Airlines & Innovation

Here is an interesting article (rather dated) on how Virgin tries to maintain its market leadership:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118575235393381736.html

They used the power of IT for the recent launch of the low-cost carrier in US and here is how they fared:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118765795059603604.html

Has any one flown with them and what's your experience? Do you know if they have since recovered from initial hiccup?

Adapting to emerging markets

Hello Cohort,

Read this article a couple of months ago on Microsoft's strategy to stay ahead of competition by innovating:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118575380139081784.html


Then read a week or so ago that they are trying to change the composition of the company to better enable them to address emerging technologies/markets.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119076427208239327.html


Finally, read last week that one experiment for them to play in a new market may have failed.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119160499951850275.html

Do you see any relevance/relationships in these and what's your view on Microsoft's ability to protect their turf from Google?

Please post your comments/thoughts here!

Airlines Discussion

Hello Cohort,

Hope you'll are having fun...

Thought it was interesting to read this in Today's WSJ. I remember the arguments Al and I had with Judy during our Marketing class....


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118295673958850125-email.html

On an un-related note: Amazon seems to be getting into GRID Computing Business(?) much like UPS offering 3rd party logistics (Gee... still remember the supply chain stuff :-)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118290376345849327-email.html


KanBan...

Prakash.

EMBA6 Reunion BBQ - June 2007

Hosted by Jennifer and Steve.

Chief Receptionist Officer? Title Inflation Hits the C-Suite

We're all familiar with titles like chief executive officer, chief financial officer and chief operating officer. We have even grown used to chief technology officer, chief marketing officer and chief diversity officer.

But what about chief talent officer, chief cultural officer, chief innovation officer, chief privacy officer, chief reputation officer, chief apology officer and chief geek, to name just some of the more contemporary titles that have cropped up in today's companies? What happened to corporate hierarchies where there were only a few chiefs and many, many subordinates reporting to them?

Link to the full article:

Chief Receptionist Officer? Title Inflation Hits the C-Suite

Trip to China

A few pictures from our trip to China.

CHINA PICS

Bus Sim-Blue Universe in Comics

Bus Sim Comic

Graduation speech at the Stern School of Business

Heres the speech delivered by N.R.N. Murthy at Stern school of business. Mr. Murthy is the , chief mentor and founder of Infosys Technologies.


************
Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies.
I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey.
After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future.
I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career.
Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be.
The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university.
He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science.
Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.
The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.
By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.
The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.
The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.
I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!"
The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left.
I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.
Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.
While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory.
On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money.
ALSO READ: The amazing success story of Infosys
I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.
Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket.
There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived up to their promise of that day.
In the seventeen years since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net income of more than $800 million and a market capitalisation of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day.
In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.
A final story: On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous.
First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.
Second, this customer contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company.
Third, the customer's negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price -- one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure, technology and training -- was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer.
By 5 p.m. on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer's terms or to walk out.
All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer's choice.
This was a turning point for Infosys.
Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee. The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilised its revenues and profits.
I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.
1. I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.
Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.
2. A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial.
3. Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential.
The latter view, a growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement (Krakovsky, 2007: page 48).
4. The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.
Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present.
Back in the 1960s, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.
My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?
Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?
I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.
A final word: When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.
I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.
Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!

Graduation Pics

Graduation Pics

Graduation Pics

Ilro's Graduation Party - Moon Bounce

EM-06 Graduates!!!

RH Smith Grad

A visit from Cahba Crockett

Cahba Crockett

Links to Great Websites

Taking a break from Anil's Global Strat paper to post this idea... Over the past 18 months, we've had a number of great websites cited during - and outside - of class. I've posted the ones that I had bookmarked below, and wanted to challenge the class to add to this list. From finance related sites to technology specific ones, I was hoping that we can aggregate the sites that we individually rely on for the "good of the class." -Al

Some links that I like:

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu
www.cio.com
www.economist.com
www.businessweek.com
http://slashdot.org
www.techcrunch.com
http://quickmba.com
www.principlesofaccounting.com
www.netsuite.com
www.salary.com

World's Oldest Business Shuts Its Doors

A Japanese temple-building company founded in the year 578 is going out of business. Here's Business Week's article:

The circumstances of Kongo Gumi's demise also offer some lessons. Despite its incredible history, it was a set of ordinary circumstances that brought Kongo Gumi down at last. Two factors were primarily responsible. First, during the 1980s bubble economy in Japan, the company borrowed heavily to invest in real estate. After the bubble burst in the 1992-93 recession, the assets secured by Kongo Gumi's debt shrank in value. Second, social changes in Japan brought about declining contributions to temples. As a result, demand for Kongo Gumi's temple-building services dropped sharply beginning in 1998.

By 2004, revenues were down 35%. Masakazu Kongo laid off employees and tightened budgets. But in 2006, the end arrived. The company's borrowings had ballooned to $343 million and it was no longer possible to service the debt. In January, the company's assets were acquired by Takamatsu, a large Japanese construction company, and it was absorbed into a subsidiary.

Link to Business Week article.

EMBA Dinner at Charlie Palmer's Steak House

EMBA Class Dinner

R.H.Smith Host Global Suply Chain Competition

R.H. Smith Professors, Sandy Boyson & Tom Corsi host Global Supply Chain Compeition
with 12 Business Schools Competing prizes and bragging rights.

Sun Microsystems sponsors the competition and helped scale the game
from PC desktops to an online global infrastructure.

University of Maryland Hosts First Global Serious Gaming Competition
Game Trains MBAs to Manage Global Supply Chains;
Potential Industry Uses Address Flat World Challenges



University of Groningen, the Netherlands - Winning Team Above



Soochow University, Taiwan - Team Above



R.H.Smith School Team, Maryland USA - Team Above



CERAM Sophia Antipolis, European School of Business, France - Team Above



Full Press Release - Supply Chain Game Press Release

Participating Schools

1) Arizona State University
2) Michigan State University
3) Ohio State University
4) Pennsylvania State University
5) University of Maryland
6) University of Tennessee
7) CERAM Sophia Antipolis, European School of Business, France
8) Management Development Institute, India
9) Nankai University, China
10) Soochow University, Taiwan
11) Turku School of Economics, Finland
12) University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Cahba

We've Graduated....Almost!!!

Graduation Photos

Universal Interative Studio's Most Decorated Former Employee

Mark Crosby and his plaque. He carried it all the way from California to share it with the class.

Words of Wisdom from Warren Buffet

I couldn't post a PDF to the blog with Warren Buffet's recently released letter to Berkshire Hathaway's investors; however, I did want to share his approach to acquiring companies in 2007...


"We continue, however, to need “elephants” in order for us to use Berkshire’s flood of incoming cash. Charlie and I must therefore ignore the pursuit of mice and focus our acquisition efforts on much bigger game.

Our exemplar is the older man who crashed his grocery cart into that of a much younger fellow while both were shopping. The elderly man explained apologetically that he had lost track of his wife and was preoccupied searching for her. His new acquaintance said that by coincidence his wife had also wandered off and suggested that it might be more efficient if they jointly looked for the two women.

Agreeing, the older man asked his new companion what his wife looked like. “She’s a gorgeous blonde,” the fellow answered, “with a body that would cause a bishop to go through a stained glass window, and she’s wearing tight white shorts. How about yours?”

The senior citizen wasted no words: “Forget her, we’ll look for yours.”

What we are looking for is described on page 25. If you have an acquisition candidate that fits, call me – day or night. And then watch me shatter a stained glass window."

EMBA 6 & 7 Networking Event Photos

New Album 3/3/07 9:50 AM

When Does A Case Study Expire?

Someone recently raised a very interesting point regarding the age (and relevance) of any given case study. For a recent class we read an interesting case about contact lenses for the poultry industry that was written in 1975 (and revised in 1999). Based on the animated discussion that took place during class, I thought that this was quite relevant.

As a class, how do we feel about using material that is "older"? Should our materials be relevant to our current business practices? Or are these case study exercises more about understanding the underlying concepts? What about the opposite, in other words, learning from material that is still happening/playing itself out right now and using that information on a more real-time basis, like using an article in last week's Wall Street Journal like JB did? A combination of both? What are the pros and cons? What are your thoughts on this?

Coworking Spaces: Business Incubator Lounges?

During your time as EMBA students, have any of you ever wondered if there was a place to get some serious work done that was not at the office, not at home and not at a cafe or a public space? Have you ever found yourself setting up shop informally in a hotel lobby somewhere to meet with your fellow students face-to-face... and then discovering that there's no WiFi?

Coworking spaces might be an interesting solution to this problem.

What if the Smith School could set up a series of these coworking lounges all over metro DC?

M&A info from Board Member Inc.

All,

This is a great source of CEO/Board-level business information. For Joe, Eddie, and Chris, the resource center's articles on M&A transactions might help with your ALP... (http://www.boardmember.com/) - you need to register once for the free content.

