Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Infosys in India: Building a Software Giant in a Corrupt Environment

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Rafael M. Di Tella and Prabakar (PK) Kothandaraman
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:25
ShareBar

Abstract

Shortly after Infosys was founded in 1981, its managers faced a major turning point when they made a decision to operate without giving in to the petty corruption rife in the Indian economy. Within just a few years, that decision had truly defined the company. Over the next 25 years, Infosys managers went to extraordinary lengths to avoid even the most modest of practices that they considered inappropriate. Explores the practices and methods that Infosys adopted instead, considers their costs, benefits, and generalizability, and contextualizes the problem within Indian political and economic institutions that continue to evolve.

Keywords

History; Management Style; Moral Sensibility; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Decisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Situation or Environment; Crime and Corruption; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; India

Citation

Abdelal, Rawi E., Rafael M. Di Tella, and Prabakar (PK) Kothandaraman. "Infosys in India: Building a Software Giant in a Corrupt Environment." Harvard Business School Case 707-030, December 2006. (Revised January 2007.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Authors

Rawi E. Abdelal

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

Rafael M. Di Tella

Business, Government and the International Economy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    On the Origins of Our Discontent

    By: Rawi Abdelal and Thomas J. DeLong
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Causal Inference During A Pandemic: Evidence on the Effectiveness of Nebulized Ibuprofen as an Unproven Treatment for COVID-19 in Argentina

    By: Sebastian Calonico, Rafael Di Tella and Juan Cruz Lopez Del Valle
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Of Learning and Forgetting: Centrism, Populism, and the Legitimacy Crisis of Globalization

    By: Rawi Abdelal
More from the Authors
  • On the Origins of Our Discontent By: Rawi Abdelal and Thomas J. DeLong
  • Causal Inference During A Pandemic: Evidence on the Effectiveness of Nebulized Ibuprofen as an Unproven Treatment for COVID-19 in Argentina By: Sebastian Calonico, Rafael Di Tella and Juan Cruz Lopez Del Valle
  • Of Learning and Forgetting: Centrism, Populism, and the Legitimacy Crisis of Globalization By: Rawi Abdelal
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College