CHAPTER-1 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY OBJECTIVE:- There are certain sequentially laid down objectives stated as under:- To understand the managerial practices of Infosys To understand the leadership style of Infosys To understand the contribution of managerial practices and leadership styles to successes of Infosys. To collect the feedback and perception from the retailer toward various Infosys policies such as pricing, distribution, advertisement, product/brand preference amongst the channel. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:- Company’s brand as an employer. Early opportunities for growth. High degree of autonomy Value compatibility. Innovative people program
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CHAPTER-1
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
OBJECTIVE:-
There are certain sequentially laid down objectives stated as under:-
To understand the managerial practices of Infosys
To understand the leadership style of Infosys
To understand the contribution of managerial practices and leadership styles to
successes of Infosys.
To collect the feedback and perception from the retailer toward various Infosys
policies such as pricing, distribution, advertisement, product/brand preference
amongst the channel.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY:-
Company’s brand as an employer.
Early opportunities for growth.
High degree of autonomy
Value compatibility.
Innovative people program
CHAPTER 2
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
Infosys Limited formerly Infosys Technologies Limited is an Indian provider of
business consulting, technology, engineering and outsourcing services. It is a public ltd
company and It’s headquartered in Bangalore, India. It has offices in 30 countries and
development centers in India, US, China, Australia, UK, Canada, Japan and many other
countries. (Worldwide)
Infosys was co-founded in 1981 by N. R. Narayana Murthy, Nandan Nilekani, N. S.
Raghavan, S. Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K Dinesh and Ashok Arora after they
resigned from Patni Computer Systems. Today, Infosys is a global leader in the "Next
Generation" of IT and consulting with revenues of billion.
Infosys ranked among the most innovative companies in a Forbes survey, leading
technology companies in a report by The Boston Consulting Group and top ten green
companies in Newsweek's Green Rankings
Infosys was voted India's most admired company in The Wall Street Journal Asia 200
every year since 2000. The corporate governance practices were recognized by The Asset
Platinum award and the IR Global Rankings.
Infosys was also ranked as the 15th most trusted brand in India by The Brand Trust
Infosys has designed and developed products across industries. Such as:
Aerospace Design of A380 Inboard Fixed Trailing Edge
Design of Fuselage Frame Installations Design of Nose Landing Gears Doors and associated mechanism elements Design of Floor panels Complex composite and metallic structures Knowledge-based engineering
Automotive
Seating system design Door and Pillar trims Instrument floor consoles Overhead systems Model for Combustion Pressure inside Engine Test Automation for Dashboard SW Embedded control development of Electro Hydraulic Breaking, Adaptive Cruise Control
and Fuel Injection system Design and development of software in Antilock Breaking Systems Body control module Platform Porting and Optimization
Business Software & Enterprise Products
Enhancement of Business Intelligence Product Development of Retail server product Development of Enterprises Integration platform components Design and development of Internet security product suite Development of leading MNP and LNP solutions
Computing Peripherals & Office Automation
Product development of high-speed label printer, host system drivers and middleware
components Design and development of device drivers, core printer controller firmware, testing, roll-
out and support at sites for pilot installations Solution development for POS product vendor
Consumer Electronics, Mobile & Handheld Segment
Design and development of an interactive TV application for a European cable service
provider Development of an embedded multimedia framework and audio/video components for
various platforms and operating systems Development of next generation handheld scanners that integrate with web applications
in near real-time for a US package delivery giant.
