Book Lauch- Digital Marketing Cases From India

We launched our new edited book- Digital Marketing Cases from India- at IIM Indore on Sept 10, 2018. This is a collaborative project between us and Jaipuria Institute of Management Indore, and many alumni from different institutions-- IIM Indore, IMT Nagpur, IIMK, and Jaipuria Institute and PESIT among them-who have authored the cases. The book is published by Notion Press, and is available through Amazon and Flipkart in India.

Some pics with Prof. Subin Sudhir, Prof. Romi Sainy (my co-editor) and Prof. Rishikesha Krishnan, Director IIM Indore, who released the book.

The book is ideal for use along with any text on Digital Marketing for courses in Schools of Business.

B School Leadership- The Case of the Three Bosses

Leadership of Educational Institutions- Actual Case Studies

These are brief case studies of different leaders that I worked with at different B schools. Not all are great, but they illustrate different ways of working. A given individual must work with his own traits and personality, and try to achieve the organisation’s objectives. If there is a mis-match between a leader’s objectives and that of the organization, it may not lead to success, in my view.

Case Study 1

Very intelligent, articulate and with a credible track record of having taught in a top Indian Business School for several  years. He was an exacting person to work with, and gave faculty a lot of freedom. Spent a lot on learning resources – in those days, these were mostly Harvard Business School cases- online databases were not yet available in India.  He also believed in paying faculty well, and this thought was supported by the management, a well-known industrial group in India.

He was an introvert, and therefore his support staff sometimes had no clue to his thinking process. He shared his conclusions or decisions with the team, but not the intermediate thinking that brought him to these conclusions.

He was good to work with, even though a little reserved at times. But there was one definitive interest of his which brought everybody together. That was cricket. There used to be a cricket ground on the premises of the institution, and we all were able to play matches with our participants (managers who came there for short term training) quite frequently. Sundays were usually reserved for this, and since we all lived on campus, this was easy to do.

Sports or extra-curricular activities can and do help in team-building and boosting morale.

Case Study 2

Again, this person had a credible background, but this time in training managers rather than teaching students. His was a good example of how networking can be used to build institutions. He came from one of India’s premier management development institutions located in Hyderabad. But he ended up leading two institutions in India offering the MBA program as their flagship. Both had an enhanced reputation after he had been there a few years.

He had two major talents. He was able to recruit large number of faculty in a short period, despite occasional criticism that some were below par. The other competing institutions had to battle faculty shortages because they had set the bar too high. The large numbers also helped ramp up the training business which he was able to get due to his previous associations. Both the institutions he led benefited from this talent of his.

Case Study 3

This might be a case study of what not to do, in my view. This was a person leading a major Indian B school. Though he had a credible background as a faculty member and teacher, he had very few leadership skills. His involvement in the institute was very limited and superficial, and he was not an inspiration to do either research, or training or consulting, as he had no track record in these activities. It becomes difficult to inspire your followers if you have not been in the trenches, to use a military analogy. But he had one major achievement to his credit. He pioneered the use of distance learning courses through the use of  technology (with a partner) at his institute while he was heading it. This was later copied by many other institutions, and made management education more accessible to new segments- working executives in particular.

There is an easy way to antagonise faculty, and that is to play politics or favourites. You may have some favourites, but they should not get favoured treatment. Institutional interest must come first.

Here and There

First, a joke I read recently.

Why are there no fireworks in the Euro Disney Park in Paris like they have in America?
Because whenever they start the fireworks, the French Army tries to surrender.

Moving on to big-ticket reforms. It beats me why the reforms had to wait until the last few months of the govt. in power. Cricket coaches talk about timing all the time. Can we hire some?

Ranjhana, the film. I found it tedious and pointless after a refreshing first one-third or so. Literally, the director 'lost the plot'. Or else, I am losing it. Both are equally probable. Dhanush has promise, but I am scared for Sonam, lest she become an Abhishek Bachchan.

The rupee is 60, and eligible for senior citizen discounts when it travels abroad. So when can we replace it with something with a spine?

