IIPM FACULTY: IIPM News

Showing posts with label IIPM News. Show all posts

Thursday, May 02, 2013

How Dr. Manmohan Singh Beats V.P. Singh Hands Down...

It was really a no contest till recently. The late V.P. Singh was the undisputed winner of this trophy. He also remains the classic example of a middle class hero who became a middle class villain. Till he became the Prime Minister, V.P. Singh was the anti-corruption crusader and messiah who rode on the infamy of the Bofors scam. Of course, Indians soon realised that pious crusaders do not always become good leaders. Mercifully, his tenure did not last long enough for V.P. Singh to inflict irreparable damage to India.

I used the words “till recently” because there was some lingering, forlorn hope that the current Prime Minister would at least do something that would enable V.P. Singh to retain the crown. But then, forlorn hopes always remain hopeless. I realised this when I read newspaper stories about how a Supreme Court Bench has yet again criticised the PMO. This time, the rap on the knuckles is because the Prime Minister has failed to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority despite reminders. Allow me to use the words of the Bench: “What do you mean by this? It is shocking that you require the consent of all the states even for a date of a meeting? Is the PM to see his convenience or the convenience of the members? It is surprising that the PMO is asking the convenience of everybody before fixing the meeting.” Just imagine. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cauvery River Authority set up to tackle the often ugly dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka over the sharing of Cauvery waters. What conclusion can you draw from the fact that he is not able to set up a meeting with some chief ministers? Either he is truly helpless and powerless, or he is indifferent and callous. Either ways, it bodes ill for India.

This incident and the rap on the knuckles by the Supreme Court is not front page news. Nor will it lead our television anchors to froth at the mouth. Yet, in a small but very significant way, it reflects the disappointment and disaster that Dr. Manmohan Singh has been. In 2009, he was a true blue middle class hero because the Congress won virtually all urban seats in the Lok Sabha elections, including seven out of seven in Delhi. Today, that halo has been torn to shreds. Of course, the middle class Indian is very fickle and unreliable. And later historians might have more charitable things to say about the tenure of Manmohan Singh. The more charitable may say that Indians expected too much from him and hence the disappointment and anger.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Cicero's Challenge 2012: The nation’s grandest inter-school event

It was a fest to remember. On the sprawling lawns of The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)’s international campus in New Delhi, on May 3, 2012, over 6,000 school children congregated to create what has become one of the biggest and most eagerly awaited events for the national student community. Cicero’s Challenge 2012, IIPM’s annual inter-school festival – which has the debate competition as the signature event and many other thrilling competitions – witnessed a display of excitement, energy and vigour that’s hard to put down in words.

The theme for the 2012 edition of the festival was ‘Get Real’. The two-day competition kicked off with its signature debate event, which saw students debating on the topic ‘Technology’ in the preliminary round, which was followed by the finals on the second day. The 27 finalists debated on the topic ‘The virtual world is where I can really be me’. Saksham Agarwal of Amity International School, Gurgaon bagged the first prize in the debate competition, which included a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000, a certificate and a trophy. Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri, Dean, Centre for Enterprise Management, IIPM and Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri, Honorary Director of IIPM Think Tank, were the judges for the debate finals. Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri said, “Every time I judge an event at Cicero’s, I discover new, budding schools that haven’t been heard of before; Montfort School, for instance.” In all, the event went beyond expectations to live up to its image of being the nation’s greatest inter-school event.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Can Zinger become the Big Mac in India?

Shrugging off its early failure, KFC from the stable of Yum! Brands is now eyeing to replicate its Chinese success story and trump McDonald’s in the Indian market. But the question remains – can it beat McDonald’s first mover advantage in this market, and of course its robust supply chain?

It’s 9 o’clock on a wintry sunday morning and despite the chill and a holiday, quite a few young couples could be seen taking a relaxed breakfast at a KFC outlet in New Delhi’s Connaught Place. Whether they are pressed for time or it’s their love for KFC morning offerings, is not known. But certainly the ubiquitous Louisville, Kentucky-based chicken specialty restaurant from the Yum! Brands stable, has caught the fancy of urban youth. So much so that the well-entrenched McDonald’s known for its family and kids TG, has aggressively revamped its offering to orient itself to the young adults.

