Four partners have been identified to head each of the four new service categories in India. The service lines along which the organisation has been structured are: assurance and business advisory to be headed by Ameet Parekh, tax and regulatory advisory headed by Jayraj Purandare, business consulting headed by Narayan Seshadri, and global corporate finance by Munesh Khanna. Earlier, the firm had two main business lines--audit and tax.

Senior partner Bobby Parekh has been made the managing partnerdirector. He will coordinate the Indian operations, while senior partner Vijay Sahni's role will focus on market facing, that is, business development and leading the implementation of the firm's new strategy focus.

In step with the one-firm concept, in the case of global clients, the newly- appointed service line heads will report directly to worldwide heads of their respective service category. The one-firm structure has been introduced worldwide to position Arthur Andersen as a professional services organisation of over 100 member firms and more than 61,000 people, united by a single worldwide operating structure and a common culture of innovation and knowledge sharing.

Confirming the restructuring, Vijay Sahni said: ``We are responding creatively to the market's need for multi-disciplinary and integrated services.''

The business model:

The new model will have two key elements, which are critical to its success. The first is the teaming across service categories and industry. Teaming refersto Arthur Anderson's endeavour to serve clients by bringing together any of more than 40 competencies in such a way that it transcends geographical borders and organisational lines.

The second is to become more client focused in the implementation of the multi-disciplinary services. This approach is expected to balance the service category with the industry and market dimension of the business matrix. Concieved as a truly global model, the main service line will remain the same. However, shades of categories specific to a particular market may be brought in.

For example, the multi-million pounds job for the Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB), which encompasses Arthur Andersen's entire service spectrum. The firm's involvement extends from blueprinting of the privatisation plan to the formation of new operating subsidiaries and companies and their divestment. For this multi-dimensional project, Arthur Andersen outsourced a team of lawyers and investment bankers to make a consortium to tackle the variedaspects.

The refining of the business model in India will also be influenced by the increasing contribution of the Indian operations to Andersen Worldwide's global growth. According to Sahni, ``In the process of growth, we are conscious of both, the demand and supply sides. We have to deliver results to clients and also continue to build the `A' team that will also contribute to Andersen Worldwide's global talent.''

The restructuring of Arthur Andersen's India business comes at a time when its sister concern Andersen Consulting has gone out of its fold to become a separate entity and, thereby, a direct competitor. Andersen Consulting was the main contributor to Andersen Worldwide's consulting revenue. The consulting industry has seen a mega merger of Price WaterHouse and Coopers & Lybrand, making the environment even more competitive.

To be sure, the new structure is fairly new to Arthur Andersen Worldwide. For example, the global corporate finance-service category was established in September 1998--atthe start of the firm's financial year--while the economic and financial consulting competencies and services were moved into the business consulting category. Says Sahni, ``The environment is key to Arthur Andersen's management approach in responding to a more competitive scenario within a declining economy. It pushes us up the value chain.''

Increasingly, the concept of outsourcing services is becoming popular as global companies are willing to get the best and the cheapest in the areas of internal audit, process solutions and financial management. Arthur Andersen now wants to promote India as an ideally-suited location, which can contribute to this global phenomenon in a major way. Sums up Sahni: ``The effort will be to go to the market in an even more cohesive and networked manner to provide robust solutions to clients.'' Clearly, the restructuring within is expected to be a solution towards this end.