For Huawei Telecommunication India?s CEO, Cai Liqun, there is pride in the way the equipment-maker has achieved so much in such a short time, but future growth in the region is now the task ahead for him?
For Cai Liqun, the move to India from Shenzhen has been a double challenge: dealing with a new country in what is his first overseas posting with Huawei and moving to the new area of sales and marketing after 16 years in the company?s R&D division.
It?s now been two and a half years in India and into the CEO?s job, and Cai says that both have been immensely satisfying. Although his wife, Zhang Lingyu, initially groaned when he told her he had been offered the post, she is now also enjoying her stay in India and experiencing the diversity. Cultural differences apart, food has not been an issue for the family. In Gansu province of northwest China where he grew up, the food is spicy; they even have a naan that looks and tastes exactly like the Indian one and goes by the same name.
Their daughter, Cai Shimin, who was 12 when they moved here, started feeling at home within two months and, has gone from not speaking a word of English to correcting her father?s pronunciation. In fact, Cai?s English, while accented, is remarkably good for someone who spoke it only on occasional business trips abroad before coming to India.
Sitting in the company?s Gurgaon office, his manner is relaxed and affable as he converses about his long career with Huawei, his childhood, the Indian market, the affinities between India and China, etc. ?I think sometimes Indians and Chinese have the wrong information about each other. Both countries are rich in ancient culture but it takes time to understand one another,? he says. Quite a few Indians might think that the Chinese work ethic is very different from theirs ? possibly superior ? but Cai disagrees. ?Indians are very smart and intelligent and most have had a western or westernised education. This is the one big difference between us. Indian education is modelled on the west and that makes your thinking similar to western people. That, along with the English language, is an advantage,? he says.
For Cai, two decisions taken by Huawei?s founder, Ren Zhengfei, some years ago were very important. One was that Chinese companies need to learn about the management, quality processes and organisational practices of western companies (which is why IBM was invited to advise Huawei) and the other was to invest in the company?s huge R&D centre in Bengaluru 15 years ago. It is now the biggest of all Huawei?s overseas research centres. ?Our founder realised that India was a great base for software development. He realised that we must be customer-centric, and since every market is different, we must produce different solutions. In India, both superior technology and price-sensitivity are important, and so Huawei played a big role in the revolution that has given Indian users low tariffs because internally, we worked to reduce our material costs to the minimum, to be able to offer competitive prices to telecom operators. Through our policy of ?glocalisation? ? think global, act local ? we have catered to specific Indian needs,? he says.
He is optimistic about the sector because of the shift from voice to data, which is driving new growth. ?The price of smartphones was a major bottleneck in the uptake of data but now, with prices dropping to the $50 range, data uptake is expected to take off exponentially in the coming years,? he says. Cai is optimistic about mobile data uptake in India; according to him, it will be another revolution in times to come.
Of course, like everyone in the sector, he could have done without the policy uncertainties of the past two years, but he has actually enjoyed the challenge of arriving in India in late 2011 when the industry was in a slowdown phase and having to convert those difficulties into opportunities.
He also believes that the industry learnt a lot from the difficult years. ?The operators were too focused on adding subscribers even though adding subscribers was just adding to their losses. That is beginning to change now. I think that at least 200 million consumers are prepared to pay for good service. You need to serve different segments differently, charge differently and improve your operations,? he says.
For Huawei, the future challenge is to move away from its earlier focus on the carrier business towards growing the company?s devices and enterprises businesses, which are slated to generate more than $1.5 billion in revenues over the next three years from India. At present, the enterprise business generates nearly 9 per cent of Huawei?s $39.5 billion global revenue.
One area where the company realises it needs to do some more work in India is brand building. As Cai says simply: ?People still don?t understand us, they don?t know who we are.?
Towards building that brand image and towards becoming more visible, the company has recently taken a significant measure ? agreeing to become the principal sponsor of the IPL team, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), just ahead of the seventh season of the IPL.
?Cricket is the second religion in India. Some of my colleagues said that seeing the Huawei logo on the RCB jersey made an immediate impact. People who didn?t know who we were, suddenly knew us. It?s a very good partnership,? he says.
In fact, the shrewd and astute executive that he is, he has realised that cricket is the best way into Indian hearts. He watches cricket matches and has started an in-house cricket tournament. In the last match, he made three sixes, he says proudly (?despite the bowler deliberately bowling slowly?) and won the man of the match award. ?Of course,? he smiles, ?some people said I got it only because I?m the CEO.?
On the claims that keep recurring, both in India, the US and some other countries, that Huawei cannot be trusted to not use its equipment to spy on a country, Cai remarks that security is a concern for every country. ?It is a global issue. The question is, how do we manage this concern? We would be happy if an international standard or international regulation were to be set up, because no one can promise that security will never be an issue. All we can do is promise our customers and governments that we follow 100 per cent of the rules and regulations. If it is agreed internationally to set up a special platform or undertake lab testing for security reasons, we are fine with that. We were the first among telecom companies to sign the TSP (telecom service providers) agreement of the Department of Telecommunications, which chalks out a comprehensive framework on network security. So, if any country has a regulation, we comply with it,? he says.
Cai expresses appreciation for the Indian government?s decision to eventually lift the ban it imposed for a few months in 2010, on security grounds. He says the ban probably arose from malicious attempts by Huawei?s rivals to tarnish its image.
Much of his personality, he says, has been moulded by his father, also an engineer. Childhood was a happy, peaceful and stable phase of his life, spent with his parents and elder brother, who works in insurance. ?I always admired my father?s simplicity, humility and willingness to listen. He would go out of his way to help others and is respected by the community. He taught me that success can be built with simplicity and a willingness to learn,? he says. At home, Cai?s parents lived with him. When he decided to come to India and had to adapt to sales and marketing, they too had to make a fresh start by moving in with their elder son and adapting to his household.
For Cai, the decision to move to sales and marketing was a bold one. It came after 16 years with Huawei in different roles: starting as a software engineer, handling R&D, then the product line, being responsible for the complete CDMA product line in 2002, and heading the core network product line in 2008 before the move to India.
Despite the pressures of the job, his workday in India seems to be shorter than it was in China where, given Huawei?s global operations ? it is often called China?s most successful global company ? and the time differences, he used to have scarcely any time for his family.
At every opportunity, he likes to go hiking. He has been on more than eight hiking trips and finds India?s mountain terrain challenging. He also enjoys playing golf, watching action movies and listening to Indian instrumental music.
?This whole new experience in terms of work and location has been very rewarding. It has broadened my horizons and my perspective and I?m happy about that,? he says.
