The roots of global success – on the global achievements of India diaspora

Source– The post is based on the article “The roots of global success” published in the Business Standard on 6th March 2023.

Syllabus: GS2- Issues related to development and management of human resources

Context – Indians have a remarkable presence in the leadership of global organisations: IBM, Google, Microsoft, and now the World Bank.

What are the reasons behind Indians achieving top leadership positions of global organisations?

India is known for multiculturalism and tolerance. Growing up in India involves accepting, absorbing and interoperating with many cultures. It involves a great deal of tolerance.

This gives Indians a natural edge in dealing with the cultural diversity of global organisations, when compared with people who have grown up in a monoculture.

What are the implications of its people having top leadership positions in global organisations for India?

The rise of Indians to leadership positions in the world helps to reduce asymmetric information and thus improve global engagement with India.

Each of these individuals is well plugged into the Indian elite. The top leadership of organisations has an instinctive common sense about India. This produces better decisions regarding India.

India should think about the meritocracy within those organisations.

India will gain by opening up to greater heterogeneity in our internal culture, to more meritocracy in global recruitment, to more engagement with the outside world.

How does the pool of knowledgeable persons benefit India?

This creates the agglomeration economies of these individuals collaborating and competing with each other. India is a good site for building research offices by global corporations.

It is the essence of the IT revolution in India.

Why are Chinese not successful in attaining leadership roles in global organisations?

Chinese universities took off only in the last 20 years. Other factors are English fluency, the homogeneity of Han-Chinese culture, the lack of the full cultural package located in enlightenment values, and the stifling of imagination by use of state power.

How these developments shape the future in India?

A lot of the Indian elite today does not play in the competitive exams for higher educational institutions.

The average IIT graduate today has read fewer books, seems more like a Chinese STEM graduate, and has less of the full cultural package required for rising beyond technical functions.

The domination of the IITs has probably peaked. The leadership cadre will come from a more diverse array of schools in India and abroad.