India will become auto technology provider to the developing world: Bhargava

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₹20 crore Osamu Suzuki made in the company in 1981, ‘staking his reputation’ on a company that was almost ‘guaranteed to fail’, according to Bhargava, because he was one of the few people who believed in the potential of India’s car market. Suzuki also helped Maruti break out of the mould of a traditional PSU and prioritize profitable growth and competitiveness.

“One of the ways in which the public sector performance can improve, and I think there’s no question that public sector performance needs to improve substantially if they are going to contribute to the country’s growth, is by getting strategic partners who will bring in systems which will help the company grow," Bhargava said. “One example is in the private sector, the partnership of Kubota and Escorts, where the management of Escorts decided to bring in a Japanese partner in a company which has been family-dominated for decades.

This will enable them to grow their business substantially, instead of them having a large piece of a smaller pie," he explained. Bhargava cautions Indian industry against a predominantly Western school of management which might be adversely affecting its global competitiveness.

“We tend to blindly follow, including in our education institutions, the Western system of management. But which western country today is as productive and as competitive as companies in the East? A failure to look at what is happening in the world in terms of productivity and competitiveness and manufacturing...

will ensure we remain like the Western countries in terms of manufacturing, non-competitive", Bhargava said. A key feature of this Japanese philosophy of management is kaizen, continuous improvement, which can only be achieved when managements work