Creating Sustainable Advantage: Indian Service Sector

PR_mp

Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Creating Sustainable Advantage: Indian Service Sector


November 06, 2009

Venue- Sovereign, Hotel Le Meridien

New Delhi

Post Release

Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management organized a Marketing Conference on November 06, 2009 on “Creating Sustainable Advantage: Indian Service Sector”. With the help of this Conference, Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management aimed to provide a forum to experts from the corporate, academia, and government to share their expert opinion and insights on the creation of sustainable advantage in the Indian service sector.



The session was inaugurated with a film on the life and times of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri. The chief guest for the occasion was Mr. Kamalji Sahay, CEO, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.. He, along with Shri Anil Shastri, former Union Minister and Chairman, Board of Governors, LBSIM, Delhi, Dr. K.C. Mishra, Director, LBSIM, Dr. G.L. Sharma Corporate Advisor & Convener, LBSIM, Delhi and Mr. Vikas Verma President, Management Grid LBSIM, inaugurated the conference by lighting the lamp and by offering floral tributes to Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Delivering the welcome address, Dr. K.C. Mishra, the Director of the Institute, welcomed the chief guest, speakers, delegates, media persons, faculty and the students to the Marketing Conference. He stressed on the significance of a people-oriented approach to marketing, particularly in the service sector and stated that marketing is the most volatile realm of knowledge wherein any field can remain a differentiator but ephemerally.

Mr. S. K. Jain, Conference Convener, LBSIM, Delhi, delved into the contemporary relevance of the service sector, the life blood of Indian industry. He touched upon the three pillars, namely innovation, excellence and sustainability, of this currently ubiquitous sector and its ever-diversifying paraphernalia. He stated categorically that there was a compelling need to expand the focus from customer satisfaction to customer delight and a futuristic ecstasy in the context of service industry.

In the inaugural address, Mr. Kamalji Sahay, CEO, Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd., at the outset, thanked the institute for the invitation and reposed faith and hope in the youth for taking forward self-respect and dignity of the nation, marketed first by Late Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji, our second Prime Minister. With the advent of the era of liberalization, he remarked, the limelight, which was earlier on the agricultural and manufacturing sector, has now shifted to services. India’s gargantuan population, which was put down as a liability, has been instrumental in triggering off the much talked about rapid growth of Indian economy. He further observed that the sector now needs to be groomed appropriately by the way of increasing purchasing power and roping in of more FDIs, in order to have a competitive advantage over other developing nations.

The event was presided by Shri Anil Shastri, former Union Minister and Chairman, Board of Governors, LBSIM, Delhi. He expressed hope that the inaugural address by our esteemed chief guest would set the tone for the day’s deliberations. He underlined the titanic role of service sector in the growth of Indian economy and said that at the core of this success story, lay differentiation, which also held the key to all further progress. He added that organizational loyalty was passé and professional loyalty was the new talk of the town. The students should, therefore, perceive opportunities in problems and tackle the challenges head-on.

Delivering the vote of thanks, Dr. G.L Sharma, Corporate Advisor, LBSIM, Delhi, greeted speakers from organizations across the board and expressed his gratitude to them. He also thanked Mr. Kamalji Sahay for sharing his valuable insights into the creation of sustainable advantage and Mr. Anil Shastri for his words of purpose and encouragement.

The first Technical session saw deliberations on “Innovation across various services sectors”. It was chaired by Mr. M. J. Khan, CEO, Centre for Agricultural & Rural Development. Other speakers in the session were Dr. Anoop Kohli, Senior Consultant Neurologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Mr. Niranjan Khatri, GM, Welcomenviron Initiatives, ITC, Mr. Naveen Luthra, CMO, Diginatives Content Solutions Pvt Ltd., Mr. Nirvan Jyoti Bhattacharjee, Senior Manager, Yes Bank, New, Delhi.

Mr. M. J. Khan spoke about the complementary roles of agricultural and service sector despite their being poles

apart. He stressed upon the need to make agriculture more lucrative for the young professionals by providing

adequate government funding, which will in turn lead to overall growth of the economy since they are in a

symbiotic relationship. He further added that the companies should indulge in CSR projects following the

footsteps of the ones who are already ahead in the field e.g. Godrej’s Tyohar, ITC’s e-Chaupal.


Mr. Niranjan Khatri laid emphasis on sustainable usage of all the natural resources, in particular water and called upon the business organizations to take conservation in their stride, which would lead to inclusive growth of business. Initiatives have already being taken by various companies to make themselves carbon neutral, ITC having taken the lead. Besides, he floated the idea that the focus should shift from CSR to Individual Social Responsibility (ISR).

Dr. Anoop Kohli dwelled upon the concept of tele-medicine though which health care could be within everyone’s reach. He underlined the necessity of health services to be affordable, approachable, available and accountable. Besides, he also proposed a nouveau idea of ‘Zero Sum Competition’, which he described as a win-win situation for both hospitals and insurance sector.

Mr. Naveen Luthra categorized the services concept as radical or incremental and emphasized on the importance of rendering services tangible, by various processes of ‘productization’ with the objective of magnifying their impact on the customers. He also underlined the role of technology and organization in the process of innovation.

Mr. Nirvan Jyoti Bhattacharjee discussed the changes in consumption pattern and its impact on the agro-based industries. He put the blame of sad plight of farmers on the inefficient supply chain in the country, which is adversely affecting the prospects of India of becoming an agro-sourcing hub. He believed, in backward integration, lies the answer to the aforementioned challenge. He also floated the idea of integrated agro-food parks as a creative way of dealing with the challenge.

The second technical session discussed “Creating Service Excellence: Issues & Challenges” . It was chaired by Mr. Salil Bhandari, VP, PHDCCI, New Delhi. Other speakers in the session were Mr. Sanjeev Govil, Senior VP, Reliance Communications, Mr. Sanjai Rai, Director-Marketing & Customer Management, Max Healthcare, Ms Esha Guha, Senior VP, Concept Communication Ltd. and Mr. Manmohan Agarwal, MD, Shoe Bazar.

Mr. Salil Bhandari brought forth an optimistic picture of recession for the service industry, which has only been slightly hit by it. The onus lies on the companies to identify tacit opportunities, tap skilled manpower, develop infrastructure with the aid of technology and to look for sources of risk capital.



Mr. Sanjai Rai regarded customer service as having paramount importance, hence a genuine willingness to serve the customers is what is required the most at this stage. The organizations could adopt CRM to provide a rational as well as emotional experience that would lead to customer satisfaction.

Mr. Sanjeev Govil primarily focused on the challenges in telecom industry, growth patterns being erratic, diminishing customer loyalty and limited infrastructure to cater to a fast expanding customer base.

Ms. Esha Guha gave enlightening insights on the art of advertising and the methods by which the efficacy of advertisements could be stepped up.

Mr. Manmohan Agarwal dwelled upon the issues and barriers to e-commerce, struck a comparison between various developed and developing nations and remarked that India had great potential to lead the world at large in the field of e-commerce.

The valedictory address of the Marketing Conference was delivered by Dr. D. K. Tyagi, IAS, CEO, Infrastructure, leasing & financial services.

Dr. K.C. Mishra concluded the session with sharing his takeaways from the conference and the vote of thanks was delivered by Prof. S.K. Jain, who acknowledged the diligent efforts put in by the students and appreciated the level of motivation shown by everyone involved in making the event a success.

Dr. G.L. Sharma

Corporate Advisor & Convener

LBSIM, Delhi

Source : Press release sent to ManagementParadise.com by LBSIM, Delhi Media Rep.
 
Top