Paul Davies, Nicholas Brealey Publishing , 2004.
If you are one of those people who thinks all India does is customer support call center work, this book can really open your eyes to what is actually happening in India. It will show you the depth of services India is ready to provide, and will really broaden your mind…and it is ten years old.
If you have been actively engaging with India for the last several years, you might not get a lot out of this book. But if you are behind the times, this might be the perfect primer for preparing you for the world of Indian business. India is well beyond the services discussed in this book, but those services still make up a lot of its foundational business.
The best part of this book is that is it written by someone who has actually been there. It’s clear from the examples and stories that the author has spent a lot of time traveling and doing business with India. His material and overview cover nearly all of the major metros, which is refreshing since most business authors’ expertise is limited to one or two major cities. His anecdotes are real, awkward, and authentic.
As mentioned, the best use of this book is as a primer for getting an idea of the type of work being done in India. Its original audience was the person in charge of making the decision to “offshore” some processes to India. If you are in that role, you will likely need an updated guide, which I will review later. But if you are trying to catch up on what is happening in business in India, this is a good place to start.
Its major weakness is simply in the fact that it has not been updated since it was released in 2004.
The author is British and resorts to a lot of cultural humor and cheeky references now and again, but his experiences and stories are legitimate. I found the chapter on negotiations to be the most interesting, given the stories he shares.
Who would like it: Someone sitting in an office abroad who feels completely unprepared to interact with this vast country.
You can buy it on Amazon.com
