Tag: India

Dr. Ashley Jacob, a current Executive MBA student (Mumbai Class 1), presented at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) 21st Innovation Conference on his successful hospital transformation which increased patient quality outcomes using innovative technology and processes to reduce overhead and patient wait times.

With a population of 1.2 billion people, India has extreme competition where medical facilities and doctors vie for customers who prioritize value, reputation, and quality. Though Dr. Jacob comes from 7 generations of Ayurveda doctors (version 7.0 as he states), he had to differentiate his system and practice in order to become the leading eye hospital since 2001.

Dr. Jacob instituted new policy and operational changes by implementing a new management system which put employees first and customers second. Realizing that 80% of patient interaction is outside of his control (average direct doctor interface is 7 minutes), he developed a training program to ensure his staff were certified and cross-trained to handle every task that would arise.

Additionally, he implemented a digital check-in process where patients used their thumbprint. The system would automatically alert the staff of the patient arrival, lead patients through the various treatment areas, and then send the bill and follow-on appointment reminders automatically.

Incredibly, he utilized YouTube to showcase his operation on a patient to remove the longest eye worm known which became the most downloaded medical video with over 1.2 million views, ( YouTube link ). This global reach allowed him to interact and provide honest and ethical feedback gaining a following.

The results are staggering:
• Reduction of staff (76 to 24)
• Reduction of patient wait times from 211 minutes to 48 minutes
• “Word of mouth” advertising increasing customer base from Indian subcontinent to worldwide

Innovations are not limited to just technological advances but rather a change to an existing action or process. Dr. Jacob applied innovation to mature hospital operations by daring to change the status quo. He has applied these principles, coupled with Olin’s EMBA program, to his other enterprises (financial services, education, entertainment) to continuously innovate and create value.

A member of the first cohort in the Executive MBA (EMBA) program in Mumbai – a partnership between Olin and IIT Bombay – shared some good career news with me recently and I wanted to share with our Olin family. Congratulations to Prava Jagannadham! (more…)

The inaugural Executive MBA Mumbai Class 1 started in April 2015 as a joint partnership between Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and Washington University. There are 27 students (23 men and four women) in our class. I can be directly attributed to the 3% international student figure as the only foreigner in class. In case you were wondering how I got to India, my wife accepted an expat assignment from her firm in Denver, Colorado, and shared the news for the first time when she picked me up at the Mumbai airport terminal at the end of her business trip.

Our class is dynamic and very interactive. My classmates share their experiences and ideas from a wide range of industries such as IT services, agriculture, manufacturing, and aerospace to name a few.

In October, we will spend two weeks studying in the U.S. So please don’t hesitate to say hello when we are in St. Louis, or stop any of us to ask questions about our perspectives on emerging markets, culture, and life. Many members of our class travel quite extensively. However, for some, this will be their first visit to the United States, and for others, this will be their first travels outside of India. 

To share some Indian insights, I have borrowed David Letterman’s Top 10 approach and compiled some unique experiences that can be found “Only in India…” (more…)

Radhakrishnan Gopalan, Olin finance professor writes in The Hindu that “despite…limitations…the Bankruptcy Bill, as introduced in the Lok Sabha in the winter session, is a significant step in the right direction and should be enthusiastically welcomed.” Read article, “Working Through the Bankruptcy Maze.”

In partnership with IIT-Bombay, Olin is launching the first US-India joint Executive MBA program this week in Mumbai. More than two dozen executives are in the first cohort. India’s Business Standard reported on the opening of the program.

Here’s the official news release:

Mumbai, April 21, 2015: A group of international executives are ready to hit the ground running as the inaugural batch of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) and Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) joint Executive MBA degree program. An intensive residency focusing on leadership and management begins Wednesday, April 22, 2015 in Mumbai for the inaugural first cohort.

“This is an impressive group of our future business leaders,” says Prof. S. Bhargava, Ph.D., head of IIT Bombay’s Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management. “From information technology to manufacturing to finance, these students will bring a depth of experience from a diverse set of industries to march ahead towards preparing themselves as the global leaders.”

Inaugural class at a glance:

• Approximately 16 average years of professional experience, with 11 years of management experience
• 11 industries represented — both India and multinational companies
• Over 40 percent of the class are executives at the senior vice president level and higher
• Over 50 percent of the class is traveling from outside of the Mumbai area

“Olin brings over three decades of rich experience offering Executive MBA training to this exciting joint program,” said Mahendra R. Gupta, PhD, dean of the Olin Business School. “These students will be an important part of our robust international Executive MBA network in India, the United States and China. We look forward to watching this class apply the knowledge they are gaining from this world-class program to their companies in real time.”

After an opening dinner April 21, the EMBA cohort will start its residency, which includes an in- depth introduction to the program and to fellow classmates; a case discussion on executive leadership; and a four-day strategic management course taught by Lamar Pierce, PhD, associate professor of strategy at Washington University’s Olin Business School. The course lays the foundation for the program to develop leaders who can have a strategic impact in their companies.

A number of companies are taking advantage of this new program by sending key members of their team. “This new program is exactly what Indian enterprises need to take their business to the next level,” said Hari Sankaran, managing director and vice chair of IL&FS. “High quality executive training will have a positive impact far beyond the individual student.”

WUSTL EMBA alum Rohit Sirur, proprietor at Ashtavinayak Farms/Ashtavinayak Foods in Pune Area, India, said that the IIT Bombay-WUSTL program will provide a fantastic opportunity for already successful Indian executives and organizations to reinvest in themselves and their top performers.

“My experience in the EMBA program is that the professors will bring to Indian executives some of the most impactful and insightful real-time, industry specific research being conducted across the entire globe. The faculty will be able to coach and consult individuals and organizations on tackling complex, real, immediate, and long term challenges facing both the individuals and organizations.”

About the IIT Bombay-WUSTL EMBA program

The IIT Bombay-WUSTL program is the world’s first to confer an EMBA degree from both an Indian and an American university and is modeled after WUSTL’s highly ranked Executive MBA in the United States and China.

Faculty from IIT Bombay’s Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management and WUSTL’s Olin Business School will teach the EMBA courses. Program curriculum is rooted in leadership development and innovation, including theoretical and practical training. Local perspectives on India’s rapidly developing economy will be addressed in every course.

IIT Bombay and Washington University have worked together since 2009. The institutions are members of the McDonnell Academy Global Energy and Environment Partnership, a consortium of sustainability-minded universities and corporations; the McDonnell International Scholars Academy; and the WUSTL- IIT Bombay Corporate Alliance, an affiliation that develops the next generation of global leaders. Their rich partnership history facilitates the collaborative delivery of this latest venture.

Students will graduate with an Executive MBA degree from IIT Bombay and Washington University. The 18-month program uses a proven model for working professionals, with classes offered four days per month in Mumbai. The program ends with a two-week capstone experience at Washington University.

For more information, visit www.som.iitb.ac.in/jointEMBA

In April, the partnership between Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM) at the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Washington University in St. Louis will officially launch its Executive MBA program, the only one in the world to confer a degree from both an Indian and an American university.

In preparation for the launch, Kurt Dirks, Bank of America Professor of Leadership and Olin Business School Senior Associate Dean of Programs, and Angie Bauman, Director of Admissions Operations traveled to India to engage with prospective students, conduct interviews and continue preparations for the inaugural cohort.

In addition, Professor Dirks, hosted an interactive and engaging seminar titled “Trust: A Leader’s Key to Success” on the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay campus.

Thirty guests, including  corporate friends, SJMSOM faculty and Executive MBA candidates joined the hour-long sessions where they walked away with several key takeaways from Professor Dirks’ research, including:

• Trust plays a pivotal role in a leader’s success
• Three elements of trust are competence, character and caring
• You can develop trust in a leader through behavior and orientatio
• You can develop a culture of trust through leader behavior and structural factors
• And, your orientation is pivotal – trust is a self-fulfilling prophecy

Following the presentation of his research, the audience engaged in an active Q&A session, which generated excitement for the soon to launch EMBA program. Over the next several months, key leaders from the Olin team, including Dean Mahendra Gupta and Professor Stuart Bunderson, will visit Mumbai to finalize preparation and continue the interview process.

Classes in Mumbai begin with orientation residency on April 22, 2015.