Monday, September 10, 2012

Wrong person, Wrong place?

The New CEO is a Software guy and has Prior Experience only in Enterprise Sales – A clear mismatch with the current philosophy of HP – The largest IT company in the World. Is he the right choice?

On a cold Sunday afternoon of February 2009, Leo Apotheker, who had moved into the CEO chamber at the $46 billion technology giant SAP’s Waldorf headquarters barely seven months back, shot across a sorrow-laden email to his employees. It read thus: “The pace of change was probably too rapid. My communication toward you was not always optimal. I regret that I wasn’t able to earn the support of each and every one of you...” So what forced him to wear the cloak of humility? The Board of Directors at SAP had refused to renew his contract following his underperformance. The financials had turned turbid, as SAP recorded the first fall in top & bottomlines in 7 years, which plummeted by 8% to $14.6 billion and 7% to $2.48 billion respectively in FY2009. Other matters disappointed the shareholders further, which included the withdrawl of SAP from the Sun acquisition talk (which Oracle finally bought, killing chances of SAP becoming invulnerable), the failure to get on board 10,000 customers for his expensive service software project Business By Design by 2010 (which never saw the light of the day during his tenure), his inability to get SAP’s products in-line with the changing trends in enterprise software, et al. His fate was sealed.

But just as surprised as the world was when he was offloaded by SAP’s Board even as his 75 minute-long debut CEO keynote at Orlando was being forgotten, the $98 billion tech-giant Hewlett-Packard proved yet again (after Hurd’s unceremonious exit on August 6, 2010) why it is good at making news. Apotheker had just been announced the scandal-marred HP’s new blue-eyed boy. As for the shareholders, their grief was visible as the HP stock fell by 4.32% on the first trading day following this announcement on September 30, 2010 – wiping away $4.2 billion of value. Rick Sturm, CEO, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), while speaking to B&E from Colorado, says, “Investors have indicated that they doubt Apotheker’s ability to lead HP. This choice by the HP board is likely to end up being seen as an unbelievable act of stupidity.”

Of what can be observed from Apotheker’s past, seems unsettling. In recent times, HP has been plagued by unethical issues leading to high-profile exits. With Apotheker, it appears that this corporate legacy will live on. The German is currently involved in a courtroom dust-fight, where Ellison-led Oracle is claiming more than $2 billion in damages from SAP. Oracle claims that Apotheker was at the centre of an illicit activity four years back, which saw workers at SAP’s TomorrowNow subsidiary steal copies of Oracle’s maintenance services software. HP’s honour will therefore again receive some clubbing on November 1, 2010 – officially Apotheker’s first day as HP’s CEO – when he presents himself before court to defend SAP’s case, as Massachusetts-based Charles King, President, Mindspring Research tells B&E, “Apotheker could leave HP with eggs on its face. Oracle never bothered listing Apotheker as a witness for its trial with SAP.” What a way to kickstart your tenure as HP’s CEO!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

Once a star, always a star

Back in the 70s, Neetu Kapoor nee Singh made ‘coy’ passé; the new leading lady was spunky, even brattish, yet eminently loveable. After a gap of nearly 25 years, she faced the camera for Do Dooni Char, wowing one and all with her middle-class budget-conscious housewife act. We can’t wait for more; how’s that for some khullam khulla declaration of love?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

The old Indian rope trick... Mastered!

Better late than later, IDBI Bank has finally understood the power of numbers – or rather, of Indian masses. With their renewed focus towards retail banking, the bank seems to be re-mastering age-old strategies… and quite efficiently. B&E does a snapshot insider of what’s up! by Mona Mehta

Firstly, one has to accept IDBI was never one of the early birds. What till the late 90s was simply the metaphor for a huge building in an area called Scope Complex in New Delhi, has today metamorphosed and managed to carve a niche for itself in the Indian banking arena by surviving the cut-throat competition. Today, when all public sector banks have risen to the challenge – put forward by the private and the foreign banks – to meet the global benchmarks in terms of service quality and product innovation, IDBI Bank has emerged on its own way as a trendsetter despite not being one of the big daddies of the industry. A quick strategic review was of the order; and yes, we did it pronto!

Galloping Ahead
If one were to simply go by numbers, IDBI Bank seems certainly set for a real show. Beating even the best of the forecasts, the bank registered a mind-boggling 97.9% growth in its operating profit in the last fiscal. Net interest income of the bank too grew to `22.67 billion in 2009-10 as compared to `12.39 billion in the previous year, translating into a growth of 82.9%. IDBI Bank’s operations during the first quarter ended June, 2010 resulted in a net interest income of `8.51 billion, registering an extraordinary 172% growth over the `3.15 billion posted by the company in the same quarter of the previous financial year. Interestingly, this happened during a period when most of the Indian banking giants were still recovering from the slowdown blues.

Going deeper, while IDBI Bank’s net profit grew 46% (on year-on-year basis), fee based income increased by 53%, deposits grew 36%, advances grew 38%, aggregate assets rose 29% and the total business of the bank registered a growth of 37%. Analysts from firms like Jainam Research tell B&E how given specific fundamental performance factors, the bank’s bottomline is set for some serious growth in the coming quarters.

The Trick… The Old Indian Rope Trick
So how’d they do it? Well, it’s just by a little change in focus; or rather, going back to the focus that should have been originally there. We term it IDBI Bank’s ‘middle of the pyramid’ theory. IDBI Bank, which used to be highly focussed on the corporate sector generating 70% of its total business from the same, finally did one of their most transformational strategic focus changes to decide to give its retail business an equal importance – not only in terms of products, but marketing and investments too. The aggression comes quite clear, when B&E talked to R. M. Malla, c, IDBI Bank, “We have charted out new plans to enhance the bank’s branch network, which will help the bank expand its retail business. For the purpose, IDBI Bank plans to set up between 1,500 to 3,000 branches, 4,000 to 5,000 ATMs and 100,000 point of sale (PoS) machines with shopkeepers, in the next three years.” That translates into mammoth investments. Tactically, at ground level too, the bank has already started attempting a more consumer friendly face – and it’s not just about its advertisement. For example, to attract more retail business and achieve their goal of lowering cost of deposits, IDBI Bank has gone a step ahead of its competitors by waiving charges on many of its current account and savings account (CASA) services including account closure, ATM Interchange, demand draft cancellation et al (although industry players like Pankaj Pandey, Head – Research, ICICI Direct, while talking to B&E, warn that such a waiver of charges by IDBI Bank on the CASA account will drag down the fee based growth of the bank).


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Monday, September 03, 2012

"I AM A VERY STRONG SELF-CRITIC"

Some say he can handle numbers pretty well; others argue he’s more of a creative guy. Some say he’s a cut-throat businessman, others reiterate his only passion is work. To the media world, he’s a true recluse, refusing any and every media exposure. He rarely talks, leave alone provide insightful descriptions on his follies, mistakes and achievements. Ronnie Screwvala, UTV founder, in exclusive conversation with B&E’s Shephali Bhatt



B&E: What geared you to be in the business of media and entertainment?
Ronnie Screwvala (RS): I think it is one of the few industries where you are looking at the creative aspect and the business aspect. In Media and Entertainment, if you can find the rare combination of creativity and commerce, it is a strong formula for success, whereas in other businesses that are non-creative, you can have a strong commercial background; you do not have to be marketing clever. Here if you have that and if the combination works it is much more fun.

B&E: From the first cable TV venture in Mumbai, you have grown to sign deals with global biggies like Walt Disney, Fox Searchlight, Sony & Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment. Where do you see all this leading to?
RS: The Indian market has positioned itself as one of the most interesting markets in the media and entertainment field in the world… I think everyone thought so five years back, but now it is more so because of the rest of the world, if you look at it in terms of comparison. It’s not just that everyone would like to view India as the destination but more so that the rest of the world is actually slowing down. If you look at the west, its growth in media and entertainment has come down to zero or is absolutely flat. If you look at Japan it is an insulated market; if you look at China, it is a closed market; if you look at South –East Asia, there is no real scale level play. So it is not that India has to be one of the quarter calls, it seems to be the most critical quarter call, maybe with the sole exception of South American countries. So, for media companies in India today, it is important to look at the home market and the diasporas’ market overseas.

B&E: How strong is your industry in the diaspora market?
RS: I think we in media and entertainment industry have substantially ignored the 30-35 million diaspora market of South Asians and that is something that also needs to be looked at. We should look at the 1 billion people here and 35 million outside. The latter is a unique market because it is the second largest migrant population of the world after the Chinese; so that is large and comes with a higher propensity to spend and consume. So even if it is 1 billion versus the 35 million, it could be ten times of 35, it could represent an equivalent of 300 million just by their spending power.

B&E: Then how do you explain all those international tie-ups that you have been entering into?
RS: I believe that our tie ups with international companies are more because that is where we believe that we can work together to see how we can meet this diaspora, rather than going out and frittering our energies to build an international story. I think India in itself is a strong international story and that is where our focus lies right now. So if we have done deals with FOX and Overbrook Entertainment in the recent past, they were just deals done by our movies division. So it wasn’t really part of an overall organization thrust.


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

SETTING ‘THE’ BENCHMARK!

O. P. Bhatt took over the reins of sbi when private players were catching up. He decided to go slow and his strategy seemed to have paid off. With SBI’s profits two times that of its closest rival ICICI Bank, sbi is far ahead of its competitors by any means

B&E: SBI’s NIM (net interest margin) has improved significantly from 2.30% in June 2009 to 3.18% in June 2010. Where do you see it going forward?
O. P. Bhatt (OPB): We certainly want to increase it further, but we would be happy if we maintain it at the current levels for now. Though there is a healthy possibility of an increase in NIM in the near future, our priority is to maintain it at the current levels, which is quiet good.

B&E: Credit growth in the banking sector seems to have picked up much faster than the usual pace. So, what kind of numbers are you looking at?
OPB: We are really optimistic about the credit growth and as such are looking forward to achieve a 20-22% growth rate in the near future.

B&E: Will the demand continue to come from infrastucture and allied sectors or will we some more sectors playing a significant role in driving the demand for credit?
OPB: If you look at the big loans, the maximum demand, as of now, is coming from the infrastructure space. In fact, it willl continue to come from here in the near future as well. However, sectors, which include retail, education, auto and real estate, will too drive the demand for loans. We have seen some good credit growth flowing in from these sectors in the recent past and as such are really optimistic about the contribution they can make to the credit growth.

B&E: Going forward what is the outlook for interest rates?
OPB: We are definitely reviewing the interest rates. We have an upward bias for the interest rate in the coming quarters. The interest rates for both, deposits and loans will go up. Deposit rates have already bottomed and the era of cheaper interest rates is over.

B&E: SBI has reported an increase in NPAs (non-performing assets). Which are the sectors that are putting pressure on the bank’s balance sheet?
OPB: NPAs have increased for sure but if you look at the figure it is more in terms of percentage than the value. On a sectoral basis, the agriculture sector is the biggest contributor to our NPAs, almost 50% of the total NPAs of the bank. The other sector that’s putting pressure is the SME sector.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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