IMI, Bhubaneswar is known for its excellent faculty and high quality intellectual capital. Many of the faculty members are actively involved in training, research and consultancy in areas that are of interest to them. Keeping the above in mind it was felt that developing a few focussed Centres of Excellence will go a long way in harnessing this competency and dove tail it into a meaningful intellectual output. 

The output of each centre will be as follows:

• Training programmes for industry executives
• Research output in terms of working papers, industry papers, referred journal articles, books, conference presentations, etc
• Consultancy projects funded by corporate and multilateral funding agencies
• Case writing around the key decision making issues relevant to the focus area of the centre
• Development of specialized electives for equipping our students to perform well in the industry sector the centre caters to

Centres

The following Centres of Excellence are thus being setup at IMI, Bhubaneswar:

• Centre for Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility
• Centre for Innovation and Technology
• Center for Management Development
• Centre for Project Management

Structure

Each centre will have as its patron a very senior industry executive along with a high powered advisory council of industry experts. The patron and the advisory council will decide on the thrust areas of each centre spanning across training programmes, research, consultancy and development of specialized electives. A faculty member will be the head of each centre and he/she will work very closely with the patron and the advisory council. A team of other faculty members will work with the centre head in the activities of the centre.

Descriptions

Centre for Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility

Business is undergoing a paradigm shift the world over. Operations of business organizations are under tight scrutiny from multiple stakeholders including regulators, shareholders and investors, customers, pressure groups, and the public at large. Corporate scandals are making big news and leading to crumbling of well-settled business empires. In this context, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility are the two areas which hold the key to the success of companies. Particularly with the increased emphasis on CSR and corporate governance in the Companies Act, 2013 and amendments in Clause 49, Government of India has conveyed a clear message to the Indian corporates that responsibility and good governance should be the foundation for any good business. 

The introduction of mandatory spending requirements for CSR and stringent rules with respect to corporate governance leads to some follow up questions,

1. Are companies ready to meet up to the expectation of global customers with respect to environmental, ethical, and governance standards?
2. Have the companies started realizing the importance of such issues?
3. Are management systems in place to implement such standards in the companies?
4. Are there enough trained man power who have knowledge about such standards?
5. Are there best practices available and disseminated widely among the companies to learn from each other?
6. Are the companies ready to formulate right strategies to prioritize their CSR budget allocations as per the government’s mandate?
7. Are there enough preparedness for the injection of enough checks and balances in the corporate governance mechanisms present in organizations? 

IMI, Bhubaneswar has taken up the mandate to integrate Responsible Business concepts into the course curriculum and continuously engage in such activities through research. It intends to achieve this objective by creating a Centre for Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility in the Institute.

Objectives

• It will engage in research, consultancy, training, and MDPs in the areas of CSR and Corporate Governance
• It will devise innovative ways of orienting the students to be Responsible Managers
• It will act as a common platform for industries, government, and other stakeholders to strategize responsible business and corporate governance issues
• It will facilitate to build up a common understanding about CSR and help companies to formulate CSR strategies
• It will facilitate creating a repository/database of CSR and governance activities of various companies by documenting such initiatives on a regular basis
• It will act as an advocacy unit for a number of small and large companies that do not have a thrust on CSR and corporate governance yet and suggest them suitable strategies in line with their business strategies
• It will facilitate experiential learning among companies by inviting leaders in CSR and corporate governance and sharing their success stories among other companies. Develop case studies of best practices and circulate it among the stakeholders.

However, such initiatives would not be possible but for the patronage of stakeholders from industry, government and civil society. To achieve these objectives, an Advisory Board will be constituted.

Centre for Innovation and Technology 

The Centre of excellence for innovation & technology at IMI, Bhubaneswar is established with a vision to bridge the knowledge gap between development and application of technology. The centre would act as a conduit for a technology’s journey from being an invention to become an innovation. There are many organizations which harbor and promote incubation centres for development of technology or inventions. However, innovations are inventions that offer a clear benefit to the customers, a benefit that satisfies a market need, want or desire. It is essential since, ultimately, customers do not buy inventions, they buy innovations.

The centre would position itself as an establishment lower down the order in the channel, between the incubation centres and the market. With our competencies in the area of understanding the market through marketing research, business analytics, web analytics; assessment of the technology; determination of its financial impact; quantification of its human impact; and, strategizing for its commercialization, we are in a unique position to claim the role of the facilitator of technology, if not harbinger. To attain our objective and strengthen our positioning, we would tie-up with organizations at both ends of the chain. A strategic alliance with a technology incubation centre would help us in better understanding of flow of invention and a tie-up with NGOs will take us closer to the market, particularly the underprivileged ones.

At the same time, as our competencies expand and our resources extend, we would be thinking of forward and backward vertical integration by aiding and abetting germination of new technology, as well as reaching out to the market. This would broaden our horizons of functions and enable us to contribute more to the society and the nation.

Thus, the centre is envisaged to act as a catalyst for diffusion of innovation into the targeted social system. It would usher in a strategic approach for amalgamation of technology with the target. It would provide a platform for collaborative partnerships with various stakeholders. It would facilitate integration of industry, government, academic and non-government organizations to bridge the gap between the product and the need.

Objectives

The centre is proposed to be established with the following objectives:

• To facilitate integration of innovation with market
• To act as a knowledge centre on diverse aspects related to innovation and management
• To provide consultation on innovation management, incubation centers, seed capital
• To contribute towards creation of an entrepreneurial ecosystem

Broad action plan

The centre proposes to carry out following activities in order to fulfill our objectives:

• Create a link in the website (www.imibh.edu.in) dedicated to the centre
• Ensure our presence in various social media platforms
• Create a motto
• Reach out to other organizations offering similar, complementary or supplementary facilities
• Organize workshops in the following areas:

• Offer consultancy in the following areas:

• Felicitate successful innovators
• Nurture innovation talents

Centre for Management Development (CMD) 

To cater to the growing demand of management development and continuing education of executives, managers and officers of public and private sector organizations in the country, Centre for Management Development (CMD) is established in International Management Institute (IMI), Bhubaneswar.

The centre will function under the Chairmanship of Dr. Arun K. Rath, Former Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India and currently Chairman & Professor, Centre for Corporate Governance & Social Responsibility, IMI New Delhi.

Objectives:

• To serve as a  Centre of Excellence to meet the needs of manpower development of organizations both in the public and private sectors
• To engage in capacity building, training and orientation of executives and officers at various levels of the concerned organizations to facilitate achievement of their organizational goals
• To organize management development programmes, training courses, national and international conferences , seminars, guest lectures and other related events on the above areas
• To document and publish best practices of management development and capacity building for dissemination and awareness creation
• To provide a forum for study, consultancy and research in these areas
• To build association and partnership with government agencies, corporate entities, industry bodies and academic institutions working in these areas
• To engage in other allied activities in furtherance of the objectives of the centre