What they should definitely teach at Indian business Schools

For all MBA grads in India, there should be a part of the curriculum that ought to "teach" them the ways of be successful in the Indian corporate scene. The survival tips of how one goes up the ladder - is something that isn't told to them, resulting in creating frustrated workers who are present across all organizations (including the top ones that go to the best institutions to hire the best talent providing the best salary packages).

What would a curriculum for this look like and how would one design the content?
For me, the content should have pretty clear definitions and actions for the students. No "case-study" thing here. Only definitions and then allow for practical classes wherein role play can be done to train the psyche of these students.

Some of my favourite aspects that I would want to see in this curriculum are:

1) How to pretend to work hard and survive plus thrive

2) How to Yap more and never work, knowing with whom to Yap more

3) How to show off and earn goodwill from your bosses

4) How to get confidence of your bosses and then never work again

5) How to manipulate discussions and client presentations

6) How to figure out the weakest link in the team and then make that bugger work like hell (while you enjoy)

7) How to LIE/Bullshit, but make it sound like such a world-class concept that you just explained

8) How to create a legacy wherein even your shitty work doesn't bother your boss, and he can't stand to hear a word against you

9) How to tread on others' hard work and confidence - as this space is like a war-zone with only one winner - and damage careers (so that they can never come in your way)

10) How to manipulate conversations during times of salary reviews, and how to blackmail your superior into submission

11) How to manipulate power equations inside the company to make your position safe and actually stronger

12) How to give gyaan to your client without adding any value to the work, and be least bothered about the project or revenue

13) How to ensure that people who have the power to stand against you are first derided upon and then fired

14) How to get to what you want - not through any hard work but by smart play and manipulation of structures, people, and your bosses

There are a lot of people who make lives of their co-workers miserable by being successful ("actually this matters a lot, doesn't it") while practicing and probably being the epitome of the above pointers.
I have seen great talent agree to some of the above points and then following the same by giving in to the rut, losing their character and soul to such foul practices.

If you ever had a doubt as to whether the corporate is filled with such bastards, then don't second guess. It's the probable way to survive the "Roman empire when you are in Rome" conundrum.

This post isn't about complaining. It has been a long time since I have been seeing good talent lose out to such plotting and scheming bastards - who were lucky to be trained properly (or some were born with the talent) to be BAD. These are people who make people's lives bad, at times pushing them to the limits of breakdown and therefore suicides.

So for a new b-school talent who has those dreams in his/her eyes, its prudent that the bad side of the picture is also shown as a part of the curriculum, else we will have people who will break early, and we will blame them as "weak characters" or "immature" wherein actually the broken system was responsible for the continuous banging.

I don't know if the good will win at last, but even the Gods had to resort proving a point (in Egypt, in Mahabharata, in Greek Myth, etc) and I guess being armed with the same pathetic tactics doesn't harm anyone. The idea has to be a uniform training module wherein the kids are told - "This is whats going to happen to you, and not the motivation-HR shit we taught you about", and then tell them "This is what you ought to be expecting and reacting to".

If I have a b-school, then I will definitely have this curriculum.

Does AICTE Recognize Laptops or iPads that may be used by MBA Students?

The AICTE Approval Process Handbook doesn't seem to give any idea about whether Laptop or iPads could be used by MBA students in AICTE approved Institutions running MBA/PGDM programs.

The APH (approval process handbook) is probably common for all programs irrespective of the specific requirements of different programs. This itself speaks volumes about AICTE's (mis)understanding and improvement strategies for MBA/PGDM programs - which are treated with a standard set of directions and expectations similar to Engineering and other technical programs.

One can understand the requirement for a central computer lab for other technical programs, wherein the usage of computers/PCs or related work with computers have a certain pattern. For B-school pedagogy, things are very different and expecting students to go to a central common place to engage with PCs is remarkably wrong.

Laptops were in use since the 1990s in a lot of b-schools and still are a very intrinsic part of the DNA of b-school pedagogy and personal learning system amongst students. iPads (an Apple Product) probably will take over from Laptops very soon due to a host of factors, while providing the same (or better) kind of computing power and utilities required by an MBA student.

Even in organizations, there aren't any existing central computer labs wherein people are made to sit on PCs and complete their work (yeah..probably some Insurance companies have such PCs for their junior staff, but they aren't MBAs for sure).

So if I satisfy all norms and then design a very modern infrastructure for usage of laptops/iPads for delivering learning content or for students to use them for creating content as a part of the academic process, will I not get an approval without having a "1:2 capacity computer center"?

Why is there a standard operating handbook that needs to be followed by all programs who don't share many common strains in their DNA?

When will regulatory bodies like AICTE wake up to systems and processes that are world-class and modern and that are followed across the world (US, UK, China,etc)?

Why is it so difficult to have separate and updated guidelines and norms from regulatory bodies to keep pace with the requirements of current times and technological advancements?

This is just one such thing that struck me as out of place when one looks at the APH. I am sure more such disparities and gaps would be available for AICTE to address and solve those for a better future of our b-schools.

So how will Placements 2015 look like: Assuming CAT takers of 2012

Each year, over 200,000 aspirants in India take up the Common-entrance-test or CAT to be eligible for applying to some of the best management institutions in the country.

What have been the trends that are important and related to the growth of management education in India?

- More IIMs: there are 13 of them and probably more would open soon

- All IITs, NITs, and FMS - institutions that were taking other/own entrance tests are now taking scores from CAT for selection purposes

- Multiple campuses of other private institutions (IMT, NMIMS, IMI, etc) and increase in the intake of other b-schools like S.P Jain

- Maturity of the market forces, wherein MBA is now a more focused and proper decision and not any longer the natural step after engineering or graduation

I would like to separately mention another factor adding to the above list - that of the economic conditions and its relevant effects in businesses and organizations who used to be the star recruiters in many b-school campuses.

A sound mind will always ask a question - Is there something wrong with management education model as a whole, and how can we look at forecasting whats probably going to happen for all the passing-out grads in the coming years?

The answer to whether the MBA education model is passe now is - NO. Definitely it no longer represents the growth story of education sector in India any more, but it still re-produces some good talent into the corporate sphere, contributing to the sustainable growth in various sectors. There has been a obvious change of perception and people taking up management education have now accepted the hard realities - that one doesn't come out of an MBA college and buy a Ferrari. Is there a better option other than MBA for creating industry ready professionals? I don't think the outdated undergrad programs are anywhere near to answer that question/problem.

