Friday, November 30, 2012

Enemy of the state

Raj is preparing his political 'parantha' in the name of Maratha

It has become easier to break the law in India than to follow it. No wonder then that the goons are having the last say. Beating innocent North Indian students on November 19, who came to appear in Railways exams, was an extension of MNS Chief, Raj Thackeray's efforts to throw out North Indians from Maharashtra and he has proved that he neither fears the law nor does he respect it.

The truth is that North Indians have stayed in Mumbai for decades and are as much Mumbaikar as any Maratha manus. Then why are they being targeted? Says Sanjay Nirupam from Congress, "Whatever Raj is doing is nothing more than an effort to find his place in Maharashtra. Since Balasaheb is no more what he used to be and Udhav Thackeray has proven to be a powerless successor, Raj is trying to gain power by using an aggressive stand against North Indians.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

WAR DOCTRINE: AND THE BATTLEFIELD

If war could kill hatred, war doctrines should have received Nobel prizes; but perhaps one wouldn’t have to wait for even that to happen...

In the last two thousand years, perchance, there’s nothing in which mankind has put in so much effort as in strategising the demise of its own kind. Starting with the invention of the wheel to the invention of fire. To that of electricity and of course the computer and the knowledge of the existence of atoms; everything has been put to use for improving the fighting edge over the adversary. So initially, if the philosophy was to thwart attacks on one’s women [Troy, poor Troy], later on, mankind gave rise to techniques that annihilated the theory of coexistence and the fight became more for having the bigger pie of the land and its resources; though we’ve heard unconfirmed reports that Zardari down east is still fighting for women.

Seriously, epic wars being fought with clubs and arrows where heads were smashed with impunity might seem horrible today, but today’s sophisticated battles and aristocratic wars where a pilot sitting in the cockpit of a bomber, with the touch of a button, can release a bomb that can decimate a city and kill millions is more horrendous than it had ever been in the past. That pilot of course would return to his base, have sumptuous food and would go off to sleep without the slightest remorse. And perhaps with a feeling of ecstasy at having accomplished the work to perfection. All the more reason why the doctrines conceptualised in air-conditioned rooms by some of the most mild mannered people eventually turn out to be the most lethal ones.

And finally the mother of all doctrines is the so called Weapons of Mass Destruction doctrine. This one is popular because it doesn’t require any justification and can rationalise even the killing of the most innocent children in the name of defending American sovereignty, so long as such killings can be rationalised as collateral damage; read, for profits by grabbing enormous resources of oil. And with loose cannons like Ahmedinejad prancing around, who needs a dodo like Saddam, eh!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

I know what you thought last year

Beyond everyone’s forecast, European economies are now the biggest sufferers of the US subprime crisis

Exactly one year back The Economist in an article titled ‘At risk of infection’ had written “Economists are most nervous about who or what might sink into America’s property swamp.” While reading that article the Europeans must not have thought that it will be them, who will sink because of an American fault. And that’s where things went wrong. As a result, today all the economic indicators are overwhelmingly pointing to the fact that the European economy is now sinking and shrinking under the spill over effects of the US subprime crisis.

What began as a problem in a single sector, in a single economy (US housing market) has today metastasized into severe dislocations in broader credit and funding market. The crisis has moved beyond the US and subprime market to prime real estates markets, consumer credits and corporate credit markets. Amid such a milieu the spill over of the man made crisis in the global financial market is being governed by the trio comprising – weakening balance sheet, continuing de-leveraging process and the burgeoning challenges of the macroeconomic environment. Says Tine Olsen, Economist, Moody’s Economy, “A year after the subprime shock, the global economy is still suffering, and the end of the credit crisis is nowhere in sight.”

In fact a year after the genesis of the subprime shock, similar features are beginning to emerge in Europe. Be it losses in terms of subprime, ABS (asset backed securities), ABS CDOs (credit default obligation) or Conduits/SIV (special investment vehicle), Europe is only next to US. Signs of a downturn are becoming all the more evident in European housing market. Market prices of property derivatives today are suggestive of an outright home price decline in the UK with a time lag of around two years (wrt US). At a time when the lenders are tightening standards, many borrowers of fixed rates in UK are set to witness a rate increase of 100 to 200 basis points (bps). This will in all certainty add to yet another source of stress in the already stressed market. It is but obvious that with an increased stress (result of the spill over) write offs and repossessions are set to increase.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

5 more months & Elvis leaves!!!

