Introduction to Accenture

By VASUDHA GULATI 2910015
INTRODUCTION:

Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) is a multinational management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It is the largest consulting firm in the world and is a Fortune Global 500 company. As of September 2011, the company had more than 244,000 employees across 120 countries. Accenture's current clients include 96 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500. The international company was first incorporated in Bermuda in 2001. Since September 1, 2009 the company has been incorporated in Ireland.

Accenture is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the S&P 500.

Accenture plc
Type	Public limited company
Traded as	NYSE: ACN
Industry	IT services, IT consulting
Predecessor(s)	Arthur Andersen (1989-2001)
Founded	2001
Headquarters	Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	William D. Green (Chairman) Pierre Nanterme (CEO)
Services	IT, business consulting andoutsourcing services
Revenue	US$ 27.35 billion (2011)
Operating income	US$ 3.47 billion (2011)
Net income	US$ 2.27 billion (2011)
Total assets	US$ 15.73 billion (2011)
Total equity	US$ 3.87 billion (2011)
Employees	244,000 (2012)
Website	www.accenture.com

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

 

Formation and early years:

Accenture originated as the business and technology consulting division of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. The division's origins are in a 1953 feasibility study for General Electric. GE asked Arthur Andersen to automate payroll processing and manufacturing at GE's Appliance Park facility near Louisville, Kentucky. Arthur Andersen recommended installation of a UNIVAC I computer and printer, which resulted in the first commercially owned computer installation in the United States in 1954. Joe Glickauf was Arthur Andersen's project leader responsible for the payroll processing automation project. Now considered to be the father of computer consulting, Glickauf headed Arthur Andersen's Administrative Services division for 10 years.

 

Splitting from Arthur Andersen:

Through the 1990s, there was increasing tension between Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting was upset that it was paying Arthur Andersen up to 15% of its profits each year (a condition of the 1989 split was that the more profitable unit – AA or AC – paid the other this sum), while at the same time Arthur Andersen was competing with Andersen Consulting through its own newly established business consulting service line called Arthur Andersen Business Consulting. This dispute came to a head in 1998 when Andersen Consulting claimed breach of contract against Andersen Worldwide Société Coopérative (AWSC) and Arthur Andersen. Andersen Consulting put the 15% transfer payment for that year and future years into escrow and issued a claim for breach of contract. In August 2000, as a result of the conclusion of arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce, Andersen Consulting broke all contractual ties with AWSC and Arthur Andersen. As part of the arbitration settlement, Andersen Consulting paid the sum held in escrow (then $1.2 billion) to Arthur Andersen, and was required to change its name, resulting in the entity being renamed Accenture.

Perhaps most telling about who had "won" the decision was that four hours after the arbitrator made his ruling, Arthur Andersen CEO Jim Wadia suddenly resigned. Industry analysts and business school professors alike viewed the event as a complete victory for Andersen Consulting. Jim Wadia would provide insight on his resignation years later at a Harvard Business school case activity about the split. It turned out that the Arthur Andersen board passed a resolution saying he had to resign if he didn't get at least an incremental $4 billion (either through negotiation or via the arbitrator decision) for the consulting practice to split off; hence his quick resignation once the decision was announced.

Accounts vary on why the split occurred – executives on both sides of the split cite greed and arrogance on the part of the other side, and executives on the Andersen Consulting side maintained breach of contract when Arthur Andersen created a second consulting group, AABC (Arthur Andersen Business Consulting) which began to compete directly with Andersen Consulting in the marketplace. Many of the AABC firms were bought out by other consulting companies in 2002, most notably, Hitachi Consulting and KPMG Consulting, which later changed its name to Bearing Point.

Andersen Consulting's change of name proved to be fortuitous as it avoided the taint when Arthur Andersen was effectively dissolved as a result of its role in the later Enron scandal.

 

Emergence of Accenture:

On January 1, 2001 Andersen Consulting adopted its current name, "Accenture". The word "Accenture" is supposedly derived from "Accent on the future". Although a marketing consultancy was tasked with finding a new name for the company, the name "Accenture" was submitted by Kim Petersen, a Danish employee from the company's Oslo, Norway office, as a result of an internal competition. Accenture felt that the name should represent its will to be a global consulting leader and high performer, and also intended that the name should not be offensive in any country in which Accenture operates.

 

Initial public offering:

Accenture's banner hanging on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) building for its initial public offering on July 19, 2001.

On July 19, 2001, Accenture offered initial public offering (IPO) at the price of $14.50 per share in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE);Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley served as its lead underwriters. Accenture stock closed the day at $15.17, with the day's high at $15.25. On the first day of the IPO, Accenture raised nearly $1.7 billion.

