MIS Research Center Seminar Series
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM
1st Floor Auditorium, Carlson School of Management

Abstract

We will trace the evolution of the Indian ICT/ITeS industry from it's conception around the Y2K crisis, to the development as a low-cost outsourcing and off-shoring destination, towards current trends that indicate a shift up the value-chain towards knowledge intensive work.

We will discuss factors that have enabled the Indian ICT/ITeS industry to bring manufacturing like predictability in developing software and delivering it globally. These range from a passion for pursuing and achieving the highest levels of quality assurance certification levels such as the CMMi Level 5, to other cultural and social factors, such as a passion for Mathematics at early stages of one's educations.

This industry experienced a 31% growth in the last year with revenues equaling $29.6 billion in 2005-06, of which $23 billion came in exports. Current projections indicate that this figure is expected to grow to $60 billion by 2010, with opportunities in engineering, legal, and entertainment services. There is also a growing opportunity in the domestic market with roughly 300 million consumers in the middle class. The country has low PC penetration rates, but fast growing mobile penetration. The current subscriber base is roughly 117 million and expected to grown to 320 million by 2010. With the imminent availability of additional spectrum and from the government, there is spurt of entrepreneurial activity in the mobile and m-commerce space.

We will round up the discussion by sharing current and future challenges faced by this industry and what is being done to address them. These include a forthcoming "talent gap" both in the quantity and quality of knowledge workers, and a neglected higher education system that has not invested in research and knowledge creation.

Biography

Professor Ravi Bapna is the Executive Director of the Centre for Information Technology and the Networked Economy (CITNE) at the Indian School of Business, as well as a tenured Associate Professor in the Information Systems area.

Prior to joining ISB, Professor Bapna was an Associate Professor and Ackerman Scholar in the Operations and Information Management Department at the School of Business, University of Connecticut. His research interests are in the areas of Online Auctions, E-market Design, Grid Computing, and the Economics of Information Systems. His research has been extensively published in a wide array of journals such as Management Science, Statistical Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of Retailing, MIS Quarterly, Decision Sciences, CACM, Naval Research Logistics, DSS, EJOR and ITM. He was recently awarded the prestigious Ackerman Scholar Award for outstanding research at the University of Connecticut .

Professor Bapna has been invited to present his research at the Federal Trade Commission, Washington DC , Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), New York University , University of Maryland , IIM-Calcutta, National Chengchi University , Taiwan , University of Washington and University of Minnesota among others. He serves on the editorial board of the flagship journals MIS Quarterly , serves as ad-hoc AE for Management Science , as well as the journal, Production and Operations Management . He regularly serves on programme committees of major international IS conferences and workshops, and is the Co-Chair of the First International Symposium of Information Systems to be held at ISB.

Professor Bapna completed his Bachelors in Computer Engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology and received his doctorate degree from the University of Connecticut , where his thesis was in the area of Information Systems.