January 20, 2009, Bush leaves the White House; but before that, he ‘updates’ the ‘official’ US terrorists list

It’s called the US National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). The NCTC “serves as the primary organization in the US government for integrating and analysing all intelligence pertaining to terrorism.” And it has become the latest weapon in the comic armoury of George Bush’s theatre of absurdities. Not that till now Mr. Bush had underplayed the NCTC’s role – more of that later – but of critical current interest is the fact that the NCTC has a list of an estimated 3,25,000 people all across world who pose “serious threats” to US security. Experts estimate now that US nationals form less than approximately 1% of these teeming numbers.

If that was enough to raise eyebrows, what brought out the total shallowness of the NCTC’s list was the amusing attempt by the US government last month to update the list! Most hilariously, on the eve of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, his name was officially removed from the US terror list. Incidentally, this was done almost 15 years after this legend won a Nobel Peace Prize. If the list prepared by NCTC is to be believed, the 90 year old Nelson Mandela who has played the most important role in getting South Africa free from the draconian clutches of apartheid, has posed serious threats to US internal security for the past so many years.

Shallow is what shallow gets! And if ‘threat to internal security’ is the debate, then anything goes, whether in war or in business! The US has made it a norm to take recourse to this ‘threat to internal security’ as a reason to even block key business deals. When CNOOC, a subsidiary of CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation) bid for the US based petroleum giant Unocal, the US House of Representatives approved the Resolution No 344, which gave the US President the authority to review the deal keeping US strategic interests in mind.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, November 23, 2012

Murder of a Monk

The fate of the Caribbean Monk Seal has been sealed, for good!

Alas, fate has caught up with what was once a happy inhabitant of the Caribbean Sea. The species in question, the Caribbean Monk Seal has all but disappeared. The cruel ways of man finally caught up with the creature that had been fighting for survival, at last slipping into times past. The Caribbean Monk Seal, which also went by the name of West Indian Monk Seal, belonged to the Monachus tropicalis family of species. It was the only seal which was known to be born and residing in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The final blow to the last nail in the species’ coffin was dealt on June 6, 2008, when after five years of research to find any signs of the seal, the US Government announced that the species was officially extinct and the reason for its extinction was without any doubt, human.

A mere 6-9 foot animal, the Caribbean Monk Seal was never a predator of humans. It couldn’t have been, with that chunk of fat around its neck and hair that had faded from brown to yellow-white colour on the stomach. The male seal could reach up to a length of about 2.25 meters and could weigh up to 200 kilograms; the females, however, were generally smaller.

The seal was first spotted by Christopher Columbus in 1494 who named it the “Sea-wolf.” During his complete voyage, he is known to have killed as least eight of them for their meat. The region of the Caribbean Sea was somewhat a residence for these seals, but when man learnt of it, and the benefits he could derive therefrom, began a killing so macabre that a seal was being killed every minute, for meat, and for its oil; until the residence was turned into its grave.

It was always known that when the population of these seals becomes unstable, they become easy prey for sharks and fishing nets. In spite of these warnings, the killing only continued, and in greater numbers each day.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Hey, did I click on hot-male.com?

Cyber squatters are opening ‘spoof’ travel sites mimicking real ones

It should come as no surprise that the online travel market has become the buzzword among cyber squatters. Cyber squatters have developed phantom travel sites (similar to genuine ones) to reap benefit out of this $2 billion worth segment. Cyber squatters are developing sites that are similar to generic sites (like indiatimestravel.com for travel.indiatimes.com and mytripyatra.com for makemytrip.com and yatra.com) in order to bluff the users. They further charge an exorbitant price and also provide sub-standard packages.

