Ex Summary Till Appendices

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Ali Maskatiya as a Business Leader

Leadership Studies Page 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report is a result of research conducted on Mr. Ali Maskatiya, CEO of Maskatiya

Communications (Pvt) Ltd popularly known as MaxCom. He mentioned in his interview to CIO

Pakistan that he as a consumer was willing to pay any amount for reliable and fast internet

services but all Internet service providers were only catering to corporate sector. This need led

him to identify the market opportunity and he set out to create MaxCom in 2005. He was a

Finance major but had immense interest in internet technology. He initially conducted a market

survey to identify the potential people to form his team. Ali Maskatiya envisioned customer

services as his competitive advantage and in order to instill the same vision in his team, he

mostly hired young people. The company started off with 10 to 12 employees and as it

progressed, the head count grew to 120. He can be described overall as a person with a very

humble, honest, and creative and go-getter personality. However, he could have run the company

in an even better manner if he would have been a little quicker at making decision and would not

have avoided confrontations. The opportunity that he pursued to create MaxCom was seen by

other industry players at a later stage. When they saw MaxCom doing so well, they entered the

market and they chose to compete on the basis of price. This led to several price wars which

ended with the sell out MaxCom to PTCL. The proof that MaxCom was the major reason of such

price wars is that there have been no price wars after the sellout. During the entire period that

MaxCom operated under the leadership of Ali Maskatiya, it achieved great success. It had the

largest customer base in Karachi and the customers were so loyal that even with very low prices,

companies had hard time breaking its customer base. All thanks to Ali Maskatiyas extraordinary

leadership skills which led its employees to carry out the business so successfully. Moreover,

even after the takeover, employees of MaxCom continue to serve the clients in the manner that

Ali Maskatiya committed to deliver.


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INTRODUCTION

There's been a lot of talk about the Internet revolution in Pakistan, but now, for the first time,

MaxCom actually walks the talk with ultra-fast, low-cost broadband services for home andcorporate users. Whether you are an avid gamer, a streaming radio-head, a compulsive surfer, or

just trying to get some real work done, we have something for everyone, quotes Ali Maskatiya.

In the days when there was no internet company to understand the needs of home based internet

users, Ali Maskatiya came like a knight in shining armor and opened up MaxCom that provided

DSL internet services for prices that almost every person who wanted good internet connectivity

could afford. These were the days when cyber Extreme was the in thing but no one except

corporate users could afford the high-priced internet services it offered. For a 22 year old to

actually identify such an opportunity in the market and then immediately tap it is commendable.

A normal 22 year old college graduate, with all the riches in the world would rather be perceived

as living a carefree life, squandering the wealth of his parents. However, Ali Maskatiya dared to

differ and had a passion to stand out. He, at this age was busy contacting experts in the internet

world, trying to persuade them to believe in his business idea and join hands with him to make it

successful. The very first person who joined his team, Mr. Asif Rana on his first encounter with

Ali Maskatiya described him as an innocent little teenager. A leader, who is young in both age

and appearance, faces many barriers to convince people to take him seriously, let alone initiating

and managing a complicated business. But with his determination and passion to succeed he

overcame all the hurdles that came his way and launched MaxCom successfully making his

vision a REALITY!!!


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ABOUT THE LEADER

Ali Maskatiya is the CEO of MaxCom [Maskatiya Communications (pvt) ltd]. He was born on

17th September, 1983. He completed his primary and secondary education from Karachi

Grammar school. Thereafter he went on to acquire a bachelors degree in finance from London

School of Economics. He is on the board of trustees of Maskatiya Charitable Trust. His describes

himself as a hardcore internet user and that business runs in his blood. His business and technical

skills were a perfect match for initiating MaxCom as a viable business opportunity in 2005

where he proved to be an exceptional business leader.


