Doing business in India “was judged to be a very difficult business environment” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 366). On this note, doing business in India, requires that companies carefully consider their intent to do business there (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 365). Companies doing business in a foreign country have to be prepared to face certain level of challenges. Doing business in India is similar to doing business in other countries. There are various degree of challenges and these are based on political, economic, social and cultural structure differences. Global leaders need to invest resources in discovery and learning of these challenges before investing doing business in foreign nations. Globalization, economic development and technological advancement has grown so immensely that every nation has invested in these infrastructures. Over the past few years, an accepted business strategy is outsourcing (Mehta, A., Armenakis, A., Mehta, N. et. al., 2006). Many companies have outsourced their business in India which have proven to be very successful in doing business in India. One such company is Verizon. Verizon has successful established business in India. Judging doing business in India seems to be far-fetched these days as the country has now successfully surfaced in the “information technology” (IT) services domain (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 368).
Over the past few years, my outreach to Verizon reporting a technical problem, always seems to gets routed to an IT technician staffed in India. I am sometimes taken aback by the voice on the other end of the phone, as I try to understand why wasn’t my call routed to a Verizon IT technician here in America. For example, today, I tried to edit this blog, only to realize that I had intermittent internet service; so, I used the telephone number on my Verizon bill to make contact with a Verizon representative to file an official complaint. But, after speaking to a Verizon customer service agent, my call was routed to a Verizon IT technician in India. The solutions that this Verizon IT technician provided was quite extensive and intensive. In the past, many times, I found myself working with the Verizon IT technician for an hour or more to reach some resolution to my existing problem. And each time, I am always amazed at the depth of their knowledge and quality customer service orientation.
Many companies like Verizon have expanded their day to day IT operations in places like India. However, not only have their network and technology operation and support expanded, but Verizon business springs up on the consumer markets of Wireless and FIOS, Verizon enterprise solutions and, global technology service surf high there too (Verizon). Consumer market must have stemmed from the large workforce and rapidly growing population. Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014) informs us that “India has capitalized on its large educated English-speaking workforce to become a major exporter of information technology services, and software development workers” (p. 368).
India economy is thriving from the economic upturn of the information technology era. India has its own driving companies like Wipro and Infosys that provides technology consulting and information technology outsourcing. India, city center for IT is Bangalore and it has become a knowledge center that attracts technical and scientific institutes (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 370). “In fact, two-thirds of all custom software programming for the United States is done in India” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 371). Just last year, Verizon had to transfer 44,000 information technology employees to Infosys, (one of India largest outsourcing companies) in an outsourcing agreement (Noto, 2018). Because of the success in this information technology era in India, business is booming and doing business in India has turned over a new leaf as the business environment is no longer seen as difficult. In light of judging India as a very difficult business environment, many “foreign firms are arriving to set up businesses at a rate of three per week” (Moran, Abramson, & Moran, 2014, p. 371).
Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014) “Predictions are that in a few years many MNEs will have up to 25 percent of their staff in India” (p. 371). So, judging India as a difficult business environment seems to not be completely difficult after all as, India has now become a place that many companies want to bring their business to, as up to firms are arriving every week to set up shop. Many firms have come to realize that India is a country where there are untapped resources and rapid population growth is ideal for expanding business. It is important to note that in urban areas in India business is booming but, outside of these areas business investment is highly unlikely because community’s infrastructure needs to be addressed and communities face economic challenges. What is more amazing is that despite judging the country of India as a difficult business environment Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014) informs that “Two Asian economic giants are poised to become the economic superpowers of the twenty-first century…India is predicted to pass both China and the United States by 2050” (p. 365).
References
Mehta, A., Armenakis, A., Mehta, N., & Irani, F. (2006). Challenges and opportunities of business process outsourcing in India. Journal of Labor Research, 27(3).
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Negotiating long term for mutual benefit. Oxford: Routledge.
Noto, A. (2018). New York Business Journal. Retrieved from https://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2018/10/04/verizon-trims-workforce.html
Pennsylvania State University (PSU). (2019). Focus on China and India. Mainland Asia. OLEAD 410. Retrieved from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1964331/modules/items/25821722
Verizon. (2019). India jobs. Verizon in India: A powerhouse in IT & Technology. Retrieved from https://www.verizon.com/about/careers/locations/india
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