Lessons of diamond industry should be taught at IIM-A: Study

Updated on: Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Ahmedabad: A study conducted by the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has said that it is time for the premier B-school to study from the Indian diamond industry, lessons "of its rise, recession and recovery".

It is time to bring lessons of management from the unorganised sector to business schools to survive difficult times, a research study by IIM-A post Doctoral fellow Indu Rao on Indian diamond industry said.

"The Indian diamond industry has for long been labelled as an unorganised sector of the economy. However, it resembles a close-knit community composed of thousands of small, medium and large sized CPD (cut and polished diamonds) units and has grown to become one of the highest foreign exchange earners for the country," the study said.

The industry exports cut and polished diamonds worth $14 billion annually and enjoys a 95 per cent market share of global exports of cut and polished diamond pieces, it said.

"While many in the corporate business and the world economy in general continue to struggle with the aftermath of recession, the so-called unorganised sector (diamond industry) has shown laudable resilience to bounce back," the study said.

According to Rao, the study of the Indian diamond industry, of its rise, recession and recovery will provide useful insights to the field of management.

"An outcome of this study is that industries and companies with close knit community culture are likely to make use of their people management skills to survive the difficult times," the study said.

"The so called unorganised sector is in fact highly organised and has great potential to offer useful insights to the field of management in terms of new forms of organising, networking, business processing and for doing international trade," it said.

According to the study, during the recession, the Indian diamond industry was one of the most affected export oriented industries in the country.

The diamond industry is composed of a network of thousands of family run units of different sizes employing more than a million people most of whom have little formal education.

Most of these units are concentrated in Gujarat and mainly in the city of Surat.

According to industry estimates, nearly 11 out of every 12 diamonds sold worldwide are cut and polished in India.

Lessons of diamond industry should be taught at IIM-A: Study

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