There are two distinct reasons for management institutes for focusing on specific sectors for MBA programs. One, to project the institute as a highly specialized institution for advanced study and research in a particular niche area. These institutions subsequently stress on research and consulting and training in the chosen areas and have, over the years, gained some reputation among stakeholders. The other reason is to leverage the opportunities provided by rapid growth in business and employment in certain sectors like hotel, retail, insurance, etc.
Then there is a third category which train ‘foot-soldiers’ – essentially front and back office sales and non-executive supervisory levels.
The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad IIM Bangalore were to focus, almost since their inception, along with the regular postgraduate studies in management, on agriculture and public systems respectively. IIM Ahmedabad continued with its thrust on agriculture but IIM Bangalore did not. Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) and Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal focused on foreign trade (subsequently international business), rural and forestry sectors respectively, but majority of the students at these colleges compete for the same jobs as those at other first grade b-schools do. Most of these institutions were set with government support.
In the past 20 years, a host of private institutions have come into being either with sector specific focus (like Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad for instance) or mostly with additional programs in one or more emerging sectors with high job potential.
B-schools which wish to be known in a particular field of specialization will focus on teaching, training, research and consulting in the chosen area of specialization or specific sector. B-schools which get into different sectors to simply leverage the market opportunities as a me-too school will not cater to the crA me del-a-crA me aspiring for careers in that sector.
There are inherent problems with most sectoral MBA programs:
- Not all sectoral programs have the same rigour of a standard two year MBA or PGDM in a good university or b-school. Often these programs are of a one a diploma level than full fledged two year programs.
- Often it is difficult to find good faculty and good students. Most faculty and students wish to keep their options wider and not narrow them as such.
- At least nine out of ten schools offering sectoral MBA do not invest adequately in building customized teaching aids and materials relevant for that sector. Merely adding a prefix or a suffix to course titles does not make the courses and program relevant for the sector. At the same time, not all students who study in these sectoral programs opt for careers in that specific sector.
- The industry players in the relevant sectors are eager to bind prospective candidates to the sector early on with promises of assistance in courseware and teaching and preferential treatment in employment. Several employers in the emerging sectors are eager to give a diploma or degree in their relevant sector with co-branding to bring legitimacy and to make the programs attractive.
- The ongoing global financial meltdown and economic down turn has made the demand for business and job/career prospects in several of the emerging sectors more volatile than was imagined a few months ago. For example, for the 2009 session, while insurance may still be offering robust picture, retail, realty, tourism, information technology, etc present a dismal picture.
- In a scenario such as this, most b-schools are taking a recourse hinted to by recruiters: “We hire for attitudes and train for skills” and focusing more on outsourced soft skills training and less on specialized on the job or sector specific skills in required depth. If at all, the provision for the latter is sought to be made through often unpaid (or underpaid) practical training in the form of live projects, internships, apprenticeship, etc.
In light of these hard, if not harsh realities, the question for both b-schools and students is whether to go the sectoral way in their pursuit of management education.
Henry Mintzberg, author of the landmark book ‘Managers not MBAs’ said that management education is mostly being offered to the wrong candidates using the wrong methods (pedagogy). He is of the firm view that prior work experience is must before anyone joins an MBA. More so, perhaps, if one wants to specialize in a specific sector. The debate then is whether functional specialization should precede sectoral specialization.
A second related question concerns the faculty. A former president of the All India Management Association (AIMA) provocatively asked whether one would like to learn tennis from someone who has never played tennis. In many emerging sectors, even the industry is lamenting about the lack of trained and experienced professionals despite salaries not being a constraint for the right guy for the job. This problem is much more acute for faculty in sectoral MBA.
A third problem concerns the courseware. Where are the customized course materials?
The fourth issue is half committed students with one leg in the sector and the other in what is currently perceived to be a agreener pasturea. When IRMA was set up, there was a tussle between the then Chairman of the institute and the Founder Director. The Chairman wanted the students to restrict their career options strictly to the rural sector. The Director would say that he could not force his own children to take up a particular vocation, how could he force his students? You can only take the horse to the pond. What it does there is the horseas choice.
Industry and b-schools should work together for a sustainable strategy that addresses all these four issues in everyoneas interest, specially the future of business in these emerging sectors as well as careers of generation next.
Dr CS Venkataratnam is Director, International Management Institute (IMI), New Delhi.