Intimacy, Love and Friendship

Introduction Compared to the past century, women in Australia have more rights and privileges and their status has risen higher. The transformation that is now being witnessed among the Australian women came about as a result of hard fought political and social battles by movements advocating for change in women’s roles both.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Intimacy, Love and Friendship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the past, women in Australia led a life characterized by a lot of hardships because of the harsh traditions that they were supposed to follow. These traditions viewed women’s roles as being mothers and housewives within the family setting. There was little that was done by the existing social structures to raise the status of women or improve their living standards. Generally, women were considered to be inferior and the society was dominated by the males. The changing status of wo men in Australia has been reflected in many areas of life, one of them being marriage. In this paper, I shall explore the ways in which marriage reflects the changing status of women in Australian culture in the past century. Trends in the Australian marriages Survey studies on marriages in 1980’s in Australia showed that there was a decline in the rates of marriage. Even though there were many married couples, most of them were just cohabiting. More cases of divorce were also reported. It was also noted that the fertility rate had gone down. I believe that these problems threatened the survival of marriage. According to Lieberman (2011), the size of households and family types in Australia has also changed over the years. The size of households has fallen from an average of 4.5 members in 1911 to an average of 2.6 members in 2006. Changes have also been noted in the emerging family types. Prior to the year 2006, households comprising of couples living with children who depen ded on them were very common. However, this trend has changed and most of the households have couples who do not have children. By the year 1980, more women were being enrolled in institutions of learning and especially the post secondary education. This enabled them be employed in various organizations (Ireland, 2010). Previously, only men were in paid work force because women were not educated and their roles were viewed as only those of a mother and a housewife.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The manufacturing industries as well as other industrial and corporate sectors were in need of a workforce that was skilled and with better education. Since women had equal chances with their male counterparts to be employed, they were able to get into paid work force (Hearn, 2008). These changes in education trends in women and the consequent employment resulted to changes in the patte rns of marriage. Women were able to postpone the time of getting into marriages. Easy accessibility to contraceptive pills among the women also changed the child bearing trends. There was a delay in the age at which women chose to have children as women concentrated more on their education and careers. The age at which women had their first child shot up from teenage to early twenties and early thirties. By the year 2007, there were cases of first time mothers who had their children in late thirties (Lieberman, 2011). Generally, the ongoing wave of feminism enlightened the women to look beyond their past social roles of motherhood and housewives to other possibilities in political and economic scenes. The opportunity for women to bear children reduced greatly due to the technological advancements in methods of family planning, instability of many relationships and delay in childbearing because of education or economic factors. The rate of fertility continued on the downward trend un til it came to an alarming rate in the 1990’s (Lieberman, 2011). There were concerns that the diminishing fertility rate was going to have major impacts on the economic and social scenes. According to McDonald (2005), the postponement of the age at which a woman will bear children has a major impact on the number of children they are going to get. This is because getting a first child at an older age restricts one to only a limited number of children because of biological factors.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Intimacy, Love and Friendship specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The social constructions about the ideal age of getting into a marriage and the conditions that one has to meet also impact on the marriage trends. Some women wait until they are able to own a house with many rooms where each child has their room and also until when they feel they are economically stable to take their children to priva te schools, before getting into marriage. By the time this happens, most of them are advanced in age and are only able to have one or two children at most. Some even end up being unable to have children, although they would have wished to have some. This trend has led to an increase in the number of women who have one child or none at all. The number of women who have three or more children is slowly becoming extinct. Currently, two-child families are more common although the number of women who have given birth to only one child is steadily rising. Ex-nuptial births In the past, when women were assigned the roles of motherhood and housewives, there were very few cases of ex-nuptial births. However, there has been a rising trend of ex-nuptial births among women in the recent times. Australian unmarried women who got pregnant in the 20th century had several options at their disposal. They were either supposed to give up the child for adoption immediately after birth or look for a way to get into marriage. Abortion was not allowed. The number of babies born outside marriage has continued to rise significantly. Family-work balance for the working mothers A significant change in the status of Australian women is seen in the entry of women in paid work force. This had an impact on the family life. The number of women in both part-time and full time employment, who had dependants increased. This led to the emergence of households where both parents are working hence putting a lot of strain on the marriage and especially caring for the young children. The situation is particularly tough for single mothers who have to work for long hours or even get two jobs in order to meet all her family obligations.Advertising Looking for essay on social sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More With the child caring role still being left to the mothers, the age of the children or child in the household affects the way the mother is going to participate in the economic sector. As the youngest child grows older, more women find themselves in a better position to look for paid employment. The trend of mothers venturing into paid work called for adjustments in many areas in the family. The need for someone to take care of the child or children while the mother was away arose. The people considered for this role were mostly relatives, particularly the grandparents. Availability of this service however depended on various factors such as the health person, the relationship between the parents and the caregiver and their place of residence. Grandparents are mostly preferred because of their ability to offer emotional support, guidance, historical facts and generally, be good role models for the children to emulate (Lieberman, 2011). This option of using relatives as care givers t o the children of working mothers has not been very effective and has necessitated for another way of providing the same services. Formal child care centers have emerged. The number of preschool age children attending formal care child institutions has increased drastically. Negative effects of the changing status of women on marriages There exists a relationship between the changes of status of women especially culturally and the consequences on marriages. Economic productivity and feminism are some of the factors that cause a change of status among women which in turn impacts on marriages (Illouz, 1969). Women who spend a lot of their time in pursuit of education or careers are being shunned by men who believe that such women cannot make good mothers and wives. This has led to emergence of a group of women who are not ready to give up these pursuits and consequently, opt to be single mothers. This is because the women are able to run this type of family independently. Education an d paid employments are some of the things that have contributed significantly to the changing status of women in Australia and have impacted both negatively and positively on marriages. The changing status of women is also causing a re-evaluation and redefinition of the roles of men in the family and in the society. Men are feeling that they are at an inferior position because of the rising rates of divorce and changing social norms. The changing structure of the families has caused a lot of anxiety among the men. Women are opting for family types that do not favor men. Women also are redefining some of their roles and expressing their dissatisfaction with some of the social roles placed upon them, which is causing men to feel insecure and powerless in the marriage institutions, contrary to how it was some years ago when men dominated almost all areas, including the area of marriage. Alternative types of marriages such as lesbianism are an issue of concern to men (Rosa, 1994). This type of marriage was not very common in the past but it is now increasingly gaining popularity among women, especially the elite and those who consider themselves liberated from the past traditions. Butler (2002) states that: ‘†¦ the proposition that marriage should become the only way to sanction or legitimate sexuality is unacceptably conservative’ (Butler, 2002). This view is being held by many other women who disregard marriage because of their changed social status and the ability to choose the kind of marriage they want to get into. Emerging studies which show that single women have a higher chance of high educational achievements also affect marriages because some women opt not to get to marriage so that they can achieve their educational goals. Some studies go further to suggest that single women are happier than married women. This too is a deterrent to women getting into marriages. The notion that was held in the past that the man is supposed to be the pr ovider is lowly dying away. Women now feel that they are as good as or even better than their male counterparts and are no longer dependent on them for financial support. This has caused superiority complex among the married women which may cause their husbands to feel inferior, especially if the woman is earning more compared to the man. Single women with this kind of mentality may choose to never get married because they feel that they are self sufficient. Feminist writers have further affirmed this stand taken by some women claiming that women have the right to choose how they want to live their lives without outside interference. Their writings show that single women are as happy as or even happier than their counterparts who are married. This has led to emergence of many single parent families and higher divorce rates among the existing marriages. Conclusion The roles of women in Australia have revolutionized in the past century. Several factors such as pursuit of higher educat ion, paid employment and advancements in the area of family health, particularly family planning methods, have contributed to the revolution. Until 1914, women’s roles were restricted to housewife and motherhood. The average age of marriage was eighteen for many girls. This was not the case for everyone because those who came from lower social classes had their marriage age lower. The girls were married at an average of age fourteen. Since most of the housework was done manually as there were no electrical appliances, most of the work was time consuming. This means that the married women had no time to engage in other activities apart from housework. However, this trend changed over the years as women’s status changed and the effects of this change are still felt on the marriage institutions. Reference List Butler, J., 2002. Is Kinship Always Already Heterosexual? A Journal of Feminist Cultural  Studies, 2002: (13)1, 14-44. Hearn, A., 2008. ‘Variations on the B randed Self: Theme, Invention, Improvisation  And Inventory’, in The Media and Social Theory, David Hesmondhalgh and Jason Toynbee (eds). London: Routledge. Illouz, E., 1969. The rise of Homo Sentimentalis. Cambridge: Polity Press. Ireland, J., 2010. Our Cheatin’ Hearts. Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum, October 2-3, 2010 pp. 12-3. Web. Lieberman, F., 2011. A focus study: gender. New South Wales: Department of Education and Communities and Charles Sturt University. Web. McDonald, P., 2005. Has the Australian fertility rate stopped falling? People and Place,  13(3), 1-5. Rosa, B., 1994. Anti-Monogamy: a Radical challenge to Compulsory Heterosexuality?  The anarchist library, (3)1, 106-120. This essay on Intimacy, Love and Friendship was written and submitted by user Ben Reilly to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Greatest Generation essays

The Greatest Generation essays Tom Brokaw has suggested that those who lived through the Great Depression and World War II made up The Greatest Generation to date. I agree, but feel it important to analyze what makes up a Great Generation, to substantiate my opinion. To date, they have been the Greatest Generation because the situation and circumstances they had to respond to required involvement of all people within that generation. It was a generation that distinguished itself from others, by means of total sacrifice, commitment, and belief in their cause. It is important to note that their Greatness was achieved out of necessity, having to respond to a situation, and having to deal with certain circumstances. I feel these men and women could not have distinguished themselves in the same way, had it not been for the exceptional challenges of that era. It is my opinion that each generation has the potential to be as great as is required in given circumstances. Within each generation there are always individuals and groups who are willing, able and eager to strive for greatness of some sort, without there being any need, other than their own fulfillment. These individuals and groups are inspired to seek advancement and greatnes s either for their own sake, or often for the sake of mankind. Whatever their reasons or inspiration, these are the people who historically, have been able to achieve the sort of advancement of greatness that might lead people to conclude that the whole generation was great, and that is not always the case. These are the people who achieve greatness within a generation. They are also very often the people who are most likely to inspire, lead, and involve the other people within that generation, if the circumstances require. In the case of WW II, prime examples would be Eisenhower and Churchill. By this reasoning, the Greatest Generation requires the greatest challenges The gr...

