Gunjan Bagla
Encyclopedia
Gunjan Bagla is an India
n-American
author
, blog
ger, businessman
, and public speaker. He is the founder and managing director of Amritt Ventures, a consulting firm
based in Cerritos
, California
, and a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs. He received his bachelor's degree
from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
, India, and is currently the president of the Institute's Alumni Association. He also earned an MBA
with honors from Southern Illinois University
.
Bagla has written articles on outsourcing
and globalization
, some of which have appeared in Dataquest
, Daily Variety
, Businessworld
, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and other publications in the United States
and India. His book Doing Business in 21st Century India
was published in 2008. Bagla also runs a blog, The India Expert, on international business in India.
. He began his career working for Larsen & Toubro
, an engineering, construction, and manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai
with major operations in Bangalore
. He later worked in the United States as a director of program management for Tandon, a California computer
manufacturing company with global operations in Singapore, India, Austria and elsewhere.
Bagla currently lives in the United States and teaches business seminars for industry executives at the California Institute of Technology
and UCLA Extension
. He is a member of the Asia Society
and a Charter Member of the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). The South Asia Studies Association inducted him to their Board of Directors in 2010.
He appeared on Fox Business New,"Breakfast with Money" following the tragic incidents in Mumbai in November 2008. In connection with U.S. President Barack H. Obama's visit to India in November 2010, Gunjan was interviewed twice by the BBC, on World News and on "The Hub with Nik Gowing". He was also interviewed by Bloomberg Television during the same time.
area; he currently acts as its managing director. The stated purpose of the company is to aid North American and European firms in becoming familiar with routine Asian business practices, and specifically in marketing their products to India and China
, both of which are BRIC
countries. Amritt provides its clients with training workshop
s on topics like human resources
issues in India, the financial and legal environment, and Indian culture
.
Notable clients of Amritt include Kraft Foods
, Johnson & Johnson
, Reckitt Benckiser
, and Vivendi
.
was released by Business Plus, an imprint of Hachette Book Group
, in July 2008. The book is a guide for North American and European investor
s and entrepreneur
s on doing business in modern India. The book was released to highly positive reviews; Jagdish Sheth
, the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School
of Emory University
, commented that it was "an excellent practical guide," while R. Gopalakrishnan of the Tata Group
called it "a refreshingly simple book on a very complex subject." Doing Business in 21st Century India has earned five-star reviews from several of Amazon.com
's top reviewers and Vine Voices
.
Bagla also writes articles on global business, particularly on the ties between the United States and India. His writings have appeared in a number of different business magazines
, including the Indian publications Dataquest and Businessworld and the American publications Daily Variety, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Business Pundit, and CIO. He has also written for the website MarketingProfs.
Bagla has operated a blog called The India Expert since July 2008.
, a video-game development website, about the impact the release of the Xbox 360
would have on the Indian gaming market. Bagla remarked that "most mainstream American [game] titles can translate well into the Indian market"; he went on to list Quake, Counter-Strike
, and Age of Empires as some of the most successful titles.
In 2008, the Los Angeles Times
interviewed Bagla about the impending purchase of DreamWorks
by Anil Ambani
, an Indian business magnate
and chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
. Bagla compared Ambani to "Rockefeller
, Bill Gates
and Howard Hughes
." Bagla was also interviewed by BusinessWeek following the 2008 Mumbai attacks
, commenting on the effect the attacks could have on foreign business in India.
Bagla has also been interviewed in The Wall Street Journal
and India Journal.
In April 2010, Bagla was the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the South Asian Studies Association, held at the University of Southern California
. His topic was "Globalization: India and the US."
In September 2010, he was invited to speak at the University of Michigan Ross Business School India Conference in memory of the recently deceased Professor CK Prahalad.
In October 2010, Business Week published a new article by Bagla, where he asserted that American exports to India could rise from the current $18 billion to perhaps $80 billion in five years.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n-American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger, businessman
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
, and public speaker. He is the founder and managing director of Amritt Ventures, a consulting firm
Management consulting
Management consulting indicates both the industry and practice of helping organizations improve their performance primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and development of plans for improvement....
based in Cerritos
Cerritos, California
Cerritos is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and a charter member of The Indus Entrepreneurs. He received his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
, India, and is currently the president of the Institute's Alumni Association. He also earned an MBA
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
with honors from Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...
.
Bagla has written articles on outsourcing
Outsourcing
Outsourcing is the process of contracting a business function to someone else.-Overview:The term outsourcing is used inconsistently but usually involves the contracting out of a business function - commonly one previously performed in-house - to an external provider...
and globalization
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
, some of which have appeared in Dataquest
Dataquest
Dataquest is India's oldest IT publication. A fortnightly, Dataquest is published by Cyber Media India Ltd, South Asia's largest specialty media group. The magazine targets senior IT managers in user organizations as well as the IT industry professionals in India.Dataquest has grown with the Indian...
, Daily Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, Businessworld
Businessworld
Businessworld is the largest selling Indian business magazine, and the only business weekly in the country. Published by Ananda Publishers, whose most prominent publication is The Telegraph, Businessworld offices are located in New Delhi....
, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and other publications in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and India. His book Doing Business in 21st Century India
Doing Business in 21st Century India
Doing Business in 21st Century India: How to Profit Today in Tomorrow's Most Exciting Market is a 2008 non-fiction marketing book written by Gunjan Bagla, an Indian-American author and businessman and the managing director of Amritt, Inc.. The book is a guide for North American and European firms...
was published in 2008. Bagla also runs a blog, The India Expert, on international business in India.
Background and education
Bagla was born and raised in India. He attended the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (which was established under a US Agency for International development profram called the Kanpur Indo-American Program or KIAP) for his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, and then received his MBA with honors from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, IllinoisEdwardsville, Illinois
Edwardsville is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 24,293. It is the county seat of Madison County and is the third oldest city in the State of Illinois. The city was named in honor of Ninian Edwards, then Governor of the Illinois...
. He began his career working for Larsen & Toubro
Larsen & Toubro
Larsen & Toubro Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India. The company has four main business sectors: technology, engineering, construction and manufacturing. L&T has an international presence, with a global spread of offices and factories, further...
, an engineering, construction, and manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
with major operations in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
. He later worked in the United States as a director of program management for Tandon, a California computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
manufacturing company with global operations in Singapore, India, Austria and elsewhere.
Bagla currently lives in the United States and teaches business seminars for industry executives at the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
and UCLA Extension
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
. He is a member of the Asia Society
Asia Society
The Asia Society is a non-profit organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States and around the world Hong Kong, Manila, Mumbai, Seoul, Shanghai, and Melbourne...
and a Charter Member of the Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE). The South Asia Studies Association inducted him to their Board of Directors in 2010.
He appeared on Fox Business New,"Breakfast with Money" following the tragic incidents in Mumbai in November 2008. In connection with U.S. President Barack H. Obama's visit to India in November 2010, Gunjan was interviewed twice by the BBC, on World News and on "The Hub with Nik Gowing". He was also interviewed by Bloomberg Television during the same time.
Amritt Ventures
In 2004, Bagla started Amritt Ventures, a consulting firm based in the Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
area; he currently acts as its managing director. The stated purpose of the company is to aid North American and European firms in becoming familiar with routine Asian business practices, and specifically in marketing their products to India and China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, both of which are BRIC
BRIC
In economics, BRIC is a grouping acronym that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are all deemed to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development...
countries. Amritt provides its clients with training workshop
Workshop
A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...
s on topics like human resources
Human resources
Human resources is a term used to describe the individuals who make up the workforce of an organization, although it is also applied in labor economics to, for example, business sectors or even whole nations...
issues in India, the financial and legal environment, and Indian culture
Culture of India
India's languages, religions, dance, music, architecture, food and customs differ from place to place within the country, but nevertheless possess a commonality....
.
Notable clients of Amritt include Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
, Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....
, Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser plc is a global consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest producer of household products and a major producer of consumer healthcare and personal products...
, and Vivendi
Vivendi
Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
.
Writing
Bagla's book Doing Business in 21st Century IndiaDoing Business in 21st Century India
Doing Business in 21st Century India: How to Profit Today in Tomorrow's Most Exciting Market is a 2008 non-fiction marketing book written by Gunjan Bagla, an Indian-American author and businessman and the managing director of Amritt, Inc.. The book is a guide for North American and European firms...
was released by Business Plus, an imprint of Hachette Book Group
Hachette Book Group USA
Hachette Book Group is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the second largest publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Group. HBG was formed when Hachette Livre purchased the Time Warner Book Group from...
, in July 2008. The book is a guide for North American and European investor
Investor
An investor is a party that makes an investment into one or more categories of assets --- equity, debt securities, real estate, currency, commodity, derivatives such as put and call options, etc...
s and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
s on doing business in modern India. The book was released to highly positive reviews; Jagdish Sheth
Jagdish Sheth
Jagdish N. Sheth is the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University. He is an internationally recognized business consultant whose client list includes AT&T, BellSouth, Ford, GE, Motorola, Square D, Whirlpool and Sprint...
, the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School
Goizueta Business School
Goizueta Business School is a private business school of Emory University located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It is named after Roberto Goizueta, a former president of The Coca-Cola Company.-Academics:...
of Emory University
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
, commented that it was "an excellent practical guide," while R. Gopalakrishnan of the Tata Group
Tata Group
Tata Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Tata Group is one of the largest companies in India by market capitalization and revenue. It has interests in communications and information technology, engineering, materials, services, energy,...
called it "a refreshingly simple book on a very complex subject." Doing Business in 21st Century India has earned five-star reviews from several of Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
's top reviewers and Vine Voices
Amazon Vine
Amazon Vine is an internal service of Amazon.com. It is a program that allows manufacturers and publishers to create "buzz" via reviews that are published on the Amazon.com site and elsewhere. Companies that use this service pay for access. The precise cost for companies to participate is unknown...
.
Bagla also writes articles on global business, particularly on the ties between the United States and India. His writings have appeared in a number of different business magazines
Business journalism
Business journalism is the branch of journalism that tracks, records, analyzes and interprets the economic changes that take place in a society...
, including the Indian publications Dataquest and Businessworld and the American publications Daily Variety, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Business Pundit, and CIO. He has also written for the website MarketingProfs.
Bagla has operated a blog called The India Expert since July 2008.
Other publications and appearances
In 2007, Bagla was interviewed by GamasutraGamasutra
Gamasutra is a website founded in 1997 for video game developers. It is owned and operated by UBM TechWeb , a division of United Business Media, and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine Game Developer...
, a video-game development website, about the impact the release of the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
would have on the Indian gaming market. Bagla remarked that "most mainstream American [game] titles can translate well into the Indian market"; he went on to list Quake, Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
, and Age of Empires as some of the most successful titles.
In 2008, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
interviewed Bagla about the impending purchase of DreamWorks
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
by Anil Ambani
Anil Ambani
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani is an Indian-Gujarati business baron and chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, one of the largest private conglomerates. Anil's elder brother, Mukesh Ambani, is worth more than 29 billion dollars, and owns another company called Reliance Industries...
, an Indian business magnate
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
and chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group
Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is one of India's largest conglomerates, headquartered in Navi Mumbai, India. The company, which was formed after Dhirubhai Ambani's business empire was divided up, is headed by his younger son Anil Ambani. It has a market capitalization of US$ 15 billion,...
. Bagla compared Ambani to "Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
, Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
and Howard Hughes
Howard Hughes
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world...
." Bagla was also interviewed by BusinessWeek following the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
, commenting on the effect the attacks could have on foreign business in India.
Bagla has also been interviewed in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
and India Journal.
In April 2010, Bagla was the keynote speaker at the annual conference of the South Asian Studies Association, held at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. His topic was "Globalization: India and the US."
In September 2010, he was invited to speak at the University of Michigan Ross Business School India Conference in memory of the recently deceased Professor CK Prahalad.
In October 2010, Business Week published a new article by Bagla, where he asserted that American exports to India could rise from the current $18 billion to perhaps $80 billion in five years.
See also
- Business process outsourcing in IndiaBusiness process outsourcing in IndiaThe business process outsourcing industry in India refers to the business process outsourcing services in the outsourcing industry in India, catering mainly to Western operations of multinational corporations ....
- Globalisation in India
- International businessInternational BusinessInternational business is a term used to collectively describe all commercial transactions that take place between two or more regions, countries and nations beyond their political boundary...
External links
- Bagla's blog, The India Expert
- Bagla on Twitter
- Amritt conference/seminar schedule
- Business Pundit interview with Bagla
- Why U.S.-India Ties Require Patience, Spur Hopes - a Business Week article by Bagla
- Amazon.com profile for Doing Business in 21st Century India
- " NPR Station KCRW Radio Interviews Gunjan Bagla about President Obama's impending arrival in Mumbai"