So can we forecast atleast, to ensure that we know what would happen to the grads passing out of MBA/management institutions in the coming years? How will placements 2015 be if we consider profile of people taking up CAT 2012? The following math attempts to answer these questions

Let us consider that in the present economic scenario, it will take more than 8-10 years to see brilliant growth across the world economies (even that's a big Bet and being nonsensically bullish), not much will change in the next 5-7 years, in terms of job opportunities and job-designs available for MBA grads (I am not only taking the top 10 or 20 b-schools, but also the major chunk of good b-schools in India)

To calculate the probabilities, I will be using the Bayes theorem (for multiple probabilities attached in this case)

Formula:
P(A1 | B) = [P(A1)* P(B|A1)]/[[P(A1)*P(B|A1)] x [P(A2)*P(B|A2)]]

Let's define each probability:

P(A1) - Probability of more freshers getting offers

P(A2) - Probability of more work-exp people getting offers

P(B|A1) - Probability of Economic Slowdown/Job-Market Slowdown when there is a probability of more freshers getting jobs

P(B|A2) - Probability of Eco-slowdown when there is a probability of more job offers for people with prior work-ex

The rough segmentation of Freshers:Work-ex for CAT 2011 was about 30:70

Which also would be the representation across the better b-schools around the country.

Let us consider the batch-composition as the ultimate factor to calculate the probabilities of more freshers or work-ex people getting offers.

Therefore,

P(A1) for people who took CAT 2011 will be - 30%

P(A2) will be - 70%

Let us assume that when there are more freshers who get offers, the probability of economic slowdown will be less, and more for the situation wherein the work-ex population get more offers.

Which means,

P(B|A1) - 20%

P(B|A2) - 80%

So, the probability of more freshers jobs when there is a consistent probability of economic slowdown expected over the next 4-5 years, will be denoted by P(A1|B)

Therefore,

P(A1|B) = (0.3*0.2)/[(0.3*0.2) + (0.7*0.8)]

= 9.6%

Case 2:
Let's now consider that for CAT 2011, there were 70% freshers and 30% work-ex aspirants, thereby changing the P(A1) and P(A2) respectively, keeping the probabilities of "B" for A1 and A2 consistent.

So the new P(A1|B) = (0.7*0.2)/[(0.7*0.2)+(0.3*0.8)]

= 38.8%

So the math tells us that there wont be good amount of jobs designed for freshers available to MBA grads in the coming years (About 10% probability), considering that about 70% of CAT applicants will have prior work ex.

The above is only an indicator. There is bound to be argument that this calculation at best throws out only the probability, and hasn't considered other factors like - industry requirements, innovations across certain industry and the speed of the same, technological advancement and its affect on irreversible losses of various job designs, etc. The good thing is that the scope to calculate proper trends and probabilities for this can only improve from here.

The top IIMs - Are they suffering from ELOC?

The IIMs are the high watermark of management/professional education in our country and each year thousands of aspiring applicants (with aspirations to join some of the best organizations in the world) try to get a seat into these coveted institutions, to join the illustrious list of alumnus who have represented Indian Inc across the world.

Amongst the early IIMs, the 3 well established ones are located in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Kolkata. Three more were built - Lucknow, Indore and Kozhikode.

Now are you hit with an idea I was - that the first 3 are better than the next 3? Has your brain started to already compartmentalize the institutions into two different categories already based on some bias and perception, which is introduced by means of mere grouping of these into two different sentences?

The IIMs were an initiative by the Govt of India (Min of HRD) to produce professional talent required for the industry and to support the growth of this country in sectors other than agriculture.

Similar requirements also gave birth to the IITs - the respected brand across the whole world. Alumnus of IITs are present in some of the top leadership positions in organizations the world over.

The perceptual issues that have plagued the IIMs since the time there was a huge rush amongst Indian students to get an MBA/PGDM qualification, has (according to me) kind of rubbed into the establishment themselves.

In the last couple of years, the number of IIMs have grown to 13 (7 more added to the already existing 6), and somehow there was well documented resentment and doubts across-the-board when these new ones were launched.

Questions like - "will the IIM 'brand' now fade away?" or "what will be the quality of the person passing out of No1 and No13 when compared by an employer?" started doing the rounds and were lapped up by everyone. Even the applicants who want to get into an "IIM" for a better life (money, status, etc) started magnifying the same issues through discussions, blogging, etc.

So have the first batch IIMs (the first 6) become a victim of "external locus of control" by being forced to compare themselves within their own franchise?

Over the last few decades, B-school Ranking systems have always ranked the fist 3 IIMs (Ahd, Blore, Kol) as Nos.1,2,3 respectively. The rest of the 3 IIMs came in the top ten at most time but not necessarily in the first 6 positions. There were other b-schools that made applicants wonder whether really some magic happens at the top-3 IIMs thats missing in the next 3.

No one asked "why?" is there such a thing existing.

Similarly, when the new IIMs came in, a very similar story unfolded. Various private institutions were ranked way above the new IIMs and these new ones were placed much lower than the first 6.

Which meant two things:
- Perception of these IIMs suffered as they were new and therefore definitely couldn't produce the same pedagogical strength of the first 6
- There is nothing called as the IIM brand as there are clear divisions amongst the early 6 and the latest 7 institutions

I believe that the ELOC is something that has hurt the IIMs badly and definitely the governing bodies of these places are responsible for the same. A system like the IIMs exist in a place like India and not the US, that has representations from IIM faculty or research collaborations at all times. In those Universities (like Harvard, Univ of Penn, etc), there is a clear sense of belonging to the top school, which isn't present for the very stakeholders at the top IIMs. They actually represent a system or a franchise, and that's something that creates a dissonance.

The whole system of ranking IIMs against each other, perceptual difference amongst alumnus and students, etc have created the kind of environment wherein this identity-crisis has flourished. Over the next decade, this can worsen if left to the whims and fancies of people who would love to have the status-quo maintained.

There is no reason for IIMs to be ranked or be worried about who is No.2 or No.10. The trouble is that the current selection procedures also point towards bias in selection of the IIMs by applicants through the present system. What's the future for the new IIMs? Will they be always branded as the also-rans who didn't have the might and power to be counted amongst the established elite? Are the first 6 IIMs elite and not to be touched? Why can't they look at making this a collaborative system and make "IIM" an actual brand (and not "IIMA" or "IIMC" as separate brand names)?

It has to begin with breaking away from the status-quo that's been forced upon them by us (who else?), and then they need to figure out ways to collaborate so that the same pedagogy, the same kind of standards, the same kind of research, faculty, and value is added to each student who joins any IIM. Even the 14th one, if and when its inaugurated.

The Curious case of bad-spiral in B-school's existence

Ever wondered why so many b-schools who are languishing will not be able to become better anytime soon?

