Management Guru-Prof.Sumantra Ghoshal: Talking On Change.

Born in India, educated in the USA, worked the world-over, though predominantly in Europe, Prof. Sumantra Ghoshal was a management thinker, great teacher,prolific author, and much sought-after consultant in international management ,the turnaround Siemens AG.Philips etc.

I saw him last time in Calcutta, I think that was his last visit in Calcutta.

He came for a lecture in IIM -Calcutta.

Some good Samaritan has uploaded the video in youtube.com.

I have got some CNBC video , where Prof .Ghoshal

gave a series of interview.

The quality of the vidoe is very poor, but this man's brilliance is

absolutely unique.

"LEAF" 100% Electric Car from Nissan.

Innovation and marketing strategy,goes hand in hand.
This is widely known to be a wonderful innovation
the world looking for.

This Aoto co is very strategy specific in placement of the
cars in the global market.

The cost of the car is coming US$33,000 , rather on the higher side,
but in the long run this will come down as many innovation for
a cheaper models will come with alternate technology.

As Global Warming being considered as a major health hazard
many countries opening up,the markets for LEAF.
Nissan has adopted a complete BLUE OCEAN marketing strategy
to cater to this uncontested market.
This also an unique combination of co branding with two most
effective brands in the world Apple and Nissan.

Freemium Part-III=Free + Premium

Freemium in the management concept over the coming years will
pay a predominant role in Marketing, Branding and
Brand building too.

Many B2B, B2C new entrants will smartly use this as a powerful weapon to market their services and products in this highly competitive market space.

Internet based services use this tool as a very powerful change medium by
which it can penetrate the market at a faster space and rate globally.

As all new ventures are looking for global markets, customer base is a major factor.

Firms look out for a major global user base which is possible only through crowed sourcing. A fraction of the crowed buys the services at a premium, the firms make a whole lot of money.

The intellectual property cost should be low. Every additional product it sells the marginal revenue and the marginal profit should be very high for a
sustainable freemium model.

Going by the four P’s of marketing the first P( Product) has to be very robust and user-friendly and with exceptional novelties.

Linkedin.com is an exceptional case of Freemium concept.

As a product the Linkedin.com is an exceptional social media
site for professionals, and it can do the crowed sourcing at a
phenomenal speed, and then converts a part of it’s cowed to it’s
customers who gets the premium services which are exchanged
for money.

In the future of the Freemium will be widely used and its acceptability
will increase by leaps and bounds .

I have found the an excellent PPT on
the Freemium concepts to make and grow customers by Chris Hopf.

Understanding Freemium: How to Create & Grow Paying Customers

View more presentations from PricingWire.

Dr. Kenichi Ohmea’s New Concept Of “CYBER LEADERSHIP” In Strategic Change Management.

Dr. Ohmae is famous for his “3C Strategic Business Model” and many firms adopted this practice and found it very useful and it’s widely acclaimed.

His thinking and analytical process has been widely accepted by many industries around the world.

Dr. Ohmae for twenty-three years was a senior partner in McKinsey & Co, Japan. the internationally famous management consulting firm.

As a co-founder of it’s strategic management practice, he served companies in a wide spectrum of industries, including industrial and consumer electronics, finance, telecommunications, food and chemicals.

Recently in an interview with HMS America he came out with a new idea of CYBER LEADERSHIP.

As we are moving in the cyberspace at an exponential speed and Business

Leadership is an ever evolving topic as there are tremendous

“Business Leadership Bankruptcy” problem round the world.

Cyber Leadership can be wonderful concepts, as with the help of high speed communication and internet bandwidth availability, with economies of scales setting in with the massive penetration of internet and netizen round the world.

With borderless world concepts CYBER LEADERSHIP can provide wide applications round the world.

It’s basically the human intellect, knowledge, and capability and capacity which matters to be an effective leader. This can be found at any part of the world and can be widely propagated to fill up the “Global Leadership Bankruptcy” problem.

All firms looking forward towards strategic change management. This can only be possible from effective leadership drive and management initiatives.

Cyber Leadership can help in boosting the Change Management process.

Tele presence, VoIP, and with latest technologies at an affordable cost can really change the modern management space.

I think the change management consulting firm, may be the “Big Five or the Big Three”, charges exorbitant fees can take these Cyber Leadership concept and move ahead.

I’m sure cost will come down drastically and so called the “Leadership Bankruptcy” which is an acute problem can be easily eradicated.

His interview with HMS America.

RAM CHARAN The Management Guru On Executions & Change.

Prof. Ram Charan is a mind blowing management guru

conducting a live Workshop on Change and Execution .

The CEO Inside You is an excellent piece of work. I really

liked the book.

His flow in teaching is very smooth and lucid, make all complex

things in management.

Strategic Change Management & Innovation.

A very interesting video on Change Management
and the urgency of change management.

The different PCL graphs and the innovation
phases on open technology.

This is a wonderful and an innovative video
regarding Change Management.

The Nuts & Bolts Of Success Are In FAILURES.

This is a mind blowing video I came across,
lot of things one can learn from this Video.

The general human tendency is not to come out
from the COMFORT ZONE just to avoid failure.

But the real excellence will not come without
FAILURE.

To CHANGE you have to take chances.
When you take a chance you fail.
You are afraid of your failure.
You never succeed.
One day you succeed by overcoming your FAILURES.


This is one of the most inspirational video, i've
ever come across.

Management Trends from 2010 onwards.

Fortunately or unfortunately the world within a very short period
of time is becoming very much clubbed together a metamorphosis
into a global village, our economies are interwoven and interconnected.
There are many new lesson that we learned in last decade that Editor
of HBR has discussed in the HBR blog.

HBRblog has published the top 12 trends shaping management
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbr/hbreditors/2010/01/the_decade_in_management_ideas.html
as we knew it that has happened in the turbulent decade.

The world has to take lessons , technological breakthroughs, business
process breakthroughs, business idea breakthroughs. Management
process breakthroughs.


1. Cloud Computing-remotely managing systems across the world.

2. Stakeholders Value, and value creation will be of utmost importance.

3. Watch out carefully the Social Media Network, and can it really catapult sales figures.

4. Sourcing: Out sourcing, Open sourcing, Crowed Sourcing, Wisdom Sourcing.

5. Privatize: Productivity increases.

6. Corporate Sustainability: Green & Clean Tech. Copenhagen may
be a failure, but people across the world are coming to know the
harmful effect of Co and Co2 emissions.

7. Reverse Innovation: Innovation and evangelism has to work together.
Innovation is the Buzz word.

8. Behavariols Economics: Turn a new chapter in the books of economics,
or even a new era of economics.

9. Compete on Analytics: High end analysis, analytics can make out and
help in decision making.

10. Creative Organization: Innovation in the process of business, flexi
timing, entrepreneur within enterprise.

11. High Potential: Creativity, Idea generation, Stretched targets.

12. Enterprise Risk Management: Business is risk; managing and smartly
dabbling with risk will be the greatest challenge.

In my opinion it’s true the world is getting flattened
technologies are getting adopted , the two most happening
thing that has happened the HBR Editors has overlooked is
the CKP’s keen observation that the BOP is getting
neglected the 4 Bn people living below US$2 per day
and another man Md Younnis , the man who got
recognized by successfully implementing the stupendous
task of Micro Credit in order to eradicate poverty
from the face of the world..

Tomorrow the driver of growth will be from the countries in the
ASIA, Latin America and Africa.

Types Of Corporate Mergers.

There are different types of Mergers, firms go for Mergers as
a part of In-organic growth for the firm.

Reasons of Mergers are mainly three or four.

Market Opportunity.
Technological Know Hows.
Financial Leverages.
Avoid Competitions.

SENCE OF URGENCY-A matter of attitude.

The sense of urgency has become a very important phrase in
today’s business world.

The effectiveness and the execution capabilities are of
paramount importance to all the managers in the world
of deliverable.

Jack Welsh talked about the SPEED is an essential element
of all success for an organization in today corporate.

John P. Kotter the Harvard Professor talked and wrote
about the Sense of Urgency.

The time which is the most perishable resource, and is
connected to the economic values of an organization.

The optimal utilization of time, keeping in mind the maximum
corporate benefits as an essential acumen for any
executive.


1.Urgency in product development.

2.Urgency in identifying product positioning.

3.Urgency in identifying the product fault and taking corrective measures.

4.Urgency in entering in the global market.

5.Urgency in finding new business Opportunities.

6.Urgency in locating business partners as well as outsourcing partners.

7.Urgency in making the supply chain ready and effective.

8.Urgency in proper fund management.... and many more

The most important thing are in the
URGENCY IN IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS,
and the URGENCY IN FIXING PROBLEMS.

The Sense of Urgency is basically an attitude and metal frame
of mind of the Executives with out laid back character.

JOHN P.KOTTERS On "Sence Of Urgency"

Turbulent Time :It's An Oppertunity Time.

Turbulent Times : What corporates must be doing to reap the benefits.
It's an opportunity time.
Time to reconcile.
Time to rebuild.
Time to rethink.
Time to reorganise.
Time to reinvent.
Time to manage with small budgets.
Time to innovate.
It's the golden time, it's the time when weakness can be converted
to strength.

If Winter Comes Can Spring Be Far Behind.

Prof Prahlad And His Mantras On New Benchmarking Standards.

Corporates on a continuous basis looking to enhance their efficiency.
Change management is required at every level, there is no destination.

They set standers in certain industry and try to improve to enhance
them by setting high benchmarking standard in respects to other firms
or even firms.This how firms can exist in the cut throat global
competitive market and raise their market share and profitability.
Like a gravitational full the performance standard goes down and it
comes from masters performer to an average performers.

Change management is playing a vital role in Bench Marking
and vice versa.

Here in this video we find that Prof Prahlad is
talking about enhancing the benchmarking standard.


Courtesy :McKinsey Consulting.

Change Management By Seth Godin:Why You Need A TRIBE.

If you want to change an succeed you must have a tribe to follow. Be it God seekers or Politcal leaders or Business leaders they had and have tribes.

Enjoy this Video By Seth Godin a very strategic management thinker in today's world.

Change Management by making and leading TRIBE.

The Basic Indepth Concept Of The Red Ocean and The Blue Ocean Strategy.Part-II

RED OCEAN STRATEGY	BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY
Compete in existing market space	Create uncontested market space
Beat the competition	Make the competition irrelevant
Focus on existing customers	Focus on non-customers
Exploit existing demand	Create and capture new demand
Make the value-cost trade off (create greater value to customers at a higher cost or  create reasonable value at a lower cost)	Break the value-cost trade off (Seek greater value to customers and low cost simultaneously)
Align the whole system of firm’s activities with its strategic choice of differentiation or low cost	Align the whole system of a firm’s activities in pursuit of differentiation and low cost.

This time I will be discussing about the in depth of the Blue Ocean strategy which was formulated by the Insead Business School Professors Kim and Mauborgne clearly explains that tomorrow’s leading companies success will not by fighting competitors, but by creating “blue oceans” of uncontested market space which will enhance in terms of market share and profitability and market capitalisation growth. 

There should be a complete paradigm shift which the smart management requires as pioneered in the Blue Ocean strategy as –  “value innovation” leveraging value for both the firm and creating the new customers, outsmarting competitors and unleashing latent demands.

Insead original text where the concepts of Blue Ocean has been given:http://www.insead.edu/blueoceanstrategyinstitute/BOS/index.cfm

The real challenge  lies with the service companies to be in the blue ocean, they should constantly try to come up with innovative ideas and create tangible vales for the product or services to the customers and un served customers.

If not properly managed it can slip down from The Blue Ocean to  The Red Ocean and starts bleeding.Yes it is an intelligent and a very tight walking for the top management guys to keep the firm in The Blue Ocean.

Courtesy: Insead ,France.

The Blue Ocean Strategy :The New Business Mantra For Business Survival

Renee A. Mauborgne, W. Chan Kim pioneered the concepts of The Blue Ocean Strategy is firms innovative thinking specially identify product or services some what different that it is doing at present and creating new rules for value additions through an innovative business re modeling.

The Blue Ocean is a new market place an absolutely new space for firms to cater to the un served customers.

The Red Ocean is a highly competitive market with lot many players operating in that market place and firms margins are under pressure

All new innovative technology are Blue Ocean , say Youtube of Google Inc, Iphone , iPod of Apple Computers Inc to name a few is absolutely Blue Ocean a new market place a virgin global market territory .

Firms has to have a practical market and customer analysis and in-depth understanding of the market dynamics and system in business process thinking must introspect the present conditions the new opportunities lying ahead

Of course it is an enhancement strategy piggy bagging on strategic drifts, SWOT analysis, Michael Porter's generic competitive strategies, Porter's five forces, Porters Differentiation Strategy, BCG Matrix,and other systems adopted in strategic planning and process of change management.

If we track back to Late Dr Michael Hammer’s basic 3C’s( Customer, Competition, Change) while analyzing Business Process Re engineering for a firm, Blue Ocean is indebted to the 3C’s and BPR.

Now in the world of globalization, competition is the name of the game, and to win the game firms must innovate or perish.

It is not only to innovate the product and services but also to innovate a new market segments the product and services can be catered.

An Example: Global Automakers are looking a segment of sub US$3000 car market using alternative source of energy, existing auto makers are getting in to Blue Ocean with sub US$3000 cars focusing for the emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Of course not shifting focus from existing market place like EU and North America which are slowly becoming red ocean both product wise and market segment wise.

Yes ,Blue Ocean can become Red Ocean ,back to the basics of Free Market Economics( Free Entry and Free Exit , no firm can operate in a super normal profits or abnormal profits but only can operate in normal profits in long run), new entrant can replicate the firms practicing Blue Ocean and can make the Blue Ocean a Red Ocean.

Markets over which the competition is fierce have turned red. In the bloody red ocean, even the organizations which manage to stay afloat, and command a sizable market share might often face the mind baffling problem of diminishing profit margins for every increase in the pie of the business market share. Markets( bundle of un served customers) still not explored or non existent markets to be precise, are blue (they are yet to turn bloody where firm can operate in super normal profits) and firm’s management smartness should in fact go about identifying and creating such new markets.

Blue oceans are created when there is a perceptible change, an improvement, in value addition. There needs to be value innovation.

When Blue Ocean strategy happens, it makes competition irrelevant as it has created an uncontested market space

Please Click to read the article in HBR.

http://www.courtenayhr.com/images/Blue%20Ocean%20Strategy.pdf

The major concept made in the Blue Ocean Strategy is that firms compete in red oceans( crowded market, large number of competitors a typically monopolistic market tending towards hyper competition ) which are markets that are blood red due to wars( price, market share, human capital shortage, etc) amongst the existing players.

The Blue Ocean Strategy is all about encouraging leaders to develop pristine blue markets, which have not yet been tapped.

Strategy Canvas: Strategy Canvas which is the very core and primary tool used to define a new high level business plan and approach. Strategy Canvas meticulously identify the factors that are the building blocks of the overall strategy of each company competing in that industry. This provides a clear visual representation and enables one to construct a strategy which breaks away from the pack by addressing a different market using a different business model.

Mauborgne, and Kim have taken a many real life examples such success as South West Airlines, CNN, McDonald's, primarily is the service industry.Sustaining and consistency both are important in Blue Ocean strategy.

I Am Coming Back Soon

I was not posting for last four months , I will be coming back soon with lot of posting on Change and Contemporary management thoughts taking place in the current business world.

The topics that I want to write will be on 

1) Blue Ocean Strategy.

2)HR Score Card.

3)Inorganic Growth Culture through Merger and Acquisitions.

4)India in 2025.

5) How to keep the core competence Intact.

 There has been lot of turmoil in the global economy in the last two to three months , high inflation , fall of Lehman Brothers, AIG, slowing down of the global economy coupled with political instability and terrorism. Bailing out the U.S. economy with a package of US$700Bn which will give a breather to the U.S. economy along with the global economy where change management will play the most important role.

Specially the BRIC economy is not insulated to the U.S. economic melt down,still there is a silver lining behind the dark clouds. 

I will discuss all these in my posting shortly. 

Change Management and Drucker

Management concept guru Late Peter Drucker, once said, "Every three years, an organization should challenge every product, every service, every policy, every distribution channel with the question: If we were not in it already, would we be going into it now?"

It is the self introspection that the management should discuss in their board room about the management concept strategies regarding the enhancement of product portfolios, geographical territories, HR planning, improvisation of latest Information technologies systems and customer satisfactions, and delighting the customers.

Change management is a continuous process and the evolution takes place in the business along with the change in society.

Reaching out to the customers at the same price and through drop shipments with a powerful supply chain system along with high dynamic logistic operations.
With globalization in place and e commerce ruling the world market, competition has increased by leaps and bound.

Management finds very vulnerable with the introduction of modern cutting edge technologies, which has become an integral part of every business success.
Sitting tight with the existing technology, customers, market size can prove dangerous and can be suicidal for any corporations.

Management think tanks continuously work on change management projects that can enhance products and services in order to accelerate market penetration along with the business effectiveness and efficiency.

Change management experts probe different questions and simulates different market unforeseen situations in order to avoid business failures.
Management success depends upon to what extent successfully the management can implement change and at what speed it can change.
There is one thing, which is certainly certain that, is uncertainty, change can only defeat uncertainty.

Pygmalion Effect Is Very Much Necessary In Change Management of Existing Work Force.

