Future Managers Lend Different Strokes to the Social Sector
April 21 - May 1, 2008

The gap between boardroom planning and ground implementation needs to be bridged by managers who are sensitized towards the issues that challenge India even as it stands poised to target a double digit growth rate. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) would remain confined only to the corporate preamble unless a real urge to outreach the grass root level is realised. The neglected social sector is a dormant behemoth of the Indian economy. If tapped to harness the true potential, it could trigger the country onto the trajectory of inclusive growth, something long dreamt but yet to be realised. The time to act upon is now.

To channelize energy of young managers to strike a socio-economic balance one needs to instil in them the zeal to make a difference, and the desire to travel that extra mile to make benefits reach the destitute and make prosperity simmer from the bottom strata of the society. The Centre for Development of Corporate Citizenship (DOCC) at the SPJIMR established in 2001 with a view to mould management education in tune with the Indian context and to further the institute's twin principles of 'Value based growth' and 'Influencing practice'. A unique initiative of the centre is the socially relevant project that all the participants of the institute undertake with an NGO during summers. By creating linkages between the managerial mindset, the efforts of the NGOs and the support of the government, there is hope that the fruits of management effectiveness and efficiency will reach a larger cross section of the society. Since its inception, SPJIMR students have carried out 1100 such projects in collaboration with 800 NGOs. This year students have scanned the length and breadth of the country by undertaking projects from Ladakh to Andaman and Nicobar islands and from Ahmedabad to Assam.

Through such projects and other related activities the centre strives to build the managerial potential of the participants and at the same time sensitizes them to Indian ethos and culture.