The story of clones, one guesses, has just started. A spoof site, ‘webcameron.info’ was developed within two days of the launch of ‘Webcameron.org.uk’, that featured the speeches and vision statements of United Kingdom’s Conservative leaders. Even Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten was a victim of cyber squatting as his rival hacked his site ‘markoaten.co.uk’ and directed users to his own site, thus stealing potential voters.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

VIP SECURITY: MISUSED

VIP/VVIP security has lost that ‘necessity’ touch. It’s merely an act...

It is obnoxious that common men are even prevented to walk on the pavements and traffic brought to a halt when politicians pass by. Currently, over 300 persons are considered VIPs in Delhi alone, engaging nearly 9,000 police personnel! Various RTI requests reveal that around one lakh police and paramilitary personnel are deployed to guard VIPs. To make matters worse, expenses on the Special Protection Group for VVIPs exceeded the set target by a whopping 16%! Sample this: immediately after Samajwadi Party and Congress patched-up, SP leader Amar Singh (who was under no security threat, whatsoever) was provided the highest level of security.

Yes, security is a need, but one can’t have the nation running around politicians! It’s really the politicians who are meant to protect the nationals. And why get elected in the first place, when you’re pigeon livered?!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

MONETARY: CRISIS

Slowdown and crisis together

This decision will eventually affect the FDI flows in India and China. Moreover, with slashing of interest rates in US, the FDI flow and the Indian currency (as well as the Chinese currency) will get negatively affected.

The Fed Rate cut did spark some relief, but the poor performance of top US investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers did neutralise the positive effect. However, China’s renminbi gained some ground against the Japanese yen and the Hong Kong dollar to stand at 6.4564 yuan against 100 Japanese yen and 0.96189 yuan against one Hong Kong dollar! seems shocking.. Huh.. 


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, November 19, 2012

Global CEOs have destroyed their companies...

From the Editor’s desk, comes to you seven rocking ways in which global CEOs have destroyed their companies...

Lousy CEO Habit #4: Being proud of not being an MBA

I’ve seen many such CEOs, boasting to the world how an MBA is plain rubbish. Apart from innumerable researches, Sloan MIT’s spectacular research (Managing With Style) of 7,500 of the world’s top firms proved conclusively how companies with MBA CEOs perform fantastically better than those having non-MBA CEOs.

Lousy CEO Habit #5: Believing CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) adds to profits

Umpteen reports, like Stanford’s definitive Social Innovation Review, have year after year vindicated that CSR investments are particularly unlikely to pay off. Michael Porter, the father of modern strategy, blasted CSR as being just “a PR game!” The most respected Peter F. Drucker historically documented his statement in the documentary The Corporation, “If you find an executive who wants to take on social responsibilities, fire him... Fast!”

Lousy CEO Habit #6: Wanting to convert his ‘privately held’ company into a ‘public’ one

University of Michigan, Chicago University, London Business School and many other top researches have beyond doubt proved how public ownership is clearly disadvantageous for firms, not only in terms of control, but also in terms of business volatility.

Lousy CEO Habit #7: Believing in the ridiculous concept of core competencies

BCG showed at the start of 2007 (after a ten year in-depth study of hundreds of firms) that being diversified was thunderingly better than sticking to the ‘core’. They also showed how “there is no statistical correlation” between a core focus and shareholders’ wealth. There, that was simple, wasn’t it? Strangely, India Inc. seems to be getting none the better, with a growing majority of those CEOs stupidly indulging in almost all the above mentioned 7 lousy habits bang on... which brings me to my junior’s most disturbing statement, that I had completely missed out on.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Karan Mehrishi analyses why...

And B&E’s Karan Mehrishi analyses why...

AMD lost money dispite of being an intellectually driven company operating in a progressive environment. The world’s second largest semiconductor player lost close to $3.3 billion in 2007. Generally, analysts contend that AMD’s loss per share will be in the vicinity of $0.5–0.8, on revenue this quarter. The 15% fall in revenue has resulted in the lay offs involving over 1,500 workers by a company, which has a history of employee retention in even adverse conditions. AMD controls 23–24% of the semiconductor market, and was banking on the latest generation ‘Barcelona series’, which has been delayed for launch. With the worldwide semiconductor sales will not slated to grow more than 5–6% through the next two years, growth would be a major issue.

While the $7.7 billion losses reported by Merrill Lynch are basically due to the US housing slump and the mortgage crises, even Freddie Mac, which reported over $3 billion in losses, suffered due to similar reasons. According to their official press release, quoting Richard F. Syron, Chairman and CEO, Freddie Mac: “Without doubt, 2007 has been an extremely difficult year for the country’s housing and credit markets; and... we have been impacted by the deterioration in these markets.” Analysts ague that bad debts could have been a major issue here, as according to some reports, individual defaulters have increased. Explaining his company’s position, Buddy Piszel, CFO, said, “You can see the impact of these trends in our credit results and throughout our financial statements. Year to date, we have recognised $4.6 billion in net credit related items on a pre–tax basis.” Clearly, American companies have worse to come round the corner, what with the economic recession gathering speed faster than George Bush leaving office. Well, they can count on at least one person, me. Same time, same day, next year, as the California Governor so succintly says, and I quote, “I’ll be back!”

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

TATA MOTORS: ACQUISITION OF JAGUAR & LAND ROVER

Acquiring jlr provides the Tatas with phenomenal potential benefits, but managing the brands will be tough

Since Tata has pledged that it would neither close plants nor transfer production to a cheaper alternative; volumes will be the only option to offset the labour-product ratio. Tata Motors plans to invest an additional $1 billion to reinvigorate the brands without interfering in the jlr management.

According to some reports, the Tatas may divest more stake in some group companies to finance the acquisition and future endeavors in the direction. Ford has already promised to infuse $600 million towards its share of pension liabilities and Tata is expected to bear its part. However, there are new opportunities, too. As per Overdrive’s Bertrand D’souza, “The company is already selling its Safari and Xenon suvs as part of its assembling operations in Europe and jlr will give Tata more mileage to establish itself as a highly competent automaker in Europe, especially as Tata wants to sell Nano in Europe as well.” Additionally, the strategic importance of the jlr brand platform, technology expertise & sales network will have far reaching advantages. As per news reports, Land Rover has already turned profitable with profits crossing $1 billion in 2007. And it’s anticipated that Jaguar will get rid of the red once its high aspiration xf hits the roads.

Clearly, the deal is an aspirational one to ultimately place the Tatas firmly on the global auto map. But the first challenge for the Tatas is to successfully manage two brands that belong to a genre unknown to it, add to that the fact that it has had to opt out of the lucrative outsourcing model. Once that can be done, the rest will automatically fall in place.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Rolling down the Razr’s edge. Ouchhhh!

Aren’t four months a tad too little to turnaround a troubled company drenched with losses?

Just last year, Fortune had listed him as one of ‘Corporate America’s next-gen leaders’. In a twist of fate, this year has only seen him fall from glory – becoming a victim of activist investor, Carl Icahn’s accusations being the latest! His ‘2009 turnaround blueprint’ for Motorola was questioned and tagged as ‘worthless’. And with mud-slingling reaching heights, a man’s efforts to turn around Moto – one who was also appointed by the White House to serve on Bush’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee in May 2004 – was shamelessly criticised! With plans to split Motorola Inc. into two public entities (Motorola confirmed a plan to detach its distressed mobile phone unit from the remaining units on March 26, 2008), the fate of Gregory Brown, CEO, Motorola Inc. is also... in the line of fire!

Considering that his battery of problems have been his predecessor’s gift, one thinks it’s a tad to early to give him so much flak. Jeff Kagan, Telecom Analyst, who vouches for Brown, states, “I have watched Brown since the 1990s at Ameritech. At Motorola, he is reinventing the senior-level suite, which is good news. Can that change be driven through the entire company? That is the question...” Indeed, the message is clear – Moto needs a man like Brown to remain on its board if it seeks some positive changes ahead!

Post a bachelor’s degree course in economics from Rutgers University, Greg held different sales & marketing positions at AT&T. In 1987, he joined Ameritech where he rose to the rank of the President of Ameritech Custom Business Services and Ameritech New Media Inc. Then he served as the Chairman & ceo of Micromuse Inc. and was finally appointed as the President and coo of Motorola in 2002. With more than 25 years of high-tech know-how, Greg currently heads four different business divisions in the company.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Saturday, November 10, 2012

INDIA: TOURISM

Tour operators are opposing the government's decision 

This is a change from the previous dual tariff system under which the fee was $5 for World Heritage Sites and $2 for protected monuments such as the Red Fort & Purana Quila.

For domestic tourists, the entry fee has been fixed Rs.10 for each World Heritage monument and Rs.5 each for the other monuments. The Union Culture Ministry says the step was taken to address the panic in Indian tourism organisations caused by the falling dollar rate, and check the slide in Archaelogical Survey India (ASI) revenues. At the moment, most in the tourism industry disagree with such an assessment. There are 3,568 protected monuments in India, of which only 124, including 17 World Heritage ones, have an entry fee. The total revenue from ticketed monuments in 2006-07 was Rs.60.84 crores – up from Rs.53.91 crores in 2005-06 and Rs.52.9 crores in 2004-05. Is it monumental gain or monumental blunder?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, November 09, 2012

BUDGET: ZERO-BASED BUDGETING

Resources conserved can be easily reallocated to other priorities

On the negative side, countries following Zero-based budgeting fail to focus on their long term achievements, while focusing too much on short term expenditures. Even the reviews and analysis required to be carried out cannot be handled within the normal cycle of the budget process spread over a few months. But all in all, the need for Zero-based budgeting can hardly be over emphasised in a situation of resource crunch, when demands far outstrip resources.

It is absolutely essential that the government’s resources be conserved, by eliminating wasteful expenditure, removing duplication or multiplication of expenditure and making expenses prudent, most fruitful and efficient. Well, it sounds good but will we implement it?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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Thursday, November 08, 2012

googling Indians

The technology company is hoping to convince Indian businesses about the virtues and effectiveness of online advertising

For Google India, the challenge is to enable Indian firms to appreciate the effectiveness of search advertising or the reach of the online medium. In an exclusive interview, Shailesh Rao, MD, Google India, tells B&E’s Debdeep Singh how the company is evolving new strategies, services and products to woo Indian customers. But Rao accepts that computing infrastructure has a long way to go in India.

Excerpts:

How has been the Google’s journey in India so far?

Google’s approach to search and advertising has provided users with a trusted source of information and provided businesses with an efficient mechanism to drive growth. In India, due to the broad popularity of our services – from search to Orkut to Blogger and AdSense programme – we are able to provide businesses with a wide range of marketing opportunities. Understanding the needs of the Indian market, we are looking to address local concerns and offer multiple channels to support business objectives and marketing goals for all levels of a business. We are pleased with the continued use and adoption of AdWords by large and small businesses across regions and verticals in 2007. We have seen businesses utilise the platform to support a wide variety of marketing objectives. We are pleased that fair and transparent pricing, precision targeting capabilities, and an ability to calculate clear ROI are resonating with the marketplace. India remains one of the more important markets for our business worldwide, and we will continue to invest here.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Wednesday, November 07, 2012

World threat

Threat from emerging giants...

World history has witnessed a trend of few leading nations dictating world policy and future and many followers supporting those policies, sacrificing their national, regional and racial interest. But last century has given birth of many emerging giants like Korea, China & India who have become a certain threat to that trend, raising many uncertainties for global stability. China is now single largest investment destination, India & Korea are more in the forefront of the world, in terms of trade, which was unimaginable few decades ago. Total FDI from Europe to China is $35 billion, till date. And the West has continued dictating global trade policies through creating many institutions like the World Bank, IMF, GATT & IEA. But with emergence of new giants, these institutions have become ineffective, inefficient & outdated. As history suggests that in times of crisis, it is the West which has stabilised hostility and brought peace and institutionalised nations, for peace and constancy with advanced and suitable policies. Should not they again come forward, actively thinking that individual emerging giants can’t control instability?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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