IIPM FACULTY

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Rolling down the Razr’s edge. Ouchhhh!

Aren’t four months a tad too little to turnaround a troubled company drenched with losses?

Just last year, Fortune had listed him as one of ‘Corporate America’s next-gen leaders’. In a twist of fate, this year has only seen him fall from

glory – becoming a victim of activist investor, Carl Icahn’s accusations being the latest! His ‘2009 turnaround blueprint’ for Motorola was questioned and tagged as ‘worthless’. And with mud-slingling reaching heights, a man’s efforts to turn around Moto – one who was also appointed by the White House to serve on Bush’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee in May 2004 – was shamelessly criticised! With plans to split Motorola Inc. into two public entities (Motorola confirmed a plan to detach its distressed mobile phone unit from the remaining units on March 26, 2008), the fate of Gregory Brown, CEO, Motorola Inc. is also... in the line of fire!

Considering that his battery of problems have been his predecessor’s gift, one thinks it’s a tad to early to give him so much flak. Jeff Kagan, Telecom Analyst, who vouches for Brown, states, “I have watched Brown since the 1990s at Ameritech. At Motorola, he is reinventing the senior-level suite, which is good news. Can that change be driven through the entire company? That is the question...” Indeed, the message is clear – Moto needs a man like Brown to remain on its board if it seeks some positive changes ahead!

Post a bachelor’s degree course in economics from Rutgers University, Greg held different sales & marketing positions at AT&T. In 1987, he joined Ameritech where he rose to the rank of the President of Ameritech Custom Business Services and Ameritech New Media Inc. Then he served as the Chairman & ceo of Micromuse Inc. and was finally appointed as the President and coo of Motorola in 2002. With more than 25 years of high-tech know-how, Greg currently heads four different business divisions in the company.

Under him, the $6.7 billion government and corp. comm. divisions have grown by a CAGR of 10% and its profitability too has doubled. Furthermore, he successfully led the acquisition of Symbol Technologies for $3.9 billion – the second-largest deal in the history of Motorola! Greg also turned around the automotive unit & consequently led its sell off for $1 billion to Continental.

Surely, Moto’s handset division can be given to a new leader, but Brown’s leadership for the other division is necessary. Even Jack Gold, J. Gold Associates agrees, “A new leader is required to run the newly-formed handset division. It must bring in new blood to stir things up and get the innovation cycle moving again...” Surely, Motorola has decided it must reorganise itself, and part of this process must be a top-down review of its total business game. Kagan, too, agrees on the same as he says, “I think Motorola can recover with the right CEO and the right attitude. I think that with the right leadership, they can recover and do well.” Brown’s previous tenure as a CEO at Micromuse saw him increase revenue by a teeth-rattling 809% to over $200 million, which critics should not overlook! Especially when experts like John Thompson, Vice Chairman, Heidrick & Struggles, too have generously tagged him as “highly talented’ and that he “has the personal bandwidth to be CEO of a Fortune 50 company.” As far as the split is concerned, Greg will surely lose control over the handset division; but then given a choice, he too would have chosen ‘quality’ work over ‘quantity’ work. Well, nothing wrong in giving up what you can’t handle.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

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Friday, October 03, 2008

210? Better to jump ship!

Proposed amendment to Indian law is not sensible
Rarely would we have imagined, even a decade ago, that an amendment to Indian M&A law would have such far reaching implications across the globe. But with so much dependence on the Indian economy now, this comes as no surprise today.

The Indian government has come under the scanner for introducing merger control amendments to its competition act of 2002. As per the provisions, any company which does business in India will have to seek permission from the government in an event of it being involved in M&A activity, even when it does not involve Indian operations at all! It is believed that the government has brought these changes to safeguard interests of domestic companies. The us and several other bar associations have voiced severe concerns. The matter has even reached the us Congress in order to pressure India. According to Rajesh Menon, Senior Director, CII, “This would lead to the possibility of some deals not fructifying and eventually slowing down the process of economic growth in India.” Also, the whole process of notification will take any where between 30 to 210 days. The industry fears a loss of competitive edge during the gestation period. Evidently, global M&A activity could be substantially hit. Jyoti Vij, Director (Financial sector & corporate law), FICCI, said to B&E, “There is a genuine concern in the industry (in India & abroad) as it is not clear what all is in the ambit of the amendments and how things like group consolidation and takeovers will be affected.”

