Life @ Great Lakes Inst. of Mgmt-Chennai [GLIM]

MBA CAT 2024
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For Immediate Release

Hon'ble Dr. K.Rosiah dedicates Great Lakes Chennai campus to
Prof. Bala V Balachandar & Inaugurates 2 Year PGDM

Interacts with faculty and students of Great Lakes, at their green campus

Chennai, July 5, 2012: Great Lakes Institute of Management, a leading management institute founded by Prof. Bala V Balachandar in 2004, today witnessed a grand campus dedication ceremony. Honourable Dr. K. Rosiah , Governor of Tamil Nadu dedicated Great Lakes new green campus, located at Manamai village, near Mamallapuram, to Prof. Bala V Balachandar, Management guru and Global thought leader for his services to promoting Management Education in India.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Rosiah lauded the efforts of Prof Bala V Balachandran's vision of putting Chennai on the International Management Education Map leading to the setting up of Great Lakes Institute of management that changed the way India looks at management education. The Governor also launched the two year PGDM program of Great Lakes, an AICTE approved course that will offer a MBA curriculum with a focus on emerging economies.

The Campus dedication was initiated by the Management, faculty, Alumni & students of Great lakes to Prof. Bala, a visionary who foresaw a sea change in management practices in the aftermath of globalization, has redefined modern management education in India. A humble man from Pudukkotai and a faculty at Kellogg Business School for the last 40 years, he is revered as Management Guru globally. He was awarded Padmashree for actively promoting Management Education in India. Following his involvement with many B Schools in India over the last four decades, he founded Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai in 2004. His vision for Great Lakes is providing Quality Education at an affordable cost and building Human Capital for Emerging Economies, while remaining true to its core ideals of 'Global mindset, Indian roots'.

Accepting the dedication and speaking on the occasion, Prof. Bala V. Balachandran said, “We at Great Lakes are deeply honored and touched by the presence of one of the astute statesman of the country Honorable Dr. K. Rosiah for his presence and that the eco-friendly green campus with the state-of-the-art facilities is an incubation centre for global minds in India and grooming business leaders of tomorrow.”

During the ceremony, Hon. Gov. Dr. K. Rosiah interacted with the students of Great Lakes Institute of Management and shared his insights on leadership qualities and nation building.

The Great Lakes Institute of Management's green campus that has been set up near the famous Mamallapuram near Chennai is spread over 27 acres of land and a built up area of 300000 sq. ft. The campus has also created history of sorts as a state-of-the-art campus in an environment friendly green building with different blocks dedicated to research, faculty offices and housing, administrative, student residences and recreation centers. It has been designed to be a LEED Platinum rated green campus and is one of the first in India and among very few in the world. The institute's design concept derives itself from the tagline of the institute “Global mindset – Indian roots”. It aims to generate in students a sense of social responsibility. The campus reflects the basis essence of simplicity, humbleness and clarity of thought.

The two year PGDM program will offer the first batch of 120 students the regular MBA curriculum but with a focus on emerging economies. Most MBA programs are based completely on the economic models of advanced and industrialized countries, however, the needs of emerging economies are unique. The institute has signed MoUs with universities such as University of Bordeaux, France; CUOA, Italy and FUDAN University, China which will help in exploring activities such as student exchange program, international immersion, internships and research activities.

The PGDM program lays a special focus on higher education of women which is visible in the fact that the first batch of PGDM comprises of 40% females. The program brings together students from every region of the country with almost equal number of freshers (no work ex) and students with work experience. Great Lakes tradition of delivering the MBA differently will always be there. The value proposition offered through this program is unique and will attract students with a clear focus on Emerging economies.

About Great Lakes Institute of Management:

Great Lakes Institute of Management is one of the Top B Schools in India , founded by Prof. Bala V. Balachandar of Kellogg School of Management. He established the institute with a dream of setting up an international class Business School in Chennai. Great Lakes Institute of Management has been bringing the best brains in the world of management to India with an objective to provide world-class management education. Great Lakes have tie-ups with eminent universities of international repute and has MOUs with Illinois Institute of Technology, USA, Yale University, USA, Bauer College of Business , USA, Nanyang University ,Singapur, Fudan University, China , CUOA, Italy, University of Bordeaux, France among others.

