Western B school models irrelevant in India: Expert

Indian business schools (B schools) should not imitate western models. Instead, they should concentrate on producing leaders with value.

"Management theories of western B schools are not relevant in India and other Asian countries. India must stick to its own management philosophy, which is much more precious than that of western countries," said Bala Balachandran, dean of Chennai-based GreatLakes Institute of Management (GLIM) and former professor of Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

He was in Ahmedabad to address students and professionals on 'consumer value' at the Ahmedabad Management Association on Friday.

"Western corporate world is driven by compensation unlike the Asian culture of collective growth. So business schools in western countries run on different values, which are not relevant in the Asian context," he said.

Indian chief operating officers (CEOs) are earning very little compared to that of western CEOs due to stock options.

But the practice of offering stock options to the top management drives managers to speculate in the stock market to earn quick money in short time. So India needs B schools with value and not just B-schools, said Balachandran.

"Information technology is a core competency of India and business schools will have to utilise technology properly to produce globally competitive leaders," said Balachandran.

With that perspective, GLIM is putting stress on the usage of information technology. Learning of Chinese language is compulsory at GLIM during studies.

"Chinese is one of the widly spoken language in the world. It will benefit Indians to become stronger in the market," he said.

Balachandran is optimistic with his project of B schools in India with an innovative curriculum.

Indian B schools are offering post-graduate degree after 18-24 months of studies including six months of project work, while GLIM has clubbed the project work with regular classes to finish the course within 12 months like all other world class B schools.