Following the unforeseeable Iranian economic downturn in 1950s and the consequent national
crisis in industries, an institution called the ‘Iranian Industries Guidance Center’ was formed.
The studies conducted by this center during and after the crisis indicated that, after entering
the growth stage, the industrial enterprises established by creative, entrepreneurial, daring
individuals could not use the unofficial, common, or traditional methods. Therefore, the
establishment of an institution was proposed; one that would empower managers and equip them
with necessary tools. Our institute was initially founded within this center in the early 1960s,
in a primary attempt to help with the national industrial development. It began its endeavors
with a change in from, goals, and title – ‘Industrial Management Institute’. The board members
of the institute included representatives of the Plan and Budget Organization, the Ministry of
Industry, and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The affiliated laboratories of that are what
we know today as ISIRI (Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran).
In its early years, IMI benefitted from the services of foreign consultants, the ‘Industrial
Development’ agency of the United Nations (UNIDO) in particular, and managed to offer its own
services, as well as to promote technology. With an overview on the performance within this
period however, IMI managers decided to instead of sufficing to ‘guidance’ services only, take
responsibility for the outcomes of consultees’ implementation of the modern methods recommended
by IMI consultants; thus, IMI began cooperating with local consultants and engineers, adopted
the ‘offering specialized management consulting services’, and focused their specialized
services on value creation for the clients, while receiving a share in the profit in return for
the consultation services. Therefore, IMI as an autonomous organization that receives no budget
from the government, based its existence on the principle of value creation for the client.
In the late 1950s, IMI began its educational activities by holding ‘manager training’ joint
courses with the Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. These degree for these M.S. courses
were issued by Wharton School – constantly a top 3 in global business colleges rankings. These
were held for 8 times right up to Iran’s Islamic Revolution 1979.
In the early 1960s, IMI’s active presence within international environments – including its role
in the establishment of the APO (Asian Productivity Organization), extensive interactions with
world’s elite scholars such as Peter F. Drucker, benefitting the services of top-notch
international experts such as Russell L. Ackoff, as well as reforming the internal management
structure and systems of the institute (which was the most advanced in the country at the time)
– accelerated the development of the services and transformed the institute into a specialized
force that refrormed/developed the enterprises, modernized the nationwide traditional managerial
approaches, and promoted the scientific approaches in order to train competent managers.
Despite the drastic changes in Iran’s industrial environment in the post-revolution era and
during the 8 years of imposed war with Iraq (1980-1988), IMI kept true to its mission as the
analytical expert and worked shoulder to shoulder with revolutionary bodies – such as the
charity Mostaz’afan Foundation, Jihad of Construction Organization, and the War Survivors’
Foundations – in conducting related research projects in order to utilize the scientific
capacities and resolve the national issues in a time of crisis.
After the war and during the reconstruction era, IMI played its role in: executing industrial
development projects, determining the scientific/academic management needs at national level,
promoting modern management approaches, providing practical professional education for managers
while facilitating their access to the latest concepts and applied methods, offering
multi-dimensional complex services, and helping industrial factories in launch stages.
IMI is a prominent institution with an extensive local and regional impact range and
proceedings, which will undoubtedly act as an invaluable institutional capacity for nationwide
development and progress. These proceedings include: producing over 4,000 management
consulting/research projects during the post-war reconstruction era, designing numerous national
projects, various extensive educational activities (especially within an autonomous and
independent from government budget framework), etc.
In the late 1970s, IMI relied on the experience of having previously held manager training
courses and aimed for pioneering the executive management master’s degree courses in Iran, which
was officially launched in 1994 after the necessary act was passed by the Supreme Council of the
Cultural Revolution and the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.
The IMI Publications was founded in 1985 under the IMI certification, aiming to promote the
management science through publishing related books. It soon found its place, and was regarded
as a reputable Iranian publisher in the management field, so that most of their books became the
main sources for many different management educational stages. IMIP’s efforts throughout the
years have resulted in the production and publication of over 300 titles in various managerial
fields, including HR, strategies, finance, leadership, production and execution, IT, and
knowledge management.
IMI consistently seeks out activities, plans, and method that are innovative and effective in
developing the nation’s management capacities. An example of those activities is the
establishment of the Managers’ Lounge in January 1997. The mission of Managers’ Lounge, in
general, is to promote the continuation and development of ‘Life Long Learning’, and to
strengthen the links and communications between organizations and businesses.
In 1998, IMI began the IMI-100 program to determine the top 100 Iranian companies. Using the
financial statements of the previous year, all Iranian companies were ranked based on their
sales index, and consequently the top 100 companies were announced. Since then, IMI has
endeavored to add to the number of indexes and to make the IMI-100 database more comprehensive
every year.
Since 1993, the Iranian National [Organizational] Excellence Award (INEA) has been awarded based
on the assessments of the managerial approaches and systems in organizations and their
successful outcomes. The assessment is conducted by an elite group of assessors according to the
‘Organizational Excellence Model’ – which determines any organization’s status in terms of
meeting the expectations of the model. This award is intended to:
- a. Create a competitive environment in order for enterprises to achieve organizational
excellence,
- b. Encourage organizations to opt for self-assessment, and to recognize their fortes as well
as their improvable aspects,
- c. Create a proper atmosphere for sharing success stories and experiences.
The Human Resources Development Conference is the most important scientific event of the field
in Iran. It has been held annually since 1993 with the mission to raise general awareness
towards promoting the HR management status within the Iranian organizations and enterprises, as
well as providing the basis for the human capital to flourish.
In 2004, IMI began holding its PhD course in joint cooperation with the University of Bordeaux.
After two years of successful PhD courses, initiated a DBA specialist doctorate course in 2007,
and in 2009, for the first time in Iran, started Post-MBA and Post-DBA courses for MBA graduate
managers, in order to meet the need for keeping these manager up-to-date.
IMI today, with well-over half a century of experience in education, research, and consulting,
has managed to educate tens of thousands of Iranian managers, raise their levels of
technical/scientific skills, provide opportunities for both public and private bodies to promote
their knowledge and abilities and to achieve their missions by exploiting IMI’s
research/consultation capacities. Also, IMI has consistently introduced the newest global
managerial issues and topics.
As an independent, professional, and pioneering organization in ranking the enterprises and in
order to fulfill its mission, IMI began ranking the enterprises – active in the industry/mining,
power plants, oil, gas, and petrochemicals fields – that have the background or ability to work
in the EPC framework, since 2012.
In this regard, based on the institute’s background and experience in designing and executing
rankings in various fields and topic, an agreement between IMI and the Ministry of Industry,
Mines and Trade was concluded that designated IMI as the official reference for ranking the
EPC-compatible enterprises.
In 2015 and after 2 years of research, IMI implemented the National Energy Management Award
process, based on the agreement concluded with the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Organization, Iran Fuel Conservation Company, the Energy Technology Development Headquarters
(under the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology), and the Institute of Standards &
Industrial Research of Iran.