Should maximizing shareholder value continue to remain the main purpose of companies? Or should they focus on customers first, a la Johnson & Johnson or Procter & Gamble?

Let me briefly dwell on the contradictions inherent in the way entrepreneurs function and thrive and the way large organizations function. Entrepreneurship is all about creativity, agility, speed of response, passion, flexibility, the willingness to take risks, and, above all, a sense of deep personal involvement and ownership. Organizations, on the other hand, are constrained in many ways—by structure, hierarchy, collective decision-making, well-defined and institutionalized systems and processes. These are the contradictions one has to resolve. I believe one can and must work out the right balance, one that blends the free form of entrepreneurship with the positive attributes of the organizational form. We have done quite a bit of thinking along these lines and I would like to put forward a few thoughts about how organizations can be infused with the entrepreneurial mindset.

"Big moves, in the form of strategic shifts are pivotal points in the history of companies.However the risks of making a catastrophic mis-step cannot be ignored, because research shows that even the most successful companies have undertaken stupid big moves from which they have had difficulty recovering."

Larsen & Toubro pioneered the concept of inhouse product design and development in 1962 with a clear objective of having technology control in the field of switching and protection. This visionary decision went on to become one of the prime factors for L&T’s success.

Vizual is India's biggest color television maker. Today its market share and margins are under pressure. Can it win back, ground in this war for the Indian couch potato?

CoalitionBank of Botswana was facing severe pressure on many fronts. Recognizing that the globalization of economy was there to stay the top management decided to embark on a transformation journey involving radical changes in strategy, structure and system of the bank. The dilemma the bank faces now is whether the strategic management consultants they hired have dealt with the right issues or if they have missed anything.

PennyPost has an extensive network and large capacity. Yet it was unable to make a dent amongst customers. What should be the strategy of PennyPost to take on the competition and survive in the existing scenario?

Walchand Hirachand pioneered four major industries - shipping, cars, aircrafts and shipbuilding - and started a dozen other businesses. He ventured into these industries despite stiff resistance from established British companies.

Verghese Kurien helped India to become the largest producer of milk from a point where children were undernourished because of lack of milk. He pioneered the milk cooperative movement in India which empowered farmers and initiated constructive social change in rural areas.

America's economic rise to world power status was on the back of its automobile manufacturing. In India Sumant Moolgaokar started the production of trucks which allowed goods to be distributed across the country

Subhash Chandra set up Essel Propack and built the laminated tubes market, which the company now dominates. He predicted the entertainment boom in India and pioneered the concept of the amusement parks in India.

Sam Pitroda laid the foundation for India's telephony revolution by connecting India and helping provide phone access to a billion people. He installed 750,000 phones and set up the first grassroots STD/PCO network across India.

Ratan Tata launched India’s first indigenously designed car, Indica, which heralded the coming of age for Indian engineering. On the road within three years of conception, the project cost $400mn as against the worldwide norm of $1.2bn for a 'fresh' car.

During the Green Revolution in India the total crop yield nearly doubled from 12mn tons to 23mn tons in four crop seasons. M S Swaminathan played a vital role in improving agricultural yield by developing genetically superior wheat grain varieties.

Kavasji N Davar set up the first steam spinning mill in India in 1854. The success of this enterprise stimulated other entrepreneurs to set up more mills and spurred the growth of the textile industry in Mumbai.

Ghanshyam Das Birla built the Birla Group into India’s second largest business dynasty after the Tatas by pioneering several key industries such as jute, aluminum and viscose fibre in India.

Faqir Chand Kohli spread the concept of computerization in India and pioneered the export of software systems development expertise. Virtually single handedly, he not only forged a destiny for TCS but also unveiled India's software brilliance for the world to see.

Management thinkers emerging from the Indian subcontinent are bringing refreshing diversity to the boardrooms and are changing the face of Western business and MBA programs. Read how…

Indians need to venture out into the world of entrepreneurship, build intellectual property, create wealth and plough it back into the system to fund more start-ups and innovation.

Deleting brands is easy, but retaining their sales and customers is not. There lies the dilemma. How can brand portfolios be pruned without losing the customers and sales revenue of the doomed brands?

Nigel Nicholson in his latest book titled "Managing the Human Animal"explains how evolutionary psychology enables managers to understand their instincts and manage them with skill.

How do some organizations achieve a compounded annual growth rate of over 10%? And then how do they maintain it year after year? Learn the growth strategies of the hidden champions.

“Cost accountants must adjust to the changes in cost behavior and should manage costs for continuous improvement and not merely count them,” says the well-known professor of accounting from the Kellogg School of Management.

“Competitiveness is not about keeping costs to the bare minimum, it is about keeping the intellectual abilities and the integrity of the staff to a maximum,’’ says Yeoh, Managing Director, YTL Corporation, Malaysia, which serves 10mn customers globally.