For Further information, please contact:

Prof. T. N. Swaminathan

Director Branding, P.R & Alumni Relations

Professor Marketing

Great Lakes Institute of Management

Ph: + 91 98401 95454

email: [email protected]

Raena Reddy

Corporate Voice Weber Shandwick

Ph: +91 98 40 453130

email:[email protected]

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After 2 gruelling days of out-bound training sessions during the induction week, it was time for The 'Mighty Mamallas' to showcase their talent. Being on our toes for a week and curious to know what's next, we were all in high spirits, looking to explore new friendships around us. We got some time to practice and get to know each other as well. This little event helped us realize our strengths and motivated us to intermingle. The best part of this activity was that it was entirely student-driven. So we were at ease to organize, perform and deliver. There were no hiccups, nothing too formal to be hesitant of; we were all set for the expedition.

The plethora of talent we witnessed was amazing. Be it singing, dancing or poetry, we had it all. So one of us volunteered to be the host and bring some method to the madness. There were several singers – classical, bollywood, sufi amongst us who sang melodiously and till the last beat. What better could a song be without music? So we had 5 guitarists and a synth player enthralling us along with the singers. Numbers like “Dooba dooba rehta hoon”, “Summer of 69”, “Hotel California”, “Mairi” were on the roll (these were heard in hostels even in the next week). And then we had a little 'shake a leg'! Yes, here it was……that which set the stage on fire and fuelled the excitement – the dance performances! A group danced to a Punjabi number while the other performed salsa! What's more, we discovered a “Karaoke Jockey” too who now orchestrates all our major parties! It was indeed a gala time.

GLIM was now more than just an MBA institute for us.

In the walk of professional life we often overlook the talent within us. It is important that we realize what we are good at, what makes us tick and what makes us HAPPY. This platform did just that. It made us discover and showcase the talent within us and most importantly, opened the doors for all of us to mingle, mix and proceed towards the most awaited start of our professional course. And it was undeniably a great start!


By Kriti Sharma

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ohkk..

i was a lil nervous about the fact that our batch is the first pgdm experiment by our institute, but the moment i saw prof bala v balachandran, his humble nature, love for his students, a man of his stature toking to us, changed evrything. july 5th a date i can never forget, the birthday of of our prestigous dean,our own" uncle bala" and also the pgdm concept in great lakes.

the welcoming , all the formalities was done in a perfect andwat better way of gelling eid each other dan the programs like commando training, paintball , managerial games, salsa andjive, karaoke. what an awsome experience it has been,from hostel to the mess, the classrooms, gym, sports area, and even the smoking zones everything is in order, perfectly managed by a team of dedicated professionalls. everything being so clean that if u dnt take bath for a day u'll feel like the dirtiest thing on the campus.

its jus been 10 days and feels like eons, the so called pressure of an mba degree is not there tilll yet, even now wen the classes have started everything is so relaxed.

everything now beensaid, i can now say that all hopes have been met till yet, and m confident that dey will continue to be met in future as well.

thanks uncle bala,may u live longer..

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Great Lakes Institute of Management invites you to the 6th annual conference of Successful Women in Management ( SWIM ).

ABOUT SWIM:

Every year GLIM showcases Successful Women from various walks of life who empower and enlighten students... to become aspiring business leaders, epitomizing the fact that true women of substance are here to stay !

Visit : http://greatlakes.edu.in/events/swim.html

Guest Speakers :
Ms. Mallika Sarabhai and Ms. Nisa Godrej

Date : 29th July, 2012.
Venue : Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
Time : 9 AM onwards

For Registrations and further details please call:u000b
Guneet : +919884448138
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SWIM 2012


Chief Speakers:

Ms. Mallika Sarabhai and Ms. Nisa Godrej

Date : 29th July, 2012.
Venue : Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
Time : 9 AM onwards

We, at Great Lakes believe that the presence of a larger proportion of women in prime roles will enable organizations to be effective, ethical and socially conscious entities. An initiative inaugurated in 1995 by Mallika Srinivasan, Successful Women In Management (SWIM) was taken up by Great Lakes Institute of Management in 2007. SWIM is an initiative by the students of Great Lakes to empower women with the required traits, to assume leadership roles in the corporate and social spheres.

