DR. RANJAN DAS
Professor of Strategic & International Management
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

Dear Readers,

The Economic Times General Management Review (ET-GMR) continues its endeavour to create a high value strategic management journal. Like the previous numbers, this issue too remained focused on ET-GMR’s objective of creating and disseminating knowledge in the areas of strategic and general management, with special emphasis on problems and challenges of managing in big emerging markets such as India.

“New Venture Resource Strategy in High Velocity Environment”, written by
K Ramachandran and Sougata Ray and based on an analysis of two IT start ups, deals with certain contemporary issues of importance to entrepreneurs involved with start-up companies. Specifically, this paper presents the underlying dynamics of new venture resource strategy that managers must understand while matching the same with the shifting product-market scope and argues why companies operating in a high velocity environment need to adopt network mode of organisation in order to maintain flexibility in resource deployment.

The article “Own up the ownership”, condensed from “Act like an Owner” and written by Robert M. Blonchek and Martin F. Ó Neill, describes the essence of an ownership culture and its impact on an organization. The paper argues how an ownership culture provides a leadership philosophy that helps in communicating effectively with the customers and employees, developing effective teams throughout the organization, designing business systems that support and enhance empowerment, and helps in crystallising the vision for the business.

“Yawning culture gaps and IT usage”, condensed from Geoff Walsham’s “Making a World of Difference”, points out how even as globalization is blurring the boundaries and distinctions between societal cultures (thus allowing information technology to spread its tentacles deep into the world), the managing systems of the not-so-advanced countries often find it difficult to adapt themselves with the bliss of IT because of the inertia of their
deeply-rooted customs and values.

“Strategies for succeeding in the Information Economy” reports the findings of a study, conducted by Manoj Khatri of ET-GMR Research Team, which was taken up to find out what companies based in India and elsewhere are doing for achieving success in the information economy. Specifically, the study provides a synopsis of the book “Information Rules” written by Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian and attempts to validate the path breaking conclusions made by the just mentioned authors by drawing upon experiences of real life information economy companies.

“The Strategic Tightrope Walk“, condensed from “Competing on the
Edge - Strategy as Structured Chaos”, by Shona L. Brown and Kathleen
M. Eisenhardt, provides important steps for strategic management of change and indicates why these steps are essential to generate continuous flow of advantages for success in today’s world of business. The paper recommends a set of actions that helps in anticipating and leading change and also in generating semi-coherent strategic directions for future.

This issue also contains an interview with Mr. Jakob Sorensen, MD of Maersk Logistics (India) Limited, in which he explains how Maersk views the global logistics business and what his company proposes to do to position itself successfully in the Indian market. His interview also provides some useful advice for MNCs entering India for the first time.

In addition to the above, this issue also carries our other regular sections such as the case study and review of books and articles. The case study on “Economic Value Added (EVA)” should provide interesting insights on issues pertaining to planning and implementation of EVA.

The articles, researches and the case study are in line with the objective of
ET-GMR stated earlier. I hope you will find the content professionally stimulating.

I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions for
further improvement.

With best regards, Dr. Rajan Das Guest Editor General Management Review.