Director's Letter

Globalization refers to the worldwide phenomenon of economic, political and cultural exchanges brought about by modern information technology (IT), transportation and legal infrastructure as well as the political choice to consciously open cross-border links in international trade and finance. It reflects how places and human beings are becoming more intertwined with each other around the world economically, politically, and culturally. Although these globalization links are not new, they are more pervasive than ever before due to IT (adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization).

The theme of this month’s CRITO Review is globalization. While garnering more media attention lately, CRITO faculty associates have always considered IT and globalization to be an important topic of research. As evidence of the ongoing work in this area, we are pleased to announce the release of two new reports and the beginnings of a new study in this newsletter. Two of this month’s articles profile research studies which examine the nature of the work being offshored and the impacts to IT jobs in the U.S. Our third article looks at the dynamics of the PC industry and how business is conducted as manufacturing moves from Taiwan into mainland China. Here, the focus is not on jobs, but rather how to manage a globalized supply chain.

While our studies focus on the changes globalization and offshoring bring for industry, we find we are not limited to merely observing these trends. CRITO, like other organizations, is itself experiencing globalization with several of its PhD graduates migrating to universities in other countries. Dale Ganley has moved to the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada where she, along with CRITO Faculty Associate Sanjeev Dewan, continues to study the role of newer ICTs in reducing the digital divide. Victor Gonzalez moved to the University of Manchester, England in April. Victor, along with Professors Alladi Venkatesh and Kenneth Kraemer have recently submitted a proposal to the UC-MEXUS program to continue their work on the digital home. In the Fall, Sean Xu will be joining the faculty at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology where he will continue his work, along with CRITO Faculty Associate Kevin Zhu, on the use of e-commerce in China.

As “Critonians” are going abroad, foreign visitors are making their way to CRITO. Andrea Ordinani, professor of strategy and information systems, is visiting from the elite University of Bocconi in Milan, Italy. He also visited earlier in 2004. Professor Heinrich Reinermann of the prestigious Post-Graduate School of Administration in Speyer, in the Federal Republic of Germany is expected to visit later in the year.

I hope you enjoy learning more about CRITO research in this month’s newsletter.