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The Deans' Conclave
 This signature event saw Business School leaders from around the world, complemented by their Indian counterparts, explore how emerging markets can enhance the future of management education and research. Deans from leading US/Europe/Asian business, schools along with those from the leading Indian management schools attended this session, which was a unique part of the SMS India Conference. It comprised a panel discussion and an exclusive Deans-only session.
The panel discussion examined the changes in the role and function of Business Schools. Conclave panellists included Robert J Dolan, Dean, University of Michigan Business School, Edward A Snyder is Dean of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business (now known as Chicago Booth), Jordi Canals, Dean of IESE Business School, Shekhar Chaudhuri, Director of the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta, and M Rammohan Rao, Dean ISB. The panel was moderated by Tarun Khanna, Professor, Harvard Business School.
During the Conference Prahalad had mentioned about the significance of the Deans’ Conclave. “The Deans are in charge to look at the future of management research and education. The support structures they create, will go a long way in strengthening the research goals and agendas,” he said.
During the panel, Dean Bob Dolan said, “Teach our students to be courageous, to be intelligent risk-takers. That’s when we can have breakthrough innovations.” Dean Dolan believes that nobody has cracked the code of life long learning much as we talk about it, and that “we have to touch the students at home and at work.”. He further clarified that the distinction between research and teaching is a false one . “Business alone is like one hand washing itself. When you have business and arts, that’s when you have things going,” he concluded.
Panellist Dean Jordi Canal was rather optimistic. “B-School students have raised the standards of professionalism and leadership. The biggest challenge for me, after faculty, is how we help reframe the concept of a firm in society, and the role of top management teams in firms and societies. We are very good at transmitting knowledge but we need to upgrade the standards of leadership,” he said..
Dean Ted Snyder was of the opinion that while companies are globalising, B Schools aren’t. “We see some globalisation in Executive MBA programmes, but not in full time programmes – that is a big organisational challenge,” he remarked. He also said that if you look at major globalisation of industries of the world, and then look at the market share of top 20 B Schools, it is “minuscule”. Executive MBA programmes can lend itself to organisational change, he felt.
Dean Rao added that though there has been some pessimism about the research focus in Indian B Schools, the ISB has shown the way, and mindsets are now changing in other Indian B Schools too. “If the IT industry can do it why not educators and institutions?’ he asked. The need, he felt, was to enhance faculty development , to ensure a change in university systems, and to maintain a sustained focus on emerging markets.
Shekhar Chaudhuri added to the panel that there was a need to adopt virtual learning in a big way, to make ethics an integral part of curriculum, and that the orientation of the programmes should be skilled based and research based.
Present at the Conference was Dean M Moshe Porat, Fox Business School, Temple University. “ The Deans session was an opportunity to develop concepts on how to effectively manage resources in a management institution and simultaneously enhance research, especially in the context of an emerging country like India. India with its size, the way it manages cost reduction and affordability for the masses, and the innovation that it develops – these are something to learn from the developed world,” he said
Dean Bill Glick, Jones School of Management, Rice University said, “ The Conference is so exciting with such a focus on the Bottom of the Pyramid. When we move into the Deans’ Conclave, we will reflect on the implications of this for MBA education globally. And as for ISB, just standing here at the Atrium feels beautiful.”
Vice Dean, Raj Chandran, Fox Business School, Temple University said that the Dean’s session was a look at what it takes to build a great institution, what are the basic building blocks. “India has great institutions, so has China. A whole constellation of great universities are emerging, and so there is a lot of learning from each other,” he said.
Following the panel, was an exclusive Deans-only session where the Deans , in small groups, debated the various issues arising out of the panel presentation and discussion. A conglomeration of this kind generated new perspectives and ideas for constructive and orderly change in the domain of management education .
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