| |19 October 2017HIGHERReviewProf. Surya Mahadevan has 30 years of work experience in FMCG and Telecom sectors. He played leadership roles managing large brands such as Tata, Reliance, Aircel, Loop, Maltova, Viva and Amul. He has worked across Sales, Marketing, Retail and Customer Service functional areas and in his last assignment before joining TAPMI, he was responsible for Mumbai Circle Telecom operations as Chief Operating Officer at Loop Mobile. Prof. Surya MahadevanPremier B-schools are exploring and experimenting with the opportunity through Virtual Interactive learning programs. The acceptance by corporate is a bit muted as they are not sure what level of credibility should be attributed to the programs.Premier Management schools can infuse the much-needed rigor into the process of learning, assessment and delivery and provide their stamp of certification for corporate acceptance. Alternately, a central body for final assessment/ certification can facilitate recognition of the programRegistration to Online learning is likely to grow exponentially and more Corporate acceptance/ recognition.Short Duration ProgramsCorporate who dithered at the forced break in work of productive work force and high cost of travel/stay/ programs are likely to embrace Virtual/ Online delivery of management education.Premier B-Schools will be able to replicate the regular on- campus short duration programs to the Virtual/ Online mode while retaining the rigor.The number of executives trained is poised for an exponential increase with the break-thru in cost/time/flexibility. Mid- career refresh without a large break in work allows executives to learn new /trending skills/subjects and also plug the gap in their knowledge based on their specific industry/market contextPartnership with industry:Corporate expectations from students graduating from management schools and what educational institutions deliver is at variance primarily on account of following factors Management education institutions teach concepts with examples drawn from several sectors or otherwise sector-neutral.o It is very difficult to deliver sector specific/intense knowledge in a general management program given the multiplicity of sectors and limitation in expertise.o It can also be argued that if the focus is on the conceptual/ analytical dimensions, we cannot dilute it by layering multiple sector focus. Management education institutions discuss problems/challenges in the larger organisation/ market context with a bias towards evaluation and decision making. For example students study situations relating to pricing, positioning, branding etc. and these are typically in the domain of Senior Management and these are not decisions taken at the junior management level Students are confronted by sector-specific/ company specific challenges/issues at the macro level and their job demands operating knowledge/ skills for his function.o The student neither knows the specific sector nuance nor does (s)he have adequate operating knowledge that his job demandsCorporate continue to lament that the students are NOT READY finished products. This large gap between demand expectations and supply delivery is likely to be bridged with Sector specific curriculum - Custom designed for one sector and not multiple sectors.
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