Prospecting in India

How to successfully prospect in India?

Why do many prospections in India end in failure when there is good will on both sides? Where do the areas of misunderstanding come from? Prospecting is even more difficult when an intercultural dimension is added.

This case study aims to make us think about the difficulty we have in putting ourselves in the shoes of others to understand how they operate.

Context

Prospecting for an American company in India

The American company Globaltech is approaching several renowned software companies in Bangalore to commission them to study an interface adapted to the Indian market for its best-selling software in the United States and Europe.

Once the partner best able to accomplish this mission has been identified, a date is defined by Globaltech for the presentation of a first draft by the Indians, one month later.

Foreplay

During the time preceding this new interview, Steven, the American manager of the project, was initially not surprised to be often asked by his Indian contacts about numerous specifications and prerequisites of the interface.

But the flow of exchanges by email does not dry up, and the questions from partners become ever more technical; he then began to worry about seeing the Indians focusing on details that he still considered to be of little significance at this stage of the project's progress.

The next meeting

He therefore decided to postpone these new questions until their next meeting. The emails then stop and his intuition is confirmed at the deadline: the Indian partners give no sign of life on the agreed date.

He relaunched them several times and received only a request for additional time in response. Doubt turns into anxiety.

Questions

1. How can we interpret the contrast between the involvement of the Indians at the launch of the project and their surprising discretion during this first deadline?
2. How can we understand that they let the date of their interview pass without even alerting Steven?

Make your suggestions on the “Akteos – Intercultural Insights” LinkedIn group.

Discover the answers to this case study: “Time management in India”