedness” to new ideas.
The book includes comprehensive overview of retention tools. The authors advise CEOs to ensure that the happiness quotient of employees are always taken care of so that they do well for themselves and the company, both. Money - a great motivator, however an environment where a culture of freedom, opportunity to contribute meaningfully, promotion for performance, people development, unleashing a feeling to act like owners, help retaining talent. The chapter also takes a look at the bottom 10 percent underperformers and advises for their graceful exit. Part III – It’s About You: focuses on career management. Authors aver that joining a job is one thing and enjoying it, another. Believing into what one does is an essential aspect of job
satisfaction. Unhappiness at work can’t be a prolonged one. One has to take a call. Authors call such predicaments as Area of Destiny (AOD). The author’s advice is to look into inner-self and take a call. The need is to unhinge and move. Authors quote the example of Stanford where, amongst prospective entrepreneurs, not attending any campus recruitment-process is considered a badge of honour. However, to become an entrepreneur, one needs a big idea. Having a workable idea empowers one to write the rule himself, run the venture, prosper and may sell off. Again a new idea, a new venture, cycle goes on. The authors caution also that a real entrepreneur would need “cold-blooded courage, crazy passion, and irrational determination to endure the repeated near death experience that will most definitely occur along the way in making the idea- a reality”. To summarize, the authors of the book, “The Real Life MBA” have succeeded in highlighting what lies beyond campuses.
Sectoral Workshop
IILM Institute of Higher Education conducted three day sectoral work shop at their Lodhi Road and Gurgaon campuses from 1st- 3rd September 2016 for their PGDM students. The purpose of this initiative was to provide students industry exposure. The representatives of various companies addressed the students and discussed various job opportunities available in their respective sectors. As has been the trend in the past, this year also there was excellent participation from various sectors, fifteen organizations from different sectors participated in this event, some of which were - IMRB, Gartner, Nestle, McKinsey, BCG, JLL, Black Rock, AON. The overwhelming response of the industry leaders assured the kind of quality education and training that is provided by IILM. On the opening day representatives from Market research, Media, Telecommunication and Real Estate sector addressed the students. The event started with Mr Jones from IMRB and Mr Vicky Bansal from Gartner, giving an overview of the opportunities in the Market Research sector. Mr Abhishek Jaggi representing ZEETv and Ms Arunima from NDTV shared their valuable inputs regarding scope in the media industry. Next was an interactive session by Mr A Roy Choudhary from Tata communications, wherein he briefed students regarding recent development in the tele-communication sector. Mr. Kaushik from JLL, the last speaker for the day, presented various challenges and opportunities in the Real Estate sector. The second day of the workshop saw participation from Banking, IT service industry and hospitality sectors. NIIT, HDFC, Induslnd, The Leela and Nestle were participating companies for the day. The enthusiasm of the students regarding banking sector was phenomenal. The final day of the workshop was held at IILM GSM Gurgaon campus. Market leaders like Mckinsey, BCG and E&Y from consultancy were present. Panasonic and CITI bank also presented their talks and discussed the roles and responsibilities which are expected to be shouldered by new hires. The workshop was very helpful for the students as it created an awareness about the various sectors, which in a way enabled the students to find the domain of their interest. In addition they came to know about the selection criteria of different companies.
SAQS Re-accreditation Visit IILM was accorded accreditation by the South Asia Quality Improvement System in April 2013 by the Association of Management Development Institutes of South Asia (AMDISA). Only 16 business schools in India have received this accreditation till date. This accreditation was provided to IILM in 2013 for a three year period, with recommendations by the Peer Review team for further improvement, some of which were binding and some nonbinding. Subsequently, IILM sent annual progress reports in 2014 and 2015 describing the changes made and initiatives taken for meeting the recommendations of the team, coming closer to the standards suggested by the team. Each of these was followed by a feedback report sent by AMDISA setting the tone for guiding the continuous efforts at IILM. A comprehensive self-assessment report (SAR) covering all three years (2013 to 2016) was sent in 2016. This structured document, designed based on the given guidelines was comprehensive and extensive encompassing various aspects of Institute’s functioning such as Program quality, Research, Placements and Admissions. The SAQS Peer Review Team decided to visit IILM in September 2016 with the aim of reassessing the quality of the Institute’s key deliverables to grant reaccreditation. This was a major visit since the initial accreditation was valid for a
period of 3 years only, till early 2016. One of the major objectives of this visit was to ensure the Institute’s adherence to the initial recommendations made by the team in 2013 and to check whether such implementation was adequate and satisfactory. The visit was held on 14th, 15th and 16th of September, 2016 at the IILM Lodhi Road Campus. The Peer Review Team comprised three academicians and one industry person - Prof. Brajaraj Mohanty, Consulting Professor, General Management & Strategic Management, XIMB; Prof. Sita Vanka, Professor, University of Hyderabad; Professor Dr. Abdur Rab, Vice Chancellor, Eastern University, Bangladesh; and Mr. P Dwarakanath, Treasurer AIMA, & Advisor, Group Human Capital, Max India Ltd. Presentations were made to the team on all aspects of the Institute’s functioning, giving them a broad overview of our systems and practices, along with details of how we practice our vision, mission and values. The team took in all inputs in terms of documentation and past records. They interacted with the faculty and the students, and in addition took a tour of the campus to look at the physical facilities present. Based on their overall experience over the three days, the team shared their feedback which was both positive and constructive. While they applauded all the facilities IILM offers to its students and employees, they also gave candid constructive feedback on some areas of improvement. The detailed report will be provided by AMDISA in due course of time.