WHEN it comes to brand management, it may be hard to beat the ineptitude of the politicians of Bangalore. No sooner has their city’s name become a global byword for all that is exciting and cutting-edge about the new India, than the elected custodians of the brand decide to rename it Bengalooru. And you thought New Coke was daft.
Happily, the bosses of Bangalore’s (ahem, Bengalooru’s) tech tigers are guilty of no such incompetence. They turn out to be grand masters of brand building. Tech firms such as Infosys and Wipro were behind a decision to promote India’s claimed advantages over China at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. A modest investment (reportedly, $4m) paid off handsomely in the boost it gave corporate India’s reputation among the global business elite.
Nandan Nilekani, the charmingly down-to-earth boss of Infosys, is the man who persuaded Tom Friedman that “The World is Flat”. Mr Friedman's best-selling book of that name has persuaded millions of Americans that Indian firms now present a serious competitive threat (or, as the management jargon would have it, opportunity) to corporate America.
In a new book called “Bangalore Tiger”, published by McGraw Hill, Steve Hamm argues that “Indian upstart Wipro is rewriting the rules of global competition”. According to Mr Hamm, the success of Indian information-technology, consulting and outsourcing firms such as Infosys, Tata Consulting Services, and, above, all Wipro―which cooperated with him―is not simply a product of lower labour costs. He says that Indian firms have come up with a better model for operating globally that should have even their biggest Western competitors quaking in their boots, much as the just-in-time management and the lean production of Japanese firms such as Sony and Toyota shook Western rivals two decades ago.
Indian entrepreneurs are understandably delighted by this expert appraisal, not least because it ranks them ahead of China in establishing firms that are real global leaders. Chinese firms such as Lenovo and Hauwei may have the global ambitions, but so far it is Wipro and Infosys that are having the global impact.
Happily, the bosses of Bangalore’s (ahem, Bengalooru’s) tech tigers are guilty of no such incompetence. They turn out to be grand masters of brand building. Tech firms such as Infosys and Wipro were behind a decision to promote India’s claimed advantages over China at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos. A modest investment (reportedly, $4m) paid off handsomely in the boost it gave corporate India’s reputation among the global business elite.
Nandan Nilekani, the charmingly down-to-earth boss of Infosys, is the man who persuaded Tom Friedman that “The World is Flat”. Mr Friedman's best-selling book of that name has persuaded millions of Americans that Indian firms now present a serious competitive threat (or, as the management jargon would have it, opportunity) to corporate America.
In a new book called “Bangalore Tiger”, published by McGraw Hill, Steve Hamm argues that “Indian upstart Wipro is rewriting the rules of global competition”. According to Mr Hamm, the success of Indian information-technology, consulting and outsourcing firms such as Infosys, Tata Consulting Services, and, above, all Wipro―which cooperated with him―is not simply a product of lower labour costs. He says that Indian firms have come up with a better model for operating globally that should have even their biggest Western competitors quaking in their boots, much as the just-in-time management and the lean production of Japanese firms such as Sony and Toyota shook Western rivals two decades ago.
Indian entrepreneurs are understandably delighted by this expert appraisal, not least because it ranks them ahead of China in establishing firms that are real global leaders. Chinese firms such as Lenovo and Hauwei may have the global ambitions, but so far it is Wipro and Infosys that are having the global impact.
Mr Hamm describes a “Wipro way” that he thinks companies of all sorts should study hard―including rivals such as IBM, Accenture and EDS. This “Wipro way” has several ingredients. They include: clear core values; intensive planning combined with flexibility when things do not go according to plan; zero politics among executives (can this really be true?); quick decision making; clear rules of doing business that are vigorously enforced; an obsession with measurement; working closely with customers; and world-class human-resources management. That last is a vital edge. The intensifying battle for talent may be as fierce in Bangalore as it is anywhere in the world.More Details..
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