‘The WIRED 40′, Indian Companies and Global Perception
Posted : April 25, 2005 at 5:45 am [IST]
‘Wired‘, May 2005 has come out with its lists of 40 companies of the world that will drive the global economy. The companies included are: Apple Computer, Google, Samsung, Amazon.com, Yahoo!, Toyota, EBAY, SAP, Pixar, Cisco, IBM, Dell, General Electric, Medtronic, Intel, Vodafone, Flextronics, NVIDIA, JetBlue, FedEx, Monsanto, Microsoft, Nokia, Costco, Pfizer, Citigroup and others. No Chinese comany is in the list. But Li&Fung of Hong Kong and Taiwan Semiconductors are in the list
Infosys Technologies appears at place 9 (It does necessarily mean the ranking).It has been described as outsourcer. And the profile goes like this:
The caricature of the Indian outsourcing industry as a voracious monster bent on devouring US jobs isn’t just oversimplified, it’s obsolete. Case in point, Infosys. The Indian coding shop, which generated $1.1 billion in sales last year, is hiring 500 employees for Infosys Consulting, a $20 million foray into high-end IT advice based in Framont, CA. Dirt cheap outsourcing plus strategic guidance makes for a powerful combination- and one that moves jobs back to the US
Challenge- Beware the rest of Asia. In the low-cost sweepstakes, China is to India as India is to Western economies.
Opportunities- Do to bloated US consultancies what Dell did to the PC industry.
Infosys is one company that is increasing its strength in total solutions that today’s clients prefer. It is adding huge number of new employees. It is also having one of the largest training center in the country. It has developed tie-ups with a large number of professional colleges too. That will ensure quality of education.
I wish all the colleges went for some mini-incubators that encourage the students to become entrepreneurs. Institutes must also start a small outsourcing department in the institute facility itself in collaboration with IT companies, where students get into actual jobs of software or outsourcing. It would have provided on-job-training and inculcated the work disciplines in real factory situation..
There are mention of India in two other contexts that is worth noting:
As a warning for Genentech placed at 7, it says, ‘ India’s Zenotech Labs has announced a knock off of Genentech’s lymphome- fighting Rituxan for one-third price.’
India has again appeared against Salesforce.com placed at 20. The company helps 13,900 corporate clients to manage their customer relations. The company is doing a smart job. It released 17 versions of its software in the same time Microsoft turned around only two versions of its SOL server. In its challenge, the ‘Wire’ writes: “India! If Salesforce.com slows down, it could be steamrolled by an outsourcer.
You get a pleasure in reading about these Indian companies and their younger generation of entrepreneurs and managers. But Indian companies must mix a lot of humility with its strength in promoting their capability. The business model must be such that the rise of Indian companies must not generate any fear Media handling will be very critical. Perhaps, this behind Friedman remarks at the fag end of his new book- The World is Flat’- ‘ .. you and your generation must not live in fear of either the terrorists or of tomorrow, of either al-Qaeda or of Infosys.’
As I read this feature that puts Infosys as the most valuable company, I feel happier.
- Indra
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