跨国公司如何应对印度专利乱象

    大多数新兴市场的混乱程度都远超中国，更接近印度。因此，能否在印度取得成功无疑是跨国企业在其他新兴市场能否取得成功的试金石。换言之，正是由于印度市场如此具有挑战性，全球性公司必须学习如何在这个市场取得成功；而他们在这个过程中形成的理念、能力和产品将极大地帮助它们在其他市场取得成功。

    不要误会我的意思。虽然印度和其他国家存在一些系统性不足，并不是说它们就是经商的险恶之地。印度政府必须尽快解决一些真正的问题，比如腐败、滥征税、腐朽官僚作风、政策摇摆和法律修正案的回溯力。

    但是，在这个有8亿人口日均生活费不到2美元的国家，印度政府想确保国民拥有必要的救命药真的是一种罪吗？印度对于接纳转基因食品或开放敏感的零售业方面保持谨慎，错了吗？充其量，印度最高法院只是为了捍卫国家利益，行使受托职责。拒绝解决真正的问题，印度不幸地授人于柄，导致其他国家将这些事情凑到一起来问罪。

    真正在新兴市场取得成功的公司都是不随大流的公司。他们的CEO既没有坐等，也没有强迫这些新兴经济体发展成他们期望的样子，而是主动顺应现实，调整企业战略。这些公司的管理者们更多地亲自走到市场中去，不再是通过电子报表和董事会演示来形成对市场的认识。这样，他们能够透过混乱，看到像印度这类市场的潜力。

    正是因为对市场的深入了解才推动他们矢志于在这个有望成为全球最大经济体之一的市场中取得成功。他们投资早，着眼长远，尽最大努力快速实现运营本地化。这意味着拥有真正掌权的本地管理层、本地化的商业模式以及市场针对性强的产品。他们的做法迥异于绝大部分跨国公司，那些跨国公司倾向于等待直到市场爆炸式增长，等到那时再投机寻找下一个新市场。说起新兴市场的成功之道，公司理念超越一切。（财富中文网）

    本文作者曾任微软印度、康明斯印度董事长，他的新书《战胜混乱：印度成功经验的普世价值》将于6月份由哈佛商业评论出版社出版。

    Most emerging markets tend to resemble chaotic India far more than China, and therefore winning in India is a pretty good litmus test or proxy for a multinational firm's ability to succeed in other emerging markets. Paradoxically what this means is that it is precisely because India is so challenging, that global companies must learn to succeed in this market; in the process they develop the mindset, capabilities, and products that greatly help them win in other markets.

    Don't get me wrong. By no means should India and other countries be let off the hook for their systemic shortcomings that make them hostile places in which to do business. There are real issues like corruption, harassment by tax authorities, stultifying bureaucracy, policy vacillation, and retroactive amendments to the law which the government must address urgently.

    However, is it such a crime for the Indian government to want to ensure that its citizens, 800 million of whom live on less than $2 a day, have adequate access to lifesaving drugs? Is it wrong for India to be cautious about embracing genetically modified food or opening up its sensitive retail sector? If anything, the nation's highest court performed its fiduciary duty by safeguarding its national interest. By refusing to address its real shortcomings, India unfortunately allows other countries to clump all these issues together and put it on the defensive.

    Companies that are really successful in emerging markets are contrarian. Their CEOs are not waiting around for or coercing these emerging economies to evolve into what they want them to be and are instead adapting their business strategies to the current reality. Relying more on personal immersion than spreadsheets and boardroom presentations to develop their market understanding, leaders of these companies are able to look past the chaos and see the potential of markets like India.

    Their visceral understanding of the market fuels a commitment to winning in what will be one of the world's largest economies. They invest early with a long-term view and make great efforts to quickly localize their operations. That translates into local management with real authority, localized business models, and market-specific products. Their actions are quite contrary to the vast majority of multinationals that prefer to wait until the market explodes and until then opportunistically seek the next new market du jour. When it comes to succeeding in emerging markets, corporate mindset trumps everything else.

    The author is the former Chairman of Microsoft India and Cummins India and author of the book Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere, to be released in June by Harvard Business Review Publishing.