Directors of Prestigious IIMs Illuminate Paths to Enhance Managerial Capacities and Foster Collaboration

January 30th, 2024; Sambalpur: The 9th PAN-IIM World Management Conference (WMC) at IIM Sambalpur concluded with a number of thought-provoking Panel Discussions including IIM Directors’ Panel, Accreditation Panel, CHRO Panel, among others.
While AICTE Chairman Dr TG Sitharam shed light on Initiatives to Shape Leaders and Drive World’s Third Largest Economy during the valedictory session, the Directors’ Panel was focused on “Building Managerial Capacities to Enhance Collaboration Between Industry and Society.” During the Director’s Panel Discussion Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur; Prof. Kulbhushan Balooni, Director, IIM Kashipur; Prof. Rishikesha T Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore; Prof. Bhimaraya Metri, Director, IIM Nagpur, and Prof. BS Sahay, Director, IIM Jammu, Prof. Umakant Dash, Director, IRMA; shed insights on enhancing collaborations between society and industry as well as effective management practices.
Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur, shared, “The ecosystem at IIM Sambalpur, centered around the principles of Innovation, Inclusiveness, and Integrity, which has significantly contributed to our distinctiveness. Our commitment to inclusiveness prompted a notable change in our admissions policy to strive for a better gender balance. Furthermore, he cited about a project empowering traditional weavers, resulting in significant sales turnover growth and said, “Our Master Weavers project, called BunkarValleys.com, aims to digitalize as well as connect the products and businesses of master weavers to digital marketing platforms like Flipkart and ONDC. Such initiatives illustrate that we are working for a larger society and not only for big industries.”
On Day-2, the Keynote address on ‘Digital Governance and Public Policy’ was delivered by Dr. Sudhanshu Sarangi, IPS, Director General, Fire & Emergency Service, Commandant General, Home Guards and Director, Civil Defence, Odisha. During the CEO Panel Discussion on the topic ‘Develop Strategies to address Challenges of implementing ESG initiatives’  Mr. Sachin Trivedi, Director, Deloitte Consulting; Mr. Ratnesh Jha, Executive Director, UN Global Compact; Ms. Shraddha Danani, Tech-Entrepreneur and  Mr. Keshav Rao, Director (Personnel), MCL Auditorium shared the sustainable practices adopted by their organizations. During the Start-up Round Table Discussion, Mr. Maninder Singh Bawa, Mr. Gaurav Kedia, Mr. Deepak Sharma ,Shristi Arora and Mr. Pradip R Subramaniam shared their entrepreneurial journey, the challenges and opportunities.
The Day-3 started with the Keynote Address by Ms Amy Menon, Regional Head, South Asia, AACSB and Prof. Rishikesh T Krishnnan, Director, IIM Bangalore. Similarly, during the Accreditation Panel Discussion Dr. Ravi Kumar Jain, Director, Sparsh Global Business School, Noida; Mr. Nishit Jain, EFMD; Prof. Sanjay Padode, Chairman, Centre for Developmental Education, JAGSoM; Prof. DK Mahalik, Sambalpur University; Prof Atish Chattopadhyay, Director, JAGSoM, Bangalore and Prof. Bidhu Bhusan Mishra, VC, Sambalpur University shared the practices for maintaining the standards and upholding the quality of B-School education standards.
The CHRO Panel Discussion on ‘Building organizational skills for the Industry 4.0 world’ witnessed the eminent speakers like Mr. Devi Prasad Dash, CHRO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Limited; Ms. Jaya Suri, CHRO, Kimbal Technologies; Ms. Jayanthi Jagannath, CHRO, K&S Partners; Mr. Krishna Padhi, Head HR, Hindalco Ltd, and Mr. Subrahmanya Sastry, Partner, PWC. The participating speakers delved into crucial aspects of challenges posed by Industry 4.0, exploring strategies for human resource development.
During the interaction with editors of Top Tier Research Journals Prof. Varsha Jain, AGK Chair Professor of Marketing, MICA, Ahmedabad; Prof. K. Mathiyazhagan, Chairperson of the Research Centre, Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai; Prof. Dongmei Cao, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom; and Prof. Surajit Bag, Program Director, MSC. Supply Chain Research Center, Léonard de Vinci Pôle Universitaire, France, shared their valuable insights in terms of presenting the Research Paper.
The event witnessed as many as 712 active participations across various categories, including 18 participants for the Doctoral Consortium, 29 contributors presenting Case Studies with teaching notes, and 665 submissions in the form of Extended Abstracts for Research, Conceptual papers, full papers.
Valedictory Programme:
During the valedictory address, the chief guest Prof. (Dr.) T G Sitharam, Chairman of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Govt. of India, emphasized the pivotal role India must play in the 21st century, stating, “We are entering an era where India will be a global leader. Quality, skilling, and leadership are our key weapons, and this conference has fueled our fire to forge a brighter future.” Recognizing the immense strides India has taken in research, innovation, and entrepreneurship, Dr. Sitharam informed, “Today, India is the fifth largest publisher of research papers and patents globally. We are poised to become the third largest economy by 2027, a testament to the power of our youth and infrastructure development. AICTE is committed to empowering the next generation of leaders and innovators.” On the occasion, Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur and Prof. Padmavathy Dhillon, Conference Co-Chair shared their vision and experiences for organizing the PAN IIM WMC at IIM Sambalpur.  
The workshop on the Case Writing & Teaching convened by Prof. (Dr.) Gita Bajaj. The conference also saw inspirational session by the famous motivational speaker, Mr. Shiv Khera.
It is to be recalled that the 4-Day 9th PAN IIM World Management Conference (WMC) was organised at IIM Sambalpur from Sunday, January 21, 2024, to Wednesday, January 24, 2024, with the theme “Entrepreneurial Innovation and Digital Governance for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.”