Quarter 8 - Week 8

Two assignments and one quiz, reasonably less of a load when you consider what we typically have to do over most quarters. But then again, it may be because I've only taken two courses this quarter. The weather seems to make things slightly better too. Heavy rains over the last day made things a lot cooler, and you're thinking 'It's a beeeeeautiful day, to be in campus'.

Ethics in Business Management

The first session was around a case about the Ford/Firestone debacle. Apparently these guys released an awesome SUV onto the world, but because of the design, it's centre-of-gravity was high, and so when people take steep turns, it tended to roll over. So, while trying to figure out where the problem lay, they may have stumbled upon the fact that the tires were also contributing to the issue due to poor design and assembly. As things transpired, the reason there was an increased quality issue was that the general workforce was on a strike for two-and-a-half years, and contractors with much lesser experience were hired to keep the factory going. Turns out that over thirteen years, around 200+ people lost their lives, many more were injured due to inaction on the part of the corporations. So the class dealt with the aspects of the problem that were systemic/corporate/individual, and who COULD have done what, who SHOULD have done what, and thereby one more case to apply a framework to.

The next session was related to the role of a director on a board, and how boards can influence the strategy of the company. More or less, the gist is that it's the board's role to protect the interest of stakeholders. So it's important to stop looking only at short-term quarterly results, but look at the long term and try to create actual value for society. The board's in a perfect position to do that, as they are wise,old(mostly) men who've been there, done that, and are on the board because of their experience (preferably). Hence, they need to set the direction for the company, but leave the day-to-day execution of the direction to the CEO. It's a very interesting piece of info, that I sure wasn't aware of. I did keep wondering what the board does, now I know...

Managing Offshored Software and IT services

Laid back week if u ask me. The first session had a lot to do with game theory, and the prof's take on it. So a lot about how one player's action is dependent on that of the other, and that your relationship is very instrumental in defining where you go with your outsourcing partnership. There was also some interesting talk on how you should chart your payment plans. At the beginning of an outsourcing relationship, you charge fixed-price. Once you're reasonably comfortable with their skills, you take it as time-and-material, so that you show an incentive for the person that you trust their expertise, and after a reasonably long duration, you go back to fixed-price. Why would you do that? Because by now, the party would have built up capability and reusable components, and if you charge time-and-material, your work is supposed to get over a lot quicker... AT THE COST TO THE SUPPLIER! So you basically want to encourage quicker delivery at regular prices. So be using fixed-price, you encourage them to use reusable components to get the product out faster, at a price acceptable to them. A very interesting scenario!

The second session revolved around the Bharti Airtel case of outsourcing. Everyone agrees it's a brilliant plan. I mean, you don't have to worry about tech, just your marketing strategy and day-to-day operations. It's like letting the experts do what they do best. But through the entire case, there was one question that kept bugging us. Great plan, nice follow-through, amazing growth. But how long will it last...? The outsourcing game will be fruitful for as long as Bharti grows, but once it stops that growth, will the suppliers still be in a weak position as they might have been at the start? They do control all the infra, and how heavy will that weigh against Bharti? In ten years, when they renegotiate their deal, since they're going with only one supplier for IT (IBM), what's the chance that they'll be holding a higher power in the equation? In any case, was an interesting discussion, and something that left us thinking for quite a while later.

Now, we're on for the last week, a bunch of assignments and the final project submission. Wish us luck, as we go into the eye of the storm.