SWIM gives the audience an opportunity to interact with and gain insight from eminent women in their respective fields. Over the years, several inspirational and distinguished women personalities like Anu Aga, Sudha Raghunathan, Mridula Mahesh, Rajshree Pathy, Mallika Srinivasan and Hemu Ramaiah have been a part of SWIM. SWIM strives to develop, encourage and nurture women leaders in engagement in accordance with the changing times and thus enhance their contributions to the society at large.

Women are the go-getters, the rule makers, and the winners of this progressive world.

Women today continue to write "herstory" into history with their eternal power, brilliance and their enormous contributions to the world at large. Despite the numerous 'She'roes produced in all walks of life and universal promises made by the society at large, a woman's credo is still tested and looked down upon with uncertainty. With traditional leadership roles being disposed towards Men, does the modern woman have to assume a more aggressive stance to get into the prime positions? Does she have to tweak her personality to establish her supremacy in the leadership circuits?


She is The Iron Woman; she is rock solid with her convictions and is indomitable with every responsibility entrusted upon her. But, is she doubted for the same qualities that men are celebrated for? When compared to a man, does she have to go an extra mile to reach the same milestone? As Gen-Y, It is time to let her break the barriers, shatter the limits and beat the stereotypes.



To join the event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/332842470136075/#!/events/332842470136075/

Keep watching this space for more information on the event ...

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Are you game for SWIM ?

Join the below event for further details:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/332842470136075/

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#SWIM2012

"The women of today are the thoughts of their mothers and grandmothers, embodied, and made alive. They are active, capable, determined and bound to win. They have one thousand generations to back them up... Millions of women; dead and gone are speaking through us today."

These were the exact sentiments reverberating across the auditorium during SWIM 2012.

"We must be the change we wish to see", said our beloved Bapu once and SWIM (Successful Women in Management), I believe, is Great Lakes' way of being the change agent rather than being a mere bystander commenting on how there are not enough women in Management!

What an experience it was! Replete with quotes like Harriet Harman's "If only it had been Lehmann sisters" to Bono's "As a rock star, I have two instincts, I want to have fun, and I want to change the world. I have a chance to do both" to our own Uncle Bala's, "Wake up Men! Otherwise, we have to organise SMIM - Successful Men in Management"; the event had awesomeness written all over it right from start.

Oh, and not to forget the 'Successful' Women and their thoughts which kept us absolutely spellbound and mesmerised during the event. The emotions and feelings one experienced is simply impossible to put down on paper (or MS word!) but since Great Lakes has made me realise 'Impossible is nothing' (take a look at our curriculum and a day's schedule and you'll start believing it too ), I will try putting down some key takeaways from each speaker.

The pragmatic Dr. Mallika Sarabhai began with examples of Kaikeyi and Surpanakha from Ramayana and asked us to ponder upon how the story would be different if they were males; to make a point about how women wanting power has always been looked down upon and scorned at across ages. Then she went on to say that it is our fault too as we women, fail to change the paradigms and allow ourselves to blend in with the flow of our lives. It's our responsibility to do 'Aatmamanthan' , decide what we really want from life and then spend our life trying to do exactly that. Only by doing this can we wake up every morning and be able to say, "Yes! Another Day!" for the rest of our lives. Being able to do that, my friends, is Success.

Than came the charismatic Nisaba Godrej , President, Human Capital and Innovation for Godrej Industries. She made an instant connection with the audience by being her honest self. And then she went on to speak about Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000-hour rule and how it is our effort that really counts and NOT the gender. She asked us to marry well (to a family with good, supporting in-laws), pursue our passions with grit and determination and to always maintain the balance. Nisaba ended her speech with Bono's quote to a standing ovation.

