From the Editor

Rankings fascinate, just as they discriminate. They encourage some, just as they disappoint others. But the anticipation of a ranking excites everybody, no matter how the outcome is eventually perceived.

At Business Today, we know this very well. After all, over the years, we have mastered the art of rankings. We rank companies, cities, banks, CFOs, entrepreneurs... the list is long. But nothing matches the excitement of our annual B-school rankings. We pioneered these rankings in India and have been reporting on management education well before others discovered relevance and value in it. It's this collective wisdom and experience that we share with you in this issue's cover package.

Being the first doesn't give us the right to claim that we are also the best. But we believe our rankings are superior to all others for one fundamental reason: Our ranking methodology is significantly different, fairer and has a lower risk of misrepresentation. For proof, we request you to spend a few minutes in understanding the hows and the whys of our ranking before you turn over to the results.

A key differentiator of our approach is our belief that the customer is king. A company may design a product that it thinks is the best, but that's of no value if its customers don't think the same way. A management school, too, is only as good as its customers think it to be. Therefore, BT's B-school ranking is totally customer-driven.

With this basic premise, our job was to define the customers (i.e., students, recruiters) as comprehensively as possible and engage with them more thoroughly than anyone else. We think we have done that. And the proof is the depth and diversity of our coverage-not just the main rankings, but also other features that capture issues ranging from the mood on the campus to the state of the new IIMs and a profile of ISB, which enters our ranking for the first time. Don't miss the HBR special on what's wrong with management education.

Whether you are a management student (current or aspiring), a teacher or an executive, you will want to keep this issue for reference way after its 14-day life on the newsstands.

Management education is not an end in itself. It's of no avail if it doesn't improve businesses and lives. So even in this special issue focussed on education, we have features that demonstrate the end results.

Also read how one of Tata Group's youngest CEOs has succeeded in making big-ticket global acquisitions work when others within and outside the group were seeing M&As going horribly wrong. The biggest Indian B of all times has never been to a B-school. Then, Amitabh Bachchan tells you why he is betting big on the small screen - yet again.