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This case was written by P Mohan Chandran, under the direction of Vivek Gupta,ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR). It is intended to be used as thebasis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffectivehandling of a management situation.

The case was compiled from published sources.

ISB:A Leading Business School in India

© 2004, ICFAI Center for Management Research (ICMR), Hyderabad, India.

Distributed by The European Case Clearing House, England and USA.North America, phone: +1 781 239 5884, fax: +1 781 239 5885, e-mail: ECCHBabson@aol.com.Rest of the World, phone: +44 (0)1234 750903, fax: +44 (0)1234 751125, e-mail: ECCH@cranfield.ac.uk.All rights reserved. Printed in UK and USA. Web Site: http://www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk.

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ISB – A LEADING BUSINESS SCHOOL IN INDIA “The Indian School of Business is the manifestation of a bold idea that the Indian subcontinent could house a world-class business school which hopes one day to be ranked right alongside of INSEAD of France or LBS.”1

- A Business India report. “ISB is a start-up. The governing board is terrific, the Wharton and Kellogg connections - great. But none of these are victories. We have to have the humility of a start-up and build gradually. Nothing is given; we have to fight step-by step. INSEAD took 40 years. My hope is we will achieve excellence faster than anyone before.”2

- Late Prof. Sumantra Ghoshal, Chair of Strategic Leadership at the London Business School, and Founding Dean, ISB.

“It’s unlikely that we will see more than one other business school of the stature of the ISB launched in our lifetime.”3

- Donald P. Jacobs, Dean Emeritus, Kellogg School of Management. INTRODUCTION In March 2003, the students of the Hyderabad-based Indian School of Business (ISB) stood first in an inter-collegiate business plan competition organized by the Pacific Asian Consortium for International Business Education and Research at the University of Hawaii. The students of ISB won two global awards for ‘Asia Mini Moot Corp Competition’ and ‘Outstanding Presentation.’ Eleven leading B-schools from the Asia-Pacific region had competed for these awards, ISB being the only B-school from India. In April 2003, 142 leading companies visited ISB for campus placements and made 213 job offers to the 169 students of the Class of 2003. A majority of these offers were for senior or middle management posts while 12 offers were for postings abroad. Commenting on the campus placements, Vijay Mahajan (Mahajan), the present dean of ISB said, “Despite the continuing economic downturn and uncertainty in global markets, we have attracted high-quality recruiters including global names such as HSBC, Novartis, Astra Zeneca, Ispat International and i-Gate Technologies.”4 Establishing a business school in India at par with global standards was not an easy task. Bringing leading Indian and global businessmen and academics together and convincing them about the need to set up a world-class academic institution like ISB was a truly challenging task. Fitendra V. Singh of Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, said, “I do not believe that in independent India, there has been any initiative which... so strongly has the support of global firms and Indian firms...”5

1 As quoted in the article, Business India, October 14-27, 2002. 2 As quoted in an interview to Meera Shenoy in the article, “Spinning Intellectual Capital,” Business India, February 19, 2001. 3 As quoted in the article, “Contributing to the ISB,” posted on www.isb.edu, July 2002. 4 As quoted in the article, “ISB Graduates Land Top Paying Jobs,” Business Standard, June 2003. 5 As quoted in the article, “Indian School of Business – Counting Unhatched Chickens,” by B.S. Raghavan, posted on www.blonnet.com, July 24, 2000.

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BACKGROUND NOTE The idea of starting ISB was conceived in late 1995. The founders had a vision to create a unique and enduring global, research-oriented and independent academic institution to nurture, train and transform the coming generation of students into future leaders and entrepreneurs of global stature. ISB’s governing board was formed in early 1996, with Rajat Gupta (Gupta), former managing director of McKinsey & Company Worldwide, as its Chairman. The board comprised eminent business leaders representing diverse industries from both Indian and foreign corporates. An executive board with well-known business and academic personalities including Rahul Bajaj, Anil Ambani, Narayana Murthy, KV Kamath, MS Banga, YC Deveshwar, Adi Godrej (Godrej), Sumantra Ghoshal (Ghoshal) and others on it, was also formed. (Refer Exhibit I for ISB’s governing board & executive board members). The founders faced several challenges while establishing the school. The selection of a site for the school was the first hurdle. The founders had to tackle the Indian bureaucratic system that is quite notorious for unnecessary delays in allowing new projects to get off the ground. Funding the total cost of the project which was estimated to be around $80-100 million (mn)6 was yet another challenge. However, generous donations from Indians settled in the US and other countries helped the founders raise the funds required to start the school. ISB received generous support from corporates hailing from a wide range of industries. Companies like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), extended their marketing support to ISB. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank arranged to provide loans for the selected students of ISB. Citibank, McKinsey and Hong Kong and Shangai Banking Corporation (HSBC) announced scholarships for meritorious students. After a lot of deliberations over where the school should be set up, the founders decided they would opt for one of the larger metropolitan cities like Kolkata, Bangalore or Mumbai. They narrowed their choice down to Mumbai, as the city was regarded as the ‘business capital’ of India. However, a political leader in Mumbai demanded reservation of seats for local students, and this made the founders look for an alternative venue. In 1998, the founders visited Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh (AP). They met AP’s chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu (Naidu) and leant of his ambitious vision to make the state Asia’s ‘knowledge hub.’ The founders finally decided to set up ISB in Hyderabad on a 250-acre plot of land. On September 6, 1998, ISB entered into an agreement with the Government of AP to set up the school. The site was identified in Gachibowli and construction commenced within a short time. The globally acclaimed US-based firm of architects, John Portman & Associates (JP&A),7 was selected to head the design team, while the UK-based WS Atkins8 oversaw the project locally. JPA designed the master plan within a year. The red tape was cut drastically through Chief Minister Naidu’s efforts and the school was ready, with all the amenities in place,

6 As on February 6, 2004, 1 US $ = INR 45.295. 7 John Portman & Associates (JP&A), established in 1953, has four decades of experience in offering innovative design solutions to traditional architectural structures. 8 WS Atkins is a global provider of professional, technology based consultancy and support services. It has offices in 25 nations and undertakes projects in about 86 nations.

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within a short span of 21 months. Walt Miller, who supervised the project for JPA, said, “Usually the red tape is significant in India, but the project was expedited by the top guy [Naidu].”9 In June 2001, Pramath Raj Sinha (Sinha) was appointed as the dean of ISB. In July 2001, the first batch of students joined the full-time Post-Graduate Program (PGP). The students were selected based on their ‘General Management Aptitude Test’ (GMAT) scores, for both Indian and international students. However, international students hailing from countries where English was not a medium of instruction, had to compulsorily take the ‘Test of English as a Foreign Language’ (TOEFL), while Indian students were exempted from it. The first batch of the PGP had 128 students of which twenty percent were women. The students hailed from diverse fields like biotechnology, fashion designing, architecture and biophysics. Those students who had work experience of between two to five years were given preference over those who were fresh from college. For admitting the students, criteria like leadership and entrepreneurial qualities and academic track record were also considered. ISB’S COURSE CURRICULUM AND FACULTY In February 1997, the International Academic Council (IAC) was constituted to design the course curriculum for ISB. The council comprised 21 faculty members from leading global B-schools such as the University of Chicago, Harvard Business School, Stanford, Kellogg and Wharton. Moreover, several members of the ISB governing board, some distinguished entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and important ISB donors were also actively involved in designing the course curriculum. In November 1997, ISB entered into affiliation agreements with two of the world’s most prestigious B-school institutions – the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. These tie-ups helped ISB to facilitate communication and sharing of knowledge among their faculty and sharing of library facilities and global best practices in imparting management education. THE POST-GRADUATE PROGRAM Under the PGP program, the entire course curriculum was classified into nine broad areas including accounting, economics & public policy, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems, marketing, operations, organizational behavior and strategy. While the core courses comprised of 16 subjects (Refer Table I for core courses), the electives included 46 subjects spread over five concentration areas namely strategic marketing, technology, analytical finance, entrepreneurship and leadership, and change management (Refer Exhibit II for elective courses). In addition to these subjects, the students of the PGP program could also study subjects in their own areas of interest. However, the subjects relating to areas of interest had to be decided upon in consultation with the concerned faculty member of ISB. 9 As quoted in the article, “A New B-School Star of India,” by Brian Hindo, BusinessWeek, July 23, 2002.

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TABLE I

CORE COURSES OF POST GRADUATE PROGRAM Financial Accounting in Decision Making Marketing Management Managerial Accounting & Decision Making

Managerial Economics

Decision Models & Optimization Statistical Methods for Management Decisions Marketing Decision Making Corporate Finance Global Economics Competitive Strategy Operations Management Entrepreneurship Investment Analysis Strategic Analysis of Information Technology Managing of Organizations Government, Society & Business

Source: www.isb.edu The duration of the PGP program was one year and it was divided into eight terms of five weeks each. The course curriculum required students to study 32 courses, of which 16 were core courses and the rest electives. The depth and experience of the Indian and international corporates in formulating the curriculum were believed to give ISB a unique edge as one of the world’s leading B-schools. The PGP program was designed so as to be not just comprehensive, rigorous and demanding, but also ensure time for co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. Each term consisted of four courses of 20 hours each. The entire PGP program comprised of 680 contact hours (640 hours were allocated for 32 courses and the remaining 40 hours were allocated to two additional electives, consisting of 20 hours each). At the end of each term, students were given a week’s break to prepare for exams. Apart from the usual classroom sessions, the PGP program offered several other unique features, including the leadership development program (LDP), corporate interaction and co-curricular learning. The purpose of the LDP, an ongoing activity at ISB, was to equip students with the skills required to emerge as prospective business leaders in the future. As part of the corporate interaction program, eminent business personalities from India as well as abroad visited ISB, delivered lectures and conducted workshops. To encourage students participate in extra-curricular activities, ISB established clubs which organized events such as seminars and cultural programs. THE EXECUTIVE EDUCATION PROGRAM In November 2001, ISB started offering Executive Education Program (EEPs) which included short term courses on General Management and other customized programs. The programs were designed for senior executives and managers. The faculty for conducting EEPs was drawn from prominent business schools and had research and consulting backgrounds in leading organizations, with expertise in executive training. The EEPs included programs on Strategic Brand Management, Competing in a Global Economy, Leadership Skills for Top Management, Financial Seminars for Senior Managers and Financial Strategies for Creating Value. ISB also offered a Global Advanced Management Program (GAMP) as a part of its EEP in collaboration with Wharton and Kellogg. It offered the first GAMP in collaboration with Kellogg in September 2002. Explaining the difference between the EEPs offered by ISB and other B-schools in India, Shyam Viswanathan (Viswanathan), Associate Dean (executive education), ISB, said, “The uniqueness of our EEPs compared to the ones offered by other B-Schools in the country is our faculty. We follow the portfolio faculty model inviting the best 2-3 faculty from best B-school in the world. We have a Faculty Advisory Board, representing the icons in their respective fields. People attending our EEPs will gain exposure to the latest thinking and

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experiences of internationally known academics. Our focus is on thought leadership and change management, not just skill development.”10 ISB also offered open enrolment programs called General Management Programs (GMPs) as a part of their EEP. Targeted at the top management level, these programs were priced at Rs 100,000 to 150,000 and lasted 3 to 6 days. In 2002, 480 students joined various EEPs, and ISB planned to increase the student intake to 960 by 2003. ISB also introduced an accelerated development program in November 2003 for non-management senior managers, who were about to become general managers. Apart from the PGP and EEPs, ISB offered doctoral research programs as well. The doctoral research program emphasized the issues faced by diverse companies both in developing and developed countries. ISB aimed at emerging as a center for excellence in business research through its fellowship program. FACULTY AT ISB In September 2000, ISB hired five permanent faculty members. The institute also signed-up 21 visiting professors from various universities, mainly from the top US and European B-schools. ISB had several visiting faculty members with experience of teaching in internationally reputed universities like Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, Stanford, London Business School (LBS) and other distinguished universities from various parts of the world. For instance, a lecture series by marketing guru, Philip Kotler educated students at ISB about new business ideas or an emerging theory in marketing. Through an interaction with Niall Booker, Deputy CEO of HSBC, the students could learn about what contributed to the success of the company. Lectures delivered by the strategy guru, CK Prahalad offered insights on business strategies for global business houses in future. Commenting on the faculty, Ghoshal said, “The people teaching at ISB are not the best of any one school, they are the best across three or four schools. So, in effect, it can well be better than any one school can offer.”11 ISB stipulated the minimum qualification required for the faculty aspirants as PhD or Diploma in Business Administration from a top management institution in India or abroad. The applicants needed to possess good research skills with a keen interest in teaching. Apart from an attractive remuneration package, ISB offered very good residential and recreational facilities for its faculty at its campus. Commenting on the faculty at ISB, Deepak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, said, “Faculty at the ISB are of the highest caliber and students have the chance to learn from real gurus in every field of management science.”12 (Refer Exhibit III for list of faculty). ISB’S TEACHING APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY ISB used a blend of orthodox and unorthodox methods of teaching. The teaching activities involved the conventional way of lecturing, reading and analyzing a published article, real-life simulations, field studies, role-plays, seminars and engaging in video-conferencing chats with professors from various parts of the world. The critical business issues and challenges faced by leading global organizations and the strategies adopted by them were discussed in classrooms. Case studies were used to discuss the real-life problems and challenges faced in business. The

10 As quoted in the article, “ISB Ties up with INSEAD for Course,” by Singa Rao, Business Standard, August 7, 2003. 11 As quoted in an article titled, “ISB Will Help Shape the Visions of Aspiring Management Students,” by Siva Sankar, www.rediff.com, October 18, 2000. 12 As quoted in the site www.isb.edu.

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case studies also enabled the students to experience a particular business situation as it happened in reality, and enact their way of dealing with the situation in different capacities like leaders, managers, or team members. Students learnt the intricacies of the concept ‘think local, act global.’ Godrej said, “...students at ISB will have more of a global perspective than students elsewhere... a global perspective with an Asian touch will be the distinctive factor.”13 The involvement of corporates in designing the curriculum was intended to make ISB’s learning model more practical and focused. More emphasis was given to ‘thought leadership.’ ISB offered students a platform where they could freely converse with top achievers in business and gain valuable insights from their experiences. Besides industry interface, ISB also conducted programs like CEO’s forum (panel discussion with top CEOs), entrepreneurs tool kit (workshop on writing business plan and discussion with venture capitalists), emerging markets (latest update on industries and markets by various speakers) and consulting case challenge (case situations involving corporates). Ranjan Pal, former Executive Director, ISB said, “The ISB is unique as it goes beyond the regular classroom routine to promote an entrepreneurial spirit and culture among its students.”14 ISB offered a unique opportunity for global learning to its students. It financed exchange programs like the Wharton Global Consulting Practicum (WGCP), in which ISB students jointly worked with Wharton students to offer advice to a client. Describing the collaboration, Thomas Gerrity, former Dean, the Wharton School, said, “Together we are focusing on areas that are essential to establishing a leading institution for business education.”15 ISB also organized exchange programs in collaboration with its partner schools, LBS and Kellogg. In November 2000, ISB collaborated with LBS providing its students’ access to eminent faculty members and a wide range of knowledge and research activities of LBS. LBS offered to design and upgrade ISB’s EEP. The students of ISB were also allowed to study at any of the partner schools abroad for one term. Explaining the benefits of such collaboration to ISB, Ghoshal said, “ISB is a management institution that is based on the spirit of pluralism. The LBS collaboration is representative of ISB’s commitment to this spirit. We will now be able to provide our students a combination of Asian, American and European management practices and thoughts.”16 The class at ISB was organized into three sections. Each section had a mix of students from diverse educational, professional and cultural backgrounds. Each section was again divided into ten study groups comprising five to six students. For the first four core courses, the study groups were decided by ISB’s faculty, after which the students could join a group of their choice for the remaining terms. This approach enhanced learning, team skills and level of interaction among students. The students were given complete flexibility in organizing seminars or events on their areas of interest, or participating in business plans, management events or conferences. Students could also choose to participate voluntarily in courses like the ‘Take Charge’ or ‘Leadership Development Program’ to fine-tune their managerial capabilities. Besides, students could undertake 13 As quoted in the article, “Indian School of Business – Counting Unhatched Chickens,” by B.S. Raghavan, posted on www.blonnet.com, July 24, 2000. 14 As quoted in the article, “ISB: The Global Approach,” by Ranjan Pal, posted on www.blonnet.com, August 15, 2000. 15 As quoted in the article, “Indian School of Business – Counting Unhatched Chickens,” by B.S. Raghavan, posted on www.blonnet.com, July 24, 2000. 16 As quoted in the article, “ISB Pact with London School to Launch Publishing Arm,” posted on www.blonnet.com, December 18, 2000.

