'Indian Business Education Is Strongly Influenced By The American Model'

Anjani Jain, acting dean of Yale School of Management, says Indian management education is beginning to provide a more global perspective to students 

- Neeraj Gangal

Business schools are never disconnected from business practices and the challenges of leadership, says Anjani Jain, 59, acting dean at the Yale School of Management (Yale SOM). A winner of numerous teaching awards, the former faculty of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad, and the University of California, Los Angeles.

In an interview with Forbes India, the India-born professor speaks about management education in the time of disruptive technologies and anti-immigrant sentiments. Edited excerpts:

Q What are the top trends that have emerged over the past few years in business and management education?

The internet, coupled with advances in mobile technologies for computing and communication, and concomitant developments in the capabilities of software, is transforming businesses globally and opening new possibilities for both innovation and disruption.

While the pace of change has perhaps increased in the last few years, technological change has been a persistent driver of business for many centuries. For instance, the advent of rail, mass manufacturing, telephony and television was no less consequential to business in the last century.

What remains invariant is the core of management education: To understand both competition and cooperation among firms, to manage both people and operations in organisations, to achieve goals effectively and efficiently, to understand customers’ needs deeply and serve all stakeholders well, to procure and manage capital and other resources efficiently, and to pursue strategies that seek competitive advantage through innovation, partnerships and a clear understanding of both market and non-market forces. The here-and now context continues to evolve, but the need to understand the fundamentals stays constant.