When the going gets tough, CEOs start going
CEOs become white elephants within an organisation as it becomes tough for them to justify the salary package that they draw for their work.
By P P Thimmaya & Thanuja B M, TNN |
The rapidly-growing tech sector in India has also brought its set of limitations for the CEOs manning the operations, especially the subsidiary units of the MNCs, as they reach the peak too fast and hit a plateau.
For CEOs hired to start or launch the Indian operations for a tech MNC, there is very rapid growth in the initial phase but once they reach the critical mass, it becomes just a incremental growth, leaving their role less remarkable than what it is at the beginning.
“During the initial years of setting up a centre in India , these guys get whatever they want to make a success of it. However, after you reach a big enough size, you are no longer a baby and don’t get preferential treatment. You begin to compete with centres within your organisation and those outside India,” says Adecco Indias CEO Ajit Isaac.
As one observer puts it, the CEOs become white elephants within an organisation as they would have come in at very high level of compensation and during the later years, this would actually not justify their operations.
So after a point, the internal opportunities are limited. And in the current scenario, Indian companies are ready to take these people and offer growth opportunities.
Some recent examples of high-profile CEOs leaving tech organisations are Romi Malhotra of Dell International Services, Padma Ravichander at Perot Systems and George Zacharias from Yahoo India.
While Mr Zacharias is rumoured to be starting his own venture with funding from VC firm Sequioa Capital India, it’s still not known where the remaining two are joining. As far as the salaries are concerned, there is more realism now in the IT/ITeS industry.
Though they are still big pay packets, companies are increasingly linking variables with performance. These people get anywhere between $250,000- $300,000 annually in MNCs while Indian companies don’t pay that much but give stock options.
However, Sangeeta Sabharwal, managing partner of executive search firm Confiar believes that its not as much as the CEOs plateauing out, than their seeing exciting opportunities in turning entrepreneurs. It’s good time for CEOs who have the ability to take risk to set up their own firms. They have the experience and knowledge about the financial muscle. This is an additional attraction. She says that there’s no glass ceiling or plateau which these guys have hit. “For all those who have quit in the last few months, there are hundreds who are still with their companies ,” she remarked.
GOOD START
For CEOs, hired to start or launch the Indian operations of a tech MNC, there is rapid growth during the initial phase.
THEN HICCUPS
Once the firm reaches the critical mass, the role of CEOs become less remarkable than what it was at the beginning.
WHAT A FALL!
Now, CEOs become white elephants. It becomes tough for them to justify the high level of salary package that they draw.
For CEOs hired to start or launch the Indian operations for a tech MNC, there is very rapid growth in the initial phase but once they reach the critical mass, it becomes just a incremental growth, leaving their role less remarkable than what it is at the beginning.
“During the initial years of setting up a centre in India , these guys get whatever they want to make a success of it. However, after you reach a big enough size, you are no longer a baby and don’t get preferential treatment. You begin to compete with centres within your organisation and those outside India,” says Adecco Indias CEO Ajit Isaac.
As one observer puts it, the CEOs become white elephants within an organisation as they would have come in at very high level of compensation and during the later years, this would actually not justify their operations.
So after a point, the internal opportunities are limited. And in the current scenario, Indian companies are ready to take these people and offer growth opportunities.
Some recent examples of high-profile CEOs leaving tech organisations are Romi Malhotra of Dell International Services, Padma Ravichander at Perot Systems and George Zacharias from Yahoo India.
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While Mr Zacharias is rumoured to be starting his own venture with funding from VC firm Sequioa Capital India, it’s still not known where the remaining two are joining. As far as the salaries are concerned, there is more realism now in the IT/ITeS industry.
Though they are still big pay packets, companies are increasingly linking variables with performance. These people get anywhere between $250,000- $300,000 annually in MNCs while Indian companies don’t pay that much but give stock options.
However, Sangeeta Sabharwal, managing partner of executive search firm Confiar believes that its not as much as the CEOs plateauing out, than their seeing exciting opportunities in turning entrepreneurs. It’s good time for CEOs who have the ability to take risk to set up their own firms. They have the experience and knowledge about the financial muscle. This is an additional attraction. She says that there’s no glass ceiling or plateau which these guys have hit. “For all those who have quit in the last few months, there are hundreds who are still with their companies ,” she remarked.
GOOD START
ADVERTISEMENT
For CEOs, hired to start or launch the Indian operations of a tech MNC, there is rapid growth during the initial phase.
THEN HICCUPS
ADVERTISEMENT
Once the firm reaches the critical mass, the role of CEOs become less remarkable than what it was at the beginning.
WHAT A FALL!
Now, CEOs become white elephants. It becomes tough for them to justify the high level of salary package that they draw.
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