COVER FEATURE
"Our vision is to fly
the OSL flag high in every Indian port and have the world
in our sights."
-- P Jairaj Kumar
CMD, Ocean Sparkle Limited
After graduating in Marine Engineering from the D.M.E.T., Kolkata in 1980 as a runner-up to the President's Gold
Medal, Jairaj Kumar, Chairman and Managing Director of Ocean Sparkle Limited (OSL) sailed for a 9-year period and obtained
a Chief Engineer's certificate. His shore-based experience include tenures in Novopan, a Laminated Particle Board
Industry, and Fishing Falcons Ltd., a pioneering venture into deep sea tuna fishing. With this hands-on experience, he decided to
venture out on his own and in 1995, he promoted OSL, along with three of his colleagues to capitalize on the emerging market
of providing Marine Port O&M Services and Coastal Shipping. As the CMD of OSL, he has pushed for a rapid growth of
the Company, which now stands tall as the largest harbor towage operator in India. He is a Trustee of the Hrudaya
Foundation, which gives hope to children, who are afflicted with congenital heart defects.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
LEADERSHIP
Leadership : Commandment or Commitment?
-- Janet Boulter
The `business as usual' syndrome no longer exists. Technology and globalization have accelerated the pace
of change to an all-time high. What was state-of-the-art yesterday could well be replaced by something better
and quicker the next year. In order for companies to keep pace and stay competitive in this rapidly changing
business environment, it is imperative that business leaders change their style from the traditional hierarchical
model (where everything flowed vertically down from the top) to a matrix model (where decisions and strategies
are simultaneously implemented at every level throughout the organization).
© 2010 Janet Boulter. All Rights Reserved.
LEADERSHIP
Journey for Organizational Excellence : Leadership for Benchmarking
-- Indranil Banerjee
In the competitive business world, the only survival mantra is to do the work better. An organization in
the process of redefining itself through continual refinement can ensure its supremacy. But such journey
to excellence is easy to talk about and hard practicing, unless the organization has an inspirational leadership
as the driving force for its people. Benchmarking of processes, on the other hand, guides the people to strive
for the level next. A strong performance management system uses the process of benchmarking and
helps leadership to become more rational and strategically focused.
© 2010 Indranil Banerjee. All Rights Reserved.
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
Leaders for the Next Generation : The Importance of Values and
Ethics in the Organization's Culture
-- Jillian Gilbert and Sergio Matviuk
Present organization and business situation requires that leaders be, not only in tune with others, but
with themselves as well. The capacity to be self-reflective is essential, as many followers may be cynical and
apathetic about the current state of leadership. A leader can change the organizational culture toward
greater effectiveness by considering followers as valuable relationships and ethics as a method of relationship
building. This article explores the deeper dimensions of values and ethics, the dynamics and power of
organizational culture, and the role of leadership values and behaviors, as it relates to relationships within the
organization thus affecting the organizational culture.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
MANAGEMENT
Corporate Governance Practices in India Needs Refinement
-- Garima Sengar and Dr. R C Gupta
The aim of `good corporate governance' is to ensure the commitment of the board in managing the company
in a transparent manner for maximizing long-term value of the company for its shareholders and all other
partners. Corporate governance also displays the administration of the corporate business with full regard to the laws,
rules and regulations of business and adherence to the concept of social responsibility with good business
results. This article examines the Indian corporate governance scenario in the light of recent corporate frauds and
offers possible solutions which can be considered to reform the governance framework in the country. It seeks to put
in perspective the progress made in India regarding the adoption of best practices for the constitution
and functioning of good corporate governance.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
MANAGEMENT
Predicting Business Cycles Using Gold/Oil Ratio
-- Sharon K Jose
Most of us are interested in predicting the future so that we can be better prepared for the future. Can
we imagine how much of time and money goes into conducting research in business forecasting? This
article attempts to give an insight into the connection between gold/oil ratio and recession.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
MANAGEMENT
Advertainment : A Promotion Tool
-- Dhananjay Singh
Advertainment describes in-film product placement and merging of advertising and entertainment. The
term `Advertainment' was coined by J Deery. The term in this article's context stands for in-film product
placements and merging of advertising and film-based entertainment. The article focuses on the unique appeal
of advertainment as a marketing and advertising tool for brand managers. It projects advertainment as a
cheaper, alternative media for greater visibility and return for promotions. The article also traces the history,
effectiveness, advantages, future prospects and relationships involved in advertainment.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
CASE STUDY
Bharati Enterprises' New Conglomerate Brand Identity: The Strategic Positioning Challenges
-- Deepti Srikanth and Priti Krishnan
Sunil Bharti Mittal laid the foundations of Bharti Telecom (Bharti) in 1985 that was to emerge as
India's `telecom conglomerate giant'. The company made a humble beginning with the manufacture of
push button handsets. Notwithstanding its small size, Bharti plunged into the bidding war for cellular
licenses, successfully capturing the license for providing cellular network service in New Delhi. This early victory
was followed by a string of downturns. The company lost most of the subsequent cellular bids and found
itself in troubled waters. Nevertheless, competitors' inability to exploit their winning cellular bids proved to
be a boon for Bharti. The eagerness of these companies to sell their cellular licenses to Bharti brought
the company back into the limelight. However, the company was not content with being only a
`telecom conglomerate'. In 2008, to gratify its growing aspirations, Bharti declared its intentions of
becoming India's `finest conglomerate by 2020'.
© 2008 IBSCDC. All Rights Reserved.
SHORT BOOK REVIEW
Conglomerates
Editor : K Suresh
XBRL: Emerging Language in Business Reporting
Editor : Dhandapani Alagiri
IUP on Knowledge Management: HR Dimensions
Editor : Sumati Reddy
Economic Stability: The Role of Inflation Targeting
Editor : Asis Kumar Pain
BOOK REVIEW
How The Mighty Fall : And Why Some Companies Never
Give In
Author: Jim Collins
Reviewed by Satya Lakshmi K
Companies pass through the cycle of infancy, growth, stability, maturity and decline in their existence. Very
often, we hear of companies that quickly pass through this cycle and sink
without a trace. Some companies go through this
grind successfully over a period but ultimately
collapse. Successful companies remain stable and solvent for a long period
of time. The reasons why they do so and why other companies are not able to do
so, are many. This book sets out valid reasons for the failure of some spectacular companies like Bank of America, Scott Paper, A&P, and also provides
an insight into the DNA of companies like Nucor, IBM, and TI to understand the values preserved, culture adopted
and strategies enforced by them. The book closely examines the failure or turnaround exhibited by the companies by
using five easily distinguishable stages. It also describes the mistakes made at each step that further
plunges the company into deeper abyss. The corrective action taken at some steps can help to stabilize
the company, albeit in a small measure and pave the way to
its subsequent turnaround.
© 2009 Jim Collins. All Rights Reserved. IUP holds the copyright for the review.
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