Globalization and Local Risks is a blog by Jalal Alamgir that discusses the importance of bringing an informed local focus in globally-distributed organizations. The blog intends to blend my experience as a strategy consultant, his academic research, and his personal anecdotes and reactions on bridging global-local divides.
About me
I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where I research and teach international relations, and a Principal at Red Bridge Strategy, Inc., a consultancy that helps organizations to globalize their operations with locally and politically-informed strategies. I really enjoy doing both. My work at the university keeps me in the loop with cutting-edge research and blue-sky thinking, and I get to meet many scholars and students–wonderful, eccentric, motivated–all helping us to understand the world better. At Red Bridge Strategy, I get to try out some of the ideas I develop in academia, applying them to real world problems and puzzles that need to be “solved” within a limited time, limited resources, and an 80-20 approach.
I was born in Karachi, grew up in Dhaka, and besides the United States, have lived and worked in Delhi and Colombo. That kind of accounts for some of South Asia. I have never been to Nepal, Bhutan, or the Maldives; they’re high on my list.
My writings
I love to think and write, and do so often (at least the latter). I have completed one book, India’s Open-Economy Policy: Globalism, Rivalry, Continuity, which was published in London and New York by Routledge. The book has been selected by Asia Policy as a notable book for its “2008 Policymaker’s Library” and nominated for the Coomaraswamy Prize. I’ll know in March, 2010; fingers crossed. I am now working on two other projects, both related to South Asia and globalization.
I write frequently on political and economic issues, especially those affecting South Asia. My analyses have been published, among others, in China Daily (Beijing), GlobalPost (Boston), Foreign Policy (Washington, DC), OpenDemocracy (London), The Nation (New York), and The Daily Star (Dhaka), as well as in many academic journals. I also provide media commentary and opinion, which have been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and aired on WBAI Radio (New York), NEEN (Boston), and Deutsche Welle Radio (Germany).
My (emerging and evolving) network
I am kind of a risk-taking early adopter of technology. I take advantage of it in both my classes and my consulting work, and many of my consulting projects have linked technology-based opportunities to political/organizational strategies.
