Workshop on Tourism in Mumbai

We launched the Workshop on Tourism Marketing in the Executive MBA program at Mumbai. 'We'  includes Prof. Jayasimha, my colleague at Indore, and I. Some pics from the enthusiastic class.

 The first pic is from the M.P. Tourism presentation by a group.

 Other students posed for the pics that follow, above and below.

Marketing Research

This is a subject/course I have been teaching for around 27 years, starting in 1991. I got interested in it because of my stint in a company called MBA founded by 3 MBAs from IIM Ahmedabad. Later, after a Ph.D. I returned to India and started teaching M.R., and soon after, wrote a book. Its 4th edition is on its way. A lot of students have contributed to the chapter-end cases in the book, starting with Kirloskar Institute and ending with IIM Indore for the latest edition.

A pic from a recent M.R. class where an interesting in-class exercise is on. I rely on a lot of these to enhance learning about the subject.

There are a lot of hands-on exercises as well as a course project that trains students in doing different things- from formulating research problems, designing a study and executing one. Analysis is just one part of this process.

Digital Marketing Course- Second Edition

Just started teaching the Digital Marketing course for its second run. In between last year and this year, two important things happened.. a team of our students (Kalaivani and team) won the Google Online Marketing Challenge for Asia Pacific..I happened to be their mentor. Second, I ran an MDP at IIM Indore on Digital Marketing, attended by several participants from industry.

Looks like we are going great guns with this year's edition too. Should be exciting, with a lot of exercises packed into the course, including creating a blog and populating it. And making a video ad film. Nothing like live projects to liven up a course, as I learnt during my MBA!

This course also runs at our Mumbai campus for part-time and full time students. Looking forward to that too.

Digital Marketing Course

I am currently teaching a course on Digital Marketing to MBA students at IIM Indore. This is an interesting subject, amenable to using a few digital media live during the course. We have already started blogs on the subject of digital marketing, and intend to measure their effectiveness, and discuss why certain blogs did better than others. Nothing like a live project whose results are measurable instantly- like the digital marketing metrics themselves.

We will also try other things such as web design, writing copy for display ads or email marketing as we go along. I also have a couple of cases that I wrote specially for this course, one of which was presented at an international conference recently. Lots of my former students are doing some form of digital marketing at their jobs, and have volunteered interesting tidbits.

In another class, we have a facebook group formed to share any links on useful articles that anyone may find and want to share. Using the power of social media as a learning tool.

Lots of interesting insights will follow from this one, I am sure..

Playing Golf Again

Where there is a will, there is a way, they say. In college days, this was twisted to bring in the cigarette brand Wills by some. But in my case, wherever I see a patch of land about 200 yards with grass on it, I start imagining a Golf Course. And so it was that I started practising my shots on a newly built playground at IIM Indore. Pics will follow sometime.

Now the epidemic is catching on, and a couple of faculty friends have joined in. Hope the fever grows further (what a wish) and we have  a full-fledged Golf team soon. IIM Indore may well become the first IIM to have a team of its own. Students can also join in if interested, as we progress, if they can find time out from other things. Actually at IMT Nagpur, we had a Golf intro lesson built in to the orientation for three years. We had a two-hole Golf green out there.

Having a Golf team's better than growing a pony tail to achieve differentiation, what? Dare to think beyond pony tails! Would you say I am counting my "chickens" before they are hatched?

Cliches and Platitudes

The law will take its own course. How many times have we heard this one, about an ongoing investigation into the crimes and misdemeanors of the high and mighty, from politicians, businessmen to cricket players/admins/bookies and so on?

May I ask very humbly, what other course is the law supposed to take, if not its own?

We are seized of this matter. Again, usually an administration fobbing off demands for action. Since most administrations are ill-equipped for it, what this usually means is that they are having a 'seizure' with the thought that they have to move their butts and actually do something.

The benefits should go to the poorest of the poor. Anyone who mouths this usually has several layers between himself and the segments he/she is talking about.

Customers are our top priority. Barring about eight companies, this is a travesty of the truth, and of what happens on the ground. Aided by bull-headed, unfriendly rules such as KYC, which makes opening a bank account akin to scaling the Kanchenjunga. Except during Jan Dhan yojanas. Everest is renewing a license, or a passport. Why this needs planning like in an expedition never has been explained satisfactorily.