Ravi+Kumar
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Op-Ed by Dean Ravi Kumar, KAIST Business School, for MK English News
Professor Ravi Kumar, Dean of Business School at KAIST, wrote an op-ed for MK English News, dated February 3, 2010, on "Korea’s doing business in India". Below is his article:
India: Opportunity or Frustration?
by Dr. Ravi Kumar, Dean of KAIST Business School
On January 26, President Lee Myung-bak was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade and festivities, an honor that has been bestowed on Vladimir Putin of Russia and Nicolas Sarkozy of France in recent years. President Lee signed a strategic partnership agreement with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was successful in getting the Indian government to issue permits for POSCO to break ground on their US$ 12 billion steel plant and is positioning Korea as a serious contender in India’s future purchase of nuclear power plants and trainer aircraft. Doosan Heavy was successful in getting a billion dollar order last week to build a coal-fired power plant in India and Hyundai Motors has doubled its car production capacity in Chennai with 20% Indian market share. Samsung and LG have dominant market share in the Indian consumer electronics and home appliances sector, hiring thousands of Indians this year to support their growth. Wow, all this points to India and Korea on target to double their trade to US$ 30 billion by 2014.
Last week, a group of our KAIST IMBA students with considerable business experience interviewed me for one of their class projects. Their topic: Indian culture/society and its impact on doing business in India. One of their questions probed the notion of time in Indian culture and business etiquette since they had heard that Indians are not on time for appointments/meetings. I had to explain to them that India originated from one of the oldest civilization (Indus Valley) that goes back five thousand years and this is one reason that allows Indians to think of time as being continuous and forever. Another aspect of culture that impacts Indian sense of endless time is that of re-incarnation—Indians who are predominantly Hindus believe that one is reborn again and again until one lives a purely spiritual life and becomes one with the divine being. And finally, Indians believe in fate, that their past lives (and sometimes, where the planets were located when they were born) define, in some sense, the kind of life they are going to lead in this current life. Given these three factors, there is no sense of “palli palli” in Indian life and this can be very frustrating to foreigners.
So, my advice to Korean companies and executives--have a lot of patience and be ready for endless diversity. The country that can send sophisticated moon probes can also not have electricity or clean water for millions of its citizens. When you travel from one state to another, beware that the actual language, food preparation, philosophy of government and even clothing that people wear may differ remarkably. India is really like the European Union, with different languages, different state governments, different cultures and a lot of the infrastructure still to be built. An opportunity, you bet—but tomorrow, maybe not!
2010.02.04 View 10900 -
USC Professor Appointed New Dean of KAIST College of Business
Ravi Kumar, former vice dean of the Graduate and International Program at the University of Southern California, has been appointed as dean of the KAIST College of Business, the university announced on Tuesday (June 30).
Dr. Kumar has been a professor of information and operations management at the Marshall School of Business, USC. He is widely known for his research on global operations, particularly in improving operational performance through cellular design and integrated decision-making with marketing and information technology.
KAIST President Nam-Pyo Suh said: "We are fortunate to have Prof. Kumar as the new Dean of the College of Business. He has made many important contributions to the USC business school, especially in adding international dimensions to the school"s activities. He has established an impeccable reputation as a scholar and visionary. We expect that he will display great leadership in making the KAIST College of Business one of the best schools of its kind in the world."
Prof. Kumar received his bachelor degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in 1974, master degree from the University of Texas, Arlington, in 1976 and doctorate degree from Northwestern University in 1981.
His papers have been published in Management Science, Marketing Science, Journal of Economic Theory, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management and Journal of Management Information Systems. He serves as a senior editor on the Board of Production and Operations management and Operations management Educational Review.
He has won several awards for teaching excellence at both the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and USC. They included the Outstanding Educator Award and the Golden Apple Teaching Award.
Prof. Kumar has extensive international consulting experiences with Rolls Royce, BMW, Daimler Benz Aerospace, ABB, Ericsson, BAS Global, Motorola, Reuters, Du Pont, Sanwa Bank, Korea First Bank, Korean Air, Infosys, Acer, Shell Hong Kong and other companies.
2009.07.01 View 12969