B-School Survey Panel Meet , 2010

August 12, 2010, saw Planman Media and Business & Economy magazine play host to eminent corporate personalities of India, in a Panel Meet discussion, for Business & Economy magazine’s highly coveted annual issue – India’s Best B-Schools Special Issue 2010. The most unique element about the B&E B-school ranking is that in this particular ranking, the B-schools are ranked by renowned industry leaders (please refer to ‘List of 20 Panel Members’ section for the names of panelists). Considering the importance of the meet, four distinguished industry leaders – Dr. Wilfried Aulbur (CEO, Mercedes-Benz India), Mr. Michael Boneham (MD, Ford Motor Co. India), Mr. Naresh Gupta (MD, Adobe India) and Mr. Brian Tempest (Former CEO, Ranbaxy and presently, Independent Director, Religare Hichens Harrison) – sent their comments and discussions through the audio/visual format. The round-table discussion revolved about the parameters on which B-schools are judged today, and means by which such ranking can be made more transparent and just. Professor Arindam Chaudhuri, Editor-In-Chief of Planman Media expressed his views on how “faculty and course contents” are the two most important elements to deliver overall knowledge in B-schools. He also stressed upon a need for a constant focus on personality development and communication skills. Mr. Girish Vaidya. Former Director, Infosys Leadership Institute spoke about why B-Schools should be ranked on the basis of “curriculum, global exposure and cultural stability, along with the extent to which entrepreneurial programs” are encouraged. Mr. Dhiraj Mathur, Exec. Director, PwC gave a strong argument on why “a strong orientation towards ethics” is important for a B-school. While K. M. Nanaiah, MD, Pitney Bowes India, also highlighted the need for a “globalised curriculum and industry interface”, Mr. Sumeet Nair, Chairperson of Fashion Foundation of India justified the need for “encouraging an entrepreneurial zeal” amongst the B-school students. The event was a huge success and all the participants concluded that much more needs to be done to arrive at the ideal B-school of tomorrow.

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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.
 

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The public sector behemoth SBI

Last year’s slowdown was a blessing in disguise for the public sector behemoth SBI, forcing it to become truly competitive. And the bank has only moved ahead since then. Avneesh Singh finds out how

No doubt, the cost to income ratio of SBI has increased to 52.59% as on March 31, 2010 from 46.62% as on March 31, 2009, but then, the majority of it has been due to higher operating expenses incurred on branch and ATM expansion, recruitment of new employees, et al. “It’s true that our employee cost has gone up during the last fiscal, but it was because of the fact that we were hiring when others were firing,” Bhattacharya tells B&E.

Nevertheless, thanks to some well thought out strategies and the sustained bull run, SBI has become one of the highest value creators among PSUs in recent times. The market capitalisation of SBI zoomed from `155.32 billion in Jan. 2005 to `1.76 trillion in Sep. 2010, an astounding increase of 1,035%. This, along with the proposed merger with its subsidiaries (merger with State Bank of Indore has already been approved by the government), has put SBI in a perfect position to challenge the mights of global banking giants.

Further, while evaluating the performance of SBI, one has to factor in the fact that the bank had always worked with his one hand tied behind its back due to political compulsions. Still, it has managed to change its culture and financial performance. And, as the government has said so often, SBI is certainly working for the common man.

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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.

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
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IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

Too costly to kill?

The death penalty, besides being a question of morality, is also becoming a question of cost. But the cost of crime must also be considered

James Ellis, Chief Criminal Judge, Oregon put forward the point quite succinctly, “Whether you’re for it or against it (capital punishment), I think the fact is that Oregon simply can’t afford it.” The rising cost of capital punishment is becoming a ground reality across the world; thus forcing nations to reconsider it.

According to the California Commission, the entire infrastructure behind an execution system costs $137 million per year, but a system without the death penalty costs only $11.5 million in California (as per 2008 data). A 2003 legislative audit in Kansas noted that the estimated cost of an execution case ($1.26 million) was 70% more than the cost of an analogous non-execution case ($740,000). As per the Urban Institute (2008), the cost of execution cases amounts to almost 3 times more as compared to non-execution cases in Maryland. Similar comprehensive studies are not readily available in other countries, but the fact that the death penalty is considerably more expensive is amply clear. Most costs relating to capital punishment occur prior to and during trial; not in post-conviction proceedings as the trial period becomes too lengthy over the time for execution. As per the Florida Department of Corrections, the average length of stay on death row prior to execution is 12.68 years.

