Vee-sur-jun

These days it is tough to read a business article without the mention of China or India. I am surprised Brazil and Russia have not made it into those circles yet? You broaden your circle of measurement and it is all the more surprising to see it is not just business but popular culture, fashion, slang (common lingo) that has begun to be influenced by India, the insourcing from India as we outsource business.

Last year I was amazed when I read market penetration statistics published by Borrell Associates for the Apple iPod only a couple months after launch. I was a recent summit when I was introduced to the term “THE DEFAULT BRAND!”; the Apple iPod is the default brand in the portable mp3 player category, much like Starbucks is in Coffee and Amazon.com is for internet books purchases. If market penetration were a measure… India is quickly becoming the default brand for outsourcing everything… and I literally mean everything.

The list is amazing –

• Make it Madras from Old Navy – Name of a South Indian City that originates the name of the print
• Avatar, Online altar egos – Indian word for incarnation (access to this link may need subscription)
• Big Blue Shift – IBM holds its annual investor meeting for the first time in Bangalore India
• Pick up the phone to call your financial services provider or even the Tech support for your computer or its peripheral and expect to speak with some one in India
• Walk up to your neighborhood departmental store and be amazed to see half the store sourced from China and the other 30 odd percent from India the rest 20 percent from all over

I could go on and on… in closing though I could solve the mystery of the title of this short essay, which originates from Marathi an old Indian language. Vee-sur-jun means immersion.