“There is a huge opportunity in Africa”

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SUDIP BANDYOPADHYAY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RELIANCE MONEY

Can you please elaborate on your plans for the African market? Where and how much do you plan to invest in this continent?
Having established our base at Lagos in Nigeria we are already in the African market for quite some time now. This base has been operational since July 2008. We plan to further extend our operations to few other countries in Africa over the next six months.

Critics say Africa is fast becoming the testing ground for India Inc.’s ‘brand’ war with corporate China? What’s your take on the issue?
As far as financial services industry is concerned, there are no Chinese Companies in Nigeria and hence this question is not relevant for us as of now and for the Indian financial industry as a whole.

In the past, business in Africa has been very slow when compared to its global counterparts. Do you think this is the right time to enter this market? There is certainly a huge opportunity in Africa. We have selected Nigeria as our base since this country has the largest population in Africa (about 140 million). Nigeria also has the 7th largest Oil reserves in the world. Moreover, for the last 15 years this country has a democratic set up. Having been under British rule (Nigeria gained independence in 1960) the laws are almost similar and foreign investments are welcome by the Nigerian government. Even the financial services market is under developed and this way the opportunity is certainly significant.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Wal-Mart or Walmart? Is a change in logo enough?

There are also problems on the global platform for Walmart. As David Livingston, Principal, DJL Research asserts, “The biggest challenge according to me for Walmart is being able to open more stores without resistance from local governments.” As far as international presence is concerned, Walmart hasn’t gone through its best times in this regard during the recent past. The company had to sell-off its outlets in Germany to Metro (accepting the fact that the Walmart model would not run in the country), labour rights-suits issues in China, Bangladesh, Mexico, Brazil, Philippines and many more... However, the company has little choice when it comes to going global; it has to! Mark Linen, Consultant, Retail Technology Group clearly explains, “Walmart needs to allocate capital to the highest alternatives and nothing else. Generally, that means expansion outside the US, not within it. In other words, more locations in US would mean lower returns on investments for Walmart.” An analysis would prove that Walmart had blind trust in the low-cost model every time it entered a new market, with little regard for quality standards – the very fact that forced it to close stores in many countries.

However, there is good news for the giant too, especially in the near future as John Crossman, President, Crossman & Company puts it: “Walmart has opportunities to grow now as competition and land prices are decreasing, so they have more opportunities to sign more deals and expand...” So while many feel that Walmart should go back to the great old Sam Walton days, here’s something that would make well-wishers happy: Walmart has now changed its logo to something similar to the one it first used in 1962. Hopefully, this hyphen (‘-’) will be put to better use... to bridge the gap between Walmart and long-sustained margins!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For the fact is, beyond him, the world does not know even one of his leaders!

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One of them is CFO Srinivas Vadlamani, who has been with the company since 1992. He is a strong proponent of corporate ethics, and one of his most critical contributions has been in restructuring Satyam to make it more transparent and stakeholder friendly. He has been at the helm of Satyam’s rights issue in 1995 as well as the overseas listing in 2001; and he takes care of corporate services, legal, finace and secretarial circles of Satyam. When we asked him about the impact of the slowdown in US, he commented, “Even as the US recession shows signs of a slowdown, it will still help Indian IT companies to leverage on the opportunities arising out of compulsive cost reduction and productive enhancement measures that the companies would need to adopt. We are also seeing the current environment providing us opportunities of transformational nature where the need is to deliver immediate near-term value to our customers. The pipe line of large deals for almost all major IT Indian companies has not dried up.” He highlights the importance of diversifying from the US market, specifying how Satyam now gets around 40% revenues from Europe, APAC, Middle East and South Africa. He adds that the company has “made considerable efforts to build niche consulting skills and competencies with acquisitions such as Knowledge Dynamics, Citisoft, Nitor Global Solutions and Bridge Strategy...” These have helped Satyam connect with some of its customer’s core business areas and secure lasting relationships.

Understanding a customer’s business is very critical and integral to the Satyam’s philosophy. That brings us to another very important knight in Satyam’s portfolio. S. V. Krishnan, head of Human Resources. Considered to be the oxygen pump for any organisation, the HR manager of Satyam is no different. Krishnan has an expansive over-three-decades long experience in the information technology domain spanning business development, programme management, operations management, project delivery and human resources development. Now one might ask how an HR guy with such a varied work history will be able to do justice to his HR profile. But one must not forget that to hire professionals who can understand clients best, you need to necessarily have as a diversified background as Krishnan to understand all the dynamics of the client’s business. That’s why Satyam has stressed on Krishnan as an important leader, who is leading his army of professionals in the right direction. In his own words, Krishnan reflects on Satyam’s unique diversified leadership, “At Satyam, we believe every associate is a leader, and is groomed/encouraged accordingly. Irrespective of nature of business, parametres for measurement are same all across, providing for a consistent experience throughout our organisation.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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 India Shining campaign lost because it was never designed to be an election campaign in the first place

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But ask Prathap Suthan, then National Creative Director of Grey Worldwide (now with Cheil Communications) and the guy who coined the India Shining slogan, and he’s quick to rebuff the argument. “The India Shining campaign lost because it was never designed to be an election campaign in the first place,” he says, explaining that the Ministry of Finance had commissioned the campaign to boost investor confidence in India. Once the campaign aired, BJP went to polls in four states and won in three of them. Suthan says that party insiders latched on to the by then very popular campaign for the looming General Elections 2004.

Congress’s planned rebuttal also played havoc with the campaign. Conceived by Orchard Advertising (affiliated to Leo Burnett) Congress’s ‘aam aadmi ke liye’ positioning worked. “BJP’s India Shining failed miserably. Congress changed its positioning from a party for the poor man (remember garibi hatao?) to a party for the common man,” avers KV Sridhar, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett India. Congress even hired a separate media planning agency – Starcom, which literally burnt midnight oil to ensure maximum impact on voters. Explains Anita Nayyar, then at the helm of Starcom India, “The last 6-8 weeks in the run up to elections were highly focused. We coined different campaigns for each state. Burning issues were taken up and party’s point of view was put forward.”

The 2004 elections have conclusively proved to our netas that the India Shining campaign may not have worked, but political marketing complete with full-on advertising blitz, technological innovations and selling tactics is here to stay. Little wonder that with less than a year left to D-day, the run up to the voting booths has already begun for Elections 2009.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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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Hedging MCX?

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“Since markets are not mature and since regulation is not autonomous, getting corporates to participate in the market is a big problem for MCX,” explains an analyst. Admits an MCX insider, “Corporates are as it is not coming to the platform.” For example, in the metals segment, big players like Hindalco, Vendanta, Tata Steel, Jindals, et al, are - as always - continuing to hedge their risks on the London Metal Exchange (LME), instead of coming on to MCX. “The reasons are two fold. One, because LME is more liquid than MCX and two, entry cost is on a higher side at MCX,” says the source. With the Indian government now contemplating an even higher commodity transaction tax – for every 1 lakh rupees, the trader will pay Rs.17 as tax as opposed to the two rupees he shells out now – the entry load is all set to become more expensive for hedgers on the platform. Liquidity and low volume players are a problem too. Even if corporates want to come to the exchange, they are constrained by low volumes. “Thanks to government restrictions, large players like FIIs, financial institutions, mutual funds, banks, et al, are not allowed on commodity exchanges in India, leading to a host of smaller players (dabbling in with minor volumes) on comex bourses, but hardly any big transactions,” says Mathur of Angel Commodities. Analysts say that corporates form less than 10% of the total business on Indian commodity exchanges, as opposed to them constituting over 75% of the total business on global exchanges.

The volumes problem is aggravated by a dearth of a range of products and participants on commodity exchanges, again restricted by government regulations. In a stock exchange, you can trade on nifty, indices, options, as also buy & sell physical shares, but with commodity exchanges, there is only one product offering that is futures. Similarly equity markets enjoy participation from FIIs, Banks, Mutual Funds, HNIs and retail investors, in comexes there are only traders and brokers. Autonomy for the commodities markets regulator – Forward Markets Commission – at present under administrative control of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs could be the way out of this quagmire.

Besides, marketing guys at MCX say that when they make awareness presentations in corporates, sometimes they are blocked out as companies do not want to answer their shareholders (in case of losses at the bourses) about why they were betting on commodity futures at all. Analysts say that because of unawareness, many corporates would even liken it to gambling. Ask Massey, whether linking commodity hedging to gambling was right, and he shrugs. “In gambling, you have one outcome – you win or lose. There’s no scientific basis to it. In this market, it is not win or lose. The market simply helps you in fixing your long term (futures) price in a firm manner; so you can follow your present (physical) strategy independently.”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
Now IIPM's World-Class Education... for everybody!!
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
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Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...