World Colleges Information

A precipitous view on the Indian economy is enough to understand the colossal role played by family-run business in the country. Family-run business or in short family business is a global phenomenon with some of the biggest corporations in the world including supermarket biggies Wal-Mart to media powerhouse News Corp being run by families. The segment is of paramount importance in the Indian context. It can easily be dubbed as the lifeline of Indian economy, with the family business sector roughly accounting for two-thirds of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). More than 80 percent of companies in the country are family businesses including the big wigs Ambanis, Godrej, Birlas, Wadias, Mahindra, Munjals, Mittals, Jindals, Adanis, Ruias, Times of India, Murugappa, Ranbaxy among others. The list goes on and one and if you choose any industry and exclude the public sector giants, the family business houses eclipse every company around with consummate ease in terms of market cap or overall contribution to the Indian economy.

It is acknowledged in tacit terms, not without a fragment of hyperbole, that some of the crucial decisions about a certain company’s future including say plan for divestment or further investment is taken at the family dinner table rather than at the board meeting. The crux of thought behind the above statement is that family plays a significant or to put in a better way, dominant role in shaping the course of a business and the board just ‘ratifies’ those decisions.

• Emotional stake

Family business, even at the global level, stand for certain sacrosanct values attached to cultural roots, long-term commitment to all including customers and employees besides other core factors like dependability and relationship orientation. Evidently, the decisions and steps taken in a family-run establishment are less bureaucratic, with high levels of self-discipline and self-governance maintained.

These establishments often embrace a working mechanism or culture which is quite flexible. It is the vision of the family owner which runs the show, being the leading light while considering any business initiative as a matter of pride for the family. So the stakes here are more emotional rather than the monetary or profit aspects.

One of the prime advantages of family ownership business is its impregnable access to human capital, an invaluable asset to posses, in the form of family members.

It’s simply unbelievable how some of the family groups fought hard against all adversities to overcome red-tapism and achieve success at unprecedented levels. 

As per a PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Family Business Survey of 2012-13, 78 percent of Indian family enterprises support various community initiatives while a similar percent of the country’s family enterprises go out of their way to help and retain their staff in bad conditions. 

A majority of the Indian family business establishments mushroomed and took the baby steps in the one-and-a-half decade phase starting from 1980 and so can be safely categorised as relatively young ventures.

• Girl power 

In the last two decades or so, more women from the family are taking up reins in Indian companies, storming the former bastion of males. With the family going nuclear these days, families tend to groom daughters for the peculiar tasks. Moreover, the girls are armed with certain major amendments in the law, giving women the right to equal share of inheritance compared to the male siblings. The Bombay High Court ruling, pronounced a few months back, stating that the amendment to the Hindu Succession Act giving daughters equal rights is applicable even for girls born before the law was changed in 2005, is one of such legal changes that could usher in phenomenal transformation in the way how women are viewed and treated at family-run firms.

Isha Ambani, the only daughter of Reliance Industries chief Mukesh Ambani, joined global consultancy firm McKinsey in the United States earlier in the year and many industry analysts expect this as a stepping stone for the daughter to enter the father’s business empire. There were even reports of Isha attending the annual general meeting in 2013. Nisa Godrej and Tanya Dubash at the Godrej Group, Radhika Piramal, the Harvard-educated managing director of VIP Industries, Gursimran Mann, managing director of Simbhaoli Sugars are among some of the women’s leaders who have already entered the family business cauldron. 

To a great extent, women leaders and owners have silenced their doubters and it is likely that on course of transition, companies would be compelled to involve more women. Some studies show that women-owned business are likely to underscore the need of succession planning more while keeping up a lower percentage of family-member attrition. There are even cases when the families allowed women to steer the ship, they saved the family business.

There is resistance in some corners against the rise of women in family business with another line of argument going that women are hardly taken seriously in their family enterprises as they would be as professionals. In a patriarchal system, some traditional families running big businesses have openly stated that they don’t involve daughters in family business and would not do so in the future too.

• Tough tasks

There are more critical ways of thought that take a swipe at the family business, reading it together with anti-professional approaches, accusing it of nepotism and mismanagement. Some of the critics point out that hardly few family business establishments stand the test of time, supporting the argument with a liberal sprinkling of statistics and citing many examples of companies collapsing by the third generation of owners. Blending business, personal and home life interest can create a heady concoction which can halt the business’ productive growth and put its future under great peril. When the in-house secrets come out in the open and conflicts spill out into the streets, the requirement for a proper succession plan becomes quite evident.

The wide gulf between the line of thinking of old and new generations is a cast-iron challenge facing possibly many business establishments controlled by Indian families. According to Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Family Business Network (India), “one third of business families disintegrate because of generational conflict”. The young generation will be eager to stamp their seal and is likely to divert away from the conservative approach followed by the preceding generation/s. A clash of varied cultures is likely to ensue with differences cropping up about style of functioning, policy towards employees among other issues.

Many of the ideas and strategies traditionally associated with family businesses have started to wane with new kind of conflicts coming up. The obligation to join the family business has certainly reduced now compared to say two decades back. The society itself is not wedded to tradition as it was the case some 20 years back. Too much stress on family too may prove counter-productive as prominence should be given to the business part as well. There are many who keep on playing the emotional card, arguing that an owner’s son, irrespective of his incapability or lack of talent, cannot be replaced by an ‘outsider’, a ‘mundane’ executive.

In case of an unavoidable break-up, both the parties must reach an agreement to pursue diverse operations and uncommon interests to safeguard the future of all the parties involved. The key should to make a name for yourself, create your own brand power and identity rather than blaming the other party being the imitator and poorer cousin.

If a conflict arises between two family members or factions led by the duo, in all likelihood a woman, mostly the mother in case of warring brothers, would step in as the mediator, trying to broker peace and save the assets accumulated. The classic case in the Indian milieu was how Kokilaben Ambani, the wife of late Dhirubhai Ambani, the founder of the massive Reliance conglomerate, chipped in to end ugly feud between Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil. A deal was reached at, reportedly under the blessings of Kokilaben, as the siblings split the assets to end one of the most acrimonious family fights in the Indian corporate arena.

The constant inflow of non-family employees too can create rifts in the managerial mechanism. Sometimes the culture developed in the company may become an impediment to treat the ‘outsiders’ in a respectful manner. Vice versa, at least in some cases, the non-family members find it difficult to adjust to the company culture. 

Now, many family-driven companies are gradually shedding their age-old image, readying themselves for the transitional phase.

• Embracing change 

Many of the family business are trying to innovate by inking strategic deals with other corporate, sometimes even at the global level. Slowly but definitely these family-maneuvered companies are coming out of the shell, acknowledging the value of entrepreneurship and innovative ideas. The new generation is keen to forge alliance with global corporate through joint ventures or bring in Foreign Direct Investment.

Also, more firms understand the need to have a proper succession plan, in order to avoid legal tangles and ensure smooth transition of ownership. With many Indian companies owning assets in foreign countries, succession planning becomes critical in a global setting as well. A proper succession plan would ideally outline when the baton will be handed over to the younger generation by the incumbent personnel at the top of the managerial tree. Some companies have planned carefully to upkeep their assets by creating Trusts or in some kind of escrow mechanism where other family members have the right of first refusal in the event of sales by a particular member of the family.

The companies have started thinking seriously about governance models and are in the process of evolving their own unique ways in management. Now, personal skills and management capabilities are given preference over family relationships, thus assigning responsibilities accordingly to capable persons. These companies have opened up a lot, considering inputs from various stakeholders outside their family purview as well. An outside professional can lend a fresh perspective to the entire management scenario, breaking away from the monotonous way of looking at challenges and opportunities.

A lot of companies have taken active interest and some have already initiated the process of involving professional teams in management by involving professional accounting firms, reputed legal teams as wells as respected investment banking firms. India’s business giant and prestigious family group Tata took the lead, appointing Cyrus Mistry as chairman two years back to head their empire, succeeding Ratan Tata and becoming the first non-family member to head the group. Mistry’s ascension reflected the meteoric rise of a down-to-earth industrialist as well as broad-minded approach of a elephantine conglomerate to free away from the chains of family tradition.

There should not be any half measures while selecting personnel for top brass management jobs and it should be duly acknowledged that every individual in the family is not manager material. It’s not just about the education they possess or the intelligence they own. Beyond all the blood relationship and family hierarchy, there can be issues with temperament and motivational level for a family member, which may affect the running of the company.

Some companies have followed the Western way, formulating family constitution besides creating more opportunities for constructive dialogue between family members.GMR, Godrej and Daburs are among the companies that have already brought out constitutions that govern the succession plans. By turning more professional in their approach, these companies understand the need to continually innovate while combining their fresh strategies to broader business goals.

Another point of interest should be the branding factor. There are certain companies, including prestigious Indian names, who have grown leaps and bounds over the years, surpassing the name and pride of even the family which originally created them. All must be done to ensure the brand value is at its peak and efforts to do so are at full throttle. There is that pertinent danger of family turning the tormentor if the brand value and strength are identified separately from family name and power. Any slip up on this front can swing the fortunes of a company downside, leaving the management to fret over lost ground and worrying days ahead.

• Classroom to glass cabin

Realising the need of the family business entities, several management courses have been developed for young business leaders with the course content customized to the priorities and requirements of family business, enabling the students to understand various scenarios that may arise during their prospective managerial roles. The courses are also designed to ensure that the students understand how to get through the transition phase smoothly and how to face cut-throat competition.

Each family business has its own tasks, unique environment and problems to solve. However, there is a common thread to all family-guided businesses and the management courses try to stitch up the similarities to produce course material and evolve theories relating to family management.

