Specializations Offered

FPM Students will specialize in one of the following Areas:

• Corporate Strategy and Policy
• Economics and Social Sciences
• Finance & Control
• Marketing
• Organisational Behaviour & Human Resource Management
• Production & Operations Management
• Quantitative Methods
• Information Systems
• Public Policy & Public Systems

Corporate Strategy and Policy

Business success or failure is largely dependent on how the various functional areas in management are combined to produce and deliver value to different stakeholders. This integration of functions is taking place in a continuously changing and complex environment. The Corporate Strategy & Policy Area (CSP) deals with issues related to the formulation and implementation of management and change strategies as organizations strive to remain successful and grow in an increasingly complex, competitive and globalised world. Corporate Strategy is therefore interdisciplinary by nature and requires an understanding of all functional areas. In view of the inherent complex nature of the subject matter, the teaching method adopted has to be interactive and seminar based. Concepts and ideas in the research literature will be linked to management practice through such research seminars. FPM students will therefore need not only to read the research literature extensively but also to link this with the real world.

Research of faculty in the CSP Area spans a wide range of interests. Apart from the core area of strategic management, these areas include international business, strategic alliances, new product development, and the management of technology & innovation. Faculty are equipped to handle most problems of current research interest. The course work for the FPM students of the CSP Area has been specifically designed to provide the required analytical and synthesis skills needed for dealing with the complex interdisciplinary phenomena that are characteristic of strategy.

In addition to the prescribed PGP courses, all FPM students in the CSP Area will have to go through a 3-credit course entitled "Classics in Strategic Management" during the 1st year.

In the second year, three 4-credit FPM level courses offered by the Area will be compulsory. These include Strategic Management 1 (4 credits covering strategy content), Strategic Management 2 (4 credits covering strategy process), and Strategic Management 3, (4 credits which offer 2 credit modules on entrepreneurship, technology & innovation management and international management). Students can, in consultation with their faculty adviser, opt for a suitable selection from Strategic Management 3 depending on their interests. There will also be a compulsory CSP Area specific 3 credit seminar course that students will have to take. This will be spread out over the 5th and 6th terms.

All FPM students in CSP will have to go through certain courses offered by other areas. These compulsory courses include "Research Methods" (3 credits), "Organisation Theory" (3 credits offered by the OBHRM Area), “Industrial Organisation” (3 credits offered by the ESS/CSP Area) and either “Econometrics” (3 credits offered by the ESS Area) or “Multivariate Statistics” (3 credits offered by the QMIS Area).

Students can take additional optional courses for between 3 and 13 credits from the menu of courses available in PGP or the FPM programmes in consultation with their faculty adviser. In addition to the above requirements a PGP elective course entitled “Strategy and Organisation” and another course entitled “The Dynamics of the Information Technology Industry” offered by the Indian Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) are also recommended for the fellow students in the CSP Area. The latter course can be taken either in the 2nd or the 3rd year of their work.

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Economics and Social Sciences

The Economics and Social Sciences area at IIMB conducts research on a wide range of topics. However, our main focus is on themes that are closely related to business. Recently the area decided that it would have two main concentrations. In Macroeconomics it would focus on Trade, International Finance, International Monetary Economics, Monetary policy, Economic Growth and related fields. In Microeconomics the focus would be on strategic interactions with emphasis on applied game theory, industrial organization, incentives and contracts, economics of organizations, competition policy and regulation. We also work in environmental economics, intellectual property rights and on infrastructure related issues.

Unlike standard Ph.D. programs in Economics the course structure at IIMB is designed to give the students an overview of managerial issues as well as allow specialization in Economics. The first year requires students to take courses in different functional areas of management such as accounting, marketing and human resource management. Along with these students are required to take courses in mathematics and statistics and introductory and advanced courses in Economics. Students with a strong background in Economics may opt for more advanced courses or for courses in public policy or other Ph.D. level courses in other disciplines such as finance or operations research. The program thus provides enough flexibility for students with different backgrounds and also encourages interdisciplinary research.

