Orbit Change Conversations

I am really busy these days but decided to squeeze some time to attend a foreign policy discussion at BIC (where I’m a member). The focus of the discussion, led by Prof. James Manor, was on Africa. It was about the best strategy to adopt to enhance India’s constructive influence there. I found the discussion to be interesting not just because of the excellent points made by the participating experts, but also because of the similarity to corporate strategy making.

For instance, the whole discussion was framed in competitive terms, particularly, with regards to China. Then there was the question of choosing an approach that would allow India to punch above its weight-class. That led to a discussion on the best “positioning” – although that word was never used. In fact most of the time was spent discussing the positioning. Several interesting questions came up…

• If India sticks with its current positioning as a country founded on moral ideas (respect for individual, secularism, democracy), will it yield an advantage? [Yes]
• Will this positioning conflict with its economic actions? [Yes, but the price is small]
• Is the positioning credible given India’s stance on Burma? [On the balance yes. India’s strong role in fighting apartheid helps. Apparently Oliver Tambo fled South Africa on an Indian passport. India’s role is so significant that Nelson Mandela chose to visit India as his first overseas trip.]

Apart from the positioning discussion, there was talk about alliances, both strategic and tactical. For instance, India is about to announce a candidate for the Commonwealth Secretary General position and has reportedly struck deals with Pakistan, etc. to win the seat.

As the discussion was coming to a close, I chimed in about how many Indian product firms, in a range of industries including software products, are now focusing on an India-out model that takes them to West Asia and Africa. If this strategy works – as it seems to be doing (validated by my own observations during the fall holiday trip to Kenya and Tanzania) – then India will get much more leverage. There was agreement on this. Apparently, Cipla, an Indian pharma company is better known in Africa than in India due to its support for cheap medication for AIDS.

Ultimately, I walked away with an optimistic picture of the future. India’s influence in Africa will grow substantially and it’ll be based on a humanistic (rather than mercantile) policy supported by an economic footprint based on Indian entrepreneurial might (versus resource consumption). All in all, it was an enlightening session about foreign policy planning and its similarity to corporate strategy.

Share This