10/05/98 TWO B-SCHOOLS' PASSAGE TO INDIA

TWO B-SCHOOLS' PASSAGE TO INDIA

WHARTON SCHOOL AND NORTHWESTERN'S J.L. KELLOGG GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT are normally fierce rivals. But the two B-schools are comfortable traveling buddies: Witness their working together for 14 years to develop the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration in Bangkok. Now, the two parents have a second offspring: the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad, due to open in 2000.
The school's godfather--Rajat Gupta, managing director of McKinsey & Co.--took the idea to 10 elite B-schools. Wharton and Kellogg, Gupta says, were the ''best fit.'' And 200 U.S.-based teachers of Indian origin hope to teach at ISB. International donors will fund its $100 million campus. Why India? First, there's the need evidenced by so many Indian MBAs. Second, ''we're building a school not just for India but for the world,'' says Gupta. And, from Kellogg Dean Donald Jacobs: India ''has a large, rapidly growing economy, and it should have a world-class B-school.'' What about friction? ''Yes, Kellogg and Wharton are competitive,'' says Jacobs. ''That doesn't mean that we can't cooperate.''
By Nadav Enbar
EDITED BY JOAN OLECK