This article was published on December 26, 2013

VENKATESH GANESH

IT firms are hoping for a better year even as they stare at challenges in the form of technology and global policy changes.

But in the post-2008 era, it is getting harder to predict a sure-shot method which will work for these companies. “Tier I Indian vendors have had limited success in providing higher value-add services,” says Peter Schumacher, CEO, Value Leadership Group. Offering business services that are valued beyond cost and aligning processes with their objectives is the biggest challenge vendors face, he adds.

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“The question for Poland is, ‘How do I move up the value chain?’ ” said Peter Schumacher, chief executive of the Value Leadership Group, a management consultancy based in Frankfurt and New York. “How can I go from basic process management work to more sophisticated creative work?”

But Mr. Schumacher of Value Leadership Group said the next goal for Poland should be a higher link on the value chain: for Poles to establish their own business service providers so that the country is less dependent on the whims of foreign investors.

 “That,” he said, “is where the future lies.”

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ECONOMY & BUSINESS

Analysts Fret Over Infosys Family Values

By Dhanya Ann Thoppil

Peter Schumacher, president and chief executive of Germany-based management consulting firm Value Leadership, added that the promotion shows the future of Infosys will increasingly depend on the decisions of the Murthy family.

“The underlying risk is that a power struggle, blame and loyalty game will develop between the family and professional management,” he said. “How this drama unfolds may well determine the fate of the company.”

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Yesterday Once More
N.R. Narayana Murthy's return to Infosys as Executive Chairman may well restore the company to its former glory. But he should not stay beyond two years.

Goutam Das Edition: July 7, 2013
"If you have a powerful figure like Murthy for five years, it means no one else has a chance at the top job," says Peter Schumacher, founder of Value Leadership Group, a management consulting firm. "Infosys has already lost a lot of leaders. What happens to the careers of other CEO aspirants? I'll be surprised if it stands even a chance of getting a foreign CEO into the company."
"The game changer will be to move Infosys from being an India-centric business to one that is globally synergistic and inclusive. That is the only way you can get the top talent that you need in Europe and the US, the only way to capture the imagination of customers, the only way to compete with Accenture, Cognizant and IBM," says Schumacher.

Schumacher of Value Leadership Group estimates TCS could be a $20 to 25 billion company and Cognizant could touch $15 billion in five years, while Infosys will lag its rivals if it does not lift its performance soon. How long will investors wait for a turnaround? "

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Karl Flinders
Tuesday 11 June 2013 12:42

Peter Schumacher, CEO at management consultancy Value Leadership Group said  the strategy underlines some of the advantages that offshore-based services offer. 

 “Our discussions with CIOs across Europe confirm that many are eager to expand their usage of offshore-based service models," said Schumacher.

“The Bangalore IT and R&D cluster has matured and is unique globally in terms of its size and availability of world-class talent and capabilities across a broad portfolio of disciplines.”

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Murthy returns to take charge as Infosys’s woes mount
While investors may welcome Murthy’s comeback, his biggest challenge will be to regain credibility among stakeholders

Pankaj Mishra |  Anirban Sen

First Published: Sat, Jun 01 2013. 06 15 PM IST

“It (the move) looks like a half a step forward,” said Peter Schumacher, founder of Germany-based Value Leadership Group that advises companies on their Europe strategy. “In light of the immediate challenges the company is facing, it was perhaps their only option to do something quickly. The question will be how customers in the US and Europe interpret this come Monday. Those hoping for a bolder move may be disappointed.”

“Today’s announcement also raises governance questions by initiating his son into the organization as his executive assistant. This will surely give rise to a lot of speculation about the actual reasons behind the move.”

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By Karl Flinders on May 28, 2013 9:41 AM

While I was writing the article I had a conversation with Peter Schumacher, CEO at management consultancy Value Leadership Group. He had some interesting research that he had carried out alongside Deutsche Bank. 

He shared some of it with me. Below are some of the comments from senior IT services buyers within large corporates.

They make interesting reading. Many corporates are committing heavily to the Indian service providers. And it is not just about cost because most the traditional western suppliers have large delivery operations in India.

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Cognizant breaks into $2bn revenue club

TNN | May 9, 2013, 11.44 AM IST

"In Europe, Cognizant is benefiting from two factors. One, buyers see them as an invigorating enabler of change that delivers tangible value, thus, helping buyers compete more effectively in the new normal . Second, Cognizant is taking share from European legacy incumbents, which across the board saw significant revenue and profit declines in Q1," said Peter Schumacher, CEO of US-based Value Leadership, who has been tracking Cognizant for several years. 

"Cognizant's strong growth in the BFSI sector reflects the powerful position they have built. Cognizant is likely to gain more share against legacy incumbents and much of continental Europe is still wide open for them to grow," said Schumacher. 

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OUR BUREAU

NEW DELHI, APRIL 9 2013:  

“In the current economic environment, [French] Chief Information Officers see TCS as a welcome game changer that offers significantly lower pricing, better service levels, more sophisticated offerings, a customer-centric mindset, and a global footprint,” said Peter Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer of management consulting firm Value Leadership Group.

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April 9, 2013, 4:29 PM
By Dhanya Ann Thoppil

Despite the economic crisis, over the last four years, TCS has doubled its revenue from Europe to nearly $3 billion.  Its revenue from Continental Europe alone has jumped more than  60% to $1.1 billion, data from Germany-based management consulting firm Value Leadership Group Inc. showed.

 “It takes a long time for companies to hire someone in Europe,” said  Peter Schumacher, president and chief executive of  Value Leadership pointing to the severe shortage of technology professionals  in some  European countries.  ”European labor laws are like a complicated puzzle–rigid, country-specific, and full of pitfalls,” Mr. Schumacher warned noting that it can take up to a year to terminate an employee in Europe and severance costs can run up to a year’s worth of salary.

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IT firms on shopping spree in Europe

ADITH CHARLIE
T.E. RAJA SIMHAN

MUMBAI/CHENNAI, APRIL 9 2013:  

Turn focus on under-penetrated markets of Germany, France

“TCS, for example, has seen its continental European revenues grow 70 per cent since 2008, while most European IT services firms have stagnated and have shown only marginal profitability or even losses. Based on our discussions with European CIOs, the offshore-based firms are likely to double their revenues from continental Europe in a few years,” said Peter Schumacher, Chief Executive Officer of management consulting firm, Value Leadership Group.

However, Schumacher is optimistic.

“When French/German buyers engage an Indian firm to replace an incumbent, labour laws are no impediment. In other words, the lack of a meaningful local presence has been one of the factors inhibiting more rapid growth in France/Germany,” he said.

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Infosys is not the company it used to be

Goutam Das and Chaitanya Kalbag
Edition: Feb 17, 2013

The view from certain quarters in Europe, a market that CEO Shibulal sees as key for Infosys's future, is not flattering. "Infosys became complacent in a lot of client situations, which is really surprising.

They were not responsive. Their growth problems are not because of pricing. It is because they are not there in the bidding process or are not being considered at all," says Peter Schumacher, President and CEO of Value Leadership Group, a firm that offers global consulting services to buyers of IT services. Between calendar years 2007 and 2012, in Europe, Infosys added some $568 million in incremental revenues; TCS added $1.39 billion.

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