National Conference
Retailing in India: Opportunities and Challenges
Thursday, March 15
Baba Farid College of Management &
BABA FARID GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS MUKTSAR ROAD,
Ph. 0164
e-mail:
National Conference
On
Retailing in India: Opportunities and Challenges
held on
March 15 – Friday, March 16, 2012
at
a Farid College of Management & Technology
Bathinda
BABA FARID GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS MUKTSAR ROAD,
BATHINDA
0164-2786001-04, 95011-15001-04
1800-4191-005 (Toll Free)
Fax: 0164-2786000
mail: [email protected]
Retailing in India: Opportunities and Challenges
March 16, 2012
Technology
BABA FARID GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS MUKTSAR ROAD,
Baba Farid College of Management & Technology under the aegis of Baba Farid Group of
Institutions is managed by Baba Farid Vidyak Society which was founded in 1993 under the
encouraging patronage of prominent educationists of Malwa Region of Punjab. The society
aims at providing quality education at affordable fee along with preparing the young minds
to face the competitive world on all fronts. The lush green campus, spread over 50 acres, is
situated 4 kms. away from the municipal limits of Bathinda city on Bathinda – Muktsar Road.
The campus offers a host of hi-tech ultra modern facilities to ensure well planned education
to its students.
A National Conference on 'Retailing in India: Opportunities and Challenges’ was organized
by Baba Farid College of Management and Technology (BFCMT) on 15-16 March, 2012. The
conference was aimed at sharing research and experience based knowledge among
researchers, academicians and practitioners on contemporary field of Retail and Marketing.
The conference also explored innovative practices and strategies that might assist Retail and
related organizations in their business operations. The Conference was addressed by a
number of experts from the field of research, academics, business and industry who came
from different parts of the country. More than one hundred and fifty papers were received
and selected papers were being published in the proceedings book bearing ISBN.
Such a overwhelming response showed by the participants from all over the country and the
highly commendable efforts of the organising committee made this second National
Conference of BFCMT a tremendous success.
The papers presented in this conference rekindled the knowledge of scholars and
academicians from various colleges and research institutes and also the industry
professionals by exposing their skills and views in different advancing areas of Retail
Management.
KEY INNOVATIONS AND KEY SUCCESS FACTORS OF THE CONFERENCE
ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT OF THE STUDENTS
For the first time the students were involved in the conference in the evaluation team. The
students participated actively and were very happy to be on the other side being the judges.
This boosted their confidence and was much appreciated.
ANNOUNCEMENT OF MANPOWER RETAILING ACADEMY
Mr. Manmeet Singh, Director, Manpower India, a Fortune 500 company announced his
desire to open up Manpower Retailing Academy in the campus of Baba Farid Group of
Institutions and offered 4000 jobs in Retail for the people of this region.
ON THE SPOT REGISTRATIONS
This conference being one of its kinds in the region with the theme related to the fastly
growing business domain “Retail”, the registration counter received a number of requests
from the delegates as well as visitors for on the spot registrations for presenting their
research papers and attending the healthy discussions sessions.
DELEGATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
The conference received a huge response with papers received from throughout India
including areas such as Jaipur, Hyderabad, Sonepat, Amritsar, Jagadhri, Ganganagar,
Faridabad, Lucknow, Jammu, Indore, Chennai and from areas as far as Nainital, Agra,
Mysore and Shillong in Meghalaya and many more. These include papers sent by industry
experts, Academicians and delegates from ministries such as Ministry of Defence.
RELEASE OF THE PROCEEDINGS BOOK
The selected papers presented in the Conference were published in the proceedings book
bearing ISBN number 978-93-82062-07-3. The same was released along with the Compact
Disk (CD) on the day of the conference.
THE INAUGURATION
The inauguration of the conference was done with lighting of lamp by the honourable Chief
Guest Prof. (Dr.) S. S. Gill, Vice Chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences. The
guest of honour was Mr. Manmeet Singh, Director, Manpower India, a Fortune 500
company and the key note speaker was Ms. Manpreet Kaur, Manager, HR, Denso Subros
India Limited. Honourable Managing Director of Baba Farid Group of Instituions, S.
Gurmeet Singh Dhaiwal welcomed the guests, delegates, faculty and the students. In his
inaugural address, Mr. Dhaliwal emphasized that above all it is the ATTITUDE of a person
that matters in every situation. Whatever task you are doing, it is only one’s way of looking
towards things which makes the results. The conference was attended by Director S.S.Pakka,
Director Sh. Hem Raj Sharma and all the Principals of various colleges, the heads of the departments.
THE CHIEF GUEST
The Chief Guest of the National Conference, Prof. (Dr.) S. S. Gill discussed the importance of
education. He discussed how education is emerging as the most important service sector in
the region. The resources, the environment, the talent available in India are the best; it is
only how one reaps the benefits out of it. He applauded the fruitful efforts of our
honourable Managing Director, S. Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal for his contribution in the field of
education.
