Training managers for the new world order

By N. N. Sachitanand

BANGALORE, OCT. 14. Nineteen Ninety One was a watershed year for India. It marked the emergence of the country from its self- imposed cocoon into the harsh glare of the global economy. During the ensuing decade, the Government has been steadily peeling away the protective layers of controls, duties and subsidies that insulated the economy from external competition.

In its wake, this process has generated a demand for a new breed of managers who can tackle the challenges posed by globalisation. They need to be familiar with the processes and practices of the world outside the domestic economy, the new establishments governing international trade and commerce such as the World Trade Organisation and the changed rules of the game such as the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights. It was realised at the beginning of the change process itself that the usual courses and curricula in the existing management institutes were inadequate to train this new breed of managers.

Enter: the Symbiosis Institute of Foreign Trade or SIFT, started in 1992 by the renowned Pune-based Symbiosis International Cultural and Education Centre. This centre, founded in 1971 by Dr. S. B. Majumdar, now runs 25 academic institutions ranging from kindergarten to post graduate studies, with a student population of nearly 24,000.

SIFT's curriculum was initially structured on the lines of that in the Government run Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) based in New Delhi. But, as Dr. B. K. Chopra, director of SIFT, pointed out in an interview with this correspondent, the IIFT course was heavily oriented towards trade procedures and documentation, whereas SIFT felt that its course should be more broad based, including topics such as international finance, joint ventures, trade law, intellectual property issues and information technology.

Accordingly, SIFT, now offers a two-year full time Masters Programme in International Business (MIPB), which is a blend of general management and international business management. Some of the topics covered in the latter area include trade finance and forex risk management, international economics, EXIM procedures and documentation, export potential analysis (country and products), international commercial law, current news analysis and marine insurance. SIFT also offers a one-year diploma course catering for the working professional.

The good thing about being an autonomous institution such as SIFT, said deputy director, Dr. Rajani Gupte, was that the curriculum could be quickly altered to incorporate the latest developments and needs of the industry. For example, a paper on Intellectual Property Rights was included two years ago and another on the latest Cyber Laws is being introduced in the next academic session. In the last three years, the export potential studies have focussed on services such as IT, hospitality, medical and health, and entertainment.

In tune with the fact that information technology is vital to doing international business today, each student at SIFT has to put in 400 to 500 hours of structured learning during the two- years in information technology and systems management, including e-business. And, since international business will involve interacting with foreign cultures, a SIFTian is provided facilities to acquire written and spoken proficiency in any one of the following languages: Spanish/Italian/Japanes/French. (In the earlier years, Russian was offered but, with it has now fallen out of favour, due to dwindling importance of Indo-Russian trade. Perhaps in the coming years, Chinese may have to be introduced as a foreign language choice.)

As is the practice in top management institutes , learning at SIFT is a blend of concepts, theory and practical inputs . The usual panoply of case studies, book reviews, news analysis, workshops, live projects, guest lectures and quizzes bolster the classroom sessions during the academic year. SIFT is among the two or three institutions in India which has a depository library for WTO publications, such as Trade Policy Reviews.

What, however, distinguishes the learning process at SIFT from other management institutes, avers Keshav Rae, Professor of Business Environment, Case Studies and Student Activities, is the well-structured program in self-development , which is an adjunct to the academic program.

This correspondent had a glimpse of the efficient ways of these student managers when he attended a major annual event held at SIFT - the R.D.Aga Leadership lectures, a week of talks by senior industry leaders on a chosen topic. The entire event, including contacting the speakers, arranging for their transport from various cities, pick-up and drop, hospitality, audio-visual facilities, catering and lecture programming is managed by the students. It is a major task that could try even the full capabilities of a professional event management company. But this correspondent noticed that everything went off almost without a hitch.

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