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ABOUT THE COMPANY

MaxCom is a reputable company that was formed by Ali Maskatiya of Maskatiya Group. It is

officially registered as Maskatiya Communications (Pvt) Ltd. The company was established to

provide DSL internet services to Home and Business users. DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is an

advanced technology, allowing up to 50 times higher data transfer rate compared to dial-up over

standard copper telephone lines. MaxCom was the first company in Pakistan to provide DSL

internet services with packages offering unlimited downloading and uploading of data.

Throughout the evolution of MaxCom, one thing remained unchanged - the pivotal role of

creating value. MaxCom enables businesses to minimize cost and maximize business

productivity over the Internet through its unique combination of broadband Internet connectivity

offerings.

MaxCom is dedicated to ensuring full customer satisfaction with over 50 per cent of its staff

working in customer services. This continuous dialogue enables the company to have an in-depth

understanding of customers' changing needs, and ensures they drive the company's exceptional

research and development programs. All consulting, training and technical support services meet

individual needs.

MaxCom has an extensive DSL clientele spread throughout Karachi and Hyderabad. Its DSL

services are guaranteed to deliver unprecedented value compared to other solutions and are ideal

for the corporate sector as well as home users.


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VISION AND MISSION

To be Pakistan's most successful integrated communications provider by being loved by our

customers, admired by our competitors and valued by our shareholders.

STRATEGY

y To build a loyal customer base by offering a range of competitively-priced, high qualitycommunications services

y To maintain a consistently efficient, flexible and low cost delivery capability geared toserving identified customer needs

y To deliver levels of service that support, and are recognized as, adding value to the ITgrowth of Pakistan


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HISTORY

MaxCom came into being on 15th

September, 2005. It inception started off when Ali Maskatiya

with his idea and target market in mind began surveying the internet industry. There were a

limited number of internet companies which mostly catered to only corporate users because that

was where big bucks came from. DSL was an emerging technology which was reliable but very

expensive. While Ali surveyed the internet industry, he identified potential experts who he

considered capable to join hands to form this new business team. The very first person hired was

Asif Rana from Dancom who was the expert in the network arena of this field. They both

together went on to further enlarge the team by hiring fresh graduates by placing employment

ads in newspapers. This team was called NOC and support department. The next team formed

was called Technical team which consisted of employees who had prior field experience with

PTCL. The next department was billing which consisted of only one person; the billing manager.

Even though people had different expertise, everyone was doing almost everything. The

technical team had to perform the tasks of support and billing teams and also generate sales. And

same was with the rest of the teams as well. This is how the company started off and operated for

quite a while before it separated the tasks and officially formed 4 different departments (refer to

Organizational chart on pg no 11). Initially MaxCom had only 12 employees which eventuallyexpanded to 120. MaxCom positioned itself to provide reliable and high-speed internet services

at comparatively lower prices with state of the art customer services. After two years of its

successful operation other players started entering this specific business targeting the same

customers as MaxCom. Price wars occurred since this was the only way other bigger companies

could attempt to compete with MaxCom. But even then those companies couldnt break the

customer base of MaxCom. Eventually PTCL had to use its monopoly in the landline industry to

create hurdles for MaxCom in providing the quality services it promised. Ali Maskatiya chose

not to compromise with the quality and fought for as long as he could but eventually ended up

selling MaxCom to PTCL in the beginning of 2010.


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CURRENT PERFORMANCE

As of 2010, Maskatiya Communications (Pvt) Limited operates as a subsidiary of Pakistan

Telecommunication Co. Ltd. At the time it was sold out to PTCL, it had the largest number of

customers in Karachi. However, it continues to provide the kind of internet service and customer

support that it promised to deliver since its inception. It is only providing services to its existing

customers and no longer taking in new customers. Due to this it is generating lesser revenue than

before however Ali Maskatiya in his interview mentioned that MaxCom is still doing as well as

it was doing in his regime and he credits the continued success to his employees who have been

able to deliver his values even without his supervision.


