Saturday, March 19, 2016

How Can MBA Colleges in Delhi Contribute to the Start Up India Campaign?

MBA colleges in Delhi have grown with the growth of Delhi NCR as one of the most forward looking and progressive economic clusters in India and Asia. The recently announced Start Up India policy of the union government has been making the right noises about creating an ecosystem and a culture towards the blossoming of start up firms. After 25 years of economic reforms and a quantum leap in the GDP, India now looks forward to the next generation of economic reforms. This is where start -up firms have a big role to play. If the last 25 years of economic reforms were about dilution of economic barriers and legislations to create softer economic borders, the next 25 years are probably about taking the benefits of the free market economy to the doorstep of every household. This shall require a trickle down policy from the side of the government so that economies of networking percolate down to the last tier of the economic pyramid.

In this context it is exciting for academicians at Ishan Institute of Management & Technology, to look for extended opportunities for the student community in MBA colleges in Delhi to contribute to this movement.

Focus on Gandhian Innovation
The CEO of NPCL, Shri R.C.Aggarwal in a guest lecture delivered at Ishan had said that when he looked to learn to operate with minimum possible resources he drew inspiration from the household chores of the poorest man in his organization. This statement is very akin to the talisman of Mahatma Gandhi, one of the few great original thinkers that India has produced. Management colleges in Delhi need to focus on Gandhian innovation with a renewed vigour. In an emerging economy like ours that is best described in the language of late Prof.C.K.Prahalad as a bottom of the pyramid market, low cost innovations that are affordable, accessible and available should be the mantra for success and is the mantra for success. Some of the best products in recent times that have been termed disruptive innovations have done so. Tata Nano despite all the failures of market development stands out in terms of product development. HUL Pureit is yet another example of a green innovation that is low cost and has worked wonders in streamlining hygiene standards without using any source of non-renewable energy. Managers and technocrats who can innovate for the bottom of the pyramid markets shall be the true Gandhians of tomorrow.

Integrate Business Research with Entrepreneurial Goals
At Ishan we stress on aspiring business graduates to integrate business research with entrepreneurial goals. This results in students developing business acumen for the service of society. Capitalism and the free market economy are about making choices. Free market economics is about making the correct choices that can achieve economic, technical and social parameters of Pareto optimality. We enable and empower students to take up business research projects on titles that conceive India as not just a market but also a nation. Lord Meghnad Desai, (professor emeritus at London School of Economics) in his seminal work Development and Nationhood explains that small business and start-up business can open the floodgates to sustainable income generation while improving the quality of lives.

Offer Solutions to Challenges at the Local Level
Students in MBA colleges must for a moment weed out the obscurantist myths associated with the Harvard school of thinking in business. India as an emerging economy is distraught with unique challenges. For start- up firms to excel they must explore the challenges that India faces at the level of the local community. Once these challenges are identified, intrinsic solutions can be explored by means of product and process innovation. The final stage is to make the solution extrinsic by means of a business model that is streamlined for time, space and scale.


At Ishan Institute of Management & Technology, one of the top MBA colleges in Delhi, constantly inspire students to dare to think beyond the horizons of a run of the mill career.