I keep interacting with most of them (obviously alongside the best in the domain) in order to figure out whether any of these struggling schools have any thought or understanding of the reasons as to why they are in a downward spiral and if there is a remedy for such a sorry state.

One of the major issues that these b-schools probably have never thought of - is the negative word-of-mouth publicity that is implemented by their own students, which snowballs into very strong negative perception affecting their admission numbers, placements etc each year.

Let us understand what really happens:

1. B-school starts operations and pushes the Marketing/Admission team to get applications for the MBA/PGDM program

2. Marketing/Admission team resorts to tried and tested and failed methodologies right away (these are not some of the best talents in India anyways). They buy databases, call people without permissions, visit cities for education tours and flash GD-PI selection processes, dole out "discounts" in the name of scholarships to "non-scholars", and care a damn while trying to get the seats filled

3. Since the failed methods are used, the perception of the b-school starts on a negative as some of the better students (or students aspiring for a good program) view this as another program started by some X person , thereby quality applications never show up on the radar.

4. While application numbers from the entrance tests databases don't show up, the b-school gets restless and then goes to some of the most remotest areas in India (places like the North-eastern states, Bihar, J&K, Jharkhand, East UP, etc). The "rags to riches" story through something called as MBA is doled out with additional spice. These places generally have dormant decision making kids, and more active parents. So somehow parents are convinced that their sons and daughters will do good (with "city" jobs).

5. These students are then the representation of majority in such b-schools and somehow the fees are collected and batch begins


Other than external ecological factors that will take the wind off the sail for such b-schools in due time, the following happens in the 2 years after these students get admission:

A) They are trained by the B-school in "written" and "spoken" English. Special classes dedicated to personality development are conducted (sometimes in regional languages so that these kids understand)

B) They are trained on using Internet and all technological advancements that are related to the Internet. At the end of these sessions and (armed with the Laptop) at the end two years, these kids are now empowered to use Social network, identify forums for MBA, etc.

C) When placements season arrives, these kids don't get placed through the internal process (mostly due to them being un-employable in any good starting role available to other grads from other MBA programs), and all of a sudden these kids realize that they will never have that dream life which was told to them during the "Admission Seminar" at their respective places

D) Armed with access to internet and filled with disgust, these kids then take on the cyber world, writing some of the most demeaning things about their b-school- the lies, the vacant promises, the bad faculty, no placements, etc. across social networking websites, MBA forums, chat sites, and wherever they feel they can vent their anger

Due to this, in the next admission season, the college again fails to get any response through the normal procedure (through notifications, etc) and resorts to visiting some new places for "fishing".
Since the cyber-world will be filled with amazing negative feedback about the college, people with access to broadband will definitely get to read those while they Google the college. So the only hope will rest on people who don't have broadband access and have no understanding of a career etc.

Thanks to "India Shining!" (sarcasm), there are still areas that fit the description for a good market for such b-schools. Areas that are still pretty backward, and will give anything for a career in the cities.

However, the same story plays out post the admission of this batch as well.

The b-school has now successfully invested and contributed to their very own, home-grown army of students and alumni who are proactively bad-mouthing the college across every possible medium.


What happens in the corresponding year?

The enrolments drop. All of a sudden I get to hear b-schools running a batch of 120 with about 20
enrolments. Given that their yearly budgets on admission activities/scholarships will be driven by the numbers of previous year (again a huge mistake, but will take this topic later), one doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out the way things will go from here. Downward Spiral!!

Two years back, I had predicted that over 1500 b-schools will close in India. To a certain extent, they have. The others have still survived due to the way they got admissions from rural India and kept on the working capital intact. But things are changing faster. Accessibility of broadband and usage of mobile internet will be comparatively growing faster in the coming 3-5 years. With that being the premise, where will these b-schools go??

Is there a way out for them?

Definitely. But that includes things that they wont listen to or even do. They will need to close down their current programs. Re-establish everything from scratch. Get large funding, excellent faculty, use the best mediums available to communicate and interact with the best applicants in India, select only the best, get accreditation that matters, design pedagogy that will be world-class, and then see magic happen in about 5-7 years. Every b-school has gone through stages in their growth process.

Imagine a Hit Bollywood movie. Do we go for a 3rd category production house, with no stars, amazing music, and no special effects? We don't. Because we know that the quality of everything in a movie matters, and therefore people are ready to pay a premium and watch these movies in Multiplexes (and spend more on pop-corns than the movie tickets).

So if 3 hour movie experience needs to be world-class, then what about a 2yr program that will lead to someone start an excellent career??

Don't b-schools think anything on this line? Is surviving another day a part of their DNA now? How do they feel to know that their very investments are their biggest detractors and enemies?

WAKE-UP, and CHANGE.

The Case of inertia and insolvent b-schools in Management Education

There are many concerns of MBA/Management institutions in India who are classified under the 2nd or 3rd categories - going by the way they fail to measure up to any standard of perceived quality or their inability to get students for their programs.

The Biggest problem for these institutions is - PERCEPTION.

It's something like a shadow for these colleges - they can't shake it off anytime easily and it will always stick around.

So how is it even possible to help these institutions get better or top-grade themselves??

In the past 2-3 years that I have been interacting with these institutions, there are a few things that I have noticed as the bottlenecks which stopped them to do anything "good":

- Lack of vision: The top team or the owner have no vision to become better, while missing out the point that only by being better will they survive and earn more money/revenues

- Blindly copying others: This is the "herd" behavior that keeps things like "education tours" alive. Surprisingly, they are yet to figure out that by copying activities that others do, they "place" themselves into the same herd or group as others, and run into the same cliches every year

- Underestimating the ecology: Cocooned inside their own institutions and geographies, they have this self-defeating idea that everything will work out if they manage to get more local students interested in their college, and sometimes they believe that like some other bschools, they will easily get to convince people with less knowledge on MBA, jobs after MBA, life after MBA, etc.

- No measurement of what works for them and what not: There is a very famous saying by a person which goes as - "I know that I have wasted half my money this year that I invested in marketing, but the trouble is I don't know which half". This is the exact situation for these b-schools. They don't know what really worked and what didn't. They don't know if 10 visits to a city yielded anything in the short-term as well as long-term. Will the visits-to-be-made be lesser next year since they made 10 visits; or will that remain the same?

- They don't have a plan for their batch improvement: Every year, their batch needs to be profiled like every other b-school. The trouble is that the profiling never happens correctly. There are no answers to questions like - What are the contribution %ages of CAT/MAT/XAT/Other exams in your batch, and what are the ranges of each of these scores? Also, what are the new regional representations in your batch this year, and have you lost out on any specific representation from last year?(Diversity)

It is a fact that the ecology of the domain and the trends in related fields will affect the survival of the b-schools.