M&As have the potential to bring positive gains to the Indian domestic industry through transfer of technological & business expertise. Concerns relating to foreign companies engaging in M&As might be genuine, but such an amendment will surely prove to be the wrong way to address it. Guess India must search for better ways to exercise its global clout than this!

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
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The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
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IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

R&D dilemma

When developed world’s agony is developing world’s consolation
The growing trend of internationalisation of R&D has put

the world in dilemma. It is the dilemma of fear and hope. The fear is of the developed world and the hope is of the developing world. The reason for the fear is that the developed world is going to lose its competitive edge and that innovation as a major portion of R&D investment is moving mostly to developing countries. The hope for the developing world is that the growing influx of foreign R&D investment will boost innovation and product development in the long run.

As per the 2002 world investment report, although the worldwide R&D expenditure stood at over $677 billion and four-fifth of that amount is concentrated in the top ten developed economies, the same report has revealed the trend of R&D expenditure of 1991 to 2002 where the R&D share fell from 97% to 91%. On the contrary, that of developing countries rose from a mere 2% to 6% during the same period. In 1994, major developed economies or regions accounted for 90% of overseas R&D expenditures. This share decreased to 80% by 2001. Sweden, one of the most innovative European countries, is also losing its innovative edge owing to increasing trend of outsourcing R&D. According to Government statistics, the country was carrying out over 78% of their R&D projects within the country which has dropped to 50% in 2007. On the other hand, developing countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and India are the hottest destinations for transnational corporations because of cheap and dexterous labor flux. However, the fact is that the developed world’s agony is becoming developing world’s consolation. To get rid of the agony, developed countries need to look at tax structure and rigidity and find out new ways and scope to encourage expanding R&D investment, while developing countries need to pay immediate attention to adopt new technology to attract foreign R&D investments.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Monday, September 29, 2008

Health is not for all

Committed officers are making a difference at the grassroots level. But experts feel the government is chasing quantity, not quality, says GYANENDRA KASHYAP
After more than two and half years of the launch of the National

Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to provide accessible, affordable and accountable health services to the poor, the programme is plagued with problems. As I traversed 530 kms to Himachal Pradesh, stopping at various places like Nagrota Bagwan and Gopalpur, I realised that the UPA government’s commitment to hike public spending on health to 2-3% of GDP is hogwash. And the objective of ‘Health For All’ is a distant dream.

But first let me focus on the good news. The drizzle that morning had further dipped the temperatures, but that had not deterred the First Referral Unit (FRU) staff to come on time. As I entered the room of A.R. Raghu (Block Medical Officer, Nagrota Bagwan), what caught my attention was the photographs of national heroes. Before I could quiz him on them, pat came his reply, “I draw my inspiration from them.” As we settled down, Raghu explained how adequate funds and attempts to make the local community a partner in achieving the health goals was the real innovation of the scheme.

At the local level, Raghu said that there had been a major turnaround in the past 6-7 months. The reason, according to him, was that “in the first 11 months or so I was humiliated, and had no administrative powers. But thanks to J. S. Chandel (chief medical officer), who played a pivotal role, things have changed. Had you come a few months ago, you would have been able to see the changes for yourself.” Take the case of the availability of funds. “There is no scarcity of funds; all that we need to do is to spend the amount judiciously,” says a confident J.S. Chandel,. Quite true, as a sum of Rs.53.36 crore was received under NRHM in 2005-06; of this, the state spent Rs.34.54 crore. In the current year, the grants-in-aid released for NRHM up to November 2007 was Rs.18.84 crore. At the national level, Rs.4,75,000 crore was allocated under the Family and Welfare Camp in 2007-08, of which Rs.2,98,000 has been utilised.

Getting into specifics, Chandel revealed that the number of girl children per 1,000 male children went up from 815 in 2006 to 846 in the next year. Similarly, the number of OPDs has more than doubled from 6,051 in the first quarter of 2006 to 12,212 in the same period in 2007. To reduce costs in the future, the administrators are deliberately working on the concept of quality circles; they take suggestions by staff and patients, and necessary actions are taken accordingly. “The awareness of the scheme is slowly catching up,” says Chandel.

