“Blueprint to Build Your Business School” - Professor M.S.Rao

"Your brand is a gateway to your true work. You know you are here to do something - to create something or help others in some way. The question is, how can you set up your life and work so that you can do it? The answer lies in your brand. When you create a compelling brand you attract people who want the promise of your brand - which you deliver." - Dave Buck

As every individual has their own vision to build their brands every institution has its own vision to build its brand to make its presence felt. Every institution rolls out its vision and mission and works for it aggressively to accomplish its goals and objectives. Some institutions survive while some fade away in their journey.  There is often a thin line that separates a successful institution and a failed one.  The thin line is nothing but the branding and marketing.  Hence, in this post, I will discuss about building brands for institutions and especially building sustainable brand for business schools.

Blueprint to Build Brand for Your Business School

If you want to make your business school like a well cut and polished diamond you must adopt the following tools:

• Be clear about your vision.  
• Keep your activities transparent to earn credibility.
• Adhere to rules and regulations.
• Emphasize on four pillars for effective teaching. The faculty must be a judicious blend of teaching, research, and consultancy and industry experience.
• Bridge the gap between the teaching and non-teaching staff.
• Build a strong infrastructure.
• Build a great library. As people are judged by the clothes they wear the educational institutions are judged by the quality of books they maintain.  
• Network with other prestigious business schools to collaborate.
• Keep your curriculum relevant and updated as per industry expectations.
• Provide courses that are in great demand through innovation. Harsh C Mariwala, Chairman and Managing Director, Marico Ltd. remarked, “Innovation brightens up the path of sustained differentiation and opens the gateway to great brands.”
• Bridge the gap between the campus and the corporate to produce plug and play employees for industry.  
• Allow students to interact with the students of other institutions so that they get exposed and build a great network.
• Ensure proper coordination among faculty, students, industry and educational institutions.
• The faculty must do great research and publish papers in prestigious journals and magazines to get noticed. It helps in getting funds for the institution.
• Encourage internships and research among the students.
• The business school must differentiate from other b-schools to stand out in terms of specialization, faculty or infrastructure to name a few.
• Encourage new pedagogy and make teaching sessions case study driven.
• Call industry experts for guest lectures as they can share their experience and it helps understand the pulse of the industry.
• Provide campus placements for your students.
• Believe in execution.
• Above all, be committed and dedicated.

The institution builders must be passionate to build institutions and must be ready to face both internal and external challenges to stay in the race. Above all, the management of business schools must have patience, and must be willing to wait for results. When you throw a stone into water it takes time for the ripples to reach the shore.  So is the case of business schools where it requires tons of efforts and energies to build successful brands. Let us remember the proverb, “Rome was not built in a day.”   If the institution builders of ambitious business schools are visionaries; follow these tools and techniques; they can build branded and sustainable business schools.

"Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful." - Sir Richard Branson, CEO Virgin.

Life is great!

Professor M.S.Rao

Founder, MSR Leadership Consultants, India

Listed in Marquis Who's Who in the World in 2013

Speaker Wiki: http://speakerwiki.org/speakers/Professor_MSRao

Email: msrlctrg@gmail.com 

Blog: http://professormsraoguru.blogspot.com    

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