Mysore/Mysuru: For several years, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD) has been organising multiple international conferences every year. Keeping the COVID-19 situation in mind, SDM-IMD had organised the first International e-conference on ‘Adapting to the new business normal – The way ahead’ recently.

Welcoming the participants, Dr. N.R. Parasuraman, Director, SDMIMD, spoke on the challenges and opportunities on doing business in the pandemic era and released the CD on Conference Proceeding.

Dr. Mousumi Sengupta, the Conference Chair, briefed the participants about the objective of the conference and emphasised on the need to get virtually connected, for the purpose of collaborative research.

During his keynote address, eminent international academician and researcher, Dr. Moez Bennouri, the Director of the M.Sc Programmes, Montpellier Business School, France, spoke on the issue of female leadership in organisations. In the context of Corporate Governance in the current business scenario, he emphasised on the significance of the involvement of female leaders at the top management level.

The keynote was followed by paper presentation session. More than 100 participants and paper presenters took part in the conference. Papers have been presented in different tracks grouped under Marketing, Finance, HRM, Economics, Operations, Analytics and IT.

In a panel discussion on ‘Adapting to the new business normal,’ distinguished corporate personalities, such as Ravikumar, Head-HR, Feedback Consulting; Hemant Galagali, Associate Director – Enterprise Digital Strategy, IQVIA Inc; and Divakar Gupta, Global Product Manager, Expedia; shared their experiences on the various challenges at work, in the present time. They emphasised on several strategic decisions, companies need to make, to cater to the new normal business context. Dr. Sugant, Professor, SDMIMD, acted as moderator, during the panel discussion.

During the valedictory session, Anujeet Varadkar, CEO, Svatantra Microfinance, delivered the address and spoke on the importance of microfinance in the Indian economy. He highlighted the issues, which are typically faced by microfinance companies.