Gravity Magazine_Final - Great Lakes

GREAT LAKES
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, CHENNAI Sudha Murty Deepak Chopra
Aswath Damodaran
Issue 2,
May 2006
RAVITY GThe Great Lakes Magazine
India Balanced Scorecard.
A Reality Check.

THE SPIRIT OF GRAVITY
The Spirit of
Gravity
Gravity is ubiquitous and has been in existence for ever.
However, it took a Newton's ingenuity 'to ask why' resulting in
the discovery of gravity. At hindsight, the discovery looks very
simple and 'common sensical', yet for so many centuries in the
past, no one had looked at it the way Newton did.
The managers from Great Lakes emulate this 'Newtonian'
attitude. Great Lakers are a bunch of individuals who have
learnt to look at things differently, to ask why and to innovate,
continuously!
A manifestation of this Great Lakes culture is 'Gravity'.
Our sincere thanks to
Dr. Bala V Balachandran
Prof. S Sriram
Dr. R Narasimhan
Dr. Venkat R Krishnan
Mr. V Sankaran
Ms. Malathi R
Ms. Pratima Lakshmanan
Ms. Rowena Scurville
Mr. Venkit
Acknowledgements
And fellow GreatLakers
Chandrashekar S
Deepak Paidipatti
Lakshmikant P B
Manu Anand Kumar
Mrudula Damisetti
Ramesh Chandramouli
Ramya Ramani
Siddharth Asokan
Sudhanshu Bhargav
Vasanth Sandilya

From the
Editor’s Desk…
Chief Editor
Sathish Anand Seshadri
Editors
Gopal V. Kavalireddi
Neha Sukhija
Nikunj Agarwal
Sai Sudha C
Dear Reader,
Last time we made two promises to you. First that Gravity will be a
biannual edition and second, beyond the business fraternity, Gravity's
stakeholders would include the society at large. Fulfilling our commitment,
here we are with the second edition of Gravity! It gives us great pleasure in
reaching out to you, yet again. After having discussed in depth about the
biggest challenge for corporations, through Corporate DNA Mutation, we
wanted to step back and take a look at the larger picture of our society.
Today, India has the world's attention by being the fastest growing
democracy. The consistent 7% GDP growth and the all time high stock
markets showcase the investor confidence, both within and overseas. The
mindshare that we received in the World Economic Forum and the
landmark nuclear deal during the recent visit of the United States President
George Bush come to reiterate our growing importance in the international
community.
While we feel euphoric about this Indian growth story, there are some
questions that need to be asked. Is this growth translating itself into
development? Development, both economically and socially. Is the
average citizen well-off than she was in the past? Are people genuinely
happier now than what they were? Or, is the economic boom leaving the
bulk of the nation behind?
“We have realized that growth must translate to prosperity for all”.
- Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India
This edition, India balanced scorecard, a reality check has been built on
these thoughts. The discussions encompassed do not attempt to suggest the
panacea of all social problems in India. But we sincerely hope that it would
ignite the spark of holistic societal development in the minds of several
leaders of today and tomorrow.
Like last time, we have also rounded up on the various happenings at Great
o
Lakes. L'Attitude 13 05, our maiden B-school fest was a resounding
success and it showcased the mindshare that Great Lakes has created in the
B-school community. The world famous spiritual guru Dr. Deepak Chopra
launched the fund raising activity for Great Lakes with his brilliant lecture.
We also had several globally renowned professors and phenomenal
corporate leaders talking to us on wide range of contemporary business
issues.
While the current batch of students prepares to embark on to their corporate
journey, we eagerly look forward to an inspiring interaction with Mr. Ratan
Tata immediately the day after our graduation. We would like to welcome
the next batch of students, the Crusaders, as we pass the baton to them to
continue the Great Lakes legacy and take Gravity and Great Lakes to
greater heights. As usual, we look forward to your candid comments and
feedback at gravity@glakes.org
Happy reading!
Sathish Anand Seshadri
EDITOR'S DESK

MESSAGE
Note from
Mr. Jamshyd Godrej
We are at a key juncture in the evolution of India, where history is being
written everyday, not only in the corporate boardrooms but also in a
social, political and cultural sense. Having set the ball rolling, the onus is
now to ensure that the momentum gathered thus far is sustained over
large periods of time. This rests on the shoulders of Young India. While
there is an unprecedented demand for talented managers to fuel the
growth of the Indian economy, management institutes like the Great
Lakes Institute of Management aim at bridging this gap. The “Global
Mindset, Indian Roots” approach that Great Lakes imbibes in its
students is worth emulating. The need of the hour is managers who think
globally. India has already been put on the world map but the presence
needs to keep growing stronger. Great Lakes was born as a result of
Dr. Bala’s vision to create knowledge and disseminate it in a most
effective and beneficial manner. The innovative one year model at a
modest price along with faculty from the best institutions across the
globe, will make Great Lakes one among the finest in management
education. The school also has a strong industry interface leading to
research and consulting.
While I was at the convocation of the pioneer batch at Great Lakes last
year, I had the pleasure of interacting with the students. It was a
memorable experience and very encouraging to see a group of students
who were clearly ready to move into the corporate world and take the
challenges head on.
I am pleased to be associated with this college. My best wishes to
Dr. Bala and I am certain that in the years to come, the students of Great
Lakes will be a driving force for not only the corporate India but also,
India as a whole.
Mr. Jamshyd Godrej
Chairman, Godrej & Boyce , India
Business Advisory Council, Great Lakes Institute of Management

Note from
Dr. Abid Hussain
I am delighted to write this note for ‘Gravity’- the Great Lakes Magazine
I have always believed that a change in the style of governance and
mindset of the people of India is essential to improve the quality of
education and research systems with a view to making the nation
competitive in the international arena. Padmasri Dr. Bala Balachandran
has aimed to do just that as the Honorary Dean of Great Lakes Institute of
Management.
With globalization taking centre-stage and India becoming a vital part of
the global village there is a growing need for business ready managers.
The one-year program at Great Lakes with a focus on customer
centricity has come a long way in bridging this gap. The stress on
imbibing leadership and entrepreneurial skills in students is worth
noting.
More and more multinational business houses have set up their bases in
India while Indian companies have made inroads into the developed
countries through acquisitions. The future belongs to those with wealth
of knowledge as the world is getting interconnected at a fast pace.
Knowledge management, research & development and quality human
resources will prove to separate the great companies from the average
ones. Great Lakes Institute of Management, with research tie-ups with
Yale University, has impressively equipped students with the right mix
of knowledge, skill and attitude. It has all the ingredients to make it one
of the best business schools in the country.
Dr. Abid Hussain
Former Indian Ambassador to the United States of America
Business Advisory Council, Great Lakes Institute of Management
MESSAGE

CONTENTS
Contents
Founder’s Message
Cover Story
Indian Growth Story:
Is the future ours or are we the future?
- Deepak Paidipati and Chandrashekar S.
The Growth Miracle
- Dr. V.S. Arunachalam
India: Straight from its heart
- Ms. Sudha Murty
Looking beyond the veil
- Mr. Subroto Bagchi
Scorecarding India
- Mr. Mohan Nair
A balanced scorecard on management
education in India
- Dr. Sudhakar Balachandran
Ideas from the country side
- Ritesh Krishnamurthy
Levers to happiness
- Prashant Nichani
Successful Women In Management
How can we be heard?
- Dr. Kiran Bedi
The mind of a strategist
- Dr. Suj Krishnaswamy
COO Speak
Mr. Francisco D'souza
- The New age Entrepreneur
The Chinese Connection
Across the Great Wall
- Mr. A. Natarajan
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
16
17
18
20
23

Events @Great Lakes
o
L'Attitude 13 05
- Management fest @ Great Lakes
Management and spirituality
- Dr. Deepak Chopra
Guest Lectures
Organizing human capital
- Dr. Hayagreeva Rao
Many a slip between the cup and the lip…
- Dr. Aswath Damodaran
Behavior of Organizations: the challenge and
Excitement of leading change in organizations
- Dr. Jitendra V. Singh
Supply chain management - Prof. Sunil Chopra
Marketing - Dr. Lakshman Krishnamurthi
Entrepreneurship - Prof. Lloyd Shefsky
Talking stocks - Mr. Vijay Kamani
Executive Education
Mr. S. Ramadorai during the launch of the
second batch of Executive MBA
The Year That Was
Memories of the past year, a pictorial retreat!
- Gopal Kavalireddi And Natasha Lobo
Perspectives
Master of business readiness a need of the hour?
- B Ramakrishnan
Eureka! More Fortune!
- Krishnan R.
Leadership Excellence
Finger prints of great business leaders
- Dr. Bala V. Balachandran and Kavi Priya A.
From The Four Walls Of Great Lakes
Moments of truth
- Class of 2006
Hall of fame - winners of student
awards at acclaimed business schools
Making of the Gravity
The thought, The form, The mark…
- Team Gravity
25
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
37
38
39
41
43
44
CONTENTS

FOUNDER’S MESSAGE
1
Welcome to Great Lakes Institute of
Management that is Powered by Knowledge
and Steered by Ethical Values with a
'Global Mindset and Indian Roots'. It is with
extreme delight that I introduce the second issue of
Gravity, the Great Lakes magazine. The theme for
this issue is India Balanced Scorecard, a Reality
Check.
How do customers see us?
Founder and Honorary
Dean's Message
At Great Lakes, excellent start to the placement
season, 80 offers trickling in the first two days of
placement cycle itself, has set the pace for another
eventful year; the admissions for next batch are in
full swing.
On a wider perspective, India continues on a dream
run of 7-8% growth. It has never been a one
dimensional nation and continues to challenge its
interpreters. State heads from developed nations
are making rounds unaffected by Third World
myopia.
But not without an effort, India has been a frontrunner
in forging relations. Even in the tentative
moments of freedom, when secularism and
socialism defined the nationalist ideal, leaders like
Nehru had the prescience to foresee the possibilities
of liberalization in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and
who with Tito and Nasser was one of the chief
architects of the nonaligned movement. Russian
alliance got a further boost with Mr. Gorbachev
transforming the former Soviet Union to the current
group of Russian nations. Global relations seem to
have come full circle and India's intent in the past
one decade seem to have borne fruits with President
Bush approving the nuclear deal, helping meet one
of the key infrastructure challenges of an energy
starved nation. The successful transformation of
the US-INDIA relationship will have a decisive and
positive influence on the future International
System, such that India will benefit by leaps and
bounds.
If India is to become the THIRD largest Economic
Power, it is not going to be attained either by
Politicians or by the Government and Bureaucracy
but by Business Entrepreneurs and Leaders of
tomorrow who are groomed by Great Lakes and
other schools of higher quality and values.
What must we excel at?
Increased acceptance globally also entails
responsibility. Indian businesses are now leading
the transnational mergers and acquisitions BUT
still managers with global perspective are a
scarcity. It's definitely by design that at Great lakes
a global perspective and constant innovation surge
in curriculum is sustained through multifaceted
initiatives.
One such initiative; Dr. Deepak Chopra's lecture at
Great Lakes delved into hitherto unchartered
territory on the Indian management scene. In
addition Dr. Chopra and I have designed a new
management development course titled 'Soul
Leadership' on the lines of a similar course
conducted at the Kellogg. Essentially, efforts
should be made to contain the social costs related to
stupendous growth witnessed in India. Young
managers achieve levels of prosperity in a couple
of years what took their parents couple of decades,
So they look for larger meaning of life and courses
like these will help round out business ready
managers for longer hauls.

Thus Democracy, Development and Decency can
concurrently co-exist with confidence and
compassion in India and grow.
Can we continue to improve and create value?
Reducing cost is vital, but creating value is critical.
A key roadblock to any nation's growth and its
unfolding prosperity is the paucity of high grade
management talent. Of course, for a country which
saw its first university, Nalanda, much earlier than
the 5th century A.D, with scholars including ones
from China, Japan, Korea and which was frequented
by Lord Buddha preaching Dharma, such foresight
is expected. Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs)
were setup some 50 years ago. Over the years, many
other business schools have come up with an
amazing array of 6000 business schools now dotting
the Indian landscape, but Rule of 3 may prevail here
as well with a few quality Business Schools with
World Class Excellence fully differentiated. So,
India's long term model for growth is sustainable but
will depend on the availability of resources and
suitably trained managers to transform them into
output. With Business Programs like Great Lakes,
emphasizing a Business Model of "Business
Readiness" with “Money Value of Time” and
"World Class Quality at an Affordable Cost as a
Value proposition”, and “Ethically sound Execution
of strategy with a clear Radar Screen that depicts the
Value Migration”, achieving exponential growth in
a sustainable way becomes feasible.
How do we look to shareholders?
I have always said that at Great Lakes, students are
the primary share-holders. The amazing pace of
placements for second batch validated the effort of
entire student placement committee, the results of an
effort spanning one full year. I am confident that this
year we'll comfortably surpass the first batch
average salary/CTC of 6.5 lakhs to over 7.5 lakhs.
In his lecture at Great Lakes on valuation,
Prof. Aswath Damodran talked about the slip
between cup and the lip when valuations become too
complex and contrived. 1992 July, was watershed
for Indian equity market, with the successful
Demise of "Controller of Capital Goods", the
valuation process evolved beyond the bureaucratic
wrangling. Aswath Damodaran and other players of
the capital Market endorsed and determined the
valuation for modern Indian corporations, We are
now in sync and in step with the world Capital
Market and Booming.
How do we innovate and learn?
While best job offers came from Indian IT industry,
microcosm of global Indian businesses and an
exemplar for an industry defying the typical inside
out MNC growth, the real challenge now is to offset
the continuous wage inflation with increased
innovation.
So, when students get a chance to meet another key
shareholder in Great Lakes; Mr. Ratan Tata,
Chairman Great Lakes Business Advisory Council,
later in April, one question on their minds will be
how are organizations pushing innovation,
encouraging voice of internal customer. Something
similar to ideation day a month, mentioned by
Mr. Pashupathy, Director International Programs
Google, during his lecture at Great Lakes. Let us also
understand why, family empires like Tata & Sons
seek and recognize more value adding professionals
outside of the Family to ensure the Stakeholder
Values. To me such town-hall meetings with global
corporate legends, of which we had no dearth at
Great Lakes, in addition to world renowned faculty,
help invigorate the much needed entrepreneurial
talent.
Future
Admissions for 2007 batch seem to be the perfect
harbinger of future at Great Lakes. The application
pool has expectedly surged both in quality and
quantity. It is indeed a Herculean task to process
zillion enquiries translating to more than 5000
applicants, diligently and rigorously filtered to
160 quality admits. My sincere and grateful congrats
to the entire team of faculty, students, interviewers,
volunteers, group discussants and mostly to the
admission committee for a fantastic job they did to
create the CRUSADERS, the incoming batch
of 2007.
My message to my beloved JUNIOR PIONEERS,
the second batch, on Apr'27, the day they get their
wings will be: Daring ideas are like chessmen
moved forward; they may be beaten but they may
start a winning Game. It is the Finish Line that
Counts. The World is out there for you to conquer
and succeed.
Excellence Inspires and is Infectious. Excel in
Everything with Energy, Enthusiasm and
Excellence. Go get them, TIGERS, and the "World Is
Not Flat", So Climb to the Peak. Yes, You Learn to
Earn, But you Earn not to Live but to Give. Give your
heart, soul and mind to your company, colleagues
and the country.
Jai Hind, Jai Great Lakes; God Bless You.
Padmasri Dr. Bala V Balachandran
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE
2

COVER STORY
3
Indian Growth Story
Is the Future ours?
Or are we the Future?
Each one of us should
take the responsibility of
changing the system and
spend less time lamenting
the system for what it is.
'India Everywhere' - One of the themes at
the World Economic Forum 2006, was a big
move to pitch India as the most sought after
investment destination. And surely, why
not? India's success story can be derived
from just one parameter i.e. consecutive
growth rate of 7% over the last three years.
The renewed buoyancy of the stock
markets, backed by strong corporate
earnings and speedy economic reforms
form the spine of this fairy tale. But the
single-most significant question that needs
to be answered is whether an average Indian
is receiving his share of this bounty. Well,
the answer is an emphatic “No” and in this
article we make an attempt to substantiate
this view.
Let us begin by asking the question a little
differently. Does economic growth always
result in economic development? Well, not
really. Despite economic growth being
essential for national development, it is not
the only constituent. So the question is
whether India, riding on high rates of
economic growth, is on the path to ensure
the well being of all its people. Economic
growth would result in comprehensive
development only if it is equitable. In India's
context, we need to examine growth from
two distinct perspectives Across cross
sections of society, both urban and rural as
well as the sectoral composition.
India is a country with 600 million of its
population in the rural areas. Alarmingly,
the Indian success story is happening on the
minority “urban” side creating a huge
divide. Interestingly, this divide
has increased post liberalization.
Liberalization is definitely not a cause but if
the policies were implemented with an
expected objective of reducing the divide,
then why is the reality flipped. For instance,
amongst the states, Bihar has a per capita
income of $80 while Maharashtra leads at
$379. If one looks at the facts, Bihar is one
of the richest states in natural resources but
one of the poorest in terms of development.
On examining the ground realities, Indian
growth story is concentrated only in a few
states. Indian FDI policy is definitely
fueling an increase in divide - 49% of the
FDI in the country is invested in Delhi and
Maharashtra only. Contrary to common
belief, India is as economically disparate as
China if not more and cannot be regarded as
a unified market.
Now let us shift our focus to the sectoral
composition of Indian growth. As per the

findings of the study conducted by
Ravallion and Dutt (2001), growth in the
agricultural and services sector contributes
more towards reduction in poverty and
development, than industrial growth. So
where does India stand? Unfortunately, the
agricultural reforms have been lackluster
and this is reflected in the dismal
performance of the agricultural sector over
the last decade. One extremely positive
event has been the high growth rate of the
services sector resulting in enhancement of
job opportunities. Is this enough to
alleviate poverty? Definitely not, because
the poor have not been participating in
growth of the Indian economy, with dismal
agricultural growth rates of -1% and 2.3%
for 2004 and 2005 respectively. It is
important to examine our history to see
where we are heading. At the time of
independence, India had over 74% people
employed in agriculture, contributing
lion's share to the GDP. However, as per
latest statistics, though services sector is
hogging the limelight with 54%
contribution to GDP, India still has 60% of
the population employed in agriculture.
Though one side of the story is positive, the
more latent and negative facet is that
agriculture contributes only 21% to the
GDP. This phenomenon sounds quite
similar to the 80-20 rule, but this is
alarming and unless the migration happens
quickly the income disparity would grow
beyond control.
" The test of our progress is not whether
we add more to the abundance to those
who have much; but whether we provide
enough for whose who have too little"
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
After examining the above two areas of
societal distribution and sectoral
composition of our growth, it is imperative
to understand the reasons which have
fueled this divide. If one looks at developed
economies, countries are rich because of
their history, quality of institutions and
governance. It was found that with the same
level of resources, one country could
become rich and the other poor because of
governance quality and institutional
strengths. Institutions hold the power and
ability to reduce inequality. Has India been
able to create strong institutions or is it
anywhere near? Post independence, in
what is popularly called 'Nehruvian'
socialism, public sector institutions were
created and protected for a long time not
allowing competition from the private
sector or the foreign players. Fifty years
hence, we can see the fallout. Efficiency
has suffered and the public sector
institutions, instead of being a source of
reinvestable surplus, were suffering losses.
Government had to divert funds to cover
the losses of these institutions rather than
concentrate on larger development
initiatives. Provision and access to
public goods is critical to a country's
development. Education, health,
infrastructure and housing are prerequisites
to development. Has our government
succeeded in providing access of these
critical public goods to the average Indian?
Till date, hardly 500 million people in India
live without electricity. Health care
facilities in rural India are abysmal to say
the least. Infrastructure is being touted as
India's biggest challenge in attracting
investment. Government is attempting to
make education available for all, but it still
has a long way to go. India still has to cover
substantial ground in coming up with world
class institutions, which would then reduce
the wide spread inequality in our country.
Future course
Despite the existing malfunctions in the
governing systems and policies and
economic development happening in
patches, in certain geographical and
economical cross sections, undeniably the
service sector is at its best. The need of the
hour is to use service sector earnings as a
tool for equitable economic development.
We should also consciously look to extract
maximum growth in the agricultural sector
where majority of our people live. The
government should strive to provide access
to basic public goods to all sections of the
society. This has been an impediment to
growth in our rural areas till date.
Providing the basic facilities should
definitely fuel growth in these areas. The
latest initiatives of rural employment
guarantee and “Bharat Nirman” are the
steps in the right direction. But are they
enough? Definitely not. As our honorable
prime minister and finance minister rightly
say, government cannot do everything
alone. Corporates should play an active
role in building the country's infrastructure
and institutions. And more importantly, the
corporate should invest aggressively in the
rural sector where our 600 million people
live. It might not make total business sense,
but that's where the government has to step
in as the facilitator to support them.
We sincerely believe in the message of the
movie “Rang De Basanti” as individuals
each one of us should take the
responsibility of changing the system and
spend less time lamenting the system for
what it is. With changing demographics,
and bulk of India's population in youth,
clearly the future is in our hands.
“Ask not what the country can do for
you; ask what you can do for the
country?”
- Abraham Lincoln
It is this selfless attitude as young corporate
leaders that will help India scale great
heights. Jai Hind.
– Deepak Paidipati & Chandrashekar S
PGPM Class of 2006
COVER STORY
4

COVER STORY
5
The
Growth Miracle
Dr. V. S. Arunachalam
India needs social scientists,
teachers, agricultural and
rural experts and workers to
address the rural challenges.
Only then, will India's growth
be sustainable and worthy of
adulation.
Acronyms ('a-kr&-"nim) have become so numerous and
pervasive that they, more than their expanded forms, are
better known and used: radar, laser, lbw and so on. The one
that has become popular and making its rounds in the country
today is GNP, the Gross National Product. For many decades,
GNP was only for the economists and finance ministers
delivering budget speeches. Perhaps the ignorance of GNP
was deliberate. People were not enamoured of the number
that followed the acronym, about 3 to 5 percent per year that
made them and the country look small. The numbers were so
modest that it would have taken India many decades, perhaps
a century or so to reach a semblance of prosperity. There were
also doomsayers who predicted that anything higher than this
rate - they nicknamed the numbers as the Hindu rate of
growth - would throw the country into an irrecoverable spiral
of inflation. They are proved wrong. The country is posting a
growth rate over 7 percent for the past few years. And if - not a
doubtful if - this growth continues uninterrupted even for a
decade or two, India will be able to realise at least a part of its
dreams of economic prosperity and human development
within a decade! In democracies, with a healthy growth of
economy, it is possible to be concerned about the well-being
of people and building of caring societies.
What has made this miracle? Will it last or would it vanish
away throwing the country back into the drudgery of low
growth rates?
There are many explanations for the growth, and all of them
are true in some measure or another. The economic reforms of
the government in the Nineties when it loosened its grip on
licence-permit-quota Raj has a lot to do with this. After many
decades, private industries and initiatives were not
discouraged and the obsessive indulgence towards public
sector industries vanished. There was also a new technology
knocking at the doors: Information and Communications
Technology with the acronym IT has become instantly
popular. This technology was totally new. It did not depend

on the past experience or leadership in any area of
manufacturing, nor on the equipment and facilities
built over years. In other words, it provided a level
playing field for all, newcomers and old timers alike.
Indian industries grabbed at it. The field and the
market were gradually unfolding and the industries
grew along with them. For the first time, many new
corporations, that were neither publicly owned nor
family held began their business; first in simple
coding jobs and later into complex programming
challenges. The fears about the Millennium Bug
also helped to grow the market.
Realizing these opportunities wouldn't have been
possible without the availability of a large and well
educated human resource. It is here the
contributions of the government and private
benefactors in building and sustaining a large
number of colleges and universities made the
difference. Other competitor nations are still to
match India's number of young graduates, their
proficiency in English and other skills that are
essential to programming. This has been followed
by other areas of commercial opportunity; some,
merely pedestrian and others, demanding superior
skills. The computer has come to stay in people's
lives and the opportunities it creates in all areas of
human activity appear huge and almost limitless:
relieving humans from repetitive and boring
calculations to identifying nascent tumour in x ray
radiographs that is invisible to human eyes, and to
guiding airplanes to land in safety. Economists are
accustomed to talk of growth slowing up with time,
but in IT they see increasing returns - growth
increasing with time - that is appropriate for a
technology that is knowledge-based. Its full
prowess is yet to be realised.
IT is not the only area of Indian exports; it is not even
the largest. Textiles and garments, and probably
gems and jewellery earn more. The remittances of
Indian workers to their homeland are also large. But
what is unique about IT is that it is not bound by
permits and quotas, nor is it commoditized. There is
still room for innovations and the market for its
products and services is nascent.
There is yet another feature of this industry that has
not been recognised fully: the emphasis on youth.
By creating opportunities for large scale
employment, probably more than what the steel
plants of yesteryears offered, India is creating a
workforce that is young, competent and earns more
in the global marketplace. The effect of this on the
psychology of people, politicians and on other
countries is noticeable. For the first time, India's
growing population is seen not as a burden, but as an
asset. India is now a nation of youth. A success as
large as this will have consequences. India is now
confidently embarking on other areas of opportunity.
Global corporations see the country as a test bed for
creativity and are establishing laboratories in Indian
cities. The industry is also entering into the world of
large scale manufacturing with the building of
automobiles. Biotechnology that holds the promise
for freeing humans from the ravages of disease and
providing them with opportunities for growing
more food and materials for energy generation is
already the new IT and is drawing the attention of
the world. This area is demanding a far more
qualified and trained human resource than even IT.
What should India do to nurture and sustain these
new found opportunities that have the potential to
transform the country? There are so many initiatives
that the government should take and temptations it
must resist, and all are important. The government
should focus on eradicating illiteracy, spreading
school education and improving its quality. India
cannot afford to remain as a country of largest
number of illiterates. The infrastructure is
overstretched and unable to accommodate the
demands the new industries make. Only with a better
infrastructure, it is possible to spread the growth to
small cities and towns. The government has done
well by allowing the industries to grow unhindered.
It must continue to do so with the appropriate
initiatives it has at its disposal.
There is yet another concern. The recent
developments are all urban-centric, and many parts
of the country, especially the rural areas and people
living there are left behind. There are also demands
on their land, water and other resources they depend
on for their livelihood, for the new industries power
stations, roads, and urban centres. The government
and industrial leaders must address this problem on a
mission mode. What opportunities should be created
for those displaced, and how to ensure that the
compensations provided to them are appropriate and
reach the targeted without dilution? In the past, India
had failed in all these. Without working to improve
the quality of life of rural citizens and improving
their prosperity, India will remain as two countries,
one developed and very hi-tech, and the other
backward with poor human development. If India
needs scientists, engineers and workers to stoke its
growth engines, it also needs social scientists,
teachers, agricultural and rural experts and workers
to address the rural challenges. Only then, will
India's growth be sustainable and worthy of
adulation.
Dr V.S. Arunachalam, Center for Study of Science,
Technology and Policy, Bangalore. He is a also the
Distinguished Professor of Material Science,
Carnegie Mellon University and Former Scientific
Advisor to the Prime Minister and Defence Minister.
COVER STORY
6

COVER STORY
7
India -
An exclusive interview with Mrs. Sudha Murty, a
well-known writer, teacher and social worker. She
is currently the Chairperson of Infosys Foundation
From your extensive work with rural India,
what would you suggest to be the most
important needs of the rural India to fuel their
economic and overall development?
Education is the most important need. In India, only
a small percentage of the rural population is highly
educated and about 33% do not even have good
education. We are unable to give good education to
all. Lack of education results in poor awareness,
improper hygiene and poor family planning.
Hence, by focusing on education, we can improve
quality of life and ensure overall development.
What can we do to change their mindset and
promote education?
Empowerment and responsibility are the keys to
the success of education. Often, government school
teachers drawing salary from the government are
complacent about their jobs. By empowering the
stakeholders (parents, gram or zilla panchayat) for
the compensation, teachers will be accountable and
more responsible. This model has been successful
and must be encouraged. Total free education
sometimes makes the parents careless. By making
the parents pay small amount as school fees, even
one rupee, they will feel bound to take more interest
in their children's education.
Do you think the wings of technology have
touched the rural India duly? Why and what
could be done to change/improve the situation?
The impact of technology differs from state to state.
States like Tamil Nadu and Kerala are well
Straight
from its
Heart
I will not see poverty disappear in my lifetime, yet there are
certain changes that I would like to see and try to do whatever
I can for them. I am working for my country and society in my
limited capacity.
developed and technology has affected a
considerable amount of the rural population
whereas, states like Bihar and Orissa are still
lagging behind in this aspect. As mentioned earlier,
education and awareness are the important factors
to improve this situation in any state.
What is the status of the gender disparity in the
rural areas? What do you think NGOs like
yours can do to alleviate such a state and help
such women take part in the economic
development of their families and the society?
Gender disparity is a big problem and prevalent in
states like BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh) than others. There is a
direct correlation between the level of education
and gender disparity. Therefore, we see that urban
areas face lesser gender disparity than rural India.
As NGOs, we do our best, but we cannot do
everything alone. The mindsets of the people have
to change. Only education, job opportunities and
economic independence will empower the women
to bring about this change that will help us reduce
the gender disparity.
There are many NGOs working for India,
which is truly heartening. However, have you
ever felt that there are certain changes that you
wish to see but would take more than the efforts
from NGOs, something like a systemic change?
When I started working, I was young and it was
only later that I realized that changes do take place
in every society but, it is the rate of change that
differs, depending upon many factors. In my
experience of 13-14 years, I have seen the dire
poverty in villages reduce considerably in
Karnataka. In addition, people are aware of the

outside news, due to various reasons, hence there
will be a change but, it will take a long time. Owing
to the education, exposure etc., there has already
been a change, but the rate of change is not uniform
in all the states. The middle and lower middle class
families are very keen on English education. I have
seen that many girl children have the aspirations of
being independent and want to take up a job.
You mentioned that now the people are more
aware and their aspirations have changed. Has
this happened due to the exposure to urban
India?
Rural India has been exposed to urban India
because of the television. The internet has
impacted the lives of the lower middle class more
than rural India because of the vernacular gap.
Internet is being provided in English which most
rural people do not understand. If internet was
offered in their vernacular, things would have been
different. However, the tremendous change that we
have seen in the current scenario should largely be
attributed to rural India's exposure to television.
You mentioned that if internet was in
vernacular or the people had known English
then things would have been different. Is it
really so, or do the people consider technology
intimidating? Are they open to use computers?
From my experience, the people are very keen to
learn computers as they feel that learning English
and being able to work on computers and internet
will enable them to come to the cities to take up a
job. They are not intimidated and the youngsters
especially, consider it as an empowerment and
think it will enable them to earn more money and
improve their standard of living
Looking at your career spanning more than
three decades, right from writing a letter
directly to J R D Tata during the beginning of
your career to being able to take the bold
decision of stepping aside from being on the
mainstream activities of Infosys after having
founded it, you come across as a person with a
lot of courage and conviction. Do you see
yourself, at any point of time entering into
public life in order to be able to bring in some
systemic changes?
I do not want to enter politics. As a technocrat and
during my Infosys days, life was very different, but
only after getting into the Foundation I saw the real
India. I then, understood my country well and for
me only my goals matter. My goal is the
Foundation. Our beneficiaries are all the poor
people, people with different languages, mindset,
lives, the unemployed people, and people with too
many children, who are helpless, intelligent yet
cunning at times. I study them to find out in what
way can I and my Foundation, make a difference to
these people who are our beneficiaries. I am
realistic and know that I will not see poverty
disappear in my lifetime, yet there are certain
changes that I would like to see and try to do
whatever I can for them. I am working for my
country and society in my limited capacity. I
believe that you should be truthful to yourself and
know what you know and what you don't.
Admitting what you do not know is being
courageous rather than saying that I know
everything. I enjoy doing the Foundation work and
I still teach at the university if I get time to, because
I enjoy doing it.
Do you see youngsters showing interest in
working towards social development? How
would you suggest, organizations should
motivate increasing participation from the
youth and in what ways can their services be
used better?
The youngsters of today are definitely more
interested in social development and are more
sensitive to help these people grow. I have seen the
people of our own company contribute money and
time which brings in me great hope about the
youngsters. They have tremendous energy, but are
too idealistic sometimes and hence, short tempered.
They are smarter because of the information boom
and are also impatient because of their age.
Therefore, it is the duty of elderly people to
channelise their energy to the right direction which
will help the nation.
Your message for the youngsters…
Be sincere in all your work. The worst thing that can
happen to any individual is corruption, not only in
terms of money, but corruption of the intellect.
Intelligent people should not rationalize their
failure; that is the biggest mistake. As human
beings, we are all bound to make mistakes and fail.
However, you have to be honest intellectually and
accept it. I cannot assure that this will bring
success, but it will surely bring you peace of mind.
Honesty of the intellect should never be
compromised. This is the most important thing the
youngsters should keep in mind.
– As told to Sai Sudha and Neha Sukhija
(over phone), PGPM Class of 2006
COVER STORY
8

COVER STORY
9
Looking Beyond
the Veil!
Interview with Mr. Subroto Bagchi, COO, MindTree Consulting
India's record GDP growth has come to the
limelight across the globe, with 8% growth and
record stock market levels. In your opinion, has
the average standard of living actually improved
in India as much as these parameters have?
In some ways, it has. In many ways in has not. The
state of rural health and primary education has not
kept pace with the so-called GDP growth and urban
development. Remember that the GDP growth
comes off a low base, considering that we are a
nation of a billion people. Our infrastructure is way
behind what it should be and it can be. Our women
continue to languish. Beyond the veil of GDP, we
have a lot more real developmental issues to deal
with.
Is there some truth in the statement that we are
creating too much of a hype about the IT / ITES
boom in India and neglecting some of the other
sectors like manufacturing and agriculture?
We must recognize sectors like agriculture and
manufacturing. These have significant potential.
We must also encourage other services sectors that
have huge potential, like travel and health services.
We must also give the folks working in the
infrastructure sector their true dues.
But the bigger issue is that the national mindset
must change towards manual work. The gap
between an MBA and a carpenter or a driver is
absurd. Only in our country, we have such a wide
gap. We do not realize how exploitative is the
The bigger issue is that the national mindset must
change towards manual work. The gap between an
MBA and a carpenter or a driver is absurd.
middle-class mindset that thinks only of rewarding
itself. The living standards of the nation cannot
improve unless the auto-rickshaw driver and the
farm hand and the construction worker are
substantially better paid. Only in India, such people
can not afford a personal toilet at home. In
Singapore, US, Germany, France and Tokyo - they
can. To me, that is the test.
Your famous speech, 'Go kiss the world', has
been a source of great inspiration to a lot of us.
The simplicity and the background are quite
dumbfounding. Given the poverty levels and the
below par standard of living in rural areas, how
do you think IT be leveraged upon to improve
this situation, or is it a tall order?
IT is a tool. It cannot by itself, change character.
Character flows from within. The below-par
standard of living in the rural or for that matter,
urban areas, is a function of vision and determined
action over a sustained period of time. In addition,
one generation will have to say, "we will give, we
will not take". Come whatever may. It will change
everything. Without character, IT will merely put
lipstick on a pig.
MindTree's vision statement talks about
contributing a significant portion of the
company's PAT to support enhancement of
primary education. When MindTree goes
public, how do you plan to convince your
investors in contributing a significant portion of
the PAT to the society?

