Prayaag 2011 – The Management Conclave, Institute of Management, Nirma University-Day 2

“If you want to learn, learn from the best”. Ravi Dixit, Vice President, Research and Strategic Planning with UTV, was referring to Google’s IPO letter for shareholders as an exemplary governance initiative of a corporation in digital space.

At Prayaag 2011, the annual Management Conclave of the Institute of Manegement, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, he talked about ‘Digital, Social Media and Corporate Governance’ and highlighted the ever increasing quantum of effect and hence, responsibilities of the digital media. 

Mihir Joshi, MD, Gujarat Venture Finance Limited talked about how corporate governance is involved at all stages of venture capital life cycle from raising capital to harvesting returns. He also highlighted how independent directors play an important role in today’s business environment. “Dilution of shareholders, insider trading and the undue advantage that the promoters have in Mergers & Acquisitions are some of the governance issues that plague the Indian economy”. To deal with such issues, he suggested making “Integrity, Ethics and Compliance a part of promotion, evaluation and compensation process as well". He added, “We (at GVFL) expect transparency and highest level of corporate governance from the businesses we seek to fund. Otherwise there is a high probability that we’ll lose our money.”

The final session of the conclave was conducted by Dr. Shreekant Sambrani, Founder Director, Institute of Rural Management, Anand, India. He has also headed his own management research and consultancy organization, Management Analytics Pvt Ltd and has served as a faculty at IIM-A. Drawing from the Amul success story, he emphasized the dictum of inclusive development. Referring to the sub-prime debacle, he said, “In 2008, young MBA’s like you were too taken by the tenet of profit-maximization and it being equal to maximization of shareholders' wealth.” His speech on the subject of corporate governance touched many issues and gave IMNU students a comprehensive view of governance.

The management conclave- Prayaag 2011- was concluded by a vote of thanks by the director of the institute, Dr. C. Gopalkrishnan. The 2-day conclave was an unprecedented learning experience for the students and its lessons will be a topic of discussion in the halls of IMNU for days to come.


(With inputs from Anuj Goenka)