From the initial days of providing the outsider’s perspective, a consultant is now viewed as a key cog in the organizational wheels and intrinsic to the company’s strategy. Consulting Continuum explores myriad aspects across sectors, by initiating discussions on issues at the forefront of the consulting profession. Each Consulting Continuum consists of a series of events centered on a particular theme. Eminent speakers from industry and students of management and engineering institutes converge for an entire day’s event consisting of a lecture series followed by panel discussion and a workshop.

The one-day event will bring together a host of industry consultants in various areas, students from various B-schools and students from other disciplines at IIT Bombay. The interaction will help the students gain insights into the real world of consulting and understand the contribution of consultants.

 

Consulting Continuum 2012

The Consulting Continuum 2012 will be the second event in Continuum 2012 series. Consulting Continuum 2012 will be organized on 25th March 2012 with a theme reflecting the current trends and challenges facing the consultants. The Consulting Continuum 2012 will see a series of lectures and panel discussions centered on the theme:

“Sustainability Spawning New Standards”

Business status quo is a thing of the past. Corporate behavior has changed after the economic recession and there is prevalent fear of a slow and painful recovery. Combined with increasingly strict environmental regulations and changing consumer attitudes, products and processes calls for increasingly newer standards. Sustainability is deeply influencing all aspects of employment, from the pressure that corporations face to be socially and environmentally responsible to the consulting opportunities for independent specialists with in-demand skills. Earlier companies had internal teams, their past agenda of focusing on core competencies and cost cutting now requires contracting with specialists and consultants on increasingly complex projects.

A critical success factor in aligning sustainability with business strategies is gaining commitment from the higher echelons of leadership. But it must be highly tailored to each sector and, in fact, to each individual company in order to serve as a springboard for practical action.

 

Indicated below are the suggestive and non-restrictive subthemes for the seminar:

·         How managing political risk improves business performance?

·         The Go-Green Era : Green Consulting

·         The Energy Sector: A challenge and an opportunity

·         Gearing up for the Dual Speed Global recovery

·         Harnessing Power of Social Media 

·         Inclusive growth in this era of convergence

 

Consulting Continuum 2012 will bring together a host of industry experts in consulting domain who would provide insights into how consultants can adapt to new market realities and bring their clients back on their feet.

 

 Panel Discussion

The panel discussion brings forth, the views and learning of eminent business leaders and academia on the theme of:

 

“Managing the business risks of open innovation”

At a first glance the two concepts of Open Innovation and IPR protection seem irreconcilable. But several years ago, a number of companies proved it wrong by pledging some of their own patents to the public to create IP-free zones in parts of the value chain. This seems a bit unusual as who would give away patents to make more money from innovation? But as open-source innovation, engagement with open communities, and “crowd sourcing” become more prevalent, could IP-free zones appear in the competitive landscape of major industries? The answer to these questions depends upon a variety of factors including- the value of proprietary solutions, the viability of open-source solutions, and the complexity of technology, that could redefine IP competition in the industry.

 

So we need to look more closely at the open innovation process and how companies manage IP effectively which in turn has assisted them in developing open innovation strategies without destroying any competitive advantage they might have.

The audience stands to gain a lot of insights from the event.

 

 For Details contact:

 Tanuj Goyal                                                      Dhruv Malhotra                                         Satish Suman Jha

 Tanuj.goyal@iitb.ac.in                                         dhruv.malhotra@sjmsom.in                          satish.jha@sjmsom.in
 +91-91676-47628                                           +91-98334-37918                                   +91- 90043-30807