“It tells you that if you look at the Indian success of talent, it’s probably the most radical development that we have seen anywhere,” he said. “It’s not been a conscious strategy for us to prioritise any nationality, but Indians are doing well in Ikea right now, if you look at the numbers and the people in high positions.”
While several Indians have in the last few years taken up top positions globally, even mid-level execs, with their inherent knowledge of a challenging but high-potential market environment, are now getting chosen for operational roles as multinationals from Mondelez and Diageo to Chanel, Starbucks and Procter & Gamble (P&G) shift focus to emerging markets to maintain growth momentum. The number of Indian managers being picked for top jobs outside India by multinationals has surged, according to top hiring consultants and corporates. While official data to illustrate the trend is hard to come by, experienced executives, who have observed the industry for a long time, say the share of Indian-origin executives at global offices of multinational companies have grown manifold.
Pidilite managing director Bharat Puri, who used to work with Cadbury and Mondelez, estimates that about a third of the managers in Asia-Pacific offices of the top multinationals would be Indian.
“From one or two managers 20 years back, there are 50 to 75 Indian managers sitting today in an MNC’s Asia-Pacific or head office,” Puri said. “Indian managers are quite adaptable and culturally sensitive. They settle in well compared to their European counterparts. In fact, Indians and Filipinos are most willing to move quickly on global assignments compared to Western counterparts.”
“It has been fantastic to see Indian leaders at the head of some of the biggest global companies,” said Chanel chief executive Leena Nair, one of the most high-profile members of this club. “I have had the pleasure of interacting with many of these leaders personally and have been struck by their approach to business with positive impact and integrity, their humility, simplicity, clarity in thinking, their cultural adaptability, their drive and ambitions. This inspires me and many others to follow in their path.”Unlike other markets where work profiles are strictly defined, Indian managers are attuned to flexibility, accustomed as they are to working across job functions. That makes them more agile and offers an experience equivalent to working in multiple markets, companies said.”In India, the company follows an end-to-end model of operation, where our employees manage everything – right from mining for insights, identifying the right go to market strategy, designing consumer initiatives, and delivering them to the end consumer,” said PM Srinivas, CHRO, P&G India. “This helps them build diverse core skills across multiple aspects of business, ultimately creating a thoroughly agile and accountable organisation.”