I saw evidence of this in Gopalpur, where a board with names of 204 medicines available under the scheme was hung publicly. In the area, the blindness control programme was in full swing. Ansali Devi, a patient, had no attendant, and the CMO ordered for necessary arrangements to be made so that she could get her eyes operated. Neeru Ram, an asthma patient, agreed that he gets free medicine from the unit at Gopalpur. Kamala Devi, another patient, was a bit skeptical: “Aaj to muft mein diya hai, kal bhi denge to yaakin ho jayega (Today, I have got free medicines, if I get them tomorrow, I will believe it).”

Added Munsi Ram, “Pehle bahut mushkil tha, buri halat thi. Dawai bahar se kharidna hota tha. Ab to yahin se mil jaata hai (Earlier, it was difficult and the situation was bad. One had to buy medicines from the market. Now, I get it here).” Roshan Khanna, a local contractor in Nagrota, said: “Prayaas aur Niyat dono hi hain. Alochana ke saath saath sarahna bhi milta hai (There are both efforts and intentions. Along with criticism, the scheme is praised too).”

However, this is just one part of the story. The second one relates to tardy implementation, lack of specialists, and inadequate reach. It’s only those who get free medicines and care who benefit. But there are millions who still have no access to the services. For instance, the number of institutional child deliveries has come down from 0.52 lakh in 2005-06 to 0.49 lakh in the next year. Just over 45% of the children are born in hospitals. Most women prefer to deliver at homes.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Mull N-ultimatum

The deadline set by Mulford makes the Communists see red
The Left’s desperation to nuke the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal took centrestage once more as US Ambassador to India David C. Mulford announced his “autumn deadline”.

Mulford had told an Indian TV channel that were India to dilly

dally any further, the deal might just melt down forever – the toughest language the US envoy has used so far. This predictably had the Left hopping mad. For even though it shares power with the Congress in the UPA led by it, the Communists have throughout made the deal the centrepiece of their conditional partnership. Mulford’s warning was met with jeers in the Left ranks, which unanimously condemned the US “armtwisting”. Did the Americans consider India, a sovereign nation or not, was what CPI MP D. Raja, who started the debate, wanted to know. He smelt “intimidation” in the ambassador’s “ultimatum”. Uncle Sam ought to know that India had the capability of developing its own nuclear technology, and had been looking for alternative sources like uranium & thorium. According to Raja, the US was only looking for business opportunities in the guise of offering nuke empowerment. This was sheer blackmail, Raja said.

Expectedly all of the Forward Block echoed Raja’s “apprehensions” regarding the “US-specific” deal. AIFB General Secretary Debrabrata Biswas told mediapersons in Chennai that his party would pull out from UPA Government, in case it still went ahead with operationalising the 123 agreement. (The US has been insisting that should the nuclear deal remain unsigned during the Bush tenure, the non-proliferation lobbies would punch into the agreement additional conditionalities. The deal that Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed upon in 2005 is regarded by many in both nations as a cornerstone of new, warmer Indo-US ties. Under it, India would separate its civilian and military programmes and place 14 of its 22 nuclear plants under unprecedented international safeguards in return for civilian nuclear technology. Washington, in return, has promised to amend the US Atomic Energy Act which prevents it from trading nuclear technology with nations such as India that have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.)

The Mulford interview comes just as India prepares for yet another round with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to thrash out a safeguards agreement. Despite four rounds since November, there has been no agreement due to India’s insistence on the right to create strategic fuel reserves and uninterrupted fuel supplies. Now the Left parties, that have throughout threatened to withdraw support to the minority Congress Government – should India try to bulldoze its way through the deal – are doubly furious. How dare Mulford set deadlines for India? they ask.

The Communists see the pact as threat to India’s nuclear weapons programme and facilitating US foreign policy meddling. The Congress rubbishes these fears, arguing that the deal, while opening a new rich energy source, in no way threatens India’s sovereignty. The Catch 22 for Manmohan Singh is: If the Congress pushes ahead with the deal, the Left could walk out and force mid-term polls, which it would rather keep, as scheduled, for next year. And if the deal falls through, Manmohan loses the “place in history” that the deal assures. Indeed, it’s widely considered as singular an achievement as the economic liberalisation that he kick-started as India’s FM.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs