<p>Well, that’s an interesting question that has many facets.</p>
<p>Look, the fact is, whether you like it or not, B-schools really have a lot to do with prestige and marketing. Many people say that you shouldn’t choose a school just for the prestige, and for cases like undergrad schools, that’s largely true, but B-schools are a different beast. As an undergrad, your goal should be to learn as much as you can, but as an MBA student, your goal should be to do what it takes to maximize your career potential, and the truth is, the ability to self-market yourself is a key component of that. The prestige of your MBA program is an integral part of self-marketing. </p>
<p>Heck, look at things from a business standpoint. Companies worldwide spend billions and billions of dollars in trying to market and advertise themselves to consumers to convince consumers that their products are good and that they should buy their products. They make huge investments into building strong and well-recognized brand-names. For example, people who know cars understand that brands such as Lexus, BMW, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, Cadillac, and the like are synonymous with prestige. People who know fashion know that high-end brand names such as Gucci, Dior, Versace, and Armani are synonymous with high status and prestige. In fact, if you study business, you will inevitably take plenty of classes that deal with the importance of proper marketing.</p>
<p>I mention this because that is why I think that IIM is in no way comparable to the top US (or worldwide) B-schools. The education may well be just as good. But that’s not the point. The point is that the top US B-schools have far better marketing behind them. Let’s face it. Places like Harvard Business School, Wharton, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Columbia, etc. have extremely well developed brand names that are recognized around the world - far better than IIM is. </p>
<p>One may say that that’s unfair, but I would couch it in these terms. The fact is, whether we like it or not, the best product in the marketplace does not always win. It’s not enough to just have a good product out there. You also have to market it properly to convince consumers that your product is good. Often times, a technically inferior company can actually beat a better company through superior marketing. Mercedes, for example, makes some rather poorly engineered and unreliable cars, far less well engineered than the Japanese high-end name plates such as the Lexus or Acura, and less reliable than even many of the standard American nameplates such as Chevrolet. However, Mercedes has invested huge sums of money in cultivating a brand name that is synonymous with luxury and quality. That is why when people think that a Mercedes is an extremely high-quality car (when it really isn’t), such that they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars more to buy one. That’s the power of marketing. </p>
<p>The strength of a brand-name as it has to do with B-schools has another powerful side effect in that it draws in top students who will go on to achieve great things. Let’s face it. Much of the value of the B-school experience is the networking. A top B-school gives you the opportunity to socialize and befriend people who will later on go on to achieve top positions in business. In business, success is often times not so much about what you know than about WHO you know. You are in a far better position in success if your personal friends include people who now occupy powerful positions in business. And let’s face it. The top investment bankers, the top consultants, the top movers and shakers are far more likely to want to go to a place like HBS or Stanford than to IIM for their MBA. Honestly, unless you are an Indian yourself, would you really want to go to IIM, if you had the choice to go to a place like Harvard? I think even many Indians would prefer to go to Harvard. And that gets into an economic phenomenom known as ‘network effects’. Just like an Internet auction site like Ebay becomes more useful to everybody the more people are using it in a cylical fashion (because more sellers attracts more buyers, which in turn attracts more sellers, etc.), a business school becomes more attractive the better quality the students are, because the better the students are, the more people want to go there (for the networking opportunities) which then serves to increase the quality of the students, which attracts even more people, etc. </p>
<p>Look, I’m not saying that IIM is bad. In fact, in many ways, they are very good. Their problem is the same problem that all B-schools face, which is how to create the marketing and buzz around them that the most famous B-schools have established for themselves.</p>