Infosys Company

The principle cultural barrier Infosys has in America is that the very image of India in human minds. By the moment India isn’t considered to be a synonym of a prosperous and stable country. The most refer this country to the country of so called “third world” thus limiting the range of opportunities for Indian people and organizations. Surely, Infosys managed to achieve astonishing results in India but it doesn’t mean that Infosys will get trust abroad. In order to prove that it’s enough to remember the fears of foreigners invited to work in India in 2002 regarding the possibility of nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
People were afraid to work in Infosys because the situation in the country was not stable enough. Then Infosys found the solution by declaring to its customers that all workers of Infosys have got the exit visa and can leave the country without delay in case of war. The company even rented offices in Boston and Toronto in order to assure the safe work of its staff. Therefore, the problem was solved but such incidents leave its shadow on company’s reputation even if the company isn’t guilty in appearance of such unpleasant situations.
It can’t be said that there are some purely cultural reasons which could influence badly on company’s work in America. Of course, Indian culture is very specific but it can’t be a big obstacle if to speak about modern technologies. The company is involved in creating the last software technology innovations and its staff is composed mostly by modern people which are free of some purely cultural and religious prejudices. This year the students from about 82 Universities of U. S. are going to take studies in India having as a purpose to become professional programmers.

And the teaching center of Infosys was among main initiators of this action. The company is sure that the more different nations are present among its personnel the more efficient and comfortable its work will be all over the world. But he question is whether Infosys will be accepted in the same friendly manner in other countries. If to speak about U. S. it must be mentioned first of all that U. S. software market is a well developed structure and the main factors here are the price and goods. Without any doubts religious contradictions have become crucial for the U.
S. in recent years but fortunately there are now by the moment some tense relations between U. S. and India. Should Infosys be, for example, Iranian company, the cultural barrier could be a very significant in this case. The now days world commercial system is very powerful and well-organized. Every company which gets success in certain area thus gets the access to the market of any country all over the world. So, the legal issues are adjusted in such way that it permits the companies to carry out efficient commercial activities all over the world.
But it will be helpful to remember that India is referred to so-called third countries and U. S has a range of sanctions to be applied to companies from such countries. The U. S. market is very complex and competitive and suffers frequent changes. The events which took place in connection with Islamic-American conflict have made the legal system of the U. S even more complex. Rather heavy sanctions have been introduced by U. S. for countries suspected in dealing with Iran. In 1996 U. S. Congress passed HR 3107 law according to which the sanctions were imposed on foreign countries which invested in energy production in Libya and Iran.
Since that time any company suspected in dealing with some kind of nuclear investigations looses its chances for successful activities in U. S. So, if Infosys will be noted in some kind of cooperation with Islamic countries – it can be beat by competitors due to heavy sanctions which will be out on the company. If not, it gets equal chances with the whole range of other foreign companies in American market. Though Infosys (same as many other companies) faced powerful competition in U. S. form the parts of IBM, EDS, Computer Sciences Corp. and some other.
All of these companies have expanded their activities all over the world. Nevertheless Infosys expects to have good position in U. S. market. Narayana Murthy (Infosys’ chairman) said in her interview (CIO Today, 2006): “I think that most Americans realize … that America’s economy will ultimately be stronger…and that hew company is “a multinational company that needs a workforce that reflects the places where we do business”. What’s more, the infrastructure of American market is composed in its great part by foreign companies.
So, Infosys has good changes in U. S, market. The question whether it will be beat by competitors or not – it depends more on company’ inner activities (price policy, new product, etc. ) than on legal issues of U. S. regarding foreign companies. The strongest point is that Infosys already has strong enlaces with U. S. technology market. As it was already mentioned, there is already a powerful exchange between American and Indian software technologies experience. Infosys plays a great role in this exchange meanwhile by 2010 about 30% of U. S. technology jobs are expected to move to other markets abroad.
Surely, the activities of Infosys in U. S. depend in big measure on the environmental factor. Without any doubts creating software technologies differences a lot from some kind of chemical production and it seems that in this respect Infosys gets certain advantage. But it’s only at first glance. In reality electronic software develops by huge steps. This branch of industry absorbs a great deal of heavy metals, organic pollutants and so on. Consequently, Infosys also refers to the range of companies with high environmental pollution risk.
Recently a new notion of national security was proclaimed in the U. S. That new notion means powerful environmental protection. Since the beginning of 90-ties the environmental protection was gaining more and more attention of the authorities. The unique solution here is the fast reaction of the company by providing new technologies of improvement, utilizing and recycling of manufacturing process. Thus Infosys will not be heavily sanctioned as for example, Brazil, China and Taiwan in its time. Those companies which will be late with improving their environment protection level will suffer losses.
Generally, the table “New Unilateral Sanctions for Foreign Policy Purpose: (see appendix) shows rather clearly the level of sanctions arrange by US in 1993-1996. Now these sanctions are even more severe. Cultural, legal, environmental issues are strongly related with political issues and barriers . In other words they form the main base of political issues. There is no need to say the in recent years political and commercial issued in U. S. are related too close. The tragic events of the 11th of September and constant terrorist threat had formed a new view of international business relations.
It can be said that the relationships between India and U. S. are developed in friendly course. Moreover, in August of 2006 the negotiations between India and U. S. about the project of nuclear cooperation have taken place. The project isn’t approved by Senate yet but it’s a great step towards efficient cooperation between the two countries. It is well known that any political decision has its hidden motives and consequences.
And there is an opinion that this Indian-American agreement will provoke the nuclear arms race between India and Pakistan what will not be approved by U. S. but by the moment Infosys has no serious reasons for concerns regarding political barriers. Estimating the general position of Infosys in U. S. it can be stated that this position is rather stable and successful. The main efforts to be done refer to internal company’s activities mostly and the future of the company now depends on its present efforts and business course. In other words by the moment there is now any serious negative factors which could slow down or stop Infosys’ development. Under condition of continuous development and self-improvement the company has good chances for successful competition in U. S. market.
Therefore, the surprising success of Infosys will not be a temporary business miracle but a constant rule.
Bibliography
1. Jalote, Pankaj. CMM in Practice: Processes for Executing Software Projects at Infosys (The SEI Series in Software Engineering). Addison-Wesley Professional, 1999. 2. Feather, John. The Information Society: A Study of Continuity and Change. Facet Publishing, 2004 3. Surech, J. ; Manesh K. Ten Steps to Maturity in Knowledge Management: Lessons in Economy. Oxford: Chandos Publishing, 2006. https://www.infosys.com/