In the second year students are required to take a series of courses in advanced microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics. The comprehensive examination and viva is held at the end of this year and then the student becomes a candidate for the FPM program, forms a dissertation advisory committee (DAC) and starts working on a dissertation. Usually a student is expected to defend his dissertation and graduate within 2 to 3 years from this point. Graduates of our program can expect to work in academia as well as in the industry. Recent graduates have been employed at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Infrastructure Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), National Institute of Advanced Studies, IISc, Indian Statistical Institute, Nomura Securities and HDFC. One student has joined as a post doctoral fellow at the European University Institute.

The faculty members work in the following areas. 

• Microeconomics, Industrial Organization, Regulation and Competition Policy (Antitrust Economics), Game Theory
• Macroeconomics, Monetary Policy, International Monetary Economics, International Finance, Growth and Development
• Econometrics
• International Trade, WTO, Service Sector Economics, Migration
• Environment and Natural Resource Economics, IPR Economicsand Policy
• Agricultural Economics, Infrastructure (Telecommunications)
• Social Choice and Welfare, Political Economy
• Ethics, Spirituality, Innovation and Creativity

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Finance and Control

The Finance and Control Area is active in teaching and research in a wide range of topics in finance and accounting. The FPM programme covers several areas in financial economics and accounting research. Research interests of faculty include the following:

• Corporate finance
• Asset Pricing
• Capital markets
• Corporate governance
• Derivatives
• Financial accounting
• Financial institutions and services
• Banking
• Insurance and pension
• Market microstructure
• Risk management
• Cost management
• Valuation

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Marketing

The Area currently specializes in

• Business to Business Marketing
• Consumer Behavior
• Product Management / Brand Management
• Marketing Decision Models
• Competitive Marketing Strategy
• Services Marketing
• Relationship Marketing
• Sales and Distribution Management
• Retailing

FPM level courses would be offered depending on the area of interest of the student and the availability of faculty members in a subarea at a given period of time.

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Organisational Behaviour, and Human Resource Management

The area has at present 15 faculty members with multidisciplinary qualifications and competencies in Social Sciences, Engineering and Management.

The current areas of faculty research interest are:

• Personal Growth: Eastern and Western Approaches.
• Achieving Competitive Edge through people
• Human Resource Management in High-tech Organizations
• Developing Human Resources for Total Quality Management
• Labour Education and Workers' Participation in Management
• Leadership and Organizational Change
• Stress Management
• Human Dimensions of Corporate Restructuring
• HRM Issues in the IT industry
• Global Software Outsourcing Arrangements
• Cross Cultural Issues in People Management
• Impression Formation and Management
• Judgment and Decision Making
• Personal Values and Attitudes
• Small Group and Team Work Issues
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Power and Politics in Organizations
• Organizational Structure and Processes
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Performance Management
• Career Management
• Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Creativity
• Learning and Development in Organizations
• Knowledge Management
• Work Life Integration

The following advanced courses for FPM students are offered:

• Organizational Theory
• Philosophy of Science
• Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management
• Organizational Behaviour
• Entrepreneurship Theory
• Management Thinkers
• Strategy Process
• Classics in Management
• Research Methods in Organizational Behaviour
• Social Psychology
• Positive Psychology & Positive Organizational Scholarship
• Behavioral Decision Making
• Human Resource Management
• Organizational Development and Change Management

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Production & Operations Management

The area addresses research issues related to manufacturing, services and technology management. Specific themes, among others, for research include the following:

• Cellular manufacturing
• IT Services and Electronic Commerce
• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
• JIT Operations
• Supply Chain Management
• Manufacturing & Service strategy
• Health Care and Services
• Manufacturing planning and control
• Quality management
• Technology strategy
• Sourcing & procurement
• Logistics management 

Currently, the area offers the following FPM level courses:

• Optimization Theory & Mathematical programming
• Stochastic models
• Advanced Production Planning and Inventory Management
• Revenue Management
• Empirical Models in OM
• Advanced Operations & Supply Chain Management
• Strategic Sourcing

About Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Management Centre is a Centre of Excellence of IIMB which will provide an effective mechanism to promote closer and enduring industry-institute collaboration.

