Marketing an IIMB program: brand management strategies for PGSEM

Abstract

The PGSEM program has contributed several top and middle level managers to the IT industry since its inception 10 years ago. The student community strength would be about 1000 till date. In all these cases, the participants who have leveraged the program for career growth have had to market themselves to their existing employers or other organisations (i.e., changed jobs after the program), with very little institution support (from IIMB). Some of them have moved out of the IT industry. Unique Offering PGSEM is perhaps the only program in Asia (and maybe even in the world) to be offered by a well-rated business school, that is customized to meet the specific needs of the IT industry, by offering a tailored, part-time program to software professionals of the Indian IT industry (usually with 3 to 7 years experience, average experience of 5 years) in the form of a weekend, part-time MBA. Reality Check Despite a well-structured program, backed by a reputed management school, existing employers are hesitant to offer jobs / opportunities to PGSEM graduates on par with those that they would offer to participants passing out from PGP (2-year MBA) or other full-time executive MBA programs (such as IIMA s PGPX) of top management schools in the country as they perceive PGSEM to be a part-time program. The usual tendency of companies HR departments is to club the program with other part-time or even distance education programs from less-known business schools. Within the IIM Bangalore community, the course is known for its demanding coursework and academic rigor. In terms of coverage, rigor, as well as number of credits, it is on par with PGP. Although the title PGSEM suggests focus on Software Enterprise Management, in reality it has over the years essentially become a general management program, with hardly any specialization in software. This could be one reason for disinterest from the software industry to transition PGSEM alumni from technical to management roles. The awareness of the program in the industry in general continues to be low, even among the IT companies in Bangalore which contribute a major share of the participants and the alumni. The general consensus among the stakeholders (especially the somewhat frustrated PGSEM participants, who feel short changed, as they feel they are as good or even better than the PGPX participants of institutes like IIMA) is that it needs to be branded and marketed better. IIMB s proposed launch of one-year executive MBA from April 2009 on lines similar to IIMA s PGPX is another factor to be reckoned with. With more and more new private business schools coming up, there is a pressing need for all business schools to focus on building brand and reputation of their premier programs. However, in-house, public relations and publications offices are often ill equipped to take on this responsibility. In this project, we will analyze the issues and challenges faced by the different stakeholders of these programs with specific emphasis on the brand building of PGSEM.PGSEM program has been in existence for more than 10 years, the time has come to look back and analyze what has worked, not worked and what can be done to make it more relevant to the current business environment.