Negotiations and business strategies with India

By Marian Stetson-...

Handling diversity; intensity, complexity, and paradox are all essential requirements for working with India. "The business opportunity India represents is more complex than a cursory glance at its educated, English-speaking workforce would suggest" says Arjun Batra, Director of Intel Globalization to India, Intel Corporation. With this in mind, below are insights to building business in India.

Strategies for communicating

Indian introductions
Establishing one's place is important in the highly-networked Indian business community. Weave your accomplishments and contacts into conversation with panache to earn respect and gain introductions. Pay attention to family members, especially newly-minted MBA sons, as family-owned businesses are the majority of organizational structures. (Reliance and Tata are prominent examples). "Absolutely critical is building a network and having personal relationships in India", says Bryan Lawlis, President and CEO of Intero Biopharmaceuticals.

Indian style
Indians may be very direct when confident they are right; however, an indirect ambiguous style is used to show respect; politeness, disagreement, refusal, or avoid confrontation. Indians may overlap each other while speaking, increasing the volume and speed of dialogue - if this is the case, don't wait for an invitation to speak: jump in and talk over someone to make your points. Many Indians speak quite rapidly, with an accent unfamiliar to Americans. If you experience difficulty, the best approach is to ask them to please speak more slowly. Indians you'll meet are multilingual, and may take offense if you imply their English is faulty.

Indian persuasion
Indians expect you have thoroughly researched your proposition, and can provide in-depth data analysis and detail. Indians appreciate a factual and personable delivery style that starts with the ‘big picture' before getting to implementation specifics. Indians persuade through competitive data; repetition, insistence, and rigorous detail and may make vigorous, emotional appeals to underscore their proposition. A response in kind (avoiding an aloof, rational approach) is most effective.

Indian feedback
Generally, India's culture promotes pleasing people; thus feedback that might be unpleasing (problems, criticism, confrontation) is generally avoided. Indians are usually conscious of status and feedback is offered from higher to lower rank (based on age or position).

Negative feedback - Indians do not want to convey bad news, and will often work hard to remedy a situation before letting you know of any delays or missed goals. Criticism is subtle, "That's not quite what I was looking for."

Positive feedback - Indians appreciate compliments on their performance, but may deflect direct praise and expect others to do so also, displaying good form and the trait of humility.

Indian agreement
"Yes" often means "maybe" or "we'll see what happens", so its important to clarify whether or not you have a solid agreement. A blunt "No" is considered rude and rarely heard, and negative responses are cushioned by offering an alternative; being silent, or being non-committal.

Negotiating with Indian companies

Indian style
Indians are known as keen negotiators, experienced in bargaining and negotiating for themselves and their families as part of life in India. Through their networks, Indians are well prepared with data on competitive scenarios and prices. It is important to maintain an open, gracious style, never openly displaying anger or confrontation. Strong passionate positions or appeals are used strategically to emphasize a position, but one should never appear angry or hostile. If talks reach an impasse, better to resume patiently at a later time. Keep cool.