The Idiot Buyer abroad

The alarm rang at 6.00 a.m. I jumped from my hotel bed in a dazed panic, not that I sleep well in India but after sending mails until 1 a.m. ; five hours sleep at best is never a good start.

I could hear the remote sounds of car horns in the street below, I jumped in the shower, quickly checking the room for what else was to pack.

At 7.00 a.m. the Emirates airport service was due to pick me up (if you're lucky enough to fly business), so I skipped breakfast, checking out you need to allow 15 minutes for some reason the hotels always take so long to check you out; I complied with the pleasantries, "did you enjoy your stay sir?" "Can we help you with your bags" as someone swept them away before I could reply.

I passed my credit card over with slight trepidation as always it seems to take an eternity to be cleared. Still not fully awake I thought I better check my bill for the week; did I really have two beers from the mini bar? Why do I get charged £15/day for internet usage?

Eventually my card came back the receptionist put my bill in an envelope and smiled politely.

Scouring the lobby for my bags I spotted them next to a porter, who was looking anxiously at me, probably weighing up if I would tip him or not. But where is my car? I will give it ten more minutes, hovering between the lobby and outside where a stream of cars were arriving at the hotel where numerous jet lagged business men were arriving probably from the same plane I was about to depart on, I smiled inside knowing they would be here for a whole weekend and I would be home, in front of the TV, (probably) and my own bed! After a week of business dinners, normally Indian ranging from spicy to blow your head off, the thought of cheese on toast in front of the TV seemed to make the long trip home worthwhile.

Can't wait any longer I will take the hotel taxi, twice the price but at least it is here. The porter loads my bags and looks longingly at me for a tip, how could I refuse?

The drive to the airport is uneventful for India, cars, bikes, people and the odd cow all mingle together in some frantic rush to get somewhere, and nothing moves fast in India even the shortest journey of 5 Km can take an hour. The route to the airport, varies every time I visit; normally as each driver believes he has the best way to avoid congestion en route.

So why India? India is enormous and rivals China in many areas. With a population over 1.3 billion and GDP growing at 9% it continues to be an economy that goes from strength to strength.

For those that like some raw numbers, India is a 5,000 year old civilisation, has 352 languages with 1652 dialects. There actually are 18 official languages though believe it or not English is prevalent (indeed it is the largest English speaking nation in the world). India is the world's largest democracy and the world's fourth largest economy.

Again, why India? - Because it is cheap? But is it. High level of technology? Really. Low labour cost - yes, for sure, English speaking - yes, Innovative - yes, keen to develop and expand globally - definitely - yes.

But India is also diverse offering the world - call centres, garment production, technology from Microchips to satellites. Hero Honda produce over 1.7M motor bikes per year in India. That makes them the largest producer of motor bikes in the world, indeed all the major car producers of the world either produce in India or source parts from India. Five Indian companies hold the Deming award for their TQM practices. India's exports to China, now one of its biggest export customers, Wal-Mart purchases over $1Bn worth of goods a year from India at this continues to grow. There are over 170 Biotech companies in India and the list goes on.

India is new to me having spent most of my sourcing career in China it is interesting to see the parallels. Certainly labour cost is cheap; business language is normally English though sometimes you need to really listen hard to understand if it really is English as we know it.

The biggest differences between the two that I have seen is the investment within China is focussed on infrastructure; airports, road, rail and the growth of new cities is enormous. In India this new found wealth is not visible, certainly not in new roads, trains or infrastructure though some new airports can be found. In China personal wealth is something people like to show be it in their cars, watches or designer goods, within India it is hidden, certainly the wealth exists but you don't see it. (One of the main differences is the culture but I will mention this at a later date).

To some extent it shows the character of the India, more reserved, conservative perhaps something they inherited from the English, who knows.

The weeks business was as always frantic, travel by car is always a nightmare, so quite often when not meeting suppliers I conduct my meetings in the hotel. The first of the week was with our accountants whom are facilitating setting up our new legal entity. As always they come in twos (strength in numbers), though only one talks the other nervously takes notes and smiles a lot. It is 90 degrees outside, and they turn up in suits and ties, I feel rather underdressed in short sleeve shirt and trousers. Pleasantries over, we recap on progress; everything seems slow, bureaucracy is rife in India (something also inherited from the English maybe), government officials, tax bodies etc. have all delayed the formal set up of our sourcing office but I am assured all is in hand and should be complete upon my next visit which is amazing considering they don't know when I am coming back!.

