[Pioneer_2008]

Hi All,

Check out this article on the importance of the chinese language for MBAs. It talks about our Dean Mr. Bala V Balachandran and his views on the same.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20080701...m-learnin.html

[Pioneer_2008]

Hi All,

Check out the virtual tour of our new world class campus on our website

GREAT LAKES INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, CHENNAI

It is due for completion by the end of this year.

Also, do watch this space for updates on our calender year events such as SWIM - Successful Women in Management. An industry summit hosted by Great Lakes sometime in the next two months is also in the pipeline.

[Pioneer_2008]

Hi All,

Mr. Bhashyam Seshan and Mr. V. V. Ganeshan from the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) and Mr. K. Jayanth from the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) visited Great Lakes on 30th June 2008. Mr.Bhashyam S is the Company Secretary and Chief of Knowledge Management and Mr. V.V. Ganeshan is an Assistant Vice President at the NCDEX. Mr. K.Jayanth is a Director at the FMC.

NCDEX is an on-line de-mutualized national level commodity exchange and
was set up in April 2003 and commenced its operations in December 2003.
The Exchange has obtained a permanent license from the Ministry of
Consumer Affairs, New Delhi. The Exchange currently offers futures
contracts in 53 commodities. It has about 900 members spread throughout the length and breadth of the country.

Mr. Ganeshan explained in simple terms how commodity trading is executed and its relevance in today’s economy. The question and answer session that followed reflected the keen interest the students had in understanding the nuances of commodity trading. Mr. K. Jayanth then spoke at length about the rules and processes in place to ensure that fair practices are followed in trading. He spoke about the policy and administrative aspects of commodity trading which are looked into by the FMC. Mr. Seshan also gave us an insight into commodity trading and handled the subsequent questions round with aplomb. In all, the session was highly educational and informative and gave us an insight into the working of commodity trading markets.

[Pioneer_2008]

Hi All,

Great Lakes for the first time in its history will be organising an industry visit to Singapore and Malaysia in the month of September for its students at a very reasonable cost. This would be a great learning experience for all the students out here and we plan to have such a trip for the subsequent batches of students too.

[Pioneer_2008]

Hi All,

One of the most enterprising committees in our college is the EDF - Entrepreneurship Development Forum. Check out the writeup below

The Entrepreneurship development forum (EDF) at Great Lakes is a young, vibrant and active committee which provides a platform to nurture ideas and develop the necessary skills for budding entrepreneurs at Great Lakes. The EDF committee consists of 4 sub groups, namely Business plan, Consulting, Networking and Karma with each of these committees devoting to specific tasks within EDF.

The Business Plan group facilitates the accrual of knowledge and know-how to develop a B-Plan from scratch, spotting an opportunity to bankable B-Plan through various ways from lectures to workshops to contests etc. The consulting group provides assistance to live industry projects and it ranges from developing business plans for start-ups to developing expansion plans. The networking group gets the right contacts from the industry and provides the necessary ecosystem to help budding entrepreneurs prosper and the Karma group helps in executing these B Plans. Currently the EDF team consists of more than 30 members, and growing by the day.

Impressed with the activities, recently TVS Capital Funds Limited instituted an Entrepreneurship Chair in the name of T S Srinivasan as a key support creation in the EDF eco-system.

Within a short span of time, EDF has been instrumental in building a good relationship with many organizations such as NEN (NEN Online - Resources for Entrepreneurs in India, Business Ideas & Entrepreneurship Education), TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs - Talent - Ideas - Enterprise), IMCI (The Institute of Management Consultants of India) and CII Young Indians. Some of the significant achievements of EDF so far have been in providing solutions for many industry projects, which include backward integration solution for leather tanning industry, B-plans for Naturals beauty saloon project expansion etc. Last year, Great Lakes was awarded the best college by CII-Young Indians and a Great Laker (R. Athmanathan) was awarded the Best Student.

The EDF committee has ambitious plans of expansion in the near future. They are as follows
1.We plan to have tie-ups with International B Schools and work on incubation centers with the existing ones such as IIT-M/CEG etc.
2.Develop / Support Proof Of Concept projects and progress them through mentoring and funding.
3.Day long workshops on entrepreneurship.

EDF had organized exciting events this academic year such as the Visit of Babson College and Bauer College students and this provided a platform for students to interact and share their ideas.

[kbipul]

Along with this I would like to bring into notice the 'Yale-Great Lakes committee'. This committee is responsible for organizing a few events every year, the most prominent being the 'International Conference' that is organized in the month of december. The conference attracts people from corporate houses and best colleges (both in India and abroad).

The eminent speakers in the conference include faculty from Kellogs, Stanford, Yale, ISB, IIM - A etc.

A couple of years ago, Mrs. Indira Nooyi took out her valuable time to come to the conference and she shared her experience with all the people present there.

