Ajit Rangnekar has over 30 years of experience in East Asia and India in the areas of business strategy, new business creation, systems implementation, and performance improvement in a variety of industries ranging from telecom, utilities, energy, chemicals and shipping, both in the private and public sectors.

He has extensive operations management experience of business start-ups in the manufacturing, trading and professional services sectors in Hong Kong and India. He returned to India in June 2002, with the objective of working in the education sector. Education Times speaks to Ajit Rangnekar, deputy dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad on what makes ISB one of the premier B-schools in the country.

The ISB is believed to be one of its kind in Asia. What makes it so different from other B-schools?

The ISB is a research-focussed management institution and offers a one-year, post-graduate programme in management. The programme is appealing to a different market segment of students, typically those who are working and are looking to upgrade their knowledge and skills; entrepreneurs; people who are looking for career shifts. The ISB is affiliated to three of the world’s best management institutions, the Wharton School, Kellogg School of Management and London Business School. Some of the world’s best faculty who teaches at top management institutions across the world teaches at ISB - a unique combination that is unparalleled. The ISB is a global institution that offers world class infrastructure as well.

How has the programme at the ISB evolved since its launch two years ago?

We have completed two years and the response has been excellent. We have had some of the world’s best faculty teaching our students. Our students go through an intensive one-year management programme. They have not only performed very well but have contributed to a vibrant campus atmosphere through several club activities including community work. We have ramped up our short-term executive education programmes and plan to increase it further over the next few years. We have made progress in establishing our centres of excellence. The Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development is active and the Centre for Finance will shortly be established. We are commencing a unique post-doctoral programme and will have about 10 students this year.

McGill University, provides for an increase in global demand for business education in the next ten years as a catalyst for change and a unique opportunity for sale.

The 940 higher education institutions offer Master of Business Administration programs to the USA and Canada can take only a small fraction of the demand and their potential Business Schools must reinvent their approach to learning and the vast market attack untapped, “said Gerald Ross, dean of McGill - Faculty of Economics of the company.

“The studies estimate that 900 American universities can not reasonably expect a 10% share of the overall market surveillance authorities the best leaders,” said Dr. Ross, 60, auditor companies, teachers and advisers, the idea of the McGill Faculty of Management 2000 promising a rapid transfer to specialization.

“But this edition of MBA graduates is a drop in the ocean for future demand,” he adds. “Thousands of new teachers trained in new technologies are needed and we must find new ways radically the provision of our services to competition for professionals dollars and the best students.”

Universities have started to adapt to his Bachelor of Commerce and MBA training more flexible and better in a multi-market segment, he said. The faculties of management cooperation with other departments in the joint studies, students may be shorter versions of two years, MBA from the norm, and in collaboration with Asian and European courts, Business Schools.

“Core-MBA programs, which focus on marketing, finance and strategy may not change much, but schools must be more accessible and open to the diversity and demographics. We are proud of the doctrine of the company, but we must ourselves and entrepreneurs Embellit our sales efforts or other let you move with interactive systems, know no borders. ”

Dr Ross said, the increased demand for Business Education follows five years shocks: the digital revolution, globalization, outsourcing of the economic power of Asia, the dot-com merger, Enron and Worldcom, the Corporate Governance SARS, MAD cow disease, terrorism, outsourcing and the crisis of health care.

“Businesses are not the same and many other sectors of society have an urgent need for better management capabilities. Management courses must anticipate critical issues and many other specialized models. In a decade, is learning about life. ”

McGill Faculty of Management has rapidly expanded its range of specialized level. It offers seven different types of Master programs, including a teacher in manufacturing, management, MBA / law, MD / MBA. In addition, MBA Fast Track is a small program for those who already have a BCom and MBA3 is for those who work. A master of the management of international finance and a master leadership program for health, among others follow.

The McGill International Executive, the Institute of Directors learning strategy-based, onboard functions of financial reporting and auditing systems, in partnership with the ICD Corporate Governance College and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Your “One year Advanced Leadership Program is a shorter version of an international program, founded in 1996 by Henry Mintzberg, McGill known for innovation and author of the director Not MBAs.

These programs bring together teams Senior Executive companies like Alcan, Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. and Domtar find solutions for problems with the advantage of university research.

The Faculty, two thirds of its 75 members come from outside Canada, on the campus of seven research centers specializing in the areas of management, strategy, entrepreneurship, globalization and other subjects. The doctoral program in partnership with three other universities in Montreal.