Digital Media Technologies
Digital media products in broadcasting, distribution and play out Set-top box development and integrated DTV solutions Network and Element Management solutions for telecom and data communication
products Product services in 2G, 2.5G and 3G services IPTV Solutions including solutions with Microsoft's IPTV Platform
Discrete manufacturing
Electric Injection Molding machines Re-engineering for improved efficiency of Air conditioning compressor KBE for Optimization and Automation of Design of Oil Well Screens Hydraulic systems for Industrial machinery Mechanism Synthesis, Analysis & Optimization CFD analysis for Gas turbines Sizing and Selection Machine Elements Next generation HMI for power plant SCADA
Energy & Utilities
Equipment sizing and selection Effluent treatment system layout Piping analysis and drawings Oil Well Monitoring system Implementation of advanced process control in crude line refinery
Hardware
Professional Video Deck for real-time video and audio editing Reference Platform for High End Cell phone
Processor Board redesign for RoHS compatibility keeping the old form factor, and
minimizing software impact Optical Channel Monitor using DSP for control of tunable optical filter, piezo-electric
sensors and signal processing Oil Well Monitoring system to compute oil flow rates, bulk velocity, and measurement of
pressure and temperature; based on industrial PC running Windows NT
Medical Devices
New software products in the Patient Tracking and Health Information Management
areas Web-enablement of payor product suite including sustenance and maintenance End-to-end product development for respiratory devices End-to-end development of comprehensive healthcare monitoring applications Innovation in all aspects of medical image-analysis platform and biochemical- markers in
drug development for a CRO New product development, regulatory testing and support of several medical devices
Networking & Communications
Development of a WLAN switch for a leading networking company Development of VOIP calls manager, Media gateway and Softswitch Complete product ownership of a leading enterprise L2-L7 switch Development of a leading DSLAM switch Development of EMS & NMS systems for wireless and optical networks
Product Development (Hardware & Software)
Product development of digital video processing card Development of key mobile phone components including MMI modules, entertainment
modules, Codecs, etc.
Semiconductors, Scientific & Industrial Equipment
Design of reservoir monitoring system Development of silicon wafer inspection solution Development of monitoring solutions for chemical processing industry Development and sustenance of defect tracking and diagnostic systems for railway tracks
Storage & Services Segment Solutions
Development of ISCSI host and target modules & SCSI drivers Development of performance tools for disk mirroring Development of a NMS configurator for FC-SAN switch Development of Recovery & Storage manager Re-engineering of multi platform space manager
SWOT ANALYSIS
Its stand for:S : STREGTHW : WEAKNESSO : OPPORTUNITYT : THREATS
Strengths
Since the company is based in India its competitive advantage is enhanced. The Indian economy, despite weak economic indicators such as relatively high rates of inflation, has low labor costs. The workforce has relatively high skills levels in Information Technology. Couple these two elementstogether and you have an operational basis that offers low-cost based, highly skilled competitive advantage. Trained Indian personnel often speak very good English and are sensitive to Western culture, underpinned by India's colonial past.
Infosys is in a strong financial position. The business turned over more than $4 billion in 2008. This means that it has the capital to expand, and also the basis to leverage potential investors.
The company has bases in 44 global development centres, most of which are located in India, although the company has offices in many developed and developing nations. This means not only that Infosys is becoming a global brand but also that it has the capability to support the global operations of multinational clients.
Weaknesses
Infosys on occasion struggles in the US markets, and has particular problems in securing United States Federal Government contracts in North America. Since these contracts are highly profitable and tend to run for long periods of time, Infosys is missing out on lucrative business. Added to this is the fact that its competitors do well in terms of securing the same Federal business (and one should also take into account that many of its competitors are domiciled in the US and there could be political pressure on the US Government to award contracts to domestic organizations).
Despite being a huge IT company in relation to its Indian competitors, Infosys is much smaller than its global competitors. As discussed above, Infosys generated $4 billion in 2008, which is relatively low in comparison with large global competitors such as Hewlett-Packard ($91 billion), IBM ($91 billion), EDS ($21 billion) and Accenture ($18 billion).
It is sometimes argued that Infosys is weaker when it comes to high-end management consultancy, since it tends to work at the level of operational value creation. Competitors such as IBM and Accenture tend to dominate this space.
Opportunities
At a time of recession in the global economy, it may appear that some companies will reduce take up of services that Infosys offers. However, in tough times clients tend to focus upon cost reduction and outsourcing - with are strategies that Infosys offers. So hard times could be profitable for Infosys.
There is a new and emerging market in China as the country undergoes a huge industrial revolution.
The strategic alliance between Infosys and Schlumberger gives the IT company access to lucrative business in the gas and oil industries.
There has been a trend over recent years for European and North American companies to base some or all of their operation in India. This is called an offshore service. Essentially there is a seamless link between domestic operations and services hosted in India. Examples include telecommunications companies such as British Telecom and banks such as HSBC that have customer service and support centres based in India. Think about the times that you have made calls to a support line to find that the adviser is in Mumbai or Bangalore and not in your home market.
Threats
India is not the only country that is undergoing rapid industrial expansion. Competitors may come from countries such as China or Korea where there are large pools of low-cost labor, and developing educational infrastructures such as universities and technology colleges.
Customers may switch to other offshore service companies in other countries such as China or Korea.
Other global players have realised that India has the benefit of low-cost, highly-skilled labor that often speaks English and is culturally sensitive to Western practices. As with all global IT players, Infosys has to compete for skilled labor and this may have the effect of driving up wage levels, and making it more difficult to recruit and retain staff.
Basic EPS from ordinary activities 139.07 112.26 100.37 101.65 78.24
Cash EPS from ordinary activities 152.90 125.14 114.46 113.77 87.80
Price/ earning, end of year 20.61 28.87 26.06 13.02 18.40
Price/ cash earnings, end of year 18.75 25.90 22.85 11.64 16.40
Price/ book value, end of year 5.53 7.60 6.81 4.26 6.11
PE/EPS growth 0.86 2.44 (20.68) 0.44 1.20
Dividend per share 37.00 30.00 25.00 23.50 13.25
Dividend (%) 740 600 500.00 470.00 265.00
CHAPTER 4
LEADERSHIP STYLE OF INFOSYS
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Leadership style of Mr. N.R Narayan Murthy (Chairman & Founder)
Mr. Narayan Murthy was born in a middle class family in Siddalghat in Karnataka, His father inculcated importance of determination, discipline and good values. Since childhood he had a very good academic record.
At present he is the Chairman of Infosys. Present market capitalization of US$ 7.075 billion
Infosys started with Rs.10, 000.Mr. Narayan Murthy is influenced by Mahatma Gandhi who ‘walked his talk’ and demonstrated by, Example He says he wants to be a doer and respects people who do things, rather than just talk.
Some of the traits that differentiate him from others are:
•His Underlying principle: Is that, you undertake to do something you are confident of and have the capability to do it. This helps to lay the foundation to build a healthy relationship. He also believes that it is better to have a small part of a large, growing pie; than a large part of small shrinking one.
•Simple living-high thinking:A man who believes in ‘Simple living high thinking’. Even though he has a personal wealth of Rs. 2,500 crores, his lifestyle remains modest. He lives in a simple 2-bed room flat in Santacruz-Mumbai, India.
•Under-promising & Over-delivering:He has tremendous respect for people and sound philosophy of “under-promising & over delivering”. This helps him build a healthy long-term relationship with his colleagues, employees, family, friends, business associates and network of shareholders.
•Pioneer in HRM: Mr. Murthy says that his is an HR-based industry. Software is a knowledge business hence the focus is shifted to Brainware. It was he who started ESOP’s that is real distribution of wealth. Now it is very common in the industry to have ESOP’s but it has done wonders in Infosys. Thus Narayan Murthy is honestly awe-inspiring role model for professionals.
•Performance Oriented:He is a man who always measures performance against value. According to Murthy peoples performance in the knowledge industry is as valuable as gold. Thus by introducing ESOP’s he motivated his employees to work smart and hard.
•Strategy: (Customer is the King):Even though there is a lot of competition in the market he believes in one thing that is, being unique in the market place and making sure that you are the 1st mover.
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Tap the need of the customer and give them more than they expect. Believes in giving value to the customer, being fair to people and transparency in working.Mr. Murthy says that “Growth comes from repeat business, repeat business comes from relationships, and relationships with customers are built on trust and trust is built by delivering quality products.
•Social being:He believes in putting the public good ahead of private good in every decision he makes. This differentiates the developed world from the developing world. Infosys practices its Social responsibility very well. Rehabilitation drive, literacy programme, donations etc are few ways in which he works for the society.
