The top guns of India Inc. are roaring, and with good reason…
Think of our nation’s spectacular ascent to the economic high ground it is perched on today in the context of 21st century global dynamics, and there’s an intriguing paradox that strikes home. While the quantum leap in progress the Indian economy has taken since the decade-and-a-half of liberalisation is a feat the world bears testament to, that setting shop successfully in India does not exactly equate a walk in the park is also a fact nearly everyone who means business in the land will agree to!
Yet, though the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business 2007’ Report awards India a no. 134 slot among 175 countries on an index of ease of operating an enterprise from end-to-end, the benefits of commercial prosperity dazzle like never before on consumers and companies alike. Flipping through another edition of a refreshing special issue 4Ps B&M dished out last fortnight, I couldn’t but muse over one of the pivotal factors spearheading this revolutionary trend of advancement and growth – those three letters spelling out the pizzazz of modern-day India’s passionate change agents – C-E-O.
We’re only too familiar with the attributes in general that constitute the fabric of a great leader. On this occasion, however, let’s dwell on the mettle that relegates CEOs functioning in the Indian marketspace to a formidable league, one that well… you’ll discover in the course of this discussion, is quite their own. So what makes the Indian CEO so special?
Foremost, I believe is a characteristic that has proved itself near-inherent to successful corporate leaders in India
A relentless pursuit of novel concepts, techniques to better manage information, the latest technology and brainstorming to constantly improvise and masterfully deliver customised offerings to a discerning consumer base is another trait that outlines the majority of India’s head honchos, when placed against the greater priority to intangibles like corporate image and goodwill accorded in America and Europe. Much in distinction to their global contemporaries (and contrary to what television soaps would like us to believe!), the man at the helm in corporate India possesses scant regard for bickering while work, preferring to limit both the rumour mill and conversations pertaining to a personal nature. Finally, and most significantly, is the willingness and propensity of the Indian business leader to not just adapt, but thrive in a regulatory ambience austere and laborious enough (and that’s stating it mildly!) to daunt even the best!
There are drawbacks, I agree, when it comes to harbouring that essential measure of emotional intelligence apart from technical acumen, an enhanced appreciation of employee welfare or the very need for such perseverance as manifested to sustain one’s own in the midst of a hundred formalities required for conducting business in a nation fast cutting inroads into global superpowerdom. The number of acquisitions effected by Indian organisations in the last year alone is evidence enough of a trend the international community has not just taken cognisance of, but is increasingly becoming wary of. Yet, both the corporate fraternity & the government need to tighten their acts to further the development of the labour class and the poor through fair and equitable distribution of incomes across the lower socioeconomic strata if India
Be that as it may, what’s just as incontrovertible is that we’re well on our way to becoming masters of the game, and as this Independence Day augurs the dawn on a nation emerging as the world’s largest truly democratic superpower blazing its glorious trail on the economic highway, Chak de India Inc!!!
Written On:
25-10-2007
No comments:
Post a Comment