Small Industry Extension Training Institute

According to Singh, one of the adverse affects of the VRS introduced by Prabhakaran was that many faculty members opted for it, and the result was a mismatch between faculty members and support staff. The employee strength was skewed towards supporting staff. This was not good for a training institute. With the flight of good faculty, SIETI had to depend on part-time consultants. But, the strength of an institute depends on the quality of full time faculty, and to build its brand SIETI has to do some serious rethinking in this regard. As Prabhakaran said, "Increasing competition demands that SIETI build its brand as quickly as possible." SIETI's principal clients were from the small scale sector, which could not afford to spend huge amounts on training their employees.

By the time Venkatraman finished studying the evolution of SIETI, his dilemma had deepened further. What would be the appropriate course of action for SIETI to grow in the future?

How could SIETI regain its lost glory? These were the questions on Venkatraman's mind and he hoped the meeting with the top management of the institute the next day would provide a clear direction to the institute for its future activities.