Reaching Readers Through Wattpad and Blog Tours

Reaching Readers Through Wattpad and Blog Tours Reaching Readers through Wattpad and Blog Tours - An Interview with Indie Author Chele Cooke It’s no secret that the main challenge for all authors out there (except the bestselling ones) is visibility. â€Å"How can I reach readers?† is a question that comes up again and again†¦ Of course, there’s no one answer, but there are a lot of opportunities out there, a lot of different paths you can try out to reach different audiences.When interviewing speculative fiction indie author and ALLi member Chele Cooke, we decided to focus on two of them that she’s been using: Wattpad and blog tours. She might not yet be a bestselling author like some of our previous â€Å"guests†, but she has explored different paths that are worth mentioning, and has the right mindset when coming to marketing: it’s something to have fun with!For the lovers of the written word, we’ve provided a transcript below. But I recommend just plugging in your headphones and plunging into this joyful chat we had, as we didn’t transcribe quite everything! You can also join us directly on the Hangout here!

Marketing Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing Communication - Essay Example The four departments are aerospace, electronic systems, technical systems and information systems. The aerospace department creates revenue of approximately $ 10 billion annually and it has a workforce of about 23000 employees who are highly skilled individuals in their areas of expertise (Northrop, 2012). The department is a major supplier of American manned and unmanned defense aircrafts, space systems and technological knowhow in the security sector involving aviation.Examples of air defense mechanism created by the company involve the global hawk aircrafts and the F-35 lighting 11 jets. The electronic systems department is responsible for the provision of advanced electronic system for commercial and civil use, and military defense. The company has the ability to supply highly innovative and complex electronic defense machineries in marine systems, airspace management, navigation, and precision and communication systems. The company also provides electronic logistical support to government institutions and commercial organizations. ... department provides services in the modernization of existing military, communication and civil infrastructure to various government agencies, civil organizations and federal agencies. The company has competitors who are equally innovative and financially superior. Its major competitors are General Dynamics Cooperation, Lockheed Martin Cooperation and the Boeing Company. Compared to its three major competitors, Northrop Grumman is performing poorly, both in terms of its share value and revenue generating capabilities (Nasdaq, 2012). For example, the net income of Boeing Company as of June 2012 amounted to $ 4.35 billion, as compared to Northrop which stood at $ 2.10 billion, a difference of $ 2.25 billion. General Dynamics made $ 2.5 billion while Lockheed Martin made $ 2.78 billion. These figures are higher than the profitability of Northrop Grumman.In terms of their share prices, Northrop Grumman performs dismally (Nasdaq, 2012). The current value of Northrop Grumman share price st ands at $ 59.3; this is far below the share price of Boeing which currently trades at $ 72.58, a difference of $13.28. The share prices of its two other competitors are higher with Lockheed Martin share price trading at $ 83.37 and that of general dynamics trading at $ 64.13 (Nasdaq, 2012). The share values are an indicator of how well the company is perceived by the society and of its economic performance. The low share price of Northrop as compared to its competitors is an indication that the company economic performance is far below that of its competitors. There are various opportunities presentable to the company for expansion of its services and profitability. The present war on terror presents the company with an opportunity to develop high technology weapons that can be used to

Human Resource Leadership in Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human Resource Leadership in Education - Essay Example Human resource development is the process of increasing the knowledge, skills and capacities of all the people in the society. In economic term it would be described as the account of the human capital and its effective investment in the development of an economy in political terms Human resource development prepares people to admit participation in political processes, from social and cultural points of vias it helps pple to lead fuller and riches lives that are less bound by tradition. In general the process of human resource development unlocks the door to modernization. Human resources are developed in many ways. Formal education is the most obvious, beginning with pry or 1st level education, continuing with various forms of secondary education, and then higher education including colleges, higher technical institutes and universities. Human resources are also developed through systematic or informal training programs in employing institutions, and adult education programs and through membership in various political, social, religious and cultural groups. Another process is self development as individuals seek to acquire greater knowledge skills or capacity through preparation on their own initiative by taking formal or correspondence courses, by reading or learning from others in formal contacts. Other process include; Improvement in the health of the workers through better medical and public health programs and improvement in nutrition, which increase the working capacity of people, on a man-hour basis as well as over a working life, which may cause economic growth. Human resource leadership has been a very important factor in the general development of Georgia state. There has been considerable growth and development in its education sector both in rural and urban area

Human Factors in Technology Essay Example for Free

Human Factors in Technology Essay Companies now more than ever are able to utilize technology to be able to one ensure that the company’s values and ethics are readily available to their employees and two technologies provide tools for managers to enforce company policies in relation to ethics. Companies use tools such as Microsoft Share point as well as an internal Intranet for posting its values and ethics making them easy to find as well as tools for understanding them. By doing so the company can then ensure that there isnt really any excuse that can be used for not being aware of the ethics and therefore create a zero tolerance for ethical violations by its employees. Technology provides several tools for managers to be able to monitor their employees use of internet; since many companies are opening up the use of the internet at work finding value in allowing their employees to use the internet especially social media while at work have to ensure that the usage is within the compliance of the companies values. Some of these tools range from having each employee sign a user agreement during the initial hiring process making it clear up front what type of usage is appropriate and spelling out what are clear violations of the usage policy. IT departments today are able to put into place system that will monitor and alert them to a user that may have either intentionally or unintentionally have ended up at a web site that would contain content that violates the companies ethical standards. When this happens typically the companies monitoring software will warn the individual that this site is not approved for use at work as well as send a message to their manager letting them know there has been a website accessed that isnt appropriate. This then gives the manager the opportunity to talk with the employee and establish if the site is truly inappropriate at work or if the user truly did not intend to access that site. This type of environment can be viewed in a couple of different ways, one wou ld be a big brother approach that the company is constantly watching over its employees shoulder creating a culture of suspicion and mistrust. Another view could be seen as a company taking responsibility for the resources it provides to ensure their employees are one remaining productive, two maximizing assists provided to the employees rather than wasting company time and cost for the technology and of course ensuring that the activity whether on break or during work hours does not violate the companies ethical standards. Technology provides valuable tools for human resources professionals today such as conducting background checks, maintaining employment records. There are several major areas in which HR has been changed dynamically through the advancement of technology and the effect that it has on corporate culture. These areas are: Recruiting (choosing the best qualified applicant for the job), Evaluations (metrics or best practices for measuring performance, pay scales and benefits packages), training within HR growing career managers, keeping up to date on labor laws and regulations and Retaining the talent pool (keeping a low turn-over) (ELLEN A. ENSHER, 2002). Recruiting has certainly seen a shift from advertising in the classifieds and job boards to internet search engines such as LINKDIN, usajobs.gov, monster.com, indeed just to name a few these sites allow job seekers to post their resumes and qualifications, and search for openings with companies all over the world. These sites also allow for recruiters to conduct searches for potential applicants who have the qualifications they are looking for. This has led to a quicker turn around time to finding and filling positions with the best-qualified applicants, ease of use for HR professionals as well as the cost savings for companies that used to utilize head hunters and the time it took for recruiters to screen applicants from all over the country. Another tool that has saved money and added convenience for both HR professionals as well as applicants is the ability to send questioners, interview with applicants through software such as SKYPE that utilizing both video and audio versus travel costs and online assessments (such as typing tests or call center simulations) (ELLEN A. ENSHER, 2002). Performance measurement tools are making improvements but not as quickly some methods that are available are tools that allow managers to be able to capture screen shots and track production levels through software. In call centers a manager is able to provide filters for specific types of calls to evaluate such as time parameters or other criteria when the call meets the criteria the screen records the entire transaction along with the audio from the phone call for performance counseling afterwards. Benefits handling has seen changes in the way they are handled and processed through newer technology. Employees are able through the internet or intranet to be able to review benefits, sign up for benefits or make changes as well as research differences between benefits packages to ensure the package is a good fit for their situation (ELLEN A. ENSHER, 2002). Training and Professional Development has always been vital to ensure that company’s employees are able to have the right training and knowledge to provide the most productivity. An important key to training is continual update training as newer processes are implemented or technology itself how to provide the training quickly for a seamless transition. Companies are able to provide step by step modules using what appears to be live screen shots simulated for the employee. The system will provide instructions on how to perform a function or task and then have the trainee perform the task, providing feedback if the user clicks in the wrong place or chooses the wrong command. This allows for almost real time experience handling using training accounts avoiding costly errors. This works has shown to be more beneficial since the user is seeing the same screen and commands, as they will when using the actual system. Conclusion Technology has provided tools in today’s workplace that allow company’s to help train and manage ethical guidelines, in turn shaping the culture and work environment for its employees. Human Resource Management through innovative technology is growing and saving company’s money in using newer methods for recruiting, retention, training and benefits than ever before. References Chapman, A. (n.d.). training and learning development. (Â © alan chapman 1995-2010 ) Retrieved December 01, 2012, from Business balls.com: http://www.businessballs.com/traindev.htm Elizabeth Regan, B. O. (2002). Implementing Individual and Work Group Technologies. Retrieved DEC 11, 2012, from University of Phoenix: https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/TOC.aspx?assetdataid=0c85207c-4579-445d-b2e5-278c996a3835assetmetaid=9f9341ec-776c-4a2c-8e8c-422fc4e5f1fe ELLEN A. ENSHER, T. R.-V. (2002). Effects of the Internet and Technology on HR Processes. Retrieved JAN 14, 2013, from Organizational Dynamics,: www.organizational-dynamics.com Spears, S. (2012, DEC 13). Implement a New Technology Plan. Retrieved DEC 23, 2012, from University of Phoenix: https://classroom.phoenix.edu

