Why and How Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR is attracting India’s top MBA Faculty from IIMs, IITs and even leading International B-Schools

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
March 15, 2022
The faculty is at the core of any learning institution. More so at a B-school where students and young executives are groomed to become future business leaders. The School of Management & Entrepreneurship (SME) at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR has attracted some of the best management faculty from IIMs, IITs and even international institutions in the recent past. This MBAUniverse.com article looks at what, why and how of this emerging success story.
Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR

Indeed, the faculty is, or should be, at the core of any learning institution. More so at a B-school where students and young executives are groomed to become future business leaders. After all, most MBA alumni don’t remember the fancy buildings and labs but vividly recall a few faculty members who helped them transform. However, attracting top faculty is often the biggest challenge that B-schools face. Good faculty members have many suitors and are often looking for the right academic challenges to expand their horizons – in teaching, research or consulting roles.

A relatively new business school that is managing to surmount the faculty challenge is the School of Management & Entrepreneurship (SME) at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR. In the recent past, it has attracted some of the best management faculty from IIMs, IITs and even international institutions. And it plans to continue to build on this momentum. This MBAUniverse.com article looks at what, why and how of this emerging success story.

But, before going into faculty strengths of SME at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, here’s a quick overview of the University and the B-school.

The founder of IT giant HCL and Shiv Nadar Foundation, Padma Bhushan Shri Shiv Nadar founded Shiv Nadar University in Delhi NCR in 2011 with a vision to create a world-renowned institution for multidisciplinary education. As is well known, HCL is a global organization with more than $10B in revenues and $45B in market capitalization. Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR was the youngest university that was ranked in the NIRF Top 50 Universities. It has been awarded the status of an Institution of Eminence (IoE) by the Government of India.

Led by Dr. Bibek Banerjee, one of India’s top academic leaders, SME offers a comprehensive bouquet of management programs including the 2-year MBA (christened as i-Global MBA); MBA Executive, PhD and Executive PhD; and undergraduate Bachelor of Management Studies. The School, furthermore,has just announced the launch of a 2-year Master of Science Program in Business Analytics (MSBA) in 2022.

Let’s now return to academic leadership and faculty strengths of SME at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR. We shall break this up into five parts for better understanding. 

Table of Contents

  1. Vision to offer cutting-edge curriculum
  2. Guided by a global advisory committee with distinguished members
  3. Led by one of India’s top academic leaders
  4. Eminent faculty drawn from top institutes in India and abroad
  5. Know your masters – some SME faculty profiles

Let us learn more about each of these points.

1. Vision to offer cutting-edge curriculum
In his highly influential book Start with Why, Simon Sinek says people are inspired by a sense of Purpose (or “Why”) and that this should come first when communicating, before "How" and "What". Dr. Bibek Banerjee, Dean, SME, has established and communicated an inspiring vision: to make the B-school a hotbed of research and teach the digital transformation of business.

As is well known, the world of business has changed dramatically in the last decade with the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple and Tesla disrupting almost every sector of the economy. But most B-schools are still teaching the old Marketing, Finance, Operations and HR theories developed decades ago.

Dr. Banerjee shares, “My vision is to develop and progress SME into an institution that offers a comprehensive full spectrum suite of top-class doctoral, postgraduate and undergraduate programs that challenge and merge the (perceived) divide between academic theory and practical business.” He adds, “Our MBA curriculum focuses heavily on developing entrepreneurial acumen for the digital economy. About 70% of our curriculum is focused on how business is done (or going to be done) in the new digital world. Digital business models are transforming every sector of economy and our curriculum has a bias toward such 21st century businesses.”

This focus on digital business models and bridging the theory-practice divide offer plenty of challenges to faculty members who are looking to make an impact with cutting-edge research, practical teaching and business consulting.

2. Guided by a global advisory committee with distinguished members
SME has an influential global advisory committee that motivates the B-school to push forward in new directions. The advisory board includes Dr. Raghu Sundaram, Dean of NYU Stern School of Business; Dr. Rishikesha Krishnan, Director, IIM Bangalore; and Dr. Pradeep Chintagunta, Distinguished Professor at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.  Professor Srikant Datar, Dean of Harvard Business School, was on the SME advisory board until recently.