Harvard Business School, Kellogg School of Management and University of Nortre Dame-Mendoza College of Business are some of the reputed institutions globally who provide special training on management of family-controlled business. These academic programmes evaluate the dynamic nature of family business, handing it a touch of professionalism and deal with issues including manager-shareholder relationships, disputes among owners or conflicts arising out about succession plans and business strategies. In India, Indian School of Business has tweaked its family business management programme to incorporate the uniqueness of Indian companies besides covering general management topics like accounting, finance and marketing. When those who hail from families piloting businesses enroll for the courses, they possibly have a distinct advantage compared to the traditional management students. Naturally, those planning to test waters in the family business don’t face the pressure of job hunting and probably can focus entirely on the course with an eye on the future and how to incorporate the lesson learnt to their mode of functioning. A job guaranteed could also mean complacency creeping in and put you off the track. It requires high focus and tenacity to keep the flame alive to pursue you dreams and secure a bright future in family business. 

CII in collaboration with FBN (International) has founded the Indian chapter, aimed at creating a nationally representative body of members of families steering businesses in the country. Though there might be exceptions here and there, family business is here to stay in India, prolonging its legacy and stamping their pride in equal measure.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

There are times when advantages slip through your fingers and become inflammable risks. Social media including the voguish duo in the Indian context – Facebook and Twitter – are easily accessible, have galactic reach and are spontaneous in their delivery.

When you are an employee of a company or institution, especially a reputed one, or is aspiring to get into an esteemed job, disciplined handling of your social media accounts should be a substantial priority. An error on your part, for example, a Facebook post or a tweet about a controversial political development, could be misconstrued and might be used to malign you and your intention. The deeper trouble is you would be naturally identified with your employer, dragging you and your employer into unwarranted territories of shame and humiliation.

Apt awareness about tackling social media is the need of the hour. With increasing mobile data penetration at a higher pace and with unprecedented reach, a Facebook post or a tweet is sent to a wider audience in no time, probably enhancing the probability of an unwanted mistake. Here, spontaneity of the action or the advancement of technology for that matter becomes a bane rather than a boon. You need to understand that shares, re-shares, retweets and tags are well beyond one’s own control.

The inward question

The numero uno principle which should be followed regularly is to ask yourself whether you need to post or tweet the content in your hand. The impact of that post or tweet should be thought about and also whether it would hurt the sentiments of others. A moment of introspection would do a world of good as the extra time would help you to think if the post or tweet could be used to tarnish the image of your company or brand. Similar care should be taken in case of comments posted by you, shares and retweets as well.

Reading your post or comment again before sending and deleting any sort of ambiguity would help you avoid unwelcome situations including being trolled aggressively or debased in the public domain. The same restraint is preferable while responding to others’ posts, tweets or comments. This ensures that somebody would not be able to take undue advantage of your views or twist your version according to their needs and agendas. Also, you  need to acknowledge that a person you know may forgive you despite not buying to your view or version but a complete stranger may take offence, resulting in wider, harmful implications.

Privacy is vital

It is important to understand that your post can be shared or tagged later, delivering it to many you might not even know personally.

Updating privacy settings periodically would be helpful to a great extent. As anybody can share and even download photos or videos uploaded by you, categorizing friends under the privacy settings and segregating the messages accordingly would be a welcome option. Also, there is no need to respond to each and every issue or every single post. The key here is to be smartly active, taking a step back when it is needed so and joining back into the bandwagon when it is required.

Be careful at work

Against the backdrop of a work environment, statements about your colleagues should be done gingerly. Sometimes comments that look non-obtrusive may come back and bite you, and even hit your hard at the most inopportune time. It is preferable to avoid comments even with a slightest hue of negativity about colleagues.

Keeping a tab on social media accounts through mobile or mail updates is an ideal way to follow the developments without being actually logged into the specific accounts. The timing of your social media interactions too is critical in the context of job environs. Excessive or regular social media usage, particularly those unrelated to work, during work hours could turn up as negative feedback about your work culture and would haunt you during your appraisals.

A disclaimer underscoring that the views expressed in the posts or tweets are personal and not of your employer as well as shares or retweets are not endorsements is a safe option to undertake. Some employers even ask the employees to mandatorily carry such disclaimers prominently in the social media accounts.

The consequences of a misconstrued upload – text or any format – can be far-reaching, sometimes leading to libel and defamation suits depending on the graveness of your ‘error’.

So it is important to self-analyze the tone of your post or tweet because in most cases, the recipient of the message wouldn’t be able to view and analyze your body language or judge the context in which the message was conveyed.

A bit of caution is required while acknowledging to friend requests or follower requests from unknown persons and blind response might invite trouble later. This guardedness extends to situations where you suggest friends or followers for your friends too.

Straight from heart

Talking from heart in the social media spectrum is a helpful and beneficial way which can be highly rewarding in the longer run. However, it is easier said than done. Someone tracking your tweets or posts can trace your tastes and passions and if you remain sincere with your social media updates, you would disseminate the image of an honest person.

Then, it becomes imperative to eke out inconsistencies in your various accounts, say Facebook and LinkedIn. A prospective employer can dig into your past through your accounts and bring out the disharmony comparing it with the resume provided by you during the job interview. From an employer’s point of view, staying away totally from social media could give the image of a recluse about you and that’s ideally not preferable.

Disparate approach to different modes of accounts is a professional option to tread. For example, the tone and tenor of LinkedIn account should be distinct from Facebook, as the latter has more scope for a casual, non-serious content and colour in it. Owning multiple accounts, having each for professional and personal circles, is the easy way out for some but this method gives away the impression of a dual personality.

It is desirous and practical to seek advice before posting or tweeting on subjects you think might invite criticism or conflicting opinions.

There are quite a few forums, blogs and Twitter handles providing advice on such matters and at the end of the day, you yourself would be held responsible for your actions. However, all the words of caution and counsel on responsibility should not take away the fun element from your Facebook communication and Twitter time. It is all about that balancing act!

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

Many among us misunderstand what communication is all about, probably underscoring ONLY the magnitude and overemphasising the relevance of talking, thereby sidestepping the equally crucial art of listening.

Imagine a hypothetical situation where you are called into a room by your manager for a pre-appraisal meeting and one of the discordant topics comes up for discussion. Even as the manager is trying to put across his point, you divert away from the communication unintentionally by staring at the flower vase on the table. A few minutes later, the manager naturally raises his voice to desperately seek your attention and you have no option but to rejoin the conversation. As you have already missed pressing links in the manager’s train of thought, you are likely to interpose with pointless queries, distracting the manager further. The onus is now on you to deliver your response. In the eagerness to reply sensibly, you may think about possible smart questions, also in order to give away the impression that you were actually listening to him right from the start. In this complex scenario, you are most likely to miss the rest of the conversation and the gist of the entire talk. The result can be quite catastrophic, particularly at the doorstep of an appraisal month.

Inarguably, listening is a gift and should be spoken about in the same breath as say the skills of speech. Listening is multi-faceted, highly useful craft which can help you in versatile ways. A good listener is guaranteed to develop better understanding of others, aiding her to resolve disputes, find solutions to complex issues and build relationships.

At work, the skill of listening adds a whole new dynamic dimension, a valuable one that. A good listener is bound to develop his career with great confidence and enviable maturity. Quite often than not, listening is a vital ingredient in the recipe to success.

The famous American financier, stock investor, philanthropist and political consultant of early 20th century, Bernard Mannes Baruch, encapsulates the vitality and vigour involved in the deft art of listening. “Most of the successful people I’ve known are the ones who do more listening than talking.”

Eye contact is one of the weighty aspects that powers the skill of listening, which again is undermined by many in their conversations. A lot of factors can come in the way of efficacious eye contact during communication. Shyness, guilt, cultural taboos are a few among those that can inhibit eye contact. Proper eye contact ensures more focus and also helps to ascertain the tone and tenor of the speaker in a conversation.

Another key is to screen out all distractions that could prove detrimental to refined communication, including any extraneous activity going around, a framed photograph or anything that diverts your attention in the background or any disturbing noise. Moreover, you should not be detracted by your own thought process and biased prejudices while in a conversation.

Jumping into conclusions without listening well can put you in the soup. Any speaker is utilising the medium of language to put across his thoughts and feelings and you wouldn’t be able to grasp what those feelings and thoughts unless you give the deserved attention through clear listening. At no point, you should be a sentence grabber. The golden rule here is to keep an open mind and try to picture the situations or matters the speaker is trying to portray.

When you are listening, give full attention and don’t go astray by spending time to plan what to say next. The simple truth is that you can’t rehearse properly and listen carefully at the same time. Your thought process while listening to someone should be tuned in to the speaker and what she is saying. No matter what is being said, even things that may bore you, cent percent concentration should be devoted to the speaker.

Even if the thoughts start to wander off and follow another path, try to bring them back to the channel of listening by refocusing hard.

Another fundamental metric in the art of listening is to catch the pace of the speaker, however slow or fast it may be. We all speak differently in terms of pace. If you are a fast thinker and an agile talker, the onus is on you to relax your pace for the slower communicator or for a person who is struggling to express his thoughts well or failing to put across a point by effective use of language.

Interruption is natural in any conversation as it is a dialogue rather than a monologue. But there is a way to interrupt in a polite manner. Interruption by means of questions should be done in a way to enrich the conversation further and make the time spent on it useful.

If you are looking to suggest an idea that is timely and fixes well to the situation or a point made by the speaker, you need to ask her permission with a polite interception “I would love to chip in with the idea…”. Again, the timing of such interceptions needs to be perfect, ensuring the smooth flow for the speaker even after the interruption. It is better to wait for the speaker to pause to ask clarifying questions.

