Premji’s golden tips to entrepreneurs

Azim Premji is one of India’s most successful entrepreneurs and his tips to them at the recently concluded TiE summit in Bangalore, where more than 1,000 entrepreneurs turned up, are invaluable. Here are a few:

On working with governments: “If we play a low profile role, and are dedicated to a cause, we can work with any government” Mr. Premji said governments don’t like those who hanker for publicity in the projects that are ostensibly meant for public good. Was he taking a dig at some big Bangalore-based IT/ITES companies?

He said Wipro has been working successfully with government departments on its computerization projects in 10,000 primary schools and with training 5,000 engineering teachers.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com

Over a cup of Naple coffee!

O’caffè” is what I would call my coffee rendezvous with Ravi Bajaj. Just like the Neapolitans, we found our special cup aromatic and stimulating. Because it took us straight down the memory lane, his visit to Italy last year and my trip to Rome a couple of months back. So the coffee did its job well, as traditionally the ‘Naple Coffee’ symbolizes Naples like the Vesuvius or the pizza, and it reflects friendship and sociability.

A Neapolitan is generally very critical when it comes to judging a coffee. It is said that Naples has the best Italian caffè, even though “degustibus non disputandumest” or “There's no arguing taste”. It is undisputed, however, that all Italian advertising spots for coffee are set in a Neapolitan ambiance and there’s certainly a reason for that!

Known for his creative genius, the sober designer, Ravi always has something interesting up his sleeve, whether it’s his classy winter collection or a great destination he has visited.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com

Human touch to online selling

Despite the cookies and the number crunching of customer click prints, online marketers are facing the enormous challenge of converting online visitors into actual buyers. It is believed that conversion rates right now are at an abysmal range of 1% - 3%.

Irrespective of data mining and researching consumer’s histories and preferences, the conversion rates have not been going up. The missing piece, apparently, is the touch of the salesman who applies his art of selling to close the deal.

To plug this gap, some help is at hand, finally. 24/7 Customer, a business process outsourcing firm based in Campbell, California, has launched a software called SalesNext. This is software that categorizes customers into those who will buy anyway, those who may not buy at all and those who may buy online only with the help of some human persuasion and help at some point of their interaction with the web.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the epaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com

Art of structuring winning deals

Phaneesh Murthy, founder and CEO of iGate Global Solutions, doesn’t look as somber as many of his peers in the IT/ITES industry do these days. Instead of worrying about how the slowdown will hurt him, he says he is busy getting his company ready when the markets come back.

Mr. Murthy’s passions, apart from saving the Indian tiger, includes structuring contracts that stick - where the partners work for each others’ interests, not to get one up against the other. He lists three formulas for success.

First formula: When you are structuring the deal, you have to walk a thin line in protecting both the client’s interest and your company’s interest. If you go towards one you will let down the other. The fact is, if you get too good a deal for yourself, stickiness will become an issue. The right word to use is alignment of interests and objectives of both the parties.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com

Harvard’s highest alumni award to Anand Mahindra

As part of its Centennial celebrations, the Harvard Business School (HBS) recently conferred its highest recognition, the Alumni Achievement Award, on Vice- Chairman and Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, Anand G. Mahindra.

The other awardees included John Doerr, a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner
Perkins Caufield & Byers, Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman & CEO of General Electric, Meg Whitman, former President & CEO of eBay and James D. Wolfensohn, former President of the World Bank.

HBS Dean, Jay Light presented the awards at the HBS Centennial Global Business Summit, a two-day event being held on the School's campus in Boston.

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com

The power of daydreaming and free time

"Nearly every major decision of my business career was, to some degree, the result of daydreaming. ... To be sure, in every case I had to collect a lot of data, do detailed analysis, and make a data-based argument to convince superiors, colleagues and business partners. But all that came later. In the beginning, there was the daydream", says Dov Frohman in a chapter on ‘Daydreaming’ in his book Leadership the Hard Way: Why Leadership Can't Be Taught—and How You Can Learn It Anyway. (April 2008, Jossey-Bass)

By daydreaming, he means loose, unstructured thinking with no particular goal in mind. He thinks daydreaming is a distinctive mode of cognition especially well suited to the complex, 'fuzzy' problems that characterize a more turbulent business environment. “Daydreaming is an effective way of coping with complexity. When a problem has a high degree of complexity, the level of detail can be overwhelming. The more one focuses on the details, the more one risks being lost in them.... Every child knows how to daydream. But many, perhaps most, lose the capacity as they grow up. ..."

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com

Seven things that surprise new CEOs

Here’s a treat for all Professor Michael Porter fans. Porter’s new book On Competition is just out (Oct 2008 Harvard Press). This book is a collection of Porter’s most influential articles from HBR, and new work on health care, philanthropy, social responsibility and leadership. The portion on advice for new CEOs, co-authored by HBS faculty Jay W. Lorsch and Nitin Nohria, who look at common surprises faced by new CEOs. Porter’s most influential article (1979) How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy launched a business management revolution among academics and practitioners.

The article warns new CEOs to be acutely aware of the environment and people, and suggests ways of avoiding common pitfalls. He says that most new chief executives are taken aback by unfamiliar new roles, time and information limitations and altered professional relationships.

The seven surprises are:
Surprise One: You Can't Run the Company
Surprise Two: Giving Orders is Very Costly
Surprise Three: It Is Hard To Know What Is Really
Surprise Four: You Are Always Sending A Message
Surprise Five: You Are Not The Boss
Surprise Six: Pleasing Shareholders Is Not The
Surprise Seven: You Are Still Only Human

To read the full article, click here..
To read the ePaper, visit: http://emagazine.managementnext.com