Ushering in change with people in mind

Turnaround situations can fail if HR management is not taken as a strategic issue to look into. It is more important than the financial merits of the change process. This is because any change process creates uncertainty amongst people with regard to their future. The need to protect one’s interest takes precedence over anything else. Hence, if the people are convinced and they believe that change is not going to affect them adversely, they support it to make it a reality, else there shall be resistance of all forms and shape. This is an important aspect for HR professionals to understand, and all initiatives should be directed to bring about the clarity they seek. It is not possible to have a change without affecting some people’s interest which may be job, role, career, etc. Here, the important thing is to outline why this is happening, what are their future growth options and how the organisation can support them. The worst thing is to keep people in the dark and expect them to hear about things from the grapevine. For once, over communication is better in any change process.

The other two aspects that need attention are the human aspect; we are dealing with people and not numbers and names in a spreadsheet. Each person should be given adequate attention and opportunities to be heard in a non-threatening environment. Some of these sessions can become emotionally stressful and require professional counselling. Read more..

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Innovation and Change

Innovation brings in change, value, success, enabling organisations to align with changing business paradox. Innovation becomes imperative to cope with the situational demand, for keeping the business agile, to improve productivity and cost, to get return on investment and add value to the customers. Organisations skilled in innovation are early winners as they can conceive the need for a change in early stages and make things happen distinctively. In a dynamic and effervescent environment of change and innovation, HR’s role in facilitating the transition becomes important.

During the gestation of current state and innovation, chances of getting in redundancy are high. Organisations need to identify the skill gaps, understand training needs and quickly implement programmes to enable the employee to come onboard, ramp-up and get motivated to move on. Taking employees along, empathising with them, simplifying and clarifying their thoughts and facilitating them to sense and value the new is the key to carry a change successfully.

Managing change by a process-oriented approach

Things that organisations need to practice to involve staff in the process of change and innovation include:
• Using the 3Cs (Communication, Communication & Communication) effectively, i.e. communicating the change process through multiple channels.
• Provide the employees with information, tools, and other resources for an easy transition.
• Organisations need to look at the volunteers and sponsors within the work groups to gain the buy-in and smooth execution.
• Identify star advocates in each work group.
• Use rewards and recognition to facilitate the change process among employees.
• Continuously plan ahead on how to handle resistance to change by identifying natural restraining elements and ways to overcome them.
• Monitor and effectively manage change lethargy by constantly keeping employees motivated. Read more...

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Dave Shemmans (CEO, Ricardo Plc.) & his Group HR Director, Timothy Hargreaves come together to emphasise on core CEO-HR issues in a well-run business

....The core issue for HR is to provide the right skills at the right time and place required by the business, while protecting the company’s long-term knowledge base. As a publicly quoted company, it is essential that all our core business functions – of which HR is crucial in a people-led business – are acutely aware of the financial performance implications of their respective activities.

Q. How can you ensure the CEO’s voice reaches all?
Dave: The maintenance of effective channels of employee communication is extremely important to Ricardo. We invest significant resources in the production of monthly internal newsletters both for the group and for each of the main geographical operating divisions. These are used as the basis of team briefings in which staff can raise and discuss questions, and also learn about the ongoing projects.

We also provide an adapted version of the briefing given to our investors at our financial mid-year and year-end. These are presented in town hall meeting style, in which questioning and discussion are encouraged. Collectively, these channels of communication build upon the more direct employee supervision and management frameworks such as appraisal mechanisms to ensure each employee appreciates the relevance of his contribution to the firm’s success. Read more...

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How far is the Cheer for Chair?

HRleadership should now have a prominent chair in the boardroom. Since the last few years there has been a lot of talk in the business world as to whether HR has made the successful transition from managing the human capital to being a ‘strategic business partner’. The HR department in many organisations feels that the transition has been successful, while some opine that it has a long way to go. However, there are still very few examples to support the claim that HR has made a crucial business impact.

Through the entire process of business’ evolution and development, most HR departments have continued to be in their conventional roles – being functional practitioners. So, it is not surprising that HR managers point out that their team members spend the bulk of their time primarily carrying out HR services and handling transactions.

The question remains: will these customary and long-established roles for the HR executive continue to thrive, and if that is the case, for how long? Or, is there a higher calling for them around the corner – a role that is vital and imperative for the business.

Over the years, CEOs’ expectations from HR have changed. There is a new sense of purpose from the CEO. He prepares a revival plan for his company and expects the members of the management to carry out primary responsibility in helping administer the new plan successfully. Specifically, he needs a change agent who will serve as a trusted counsel and an internal strategic partner. Click here to read more...

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MANISH CHOUDHARY VP & MD, PITNEY BOWES SOFTWARE INDIA

Taking head-on the challenge of setting up Pitney Bowes base in India, Mr. Manish Choudhary, in 2007, moved to his native place as an expat, armed with over 10 years of cross-global experience at the PBBI headquarters at Troy, New York. Mr. Choudhary’s efforts to try to walk before he could run made him a leader who understands business at the grass-roots level. The India centre has grown to become a top employer within 5 years.

Q. Architecture and business management; you make an amazing combination. What led to it?
A. After a degree in architecture, I went to the U.S. for my postgraduation from the University of Akron, Ohio. Later, I did executive MBA from Anderson School of Management followed by a management course at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

However, I think I am more like an architect who is into sketching and painting. I believe if you make your passion your profession, it becomes difficult to maintain the passion you have. I like photography, but if I make it my career I will eventually lose interest in it.

Q. What career idea would interest you the most when you were growing up?
A. As a child I thought I would be an engineer. I always believe that things change rapidly; and I have the ability to adapt and change quickly with time. As a child, I would try different things and wait till something strikes. If things would not happen, they were never meant to happen.

Q. Share your experience of setting up Pitney Bowes in India?
A. The experience has been rewarding and I have grown on both professional and personal fronts. The experience has made me wiser and faster. I remember when I hired the first person in India, I spoke for three hours and the interviewee spoke for three minutes. The only thing he asked was ‘do you have an office’. To my no, he said he would come back once we have an office. We chose a creative way to hire, even picked up visiting cards from a restaurant bowl! click here to read full inverview...

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Paras Ajmera (Director – Operations & HR, Financial Technologies Group)

Q. What is your signature leadership style?
A. I believe in employee empowerment. I am quick in decision making and execution, and expect the same from others.

Q. Any mentors you admire?
A. My mentor is none other than Mr. Jignesh Shah, our Chairman and Group CEO. I truly admire his vision, passion, and the ability to shape ideas into world-class institutions.

Q. How do you balance your work-life and your family-life?
A. I will be honest here; balancing work and family life is indeed difficult. I believe that utmost commitment is required when you are at work. In fact, when I am at work, I work to the exclusion of all else. However, I do try to ensure that all my Sundays and holidays are spent exclusively with my family. I take an annual holiday with my entire family, which includes my parents, brothers, and their respective families. I also try to take as many short trips as I can manage. As a family, we enjoy trekking and all our family trips are a mix of adventure and scenic locales across the world. Doing things with the family works extremely well for me to maintain a connect. Click here to continue...

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Ashok Mittal, (Chancellor, lovely PRofessional University) Spotlights the need to change Academic Curricula to fit The Industry Requirements, in Conversation with Schweta Chaturved

Continued...On producing talent in India, he says one problem area calling attention is the mindset that children should study seriouslyonly till plus 2 and it is all fun in college. “It is just the opposite elsewhere. This ideology of the society needs to be changed. Institutes can do up to an extent but it is the internal motivation that needs to be brought in,” underlines Mr. Mittal. Also, it is essential for a student to understand that the examination system is to benchmark something to which industry can take a decision. However, during campus placements every student should know what he or she is capable of and what the job demands. If a student has done this exercise, he stands out, says Mr. Mittal. Besides, there are hosts of things required to groom a student. At LPU, skill development is an ongoing process that starts from day one. Elaborates Mr. Mittal, “LPU has set up a student centre which is more like a mall. It is one lakh sq ft area of shopping and is run by students. This gives student a testing ground to test his business ideas.”

LPU has faculty from various parts of India and abroad. Those from outside India need extra support so they are given a contact point for all their needs, he says and adds that faculty from outside is made to attend lectures of star faculty members on how to handle a class. LPU also has an HR and training department which is unique in itself, says he. If there is a requirement of a particular skill set, the department gets it arranged. There is also a quality assurance department which ensures students are satisfied. On how to promote faculty research, he says initially research needs a lot of money and resources, so industries should come forward to support it. Read More...

