Kalpana Heliya
Par 100 posts (V.I.P)
Dr. Bala .V. Balachandran
J.L.Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Accounting,
Information Management and Decision Sciences and Director,
Accounting Research Center, Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois,USA
Deputy Chairman, Business Advisory Council,
GREAT LAKES Institute of Management
Chennai's Great Lakes Institute of Management has emerged as one of the most popular B-Schools in the country in such a short span of time. The placement records has been registering an upward curve year-on-year now with management experts from across the world including Philip Kotler, Finn Kydland and C.K. Prahalad flocking to the campus. Founder and Dean of the institute, Bala V. Balachandran, who is also a professor of Accounting, Information Management and Decision Sciences at Kellogg School of Management, spoke to ManagementParadise about the institute, admissions,placements and more...
1)When was GreatLakes established and the History behind its existence?
Great Lakes was established in the year 2004 at Chennai since both the location and timing were right; My vision for Great Lakes is not that different from what the great Saint Thiruvalluvar so eloquently wrote way back around 40 AD … “To identify and grasp the truth from whatever you hear and from wherever is the virtue of wisdom”.
2)What is the vision of the institute?
As India marches forward on the path of success, the need for more current and innovative management is needed, blending the best practices and experience of the West and the great values and ethos of the East. This dynamic combination will bear fruits only if our current generation of business leaders recognize them early (Money Value of Time) and nurture and grow them to maturity (Time Value of Money).
Great Lakes Institute of Management's vision is to seek, mould, polish and develop such leaders with changing times. Based on its discipline based core courses (horizontals) it moulds the students to become "Masters of Business Readiness" by a dynamic curriculum of customer - centric electives (verticals) providing synergies, enriching tradition with innovation. Great Lakes Institute of Management recognizes that India tomorrow will be shaped by entrepreneurs who can creatively leverage knowledge, skill sets, business processes, technology and intellectual capital with Passion, Compassion and an Obsession for Great Results.
3)What are the unique qualities you think that differentiates Great Lakes over its peer Institutes?
Our vision, which in short is to grasp the truth in an attempt to mould, polish and develop leaders, and to provide the best quality, world-class management education experience at affordable prices to qualified and deserving students. Operationally - customer Centricity, Integrity and Meritocracy Propelled by Intellect and Steered by Ethical Values;
4)How is Great Lakes developing Leaders having Global perspective with Indian roots? In terms of ranking, where would you place GreatLakes considering the Global Institutes?
We at Great Lakes believe that our PGPM could help develop innovative entrepreneurs, leaders and managers. We believe that leadership should be based on distinct values. We uphold these values through our PGPM. This institute student-centric .The involvement of students is one of the key aspects of the culture of the institute and most activities are run and owned by the students. As an important stake-holder, they not only involve themselves in the execution of plans but also contribute to evolving plans and strategies. We believe that, beyond academic excellence it is essential to provide students with an environment where personal development can be matched with a co-operative, global understanding of both business and the people who conduct it. Our PGPM has been designed for those who seek an intellectual challenge within a stimulating environment.
We would place Great Lakes right amongst the top few (20) institutions – whether Global or Indian.
5)What are various programmes offered by GreatLakes? Which scores are accepted for admission to these programmes?
Great Lakes’ Flagship program is 1 year Post Graduate Program in Management.
The PGPM OBJECTIVE
The one year full time Post Graduate Program in Management (PGPM) is uniquely designed to deliver Customer-Centricity, Meritocracy and Corporate Ethics in one year. Since it is a fast track one year program, the rigours of the course will suit candidates prior work experience. Hence, candidates with a prior work experience of 2 years + are considered. In some deserving cases with extra ordinary achievements this is releaxed.
Both GMAT and CAT scores are accepted.
6)What is the range of percentile accepted at your Institute?
While there is not a cut off, median scores for the current batch are - CAT 96.8 GMAT 690
7)What is the type of student profile your institute looks for?
Being one year fast track , the program at Great Lakes is highly demanding and intense ; candidates with consistent academic background and an ability to sustain under pressure make the grade. A typical Great Laker is a person with at least 2 years prior work experience with the focus on significant career advancement/career shift. Great Lakers prefer challenging job roles that will not only justify their previous work experience but also the one year rigorous PGPM program that they undergo at Great Lakes. We have over two-thirds of students coming from Non South Indian States and is an All India School located in Chennai and with about a third of the students being female and students from all religions.
8)What kind of work experience does GreatLakes value? What kind of class diversity has GreatLakes been having in terms of work experience?
Great Lakes encourages diversity of students in terms of both educational background and work experience. Our students come from Industries as diverse as Airlines, Banking, Insurance, Call-Center, Operations, Consulting, Engineering Design, R & D, Hospitality, Information Technology, Manufacturing, Media, Sales and HR, to name a few.
9)Permanent and guest faculty are the pillars of any B-school? What would you say about the faculty at your institute?
Permanent Faculty - Doctorates / fellows from reputed Indian and overseas universities; Post Graduates with significant industry / teaching experience of more than 10 years. Also Faculty from Industry and Govt to add to the diversity.
e.g T.N. Seshan IAS our former Election Commissioner is a Full time faculty teaching courses like Govt. Business & Society and Mr. T.T. Rangarajan teaching Logic of Spirituality and Emotional Ethics;
International visiting faculty from Kellog , Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Stuart School, Northern Illinois, Florida International to name a few
Indian Visiting Faculty from IIMs, XLRI, SP Jain, IFMR and other reputed B Schools in addition to practicing Industry professionals
10)How does the Infrastructure facility at your Institute help students to get a Total-Education Experience?
a)Sprawling 20 acre Green Campus ( Expected to get LEEDS Platinum rating) tastefully blended together to present a panoramic picture of tranquility and peace.
b)Fully residential program to encourage peer learning and group assignments. Air conditioned single rooms for comfort
c)An Open Air theatre that can seat 2500 + for cultural activities and nurturing talent
d)Gym & sports facilities for health and fitness
e)Class room that can seat all 260 + students at a time that can also be converted into 2 smaller Classes of 130 + in a few minutes
f)Class rooms with the state of the art Bose system and other A/V equipment for a superior learning experience
g)Supporting tools and software such as “ BalckBoard, SPSS” etc.
h)Faculty & Teaching Associates for student support
Etc.
11)Which are the Corporate Houses tie-ups by the institute for research-centric studies and placements?
As part of growth strategy and building intellectual Capital, Great Lakes has partnered with a number of national Corporate to establish centers of excellence, with the focus on advanced research in management which are given below. These centers would, over time, play a major role in Academic Research, dissemination of learning to industry and an advisory role to the government and society. The centers will also study appropriate strategic Approach, Structure, systems and Processes, in order to help managers, entrepreneurs and industry to be successful players in the global arena.
a) MARG CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN INFRASTRUCTURE
A Centre for Excellence in Infrastructure has been created by Marg Constructions Limited, namely “Marg Centre for Excellence in Infrastructure“, specifically to lead a focused research on formulation of strategies that can help, enable and further strengthen the success and growth of Infrastructure in India.
b) CENTER FOR BANKING EXCELLENCE
Union Bank Great Lakes Center for Banking Excellence, and a Faculty Chair as part of this Centre, were created at Great Lakes. The Center is headed by an eminent Professor, who will lead the Research and Learning programme initiatives specifically in Rural Banking.
c) T S SRINIVASAN CHAIR PROFESSORSHIP ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP
T S Srinivasan Chair Professor on Entrepreneurship will play a catalytic role through focused research, teaching, training, consulting, evangelizing and other suitable ways to foster and enrich entrepreneurship in India.
d) YALE-GREAT LAKES CENTRE FOR MANAGEMENT RESEARCH
The Yale-Great Lakes Centre for Management Research aims to promote, facilitate, and advance India-centric management related research. The Centre, along with the Yale-Great Lakes Committee, conducts an annual International Conference -- a platform for illustrious scholars from leading institutions in India and abroad to present their work on the latest areas of research in management. The Centre also comes out with its publication “Great Lakes Herald” a half-yearly journal of research articles.
e) KOTLER SRINIVASAN CENTRE FOR EXCELLENCE IN MARKETING
Great Lakes aims to be the preferred B-School for Marketing in India. Thus, during the visit of the marketing legend Dr Philip Kotler and Prof Srinivasan of Stanford (an authority on Conjoint Analysis) to Great Lakes in 2008, the “Kotler-Srinivasan Center for Excellence in Marketing” was set up to enhance marketing based research in India
In 2008, we announced ‘Great Lakes has truly arrived in the big league’. Taking the same script forward in 2009, we are proud to be one of the first few B-schools of repute to report 100% placement. Our students have been placed in sectors including Consulting, Sales & Marketing, Operations, General Management, Banking & Financial Services, and IT/ITES, to name a few.
Talent hunters included ADP, Al Seer, At Your Price, Avion Systems, Birlasoft, Big FM, BMC Software, Cholamandalam, Cognizant, CSC, Deloitte, Emergent Ventures, Essar Group, Exemplar, Firefly, Godrej, GVK Bio, Harita TVS, HCL, HeyMath, IBM, IMS, Infosys, Infotech enterprises, iNautix, Knight & Frank, KS Oils, L&T, Manipal Group, Marg Group, McKinsey, MuSigma, Nu Street, Optima Marketing Solutions, Orbit Corporation, Photon Infotech, Protech Soft, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Punj Lloyd, Redpill Solution Pte. Ltd (Singapore), Renoir Consulting, Saksoft, SBQ Steel, Siestema Shyam Telelink, Siemens, Summit, Sungard, Suprabha, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata International, Tecpro Systems, Tech Mahindra, TVS Electronics, Wipro, ZS Associates, Zycus Solutions, and more…
12)What is the future of vertical specific programs?
a) Recognising that Energy security and self reliance is going to play a critical role for India in its development , Great Lakes has signed an MoU with Bauer College of Business, University of Houston for a proposed new Executive MBA program in Energy Management beginning 2010
b) An MoU Has also been entered into with Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research , (IGCAR) to explore an Energy management specific programs to begin with , for their employees , extending it later to a specialised Vertical in PGPM
13)What kind of support-system exists in your institute to promote Entrepreneurial spirits?
Great Lakes has an Entrepreneurship Development Forum – which is a student initiative mentored by a faculty member. This forum besides taking up live projects to assist entrepreneurs also has instituted an Annual Conference since last year . Last Year’s theme was“Entrepreneurship - moving beyond the metros” and brought together thought leaders from academia and real entrepreneurial ecosystem. It provided a platform to exchange and share the knowledge among the various players like entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, academic researchers, and entrepreneurial professionals like VC & angels and policy makers.
14)The MBA Job Market is worst in a decade: How much has it impacted your institute, what are the initiatives taken to overcome it? Your institute’s Placement strategy ?
Since inception we have had a 100 % placement record that continued this year as well. Amongst premier B Schools in the country we had completed placement process by end May 2009 . This was achieved without a major compromise in CTCs as reflected by the lowest and average salaries. In fact the average CTC for the batch was only marginally lower than the previous year which many other reputed institutions struggled to achieve. In other words we were referring to Quality than completing mere numbers. This was done essentially by increasing the recruiter base and getting significantly more companies to visit the campus and recruit.
15)Job’s woes unlikely to end anytime soon. Your suggestions to students who have cleared this year and for the new entrants.
We believe an MBA should be looked a upon as a career and a journey that lasts over 3 decades than a short term CTC orientation. Therefore if you are equipped with MBA, better than other MBAs and looking at profiles that match your skills set, we do not believe the students will not get jobs notwithstanding Business Cycles that are part of any Economy and more than one has been seen even post liberalisation.
16)Message to directors of other B-Schools in the management education perspective?
Be Unique. India has reached an exalted height questioning the supremacy of the Business Education mastered by U.S. and the West. Time has come to be Innovative, Creative and Relevant to changing times and thus Produce and Nurture future Leaders of Moral Leadership from India. With the objectives of Meritocracy, Integrity, Transparency and Customer Centricity, all of us as, Directors and Deans have the moral Responsibility for a "Responsible Freedom" in that we not only Distribute Knowledge but Create Knowledge and not adapt the Education from Elsewhere. Passion with Compassion and Obsession for Great Curriculum, great faculty and Great Students will take us to Exalted heights.
17)Message to Aspirants and students pursuing MBA education?
Students aspiring to become Great Lakers will find one simple and hard-hitting slogan
“We treat and take care of you as our customer."
What it means to us is our commitment to take care of you in all aspects of life while you are with us, leading to a lifetime relationship.
We continuously strive to achieve the highest quality in every sphere of activity, and make our global presence conspicuous through the highest level of performance and total dedication to shaping your future. Our focus is to achieve this commitment to you by bringing in the philosophy that industry and education must coexist, while knowledge and experience will continuously and dynamically keep you performing at the peak level, now and in the future.
The institute has adopted the best features of the American management education adapted to the Asian values and ethos. With the commitment and focus as enunciated here, our objective is to offer world-class program, designed to help each student realize his or her full potential at an affordable cost.
Welcome to Great lakes – JAI HIND