Articles

January 3, 2013

Public opinion and the law: a long standing tension

Published on 3rd January 2013, BUSINESS STANDARD

“Character is not homogeneous, like a quart of milk. It is sectional, like a grapefruit. Everyone has good sections and bad. One person may be strongly loyal to the boss

February 20, 2012

Retail Brics

Published on 20th February 2012, BUSINESS STANDARD

The Indian retail boom awaits business model innovations Foreign direct investment into the Indian retail sector is controversial,

September 12, 2011

Boardroom Mantras for Aspiring CEOs

Published on 12th September 2011, BUSINESS STANDARD

I have worked for twenty four years on company boards in many roles: as an executive and as a non-executive director, in India and overseas, as independent and non-independent director, and in international as well as in Indian companies.

February 7, 2011

Speaking up is Costly, but so also is not Speaking up

Published on 7th February 2011, ECONOMIC TIMES

In public and corporate life, there are huge costs of not speaking up or of not listening to those who speak up: the Sathyam scam and the BP oil spill disaster are both telling examples.

December 6, 2010

INNOVATION NEEDS MORE BITZUA AND CHUTZPAH

6th December 2010, ECONOMIC TIMES

Bitzua, chutzpah, rosh gadol and other Hebrew expressions come alive in an eminently readable and inspiring book called Start-Up Nation:

November 1, 2010

COMPANY MUST ADD VALUE TO SUBSIDIARIES THROUGH EXPLICIT ‘PARENTING’

1st November 2010, ECONOMIC TIMES

The word ‘parenting’ conjures visions of nurturing and inspiring; it does not connote involvement with and intrusion into any and everything that the child does.

October 4, 2010

How global companies can better ride the India wave

4th October 2010, ECONOMIC TIMES

“Think with a blank sheet of paper. Treat India as a multi-dimensional resource and not merely as a consuming market for your readily available technologies and products.”

September 6, 2010

Chemical industry needs more ‘explorers’

6th September 2010, ECONOMIC TIMES

(Tell people that you work for a company in automotive, electronics or computing and they understand. Tell someone, “I work for a company that produces nitro-cellulose, surfactants and starch-based polymers”, and watch the clueless look.

August 2, 2010

SOLVING PROBLEMS INDIRECTLY: the example of education

2nd August 2010, ECONOMIC TIMES

(The consumer demand for quality education is huge. The Indian education market is gargantuan at $ 80 billion per year, about the size of the Indian steel and automobile industries put together. It is highly regulated and under-governed.)