Dr. Abhishek Kumar

PhD in Mgmt (PU), MBA (BIM), B.Sc (Eco) (CU)

Principal

Marketing

Abhishek Kumar earned his Ph.D. in Management from Pondicherry University. His doctoral work involved creation of scale to measure brand personality of media brands. He completed his MBA from Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu and his undergraduate studies in economics from the University of Calcutta. He has also completed Associateship from Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. He has held several academic leadership positions prior to joining AIMK including Director - Training and Member Secretary of the Research Advisory Committee of Anant National University Ahmedabad, Vice Chairman Placements, Vice Chairman Admissions and Chairman – Club Activities at BIM Trichy.

He has a rich experience of more than a decade in academia. His courses on brand management, leadership, product innovation and philosophy of architecture are particularly popular among students. Before becoming an academic, he served in leadership positions across media (ABP), banking (Yes Bank) and telecom (Bharti Airtel Ltd) industries for nearly a decade. He also had a brief stint as a cadet at National Defence Academy, Khadakvasla, Pune. As a business head in Yes Bank, he led his branch to the first position in CSR initiatives across all Yes bank branches in the country besides delivering on superior customer service to its customers and achieving healthy growth in the branch book size and branch profitability. Under his leadership, children’s newspaper, The Telegraph in Schools, won the world’s best children’s newspaper award by World Association of Newspapers (WAN) Paris while increasing its circulation and advertising revenues substantially. He began his career as an HR professional with Bharti Airtel Limited where he was instrumental in rolling out HR interventions at regional offices of Mumbai, Gujarat, West Bengal and Corporate Office at Gurgaon.

He regularly conducts leader development programs for middle and senior-level managers, faculty development programs in case writing and phenomenological research methods. He has published more than 20 research articles in international peer-reviewed journals. He has written three popular case studies on leadership: A Tale of Two CEOs, Ganges – A Temporary Institution and The Telegraph Goes Nude, and three case studies on product management that are published by Harvard Publishing and Vikalpa The Journal of IIMA. He has also written a book on leadership titled, ‘Three dimensions of Successful Leadership’ and has recently published an article titled ‘Humanistic Leadership in the Tata Group’ for the prestigious journal Cross-Cultural and Strategic Management from Emerald Publishing. He is currently finalising the manuscript of a book titled 'Of Newtons and Apples- Insights into 50 great minds of human history'.

He has a deep and abiding interest in literature and philosophy and has written extensively on subject-object split, phenomenological conception of product and philosophical analysis of literary texts. His understanding is fashioned by a close reading of the works of Martin Heidegger, Karl Jaspers, Henri Lefebvre, Gaston Bachelard and Michel Foucault. His method includes dwelling upon the aesthetic content of the matter at hand and is a heady mixture of the sensuality of D H Lawrence, iconoclasm of Bernard Shaw, tragic appeal of Thomas Hardy and delightful rigour of Thomas Mann.

Email ID: kumar.abhishek@aim.ac.in

Summary of Research Output

· 2 books

· 25peer-reviewed publications

· 30 articles in newspapers and magazines

· 10 occasions quoted by various national dailies on management education related issues

Books - 2

1. Managing Transformation - Research Insights for Business and Economy, (2016) Abhishek Kumar, Excel India Publishers, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-85777-29-5

2. Three Dimensions of Successful Leadership (2012), Abhishek Kumar, Lambert Publishing, Germany. ISBN - 978-3-659-30712-6

Journal Articles– 16

SCI Publications – 7

1. Kumar, A. Dhanuskodi, R. Kaliappan, R. and Nandakumar, K. (2020). BHEL Smart Wall Blowing System: New Product Development in Manufacturing Industry, Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers. Vol. 45(4). 106-114, Sage Publications, IIM Ahmedabad.

2. Kumar, A. (2021). The Architecture of Online Classrooms, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). Vol. 56(14). Pp 65-66, Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai.

3. Tripathi, R. and Kumar, A. (2020), "Humanistic leadership in the Tata group: the synergy in personal values, organisational strategy and national cultural ethos", Cross Cultural & Strategic Management, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 607-626. https://doi.org/10.1108/CCSM-01-2020-0025

4. Kumar, A. (2020). Liquid Objects, Solid Meanings, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). Vol. 55(26-27). Pp 90-92, Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai.

5. Kumar, A. (2020). The Profound Madness of a Photograph, Economic and Political Weekly (EPW). Vol. 55(8). Pp 60-61,Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai.

6. Kumar, A. (2019). Designer's Philosopher: Gaston Bachelard, Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. 54(47). Pp. 77-79, Sameeksha Trust, Mumbai.

7. Kumar, A. (2018). Water ATMs of Indian Railways: Causing a silent revolution, Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers. Vol. 43(2). 106-114, Sage Publications, IIM Ahmedabad.

Other than SCI Publications

8. Kumar, A. (2021). Product at the Crossroads of Space, Language and Meaning, The Journal-Contemporary Management Research. Vol. 14(2). Pp 26-33, BIM, Trichy.

9. Kumar, A. (2018). Product as A Symbol: Reading its Cypher Script, International Journal of Business and Social Sciences. Vol. 5(4(1)). Pp. 123-130, CPI, USA

10. Kumar, A. and Kumar, R.V (2015). Creating a Business-Media Brand Personality Scale, International Journal of Business and Social Sciences. Vol. 6(4(1)). Pp. 50-61, CPI, USA

11. Kumar, A. and Kumar, R.V (2015). A Curious Case of Business-Media Brand Personality Scale, Management and Labour Studies. Vol. 40(1&2). Pp. 95-109, Sage Publications, XLRI Jamshedpur

12. Kumar, A. and Kumar, R.V (2014). Brand Personality Scales for Media: A Story in the Making, The Business and Management Review, Vol.5(1), pp. 14-19, Cambridge, UK

13. Kumar, A. (2014). Marketing and Philosophy. ShikshaKshetre. Vol. 2(5). Pp. 15, ID Publishing, Jamshedpur, India

14. Kumar, A. (2014). A Conversation between Gora of Rabindranath Tagore and John Tanner of Man and Superman, Asian Journal of English Studies, Vol.3(4), 28-35, Forum for Innovation and Transformation, Pune.

15. Kumar, A. (2011). Sensationalization and Sextainment - Precepts for Success in Media and Entertainment Business, International Journal of Business and Social Sciences. Vol. 2(5). Pp. 232-236, CPI, USA

16. Kumar, A. (2011). Personality-Fit of a CEO in Family Businesses: Evolution of a Conceptual Framework for Leadership Effectiveness, International Journal of Business and Social Sciences. Vol. 2(2). Pp. 254-261, CPI, USA

Case study - 2

1. Kumar, A and Sankaran, M. (2017). Ramco Systems: Product Management, Ivey Publishing. University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

2. Kumar, A. (2012). Ganges - A Temporary Institution, European case Clearing House (ECCH). Paris, France.

Conference Proceedings - 7

1. Kumar, A. (2011). The Telegraph goes Nude, Indifed Chennai. Pp20-21. Annamalai University, Chennai.

2. Kumar, A. and Kumar, R.V (2015). Business Media Brand Personality Scale, Marketing in Emerging Economies. Pp. 133-142, IIM Ahmedabad.

3. Kumar, A. and Kumar, R.V (2015). Developing a Business-Media Brand personality Scale, American Marketing Association Summer Educator’s Conference. Pp. C19-C26, Chicago.

4. Kumar, A. (2016). Product Levels - A Philosophical-Marketing Reconstruction, Marketing Reborn - Traditions, Trends Techniques. Pp. 200-211. MICA Ahmedabad.

