Davos: a place where nothing really happens
It would be unprofessional of me to not post at least one Davos-related comment this week, so here is someone else's.
I was at a journalist awards bash last night where Bill Emmott, who until standing down last year had been one of the greatest editors in The Economist's 163-year history, received a well-deserved lifetime achievement award.
In a brief and modest acceptance speech he congratulated the assembled hacks for not being among the scores of business journalists at the World Economic Forum. Davos, he said, was a place where not much business got done, and not much proper journalism.
FROM ACROSS THE POND
How long before a U.S. CPA firm is acquired by an Indian company?
That's the question we should be asking after considering these two developments:
1) Damian Wild in the UK reports that in November 27,565 students sat for the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India's common proficiency test, its new CA curriculum. More than 18,000 passed. (As a comparison, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales has 9,928 UK students, and the U.S. produces about 50,000 accounting graduates a year. "India often gets overlooked given the current global sinophilia. But with accountancy firms contracting out work there," Wild says, "accountants cannot afford to.
2) Reliance Gateway Net, VSNL, Scandent and GHCL aren't household names, but they may be signs of bigger things to come, according to Wharton. They're just a few of "the growing number" of Indian businesses that have acquired U.S. firms in the past few years. "Over the last decade, Indian firms in various industries -- most visibly in information technology but also in areas like auto components, the energy sector and [food products] -- have been slowly building up to become emerging multinationals," says Wharton management professor Saikat Chaudhuri.
The outsourcing phenomenon, in which Western firms have hired Indian companies for call center work and other tasks, has reaped benefits for Indian managers, exposing them to Western companies and management practices and, at the same time, demonstrating to non-Indian firms that India is a reliable source of low-cost, yet high quality, products and services, according to Wharton.
So, we ask: Which U.S. CPA firm will be the first to go global in a deal with an Indian company. Maybe an Indian company that is today an outsourcing provider for a U.S. CPA firm?
Posted by rickt | February 9, 2007 8:20 AM
It is natural and right that any seminar or meeting same Davos can't solve economic matters because economic matters obey a legally precedure that polotical cn't solve those.Economic needs to comply social responsibility and accountibility that government and leaders don't like that.!!
Posted by Dr.Gholamhossein Davani | February 9, 2007 3:57 PM
Rick, An excellent point. I'm sure it's not just US firms who will / should be wondering.
Posted by Damian Wild | February 9, 2007 4:46 PM