Huawei India execs take Indian names to be more culturally acceptable
Chetan Chen is into technology, Deepak Xu handles marketing, and Deepika Fang is a network systems pro. And when their company needs to reach out to the public, Rajeev Yao gets into the picture.
Welcome to the charm offensive of Huawei India, a firm that is on the radars of the Indian security establishment by virtue of its place of incorporation, the People’s Republic of China. As its top brass prepares to walk extraordinary miles to get its operations going on in one of the world’s biggest telecom markets, the Chinese equipment maker is nudging its Mandarin staff to mind their names.
Ergo, this cultural revolution with a telecom twist has Chen Tian Siang, a top consultant with Huawei India, introducing himself as Chetan Chen; Ling Yong Xu, a top management executive in its customer care division, is Deepak to his Indian colleagues; Liu Fang, a senior executive with its networks division, goes by the name ‘Deepika Fang’; Li Gin, a coordinator with Huawei India, is called ‘Rosy’; and Zhao Bing, in charge of the company’s warehouse division, is just Amit. To top it all, Huawei’s spokesperson in India, Weimin Yao, is known as ‘Rajeev’ to media colleagues here.
Huawei executives carry their Indian names even on their visiting cards. Suraj, Amit, Arvind, Ravi, Rajesh and Rajeev were some of the popular names adopted by their Chinese executives in India, says a Huawei staff.
The company reasons that since Indians find it difficult to pronounce Chinese names, the Indian nomenclature helps in daily operations. This also makes Chinese executives more culturally acceptable not just to their Indian colleagues, but also to their clients and business associates in the country.
Ergo, this cultural revolution with a telecom twist has Chen Tian Siang, a top consultant with Huawei India, introducing himself as Chetan Chen; Ling Yong Xu, a top management executive in its customer care division, is Deepak to his Indian colleagues; Liu Fang, a senior executive with its networks division, goes by the name ‘Deepika Fang’; Li Gin, a coordinator with Huawei India, is called ‘Rosy’; and Zhao Bing, in charge of the company’s warehouse division, is just Amit. To top it all, Huawei’s spokesperson in India, Weimin Yao, is known as ‘Rajeev’ to media colleagues here.
Huawei executives carry their Indian names even on their visiting cards. Suraj, Amit, Arvind, Ravi, Rajesh and Rajeev were some of the popular names adopted by their Chinese executives in India, says a Huawei staff.
The company reasons that since Indians find it difficult to pronounce Chinese names, the Indian nomenclature helps in daily operations. This also makes Chinese executives more culturally acceptable not just to their Indian colleagues, but also to their clients and business associates in the country.
“There is a conscious attempt as part of our India localisation strategy that Chinese and Indian employees understand and encourage each other’s customs and mores and develop a healthy understanding and appreciation for both the great countries’ traditions and cultures,” says the company spokesman.
yes, it makes them more approachable and they can easily enter work / client groups of Indians which is rather difficult for other nationalities. They change their names to sound like localites but would Indians change their names if they are in china...or the customs ot the habits?
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