It may be noted that you should not divert the topic with an unnecessary query or interception. Even you do so, it is your responsibility to get the conversation back on track.

In case, the speaker’s feelings are unclear, occasionally paraphrase the content of the message or context so as to get more clarity on the issue. You may give back the feeling to the speaker that you are in her line of thought and the best way is to reflect the speaker’s feeling with appropriate facial expressions. A perfectly-timed ‘hmm’ or a nod can matter a lot, giving confidence to the speaker as well as taking the conversation ahead in the right direction.

You should never give too much focus on speaker’s accent or her speech mannerisms to the point they become distractions for both or all the parties involved in an interaction.

Paying attention to what ISN’T said is decisive too and this principle holds well even when there’s no face-to-face contact. For example, if you are talking to someone over phone, you can understand a lot about the other person by carefully listening to the tone and cadence of her voice.

During a face-to-face interaction, you can detect an array of emotions whether it is enthusiasm, boredom, anger, happiness or irritation by looking into the expression in the eyes, the positioning of the shoulder and the set of the mouth. The expressions, words and related sound combine together to form the core of the interaction and a good listener would ensure that none of these factors are missed out during a conversation.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

First things first. Retail management is something akin to taking the bull by the horns. Retail managers face a wide assortment of convoluted tasks in a fast-evolving, hyper competitive environment. While promoting greater sales for the products, a retail manager has to serve up to the demanding need of customer satisfaction too, by understanding the requirements of the customer and knowing deep about the products sold. Usually, the retail management strategy of a manufacturing unit would study in detail about the retail process involved including the system that distributes the finished products to determine the requirement and satisfaction level of the consumers.

Retail managers are entrusted with the onerous task of maximising productivity with astronomical sales targets hanging above the head like the proverbial Damocles’ sword.

Irrespective of the tribulations, a genuinely hard-working retail manager, who is passionate about his job, would come up trumps, emerging stronger out of each adversity, yearning to achieve more success.

Good managers in the retail sector, who thrive in the most complex of situations while logging in long hours, would posses certain premium qualities. Managing both time and people efficiently is right up there among the prerequisites. Those who manage time well would be able to handle tight budget, shortage of staff and the task of playing around amidst a heavy influx of data on strategy and customer needs. Actively listening to the customer alone wouldn’t suffice. The same is applicable to your employees, your suppliers, and anyone else who is related to your business.

• The juggler

A lot of juggling of duties is inevitable in your job as a retail manager. Achieving sales target is just one of the goals. A keen eye on the stock levels and re-ordering supplies is another area of pertinent need. Managing inventory, maintaining store displays, designing and executing sales and promotions, identifying close competitors and market trends, meeting sales quotas and dealing with questions or complaints from customers and controlling expenses are among the slew of responsibilities at your hands. Motivating the support staff on a constant basis too is a priority.

Nevertheless, the most prominent aspect of retail business is your customers. Make sure your staff too understands the motto of serving the customer the best possible way. It may look clichéd but treat every customer of yours as a special one. Treat each and every customer with the same respect you expect when you are one and ensure your staff also follow suit, giving paramount value to customer service.

Knowing how to solve an issue in a jiffy, handling interruptions in an appropriate manner, building motivated sales staff and imparting adequate training too are vibrant qualities to possess, not necessarily in the same order. In fact, many of these qualities are inter-dependent and inter-related.

Facilitating self-management among your personnel is an ideal way to distribute the work load. Setting up realistic goals for the staff, delegating responsibilities carefully, evaluating their performance in a time-bound manner by focusing on specific behavior and their reaction towards particular situations et al would enable a dynamic work environment.

• Up for transition

Managing transition is another Herculean task in the retail sector. The most difficult problem to solve is to reduce the resistance to change. Effective training will come in handy during these situations. As retailers remodel their strategies, going for a parallel or entirely innovative channel of branding, retail managers need to shepherd the staff in the same direction, while ensuring that the zest and motivation remain at high levels. A retail manager is a good leader by himself, implementing strategies effectively to take the company forward in the right path.

All this doesn’t need you to replicate your old headmaster at school. Bringing in and retaining the fun element is necessary, without sacrificing the team ethics and company policies. Being the captain of the ship rocked by strong waves most of the time, you need to earn the respect of your staff and need their support.

Firstly, you need to understand that your staff have a life outside work and try to take some interest in it. Discussing their issues, enquiring about their weekend plans, sharing their good news et al can keep them in good spirits and relieve them off the pressure of monthly sales targets, hovering around them day in day out. It’s all about acknowledging their presence, appreciating their effort, and inspiring them to give more. If you want them to stick to the rules, you need to earn their respect first.

Updating them about key changes in business strategies and discussing the change of course in action through regular updates would give the staff the feeling they too are central in the working environment.

Complimenting them on good work done can do no harm. Any improvement in skills should be duly appreciated, making them clear that each individual effort is being noticed. Also, never shy away from handing your staff more responsibility.

• Find the delegates

Delegating responsibilities is another way of getting things done as well as attaining the respect of your staff. It will instill more confidence among the staff, enhancing their skill base in the process, thereby aiding to forge a stronger workforce. If you start to do every important task by your own, your staff may sense it as an indication of mistrust and in a way, questioning of their abilities.

As a responsible manager, you need to make your team understand the clear boundaries of roles. You simply can’t expect them to inherently understand the requirements, of yours and their job in general. Able guidance, constant monitoring and useful feedback can help the staff understand their jobs in a better way.

Like in any other managerial job, staying calm is a highly rewarding quality to have. It’s easier said than done against the backdrop of retail sector where situations testing your patience and assessing your ability to absorb pressure might crop up more often than many other management areas. Always remember, if anything goes wrong, the staff would look up to you. If you lose your cool during trying circumstances, it gives away the wrong impression.

Leading by example is probably the best way to motivate your staff. Small things matter a lot. For example, if you turn up for work always on time, your staff would strive to emulate you.

However, it would be impossible to be the Mr. Popular with everyone around if you are the manager in a high-pressure atmosphere like retail management. You should ensure that the friendships and other personal relationships take a backseat and the loyalty remain to the company. Favouritism of any sort should not be encouraged and practiced.

You can be the friendly manager but never at the expense of discipline. Always try to make your criticism constructive and keep out personal equations while dealing with issues relating to discipline.

In retail sector, a turnaround is expected any time irrespective whether you have a good or bad time at hand as things happen fast and sometimes in the most unexpected way. As a manager, it is crucial not to be complacent and sit back. It’s always better to plan ahead for the tougher climes.

• Expect the unexpected

The economic recession had hit the retail sector bad world over and even as the industry is slowly recovering, the art of retail management itself has undergone a phenomenal transition, reacting to newer challengers and unpleasant circumstances. The new economic paradigm asks for a fine balance between profitability modules and the traditional value of customer satisfaction. After intensely following methods of operational efficiencies during the tougher economic period, the envious challenge now is to keep up that efficiency, while factoring the customer experience back into the equation.

It may be noted that the retailers who have incessantly focused on customer satisfaction have emerged out of tough times or a bad holiday sales season, resurrecting like a Phoenix bird. And, the special job needs special people and choose retail management if you love sailing on rough waters.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

HOW GOOGLE WORKS

Authored by: Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosberg With Alan Eagle
Published by: John Murray, 286 pages
INR 650

A duo of true legends at Google recollect their days and experiences with the American multinational in a fun-filling narrative, interspersed with some valuable insight on corporate work tools and mechanism. Written in an easy-to-read prose, the enjoyable ‘inside story’ elaborates on corporate culture and strategies, decision-making process involved, the vitality of communication skills, the need for innovation and also about how to deal with disruption.

The authors describe how internet, mobile and cloud computing have the transformed the lives of consumers in an unprecedented, revolutionary way. Management’s golden rules are illustrated with interesting anecdotes from the annals of the company specializing in internet-related products and services. Rosenberg, currently advisor to Google CEO Larry Page, is credited with management and design of a wide array of tools and products including Search, Ads, Gmail, Android, Apps and Chrome. Schmidt, the CEO for a decade from 2011 with the internet giant, was instrumental in company’s astonishing rise to a global technology biggie. The emergence of social web is discussed in the concluding part of the book. A separate chapter is devoted to innovation, explaining the need to understand the context and what it takes to think big. Another chapter deals with how to tap in the best talent around and underlines the significance of interviewing well. The communication portion deals with another corporate tool of utmost importance – email wisdom. The forward for the work is written by none than the current CEO Page.

AUTHENTICITY

Authored by: Ron Willingham
Published by: Prentice Hall Press, 300 pages
INR 560

The author of the popular Integrity Selling for the 21st Century comes up with a unique guide to conscious selling that throws light upon three distinct dimensions namely head, heart and soul that combine together in an explosive way to enhance the sales success. The Chief Executive Officer of USA Basketball , Jerry Colongelo, has billed the book as “a great read on the art of selling and what it takes to be successful”. The books discusses in detail about how to improve client relationship and how to maintain it over a consistent period through rich and powerful social skills. Willingham ably points out the valuable tools to boost sales by learning and successfully executing the fundamentals of client-focused selling.

In a step-by-step evaluation done with surgical precision, the author of 11 books and more than training courses conducted over 130 worldwide, explains the nuances of selling including the purpose, mode of functioning, specific goals and problem solving. Willingham takes selling beyond the just physical act, urging the readers to mix their knowledge, emotions and values to ensure the success of a client-focused sales system. To develop a good rapport with customer, to gain his confidence right from the start, diagnosing his requirements, needs and desired solutions too are crucial in becoming a good seller, says the author who is the first chairperson of National Speaker Association’s Sales Trainers Group. He outlines three steps critical to the selling process. 1) foundation 2) deeper drivers of sales effectiveness 3) practicing the six-step client-focused sales system.

THE INNOVATION PARADISE

Authored by: Tony Davila, Marc J. Epstein.
Published by: Collins Business, 217 pages.
INR 499.

Epstein , the author of the best selling Making Innovation Work : How to Manage It, Measure It, and Profit from It, and Davila undergo a search train behind the intriguing question on why big corporations cannot seem to innovate like start-ups. They find out that what keeps the big corporate ticking and make them successful itself holds them back. This is the paradox discussed, described and drawn out in the work. The book serves as a vital resource for executives, scholars, management- based academicians.  A thoroughly research product, the book provides “insightful frame work for diagnosing forces and tools for overcoming organizational inertia”.  The book describes how to implement processes that result in highly valuable break throughs. It also informs about how versatile corporate cultures and management mechanisms become key aspects in achieving success at different points in the road towards innovation. Overcoming obstacles is also a matter of discussion.

Davila, who heads Entrepreneurship Department and the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centre at IESE Business School in Barcelona, and Epstein, Distinguished Professor of Management at Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University bring out the scholarly knowledge and expertise to shoot down a paradox in style.

DEFYING THE ODDS

Authored by: Devesh Kapur, D. Shyam Babu, Chandra Bhan Prasad.
Published by: Random House India, 320 pages
INR299

Subtitled ‘the rise of Dalit entrepreneurs’, the book compiles the astonishing rise of twenty one Dalit entrepreneurs who emerged successful by overcoming social, economic barriers to become shining examples of what persistence can do to life and career. Each chapters deals with each success stories, describing how they managed to climb up the ladder, working their way from deep down. Narrated in an interesting manner, the biographic takes is also a celebration of these Dalit entrepreneurs’ resilience and the way they managed to grab the opportunities even during the most inopportune of times.  These incredible stories are truly captivating and successfully capture the trials and tribulations they went through before making eventful turnarounds. Undoubtedly an emotionally packed book, it deals with people from different backgrounds, geographical locations and diverse experiences, all sharing the Dalit identity. All of them have been deprived of elite education but still they managed to achieve their dreams, thanks to their verve and determination. From Thomas Barnabas of KJN Enterprises in Sriperumbudur, a firm which recycles and disposes industrial waste and deals with clients like Dell, to  Manju Rani of Bapunagar, New Delhi who runs a shirt manufacturing unit , the book is dotted with lives made out of steel.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

Here is an earnest attempt to make even a commoner understand how he can trade safely and the ways in which he can minimize risk. Listed below are some of the most common errors people commit in the game of trade. Understanding what not to do will definitely keep you on top of the race.

Overlooking Fundamentals

In a haste to make a quick buck from the market, retail investors tend to overlook the fundamentals of the company they're planning to invest in. Some investors buy shares without sparing time to gather the basic information about the company, most importantly the product or service that the company sells and the probable future for that business.

Investors should look at companies that have consistently delivered earnings growth and good corporate governance. Never invest in a firm without understanding the dynamics of the business.

Cheap, yet expensive

A successful investor looks for bargain stocks-the ones which are available for prices lower than their worth and have a strong growth potential. Newbie investors often misinterpret this golden strategy as buying 'cheap' stocks for high percentage gains.

Assume that you can buy a dozen fresh eggs for Rs 36, while rotten eggs are available for only Rs 3 per dozen. If you have Rs 3 in your wallet, will you buy one fresh egg or a dozen rotten ones?

Returns from your investment in shares do not depend on the number of shares, but the performance of the company. You will have a higher chance of making a profit if you buy just one share of a blue-chip company rather than buying thousands of penny stocks.

Myopic Vision

Retail investors often look for short-term gains. If you want to make a quick profit from stocks, you should have the ability to time the stock market. Stock prices fluctuate wildly over short periods. Your profit or loss depends on your ability to clinch the deal at the right moment. Due to the turbulent nature of stock markets, it is difficult to profit in short time periods.

Also, when you stay invested in a stock for longer than one year, the taxman won't come knocking for his share of the profit. Income from stocks held for more than one year is a long-term capital gain, which does not attract any tax. For investments less than one year, you will have to pay short-term capital gains.

Ignoring a Portfolio

You must have heard stories about investors who bought a company's shares,

forgot about them and after a decade or so discovered that they had returned a fortune. While this is an example of how long-term investment is profitable, it's not the best.

If you are among those who think that long-term investment means buying shares at low prices and forgetting about them, you are taking a huge risk. The economic environment and market scenario are very dynamic. Apart from global and local policies and macroeconomic factors, there can also be changes in company strategies or management.

An investor should review his portfolio at regular intervals. If the outlook of a company improves, or at least remains stable, he should buy or hold the stock. When the assumptions under which he bought the shares no longer hold true, it might be time to offload them.

Unwillingness to Book Losses

Investors eagerly cash out small profits on retail investments, but they are often unwilling to book losses on stocks that are sinking. Even when stock prices keep declining, they continue to hold on in the hope that the stock will bounce back and turn profitable sometime. This often results in bigger losses for the investor.

When prices decline, some investors buy more shares in an attempt to reduce the average cost of their stock portfolio. Buying on dips is recommended, but only when the decline is due to a temporary setback and growth prospects remain positive.

When investing in a stock, you should also set a stop-loss instruction for it. When the price of a stock falls to the stop-loss level, the broker will sell them. If you set a stop-loss order at 10% below your purchasing cost, your loss will be limited to 10%.

Entry at Peaks, Exits at Lows

The stock market always overreacts to news, be it while rising or falling. Ideally, the price of a share should be proportional to the total capital and earnings prospects of the company. However, a market frenzy results in shares being, generally, overpriced or underpriced.

In a bullish market, investors often invest in overpriced shares because everyone else is buying. They become too optimistic and expect stock prices to continue rising. Conversely, in a bearish market, investors become pessimistic and tend to sell shares when they should be buying.

Stock markets tend to take wild decisions in the short run but behave rationally in the long term. Successful investors always base their investment decisions on a shares' intrinsic value and hunt for bargain stocks. They will buy shares of a company with strong fundamentals when it's beaten in the market and sell when prices surge.

Following Tips

• Thanks to cheap bulk messages, you might have received SMSes tipping you about a 'golden opportunity' to earn huge profits. If you have acted on any of these tips, you probably have lost some money. If you haven't, you've done well to stay away from such unsolicited mails and messages.
• Even solicited tips can do you harm. If you try to find trading tips on the Internet, you will get a large number of websites and blogs that offer you free advice. Don't take the advice on these sites as gospel. It's equally dangerous to buy shares because a friend told you that ' its price is going to double in six months'. Stock tips by analysts published in newspapers or aired on television should also be subjected to scrutiny.
• Always perform due diligence before placing an order with your broker.
• Allowing your Broker to Trade

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

The alarm has just gone off for the umpteen time reminding you that you are way behind your early morning schedule.

Everything else must suffice and the only thing that gets sacrificed in this bumble jumble is your humble breakfast.

You skip breakfast, substituting it, with a chocolate bar on your way to office, reaching an hour later to only find your body and mind deprived of much needed kick start energy and nutrition. Just as you work your way up to the office cafeteria, scouting for something filling, you get a call for an impromptu meeting with the team, headed by you head honcho. You turn a remorseful eye, towards the sandwich you were considering placing an order for, and instead grab cookies and chips to tame your growling tummy from the snack vending machine.

And that sets the tone for an uncomfortable long day, with you either feeling uneasily bloated full thanks to the gastric build up or just plain tired and lethargic to fully concentrate on the day ahead.

The Killer move – Skipping breakfast!

Not only does breakfast set the tone for the rest of the day, but it also refuels your body with much-needed energy and nutrition. Also, eating a healthy breakfast improves concentration power, gives more energy to tackle a hectic day and keeps us away from having unhealthy snacking.

So if your excuse for skipping your breakfast is ‘No time to cook’, here are few wonderful breakfast quickies keeping in mind the needs of every working individual.

A healthy breakfast?

A good breakfast will always include a good source of proteins, low-fat dairy products and some fresh fruits or vegetables to add more nutrition. This breakfast will ensure that you don’t suffer from a drop in blood sugar mid-morning, which can make you both lethargic and restless.

Some good options for a healthy breakfast are:

• Whole grain cereal, be it museli, or any other kind of bran flakes topped with fresh chopped fruits and nuts taken with skimmed milk.
• Two hard boiled eggs eaten with two slices of multigrain bread. If you really want to spice it up, you can do it Indian style with the egg bhurji or masala omelette instead.
• Two chapatis eaten with egg or any leftover vegetable dish from the previous night.
• A large bowl of cinnamon and raisin oatmeal.

1.  Poha: Flattened rice takes little time to make, tastes great and makes for a filling meal too. Throw in some peas and veggies to make it more nutritious, and remember to use a non stick pan so that you use as little oil as possible.
2. Upma: A favourite breakfast item, upma - made out of “suji”- can be ready in a few minutes and works well as a breakfast option. You can add veggies for a punch of vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and iron. Perfect to start a busy day.

You can ease up your lifestyle making it healthier and lighter on the mind, on the body.

After all, you are who you choose to be.

Tip1:

Its all about your choices: Choosing skimmed milk over full-fat milk, multigrain bread over white bread, mustard or low-fat spreads over regular mayonnaise and sandwich spreads, Nutralite (or any margarine) and peanut butter over regular table butter.