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ORGANIZATIONAL CHART


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THE ORGANIZATIONAL EVENT

MaxCom, as earlier mentioned was formed in 2005 and was sold out to PTCL in 2010. Since,

MaxCom ran under the ownership of Ali Maskatiya for a short period of five years, we have

considered his entire tenure as an organizational event. The creation of MaxCom and the prize

wars that occurred after LDN and PTCL entered the DSL internet market are two major

occurrences where Ali Maskatiyas role as a leader was prominent.

MaxCom was created when there was no reliable internet service for home users. DSL

technology was very new and expensive. It was only a service that businesses could afford to

use. Establishing MaxCom was a great challenge bringing along with it a number of greater

challenges. Although the target market had been identifies and the decision to create MaxCom

was made, the very first challenge was to convince the market to be willing and able to switch

over to a new internet technology. Following this challenge was the vital need to develop a

strategy to offer such an expensive and innovative technology at affordable prices to home based

internet users. Creating a team who would share the same vision and would have the expertise to

achieve the strategic goals was another major challenge. Additionally even though money wasnt

a scarce resource for Ali Maskatiya, managing and allocating it appropriately was a challenging

task.

Despite all these challenges that came his way, Ali Maskatiya courageously brought MaxCom to

a pinnacle of excellence which remained consistent for two consecutive years. Observing the

opportunities of growth in this new business, PTCL, LDN and several other rival companies

started offering the DSL internet services to home users thereby free riding on the strategies that

Ali Maskatiya once developed. LDN tried hard to attract customers as successfully as MaxCom

did, but failed both due to its quality of internet services and after sales services. PTCL used its

monopoly in landline services to attract customers by lowering prices. This gave rise to constant

price wars. Every 6 months PTCL would double the connection speeds of all packages and for

MaxCom to match up to it, became difficult since it had to pay the PTCL bills to use its landlines

for provision of internet services to the customers. PTCL of course didnt have pay any such bills

since it owned the landlines. There were 4 price wars within two years and at the end MaxCom


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was sold off to PTCL. But this sell out can in no way be considered the failure of Ali Maskatiya

as a leader. In fact the sell out set another example of the extraordinary leadership skills this man

possessed.

LEADERS PERFORMANCE IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL

EVENT

Creation of MaxCom and its success is a prime example of Ali Maskatiyas exceptional

leadership skills. His ability to identify an untapped market, risk a huge investment and sacrifice

leisure at such a young age was something that experts in the internet industry did not dare to do.

This in itself is commendable. People at this age prefer enjoying life rather than taking up such

massive responsibilities.

In the early days of MaxCom, Ali Maskatiya was all in all the technical, support, billing, HR,

marketing and sales manager. He was an all rounder and he promoted the same culture at the

work place. He led by example and enabled the initial team to perform all the tasks of the

organization as well who in turn trained the newcomers thereby instilling the same approach.

He chose customer services as a competitive edge for his company. This was another challenge

that he embraced because the people of our country are intolerant by nature and they were his

employees. Training an intolerant work force to deal with customers patiently and tactfully was

not an easy task especially with the absence of predefined standards of customer services in our

region.

Consumer market for internet industry was tapped with cable internet providers. Ali Maskatiya

challenged the existing market trend by launching DSL internet services, which was a newtechnology and comparatively expensive as well. He could have just targeted the niche market

that was willing to pay higher prices for faster internet but he did not. He wanted to revolutionize

the internet industry by mass marketing and achieving economies of scale. This meant he had to

create a new market. He had to change the trend and convince people to trust that his services are

the best value for extra money that they will be paying. He did not brag about his services by


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placing huge ads in the newspaper neither did he engage his customers into impulsive buying of

his services. In fact he developed a strategy to manage cost efficiently and offered the services to

customers with no upfront cost of equipment. This was also against the trends of internet

industry. All the industry players at this time were leasing out the equipment to customers with

huge upfront cost and monthly installments.

