Market entry and expansion strategies of Indian IT firms into the european IT outsourcing industry

Abstract

The success story written by Indian IT and technology companies in the past years has no doubt been impressive. While 10 years ago companies such as Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, or HCL were hardly known even to industry insiders, they have now evolved into important and highly visible players in the global IT sector. However, the high growth rates as well as the profit margins of the past are expected to come under increasing pressure. In other words, a new burst of growth is needed to extend the success story of the past. Expanding their foray into the European territory requires these firms to develop technological maturity and capabilities that are more advanced in terms of developing business relations in the European region. Moreover, regional expansion into the DACH region—the Germanic countries Germany (D), Austria (A), and Switzerland (CH)—will require these firms to identify new growth engines. Although Indian IT providers, e.g., Tata Consultancy Services, have been on the ground in Germany for 20 years with their own subsidiaries, they still lack the presence of global players such as IBM and Accenture or local heroes such as T-Systems. This chapter aims to look at the degree of regional adaptation of the Indian IT players especially in the non-Anglo-Saxon regions.