My colleague Shubhangi and I put together some cultural insights on a recent project for an International Client. I thought I'd share some of these on my blog ... obviously, any reference to the Client's product has been removed. These are our views, and while, by no stretch of imagination are complete, they try and hopefully go beyond what your Business Etiquette manuals tell you about doing business in India :). Guilty on the images that are all 'stolen' off Google images and Flickr.

I'll be doing a series of posts on these:

• culture of business and service
• culture of consumption
• attitude towards rules and regulations
• value for money equations
• technology perspectives

• Business is not a means of livelihood; business is life
• The relevant God or philosophy is Krishna the pragmatist, not Ram the idealist. Krishna holds the philosophy that there can be several versions of the truth. Advocates running from the battlefield, in order to be alive to fight another day

• 'Juwari ramto bhalo, vyapari bechto bhalo' - the wisdom for the gambler is to keep playing, the wisdom for the trader to keep selling
  
• Profit & loss are momentary things, if he stops plying his trade because of some loss he will. Thus even at times when profit margin is low they believe that to keep doing business, is life
• Reputation and positive word of mouth are critical for success - and most transactions are done on this basis. Manufacturer speak comes second.
  
• Indians are very enterprising in their approach to business and service . For instance, in summer in Delhi, people set out little carts selling cool water for 2 cents a glass. Or you can get any service delivered home - even vegetable vendors have cell phones today and deliver vegetables to the home
  
• Indians also have a 'chalta hai' attitude: nonchalant, 'anything goes' - fatalistic Indian philosophy - because you cannot control your destiny, you go with the flow
  

• Traditionally business in India has been 'give & take,' and NOT 'the customer is king'. The customer had to accept whatever level of service was offered. Increasingly, however, service is becoming a powerful differentiator - products and organizations that enable 'any time, any where' service are valued - with a powerful tool being the cell phone.

• Indians are NOT in the habit of 'DIY' - for the most part, consumers in India would rather someone else fixes things. Labor is cheap and abundant, and skilled too, without the formal qualifications.
• Critical mass is important - Indians as customers tend to be followers by nature - there is comfort in buying products that are tried and tested, and friends and family know.
  
• Always on access and personalized service is important for customers in India. The prevailing attitude is that "I'd rather call up my local photocopy neighborhood store and get 'acceptable' quality with great service (with pick up and drop off) than go to an impersonal large store to get it processed." Here are some visiting cards I have of my local cold storage, vegetable vendor, grocer, chemist, photocopier, furnishing store.
  
• As customers, Indians have multiple touchpoints - there is almost always a cheaper alternative, and haggling is a rite of passage!

Tags: qualitative research, ethnography, india

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