IMC 2015 Theme - MBA Enhancing B-School Competitiveness: Read Theme Paper, Watch Keynote Addresses

Enhancing B-school Competitiveness
Given the unbridled growth between 1991–2008, Management education is one of the most competitive services sectors in the country. According to AICTE, more than 3,200 MBA programs and 600 PGDM institutions were given approval to operate in 2014–15. The total intake capacity of these institutions is more than 375,000 students. However, only about 275,000 students write CAT, XAT and other entrance exams. This oversupply and commoditization of MBA has led to massive shakeout between 2008–2014 period with more than 500 B-schools and MBA programs shutting shops. The good news from this shakeout is that about a hundred serious management education entities, who have survived the challenging times, are now consolidating their positions and are looking for ways to enhance their competitiveness.

In this backdrop, Indian Management Conclave (IMC), which has played an important role in setting the agenda for management education in last five years, will devote its sixth edition for understanding the key drivers of enhancing B-school competitiveness in Indian context. The theme 2015 is “Enhancing B-school Competitiveness.”

This introduction of the IMC 2015 Theme offers an overview of Competitive Forces that are shaping the current MBA education sector, and then presents a possible approach to categorization of Competitiveness Drivers that B-schools should analyze and focus on for enhancing their competitiveness.

Intense competition within existing players
With 3800 MBA and PGDM programs, it will be fair to say that management education is one of the most competitive sectors in India. While there are only a dozen car manufacturers, and 50 odd Banks, there are a staggering number of MBA programs on offer! In every niche of the B-school Pyramid, serving National, Regional, Local, Sector-specific markets, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of B-schools.

While intense competition amongst existing B-schools has led to some positive outcomes like improving the core product (curriculum and pedagogy) and more emphasis on marketing, questions are also being raised about the unethical practices being followed. There is also a growing disenchantment amongst applicants who face the heat of intrusive marketing tactics.

Rise in bargaining power of ‘Buyers’
Without doubt, this is the major competitive force impacting management education. One can have an academic debate if students are our ‘customers’, but the reality is that they pay for our bills. Many factors are making students more savvy and demanding. Using Internet portals and social media, applicants are much better informed than ever before. With growing preference for applicants with work experience, they also have more time available to consider options while they work and gain experience. Given the unprecedented rise in MBA fees in last few years at top 20 B-schools, which has forced 75–80% of applicants to seek bank loans, students will become only more aware and mindful of their choices.

Rising threat of ‘Substitutes’
With rise of technology and new models, B-schools are facing many substitutes. Corporate backed programs that offer quasi job guarantees and certificate or diploma at the same time have been around for some time. The job market for non-technical graduates in sectors like Retailing, BFSI etc. has opened up like never before. As brand building cost rises, ‘MBA Aggregators’ from media houses are offering what they call ‘distributed MBA’. This poses threat to mid-tier and bottom-tier B-schools. MOOCs, in many of its avatars, offer viable options to top-end of the MBA market where ‘Learning & Skills’ were key motives, and certification was not the primary need.

Threat of New Entrants
While only a handful of new institutions have been launched in the last few years, and foreign B-schools and universities are not allowed to set campuses in India, competition from foreign B-schools is on rise. Top-tier institutions like Harvard Business School, Chicago University and many others have set up their research centres in India, thus posing a challenge to IIMs and other top schools for producing and disseminating knowledge for Indian markets and consumers.
Challenge is also growing on student enrolment front. While India was a favourite hunting ground for US, UK, Canada based B-schools in last few years, a lot of B-schools from countries like New Zealand and Malaysia are actively wooing Indian applicants.
Threat from rise in bargaining power of Suppliers is more subdued. However, the cost of licensed learning material from international publishers is on rise. Similarly, print media costs have been on rise, although digital platforms have come to the rescue.

Competitive Forces drive Consolidation
As a result, driven by forces discussed above, the highly competitive Indian management education sector has undergone a metamorphosis in last 5 years. Consolidation is the order of the day. For instance, according to AICTE data, the number of PGDM B-schools has shrunk from 850 institutions to 600 institutions in last 5 years. Similar consolidation is seen in MBA program space too.

Table: Number of PGDM B-schools & MBA Programs Drops

Source: AICTE

Need for Enhancing B-school Competitiveness
The next phase of management education in India will be driven by institutions who are taking strategic actions towards enhancing their competitiveness. Blame game and waiting for right policy inputs is not the answer. So what are the Competitiveness Drivers for a Business School? And how can a B-school enhance it? 6th edition of Indian Management Conclave will focus on finding answers to these questions.

Competitiveness Drivers: A Perspective
Indian Management Conclave believes that one approach for understanding competitiveness drivers can be based on categorizing drivers into three broad groups. Depending on the position of a B-school on the Pyramid (top, middle or bottom), they can choose to focus on building competitiveness on a few key drivers.

The Essentials
The essential drivers are like oxygen. Institutions will seize to exist without having threshold competitiveness on these drivers. These drivers can be identified as:

• Academic delivery that measurably enhances student learning outcomes
• Enhancing employability
• Threshold capacity utilization

Efficiency Enablers
Competitiveness on these drivers have the capacity to enhance the results generated and will help a B-school move towards the next orbit. These drivers can be identified as:

• Enhancing quality of students admitted
• Building administrative cadre in areas like admissions and placements
• Leveraging technology

Excellence Drivers
Enhancing competitiveness on some drivers can put the institutions into the exclusive league of long-term sustainable B-schools with global impact. These drivers can be identified as:

• Setting up robust leadership & governance structures
• Research & knowledge creation
• Internationalization of student body, curriculum and placements

IMC 2015 shall focus on three key competitiveness drivers. These are being discussed by inviting keynote speakers and experts, panel discussions and IMC Awards presentations on three drivers:

• Academic delivery: Enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes
• Strategic industry–institute partnership for raising employability
• Enhancing quality of students admitted

Looking Ahead
Other drivers for enhancing B-school competitiveness shall be discussed in future editions of IMC. Based on deliberations of IMC 2015, and research, one can add more drivers or consolidate them into different clusters. We invite institutions and other stakeholders to come together for conducting more analysis on how to enhance competitiveness of management education entities in India and the world.