International Market LeadershipQuestion 1: Examine and comment on the factors that compelled Infosys to develop its own IT service delivery model. Explain in detail how GDM works. One of the main criteria for any company wishing to develop its own in-house or proprietary service is to differentiate itself from the competition. Often the need to differentiate is driven by customer demands. However, in the case of Infosys, not only were customer requirements for service important, but also an extremely high level of customer service and anticipation of customer needs. The case presents Infosys as a very proactive organization, responding to customer needs and anticipating the next need before the competition. One of the central themes in differentiating their services was the ability to develop higher quality, custom products at a lower cost than others. A key aspect, however, was their ability to locate the necessary service centers in the right location: on the customer site, near the customer site and/or truly offshore – a location with access to highly competent resources but at lower cost. cost than others. . Company officials say the work can be done anywhere, leaving freedom within Infosys to determine where the work can be done at lower cost or with less spare capacity or with special skills ( Infosys, 2010). They used global development centers to create a broad set of knowledge and skills capable of multi-tasking across multiple projects, using peaks and troughs in demand to their advantage. A "valley" of work volume from one client created the opportunity to respond to the "spike" of work from another, creating a stable, cohesive workforce ready to... middle of paper . ..... will prove valuable in the years to come. Once the company has established its value proposition, it can now charge a higher price for its services. This allowed the company to continue business as usual but increase profits thanks to the reputation it had earned as a global leader in its field. References Deresky, H. (2008). International Management (6th ed.). New Jersey: Upper Saddle River. Fryer, K. and Gothe, M. (January 15, 2008). Global Software Development and Delivery: Trends and Challenges. Retrieved May 13, 2010 from IBM DeveloperWorks: The Rational Edgehttp://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/edge/08/jan08/fryer_gothe/index.htmlGantt, H.L. (1910). Work, salary and profit. The Engineering Magazine. New York.Infosys. (2010) The Global Delivery Model, accessed May 12, 2010 at http://www.infosys.com