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Raving Dave: the software industry’s eternal teenager Around 1997, PeopleSoft was the hottest Human Resources Management System (HRMS) on the planet. SAP HR had not yet established itself in the global market. Many of our clients were implementing SAP as an enterprise solution but buying PeopleSoft for their HR application. Apart from its HRMS, PeopleSoft….
In 1998 the public accounting world was shaken by the news of a merger of two global firms Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. The firms were of similar size. Price Waterhouse had more blue chip clients and a larger global consulting practice but their global footprints were similar. Whenever there is a merger between…
It was January 1997. I was flying from Washington D.C. to London. The person sitting next to me was Dewang Mehta, Executive Director of Nasscom. Dewang informed me that the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates was coming to India in a couple of months. Nasscom was planning a big event that I definitely should not…
“The rain is falling … Now I am staring … Deep in my heart I would like to find a place for love and all this time, all the time we've lost Just to follow a dream” Bob Marley At the time it made a decision to diversify into Information Technology, the firm was a…
Creating shareholder value is a good thing This morning I would like to talk about the merits of creating shareholder value in a market-based economy. I will take two examples: the Ambanis and the Tatas. In Reliance Industries (RIL)— Shareholding: Promoter & Promoter Group (Ambani family + trusts + holding companies): ~50.4% Public shareholders (institutions,…
Muhammad Yunus’s Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech The concept of social business Nobel Lecture Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2006. Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Honorable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Grameen Bank and I are deeply honoured to receive this most prestigious of awards. We are thrilled and overwhelmed by…
Work/Life balance Enough fish to feed the family An investment banker was on the pier of a small coastal village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. His boat was full of beautiful yellow tuna. The banker complimented the fisherman on his catch, asking how long it took to catch. The fisherman…
While we wait for Godot! Roopen Roy (Views are personal) An Indian CEO once told me, “You will never find statues of committees in parks. All great deeds and misdeeds are done by heroes and fallen angels.” Are we prone to exaggerating the role of individuals in shaping history? Samuel Beckett wrote…
A CHINESE proverb says, “One picture is worth a thousand words.” The latest picture of Bo Xilai —the disgraced angel — said it all. No narrative was necessary. The photograph hit the wires. The media transmitted it all over the world. Handcuffed, shamed and flanked by two even taller policemen told us the story: how…
Well-performing PSU-an oxymoron? Well-performing PSU –is it an oxymoron? Roopen Roy (The author is the Managing Director of Deloitte & Touche Consulting (P) Ltd. The views expressed in this article are his own) In India, we call them PSUs. In China, they are called State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs). In Singapore they are Government-Linked Companies (GLCs)….