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Friday, December 28, 2012
Management Tip of the Day - Make the Job More Like a Game
Entrepreneur's Story :Payal Doshi
Payal Doshi
Founder
Prime Softech Solutions
Short Description
She is a Founder of Prime Softech Solutions.
Company Profile
Prime was found in August 2011 with an aim to take quality
education to nooks and corners of India through the medium of Internet. We
decided to start this effort by launching 'PREXAM' which an Online Test Series,
initially started with commerce courses and now expanding to other branches as
well. PREXAM allows students to customize their own tests, view performance
reports and points out their weak areas and allows them to retake test on the
questions they have answered incorrectly. PREXAM now has 5000+ registered
students from all states of India.
Most Critical Decision
Prime was started with an aspiration to be only in to
product development. When PREXAM was launched we decided to keep it for free
until we have good number of students. But this meant there would be no cash
inflow until then. Funds were essential to grow and hence when we were
approached by other companies to provide similar educational services, we moved
into the service sector and did provide software solutions. This was indeed a
critical decision.
Doing things Differently
Nothing as of yet. I believe in thinking before taking
decisions and never look back once decision has been taken but rather work hard
to make it the most appropriate one.
Choosing People
When looking out for technical staff, I look for someone who
is passionate to try and learn new things. At a startup like Prime, lot of
innovation is required to stand out of the crowd and staff has to be ready to
take up any challenges. While looking for non -technical staff, I would look
for sincerity in work which I feel is more important. All members at Prime work
together as a team and everyone is always encouraged to bring in new ideas.
Some of the features in PREXAM were brought up by the staff and were included
in the product.
Making right Decisions
As a leader, my main job is to handle the team and make
right decision for both the company and the team. I try to involve the
concerned staff members in the decision making process. This helps in two ways;
when decisions are made they are taken thoughtfully considering more
possibilities than I can think of alone and the team members develop a sense of
belonging to the company. Each decision is made only after calculating its
feasibility and associated risks.
Advice to young entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur most important thing is to believe in
yourself and your ideas and dedicated efforts to get these ideas working.
Patience is the most important quality when you are starting something new
because it would take time to bring back returns.
Statup Digest :28 Dec 2012
Ratan Tata to retire today, Cyrus Mistry to succeed him
Money Control :Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 08:50
Force behind TATA
Ratan Tata, who led the transformation of the Tata group from a conventional corporate house into a USD 100 billion global conglomerate with high-profile acquisitions abroad, will retire on Friday ending 50-year run in one of India's oldest business empires.
Ratan Tata, who led the transformation of the Tata group from a conventional corporate house into a USD 100 billion global conglomerate with high-profile acquisitions abroad, will retire on Friday ending 50-year run in one of India's oldest business empires.
"Be your own man and be yourself,"
Marking a generational change, Tata, who turns 75 on Friday, will hand over the reins of the group to 44 year-old Cyrus Mistry, who was chosen his successor in 2011 and formally appointed Chairman earlier in December.
Tata is hanging up his boots after steering the group for 21 years as its Chairman, when he succeeded the legendary JRD Tata. While JRD made Tata the Chairman out of the blue in 1991 RPT 1991, Mistry of the Shapoorji Pallonji group and whose family owns 18 percent stake in Tata Sons, was chosen by a five-member selection committee.
When he took over in 1991 the group just had a revenue of about 14,000 crore, today its revenue is over 4,75,000 crore. Ratan Tata was born as Ratan Naval Tata in December 1937 and is the adopted great-grandson of Tata group founder Jamshedji Tata.
He was the force behind the acquisition of global brands like Tetly, the Anglo-Dutch steel maker Corus and Jaguar-Rover.
His vision to transform the group into a multinational giant resulted in high profile acquisitions such as Tata Tea's takeover of UK brand Tetley for USD 450 million in 2000.
His vision to transform the group into a multinational giant resulted in high profile acquisitions such as Tata Tea's takeover of UK brand Tetley for USD 450 million in 2000.
NDTV :Press Trust of India | Updated On: December 28, 2012 11:30 (IST)
"Be your own man and be yourself,"
Ratan Tata, who led the transformation of the Tata group
from a conventional corporate house into a $100 billion global conglomerate
with high-profile acquisitions abroad, will retire today, ending a 50-year run
in one of India's oldest business empires. (Watch: Ratan Tata - The end of an
era)
Mr Tata, who turns 75 today, will hand over the reins of the
group to 44-year-old Cyrus Mistry, who was chosen his successor last year and
formally appointed chairman earlier this month. (Watch: Who is Cyrus Mistry)
Mr Tata is hanging up his boots after steering the group for
21 years as its chairman, when he succeeded the legendary J.R.D. Tata. While
JRD made Mr Tata the chairman out of the blue in 1971, Mr Mistry of the
Shapoorji Pallonji Group and whose family owns 18 per cent stake in Tata Sons,
was chosen by a five-member selection committee. (Watch: How Ratan Tata turned
passion into success)
On his post-retirement plans, Mr Tata, a bachelor, has said
he will spend time on technology, about which he is quite passionate. He will
brush up on his piano, which he learnt as a school boy and pursue flying, apart
from his focus on philanthropic activities.
