Inaugural Function of Batch 1 of XIME Chennai

The Inauguration of the First batch of PGDM programme of Xavier Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship (XIME) Chennai Campus was held on 25^th June 2017.  Mr. B Santhanam, President & MD, South Asia, Saint Gobain India Private Limited was the Chief Guest and Prof. Jean-Pierre Helfer, Former Dean, Paris-Sorbonne Business School & Dr. J. Alexander IAS (Retd.), Chairman of XIME Kochi & Former Chief Secretary of Karnataka were the Guests of Honour.

Mr. P. C. Cyriac IAS (Retd.) Chairman, XIME Chennai & Former Additional Chief Secretary Government of Tamil Nadu, welcomed the gathering and looked back on the cherished journey undertaken by XIME to start its Chennai campus.

Prof. J. Philip, Founder and President, XIME, said the opening of the Chennai Campus of XIME, the third after Bengaluru and Kochi, is a dream come true for him. The first batch in Bengaluru had commenced in 1995 and the First batch of Kochi campus had commenced in 2013. In continuation of the cultural and gender diversity of the other two campuses, the first batch of XIME Chennai is composed of 59 students from over 12 states, of which 20 students are girls.

Prof J Philip said that since Oragadam is a manufacturing hub, also dubbed as the Detroit of India, the focus of XIME Chennai will be on Manufacturing Analytics, Operations, Logistics & Supply Chain Management. “We hope to make a significant contribution to the ‘Make in India’ movement.

The Chief Guest Mr. B. Santhanam during his inaugural address said that the world of work has changed and today’s business school students need to be collaborative, creative, connected and driven by conscience. He added that businesses can no longer operate on the age-old adage espoused by economist Milton Friedman, that the only social responsibility of businesses is to make profits for their stakeholders. “If you asked someone a few years ago, what is the most important characteristic that you must possess, in order to succeed in business, most would have said that to be competitive is at the heart of being successful,” he said. However, being narrowly competitive no longer guarantees success. The ability to collaborate is now an absolute necessity.

The last and the most important dimension of change is that the world is suddenly beginning to wake up to its conscience. Capitalism is now focused on building trust, compassion, collaboration and value creation. “The era of conscious capitalism has just begun,” he added.

Mr. Santhanam also proposed a framework to the students and faculty, which he called ‘i10 Leadership Traits’, drawn from success stories of many leaders, and if inculcated, will lead to increased impact. The framework, he explained, has 10 interrelated traits that contribute to effective leadership: intelligence, not analytical but emotional and social; information through knowledge, framework, linkages; insight into markets, customer and industry trends; imagination in envisioning the future and being unconstrained by resources; intensity through passion, drive and involvement; inspiration to be a visionary, role model and get others to commit; influence through persuasion, consensus, teamwork and collaboration; impact through clarity of communication, personality and connect with people; and independence by being autonomous, self-motivated, possessing edge and power balance.

Prof Jean-Pierre Helfer, former Dean, Paris-Sorbonne Business School, talked of three revolutions that are changing the face of business and will impact today’s management students. The first is the absolute necessity for companies to integrate CSR into their approach. Companies have also to be very agile. “The victorious companies are the ones that adapt, those who know how to innovate, how to change markets and those who know how to reinvent business models that lead them to blue oceans instead of staying in wild competition spaces,” he explained.

The second revolution, explained the professor, is that teachers of pure management are less important today. The managers of tomorrow, he says, need an openness towards the world, openness towards philosophy, art, geography. “Marketing remains useful, but sociology and psychology are essential. Finance cannot be ignored but the philosophy to better understand whom finance is serving, is a priority. Our students want theatre classes to learn how to behave on the business scene; they want courses on art and culture,” he elaborated.

Lastly, referring to the third revolution, Prof. Helfer said today, schools and universities can no longer live in a closed space of students and their families. The ecosystem is large, and there are a multitude of stakeholders to satisfy today, from international accreditation bodies that come to audit schools, to journalists who want to rank and compare B-schools.

Fr. George Sebastian, Director, XIME Chennai & Former Dean of XLRI gave the Vote of Thanks to end the formal function.