Global Crossing: A Turnaround

During the 1990s, India saw tremendous changes in the economy and many Indian firms enjoyed the benefits of the Government's open policy. On-going process of relaxation in trade barriers and tariffs and the phasing-out of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs) are and will create many opportunities for growth. Changes in the external environment will impose challenges as well as create many opportunities for Indian firms. The focus of this paper is to identify the challenges and propose strategies for Indian multinationals. This would enable them to counter the challenges, leverage the opportunities and extend their product and service offering beyond the shores of the country. This paper analyses the pre-2010 period on the rationale that the strategies adopted by a firm during the years leading to 2010 will play an important role in judging how competitive it will be in the future. We have developed an Evolution Map and propose the use of a Competitive Map for an analysis of the Firm and its Product and Service offering. These tools will help companies identify and locate their relative position in their industries, assess their resources and capabilities, and help devise a future course of action. Following a methodical approach, we have analysed the market characteristics, and identified the Internal and External challenges that firms will face beyond 2010. We have developed a model to identify the strategies that firms need to implement to counter these challenges and stay competitive. Our strategy model and the Key Action Points provide a roadmap for firms who wish to carry their industry leadership to foreign lands. We give a thorough treatment of the key elements of each core strategy and finally analyse the key sectors of the Indian industry and identify some potential Indian multinationals of 2010.