This page answers questions frequently asked by my students, friends, family, and
others about my research, home country, and so forth. Please be forewarned that
some of these answers may be of an egotistical nature. If you are turned off by
such ramblings, thanks for dropping by. If your interest is piqued, read on...
Dr. B, what is exactly that you do in your job?
Most people think that my job, as an information systems professor, is to teach
classes. In reality, that is less than half of what I actually do. My job, as a
professor, is three-fold: creating knowledge ("research"), disseminating
knowledge ("teaching"), and managing the knowledge creation/dissemination
process ("service"), with a 45:45:10 workload split between the three roles.
On the teaching front, I teach graduate and undergraduate classes on Electronic
Commerce and Database Management a Ph.D. seminar in Research Methods. On the service side, I
served on the editorial boards of MIS Quarterly (the #1 journal in the IS
discipline) and ICIS (the #1 international conference in IS), and continue to serve on the review
boards of several top IS journals. I am also on serve on a variety of USF committees and was the Ph.D. director for the ISDS
department for three years.
So what do you research?
For outsiders, research is the most "mysterious" component of my work!
Well, I don't write programs in C++ or Java, I don't design Oracle
databases or data warehouses, and I don't write e-business plans for companies
(though these are things I sometimes teach!). My research consists of applying
social science theories (primarily from economics and social psychology) to
understanding human, organizational, and societal problems related to IS use/implementation. For instance, I study issues such as why do industry-leading firms like
Dell Computers, Applied Materials, and American Airlines fail in some of their
multi-million dollar IS projects (see
this ComputerWorld article for some examples of such failures). The
"usual suspects" commonly blamed for such failures, such as unclear
specifications, lack of management support, inexperienced staff, bad project
management, etc. do not apply to these companies, nor do they lack technological
or financial resources. One answer to this problem may lie in the notion of "IS capability." Firms lacking such capability are more likely to fail in large IS projects, despite having all the resources and and the
best technologies. I examined three components of IS capability and specified
steps that firms should take to build such capability. You are probably
wondering how firms like American Airlines and Dell, with extensive histories of prior successes, can lack IS capability. Well, IS capability is a time-variant attribute that
needs to continually replenished as business dynamics, competition, and trends change. Firms (even
successful ones) that fail to do so will eventually lose their capability and
market advantage, just the way Xerox lost its advantage in the copier business
and IBM lost its advantage in the PC manufacturing business. Additional examples of my research are available from my
research page.
What do you gain by doing research?
Two benefits. First, research is creative, intellectually stimulating, and personally satisfying. It lets me ask the hard questions that most corporate managers
and consultants won't venture (because these questions often don't have easy
answers and are sometimes unsolvable). I do research because I love doing it.
Second, research gives me international acclaim and visibility; many people
around the world, who never met me, know me purely by virtue of my research. As
a result, I receive invitations to participate in research projects, present
research seminars, participate in panel discussions, and even
unsolicited job offers!
Do we really need research? Why can't professors just focus on teaching?
You have to first create knowledge before you can teach it in the classroom.
Research creates that knowledge, which is ultimately channelized into books,
classroom lectures, and corporate "best practices!" How could you possibly have
a course in electromagnetics if noone researched electromagnetic theory first
and figured out practical ways of applying that abstruse theory. However, like
most good things in life, research is often misunderstood and unappreciated at
the time it is done. For instance, Copernicus was stoned when he said that the
earth rotates round the sun, but his research paved the way for our knowledge of astronomy, climatology, and space exploration.
What did you do before you became an IS professor?
I did not have an undergraduate or graduate degree in information systems or
any business discipline before starting a Ph.D. in business
in 1991. My prior background was in an abstract science called "geophysics,"
which is a combination of geology, physics, and math, with large doses of
computational procedures, electrical measurements, and calculus. I received
bachelors and masters degrees in this discipline from Indian Institute of
Technology (click here if you wish to know more about IIT),
where I was trained in seismological data collection and processing techniques,
that are used in a wide range of applications from oil exploration (i.e., mapping
underground oil and gas reservoirs) to plate tectonics (i.e., ocean floor mapping,
earthquake prediction). Upon graduation, I worked for a while with Citicorp,
designing retail banking applications in Sybase and C (don't ask why anyone
would hire a geophysicist to write banking software!).
