International Business

Assignment
Bharti Airtel in Africa

Submitted to
Prof R Sugant

Submitted by
Group-7
Abhilash A 17101

Ananya Bose 17102

Binil Raj 17107

Md.Musadique S 17111

Manjeet Kumar 17117

Deepak P 17122

Batch: 2017-19
Submitted on
20/03/2018
 1. Outline the staffing policy adopted by Bharti Airtel in Africa. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of adopting this policy?
At the start, Bharti Airtel chose to move experienced Indian representatives to Africa. They
fundamentally took after the ethnocentric staffing approach. They felt that what they
followed in India would be valuable in Africa also. At the end they wanted the business in
Africa to be run by native people for which they would go for the polycentric staffing
approach.

However they could not find anyone capable enough there. The very people with talent
charged very salaries and were quite hard to find. To overcome this problem Airtel bought in
expatriate form India to help them out. And using them, Airtel wanted to develop the talent so
that they could be employed in the company
Advantages:

 People with same talent would be able to coordinate better.

 Talented people would not just bring positive change in the workplace but also in the
society
 Communication would be easy as the people are of the same region and they share the
same culture and language
Disadvantages:

 Indians were not ready to work in Africa and Airtel had to offer them very high
salaries to make them work there
 Cultural contrasts – There was a difference in the work culture of the people of Africa
and India
 Africa is very diverse. There were difference in language and communication styles
of people across small regions which posed as a barrier
 Some of the nations in Africa were Anglophone while others were Francophone
which again posed problems

2. Did the strategy of transferring people from Airtel and Zain headquarters
succeed in Africa? Justify your answer?

No, the strategy of transferring people from Airtel and Zain headquarters did not succeed in
Africa because of the following reasons:

 The Zain promoters who were based in Bahrain and had Middle East mind-set which
is different from mind-set needed to do business in Africa.
  Cultural differences between the company’s African and Indian employes

 Zain’s African employees were not empowered in decision making process

 People in Africa preferred to focus on a single project at a time.

 Difference in the communication style existed where Indian style was more direct in
nature and the Africans were more intended to the traditional way.

 Misunderstanding among people.

 Communication style also deferred across the region

3. What are the reasons for failure of foreign employees in Africa?

Ans
a) Work Culture Difference- There were huge differences in which both culture worked
in the workplace
b) Misunderstanding Due to Language-
c) Communication Style Difference
d) Extra responsibility
e) Lack of interest to move to Africa

4. What are the factors that are responsible for success of a home country employee in the
host country?
Ans-: Factors that are responsible for success of an expatriate are as follows: -

1. Expatriate Selection:-One way to increase the success rate of an expatriate is by

improving the selection process and screening out inappropriate candidates. Under
selection there are four dimensions that predict success. These are: -
 Self-orientation: -The attributes of this dimension strengthen expatriate’s self-
esteem, self-confidence and mental well-being.
 Others-orientation: -This enhances expatriate’s ability to interact effectively
with host-country nationals.
 Perceptual ability: - This is the ability to understand that why host country
people behave the way they do also called as the ability to empathize.
 Cultural toughness: -This refers to the relationship with the host country and
how well can an expatriate adjust with a particular posting.

2. Training and management development: - Selection is just first step in ensuring the
success of an expatriate. Other reasons include: -
  Cultural training: - It seeks to develop an appreciation for the host country’s
culture.
 Language training: - The expatriate should have basic knowledge of host
country’s local language.
 Practical Training: - Practical Training aims at helping the manager and his
family to adapt better in the host country.

3. Repatriation of expatriates: - Another important point was to prepare the managers for
re-entry into their home organizations.

Thus we see that if the mangers are equipped with all the above skills there are more
chances for expatriates to succeed in host countries.