THE PROMISE OF INDIAN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN CONTEMPORARY TIMES

The question of whether ‘politics informs economics’ or vice-versa has been looming large for decades now, but has hardly been as prominent and critical as today.

Given the geopolitical situations in RussiaUkraine, Israel-Palestine-Iran, and to smaller extents in some other parts of the world, the economics finds itself at the receiving end. Business firms find themselves on shaky grounds as a consequence of such situations. For instance, companies such as McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Apple, along with financial giants including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, did chose to either suspend or fully exit their operations in Russia, citing ethical concerns, legal restrictions, and reputational risks associated with continuing business in a conflict zone. This presents an opportunity to the regional players to fill the void in the market.

While handling complex geopolitical situations is not the only dilemma for the management education today, the above case presents a perfect illustration of the bumpy rides for which it needs to prepare. Embracing the digital transformation presented by the advent of artificial intelligence and machine learning, growing global competition among educational institutions, call for sustainability, inclusivity and diversity, can be counted as some other key roadblocks. The management schools and the education and research delivered by them need to continually evolve and reinvent for addressing the dynamic challenges in a no-less dynamic way.