COVER FEATURE

"OBC has entered into an arrangement with two other PSBs to shore up its fee-based income and diversify its operations."

- - K N Prithviraj

Established in Lahore on February 19, 1943, Oriental Bank of Commerce made a modest beginning under its Founding Father and the first Chairman, Late Rai Bahadur Lala Sohan Lal. Within four years of coming into existence, the Bank had to face the holocaust of partition. Branches in the newly formed Pakistan had to be closed down and the Registered Office had to be shifted from Lahore to Amritsar. Late Lala Karam Chand Thapar, the then Chairman of the Bank, in a unique gesture honored the commitments made to the depositors from Pakistan and paid every rupee to its departing customers.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Strategic significance of place choice

- - Stephen E Roulac

Place is amongst the least studied strategic concepts, says Stephen Roulac, CEO, Roulac Global Places. In this article, Roulac explains the strategic significance of place choice and how it impacts the businesses and various issues that affect the place choice.

© 2006 Stephen E Roulac. All Rights Reserved. This article is an extract from Place, Productivity and Prosperity by Stephen E Roulac, to be published in 2007.

CORPORATE STRATEGY

Deutsche Telekom : Dialing in trouble

- - Amit Singh Sisodiya

The unceremonious exit of its CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke may not help the erstwhile German telecom monopoly to put an end to a string of poor financial performances as it struggles to defend its market share and falling revenues in its domestic market.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The Auto Industry in India : Exploring new avenues and horizons

- - Dr. U Jayalakshmi Srikumar

This article examines the existing policy initiatives and identifies the requirements for a more comprehensive Auto Policy keeping in view the global visions of this very valuable manufacturing industry. Besides the entry of these companies into the global markets, the core competencies of this sector which could foster India as a manufacturing and sourcing hub have been examined. In the final analysis, the policy recommendations for creating global companies in terms of quality, price, and product innovations which require considerable investments in R&D have been put in the right perspective.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM

Executive dashboards For effective decision-making

- - K Rajesh Prabhakar

Dashboards provide the managers with a quick glance of what is really happening in the organization and alerts them to the problems arising so that they can react quickly. The article discusses the various benefits of dashboards, architecture and designing the customized dashboard.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

New frontiers in global human resource management

- - Chitra Mukunnan

Globalization is all about hiring Candidate A, a citizen of Country B, with permanent residence in Country C, married to spouse from Country D, sent for training to Country E and then to be permanently assigned a job in Country F. The resultant changes due to globalization have ushered in new challenges which have to be tackled and overcome. Organizations that "work smart" are proactive for they are aware that to succeed tomorrow they have to plan today.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Supply chain management in the Internet age

- - S Jaya Krishna

Achieving excellence in today's web-speed global economy depends on tightly integrating all the participating organizations across the supply chain, which can move beyond the win-lose negotiations of traditional trading relationships and work together to deliver the right products, at the right time, at the right place and at the best price. Aim of the organizations, therefore, should be to create a closely coupled, near real-time, high velocity supply chain network. While offering dynamic integration and real-time access across supply chain partners, crafting a real-time collaborative environment that unlocks the information, knowledge and capacities of suppliers, trading partners and customers by leveraging IT and web-based technologies is vital for managing and fostering supply chains and product innovation effectively.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge Audit : Towards effective knowledge management

- - N Janardhan Rao

In today's knowledge-driven economy, organizations are increasingly dealing with intangible assets and intellectual properties like human capital, customer capital, patents and brands. Accounting these issues has become a daunting task for organizations and must be properly included in the corporate financial accounts. Unlike in the past, these intangibles are now contributing maximum to a firm's bottom line. Innovation and knowledge have become the key imperatives from automobiles to aircraft, from mobile phones to office equipment and computers to sports equipment.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Measurement of intellectual capital : A survey of the available tools

- - Dr. G Bharathi Kamath

Firms in IT industry, banking and financial services which generally use a large amount of human and customer capital as compared to organizational capital often find it useful to measure and report their intangible assets. The article discusses the various tools available and how Indian firms are using them, while suggesting effective ways to use these tools in the valuation of intellectual capital.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Software product development : Changing dimensions

- - Dr. B R Londhe

Software product lines similar to that of production lines in manufacturing refers to engineering techniques for creating a portfolio of similar software systems from a shared set of software assets using a common means of production. They are rapidly emerging as an important software development paradigm for companies. The article discusses the process and the role of top management in software product development.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

CASE STUDY

Lord John Browne at BP : Leadership and succession dilemmas

- - Mercy Mathew and Anuradha Donepudi

British Petroleum's success as the world's second largest oil company is attributed to the efforts of Browne. The 58-year-old CEO is set to retire in 2008 when he turns 60. Speculations are rife that he wants to postpone his retirement date, but on the other hand, Chairman Sutherland is pressurising Browne to come clean on his retirement plans. Several shareholders are in favor of Browne continuing as the CEO for an extended term, while others want him to make way for new leadership. Amidst this debate, Browne announced that he would like to step down in 2008, which would leave just two years for Browne and BP's Board to select the next successor and groom him for the job.

© 2006 IBS Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.

BOOK REVIEW

The Wal-Mart Way : The inside story of the success of the world's largest company

- - Author: Don Soderquist Reviewed by S Murali

Wal-Mart was No.1 in the 2005 Fortune-500 list. How did it become No.1? Many factors have led to its successrather tremendous success, if not miraculous success! Many strong fundamentals associated with business success such as visionary leadership, cherishing and nurturing a dream to grow big to serve and serve to grow, were vital. In addition to this, Wal-Mart recognized the value of building the right culture based on core values.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved