Discrimination should end An Interview with Dr. M.H.Ilias (Associate Professor, India-Arab Cultural Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia)

The history of union activism in West Asia dates back to the 1920s. How do you see the evolution of trade unions in this region?
A. We have different phases of evolution in West Asia that was quite parallel to re-emergence of different interrelated movements. In the 1950s, all these movements were patronised by the State, especially in Egypt and Iraq. In the 1980s and the 1990s, these were replaced by Islamic movements. With globalisation of economies and liberalisation of polities, new forces became the social base of the state. The state could not mediate between the conflicts of market forces and society, thus a need for voice of the masses was felt. Labour forces, patronised by the state, could not fill up this void and automatically the Islamic movement came to the forefront.

Q. Is there a need for reform in the labour laws in West Asia?
A. There is discrimination among national communities and labours from different nationalities. There is inequality in compensation structure and living conditions. Therefore, a serious look is needed to mend the situation. Click here to read full interview...

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The Human Factor

The great disciple: An Interview with Bhawana Pandey, Head – HR, Protiviti Consulting Pvt. Ltd.

Q. Please tell us about your academic bacground?
A. Master’s degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations.

Q. How would you describe your first job?
A. An enriching experience.

Q. Your best day at work?
A. I start every day anticipating it to be the best yet.

Q. What all occupies your desk at office?
A. A calendar, watch and photograph of my son.

Q. What is that one thing that makes you happy in office?
A. Enthusiasm and passion of people around me.

Q. The most valuable people lesson you have learnt?
A.  Trust people and recognise the differences in personalities.

Q. Which has been your toughest professional decision so far?
A.  I had to leave a well-settled job after nine years.

Q. Your favourite one-liner?
A. Whatever you do, give it your best.

Q. Your career path, if not HR? Click here to read full interview

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Not just educated, but responsible citizens

Real education will not teach you to compete, it will teach you to cooperate. It will not teach you to fight and come first, but to be creative, loving and blissful, without any comparison with the other people. It will not teach you that you can be happy only when you are the first. That is sheer nonsense. You cannot be happy just by coming first. And in trying to be first you go through such misery that you become habituated to misery by the time you become first.

The above words of spiritual leader Osho Rajneesh ring particularly true, especially in today’s fast-paced, hyper-competitive world when education is crunched to mere marks and percentages, and the human element is overlooked. University heads now face the challenge of ensuring that educational agenda also takes cognisance of the ultimate goal of producing students with a holistic, selfless attitude to life, and are aware of all their duties and responsibilities and not just their rights and freedom.

Administration is not the real challenge; it is creating systems and policies that enrich students and the faculty. Developing teaching and learning resources is easy, but developing such resources that enhance development is difficult. And developing such resources that enhance quality is all the more difficult.

Many university heads possess a background in administration and in the case of some, stints in the civil services may have even taught them governance and management. Yet the challenges of education can be far more complex, even for people from meritorious background. Click here to read full article..

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Making a better India

Q. Since independence, India has progressed a lot when it comes to education, but still there exists a gap. Please share your views on how this gap can be bridged.

A. Although, today India today shows signs of tremendous growth in the education space, there still lies ample scope of improvisation in that area. The challenge for all educators today is to develop employable lifelong learners and establish world-class standards by infusing students with a sense of power, broader horizons and larger world view.

Realising the critical aspect of the Indian education system, schools today must introduce well-researched concepts with world-class infrastructure and adequate pedagogic attention to every child to be on a par with the education received globally and develop their individual skills and capabilities. Schools have to ensure that teachers are well-trained and are committed to provide personalised attention to every student to help develop their talents in the right direction.

Q. Teaching needs a lot of dedication, commitment, passion and the urge to create better human beings. Do you think teachers today nurture the same passion or do they just take it as an alternate career option?

A. Today, creating an ambience that fosters better learning is imperative. Teachers as mentors have the enormous task of motivating students through positive connections.

Teaching has always been considered as a vocation and not a profession. However, it is a pity that many teachers today look at it as a mere profession and are just concerned about finishing their syllabus. When the occasion arises, they quickly move to greener pastures. Having said that, we should not forget that even today many teachers continue to be faithful to their noble vocation as a teacher to create better human beings for a better world. Click here to read more..

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Higher bar for higher growth

Economic figures cannot be the sole narrator of a nation’s overall growth. The value-adding indicators are health and education – the non-income Human Development Index (HDI). The 2010 Human Development Report too presented that there has been very little correlation between economic growth and improvements in health and education, even after years. And countries with fairly low rank in economic growth have made much progress in the non-income HDI; Cuba and Palau have non-income development similar to the developed nations.

Look at the development index and it has a lot to do with the way things are done. If we measure what we do, we can manage the outcome up to a considerable extent. Superpower United States and Asia’s fastest-moving economy China, both have got their teeth into improving the education system. The ‘No Child Left Behind’ Act – introduced in the George W Bush regime – witnessed bipartisan support and set a “high challenging standard” for students. It also requires the states to provide “highly qualified” teachers. This two-pronged strategy also lays increased accountability on teachers.

China often faces criticism for heavy indoctrination of politics at school level, one of the many issues offsetting its many minor and major educational reforms over the years. According to a UNESCO report, between 1990 to 2000 China experienced the sharpest decline in literacy rates of any E-9 country. Today, its higher education reform, however, talks about relaxation of central control and to give universities autonomy to allow academia an upper hand in functioning of schools. It also plans to quit the dependency on a single test and adopt a thorough assessment of students using multiple tests and factors. Click here to read more...

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“The lack of independent leadership in firms that combine the CEO and Chairman positions makes it difficult for the board to remove poorly performing managers”

“The lack of independent leadership in firms that combine the CEO and Chairman positions makes it difficult for the board to remove poorly performing managers,” according to Vidhan K Goyal and Chul W Park in their paper published in the Journal of Corporate Finance. The board’s role does not end with having an emergency succession plan in place but it also needs to specify all the required criteria that will be used to select the next CEO. The board should also explain why those criteria are critical keeping the future business plans of the company in mind. This approach will go a long way in calming investor concerns.

The boards should do a lot of thinking about the potential candidate as well as about the one already sitting in that top notch position, else the productivity might be the one suffering the most even if the crisis is not enough grave.

It is important to understand turnarounds do not happen overnight; the process of steadying the ship and starting to sail again often requires patience and endurance.

Replacing the captain might help calm down public and show a little on the scorecard, but it may not be the best move for building a champion team. Read more..

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Decipher the other side of the coin - IIPM Think Tank

An MBA graduate from Edinburgh Business School, UK, Ms. Shalini Kamath has nearly 24 years of experience in HR, Business Development, and Social & Community Development. She has worked with ChevronTexaco, Star India, KPMG and is an expert in start-up management. She is on the advisory board of TRRAIN (Trust for Retailers and Retail Associates of India) and a co-chairperson for the HR Western Sub-Committee of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

Q. Please share your views on HR as a turnaround enabler.
A. HR has a very strong role to play in turning a business around. However, the critical part is that HR first needs to understand the business case for a turnaround. In certain cases where the clarity does not exist, HR can play a vital role in analysing the areas where a turnaround could help the business to flourish, which sometimes, the business heads may have failed to identify. In such cases, HR also has to take the responsibility to make them understand the gravity of the situation. Once the business need for a turnaround is established, HR is positioned the best to work with the business to conduct the most efficient and effective interventions to bring about the positive people-related changes and business transformation through people.

Q. Are there any HR limitations that you see in such situations?
A. I see three limitations:
• The HR department is often divorced from the business and HR people work in isolation. Therefore, often the critical role that it can play in a turnaround is undermined. HR needs to upgrade its skills to a level where it can learn what is happening in the business so that the need for a turnaround is well understood or in certain situations it could be identified by the HR before a business encounters a problem.
• At the time of a turnaround it is generally the business head that does all the thinking and the implementation is left to HR. However, if there is a collaboration between business and HR, many untapped solutions may surface which would be more appropriate for the business.
• HR needs to keep itself updated with all the latest theories, tools and HR practices available in the marketplace to be able to find effective initiatives for specific turnaround needs. Read more...

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Barbara Mitchell (Managing Partner Mitchell Group)

....They put everyone through five weeks’ orientation which includes working for two weeks at their call centre so that everyone, including HR, finance, management, gets to experience and develop strong customer service skills. HR at Zappos is tasked with supporting these principles through hiring practices and applying good practices to maintain the focus on employing people who “get” what it means to be a customer-focused organisation.

Q. How can a CEO help selecting the best talent?
A. The CEO sets the corporate culture which is key to bringing in the best talent. Southwest Airlines encourages fun at work. They talk about how they “hire for attitude and train for skill”. Everyone, even the CEO, should be trained in good interviewing practices.

Q. How can a C-suite executive understand the HR nuances?
A. If the HR has business competencies, the CEO or others should be able to relate to him/her as easily as they do to each other. It is when HR is seen as an outsider who can talk only about HR-specific topics, that they have trouble relating to it.

The HR department should be able to talk the business language, read a profit and loss statement, and understand sales and marketing terms. In general, it should be able to understand what makes the business work! Read more..

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Persistent Performance Partnership

Q. What should CEOs do to ensure HR of their support in carrying out these functions smoothly?

A. First, they should start treating HR as a partner. They should give them the platform to speak on behalf of employees at the executive level and involve them in the business strategy and other important decisions that are taken in the company.

CEOs should also invest in the HR team to build themselves. In IT companies, usually all investments are made in training the technical people and there remains a want of efforts in helping people in the HR department.

Sometimes, HR team also needs exposure; they need to attend conferences and participate in business forums. A CEO should encourage them when they approach him with such requests. It is essential to understand that HR is not a support function and they are the business partners that help in meeting business goals.

Q. Do you think that the IT industry has fully explored the HR potential?
A. People are the real assets of IT companies and the company’s competency depends on the people they have. It is essential to recognise the importance of a good team and it is only good HR that can take care of the resources. Thus, we give a lot of importance on HR operations and invest in employees.

Q. How can the CEO assist HR in building the employer brand?
A. The CEO must assist HR in terms of creating an employer brand. At Persistent Systems, the HR team has a lot of ideas on how they can help. Mostly, they need encouragement and investment.

As far as the company’s overall brand strategy is concerned, the HR plays an integral part in it. The CEO should work along with the HR and provide it with whatever it needs to help the company develop a good brand within the employee community, and even outside the company.  Click here to read full interview...

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G8 SUMMIT: SWISS ALPS, DISNEYLAND TOUR ALSO OPTIONS...

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

Evian, France, 2003: “Iraq has WMDs! And everybody better contribute to kill that damn nuke-bomber Saddam!” We told you, Bush churns out gas better!
Georgia, USA, 2004: Main agenda: Extending the controversial Heavily In-debt Poor Countries [HIPC] initiative for debt-relief and to vaccines development. Achieved: Magnanimous relief to Iraq’s $120 billion debt on US insistence.
Gleneagles, Scotland, 2005: This summit, like all years before, was again aimed to provide $50 billion debt-relief to Africa [Nothing new! Nothing achieved!].

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2006: For the first time in recent history, the G8 leaders proactively agreed on energy security, fighting diseases and encouraging education. Oh yes, it didn’t at all mention them providing any financial assistance!
Heiligendamm, Germany, 2007: Top agenda: Africa! Promises made in 2005 [in Scotland] of $50 billion aid to Africa: More or less overlooked! Creditably, developed nations in all have donated around $2.5 trillion since 1960 to LDCs. However, official estimates confirm that even this falls short of the required – and so called ‘promised’ – aid amount by a mammoth $3.5 trillion. As per the World Bank, it will cost developed countries just 2.8 cents per person per week to meet the promise. But we believe the first world still hasn’t understood the cheapness of life’s existence for the poor.

