01/15 Farewell SDM

Our last classroom discussion centered around the topic of e-governance in India but it was quite a dry lecture. Monotonous thoughts one after the other. However, the textbook reading due today which we were quizzed on had interesting points. One particular excerpt on the famous Filipino fast-food corp., Jollibee had me wondering about Indian fast-food. Was there an Indian fast-food chain?---and McDonald's in India doesn't count (so far, McDonald's has been the only one drastically tailoring its food to the Indian culture. Surprisingly, the food at Pizza Hut, Subway, and Domino's Pizza have remained fairly Americanized.)

01/14 Press Conference at SDM

Today at SDM several journalists from various Karnataka newspaper companies came to interview us. Their questions ranged from our perspective of the Indian culture, SDM Institute, Indian business approaches, and the differences between the MBA program in the US to the one provided at SDM, and the American perspective of outsourcing, offshoring, and expatriate opportunities for Americans in India. Gene, Mary, Harvey, and Nancy represented our crew well. After the press heard our thoughts, they asked some of the SDM students questions.

One of the issues I have since thought about is the Indian educational perspective. Culturally, Indians hold high educational standards- at least those that can afford it. Students choose areas of study that will better their social status and favorably represent their family. Consequently the nation is regarded as the second largest reservoir of engineers, scientists, managers, and skilled personal to China.

With this ambition there is high competition. BEING INDIAN by Pavan K Varma explains this competition best in the following excerpt from a chapter titled Wealth: The myth of other worldliness: "Indian guaranteed only the survival of the fittest; the opportunities were few, the level playing fields fewer, and the people seeking the same breakthroughs many. For every success story there are hundreds who failed and thousands waiting to compete. " (Pg. 72) During the press conference many of the students voiced the high degree of pressure they felt to succeed, be placed with a company, and score extremely high on their tests. In one session, Ramesh gave our class an example of the high degree of competition Indian students encounter. Lets say, of 250,000 test takers there are only 1500 entrance seats to the 6 most important schools! Ramesh also explained that in Indian culture there are a series of questions- which family, which school, which college, which company...

01/11 Infosys Global Educational Center Tour

While walking on the grounds of Infosys Development Center, I totally forgot I was in Mysore. In just a few yards our group stepped onto a premise of luxurious state-of-the-art facilities. Alarmingly, I felt like we were touring a movie set or something-were the lush grass and gardens real?-were we really walking past a bowling alley, tennis court, pool, and movie theater?!?!

Throughout the tour, I kept thinking about how intimidating the $140 million campus was and how I would feel if I had been an SDM student applying for the company. Friedman's reaction described in his fifth chapter, titled AMERICA & FREE TRADE: Is Ricardo Still Right?,
perfectly explains how I kind of felt, "They-the Infosys employees-all looked as if they had scored 1,600 on their SATs, and I felt a real mind-eye split overtaking me." (Pg 263)

01/10 Larsen & Tourser Limited Tour

Upon our arrival, LT Limited provided us with one of the best lunches! Catered, expensive Indian food. One of the most memorable parts of this tour-besides the wooden elephant gift-was their department working on a cell phone game. An Indian LT engineer and programmer showed us the game he and his team were creating and my jaw dropped! This game had graphics and effects like those of N64 and PS2. And it was on a cell phone (if I recall correctly a Motorola)! Immediately, I thought about my $20 Nokia cell phone and three most basic games on it: Tetris, Pinball, and Zuma. Lame. In conclusion, good work American wireless handset corp for outsourcing your business function to one India's largest engineering and constructive conglomerates.
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One of Friedman's statements from the chapter titled THE UNTOUCHABLES keeps lingering in my thoughts. Friedman quotes the famous analyst, David Rothkopf, in the following to clarify a point about outsourcing: "Most jobs are not lost outsourcing to India or China—most lost jobs are outsourced to the past."(Pg. 280) If only it were that easy to explain to those in America who have lost their jobs due to outsourcing...

01/08 Post-purchase dissonance

A while ago, Rajiv's cousin took some of us to the one of the best stores in Mysore. All three levels of the government facility were packed with goodies. Initially it seemed like we hit the jackpot but shortly after paying, the post-purchase dissonance began! In my consumer behavior class we discussed the six stages of consumer's buying process:

1. problem recognition
2. information search
3. evaluation of alternatives
4. purchase decision
5. actual purchase
6. post-purchase evaluation

Since our last shopping extravaganza, I have concluded this. We all recognized the need for souvenirs and precious mementos. Then we began looking for various shops; next we had to determine which stores were credible and which were not (since all the prices seemed significantly inexpensive). After making some decisions and purchasing the items we began to reflect on all our treasures.Unable to casually return items, like we are so accustomed to doing, we reluctantly justified our Indian souvenirs. Okay, so I am slightly exaggerating. These gifts were from India-and when would we ever return? Who really wants a gift from Target anyways, if they could get something from India.

Satisfaction through justification.

Ramson's Shop had quite the stock of trinkets. From precious stones to silk journals to sandal wood figures- sarees-rugs-wall hangings--you name it, they had it! All items were reasonably priced, the only obstacle will be getting it back to the US. While Pavan K. Varma wrote in BEING INDIAN that, "Contrary to the notion that Indians are spiritual, they are really material minded," I felt like us Americans were the material-minded ones buying some many items...

01/07 Welcome to the Jungle

Three hours from Mysore rests the quiant jungle resort and lodge called Kabini. With several cabins located near the Kabini River, visitors are able to go on safari rides to see all kinds of wildlife...from elephants and monkeys to crocodilles and peacocks! There are even felines such as tigers and leapords in the resort area. The actual lodging premise apparently resembles the typical British-colonial lodging; and near the wide screened-in gazebo (eating area) are two gigantic hammocks facing the shoreline of the river. Supported by five or six trees these hammocks would be an adventurous grade-school kid's dream. No joke. A group of us wide-eyed and gitty threw our bags on the ground and ran for the enormous spider-like web. And guess what, the hammock easily held all 10 of us! We all just laid there soaking up rays of sunlight.

Kabini has become my retreat. Finally, it's my chance to escape the obnoxious city noise and pungent polluted air. Relaxing in rural countryside of India. Beneath the bright starry sky most of us felt the ease of complete isolation from the rest of the world...the key word is most of us. Shortly after arriving to the lodge, Harvey and Gene's blackberries began buzzing. Email after email. A world away from their offices and co-workers, these two are still unable to escape work. 24/7/365 connection.

I am reminded of Friedmen's chapter titled THE STEROIDS: Digital, Mobile, Personal, and Virtual every time Harvey, Gene, or Todd whip out their blackberries or iPhone and rattle off football scores, news reports, the Minnesota weather temperature, or the name of some club listed in Mysore. In Friedman's chapter he describes his train ride from Tokyo to Mishima. While he gazes out the window, soaking in the exotic Japanese countryside, his comrade is completely sucked into his wireless connectivity. Emails and updates, of course. Friedman goes on to elaborate his theory of THE STEROIDS in the following:

"the new technologies that amplify and turbo charge all the other flatteners. They are taking all the forms of collaboration highlighted in this section--outsourcing, offshoring, uploading, supply-chain, insourcing, and in-forming and making it possible to do each and everyone of them in a way this is digital, mobile, virtual, and personal."(pg. 187)

01/06 Energizer bunnies: we just kept touring and touring and touring...

At the crack of dawn A.R. led our crew on an all day touristy-excursion. Our agenda involved stops at all of the following:

• Chamundi Hill Temple & Bull statue
  

• Mysore Golden Palace


• St. Philiamina Church


• Summer Palace of Tipu Sultan


• Bird Sanctuary


• Birndaben Gardens along the Karisna Rajana Reservior

By the time our group made it to the summer palace my brain was fried from all the historical information. Thankfully, during our stop at the Bird Sanctuary we went on a lovely row boat ride. At one point Dan, Felix, and I were in reach of a crocodile. Okay, I am slightly exaggerating. I guess you be the judge of this picture :)

01/05 AT&S Tour & Flattener #6

Parented by an Austrian Company, ATS Circuit Boards manufacturers circuit boards. Check out their website http://www.ats.net/en/ats_index.php

The tour through each department has been the most fascinating. First, the guide showed us the various metal cutouts and sizes used to start the process. Then, we walked through an area where a handful of high tech machines created the particular design for the circuit board. From there on out our group shuffled through the different departments that added components to each circuit board---compressing->plating->sealant step->cutting->examining for defaults->shipping to Austria. (Ironically, while I was listening to the explanation of each step in the process, I kept thinking about how every circuit board looked like an architectural layouts! I sware...mini city and garden plans were everywhere.)

The AT&S in Mysore, India is a perfect example of offshoring. Friedman begins his explanation of this flattener with the following African Proverb:

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running." (Pg. 137)

I like this explanation of competition and survival; and during this trip I have definitely recognized it in the lectures and company tours. I also liked Friedman's clever example of offshoring: "It is when a company takes one of its factories that is operating in Canton, Ohio and moves the while factory offshore to Canton, China." (Pg. 137)

Under AT&S' company profile I discovered that they maintain production facilities in India, China, and Korea; and then have sales, service, and logistics divisions in Germany, India, Japan, and the United States (AT&S Company Profile). I am sure that these activities are all examples of offshoring and not outsourcing because the functions of AT&S are not being done by another (foreign) company and simply then reintegrated back into AT&S' overall operations. After looking at the company's history I discovered that AT&S bought India's largest print circuit board company, Indal, in 1999 and then renamed it to AT&S India. (AT&S History) Consequently, I assume that AT&S originally outsourced and then changed in 99 to offshoring.

01/04 TVS Motors Tour

Set up like an American manufacturing plant, the TVS Motors plant impressed our group. The Indian company makes several different kinds of scooters and motorcycles. Check out their website because they show an aerial view of the plant we toured.

After three lengthy presentations, we toured their spacious one level warehouse which was divided into several departments-product testing, painting, welding, and different parts assembly. Unlike Automotive Axel's, more workers were wearing their safety gear and the entire facility spotless.

During the tour one of the students asked why they hadn't attempted to penetrate the U.S. market and my internal response was why would they. With a population of over 1 billion, it makes perfect sense to concentrate on investments in the Indian, South American, and other geographically (and infrastructurally) similar places. Generally, in the US there are wide spacious highways (except of course major cities like New York City or South Beach, Miami) whereas in Mysore, the roads are extremely narrow and congested. Plus in the US moto industry is saturated and dominated by companies like Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki which would be the direct competitors to TVS...

01/03 Logistics Lecture & Axel's Manufacturering Tour

Professor Jagadeesh lectured for an 1 1/2 strait on logistics. We were not allowed to ask questions. It was a long class period. Needless to say, the session turned into a great character builder---tolerance, patience, respect, ec cetera.

Prior to this lecture, our group has been reading Thomas Friedman's THE WORLD IS FLAT. In one of his discussions about supply-chain being the seventh flattener, Wal-Mart's progression towards successful tactics and strategies were the main focus. But in my opinion a majority of their success was attributed to our roadway system and infrastructure. So the question becomes how can Indian companies integrate and better their supply-chain strats when their roadways are a mess?! (Apparently, India's democratic policies are responsible for the slow infrastructure progression; whereas, in China roadway progression has been rapid due to the obvious high degree of governmental authority.) Maybe that sounds a bit harsh but after being in Mysore, learning about the culture, and traveling around the area I have become frustrated with the issues hindering and slowing their economic progression and advancement.
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Afterward class, our group toured Automotive Axel's. A few of the MBA students thought that for being a heavy equipment manufacturer the plant was clean. Nonetheless, we noticed several workers not wearing their protective gear, acid fluid open, and some other OSHA violations.
One notable statistic raising all sorts of discussion within the group was Automotive Axel's cost to labor. Apparently, only 3 to 4 % of their cost stems from labor while the rest is from raw materials. In the US it is quite the opposite!

