Knowledge@Wharton -- Operations Management

As the Auto Industry Shifts Gears, KPIT Cummins Finds Room for Growth

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:49:41 EST

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?

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:46:29 EST

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

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:37:26 EST

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

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:42:14 EST

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?

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:25:58 EST

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?

Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:59:14 EST

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...

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:53:25 EST

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...

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:24:01 EST

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

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 15:54:04 EST

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

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 16:38:56 EST

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'

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 16:38:46 EST

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.

Post Haste: Why Pitney Bowes Wants to Automate India's Mailstream

Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:14:34 EST

How big is the mailbag of the world's most populous democracy? In a recent annual report, the Indian Department of Posts claims that its mail traffic was 8.6 billion pieces in 2003-04. In 2004-05, it says, that number dipped to 7.4 billion. Sound like a business in gradual decline? Not so, say executives at Pitney Bowes, the U.S.-based provider of mail management services, which has $5.5 billion in annual revenues and more than 35,000 employees worldwide. Two years ago Pitney Bowes took over its Indian distributor to set up shop in that country. How has its foray fared so far? India Knowledge@Wharton spoke with executives responsible for the India strategy to find out.

BPO Goes to Hollywood

Tue, 31 Oct 2006 19:02:52 EST

As Hollywood increasingly turns to India, business process outsourcing (BPO) is making its way to the top of the credit lines. Indian firms have opportunities in at least three areas: animation, post production and local production support. A study by NASSCOM, a software industry association in India, predicts that Indian animation alone will grow to a $950 million business by 2009 from $285 million in 2005. Experts from Wharton and elsewhere describe the challenges facing the Indian film industry and what it will take to tackle them.

Offshore Outsourcing and the Relative Value of Growth: A Conversation with Katzenbach Partners

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 16:32:12 EST

When the consulting firm Katzenbach Partners released a report recently describing a metric -- called the Relative Value of Growth (RVG) -- that purports to measure the strengths and capabilities of outsourcing firms, it caused a stir. Readers interpreted the study to have concluded that Indian IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) companies would soon overtake their Western counterparts. Wharton operations professor Ravi Aron spoke with the report's authors -- Nathaniel J. Mass, managing director of N.J. Mass Associates and Katzenbach senior fellow; Richard J. Schroth, CEO of Executive Insights and Katzenbach senior fellow; and Katzenbach engagement manager Roopa Unnikrishnan -- about the gap between the perception and the intention of their study.

Move Over, India: The Shifting Geography of Offshore Outsourcing Creates New Challengers

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:57:40 EST

India took an early lead in establishing itself as a center for offshore outsourcing. Now, however, according to experts at Wharton and elsewhere, as many as 40 locations - including cities in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Latin America - are vying to attract BPO work. The next big phenomenon will be the emergence of a hub-and-spokes model in the globalization of services, says one Wharton professor.

How Should Companies Deal With Life After BPO?

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:57:33 EST

Once a company has decided to move some jobs overseas as part of a business process outsourcing (BPO) arrangement, it faces two major challenges. The first involves dealing with the external partner - whether it is a third-party provider or a captive BPO center - to ensure that work performance does not suffer. And second, it must take effective steps to redistribute work among the employees left behind. Experts at Wharton and elsewhere - including the CEO of a company that has sent work offshore - offer lots of advice on both issues.

How Some BPO Providers Seek To Build and Protect Their Turf

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:57:24 EST

As the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry evolves, large providers and niche operators are repositioning their organizations to stand apart from the purveyors of plain-vanilla call center facilities. Their goal is to speed up growth while creating barriers to entry for their rivals. In this article, Knowledge@Wharton examines the approach that three companies - Office Tiger, WNS Global Services, and Equinox - have taken to build and protect their turf.

As the BPO Business Grows, There's a Greater Focus on Metrics and Measurement

Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:57:16 EST

Until recently, many CEOs were grappling with issues such as whether to send back-office operations offshore to third-party providers of business process outsourcing (BPO) services, or to perform such operations in their own offshore captive centers. Today, as more and more firms move toward hybrid models of offshore outsourcing, they are looking at new management techniques, such as "virtual prowling," according to experts at Wharton and consulting firm A.T. Kearney.

Can Big Blue Succeed In BPO?

Wed, 01 Dec 2004 13:53:21 EST

After decades of specializing as a computer manufacturer and provider of computer-related services, Big Blue in the past year or two has been heading into some not-terribly-technical fields. Today's IBM processes thousands of insurance claims, ensures that Procter & Gamble employees get paid, and takes charge of repairing televisions and CD players sold by Philips Consumer Electronics. This is part of a broader shift among traditional information technology companies to get into what's often called business process outsourcing (BPO), a fertile market that is expected to grow from about $405 billion last year to $682.5 billion in 2008. Does IBM's strategy - as revealed in part by its acquisition of India's Daksh earlier this year - make sense? According to experts at Wharton and elsewhere, the going will hardly be easy.

Offshoring Services: Which Are the World's Top Locations -- and Why?

Wed, 05 May 2004 13:10:03 EST

Those who have been following the controversy over "offshoring" U.S. service jobs to low-cost markets like India now have new developments to consider: The takeover this month by U.S. business giants -- IBM and Citigroup -- of two major providers of business process outsourcing (BPO) services in India. These developments seem to validate a new study by consulting firm A.T. Kearney, which ranks India as the world's top location for BPO services, followed by China, Malaysia and the Czech Republic. Experts from Wharton and A.T. Kearney have lots to say about the latest trends in offshore outsourcing.