I am sure the Vision itself will not be controversial.
What constitutes "significant" will have to be
socialized with investors from time to time.
Increasing stress at work and working at
different time zones has led to a youth
population that is more stressed and under
higher risks of diseases today. Work-life balance
is becoming a serious concern. MindTree being
known so much for its HR best practices, what
measures does the company take to help the
employees manage such a demanding nature of
work?
We address the issue in many ways. We think that the
work place can be high on challenge but not on
stress. When the quality of work is good, there is
recognition for work done, the climate is nonpolitical
and there is continuous communication,
people are not stressed. Then of course, you have the
usual thing that everyone provides - a gym, flexible
work times, cafeteria, a nice workplace, yoga, fun at
work and all that stuff. These by themselves, do not
de-stress. Nothing stresses people more than, lack of
conviction in what they are doing.
The incidence of stress in IT is also overrated. A
traffic cop inhales carbon monoxide 12 hours a day.
A surgeon stands on his feet for 4-5 hours every day
without taking eyes off a 6" by 6" opening under a
flood light, a train driver routinely spends sleepless
nights. These people have a lot more stress than
someone being bussed up and down, sitting in an airconditioned
office, dealing with mostly noncontroversial
things, being well paid and having
multiple job options. Go and go talk to a young
bureaucrat in a government office you will know
what stress is.
Given the massive recruitment in IT/ITES sector
and the corresponding rising costs, do you think
IT players could promote quality education in
smaller towns which would help the non-metro
population as well as act as a sustainable source
of human talent at an affordable cost?
The current compensation in IT sector does not
show a gap between metro and non-metro locations.
Irrespective of the cost issues, IT and ITES
companies are going to tier-II cities. Towns are a
little further away and pose other infrastructure
challenges.
We have just decided to go to Bhubaneswar as our
third location. It is a city of 1.5 million people. We
will involve ourselves with local educational
institutes.
The recent KPMG report on "India Fraud
Survey 2006" has brought forth the increasing
occurrence of frauds and its many forms within
the ITES and the financial services world. Given
the high visibility of the Indian IT/ITES sector,
how do you think companies can overcome this
threat? Is this because of a fundamental flaw in
our educational system?
It is because of a fundamental flaw in the national
character. IT companies cannot be islands of good
behavior. We are a nation in denial on this issue.
The development activity in any country is fueled
by the amount of entrepreneurship observed in
the country. We are already seeing the benefits of
entrepreneurship, especially in the IT Industry.
Do you think the governmental policies are
conducive to nurture entrepreneurship in India?
What kind of changes would you suggest in
improving this state?
We must celebrate small entrepreneurs a lot more.
Though people say that entrepreneurs are born and
not taught, we must introduce entrepreneurship as a
subject of study. We must make infrastructure a
fundamental right of citizenship and remove
corruption for one generation of Indians. If these are
done, we will cease to over focus on so-called
"policies".
We see a lot of buzz around Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR). Do you think companies
really are bothered about CSR or are there a lot of
them who consider this as a way of capturing
goodwill in the eyes of the shareholders?
Many companies are genuinely concerned about
CSR and do it as an integral part of who they are. But
I believe that CSR begins with paying one's taxes
right. As long we all pay our taxes right, whether or
not we are doing CSR can wait as a subject of
conversation.
We have read that MindTree minds rebuilt a
school in a village called Somennahalli. There are
so many issues from Bangalore infrastructural
development to rural education and healthcare.
What role do you think, the corporate world
should play in order to forging an effective
private-public partnership in social
development?
Companies must focus on running a profitable,
competitive business and pay their taxes right. They
must have high standards of governance. Public-
Private partnership begins there. Then comes the
issue of other forms of participation. There is greater
need of citizenry getting involved in the "I pay taxes
right - I vote - I get involved" cycle than just
companies sponsoring roads and parks.
– As told to Vikram Ananthakrishnan and
Umesh Mariappan, PGPM Class of 2006
(via e-mail)
COVER STORY
10

COVER STORY
11
Scorecarding
India
Mohan Nair
What is challenging is the secret formula that outlines how each
element of the scorecard works in concert to produce the best
recipe for success.
The world is keeping score lately. Governments are trying to
define themselves in order to differentiate their national identity
from others.
India has long been a growth engine, redefining herself moving
from a relatively underdeveloped nation to an economic
juggernaut. At first, this rapid shift is fueled by the attraction of
lower cost outsourcing of talent, but is reinforced with
outsourcing to true partnership between nations.
Consider balance scorecard as one tool to provide a glimpse into
the strategic inflections available to India. A brief glimpse to
BSC would reflect 4 perspectives to strategic balance.
Customer - what do customers want?
Internal - what internal processes need to be improved?
Financial - what financial objectives must be set?
Learning & Growth - what investments in people enable each
perspective?
The foundation to driving a scorecard is found in using these
levers, and identifying cause-and-effect.
Key considerations to feed the scorecard are:
India can move only as fast as its middle class in economic
potential. Hence, India's middle class must save and spend
wisely.
Today, India's middle class can go the way of the tactical
consumer, buying for buying sake, moving the needle of
excessive expense rather than guided by the deep spirit it has
in its DNA.
India has done very well investing in education infrastructure.
Citizens believe that gaining an education is key to success as
well. These learning and growth elements have fueled and fed
growth.

India is a vast nation of diversity. Economic gains
may create disparity among citizens. This
disparity can fuel regional disputes,
overpopulation and environmental issues unless
subdued by strategic action.
Looking forward, India must progress or be under
competitive. India has based its powerful growth
fueled by a knowledge economy rather than a
manufacturing economy like China. Yet, all
economies that compete must differentiate.
Consider in this great economy, the following
balanced scorecard elements:
Customer
India has extended her reach from knowledge
engineers to direct marketing and call-center
professionals changing the customer-focus.
Who becomes the new customer? Today, India's
customers seem to be multi-nationals.
Tomorrow, they may be end-consumers all over
the world.
Financial
Cost per employee will increase as the middleclass
needs and desires increase.
Issues of health, health insurance and benefits can
become a factor in retention as organizations
compete for talent. What is the risk mitigator to
increased costs?
The middle class' economic growth has the
opportunity to impact poverty. How?
Knowledge engineers must now move from
development to creating and marketing
ideas/concepts and driving these concepts to
companies. Hence, the front-end skills of
marketing, sales, and product creation become
keys.
Internal
Building the new infrastructure beyond
IT/Engineering support to address marketing/
sales and concept creation.
Enabling entrepreneurship as a formalism and a
learned skill along with venture-investment
infrastructure.
Learning & Growth
India has captured the imagination of the world
with its strong technology/software capacity.
There is no question that India can challenge the
world with software/hardware engineering and
other sciences. India must increase her capacity
to produce marketers who can define markets and
serve them.
The nation's appetite for growth and
entrepreneurship can be scorecarded. What is
challenging is the secret formula that outlines how
each element of the scorecard works in concert to
produce the best recipe for success.
Mohan Nair is an author, educator and a software
entrepreneur. Currently, he is the Executive Vice
President, Chief Marketing Executive at The
Regence Group and a adjunct professor of business
with the Kellogg School of Management. He has
authored two books titled “An Executive's Guide to
Activity-based Management Systems” and
“Essentials of Balanced Scorecard”.
COVER STORY
12

COVER STORY
13
A Balanced Scorecard on
Management Education
in India
By many measures, Management Education in
India is enjoying stupendous success. Recent news
reports of outstanding placement at many
management schools is just one such measure. The
Great Lakes Institute of Management is no
exception to this success. Over the past two years,
the school has managed to develop a unique
curriculum to integrate students with an
international faculty, develop a fully operational
post graduate and executive programs in
management, and enjoy an excellent placement
record, all in a remarkably short span of time.
These are the results of the hard work and vision of
the entire Great Lakes community, including the
students, the faculty, the board, the recruiting
companies and the administration. Management
educators all over India should certainly take a
moment to relish the progress we have made.
Simultaneously, we must also keep a balanced
scorecard on ourselves and be mindful of the
challenges ahead.
In reflecting on the challenges for management
education, I often find myself thinking “Nothing
Fails Like Success,” the favorite phrase of the Late
Professor Lawrence (Gene) Lavengood of the
Kellogg School of Management, in Evanston,
Illinois. Professor Lavengood was a much loved,
incredibly insightful and award winning professor
of Management Policy at the Kellogg School
during my MBA years, and many years thereafter.
“Nothing Fails Like Success” was his favorite
lesson to teach.
In his Management Policy course, Prof. Lavengood
gave us numerous insightful examples of
And the challenges ahead at Great Lakes Institute of Management
By
Sudhakar Balachandran
Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Business
Columbia University, New York, NY
organizations (ranging form the Tennessee Valley
Authority to Nestle S.A.) whose meteoric success
was only matched by their sometimes stunning
failures. Digging into these examples, he showed
us distinct patterns of behaviors, and more
importantly attitudes, which were likely to be
central to the downfalls observed. Specifically,
Prof. Lavengood linked the failures of formerly
successful organizations to several factors
including the emergence of hubris, a focus on form
over substance, and an increasing sense of
entitlement. He pointed out that as organizations
become successful, these threats also emerge
which, if left unchecked, create a “Nothing Fails
Like Success” scenario. One needs only to pick up
recent editions of Indian business periodicals, or
speak with members of the Management Education
community to get the sense that hubris, form over
substance and entitlement are significant potential
threats to Management Education in India.
Hubris: The business world is riddled with stories
of organizations whose celebrated success led to
their failures. In the 1970's, the leader in the United
States rental car business, Hertz, proudly
advertised itself as “Number One,” only to find
itself losing share to competitor Avis, which
conceded the number one position and counter
attacked with the slogan “We Try Harder.” In the
late 1980's, business books such as Tom Peter's
Passion for Excellence celebrated the successes of
several companies, but by the late 1990's many of
those same companies faced financial difficulties.
At the end of this century, the business press

celebrated the successes of several new business
models, and featured cover stories on companies
such as Enron and WorldCom, only to find
financial shenanigans in a haze of smoke and
mirrors. If we seek to be excellent in management
education, we must understand from history that
the success of Management Education in India
hinges on our ability to keep hubris in check.
Form over substance: As management education
develops in India, many in the field are focusing on
appearance over substance. Today we find schools
engaging in substantial self promotion. While
marketing is not in and of itself inherently wrong, it
is useful to be mindful of marketing approaches
that cross the ethical borderline. On a recent Jet
Airways flight I read an article that said many
positive things about one business school. The
tone of the article, in fact, was so positive that I
began to doubt whether the reporter was being fair
and impartial. Upon closer inspection I noticed the
abbreviation “Advt” in small letters at the very end
of the article, and understood that this article was
placed as a purchased advertisement and NOT
written by an independent journalist, as I had
initially presumed. Other business schools have
selectively advertised rankings only from years in
which they fared well, and not from other years.
These types of behaviors focus on form over
substance and over time are likely to harm, not help
the reputation to the individual schools as well as
management education as a whole.
Unfortunately business school students sometimes
become confused by this focus on form over
substance, and falsely get the impression that they
need to “pad” their vitas in order to impress
recruiters. A recent article in The Hindu, quoted
recruiters pointing out that they are now seeing
more CV's claiming students to be champion
athletes or accomplished musicians, but further
questioning in interviews reveals these claims to be
gross exaggerations. Success as a school of
management requires credibility, substance and
“truth in advertising” at all levels. It is critical at all
levels that the focus of management education is
returned to the substance of the education and the
substantive quality of what the students actually
accomplish, and not on the form of the package.
Entitlement: As generations of Management
graduates work hard and earn results, it becomes
tempting for future generations to expect the same
results without necessarily engaging in the work
needed to accomplish the results. This temptation
only increases when the economy is growing as it is
today and our graduates are more in demand than
ever. In discussions with many of my colleagues at
institutions all over the country, I hear stories of
students whose primary goal in coming to a
management school is to get a job. Although
getting a job is not the primary goal of the majority
of students, it is becoming a priority for a growing
minority. In this context, it is important for
students, faculty, recruiting companies and the
entire management education community to keep
in mind that the primary purpose of a management
school is to educate our future leaders. Placement,
and other extra-curricular activities are not the
central aspect of the curriculum, they are as their
name suggests, “extras”.
Conclusion: Being mindful that hubris, form over
substance, and entitlement can arise in the presence
of success is the greatest challenge in the path of
management schools all over India and it is our
greatest challenge here at Great Lakes. At Great
Lakes, our future success is strongly linked to the
extent we can stick to our core philosophy “Global
Mindset, Indian Roots”. In our world today, it is
increasingly easy to keep a “Global Mindset,” since
technology makes the world increasingly more
integrated. However, it is more difficult to keep the
focus on our “Indian Roots.” Where our success
might tempt us to “hubris,” our Indian roots teach
us humility. Where the focus is on “form over
substance,” our Indian roots teach us the value of
action with integrity. Where success leads to “a
sense of entitlement,” our Indian roots tell us to do
our duty without concern for rewards.
In our future we face several operational
challenges, the need to develop a new campus,
grow our faculty, and build of our brand name and
reputation. None of these challenges however are
as critical for our success as the challenges of
attitude which we face. Simply put Great Lakes'
ability to sustain and build its success is directly
related to our ability to balance our Global Mindset
with our Indian Roots.
COVER STORY
14

COVER STORY
15
In addition to better lifestyles and
opportunities, India's growth is also causing
migration to cities, leading to infrastructure
woes in those cities. Bangalore is often on
the news due to the state of its
infrastructure. However, there are people
who live in places other than these growing
cities in towns and villages as well, and
rarely do we think about infrastructure in
those places.
Like in cities, electricity is an essential
requirement in villages. Official data states
that almost all the villages in south India are
electrified. But, there are various reports,
which state that the electricity in villages is
either not available all day, or is not of the
rated strength, or other problems like
distribution losses that limit access to
electricity. Rather than wonder about which
of the two are right, the only option is, to
evaluate after a reality check.
I visited six villages in Mulbagal taluk of
Kolar district in the state of Karnataka,
whose population varied from 200 to 2000,
and spoke with a local Panchayat member
about their livelihood and the state of
electricity there. While the sample size is
small and unreliable to draw any
conclusions, certain interesting patterns are
visible.
Their household expenses varied from as
low as a couple of hundreds, to about three
thousand rupees per month, while income
was primarily from agriculture. A few of
them had cows as well. Crops grown in the
Ideas
from the
Countryside
area include vegetables like tomatoes,
potatoes and grains like rice, ragi and corn.
A couple of villages also produced
sugarcane. Agricultural produce was taken
and sold at the mandis at regular intervals.
The villagers who could afford accessing
cold storages used it to store the agricultural
produce prior to taking it to the mandis. The
closest cold storage was about 20 kms away,
and only a handful of such storages existed.
The villagers realize the value of cold
storages and know that they could garner
more realistic prices for their efforts. They
seemed eager and willing to pay for such
services.
Usage of electricity in homes was limited to
lighting and fans. Some of them had a TV as
well. They expressed interest in the need for
lights at night that would enable their
children better education. Electrical
appliances at homes (like lights, fans &
other appliances) run on single-phase 220
volts, while borewell pumps require threephase
440 volts. I gathered that electricity is
provided for only a few hours everyday, and
it is not consistent. Often their pumps do not
get the minimum 440 volts of electricity for
the guaranteed hours, and the farmers are
unable to access water for their lands.
Based on this survey, two business
opportunities that would help villages are
cold storages and devices to make better use
of the prevalent electricity supply situation.
The cold storages for fruits and vegetables
are different from those for frozen foods,
since the least temperatures are above 0ºC;
they are however constrained by the limited
access to power. The need for cold storages
by Indian farmers is far from a recent
phenomenon, and the idea here is to portray
is the potential opportunity available. The
other need is innovative electrical devices
that can collect the available single-phase
power and output electricity at higher
phase, perhaps for shorter durations. While
this need might sound preposterous
initially, such constraints often propel
innovation. Businesses that recognize these
needs and serve them will not only benefit
but also will enable farmers to both produce
and earn better.
I went in with an attitude to study the state of
electricity, and came back with potential
business opportunities. And all this, by
simply going with an open mind and
listening to what the people had to say.
Businesses offer value to customers and in
the process make money. In the current
market scenario, it is essential to identify
what is valuable to each customer prior to
quantifying the potential gains. One of the
ways to address the value proposition is to
interact with the customers and understand
their needs, wants and desires. In
conclusion, opportunities also exist in
serving seemingly well-served customers
let alone the un-served, as long as we are
willing to listen.
– Ritesh Krishnamurthy,
PGPM Class of 2006

