Best-sellers such as Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, First 90 Days by Michael Watkins and A Sense Of Urgency by John Kotter have been lapped up by B-school students and management executives in India and the rest of the world, making their publisher, Harvard Business School Publishing Corp., or HBP, a not-for-profit management publishing enterprise wholly owned by Harvard University, look at the Indian market with renewed interest.
David A Wan, Harvard Business School Publishing. Photograph: Harikrishna Katragadda / Mint
HBP president and chief executive officer David A. Wan was in India in March for the launch of Harvard Business Publishing India Pvt. Ltd, or HBP India, the company’s first subsidiary outside the US. The publishing company has also commissioned several books to Indian management leaders. Bullish on India, Wan sees a silver lining in the current market turmoil too. “I see the current slowdown more as an opportunity than a challenge for publishers to change the way they work and adapt to the changing needs of consumers in a rapidly changing business environment,” says Wan, who took over his current position in July 2002.
In an interview, Wan talks about the need to adapt to the changing needs of managers, the growing importance of India as a market and a hub of ideas, and HBP’s digital plans. Edited excerpts:
You recently announced an India publishing programme. How much does the market here contribute to global sales?
Yes, India is very strategic to our growth plans. Sales in the Indian market account for about 1.5% of our global sales, but it is one of the fastest growing markets for us. It is the key market in the Asia-Pacific region and that’s why our only subsidiary outside the US is in India. Although there is a growing business book publishing market in China, translation is a big challenge there.
Currently, we are in the process of consolidating our business here. Our immediate plans include publishing India editions of Harvard Business (HB) books, growing the reach of Harvard Business Review, or HBR, South Asia, and focusing on partnering with leading business schools and companies to deliver leadership and management development content and programmes.
A part of the India programme also includes adapting and customizing existing publications to local needs and making them more relevant to the local market. Also, we are looking at more content from India to serve research and education markets in the US, UK and Europe.