Venkataraman S

Prof. Venkataraman is a Fellow (and MBA) of Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, and has been a Visiting Doctoral Scholar at S. C. Johnson School of Business, Cornell University, USA. Prior to joining academics, he has worked in the industry for around 20 years serving in various leadership positions. His specializations include corporate sustainability, international business, and entrepreneurship. He was formerly a Senior Director at CRISIL Ltd, the largest rating agency in India and a subsidiary of the globally recognized rating agency Standard & Poor’s. Over a span of 20 years, Venkat led various businesses within CRISIL and garnered extensive experience in credit ratings, advisory services, equity grading’s, risk management, credit risk models, business restructuring, valuation, infrastructure privatization, securitization and corporate governance evaluations. He has been closely involved with CariCRIS, the world’s first regional credit rating agency based in the Caribbean, having served as its founding CEO and Chief Rating Officer of CariCRIS from 2004-2007.

Education

• Ph.D. (Strategic Management), Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
• Visiting Doctoral Scholar, Cornell University, USA
• PGDM. Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
• B.E.(Hons) (Mech), National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli

Research Areas

• Corporate Sustainability
• Influence of culture on strategy
• Entrepreneurship & Intrapreneurship

Other Professional Appointments

• Independent Director: The Caribbean Information & Credit Rating Services Ltd (CariCRIS), T&T: (2010 to present)
• Co-Chairman, Banking & Finance Committee, Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (2002-03 & 2003- 2004)
• Member, Expert sub-committee on Risk Management, Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (2003-04)
• Member, Helpdesk Knowledge Map on MFI ratings constituted by the Consultative Group to Aid the Poorest (CGAP), World Bank (2004-2009)

Corporate / Public Sector Leadership

• Independent Director: The Caribbean Information & Credit Rating Services Ltd, T&T (2010 - present)
• Senior Director, CRISIL Ltd (2007 - 2010)
• CEO & Chief Rating Officer, Caribbean Information & Credit rating Services Ltd., T&T. (2004 - 2007)
• Director, CRISIL Ratings (2001 - 2004)
• Head, CRISIL Financial Sector Ratings (2000 - 2001)
• Head, CRISIL Advisory Services, Banking & Infrastructure (1995 - 2000)
• Group Leader, CRISIL Ratings (1992-1995)

Conferences, Seminars & Talks

• Venkataraman S. & Ray S. (2017). A Content Analysis of Sustainability Reporting to frame the Heterogeneity in Corporate Environment Sustainability Practices (19th International Conference of Environmentally Sustainable Development April 2017, Boston)
• Lecture on 'Perspectives on Corporate Sustainability', 2017 CEMS Block Seminar, IIM Calcutta
• Venkataraman S., Chaudhuri B. R. & Ray S. (2016) 'Unpacking The Heterogeneity In Corporate Social Responsibility Practices: Exploring An Integrated Perspective' (CSR Conference, Sep 2016, Berlin)
• Guest lecture on 'Cultural Values: Hofstede, GLOBE and Schwartz Models' - International Business Management course coordinated by Prof. Ramya Venkateswaran, IIM Calcutta
• Lecture on 'Corporate Sustainability', 2016 CEMS Block Seminar, IIM Calcutta
• Presentation on Corporate Sustainability to Senior executives of PSUs - 2014 Global Corporate / Public Sector Leadership Development Programme, IIM Calcutta coordinated by Prof. Sougata Ray
• Venkataraman S. & Balachandran S. (2013). Sustainability Orientation of Firms A Multi-Context Exploration of Patterns in Corporate Sustainability (SMS Annual Conference, Sep 2013, Atlanta)
• Venkataraman S. & Chakrabarti A. (2013). Multinational Corporations and Sustainability: A Preliminary Investigation of Corporate Sustainability Strategies in Multiple Contexts (SMS Special India Conference, Dec 2013, Chandigarh)
• Ray S., Balachandran S. & Venkataraman S. (2013). Does Choice of Competitive Strategy Influence Performance of Emerging Economy Firms? Evidences from India (SMS Annual Conference, Sep 2013, Atlanta)
• Chakrabarti A., Ray S., Venkataraman S. & Ghosh A. (2013). Fuelling the Firm Ownership and Performance Debate in Emerging Economies: Puzzling Evidences from India (SMS Special India Conference, Dec 2013, Chandigarh)
• Venkataraman S. & Das R (2012). Strategic Decision Making Process in an Evolving Social Media Environment. (Organization Science Conference, Feb 2012, Colorado)
• Conference Chair, Corporate Risk Management Congress, Mumbai, January 2011
• Perspectives on Indian Equity Market': S&P Asia Outlook Seminar, Mumbai, August 2009
• Microfinance Institutions -Cracking the Capital Markets in South Asia', ACCION Conference, New Delhi, April 2008
• CariCRIS and Credit ratings in the Caribbean: Positive Strides': Presentation to the CARICOM Central Bank Governors Meeting, Guyana, May 2007
• Lessons from MFI Rating business models'- IDB-CGAP Forum, Bolivia, Oct 2005
• Leveraging International capital markets for Caribbean corporations' - Euromoney Conference, Barbados, April 2005
• Credit Ratings in Microfinance' - Women?s World Banking Capital Market Workshop, Amsterdam, November 2004
• Governance, Transparency & Accountability'- KfW Financial Sector Development Symposium : Berlin, November 2004
• A Regional credit rating agency for the Caribbean'- RBTT Bank Investor Conference, Miami, September 2004
• Inaugural address' - MBA Class of 2006, Rajagiri School of Management, Ernakulam, July 2004
• Issues in the development of an active secondary market for debt in the Caribbean' - LatinFinance-Euromoney Conference, Port of Spain -May 2004
• Credit Risk Management under Basle-II', University of West Indies Conference on Banking and Financial Markets, Port of Spain -April 2004
• Credit Rating for MFIs - Rating agency perspectives'- CGAP Feedback Forum, Brussels, May 2003

Academic Positions

Visiting Doctoral Scholar, S.C.Johnson School of Business, Cornell University, USA

Awards

• Recipient of Fulbright-Nehru Doctoral Research Scholarship in 2014-15 to be a full-time visiting doctoral scholar at the S.C. Johnson School of Business at Cornell University, USA
• Awarded the Strategic Management Society (SMS) scholarship that accompanied selection to the doctoral consortium at the 2013 Annual Strategic Management Society Conference.
• Submission selected at the 2013 ISB-Ivey Case Competition as one of the few cases chosen for publishing as an Ivey case
• Awarded 3rd Prize in ISB Case Chase Competition # 12 - 2012