Some questions that these b-schools need to seriously attempt to answer are:

What happens if CAT is conducted for more than 2 months? What happens if CMAT is conducted all round the year?

What happens if the state gets more broadband access in home PCs, mobiles, and internet cafes?

What will be the impact of the usage improvement amongst local population who can now search and find better colleges and information of life after MBA?

What will happen to the kids who would join you and then don't get jobs after 2 years? Will you not train them properly enough to empower them for using Internet/social media? Will they then not have the power and the intentions to bad-mouth you everywhere they can? How will you ever stop from that happening? Will that kid be not responsible for making your college lose applications even before they applied?

What will happen to your college's local population when local population start applying to other colleges outside your city and state? How will you handle newer colleges with more money power coming to your state, or worse, multiple campuses of established names in your city/state?

What will happen if there is a steady decline of the representation from CAT/MAT and other exams in your batch along with the %ile scores and you are not aware of it? How will you feel when you will get companies to come and they will go back empty handed without recruiting?


After trying to answer the above, they should then ponder upon the following:

How will you feel if you can place all your students into excellent profiles in good companies through your placements process? Will that not be something great?

How will you like it, when your own students/alumni will contribute to getting more quality admissions and placements? Wont that be a dream come true?

How will you like it, when your college can increase fee to accommodate better faculty, infra, corporate programs, and still you get some of the best people to apply to you year on year?

Over 140,000 applicants in CAT this year will again be of people with work-exp and the availability of seats for them are less - when you compare the number of institutions that they feel are available to them to apply.

Can't they be one of those (perceived) better quality institution for these applicants?

The Math behind a successful MBA Admission Campaign

Every year, as a b-scgool, you are faced with the biggest challenge of strategically choosing communication channels for your Admission purposes, trying to ensure that you get it RIGHT.

I am aware that over 98% of our b-schools get it WRONG every year. There is a reason they repeat their mistakes, sub-consciously at most times.

You measure the results that come from each marketing channel you choose rather than a multi-channel strategy and measurement. You use certain channels incorrectly, without completely understanding the characteristic consumption pattern of your Applicants in that channel. You define usage of channel by the same prejudices that are wrong and need to be corrected.

So,

How will you figure out muti-channel attribution to your Applications each year?

How will you strategize for something that you don't completely understand?

How will you change from a broken system to a correct-system as soon as possible?

How will you improve effectiveness of your Admission campaign and therefore improve application numbers and maintain that for the coming years?

How will you stop random buying and learn to methodically identify channels that work for you, and the integration of such channels?

Consider the following multichannel strategy used by a b-school

 

 

This means that the bschool is using 6 different but integrated channels for its marketing program.

If we consider that Results (Overall Results i.e.) is a function of engagement and action taken, then we can represent it as:

Result = fn(Action, Engagement)

Now, according to integrated marketing assumptions, the action and engagement can happen in two different channels at a given point in time "t".

Which means, that for a result Rt, the set of action and engagement can be (Pagalguy.com, Database Calling); wherein the action happened in PG but the engagement happened over database calling.

Similarly, at a time "t+1", the R(t+1) can be (Database calling, Pagalguy.com); wherein action happened in database calling but engagement happened in Pagalguy.com.

Since it is impossible to attribute specific inputs to specific channels for results, the best can we can predict is the probability of engagement of a particular platform at a certain time for a result "R".

Mathematically, this would mean-

P(PG) = Probability of student engaging with Pagalguy.com

P(C) = Probability of student engaging over a call

R = Result from the overall marketing system

The Probability of a student engaging with a particular platform is directly proportional for the amount of time he spends on that platform, or the "exposure" to that platform. Therefore, lets assume for our calculation's sake that a student spends 40% of his time on Pagalguy.com and the 20% of the time he is exposed to Calls from b-schools.

Then P(PG) = 0.4, and P(C) = 0.2

We want to identify what will be the probability of engagement on Pagalguy, when there is a Result from the marketing system. This can be denoted as - P(PG | R)

To find this probability, we will use the Bayes theorem (since there are multiple events associated with this probability)

Therefore,

P(PG | R) = [P(PG) * P(R | PG)] / [ [P(PG) * P(R | PG)] X [P(C) * P(R | C)] ]

Now,

We will have to calculate: the probability of a result for engagement happening in PG as well as calls.

P(R | PG) = Time x Activity x (1/Total number of options at a given time)

= 4 x 5 x (1/50)  [Considering 4 hours total time, 5 pages viewed each time, and 50 B-schools as option during his visits]

= 0.2

P(R | C) = 0.1 x 10 x (1/100) [Considering 0.1 hours call time, 10 calls, and 100 bschools calling]

= 0.01

Now, 

The P(PG | R) = [0.4 x 0.2] / [ [0.4 x 0.2] + [0.2 x 0.01] ]

= 0.08/0.082

= 0.97

or 97% probability of Pagalguy engagement when Result is "R" from the marketing system.

Similarly, we can calculate and attribute different probability scores to different sets of "(Action, Engagement") to check how effective is the engagement of a particular medium and how it plays out for the marketing system.

Since, the college in this case is using 6 different channels, and given that there are two factors, the number of sets will be 6P2 (permutation), giving us about 30 such sets that will contribute to the overall results.

These sets need to be measured if one needs to figure out the Effectiveness of Every Channel used. But this is hard and near impossible due to complexity of the relationships and theimprobability to tag an action to a particular channel. All we know is that together, they form a cohesive system that provides the advantages of an "integrated" marketing system and allows us to measure the integrity of "Communication" that actually affect the efficiency of these 30 sets.

 

Start practicing the the most scientific and right strategies for your Admission campaign design, else you will keep on doing the same ad-hoc usage of communications channel and Measure them incorrectly - leading to bad results.

Fooling a B-school in India

Are b-schools really smart? We can argue this based on certain parameters - and one of them has to be the way majority of our b-schools approach planning for their Admission process.

Majority of our b-schools in India (along with the new ones too) follow a very similar and outdated approach to their admission process. The process involves - buying database, calling and mailing this database, holding special seminars, attending educational tours collecting more databases, calling and mailing these again, and continuing the process to get intent from some of these applicants to join the college's program.

Over 1500 B-schools in India practice this every year, and they haven't done anything different for the past many years. The trouble is that, two important things are happening:
- The number of calls that are ending with no results, are increasing
- Even the conversions after getting an intent, are decreasing

Every year, some people sitting at Rajasthan provide our Indian b-schools with the databases of MBA applicants of that year (collected from various "sources" that are claimed to be anonymous). Given that one can easily quantify the number of applicants who are serious about MBA, most b-schools purchase the entire data from the market anyways - to cold call, mail, sms etc.

