Articles 1 to 15 of 35
No Time to Browse? A Library Comes to Your Doorstep
Bookshops and libraries all over the world face declining patronage. In Mumbai, the British Council Library has seen its membership fall significantly, largely because people don't have time to travel from one end of the city to the other to borrow a few books. Setting up branches is not an option, given the high cost of real estate. In an innovative solution, the library has initiated a courier service to deliver books to readers. Based on its success, and despite some operational hurdles, it is now considering expanding the system to other cities.
Will India Match China's Manufacturing Might?
For the past two decades, China has been considered the factory to the world while India has been looked upon as the back office. One excelled in manufacturing and the other in software and services. Today, India's exports are going places -- the country is among the world's top 10 manufacturers and is growing at a brisk rate of around 10% annually. Moreover, India's rise in the manufacturing arena has come at a time when China is facing threats to its status as a low-cost manufacturing hub, experts say.
After the Rebound: How Can Indian BPO Differentiate Itself?
A strong domestic market and increased pressure on clients to cut costs have helped India's business process outsourcing (BPO) industry to rebound from the global downturn. But Indian BPO needs new models and higher-value-added services to stay competitive, according to a recent Wharton India Economic Forum panel.
Filmmaker Rakeysh Mehra: 'Raising the Bar Is Where the Challenge Lies'
Indian filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra sees his industry undergoing major changes, such as institutions replacing private financing, increased use of digital technology, a breakdown of the star system and its inefficiencies, and the emergence of a more professional playing field. Mehra is best known as the writer, producer and director of the 2006 blockbuster, Rang De Basanti. At the recent Wharton India Economic Forum in Philadelphia, Wharton professor Kartik Hosanagar spoke with Mehra about changes in the film industry, including the controversy over intellectual property rights and royalties.
As the Auto Industry Shifts Gears, KPIT Cummins Finds Room for Growth
Global auto markets are shifting gears towards smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Vehicles are also becoming smarter, with increasing use of electronic systems. Trends such as these are driving rapid growth for KPIT Cummins, which develops embedded software for automobile manufacturers and provides IT services aimed at streamlining operations. Headquartered in Pune, some 100 miles from Mumbai, the company had US$174 million in revenues in 2009. Ravi Pandit, chairman and group CEO, and Kishor Patil, CEO and managing director, spoke with India Knowledge@Wharton about the changing auto landscape and the opportunities, risks and challenges it presents.
Can India's Logistics Industry Deliver a Better Model for Transporting Goods?
If you need to send an overnight package in India, chances are it will take several days to complete its journey. Logistics -- including the transportation of goods, warehousing and value-added services such as packaging -- is still a nascent and fragmented industry in India. But while a lack of adequate infrastructure and complex taxation and regulations have presented major hurdles, new players -- like Air Deccan founder G.R. Gopinath's Deccan 360 -- are entering the fray, hoping to extend same-day delivery beyond the major cities and change the way companies manage their supply chains. Will they manage to do it?
Lessons in Logistics from the Terrorist Attacks in Mumbai
The terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, at the end of November represented an unspeakable human tragedy. Even more tragic is the fact that though the attacks began at 9:30 p.m., it was not until 7 a.m. the following morning -- more than nine hours later -- that commandoes from India's National Security Guards (NSG) were able to reach the sites. What lessons in logistics does this experience offer? How can India -- and, indeed, any country that faces terrorist threats -- use the principles of logistics to come up with defense systems that can respond faster to attacks against their citizens? India Knowledge@Wharton discussed this question with Morris Cohen, a professor of operations and information management at Wharton and chairman of MCA Solutions, a logistics software firm.
The Next Frontier for India's Outsourcing Industry? The Domestic Market
Having been on the periphery, the domestic business process outsourcing industry is steadily moving onto everyone's radar. Companies including Genpact, IBM Daksh, Firstsource Solutions, MphasiS and Intelenet Global Services are looking to significantly increase their presence, while others are waiting for the right time to enter the space. What has brought about the growing interest? Experts from Wharton and elsewhere cite multiple factors, including the scorching pace of the Indian economy, the phenomenal growth of companies in sectors including telecommunications and financial services, the slowdown in the U.S. economy, and an increasing number of global firms entering the Indian market.
Reversal of Fortune: How Will Indian IT and BPO Firms Cope with a Global Slowdown?
The software and information technology-enabled services industries together constitute almost 25% of India's exports. The $40 billion industry is expected to grow by a fourth to almost $50 billion by the end of the 2007-08 fiscal year that ends March 31. But the recent appreciation of the rupee coupled with slowing economic growth in the United States -- the biggest market for Indian software and allied service exports -- has battered Indian software exporters' stock prices. Is the sunrise sector in for a reversal of fortune? To assess the outlook for 2008, India Knowledge@Wharton presents an overview of two panel discussions and related observations from the TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2007, held in Delhi in December. The panel discussions were titled "Investment Trends in Technology" and "Is the Party Over? The Future of BPO/KPO."
India's Construction Boom: Boon or Bust?
The world's second-fastest growing economy is consuming capital goods and building infrastructure at a speed that has most construction, shipbuilding and capital equipment suppliers seeing record business. However, the size and pace of the orders they are receiving could threaten to bring that development to a jerky halt. Demand has far outstripped delivery, and although construction companies are prepared to spend money to increase capacity, experts say that a shortage of skilled talent and a limited supply of capital equipment mean that skillful project management and innovative solutions will be necessary to prevent bottlenecks.
Will Jobs Move Back to Silicon Valley from India? Don't Hold Your Breath...
As wages rise in cities like Bangalore and the Indian rupee appreciates against the U.S. dollar, a few Silicon Valley firms have begun to wind down their Indian operations and move jobs back to the U.S. Could this be the harbinger of the end of the offshoring boom to India? The Economic Times and India Knowledge@Wharton posed this question to IT executives, consultants and venture capitalists in the U.S. and India. Their answer: India still offers high-quality IT and engineering talent at a relative cost advantage. As such, offshoring to India is unlikely to go away anytime soon.
How Can Your Company Build an Excellent Supply Chain? Let Us Count the Ways...
Companies in almost every industry are turning to supply chain excellence as a critical aspect of competitive strategy. As a result, they are focusing on how to maximize the effectiveness of their supply chain networks to deliver business results. Executives from industries such as retail, manufacturing and IT services spoke about the ways they approach building agile supply chains at the recent Global Supply Chain Summit held at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. India Knowledge@Wharton presents a round-up of their perspectives.
Mad About Mangoes: As Exports to the U.S. Resume, a Juicy Business Opportunity Ripens
Banned nearly two decades ago due to concerns over excessive pesticide use, Indian mangoes were recently allowed back into the U.S. market. Last month, the first shipments of Indian mangoes arrived on American soil after extensive negotiations on both sides and an agreement by India to irradiate all mango exports to the U.S. To celebrate, gala parties were thrown to herald the deal, among them an event at the Indian Consulate in New York City on June 7. But all the excitement aside, what does the reintroduction of the Indian mango to the U.S. mean for the various links in the supply chain? India Knowledge@Wharton spoke to people closely involved in the business to explore the issues behind the mango mania.
Koffee with Knowledge@Wharton: Karan Johar on the Globalization of Bollywood
Karan Johar, one of India's most successful young filmmakers, believes that Indian cinema was in the pits in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, however, younger filmmakers have come along with family-oriented films -- and these have been hugely successful in overseas markets. "Suddenly [Indian] films were opening in the U.K. Top Ten in the 1990s," he says. "When [my film] Kabhie Khushie Kabhie Ghum was released in 2001, it was at No. 3 after Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings." Johar, who hosts a popular TV talk show called "Koffee with Karan," notes that while Bollywood is indeed going global, it continues to struggle with distribution in North America. "It is the one big thing we need -- it is the one thing we haven't cracked," he says. Johar discussed these challenges and more with India Knowledge@Wharton during the Wharton India Economic Forum in Philadelphia.
Yes Bank's Rana Kapoor: 'We Look at Technology as the Bank's Center of Gravity'
Rana Kapoor often says that when he and a partner founded Yes Bank in Mumbai in 2003, it was the only private bank to be licensed by the Reserve Bank of India in 12 years. In the past three years, Yes Bank has seen rapid growth, spurred in part by what Kapoor says is its entrepreneurial culture. As a relatively new player in the field of Indian banking, how does Yes Bank intend to compete against much larger rivals? In an interview with India Knowledge@Wharton during the Wharton India Economic Forum in Philadelphia, Kapoor said that Yes Bank's strategy has several "late-entrant advantages," such as using technology creatively.
