Aegis Global Academy - The case of a wrong positioning

In the last 2-3 years, some of the corporate bigwigs in India have ventured into the education space through some way or the other aimed at solving a diverse set of problems. One of the recent ones that I can remember is - Aegis Global Academy, which is a part of the Essar Group.




2 years back when I was invited to meet the founding members of the academy (mostly the top guys within Aegis and Essar), I was presented with an idea that they felt should revolutionize the way people learn about Customer Experience Management, thereby helping people to become better at their jobs in a service economy like India. The debate was that unlike other economies and other educational-ecologies, India had different needs of growth and a different set of people coming from a monolithic educational system.



Along with IIM Indore and SQC Singapore, the Academy was aiming at bringing some of the best learning from service industry right into their classrooms. They had an excellent press meet (at the Essar HQ) and then went onto implement a massive pan-India branding program (in the lines of other Universities and FMCG) to attract some good number of applications for the program. Since it is a certificate program, the number of seats abailable for the course isn't limited.



After a disastrous 1st year admission cycle (and I was a part of meetings, discussions, feedback etc with their team all this time), the program took off at their campus in Coimbatore. The next year, they went back to the same drawing boards and then repeated the same go-to-market strategy yielding similar results. As a partner from the same domain, I was pushing them to go beyond the norm. But sadly that didn't happen.



Some of the major mistakes that rocked their boat were:



(1) A below par go-to-market strategy including a one-size-fits-all communication strategy



(2) Placing their brand amongst the audience that are supposedly the worst kind of decision makers, without directly having any engagement with the influencers



(3) Insisting to follow the examples of a communciation strategy that works well for FMCG, Telecom, (mostly products) etc.



(4) No learning from the feedback of the market



I believe all of these would be looked into by the team at AGA and I guess they will get to the right answers for themselves. However, there is something that I feel went fundamentally wrong in the first place:



Aegis Global Academy wasn't meant to be kick-starting its programs as fill-time options and for the same crowd who take up MBA/PGDM programs through CAT/MAT/XAT etc.



I believe that their first and foremost mistake was to take the same route as any other new MBA institution who join the same bandwagon as 2000+ b-schools have done before them. In one of the discussions with their core team, I had share the data that how over 80% of all B-schools in India fight for only 30% of the MBA Applicants' base, and the rest (i.e. 70%) of the candidates fight to get into 20% of the Institutes in India.



Although its their prerogative and strategy to use the program as a full time option, I believe that given the state of things in the jobs space, and the way people are trying to re-skill themselves while wanting to either keep or upgrade their jobs, the PGP of Aegis Global Academy could have been introduced as a "exclusive club" reserved only to some of the best talent wanting to get under the Essar Group umbrella for a better career. The probable options for the program could have been either distance learning or Online. I would have voted for Online, as if there was an opportunity, I know of people who will give their right-arm to get into the Essar Group and do so through some sort of a credible process.



The PGP then would have attracted more participants from across India (who anyways form the majority of CAT applicants - 2010 CAT had more than 70% guys with work-exp), and enabled these people to compete the 15 months program in say 12 or 9 months while being selected into Essar.



I am sure that there was some relation of the productivity of this program and the objective of Aegis to build up an excellent talent base for itself internally, but in the current state nothing is really happening. There are operational reasons for that too. I am sure every institute of program will have to have a minimum threshold of student-numbers that needs to be achieved to run the program even for one cycle. Aegis' only hope now is to either redirect and redo their Media communications program and hope to engage a bigger audience, or provide the Online program option to people who can do the same through separate campuses of Essar across India.



The problem is that once you position the product, its very difficult to re-position the same parallely. It takes a lot of courage to actually accept the market feedback and understand a new behavior that's affecting the very existence of your program. However, for the sake of this excellent program and its existence, they should give themselves one chance to revive the strategy and implement the same from this year itself.

A Pagalguy model to fix the challenges in Education (in India)

After reading about the game changing initiative by M.I.T. in launching its free online learning initiative (the M.I.T.x), I was wondering if such a system of disruption can take shape in India or other developing countries wherein two important and common factors run in the DNA - expensive & low access to quality higher education, and growth of internet usage (high speed data connectivity)

One look at the current scenario of higher education in India, and the kind of talent gap that really exists, one is forced to ponder upon disruptive ideas to break through the shackles and provide some genuine solutions to our problems. The initiative by MIT has a different ecology and probably a different set of people who would be using the same for their own developmental purposes, but it also gives us food for thought on how such a thing can be replicated in India by some organization that has already proven itself in the online domain.



The requirements for creating such a disruption are:



1. An established online community in education



2. Access to users who can contribute and design content for the new platform



3. Sponsored by companies/advertisers - so that the platform remains FREE for all students



I then focused on the online portals I know of that also have strong and established educational communities. The largest among all of them, and thankfully operating in the MBA domain is - Pagalguy.com. The portal gets over 600,000 unique visitors every month who contribute to over 300,000 pages of content that is Free for everyone to read and research on the portal. Even though the current usage of the portal is primarily focused in providing info about management education, preparations, experiences, alumni networking, etc.; the model can also be extended into providing MIT like initiatives that will add more value to the larger audience that uses Pagalguy resources.



So what have we got already working for Pagalguy.com?



Community - Already, the portal has a community of MBA applicants and b-school students who interact with each other and carry the feeling of being a member of this large community into their own networks, thereby allowing more people seeking info on MBA to use the portal. Since this factor is already taken care of, the first level of challenges that any product will face - like introduction to early adopters, etc - can be taken care of.

Profile of the users - Since the site is dedicated to MBA and related discussion, its evident that the users have a certain profile suited for such online course-ware to flourish. Some of the important factors are - (a) Usage of internet beyond basic levels, (b) Networking and knowledge of people's development systems and expertise, and (c) Ambition to get a better life.

Free Content - At present the portal is Free to all its users and it has worked (against all suspicion of credibility) very well for the users as well as its contributors. In the future, such a model can still exist and a revenue model to sustain such disruptive program can be designed without any hitch.

Customized design of content - The forum content on Pagalguy.com is the biggest draw for the website, wherein people find the type of content, that will suit their understanding/lingo/learning pattern, pretty easily. Imagine a similar situation for the new disruption, wherein content is still contributed without any fee by the users and they impregnate their own learning methods into those models or learning aids. The present theories of learning and intelligence bases state that people aren't getting their individual best ways to learn in standardized teaching, and therefore this model might also be taking care of that large problem and making life easy for thousands.



According to Prof. Clay Christensen's disruption models, the best way forward is to figure out the non-competition. In the case of this model, Pagalguy.com, and its users, this will be a brilliant canvas wherein no other new player or even existing players will have the success-factors, the user profiles, and the revenue model to sustain such innovation.

If this disruption comes into being, then a lot of so called distance learning programs, expensive yet inutile certifications, bridge courses, etc will thankfully stop functioning and spoiling the talent of this country.

Imagine a database of content contributed by some of the best in Corporate world, b-schools, NGOs, from Universities abroad, and all that being designed to suit your own developmental process - at the exact speed and learning ways that help you learn. This is definitely possible.

Why NITIE Mumbai has to redefine its objectives?

One look at the kind of exponential growth stories associated with Universities and Institutions in the developed world will raise questions for similar institutions in India that are still playing catching up with the magnanimity of the sort of profile of students, research, teaching methodology, vision etc of institutions abroad.


For today's case study, let's consider NITIE Mumbai and closely understand the meanings of statements that the institution has made about its vision, mission etc. I, for one, am a firm beiever if there is no clarity in the vision and mission statements of an organization, then neither its office bearers and nor the systems have any scope of understanding the requirements to top-grade and be counted amongst the best in the world.

So, if one visits the website of NITIE, one will read the following in the vision and mission statements:

NITIE is dedicated to help Indian businesses to make their presence felt globally. NITIE has decided to act as driving force not only in manufacturing sector but all dynamic sectors of the Indian economy. It has aligned its vision and activities in line with the current and future needs of the Indian economy and its vibrant and growing sectors.

Vision
“To be a leader in the knowledge led productivity movement.”

Mission
“To nourish a learning environment conducive to foster innovations in productivity and business development.”

Decoding Vision:

AS an institution, the dedication of helping of Indian Businesses to make their presence felt globally statement doesn't give out any sense of clarity for someone who does not know what is NITIE. The statement gives an idea that perhaps NITIE is something associated with some kind of global partnerships or fund house or something to help Indian BUsiness houses in their growth of their Individual businesses.

This doesn't connect at any level of creating value in education or community or the talent in this country. Someone might point out that this is all related, but the fact is that anything that needs to be analyzed and then decoded can't be a vision statement.

Then it states: "To be a leader in the knowledge led productivity movement"

Again, no clarity. First of all, someone needs to define knowledge led productivity movement. In which domain? In what space? In how much time? Where? I don't have absolutely any idea of which "movement" is being talked about.

The only place where they come anywhere close to talking about their main objective is the mission statement, wherein the words "nourish a learning environment" is mentioned. But words like Business Development and Productivity are never a part of the process that office bearers can identify with, and neither can their reasearch talent.

Just because they have some of the best talent teaching industrial engineering isn't enough for the institution to create ownership amongst its own people. These are the people who will take some of the most important calls in its history, in the forthcoming future. If each of them have their own versions of downloaded Vision and mission statements, then it will be enough to invite trouble. Also given that such institutions are constantly under the scanner for being productive in providing some of the best talent in the country, it is pertinent that such important things are always in place.

CMAT - a huge blow to MBA in India

Over the last few decades, the AICTE (regulatory authority for the Ministry of HRD in Indian Technical and Higher education) has been the biggest roadblock of developing brilliant education infrastructure in India. I can substantiate that by pointing out to the large number of irregularities in its functioning and representation of low standard institutions across India, absolutely no connection to its actions and the real time requirements of development needed in higher education (read MBA) programs, draconian laws and high-handedness thats rampant every year through newspaper advertisements by the body listing bschools and showcasing institutions like ISB Hyderabad as culprits, etc.



It is true that when one has a regulatory body that's bound to be affected by political and geographical factors and its very own establishment affected by the ruling party at the centre, there will be little hope of game changing policies, insights, implementations, and research that such a regulatory body will get into. One look at such bodies (even in the developed nations like the US) will give us an idea that such politically backed institutions have never thought about the real problems of education and have never even tried to provide solutions that are revolutionary,


The latest in its kitty dished out to management institutions, Universities, and State governments has been the CMAT which is to be used for admission into MBA/PGDM programs of institutions approved by the AICTE. In 2011 itself, there were announcements of other tests like - FMS Delhi entrance test, JMET entrance, and the MAT - being put to rest. MAT's last run is for this year and from next year on, the entire system that was banking on MAT scores will have to look into either CAT or CMAT.

I have many issues of the regulatory body implementing a new test - they have reasoned that, its for the betterment of students that so many tests are being taken-out and that they don't trust the validity of some of these tests (a reason why the court asked them to go for their own test if they felt the need for one). My issue is also on the objectives of this whole process and that it begs the question - Why is this test being so swiftly implemented from this year without any thought given into the usage, learning, training, infra, etc and Why are people being forced to accept the test at all levels?

One look at the history of any successful product (in this case, lets consider this test as a product) has been the way it was introduced to particular sections of the userbase and then it made its way through to the larger database by its own merit. Is AICTE scared that this acceptance will not happen with CMAT? Or does it have other vested interests?

Google, Apple, and host of other companies have been successful by following a simple principle. They designed products that were introduced to a selected bunch of users (namely - innovators and early adopters), and then the product made its way through these early adopters to the larger userbase, who now form the majority of the market share for all of their products. This is true for all products and services, and I am sure GMAT's history will also showcase a similar trend - of being accepted by the early adopters and then going global with its test. The stategy was never to force implementation to the masses, because thats where the backlash and resistance to change is. The masses are the ones that can ignore anything that is implemented only through them and lets face it - we have everyday examples in our lives to support this statement.

A blanket implementation strategy (and that too a forced one) reeks of other anomalies on the part of AICTE and doesn't really give out any signal that any execution level thought process backed with intelligent strategies have even been considered. This isn't surprising, because none of the current members of the regulatory body or the core team are acknowledged anywhere in the world as game changing thinkers. The motivation doesn't seem to be there to atleast replicate the best systems across the world and move forward, as much as it seems to follow what their bosses in the Government think makes sense. This is very sad, and there seems to be no hope of this changing very soon.

Another factor that needs to be understood here is the whole validity of this test. We have seen in the past 3 years' performance of CAT (when it went into the online format) and the kind of shameful glitches that marred its performance as a test. We are aware that there wasn't a raw test study done before the tests were administered to even come up with proper tests for applicants, and there were no answers given to many of the questions related to the validity of their flawed normalization process. For CMAT, where is the Raw test study? How did they figure out the ways to solve the problems that affected CAT as a test? Why did the lowest bidder get the job to design the supposedly largest process for MBA applicants? Were the qualities of choosing the vendor based on pricing benefits or were important test development factors taken into consideration? Who are the experts behind the developmental team and the team? Who is the singlemost Accountable person for all failures (if any) in case of CMAT?

By the looks of the first version of the test that came on LIVE for applicants, there are enough reasons to feel scared and disgruntled about this entire process. The Government will force the thing down the throats of our institutions (without doubt), because thats the way its structured, and because we are sovereign. But this doesn't look good for our country and its talent, which is already producing a soft underbelly that's not-tech-savvy and aren't fit to work in the job roles of the coming future. We are seeing some of the worst job losses across the world (including the developed economies), and given the trends catch up soon, are we ready to face the world with this kind of regulations and implementations that have the power to castrate the entire education system and make things difficult from where we are now?

According to my analysis, the CMAT in its current form, will be a nightmare if it's pushed down forcefully into the system. The AICTE needs to get its act together and follow the implementation rules that have made some of the best products and companies in this world successful, and then get the right people to design the test (and not the lowest bidder).