Guest Lecture on milk distribution & resilience-an innovative pedagogy
July 11, 2009

After 13 enriching classes of Sales and Distribution Management, what came next was a pleasant surprise to the PGDM Marketing Batch of 2010. Prof. Renuka Kamath, the faculty for the course, decided to do something quite different and take the participants by surprise.

In walked Smita along with Prof. Kamath to an almost stunned and quiet audience. So who is Smita really? Smita supplies milk to residents in Andheri(W). She started her own milk distribution after her father sold away the business without informing her. Smita's practical experiences while distributing milk in the area had to be shared, hence Prof. Kamath invited her to class.

Smita was cool, calm and composed as she fielded questions regarding the flow of milk packets, the supply chain and the politics / nexus that exists in the industry. Bringing a 'tampered and adulterated' milk packet to class, she showed us how to be discerning when we next buy a packet of milk. Her being younger than most people in the audience seemed to be no barrier at all, as she communicated freely in both English and Hindi.

Smita, whose day begins early in the morning at 4.00am, distributes milk for about an hour and a half, following which, she trades in stocks for another hour or so. Then her job as an HR executive with a leading Insurance Company awaits her. Her day ends with coming back home and spending the rest of the evening studing for herPGDM (Part time) froma good management institute in Mumbai.