Most of the case studies we are given for analysis in b-schools are borrowed from HBR (Harvard Business Review), the case is well written and the analysis is easily available online, and in some cases, some of these cases are so often repeated that they attain stardom (Pepsi –Cola wars). There is no indigenous element to these cases leaving us crippled during internships which cater to Indian markets.
For instance, there is no case which addresses the problems of marketing in General Trade/ Convenience stores, which is a concept very close to Indian marketing. So how to stay up-to-date and close to the real market
Reading News related to companies is the best way I have found so far, also talking to batch mates/seniors about their experience in organisations helps, it gives a perspective on what is actually happening in companies. Ground reality in India is very different from what Text-Books teach, more so because all the books are talking about the foreign operations, while parallels can be drawn, there is a lot of differences in the application of theory.
For Instance in Marketing when we talk about segmentation, the complexity in an Indian context increases because of the increased number of socio-economic variables, and the retailer plays a far important role in Indian Context compared to our western counter-parts , it’s not just about monetary incentives when it comes to retail management, but also about relationship building .
So how well equipped are b-schoolers when it comes to dealing with complexities which rise in the Indian context, most of the learnings are on the job and with the support of mentors and buddies.
Maybe lecturers can look at writing Indian Cases which or give examples from. Also, a lot of learning today happens online, a project which combines all kind of research tools online and enables students to use simple medium like Youtube, Google, will be useful and give a hands-on learning experience.
In a real business setting presentations are crisp and simple, it’s about keeping it simple and letting people believe that they are connecting the dots, it’s all about story and flow, a few professors are far from this, they make presentations in class so verbose and complicated that the students loose track, effort is wasted in understanding the jargon rather than the concept, maybe professors can ask one simple question “If I was presenting this to the management board of a company, how will my presentation look".
Research by students especially those who are not pursuing Doctoral programmes is scarce in b-schools, the academic rigour is such that there is an emphasis on covering too much in too little time, and students do not have the time to pursue research.
Anything without research sounds like opinion and in order for management students to involve in scientific decision making, the curriculum should enable research, although it is not the norm in management schools, it would be a trailblazer if b-schools in India could produce research material or cases that maybe our western counterparts can discuss in their b-schools.