Ross Establishes India Initiatives under Faculty Director M.S. Krishnan

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

ANN ARBOR, Mich.-Dean Alison Davis-Blake has established the Ross School of Business India Initiatives and appointed M.S. Krishnan as faculty director. Krishnan is the Joseph Handleman Professor of Business Information Technology and a Hallman Research Fellow at Ross. The India Initiatives comprise, but are not limited to, the C.K. Prahalad Initiative and the Center for Global Resource Leverage: India.

As faculty director of India Initiatives, Krishnan will report to Associate Dean for Global Initiatives Bill Lanen. He will help coordinate academic and research activities, as well as alumni and corporate outreach across India. This includes custom executive education, in-country student projects, and new knowledge creation, among other things.

Krishnan also will help Lanen and Davis-Blake identify and evaluate new opportunities that advance the Ross School’s global agenda. Current corporate partners in the Ross School’s India Initiatives include GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd., Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., ICICI Group, the Tata Group, and TVS Logistics Services.

“Krishnan is the ideal person for this role,” says Davis-Blake. “He has extensive relationships across India. He brings deep knowledge of the culture, the economy, and trends around innovation. He regularly consults with executives in India and understands their needs. He also knows what our faculty are interested in and what our students are interested in.”

The Ross School’s long history with India is due in large part to the late C.K. Prahalad, who joined the business school faculty in 1977 and remained here until his death in April 2010. In 1994 Prahalad helped establish the school’s Global Program for Management Development: India, an open-enrollment executive program that continues to serve the country’s business leaders. Widely acknowledged as one of the world’s top strategy thinkers, Prahalad worked with Indian firms and Ross faculty and students to develop research around Base of the Pyramid studies, co-creation, and innovation.

Source: Michigan Ross School of Business (link opens in a new window)