GOVERNANCE :

The concept of "governance" is not new. It is as old as human civilization. Simply put "governance" means: the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented). Governance can be used in several contexts such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance.
Since governance is the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented, an analysis of governance focuses on the formal and informal actors involved in decision-making and implementing the decisions made and the formal and informal structures that have been set in place to arrive at and implement the decision.

Good governance has 8 major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society.

OPERATIONS :

Whether your existing operations are proficient of balancing local execution with global capabilities?

Organisations are looking to make sure that the way they operate is precise for the markets they’re into.

Streamlining the operational processes in line with the industry standards is one of the most important aspects of any business. Managing a large facility can be a daunting task. Operation Managers need to strike a balance between cost and profit.
Key issues in Operations:

• Designing the system - Designing begins with product development.
• Planning the system - Planning the system describes how management expects to utilize the existing resource base created as a result of the production system design.
• Managing the system - Managing the system involves working with people to encourage participation and improve organisational performance.

REGULATIONS :

Whether your organisation is set to adapt regulatory challenges?
Are you geared up to grab the opportunities for business and government to work together?

As companies globalise, they face a growing body of diverse and complex regulations. The global regulatory environment is changing faster than companies can absorb.

Regulation is at the top of the agenda for all institutions around the world, and significant uncertainty remains regarding the shape of the regulatory landscape. Achieving the ultimate goal of greater global financial stability will require effective financial regulatory reform balanced with macro-economic stability across jurisdictions.

RISK :

Are you prepared to deal with the consequences of risk?

Creating a Risk Management Culture :
To cope with the challenge of creating consistent and workable processes for managing operational risks, organizations need to adopt a "risk management culture" that emphasizes at all levels the importance of managing risk as part of each person's daily activities. The goal of creating a risk management culture is to create a situation where staff and managers instinctively look for risks and consider their impacts while taking effective operational decisions.

Decisions need to be made regarding who to get involved in doing and then who else to tell about the objectives and plans and activities of risk management in the firm.

Some companies do this on a need to know basis, involving only those who must get involved to make things work and only telling those who have an active role.

At the opposite extreme are firms who say that risk management is everyone’s job and who therefore work very hard to make sure that everyone understands everything that is going on.

A company's risk culture is a critical element that can ensure that "doing the right thing" wins over "doing whatever it takes."

STRATEGY AND GROWTH :

How local is your global growth strategy?

The shift of economic power to emerging markets is stepping up. There’s a growing realisation among all organisations that how enormous the implications of that shift are for their strategies. When your organisation moves slower than your environment, a performance gap develops and is a strategic threat. UNI helps organizations to grow by developing well thought out strategic business plans. We apply our collective experience, knowledge, skill, judgment, creativity, intellect and collaborative approach to solve complex client problems. Our deliverable is advice and guidance that organizations need today to succeed and grow tomorrow.

TALENT ACQUISITION :

Have you adopted the right talent acquisition strategy that fits your growth?
Have you synchronised all talents for aligning the organisation?

Having right talent acquisition strategy help organizations tie key business decisions to human capital management. For years, organisations have struggled to capture market share through economization and downsizing, while growth had seemed to take a backseat. Smart companies know that innovation and technology is what drives growth in the new economy. Integral to this initiative, Human Resource executives are now being recognized as some of the most important strategic leaders in organizations seeking growth through innovation.

For a company to benefit from innovation, all internal practices must reflect the same level of strategic direction, including Human Resource Management, and, especially in the sourcing and recruitment of new talent into the company. The gap between growth objectives and the talent to make it possible is having a very real impact on growth.

Main root cause of most companies’ hiring challenges:

• The company’s talent acquisition and development strategy is out of alignment with its business strategy and operating plans.
• Lack of understanding of how the actual customer, in this case the passive candidate, decides to engage with a company and eventually accept an offer. Since there is a disproportionate percentage of top people in the passive pool, this is a critical shortcoming.
• The workflow and recruiting methods to find and hire passive candidates is fundamentally different than for active candidates. Unfortunately, most companies try to mishmash the two together, and wonder why neither one works too well.
• Overreliance on a big employer brand that hides process inefficiencies and narrows the selection criteria based on past hires rather than current and future business conditions.
• The decision-making process to hire or not hire someone is flawed, and does not fully address the fundamental reasons why top people underperform. Typically these involve style problems with the hiring manager, lack of clarification around total job needs including available resources, and a superficial assessment of cultural and environmental fit.

TRAINING NEEDS :

Have you defined required training needs for your organisation?
Have you identified the potential of existing talents?

