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COVER
FEATURE
ICICI
Prudential Life Insurance Company - - Ravi S Madapati,K Rajesh Prabhakar
ICICI
Prudential Life Insurance is in the business of covering lives
and helping people to save systematically for future goals,
be it retirement, children's education or asset accumulation.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
STRATEGY
Managing
for value-creation: Role of strategic leadership - - P Bala Bhaskaran
A
better appreciation of the concept of strategic leadership
can be obtained by comparing it with managerial leadership
and visionary leadership. Managerial leadership is the one
that is exhibited by majority of the executives in most of
the organizations. In fact, nearly all the organizations including
those of the government have a system of training executives
in managerial leadership. Managerial leadership is rule-bound,
it is process-based; it relates people according to their
roles in the decision-making process. It is impersonal and
passive, with a focus on goals.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
TECHNOLOGY
Utility
computing: An emerging technology - - Vishakha Munshi
Information
Technology (IT) organizations today are facing a problem.
Computing resources in these organizations are facing regular
peak and slow utilization periods. The ratio of the cost involved
in system administration to the actual resources used is increasing
at a faster pace. It would have been much better if the expenses
on computing resources in an IT organization or for that matter
any organization were a function of their usage, thereby optimizing
on the operating costs and the return on investments. Utility
computing model is based on such a pay-for-use principle.
This approach, which involves financial and change management
aspects is slowly picking up in the market. IT organizations
are gearing up for this technological and business advancement,
though there are various issues like pricing and licensing
which seem to be making its progress slow. In this article,
we will understand what utility computing is and what it isn't,
how it is different from outsourcing, what are its pros and
cons, also market reaction to this emerging technology.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
PHARMA
Pharmaceuticals
- Biotech: Thinning line of difference - - GV Rao, DM Banerjee
Typically
most pharmaceutical companies plough back profits from their
blockbuster drugs into R&D. Now they are under tremendous
pressure to launch more blockbuster drugs to support the rising
R&D expenditure. In addition, falling new molecular entity
(NME) approvals is forcing companies to boost research productivity.
But the research pipelines of many companies are too weak
to fill this vacuum. The dearth of blockbuster drugs is one
of the reasons behind the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
INDUSTRY
IN FOCUS
Fertilizer
Industry in India - - Saptarshi Purkayastha
The
Fertilizer Industry is today going through a phase of consolidation.
Public enterprises like IFFCO have gained almost half of the
market share. The private players like Godavari Fertilizer
have acquired Deepak Fertilizer and Tata Chemicals Limited
has been merged with Hindustan Lever Limited. Coromondel Fertilizers
has also acquired the Fertilizer Division of EID Parry in
order to gain market share. But, its growth seems to have
stagnated and its market share is stuck at around 3%. This
case discusses the strategies that Coromondel Fertilizers
may have to take in order to unshackle its stable market share.
companies are too weak to fill this vacuum. The dearth of
blockbuster drugs is one of the reasons behind the recent
wave of mergers and acquisitions.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
INSURANCE
AIG's
E-business risk insurance solutions - - Vivek Gupta
As
in February 2005, AIG operated in four main business segments,
namely, domestic and foreign general insurance, domestic and
foreign life insurance, financial services and retirement
services and asset management. It was the largest underwriter
of commercial and industrial insurance and one of the leading
life insurers in the US. The Group was composed of member
companies that offered a range of commercial and personal
insurance products through a variety of distribution channels
in approximately 130 countries throughout the world. For the
fiscal ending 2003, AIG's revenues were $81.3 bn and the net
income was $9.2 bn, an increase of 20.5% and 68% respectively
as compared to the fiscal 2002. Insurance experts believe
that a more definite and comprehensive legislation was due
to come in the near future making e-insurance coverage as
an important prerequisite for almost all firms using the Internet
for information, communication and online transactions. AIG
as one of the earliest players in this business seems well
poised to tap the opportunities that will arise in such a
scenario.
© 2005 ICMR. All
Rights Reserved. For accessing and procuring the case study,
log on to www.ecch.cranfield.ac.uk or www.icmrindia.org.
COMPANY
IN FOCUS
Nokia
in 2005 - - Ravi S Madapati
Nokia
offers a comprehensive set of mobiles phones for different
customer segments. The company is a leader in the candy bar
style phones. Nokia's handsets emphasize utility and user
friendliness. Nokia has recently (July 2005) expanded its
portfolio of mobile connectivity solutions to include a suite
of Internet protocol security (IPSec) file private network
(VPN)-based products for workers who need secure remote access
to their corporate networks from mobile devices and remote
locations. Nokia's latest IP VPN technology offering consists
of four new IP VPN gateway systems, a mobile VPN client and
a comprehensive management software. In the past, Nokia could
afford to wait to introduce new technologies until they were
available in high volumes from suppliers. But in a fast changing
business, Nokia's delays in introducing new technologies such
as cameras, color series and speedier data rates may become
a handicap.
© 2005 IUP. All Rights Reserved
CASE
STUDY
Cochin
International Airport Limited : A case of public - private
partnership - - Indira Ananth
Cochin
International Airport is a novel venture in the history of
civil aviation in India. This is the first International Airport
in India which was built outside the ambit of the Government
of India. The airport is owned by Cochin International Airport
Limited, a public limited company in which the Government
of Kerala is the single largest shareholder. CIAL has been
awarded the best international airport in the country and
the Frontier award for the duty-free shops. It yielded almost
30% to 35% as net profit after having deducted all the costs.
The turnover has gone up from $2.31 mn to $3.37 mn in 2004-05.
The main issue presently is how to project that CIAL has the
wherewithal to take up more private initiatives in other cities
as well? Also how it can market its public offer to investors?
© 2005 The IKC. All Rights Reserved.
BOOK
REVIEW
Business
process outsourcing: The competitive advantage - - Rick L Click, Thomas N Duening
This
book is a comprehensive guide on BPO for the beginners. The
authors kick off with discussing the concept of BPO and the
reasons why a company may opt for BPO. The book then goes
on to describe the BPO implementation process step-by-step.
Issues like cost, intellectual property, cultural difference,
technology requirements, and their management are discussed
along the way. Learning from the failures seems equally important
to the authors as this book is peppered with examples of actual
BPO implementations including some that have failed, and lessons
from the same.
© 2005 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The
IUP holds the copyright for the review. |
