Kurian’s Cochin airport success story is B-school case study nowShaju Philip

Kerala cadre IAS officer V J Kurian’s toil in building the Cochin International Airport Limited...

Kerala cadre IAS officer V J Kurian’s toil in building the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), India’s first green field airport in the private-public partnership, is now a case study for B-school brainstorming on managerial issues related to corporate leadership and ethics.

The case study “VJ Kurian & the CIAL Saga,” was written by Professors, P Rameshan and S Jeyavelu, of IIM-Kozhikode, and sponsored by BASF, a German chemical MNC, under its ‘Million Minds Project’. BASF had undertaken the ‘Million Minds Project’ to spread the message of fighting corruption to one million Indian citizens. The study was also meant to inspire the young generation to fight corruption. According to Prof Rameshan, it may be the first B-school authored case study in the country based on a single professional stint of a bureaucrat. He said the case study, recently completed, would be used for class room discussions in B-schools that follow the case study method.

The study delves on Kurian who fought against all odds to set up a green-field airport that was destined to distinguish itself as a rare success story in public-private partnership in India. “The man was full of ideas, often totally novel. He knew how to implement them through team work and with the confidence of everyone in the organisation,” said the case study.

The case narrates the victory of strong determination, persistence, leadership, financial discipline and the ability to translate ideas and plans into reality under tough situations and in the shadow of vested political interests. Kurian’s innings at the CIAL gives hope to everyone, the study said.

Kurian, who was in-charge of the project since its embryonic stage, was shown the door soon after the airport became operational in 1999. His is also the story of a CEO who returned to the company he built brick by brick. He was brought back as the CIAL MD in 2003, when it was bogged down by a financial crisis.