Sharing the rationale for building a strong advisory body, Dr. Bibek Banerjee says, “The School of Management & Entrepreneurship is distinguished by the fact that it has always had a powerful advisory committee composed of distinguished faculty from Harvard Business School, the Stern School of Business of New York University Booth School of Business of University of Chicago , and top IIMs. We benefit immensely from their wisdom. This governance process of constant peer-review and outside-in perspective enables the School to be always future-focused and globally benchmarked for excellence”. SME also invites top leaders from the industry to its advisory process.

3. Led by one of India’s top academic leaders, Dr. Bibek Banerjee
Leadership generally creates a vision and then communicates it effectively so that troops rally around a common cause. SME at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR is led by Dr. Bibek Banerjee who has been a part of leadership groups at leading institutions such as IIM Ahmedabad, IMT Ghaziabad Group and Ahmedabad University. He is not just the Dean of SME, but also the Dean of Academy of Continuing Education and Director of University Strategy and Planning at the University. Dr Banerjee’s joining at SME at Shiv Nadar University (in May 2020) has clearly been transformational if we track their (i) growth in the number and quality of programs offered by the school, (ii) the spate of distinguished and credentialed faculty joining the schools at various levels, and (iii) the significant uptick in the student outcomes in terms of standard metrics like median salary.   

Before joining Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR in 2020, Dr. Banerjee served as the Senior Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Planning at Ahmedabad University. He has also served as Director General and Academic Mentor of the IMT Group where he led IMT Ghaziabad in becoming the 4th B-school in India to secure the coveted AACSB business accreditation.

Recognized as a leading academic, Dr. Banerjee is a former Professor of Marketing and Economics at IIM Ahmedabad where he chaired and led the Marketing Area; co-founded the Centre for Research in Retailing, and created and led IIMA’s successful collaboration with Duke University in the area of Executive Education during his 18-year tenure.

4. SME Faculty: Pushing the Boundaries
Faculty is the core factor that distinguishes top management institutions. Research oriented faculty push the boundaries of knowledge that influence practice. They engage with industry as consultants and advisors, and share that experience with students to deliver the desired learning goals. Recognizing the central role of faculty, Dr. Bibek Banerjee says, “The faculty occupies the center stage for us here at SME.”

4.1 Eminent faculty drawn from top institutes in India and abroad
The faculty pool at SME is drawn from top institutions in India and across the world. Besides, SME has made significant investments in acquiring the latest business databases, software, educational technology platforms and infrastructure.

4.2 Top faculty at SME
The key faculty members teaching at SME are:

Dr. Bibek Banerjee
Dean and Professor
Ph.D., Purdue University, USA
Dr. Deepak Kumar Sinha
Professor
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Dr. Rajiv Grover
Honorary Distinguished Professor
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
Dr. Subir Bandyopadhyay
Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, USA
Dr. Piyush Kumar
Ph.D., Purdue University, USA
Dr. Sundar Venkatesh
Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
Ms. Paroma Roy Chaudhuri
Press Fellowship, Journalism
University of Cambridge, UK
Dr. Sunil Parameshwaran
Professor 
Ph.D., Duke University, USA
Dr. Meenakshi Ghosh
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, USA
Dr. Bikramjit Rishi
Professor
Ph.D., Punjabi University, Patiala
Professor Pradeep Mehra Professor of Practice
PGDM, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Dr. Jaideep Ghosh
Professor
Ph.D. in Physics, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Dr. Paromita Goswami
Professor
Ph.D., Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani
Dr. Arvind Shatdal
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
Dr. Rashmi Aggarwal
Professor
Ph.D., Panjab University, Chandigarh
Dr. VishwanathaRamanna
Professor
Ph.D., National Law University, Jodhpur
Dr. Kaushik Chaudhuri
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Reitaku University, Japan
Dr. N.T. Sudarshan Naidu
Associate Professor
FPM, Institute of Rural Management Anand
Dr. ParthaSarathi Roy
Associate Professor
FPM, Institute of Rural Management Anand
Dr. Raghupathy Balakrishnan
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Dr. Satyam Mukherjee
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Dr. Shalu Kalra
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
Dr. Simanti Bandyopadhyay
Professor
Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Dr. Aishna Sharma
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Dr. Ankur Mehra
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Dr. Bhawna Priya
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Lucknow
Dr. Vallurupalli Vamsi
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Dr. Sandeep Gupta
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Dr. Surya Majumdar
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Dr. Vivek Khanna
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Management Indore
Dr. VijaytaFulzele
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Dr. Vinita Krishna
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
 