Starting in 1996, after a slow and circumspect start, today KFC is Yum! Brands’ best performing subsidiary in India, well ahead of Pizza Hut – once the flagship for the US-parent company in India. But what’s worth noting is that with KFC Yum! Brands is hoping to create a China like success story in India. Today KFC is 80% of the Yum! Brands’ over 4,200 outlets in China – a market which contributes 33% of its global revenue. But then that’s not without a solid reason. While India being a chicken loving country, the chances of KFC’s continuing success becomes stronger, more so as offerings like Zinger Burger, and the trademark KFC hot and crispy chicken offerings, are gobbled by urban India. Officially the QSR chain is growing at a blistering 70%. And the company has already started eyeing for bigger targets. When asked about the company’s target to hit Rs.10 billion turnover in India, Dhruv Kaul, Marketing Director, KFC India says, “With the kind of growth and expansion we are having, that looks a very humble figure, we are aiming much higher in the coming years.”

However, to achieve these bigger targets, KFC has to take the game away from McDonald’s, which already has a very strong presence across the country. Certainly, the QSR that believes in finger licking taste has outlined few key growth areas to take the matter forward. While keeping its great taste USP alive by further expanding and localising its menu is its primary strategy, increasing its footprints to roughly 50 cities, increasing the serving hours and thus drawing a broader customer base – especially among the Indian youth – are the key focus areas for the company now. Working on the lines, the company recently introduced Streetwise range starting at Rs.25 to cater to the college going youths, and lure the mass that have been loving McDonald’s happy price menu (starts at Rs.20) so far. Moreover, KFC now aims to expand to 100 items serving all kind of customer needs from health to indulgence.

McDonald’s on its part too knows that KFC is the one to watch out for. As such the Big Mac maker is on a good move growing at 35% over a revenue base that’s much bigger than KFC in India, and doubling its revenue every 3-years. But then the fact that the past couple of years have seen KFC’s aggression bringing it good dividends is something hard for McDonald’s to ignore. No doubt, a serious competition is already in place. The flow at which both players have started offering new products, right from burger specialty to their respective beverages, to hit the other’s menu clearly explains how spicy the chicken and the burgers have become in both the board rooms.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Thursday, April 04, 2013

B&E This Fortnight

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS, ECONOMY & FINANCEUs debt deal done

After months of political wrangling and partisan posturing by both Republicans and Democrats in the Republican-led House of Representatives, President Barack Obama and his team were finally able to cut a deal that allows the US to trim its bulging deficit and raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by more than $2 trillion in extra borrowing power, which will last till 2013. The agreement reached paves the way for $2.1 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years and creates a congressional committee to recommend a deficit-reduction package by late November. But the deal does not include any tax increases that Obama had pressed hard to include. Had this last-minute deal not come about, it would have led to a historic US default on payments to investors in Treasury bonds, recipients of social security pension checks, those relying on military veterans benefits and businesses that work for the government. Now that an agreement has been sealed, though after much fractious debate, the US and the world can breathe easy. It will help preserve America’s top notch credit rating, reassure investors in financial markets across the globe and possibly reverse the losses that spread across Wall Street in recent days as the threat of a default grew. However rating agencies may still downgrade America’s current AAA debt rating on concerns about the struggling US economy.

Sprint-lightsquared
The US’s first integrated 4G-LTE wireless broadband and satellite network, LightSquared, has announced a $9-billion network hosting deal with Sprint Nextel. The deal covers spectrum hosting and network services, 4G wholesale, and 3G roaming. LightSquared will pay the deal amount in cash within 11 years even though the time frame for the deal spans 15 years. Moreover, this agreement brings home the opportunity for Sprint to purchase 50% of LightSquared’s expected L-Band 4G capacity. On the other hand, the deal is beneficial for LightSquared for it expects to save $13 billion on network capital & operating expenses. The deal is expected to be a win-win for both, and will enable setting up a separate platform for Sprint Nextel’s hosting opportunities.

