India''s executives are changing the global economic axis: Boyden Corp

09 October 2007

"The appeal of the Indian executive has moved to a higher level and it''s no longer just about cost advantage," said Chris Clarke, president and CEO of Boyden World Corporation. "Their education, business acumen and the rise in the quality of Indian management are impressive. Today multinationals seeking to recruit Indian executives face a new challenge in that it''s not a foregone conclusion that they will leap at an offer outside India."

The new report on Indian management, The Boyden Report: The Sun Rises on the Indian Executive focuses on talent issues in emerging markets, and it examines four groups of Indian executives and non-resident Indians driving indigenous and global growth:

The first generation entrepreneur
The first generation entrepreneur typically starts from a strong family and a solid education. They represent some of the best "home grown" executive talent having developed their skills in India rather than by studying abroad. The rise of graduates from Indian business schools such as the Indian Institute of Technology and the Institutes of Management have swelled the ranks of entrepreneurs.

The family entrepreneur
The second group encompasses those that have inherited a company. In India, where in the days before privatisation, many major firms were state-owned but family-run, where many successful executives grew up watching family members at work. Now, inherited private businesses benefit from a new generation of executives from these family-owned businesses.

The ''corporate crossover''
The third group of Indian entrepreneurs is the "corporate crossovers." Typically, these entrepreneurs have worked outside mainstream corporate India until recently. Many gained an MBA or other post-graduate qualifications from prominent international business schools and worked for multinationals in the UK or the US. Now they are returning to India with invaluable international experience as well as an ability to help non-Indian businesses to navigate the complex Indian business environment.

The intrapreneur
The fourth group comprises the Indian intrapreneurs. Individually they achieve what many US and European firms wish to develop in their own executives - an ability to take advantage of commercial opportunities as an entrepreneur would, but to leverage the resources of an established firm at the same time.