COVER FEATURE

From servicing a single customer to servicing about 250 customers, from about 200 employees in 1994 to over 22,500 by the end of 2005. Cognizant has come a long way

- - Lakshmi Narayanan

Founded in 1994 as a division of Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Cognizant Technology Solutions began doing large-scale full life cycle software projects. This background has helped them to build an e-business and outsourcing powerhouse capable of delivering 24x7 project management on the largest software projects, backed by a world class R&D organization that helps clients manage through rapid changes in technology.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Winning strategies

- - Debasish Mohanty, Pradip Sinha

The battlefield of business is getting tougher day-by-day. So, companies have to be proactive in their approach in order to lead from the front in this fierce game of positioning themselves. Failing to do that will see them out of the race in no time.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

Samsung vs. Sony - The competitive collaboration

- - Shalini

In 2004, Sony, the iconic consumer electronics giant, formed S-LCD, a joint venture with Samsung Electronics to manufacture large-sized LCD panels for its television division. Prior to Sony, Samsung had also entered into strategic alliances with other competitors like Apple, Intel, Motorola, Dell, HP and Nokia. With huge investments in R&D, Samsung, whose portfolio does not include blockbuster brands like Sonys Trinitron and Apples iPod, aims to displace its competitors (who are also its customers and partners) from their leadership position. This article, while explaining the strategy of competitive collaboration, offers scope to discuss how Samsung is using this strategy to gain a leadership position in the global consumer electronics industry.

© 2005 IBS Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.

BOARD BATTLE

Women on corporate boards: The unrealized assets

- - Sadhu Ramakrishna

Women of this generation are go-getters and great achievers which is evident from the fact that today women are competing with men in several areas whether it is business, sports, or corporate jobs. They are no more willing to sacrifice their personal aspirations and ambitions. The corporate environment in particular has changed a lot with increasing number of working women. But when it comes to corporate boardrooms, the male domination still persists as there are very few women at the top. This article discusses why women are consistently missing out from the top corporate jobs in India.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Organizational knowledge - Management challenges

- - N Janardhan Rao

Irrespective of the business models, the creation of the new knowledge and its adaptation in the innovation cycle is core to the business organizations.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Mittal Steels knowledge management strategy: Giving it a competitive edge

- - R Muthu Kumar, Sumit Kumar Chaudhuri

Starting from the late 1980s, Mittal Steel has acquired and turned many steel plants around, across the globe. Through its knowledge management program,which was established in the mid-1990s, the best practices across the group are shared among its various plants for improvisation of manufacturing processes for cost reduction. Mittal Steel, whose turnover was $22 bn in 2004, increased its production capacity from 20 million tons to 70 million tons between 2002 and 2005 and became the biggest steel company in the world. The article, while highlighting the growth strategies of Mittal Steel, offers scope to discuss as to how its knowledge management practices give it a unique edge over its competitors.

© 2006 IBS Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.

LEADERSHIP

Leadership mapping - Akbar vs. Premji

- - Suresh Garimella, Amit F Hashmi, Abhishek Anand

This article tries to map the leadership styles of Akbar and Azim Hasan Premji. The mapping was done on the basis of parameters like family, upbringing, environment, achievements etc.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

GLOBALIZATION

Going global - Common pitfalls

- - Mamta Baranwal

The article talks about the common pitfalls of the organizations, which expand their market globally. Among the major pitfalls are lack of strategic decision, improper allocation of marketing mix and cultural differences. With the help of a few examples, the article gives some suggestions to avoid such pitfalls, so that the organization can fulfill its vision, mission and objectives of running business.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

RESEARCH PAPER

Study and analysis of business model for outsourcing of insurance claim processing

- - Harsh Bhargava, Amol Gupta

Outsourcing is a business reality for global competitiveness. Numerous business processes are being outsourced to countries like India. Processing of Insurance claims is one such outsourced process. Insurance claim processing and underwriting are the major components of any insurance process. But claim processing is a very low-end job as compared to underwriting, which requires highly-specialized skills and experience to handle. Our financial viability study shows that any insurance claim processing outsourcing requires a voluminous transaction; otherwise invested fixed cost will not be recovered. Thus economy of scale plays an important role here. This paper summarizes the findings of a field study undertaken in Hyderabad. It highlights the cost elements and how they affect the revenue model. It also gives the break-even analysis and how it is dependent on some key parameters.

© 2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved

CASE STUDY

Microsoft vs. Google - The clash of unequals?

- - Souvik Dhar, Mercy Mathew, Puneet

Microsoft is the largest software company in the world with revenues of $39.8 bn for 2005. However, the company is facing increasing competition from Google, the number one search engine in the world. Google has been diversifying its businesses into software development, posing a direct challenge to Microsoft. Increasing threat from Google has driven Microsoft to reorganize its business structure from seven business units to three units. Several s see this as a move to make the company more agile and competitive to counter the threat from Google. The case gives an insight into the strategies being adopted by both Microsoft and Google and also provides the scope to discuss whether Google could become a formidable competitor for Microsoft in the future.

© 2005 IBS Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.