Professor Gnanaharan

November 2006

"What a country! Part Silicon Valley, Part Stone Age." This is taken from the quotable quote from The Week magazine attributing to Steve Hamm, writer on India in his book Bangalore Tiger.

Frankly, to me it does not come as a big criticism. It could well be taken as a big strength and there lies its future. Recently, a highly insightful and thought provoking two-part article by Hamsini Shivakumar of JWT appeared in the BrandLine of The Hindu Business Line(dated October 26 and November 2, 2006). The author eloquently talks about one unique character of India. That refers to what is now popularly termed as AND-NESS of India and things India.

The insights supplied by the author, are not just 'exploitative' in the sense they have long term relevance going beyond the immediate business concerns. The issue deserves to be researched in all its dimensions with both Industry and Institute pitching in jointly. After all, some of the research outcome can be converted into immediate business opportunities. Others have the power to determine India's future course of development.

According to the author, "India is an 'and' culture - a society where modern values don't replace traditional values but are assimilated to form new amalgams. Marketers who understand and address this 'and-ness' of Indians are the ones who will succeed with the changing Indian consumer".

By understanding this unique Indian 'AND-NESS', marketers can succeed not just in the India but at the global stage as well. Because, that is where the whole world is getting into. India is eminently positioned to leverage this unique strength to create global scale opportunities. A few examples can be sprinkled to demonstrate how India came out with unique AND Solutions and challenged the status quo.

First and foremost, through Mahathma Gandhi it showed to the world how Freedom Struggle can be FOUGHT without really FIGHTING. Ahimsa is the weapon which won the Freedom from the British - without really defeating them. This in itself is the typical AND solution. Mahatma may not have won Peace Nobel for this. But the Greatness of this man lies in the fact that every year the Nobel Committee has to come out with a statement for not awarding Nobel to Gandhi. Whereas for people who have been selected for the Prize they have to explain only once- at the time of awarding.

Secondly, India probably is the most prominent country in the world to adopt a Mixed Economy pattern. An AND solution again. Its failure is more in terms of degree rather than in substance. What has really failed is the Command Economy. Today every economy is a mixed economy- only the mix of the mixed economy has changed much in favour of Market Economy. Today Joint Sector Projects are out. But Public Private Partnership is very much in.

Thirdly, as a corollary to the second, India by not willing to side either with the US or Russia, spearheaded a Non Aligned Movement(NAM). NAM may not be fully alive and kicking but with the end of the Cold War, there are many Blocks in the world. Here again, India's unique AND-NESS proved right.

Apart from the above, we can go a bit farther back to see how India has been practicing AND-NESS for a long time. Two examples are enough to drive home the point.

One, Infotainment, Edutainment, Retailment, etc. may have gained currency now. But India has been practicing these for long. Patti(grandma) Katha and Village chandies have been offering only that. Two, the Siddha system is based on the tenet of "food is medicine and medicine is food". The growing popularity of herbal medicine and natural food is indicative of this trend.

One can go on and on. But before ending this piece, a quote from a recent Business Week reproduced in the latest issue of Business World (20 November) which illuminates this view point.

"Has the Bhagvad Gita replaced the Art of War as the hip new ancient Eastern management?....Swami Parthasarathy.. counselled hedge fund managers about balancing the compulsion to amass wealth with the desire for inner happiness.... the Swami's East Coast tour was one small manifestation of a significant new trend:Big Business is embracing Eastern philosophy."

P.S.: This article in a way answers my student R.Siva Subramanian's query on why India is not figuring in the list of countries that are in the forefront of Quantum Invention. This particular issue was raised by his web friend Mr. Bala Pillai of Sydney.