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independent study of a subject, which was not a part of their curriculum, under the supervision of a professor. INFRASTRUCTURE AT ISB ISB had excellent infrastructural facilities, on par with any world-class business school. These included an academic and learning centers and facilities for information technology (IT), housing and entertainment for students. The centrally located academic center at ISB included six lecture theatres with connectivity to a broadband communications network. These theatres had a seating capacity of 70 and offered state-of-the-art audio-visual and video-conferencing facilities with modern gadgets like LCD projectors, photographic equipments and a touch-pad system. This enabled easy interaction among students within the campus and made learning exciting and more enlightening. Students could engage in a video-conferencing chat with faculty, corporates or students from other parts of the world at any time during the entire duration of their course, projects or research work. The conference rooms were specially designed so as to facilitate group study and intensive interaction among students. ISB also had an exclusive auditorium for conducting seminars, which could seat 300 people. The Learning Resource Center (LRC) had a spiral layout, and provided students a serene learning ambience. It had world-class library facilities that included printed and electronic literature like books, journals, databases, audio-visual equipments like CDs, DVDs, e-books, e-journals, reports, minutes of various conferences and training programs. The LRC housed approximately 10,000 books, 360 journals, 2,000 online journals and provided access to 41 online databases and around 700 other audio-visual aids. The LRC also offered round-the-clock internet facility and borrowing of books over the intranet. ISB established six ‘centers of excellence’ with the first one, ‘Wadhwani Center for Entrepreneurship Development’ (WCED) established in December 2001. The other five were in the areas of leadership and change management, technology, managing in emerging markets, strategic marketing, and analytical finance. IT was used at ISB to enhance the efficacy of its infrastructure systems and to facilitate the smooth flow of academic and other processes. Some of these processes included research, institution development, education, brand-building, admission processes for PGP and EEP marketing programs, alumni and placement services and back-office operations. IT primarily supported four activities at ISB – infrastructure facilities, technology services, information systems and collaboration systems. With the support of 2 MBPS17 bandwidth, students could connect to any remote part of the world with their laptop or desktop at ISB. Through the wireless LAN, students could gain access to any of the ISBs knowledge resources from anywhere on the campus. ISB’s LAN was spread over 4,000 points ranging from classrooms, lecture halls, group study halls, meeting halls, LRC and housing facilities. ISB offered housing accommodation to its students at par with international standards. Student housing was set up and named ‘student villages.’ There were four such student villages, each with a housing capacity of 130 students. There were two types of housing options, namely, a four-bedroom apartment, with a hall and kitchen; and, a ‘studio apartment’ a single bedroom apartment, with extra features. The apartments were fully furnished with television, cable connection facilities, furniture and home appliances. The bedrooms were equipped with voice and 17 MBPS stands for ‘megabits per second’ and is a measure of bandwidth (i.e. the total capacity for information flow over a given time) on a telecommunications medium.

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data ports for telephone, Local Area Network (LAN) and Internet. In addition, ISB had an Executive Housing Center (EHC), exclusively for the EEP participants. There were four blocks of EHC, which had 25 rooms each, fully equipped and furnished with all home necessities. The EHC also offered other facilities like bar, coffee shop, business centre, parking lots, non-smoking blocks and an excellent multi-cuisine dining facility. Some of the other services offered to students and residential faculty members included bank, ATM, documentation center, shops, book center, travel and information desk, laundry, dry-cleaning, room service facilities and transportation to airport. ISB offered amusement facilities for students to relax and recharge themselves away from their academic schedules. Some of the amusement facilities included a swimming pool, gymnasium, tennis court, squash court, steam room, exercise room for yoga and aerobics, basketball court, jogging tracks and football and cricket grounds. ISB also provided training to students in all these activities through trainers. ISB also had a lake with boating facilities and a rectangular open area court for socializing and organizing events like get-togethers or parties. PLACEMENTS AT ISB ISB followed a unique placement model. In its communication to prospective students, ISB wrote, “ISB’s placement model is uniquely differentiated. The school has rolling placement, which is distinctive from the practice of ‘placement week’ followed by other B-schools. At ISB, we are open for 3 days — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — every week, for placement-related activities, be it pre-placement talks (PPTs) or interviews, and do not generally allow recruiters on other days.” The rolling placement program (RPP) was primarily instituted to boost lateral hiring in companies, since ISB students, with an average work experience of five years, were more suitable for middle and higher-level management positions. In 2003, the placement period was spread over a four-month period between January and April. ISB did not resort to any job rationing so as to give its students more choice and time to decide. The aim of the institute was to focus on getting quality placements for its students. Encouraged by the success of the RPP in 2003, ISB decided to start the RPP for its 213-strong class of 2004 early from October 2003. According to ISB, by the end of January 2004, over 65% students had been placed. About 51 companies visited the campus and conducted interviews. In all, 169 offers were said to have been made. Prominent companies which visited the campus during the period included the Boston Consulting Group, Citibank NA, Coca Cola, Cognizant Technology Solutions, DELL Computers, Deutsche Bank, GE, Goldman Sachs, HCL, Hindustan Lever Limited, IBM, Infosys, JP Morgan, LNM Group, McKinsey, Microsoft, Novartis, Reliance Industries, TCS, TSMG, and vCustomers. The RPP was likely to continue until March 2004. Though ISB had all the elements to be positioned as the world class B-school at par with the likes of Wharton and Kellogg, some analysts commented that ISB was still struggling to solve a few serious problems. THE PROBLEMS Some analysts opined that the core and elective courses of ISB were not organized well. According to them, the inclusion of subjects like investment analysis, microeconomics, management accounting, and managing in emerging markets, in the core courses curriculum was surprising. On the other hand, subjects like fundamentals of e-commerce and technology, intellectual property strategies for e-commerce, cross-cultural negotiation, strategic advantage of IT, managing e-business, and B2B marketing were consigned to a lower position by including them in the electives. Moreover, the curriculum completely excluded a few subjects like corporate

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governance, customer-centrism, industrial relations and management concepts from different cultures and from the Asian viewpoint. Analysts felt that with these imperfections, the curriculum could not be considered exceptional. Analysts also felt that the 51 subjects taught at ISB did not, in any way, differentiate it from other B-schools offering similar subjects. According to them, the subjects were just given fancy names like ‘knowledge management for business intelligence’ and ‘T-commerce,’ which was about the impact of technology on commerce. Moreover, they felt that a few of the subjects were repetitive and just extensions of others. Some people were of the view that core subjects like ‘financial accounting in decision making’ and ‘statistical methods for management decisions’ and elective subjects like ‘financial decisions’ and ‘decision models and optimization’ could have been designed in such a way that they formed part of a single core subject, rather than being treated as independent subjects. Media reports said that ISB was facing a tough challenge to develop a permanent faculty team of world-class standards. Most of the faculty at ISB was visiting professors from various B-schools in the US and other parts of the world. Anil Kumar, Director, McKinsey, said “There are roughly 200 faculty members of Indian origin at the top 20 business schools. And 90% of them have said they would come back to teach a term.”18 ISB planned to hire more permanent faculty members and gradually increase the number to 40 by 2005. However, according to analysts, developing a permanent faculty team of 40 members would be a highly challenging task for ISB, considering that INSEAD took 10 years to hire just 12 permanent faculty members on its rolls. Moreover, they felt that ISB would have a tough time wooing the best faculty to Hyderabad, which was less picturesque compared to Fontainebleau (France), where INSEAD was located. A few analysts felt that ISB’s governing board was lop-sided. Though it consisted of well-known names from the top brass of 46 organizations, 34 were foreign companies all of which were US-based. They felt that the board suffered a lack of the rich management experience of some of the world-class Indian business groups like Tata, Birla, Oberoi, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Sundaram Group and Maruti Udyog Ltd. ISB faced administrative problems as well. It saw three deans in just two years. Ghoshal, who was made the founding dean of ISB in September 2000, left it just after four months. Jain, who was offered the deanship of ISB, turned down the offer after he got an offer from Kellogg (Chicago). Pramath Sinha became the dean of ISB in June 2001. In June 2002, Mahajan, who was the third dean of ISB, said that he would be devoting his time equally between the US and India. ISB was also not able to attract a large number of international students. The Class of 2002 had only two international students, one from the US and another from Germany. Moreover, the number of women students constituted just 20% of the total strength. ISB planned to increase the intake of international students to 20-30% by 2005. Above all, ISB also faced financial problems. Its debt to net worth ratio was unusually high. For the financial year 2002-03, ISB’s net worth was Rs. 730 mn against an outstanding debt of Rs. 1.25 billion (bn). ISB had incurred a total cash loss to the tune of Rs. 50 mn in the three years since its inception. For the financial year 2002-03, its revenue was only Rs. 25 mn, while it suffered a net deficit of Rs. 31 mn, which comprised an interest component of Rs. 12 mn. To set its financial position right, ISB had hiked its core program’s (PGP) fee from Rs. 750,000 ($15,000 for international students) in 2001 to Rs. 900,000 ($18,000 for international students) in 2002, and again to Rs. 1.22 mn ($20,450 for international students) in 2003. It was planning to further increase the fee by 15% from the academic year 2004-05. ISB also admitted a larger number of students every year to increase its revenues. In the first batch in 2001, ISB took 126 18 As quoted in the article, “A New B-School Star of India,” by Brian Hindo, BusinessWeek, July 23, 2002.

