Friday, Feb 19, 2010
Tiruchi: Intended to showcase scholarly work from academia and industry on the same platform as a professional forum of idea inter-change, the fourth International Conference on the theme: Management Next: Insights, Ideas and Innovations, organised here by the Centre for Contemporary Management Research (CECMAR), Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), witnessed presentation of 126 papers, including 12 by foreign authors. The papers presented under Marketing, Finance, Human Resource, Operation, Systems, and General Management were adjudged by eminent chairpersons. Three best papers in each category were awarded with a cash prize and a certificate of merit. The other highlights included a special lecture on the theme delivered by M.J. Xavier, K.B. Chandrasekar, Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Director of Kotler-Srinivasan Centre for Research in Marketing, Chennai, and a panel discussion on the topic: on India at 2020 – Opportunities and Challenges, chaired by K. Kumar, Professor, NSRCEL, IIM, Bangalore, and addressed by Kishor Jagirdar, Managing Director, Infopace Private Limited, Bangalore, and Suresh K.K., Managing Director, Grameen Koota.

At the inaugural session, K.R. Ananda, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, handed over the first copies of the CD and a booklet of the proceedings to the Vice-Chancellor of Bharathidasan University, M. Ponnavaikko, in the presence of the Director of BIM, N. Bala Baskar, and the Head of CECMAR, P. David Jawahar. Inaugurating the two-day conference, Prof. Ponnavaikko dwelt on the desirable attributes of a successful manager including team work, self-confidence, transparent functioning. Mr. Ananda emphasised on the social responsibilities of companies irrespective of their scale of operation. New ideas and innovations must be encouraged and incorporated for progress, he said. Addressing the valedictory session, S. Dharmalingam, General Manager, Research and Development, Welding Research Institute, BHEL, Tiruchi, explained the inter-relation between innovation, idea and insight. All countries are banking on innovation for faster development.