Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when choosing a business school, but the educational experience is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Each Wednesday, we profile a standout professor as identified by students. Today, we focus on Prashant Kale from the Indian School of Business (ISB).
Prashant Kale teaches “Competitive Strategy,” a foundational economics and strategy course, in Term 2 to four—as we were told—“lucky” sections. A PhD from Wharton and an associate professor at the Rice Jones Graduate School of Management, Kale reportedly brings a dynamic international perspective to the subjects of competitive strategy, particularly mergers and acquisitions. In this case-based course, students act as decision makers seeking to create or strengthen the competitive advantage of their case companies, primarily through strategic investments. The course subsequently tackles global advantage, exploring the differences in strategy required for different markets. Part of the course’s aim is to empower students to develop critical and integrative thinking skills.
When mbaMission asked students to name their favorite professor, Kale was frequently at the top of the list. “He makes the class really great,” said one student. “He actually does consulting for most of these things, so he speaks from experience.” Added another, “He knows how to engage the whole class.” And a third student made special note of Kale’s rigorous classroom style, observing that in some other classes, “you can pretty much put your head down and not even look at the time, but in his class, you can’t afford to do that. You know you’re going down if you haven’t done your work.” Apparently, students worldwide agree that Kale is top notch: he won the Professor of the Year Award in 2009 at the ISB and the Best Teacher Award at Jones the same year. He was also featured among Bloomberg Businessweek’s “Most Popular Profs at Top Business Schools” in 2011.
For more information about the ISB and 15 other top-ranked business schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.