01/02 The Legal System & District Court Visit

Today's lecture was by far the best. Not only did Mr. Shivakumar instruct in a more American way (discussion and interaction ) but the topic held our attention the entire time: the Indian legal system.

Apparently, the Indian legal system has federal laws and then state laws for their different communities. For instance, if you are a married Hindu considering a divorce, there will be a different legal process rather than if you were Muslim or Christian. One of my class mates inquired about atheists and Mr. Shivakumar explained that while that person may not believe in a creator they came from a family and were raised in certain community and so they will fall under the laws of that of community. Furthermore, for marriage there is a "special contract" unrelated to any of these communities that citizens are able to choose from.

01/01 Ethics Lecture

Today’s Professor lectured about Business Ethics. Most of his teaching incorporated Hindu doctrine which had me thinking about all the differences between Christianity and Hinduism and the correlation of business ethics to the two different religions and international business excerpt from the textbook.

In 1904 Max Weber hypothesized about a causal relationship b/w Protestantism and capitalism. He argued that by the doctrine encouraging individuals to have freedom in a relationship with God, it made way for individuals to pursue individual economic & political freedoms and philosophy. I agree. Weber's theory is clearly shown/has been shown in the US. For instance, US workers have weaker identification with a company and more with their kind of occupation-rather than saying, "I am from Microsoft Inc.," they will say, "I am an accountant." As I've learned in other businesses classes this knowledge significantly influences management (creating job motivation, lowering turnover, job commitment, etc). Undoubtedly, when a US manager transfers to company in a highly collectivist country, different tactics will be needed (team rewarding, team competition, etc).

One excerpt from the textbook had me wondering about common ethical issues in India. A multinational company called UNOCAL invested w/ a French oil company located in Myanmar to build a gas pipeline. ( And at the time of their investment many other American companies terminated ventures in that country due to the brutal military dictatorship.) During the project, the Myanmar army basically used slave labor. There were even reports that concluded rapings, afflications, and other atrocious acts. While India's democratic government and working environment are far from the example above, what are their common ethical issues?-extreme pollution and toxic waste control-piracy of intellectual properties-sexual harassment?

New Year's Extravaganza

All 16 of us celebrated the night away beneath a starry night. Our Indian buddies (SDM students) brought us to a bash at a local theme park called Planet X. In the center caters served excellent Indian food and a DJ played all kinds of weird music. (I felt like I was in a rave!) Our group grooved until our feet were sore and laughed until our stomach tightened. Unfortunately, the next day some students experienced the effects of consuming too much champagne.

12/31 First Day of School

Today classes started at SDM Institute for Management Development. This graduate business school ranks among the top 3% of India's business schools and so far the tour of the campus is an accurate reflection (it's an incredibly beautiful and clean facility that reminds me of a condominum village in Florida). Of the 120+ Indian students attending this institute, 90% of them are immediately placed after graduation in large Multinational and Indian corporations! These Indian students are mini Einsteins. Their desire for higher education and pursuit to achieve it regardless of the time spent and cost is incredible and started a series of the thoughts and reflections about the cultural differences and similarities.

Our first lecture briefly covered the history and culture. Interestingly, I learned that the game of Chess and the number zero were created by the Indians. The Indian's value for education inspired me. The professor also showed slides on a handful of Indian corporations that are making a significant differences in the Indian economy. One company called SELCO caught my attention...

OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Geert Hofstede's theories about cultures have become a crucial part of business programs across the US and are exemplified perfectly in this study abroad experience. So far the most recognizable dimension has been Individualism vs. Collectivism. (As many of you are aware of the United States ranks as a highly individualistic society---there is a high moral and social perspective directed towards self-reliance and independence. But in India this is the opposite and in turn ranks as being a collectivist society---meaning there is a high moral and social perspective directed towards interdependence, the community and family.) Examples of this more collectivist culture are endless. For instance, in India over 50% of the culture advocates arranged marriages (the family decides on a life long partner and not the individual); an entire family will work hard so that one can go to school and obtain higher education; and identity stems from being a part of the corporation and not just the degree held.