'Crouching tiger, hidden dragon', is an apt
name to describe the “healthy” competition
between the two legendary Asian giants,
now surging ahead to who knows perhaps a
greater share in the crest of the waves of
history, smashing into the sands of time.
India, with eyebrow raising, steady 8.1
percent growth has upped itself to the
“favored” quadrant amongst the world's
“haves”. But, at what price? Is it sufficient
to eulogize the paradigm of “Let the
numbers do the talking”?
Moving to a higher plane, is it just the
numbers? Or does it need a re-look, where
we concentrate on others' “white spaces” as
well. To put it simply, how balanced is our
balancing act in getting those numbers on
the board? Of course, everything comes at
a price, but are we happy with the bargains
that we are getting? In my opinion,
happiness is something relative. Some may
be happy working 24 x 7 and making more
money than what their fathers did at fifty,
while the other may not be willing to
compromise on family life and may want to
shift to a lower gear in their careers. So, as
the classical MBA answer goes, “it
depends” on the levers of happiness that we
have unconsciously built into ourselves.
India is coming to terms with a new age of
materialism, where they suddenly realize
Levers
to Happiness
that the “denial” factor of most things
materialistic is now suddenly wiped away.
With the healthy growth in the Information
Technology and related sectors, there is a
significant increase in the disposable
income. This coupled with a liberal trading
policy, friendly banking norms, and a
healthy supply of goods has resulted in the
equation of: EARN MORE = BUY MORE
= HAPPY!
Sadly, this equation hoodwinks one from
seeing the big picture. It has resulted in a
creation of a skewed scorecard, where we
have individuals with sufficient reserves of
wealth, but who are still emotionally poor.
Also, the darling of the economy, for
instance the IT sector has created a visible
rift with the ROI (Rest of India). India
today is increasingly witnessing a chasm
between the “common man” and the folks
who have “made it”.
Does this mean we should work hard and
strive for the aforementioned equation?
For it does help take care of Maslow's basic
treatise. But does it help in moving you to
the final step of self actualization? To put it
simply are you doing what you really want
to do? Or is the economic prosperity
dangled alongside it, motivating you to do
what you are doing?
I truthfully cannot answer that question.
This question perhaps is polymorphic and
needs to be addressed by the “object” in
question. In this case “you”. So as a reader,
I guess you will have to look within and list
out your levers of happiness. Only then will
you realize that what you are doing is truly
going to make you happy. For no amount of
economic well being and other external
factors can make you happy. Perhaps, if
luck is in your favor, you may be happy for
an insignificant amount of time. But you
can never be happy, if you are going to link
it to economic well being.
I perhaps subscribe to the more moderate
school of thought and quote the Buddha
when he says that “Everything in
moderation including moderation” is the
way out. The reason being, the governing
laws of nature, which when violated, ensure
you are paid back in equal measure. Often,
people who adopt the equation (EARN
MORE = BUY MORE = HAPPY!) end up
sacrificing health, family and true desires
on the altar of what? Guess what folks!
Being happy! Or is it really so?
So, look within, find your true levers, and
hit the nitro to happiness.
– Prashant Nichani,
PGPM Class of 2005
COVER STORY
16

SWIM
17
This fortnight I
was at a National
Conference of
W o m e n
Professionals. The
a u d i e n c e
comprised of
w o m e n i n
governance and
management. Most of them were in the
middle level leadership positions. I was
invited for an interactive session.
The first question I was asked was: “How
can we (women) be heard”?
My answer was direct and straight!
'With your competence!' I said.
“You will be heard not by your decibels but
by your reputation and professional
capability. Others will want to hear you
more when you remain silent. Often times
your silence will speak louder. Your
colleagues will probe you. They will even
provoke you-- to read your mind.
You are of value”!
“Remember to contribute only if you have
something useful to add. Being a learner
and a good listener is equally respected and
noticed. Do not speak for the sake of
speaking or to mark your presence. Speak
only to add value, not presence”.
“Remember never raise your pitch. Speak
softly with measured words. Hear your own
self while speaking. Never be critical of the
views expressed by the past speakers.
Thank them for their perspectives and then
offer your own. If you are known for your
competence, people will instinctively wait
to hear your views. In fact they might ask
you to say something. If you are known
only to speak for the sake of speaking, then
people will wait for you to shut up and even
interrupt your speaking. The bottom line is
you will be heard only for your competence
and capability. If you have it, then your
“How can we be heard”?
Dr. Kiran Bedi is currently the Director General, Homeguards and Director, Civil Defence
contribution will always be awaited and
valued: To be heard raise your worth, not
your voice”.
Naturally, next question was: “How do
we raise our worth”?
“By respecting your own work
Through regular and daily preparation: Do
not put your work on hold at every home or
personal pressure: (As some women do)
Work has to be kept on a parallel priority to
run alongside all others. And it must have its
time and space. Women as mothers, wives,
daughters-in-laws or relatives, tend to
lower work priorities more often
(comparatively) by all 'other's' needs. (Even
when there is no urgency) This makes you
(women) taken for granted. Please
volunteer for advanced training
opportunities. Keep yourselves up to date
on the latest at work. Do not postpone
learning. It must run parallel if you wish to
remain center stage!
The next question came not as a surprise:
“What do we do if we are sidelined”?
'Make the sidelines the center of your
commitment'.
“Whatever you get, make that work the
center of your attention. Give it all your
best. Find ways and reasons to like it. Make
it grow as much as you can. Think and be
creative in it. Do not sulk. Take it or leave it.
Exercise that choice. If you do not leave,
because you do not have a choice, or you
want to stay, despite the situation, then
adopt it. Mother it! Do not orphan it.
Nurture it. Reward it. By your ignoring and
sulking, you punish yourself and your work.
Never punish your work for it hurts your
employees even more. They look up to you
for leadership, guidance, care, growth and
recognition--.all that you want from your
own senior. Learn the art of self reward.
Dependence on external recognition creates
dependence. Train to be independent of it.
Or else it will be a weakness others could
exploit. It will become as favors done in the
expectation of returns of all kinds which
may compromise you professionally or
personally. Let rewards happen naturally.
Make 'sidelines' (if you think they are) your
center. Let others wonder what is so special
in your work that keeps you contented and
happy. Remember no one has time for
complaints. State your mind when there is
an opportunity to do so. You are the best
judge. Meanwhile learn to be centered
yourself.
I then asked if I could ask a question from
the women in the audience.
I queried where is your next generation?
They said, “very few are interested in
networking”.
The audience mostly comprised of middle
age professionals and very few in 30-35s.
Remember, I said, “we need to co-opt, and
prepare to pass on batons. Also deepen the
expectation of making the difference! We
need to build on our positive perspectives
which people still have of women in
leadership and decision making positions.
(We have exceptions of course)”.
In the end I wondered if these issues were
not equally of the other gender. Yes indeed
– But certainly more for women in
management! Primary reason being women
in professional leadership are the first
generation. Work culture they are working
in, is not their creation. It is inherited.
Change is taking its time along with, its toll.
Women must not pass on the hurt. This is if
this cycle of being sidelined or 'not being
heard' is to decrease!
[Note : The National Conference of Women
Professionals that is referred here was held on 11th
Feb, 2006 organized by Forum of Women in Public
Sector at New Delhi. ]
– As told to Sai Sudha,
PGPM Class of 2006

India is fast
losing its
competitive
advantage as a
low cost producer
of goods and
services. What
are the key issues
India Inc. needs
to address to make a successful transition
to high value services?
Transitioning to high value services is
going to require not only creating the brand
promise in that market space but also
delivering on that promise. Delivering on
that promise will in turn require cultivating
the value-oriented mindset at all levels
within Indian companies. So helping
initiate, navigate and sustain this kind of a
systemic mindset change will be extremely
important for the leadership teams in these
organizations. Organizations can start with
reassessing their strategies in their
enterprise level accounts, or key accounts.
As Phil Kotler and Neil Rackham, my
mentors and co-authors, point out, the
mindset of a high value services provider
has to be very different from that of a
transactional services provider. High value
service providers are expected to co-create
value for the client’s enterprise at all levels.
This therefore implies that all levels of
contact with the client’s organization are
designed and coordinated to move towards
The Mind of a Strategist
Dr. Suj Krishnaswamy, Principal, Strategic Insights Inc., Chicago, IL.
The next big thing in the management world is the co-creation of
value, meaning: the creation of value in collaboration with the
customer. It is an all-encompassing term.
the overarching strategy. It also implies it is
no longer sufficient to be involved only at
the level of multiple renewable short-term
projects.
What do you think are the learnings for
the West from the outsourcing led growth
of Indian economy?
First, India has set a great example in
showing what commitment to great
education and family values can do for a
nation. Second, the phenomenal growth of
the Indian economy from outsourcing has
helped the West truly understand the
implications of a “flat world” (to borrow
Tom Friedman’s term).
Why do you think Marketing and Sales
teams work in “silos”?
The “silos” are more prevalent in traditional
companies and reflect the historical
relationship, when sales started running the
show and marketing was a sub-function. As
companies grow and evolve they realize
that aggressive growth cannot happen
unless marketing and sales are in sync. In
fact they realize the phenomenal reduction
in sales cycle times and sales costs as sales
and marketing are integrated. As you know,
this is the focus of my research with Phil
Kotler and Neil Rackham and is the topic of
our Harvard Business Review paper, in case
you want more details. We are now
extending this work to India in
collaboration with Dr. Bala.
What are your suggestions to integrate
Sales and Marketing strategies and how
does Strategic Insights, Inc. work with
companies to achieve this?
The first thing we look at is the
organization’s growth agenda. Where does
it want to go and what does it need to get
there? This is ascertained through sessions
with the CEO and his or her team. This
process involves answering three broad sets
of questions:
What value does the organization choose to
provide that gives it competitive advantage
overall and in its various lines of business?
What does it need to do to create that value?
How can it communicate that value
consistently in the marketplace?
Strategic Insights uses the Kotler and
Rackham framework to help companies
integrate sales and marketing strategies to
successfully choose, create and
communicate the right value in the market.
What suggestions would you give to a
consultant who is creating a marketing
strategy for a firm?
A major suggestion would be to look at how
marketing and sales are structured. Then
look at the overall growth agenda of the
company and work backwards and ask:
What needs to happen, and how can
marketing and sales be integrated to achieve
the needed growth?
SWIM
18

SWIM
19
How has marketing research evolved
over the years and how are companies
leveraging it as a strategic weapon to
fend off competition?
Definitely there have been significant
advances in terms of the sophistication of
the techniques being developed. We cannot
just be generating data charts without
extracting implications. And that’s where
market research and market strategy truly
interface. As Phil Kotler says, there are
three steps: “What So?” is the description of
the current state that market research
initially answers; we then consider the
implications of all we’ve learned and
answer the question “So What?” and then
finally we should get to the prescriptive
question “What Next?”
On the question of how companies use
research data to fend off competition, one
company might take the numbers, analyze
the implications and use them productively
to tackle the next wave of competition,
while another might just say, “Hmm,
interesting learning,” and continue to
operate as they always have. The way you
fend off competition is by acting on
research and using it as a sensing and
tracking mechanism. If you look at it as a
fad or the flavor of the month you are not
going to able to use it as a strategic weapon.
Research is an ongoing component that
grounds successful organizational strategy.
Last 50 years have seen buzz words like
total quality, competitive advantage,
reengineering, core competencies etc.
What do you think is going to be the
“next big thing” in management?
It is already here in the management world.
It is co-creation of value, meaning: the
creation of value in collaboration with the
customer. It is an all-encompassing term. It
addresses the key question: “How are we
going to involve all stakeholders like client
organizations as well as our eco-system to
co-create value?”
On the flip side, how do you think such
fads have actually affected companies?
Fads will always be there. The problem is
when companies adopt a “flavor of the
month” growth strategy. This is different
from truly understanding how the
marketplace is evolving and making the
necessary adaptation. If leaders in
organizations do not have an idea or
roadmap as to where the company is
headed, there will be dissonance in the
organization. There will be a tendency to
adopt one strategy and put processes in
place and then before that strategy begins to
pay off hop onto another strategy,
eventually leading to unsatisfactory results
overall.
What are your 3 key take-aways from
interacting with great minds like Philip
Kotler and Neil Rackam?
1. To be open and committed to lifelong
learning. Phil and Neil never say they
are the gurus or let others perceive that
they have all the answers.
2. To be discerning about ideas. This is
about being open to ideas from all
spheres but very discerning about what
is accepted.
3. Having an eclectic perspective: Being
open to sharing knowledge and working
with people from different
backgrounds, cultures, industries and
spheres of life. Phil Kotler has written
books on marketing and positioning in
almost every major field from
performing arts to marketing of
countries. Neil Rackham was raised in
Asia, did his higher studies in the UK
and has conducted most of his
breakthrough sales turnaround work in
the US and around the world.
The number of women at the helm of
companies is very low. Great Lakes
through the SWIM (Successful Women
in Management) initiative look to
empower women in business. What are
your suggestions to make this a success?
I have to congratulate Great Lakes on
launching this initiative. Hats off to
Dr Bala for kicking this off! You have a
great team and I am delighted to be a part
of it. Along with opportunities being
available, it is also important to help
women overcome hurdles that hold them
back from pursuing challenging senior
leadership positions. Hence, one of the key
areas for SWIM initiatives to focus on
would be helping professional women tear
down the barriers that prevent them from
realizing their potential-these barriers could
be work related, family related or
psychological.
Dr. Suj Krishnaswamy is a principal at
Strategic Insights Inc, a global business
strategy and management consulting firm
(www.stinsights.com), headquartered in
Chicago. She is currently working on a
major project with Prof. Philip Kotler
and Prof. Neil Rackham on sales
marketing integration and its implications
for growth. She can be reached at
sujk@stinsights.com.
– As told to B Vasanth Sandilya and
Ramesh Chandramouli ,
PGPM Class of 2006

Find your passion and
just do it, but without
forgetting the basics --
attention to customers,
brand and people.
Interview with
Mr. Francisco D'Souza,
Chief Operating Officer, Cognizant
Being the fastest IT
services company
to touch $1 billion
revenue run rate,
there seems to be
something magical
about Cognizant's
strategies. What
would be your
response to this statement?
Cognizant reached the $1 billion revenue
run rate in 12 years primarily because of
focus on making our customers' business
stronger. Every decision in the company is
taken by asking the primary question: “Is
this in the best interest of our customers, and
our customers' customers?”
Each of our strategic decisions having the
bulk of our executive management and
practice leaders in the markets that we
service, aligning ourselves along industry
segments of specialization as early as 1998,
managing our operating margins at a
threshold and re-investing the excess back
into the business, having an integrated
solutions approach by embedding our
consulting, applications outsourcing and
BPO practices within industry segments has
been driven by one single goal of doing
what's in the best interest of our customers.
The second important reason for our
success has been our focus and discipline.
Our focus on business applications for
enterprise customers and the discipline to
measure our performance against two key
parameters customer satisfaction and
employee satisfaction have helped us grow
faster. We believe that if we take care of
these two parameters, revenue growth and
other operating financial metrics naturally
follow.
Cognizant's stock was recognized as one
of the best 5-year performers by WSJ
and has been added to the prestigious
NASDAQ 100 Index. How has the
company ensured such a consistent
strong financial performance?
We feel good that we have been recognized
among the best 5-year stock performers by
WSJ. It's a significant achievement and the
credit goes to our customers for reposing
faith in us and to all Cognizant associates
for consistently exceeding customer
expectations.
We are pleased that we have been added to
the prestigious NASDAQ 100 Index,
joining marquee names such as eBay, Intuit,
Yahoo, Microsoft, Dell and Starbucks,
companies that have defined new business
paradigms.
Cognizant's consistently strong financial
performance can be attributed to our
strategic decision to maintain our operating
margin at 20 per cent and reinvest anything
above that back into the business. That
positions us better for long-term sustained
revenue growth, and we are sure this begets
goodwill and credit from our investors.
By delivering consistent results, our
investors know that we understand the
underlying drivers in our business and
deliver on our promises.
The India based IT players have been
attempting to move up the value chain
into consulting. Some players are
offering it as an integrated service, while
others operate it as an independent
subsidiary. What would be Cognizant's
strategy in this space?
We view consulting as a critical ingredient
to provide clients with technology solutions
COO SPEAK
20

COO SPEAK
21
to business problems. We believe that
business transformations can only be
accomplished with a strong consulting
capability, which is tightly integrated with
the industry and technology capability
delivery organizations. Cognizant's
consulting capability is incorporated in two
places within the organization.
First, in our Business Technology
Consulting (BTC) Practice, which is
composed of an elite group of IT,
management and strategy consultants, who
provide a wide range of service offerings
including IT strategic planning, IT portfolio
analysis and technology rationalization,
offshore ability analysis, change
management and IT effectiveness
assessment. This practice is headed by
Kaushik Bhaumik, who was with
McKinsey and was instrumental in setting
up their business technology office before
joining us.
In addition, the consulting capability is also
incorporated in the “industry domain
consulting” teams that are embedded in
each of our industry groups. These teams,
which include several MBA graduates hired
from premier institutions and groomed over
the years, are focused on providing domainspecific
IT consulting services to our
clients.
It is interesting to note that Cognizant's ratio
of consultants with an MBA background to
those with a technology background is
among the highest in the industry reflecting
Cognizant's singular focus on business
applications and on providing technology
solutions to some of the most pressing
business problems that our clients face.
What would be Cognizant's response to
competition from the IBMs and
Accentures of the world that are moving
down the value chain and aggressively
ramping up their Indian operations?
Having a small number of traditional multinationals
enter the market has actually had
an unexpected benefit. It has served, in the
customer's eyes, to further validate the
global delivery model and has made clients
even more comfortable with using the
global delivery model for higher value
activities (such as complex development,
systems integration, etc.). This trend has
actually expanded the overall market and
greatly benefitted Cognizant.
When you compare us with the traditional
multi-nationals, they have been longer in
business and tend to have longer standing
customer relationships. However, we feel
that we are ahead in terms of our ability to
deliver complex services using a global
delivery model, which we've been doing for
much longer.
When you compare us with the top-tier
Indian peers, we are seen by customers and
analysts as better in customer relationship,
responsiveness and domain capability. This
is because we have a strong onshore
presence and have invested heavily in client
partnerships and domain excellence.
China is fast becoming a strong force to
reckon with in the IT services space as
well. China cannot be ignored anymore.
Even at Great Lakes, Mandarin is being
taught to all the students. Cognizant too
has opened its Chinese operations in mid
of 2004. How would you describe
Cognizant's China strategy?
China provides an important long-term
opportunity to a large talented group of IT
professionals outside of India. Cognizant
believes that supplemental development
capability in China will provide significant
advantages. However, there are some
challenges that we need to overcome
including IP concerns, language issues and
client perception that China is less
expensive than India (which is not the case).
Cognizant has established its presence in
Shanghai, China, for two key reasons - we
believe that China represents an interesting,
long-term capability, and we want to create
a global footprint and serve our
multinational customers in the Asia-Pacific
region, including China and Japan. This is
in tune with our international strategy of
having a global footprint with multicultural
workforce to serve global
customers.
The increasing multi-vendor contracts
opens up new challenges in terms of
working along with the competition. Do
you think this trend might increase,
going forward? How do you think
companies would handle this challenge?
In the last couple of years, customers'
reliance on a single vendor to provide endto-end
services has been diminishing.
Consequently, they are unbundling their
requirements and partnering with multiple
players in specific areas of their strengths -
such as application services, embedded
systems, remote network management, data
center management, voice-based call
centers, etc. We believe that this
development is good for Cognizant as it
plays well into our core competence of
staying focused in providing business
application services for enterprise
customers.
What do you think IT offshoring
companies need to equip themselves
with, if they were to be considered as
more of strategic partners, who would
provide complete IT solutions which are

aligned to the customer's business
strategy?
In short, they need to “invest” in their
business to proactively provide solutions to
clients' business problems leveraging
technology, rather than merely provide
technology capability. This means they
need to invest in understanding the client's
industry deeply, invest in a broader range of
services and build strong capability in each
of those segments, and invest in client
relationships.
I believe Cognizant has done this well,
which is reflected in our SG&A spend as a
percentage of revenue being significantly
higher than most other offshore players.
Cognizant has been able to “over-invest” in
its business, particularly in the areas of
domain expertise, relationship
management and business analytic
capabilities and therefore, to differentiate
itself. This has translated into aboveindustry
revenue growth rates due to strong
client acquisition, and more importantly,
great success in growing relationships once
the client is acquired.
With increasing competition and
commoditization in the application
management space, do you think
customer intimacy as a strategy will still
be able to drive the next level of growth or
do you see a need to shift towards an
operational efficiency focus?
In a Forrester note, Stephanie Moore stated,
“In customer loyalty, no one beats
Cognizant.” We strongly believe in
working with a limited number of
customers and providing increasing value
as we grow those relationships. Once we
establish tighter customer loyalty, our
ability to cross-sell and up-sell higher
value-added activities gets better, while
continuing to provide business-as-usual
application management services. In fact,
for Cognizant, since mid 2003, the growth
of our revenues from application
development, integration and higher valueadded
services has consistently outpaced
the growth in revenue from application
management services.
We believe that we are able to provide such
higher value largely because of our
investment in client relationships, domain
expertise, and technology excellence,
which, in turn, results in client loyalty.
Forrester had reported that Cognizant's
“Secret Sauce” is the presence of MBAs
who understand client's businesses
better. Being a technology company,
what kind of opportunities is the
company able to provide these MBAs in
order to attract them?
At Cognizant, MBAs undertake a number
of domain-led, business developmentrelated
and client-facing roles. The roles
that B-schools graduates normally take up
are business requirement analysis, business
development, opportunity assessment,
client relationship management, corporate
development, mergers and acquisition
assessment, change management and
business integration.
Cognizant has a separate career path for Bschool
graduates and they progress up the
ladder to take on practice leadership roles,
large client management roles and
corporate roles.
Cognizant, being a US listed company,
has a strong Indian presence and Indian
leadership which makes it unique among
the IT outsourcing players. Great Lakes
also believes in this 'best of both worlds'
model, providing American business
education combined with Indian ethos
with faculty from top U.S universities
teaching the students. How do you think
such a global and multi cultural exposure
help India make a mark in the global
business arena?
With businesses going global,
organizations need to have a global
mindset, multi-cultural workforce and
global footprint. As you rightly pointed out,
enjoying the best of many worlds brings
together an eclectic mix of best practices,
which helps an individual and an
organization to thrive better. The IT
industry is perhaps the most visible
example of an Indian industry that started
global and continues to remain global,
thereby making an indelible impression on
the global landscape.
You were awarded the ET
entrepreneurship award along with Mr.
Lakshmi Narayanan recently and were
also the 2004 Ernst & Young
Entrepreneur of the Year finalist. What
would be your advice to those MBAs who
aspire to take up the entrepreneurial
route?
The Indian economy is expanding at an
unprecedented pace. This has created and
will continue to create tremendous
opportunities for the entrepreneur. My
advice: Find your passion and just do it, but
without forgetting the basics -- attention to
customers, brand and people. I think that if
there is one lesson to be learnt from the
dizzying transformation that is taking place,
it is that there are no experts but only people
with varying degrees of knowledge. It is
only such a mindset that can help defy
conventional wisdom, think the
unthinkable and, as a result, create a great
new business!
- As told to Sathish Anand Seshadri &
Manu Venugopal
PGPM Class of 2006 (via email)
COO SPEAK
22

CHINESE CONNECTION
23
Across the
Great Wall
As Indian manufacturers foray across the Great
Wall in their efforts to expand businesses, the
economies of scope and scale from operating in
China continue to yield rich dividends. The Chinese
economy carries on its success story. But, is there
anything behind this perceived growth, is there that
quintessential ‘balance’? We find it out from
Mr. A. Natarajan, Vice President, Sundaram
Fasteners (Zheijang) Limited, as he speaks to
Abhinav Mittal and Nikunj Agarwal (students,
PGPM Class of 2006) from Great Lakes.
Sundaram Fasteners is known to be a cost
efficient and operationally excellent company.
Given that, what was your main objective of
setting up a base in China?
Our decision was purely based on market
opportunities, not costs. We could foresee the might
of India and China four years back. Most
automobile manufacturers, American or European,
began moving to China and this threw up a huge
market potential. There is a huge domestic market
as well and the future of automobile and related
industries appears bright. Sundaram Fasteners
decided to move there to be a part of the booming
economy.
Also, there is nothing like ‘being in the market
place’, the experience is unique and it eliminated
lots of myths based out of India with regard to doing
business in China.
What were the assumptions and beliefs with
which you entered China? To what extent did
they hold true?
This is a very easy question but very difficult to
answer. Before taking such a step, we considered
business numbers on potential buyers. But coming
to running a business, one can’t really anticipate or
plan till one embarks on it. We were sure that the
market can be captured, but the problem was that
we thought it to be easy. But there we found that we
have to build relationships, they have to visit you,
understand you, and it is a long process. (Abhinav
says “Guan Xi?”) . Guan Xi is doing, first step is
you have to understand. They will not believe you
initially. We did not anticipate that it will take us so
long. It was mainly with regard to the timeline that
our assumptions got deviated. So, we had to change
our marketing strategy to the extent of
concentrating points with regard to time.
Do you think there is disproportionate support
and encouragement given by the Chinese
Government to different types of industries, or
is it evenly spread across?
When the Chinese started their reforms, they were
not specific about any industry. However, there has
been some classification subsequently. They have
preferential categories I, II and III, ranging from
‘most welcome’ to ‘not welcome’. Whatever
relates to technology and results in its infusion is
given most preference under Category I. Also,
there are certain industries where the Chinese resist
divesting their control.
Does there seem to be any discrimination in the
approach of the Chinese authorities with regard
to the origin of investors or industrialists?
No, they do not differentiate as such among foreign
investors. As long as what one brings in benefits
China, they are most willing to extend their support
and coordination.
Would you say that there are large scale
diversities and deficiencies in skill sets of the
labour force in China?

Management, per se, is a new phenomenon in China.
There is a dearth of high quality managerial skills,
and coupled with the need for ability to
communicate in English, this problem intensifies.
Getting a good manager with adequate knowledge is
tough. This gives immense opportunities to
management institutions like Great Lakes to try and
leverage upon their strengths. The Chinese focus
more on physical activity than mental activity. That
is a difference between the West and China.
Second largest economy in the world in terms of
GDP on Purchasing Power Parity, and 85th on
the Human Development Index (HDI). Does this
indicate that China is growing or surging ahead
in true sense?
There are definite differences in quality of life
across regions. Cities like Shanghai are amazing in
every sense, yet the central and western regions lack
similar development. Then, even in developed
cities, there is high air pollution and water pollution.
So, there are areas of concern and the Chinese are
conscious of it.
Another aspect of questions on balanced growth
in China relates to personal freedom. People are
not allowed to have a second child. Is such a curb
the right path to growth?
Yes, there are punitive implications of having more
than one child, they make people pay more taxes,
could deny them housing loans or even break their
houses. This does appear extreme in its own sense.
But now this has also created some amount of
aversion among the Chinese towards a second child.
It is not necessarily out of fear of punishment, but
out of own will, the resultant financial burdens and
the likes. The one child norm also in some way
adversely affects the attitude of the next generation
as they do not get to know much about sharing and
responsibilities. But another potential problem this
rule could lead to in few decades is a paucity of
enough people in the working age group.
Moreover, there are other forms of curbs too, like
freedom of speech, right or access to information,
freedom of press, etc. which are not signs of a
developed society.
Is Chinese growth just east-costal growth? How
would you view the imbalance across regions?
See you can understand what China is today is all
from twenty five years of growth. In such time they
can’t have growth all over, given the mammoth size
of their country, which is almost thrice that of India.
You need to start somewhere. So they concentrated
on the three deltas - Pearl River, Yangtze River and
Yellow River. But now, the Government is
encouraging development in other regions by means
incentives and benefits. They are conscious about
the imbalances but it will not be an easy going.
Upcoming Beijing Olympics is creating a lot of
fanfare. How much of its benefits do you think
will spiral down to an average Chinese?
To a great extent! Olympic Games are creating
substantial infrastructure. This leads to high demand
and employment in industries like steel and cement,
among others. And they, in turn, mostly employ
people from the low income groups. Moreover, lot of
labour migration too is happening as there is vast
demand in and around Beijing. Further, Olympics
brings in loads of tourists, which again benefits the
class of people working in hospitality,
transportation, entertainment, tourist services, etc.
Effectively, Chinese Government is spending huge
sums for the Olympics, and its benefits will accrue
down to the people ultimately.
Lastly, what are the key lessons that India learn
from China to have a balanced growth?
Clarity - Be clear with what we want to achieve.
Today we talk about everything. But India needs to
understand the key areas they need to concentrate
and have a growth map instead of doing things in bits
and pieces in every sphere.
Walk the Talk – I feel we talk a lot and do a little. That
may be because of accountability is not spelt out,
measures of performance are not clearly defined.
Speed – Decision-making in China is very fast,
possible because of the structure of their polity and
also the willingness. But India is very slow on acting,
and mostly a lot of time is wasted in pointless debates
to satisfy the petty interests.
Focus – They Chinese are much focused. If there is
anything they want to do, they will do and would not
allow stumbling blocks to stand in their way. This
kind of a focus is a desperate need of the hour for
India specially.
India needs to learn to have a clear cut target, break it
down into deliverables and attach the deliverables to
accountability. Only then it can be ensured that
things happen and reach the desired ends given the
‘system’ that we have as a bottleneck.
Mr. Natarajan led the initiative of Sundaram
Fasteners in China when they started operations in
2004. He has been with the company since 1982. A
B.Tech graduate from IIT-Madras, Mr. Natarajan
pursued his MBA from OUBS, UK and has served as
the Chairman of CII, Pondicherry Chapter.
CHINESE CONNECTION
24

EVENTS @ GREAT LAKES
25
It came, we saw, it conquered! That was
L'Attitude 13°05, the maiden inter
business-school fest of Great Lakes
Institute of Management, Chennai. An
inspiring endeavor of students from the
second batch of this young institute,
L'Attitude 13°05 was unique and
captivating in every sense of the word.
The name L'Attitude 13°05 was derived
from 13-05' N, the latitudinal location of
Chennai, and sought to exude the one-word
secret for success, 'attitude' in it. The
message was indicative of convergence of
attitudes at the north equatorial location of
Chennai, for an intense and exciting
management fest.
This edition of L'Attitude 13°05 had its
theme as 'Womb to Tomb Striving for
Endurance'. The theme was an underlining
premise on which survival in today's
competitive world rests. It was chosen to
signify the eternal need for determination
and competence in every walk of life, which
characterizes the ones who have tasted
success and also those on way to succeed.
Extending over two days, L'Attitude 13°05
comprised speaker sessions in the first half
of each day, and competitive events in the
remaining half. The speaker sessions,
termed Great Lakes Conclave, featured
addresses by renowned members from the
industry and the academic spectrum. This
was an intentional effort to carry forth the
spirit of academic and industrial
L'Attitude13º05
partnership which has been a hallmark of
Great Lakes. The knowledge and
experience of the speakers made them no
less than authoritative in their areas of
specialization. This gave a golden
opportunity to the audience of students and
corporate guests to listen to and interact
with the much cherished names.
The Great Lakes Conclave
The Conclave was supposed to kick start
our maiden festival L'Attitude 13º05 and as
it turned out, it did much more than that. It
was in the true sense, a Conclave, where
great minds and splendid executors shared
their thoughts, vision and strategies with an
eager audience, setting the tone for the next
two days and setting a high bar for the
events to come.
The Conclave was split into four parts, with
two sessions on each of the two days. The
first day began with luminaries such as
Former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
Dr. N Chandrababu Naidu as the Chief
Guest, Honorable Member of Parliament,
Rajya Sabha, Mr. Jairam Ramesh as the
Guest of Honor and Distinguished
Professor of Material Science, Carnegie
Mellon University, Dr. V.S. Arunachalam
as the President along with our Honorary
Dean Dr. Bala.V. Balachandran.
Mr. A. Mahendran, MD, Godrej Sara Lee
was the keynote speaker while
Mr. A. Vellayan, MD & Member of the
Board of Murugappa Group gave the
special address. Dr. Balachandran started
off the session with the kind of energy that
only he can exhibit introducing the
dignitaries on the dais filled with anecdotes.
Dr. Naidu shared his vision for Andhra
Pradesh and also talked about the various
programmes that he undertook as Chief
Minister. His foresight and drive was
clearly uncommon for politicians as we
know them. Mr. Jairam Ramesh was
infectious with his wit and left the audience
spell bound with an extempore that urged
the citizens of the nation, especially the lot
privileged with education, to shed their
apathy towards 'The system' and join the
democratic process. Dr. Arunachalam
shared his thoughts on 'The Winners Curse',
the other side being the innovator while
Mr. Mahendran shared the Good Knight
success story as part of the theme 'Womb to
Tomb Striving for Endurance'. Mr. Vellayan
concluded the session by sharing his
strategic view on Murugappa Group and a
roadmap that would allow them to forge
ahead as one of the largest conglomerates in
the country
In the second session of Day 1 at the
Conclave we had with us Mr. Suhas
Gopinath, CEO, Globals Inc. - the youngest
entrepreneur at the age of 19. He endeared
the audience with his success story as he
went to explain how uncomfortable it was at
times for him to address a gathering of
MBA graduates all of whom were most
definitely older than him. By the end of his

talk, there were a lot of bright eyed and
moon struck MBA students dreaming about
their entrepreneurial ventures. He spoke
about the starting problems that he faced as
minor setting up a business in India and how
he overcame it by incorporating the
company in the US. Mr. K.S. Ramesh,
CEO, CavinKare Personal Care Division
spoke about CavinKare's claim to fame. He
traced the success of CavinKare which
went on to challenge the giant of the FMCG
industry in India. His passion for his job
came through when he detailed the strategy
that CavinKare adopted to compete with the
biggies in the industry. With placements
around the corner, his passionate talk
captivated the students and made them look
at FMCG with a greater awareness.
On the second day, the first session
saw industry heavy weights such as
Mr. Subu D. Subramaniam, Director and
SVP, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. and
Mr. A Sarvanan, President, Allsec
Technologies. Each one of them being
leaders in their own right showed the
direction in which the fast growing IT &
ITES sectors would head. Mr. Badri
Govindrajan, VP, Brakes India, brought in
the different perspective while he spoke
about the phases that the manufacturing
sector has gone through. Mr. Harish Bijoor,
CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc., ushered
in a breeze of humor while talking about the
future of retailing in India. His anecdotes on
customer experiences in various countries
and businesses had the audiences in splits.
But the highlight of the session
undoubtedly was the presence of the
renowned Mr. Sam Pitroda, CEO, Worldtel,
also known as the 'father of the telecom
revolution' in the country through a video
conference. He shared the experiences in
his life which he presented in the form of '10
lessons from life'. These were just the
inspiration that the management graduates
present in the audience were looking for as
they head out of academics. The surprise
package of the session came all the way
from the Kellogg School of Business, from
the 'Guru of Marketing', the one and only
Dr. Philip Kotler. He had a recorded
message for the students of Great Lakes in
conversation with Dr. Balachandran.
Receiving support from someone of his
stature has compounded the energy of the
students.
The final session was meant to end the
Conclave with a bang and the discussion on
'Rural Marketing' did just that. Chaired by
Dr. Rakesh Singh from Great Lakes, the
panel comprised Mr. P. G. Ponappa, CEO,
n-Logue Communications, Mr. R.V. Rajan ,
Chairman and MD, Augrah Madison
Advertising Company Ltd, and
Mr. Rangaswamy Elango, Panchayat
President, Kuthambakkam. The discussion
beautifully surfaced the needs of the rural
folk with a passionate extempore from
Mr. Elango. Mr. Ponappa highlighted the
innovative programs that his company has
undertaken in taking technology deep into
rural areas and the impact it has made on the
lives of people living there. Mr. Rajan
showcased instances of rural
communication that have been successful
which underlined the differences in mass
marketing communications between urban
and rural areas. Finally, Dr. Rakesh Singh
brought the pieces together to paint a
holistic picture of needs, gaps, viability and
strengths of rural marketing. The Conclave
could claim to have been one of the few
forums for rural marketing amongst
B-schools.
The Conclave at L'Attitude 13°05 enabled a
healthy interaction of thoughts and ideas
and provided a much needed forum for
corporate-academic interface. It created an
intellectually stimulating environment,
with the promise that the Great Lakes
Conclave at L'Attitude 13°05 in 2006
would be bigger, better and more
enthralling!
L'Attitude 13°05 Events
The stage was set. The battle lines were
drawn. The writing was on the wall!!
Following the Conclaves, the cynosure at
L'Attitude 13°05 shifted to Buena Vista
Beach Resorts, the official venue for
competitive events at L'Attitude 13°05. A
picturesque venue by the sea, just off the
East Coast Road, Buena Vista was all set to
witness a clash of the titans who had
traveled from all across the country to reign
supreme. Home to all visiting participants
during the span of L'Attitude 13°05, Buena
Vista turned into an epicenter of energy and
frolic as it played host to the events.
The events put to test the two most
important quotients: intelligence &
emotional and as the participants were
soaking up the pressure, the audience was
settling down to have their share of fun and
knowledge. Largely, the events were based
on functional areas of expertise, which are
detailed in brief hereunder.
Madison Avenue - Where street smartness
counts… Madison Avenue was an
EVENTS @ GREAT LAKES
26

EVENTS @ GREAT LAKES
27
advertisement event where street smartness
mattered. It sought to bring out the
advertisement acumen needed in an arena
with increasing competition and the need to
quickly react with tactical advertisements
which is critical to retain/protect the brand's
market share against popular rival
campaigns.
The preliminary round tested the
advertising knowledge and creativity, while
four best teams made it to the finals. In the
final round, the teams were shown a TV
Commercial that was very popular - to
which the team were to assume the position
of the competitors' Ad-agency and come up
with a suitable responsive commercial. The
event was judged by active professionals
from the advertising world. The team from
NITIE, Mumbai emerged on top while the
runners up were the contenders from SIBM,
Pune. Lifestyle Pvt Ltd was the sponsor for
the event.
Vitamin F - Growth par excellence! All it
takes to be a financial expert is that crucial
dose of Vitamin F, as the participants
discovered much to their delight at this
novel event. The topic for the event was
“Vision 2015: 3 Indian banks in the Fortune
500”. Its preliminary round was based on a
paper presentation and top three teams were
invited to make a presentation on the topic
to a panel of renowned finance
professionals who served as judges. In the
second round, each of the finalists was
pitted against each other as they presented
solutions to a case study. This was followed
by an invigorating round of questions from
the judges. After some intense
brainstorming, SCMHRD, Pune achieved
the 'Best Team' award.
The judges then selected three of the best
speakers who moved ahead to contend for
the coveted title of 'Finance Wizard'. This
subsequent round of Vitamin F was a
blockbuster where the judges could ask the
participants any question in the area of
finance. It was the tensest fifteen minutes
for the participants as they fielded questions
from banking to capital markets to portfolio
management to investment banking to
governance. After a lot of deliberation and
thought by the judges, Puneet Goyal of
MDI, Gurgaon emerged as the 'Finance
Wizard'. CI Technologies was the official
sponsor for Vitamin F.
Marksman - It is a vanilla world! But we can
always add flavor to it, can't we?
Marksman, the showcase event for
marketing at L'Attitude 13°05, was a unique
opportunity to flavor the 'vanilla world' with
creativity and imagination. It was an
exciting battleground for marketing
warlords in their quest for supremacy.
Comprising rounds that tested the
participants on marketing acumen, brand
knowledge and advertising creativity,
Marksman extracted an absorbing mix of all
tantras and mantras.
The event was divided into an eliminatory
quiz, non-verbal ad-making and marketing
case study. Spread over two days, it
witnessed exciting competition that saw the
winning laurels going to ICFAI Hyderabad
followed by IIM-Kozhikode. The event was
sponsored exclusively by Godrej
Industries.
Case Studies - This absorbing part of
L'Attitude 13°05 threw a gauntlet at the
contestants to research their repository of
knowledge and aptitude to provide real life
solutions to some real life cases. There were
two separate cases in this section. The first
was the 'Indian Terrain Case Study', which
primarily focused on the 'what next'
question in the space of retail apparels
industry with a pointed reference to product
portfolio expansion and multi-segment
pricing and presence.
The second case was a business challenge
on rural market management, authored by
our faculty Dr. Rakesh Singh. It looked at
rural retail formats and clearly brought out
the intricacies of doing business in rural
India. This event was sponsored by CI
technologies.
Based upon detailed analyses submitted in
advance, top qualifiers for the two cases
were invited to present before a panel of
judges in the battle for supremacy. The
winners for Indian Terrain case were MICA
and LIBA, while the Rural Business Plan
contest was won by IIM-Ahmedabad.
Flanges - Arguably the most critical of the
3Ms, management of Manpower, or
commonly known as human resource, is an
intriguing and beckoning topic of today. It is
one subject that has gained prominence
world over, in every sphere of business, and
so it was at L'Attitude 13°05. 'Flanges', as
the event was called, was a call to the
budding HR professionals to test and
exhibit their skills upon the challenges
posed by the 'head-hunting' culture of today.
'Flanges' made the participants ponder over
the growing trend of youngsters joining
'just any job' that provides a decent pay
package. The concern for learning and
value addition to themselves seems to be
compromised for lucrative salaries. Will

this just create a pool of 'modern-day'
clerks? Will it rock the boat of professional
careers in later ages of today's youth? Is this
short term vision sustainable and desirable?
These were the concerns presented in the
form of a case, which saw the top teams
from prelims qualifying for final
presentations. The hard-fought event ended
with IIM-Kozhikode claiming the top
merits.
Black Deeds & White Collars - A white
world of horrors, crimes & mistakes
committed by corporates is what provides a
locale to businesses today. Enron, Arthur
Anderson, UTI .... This list is endless with
crisis striking companies. With the odds
mounting, each of the situations turns
trickier, more treacherous. Silence could
spell disaster. However, there is a small sign
of hope, something that may be able to
dispel the clouds of doom. It's called, 'Black
Deeds & White Collars'.
Subsequent to an elimination round that
short listed participants from a case
analysis, this event was eloquently won by
NMIMS (Mumbai) followed by SP Jain
(Mumbai). The 'battle royale' comprised of
creating a campaign for a hospital in
distress keeping in mind the finer nuances
of communication techniques in the
healthcare industry. This was probably one
of the finest and most acclaimed events of
all: an event that will carry on the spark that
ignited and will continue giving light to
L'Attitude 13'05.
Brains, Bizness & Megabucks - 'Save the
best for the last', is often said and heard, but
Brains, Bizness and Megabucks was a
living example justifying this saying. The
event had a perfect launch pad as a nice cool
breeze blowing from Bay of Bengal and
showers that had ceased to a pleasant
drizzle, set the tone for this mega outdoor
event - two days of hard work and fun
culminating in one of the most intriguing
and fiercely contested quiz competition. It
was exclusively sponsored by Allsec
Technologies.
With close to 40 teams taking part in the
prelims, we had people coming from far and
near just to take part in the quiz. Well, that
was the combined magic of L'Attitude
13°05 and the Pied Piper of quizzing, Giri
'Pickbrain' Balasubramaniam, who hosted
the show. The finals saw top 6 teams from
prelims squared off against each other on
the centre stage. The finalists were up for
some “rewarding” time, in terms of both
moolah and knowledge. So much for all
those who believed in paying to learn! For
about an hour and half, the finalists literally
baked their brains to earn the dough. ICFAI,
Chennai emerged triumphant at the end
with ISB as runners up. Brains, Bizness and
Megabucks signaled the curtains on a high,
for what turned out to be the two hottest
days in the month of December, courtesy
L'Attitude 13'05.
And …did you miss something?
Let the games begin! After a long hard
round of events on Day 1, the participants
were enthralled with a late night theatre
show by Freddy Koikaran and his group
form Stagefright Productions. If anyone
heard of 'playing to the audience', this
performance was to be seen to be believed.
The two short plays were a stellar combo of
wit and humor. This was rounded up by a
heart rendering dance performance by some
in house talents from Great Lakes. Ashok
Leyland was the 'Entertainment Sponsor'
for L'Attitude 13°05.
If Day 1 saw entertainment on stage, Day 2
had the night to unwind. The 'work hard and
play harder' culture was truly reflected as
some pulsating DJ-music set the dance floor
on fire. It was a thrilling time of some
hardcore grooving, in truly 'high' spirits. As
the morning rays of the sun pierced through
the quite dawn of the following day,
L'Attitude 13°05, 2005, saw its closing
moments. Moments, that will be there to
stay for long for all those who witnessed it,
and for those who did not, there is always
next time!
Sponsors
The success of L'Attitude 13°05 rested on
the tripod of students, management and
encouraging sponsors. An event of this
scale needed extensive support from the
corporate arena, and so it received. Godrej
Industries was the exclusive Title Sponsor
for L'Attitude 13°05, the only one in the
category of Platinum sponsors. Strong
support came in from IBM, Celebrity
Fashions and Cognizant Technology
Solutions who constituted the category of
Gold sponsors. The Silver sponsors
included CI Technologies, CavinKare,
Hyundai Electronics, Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd.
and Murugappa Group. The other sponsors
were Aryan Technologies, Henkel-Spic and
Red Bull. Indian Bank was the Banking
Partner while Pagalguy.com was the
official online partner.
– Nikunj Agarwal, Aditya Suresh and
Vinay Mony - PGPM Class of 2006
With inputs from Anirudh G., Kartik Mody,
Akil A., and P.B. Lakshmikant
EVENTS @ GREAT LAKES
28

EVENTS @ GREAT LAKES
29
Deepak Chopra
Fund Raising Event
In the world of business, relationships are the key to
success, says the new age guru Deepak Chopra.
People at every level have a deep need for
relationships, and catering to that need might
ultimately determine the success of an
organization. Dr. Chopra, speaking at a fund-raiser
organized by the Great Lakes Institute of
Management said that fortunately some businesses
have started measuring their success not in terms of
maximizing shareholder wealth, but in terms of
maximizing employee potential and contribution to
society.
There is a link between employee loyalty and
shareholder value. Nurturing emotional bond
among employees leads to loyalty, loyal employees
attract loyal customers, and loyal customers
enhance shareholder value, he said. “You need to
run the business like a family and nurture emotional
bonding,” he said. Story telling can be used as an
effective tool to nurture relationships at all levels.
“Businesses are built on stories, It is all about who
has a better story,” he said.
Dr. Chopra says that “Often, it is not the change
itself that we fear, but the fear that we will have to
adapt our rigid sense of self to a new set of
circumstances. We lock into an identity that defines
us - married, single; rich, poor; old, young - and any
change that threatens that identity is viewed with
suspicion. Change can also make us feel out of
control, helpless, and at the mercy of chaos.
Although we cannot stop the cycles of change from
turning, we can learn to see change as a friend rather
than a foe. One way of doing that is what I call
"seeing the possibilities" - something I refer to in
The Book of Secrets. For me, this approach is
crucial for shifting my attitude towards change. It
involves seeing the possibilities in whatever
happens, even if the situation seems dire. It means a
willingness to take a deep look into whatever arises,
even a sense of disappointment or loss. As the Sufi
poet Rumi described in one of his poems, "Every
need brings in what's needed/pain bears its cure like
a child." If you do not get what you expected, look
at what you got. Where is the gift in what you
received? Is there a way you can transform it into an
opportunity to learn? In this approach, change is
accepted, not denied. A sense of spaciousness
enters in. On a profound level, every event in life
has two possible causes. Either what happens is
positive, or it is bringing up something you need to
learn in order to create something positive. It is the
same with the body. What happens inside a cell is
either healthy activity or a sign that a correction is
needed. Although life can seem random, in fact
everything is pointing to a greater good. Evolution
is not a win-lose crapshoot, but a win-win journey
to transformation. Even when we succumb to the
idea that life is unfairly arbitrary, the underlying
principles of consciousness hold true. Change can
be seen as the self-correcting mechanism that
aligns us with our purpose in life. If we can bring
ourselves in a leap of courage to embrace change as
our true teacher, our life hugely expands. We do not
try so hard to hold on to what we have, but learn
daily to let go of the subtle attachments that creep
into our minds. We find our own rhythm in the
cycle of change: the expansion and the contraction,
the light and the dark. Accepting change is the
antidote to suffering. In order to find peace, we
need to allow things to be in a constant state of
flux”.
Five Principles of Consciousness
It adjusts to your desires.
It keeps everything in balance.
It attunes your individual life with the life of the
cosmos.
It makes you aware of your behavior.
It shows you the karmic effect of your actions.
Finally, he says that knowing your body type is
essential to understanding yourself. When you find
out what is actually going on inside, you will no
longer be bound by society's notions of what you
should be doing, saying, thinking, and feeling.

Organizing
Human Capital
Dr. Hayagreeva Rao
Dr. Hayagreeva Rao is a Professor of
Organizational Behavior and Director of Human
Resource Executive Program at Stanford Graduate
School of Business. This guest lecture was handled
by way of a case study approach, which in a way
was very different from the ones in the past. The
gist of the lecture is as follows:
The professor discussed about a few aspects of
human behavior, as a series of commonly believed
fallacies.
Fallacy of redundancy - The belief that two is
always better than one. Redundancy is good in
technical systems but it actually acts as a deterrent
to effectiveness in social systems. This concept
was wonderfully explained with the example of
cops on patrol, where one cop has been found to be
more effective than two were.
Fallacy of Centrality - If you have the central
node, info is being fed to the central node. How this
information is being used is a totally different
question. The centrality was one of the critical
issues of the problem of the US Air force in the case
discussed. Though everyone updates information
to the central node, there is no way to knowing if
those information are being used effectively or not.
Practical drifts - you may have rules but there is
drift. It is not hard to formulate rules in a system.
The key challenge is making the rules effective. In a
lot of cases, the presence of rules gives a false
assurance to people, which is practically not the
case.
Whenever any one joins an organization newly, one
of the key things to be done is to check and
understand the cognitive hygiene of any
organization. The next step should be working
towards a cognitive repair. In organizations, people
should be able to ask the right questions.
The Professor highlighted the cognitive hygiene
using examples from Starbucks and Tesco. Either
the cognitive repair could be top down or bottom
up, as in the case of Xerox, where they innovatively
solved the problem of improving customer service,
cost effectively.
In effect, organizations should focus on
investments in improving the collective mind and
not on improving individuals. They should focus on
increasing the diversity of people, inject doubt and
questioning in the organization.
GUEST LECTURES
30

GUEST LECTURES
31
Many a Slip
Between the Cup and the Lip…
Prof. Aswath Damodaran
Prof Aswath Damodaran is the Professor of
Finance at the Stern School of Business, New York
University.
Prof Damodaran is recognized worldwide as the
leading mind and expert in the area of Valuation.
His website has enabled many students and
corporates to learn the concept concisely.
The audience was spell bound and engaged on the
intricacies of valuation. Prof Damodaran shared
with us his three fundamental rules of valuation a)
Remember when you are bidding against someone
and when u are not; b) Words like synergy, growth
potential have no value & c) Without Cash flows,
no valuation is possible. He advised us not to follow
the herd mentality like the way of the lemmings and
to stop and think and re-look the fundamentals and
value drivers. According to him, valuation gives us
a life vest i.e. it justifies perceptions.
He demystified the myth that valuation is a search
for true value by stating that valuation was biased
and it was only a question of how much and in
which direction. He also stated that the bias and the
magnitude to valuation are directly proportional to
the amount paid to the person doing the valuation.
Another secret he shared with the students when
doing a valuation was not to come back with a nice
round figure but to always end the final figure in
decimals as it has the potential to create an amazing
illusion.
He also lamented the sad state today of price being
paid arrived at first and then a valuation done to
justify the same. He stressed the importance of
liquidity and control by using the example of Mittal
Steel's bid on Arcelor. The real value of control is
because L.N. Mittal feels he can run Arcelor better
than the current top management. He also stated
that hostile acquisitions are no longer done on
financial terms but to quench one's emotions. He
also cited the case of Time Warner's acquisition of
AOL as among the worst in the history of M&A in
corporate America.
The second myth that he demystified was that a
good valuation provides a precise estimate of value
but in reality, there are no precise valuations. He
also stated that the payoff to valuation is greatest
when valuation is least precise. The third myth he
demystified was the notion that the more
quantitative the model, the better the valuation. The
fascination for a quantitative model by most
investment banks has led them to create complex
models but has later resulted in what he calls 'input
fatigue'. He provided examples of how simpler
valuation models do much better than complex
ones. He used the three methods of a) Discounted
cash flow model b) Relative valuation c)
Contingent claim valuation to value two Indian
companies Wipro and Tata Chemicals, to highlight
its practical use.

Behavior of Organizations,
The Challenge and Excitement of
Leading Change in Organizations
Dr. Jitendra V. Singh
Dr. Jitendra V Singh, Saul P Steinberg Professor of
Management, Wharton Business School,
University of Pennsylvania.
It was transformational beginning to 2006 for the
students of Great Lakes. Dr. Singh donned the role
of the chief protagonist. It was by far the longest
and most stimulating lecture on the behavior of
organizations, the challenge and excitement of
leading change in organizations. In the first
session, he covered the theoretical aspects of
organizational change and in the second session, he
used many case studies to explain the challenges
faced during change and how leadership enabled
transformation.
In the first session, he covered a wide area of topics
ranging from organizational change, adaptation
and its decline, organizations, markets &
information, capitalism and state centered
socialism, organizational change and societal
change. He cited examples on organizational
change ranging from living systems to
governments to religious institutions and
corporate. Change is today constant. Change is
forced when there is a gap from where we currently
are to where we ought to be.
He cited the examples of India adapting to change
in 1991 when it was forced to open its economy due
to circumstances ranging from the collapse of the
Soviet Union and its allies to disruption of oil
supplies. He also cited the example of the pressures
faced by the U.S. catholic churches to change their
stand on abortion as the values of the society had
changed. He also used the examples of enormous
change undergone by tobacco companies in the
U.S. as their survival was under threat.
On the topic of capitalism and state centered
socialism, he impressed upon us the advantages
and disadvantages of both economic systems.
However, on an aggregate level, he stated that
economies that followed free market economics
were able to create more wealth. The role of the
Government in free markets was to help address the
issues of wealth redistribution. Government, he felt
should restrict itself to improving basic amenities
like health, education, infrastructure and defense.
Dr. Singh explained the practical challenges,
difficulties of organizational transformation by
using case studies of a) Chrysler under the times of
Lee Iacocca and its merger with Daimler Benz, b)
the dramatic turnaround of Nissan Motor Co under
the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, c) the revitalization
of IBM under the leadership of Louis Gertsner, d)
the transformation of British Airways as a world
class airline company under the leadership of Sir
Colin Marshall and Lord John King, e) the rise of
Nokia as the No. 1 player in the mobile phone
industry under the leadership of Jorma Ollila, f) the
continuing problems of General Motors under
Roger Smith and Rick Wagoner.
GUEST LECTURES
32

GUEST LECTURES
33
Speaker: Prof. Sunil Chopra, Kellogg School of
Management
Dr. Chopra's talk focused on the "surplus capacity"
of a supply chain. Surplus capacity refers to any
additional capacity left, after the current demand
has been met. The potential of the surplus capacity
was elucidated by the example of Li & Fung, an
organization that liaisons between OEMs and
manufacturers. Say Nike wants to sell more shoes
of a particular style, whose sales have exceeded the
initial forecast. Nike contacts Li & Fung, who
identify manufacturers that can make the additional
quantity of shoes by using their additional capacity.
This model is beneficial to all the four stakeholders
- Nike, since it has more shoes to sell; the new
manufacturer, who can utilize his surplus capacity;
Li & Fung, who earn a commission; and Nike's
primary manufacturer, since they do not have to
make a small lot of shoes. An Indian example of
using the "Surplus capacity" is the production of
Lijjat Pappad, where rural womenfolk use their
spare time to prepare the dough, which they send to
a common location, where the pappad is prepared.
Dr. Lakshman Krishnamurthi, a Montgomery
Ward Distinguished Professor of Marketing,
Kellogg School, Northwestern University.
Dr. Krishnamurthi spoke about segmented pricing
and implemented segment pricing. He said that
segmented pricing is charging different prices for
the same product from different customers.
Customer values a product based on perceived
value derived from it. Higher valuation customers
would be charged higher than the lower valuation
customers would. A barrier to migration of high
valuation customers to buying products meant for
low valuation customers is essential for this to
succeed. A first step in setting segmentation is by
reducing price sensitivity. Reducing price
sensitivity increases the ability to charge a higher
price. Products with unique benefit, lower number
of substitutes, values that are difficult to compare,
lower cost, low product cost with respect to total
expenditure or as sunk costs; have lower price
sensitivity.
Speaker: Mr. Vijay Kamani, Founder, Radar
Securities, Commentator Economic Times,
TV 18
If ever there was customization of knowledge
dissemination to an audience, this guest lecture was
it. Mr. Kamani invited students to throw up
questions in the finance and financial markets. He
then led the students into the journey of financial
wisdom as he explained the various intricacies of
the operations of a market with ease. He explained
the various strategies of market participants and the
charm of the financial markets to induce people to
invest increasing the depth of the markets. He also
cautioned students not to base their investment
strategies on financial numbers and to go beyond
the numbers by looking at the strategies adopted by
the company and the forces that affect the players in
an industry.
He also explained the growing role of FII's in the
growth of the stock market. He strongly advocated
the need for a large and strong domestic MF
Industry to counter the FII's. He particularly
emphasized the recent upsurge in the purchasing of
MF units by the younger generation with
disposable income. He had a strong word of caution
in the pricing of IPO's even though the recent IPO's
have been very successful. He also advised young
people to stay away from commodities markets and
stick to the equities market as investor protection
laws was more in sync with global standards.
Speaker: Prof. Lloyd Shefsky, Clinical
Professor of Entrepreneurship and Co-Director,
Center for Family Enterprises, Kellogg School
of Management
Prof. Shefsky explained why entrepreneurship is
important for Employment. More jobs are created
entrepreneurially than the Fortune 500 companies.
Every year more jobs are lost in Fortune 500
companies and more jobs are created in self-owned
businesses. Innovation. A vast majority of new
entrepreneurial ideas are copied. It's not necessary
for an entrepreneur to innovate. Global
Differentiation is required for personal growth: in
terms of wealth creation, it is a self-created reason
to become an entrepreneur and sense of
achievement if you can do something that you are
passionate about. Multi disciplinary
entrepreneurship is becoming increasingly
important. Make a combination of various
technologies, services (IT, Retail, etc...).

Launch of Second Batch of
Executive MBA
Following the resounding success of the first batch
of Executive MBA which was launched in the
presence of the Strategy Guru, Dr. C.K. Prahalad in
December 2004, the second batch was started in
December 2005. The inauguration of the second
batch of the Executive MBA program of Great
Lakes was held on the 18th of December 2005 at the
Tata Consultancy Services Auditorium,
Sholinganallur, Chennai.
The occasion was graced by the presence of Mr. S.
Ramadorai, Chief Executive Officer, Tata
Consultancy Services and Mr. Ashok G Vadgama,
President, CAM I, United States.
In his address, Mr Ramadorai emphasized the need
for a large entrepreneurial class that will bring
innovation into business if India were to become a
super power by 2020. “Innovators need not exist
only in Information Technology, they could be
looking for new line of businesses, creating patents,
owning them and leveraging them. We are an
entrepreneurship-based organization. People with
entrepreneurship are given challenges and allowed
to take up independent projects” he told the students
of the institute. He also urged the students to chase
Ideas rather than chasing money. "If you set out to
make money, you might fail. But if you are utterly
convinced about an idea that can change lives and
the society, then you will be successful as a budding
entrepreneur," he said.
The Key note address was delivered by Mr. Ashok
G Vadgama, President, CAM I, a leading
management consultancy in the United States. “I
always tell our clients: `I don't want your money, I
want your participation. The money will come. The
whole world is about connectivity and
collaboration” is what he said, reiterating the point
made by Mr. Ramadorai.
In his inaugural address, Dr Bala V Balachandran,
Hon Dean, Great Lakes Institute of Management
said that the Indian economy has gained a
tremendous momentum which is going to place the
country among the top three leading economies of
the world.
Dr Paul Prabhaker, Associate Dean of Stuart
School of Business, Illinois Institute of
Technology, with which Great Lakes has an
academic tie up, welcomed the students to pursue
higher education at their institute but also added
that with the unlimited opportunities that India is
offering, the students might not want to go
anywhere.
Rakesh Singh, director of the Executive MBA
programme, thanked the speakers for their
participation at the inauguration ceremony that
began with a video address to students by
management guru Philip Kotler.
– K Vijayakrishna, PGPM Class of 2006
EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
34

THE YEAR THAT WAS
35
MAY
JUNE
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
The Year
that was...

NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
- Gopal Kavalireddi and Natasha Lobo, PGPM Class of 2006
THE YEAR THAT WAS
36

PERSPECTIVES
37
Masters of
Business Readiness
A poet once said “A rose is a rose is a rose”. So does
experience show that a manager is a manager is a
manager ? Not really !
Another poet said “A rose by any other name would
smell just as sweet”. A manager by any other name
is still a manager ? If you answered “Of course”,
you already know what I am talking about, if not,
buckle down for an interesting time !
A rose has a form with a color, but is recognized by
its fragrance. Similarly an MBA has an Institute
with a pedigree but is remembered for the results
produced ! Just like roses with no fragrance are used
for ornamental use, companies too have a collection
of ornamental managers who we will call
Administrators.
Companies that recruit MBAs are essentially
looking for results, but end up picking candidates
based on institute and pedigree with the added
qualification of marks and ability to talk.
Essentially, they hire the degree plus the ability to
talk smoothly. Therefore, in the effort to get them a
Butterfly, they get themselves a Pupa.
Most managers are formally created from ordinary
mortals by putting them through a course called
“Masters of Business Administration”(MBA). The
mindset that produces MBAs essentially believes
that business is an ongoing function and that the job
of an administrator/manager is to keep the business
rolling on at a steady clip. This mindset will teach
you the nuts and bolts of a business to ensure you
can keep the engine of the business going. If you
think through this paradigm, you will see that an
administrator is focused on the business and the
primary aim is to keep it running. This running of
the business on an even keel is “results” for most
companies!
A few bright sparks in these administrators get to
ask themselves the question “What purpose does
this business serve ?”. If they come to the answer
“To meet customer needs” they trigger a
metamorphosis! Suddenly, the butterfly that is the
manager is triggered in the pupa called the
A Need of the Hour?
administrator! Let me take you to the classic case of
IBM - the quintessential well run company, running
itself to business oblivion! It had stars, great
products, great processes, everything that was
needed to stay at the top forever! It was a well
administrated company as exemplified by the
words “well run”. It was well on its way to
becoming an “also ran”! It was Louis Gertsner who
asked the golden question and the rest is History!
MBAs are the ornamental roses and Pupae. The
roses and butterflies are what we refer to as Masters
of Business Readiness (MBR). Readiness to do
Business is the willingness to engage with the
Customer!
Why an MBA is referred to as a Pupa is because the
MBA is focused on the Business (internal) and
builds a mental cocoon against customers and
change. An MBA by definition has to consider
himself separate from the business to “maintain
perspective”. A MBR on the other hand is like a
butterfly that goes to the customer, gets the honey
and meets the Customer Need for pollination!
Masters of Business Readiness are people who
consider themselves as a part of the business not
above it, who put customers first and are ready to
change themselves and their organization to meet
customer needs and expectations better than
anybody else. MBRs will focus on the Values of the
organization as it is key to the sense of belonging
that is so essential to an MBR. Since he is not above
the Business, he remains humble, since he allows
the customer to teach him, he never becomes
arrogant, since he feels every bump on the road, he
is innovative, since he feels the pain of the
organization, he remains fair and develops a
concern for his fellow humans.
Great Lakes is an Institute that seeks to build
Business Ready Managers through a set of inputs
and concepts painstakingly put together by
Dr. Bala V Balachandran. He is called Uncle Bala
by all of us. Does this tell you something ?
– B Ramakrishnan, PGPM Class of 2006

Eureka!
More Fortune!
On first thoughts, I wanted to start this piece of
writing with 'What if I claim that there is more
fortune at the bottom of the pyramid than what
Dr. C. K. Prahlad (CKP) had identified, but quickly
realized that it would be too dangerous a statement
to make, so I decided to start it modestly with 'On
first thoughts…' . Well, the driving force behind
what follows, is my experience as a student
observer in a few admissions interviews for the
forthcoming batch of PGPM.
The panel was interviewing the 15th and last
candidate for the day, a 24 year old dark and
handsome young man from Rajapalayam, a small
town in T.N., who had done his entire schooling and
college in his native place. A quick glance at his
essays showed reasonably good written
communication skills for a person of his
background, but what impressed us most was his
consistent brilliant academic record. As he
carefully dealt with one question after another, we
unearthed more and more evidence of his passion to
make it big in life as well as his desire to expand his
dad's goldsmith/jewellery business beyond the
boundaries of his town. His purpose for pursuing a
Management degree was clear in very little time.
Nevertheless, post-interview, none of the panel
members were in a position to positively
recommend admission to the candidate. The reason
- his below par communication (English speaking)
skills. A quick discussion followed amongst us and
questions were raised about the education system in
rural/semi-urban India, and how some of those
folks, despite their best efforts with available
resources, were still not fully equipped to pursue
top quality management education. Of course, we
argued out that the specific candidates on that day
were more suitable to be techies than managers, but
that was a mere consolation. The hard truth was that
certain candidates could not clear the interview
process for absolutely no fault of theirs, for not
being born urban!
That raises a bigger question? 'Is there more fortune
at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) than what
people already claim there is?' The fortune that I am
referring to is not, as in their case material, but
rather 'intellectual'. And if yes, then do we have the
right channels to utilize/access that fortune? Can
this intellectual fortune be harnessed effectively
and be converted to well-educated, capable youth
whom we often call the future of India? We learn in
Operations that the quality of raw materials greatly
determines the quality of the finished product, but
here at the BOP, lies some top quality raw material
forever waiting for good conversion, while higher
up the pyramid, there are truckloads of below par
material going through some of the best
preliminary education processes the world can
offer. And the world expects 'six-sigma' human
beings!
In a recent visit by Ritesh and myself to 6 villages
within 20km radius from Mulbagal town in
Karnataka, amongst other things we found that
although primary schools were found in each and
every village, children had to travel 'on an average'
3-5 km for middle/high school education and more
than 10 km for anything beyond 10th grade.
Coming back to the intellectual fortune - setting up
schools and colleges in non-urban areas is a
different thing, but how does one ensure the quality
of education in these institutions? How do we
ensure that students here be exposed to good
English speaking and writing skills? It is an
enormous task, especially considering the size of
our country, the highly dispersed presence of semiurban
and rural areas, and the limitations in terms
of quality teaching professionals that are willing to
work in such areas.
On a conclusive note, rural marketing and
strategies may help unearth the material fortune
that CKP talks about, but on the same lines, is it
sufficient to just market education, to stretch the
arms of education long enough to touch the rural
masses, or is there some other tool - much sharper
and more penetrative and effective than all these to
churn out this hidden fortune?
– Krishnan R, PGPM Class of 2006
PERSPECTIVES
38

LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE
39
Finger Prints
of Great Business Leaders
- Dr. Bala V. Balachandran and Kavi Priya A.
Uncle Bala is a field of infinite possibilities.
Bala is a rare person who can create empathy. He makes you
feel comfortable. I firmly believe that he is a great leader.
He is Gandhi and Bill Gates in one soul.
- Dr. Deepak Chopra, Spiritual Guru
Time Magazine heralded Deepak Chopra as one of the top
100 heroes and icons of the century, and credited him as “the
poet-prophet of alternative medicine”.
- N. R. Narayan Murthy,
Chairman & Chief Mentor, INFOSYS
Bala shoots from the hip. I like that.
DR. BALA’S COMMENTS ON OTHER LEADERS
He places institutional dharma over personal dharma.
- Azim Premji, CEO, WIPRO
- Dr. Bala about Narayanmurthy
-Dr. Bala about Azim Premji
A remarkable leader who professes Execution and Discipline as the Booster Rockets for a
Leader to build Lasting Corporations. He practices the same and built HP as a Force to
reckon with.
- Dr. Bala about Som Mittal
An authority on managing change with deeper insights and practical guidelines. A true
Friend of mine who has come forward at times of stress and guides me to great deeds.
I treasure you Jith.
- Dr. Bala about Jitendra Singh
The word “HIM describes him. H-Honesty, I-Integrity and Magnanimity” - this is Deepak
Chopra. With these three and the knowledge he acquired at various stages makes him a very
well respected healer of not only the body but also the mind.
- Dr. Bala about Deepak Chopra

Bala can ignite passion and think out of the box.
- Som Mittal, CEO, Hewlett Packard
Successful corporations don't wait for leaders to be born or for walk-ins; rather they seek to
recruit people with leadership potential and expose them to develop, exhibit, exploit and leverage
that potential with challenges, uncertainties and volatility.
“Fingerprints of Business Leaders” is our book cum video journal that focuses on leadership with
a series of interviews on proven leaders, their deeds, achievements as well as difficulties and
builds a pictorial memoir of great leaders of Indian origin as well as other world leaders.
Highlighted are the fundamental values they believe, great traits they leave, and episodes to
emulate and show what leaders do. Leadership and good management are complementary system
of traits. Leadership complements good management but does not replace it or restructure it.
While good management is coping with complexity and winning it with people, process and
technical knowledge, leadership is excelling with character, integrity & objectivity, and to create
value to all stakeholders even at the expense of personal loss.
Leaders do not:
Manage by time value of money but exploit money value of time
Believe in equality but believe and enforce equity
Seek popularity, but popularity seeks them and
Worry about job security, but great jobs secure them.
In this series of great leaders, we bring to the business world and B- schools lot of leadership
traits that are different. However, a clear set of fundamental principles, which are articulated
above and demonstrated with personal interviews, along with their learning from their lives and
the fingerprints that they have left behind, have been chronicled.
Bala V. Balachandran and Kavi Priya A
He is not a person who is driven by the logic of outcomes. He is driven
by the logic of identity.
- Jitendra Singh, Saul P Steinberg Professor of Management, Wharton
Business School, University of Pennsylvania
The key challenges of aspiring Indian managers are management of
relationships, emotional maturity, emotional security and emotional
intelligence. Leadership lies in those who have the vision to see the
inseparability of who we are and what the world is.
- Dr. Deepak Chopra’s message for the Great Lakers
LEADERSHIP EXCELLENCE
40

FROM GREAT LAKES
41
Economics of Markets – Dr. Shyam
Sunder, James L. Frank Professor of
Accounting, Economics and Finance, Yale
University
Did you know that the fundamental value of
a company makes sense only for an
unlimited horizon in the stock market? Yes?
Then hear this: ‘In a limited horizon, the
stock market moves on perceptions and
beliefs. It depends on your belief in what
others believe of the future value’. In simple
words - the market moves according to the
beliefs of the majority, not individual
beliefs. Eventually, the belief of people that
the market is inefficient makes it more
efficient. Well, this was the highlight of the
class (along with those many rounds of
auction games). When something is good, it
leaves you gasping for more. I can say that
this was the case for most students in this
class. Truly world class!
– Deepak Paidipati, PGPM Class of 2006
Customer Preferences - Dr. Seenu V.
Srinivasan, Adams Distinguished Professor
of Management, Stanford Graduate School
of Business
The course focused on how organizations
can better understand what the customers
look for in their products. This was
achieved through quantitative tools such as
Conjoint Analysis, Factor and Cluster
Analysis. Prof. Srinivasan's vast experience
in the area of Marketing Research shone up
when he shared his experiences when faced
with various issues dealing with data in
such research.
His use of relevant examples from the
automobile industry in explaining
Moments of
Truth
Perception Maps was the highlight of the
course and made this course one of the most
memorable ones over the year.
– Vinay Mony, PGPM Class of 2006
Optimization Models / Simulation
Modeling – Prof. N. Ravichandran, IIM-
Ahmedabad
A blockbuster on our campus, Prof.
Ravichandran enabled us in understanding
the theory and practice of ‘Optimization’
and ‘Simulation’. The primary learning of
this course was formulation of linear
programming problem (LP), involving the
determination of decision variables,
framing of objective function and
constraints determination.
No credits are enough to Prof.
Ravichandran for the way he made his
absorbing subjects so immensely witty and
humorous. Surely, he is one faculty who you
would never want to miss!
– Hari Prashanth Ganapathy,
PGPM Class of 2006
Financial Statement Analysis - Prof. Ram
T.S. Ramakrishnan, Head and Ernst and
Young Professor of Accounting, University
of Illinois at Chicago
‘FSA’, as known popularly, was a fantastic
course that sought to elevate us to financial
smartness from mere financial awareness. It
began with an emphasis on basic learning
concepts in finance such as “accrual
income”, gradually leading us to the
nuances of understanding and romancing
financial statements.
The course culminated with the students
doing an in-depth tri-company analysis and
financial comparison of Takeda, Pfizer and
Roche, using the lessons from class.
– Anand Jayachandran,
PGPM Class of 2006
Cost Management and Managerial
Accounting / Strategic Profitability
Management - Dr. Bala V. Balachandran,
J.L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of
Accounting and Information Systems and
Decision Science, Kellogg School of
Management.
The ability to see beyond the periphery is
the key to success in effective cost
management. The highlight of the course
was “Bala’s 4M’s– Measure, Monitor,
Manage, and Maximize” which could be
used in any facet of management or life.
With an objective of providing a holistic
understanding of businesses, ‘Strategic
Cost & Profitability Management’ served as
an integrating course for all other courses,
thereby having application fervor. The
students thoroughly enjoyed the myriad of
exposure and were on the right track of
being “Business Ready”.
– Pavan Kumar, PGPM Class of 2006
Marketing Management/Strategic
Marketing – Dr. Paul R. Prabhaker,
Associate Dean & Academic Director,
Stuart Graduate School of Business, Illinois
Institute of Technology
It’s a common belief that of all the functions
of management, marketing is the easiest to
perform. Anyone not good at any other
thing, can at least be a sales person? (Are
Marketing & Sales same?). Dr. Prabhaker
emphasized that Marketing is the only
function which is evolving everyday, and

there is nothing called bad or good
marketing – either one knows it or one
doesn’t! Yes, there are Marketing myopias,
and there are Purple Cows too!
We learnt that selecting a commodity is not
as important as selecting right customers
(Targeting). More important is to select the
right strategy (Attacking vs. Defensive).
–Susmita Das Gupta, PGPM Class of 2006
Insurance & Risk Management –
Mr. D. Ravishankar, Managing Director
(Asia), Risk Management, Standard &
Poor, and former CFO, CRISIL
An eye opener of sorts, this was a class
where all students were put to ‘test’, in its
very literal meaning. It was an exciting
‘combo’ encompassing the entire financial
services and corporate governance, with a
focus on career in risk management.
The rich mix of theory and practice and the
many examples substantiated by his wealth
of experience marked this course. The
theory was made so simple and the
examples were so profound that we were
able to understand risk management
lucidly.
–P.B. Lakshmikant, PGPM Class of 2006
International Entrepreneurship –
Mr. Ashok Vasudevan, CEO and co-
Founder, Preferred Brands International,
USA. (Tasty Bites), ex-VP-Exports and
head of India desk at Pepsi International.
If you ever thought of having a business
advantage, did you know if it is
‘comparative’ or ‘competitive’? Mr.
Vasudevan’s precision of thoughts sought
to classify accurately the nature of
advantages, and their sustainability in
today’s world. Talking of the world, ever
thought if it is a ‘glocalised’ or a ‘lobalised’
world?
He emphasized the supremacy of enduring
logic over any right strategy. This course
was certainly bang in the middle of the
‘value creation zone’ by any standards, be it
the ‘three tests of consistency’ or the
‘opportunity matrix’ and few lucky ones did
get a chance to relish the real Tasty Bites
(another takeaway).
–Abhinav Rathee, PGPM Class of 2006
Lean Manufacturing – Mrs. Rama
Shankar, CEO, DELTA Consulting Group,
Illinois, USA
This course was by far the best operations
course that the Class of 2006 has to attend.
With an excellent mix of theory and practice
within the scope of Lean Manufacturing, it
started with a hands-on exercise for the
students to get a feel of how inventories are
built up, and lead times and inefficiencies
increase in a system. Followed by
techniques of line balancing, optimizing
resource utilization, Kanban, Kaizen,
TQM, Lean-Six sigma, etc… The course
was perhaps the only one in Great Lakes
where each class although officially
scheduled for 2.5 hours, actually went on
for anywhere between 4 to 5 hours and that
too with voluntary participation of the
students. With a factory visit to TVS-Delphi
and a couple of useful assignments, the
course ended quite emotionally with a few
photographs with ma’am, and the faculty
warmly embracing each student in the class.
Strategic Innovation – Mrs. Radhika
Chadha, Principal, Paradigm Management
Know-how Pvt Ltd., Chennai, India
This strategically innovated course exposed
us to the most contemporary things
happening on the consulting/innovation
front of management. It was structured
brilliantly in the sense that every topic
covered was relevant and had the capacity
of being readily incorporated in our
projects.
She had a penchant for doing a thorough
homework and on one occasion in response
to a query, she returned to class the next day
armed with research (direct and emails from
her friends in the US).
–Mrudula Damisetti, PGPM Class of 2006
Business Analytics - Mr. R. Sekar, Senior
VP - Head Corporate Strategy and Business
Excellence, Polaris Software Lab Ltd.
To begin with, the course title is a
misnomer. One would tend to assume as
semantics suggest that the course entails
strategic analysis of business.
The course content was instead based on the
systems thinking philosophy (ref "The Fifth
Discipline" by Peter Singe), albeit delivered
differently given the flavor added by the
instructor's own experience. Besides
pedagogy and system thinking, other
highlights of the course were organizational
learning and conflict resolution models.
Definitely something to look forward to!
– Rahul Mudgal, PGPM Class of 2006
Neuro Linguistic Programming –
Mr. Krish Srikanth, Productivity Coach,
Use Time India
His four-pronged technique based on
knowing one’s outcome, having sensory
acuity, having flexibility to change and
taking appropriate action made an indelible
mark in our memories. The biggest
takeaway was the importance of ridding
ourselves of disempowering belief systems
to achieve our true potential, a key to
endurance.
The instructor was at his energetic best
reinvigorating a bunch of enervated
students at the fag end of the PGPM
program.
– Vasanth Sandilya, PGPM Class of 2006
FROM GREAT LAKES
42

HALL OF FAME
43
Students'
Accolades
Vignesh .N.Y & Shivkumar .S, won the second prize in the event “Shastarth
Marketing Paper Presentation”, at INTAGLIO-2005-06, IIM, Calcutta
Pavan Kumar, Abhinav Rathee Aditya Suresh and Aditya Tulsyan won third
prize in the event “Tempest -2005” at Poseidon 2005, conducted by Indian
School of Business, Hyderabad.
Viswanath and Nischal Ram have won the prestigious ET in the Classroom
Quiz conducted by ET and Cognizant. This news was carried in the
newspaper as well.
Anirudh G and Suresh Kumar Vickram S won the third place in the
Classroom Quiz conducted by ET and Cognizant.
Nikunj Agarwal and Abhinav Rathee won the 1st place in 'Elbonian
Conundrum', a strategy/game theory based event at Transcend, the inter bschool
fest of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune and also
won the 2nd place in 'Pehchan Kaun', a quiz based event conducted at
Prayaag 2006, the management fest of Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of
Management Studies, Mumbai.
Anirudh.G and Vishwananth.S secured the third place in Tata Crucible Quiz
- Chennai Round Regional Finals.
Kavi Priya A, won the 'Talent award' at the personality competition held on
2nd, 3rd & 4th of December, organized by T.A. Pai Management Institute,
Manipal

Making of the
Gravity
Gravity, as it stands today, is a glorified version of a
simple thought that it took off upon. The idea was to
communicate to the diverse set of stakeholders of
Great Lakes Institute of Management as conceived
by student members of the Branding & Public
Relations Committee. With adequate deliberations,
it led to the creation of an independent Editorial
Committee, which would collectively steer the idea
into its completion. From there on, it has been a
story par excellence.
The story began with the quest for a suitable name,
and none could have imagined that a fundamental
property of physics would translate so well into a
meaningful title. Well, that was the pull of
‘Gravity’. It sought to serve as an instrument
providing insight into the Great Lakes community.
The objective of representing the diverse
stakeholders was well manifest in the efforts that
went behind the making, and in what finally came
out as the ‘made’.
There are always some interesting secrets behind
the scenes for any success story. In a journey of
three months that took to bring out the first edition,
there were many a moments of joy, humor, agony,
frustration, excitement and the like. But, the
journey was enriching in its own way, as it was
driven by learning and skills of group dynamics,
resource management, leadership and knowledge
creation.
Something never to be missed was the chirpy and
humorous comments of our NASA-return Editor
(Gopal), who was an anytime stress buster. He is
the ‘devil’s advocate’ of the team, who helps the
team time and again, to strive for higher standards!
And if one ever heard of ‘good things come in small
packages’, this powerhouse Editor (Neha) was a
living example. She excelled at negotiating-to-win
and would surely pass out as a qualified expert at
vendor management (if only there was an
additional degree for it!)
Well, we often speak of heights, but this modest
Editor (Sathish), surely could not scale any greater
‘heights’. His dedication and concentration was so
deep that he could solve complex algorithms while
graciously shaking to the tune of ‘apadi podu
podu’!
If looks could kill, err… deceive, then this was it!!
This self-acclaimed beauty queen of Great Lakes
(Sai Sudha) can easily be mistaken with her
studious demeanor to be a nerd. Yet, she was
anything but that. Last heard was that impressed
with her ‘co-co’ordination skills, she was offered
an Ambassadorial role to China!
The art of sleeping could not get better. The core
competency for this ‘dream merchant’ Editor
(Nikunj) is to sleep anytime, anywhere, and to
come up with invigorating questions with his eyes
half shut. Not surprisingly, he terms this act as
‘visualization’. Indeed!
From left to right: Sathish, Sai Sudha,Gopal, Nikunj & Neha
MAKING OF THE GRAVITY
44

A BALANCED SCORECARD OF GREAT LAKES
LEARNING & GROWTH
GREAT LAKES
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, CHENNAI
Global Mindset. Indian Roots.
24, South Mada Street,
Srinagar Colony, Saidapet, Chennai - 600 015.
Ph: +91 44 4216 8228 Fax: +91 44 4204 9920
Feedback: gravity@glakes.org
E-mail: info@glakes.org
website: www.glakes.org
Great Lakes is a not-for-profit organization.
For Private Circulation Only
Printed & Published by Prof. S. Sriram on behalf of Great Lakes Institute of Management,
24, South Mada Street, Srinagar Colony, Saidapet, Chennai - 600 015.
Editor: Prof. S. Sriram, Great Lakes Institute of Management