After the main speakers, it was time for an interesting panel discussion by Ms. Mubina Ansari (Director - Marketing, Walt Disney Company India), Ms. Ruzan Khambatta (Director - N Wave Tech Pvt. Ltd.), Ms. Latha Rajan (Director - Ma Foi Strategic Consultants) and Ms. Susmita Das Gupta (GL Alumni and Founder - Chief Ideator, Smart Ideas) on "Do you have to be an Iron Lady to be successful?"

Dr. Mangalam Srinivasan, who moderated the discussion, emphasised on the importance of respecting women for what she is and being strong enough to make oneself heard and set the ball rolling for the panelists. Then came in the live-wire Ms. Khambatta who asked us to either 'do what you like or like what you do' as either option will keep us happy. Next in line was the inspiring Mubina Ansari who asked us to give our best at everything we do! Ms. Latha insisted on being a 'Steel Woman' as iron tends to rust and women should be 'rust-free'. She also asked us to create an ambience of success for ourselves rather than waiting for others to do it for us. And finally, Susmita came onto the dais and asked us to give our best shot at anything and everything we do in order to succeed.

All this aside, the main thing SWIM 2012 did to me was made me realise that "I am strength. I am diligence. I am the fighter. I am a WOMAN and proud to be one!" This is what I will take with me to my grave and for this I must thank you Great Lakes!

-- Sushree Panda (Class of 2013)

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Interaction with Mr. Jonathan Mariner - CFO, Major League Baseball

Guest lectures are certainly the most anticipated affairs at any B-school and tend to create quite a buzz and excitement among the students. And wh not? Apart from a holistic view on the industry, the students also get to imbibe life and management lessons from the practices of the leaders.


Thanks to Dr. Mangalam Srinivasan, Distinguished professor of management and Director – China Study Center, we had an opportunity to meet Mr. Jonathan Mariner, Executive VP and Chief Financial Officer of the Major League Baseball yesterday. Interacting with someone who didn't believe in limiting himself to the traditional roles of finance was quite refreshing!


Mr. Mariner emphasized on focusing and being good in one's functional area of expertise (or domain of interest) as in his words, 'only then can one perform in any industry and under any condition but without a concrete foundation, one tends to lose out in career at later stages.'


He also spoke about the responsibilities that come with being a CFO of an organization which is under constant scrutiny of the media and said that this experience has broadened his perspectives.


We had an opportunity to learn not only the operations, marketing, processes and risk management aspects of such an organization but also gained some life lessons from Mr. Mariner.


The first was his principle of 'MBWA – Management By Walking Around' and connecting with the employees and subordinates of the organization which he felt was better than formal meetings any given day. Second was his philosophy in life that, “You can do anything you want if you just help enough other people to do everything they want.” And last but definitely not the least was his all time favorite quote, “Yes, I know it's impossible. But if it could be done, then how could we do it.”


All in all, the session was really insightful and there were a lot of learning. As it came to an end, I found myself reflecting on Mr. Mariner's words on my way back to the hostel wondering if I would ever get a chance to meet these people again in life and gave a (imaginary) pat on my back for deciding to join Great Lakes!


-- Sushree Panda

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Are you an Alien? – Mahesh Krishnamurti, MD, Resources Global Professionals, India


The topic raised lot of curiosity which was soon revealed by the speaker as “You need to think yourself as alien to think differently, out of the box”. He presented the view point - Don't suffer from educated incapacity – i.e. learning in holistic manner, to unlearn, to know more and be open to all the ideas, keep rejuvenating yourself, think of the multitude of opportunities available and make the best of them, mentioning the famous quote “Greatest obstacle to my learning is my education” – Albert Einstein


He explained the Global context – which is Hyper – fast, Hyper - connected, Hyper - transparent; “good” and “bad” values are universal


Shifts

Now the world is making shifts from the traditional ways and means so take risk, be creative, failure in not a bad word so don't be afraid – learn quickly and move on. Success should result in excellence. World is moving from incremental changes to unbound imagination, Men to women, planning to execution, stability to constant churn. Different people think different things and have valid points is going to be the trend, one should possess propensity to deal with ambiguity, challenges and difficulties. Planning is very glamorous thing to do, what you need is a plan which is highly flexible and adaptable and that can be executed. Great ideas need to be supported by

the abilities to execute.