Having said that, we have a strategy for poor beleaguered Nick. We suggest that instead of being uselessly exposed to global criticism year after year, the G8 should officially confirm that leaders would meet simply to have a good time. After that, hand over the event management to our team [please, we insist]! Disneyland, Star Cruise, bungee lessons, paragliding, you name it guys, we’ll have that for you. And what about least developed countries? Goddamn those Africans...

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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TELECOM: MNP

Mobile Number Portability Promises to Usher in a New Paradigm in Indian Telecom. While New Players would benefit, The Real Advantage would be to the Customers

Clearly, MNP would create a lot of new game changers in India, the world’s second largest mobile market, and would pose many new challenges for the service providers. Introduction of MNP now certainly shifts the balance to a huge extent towards the newer players, who can now attempt to gain from poaching subscribers of the traditional incumbents. Operators would now need to invest significantly on attractive schemes and promotions. Investment would be required on the marketing front with key focus on quality, differentiation and pricing plans. New players will also have to be careful and ensure that the market share they gain in this manner is not fragile and can sustain for a longer time. Hemant Joshi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, India agrees, “MNP will mostly increase the subscriber acquisition and retention costs for the operators, especially for the giants like Bharti Airtel who have the greatest revenue market share pie at 31%, Vodafone Essar at 21%, Reliance Communications at 14% and Idea Cellular at 13%.”

The recent trend had been that operators were becoming least interested in investing to improve and maintain quality of services as the margins had fallen to an all time low. As per a latest Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) report, as many as 24 licenses (out of the total of 211 licensees in all the telecom circles) do not meet the minimum metering and billing benchmark defined by the TRAI. The number is 42 in the pre-paid segment. Similarly, 27 licensees do not match the minimum parameter for 100 per cent refund of deposit within 60 days of closure of service. The report also highlights that the service providers have shown a bad response time to customer calls for assistance. The report released in October 2010 says that 59 licensees in different circles do not meet the required norms. All the incumbent operators including BSNL, Bharti Airtel, MTNL, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and RCOM somewhere do not meet the minimum QoS norms defined by the regulator. Similar is the case with new entrants. So far, TRAI has had a very little role when it comes to forcing telecom subscribers to increase the QoS. “The most effective tool that the regulator has is – naming and shaming, by which the regulator can inform the subscriber about his service provider’s quality shortcoming by putting the report in public. TRAI can recommend a penalty and cancellation of license, but cannot take action on its own,” highlights former Principal Adviser, TRAI Satyen Gupta.

With the introduction of MNP, a poor quality of service will have much more dire repercussions than before. Call drops, problems with the billing, network congestion, failure to have proper customer redressal forums et al would become more critical factors than ever before. Still, players will have to decide what their playing field would be – price or service offering. “Entering a price war is not going to help as there already has been a significant drop in ARPU and margins. Operators need to focus on the quality of services and customer retention plans,” says Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East. Acceptably, the tariff war is likely to take a breather for some time, as the call rates have already touched all time lows.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR: THE SMALL CAR CHALLENGE

Etios can prove to be a Fortune Changer for Toyota in the Indian Market. But there are Challenges Galore that are Hell-Bent on Proving why the Jap’s Slow-Coach Small-Car Strategy may work Against It.

