{"id":7549,"date":"2012-10-15T08:49:30","date_gmt":"2012-10-14T22:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/knowledgetoday\/?p=7549"},"modified":"2012-10-15T10:54:21","modified_gmt":"2012-10-15T00:54:21","slug":"china-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/blog\/2012\/10\/china-india\/","title":{"rendered":"How companies can succeed in the China-India market"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the\u00a0Knowledge@Wharton today\u00a0blog<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The consumer markets of India and China are widely viewed as a potential goldmine for companies and investors. These two markets are expected to triple over the current decade and by the end of 2020, are likely to be around US$10 trillion in size. Take away a few billions, or even a couple of trillions, and it would still be a huge opportunity for firms around the world. A newly-released book, The $10 Trillion Prize: Captivating the Newly Affluent in China and India<\/em>, written by a quartet from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) aims to provide a window into the forces driving this new generation of consumers and discusses how companies can use this knowledge to their advantage to win not only in these two countries, but also in the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

At a recent panel discussion on the book at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIMB), co-author Michael J. Silverstein, who is one of the founders of BCG\u2019s global consumer practice, and Abheek Singhi, leader of BCG\u2019s India consumer practice, reiterated that this is an unprecedented opportunity in world history. The growth that China and India will see in the next 10 years is something that has never happened earlier in human history. \u201cThe secret [of success for companies] is to be able to identify the supply chains that allow for [the dissemination of] products at price points affordable for every segment,\u201d said Silverstein.<\/p>\n

Panelist Vinita Bali, managing director of Britannia Industries, noted that the huge absolute numbers in these markets mean that for every product category, and at every price point, there is a large base of consumers that can make doing business in the two nations worthwhile. \u201cCompanies who ignore these markets would be doing so at their own peril. And those who want to succeed here must be ready for the long haul. It takes a reasonably long time period to get the return on investment.\u201d Singhi noted. \u201cA half-hearted commitment is a recipe for disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Singhi pointed to asset bubbles, political and social disharmony, bureaucracy and corruption, and environmental degradation and pollution as possible risk factors, panelist J. Ramachandran<\/a>, professor of corporate strategy and policy at IIMB, suggested that \u201cthe central argument is the importance of education \u2014 How [India] as a nation [has] failed on the education front.\u201d Pointing out that both the schooling and the higher education system in India are \u201cbroken and in a shambles,\u201d Ramachandran said that the problems are a result of \u201cpolicy issues.\u201d Silverstein said that India is severely disadvantaged as compared to China in terms of its education system. \u201cIn India, education is under-funded, under-regulated and you tolerate 70% of primary schools being substandard. This is a matter of serious concern for India,\u201d he noted. \u201dI believe that India is up to it. But it will require a change in behavior and a change in political capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another area where India is seen to be lagging behind China is in terms of excellence. \u201cExcellence is a mindset and we don\u2019t have enough of it,\u201d Bali stated. \u201cWe tolerate a lot of nonsense and it permeates into a lot of what we think is acceptable.\u201d Ramachandran added: \u201cThe clue to our future is how well we [strengthen] our education system. We must be unwilling to except less. That will drive the desire for excellence.\u201d<\/p>\n

This post was previously posted in Knowledge@Wharton<\/a> today blog: How Companies Can Succeed in the China-India Market<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the\u00a0Knowledge@Wharton today\u00a0blog. The consumer markets of India and China are widely viewed as a potential goldmine for companies and investors. These two markets are expected to triple over the current decade and by the end of 2020, are likely to be around US$10 trillion in size. Take away a few billions, or even a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12668],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-knowledge-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7549"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7552,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7549\/revisions\/7552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.unsw.edu.au\/BTOpinion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}