Change Management is about Human Capital, the willingness to change for betterment, higher productivity, higher profitability, and stability of business in turn.
The resistance to change is an age-old theory, and is persisting and will persist in future whenever the top management will initiate any change.
High expectation leads to high results through superior performance.
Change is good and for betterment make it understandable to the subordinates, so they can mould themselves according to the need of the organization’s requirements.
In today’s fast changing world, Globalization, shortening of Technological Life Cycle, short PLC, Digitization, Remote Access Mechanism it has becoming difficult for employees to adapt to this fast changing work environment. It was ten years ago in U.S. and West European nations this particular problem started and still persisting and now this problem is felt in emerging economies like India, China, and many East European countries.
Job security, stability are in question, employees sharpen their skills sets on a regular basis, contentious training and coaching are required to cope up with this acute perennial problem which every industry is facing.
As the knowledge, skill sets get obsolete the human capital depreciate rapidly in a Knowledge Economy.
A big questions how to appreciate the existing Human Capital for Business Performance Excellence. Training, retraining, coaching, counseling and are required as a part of HR Practice but apart from that a human touch element is required.
Employees who are in the age group of 40+ years require a passionate Pygmalion effect to cope up the serious challenges they face with obsolescence.
It is their superiors who will be expecting higher performance from their retrained re skilled existing human capital.
The “Sweeney’s Miracle” can happen with the existing re-skilled and re trained work force. As the high expectations should be based on the belief of the Management’s own re training and re skilling abilities and constantly motivating them to updated on the new skill sets and upgrade their knowledge base to suite the industries standard.

Are We Really Practicing McGregor's Y Theory In Manging Human Capital In Today's Business.

Yesterday’s posting has created a big problem for me one of my friend called me up in the night and said why I have written HR Dept as safety valve of the Corporate Pressure Cooker, which is not true according to him.
He is working as a DGM, HR in a MNC in B’lore, India.
Later I made a deep analysis and found that McGregor’s Y Theory is being preached and talked about, but not being actually put into practice may be due to market conditions, hyper competitions, low margins, global oversupplies, technological changes, market capitalization and numerous other external factors including firm’s survival.
From the very moment trainees/executive/managers are recruited or even existing managers are given higher targets to achieve, which I said Pressure to Perform, tension seems to build up and they start doubting about their own capability of delivering the goods.
For new recruits proper induction training and high-end counseling are required and for existing managers sufficient inputs and a proper roadmap should be provided.
To make the executives/managers productive, at every stages of corporate life McGregor's Y theory is a better solution and big dividend giver.
In the case of the new recruits the gestation period shortens down if the Line Manager and the HR Departments work at tandem and practice McGregor's Y theory.

Proper grooming requires time, training and confidence building measures, mutual trustworthiness, transparency, then only the latent potentials will come out from the executives /managers.
It is all about giving carrots in the different stages bypassing the McGregor's X Theory.
If the managements give the carrots in the initial stages they get back in return basket of carrots as dividends in years to come. In Theory Y the gradient of productivity may be low but steady where as the in Theory X the gradient of productivity may be steep but have sudden breakdowns (attrition rate become high) and very often it happens.

McGregor's Human Side to Human Capital of an enterprise is more relevant in today’s business world also. If properly McGregor's Y Theory can be practiced with high degree of maturity and sensibility, Executives/Managers will eagerly come forward to take the Pressure to Perform.
So let’s practice McGregor's Y theory for great results and dividends from Human Capital.
With warm Regards,

Radical Change with HUMAN CAPITAL: Late Prof Sumantra Ghoshal.

Recently a topic of Radical Change in Management was being discussed with one of my friend in office he told me to go through the writings of Late Prof Sumantra Ghoshal.
Prof Ghoshal in his writing said core of change management is only possible if the Top Management of the organization has to be proactive with the change element using the Human Capital.

1.Top Managements core team intellectuals should understand the need for radical change.

2.They must have the courage to do what they see and believe what they need to do.

3. They should be able to analyze the gap and should take action to fill up the gap.

4.It is the Top Management’s duty to create confidence in the mind of the internal customers employees, customers, investor’s community, and the change leader need authenticity.

5. Market capitalization is an important part for the company, it is very tight rope walking for the top management and continuously grows, have every chance of falling down.

6. Make your employee understand about the future uncertainties and the pitfalls in the business in uncertain world, create trust with your tread unions, building up a relationship.

7.Change has to be a continuous process, you cannot afford to rest, it is an endless journey, and it should be purpose driven and a progressive journey.

8.The difference between the good, better and best is the Vision of the Leadership.

9.It’s really the HUMAN CAPITAL that matters and scarcity of Business Ideas, which matters.

10.It is the value creations, which can happen through HUMAN CAPITAL, and continuous self-renewal.
Last but not the least the CEO should able to understand his people; it's about changing continuously, which makes the difference.Upward and omward journey.