"So what are some educational portals selling these b-schools in the name of validated/verified leads? If the total population of MBA applicants is a super-set {E}, then there is no chance of {E+1} anywhere."

Then why do b-schools buy such leads at almost 100 times the price that they have already bought from other offline sources? Why are they paying for redundant leads which are the same as they have already purchased and prospected?

It makes no sense to me to get the number of the same girl who has rejected my proposal to get married from another source. I already know the outcome.

Then why would I pay 100 times more money to that source to figure out that the same girl again gets to hear my pathetic rambling and then decide to hang-up the phone?

B-schools have not had the central-nervous-system to understand a few very important things:

1) The universe of MBA applicants is well defined and is a finite number. It is not like insurance or jobs market, wherein leads pour in everyday, and websites formed to catch those leads sell them as premium

2) Buying more leads from multiple sources will only add to duplicating the database already bought by the b-school from earlier sources

3) No matter how strong the counseling team is, there needs to be an integrated and strong marketing plan implemented to support conversions

4) Online doesn't mean BTL activity and leads

5) It is foolish (sorry, no let-off here) in buying leads that you already have as a part of your universal database. Also, MBA applicants do not fill in leads. If they are interested to APPLY to you, then they will directly call or mail your team. They are smart people - in case you have forgotten

Imagine the following situation:

You have purchased 2,00,000 leads from a source (that includes all entrance tests data of that year), and have started calling these applicants through your counseling team.

Somewhere between 3001 and 3005, you wonder what is happening to the 5th person in the database you spoke to? What did that person do or where all did the person engage with your b-school's brand after that call/mail of yours? Has he been called by more b-schools in this interval? How are you going to arrest his exit from your system?

B-schools have forgotten what it means to have excellent marketing systems. Every year, they measure which particular channel gave them certain inputs/conversions and then spend a large sum of their money on that. The next year some other channel finds favour.

This happens because, b-schools dont bother to understand that marketing success (in this case the conversions) is always attributed to how the overall system functions, integrated by the usage of different channels (BTL as well as ATL).

Stop getting fooled and making a fool of yourselves. Get smarter and improve your team's potential to see, understand and implement important communications strategies that will help in getting more applications, and better branding for your college.

Leads don't give you conversions. They are just the beginning of a larger and complex process.

What do B-schools across the world fail to communicate?

Let us consider (at the outset), that the applicant whom B-schools would want to admit in their program is a Buyer2.0 persona. That should define the way the applicant would search for information, make proper networks within the community, and look at specific communications to arrive at a conclusion (to apply for a certain program).

The trouble for b-schools can be represented in a dichotomy:
1) They don't understand the Buyer2.0 persona
2) They allocate too much "Air-time" for the kind of info that can be considered Junk

The first issue can probably be solved by the Admission teams by reading more literature and fine-tuning a pretty well integrated marketing strategy, but the core problem will lie in allocating space to the kind of content that will go out to these applicants.

According to formula based on user engagement, I find the following to be true:

User Acquisition = i x n x D x M

Wherein, "i" is the intention of the applicant, "n" is the urgent need, both being variables. The constants D and M are Demographics and Money respectively.

So for a larger user acquisition, one needs to improve the combination score of "i x n" at all times.
Let us see how we can Map the "intentions" with "needs" (of applicants) through the following strategy matrix:

Reference:
A = Low need, and low intent
B = High need, and low intent
C = Low need, and high intent
D = High need, high intent

There might be a factor of "time" (as a part of the communication process) to be considered by the b-school while allocating space for communication, but the deviation will be minimal.

Some examples of the categories for a b-school are:
A = LN+LI = Founding members; Board members; Infrastructure
B = HN+LI = Faculty profile; Accreditation; Pedagogy; Syllabus; Culture
C = LN+HI = Placements; Location;
D = HN+HI = Eligibility; Admit results; Batch profile; Alumni network

One can always look up the kind of communication space provided to the above factors in a b-school brochure. I went through some, and this is what I found (just going by the number of pages the content got in the brochure):
A = 20%
B = 40%
C = 25%
D = 15%

So for a novice, the user acquisition (for a b-school) would look something like:
UA = fn{20a,40b,25c,15d} x D x M

I believe that b-schools could do much better if they changed the way applicants (the Buyer2.0 persona) engaged with the info/content and then shared it with other like-minded people over the internet. At present the amount of content on most of the unnecessary stuff is a pile-on for all such applicants. The info worth going after is mostly 15%-40% of the overall communication. the irony is that most of the questions (~80%) that applicants have over the internet communities (for MBA) are related to a combination of C and D categories (ones that have high intent).

Now imagine a larger integrated & multi-channel marketing program of the b-schools with the right ingredients mixed in the right type of content (story, video, contests, etc) that will have the potential for better engagement and conversion of people from across the applicants population in the country. Such a program will allow for measuring the effectiveness of quality of communications rather than the channel they are using (since we know that for integrated systems, all systems will have to perform and one can't ever credit a single window to do the trick).

Defining the canvas for your b-school

Over the past 5-7 years, Indian b-schools have been in the roller-coaster ride dealing with changing profiles of applicants, whimsical regulatory bodies, micro-economic factors, dynamic growth in standard of higher education along with the rising expectations from people taking up higher-ed for getting access to excellent careers through these b-schools.

A lot has happened and all of these need to be classified for these b-schools to understand their current situation (vis-a-vis a certain standard of reference), and figure out the steps to be taken in the coming years.

Similar to other industries, b-schools too are fragmented into various sections/segments. There isn't a single point of differentiation that can be considered while grouping these b-schools. Doing such a thing will lead to incorrect modelling of the entire story and incorrect forecasting.

I have chosen to use the overall profiles of b-schools and map them on a graph with time on X-axis, and density of applications in the Y-axis. I have then chosen to use multiple factors that are common amongst most of these b-schools to provide them a particular band. These bands then can be named as B-school 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 respectively. The area of the band will also give an idea of the number of b-schools that are present in that particular band (as on this year). The growth of a b-school across the last decade had clearly been the path that leads it through 2.0, 3.0 and puts it currently into a 4.0 band.
The following is the visual representation of the same:

Are MBA applicants already a Buyer2.0 Generation?

For most B-schools, the biggest puzzle that remains unsolved for many years is the way to engage applicants with their institute's brand and other important factors - leading to Admits of some of the best applicants available in the current pool.

Considering Indian B-schools' plights, this problem takes a much larger shape and at most times even the surface of the issue isn't addressed by the staff of these seemingly floating entities.

There have been many ways that I have tried explaining the micro factors that need to be considered by the majority of b-schools in India, in order to top-grade their intakes, brand recognition, and overall development of the institution. I have explained to them how the applicants base in India is polarized in their decision making (70% of all MBA applicants wish to apply to not more than 15% of available b-schools in India). I have also pointed out the ways they can actually identify the position of their b-school from the "Perceptual Barrier" and then close in with some measurable steps to be considered as a top rank institution in India.

In all my cases to these b-schools, one important factor has always remained common - that of the new and dynamic persona of their MBA applicant - who is now a graduated Buyer2.0 persona.

Now what is so very important about people with such personas (Buyer2.0)?
Ans: The following diagram will provide some idea about the attributes of Buyer2.0:

The buyer (in this case the MBA applicant) has gone through a fundamental shift in behavior and consumption of communications. This is a fact that has been ignored over the last 5 years and I fear that it may still not be dissected and perused by our b-schools in the near future.

Some of the important Characteristics that this Buyer2.0 might have are:

1) He will be "high" on net savvy scores, and knows about social media tools & their usage
2) He contributes (via comments, feedback, curation, etc) across the important platform in the world-wide-web that matter to similar Personas of buyers
3) He networks with other buyers2.0 through various platforms and collectively can generate content that will influence the early and late followers of these platforms
4) He will not be waiting for Advertisements and emailers to reach him for making decisions. He will search and engage with forums and communities across the internet to figure out the buying-choices
5) He is not an impulsive shopper. He will not probably follow the Click-See-Buy process at one-go. He understands the rules of engagement by marketers and therefore will have a longer buying cycle
6) He will not think twice about providing negative feedback and then scout for support within the community for more negative inputs on the brand. He will have the power to bring down the brand-scores to NIL
7) He hates SPAM, cold calls, and would want to control conversations. They have "preferences" on the time of meetings, communications and would dislike any push communications thrown at them my marketers

The important question now is - Are the top-teams at our Indian B-schools even aware and sensitized about this very important fact??

I can safely bet (from the travails in meeting most of the b-schools in India), that they are not even bothered about the existence of such a thing, and I guess it will need probably an agency or some announcement of a new Ad-Format from Google/FB that mentioned Buyer2.0, to get to the hard-rock-brains of our b-schools owners.

This challenge is a current one and needs an excellent team to identify and then design marketing communications based on the same. All new Ad formats and other marketing logic (like Click-to-action, etc) can be referred to this phenomenon and I certainly believe that most of what I have written before this can be explained in a better way if I start with this challenge.

It can also lead to a wild rat-race, wherein by the time our b-schools get to understand this factor and catch-up, we might be looking at a Buyer3.0 Personas making the buy decisions.

How can a person be creative when he has to pay his Edu Loan?

The past few years have witnessed a combination of factors that have made it difficult for MBA passouts from some of the most sought after Universities to make any impact in their jobs in some of the best organizations (in terms of present growth trajectories) across world.

Factors, including - overall economic crisis, macro economic volatility affecting businesses with international exposure, exponential improvement in technology leading to irreversible job-losses, education-inflation, higher cost for higher-ed across the world, inflated interest rates from banks, etc - all leading to a crisis that has the foundations of taking human potential and shoving it into a blast furnace and burn for ages.

We are already seeing trends across the US on student loan defaults. Are we not privy to the reasons behind such situations and what it means for companies who are to have excellent future talent bases who have strong cognitive and creative capacities to succeed?

I know for a fact that if there is a huge financial burden on someone, they will take most of the choices based on a safe financial passage for the initial phase of their lives. Which means that the most important part of their lives when they could have done quality work and could have contributed with their creativity and cognitive prowess, are now being wasted taking up jobs that are supposed to pay for their loans; and NO, the ideal combination of getting a job that one loves and also pays the loan are not out there for everyone. Such things are getting rarer by the day.

We need such youngsters to come and take up responsibilities of quality work and large businesses from Day 1 and we need them to be creative enough to solve larger problems. At most times, we are ending up people who will conform to almost anything since that will save their jobs. That will help them to not lose the race (the rat race), a tunnel that end into Suicides.

Are we, as organizations putting things in the right perspectives for people to falsely understand that a professional degree like MBA is the only answer to things that are considered best and successful in lives of common people? Who are responsible to inflate fees of Universities in ways that has absolutely no correlation in the way salaries are growing for such people passing out of these institutions?

It's scary and not at all a sustainable model. We have pushed the envelope so far to get to the solution of manpower woes that we cannot even take things back. Imagine Universities cutting down on their fees - not going to happen anytime in the future. Such strategies set on wrong premises defined by a very old traditional thinking has been ticking like a time bomb. Its devouring good minds into submission and taking its full toll on people whose dreams and aspirations have become defined by a closed set of achievements - which is becoming distant every passing day.

Saving Indian B-schools from extinction

I have written in the past about how b-schools in India are on the verge of closing down (about 2 years back), and then I had predicted that there is a probability of a second wave of growth in the domain to allow some of the borderline players to actually top-grade and survive.

In the past 1 year, a lot of things have changed (for bad) primarily based on certain decisions made by regulatory bodies in the MBA domain that were backed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (that oversees and kind of controls regulatory bodies like AICTE, UGC, etc).

To begin with, the AICTE introduced a common test (the CMAT) to replace most of the state run entrance test (like the Maharashtra CET, GCET, amongst others). The idea seemed to be providing a common platform and standardized testing for students who would now be seeking admissions into bschools that were under the purview of AICTE (which is almost everyone actually). The perceived objective (as mentioned by AICTE during their concerns over standard of education in MBA colleges, while representing themselves in front of the Supreme Court of India), was to provide some semblance in the selection process to allow colleges under AICTE to get access to good quality students. Therefore other tests (like the MAT) were taken out from 2012.

I have my own reservations on how CMAT will really solve the problem and I have written against the same before. I still stand by my observations that this test will produce no measurable results and good quality improvements across AICTE regulated bschools.

I am worried on the flip-side of the whole exercise - that which takes into account the number of bschools across many states (those that were til date getting students through State_CET and common counseling process) who are going to find themselves with empty classrooms even in this year (this has already happened last year).

The real problem is the perceived lack of quality in these bschools along with structural issues that do not allow such bschools to be a part of the mainstream action. This kind of mainstream action is enjoyed by the top100 bschools in any rankings and these bodies are now expanding their reach even outside India with their international campuses.

Out of the 2000 odd bschools in India, probably not more than 15% are above the perceptual barrier of applicants looking at MBA (that number amounts to about 70% of all MBA applicants in India who are looking at applying to only 15% of the bschools)

The solution is not another test, and it never was.

To my mind, the process should have some reflection of the points suggested below:
- Make a list and then a category of bschools under AICTE that have everything else (infra mostly, and are not insolvent) other than the students

- Once the bschools are categorized, include them into a 7-year plan of improving these bschools into seats of excellence

- Introduce a bill or special conditions in the existing bills of higher education investments/funding,
wherein International Universities and b-schools can only tie-up with the shortlisted bschools (from the above point) in India

- Make this compulsory and provide excellent sops to these international Universities who will associate with these existing bschools. The Univs get to access the infra and land through these existing bschools, and in return they make the Indian institute their partner in this venture. All faculty, books, collaborations, etc can be renewed under the new umbrella brand and therefore a leash of life will be given to the Indian bschool

- Allow 7 years for the new JV to flourish with Govt funding, relaxed norms, and other advantages that will allow the International University to make this concern grow and be one of most sought after destinations in India

- Regulate the admission process, but allow autonomy in terms of the curriculum etc so that such things can become the USP of most of these revamped colleges

- Go for a Round 2 with the next category of bschools in India

I am looking at saving about 1000 more bschools in India that will DIE if the right set of measures are not taken. Students just don't choose these bschools due to reasons other than ease of application. A Student would want to associate with a good brand and the Min of HRD will do good work if they allow these bschools to flourish as brands rather than solve the gateway problems.

Some critics might say that we cannot depend on foreign Universities solving our problems. To them I want to say that our problem at most times is the lack of vision and unavailability or no-access to quality courseware and talent. In a country where the high watermark of MBA education in an IIM, then we ought to do something improves the quality of talent available for our future managers.
I hope something like this can be done as soon as possible and then AICTE allows the autonomy to these institutions to become excellent examples/models for other to follow.

Else we might witness more bschools closing down in the coming years.

Are we still producing "Glorified Clerks"?

A long time before independance, Indians were a part of the workforce that was created by the East India Company (at first) and then the British Government. Some of those early sought-after jobs were the Writers (probably you will remember the Writers' building Kolkata) wherein Indians were hired and became the standard of the best job that a middle class or an aspiring Indian can find at that time. The job (people called them Babus, a word that probably originated from the then British Capital - Kolkata), gave these selected Indians an access to a better life and obviously the social status of something that wasn't replicable by anyone else.
So given that was probably the genesis of Corporate Life in India (since no other recorded organnization had any structure that reflects present day worklife before the Britishers brought that in), the very same premise has designed perceptions over the last 60-80 years about job, career, social status, etc into the lives of millions of Indians.
The British Education system took care of the rest - by defining that if you are educated in the english medium schools (then started by the Missionaries), you had a better chance to "good life". For us Indians, a good life obviously meant - owned property, good investments and bank balance, perks like cars and maids, and socially accepted aura that you are the one who "made it" amongst others.
This was also the reason why many of pre-independance rich families always wanted the British to rule since it meant acceptance from the very people who set those standards. If you can remember, some of the well known families sent their sons for learning Law at Oxford or Cambridge.
In the meanwhile, post independance the nearest and easiest way to map the standard of life which can be replicated across the population and available to the then aspiring middle class was - the remains of the British legacy. It defined the way their sons could actually become better in life. Everyone wanted a certain way of life defined by our Masters.
Tne trouble is that some of it still exits today and one can see the DNA of the aspiring classes of India still defining careers, success, ideologies, etc in the same vein. It is the reason we have glorified academic achievements and government jobs for more than 40 years post Independance, and very recently we Indians lived upto the fact that even the private sector is something that we need to now exploit.
So for the government jobs, we had standardized entrance tests (like the UPSC) and parents wanted their children to study on for that no matter what the sons or daughters wanted to do in life. Something similar happened for private jobs - we started producing Engineers for the first phase of companies that were doing good in India (namely Manufacturing, Oil, IT etc) and then resorted to producing MBAs for the remaining of the growing sectors.
So today we produce Engineers who are rushing to join a Business school with "passion" for finance or marketing or some wierd thing. They are "passionate" about "numbers" and have "analytical skills" and therefore they want to dedicate their lives for the MBA program.
It looks like there is no end for the aspiring population of India (mostly the middle class, who need a guarantee for even the Fan they purchase) to create the best clerks again for a companies that reflect almost the same class-structure that existed probably a hundred years back. The difference is that today, the divide is between the same countrymen who want to distinguish themselves by the kind of pedigree they have got (from a certain college), and then engage in creating no value for theselves of their company. It is all about - security, politics, better cars, better apartments, better food, etc.
When will the DNA change? Who will make that happen? What is the cost for making that change happen?
The Call-center industry showed that we can still be trusted to do the dirty work of others at a cheaper price. Are we still the unevolved "babu" inside? Is that the best that we can achieve?
Do we need someone else to tell us about our true worth?

The Risk of maintaining status-quo

In the recent times, most of my sales reps ave got stuck after brilliant interactions with the client-side teams and doing everything right as per the best B2B practices followed by every individual.

The troubles always crept up after the final meetings were held and somehow each deal went into a rotting period wherein nothing really came out of any followup call or mail or fax etc.

We were successful in convincing them on the solution and all the hard work that went behind getting them to understand the value of our solution was well accepted by each client-rep at the meeting. Everyone agreed that the proposed 360D approach on digital marketing suggested by us and the kind of inputs given by us were amazing.

As a part of new age consultative sales, we were successful in getting the facts and obvious benefits of associating with us, etc RIGHT and therefore it was difficult at first go to understand what caused such delays.

After some recent reading of articles related to sales, I have come to infer that what we missed in the whole picture was actually the center piece of the puzzle - that we didn't establish the fact of the degree of RISK involved in maintaining their current status-quo of not solving their problems TODAY. What's the risk of maintaining status-quo? What's the risk in terms of brand, revenues, future revenue losses, results, growth etc? Why should they be convinced that they need to do something and do it now? Why should they then look at solving that issue from the best solution-provider? What's the cost that they are then ready to pay?

I don't think I need a sales team that sells according to the whims and fancies of clients or customers. That's because if it will be always according to the timeline and needs of the customer, why should I have a field-sales team for B2B? I can suffice by hiring an inbound-sales team that will act more like a call center.

Without crossing this first level of prospecting objective - "to ensure they understand the cost and the risk of maintaining status-quo", I am sure my solution level selling will hit the bottlenecks that it is hitting right now. Given the profile of clients that are stalling such deals (bordering the limits of laziness in innovating and implementing new systems) such an added level of getting them to agree that they need to act and act fast to win the losing battle needs to be done by each sales rep.