Hope this helps,

Al

The Best & The Brightest

This is the book I mentioned in class:

The Best and the Brightest
by David Halberstam

"[The] most comprehensive saga of how America became involved in Vietnam. It is also the Iliad of the American empire and the Odyssey of this nation's search for its idealistic soul..." -- The Boston Globe

Globalization myths

Globalization myths
Myth # 1:
China and India's only advantage is labor arbitrage
I have heard arguements that the only advantage countries like India and China have is their (unlimited ?) supply of human resources earning salaries as much as 10 times below their western counterparts. No doubt, the low wage structure has been a great advantage for these countries but there are other factors that help companies (from these countries) win in the flattening world.
Quality of goods produced - They have been able to consistently produce goods and services of comparable (or better) quality. Consider Mahindra and Mahindra a lesser known compnay that poduces tractors. In a very short time (after launch in the US) this compnay has deveoped a reputation for quality and is eating JohnDeere's market share. (See http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_31/b3995001.htm?chan=search). Indian IT services companies do not hesitate in promising 5% year on year improvement in productivity while signing new maintenanace contracts. This clearly demosntrates the value they bring in terms on quality.
Quality of education - Over the last few years the quality of education has improved in India (not sure about China). This has helped in developing a more knowledgable and more competitive work force. Number of engineering and management graduates has been steadily rising. USA produces about 60,000 engineering graduates every year. Compare this with about 310,000 in India and 600,000 in China.
It is amazing to see how India and China have leveraged their big disadvantage (read liability) of large population to make it an asset.

As usual -comments welcome...

mtvU - ecochallenge - Finalist - UMD Quest students & Dr. Suarez

EMBA6 Friends,

Just sharing a little info.

mtvU and GE partnered to create the first University focused Ecomagition Challenge.
The challenge asked college students from around the country to develop new,
creative ways to green their campus. They are looking for innovative and groundbreaking
ideas that can have a positive impact at the local level or the global level — or both.
The sky is (literally) the limit.

Over 100 college groups across the US competed.  One of the 10 finalist is a team
from UMD College Park's Quest program where our very own Dr. Gerald Suarez is
the Executive Director.  

Take a look at their creative innovation.  You can also vote online at the url below.
Certainly they used their expertise of Idealized Design concepts to create their innovation.

View UMD's innovation and all other finalist.  Be sure to cast
your vote for your favorite innovation:

http://www.ecocollegechallenge.com/

WHY VOTE:

Your votes, along with input from mtvU and GE will determine the winning team,
who will receive a $25,000 grant to bring their green dream to life and be
featured on mtvU and mtvU.com. The winner's school will receive an mtvU
Earth Day Concert with a performance by Angels and Airwaves.

VOTE HERE
About the program:
About the Challenge

Makes me so proud to be a Terp!

Read the article in the R.H.Smith News:

R.H.Smith News - Quest Finalist for $25k Prize



Cahba

Instructions for Posting to the Blog Site

EMBA6 Cohorts,

Here's a quick FAQ for how to post to the Blog site. All EMBA6 Cohort members has been given persmission
to post the site. Instructions were sent to the email addresses registered on the EMBA6 contact page.

1) Locate that email and follow create a Google gmail account

2) Visit the EMBA6 Blog Site and use your
existing or new Gmail account to login to the site.

3) After logging Click Dashboard in the Upper Right corner

4) Click "New Post" Edit the contents and click Publish

5) That's all! Enjoy the post.

EMBA6 Blog Team

Student Relaxing during ECON Break

EMBA6 (Reggie) student Relaxing during ECON break. Classes must be exahusting...

EMBA's Learn Salary Negotiations

EMBA's Learn Salary Negotiations from Dr. Russell. Sound and picture quality is good.

Most of the video is of the back of Margaret's head, but the content and audio is great.

Thanks Phil our EMBA Video Team Director/Producer

Salary Negotiations Video

EMBA Blog Team

EMBA6 Idealized Design Video - Produced by Phil

Remember the Idealized Design Video. See it again and again and again....

Hosted by Phil A.


Idealized Design Video


Enjoy

EMBA6 Blog Team

White-Turning Lecture series. Repost from Dean - Jan 12 -

Hey,

There is a site in the A. James Clark School of Engineering with videos of lectures on the same business topics that we are studying called the White-Turning Lecture series.

See White-Turning Lecture series

The latest one with Kathy Hill of Cisco is at

Kathy Hill of Cisco

Also, if you are an entrepreneur see MTEC MTEC

Regards,
Dean

PS If you want to have some fun, hit the next blog button, see what blog comes up, then hit the back arrow in browser, then the next blog button again and see another blog. The time will fly by!

January 12, 2007 7:52 AM

Repost from Dean - Jan . 11 CIO Forum Video

Hi,

Missed Ted Leonsis at CIO Forum due to class? Try the video at
http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/cioforum/video.html

The Windows format looks great.

Enjoy,
Dean

January 11, 2007 12:16 PM

Economics of Externalities

JB & Johanna Inspired me today:

Links to information on Externalities:

Positive & Negative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality

Tradable Pollution Permits:
http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Economics/tradable_pollution_permits.html

Economics of Externalities:

http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Economics/externality.html

Welcome to the R.H.Smith EMBA6 Class Blog

Friends. Welcome to our R.H.Smith EMBA6 Class and Alumni Site. Feel free to post relevant content on this site
for our fellow cohorts. We will even allow Dr. Dean appropriate content here for the greater good of mankind.

Enjoy!

EMBA6 Blog Team