Dr. S. Ramakrishna Velamuri is a professor of Entrepreneurship and the Dean of the School of Management at Mahindra University. Professor Velamuri’s primary expertise is Entrepreneurship. His research focuses on entrepreneurial opportunity recognition and evaluation, entrepreneurial resource mobilization, business model innovation, firm growth, entrepreneurial teams, and business ethics, including stakeholder theory and ethical decision-making. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed academic journals and his research is highly cited. Professor Velamuri has written several award-winning business cases in addition to making business presentations in academic and industrial settings. Moreover, Professor Velamuri acquired his PhD in Entrepreneurship, Business Ethics, and Strategy from the Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia, USA.

Mahindra University

You held key positions at various prestigious institutions throughout your career. What is that one thing that made you excited and walk with Mahindra University in the journey?

The first thing that drew me to work for the college is the reputation of the promoters of Mahindra University, i.e., the Mahindra Group, and the reputation of the leadership team of the university, i.e., the Chancellor (Mr. Anand Mahindra), the Vice Chancellor (Prof. Yaj Medury), and the Dean of the Ecole Centrale School of Engineering (Prof. Bishnu Pal). I wanted to be a part of the institute, bring my unique skill set and make a positive change for the students.

How do you balance the needs of faculty, students, and administration as a dean of a school of business?

In most cases, the needs of the three stakeholder groups are aligned. The students need a rich learning experience; our faculty members are committed to providing our students with this experience and the administrators are committed to supporting this learning process. The way to ensure that the needs remain aligned is to admit studious and motivated students, hire highly qualified, research-active faculty, and ensure we have competent administrators.

As a Dean of - the School of Business, what is the USP or what are the differentiating factors that make Mahindra University stand out from other Business schools?

Our educational offerings provide a blend of two things, strong foundations in business, economics, and finance, and knowledge and skills to deploy and leverage technology for these subjects. This unique blend of a strong business education with a well-equipped technology toolkit is what makes our programmes unique. We are attracting many students who had a science education in their high school who had Maths, Physics, Chemistry or Biology, Physics, Chemistry as subjects to our BBA and BA programmes. In the full-time MBA programme, we also emphasize this business-technology blend.

How do you stay current with the latest trends and developments in the field of business and incorporate them into the curriculum and programs offered by the school?

There are multiple mechanisms and processes to ensure the faculty is up to date with the latest trends. First, we hire research-trained, research-active and research-productive faculty. We want to make sure they are very prolific in publishing in the leading international peer-reviewed journals. Some of us serve on the editorial boards of leading journals and many of us are frequently invited to review articles for them. Second, we engage with practitioners as part of our academic activity through case study development, executive education, and consulting. Thereafter, we have an Industry Advisory Board (IAB) that provides us with feedback on our curricula and other activities at the School of Management. These mechanisms ensure that we stay abreast of the latest trends and developments in business.

How well is Mahindra University focusing on maintaining industry relationships with companies in order to leverage them for live projects, training, and placements for the students?

In addition to the mechanisms mentioned previously, we also engage with industry in other ways. We are often invited to deliver talks at companies and in other forums. For example, our faculty members delivered talks at ZF, a leading German automotive components company, and at the National Human Resource Development Network annual conference. We invite industry leaders and entrepreneurs to come to campus to address our students. We involve students in case writing research, such as the one on a global fintech company, C2FO. We involve students in our industry-led research projects, such as the use of the Metaverse for home purchases, for Mahindra Life Spaces. We work with industry to provide two-month long internships to our students. Over sixty undergraduate students from our first batch did their internships with companies in the summer of 2023.

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What is something an MBA aspirant can expect from joining the Mahindra University School of Business?

MBA aspirants can expect a very rigorous and industry-aligned curriculum and an outstanding faculty team to deliver it at our college. The benefit of studying at a multi-disciplinary university is its strong international linkages. For example, in the second term of our founding 2023 MBA class, we have the course Quantitative Analysis for Decision Making II delivered by Prof. Abdelkader El Kamel, who is currently a full-term professor with the École Centrale de Lille and is a specialist in optimisation techniques, among other topics. He is currently attached to the École Centrale School of Engineering, Mahindra University. In the third term, our students will benefit from the expertise of Prof. Raja Velu, whose area of specialisation is at the intersection of Finance and Analytics and who is currently at Syracuse University.

What are the biggest challenges currently facing schools of business, and how do you plan to address them as the dean?

Business schools face the challenge that business education has become massified. For example, in India, there are thousands of business schools that generate lakhs of management graduates every year. This makes it necessary for us to distinguish ourselves from other schools. There is only one way to address this challenge, do the basics well. This means formulating rigorous, industry-aligned curricula and recruiting a high-quality faculty team to deliver them. 

Can you describe what is the significance and support Mahindra University provides for entrepreneurship and innovation?

We are very supportive of entrepreneurship and innovation in many ways. All our programmes, including the non-business ones such as Engineering, and Law, have required entrepreneurship and innovation courses. We have a number of electives in these areas and have an on-campus incubation centre, which was recently awarded Atal Innovation Centre status by the Government of India. As part of this centre, we conduct several training programs for entrepreneurs, such as the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. We will have ventures being incubated on campus and benefiting from campus resources like faculty expertise and our engineering labs.

How would you promote experiential learning and practical application of knowledge within the School of Business?

Experiential learning and practical application at our college are promoted by live projects and real-world case studies. We also have workshops delivered by industry professionals and mandatory internships.