Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Judicious Structure and Strategy

Suparshwa is CEO of Mobilink Telesystems Company, manufacturers of one of the oldest and largest telecommunication products including consoles. Suparshwa joined as marketing manager in 2006, when the survival of Mobilink Telesystems Company (MTC) was in question on account of fast-changing technology in telecommunication products besides the recession in the economy at large. Suparshwa rose to become the CEO by early 2011.

As a marketing manager – with a masters degree in technology from NITIE, Mumbai, and post graduation in management from a leading institute of Mumbai – Suparshwa had the credit for turning MTC into a profitable and commercially successful firm.

MTC originally started as a trading unit of telesystems products through acquisition of agency and dealership of the then known telesystems manufacturers in 1990. Later in 1995, MTC had set up a manufacturing facility at Gandhinagar in Gujarat for manufacturing key pressed telephone instruments with voice recording facility.

MTC continued to expand over the years, and by 1999 had another two production units, dedicated to small private automatic branch exchange manufacturing and telephone line diversion machines, in the adjoining cities– Ahmedabad and Dholka. Dholka had been selected because a few government sops were available.

During those times, MTC managed to receive good quantum of product order as the test and fashion of society were changed. MTC used to produce its own goods under its brand name. Click here to read more...

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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

A Guide for Error-Free Interviewing

A high attrition rate, especially among newly recruited employees is a major concern today. It has negative consequences for the organisation, especially when attrition is in areas where employees interface with customers. While reasons for attrition may be many, an early departure clearly indicates a failure in the selection process. The challenge facing managers is how to recruit right, and perhaps do away with attrition! There may be no guarantee for this, but it is possible to minimise the risk of a selection failure.

Evaluation methods like assessments and psychometric tests can help in selection by giving insights about candidates. However, these tools are expensive and time-consuming, and usually not available to managers when needed.

A personal interview is the decider in any selection process and it is important for managers to develop interview skills for making reasonable assessments. An interview is often an adhoc affair, sandwiched between a hectic work day, which gives managers very little time to understand the candidate’s profile and match it to the specific job requirement. Sometimes, the manager is under pressure to fill a vacancy and this can cloud rational decision making. Experienced managers have their own profile of who a good candidate may be and go by this judgement to make hiring decisions. They would naturally frame their questions to test the candidates on such attributes, but these may not necessarily match the requirements of the position to be filled. Such factors give managers very little time to plan for an interview or their focus during it may deviate from factors specific for the job at hand. Click here to read more...

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Saturday, October 13, 2012

FUNDS ALLOCATION: FLAGSHIP PROGRAMS

Priority should be given to smaller projects and projects-on-hold

In order to end the middle men commission concept and faulty tender processes, the government needs to adopt a fast-track single-window technical tendering process. The release of funds have to made much more efficient and quick – thus enabling the project to go on as per the schedule – as well as fines charged not just for implementation delays but also for unused funds (aka ADB). Smaller projects should be necessarily targeted first. For example, the JNNURM sanction should be immediately used for public facilities like roads, water in village areas, as these are the small projects that can be tendered and completed double quick.

Another innovative procedure could be to provide appropriate incentives to the tender awardees for completing plans before time and within budgets. Most importantly, well paid professional managers should be employed to manage and rate these projects from the government’s end. Believe us, it works to hire intelligent humans. Well, how many times have government ‘Abhiyans’ been rated on an Economic Value Added concept?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, October 11, 2012

A crown of steel, a road full of thorns...

Ratan Tata himself is in favour of the successor being an insider rather than an outsider

Tata Steel’s journey over the last hundred years has been a fascinating one. And driving this growth for the last one decade is B. Muthuraman. Muthuraman joined Tata Steel in 1966 as a Graduate Trainee. He worked in the areas of iron-making and engineering development for a period of ten years. He then moved to the marketing & sales division and spent nearly 20 years there, ultimately rising to the level of Vice President. He was appointed Executive Director (Special Projects) in August 2000 and served as the main change agent for the major diversification projects of Tata Steel. He was appointed as Managing Director of Tata Steel on July 22, 2001.Tata Steel is going to look for a new CEO, as the long-standing Chief Executive of the company steps down this September. There are three to four names of potential CEOs floating around. One such name is that of Philippe Varin.

Assuming Varin gets the nod from Ratan Tata to succeed B. Muthuraman, the appointment would help Ratan Tata’s efforts to underline his group’s international credentials. Post Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus in 2007, Varin has worked closely and effectively with B. Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel to successfully integrate Corus and Tata Steel. At the age of 56, Varin would not be a particularly youthful choice. However, Ratan Tata is more impressed with his ability than youth. Ratan Tata recently extended his own term that allows him to stay at the helm until he is 75. The diplomatic Varin has shown every sign of having enjoyed working for the Indian company, though he now has a struggle on his hands, as Corus pushes through a £350 million cost-saving plan that could involve large job cuts next year. The Board of Tata Steel has appointed Kirby Adams to succeed Philippe Varin as Chief Executive Officer of Corus and of Tata Steel Europe – the holding company of Tata Steel’s European operations. It is also learnt that the coveted post – at the helm of Tata Steel – will go to an insider. A senior Tata Group official said that Ratan Tata himself is in favour of successor being a ‘Tata Steel man’ rather than an outsider.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

ICELAND: PM RESIGNS

Iceland's PM resigns on the back of global economic turmoil

This crisis has been a tremendous let-down for 320,000 Icelanders, whose rising incomes and prosperity had left them quite unprepared for this. "What this essentially means is that this is a country without a government, so it's impossible to say what might happen next,” says Gunnar Kristinsson, Professor at Iceland University. It is anticipated that the economy will shrink by 9.6% in 2009, while unemployment will touch 7.8%.

Bailouts by neighbouring countries and IMF are failing to prop up the economy. The new PM Johanna Sigurdardottir is asking Central Bank governors to resign and is building consensus for a union with EU. As other options fail, this indeed seems to be the best way forward.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Look where we landed!

The new CEOs of Walmart & Yahoo! could actually explore an alliance!

At the beginning of this century, when the world had just begun adjusting to life after the Internet, everyone was talking about how the brick & mortar companies would be out of contention soon and the Internet upstarts would seize the day. The dotcom bubble burst and badly so, taking many believers with it. But the belief was not misplaced. Only, the Internet’s potential was overestimated. However, what must be understood is that no amount of technology can make up for the lack of a sound business model. This is evident from the travails of Walmart and Yahoo!, one company hails from the brick & mortar world of yore, and the other belongs to the futuristic Internet space. For both, 2009 is bringing in a crucial change in leadership (as US President Barack Obama would agree, change is the key word this year!).

Walmart will get its new CEO Mike Duke on February 1, replacing Lee Scott (who’s term has ended) and Yahoo! has already gotten its new CEO Carol Bartz replacing co-founder Jerry Yang (who stepped down following intense criticism). Well, the irony is that the ‘past’ seems to be ahead of the ‘future’. Walmart is successfully surviving the downturn and Yahoo! is struggling. But both CEOs have their own set of challenges.

Duke has been with Walmart for over 14 years. His appointment indicates that Walmart may be looking at expanding international operations (where Duke has valuable experience) immensely. Liz Crawford, VP-Retail, Strategy, Tracy Locke states, “Duke has learned valuable lessons in markets like Germany (where the chain had to close down).” Walmart will face overwhelming competition from Tesco, Metro, Carrefour, et al in emerging markets, as per Bryan Roberts, Global research Director, Planet Retail.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, October 08, 2012

With the left burden off his shoulders Will arjun singh finally do some good?

For most of his term, he had his hands tied left, right and centre; Arjun’s back with a vengeance

Over the decades, he has emerged as one of the most respected entrepreneurs of post-Independence India and nurtures the powerful corporate legacy of the Godrej family. He is very optimistic about India’s future. And yet, when B&E asks Adi Godrej about one single issue that could derail India, he unhesitatingly says ‘education’. “The State has to encourage private sector participation in education. There is no other option. It is the private sector that made the third rate telecom and aviation sectors in India world class. It is the private sector that will do it in education.” And of critical importance is the FEI (Foreign Educational Institutions: regulation of entry and operations, maintenance of quality and prevention of commercialisation) Bill, 2007, that had to be shelved last year by Arjun Singh due to stiff opposition from the Left. Granted that the current UPA government has just about a few months left to go before it is election season.

But just as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has staked his future legacy through the nuclear deal, HRD Minister Arjun Singh too has a great opportunity to stake his own legacy by reforming higher education in the country, and in a major way by getting the FEI Bill passed. In fact, the passing of this Bill could well lead to benefits that will be far more significant and enduring than the nuclear deal. And now that the UPA government is not hobbled by an obstructionist and obscurantic Left when it comes to policy making and implementation, Arjun Singh even has the space now to quickly leave a lasting imprint; if he so wishes to. The question is, does he?

It just seems, Arjun Singh wishes to do so, and this time he is moving double time. “The hurdles have been removed to an extent and now the Bill should be introduced... If time is available, I would like to see it happen,” Arjun Singh commented just 48 hours after the government won the trust vote. Arjun Singh even set up an urgent meeting with state education ministers to initiate a blueprint for considerable expansion and education reforms in the next five years. But as he confirmed with his actions, the meeting was primarily with a focus on getting the FEI Bill passed in quick time.

Report after report and study after study has revealed the tragic truth that while India churns out millions of graduates and hundreds of thousands of doctors, engineers and managers, most of them simply do not have the basic skills required for the demanding job opportunities that 21st century India is creating. In short, India is spawning leagues of unemployable literates. The key is for the higher education system in India to ‘produce employable’ youngsters. And what better a strategy than promoting the entry of foreign institutions, already at the cutting edge of globalisation and education benchmarks that are extremely pertinent to the new world realities.

At the heart of the problem is the serious lack of resources and the role of UGC and AICTE, the two bodies that are actually supposed to regulate higher education in the country. Admits former NCERT Director J.S Rajput to B&E, “It is a fact that the government does not have requisite resources to maintain standards in higher education. So, the role and responsibilities of private educational institutions becomes critical.”

Experts comment that though UGC and AICTE could have moved mountains in improving India’s higher education framework, both of them currently face a crisis of quality, and to a certain extent, credibility. Says Dinanath Batra, Convener of the Shikhsha Bachao Andolan, “Now, the PM places more trust on reports of the Knowledge Commission.” According to the President of Centre for Civil Society, Partha Shah, the basic problem with UGC and AICTE is that they have not changed with the times. Clearly, instead of acting as change agents and effective regulators, they continue to adhere to rule books that have grown old beyond what today’s demanding higher education sector requires. It is not that the UGC and AICTE were set up with the objective of stopping the growth of education. In fact, these two institutions were once upon a time not so long back seen as perpetrators of processes and structures in the education sector that could have radically transformed the promised growth into higher figures.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Saturday, October 06, 2012

It’s a Simple Matter of Investment

A Synchrotron is Welcome, But India still needs a Thriving R&D Culture

There is a plan to set up a ‘synchrotron’ in West Bengal with an investment estimate of Rs.60 billion to be made by the Indian government and private players, a concept that exists only in four countries – US, France, Japan and Germany. It is being hailed as India’s arrival into the Big Boys club in R&D. A synchrotron is a cyclical particle accelerator (like the one at the most famed CERN) that has its application in various streams of sciences. Truly, in the scientific industry, it’s equivalent to sending a man to the moon. For India, it’s not only a matter of pride, but a step towards rebranding itself as an upmarket research and development hub.

But keep this synchrotron instance to one side, and one starts viewing huge gaps in our R&D efforts. As per the latest data from the Ministry of Science and Technology, there were 3960 R&D institutions as of 2006, of which 707 were by the Central Government, 834 by State Governments and 2020 by private sectors. Total investment during 2002-03 was $3.91 billion, which was just 0.8% of the GNP. However, that increased to 2% of GDP in 2008.

But these numbers shrink when one compares the same to benchmark countries. OECD commented that even in 2006, China was apparently investing $136 billion in R&D. As of 2008, India had 1.5 lakh researchers compared to China’s 10 lakh plus. Even the US had a total R&D expenditure in 2006 of $340 billion. Global expenditure on R&D has dramatically increased from $525 billion in 1999 to $1.1 trillion in 2007. Positively looking, the patents granted in India had increased from 1078 during 2002-03 to 15220 during 2006-07. But in the same year, the European patent office issued 62,780 patents; and the US, 173,771 patents.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, October 05, 2012

WIKILEAKS: THE EULOGY

Left to us, We’d give the Nobel Prize to WikiLeaks, Run by the Rollicking Sunshine Press, For their Astounding Efforts... This one’s for them!

But more than all the numbers, WikiLeaks has beyond doubt proven that United States has knowingly not only committed the worst and unpardonable human rights violations, but also has violated the Geneva Accord that controls the behaviour of armies, who capture “prisoners during the course of operations.”

In comparison, Saddam’s kangaroo-trial and summary execution by the US government for the killing of 148 Shiites in Dujail, seems like child’s play. One wonders whether George Bush would ever be even charged with war crimes.

Back to topic, while the top US military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen warned that the WikiLeaks Afghan expose is a threat to national security, President Obama commented, “These documents don’t reveal any issues that haven’t already informed our public debate on Afghanistan.” Strangely, the tenor of Presidential speak has been quite similar whenever WikiLeaks has squirmed the can open – their historic Guantanamo Bay expose inclusive, where WikiLeaks revealed the exact prison manual (termed the Standard Operating Procedure) for Camp Delta, that documented spectacular human rights’ violations – usage of dogs, belly irons, isolation torture et al.

But Assange hasn’t always gotten it right. In two notable mistakes, WikiLeaks has had to eat dust. In December 2006, WikiLeaks claimed that Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a Somali political figure, had planned to assassinate Somali Government officials. Later, the claim was found to be unauthentic and led to WikiLeaks trying to cover up.

In another example, WikiLeaks jumped the gun during the 2008 US Presidential Election, by posting contents of an email account which purportedly belonged to Sarah Palin. It didn’t take much time for investigators to discover that it was just a fake email account created by David Kernell, a Tennessee University student.

But the world is fortunate that WikiLeaks has survived till now. In February 2008, the Swiss Bank Julius Baer sued WikiLeaks in a court in California, US and sought permanent shutdown of its website after it reported illegal activities in the bank’s Cayman Island branch. WikiLeaks won the case in March, 2008. This time they were lucky. It might not be so in the future. To that extent, Assange, your personal indiscretions aside, this one’s for you!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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