Irani urges IIMs to create 'original knowledge'

Be Indian but be global. This was the theme of the second edition of the Pan IIM World Management Conference which kicked off at the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIM-K) on Wednesday.

The inaugural session of the conference saw a blend of lessons in management from the corporate sector, as well as the academia.

Over 200 delegates gathered at IIM-K from the world over. Smirti Irani, minister of human resource and development, addressed the delegates from New Delhi through video-conferencing. "The pan IIM conference can be a platform that can bring together the sharpest minds to discuss world management problems and practices and look forward to solutions," she said.

An impending Cabinet meeting, said Irani, kept her away from the conference, which she was to inaugurate at Kozhikode.

Irani said with the Indian economy gathering momentum - which can be seen in the gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the last two quarters, the highest in the last three years - and the roll out of the recent initiatives of the government such as Make in India, Digital India, Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana and others would fuel the country's growth, reviving its economy and business.

Urging the IIMs to create original knowledge, Irani said, "The IIMs have been the vanguard of management thinking. Members of the faculty of these institutes have been contributing to global knowledge in management. However, there is a lot that these institutes can do by generating original knowledge in order to contribute to management science. This requires more coordinated, organised and well-planned effort to dovetail with national and international priorities," Irani said.

In a recent conclave held with the IIMs, a 13-point agenda was mooted to channelise the efforts of IIMs to create mechanisms that can help deal with the challenges faced by the nation's economy and industry.

"During this conclave, I specifically urge the IIMs to scale up research, specially the socially relevant research, as also to have a greater impact on national policy implementation. I have also directed the IIMs to create a knowledge consortium by bringing together various institutions nationally and internationally," said Irani.

Nissan Motor's India President Guillaume Sicard encouraged the gathering to be Indian, be open to the world and be global. Sicard, who has been in India only for three months, said he was impressed by the country's unity in diversity. "The keyword in India is synthesis. Synthesis of culture, ideas, generations and knowledge. While synthesis has defined India's culture, heritage and art for centuries, it is also defining business environment, practices and processes," Sicard said.

He focussed his address on "give and take" by referring to the exchange of two impressive cultures and processes for the development of both economies - India and Japan.

"What we have achieved in India in such a short time wouldn't have been possible without Japanese Kaizen and Indian Jugaad ," he said.

The Pan IIM World Management Conference is supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and collectively organised by all the 13 IIMs. Last year, IIM-Calcutta hosted the first edition in Goa on the theme of "Emerging Issues in Management".

The conference at Kozhikode will be on till November 8.