 

Bermuda headquarters:

In October 2002, the Congressional General Accounting Office (GAO) identified Accenture as one of four publicly traded federal contractors that were incorporated in a tax haven country.^[9] The other three, unlike Accenture, were incorporated in the United States before they re-incorporated in a tax haven country, thereby lowering their U.S. taxes. Critics, most notably former CNN journalist Lou Dobbs,^[10] have panned Accenture's incorporation in Bermuda because they viewed Accenture as having been a U.S.-based company trying to avoid U.S. taxes.^[11] The GAO itself did not characterize Accenture as having been a U.S.-based company; it stated that "prior to incorporating in Bermuda, Accenture was operating as a series of related partnerships and corporations under the control of its partners through the mechanism of contracts with a Swiss coordinating entity."

 

Ireland headquarters:

Accenture announced on May 26, 2009 that its Board of Directors unanimously approved changing the company’s place of incorporation to Ireland from Bermuda and would become Accenture plc.

The company cited several reasons for the change:

§  Ireland's sophisticated, well-developed corporate, legal and regulatory environment

§  Ireland's long history of international investment and long-established commercial relationships, trade agreements and tax treaties with European Union member states, the United States and other countries where Accenture does business

§  Ireland's stable political and economic environment with the financial and legal infrastructure to meet Accenture's needs

The change was approved and became effective on September 1, 2009, the beginning of the company's 2010 fiscal year.

While Ireland is the company's headquarters for tax and legal purposes, much of the clerical administration occurs in the United States, mainly New York City and Chicago.

 

OPERATIONS OR MECHANISM:

A worldmap showing the 54 countries where Accenture has operations as of 2012 (coloured in blue)

Accenture organizes its services and people in these three primary cross-functional groupings. Accenture client engagement teams typically consist of a combination of industry experts, capability specialists and professionals with local market knowledge.

 

Workforces:

The four workforces serve clients in the areas of consulting, technology, and outsourcing, as well as the company itself. This is almost always an internal designation as it is commonplace for Accenture employees to work in blended teams for a variety of reasons.

§  Consulting: Focus on management consulting, process design work and the application of technologies to business. Responsible for sales, delivery, and leadership of most of Accenture's project-based work. Contains Accenture Technology Labs. Levels are Analyst to Senior Executive.

§  Services: Most focus on outsourcing engagements in the areas of business operations, IT, applications development and maintenance, help desk services, and HR. Can also work on Consulting-led projects. Levels are H through A (reverse alphabetical order, lowest to highest) and Senior Executive.

§  Solutions: The Accenture Technology Solutions subsidiary focuses on the specific technology skills needed to deliver projects or outsourcing arrangements. Comprises the majority of Accenture's employees in delivery centers in developing countries like Brazil, India, and the Philippines. Levels are Programmer to Senior Executive, with slight regional variations.

§  Enterprise: Focus on managing and supporting all activities across Accenture's business, including legal, security, facilities, marketing, and client financial management. Levels are Junior Assistant to Senior Executive.

 

Operating Groups:

As most consulting firms, Accenture operates in a matrix structure. The first axis is dedicated to the operating groups, or industries of its clients. The five Operating Groups comprise 19 industry groups which focus on industry evolution, business issues, and applicable technologies.

§  Communications, Media & Technology: Communications, Electronics and High Tech,       Media and Entertainment

§  Financial Services: Banking, Capital Markets, Insurance

§  Products: Automotive, Air, Freight & Travel Services, Consumer Goods & Services, Industrial Equipment, Infrastructure & Transportation Services, Life Sciences, Retail

§  Resources: Chemicals, Energy, Natural Resources, Utilities

§  Health & Public Service: Health, Public Sector, Non-profit, International Organizations, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

 

Growth Platforms:

The second axis is the growth platform, which broadly refers to the functional or technical domains in which Accenture's client-facing people specialize their skills, develop and use Accenture's methodology, and create and deliver solutions to clients.

§  Consulting: This growth platform is focused on business solutions, processes, and change management in the areas of Customer Relationship Management, Finance & Performance Management, Process & Innovation Performance, Risk Management, Strategy, Supply Chain Management, and Talent & Organization Performance.

§  Technology: This growth platform brings together the full range of systems integration, technology consulting, and IT outsourcing skills. Specialties include enterprise solutions, system integration, technical architecture, business intelligence, infrastructure consulting, and technology research/development. Most people in the Services and Solutions workforces are aligned under the Technology growth platform.^[13]

§  Outsourcing: This growth platform focuses on the full range of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services to enable high performance, including function-specific services such as procurement, HR and finance and accounting, as well as services geared to the needs of specific industries such as utilities, insurance and health care.

