B-schools turn a page with COVID-19

NEW DELHI: There are lessons to be learnt from the widespread disruption wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic, say the country’s top B-schools — literally.

Academics from the Indian Institutes of Management (Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Lucknow and Indore), XLRI and MDI Gurgaon are revising this year’s curriculum to incorporate learnings from the pandemic into nearly all subjects taught in an MBA programme, from economics and strategy to human resources and supply chains.

At IIM-A, starting this summer, the macroeconomics course will include examples like the Supreme Court’s capping of Covid-19 testing to discuss price controls and infection transmission to include the the idea of ‘externalities’.


“Investments in public health facilities will be discussed as part of investment in public goods,” said Tarun Jain, associate professor of economics, IIM-A.

Perhaps for the first time ever, academics are having to tweak courses in real-time to reflect the changing reality of the situation outside the campus.

“The post-Covid world will unfold a new normal,” said Vipul Mathur, Economics Group, IIM Calcutta. “Many aspects of businesses will have to get restructured and redesigned so that we are better prepared for the next time.”

IIM Lucknow PGP chairman Ajay Garg said that his B-school was redesigning the curriculum to include lessons in subjects like macroeconomics, financial markets, strategic management, marketing and HR. At IIM Indore, lessons from research the institute is doing around a number of areas will feed into classroom conversation.

This includes “predictive models, effect on mental well-being, best practices of various stakeholders like people, organisations and countries as well an exit policy for MSMEs,” said director Himanshu Rai.

XLRI, which is known for its HR-focused course, said it will include lessons on how workplaces and their dynamics are changing quickly.

“It will be interesting to study how HR has to realign itself to the evolving situation due to the pandemic,” said Ashis K Pani, dean, academics, XLRI, adding that they would also teach pandemic lessons in their economics and strategic programmes.

It’s also a time for reflection on the nature of business itself. “We have to teach students that business is not what’s normal alone – it’s also extraordinary situations like natural disasters and epidemics,” said B S Sahay, director, IIM Jammu. Sahay said there will now be greater focus on subjects like localism, sustainability and disaster management.

The global pandemic has also spelled out the need to introduce more discussions around geopolitics and history in b-school classrooms. Students will now discuss the effect of crashing oil prices and learn the history of other great pandemics like the Great Plague of the 14th century BC and the Spanish Flu of the early 20th century, said Sunil Ashra, professor, economics area, MDI Gurgaon.

However, the director of IIM Raipur, Bharat Bhasker, had a different take. “Lessons on Covid-19 will be included, but only after we have conquered the pandemic. Management lessons are done only after arriving at success or failure.”