“GIC heads need to be Intrapreneurs”, says consulting firm Zinnov India
India could be GIC global hub for ER&D
India continues to hold sway as the No.1 destination for multinational corporations to set up GICs (global in-house centres) for Engineering R&D (ER&D). However, to position India as a global hub that drives transformation and innovation, the role of the GIC head must change from that of an India Site Leader with an administrative role to that of an Intrapreneur, who promotes innovative product development and marketing to drive topline growth for the company, reveals a report from global management consulting firm, Zinnov. India continues to lead the global ER&D story because of cost arbitrage and availability of talent.
As of April, 976 MNCs have ER&D GICs in India with a total of 1,257 GICs compared to 943 MNCs with a total of 1,208 GICs last year. North America continues to account for the largest pool of GICs in India with 616 centres followed by the UK, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Singapore and China.
The three kinds
“Based on our analysis of over 200 GICs, the country managers in the GIC ecosystem have 3 broad personalities – Governor, a ribbon cutter, president of the company, who is just an administrative figure or a face of the company. The Techie, who is tech driven and provides intelligence on what kind of technology they should go after. The Intrapreneur, who takes responsibility for large transformation initiatives or local market initiatives, driving topline growth or technology initiatives from India, who is the equivalent of an entrepreneur in a start-up” said Anand Subramaniam, Associate Director, Zinnov
Pointing out that just six per cent of the 200-plus country managers profiled by Zinnov are Intrapreneurs, with 76 per cent falling under Governor and 18 per cent under Tech country managers, Subramaniam said “As the GICs transform and mature in India, Governor and Techie country heads will have to add new capabilities to their personalities to become Intrapreneurs and use the power of the ecosystem including start-ups and Academia, to transform their organisations. We estimate that 58 per cent of the GICs will need an Intrapreneur in the next 5 years, if they have to compete with the US, China, Israel and Eastern European nations.”
Even the second and third line of executives who report to these Intrapreneur country managers have to be Intrapreneurs themselves, failing which the GIC will continue to function as a support or delivery centre, he added.