During Mr Tata's tenure, the group's revenues grew manifold,
totalling $100.09 billion (around Rs. 475,721 crore) in 2011-12 from a turnover
of a mere Rs. 10,000 crore in 1971. ( Watch: What makes Ratan Tata a legendary
entrepreneur)
His vision to transform the group into a multinational giant
resulted in high-profile acquisitions such as Tata Tea's takeover of UK brand
Tetley for $450 million in 2000. (Read: How Ratan Tata took the group global)
But Ratan Tata set new standards for the Indian corporates
in the current era of globalisation when Tata Steel acquired Anglo-Dutch rival
Corus for 6.2 billion pounds beating CSN of Brazil in 2007.
A year later, the group's automotive firm Tata Motors lapped
up British luxury vehicle maker Jaguar Land Rover for $2.3 billion from Ford
Motor Co.
Even as Mr Tata was concentrating on activities abroad, he
came up with the idea of producing the world's cheapest car when he conceived
the 'Rs. 1 lakh' small car Nano. The Tata group underwent moments of high
tension in executing the Nano project when it got into problems on acquisition
of land in Singur in West Bengal.
Ironically, the group had to shift the project from Singur,
where he was invited by former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, to Sanand
in Gujarat at the invitation of Narendra Modi.
Although Nano could not live up to the expectations after
its initial worldwide acclaim, the small car will still be remembered as Tata's
desire to provide a "safer" option to many Indian lower-middle class
families riding two-wheelers.
In a recent interview to PTI, he said Singur was a
"great disappointment" for him because he went there "in a leap
of faith" thinking that part of the country was being ignored
industrially. Tatas will still go to West Bengal someday, he said.
Under Mr Tata, the group also made great strides when it
capitalised on the sunrise industry of information technology in the 90s. With
revenues of over $10 billion in 2011-12, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is
today India's largest IT company.
For TCS to lead the pack of entirely new IT ventures in the
country is significant, given the background of Tatas, a leading member of what
is derisively called the 'Bombay Club'. For all his achievements, Mr Tata
describes his half-a-century with the group modestly as "a journey of great
learning".
"It was a period of learning, a period of frustrations
also from time to time...I tried to uphold the values and the ethical standards
that there were. "I feel satisfied
that I have done my best to do what I considered to be the right thing and that
has been there throughout."
It will be big shoes to step in for Mr Mistry, who joined
the Tata group in 2006 as a director. Earlier, he was leading the then over
$2.5 billion construction giant Shapoorji Pallonji Group as managing director.
"Be your own man and be yourself," is the mantra
Mr Tata has passed on to Mistry. This is the same counsel he told himself when
he took over from JRD. Prior to the selection of him as Mr Tata's successor in
November 2011, he held non-executive position on boards of several other Tata
companies.
Born on July 4, 1968, Cyrus Pallonji Mistry completed his
graduation in civil engineering from the Imperial College of Science,
Technology and Medicine, London. He also holds a Master’s degree in management
from the London Business School and is a Fellow at the Institution of Civil
Engineers.
He had joined the Shapoorji Pallonji Group in 1991 as a
director. Thereafter, he has been credited with taking the group that employs
over 23,000 employees and has strong presence in India, besides Middle East and
Africa, to newer heights.
Besides Tata Sons and Shapoorji Pallonji Group, Mr Mistry
has also served as a director on board of several other firms, including Forbes
Gokak and United Motors (India). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Civil
Engineers, UK, and a Trustee of the NICMAR.
| Farewell, Mr Tata |
| Ratan Tata retires today Cyrus to take over |
| Business Standard / Dec 28, 2012, 00:51 IST
When he took over as chairman of the Tata Group in 1991, the
majority perception was that the untested nephew of J R D Tata would be a
pushover.
Twenty-one years later, as he hands over the baton to 44-year-old
Cyrus Mistry today, all that is a distant memory.
Tata, 75, has led the
transformation of the group to a $100-billion-plus global conglomerate. Mistry
inherits a global conglomerate that is 51 times bigger than in 1991 and the
group has grown at a compound annual rate of 21.7 per cent.
But Tata has set a challenging task for his successor:
He
wants the group to increase annual sales to more than $500 billion over next
decade.
True to his style, his departure from his workplace of 50 years will be
low-key; in fact, Tata is on a holiday in Pune, and there will be no formal
farewell.
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