Globalization and Offshoring of R & D

A recent Hindustan Times headline proclaimed how "India centre engineers played key role, filed 40 patents for Vista"
The article said: While Bill Gates and his global team celebrated the launch of Microsoft Corp's much awaited Vista operating system in the Times Square and elsewhere in the world, the city of Charminar had its own reasons to exult. Some 330 engineers in Microsoft's India Development Centre at Hyderabad engineered some of the most important features of the software — and filed 40 patents to prove that. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer had during his visit to India in November taken time off to party with the engineers based in the Hi-Tec City complex. Five years ago, when Windows had launched Windows XP with 40 people involved from Hyderabad, it was a case of developing individual technologies in parts (for e.g. Internet Explorer) in India and integrating them with the global team from Redmond.

Well, articles like this just reinforce the point that large organizations are globalizing research and development, leveraging skills and talent cutting across ‘time and space’ boundaries.

Its no more, "Think globally, act locally".
Its only, "Think globally, act globally".
“In a flat world, the national boundaries become less significant, and the winners are those who capitalize on capabilities available globally.”

Advertising-Its all fun....

• Advertisement In A Long Island Shop: Guitar, for sale....... Cheap...........no strings attached .
• Ad.. In Hospital Waiting Room: Smoking Helps You Lose Weight ... One Lung At A Time!
  Seen on a bulletin board: Success Is Relative. More The Success, More The Relatives.
• When I Read About The Evils Of Drinking...I Gave Up Reading.
• My Grandfather Is Eighty And Still Doesn't Need Glasses... He Drinks Straight Out Of The Bottle.
• You Know Your kids Have Grown Up When: Your Daughter Begins To Put On Lipstick.. Or Your Son Starts To Wipe It Off .
• Sign In A Bar: "Those Of You Who Are Drinking To Forget, Please Pay In Advance."
• Sign In Driving School: If Your Wife Wants To Learn To Drive, Don't Stand In Her Way.
• Behind Every Great Man, There Is A Surprised Woman.
• The Reason Men Lie Is Because Women Ask So Many Questions .
• Getting Caught Is The Mother Of Invention.
• Laugh And The World Laughs With You, Snore And You sleep Alone.
• The Surest Sign That Intelligent Life Exists Elsewhere In The Universe Is The Fact That It Has Never Tried To Contact Us.
• Sign At A Barber's Saloon In Detroit: We Need Your Heads To Run Our Business.
• A Traffic Slogan: Don't Let Your Kids Drive If They are Not Old Enough Or Else They Will Never Be.
• Sign In A Restaurant: All Drinking Water In This Establishment Has Been Personally Passed By The Manager.
• Sign On A Famous Beauty Parlor Window: Don't Whistle At The Girls Going Out From Here. She May Be Your Grandmother !

Call these punchlines!!! They will sure get more attention than a big celebrity can...thats what everybody does, "Cost Cutting"...Isnt it?....

How about Taare Zameen Par?

American's expectations- Japanese Perfection

This one captures the attitude of Japanese towards quality.....

They're still laughing about this at IBM:
Apparently the computer giant decided to have some parts manufactured in Japan as a trial project. In the specifications, they set out that they will accept three defective parts per 10,000.
When the delivery came in there was an accompanying letter. "We, Japanese people, had a hard time understanding North American business practices. But the three defective parts per 10,000 have been separately manufactured and have been included in the consignment. Hope this pleases you."

By the way i have started to work on Six-Sigma project.