It happens all the time to me. American and European companies come to me for help with India and they preface it with something like “Well, we spent the last five (or ten) years figuring out China. Now our investors are hankering for us to expand our role in India. All we need to do is fine tune our strategy and execution a teeny bit for India, can you help with that?”
The premise is faulty, nine times out of ten. While India and China are both large, growing Asian economies that have liberalized in recent decades and are new to lifetimes of current Western managers, the similarities stop there. The key factors for success in both countries could hardly be more different. The social and physical infrastructure is poles apart.
India is a free speech democracy that is home to a thousand cultures and almost all thrive from Jews to Muslims, to Tibetans. India’s government has limited authority over its people and (fortunately) over its companies and entrepreneurs. Indian citizens’ affinity to west is double that of China.
One way to look at the differences between the two countries is to talk to an Indian executive working for an American company in China. My friend Rajesh Dalal of Johnson and Johnson has done just that and here is a link to a recent article that he wrote for Forbes magazine. I think you will find it to be useful.
