GNAM Helps IIM B Go Global

Imagine a scenario where management students anywhere in the world could attend virtual classes taught by faculty from well known institutes ranging from Yale to Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). This has become possible as IIM B is now a member of the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM), launched in 2012.

Convened by Yale School of Management, GNAM comprises top institutes across the world. It aims to understand what the present-day increased connectivity between different countries of the world means for businesses and organisations across sectors and to develop global leaders for coming decades.

IIMB, the only member from India, hosted a GNAM meeting with participation of the Deans and Directors of top 28 global management schools from November 15-17, 2015.

The meeting also marked the official induction of Berkeley-Haas (Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley) as a full member, the 28th in the network.

The network has had a number of meetings of deans to discuss various strategies and challenges, including the launch meeting in April 2012. The preceding Deans Meetings were held at Yale SOM, ESADE Business School, UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School and at Hitotsubashi ICS in Tokyo. 

IIMB, the only member from India, hosted a GNAM meeting with participation of the Deans and Directors of top 28 global management schools from November 15-17, 2015.

“Our affiliation with the GNAM is central to our strategy to provide IIM Bangalore’s students with a rich global perspective and enable our faculty to collaborate on research and teaching programs with peers at leading management schools across the globe,” Dr. Sushil Vachani, Director, IIM Bangalore, said.

Over the last year, IIM Bangalore has deepened its engagement with important international networks, including the GNAM. IIMB Dean of Programs Sourav Mukherji recently taught a course from Bangalore that was beamed to students around the world in a truly global classroom as part of the GNAM.

“This was a unique experience – teaching students from multiple countries across different time zones. There was a young mother from Guatemala who was looking after her child while attending the class while another student from China was logging into my class through his mobile phone, while sitting in a high-speed train,” Dr. Mukherji said.

He said the main advantage of the initiative was that students could take up courses that are not offered in their own schools and also interact live with people from around the world during the sessions.

IIM B students participate in Global Network Weeks, which give them the opportunity to pursue intensive study at another network school, in a focused mini-course that leverages the perspectives, programmes, and faculty expertise of that school. These courses are also free.

Alongside their counterparts from elsewhere in the network, they attend classes, tour local businesses and meet experts to focus on current business issues.

Earlier this year select students from IIM B’s Full Time MBA (Executive Post Graduate programme in Management) Class of 2016 attended Yale in USA and IE in Spain as part of the programme.

The advantage of the network is that it connects each member school with diverse regions, countries, cultural backgrounds, political systems, and economies in different phases of development.

While facilitating interaction, it leaves the development of an agenda to the participating schools.

The global network courses are for-credit courses offered virtually by a member school and open to students from throughout the network. Online classes connect students throughout the network for lectures, discussions, and project work in virtual teams.

Unlike the Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) offered by many institutions, suitable for participants with varying degrees of interest and capabilities, these are Small Network Online Courses (SNOCs).

Conducted in 20 sessions of 90 minutes each, it brings together a select group of top-tier Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in a common effort to build management skills.

GNAM launched SNOC last year and has conducted around 20 courses. The courses can be taken as an elective as part of the MBA programme.

Topics of such courses have included mobile banking, competition law, natural resource management, new product development, and social entrepreneurship. 

Member schools collaborate to create online “raw” case studies to investigate global business problems. Unlike traditional cases, “raw” cases use a variety of online sources including extensive background data, news articles and video interviews to provide a fuller picture of a complex business situation.