Training is one of the most important parts of an organization's overall Strategy. Before starting a particular venture or considering a potential acquisition, the first question arises that, whether there are required skills present in the organization or not. Typically all key skills required for efficient management of a company must be available in a company; however other non core activities can be outsourced. Need of training arises due to advancement in technology, need for improving performance or as part of professional development.
Benefits of training are intangible and investing in training benefits both, organization and employees for a long period. Training enhances a worker level of skills. It provides sense of satisfaction, which is an intrinsic motivator. Training also provides organization multi skill employees. Training increases an employer commitment to their job and their organization. Better understanding of jobs reduces accidents.

One of the most important benefits of training for an organization is that, it provides skills inside the organization which reduces overall cost of an organization's operations. Quality is one of the key features required for survival of an organization in long term. Total Quality Management (TQM) and other quality management techniques require staff training as an important requisite for its successful implementation.

Customer satisfaction increases repeat business, which is a key to success. By training employees for promoting good customer relations will increase customer satisfaction and quality of service. Just-in time philosophy is one of the leading ideas in Japan. JIT emphasize on reduction in waste and waiting time in production process. Better training will reduce waste and machine down time. A major portion of quality costs consists of supervision; by providing proper training this is reduced. Training increases productivity of employees and processes.

High employee turnover may be a serious threat to an organization existence, major benefit of training is that it reduces staff turnover and help an organization to retain its staff. Better training can provide an organization competitive advantage over others in industry.

In service industries the main source of an organization income is its staff expertise and skills, acquiring professional with high skills is comparatively expensive than training current employees to acquire those skills. Training is also a key requirement for new recruits; proper training helps them to understand the job, its requirements and responsibilities. Training also increases understanding of the organizational culture.
Training programs increases communication between different levels of an organization. Any deficiency in processes and jobs are eliminated and those close to production processes become involve in the management. Staff empowerment is a recent trend in management; such empowerment will only be successful when proper training is provided to those empowered.

Too little Funding

After a period of abundant funding, microfinance is beginning to feel the pinch. The fall-out from the financial crisis, plus the controversies surrounding the business have reduced the flow of funds to the sector, and created anxieties On the donor side, aid budgets are being cut back. Private investors are having greater difficulty raising funds, and the commercial banks have become more tight-fisted with their loans, all of which makes life more difficult for MFIs, particularly those at the smaller end of the scale. 
On the donor side, aid budgets are being cut back. Private investors are having greater difficulty raising funds, and the commercial banks have become more tight-fisted with their loans, all of which makes life more difficult for MFIs, particularly those at the smaller end of the scale.A concern facing investors is whether microfinance can sustain its attractive returns given the risk of mounting loan losses and tighter political constraints on its activities.  
A particular worry in this regard is India where the Andhra Pradesh affair has led to much tougher regulation, including caps on interest rates. Despite the best efforts of the MFIs and the central regulator, banks have not yet fully resumed funding to MFIs. Foreign investors have also shied away from the sector owing to the inherent political risks and devoid of sources of funding, smaller MFIs may be forced to shut up shop. Funding also creates an opportunity for banks to move in “offering the full range of financial services, and a 'ladder' for clients to graduate to 'grown-up' banking rather than remaining in the ghetto of microfinance”. 

Credit Risk

For the first time in three years, credit risk does not occupy the top position in the MFI ranking. But this is only partly good news because the focus in this area has narrowed to concern about over indebtedness, which has emerged as the most serious risk facing the industry. The majority feel that it results from management failings of various kinds: poor response to competitive pressure, weak internal controls, poor credit assessment, badly structured incentive schemes, and poor procedures for dealing with arrears and defaults. There is a tendency by borrowers to misunderstand terms and conditions associated with loans, and to miscalculate their ability to repay them. It is felt that few people really take advantage of their loans, i.e. by managing their affairs so as to be able to repay them. They do not hesitate to take out a further loan at another MFI and so on. Ultimately, this ends up in a vicious circle. Poor borrowers, in some countries, leave their communities and break the relationship with the microfinance institute, and as a result their loan becomes overdue forever. However, analysts feel that such risks are low. Small businesses are more concerned about paying their debts, to maintain access to credit that will grow. This augurs well for MFI Credit Assessment. 

Quality of Risk Management

It is widely felt that there is a low level of risk awareness in many MFIs, particularly the smaller, less sophisticated ones. But where such awareness existed, there were often inadequate risk management skills - and even a view that risk management itself was costly and unnecessary. This is seen to be an area of management weakness. Although controls are in place at most institutions, it is important that these are considered to be beneficial management tools to improve the performance of the institution. Often, however, textbooks and other devices exist, but are not understood by the staff”.
While many believed that poor risk management is caused by inadequate resources and training, some argued that the problem lay deeper, in a lack of conviction among MFI boards and management about its value. The challenge is more action about these risks: how to improve information systems, human resources, governance, and finances to prevent and then deal with such risks.