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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

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Study Abroad India

Shooting for the Sun, Tata Bp Solar visit

After an exhausting day and half of flights, a nine and a half hour time difference and welcome lectures by the XIME University, we ventured off to our first company visit to Tata Bp Solar, a solar manufacturing plant. We walked into the building and sat for a few minutes waiting for the university students to clear our visitor passes.  A few of us did not wear proper footwear which resulted in wearing mens work shoes that were about 10 sizes too big, a comical image that we all giggled at.  They presented us with pink lab coats, hair nets and Bill Nye the Science Guy plastic glasses to shield us in the work areas.  We looked like lunch ladies ready for the eleven o’clock rush.  Upon entering through the double doors, we discovered a room mixed with man and machine power.  We watched as each station had about 3 to 6 workers each doing their specialized task before handing off the panel to the next worker.  Yes, to increase production and efficiency, the plant instills an assembly line.  The machines help construct the baseboard of each solar panel and the workers double check and test each piece to make sure it can perform at it’s best when it hits the market.  It was loud in the production room so it was often difficult to hear every piece of information.  But what’s great about the company is that it not only markets strictly within the country, but also globally.  The solar panels can be used in households and also as outdoor lighting like we saw along the walkway leading up to the building.  It’s an up and coming renewable resource that the world can benefit from immensely.  The tour was cut much shorter than expected, however it I think a lot of us needed that extra time to relax and adjust to the time zone.

Looking fresh at the solar plant
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Study Abroad India

Introductions by XIME and First Lecture 7/23/2012

Today we began our first class session, which would proceed our university breakfast. The introductions were nice from the President Dr. Philip. He gave a descritption of India’s economy, and an overview of what we will be learning in our courses. As a part of the introduction a student was welcome to express thoughts and expectations for the trip. I gave a small speech to thank the faculty of the XIME for setting up the program for us. We were expecting to see a very different style of teaching and practice of business in India. It is a rare opportunity for western students to see the functions of Indian business and schooling.
The first lecturer we had was Mr. Selvan George, the Chairman of 5E Surpraise. He gave a fantastic lecture on Indian Management styles. He had several anecdotal examples of management an public relations in Indian companies. The situations were real life examples and very engaging. I would consider Mr. George’s lecturing style better than most of the professors I have had in my college career. We had a short day for lectures today because it was our first day in India and we had arrived at 3:00 A.M earlier that morning. For the remainder of the week we would have three lectures a day. This one lecture and introduction was perfect for the first day, in that it allowed us to adjust to the time difference and our new surroundings. After taking a group photo with the President, Dean and Lecturer, we were scheduled to tour Tata BP Solar.

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Study Abroad India

Infrastructure in India ” Lecture of 26 of july. “

Dr. Mohamed EL Teriaky  M.D
Full Time MBA program
University Of Akron.

India S.A.

July 26, 2012

The first lecture of the day was about security and technology issues in Indian IT by Prof. Anant Pophali, the associate Dean at Xime, who started by talking again about the three types of services which fall in the sector of IT industry in India: the applications (Apps), Business Process outsourcing (BPO) and Infra-structure and technology outsourcing which support the Apps and BPO.

Then he focused on the difference between offshoring versus outsourcing clarifying that Outsourcing refers to an organization contracting work out to a 3rd party, while offshoring refers to getting work done in a different country, usually to leverage cost advantages.

It’s easy to outsource work but not offshore it, but in both cases the security issues remain vital and important and companies must make sure that people in all places are equally qualified and the information are secured and protected. Discussing an example of a bank, the responsibility of security of information lies on the original site, the site of offshoring and outsourcing depend on the ability to provide a maximum protection of the information security can be insured.

As a result of the importance of this issue, a number of important issues became of equal importance in taking the decision of offshoring or outsourcing like risk management, financial and operational risk and finally the legal and regulatory issues.

Then he discussed the NASSCOM or the National Association of Software and Services Companies which is a non-profit organization, consists of a trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry, established in 1988 to facilitate business and trade in software and services and to encourage advancement of research in software technology.

Dr. Pophali focused on some of the security measures that must be adopted when a company wants to send some of its operations overseas and must keep all its stakeholders relieved, examples of those security measures include: Confidentiality of data, availability of data, integrity, continuity and physical security.

