Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Model A to Z of failure...

...rather of failure in terms of product innovation!

Alan Mulally may well be on his way to driving Ford out of its problems, innovatively sans any grants from the Fed, but that really doesn’t imply a century sans a single error at innovation! Ford’s Model A and Edsel are two cases proving the point. Ford’s decision to halt the production of Model A (as it was preparing the launch of its first low-priced V8) in 1932, cost it millions in dollar revenues. Why? Introduced in 1927, Model A was the second most popular product from Ford’s stable after Model T. Then came Edsel in 1952, which proved a bigger commercial failure, as the product wasn’t able to match buyers’ expectations after the success of the Thunderbird model. The car was positioned against GM’s Oldsmobile. But the old & conventional Ford design and more importantly, the name which resembled an image of a tractor (Edson) finally resulted in cooking up a complete product failure in the US automobile market.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Bu‘t[ea]chers’

Would electric shocks be next?

After witnessing the shocking incident of a teacher severely beating up students in Delhi, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has decided to start providing a special training programme on human rights education to teachers. It’s an incident not only just happening in Delhi Municipal Corporation schools but also schools all across the country irrespective of whether they are private or government run. There are several such news items carried by local or national level newspapers, of children severely beaten up by teachers, and even hospitalised. This kind of violence in classrooms among students and teachers is sadly rapidly increasing and to that effect, it is highly commendable and creditable that a council, that is generally considered the hallmark of a lackadaisical institution, has urgently brought into action the above mentioned human rights programme.

One hopes this initiative is immediately replicated across India. According to the NCERT, the lack of sufficiently trained teachers and the teacher training course are the main causes behind violence within classrooms. NCERT is now also planning to make such training more practical instead of theoretical. Consequently, the duration of the B.Ed course is proposed to be increased to two years instead of the present one.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Friday, December 7, 2012

Dare you waste it

Mind your wallet if you waste...

If you are planning to eat Japanese food at Hayashi Ya Japanese restaurant on the Upper West Side of the US, be careful not to leave even bits and pieces of it on your platter. Or else you may end up paying $27.75 instead of $26.95. Amazed! The Hayashi Ya restaurant charges 3% extra if there are leftover of food in your plate. This may seem very weird to most in West who make it a norm to waste much of the food they order for. And it isn’t a home-grown hypothesis. WCBS TV confirms that 27% of all food in the US finds itself in trash bin (works out to a pound of food every day for every American), while Stockholm Water Institute study extends this figure up to 30% or food worth around $48 billion annually. This amusing food-wasting habit of the West leads to annual wastage of 30 million tons of food. However, the UNEP 2009 report depicts an even more grim picture. Food waste in the US could be as high as 50% which means around one-fourth of all fresh fruits and vegetables is wasted between the field and belly. Among all the food-wasted, 15% are never opened in spite of being within expiry date.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Trail of death and destruction!

Global Warming rears its ugly head in Australia, leaving a trail of death and destruction!

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) stating that the estimated 65% of fire-danger in the year 2020 may go up to 300% by 2050 under cruel warming scenarios. Studies prove that average temperatures have already risen by 0.9 degrees Celsius since 1950, with 2005 as the hottest year on record. Also, rainfall is predicted to lessen even further by up to 30 percent if greenhouse gas emissions are high. Dr. R. K. Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) informs, “The earth has started to give signals of imminent effects of global warming. It’s now that we take precautions and act on decreasing the amount of carbon emissions. Otherwise, the world will keep experiencing natural disasters.”

As the death toll is disputed upon discovery of fused corpses by forensic scientists, relief measures like sporadic tent settlements are being set up in Whittlesea by the relief agencies as temporary shelter for the dispossessed victims. Expressing his concern for the disaster, an Australian Green Party leader, Bob Brown, said, “The fires are a sobering reminder of the need for this nation and the whole world to act and put at a priority the need to tackle climate change.” (As told to Sky News). This upheaval is just a trailer for the entire race to reckon with the fury of Mother Nature; that it’s enough of playing possum towards the universal concern of Global Warming.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Cell phone cinema!

Here’s a new avenue for individuals to unleash their creativity: Cell phone cinema!

