René Seifert - Entrepreneur & Global Citizen

In the midst of all the heated controversy on globalization, I would like to inform all opponents that it’s a done thing. It has become a commodity. You can go home, like when you go home after your favorite soccer team has lost. You can’t do anything about it, but grieve. And if you are smart, you will know that according to Germany’s championship trainer from 1954 Sepp Heberger, “after the game is before the game”. This means that you have a second chance, maybe you and your team will do a better job- provided you have become smarter.

On a more serious note, India is taking off massively. Sure, I could count the beans and quote various studies around. But it’s rather from my own anectodal interaction with companies who approach me and know that they are missing out on something tremendously important if they just ignore what India has to offer. And the most interesting thing, just to provide even more evidence to “globalization is a done thing”, the interest goes far beyond of just exploiting the obvious labour cost differential.

There are various models where these companies are looking for help:

1. Still: Pure offshore outsourcing for IT & BPO which is growing at 30 % per year.

2. Then: Investing in Indian opportunities from a purely financial standpoint, particularly with a focus on the booming Indian domestic market

3. New: Bridgehead model which incurs a mix between extended assembly bench and strategic investment - from the Indian partner. The e.g. German manufacturing company would partner with an Indian supplier who would shift the vertical range of manufacture to India and at the same time take a stake in the German “client” or the “client” takes a stake in the “supplier”. Such a model seems to be appealing as it works completely industry-agnostic. The result is a cross-border entitity where asking the question “is this actually a German or Indian company” is pointless. But this is exactly the way how nowadays companies are being either restructured or even planned from the greenfield.

So, dear India, tomorrow again: I’m coming. I’m happy.

What I have been doing in Germany? Well, just to curb a bit the envy factor ;-), I went to the “Eröffnungsspiel” (opening match) of the soccer world championship 2006 which was indeed an unforgettable “once in a lifetime experience”: My home country, my home city, and my German team playing and gloriously winning 4:2. Here is the entire set on Flickr, and here three selected pictures.

Comrade Robert Wuttke and me:

The great show of the opening ceremony:

Michael and Bettina Munz (and the little Croatian guy in the background ;-)

And then, olé, olé, olé, last week I revalidated my pilot license so that I am fully back on the flying scence. Hence, I went on Saturday for a flight into the Alpes with my friend Christian Reichert whom I had met 1.5 years back in Bangalore.

Here again the whole set, and here two selected pictures. Here Garmisch Partenkirchen from 9.000 feet MSL.

Here the absolutely beautiful Walchensee:

Whoever wants to fly with me, let me know. To say it the Indian way: “No problem, ya, ya, ya, we can arrange.” :-)