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A business should be like a well-oiled machine, with all the cogs and gears cohesively working together towards a desired outcome. All parts are integral to the success of the company. As with any engine, problems arise through internal and external influences. These should be dealt with quickly and efficiently in order to keep moving full steam ahead. But, if a company is dealing with a high-level of power distance, the engine could stall completely. <a href="https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://en.wikipedia.org/&amp;httpsredir=1&amp;article=1014&amp;context=orpc">The power distance index</a>, <keyword id="693690" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PDI">PDI</keyword>, deals with the unequal distribution of power in a society or organization, and to what extent the less powerful people accept and expect these circumstances. Each nation is ranked according to their PDI. The <a href="http://booksite.mkp.com/barnum/testingessentials/pdfs/06_Going_Local_in_India.pdf">world average has a PDI score of 56.5</a>. India’s score is 77 PDI. Being that India is an emerging superpower and economic powerhouse, this undeniably high PDI can be problematic for corporations. A high PDI in a company setting can create not only a difficult and unfair working environment, it can also cause lulls in productivity, as employees are uncomfortable providing objective feedback to company heads. It can affect employees’ decision-making processes, in that they require a manager to constantly tell them what to do. A high PDI in a business setting can potentially turn employees into “yes-men/women,” by agreeing to tasks without fully analyzing all the requirements that go into them. So, when a task is unable to be completed or is poorly executed, they are afraid to be honest about their failures. A high PDI from a managerial perspective can be an even worse ordeal. In a high PDI setting, bosses can act more like chauvinistic dictators. They can have a deep-seated superiority complex and believe they are incapable of error as they preside over their corporation from an ivory tower. They expect employees to bend to their every whim. They fail to take responsibility for their own errors, mostly because they believe they are incapable of making them. This results in employees being blamed for a manager’s incompetence. From either end of the spectrum, managerial or employee, a high PDI within a company is a recipe for disaster. While a low PDI creates ideal and high-productivity work environments. For example, <a href="http://indiathink.com/power-distance/">the Dutch are known for effective communication and an egalitarian managerial style</a>, where employees are given access to all levels of management. India is accustomed to a much different model. Currently, India is an E-commerce and technology investment hotbed. Investors are eager to jump on board but may not realize all the complications that go into a working with a high PDI. <a href="http://indiathink.com/power-distance/">Technology companies</a> and digitally native brands also tend to have a flat-management style which thrives in a low PDI environment. So how do they bridge the gap? <a href="http://www.quantifiedcommerce.com/">Quantified Commerce</a> is a vertically-integrated company of world-class talented individuals who manoeuvre around the ingrained struggles that come with power distance. <keyword id="6504806" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Agam-Berry">Agam Berry</keyword>, the founder of <a href="https://twitter.com/QuantifiedC">Quantified Commerce</a>, knows what it means to deal with the power distance with Indian employees. “People afraid of being honest with execs in a flat management style,” he says. “Bypassing power distance in India can be difficult, but our company encourages people to have a voice.” <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/quantifiedcommerce/">Quantified Commerce</a> is a rapidly-growing vertically-integrated company (100-300% growth per year over the last five years), that uses an egalitarian approach when it comes to managing its Indian employees. “We push them to speak up and be held accountable for their actions. The execs hold everyone to the same standard that they hold themselves, “We made speaking up and having backbone one of the core values so that people feel confident bringing up issues to their supervisors and we are constantly trying to drill that in,” says <keyword id="41529" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Berry">Berry</keyword>. “We will always make mistakes, as any company does, but they will be a lot easier to fix if everyone just speaks up and points them out.”<a href="https://www.instagram.com/quantifiedcommerce/">Quantified Commerce</a> focuses on open communication and continuous education within a constantly changing digital environment.” “Everyday, our Indian employees go through 1-2 hours of education,” Berry says. “Keeping them up to date not only with constant tech advancements, but training them in our workplace culture, is of vital importance to our company.” Because of the <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/quantifiedcommerce/">Quantified Commerce’s</a> commitment to the continuous development of its employees, the company develops in a positive direction as well. High PDI may take a lot of work to overcome, but the end goal of creating a cohesive and well-run digital company is worth it. It’s important to encourage employees and upper-level executives to all be held accountable for their actions. All employees should feel like the have a voice in their company since everyone’s role is crucial to the company’s continued success.