5. Know your masters – Some SME faculty profiles
Indeed, SME at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR has many leading subject matter experts and faculty members who have graduated from MIT, IIMs, IITs and other leading institutions. Here are the profiles of some of the faculty members.

Dr. Asish K. Bhattacharyya
Dr. Asish K. Bhattacharyya is a Distinguished Professor at SME. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, a Fellow of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountant (London). He is the former Director of IMT Ghaziabad, a leading B-school in India.

Dr. Sundaravaradhan Venkatesh
Dr. Sundaravaradhan Venkatesh is known for excellence in designing and delivering customized learning solutions for executive and leadership development. He has designed, marketed and delivered high impact executive development programs for over 20 years. He served as Program Director, Professional Masters in Banking and Finance; Director (Executive Development Programs), Banking and Finance unit at the Asian Institute of Technology. Prior to that Dr Venkatesh served as Professor of Finance at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.

Winner of several outstanding teacher awards, Dr. Venkatesh is the author of several publications including four books, numerous articles in international refereed journals and conferences and case studies based in emerging markets of Asia. He was conferred Faculty of the Year Award for outstanding performance in the academic years 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 by Vietnam National University. While at IIM Bangalore, Dr. Venkatesh got a near-perfect rating of 4.98 out of 5.00 for teaching the PGP course on Management Accounting-I.

Dr. Rajiv Grover
Dr. Rajiv Grover is currently the Chair of Excellence in Sales and Marketing at the University of Memphis, Tennessee, USA. He earned his Ph.D. from University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA, MBA from IIM Calcutta and B.Tech. from IIT Kharagpur. He served the Fogelman College of Business and Economics as Dean from 2007 to 2018. Prior to that, Dr. Grover held the Terry Distinguished Chair of Marketing and was the Head of the Marketing Department at the University of Georgia, USA. He has also held academic positions at Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Georgia, Duke University and Stanford University.

Dr. Arvind Shatdal
Dr. Arvind Shatdal earned his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. He did his MS from University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Before joining Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR, he was a Faculty at IIM Indore. His research papers have been published in Vikalpa (IIM Ahmedabad) and Indore Management Journal (IIM Indore). 

Dr. Vinita Krishna
Dr. Vinita Krishna holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of General Management at SME. She has two NET qualifications (NET-UGC and NET-ASRB) and more than 20 years of experience as a teacher, researcher, writer and an IPR professional. She has worked in both the public (TIFAC, ICMR) and private (NGO) sectors.

Dr. Bikramjit Rishi
Dr. Bikramjit Rishi holds a Post-Doctoral Fellowship (From the Liechtenstein University, Ph.D. and MBA degrees. Earlier he was the program chair of PGDM (Part Time) and PGDM Executive at IMT Ghaziabad. His major focus in research is both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore Social Media Marketing issues. He has 35 research publications in refereed journals, nine book chapters, seven cases, 40 conference papers, and three books, including an edited book on Social Media Marketing (Routledge) and a textbook on Social Media Marketing (Sage). 

The accomplished faculty members teach regularly in the MBA program at SME. And they have many other equally illustrious colleagues at Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR. Looking at the faculty profiles, it is fair to say that the faculty team at SME can rival most of the leading IIMs. The Admission 2022 process for MBA at SME is open. You can apply by using this link. Apply Now

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR.