Leadership is a skill, and any skill must be learned and developed.

Q. In today’s scenario it has become essential to keep reinventing oneself. How can an organisation help its employees in this endeavour?

A. Make it a part of the review process. Get employees to think bigger in terms of their work; challenge them. People and organisations that are too comfortable rarely reinvent themselves.

Too often we ask employees to do things without teaching them how. Do you have an organisational process for reinvention? Develop tools that managers can use with those, then lead to help them reinvent themselves.

Q. Today, succession planning has become critical to leaders and organisations. What measures would you suggest to deal with this complex issue?

A. The first step is awareness. That sounds obvious, but I find many firms are in a kind of denial: they know they need a succession plan, but “not yet”. We should always be thinking at least two steps ahead, especially in terms of future leadership.

The next step — and I have referred to it already — is having an effective process. Succession planning should never be haphazard but rather a carefully considered process.

Q. So, what is the most interesting project you are working on, and what are your future plans?

A. I am spending more time these days thinking about who gets followed and why. I am interested in understanding how leadership may have changed due to technology, generational differences and other factors. And, as always, I have got at least two new book ideas I am working on.

Q. You have authored some bestsellers on leadership and management. What inspires your writing?

A. My goal is simple: to help readers. I try to provide insights that will make the reader’s personal and/or professional life better.

Q. What is your advice to young professionals set to enter the corporate world?

A. Expand your horizons and think beyond the familiar. I believe experience is the best teacher, and therefore, advocate trying lots of things to get lots of experience. But it is also important to contemplate what you have learned from your experiences. A variety of experiences without any reflection is of limited value. Read more...

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Challenging the public’s mind

Masters in science and management, Mr. Himanshu Sinha is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). He has nearly 19 years of experience of leading the HR, Personnel and Administration departments. Mr. Sinha has also worked with organisations such as, Asahi India Glass Ltd., Cummins India Ltd., and Gordon Herbert India Ltd.

Q. Please share your thoughts on the turnaround in a public sector organisation? How different are the HR challenges here in comparison to the private sector?
A. Turnaround in a public sector organisation is mostly undertaken to revive it financially, by taking it on the new or different trajectory, change of products or services, due to loss of competitiveness, failure to achieve the desired results, modernisation and other such factors. Any such turnaround exercise is supposed to be undertaken in a well planned and systematic manner in order to achieve the desired goal.

The basic challenges, as far as HR is concerned, remain similar in both the sectors. In a public sector organisation, the challenges lie more in motivating and changing the mindset of people. It is the same set of people who have been working with the organisation for a long time and that too in a value-based culture. As far as HR is concerned, several tools in the form of various OD interventions are available today to support a turnaround and to attain the desired objectives or results. Although even today there is little agreement on what HR strategies lead to a successful turnaround, either in public or private sector organisation. Read more...

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Ready to nurse an ailing business?

With 30 years of experience in the corporate sector, Dr. Michael Teng has been a torchbearer for many companies facing corporate distress. He has spent 20 years working as a CEO for multinational, local, and public listed companies, and has authored 27 books which can help sail companies through turbulent times.
His bestseller, ‘Corporate Turnaround: Nursing a sick company back to health’, talks about how to diagnose a company when it is sick and prescribes effective management principles and theories for a holistic corporate turnaround.

Q. Define the HR’s role in turning around a healthy business in to a world-class organisation?
A. It is important for a business to develop a strong corporate immune system, i.e., corporate culture which is flexible, innovative, and swift in handling the marketplace changes. The human resource management has an important role to foster this culture by making sure that the message is properly communicated, and policies are put in place and executed well.

Q. Please give us some effective and easy-to-administer techniques which can help HR restructure a company during turnaround.
A. The concept of 4Cs: Communication, Concentration, Cost Control, and Cash Flow Improvement, applies here so as to get control over the sinking ship.

Communicate with your key stakeholders to explain and get their support to your turnaround plan. Concentrate by focusing on core competency, which is necessary to avoid dissipate the limited resources. Cost control is the best antidote in bad times, but one has to be careful in cutting costs as it might hamper the business in a long run. Cash flow improvement is the lifeblood of the company and one has to look into the receivables and payables, inventory, credit terms, etc.

