Management's discussion and analysis (Contd.)
1. Our strategy
We seek to further strengthen our position as a leading global technology services company by successfully differentiating our service offerings and increasing the scale of our operations. To achieve these goals, we seek to :
- Increase business from existing and new clients
- Expand geographically
- Continue to invest in infrastructure and employees
- Continue to enhance our engagement models and offerings
- Continue to develop deep industry knowledge
- Enhance brand visibility
- Pursue alliances and strategic acquisitions
2. Competition
We operate in a highly competitive and rapidly changing market and compete with consulting firms such as Accenture Limited, Atos Origin S.A., Cap Gemini S.A., and Deloitte Consulting LLP; divisions of large multinational technology firms such as Hewlett-Packard Company and International Business Machines Corporation; IT outsourcing firms such as Computer Sciences Corporation, Keane Inc., Logica Plc and Dell Perot Systems; offshore technology services firms such as Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, Tata Consultancy Services Limited and Wipro Technologies Limited; software firms such as Oracle Corporation and SAP A.G.; business process outsourcing firms such as Genpact Limited and WNS Global Services and in-house IT departments of large corporations.
In the future, we expect competition from firms establishing and building their offshore presence and firms in countries with lower personnel costs than those prevailing in India. However, we recognize that price alone cannot constitute a sustainable competitive advantage. We believe that the principal competitive factors in our business include the ability to effectively integrate onsite and offshore execution capabilities to deliver seamless, scalable, cost-effective services; increase scale and breadth of service offerings to provide one-stop solutions; provide industry expertise to clients’ business solutions; attract and retain high-quality technology professionals and maintain financial strength to make strategic investments in human resources and physical infrastructure through business cycles.
We believe we compete favorably with respect to these factors.
E. Outlook, risks and concerns
This section contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements as a result of certain factors.
The following lists our outlook, risks and concerns :
- Our revenues and expenses are difficult to predict and can vary significantly from period to period, which could cause our share price to decline. We may not be able to sustain our previous profit margins or levels of profitability.
- Our revenues are highly dependent on clients primarily located in the U.S. and Europe, as well as in certain industries, and an economic slowdown or other factors that affect the economic health of the U.S., Europe or these industries may affect our business.
- Currency fluctuations may affect the results of our operations.
- Our success depends largely upon our highly skilled technology professionals and our ability to hire, attract, motivate, retain and train our personnel.
- We may face difficulties in providing end-to-end business solutions for our clients, which could lead to clients discontinuing their work with us. This in turn could harm our business.
- Intense competition in the market for technology services could affect our cost advantages, which could reduce our share of business from clients and may decrease our revenues.
- Our revenues are highly dependent upon a small number of clients, and the loss of any one of our major clients could significantly impact our business.
- Legislation in certain countries in which we operate, including the United States and the United Kingdom, may restrict companies in those countries from outsourcing work to us.
- Compliance with new and changing corporate governance and public disclosure requirements adds uncertainty to our compliance policies and increases our costs of compliance.
- Our failure to complete fixed-price, fixed-timeframe contracts or transaction-based pricing contracts within the budget and on time, may negatively affect our profitability.
- Our client contracts can be terminated without cause and with little or no notice or penalty. This could negatively impact our revenues and profitability.
- Our engagements with customers are singular in nature and do not necessarily provide for subsequent engagements.
- Our client contracts are often conditioned upon our performance, which, if unsatisfactory, may result in less revenue than previously anticipated.
- Some of our long-term client contracts contain benchmarking provisions which, if triggered, could result in lower future revenues and profitability under the contract.
- Our business will suffer if we fail to anticipate and develop new services and enhance existing services in order to keep pace with rapid changes in technology and in the industries on which we focus.
- Disruptions in telecommunications, system failures or virus attacks could harm our ability to execute our GDM, which could result in client dissatisfaction and a reduction of our revenues.
- We may be liable to our clients for damages caused by disclosure of confidential information, system failures, errors or unsatisfactory performance of services.
- Our increasing work with governmental agencies may expose us to additional risks.
- We are investing substantial cash assets in new facilities and physical infrastructure, and our profitability could be reduced if our business does not grow proportionately.
- We may be unable to recoup our investment costs to develop our software products.
- Our insiders who are significant shareholders may control the election of our Board and may have interests that conflict with those of our other shareholders or holders of our ADSs.
- We may engage in acquisitions, strategic investments, strategic partnerships or alliances or other ventures that may or may not be successful.
- Our net income would decrease if the Government of India reduces or withdraws tax benefits and other incentives it provides to us or when our tax holidays expire or terminate.
- In the event that the Government of India or the government of another country changes its tax policies in a manner that is adverse to us, our tax expense may materially increase, reducing our profitability.
- We operate in jurisdictions that impose transfer pricing and other tax-related regulations on us, and any failure to comply could materially and adversely affect our profitability.
- Wage pressures in India and the hiring of employees outside India may prevent us from sustaining our competitive advantage and may reduce our profit margins.
- Terrorist attacks or a war could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
- The markets in which we operate are subject to the risk of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and other natural and man made disasters.
- Changes in immigration laws may affect our ability to compete and provide services to our clients in various countries. This could hamper our growth and may have an impact on our revenues.
- Our ability to acquire companies organized outside India depends on the approval of the Government of India and / or the Reserve Bank of India, and failure to obtain this approval could negatively impact our business.
For more details on risk factors, refer to our quarterly and annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), USA, available on our website www.infosys.com
F. Internal control systems and their adequacy
The CEO and CFO certification provided in the CEO and CFO Certification section of the Annual Report discusses the adequacy of our internal control systems and procedures.
G. Material developments in human resources / industrial relations, including number of people employed
Our culture and reputation as a leader in the technology services industry enables us to recruit and retain some of the best available talent in India.
1. Human capital
Our employees are our most important and valuable assets. During fiscal 2011, we received around 8,29,800 employment applications, approximately 1,36,200 were interviewed and 67,400 job offers were made. As of March 31, 2011, Infosys and its subsidiaries had employed 1,30,820 employees, of which 1,23,811 are technology professionals, including trainees.
The key elements that define our human capital development include :
1.a Recruitment
We have built our global talent pool by recruiting students from premier universities, colleges and institutes in India and through need-based hiring of project leaders and middle managers. We recruit students in India who have consistently shown high levels of achievement. We have also begun selective recruitment at campuses in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and China. We rely on a rigorous selection process involving a series of aptitude tests and interviews to identify the best applicants. This selection process is continually assessed and refined based on the performance tracking of past recruits.
1.b Training and development
With a total built-up area of 1.44 million sq. ft., the Infosys Global Education Center in Mysore, can train approximately 14,000 employees at a time.
As of March 31, 2011, we employed 698 full-time employees as faculty, including 255 with doctorates or masters degrees. Our faculty conducts integrated training for our new employees. Our employees undergo certification programs each year to develop / upgrade the skills relevant for their roles.
Leadership development is a core part of our training program. We established the Infosys Leadership Institute at our Mysore campus to enhance the leadership skills required to manage the complexities of the rapidly changing marketplace.
We have also been working with several colleges across India through our Campus Connect program, enabling their faculty to provide industry related training to students.
1.c Compensation
Our technology professionals receive competitive salaries and benefits. We have also adopted a performance-linked compensation program that links compensation to individual performance, as well as the Company’s performance.