PCA Directions was instrumental in enabling the planning of a strong and decisive Indian market entry strategy that formed the foundations for the success of Australian cost management advisory services firm, WT Partnership (WTP) within the sub-continent.
Led by Peter Cox, PCA Directions worked alongside the Directors of WTP from the outset to help streamline WTP’s entry into the Indian market. The company recognised the critical role of planning when entering a new market and PCA Directions, as an Indian market specialist, had the experience and credentials to confidently act in such an advisory capacity.
Peter Cox has had more than 20 years’ experience in developing and running consulting businesses in India while his consultancy, PCA Directions has operated in this market for some 10 years.
For WTP, the employment of PCA Directions’ services was a sound investment. It also acknowledged that the set up and maintenance of an overseas interest requires senior management commitment and investment in market development. Consequently over a five-year period, Peter Cox was involved as a consulting part-time Director of WTP, initially during WTP’s establishment phase and then continuing on to help support WTP identify clients and develop its business in India.
To begin, PCA Directions conducted the necessary market research, prepared the market entry strategy and a financial plan for WTP.
While there are significant opportunities in India given the size of the market, demographic trends and scale of projects, Peter Cox is keen to highlight that for companies to be successful requires crucial considerations.
“Australian companies need to have a strong brand and successful reputation at home before considering their expansion into countries such as India. Careful selection of potential customers and recognition of market regional differences are imperative along with an understanding of business practices and cultures within the Indian market,” Peter said.
Furthermore, India is perceived as a price sensitive market. As Peter continued: “Some companies make the mistake of transplanting their products and services from a mature market, like Australia, to the developing Indian market. Such action only exacerbates the substantial variation between pricing in the two countries.
“Australian products and services often need to be re-engineered to meet local requirements and pricing. This can mean the reverse engineering of Australian products and services for the Indian market to make them affordable, relevant and sustainable.”
A fundamental aspect of PCA’s research was to showcase Indian market forces while also assessing customer profiles. This allowed PCA Directions to accurately prioritise those that would appreciate the value of WTP’s premium pricing compared to domestically available alternatives.
Rather than committing to a fly-in and fly-out model for developing business before setting up their own operations, as many international companies do in markets such as India, PCA Directions encouraged WTP to invest in a local presence in the Indian market whilst also evaluating other models, including partnerships with Indian companies or acquiring Indian start-up groups.
WTP’s commitment to this localised approach and a market entry strategy for India combined with key senior management recruits, as developed by PCA Directions, are keys to its success in India. While the Indian market presents wide scope, WTP consolidated opportunities in its niche area of expertise. This made it extremely important to understand market segmentation and position WTP’s services based on a gap within that segment.
WTP, supported by PCA Directions, prioritised its investment in time and resources in order to understand buyer behaviour and sales process while continually localising its strategy. This resulted in the establishment of a wholly owned subsidiary in India, headquartered in Chennai and manned by locally recruited Indian managers and professional staff to deliver its Indian services.
Consequently, WTP India has grown 60% year-on-year since its inception in 2015. Today the entity employs some 125 staff across six regional offices and at multiple site workplaces across India. This has allowed WTP India to secure strong associations with India’s leading infrastructure, construction and real estate companies having worked on projects in such centres as Amaravati, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi and Vijayawada.