Human Resource department also needs to monitor and follow up to ensure employee morale does not take a beating, messages and policies are properly communicated and implemented. Read more...

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Partners for a sustainable solution

Q. How can a CEO help transform traditional HR to strategic HR?
A. If a CEO believes that “people are the most important assets an organisation has”, he or she would be personally involved in building talent pipeline, developing talent and strengthening organisation culture.

Q. What are the CEO’s expectations from HR?
A. Primary goal of strategic HR function is to increase organisation effectiveness by focusing on real business challenges. The expectation is to identify HR focus areas which help the organisation achieve its objectives. Overall, employee motivation and productivity have to be at the centre stage.

Q. And what does HR expect?
A. The core of the expectation is for the CEO or the functional leader to believe in the criticality of people and the focus needed on building talent. The core expectation of motivating employees, developing them and enhancing their effectiveness remains the same.

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Organisation’s objectives and direction

To understand what the CEO expects from his HR, we need to understand the mandate and the vision the CEO or the business leader has for the organisation, and what the CEO feels is his or her most critical responsibility or challenge. With the rapid globalisation of business, the key challenges for almost all CEOs today are: 1.Sustainable and profitable growth 2.Managing globalisation and diversity 3.Creating a workplace that spurs innovation 4.Managing and retaining talent 5.Managing costs 6.Using technology to stay ahead of the pack 7.Being prepared for the future

Today, executive level business leaders are looking to their HR organisations to answer critical people and talent questions to address the above challenges and to anticipate and prepare for future challenges. While many will question the role HR can play in terms of costs and technology, the fact remains that if HR has stepped up to take the role of a business partner, it needs to be able to find ways to help overcome challenges beyond its core skill areas.

To be able to deliver on these expectations, HR needs to evolve beyond the traditional strategic HR model. Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank’s HR Business Partner model has helped HR professionals integrate more thoroughly into business processes and align their day-to-day work with desired business outcomes. In the future, the ways in which HR professionals will serve as business partners will continue to evolve, and require more expansive understanding of the organisation and business. The HR leader of an organisation is uniquely placed to have an in-depth understanding of people and processes vital to the firm. Increasingly, human resource professionals will have to be able to assess the human capital impact attributable to gain or loss in market share, profit margins and stakeholder value. Read More...

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Prof. R.S. Sirohi (Vice-Chancellor, Invertis University) tells us about The Barriers between Education and Students in Rural India

Continued....Lack of trained faculty is another impediment according to Prof. Sirohi. He says faculty crunch is a serious issue in many institutions, including Invertis, which is taking vigorous steps to address the problem. “As the university is not situated in a big city, lecturers and professors are apprehensive about joining Invertis (approx. 250 kms from Lucknow),” he tells as a matter of fact. Also, majority of students come from rural areas and lack basic communication skills. Therefore at Invertis, there are training cells for both students and faculty, he says and feels that developing soft skills is one of the most difficult parts of training.

Invertis organises a host of programmes like debate competitions and discussions to help students better their communication skills. Universities in rural India have an additional responsibility to prepare their students to face the outside world. They can do a phenomenal job in removing the inherent hitch in those coming from a rural background, he opines. At Invertis, the need to adapt to industry is well understood. Therefore, the curriculum changes every two years. This is done keeping in mind that the corporate world is growing at a fast pace and updating syllabi will equip students better to face the stiff competition, emphasises Prof. Sirohi.

“We also plan to explore opportunities to have an association with foreign universities. Our objective is to provide exposure to Invertis students,” he reveals. Prof. Sirohi, however, refrains from commenting on the future trends in the field of education. Today, the scenario is dynamic and it is very hard to predict the future. “We need to focus on building a strong base and provide opportunities to students for overall growth. Only then can they pave a way for themselves,” Prof. Sirohi signs off. Read More...

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Ankur Bansal, (Vice Chairman, NDIM) Points out some key Loopholes in Imparting Management Education in India and offers Solutions

Speaking about the initiatives taken by him, apart from setting up a new campus since he took charge, he says, “We increased the annual intake of students in the institute. Then, I started speaking to a lot of international professors, as well as expanded our corporateindustry interface. We are also looking at international collaborations for student and faculty exchanges.”

Having completed his MBA from the USA, Mr. Bansal finds some stark differences in the way a management degree is perceived and pursued in India. He points out, “Students entering the top 50 colleges in the US are of the average age of 27+ years. These students would have ideally had some work-ex and the classrooms there are more discussion-based, where the teacher acts as a facilitator. In India, the average age is 21-22 years, comprising students who come in right after an under graduate degree. This makes the classroom more lecture-based. Also, the quantity and quality of research done by the faculty matters a lot in the USA, rather than the number of teaching hours that the teacher has, which is a priority here in India.”

Again, according to him, the expectations of students in India from an MBA degree is more to do with a plum-salaried job. What the students fail to understand is that, entering a management school is just an entry point, but what really matters is what you do and how much effort you put in those two years of education.

Said that, what makes NDIM stand out from the clutter? And he quickly points out that, “Unfortunately, there is a big gap, between what people promise and what they deliver. For the last 15 years or so, we have been trying to keep up to that promise. Also, our objective is not to make some quick money and exit, which a lot have been resorting to in the last 4-5 years. My grandfather started the institute with a vision of giving back to society and even today, that commitment remains intact.” Adding further, he concludes by maintaining that, the institute’s aim is not to have 5000 MBAs each year, but as a policy, keep a limited intake and deliver quality education to the chosen few. Read More...

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She Writes Story Contest winner: Shreya Manjunath

Shreya Manjunath is one of twelve winners of the MSN-Random House She Writes a Story Contest', as chosen by our judges. Her story 'Winds of Indifference' features in the 'She Writes: A collection of Short Stories' published by Random House India and available at all leading bookstores.

Shreya Manjunath has a PGDM from IIM Bangalore and a BE in Computer Science from PESIT. She has been working as a management consultant. Shreya also writes socio-political satirical articles for a leading satirical website.

read an extract from shreya manjunath's story 'winds of indifference' 

'Honour be damned,' muttered Ketki under her breath. But Sarasvati Prasad was damned if he did and damned if he didn't. The eavesdropping winds carried his daughter's tales to any honourable villager who cared to listen, a pool that excluded nobody. Breezy gossip offered a welcome respite from the village still life. Gossip was liberation from the mundane. Libel was a lifestyle. Sarasvati Prasad grimaced as his firstborn argued with him incessantly. 'Papa, please let me go to the city,' Ketki demanded. She then appealed to their shared dream, 'Is it not your wish that I become a witch doctor?' He still hesitated. 'For Saraswati's sake,' Ketki pleaded, knowing fully well that she was playing her trump card. Sarasvati Prasad had always felt deeply obligated to his namesake, ever since books offered him refuge from school bullies.

Even as a child, Sarasvati Prasad had been effeminate, which made him a target for a many a thorough-bred, burly lads from the badlands of rural UP. Sarasvati had turned his solace into profession by becoming a village headmaster of some repute.

Post marriage, Sarasvati, still irked by his insecurities, felt that fatherhood would make up for his supposed inadequacies, and therefore proceeded to spawn four kids in quick succession. His false machismo may well have contributed his wife's untimely death. The guilt-ridden schoolmaster embraced his effeminacy ever since, vowing to mother his wife's young children after her demise. Sarasvati nursed his young children with the best education he could offer.

As soon as Ketki deemed it fit to demand to go to the city for higher education, the tussle for her future began. 'What will the relatives say if I send you to the city? What of our family's honour?' Sarasvati was at a loss for words once again, the first time being when he first held the feisty firstborn in his hands. Ketki had been promised to the goddess of the written word even before she was born. Sarasvati finally obliged and so did the goddess. Ketki aced her medical entrance tests.

Ketki doesn't remember leaving her village. She was evacuated to the city, undercover and in haste. The panchayat in her village, the so-called 'honour upholders', were hardly the patron saints of women's education. Ignoring the whispering winds back in the village, Ketki breezed through her doctorate exams and graduated with honours, though the panchayat believed this dishonoured the village.

in her own words: shreya manjunath

Have you always been a writer? What made you start writing?
I have done some freelance copywriting work in the past. After I completed my MBA from IIM B, I started writing satirical articles for a leading socio-political satirical website. Moving life experiences, spare time and the need to find my voice all made me start writing regularly.

What inspired you to enter She Writes?
I was delighted to be provided a platform to share the life experiences of Indian women, celebrating their struggles and successes. I was inspired to write for the competition with a view to expanding our society's liberal space and sensitizing the Indian public to the problems that ail our society.

Why did you chose the category you did?
The hostel where I stay is teeming with stories of women from small towns and villages who moved to the city. They all found the experience of moving to the city liberating and empowering. I drew from their struggles. Outrage over the diktats of regressive panchayats and honour crimes also made me choose the category of "Women in the city".

Do you have a writing routine - e.g. do you have favourite places to write/favourite times of day/do you write longhand or on a computer?
Ideas seem to have a life of their own and come to me when they do. I keep a mental tab of these ideas till I can get my hands on a laptop and then make little notes of these ideas. Finally I get down to weaving together these ideas and spinning a tale.

Who is your favourite author?
Salman Rusdie is my favourite author. His genre of magic realism connects you to the world while transcending it. The combination of a real connection and the chance of escape make for a great read. Ever the engineer, I also love Issac Assimov's short sci-fi stories that have the appeal of both science and psychology.

Which book has inspired you the most?
Vikram Seth's Suitable Boy moved me with its account of the conundrum of choosing a spouse- a loaded, weighty decision that largely determines how your entire personal life is going to pan out. The choice set against the background of a complex, multi-ethnic India made for a stirring read.

Which key piece of advice would you give to any other budding writer?
Exposure, be it through life experiences or reading enriches your imagination. Be engaged the world and with people, there are stories waiting to be found!

EduRiser Learning Solutions Organises a Learning Programme on Collaborative Business Simulation

Continued...LDGM simulated the setting of the wilderness where ‘Dutchman’ participants were supposed to get to the mine, get as much gold as they could and return

home. The situations that arose were designed to apply directly to real-time workplace situations. The participants could relate to and apply the learnings from the simulations to the workplace that encourage them to think and reflect, evaluate situations, value relationships between departments, promote interdependence, appreciate roles, maximise ROI and do more. Participants of the programme believed that LDGM was one of the best tools for reinforcing learnings of Collaboration, Teamwork, Risk Taking, Decision Making, Strategic Planning, Negotiation Skills and Resource Planning and Management. Mr. Salvis, the facilitator of this programme said, “Collaboration is in the best interest of the organisation, its clients and its employees. Inter-departmental conflict and unhealthy competition mar business growth and market value. Instead, if teams choose to collaborate for a common goal of organisational well-being and customer satisfaction, the results are overwhelming.” LDGM is a business simulation designed and packaged in an innovation game based format that is completely immersive and fun while being reflective and providing many key learnings for organisational greatness. Read More

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WORLD: ENERGY CRISIS AND WHY EVEN WE COULD BE WRONG :-)

The lethargy to move to alternative fuel seems almost insane...

The reality is that many underdeveloped and developing nations have similar sources of alternative energy; yet, fail to see the potential. If most of the major metropolitan cities turn to CNG as the standard fuel for all public transport systems and private vehicles, it would reduce the oil demand significantly. While billions of dollars are being spent in most nations for construction of highways, a fraction of similar investments for the creation of mass rapid railroad transport system running on gas (not gasoline, but hydrogen based gas) would not just drastically reduce the need for fuel oil, but would also help in creating a cleaner environment.

Reports state that India’s natural gas production is slated to touch nearly 170 million standard cubic metres per day by 2011-12. So, when natural gas and CBM can run power plants and vehicles, when an Iran or Russia based pipeline can meet the rest of the demand, why is such a price rise paranoia?

As the oil reserves near depletion in Middle East, the price of the same can only go up. A war between Israel and Iran might never happen but the fear factor of the same would continue to push the price northward. It’s time to exit this game theory of US (who perhaps benefit the most as the more the price of oil rises, more becomes the demand of dollar to buy the same). Let’s hope that the day gas becomes the preferred fuel is not far. And what would be proof of that? That’s easy. That would be the day an exemplary American President bombs a state called Bihar in India and claims he did it for saving the world from weapons of ‘gas’ destruction.


Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Jointly till The End of Time

JPC for 2G Scam is Illogical, Considering The Past Record of JPCs in India

Opposition parties including CPI () and BJP are strongly demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the 2G scam, which is estimated to have cost the nation Rs.1.76 lakh crore. But the JPC may not be the solution, considering the track record of JPCs conducted before.

There have been four JPCs conducted. The first ever JPC was instituted to investigate the Bofors contract on August 6, 1987 after a 45 days logjam of Parliament. The scale of the scandal was to the tune of Rs.400 million. The committee, under the leadership of B. Shankaranand, held 50 sittings and gave its report on April 26, 1988. Opposition parties rejected the committee saying that most members were from the Congress party. The second JPC was conducted to inquire into irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions in the aftermath of the Harshad Mehta scandal involving over Rs.6 billion under former Union minister and senior Congress leader Ram Niwas Mirdha on August 6, 1992. It took nine years to prepare a report in 2002 but it was tabled in Parliament in 2005. Still, the recommendations were neither fully accepted nor implemented. The third was on the Ketan Parekh scam involving money worth Rs.30 million on April 26, 2001. The committee did present the report in 2002 and Ketan Parekh was arrested (then got bail too), but a lot of recommendations including sweeping changes in stock market regulations were ignored. The fourth JPC was on the pesticide residues in soft drinks, fruit juice and other beverages and to set safety standards. While the result was found positive, no productive actions were taken. The fact of the matter is JPCs only recommend, but cannot force governments to take action.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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India’s Upcoming B-Schools

A list of the B-Schools that Nearly made it to The Top 30 Ranks in the B&E-ICMR B-School Survey. And well, They Might just Make it Next Year!

B-schools of today can ill afford to stick to age old theories and management practices. In this dynamic business world, they have to continuously imbibe the changing trends and embrace the emerging buzzwords like sustainability, ethics, environment and entrepreneurship. And with an ever growing number of competitors, they cannot avoid the marketing aspect as well, since they have to be able to make their target audience aware of their courses and opportunities available post education. While in the west, b-school rankings keep changing almost every year, with even institutions like Harvard Business School not coming in the top ranks because of competition, in India, the situation has been quite different till now, with legacy rankings continuing for ages and the same b-schools coming in at the same ranks more or less. To that extent, the B&E ICMR B-School Survey has pointedly ensured that such legacy issues are avoided – and positively so, this year, while the usual suspects did make it to the top thirty, here’s a list of those b-schools which just about escaped from being included in the main list. There is no taking away credit from them, as India needs more and more b-schools to reject legacy rankings and to be the new change. Here they are:

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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HEWLETT-PACKARD: NEW CEO

The New CEO is a Software guy and has Prior Experience only in Enterprise Sales – A clear mismatch with the current philosophy of HP – The largest IT company in the World. Is he the right choice? 

From ethics to business. While at SAP, Apotheker helped build a global software enterprise sales unit. B2B was his frontier. He headed various divisions and revived SAP’s R&D platform, and kicked-off a glorious run of 18 quarters of double-digit software revenue growth, which ended in 2009. The agony for the hopefuls is that, at HP, none of these credentials will play the cushion. He is not known to be a people’s man – a fact which will not help inspire HP’s 30,000 employees, who have not been in the best of spirits under Hurd’s reign. To prove this, as per Thomson Reuters, HP’s revenue and net profits per employee for FY2009 stood at $406,335 (97.11% less than that the industry’s) and $28,405 (93.08% less than the industry’s) respectively. Says Sturm of EMA, “The immediate challenge facing Apotheker relates to employees. It is imperative that he takes immediate steps to improve employee morale & control key employee turnover. If he cannot do these, then his tenure with HP will be brief.” While HP is known for its hardware, distribution and B2C business, software is more of loose change (accounting for 2.8% of HP’s topline for Q2, 2010). And this is precisely what Apotheker has set out to repair. Expectedly, under him, HP’s focus on software will increase manifold. But with software, comes innovation. And Apotheker’s SAP files prove him a failure at it. Also, he has earned a reputation for establishing an environment at SAP, which focusses on high-cost and low return maintenance and support pricing, rather than profitable applications, despite the billions spent on innovation. The fact that he has also presided over product delays and has demonstrated ill-sense of pricing techniques (he angered SAP’s customers by increasing prices during the slowdown), also does not ensure better days ahead for the mass-pleasing HP; the foreboding danger being a repetition of what happened to SAP – HP might soon find competitors chiseling away its PC market share, a process which has already started. (HP’s global share during Q3, FY2010, stood at 17.5% vis-a-vis 19.3% in FY2009).