Have a fruit smoothie or milkshake and avoid chocolate milkshake. Even drinks like ‘Horlicks’ or ‘Bournvita are advisable rather than opting for plain chocolate.Whole wheat bisuits, and digestive biscuits rather than cookies or biscuits with maida.

Tip 2:

Reading the fine print: Before buying any food stuff, go through the labels. Don’t just blindly buy things labelled ‘low-fat’ or ‘fat-free’.
Fat is not the only thing adding calories to a meal. Sugars and simple carbohydrates are also the culprits. A product low in fat will be high in sugar or sodium, and both are equally bad for you.

If you are counting calories, don’t get fooled by the calories mentioned ‘per serving’. Read the fine print.

Tip3:

Breakfast chart: Have a breakfast chart to add variety and cut the monotony which sets in easily and to help you aware and prepare before hand.

Tip4:

Prepare in advance: Make a grocery list every Saturday and make to include everything that makes a healthy breakfast. Prefer fresh foods over frozen or ready-to-eat stuff.

People who prefer indian breakfast options, can prepare dosa and idli batter over the weekends for quick breakfast fixes too.

And yes,don’t forget to stretch every couple of hours to give a much needed break to your body and mind, by working your way up to the water filter instead of keeping filled bottles at desk. Helps you hydrate while you work up a stretch, for a challenging day ahead, after all it’s a sound mind, in a sound body , indeed!

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

Woman is an embodiment of poise and elegance.  This is what our literature, our customs, our value systems, societal dogmas incarnate the woman with. The concept of a strong woman conjures up all sorts of stereotypical images and thoughts.  My question to the young woman of today, have you given a thought about how tough you are or you can be? We never care a damn to think about it until we are forced to, when being tough is but the only choice.

Women get crippled by the lack of confidence or the overpowering dominance by the men. I look at this dominance in a different dimension – overpowering insecurity of men when they are faced with a tough woman! Gone are the days when choosing a domain for specialization (in College) there used to be a label for the “girly” domain… And gone are the days where, the women where looked upon for specific industries and were excluded from venturing into the heavy weighted industries as it required ‘Strong’ hand! Today, 8 of the top 10 women in ‘Most Powerful Women’ list of 2014 are into the heavy industries such as tech, energy, defense, autos and consumer durables. They all have proved to have the strong hands… rather a ‘Strong Mind” These are women who have pushed themselves through difficult transformations within as well as around them. Women no longer are confined to the ‘Creative’ jobs!

They say, it takes a huge lot of crisis to get a woman in leadership. And this is one statement that I completely disagree. Probably I guess, that must have been a man`s statement.. When a woman is capable of making it till that point in her career, then she most assuredly will make it a success at the top. And to make it till that point and further to the top all that today`s young women needs is THE ATTITUDE! Given today`s acme of competition, a young woman graduating from college must bear in mind to shed away her docile, meekly disposition of her.

One thing that is going to take you to the top is your “I am a tough nut to crack!” attitude. It is all but your strength from inside that is going to take you to the top! For an aspiring young woman, the odds in life are many.

And she can shatter any number of odds with her attitude of ‘Being Tough’.

• Your Attitude reflects in the way you look at your life!
• Your Attitude reflects in the decisions you make!
• Your attitude reflects in your dreams!
• Your attitude reflects in your choices!
• Your attitude reflects in your achievements in career!
• Your attitude reflects where you want to be!

During the growing up years, as a girl, she would be invigorated by everyone around her saying “ You gotto be like a Iron-Lady when you grow up” or be a strong woman…brave woman… and what not some will even quote few examples of exemplary brave woman like Kiran Bedi, Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi, Indira Nooyi, PT. Usha and a few more. So, having been nurtured under such a tough environment preparing her to be ‘Tough’, it is quiet evident of her to evolve as a Strong, tough, brave hearted woman when she grows.  And now comes our sardonic society labelling this young woman as “Oh! Shez one Attitude woman” , “ Young Lady, You gotto mellow-down” , “ Awww…Here comes the tough and so the problematic!”

Young Women out there, Feel proud when you are labelled so. Because these are signs that tell you that you are looked upon as STRONG & TOUGH.  While in a corporate, being tough makes you to be guarded and to not go down without making sense! Tough woman in corporate do not stand by the side while the man have it all. Very few organizations realize that these tough women they have are a best resource that is promising. Also, very few bosses realize that these tough women they have in their team are the most capable of all.

Redefine your realness for making it to the top. All the women who are today the powerful, influential and top 50 successful women CEOs of the world, according to Forbes 2014 survey were all women who crafted their career to where they are today by redefining their realness. And astoundingly all these women have in some or the other way revealed themselves as being “The Toughest Nut to Crack”

Being a tough nut to crack….Does it sound a little deleterious? Let`s crack down the sentence for a deeper and clear understanding… When you are a STRONG woman, you are supposed to have an ATTITUDE.

And so you GET THINGS DONE, you BECOME PASSIONATE about what you do, you are COURAGEOUS to pursue your dreams, and you BE AT YOUR BEST to see yourself at the top. And that`s how it ends!

It’s no fairy tale beginning or ending while we talk of women who make it to the top. When you have BIG goals, stay strong with attitude because “You`re Worth It”. And when the world around you looks at you in fascination for what you are, why not wear your ATTITUDE all day long… Now, to see if you are one of the toughest women who could make it to the top, here is something you could watch out in you.

• Knowing what you want
• Speaking your mind
• Able to give and receive equally
• Stand up for what you believe in
• Has the sense of right and wrong
• Has Self-Esteem
• Know who you are
• Can be dependent, independent and interdependent
• Can assess your wisdom

Often when we hear people say, “Shez a tough nut to crack” , they are not conferring her in a positive light and the attitude that she wears shows her as a ‘fight-spirited’ rather than as ‘Strong Willed’. And in most cases it exudes the hidden feeling or fear of these people who talk over the TOUGH NUT that they are having around – It is their insufficiency, sense of insecurity, lack of magnanimity, their finiteness, intense dominance to secure their self… and these are just a infinitesimals.
So, it is the time to admire the ‘Attitude’ of the STRONG woman who is a TOUGH NUT TO CRACK redefining her realness!!

Young Women out there..

“Be the Tough Nut to Crack by wearing your ATTITUDE all day!”

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

With developers and reality promoter flooding the market, one might find it really challenging to find just the right property for his family. Promotional offer like no  EMI, pre EMI, 0% down payment etc.. confuse a buyer all the more when it comes to comparing fair deals.  Harnessing this need of the commoner, Budding Manager comes up with a few base pointers to indentify the best property for one's needs and offers guidelines to mitigate risk factors. read on.

We hear often enough that real estate prices have gone through the roof. A few years ago, the same property was available at 1/3rd of the price being quoted now. When not equipped with relevant market facts, we tend to agree with the negative opinions about an irrational market and artificially inflated prices.

Meanwhile, who doesn't want to cash in on it, irrational or not? Investors and speculators feel that buying a property cheap and selling it high is an ideal strategy. End users say buying value and taking a call on selling in the long term - if at all - is the way to go.

From either perspective, there seems to be a consensus on at least one mantra, and that is buy cheap. It definitely makes sense - but to be able to do that in today's property market, one needs to be an early investor into the right market, for right product and at the right price. A good investment horizon (the duration over which one holds the property before selling it) is also important. Identifying the right markets becomes easier if one looks for certain at key market triggers.

The critical ones that highlight the potential of any property markets are:  

1. Existing infrastructure readiness
2. Execution / implementation timelines for new infrastructure initiatives,
3. Demand for commercial space in the market (leading to job creation),
4. Social infrastructure, and
5. Price trends Factoring in all these five aspects and considering them against the prevailing market environment,

the top residential property investment cities today are:

• Hyderabad
• Bangalore
• Chennai
• Pune
• Noida, and
• Navi Mumbai.

To a large extent, the aforementioned growth drivers are clearly visible to varying degrees in these cities. The on-going trend in their commercial real estate space tends to reflect a serious growth and expansion of various corporate offices. There is certainly very healthy demand for Grade A commercial spaces in cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune. In these cities, the demand for Grade A commercial real estate exceeds the supply scheduled for the near and long-term future.

Their employment generation potential is established and assured. In Noida and Navi Mumbai, there are market drivers over and above job creation at play - namely superior infrastructure and affordability. Navi Mumbai and Noida are absorbing investor demand from Mumbai and Delhi, where affordability plays important role for investors. In the case of Navi Mumbai, one can further extrapolate the investment potential to Kharghar, Kalamboli and Ulwe. For Noida, the extended growth corridors are Noida Extension and Noida Expressway. In all these cities, massive job creation will further fuel the demand for residential property for quite a while to come.

As already mentioned, job creation is a major trigger for residential real estate demand. Every individual employed by IT/ITES and BFSI industries is eventually a buyers of a residential apartment. The current absorption of residential apartments in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai shows the lion`s share of demand coming from IT/ITES and BFSI employees. The average age of these buyers ranges from 27 to 33 years, with the easy availability of mortgages and the desire for a self-owned home apartment before marriage being the  key drivers. The highest demand is for apartments where price tags fall within the Rs. 40 lakh-1 crore range. This takes care of the challenge of identifying the right product, leaving only the question of what kind of investment horizon works best.  The Indian property market is definitely not geared up for property 'flipping' (buying and selling speculatively within very short periods).

India's conservative banking system has been and will continue to be the country's most reliable insurance against the kind of boom-bust buying and selling cycles were the undoing of the US property market. This leaves us with mid-to-long term investment options.

Considering the current market dynamics, price trends, supply of residential stock and rental yields, the best period over which to invest is 4-5 years. Such an investment horizon is a safe hedge against risk related to market vagaries, and ensures that the property will have gained very healthy appreciation regardless of short-to-medium term market dynamics.

In order to mitigate most of the investment risk, one should restrict one’s residential property to Tier 1 and select Tier 2 cities. It is also most prudent to invest in properties where the price tag falls between Rs. 2500-5000/sq.ft., since such a price tag provides downside protection against any capital value erosion.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

A decade ago,communicating across borders for free or for a nominal price would have been a fantasy, but with the internet boom coming to a full circle, and applications invading our life like never before, easy accessibility of instant messaging is here to stay. Thus an Era evolves.

With the digital marketplace so full with messaging apps, the user is troubled by a problem of too many and is spoilt for choice. How much is too much seems to be the question of the day, with a spring of apps all promising identical user benefits.

If user Customisation governed by purpose is more important to some users, so is having an equally strong popular user base without which effective communication fails.Thus, many are left without no choice but to follow the herd.

Today, we make a comparison, between the noted Messaging clients Whatsapp and its relatively new counterpart Telegram, an insight into both the offerings and what the future might hold.

Whatsapp Inc was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both former employees of Yahoo! based out of Mountain view, California

Initially launched as a free messaging cross platform service, it soon migrated to a paid service subscriber model to avoid growing too fast, due to the primary cost involved in sending verification texts to users.

It is currently in the process of takeover after Facebook announced its acquisition of Whatsapp Inc. on February 19, 2014, for US$19 billion, owning to its huge user base of more than 70 million all over the world.

Telegram Messenger, was launched in 2013 developed by Durov brothers behind Russia’s largest social network, VKontakte (also known as VK).Telegram Messenger LLP , though, is an independent non-profit company based in Berlin, Germany, which is not connected to VK.Telegram is a cross platform instant messaging service,whose clients are open source and servers are proprietary software. It offers advanced security and faster messaging, both to serve personal and business needs.

Telegram is also famous for its contests which challenge users to decrypt the traffic on its messenger, promising a pricey bounty for the winner, thus showcasing their advanced user data security.

In October 2013, Telegram had 100,000 daily active users. On 24 March 2014, Telegram announced that it has reached 35 million monthly users and 15 million daily active users.

First let's compare both the offerings, to get a clearer picture of what's on desk.

Availability: Both Whatsapp and telegram apps support cross platforms. Telegram not only focuses on mobile but also other platforms like the web and desktops and tablets while Whatsapp focuses only on mobile

Pricing: Telegram is a completely free service while Whatsapp is based on a yearly paid subscription program, even though discounted.

Current user base: Telegram is relatively new app (released in August 2013), and does not have the backing of a huge company as compared to Whatsapp(released in 2009), owned by Facebook.

Messaging: Along with the ability to send various multimedia messages,  like, pictures, voice, video, contact and location, to groups and individuals, Telegram supports sending documents (doc, zip, mp3, etc) while Whatsapp cannot, which can be a major haul for easy exchange of documents especially.

This could be a bottleneck for a majority of business subscribers of Whatsapp with documents and zip files being an essential for speedy corporate communications over messengers

Privacy and security: Telegram supports a secrecy option between peers during a conversation by setting a self destruct timer attached to the messages in the Whatsapp does not support private message exchanges.

Appearance and configuration options: Both apps provide a smooth user experience, customisation options with a clean user interface. Whatsapp allows users to change phone numbers on their accounts, and allow you to email conversations, whereas Telegram requires you to deactivate your old account and create a new one for the new number and does not allow the emailing option, both features purposefully avoided to ensure as much as possible, the account is in the rightful hands of the owner and that their privacy is respected.

No doubt, Whatsapp messenger started the bandwagon of easy messaging across borders and platforms making communication easier for anyone with a mobile, a pioneer of kinds, but with free trials of Whatsapp services coming to an end, the all invading security glitches of Whatsapp over the years making it more prone to eaves dropping and sniffing, lack of certificate pinning, slower messaging, and its acquisition by Facebook(thanks to its huge user base), all pose a serious challenge encouraging users migration to other sustainable apps.

Telegram Messenger on the other hand, a non profit venture, allows the user to choose the mode of data exchange,through cloud storage of regular messages for faster retrieval or double encrypted secret self destruct messages not stored on servers for enhanced privacy making user communication, fast, powerful, and less vulnerable. With tighter encryption, Telegram dispenses the doubt of indexing or sniffing around user data to sell better ads, which people suspect Facebook might do so acquiring Whatsapp.

The open API platform of Telegram encourages developers to build their own applications for faster communication on desktops, tablets, mobiles and other platforms and devices, thus allowing for quick maturity of the project, support for multiple languages and widespread acceptance.

As users try to tighten their privacy, embark upon seamless communication through multiple devices, and feel responsible to push for innovation especially for non profit needs, the User base is seen slowing but steadily migrating towards heralding an era of change in Instant Messaging applications like the Telegram Messenger and their kind.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

RBI tightens regulatory norms for ARCs

The RBI has tightened the regulatory framework for asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) to improve sale of bad loans in the banking system. ARCs will henceforth mandatorily have to invest and hold a minimum of 15 per cent - as against 5 per cent earlier - of the security receipts (SRs) issued by them against the assets acquired from banks on an ongoing basis till the redemption of all the receipts. This will make it more difficult for ARCs to allow an asset to sit on their balance sheet and collect management fees for that.

BoI gets AAA rating for tier-I instrument

Brickwork Ratings has assigned AAA rating to Bank of India’s (BoI) current issue of additional tier-I instrument. Additional tier-I instruments are hybrid in nature and different from regular bonds.

The bank can have a call option for the instrument that can be exercised after ten years. But it can do so with the prior permission of the RBI. The coupon payment on the instrument by the bank is discretionary in nature, and the bank has every right to cancel the payments.

Big-bang start for financial inclusion plan

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, one of the biggest financial inclusion programmes, calling for an end to financial untouchability. The massive financial inclusion drive aims to open 7.5 crore bank accounts and provide banking facility to the vast segment of the population by January 26, 2015. Under the scheme, a person opening an account will get a Rupay debit card, a Rs 1 lakh accident insurance policy as well as a Rs 30,000 life insurance cover.

According to the government, banks opened a massive 1.5 crore new accounts for the unbanked across the country, coinciding with launch of the programme.

TMB eyes Rs 1,00,000-cr biz, pan-India growth

Upendra Kamath, the new managing director and chief executive officer of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) has chalked out growth plans, targeting the bank’s business volume of Rs 1,00,000 and 800 branches across the country in four years.

The plan aims turning the Tamil Naducentric bank, which currently has a network of 383 branches and 715 ATMs, into a pan-India lender. The bank will continue to strengthen its presence in Tamil Nadu. It has also drawn up a 15-month plan to expand its reach South and West India.

IRDA nod for 3-year motor insurance policy

Two-wheeler owners can now buy a third-party motor insurance policy for three years following the IRDA’s nod to issue such long-term policies. Currently, motor insurance policies for private cars and two wheelers in India are annually renewed.

The premium charged by insurers for the three-year motor insurance contract will be thrice the annual thirdparty motor insurance premium for two-wheelers as prescribed by the regulator.

The regulator has also stipulated that insurers will not be able to cancel the third-party insurance cover in any circumstances except in case of a total loss.

Tribunal finds NSE abusing dominant position

The Competition appellate Tribunal (COMPAT), a quasi-judicial authority, has upheld an order passed against the National Stock Exchange (NSE) by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) regarding misusing its dominant position. In May 2011, the competition watchdog had found the NSE guilty of abusing its dominant position in stock market.

A penalty of Rs 55.5 crore was imposed on the exchange for adopting unfair trade practices in currency derivatives trading.

The COMPAT rejected the NSE’s argument of limiting the case to currency derivatives and ruled to include all stock exchange services.

Banks tighten free ATM payouts

Number of free transactions for savings bank account-holders at other bank ATMs in six metro cities - Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Hydrabad - will be reduced from five to three a month from November 1. The RBI has reduced the number of free ATM transactions after taking into account-high density of ATMs, bank branches and alternative modes of payment available to customers. Banks have been permitted to levy transaction charges not exceeding Rs 20 and applicable taxes per transaction after the minimum three free transactions. No-frills account holders will continue to get five free ATM transactions.

Q1 GDP grows by 5.7% buoyed by industry, farm

The domestic economy expanded at its fastest pace in more than two years in the April-June quarter of 2014-15. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first quarter (Q1) of FY15 grew by 5.7 per cent as against 4.6 per cent in the corresponding quarter of FY14. The good GDP figure was fuelled by robust growth in the industrial sector, including mining, construction and manufacturing, which expanded by 4.2 per cent against a 0.4 per cent decline in the previous year.

The agriculture sector too put up a reasonable show, rising by 3.8 per cent against 4 per cent in the year earlier. Services, however, disappointed with a 6.8 per cent jump against 7.2 per cent growth last year.

TRAI for ban on politicians owning media

Politicians and corporate heavyweights will find it tough to own a media house.

The TRAI recently barred entry of political and government entities and also proposed curbs on entry of non-media corporate entities.

The regulator, in its report on Issues Related To Media Ownership released recently, said: “On grounds of inherent conflict of interest, ownership restrictions on corporate entities entering media should be seriously considered by the government and the regulator.” This may entail restricting amount of equity holding and loans by a corporate entity in a media.

SEBI can now compensate cheated investors
 
The Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014, which was approved unanimously by the Lok Sabha last month, allows the SEBI to issue disgorgement orders. The SEBI, in its little over two decades of existence, has issued disgorgement orders only on two occasions - once, in 2006, during the IPO irregularities issue and for the second time in the Satyam Computer scandal.

