From Imperial to Adaptive Firms | Episode 37 | Everything is Everything

Once upon a time, Indian firms thought local. Then they started thinking national. Do they need to think local again?

Welcome to Episode 37 of Everything is Everything, a weekly podcast hosted by Amit Varma and Ajay Shah.

In this episode, Ajay and Amit discuss the great waves in the evolution of Indian firms. Until the 1980s, firms thought local, and the branch manager of a firm was like a regional satrap. In the 90s, technology enabled them to nationalise and bring in best practices and processes. But they need to evolve further, as India is not one homogenous market, but is deeply diverse, much more so than Aurope or Africa.

On a related note, do we need to rethink the very design of firms?

Oh, and Amit's newsletter is furiously active again, so do read and subscribe at https://indiauncut.substack.com/

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 Packaging
00:13 Introduction: Ajay the Baazigar!
02:20 Chapter 1: The Bad Old Days of the Old Indian Firm
07:59 Chapter 2: The True National Firm
14:44 Chapter 3: India is Diverse
27:17 Chapter 4: A Homogenised Market of One
32:20 Chapter 5: How Can Companies Adapt?
34:57 Chapter 6: Should We Rethink the Optimal Design of Firms?
46:49 Chapter 7: Amit's Recco
48:42 Chapter 8: Ajay’s Recco

USEFUL RESOURCES:
1. Amit on Twitter:   / amitvarma  
2. Ajay on Twitter:   / ajay_shah  
3. The Seen and the Unseen -- Amit's audio podcast: https://seenunseen.in/
(Also on all podcast apps. And YouTube, though less than 1% of listens come from here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSeenAndTh...)
4. Ajay's organisation, XKDR Forum, on YouTube:    / @xkdr  
5. In Service of the Republic -- Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah: https://amzn.eu/d/hwGILb3
6. The Art of Clear Writing -- Amit's writing course: https://indiauncut.com/clear-writing/
7. The India Uncut Newsletter -- Amit's newsletter at https://indiauncut.substack.com/
8. The Beauty of Finance -- Episode 21 of Everything is Everything:    • The Beauty of Finance | Episode 21 | ...  
9. How Family Firms Evolve -- Episode 34 of Everything is Everything:    • How Family Firms Evolve | Episode 34 ...  
10. Kitaben Bahut Si -- Song from Baazigar:    • Kitaben Bahut Si - HD VIDEO SONG | Sh...  
11. Is India a Flailing State? -- Lant Pritchett: https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/444...
12. Beta Tumse Na Ho Payega! -- Scene from Gangs of Wasseypur Part 2:    • Beta Tumse Na Ho Payega! 😝 | Gangs of...  
13. Sirf Ek Naam Sunayi Deta Hai -- Dialogue from Chak De India:    • Sirf Ek Naam Sunayi Deta Hai INDIA | ...  
14. CMIE data: https://consumerpyramidsdx.cmie.com/
15. The Reason British Kit Kats Taste Better Than America's -- Gregory Lovvorn: https://tinyurl.com/fhfhymw8
16. Japanese Kit Kat Flavours -- The Complete List: https://www.japancandystore.com/blogs...
17. Main Aai Hoon U.P. Bihar Lootne -- Song from Shool:    • "Main Aai Hoon U.P. Bihar Lootne" Ful...  
18. Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol — Episode 360 of The Seen and the Unseen:    • Ep 360: Rahul Matthan Seeks the Protocol  
19. The Third Way — Rahul Matthan: https://amzn.eu/d/bkZ8Rhx
20. The Nature of the Firm -- Ronald Coase: https://tinyurl.com/292vd6tw
21. Seeing Like a State -- James C Scott: https://amzn.eu/d/9azMHSH
22. A Venture Capitalist Looks at the World — Episode 213 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Sajith Pai):    • Ep 213: A Venture Capitalist Looks at...  
23. The Indus Valley Playbook — Sajith Pai:   / the-indus-valley-playbook  
24. Ranbir Kapoor's dialogue from Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year:    • Ranbir Kapoor Motivational Video II R...  
25. Desperately Seeking Shah Rukh — Shrayana Bhattacharya: https://amzn.eu/d/101ZCBl
26. The Loneliness of the Indian Woman — Episode 259 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Shrayana Bhattacharya):    • Ep 259: The Loneliness of the Indian ...  
27. Vivian Gornick on Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/58xnzdjh
28. The Loneliness of the Indian Man — Episode 303 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Nikhil Taneja):    • Ep 303: The Loneliness of the Indian Man  
29. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner -- Alan Sillitoe: https://amzn.eu/d/66N66iV
30. The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Trucker — Episode 192 of The Seen and the Unseen (w Rajat Ubhaykar):    • Ep 192: The Loneliness of the Long-Di...  
31. The Discovery of India -- Jawaharlal Nehru: https://amzn.eu/d/dRaO9Z9
32. Glimpses of World History -- Jawaharlal Nehru: https://amzn.eu/d/4hOeY90

Produced by Amit Varma
Shot by Vaishnav Vyas and Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / vaishnav.vyas  
Edited by Nomsita MS Haritashya:   / nomsitaharitashya  
Thanks to Gaurav Chintamani for helping with sound:   / gaurav_chintamani  
Chapter images & additional illustrations by Simahina:   / i_am_simahina