Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere by Ravi Venkatesan
Authors: Ravi Venkatesan
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role of the country manager in India? Why is it
different from that of the country manager of, say, Germany? What kind of person should
be in the role? I discuss these issues in chapter 3 .
What kind of an operating model do you need to be successful in India? How do you
achieve speed without taking undue risks? What is the new role of headquarters? Are
there any principles for strategy that are common across industries and companies?
How do you get the whole organization aligned behind a strategy for India? These are
the topics in chapter 4 .
In chapter 5 , I discuss how to build the leadership and organizational capabilities to succeed,
and why that is so hard for most companies. I will also describe some best practices.
Chapter 6 is devoted to India as a lab for innovation. Why is that critical? How hard is it?
Who is doing it well? What can we learn from these companies?
In chapter 7 , I cover questions about joint ventures and acquisitions. After analyzing why they
have a bad reputation, we will find out what we can learn from companies that are
good at JVs and acquisitions.
Chapter 8 is all about developing the resilience to deal with corruption and cope with chaos.
In chapter 9 , the focus is on the role of the global CEO. Why do you need a globalizer and how
do you identify this archetype? What do the most successful globalizers do to ensure
leadership in India and China?
And, finally, in chapter 10 , I will show how companies that are winning in India are learning to use the capabilities
they have developed there to break into several emerging markets.
THE TAKEAWAYS
With the exception of a few industries, India is strategically vital for most MNCs.
Despite many challenges, India’s fundamentals will likely make India one of the largest
markets worldwide in the next two decades. With China and Brazil already emerging,
India may be the last giant market where an MNC can still aspire to build a dominant
position. Even more important, India represents many emerging markets, both in consumer
behaviors and market structure and in challenges such as corruption, uncertainty,
and poor infrastructure. Winning in India becomes a test of a company’s ability to
succeed in emerging markets. India, with China, should be a hub or platform of products,
talent, and capabilities for serving other emerging markets that lack the scale and
capability.
The biggest determinant of a company’s success in India is CEO commitment and engagement.
Succeeding in India requires that companies think, organize, and operate very differently
than they currently do. This is not an incremental shift. It represents a paradigm
shift that requires a fundamental reprogramming of mind-sets, operating routines and
the governance model, new capabilities, and different leadership. It therefore needs
the CEO’s hands-on leadership; change management cannot be delegated to roles such
as the head of sales or the president of international business.
Deciding to look past the chaos and challenges of India and build a leadership position
in what is or will be one of the world’s largest markets is a defining choice for
boards and CEOs.
In the absence of commitment, companies frequently fall into the midway trap, where
they can grow no faster than the industry average and are restricted to the tiny premium
segment at the top of the market. They end up in the 1 percent heap, where India continues
to contribute just 1 percent of global revenues and the company has an irrelevant
1 percent (or low single-digit) share of one of the largest markets in the world.
Catching up once the market takes off will be expensive, since both foreign and Indian
competitors will likely have built up entrenched leadership positions.
3
The Country Manager in India
I cannot emphasize enough getting the right leadership in India. The only time we
have made progress is when we had the right set of Indian
different from that of the country manager of, say, Germany? What kind of person should
be in the role? I discuss these issues in chapter 3 .
What kind of an operating model do you need to be successful in India? How do you
achieve speed without taking undue risks? What is the new role of headquarters? Are
there any principles for strategy that are common across industries and companies?
How do you get the whole organization aligned behind a strategy for India? These are
the topics in chapter 4 .
In chapter 5 , I discuss how to build the leadership and organizational capabilities to succeed,
and why that is so hard for most companies. I will also describe some best practices.
Chapter 6 is devoted to India as a lab for innovation. Why is that critical? How hard is it?
Who is doing it well? What can we learn from these companies?
In chapter 7 , I cover questions about joint ventures and acquisitions. After analyzing why they
have a bad reputation, we will find out what we can learn from companies that are
good at JVs and acquisitions.
Chapter 8 is all about developing the resilience to deal with corruption and cope with chaos.
In chapter 9 , the focus is on the role of the global CEO. Why do you need a globalizer and how
do you identify this archetype? What do the most successful globalizers do to ensure
leadership in India and China?
And, finally, in chapter 10 , I will show how companies that are winning in India are learning to use the capabilities
they have developed there to break into several emerging markets.
THE TAKEAWAYS
With the exception of a few industries, India is strategically vital for most MNCs.
Despite many challenges, India’s fundamentals will likely make India one of the largest
markets worldwide in the next two decades. With China and Brazil already emerging,
India may be the last giant market where an MNC can still aspire to build a dominant
position. Even more important, India represents many emerging markets, both in consumer
behaviors and market structure and in challenges such as corruption, uncertainty,
and poor infrastructure. Winning in India becomes a test of a company’s ability to
succeed in emerging markets. India, with China, should be a hub or platform of products,
talent, and capabilities for serving other emerging markets that lack the scale and
capability.
The biggest determinant of a company’s success in India is CEO commitment and engagement.
Succeeding in India requires that companies think, organize, and operate very differently
than they currently do. This is not an incremental shift. It represents a paradigm
shift that requires a fundamental reprogramming of mind-sets, operating routines and
the governance model, new capabilities, and different leadership. It therefore needs
the CEO’s hands-on leadership; change management cannot be delegated to roles such
as the head of sales or the president of international business.
Deciding to look past the chaos and challenges of India and build a leadership position
in what is or will be one of the world’s largest markets is a defining choice for
boards and CEOs.
In the absence of commitment, companies frequently fall into the midway trap, where
they can grow no faster than the industry average and are restricted to the tiny premium
segment at the top of the market. They end up in the 1 percent heap, where India continues
to contribute just 1 percent of global revenues and the company has an irrelevant
1 percent (or low single-digit) share of one of the largest markets in the world.
Catching up once the market takes off will be expensive, since both foreign and Indian
competitors will likely have built up entrenched leadership positions.
3
The Country Manager in India
I cannot emphasize enough getting the right leadership in India. The only time we
have made progress is when we had the right set of Indian
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