Centre for Excellence in Retail Management

To be a leader in India and beyond in cutting - edge retail and retail - related knowledge creation, dissemination and academics as well as industry application, provide thought leadership and educate the next generation of retailers from India and beyond, with a perfect blend of business relevance and academic elegance.

Importance of Retailing in India

Retailing plays a crucial role in the Indian economy. India has one of the highest number of retail outlets in the world accounting for over US$ 500 billion in spend. With rapid changes in consumer's buying behavior patterns and shopping attitudes, rise of organized retailing and with the actual and imminent arrival of foreign retailers, retailing in India is going through and will continue to go through profound changes in the next few years.

As the pace of change in resource, consumer and distribution dimension intensifies, it is imperative that retail organizations' senior leaders and managers are prepared to adapt to these changes. Yet to be a world-class retailer, it is not enough to only adopt to change, you must also be able to pre-empt, shape and leverage change to your advantage.

Centre for Excellence in Retail Management at Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai

Guided by Dr. Bala v. Balachandran, Great Lakes in its quest to become a leading hub for world-class research, teaching and industry engagement and to provide thought leadership for retail industry in India and beyond ,has created the Center For Excellence in Retail Management, led by some of the foremost retail academics and practitioners from India, Asia, Europe and USA.

The objective of the center for excellence is to provide best world class practices and to facilitate research, exchange of ideas, solutions to industry problems and offer guidance to leaders and managers as well as key policy makers. The aim of the center is to help organizations' leaders and managers as well as policy makers to identify, understand, assess, and leverage the changing dynamics of Indian retailing and consumers to their advantage. It will help organizations to have a management team, which is prepared and knowledgeable to not only lead the change but also be able to create I leverage business/ commercial opportunities both nationally and internationally.

The centre will also have a top- tier advisory council comprising of leading retailers, academics, consultants, and thought leaders from India and beyond. The aim is to widen and deepen connect with the industry leaders in identification of research priorities through collaborative process, incorporating input from both the advisory council members and the core faculty.

The centre will launch various company specific as well as open programs which will be delivered by senior faculty from Great Lakes Institute of Management as well as leading academicians from around the world who have extensive teaching, research and consulting experience. The contributions will also be made from leading practitioners I consultants drawn from our unique national and international network.

The centre will also support, nurture student activities, curriculum development and career management initiatives withinGreat Lakes Institute of Management.

Great Lakes has formed collaboration with some of the finest international institutions such as Yale University (USA),Bauer College of Business- University of Houston (USA),University of Bordeaux (France),CUOA Foundation(Italy),lIT Stuart School of Business (Chicago), Nanyang Technology University (Singapore).

The Centre for Excellence in Retail management will build on these links and will also develop substantial academic and research links with leading retail centres from USA, Europe and Asia.

Business Knowledge and Expertise

• Faculty have unique experience of research and customized case-study development and ' real world expertise' gained over the last several years working with leading retail and retail- related organizations around the globe
• Ability to work on short- term issues (quick fixes, picking low hanging fruits) as well as on long­ term vision/ strategic issues to help businesses succeed in today's ever changing external and internal business environment

What is Different about Us?

• Outstanding ability to develop a range of company- specific and open programs for delegates at three levels: the Board, Senior Managers, and Middle Managers for retail and retail related organization including family businesses
• Width, depth and the range of subjects covered in these programs with world-renowned experts
• Pursue research engagement and scholarship at an international level of excellence and sponsoring global outreach initiatives
• Proven thought leader in providing cutting-edge and relevant information on opportunities and challenges for today and tomorrow in an interactive and user- friendly way
• Unique ability to combine rigor and relevance-tailored to the needs of the organization
• Develop a symbiotic relationship between the client and ourselves with the underlying objective of creating a long- term and mutually beneficial relationship

What can we do for you?

• Help understand and adopt global best practices
• Co-create relevant research to deliver compelling competitive advantage
• Provide actionable knowledge to key managers to successfully deliver business objectives
• Create a framework for nurturing and developing high potential talent for business leadership