Strategies for Success in India

• Intensive management (also known as “micromanagement”) is viewed, for the most part, as good management
• Clarify with a written checklist and open-ended questions
• Ask for input since many may be reluctant to provide unsolicited feedback
• Ask for regular feedback and frequently follow up on tasks in order to maintain schedules and meet deadlines
• Avoid asking questions that can be answered by a “yes” or “no”
• Ask questions in several ways to ensure that the way the question was phrased did not impact the response
• Prepare several “what-if” scenarios to help drive change

Key Business Values in India

• Respect for elders and authorities
• Trust is very important
• Preference to work collaboratively
• Family obligations may take precedence over work
• Preference to not give or receive bad news
• Avoidance of giving overt negative response
• Relationship-building activities may take precedence over meeting schedules and deadlines
• Reluctance to take undirected initiative

- from RW3′s CultureWizard® Pocket Guides, also available on CultureWizard Mobile

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Kareena Kapoor

The concept of “face”, a central tenet of many Asian cultures, is illustrated in an a story from the Indo-Asian News Service concerning the relationship between a film director eager to work with an actress. When the reporter asks Madhur Bhandarkar, the director, why Kareena Kapoor, the actress, has not yet confirmed she’ll work with Madhur on a new film, he responds by giving face to Kareena, the most culturally appropriate response to a question framed to solicit information on a sensitive matter. Kareena’s payment to collaborate with Madhur was the sensitive detail concerned, and Madhur responded with the following:

It’s not because she was quoting a very high price. It was because our budget of the film was very less. The dates were also clashing.”

Instead of expressing the feeling that Kareena was asking for too much money, Madhur focused on his own budget, thus giving face to Kareena by acknowledging she deserved more than he could afford. Furthermore, Madhur alludes to the history of their strong relationship and mentions they need to take the right amount of time before anyone can make a decision.

We know each other for years. We both admire each other’s work. In Page3 we wanted to work together but there were some economic problems because of which we couldn’t. I met her and we have spoken on it, but we need to sit for couple of times. Once it’s decided we will make the announcement.”

The concept of time in most of India, and in other Asian countries, is far more fluid than in the West. Decision making is slower and relationship-building takes precedence over schedules and deadlines. How do film studios in Hollywood differ? What would a director in Hollywood do in this situation? It may appear that film culture in Los Angeles is not as far from Mumbai as we think.

Click here to jump to the article on the Hindustan Time’s website.

Sean

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A CNN report emphasizes that there is much to learn from business leaders in India.

“In terms of lessons for managers elsewhere, one of the most important things is that Indian leaders lead with a sense of social purpose,” said Peter Cappelli, professor of management at Wharton University of Pennsylvania.

“He said every leader interviewed gave a specific social purpose as being the goal of their business. Those purposes ranged from improving healthcare in India, to getting cell phones to people who don’t have access to communication tools, and proving to the international community that Indian companies can lead in IT.”

Motivation in India tends to be fueled by social purpose, along with the well-being of one’s family and work-life balance. Building this purpose into the mission or function of each person’s role within a company reaps true benefits in India. However, would this motivate workers in other parts of the world?

Training and development is also a very important part of working at an Indian firm. “IT firms typically allocate 60 days of formal training for new hires and companies often spend months training even experienced workers hired from other firms.” Given the surge in offshoring and outsourcing over the past years, intercultural and language training have surely been a large part of this.

The article also states that U.S. companies don’t invest in their employees as they do in India, considering the lost investment should the employee quit. Does your organization invest heavily in training and development? What are the expectations of new hires? What kind of training options are on offer?

Click here to read the CNN article online.

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The New York Times reports that despite the challenge women face to become leaders of banks in New York and London, many women fill senior positions in India. “HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Fidelity International in India are run by women. So is the country’s second-biggest bank, Icici Bank, and its third-largest, Axis Bank.”

Chanda Kochhar, chief executive of Icici Bank

This may come as a surprise, for many families in certain parts of India favor boys over girls. According to female professionals in the industry, “India provided the right combination of supportive, mostly male, managers and a diverse work environment that did not require them to be ‘one of the boys’ to succeed.” The freedom from conforming to a stereotypically masculine banker persona, which is prevalent in Western banks, has allowed women to climb the ladder in their own way, which isn’t to say that they are exempt from hard work and long hours.

A managing partner from head-hunting firm EMA said that “bosses sometimes gravitate toward women in India because they think ‘women are less corruptible, more straightforward and above board most of the time.’” How does this view of women differ in other cultures?

How do you think Indian culture influences the success of women in this industry? How does culture in other parts of the world make it more difficult for women to attain the same positions? The article reminds us that “there are no women leading major American or European banks, and no woman has ever run a Wall Street investment bank.”

Click here to read the article.

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Reuters

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google faces a new challenge in India with its social networking site Orkut. There, freedom of speech, a constitutional right, is not completely and literally free, but subject to certain rules that are intended to maintain cultural standards tied to India’s numerous ethnic and religious groups.

“The nation of 1.2 billion is the world’s largest democracy and in principle affords free speech to its citizens. But the country has a volatile mix of religious, ethnic and caste politics and a history of mob violence. So, the government has the authority to curtail speech rights in certain cases. India’s Constitution encapsulates that gray zone: Free speech is subject to ‘reasonable restrictions’ for such purposes as maintaining ‘public order, decency or morality.’” Oftentimes, the robust democratic system leads Indians to violent, chaotic protests in the streets.

How does Google, an American company, know when to remove objectionable material, that could lead to public outcry, from it’s many websites? Their policy is to “review material flagged by Indian users of Orkut and other Web services it owns, such as YouTube…The company pledges to abide by the laws of the countries it operates in. In India, that means making some content inaccessible from the local versions of its sites…” Censorship is not typical of democracy, but the nature of Indian culture influences the strong hierarchy of the country, and the power vested in authorities.

Understanding the vagaries of Indian culture and society is important for businesses operating in the country to comprehend and incorporate into local policy. Are there other areas of the world where social networking websites can potentially endanger public safety as in India, or is this unique? How does this compare to recent elections in Iran and the use of Twitter and Facebook to spread news outside of the country?

Click here to read the article online.

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At a media conference in New Delhi this week, Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, said “We feel that solutions which have been devised by us around the world, cannot be imposed here. The company needs to find unique solutions for India.” She also noted that the country was in the top three markets for the company, and that they intend to foster a cultural awareness of India to produce the most relevant products. For global corporations, culture becomes an ally when marketing and selling to diverse populations. We’ve seen how PepsiCo approached China (click here to read a related post).

What do you think it takes to achieve success in the Indian consumer market?

Click here to jump to the article on the Hindustan Times website.

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