Events

On October 31st, 2017 the 7th Consultinghouse - German Market and Expansion Summit were held at the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata, India. Around 50 delegates from business, finance, politics and leather industry attended the meetings and conference. Among the participants were regional and non-regional members including Nari Kalwani, Chairman of the Federation of Indian Export organization, Adhar Sahni, president of the Indian Leather Products Association (ILPA) and the regional head of the local chamber of commerce.

The Regional Director of the IGGC, Ms. Sabina Pandey and the IGGC president of the North-East Region, Mr. Nari Kalwani, jointly opened the conference. Mr. Kalwani stated that Germany and India maintain a long trade history and that Germany is ever since one of the most important markets for both, Indian producers and companies and German buyers. “If you have a German company as business partner, this relationship should be based on a long-term relationship, as Germans are usually not interested in short term business occasions”. This is a result by the reliability and honesty of the Germans, Mr. Kalwani continued.

The conference targeted companies who want to differentiate themselves from their competitors by setting up a representative office in Germany. In addition, great insight have been giving on how Indian companies can initiate a business partnership in sectors like trade and investment, power, agriculture, leather production, IT, manufacturing and high end engineering. Ms. Pandey continued that also the chamber is reacting on the high demand of employees in Germany with the internal Management program offered by the Kolkata office.

After the round of introduction, the Consultinghouse advisors gave in their presentation a great overview on the chances and opportunities Indian companies have while expanding their business operations to Germany. We talked about how our consultants support Indian businesses and how they can grow sustainably in Europe while benefitting from the positive image of the business location Germany. “This inspired the attended companies and led to a lively discussion and information exchange, which is usually rare for events like these,” said Sabina Pandey.

Mr. Martin Wilke from the Management Consulting Firm Consultinghouse in Germany, spoke about various German market entry & expansion strategies, the German market place and market entry solutions. Through opening an office in Germany, Indian companies can effectively benefit from the positive image of the Germany market. The process of entering the German market were explained and were received with great interest amongst the participants during the event.

In addition, cultural aspects and importances in German were discussed at the Market Entry & Expansion Summit in Kolkata, India. Mr. Andreas Wilke, Managing Partner, Consultinghouse Germany, enlightened the participants about the business culture, German business etiquette and sourcing valuable business partners in Europe.

"Intercultural communication and understanding of the values and norms is of enormous importance for a successful market entry", said Andreas Wilke. "Wherever people of different cultures with different communication types, behavior and leadership styles, and moral values or thinking patterns are working together, intercultural competence is required. Especially in times of globalization, cultural competences do often decide on success or failure of a market access.

The participants expressed their appreciation to the chamber of commerce in Kolkata and the entire Consultinghouse team, for making such an event happen. All participants agreed that this kind of knowledge exchange was very worthwhile and should be continued in the future as well.