Management Studies

The focus for the academic year 2017-2018 was to further enhance and reinforce the culture of research based interactive learning amongst the students. The theme for the year “Inclusive Campus” was also incorporated in our department activities and projects that were undertaken by the students.

This report gives a brief overview about the activities of the department in the academic year 2017-2018

We strongly believe that students should have a good understanding of the concepts and only then can they apply it in a practical scenario, in a way that suits the situation best. Bringing  about changes in the course structure, we have now added new elective papers and have also constantly worked on the syllabus to make it more relevant. The department now offers three electives, each in Semester V and Semester VI in addition to the existing compulsory courses. This provides the final year students with a wider choice, in order to further pursue their specific subject interest from the field of management. The two new courses introduced were Training & Development (Semester V) & Econometrics (Semester VI)

With the incorporation of the new taxation structure in the country, we have designed a new course, “Elements of Taxation” which includes both, the Direct taxes and the norms under the new GST Policy. “Operations Management” is introduced in Semester III, so that with Productivity & Total Quality Management (Semester IV) and Supply Chain Management (Semester V), the study of Productions in Management studies is comprehensive and complete. The Board of Studies helped a great deal in bringing about all these relevant changes in the course structure.

ZEPHYRUS 2017-2018

The numerous workshops and lectures (by invited-industry professionals) have  given our students an insight into the practical problems and challenges faced by the companies and these sessions have been a great forum to enhance the teaching learning experience. 

Zephyrus 2017-2018 was held on the 17th, 18th and the 19th of January 2018. Both the conference, as well as the events,were tailor-made keeping in mind the theme of the festival, ‘The Turn of the Tide.’ The aim was to have a critical analysis of the undercurrents in the environment in which businesses need to operate. 

The Zephyrus Pre-Note event was held on the 11th of January, 2018. This was the inaugural talk of Zephyrus 2017-18 - where the audience was addressed by Mr. Suresh Narayanan, the Chairman and Managing Director of Nestle India. His talk focused on ‘Transformational Leadership’ and his session left the audience spell bound as he shared his experiences from his various tenures across the globe.

         (Mr. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director , Nestle India)

The first day featured 5 events, running simultaneously, with participants from numerous Mumbai based colleges. These events (Marketeer Knows Best; Improvise, Adapt, Overcome; Board Room Games; Mock Stock, etc.) simulated various aspects of corporate maneuvering thereby helping participants as well as the organizing team have a massive take home, in terms of learning about various nuances of business in India.

The second day featured 3 events, two of which were the second level of the previous day’s events. These rounds were energy packed, and received great response from the participating contingents.

The two days of events led up to the final, much looked forward to culmination of Zephyrus –the day of the Zephyrus Business Conference. This, hosted in the college hall boasted of an audience of 400+ eager undergraduate students from various colleges and streams from across the city.

 The speakers for Zephyrus 2017-18 included the following names from the world of management, finance and marketing:

• Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan (CEO, Rediff.com)

• Mr. Mansoor Khan ( Director/Producer/Business Man)

• Mr. RajnishDhall (Managing Director, Micro Housing Finance Corporation, Ex Xavierite Batch of 1989)

• Mr. Eapen Alexander George (Executive Director, Muthoot Group)

• Mr. Amarjeet Singh (Executive Director, SEBI)

• Mr. Jaydeep Shetty (CEO, Mineral Fashions, Ex Xavierite Batch of 1989)

• Mr. KannanBalan (Head, Centre of Expertise, S&M Nestle India)

Principal, Dr. Agnelo Menezes handing over a token of appreciation to Mr. Suresh Narayanan, Chairman and Managing Director, Nestle India

The department also organized a couple of other workshops which are as follows:

1. Seminar on Ethical Hacking:

The ethical seminar conducted by Mr.Sachin Dedhia, founder of Sky Net Secure Solutions as a part of the SPC Module on Cyber Security enlightened the students about  criminalinvestigations, ethical hacking & I.T security as well as mobile forensics etc. involving some real world case scenarios. 

2. Alcoholic Anonymous Seminar:

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international fellowship of men and women who once had a drinking problem. The men who founded this fellowship in India 52 years ago conducted this seminar. 

3. Social Media Marketing:

This course involved learning the various techniques required to build a business and to increase its presence on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Under QEP , 25 students registered for the certificate programme “ Six Sigma” It was a two credit programme and we had students from other departments who had registered for the course. 

The department also offered a short term certificate course on Social Media Marketing which was conducted by IIDE (Indian Institute of Digital Education).  A total of 25 students from different streams who had registered for the certificate course gave a very positive  feedback about the sessions that were conducted. The practical experience that the students were exposed to, had made the entire 5 day course a very well received one and we plan to have many more such relevant certificate courses in the coming academic year. 

The students of SY BMS visited various facilities like Sarvodaya Hospital, Blood Bank and a few other production facilities to study the concepts of Total Quality Management. These visits enhance the learning of the concepts explained in the classroom. 

Achievements:

The students of SYBMS won several inter-collegiate festivals and a large number of students across all the three years participated in conferences and case-study competitions in various colleges. Many of our students have won first place in events at Adorea (Wilson College BMS Festival), Aura (College Festival of St. Andrews College), Kaleidoscope (Sophia College, College Festival), the Business Conclave 2017 (at NMIMS), Zenith 2018 (SK Somaiya College Festival), Emblaze 2017 (Mithibai College), Mumbai MUN (NMIMS Mumbai) etc.

Aditya Jain and Nihal Saldanah (TY BMS) won the first prize in a case-study competition organized by HR College and they went on to represent Mumbai in the International case study competition that was held by the Milgard School of Business, University of Washington, Tacoma.

Apart from these achievements, many students have also taken part in student exchange programmes with Harvard University (HCAP) as well as the University of Notre Dame.

Most of the students interned in various  organizations during their Diwali, Christmas and summer break and shared their experiences with the class. Internship not only helps to bridge the gap with the industry but also builds the confidence of the students.

The use of the anti-plagiarism software ‘Turnitin’ has made sure that all assignments and projects are true and original. The students have been guided by the teachers to inculcate a spirit of research and the end result has been worth the effort. Their projects were commended by not just the external academic experts who had come to evaluate them but by industry experts as well. 

 We have also started the process of applying for the ISSN Number for our research journal Insight and we hope to get it by December 2018. 25 students of the TY batch got placed in some of the leading firms in the country especially in the field of consultancy, Marketing & Human Resources. Many of the students have also secured admissions for their Post Graduate programmes in institutions in India and abroad.   

It’s been a great year for us at the department and we were able to learn a lot from the workshops and seminars organized at St. Xavier’s College for the teaching faculty.  

I would like to conclude by saying that it was by the grace of God that all our efforts and  endeavors were successful and we will strive to raise the bar higher in the coming academic year. 

Soni George Tharakan

Head, Department of Management Studies