The committee's duty is to look after the arrangement from the scratch and to organize the conference in a successful way. Already the committee has decided the theme of this year's conference and also the designing of the posters has reached its concluding stage. All the work is done in the able guidance of Dr. Venkat. He takes out time from his busy schedule to guide us to do the work in a proper way. This year the plan is to organize the conference for 2 days. All the committee members are toiling hard to make it a great success.

[Pioneer_2008]

A typical day in the life of a Great Laker....

8AM: I am on the beach having a good time.....and all of a sudden, the alarm rings and I switch it off hoping to get back to the beach but it simply does not happen....eventually, after 10 minutes, i lift myself from the depth of the bed and walk around in no particular direction and muttering something and feeling groggy. Brushing my teeth is a huge exercise in itself as i desperately try to wake myself up.....somehow, i manage to run a bath....i look at the time and it is 850...
8:55AM: I quickly reach the college as i stay pretty close to it. I barely manage to grab some aloo paratha and next thing i know its 9 o clock.
9:00AM: I am in the class room and i am JUST IN TIME for my attendance........aah, i get the feeling, my life's objective has been achieved....and i sit down hoping to learn/unlearn...whichever way u look at it...
10:15AM: The class is over and i go for a break....i meet a few cheerful faces....sipping coffee/tea talking about the weather, life, class....etc....how i wish the break lasted for an eternity....damn!...:2gunfire:
1030AM: I am back to the classroom...and i keep wondering if it is the KARMA of a previous life that i have to attend classes one after the other....:sleepy:...
11:45AM: One more break..........just when i thought things were getting out of hand.....
12:00PM: its psycho time....just one of those courses that teaches you about social psycology, upanishads, bhagavat geeta, vivekananda!!!!!.....everybody has attained brahman at the end of the class.....and they ponder about the futilty of this world and doing an MBA...:laugh:
1:15PM: Lunch Time. For all those stomachs that have been rendered highly acidic after skipping breakfast....this is catch up time.....the usual gossip about the profs, committees goes on...
2:00PM: Back to the classroom....issshhhhhh....people are asleep...do not disturb....the gentle breeze of the AC accompanied by the professor humming the same old tune makes for a good afternoon siesta....
3:30PM: all the souls in the classroom are resurrected from their sleep after hearing the word break.....people get their much needed dose of coffee/tea at the local chai shop located a few metres away from the college....
3:45PM: back to the classroom....just when you thought it was safe to enter the classroom....we have to gear up for a surprise test!!!.....man, i curse myself for wasting my time....i look around and people are busy making a mince meat of the paper....i somehow manage to salvage my Grade for the subject.....phew, that was close.......
5:00PM: yippie.....i am not talking about my class mate "IPPY".....but I am expressing my utter delight that classes for the day are over....but, my friend, there is a catch....we have been given an assignment and we are supposed to submit it the next day at 9!!....i just discuss what needs to be done for the next 1 hr....
6:00PM: Its snacks time....2 minute noodles prepared by our very own "Anna"...he has a whole carton of packets....and i am sure the manufacturer's sales are at an all time high thanks to Great Lakes....we all try our best to separate one thread of noodle from the other....but eventually, we learn to negotiate it...:idea:...
7:00PM: We sit down to start the assignment and assess the magnitude of the task ahead of us.....how i wish i had more classes instead of assignments.......
9:00 PM: After brainstorming about the assignment in groups of 5....we conclude that we have understood the objective of the assignment....its a remarkable breakthrough given that we used only two hours instead of 3...
9:30 PM: Dinner Time.....its not exactly heavenly nectar but we get our food from the caterer Amrith....who provides relief to the drought hit students of saidapet.....
10:00 PM: Enough is enough......we decide to get the job done ASAP.....something like the IBM AD.....we decide the place to innovate and ideate...so that when we do ideate....we have a place to do it.....
10:30 PM: we see the needles of the clock ticking away....while we painfully google for the next 3 to 4 hours to find some reference material for the assignment.
2:30 AM: We are almost done with the assignment....well, almost....its time to integrate, differentiate and collate everybody's contribution...
4:00 AM: Assignment is done.....my group mate has already gone to Hawaii...err....i mean in his dreams....
4:30 AM: I fall flat on the bed after reaching home....and the next thing i know i am on the beach....only to woken by the alarm at 8.....damn...i was so close to talking to the blonde....

[Pioneer_2008]

Hi All,

We have a big list of committees which handle different portfolios of the college. At Great Lakes, students are stakeholders and this is reflected in the active participation of all 160 people in some task or the other no matter how small or big. We believe that we can make a difference and we dont wait for things to happen. Please find below, the updates from the various committees.

Updates from the working wheels – the Committees:

SWIM:
With just about a month to go for the all awaited SWIM event, the committee is buzzing with activity. The event is to be held on 12th Aug.
One of the Chief Guests has been conformed to be Anu Aga. The SWIM Team is working on finalizing the venue and other Chief guests.
Gravity team is actively working in tandem with the SWIM team on the magazine. Potential contributors for articles in the magazine from the corporate world have been short listed and some of them are being contacted.

BPR:
BPR Committee is working diligently to finalize the HR conclave. The final structure of the program has been planned and the themes/sub-themes and also the guest list has been frozen. Currently the team is working on the brochure, invitees, knowledge partnerships, media partnerships and sponsorships.
They had a meeting with the SWIM team and planned the pre/post publicity for SWIM.
Measurements for the formal attire were conducted and information on T-shirt sizes has been collected.

PlaceCom:
Brochure preparation - Messages, recruiters’ notes and alumni quotes have been received. Photo shoot for the brochure is done. The final layout/design has started.
Preparation for international study tour - Target company-list prepared and the presentations for the same are in progress.
Student Interface - International experience of students is being captured and working on specific student contacts.

Adcom:
Most of the venues for Meet the Dean sessions have been finalized. The brochure and the poster design have been decided. The CD and the presentations are being revamped. The website has been updated with Meet the Dean content and registration. Plans are on to start the publicity by next week. Received positive response for Meet the Dean coverage in Delhi by TOI.

Guest Lectures:
Organized lecture on “Lateral Thinking and Creativity” by Mr.K.R.Ravi (South Asia’s First Dr.Edward De Bono Certified Public Trainer in Lateral Thinking).

Alumni:
In the last couple of weeks, AlCom with the help of Dr.Taruna and GLAA members coordinated the creation of first ever Newsletter for the Alumni.
They have started the registration process for the upcoming 'Alumni Meets'. The team is also in the process of contacting the Alumni to get volunteers to speak during the 'Meet the Dean' session being organized by AdCom.

Yale Great Lakes:
After deciding on the theme for the Yale Great Lakes Conference as ‘Winning Management’ the members of the committee are designing the posters. Some draft versions have been prepared and are under review.

EDF:
The network team of EDF attended a Meeting with NEN E-Cell at Ethiraj College for Women, Chennai. The committee is organizing a Guest Lecture by Rang De on Tuesday, 15th July. The lecture will be about the concept of Micro Finance and how they have used it in Rangde.

Events:
After the first round of discussions with the SWIM team, the team is heading out and talking with companies for sponsorships. Some of the in-house activities lined up are organizing (i) LAN gaming meet starting Saturday, 12th July, (ii) Salsa classes for the Champs. Henceforth Eventz is also looking at streamlining the participation of Champions in events happening across the country in other B schools. Work on the same is already on.

IT Committee:
Curriculum page on the website has been updated highlighting the induction program and other activities. Faculty resumes are being updated to achieve uniformity. Work is in progress on the New Recruiters login. The Committee is working with Adcom to get the new login page for prospective students.
Write-ups on the guest lectures are uploaded on a continuous basis.

Library Committee:
With the primary focus of increasing the library resource awareness amongst the students, the immediate action item on agenda is to send out help files to students for easy access to information about resources available in the library. The team has collated the feedback/concerns from the students. They had a discussion with Mr.Maran about the student issues and also on how we can improve the library usage. The committee will be providing a regular update on interesting articles in recent magazines and journals to increase the usage of library resources.

Dalal Street:
Dalal Street had a presentation by Mr. Abhimanyu from MarketHero, a firm providing virtual stock exchange in a gaming platform. He has offered a closed group facility at no cost and demonstrated the product. Effective and better suited to the requirements, it was decided to go with MarketHero rather than Moneybhai. Plans are on to start individual trading in this week.

[Pioneer_2008]

Mr.Subu D Subramanian, Head of Manufacturing and Automotive Industry Business Units in Satyam Computer Services Ltd. visited Great Lakes on 26-Jun-08. Mr.Subu spoke at length on the "Impact of Technology on Manufacturing Business – past, present & future". He gave valuable inputs on the role of embedded systems and CAD in the field of automotive and aerospace. The highlight of his speech was his lucid explanations of the various subsystems in an automobile - the instrument cluster, climate control, drive information, driver awareness and in-vehicle entertainment.
He also gave a bird's eye view of the facilities that Satyam has put up in this field of business. His lecture was thoroughly informative and was well-received.

[Pioneer_2008]

Mr. Piyush Dixit, Center Head and General Manager, Freescale Semiconductors visited Great Lakes Institute of Management on 25th June. Mr. Dixit has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur (India), a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, and an MBA in software enterprise management from IIM Bangalore (India) where he was awarded the Gold Medal for “Best Overall Performance” in his MBA degree.
Mr. Dixit has a vast experience with various prestigious companies like Tenet Technologies, and Motorola India. He has spent nearly 7 years developing, deploying and supporting custom protocols and network management applications for the SWIFT world-wide data communications switching network in Virginia, USA and Zoeterwoude, Netherlands. Mr. Dixit has also got rich experience with start-up firms.
Mr. Dixit addressed the most important question that hounds the mind of every MBA: What is the most appropriate career after MBA? Through his presentation Mr. Dixit threw light on various careers that one can choose after his MBA. He introduced tools that would help us in making this decision. The discussion was quiet enriching and it facilitated the path ahead. He also discussed about the current trend in the semiconductor industry and welcomed the questions on the same.