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I think you are overstating the importance of languages. As a counter example, one has to only look at large European companies, like Seimens, Airbus, Philips,

by shas3 11y ago

I think you are overstating the importance of languages. As a counter example, one has to only look at large European companies, like Seimens, Airbus, Philips, Volkswagen, etc. Their multinational spread transcends language barriers. Why would this be a problem for start ups? India has several languages and is insanely diverse. In this way it is different from China. But what works for companies trying to scale up in India is that most people have a functional knowledge of English. But I think you are right on the money about regulation. For better and for worse, the regulatory framework is far more liberal in the US compared to Europe. Even though Indian regulations are much worse than Europe and often more draconian, the Indian unicorns have flourished in niches where regulation doesn't matter or are more rational because they came about more recently.

kazinator 11y ago
Volkswagen doesn't need to speak Chinese in order to have a plant cranking out parts in China for approximatelythe same reason why a computer user doesn't have to know a programming language to read their e-mail. A small management team at the top of the org chart above the workers just has to be able to communicate with the parent company and "program" the organization below in their native language, to produce the required results.
petercooper 11y ago
As a counter example, one has to only look at large European companies, like Seimens, Airbus, Philips, Volkswagen, etc. Their multinational spread transcends language barriers. Why would this be a problem for start ups? Because these companies are all based around companies communicating with customers, which can be localized and has no real network effect. Many current "unicorns" are social companies or companies with inbuilt network effects where customer-to-customer communication or cultural familiarity is important.

by shas3 11y ago

kazinator 11y ago

Volkswagen doesn't need to speak Chinese in order to have a plant cranking out parts in China for approximatelythe same reason why a computer user doesn't have to know a programming language to read their e-mail. A small management team at the top of the org chart above the workers just has to be able to communicate with the parent company and "program" the organization below in their native language, to produce the required results.

petercooper 11y ago

As a counter example, one has to only look at large European companies, like Seimens, Airbus, Philips, Volkswagen, etc. Their multinational spread transcends language barriers. Why would this be a problem for start ups? Because these companies are all based around companies communicating with customers, which can be localized and has no real network effect. Many current "unicorns" are social companies or companies with inbuilt network effects where customer-to-customer communication or cultural familiarity is important.