Professor Anu Singh Lather has teaching, research and consultancy experience spread over 22 years. Prior to her present assignment as a professor at IP University she was founder Head of the Department of Applied Psychology, Guru Jambheshwar Technical University, Hisar. She has more than 100 papers published in national and international journals, proceedings of national and international conferences and seminars.
Prof. Lather has been extensively conducting workshops and corporate training programmes in the area of Human Resources Development (HRD). She is member of various academic bodies of universities and institutes.
She has been Honorary Member of FICCI’s HRD committee. She has also been member of the Awards Committee for “National Training Award for Innovative Training Practices” of Indian Society for Training and Development (ISTD), which is an apex body of the HRD in India, for two consecutive years – 2005-06 and 2006-07. She has also been a jury member for “National Awards for Innovative Training Practices in Indian Organizations Competitions”.
Prof. Lather has organized various conventions, conferences, seminars, HR Summits, Behavioural Testing and Counseling Workshops and Management Development Programmes. Two of her Corporate Training Module “How to be a Team Player” and “Succeeding Through Communication” are well received by the industry. These workshops modules were also conducted for Corporates in Seoul (South Korea) and Bangkok (Thailand) at Dubai.
IIM Bangalore invited and sponsored Prof. Lather as an area expert to participate in the deliberation of Indo-UK project on “Curriculum Design, Teaching and Research Roll Out” workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Jan. 2008.
In an exclusive interview with the Education Master, Prof. Lather spoke about the MBA courses in Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and mall culture of marketing.
Education Master: May I know the management courses launched by the Guru Govind Singh Indraprastha University?
Prof. Anu Singh Lather:We have various sectoral programmes in Master of Business Administration (MBA) courses like Banking Insurance, Consultancy Management, MBA General, MBA in Information and Technology, MBA in Human Resources, MBA in Marketing and MBA in Global Business. This is a full time weekend course for working professionals. The weekend course is of three years duration. Classes are held only on Saturdays and Sundays. The working professionals join this course to boost their career prospects, promotion and to enhance their management skills. There are many instances where people working on non-managerial posts have got promotion after acquiring a MBA degree from the university.
EM: Tell us about the kind of students who join this course?
ASL: About 70 to 80 per cent students are from industries whose main aim is to develop managerial skills to improve their career profile. Marketing professionals also join this course as it helps these professional in their promotion to managerial posts. If there is a vacancy of a manager in an organization where they work, they are preferred.
Besides, professionals working in public sector undertakings, private companies including multinationals, people in judicial services, doctors, engineers, magistrates and government advisors do this course. Along with the professional degrees of B. Tech, MBBS and Law, the course of business administration gives them an added advantage. To have managerial degree along with the professional one is a latest fad. Such people get better remunerations in the industry.
If an engineer has a simple B. Tech degree, he can just work in a factory. But with managerial knowledge he can handle factory as well as office affairs. Same thing applies to a medical professional and a man in legal services. A doctor does a job of administration also. A law graduate does not practice only in court. They work in companies too. Nowadays, majority of the companies recruit legal officers and for them, a course in business administration helps managing the offices.
EM: Do you have reservation for foreign students in weekend MBA course?
ASL: Yes, we do have reservation for foreign students. There are 15 per cent seats reserved for foreign students. But we prefer students from France, UK and US. Students from Middle East countries, Nepal, Afghanistan, Taiwan and Cambodia etc. are not preferred as they have language problems. The entire education of the MBA is imparted in English language. Students of these countries are in general poor in English. Education standards of these countries are also very low in comparison to that of India. They are no match to the students of Indian colleges and universities. Students from US, UK and France are non resident Indians. Since their English is good they don’t face any communication problem.
EM: MBA in Real Estate is a new course. People active in this field are known as property dealers. May I know the kind of students who seek admission in this course?
ASL: Yes, you are right. They are known as property dealers in common parlance. But this course is not meant for property dealers. This is a very typical course. Architects, civil engineers, officials of the Airport Authority of India join this course. An architect just makes building plans and civil engineers have knowledge of building engineering. But in the MBA course they are taught business in real estate, its scope and areas where they can be successful. Nowadays, real estate activities in the national capital of Delhi’s periphery like Gurgaon, Faridabad and Noida is on its peak. There is boom in real estate business in Noida.
EM: What about retail business? Ever since big business houses started entering into the field it has changed the scenario of retail marketing in the country. Is there rush for course in retail management too.
ASL: You see, hundred percent foreign direct investment (FDI) is not allowed in the field of retail business in the country. So far foreign players are entering the retail business on collaboration basis. These foreign traders can have joint ventures with Indian businessmen.
Now that mall culture is flourishing in the metros and other big cities like state capitals the trend has both positive and negative aspects. It’s a multi brand business. Pricing is very important in retail trading. Majority of the people still prefer to purchase items from neighbourhood shops where they get goods on cheaper rates.
In malls the goods are comparatively costlier. Multi brand goods are not in much demand because of the high prices. An average consumer in our society belongs to middle class. Since he can’t afford branded products, he goes for cheaper variety available in the market.
A particular section of the society purchases multi brand products but their number is very low. Big Bazaar is very successful because of its low prices that attract buyers from middle class.