VISION 2020. Review on Business Today

On the occasion of New year while all the TV channels and newspapers generally carry a review of past events BusinessToday carried a vision of future(Vision 2020 ) from the eyes of various business heads.All of them predicted bright future in next 20 years which reminds us a recent report that the Business Confidence Index is highest in India. I would like to share the summary of write ups published in the issue.

TECHNOLOGY HAS STILL MORE POTENTIAL

Smarter cell phones ,new electronic gadgets ,nano technology, biotechnology, advanced automobiles e.t.c hold a promise of providing new business opportunities on one hand and make life much more comfortable on the other.

ADVANTAGE INDIANS

India is envisioned to have good share in the above mentioned businesses and others due to its large pool of knowledge workers.The hope for such good share comes from size of Indian population which was earlier treated as an alarming issue as mentioned in BRIC report .

However while we have the necessary foundation for such a bright future there are lot of concerns which need to be addressed to ensure that we do build good super structure on it. While there are many constraints readily listed like education, health, Infrastructure and Political will etc. They are all inter woven and once we start at any particular point, the rest of them will disappear. Following are some of the issues addressed

NURTURING CREATIVITY

In the new world order capital is in search of ideas and not vice versa. Creativity is more important in Indian context since the existence or lack of it will decide whether our future work force will be doing outsourcing jobs or things much higher in the value chain. Hence it is to properly nurtured by policy initiatives by government and also by Universities and private initiatives.

PEOPLE HOLD THE KEY

Out of all the factors of production, businesses will be more and more dependent on the kind of people they recruit, train, nurture and retain.

MORE PRESSURE ON EMPLOYEES

As a consequence of above employees will be under pressure to a) Update skills and b) improve performance .CEOs have to be leaders not just managers who apply management theories.

REORIENTATION OF EDUCATION SYSTEM

The current system needs reorientation both at the level of school and college. Regarding Mass education, unconventional methods have to be adopted like wide usage of IT.

STAKEHOLDER INTEREST NOT JUST SHAREHOLDERS

Corporations have to be socially conscious and should take care of all stakeholders, not just shareholders .This is (a) necessary for the very subsistence of business and (b) useful in building brand image. Corporate governance procedures and ethical business practices are necessary elements of management.

ENGAGEMENT OF RURALS

Rural engagement by business will create new markets for it and will amount to discharging of social obligation. e-choupal initiative by agri-business division and Forestation of waste lands by Paper Business Division of ITC are a case in point.

FOCUS ON URBAN DEVELOPMENT

Increase in urbanization is inevitable byproduct of our growth initiatives and is not bad as it is made out to be, if only we know how to build cities properly. In next few decades 50% of population lives in cities and concerns of cities will receive more attention of policy makers who are presently obsessed with the rural.