Artists in Stained Glass :: Essays Papers

Artists in Stained Glass I. CONCRETE EXPERIENCE I think my interest in the combination of glass, light and color began as a child when I discovered the colorful images created inside a kaleidoscope. Even as an adult, I cannot seem to resist picking up a kaleidoscope and gazing into the viewer as I rotate the tube to change the design of the colored bits of glass. If you walk into my home, it is apparent that I like to decorate with glass. I have glass flowers, marbles, stones, vases, balls, bowls and my favorite, stained glass. I have stained glass windows, birds, flowers, night-lights, candle holders, picture frames, and a jewelry box. I like to attend the various arts and craft festivals and shows in Tulsa so I can enjoy the stained glass art created by the local artisans. In November 1999, I went to the Stained Glass Guild's annual sale and purchased my first large piece of stained glass. It was a beautiful blue, yellow, green and red floral piece. I had purchased several smaller floral pieces in 1998 at Tulsa's Arts and Craft Fall Festival at Tulsa State Fairgrounds and I knew it would look beautiful surrounded by the smaller pieces. I purchased my stained glass windows at the Haskell Antique Auction in 2000. They were removed from a building in England and I like to think that they survived the bombings during World War II and now they hang inside my home. I would not say an exceptionally talented artisan created the windows but the pattern in the glass is unique. The colors sparkle and bring a certain charm to my kitchen and breakfast nook, especially on cold winter days. I recently remodeled my kitchen, breakfast nook and formal dining area. I installed new counters, wallpaper, border, artwork and flooring. In my spare time, I have been working with two friends to make a stained glass still life to hang between the doorway to the formal dining area and the kitchen, breakfast nook area. We made the pattern from the wallpaper border, which depicts a wine bottle, cheese, basket of fruit and some flowers sitting on a counter. The piece has over 200 pieces of cut glass and we are about two-thirds finished.

Organizing and Controlling are Related Essay

Functions of management consist of organizing, planning, controlling, staffing, delegation and leading. (Koontz & Weihrich, 2000). These functions work together simultaneously as one can assist in the functioning of the other hence all managerial functions are important for the function. By this the opinion is that the function of organizing and controlling are related. These functions are implemented in the same direction. In order to show the relation between organizing and controlling, it is important to look into the functions of both of them. Organizing function comes into play when people work together in groups to achieve goals. They must have roles that they play. These roles are developed by people, are defined and structured by the organization to make sure what is contributed is a group effort. What workers do has a definite purpose and they know how their job objective fits into group effort hence the organization gives their authority, tools, information to accomplish the task. Organizing is that part of managing that involves establishing a structure of roles for people to fill in an organization. The purpose of an organization structure is to help in creating an environment for human performance. (Gareth, 2003). A structure will define the tasks to be done, the role established looking at abilities and motivation of the people available. The organization structure make it easy for managers to organize workers’ activities hence it will be easy to control them as each one know the role they should play, which makes supervision of work less, which saves time as well as resources of the organization. By organizing, the organizations must identity and clarify required activities, group activities necessary to attain objective, assign each group to a manager with authority necessary to supervise it and provision for coordination on the same level and among departments in the organization structure, which make controlling of activities manageable. Organization structure should clearly state who is to do what tasks and who is responsible for what results to eliminate difficulties while exercising control function because difficulties can be caused by confusions and uncertainty of assignment. The structure must reflect objectives and plans because activities come from them. It must also reflect the authority available to an enterprise management. It must be designed to work to permit contributions by members of a group and to assist people gain objectives effectively in the future, which is changing. An organization is staffed with people, the groupings of activities and the authority relationships of an organization structure must take into account people’s limitations and customs to be able to control their roles so as to know if the organization goals are being achieved. The organization process consists of establishing enterprise objectives, formulating supporting objectives, policies and plans, which are of planning. Also identifying and classifying the activities necessary to accomplish these, grouping activities in the light of the human and material resources available and the best way, under the circumstances, of using them, delegating to the head of each group the authority necessary to perform the activities and tying the groups together horizontally and vertically through authority relationships and information flows. Koontz & Weihrich, 2000). The span of management is influenced in two ways, narrow span where a great deal of time is spent with subordinates, which is related to little training, inadequate authority delegation, unclear plan of non-repetitive operations, fast changes in external and internal environment, complex task, use of poor communication techniques, ineffective meeting. (Black & Porter, 2000). The wide span is where little time is spent with subordinates and is related to thorough subordinate training, clear delegation to undertake well-defined tasks, well defined plans for repetitive operations and slow changes in external and internal environment, simple task and effective meetings. If the organization wants to use the controlling function effectively, it can use the wide span management. Delegation of authority, if it is poor, it will affect the span of management due to unclear authority hence organizing can be difficult, which can make the controlling function difficult as they function simultaneously. If a manager delegates authority clearly for a task to be undertaken, a well trained subordinate can get it done with the manager little supervision, but if the task is not clearly defined, then the subordinate does not have the authority to undertake it, which can lead to the staff not doing it and hence the manager spending a lot of time supervising it. Staffing is done by identifying workforce requirements, getting the required people who are available and recruiting them, selecting, placing, appraising, compensation, planning the careers and training. (Preble, 1992). If staffing is done effectively, the candidates will be developed as the current jobholders to be able to accomplish their tasks effectively and efficiently. If the candidates are given the right roles hence it will be through controlling that managers compare actual performance against goals, identify any significant deviations and take necessary corrective action. Leading assists in influencing people so that they contribute to organization and group goals. Managers can say that their problems arise from people, their desire, attitude, and behavior. (Robbins & Coulter, 2002). Since leadership implies followers hip and people tend to follow those who offer a mean of satisfying their own needs, wishes and desires. Leading involves motivation, leadership styles and communication. With no effective leading in an organization it can be very difficult to organize the employees and this will affect the controlling function as reports, statement produced to access control might have mistakes. Planning involves selecting mission and objectives and the actions to achieve them. It requires decision-making that is, choosing future causes of action from among alternatives. Jones & George, 2003). Plans range from plans of overall purposes and objectives to the most detailed action to be taken. Before a decision is made, only what exists is a plan study or a proposal not a real plan. Controlling activity relate to the measurement of achievement. Some mean of controlling like the budget, inspection records, each measure and show whether plans are working out making organizing easy. Compelling events to confirm to plans means locating the persons who are responsible for results to differ from planned action and taking necessary step to improve performance. These results are controlled by what people do. Control is where performance is measured and corrective action is taken to ensure the accomplishment of organization goals. Control also coordinates various activities, decision-making related to planning and organizing activities and information from directing and evaluating each worker’s performance. Control is concerned with records, reports, organizational progress toward aims as well as effective use of resources. Control uses evaluation and regulation. These reports are what assist in assigning roles to employees. Control uses evaluation and regulation. It can be separated into mechanical and sociological elements. There are three stages of control. The mechanical elements are predetermined definition of standards for a level of performance; measurement of current performance against the standards and corrective action when indicated is the sociological element. If an organization uses the three stages of control, it will have a flexible organization structure. The best approach of control will contain time, a high degree of mutual support, open and authentic communication, clear understanding of objective, utilization of resources and a supportive environment. These approaches will lead to conflict resolution, charged beliefs and attitudes, genuine innovation, commitment, strong management and prevention of consequence of control, which were unintended. A good control system has the following characteristics; it must reflect the nature of the activity, should report errors promptly, should be forward looking, it should point out exceptions at critical points, should be objective, flexible, reflect the organization pattern, economical, understanding and should indicate corrective action. With these conditions adhered to, it will be fast to organize people in the organization so as to meet the organization goals. Controlling mechanisms include procedures, evaluating devices, reports, inspection, audits, which all require planning and organizing hence the function must be performed simultaneously. For controlling to occur, there must be directing. All functions of management go together as if one of the functions lacks or does not follow the proper channel then the organization goals can fail to be achieved. Control can be used as a management tool to measure the degree to which predetermined goals are achieved and of applying necessary corrective actions to improve performance, policies, and procedure as standards. Among the controls are rules that are needed to let employees know what is expected of them and how functions are coordinated. Self-control includes being up to date in knowledge, giving clear orders, being flexible, helping others improve increasing problem solving skill, being able to handle pressure and planning ahead. Delegation is often viewed as a major means of influence and therefore, it can be grouped as an activity in leading rather than controlling. Delegation include assigning responsibility to an employee to complete a task granting the employee sufficient authority to gain the resource to do the task and letting the employee decide how that task will be carried out. This will make the organization decide which goals to pursue and course of action to adopt so as to attain the organization goals and how to allocate organization resources to attain those goals. Once the organization has established goals and associated strategies, funds are set aside for the resources and labor to the accomplishment of goals and tasks. As the money is spent, how it was spent and what it obtained. Review of financial statements is one of the more common methods to monitor the progress of programs and plans. In the organizing process, the key issue in accomplishing the goals identified in the planning process is structuring the work of the organization. The purpose of the organizing function is to make the best use of the organization’s resources to achieve organizational goals. Organizational structure is the formal decision-making framework by which job tasks are grouped and coordinated. The organizing function deals with all those activities that result in the formal assignment of tasks and authority and a coordination of effort. The supervisor staffs the work units, trains employees, secures resources and empowers the work group into a productive team. The first step in the organizing process is departmentalization. Once jobs have been classified through work specialization, they are grouped into manageable units and can be controlled. An organization chart displays the organization structure and shows job titles, lines of authority and relationships between departments. The nature and scope of the work needed to accomplish the organization goals needed to determine work classification and work unit design, so as to have control. Work process requirements and employee skill level determine the degree of specialization. Placing capable people in each job ties directly with productivity improvement. In order to maximize productivity, the organization must have the required resources and be able to control its expenditure by auditing its reports. Supervisors must match employee skill levels with task requirement to achieve organization goals. Teamwork is achievable if people can work together cooperatively and effective if they know the part they are to play in the team activity and the way their roles relate to each other hence making the control function attainable. By designing and maintaining these systems of roles is organizing. Koontz, 1958). The effort spent on improving predictions and forecasts are spent on increasing control, learning not only will the need for predicting and forecast be reduced, but managers’ ability to get what they want to increase. By organizing managers can design and create an organization structure, which is flexible to enable the function of control to be handled properly. Control aspects are emphasized on the basis of observation of the control process in terms of feedback or adaptive control. (Hitt & Mathis, 1986). Feedback is always introduced as one of the controlling functions, hence managers encourage that the feedback system be used a lot in the organization so as to know which organization goals have been achieved. Feedback is a type of control that takes place after a work activity is done. Managers can implement controls before an activity begins and after the activity has been completed. In order to measure whether plans of the organizations are being followed it is necessary for managers to compare planned performance with actual performance. (Ishikawa & Smith, 1972). Feedback can be used to give information in this area, as it is the forward and backward flow of information hence the supervisor will be able to know how the performance of a certain employee is. This will enable the supervisor check on the targets he sets for the employees if they have all been achieved or if they have been partly achieved and see the gap created. (Dixon, 2003). The actual performance and the planned performance show the gap. This will make it easy for the organization to determine which employees require training so as to get more skills and by this the organization will eliminate the gap. Plans cannot be effective unless managers monitor how well planned actions are matching actual achievements as implementation processes. Therefore, plans should not be just laid aside while being on the process or even after being decided on. Managers are responsible not only for making plans for the organizational goal but also for watching the plans to the end. Hence, to make sure that plans are organized the control function has to be effective to make sure that organization goals are achieved. If managers do not control, they would have no way of knowing whether their goals and plans were on target and what future actions to take. The plan can be meaningless if it did not help to accomplish the organizational goals. This can be avoided by controlling because the manager organizes and compares the actual performance against the goals, identify any significant deviations and take any necessary corrective action. Controlling provides the answers to whether or not the current performance of the organization should be continued or what corrections might be needed to make the performance satisfactory. Controlling cannot be implemented unless there is some resource hence the organization should have a structure, which takes this into consideration. There must be some organization and control on how resources will be allocated. Without an organization goal, no management functions can be put into practice. If the manager does not know which direction the company is going, they cannot choose what course of action to take hence controlling will be difficult. It seems that controlling is regarded as looking back considering the main role of controlling, which are feedback and monitoring. Managers can put controls when an activity begins. If the actual performance of employees in an organization is not as expected then plans and goals have to be set so that they are put in the right way. For control to work if the plans put in place by the organization are going in the wrong directions the manager needs to indicate the problem and also suggest how to solve it. The manager should also explain how the plan should be proceeded and guide toward the right direction. This will make it easy for the person organizing activities of the workers as workers will be given the roles they are able to achieve hence making organization goals attainable. The main role of planning is choosing appropriate goals and courses of action and controlling is monitoring systems to evaluate how well the organization has achieved its goal. Planning process steps include deciding which goals the organization will pursue, deciding what courses of actions to adopt to attain these goals and deciding how to allocate organization resources to attain these goals. Considering that organizing process looks at accomplishing goals identified in the planning process it will be good for an organization to evaluate the performance of employees so as to check if the goals are being attainable and if they do not look attainable performance assessment should be carried out as well as regulation of other activities, which can be time consumed due to lack of skills by the employees should be eliminated. In conclusion if managers are keen on the organization structure that the organization adopts be it flat, tall, product, geographical to make sure that the one implemented caters for the organization goals as well as objectives. The control function can be used to generate reports and audits will be done effectively in less time. This shows that control and organizing function has to work parallel for the effective achievement of organization goals.

