IIMs: From competition to co-operation

Tarun Narayan in Mumbai & Jaidev Majumdar in Kolkata

IF traditionally Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) have been known for the intense competition that exists between them and its students in the placement sweepstakes, think again. Today, these same IIMs are looking at various ways in which they can share resources. From an atmosphere of competition, they are increasingly moving to an era of co-operation.

Examples of these abound amongst various IIMs. There is now a tie-up between IIM-Indore and IIM-Khozikode to institute pro-active project cells. At another level, there is sharing in corporate-driven projects between IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Lucknow. Further, some of these institutes also have common networked knowledge resources. All of these are some of the major initiatives that are increasingly getting instituted in the established institutions of management education. In some ways, they are quite like corporates going out and striking alliances. “We are turning out as dummy corporates striking daring deals,” says Mr Rajesh Ravikiran, a first year student of IIM-B.

Some of these seem to be existing at IIM-C too. Prof Leena Chatterjee, who heads the placement cell at IIM-C, says that it co-ordinates with IIMs in Bangalore and Ahmedabad to fix interview dates. “We are constantly in touch with IIM-A and IIM-B to identify different interview dates so that aspiring students don’t face difficulties. We have been doing this for the last two-three years after some of the students had complained that interview dates across the IIMs overlap,” Prof Chatterjee said.

Indeed, it seems that some of the newly created IIMs are in some ways looking proactively in this direction. Resolved to lend a ready momentum to the newly constituted corporate project cell at IIM-Kozhikode, Mr Ravikiran and his team of trainees and faculty from IIM-Bangalore travelled their way to IIM-Kozhikode. The rationale: Utilise the equity of IIM-B and efficiently plough corporate projects for the freshly created cells at IIM-K.

The concept though, was not merely executed with a fickle empathy towards the freshers. There was definitely an expectation of counter benefit brewing in their minds. “While the students at IIM-K were translating our brand into an academic advantage, we were undertaking an IIM-K-sponsored rural marketing project for Cipla by chartering into the rural interiors of the advanced economy of Kerala,” remarks Mr Ravikiran.

Establishing corporate project cells for the newly created IIMs is just one of the numerous instances of renewed areas of resource-sharing embarked by the management biggies. Even the cross-functional sharing of resources within the existing IIM fold is gaining ground to ingrain beneficial interlinkages. “We are looking at reaping benefits by mutually reclining on the core collective strengths,” says a faculty member from IIM-L.

Sharing resources
The informal interface between the Bangalore and Lucknow IIMs is a case in point. IIM-L has a number of clear corporate approvals for sponsored projects in the sectors of heavy automobile and engineering. IIM-B on the other has a wellspring of IT and biotechnology corporates flushing in a flourish of projects in the campuses. “Deriving desired industry exposure for our trainees could have been brought about by bridging the distances between us and them,” says Mr Satish Lumaye, co-ordinator sponsored project cell at IIM-L.

Both have formed a “Joint Academy Club” as a result of the rationale. The club arrives as a place for sharing the opportunities and succeeding in making the desired choice. Trainees from Lucknow are allowed to take up projects that arrive in the Bangalore campus while trainees with past technical background pick the projects on heavy engineering works that match up to their aspiration and aptitude. “We come closer and create value for our careers,” says Ms Nina Parker from IIM-B.

The other advantage they derive from the partnership deals is the opportunity in implementing some of the benchmarks back in their native institute. “Such project-sharing proposals also entail residing at each other’s campuses,” says Ms Parker.

“Bangalore has a guest faculty cell that is bereft of co-ordination related complications,” says Mr Lumaye. “They have painfully ensured a precise data availability process where every industry resource person is listed with the latest details on the job and the designation,” informs Mr Lumaye. “This helps the institute in getting the relevant person at a break-neck speed,” Mr Lumaye further adds.

Lucknow IIM thus plans to get the same processes into actionable perspectives. What about Bangalore? “Lucknow has contemporary courses on entrepreneurship in the era of slowdown. We are looking forward to implementing them as a knowledge enhancement initiative for our trainees,” says Ms Parker from IIM-B.

Another pattern that is also getting leveraged as a co-operating initiative in the arena of IIM majors is the collective coming together of the new and the established campuses.

The three-party venture between IIM-Bangalore, Lucknow and Indore is an elucidation to this emerging scenario of “beneficial sharing” in the field of management education. Indore has been utilising the assistance of IIM-B and IIM-L for the purpose of getting the best of the industry experts for a bunch of event management seminars as a novel move to create a strong image niche. The trainees from Lucknow and Bangalore get the students of Indore to garner local sponsorships for some of the alumni club meets that are hosted by the respective institutes. “They gain sponsorships by utilising their local advantage and fulfil the financial inadequacies for our alumni meets,” says Mr Lumaye who also is the secretary for the “co-operative student cell” that has been floated by the three institutes.

“We take our native contacts for the experienced brethren and they lend us the basic support-base to establish,” says Mr Rajak Pal, a trainee from first year IIM-Indore, now busying himself to organise the alumni meet for IIM-B. “Alongwith money we also receive a fruitful and full-fledged manpower support,” says Ms Parker from IIM-B.

The Management Centre for Human Values (MCHV) at IIM-C is another area which the other IIMs are now trying to emulate. MCHV was initiated in 1995 and has since held many a workshop highlighting the spiritual aspect of humanity.

Prof Sanjay Mukherjee, a faculty member of MCHV says: “The MCHV has been a success story for IIM-C. It is only natural that the other IIMs will set up similar centres. We have been approached by IIM-Lucknow and right now some of our faculty members are there trying to help them set up a similar centre there.”

There are many areas of co-operation. From erstwhile events and meets which were ridden with problems in terms of sponsorship and manpower to hassle- free alumni events, from compelled-into sponsored projects to receiving projects in the areas specifically desired, from singular benefits to shared multi-fold advantages—the transition amongst the premier IIMs is increasingly happening with studied synergies and calculated combinations.

If strategic alliances have been a common practice in corporate India, can the institutes that churn out its managers be far behind?