India is rapidly emerging as a new Asian superpower, with a
growth rate that rivals China’s and that may well prove more
sustainable. In May, Smith MBA students got an up-close
understanding of the Indian economy during a 12-day field
study trip led by Anil Gupta, Ralph J. Tyser Professor of
Strategy and Organization and chair of the management and
organization department. It was the first field study trip
to India offered by the Smith School.
 Thirty-three
MBA students experienced a whirlwind tour of Indian
businesses across a wide range of industries, from IT to
healthcare, the Bombay Stock Exchange to Bollywood. They met
with the CEOs of 21 major companies, including IBM India,
Infosys Technologies, LG Electronics India, Citigroup India,
Novartis India, Apollo Hospitals Group, and Hindustan
Aeronautics, to discuss what the economic opportunities in
India meant for each of those companies.
Gupta, like many academics, believes that India is
becoming increasingly important, not just as a market in
itself, but as a way to transform the cost and technology
base of companies on a global basis. “By 2035, the world’s
three biggest economies are likely to be China, U.S. and
India, in that order,” says Gupta. “These economies are
linked in many ways, and those links are becoming stronger
every day. While there is an element of competition at the
national level, at the level of companies, there is
competitive advantage to be had in leveraging and
integrating the strengths of the U.S., China and India.”
Much of Smith’s academic curriculum now includes a
component dealing with internationalization. Smith’s new
Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)
will provide funding to help professors incorporate issues
dealing with globalization into their classes. Classroom
learning is important, but it can’t replicate the experience
of being in another country, meeting its business leaders
and experiencing its culture first-hand.
“Today, if you are a manager and you don’t understand
what is happening in the global economic arena, your
knowledge base is woefully inadequate,” says Gupta. “It is
an absolute fact that if you don’t have a good understanding
of the major rapid-growth economies—which will become the
major economies of tomorrow—you are short-changing
yourself.”
Opportunity for Alumni: Smith is sponsoring a field study
trip to which alumni are invited » |
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MBA student Chris
Kelley kept a blog on his India experience. Here’s an
excerpt:
Thursday, May 25
Our final visit of the day was to IBM’s India Research Lab.
Here, Dr. P. “Go Terps” Gopalakrishnan showed us how a
Maryland alum gets things done around here. IBM has eight
labs throughout the world with some 3,000 research staff.
These folks back up the IBM consultants with specialized
research and development on an as-needed and, in some cases,
pre-emptive basis. One interesting recent project involved
meeting the needs of a global workforce through the
development of Global Delivery Services.
Tuesday, May 30
For me, the ultimate site visit came earlier today, when we
got to see the epitome of the Indian new economy: Infosys.
Not only did we get to see this amazing complex in
Bangalore, but we met with the man himself, Narayana Murthy,
Chairman and Co-Founder of Infosys Technologies Ltd. Today,
with over half a lakh employees and revenues of over Rs.
9,500 crore (that’s 50,000+ emps and $2.1 billion to you and
me), Infosys is a leader of the Indian economy. We visited
the Bangalore complex, which is the corporate headquarters
and impressive in its own right, with multiple eating
establishments, golf course, swimming pools, libraries,
dormitories. It was truly amazing. Perhaps even more
amazing: the largest Infosys campus at Mysore is supposed to
trump this one exponentially. Wow!
Our final visit today was with Mr.
Nishith Desai of Nishith Desai Associates. This law firm
serves the global market on issues dealing with Indian law
and taxation. A key resource for MNCs and foreign investors,
the firm has offices on multiple continents. In fact, in an
ironic twist, while we were visiting the firm in Bangalore,
Mr. Desai was teleconferencing with us from Boston. The
world is flat, baby! |