Microeconomics and macroeconomics Essay

Microeconomics is the branch of economics which deals into a more ‘individual’ scope of the study, such as the choices made by people in terms of the utilization and allocation of resources as well as the pricing of goods and services. In addition, it includes taxes and the policies created by governments. This field of economics deals with supply and demand together with other factors that acts as determinants in identifying the price levels for particular companies in specific industries. This is exemplified by how microeconomics focus on a specific company’s potential to maximize its production as well as its capability to lower its prices to better compete in the particular industry that it belong to (Investopedia, n. p. ). On the other hand, macroeconomics deals with the behavior of the economy as a whole. Unlike microeconomics, it does not focus on specific companies but rather takes into account entire industries and economies. This field of economics studies phenomena that take place in a wide scope of the economy like the effects of Gross National Product (GDP) with unemployment, national income, rate growth as well as price levels. A good example is how macroeconomics measures the effects of the rise and fall of net exports in a country’s capital account and also how the unemployment rate affects the status of the GDP (Investopedia, n. p. ). Nevertheless, even though these two fields of economic are different from each other, they are actually interdependent. This is due to the fact that most of the issues that fall under each field overlap and thus, they compliment each other. Basically, microeconomics has a bottoms-up approach while macroeconomics has a top-down approach. Nonetheless, they should be understood and analyzed in order to fully comprehend how the economy works (Investopedia, n. p. ). Distinguish between positive and normative economics. Positive economics is responsible in providing a system of generalizations, which could be used to make accurate predictions regarding the effects of any variation in circumstances. It is free of any ethical position or normative judgments. Keynes further elaborated on this idea by saying that it deals with â€Å"what is â€Å"and not with â€Å"what ought to be† (Economist’s View, n. p. ). Being the case, positive economics is or can be an objective science because it is judged according to precision, scope, and conformity as well as with empirical evidences. Positive economics deals with the interrelations of human beings with each other as well as with the economy (Economist’s View, n. p. ). Normative economics, on the other hand, is different from positive economics because it takes into account subjectivity in its analysis. It deals with â€Å"what ought to be† rather than what is really happening because it is heavily dependent in value judgments and theoretical scenarios. Normative economics tend to represent opinion instead of an objective perspective. Moreover, normative economics could be valuable in establishing goals and new ideas. However, it should not be the basis for policy decisions (Investopedia, n. p. ). References â€Å"Milton Friedman: The Methodology of Positive Economics. † 26 November 2006. Economist’s View. 19 July 2008. . â€Å"Normative Economics. † 2008. Investopedia. 19 July 2008. . â€Å"What’s the difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics? † 2008. Investopedia. 19 July 2008. .

Pharmacist Essays

Mba/Pharmacist Essays Mba/Pharmacist Essay Mba/Pharmacist Essay financial and legal based factor endowments, the emergence of new types of busiexpertise, is gaining momentum and size and sophistication of nesses and new ways of orga- nizing. reaching a critical mass. Thus, the demand, and psyche and The context and timing bestows Indian business is perhaps close to self-belief of the national Indian companies with a set of advana historical turning point, in many environment and home tages and challenges. This will be ways similar to that of the Japanese base. reflected not only in the business and companies in mid-1960s. The Indian organizational choices of individual experience could be equally novel companies but also in the overall and important, globally. patterns of internationalization of Indian companies as This Colloquium has the benefit of six cogent a genre. ontributions. They represent a diversity to cover the On the other hand, business corporations have various facets of the ‘Indian companies in overseas operated outside their home territory virtually from the markets’ - the academics who have intimately beginning of commercial enterprise and to talk of researched the phenomenon and the practitioners who operating over seas in a seamless and integrated world have led their organizations and have created substantial of today could appear to be an oxymoron. However, till presence in the overseas markets. The contributions the 1960s, almost all companies operating beyond their together make for a thorough perspective and a fine home territories were European or American with the repository of insights on how Indian companies can latter being slower to go overseas. Japanese companies emerge as significant global players. started emerging internationally in the late 1960s and J Ramachandran of IIM, Bangalore states that the those from Korea and other East Asian countries in the new genre of companies with international business is 1980s. Emerging market multinationals is a recent 94 INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS 94 ifferent from those in pre-1990 period or anytime before. Unlike commodity exporters, these companies are built upon competitive advantages of knowledge and organizational capabilities which will enable them to penetrate deeper and go up the value chain. They can emerge as globally significant players in their industries, and will also spur companies in their own and o ther industries. He analyses the dynamics of macro, industry, and company-specific factors for the recent developments and outlines future agenda for the new genre of companies and lessons for the aspirants and potential overseas competitors from India. ocalization, move up the value chain, merge in local milieu rather than stand out, and handle negotiations appropriately. Niraj Dawar of University of Western Ontario states that besides information technology, marketing is India’s key competency globally. Unlike other emerging economies like China and Russia, Indian companies have built successful brands locally, and equally importantly, Indians are entrusted with managing international brands by even the most centralized of the foreign companies. The world-class skill is there and it needs to be exploited. Infosys needs to and is becoming a global brand. The issues that have to be tackled are - ‘ways’ to acquire knowledge about local consumers in foreign markets and then evolving approaches for creating or adapting brands and ‘means’ to support the investments required in terms of funds and time. Habil F Khorakiwala of Wockhardt Ltd. reckons that ‘India advantage’ in pharmaceuticals is based on the scientific and professional resources of international calibre, entrepreneurship, and cost advantages in all components of the value chain. Interestingly, foreign companies who came to tap middleB N Kalyani of Bharat Forge class market discovered these advanThe stage is set for Indian Ltd. ays that the company’s overseas tages which the Indian companies companies to emerge as expansion began with the need to leveraged aggressively to take posiplayers of relevance in a expand market, improve productions in overseas markets. They have large number of industries tivity and technology levels, and deacquired developed country corpoglobally. risk business across countries. They rations and no country including have become the second largest China can really compare on the forging corporation in the world and breakthroughs. He emphasizes on a glocal approach for their product range extends to the most complex and anaging global business with ‘globally integrated’ high value added products. He believes outsourced management processes, manufacturing, information manufacturing is a huge and realistic opportunity and technology, human resources, and supply chain and says: â€Å"The world is beginning to believe in India; We ‘locally responsive’ approaches for sales, marketing, need to believe in our ability to compete, perform, and regulatory affairs, and intellectual property rights (IPRs). succeed! † Innovation is the key to unassailable Jerry Rao of Mphasis Ltd. ules out short cuts of competitive strength in the global market and Indian joint ven tures and partnerships if Indian companies are companies have the requisite wherewithal. He argues genuine about becoming serious global players. In IT for a Toyota-like ambitious and competitive approach and business process outsourcing where primary markets in the overseas markets. are outside the country, the ‘DNA’ of being an India based company is important - it should not be altered The major patterns or conclusions and their imperaand denied but embellished and evolved for success. ives for Indian companies are put together in the final section. However, the theme - that the stage is set for Pramod Khera of Aptech Ltd. provides a perspective Indian companies to emerge as players of relevance in from a business that, unlike most of the Indian overseas a large number of industries globally - is unambiguous. forays, needs to deal with retail consumers overseas. He Fortune ‘2004 Global 500’ lists four Indian, three cites the success achieved in China through a joint venture Brazilian, three Russian, 15 Chinese, 13 Korean, and 82 and the importance of having a credible and known Japanese companies. India can aspire to match, if not partner for brand-based retail businesses. China is a high exceed, the number of ‘Global 500’ Japanese companies potential market and Indian companies can succeed if in a decade or two. they can effectively gather local knowledge, undertake VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 95 95 DYNAMICS AND POTENTIAL OF NEW WAVE J Ramachandran BOC Professor of Business Policy Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore T he Vikalpa Colloquium on the engagement of Indian companies with global markets raises a set of interesting questions. They are interesting because while the engagement of Indian companies with overseas markets per se is not new, the nature and the character of engagement of Indian firms with global markets has undergone a dramatic change over the last decade. customers’ demands, which predominantly comprises the global auto majors. What led to the emergence of this new genre of companies? It is tempting to attribute the emergence of these globally competitive companies to the economic reform programme that the Government of India embarked upon in the early 1990s. However, that would only provide a partial explanation. The reform prograHistorically, engagement of the Indian firms with mme, by opening up the Indian markets to global overseas markets was with the export of traditional companies, made the need to be competitive - to defend products like tea, coffee, iron ore, leather, apparel, gems one’s market position - a compulsion. It, however, did and jewellery, etc. However, in the last ten years, largely not make participating in global markets necessary. That on the back of the performance of firms in the Indian was still a matter of choice for the top managements of software and pharmaceutical industries and increasingly the companies. Most of them including several large the auto component industry, Indian companies have ones in the Indian industry do not actively participate been successfully participating in what can be broadly in the global markets even today. Indeed, one could classified as ‘new age’ industries that argue that it is their participation in are ‘technology-knowledge-servicethe global markets, by choice, instead Indian firms have been intensive. Thus, the participation of of compulsion, that has resulted in successful in making an Indian firms is no more restricted to the successful emergence of the impact on the global ‘commodity’ like industries. Second, globally competitive firms cited markets when the and more important, is the emergence earlier. In fact, the earlier policy enga gement has been of globally competitive companies in regime did require companies to voluntary and not these industries. Infosys, Wipro, TCS, ‘export’ if they wanted to gain access imposed by policy. nd Satyam in the software industry; to (the then) precious foreign Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dr. Reddy’s exchange to import capital goods, Laboratories, and Aurobindo Pharma in the pharmainput materials, etc. This compulsive characteristic of ceutical industry; and Bharat Forge and Sundaram the ‘export requirement’ however, failed to result in the Fasteners in the auto component industry would be emergence of globally competitive companies. The relevant examples. In sharp contrast, despite decades ‘exports’ of most of the companies was largely a sham. f exports of traditional goods listed earlier, India has They, typically, fulfilled the requirement by ‘routing’ not seen the emergence of a single firm that is a force exports of trad itional products made by the traditional to reckon with in those industries. Third, even though exporters through their books of accounts! Thus, Indian the competitiveness of these new age companies is still firms have been successful in making an impact on the largely anchored in the country-specific advantage of global markets when the engagement has been voluntary. ow cost, the managements of these companies have And not imposed by policy. However, policy regimes sought to go beyond cost competitiveness by focusing can enable. That is precisely what the economic reforms on the organizational dimension. They have built highly of the early 1990s did. responsive organizations that compete fiercely in the global Similarly, it is tempting to attribute the successes markets, including, critically, in the most advanced achieved by the new genre of companies to the visionary markets of the world. Bharat Forge, for example, competes leadership of these companies. That would be a facile on the basis of its ability to respond rapidly to its 96 96 INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS explanation. Visionary leadership is a necessary but not success in this industry despite, even more interestingly, a sufficient condition. Beyond leadership, what has led the absence of a robust or a well-developed domestic to the successes of these companies is the set of difficult market for their services. While one could argue that the choices they made. The most important of them was the huge demand for software services and availability of decision to pursue opportunities in the most competitive low cost software engineers was the prime reason for markets of the world. Consider Ranbaxy. It is often cited their success, it would not do justice to the achievement as a stellar example of visionary leadership. Indeed, Dr of firms in the industry. While these two factors provided Parvinder Singh, the late Chairman and CEO of the the initial window of opportunity, they were not all. The company, was a visionary. He did set the company on firms of the industry have not only achieved phenomenal the path of globalization. However, what proved to be growth in terms of revenues and profits, but have also a critical inflection point in the displayed a remarkable resilience company’s successful journey was and importantly consistency in their This pattern of its decision in the mid-1990s to performance. This is truly laudable engagement with the most participate in the fiercely competitive considering the technological and competitive markets of US markets. Until then, Ranbaxy was business volatility that this industry the world and display of exporting its products essentially to was subjected to over the last decade. a willingness to learn and a number of what can be termed as Their emergence as world-class invest in building the India-look-alike (read developing) players can be traced to a series of necessary competencies is markets. In these markets, price is complementary and continuous discernible across this the key success driver. They are not managerial innovations that they new genre of companies. demanding on other parameters like unleashed. For example, they pioThus, one would argue quality, delivery, innovation, etc. On neered the off-shore model of that the commitment to the other hand, the advanced markets software service delivery. They overlike the US and Europe are very came the traditional concerns with engage with the most demanding on these counts. In these outsourcing to a remote location by competitive markets and markets, customers punish firms for innovatively leveraging software the concomitant underperformance on these other process quality certifications under willingness to learn and parameters. It is the commitment to the capability maturity model (CMM) adapt to the requirements serve demanding customers of the developed by Software Engineering of demanding customers advanced markets of the world with Institute (SEI) of Carnegie Mellon led to the success the attendant willingness to learn and University. For example, they used achieved by these critically invest in developing the it to overcome the ‘country of origin’ companies in the global requisite competencies (regulatory and bias that firms from ‘developing’ markets. egal in this case) exhibited by it that countries like India typically conmade a crucial difference to Ranfront, particularly in knowledgebaxy’s performance in the global markets. This pattern intensive industries like software. To assuage fears over of engagement with the most competitive markets of the ‘loss of control’ over remote location operations by client world and display of the willingness to learn an d invest personnel, they developed a set of metrics and governance in building the necessary competencies is discernible mechanisms that were anchored in the well-accepted across this new genre of companies. Thus, one would SEI-CMM framework. While the metrics enabled ‘output’ argue that the commitment to engage with the most control by the clients, the governance mechanisms competitive markets and the concomitant willingness to developed around them gave them a strong sense of learn and adapt to the requirements of demanding ‘behaviour’ control over the operations and mitigated customers led to the success achieved by these companies their apprehensions. 1 Thus, the success achieved by the firms in the software industry suggests that, in addition in the global markets. Participation in the advanced markets of the world, however, was not an option to the Indian software industry. Yet, Indian firms have achieved spectacular VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 1 See Mukherji, S and Ramachandran, J, â€Å" Complementary and Continuous Innovations: Case of the Indian Software Industry,† Journal of Academy of Business and Economics, forthcoming, for a detailed exposition of this thesis. 97 97 to choice of markets to compete in, execution matters. And, more importantly, innovation in execution matters. harmaceutical majors have acquired some local manufacturing facilities. But, these have largely been done to gain a toehold in these markets. Textbook The success achieved by the new genre of companies distinctions of ‘going global’ vs. ‘going international’ are is also due to their careful selection of the market segments largely irrelevant in an increasingly globalizing world. to participate in. For example, t he Indian software majors The impact on competitiveness should drive the choice of largely participate in the service space and not in the activities to locate in different geographies. Not academic product space. Similarly, the pharmaceutical majors niceties! These companies seem to have followed this essentially participate in the generic segment of the edict. For example, most have, quite appropriately, pharmaceutical industry and not in the research-intensive located the customer acquisition function closer to the new-to-the-world products segment. The companies in customer in the various geographies they participate in. the auto component industry too supply relatively Similarly, many of these companies have opted to ‘standard’ products like crankshafts and radiator caps. obilize funds from the international capital markets. They do not, as yet, offer ‘original’ products designed In addition to lowering their cost of capital, mobilizing and developed by them on their ‘own’ technology funds from global capital markets signalled the platforms. The advantages of participating in these kinds willingness of the managements of t hese companies to of market segments are multi-fold. First, the decisionsubject themselves to high standards of corporate making process at the customers’ end governance providers of capital in would be more rational than impulglobal market. Additionally, raising Textbook distinctions of sive. Second, communicating the financial resources from international ‘going global’ vs. ‘going compelling nature of their value promarkets brought these companies international’ are largely position (competitive quality at low cost) within the radar of global investment irrelevant in an to these kinds of customers is bankers all of whom started tracking increasingly globalizing relatively easy. Third, evaluation of and reporting the performance of world. The impact on their ability to perform and their these companies. This resulted in competitiveness should subsequent performance by these high visibility and, more importantly, customers is fairly straightforward. drive the choice of accorded credibility to these firms Witness the high retention rates of activities to locate in and subtly aided their customer customers by these companies. different geographies. acquisition process. Fourth, they do not need to invest heavily in building complementary Increasingly, this new genre of assets like product brands or distribution that are critical companies, as they seek to move up the food chain by for success in other segments of the industry. In most offering more sophisticated products and services, are of these cases selling is direct to the customers, and enhancing their overseas presence, largely through where access to distribution channels (as in the case of acquisitions. However, they have been highly selective pharmaceutical products) was required, they were easily in their acquisitions. They have typically used available. That does not mean customer acquisition is acquisitions to access the difficult-to-build competencies of easy. These firms needed to compete, and compete the acquired companies rather than to achieve scale. Even vigorously, with other suppliers. However, the parawhere companies have preferred the green-field route, meters of selection are relatively well-specified (largely their overseas initiatives have been driven by the need cost, quality, and delivery) and that makes the task of to access skills (leading edge research talent in the case customer acquisition that much less complex as compared of Dr. Reddy’s and consulting skills and talent in the to, say, the FMCG industry. case of Infosys) than scale. Significant components of the value chain of these companies are located in India. And, rightly so, considering the fact that they are essentially leveraging the country advantage of low cost- both for manufacturing operations and talented human resources. The A final interesting characteristic of this new genre of companies is the visible influence they seem to be subtly wielding over each other. Perhaps because they are, by global standards, individually (and collectively! ) small, or perhaps because they are so few in number in INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS 98 98 a large country like ours, or perhaps because the country toehold in these markets. Fourth, to do what it takes to as a whole is looking up to them as a group of pioneers win. Specifically, it requires a willingness to learn and who are making an impact on the global markets, or invest in the development of the requisite competencies. erhaps because of the significant recognition accorded Finally, and most importantly, to focus on building an to them by a very competitive media organization that constantly seeks to which has given them a near iconic innovatively exploit opportunities In addition to the status, peer level competition seems to that the global markets offer as the traditional stimuli of spur the managements of these companies firms in the software industry did. opportunity exploitation on! Thus, in addition to the traditional What next for the new genre of and capability leverage, stimuli of opportunity exploitation Indian companies? Their achievepeer influence that is pan and capability leverage, peer ments are commendable. They have industry in character influence that is pan industry in attained critical mass. That gives seems to drive Indian character seems to drive Indian firms them a platform. They would need firms to go overseas! to go overseas! to convert this platform into a springWhat is the message from the board. That calls for them to go performance of this new genre of companies for the rest beyond leveraging country-specific advantage of low of the Indian industry, especially the large companies cost and develop firm-specific advantages, preferably that dot the country’s industrial landscape? First, it can one that is anchored in intellectual capital. Cost and be done. Second, it calls for something more than quality competitiveness have today become qualifying visionary leadership. It requires commitment to compete conditions. Intellectual competitiveness, competitiveness in the advanced markets of the world. Third, to choose anchored in difficult-to-imitate knowledge, defines the market segments that offer opportunities to gain a rapid winning conditions. LEVERAGE INDIA ADVANTAGE THROUGH GLOCAL APPROACH Habil F Khorakiwala Chairman MD, Wockhardt Ltd. Mumbai T he single biggest driver behind the globalization become globally competitive. Good policies often beget of Indian companies is the liberalization process unforeseen beneficial consequences. Overseas companies, ushered by the government in the early 1990s. which came to India to tap the large Indian middle class Liberalization did several things. market, discovered India’s potential High tariff walls were lowered, as a low cost but skilled production Our management costs, encouraging imports and opening up base to tap overseas markets. Autoour scientists, our legal the domestic market to international mobiles and auto component indusbrains - all of competition. Foreign companies were tries are perhaps the best examples. nternational calibre - encouraged to set up shop in India Companies like Hyundai have made offer a cost to value exposing Indian companies to global India a global hub for small cars. proposition that cannot products and practices. Liberabe found anywhere else The realization of India Advanlization also allowed more Indians to in the world. Even tage emboldened Indian companies travel abroad for business and overseas companies have to aggressivel y explore offshore pleasure. recognized the India markets. Let me give the example of Advantage. All this led to a great churn in the pharmaceutical industry. The the Indian industry- on the one cost of setting up a modern pharhand, companies started upgrading maceutical plant in India would be quality of their products to compete with the world’s one-sixth of what an identical plant in Europe or the US best; at the same time, they innovated to cut costs and would cost. It is not a question of wages as often made VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 99 99 out. Our management costs, our scientists, our legal brains - all of international calibre - offer a cost to value proposition that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Even overseas companies have recognized the India Advantage. Leading overseas generic pharmaceutical companies like Teva and Sandoz have set up shop in India to leverage the India Advantage. and the US over the last 10 years. I do not think any other country can compare with India against this backdrop, not even China. ‘Going global’ and ‘Going international’ are entirely different. For going ‘global,’ one requires a global mindset and global aspirations. Becoming ‘international’ historically meant supplying out of India. You do not have to be globally competitive in the true sense to export out of India. In some areas, you may not be globally competitive. Going international only means leveraging some country and company advantages to tap overseas markets. That does not make you a global organization. These advantages may not last long. It is a slow, limited process of growth. You can fumble. You can be rebuffed. Your terms of reference are different. In one case, you are investing for long-term global competitiveness. You can be an international player without having a global mindset and without creating a global organizational system. India’s high value, highly competitive resources offer potential in the global market. But, what helped India harness this potential and catapult us to the global stage is Indian entrepreneurship. Our entrepreneurs, many of them first generation businessmen, have been the driving force behind globalization. Look at the pharmaceutical industry - India accounts for less than two per cent of the world market in value terms, despite the fact that we are the fourth largest in volume terms. No ambitious entrepreneur in the pharmaceutical industry can grow big unless he ventures out of India to Europe and India’s high value, highly the US, the world’s largest and the Indian pharmaceutical industry most sophisticated markets. Comcompetitive resources has one of the world’s richest resourpanies like Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy’s, offer potential in the ces - in manufacturing, research and Wockhardt could not have global market. But, what capabilities, and entrepreneurship. grown to what it is today if they had helped India harness this Our industry has capacities and not successfully tapped global potential and catapult us capabilities across the value chain markets. Against the backdrop of to the global stage is and, what is more, we are costIndia joining the global patent Indian entrepreneurship. ompetitive across the value chain. regime with effect from January We have taken two approaches in 2005, today, every player in the our quest to become a global orgapharmaceutical industry is looking at harnessing its nization. One pertains to our acquisitions. The second inherent strengths to global advantage as a matter of pertains to the larger issue of creating a global growth as well as survival. orga nization. In the case of acquisitions, we follow a Each nation has its country as well as industryspecific advantages which it tries to leverage. India is a significant manufacturing base for the pharmaceutical industry - we are the world’s fourth largest producer of pharmaceuticals in volume terms. Indian companies live in an intensely competitive environment. Most Indian companies make their own bulk actives. After liberalization, Indian companies have built RD capabilities that have enhanced their innovative ability. Indian pharmaceutical industry today is a knowledge intensive industry. Indian companies also have the advantage of access to the Global Indian - scientists of Indian origin play a significant role in leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. Indian companies have acquired over 15 companies in Europe ‘glocal’ approach. When it comes to management processes, manufacturing, information technology, human resources and supply chain, we follow a uniform system that is global. This helped Wockhardt become a globally competitive, seamless organization across geographies. We get the value of efficiencies borne out of global buying. We do not have to reinvent the wheel. The same language of management thinking rules the entire organization. At the same time, we follow a local approach when it comes to sales and marketing. In