CHENNAI: Biocon’s chairman and managing director Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is betting big on the oral insulin drug that the company is scheduled to Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon unveil next March. Now that the markets are picking up, she also said the firm would look at listing its research division Syngene. Dr Shaw spoke to ET NOW on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Great Lakes Institute of Management, where she shared her experiences in setting up and growing Biocon with the B-school.

Read the complete interview at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Interview/Kiran-Mazumdar-Shaw-Chairman-and-Managing-Director-Biocon/articleshow/4937957.cms

Chennai: “Globalisation has opened horizons for management education. Be it the IITs, IIMs or NIT, students are keen on getting a degree in Business Management as the opportunities available are many,” according to Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.

He was speaking after dedicating the new green campus of the Great Lakes Institute of Management to management education, near Mamallapuram on Wednesday. Elaborating how management education has grown in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Stalin said that in the 2008-09 academic year, there were 178 engineering colleges that introduced management programmes. Around 11,445 students enrolled in private colleges and 1,800 in government and government-aided colleges, he said.

Mr. Stalin also spoke of how the growing number of institutes has also resulted in students from foreign countries coming to learn in India. “I congratulate the Dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management on bringing in a world class institute for the State, which has both Indian roots and culture.” The function of the Platinum-rated green campus was also attended by Labour Minister T.M. Anbarasan, Chief Secretary K.S. Sripathi, and Kancheepuram Collector Santosh K. Misra. “The Kanchi of yesteryears was known for education. Today, it is a knowledge capital,” Mr.Sripathi said. He also cited example of reverse brain drain happening not just in Chennai, but even in upcoming cities of the State such as Karaikudi.

Mr.Mishra said the State has seen an exponential growth in the last few years, especially Kancheepuram which has seen the lion’s share of industrial growth. “Around Rs.50,000 crore of industrial investment has come to Kancheepuram, and with this I see the district becoming a global hub in IT, automobiles and telecom,” he said.

Bala V. Balachandran, Dean and Founder of Great Lakes Institute of Management, announced that from the coming academic year the Institute would “take 50 underprivileged children and make them appear for exams such as GRE, GMAT and other competitive exams.”

Read it at http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/20/stories/2009082061040400.htm

Dignitories: Dr. Baldev Raj, Dr. Sai Baba and Dr. Prabhat Kumar

Dr. Baldev Raj, Director, IGCAR and Dr. Bala V. Balachandran, Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management signed a MOU today pledging co-operation in the study of Energy Management

Energy scenario

In his characteristic and insightful speech Padma Shri Dr. Baldev talked about the importance of energy and the pivotal role it plays in nation building. “Coal is till the king, but we need science & technology to find out newer ways to make country energy secure”. He sympathized and said “Common person is concerned about availability of energy”. In another 25 years energy industry will become a trillion dollar industry. According to him, this is an apt time for the younger generation to take initiative and develop multi parameter thinking. India is known for frugal engineering and it should be put to use in the energy sector.

Dr. Baldev also felt that there is an urgent need for a think tank on energy. Though India is a global leader in Fast Breeder Reactors, the country needs to come up with long term strategies to harness the renewable sources of energies like the Solar, Wind and Tidal energies. He emphasized that Science and Technology alone cannot accomplish this herculean task – razor sharp management minds and in-depth Financial Risk Management of such large scale projects are required to successfully execute them.

MOU

The association of Great Lakes with Department of Atomic Energy goes a long way. Dr. Baldev Raj also taught as a visiting faculty at Great Lakes. The MOU will develop the idea based collaboration at Great Lakes with the energy management insight of IGCAR. Great Lakes, in collaboration with Baur College of Business, University of Houston, is in advanced stages of finalizing an Executive Programme on Energy Management.

Great Lakes has also partnered with IGCAR to make a difference to the neighboring areas of Kalpakkam, situated at around 65 Km from Chennai. Karma Yoga, an initiative where all the 260 students of Great Lakes visit assigned villages and work for the upliftment in terms of health care, sanitation, communication, micro finance among others.

About IGCAR

IGCAR was established in the year 1971, under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. The centre is engaged in broad based multidisciplinary programme of scientific research and advanced engineering directed towards the development of Fast Breeder Reactor technology.

Fast Breeder Test Reactor based on unique mixed Plutonium Uranium Carbide fuel, First of its kind in the world and KAMINI Reactor, the only operating Reactor in the World using U233 fuel are successfully operated.

The design of 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor is completed and the construction is in progress.

URL: http://www.igcar.ernet.in/

Check the press release on http://greatlakes.edu.in/viewNewsDetails.php?id=72

 
CHENNAI: Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj has said that IITs are the only Indian brand to gain global recognition and expressed hope that products manufactured in the country would be widely accepted throughout the world in future.

“The Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) are our only brand to have gained global recognition. Tatas may have brought the Jaguar… but for us, IITs are the only brand which has gained worldwide recognition”, he said.

“I hope that in future, Indian products would be widely accepted throughout the world,” he said, after inaugurating facilities for students of Great Lakes Institute of Management at Manamai village, about 63 km from here yesterday.

