Student Activities
RMAX's flagship event, Gramotsava, has proven to be an excellent platform for leading organisations from different sectors to market their products and services in the rural hinterlands of Orissa.
Spardha is another landmark initiative of RMAX. Spardha tests the social entrepreneurship quotient of participants through a series of competitions encompassing sectors which influence the rural scenario of India. Spardha does not stop at being a competition but also aims at operating ideas and policy suggestions by participants which can be put to use in real-time by practitioners. In the Tata Steel sponsored first edition, it attracted participants from several top Business schools like ISB, XLRI etc.
Theme based Summits, panel discussions, workshops & conferences. In the past such events have been held on the themes of Right to Information Act., Corporate Social Responsibility, and Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) etc.
Talks by Senior Corporate Executives, Activists, Cooperative Leaders, Social Entrepreneurs etc. In the past eminent personalities like S. Sivakumar (CEO, ITC -IBD), Lisa Nitze (Ashoka Foundation), Malcolm Harper (Microfinance expert) etc. have addressed our students.
Research Projects & Consultancy assignments for social organisations like DFID, UNDP, UNICEF, UNIDO etc.
Live Projects Some of the live projects which we undertook were:
* To study the telecom markets in Orissa and understanding the purchase behavior of consumers in the telecommunication market. The project was carried out under the aegis of Aircel./p>
* To carry out a comparative analysis between Passion Plus and Passion Pro. The project was done on behalf of Hero Honda.
* Mahindra and Mahindra entrusted the students with a project to study the customersfeedback on the after sales service and study the perception of the villagers regarding the organisation and the external forces which restrict them to buy a tractor.
* SREI Sahej-Perception mapping of stakeholders towards common service centers and need analysis of services offered at CSCs and identification of gaps. The project also sought to identify the mode of communication and branding for SAHAJ Jan SevaKendras.
* The students carried out a project to evaluate the overall brand recall and brand awareness of Paradeep Phosphates Limited.
* A project on mapping the share of expenditure on mobile services in total household expenditure and mapping the share of Value Added Services in the total expenditure on mobile under the aegis of Uninor.
* Ujjivan along with the students of XIMB RM carried out an exploratory research on consumer behavior in the Microfinance Sector to Develop an Effective Communication Strategy for Ujjivan Financial Services Limited.
* The students carried out a project for RMAI which involved a comprehensive survey of rural haats in Orissa.
* Benefits to the students:
1) A ctivities in Gramotsava help bridge the gap between classroom learning and practical applicability of theoretical concepts learnt.
2)It helps students in understanding rural markets, behaviour of the rural consumer and the agricultural practices prevalent in Orissa as it involves extensive travelling into the rural hinterlands of Orissa.