Industry and Academia Stalwarts Discuss the New Rules of Business

IIM Rohtak hosts Management Conference 2026

Rohtak,

The Indian Institute of Management Rohtak, one of the country's leading management institutes, successfully organised the Management Conference 2026 on October 24th, 2026, under the theme ‘The New Rules of Business: Bridging Academia and Industry in an Age of Constant Reinvention.’

It brought together more than 50 industry leaders, business executives, and academic experts to deliberate on emerging business trends, strategic challenges, and the evolving management landscape. The conference provided an opportunity to the PGP cohort of 600+ students to engage with industry leaders, fostering meaningful industry-academia interaction and offering insights into strategic leadership, innovation, competitive advantage, and the future of business.

Prof. Dheeraj Sharma, Director, IIM Rohtak, welcomed the distinguished speakers, industry representatives, faculty members, and students. In his address, he highlighted the need to balance stability with adaptability, drawing parallels from the governance and constitutional amendments across the major parts of the globe.

Emphasising the importance of purposeful change, he underscored the need to identify the right time and reason for reinvention rather than pursuing it continuously. He also addressed changing attitudes towards work, stressing the importance of accountability, commitment, and going beyond the bare minimum. He called upon students to make the most of their interactions with industry leaders, emphasising that commitment, discipline, and sincerity remain fundamental to professional success.

The conference featured distinguished keynote speakers, including the MD & CEO of BSE, HDFC Pension Fund Management Limited, and Kokuyo Camlin. They shared their perspectives on constant reinvention, customer-centric innovation, and leadership in a rapidly changing business environment. Drawing on their professional experience and industry expertise, the speakers examined how past successes can become barriers to future growth, emphasising the need to challenge organisational complacency, respond to market realities, and embrace change with purpose and adaptability.

The event featured four panel discussions that brought together leaders from prominent organisations, including Johnson and Johnson, 3M, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Network 18 Media & Investments Ltd., Merck Healthcare, Omaxe Limited, Synergy Consulting, INC., Niva Bupa Health Insurance, Mitsubishi Electric India Pvt. Ltd. and Thomson Reuters among others. The first panel explored the shift from product-centric strategies to interconnected business ecosystems, emphasising the role of strategic partnerships, customer-centric innovation, and shared value creation in building sustainable competitive advantage. The second panel highlighted the evolving role of finance as a strategic driver of business growth, underscoring the importance of proactive risk management, financial resilience, and adaptive planning in navigating economic uncertainty. The third panel examined the evolving future of work, emphasising the importance of integrating artificial intelligence with human capabilities, continuous upskilling, adaptability, and collaborative leadership in building future-ready organisations. The fourth panel explored emerging career opportunities in the digital era, highlighting the importance of problem-solving, curiosity, continuous learning, and adaptability, while emphasising the role of artificial intelligence as an enabling tool alongside essential human skills.

The conference reaffirmed IIM Rohtak's commitment to fostering industry-academia collaboration, strengthening management education, and inspiring future leaders to contribute meaningfully by reducing the gap between being and becoming. The inferences drawn from the panels would be culminated in the form of a concept paper containing recommendations and implications for future reference by industry practitioners, policy makers, and academia.

With a current enrolment of over 1,600 students, IIM Rohtak, an Institute of National Importance and AMBA and BGA accredited, ranks among the top 2% of global management schools. The Institute has maintained its standing among the top-ranked institutions in India and has achieved a position of 151+ in QS World University Rankings, underscoring its rising prominence in academic and policy excellence. As the largest IIM, it fosters a diverse student community and remains committed to academic excellence, leadership development, and nation-building through education, research, and policy engagement.