About SPL

The SBI Cell for Public Sector Leadership (SPL) was established in association with State Bank of India, the leading bank in India under the aegis of the Centre for Leadership, Innovation and Change (CLIC). SBI contributed the seed investment to set up the cell and continues to support the research activities till date. The partnership between SBI and CLIC is a testimony to the instrumental role played by industry in establishing an international quality research centre in India. 

The primary objective of SPL is to resolve leadership and change management issues plaguing the public sector enterprises (PSEs) in this era of accelerated complexity and dynamicity. The cell addresses one of the most critical areas of national interest i.e. PSEs. It focuses on leadership issues in PSEs and provides a forum for knowledge exchange among public sector CEOs and top-executives.

The PSEs in India and other emerging markets encounter multitude of problems in the process of overcoming the challenges inherent and unique to their countries. SPL strives to understand the problems, look for solutions and streamline the knowledge through research. The cell explores best practices, success stories and processes that have worked for organisations and disseminates them through books, research papers, customised programmes, case studies and policy studies.

Since inception, SPL has focused on Public Sector Leadership and various related issues like change management, organisational transformation, managerial mindsets, etc. The outputs are of relevance to the industry in general and public sector enterprises in particular.  Our mission for the SBI Cell for Public Sector Leadership is that it will be “A great place for world-class research on  leadership, and governance in public sector organisations and effective dissemination of the knowledge to business leaders.” With this in mind, we have focused on three major areas:

1. To engage in cutting edge research on topics of interest in public sector leadership;
2. To advance practice by engaging with the business community through conferences, roundtables and workshops;
3. To apply the state-of-the-art research to develop and train current and future executives.

Within India, PSEs represent over 300 business firms with a potential market capitalisation of over ` 22 trillion.  Many of them are large, complex organisations and provide a fascinating ground for empirical research.  Over the course of this financial year, we hope to develop databases and research laboratories with access to these PSEs to create a platform for researchers in strategy, OB, finance, and other disciplines to explore critical questions.  In turn, it will also enable PSEs with access to top faculty members and their intellectual contributions.