The money collected from disgorgement will be parked in SEBI’s Investor Protection and Education Fund. The new law allows the regulator to repay money to defrauded investors of Ponzi schemes and other market frauds.

Chacha Chaudhary creator passes away

Eminent cartoonist Pran Kumar Sharma, popularly known as Pran, who gave life to lovable comic Sabu, is no more.
 
Pran, 75, succumbed to cancer last month at a hospital in Gurgaon, according to his publisher Diamond Comics. Born in Kasur near Lahore in Pakistan in 1938, Pran began his career in 1960 as a cartoonist for the Delhibased newspaper Milap with a comic strip called Daabu.

Bengal to exit joint real estate ventures

The West Bengal government is planning to exit joint sector real estate ventures.

The JVs were entered into to create the cross-subsidy component, which has now come under a cloud, according to the State government. The government has engaged a professional firm to review operations of these joint venture companies. The State government has an equity stake in nine joint venture companies that are managed by private partners.

The State government had mandated that at least 50 per cent in each project taken up by the JVs be reserved for people from low- and middle-income groups.

Gujarat leads in tourism investment

Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka, are the leading States attracting significant investments in hotels and tourism industry, together accounting for about 61 per cent of the total investment share. According to ndustry body ASSOCHAM, Gujarat has emerged on top with a lion’s share of about 29 per cent amid 20 major States, attracting outstanding investments worth over Rs 34,800 crore.

Maharashtra ranked second with about 18 per cent share, followed by Karnataka at 14 per cent, and Odisha and Andhra Pradesh at 6 per cent each of the total investment.

Sugar import duty increased to 25%

The Centre has raised the Customs Duty on raw and white sugar imports by 10 percentage points to 25 per cent. However, it has desisted from raising the duty to 40 per cent as demanded by the domestic sugar industry to protect consumers from a likely rise in sugar prices. The hike in Customs Duty has been effected to help sugar mills struggling from lower realisation and a glut.

The government has added a rider that the duty hike would be made only if sugar companies cleared the Rs 8,703-crore arrears due to cane growers.

SBI, associates to roll out cash recyclers

State Bank of India (SBI) and its five associate banks are planning to collectively install 4,300 cash recyclers, which will accept and dispense currency notes through replenishment and recycling of notes. The banks will roll out recyclers across the country by March-end 2015 as replacement for old ATMs or cashdispensers.

Banks will gain from cash recyclers as it will reduce the number of times recyclers have to be replenished with cash as customers will also be putting cash into them for instant credit to their accounts. Besides, recycles will also minimise the risk of customers carrying their daily earnings home.

AFISCO to resume Afghan plant talks

Steel Authority of India-led Afghan Iron and Steel Consortium (AFISCO) will soon re-commence negotiations with the Afghanistan government to set up a plant with a capacity of 1.5 mtpa.

The final agreement for the project, which entails an investment of over Rs 6,000 crore, can take place after the new mining law, which has been approved by the Parliament of Afghanistan, will become operational after the President’s approval.

In November 2011, AFISCO had won three blocks with reserves of an estimated 1.28 billion tonnes of high-grade iron ore in the Hajigak mine in Afghanistan.

Petronet to lease out Kochi terminal

Petronet LNG has obtained its board’s approval for leasing out its 5- mtpa Kochi terminal as a storage facility for international LNG players. Petronet terminal’s capacity utilisation is merely 1.4 per cent due to lack of pipeline connectivity.

Only 0.66 trillion British thermal units of natural gas was regassified and sold from the terminal during the first quarter of 2014-15. More than a dozen foreign companies have shown interest to use Petronet’s LNG facility. With international gas spot prices not attractive currently, the Kochi terminal provides an ideal opportunity for storing gas.

JNPT SEZ eyes Rs 4,000-crore investment

The 277-hectare special economic zone (SEZ) within the premises of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is set to be the main driver of the country’s busiest port’s next phase of development. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the SEZ last month. The special zone, which JNPT expects to complete in three years on EPC basis, is expected to attract investments of over Rs 4,000 crore. Apart from warehouses, the SEZ will have electronics, textile, apparels, engineering, energy and healthcare units. By the time the SEZ comes up, the port will also have its fourth terminal ready to handle the increase in volume.

Allahabad Bank to grow retail loan segment

Allahabad Bank is looking to strengthen its retail loan portfolio. The Kolkatabased, State-owned lender has taken a conscious decision to slow down corporate lending because of inherent risks of bad loans.

Besides, corporate loan growth has remained flat while there is a rise in demand for retail loans. Housing and gold loans are the focus areas of Allahabad Bank. At present, around 65 per cent of the bank’s loan portfolio is from the corporate segment, which it is targeting to cut down to 60 per cent by the end of FY15.

BHEL develops new flexible boiler

Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has developed a new kind of a boiler, one of the key equipment in power generation. Known as Fuel Flexible Supercritical Boiler, this new equipment can help in producing electricity with 100 per cent domestic coal or 100 per cent imported coal.

Currently, the companies are required to mix both categories of coal in a fixed ratio and also have to consider few characteristics before blending. With the help of this new boiler, there will not be any such requirements.

Cash-strapped DVC warns of power outages

Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), east India’s largest power generation utility, has warned that non-payment of electricity dues by Jharkhand may halt its operations in the next couple of days. At present, DVC is not in a position to provide funds for payment to coal companies due to non-receipt of more than Rs 8,000 crore till July.

Jharkhand has not even been paying the monthly electricity bill of Rs 160 crore, DVC has added in a release. Bihar (of which Jharkhand was formerly a part) along with West Bengal and the Centre had promoted DVC in 1948.

JSW to buy Welspun Steel for Rs 1,000 cr

JSW Steel is acquiring Welspun Max Steel’s asset for Rs 1,000 crore. Welspun has an installed capacity of 0.9- mtpa, gas-based, sponge iron) plant, with a captive jetty and a captive railway siding.

It has a pellet plant in Salav, Maharashtra. The captive jetty has a capacity of 2.5 mtpa, which is located to its sponge iron plant. The acquisition will add value to JSW Steel due to synergies in supplying surplus pellets to Welspun Max Steel and enable it to use sponge iron from Welspun in the company’s steel-making operations at its 5-mtpa Dolvi plant.

Honda to step up exports from India

Honda Motor expects to step up exports during the year, especially to South Africa. Honda Cars India, the Indian arm of the Japanese auto-maker, has two manufacturing units in the country - one near Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh and the other in Tapukara, Rajasthan. These plants have a combined installed capacity of 2,40,000 units.

The company plans to export at least 9,000 units in the current financial year, up from 6,000 vehicles last year. Honda has managed to increase the localisation level in India to 87 per cent for diesel vehicles and 93 per cent for petrol cars.

UltraTech plans Rs 3,800-cr expansion

UltraTech Cement will be spending about Rs 3,800 crore this year in increasing capacity and in a waste heat recovery plant. The company plans to boost capacity by 8 mt to 70 mt by early next year. In the current financial year, the Aditya Birla Group company will add 2.9 mt with supporting grinding units and waste heat recovery project at its subsidiary, Aditya Cement Works, in Rajasthan as a part of the expansion plan. Besides, the company will also invest to modernise its Gujarat facility.

Apollo Hospitals bets big on telemedicine

Apollo Hospitals is looking at expansion with a hub-andspoke model and harnessing the telemedicine technology.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Apollo Hospitals has introduced eICU, a remote ICU monitoring system, in Chennai and Hyderabad hospitals. The company is planning to introduce eICU in Kolkata, which will allow it to expand in smaller towns and cities of eastern region. Apollo Group manages 8,600 beds across 50 hospitals and has 150 telemedicine centres. The company is planning to upgrade its telemedicine centres from tele-consultation to offering intensive care.

Jet consolidates Konnect

Into Jet brand Jet Airways is bringing its low-cost airline Jet Konnect under the Jet brand. The company has justified the move to remove any confusion about the Jet brand, which it says stands for premium service. It has added that the change will come into effect by the end of the year after obtaining regulatory approval.

Accordingly, all Jet Airways aircraft will sport only the Jet brand and will have 12 seats in business class and 156 in the economy section. The master brand will also reflect in the livery and staff uniforms across the Jet Airways group.

Apollo Tyres to set up Rs 4,100-cr plant in Europe

Apollo Tyres is planning to set up a plant in eastern Europe to manufacture passenger car tyres and heavy commercial vehicle tyres. The exact location of the factory is yet to be decided. The facility, expected to be completed by 2018 at an investment of around Rs 4,100 crore, will roll out an estimated 55 lakh car tyres and 6.75 lakh truck tyres. Apollo already has an R&D centre for passenger car and SUV tyres in Europe. While 60 per cent of Apollo’s tyres are consumed within the country, the rest are marketed abroad, mainly in Europe.

Saraswat Bank chief Eknath Thakur dead

Eknath Keshav Thakur, 73, the chairman of Saraswat Cooperative Bank and former Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member, passed away last month. Under Mr Thakur’s leadership, the business of Saraswat Bank, India’s largest cooperative bank, rose from a little over Rs 21,000 crore in 2001 to cross Rs 36,000 crore by the end of March 2014.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

Over the past several years, was extremely lucky to work in a highly diverse and multi-cultural environment, working with some of the best inventive minds from countries like America, Germany, Singapore, China, Australia, India, and others. As I fondly recollect my experience, in hindsight, it was a well scripted Bollywood movie in the making with all ingredients of love n hate, failures n victory, smiles n frowns, and loner to a leader, finally all is well in the end, a happy ending for a new beginning. I personally cherished this journey as each culture had something very significant about them as far as innovation and creativity was concerned. Each culture has so much, thanks to all them, who I personally consider to be the great gurus of innovation.

Sharing few thoughts on innovation drama, as I witnessed it I will give this story a little-creative flair. To start, I shall presume that innovation is very similar to making a film.We all know that to make a film we need various stakeholders to participate and story of innovation is no different either. In a nutshell, it’s very similar. To make a movie we must first need a producer and where else to look but to the west. I guess Americans have all that takes to make a movie or innovation happen. They have their creativity flowing all day long, big risk takers and more importantly, they are masters when it comes to marketing and selling. Innovation needs these attributes at its very best in nature to make it happen. I guess, the very culture is a strong reflection of how they grew up, which is lot of free will experimentation be it in their own life, to the kind of lifestyle they wish to have. They simply are greatest champions of innovation and mind it to make a big profits, we need producers who can chew risk with ease and handle creativity with comfort. To cut the story short, the movie is just as good as it sells & so is innovation. Sell hard.

Takeaways: Selling, Creativity, Risk Taking & Enjoy the small talk- some of best ideas emerge from here :)

Movie shall never happen with just producers on the board, we need good directors. For the best directors, seek out the Germans.

Arguably, they are the best when it comes to directing and leading innovation. I simply cannot think of having anybody else apart from a German as my movie director, alias, and innovation-director. They simply love work, don't they? No big need to sell and strategize innovation. They simply do it and they do it systematically and more so execute it relentlessly. Directing a movie is a pain-taking execution process which requires great eye for details and a never ending faith in work. A tireless pursuit to execute, the endless iteration and not to quickly conclude without validation is a hallmark trait of what I see as, German Way of Innovation. In pursuit of this, they build & deliver world class products or services. Pursuing the big q's & making the big efforts is what every director relishes and I guess any producer would die to have such directors on board.

Takeaways: Work Discipline, Execution, Innovation a systematic habit & not a strategy.

A good producer and a great director do not stitch-up the story well. Every producer would know that he needs a good production manager who can handle all the chaos and structure with fair ease and charm. To hire the best production manager, my two eyes shut recommendation would be a Singaporean. A production manager should be great at handling diverse sets of people and they need to be masters at embracing cultural diversity. A little mishaps could turn film making into mayhem and I see no big difference when it comes to managing innovation. You need a production manager who can bind the unit as one and so is a role of an innovation manager who needs to bind the entire team to resolve the pieces of innovation puzzles. Some of best minds here can simply connect, coordinate and orchestrate innovation. Management is their greatest asset backed-up firmly by their high demanding standards of work discipline. Production manager is the fulcrum which dictates the balance of film making and I acknowledge, we better get it straight right from the start.

Takeaways: Facilitate & Manage

A movie is as good as the work of a cinematographer & the success of innovation is only as good as its architect. To hire the best cinematographer, you need a team member who never tires up to master perfection. Look no further than east- Hire Chinese, They simply never tire up or give up. I feel this is the ultimate trait for innovation success, you simply cannot teach this, needs to be ingrained within. As a cinematographer, endless try-outs on perspectives is what adds to the scene the needed beauty that it entails. It is very essential that director and cinematographer work well and for that to happen we always need a cinematographer who respects and trust authority. Once the trust is established here between the director and cinematographer, the communication starts to flows freely, you can be rest assured to experience the power of creative exuberance and execution in its full might.

To construct and build products we need to garner trust and be imposed on every team member. Every cinematographer would say that getting the right colors, textures, lighting, props & performances come by practice, simply said, practice makes perfect and so is the work of an innovation architect, ruthless experimentation defines & constructs innovation. A great director with brilliant cinematographer is a sure shot recipe to box office collection. Get them on board today!

Takeaway: Practice hard, Experiment , Trust, Never Give Up

Every story needs a hero and stories like that of an innovation, needs big heroes. Thinking of it, the mighty Aussies are the ones, I reckon. A hero is someone who people idolize and look up to for inspiration. Hero plays the role of anchoring the story forward. A hero needs to set an example and lead the people from the front and champion the cause. As we know, the story of battler or underdogs is always cherished in this culture, so is the story of innovation. You need someone who comes from the background who has mettle and the strength to fight the odds of innovation. Not all paths to innovation is paved with gold, it is simply a hard fought battle. To win you need a gladiator or a hero. Hero symbolizes courage and hope. I would certainly want my heroes to be Aussies, as you can be certain that it will be well a fought battle no stones left turned on the path to glory. I would love to work under someone who can lead us to glory and take all the hardship upon himself to safeguard the team. Innovation needs heroes. The Big Hero!

Takeaway: Fight Hard, Leadership, Work as unit

Finally to stitch all the pieces together, I would leave it to my native Indians. A movie success largely depends on the post production team, on how well they bridge the pieces of puzzles together. In context of innovation, system thinking, problem solving and knowledge workers are needed to streamline any innovation efforts. I proudly call them the innovation engine. Mind that this is a culture which has a starting problem and fear of failures ;-)

but one can be rest assured that Indians excel on well laid roads or in hindsight, in the hands of a good leaders or companies. I guess as Indians, we are deeply blessed to absorb various point of views and rationalize them for a particular result. Post production team in a movie exactly does that and they are indeed the boilers room for the film making. Mind it with an Indian on board the engine room will be noisy, messy & in chaos but will work at its best ;-). We blame it on our genes :)

Takeaway: Critical thinking, Problem Solving, Chaos

It indeed fascinating to learn from different cultural traits and its impact on innovation and I know there is more sides to it than what is expressed. I thoroughly cherished my little experience with all & I am all set to learn more. I take it all I learnt with due regards and my gratitude

Well, you can now wonder how would they all work together to make a movie? I would like to leave this portion open ended and if need be, pen it up next time. I would like to sign-off with some food for thought here for you all

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE

A massive rebranding exercise is on at Country Club India. As a part of its image make-over, the Hyderabad-based company that runs a chain of clubs is changing its name to Country Club Hospitality and Holidays. “The rebranding exercise reflects the evolution of our company from a plain vanilla club to a one-stop leisure shop”, stresses Siddharth Red-dy, the vice-chairman, joint managing director and chief executive officer.

Country Club, which is celebrating its silver jubilee this year, has outgrown from being a mere club. Today, it is a full-fledged entertainment and leisure company that offers diverse holiday solutions across the world’s tourist des-tinations. Besides, it offers trendy fit-ness centres and arranges star-studded entertainment events to mark important occasions, like Diwali, Christmas and Newyear.

A pioneer of the concept of family clubbing in the country, the company boasts of a large membership base of over 3,00,000 families across the country. It also counts top domestic and global corporations, such as Microsoft, Hindustan Unilever, CMC and Dr.Red-dy’s Laboratories, among its more than 600 corporate clients.

Country Club is an established player in India’s leisure and recreation arena today. Beginning the journey from a single property in Hyderabad, the company is today the proud owner of 55 properties across the country after acquiring properties in places, like Du-bai, where it owns a fabulous 100-room hotel, and exotic locations, like Goa, Kerala and Kodaikanal.

Rajeev Reddy, the dynamic, 56 year-old chairman and managing director of the Country Club, has trans-formed his company into a vibrant solution provider for leisure and enter-tainment. “Country Club is fundamen-tally one of the strongest hospitality companies in India. It owns properties with land over 60 lakh sq ft in prime locations. This surplus noncore land can easily be monetized to reduce the company’s small debt of Rs. 400 crore on an asset base of over Rs. 2,000 crore. The company has already taken the initiative for that, points out Siddharth Reddy, the 31 year-old Country Club CEO.

Siddharth Reddy’s exposure in the USA enabled the compa-ny to adopt new growth strategies. He introduced the fran-chisee model at Country Club, which facilitated the company to grow faster without hurting its finances. He also pushed the leisure company to expand into tire-2 cities and towns, which helped it to make deeper inroads in the country. In 2005, the company made its overseas debut by snapping up a 50-room property in Srilanka.

Country Club is now focusing on growing its global busi-ness. “Our overseas business, which was around 1 percent of our total revenue in 2005, has gone up to 30 percent,” dis-closes the young and dynamic CEO. Apart from acquiring a 100-room hotel in Dubai in 2008, the company is looking at expanding its operations in Saudi Arabia, the US and South-East Asia. With rapid overseas expansion, the company has entered the The Limca Book of Records as the “largest chain of family clubs in the world”.

Interestingly, the recreation company’s current expansion plans are unfolding at an opportune time when it finds itself in the pink of health. A net worth of over Rs 1,000 crore and debt-equity ratio of about 0.3 provide elbow room to pursue its ambitions global expansion plans. “The main focus right now is to consolidate our operations, increase our margins and reduce our debt,” adds Siddharth Reddy.

India has the youngest population among all large economies of the world. With middle- and upper-class incomes rising, the disposable income is also going to increase considerably and a large percentage of this income is going towards lei-sure space. Analysts expect this trend to continue, given the young demographic population of the country. No wonder, Country Club India finds itself on the cusp of robust growth. The company sees a bright future for the industry going ahead and is targeting to achieve a minimum of 25 to 30 percent growth year on year.

The Reddys are now designing another blueprint to tap this new set of potential Indians. Meanwhile, the ongoing rebranding exercise is set to place the leisure company into the next level of growth. The book value of the company is Rs. 44.29 share.

The share price was Rs.21 on November 12, which is less than half the book value. According to market analyst, Coun-try Club India is a good long-term bet.

BUDDING MANAGERS

DECEMBER 2014 ISSUE