The session was organized in collaboration with one of India's best business schools - S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR). The university, founded in 1981, has been consistently ranked among the top ten business schools in India since its inception, and also holds the world's most prestigious AMBA accreditation. Establishing a partnership with an Indian university has given our students the opportunity to get acquainted with the possibilities of establishing business contacts in the largest and one of the most dynamically developing regions of the world..
This year’s visit started with an acclimatization in the city (one of the largest and most culturally diverse metropolises in the world, according to official data of more than 17 million inhabitants) and sightseeing such as the Mount Mary Catholic Church, the famous Dhobi Ghat laundry, the Ghandi Museum, the historic Indian Gate, Jain Temple, Marine Drive boulevard, historic train station and other places.
The educational part of the Doing Business in India module started with prof. Prema Chandrami, a graduate of such colleges as London Business School and Wharton, a professional manager who has held managerial positions on several continents - Asia, Australia and North America. Professor Prem Chandrami was also an extremely open-minded tutor for a group of students.
Another lecturer of SPJIMR prof. Pallavi Modi introduced students to the most important issues in India's economy, paying special attention to the historical and cultural aspects of India's development and the prospects of developing, as it has already been estimated, the world's most numerous country.
A more detailed analysis of the characteristics of marketing promotion characteristic for India was presented by prof. Renuka Kamath, lecturer at SPJIMR, marketing expert. Professor Kamath focused on differences in perceptions of the key tools for reaching Indian customers, their cultural determinants, and presented a list of more or less successful promotional campaigns conducted on the market by large international concerns critically analyzing the most common mistakes they made.
Extremely important was the meeting with directors of the largest Indian companies whose names are well recognized throughout the world. Meeting with Ms. Nupur Roy Choudhury, Director of Tata Global Beverages responsible for strategy and planning combined with a visit to the modern Tata Consulting Services facility, has allowed participants to understand and see the essence of an outsourced system. On the second day of classes Mr. Naresh Makhijani, a partner at KPMG in India, introduced students with legal solutions regulating the activities of companies operating on the Indian market. He emphasized the role of the state in creating standards for responsible management of the company and gave positive examples resulting from the increasingly responsible behavior of the companies themselves, including examples of implementation of the sustainable development strategy of the largest Indian companies. In turn prof. Oskar D'Souza talked about the new business paradigm - BPO operations in India
It was important for the European entrepreneurs wishing to start investing in India to be the subject of the third day. The first guest was Dr Pragnya Ram, the director of the Aditya Birla Group. The corporation operates in the plastics industry, counts some 136,000 employees and is one of the largest in Asia. In 2011, it was ranked 4th in the world in the 'Top Companies for Leaders' ranking, while being ranked No. 1 in Asia Pacific. Owing to its area of business, issues related to corporate social responsibility are an important part of the company's development planning. Dr Ram presented the company's management experience, which seeks to meet the demands of the global market of increasingly socially aware individuals and organizations. The second guest of that day Mr. Leszek Brenda - Consul General of the Republic of Poland in Mumbai - brought closer the history and details of Polish-Indian cooperation and invited the audience to jointly celebrate the anniversary of the 3rd May Constitution together with the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland.
The third important point of the day was the visit of students in Dharavi - one of the largest slums in the world. This place is known to film lovers from Slumdog Millionaire movies until recently, a huge social problem. Recently, companies from all over the world treated India as a landfill of waste, exporting "produced" waste elsewhere in the world. It has recently turned out that what seemed to be the curse of India can now become their wealth. Thanks to the enormous entrepreneurial strength of the Dharavi residents, waste recycling became a great business idea for them. In detail about the aspects of functioning of this place responded to prof. Nirja Mattoo.
Day four of the Mumbai visit enriched the meeting with Mr. Sudhir Rao - Managing Director of Skoda India. This is a very experienced person - Mr. Sudhir Rao has worked in the US and Europe for many years in management positions in automotive companies. He talked about the specifics of working in a German company operating in India, the potential of the Indian automotive market, and the problems and challenges of managing such a corporation, largely due to cultural differences.
Lots of places during the various lectures and meetings have covered cultural and historical issues that have helped to a great extent understand the context of the organization's functioning in a completely different way from the Polish environment. The students had the opportunity to watch excerpts of films depicting the core values of Indian culture along with commentary and discussions with the Institute staff, which contributed greatly to a deeper understanding of the other. Students also had a unique opportunity to meet the respected Indian artist Dhrub Gosh, who is recognized throughout the world for his contribution to the development of traditional sarangi music. Dhruba Ghosh is the teacher and inspirer of many talented artists not only in India, the innovator of the instrument he plays and the winner of numerous awards. He received, among others. Awards such as the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 2014 for contributions to the development of sarangi and the worldwide Grammy Award in 2010. During the meeting the musician gave a lecture explaining the participants the secrets of the instrument and the context of reproducing traditional music, and gave a unique concert, with unusual emotions.
A reference to the movie star Dharavi was a visit to Whistling Woods, the Bollywood Film Institute. Bollywood with its power of film industry has already overshadowed American Hollywood and has become the subject of many economic and social analyzes. In addition to interviews and meetings with managers, short workshops were also held, and our listeners had the opportunity to cast themselves in the roles of directors and filmmakers.
Probably an interesting addition to the whole visit and a unique opportunity was the previously mentioned meeting with the Ambassador, which took place on May 4, 2017 on the roof of the Trident Hotel in the most prestigious district of Mumbai. The diplomatic meeting was an opportunity to discuss and exchange views with both the High Representative of the Polish Government in India, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Mr. Tomasz Lukaszuk and the Consul General of the Republic of Poland Leszek Brenda ¬- and other important representatives from many countries in the world. The topics of the talks ranged from cultural nuances to the relevant details of the trade, which greatly enriched the whole visit to Mumbai. Details of this unique event can be found on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
Interesting experience for the participants was a short session of morning yoga on the campus. They had a chance to take part in a short session of basic traditional exercises, while raising general interest of other visitors to the Institute.
Students were very happy with the course of the visit, the diversity of the topics of the meetings and the possibility of getting to know the culture of India. Many of them saw the chances of their companies becoming successful in their respective markets.