each market, whether it is the UK or Germany, distribution systems and the like are dynamically different. So when it comes to sales and marketing, our approach is customized for local markets. As far as the US is concerned, we have created INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS 100 100 an organization called Wockhardt USA, Inc. that handles sales, marketing, regulatory affairs, and IPRs. Wockhardt’s Indian operations serve as the research and sourcing hub for the American organization. We follow a similar approach in Russia and South American countries like Brazil. Same is the case in Africa. In other countries, we export out of India with sales and marketing people stationed in these markets. ESCHEW SHORT CUTS AND RETAIN THE INDIAN ‘DNA’ Jerry Rao Chairman CEO, Mphasis Ltd. Bangalore F or the Indian companies operating in IT and allied by these intrepid adventurers, and so on. sectors, the markets overseas are the primary ones As students of economic history, we must realize and going overseas is not a choice but an essential that there is nothing unique about our actions or motives. pre-condition of being in business. It makes sense for We too go in search of markets, market shares, revenues, American companies to talk about going overseas or for inputs, and profits. We are no different than Dutch or that matter about not going overseas. They have such Swiss or Japanese or Korean companies all of whom have a big domestic market that it is entirely possible to grow gone in search of the ‘bigger pie,’ having decided that without going overseas. Given the small pigmy-sized their domestic wells were too small for them. Being domestic markets we have and if we accept the truism followers, we are lucky. We can and we should study that the absence of growth will lead the empirical data on the successes to decay, Indian companies have no and failures of our professional choice except to pursue growth ‘Going overseas’ is not an forebears. aggressively beyond our borders. option, going ‘global’ is Some findings are obvious: if Incidentally, the reverse is possible. an imperative if the you genuinely seek global posiAn Indian company can focus almost Indian company seeks tioning and global market shares, exclusively on overseas markets and rowth. If it seeks global then the interim steps of joint vengrow handsomely. Many Indian IT market relevance, it has tures and partnerships are out. They companies have followed this to be in its own right are meant for those who see the strategy. In the days of the permitbuilding and flaunting its outside world as peripheral, as good licence raj, the regulators of the own brands. Partnerships for a low risk flutter, not as c rucial ubiquitous Indian state almost and JVs will not do. n the search for global importance always insisted that Indian com(did I whisper the expression global panies should set up capacities to dominance? ). Those who drop the expressions ‘domestic’ ‘meet’ the demands of the domestic market. Going and ‘overseas’ and opt for the phrase ‘global markets’ overseas, literally even travelling overseas was a torture have no choice but to venture out as full-fledged hundred as ‘scarce’ foreign exchange was only doled out for percent owned/controlled branches and subsidiaries government-approved missions. ith overarching global brands. Having spent close to half a century in a hothouse As far as culture is concerned, it seems to me that atmosphere, we find ourselves ill-equipped to deal with the world outside our desi cocoon, hence the prevailing the attempts to alter an organization’s DNA in order to meet the so-call ed prescriptive needs of overseas markets academic and journalistic interest in the phenomenon will be a serious mistake. Organizations have to be of Indian companies going overseas. At one end of the faithful to their core DNA if they wish to succeed. This discussion is the legal structure, the choice of branches, does not mean that the genetic code does not evolve, with subsidiaries, joint ventures, greenfield ventures or time and with unfolding of the organization as it grows acquisitions and so on. At the other end is the so-called issue of ‘culture’ - what is the culture we need to and spreads out much in the way that a biological organism does. succeed overseas; what are the unique challenges faced VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 101 101 ‘Going overseas’ is not an option, going ‘global’ is an imperative if the Indian company seeks growth. If it seeks global market relevance, it has to be in its own right building and flaunting its own brands. Partnerships and JVs will not do. The culture of the organization must be faithful to its genetic make-up - the ingredients that have been created so far - but must adapt to the new growing, expanding global habitat where the company now chooses to live and try to succeed. A mixture of metaphors with a streak of audacity in it †¦. a starting point of the journey. SOUND PARTNER AIDS REACHING RETAIL CUSTOMER Pramod Khera Managing Director, Aptech Ltd. Mumbai I ndian companies are looking at the overseas markets where brand building and distribution are critical for because they have understood that success in the their success. domestic market does not ensure sustained success. Aptech pioneered, along with New Delhi-based Globalization does not just mean that there are NIIT, the IT education in private sector. The intent was opportunities for Indian companies outside the Indian to exploit the gap between the fast growing demand for shores that they can exploit; it also means that global IT professionals and the output of formal education companies have opportunities in India. The Indian market sector. The franchisee and centre approach provided the is increasingly becoming global and Indian companies wherewithal and impetus for rapid expansion from have to succeed domestically and globally if they want around 1990. Aptech increased its network to cover most to survive and grow. Hence, in many of the country and set up the first cases, international businesses are overseas centre in Bahrain in 1994. International businesses being developed by Indian comThe major breakthrough was China are being developed by panies in order to gain economies of where Aptech entered into a 50:50 Indian companies in scale and to de-risk their depenjoint venture with Beijing Beida Jade order to gain economies dencies on limited domestic geoBird Company, an associate of Beijing of scale and to de-risk graphies and markets vis-a-vis their University. Today, Aptech’s internatheir dependencies on global competitors. tional operations account for about limited domestic one-third of the business with close Companies from the lessgeographies and markets to 300 international centres. developed countries, like India, face a difficult and challenging task in Aptech’s foray in the Chinese competitors. going international but not an market has been a highly successful impossible one. There are examples one aided to a large extent through of successful companies from developing countries like its strong joint venture partner. The joint venture - with Taiwan’s Acer (tiny start-up electronics consulting Aptech providing the model of education, course content, company growing into one of the world’s largest and managerial guidance and the Chinese partner looking manufacturer of PCs), Mexico’s Cemex (competing with after government regulations and day-to-day manaworld players in the cement industry), Philippine’s gement - is guided through board meetings with Aptech Jollybee (taking on McDonald’s across the world), Brazil’s charing the joint venture. Aptech has approximately 110 Weg in the electrical motors market and India’s Ranbaxy, centres in 57 cities and has trained over 50,000 students Infosys, TCS, and Wipro. The Indian companies menin Mandarin. It is present in 20 of the 26 provinces in tioned above have built strong international businesses China and some of the best companies, both related to on a powerful value proposition - competitive quality IT and otherwise, have selected Aptech students for their at low costs. These companies have operated in a direct companies. Some of the learnings that can help companies selling environment where decision-making is by succeed in China are as follows: corporations based on a rational buying process. They Partner: If a company is contemplating entering do not operate in markets like FMCG or IT education vis-a-vis their global 102 INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS 102 China with a partner, selecting a partner with credibility and standing is important. The government has an undoubted hold on all enterprise. Hence, a partner with linkages with the government is the most ideal. Beijing Beida (Beijing University) is a premier education institution in China. It has a good local standing and reputation. Beijing Beida Jade Bird Company, Aptech’s joint venture partner, is an equally focused and receptive partner. move up the value chain and keep ahead of competition. This has also helped retain and build the partner’s dependability on Aptech. Merge in local milieu: Whilst India is known for its software and IT supremacy in the media, Aptech has been positioned as a local player with the best quality and understanding and not as an Indian company. Local knowledge is power: The Chinese believe that Negotiations: Doing business in China is all about negotiating. There are three stages of doing business most foreigners do not understand them and their - pre-negotiation, formal negotiation, and postcountry, and that is why they do not succeed. negotiation. The pre-negotiation stage includes Succeeding in China is all about understanding the presen tations, lobbying, and trust building. Formal country - its history and its past (in terms of negotiation involves task-related exchange of communism, Maoism, closed economy), psyche and information, persuasion, concessions, and mentality (follow the leader, never question the agreement. Generally speaking, the Chinese honour governance, limited risk taking ability, lack of an their agreement and commitment. entrepreneu- rial culture), However, being a very large country culture and social framework Building downstream with its experimental nature of (traditions, tradi- tions, and capabilities, knowledge of reforms, unevenly developed more traditions, e. . , signifimarket, local laws, and infrastructure, scarce natural recance of colours, toasting a drink sources per capita, and large client relationships are with a boss), and political envibureaucracy makes most people essential but developing ronment (communism and burwant to keep re-negotiating these can be expensive eaucracy). situations. Hence, very often, with for an organization. Language: Some knowledge of the signing of an agreement only Mandarin would always be begins the process of negotiations in useful, both to impress as well as to comprehend. China. Most Chinese can read and write some amount of In conclusion, the oft-repeated cliche - ‘Think English, but lack the confidence to speak it, especially Global, Act Local’ - has been one of the biggest learnings in front of a foreigner. Hence, negotiations in English for Aptech in its global, especially Chinese quest. Aptech put the Chinese at a slight disadvantage. has moved beyond being an education franchiser and Localization: In terms of products offered (courses), has moved up the value chain with new technological the method of delivery (example-based learning), and educational innovations, i. . , content services and and the medium of delivery (language), adaptation ‘online portal development. ’ of the business model to local market conditions Building downstream capabilities, knowledge of the also assumes significance. Understanding the target market, local laws, and client relationships are essential audience helps in the localization effort. In Ch ina, Aptech found that the students were more attuned but developing these can be expensive for an organization. to step-by-step thinking and not multi-tasking. Franchising provides a very effective method for Accordingly, the pedagogy of the curriculum design acquiring downstream capabilities and penetrating a was amended to address these learning objectives. market effectively. Strategic alliances like the one with Beijing Beida in China have brought in a new perspective Moving up the value chain: Schools and colleges to Aptech, especially about the recognition of role that have been licensed content and provided support it is playing in developing the education and IT infrasfor classroom delivery. This has enabled Aptech to tructure in the host countries. VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 103 103 IS INDIA’S MARKETING MUSCLE EXPORTABLE? Niraj Dawar Nabisco Professor of Marketing Richard Ivey School of Management University of Western Ontario, Canada I nfosys is building a global brand. The effort is differentiate India from other emerging economies such noteworthy not only because there are so few as China and Russia. Those markets have only recently successful Indian brands on the world stage but also reformed their centrally planned economies. They lack because it represents a marriage of two of India’s key a history of marketing. Even a few years ago, few competences - information technology and marketing. Russian or Chinese brands had been built on the strength Indeed, India has enormous marketing talent and a of marketing (although that is changing rapidly) and reasonably good track record of building brands locally. multinational firms operating there still tend to employ Nirma, Bajaj, Titan, Mother Dairy, and Dabur are expatriate managers to handle marketing strategy and complemented by Lifebuoy, Lipton, Dettol, and Colgate planning. Indian managers, by contrast, are strong on as brands built in India by the Indian talent. The marketing. arketing of these brands has always been local even Yet, India’s marketing strength is conspicuously if the products and the initial brand concepts for some absent from the global stage. If India of them were imported. In recent has such abundant marketing talent, years, as liberalized imports have why have so few Indian brands It is not surprising that opened the market to a flood of new ventured abroad? Why have Indian even the most centralized entrants, many a business has been companies not leveraged their foreign companies launched and grown on its marketing marketing advantage