Leadership & value creation cannot be separated: Raju

Leadership techniques acquired in the manufacturing sector can be successfully applied to the services sector, as they have a lot in common, said Ramalinga Raju, chairman of Satyam Computer Services Limited (Satyam).

He was delivering the inaugural address at the Madras Management Association's (MMA) annual convention on January 21-22 is 'Beyond Creating Value'.

"The structure around the creation and delivering value in IT and manufacturing are almost the same. Five years back we had 25 business units, now we have 2,000 value creating business units that have adopted a full-cycle value creation model," added Raju.

He likened these business units to the suppliers to a manufacturer such as Sundaram Fasteners that function as separate business units.

"It no longer takes many years for somebody to become a leader in the organisation as by taking up more responsibility he can do so in a few years," said Raju indicating the changing trends in leadership and creating value.

Leadership and value creation cannot be separated, as they are one and the same, he added.

He said that only 20 per cent of their assets were on the balance sheet while the rest of it is soft assets. Expenditure on building soft assets will increase, as it will provide sustained value today and tomorrow. Raju expects the turnover of Satyam to reach Rs 3,500 crore in 2004-05.