ExxonMobil profits
Riding on the high prices of oil and gasoline, the largest oil company in the US - ExxonMobil reported a 53% increase in its fourth quarter profits. ExxonMobil earned $10.7 billion for the quarter, up from $7.56 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. In the second quarter of the current year, ExxonMobil had increased its production by 10% leading to a 41% increase in its quarterly earnings. Earnings were $2.18 per diluted common share, falling short of analysts’ consensus forecast of $2.33, but still much better than last year. ExxonMobil in 2009 had bought natural gas explorer c for $25 billion and has recently purchased two companies in the gas rich Marcellus Shale area across Pennsylvania. The acquisition has boosted its production to an equivalent of 4.9 million barrels of oil a day.

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

Monday, March 18, 2013

“We Need a Real Estate Regulator”

Kamal Khetan, CMD, Sunteck, has taken Sunteck to Unimaginable Levels Within a decade. He talks to Mona Mehta about The Present and The Future
Sunteck Realty started their business in 2000 from Mumbai and have gone on to become Mumbai’s second largest real estate player with a plethora of premium offerings in the residential and commercial segments. Kamal Khetan, the founder promoter and present Chairman and Managing Director of the Sunteck Group, reveal the success model of the story and the fast changing real estate landscape in the country in an exclusive interview:

B&E: How do you rate Sunteck Realty’s performance on the financial front and what have been the kind of targets achieved till now and also set by you?
Kamal Khetan (KK): Our financial performance this year has been extremely good. The cumulative sales are Rs.1.43 billion (bn) and customer advances stand at Rs.4.35 bn in September 2010. We continue to achieve higher volumes and higher sales realization across our projects. This is a growth of about 40% over the corresponding period last financial year on revenue. We are confident of achieving our target of FY11 and have targeted cumulative sales of Rs.20 bn by year end out of which, we have already achieved more than Rs.1.6 bn till date. On all projects, we are achieving a minimum premium of 25% to 30% in each market.

B&E: What has the major focus of the top management in terms of managing cash flows especially when home equity is increasing with regards to loans? What has been your overall growth strategy so far?
(KK): The company remains focused on acquisitions it also believes in utilizing each rupee generated from internal accruals for further acquisitions. Our cash flow remains strong and our volumes and price points are only growing. We don’t believe that the increase in home equity (required for home loans) is impacting the volumes or price point of our products.

B&E: How do you believe that the real estate industry has evolved over the years in India and what are the major policy or institutional changes required in the near future?
(KK): The real estate industry will continue to be a high growth sector, with a significant potential not only to provide homes and business locations but also sustainable employment. In the medium to long term, we expect the industry to benefit from newer construction technology, design and building automation, as well as green technology. We expect to form larger partnerships with government and local bodies to develop comprehensive high density developments with requisite infrastructure and public amenities for all. We believe that the country requires a real estate regulator. This will help in making the sector more organized and customers and stakeholders to gain confidence in the industry.

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Thursday, March 07, 2013

Vulcanos Erupt at 145 Decibel...

When Several AK-47 and Vulcanos Erupt at 145 Decibel...

A firecracker is a Class-7 explosive, and if it doesn’t meet the prescribed norms, it could be classified as an explosive. Another prime concern is that the manufacturers do not print the decibel output of a firecracker on the packet. This leads to further ambiguity pertaining to the noise impact of the cracker.

Otorhinolaryngologist Dr. Ajit Man Singh of Max Hospital, Saket seconds that the inflated noise emissions could be potentially harmful to the ear. “Children and senior citizens are most vulnerable,” he says. The thorny truth is that even noise-free zones like hospitals lie exposed. Max Hospital, for instance, is surrounded by residential colonies where joyous residents celebrate Diwali with synergetic passion. But therein lies another problem. While the SC had Okayed manufacturing 125dB output crackers, it subsequently imposed a noise restriction of 55 dB in residential areas. Thus further complicating things for the already inefficient enforcers.

Diwali in India is more than just a festival of Hindus. It’s a celebration that reflects communal harmony, to say the least. But as the beautiful sparks and rockets juxtapose and disappear into the night sky, the constant ‘explosion’ resonating in the background is anything but a symphony. Come to think of it, the unnecessary bass has been added to Diwali only after a certain evolution in technology. After all, the people of Ayodhya did celebrate Lord Ram’s victory over Raavan by lighting up the city, with no peculiar soundtrack in the background...

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Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Taliban was not only willing to hand over Bin Laden to the US

Documents suggest that in the years leading to 9/11, Taliban was not only willing to hand over Bin Laden to the US but also warned the latter of an impending terrorist attack

For example, an ISI official told visiting US Congressmen that “Pakistan will always support the Taliban”. This “policy cannot change”, he continued, because “it would prompt rebellion across the Northwest Frontier Provinces, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and indeed on both sides of the Pashtun-dominated Pak-Afghan border.”

It is now common knowledge that the US had been asking the Taliban to hand over Laden since 1999. These discussions stopped only a week before the 9/11 attack. However, the US was so adamant on its stand that Laden be tried by the Department of Justice— and not in a third country as Taliban suggested— that Taliban refused to hand him over. Officials described it as a missed opportunity. The former CIA station chief Milt Bearden said, “We never heard what they were trying to say. We had no common language. Ours was, ‘Give up bin Laden.’ They were saying, ‘Do something to help us give him up’.” Bearden added, “I have no doubts Taliban wanted to get rid of him. He was a pain in the neck but this never clickedwith us”. The US thought it was “unreasonable” on Taliban’s part to ask for evidence indicting Laden. Taliban, on its part, even cautioned the US that Laden was planning a big attack on American soil. In fact, former Taliban foreign minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil maintained that his repeated warnings, delivered because of apprehensions that the US would respond by waging war against Afghanistan, had been dismissed. US officials admitted to this fact but said that warnings were dismissed because they were “hearing a lot of that kind of stuff”.

Declining the Taliban’s offer to have Laden handed over shows that the US rather followed the policy of regime change well before the 9/11 happened. India was considered to have joined Russia, the USA and Iran in a conjunct front against Taliban, which enclosed aid for Northern Alliance, including “information and logistic support” from Washington. Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Niaz Naik claimed that he had been informed by senior US officials as early as in July 2001 that military action would be taken against the Taliban by the middle of October. Readies had already been coordinated with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. Naik also said that “it was doubtful that Washington would drop its plan even if Bin Laden were to be surrendered immediately by the Taliban.”

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Saturday, February 09, 2013

“Funding is the major roadblock!”

He sold his well set up business in 2007, that made him once the market leader and decided to venture into a sector that was only talked about and not explored. Today with Indosolar, he is the largest manufacturer of solar photovoltaic cells in India, ahead of firms like Moserbaer and Tata BP Solar. Set to hit the market with his maiden public issue, Hulas Rahul Gupta, MD, Indosolar, discusses his future plans to B&E’s Deepak Ranjan Patra

B&E: You were the market leader in the compact fluorescent lamps and halogen lamps category when you decided to make an exit from the particular business. Why did you take such a decision?
HRG: By the end of 2006, there were a lot of activities going on in the PE arena, especially in the automotive segment in the Asia-Pacific region. Most of the offers were for growth capital and we were not in the growth capital space. So, it was all a matter of valuation. We analysed it very professionally and the valuation was really good. The share price was around Rs. 85 and the selling was Rs 200 a share. We also believed that the sharehoders were getting a good amount and it was a win-win situation. So we decided to move out from the sphere.

B&E: Just two years back, you entered the photovoltaic cell-making business and now you are the leader with controlling 40% of the country’s annual cell-making capacity. How has been the journey so far and what was the strategy that worked for you so well?
HRG: After Phoenix, one of the areas where we started looking business opportunities, was global warming and climate change. In thge mean time, we came across solar technology. The more we looked at it more we liked it. It was seriously a capital intensive business. But at the same time, we decided that we must bring in concurrent technology to India, so that it has a higher domestic demand in future. From that point of view, we entered into solar technology. From the beginning itself, we wanted to go for scale. So, at a time when 10 MW unit was considered big, we opted for a plant with 200 MW capacity.

B&E: You are planning to launch a public issue shortly. Does it aim at scaling up your capacity alone?
HRG: After looking at the governments’ incentive policy, which allows a capital subsidy of 25% on capex of Rs. 1,000 crore, we thought we must apply for the same. Thus, we decided to increase our footprint to 360 MW at a total cost of Rs. 1,545 crore. With this IPO, we are planning to accomplish the second phase of our expansion by adding 100 MW capacity.

B&E: Efficiency of the cells is a major factor when it comes to judging quality of the cells. Do you also value efficiency while moving ahead with scale?
HRG: A lot! The efficiency level that we maintain is one of the best. Certainly, the efficiency curve has moved dramatically in the recent times. Before two or three years, it was around 12% to 14%. But in the past 18 months or so, the average efficiency level has moved up to 15-17%. We have bought a line, which was contracted guranteed 15.9%, now we are averaging 16.2% and have a roadmap for 16.5%.

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Skeletons in every cupboard

Rather than blaming auditors, the entire regulatory system must be cleaned from top to bottom

Is regulation in India working? It’s a lot like asking whether the democracy is working in Pakistan! A lot has been said and written on the Satyam fiasco and from investors to independent directors to auditors, everybody seems to have got their share of the blame. But this is not for the first time that such a thing has happened in India. However, Raju’s misdemeanours have taken this ruckus to a new league and garnered the attention of the corporate world. We have been through this episode with Sterlite, which was alleged to have adopted fraudulent practices to bag a tender floated by GAIL last year. Then we have the case of Global Trust Bank, where the auditors were again PricewaterhouseCoopers and so on... In fact, Naresh Gupta, MD, Adobe India, in an conversation with B&E, doesn’t deny the possibility that many more Indian companies have bloated books (mostly in the real estate & infrastructure sectors) because of their proximity with politicians and bureaucrats. “So it’s better if we clean up the system now than to feel sorry later,” he adds.

But then isn’t it the auditor’s responsibility to be the whistle-blower to the company’s wrongdoings? However, some say that book of accounts is the primary responsibility of the management and auditors merely audit the documents provided to them by the management and give their opinion based on accounts. If so, then why on earth does someone need an independent, external auditor?

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Monday, January 14, 2013

Game for the premium Prize?

this volume player stunned market watchers with its aggressive attack. pawan chabra finds out how hero honda achieved more than what was expected of it

The year 2008-09 hasn’t been too pleasing for Rajiv Bajaj. And not without reason, as his company Bajaj Auto registered negative y-o-y growth of 22% for the year ending March 31, 2009. On the contrary though, its arch-rival Hero Honda has been making merry, having strengthened its grapple hold over the two-wheeler industry during the year gone by.

A watershed year is how you would describe 2008-09 for Hero Honda, for in that time period, it not only crossed a significant landmark by selling 25 million units, but also consolidated its leadership with a 60% market share in the two-wheeler segment. And to understand that all this came at a time when all competitors were scrambling about, just to protect their bottomlines!

While on one hand, Hero Honda has proved its mettle as the indisputable leader in the Indian two-wheeler segment, it also became the world’s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in a calendar year. And to talk about the joyride to the bank, the company recorded a healthy Rs.123.6 billion in revenues for FY’09 (registering a growth of 20%), while its bottomlines grew by 33% at Rs.12.8 billion y-o-y. Even during the most recent quarter ended June 30, 2009, the company posted net profits of Rs.5 billion. This figure was way higher than the Rs.2.7 billion profits posted during the same quarter a year back. The question to be asked here is – how did Hero Honda manage to achieve such greatness during times when all that the industry could stand witness to with respect to their bottomlines was ‘erosion’?

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.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

“We cater to a niche”

In an exclusive conversation with B&E, V. Vasantha Kumar, Senior VP and Head – Marketing & Communications, ABN AMRO Bank, India reveals how they made it…

B&E: Foreign banks still seems to be laggards in India? Why it is so?

VVK: There is a difference in the business models of banks like ABN AMRO and government owned banks in India. The target segment for a PSB or an Indian private bank consists mainly of the masses with the middle class forming a huge bulk of their customers, while foreign banks have a niche market to cater to. So the branding and communications we do is targeted at that particular audience only and the channels are decided accordingly.

B&E: What has ABN AMRO India done during the last six months as far as marketing initiatives are concerned and how has been the response?

VVK: Ever since the takeover of ABN AMRO globally by RBS last year, a rebranding effort has been launched to change the identity of the bank in India. But, the unique feature of this rebranding exercise has been that it has been a very slow (but steady) process so that our customers can accept the transition smoothly and get used to it without any confusion (whether it is some other bank). We have not changed the identity of the bank overnight like many companies do. We feel that our customers as well as our sales people should take up the process smoothly without any hiccups.

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.

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Lonely Knight

Dasgupta’s successor will not find the going very easy

Aleader can be as great as can be, but he cannot ever be larger than his team. That’s exactly where Multi Screen Media’s (MSM) now ex-CEO Kunal Dasgupta faltered. Undoubtedly, Sony grew leaps and bounds in India under his stewardship. But unfortunately, insecurity and the fear of being overshadowed by new blood gripped him so badly that his prime focus shifted (from ensuring the channel’s success) towards chucking out his possible successors.

Dasgupta joined Sony as CFO in 1995 and was promoted as CEO in just three years (in 1998). Over his 14-year-long stint, he build the Sony network from one entertainment channel to a bouquet of six channels. With his visionary leadership, he has not only led Sony but the entire genre. He brought the concept of cricket as entertainment by telecasting it on SETMAX. He started telecasting new movie flicks to get glued eyeballs on weekends. He also managed to displace Zee TV from its number one position in 1999. This time, his weapon was horror show ‘Aahat’. Andy Kaplan, President – International Networks, SPTI acknowledges Kunal’s contribution, “Kunal has played an instrumental role in growing our channels business... His experience and leadership will be greatly missed.”

Maybe. But ten years later, Kunal hasn’t exactly been the image of visionary leadership that he was when he started off. For he is the man who has also led Sony on the downtrodden path to a poor number four in the GEC category in the latter half of 2008. So where did this media maverick go wrong? “I think Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) should have never ever happened… because I had a chance to buy it but I felt a quiz format will not be that appealing to the audience. I refused it...”, is what Dasgupta himself admitted earlier to B&E. And that exactly was the turning point. In July 2000, KBC was launched on Star Plus along with K-packed soaps. Within months Star Plus became number one in the GEC category. Since then, Dasgupta has been on an erring spree and Sony kept falling on expectations. And as he started faltering, his fears of being replaced became stronger, with alarming consequences.

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.

Friday, December 07, 2012

Shareholder wealth? (Which language?!)

You can curse him a million times for emptying your pockets; you can praise him a billon for saving other companies... Call him a ‘hero’; call him the ‘Don Quixote’ who led The Bank of America!

Many still ponder over how he could ‘give-in’ to his hidden penchant for the half-dead loss maker, Merrill Lynch (ML) on New Year Day (a cumulated net loss of $37.85 billion during FYs 2007 & 2008). Many still ponder over why he was booted out by Time from its list of the ‘World’s 100 Most Influential Leaders’ in 2008. Many still ponder over whether Bank of America (BofA) will beg for more than ‘just’ the $45 billion Fed-aid (and a further $118 billion worth of guarantees against bad assets). But none ponder over whether Kenneth Lewis, Chairman & CEO, BofA has been credible enough to steer the great American financial ship... He’s done his job well, and despite the fact that February 4, 2009, marked the ‘worst valuation day’ in decades for BofA (with the bank eroding close to $125 billion in Mcap since September 14, 2009; its shares touching a 25 year-old low of a paltry $3.77!), there is no denying that Lewis is the man of the hour for BofA (what?!?).

So what makes us put forward such a claim? Let’s do some reality check here – weren’t the very same critics showering hymns of praises upon Lewis, as recently as 5 months back, when he stepped in boldly to save Countrywide Financial and ML from the vagaries of the meltdown? Yes, the move backfired, but can we so very easily cast that heavy tattered hat of shame on his head, while all he did was to make an effort, even putting his hard-earned reputation on the firing line of all earnest shareholders?

“There were others that wanted to make an investment in ML. Even now, on a longer-term basis, that brand has a lot of value,” is how Lewis publicly defends his act. Shame, we even question him on a decision that only cost BofA ‘way-too-dearly’ in stocks. And in reaction, investors of BofA filed a proposed class action against the entity, on January 20, 2009, charging its top officers on grounds of incomplete information sharing about the health of ML.

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.

Thursday, December 06, 2012

B. K. MODI: SATYAM BID

Satyam is an attractive buy, but Modi has to be careful about how he values his latest acquisition target

Spice Corp. is not the only one in the fray. Given the low valuations for Satyam, there have been many suitors. The most aggressive has been Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which has already increased its stake in the company to 12% from 4%. However, an analyst on conditions on anonymity cautions, “The cost of acquiring and restructuring Satyam in this time of liquidity crunch would be more than the worth of the business.” Ditto for other suitors like Tech Mahindra, iGate and Hinduja group. Not for Modi, who proudly proclaims, “We have some Rs.20 billion in the bank!” So Satyam needs Spice but is the reverse also true? Definitely, even a much subdued Satyam would be worth much, considering current valuations (a person investing Rs.100 in the company 1 year ago would see his investment drop in value to Rs.12.45 on February 3, 2009!).

However, Spice Innovations would have a lot of work to do. The latest controversy has already cost Satyam four major clients – Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, a loss of some $200 million in topline. Fortunately, there are a few like GE still in Satyam’s kitty. Another obstacle would be that there is no top rung of management in the organisation at the moment and employees are facing a crisis of confidence. Modi counters, “We have a good leadership team and are confident that we would be able to steer the new company in the right direction.” Well, considering how his previous big ticket venture Spice Communications went into losses, one wonders if Modi’s cadres can really manage to rescue Satyam from crisis to conquest. Moreover, this is an acquisition where a critical element – that of brand goodwill – is virtually non-existent! Although Modi has the cash, he needs to be careful with regard to how he (over)values Satyam

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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.

Monday, December 03, 2012

...And 5 REASONS WHY GM INDIA WOULD THRIVE!

“Nothing’s gonna change my love for you...” says GM to India! They seem to be getting along quite fine. And it seems, quite ironically, that while GM missed out on the key basics in its home market, it seems to have gone by the book and achieved quite considerable success in India. It has been said that the child is the father of the man. Irrespective of whether the parent ever regains, or even hopes to regain its former glory, amidst all the muddle it has gotten itself into, GM in India has smartly got itself into a position where it can catapult itself into the next league and in fact use India as a hub to expand its ambitions into other emerging markets. We proceed to explain the five basic reasons why we firmly believe that GM India is definitely slated for a bright future.

reason #1: getting taller and fatter by the day! Interestingly, staying away from the gloomy picture back home, GM’s India division believes that its fate does not rely on the approval or denial of the bailout package by the White House, as P. Balendran, Vice President, General Motors India, asserts, “All our product programmes are met by internal accruals and ours is a debt free company. The chaos in the US will not hit the India division of the company.” And the sheer optimism of Balendran seems to be backed by a lot of figures.

Some time back, the company was not looking very promising with its India operations. Its American lineage was placing it at a considerable disadvantage with Indians perceiving its cars as fuel guzzlers. People were writing the company off based on its sales performance with respect to Japanese brands, particularly Honda and Toyota, which had a perception of being best in class, thanks to the Japanese image. At that time, B&E had carried a feature on the company (in 2005) and said that the small cars would help the company gain a strong footing in the market. Sure enough, mainly after the launch of the compact Spark and Aveo’s variant U-VA, the company gained momentum in the year 2007 and then there was no looking back.

The company has used the premium brand image of the Chevrolet brand and extended it quite effectively in the small car category, as the brand communicates a ‘best in its class positioning’. After the company registered a figure of 60,000 units in the year 2007, moving ahead at a growth rate of 63% as compared to 2006, GM India has already attained a sales figure of 65,000 units till the month of November, 2008 (SIAM). “We expect to sell close to 75,000 to 78,000 units this year, registering a growth of about 20% in 2008,” asserts Balendran. Well, at a time when the overall auto industry is growing at a meagre rate of 2-5%, GM India is pacing past all others with a 20% growth rate and this is surely raising many eyebrows towards GM in the sector.

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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.