While the first is a film that shows what a human can achieve with his or her hands, including surreal achievements like holding sunlight in one’s palm, the second is a film about rain water harvesting. The best award for a still photograph with a prize of US $500 went to Dead Carrier can Die too by Kamal Mahrishi that showed a discarded van from a morgue. The winning films will be screened at New York University – Tisch School of the Arts Theatre.

Akshay Marwah, the festival director, quotes film director Pankaj Prashar to enumerate the criteria for choosing the winners, “the main idea was not replacing a film camera by a film camera, but to see that a mobile phone can capture moments that film cameras can’t, and that is one of the most important criteria and of course technicalities and quality would follow.” Mr. Rawail, one of the jury members, said, “Whatever the technology, it is ultimately the content which should hold the attention of the viewer, and therefore those who create, must realise that their responsibility has increased”. “These short films can provide a good laugh and some can be for social causes and be informative as well. There could be videos on ‘How to wear a tie’ and ‘How to cut salads in style,’ which would be handy for everybody. However, this cinema is not competing with film cinema and is an off-shoot of cinema,” adds Akshay Marwah.

With film makers like the Barjatyas wanting to edit films like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun for cell phone users, cell phone cinema certainly has a promising tomorrow.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Monday, December 3, 2012

G8 SUMMIT: SWISS ALPS, DISNEYLAND TOUR ALSO OPTIONS...

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

 Evian, France, 2003: “Iraq has WMDs! And everybody better contribute to kill that damn nuke-bomber Saddam!” We told you, Bush churns out gas better!
Georgia, USA, 2004: Main agenda: Extending the controversial Heavily In-debt Poor Countries [HIPC] initiative for debt-relief and to vaccines development. Achieved: Magnanimous relief to Iraq’s $120 billion debt on US insistence.
Gleneagles, Scotland, 2005: This summit, like all years before, was again aimed to provide $50 billion debt-relief to Africa [Nothing new! Nothing achieved!].

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2006: For the first time in recent history, the G8 leaders proactively agreed on energy security, fighting diseases and encouraging education. Oh yes, it didn’t at all mention them providing any financial assistance!
Heiligendamm, Germany, 2007: Top agenda: Africa! Promises made in 2005 [in Scotland] of $50 billion aid to Africa: More or less overlooked! Creditably, developed nations in all have donated around $2.5 trillion since 1960 to LDCs. However, official estimates confirm that even this falls short of the required – and so called ‘promised’ – aid amount by a mammoth $3.5 trillion. As per the World Bank, it will cost developed countries just 2.8 cents per person per week to meet the promise. But we believe the first world still hasn’t understood the cheapness of life’s existence for the poor.

Having said that, we have a strategy for poor beleaguered Nick. We suggest that instead of being uselessly exposed to global criticism year after year, the G8 should officially confirm that leaders would meet simply to have a good time. After that, hand over the event management to our team [please, we insist]! Disneyland, Star Cruise, bungee lessons, paragliding, you name it guys, we’ll have that for you. And what about least developed countries? Goddamn those Africans...
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Sunday, December 2, 2012

CITIGROUP: BAILOUT

Despite the heroic 'parachute' attempt by the US government, Citi's landing seems hardly soft

Pandit is aiming to reduce expenses by 20% across the board. And he touched new highs (or lows) when, earlier this year, Citi banned color photocopying & single sided printouts across the company.

Citi has already closed down nine of its hedge funds. In July this year, it sold off its German consumer banking business to Credit Mutuel for $7.7 billion. This was followed by selling of Citigroup Global Services to TCS. Pandit has pledged to raise $400 billion by sale of assets to bring Citi back in shape and size. Citi is also renewing its focus on the core banking business and more on emerging markets. Dr. Jonathan Woodier of Citigroup says to B&E, “About 35% of Citi’s business is in markets outside US. We want to add further on to that and increase our share of the pie”. But Citi will definitely sell off its stakes in many other companies (more than 30 in India alone) to counter its liquidity crunch.

