S P Jain Institute of Management and Research hosted its first ever Consulting Symposium VINIMAY at the SPJIMR Auditorium on 2 February, 2008. The aim of VINIMAY was to expose the students to the application of concepts relevant to the field of consulting through a mix of discussions and presentations. The theme of the event was "Strategies and Opportunities in Emerging India", keeping with the present economic and investment boom situation in India. Avalon Consulting was the knowledge partner for the event. Mr. Raj Nair, Chairman and Founder of Avalon Consulting, was the keynote speaker and he set the tone for a knowledge-intensive session through his thought-provoking speech.

The two events lined up were "Crack-a-Case" - a case analysis competition for consultants from industry and a Panel discussion on the theme with the Retail sector as a backdrop.

Three teams were shortlisted to present the case analysis of a case provided by Avalon Consulting.

The case was about a Non-Banking Financial Corporation (NBFC) operating in the auto finance industry. As part of the competition, the consultants were required to recommend a strategy for the NBFC to develop and grow the business. The winner of Crack-a-Case was a team of senior consultants Amrit Singh and Shalini Upadhyay from ECS. They won one lakh rupees sponsored by Avalon. The second prize winners were Vishnu Pillai from KPMG and Shweta Singh from GE Commercial Finance. They won fifty thousand rupees. For the participating consultants, Crack-a-case as an opportunity for them to showcase their problem solving approaches before an audience of senior academic and industry professionals and for the students it was the best opportunity to learn the "how-tos" and "what-ifs" of case analysis.

The next event was a panel discussion on the topic "India Entry Strategy - The Retail Sector". The panelists were:

• Vivek Law, Editor, Consumer Affairs, CNBC TV18 (Moderator)
  
• Sadeesh Raghavan, Managing Director, India Domestic Business, Accenture
  
• Saurine Doshi, Partner, A T Kearney
  
• Rakesh Biyani, CEO, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd.
  
• Abheek Singhi, Partner, BCG
  
• Prem Chandrani, Professor, SPJIMR

With a mix of senior consultants and professionals from top companies, the stage was set for a diverse set of ideas and opinions on a hotly discussed current topic.

One of the ideas expressed during the discussion was a joint tie-up between real estate developers and retailers, through which the developer obtains a business interest in the retailing venture. One of the outcomes of this partnership could be that the developer provides strategic expertise like market penetration, setting the market and trade penetration and also help in acquisition of properties and construction of buildings. The discussion was peppered with quotable quotes from a few of the panelists. Mr. Sadeesh Raghavan underscored that a retailer has to do the right segmentation and also focus on the market within the targeted segments. Mr. Saurine Doshi quoted one of his clients, "Retail is the easiest sector to be in and the most difficult to be profitable in." Commenting on future trends, Mr. Rakesh Biyani mentioned that the urban poor is today a rapidly growing segment which all retailers are targeting. But it was Mr. Vivek Law who kept the audience enraptured and the panelists on the toes with his witty remarks and insightful questions throughout the discussion.

VINIMAY was attended by an audience of over 250 people, comprising corporate guests, students from other prominent business schools in Mumbai, SPJIMR faculty and participants.