There's a correction, which has been mentioned at the end of this article.

Chander Prakash Gurnanis appointment as the managing director of Tech Mahindra may have been announced just a fortnight back, making him a shoo-in for the CEOs post at the Tech Mahindra-Mahindra Satyam combine, but the company veteran hardly has the time to celebrate the good news.

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- Large deal wins key to Mahindra Satyam's future growth - Former customers coming back to us: Mahindra Satyam - Tech Mahindra appoints C P Gurnani as Managing Director - Tech Mahindra hits 52-week high on better than expected Q1 earnings - Tech Mahindra net up 22% on weak rupee - No reply Also Read News Related Stories Now Markets dip led by rate sensitives NLC plans to increase contribution of power to grid in 2 months Fiscal deficit for Apr-Jul period at Rs 2.64 lakh cr: CGA Eurozone jobless rate stuck at record high in July BSE Sensex falls banks hit as GDP dashes rate cut hopes

More He is crisscrossing the world these days (he spoke to Business Standard from Brazil) in order to achieve what he calls Mission 2015 that aims to double the combined entitys turnover to $5 billion in three years from $2.4 billion today. Mission 2015 was not a decision taken overnight by the man of the moment. Initially planned in February, the idea was given shape in April at a meeting of 120 executives drawn from both the companies. Significantly, some key customers were also a part of the brainstorming on the aspirations of the company, the mission statement and the strategy.

The target perhaps seems a bit audacious, given the global headwinds, but all the 120 leaders are committed to this goal and say they will make it, Gurnani says, in his first interview to a newspaper after becoming the CEO-designate of the combined entity. The urgency is evident from the fact that the company has already rolled out the plan to take the merged entity (Gurnani is non-committal about its name, though sources say the Satyam name will be discontinued) to the next level, even before the approval from the Bombay and the Andhra Pradesh high courts for the merger.(MAHINDRA VERSUS THE COMPETITION) Mission 2015 Gurnani says while the Mahindra group is already number one in telecom IT services, it wants to become bigger in this segment along with the manufacturing vertical. We would like to retain our glory in banking, financial services and insurance and healthcare and emerge as challengers in other segments. We also realised that we need to keep on investing in business as we will grow in new markets and regions, he adds. To achieve this, the company has been divided into four segments. The first is called business momentum and will focus on the exiting businesses and customers. From a growth lever perspective, I think this will be significant. I am aware that our average revenue per account is not the best. Our focus will be to strengthen this so that we can cross-sell, up-sell and bring more value to our customers, he says. This unit is expected to have three leaders. Gurnani also agrees that while the company is pursuing some large deals (new clients), the potential of mining the existing client base for a larger chunk of work will be a focus area. At present, the company does not have clients in the $100-million category. This is a priority as despite clearing the mess left behind by Satyam, the company has been unable to get back into the big league (over $100 million deals) and is only executing deals of up to $50 million. While analysts remain bullish on both companies, given their strong deal pipelines and multiple margin levers at their disposal, they believe Mahindra Satyams future growth hinges on its ability to bag bigger contracts. Citigroup Global Market research analysts Surendra Goyal and Rishi Iyer say: "The company has launched a supersizing initiative, wherein 80 of the top 100 clients have been hand-picked for service line bombarding. Management expects this to be a huge vehicle of growth, with existing clients accounting for around 95 per cent of the FY13 revenues." The second segment, headed by a CEO, will focus on new business solutions and platform. This will focus on developing new platform-based solutions, such as mobile apps and setting up new services. The third will focus on mergers and acquisitions. Gurnani explains eight to 10 per cent of the $5billion target by 2015 will come from inorganic growth. For this, the company will appoint two senior executives while one will be involved at the corporate level to look at M&A opportunities, the other will drive the portfolio.

The fourth segment is to incubate start-ups. Here, the company has already announced its tie-up with Soft Bank to set up a $50-million fund that will invest in promising new technology firms. This will be headed by a chief innovation officer, who will focus on incubating start-ups. The company has also already identified five key horizontals for growth network, mobility, analytics, cloud-based solutions and security also called NMACS. To give an instance, in analytics, we already have a platform called iDesign, which we intend to take aggressively to customers. In the cloud segment, we have delivered to one of our telecom customers, switch over the cloud, says Gurnani. At present, half the companys revenue comes from ADM type of work, a little over 30 per cent of its revenue is derived from engineering and manufacturing services, and of the rest, a major chunk comes from NMACS. "The combined entity would have an established franchise in two of the fastest-growing domains currently cloud computing and enterprise mobility. Mahindra Satyams footprint in enterprise services would complement the deep expertise of Tech Mahindra in telecom vertical, to develop a formidable presence in the enterprise mobility space. Both Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra have sizeable presence in Cloud Computing," say Hitesh Shah and Abhishek Gupta of IDFC Institutional Securities in their report. New geographies & services Gurnani says that the two terms that his team will continue to talk about going ahead will be new offering and markets. We also recently announced setting up of a centre in Fargo, North Dakota, US. We are setting up business centres in different geographies. We will soon announce the opening of a centre in Netherlands. We recently set up a centre in Belgium, he adds. He gives the instance of the companys relationship with the FIFA World Cup and how the company is using this to leverage its position in Latin America. We already have a centre in Brazil, we are further enhancing it. We will set up a centre in Peru. But, more importantly, my team in these markets will be local guys. Similarly, you will see growth coming for us from Saudi Arabia, Eastern Europe as well as the traditional markets, he explains. Leadership These days, almost a third of Gurnanis time is spent in mentoring future leaders of the combined entity. This is a key focus area, as he wants Mahindras IT business to become one of the best places to work in. Being the IT provider for the FIFA World Cup in 2010 and also for the upcoming 2014 one, Gurnani has imbibed football into his leadership building initiative. Internally, the company has 25 task forces, each of which is headed by a young future leader, who, in turn, gets coached and mentored by senior executives. Many of us in the leadership realise that success and failure depend on the success of young leaders. We had a shadow board, and all of these members were young leaders who were involved in all the decisions that the board took so far. When you see a game of soccer, you feel

that the coach is responsible for the strategy and during the game, they are as animated as the players. But, it is an 18- or 19-year-old who scores a goal. In our case, the youngster is in the age group of 30 years, he says. Challenges Gurnani is worried about the snakes-and-ladders situation in the global economy, which is a big uncertainty. The other thing that bothers him is the capacity to have local skills managing the business in those regions. But he hastens to add there is no option but to be prepared for all eventualities. The CEOdesignate, at least, has equipped himself well for meeting the challenges ahead. Even as I was fire-fighting at Satyam, I was also attending the Harvard Executive Leadership programme. I am conscious of the potential and the aspirations of over 75,000 employees, he signs off. The story has been updated with correction. The company has set up a centre in Fargo, North Dakota, US. In the earlier version the story quoted CP Gurnani saying they have set-up centre for Wells Fargo. The error is regretted.

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BA at Roehampton : Tailored For Busy Professionals. International Online Community.

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EEK WE ASKED: IIM Calcutta has started a unique programme called Insight, whereby, members will lecture on topics within their core area of expertise. Do you think other Bould follow suit?

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ONSE

aving core competency in particular domain will be the right person to talk on any topic of ular domain. He/she will try to focus on some particular domain, and try to gather maximum in that. By this he will become master of that particular domain also more and more ork can be undertaken by student under the guidance of that faculty. But for student to mpetitive in this dynamic business environment, they should have lecture on general nt so they will also get insight on business as a whole. Dani, Vishwakarma Institute of Management, Pune.

RESPONSES:

f the hour to take initiatives like 'Insight' and developing centres of excellence in top BIndia. This will lead to students benefiting greatly by the expertise of their own permanent ore resorting to third party sources like eminent speakers, visiting faculties, guest lecturers matter experts for domain knowledge. In addition they will also have the advantage of ontinuous interaction for two years in which the students can be included in any kind of roject or consultancy work on those areas. This would add true value to their education. u Kumar, Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship, Bangalore.

hools with comparable stature should undoubtedly follow tactics to IIM-C. This can be ed by conducting events for faculty to spread esoteric lessons on their fields of work. It will wareness among students pertaining to the core areas of research thereby developing keen different fields. Also by discussing such topics with a variety of minds will surely give birth ve ideas resulting in widened approach of professors. Chhabra, Integral University, Lucknow.

are often compelled to make their faculty members take number of subjects for lectures, hich are often not one of their key strengths. The programme 'Insight' is definitely a good o let teachers teach what they have really worked hard on. It will ensure that whatever and new ideas a faculty has gained in his field gets communicated to the students. Bth eminent faculty members should adopt this programme so that the knowledge of their

mbers can be utilized by the students. gh, IBS Gurgaon.

of Insight triggers a new revolution in Indian education sector and will definitely provide a or the eminent faculties to rise beyond their academic boundaries. Its high time that the knowledge and thoughts of these scholars be utilized for the public domain. But the other following suit may not be a wiser strategy. This is not a product market where every brand unching its own product. A better approach could be collaboration of the interested Blaunch a common platform which would add up to better resources benefiting both the

Parimal, Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).

e world these skills are considered an integral requirement for executive in the top-level nt, gives broadest application because they can pertain to virtually anything; when have better skill of experience they can serve better in the market and typically they can tive ability to think creatively, solve the problems and develop strategies in corporate Traditional passive learning characterized by an instructor lecturing may fail to achieve y-in-form student. This potential method of lecture gives a real world corporate meet to e applications for completing the success. Ghosh, UnitedWorld School of Business, Ahmedabad.

s will not only build up concepts but also tune the thought process and analysing skills of recent study, stated that only 21 per cent MBA graduates from India are employable lies that our B-schools are struggling to add quality talent pool as required by the industry. ears, Indian B-schools found difficult to position itself in top 10 global B-schools. on of Nobel laureates, corporate hochos and industry specialists in the teaching panel was mantra of many top global B-schools. Hence other B-schools should also start up such TO fill quality-quantity gap. hah, Fr Conceicao Rodrigues Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.

e original pioneers of management education and research in India. Any changes in process or learning, will have a huge effect across all management schools in India. It is the need , that management schools should imbibe knowledge which is practical to the relevant on. One cannot expect a marketing faculty to teach finance or a operations faculty to teach Also expertise comes with rigorous practice, so only people with relevant experience in the least 15-20 years experience should be selected to impart knowledge. Orpe, Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Management Studies, Vashi.

programme Insight will help students to gain theoretical as well as practical knowledge ore area subjects like finance,human resource management,marketing,operations etc. But r B-schools conduct guest lectures in the core area of subjects which is similar as Insight. As two sides knowledge also has two sides practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge mportant and both make you better in what you do. The difference will be uploading the on their website which will benefit to other management students. want, Fr C. Rodrigues Institute of Management Studies (FCRIMS), Vashi.

hools should adopt this innovative methodology of imparting a unique programme to their ho will get 360 degree information and latest development about the subject. This will also ge experience faculty which can act as a differentiator between other students of a B s said that information shared is information imparted, as this programme can be d via media it can reach to a mass population. Inspite of running a regular courses in B ese core faculty specialized programme will work as an add- on in the overall development ate. ehta, St. Kabir Institute of Professional Studies, Ahmedabad.

ly do not agree with it. This programme can be altered, where students are interviewed on developments. This will increase the student's interest in the topic and later on the faculty te them. In the first episode, Prof. Sinha (Dept of Economics) was interviewed on the recent nts in the Indian economy; he spoke on the causes of the stagnation, and the possible o the problem. This approach will be a two way communication. ardawat, Fr. C. Rodrigues Institute of Management Studies, Vashi.

nses should reach us at [email protected] by Monday evening every week. ure that your responses do not exceed 100 words. Avoid attachments and email your full tute's name, batch and complete mailing address. The student who gives the 'Best Response' arded Rs 500.