‘We want B-schools to take to the case-study method’

India is witnessing a 15% annual growth in demand for business books as against 10-15% decline in the US. Harvard Business Publishing, a prominent US publisher, started India operations in November 2008 by setting up a wholly owned subsidiary, Harvard Business India Pvt Ltd, to identify and publish best of the local talent. David A Wan, CEO of Harvard Business Publishing, spoke to DNA on his company’s India plans. Excerpts from the interview:

What are your plans for India?
 We want to basically engage with three key stakeholders here-talent development professionals-people who are in training and development. Educators such as faculty and professors, who teach in world-class institutes like the IIMs, and those who teach executive education programmes. Lastly, individual managers who are moving up in their careers. We want to work with them and help them adopt methods like case study to their practice. We also want to draw from best practices here, learn about Indian companies and their success stories.

How exactly are you going to engage with the business schools here?
Our aim is to encourage more and more B-schools to take to the case-study method. Students here are interested in using case-study methodology. It works well in areas like finance, strategy, which involves simulating actual business situations and putting the students in the protagonists’ place. We want to familiarise students here with cases developed by Harvard Business School, Kellogg, Stanford, Darden, and other leading business schools. We have developed something called ‘brief cases’, case studies specific to areas like marketing, organisational behaviour, etc. Our cases provide for decision-making. Also, we are initiating faculty from Indian schools to visit Harvard for a one-week summer programme.
This year 35 faculty from India will attend an intensive course in the case-study method of teaching, where Harvard faculty will work with them.

Which are the business schools you are working with in India?
We are working with some leading Indian business schools like the IIMs, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, Indian School of Business, NMIMS, IMI Delhi.

How do you perceive India as a market for books in the current scenario?
We understand there is a huge appetite to learn and understand knowledge here.

Business books segment has witnessed a 15%-plus growth. But as India is a price sensitive market, the price points would be different to increase impact. Though pricing depends on the author, market for book, etc, in India it’s usually one-third to half of the US pricing.

Any particular segment in the business books segment that the Indian reader is more interested in?
It surely is HR. there is a lot of demand for books on strategy also.
Has the slowdown affected the market for books in the US?
Oh ya. There have been structural changes in the US the way people acquire knowledge. Since the last few years, sale of business books in the US has been flat. Since the Lehman crisis in September, demand for business books has been declining by as much as 10-15%. Today, more people want to read fiction like Harry Potter as an escape mechanism. Americans want to go in for only known authors, best selling authors. Today, books politics, current affairs are doing very well. President Obama’s inauguration speech, which was printed and packaged as a book, is one of the bestsellers. US audience now wants something which is less complex.

What kind of authors do you look for in India?
The ideas of Indian authors should have a global appeal. Then it can provide a wider reach. There is strong demand outside India to learn about Indian best practices that can be applied by companies worldwide. We are open to ideas from consultants, executives, academics that come with a unique message and provide solutions.