“Forecasting models have become definite ticket-to-death because the world tomorrow is no longer going to be the world of yesterday,” according to T Krishnakumar., President, Coca-Cola India & South West Asia Business Unit.
He said that instead of forecasting, business organisations must follow ‘backcasting’ as a planning method which will help organisations to get a visibility of the future at least for five years from now. He was addressing the inaugural session of the 17th MMA All India Management Students’ Convention 2018 here on Tuesday
Tackling change
Urging the management students to stay abreast of technological changes, Krishnakumar said that inspite of uncertainties, the speed of change is rapidly increasing.
Citing the example of Kodak, Krishnakumar said, with the fast changing consumer preferences and technology disruptions, obsolescence is happening overnight.
“The key challenge is not about innovation but how one democratises such innovations,” Krishnakumar said.He cautioned students that disruptive technologies can destroy the entire product chain if the business enterprise does not foresee its potential.
Professor G Raghuram Director, IIM-Bangalore said: “The concept of VUCA — Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous have always existed and one must not be perturbed or hassled by the changes, but see how best they can contribute in the changing circumstances.”
Raghuram said:According to an estimate, at least 2.5 crore people should be upskilled per annum for the next 5-10 years, for the country to achieve double digit growth level.“of the 2.5 crore people, about 0.8 crore will be upskilled in infrastructure projects like housing, road laying to improve the quality of houses and roads.”
He said that schemes like the Pradan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana have not only helped with rural connectivity but also increased ownership of motorcycles and mobile phones.
Day 2 of the convention was sponsored by CavinKare and powered by BusinessLine . The final rounds of contests such as Big Debate, Management Quiz, paper presentation competition organised for students will be conducted on Wednesday.