Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Judicious Structure and Strategy

Since these SGAs had the freedom to implement ideas which resulted in reduction in costs – to a surprise of many, they brought about a big change.

Simultaneously, divisional structure was also done based on plant and process level to consolidate the product management concept. It was driven by synergy between various products. Nancy had informed during the family time that employees were encouraged and they had started to find out some creative thought, and in turn generating the workable idea for cost-cutting and cost reduction.

Suparshwa used to provide the due credit about the following things or matters specifically over the period of time.
a. The MTC became successful because Suparshwa always got due support from all departmental heads during his thought-provoking sessions and during brain-storming sessions.
b. All department heads including the chairman used to constantly encourage him to implement the ideas he had in mind.
c. In spite of his core area of work being marketing, whenever he suggested any points for improvement of product line and process line, due weight was given to his idea by everyone in the MTC.
d. During the course of working, a few times, because he had good technical expertise, he was invited to attend meetings by his colleagues like production manager, HR manager, etc., and his views were given due respect. Read More...

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

He further adds that, the world continues to witness significant shifts in the global pharmaceutical market landscape with Asia-Pacific emerging as the fastest growing pharmaceutical market over the recent past. With low costs and favourable regulatory environment, the region has seen significant developments in the field of contract manufacturing, particularly in generics and APIs. “We now want to mark our presence in former CIS countries of South East Asia, Africa and Latin America and become the number one pharma company in India by 2015.” However, he shares that a number of major pharma companies are emulating their model and Mankind is well aware of this fact. Therefore, they keep revising strategies to suit the flavour of the trend.

The company is aggressively expanding its domestic sales through existing divisions, namely Discovery Mankind and Life Star too, as a business strategy. Mr. Juneja feels that it is a personal victory for him to have come a long way, so fast.

He believes that it is essential to be a flexible leader, with a positive attitude to prosper in corporate scenario. Sitting at top of the ladder, he has never missed out on family time. He switches of the phone and prefers home cooked food. His ideal holiday is where he could spend time with his family.

For this prosperous entrepreneur, the goal is to get the ball moving in the right direction. It is important to have right attitude and positivity around to flourish and to remain upbeat with industry trends and practices. “Being honest and working with the best of your intentions can bring you desired result. Hard work never fails,” concludes Mr. Juneja on an optimistic note. Read More...

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Saturday, October 13, 2012

Pupils, you're on your own now!

Whether or not they agreed with his style of working, MPs would surely miss this headmaster in the next Lok Sabha
 
On the last day of 14th Lok Sabha, while MPs would be wondering whether or not they would return for the 15th Lok Sabha; they were certain of one thing – that they will not get to hear the commanding and firm voice of Somnath Chatterjee, Speaker of Parliament, again. Somnath has willingly retired from active politics. And during the emotional farewell when he was given the title of headmaster, he wasn't angry but proud. Now he would be spending his days away from the hullabaloo.

Born on July 25, 1929 in Tejpur, Assam, Somnath Chatterjee completed his preliminary education from Kolkata and then got his post graduate degree from Cambridge. In 1971, he contested for the Lok Sabha elections for the first time from Bolhpur and remained as an MP till the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004. During his tenure as an MP he raised many important issues for CPI (M). A front bencher in the Parliament, he commanded tremendous respect; in fact he used to always get preference during a discussion on any topic. And that is the reason why he was given the Best Parliamentarian award in 1996. In 2004, when Sonia proposed his name for the Speaker's post it was supported even by the BJP. He has been known as the most well-versed person in the guidelines and rules of Parliament and during his tenure as Speaker, he tried to follow the rules to the fullest.

Mostly clad in dhoti kurta at his residence, this CPI (M) comrade loved going to Bolhpur with his family every year to attend every Durga Puja. During one of his visits to Bolhpur, when school children asked him about the activities taking place in Parliament, he had a brain wave; that Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha activities should be telecast. His idea was the base of the 24-hour telecast of Parliament activities. During his tenure as Speaker, he made some important decisions. One amongst them was that even the Zero hour should be telecast, since it is during this time that most of the members actually come up with their local problems.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

Insiders make more sense...

Chandrasekaran is perhaps the right person to take over the baton of TCS from Ramadorai

Ramadorai joined Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 1972 as junior engineer. He was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the company in 1996. Later in 2004 he also became the Managing Director of this Tata Group company. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Telecommunications from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and a Masters degree in Computer Science from the University of California. He has more than 36 years of experience and has received Padma Bhushan in 2006 for his contribution towards the development of the IT industry. He has been instrumental in building TCS to a $5.7 billion global software and services company and he is recognised amongst other influential IT leaders in the world.

N. Chandrasekaran, the Chief Operating Officer of TCS is more likely to take over the mantle from Ramadorai. He has leadership qualities needed to ensure success in the global environment, including global aptitude, long-term perspective, skilled communication and literacy in technology. Under his leadership TCS ventured into new markets, including Europe, China and Latin America.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Reading the future of books and movies...

Most would agree that the art of this age are movies, and since decades writers have made little money from their work. So, is it time for writers to ruminate about the subject of their books in context to their scope of becoming entertaining masala films? Ravi Subramanian, author of books like I bought the Monk’s Ferrari, opines, “Movies are one more viable option for authors to make revenue and get noticed. In Hello, for instance, the only person who benefitted from the movie was Chetan Bhagat. The movie bombed, the producers lost money, its actors didn’t profit much. The real benefit in terms of profile, money, visibility, was Chetan Bhagat. I think writing books with an eye on the movies, is not a bad option because it gives you a fair bit of recognition. The movies go far and deep in this country. In India as they say, only two things sell – cricket and Bollywood. If you can write a book that can be adapted to a movie, or if you can tweak your book to adapt around for a movie, I think you can be fairly successful. Though movie writing itself doesn’t pay you too much.”

Cinema is a medium that has the entire nation hooked. So is it not high time authors tweak their Modus operandi? A strong relationship can be forged between films and books, what remains to be seen is how long this will take to blossom.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Two wars, none the smarter...

Europe gloated during the meltdown, claiming it would be left untouched. The claims return to haunt a failing Europe

I945: Europe is completely devastated and in ruins after the Second World War. It is also facing the haunting spectre of Communism emanating from the Soviet Union. And yet, Western Europe rises from the ashes and emerges as a powerhouse of economic growth and all round prosperity. The resurgence is thanks largely to the Marshall Plan implemented by the United States.

1957: A handful of European nations come together and form the European Economic Community that seeks a ‘European’ perspective on global as well as local issues. This is the first tentative attempt by Europe to emerge out of the trans-Atlantic embrace with America. Many more nations join by 1967 and Europe starts dreaming of a unified market that can emerge more powerful than America.

1993: The European Union emerges as an actual rival of the United States with 500 million citizens and 30% of the world output. By now, Europe is frequently critical of America and its policies – political, strategic as well as economic. The criticism climaxes after the foolhardy George Bush decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and many start openly talking of EU as a rival to the US and euro as the rival to the dollar.

2008: In the early days after Lehman Brothers collapsed, there is much glee amongst many in Europe. Analysts and hacks point out how Europe has fostered a more ‘responsible’ model of capitalism while America has gone beyond the pale. In a parody that seems inconceivable now, European media praises banks for responsible lending and handling of assets.

That perverted euphoria lasts just a few days. Within a matter of days, it is revealed that toxic assets, bankruptcy, bad debts, collapse and contagion had as much to do with Europe as America. In fact, the ‘star’ economy of the continent Iceland, that had delivered blistering growth rates for a decade, became the first country to go completely bankrupt as a result of the meltdown. The government in Iceland has collapsed and protests have become the order of the day when people wake up from the numbing shock of seeing a ‘market’ disappear into oblivion.

In 1945, Europe was in ruins physically. By the end of 2009, it could be in ruins in financial terms. All the smart talk and looking down at Uncle Sam has vanished as the major economies of Europe start prostrating themselves. But this time, Uncle Sam itself is in such deep trouble that Europe cannot even dream of another Marshall Plan!

The recent events in France are a classic case of disconnect between reality and perceptions. The government still insists that the economy will actually grow despite the meltdown. But workers and citizens in France have a dramatically different viewpoint. In end January 2008, more than one million protestors took to the streets in Paris demanding higher wages and job protection. One shudders to think what will happen when the economy starts actually shrinking in 2009-10 and workers ‘actually’ start losing jobs by the thousands. Then there are the poignant and depressing tales from England about how investors have lost billions of pounds in savings because they gambled on Iceland. Many British citizens started parking their savings in Iceland based banks because they offered higher interest. All that has vanished and hundreds of thousands stare at poverty because their deposits were not guaranteed by any State.

Credit rating agencies are now waking up to the financial nightmare unfolding in Europe. They started by downgrading Spain, Greece, Portugal, Latvia and now Russia. Ireland is next in queue. And don’t be surprised if England follows suit because as an economy, it is even more leveraged than that of the United States. Overall, the European economy is slated to shrink by close to 3% in 2009 – something that has not happened since the Great Depression.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, October 08, 2012

Creative capitalism in fact holds all the answers?

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate, explains why creative capitalism in fact holds all the answers to improve human life, as told to B&E’s Neha Sarin

B&E : So are you trying to say that there is really no difference between Creative Capitalism and Corporate Social Responsibility?
MY: What actually is Corporate Social Responsibility?! It is something which started with the idea to help other people; but today, CSR has only become money to gain better public relations. You sponsor a cricket team, a rock concert, that’s CSR. The money goes to the R department and does not go to help poor people. CSR budget is now public relations money.

B&E What kind of government support did you get for your concept of Micro-credit and Grameen Bank? What are the kinds of hurdles you faced to achieve what you had dreamt of?
MY: There were so many hurdles. This was something new. So I knew it was very critical. The kind of words they used irritated me for a while. You had to give money to the poor women. You had to deal with them. You had to address unknown women. These were the hurdles we faced. Then there were legal hurdles too. Initially we did not have any law, which explained how you could lend money without any security. We did not have any banking structure like the government banking system had. When you took some money from the government, it puts some money in the bank @ p.a. interest of 5-6%. As a token of support the government deposits the money. But in our case, we did not even take money from the government. We took it from the borrowers. We take money from them and then lend them to the poor people. That’s how we have always worked, and worked well….

B&E: Aneel Karnani (a Strategic Management professor at Michigan University) criticises the whole idea and system of Micro-credit. He said that giving money to the ladies-folk creates all the problem due to the low level of education and women freedom in these societies. Do critics like him make your job more difficult?
MY: People come with different perceptions. If lending money to poor women make them laugh-at and criticised, let the people laugh. I don’t know what this gentleman sees wrong with it. But he may have some points. I don’t want to argue with that. But it does not convince me that he can lend money to the rich. See, in this world if you want to do something, people will criticise and say something.

B&E: Isn’t it risky that money is lent to poor people?
MY: That is not true at all. In Grameen Bank alone, we have a high rate of return of about 97-99%. Whether we work in India or Bangladesh or Somalia or Costa Rica, it does not matter. High rate of return has impressed people about micro-credit systems.

B&E: For how many people did you actually stand as a guarantor? And what was the amount you lent in total?
MY: There were almost 20,000 borrowers to begin with in the first place. And the total amount that was borrowed amounted to a massive 20 million taka (an average of 1,000 taka per head)!

B&E: With such a huge risk potential, didn’t your strategy backfire or at least weren’t you hesitant to some extent considering the possible negative outcomes?
MY: See, we trust people. It is a continuous system. We do well with them. So they come to us again. Then they stay back with us. We remind them. It is not a one shot thing. So there is no such room of doubt.

B&E: Which was the bank that actually helped you in the end?
MY: The bank is called Janata Bank. It is a government-owned bank and sits in the campus of the University where I teach.

B&E: So what kind of response are you receiving from the market today ?
MY: Yes, we don’t give advertisements in any form of media or newspaper. Yes if you talk about word of mouth we do. We write and people read about it everywhere. Through this, the whole world came to know. Thus the word spreads and naturally so. And about the response, the results are there to prove that it has all been really well accepted. Our model of CSR has done wonders; and that is what real socially responsible capitalistic business should learn to do. No business grows forever without the growth of the entire society and it’s time the global capitalists learn the truth…


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Saturday, October 06, 2012

How 2G is India’s First Pro-Poor Scam

The chatterati and the pundits seem to be behaving as if the 2G scam marks the end of the Indian civilization. There is passionate agonizing over how the carpetbaggers of crony capitalism have looted more than Rs 1.7 lakh crore (almost $40 billion) of potential revenue due to the Indian exchequer. There are inevitable and familiar laments about how the money could have been used to build more schools, health care centres et al for poor Indians (the real scam being that enough schools and health care centers for the poor have not been built even 63 years after independence; 54 years of Nehruvian socialism; 39 years of Garibi Hatao and 20 years of economic reforms).

Forgive me for being cynical; but I think the poor of India would actually cheer and welcome 2G style scams because they have actually given something worthwhile to the poor. Look at it this way: till former Minister A. Raja started doling out telecom licenses like prasad in a crowded temple, a handful of telecom operators were making a killing and the really poor could not still afford the tariffs charged by them. Post the monumental 2G scam, telecom tariffs actually dropped to a paisa a second and even lower. More importantly, intense competition forced telecom operators – both old and new – to look beyond saturated urban markets. The fact is: most of the 300 odd million new subscribers since 2008 live in small towns and rural India. For them, the power of mobile connectivity at often Rs.100 a month is literally a dream come true. Also, do not forget how smart entrepreneurs have grabbed this exploding market by importing Chinese handsets. Most of these models are in sync with this new market: they offer long battery (upto 72 hours, even 72 days!) life to people for whom long and unending power cuts are an unending reality.

Ask these poor Indians about the moral, intellectual and existential issues raised by the 2G scam and they will laugh at you. And justifiably. For more than 60 years, they have helplessly witnessed false promise after promise and scam after scam without any material difference to their wretched lives. Now, scam or not, they have got something concrete and worthwhile. As far as they are concerned, the pundits can go on debating to kingdom come.

And don’t underestimate the poor or their ability to figure out what is good for them. The perpetually scam tainted MRNEGA is another example of a pro-poor scam. Everybody knows corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and contractors are still brazenly using NREGA funds to line their pockets. And yet the poor in rural India consider the scheme to be a divine blessing. Their logic? Earlier, they used to get nothing; now they at least get something. Raving and ranting and railing against NREGA corruption is not going to change that.

The fact is: Indira Gandhi was dead right when she categorized corruption as a global phenomenon. You must be living in cuckoo land if you think there is no corruption in countries like Japan, USA, UK et al. The best a society can do is miniminize corruption; it can never be eliminated.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, October 05, 2012

US MID-TERM ELECTIONS: LOSS OF DEMOCRATS

The Tea-Party Tidal Wave has Managed to undo the Gains of Democrats; The Shellacking Serves as a Massive Rebuke to President Barack Obama. As Republicans gain Majority Control of the house, Obama needs to Strategically Re-Align his Policies, Priorities and recast his Presidency keeping the 2012 Re-Election in mind 

William A. Galtson, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, Brookings, says to B&E, “Voters are understandably frightened, rancid, and profoundly disheartened about the financial prospects.” Galston further explains, “The well-documented successes of the fiscal normalisation and stimulus initiatory are concealed to a populace responding to the here and now, not to the counter-factual of how much worse it might have been.” But, in all certainty, it is the future of this political gridlock, as both the Democrats and the Republicans have the power to gridlock the legislative process, which will script the future of America, the American people and most importantly that of President Obama. It will indeed be difficult for Obama to reach out to his fellow Republicans who are intent on repealing ObamaCare, his signature health care legislation; as a matter of fact, many Republicans are hell bent on opposing just about everything Obama stands for. Other than ObamaCare, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the policy on use of bio-fuels for transportation are a few such policies which the Republicans would want to repeal. With less bargaining power, it is but natural that Obama will have a tough time brokering peace between Israel and Palestine and the sailing is certainly not going to be smooth in the case of Afghanistan and Iraq. November 18, 2010, when the sessions begin, and the sessions thereafter will be equally interesting; it will not be the usual cordial and supportive Democrat Congress for Obama but the antagonistic Republicans, the sessions will not be chaired by the like minded Nancy Pelosi but by the perma-tanned John Boehner (most probably).

Given the flimsy majority that the Democrats continue to enjoy in the upper house (the Senate), the President would like to push through some of his platform policies, the only hurdle being Republicans who can play havoc if they insist on using filibuster (a delaying tactic that requires 60 votes to overcome). In such a case, one can expect President Obama to take a leaf out of President Harry Truman’s presidency era and follow suite – what he can probably do is double down on his strategy (which critics claim Americans have roundly rejected), change course – move to the Left and appease his critics and challenge the ‘do-nothing’ Republicans. It might be tough to replicate the Truman strategy of 1946, but given the circumstance when the Republicans have surpassed their ‘Republican Revolution’ of 1994, challenging the opponents and the inherent gridlock will make for a big comeback.

The worst fear is that Obama would become a lame duck president for the remaining two years of his presidency. And that fear is rounded off by the fact that while it took the better part of two years to campaign for his presidency, this time around, with just two years left in his Presidency and a choice between the Devil (reviving the economy) and the deep sea (trying for a second term), one believes Obama has already met his endgame. For all practical purposes, Obama is lost to America; and America, to Obama!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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