•Visionary: Though Infosys had so many professionals it did not venture into dotcom because of the vision of Mr. Narayan Murthy. This saved them from going down. The downfall of dotcoms has not affected his business much. Before starting Infosys this visionary got together with 6 professionals and wanted to start have India’s first software company of the professionals, for the professionals, by the professionals, and because of his farsightedness Infosys has come this far and proved to be a winner Thus Narayan Murthy is honestly awe-inspiring role model for the professionals.
Great companies can neither be built nor their greatness sustained without great leaders. The Reliance would not have been possible without a Dhirubhai, nor an Infosys without a Murthy.
But on August 20, 2006, at the age of 60, when N R Narayana Murthy retires as the
company's chief mentor and chairman, Infosys Technologies Ltd is not really chewing its
nails anxiously.
A succession plan has long been put in place and the smooth transition of authority and
leadership ensured. Murthy will also continue as the non-executive chairman of Infosys.
Of the seven original founders of Infosys, one of India's greatest corporate success stories,
only four will remain at the helm of affairs at the company from August 21: Nandan
Nilekani, S Gopalakrishnan, S D Shibulal, and K Dinesh. N S Raghavan retired in 1999,
while Ashok Arora had quit the firm much earlier, in 1989, to settle down in the United
States.
While Infosys continues to be in very good hands to take on any challenge, the IT major has
already identified a pool of 400 leaders who will steer it in the future. Especially, since the
founders of the company are in their early- or mid-fifties and due for retirement at 60.
So how does Infosys groom its future leaders? The process is long-drawn, meticulous, and in
consonance with the company's stated vision: 'To be a globally respected corporation that
provides best-of-breed business solutions, leveraging technology, delivered by best-in-class
people.'
This is where the Infosys Leadership Institute at the company's Mysore campus comes into
the picture. The 162,000 square feet structure, built at the cost of Rs 41.1 crore (Rs 411
million), is where the next generation of Infosys leaders is being primed.
Says S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan, chief operating officer and deputy managing director, Infosys:
"The company has identified 400 'leaders' on the basis of several parameters: their
performance throughout their tenure with the company being a prime criterion for selection."
Gopalakrishnan, who will take over as the company's President, COO and Joint MD, on
August 21, spoke to rediff.com at Infosys' Mysore campus during its 25th anniversary
celebrations.
"Great performance puts employees on the fast track to growth within the organisation. As
does their commitment to surpassing customer expectations, setting standards in business and
transactions, and being an paradigm for the industry and the company," adds Gopalakrishnan.
"Creativity, devotion to being ethical and sincere in dealings, and the commitment to strive
relentlessly in pursuit of excellence are also major considerations while identifying future
leaders at Infosys," he points out.
The charismatic Narayana Murthy, speaking about his retirement, said: "I do feel sad, but am
happy too. It is a mixed feeling. It's like getting your daughter married: you are sad that she is
going away, but happy that there is someone younger -- and stronger -- to take care of her."
"The company is now in the hands of the youngsters. It is necessary to recognise the power of
youth and to nurture it. We must respect youth and create opportunities for them to
participate in everything. Which is why at every function, we have the youth participating. I
am about the past. I am gone. They are the future," says Murthy.
"The pool of 400 leaders," says Gopalakrishnan, "that Infosys has identified is from across
the globe and does not comprise Indians alone. It is in keeping with the company's multi-
national, multi-cultural image where excellence is the most important condition."
"There is a three-tier mentoring process at Infosys.
Tier-1 of the Infosys Management Council, which consists of the company's board of
directors, mentors Tier-2 leaders who in turn guide the Tier-3 group.
About 45 executives are a part of the company's Tier-1 of the management council. And each
of the leaders undergoes exhaustive and sustained training through the company's personal
development programme -- PDP.
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Infosys training programmes are designed to enable company professionals enhance their
skill sets in tune with their respective roles," says Gopalakrishnan.
The management council is an advisory body that takes strategic decisions on the company's
businesses and was set up by N R Narayana Murthy, with the idea of building an outfit that is
built to last and is ably "geared to handle the uncertainties of a global market, the high and
lows of business cycles, and to power the company towards strong growth in the future," says
the Infosys COO.
When Murthy first set up the council, he found that the young go-getters in the company
were diffident to air their suggestions. It was then that the idea of an in-house leadership
institute was born. Encouragement from the top management has put an end to the fears of
transgressing the chain of command, and young Infoscions are now urged to give vent to their
creative talent and come up with their ideas and plans.
The faculty at the ILI has in a note spelt out the rationale behind the institute and charted out
the manner in which it operates.
The ILI was set up in 2001 to prepare Infosys to manage its exceptional growth; to prepare its
executives to handle the external and internal business environment; and through 'thought
leadership' create better customer value.
The leadership development programme at Infosys takes after similar processes followed by
many global mega corps. It has been refined to suit the particular needs of Infosys and is
termed as the 'nine pillars for leadership development in Infosys.'
These nine pillars form the backbone of the PDP and each leader can choose from these
pillars for personal development. "Depending upon the individual's need to grow and the
company's sensitivity to these needs, every (short-listed) individual is groomed to lead the
company in the future," Gopalakrishnan says.
The chosen few -- 400 of the 58,409 employees -- identified as 'high potential Infoscions'
undergo a three-year 'leadership journey' that includes training, actionising personal
development programme, interacting with other participants, understanding the company
better and resolving real business issues.
Leadership competencies
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The starting point for creating a robust leadership development process is defining leadership competencies. Leadership competencies exist in the context of the organisation’s vision and its core values. The soul of our leadership competencies rest in the vision statement of Infosys which reads: ‘We will be a globally respected corporation that provides best of breed business solutions, leveraging technology, delivered by best in class people.’ To achieve this vision, leadership competencies have been defined along four broad dimensions stated below:
Work People Technology Business
Each of these is further amplified into smaller operational elements, These competencies were identified through a process of debate and discussion with an initial competency set developed through benchmarking studies of formal leadership development systems
Across the world
'The Nine Pillars for Leadership development'
1. 360 degree feedback
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This is the mechanism through which the company gathers data about an individual's
performance and abilities. This information is collected from co-workers, including peers,
subordinates, managers and customers. Personal development plans are prepared on the basis
of this feedback. Then, each of these individuals is assigned an ILI faculty member to help
prepare the PDP and to follow it.
2. Development assignments
Identified high potential Infoscions are trained at various functions of the company through
job rotations and cross-functional assignments. This helps employees to acquire new
leadership skills outside their own areas of expertise and experience.
3. Infosys Culture workshops
These workshops are designed to fortify the Infosys culture amongst the participants, help
instill better communication skills through sustained interaction amongst themselves, and
identify with the values and processes involved in leadership development.
4. Development relationships
This includes one-on-one interaction in actual on-the-job work climate and leads to better
sharing of knowledge and camaraderie amongst individuals. Mentoring forms an integral part
of this exercise.
5. Leadership skills training
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The 'Leaders Teach Series' are workshops that the company's Tier-1 members, including
Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani (CEO and MD), hold to acclimatise the next rung
with leadership roles and to groom them through their own rich experience.
6. Feedback intensive programmes
These are akin to 360 degree feedback, but based on formal and informal feedback from
employees that an individual interacts with.
7. Systemic process learning
This helps individuals to gain an overall view of the company and its diverse and complex
systems, business, operations and processes. It is a continuous process and helps improve the
individual and also the systems.
8. Action learning
This exercise constitutes solving real problems in real-time conditions, but as a team.
9. Community empathy
The company stresses the need to give back to society through involvement in various
developmental, educational and social causes. This programme helps nurture a social
conscience amongst its leaders.
"The last 25 years for Infosys have been successful. And we are ready for the future. Yes, our
growth rates will change, the business cycles will change, our ability to influence the business
environment will change, even our leaders will change. But what will not change in Infosys's
future is our ability to achieve profitable growth legally and ethically, our guiding set of
principles and our values," says Gopalakrishnan.
Meanwhile, there is a buzz about the imposing edifice of the ILI set amidst the verdant
expanse that is the Mysore campus of Infosys: the next CEO, COO, CFO are being readied