In 1990, I came to the USA to work for Lamont
Doherty Earth Observatory, a research facility in upstate New York, while
pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University.
At Lamont, I had the unique opportunity to participate in scientific expeditions
to many remote parts of the world like Tahiti (the Marquesas Islands they showed
on Survivor!), where we tried to measure the rate of the ocean floor spreading,
understand the formation of volcanic islands like Hawaii and Tahiti, and map
fracture zones on the ocean floor that are prone to seismic activity.
We collected data by blasting underwater airguns every 20 seconds round the
clock non-stop for 22 days, used sophisticated surface sensor arrays to record the time it took for sound waves to be
reflected back from the sedimentary layers in the ocean floor, stored the data on
onboard computers, and applied sophisticated algorithms such as 3-D seismics
to recreate the spatial structures in the ocean floor. I worked on R/V Maurice
Ewing, a research vessel equipped with Sun workstations, satellite phone link,
a wonderful crew of scientists, and an absolutely awesome chef named Frank!
Here are some pictures of this ship and its crew.
Click here
for a real-time update on the ship's current location around the globe.
R/V Ewing forward starboard view
A gunner checking out airguns on the boom
(can you see an iceberg in the background?)
The onboard computer lab monitoring airgun operation and recording
multichannel seismic data round the clock
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R/V Ewing forward port view
This is how a the ocean floor contour looks like in real-time when
the ship goes over a seamount
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During this time, I had the opportunity to visit some "cool" places, meet
interesting people, and learn about local cultures, though I missed the
Antartica cruise that I really wanted.
Despite the fun and the sun, this seemed like a dead-end career, and given my
background in data processing, I decided to move to an academic career in
information systems. I have to admit that it was a little strange walking into
a Ph.D. program in business, with zero knowledge of accounting,
marketing, IS, or any other business area. Everyone I know (parents, professors, and college
deans) said that it was a bad idea to leave an Ivy League program to study a
lowly business discipline. But I still took that risk and it worked out well!
Tell us something about the place you are originally from.
I am originally from India,
where I still have most of my family ties. Some 1000 years back, when Europe
was in the dark ages and America did not exist, India and China ("the Orient")
were the global centers of knowledge, prosperity, and wealth. In fact, India
was the richest country on earth until the early 17th Century. This wealth
lured foreign invadors and sailors from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan to
Christopher Columbus (who set sail across the oceans searching for India and
came to America). Here are some historical tidbits on India:
- The world's first university, Nalanda University, was located in Takshila,
India in 700 BC. Over 10,000 students from all over the world studied here in
more than 60 disciplines (ironic that Indian students now come to America for higher studies, huh!).
- The Arabic number system was originally invented in India, and then translated
by the Arabs for use by other civilizations (hence called "Arabic"). Much of
algebra, trigonometry, calculus, and statistics originated in India. The value
of pi was first calculated by Indian mathematician Budhayana in the 6th century.
Quadratic equations were propounded by Sridharacharya in the 11th century.
- The first school of medicine known to man, Ayurveda, was established in
India some 1300 years ago. Ayurveda is the basis for many of today's modern
medicines, including anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion,
metabolism, genetics and immunology, and is still practiced worldwide as
"alternative medicine."
- Sushruta, an Indian health scientist, is the father of modern surgery. He
demonstrated 2600 years ago how to perform complex surgerical procedures such
as cesareans, artificial legs, fractures, urinary stones, and even plastic
surgery and brain surgery. Over 125 surgical equipments and anasthesia were
used by Indian surgeons at that time.
- In the 5th century, Indian astronomer Bhaskaracharya calculated the time taken
by the earth to orbit round the sun (365.258756484 days), which is the starting
point of much of today's astronomy.
- Today, more than 7,000 companies in the USA are run (as CEOs, Chairmen, etc.)
by Indians, generating an estimated $60 billion in annual sales. These firms
include McKinsey & Co., Citigroup, Merrill-Lynch, United Airlines, US Airways,
Sun Microsystems, Alcatel, and Vodafone. Indians also have the highest
per-capita income of any ethnic group in the U.S.
What are some of the famous places in India?
India is a unique place where time has been immortalized in archeological
monuments, myths, mysticism, and epic tales of tragedy, romance, and chivalry.
You will find a harmonious confluence of three distinct cultures and
architectures: temples, forts, and palaces built by Hindu kings and princes for
thousands of years, Muslim mosques and maosoleums constructed by the Mughal
rulers during the medieval era, and churches and office buildings created by
the British colonial rulers in the modern era. Here are some pictures of India:
India is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, dating back
4500 years - The Indus Valley
Civilization. Part of this civilization was the ancient city of Mohenjodaro
(meaning "mound of the dead") archeologically excavated in 1922. Notice the
brick construction and the square pattern of buildings and surface roads. All
roads were north-south or east-west so that they were automatically cleaned by
the trade winds. See how smart people were 4500 years ago!
On the banks of the Yamuna river lies India's crown architectural jewel: the
Taj Mahal. The Taj was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 16th century to
immortalize the death of his beloved queen Mumtaj Mahal (hence the name Taj).
This exquisite mausoleum and eternal symbol of love, was built in white marble
by 20,000 people over 22 years. The colors of the Taj and its reflection in the Yamuma river
are presumed to change from pinkish in the
morning, to milky white in the evening, to golden when the moon shines,
supposedly depicting the different moods of a woman. When Shah Jahan was
deposed and imprisoned by his own son at old age, the emperor's only request was
to place him in a cell from where he could see the Taj for the rest of his imprisoned life.
Yet another of Shah Jahan's magnificient creations is the Red Fort, Delhi.
Built entirely of red sandstone, this palace is 2 miles in perimeter and 100
feet tall and was the seat of the Mughal Empire when it moved its capital from
Agra to Delhi in 1648. Today, it is the symbol of independent India, with
annual Independence Day parades held at this site.
Rising majestically over the rugged terrain of desert state of Rajasthan and
overlooking the city of Jodhpur is one of India's finest forts - Mehrangarh
Fort. Jodhpur, former capital of the ancient kingdom of Marwar, was home to the
Rathor clan of Rajputs, fierceless warriors believed to be direct descendants
of the Sun God (hence called Suryavansha or the solar race). From this
virtually impregnable fort, the Rathors waged numerous glorious wars against
the Mughals, before finally merging with independent India in 1949.
Victoria Memorial is probably the most classic example of British colonial
architecture in India. This edifice, made entirely of white marble, was built
in 1906 by Lord Curzon in Kolkata, the then capital of the British Empire,
along the lines of the Taj Mahal in memory of Queen Victoria of England.
Where else in the world will you have an elephant sharing the same street as cars,
scooters (two-wheelers in the center) and rickshaws (the tricycle on the right).
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Nothing represents the grandeur of Indian architecture and Hindu mythology as
much as the Meenakshi temple at Madurai. Legend has it that Indra, the king of
the Gods, was fighting a demon named Virudran. The demon, pursued by Indra,
reached a hill top and began penance, when he was killed by Indra while praying.
Full of remorse for having killed a praying demon, Indra set out on a
pilgrimage to atone for his sin and found solace when he discovered a Shiva
Lingam (one of the three Indian Godheads) beneath a kadamba tree at the current
site of the Madurai temple. The temple itself was built by the Pandyan dynasty
in the 14th century, and is famous for its 1000-pillar hall inlaid with gold
and precious stones, millions of stucco figurines and murals representing Hindu
legends, and towering entrances called "gopurams" (south entrance above).
Buddha was born in India as a Hindu prince. He achieved spiritual enlightenment
under a Bodhi tree in Gaya, India (hence the name "Buddha"), where this giant
Buddha statue stands today. This statue and the surrounding Mahabodhi Temple
complex was constructed several centuries later by the Maurya and Gupta kings.
Testimony to India's scientific progress is this indigenously developed Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), designed in 1993 to place 1,000-1,200 kg class
satellites into polar sun-synchronous orbits. Using alternating solid and
liquid propulsion systems, this four-stage vehicle successfully place two
piggybacked satellites (Korean KITSAT and German TUBSAT) into their respective
orbits in 1999, three satellites (Technology Experiment Satellite of
India, BIRD of Germany, and PROBA of Belgium) in 2001, and 13 satellites (including one from NASA) in 2008.
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Here are some interesting links on India:
We hear of terrorism in Kashmir. What's going on out there?
I visited Kashmir in 1983 before terrorism began there. Kashmir then had a
thriving economy, centered on exquisite hand-crafted rugs, woolens (the famous
"cashmere" variety comes from Kashmir), and tourism. Kashmiris (Hindus and
Muslims) lived in harmony, helped each other, and shared a rich cultural
heritage. This is also one of the most scenic, serene, and pristine places on
earth - double the height of the Colorado Rockies and inlaid with lakes,
valleys, and river streams. When Mughal emperor Jehangir visited Kashmir, he
exclaimed, "If there is paradise on earth, it is here." Unfortunately, this
paradise has been torn apart since 1990 by Pakistan-sponsored Islamic terrorists
who kill and maim people in the name of jihad (these guys also created the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan). They forced 400,000
Pandits (Hindus) out of their ancestral homes in Kashmir and assassinated
Muslim leaders who wanted peace. Presumably, Pakistan uses Kashmir as a means of
exacting revenge for the three wars it has lost against India since independence.
What about the people of Kashmir? What do they want?
The Kashmiri people are sick and tired of the terrorists. They prefer a
democratic, secular, and economically stronger India over the military-controlled, repressed Islamic state of Pakistan.
A recent poll
found that 61% favor being part of India, 6% favor Pakistan, and 33% undecided.
67% believe that Pakistani-sponsored terrorism has harmed Kashmir and most
believe that democracy and economic development will bring peace to the region.
Why are all the software jobs going to India?
Firms outsource to India because (1) programmers in India can do the same job
as US programmers at 1/3rd the costs, and (2) abundant and inexpensive
telecom bandwidth has made it possible to deliver real time services in the US
from India. Even local software jobs within the US are heavily dominated by
Indians, including NASA, Microsoft, IBM, and Intel. But software outsourcing
appears to be just the tip of the outsourcing iceberg. Call center operations
(e.g., customer service), financial services (e.g., market analysis, commodity
trading, tax preparation), medical transcription (e.g., radiology,
non-emergency surgical procedures), legal services, and even many R&D
operations are now moving to India. In a free market economy, the invisible
hand of the market will always drive production to the lowest cost provider.
Can't we do something to keep our jobs here?
Outsourcing is the result of a much deeper problem. Unless we solve the
underlying problem, raising protectionist barriers will
only do more harm than good. Protectionism raises the cost of production, which
means that (1) US consumers will have to pay more for these services and (2) US
firms will be globally less competitive and may eventually be forced to shut
down (causing more unemployment). For instance, you can buy a table fan at
Wal-Mart for $16, because it cost the Chinese $4 to manufacture it. If that fan
was manufactured locally, would you pay $200 for the same fan? When the State of Indiana replaced its $15 million Indian
outsourcing contract with a $23 million local contract, Indiana taxpayers ended
up shelling out an additional $8 million in taxes. Costs in the non-outsourced industries of healthcare and education are so high in the U.S. because they are locally produced at high input costs. The key problem, in my
opinion, is that the wage differential between US and India is so much larger
than the productivity differential that unless we can justify the higher wages
of US workers, jobs will continue to flow out of the country. The long-term
solution is to upgrade the skills and productivity of US workers (e.g., by
improving education), to justify at least some of the wage differential.
Dr. B, how do you spend your spare time?
Are you kidding me? Do I have spare time after 36-hour days and 250-hour weeks?
When I do have some time, I spend time reading or playing with my kid, travelling,
and listening to rock music. I have visited many different corners of the world:
from Bombay to Bangkok to Sydney to New York, and even the South Pacific (Tahiti),
and lived in many scenic places such as Colorado, Arizona, and Florida. I'm also
a big fan of British hard rock music, my favorite bands being Queen, The Who,
and Pink Floyd (Quick quiz for the rock buffs out there: What was Queen frontman
Freddie Mercury's original name?). I also watch a lot of TV, especially the
utterly meaningless reality TV genre, so much about productive use of time!
Finally, do you have any pet peeves?
Certainly. I can't stand (1) people who talk a lot but can't deliver, (2) habitual procrastinators (which includes many of my students), and
(3) people who blame others for their problems.
Yes, life is tough and unfair, but that is true for all of us! We just have to accept it and move on, and make the best of whatever we got (i.e., make lemons into lemonade). Your life is your responsibility, and just as you would take all the credit for
all your success, you should also blame yourself for your failures.
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