Why does Vicks VapoRub sell better in small tins than in the blue jars so ubiquitous througout the rest of the world?  What prompted Microsoft to develop a version of Windows that allows multiple, simultaneous users - each with their own mouse? The answers lie in the innovative business models motivated by a very complex India market.  Join our group of panelists as they reveal their experiences with the unique cultural, social and economic realities of a subcontinent that is at once the world's most enticing yet challenging new marketplace.

Biographies

Harish Bijoor
Indian School of Business
Harish is teaches at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and is CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults. Chief Operating Officer, Zip Telecom Limited. Active member, Plantations sub-committee of the Planning Commission for the formulation of the XIth Five Year Plan (2007-2012). Brand Management and Marketing hierarchy, Tata Coffee Limited. Sales and Distribution, Brand Management, Brooke Bond Lipton India Limited (now Hindustan Lever Limited). Member, Coffee Board of India, Union Ministry of Commerce and many active coffee forums.

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Jacques Creeten
Vice-President, Federal Express International Inc. 
Degree in Law, State University, Ghent. Federal Express International: 1985, Operations Specialist and Handler; 1986, Manager, Hub Operations, Brussels; 1991, Senior Country Manager, Operations, Turkey; 1992, Senior Manager, Operations, Italy; 1993, Senior Manager, GSP, Europe and Africa; 1995, Senior Manager, Middle East and Indian Subcontinent; from 1999, Managing Director, Indian Subcontinent.

 

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Gurcharan Das
Author, Consultant and Public Intellectual
Gurcharan Das graduated with honours from Harvard University in Philosophy and Politics. He later attended Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program (AMP). He writes a regular column for the Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Eenadu, Prabhat Kabar, Vijay Karnataka, Mathrubhumi, Sakal, Daily Ajit. 1981 to 1985 Chairman and Managing Director of Richardson Hindustan Limited. 1985 to1992 CEO of Procter & Gamble India, and later Vice President and Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide. He currently consults with a number of companies on global corporate strategy, and is associated with a private equity fund.

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Anand G. Mahindra
Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd
1977, graduate (Hons), Harvard College; 1981, MBA, Harvard Business School. With Mahindra Ugine Steel Company: 1981, Executive Assistant to Finance Director; 1989, President and Deputy Managing Director. With Mahindra & Mahindra: 1991, Deputy Managing Director; since 1997, Managing Director; since 2001, current position. 2003-04, President, Confederation of Indian Industry. Director, National Stock Exchange of India.

 

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Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon India
1973, BSc (Hons) in Zoology, Bangalore University; 1975, postgraduate in Malting and Brewing, Ballarat College, Melbourne University. 1974, Trainee Brewer, Carlton and United Breweries, Melbourne and Trainee Malster , Barrett Brothers & Burston, Australia; 1975-77, Technical Consultant, Jupiter Breweries, Calcutta and Technical Manager, Standard Maltings Corporation, Baroda; 1978, Trainee Manager, Biocon Biochemicals, Cork, Ireland; since 1978, current position. Since 1994, Chairman, Syngene International, Bangalore; since 2000, Chairman, Clinigene International, Bangalore. Member: Confederation of Indian Industry; Greater Mysore Chamber of Industries; Advisory Committee, Department of Biotechnology; Young Presidents' Organization; Research Council, CFTRI. Member of the Board of Trustees, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat. Chairperson, All India Art Exhibition.

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Ravi Venkatesan
Chairman, Microsoft India
Ravi Venkatesan is responsible for Microsoft’s marketing, operational and business development efforts in the country. In partnership with the leaders of Microsoft’s other business units, Venkatesan provides a single point of leadership for the company, playing an integral role in defining Microsoft’s relationship with policy makers, customers and business partners across Microsoft’s six distinct business units in India. Prior to joining Microsoft, Venkatesan worked for over seventeen years with Cummins Inc, a US-based designer, manufacturer and distributor of engines and related technologies. He served in various leadership capacities at Cummins including Chairman of Cummins India Limited and Managing Director of Tata Cummins Limited, a joint venture between Cummins Inc. and Tata Motors. Venkatesan has a BS  in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (1985), an MS  in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University (1986) and an MBA from Harvard University (1992) where he was a Baker Scholar. Venkatesan was awarded Purdue University's Outstanding Industrial Engineer award for the year 2000 and the Distinguished Alumnus award by the Indian Institute of Technology in 2003. 

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Frits van Dijk
Executive Vice-President and Zone Director, Asia, Oceania and Middle East Nestlé SA
Degree in Economics, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Since 1970 with Nestlé including: Marketing Manager, Sri Lanka and Philippines; 1990, Market Head, Malaysia, China and Japan; 2000, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nestlé Waters; currently, responsible for Asia, Oceania, Africa, Middle East. Interests: golf, mountain hiking.

 

 

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Adi B. Godrej
Chairman, Godrej Group
Master's in Management, MIT, US. Formerly, Chairman and President, several industry associations and government-appointed development councils. Expertise: management development, international trade, consumer products, agricultural input industries. Interests: water skiing, windsurfing, horseback riding, bridge.

 

 

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Peter J. M. van Laarhoven
Group Director, Strategy, TNT NV
1982, degree in Applied Mathematics, Delft University of Technology; PhD in Combinatorial Optimization, Erasmus University, Rotterdam. Formerly, Researcher, Philips Research Laboratories, Eindhoven, The Netherlands; Senior Consultant, Centre for Quantitative Methods, Philips; Consultant Distribution Logistics, McKinsey & Company; 1996-2000, Full Professor, International and Distribution Logistics, Eindhoven University of Technology; Logistics Counsellor, KLM Cargo. Since 2000, current position. Author of two books and articles for international scientific journals.

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Ben Verwaayen
Former Chief Executive, BT
Ben Verwaayen was appointed to the Board on 14 January 2002, became Chief Executive on 1 February 2002 and stepped down as CEO on 31 May 2008. Before joining BT Group, he had been with Lucent Technologies Inc since September 1997. His position on leaving was vice chairman of the management board. Previous to this, Ben was executive vice-president and chief operating officer, and before this, executive vice-president, international. Prior to joining Lucent, Ben worked for KPN in the Netherlands for nine years as president and managing director of its subsidiary PTT Telecom. From 1975 to 1988, he worked for ITT in Europe. He was appointed an independent, non-executive director of UPS in March 2005. Ben is a Dutch national aged 55 and graduated with a Master's degree in law and international politics from the State University of Utrecht, Holland. He was created an Officer of the Orange Order-Nassau in April 2006 and appointed a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur in June of that year. He is married with a son and daughter.