Date:13/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/13/stories/2008101350130200.htm

Kerala - Kozhikode

IIM-K management meet ends

Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE: The three-day annual management conclave of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) titled ‘Horizons’ concluded on Sunday. The seminar organised by the Industry Interaction Cell of IIM-K revolved around the theme ‘Looking East – Redefining Global Dynamics.’ The primary focus of the event was on the real estate, retail and media and entertainment sectors.

K. Thiagarajan, CEO, Maytas Properties, who was the chief guest, threw light on the emerging real estate opportunities. While describing the current scenario and emerging trends and formats of realty products, he lamented the dearth of talent and opportunities in terms of career in the realty sector.

A panel discussion on the on the topic ‘New Media and Next Generation’ on the first day was attended by Dinesh Jain, CEO, Zee Turner Ltd; Deepak Chaurasia, Editor, Star News; Pradeep Gupta, CMD, CyberMedia; Sathya Saran, Editor, ME supplement, DNA, and Nisha Narayanan, Project Head, India, 93.5 S FM.

The last session of the day had Ashoka Holla, Giraffe Entertainment, taking the audience through the entire business side of the film industry talking about the movie-making process right from pre-production to the release of the film. He said that film business was in critical need of a professional approach, which could be used to solve the problems plaguing the industry. The second day concentrated on the retail and the real estate sector. T.V. Thyagharajon, VP, Reliance Retail, speaking on ‘Understanding the Concept of Private Labels’ explained how organised retail in India will change the industry in coming years. Identifying how the role of brand changes as markets evolve, he noted that from being unbranded the consumers view brand as a personality and then view it as an icon. He sees local and foreign tie-ups and rural opportunities as the next big trends for retail development.

Panel discussions on the topics ‘How healthy are different retail formats?’ and ‘Pricing wars in real estate’ were held on the day. Sandeep Agarwal, VP, Acquisitions, Kotak Realty Fund, spoke about the transaction cycle that is involved in the site development process. He delineated the ways the industry has to overcome the obstacles brought about by the global economic crisis, like decline in property prices, retreat by foreign funds and lower demand in commercial real estate.

Sumit Chandna, category head, Aditya Birla Retail; Amit Puri, director, business development, Ivanhoe Cambridge; Susil S. Dungarwal, Retail and Realty Analyst, and Rituraj Verma, director-retail, Knightfrank also spoke on the day.

On the third day, Shivakumar, Country Head, Nokia, spoke about the future brands. He explained the concept of brand and how the consumers and the marketers perceived its value. He also spoke about the growth in technology and how it has been able to reduce the product development lifecycle.

K. Mohandas, former president, Architects Association of India; Upendra Sachdev, executive director, Indian Franchise Association, and Neeraj Joshi, head operations, Raymonds Retail, spoke about the developments in their respective industries.