So what should Apotheker do? He has options. The most irresistible one will be not to tamper with HP’s pride – its hardware business – which he will, despite knowing that Hurd tried to give HP a software and enterprise business edge with its acquisitions of EDS, 3Com and Palm. But neither did the $13.9 billion EDS acquisition help HP make waves in the consulting & services business (where IBM is #1), nor did the $2.7 billion 3Com buy manage a dent in the network arena where Cisco rules. And as for the $1.2 billion Palm buy, everyone knows what an HP smartphone looks like (!).

Many claim that Apotheker might do to HP what Sam Palmisano did to IBM. But the truth is – the very imagination lacks logic. HP is not IBM. When IBM chose to go the software way, it was being sucked into a black hole, with its hardware business collapsing. It was then that IBM decided to shed the deadweight of its hardware unit. HP is in not in a similar situation by lightyears! It is the #1 IT company in the world (having made $114.55 billion in revenues in FY2009) and sells the largest numbers of PCs and printers in the world (claiming 37% of global market share in the printer segment as of Q3, 2010). What makes Apotheker believe that HP needs a makeover?

Whether he will take a dig on cloud computing is a wonder (as he has had his share of expensive failures in this regard while at SAP, burning $5 billion in two years), but what is inevitable, is that HP under Apotheker will join the battle to capture the enterprise space from the likes of Oracle and IBM. This would call for expensive acquisitions of players like SAP, Salesforce.com, et al, which will put big question marks on the ROI figure of HP, that is already lower than the industry’s (12.36 and 15.56 respectively).

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Priyanka’s multipurpose acting chops

Let’s face it: Anjaana Anjaani is not going to find a place on the list of her mentionable movies. And Khatron ke Khiladi (KKK) was much better off with Akshay Kumar. (In fact, KKK plans to rope back Akki for their next season). But hey, Priyanka Chopra has just been voted the most kissable star in Bollywood! She may be training to kick some serious butt in the upcoming Don 2, but that, Ms Chopra, should give you an idea of the kind of action most would like to see you in.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BANKS ON THE MOVE : IDBI BANK

Better late than later, IDBI Bank has finally understood the power of numbers – or rather, of Indian masses. With their renewed focus towards retail banking, the bank seems to be re-mastering age-old strategies… and quite efficiently. B&E does a snapshot insider of what’s up! by Mona Mehta

The tactical move to install point of sale (or PoS, in industry terminology) machines deserves a deeper mention. The bank intends to allow IDBI Debit Card customers a withdrawal of up to `1,000 through these PoS machines kept with small shopkeepers. Thus, with a target to install 100,000 new PoS machines over the next 3 years, the bank is aiming to get hold of the mass by facilitating higher financial inclusion. The fact is that this move is perchance the biggest ever strategic ground level move in the Indian banking industry undertaken by any bank ever to ensure direct retail consumer interaction – after the credit card inclusion program undertaken by banks, of course. Considering India as a whole, a figure of 100,000 is quite a small and insignificant figure to make a huge change. But multiply that by ten, and one starts seeing how IDBI Bank has the wherewithal to become the largest retail bank in India, and purely through ground level marketing.

As mentioned before, the parallel corollary is the bank’s intent to increase branches. And this long term strategy is not necessarily to provide ease of use to consumers (for that, the PoS and ATMs are enough), but more to reduce the cost of its lending. At present, for lending, the bank is more dependent on borrowings. Even this year, the bank is setting up around 250 new branches to increase its tally to 1,000 branches.

And Some Caution Too!
Still, it would make sense for the bank to be cautious on a few areas, where it seems (on the face of it) that logic and empirical evidence are not matching – the bank is busy in expanding itself by adopting the inorganic route – for example, the bank at present is in the process of merging IDBI Housing Finance with itself. The hope, as top management of IDBI Bank revealed to B&E, is that synergies would ensure that duplication of operations is reduced (for example, in home loans itself) and operational efficiencies are realised optimally. While most such mergers have known to fail in the industry, what might work to IDBI Bank’s benefit was that the housing finance wing was originally an offshoot of IDBI Bank itself – therefore, the danger of culture collisions is immediately reduced. While the logic for the housing wing is synergy, the bank – almost going against this same logic –has floated a wholly-owned subsidiary, IDBI Asset Management Ltd, to undertake mutual fund business. This is apart from the bank’s insurance business in partnership with Fortis (which creditably is doing wonders; see chart). Across divisions, therefore, there still exists differences of opinions on strategic imperatives and intent.

At another end, the bank has also begun its overseas operations by opening its first foreign branch at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). While the hope is that this might have a promising future in helping the bank to provide a range of corporate banking services (including the extension of commercial borrowings, foreign currency loan syndication and trade finance), the fact is that not only is Dubai the biggest recession hit area of the Gulf region, such international expansions take away considerable capital, manpower and other resources from the bank’s core focus.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

UTV’s ambitions in the mobile space

Manish Agarwal was hired to drive UTV’s ambitions in the mobile space. He defends some critical factors, including fall in revenues and employee retrenchment

B&E: You have just completed a year in this organisation. How’s the work experience different from Microsoft India?
MA: This is a start up. Microsoft started in a garage. Thank god, UTV has a plush office and we are not sitting in a garage! Here you have 10 ideas; one may work, 9 may not. You need to have a vibrant evaluation environment and you need to be nimble footed. Agility is the key in this business.

B&E: Talking about ‘agility’, UTV New Media laid off 20 people last year. What led to that decision?
MA: In a start up, each of us is very clear about our roles. So one year later, we are very well entrenched with the Telecom operators, we have multiple technology partners. In web we have been able to shed the baggage of the past legacy and built an underlying common system, which even a Yahoo and Rediff is struggling to make. So the day we have 5 million or 10 million users across 3-4 verticals, they will all be interconnected and we will thus be able to cross leverage and cross profile people.

B&E: There has been a 34% decline in revenues from UTV New Media vertical. What are you doing to improve the numbers this year?
MA: This year, we are looking at ending the number at around `30 odd crore from `12 crore that we made last year. But I can say that we already have got those numbers in our pockets and therefore we have revised our internal numbers to that effect. This quarter also looks more or less in control. In this business what matters is not the 30-40% but a 2-3 years business and the bet you are taking, the scale of business you are looking at.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

His strategy seemed to have paid off

O. P. Bhatt took over the reins of sbi when private players were catching up. He decided to go slow and his strategy seemed to have paid off. With SBI’s profits two times that of its closest rival ICICI Bank, sbi is far ahead of its competitors by any means

B&E: What steps have been takn by you to bring down the NPAs?
OPB: We are making continuous efforts to bring down the NPAs and we have restructured loans for the same. Then we have our Stressed Asset Resolution Centres (SARCs), which too work towards bringing down the bad loans. They identify assets as and when they get stressed and then start working on them to ensure that do not turn bad.

B&E: The bank has been able to bring down the cost of deposits from 6.16% in June 2009 to 5.27% in June 2010. How has it been possible?
OPB: It’s because we have been able to reduce our high cost deposits. We will try to lower the cost of deposits further and if we cannot do that, we will try to maintain the low levels that we have been able to achieve.

B&E: Do you plan to raise capital in the near future? If yes, how?
OPB: We certainly plan to raise capital in the future. However, we are still working on it. In fact, we have a plan to raise about `200 billion by the end of the current financial year. The capital would be raised by way of rights issue, which will keep the government holding unchanged. If we do not raise it by way of rights issue, then the other options are preference shares and FPO (follow-on public offer).

B&E: You just said that you are upwardly biased on interest rates. Does that mean that the banks will not give good offers during the upcoming festival season?
OPB: Banks can give good offers during the festival season and they will surely do that because the festival season draws a lot of customers and no bank would like to miss that opportunity. But then, the rate that they offer will have to be above the base rate.

B&E: RBI has made it clear that they do not have issues in giving new banking licences to industrial houses? Is this a bad news for the exsisting players?
OPB: This is a philosophical thing. There are arguments both ways. In my view, if an industrial house gets a banking licence then the onus is on RBI to see that the things are done in the right manner. We all know that we need more banking facility to achieve the financial inclusion goal. Hence, we certainly need more banks in the system.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

irat Bahri wonders whether the debate is relevant at all

Is a corporation meant to look at the larger good or just at profit maximisation? the debate continues to catch the imagination of executives and academicians. Virat Bahri wonders whether the debate is relevant at all

We believe that the very basis of this debate, just like the debate between growth and equality (that they are necessarily contradictory) is weak. Shareholder value and social responsibility can coexist quite well. Drawing correlations between profitability and social good is too tasking even for the most prolific economists; but there are numerous instances of companies that balance the two quite well. And the most convincing evidence of that can be found in our own B&E Power 100 list of India’s most profitable companies for 2010. In fact, the select group of companies that we have featured in this issue from the list are focusing on social good and also consistently proving to be prolific wealth generators in their own right.

State Bank of India had relatively flat growth to register profits of Rs.91.66 billion and was at rank 5 this year (Rank 3 last year). Net Interest Income (NII) increased by an impressive 13.91% as compared to the previous year and the bank’s Net Interest Management (NIM) has also improved to 3.18% if you consider results for the quarter ending June 2010. Fee-based income increased by 26.57% yoy for the year and forex income also grew by 34.59% yoy. Meanwhile, it also serves a vital role in the government agenda as a PSU, with its network of 7400 rural and semi-urban branches, which help the agri sector. Around Rs.560 billion of advances from SBI reach approximately 7 million farmers. Once again, this should have an indirect positive effect on SBI as rural prosperity improves, since it will have built a strong relationship of trust with them.

Infosys Technologies retains its position as India’s most profitable IT company and ranks 8th on the list this year (at 7th position last year). After a tough recessionary phase, Infosys has been consciously working towards increasing its client base and having a greater spread of revenues both in terms of verticals and geographies. For 2009-10, its $1 million plus client base expanded to 338 (from 166 in FY 2004-05) and revenue per client has increased slightly to $8.4 million (from $8.1 million in FY 2008-09), as the company sees a more optimistic outlook from its clients. While the contribution of BFSI revenues hasn’t varied much, contribution of manufacturing has gone up significantly. Meanwhile, on the social front, Infosys has highlighted three key binding themes for its sustainability initiatives – social contract, resource efficiency and green innovation. Among other initiatives, it opened the Infosys Science Foundation, in fiscal year 2008-09 a not-for-profit trust for scientific research. Even in the midst of downturn and uncertain outlook, the company made it a point to honour all its hiring commitments in campuses. It may not go down in history as a great initiative for shareholders, but the credibility that such initiatives establish is invaluable, for they will also help Infosys attract the best talent in the country.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

9/11 reloaded?

A mosque at ground zero would end up defeating its most valuable purpose, so the project must not go ahead

Peace and harmony between religions is a future that this world continues to aspire for. Obama’s pronounced support to the idea of a mosque at Ground Zero does have the right intent in that sense. Yet this move comes across as one that defeats its own purpose.

The $100 million plan to develop an Islamic community center with a mosque from just two blocks away from the World Trade Centre where 3000 people were killed borders on insensitivity. The White House didn’t comment on the mosque controversy till Obama cleared the air at the White House Iftar dinner when he backed the mosque stating that “as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.” Quite a few other nations of the world do not allow freedom of religion like China, Iran and Arab countries. So for a change, this is one of the better symbolic gestures from US.

What makes it more of the opposite is the backdrop in which it is being planned. The idea has created tremendous polarity. Republican Senator Newt Gingrich expressed an extremely controversial criticism when he said “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington.” The comparison isn’t even fit for debate, but the mosque issue needs to be looked at more sensitively by the government. A mosque is the symbol of peace and love, but having a mosque at Ground Zero has the potential to create the wrong vibes and even increase animosity between different faiths.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links