The India Way
In June of 2009 I published an article called ‘The Toyota Way in ICT?’. In last June’s Computable I read an article called ‘Indians defeat veterans in outsourcing’. In this article it is said that Dutch customers are happy with Indian suppliers. Research into outsourcing conducted by KPMG Equaterra showed that four Indian offshore players are in the top five, while the established names are at the bottom of the list [1].
In juni 2009 heb ik het artikel ‘The Toyota Way in de ICT?’ gepubliceerd. In de Computable van afgelopen juni las ik het artikel ‘Indiërs verslaan oudgedienden bij uitbesteding’. In dit artikel wordt aangegeven dat Nederlandse klanten tevreden zijn over Indiase dienstverleners. In een onderzoek van KPMG Equaterra naar outsourcing staan vier Indiase offshore-spelers in de top vijf, terwijl de gevestigde namen onderaan de lijst bungelen [1].
Ik heb in de afgelopen periode veel gelezen over het boek ‘The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management’ [2]. Dit boek is geschreven door Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh en Michael Useem, professoren van de Wharton School of Business. De conclusies van de auteurs zijn gebaseerd op een analyse van bijna 130 interviews met Indiase ceo’s en leidinggevenden van de grootste bedrijven waarin de auteurs proberen vast te stellen wat Indiase managers anders doen.
I juni 2009 publicerade jag en artikel som heter ”The Toyota Way in ICT?”. I juninumret av Computable läste jag en artikel som hette ”Indier besegrar veteraner i outsourcing.”. I denna artikel stod det att holländska kunder är nöjda med indiska leverantörer. Studier i outsourcing utförda av KPMG Equaterra visade att fyra indiska offshore-aktörer finns med på topp 5, medan mer etablerade namn fanns i botten av listan (1).
Jag läste mycket om boken ”The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management” (2). Denna bok, skriven av Peter Cappelli, Harbir Sing, Jitendra Singh och Michael Useem, alla professorer på Wharton School of Business. Författarnas slutsatser baseras på en analys runt 130 intervjuer med indiska företagsledare, tillhörande de största företagen. Författarna försöker att fastställa vad de indiska cheferna gör annorlunda.
Im Juni 2009 habe ich einen Artikel mit dem Titel “The Toyota Way in ICT?” veröffentlicht. In der letzten Juni Ausgabe von Computable habe ich einen Artikel mit dem Titel “Indians defeat veterans in outsourcing” (Inder schlagen Veteranen beim Outsourcing) gelesen. In diesem Artikel wird gesagt, dass die niederländischen Kunden mit den indischen Anbietern zufrieden sind. Studien über Outsourcing, die von KPMG Equaterra durchgeführt wurden, zeigten, dass vier indische Offshore Player in den Top Fünf sind, während die etablierten Namen am Ende der Liste stehen [1].
Ich habe viel über das Buch “The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management” (die indische Art: Wie Indiens Top Geschäftsführer Management revolutionieren) gelesen [2]. Dieses Buch wurde von Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh und Michael Useem, allesamt Professoren an der Wharton School of Business, geschrieben. Die Schlussfolgerungen der Autoren basieren auf der Analyse von ungefähr 130 Interviews mit indischen CEO’s und Managern, die zu den größten Unternehmen gehören. Die Autoren versuchen herauszustellen, was die indischen Manager anders machen.
I read a lot about the book ‘The India Way: How India’s Top Business Leaders Are Revolutionizing Management’ [2]. This book is written by Peter Cappelli, Harbir Singh, Jitendra Singh and Michael Useem, who are professors at the Wharton School of Business. The authors’ conclusions are based on an analysis of around 130 interviews with Indian CEO’s and managers belonging to the largest companies. The authors try to establish what the Indian managers are doing differently.
New practices
‘The India Way’ focuses mainly on the contrast that exists between the different styles of business management in the US and India. Topics that are discussed are leadership, company management, human resources management and innovation. The basic thought is that dominating western management practices cannot be copied but new practices are being applied that fit their own strategies, leadership and organisational culture, such as; – Looking beyond just the shareholders interests, but focusing on the local community’s and national interest. – Doing business on the basis of improvisation, adaptation and resilience. – Providing products and services that add value. – Investing in talent and building local and national culture. ‘The India Way’ is a modern adaptation of ‘The Toyota Way’. The most important statement in the book is that Indian companies focus more on doing business via the rules of the socially responsible entrepreneur, namely the ‘triple bottom line: people, planet, profit’. Furthermore the core values focus much more on prosperity in the long term, employees and the surrounding community. This way Indian managers are respected and trusted by their employees.
TataGroup
According to the authors, the Corporate Governance policy of the Indian CEOs is not entirely without interest. The primary goal is making money but contributing to charity is equally important. Contributions to prosperity and the welfare of the community that is profited from, lead to more profit and appreciation. This is why business objectives are not solely described in economic terms. Business strategy is based on the social mission; over 50 per cent of TataGroup’s profits, for instance, goes to charity. While the current generation of CEOs has mainly become focused on making ‘fast money’ for the shareholders, and also definitely for themselves, the previous generation had a broader business focus and therefore a more positive influence. Corporate Governance has a positive effect on the employees’ motivation, helps attract and keep staff and improves the company’s performance.
Essential differences
Another important fact that the authors found is the difference in strategy focus. The authors compared results from their research to those of an earlier research done among CEOs in the United States and they found essential differences: – 98 per cent of American CEOs focus on rules compared to 41 per cent of their Indian colleagues – 78 per cent of American CEOs invest a lot of time in corporate reports compared to 41 per cent of Indians – 58 per cent of American CEOs focus on share holders compared to 41 per cent of their Indian colleagues. – when the strategy is determined we can see a reverse picture: only 47 per cent of American CEOs consider this crucial usage of time while a whopping 93 per cent of their Indian colleagues consider it crucial. – the progress of Indian organizations concerning Corporate Governance is measured by CEOs in India regularly, while their American colleague seldom does this. – Strategic Human Resource is taken more seriously in India as a business issue than in the US. Twice as many CEOs from India think that their human resource policy is the basis to their business success. [3]
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
My interest in ‘The India Way’ does not only come from the fact that India is an up and coming economy with a growth rate of two numbers, but also and mostly from the fact that I, as an employee of Tata Steel IJmuiden, previously known as Corus and before that as Hoogovens, am currently experiencing the transformation to ‘The India Way’. One of the interviewees was B. Muthuraman, who is managing director of Tata Steel. Furthermore Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is one of the four Indian offshore players that is in the top five of the research conducted by KPMG Equaterra, and the Dutch customers are pleased with them. Both Tata steel and Tata Consultancy Services are part of TataGroup. We see that the ‘The India Way’ is starting to play a much bigger part in our economy and therefore in our society. It is no longer a situation that is miles away and does not concern us, but it is a present day reality. It is therefore advisable to understand the way of thinking of the people we have to work with. If we cannot beat the managers from our new competition, and it is looking that way, we might learn something from them…[4]
Links and references
[1] Website Computable: www.computable.nl [2] The India way website: www.theindiaway.com [3] Managementpro website: www.managementpro.nl [4] Several other sources: Grondslagen Administratieve Organisaties (E.O.J Jans), informatiseringseconomie (R. van Oirsouw), Wikipedia
