Cultural Intelligence in a Global Economy
November 21, 2008, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Tyser Auditorium, Room 1505, Van Munching Hall (note room change)
University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Akram R. Elias, President of Capital Communications Group, Inc., serves as a consultant to the U.S. Department of State, as well as to numerous private organizations such as Meridian International Center, Freedom House, the Institute of International Education and World Learning Inc. Mr. Elias gives in-depth briefings on American government, politics, culture and society to international delegates from around the world visiting the United States on special exchange programs. He also organizes training workshops and seminars to assist foreign dignitaries and executives in communicating more effectively with their American counterparts. Mr. Elias has worked with people from all over the world - from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. He's also an alumnus of the University of Maryland.

For more information, please contact Karen Watts at Smith School CIBER: kwatts@rhsmith.umd.edu  or 301-405-9477.

Innovation Strategies of Globally Competitive Indian Companies
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October 23, 2008, 1 - 2:30 p.m.
Robert H. Smith School of Business, Room 1520, Van Munching Hall
University of Maryland, College Park, MD

In their quest for global competitiveness, Indian companies have been adopting innovation strategies that are quite different from those followed by Indian companies in the past. These include product innovations to drive market growth based on superior value propositions targeted at the bottom of the pyramid; acquisition of foreign companies for access to advanced technology, new proprietary standards, and intellectual property; and adoption of best practices in product development and innovation. This talk will focus on these strategies using examples such as Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Biocon, Ranbaxy, and Moser Baer.

Rishikesha T. Krishnan is a Professor of Corporate Strategy & Policy at IIM Bangalore. His research interests are in strategy, innovation, and competitiveness. He has done studies at the firm, industry, and national levels related to innovation. Prof. Krishnan has degrees from IIT Kanpur, Stanford University, and IIM Ahmedabad. He is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.

Click here to see Dr. Krishnan's presentation

Investing in America -- The Indian Story
Thursday, August 21, 2008 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Robert H. Smith School of Business, 1128 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD

Organized by: U.S. India Business Council (USIBC) Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Smith School CIBER

The event is designed to showcase the positive contributions being made by Indian companies to the United States – through technology, innovation, employment generation, and other means. The USIBC-FICCI initiative highlights the top Indian companies operating in America including The Tata Group, Ranbaxy Laboratories, HCL Technologies, Mahindra USA, Satyam Computer Systems, Essar Group, Wockhardt USA, Thermax, ITC Group, Wipro, Essel Propack, and Jet Airways among others.

This is part of a series of events being organized by USIBC and FICCI across the United States. The Washington D.C. event is being held at the Smith School with the cooperation of CIBER.

RSVP: To attend the event, please send an email with your name, job title, organization, and email address to: USIBCEvents@uschamber.com.

For more information, please contact Karen Watts at Smith School CIBER: kwatts@rhsmith.umd.edu or 301-405-9477.

Smith CIBER Conference
Global Security: Challenges and Opportunities
Washington, D.C.: June 16-17, 2008

A conference for corporate and government executives, scholars, venture capitalists, and thought leaders addressing some of the most important challenges facing business and government today at home and abroad.

• Global security, enterprise resilience and international competitiveness
• Organizational responses to security challenges arising from catastrophic and disruptive events - natural, accidental, or deliberate
• Organizational defenses against data security and cybersecurity threats
• Opportunities arising from the 2008 Congressional appropriations for homeland security
• Breaking through the barriers of government procurement and VC funding
• Global security and technological innovation

An excellent line up of thought leaders and speakers from:

• University of Maryland
• Federal Government, including DHS and NSA
• Security solutions providers

Smith CIBER Conference
Doing Business and Managing Enterprises in China
College Park, Maryland
Five Saturdays: February 9 - February 23 - March 8 - March 29 - April 12, 2008

The Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) at Smith School is pleased to offer this highly topical executive seminar on "Doing Business and Managing Enterprises in China."

Smith CIBER Conference
Innovation and Globalization
College Park, MD: November 8-9, 2007

This is the second Smith CIBER symposium. The theme of the first symposium was "globalization and localization" and it was held on October 6, 2006.

Theme for the Second Symposium: incessant globalization, technology, and the recognition that intellect and talent are widely distributed around the world and are forcing organizations to rethink their innovation models. They are disaggregating their R&D activities and distributing innovation processes to offshore sites, strategic partners and global networks. Open innovation allows them to leverage multiple sources of creative ideas and perform the different stages of the R&D process wherever they can be best performed. Companies, however, face business and management challenges in their search for innovation, including loss of control over R&D, moral hazard on the part of external partners, and theft of intellectual property. Senior executives and top scholars from the globalization/innovation domain will explore and discuss these and related issues at the Globalization and Innovation Symposium. The event is open to students, faculty, and business and government executives.