‘Bypassing power distance in India’- Agam Berry, Quantified Commerce

E-commerce companies are facing a problem when it comes to entering the Indian market. COD, or cash-on-delivery, is the preferred system of payment for Indian consumers who shop online. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cash-on-delivery-remains-the-preferred-method-of-payment-in-india-2016-6">83% of Indian consumers said they prefer cash-on-delivery to credit or debit card purchases</a>. The reason why so many Indians prefer a cash-on-delivery system is due to the fact that infrastructure and delivery within the country are not exactly the most reliable and credit card systems aren’t as trustworthy as those in other countries, and in fact many Indians do not even make use of credit or debit cards at all, as <a href="https://brandalyzer.blog/2017/06/11/credit-card-penetration-in-india/">credit card penetration in the country, while rising, is still low</a>. This COD problem is one that is absolutely worth solving. The digital economy in India, including e-commerce, is expected to grow into a <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/in-tmt-e-commerce-in-india-noexp.pdf">$1 trillion market by 2022, according to a recent joint report by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Deloitte</a>. E-commerce companies that are looking to get a slice of this pie are experiencing some growing pains. One of the biggest pains is the COD problem. <a href="http://www.livemint.com/Companies/7uHnnB7jS7aUk4i4V2adSO/Amazons-loss-jump-to-936-million-in-September-quarter-on-I.html">Amazon reported losses of $936 million dollars in September</a>, and you could attribute some of those losses to the fact that Indians prefer cash-on-delivery. But why is COD such a problem for e-commerce companies like <keyword id="18635" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>? Part of the reason is restricted cash flow. It could take months for payments to reach the seller, and as <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-04/news/43658867_1_indiatimes-shopping-flipkart-courier-companies">Sachin Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart said</a>, “I would not like to have cash transactions. The non-immediacy of payments and higher returns are the problems we face with cash-on-delivery.” Not only could cash take longer to reach sellers, there remains a possibility that it might not get to them at all. While cash-on-delivery transactions cost e-commerce companies an additional 3% to process it could be more when returns are factored in. <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/retail/cash-on-delivery-hurts-bottom-line-of-cos-like-flipkart-snapdeal-due-to-extra-associated-costs/articleshow/25192740.cms?intenttarget=no">As Ashish Jhalani of eTailing India claims</a>, “the bottom line is impacted due to such orders. This number goes up by about 30% when returns happen.” The increased losses are not only due to returns but also because companies incur courier and shipping costs regardless of whether or not the customer purchases the product. <a href="https://hackernoon.com/how-cash-on-delivery-fuelled-e-commerce-growth-in-india-8ae66bea6cfe">So while impulse purchases may increase due to the fact that payment is not due at the time of ordering</a>, returns are commonplace, and there’s no assurance that a company will receive payment. So as India enters the digital age and online retail shopping rises, how do companies get around the COD problem? <a href="http://quantifiedcommerce.com">Quantified Commerce</a>, a company focused on building e-commerce brands mainly in India has found creative and practical answers to the problem of cash-on-delivery. We spoke to <keyword id="6504806" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Agam-Berry">Agam Berry</keyword>, co-founder of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/quantifiedcommerce/">Quantified Commerce</a> to find out what his company is doing right now to avoid the COD problem. “The best way to lower returns and shipping cost in cod orders is by having local inventory in every city,” said <keyword id="41529" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Berry">Berry</keyword>, “we have warehouses in four cities and have plans to add forty cities by the end of the year.” This solution not only solves the cost problem but the return problem as well, “most of the time returns happen because a customer changes their mind in the time it takes for a product to get to them, but when you have inventory in every city lowering shipping times that problem is greatly reduced,” Berry said Berry also talked about how vertical integration is part of the solution to COD, “we’re looking into purchasing our own trucks, which would allow us to move our product between warehouses faster. Trucking and logistics in India are very fragmented and it takes as much as seven days to move a product from one part of the country to another, which puts further pressure on the liquidity of the companies in this space.” The decreased delivery time would be able to loosen the restricted cash flow as an added benefit, the faster a customer gets the product into their hands the faster a company can get the cash thus helping the cash flow cycle. While India is making strides towards the use of credit and debit cards, the COD problem is still one that is relevant to companies entering the Indian market. It’s a tough problem to solve, but with companies like <a href="https://twitter.com/QuantifiedC">Quantified Commerce </a>leading the charge, the solution may come sooner than we think.

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‘Bypassing power distance in India’- Agam Berry, Quantified Commerce

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Quantified Commerce’s Agam Berry on India’s love of cash on delivery

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