Complacent attitude

However, according to Bharukha, this is not a fact to worry over as he vehemently argues, “When the market growth rate is higher, it makes sense on riding the growth rather than chasing market share. Market share for most of the players has remained static in the past 3-4 years.” And considering that it lost its leadership position in the decorative segment to Asian Paints during the late 60s, this complacent attitude seems to have been around for quite a while now. And today, KNP’s revenues amount to just 40.3% of Asian Paints’ (which earned rev- enues of Rs.36.7 billion during 2006-07). On a positive note, KNP’s forte – the industrial paints segment – should see even better times as the automotive industry, which accounts for a large chunk of the industrial paint segment, is on a surge (sales grew by 15.6% to an astounding Rs.9.2 million for April-January, 2006- 07, according to SIAM).

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Indiabulls

“We focussed on delivering in the short-term, while creating scalability for the long-term and ownership amongst employees,” vociferously barks out Gagan Banga, Executive Director of Indiabulls. A true entrepreneur at heart, Banga has shrewdly learnt the art of hiding trade secrets in jargon-loaded words, straight out of management books. But the fact is, he is dot on right! The key to Indiabulls’ fanatical success (revenue growth of 159% from FY03 to FY07 and a profit growth of 184% during the same time period) is without doubt the unbelievable vision and belief they had, and have, in the term called ‘scalability’. The concept is simple.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Talking about India and Pakistan

We are essentially talking about India and Pakistan. While the chances of a nuclear holocaust have subsided much, still, the subcontinent is far from becoming a peace haven. And as if the envy of Pakistan hasn’t been enough, it has rather got a major booster from similar antipathy within many sections of Bangladesh. While the chances of much of the subcontinent becoming a hub of radical fundamentalism essentially remains above average, it can only go up as the increasing prosperity of the Indian economy creates more heartburn in the failing states of Bangladesh and Pakistan.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Source of pollutants

According to the US Department of Energy – buildings are a major source of pollutants that causes urban air quality problems and contribute to climate change. That’s where the green building concept comes into picture. “A green building strives to balance environmental responsibility, community sensitivity, resource efficiency and occupant wellbeing and comfort,” says Vidur Bharadwaj, Managing Partner, Design & Development, who holds the distinction for designing Wipro’s campus. After a series of business plans and presentation by leading architects, came the decider from Design & Development for Wipro – a Green Building that has got the highest platinum rating (52 points) in Asia and second highest in the world by the US Green Building Council.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Affected by pollution

“It is estimated that 30,000 acre cultivable land was affected by pollution and has became uncultivable. From Tirupur until it joins Cauvery near Karur... it runs through 57 long kilometres... And all along one can only witness the devastation!” laments a local journalist. Meanwhile, the effluents haven’t spared Tirupur city either. Since the ground and surface water are polluted, drinking water has become undrinkable. And it’s not only pollution, the groundwater level has plummeted to 800 feet below. One bitter example is that even the colour of the water that one gets from tender coconuts in these areas have changed. Outraged by the increasing impact of the pollution, the villagers surrounding Tirupur decided not to allow the units to take water from their wells.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Keira’s carry bag

Keira Knightley has found a way to be environment friendly and look chic while at it. She’s been carrying around a bag from the environmental line of Anya Hindmarch with a very earthy message inscribed on it: “I’m not a plastic bag”. As if that weren’t convincing enough, the designer carry-bag costs a measly $5dollars! And sure enough, Keira has started a rage, as now the fashion-crazy lot are rushing to London’s Knightsbridge store to get their hands on this designer piece! Keira sure knows how to play the eco-friendly pied piper really well!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Our climate crisis

“Our climate crisis is the paramount challenge facing humanity,” believes Kevin Wall, one of the masterminds of Live Earth. “Only a global response can conquer our climate crisis. SOS asks all people to Save Our Selves because only we can,” continues Wall. “We are launching SOS and Live Earth to begin a process of communication that will mobilise people all over the world to take action,” said Al Gore at the launch of Save Our Selves (SOS) – The Campaign for a Climate in Crisis. “The Climate Crisis will only be stopped by an unprecedented and sustained global movement. We hope to jump-start that movement right here, right now, and take it to a new level on July 7, 2007,” said Gore, the ex-Vice President of USA, whose hugely-successful documentary on global warming – An Inconvenient Truth – picked up several awards this year.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Ready for an itch?

As the globe gets warmer and tropical temperatures spread, tropical diseases are gradually reaching areas that haven't known them before! As per WHO reports, there’s a predicted manifold increase in the number of malaria cases and other insect borne diseases which are typically climate sensitive. Increasing the favourable zones of these vectors and increasing instances of dengue, malaria and many other infectious diseases would be a direct consequence of global warming. Not only this, the increase in respiratory ailments and vascular diseases are on a rise owing to concentration of ozone in the lower atmosphere due to a rise in temperature!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Global warming

Bush finds it fatalistic to accept that Americans have caused global warming and that the energy industry, which has funded his political campaign should be held responsible (c'mon, at least he's loyal!). For him, the world is an island called the United States, and the rest of the globe’s only purpose of existence is to yield resources for the US. That's why increased funding for the pesticides industry gets approval by American Congress, even while changing climate patterns that might affect crop pattern in the prairies get ignored. In fact, Nature in November 2006 reported that the American administration blocked a scientific report, which stated that the intensity & frequency of hurricanes had increased due to high greenhouse emissions. The duplicity gets compounded when the US criticises the Third World for destruction of natural reserves. One really wonders, if Bush was a true blue believer in the power of God, he would fight as vehemently for protecting the Mother Earth, as he wages a war against those demanding abortion rights and euthanasia. For how long will Bush try to hide his commercial interests behind the rhetoric of ‘public good'? Hopefully till 2008 only!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Suffer from a crisis

Suddenly, Indian foreign policy seems to suffer from a crisis of confidence. Suddenly, there are genuine apprehensions that India’s long-term strategic interests could be bargained away at the altar of timidity and a naive compulsion to ‘appear nice and reasonable’. So does India do a somersault and ape what Israel does with friends, rivals and enemies? Will it keep losing diplomatic games without such bellicose behaviour? Not at all! It just needs to do what the Chinese have mastered. And that is preying upon the insecurities of potential rivals. If the US starts making a noise about human rights violations, aircraft orders to Boeing are scrapped and European Airbus ends up with a bonanza. So if China is bent upon diplomatically humiliating India, the latter has the option of giving a red carpet welcome to a delegation that comes to India from Taiwan. Let the dragon protest; India can always say it is a business-like visit.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Recommended donation

The recommended donation is $2 for notebooks and $6 for desktops. Because desktops use more power than notebooks, more trees are needed to off set their carbon load. Unfortunately, carbon neutrality won’t happen overnight. Donation amounts are based on the carbon-dioxide emissions we’re expected to generate as we power our PCs over the next three years—0.42 tonnes for each notebook and 1.26 tonnes for each desktop. A single tree can trap just about enough carbon to make up for a desktop, but it will need about 70 years.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Greenpeace

Look behind the scenes and there’s more to it than meets the eye. Greenpeace, which is actually proving to be the ‘villain of peace’ for environment unfriendly technology companies, is taking HCL to task now. Greenpeace toxics campaigner Ramapati Kumar states, “The plan (by HCL for ecofriendly products) is not only shockingly inadequate, but also ignores the responsibility on their part to manufacture clean products.” He even calls HCL’s statement on RoHS compliance “specious & misleading”.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Face recognition system

And an innovation centre in Mumbai has also come up recently to add to this list. Adds Rahul Aggarwal, VP, Global Marketing Hub & India Marketing, Lenovo, “The company believes in making the best engineered products.” He mentions at length the superior, innovative additions in Lenovo desktops, “The think light for reading in the dark, the face recognition system, the hard disc protection system, the jog dial for quickly moving from music to movies to photos, the roll cage for protecting the screen…” The IBM effect is still visible here. Then, one wonders, what gives Lenovo a better chance than IBM, which was always famed for these technologies, but failed to convert them into market gains. Here, Rahul clarifies, “IBM’s focus was slowly shifting towards large enterprises, services and soft ware. In client PC segment, on the other hand, the rules of the game had changed...” This, according to him, is where the Chinese edge is helping now.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Clebration honoring

Several years ago, we attended a celebration honoring the 50 fastest-growing entrepreneurial ventures in the Atlanta area. Th e room buzzed with excitement as everyone waited to hear who would get the top award. Th e winner ended up being a three-year-old company that had discovered a better way to de-ice airplanes. Undoubtedly, the company had great leadership, but its revenues were growing 55% a year because it had an idea that changed the market. Look, all around the world, we’ve seen successful entrepreneurs, young and old, literally changing the world for the better. So we don’t want to dissuade you from going out on your own. Just know that there is more to being an entrepreneur than meets the imagination. And there’s a lot less without a great idea to start with.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

And while we were debating over the sad plight of localites in this area, Raju, a labourer in one of the units blurted in a fit of agony, “Why would any one go and fight for us? They are earning so much. Due to this noise pollution, many people residing here suffer from listening problems and throat problems as well.” While returning, we saw an open area toxic waste garbage heap and that too amidst a domestic area at Tikiapara which has industrial units on one side and residential area on the other. Hence, lack of proper waste management & pollution control means, were the only truth we could talk of.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Disassociating

Of course, as Murthy is disassociating himself, the company’s brand image has slipped a few points too. Yet, what distinguishes Infosys from the rest is that “it doesn’t come from a rich parent; it comes from a one room apartment,” says Indus- View’s analyst Akshun Gulati. So, Infosys may have slipped from Rank 4 to Rank 6, but remains firmly etched in the minds of the common Indian as the country rides the IT wave. Nilekani clearly can keep this ship’s engine gunning.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

YOUNGEST & FASTEST GROWING BRAND OF 2006-07

• Kingfi sher Airlines
• Reliance Infocomm
• Wills Lifestyle

Youthful and spirited – a combination of character that can offset growth of even the most seasoned of foes. And when we look at the names in the category of the youngest and fastest growing brands in India, we conclude that Kingfisher Airlines (known for its spell-binding and exemplar service), Reliance Infocomm (which has spread its wings beyond just mobile service and within a short time has created waves in CDMA category) and Wills Lifestyle(ITC’s apparel brand which has redefined fashion) – all rightfully deserve a place in the list.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

SBI's Operations

Yet, sheer size of SBI’s operations, helps SBI leverage and feed on the ever growing appetite of Indian business and consumer. Plus, in an industry, here one is allowed to do business worth Rs.100 with just Rs.8 in the pocket, you need players, who can withstand crests and troughs of business cycle. And SBI, which just celebrated it’s bi-centenary celebrations, is a testimony of the resilience that bank craves. Like arch rival ICICI, SBI is building a war chest of funds. The bank plans to offload a part of the promoters’ holding by way of a Follow-on public issue in the current fiscal to fund credit growth and keep pace with technological upgradations. This one’s all about pure banking, no frills attached.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

The next version (of internet)

The next version (of Internet) brought with it Google, Yahoo, Technorati, Digg, Del.ici.ous networks and the likes to organise the data strewn all over the place. We suddenly could search through tonnes of data. We could tag our websites and allow users to discover us without any advertising help. Social networks like MySpace, Orkut and Facebook brought us closer, or at least attempted to, by giving our ‘real’ lives a mirror image on the net. At the same time, massively multi-player online games (MMOGS), which are like the earlier versions of Sims or The Age of Empires, attempted to build communities based on ‘surreal’ lives. Online concepts like SecondLife and Active Worlds, went innovatively tangential, allowing avatar-based profile-building in online worlds, based on concepts similar to those on earth, some say akin to the Matrix trilogy – the famed movie series by the Wachowski brothers. Unlike virtual multi-player gaming concepts, the impact of recreating the real life experience has been so powerful and empowering that let alone individuals, even corporations have started building their virtual offices.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Promising Sectors in India

While talking on the promising sectors in India, Promod proffers, “First of all, the entire consumer internet space & mobile internet space is very interesting. There is tremendous growth that is happening in this area. Today, India has one of the fastest growth of mobile in the world and in 3-4 years it would be the largest. The other sector would be the second generation service companies and not IT enabled companies as we are already leaders in that.” Articulating on the various interest investment areas for NVP, Promod states, “Our investments if you were to see; a lot of the investments are in the US, the front offices might be there but the backend operations might be in areas especially in Bangalore, Chennai and delhi.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

'Aam Aadmi'

I couldn’t help recall that incident while reading that Indian bureaucrats will be sent to American universities where they will be trained in delivering ‘better governance’. Apparently, promotions of the bureaucrats will now depend on their performance as students in American universities rather than back home as administrators . This is part of the effort launched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reform the bureaucracy so that it can deliver better governance to the ‘aam aadmi’. Most analysts say that the main reason for the miserable state of affairs of ordinary Indians is an unresponsive and callous bureaucracy that prefers red tape, arrogance and procrastination, in place of a human touch. But that’s exactly my point.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Americans to become healthier!

GM, Ford & Daimler Chrysler have decided to work in coordination with government to change the present healthcare system in America. According to them, the present system should be fixed using the ‘value based healthcare system.’ Keeping in mind the “four cornerstones” of information technology, performance measures, transparency and payment reform, it will offer more options of better quality at lower cost to almost every American citizen.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Company's Marketing

The company’s marketing efforts have also caught the public eye through their brand ambassadors, be it Kajol and Ajay Devgan or Sourav Ganguly and Irfan Pathan. Speaking exclusively to 4Ps B&M, Abdul Khan, Vice- President & Head–Marketing, TTSL expressed confidence in his marketing efforts as, “When we launched this service quite sometime back, what we imbued upon this business was a sense of – what you see is what you get!” With its long term focus being consolidation of position as a premier service provider, the road ahead seems rough...So is it ready to take a call?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Chlorophyll

Chlorophyll founded by Kiran Khalap and five others, The Shop set up by Freddy Birdy and Naved Akhtar (who left Mudra), Latitude23, started by Naresh Sharma and Nitin Adake and so on. “A Rs.20 crore agency can’t take on a Rs.20 billion gaint. There is a place for both,” says Easha Guha, CEO of Perfect 10. She goes on to say that her agency gives solutions to companies which are not large enough and don’t have that kind of money to afford an MNC.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

The small car segment in India already has a 77 per cent market share in the Indian auto mart, and with the hope that the Union Budget is going to slash excise duty (the small cars are going to be largest beneficiaries of this cut), it probably makes eminent sense for Skoda to bring out the Fabia. The same model that will be seen at the Geneva motor show in March this year will be launched on Indian roads, and the engine size will be more than 1000cc. The company says that Fabia will be launched in two variants, a 1.2-litre petrol one and a 1.4- litre diesel one. For Skoda, this is the fourth model that it’s unfurled in the Indian market – after the Octavia, the Laura and the Superb.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

A “sugary” past

Truly speaking, Mauritius began its political and economical voyage way back in 1715, when the French dominated the country under the regime of Gov. Mahe de Labourdonnais. Marking an era that sowed the seeds of infrastructure development, the first roads and harbours along with the sugar industry were laid. Soon, sugar production developed into a major source of income and thus, attracted a lot of immigrants from Africa, Madagascar and Britain. In 1814, through the Treaty of Paris, British gained the control of the island.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Malaya Chaudhuri – Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

THE INDIVIDUAL FOCUS

With the competition heating up, the players are using all possible means to grab the maximum pie of the market. Whether it is extensive price cuts, tying up with service providers or offering a lot of freebies – players are not hesitating to even shed away their margins in order to win market shares. Amidst such strong competition, Nokia (with its established base of loyal customers & strong distribution network with over 78,000 retail stores across India), still leads the Indian mobile handset market. However, over the past year, Nokia has seen unprecedented aggression from Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson & LG – all trying hard to make a dent into Nokia’s market share.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Human Rights

That there is an urgent need to repeal the AFSPA, is a sentiment expressed across the board from human rights activists to concerned citizens. According to a serving Major General (who did not want to be quoted), “It is in Kashmir and not in the North East that we need such kind of military powers because there the militancy is done by the outsiders.” There is no denying the fact that these states do need special support to uplift their economic status and help them join the Indian mainstream. Unfortunately, successive Indian governments deliberately and insanely have failed to accept that the main reasons for extremism to flourish are lack of community and individual economic development. But then, how can they be expected to know this; national economic development is surely tougher than nuclear science, eh!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative