It is a war out. Management students are finding ways and means of tiding over the recessionary period in the job market. At the outset, it appears that the first year students of N L Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research (NLDIMSR), Mumbai have done well for themselves in this regard. Students of this institute seem to be believe in what Jack Welch, CEO, General Electric, once said: ``Control your destiny or someone else will''.The NLDIMSR students recently organised a marketing exhibition-cum-fair at the institute's premises. The task was truly challenging in the face of squeezed corporate margins, cut down in production and slowing of the economy. The fair was a success. As many as 40 corporates took part in it, and nearly ten thousand people attended the event.
Explains Dr M L Monga, director of NLDIMSR, ``Management these days has become highly theoretical. It is very important for management students to understand the market.''
It was with this idea in mind that the event wasconceptualised and executed.
The fair provided the students an insight into the various aspects of practical management. Says Sandeep Sehgal, a student at the institute, ``We not only learnt how macro planning is done at the micro level, but also how corporates behave in times of squeezed budgets and recession.''
Students learnt about marking placements, garnering advertisements and conducting public relations and the like. They also gained a first hand experience of managing funds for the event.
The systems aspect of management came through by way of a disguised market research conducted by the students for the participating corporate entities. And, in the process the students learnt about negotiation skills, the media etc.
``Marketing of DREAMEX (Disguised Research and Marketing Exhibition) to the industry in these times of economic recession was the biggest challenge. On the shelf was an opportunity to create a market in the upcoming Borovali-Mira-Bhayandar belt and to conduct consumer-specificresearch for the corporates,'' adds Monga.
``It does not matter how good the product is if you don't find the right market for it,'' said Preeti Saxena, a visitor to the fair.
Fairs and exhibitions are indeed useful means of communicating with the consumer. But, competition demands that companies go beyond this level. It helps to understand consumer psychographics. Disguised research is one way of realising this goal. In this, the product is kept concealed from the consumer who is asked questions regarding the product category. There are incentives for those answering these questions. Among the companies which participated in the disguised research were HLL, Godrej Soaps, Camlin, HMV, ICICI Bank, L G Electronics and Colgate Palmolive.
According to a senior executive from S Kumars, a co-sponsor, ``The more you learn about the market, the better you can sell in it.''
Cumulatively, the participating corporates said that it is important to learn who is buying your product and how he feels aboutit.
According to, C Bhattacharjee, a professor at the institute, the students have been the main beneficiaries from the fair. They have not only learnt the all important art of negotiation, but also time management and ways of dealing with people from different strata of society.
``The prime responsibility of a manager is to guard constantly against other people and to inculcate the guardian attitude amongst people under his or her management. This has been learnt by the students here,'' said Vinod Mittal, managing director, Ispat group of industries.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