He stressed the need to take steps to provide jobs in the manufacturing sector, where there are many opportunities. “We not only need to grow, but also be able to compete with other developing countries”.

Bajaj expressed concern over the low per capita income in India, which stands at USD 1,000 compared to U.S.A., where it is USD 4,000 and said poverty should be eradicated and the minimum needs of an individual taken care of.

Later, Rahul Bajaj and his brother Mathur Bajaj, Vice Chairman of the company formally inaugurated an amphitheatre, a cafeteria and a student activity centre. 

Read at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/LATEST-NEWS/IITs-only-Indian-brand-to-gain-global-recognition-Rahul-Bajaj/articleshow/4896864.cms

Activity centre: (From left) Mr Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd; Dr Donald P. Jacobs, Dean-Emeritus, Kellogg School of Management, and Dr Bala V. Balachandran, Founder and Honorary Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management; at the inauguration of Bajaj Bistro, Bajaj Piaza (Students activity centre) and India Cements Amphitheatre, at the Great Lakes campus near Mamallapuram on Friday.

Read at http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/08/15/stories/2009081551451700.htm

CHENNAI: Great Lakes Institute of Management, an initiative of Kellogg’s Bala Balachandran, has been touted as Chennai’s answer to the IIMs or ISB  for long. It boasts of an industry backing and academic support that can match up to both. But, the only missing link was a campus as vast as the IIMs or as ostentatious as the ISB. 

However, Great Lakes now wants to conquer that final frontier with a 14-acre campus in the outskirts of Chennai. On Friday, the B-school opened facilities at its new green campus at Manamai, near Mamallapuram.

The new facilities include Bajaj Bistro, Bajaj Piazza and India Cements Amphitheatre.Rahul Bajaj of Chairman Bajaj Auto, Madhur Bajaj, VP of Bajaj Auto as well as Dr. Donald P Jacobs, (Dean Emeritus, Kellogg School of Management) and Dipak Jain, Dean Kellogg School of Management were present for the inauguration.

“At Great lakes we want to breed the best of minds that can be showcased as the hallmark of corporate excellence. These facilities provided by the leading business houses (Bajaj and India Cements) will create the right environment to create professionals,” said Professor Bala V Balachandran.

Read at http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Services/Great-Lakes-opens-facilities-at-new-campus/articleshow/4894772.cms

Chennai based Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM) is holding a ‘Meet the Dean’ session to provide a platform for MBA aspirants. The sessions will address topics like ‘Why MBA’ and ‘long term benefits of selecting a good Business school’. The sessions are being held from August 9 to September 6 in 9 cities across the country.

Read the complete article at http://www.mbauniverse.com/campusinner.php?id=2273

In 1957 Vance Packard published Hidden Persuaders in which he described how the marketing industry used depth psychology and motivational research to manipulate the public. He explored the “large-scale efforts … to channel our unthinking habits, our purchasing decisions and our thought processes by the use of insights gleaned from psychiatry and the social sciences.”

Chapters like ‘The psychoseduction of children’ and ‘Self-images for everybody’ left no doubt about Packard’s moral contempt for marketing’s uses of psychological techniques. His criticism was that marketers typically see consumers as bundles of daydreams, misty hidden yearnings, guilt complexes, and irrational emotional blockages. Hence, according to them, people satisfy some of these suppressed desires by using socially acceptable products.

(The writer is Director, Kotler-Srinivasan Centre for Research in Marketing, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.)

Read more – http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2009/07/16/stories/2009071650110300.htm

Let’s face it – working professionals who invest a year or more of their time and money at B-schools are obviously looking at bettering their career prospects. They expect their time spent in the B-school to catapult them into the big league of blue blood companies, fattest pay checks and cushy jobs in exotic locations. And why not? By extension, the B-school is expected to be a headhunter, linking its students with the right employers. In today’s world of change, where the focus is more on “customer pull”, as against “supplier push”, a premier MBA school needs to focus on “customer centricity” (where both the students and recruiters are its customers).

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, also faced the same challenges of B-school placements as did the other schools. Non-returning companies, reduced number of offers by those returning, addition and servicing of a totally new set of companies leading to disproportionate returns (on comparison of effort expended and placement gained) on the one side, and mounting student expectation in terms of profiles, international placement opportunities and CTCs on the other, were all part of the game.

Read the complete article in Business Today

Submitted to the Government of India on June 23, the report by the Yash Pal Committee to advice on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education has evoked a positive response amongst educationists in India. The report calls for an end to license-raj in higher education sector with setting up of a single regulatory body and several other far-reaching reforms. To quote from the report (a copy of which is with MBAUniverse.com), “We have suggested that the present regulating bodies should all be subsumed within a National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER).” It also says, “I would like to mention our deep concern in respect of two matters. Mushrooming engineering and management colleges, with some notable exceptions, have largely become, mere business entities dispensing very poor quality education. Deemed Universities have also mushroomed.”

The Mr Kapil Sibal, the HRD minister, in various media interviews, has expressed his commitment to implementing the recommendation of this report

Read the interviw at MBA Universe