The Consulting Continuum 2013 witnessed a series of lectures and panel discussions centered on the theme:
Following
luminaries participated for delivering lectures at
Consulting Continuum 2013 on March 17th, 2013 at SJMSOM, IIT Bombay:
In a shrinking world where global businesses have blurred geographical boundaries and embraced a multi-cultural business environment, processes and practices need to be revisited to cater to this new challenge. The organizations that can achieve such a competitive advantage in this new shrinking world are the ones that will emerge as the new global players. It is a combination of the best of the existing strategies, with a blend of unconventional practices that will make organizations stand out and prosper in the current business climate. Below were the sub-themes for the seminars: Government reforms and role of consulting industry
The Indian government has taken some bold steps in recent
times with respect to policy development – such as power sector reforms
in all the three sectors viz. generation, transmission and
distribution, public-private-partnerships in health and education etc.
The consulting industry has played a major role in devising strategy for
government action plan towards growth.
The new age consultants: Opportunities, Challenges, Triumphs
There
has been a sea change in the way companies value consulting. This has
led to an explosion in the opportunities that are now available to
consultants. The traditional avenues that were earlier the preserve of
company executives have now been thrown open to consultants to leverage
their cross functional expertise. With the new opportunities consultants
have to face novel challenges too.
Social Media - A New Perspective
Social
media provides virtually instant access to information throughout the
world, thus giving businesses the ability to share news about their
products and services with people that were once out of reach. Not very
long ago, businesses were limited to connections with contacts within
their neighbourhood or at best, their country. The door is now open to
share your business with the world. All SMEs and Large business are
getting aboard the Social Media bandwagon
VUCA world: A Threat or an Opportunity
Natural
disasters, technological disruptions, transitory advantages, fractured
markets, multifarious competitors, increasingly demanding customers and
fickle consumers: Thanks to the US military, we have a useful descriptor
for the conditions and environment these drivers create; „VUCA‟ –
volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, a combination of the
magnitude and speed of change, the lack of predictability and prospect
of surprise, the multitude of forces and confounding issues, and the
lack of „one right answer‟ or single course of action.
Insight is important but it’s foresight that really counts
Consultants
of today base their suggestions on gathered information. This makes it
imperative for them to provide an interpretation of numbers and turn the
Information into Insight.
However, in an increasingly fast-paced society of today, our
insights have a shorter and shorter shelf-life. What was a brilliant
thought only a couple of months back could already be superseded by some
innovation from a faster-off-the-mark competitor. Thus, it is no longer
enough for consultants of today to provide clients with brilliant
insights. We need to be thinking more about how we can provide them with
brilliant foresight.
Implementing the Blue Ocean strategy without Boiling the Ocean
The
highly competitive business world today warrants a need to look at
other avenues to gain profits. It is the ideal situation for a firm to
look for an innovation that nobody else is near and turn it into a
highly lucrative business proposition and execution.
Recognizing the untapped market is the key,
more so because the consumer may not always be aware of their own needs.
These needs must be engineered and created through careful strategy and
marketing. The question then arises how far a company must go in its
aim. When should it realize it is boiling the ocean looking for its own
blue ocean strategy? Boiling the ocean refers to the act of aiming for
something too ambitious which is nearly impossible to achieve.
Tradeoffs: Global standardization and Local customization
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