'Countries like India bring us down to earth'

Logitech boss wants to build a people's company.

If you are wondering what it takes for a technology company to prosper in one of the harshest business environment, ask Daniel Borel, co-founder and chairman of Logitech, a $1.5-billion Swiss technology lifestyle products company.

"Countries like India bring us down to earth. For, consumers here demand products with cutting edge technology at the lowest possible price," says Borel.

The company's steady stream of innovative new products has made it the world's leading supplier of mouse, keyboards, webcams, and other computer peripherals, but it still has a lot of catching up to do in India.

But Borel, who is in Mumbai for the first time to launch Logitech's latest line of cordless peripherals, is not complaining. In fact, breaking price barriers has been his forte. He was the first man to launch a mouse "" C7 "" way back in 1985. It was priced just under $100 "" a breakthrough during that time.

"Our aim has always been to become a people's company and we are on course in India," Borel told Business Standard in an exclusive interview.

Is India the most difficult market he has faced? The master salesman is quick with his repartee.

"There is nothing called an easy market. So price positioning and obsession with innovations are the key in India, which is in every way part of our road map."

Borel says whatever the problems, there is no way a company like Logitech can afford to ignore countries like India and China which are set to account for almost half of the world's GDP in the near future. "We are inviting India to a new era of interaction with technology, that is cordlessly," Borel says.

Logitech, he says, is confident of riding high on its excellent research and development capabilities to enhance its presence across the globe. "We are open to acquiring R&D companies in any part of the globe, including India," he says.

Referring to a temporary setback the company had a few years back, Borel says it taught him and his company many lessons. One of these was to keep away emotions from business decisions as far as possible.

"Losses pitted us against the ferocity of competition, but we acted immediately and moved out of Taiwan. We also shifted over 1,000 employees from the unit. We also learnt that value-additions, and not pricing alone, are the key to tiding over the onslaught of competition," he says.

Borel, who launched a basket of products (cordless keyboards and mouse, gaming devices, mobile and MP3 headsets) for the Indian market today, says computing does not need to "tie us down". Cordless computing "" where computer peripherals do not need to connect to the PC with wires "" offers a great deal of flexibility.