Game for change?

For armed forces across the world, it doesn8217;t get bigger than this. With 127 countries competing, the fourth Military World Games set for October in Hyderabad will be second only to the Olympics going by the sheer number of participants.

For armed forces across the world, it doesn8217;t get bigger than this. With 127 countries competing, the fourth Military World Games MWG set for October in Hyderabad will be second only to the Olympics going by the sheer number of participants. Tasked to host 5,000 athletes for the event, with world-class facilities, the organising committee of the army is marching ahead even if it means doing away with some established norms.

From breaking down rank hierarchy in the organising team and roping in students to draw up a management plan, to hiring a top notch marketing agency and persuading the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages to provide interpreters, the army is thinking out of the box to host the games in record time.

When the central granted budget of Rs 40 crore proved insufficient to hold the games in style, the operations and administration organising committee, located at the Southern Command headquarters in Pune thought of marketing the event to generate additional funds. Currently in the process of finalising a marketing agency for the event, it hopes to raise close to Rs 25 crore from selling advertising rights for the games.

8220;We needed to augment our budget for hospitality, upgrading facilities, organising cultural events and giving subsidies on travel. So, we decided to hire a marketing agency to generate revenue,8221; says Lt Gen Ashok Kapur, Chief of Staff, Southern Command, who heads the operations and administration organising committee, says.

With top marketing agencies in the country already lining up to make enquiries, the army is confident that not just sporting giants but major business houses too will be keen to advertise their products at the games. 8220;A good figure from advertising revenue would be Rs 25 crore,8221; smiles Lt Gen Kapur. He adds that the revenue generated will decide the magnitude of cultural and social events that can be held for the visiting athletes.

While events of such scale are generally planned out five to six years in advance, the army got only 18 months8217; notice to host the games. The organising committee lost no time in roping in young managerial talent to draw up a logistics plan. Five MBA students from Symbiosis College left lucrative internships in MNCs to help the committee draw up a detailed accommodation, transportation and logistics support plan for the athletes coming in from diverse cultures and backgrounds. This marked the beginning of a unique model 8212; using the infinite student talent in Pune to provide IT based management solutions for the armed forces. With optimisation of resources high on the agenda, the students drew up the software architecture to track the accommodation and transport needs of all athletes at the games. 8220;When we saw the complications involved in drawing up the plans, we realised that some kind of a software solution was needed,8221; says V Ravi Kiran, from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, who headed the project.

Students will also be used extensively during the games in Hyderabad for providing hospitality services for the athletes. The students in turn, will gain by honing their skills before an international audience. Students from the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages have been be roped in to act as interpreters and will get an opportunity to interact with native speakers.

Story continues below this ad

Stringent rank hierarchy in the organising team, comprising of army officers, has also been broken down with innovative ideas coming in even from the junior most level.