Plagiarism Charge on IIPM

An USA Today article on the increasing incidence of plagiarism on the internet and blogosphere states that IIPM had featured an article written by Jack and Suzy Welch (for BusinessWeek) without giving any credit to the author or the magazine. Next time IIPM invites Jack Welch for a guest lecture, you know what would be the answer.

A July 3 column written for BusinessWeek by former General Electric CEO Jack Welch and his wife, Suzy, was posted on the Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM) site from New Delhi. There was no attribution to either BusinessWeek or the Welches, only a photo that appeared with the column of professor Arindam Chaudhuri, a business guru and best-selling author in India who works for IIPM.

When USA TODAY tried to contact Chaudhuri by e-mail on July 21, the e-mail was forwarded to Naveen Chamoli, dean of IIPM's Centre for Planning and Entrepreneurship. Chamoli e-mailed back saying that Chaudhuri was traveling, inaccessible and had nothing to do with the Welch column being posted beneath his photo.

Chamoli said in his e-mail that IIPM has rights to the Welch column through the New York Times News Service/Syndicate. Chamoli said in a subsequent e-mail that a Welch byline was added after the USA TODAY inquiry because, "others could be confused."

Jack and Suzy Welch, on vacation, had no comment.