B-schools take to supply chain

With supply chain management becoming increasingly important to companies, Indian B-schools and corporates are fast catching up with the flow to bridge the gap between demand and supply of trained supply chain management (SCM) managers in the industry.

The Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur, plans to take its supply chain management course overseas too. It is all set to take its 14-month satellite courses in general management, human resource management and SCM to Dubai, Muscat, Bahrain and Singapore.

In Dubai, it also plans to launch an on-campus course in SCM alongside the satellite version.

At present, these courses are available to students residing within the Indian territory through 77 centres. Lectures are delivered from the institute's studio on campus at Jamshedpur. Hughes Telecom and Reliance Web World are XLRI's technology partners in this venture.

"We are in the process of finding franchisees in these foreign destinations where we want to launch our satellite programme. The supply chain management programme with also be offered as an on campus course at our Dubai campus a there is a great demand for SCM managers in Dubai because of the large volume of trade that happens there," said N Casimir Raj, director, XLRI. The satellite SCM course which was started in the 2006 academic session, already has 120 students in the first batch.

The pre-requisites for admission to the course requires two years' work experience and a minimum 50 per cent of total marks in graduation.

"Although the number of applicants last year was only around 200, we are expecting a considerable leap in number of applications this year.

We are now looking at expanding our centres in tier II towns as well. In Dubai, we will be taking in 40 students for the on-campus course," Raj said.

The course fee for the supply chain management course is Rs 1.45 lakh, payable in three equal installments. Meanwhile, corporate too are cashing in on the opportunity.

Patni Computer Systems, for instance, recently tied up with S P Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR) to create specialised courses in the area of SCM. It will develop and deliver the content for courses including case studies and industry scenarios.

The courses will become part of the curriculum for Post Graduate Diploma in Management (the one-year MBA programme) at the Institute.