The World of Titan

Titan Industries revolutionized the watch industry in India. It was also our last class visit prior to our travel from Bangalore to Delhi. Our tour started with a briefing from one of the company’s Senior Engineers who told the story of how Titan transformed the watch industry from outdated and declining to fashionable and growing. In doing so, he told us about how over the course of 13 years, Titan went from being a non-player to achieving 60% of the share of the watch industry in India.

The story told to us by Titan folded out like one of our marketing case studies. At the time of Titan’s entry, watches were known purely as time keeping devises. Visual merchandising was non-existent and there was little interaction with the end-consumer. At the start of their journey, Titan set forth to break all of the rules of the industry by introducing a portfolio that covered the spectrum of technology, style, function and price. Coupled with a hands-on retailing concept and an immense marketing campaign, Titan “Created waves right in the early days, mesmerized consumers, demolished competition and rode into the sunset with panache”.

After a Q&A session that was surprisingly intertwined with all aspects of the EMBA curriculum (strategy, marketing, operations, …), the class split into groups and toured the manufacturing floor. It was here that we saw the highly manual process that went into component development and watch assembly. It was interesting to learn that despite technology advances, many of the components are made on original Titan machines. The tour was capped for most with a visit to the Titan showroom where we got to see the hundreds of varieties of watches the company produces and purchase souvenirs for ourselves.

Written by: Emily Livingston

Visit to Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital

On Monday March 7, we had a class visit to the Narayana Hrudayalaya heart hospital in Bangalore, which is one of the largest hospitals in the world with 1000 beds. The vision for the hospital was from founder, Dr. Devi Shetty, who acted on the premise that no child should be deprived of the best healthcare just because their parents can't afford it. The hospital has 24 operation rooms and performs a staggering 50 major heart surgeries daily. They perform the largest number of heart surgeries on children in the world and they treat patients from 73 countries.

We first saw the pediatric ICU and were so impressed at the size of the unit and the number of health professionals supporting it. There were at least 1-2 health care professionals engaged with each patient most of the time. It was great to see the wonderful care and attention these children were receiving. I was a little surprised that the two rooms (on opposite sides of the hallway) were basically wide open as I expected an ICU to be more closed off.

We also visited the tele-medicine facilities where doctors can monitor patient heart stats using remote monitors. They also had a facility for remote supervision/training by US experts on procedures that are being performed live in the NH hospital. This was a great idea to enhance the training of the health professionals at the hospital.

Finally, in the wrap-up discussion, we learned about an innovative strategy to help enable entrepreneurship in the rural communities while helping these communities with access/ability to pay for health care. This was a dairy cooperative model that provided loans for rural community citizens to buy cows thereby giving the people a source of income through the selling of milk. A percentage of these revenues was put into a pool that was made available to the people to pay for individual healthcare. We were quite impressed with this clever strategy. Overall, this was a fantastic site visit to an impressive health care facility.

Written by: Sudhir Rao

From Baked Beans to Boiled…

With a lei of jasmine, a mark of good wishes and fresh juice, the majority of the EMBA class was welcomed to Bangalore India early on Sunday morning.

Although exhausted, the hotel reunion was full of laughter and stories, as already many classmates had extended layovers and travel stories to share. Some highlights:

- Paris with lots of wine and a quest to find an “underground nightclub”

- The trek to Frankfurt for breakfast between flights

- One student's dressing adventures at Carnival in Goa

A few short hours later, the group had their first tastes of a Southern Indian breakfast and time to explore the city of Bangalore...traditionally known as Bangalaru. Among the more interesting adventures were:

- Pedicures done by schools of fish

- Negotiations with auto rickshaw taxi drivers.... Some more successful than others (This one even let a classmate take a turn at the wheel…)

- Tickets to see Ireland play the India National Team in the Cricket World Cup

Later in the afternoon, most of the class joined up with the faculty and the tour company to see some historical highlights of the city. It was at this point that we learned that legend has it that Bangalore got its name from the words “Bendha KaaLu”, which means “Boiled Beans” in the local language Kannada. Highlights of the tour included:

Bull Temple-a massive temple where Lord Shiva's mount, Bull Nandi is ensconced. Many in the class gave a small donation in return for the blessing of luck from the temple's priest. Some chose to purchase souvenirs outside that included wooden snakes and fresh coconuts.

The Summer Palace of Tipu Sultan, which was constructed of teak wood more than 200 years ago, with intricate sculptured arches and walls with that are covered in paintings and murals.

The Lalbagh Botanical Garden, of royal origin and was started initially as a private garden in an area of 40 acres by Hyder Ali, one of the most famous rulers of old Mysore in 1760. The gardens house more than a thousand varieties of flowers and trees - many which are rare.

Lastly, we ended our trip with a stop at the Government run emporium where many in the class purchased saris, shawls and custom clothing made out of the city's famous silks.

The day ended with a welcome dinner that was hosted outdoors back at our hotel. Which for some, was capped with a late-night dip in the pool.

Written by: Emily Livingston

Traveling to India - EMBA 23 International Field Seminar

The Boston University EMBA 23 class is traveling to India for their International Field Seminar. The EMBA class and faculty will visit both Bangalore and New Delhi on their trip. During the seminar,students will have the opportunity to participate in the following activities:

•Lectures and presentations, including discussion of cultural, legal, and regulatory issues
•Site visits with businesses, government officials, and non-profit organizations
•Team assignments that engage students with local organizations

Students will be blogging throughout the trip, sharing their insights and lessons learned. Stay tuned for more posts from India.