74 B schools closed this year in India. Should have been 700, the way some are going. Clueless in the extreme.

Air Asia to come in by year-end in India. Hope they break the monopoly/cartel/oligopoly of the not-so-low cost carriers.

AACSB and Faculty Development

I am in Mumbai on work, more on which later. But I got a chance to talk to some faculty members at K. J. Somaiya School of Management through a friend/co-author who works there. It was about the state of research in management schools and how we can do more.

Another interesting discussion was about how foreign B schools in Asian countries (non-Indian) have positioned themselves better through accreditations and research output and so on. IMT Ghaziabad, and  KJ Somaiya have both applied for AACSB accreditation, considered the best in the world. We at IMT are working hard to get it, too, and hopefully should in a year or more. We had a useful sharing of info on what it entails. One of the important things again is research output improvements. Second, accountability in the form of Assurance of Learning for our students. Documented and delivered, audited. Good stuff! I think schools (not just B schools) at all levels should do this.

Mahindra War Room

This is an innovative contest designed by Mahindra group, held every year. I happened to attend as an invitee this year at a Mumbai hotel. A lot of work had gone into designing the 'set', and CNBC might be telecasting it sometime, as they were the media partners.

Mahindra group identified sectors in which it operates, like tractors, and sectors in which it wants to enter, like dairy, and gave these themes as cases for student teams to analyse and make recommendations on. As Anand Mahindra said in his opening session, he gets to pick the best brains in the country for his group- for free!

It was an entertaining and illuminating set of presentations by students from various B schools. Finally FMS Delhi won and SP Jain were the runners up, from among seven teams. But many other presentations were equally good.

A sidelight for me was that I met a former student of IIM Kozhikode who now works for the Mahindra group. I also met a friend and former colleague who now heads a new IIM, and the new director of IIM Shillong.

GBSN Conference at Delhi

IMT Ghaziabad is the co-host of the Global Business School Network ( a non-profit orgn) conference, held in India for the first time. Today was pretty good,  starting with some introductory remarks by the guests, Analjit Singh of the Max group and Mr. Kamal Nath. Followed by some good sessions about challenges facing B schools. Africa has less than 100 Business schools, was a major discovery, against 4000 or so in India.

We had an interesting session for Deans/Directors where we enumerated challenges facing B Schools, and how they might contribute to economic development. Met some academics from South and North Carolina where I spent around 5 years.

There was a very interesting dinner meet with a presentation by Aparajita from Bill and Melida Gates Foundation on the subject of an intervention on AIDS control among Indian sex workers and other target groups. The role of management, and of the Indian govt. were both lauded by the presenter. We had a nice chat. Also met a Dartmouth MBA student who might be taught by Kusum Ailawadi, a batchmate who is a faculty member there. The Dartmouth team did a social project about building a 300 dollar house in Haiti, and won a prize from GBSN for it.

Tomorrow is the last day of the formal sessions, and I am looking forward to it.

What Makes a Good B School?

A slightly different take on this. One, being good. Second, proving you are good. First is equivalent to the "Product" . The second is more like "marketing" of the product. If you are good and no one is the wiser, it does not help the stakeholders. The list of must haves in a good B school, in my view are-

1. Good students. Without them, your glory would be short-lived. By extension, good alumni.

2. Faculty who do more than teach. Contributions, originality, creativity, willingness to contribute to brand-building in some form is a must these days. Anyone can read a text book, or google the 'content'..so a teacher is more like a mentor and a brand ambassador. He may have to do research, or executive training, or other activities, to make a mark. Maybe write a book.

3. Promoters' vision. All top schools of business have a strong vision to be among the best.

4. Intellectual Resources and Atmosphere fostering Innovation. Basic databases and software, simulation, games etc..in addition to Cases are a must. Encouragement of networking activities like international partnerships, conferencing are also a must.

5. Pushing students to excel at both curricular and other skill and conscience building activities. These can set a B School apart.