from the
managing editor
dhiman chattopadhyay dhiman.c@9dot9.in
Managing Director: Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha
The pains and joys of
‘Mission Globalisation’
No, that man on the cover page you just turned is not jumping off the face of the earth! There is nothing suicidal being suggested here but just an image that symbolises the amazing strides that Indian companies have taken in the past decade to extend their footprints across the globe while retaining the hunger for ‘more’. There is a direct presence of at least one Indian company in over 150 countries today across six continents. Now, if that is not a sign of a nation that is on ‘mission globalisation’, tell me what is. But with such rapid growth comes an element of risk and multiple challenges. These range from human resource management and cultural issues to financial, legal, environmental and many other areas. Is India Inc and more importantly for us, our CFOs equipped to face these hurdles? The success stories of Tata Motors, Birla Corp, Airtel and Havells in the M&A sphere and the rapid expansion of many other Indian firms into Central Europe, Latin America and Africa in recent years have made sure the world is aware of how powerful India Inc has become, even on a global platform. But as a recent survey of over 100 Asian MNCs shows, there are issues these companies need to look at and solve fast. As Gavin Watkins, Director, International Consulting Group, Asia Pacific at Towers Watson, the HR consulting group that carried out the survey, told us, “In many ways, successful Indian companies exhibit the best of Asia – they have capital, are agile and have a clear vision.” But he also warns that unless Indian companies step up a gear and look at some critical gaps that exist, they may “simply float like a butterfly and sting like a bee” instead of continuing to punch above its weight and become “heavyweight champions”. To know more about the report and our analysis of it, read this month’s cover story “The World is not enough” (page 14). In other sections this time, the primary focus is on leadership. Read the piece on “Bridging the Gap” (page 22) to understand how CXOs are looking at handling a multi generational workforce. Also on leadership is the McKinsey article on “Why bad multiples happen to good companies” (page 39). Of course we have our regular features as always – the ‘Case Study’, and ‘I Think’ columns and the entire Lounge section. We hope you will enjoy reading this issue and await your feedback.
Editorial EDITOR: Anuradha Das Mathur managing editor: Dhiman Chattopadhyay Assistant Editor: Purva Khole SUB EDITOR: Radhika Haswani Design Senior Creative Director: Jayan K Narayanan Art Director: Anil VK Associate Art Director: Atul Deshmukh senior Visualiser: Manav Sachdev Visualisers: Prasanth TR, Anil T & Shokeen Saifi Senior Designers: Sristi Maurya & NV Baiju DesignerS: Suneesh K, Shigil N, Charu Dwivedi Raj Verma, Peterson, Midhun Mohan & Prameesh Purushothaman C chief photographer: Subhojit Paul SENIOR photographer: Jiten Gandhi The CFO Institute Executive Director: Deepak Garg national head, cfo india: Seema Menon Assistant Brand Manager: Nisha Anand ASSISTANT MANAGER: Dr Leena Narain Assistant Manager - Corporate Initiatives: Deepika Sharma Sales & Marketing Senior VP SALES & MARKETINg: Krishna Kumar KG ASSISTANT REGIONAL manager (sales): Rajesh Kandari (+91-9811140424) National Manager (Events & Special Projects): Mahantesh Godi (+91-9680436623) Assistant Brand Manager: Arpita Ganguli South: Vinodh Kaliappan (+91-9740714817) West: Sachin N Mhashilkar (+91-9920348755) Production & Logistics Senior General Manager (Operations): Shivshankar Hiremath Manager Operations: Rakesh Upadhyay Asst. Manager - Logistics: Vijay Menon Executive Logistics: Nilesh Shiravadekar Assistant Production manager: Vilas Mhatre Logistics: MP Singh, Mohamed Ansari officE addrEss Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd Office No. B201-B202, Arjun Centre B Wing, Station Road, Govandi (East), Mumbai 400088 INDIA. Published, Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd. Published and printed on their behalf by Kanak Ghosh. Published at Bungalow No. 725, Sector - 1, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai - 400706 Printed at Tara Art Printers Pvt ltd., A-46-47, Sector-5 NOIDA (U.P.) 201301 All rights reserved: Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd is prohibited.
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CFO india
september 2012