Without part-time executive for development, a faculty of about 700 students in MBA programs and 75 in the promotion. More than half the students come from outside Canada.

Is the worst over? It is too early to jump to a conclusion. However, the quarterly results of Infosys have definitely given respite to the market. This coupled with an upsurge in the US market following General Electric’s spectacular quarterly numbers led to substantial gains. PSU story has also remained favourable following prime minister’s statement on continuity of reforms. The S&P CNX Nifty rose by almost 2.5 per cent to close at 971.05 level on Friday. Some of the major gainers include HPCL, Bajaj Auto, NIIT, Infosys and Hero Honda among others while Hindalco, Tata Chemicals, BSES, VSNL and ICICI Bank were the major losers during the week. The market breadth was positive and such a broad based rally has been seen after quite sometime. The derivative market witnessed lot of action with an average daily turnover in excess of Rs 1,500 crore. The volumes were high specially on Thursday and Friday and stock futures continued to dominate the scene accounting for almost 63 per cent of the turnover in F&O segment at NSE. As the trading of Reliance Petroleum ceased to exist on Wednesday following the merger with Reliance Industries, the total number of shares in individual stock options and futures segment have declined to 29. Index FuturesA total of 33,600 contracts were traded in this segment, a rise of almost 35 per cent as compared to last week. On the contrary, the open interest in Nifty futures declined continuously inspite of the increasing volume. This is probably because of the fact that investors have been more interested in taking positions on an individual share rather than the market as a whole. The cost of carry entered into the negative zone after having remained in positive territory during Monday to Wednesday. This indicates that Nifty futures market does not share the bullish sentiments prevailing in the cash market segment. Still, the nervousness can be sensed in the market and investors prefer to wait and watch instead of making hasty decisions. Index OptionsThe trends in the Nifty options segment reflect the cautious approach being adopted by investors. The put-call ratio rose sharply towards the weekend indicating the nervousness prevailing in the market. The implied volatility for call and put options showed the trends of both convergence and divergence in a narrow band. This indicates that a dominant section of investors still believe that the market would continue to face resistance for any sacred rally. The outstanding positions have been found to be building up between 960 - 970 level for Nifty calls and 930 - 960 level for Nifty puts. Hence the lack of clear future outlook for the market as a whole is evident even in these positions. Options On Individual SharesThe growth in volume in this segment has been phenomenal with a total of 75,447 contracts traded during the week. The open interest rose in selected shares namely, Infosys, Satyam and HPCL among others. Some interesting trends have been observed in the shares like Infosys wherein the put-call ratio declined from 0.65 to 0.46 level on Thursday. This coupled with the high implied volatility, at 41 per cent on Thursday, indicates that put option premium is firming up and thus exhibits weak signs for a sustainable rally. Further, HPCL also witnessed a lot of action. The implied volatility was especially high at 50 per cent on Monday, as compared to 41 per cent for put options. The same rose sharply to around 60 per cent for both call and put options towards the weekend. Hence this share would be interesting to watch in the coming week. Futures On Individual SharesUnprecedented volumes were registered in this segment with Satyam, Infosys, HPCL, BPCL and Digital contributing to almost three-fourth of the total volume. Out of 29 shares presently available, 25 have shown an increase in the trading volume. Among the shares, Reliance and Infosys futures continued to trade at a discount to the cash market value resulting in negative cost of carry. This means that investors are still not bullish on these shares. Though Infosys has posted better than expected results, it seems that futures market is waiting a bit before falling in line with the cash market trend. Hence the cautious sentiment becomes the order of the day among investors. Outlook For FutureAs I mentioned in the last week that signs of bottoming out of the market were evident, the trends during the week were by and large on expected lines. The market has still not come out of the dire states and the concern remains regarding the sustainability of the uptrend. The next week would witness some more quarterly results including that of Ranbaxy Laboratories which would be crucial for the market. Though the Infosys results have shown a ray of hope, it cannot drive the market alone. It has to be complemented by others. Among other factors, apathy of foreign institutional investors continues to cause concern. Though mutual funds were net investors during the week, any sustained rally would require both these investors to give support to the market. As the US market has registered highest gains in past few weeks, the bourses would open strong on Monday. Most of the time the market would remain rangebound and investors would book profit on small movements. Hence selective buying at this stage is recommended.