HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL FORMALLY LAUNCHES INDIA RESEARCH CENTER
Research Symposium in Mumbai Marks Opening
MUMBAI, India - Harvard Business School marked the official inauguration of its India Research Center (IRC) today with a faculty research symposium in Mumbai attended by a stellar audience of alumni, businesspeople, and others with an interest in India and South Asia.
The fifth in the School’s network of international research centers spanning the globe from Hong Kong and Tokyo to Paris and Buenos Aires, the IRC is dedicated to facilitating faculty research in India as well as cooperating and collaborating with the corporate and academic communities in the region.
In opening the day-long session at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Dean Jay Light noted that Harvard Business School’s ties with India date from the early 1960s, when HBS faculty members helped establish the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Today, with India poised to be a major player in the world economy, the IRC enables Harvard Business School to put “people on the ground here,” he said. “To understand the global economy,” he continued, “you need to understand what’s happening in Mumbai as well as New York, London, and Tokyo. To understand technology, Bangalore is as essential as Silicon Valley. And to study business’s relationship with government, you need to look at both New Delhi and Washington, DC.”
Harvard University president Lawrence Summers, who participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday at the IRC offices in the Mahindra Towers, reminded those attending today’s events of the importance of the work that will be done at the Center. “The IRC will disseminate important ideas that will create leaders and affect people’s lives. It aims to make a great contribution to India at this crucial time in its history,” he said.
“To do that,” noted Professor Krishna Palepu, Senior Associate Dean for International Development, “our faculty wants to take advantage of the Center to learn as much as possible about important issues. They will then pursue research that will create deep knowledge that can be shared with others through materials such as case studies, working papers, and books.”
The research symposium featured work by Professor Lynn Paine, who described the creation and launch of a new required first-year MBA course at Harvard Business School called Leadership and Corporate Accountability that features several case studies on Indian companies; Professor Richard Vietor, who previewed his forthcoming book on how countries compete; and Professor Tarun Khanna, who outlined the ingredients needed to build world-class companies in emerging markets such as India and China. Professor Das Narayandas taught a case study he had recently written on “managing the selling effort” at an Indian durable goods manufacturer.
The day ended with a gala dinner featuring a keynote address by HBS alumnus Rajat Gupta, former managing director of the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company and now senior partner worldwide, who offered his assessment of India’s place in the world and how it can fulfill its promise.
About Harvard Business School
Founded in 1908 as part of Harvard University, Harvard Business School (www.hbs.edu), is located on a 40-acre campus in Boston. Its faculty of more than 200 offers full-time programs leading to the MBA and doctoral degrees, as well as more than 40 Executive Education programs. For almost a century, HBS faculty have drawn on their research, their experience in working with organizations worldwide, and their passion for teaching to educate leaders who have shaped the practice of business around the globe.