L'Appel de l'Inde [The Call Of India]

In addition to becoming the uncontested champion of back office outsourcing, India is now experiencing a frenetic growth rate that is stimulating the curiosity of a growing number of companies. As a consultant who has spent most of his time in India for the past ten years, Michel Testard asserts that Western companies have a window of opportunity of ten to fifteen years to enter the country. After that, local competitors will be so powerful that it will be difficult to challenge them in their home territory.
This book, replete with “serious” data as well as lively anecdotes, offers a complete overview of the economy and society of India. It is also a very helpful guide for foreign entrepreneurs who would like to maximize their chances of successfully getting started in India.
Besides the introduction, which summarizes the main ideas of the book, readers are advised to start with chapter 5, which contains an amazing list of products invented and sold in India, proving that companies must be able to adapt their offering to this country quite unlike any other.
Most of the advice to foreign firms is found in chapters 6 and 7, with case studies such as LG, Unilever and Maruti Suzuki. These chapters also contain a description of how Indians work, best practices to follow and mistakes to avoid when working with them. Chapter 4, which describes the domestic Indian market, is a useful complement to position products and services.
The first three chapters describe the economic potential of India, specifically emphasizing the high quality of the labor pool (chapter 2), the impact of offshoring (chapter 1), and even the country’s growing power in industries such as pharmaceuticals, automotive manufacturing and diamond cutting (chapter 3).