 

Principal subsidiaries:

An Accenture building at Reston Town Center

§  Coritel BPM is the Spanish subsidiary of Accenture for software development and outsourcing. It was founded in 1984 and currently has 6,500 employees.

§  Avanade began as a joint venture between Microsoft and Accenture but is now well over 80% owned by Accenture. It provides IT consulting services and solutions for the Microsoft software platform.

§  Navitaire is a subsidiary of Accenture providing specialized solutions to airlines.

§  Accenture Federal Services is a subsidiary of Accenture that provides services directly to United States government in the national security space. Its customers include the US Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and other agencies that focus on national defense and law enforcement. This Accenture subsidiary was specifically incorporated as a US subsidiary to meet a congressional mandate that defense contractors be based in the United States.

§  Accenture Defense Group is a subsidiary of Accenture providing document management services, information technology software systems, and business process improvement strategies. Clients are governments, government suppliers of "WarFighter" goods and services, corporations, and also include transnational organizations such as the European Space Agency.

§  Accenture Technology Solutions is a subsidiary of Accenture providing deep specialized technology skills^[ to clients and comprises the entire Solutions workforce, including most Accenture Delivery Centers in developing countries like The Philippines and Romania.

§  Accenture SAP Solutions is a subsidiary of Accenture providing SAP computer software to clients, created with former Coritel BPM SAP resources.

§  Digiplug is a subsidiary of Accenture, providing digital supply chain solutions to the entertainment industry. Based in France and founded in 1998, Digplug supplies music and video manufacturing and delivery services to major music labels as well as wireless carriers and mobile terminal device manufacturers around the world.

§  Accenture Mobility Operated Services is a subsidiary of Accenture which helps enterprises develop and deploy new revenue-generating mobile applications.

§  Accenture Interactive is a subsidiary of Accenture which "helps companies develop world-class digital marketing capabilities and optimize their marketing investments".

§  Accenture CAS is the leading provider of customer management and mobility solutions to the consumer goods industry.

 

Leadership:

Chairman of the Board:

§  Joe Forehand (February 2001 – August 2006)

§  William "Bill" D. Green (September 2006 – …)

Chief executive officer:

§  George Shaheen (November 1989 – November 1999 )

§  Joe Forehand (November 1999 – August 2004)

§  William D. "Bill" Green (September 2004 – December 2010)

§  Pierre Nanterme (January 2011 – …)

 

CURRENT RELEVANCE:

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 246,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$25.5 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2011.

Accenture

M  MOST ADMIRED Top 50 rank: 43 Rank in Information Technology Services: 2 (Previous rank: 2)  Overall score: 7.57 Ticker: ACN

Marketing and branding:

Accenture advertises in television, print, and in public places, such as airports, around the world. Previous marketing campaigns have featured slogans such as "Now it gets interesting.", replaced in 2002, and "Innovation delivered.", replaced in 2004. The current slogan is "High performance. Delivered."

Accenture has sponsored an international event called the Accenture Match Play Championship, part of the World Golf Championships, every year since 1999.

Until December 2009, Tiger Woods had been a celebrity spokesperson for the company, whose advertising used the service mark "Go on, be a Tiger" and the ancillary statement "We know what it takes to be a Tiger." The company terminated Tiger Woods' six-year sponsorship deal on December 13, 2009 and removed references to Woods from its website, after details of Woods's extra-marital affairs exploded in the media. 

The current advertising campaign features client success stories and the slogan "High performance. Delivered."

The typeface used in the Accenture wordmark is Rotis Semi-sans. The right-pointing caret character over the t is intended to indicate the company's orientation to the future. The character is similar to an accent mark in music.

 

Educational thoughts

swami vivekananda by Parveen Verma ECE

Introduction

Swami Vivekananda (1863 – 1902), a great thinker and reformer of India, embraces education, which for him signifies ‘man-making’, as the very mission of his life. In this paper, which purports to expound and analyze Vivekananda’s views on education, an endeavor has been made to focus on the basic theme of his philosophy, viz. the spiritual unity of the universe. Whether it concerns the goal or aim of education, or its method of approach or its component parts, all his thoughts, we shall observe, stem from this dormant theme of his philosophy which has its moorings in Vedanta.

