To create job-ready talent, companies are launching their own schools
In 2009, when Retailers Association of India (RAI) and Indira Gandhi National Open University jointly began a three- year bachelor’s programme in retailing, the course saw 250 students enrolling.
Two years later, demand for the course has gone up by eight times with a batch size of 2,000 students and as many as 40 retailing companies including McDonald’s, Future Group, Infinity Retail, Lifestyle and Shopper’s Stop among others— sponsoring courses for their staff.
Fresh business plans of retail chains post the economic slowdown and dearth of talent in the sector have made retailers shift their strategy from hiring freshers to hiring trained staff. And creation of job-ready talent is the reason prompting entry of companies like--- Essar Group’s Aegis Global Academy, Bharti Group’s Centum Learning and Future Group’s Future Innoversity— launch their own courses in retailing.
As RAI’s chief executive, Kumar Rajagopalan puts it: “Companies want trained professionals and institutes which can create job ready talent will always see demand from the market. In the next one year, around 50,000 people will join the retail industry with prior training.”
Steel to telecom conglomerate Essar which set up its Aegis Global Academy in 2010, says in a year of beginning operations, many retail companies such as Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, Mahindra Retail, The MobileStore etc., have evinced interest in partnering with the group in recruitments and corporate training aspects.
“The services sector is very operations oriented, so the curriculum has been designed in a manner where time spent on live projects is 65 per cent and only 35 per cent of the time is spent on theory,” says Subir Ghosh, President, Aegis Global Academy.
Bharati’s Centum Learning, in association with Global Retail School, is offering retail programmes for graduate and undergraduate students, where Centum Learning has developed the content. Last year, Bharti Walmart, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart, placed over 1,000 students from diverse backgrounds.
“A huge gap between academia and industry requirements makes it imperative for organizations to launch their own programmes to bridge the existing industry specific gap,” says Sanjeev Duggal, CEO and Executive Director, Centum Learning.
That could explain why despite the Future Group’s existing tie-ups with Mumbai-based B-schools like the Welingkar Institute of Management and K J Somaiya Institute of Management and Research, for courses in retail management, Kishore Biyani’s Group through Future Innoversity, launched one of the cheapest two-year Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes in ‘retail management and entrepreneurship’ at Rs 2 lakh. Besides, a three-year Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme would cost the students only Rs 1.2 lakh.
The institute also offers a degree programme in retail and entrepreneurship in partnership with IGNOU. The curriculum comprises on-the-job training in Future Group stores and successful students will be inducted into Future Group companies.
And then there are schools like the Indian Retail School (IRS) which offer five full time programmes. It also offers part time programmes and certificate programmes for working professionals. According to the institute’s website, recruiters include companies like Tag Heuer, Levi’s, globus, Tanishq, Will Lifestyle, Wrangler, Chanel, Hidesign among others.
Some retail chains however, have preferred designing customised retail programmes in consultation with B-schools. For instance, Croma, the durable and electronic chain of Tatas, has a tied up with SP Jain Institute of Management and Research to conduct an 11 month programme called Advanced Professional Program in Retail Management. Here, the students undergo a six month internship with Croma. Each batch has a capacity of 25-30 students.
“As a retail company, it is difficult to get talent. As swimming has to be practiced in water, retailing has to be taught on the shop floors. While the students can join any organisation of their choice, they will get preference in Croma recruitments,” says Ajit Joshi, chief executive of Infinity Retail which runs Croma stores.
SP Jain’s campuses in Dubai and Singapore also offer one year MBA courses where students spend first six months in Dubai and the rest in Singapore. Croma hires students from these campuses too.
Other institutes which offer courses in retail include—Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) and NIIT Imperia.
Last year, the Indian School of Business and Coca-Cola India came together to establish the Coca-Cola ISB Retail Academy to offer programmes in the retail sector.
With an industry size of Rs 14 lakh crore and an annual growth rate of 10 per cent, it is the case of the more the merrier, for retail industry.
