Debapratim Purkayastha (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

: দেবপ্রতিম পুরকায়স্থ; born 1976) was a professor of strategy, academic leader and

case method The case method is a teaching approach that uses decision-forcing cases to put students in the role of people who were faced with difficult decisions at some point in the past. It developed during the course of the twentieth-century from its or ...

expert.

Early life and education

Purkayastha was born in

Hailakandi Hailakandi (pron:ˈhaɪləˌkʌndi) is a town and the district headquarters of Hailakandi district in the Indian state of Assam. Hailakandi is located at . Demography Bengali and Meitei ( Manipuri) are the official languages of this place. ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

, to Dilip Kumar Purkayastha, a bureaucrat and former Regional Passport Officer, and Anima Purkayastha. He spent most of his childhood and did his early education in

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

, completing his BSc from

Cotton College Cotton College was a Roman Catholic boarding school in Cotton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. It was also known as ''Saint Wilfrid's College''. The school buildings were centred on Cotton Hall, a country house used by religious communities fr ...

Gauhati University Gauhati University also known as GU, is a collegiate public state university located in Guwahati, Assam, India. It was established on 26 January 1948 under the provisions of an Act enacted by the Assam Legislative Assembly and is the oldest un ...

. Purkayastha completed his MBA from

Utkal University Utkal University (UU) is a public university in Bhubaneswar, Khordha, Odisha, and is the oldest university in the state, and the 17th-oldest university in India. The university was established in 1943 and was operating from Ravenshaw College ...

, and PhD from

Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), formerly KIIT, Bhubaneswar, is a private deemed university located in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. It was founded in 1992 as Industrial Training Institute in Bhubaneswar. In 2017 it was rename ...

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

Career and roles

Purkayastha joined ICFAI in 2006 after a stint in the pharmaceutical industry. Before that, he had worked in sales, sales force management and product management, at companies such as

Torrent Pharmaceuticals Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd, d/b/a Torrent Pharma is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical company, part of the Torrent Group and headquartered in Ahmedabad. It was promoted by U. N. Mehta, initially as Trinity Laboratories Ltd, and was lat ...

, Zydus Cadila, Themis Medicare, and

Hetero Drugs Hetero Drugs is an Indian pharmaceutical company and the world's largest producer of anti-retroviral drugs. Hetero's business includes APIs, generics, biosimilars, custom pharmaceutical services, and branded generics. Operations Hetero group em ...

. In addition to teaching Strategy at ICFAI Business School Hyderabad ( ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education,

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

), Purkayastha headed the IBS Case Research Center first as an Associate Dean, Dean and then as Director. His main areas of scholarship include

corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business industry self-regulation, self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropy, philanthropic, activist, or chari ...

as strategy; inclusive business models; and

social entrepreneurship Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to ...

. Purkayastha was also the consulting editor of ''Case Folio – The IUP Journal of Management Case Studies'', a member of the

Editorial Board The editorial board is a group of editors, writers, and other people who are charged with implementing a publication's approach to editorials and other opinion pieces. The editorials published normally represent the views or goals of the publicat ...

for ''Case Research Journal'', published by North American Case Research Association; and an Editorial Advisory Board member of ‘''The CASE Journal''’, the official journal of The CASE Association (published by the Emerald Group) and ‘''Case Focus''’, published by

The Case Centre The Case Centre, headquartered in Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedford, United Kingdom, and with its US office at Babson College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, is the independent home of the case method, with more than 500 member organisations ...

Awards and recognition

Purkayastha was conferred the 'Outstanding Contribution to the Case Method' award in 2015, from The Case Centre's executive committee. He was the youngest, and the first educator from India to receive this award. He was also the first educator from outside

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

to feature on the list of The Case Centre's all-time top authors list (covering 40 years, i.e., from 1974 to 2014) released in 2014. Purkayastha was The Case Centre's bestselling author every year since 2016, when the list was first made public. He was recognized for developing

case studies A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...

in different innovative topics and formats including

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

(

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

) format. For instance, in 2019, his case 'Turbulence on the Tarmac', illustrated by Sid Ghosh, won the 'Outstanding Compact Case' award from The Case Centre. Purkayastha's other awards are from the

Academy of Management An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the g ...

Association of MBAs The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is a global organisation headquartered in London, UK. It was founded in 1967 with the primary objective of accrediting Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs. Roles Based in London, AMBA is one of t ...

EFMD The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is an international not-for-profit association based in Brussels. Europe's largest network association in the field of management development, it has over 890 member organizations from acade ...

, CEEMAN, Emerald Group, North American Case Research Association,

oikos International oikos International is an international student organization focusing on economics and management education. Oikos International has 45 Local Chapters in 23 countries around the world. History The first oikos chapter, today known as oikos St. ...

, The Case Centre,

John Molson School of Business The John Molson School of Business, commonly known as John Molson, is a business school located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The John Molson School of Business was established in 1974 by Concordia University. Programs Undergraduate programs S ...

(

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

China Europe International Business School China Europe International Business School (CEIBS ( ) ) is a business school headquartered in Pudong, Shanghai, China. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Accra in Ghana, and Zurich in Switzerland. Established under an agreement ...

, AESE Business School,

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

, etc. In March 2018, Purkayastha received the Career360's “Faculty Research Awards”, which recognized India's top educators. The award was presented by

Prakash Javadekar Prakash Keshav Javadekar (born 30 January 1951) is an Indian politician and former parliamentarian. He served as the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change two times, from May 2014 to July 2016 and from May 2019 to July 2021. Java ...

, the then

Minister of Human Resource Development The Minister of EducationMinistry of Education – Official Website
Government of India. ...

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

. In 2021, Purkayastha won his eleventh Case Centre Awards, placing him just two awards behind the record thirteen awards won by Sumantra Ghosal.

Death

On 7 May 2021, Dr. Purkayastha passed away due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purkayastha, Debapratim 1976 births 2021 deaths Business school deans Business theorists Indian business writers Bestselling case authors Indian business theorists 21st-century Indian male writers 21st-century Indian non-fiction writers Indian male non-fiction writers People from Hailakandi district Gauhati University alumni Utkal University alumni Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology alumni Cotton College, Guwahati alumni 21st-century Indian economists