7 - Competitive position strategy

Abstract

This chapter discusses the competitive positioning strategies of China and India in the context of the global software industry. The structure and dynamics of the Chinese software industry are different from that of the software industry in India. The Chinese and Indian software industries have followed different evolutionary trajectories. However, the software industries in both China and India are addressing the same target market as the global opportunities cut across geographies and market segments, although the Indian software industry enjoys a first-mover advantage in the international services market. Therefore, the competitive positioning strategy of the Chinese software industry would be different from that of the Indian software industry based on the competitive scenario it faces. The chapter presents the competitive positioning strategies for the Chinese and Indian software industries respectively, and discusses how they can achieve and sustain global competitiveness in the software arena. These strategies are at the industry level and hence are collective in nature. A company-level competitive positioning strategy can be evolved in a guided manner based on the industry-level competitive positioning strategies. There are similarities and differences between the competitive positioning strategies for China and India. The similarities are due to the fact that both the Chinese and Indian software industries are targeting the lucrative global software services exports markets, whereas the differences stem from the contextual and structural differences that characterize the Chinese and Indian software industries.