Anisha Singh (Founder and CEO, mydala.com) reveals to Schweta Chaturvedi how self-belief Diminishes The Line between Dream and Reality

Continued....Mrs. Singh, who is also associated with Indus Women Entrepreneurs– a platform for South-Asian women leaders in the US– discovered her potential when she was in the US. “During internship with the Olympus Group, I was completely in awe of the lady who used to run it. This made me realise that everybody should have a role model to look up to,” says Mrs. Singh and affirms that women can do a lot if they challenge themselves and set their heart and mind to it.

Sharing the initial challenges, Mrs. Singh says that the first two years were difficult because there was a need to educate merchants and users about the concept and benefits of group buying. “The merchants would say ‘go to hell’ if we went to them asking for a 90 per cent discount.” It was after a lot of perseverance that the idea finally clicked and the proposal started taking some shape. Mydala’s mantra is: The customer is King! Or Queen! And Mydala treats its customers the way they like to be treated, she shares.

Starting with a small team of four, the Mydala.com now has close to 50 people spread across India. Ask her how she goes about hiring the right people and she replies, “We have been fortunate enough to have good advisors. Good talent might come by harder, so you have to be patient.” Mrs. Singh also makes it a point to hire young people who are passionate about giving hundred per cent to their job. click here to read more....

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The Bucket List: Realised

An amalgamation of his engineering background, technical aptitude, and the market exposure he received by virtue of his family being associated with stock markets led to Mr. Paras Ajmera’s choice of career. Excerpts from the interview:

Q. Where was your first job? How has the career been?
A. After finishing my studies in the early 1990s, I worked with a stock broker in Ahmedabad to learn the fundamentals of stock markets. Soon, I commenced a stock broking business there. When I joined Financial Technologies, the Group’s unique business model of combining technology with financial markets gave me the opportunity to use my technical expertise in exchange technology solutions and allied infrastructure, as well as domain knowledge in financial markets. My most memorable moment was when we bagged our first customer. 1n 1998, the Group launched ODINTM, our flagship electronic trading solution, a market leader in its segment today. I treasure the journey, from ODINTM’s launch to becoming the ‘Trading Platform of Choice’.

Q. How has FT Group evolved during your tenure?
A. I have been closely involved in product design and engineering. I led the conception, design, and implementation of the Group’s exchange solution – Dome – and brokerage solutions. I am also responsible for the technology and operational set-up powering the Group’s multi-asset exchanges, and a role in strategising and overseeing the Group’s ecosystem venture National Bulk Handling Corporation. I firmly believe in automating processes and continual improvement. I also endorse strict adherence to standards, having been instrumental in our Group companies being certified to ISO standards. I led the implementation of SAP for nine Group companies in a record time of six months. Since 1998, there has been no looking back. The Group has today become a global leader in technology IP and domain expertise for creating next-generation financial markets that are transparent, efficient, and liquid. Click here to continue...

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The Business of Business Schools

Professor Yash Gupta was one of the first academics of Indian origin to take up a leadership position in business schools in the United States. Having spent many years at the helm of leading B-schools, Dr. Gupta believes it is time for business schools to embrace and adapt to the changing world order.

Q: Please elaborate on the current scenario, where we see a substantial growth of Indian origin faculty at B-schools in the US.
 A: Look at the number of faculty in the B-schools of US which are of Indian origin. In the last 30 years, the growth of the same has been substantial. Secondly, India is coming to an age where the growth is faster and the Indian origin people have done brilliantly well in the academia in US. All in all, I see there is a trend of Indian origin academicians taking up leadership roles in business schools in the United States.  

Q: Do you see this in the non-business faculties in the US?
A: If you look at the academic landscapes in the US, then you will find that there are many fields where Indians are yet to establish a mark. I see that the trend is significant in engineering, but there is a long way before one sees the people of Indian origin making a mark in the field of medicine. Maybe in the next five years we would be able to see those from the Indian origin having an impact in medicine as well.Click here to Read full Interview...

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Dr. Gitika Dutta (Faculty Member, IIPM Hyderabad) is of the view that a carrot-and-stick policy need not always be resorted to, for building employee loyalty

Managers can, and often do, provide a range of incentivising and disincentivising KITA – bonuses, rewards, rules, work conditions, status – hygiene factors. These will have an effect, but will it be desired and long-term? A resounding ‘no’! Alfred Kohn sums it up neatly: “Do incentives work? The answer depends on what we mean by ‘work’. Rewards, like punishments, are extremely effective at producing one thing, and only one thing: temporary compliance. But carrot and sticks are strikingly ineffective at producing lasting change in attitudes or even behaviours. They do not create an enduring commitment to any value or action; they merely, and temporarily, change what we do.”

Some two dozen studies from social psychology have shown that people who expect to receive a reward for completing a task (or doing it successfully) do not perform as well as those who do not. This has been found with all sorts of rewards, people, and tasks (with the most destructive effect when the task involves creativity). This means that desired changes cannot be achieved by dangling goodies. Organisations need to learn that incentives only work for short-term movement; if you want motivation, do not start here. Can an organisation train its employees to be motivated? No! Motivation comes from within an individual. We do things, or do them well because the outcome is appealing to us. Read More..

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Next G8: Star Cruise

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

With passing time, experts now concur that French premier, and (hyper)active G8 member Nicholas Sarkozy has started looking – and behaving – eerily similar to Sylvester Stallone [Go ahead, give it a try; identify sweet Nick in the photograph]. Funnily, this behavioural similarity extends to the whole G8 belt [US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Italy, Russia and Ethiopia... er, alright, if you caught us on this, read on, you seem to be interested], with almost every member contributing his Shylockian best to behaving like a spoilt celebrity during every summit, finally achieving nothing. So we did what we do best [no no, not that; Bush does that better] – we analysed the progress report of the past few summits to decipher what exactly has been achieved in terms of contribution to least developed nations!

G8 summit in Birmingham, England, 1998: Protesters for the first time were formally allowed to give a written letter, which requested G8 to work on the heavy debt burden of the third world. Letter accepted, case dismissed! Nothing much was discussed, leave of course the letter. Cologne, Germany, 1999: To prove that they were worried about poverty, an ‘officially’ undisclosed amount was sanctioned. According to World Bank, the ‘sanction’ was so small that it wasn’t enough to even provide five bread loaves per person per year per poor country. Okinawa, Japan, 2000: Aid amount invested in projects: Close to nil; evidently because of billions spent on militarisation of north-east Asia. Genoa, Italy, 2001: Progress on debt cancellation: Nil! Massive protests took the blame, rather than the G8 members.

Kananaskis, Canada, 2002: Among many important issues, NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa’s Development] was also on agenda. $64 billion was requested, but only $6 billion was sanctioned. The reason? Russia requested – and was presumably given – $20 billion for the upkeep of the Russian nuclear stockpiles.

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.
 

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“TRAI Can’t Force QOS norms on Operators”

Satyen Gupta, former Principal Advisor, TRAI

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) played a pivotal role in the great Indian telecom success story. The body keeps a close watch on the quality of services offered by the telecom operators to millions of wireless subscriber. However, there is little that the regulator can do when it comes to implementation of these norms on the ground level. Former Principal Advisor to TRAI Satyen Gupta spoke to Akhilesh Shukla about the MNP and regulators role in implementation of QoS norms.

B&E: The churn rate in India is very high, especially in the prepaid segment. Do you think MNP would be able to further escalate the churn rate?
Satyen Gupta (SG): Truly speaking, MNP would not have a major impact on the churn rate in the telecom space. The little churn that we could see would be on the front of high value postpaid subscribers. Most of them are corporate executives or business class people, who need to be connected 24x7. These people need quality service. They have all the reasons to port if they are dissatisfied with the existing service provider. The service provider has to make investments to retain them; otherwise they will see a decrease in top line.

B&E: How would the implementation of MNP impact the service providers?
SG: The marketing budget of telecom operators would significantly go up after the roll out of MNP across the country. The operators have to communicate and educate subscribers about its USP at regular intervals to remain competitive. Investment has to be made on the front of improvement and maintenance of QoS. At the same time, they have invest in retention of dissatisfied subscribers, especially high ARPU ones.

B&E: 3G and MNP were expected in India for quite a long time. Do you think the delay had any negative impact on the sector?
SG: The delay of both the services did not have much impact on the Indian telecom sector. Both the services were present in one form or the other. People looking for high speed connection while on move have already subscribed to EDGE services (2.75 G) for the handset. Similarly, high speed data cards, offered by the CDMA operators, have fulfilled the need for faster internet on mobile platform. Similarly, the dual SIM phones have bridged the gap for subscribers looking for a new operator while retaining the existing number.

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.
 

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IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
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How Late is Too Late for Toyota?

Etios can prove to be a Fortune Changer for Toyota in the Indian Market. But there are Challenges Galore that are Hell-Bent on Proving why the Jap’s Slow-Coach Small-Car Strategy may work Against It.

Early this year, Akio Toyoda, the chieftain of Toyota became the bad guy for doing the right thing – recalling 8.5 million vehicles over safety concerns. First, he was abused across continents. Then, after being verbally clobbered by the US Congress, he was slapped a fine of $16.4 million. Beat his audacity – Toyota paid the fine without submission of any wrongdoing on May 18, 2010. Since then, there have been (f)acts that have gone much against popular expectations. First, the Japanese carmaker announced a fresh round of recalls on November 4, 2010 (of 135,600 Passo and iQ cars in Japan and Europe to fix the vehicles’ power-steering system). Second, Toyota’s financials have remained sound despite the pepper sprays. During the first half of a trouble-marred 2010, the company sold 3.72 million vehicles worldwide – an increase of 18.7% as compared to the same period a year back. As far as earnings were concerned, it recorded an unexpected 15.5% y-o-y rise in topline to touch $117.45 billion during H1, 2010, with bottomline improving drastically (from a loss of $679 million during H1 2009, to $3.51 billion). There was more good news to follow.

While the company’s m-cap remains close to the $120 billion mark (the same as it was 12 months back), the investors have found a new reason to smile about. On November 5, 2010, the company announced an increase in net income target for FY2010-11 to $4.3 billion. The secret – as experts agree – is Toyota’s new low-cost model for emerging markets, which begins with the Etios launch in India in early December 2010.

Many suggest that Etios may face the same fate as the Toyopet did way back in 1957, when Toyota tried to introduce it in US. The suffix “pet” suggested that it was the small, compact sedan that Americans were yearning for. What followed however, was shocking. In three years, the Toyopet had sold only 1,913 units and the company was forced to withdraw the failed car from US. The sentiment in India is similar today. In the present times, it is understood that a compact car (the A2 segment) is likely to work wonders in the Indian auto market. For the records, 72.8% of the 9,22,281 units of passenger cars sold in India till September during FY2010-11, belonged to this very segment. So can the Etios do for Toyota what the Altos and the Swifts did for Maruti or what the Santros and i10s did for Hyundai? Etios is the next big step which can establish Toyota’s dominance globally, and for a long time to come. Call it clever, but it starts with the toughest of acid tests – convince the Indian consumer. But the biggest question is – can it?

To imagine that the magic could happen overnight would be foolish. While Maruti today accounts for 55.03% of the sales in this category, having sold 369,466 units in the A2 segment during Q1 & Q2, FY2010-11 alone, the #2 Hyundai has 22.74% of the segment, with sales of 152,664 units during the same period. More so, both have been celebrated brands for over two decades for the price-sensitive Indians. Toyota on the other hand, is simply recognised as a brand in just the Rs.1 million-plus bracket, which includes the A4 segment (where it holds an 18.99% share; data for Q1-Q2, FY2010-11) and the Utility Vehicle (UV) segment (22.31% share). And even if Toyota manages to challenge the might of the Marutis and the Hyundais in the sub-Rs.0.5 million platform, finding the right price level, while maintaining decent margins will pose a challenge to Toyota, as Hiroshi Nakagawa, MD, Toyota Kirloskar confesses to B&E, “Pricing will surely play a very strategic role in the success of the compact car Etios, as convincing the value-conscious Indian consumer is the toughest task in the world.”

But if the Spark & Beat could save GM’s day in India, and if Figo could come to broaden Ford’s consumer base, why discount out Toyota? Out of the 46,603 units sold in India by GM during the past two quarters, 74.52% belonged to the A2 segment. And of the 48,002 units sold by Ford India, 79.54% were from the same category. It is largely the entry into the A2 segment by GM (in 2006 with the Spark) and Ford (in 2010 with the Figo) that boosted their Indian market shares in the passenger vehicle category, which currently stand at 5.32% and 4.02% respectively. Perhaps the Etios will help improve Toyota’s low market share (of 0.57%) in the Indian passenger vehicle market too!

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.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
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Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
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IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

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