Still more on IIPM.

Now I am more or less convinced about IIPM and its actions. They want to be one among the top advertisers in India (last year they topped the list in a number of months).They will go all out advertising any rubbish things in all national dailies of repute to achieve this goal. Today’s Economic Times (January 30) sports a full page ad of IIPM(Page 5).Continues with the IIPM Planman Consulting Chief Executive Forum Calendar 2006-07 ASIA. Under the top heading they give a caption ”Dare To Think Beyond” (the usual IIMs left out)and as the second line, “Across Industries, Across Geographies” and then give the calendar but titled “Forum Calendar 2005-07” and gives various programmes from November 2005 till December 2007 with five programmes in 2005,eleven programmes in 2006 and only 8 programmes scheduled for 2007.The ad gives photographs of a number of faculty members highlighting their respective positions & strengths. One of them, Jayanta Chakroborty (Services Marketing) has been described as “Jayanta is one of the most loved and popular faculty members at IIPM. His dynamic command over the participants gives ‘her’ an edge while driving ‘her’ point across. His specialization lies in the areas of Marketing. He also heads IIPM in Pune”. To top the whole story, they give a message as a strip on the left: ”IGNORANCE ISN’T BLISS; IT’S BAD BUSINESS”.!!!! VOW! is only what I can say.

Added on Feb 16,2007.
The IIPM continues with its ad splashes in national dailies in February too. The Hindu(5th February) and The Economic Times(6th February ) carried full page ads.. As an academic, I fail to realize why an educational institution, with so much of credentials to its credit(as claimed by IIPM), need to advertise so frequently? Too much of the same ad can be boring too. Let’s look at from a different angle, that of a parent. Why should I send my child to a business school which wastes money on splashy advertisements? That money could well have been used for the upliftment of the library and other facilities, welfare of employees and students. Remember one of the principles of investments by Peter Lynch, the legendary fund manager and author of “Beating The Street” and “One Up On Wall Street”? He decides against investing in any company which has invested lot of money in sprucing up its HQ as he felt that the money could have been better utilized for better serving the customers than increasing the luxury of the CEOs. A discernible parent looking for higher education opportunities for his children shall also look at educational institutions in a similar manner.