STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS—Nearly 200 corporate executives, business leaders, Stanford University alumni, and other distinguished guests attended Innovative Strategies for a Dynamic Economy, a two-day executive education program sponsored by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford School of Engineering. This first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary executive program started January 15 at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel.

Innovative Strategies for a Dynamic Economy brought the thought leadership of Stanford University directly to Mumbai. Taught by leading faculty members from the schools of Business and Engineering at Stanford, this two-day program for Indian executives delivered key insights on the strategies, management concepts, and technologies that will shape the future of Indian industry. "When we talk about innovation and entrepreneurship, it's not just small companies," said Dan Rudolph, senior associate dean at the Graduate School of Business. "It is about learning how to grow, how to take risks, how to make changes and to innovate. That's true whether you are part of a multibillion rupee corporation or a small company. Either way, India and Silicon Valley have a lot to share."

The current business environment in India is marked by staggering contrast. The country represents one of the world's largest market opportunities, yet it is also one of the most complex and demanding regarding management and execution. Achieving breakthrough business success in India requires overcoming a host of challenges—infrastructure, recruitment, bureaucracy—by deploying proven management strategies and leveraging the latest technological innovations in enterprising ways.

"No single university and no single company are going to be able to solve these grand technological, business, and societal challenges by themselves. What is key for this century are the partnerships that can be built between industries and between corporations," said James D. Plummer, dean of the Stanford School of Engineering, who participated in the program. "Between universities in the U.S. and universities in India. Between companies in Silicon Valley and companies in India."

This collaborative executive program reflected Stanford University's transformative multidisciplinary approach, in which faculty experts from often isolated fields such as engineering and management jointly examine undiscovered territory to find breakthrough solutions to complex, pressing problems. "We see a real opportunity to engage in India but also an opportunity to help our students learn about one of the most important, growing democracies in the world," said Stanford University President John L. Hennessy, who participated in the program.

In this program, professors from Stanford's schools of both Engineering and Business applied their latest research to the unique dynamics of Indian business. In addition, Narayana Murthy, chairman and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies, and Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Limited, delivered keynote addresses. Interactive panel discussions showcased the opinions of multiple thought leaders regarding how the future of global competition and information technology will affect Indian business.

"There's tremendous innovation [at Stanford]; you have wonderful faculty, you have great executive education programs," said Murthy. "I believe there's a tremendous role for Stanford in enhancing the competitiveness of Indian managers."

Faculty lecturers included:

Garth Saloner, the Jeffrey S. Skoll Professor of Electronic Commerce, Strategic Management, and Economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Saloner is widely known for his expertise in business strategy, the effect of industry organization on competition and profitability, demand for and effective adoption of information technology by business end-users, and strategy and competition in the computer industry. Hayagreeva Rao, the Atholl McBean Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Rao has published widely in the fields of management and sociology, and studies the social and cultural causes of organizational change. In his research, he studies three sub-processes of organizational change: creation of new social structures, the transformation of existing social structures, and the dissolution of existing social structures. His recent work investigates the role of social movements as motors of organizational change in professional and organizational fields. Friedrich B. Prinz, the Rodney H. Adams Professor at the Stanford School of Engineering. A professor of mechanical engineering and of materials science and engineering, Prinz is also chair of the school's Department of Mechanical Engineering. Arogyaswami J. Paulraj, professor of electrical engineering at the Stanford School of Engineering. Paulraj was elected in 2006 to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the theory and practice of "multiple input, multiple output" (MIMO) smart antenna wireless technology. This smart antenna technology arose out of the pioneering work by Paulraj and his group, which began at Stanford in the 1990s and brought such dramatic improvements that it has since been adopted in several worldwide standards for wireless technologies including WiFi, WiMAX, 3G, and 3.5G.

This program represented a return to India for the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In January 2005, a one-day executive education forum covering strategic management and marketing was offered in New Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. The Graduate School of Business also recently launched an exchange program for its MBA students with the Indian Institute of Management at Bangalore.