Foreign Institutes Tag Along with Retail FDI

ON THE FLOOR Australian institute unveils its first post-graduate programme in retail management and more seen following suit; Indian B-schools too plan courses to meet demand     Even before a Walmart or a Carrefour steps into the booming Indian retail arena, global retail institutes are on their way to teach a few tricks of managing the shop floor to local management students. Barely a week within the government opening the gates to foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail, Australian Retail College, which specialises in long-term training and development programmes for retailers in Australia, launched its first post-graduate programme in retail management in Hyderabad. The campus, started in collaboration with local retail institute Great India, will be followed by a second branch likely to be opened soon at Lavassa, near Mumbai.  "FDI in retail underpins the need for Indian retailers to focus on their people," says Mike Wallace, CEO, Australian Retail College. The course covers a range of subject areas including packaging, strategic training and merchandising, he says, adding, "The faculty will be local but we will come from Australia to develop their capacity. Our Australian programmes will be customised for the local market."  Pointing to the need for more foreign technology and more global managers, Carlo Altomonte, associate professor, University of Bocconi, Italy, says, "This is likely to lead to more foreign education coming into India or Indian schools have to upgrade and provide more global education... The kind of policy signals the government has sent out will lead to a rejig of the education sector in India."  In fact, the retail boom and anticipation of the sector opening up to FDI had already prompted several Indian business schools to launch either full-time or part-time retail management programmes and many of them are now planning to start new executive management courses or management development programmes (MDPs) to meet the increasing demand for specific skill-oriented programmes.  Top domestic B-schools such as SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM), Kolkata and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) – which have full-time retail management courses or retail as an elective in their curriculum, are looking at new MDPs. "The demand for specialised courses/MDPs in the area of 'Retail Management Practices' will be generated both by the retailer and also manufacturers and supplier brands doing business with retailers as they will need to enhance their understanding of retailer," says Atish Chattopadhyay, professor of marketing and deputy director of the two-year PGDM Programme at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research.  Adds Kavita Laghate, director, JBIMS: "With the opening up of FDI in retail, we will incorporate a more skill-focused programme, thereby readying a talent pool that fits the requirements of the retail industry." The institute plans to focus on short-term MDPs – skill enhancement of the existing management cadre. IISWBM, on its part, plans to launch a parttime programme for working students on retail management. The programme will be targeted at front-end employees. In addition, the institute – which offers full-time post graduate programme in retail management — is working for a tie-up with large corporates where postgraduate retail management students can have hands-on training.  However, academicians say the retail industry needs to get further streamlined. "The retail industry in India needs to get a bit more glamourised to attract talent," says Gairik Das, head of the department of retail management and associate professor at IISWBM. "No good student will come in unless there is a good career prospect and a lot needs to be done by the government, industry and academia," he says. The industry needs to create better working conditions, he says. "Even if we don't consider FDI, within India too there is a good environment for retail. The sector holds tremendous potential as far as jobs are concerned, but the government needs to make proper labour rules, minimum wage structures and working conditions to attract good students."  Post opening up of the sector, the commerce and industry ministry in a full-page advertisement said the 51% FDI in multi-brand retail will create more than 1 crore new jobs. India is fifth among the top 30 emerging markets for retail, according to Global Retail Development Index 2012.  "Around 90% of workforce is required in the front-end and that's where retailers are facing a supply challenge. However, most courses offered in India have limited seats, which can't fulfil the demand," says Govind Shrikhande, managing director at department store chain Shoppers Stop. An international retail school, he adds, will be better in terms of global case studies they bring. "Hence, retail colleges, either Indian or international will be good for the industry," he says.  Some point out the challenge of finding middle-management talent. "It's not the senior personnel who make a successful retailer, it's the store managers. If a foreign retailer opens 40 hypermarkets, there won't probably be 40 good store managers. So talent will come but it will take time. That's why the plan in the beginning can't be very ambitious," says Paul Martin, managing director at UK-based consulting and research firm Planet Retail, which has clients including Unilever, Carrefour and Walmart.  rica.bhattacharyya@timesgroup.com