'Companies should be process-driven'
In Hyderabad recently, Dipak C. Jain, Dean of the Kellogg School of Management in the US, spoke to E. Kumar Sharma on innovative management practices, corporate governance in India and how B-Schools need to come to terms with the reality of a slowdown.
In Hyderabad recently, Dipak C. Jain, Dean of the Kellogg School of Management in the US, spoke to E. Kumar Sharma on innovative management practices, corporate governance in India and how B-Schools need to come to terms with the reality of a slowdown. Excerpts:
Many B-schools have hiked their fees even as job offers for students dry up. Is this justified?
The opportunity cost on account of paying higher fees is not greater than how much one can make in the future as the potential to make good is much greater after an MBA degree. However, a student must always focus more on learning than on earning, not just because we are witnessing a slowdown.
How does the value of management education change in a downturn?
Formal management education assumes greater importance in a downturn because you deal with fewer resources and need to optimise these resources. The most crucial thing now is efficiency. After all, management education is not only about the economics of scale and economics of scope but also the economics of skills.
Speaking of effective managements, how different is corporate governance standards in India vis-á-vis the US?
In India, the lack of transparency in a few instances has been glaring. In the Satyam case, most people did not know what was happening within the organisation. In comparison, the US is more process-oriented. The more process-driven you are, the greater is the necessity to explain which leads to transparency.
But Madoff still happened in the US
There are lessons to be learnt from both the Satyam and the Madoff cases. We need to learn why it happened and how it can be prevented next time.
— E. Kumar Sharma
Many B-schools have hiked their fees even as job offers for students dry up. Is this justified?
The opportunity cost on account of paying higher fees is not greater than how much one can make in the future as the potential to make good is much greater after an MBA degree. However, a student must always focus more on learning than on earning, not just because we are witnessing a slowdown.
How does the value of management education change in a downturn?
Formal management education assumes greater importance in a downturn because you deal with fewer resources and need to optimise these resources. The most crucial thing now is efficiency. After all, management education is not only about the economics of scale and economics of scope but also the economics of skills.
Speaking of effective managements, how different is corporate governance standards in India vis-á-vis the US?
In India, the lack of transparency in a few instances has been glaring. In the Satyam case, most people did not know what was happening within the organisation. In comparison, the US is more process-oriented. The more process-driven you are, the greater is the necessity to explain which leads to transparency.
But Madoff still happened in the US
There are lessons to be learnt from both the Satyam and the Madoff cases. We need to learn why it happened and how it can be prevented next time.
— E. Kumar Sharma