Vivekananda realizes that mankind is passing through a crisis. The tremendous emphasis on the scientific and mechanical ways of life is fast reducing man to the status of a machine. Moral and religious values are being undermined. The fundamental principles of civilization are being ignored. Conflicts of ideals, manners and habits are pervading the atmosphere. Disregard for everything old is the fashion of the day. Vivekananda seeks the solutions of all these social and global evils through education. With this end in view, he feels the dire need of awakening man to his spiritual self wherein, he thinks, lies the very purpose of education.

The Goal or Objective of Education

Vivekananda points out that the defect of the present-day education is that it has no definite goal to pursue. A sculptor has a clear idea about what he wants to shape out of the marble block; similarly, a painter knows what he is going to paint. But a teacher, he says, has no clear idea about the goal of his teaching. Swamiji attempts to establish, through his words and deeds, that the end of all education is man making. He prepares the scheme of this man-making education in the light of his over-all philosophy of Vedanta. According to Vedanta, the essence of man lies in his soul, which he possesses in addition to his body and mind. In true with this philosophy, Swamiji defines education as ‘the manifestation of the perfection already in man.’ The aim of education is to manifest in our lives the perfection, which is the very nature of our inner self. This perfection is the realization of the infinite power which resides in everything and every-where-existence, consciousness and bliss (satchidananda). After understanding the essential nature of this perfection, we should identify it with our inner self. For achieving this, one will have to eliminate one’s ego, ignorance and all other false identification, which stand in the way. Meditation, fortified by moral purity and passion for truth, helps man to leave behind the body, the senses, the ego and all other non-self elements, which are perishable. He thus realizes his immortal divine self, which is of the nature of infinite existence, infinite knowledge and infinite bliss.

At this stage, man becomes aware of his self as identical with all other selves of the universe, i.e. different selves as manifestations of the same self. Hence education, in Vivekananda’s sense, enables one to comprehend one’s self within as the self everywhere. The essential unity of the entire universe is realized through education. Accordingly, man making for Swamiji stands for rousing mans to the awareness of his true self. However, education thus signified does not point towards the development of the soul in isolation from body and mind. We have to remember that basis of Swamiji’s philosophy is Advaita which preaches unity in diversity. Therefor, man making for him means a harmonious development of the body, mind and soul.

In his scheme of education, Swamiji lays great stress on physical health because a sound mind resides in a sound body. He often quotes the Upanishadic dictum ‘nayamatma balahinena labhyah’; i.e. the self cannot be realized by the physically weak. However, along with physical culture, he harps on the need of paying special attention to the culture of the mind. According to Swamiji, the mind of the students has to be controlled and trained through meditation, concentration and practice of ethical purity. All success in any line of work, he emphasizes, is the result of the power of concentration. By way of illustration, he mentions that the chemist in the laboratory concentrates all the powers of his mind and brings them into one focus-the elements to be analyzed-and finds out their secrets. Concentration, which necessarily implies detachment from other things, constitutes a part of Brahmacharya, which is one of the guiding mottos of his scheme of education. Brahmacharya, in a nutshell, stands for the practice of self-control for securing harmony of the impulses. By his philosophy of education, Swamiji thus brings it home that education is not a mere accumulation of information but a comprehensive training for life. To quote him: ‘Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there undigested, all your life.’ Education for him means that process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, and intellect is sharpened, as a result of which one can stand on one’s own feet.

Method or Procedure

Having analyzed the goal or objective of education, the next question that naturally arises is about the method of imparting education. Here again, we note the Vedantic foundation of Swamiji’s theory. According to him, knowledge is inherent in every man’s soul. What we mean when we say that a man ‘knows’ is only what he ‘discovers’ by taking the cover off his own soul. Consequently, he draws our attention to the fact that the task of the teacher is only to help the child to manifest its knowledge by removing the obstacles in its way. In his words: ‘Thus Vedanta says that within man is all knowledge even in a boy it is so and it requires only an awakening and that much is the work of a teacher.’ To drive his point home, he refers to the growth of a plant. Just as in the case of a plant, one cannot do anything more than supplying it with water, air and manure while it grows from within its own nature, so is the case with a human child. Vivekananda’s method of education resembles the heuristic method of the modern educationists. In this system, the teacher invokes the spirit of inquiry in the pupil who is supposed to find out things for himself under the bias-free guidance of the teacher.

Swamiji lays a lot of emphasis on the environment at home and school for the proper growth of the child. The parents as well as the teachers should inspire the child by the way they live their lives. Swamiji recommends the old institution of gurukula (living with the preceptor) and similar systems for the purpose. In such systems, the students can have the ideal character of the teacher constantly before them, which serves as the role model to follow.

