Key Insights

As previously noted, I just returned from two weeks on India. Most of the time was spent with various MBA student teams, working on a variety of projects with interesting organizations.

A second task was to do a bunch of PR for the book (to be released in India in late April). Perot Systems was great -- setting me up with about a dozen leading newspapers that led to good coverage.

Finally, I did events for Ross alums in Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay). The core of the presentation was an update on the school, but about half was key insights from the book. I will take the next week to run through the insights one at a time. But to give you some foreshadowing, I identified and discussed nine "Key Lessons." Expect a discussion of one of these each day over the next week or two:

1. The move toward offshoring is not reversing anytime soon.


2. Much confusion is caused by the fact that commentators use one word ("outsourcing") to describe two distinct phenomena.


3. As firms gain experience, their offshore capabilities increase and the range of possibilities expands.


4. We are seeing a shift from “India” to global sourcing


5. We are witnessing a convergence of business models for "global" and "India" firms.


6. There is a dramatic shift taking place from cost-focused offshoring to business enhancement offshoring.


7. The fastest growth is in high value activities.


8. Firms that move toward global sourcing require new skills to manage their organizations.


9. There are few options for developed countries to respond to this trend.

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I hope you'll check back, and join the discussion.