Dear Members,

It has been another interesting month with a flurry of activities at MMA.
The just concluded the Southern Regional Round of 34th National Competition for Young Managers organized by AIMA in collaboration with MMA on the theme “Managing Diversity : The Challenges for India Inc” was a grand success. 45 teams consisting of 135 young managers from all over south India participated. It was inaugurated by Mr Ranganath, N K, Managing Director, Grundfos Pumps India Pvt Ltd. Mr V Balaraman Past President of MMA delivered the valedictory address. The first prize was won by Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions Ltd and the second prize by Larsen & Toubro Ltd. Our sincere thanks to Hindustan University for sponsoring their Auditorium towards conducting the two-day Competition.

Another noteworthy event during July was the commencement of the 10-week Certificate Course in Retail Management in partnership with Vivek Ltd. The programme was inaugurated by Mr B A Kodandarama Setty, Chairman & Managing Director, Vivek Ltd.

I am happy to inform that a second batch of 10-week Certificate Course in HRM commenced on 2 August 2008 at MMA House. This course has now become very popular. It was inaugurated by Mr P Kalyanasundaram, Head-HR of Grundfos Pumps India Pvt Ltd.

Besides a number of workshops and video programmes during July 2008, the talk by Cricket Legend Padmashree Mr Syed Kirmani on “Winning Edge” was inspiring and motivating. He dwelt on how one could achieve success despite heavy odds. His talk was a record crowd puller. We are indeed privileged to bring out highlights of his talk as a cover story in the current issue of Business Mandate.
Our Hosur and Salem Chapters were also bubbling with activities.

The Magic of Branding:
Only if you feel happy from within, will you be able to spread it to others. The same is true in the corporate world – only if the company’s internal brand is strong enough, will the external image shine and survive.

Children often learn and exhibit what they are taught at home. The general perception is that the behaviour is usually a reflection of parental upbringing.

Similarly, employees of a company are its brand ambassadors. They are a mirror of what the company stands for – its values, cultures, ethics, working etc., For employees to project this image in front of the customer, a company instills and spreads the values and echoes the mission statement time and again. The internal brand survives only if it is duly propagated by the employees, and the external brand survives only if the internal brand is carried on strong shoulders. Realising the value of branding and also to show case India as a global brand, MMA is organizing this year’s Management Students Convention on the theme “Building Brand India” on 26 & 27 September 2008 in association with University of Madras at Madras University Centenary Auditorium.

I am sure that the theme and structure of the Convention designed by the team headed by Mr K S Ramesh, Chairman, MMA Centre for Continuing Education will immensely benefit the management students. We have ambitious plans to attract more than 3000 management students and faculty to attend the two day Management Students Convention.

The Indian economy has been through a roller coaster ride caused due to various factors like inflation, rising oil prices etc., In a bid to cut the nation’s spiralling oil import bills, government is likely to make it mandatory to dope petrol and diesel with 20% bio-diesel by 2017. We also need to adopt more eco friendly techniques. For example, in Thailand struggling to cope with soaring food and fuel prices, Thai rice farmers are swapping diesel-fuelled tractors for water buffalo, the beast used for ploughing the paddy fields for centuries.

Screen savers are a big energy spend. But turning computers off and on does not take extra energy so don’t hesitate in switching off every time you finish using them. Small measures initiated by corporates and individual members of MMA will go a long way in achieving the objectives of energy conservation.

We arrange programmes at a short notice due to availability of good speaker visiting Chennai. Hence at times, we were unable to send printed invitation cards and only email invites are sent to all our members. However, keeping in view the requirement of senior citizen members who do not have access to emails or cell phones, we intend to communicate details regarding the programme by telephone to them.

We always look forward to receiving your valuable feedback on all our programmes conducted by MMA. So please keep in touch by sending your views, opinions and advise on programmes.