DO YOU NEED A STRATEGY TO CONNECT THE DOTS FOR

A BIG PICTURE OF INDIAN B-SCHOOLS?

K.S. Srinivasa Rao Chowdari Prasad

Director General, IBMR B-School Dean, RIMS
IBMR Group of Institutions MS Ramaiah Foundation
Hubli-580030, Karnataka Bangalore-560054, Karnataka
Contact: +91 9620559612 (M) Contact: +91 9482549472 (M)
E-Mail: srinirao35@gmail.com E-Mail: chowdarip@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Management Education, especially, Indian B-Schools are at crossroads in recent years, after Liberalization (1980),
Privatization (in 1985) and Globalization (in 1995). During last three decades, Government opened up Higher
Education in private sector and also started more IIMs, but later was unable to control the mushrooming of B-Schools.
Like any other business organizations, in spite of booming economic conditions, Life Cycle of some B-Schools has
been reaching ‘Decline’ stage as some of them are unable to maintain high Quality or Standards, leading to suicidal
situation. Main objective of any B-School is providing best placement opportunities to its graduates, but due to
imbalance between dwindling demand and huge supply, majority of the students are not in a position to get their
dream jobs. Employability and Return on Investment (ROI) continue to be the points of debate and concern. This
resulted in eye-opening to the Regulatory Bodies and they started controlling B-Schools (2010) which are not
complying with the parameters by derecognizing their affiliations, while some B-Schools succumbed to stiff
competition. The Authors studied top 100 B-Schools as per the key issues identified by various Ranking Surveys and
suggest a Business Strategy for Sustainability. B-Schools should focus on primary Stakeholders and meet their
requirements in a highly professional manner, instead of merely expending huge Investment on Infrastructure and
Media publicity similar to Real Estate Business without achieving organizational goals. The Authors recommend that
satisfaction of the Stakeholders will lead to better business and can help the B-Schools in portraying the Big Picture.

Key Words: B-Schools, Employability, Return on Investment, Connecting the Dots, Ranking
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Paper submitted for acceptance to present at the AIMS 30th Annual Management Education Convention 2018,
“Management Education: Connecting the Dots” to be held on 30 th Aug – 1st to Sept. 2018 at INFOSYS
Convention Center, Electronic City, Bangalore.

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About the Authors:

 Dr. K.S. Srinivasa Rao obtained his M.Sc. (1984), M.Phil. (1988) and Ph.D. (1992) in Statistics from
Andhra University-Visakhapatnam (AP). His electives were Advanced Statistical Quality Control &
Operations Research and Econometrics. He took training from Institutions like Indian Statistical Institute
(ISI), Kolkata on Statistical Methods, Indian Institute of Management (IIM) – Ahmedabad, and IIM-
Kozhikode on several aspects like Management Case Study and Decision Support Systems. He got a
certification of Training on Data Analytics from MSME Development Institute, Chennai and enrolled for
Data Analytics Certificate Program at IIM – Rohtak.

Dr. Rao has recently joined as Director General, IBMR Business School, Hubli, Karnataka and handles
Admissions, Academics, Training, Industry Institute Interface, Research and Placements. Prior to this, he
held a short assignment as a Professor in Alliance Business School, Alliance University, Bangalore. He
worked earlier with several Institutions like IFIM, Bangalore; ABBS, Bengaluru, Aditya Global Business
School (AGBS, Kakinada, AP), Sankara Academy of Vision (Sankara Eye Hospitals, Coimbatore), IHMR-
Bangalore, ITM B-School, Bangalore, IMER-Belgaum, NIRMA Institute of Management (NIM-
Ahmedabad), TAPMI-Manipal, and College of Management Studies (CMS-GITAM, Visakhapatnam). He
gained 25 years of experience in Teaching, Research, Administration, Training and Consultancy. During
July-Aug. 2017, Dr. Rao completed Modular Teaching in Quantitative Techniques at Woxsen Business
School, Hyderabad for PGP XP. Dr. Rao also taught Quantitative Methods at RIMS, Bangalore in Feb.-May
2018 as Visiting Faculty and taught Advanced Operations Research Modules at AVAGMHA through Digital
Learning in Apr-May 2018.

