Indian school of business: Practising what it preaches

The pitch is unique. “we have scripted our version of a T20 victory,” is how Ajit Rangnekar, Deputy Dean, Indian School of Business (ISB), broke to students the news of the young B-School making it to the Financial Times list of Top 20 B-Schools in the world late in January this year. Later, reflecting on the impact of the ranking on the school, Dean M. Rammohan Rao told Business Today: “The FT ranking has led to a lot of interest in the school.” Such publicity is particularly welcome as ISB seeks to attract more international students (it is targeting 8 per cent in its next batch, compared to 4-5 per cent at present) and more resident faculty (31 now).“The challenge has been to market the school globally,” says V.K. Menon, Senior Director, Admissions, Financial Aid & Career Advancement Services, at ISB. And by the looks of it, it is already getting there. “Last year, our students were placed in 23 countries around the world,” says Menon.So, how does the school go about marketing itself? “We focus and target high-potential markets,” says Menon. For instance, since last year, ISB has been targeting the Asia Pacific region. Explains Menon: “Right now, in terms of placements, the Asia Pacific region is booming. At present, there is a high demand for high-end MBAs from companies in Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Dubai and the rest of West Asia.” As a result, the school expects the number of companies coming to the campus from these places to rise 20-30 per cent this year and compensate for the slowdown in the West.So, how is it reaching out to its target audience (both potential students and recruiters) in these locations? It has in place various initiatives ranging from e-networking and e-marketing, to database marketing (targetting potential students—those that have taken the GMAT automatically become its target candidates), road shows and partnering with career counsellors in these regions. It also undertakes viral marketing and taps into its alumni network across the world. Menon declines to share details on ISB’s marketing budget except to say that it is proportionate to its increasing needs.So, what is unique about the way the school markets itself? “We do exactly what most companies do. First, we analyse and figure out the best markets, the best segments and best targets and go for them.” Considering that it has, in a short span of seven years (it admitted its first batch of students in July 2001), become as famous as—and as the FT ranking shows, sometimes even more famous than—the much older IIMs, it must be practising a lot of what it teaches its students.