Hybrid bi-national companies — the way of the future?
Many American IT companies have a partner company, or an office in India, Vietnam, or some Asian country. It only makes sense. It is hard to find IT workers here, and they are expensive, and often uncooperative. It is not worth a managers time to always be trying to overcome insubordination, when you can find able and willing workers in India or elsewhere. One big problem is that many American software companies are tricky, and don’t inform their clients that they use overseas labor. But, putting honesty aside, many outsourcing companies that are able to grow and succeed, use what I call the hybrid model.
Hybrid bi-national businesses
India has great labor resources for medical billing, programming and all types of back office BPO type tasks. I feel that it is foolish not to take advantage of this willing and able workforce. Setting up an office in India requires a lot of travel and time spent, but in the long run, it seems worth it. It makes it easy and flexible to get lots of work done as it is needed. I know many people who work at bi-national companies with one office in America and the other in India. Or a front end office in Singapore, and a back office in Hyderabad, etc.
Problems with bi-national work relationships.
There are always difficulties in any type of business set up. In America, the crushing costs of rent, labor, accounting, and taxes put many out of business or drain their cash away, especially if you are located on a coast where everything is sky high! Try renting an office in California. You might be paying $2000 for a modest sized room in a high rise that can fit three people. The problems in a hybrid company are dealing with communication issues between America and India. Communication styles are different in different countries. People are in different time zones, and some people answer questions faster than others. Some people communicate faster than others, and others have a different sense of how long things should take. But, if you have people in America who enjoy working at night, a relationship with India becomes perfect, and easier than a relationship with an American partner who leaves work at 5pm right when you are warming up!
Marketing and management in America?
It is more effective to have your management and marketing in America. We have more of a command of middle management than India does. For some reason, I have seen hardly any middle level in Indian companies. You are either the boss or the worker, but customer service reps are only for large companies in my limited experience. If you have your intermediaries in the states, who are a go-between for the workers and the clients, you might do very well in business if you hire the right people. In India, it would be much harder to find such people, and they wouldn’t be that cheap either if they were any good! It seems that different countries have their niches and specialties. Argentina is good at art and dance. India is great at programming. While America and the Philippines are good at interaction — or at least we think we are!!!
Tweets:
(1) Many American IT companies have a partner company, or an office in India, or some Asian country
(2) If you’re a night owl, working w/India is better than a US partner who leaves just when you are warming up.
(3) Binational companies capitalize on American expertise & an Asian labor pool. The best of both world(s).
(4) Having a binational company has its advantages. Office space in Bangladesh is a lot cheaper!
(5) A happy marriage of American management & Indian labor leads to optimal efficiency
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