The Hindu Business Line : `B-schools need hands-on courses'

Adil Zainulbhai is currently Managing Director, India, McKinsey & Company. He moved back to India in July 2004 after 24 years with McKinsey in the US. He started the Minneapolis Office and led the Washington DC Office of McKinsey & Company. Since joining McKinsey in 1979, he has worked for a wide range of companies and industries on a variety of strategic, organizational, marketing, financing issues.

Mr Zainulbhai grew up in Mumbai and graduated from IIT with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. An MBA from Harvard Business School, he's on the board of the Indian CEO High Tech Council, The Indus Entrepreneurs, the American India Foundation, and the Indian American Policy Institute. In a brief e-mailed interview to The New Manager, Mr Zainulbhai dwelt on a range of issues.

What is the key debate in corporate boardrooms today: is it about going global or managing people and resources?

There is one common thread among all the companies we talk to - they all have very high aspirations. And this in turn, is driving them to think about how to become world-class, which is how to manage growth, how to establish a global footprint, and how to develop a sustainable leadership engine.

Do you see a paradigm shift in Indian business/corporate world? In what way are business groups changing and where do you see this transformation taking them?

Today Indian businesses are thinking and behaving very differently as compared to five years ago. They want to be world-class companies in every sense - processes, people, governance and scale. Indian companies have indeed become more confident than ever before, to compete on the world stage and companies that don't adapt will eventually disappear. This surging confidence was apparent at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The India Everywhere campaign was a commendable effort made by the Indian government and business community to communicate its arrival on the world stage.

Has an Indian global manager emerged? Increasingly, Indian managers are securing plum assignments in top companies worldwide and MNCs too are posting Indian managers abroad. Is this trend going to continue?

India offers high quality talent and we have been seeing this trend for sometime now, where Indian managers have emerged as truly global leaders. With the interest in India on the rise we are going to see more companies entering India and recognizing this aspect. What's more, several MNCs are already recruiting aggressively at the IIMs and eventually these graduates are likely to become `global managers.' So, yes, this trend is here to stay.

What are the ingredients you see that make Indian managers succeed across the world?

I think there are three factors at play, which have been instrumental in the success of Indian managers. First, the quality of education in India is very high with institutions like the IITs and IIMs. Second, India is largely an English speaking country, so, there are no language barriers unlike the way it is for most of the European and Asian countries. And lastly, Indians are highly talented and hardworking by nature.

Are management schools doing enough to groom global managers? Do you see a managerial talent crunch coming?

Corporate India is already witnessing a talent crunch at the middle management level. Looking ahead, the capacity at high quality institutions needs to be increased to keep pace with the demand. More so, business schools must also include more practical and hands-on courses in their curriculums. For example, there is a need to inject more manufacturing know-how into management programmes in addition to the conventional marketing, and finance focus.

What is the future of the Indian family-owned businesses? Are they professionalising fast enough? Are they getting top-drawer talent?

There are several Indian family-owned businesses that have undergone transformation to emerge as true professionally managed firms. Businesses that embark on such transformational change programmes and become world class are those that will survive and prosper in the longer term. Many others will remain mediocre and potentially disappear.

Is the debate over globalisation in India gaining pace?

Most people agree on and realise the benefits of globalisation; the only question is how to provide a safety net for people affected by it.