Mistry's Ouster to be Taught in Business Schools

BENGALURU: It has only been two weeks but the ongoing saga and tussle between Cyrus Mistry and Tata sons has boiled over and is already on its way into B-schools syllabi. It’s a nice and comprehensive case study for students as it covers every aspect of management, leadership, clashes over strategy, and crisis. It has got every ingredient of corporate brinkmanship that makes it an apparent choice for IIMs and other top business schools.

According to a report in ET, Ramachandran J, who teaches corporate strategy at IIM was quoted as saying, “In the case under consideration—the ouster of Cyrus Mistry— we plan to focus on the issues related to ownership rights and managerial rights; in a listed firm, the former does not automatically afford the latter.” IIM Calcutta is also planning to take this topic up.

In a country where 67 pct of companies are family-owned businesses, this case provides a classic example of leadership, strategies and succession planning. According to many professors, this is a prime example of how things and matters of succession can go wrong in family-run businesses. This episode will also give them a chance to discuss things such as the clarity and vision that a non family CEO gets in these companies when he takes over the job.

"When a case is written on this, it can be used to illustrate the problem of governance, succession planning, economic value added, ethics versus efficiency and the role of culture in organizations,” Ajit Prasad, Director, IIM-Lucknow, told ET.  

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