to compete entering India quickly acumen. The business of consumer internationally? Why do Indian learn to entrust marketing electronics, for example, has Onida, brands not adorn the shelves of to local managers and Videocon, and Baron International supermarkets in consuming that the most savvy building businesses on the strength countries? Why do Indian goods international marketers of their marketing while relying still compete as commodities in pricequickly come to entirely on ‘outsourced’ RD and driven markets at the bottom of the recognize the formidable manufacturing from companies such value curve? What prevents Indian local competition they as Sony and Samsung. The computer companies from leveraging their hardware business is another face in India. marketing competences outside of example of business models founded India? on downstream activities - marketing, sales, distribution, and afterAside from the usual rich-country predilection for sales service. All of this marketing activity has led to protectionism, two inter-related reasons come to mind: a considerable pool of marketing talent and capital among knowledge and means. Marketing is a downstream Indian firms and managers. It is not surprising then that activity that requires intimate knowledge of the market. even the most centralized foreign companies entering For the same reason that multinationals operating in India quickly learn to entrust marketing to local managers India prefer to hire Indian managers, these managers’ and that the most savvy international marketers quickly talents do not necessarily translate abroad. The Indian come to recognize the formidable local competition they managers’ marketing knowledge and knowledge of the face in India. Indian marketers know not just marketing; Indian market are intermeshed. Separating them and they also know their market. They are not just a less applying the marketing knowledge to a foreign market expensive resource than expatriate managers; they are is not easy. This is not to say that Indian managers better at marketing in India. cannot learn about foreign markets, but rather that On the global stage, these marketing strengths clearly learning is an expensive activity that requires tremendous INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS 104 104 commitment and large investment. Opportunistic exports and market entry ithout a long-term brand building plan are not conducive to building that foreign-market knowledge. Indian brands may be formidable competitors locally, but abroad, where they are unknown entities, they have to work very hard to stand out in a crowded field. Indian managers do have the marketing talent to sell abroad but they lack the means to establish brands in markets where media are fragmented and do not come cheap; any decent share of voice r equires a substantial investment. Brand building requires enormous fixed investment before a single unit of the product is sold. This means, the brand builders must not only have deep pockets but a considerable appetite for risk. Few Indian firms have been willing to take the bet. This is not surprising. There is a chicken-and-egg problem here. It is not easy to take on the costs of building a brand abroad without prior experience in brand building in foreign markets. So is Infosys making a huge mistake? I would not bet on it. Betting against Infosys has not been a profitable game in recent Indian managers do have years. Infosys has certain advanBut what of the parade of strong the marketing talent to tages. It is building a brand in an Indian brands? Well, what of them? sell abroad but they lack industry in which the needs of Despite satellite television and the means to establish customers are fairly uniform across spillover of other media to other brands in markets where the world. Its brand needs little countries, Indian brands have dismal media are fragmented and adaptation for different country awareness and even more limited do not come cheap, and markets, reducing the costs and risks appeal to consumers there. In the any decent share of voice of brand building. The company Persian Gulf region, Indian brands knows the needs of its customers requires a substantial may look like they are doing well, and has already made a significant investment. but this is brand leveraging, not operational commitment to delibrand building. Indian brands in the vering to world-class norms. BrandGulf region rely on awareness and loyalty created in the building is a natural extension of this functional ability. home market. They are simply exporting to consumers Infosys is already a credible player in the global market. ho have been previously exported to these markets. Therefore, brand-building is as much a means of To truly do well abroad, the brands would need to be consolidating its position as it is of attracting new (re)built to suit the requirements of local consumers in customers. Finally, Infosys has the deep pockets required foreign markets. This is far more expensive than the and is willing to take a bet not just on its superior brand leveraging curre ntly practised. Few Indian brands product/service offering but on its marketing talent. ave succeeded in replicating their home market success Will its branding lead be followed by Indian firms outside abroad. Even Titan Watch’s valiant attempt to build a the information technology space? brand in Europe disappointed. ASPIRATIONS OF GLOBAL LEADERSHIP IN MANUFACTURING B N Kalyani Chairman MD, Bharat Forge Ltd. Pune harat Forge Limited’s (BFL) journey towards becoming an international player began in 1997. Three factors determined our need to go global. First, we appreciated what globalization could do to improve quality, delivery, costs, supply chain, RD, productivity, and business processes. We, therefore, wanted to venture out and learn best practices. Second, while we had sufficient faith in domestic demand, we VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 B wanted to grow beyond the Indian market. Third, we recognized that different geographies often follow separate business cycles. We wanted to not only reduce our over-dependence on a single market but also take advantage of different growth opportunities across varying geographies. Now, we are India’s only forging company supplying globally and the country’s largest exporter of auto components. 05 105 Contrary to popular perception, outsourcing is not limited to IT. In the emerging international scenario, the potential for growth of global outsourcing in manufacturing could very well outstrip that in IT and IT related services. In this, automobile components play an important role. Moreover, most automotive OEMs and their Tier-1 suppliers have begun to understand the ‘India Advantage’ i n auto components as well as other products that have relatively high engineering and design content. We feel well positioned to leverage these outsourcing opportunities. become a global base for exports of manufactured goods (e. g. , auto components), build Indian MNCs (e. g. , Infosys, Ranbaxy) enhance competency levels (e. g. , manufacturing clusters at Surat - gems and jewellery; Tirupur - Textiles; Pune - Auto components) radically improve quality of infrastructure (e. g. , telecom, roads, power, ports) design conducive government policies (e. g. , Special Economic Zones to overcome constraints, of infrastructure, e. g. , labour and be the means to attract huge domestic and foreign investments). Bharat Forge has the largest single location commercial forging facility in the world and we are moving up the value chain - from raw forging to machined components and to more complex subGovernment and industry have to build a strong assemblies. In early stages, the approach was to increase partnership and create conditions for Indian companies market size by exporting to overseas markets. However, to become global MNCs. The Japanese have been in the recent past, the company started realizing the need particularly successful in this and we can emulate their to have international manufacturing facilities - example. Today it is a matter of great pride and especially in Europe, where autosatisfaction for Japan to see Toyota mobile companies prefer component Motor Corporation, which till a few Government and industry manufacturers to be located close to decades ago was a fledging company, have to build a strong their factories. In early 2004, we to be ranked the second largest partnership and create acquired a German forging company automobile company in the world. If conditions for Indian which provides close synergies in Toyota could do it, I see no reason companies to become terms of production facilities, why at least five to six Indian global MNCs. eographical coverage, and customer companies cannot acquire global base. This acquisition makes us the leadership in their businesses in the second largest forging company in the world. It also next ten years. provides us access to the huge market for passenger car components that will synergize with our strong global Innovation is the key to real growth and unassailable presence in engine and axle components for medium and competitiveness. To produce more growth per dollar heavy commercial vehicles. f investment, a company must produce more innovation Moving on to Indian industry as a whole, the ten basics to compete in the global market are: produce world class quality (e. g. , software, pharmaceuticals, auto component, etc. ) build international scale capacities (e. g. , Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, TVS), leverage India’s low cost advantage (e. g. , software, pharmaceuticals, auto components) develop strong product development capabilities (e. g. , Indica, Scorpio) expand size of domestic market to provide foundation for exports (e. g. , Bajaj Auto, Indica) per dollar of investment. Companies can improve innovation efficiencies by: raising the ratio of innovations to total number of employees (foster a culture in which innovation is encouraged across the organization and not restricted to only the RD department) raising the ratio of radical innovation to incremental innovation by focusing on changes that change customer expectations and behaviour (e. g. , wireless money transfer), basis of competitive advantage (e. g. , digital cameras) or industry economics (e. g. , no frills airlines) raising the ratio of learning over investment in INDIAN COMPANIES IN OVERSEAS MARKETS 106 106 innovation projects (focus on effective locations for production - Forces of globalization - low cost experimentation vis-acan make India a huge global the search for more costvis high cost product testing and manufacturing and supply base. We effective locations for development). are the only country that can compete production - can make The key enabler for competiwith China with s ome important India a huge global tiveness for Indian companies is our advantages - a more familiar and large capacity of ‘brain power. This predictable legal system, better manufacturing and supply needs to be carefully nurtured and protection of IPRs, and strong English base. expanded. Other factors that will language skills. In auto components, contribute to our competitiveness are Indian companies are projected to be emphasis on IT-based technologies in manufacturing, able to meet 35 per cent of the global demand for auto engineering, and product development and training to components by 2015. Several other sectors hold the same improve marketing skills required to create delivery promise. The world is beginning to believe in India; we systems for global customers. eed to believe in our ability to compete, perform, and Forces of globalization - the search for more cost- succeed! CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Rajnish Karki T he contributions present an extensive exploratio n of the phenomenon of ‘Indian companies in overseas markets,’ which is multi-faceted in terms of activities and issues and is variegated among industries and companies. As the proportion of Indian companies engaging substantively with overseas markets is not more than a tenth, and for these too the experience is less than a decade long, these are very early stages of the phenomenon. However, the breakthroughs and aspirations of Indian companies that have ventured overseas portend major two-way engagement between Indian business and the world economy. The context of overseas expansion of Indian companies is different either with respect to American and European companies or Japanese and Korean companies and so the process will be unique and could be unprecedented in terms of pace and impact. The Colloquium does identify some issues and patterns. These are analysed for extending and drawing implications and for addressing apparent contradictions. Major conclusions on the phenomenon of ‘Indian companies in the overseas markets,’ which can be converged upon are as follows: From comparative to competitive advantage: Historically or till about 1990, the engagement of Indian companies with overseas markets was with the export of traditional products like tea, coffee, iron ore, leather, apparel, gems and jewellery, etc. These were based on natural endowments or on first-level comparative advantages of India and the companies played a role of little more than intermediaries or traders. There was a shift during the previous decade when companies found and deployed second-level advantages - availability, lower cost, and skills of the technical and scientific manpower in India. The second-level advantages, though comparative in nature, required creation of complementary capabilities in sales and marketing and in production systems which needed to be evolved within the companies or firms. Software companies that primarily operated with posting of professionals in overseas assignments or ‘body shopping’ till the mid-1990s started moving to projects and offshore production units by late-1990s. As a result, companies moved beyond India-based comparative advantages to create firm-based ‘competitive advantages. ’ The competitive advantages are more expandable in terms of scale and scope as they are governed by the competencies developed within a company and the aspirations of its top management. The trajectories are relatively similar in case of pharmaceuticals and auto components companies, though on a smaller VIKALPA VOLUME 29 NO 4 OCTOBER DECEMBER 2004 107 107 agnitude and with a lag of few years, and many other industries are likely to mo