LEADERSHIP

Building Corporate Resilience : The Role of Leadership

-- Sergio Matviuk

Charles is an executive who works for a well-respected company, which, for the purpose of this article we will call Morningstar. By the time he visited me, Morningstar had experienced almost two years of decline. Although the company had products the market seemed to accept, had an experienced management and 30 years in the market, it had been unable to recover after progressively losing share of the market to its competitors for the last two years. Literally, Morningstar was dying and the main symptom was its inability to change, to effectively respond to the situation. This article represents the situation that many companies experience when they face fierce market competition.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Scenario Planning : Exploring Different Futures

-- A Venkata Subramanian

Strategic planning aims at preparing organizations to look at the future and develop strategic positions to optimally exploit future opportunities. This process suffers serious limitations in the current hyper-competitive environment where the future is uncertain and ambiguous. Scenario planning is a useful tool that enables managers to `rehearse the future', remove mental blocks and orthodoxies, be prepared to manage uncertainty and make strategic planning sharper and focused.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

MANAGEMENT

Managing Turbulence

-- Manishankar Chakraborty

The global economy is witnessing a free fall and Indian companies are also being hit by this phenomenon. Companies across sectors are resorting to cost-cutting by offering pink slips to the non-performers. The day of equilibrium is a thing of the past. Global economies are witnessing topsy-turvy changes within short spans owing to factors like global inflation due to skyrocketing oil prices, shortage of food stuffs, subprime crisis of the US and a host of other geo-political reasons. This article discusses how the organization and employees collectively can handle such challenges in the overall interest of all the stakeholders.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

MANAGEMENT

Challenges of Managing Cross-cultural Teams

-- Sumati Reddy

Multicultural teams are being used by several organizations to accomplish work. This is a new trend that the organizations are adopting nowadays. Since many organizations are spreading their wings across their national borders, managing the multicultural teams has become an essential requirement. This article introduces the reader to the challenges that multicultural teams face and suggests measures for high performance.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

Destination UAE

-- Koushik Rudra and Kushal Shah

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), one of the world's fastest growing economies and an attractive tourist destination, has everything from desert safaris to designer shopping, towering sky scrappers to flourishing banking, in true exotic luxury. It is one of the top FDI destinations in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and still there lies an immense potential for foreign investors to invest in the Emirates. This country study highlights how the economy is diversifying from overdependence on oil to other emerging areas and also focuses on several exciting business opportunities offered by UAE.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

ACCOUNTING

Forensic Accounting : Innovative Tool for Corporate Sector

-- Sumeet Gupta

The emergence of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG) has opened the door for the organizations to work globally. With the increase in the operation of the organizations, the chances of frauds and white collar crimes have also increased. It is necessary to detect the fraud at the pre-stage so that the resultant damage/loss can be minimized. Forensic Accounting can play a vital role by working as a focal point to detect the frauds, investigate them and recommend measures to protect the organization from such instances. Forensic Accounting can work as an important constituent of management control and information system. This article attempts to find the various areas of Forensic Accounting and explains how Forensic Accounting can be applied in the corporate sector as an innovative tool to get success and avoid frauds and crimes.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

PMS

Performance Management System : The Bottom Line Booster

-- Indranil Banerjee

Performance Management System (PMS) has emerged as a key process to ensure optimum utilization of human resources throughout the world. Ever since liberalization, Indian organizations have been increasingly exposed to both domestic and international competition and are, thus, adopting the same practices irrespective of being private players or government establishments. This article analyzes the various factors required to be handled by an organization for successful implementation of PMS. Further, it exposes measurement issues and tries to foresee the inherent limitations of the system against the backdrop of Indian work culture.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

COVER FEATURE

Xerox India Limited

- Andrew Horne

Andrew Horne is the Vice-President and Regional General Manager of Xerox South Asia, and the Managing Director of Xerox India Ltd., a part of Xerox Developing Markets Operations. He was appointed to this position in April 2004. Horne has operational responsibility for the business operations in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives. Additionally, he oversees Xerox's product manufacturing and software development activities in India. He joined Xerox in 1992 as the indirect channel development manager for Eastern Europe and Russia. Prior to 1992, Horne worked for AST Research and Toshiba Information Systems. He was born on November 21, 1958 in Cranbrook, Kent, England. Horne studied computing, accountancy and management in London and held an HM Commission with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards from 1978-84. He lives in New Delhi with his wife, Emma, and three children.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved

CASE STUDY

How Goldman Sachs Survived the US Mortgage Crisis

-- Ananthi R and Lekha Ravi

The massive financial cataclysm triggered by the US subprime mortgage lending during the year 2006 forced many leading mortgage lenders in the US to close their operations and file for bankruptcy. It also resulted in the investment banks, engaged in securitizing subprime loans into marketable securities, running the risk of insolvency. Hit by the market turbulence, leading global investment banks, including Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, UBS, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley, registered a total loss of $136 bn in 2007 on their subprime exposures. However, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., one of the world's largest investment banks, reported net earnings of $11.6 bn in 2007 despite the credit turmoil. This case study facilitates discussion on how meticulously Goldman has averted the crisis and reported profits amidst the massive mortgage meltdown.

© 2008 IBS Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.

BOOK REVIEW

New Mantras in Corporate Corridors : From Ancient Roots to Global Routes

-- Author: Subhash Sharma Reviewed by Maruthi R Suresh

The book is written on the assumption that for globalization to be complete it has to be based on the balanced interaction of four fundamental forces, namely, Market, State, Community and the Self. Based on this concept, the author proposes a new corporate model that brings together the profit orientation of enterprises, social responsibility and good governance. The book emphasizes that the grassroots ought to be integrated with global markets through appropriate institutional forms. The author has derived a set of typologies and matrices from the Indian scriptures and thoughts that guide the top management in decision- making. He also proposes that managers ought to develop higher order goals and further provides insight into management from a non-western orientation.

© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved