The Japanese have waited long enough

The Assocham secretary general V Raghuraman recently told me that Japanese were still waiting. Charles Dickens' Barkis was perpetually willi...

The Assocham secretary general V Raghuraman recently told me that Japanese were still waiting. Charles Dickens’ Barkis was perpetually willing while doing the waiting act. This one cannot possibly say of Japanese businessmen. They are not quite willing even to test the waters. It is well known that as a tribe they take decisions slowly and systematically and do not take kindly to anyone trying to rush them. But, the fact that long after Suzuki entered into a collaboration with the government on the management of Maruti Udyog there is very little to show by way of a widening Japanese corporate interest in the Indian economy would suggest indifference.

This cannot surely be reflective of the policy of the Japanese government, particularly the powerful MITI, internationally known as one instrumental for the emergence of Japan as a super economic power. Rather, those who run the corporates are not convinced that the south Asian giant is really worth tapping.

If this is the assessment, where does one go from here? Several management books written by well known American experts have pointed out that members of the business community in Japan demand sustained wooing and would not settle for quick deals as the Americans are wont to do and expect others to do likewise.

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One of the reasons why corporate leaders in the United States are not able to get the best business deals from Japan is said to be their impatience with the ways of Japanese corporate decision makers. The latter will want several rounds of discussions before making up their minds and until the last minute the other side will not know what is coming. One only hopes that these books are read and their assessments digested.

The American CEOs have other options and there are others for them to do business with. Also, they can always bring politics where the Japanese are not yielding quickly to business persuasion. There is always the senate to plead their case and there is also the first citizen ever ready to oblige the corporate czars and their powerful political patrons.

The Indian counterparts are hardly placed likewise and the political leadership has rarely fought the battle for the local businessmen. The resistance to curbs on exports from India imposed in the United States and the European Community falls in a different category and should not be confused with the kind of initiative that the US president’s office takes every now and then to protect and to advance the cause of American industry and business.

Bilateral deals between the Indian government and its counterparts elsewhere generally focus on cooperation at the government level and support for projects financed by the government. While politicians have no qualms about exploiting the money power of the corporates and the business community in general, when it comes to using diplomatic channels for boosting Indian business interests those in power have deliberately eschewed taking up issues that are the bread and butter of corporates and other businesses in the country. Businessmen are required to go through their customary commercial channels or use the fora of bilateral business councils. Generally, one can say that corporates have to fend for themselves.

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Thus, in regard to doing business with the Japanese the Indian corporates have to do all the wooing and government support will be confined to ministers including representatives of the business community in the delegations they take with them when they go on overseas visits. Rather, the broad business perception is that the government has added to the problems of fostering Japanese business interest here by getting into a needless controversy with the Japanese collaborator in Maruti Udyog rather than letting the chairman of the company sort out the differences through the board of directors.

It is going to be a challenge for them to make the Japanese corporate leaders shift their position from one of indefinite waiting to that of willing. But this has to be met, not ducked. For, Japanese are excellent improvisers and they have progressed this far through a mix of improvisation and professional commitment.

While in recent years the old style of management which relied on motivation has given way to the impersonal ethos of the Americans and the big transnational Japanese firms no longer bother to involve the staff in decision making and give them a sense of active participation, still there is no doubt whatsoever that Japanese industry is constantly proclaiming the virtues of professional dedication from the roof top. Whether or not a deeper Japanese corporate involvement in the Indian economy will spread these virtues to the domestic industrial sector is irrelevant to the narrow but critical issue of getting Japanese companies to set up shop on Indian territory, although such a spill over will, over time, make Indian industry and business really competitive in the global context.

The first step towards such an endeavour necessarily is to make Japanese business leaders truly accept the growth potential of the Indian economy.

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The polite rhetoric about such potential which one hears from time to time must get translated into a commercial acceptance of what the economy can achieve given the effort. This calls for a sustained persuasive effort. One aspect of this would be to cultivate Japanese businessmen. The American books cited earlier have emphasised the importance of learning the Japanese language and respecting the negotiating ways of decision makers in Japan.

There should be an Indian presence in major Japanese business centres and its role must be to promote Japanese interest in industrial development in India. Fleeting visits by high-powered business delegations will not do and there should be strong and qualified representative offices in different cities ever ready to correct misconceptions and to give a fair and truthful picture of the working of the Indian economy. Unless this is done, the opportunity will be lost and it would be pointless either to talk of what India can offer to investors from abroad or make loud proclamations about deepening Indo-Japanese economic co-operation.