However, this doesn’t nullify the relevance of death sentences, as it’s also important to calculate the cost of crime to a nation. According to Georgetown University Professor of Public Policy Jens Ludwig, the cost of crime to the US economy is around $2 trillion per year.

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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.

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Let There be Synergies

India’s it Story so far was that of a few big players and a number of smaller ones. Now it’s time that some M&As Balance this Anomaly out

It has long been said that the Indian IT/ITeS and BPO sector is quite prone to M&A activity. For the IT/ITeS sector, the reason is that it has traditionally been akin to a comet with a small head and a long tail. Apart from the top few companies that steadily moved up the value chain and also build differentiated vertical expertise particularly in BFSI, a large part of the sector has traditionally thrived on pricing. That advantage has steadily eroded with other software destinations like Vietnam, China, et al coming into the picture; and this nightmare is particularly real for the BPO sector. In fact, they are also competing with home countries. This year, UK-based firms Aviva, BT, Santander and New Call Telecom decided to move their centres back to the home country citing rising joblessness there, the need for an onsite model and also the rising costs in India. Moreover, with the issue on visas wherein US lawmakers have passed norms restricting H1B visas to Indian companies and also hiked visa fees by around $2000, the cost of doing business with the main market – the US is steadily going up. In the subsequent negotiations over handling this row, US is looking for more Indian companies to hire overseas, and this is another trend that could significantly alter the cost model. There are further problems for them back home, as the STPI tax benefit was not renewed this year. For smaller IT players, margins are typically at around 15% and they may find it hard to survive.

Finally, the uncertainty in the global environment persists, and is particularly riskier for IT companies that are heavily dependent on exports. Some impact has already been seen on larger firms as the Q1 results indicate. Infosys Technologies saw net revenues of Rs.74.85 billion in the first quarter, a growth of 3.2% qoq while EBITDA declined by 6.4% qoq to touch Rs.21.76 billion. The guidance for the second quarter USD revenue growth has analysts somewhat concerned as it is just 3.5-5%; considering that the quarter is normally the strongest for the company. Wipro reported a drop in Q1 net profit by 2.9% qoq to record Rs.13.35 billion and revenues jumped by 3% qoq to Rs.85.64 billion. While Infosys has talked about the risk of reduced client spending, TCS (even though its results were better) and Wipro have admitted that they are facing an uncertain environment apart from currency fluctuations. Smaller players could be under serious distress in the coming months as a global slowdown begins to take shape.

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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.

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Prof. Jim Heskett, Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School

The Word Profit has Provoked a Wide Range of Issues and Emotions among Respondents & Businesses around The World. It also Launched Debates, and many readers Argued for Measures of Success other than Profit, writes Prof. Jim Heskett, Baker Foundation Professor, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School.

Charles Green (founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates) continues the discussion by suggesting, “The really interesting question raised is: if profitability is higher when pursued as a by-product than when it is pursued directly, why then do managers (irrationally) choose to pursue profit directly rather than indirectly? I think the answer is to be found more in psychology than in economics.” Does that account for the increasing interest in the field of behavioural economics? What do you think? H. L. Hencken once said, “For every problem there is a solution that is simple, direct... and wrong.” This brings to mind experiences with leaders of the most profitable organisations that I have observed. Almost to a person, they treat profit as a by-product of other things to which they devote most of their attention, things such as a focused strategy that delivers results to carefully-selected customers while pursuing policies and practices that leverage results over costs, hiring people with the right attitude (one that fits with the organisation’s culture), and proper training and organisation (often in teams). Financial targets are given no more or less emphasis than targets associated with employee and customer engagement, often by means of some kind of balanced scorecard. Rewards and recognition – whether based on the performance of the entire company, teams, or individuals – reflect this philosophy. The idea is to create what my colleague, Michael Beer, calls a “high commitment, high performance” (HCHP) organisation.