Today, everyone from Nissan to even Volkswagen (and Skoda), has entered the compact car fray. Toyota may have spent too much time in finalising its entry, which already has 23 models on offer in India. However, Sandeep Singh, Deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar Motors has a justification for the delay. “We took a long time because we had to take into account the needs of the Indian consumer while finalising every detail of the Etios,” says he, while speaking to B&E. Accepted, but being a careful late mover is one thing and being the last to take the plunge is another. Therefore, carving out a comfortable space for itself may now call for some serious effort on the part of the Japanese, and even the Rs.32 billion committed by the company towards setting-up a dedicated production unit at Bidadi (near Bangalore, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units) may prove to be just half-a-leap. Considering that Toyota plans to sell 70,000 units of Etios in the first year of launch alone, with a further target of 300,000 units by 2015 (after having sold just a total of 63,843 vehicles in the Indian market in FY2009-10), the carmaker will need a far more robust distribution framework to realise the goods. Not to forget, profitability in the A2 segment (where the margins are the lowest amongst all passenger car segments) is largely dependent on dealership network. While Maruti has 850+ dealers and Hyundai has 670, Toyota only has 114 – lesser than even GM (250) and Ford (172)!

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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P. R. Somasundaram, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB)

In a tête-à-tête with B&E’s Mona Mehta, P. R. Somasundaram, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) speaks about the growing importance of retail banking in the Country and the bank’s expansion plans to exploit the opportunities coming its way.

B&E: What are the new marketing initiatives that you are focusing on to increase your customer base in the retail banking arena?
PRS: LVB is an 83 year-old private bank with 1.64 million satisfied customers. In order to increase the base further we are concentrating on wealth management by offering related products and services. We are looking at steady growth in the retail lending space through secured lending measures like mortgage lending. However, as a policy of the bank, we have temporarily restrained ourselves from the unsecured categories like credit cards and personal loans.

B&E: With the number of participants increasing, competition in the Indian banking sector has moved up to a different level altogether. Banks are now competing to reach out to the huge unbanked population. How is LVB planning to deal with the situation?
PRS: The new management’s focus is to reposition LVB as a new generation bank and make it a top performer in terms of customer service, efficiency, productivity and profitability in the next 3 years. And to achieve it we are planning to start a housing finance company, increase our national presence, and leverage on our expertise in the IT domain. We have also tied up with LIC and Bajaj for life and non-life insurance distribution. The insurance venture is taking off really well for us. Apart from the centralised plans, we are also looking at drafting a town-wise strategy soon, particularly for the semi urban areas where we currently have 105 branches.

B&E: You have only 180 ATMs of your own. Don’t you think this will be a big roadblock in your retail dreams?
PRS: It’s true that we have only 180 ATMs, but at the same time we are also linked to other banks. So our customers can actually use 54,000 other ATMs belonging to various banks. Nevertheless, we are adding more ATMs every month and expect that our own ATM network will cross the 300 mark in the next 2-3 years.

B&E: Apart from CASA, how is LVB planning to strengthen its portfolio in areas like housing loan, auto loan et al?
PRS: Talking about auto loans, we do not intend to enter the 4-wheeler or 2-wheeler segment any time soon as these have collection challenges that may not be ideal in our current set up. However, we do have a presence, though small, in the transport vehicles segment. And we have plans to take it further. So, we are currently piloting a project that is expected to create a mid size opportunity for us in the segment. In the housing segment, we already have sizable portfolio and intend to grow it significantly through alliances; preferably through a Housing Finance Company. Apart from these, our new management team is now focusing aggressively on growing all business verticals of the bank and retail banking products. We have also included loans to MSME sector among our focus areas.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Greek Odyssey

Aniruddha Bahal’s The Emissary is a rocking chariot ride

Aniruddha Bahal’s The Emissary has grand ambitions. Pretty much as grand as one of the historical figures who appears in the book – Alexander The Great. Bahal, whose earlier effort Bunker 13 (an espionage thriller) found a worldwide audience (and also fetched him the Bad Sex writing award; consequently taken very sportingly in his stride by the author) writes this time on a slice of history in ancient Olympia exploring the universal and timeless theme of love and betrayal. He reasons that “The basic human emotions still remain the same. Adventure, revenge, hate, love, war. We haven’t transcended these categories to a robotic existence yet.”

The Emissary opens in Macedonia in ancient Greece during the time of Alexander the Great. Nicanor, an ace chariot racer, is killed by his own horses in a plot hatched by rival charioteer Argus. That leaves Seluecus (who’s also the narrator of the tale) distraught and in his quest for revenge he gets sucked into the mire that is the world of deceit and politics. The presence of Alexander The Great in the backdrop of the narrative makes it riveting reading. Basically, history suddenly seems intriguing and fun. Bahal tells Business and Economy that the idea was “sparked off (after) a conversation with Sir V S Naipaul who strongly urged me to read a lot of history to refine my fiction.” The conversation and the challenge laid by Sir Vidia “speed tracked” Bahal “towards the process of reading the history of ancient Greece.” He confesses that “the period had an existent charm for me. It was while reading about that period in the works of Thucydides, Arrian and Herodotus that the idea started evolving in my head of setting something in the time of Alexander The Great.” What results is a very good and eminently enjoyable piece of historical fiction, narrated in fairly contemporary language keeping the readability high.

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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
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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

Lesson #1: Don’t implement Panic Price-cuts during a slowdown; It kills the brand

Travel bags and retailing have never formed quite the blend that deserved a strong mention. But then, if Louis Vuitton – a traditional suitcase maker – could make the jump, why can’t others? Brands like Samsonite are attempting that, though. B&E catches up with Samsonite’s South Asia retail head, N. P. Singh, for inputs on current conditions and strategies

The plus point of the franchisee model is that it enables the retailer to have a pan-India presence. But there is the other side to this coin too. Malpractices by any franchisee can spoil the image of the retail brand. Add to this the dangers posed by reduced consumer spending. N. P. Singh, who heads the retail operations of Samsonite in the South Asian region, talks to B&E about the franchisee model in Indian Retail, the opportunities, the challenges faced so far and his expectations from the industry.

B&E: After IT, retail was considered to be the next sunrise sector of the Indian economy. But the slowdown came down hard on the sector and wiped out many hopes and promises. Do you still claim that Indian retail will bloom?
N. P. Singh (NPS):linkages that retail has with other sectors, and the widespread impact of this sector on the economy in question. India is no exception. But organised retail still holds a miniscule portion of the overall sector in India, so it would be early to claim that a boom will occur. But then, yes, post-slowdown, there appears to be great business opportunities mushrooming in the Indian retail industry as well.

B&E: Talking about new business opportunities, there are foreign brands that are making news in the Indian retail landscape. Are we betting big here?
NPS: The franchisee model presents very strong business opportunities, be it domestic brands or international. But of course, with the global (and Indian) economy bouncing back, foreign brands are increasingly looking to tap the pots of riches that Indian consumers are willing to present. Over the coming quarters, there will be many more foreign brands that will set up shop in India through the franchisee route. Big opportunities await Indian retail in this respect.

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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

CAN RONNIE SCREWVALA FINISH WHAT SUBHASH CHANDRA STARTED?

UTV IS NOW ONE OF THE LARGEST PRODUCTION HOUSES IN ASIA...BUT NOT THE BIGGEST YET! CAN RONNIE SCREWVALA AND HIS TEAM MAKE UTV THE FACE OF INDIA TO THE MEDIA WORLD? B&E’S SHEPHALI BHATT PROVIDES A DEEP INVESTIGATION FROM RIGHT INSIDE UTV WITH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS FROM UTV’S TOP MANAGEMENT

It was a period that saw two little known entrepreneurs make what can be considered their first indelible impressions in the business arena; albeit in markedly different ways. The year was 1981 when a very young man called Ronnie Screwvala started a three-hour cable video channel for households in Maker Towers in Cuffe Parade, one of the suave areas of Mumbai. He charges subscribers `200 per month and realises that there is money in the making. He expands beyond the towers; and within no time, Network, his cable service, gets thousands of subscribers. Within five years, after having made the money he wants to, Ronnie sells off his business and in 1986, convinces a staid old monopoly government television channel to take his services in providing programming content. Doordarshan takes up his offer; and Ronnie even starts presenting shows himself. In 1990, having had enough of the government association, he jumps ship and forms UTV, a company focused on provided content to satellite and cable channels globally.

Interestingly, even Subhash Chandra’s story started more or less in 1981, when he set up Essel Packaging Company after visiting a packaging exhibition. While rigmarole business was pretty satisfactory, Chandra saw a latent opportunity in the television arena, where India had only one Doordarshan. In 1992, Chandra, realizing the potential of television and cable, takes a huge risk and launches Zee TV. With no past experience of content programming, Chandra starts looking out for outsourced suppliers of world-class content. He searches for people harbouring a similar vision to him; and purely on gut feel, hands over a mammoth 520 episode contract to a young, highly enthusiastic man whose only experience is starting a local cable network and working for Doordarshan. The twain between Chandra and Ronnie Screwala becomes indelibly inseparable.

Within 6-7 years, Zee TV becomes one of the most popular TV channels in India and expands its reach across continents. What CNN was to America then, Zee becomes for India. And then competition from South Asia enters, with Murdoch owned channels like Star TV trying to ride over the Indian satellite TV space hook, line and sinker. Zee TV takes up the challenge superbly and with its fantastic programming, becomes the ultimate epitome of Indian business aspirations and Indian enterprise in the media and entertainment industry in the home market at that time. But despite being in the same business, there was something that characteristically differentiated Ronnie Screwala from Subhash Chandra.

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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

CONTROVERSY: INDIAN MAP

In Jan 2010, NatGeo was warned by the I&B ministry for deliberately exhibiting wrong maps of India and was threatened with stringent action if non-compliance was continued. Let off then, NatGeo continues its misrepresentation! What does the government plan to do now?

But to pick on National Geographic singularly would be wrong, as many other notable agencies mirror this behaviour – including, as mentioned before, CNN, BBC, Lonely Planet, Wikipedia, Google and the quite infamous Central Intelligence Agency. All of these agencies currently carry Indian maps on their websites that are rampant equivocations of reality, yet are freely available from within Indian boundaries.

While the very first result of Google’s image search (for a keyword search of “India map”) gives a wrong map of India, CIA’s World Factbook Report has shown northern Kashmir as being cut off from India and being a part of Pakistan and China. Even the US Department of State endorses a map quite similar to the CIA map on their official India advisory. In the advisory, the Department mentions flagrantly, “The US considers all of the former princely state of Kashmir to be disputed territory.” CNN endorses this viewpoint and has gone a step ahead to term the entire J&K as “disputed.”

One has to realise that these are leading agencies of the world (for example, National Geographic is the world’s largest read magazine published in 32 languages with a mammoth monthly readership of over fifty million; Lonely Planet is the world’s largest travel guide book; Wikipedia is the world’s most referred encyclopaedia; Google the most used search engine; CNN/BBC the largest global media channels) and continued misrepresentation of the Indian map in these forums can only lead to global perception changing negatively against India. The nation necessarily needs to take quick and extreme steps to arrest this situation.

A call for action has to now come directly from the Prime Minister’s office that raises the diplomatic ire to the highest levels possible to enforce immediate and instant change. If compliance is still absent from these agencies, then the Indian government should ban these media/information/government agencies and immediately block access to their channels, both on and off the web.

On the other hand, if the government believes that such a continued misrepresentation by global agencies – some like Google and NatGeo which have already been warned – is not of grave concern, then it should call a spade a spade, tell the Indian public that what is lost, is lost forever... and label itself the most unpatriotic government in the history of independent India!

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

AGRI SECTOR: INVESTMENT INCREASE

It’s magnanimous and astounding, but agriculture of all the sectors has seen huge increases in private and public sector investment in the past five years. B&E does a quick news synopsis and update of the investment scenario in the agricultural sector and commentates on visible issues by Angshuman Paul

Another key change has been in the interest of PE firms and venture capitalists right at the start of the value chain. According to Venture Intelligence, from early 2009 to June 2010, purely the Indian cultivation sector attracted a PE support of $102.46 million. Clearly, farmers and institutions investing in cultivation are giving a reverse multiplier effect. Sanjeev Goyle, Senior VP Marketing (Farm equipment sector), Mahindra & Mahindra shared with B&E how M&M has now become the world’s largest manufacturer of tractors; a feat they achieved only in the previous financial year. Says Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO of Yes Bank, “Agriculture provides employment to over 60 per cent of the population in the country and this [current growth] is because many of these farmers are today connected to the global market.” And much of that due to PE investments. Examples like the Washington-based Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF, which is engaged in investing in experienced agri-companies and has invested an astonishing $75 million in Indian agriculture-related businesses) or Rabo Equity Advisors (which has recently invested $10 million in the Global Green Co, from the stable of Gautam Thapar’s Avantha Group) are now a dozen heavy.

What is clear is that the investments are focused specifically on the JV or partnership route. Says Hemendra Mathur, MD of SEAF India Investment Advisors, “It is important that in agri-business if you are adding some value you should be involved through the entire circle of cultivation; and for such involvement it requires to create a partnership or joint-venture model,”

In all, what is being seen in the Indian agricultural sector has possibly not ever been seen before. Till now, growth in agricultural produce was significantly a government proposition; with successive central and state budgets going towards various versions of green revolutions – most of them highly successful. Added to that was the fact that over time, the varied news reports of farmers committing suicides in various parts of the country along with many others slipping into a destitute status due to the vagaries of Indian monsoons led to the sector not being viewed as one that would be the destination for the billion-dollar classes.

But suddenly, there are entrepreneurs, business houses, foreign institutional investors and other funding agencies that are realizing the ever present potential of the agricultural sector and the powerful business sense within this sector. And with 17% of India’s GDP being contributed by the agricultural sector – the highest contribution ratio compared to the world’s top twenty nations according to nominal GDP – there’s only an explosively positive future that lies ahead in the upcoming decade.

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

STEEL & CEMENT: Q1 RESULTS ANALYSIS

Despite the obvious rationale going against it, steel and cement players in India have had a markedly subdued first quarter. Virat Bahri of B&E analyses the dynamics behind the numbers

The causes for oversupply are two-fold. Firstly, there has been a capacity addition of at least 60 mtpa since the past two years but demand isn’t growing at the same pace. Rakesh Singh, Joint President, Marketing Head, India Cements, comments to B&E: “Capacity has been increased by 12-13%, but demand has increased by only around 7% y-o-y.” Industry observers point out that these capacity additions were done with a 2-3 year time frame in mind. Prices in May were down by 3.8% (Mumbai) to 14.3% (Hyderabad) y-o-y in different regions (Angel Broking-CMA research). Markets of South and West India were particularly impacted by sluggish growth, lower offtake and shortage of wagons. The monsoon effect is visible here too, and is likely to last till September. But for companies relying on the southern market, oversupply may persist for at least two years. Raw material costs will also continue to pester players. In Q4 2010-11, raw material costs are expected to grow (y-o-y) by 34.11% for Ultratech, 4% for India Cements and 25.4% for J. K. Lakshmi Cement (Jaypee Capital).

Jinal Joshi, an analyst with Jaypee Capital, feels the prospect of cartelisation cannot be ruled out in such situations. It is possible that players create artificial scarcity to push up the prices. The Builder’s Association of India, however, has alleged that this has already happened in the April-June period, citing price increases in certain regions. But the Cement Manufacturer’s Association refutes the claim, saying that prices have actually been falling.

From a 2-3 year perspective, the tidings are pleasant for both steel and cement. India is reaching the close of the 11th Five Year Plan and infrastructure spending is expected to double in the 12th five year plan. At that time, players of both segments should see the pricing game move more convincingly in their favour.

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