Hamburg (14.12.2010): India, of late, has seen significant inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the areas of engineering and design business. Many firms, for example in the automotive and aerospace businesses, do not rely solely on outsourcing/offshoring of engineering and design work to third-party providers in India, rather preferring to establish own (captive) centres in India to cater to global as well as domestic Indian markets.
A recent study by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India, revealed that “the most common reason […] for establishing R&D centres in India was availability of skilled Manpower (75.8%), followed by Proximity to Indian market (67%), existing S&T infrastructure (36.4%) and government’s conducive policies (21.2%)”. On similar lines, the annual Global Services Location Index published by business consultancy A.T. Kearney has been placing India on the forefront of offshoring business. Another study by Booz & Company in 2008 saw India emerging “as the 2nd largest preferred destination for global R&D and innovation with US$ 12.9 billion of R&D investment being poured in India by 184 top R&D companies globally”.
Many German companies, including a number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), have sought to access India’s perceived strengths in these areas and set up engineering and design facilities to tap into the innovation potential in India. At the same time various newspaper reports and personal experiences narrated by many a foreign manager have suggested massive problems in India which often relate not only to widely known infrastructure problems but also to numerous other aspects such as recruitment of really qualified personnel, extremely high attrition rates, and difficulties in cross-cultural communication even while supposedly speaking the same language, i.e. English.
German-Indian Round Table in Hamburg therefore takes pleasure in announcing an event dedicated to the topic of successfully establishing and managing R&D related business in India. “We are glad to have been able to win over Mr. Karsten Papmeyer, Managing Director of Bremen-based GENSULT GmbH as guest speaker to share his experiences and insights in managing engineering & design subsidiaries in Delhi and Chennai”, says Rajnish Tiwari, Head of GIRT in Hamburg, adding that Mr. Papmeyer has an enormous amount of experience and an inspiringly positive-yet-realistic attitude for opportunities offered by India.
The title of Mr. Papmeyer’s talk would be: “Running an Engineering and Design Business in India: 3 years of experience from a German company’s perspective”. The talk would be held in English and cover the following topics:
- Reasons for selecting India (and, e.g., not Rumania)
- Experiences in founding the firm
- Mastering the cross-cultural challenges in managing the firm and individual projects
- Recruitment of engineers in India
- Critical success factors
- Why and how the German management had to first learn many things afresh, especially to think differently
Additionally, we will take stock of new economic/political developments which possibly have a bearing on Indo-German and/or Indo-Hamburg relations.
The GIRT meeting will take place on Monday, 24th January 2011, at 18:30h in Hotel Baseler Hof (Esplanade 11, 20354 Hamburg) and is in principle open to everyone with interest in Indo-German business relations. The meeting takes place in the form of a “Stammtisch”, whereby each participant is expected to consume his or her evening meal at the meeting and pay for own consumption of food and beverages.
We cordially invite and look forward to welcoming an interested and interesting audience of decision-makers from the Indo-German business spectrum. Registration is possible via e-mail to tiwari@tuhh.de by January 7, 2011. Since seating capacity is limited we will send the confirmed participants a confirmation of the registration.
About German-Indian Round Table (GIRT)
The German-Indian Round Table (GIRT) was founded in 2001 and forms a loose federation of businessmen and entrepreneurs with strong ties and interests in India. GIRT is targeting to inform about India and strengthen Indo-German business relations. Members of GIRT support cultural and social activities related to India. German-Indian Round Tables are organised regularly in Aachen, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart und New Delhi/Gurgaon. GIRT connects about 3,000 people from the Indo-German business community. The head of the local GIRTs and the speakers work on a non-profit basis. Since February 2010 Dr. Andreas Waldraff from Berlin is the chairman of the GIRT. (Further information: www.girt.de / www.girt.in)
The Hamburg Chapter of GIRT is headed by Mr. Rajnish Tiwari from Hamburg University of Technology (TU Hamburg-Harburg). Mr. Tiwari works there as a Research Associate at the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management and leads the Research Project “Global Innovation” (www.global-innovation.net). He has done extensive research on Indo-German business relations and is a co-initiator of the India Week in Hamburg (www.india-week-hamburg.org).
Press Contact:
Rajnish Tiwari (Phone: +49 (0)40 42878 3776, tiwari@tuhh.de)
Sven Andressen (Phone: +49 (0)421 1617708, sa@indienaktuell.de