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students and in 2002, it increased the student strength to 168. Subsequently, in 2003, 220 students were admitted. ISB planned to increase the student intake further to 260 in 2004. THE NEW INITIATIVES In August 2003, ISB decided to introduce GAMP jointly with INSEAD. GAMP was a three-week program priced at Rs. 600,000 and targeted the top brass of Indian companies with a presence abroad. ISB planned to introduce this program from March 2004. Elaborating on the program, Viswanathan said, “The program will be especially designed to focus on strategies for tackling challenges and seizing prospects in today’s turbulent global business environment. It will also deal with strategies for overseas acquisitions. It will be simultaneously held in different countries by different B-Schools in association with INSEAD. All of them will spend the last week at INSEAD campus in France debating and sharing their thoughts.”19 In December 2003, ISB embarked upon a major initiative to attract foreign students for its PGP program. As a part of the initiative, it wrote letters to 500 MNCs which had significant operations in India to send middle-level managers to study at ISB. The list of companies included the likes of Microsoft, Novartis, BAT and Unilever. Explaining the aim of this initiative, the Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, ISB said, “Our target is to attract at least 20% of students from abroad in each batch. At present, however, there are only 4 foreign students in our current batch of 220 students. We have decided to particularly focus on countries which have proximity to India, like those in South-east Asia, West Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe.”20 For this initiative, ISB tied up with the World MBA forum, an organization which conducts MBA road shows in various countries. On behalf of ISB, it conducted road shows in China, Singapore, Italy, Germany and the UK. By early 2004, ISB had registered 50-60 foreign students. It also created the position of Director, International Placements, in its efforts to increase the number of foreign students. ISB was also in the process of forging tie-ups with prominent business schools in Australia, Singapore, China, Japan and Europe, in order to offer its students better international exposure through exchange programs. Even within India, ISB planned to attract students from other metropolitan cities (apart from Delhi, Mumbai and Calcutta) and smaller towns. In January 2004, ISB introduced a digital library, called ‘Management Classics Online.’ The library had a collection of 100 titles, drawn from diverse management disciplines. ISB planned to introduce 50 management titles every year, with the objective of making it one among the Asia’s largest digital resources on the Internet in the next five years. Analysts felt that though ISB faced many problems, it was just a matter of time before the efforts of the founders would reap positive results. ISB aimed at being the best B-school in Asia, and among the best in the world. Expressing confidence and optimism at the future of ISB, Ghoshal said, “Singapore is being projected as the capital of world-class higher education in Asia. Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Malaysia are also into it. And then there is China. But believe me, none of these countries has the potential and opportunities that India has in terms of intelligent, hardworking students, committed, brilliant educators, well-meaning financiers and the will to succeed against odds. This is a battle that we are bound to win naturally, a battle that we can’t lose even if we want to.”21

19 As quoted in the article, “ISB Ties up with Insead for Course,” by Singa Rao, Business Standard, August 7, 2003. 20 As quoted in the article, “ISB Goes All Out to Woo Overseas Students”, in The Economic Times, Dec 01, 2003. 21 As quoted in the article, “Big Biz-School Buzz Bowls Bombay’s Brats,” by Siva Sankar, www.rediff.com, January 6, 2001.

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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION: 1. “It's unlikely that we will see more than one other business school of the stature of the ISB

launched in our lifetime.” What made ISB unique compared to other B-schools in India? Discuss.

2. ISB aimed at providing the world-class management education and infrastructure facilities.

Discuss ISB’s unique practices with reference to its learning model and teaching methodology. What were the infrastructure and other facilities available to ISB students?

3. What were the problems daunting ISB’s progress as a global management institute on par

with the likes of Kellogg, Wharton and Stanford? How did ISB plan to overcome these problems? What measures must ISB take to achieve its vision of becoming the best business school in Asia and among the best in the world? Discuss.

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EXHIBIT I

ISB’S GOVERNING BOARD (PARTIAL LIST) Name Designation Organization

Anil Ambani * Vice Chairman and MD Reliance Industries Limited Rahul Bajaj * Chairman and MD Bajaj Auto Limited Manvinder S Banga * Chairman Hindustan Lever Ltd Martin Broughton Chairman British American Tobacco PLC Purnendu Chatterjee * Chairman The Chatterjee Group Keki Dadiseth * HPC Division Director Unilever PLC Yogesh Deveshwar * Chairman ITC Limited Adi Godrej * Chairman The Godrej Group

Rajat Gupta * Chairman ISB and Former Managing Director of McKinsey & Company Worldwide.

Vinod Gupta Founder and CEO InfoUSA, Inc. Patrick Harker Dean The Wharton School Gabriel Hawawini Dean INSEAD Donald Jacobs Dean Emeritus Kellogg School of Management Deepak Jain Dean Kellogg School of Management K V Kamath * MD and CEO ICICI Bank Limited Uday Khemka Director SUN Group of Companies Anil Kumar * Director McKinsey & Company, Inc Vijay Mahajan * Dean Indian School of Business Anand Mahindra * Vice Chairman & MD Mahindra & Mahindra Limited Aman Mehta Chief Executive Officer HSBC Limited Heinz-Werner Meier Director Aventis S.A Aventis Victor Menezes Senior Vice Chairman Citigroup Lakshmi Mittal * Chairman and CEO Ispat International Limited Sunil Kant Munjal * MD Hero Corporate Services Limited James Murdoch Chairman & CEO Star Group Limited N R Narayana Murthy * Chairman Infosys Technologies Limited Deepak Parekh * Chairman HDFC Henry Paulson Jr. Chairman & CEO Goldman Sachs & Company Rajendra Pawar * Chairman NIIT Limited Girish Reddy * Former MD Goldman Sachs International James Schiro CEO Zurich Financial Services Jürgen Schrempp Chairman Daimler-Chrysler Analjit Singh * Chairman Max India Limited

