Companies failing with GCCs don't misjudge Indian talent; they underestimate their own readiness.
Setting up an entity doesn't automatically attract top talent.
You must first define who manages hiring, evaluation, labor, and security.

Undefined Post-Launch Operators

The first common failure is launching a GCC without clear Japanese leadership.
While setup and recruitment partners help, your company must define hiring standards, job roles, evaluation, and security.

Dev leads check tech skills.
HR manages evaluation and compensation.
Finance/legal handle contracts, taxes, and labor.
Without this division, everything is dumped on local managers, leading to inconsistent hiring.

Copying Big-Corp GCCs From Day One

Large GCCs have employer branding, local HR, university ties, management layers, and security teams.
SMEs copying this structure from the start will inflate fixed costs prematurely.

To start small, prioritize steps like visa sponsorship, EOR, offshoring, or contracting over immediately establishing a local entity.
For example, bring the first 1-2 hires to Japan to solidify evaluation and onboarding.
Transition to a GCC only after continuous hiring becomes viable.
This reduces the risk of suddenly managing back-office operations.

Using Outdated Japanese Development Processes

Changing only the Indian team in a GCC won't yield results.
If Japan's requirements, reviews, English docs, and decision-making remain slow, the local team just becomes a bottlenecked coding unit.

When hiring AI or cloud experts, lacking someone in Japan to validate tech decisions creates a gap between expectations and reality.
This gap causes early turnover and harms your hiring reputation.
Before building a GCC, define what the Japanese dev lead will delegate and review.