Globalization has put India at the world's center stage. But when project teams from Western cultures first come into contact with their Indian counterparts, prejudices against the new and unknown typically amplify. This training improves corporate effectiveness by increasing cultural sensitivity, and acquiring appropriate intercultural collaboration skills. It drastically decreases the risk of project failure. Best taken in the early stages of a project with India, but better late than never!

Building cohesive multicultural teams means building success. But managers, in far too many cases, simply brush off cultural issues. Why? Because they are difficult to define or to measure, and at times delicate to talk about. Intercultural misunderstandings mostly occur due to differences in communication style, reasoning, and expectations of each other. Only if everyone faces up to cultural differences it is possible to bridge the intercultural divide, and build strong teams.

In practically all organizations, investment decisions are justified with a business case. But many business cases are based on unrealistic assumptions: They wrongly quantify costs, and optimistically estimate benefits. In short, they are the real reason for many wrong investment decisions. This course provides the knowledge, processes, and tools to build sound business cases based on the elements of cost, benefit, risk, and strategic flexibility.

This article written by Kate Rodgriguez and published in The Economist Executive Education Navigator describes the custom Doing Business with India programs offered since 2012 by Wolfgang Messner and Rebecca Winkelmann, managing director of executive education at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management:

The industry-adaptive curriculum features visits to Mumbai, Bangalore, and Mysore over the course of a week, touring multinational company sites as well as local businesses and a school for underserved children. It’s all designed to give participants a deeper understanding of Indian work culture, consumer demand and investment risks and possibilities.

Horst Ellermann, editor in chief of the CIO.de Magazine and a program participant, highlights the importance of attending to cultural aspects when doing business in India.

The best strategy fails if it needs to fight an established culture. Academics and practitioners agree. Including Wolfgang Messner, Associate Professor of International Management at MYRA School of Business, whose resume features both business and academia. Messner has been living in South India for the past seven years. There is hardly any place on earth where leaders can test their leadership qualities - because domestic strategies don't work there. Messner knows that.