IndiaPost.com - How India became a ‘Guru’ to the US

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: The United States should learn from India on how to couple its education system with upgrading workforce skills, says the latest Kauffman Foundation study on the secret of India’s success in global R&D and advancing workforce development. According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation study released July 23, despite low science and engineering student graduation rates, and widely varying education quality, India is rapidly becoming a global R&D hub.

The study report entitled ‘How the Disciple Became the Guru’ states that India’s R&D advancements have a momentum and scale akin to what it accomplished in information technology services. The study has broad implications for the United States, for long the world’s workforce development guru. "To maintain its global competitive edge, the United States should perhaps learn from India," said Robert Litan, vice president of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation. "America needs to couple its education system-among the best in the world-with an investment in upgrading workforce skills.

In a global economy, this approach is critical to remaining innovative and competitive over the long term." The study shows that India’s private sector has overcome its education system’s deficiencies by adapting and perfecting the best practices of Western companies and integrating them through innovative workforce training and development programs.

The study asks whether it is time for the United States to learn from the experiences of its former disciple, India. The study team further concludes that out of necessity — because of educational weaknesses; skills shortages; competition for top talent; turnover; and rising salaries — leading businesses in India have developed highly advanced, innovative practices and that these are allowing industries in India to become globally competitive and grow rapidly.

According to ‘How the Disciple Became the Guru’, conducted by Duke University’s global engineering and entrepreneurship project team, Indian senior corporate executives have implemented company-wide workforce development initiatives that have dramatically improved productivity and performance. They have, in essence, developed a surrogate education system by helping to create, for a variety of industries, skilled labor pools capable of handling very complex work. Vivek Wadhwa, executive-in-residence for the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, and the study’s lead author says, "Many have been predicting the demise of Indian industry.

They say that rising salaries, poor infrastructure, a weak education, etc. will cause Indian industry to implode and that the Indian IT industry was just a flash in the pan. Yet my research at Duke and Harvard has shown the opposite — that despite all the obstacles, India is rapidly becoming a global R&D hub." Wadhwa further states, "I used to be a tech CEO, and was one of the first to outsource R&D do India. What I saw the Indian IT industry achieve in 15 years is happening in half the time in an assortment of industries — Its scientists are doing sophisticated drug discovery for Big Pharma, its engineers are designing key components of jetliners for Boeing and Airbus, helping to design automobile bodies, dashboards, and power trains for Detroit vehicle manufacturers, and are developing next-generation networking solutions for companies like Cisco.

Indian companies are also developing innovative solutions for the Indian marketplace, such as the $2500 car produced by Tata." Wadhwa, however, says that his own research has shown that India is in poor shape with its higher education — the country graduates less than 1000 PhD’s in engineering — which is not even enough to staff the growing universities, let alone build an R&D machine. Finding an answer to what made India tick despite all this was an obsession for Wadhwa and his team for the last one year.

‘How the Disciple Became the Guru’ is based on detailed interviews with the CEOs, HR executives, R&D managers, and employees of 24 leading companies in rapidly growing sectors in India that have managed to grow rapidly despite skills shortfalls and talent shortages.

These companies have created comprehensive and integrated systems of talent development and management that combine recruitment, training and development, performance management and employee-engagement initiatives. Indian competencies in technology have helped them not only to develop systems by which to deliver online learning, but also to conduct skills forecasting; track and analyze recruitment and attrition data; conduct online performance reviews; communicate with employees; and share knowledge.

Indian companies are also finding innovative ways to collaborate with educational institutions to develop necessary talent pools for the country. "Because they are investing in, cultivating and empowering their employees, Indian companies can hire bright but largely inexperienced talent and train them to be world-class engineers and scientists," said Wadhwa, "India is proving what a nation can achieve when it invests in upgrading the skills of its workforce." Workforce development has become a strategic priority for many corporations in India and a central occupation of their executives.

The human-resource function of such companies has correspondingly increased in importance, shifting from support to a key strategic role. The results are evident in their ability to cultivate and retain workers and in the remarkable growth rates they are achieving. The report concludes that the lesson that the US and other countries facing increased global competition can learn is that workforce training and development may be essential to maintaining a competitive edge.

"Imagine how far India has come that a prestigious foundation like Kauffman says it is time for the US to learn from India," states Wadhwa with pride. Kauffman is the "foundation for entrepreneurship" considered the gurus on US entrepreneurship, education and competitiveness.