For those of you who think it’s a small world, here’s my contribution to the proof. I was talking to one of the faculty here and she told me she was at Lynchburg College in the late 1980s. I say it’s a small world because in 1987, before I got on full time at IWU, I looked for jobs. One of them was at Lynchburg College, which offered me a job. She and I could have been colleagues! (She teaches accounting at the Citadel in Charleston today, where she wears a colonel’s uniform to class; she’s originally from Virginia, and I know would be much happier in the rural south—Lynchburg is in the Appalachian mountains) than I would ever be, but it was interesting meeting someone I might have met 21 years ago.
If you need more evidence, let me give you an even greater coincidence: We had a dinner Monday night (our only formal activity), where we were joined by a visiting group of faculty (India is full of visiting business students and faculty; one of our members is with the University of Wisconsin, which had a group of students here; today I understand U Maryland MBAS will be here; we ran into a Kansas U group Sunday–add India to your itinerary if you’re’ interested in business, and probably more certainly in the future…). Anyway, the visitors were from the University of Bentley (so the sign read; I think they meant Bentley College, which is a Massachusetts business-only college). One of their faculty looked at me and said, “You look familiar. Were you at ISU? I taught there.” Turns out, 25 years ago, when I went back to school for an MBA, he was my marketing teacher, and his wife taught me management. After the dinner, they both came over and we mused on the possibility of reuniting 8000 miles and 25 years later!
One quick vignette on where the Indian economy may be moving. The marketing faculty we’ve met have noted the relative absence of Indian brands; certainly the mall–aside from Sari clothing shops and many spiritual (read yoga) shops–could be a mall anywhere in the states–McDonald’s, albeit without beef, Reebock, Hilfinger, and a variety of European and some Australian brands–Billabong. Foreign still has a certain cachet, and the Indian government has lowered tariffs from 150 percent to 12-15 percent in most categories. Our site visit two days ago was to Hero Honda, a joint venture between a bicycle maker and a motorcycle division that’s become the largest two-three wheeler manufacturer in India (Honda doesn’t let them export to more than two or three countries, which I found interesting, but does sell Honda’s made elsewhere in India!). The Hero Honda plant, one of three, has the leading market share in the country and has never had an engine–made here–fail, which is pretty remarkable for any manufacturing firm, the goal of which is zero defects but seldom met. The plant manager told us that as Indians become more wealthy, they’re buying fewer cycles and more cars, and the overall market is declining. Hero’s response is to look at the rural market where there could be growth it could find a way to finance the sales (and there are rising expectations in the countryside; TV is ubiquitous).
This is also Auto week, so the papers are full of Tata, Maruiti, M&M, Indian auto makers, and even Ford, I think the only American company here — building a small car for #1000 or $2000! Just what India needs — more traffic, though locals tell us proudly that the two and three hour rides are down to 1 or two, and infrastructure construction is one of the factors contributing to the “smoky haze” (that’s how they describe the dust that settles on everything here; some of it comes, I think, from charcoal heaters) which has delayed some flights. The Prime Minister, in fact, is flying to China and his plane is leaving 12 hours early to make sure he can get away. Hope we don’t get delayed!
Yesterday, they took us to a huge local market. Most of the clothes were around 150 rupees, which is under $4. It stretched as far as the eye could see, and was really busy. India has many shops like the ones we saw; in fact, the marketing professor I had lunch with told me that India has 15 million shops, more than any other country. I think I read the big stores–the Wal-Marts and Carrefours have not yet arrived, in part because the Indian government has been protecting these mostly mom-pop stores that employ so many Indians. And employment is a major problem. One thing that really struck me was that Hero Honda hires 5,000 employees. 1,000 are full time, and 4,000 are contract labor, who can be fired if demand drops and are not subject to what seem to be pretty strict
labor laws.
Have to run, but you have a great day, and a wonderful weekend. We may play cricket this morning (I think I told you this is their football/basketball/baseball sport; who said they got little from the British Empire?), but we’re definitely going to Agra and the Taj Mahal tomorrow, leaving at 5 a.m.