He hired young workforce and instilled his vision in them. He wanted to develop a culture where

customers are always considered right. The key to his credibility is that he practiced what he

preached and never hesitated to directly handle an angry and frustrated customer. Initially he was

extremely bent upon serving customers satisfactorily at any cost and expected his employees to

do the same. But an incident later altered his belief (refer to stories pg no). He learned from his

manager that employees are as important as the customers and keeping both happy will lead to a

happy and successful organization.

He was very down to earth. All his employees and customers could approach him directly

without hesitating. He at times would sit with them and enjoy meals as well.

The period when price wars prevailed is marked as the most critical time for Ali Maskatiya.

Everyone in the organization was confused and was bombarded with one question from customer

all over that is when is MaxCom reducing its price and renewing the packages? No one had an

answer to it. Not even Ali Maskatiya! He could not afford to reduce the price because it would

require compromising with quality. He at this point had to train the employees to deal with the

customers in a manner that would convince the customer to continue with the services even

though it was highly priced compared to other internet service providers. Although the situation

was critical and times were very hard, MaxCom managed to survive only because of excellent

leadership displayed by Ali Maskatiya. Within two years he had enabled his employees to act

according to his vision. They worked even harder than they previously did and further improved

the service so as to retain the clients on the basis of quality as opposed to lower prevailing prices

in the market.


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MaxCom was eventually sold out to PTCL but this in no way can be seen as the failure of Ali

Maskatiyas leadership. He considered the sell out as the most viable opportunity for employees

and the customer. PTCL has a natural economy and owns the infrastructure required to run a

DSL internet company which is why it can gain the economies of scale required for sustainable

growth opportunities in this business. Due to this MaxComs customers will be able to gain

exceptional internet services within economical price ranges. They will continue to enjoy reliable

customer services that have been promised because MaxComs employees have learned to value

the customer even without the supervision of Ali Maskatiya. The sell out is beneficial for

employees because PTCL is a bigger company and offers more opportunities for growth. Ali

Maskatiya safeguarded the jobs of his employees by ensuring that no employee can be laid off

for two years after the sell out. He continues to support his employees even now when he isnt

managing MaxCom anymore. At one instance PTCLs executives wanted to lay off some of

MaxComs employees due to some misunderstanding. They criticized those employees and

spoke in a very harsh manner. At that point Ali Maskatiya took up for his employees guarantying

them jobs if the lay off occurred.

During the entire period when MaxCom ran under the ownership of Ali Maskatiya, he emerged

as an outstanding business leader. However, there were some things that he could have done in a

better manner. His employees are of the opinion that he avoided confrontation. Whenever there

would be a conflict within organization, he would avoid identifying the right and wrong parties.

Rather he would be very diplomatic and neutral. This would always create negative sentiments

amongst the team that had suffered and the team that was at the wrong end would continue to

behave in the same manner. We justify his attitude by his own words, I always give my

employees a second chance which at times could work to his disadvantage. Besides this he

could have motivated his employees to a greater extent by recognizing their efforts and

appreciating them. Moreover, he could have prevented the sell out of MaxCom by innovation.

Many new companies were entering the industry by launching new kind of services such as

Wimax and USB internet. Ali Maskatiya could have used his credibility to succeed by taking

advantage of such existing opportunity so that his company would not have been dependent on

the infrastructure of PTCL.


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ANALYSIS OF THE QUESIONNAIRES FILLED BY

EMPLOYEES

Employees first impression of Ali Maskatiya:

y Underestimated due to age and appearancey Small cute chapy Honest, cooperative, graceful, patient and attentivey Dedicated and creative, disciplined to work toward his vision single mindedly as well as

to direct his actions to his team members to achieve organizational goals

y Very talented and humble persony Extremely well mannered persony Highly skilled, efficient, honest, intelligent and forward lookingy Not so formal young dude who happens to be the CEO

A good Business Leader?

y YES! Quick in making business decision and knows how to use his resourcesy YES! Not only built a business at such an early age but also ran it successfully and made

a difference in ISP market

yYES! Pays attention to peoples feelings, encourages employees by boosting theirconfidence, listens to suggestions about improving productivity

y YES! Has self awareness, a strong sense of what is right and a demonstration of ethicalpractices

y YES! Very organized, knows how to handle work and resolve client issuesy YES! A good business man and very well known in his professiony NO! compromises leadership in cases because of his own set of business ideas

Most distinct leadership characteristic:

y Never tolerates miscommitmenty Helpful naturey Confidencey Treats his customers problems as his own


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y Built-in dictionaryy Fair and unbiased

Weaknesses:

y Lack of appropriate delegation of responsibilitiesy Tolerates mistakes a loty Considered gender biased by female employees due to delay in rewarding commission to

them

y Lack of sense of humory Avoids confrontationy Does not take decisions immediatelyy Lack of recognition\appreciation of employees


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CONCLUSION

All in all, for a leader his age, Ali Maskatiya has done a commendable job. He displays a

combination of directive and participative leadership style contingent to the situation at hand.

He challenged the process by catering to home based internet users and meeting their needs,

inspired a shared vision by close interaction with his employees and fostering team spirit,

established credibility by always being honest to his clients, modeled the way by dealing with

clients in a way he expected from his employees and enabled his employees to act by creating an

effective CRM softwares that facilitated them in dealing with client efficiently. However, he

could have been even better if he would have encouraged the heart by providing recognition and

appreciation for jobs well done.


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REFERENCES

y www.max.com.pky http://www.mct.org.pk/bod.htmy http://bandwidthpk.tv/2010/07/15/the-secret-behind-MaxComs-success-ali-maskatiya/y http://wiredpakistan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=13y http://www.apnijobs.com/job-opportunities-MaxCom-dsl-provider-pakistan.htmly http://propakistani.pk/2010/04/21/breaking-ptcl-acquires-MaxCom/


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APPENDICES


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INTERVIEW QUESIONNAIRE FOR THE LEADER ALI

MASKATIYA

1. Please give us a brief background about yourself.a. Date of Birthb. Educationc. Interests

2. When and how did you think about the business idea that led to the creation of MaxCom?3. What inspired you to struggle so much at such a young age?4. How did you go about initiating MaxCom?5. How did you create the team that would have people who could share the vision you had

and follow you accordingly?

6. How did you make your employees see the future you did?7. What were the major challenges that you had to face and how did you deal with them?8. What are some of the achievements that you are proud of during your tenure as the CEO

of MaxCom?

9. What are some of the things that you would have wanted to achieve but could not?10.We heard that PTCL was facing difficulties breaking your customer base. What do you

think was the reason?

11.Why after fighting so much did you end up selling MaxCom to PTCL?


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QUESTIONNAIRE MR. ALI MASKATIYA AS YOUR BUSINESS LEADER

This questionnaire will be used to look deeper into the leadership qualities of Mr. Ali Maskatiya.Only the employees of MaxCom are requested to fill it out as clearly as possible.

1) What was your first impression of Mr. Maskatiya?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2) Do you consider him a good business leader? Why?______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________3) What is his most distinct leadership characteristic?______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) If you have ever needed his help in resolving a customer complain, how has he responded to

your request for help?____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________5) If you have needed his help in resolving a conflict within the work place, how has he

responded to you request for help?______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6) In your opinion, what added quality could have made him a better leader?______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7) In your opinion, what one personality trait if eliminated can make him a better leader?______________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8) Please comment on following leadership traits in relation to Mr. Maskatiya:a - enabled others to act__________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________b Modeled the way_____________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

c Challenged the process______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________d - Inspired a shared vision________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________e Encourage the heart___________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking out time to fill this out please use the back of this page if you needadditional space. For any concerns please contact: [email protected]

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