The GIBS training and the engendering of future business managers

While it is often said that we need to cater to the needs of the present, a lot people live in the past and follow outdated principles and ideas. Rather, the right approach in education would be to aim at the future conditions, because that is when the trainees will serve the industry. A few semesters may not appear to be too long a time, but future emerging trends need to be planned for. The employment situation is severe in most countries and it is worst in Asia. The International Labor Organization revealed that 202 million remained unemployed in 2013 and the worst figures came from East and South Asia. Youth are particularly vulnerable because they initially carry no experience that every organization demands,  when fresh out of prestigious colleges.

Global Institute of Business Studies has been very effective in arranging internships and placements for their students with some of the best companies. GIBS is lucky to be situated in one of the most happening Indian cities where many mega businesses congregate. Bangalore offers some of the best opportunities for the boys and girls in search of business careers. Choose from MBA and PGDM for graduate degree holders and BBA and BCom for undergraduate studies after completing Class 12.

Finding yourself in the field of business

As the media fills us daily with numerous stories of mega businesses and how they rule the financial world, we remember the times some decades ago when only small and medium businesses existed. Only a few companies like the automobile giants in America were really big that they continue to be even today. Most businesses were the vision of an individual or family that handed it down from generation to generation. Perhaps many of them did not undergo business training, but the family experience was good enough to teach the basics.

Spotting opportunity is the first task in business, whether working independently or belonging to a corporation with a hundred managers. Some enterprising individuals still want to be independent and run their own show. Most often, it is found that business graduates or postgraduates first need to gain some experience by working in the preferred field before launching their own enterprise. Such a practice is common to almost every profession like medicine, law and tourism. Each of them could become lucrative fields for business graduates too. Combining a specialized degree in a subject like tourism along with a business degree is a certain formula for finding the best career opportunities.

Fundamentals of business education

Is the nature of business in running a tuck shop similar to running a starred hotel? Essentially, they are similar in the sense that finance, raw materials, manpower, services, buying and selling are involved. Clever management expertise would be required. The difference lies in the scale of operations, the budget and the risk factors. The essential skills comprise of communication in the digital sense, financial literacy and business skills. Managers also need to learn legal, ethical and moral lessons. That may sound simplistic, but it is essentially the business alphabet.

Taking a broader perspective, the language and communication areas could be expanded to the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Early school also teaches similar approaches except that the college course deals with a specialized subject study. Some of the other crucial areas of a business manager’s life may revolve around the following:

·         Strategic planning

·         Critical thinking

·         Creativity

·         Problem solving

·         Financial management

·         Risk management

·         Leadership and teamwork skills

·         Research and etiquette

Most boys and girls who now exist in the dream world that is GIBS have no realistic comprehension of their roles and duties in a business setting. It is true that they gain knowledge each day and feed their minds with more and more. Industry leaders do provide ample ideas and experiences. Internships do bring the first taste of work for those who have no previous work experience. That is the crux of the problem. Most students across India do not have any substantial work experience and thus have no real understanding of the world of work.

Instead of being lost in a sea of complexity amidst the garden cum software city that is Bangalore and mighty business empires, simplified approaches would suffice, at least at the beginning of business careers. A lot of theory would be learned, but probably never applied, at least not in the same way as you think.

What is important is to think for the future, because the contemporary world is fast evolving, mostly in the technology sense. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to start an independent business after some years of service with one of the major companies?