AMONG SLUMDOGS AND MILLIONAIRES

Contributed by Laku Chidambaram
Director of the Division of Management Information Systems and W.P. Wood Professor in Management Information Systems

The contrasts were inescapable. The BMW dealership next to the thatched huts. The serene setting of Loyola College secluded from the chaotic traffic outside. The majestic isolation of the InfoSys campus in the midst of huge throngs of people. The slumdogs among the millionaires - they are all part of India. And, now they are part of the memories of eight Price College students and myself, who were part of the first-ever Intersession Study Abroad Program to India. The two-week program (Jan. 4-17, 2009) was based in Chennai, India - the fourth-largest city in the country - on the southeastern coast, and had three components:

• corporate visits
• classroom instruction
• cultural experiences

We visited five companies:
Brakes India, a manufacturing plant that makes brakes and brake components for U.S., European and Indian automobile companies, including Chrysler, BMW and Tata Motors. The visit included a presentation by top management, tours of the manufacturing facility and of the computer operations, and a sit-down discussion with the director of information services.

InfoSys, India's largest IT services provider. The InfoSys campus was a spectacular sight, including ultra-high-tech glass-and-steel buildings set in sylvan surroundings spanning hundreds of acres. Top executives from the company gave a presentation, which included an open Q&A session, followed by a tour of the campus and lunch. The impressive campus includes a large five-star hotel for InfoSys employees and executives, a food court with numerous vendors (including Pizza Hut), a gym and even fresh tender coconuts (cut on demand) - something that everyone enjoyed.

Coca Cola Bottling Co., an American-owned Indian-operated plant that bottles Coke and other soft-drinks. The visit included a tour of the bottling plant from start (purifying the water) to finish (stacking in pallets). Perhaps the best part of the tour was at the end, when we sampled the merchandise! This plant is a good example of a socially conscious institution; it recycles bottles many times over and employs disabled people.

Anglo-French Textiles, one of the oldest textile manufacturing facilities in the country, based in the former French colony of Pondicherry. The plant manufactures textiles for drapes, covers and curtains that are exported to hotels and hospitals, primarily in Europe. The tour of the plant included a Q&A session with the director of marketing and sales.

Dell Computers, based in the Special Economic Zone on the outskirts of Chennai. This plant, which was opened two years ago, manufactures both laptops and desktops for the domestic market and exports to other Asian markets. It was a hybrid plant with automated manufacturing information being transmitted in real time from Austin, Texas, and manual manufacturing processes being executed in Chennai, India. Unfortunately, we did not receive any samples (unlike at the Coke plant), although we were provided a delicious Indian lunch.

The second component of the course was classroom instruction, which included over 20 hours of lectures and discussions on doing business in India and the cultural, economic and social challenges of tapping into the wealth at the Bottom of the Pyramid, a concept pioneered by business guru C.K. Prahalad. At the end of the course, the students had to take an exam, write a term paper, answer discussion questions and keep a daily journal. In these classes, the students were joined by a select group of business students from the host institution, Loyola College.

The third component of the course involved the students experiencing the rich cultural heritage of India. These experiences were as equally varied as their corporate visits.

One of the first cultural site visits was a stop at San Thome Cathedral Basilica, which houses the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle. This site is one of only three worldwide where a church has been built over the tomb of an Apostle of Christ, and given its historic significance, is visited by people of different faiths. Soon after this, the students visited the Vivekananda House, another site of historic and cultural significance, which includes a permanent exhibition dedicated to Swami Vivekananda, a philosopher and writer who introduced Hinduism to the west and promoted interfaith understanding. Interestingly, this house - nicknamed Ice House - was originally built in 1842 by an American businessman, Fredric Tudor, who made his fortune exporting ice cut from the frozen lakes of New England to India.

At the mid-point of the program, which coincided with the weekend, the students went on a cultural/corporate visit to the former French seaside colony of Pondicherry, which was one of the highlights of the India visit. The city-state is divided into two sections, the French quarter and the Indian quarter, and still retains many of the vestiges of its colonial legacy - shops with French names, streets named rue and even-numbered houses on one side of the road and odd-numbered ones on the opposite, to name a few. In Pondicherry, the sights included Auroville or City of Dawn, a universal town where men and women of many nations and backgrounds are able to live in peace and harmony. In addition to sampling the delicious cuisine and staying at a quaint French villa, a stop at the beach topped off the trip.

The final set of cultural experiences took place along a verdant stretch of highway along the Bay of Bengal on the aptly named East Coast Road. The first stop was at Dakshin Chitra, a center for the living traditions of folk art, performing art, crafts and the architecture of South India. The second was at the Crocodile Park, home to hundreds of crocodiles and alligators, which was started three decades ago by American herpetologist Romulus Whitaker. The park also has a snake farm, where anti-venom is produced. A live demonstration of venom extraction from cobras, kraits and vipers fascinated the students! Finally, the last stop was historic Mahabalipuram, a seventh-century port city south of Chennai, along the coast. The various historic monuments, built largely between the seventh and the ninth century, have resulted in its being classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The post script to the East Coast Road experience was a stop at the fabulous GRT Temple Bay Resort overlooking the magnificent Bay of Bengal - a fitting ending to the students' passage to India. Along with a lifetime of experience, the students left with more luggage than with which they came. They had done their bit to stimulate the world economy!