IIMA Course Catalogue

Programme

PGP

Term

Academic Year

2021-22

Course title

Doing Business with Government

Area

JSW School of Public Policy

Credits

1.00

Instructor(s)

Prof. Parameswaran Iyer,
Prof. Namrata Chindarkar

Course Description & Objectives

Introduction:
The government, at all levels, has a significant role to play in the country’s polity, economy, society as well as the markets and industry. While growing the economy is key, one of government’s top policy priorities is social welfare through delivery of public goods. There are many touchpoints where the roles of the government and private sector overlap but the latter focuses primarily on profit maximization. From this perspective, the government is also a major market, and procurer of goods and services, and therefore it becomes critical for industry and the private sector to better understand the nature of government in order to transact business more effectively. In India, with the disproportionate size of government and its finger in almost every market pie, the way business interacts with government can lead to success or failure.

The “Doing Business with Government” course will identify the major intersections of government and business - politically, institutionally, financially and socially, demystify the inner workings and processes of government insofar as they pertain to the private sector, and suggest strategies to successfully engage with it. It will provide mainly the perspective of policy practitioners – from the public and private sectors – and will largely be taught through case studies mainly from the India context.

Objectives:
After completing the course, students will get a clearer understanding of:

1. Ways in which government policies affect economic growth, the size and extent of the government ‘market’, the symbiotic relationship between government and the private sector, business opportunities for the private sector as well as what they bring to the table.

2. The institutional architecture of the federal, state and local government, the key players in this set up, political economy issues and the incentives which drive their behaviour with respect to engaging with the private sector.

3. The inner workings of government and the processes which directly matter to the private sector, for example, procurement, financial management, digitalization.

4. The challenges of designing and implementing PPPs in different contexts and how to overcome them

Pedagogy

Sessions for this module will be conducted as interactive seminars, mainly based on case studies, with an emphasis on discussions and Q&A. The classes will be conducted with the expectation that students have done – and reflected on – the readings. Students are highly encouraged to supplement the class readings with their own to further enrich the discussions. Students must complete the assigned readings and case studies prior to coming to class. Class participation is defined for this course as attending the class and engaging in the discussions such that it adds to the student’s and their classmates’ learning. Therefore, quality of contribution will receive higher grades.

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