CA Sri Lanka’s Strategy Summit kicks off, pushing limits of corporate thinking

By Charumini de Silva

The biggest business strategy conference in the country, the ‘Strategy Summit’ organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (CA Sri Lanka), was ceremoniously inaugurated yesterday, attracting over 300 high profile business leaders, including international participants at the Mount Lavinia Hotel.

The two-day summit which will conclude today (27) is featuring four top internationally-renowned strategy gurus – Dr. Sunil Erevelles, Martin Roll, Sam Dias and Omid Ghamami – sharing insights and experience to help corporate leaders in Sri Lanka redefine the strategy of their respected organisations to achieve long-term success and sustenance.  

The ‘Strategy Summit’ which is a strictly corporate leaders only event is providing perfect platform to help prepare businesses for the corporate warfare ahead while also focusing on different core elements of business strategy which will create future businesses and how firms could execute those core strategies in competitive environments. 

Facing the challenges ahead

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony CA Sri Lanka President Lasantha Wickremasinghe highlighted the importance of the ever-increasing need to redefine, modify and re-strategise businesses, pointing out that the ‘Strategy Summit’ would provide new directions in taking the respected companies forward to ensure survival in most challenging of times ahead. 

Wickremasinghe said the past decade had been a very challenging one for most countries and businesses due to a number of factors, including the financial crisis. 

“The financial crisis taught us many lessons and it was also a turning point for many of our corporates. The crisis also made us revaluate certain factors. Since then redefining our organisations’ strategy has become increasingly important to ensure survival as well as success in these challenging times,” he stressed. 

Noting the great 1929 US depression has lasted 25 years, he cautioned there was a possibility that the current depression could last at least till 2032 due to the complicated economic conditions prevailing at the moment. 

Thereby Wickremasinghe emphasised the critical role of corporates in redefining, modifying and re-strategising their businesses to withstand the challenging times ahead.

Driving Sri Lanka forward

Commenting on the country’s perspective, he said Sri Lanka today was at the threshold of new beginnings while emphasising on the imperative role professionals and corporate leaders have to play in order to achieve the growth objectives of the country.

“We have to join hands and drive our country forward, because each and every one of us are responsible to help our nation achieve its growth objectives,” he stated.

The President pointed out that following the overwhelming response from both local and foreign business leaders, the two-day Strategy Summit was being held for the second consecutive year.

“I hope that over the next two days the summit will enhance your knowledge and open your mind to new methodologies which would help you and your organisations achieve greater success and sustenance,” Wickremasinghe added.

The participant profile for the Strategy Summit 2016 comprised of chairmen, managing directors, country heads, executive directors, vice presidents, partners, chief executive officers, management consultants, directors, chief operating officers, chief marketing officers, heads of business development units, operations directors, general managers, assistant general managers, deputy general managers, chief financial officers, financial controllers, chief managers and heads of network planning among others representing leading companies. 

Catalyst for change

Business School of CA Sri Lanka Chairman Heshana Kuruppu asserted that CA Sri Lanka was proud to present the Strategy Summit for the second successful year. 

“As the national accountancy body, we thought it was our duty to be the catalyst and create this summit for the betterment of the corporate sector in the country. I am certain that this is the in our country that brings such a huge number of,” he added. 

Pointing out the summit was the biggest forum in Sri Lanka which brings together the largest gathering of professionals and business leaders to discuss strategy, Kuruppu assured that by the end of the two-day event, their thinking would be challenged and boundaries would be pushed to execute core strategies in competitive environments.

Following the inauguration, Dr. Sunil Erevelles spoke extensively on the ‘Future of Strategy and Innovation’. 

Dr. Erevelles has mesmerised corporate leaders including CEOs across the world with his ground-breaking thought leadership ideologies. He is a Global Consultant and Executive Education Exert for Boeing, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Lowe’s and Prudential among others.  

Dr. Erevelles is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Belk College of Business at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA. He received his Ph.D. in business from The Ohio State University. His areas of specialty are Marketing Strategy and Consumer Behaviour. His research has been published in various journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Consumer Satisfaction.

Omid Ghamami, who is also known as the ‘Godfather of Negotiation Planning’ addressed on ‘Ins and outs of harnessing your procurement centre into a centre of profit’.

He is also the world’s most sought after purchasing and supply chain management speaker and trainer. Currently, the President and Chief Consultant at Purchasing Advantage, Ghamami has 18 years of experience with Intel Corp, where he rose to the position of leading their entire global corporate purchasing operations organisation. 

Sam Dias and Martin Roll will speak today at the second leg of the conference. Marketing Finance specialist Dias will address on ‘Winning Demand Side Revolution’, while Roll will share insights on ‘Asian brand strategy’. 

In a career spanning over 20 years, Dias has consulted for a wide range of Fortune 500 companies such as GSK, Vodafone, Microsoft, NatWest Bank, Toyota, Axa, Unilever, Mondelez, United Biscuits and Google. He is sought after by companies for his advice on how to use marketing to create and sustain commercial value. Dias is a motivational speaker and brings to life on stage concepts that can be taken to the board room in a highly engaging way. 

Roll is a world-renowned business strategist, senior advisor and facilitator to Fortune 500 companies, Asian firms and family-owned businesses where he advices on how to build and manage strong, global brnads as well as leadership of high-performing, marketing oriented businesses. 

He is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company and a thought-leader on value creation through brand equity driven by tremendous global experience and insights. 

He specialises in branding, marketing, strategy, leadership, growth, change and transformations, business family transition, C-level mentoring, business coaching and Asia and emerging markets. 

    Pix by Gitika Talukdar