[N R Narayan Murthy, chief mentor and chairman of the board, Infosys Technologies, delivered a pre-commencement lecture at the New York University ( Stern School of Business) on May 9. It is a scintillating speech, Murthy speaks about the lessons he learnt from his life and career.] Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most
Qubad Talabani is the son of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, and is a representative of the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq. The entire world is all too familiar with the war going on in that country. While I am not interested in exploring the political ramifications of such a war, history has taught us that
I made the comment in an earlier post that Yahoo now needs true GMs, not just glorified functional managers. As I wrote that piece, it made me reflect on the significance of what I just said. Silicon Valley is not a place that has that many true General Managers. In the sense that GE or
Chris earlier brought up Compartamos, an MFI currently operating in Mexico. It seems they have a solid customer base and a very profitable business strategy – further proof of the validity of cash-positive microfinance business models. SM: How many loans does Compartamos have ath the moment? CB: I think they have about 600,000 customers. I
While I suggested 2 years back, that Yahoo and eBay should merge, at the moment, it appears that Yahoo has created a bigger mess than what eBay (or anyone else for that matter) ought to try to clean up on their shareholders’ clock. eBay, on the other hand, for the moment, looks like it has
Here Chris details Unitus’ switch from being a non-profit firm to a for-profit firm. Much of the current interest in microfinance is generated by the fact that the discipline is now being viewed as a sustainable “business”, not just charity. Thus, large banks, venture firms, and serious entrepreneurs are starting to wake up to its
As more and more media moves to a digital format, the role of digital advertising firms will continue to increase. Firms which have hybrid experience, who truly understand brand management and are able to capitalize on online efficiency (buy more ad space for fewer dollars) are going to excel. AKQA will be an interesting firm
Here we get a bit philosophical about the reason behind some of the industry regulation problems, and the pressures applied from the major players. Nonethelss, here is a new trend in advertising, one that is based on algorithms and mathematics, and the older schmoozing oriented models will be forced to adapt. SM: So you think