Supply Chain “IS” In Everything

26 Feb 16

Sneha Susan Jacob
Student
MSCM Class 2016

Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia & Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra

“Real museums are places where Time is transformed into Space.” ― Orhan Pamuk, The Museum of Innocence

The MSCM batch had the opportunity to visit the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia (IAMM) on the 21st of April 2016. This is the largest museum of Islamic arts in the South East Asian region with more than nine thousand artefacts from the Islamic world. The aim of the IAMM was to create a collection that is truly representative of the Islamic World with an emphasis on South East Asia and China.

This outstanding museum is home to some of the best collections of Islamic art across the world and has an exceptional library of Islamic art books. Apart from the quality of the exhibits (which range from the tiniest pieces of jewellery to one of the largest scale models of the Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca), the building itself is a stunner – an impressive architectural feat – with beautifully decorated domes and glazed tile work, which is located at the fringe of the 227-acre Lake Gardens.

After the mind blowing tour of IAMM, we had a group lunch where we had a few members of the staff along with our Dean join us.

Why we were taken to IAMM?

Well, the first and foremost reason was to blow our minds out, to inspire us and to engage and educate us about the community around us. Museums have always been the hub for informal learning and it would remain that way for time immemorial. This informal learning in turn plays a pivotal role on how we take in the world around us. A single visit to any museum can expose you to a wide variety of information on a subject, you can spend as much or as little time as you like exploring exhibits. The environment allows you to form your own unique experiences and take away information that interests you. A recent study suggested that people are happier when they spend their money on experiences than material purchases because they provide positive personal reinterpretations over time. These kinds of personal memories created do not expire. Also, museums provide a great excuse to spend time with friends and family in a positive way. And I’m sure a few of us would vouch for that very fact.

The second reason was to know where Supply Chain came into play at the museum. You may wonder – “Does Supply Chain really play a role at the museum?” I did too. I urge you to decide for yourselves after having a small sneak peak of how it is to run America’s museums.

“It takes a lot of employees to help run America’s approximately 17,500 museums and it takes countless businesses and community partners to keep them functioning. Museums need everything from printing services, to video surveillance, to dino-glue– and they are inextricably woven into the web of American government and businesses.”

If that hasn’t satiated the need to step into a museum as yet, check out this excellent video on the personal impact of museums, created by the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance & the American Association of Museums.

We would like to thank Dr David Gonsalvez for coming up with the idea of taking us to IAMM. We would also like the staff who accompanied us and made our journey fun.
SNEHA SUSAN JACOB

“…That’s why we have the Museum, Matty, to remind us of how we came, and why: to start fresh, and begin a new place from what we had learned and carried from the old.” ― Lois Lowry, Messenger

“To play without passion is inexcusable!” ― Ludwig van Beethoven

On Friday 18th September 2015, the MSCM batch had the privilege to attend “Beethoven’s 5th” which was performed by the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) at the Dewan Filharmonik PETRONAS (DFP), Kuala Lumpur.

The same place where the MPO gave its inaugural performance on 17th August 1998. The initial search for outstanding musicians involved a worldwide audition tour. The result was a symphony orchestra made up of musicians from 25 nations – a remarkable example of harmony among different cultures and nationalities.

With each new season, the MPO presents a varied program of orchestral music drawn from over three centuries, as well as the crowd pleasing Specials, Pops, Family, Fun Day, Chamber and Happy Hour series. We had the privilege to listen to music from over two centuries ago. The conductor for the show Roberto Abbado was a humble personality with such a vibrant aura to him. (He even agreed to pose for a photo with our batch)

We’re missing Vivek and Sadaf here, Vivek cause he’s the photographer and Sadaf cause she hadn’t arrived as yet.
For the program, Abbado chose two symphonies, masterpieces by Haydn and Beethoven, to frame something new and different. Gen Y often encounter obstacles in listening to music of their own time but we had the privilege to put ourselves in the shoes of the audience that first heard Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony two centuries ago.

If you are/ were wondering as to why students specialising in Supply Chain Management were to attend a Black Tie event such as this. Well, Why not? But on a Supply Chain note to it I feel AT Kearney seems to have nailed the Supply Chain – Orchestra link.

A big Thank you to Dr David Gonsalvez for organising this event for us. We surely did learn a lot from the event. We would also like to thank Dr Ioannis Lagoudis for joining us.
SNEHA SUSAN JACOB