Old Mindsets, Pitfalls

The historical performance of Indian business is weak. Certainly, it has not succeeded in bringing about an industrial revolution in the country. Prior to 1947, it could blame the British Raj; after 1947 it could blame the over-regulated license raj. Now, after the 1991 economic reforms, it has no one but itself to blame. The companies of East Asia have demonstrated that new entrants can adopt winning strategies which can reward them with global market share in a relatively short period. Can Indian companies do the same?

Indian markets can becoming increasingly competitive after the economic reforms. They are a good laboratory to examine the response of Indian companies. The purpose of this article is not yet to offer a verdict on whether Indian companies will survive in these markets. It is rather to examine the strategies of well-run companies who are demonstrating capability to become competitive both in the Indian and the global markets. When a large enough base of competitive companies is created, we will be in a position to answer the bigger questions posed in the first paragraph. At present, Indian enterprise is in a state of transition