You are a “Free Agent” – do whatever you want, responsibility and accountability is yours. Employment security vs job security: understand and know your skills, r u employable; mistakes are not failures. No matter wherever you belong to, whatever religion you follow – fundamentals remain the same. Listen to your inner instincts and be true to yourself.


He highlighted the following important features which are looked upon by their organization while selecting consultants

T - Talent

I - Integrity

E - Enthusiasm

L – Loyalty


Global Mindset, Indian roots


To surface from roots and blossom in the world; a bad root anywhere in the world will be bad anywhere in the world


He inspired us with the following Success factors

Strong communication – no challenge is too big

· Leadership – don't have to be glamorous

· Integrity and intellectual

· Honesty/ consistency

· Humor – critically important, have fun, crack some jokes, have a good time

· Preparation & hard work (no substitute)

· Ego (it's dangerous – watch out!)

· Manage brand “you”(it is precious, you are precious)


He concluded with the quote -

“The great moments, when the world cheers, are not the moments that count. The ones that count are when it's just you, and people have stopped believing in you. Those are the moments that define you.” – Bob Greene in Chicago Tribune


Go back, recharge, and think about what you are.

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GL Financial Conference 2012

This year, the Union Banking Center for Banking Excellence at Great Lakes organized the 3rd Annual Financial Conference on Systemic Risk. The theme for the 3rd edition was “Is India hedged against Systemic Risk?”


The recent global financial crises have shown that, the traditional approach of managing the soundness of the banks and other financial institutions needs to be supplemented by a system-wide macro-prudential approach. There is a need for assessing and containing this system wide risk. The global financial crises have also renewed policymakers' interest in improving the policy framework for financial stability. As such, the main objective of this conference was to bring insights on the various issues around financial inclusion from some of the best in the Industry.


The esteemed panelist comprised of :

Dr. K.C. Chakrabarty, Dy. Governor, Reserve Bank of India

Shri. Suresh Kumar Jain, Executive Director, Union Bank of India

Dr. Gurbachan Singh, Prof. ISI Delhi

Dr. Manoranjan Sharma, Chief Economist and DGM, Canara Bank

Dr. Rupa Nege Nitsure, Chief Economist and GM, Bank of Baroda

Mr. Brij Raj, Deputy General Manager, Reserve Bank of India


Dr. K.C Chakrabarty, in his invigorating keynote address, said that any kind of systemic risk was bad and that the question of hedging does not arise since it would have happened already. Having said that, he also confessed that this is easier said then done and systemic risks can't be avoided completely. The key, according to Dr. Chakrabarty, was managing it effectively by handling the three challenges faced by our country – high inflation, current account deficit and fiscal deficit.


Further, he spoke about the need for an inclusive economy and said that the banks should reach out to the poor and extend their credit facility to those who needed it. Dr. Chakrabarty was quite optimistic about the future and ended his address on a high note by saying that, India's young population, lower per capita income, saving economy, less complicated financial system and lower credit penetration will keep it in a good stead in the future.


Next was the special address by Shri. S.K. Jain in which he showed confidence in India by saying that India is on a solid footing to manage the risks ahead and noted that the Indian banking industry is among the very few who are maintaining a resilience during the ongoing world crisis. He also thanked the RBI's robust macro economic policies, due to which our banking system is well placed to take the adversities head on. He felt that the banks can no longer ignore any section of the society and establishing relationships with the customers was of paramount importance. Mr. Jain also said that the banking models have to be rejigged and focus shifted to reaching out to large unbanked people. He finished by saying that India is far away from systemic risk but the youth have to work hard to raise India from its current mediocrity to excellence.


After the keynote and special address, it was time for the panel discussion. First to speak on the topic was Dr. Gurbachan Singh who said that India was neither in a bubble, nor undervalued and was nowhere close to the 1992, 2000 or 2007 situations now but also felt that; saying Europe has a problem and we don't is an exaggeration. They are confronting their problems while we are closing our eyes shut on it and are refusing to accept the reality. Dr. Singh ended his address by saying that it's high time India started tackling its problems and once it does that, there's nothing to worry about.


