Maintaining Competitiveness in a Global Economy

Amar GuptaThomas R. Brown Endowed Professor

Eller College of ManagementTucson, AZ 85721 USA

Keynote Address

April 2008

24-Hour Global Knowledge Factory

Degree of Structure of WorkDegree of Structure of Work

Structured Work Semi-structured Work Unstructured Work

24-Hour Knowledge Factory Concept Relevant Here

Product Design;Legal Analysis; Financial Analysis;

Reading of X-Rays;Creation of IS Systems

Work of Chief Executives and

Heads of Countries and

States

CallCenters

9:00am Local TimeSite C

Process Timing

9:00am Local TimeSite B

9:00am Local TimeSite A

16-minute handoffs

9:00am Local TimeSite C

Work done in 16 hours must be “handed off” in 16 minutes, literally!

Knowledge-based Framework

• Knowledge Acquisition

• Knowledge Discovery

• Knowledge Management

• Knowledge Dissemination

Outsourcing in Automobile Industry

• Ford Motor Company in 1900s

• Import of Parts from other locations/countries

• Markets versus Manufacturing Locations

• Transition back to the US!

Indiana Example

• Summer of 2003: Tata America Int. Corp, Accenture, and Deloitte Consulting make bids ranging between $ 15.2 million and $ 38.5 million. No Indiana-based company submitted bid. Up to 65 contract workers were envisaged to work alongside 18 state workers.

• September 2003: Governor Frank O’Bannon accepts lowest bid.

• November 2003: Governor Joe Kernan cancels contract.

• Decision NOT related to shortcoming of any type.

• Projected Difference: $ 8.1 million versus approximately 50 employees.

• Decision of Voters in 2004!!

Medical Transcription Services

• Extended Learning Curve- Eight to Twelve Month Training Program

• Cost: US $2500 to $3000/mo versus Indian MT < $300/mo

• Education: All have at least undergraduate degrees

– 221 science/medical-based degrees

– 37 doctors

– 17 pharmacists

• Cultural: Bagels and Beagles and other cultural differences

Decision-making dependencies for individual work: 3 scenarios

(a) Autonomous (b) Semi-Autonomous (c) Heavily-interdependent

- Three scenarios for decision making- This really is a continuous scale, based on how interdependent the tasks areExamples: - Autonomous – call center

- Semi-autonomous – hierarchy of experts (tv repair, etc)- Heavily-interdependent – software development

- Important thing is to assess the knowledge interdependencies first, for two reasons:1) know how to setup outsourcing structure for existing operations2) determine if new knowledge dependencies can be made, leading to new organizations

InformationHighway

SourcesReceivers

Pesetas

Frenchfrancs

Conversion

S1

S2

Sm

R1

R2

Rn

Conversion

Conversion

Conversion

Conversion US

Conversion

Bottleneck

Knowledge Management

http://next.eller.arizona.edu/