Moving On Up ....
Progress is about moving up the value chain ....
Think about it, growth is one's career is about moving up the value chain - You start off doing grunt work and then as you gain experience/education, you move on up in terms of the sophistication of the work you can handle.
Adding value to yourself, adding new skills, improving efficiency, increasing one's range of expertise are the steps everyone takes in growing professionally.
And its not just in professional life, its quite true of personal life as well.
I see a parallel example in the case of Indian IT companies. They started off doing very basic IT work like testing. And gradually moved up the value chain, working on larger projects with a strategic focus. And now Infosys and Wipro are rapidly growing their business consulting practice with a view to take on the Accentures and PwCs of the world.
Largely true of Chinese manufacturing units as well ...
Looking into the future, I see two industries in India that are going to move up the value chain and in the process, become extremely profitable !
BPOs: Moving from call centers to being cost effective extensions of large corporations.
Pharma: Currently, the Indian Pharma industry is focused around four things - Generic drug manufacturing, contract manufacturing, the domestic market and raw material production. But thats not where the money is ! The money is in patented molecules that can be marketed in the drug-hungry USA ...
The need is to identify an entry path, a path of least resistance. The next step is to establish cash flow through this initial step. Then, this cash is used to develop internal capabilities and these companies can move up the value chain ...
Dr. Reddy's, Ranbaxy and other Indian drug companies, Infy, Wipro and other IT firms, Spectramind and other BPOs all have solid cash flows - Wipro is generating 600MM dollars of cash every year.
Thats powerful. So, Ranbaxy can set up a sophisticated R&D lab in India to discover an original molecule and sell it all over the world for millions.
As somebody said "The first million is the most difficult" - Once cash flow is established, there are opportunities for quantum leaps !
Think about it, growth is one's career is about moving up the value chain - You start off doing grunt work and then as you gain experience/education, you move on up in terms of the sophistication of the work you can handle.
Adding value to yourself, adding new skills, improving efficiency, increasing one's range of expertise are the steps everyone takes in growing professionally.
And its not just in professional life, its quite true of personal life as well.
I see a parallel example in the case of Indian IT companies. They started off doing very basic IT work like testing. And gradually moved up the value chain, working on larger projects with a strategic focus. And now Infosys and Wipro are rapidly growing their business consulting practice with a view to take on the Accentures and PwCs of the world.
Largely true of Chinese manufacturing units as well ...
Looking into the future, I see two industries in India that are going to move up the value chain and in the process, become extremely profitable !
BPOs: Moving from call centers to being cost effective extensions of large corporations.
Pharma: Currently, the Indian Pharma industry is focused around four things - Generic drug manufacturing, contract manufacturing, the domestic market and raw material production. But thats not where the money is ! The money is in patented molecules that can be marketed in the drug-hungry USA ...
The need is to identify an entry path, a path of least resistance. The next step is to establish cash flow through this initial step. Then, this cash is used to develop internal capabilities and these companies can move up the value chain ...
Dr. Reddy's, Ranbaxy and other Indian drug companies, Infy, Wipro and other IT firms, Spectramind and other BPOs all have solid cash flows - Wipro is generating 600MM dollars of cash every year.
Thats powerful. So, Ranbaxy can set up a sophisticated R&D lab in India to discover an original molecule and sell it all over the world for millions.
As somebody said "The first million is the most difficult" - Once cash flow is established, there are opportunities for quantum leaps !
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Thursday, August 4, 2005 (United Nations):
The United Nations increased its appeal to help 2.5 million people in desperate need of food in Niger to nearly $75 million.
It said more money will be needed to tackle the humanitarian crisis.
The UN World Food Program (WFP) more than tripled the amount of emergency aid it is seeking for southern Niger, the epicenter of the crisis, to $57.6 million.
"Whole families are suffering because of a desperate shortage of food, which has forced them to eat just one meal a day of maize, leaves or wild fruits," said James Morris, Executive Director, WFP.
The UN Children's Fund also increased its appeal to $14 million, while the UN Food and Agriculture Organization appealed for $4 million for seeds for farmers and livestock for families. (AP)