| Topic Name: |
Bain, India |
| Message Name: |
Why only speak to the positives? |
| Date Posted: |
02/06/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
There have been Bain people on the ground in India for over a year; it's just a matter of when the office becomes official.
Bain took a follow-the-leader strategy in India, China, and Eastern Europe... McK and BCG go in first, figure out the market, and lose a bunch of money in the process. Bain comes in later, hires away some key people, and quickly scales-up. Shanghai, for instance, is a brand-new office for Bain but is now almost the size of BCG's presence there, if I remember accurately the figures in August 2005's Consulting magazine. |
| Message: |
There are lots of negatives to follow-the-leader as well, i.e., losing first-mover advantages, which are there many of in India and China, namely aquiring the major conglomerates that span several industries as clients (think GE but much much broader reach, huge companies).
This seems an odd business decision for Bain, and by odd, I mean seems-to-be-poor. It's not that difficult to figure out the high-level markets that Bain would be dealing with it, it's not like they have to figure out how to communicate with street-vendors and rickshaw drivers. India and China's economies have definitely progressed far enough that the right top-notch consultants would be able to ABUSE first-mover advantages.
I think your assumption that McK and BCG lost "a bunch of money" is a fallacy. Any thoughts?
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