5. Kumar, A. (2016). Gora and John Tanner – A Foucauldian Reading, Associateship Presentation. IIAS Shimla.

6. Kumar, A. (2018). Subject-object split, Cypher and Product, World Congress of Philosophy. Beijing, China.

7. Kumar, A. (2019). Heritage as Representational Space: Lefebvre Revisited, International Conference on Heritage Management Education and Practice: Ensuring Fair Access and Inclusion in Heritage Management. Pp-70-71, Ahmedabad University, Ahmedabad.

8. Kumar, A. (2023). Calcutta Trilogy of Satyajit Ray as Meditative Spaces rooted in Inter-subjective Reality, International Conference on Morality, Spirituality, Culture and Society East and West. Pp-, Adamas University, Kolkata.

Newspaper and Magazine Publications - 16

1. Rushdie’s Magical Realism – More Dickensian than Latin American, Vol 1, Issue 12, November 2022, Sampark Publication, Kolkata

2. KapilaVatsyayan: Of Dance, Space and Time, Daily Guardian, May 26, 2022

3. Repositioning Cadbury and the Shape of Things to Come, Vol 2, May 2022, Sampark Publication, Kolkata

4. Air India – The Return Journey, Eastern Review, Vol 2, Issue 12, December 2021, Sampark Publication, Kolkata

5. Costumes Heralding Change, The Statesman, 1^st October 2021

6. A Tale of Two CEOs, Eastern Review, Vol 2, Issue 6, August 2021, Sampark Publication, Kolkata

7. Covid-19 impact: How has the pandemic affected the teaching profession? India Today on 26^th August 2021

8. Literary Writing as a Creative Practice – The Times of India Education Times 2^nd August 2021

9. Short Story: Tagore, Shaw and Foucault – An Imaginary Conversation 7^th March 2021 published in kitaab.org – Connecting Asian writers to global readers

https://kitaab.org/2021/03/07/short-story-tagore-shaw-and-foucault-an-im...

10. True Leader in Making, The Pioneer, https://anu.edu.in/news/true-leader-in-making-dr-abhishek-kumar-the-pioneer/

11. Cinematic design: Drama of creativity, Dr Abhishek Kumar and Neeti Patel https://www.deccanherald.com/supplements/dh-education/cinematic-design-d...

12. The Poetic Force of Architecture, Realtyplusmag.com, November 2020, Authors - Dr Abhishek Kumar and Arjun Nair,https://realtyplusmag.com/the-poetic-force-of-architecture/

13. Letter to a Young Designer, Business World Education, 29th June, 2020

http://bweducation.businessworld.in/article/Letter-To-A-Young-Designer/29-06-2020-292167/

14. Careers in Design, Assam Tribune, Guwahati Edition 17 June 2019

15. On Listening Skills – Education Plus, p 14, The Hindu, 2011

16. Of Newtons and Apples, A fortnightly column, The Telegraph in Schools, 2010-2012. Every article dealt with one quirky fact about their personality and one relatively unknown achievement of great personalities.

17. Nurturing juniors by being an Example- Excerpts from “The Story of My Experiments with Truth” BHEL Year Book, 2013, Bew Delhi

Quoted in The Economic Times/The Times of India/The Hindu

1. On revival of hiring by manufacturing companies, January 8, 2016

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50490342.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

2. Five ways to give negative feedback gracefully

http://bim.edu/indexnew/media-room/

3. Five ways to deal with a boss with poor listening skill, April 1, 2016

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/five-ways-to-deal-with-a-boss-with-poor-listening-skill/articleshow/51640294.cms

4. B Schools teach students to Speak, 25 September 2016

http://bim.edu/indexnew/b-school-teach-students-to-speak/

5. BIM Trichy conduct’s leadership training program, Being and Becoming a Leader The Times of India, Aug 22, 2014 and The Hindu September 1, 2014

http://bim.edu/indexnew/bim-trichys-leadership/