Building and transforming an emerging market global enterprise: Lessons from the Infosys journey

The story of Infosys’ growth and transformation from a $250 start-up to its current market valuation of approximately $26 billion provides one of the most pertinent lessons in leveraging India's strengths and managing the challenges faced by an emerging market global enterprise based in India. In this article, we present a wide-ranging interview with Infosys’ current CEO, Mr. S.D. Shibulal, as he explains what he considers to be the core strengths of the company that made it successful in the past, lays out his vision for the company's future, and discusses in detail how he sees the company's transformation taking place over the coming years. The conversation uncovers several interesting themes and lessons for multinational enterprises in emerging as well as developed economies, including the relevance of being born global, values-based governance, the necessity of creating hybrid business models that infuse the ‘India way’ with local cultures and practices in global markets, leveraging strategic partnerships via co-creation and co-evolution, and the delicate balance between ‘preservation-creation-destruction.’     

Ethnic markets—A Canadian perspective

Reworking published 1981 Census of Canada data, the authors initially present—for all ethnic communities of significant size (40.000⁺ nationally)—information on mother tongue, language spoken most often at home, and place of birth. Comparable provincial and CMA data is then provided. The authors conclude that marketers must supplement Census data with knowledge of such factors as the relative strength of ethnic affiliations and the drawing power of ethnic media. Custom designed studies of ethnic purchase and consumption patterns are also considered essential.     

Nominal contracting in a world of uncertainty

This paper evaluates corporate sensitivity to relative price risk and inflation risk and suggests how the existence of various nominal contracts, particularly debt and forward contracts, may modify firm behavior under uncertainty. By differentiating between the two types of price risk, this paper demonstrates the distinct risk reduction functions served by forward contracts and debt. Debt primarily protects against inflation risk whereas forward contracts can be used to protect against relative price risk. Complications arise, however, because forward contracts, which are denominated in nominal terms, also have an impact on the firm's degree of inflation risk.     

The Demise of ‘International Relations’: America's Western Palimpsest

By the end of the nineteenth century, the map of the U.S. no longer revealed the historic encounter of nationhoods between Euro- and Native Americans. The changes in the map articulated the process though which what had been foreign policy on the continent had been displaced by various version of racial politics. Two films are the book ends of this analysis, whose middle section treats the way classis westerns, particularly those directed by John Ford, supply insights into the Euro American geo- and biopolitical “ethnogenesis,” their ethnically privileged and territorially pervasive presence on the North American continent. I begin with Sean Penn's The Pledge (2001) and conclude with Wim Wenders's Paris, Texas (1984). While it is unlikely that the “international relations” that characterized the American continent will be restored, these two films (and other genres of popular culture) remind us of the politics of America's cartographic history.     

Mode of Entry and the Regional Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment in China

In this paper we re-examine the regional determinants of FDI in China using both total FDI flows, and FDI flows disaggregated by entry mode. Building on both the FDI location and entry mode choice literatures, we argue for the existence of mode-specific location advantages, and test for their existence. We first specify and estimate a location model of aggregate FDI flows to Chinese regions. Using the aggregate model as a benchmark, we then estimate separate equations for each of three different entry modes (wholly-owned subsidiaries, equity joint ventures and cooperative joint ventures), and compare the results with the aggregate model. The results indicate that mode-specific location advantages do exist, at least within China, but they are limited to a small number of factors. In particular, we identify the accumulated stock of FDI as being more likely to attract high control modes of entry, while existing policies to attract FDI are more likely to attract lower control modes of entry.     

The Year in Review: Economics at the Antitrust Division, 2008–2009

This paper covers the activities of the Economic Analysis Group (EAG) of the Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, during 2008–2009. It describes the economic analysis undertaken by EAG in several important investigations, and in other activities as an advocate for competition.     

Dialectical and devil's advocate problem-solving

In recent years an increasing amount of interest has been generated in the application of dialectical methodology to strategic and operational problem-solving. This paper first examines the existing research evidence and then introduces the Dialectical Problem-Solving Technology (DPST) based on the Dialectical Materialism Inquiry System. The results of an empirical investigation into the effectiveness and impact of High Structure (DPST), Medium Structure (Devil's Advocate Problem-Solving Technology-DAPST), and Low Structure (Control Group) problem-solving technologies are examined. Finally, a need for further theoretical and empirical research is examined.The authors are on the Faculty of Baruch College, The City University of New York, New York, USA.