So I set off with driver to look at some potential offices in the city to lease for our sourcing office. The first looks austere from the outside but has been renovated internally to a good level but location is poor, the second was clearly in need of a makeover or frankly, knocking down, (once you have removed the pigeons of course) the third I am assured is very good: A square tower block from the outside probably 20 years old, we walk to the lift, the first floor is a small shopping centre that has seen better days, 2nd to 4th floors are a hotel (remind me not to stay there), the rest seems to be offices, all floors are around the outside and an enormous atrium that runs from the ground floor to the top, the view marred by what look like an enormous trapeze net (probably to stop the odd business man from jumping). We reach the 12thfloor, duly met by the owner who opens the three locks to let us in. Dark, small and a worn out air conditioning unit are my first impressions, remnants of the previous occupiers are strewn across the floor, paperwork, old files etc., leaving the impression the last owners fled with not much time to pack. I smiled politely and made to leave, the owner could see I was not impressed. He muttered to the agent who said he also owns another office two doors along would I like to view it? I asked "is it the same as this?" "What do you mean" was the reply, "I mean same size lay out etc?" A lot of mumbling later the reply was "yes". "No, not really" I replied. The agent then whispered my ear, that we should at least take a look as the owner may be offended. Ok I said. Then the owner ran off! "Where has he gone" I asked, "he has gone to get the key" around 20 minutes later he returned. It was indeed the same as the previous office, just different papers on the floor. I smiled, nodded and thanked them once again.

Back to the hotel, another hour in traffic for a 12Km journey. A quick shower as the heat is ever present in India, dinner with a potential candidate to head up our Indian office, answer a few emails from my room and bed. As always I never sleep well in India, waking up around 2-3 a.m. bright as a button and then dozing intermittently for the next 3 to 4 hours only to start another day.

This week for convenience I have hired a car with driver, my stipulation only being the car has aircon. £30 for the 5 days (NO not per day the WEEK!) from 7a.m. to 10p.m. seems to me a bargain, though I am now told I could have got it for £20!

One hour later we arrive, we enter the conference room and a wall of hot air hits me, the aircon is swiftly turned on and asked if I would like a coffee. The packet says 'Nescafe' the type you get in your hotel room but tastes nothing like coffee, I politely decline and opt for a diet Coke.

Our host the MD enters the room, greets us warmly, offers us a drink again and asks us to sit down. The discussions are polite yet slow; several interruptions from the MD's colleagues, shop floor, quality etc. begin to annoy me. Our host as always is very apologetic but does not stop the interruptions. I ask politely if we could stop anymore interruptions as my time is limited today as we need to leave early p.m. We discuss his most recent quote. Generally it was good offer; on most parts a net saving of over 50% (generally less that 30% I would not bother, once you have taken into account freight, duties, extra stock holding etc., any saving is gone) however on 3-4 parts they were more expensive than our own in-house cost which based on the other quoted parts was somewhat of a surprise. The reason I am told is due to plating which is done locally but not by this supplier. Can you please ask them to improve by 50% or more their costs I asked, expecting a definitive NO; or another long tale as to why no improvement can be made but the host suddenly jumps up saying he will ring them now as he leaves the room, leaving me in mid-sentence.

I wait, I look at my notes, I get another diet Coke, I look around the room, read the supplier award certificates hung on the walls and I wait. Eventually he returns with his phone to his ear, he passes me the phone.."Who is it?" I ask, "The owner of the plating company, he won't move for me, perhaps you can influence him?", and thrusts the phone into my hand. Somewhat taken aback I explain our position and request a significant improvement if he wants this business. He promises to reply by tomorrow. "But if we do improve your pricing, please do not tell anyone." The plating owner states before hanging up; who would I tell I think to myself, perhaps I would post it on twitter?

I ask about the new machines the MD has bought to support our growing capacity of existing and new business." It's ordered" he replies, "I know this, you told me that a month ago, where is it?" "On the water"," where from?" "USA", "when will it arrive?" "soon". Is he being awkward or evasive I start to think yet I pursue the answer, we eventually establish the machine will arrive in two weeks at the end of the month. The MD is confident that the machines will be fully running within one week of receipt. The question is when receipt will really be, Indian customs are notorious for delays, holding up goods sometimes for weeks very often for valid reasons, quite often for no discernable reason.

We take a quick tour of the factory, not a massive facility, indeed it started as one small factory unit the type you would find in many industrial estates in the UK, the difference is the MD and his other partners have expanded the building upwards and now they are up to the fourth floor though this does not have the roof yet. Four and five axis machines all less than 5 years old (many newer) adorn the shop floor, quality lab, two CMM machines sourced from Germany. They have certainly invested heavily and doubled their sales year on year for the past three years. I ask to see the re-work area, where they have been hand trimming and polishing some of my parts. We go outside, it is damn hot. Under what can only be described as a shed with a corrugated plastic roof 6 locals are rubbing and filing various bits of aluminium vigorously all bar two who, when they see us approaching, stop talking and busily commence working. I can feel the sweat rising, my shirt is sticking everywhere and I want to quickly return to the air-conditioned conference room but he MD insists on showing me some new jigs he has just made to improve the quality of the finishing process. The temperature does not seem to effect the locals or at least not whilst I am there. We move on and the tour takes around one hour I check my watch, 14.00 we need to leave: 40 miles to the next supplier and in Bangalore that will take another hour and half(15.30), another late night I am sure, by the time we are back to the hotel ......................to be continued