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What are the books IIM A, B, and C follow for finance, marketing, strategy and operations management?
books used at IIM A, B, C for key subjects:
Finance: Brealey, Myers & Allen (Corporate Finance), Damodaran on Valuation, Ross Westerfield Jordan (Fundamentals of Corporate Finance)
Marketing: Kotler & Keller (Marketing Management), Keller (Strategic Brand Management), HBR case collections
Strategy: Porter (Competitive Strategy, Competitive Advantage), Grant (Contemporary Strategy Analysis), Collis & Montgomery
Operations Management: Chase, Aquilano & Jacobs (Operations Management), Chopra & Meindl (Supply Chain Management)
Organizational Behavior: Robbins & Judge (Organizational Behavior)
Economics/Macro: Mankiw, Dornbusch Fischer
IIMs primarily use the case method — Harvard Business School cases form a large part of the curriculum across all subjects. the textbooks above supplement case discussions. HBR case collection is essentially the core material. IIM Ahmedabad especially is known for its case-heavy pedagogy. buy the textbooks but spend most preparation time on cases and their analytical frameworks.
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IIM A/B/C course books — this is a surprisingly specific question that has a useful answer for MBA aspirants who want to prepare ahead or understand the curriculum.
Finance:
- Corporate Finance: Brealey, Myers & Allen — "Principles of Corporate Finance" (standard text across all top IIMs).
- Financial Accounting: Horngren, Sundem, Elliott — "Introduction to Financial Accounting." Also used at IIM B specifically.
- Investment: Bodie, Kane, Marcus — "Investments."
Marketing:
- Philip Kotler's "Marketing Management" (global edition) — universal. IIM faculty have contributed to the Indian edition specifically.
- IIM Ahmedabad case library (HBS-style) — most marketing learning happens through case studies, not textbooks.
Strategy:
- Porter, Michael E. — "Competitive Strategy" (IIM A specifically). "What is Strategy" (HBR article by Porter — a must-read).
- Hitt, Ireland, Hoskisson — "Strategic Management" used at IIM B.
Operations Management:
- Gaither & Frazier — "Operations Management." Also Chase, Aquilano, Jacobs.
Reality check: At IIMs, case studies (from IIM Ahmedabad Case Centre, Harvard Business Publishing) are more central than textbooks in most courses. The books above are references — classroom learning is case-discussion based.
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The books followed by IIMs depend upon the faculty and the specific courses being taught.
Here are the commonly recommended books for these subjects-
- Finance-
- Principles of Corporate Finance by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, and Franklin Allen
- Financial Management: Theory and Practice by Prasanna Chandra
- Security Analysis and Portfolio Management by Donald E. Fischer and Ronald J. Jordan
- Investments by Zvi Bodie, Alex Kane, and Alan J. Marcus
- Corporate Finance: A Focused Approach by Michael C. Ehrhardt and Eugene F. Brigham
- Marketing-
- Marketing Management by Philip Kotler
- Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being by Michael R. Solomon
- Strategic Brand Management by Kevin Lane Keller
- Marketing Metrics: The Definitive Guide to Measuring Marketing Performance by Paul W. Farris, Neil T. Bendle, Phillip E. Pfeifer, and David J. Reibstein
- The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting, Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott
- Strategy-
- Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors by Michael E. Porter
- Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne
- Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters by Richard P. Rumelt
- The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen
- The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries
- Operations Management-
- Operations Management by Jay Heizer and Barry Render
- Production and Operations Management by R. B. Khanna
- Operations Strategy by Nigel Slack and Michael Lewis
- The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
- The Toyota Way: 14 Management Principles from the World's Greatest Manufacturer by Jeffrey K. Liker
This list is not fixed for IIM A, B, C, or any other IIM. The professors at each IIM have their own preference list of the books and resources for their respective course.
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At IIM ABC, textbooks aren’t the primary source of learning. Textbooks are used more as reference material. Students mostly learn through classroom and case studies. Here are the books that are generally recommended for Finance, marketing, Strategy, and Operation Management.
- Accounting by Anthony, Hawkins, and Merchant
- Principle of Marketing - Philip Kotler
- Operations Management - Stevenson
- Economics - Paul Samuelson
- Microeconomics - Paul Krugman
- Macroeconomics - Dornbusch, Fisher and Startz
- Competitive Strategy - Michael E Porter
These are the reference books used in the first year.
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Textbooks aren’t the main source of learning for IIM A, B, C. Students get to learn the most in the classroom. Textbooks are used as reference materials. Although the institutes often recommend textbooks. Students are also provided with individual copies of these textbooks.
- Corporate Finance by Charles Horngren
- Accounting by Anthony, Hawkins, and Merchant
- Legal Aspects of Business by Akhileshwar Pathak
- Human Resource Management by Gary Dessler and Biju Varkkey
- Marketing by Kotler
- Microeconomics by Prof Satish Deodhar
- A first course in Probability by Sheldon Ross
These are some of the textbooks for the first year. Although you should keep in mind that most of the learning at IIM happens in the classroom through peer interaction. While studying these textbooks will teach you a lot, these can’t be substituted for the 2 years of learning at these institutes.
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