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'She was the unanimous choice of the search-cum-selection committee.'
Avishek Rakshit reports.
Anju Seth, an alumnus of the oldest Indian Institute of Management in the country -- IIM Calcutta -- on Friday, November 16, took over as the director of her alma mater, thereby becoming the first woman director to lead this prestigious institute.
This is the third instance in the country when a woman has taken charge as director of any IIM.
Prior to this, Professor Seth held the position of Pamplin Professor of Management at Virginia Tech in the US.
Her key interest areas are corporate strategy, acquisitions, restructuring, strategic alliances and joint ventures, corporate governance and ethics, and globalisation and strategy in emerging economies.
'I look forward to working with faculty, staff, students, governors and all other stakeholders to build on the institute's strong foundations and accomplish new heights of eminence,' Dr Seth said.
Her profile on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University states that her research projects examine the motives and value consequences of cross-border acquisitions, the causes and effects of cross-national corporate governance systems, contract design in strategic alliances and joint ventures, and corporate strategy in business groups.
'We are indeed delighted that Dr Seth will be the first woman director of IIMC. She was the unanimous choice of the search-cum-selection committee,' Shrikrishna Kulkarni, chairperson, IIMC, said.
Dr Seth completed her PhD from the University of Michigan in 1988 and did her MBA from IIMC a decade earlier.
A BSc (Honours) from the University of Delhi in the 1976 batch, her academic career spans over 25 years.
Previously, Dr Seth held the positions of professor and director of graduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and associate professor at the University of Houston.
Dr Seth also spent several years with the management consultancy division at AF Ferguson and company in India prior to receiving her PhD in corporate strategy.
Many of her scholarly papers have appeared in Strategic Management Journal and the Journal of International Business Studies. Seth has published papers in the Review of Economics and Statistics, Managerial and Decision Economics, Journal of Management Studies and California Management Review, among others.
In recent years, she has maintained strong connections with academic and professional organisations in India such as the Vedica Scholars Programme and others.
