Friday, June 19, 2015

When ‘B’ of a B-school Fails



In colonial America, they branded your palm with a ‘T’ for thief, so that in future everyone would know not to do business with you or work for you. These were the bad old days of overextending your credit. Today while going bankrupt is still a source of shame – is more like a personal finance management tool. Recently many b-schools seem to be going bust, what could be the reason? Almost a decade ago, setting up a b-school was a fashion. A decade later, personal debts of its owners has led to many of them shutting shop. But the ones who setup these institutions seem to be the biggest gainers out of the sale; simply because the value of the asset (real estate) had appreciated almost 400 – 500%

Getting it wrong is mostly not about ignorance or culture. The trend seems to give a hint that these b-schools don’t fail or get it wrong by mistake or ignorance. The answers of ‘why’ lies in studying how decisions are actually made, who gets to make them and why those people decide to do what they do.

An individual liability of the owner’s is conveniently transferred as organizational liabilities. Despite there being a blatant breach of trust demonstrated by the Trustee’s, there is no accountability whatsoever. It’s common to assume they’re deadbeats – spendthrift who’s kids enjoy expensive world tours (holidays), luxurious cars. Later they realize they can’t pay the mortgage. The mortgage is most often than not the Trust’s real estate. Now when the repayment is almost impossible, the easiest way out is selling the real-estate.

But somebody has to be held responsible for this mess. Yes, it’s the inefficient employees or even better the recessionary trends in the economy. The real culprits clearly get away scot-free.
When will this scenario change?

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