Abstract

MBA education in India is facing the same challenges as business. Upheaval of technology, changing customer expectations, global competition, online courses and societal responsibility are the major concerns. Failure to adapt to these challenges will question the academic contribution to business practice. Business school (B‐school) branding is crucial to distinguish the services provided by one B‐school from another. Considering the importance and relevance of adapting to the changing market forces, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model of brand‐building for Indian B‐schools. A range of published literature related to the topic is thoroughly searched. The paper examines the viewpoints of various scholars with regard to the role of a student in a B‐school. The services marketing perspective is analyzed and the gaps are identified through a robust literature survey. Based on the literature survey, an riginal conceptual model for brand‐building for B‐schools is proposed. Some B‐schools have adopted certain branding activities, but extant literature review reveals that B‐schools in India do not practice an organized holistic approach to branding activities. The proposed conceptual model is stage one in the process of understanding what goes into building a B‐school brand. Stage two would empirically test the proposed conceptual model of brand‐building. The proposed model is holistic, considering the role of important stakeholders such as students, faculty and corporate. This conceptual model will help B‐school management to understand the role and importance of branding B‐schools. It will provide an insight into the various parameters on which a B‐school brand has to be built.

Highlights

  • The education sector in India is today worth of trillion dollars business school (B-school) education has seen immense growth in the last two decades [1]

  • Considering the importance and relevance of adapting to the changing market forces, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model of brand‐building for Indian B‐schools

  • The model is specific to the Indian context, but care has been taken to incorporate input from current research in branding concepts and practices of international B-schools, from the USA and Europe

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Summary

Introduction

The education sector in India is today worth of trillion dollars (approximately 20,000 crores) business school (B-school) education has seen immense growth in the last two decades [1]. The first business program was started in 1954 by the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta. There were 118 B-school programs in 1989 and 744 in September 2000. Industry estimates suggest that there are more than 1,300 B-schools in India. B-schools are subject to vagaries of market forces such as tough competition, demanding students, and the corporate world. Innovative colleges, universities and private enterprises are positioning themselves to take market shares from those B-schools that fail to respond to customer needs (Hatfield and Taylor, 1998) [12]. Boundaries of management education are expanding and blurring. New technology is a catalyst for changing delivery constraints and educational mergers are creating large, versatile competitors (Hatfield and Taylor, 1998) [12]. There is a need to understand and interpret the effect of the emerging technologies through research and apply emerging technologies in the classroom to develop student skills and boost academic credibility

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