Managing Director's Address - Looking Beyond

Patterns: Going Beyond Quarterlies

Over the last few years, the world over, shareholders have been bombarded with a plethora of data -- Quarterly Results, Disclosure Notes, Rating Analyses, Financial Analyses, SEBI-linked Disclosures, Corporate Governance reports, Management Discussion & Analysis, Audit reports, etc. etc.

That set me pondering over what feedback I share with you all, which is not a disguised repeat of what is already covered under the Directors' Report or the Management Discussion section, and yet is meaningful:

Where are we headed......beyond quarterly results.......beyond financial ratios.......beyond the year under review and beyond the year ahead......

"The fact is, each of us knows far more about reality past, present and future than we are able to understand and express rationally.

And, whether or not we work on our inner development, we all experience, with our intuitive minds, the most profound truths about our world and our destiny. What we must do, then, is use our analytical, logical mind to bring this potential vital information to the surface, where we can use it.

The idea is to translate our experiences all the way from the subjective and worldly to the objective and universal.......Patterns emerge, periodically they repeat themselves........"

Extracts from -- The Tao of Power by R. L. Wing

There are no specifics...... only patterns
Patterns which form a scenario........
Patterns which trigger opportunities......
Patterns which an entrepreneur can shape.....
First, the Macro patterns :
Ten years back, fast forward to today : The Macro Economic Drivers
A booming middle-class population....
A world brought together with a unifying media and interactive internet....
Government and country barriers to trade, lowering....
Infrastructure development on an overdrive....
Low cost funds....
Large oil and gas finds....
Coalition Government here to stay...

As we pull together these jigsaw pieces......what are the writings on the wall for business.......

Global Marketing
Global Competition
Global Sourcing

At the Microlevel, what would be the distilled strategic drivers for your Company :

A need to get our size right

A need to strengthen the supply chain to get our costs right

A need to climb up the value chain to get our realisations right

A need to diversify our sectoral basket from "brick and mortar" to "services" to get our risk profile right

A need to bring world-class productivity in every business process within the Company to get our approach right

As this Annual Report triggers and the next unfolds, we will be aiming at these strategic ends....... while the competent operational team does not lose focus on the Quarterlies !

S. C. Mehta
Managing Director