SRM B-Schools National Seminar on The Rise of Indian Brands Sub-theme Service Brands B-School Branding: A Paradigm Shift

B-School Branding: A Paradigm Shift

Dr. M. Upaulthus Selvaraj, Professor in Corporate Secretaryship, Alagappa University, Karaikudi. M. Gopalakrishnan,* Associate Professor in Business Management, Sri Vasavi College, Erode. (*The corresponding author can be accessed through mgkbbm@gmail.com (or) +91 9865232412)

Abstract Education is an indispensable service in any knowledge economy. India the largest democracy with Her pyramidal population structure, is inching towards 20% Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in its Higher Education (HE) sector in the 11th 5-year plan period. About 47% of Indias population is under the age of 20; and this will increase to 55% by 2015. Therefore, the HE sector is poised for a radical growth in this decade. Owing to better career opportunities B-Schools portals are hotfooted and resulted in mushrooming growth of variety of MBA / PGDBM offering institutions apart from engineering and medical education. While number of private for-profit institutions has increased in the country impressively, the number of public (not-for-profit) institutions - both government and aided institutions has increased only marginally in this LPG usurped era. With the stoic headway in GATS, services-offering reputed universities of East as well as West are vying for Indian openings in HE sector. Indian landscape for foreign universities/institutes is fast changing. Already twinning-mode has been experimented by a few. The services marketing approach that has taken root is equally applicable to B-Schools. The marketing mix variables came into ploy to the institutions that offer the hitherto prestigious MBA. Hence b-schools are constrained with the additional responsibility of positioning and managing their [brand] image. Reputed names like University of Chicago have hired marketers and others have used consulting firms like McKinsey to analyze this problem. This shift in the b-schools towards marketing orientation is palpable even for the ordinary citizen. This shift is discussed with exemplification in the article. Indias share is less than one percent of the total number of foreign students seeking higher education abroad. In order harness this unexploited potential and to project India as a global education hub we need a strong global brand image like Harvard Business School (HBS). The most valuable, appreciating asset of any institution is its faculty. Academic fraternity too prefers a B-School to work which has a preferred brand image. Hence the imperative of B-Schools are to travail for a strong branding.

Key words
Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), LPG Era, B-School, Master of Business Administration (MBA), GATS, Marketing orientation, Services Marketing, Brand, Brand Equity and Image.