Today’s fast paced world no longer provides fresh managers the luxury of easing themselves into the business arena. Organisations expect contributions practically from day one and those unprepared to meet expectations are rapidly sidelined. In such a scenario, the average business management program with its emphasis on book learning ill-prepares aspiring managers to meet the challenges thrown at them.

However, the Ohio MBA Program has been specifically designed to produce a breed of managers who are ready for the real world and raring to go. While a solid grounding is
provided to students in fundamentals and advanced management concepts, the emphasis is on developing managers who can apply their learnings to business situations.

Thus, besides regular case studies and projects, all students must work on Applied Research Projects that test their ability to be effective managers. As a part of their last quarter, students form into Business Consulting Groups and endeavor to provide solutions to an existing problem of a business organization. The group is expected to research, analyze and utilize their knowledge to arrive at a solution. The groups will then present their recommendations to the management of these business organizations.

The Applied Research Project effectively promotes self learning, develops leadership and teamwork, hones analytical ability and strengthens problem solving skills. Besides, it also bolsters the confidence of students by providing them an opportunity to come to grips with a real problem and make presentations to different levels in the organization. An experience that ensures that they do not feel like fish out of water when they begin their careers.

Applied Research Projects (ARP) executed in 2003 - an overview

Wipro Technologies
Business Plan development based on ideas captured from various departments.

i-Gate
Study on ERP (EIP) implementation bottlenecks.

Pepsi
Study on existing Distribution Structure.

HCL Technologies
Study on Channel Partners of Desktop group.

TITAN
Consumer and Market analysis for Titan Exact brand of watches.

Tanishq
Study on the factors influencing the number of walk-ins into Tanishq outlets and reasons for poor conversion rate.

Saatchi & Saatchi
Analysis of growth stagnation and formulation of business growth plans.

BPL
Evaluation of primary outbound logistics for CTV.

AFL Western Union
Study on dynamics of person-to-person money transfer and analysis of service quality.

MTR
Study on reasons for low reach of MTR products to retailers.

Realizing the benefits occurring from these ARPs a host of companies have offered to sponsor future Research Projects.

Some such corporates are Akzo-noble, BPL, Featherlite Industries, HCL Technologies, Hindustan Lever Ltd., ICICI Bank, Indo-American Hybrid Seeds, Ispat, Maini Group, Manipal Health Plan, Manipal Hospital, Mascot Systems, MTR, Pepsi, Saatchi & Saatchi, SM Foods, Tanishq, Titan, Wendt (India) Ltd., Western Union, Wipro GE Medical Systems, Wipro Infotech and Wipro Technologies.