“Industry Institute Interface”:
The New Paradigm in Management Education in India
Authors: Dr. RamKishenY* Prof. Reena Mehta**
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Executive Summary
The dynamics of the corporate world are posing new challenges. The booming economy of India
which is seeing double-digit growth over the last past five years, it is becoming important for
India’s sustained growth, to nurture, develop and produce world class managers. For managing
the emerging global markets, there is a need to groom managers with sharp acumen. B-schools
are centres of excellence that produce managers for global markets. The new emerging trend of
B – Schools, run by successful professionals and corporates are gaining prominence.
With around 1,800 odd B-schools in India and new institutions that are sprouting like
mushrooms, day-by-day, new threat is gripping the way B- schools are managed. The lacunae in
the existing B-schools by the way of sub-standard infrastructure, academicians without corporate
experience and outdated syllabus is forcing corporate world to take a lead in establishing B-
school with world class infrastructure and experienced academicians, to provide the best of both
worlds i.e. theoretical and practical exposure.
This research paper attempts to analyze the problems faced by B-schools across the country and
explore the problems why management education is losing its sheen. The paper would also
address issues on how to over come the problems faced in management education. The future of
India will be Niche B- schools started and run by prominent people from industry, such as the
Indian School of Business (ISB) or the Institute of Rural Marketing – Anand (IRMA) which are
specialized for international business and rural marketing, respectively.
Key Words: - Industry Institute Interface, 3i model, Management Ethos, Joint Certification
Programs
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Introduction:
In sustaining the growth path on which India is now moving a head, the management institutions
have a crucial role to play in bridging the gap between the industry and academics professionals.
One of the concerns which require urgent attention is to impart quality management education
which will enhance the student’s minds and there by sharpen their management skills to run
businesses globally. In 1991, after the liberalization policy was implemented by India, a lot of
global companies started or outsourced their operations to India. The demand of management
professionals increased manifold in the last decade. AICTE (All India Council for Technical
Education) was established in the year 1988 for promotion and development of quality
management education through out the country. More than 1800 B-schools are present in India
and more number of them is coming up every year. India churns out largest number of
management professionals i.e. about 75,000 annually (Gupta and Gollakota, 2004).
In bad times or good, an MBA is seen as a three letter passport to a better future. However, B-
Schools of today are just churning out manager’s just like assembly lines. There remains a huge
gap between what industry demands from its newest managers and the quality they actually get.
The focus, unfortunately, remains with some of the chosen institutes. For the rest, business
education remains at best an expensive gamble. Industry wants students and faculty to have more
exposure to their ways of doing business; B – schools have been found lacking here, as per a
survey conducted by GFK – Mode. (Outlook 29th Oct.2008)
The following are the drawbacks in the existing Management education: -
1. Industry unhappy with selection process: - CAT (Common Admission Test)
lacks in testing social values, considered very important in today’s world. There is a
general decline in language and communication skills. There is no enough on the general
skills and knowledge required in managerial roles. CAT does not select people to be
groomed into leaders.
2. Case Study Method is a slower and not very effective: - Many years ago,
American business – schools introduced the Case Study Method as a way of simulating
actual business situations in class. Unfortunately, no case study method can capture all the
facts and nuances of a business situation. A case study in management is not like an airline
simulator where every possible condition in every airport in the world can be simulated. In
most B – schools, marks are given to students for class participation in case discussion.
There is a possibility that the aggressive and vociferous score well and the deep thinkers,
the future leaders often keep quite.
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3. Lack of Faculty Exposure to ways of doing Business: - Quality education
finally boils down to the venerable guru in management classes. The way B – schools are
mushrooming a faculty crises is imminent – there just aren’t enough professors. There is a
shortage of around 5, 00,000 teachers at various Post Graduate courses. Out of 1800
management schools in the country only about 25% have relevant industry experience.
(GFK Mode Outlook , Oct 2008)
4. More Westernized approach without Indian Ethos: - Our management
schools adopted the western approach of Management styles, from American businesses
and Japanese style of management India’s rich culture and heritage presents a vivid record
of management from our sacred texts. Vidura Neeti from the Mahabharata, Kautilya’s
Artha Shastra contains relevant ideas on administration, leadership, strategies and systems.
But most B – schools still follow Western text books which are of no relevance to the
Indian ethos.
Literature Review:
India churns out the largest number of management professionals i.e. about 75,000 annually
(Gupta and Gollakota, 2004). Further adding to this view of churning out more number of
students, management education in India had initial tie – up with the USA universities of
Management education. From 55 institutions offering Post Graduates programs in 1989 – 90
there were 953 institutes in India, which exceeds the 900 universities that offer the MBA in the
US as reported by Pfeffer and Fong (2002) and far exceeds the 119 accredited programs in the
UK (Armstrong, 2005). From about 3300 persons admitted to post graduate management
programs in 1989 -90, over 71,000 persons were admitted in 2003 – 04 in India ( Abhoy Ojha,
2005)
B-Schools in India are being established these days as a profit motive rather than educating the
intellect and this has lead to a major dilution in the delivery standards of management education
in India. In order get more admissions and to ensure popularity of the course, the passing rate of
B-Schools is almost 100%, the course is also diluted in order to cater to masses and this
phenomenon is call as “Dumbing Down” by Trank and Rynes (2003) in a study conducted in US.
There were also studies done on US B-Schools which proves that the management education is
becoming rudderless in US, the same effect are also seen in the Indian context (Leavitt, 1989;
Zimmerman, 2001; Pfeffer and Fong, 2002; Pfeffer and Fong, 2004; Trank and Rynes, 2003)
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In order to overcome the drawbacks of the management education, corporates are coming forward
in setting up B – schools as centres of excellence. A business model of Industry Institute Interface
(3i) has been developed which is explained below: -
3i Model (Industry Institute Interface):
Industry – academia interface – a concept that has been widely discussed across the state bodies.
This can possibly give to birth another public – private sector success story. The result of this
interface is manifold – a secured future for aspirants, proper grooming of the students and
financial backing by the industry. A parameter for success of any B – School is its ability to offer
a strong corporate interface for its students which ultimately enhances their practical challenges.
Many tier – 1 business schools have succeeded, but many more are yet to follow.
Industry always looks forward for industry – ready people. Employment opportunities are huge
but many management graduates are not employable. Industry has drastically reduced the training
period for new incumbent from traditional 6 – 12 months to a few weeks. It expects that
candidates should perform from day – 1. Thus, it is a real challenge for the B – Schools to make
the students industry – savvy. The concept of finishing schools is becoming so popular now.
There is a huge gap between what the industry expects from the students and classroom teaching
– learning process.
Students are too theoretical and they lack the fundamental knowledge of the subject. In recent
times, most of the B – Schools are trying to reduce this gap to make the teaching – learning
process application of case study, role play, management games, stimulation exercises are all
initiatives towards development of analytical and conceptual skills among the students. At, the
same time, the industry is also taking initiatives to reduce this gap. This is a win – win situation
for both. Industry – academia interface is a critical requirement in present knowledge economy. It
is all about knowledge transfer and experience technology transfer.
B – Schools have to gear up to address the changing needs of the industry. The 3i model has been
developed to make the B – school set- ups more robust in terms of catering to the needs of
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grooming the future managers into more responsible citizens. This futuristic model would
redefine the way B – schools are functioning in the present scenario.
The 3i Model Diagram Follows:
INDUSTRY
(PRACTICAL INPUTS)
INTERFACE
INSTITUTION (ACADEMICS
DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE) GOVERNMENT
(CERTIFICATION)
The 3i model rests on three pillars:
1. Institution: - Institution is the physical and mental processes that go in the set – up of the
B – school. It would broadly comprise of the following functions.
a) Major Source of research funding for academia: Sponsored
projects by the industry will help the faculty/students to work on challenging
areas and come out with new theories and developments. Industry can make use
of all those theories and developments to get multiple benefits.
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b) Industry gains valuable insights from key opinion leaders:
Industry can get plenty of ideas and insights on various areas from senior
professors having many years of experience. Their expertise in the respective
fields can bring valuable insights and the industry can make use it to their
benefit.
c) Industry trends and practices: Classroom teaching – learning
is highly theoretical and detached from the real – life situations. When both
come together it benefits the faculty and students to know the latest trends and
practices in the industry. It complements the classroom learning and when
students go to industry they can face the challenges confidently.
d) Designing the course curriculum and other value – added
programs based on industry requirements: Most of the times syllabus is
designed without the input from the industry and it becomes impractical and
highly theoretical. Syllabus needs to be changed periodically taking into account
the changing industry trends and practices. Based on the corporate feedback, tie
to time crash course on various areas needs to be designed and executed for the
students. Value – added programs such as soft skills and corporate etiquette help
to groom students professionally.
e) Create employable “industry – ready students: There is a
huge gap between employment and employability. Strong industry – academia
interface can help reduce this gap.
2. Industry: - Industry is the corporate intervention in the Management Education. Industry
should provide adequate support in the business construct by the following ways:
a) Concept of Industry – institute Partnership Cell – A dedicated effort to
institutionalize the initiatives: Many B – Schools like ISB, IIM’s have opened
a separate cell called “Industry – Institute – Partnership Cell (IIPC)” to focus on
this initiative and increase the interface. This has become quite popular in recent
times.
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b) Guest lectures by experienced persons from industry: Industry should
arrange people from their organizations for delivering lectures in B – Schools. It
provides ample opportunity for the students to learn what’s happening in the
industry and its trends and also help interact with them.
c) Industry Visits: Industry should arrange periodic industrial visits for students so
that it will reduce the gap between the industry and the institute. Students can
relate whatever they learn in the class during their visit to the industry.
d) CEO Interactions: Inviting the CEO’s to share their views with the students
and management institutes will help students to have their role models and
mentors from the industry which may be able to bring fresh knowledge and
create better understanding with one another. It may open up new avenues for
working together.
e) Projects: Industry should support B – Schools by providing summer projects
and other mini – projects during the course of two – year MBA program which
will reduce the gap. There should also be a lot of mini projects in each semester
sot that students are always in touch with the industry
3. Government: - Government has to play the role of regulator. However, there is a control from
3 bodies that is UGC (University Grants Commission), AICTE (All India Council for Technical
Education), and HRD (Human Resources Development) Ministry. Instead the Government
should go for more unified approach and appoint only one in charge instead of multiple bodies.
The following should be the responsibilities of the Government:
(a) Play the role of a regulator and a watch dog in the smooth functioning of the
B – Schools
(b) Deciding the rules and regulations on the B – schools functioning so as to
standardize the process and procedures.
(c) To continuously work on updating the syllabus and subject content of the course
in consultation with the industry.
4. Interface: - The main pillar of this model is to fuse all the variables like industry, institutions
and Government so as to create an Interface, which is crucial in today’s B – School functioning.
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Interface is to take inputs from all the three variables and combine them for betterment of the
Management Education in India. Interface would be as follows: -
a) Industry should support the B – schools in design of course curriculum:
They should encourage the participation of their officials in Management Development
Programs (MDP’s) so as to share knowledge across the platform. Corporate should join
Institutions of Higher Learning and start joint Certification programs, so as to groom the
future leaders as per the industry specifications.
b) Institutions should form joint ventures with corporates: B – schools should
form joint ventures with corporates for knowledge sharing and should sponsor
students in research and allied activities. Industry should tie – up with
institutions for sharing their resources and work on live projects as is done in
America B – Schools
c) Deputing faculty in industry to work in the lean period: Many faculty
members do not have industry experience and it becomes difficult for them to
share such experiences in class. In recent times, few institutes have taken the
initiative to depute faculty members in the industry during the lean period so that
they can gain some industry experience and can deliver better in the class.
d) Organising workshop/seminar periodically and invite the corporate people
to deliver lecture and interact: Organising workshop and seminars by inviting
the resource person from industry is an effective way to bridge the gap.
e) Management Development Program: Organising Management Development
Program by the faculty for the corporates on different areas is another initiative to
increase the interactions. Like for example, “Finance for Non – Finance
Professionals” etc.
Some of the initiatives taken by the corporates to work together and bridge the gap
between the industry and academia are as follows:
1. ICICI UDAAN: This is a partnership program between ICICI and selected
institutes to start various crash course based on industry requirements. It is also a
consortium of various B – Schools and ICICI to conduct placements
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2. Infosys “CAMPUS CONNECT”: This program is specially designed to develop
the soft skills and leadership qualities of the faculty members, but is also available
to the students. Initially, it was started in Mysore campus of Infosys. Now the
program is also conducted in Banglore Campus
3. L&T InfoTech “SPARSH”: This is an initiative taken by L&T InfoTech to
provide a common platform for academics and L&T InfoTech. Under this
program selected students are given orientation training.
4. TCS “Initial Learning program(ILP)”: This is an initiative taken by TCS to
impart orientation training to selected management students
5. MOU between NASSCOM and UGC: According to this memorandum of
understanding both NASSCOM and UGC would work together to increase
student and faculty interface with the IT industry. It has helped UGC to get
various industry – sponsored projects. (Bhlolanath Datta, 2008)
Hence when Institutions, Industry and Government can come together like Private Public
Partnership (PPP) the interface can be built on strong foundations and fundamentals. In the
changing business environment, B- schools have to re – align themselves, so as to face challenges
posed by the business and thereby nurture and groom corporate leaders to face any situations in
the corporate world.
Scope for Future Research:
There appears to be little published research work on Industry Institute Interface. We have made
an attempt to bridge the gap between Institutes Industry Interface. The topic has a lot of scope for
further research. While the engagement is expanding, the quality of the interface between the
Industria and academia leaves much to be desired. Research can be conducted more on issues like
sponsoring more chairs in B – Schools. This would enable B – Schools to hire top class talents.
Sponsors would have a say in deciding the quantity and remuneration of the chair professors.
More research can be carried out to find whether exchange programs to the academia, where by
selected faculty members will work in companies for a certain period of time, while their
counterparts in these companies would take up classes in those B – Schools. Further research on
this area of study would provide more insights into gap that exists between the Industry and
Institute Interface.
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Conclusion:
From the 3i model which has been developed in this paper it is very clear that the balance
between 3i can be achieved by all the three parameters realising and coming together to achieve
their main objective of changing the theoretical mind set of imparting management education to
more practical approach. 3i model suggests a total transformation of the role of management
institutions from merely providing employment to the aspiring management students, to increase
their employability, by proactive involvement of the industry in designing and implementing
quality management education which is revelent in managing dynamic, complex, and competitive
global business of today.
Unlike current scenario, India should see more and more corporate houses establishing institutes
to impart special skills in the lines of Infosys, ICICI, L&T Infotech etc. This can be achieved
only if industry is realizing the role they have to play along with the regulating authorities in
order to impart world class management education to the future business leaders in the country.
Apart from providing employment Industry should look at providing mentors and role models to
young aspiring management students by creating a platform where both can interact like
seminars, guest lectures, and conferences.
The industry and institute should work together to bridge the gap between them industry
institution interface is a critical requirement in the present knowledge economy, its all about
knowledge transfer and experience technology transfer. It is more of synergistic relationship
which would prove beneficial for the stake holders – industry; institute, student, teacher, parents
and the society as a whole.
Organizations should include rigorous internships to supplement the learning in B – Schools that
is largely cognitive and idealistic. The young MBA’s can be transformed into capable leaders by
sensitizing them with the industry requirements and conducting workshops. B – Schools and
corporates should train candidates to execute work under pressure and constraints so that they
have real life skills apart from intellectual skills. Training MBA’s as problem solvers and creating
capabilities in – order to build teams and knowing how to work in the hours of crises would take
the management education a long way in improving its efficiency and sustaining excellence
Appendix:
CASE STUDIES
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1 Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad
Education must shift into future tense, principle was imbibed by ISB. ISB was successful in
locating the gap between teaching of the present B-school and future skills required by the
corporate world. With the youngest B- schools like ISB, established in July 2001, has got the
accolade of being first and the only B-school to be ranked on the 20 th position, among the survey
conducted for top 100 global B-schools of the world by London’s Financial Times survey. Mr.
Rajat Gupta who has recently been appointed as Vice Chairman of International Chamber of
Commerce and was the first Indian to head one of the most elite management consultancy firms
in the world McKinsey & Co. was the person behind establishing world class B- School ISB in
Hyderabad. What distinguishes ISB from current profile of B-school is their admission criteria
which is on the line with London Business School a and Wharton School which admits students
only with prior work experience this helps them to imbibe management principles with
practicability than learning of it from theory point of view. ISB offers specialization in
international business for 1 year management course. The idea of ISB was conceived in the year
1995 and tie up with world’s renowned B-schools like The Wharton School and The Kellogg
School of Management MoU was signed with government of India in Sept.1998. ISB went on
with their tie up with London School of Business in the Dec. [Link] in June 2002 they had
their first batch of students getting their graduation degrees. The Governing board of ISB consist
of successful brains in the business world like Rajat Gupta, Anil Ambani of ADAG, Rahul Bajaj
of Bajaj Auto Limited, Adi Godrej of the Godrej group, [Link] of ICICI bank limited,
Harish Manwani of Unilever, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon India Ltd. Laxmi Mittal Of
ArcelorMittal, Narayan Murthy of Infosys, Deepak Parekh, Anji Reddy, [Link], B. Ramalinga
Raju of Satyam Computers Ltd., etc. the list goes on and on . So, overall we can say that the
school is run under the guidance of leading business legends of India. ISB also get renowned
faculties from all around the world and also from the foreign B-Schools with whom they already
have tie ups. In only less than 6 years time they have contributed to the management education in
a tremendously, as most of the B-School are taking ISB as a benchmark.
2 IRMA (Institute of Rural Marketing and Agriculture)
Most of the graduates from B-Schools from India in 70’s was to go to US and other developed
countries to pursue a lucrative management career. Dr. Varghese Kurien, the father of White
Revolution in, India founder of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) realized the need
of management graduates to manage more than 4,00,000 co-operative societies in India , and this
gave birth to IRMA in the year 1979. IRMA was established in Anand with the support of SDC
(Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation), the government of Gujarat, the Government of
India, NDDB (National Dairy Development Board) and Indian Dairy Corporation, India was then
a nation where 75% of the people lived in rural area and main occupation of people was
agriculture. The mission of IRMA was to promote sustainable, eco-friendly and equitable socio
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economic development of rural people through professional management of their institution. The
student from IRMA spends more than 10 weeks with 600 rural co-operatives to understand their
problem and to offer a solution in a very remote area where even basic necessities like toilet is
also not available. More than 30% of graduates from IRMA joins GCMMF or NDDB. 50% of the
students join non-government cooperatives and rest go out to join other sectors. The main
objective is to work at the development and sustaining growth of rural India. The purpose was
not to add value to handful of shareholders but to be catalyst in the development of India by
managing productivity in rural India and thus create value addition to the India as nation. IRMA
was the first institute to pioneer rural marketing in India and then the similar models have been
adopted by many B-Schools (COVER STORY: INDIA'S BEST B SCHOOLS IRMA: A Fairy
Tale, Business India)
Apart from the two case studies discussed there are many business houses which are successfully
running B-Schools like Nirma ,run By Karsanbhai Patel of Nirma Brand, Singhannia School of
Managemnt run by J.K. Singhannia Group of Famous brand Raymonds, Kirloskar School of
Management run by well known business family Kirloskar’s of Pune.
References:
1. Armstrong, S. 2005. Post graduate management education in the UK: Lessons from or
lessons for the U.S. Model? Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4(2):
229-234.
2. Abhoy K. Ojha Management Education in India: Protecting it from the Rankings
Onslaught Decision, Vol. 32, No.2, July - December, 2005
3. Bolanath Datta, Industry – Academia Interface – A Strong Need For B – Schools, MBA
Review, August 2008:13-16
4. Gupta, V. and Gollakota, K. 2004. Business education in India: The quality dialogue.
IBAT Journal of Management, 1(2): 1-18.
5. Leavitt, H. J. 1989. Educating our MBAs: On teaching what we haven.t taught.
California Management Review, 31(3): 38-50.
6. Outlook 29th Oct.2008. pg.36-107.
7. Pfeffer, J. and Fong, C.T. 2002. The end of business schools? Less success than meets the
eye. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 1(1): 78-95.
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8. Pfeffer, J. and Fong, C. T. 2004. The business school .business.: Some lessons from the
US experience. Journal of Management Studies, 41(8): 1501-1520.
9. Pfeffer, J. and Fong, C.T. 2002. The end of business schools? Less success than
Zimmerman, J. L. 2001. Can American business schools survive? Working Paper
No. FR 01-16. Bradley Research Center, University of Rochester.
10. Pfeffer, J and Fong C. 2004. The business school business. Some lessons from the US
experience. Journal of Management Studies, 41(8): 1501-1520.
11. Trank, C. Q. and Rynes, S.I. 2003. Who moved our cheese? Reclaiming professionalism
in business education. Academy of Management Learning and Education,2(2): 189-205
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*Dr. Ram Kishen Y. is Faculty of Marketing at K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies
and Research, Mumbai. He has close to 6 years of teaching experience and 4 years of corporate
experience. His consulting areas are – Rural Marketing, Retail management, Sales and
Distribution and Management of Co-operatives. He has written two books: Rural and
Agricultural Management and Management of Co-operatives both published by Jaico Books and
has submitted his PhD Thesis on Rural Advertising E-mail: ramkishen@[Link]
**Prof. Reena Mehta is Faculty of General Management K J Somaiya Institute of Management
Studies and Research, Mumbai. An exponent in Business Ethics and Corporate Social
Responsibility, she carries 8 years of teaching experience in varied field like Consumerism,
Corporate Governance, Legal Standards in Indian Businesses, she is presently pursing her PhD
on CSR in Indian organizations. E-mail: reena.m@[Link]
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