As noticed the whole process is about data which both the provider and the sub-provider must adopt various measures to insure the three main aspects to the information: the availability, confidentiality and integrity of it and this is what many companies take care of especially when signing a contract or master service level agreement (MSLA) like Infosys, in Bangalore, and do work in other places but it insures that all different facilities must replicate exactly the same environment and information security policies as the original company, which is called, (BCP), Business Continuity Planning, the responsibility of business to provide and ensure that all places and various locations complies to the same standards.

The Second presentation we had was about “ Trends in infrastructure development in India.” Dr.Rijo, the associate dean at Xime began by defining the infrastructure as the physical framework characterized by natural monopoly, high sunk cost, non-tradability of out-put, non-rivalness in consumption, and possibility of price exclusion. Then he talked about the importance of infrastructure especially for India because the productivity growth is higher in countries with an adequate and efficient supply of infrastructure. It is also an indicator of the presence of high life quality as poverty is linked to poor infrastructure.

By more focusing on Indian infrastructure, Dr. Rijo mentioned that the infrastructure sector accounts for 26.7 % of the Indian industrial output. Then we discussed the aviation, the railroad (India is the third largest railway in the world with 7083 railway station), telecommunication (over all tele-density has reached 78.71 %), roads, etc.

The final presentation was a brief talk about Indian manufacturing industry in which Mr. Naresh Palta, the CEO of Maini Global Aerospace discussed the historic background and the macro-perspective of manufacturing in India and he concluded by some federal and state-level regulatory scenarios affecting manufacturing in India.

Something I would never forget about this day is that , on the lectures they were telling us about the great infrastructure India got, the light went off 5 times in the lecture just as usual and we had no internet that day. I found that very funny and just completed the overall picture we had about india.

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Study Abroad India

Incredible India – Bio-Con Company Visit

On our third day in India we visited Bio-con. I thought Bio-con was one of the most interesting company visits we had on the Incredible India trip. Currently, Bio-con is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. This company was started in a garage of a young inspired Indian woman determined to make a lasting impact in the medical field. Bio-con was an extremely successful company.  As of today, Bio-con is one of the largest insulin manufacturers in the world. The highlight of this company visit was the vast amount of technology that was being used utilized within this facility. It was strange to see that, right outside the door of this facility was an area that was below the poverty line but, inside this facility was state of the art. Not only was the facility state of the art but, the manufacturing that went on within this facility was complex and dangerous. The employees in this factory worked on a level 4 which meant, chemicals are required to wear full suits and masks while in the facility. Having the level 4 status within the building meant that the working conditions are extremely dangerous but, in the end create drugs that help battle and cure diseases every day. Overall this visit was short but it was great to see advanced technology somewhere within India. I felt like outside of Bio-con, most of what we saw was under-developed and out-dated.

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Study Abroad India

Timken in Bangalore

Today is our second day in Bangalore and our assigned company is Timken. The Timken Company is a leading global manufacturer of highly engineered bearing and other related components as well. The company has applied its’ knowledge to better serve its’ customers and make products move smoother and more efficiently, as well as allow for safer landings. Timken has many locations around the globe in various countries on every continent. The company is a member of Forbes Platinum 400. It was founded in 1899 by Henry Timken in St Louis and was relocated to Canton in 1901.  When Timken first started doing business in India it was a joint venture, which later changed. There are now four sales offices located in India. The values of the company are Ethics & Integrity, Quality, Innovation, and Independence. Timken’s functions include Product technology, Manufacturing technology, Information technology (hardware & software), and Corporate shared services. As for the product technology, there are 7 technology centers. Two are located in New Hampshire, one in Ohio, one in France, one in Romania, one in Shanghai, and one in Bangalore.

As for the bearings and power transmission portion of the company, it includes mobile industries, process industries, aerospace and defense. The culture of the company is what interested me the most. It is amazing what the company does for its’ employees. For their culture, they have an associate dialogue, which is a formal type of meeting between the associates where they get to talk to each other and get to know more about not only about one another but the company as well. There is also a chit chat club which is more of an informal version of the associate dialogue. There is a newsletter which is distributed electronically to the employees every month. Not only does the company have meetings, but they also have great interactive activities everyone can participate in. Some include International Women’s Day, Family Day, Timken Premier League and Ethnic Day. There are also fire drills, vehicle emission tests, blood donation camps, and safety runs which are included in the Environment Health & Safety.

Timken also has WIN, Women’s International Network. It focuses on equality between men and women on campus. There is a throwball tournament and even an essay competition. They also have a committee for sexual harassment. For their yearly CSR there is a Day of Caring, Week of Sharing and Junior Achievement. Their social responsibility includes Habitat for Humanity, Women’s Day and Father’s Day as well.

Everyone at Timken was very welcoming; they treated us like we were a part of their company and served us coffee/tea and cookies. At the end of the presentation, we were each presented with a Timken pen, which will really come into handy once classes start back up on the 27th of August. The campus was absolutely beautiful and very well maintained. It was great to see our very own Timken at work in India; I learned so much that I had never known about the company before traveling to Bangalore.

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Study Abroad India

Wednesday Lectures at XIME

Today was our third day of lectures at XIME.  We listened to three lectures about ‘HR and Management in India’, ‘Indian Economic Environment’, and ‘Indian IT and Software Project Management.’  We enjoyed tea and coffee and the opportunity to mingle and ask questions in between lectures.

The lecture titled ‘HR and Management in India’ was the most interesting lecture of the day for me.  In this course we learned that India is the 4th largest economy in the world and much of that is due to their opening up to foreign direct investment in 1991.  Their GDP grew from only $3 million in 1991 to $15.8 million in 1997.  They have also gone from a male dominated workforce to having equal opportunity employment and an ever-growing female workforce.  Many of the best companies to work for are in the IT and pharmaceutical industries.  Some notable companies are Infosys, Mindtree Consulting, and Satyam Computer Services.  There have also been many laws put in place to protect employees and create better working conditions.  These acts include but are not limited to workers compensation, trade union protection, industrial disputes, minimum wage, and persons with disabilities.  There are both public and private sector companies and organizations.  The federal government determines the public sector job wages and the private sector job wages vary by state.  He also mentioned that many Indians have the mindset that they must travel to foreign countries to make any money.

The presentation titled ‘Indian Economic Environment’ was a great overview to put the other presentations in perspective.  It was explained to us that the majority of jobs in India are in the agriculture industry, while the majority of GDP is earned through the service sector.  They have a high rate of inflation and 25% of the population lives below the poverty line.  India’s primary foreign trade partners are the European Union, United States, China, UAE, and Saudi Arabia.  The life expectancy is 66.8 years.  India is progressing in education and is continuously making economic reforms.  There are high rates of saving and investment.  Their debt to GDP ratio is 67.1% and is an area that could use some serious improvement.  Capital expenditure is expected to double in the next two years.  Their main economic asset is the fact that their working age population is projected to be as high as 68% by 2020.  Also, I thought it was interesting that it only takes a little over a year to open a business in India but it takes 10 years to close one.

We also listened to a lecture titled ‘Indian IT and Software Project Management.’  In this lecture, we learned that the Indian IT industry has been growing rapidly but has recently slowed.  The industry has generated $90 million annually.  This is 10% of India’s overall GDP.  If you were to break up this $90 million, the largest portion is $50 million, which comes from applications.  This includes things like payroll and insurance.  The second largest portion is in business process outsourcing or knowledge process outsourcing, which accounts for about $30 million.  The remaining $10 million is attributed to infrastructure and technology outsourcing, which involves maintenance and delivery.  Many jobs were created in the IT industry because of Y2K.  The computer systems in America were set up in a way so that dates were inputted MM-DD-YY.  It was the responsibility of many hard working Indian IT workers to change the systems to MM-DD-YYYY before the year 2000.  Today, many American companies that were once outsourcing to India are now reconsidering because the cost of living has increased in India, therefore salaries must increase.  American companies will only outsource to Indian IT companies if it is cost effective for them.

As you can see, our lectures at XIME gave us great insights into the Indian business world.  We can see economic growth and expect progress for India in the years to come.  This nation is a great opportunity for American companies to outsource as well as sell their products and services.  I really appreciate how much I am learning from students and faculty here.

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Study Abroad India

Three wonderful lectures at Xime

Today was the second day of lectures at Xime University and we had three useful talks about Business Process Outsourcing in India, Indian Culture & Society and finally Succeeding In Working With Business Partners In India. The lectures were rich in a lot of interesting information.

The first talk, “Business Process Outsourcing in India” by Mr. Ashwin Hoskote Sr. the vice president in Global Business Excellence- Hinduja Global Solutions, involved many important points like the definition of outsourcing as “delegation of one or more parts of the job to external provider” and thus outsourcing may be in the same country or different one. Mr. Ashwin enumerated many countries that are involved in outsourcing and offshoring to the US like Jamaica, Portrico, and Canada which are considered near off shoring due to their near position from the US. India is one of the countries that is greatly involved and benefited from outsourcing. Two of the most important Health care companies in the US, ETENA and Humana, are outsourcing many jobs to Philippines and India. Mr. Ashwin also discussed that companies didn’t outsource all the activities, only some activities can be outsourced like IT, Finance jobs,,,etc. while others can’t be outsourced like the core activities as marketing, branding,,etc. Outsourcing was first done mainly for cost saving reasons but now many other factors contribute to the outsourcing decision and thus the cost savings became only one factor to country attractiveness, while others include the environment, the skills and willingly of people to learn. The Final point that he highly focused on was that outsourcing is enforced by customers, shareholders and suppliers.

The second talk was about “Indian culture & society” by Mr. Chiranjiv Singh. This was one of the special lectures we took, through which different aspects of the Indian culture were reflected which may be not related directly to the business but should be well understood as an important aspect of the Indian society. Mr. Singh mentioned that the Indian society is a culturally diverse in terms of language and religion but mostly characterized by the eccentric circles of the family, the extended family and the cast system. These characteristics appear mostly in marriage which is still arranged in most cases so that the extended families also need to match together. Then, Mr. Chiranjiv explained the concept of “Dharma” by telling a very nice story of a man who was trying to rescue a scorpion from the water and while he was trying to rescue him, every time he get bit by the scorpion but he didn’t give up and continue trying and when he was asked about the reason he said it’s my nature to rescue him and his nature to bit me, and this is the dharma, the innate nature of the things, for example the innate nature of the fire is to burn. Another important aspect of the Indian culture is the belief of birth and rebirth based on the four casts of the society; the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras and each cast has a dharma to perform a certain job and according to the quality of performance the person will be rebirthed again, that is why most Indians try to do good things. The most interesting thing that Mr. Singh mentioned was that the person needs to do exceptionally good work in order to be free from this circle of birth and rebirth. Concerning the cast system, he told us that India now can be considered in a transition state from the cast system to the individual system and this may be causing some problems right now.

The last talk today was about “succeeding in working with business partners in India” by Mr. Hubert Reilard, MD, EDF Induction Ltd. The roots of EFD Induction go back to the launch in 1950 of a universal induction hardening machine by the German company, Induktionserwärmung Fritz Düsseldorf GmbH (FDF). While FDF was expanding in the 1970s, an induction revolution was taking place in Norway, where engineers had figured out how to transistorize frequency converters for induction heating. In 1981 three of those engineers had invented some new techniques in the induction industry. In 1991 the managing directors of FDF and ELVA met by chance. They talked… and speculated. FDF was strong in stationary induction hardening machines. ELVA was the agile innovator with a track record in finding new applications for induction heating. What if the two companies got together? In January 1996 FDF and ELVA merged to create EFD Induction. Today, EFD Induction is Europe’s largest supplier of induction solutions for industry (number two worldwide!). After Mr. Reilard talked about the story of his German company, he told us how they decided to enter the Asian market by working in India in 1992 and despite that they don’t succeed too much earlier but again in 1998 they appreciated the importance of having market in India which is still growing to this day. Now they have 160 employees in Bangalore, India. As Mr. Hubert said that India nowadays possesses many indicators and most of them are positive ones for more investment. For example, 80% of the GDP is achieved from the medium & small companies, India is number four in purchasing power (e.g. there are ten million new users of mobile phones each year), the GDP growth rate was about 55 % until 2010 and now it is growing higher than average. Mr. Hubert Reilard’s talk was GREAT!! From all the lectures we had, this one was special in reflecting the point of view of a company which early appreciated the importance of working with the emerging business partners in India and thus his talk was rich in the practical experiences and lessons that any foreign business may need to know or may face in India. By being the last lecture in this day, it was a very nice closure.