Pramath Raj Sinha * Founding Dean, ISB and Principal McKinsey & Company, Inc

Charles Miller Smith International Advisor Goldman Sachs International Mallika Srinivasan * Director TAFE Laura Tyson Dean London Business School Romesh Wadhwani CEO and Managing Partner Symphony Technology Group Peter Zencke Executive Board Member SAP AG Michael Dell Chairman & CEO Dell Computers James Murdoch Chairman & CEO STAR Group Limited Source: www.isb.edu *Member of the Executive Board

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EXHIBIT II

ELECTIVE COURSES OF POST GRADUATE PROGRAM Concentration Areas Courses

Technology Marketing for Entrepreneurs Brand Management Marketing Strategy Marketing Implementation Market Research China Marketing Advertising Theory & Strategy Consumer Behavior Applications in Marketing Logistics & Supply Chain Management

STRATEGIC MARKETING

Customer-Focused Product Planning Technology Marketing for Entrepreneurs Competition in the Knowledge Economy Logistics & Supply Chain Management Creating Value Through Technology Strategic Partnerships in High Technology Industries Strategic Analysis of IT Infrastructure Service Operations Management Global Operations Management Knowledge Management Technologies & Applications Strategic Implications of Digital Network Technologies

TECHNOLOGY

Information Technology Strategy Options & Futures Fixed Income Financial Reporting & Analysis Cases in Corporate Financial Strategy Portfolio Theory & Asset Management Capital Raising Strategies in Corporations Strategic Profitability Management Private Equity & Venture Capital

ANALYTICAL FINANCE

Risk Management Technology Marketing for Entrepreneurs Managing Talent in Global Economy Negotiation Analysis Managing Strategic Partnerships in High Technology Industries Strategic Profitability Management Private Equity & Venture Capital

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Entrepreneurship Practicum Managing Talent in Global Economy Cases in Corporate Financial Strategy Negotiation Analysis Marketing Strategy Strategic Analysis of IT Infrastructure Strategic Profitability Management Corporate Development: Mergers, Acquisitions & Alliances Organization Design

LEADERSHIP & CHANGE

MANAGEMENT

Information Technology Strategy Source: www.isb.edu

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EXHIBIT III FACULTY AT ISB

Faculty Name Subject B-School University Affiliation W. Bruce Allen Microeconomics The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania Ravi Aron Creating Value through

Technology The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania

Bala Balachandran

Strategic Profitability Management

Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

Goutam Challagalla

Technology Marketing for Entrepreneurs

Dupree College of Management

Georgia Tech

Sunil Chopra Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

Eric Clemons Information Technology Strategy

The Wharton School

University of Pennsylvania

George Day Marketing Strategy The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania Sudhakar Deshmukh

Operations Management Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

Mark Finn Financial Accounting in Decision Making

Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

Stephen J Hoch Marketing Management The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania J Wesley Hutchinson

Marketing Management The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania

Ananth Iyer Global Operations Management

Krannert Graduate School of Management,

Purdue University

Ziv Katalan Decision Models and Optimization

The Wharton School

University of Pennsylvania

Mary Frances Luce

Advertising Theory & Strategy

The Wharton School

University of Pennsylvania

Sabyasachi Mitra Analysis of IT Infrastructure

DuPree College of Management

Georgia Tech

Anand Narasimhan

Organization Design London Business School -

Madan M. Pillutla Negotiation Analysis London Business School - N. R. Prabhala Capital Raising

Strategies in Corporations

Robert H. Smith School of Business,

University of Maryland

Phanish Puranam Corporate Managing Strategic Partnerships

London Business School -

Hayagreeva Rao Management of Organizations

Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

Anju Seth Corporate Development: Alliances, M &A

College of Commerce & Business Administration

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Harbir Singh Competitive Strategy The Wharton School University of Pennsylvania V Srinivasan Customer-Focused

Product Planning Graduate School of Business

Stanford University

Rajendra K. Srivastava

Brand Management McCombs School of Business

University of Texas at Austin

Rajesh Tyagi Services Operations Management

Kellogg School of Management

Northwestern University

J. Christopher Westland

Competition in the Knowledge Economy

- Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.

Akbar Zaheer Competitive Strategy Carlson School of Management

University of Minnesota

Source: www.isb.edu