Although Swamiji is of the opinion that mother tongue is the right medium for social or mass education, he prescribes the learning of English and Sanskrit also. While English is necessary for mastering Western science and technology, Sanskrit leads one into the depths of our vast store of classics. The implication is that if language does not remain the privilege of a small class of people, social unity will march forward unhampered.

Fields of Study

Vivekananda, in his scheme of education, meticulously includes all those studies, which are necessary for the all-around development of the body, mind and soul of the individual. These studies can be brought under the broad heads of physical culture, aesthetics, classics, language, religion, science and technology. According to Swamiji, the culture values of the country should form an integral part of the curriculum of education. The culture of India has its roots in her spiritual values. The time-tested values are to be imbibed in the thoughts and lives of the students through the study of the classics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Gita, Vedas and Upanishads. This will keep the perennial flow of our spiritual values into the world culture.

Education, according to Swamiji, remains incomplete without the teaching of aesthetics or fine arts. He cites Japan as an example of how the combination of art and utility can make a nation great.

Swamiji reiterates that religion is the innermost core of education. However, by religion, he does not mean any particular kind of it but its essential character, which is the realization of the divinity already in man. He reminds us time and again that religion does not consist in dogmas or creeds or any set of rituals. To be religious for him means leading life in such a way that we manifest our higher nature, truth, goodness and beauty, in our thoughts, words and deeds. All impulses, thoughts and actions which lead one towards this goal are naturally ennobling and harmonizing, and are ethical and moral in the truest sense. It is in this context that Swamiji’s idea of religion, as the basis of education should be understood. We note that in his interpretation, religion and education share the identity of purpose.

Why religion forms the very foundation of education becomes clear in his following words: ‘In building up character, in making for everything that is good and great, in bringing peace to others, and peace to one’s own self, religion is the highest motive power, and, therefore, ought to be studied from that standpoint. Swamiji believes that if education with its religious core can invigorate man’s faith in his divine nature and the infinite potentialities of the human soul, it is sure to help man become strong, yet tolerant and sympathetic. It will also help man to extend his love and good will beyond the communal, national and racial barriers.

It is a misinterpretation of Vivekananda’s philosophy of education to think that he has overemphasized the role of spiritual development to the utter neglect of the material side. Vivekananda, in his plan for the regeneration of India, repeatedly presses the need for the eradication of poverty, unemployment and ignorance. He says, We need technical education and all else which may develop industries, so that men, instead of seeking for service, may earn enough to provide for them-selves, and save something against a rainy day. He feels it necessary that India should take from the Western nations all that is good in their civilization. However, just like a person, every nation has its individuality, which should not be destroyed. The individuality of India lies in her spiritual culture. Hence in Swamiji’s view, for the development of a balanced nation, we have to combine the dynamism and scientific attitude of the West with the spirituality of our country. The entire educational program should be so planned that it equips the youth to contribute to the material progress of the country as well as to maintaining the supreme worth of India’s spiritual heritage.

Another important aspect of Swamiji’s scheme of education is women’s education. He realizes that it if the women of our country get the right type of education, then they will be able to solve their own problems in their own way. The main objective of his scheme of female education is to make them strong, fear-less, and conscious of their chastity and dignity. He observes that although men and women are equally competent in academic matters, yet women have a special aptitude and competence for studies relating to home and family. Hence he recommends the introduction of subjects like sewing, nursing, domestic science, culinary art, etc which were not part of education at his time.

Conclusion

The exposition and analysis of Vivekananda’s scheme of education brings to light its constructive, practical and comprehensive character. He realizes that it is only through education that the uplift of masses is possible. To refer to his own words: Traveling through many cities of Europe and observing in them the comforts and education of even the poor people, there was brought to my mind the state of our own poor people and I used to shed tears. When made the difference? “Education” was the answer I got.’

He states it emphatically that if society is to be reformed, education has to reach everyone-high and low, because individuals are the very constituents of society. The sense of dignity rises in man when he becomes conscious of his inner spirit, and that is the very purpose of education. He strives to harmonize the traditional values of India with the new values brought through the progress of science and technology.

It is in the transformation of man through moral and spiritual education that he finds the solution for all social evils. Founding education on the firm ground of our own philosophy and culture, he shows the best of remedies for today’s social and global illness. Through his scheme of education, he tries to materialize the moral and spiritual welfare and upliftment of humanity, irrespective of caste, creed, nationality or time. However, Swami Vivekananda’s scheme of education, through which he wanted to build up a strong nation that will lead the world towards peace and harmony, is still a far cry. It is high time that we give serious thought to his philosophy of education and remembers his call to every-body-‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.’