Outsourcing: Raju Reddy, Chairman And CEO Of Sierra Atlantic (Part 5)

By guest author Tony Scott

Managing Across Cultures

Tony: There are clearly some distinct cultural differences between the way people approach business, how they deal with customers, with each other, and with management in India and China, compared to, say, the United States.  What kinds of challenges does that present for you in terms of leading your company and developing approaches that can be implemented globally across the company?

Raju: At some level I will say, people are the same wherever they are. Sometimes I think we make too much of the differences in culture because maybe 80% of it is the same everywhere, and for the remaining 20% there will always be some important difference that you have to acknowledge, incorporate, and adjust for, but people essentially aspire to two things. One is success, being part of something successful, and the other is recognition. So, to be honest with you, I feel that aspect is same whether it is China or India. There are always nuances in each place.

We are still learning, but we have grown our Chinese operations. We bought the company two and a half years ago, and it had about 120 people. We are at about 270 now, so we have more than doubled and in less than three years. The Chinese guy who runs my team there is much like me. He came to the United States for his master’s degree, went to school in the Boston area, then worked at companies such as EMC and Verizon. I think that has been a big part of whatever little success we have had, because I keep hearing stories of people have had especially with their operations in China. This is not to say that we don’t have issues too, and sometimes we miss cultural nuances. But we are trying to adapt to each local environment. For example, we had a very successful program in India called “Bring your parents to work day.” That would be a very unusual thing in the Western world. But in India, parents do have a significant influence on the decisions their adult children make.

Tony: Especially before they get married.

Raju: [Laughs.] That’s true, and then your wife tells you what to do.

Tony: Exactly [laughs].

Raju: That is universal. Anyway, that program has worked out. Again, I don’t mean to digress, but I think it’s an important part of making us successful.

Tony: I remember reading about that, and I remember thinking, wow, what a unique thing. Because people don’t have any idea about what this company where my kid spends so much time – and what they are doing there – especially if they are working late at night to cover Western time zones.  I’m sure it helped to alleviate a lot of concerns and made both parents and your employees feel more comfortable.

Raju: It’s amazing how it creates a bond. The parents come in and spend half a day, and we talk about the company’s history, culture, and so forth, and it goes a long way.  So it being sensitive to the local cultural differences, doing those kind of things differently that makes a difference.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Outsourcing: Raju Reddy, Chairman And CEO Of Sierra Atlantic
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