LMTSM’s New Centre of Excellence to Work with Industry, Develop Innovative, Sustainable Business Models

• A one-of-its-kind centre of excellence in any business school north of India, the Centre for Strategy, Sustainability and Society will enable organisations to adopt business practices that maximise returns while protecting environment, safeguarding social interests at the same time

• The centre of excellence will focus on research and consultancy in the area of sustainable business strategies

Aiming to nurture leaders of the future who can develop novel approaches to business strategies, sustainable ventures and social responsibility of businesses, the LM Thapar School of Management (LMTSM), the business school of Thapar University, Patiala, inaugurated the Centre for Strategy, Sustainability and Society, one of the centres of excellence envisioned by LMTSM to take management education to the next level, at its Dera Bassi campus here today.

A one-of-its-kind initiative in any business school north of India, LMTSM’s Centre for Strategy, Sustainability and Society will stress on ethical and sustainable management practices with emphasis on prudent utilisation of the limited resources and adoption of environment-friendly, socially productive as well as cost-effective solutions to problems facing the industry and the society so as to achieve harmonious and all-inclusive growth.

Stating that the innovative and sustainable business models and strategies developed at the newly set up centre would enable organisations to maximise their returns while protecting the environment and safeguarding social interests at the same time, LMTSM Director Dr Padmakumar Nair said, “We strive to build a vibrant network of researchers, students, corporates, entrepreneurs and community leaders through a host of activities ranging from development of sustainability-oriented academic programmes and academia-industry-government collaborations to community development projects. This centre will emerge as a vibrant research and consulting group, a catalyst for encouraging informed policy dialogues and implementing business strategies driven by sustainability initiatives to address the challenges confronting businesses and society alike.”

Terming strategy and sustainability as the two sides of the same coin, Dr Nair said, “No strategic undertaking is complete without evaluating it fully through the lens of sustainability. Aiming to create a positive sustainability impact through its activities, this centre of excellence will focus on research and consultancy in the area of sustainable business strategies to assist the industry in developing a better understanding of sustainability challenges.”

The event coincided with a seminar on “Clean Industry—Green Industry”, which was aimed at facilitating an industry-academia interface on “Sustainability Imperatives for Industry: Challenges and Initiatives”. Representatives of the Dera Bassi Industries Association also participated in the workshop and expressed their support to the centre.

Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion were Prof VK Damodaran, Director General, INGCORE, Thiruvananthapuram, who delivered the keynote address on “Elevating Energy Efficiency for Greener Industries and Larger Profits”, Prof A Sivathanu Pillai, a distinguished scientist of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and former CEO and MD, Brahmos Aerospace, who expressed his views on “Ignited Minds—Powering National Development”, and Prof Lakhwinder Singh Gill, Coordinator, Centre for Development Economics and Innovation Studies, Punjabi University, who spoke on “Pathways for Industrialisation”.

About LM Thapar School of Management (LMTSM):

Set up in 2007 with the avowed objective of equipping technical graduates with the managerial skills necessary to rise through the corporate hierarchy, the LM Thapar School of Management (LMTSM), the business school of Thapar University, Patiala, is redefining the paradigms of management education to take it to the next level.

Grounded in the ethos of sustainability and inclusiveness, LMTSM is committed to architecting a new business world order, where what is good for corporations will be good for all stakeholders, by developing professionals who are adept at creating and propagating sustainable and ethical management practices. Based on the fundamentals of ethical decision making, inclusive human resources management, sustainable strategy development and entrepreneurial growth, this management school seeks to develop a new Indian business model by combining multiple economic and social models with technology as a backbone to create strategies for success, a novel concept that sets it apart from other business schools. With precisely this in mind, this B-school has ‘New India starts here’ as its motto.

Spread over 26 acres, the hi-tech LMTSM campus in Dera Bassi, near Chandigarh, has Wi-Fi-enabled smart classrooms with digital podiums and IP cameras for web streaming and surveillance. Fully equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity (internet bandwidth of 45 Mbps) through a centrally managed access point, the campus offers the flipped classroom concept to enable students to access their assignments, library or study material at their own comfort, using the Learning Management System. It also provides access to bulletin boards and web kiosk via Android and iOS mobile apps.

LMTSM is actively involved in collaborative programmes and has signed several MoUs with international universities of repute, like Trinity College Dublin, University of Texas at Dallas, USA; University of Twente, Netherlands; Free University, Amsterdam, Netherlands, and University of Waterloo, Canada. It has also entered into tie-ups with foreign universities for student and faculty exchange programmes. Thanks to LMTSM’s strong interface with the industry, many of its passouts have secured placements not only in companies like IBM and TCS, but also in government organisations like RBI and BHEL.

LMTSM trains students in not only occupying jobs but also creating them by cultivating a spirit of social and commercial entrepreneurship among them. The only business school in India with special focus on social entrepreneurship, LMTSM is in the process of setting up a venture lab with incubation facility for potential entrepreneurs in collaboration with University of Twente, Netherlands. In view of the trust deficit businesses are dealing with since the 2008 financial crisis, LMTSM not only strives to change the way the world conducts business but also the way business schools engage the world. All this is being made possible by a group of experienced faculty from both India and abroad.

LMTSM takes CAT/MAT/CMAT scores into account for admissions, which makes it a non-IIM member of the CAT family. Stressing on a multidisciplinary approach to management education, LMTSM imparts lessons in history, culture and literature to help students develop an understanding which goes beyond the conventional management education based on Western textbooks.