Edward Hall also evaluated the dimensions of cultures of and their classification of poly-chronic and mono-chronic time which has been equally recognizable. The United States operates mono-chronically. Generally tasks are done one at a time. There is a start and then a completion before moving on to the next...in business meeting when a team evaluates a project individuals divide the work; whereas in poly-chronic cultures multiple tasks are performed simultaneously. Wikipedia explains it the best in the following:

"Polychronicity is a term that describes people who prefer to work on multiple activities at the same time. Examples of poly-chronic behaviors include talking on the phone while driving a car and browsing the internet while sitting in meetings."

And so a culture that is highly polychronic seems chaotic...just like the rickshaw rides downtown.

12/30 Downtown & Taking It All In

Sunday morning a group of us decided to take rickhaws to downtown for our first shopping excursion. I felt like I was in a video game! The narrow roads somehow fit bikes, motos, huge buses, small cars, cows, vendors, and walkers. At one point, I was holding my camera out to take a picture of the other students in the rickshaw beside me and within a blink of an eye a side mirror of a scooter almost snatched my camera. (And Karl captured the shocking look on my face.) Eventually, we made it downtown. Ten of us ended up spending a couple of hours in the scarves and silk store along mainstreet. Vibrant silk scarves and traditional Indian clothes were stacked high and the owner showed us over a hundred different items. By the time we were all done shopping, the shop probably generated 3 months worth of revenue ($1 is equivalent to around 40 rb.) Then later that evening our whole group had a formal dinner with the faculty of the Institute at one at an Indian palace. Pulling up to the extravagant complex seemed surreal. (Or even like we were participates in that ridiculous reality show, The Bachelor.)

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I am truly blessed to be here and experience this life. I have had considerable time to think about what is truly important life. Every day I see the extremities of poverty and wealth. Truthfully it's discomforting to ride in a luxurious vehicle and pass by the empty-handed. The stench of sewage is overwhelming; and watching the cows and other animals graze on garbage is disheartening...And yet, whenever I see the Indian children my heart melts. Their big brown eyes, eager faces, and broken English are just too adorable. The Indian women's traditional dress is extremely mesmerizing, as well. In short, my senses are overloading.

12/29 Checking out Mysore

Saturday morning our group arrived to Ginger Hotel in Mysore. This Indian city populates a little less than a million people which is tiny compared to the other Indian cities. The road trip was an eye opener. It reminded me of the first time I saw poverty, a developing nation and extreme pollution (Dominican Republic with Dad and Nea). Anyways, during our road trip to Mysore we passed through many rural villages. I noticed their trenches for their irrigation and agricultural systems.

After our arrival and hours of rest a group of us decided to explore the area surrounding the hotel. We walked about 4 km along a busy highway with hardly any buildings and we all began to wonder if there was even a downtown (which we definitely discovered later). Nonetheless, it was an adventure and we paid $1.20 to walk through a Nature Park and ride in a row boat (on a small pond). We also found a police station that looked like a mini palace.

From Minnesota to Mysore

Almost four days ago, I hopped a plane with 15 other students destined for India. Since then, we have had an adventure of a lifetime!

In fact, the thirty hour travel time was quite enjoyable and it began with getting to know the other group members. Of the 16 students a handful are MBA (graduate) students who are in their mid-thirties and have a significant amount of work experience in the corporate arena Their stories, accomplishments, and goals for the future are inspiring! And the diversity of the group definitely does not end here-our group includes a handful of ethnicities.

In conclusion, on the plane I was discussing all kinds of topics with Mary & Harvey and afterwards felt like I was on the brink of something extraordinary..like the group of students and I were about to discover a treasure and experience the unknown. And now that I am here in Mysore, India I have found not just one treasure but a plethera of jewels.

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