The time has come for Indian business schools to put in place incentives and an eco-system to encourage faculty to get connected to the world of business. “If B-schools don’t do research then they will always be in 2G mode and companies will be in 4G mode, as you are not connected to the world of practice and the most important issues they face. B-schools have to provide thought leadership,” says Prof Vijay Govindarajan, in an exclusive interview with BLonCampus. VG, as he is popularly known, is the Coxe Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, a Marvin Bower Fellow at Harvard Business School, an author, and a strategy and innovation expert.

VG, in an interview during a recent visit to India, when he also spoke to students of Great Lakes Institute of Management, says the key debate in American B-schools is also about the b-schools’ impact on the world of business. There are two seemingly conflicting themes: on one hand it is to improve management practice and the other is academic research. “Instead of viewing them as conflict, we should bring them together. B-schools must publish rigorous research but also inform practice with that research,” he says. It should be no different for Indian B-schools as well, adds VG, and one needs some great management ideas to come out of the top 25 schools in India.

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