Dr. Rao taught courses like Business Statistics, Research Methodology, Operations Research, Management
Information Systems, Decision Support Systems, Marketing Research and Industrial Analytics. As a Trainer,
he offered several FDPs/ MDPs on Research Methodology for Faculty, Management of Adolescence Issues
for Teachers and Management of Management Institutions for Principals / HODs/ Directors. Dr. Rao was a
Trainer to Staff and CEOs of Hospitals on Personality Development. He has given Training to Executives
from Hewlett Packard (HP)-Bangalore on 7 QC and Advance 7 QC Techniques. As a Researcher, Dr. Rao is
interested in the areas of Banking Sector Analysis and Issues & Challenges in B-Schools. Dr. Rao presented
papers at several national and international conferences and also expressed his views on Banking, Education
and Healthcare sectors in media – both print and electronic. As an Administrator, Dr. Rao is very much
interested to bring reforms in B-Schools in terms of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment that provide
benefit to the students in terms of placement offers. Dr. Rao, as a Consultant, offers Strategic Business
Solutions for Schools by considering the four levels – Teachers, Administration, Students and Parents. Dr.
Rao, as a counselor offers Career counseling and Family counseling.

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 Prof. Chowdari Prasad has qualified as PG Dip in T&D, CAIIB, CIF, M.Com and joined recently as
Dean at RIMS, Bangalore. He handled Academic and Administrative positions at IFIM Business School,
Bangalore as Dean (Planning and Development). He taught courses like Commercial Banking, Legal
Aspects of Business, Investment Banking & Wealth Management, Principles & Practices of Banking besides
engaged in Industry Internship Project (IIP), Social Immersion Project (SIP), etc. He also handled work like
Admissions, Branding, B-Schools Ranking, Accreditations, Placements (Mentoring), Faculty Recruitment,
Curriculum Revision and External Relations. He was Chief Editor of the monthly e-Newsletter Face to Face
and a member of the Editorial Board of the half-yearly journal FOCUS.

At TAPMI, Manipal, he handled courses like MBFI, Financial Services, Business Law, European Business
Environment, Entrepreneurship and MIP. He was Chairman of Branding & Promotions Committee; Finance
& Economics Committee, Admissions Committee and Member of Strategic Planning Group (SPG). He was
instrumental in introducing a 2-year PGDM in Banking & Financial Services program in 2014. He handled
matters pertaining to Disciplinary and Grievances, Revision of Pay Structure, etc. Besides, he handled
participation in B-Schools Rankings, Media Publicity and Promotions, Website management, Social
Networking, Publications of TAPMI Newsletter (monthly), UPDATE (annual), Pratibimb (monthly e-
magazine by Students), Abhijna (Alumni Quarterly Newsletter) and organizing Industry-Interface meets,
Silver Jubilee Leadership Lectures, Alumni Meets and declaring of Alumnus of the Month, sponsoring of
events, participating in management educational fairs, award functions, etc. He received a Silver Award for
a Case Study on Admissions presented at the 5th Indian Management Conclave (IMC) 2014 organised by
MBAUniverse.Com in New Delhi (published by McGraw Hill).

He was Professor of Finance and Registrar at Alliance Business School, Bangalore during 2006-09 and taught
courses like Principles of Management, Commercial Banking, Entrepreneurship, Industrial Relations &
Laws, etc. He was member of several Faculty Committees as an Administrator. Earlier, at TAPMI-Manipal,
he worked as Associate Professor and Chairman-Admissions during 1999-2006. Before that, during 1971-
1999, he worked in banking industry (Andhra Bank, State Bank of India and The Vysya Bank Leasing
Limited) for 25 years besides in an 100% Export Oriented Unit in Hyderabad as Vice President.

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 DO YOU NEED A STRATEGY TO CONNECT THE DOTS FOR
A BIG PICTURE OF INDIAN B-SCHOOLS?

