Fierce competition seems to be giving way to mutually beneficial co-operation between the Big Two in the B-school pantheon.

The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) in Calcutta and Ahmedabad have sidestepped a tradition of rivalry to organise joint conferences on the state of management education in the country, the second of which will be hosted by the Joka campus later this week.

“Who better than the top B-schools in the country to deliberate on management education in the country? Can’t wait for it to start,” said an IIM Calcutta teacher of the October 14-15 event.

The first of the conferences on the IIM Ahmedabad campus in July had seen leaders in management education discuss how to make education imparted at various management institutes more relevant to the needs of emerging economies.

The theme of the second set of joint conferences is Meeting the Challenges of Globalisation.

According to the IIM Calcutta teacher, everything from curriculum to exchange programmes would be discussed at the brainstorming sessions. The collaborative approach of the top two B-schools has already triggered a buzz among the management fraternity, in whose eyes the lines between IIM-A and IIM-C are clearly defined.

“This initiative can rightly be touted as a major step in converting covert bitterness between the two B-schools into overt bonhomie,” said a faculty member.

One of the triggers for rivalry between the top two B-schools is the placement season. The two B-schools compete not just in terms of the nature of jobs and the stature of companies recruiting the best B-brains, but also engage in a battle of big pay cheques for their graduates.

The rift has widened because of the practice of jumping the gun while deciding on the placement roster despite an informal agreement between IIM-A, B (Bangalore) and C regarding who would start placements first.

“IIM-A and C have always been at odds over placements with each trying to go one-up on the other,” said an IIM-C official.

The method of pedagogy followed in the two institutes is also different. While IIM-A focuses on a case study-based approach, the Joka campus stresses more on concepts and quantitative skills. ‘That is where the rivalry starts,” said an IIM-C veteran.

The joint conferences are, however, not the first instance of the two B-schools coming together. The institutes had joined hands in 2004 when Murli Manohar Joshi, the then human resource development minister, asked the six IIMs to cut their annual fees to Rs 30,000 from Rs 1.5 lakh.

But the bonhomie did not last long. IIM-A allegedly disregarded an informal agreement between the directors of the institutes to maintain a uniform fee structure.