The BLoC Interview. ‘Generalist MBAs will fade with time; specialist offerings will rise in B-schools’

MDI was the first to launch the one year MBA-equivalent in the late 1980s — predating ISB and IIM-A by more than a decade. It still is the only management institution in the country that has a PGDM programme in International Business where the entire cohort spends one year on-campus and one year at a partner school. Currently, the National Cybersecurity framework is being piloted out of MDI in collaboration with IIT-K and MHA.

My agenda is to future-proof the B-school from three perspectives — technology, regulation and markets. With the NEP (National Education Policy) and HECI (Higher Education Commission of India), there is a possibility of MDI becoming a multidisciplinary university. Generative AI, blockchain, VR and other technologies are altering how value is created, deployed, articulated and made profits from. We need to be abreast of the change and deploy them in our courses. What the market and stakeholders (students, recruiters, government, society) want from us is also changing and we need to be ahead of the curve to meet their needs.

MDI has a very strong faculty base, some of the best students and a fantastic location, perhaps, the best in the country. It has a strong governance structure and supportive stakeholders. Resources are available to deploy for future growth. I hope that the following will be key differentiators for MDI.

Our graduates must be outstanding in adaptability, self-regulation and in the ability to lead. Skilful people management requires a deep knowledge and application of behavioural sciences — a combination of psychology, sociology, anthropology and neuroscience that allows managers and leaders to build, maintain and deploy high performance teams; great teams lead to great performance. MDI Gurgaon has just signed an agreement to establish the MDI Brandscapes Lab that seeks to do research and consulting in the area of applications of behavioural science and neuroscience in business. The lab will enable scholarly research and will increase the level of engagement between MDI Gurgaon on one hand and government and business on the other.

The second key focus area would be tech savviness. New technologies such as generative AI, deep learning, blockchain, crypto, quantum computing and big data are fundamentally altering the nature of business processes all along the value chain, from upstream sourcing to downstream order-booking and customer engagement processes; indeed the very nature of value creation and value management is changing and new efficiencies are being created. The goal for MDI would be to create more capabilities in the areas of AI/ML’s applications and other emerging technologies on business. The idea would be to build on existing teaching and research. For example, teaching and learning through gamification becomes an important alternative path going forward. India’s cybersecurity framework has a large contribution from MDI.

The third key focus area would be the creation of an innovation and implementation mindset. This requires the ability to think critically, to ask probing and relevant questions, to connect the seemingly unconnected events and action, and to come up with working solutions that not only change the status quo but also anticipate and create the future. For many top management personnel, anticipating the future with greater certainty is a critical part of their job. Many large firms put a premium on this skill!

Putting these three together into a coherent unit would mean developing multiple T-skills, knowledge and application base. The vertical arms of the (multiple) T represent depth in 2-3 areas — first, in a behavioural science area, and second, in some technology and their applications area. The horizontal arm will represent the ability to connect different areas of business to solve problems in innovative ways and to anticipate the future — it should allow the development of domain expertise that is scalable and applicable to other areas on the back of the depth in the vertical arm of the T.

The lab will do research and consulting in applications of neuroscience and behavioural science to a broad class of problems in businesses ranging from marketing, HR to public policy.

Neuro insights tend to have greater accuracy as compared to self reports because the data captures what is happening in the brain directly. This leads to better insights about consumer behaviour and human behaviour in general. For example, one can say that a particular brand was preferred over a stronger brand through the resolution of conflict in the ACC (Anterior Cingulate Cortex, a part in the brain). Or one can conclude that a certain proposed alternative programme is likely to work better than another in people retention. Or that a particular packaging resonates more. Or a particular policy intervention will work better.

Like the top IIMs, MDI had a good placement season in 2022-23 with 100 per cent placements and an average salary in the range of ₹26 lakh per annum for the three largest programmes.

MDI Gurgaon already has some strengths in these areas — for example, geo-location and business decisions, cybersecurity. And the plan is to build more.

The fundamentals will remain the same, but hybrid models will emerge. The generalist MBA that most top B–schools have focused on will fade with time. This is already happening in the US, where even schools like Harvard and Stanford are seeing declining enrolments in their MBA programme. Specialist programmes that have more direct applicability and job value will start becoming more common.

Accreditations are helpful in signaling, improving internal processes, attracting staff and faculty, and to some extent in student selection of a B-School. But the primary motivation for a student to select a B school remains the job prospects, the quality of learning and faculty, the nature of pastoral care and the nature of the course. PGDM-IB students at MDI Gurgaon, for example, are very clear that they want the international exposure that only this programme can provide in India in a full-time programme at a reasonable cost.

Yes. The pandemic hit us quite hard and we are working to recover some ground. We are trying newer ways to ensure a larger inbound exchange student traffic which should start showing results in 12-18 months.

Through faculty who are passionate about research and teaching and who are able to maximise the positive feedback loop between the two.