Outsourced

Okay, so the movie night is confirmed. Here are the details and a link to a trailer of the movie:

What: A screening of the movie “Outsourced”
Where: Vaidyanathan Home Theatre, 675 Ridgewood Road - Duluth
When: Friday, December 7 @ 6:00 p.m.



The movie was a "critic's pick" by the New York Times (click here for a review). The reviewer even says, "In its modest way, “Outsourced” may be unique: a charming culture-clash romance that could be taught in business schools." Another review, from Crosscut Seattle says "Outsourced doesn't try to resolve the issues it raises, but it should be required viewing in MBA programs.”

$100 million for an acre of land

Some people wonder why hotels in Indian cities are so expensive, even by international standards. Well, here is a news announcement about a recent real estate deal outside of Mumbai: the winning bid in an auction of some undeveloped land was US$100 million per acre. You'll find the article here.

Just so you know, the terms "lakh" and "crore" are commonly used in India. Expect to hear these terms during presentations. 1 lakh = 100,000 and 1 crore = 10 million.

Hello to all!

It was great meeting many of you this week as we held our "orientation sessions" in Rochester and Minneapolis. Many of you also met each other for the first time. Although we'll be spending three weeks together, it's never too early to start to get to know each other.

As soon as you have your "blog" created, why don't you post a comment here with your blog address. I will compile them into a single post to this blog and you can start checking each other out! Make a simple first post to the blog introducing yourself - your major, your background, interests, etc. and telling us why you signed up for this trip.

I look forward to learning more about all of you. Have a happy thanksgiving week.

India Does Work!

Things look chaotic, but things do work!

That's how the InfoSys Chairman responded to the question "Is there anything about India you think outsiders don't understand about India?"

That's one thing you should expect when you hit India. As you may already have imagined, you're going to be hit by noise, crowds, pollution, traffic, and poverty unlike anything you have likely seen before. But, as Gopalakrishnan explains, you have to get used to ambiguity, uncertainty and a willingness to "go along with the flow" when you're in India.

Take a look at this 3.5 minute video that is part of Fortune Magazine's "Global Forum" on India.

You can find all the videos here.

Outsourcing Parts of the Value Chain

One of the important insights from The World Is Flat (have you started reading the book yet?) is that with the spread of technology as a flattener, any element of the value chain that can be disaggregated and performed more efficiently elsewhere will be outsourced.

Watch this short video from PBS' Nightly Business Report to see how the outsourcing of homework tutor services may only be the start of the outsourcing of services.

Click Here (goes to Windows Media Player Video, but you can switch)

Think of other services that you think will lend themselves to such outsourcing as the technological abilities of the Internet expand.

As an aside, pay attention to the accents you will soon start to hear in India. Also, it's interesting to see how the tutor responds to the question "Are they good students?" She responds "Most of them are." However, note the famous Indian head shake - she is saying yes but shaking her head from side to side that is often interpreted as a no in the US.

Culture Clash

One of the movies I hope to screen at my house at a "pre-departure" party is an award-winning independent film called Outsourced. I have not yet seen this movie, but have heard many good things about it. At the very least, it should provide a great starting point for some discussion of cultural differences you may encounter as you head to India.

Take a look at the trailer for this movie above (Nov. 29 post) and post any comments you have ...

Students - Start Here: What's Up With Culture?

The University of the Pacific has created an excellent online training module for US-based students heading abroad as part of an international course.

Visit the site here: http://www3.uop.edu/sis/culture/ and click on MODULE 1 to get started.

This quick online training covers some key do's and don'ts when you're traveling abroad and will help you better appreciate the experience of being in a completely different culture.

Trip Preparations

I don't know if most students realize how much preparation goes into getting a trip like this off the ground. We have spent hours working with the folks in India to ensure that the students have a positive cultural and educational experience.

Al and I have been working on tweaking the syllabus, trying to outline key topics, find speakers, identify appropriate site visits, create solid assignments and quizzes, and decide on dates, times, and content for a student orientation.