Next in line was Dr. Manoranjan Sharma who was crisply declared that systemic crisis in India wasn't a reality and presented data to back up his claim. He also said that the India's growth story is here to stay but more focus was needed on Health, Education and Employment. Systemic risk in India, he said, was mainly due to CAD and fiscal deficit and the Euro zone crisis and the task on hand was to reduce the effects of these in order to escape scathe free from this global turmoil


Then came Dr. Rupa Nitsure. She began by sharing the sources of systemic risk and cited latest facts to show how both global and International conditions for systemic risks had worsened since June 2012. She said that the growth rate is lower than the growth rates during 2008-09 crisis largely due to the feeble investment sentiments resulting in no fresh capacities being made. Dr. Rupa blamed the indecisive coalition tactics, inefficient government at helm and increasing corruption for increasing the stress on infrastructure, steel and other sectors and finished by saying that although RBI has managed the stability excellently till now, India is definitely on a slippery slope and has to be careful in the future.


Last speaker was Mr. Brij Raj who felt that our country is fairly hedged against systemic risk due to a well-diversified export basket. According to him, the problem in India is different than that of US and Europe and is more structural than regulatory. Further he said that even though the economy is in no imminent risk and there is no major concern for a failure, India should still be cautious and needed to be alert to the US and Euro zone crisis.


Thus ended the panel discussion with a much deserved standing ovation from the audience and was followed by a Q&A; session, which maintained the sentiment that India was fairly hedged against systemic risk though, hard and focused work was needed for the country's future development.

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Great Lakes Institute of Management announces HR Conclave 2012.

A hallmark event that will feature dignitaries like Dr. Santrupt Mishra and Mr. D. Shivakumar discussing the theme 'Making Elephants Dance'.

Curious? Click the link below to know more !
https://www.facebook.com/events/346692468747787/
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@pkaman nice...
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Great Lakes Institute of Management announces its HR Conclave 2012
Theme: Making Elephants Dance: Transformational Role of HR in Large Organizations.

ABOUT this year's theme:

Today every organization has to be ready for transforming itself at much faster pace due to technology changes, markets dynamics and dwindling employee lifespan within organizations. There is an eternal need to morph the organization to live in the present while also
preparing for the future; and it is the role of HR to ensure that the organization is nimble-footed, with agile employees and an adaptive culture.

The juggernaut of an organization has to roll on, with all employees moving in sync with the customer and society. HR in large organizations are faced with the challenges of spotting
global trends early, visualizing the future and acquiring and developing talent
and leaders for the today and the visualized tomorrow, and to keep the momentum
going for wholesale transformations.

Catch all about this and more from the address and panel discussions by eminent HR professionals and practitioners during the conclave!

Visit: http://greatlakes.edu.in/events/hr-conclave.html

Guest Speakers:

· Inaugural address by Dr. Santrupt Misra – CEO, Carbon Black Business & Director – Group HR, Aditya Birla Group
· Key Note Address by Mr. D. Shivakumar – Sr. VP, Sales (India, ME & Africa), Nokia
· Special Address by Mr. Allen Sequeira – Advisor Group HR, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
· Valedictory Address by Dr. PVR Murthy, CEO, Exclusive Search Recruitment Consultants

Date: 8th September, 2012.
Venue: Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai
Time: 9:30 AM onwards


For Registrations and further details please mail: [email protected]

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Great Lakes and TCS announce the launch of the “Great Lakes-TCS Experiential Learning Program”. With an aim to carry forward the mission of Uncle Bala of providing “Business Ready Managers” to the industry, both the organizations have together announced a program of such kind.

With an introductory speech by Executive Director Prof Sriram on how relevant is the industry exposure in today's academic world, he focused on the importance of creating and delivering value to the customers.

As per Mr. Mano from TCS, “57% of the decision making process by a client is already made before he/she approaches the supplier.” So, in a dynamic business environment as todays, it becomes extremely important to deal with clients effectively.

