An increased supply of executive education programmes by the Ivy League institutes and other international B-schools, including Harvard Business School (HBS), Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, Tuck School of Business, INSEAD, Oxford University’s Said Business School and Duke University, in Indian the market is set to add pressure on management institutes in the country.
B-schools Business Standard spoke to said though there will be pressure, the only way is to deliver quality products and services. “Executive training at the Indian Institutes of Management is changing with the competitive pressures from Ivy League global B-schools such as HBS and INSEAD turning their heads to the Indian executive education market. The impact of executive programmes by international B-schools on management development programmes, offered by IIMs, is likely to be on quality and nature of programmes conducted in the executive education domain,” says Keyoor Purani, chairperson, MDP, IIM-Kozhikode (IIM-K).
The pressure will be felt in different areas by different B-schools. For some, there will be added competition in the vertical of open enrolment management development programmes (MDP), wherein B-schools offer an open invitation to working executives on a set topic. There are some who say the pressure would be felt in customised MDPs demanded by companies exclusively for their employees.
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“Others, especially IIMs, may feel the pressure in open enrolment MDPs. Our focus is mostly on customised progammes, which is where we will have to up the ante,” says Bibek Banerjee, director, IMT Ghaziabad.
India’s growing Rs 350-crore executive education space continues to attract B-schools. US-headquartered Harvard Business School opened a classroom at Taj Lands End, at Bandra, in suburban Mumbai. The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, is scouting for a centre in India, preferably Mumbai.
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“I think international B-schools will give competition to Indian B-schools. With their deep-rooted global research, highly-experienced faculty, exhaustive curriculum and attractive price-points, the programmes from schools such as INSEAD, Wharton and Tuck offer tremendous value proposition,” said Chaitanya Kalipatnapu, director, Eruditus Executive Education.
Eruditus, promoted by alumni of INSEAD and Harvard Business School, delivers executive education programmes to Indian corporations and participants. It is at present working with INSEAD and Tuck School of Business in India.
“More research from these schools is being focused on India such as The India Way (Wharton), Top Indian CEOs (INSEAD), Reverse Innovation (Tuck). This makes their programmes more compelling,” he added.
With competition building up, how do Indian B-schools plan to counter it? “We will invest heavily on faculty research and go for international accreditation. We will have to open up ourselves for scrutiny as per international standards,” adds Banerjee. Also, increased engagement and collaborations with the industry and “heightened participation in international peer review journals” are some of the other steps.
According to Purani, open-enrolment programmes, pre-designed by the members of faculty based on cutting-edge research and formulation of new practices to upgrade senior executive know-how, are likely to be impacted the most.
“Senior and top-level executives from private organisations have started moving to training at foreign B-schools or have executive coaches to keep abreast of new management perspectives and techniques. Even top- level executives from government and public-sector organisations are choosing to go abroad or participate in programmes conducted by top international B-schools in India,” he says.
Indian B-schools believe the challenge will be to continue to draw corporate nominations in high-impact, cutting-edge, research-based, open enrolment programmes which prepare senior executives for emerging challenges.
“Such programmes have a smaller market and, hence, the pressure from international B-schools would be felt the most, since the latter may eat into this small pie significantly if IIMs get lured by a large number of middle-level, generic programmes. We will focus on specific development themes, demonstrate expertise through new research and publications in contemporary areas and develop more relevant programmes targeted at senior executives. Another way is to create strategic difference through ‘Indianising’ the content and programmes, making them more relevant to Indian companies,” adds Purani.
In other words, while foreign B-schools are attempting to develop India-specific content through their local research centers, IIM-K will look to focus on adaptation of global models in Indian context.
However, Indian B-schools disagree there will be added pressure on fees as well. “We are not under pricing pressure, in fact, we had around 12-18 per cent increase in the fees from previous financial year. MDPs were focused on the needs of the industry. The trend we see is that of increased demand for customised programmes. And from an international audience to understand India through programmes of IIM-B,” says Shyamal Roy, chairperson, executive education, IIM-B.