THE GUEST OF HONOUR
Mr. Manmeet Singh, in his Address discussed the 360 degree viewpoint on retail. He shared
live examples of how the continuous Innovation is the key to succeed in retail Business
today. Mr. Singh conducted the skill gap analysis by discussing how India is the best retail
destination in the world since last 3 years in a row. There are 20 lac jobs in this Industry in
the next 3 years; but we will face a shortfall of 12 lacs people owing to the dearth of skilled
manpower in India.
THE KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Ms. Manpreet Kaur, in her Keynote Address discussed the importance of human beings in
the Retail Domain. She discussed how the Human Resource Department is Retail Industry is
converting to Human Capital Department. Those human beings which were earlier
considered as ONE of the several resources for production /service, are now considered as
the most important asset without which other factors of production are almost useless.
TECHNICAL SESSION I (15 / 03 / 2012)
The technical session started with the paper presentation of the delegates. The Chairperson
of the Session was Prof. Vikasdeep from Univ. School of Business Studies, Punjabi Univ.,
Talwandi Sabo. Some of the papers presented in this session included Analysis of Significant
Retail Locations, evolution of Retail from Unorganized to Organized, various formats of
Retail and changing preferences of consumers. The papers presented were from all fields of
management that described the implementation of various innovative and creative
strategies for stimulating the retail business.
TECHNICAL SESSION II (15 / 03 / 2012)
The session was chaired by Prof. Harpreet Singh, Director, Ludhiana Group of Colleges,
Chowki Mann, Ludhiana. Informatory papers on Finance including Impact of Cash and Carry
stores and the relation of FDI to this domain were presented. The delegates also presented
their work of research on financial strategies for growing retail business. Overall, the session
was quite interesting.
TECHNICAL SESSION III (15 / 03 / 2012)
Dr. Dyal Bhatnagar from Univ. School of Biz Studies, Punjabi Univ., Talwandi Sabo, chaired
the technical session III. There were interesting research papers presented on ethics in
Human Resource Management. The policies related to staffing and the Talent Management
in Retail Industry were discussed in depth including live examples of companies such as Cafe
Coffee Day (CCD).
TECHNICAL SESSION IV (16 / 03 / 2012
The technical session IV Session II was marked by presentation of papers by the delegates from
academics, industries as well as researchers and students. The Chairperson of the Session was
Mr. Sachin Dev, Dean Academic Affairs from Baba Farid College of Management and
Technology, Bathinda. The paper presentations covered various aspects of Marketing like Impact
of Sales Promotion Activities, Role of Advertising and its effectiveness; Marketing Strategies for Rural
India, Whatever is seen is sold. An interesting case study was presented on Types and Patterns of
Retailing in Shillong.
TECHNICAL SESSION V (16 / 03 / 2012)
The technical session II was chaired by Dr. Amandeep Singh, Assistant Professor, University
School of Business Studies, Punjabi University, Talwandi Sabo. The session was fruitful in
terms of healthy discussions on the future of Retailing in India. There were healthy
discussions on the role of Foreign Direct Investment in India, what is the role of FDI in Indian
Retail Sector, and various issues and implications related to it. Some discussions on Indian
Rural retail were also a good learning.
TECHNICAL SESSION VI (16 / 03 / 2012)
Ms. Neetu Singh, Head of the Department, Baba Farid College of Management &
Technology, Bathinda was the chairperson in this session. This session witnessed paper
presentations on some really interesting topics such as status of Online Retailing, E
Commerce and benefits of cloud computing.
THE VALEDICTION
The Valediction Ceremony started at 11:30 am on the second day of the conference. The
Chief Guest of that day was Mr. Abhinav Trikha (IAS), Additional Deputy Commissioner,
Bathinda. The valedictory session brought together the organisers, speakers, delegates,
exhibitors and sponsors, from all over India to retrospect and put forth their thoughts and
ideate over the culmination of the event. The inputs received at the session added to the
glory and splendour of the conference. The guests and the delegates acknowledged the
hard efforts of the institute from conducting a highly organized and well scheduled
conference. The honourable dignitaries were honoured and the delegates were offered
participation certificates.
THE REPORT OF THE CONFERENCE
The thorough report of the conference was presented by Ms. Babita Singla, Conference
Secretary and Assistant Professor, Baba Farid College of Management and Technology. She
discussed even the minute details of each and every activity of two days conference in her
brief address towards the summation of the Conference. The report of the conference was
fruitful for the guests of the valediction session to have an overall view of the conference
and the happenings of two days.
THE CLOSING STAGE
The grandeur of National Conference on 'Retailing in India: Opportunities and Challenges’
came to its conclusion with the vote of thanks proposed by Dr. Manish Bansal, Director Principal,
BFCMT. He extended his gratitude to the guests of honour, eminent speakers, scholars and
delegates who presented their works at the conference. He also appreciated the efforts of the
organizing committee for the successful conduct of the second National Conference of BFCMT.