One of the toughest questions to answer for any sales rep is - "What happened to this deal that you said will finalize in the next few days?? Its been more than a week now?"

For practitioners of consultative sales and mostly in B2B sales, one usually focuses more in getting the right kind of process flow, meeting the right people, convincing every person in the decision tree that the solution is the best, and then propose the best possible program for the client, following-through the commitments and creating an excellent premise for customer delight all the way. But as it is proving out to be, these are not completing the entire picture for a sales rep. They now need to also ensure that they get the client to agree that the organization needs to act and come out of status quo.

Is it a sales problem? I don't think so. Because if its attacked via sales, the problem and then the latter part of the solution selling will blow the sales cycle out of proportion. I will want to give the power of marketing to the sale rep and let the person design the marketing program effectively to specifically address this very problem.

The rising of a Second wave amongst Indian B-schools

The Indian MBA scene is a classic example of "how not to do things by copying others". This statement can be supported by the following facts:
- There are only a handful (about 5-7 bschools) that can be considered in the top league attracting applications from majority of the applicants base in India
- The only claim to fame for the remaining bschools is how their processes mirror either the pedagogy of certain IIMs or how they have faculty that's ex-IIMs. Thats the best that this other section really care about
- On any given day, applicants who take up the CAT (Common Admission Test), are aware of not more than 50-60 bschools in India, amongst whom there are about 30 that they will individually list down for applications
- "Case Study method" is the best that the other majority has been able to match up with, given that's something followed at some IIMs. However, majority of the bschools don't even have the intellectual capacity nor the desired objectives for such a delivery mechanism
- Majority of the bschools in India run with empty seats - a fact that has been highlighted many times in the last couple of years

What's the problem really?
These schools have a basic fault in thier DNA. They are founded by people for whom the IIM is the pinnacle of all innovations and high watermark of MBA education. There is absolutely no desire to understand (as a founder) and design benchmarks that are different and probably better than what an IIM can do for itself. But since we started copying an IIM, how can we do anything that can be better than an IIM, or in that case any other top notch bschool in this country?
This whole problem of copying and limiting one's intelligence to such standards has harmed our MBA scene already and if corrective measures are not taken right away, then it will hurt us more. Our MBA programs throughout the country are nothing but failed attempts at addressing something that is obsolete already. We don't produce grads today who are "in the zone" and know what they are doing with their careers.
The age-old problems like the "herd" behavior wherein people in middle-class India joined MBA due to a sudden golden opportunity that they saw their neighbours' children get, has added to the rot that begins with too many faulty institutions and programs.
A quick look at the representation of the Indian bschool's scene will reveal the kind of trouble we are starting into but are probably choosing to ignore:

This diagram will allow us to understand the fact that majority of our Indian Bschools are considered "Similar and Average" in nature thereby slotting them into a large category. This is significant, because all new bschools and programs that are talking almost the same language are being shunted into this category by applicants themselves. This is no media ranking. This is based more on perceptions of students who are the prospective applicants for such bschools.
The number of preferred bschools, according to this curve, is around 15% of the overall population of bschools in India. The current trend amongst these bschools is the fact that they are increasing the number of new campuses and programs under their umbrella brands. They definitely have a reason to believe that this will work. The following diagram will show you why:

About 70% of the overall CAT applicants are people who would like to get an admit into the 15% of bschools  in India. The remaining 30% of the overall CAT/MBA applicants population is what majority of our bschools will have to fight for. Therefore a strategy for these 15% A category bschools should be use the flux they are receiving through their application windows and arrange for new campuses with larger intakes and new programs to take in najority of the applications they receive. This is also an excellent business proposition.
People with similar and copied pedagogy plus same levels of communication and counseling talks are left to fight for 30% of the population. This is a main reason there are seats left vacant in bschools across India.
The CMAT Factor: I would like to mention the CMAT factor here in addition to the data from CAT, wherein the new test is also an online test. Given the trends that CMAT is showing of replacing state level CET exams, there is now huge amount of doubts on the future of State level bschools that used to rely solely on CET scores to fill in their seats. Last year, under MAHA-CET, thousand of seats went vacant amongst bschools in Maharashtra. Everyone was worried if MBA is losing its charm, but the fact remained that the Share-of-Voice for these bschools in the overall scheme of things is pretty bad. With CMAT's entry, I feel the number of un-filled seats will increase and there will be overall chaos in the admission processes in this country. There are institutions in Tamil Nadu that are supposed to dedicate about 50% of their intakes to TANCET, and therefore will now have an issue in getting applications for their seats. Some also survive by training below par talent for MBA and then placing them in call-centers claiming 100% placements, but we are not talking about them here.

So the problems are defined:
(1) Perception of most bschools in India are below average and similar with no big differentiation to allow for a second segmentation
(2) There is an unbalanced bias of about 70% of MBA applicants towards 15% of the bschools in India, which is now being funnelled in through new campuses, programs, etc.
(3) With a scary trend of State MBA colleges relying on State CETs not getting their seats filled, new tests like CMAT might add to the misery
(4) There can be exponential damage in the 3 factors above which may affect many bschools and MBA institutions adversely

What's the solution?
The second wave - This would have to be the step that wil save a portion of the bschools in the mid-section of the first bell-curve, and most probably allow these bschools to be compared amongst the best in India. This second wave should constitute of the following:
(1) Get a robust and innovative new system internalized at first. Spend some money and get education experts from Harvard or Wharton to come in and map the steps that needs to be taken for developing your knowledge centers, delivery mechanisms, faculty training and classroom scheduling, along with everything that goes into making a brilliant institution
(2) Get serious about reaching out to the "early adopters" amongst MBA applicants - these are the ones who will push your ideas and messages into their networks that trust them. Directly hitting a 70% of the applicants base is impossible and neither I nor anyone else can provide you with a marketing pitch that will give these applicants the idea that applying to you is one of the best things to do this year
(3) Reach out to the applicants base in places wherein they spend most of their preparation time and places wherein they network amongst other MBA applicants. You will need your communications to be read multiple times by the same person and then that being shared amongst their networks - as soon as possible. Pace is important here, along with the engagement.
(4) Stop talking about the kind of things that will pull you into the black-hole of the 80% population. Please note that its easy and kinda no-brainer to say things that others are doing (lest you be left behind) but creating communications that identify with the requirements of students and their concerns in individual careers are more important and hard-hitting than run-of-the-mill marketing messages (No one wants to know if you got some aware somewhere - what does it mean to anyone?)
(5) Remember - Create a product that some people will love rather than a product that everyone will probably like (eg. Apple iPhone). Dedicate yourself into improving the product and get specialist for every other activity in your institution.

We can visually depit the shift of the second wave in this manner: