Some 25 top company executives are going to be busy learning the tricks of business through April and May. In fact, they are already in the thick of things, to be a part of an exciting management programme, both in India and the United States.Even as most of the participants are from leading companies in India, senior executives from abroad with significant interests in India are welcome too.
Divided in two modules, the programme will take these corporate bigwigs to Bangalore first, and then to MIT in Massachusetts, US. And to make it work, the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and MIT Sloan School of Management, US, have come together for the second time.
From April 12 to 19 at IIM Bangalore and from May 3 to 10 at MIT, US, the second Senior Management Program on `Globalisation, Technology and the Management of Change' is set to be an opportunity for the selected executives to interact with the global management trends and techniques.
Certainly, this familiarisation trip comes for a price,which not many Indian companies can afford. To be precise, at $27,000 for a charter sponsor and $14,000 for others. The cost of the programme shoots up by another $500 after the last date of registration, which was January 31, 1998.
But why should a company pay so much more to become a charter sponsor, one may wonder. Prof L S Murty of IIM Bangalore, who's co-director of the IIM-Sloan programme, explains the benefits of being a charter sponsor. The MIT Sloan School of Management and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, invite a select number of organisations to become charter sponsors of the programme, he says. And these sponsors have a lot of say in the planning of the programme, including guidance on content and delivery.
Another major advantage of being a charter sponsor is that the company has two seats reserved for the programme. The charter sponsors' nominees will have priority over other candidates in the subsequent programmes too.
So it makes lot of business sense for a company to optfor charter sponsorship of the programme. It gives a company priority over others to reserve seats for its executives, particularly with the number of seats limited to just 25 in a programme. In effect, charter sponsorship means a greater level of exposure to the global business trends, and therefore a more meaningful implementation of the lessons taught during the programme.
No wonder then that for the first programme in 1997, as many as 10 companies came up as charter sponsors including Aditya Birla Group, Godrej Soaps, Arvind Mills, Hindustan Lever Ltd, ITC Ltd, JS Group, Reliance Industries Ltd, Pacific Alliance, Tata Iron & Steel Company Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services.
Besides the charter sponsors, other companies sending their representatives to the programme included Fibres and Fabrics International, Hoechst AgrEvo, Infosys, Life Insurance Corporation and Lucas-TVS.
Meant for senior managers who are functional heads or heads of strategic business units in large organisations; chief executivesof small and medium-sized organisations; and senior executives from outside India with significant interests in India, the programme is quite popular with the previous year's participants.
Among those who feel the IIM-Sloan experience is worth the price is C P Jajoo, Senior Executive President, Vikram & Aditya Cement, Aditya Birla Group. ``Attending the IIM Bangalore-Sloan Management programme has immensely helped me understand that customer's perception of value is key to achieve superior overall manufacturing capabilities and that customer is the centre point of all our activities,'' says Jajoo.
After the programme, Jajoo is emphatic on zero breakdowns, zero defects, zero losses, zero accidents and zero pollution. Also, the focus is on attaining world-class levels in the organisation.
And it's not theory alone where quality consciousness matters. Jajoo elaborates that at Vikram Cement a system has been developed whereby all senior executives meet customers on a regular basis to have a direct feel oftheir wants and needs. ``So the customer has become the greatest stimulus for improvement activities, design and development of high quality speciality products which in turn become the key to the whole process of competitive advantage,'' adds Jajoo. Another significant step taken by Vikram Cement is a unique satellite-based IT management information system for marketing, which is the first of its kind for any cement company in the country.
On the scope of the programme, another past participant, R S Naware, Executive Vice-President -- Technical, ITC, says: ``The programme design covered a wide variety of subjects in the entire field of management. And the programme provided very contemporary, cutting edge developments in all subjects -- be it technology management, organisational improvement strategy based on information systems, logistical chain, human resource management and team effectiveness.''
On implementation of the lessons learnt, Naware says: ``Over the last year, I have used some concepts instrategic thinking as well as in the area of logistics which will yield good results for the organisation.''
Gautam Chakravarti, Head (New Business Development), Hindustan Lever Ltd, also claims to have benefited from the 1997 programme. ``The programme has certainly helped me in terms of professional growth by providing exposure to contemporary thinking in several areas of interest and value in the current business environment,'' says Chakravarti.
But how has the organisation gained? Chakravarti replies: ``It's too early to comment on the impact of the programme on my organisation, because one or two executives cannot make a significant difference in a large organisation.'' But there's a way to help organisations in a more comprehensive manner -- ``Once few of us go through this programme, as well as similar programmes elsewhere, the impact shall be felt in the working of the organisation,'' Chakravarti suggests.