The Centre brings together practitioners from leading organizations and IIMB's multidisciplinary faculty and students to identify, document, research, develop and disseminate best practices in Supply Chain Management.

Eight leading Corporate Sponsors, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., John Deere India Pvt. Ltd., IBM Corp., Infosys Technologies Ltd., SAP AG, Tata Motors Ltd., Titan Industries Ltd. and TVS Logistics Services Ltd. are the founding Corporate Sponsors of the Centre playing active role in the Centre and its Advisory Council

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Quantitative Methods and Information Systems

This Area is concerned with the application of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology to business problems. Research is also conducted in developing new methodologies for specific problems. The current areas of interest are:

Information Systems:

These encompass investigation of the impact of information systems in management and managerial decision making and examination of the future role of information technology in different business segments in India and globally.

• Software Engineering/Software Project Management.
• IT Strategies for Business Process Re-engineering.
• Managing IT outsourcing & IT Enabled Services.
• E-Governance and Social Impact of ICTs.
• Object-Oriented Technology and Applications.
• Data Base Management Systems and Data Warehousing.
• Social Impacts of Computing
• ICT enabled Relocation of Jobs
• Software Measurement & Metrics
• Graph Theoretic modeling of Managerial issues
• Pattern Recognition and its applications in Management
• Applications of Fuzzy systems and Artificial Intelligence in Management

Quantitative Methods:

• OR Modeling, Heuristics and Algorithms
• Systems Modeling and Decision Support Systems
• Use of Quantitative Techniques in Marketing, Finance, Manufacturing and Service Operations
• Derivatives and Risk Management
• Data Mining
• Vehicle Routing
• Actuarial Models and methods
• Statistics and OR in sports
• Supply Chain Management
• Green Supply Chains and Logistics
• Deterministic and Stochastic Inventory Management
• Auctions and B2B Market Design

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Public Policy & Public Systems

The Centre for Public Policy (CPP) at IIM Bangalore is a leading policy think tank engaged in cutting-edge research, teaching and capacity building.  CPP’s engagement in research, teaching and  policy analysis is specifically geared to the challenges that emerging countries such as India face in navigating the complex global environment of competing growth across countries, and conflicting security and development interests. The Centre was created in 2000 through a partnership between the Department of Personnel and Training (DOPT), Government of India, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IIMB.

Vision and Mission of the Centre

The Centre for Public Policy aims to be the leading public policy school in Asia. CPP’s mission is to catalyse new thinking and new directions in public policy and work with stakeholders at the sub-national, national and international levels to improve development outcomes. The Centre also looks at the complexities of diversity and competing interests of religion, ethnicity, language and geography. It works on evidence-based policy solutions that are sustainable, equitable and inclusive. Through its mix of action research, education and outreach, the CPP wants to nurture competitive ideas, build capacity for creative problem solving and produce high quality policy analyses that will influence policy-makers across the region. 

FPM in Public Policy

The Fellow Programme in Management in Public Policy (equivalent to PhD) focuses on research in public policy analysis, design, process and management. Doctoral level courses covers research that spans a wide range of sectors and policy areas both nationally and internationally. The CPP focuses on research that generates practical policy suggestions for developing countries in the region. Coursework includes analytical methods and tools of research, policy analysis, public administration and law, microeconomics, organizational theory, public and institutional economics. This is in addition to the large number of elective courses offered by faculty. Faculties have expertise and competence to guide research in areas such as:

• Agriculture and Rural Development
• Democracy and decentralization
• Environment
• Health Policy
• Human resources development
• Industrial policy
• Infrastructure
• Institutional Structure and Effective Governance
• Policy Modeling
• Public Finance
• Public Management
• Public service delivery
• Regulation
• Urban Governance
• Public Private Partnership

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