Introduction:
Management Education in India is over six decades-old and focused initially on Knowledge
Development by offering MBA Degrees. Understanding the Industry requirements, two IIMs
started their PGDM in early 60’s, and were able to supply right candidates trained with a different
pedagogy – Case Studies. Interesting point here is that these Cases were developed by Faculty
through consultancy with leading Companies and Agencies. These classical cases are still used by
the present generation in their curriculum. But, later realizing the importance of Management
Studies, some Universities started offering MBA Program and made their Affiliated Colleges also
to follow the same. Autonomous Institutions started PGDM Programs taking a cue from IIMs. All
these Institutions engaged in Academic Delivery with Contemporary Curriculum, Exposure to
Industry Business Problems through Case Studies, Students Learning Process with Standard
Assessment Systems, and with an outcome in terms good Placements. But, due to the
mushrooming of the Institutions, quality has reduced in all aspects – Student Selection, Faculty,
Curriculum, Learning, and Assessment, etc which created a wide gap between industry
requirements and Output of B-Schools. This gulf increased gradually and today Industry is not
able to absorb all the graduates of B-Schools. It was an eye-opener to the regulators who started
taking remedial action like Skill Training Programs and conducting Job Fairs etc.

On the other hand, the regulatory bodies of B-Schools started controlling them in terms of de-
affiliation using several reasons like low registration of Students, Student-Faculty Ratio etc.
Regulators started giving guidelines like Model Curriculum, Schedules of Classes, Pedagogy, Fee
Structure, etc. to B-Schools. This seems to be like allowing the unorganized sector for some time
and now making it an organized sector by using all norms and regulations. This should be a wake-
up call for all B-Schools to identify their strengths and connecting them in order to overcome on
their weakness and develop strategies to be in limelight of the business. All these days B-Schools
adopted Business Strategies to Industry and now it is their turn to apply strategies for themselves.
Review of Literature:

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Even though we are thinking about the future of Management Education and role of B-Schools in
India, more or less similar scenario has been noticed across the globe during same time, may be
with a difference of 5 to 10 years. The following Literature Survey indicates the changes in
Management Education, challenges faced and how researchers have given some solutions:

Bill Law (1999) indicated that for more than 20 years, careers education and guidance have drawn
much of their rationale from D.O.T.S. analysis which analyses practice for coverage of Decision
learning (D), Opportunity awareness (O), Transition learning (T), and Self-awareness (S). Its
assumptions are rooted in theory, unifying the aims of careers education and careers guidance as
enabling choice. More recent theory and practice engage a wider range of thinking: they
acknowledge complexity of contemporary career planning. The practical implications are for more
progressive career learning to establish viable bases for both choice and change of mind.

Stephen di Filipo (2011) questioned on Jack Welch’s (Ex-CEO of GE) statement that if the rate of
change inside an institution is less than the rate of change outside, the end is in sight. If Welch’s
statement holds true, what does that portend for higher education? Are higher education
institutions maintaining currency with the rate of change outside their “four walls,” particularly in
the area of technology? This article is not intended to align with Peter Thiel’s hypothesis that the
higher education “bubble” is about to burst, although his is a point worth examining. Higher
education, as it is structured today is not going anywhere. The institution is far too ingrained in the
culture, economy, government and status quo. Any attempt to forecast the future of higher
education must be painted with broad strokes. Certainly, there are pockets of innovation and
emerging technologies within colleges and universities and among their faculty. This article is
about connecting the dots—these pockets of innovation—to reveal the picture of the future of
technology in higher education.

Sujoy Kumar Dhar (2012) identified the origin and growth of this academic capitalism in India
and critically evaluated whether management education is a necessary and sufficient condition to
secure a sound professional career when too many applicants are targeting very few loafs. The
methodology used for preparing the research paper is based on secondary information available
on Management Education, perception of the students about the business schools and expectation

5
of the corporate sectors from a management graduate. He focussed on the key success variables
for the Management Institutions under the changed and globalised circumstances that emphasize
on different procedures by which the business school graduates can make them marketable for
their target recruiters.

Natarajan S, and Kandel Bijay Kumar (2014) were under opinion that the perceived value of MBA
programs has gone down substantially in recent times due to low employability of students passing
out of the colleges. Most of the students who specialize in Human Resource stream of MBA
program of the self-financing colleges of Anna University, Chennai found it difficult to get worthy
jobs. The cause for the situation may be like, incompetence of the students themselves, demand
for the entry level HR positions may be less than the supply in the market, inappropriate
curriculum, ineffective implementation of curriculum, etc. The authors surveyed the HR alumni
and HR managers to determine the relevance of HR curriculum of MBA program in meeting the
requirements of various industries and identified that there is a big gap between requirements of
industries and availability of suitable candidates.

Ken Cottrill (2015) indicated that it takes more than original thinking to be innovative. The skills
and knowledge gained from professional education programs are also important pieces of the
puzzle in order to connect the Dots. In his article, the author questioned on how do these programs
help supply chain professionals to be innovators and given some suggestions.

Veesam Chandra Reddy (2016) was under opinion that every student dreams of a well-paid job
once he receives a management degree. But many of the graduates are not able to get employment
and those who managed to get jobs are being under paid, even after investing lacs of rupees on
their management education. The major reason for this situation is the communication gap between
the employer and the students. Employers are looking for candidates who possess wide range of
skills and knowledge. Present research gives some meaningful insights into the issues, concerns
related to management graduate employability and provides some suggestions for solving those
issues and concerns.
Fernando Reimers et.al. (2016) outlined a seven-point strategy to devise a system of continuous
improvement of teacher quality and through it, the quality of education as a whole. Making

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teaching an attractive profession is crucial to the strategy, to ensure a constant flow of qualified
applicants who can capitalize on their initial training, and take full advantage of continuous
learning throughout their careers. Clear career trajectories and incentives tied to performance, as
well as a system to accurately measure performance outcomes will provide a pathway to teacher
professionalism. Rapidly changing societies require versatile teachers to equip their students with
a dynamic array of tools to face a dynamic world. Teacher professional development must take
into account this need, ensuring that the pre-service education programs align with professional
standards, are goal-oriented, and include holistic, integrated and innovative projects. The core of
good education is a skilled and versatile teaching staff. In order to effect significant improvements
to the quality of education, a cohesive strategy is required so that we can combine what we know
already into an efficient system which can be implemented worldwide at the scale necessary to
succeed, the DOTS need to be connected.

Angela Montgomery (2016) posed questions like what would happen if we all embraced a systemic
vision of the world, if we all started thinking and acting with a systemic awareness, if we learned
how to connect the dots? What if we taught children and students to see opportunities that
otherwise would not be visible, to anticipate and defuse negative implications? What if we trained
business students to develop intelligence capable of constructing and implementing robust and
sustainable solutions, where everybody wins? It’s the time to address these questions by
connecting the DOTS rather leaving them as loose ends.

T. Selvam and J. Henry Rozario (2016) focused on the employability skills of students who pursue
degree in management studies from rural colleges located in Tirupattur Taluk, Vellore District,
Tamil Nadu. The study attempted to understand the various levels of skills for employability with
special reference to rural colleges. The data were collected from 140 MBA students of arts and
science and engineering colleges in the study area using questionnaire with five point grading
scale. It was noted that 50% of the respondents had high level of employability skills and there
was no significant variation in employability skills based on gender and first generation learners
among the respondents. The findings of the study may be useful to the authorities of higher
educational institutions, governments and skill development agencies to design an activity or
program for improvement of employability skills of the rural MBA students.

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Gustav Hägg, and Agnieszka Kurczewska, (2016) suggest on how to justify, elaborate and
elucidate the concepts of action, experience and reflection, and how they are intertwined when
discussing contemporary entrepreneurship education. These concepts were given a meaning in
entrepreneurship education, but have not been discussed in-depth, and by that have been
abridged in meaning and purpose, and mostly been treated in isolation from each other.

Srinivasa Addepalli (March, 2017) has taken the inspiration from Steve Jobs story about how he
had attended a college course on Calligraphy and the influence the learning had on how Apple
designed very attractive typography in the graphic interface. The author mentioned that it is not
possible to connect the dots forward; one can only make these connections in hindsight. Similarly,
the author inspired by another popular story about how Ratan Tata observed a family of four
struggling on a two-wheeler on a rainy day, and that set him thinking about creating a vehicle that
would be more convenient and safer than a two-wheeler which made him eventually led to the
innovation of Tata Nano. The author connecting these stories to innovation and while a lot of
creativity is unplanned, it is not just a matter of luck or chance either. What is common, however,
to these stories is that successful leaders are able to connect (apparently) unconnected ideas.
Critical to the concept of connecting such dots is that you must have enough dots to connect! When
it comes to connecting dots, the author opinioned that we have to focus on two attributes: Quality
and Diversity.
Arulselvam Asirvatham, et.al., (2017) indicated that MNCs need MBAs who are adaptable,
flexible with an entrepreneurial attitude and who can act as change agents in the organization. All
MBA graduates have to learn how to migrate from their comfort zone and go a long way towards
impressing the boss of a new venture or a large multinational. But, there is a huge gap between
what industry needs and what is available in terms of skilled Students. Enhancing employability
skills in management education is considered as an important task.

Bindhu Ann Thomas and Dr. K. V. Unninarayanan (2018) studied about employability skills
among management students and identified various abilities/skills of students like communication,
problem solving , planning and organizing, interpersonal, motivation, attitude, leadership, team
work, decision making, computer, learning, and functional skills. This study identifies the mean
score of each skill and overall employability skills possessed by management students in the state
of Kerala. Employability skills should be well developed among the management students, so that
they can enter into the corporate world of job easily. The result shows there was no difference in
the employability skills among the three categories of institutions on the basis of years of their

8
existence. The results also showed that there was no significant difference in the overall
employability skills between male and female students.

With all the above Literature Survey, it was observd that there exists a gap between curriculum
and employability and hence students after their MBA are not in a position to get employment.

Methodology:

The authors have taken Secondary Data from various B-School Survey Reports of last two years
and studied the parameters used. In majority cases of such surveys, IIMs along with Top B-
Schools like SP Jain etc, lead the rankings. The Research Method used was Descriptive Research
and Sampling Method used was Non-Random and to be specific it was Judgmental Sampling. The
authors have taken two prominent magazines viz., Business Today and Outlook and one MHRD
Survey for 2 years data available from each source during the period of 2015 to 2017. The authors
focused on the ‘Parameters of Assessment’ but not on the B-Schools.

Data Analysis:

Case-1: Business Today magazine with the support of MDRA conducts survey every year and
publishes B-School Rankings. They standardized the parameters with respective scores as:
Learning Experience (250), Living Experience (150), Placement Performance (250), Selection
Process & Establishment (150) and Future Orientation (200) aggregating to 1000. The description
of each parameter is as follows:

Learning Experience includes Pedagogy, Quality of Faculty, Student Connect, Internship, and
Innovative Teaching Methods. Living Experience includes Knowledge Facility, Resource on
Living, Resource on Recreation, and Physical Infrastructure. Placement Performance includes
Quality of Placement and Quality of Recruiter. Selection process & Establishment includes
Intake Quality, Establishment and Accreditation, and Governance. Future orientation includes
Global Exposure and Creating Managers for Tomorrow.

(a) During 2016, the Agency ranked top 10 B-Schools in which the highest score was 875.9
while the least score beeing 732.8. IIM-Bangalore participated and the difference between
top IIMs and other top B-Schools was 84 points. Another Interesting point is for each
parameter - Learning Experience the highest score was 222.2/250, Living Experience
138.3/150, Placement Performance 214.6/250, Selection Process & Establishment
134.8/150 and Future Orientation 184.6/200. This means no one got highest score (100%)
on any of the parameter, including IIMs.

9
 (b) During 2017, the Agency has given ranks and out of top 10 B-Schools in which the highest
score was 876.8 and the least score was 746.1. IIM-Bangalore did not participate and the
difference between top IIMs and other top B-Schools is 68 points. Another Interesting point
is for each parameter the highest was - Learning Experience the highest score was 224/250,
Living Experience 139/150, Placement Performance 219/250, Selection Process &
Establishment 134/150 and Future Orientation 185/200. This means no one got highest
score on any of the parameter or on Total Score, including IIMs.

Case-2: Outlook magazine with the support of DRSHTI conducts surveys every year and publishes
B-School Ranks. They standardized the parameters with the scores as: Selection Process (200),
Personality Development (180), Academic Excellence (220), Infrastructure & Facilities (120) and
Placements (280) with the Total Score of 1000. The description of each parameter is as follows:

Selection Process includes Type of Entrance Exam, Cut-off in Entrance Test, Application to
Selected Ratio, Fee Structure, Age/Establishment of the Institution, Average Work Experience,
and Diversity. Personality Development includes PD Programs, Co-curricular Activities, Student
Exchange Programs, Industry Interaction, Number and type of Live Projects, ED Programs.
Academic Excellence includes Student-Faculty Ratio, Quality of Faculty, Ratio between Practical
and Theory, Faculty Participation in Seminars, Faculty Exchange Programs, Research &
Consulting Opportunities for Faculty, Papers & Books by Faculty, MDP and PHD Programs, and
Salary of Professors. Infrastructure & Facilities includes Physical Infrastructure, Knowledge
Facilities, Residential Facilities, Sports Facilities, and Financial Aid, Infra & Scholarships.
Placements include Percentage Placed, No. of Recruiters, Salary Offered in Campus Placement,
International Placements, Regulatory Firms Visiting Campus, and Return on Investment.

(a) During 2015, the Agency announced ranks and out of top 10 B-Schools in which the
highest score was 889.2 and the least score being 746.2. IIM-Bangalore did not participate
and the difference between top IIMs and other top B-Schools is 56 points. Another
Interesting point is for each parameter - Selection Process the highest score was 165/200,
Personality Development 167/180, Academic Excellence 169/220, Infrastructure &
Facilities 105/120 and Placements 254/280. This means no one got highest score on any
of the parameter or on Total Score, including IIMs.

(b) During 2016, the Agency released ranks and out of top 10 B-Schools in which the highest
score was 888.6 and the least score been 746.2. IIM-Bangalore has not participated and
the difference between top IIMs and other top B-Schools is 53 points. Another Interesting
point is for each parameter - Selection Process the highest score was 163/200, Personality

10
 Development 166/180, Academic Excellence 197/220, Infrastructure & Facilities 110/120
and Placements 257/280. This means no one got highest score on any of the parameters or
on Total Score, including IIMs.

Case-3: MHRD approved the National Institutional Ranking Framework in Sept. 2015 and with
the support of Indian Centre for Academic Rankings & Excellence Pvt. Ltd., Chennai (ICARE)
conducts surveys every year and publishes B-School Ranks. They standardized the parameters
with the percentage scores as: Teaching, Learning & Resources (100), Research and Professional
Practice (100), Graduation Outcome (100), Outreach and Inclusivity (100), and Perception (100)
with the Total Score of 500. The description of each parameter is as follows:

Teaching, Learning & Resources includes Student Strength (including Ph.D. Students), Faculty-
Student Ratio with emphasis on Permanent Faculty, Combined metric for Faculty with and
Experience, Total Budget and its Utilization. Research and Professional Practice includes
Publications, Quality Publications, IPR Patents, and Projects, Professional Practice and Executive
Education. Graduation Outcome includes Placements, Higher studies, Entrepreneurship;
University Examination Results; Salary; Graduating Student Admitting Top Universities; No.
PhD. Students Graduated. Outreach and Inclusivity includes Student Regional Diversity;
Women Enrollment; Economically and Socially Challenged Students; and Facilities for Physically
Challenged Students. Perception includes Employers, Research Investors, Academics, Public,
and Competitiveness.

(a) During 2016, the Agency announced ranks and out of top 10 B-Schools in which the
highest score was 93% and the least score been 78%. IIM-Bangalore participated and the
difference between top IIMs and other top B-Schools is 15%. Another Interesting point is
for each parameter the highest score was – Teaching, Learning & Resources (96%),
Research and Professional Practice (94%), Graduation Outcome (90%), Outreach and
Inclusivity (86%), and Perception (99%). This means no one got highest score on any of
the parameter or on Total Score, including IIMs. Also, it was an interesting point to be
noted that out of top 10 Institutions 9 of them are IIMs. One more interesting point is that
one IIT participated in this ranking. (IITs have Management Departments). IITs have their
own Brand, but the Perception score was 44%, Outreach and Inclusivity is 47% and the
same situation with newly opened IIMs.

(b) During 2017, the Agency released ranks and out of top 10 B-Schools in which the highest
score was 79% and the least score been 57%. IIM-Bangalore has participated and the
difference between top IIMs and other top B-Schools is 18%. Another Interesting point is
for each parameter the highest score was – Teaching, Learning & Resources (90%),
Research and Professional Practice (83%), Graduation Outcome (98%), Outreach and

11
 Inclusivity (88%), and Perception (96%). This means no one got highest score on any of
the parameter or on Total Score, including IIMs. Also, it was an interesting point to be
noted that out of top 10 Institutions 9 of them are IIMs. One more interesting point is that
three IITs entered into this ranking. In spite of IITs have their own Brand, the Perception
score varied from 9% to 22% only and the same situation with newly opened IIMs.

Sustainable Model for B-Schools:

When we see the parameters of different agencies / surveys, one will notice that even top B-
Schools are not coming to the expected levels. On the other hand, B-Schools are known for their
consultancy business and give strategies to top corporates on the sustainability, but at this juncture,
they have to turn the search lights inwards and do some introspection. The authors have proposed
a Strategic Business Model for B-Schools in order to sustain. The proposed Strategic Sustainable
Model is as follows:

To Connect

This DASH Strategy can be operational as follows:

DASH is for the Environment which is in control of the Primary Stakeholders i.e. Management of
the B-Schools including Faculty,
DASH Strategy: Administrators and Staff and DOTS:
Dynamic (D) DOTS are in the control of the Decision (D)
Secondary Stakeholders i.e.
Adaptive (A) Opportunity (O)
Students, Parents, Alumni,
Stress-free (S) Recruiters, etc. Transition (T)
High-Result Oriented Success (S)
(H)
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It is the responsibility of Primary Stakeholders to provide the Environment that is (a) Dynamic
i.e. they should invite changes continuously rather resist, (b) Adaptive for such change and work
with Team spirit, (c) Stress-free by being professional in doing their tasks rather than remain
dormant that leads to stress and all activities will be unfinished and delayed, (d) High-Result
Oriented by fixing their Goals properly bench-marking which should be reviewed from time to
time and work with competitive spirit without compromising or with ‘chalega’ attitude.

It is the responsibility of the Secondary Stakeholders to create the environment for themselves in
which they can be in a position to take (a) Right Decisions in terms of Admissions, Academics
and Placements that reduces burden on their Parents; (b) Utilize the Opportunities given by B-
School in Curricular, Co-Curricular and Extra-Curricular Activities in order to prove his/her skills;
(c) Should be ready for Transition in terms of scaling from Under-Graduate to Post Graduate
Environment, and later Student life to Corporate Professional / Alumni life (d) should choose to
be highly Successful in career and life..

Conclusion:

The authors recommend that Students as well as Administration of B-Schools to understand the
Dots and connect them through Dashes without any ambiguity in order to have a big Picture for
their Career and Institution Development respectively. Any failure at this stage leads to problems
for both the parties – Institution and Individual. Student should make his/her decisions for joining
the MBA Program, Selection of B-Schools, compete in the Entrance Exams to join their dream B-
Schools, Selecting the Specializations that fits for his/her interest, fixing the Career Goals with
supporting Activities without any deviation, developing the right aptitude, and be nfocussed.
Student should be more interactive in classroom and more pro-active after the class. Student
should develop five basic skills while in B-Schools: (1) Self-Discipline (Time Management) (2)
Creative Thinking (how different he/she is compared to others) (3) Computer Savvy (ready to
work on Spread Sheets, Accounting Software like Tally etc) (4) Effective Communication - Oral
as well as Written and (5) become good Corporate Citizen. The B-Schools should in turn provide
the top class platforms / environment for the students to translate their Mission and Vision
Statements in to reality to complete the Big Picture.

References:

1. Angela Montgomery (Sept. 2016), “New Thinking Skills: Learn to Connect the Dots”,
https://www.intelligentmanagement.ws/new-thinking-skills-learn-connect-the-dots/

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2. Arulselvam Asirvatham, Jelince Dhinakar, and P.Ganapathi (2017), “Role of Employability Skills in
Management Education: An Over Review”, International Journal of Current Engineering and Scientific
Research (IJCESR), VOLUME-4, ISSUE-9, pp. 46-55
3. Bill Law (1999), “Career-Learning Space: New-Dots Thinking for Careers Education”, British Journal of
Guidance & Counselling, 27:1, 35-54, DOI: 10.1080/03069889908259714
4. Bindhu Ann Thomas and Dr. K. V. Unninarayanan (2018), “A Study on Employability Skills of MBA
Students from the Management Institutes in the state of Kerala”, International Journal of Current Research
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