Dr Bala V. Balachandran Memorial Lecture

Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai

The Dr Bala V. Balachandran Memorial Lecture is an annual thought-leadership initiative instituted by Great Lakes Institute of Management to honour the life, values, and intellectual legacy of its founder, Dr Bala V. Balachandran.

The lecture series reflects Dr Balachandran’s enduring belief that management education must remain relevant to practice, rigorous in thinking, and responsive to change. Each edition brings together distinguished thinkers to engage with ideas that influence how leaders think, decide, and act in an evolving global context.

More than a commemorative event, the memorial lecture is designed as a continuing conversation, one that connects foundational principles of management with emerging realities across business, technology, and society.

About Dr Bala:

Dr Bala V. Balachandran was a globally respected academic, educator, and institution builder. He was a long-serving faculty member at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, where he was known for his work in accounting, strategy, and management education.

In India, he is best known as the founder of Great Lakes Institute of Management, established with the vision of creating a world-class business school that combined global perspectives with strong industry relevance.

Dr Balachandran believed that education should not follow change but anticipate it. He consistently emphasised intellectual discipline, ethical leadership, and the responsibility of institutions to stay aligned with the realities faced by organisations and leaders. The memorial lecture carries forward this philosophy by focusing on ideas that matter over the long term.

Second Edition Memorial Lecture

Dr Vijay Govindarajan on Fusion Strategy

The second edition of the Dr Bala V. Balachandran Memorial Lecture was delivered by Dr Vijay Govindarajan, Coxe Distinguished Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth, and a globally recognised authority on strategy and innovation.

Titled Fusion Strategy: Data and AI for Strategic Advantage, the lecture examined how organisations must rethink strategy in an era shaped by data, artificial intelligence, and exponential change. Prof. Govindarajan emphasised that data and AI should not be treated as isolated technologies, but as integral elements of strategic thinking and organisational design.

Drawing on the Three-Box framework, he outlined the need for leaders to manage current performance, consciously disengage from outdated assumptions, and actively create future capabilities. He also discussed the shift from production-based scale to data-driven scale, and from linear growth models to exponential value creation enabled by data, connectivity, and compute.

Reflecting on his long association with Dr Balachandran, Prof. Govindarajan noted: “Bala was not just a colleague or a founder. He was a conscience. He pushed everyone to think more clearly and more courageously about the future. If he were here today, he would be asking the hardest questions about data, AI, and strategy, not because it was fashionable, but because it mattered.”

Carrying the Legacy Forward

Each edition of the memorial lecture adds to a growing body of ideas that reflect Dr Balachandran’s belief in relevance, intellectual honesty, and future readiness. It reinforces the idea that strong institutions are sustained not only by what they build, but by the questions they continue to ask.

At Great Lakes Institute of Management, the Dr Bala V. Balachandran Memorial Lecture remains a living expression of that commitment.

Incase you wish to watch the full lecture, please click on the link below: