Dr.R.V.Gopalakrishnan was a Faculty Member of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore during 1977-'84; he is now a Management Process Consultant, facilitating improvements in organisational performance through interventions on areas such as cost reduction & value engineering, world-class productivity, fast cycle time management and front-line supervision.

He has had the distinction of leading the first National Workshop on 'Value Engineering/ Value Analysis' in 1982, organised by BHEL & BPE - New Delhi, and later the first Workshops for the State Public Sector Executives, organised by Andhra Pradesh PEMB and Karnataka State BPE. He was the Chairman of the Indian Value Engineering Society - Karnataka Chapter; he has received the 'Outstanding Contribution to Value Management' award from the Society of Indian Value Management in 1989.

A B.E.(Mech.Engg) from the Madras University, Dr.Gopalakrishnan went to U.K. on an Assam Oil - CSIR Scholarship and obtained his Ph.D. from the Glasgow University for his research work on 'Dust Suppression'. Back in India, he gained rich experience in Industries during 1963-'77, viz. in cost & operations at Esso (now Hindustan Petroleum),in projects & works management at Hindustan Lever and in profit - centre management at RTC Group of Industries.

As a Management Educator at IIM-B & thereafter, he has inducted a large number of practising Executives & their Organisations into the 'Value Engineering/ Value Management Team Approach', among others. His 'Clients' include not only PSUs, such as BHEL, BHPV, Hutti Gold Mines, ITI and NGEF, but also Private Enterprises such as Best & Crompton, JK Paper, Lucas-TVS, Modi Rubber and Thermax.

Dr.Gopalakrishnan has led 33 Ordnance Factories & their Joint Consultative Machineries on to a participatory approach for improving their Unit-level productivity. Among his talks on Management issues, 'Managing Our Time Better' broadcast from AIR- Bangalore in 1979 was the most popular. He has published a number of articles, the most recent in 1999 being 'Value Vistas for the 21st Century' and 'Compress Cycle Times, Compete Far Better'.