As a part of the program, students would get an opportunity to work on “LIVE” projects and gain experience from the mentors of TCS. The aim of these projects would be to equip the young minds at Great Lakes with “Go-To-Market” (GTM) strategies and in turn, handle clients efficiently.

As our beloved Uncle Bala says, “Vision without implementation is hallucination”. And to fulfil his ambition of “Business Ready Managers”, he ensures that students get an opportunity to work with real-time projects from the industry.

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INSTALLATION OF ROTARACT CLUB


The Installation ceremony of the ROTARACT Club of Great Lakes Institute of Management for the year 2012-13 was held on 1 September 2012. The members of the club are students of the PGPM batch 2012-13 and the PGDM batch 2012-14 of Great Lakes Institute of Management.

The Chief Guest for the occasion was Rotarian Rajendran Sabanayagam, Guest of honour – Ms Sumitra Ghose, the other dignitaries in attendance were Rotarian AS Venkhatramani, Rotarian Prasanna Shenoy, Rotarian Rajesh Somasundaram, Rotractor Afsar Ali, Rotractor Yasodhai Damodaran and Dr. Tapan Panda under whose guidance students of Great Lakes took the initiative of starting the Rotaract Club at Great Lakes.

The function began with a silent prayer followed by a welcome speech by the outgoing President Sandeep Mehta and, the annual report by the outgoing Vice President Dagar Katyal on behalf of outgoing secretary Sahil Kukreja. Outgoing President Sandeep Mehta then exchanged his collar and gavel with the incoming President Garima Narang, after which she gave her acceptance speech. Outgoing Vice President Dagar Katyal on behalf of Outgoing Secretary Sahil Kukreja then exchanged the charter with incoming Secretary Anand Solomon.

The Chief Guest was Rotarian Rajendran Sabanayagam was invited to address the gathering and he inspired everyone with his talks on passion and commitment towards one's duties, he also congratulated the previous board members on their outstanding work, which was really a rare occurrence in the case of beginners, following which he was honoured with a Ponnadai by Dr. Tapan Panda.

The Guest of Honour Ms. Sumitra Ghose then enthralled the audience with her description of various CSR activities carried out at her organization TCS, she also promised assistance of every kind for the college's ROTARACT club in all their endeavours. Dr. Tapan Panda then honoured her with a Ponnadai.

Rotarian AS Venkhatramani, Director New Generations then addressed the gathering congratulating the previous year's board members for their service and also spoke about the theme for the present year “WATER CONSERVATION”. Rotractor Afsar Ali, District Rotaract Representative then spoke about the various activities planned for the district and urged the college to join hands with other colleges in the immediate vicinity and also to participate in the various events to be held in the future.


Dr. Tapan Panda then delivered the Vote Of Thanks during which he spoke about his passion and dedication to serve the mankind and begin the Social Service Club at college, which then later on went to be the Social Service Committee integrated with the ROTARACT club. He spoke about the importance of Social Service and the Karmayoga project being practiced by the students of the college. He then thanked the dignitaries in attendance and the students who made the event a grand success. The event concluded with the National Anthem.

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Aah.. Life's been busy lately with exams, surprise quizzes, assignments, role-plays and what-not.

But then, what's to life without fun ?

So, here comes another occasion to celebrate - Shri Ganesh Chaturthi.

!!! GANPATI BAPPA MORIYA !!!

Preparations started 2 days well in advance with students preparing the pandal and decorating the common area for the occasion.

Sleepless nights filled with laughter, humor, joy and of course hard work - and we came up with a beautiful pandal for the D-day.

The day started with the Aarti at the Shree Siddhivinayak Temple in the campus, followed by the Aarti at the common area.

And the pandal was packed with faculties and students pouring in and out for darshana keeping the festive mood alive the entire day.

Click on the below link for the pics:
www.facebook.com/media/set/?se...

And am off for sandhya-aarti.

Stay tuned for further updates !!!



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GANESHOTSAV 2012

The brouhaha all over the city, decorated streets, lanterns and colorful lights all around, full markets, pandaals, the stacks of sweets, chants and the aartis – all of this flashed in my mind when I heard the word, 'Ganeshotsav'. I felt nostalgic. Having lived my life in several parts of the country, I found this particular festival to be celebrated in the most splendid manner of all. This year I am in Chennai for my MBA at Great Lakes and thought that the festival wouldn't be as exciting as it used to be in Mumbai, but I was wrong. We Great Lakers actually brought the spirit of Mumbai to Chennai. “Ganpati Bappa Morya” was all that was running in our minds during that period.

The best thing about Great Lakes is the cultural diversity. So, as we saw Chabeel, Onam and Eid being celebrated, we were now to witness the magnificent Ganeshotsav and I was super excited to be a part of it. The preparations started with a bunch of our Marathi batch mates leading our way. Akshay, Gaurav, Mala, Anup, Mandar, Vikrant, Chaitanya, Sushant, Sunny, Glenn, Garima, Tejas, Nivedita, Guneet, Ashutosh, Rasika and many more joined hands to make this happen. We all divided our responsibilities and emerged as a family that came together to ensure nothing was left out. In our minds and hearts we knew how important it was to make the Ganesh Sthapna at a place where you live and carry on the rituals with a pure heart and we were game for it. Everyday workload, quizzes, classes, approaching end terms didn't make us lose our spirits, it rather encouraged us to be more active.

The team enthusiastically made all the arrangements right from the selection of the idol, the pandaal decoration, the rangolis, Prasad(modak) and the visarjan (immersion) preparations. Needless to mention, we received overwhelming support from the college and Sodexo (catering and maintenance) without which this occasion wouldn't have been possible. A day before the sthapna, the team members started with the decoration of the place by building a Snow Clad mountain for a pandaal, flowers and garlands covered the 'cave' in which the idol would sit, and rangolis, ribbons and lighting filled the room. After two days of tireless efforts we were all set to welcome Ganpati - the God of Wisdom, prosperity and good fortune to our very own college, the ashram where we are to attain wisdom. The festival began with the MahaAarati, followed by the other aaratis where all of us gathered and chanted in unison, “Ganpati Bappa Morya”. We prayed to Lord Ganesha seeking his blessings. Many of us would pass by and stay there for hours as it would feel at home. There were even the 'regulars' who would stay up all night doing the good ol' 'jaagaran' routine. We'd never thought that the place where we would otherwise gather to watch matches and catch movies would become this lively even without an India-Pak final.

After 2 days of celebrations we were all geared up to take Bappa to his journey towards his abode in Kailash as per the ritual of the 'visarjan'. We were elated to dance and sing through the procession and immerse ourselves in the colors of the festivity. We began with loud music and gulaal, singing and dancing all around the campus taking Bappa through his journey to the sea. “Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Yaa” (Come sooner, next year), we screamed. At the Mahabalipuram beach we performed the final aarti and with content in our hearts we saw Ganpati Bappa taking away with him the misfortunes of his devotees.

!!! GANPATI BAPPA MORIYA !!!
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Great Lakes students came 2nd in the All India Strategy competition named '5 Samurai', the flagship competition of the annual fest 'Samanvay', conducted by the Department of Management Studies (DOMS) IIT Madras.

It was a multi stage competition over the last couple of weeks comprising of more than 100 teams across all the major B-schools including the IIM's, IIFT's, NITIE's et al. The finals was held today at the IIT-M campus.

Congratulations Anup Pandit, Satish Rajagopalan, Harish Krishnan, Gaurav Bhandari and Sunny Bhambhwani.
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Mr. D. Shivakumar, Senior Vice-President for Nokia, IMEA markets and Santrupt Misra, CEO, Carbon Black Business and Director, Group HR of the Aditya Birla Group addressed students of Great Lakes on "Transformation Role of HR in large organizations"



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It's raining awards and accolades for Great Lakes Students.

Great Lakes students bag the 1st prize in AD-IT up competition conducted by Shri Ram College of Commerce.

Congrats Kishore, Nikhil and Reetika !

Click here to watch the video.