This idea has been addressed at length in a new book, Obliquity, by British economist John Kay. You might guess that Kay thinks profit as a “direct goal” is overrated, otherwise he wouldn’t have much substance for a book on the subject. Kay argues that business problems cannot be solved by drawing a straight line between cause and long-term effect because they are so complex, a manager’s information so incomplete, the competitive environment so complicated, analytic techniques so inadequate, and the number of things over which a manager has control so limited, that it is impossible to make the connection with any assurance. As Kay puts it, “The mistake is to make inferences about the relationships between outcomes and processes when we cannot observe and do not understand the processes themselves.” The argument is that those things that contribute to long-term shareholder value will be revealed and achieved by realising intermediate goals or through some kind of overarching mission and vision that helps an organisation achieve long-term shareholder value as well. Of course, it assumes that we know what those things (missions, visions, intermediate goals) are and that we have some understanding of how they contribute ultimately to shareholder value.

There is some empirical evidence to support Kay’s thesis. For example, Fortune’s 100 Best Places to Work regularly produce more profit than a matched set of competitors. Kay’s response to this would probably be, “What does that prove?”
If it can be demonstrated that this approach yields more profit, why doesn’t the leadership of more organisations pursue profit through “indirect” means? Or is it, as Kay might ask, as simple as this? Can this philosophy be carried too far? Is it compatible with the need in a public company to “make the numbers” every quarter? Is it dangerous or misleading to give too much emphasis to the idea that profits are a by-product of many other policies and practices? Is it wise to communicate this concept to all levels of an organisation? If so, how is this best done without confusing people?

Is profit as a “direct goal” overrated? And if it is, why then is it so frequently found among goals?
Coordinated by: Steven Philip Warner

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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.

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Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

BRAND : Xhale - Simply chillicious

When IIPM comes to education, never compromise

BRAND : Xhale
BASELINE : Simply chillicious

4Ps TAKE : One look at this ad and you would be reminded of lovey-dovey flicks like Love Actually, Paris je taime, et al. But lay a bet; you will be left wondering what’s the association between the sugar-free Xhale and love. An ad that is unsuccessful on almost all counts, no decent storyboard, no sensible concept and moreover, there is a communication crisis. A guy sitting in a café, pops in Xhale and keeps staring at a girl, wondering whether she loves him. Excuse me, what kind of weird concept is that? Isn’t the product meant to be a sugar-free mint for health-conscious adults that prevents tooth-decay? So from where does the cupid factor arise? Guess the creators of the ad have been more prone to heart-breaks than tooth-aches, now we know where did they generate this connection from, don’t we? This is what happens when you try to weave in a concept that is not in line with the product. Hats off to the team for a needless concept and the meaningless theme. We would like to ask, is it ‘Simply Chillicious’ or shall we call the execution equally ridiculous? A piece of advice, please inhale some sense before getting down to making an Xhale ad next time.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Breaking news – Maruti’s macho men are back again to break more hearts...

IIPM - Admission Procedure

Not long ago did we hear the jingle ‘little boxes...’ in the ad featuring Zen Estilo (Maruti’s extension of its brand Zen) and who can forget the cute little daughter associating Maruti’s brand, Esteem with her strong dad. But this time the cuteness of Maruti ads has downrightly been invaded by the men (read macho cars), as they race down the Indian roads to impress the good looking women. We are talking about the latest talk of the town – the powerful ad of Maruti SX4, the company’s fresh launch in the Indian market. SX4 sounds quite weird, especially when it’s thename of a sedan. But Maruti has a quick response to that. Here is what SX4 stands for: S stands for ‘Sporty’ and X stands for ‘Relax’ and the final 4 stands for ‘four season drive.’

Recall the hot-shot race-car named Lightning McQueen in the animated movie, Cars. Well McQueen had proudly stated in the movie, “I’m a precision instrument of speed and aerodynamics.” And this is exactly what Maruti has crafted for its new brand, SX4. The ad introduces SX4 as a modern car with masculine features that can capture anyone’s attention, especially the girls. While speaking to 4Ps, B&M,Rajesh Kochhar, Associate Vice President, Lowe elaborates, “The SX4 stands apart from its competitors on various counts – be it features, looksor performance.” The communication clearly leverages the product’s superiority and also lays down the foundation of the brand.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
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IIPM, GURGAON

Every silver lining has a cloud!

IIPM, ADMISSIONS FOR NEW DELHI & GURGAON BRANCHES

If the Beijing Olympic committee, is to be believed, air quality has improved from 100 good air-quality days in 1998 to 241 good air-quality days in 2006. In a radical antipollution measure, the host has barred millions of vehicles from the streets of Beijing. Other measures include upgradation of vehicle emission standards and planting of 28 million trees. Furthermore, close to 200 of the most venomous factories & power plants have been moved or shut, five major coal-fired power plants are being upgraded & Beijing’s first wind-power station construction is underway. Cloudseeding is another measure resorted to wherein the timely launch of chemicals into the atmosphere will dispel clouds and help control time & place of rainfall. New Delhi is certainly paying attention as it prepares to host the Commonwealth Games in 2010. States Dr. Lalit Lumar Bhanot, Secretary General, Commonwealth Games to 4Ps,B&M, “The Beijing Olympics 2008 will be more of a summer game & hence their precautionary measures in terms of pollution control & a more scientific measure of cloud seeding. Even our Science & Technology ministry is keeping us informed of all such developments and helping us roll up everything on time.”

Environmentalists, however, argue that many of the measures adopted are short-term and shortsighted. Amidst such a milieu, human rights as well as political activists can always play spoilsport. Dissidents will champion the cause as to how glories have been built on the carcasses of ordinary lives. And ,while China may prove a perfect host for the Olympics next summer, there could be a negative fallout of massive proportions it may find hard to manage. In such an instance, publicity could instead become the dragon’s greatest undoing.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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ARINDAM CHAUDHURI’S 4 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE IIPM...
IIPM Economy Review

Brand: Lenovo

Headline: The feeling is timeless The technology is timely

Baseline : The Fiat of the new generation
Agency : O&M
4Ps Take : With PC companies slugging it out for a piece of the pie, Lenovo has decided to cash in on that great Indian obsession: Shopping. The power idea is to promote the Lenovo 3000 series through a chance to shop, you get gift vouchers upto Rs.50,000 on every PC you buy, which you can redeem for just about anything! The clinching benefits derived from this ad, therefore, are not just a great DVD experience (you can watch movies) or great school grades (surf the net and get wiser!), but also lotsa shopping! The ongoing offer period has been Branded as the ‘Lenovo Shopping Festival.’ The body copy also briefs you about other ‘benefits’: integrated camera, face recognition, anti-bacterial keyboard etc. The visual is catchy with the sibling-duo Saif Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan holding gifts inviting you to avail this offer. Hard to resist, we’d say!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

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Multilateralism is not the panacea to promote global trade

The end-June deadline is prompted by the fear of US Trade Promotion Authority Act, expiring on July 1, 2007. The revolutionary Act allows US President to enter trade negotiations. This is however questionable as Congress finds its role limited in the process – it needs to either reject or approve such treaties within 90 days of signature, without the possibility of amending them. “The fears get accentuated by the realisation that the US is just not in a hurry to revive the sagging WTO – refusing to cut the agricultural subsidies offered to its farm lobby,” says Dr. Paroma Palit of PHDCCI, talking to B&E. And till the time US takes the initiative, other major players like EU, India & Brazil too refuse to relent on issues of reducing industrial tariff s; export subsidies & opening up the service sector.

Despite EU showing great zealousness to rejuvenate the negotiations before mid-April, the prospects don’t look bright. But what if the talks fail to revive; will the world be a loser? Certainly not. Irrespective of WTO dictates, the trade will continue to flourish because it doesn’t need crutches to trot the globe.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

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

Making laws for borderless world!

For a change, this treatise is not about criticising our already and horribly short staff ed judiciary (who, most strangely continue to be adamant about not demanding additional investments from the government for ramping up the number of judges), but about their pertinent struggle against the Indian government, whose litany of calumnious performances in social development can perhaps only be beaten by their irreverently rapscallion-like behaviour in attempting to be thorough untouchable when it comes to their haphazard and arbitrary decisions.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Car(r)e fo(u)r a 'Fresh' pie of retail?

The world’s second largest retail chain, Carrefour, is in talks with the Wadia Group to zoom into India’s hot retail sector. Though there has been no official comment, Kamal Nath, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, said that talks are at the final stage and they might sign on the dotted line as soon as mid- February. If finalised, this will be the biggest cross border deal in organised retail sector after the tie-up between Bharti and Wal-Mart. Meanwhile, after Hyderabad, Jaipur and Chennai, Reliance Retail has rolled out nine fresh outlets in NCR, with another 22 lined up for March. The count is expected to go up to 100 stores in the next four months in Delhi and NCR.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

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