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She Writes Story Contest winner: Chitralekha

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

Chitralekha was born and raised in South Mumbai. She has lived in Jamshedpur, Hong Kong, Singapore, Los Angeles, 

Chicago, and New York and wandered the rest of the globe observing cultures. She is presently parked in New Delhi, trying to crystallize the lessons of a nomadic life.

read an extract from chitralekha's story 'conundrum'

Shanta Kamble and Pramila Dhoifude had been friends for years. They were both widows, nearly the same age, and neighbours in Harish Chandra Chawl, near Dadar, in Mumbai.

The chawl had been built in the 1950s in an area adjoining the National Textile Mill. Most of the tenants had worked in the mill before it shut down in the early '80s, following an unsuccessful strike by a prominent trade union leader. Some residents had purchased their rooms against 'pagdi' from the original allottees, and had nothing to do with the mill. The two women belonged to the second category, which gave them something in common.

Shanta Kamble was fifty-five-years-old. Her late husband had worked in the Port Trust and left her with a small pension after his demise. She lived with her unmarried son, daughter, and nephew. The nephew, Vishwas, had lived with them since he was twelve. Shanta's son worked as an assistant in a computer firm which provided technical support for home computer owners.

She had just arranged his marriage to a girl who worked as a telephone operator in an export company.

Shantabai's daughter Madhuri taught in a coaching class. She was dark skinned, with acne scars all over her face; a fact reflected in her mother's oft-stated inability in arranging her marriage.

The nephew was economically the weakest, and worked as a peon in the nearby municipal school. He had not studied beyond the 8th standard. He was a handsome fellow, with a jaunty air; the only son of Shanta's sister who was married to an unemployed drunkard. The aunt was frequently praised for her selflessness in taking him in since the sister could not fend for her son. It was acknowledged within the family that all efforts must be made to prevent the nephew from taking after his father. On occasion, when the family visited Vishwas' mother in their village, they left a spare key with Pramila Dhoifude. She would clean the house for them while they were away and bring a plastic pouch of milk on the day of their arrival.

in her own words: chitralekha

Have you always been a writer? What made you start writing?

This is my first attempt at fiction.

What inspired you to enter She Writes?

The categories were so intriguing. I was spurred to put in my two bits' worth.

Why did you choose the category you did?

I have been a Woman in the City all my life. There are many experiences women can have in a city, some common to all cities, some unique to a particular city, all worth telling. I'm glad MSN/Random House added the condition of including a quote, it added a bit of discipline to the project. Otherwise I would have gone into orbit!

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?

This is the first time I have written fiction for publication. I wrote it on my laptop in my favourite chair...I hope this process works in future!

Who is your favourite author?

I have a long list of them. The world is full of exceptional writers, living and dead. It is a pleasure to think a new "favourite" could be around the next page.

Which book has inspired you the most?

"Ramakrishna - A Phenomenon" by Christopher Isherwood. Bengalis are steeped in the traditions of Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. It was fascinating to explore a western viewpoint, especially by someone like Isherwood, who is not associated with religiosity. It was like a mirror held up to the self you think you know but don't. Which key piece of advice would you give to any other budding writer? Writing is like giving birth, it is in the hands of a higher power. Let the process take you over.

Matthew Cooper (GM – Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon) found The Answer for better Engagement

Continued... This committee is chaired by me and the conversations are frank and private. We have several focus groups within the team who are responsible for the review of existing programmes and the strategic development of new ones.

This forum has given our Supervisors a chance to be heard, create a relationship with me, and understand what challenges senior leadership face daily. It has ensured that the rolling out of programmes is done seamlessly since overall execution has been thought out by the people who have to do it. I, of course, moderate the discussion with a broad picture opinion to ensure we are keeping in mind all elements of our balanced scorecard. I am also given a frank insight into the pulse or temperature of the line level associates who perhaps feel more comfortable talking to someone they work with very closely in their own operation.

The associates look to the senior leadership for their careers. These supervisors are now working every second day with their GM on ways to engage the team, drive customer service, and enhance the business. This elevates their status and has allowed me to highlight our future leaders first hand. The sense of pride and enthusiasm is overwhelming.

This strategy has paid dividends, as the Associate Engagement Index for our 2010 Associate Opinion Survey conducted by AON Hewitt for Marriott International was the highest in Asia Pacific with a score of 99 per cent

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Events that will shake up 2009

 Dark humour has often been derided as the last refuge of the cynical hack. But look at the other side: it can also trigger a ghost of a bemused smile in these troubled and uncertain times. I plead guilty and provide you with my forecast of the major events that will define 2009.

l Ramalingam Raju will be given an award for corporate governance. After all, his company's name is 'Satyam'
l Mamta Banerjee will become the brand ambassador for the Nano. She will not charge anything and continue to wear crumpled sarees.
l Ratan Tata will launch a campaign called 'The Audacity of Hope' and Tata Motors will successfully take over Ford Motor Co. After a few months, they will approach Barack Obama for a bailout package.
l Kingfisher and Jet will merge to form a new entity and the chairman will be former Union Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel. Vijay Mallya will be in charge of air hostess' uniforms and cuisine.
l Mukesh and Anil Ambani will kiss and make up. They will put up a joint bid for the Union Finance Minister's portfolio in the new coalition government.
l Thanks to gifts from grateful subjects and devotees, Mayawati's assets will cross $3 billion by September 2009. Forbes will put her on the cover in a special issue on new Asian billionaires and tycoons.


l Bajaj Auto will change its ad campaign theme from ''Hamaara Bajaj'' to ''Bechara Bajaj'' with a special appeal to consumers to stop plummeting sales.
l George Bush will open a brand new petrol pump in Texas. Veterans of the Iraq war will get a free cowboy hat when they tank up.
l In the spring of 2009, terrorists will invade Brigade Road in Bangalore and massacre more than 300 Indians and foreigners. A. R. Antulay will call it a conspiracy by Hindutva forces. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will fly down to Delhi and Islamabad and insist that Pakistan ''does something''.
l Real estate companies will sponsor the marriage and honeymoon of young couples who book their flats.
l Walmart will open in India and very soon, Sunil Bharti Mittal will be offering free Airtel connections to Indian shoppers who prefer to stay away from this abiding marvel of American capitalism.
l As the bulls go on a rampage again, the Sensex will accelerate past 25,000 points by October, 2009 and then Indian investors will suddenly wake up and realise that it was a pre-Diwali dream.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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The Storm is over

The Small Wonder has been Struggling to Match The Demands of its Target Group after The Settlement of the Initial Hype. The Storm is over. B&E gives a Detailed Analysis of The Past Issues and The Future that Lies Ahead for The Nano

And then came a clinching shocker when I picked up the newspapers in the early hours of December 2, 2010. Each month, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) publishes the latest sales figures of all auto brands in India. In November 2010, the SIAM report said that 509 units of the Nano were sold. This, when auto sales actually grew by more than 40%. And believe it or not, Nano sales were lower than that of Mercedes Benz which managed 518 units in November. Look at it this way: the cheapest car in the world sold 509 units in a month when close to 200,000 cars were lapped up by the Indian consumer.

Quite clearly, Ratan Tata seems to be pre-occupied with other unsavoury things even as his Nano dreams seems to be on the verge of unraveling. At the moment, he is angry (let me add justifiably) with the Radia tape leaks and has even taken the matter to the Supreme Court. But sooner or later (if he is not already doing so already), Ratan Tata must summon his top lieutenants and strategists to revive the flagging fortunes of the Nano. At Business & Economy, we refused to be swayed by the early hype about the Nano becoming the best selling car of history. And now, we don’t think it is time to pronounce that the Nano is a colossal bomb. But surely the time has come to ask that simple and straightforward question: Can Ratan Tata Salvage His Nano Dream?

Our colleagues and reporters in Business & Economy and The Sunday Indian spoke to dozens of dealers and people associated with the auto industry in Guawahati, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Delhi, Chandigarh and many other places. The first impressions that we gathered was that Tata dealers were stubbornly optimistic about the future prospects of the Nano – now based more on hope rather than hype. Most of the Tata dealers blamed the many incidents of new Nanos catching fire and the negative publicity surrounding it as a dampener on sales and new bookings. Says Dinesh Shukla of Ahmedabad based Swati Autolink, “Few instances of firing in the engine are also a matter of concern. Though you can’t state it as a manufacturing defect, but it has created some impact on potential consumers.”

Talk to auto industry analysts and you get a similar sense of hope being the overriding factor when it comes to the future prospects of the Nano. Says Vaishali Jajoo of Angel Broking, “It will not be right for now to say that the Nano has failed in the Indian market. The unit sales fell in the month of November. It was mainly because of the operational shift at the back-end wherein the company is trying to shift the entire production from its Uttarakhand plant to the Sanand plant apart from many other reasons”

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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The Faculty Dearth Goes On

Indian B-Schools are Facing an Acute Crisis of a Faculty Crunch and if Steps On War Footing are not Undertaken, Indian B-Schools might fall short of their Own Quality Benchmarks Themselves

When it started in India a few decades back, it was ‘just another professional course’. Soon Indian management education took the entire world of management by a storm. But as things stand, it stands at a juncture where it might get lost into oblivion in the coming years. The reason can be explained by simple demand and supply economics. The coming up of a number of management institutes in India has in a way afflicted the entire B-school with a unique problem – a problem that has given rise to an acute dearth of quality faculty. As per statistics, there were 600 colleges offering 70,000 MBA seats in 2000. However, by the end of 2009, the number increased to 1,400 colleges offering 120,000 seats. Even considering that one institute needs about 35-50 full-time faculties, 1,400 institutes would need roughly 70,000 professors. In a country of 1.2 billion, that would seem like a small number. But only 40% of this demand is being met currently and the rest is met through part-time visiting faculty.

While one reason for quality personnel avoiding the academic field is clearly the low salaries in India (see chart for the salaries international professors get), another is plainly lack of Ph.Ds. As per the emerging trend in the last decade, B-schools have gradually turned towards taking the services of industry professionals who can bring hands on experience from their respective fields to share real-life experiences within the framework of the theoretical models existing in text books. But the biggest drawback of the presence of a huge number of guest faculties in Indian B-schools is the lack of extensive and quality research work that could prove to be the knowledge base of the future. This is because guest faculty work on per lecture or per class basis and do not have the time or the interest to leave their high paying jobs in the corporate world to indulge in quality research within the university or institute.

Even Dr. Vijay Govindarajan, Professor of International Business at Tuck School of Business and founding director of Tuck’s Center for Global Leadership sounds his concern (read his interview in this cover story package). According to him, the quality of Indian management faculty is abysmal. “The student quality is world-class and as good as Harvard or Wharton. But the quality of faculty is abysmal because there is no research culture in India. If you don’t research, you keep teaching the same things over and over again. Research is the process of discovering knowledge, without which, you are retelling someone else’s ideas.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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MSMES: CREDIT AVAILABILITY AND GROWTH

Independent India has seen the MSME sector grow by leaps and bounds and is proving to be the most promising and reliable sector for job creation and poverty alleviation in India. Despite an elaborate and dynamic policy framework, the road to the next level for MSMEs continues to be hindered largely due to the lack of adequate and timely credit.

Any collateral or third party guarantee free credit facilities extended by eligible institutions known as Member Lending Institutions (MLIs, at present 117 in total) with a maximum credit cap of Rs.10 million are eligible to be covered. The maximum guarantee cap is set at Rs.6.25 million or Rs.6.5 million. The extent of guarantee cover is 85% for micro enterprises for credit up to Rs.5 million. The coverage under CGS has made a record by covering 150,000 guarantee approvals in FY 2009-10, which was the highest so far in any single year. With this, the cumulative number of credit guarantees crossed the 300,000 mark on March 31st, 2010; covering an aggregate credit of Rs.115.51 billion, extended by 85 MLIs in 35 States/UTs. The corpus of CGTMSE is being contributed by the Government and SIDBI in the ratio of 4:1 respectively and has contributed Rs.19.06 billion to the corpus up to March 31, 2010. By the end of the 11th Plan, the corpus is to be raised to Rs.25 billion. Although the government has placed institutions and mechanisms to deliver financial help and other assistance to MSMEs, the implementation of these schemes needs to be monitored at the ground level. Unless the credit guarantee system is strengthened and streamlined, smaller units would continue to suffer neglect in accessing the much needed credit for both inception and expansion.

In India, the situation is further complicated by the fact that the preferred mode of finance is either self or other sources. According to the MSME Annual report 2009, more than 85% SMEs source finance either through the self-finance route or are unable to get funds, while only around 15% of the total approach financial institutions and non-institutions like moneylenders. Financial institutions like Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI), SIDBI, Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI), and other major public sector banks like SBI, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda and private banks like ICICI, Standard Chartered and others are providing financial assistance for commercialisation of domestic innovations and importing relevant technologies for growth. Small Industry Development Organization (SIDO) is another prominent government institution offering a number of financial services to SMEs. In addition to the above, government has recently emphasised on the importance of ‘credit rating scheme’ to help smoothen the loan facility process by banks and financial institutions for the SMEs. Under this scheme, the credit rating agencies assess a company’s credit worthiness and give it a rating which is widely accepted by banks and other financial institutions. This, in turn, facilitates hassle free flow of credit to SMEs, while enhancing the comfort-level of the lending banks. The other cherry on the cake is that the government reimburses 75% of the fees charged by the rating agency subject to a ceiling amount. T. R. Bajalia, Executive Director, IDBI Bank says, “Credit agencies have played a vital role as we welcome independent and reliable credit assessment. As credit agencies have done due diligence for an enterprise, it lessens our work and fastens the entire loan granting process.” Still, one of the largest problems in this is that most MSMEs are not aware about this credit rating facility. Outstanding credit to MSMEs has increased at a CAGR of 32.55% from 2005 to reach Rs.2.57 trillion. But total contribution of MSMEs to credit disbursal by financial institutions has improved very slightly from 8.8% in 2005 to 11.4% in 2009. So a more comprehensive information dissemination programme is a must to reach out to the others. Only 1.5 million of the 30 million odd MSMEs are in fact registered.

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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
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IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

G’Five is the... G’Five who?!

It took time to come to India. But now that it’s here, the firm is giving nightmares to leading brands in the Indian handset market. What has made G’Five click? Critically, will it become the #2 soon?

Seven years back, you could have betted on a roulette about how the utterly unknown Chinese handset manufacturer G’Five would never see the better part of positive growth, leave alone leave the Chinese shores – and you could have won a King’s ransom for each bet that you made. Most didn’t even know that G’Five existed. Many still don’t. In short, when it started selling handsets, few gave G’Five a chance to even survive. For the world, Nokia was then the head of the handset tribe, controlling a 42.2% pie of the worldwide sales to end users. Nokia was the metaphorical emblem for Western dominance, and overtaking the giant for a lesser known Chinese handset maker, whose product quality was criticised from the very beginning, seemed an illogically distant dream – if at all even a dream. Today, forget the roulette, the situation is fantastically different. It is a completely different tale than the one that was expected, and especially so in India, where the majority of the 1.3 billion-strong population are turning their attention to low-priced handsets. First there was Micromax which destroyed the previously held concepts of handset marketing, and now G’Five seems to have caught on faster than Micromax. As per the most recent Q2, 2010 report by IDC, G’Five is the third-largest handset seller in the Indian market today, with a 7.3% share, and is just an arm’s length away from becoming #2. In reality, displacing the once dominant Nokia, which had a market share of 78.8% when 2006 started (a figure which has dropped to 36.3% today), which just about appeared an eccentric objective, seems to be more plausible now.

But then, one great quarter does not a market leader make – and G’Five knows that pretty well. Almost amazingly, G’Five has attempted to market itself right at the base ground level, rather than just depending upon word-of-mouth or corporate sales. A quick visit to the largest mobile-handset market in Asia, situated in Karol Bagh (close to central New Delhi) is enough to provide evidence of G’Five’s growing ground level might. There are over 20,000 sellers in this market and the place is flooded with Chinese handsets and look-alikes – and G’Five is one of the few ‘branded’ products you could find in every handset shop. The mass market buyers apparently love it; as for the sellers, they have their reservations and preferences! But even here, G’Five has scored a tactical victory over both the premium brands and the low-priced competitors. “The G’Five handsets offer a very handsome margin, and therefore, we try and push this brand to the low-price loving customers,” says Siddharth Tiwari, a trader who has been in the business (and the market) for over a decade. And to imagine G’Five offers no warranty, no high-quality or service and yet walks away handsomely with the green bills!

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

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

GENERAL MOTORS: SUCCESSION

 An IPO in the pipeline means that the US government could be well on its way to make a swift exit from running GM. This portends positive tidings for GM, which is recovering on the numbers. But a far more daunting challenge is looming up on the horizon. By Pawan Chabra

The company has also said in its S-1 filing sent to B&E, “Operating in a large number of different regions and countries exposes us to political, economic, and other risks as well as multiple foreign regulatory requirements.” There is no denying that the strategy of dumping brands like Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Hummer has fetched success to the company in no time. While the IHS Global Insight research report forecasts global vehicle sales to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.0% from 2009 to 2015, GM has returned to profits even after the vehicle sales are running about 25% below the recent historical trends. In fact, it is expected that when the consumer sentiment improves further, the auto major will scale new heights in the coming times. Similarly, the rating agency, Moody’s has remarked in its global automotive outlook update, “Compared to where the industry was a year ago, when General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Corp. were in the throes of bankruptcy protection, and when many economies were still in recession, the turnaround in volume sales, demand, and to a lesser extent in pricing, has been faster than we anticipated.”

But the challenges that GM faces today is even beyond getting its IPO right on the bourses. Ensuring a sustainable sales performance will be a relatively easier task with the launching of fuel-efficient and competitively priced models; but the larger problem of succession planning is what could be a much more daunting concern in the coming time. The appointment of Dan Akerson on September 1, 2010 got the fourth CEO for GM on board in the past 18 months (see table). Akerson has taken control to ensure a smooth comeback of the company from Ed Whitacre Jr., a former telecom executive despite the fact that the telecom executive turned PE expert has never run a heavy-industrial company in his career so far (forget about one of the size GM’s operations).

The major problem that GM has been through is to find a suitable leader to run GM successfully. Whitacre was selected by the US Treasury, and apparently wasn’t planning to be there for the long term. So it was decided that the company should pitch a more stable leader before the IPO. Even auto czar Steven Rattner, who led the Treasury Department’s auto task force, has written a book ‘Overhaul: An insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Rescue of the Auto Industry’; mentioning the difficulty of finding someone to manage the world’s largest automaker.

For the ones who haven’t heard about Rattner’s role in the scheme of things that often, he was the one who went through, among other things, the daunting task of finding GM’s next CEO; a job that was rejected by the likes of Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn. Rattner fired Rick Wagoner as the Chairman and CEO of GM, and promoted Henderson as his replacement and eventually appointed Whitacre as the Chairman & CEO of the auto major. However, after Whitacre’s unexpected exit in August, Rattner was pushed again in a tight spot. And as finding an outsider would have taken much more time with the IPO development looming, Rattner decided to go with Akerson as he was one of the most promising names on the board of the company. In the book to be published on October 14, Rattner points out that Akerson himself had declined the offer of being the CEO of GM twice (as he neither wanted to leave his PE job at the Carlyle Group nor move to Detroit); before he finally opted to take up the role. GM may be back to learning the ways of the market, but it’s hard to say that all is well with a hesitant General at the helm, and little view on the leadership. Where in heavens is Plan B?

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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

SRI LANKA: PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS

Rajapakse is turning the Lankan constitution into a useless shred of paper

By destroying the self-governing nature of key institutions and reducing them to puppets, Rajapakse is obviously not going up in global popularity ratings. To further cement his hold over the government, Rajapakse is also employing dynasty politics. Now, he is also in charge of various ministries – defence, finance and ports and aviation – and has appointed his brother (who is not an elected member of parliament) as defence secretary, in charge of all three divisions of armed forces. Two other brothers have portfolios and his son is also an MP; this is apart from many cousins getting plum bureaucratic postings.

Not only can Rajapakse now easily manipulate the state machinery to keep himself in power, he has also managed to leave little of what the contemporary world knows as democratic governance. Yes, elections are still held – the last opponent (Fonseka) has been jailed and a court martial is in progress. Long live Sri Lanka; long gone democracy!

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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

Despite a fall in profits in the last fiscal

Despite a fall in profits in the last fiscal, nmdc is still among the top 20 profit makers in the country. But will the honeymoon continue for the mining giant? Deepak Ranjan Patra finds out... 

Meanwhile, considering NMDC’s ambitious expansion plans, the first quarter results seem to be just the beginning of another era for it. With intentions to diversify, the company at present is setting up a 3 MTPA steel plant in Chhatisgarh and two pellet plants with installed capacity of 1.2 MTPA and 2 MTPA in Chhatisgarh and Karnataka, respectively with a capex of `26.5 billion to be spent over the next five years. As expected, once the plants become fully functional, NMDC will witness huge rise in its cash flows from FY2013 onwards. Moreover, in order to securitise its position and expand its reach in the global arena, the company is currently looking forward to acquire mines in regions like Africa, South America and also Australia.

But then, before stepping into the future, NMDC has to deal with the biggest problem of iron ore pricing. While metal prices are on rise in the global market, the company has so far passed on only two-third of the increased cost to its customers. So, the question remains that for how long can NMDC sustain the same stand without getting its bottom-line affected?

Nevertheless, the company sounds confident to sail through the odds as Raghavan says, “The year ahead holds much promise for NMDC. It will excel its performance through the next three quarters and achieve all-time high records.”

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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

INDIA’S 100 MOST PROFITABLE COMPANIES

John Danner, Senior Fellow, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

 

Conversely, big company managers need to understand what it takes to really listen to customer’s needs and wants, be willing to improvise as well as maintain high quality consistency, and give their people freedom to explore as well as execute new ideas. These are precisely the skills and culture that entrepreneurs relish, whether by personal style or market necessity or both.

But, today’s business schools train students to manage the enterprises of yesterday’s successful entrepreneurs. Classes focus on the issues involved in running large, established companies. Indeed, many MBA graduates see their future careers in the offices and cubicles of these firms. The crucible for both entrepreneurship and innovation usually requires experimentation, failure, reformulation and resilience. Reality is probably the best teacher for this.

Even business schools can provide such a crucible, by encouraging students to “creatively collide” with one another’s ideas, and experiment with their business visions early and often knowing that failures are highly likely but also represent superb learning opportunities to improve strategies for later efforts. The more interdisciplinary the crucible, the better opportunities for experimenting and learning at an early stage.

Profound economic growth, not to mention meaningful improvements in global security and environmental sustainability, will not come from today’s markets in the developed world; it will come from new ventures, products and services focused on the needs and aspirations of the four billion people who now live on less than $10 a day. This is where the future and fate of capitalism resides.

That’s the entrepreneurial challenge for which B-schools need to prepare their students, whether as future CEOs and business managers responsible for ensuring their large corporations survive for another generation, or as would-be entrepreneurs courageous enough to create the next “Power 100s” of the world.

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

“THE #2 RANK IS NOT THE ONLY THING THAT ONE WORKS FOR.”

Arvind Saxena, Director – Sales & Marketing, Hyundai Motors India, explains to B&E why competition is no threat to Hyundai in India, and why Hyundai does not need to worry about capacity expansions

B&E: Over the past few months, the competition in the small car segment has been growing thicker. And the future promises nothing different. Is this situation a threat for Hyundai India?
Arvind Saxena (AS): Competition pushes you to bring in more innovation and enhance the market size. We fight with the same brands worldwide and we haven’t really limited ourselves on any front, during the past 12 years. Actually, Hyundai has been the most lethal competitor for players in the Indian auto industry. We are far stronger today as compared to what we were when we entered the market. We have a wide network, full range of cars and most importantly, have consumer trust. Hence, we are today very much geared up to face the rising competition.

B&E: After Hyundai launched the Santro in 1998, it took the company just six months to capture the second spot in the Indian market. How do you plan to save that spot now that your company is under great threat from the Tata Nano?
AS: Slots, positions and spots in the Indian automotive industry are very subjective matters to talk about. We definitely want to be a major player and we will do everything possible to achieve greater heights. For instance, we are expanding out network and working on future models. Many things are being done to retain our #2 position in the industry.

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