IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...
been there, faced that
It’s global acquisition spree may have transformed Vodafone from a small UK-focused service provider into a global telecom giant with interests in over 40 countries, but has also hurt it where it pinches most – its profits, which have seen a steady decline over the past few years. During his tenure as CEO (1997-2003), the rumbustious Sir Christopher Gent paved the way for a series of overseas acquisitions, beginning with US-based AirTouch in 1999. He followed this up with a £101 billion hostile takeover bid for German firm Mannesmann, subsequently using Vodafone’s highly-rated shares to snap up more rivals in Europe and beyond. These dealt a severe blow to Vodafone’s bottomlines, resulting in staggering losses in 2006-07, totalling approximately $9 billion. And while the company has recovered from the blow this year (registering $6.6 billion as profits for 2007-08), the pressures on current CEO Arun Sarin remain just as daunting. On his part, Sarin too, has been experimenting with Gent-like aggressiveness in acquisitions. He made a $13.3 billion ambitious bid and lapped up 67% stake of Hutchison Whampoa in India’s Hutchison-Essar combine, besides a previous failed bid to pick up America’s largest wireless operator AT&T. Presently, he is fighting it out with India’s Bharti Airtel to pick up majority stake in South Africa’s MTN. However, despite blitzkrieg expansions in non-European markets over the last many years, Vodafone has been struggling to get desired results from these markets. While the company pulled off more than $28 billion in revenues from the European market alone for the six months ended September 2007, it hardly managed $5 billion as revenues from emerging markets like Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Vodafone’s exit from Japan in April 2006 was also due to a similar situation. So what is the logic behind Vodafone’s aggressive expansion? According to a company spokesperson, “Being in all emerging as well as developed markets gives a lot of exposure to us and also the experience to roll out separate kinds of products to cater all these markets. In UK, for example there are more phones than people so there are many things one can offer in terms of data… whereas in India, tele-density is far too less compared to UK so the thrust is to add more and more customers.”
from bust to boom
In terms of VAS, analysts are not normally positive of India-based services across borders. They feel that these services are typically successful mostly with the Indian diaspora, like Bollywood ring back tones. Otherwise there is not much they can give on the technology front. Nevertheless, Bharti Telesoft has been one company keen on making its mark in the VAS space pan India as well as globally. It was a dotcom bust baby born in 2001 after seeing a disaster written all over it in its initial years, when it decided to focus exclusively on the Value Added Services (VAS) space. Since then they have moved from strength to strength and even made a mark overseas. One of the most interesting value additions that they offered to their customers has been revenue sharing rather than a straight up fee; which would have made gaining an entry quite difficult into a new market. Bharti Telesoft, after establishing a strong presence among telecom operators in the high growth markets of SAARC, Asia Pacific, Middle-East, Africa and Europe is now eyeing aggressively to foray into newer markets like Latin America, where there is a great potential for m-banking and increase services offerings in existing markets like South Asia and Middle East. As Ambar Sur, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Telesoft divulges “We aim to capitalise our presence in the global market by continuing to enhance our current portfolio and develop innovative offerings.” The evidence of this stands true with their presence in the top 3 global providers of integrated VAS solutions, with over 100 mobile operator customers in more than 60 countries worldwide. Among other tactical moves, they have acquired Jataayu Software, rolled out a mobile banking service with Barclay’s India called ‘Hello Money’ and even entered into an alliance with AFS. The company fully understands the benefits of going global even though operating in India is highly competitive as the VAS business requires high degree of agility. Also, the R & D innovation cycle is far less (2-3 years) vis-à-vis telecom equipment manufacturers. But the major challenge lies elsewhere, as Ambar admits, “Challenges faced by VAS industry are not technology or infrastructure-led, but the lifestyle appeal and the demand made by consumers.”
been there, faced thatIt’s global acquisition spree may have transformed Vodafone from a small UK-focused service provider into a global telecom giant with interests in over 40 countries, but has also hurt it where it pinches most – its profits, which have seen a steady decline over the past few years. During his tenure as CEO (1997-2003), the rumbustious Sir Christopher Gent paved the way for a series of overseas acquisitions, beginning with US-based AirTouch in 1999. He followed this up with a £101 billion hostile takeover bid for German firm Mannesmann, subsequently using Vodafone’s highly-rated shares to snap up more rivals in Europe and beyond. These dealt a severe blow to Vodafone’s bottomlines, resulting in staggering losses in 2006-07, totalling approximately $9 billion. And while the company has recovered from the blow this year (registering $6.6 billion as profits for 2007-08), the pressures on current CEO Arun Sarin remain just as daunting. On his part, Sarin too, has been experimenting with Gent-like aggressiveness in acquisitions. He made a $13.3 billion ambitious bid and lapped up 67% stake of Hutchison Whampoa in India’s Hutchison-Essar combine, besides a previous failed bid to pick up America’s largest wireless operator AT&T. Presently, he is fighting it out with India’s Bharti Airtel to pick up majority stake in South Africa’s MTN. However, despite blitzkrieg expansions in non-European markets over the last many years, Vodafone has been struggling to get desired results from these markets. While the company pulled off more than $28 billion in revenues from the European market alone for the six months ended September 2007, it hardly managed $5 billion as revenues from emerging markets like Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Vodafone’s exit from Japan in April 2006 was also due to a similar situation. So what is the logic behind Vodafone’s aggressive expansion? According to a company spokesperson, “Being in all emerging as well as developed markets gives a lot of exposure to us and also the experience to roll out separate kinds of products to cater all these markets. In UK, for example there are more phones than people so there are many things one can offer in terms of data… whereas in India, tele-density is far too less compared to UK so the thrust is to add more and more customers.”
from bust to boom
In terms of VAS, analysts are not normally positive of India-based services across borders. They feel that these services are typically successful mostly with the Indian diaspora, like Bollywood ring back tones. Otherwise there is not much they can give on the technology front. Nevertheless, Bharti Telesoft has been one company keen on making its mark in the VAS space pan India as well as globally. It was a dotcom bust baby born in 2001 after seeing a disaster written all over it in its initial years, when it decided to focus exclusively on the Value Added Services (VAS) space. Since then they have moved from strength to strength and even made a mark overseas. One of the most interesting value additions that they offered to their customers has been revenue sharing rather than a straight up fee; which would have made gaining an entry quite difficult into a new market. Bharti Telesoft, after establishing a strong presence among telecom operators in the high growth markets of SAARC, Asia Pacific, Middle-East, Africa and Europe is now eyeing aggressively to foray into newer markets like Latin America, where there is a great potential for m-banking and increase services offerings in existing markets like South Asia and Middle East. As Ambar Sur, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Telesoft divulges “We aim to capitalise our presence in the global market by continuing to enhance our current portfolio and develop innovative offerings.” The evidence of this stands true with their presence in the top 3 global providers of integrated VAS solutions, with over 100 mobile operator customers in more than 60 countries worldwide. Among other tactical moves, they have acquired Jataayu Software, rolled out a mobile banking service with Barclay’s India called ‘Hello Money’ and even entered into an alliance with AFS. The company fully understands the benefits of going global even though operating in India is highly competitive as the VAS business requires high degree of agility. Also, the R & D innovation cycle is far less (2-3 years) vis-à-vis telecom equipment manufacturers. But the major challenge lies elsewhere, as Ambar admits, “Challenges faced by VAS industry are not technology or infrastructure-led, but the lifestyle appeal and the demand made by consumers.”
For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
» IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
