Professor Dev Dutta traveled to Hyderabad, India, at the end of December 2007 to present a conference paper. Following the conference, he visited companies in Chennai and Mumbai

Dutta, Dev

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University of New Hampshire

University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository
Faculty Travel Reports Global Education Center
Spring 2008
Dev Dutta , Assistant Professor of Strategic
Management and Entrepreneurship, travels to India
Dev Dutta
University of New Hampshire - Main Campus, dev.dutta@unh.edu
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/international_travel
This Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Global Education Center at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has
been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Travel Reports by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more
information, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.
Recommended Citation
Dutta, Dev, "Dev Dutta , Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, travels to India" (2008). Faculty Travel
Reports. 29.
https://scholars.unh.edu/international_travel/29
UNH Center for International Education Newsletter
http://www.unh.edu/cie/newsletter/2008/spring/faculty_dutta.html[7/8/2016 1:53:30 PM]
Center for International Education
WSBE’s Dev Dutta, right, with Mathan Varkey, head
of marketing for GiveIndia.
In this Issue
Featured Stories
Additional Articles
Faculty Travel Reports
Download this
newsletter as a .pdf
Center for International
Education Home
DEV DUTTA ,
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Professor Dev Dutta traveled to Hyderabad, India, at the end of December 2007 to present a
conference paper. Following the conference, he visited companies in Chennai and Mumbai.
 
This winter, I traveled with a very specific
research and teaching agenda to three vibrant and dynamic cities in
India. I had two papers to present at the Fifth AIMS International
Conference in Hyderabad. AIMS is the Association of Indian
Management Scholars – a worldwide association of management
academics with an Indian heritage. As part of its activities, AIMS
organizes an annual research conference in India, which allows its
members to network with each other on research topics of common
interest. It also allows Indian academics to connect with faculty from
around the world.
AIMS 2007 was held in Hyderabad, the southern Indian metropolis
from December 27-29. The theme of this year’s conference was
“Technology and Management: Two Pillars of Success.” I presented two papers at the conference -- a solo paper titled: “Inter-
organizational relationships and firm performance: Impact of complementary knowledge and relative absorptive capacity,” and
another paper co-authored with Professor Kam Jugdev of Athabasca University, Canada, titled: “Project management, resource
development typology, and the quest for sustainable competitive advantage.”
The conference turned out to be an excellent venue for sharing research and teaching insights with a wide group of scholars. It had
plenary sessions as well as concurrent sessions organized over three days, with common dinners and banquets that allowed for
socializing and informal interaction. The conference was hosted by the ICFAI Business School in Hyderabad and this allowed the
visitors to interact with a wide group of MBA students as well, especially since most of the administrative and logistics activities
for visitors were handled by students themselves. At a personal level, the conference was very beneficial for me. Not only did it
allow me to present to and learn from scholars, but it also helped me to share best practices in teaching. Finally, I was able to
interact with some very bright Indian students on the topic of strategic management and entrepreneurship, the case method of
teaching and its usefulness, and so on.
UNH Center for International Education Newsletter
http://www.unh.edu/cie/newsletter/2008/spring/faculty_dutta.html[7/8/2016 1:53:30 PM]
After Hyderabad, I traveled to the southern city of Chennai (December 30) and later the Indian financial center, Mumbai (January
7-9). This part of my India visit was with a different research agenda – to meet the CEOs of two very interesting companies
engaged in the domain of social entrepreneurship (use of a business approach towards social uplift) and write management cases
on them for a future course at UNH on social entrepreneurship.
The first company, Chennai based Desicrew Solutions, is engaged in a rural Business Process Outsourcing initiative. I had an
interesting discussion with its young, twenty-five-year-old CEO, Saloni Malhotra. Saloni’s work in helping to bridge the rural-
urban digital divide in India has earned kudos from around the world and for her pioneering initiative she has been named the
runner-up in Business Week’s 2007 list of best young entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region.
My final travel destination was Mumbai, to visit another incredible company called GiveIndia, the vision of entrepreneur N.
Venkat Krishnan. Venkat – a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad – created GiveIndia, a fully
internet-based intermediary that connects potential donors who want to improve the socio-economic conditions of India’s poorest
citizens with a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the field. What is interesting about GiveIndia is that
it has adopted a very different business model: (1) it classifies potential donors as individuals looking for a “social return” for the
investments they make in socio-economic uplift, (2) it has a robust due-diligence process in selection of NGOs that can receive
these resources, and (3) it carries out its own operations with an entrepreneurial mind set, relying not on any grants or support for
gratis but by operating on a revenue stream of fee-based services. While at GiveIndia I had an incredible opportunity to discuss the
spirit of volunteerism and giving in India, not only with Venkat, but also members of his dynamic team – Pushpa (Chief Operating
Officer), Mathan (Head of Marketing) and Tejas (Head of Finance and Accounts).
These two company visits helped me to appreciate how an entrepreneurial venture can be created to specifically focus on the
“business context” of socio-economic uplift in a developing country. Even as I will be developing the two case studies and
teaching notes over this summer, I have been able to share many of these insights with my students, to demonstrate to them that
business success and social uplift need not be mutually exclusive, but can be combined for betterment of people’s lives across the
globe.
My most sincere thanks go to the Center for International Education UNH, Professor Kam Jugdev of Athabasca University and her
SSHRC funded research grant, and Management Department at WSBE for financially supporting my trip to India, which made it
possible for me to take up this research and outreach opportunity.
  
Copyright © 2015, Center for International Education  •  The University of New Hampshire
223 Hood House  •  89 Main Street  •  Durham, NH 03824
tel: 603-862-2398  •  fax: 603-862-0169
study.abroad@unh.edu  •  international.affairs@unh.edu


Dev Dutta , Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, travels to India

UNH Scholars' Repository

University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryFaculty Travel Reports Global Education CenterSpring 2008Dev Dutta , Assistant Professor of StrategicManagement and Entrepreneurship, travels to IndiaDev DuttaUniversity of New Hampshire - Main Campus, dev.dutta@unh.eduFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/international_travelThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Global Education Center at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Faculty Travel Reports by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationDutta, Dev, "Dev Dutta , Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, travels to India" (2008). Faculty TravelReports. 29.https://scholars.unh.edu/international_travel/29UNH Center for International Education Newsletterhttp://www.unh.edu/cie/newsletter/2008/spring/faculty_dutta.html[7/8/2016 1:53:30 PM]Center for International EducationWSBE’s Dev Dutta, right, with Mathan Varkey, headof marketing for GiveIndia.In this IssueFeatured StoriesAdditional ArticlesFaculty Travel ReportsDownload thisnewsletter as a .pdfCenter for InternationalEducation HomeDEV DUTTA ,ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT ANDENTREPRENEURSHIPProfessor Dev Dutta traveled to Hyderabad, India, at the end of December 2007 to present aconference paper. Following the conference, he visited companies in Chennai and Mumbai. This winter, I traveled with a very specificresearch and teaching agenda to three vibrant and dynamic cities inIndia. I had two papers to present at the Fifth AIMS InternationalConference in Hyderabad. AIMS is the Association of IndianManagement Scholars – a worldwide association of managementacademics with an Indian heritage. As part of its activities, AIMSorganizes an annual research conference in India, which allows itsmembers to network with each other on research topics of commoninterest. It also allows Indian academics to connect with faculty fromaround the world.AIMS 2007 was held in Hyderabad, the southern Indian metropolisfrom December 27-29. The theme of this year’s conference was“Technology and Management: Two Pillars of Success.” I presented two papers at the conference -- a solo paper titled: “Inter-organizational relationships and firm performance: Impact of complementary knowledge and relative absorptive capacity,” andanother paper co-authored with Professor Kam Jugdev of Athabasca University, Canada, titled: “Project management, resourcedevelopment typology, and the quest for sustainable competitive advantage.”The conference turned out to be an excellent venue for sharing research and teaching insights with a wide group of scholars. It hadplenary sessions as well as concurrent sessions organized over three days, with common dinners and banquets that allowed forsocializing and informal interaction. The conference was hosted by the ICFAI Business School in Hyderabad and this allowed thevisitors to interact with a wide group of MBA students as well, especially since most of the administrative and logistics activitiesfor visitors were handled by students themselves. At a personal level, the conference was very beneficial for me. Not only did itallow me to present to and learn from scholars, but it also helped me to share best practices in teaching. Finally, I was able tointeract with some very bright Indian students on the topic of strategic management and entrepreneurship, the case method ofteaching and its usefulness, and so on.UNH Center for International Education Newsletterhttp://www.unh.edu/cie/newsletter/2008/spring/faculty_dutta.html[7/8/2016 1:53:30 PM]After Hyderabad, I traveled to the southern city of Chennai (December 30) and later the Indian financial center, Mumbai (January7-9). This part of my India visit was with a different research agenda – to meet the CEOs of two very interesting companiesengaged in the domain of social entrepreneurship (use of a business approach towards social uplift) and write management caseson them for a future course at UNH on social entrepreneurship.The first company, Chennai based Desicrew Solutions, is engaged in a rural Business Process Outsourcing initiative. I had aninteresting discussion with its young, twenty-five-year-old CEO, Saloni Malhotra. Saloni’s work in helping to bridge the rural-urban digital divide in India has earned kudos from around the world and for her pioneering initiative she has been named therunner-up in Business Week’s 2007 list of best young entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region.My final travel destination was Mumbai, to visit another incredible company called GiveIndia, the vision of entrepreneur N.Venkat Krishnan. Venkat – a graduate of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad – created GiveIndia, a fullyinternet-based intermediary that connects potential donors who want to improve the socio-economic conditions of India’s poorestcitizens with a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the field. What is interesting about GiveIndia is thatit has adopted a very different business model: (1) it classifies potential donors as individuals looking for a “social return” for theinvestments they make in socio-economic uplift, (2) it has a robust due-diligence process in selection of NGOs that can receivethese resources, and (3) it carries out its own operations with an entrepreneurial mind set, relying not on any grants or support forgratis but by operating on a revenue stream of fee-based services. While at GiveIndia I had an incredible opportunity to discuss thespirit of volunteerism and giving in India, not only with Venkat, but also members of his dynamic team – Pushpa (Chief OperatingOfficer), Mathan (Head of Marketing) and Tejas (Head of Finance and Accounts).These two company visits helped me to appreciate how an entrepreneurial venture can be created to specifically focus on the“business context” of socio-economic uplift in a developing country. Even as I will be developing the two case studies andteaching notes over this summer, I have been able to share many of these insights with my students, to demonstrate to them thatbusiness success and social uplift need not be mutually exclusive, but can be combined for betterment of people’s lives across theglobe.My most sincere thanks go to the Center for International Education UNH, Professor Kam Jugdev of Athabasca University and herSSHRC funded research grant, and Management Department at WSBE for financially supporting my trip to India, which made itpossible for me to take up this research and outreach opportunity.  Copyright © 2015, Center for International Education  •  The University of New Hampshire223 Hood House  •  89 Main Street  •  Durham, NH 03824tel: 603-862-2398  •  fax: 603-862-0169study.abroad@unh.edu  •  international.affairs@unh.edu

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Dev Dutta , Assistant Professor of Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship, travels to India

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