February 13, 2011
School of Arts & Sciences, Amritapuri
 

The Department of Commerce and Management at the Amritapuri campus began the new year with a series of lectures organized during January 27-February 1.
 

For the first talk, students enrolled in B.Com. and B.B.M. programs welcomed Mr. Vivek Govind, a chartered accountant.
 

Speaking about career options in finance, Mr. Vivek emphasized self discipline, honesty and integrity as the core values which students should imbibe for a successful career.
 

“Well done is better than well said,” he noted, inspiring the students to plan for their future.
 

For the next lecture, the students welcomed a seasoned speaker, Mr. Marc Pelletier from Canada. His interactive sessions enlightened students on various aspects of marketing.
 

Teaching students how to most effectively market themselves, he first spoke on the steps in the job search process.
 

The lecture provided final-year and pre-final-year students with many tips on conducting an effective job search. Instructing students on how to write a perfect resume, he also taught them how to approach questions during an interview.
 

Successive sessions focused on marketing, one of the most crucial functions for a business. Discussing core marketing topics such as pricing, distribution and production, Mr. Pelletier emphasized that business firms needed to adopt the market driven strategy in pricing to ensure their long-term survival.
 

“A firm needs to have a strong relationship and understanding with its distributors,” he also underlined.
 

Analyzing the marketing strategy of Amrita Life, the organization that makes and sells proprietary Ayurvedic formulations and medicines, he highlighted the need to have a well-defined and focused marketing strategy.
 

Varsha Suresh, a second-year student of B.B.M. (Bachelor of Business Management) provided her feedback.
 

“The first speaker, Mr. Vivek Govind gave us a chance to really ponder on our character; he initiated quite a few important discussions,” she shared.
 

“Mr. Pelletier, in his first talk, started off in a simple way, but as the talk progressed, he took us through a marvelous amount of preparation that we could do to increase our chances for success in job interviews.”
 

“His subsequent sessions were also very interesting. He invited input from the students, which made the sessions very interactive.”
 

“The series was a very good venture by the department. We look forward to similar interesting sessions in the future also.”