New Media, Marketing and Entrepreneurship

AdAsia was sure an interesting event, one which I missed. Interestingly I got to know that exchange4media got it all covered on Video. I found this valedictory keynote by Indira Nooyi, Chief, PepsiCo, worth a share. Hear Indira talk about Leadership and Governance and how it went missing and what’s the road ahead!

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India is an emerging economy, yes sure it is. You doubt? And now India goes International with the first ever F1 hosted at the Buddh International Circuit. I was there yesterday which was the first practice session and well, this is one experience which can’t be described in words and hence here’s the video!

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I am pretty excited about this post, writing this, after completing India’s Largest Entrepreneurial Event, TiEcon Delhi 2011 just the last night. It was one helluva of an effort. Not herculian, but nothing less. I must thank each and everyone who put in sleepless nights and endless days. Also appreciation for each one of you who saw value, registered for the event and came in with all the excitement. There sure was entrepreneurial energy all around.

After a successful event in many ways, I am sharing my learning’s and experiences which I believe are crucial for any entrepreneur in every stage of the business.

Pre-TiEcon. Especially for someone like me who has been in the Internet space, getting into the ‘doing a mega event’ mode was new. But that’s the fun. Learning something new every day of life.

Planning with a clear direction is critical

It was all about planning and planning with details while keeping the key objective in mind all the time. Losing focus was never in question. When you are sitting with some interesting industry leaders who have defined success in their domains, to plan out an event, well, you seldom can afford to lose focus. The entire TiE team was involved in the process and so the shape emerged of TiEcon Delhi 2011 – Entrepreneurship – Transforming India.

Let me tell you this, once the title was set, never again was a moment when anyone diverted form it. From planning sessions to approaching speakers, the broad vision for the event was always in mind.

Execution is the key: before that comes Ownership

Everyone says execution is the key. But ownership is everything. Everyone in the initial TiEcon steering committee took charge of a role, which added value to the event overall. And yes collectively everyone delivered. There always were challenges in terms of schedules, times and the rest, but when the leadership is focused it all came together.

And let me emphasize on the leadership bit. TiE Delhi – NCR has Geetika Dayal, leading the charge and she ensured at all times that everything is put in perspective and the focus does not gets lost. The ownership was defined and was evaluated at all times.

Lesson #2 hence is that there has to be ownership across the board, but there must be a strongly defined leadership which puts everything in place and ensures that focus is never lost. Hence the overall ownership always must be maintained.

Plan A might change when you least expect it: you must have a plan B, C, D

The plans you make WILL change. They will. Period. At TiEcon, speakers plans changed, we had to make last minute changes, but again there always were strong networks placed before, to ensure that if we are faced with a contingency, we do deliver. Hence planning for a situation before it occurs is always the right thing. You always must have back-up plans which will deliver.

When you have to reach on time, you will get traffic jams: you must know alternate ways to still reach on time

A night before TiEcon, the entire TiE Delhi – NCR team was at office and we were to leave for the Taj and just then, as a sudden change in plans, I had to leave to the printer’s office to get some stuff picked up. I also had to pick up my stuff from home and then reach Taj in all of 1.5 hours flat. I sat quietly for a few minutes and marked my way.

Though when I reached near Apollo, Sarita Vihar, the route which I had to take to reach to the printer’s office was jammed and this is at 11:15 in the night. Now since I knew of the situation beforehand, a quick decision had to be made. I had 2 choices: either to call up office and ask someone to pick up the stuff OR I find another way out.

These are moments when Google maps don’t work and only what you know of the area, works. I remembered, many years back my school bus used to take us from behind the Kalindi Kunj area, through Jamia University and suddenly struck a whole new way. And wallah, I was at the printer’s office in about 20 minutes.

Keep everyone informed, that’s what technology is meant for: this will enhance your decision making

While all of this was happening, me and the entire team was constantly on call and we knew exactly where who was and what who was doing, such that if someone had to pitch in with extra support, we could. And we did.

Let the master play the game, be a support system to him, that helps, don’t try and be everything

Nitin, from the TiE Delhi – NCR team is a logistics champion and we all say that with all the confidence. We ensured that while he is setting up the stalls, registration profiles etc. at 4:30 AM, we were there to help in quick decision making.

Right before that, I was quickly roped in by Manish to ensure that we ‘sex up’ the session presentations a bit, which were a little bland before. Since I can quickly work on content, change designs around, I spent about 2 hours in a quiet Taj room and got the work done, while knowing that Manish, Digbijoy and Shivam are taking care of the badges downstairs.

Teamwork: you must know the nerves

Since each one of us knew exactly, what the other was working on, we knew what was happening and what needed urgent attention. The team had full confidence in each other and the ownership was un-questionable.

Teams are not just you, they are many like you and you have to ensure you engage them enough. Talking of the team, obviously a small TiE Delhi – NCR team could not have pulled off such a large event by themselves. We were happy to have some real action oriented college students and professionals who volunteered with us and Shivam from our team took the charge of directing them the right way and yes we got much support .

Shivam incidentally has joined TiE a few months back and did a great job of getting the younger chaps together to deliver what was intended.

Its important to take feedback and act quickly, you must know just the right buttons to hit, when time is critical

One of our key networking features of TiEcon was: TiE Connect, which many people used, but not all could use it the right way. Couple of delegates approached me and the team, to help them find people who connected with them to set meetings. Some of them we were able to get together by quickly working out the TiE database and thanks to Goutam from TiE team, 2 of our delegates were much thankful to the quick TiE team, which helped them meet an interesting investor.

When it pains, it pains, its a part of what you set out to achieve!

I remember my colleague, Manish’s words, ‘this Taj bed is so soft that I feel as if, I am drowning in it’ and its not a joke. With your heels paining badly, when you are utter tired after much work, a 5 minute of a rest on a comfortable cushion feels as if the cushion is calling you in its arms.

The TiE team went on working through-out the 2 days, while ensuring that we were present at every corner of the space where people needed us.

People support you, if you are there for them!

At several events before, I have heard that delegates don’t appreciate if their badges are not in order etc. well, this happens in every large format event, hic-ups are a part of life, aint’ they, but the lesson learnt by being at the registration desk almost throughout all major moments during the 2 days was, if you are polite in your way of handling the query and get results fast, the delegate won’t mind co-operating along, while you create other opportunities for him.

I remember a statement by Aditya Ghosh of Indigo Airlines here: we studied our customers and learnt that the customer might want to talk of the skirt length of the air hostess, but what he finally pays for is the comfort, safety, service and on-time performance.

The TiE team went ahead and provided just that, starting from registration desk to the respective halls where the sessions were on and it all went smooth!

Innovation and keeping the Cost Low is the key!

Just a few days back Jeff from Amazon said some very exciting words about how to innovate while creating world class products and still keeping the costs low. TiE Delhi – NCR did something very exciting which created much value for the delegates. We leveraged the power of social networking (especially fb and twitter) to announce special bidding rounds every-day, which helped us create buzz in the environment and helped many entrepreneurs and young start-ups who were finding it hard to pay the required amount for attending TiEcon Delhi 2011, get the passes at a far lesser cost.

It helped us market by reducing our cost and pass on the benefit to the entrepreneurial community, for which we are passionately committed.

You must know your customer, Period.

You must know your customer. Paridhi, Digbijoy and Amit from the TiE team collated all available information about the delegates. This really helped the whole team ensure that we provide as much as possible, a WOW experience to everyone on the spot.

But where does the Superman in the title go?

Well, it was about being Supermen when it mattered the most. The moment was captured and handled well and ON TIME. Yes there sure were small hic-ups, but yes we learnt and the fantastic feedback we are getting from all quarters of the ecosystem is great!

Look forward to seeing you all more actively engaged while creating many new opportunities.

If you wish to know more about TiE Delhi and be a partner in growth, visit the website and call us at : 0120 – 4066500

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The Youth! Yes! that’s what this one is all about. The Youth Marketing Power Panel by TiE Delhi- NCR was recently announced and has already started garnering some good response from all quarters.

Another event on marketing: NO

This one comes with a difference (as they all say, but this one does). For records, there is a Taxi Driver from Varanasi as one of the awaited speakers and I am not kidding about it. I have confirmed news from many in-house sources

And not just that, though this is not a public news, some of the Power Panel speakers, I have gotten to know about are major names in the Industry and have proven their might with innovative products and service offerings which have powerfully engaged the Indian Youth.

The news of the event is all around on the TiE Delhi- NCR Official website, facebook, Linkedin and twitter and its buzzing with action on all accounts.

Where is the event and How do I register?

The event is to be held on 13th may 2011 at the PHD Chambers of Commerce, August Kranti Marg, Hauz Khas, New Delhi. Registration is simple, all you need is to click on this link: REGISTER HERE! Currently the only mode of registration for the event is through online payment.

Would I get to network?

Another one of those internally confirmed news that I keep getting, the event will host the one of its kinds, speed member mixer, wherein you will be allowed to meet the panelists one on one with a 30 second pitch of your business. Who knows you might just crack the lucky pot!

Can I see who all are coming to the event?

This is a public news, so I can surely say, yes you can. All you got to do is, become the part of India’s largest entrepreneurial network called: Entrepreneurs-Ship, where you have to RSVP for the event and once done, you will be able to see who all are coming to the event and hence pre-network with them!!

So, REGISTER NOW, as I know for sure, only a few seats are left!

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The TECHSPARKS is back and so with a bang. the Delhi round-table is round the corner on 7th of May 2011. Though it needs no introduction, if you want to know more about #tsparks click here.

Delhi sure is going to witness a flurry of entrepreneurial activity on he 7th of May 2011. And why would it not happen, when, you have some real exciting names in the industry spanning the mobile to the venture capitalists joining the discussion.

I would have loved to present a sneak-peek into the action, alas it all got announced a while back by YourStory. But still to give you a little knock on your door for the action which you can expect at the event, the exciting speakers on board the Delhi edition are:

Well, if you are still wanting some more, here you go with a fantastic video introduction to the TechSparks 2011:

See you there!!

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YES!! YOU GOT IT RIGHT. The title of the post says: Warning: The Air You Breathe Here is Charged Up With Entrepreneurial Particles!!

I am talking about nothing other than The TiE Entrepreneurial Summit 2010, undoubtedly one of the largest extravaganza, year 2010 witnesses. A perfect setting for the end of a decade.

TES marks the Enterprising India’s largest gathering of some of the most exciting souls on earth, a class, a breed called: entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship is not just a word, its a way of living, its a common passion which binds enterprising minds together who come on board with a common aim of creating and delivering value. People who dream of a future not just for themselves but create opportunities for many others, who become a part of success stories.

And without a doubt, India as a country is blessed with great minds. We have had some of the best enterprising ideas right from the bottom of the pyramid, from the rural parts of the country of over a billion people to the well networked metros. Starting from a global success story of a man who did not have food for 5 days and traveled on a goods train after being left by the security saying that he is from a friendly country India, this man decided to build an institution we know as Infosys today. There are many such inspiring stories of grit, determination, hard-work, hanging on and creating dreams.

At TES we are going to bring forth such stories while creating an opportunity and a strong ecosystem for many more to flourish. December is going to bring with it a whole new wave of energy which is going to create many new directions for many more achievers to come.

Be a proud part of the largest entrepreneurial extravaganza while the decade ends.

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As the Official Blogger for the NASSCOM Friday’s 2.0, many people ask me, that I would surely have a plethora of knowledge with me, as I have the opportunity to attend all the sessions and also since I LIVE blog the sessions, I must be highly attentive.

Today I again am excited to bring forth the high worth and value knowledge which gets created at the NASSCOM EMERGE Friday’s 2.0 and am glad to be making it alive for all of you who could not be present at the session, though we would love to have more participation along and expand the community.

Today we have Ulrich Bäumer, Partner, Osborne Clarke and BITKOM representative and Asha-Maria Sharma, Senior Manager, Service Industries, Germany Trade and Invest GmbH, giving us an insight into the German ICT environment and business verticals for partnership as identified by Germany Trade And Investment (GTAI) for Indian companies and important aspects of What works and what doesn’t in M&A, overview of the legal and practical ways of doing business in Germany.

The room is full and well, its interesting to know how many people in the room want to understand the German market. So we have the session with a brief introduction on what Germany Trade and Invest is.

• Promoting Germany’s advantages as a prime location for foreign investors in hi-tech industries
• Collecting and processing economic data and information about industries, tender procedures, legaal frameworks etc.

Interestingly, the investors consultancy part of the company, is into much diversified scope:

• Renewable Energies and Resources
• Chemicals and Healthcare
• Mechanical and Electronic
• Service Industries

We are now getting to know what it is all about being in Germany, with the geographical location to the travel time. To know how blackberry and Vodafone and such large companies are actually settling in Germany. Pros and Cons of different places for your business ill be different and you need to understand that, with relevance to your business.

We are talking clusters in Germany now, I am interested to know this space, as its pretty big a space in India as well and some really interesting work is on with respect to them.

Germany offers different incentive packages to re-imburse an investment project’s expenditures

With the market volume of above 133 billion Euros Germany’s ICT industry ranks second in Europe. These are interesting figures. in 2008 German companies closed a good number of BPO and IT deals, hence there is a plenty of space.

Germany is the most lucrative software market in Europe, accounting for 26.1% of the EU market value. We are talking about the diversification of software market in Germany.

There is a good presence of the SME industry in Germany and it could surely be of interest to many of you

Talking Green!

Green ideas in IT and Green through IT, is what we are working on this and should you have products under this umbrella, you should definitely explore Germany.

Software Security is one area which we are really concerned about. We have had cases with data loses with social networks and as anyone, we Germans are surely much sensitive about our personal information, hence there is good space in the domain. Embedded systems market is of a fairly good size in Germany and you will also find clusters in the Southern part related to the domain.

Germany has by far the highest number of internet users in Europe creating large potential for business

• E-commerce
• Gaming market
• Online Advertising

I am personally amazed with the numbers on the slides, especially for the gaming and online advertising, which is showing a huge surge. German companies are moving from Print to Online.

• Market growth areas: Green IT + E-Energy + E-health
• Mobil apps: Increase in non-voice-services
• Embedded systems
• IT Services and Software

And now we are talking about the automotive industry in Germany, which to mention also is the home for Mercedez. The small manufacturers are spread across Germany and there is no one hub/ cluster.

I suggest the best way to get in touch is to attend conferences and other events to know the suppliers and other specific information you require about your business.

And now we have Ulrich, thanking everyone in the room, for whom this is the 12th visit to India. I advise SME’s in Germany also to get to India. And Ulrich shares the agenda for the session:

Interestingly we are going to discuss, Co-operation between Indian and German Companies. We have a very different law in Germany and its completely different in almost every way than what you have in India. Hence you need to understand the basic laws which are very important before you sign up your first customer in India.

You must definitely thank your peer Indian IT companies, who ventured into Germany 10-15 years back, coz they had to persuade German people, for the price and quality and hence for you guys its easier now to reach out to the German companies, which buy Indian IT not just because of the price, but for the quality as well.

So we have started with the introduction for the Law company which is Osborne Clarke. Very ineresting to know how many people they have helped set up in Germany. There are surely some very interesting and Big Indian names on the list that we have on screen.

Co-operation in Germany

• Merger
• Acquisition
• JV
• Partnership
• Build Operate Transfer – It Outsourcing
• Indo-German Strategic Alliance

Many of our M&A’s have been extremely successful and have been running for 10-15 years. Ulrich is sharing the previous success stories that they have created, and these also include some real big Indian corporate names.

So now we are discussing Common Law and Civil Laws in Germany which are surely an absolute necessity for you to set up in Germany.

Common Law (inductive)

Problem -> Judgement -> Ratio decidendi

Civil Law (deductive)

Statute -> Problem -> Application

I am very impressed with the way, Ulrich has simply explained the entire difference between the Common and Civil Laws and how can you in simple measures look at what you can expect when you reach the German shores, or establish out of India. Ulrich is very interestingly raised the awareness of the people in the room and sure all are all ears!

Now we are getting an insight into the European Legal System. Well, sure the German Law is definitely different from how we operate in India. And now gets answered the question, of many a people who wanted to know about Branch offices and how to set them up in Germany.

The outsourcing market is growing in Germany and I think in 2010 the curve will continue to grow up

Good to see how the Indian IT Services industry has grown and set foot in Germany. And well this figure has raised since 2007. Service providers have now crossed out to the other side.

Have you ever thought about off-shoring: 27% of the part said to this that they have larger projects already LIVE which have been off-shored. If we do off-shoring, we do it to India, is what the 67% of the people who answered this sample survey said. Some really interesting figures, being shared by Ulrich.

I personally dont see a single Chinese company, to overtake any of the large Indian IT service companies. China will NOT be a challenge in the near future for the Indian ITeS market.

In the Non Voice market, I dont see players as large as those in India, challenging the Indian players.

Language barrier is a comfort issue, in my experience it has been like: 80% of the deals across the table have happened in English. Its always good to have a native speaker, but its not a necessity.

Ulrich again shares the 8 key issues which you can face in your outsourcing contract in Germany.

• warranty
• Liability
• Acceptance
• Delay
• Change requests
• etc.

Talking about warranty, liability and guaranty. Well, yes the entire room is interested in this conversation. Ulrich presents the whole idea of liability with very simply presented examples. Well liability without any limitation under German law, implies fully, if you have not mentioned anything about it in your contract. Eyes get raised at such a point.

The data protection laws in Germany are surely something to learn from. The labour laws are surely pretty strict in Germany. The session is interactive and there are good questions coming from the audience.

And now we end with the session with the audience still very interested and questions pouring in with respect to IPR and other related to the IT services.

Its been a good session and I feel good to know about Business in Germany, thanks to Asha and Ulrich for their precious time.

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So, we have Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw post lunch at The Leaders In India 2009. I have always admired Kiran as a woman entrepreneur. She has proven words with actions! My respects Mam

Talkign about the Global Biotech sector Kiran says that it is a business size of over 90 billion dollars globally. Each of the past decades have triggered a new growth of innovation. Interesting to know how the entire Biotech industry has evolved over time. Though Ihave not really understood the Biotech industry much, but sure, I am intrigued!

My own journey of Biocon has been that of experimenting and learning! I call myself an accidental entrepreneur!

I was always interested in brewing. I have had to overcome countless challenges over decades. We started small with simple technologies we built and also partnering has helped me build my own entrepreneurial vision. I started my entrepreneurial journey when I had the provilige of starting India’s first Biotech company, which had its own large number of challenges. People were very skeptical of success and at my time, India was still a developing company and we had sub-optimal structure that we have today and it was the time of the license raj than today. I was a 25 yearold first generation woman entrepreneur!

All I had was foolish courage!

There was no access to VC all I could avail of was very expensive debt based funding which I accepted. I was very driven by green technology at that time. But there were very few takers at that time and one of the BIG challenges I had was, the space I was getting into, was based on one very important need, which is: high quality uniterrupted power supply which India does not have even today.

I started my business from scratch opting for less evolved technology. We focused on a niche opportunity, as I had to be very real about the infrastructure and the environment I was working in. I always knew that India was a very small market for me and hence I had to operate in a niche which gave me some kind of advantage. Also in my starting years, what helped me was, I started this as a JV with a small Irish partner, and they provided me with assistance to market, my product to Global markets and this is what helped my business started.

Up until 1980′s we were still loners in Biotech in India

It was really abotu building this company step by painful step and slowly the Biotech sector started gaining acceptance in India when the govt realized the importance. Creating the skill based that we need to drive this industry has paid us fairly well in time. Thankfully because of the success of the IT and software sector, the VC had taken root in India. Since this happened, we started looking towards VC funding, when we tried to scale up. It also allowed to develop sophisticated products and I was able to compete due to our cost base.

By late 1990′s I had a fermentation unit which could handle all sorts of enzymes

The cluster effect that had started in Bangalore really helped us. the boom in Bangalore had many innovative start-ups in the space which also helped the entire industry as such and hence we were benefited. We had international players coming into India setting up operations which helped gain confidence and many are now building scale into what they were doing. Biocon had started gaining market leadership in the niche segment we were looking at.

As an entrepreneur I felt that enzyme segment was going to be limiting to our growth and we had to take some hard decisions

We hence applied our technology to develop into bio-pharmaceuticals. We were the first to cut across the IP barriers hence defining new opportunities.

“We are the world’s first and only company i manufacturing Insulin and Insulin analogs and I am proud to say that”

Overtime we have become bolder in saying that lets innovate in the Bio-pharmaceuticals now. We can today afford to innovate, we can afford to build programs around new products. Innovation in the field of Bio-tech is something we must surely take very seriously. We tend to opt for low risk services and generic versions of drugs and vaccines.

In India the cost of risk is very affordable and hence we must back innovation

What is happening to companies in the western world, is an opportunity for us. I think India really has a good opportunity to cash on in what is happening in the western world. There is a whole new emerging opportunity in Bio-generics. We will pursue Innovation led mantra to grow and that is really my goal as a company and myself as an entrepreneur! All along e have constantly challeneged ourselves and tracked new technologies.

An important learning that I have learned as an entrepreneur is challenging the status quo and moving ahead

We are trying to develop world’s first Oral insulin and its going to be a game changer for us, if it happens

We have really made a lot of conscious effort in partnering with companies, which has actually helped us leapfrog, and it has been a great business tactic for us. In our journey there is one inflection point, I had a tough and emotional call to make! Enzyme was going no where as we were not really investing enough in it, the reason being we had limited resources. And hence we finally said, we must dis-invest and divested into our competition and they have invested and grown this business fr more than we were doing it at that stage. But we surely benefited out of the IP and knowledge we had built over time. We bought a company in Germanhy which will help us start our operations in Europe.

We have started building global scale in our businesses

Our strategy has been always to develop products, leveraging India’s cost base and using affordability as our competitive edge and we are determined to do it at an affordable rate.

My message to other companies from developing world(s) is, who are stretching hard to fight against odds, we have:

• Dont hesitate to partner when you want to pursue certain business opportunities, it allows you to grow faster
• Its important to start simple and start local, be realistic about matching your skill sets w.r.t technologies you are trying to develop

I started my life as a brewmaster looking to brew beer, your journey can take you anywhere, but your life should be an inspiring hope

It was great to listen to you Ms. Mazumdar Shaw as usual! The fire of entrepreneurship has surely gotten a needed kick from you!

Now we have the session int he Q&A mode!

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So here I am Live blogging the Day two of Leaders In India 2009, with the first keynote being delivered by Mr. Adi Godrej.

I am sure this is going to be a great learning session with immense value for all present.

Our group has a fairly long history, we are 112 years old, Our sales turnover is a little over a 100 billion rupees

Interestingly Adi is sharing keen information about the Godrej business and they have grown till date. In 1991 we clearly felt that we had to give a boost to our competitiveness. We partnered global companies in our existing businesses, which were GE and P&G as Joint Ventures, though they dont’ continue today.

We learnt a lot from these great International organizations, which we have implemented over the years and they have learnt a lot about India, from us

Each of our companies and businesses, has a non family managing director or president who runs the company, I am surely interested in learning this.  We have a rather strict rule which has that only professionally qualified family members can join the business.

I am the third generation in the business and the fourth has already been inducted into the business

One of the major values we believe in is, that people are our strongest assets. We go out of our way to LIVE the value that people are our strongest assets. We have a constitution of a young executive board, one’s with great future potential and their job is to look at strategy, corporate governance, HRD etc, and then advice the Group CEO’s. Hence we get a tremendous bottom up response. I am very intrigued with the learning from Mr. Godrej.

Being a family business, as a professional and entrepreneur, I am so glad to hear and learn about the functioning of the Godrej group and how it is constituted at various levels. Very interestingly the structure provides the company a very strong bottom up feedback in runnign the company and in my view provides them with a great leadership development tool, creating a very scalable structure.

We have very emphatic programs on diversity within the group

Whenever we have emphasized diversity, the talent we get is much better than the average, Eg: if you go out of the way to recruit strong women, you get great talent, in cases much better than men. We have a very strong E-MBA program within the group. People who have not yet done a management degree, are eligible and promoted to do so. We insist on a 5 day learning schedule.

I myself make sure that I at least spend 30 days a year for learning

We follow a process of forced ranking in our group, we force ranks into non-performers and extra-ordinary achievers. The bottom non-performers which we get everytime in ranking, as it is relative. What this process doe sin a country like India is to strongly improve the working of the team, as everybody does good to work to be in the top 20 per cent.

I get evaluated by my sub-ordinates on a 360 degree basis regularly, and this is only a self evaluation tool

We re-assess our portfolio on a very regular basis and in the last years we have had several strategic acquisitions. We hired a British branding partner called Interbrand to re-launch our brand and it helped us great way in re-positioning our brand and leverage the brand asset value and equity towards achieving growth!

Interestingly we have Mr. Godrej talking about the various succession plans in the company.  Talking about succession planning, Mr. Godrej talks about what if you tomorrow come down a bus, well, we are planned for it, and I remember having the similar conversation with a friend, while running an Incubation Consulting company.

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So here we are with the second session of Day 1 of The Leaders In India 2009. This is a panel discussion with a very impressive moderated panel, and the discussion will revolve around Mergers and Acquisitions which surely is an interesting discussion to be in.

We have the resident editor from Mumbai for Outlook magazine moderating the session for the gathering and he talks some very interesting numbers.

70% of acquisitions fail

Company like Cisco which has done more than 135 acquisitions till date, we have the Chief Globalization Officer from Cisco, talking about how Cisco has mastered the art of acquisitions. He says the majority of our acquisitions came from our customers. This is the Go To Market anc business strategy for Cisco. We differentiate in market enetering, expansion and acceleration. Our success rate is 70%. We are very high on retention as well.

You need a culture in a company to be able to do M and A

We also do acquisitions to enter new business models. Our learning with acquisitions is that you have to have that culture in your company and today we have an entire team to do these acquisitions. Last but not the least, its a process. Now we are talking India in specific and interestingly Cisco has so far done 6 new investments in India.

Key takeaway: M&A can be a key part of your strategy and it can become your culture

Now we have Mr. Charles from wattson wyatt, giving the Human angle to M&A. What I have learned working with clients, there is no standard template for culture. It has to be something which is central to all parts of your transaction. In terms of due diligence, if you really dont understand the culture of the organization that you are buying, you should not think of buying them.

I was very impressed with the amount of expertise and process and real hard work which went into due diligence when I was working with clients in India

But the whole diligence was on the financial part and not the cultural or Human part. One of the things you need to accept about M and A, is that you need to be better at it.

Interestingly we have an expert talking about post integration and acquisition and she says, when you are in the midst of your deal, how much attention have you paid to the fact that what would happen to the organization after merger and what would form out of it?

You need to have the systems integrated to get the right prioritization, post acquisition integration. The key thing for you is to get the right internal team together. You need to bring all the elements together with common objectives and right prioritization, as you cannot do everything in 30 days, hence you need to have the right planning which will definitely pay dividends in the long run.

By bad post acquisition realizations, and if not planned well, you could inherit losses and other issues. Hence plannign the right internal team with the right objectives is the right thing.

Bad M&A?

Sure, there is bad M&A there, but it is also the time for opportunity. Governments are going to have to raise money in the near future and taxes are the way to do it and hence this is the time to have a strategic look at your group structure and if you have your IP rights at the right places in your organization and if you are exploiting them fully.

Q&A:

Now we are in the q&A mode with the moderator of the session leading with the questions.

Very interesting discussions happening about Indian family businesses and also how Cisco does the right things by setting the right expectations, while discussing business Integration across verticals and internal employee cultures.

Money is a Motivation – setting the right financial structure post integration:

We now are discussion how compensation structures change and how they are controlled and managed over time, post integration. You need to structure the deal looking at the fact that anybody who has set up a business has a huge amount of emotional attachment with the business. What we have found is: if you can intelligently find out the right roles for people post integration, looking at what they are doing, they love, you can have a successful post integration team merger and integration.

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