ANN ARBOR Seems everyone is opening development centers in India these days, including the University of Michigan Business School. Starting this week, scholars will study managerial issues and emerging practices in how to use global resources and open new global markets.
The research will focus on how global companies can tap the Indian intellectual capital pool. Topics include services outsourcing, manufacturing outsourcing, the Indian economy, India-U.S. business interaction, and market opportunities at the bottom of the economic pyramid in third and fourth world countries.
At first, about a dozen faculty from the UM Business School will work with the center, which will be co-directed by professors C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan.
“We will focus on next practices, not best practices,” said Prahalad, professor of corporate strategy and international business. “The center’s first priority is to isolate issues of great importance for the future and frame them to create the right debate, both in the business community and in public policy.”
Krishnan, professor of business information technology, said the center will bring research findings into the classroom so that students have a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges in this global restructuring of industries and can reflect on the specific capabilities needed to thrive as a successful leader in a global economy.
The center also will offer executive education programs in India.
Business School Dean Robert Dolan says the center is a perfect fit for the school, which has established deep linkages with India.
“Our goal is to become a world leader in research at one of the leading edges of change—global restructuring of industries and global resource leverage,” he said. “The center is a response to the emerging pattern of restructuring of industries and the value chains of firms. Increasingly, managers are focusing methods to leverage resources globally. And India presents a promising opportunity to do that.”
