Call it an emerging market, but India has finally become a force to reckon with in the global business community. While Indian companies like Tata, Infosys and Wipro have found admirers abroad, a global poll of professionals has shown that less than 50 per cent of them believe that their companies are well-equipped to compete against companies from China, India and South Korea.
Nearly 42 per cent of the respondents of the “Fast Track Leadership Survey”, conducted by Fast Company magazine, IMD (Switzerlandbased international business school) and placement and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International, agreed that in the next five years their company would face strong competition from businesses based in countries like India. Interestingly, while 71 per cent of the respondents of the survey live in US, 12.4 per cent and 6.6 per cent live in Europe and Canada respectively. Only 3.7 per cent of them are from Asia.
When asked to name a company with its headquarters in an emerging market that they admire, respondents most frequently cited the following companies in this order — Lenovo (China), Tata (India), Infosys (India) in the first three and Wipro on the sixth spot, in the count of the top ten.
Most business professionals also agreed that international participation and competition of their compa nies would increase with specific countries.
While 34.7 per cent of the respondents indicated that their company had plans to enter into contracts or joint ventures with companies based in India, 37.6 per cent named China as a preferred partner. Most have also indicated that an acquisition or merger with a company based in an emerging market such as China, India or Brazil would bring company additional expertise in outsourcing, building relationships, manufacturing, innovation and technology.
The survey has also pointed out that appeal of brands, products and services from emerging markets like Arab Nations, Pakistan, India and China would face resistance from US consumers and businesses.
{{/usCountry}}The survey has also pointed out that appeal of brands, products and services from emerging markets like Arab Nations, Pakistan, India and China would face resistance from US consumers and businesses.
{{/usCountry}}They are less likely to buy a personal computer from Chinese-owned Lenovo than from the predecessor company IBM.