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Study Abroad India

The Chennakesava Temple (July 26th, 2014)

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On our return from Mysore to Bangalore, Dr. Vijay gave us the option to detour to view an old stone temple in Somanathapura. I am so happy that we did because it turned out to be my favorite site. The Chennakesava Temple was built in the 1200’s and represents a great example of Hoysala architecture. The temple is surrounded by a large yard which leads to a courtyard in where the temple is located. In order to enter the physical temple courtyard, it was required that we remove our shoes. As you walk through the small doorway, the large courtyard focuses on a massive stone structure surrounded by small stone rooms. The entire temple is carved with intricate stories and images that data back to between 1269-1550 A.D (as described on a plaque within the courtyard). The structure is breathtaking with amazing detail and care given for every inch of the temple. I have never seen anything quite like it. While there, I felt a certain tranquility and peace yet somber quiet. It was a truly memorable visit and a sight that would be only given justice in person.

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By: Daniel Wyrock

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Study Abroad India

A Trip to Timken (July 22nd, 2014)

The Timken Company (Bangalore)
The Timken Company (Bangalore)

One of my favorite company tours was our visit to the Timken Company’s Bangalore Campus. The Timken Company was a name familiar back at home as it’s World Head Quarters is located about 25 minutes south of the University of Akron in North Canton. Before our visit, I never understood what they did, but upon seeing and hearing about their company, I was pleasantly surprised to learn more. On the warm and sunny Tuesday afternoon, we arrived at Timken and were greeted by a beautiful campus that would rival any corporate building in America. Complete with vast windows and meticulous landscaping, Timken’s compound was stunning. After a brief introduction, we were given in-depth presentations by several staff members regarding the history of the company, its products, and its current expansion in India. [For those who don’t know, (me previously included) Timken is a manufacturer of industrial products that focus on friction management; specifically, Timken is known for the roller bearings that they make.] The presentations were full of valuable information and gave us a good picture of Timken and its operations in India, of which there are several. The specific campus we visited in Bangalore houses their IT and tech support for the entire company. After our presentations, we were given a more in-depth tour of the campus with stops in bearing testing facilities, repair shops, as well as some small scale manufacturing locations. In our time at Timken, the staff treated us very well and I felt as though we left as truly informed guests. In all, the Timken Company visit was a worthwhile and beneficial tour.

By: Daniel Wyrock

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Study Abroad India

An Introduction to India (July 21st 2014)

One of our first lectures on Monday, July 21st was a presentation by Mr. Nishith Mohanty, Head of Human resources for Manipal Education & Hospital Group. This lecture was focused on cross cultural management aspects of doing business in India. In Mr. Mohanty’s presentation, we were given several key points that offered a strong foundation to understanding India. First, he mentioned that between 40-45% of the the population is under the age of 35. Among those people, English is considered the unifying language. The economy of India is interesting by offering what he called “Socialist sympathetic polices”. In a surprising and intriguing point, Mr. Mohanty mentioned that by Indian law, corporations must spend at least 2% of their profits on Corporate Social Responsibility projects, such as community focused activities. In a helpful clarification, Mr. Mohanty stated that the mannerisms of people in India are rooted in the idea that politeness is preferred to directness. He said that for many foreigners doing business in India, this represents a challenge as people in India may not understand a task or assignment and often, out of social norms, will not delve deeper to clarify confusion. This may lead to a tendency to over promise and not deliver what was expected. This is not a reason to avoid working with India, but is a point to remember. In order to remedy this, he recommended correcting with feelings, not just facts. Overall, Mr. Nishith Mohanty’s presentation severed as a good primary for the people and experiences we were about to have in India.

 

(Standing) Mr. Nishith Mohanty (Seated Left to Right) Daniel Wyrock, Suzanne Gradisher, Meghann Geiger, Jennifer Kundrat
(Standing) Mr. Nishith Mohanty (Seated Left to Right) Daniel Wyrock, Suzanne Gradisher, Meghann Geiger, Jennifer Kundrat

 

By: Daniel Wyrock

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Study Abroad India

Business July 23, 2014

On every company visit, we were so welcomed, so well fed and given interactive lectures and extensive tours of their beautiful campuses many of which included pools, food courts, recreational facilities and food marts. On Wednesday afternoon we got to visit the TVS Motor Company. We entered a conference room where we were shown a brief video explaining how TVS began and how vertically sourced they are. As you drive around India, it is as common if not more so to see two wheel vehicles and auto rickshaws as it is a car. TVS is the third largest two-wheeler manufacturer in India and we toured the facility that assembles the vehicles. It was a remarkably clean and well organized facility optimizing on automation except where it is cost prohibitive. For example, we walked past the paint booth line which most of the production was done by robots except for the very end which had personnel performing the “touch-up” painting. Our guide told us because of the variation of parts, it is not cost effective to program the robots for all the variations and makes more sense for the human eye to catch and touch up missed spots.

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Study Abroad India

July 31, 2014

Rag GhatOn our last day in India it was incredibly hot and humid. Near the Red Fort in Delhi we visited Rag Ghat, a memorial honoring the site where Gandhi was cremated after his assassination in 1948. There are many memorials to others in the area but the shining attraction seems to be the one of Gandhi as he meant so much to India. You drive into hectic city life in Delhi where you are in the midst of crowded streets, gruesome traffic and vendors in your space trying to sell you their wares. Then you walk into a beautiful spacious garden area filled with grass and flowers and quiet and follow the path to his monument where you respectfully remove your shoes before entering as you would for a religious mosque. In the center of a brick enclosure stands the black marble monument on which burns an eternal flame in his honor and atop are five rings of flowers that our guide said each represents one of the elements. This visit seems to be a perfect example of the extremes we found throughout our trip to India.

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Study Abroad India

Lecture July 21, 2014

On our first day at XIME, we were given a lecture by Mr. Chiranjiv Singh who is a former additional secretary. Hearing his lecture was a wonderful introduction to India because he effectively explained the vast diversity in language, religion and culture that we were going to experience. We often found ourselves looking for clues in people’s wardrobe that we saw that would point to the area they may have been from or what religion they followed. The information he gave was constantly reinforced throughout our trip. He explained some of the origins of the major religions and the key beliefs for each. We are used to diversity in the US because we are a melting pot of people from other countries. For India, it is the people of India embracing influences from so many other countries on their own culture over thousands of years. What a great way to inspire guide students to relate to another culture!

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Study Abroad India

Company visits to India 2013

Company visits to India included, a cardiology hospital which caters to heart patients as young as three days old and also practices telemedicine which in short is being able to perform a medical procedure while being assisted by a medical professional who may be thousands of miles away.

Mahindra Reva, this is a manufacturer of electric cars that are charged at “charging stations” and run on electric rather than gasoline.

Timken who specializes in ball bearing and boasts of having no debt at the India plant and also has a headquarters in North Canton, Ohio along with other facilities.

The Infosys Campus which caters to top notch engineers for staff and students, and would put any other campus to shame with it’s floating restaurant, squash courts, swimming pools, bicycle ports, fancy movie theatre and beautiful landscape just to name a few features.

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Study Abroad India

India 2013

Parts of India looks as though it has gotten stuck in 1945 while other parts seems to have traveled forward in time. So many of the people seem to concentrate themselves into one area while other areas of India go uninhabited. they do seem to have done a great job of making an industry whereby some of the residents can make a living for themselves. The hospitality is great and every business that was visited served us cookies and coffee. Once a business served us coffee and I was thinking in my mind “where’s the cookies?” the people will go out of their way to make you feel welcomed.

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Study Abroad India

Back Home

Wednesday morning my plane landed and I’m back home from the trip. I’ve been trying to figure out how to properly convey my experience abroad but I can’t seem to be able to find the right words. I suppose I’m forced to use a cliche phrase– I had no idea what to expect. I tried my best to go in prepared but that’s not the easiest thing to do when you don’t really know where to start. Reading books, listening to stories, watching video clips, briefly meeting two students who went on the trip last year, discussing with a friend who has been to India before… Nothing really sets in that way.

Participating in the India study abroad program was one of the best things that ever happened to me. For anyone perusing a business degree, and many others who are not, working internationally is going to be something you’ll run into. I’m sorry to say that you can sit in a lecture hall for 10 years and not get a fraction of the knowledge learned by being there. I got to see first hand how the Indian society works by listening to professionals, visiting companies, and interacting with everyone I met along the way.

We were able to tour a hospital that has made great headway in the field of long distance medicine, a car manufacturer who I feel will have a decent impact in the electric car business, the Bangalore branch of Timken, a company that can provide all the necessities to get a distribution center open smoothly, and a breathtaking campus for an IT company that trains and employs professionals for outsourcing. Cardiology, IT, engineering– a glimpse into a diverse set of companies.

Of course during our time abroad we were able to visit some amazing sites. Seeing everything from temples to shopping malls, hospitals to mountaintops. High up on the impact list for not just myself was climbing a 470 foot tall solid rock mountain barefoot. Not only will the temple built on top with a 57 foot tall solid rock statue put you in awe, there’s something you can take away on a mental level from it if you choose.

I will definitely cherish this experience for many years to come and I am thankful to have been given the opportunity.

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Study Abroad India

Visiting Fortis hospital, Thursday 07/26/ 2012

On Thursday 07/26/ 2012 we had a visit to Fortis hospital in Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore. We were hosted at a conference room where we had an introduction about the hospital with a power point presentation. The speaker gave us general information about the hospital’s history and the business model which it follows as part of the Fortis health care system. Fortis Hospitals are among the biggest Indian Healthcare Networks in India and is been awarded a JCI accreditation which is the golden seal as far as clinical benchmarks are concerned globally. The speaker explained the business model of the hospital saying that it mainly focuses on medical tourism where expensive surgeries worldwide can be done in Fortis in a much lower price than in other places in the world. He stated that Fortis offers a high quality service compared to those offered in USA and Europe, yet in a very competitive price, making it the place of choice for patients who are not covered by insurance all over the world to have their expensive surgeries. In this context the speaker showed us a table of comparison of the costs of surgeries in Fortis vs the USA and many other centers for medical tourism in the world including Egypt and south Africa; the competitors. Fortis prices were much lower than any of the mentioned centers, according to the data in the presentation.

A video was displayed showing stories of many patients who were unable to afford the costs of surgeries in their own countries and were very much satisfied by the quality and costs of services in Fortis. The video featured patients from many places in the world such as USA, England, Germany.

According to the speaker, Fortis hospital is remarkable in surgery especially, orthopedic surgery like joints replacement, cardio surgery and neurosurgery, where the best and up to date prosthesis are used in such surgeries and that the quality of the used devices or implants is not negotiable even if the client wants cheaper prosthesis.

Also the speaker explained Fortis international marketing process, using web based tools like the Fortis web site, youtube, facebook and twitter. He also gave highlights on the service integrity and transparency with clients together with providing all services that the incoming traveler might need, starting from a handsome pick up at the air port up to designing a suitable touristic and entertainment program for the client during his/her stay in India.

The presentation also showed the inpatient suits and rooms where a luxurious quality of residency and service is offered to each client in 5 stars hotel fashion.

One of the impressive things said in this speech is that the Fortis hospital that we visited in Bangalore has four PET scan devices, which is absolutely rare to happen in one hospital, since that these devices are extremely expensive.

After this interesting presentation we were escorted by a guide for a tour in the different wards of the hospital. First we passed by the outpatient department where we saw the clinics that were very much organized and beautifully decorated. Then we passed fast by the emergency department, then the radiology department were we saw the CAT scan room, with the radiologist working on the sections taken. Finally we visited an empty patient room which was extremely luxurious, just like the rooms in the best five stars hotels.
It was a really nice experience and I really liked the hospital, that I can recommend it to anyone thinking of travelling abroad for medical treatment.

Ahmed Yassin