Despite such painstaking measures, Citi is still not guaranteed to come out of the woods. The depth of uncertainty in the balance sheet (and off it), actually overwhelms the entire Treasury bailout package for the US economy! On the balance sheet, Citi has $2 trillion worth of assets and some $1.23 trillion aren''t even reflected on it. Richard Wilson, Founder of Hedge Fund Group'', comments to B&E, "The $1 trillion or so off balance sheet assets of Citi were invested through SPVs. The market thinks the mess is much bigger than what it appears on the balance sheet. Now if these assets turn toxic, it will be a problem for Citi." There''s a feeling, though, that the Treasury must have considered that (hopefully not based on claims by the bank itself on their worth!). Just to remind doomsayers that Citi should continue to interest them for quite a while. So there''s hope for them yet! The doomsayers we mean!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Sweet dreams are made of these…

The 100th year of Mills & Boon brings more spiced-up sweet nothings!

The man – broad-shouldered, brave and mildly brutish; the woman – meticulous appearance, meek and madly in love… typically the characteristics of Mills & Boon (M&B) protagonists. Although some deemed it as whimsical pulp fiction, others took fancy to these mushy tales. And in the same sphere of competition with literary writings and poetic musing, this gush of romanticism flowing through the pages of Mills & Boon did win avid readers, which makes it celebrate its 100th year and still going strong.

Started in 1908, these novels were meant for women, to take them to an imaginative, fantasy world and to render an exotic feast. I was in my pre-teens when I was introduced to my first copy in a series of Mills & Boon. The drama of varying emotions – attraction, confession of love, conflicts in relationship, the make-up kiss and happily-ever-after endings gripped me. While I realised that these novels were just a ‘feel-good’ whiff of a man-woman relationship, I had friends who found it difficult to let go of the grand image of men in their minds. Mrs. Ghosh, a professor of English at the University of Delhi adds, “I have come across many students who regularly read Mills & Boon and surprisingly, some have also presumed the image of their partner based on the male protagonist of these novels. I would not make a sweeping judgment that it is not right, but all I would say is that these characters are carved to perfection. It’s just fictional.” Recounting her conversations with such students, Mrs. Ghosh adds, “Such girls find it difficult to break through this image of men, which either leads to disappointment or rigidity in choosing a partner, because, in reality, a perfect person is hard to find!”

From a time when I would get my hands on an M&B whenever possible, I gradually moved to a phase when M&Bs stopped magnetising me.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

ISRAEL-RUSSIA WAR OF WORDS: SPAWNS GENERATIONS...LITERALLY

And on why mothers and grandmothers of this great nation play a critical role in the Israeli-Russia spar

Is it religious proximity? That doesn’t seem to be the case as Georgia is a certified orthodox Christian state compared to the predominantly Jewish Israel. While one can easily trace deep relations between Israel and Georgia – be their arms trade or the presence of Georgian Jews in Israel – what slips under the carpet magnanimously is the fact that important political leaders of Israel and Georgia are actually blood relatives. For information, the chairman of the Georgian parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee Lasha Zhvania has an Israeli Jewish mother. God rest her soul, the grandmother of scam-fam Israeli Ariel Sharon is buried in Georgia. The ubiquitously sweet Georgian defence minister Davit Kezerashvili, holds the citizenship of, god rest our souls, Israel!!!

Strangely, despite its Pravda-driven spiel [Pravda skims close to being certified a lunatic bandwagon, with the past month’s chief story, for example, being Condoleezza Rice’s Sexual Worries], the Russian political powerhouse actually is still a big supporter of Israel. It’s not just about the recent acceptance of a visa free regime between Israel and Russia, even Russia’s nuclear fuel supply to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant – despite US rhetoric – is in fact an extremely clever move to dissuade Teheran from enriching its own fuel.

But as they say, there’s only this much that Putin can take, and there’s only that much that Israel can flirt with. Till the time Israel looks beyond US influence – and dare we say, even their mothers and grandmothers – and realises that Russia is actually on their side, this great nation might actually end up in creating their biggest foe in history! For hell hath no fury as Putin scorned, and it doesn’t require Einstein to know that!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

SOMALIA: PIRACY WOES

Scared marine companies don't report ordeals; sloppy tracking a boost to Somalian pirates

A ransom is supposed to have been paid for most ships that have been released so far from Somalia. Prompt action by the US and French navies has led to some releases. The only ship that was released through the action of the local government (of the state of Puntland, Somalia) was a UAE flagged vessel. Sources in UAE claim even that operation had ransom involved.

“With patrols on by the world’s major powers, the only apparent lacuna seems to lie in tracking the pirates,” says a UAE-based security expert, who declined to be named. "Placing robust tracking systems has helped Malaysian and Indonesian governments control piracy on their coastlines," he emphasises.

Crime has a despicable facade but lacks roots. Organised crime has a polished exterior, but its fangs have the caliber to fight the most sophisticated defence. With a governance vacuum, Somalian pirates have upgraded themselves from the category of looters to formidable, organised criminals. Unless the law organises itself similarly, this travesty of justice will only get worse.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

REFORM: POSTAL SERVICE

Privatisation will benefit India Post and also uplift the rural economy

Well, before presenting the proposal in detail, let’s take a look at the journey of privatising state-run postal systems in developed countries. Japan realised the need to privatize its state run postal service in 2005. Post office in Japan plays a far more crucial role for the country than just mail handling. It is one of the biggest banks and life insurance companies of Japan. Almost eighty percent households use post office for their banking transactions and two-thirds of Japanese are insured by Japan Post insurance. The state run Japan Post was also in losses like India Post, but after privatisation and inclusion of key financial services, it witnessed growth and profits. Similarly, Deutsche Post and Netherlands Post (more known as TNT) started excelling after bringing corporatisation and professionalism in organisations. They sold a portion of their share in public to raise funds and increase public & private participations but government remained the majority shareholder. Many private delivery companies have bought shares in these erstwhile government owned service providers. It is notable that Deutsche Post and TNT are currently among the biggest postal service providers in the world. Many European countries including Britain, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Sweden and Finland have either initiated privatisation or taken the issue into serious consideration.

Coming to India, the vast reach of India Post, especially in rural India, shows plenty of promises for itself as well as for the economy. Indian Post service has also undertaken banking services and insurance but has not been very successful. Through reforms, it can raise funds and through public & private participation, sell a portion of its share to public or any private courier service providers. It needs to be given complete autonomy and should be corporatised completely. It can run its banking and insurance services in a full fledged manner, while keeping its primary operations intact. It’s Postal Savings bank is an example. Unsurprisingly, it has opened and is maintaining over 11 crore accounts with an outstanding balance of Rs.1.55 trillion, almost half of the State Bank of India’s (SBI) turnover.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Bad drivers? Worse buyers!

B&E’s Savreen Gadhoke argues why manufacturing cars for the fairer sex does not make for a good business plan in India... [and the lady is serious!]

If women are bad drivers, men are worse! But statistically, that sweet correlation – however much I personally might want to the contrary – does not apply to car purchases. And probably, this is the reason why many women, especially in India, are not seen driving cars [Of course metros are an exception; though even in these areas, purchase patterns of women are no relative matches to those of men]. As a matter of fact, there aren’t many cars that are manufactured exclusively for women in India. And if you’re a car manufacturer, about to tempestuously experiment with a plan for the fairer sex, perish the thought Jim, women in India more often than not take the back seat!

Although Henry Ford was (in)famously focused on keeping women in the passenger seat, Ford had in reality started marketing cars for women way back in 1912. But that was the US. Graeme Dawson, Australia’s top market historian, shows how way back in 1968, women for the first time outnumbered men amongst new applicants for Victorian drivers’ licenses. But that was Australia. A 2006 Chinese survey showed how “Chinese women car buyers have grown to a record 32% of the total buyers,” with the top ten models being bought by them being “Chery QQ, Honda Fit, Nissan Tiida, Chevrolet Spark, VW Polo, Suzuki Swift, Chevrolet Sail, Peugeot 206, Audi A4, FAW Vizi (the redesigned model of Toyota Yaris).” But then, that’s China! Despite driving by woman being banned in Saudi Arabia, government owned Saudi Aramco’s last year’s research shows how “car ownership among Saudi women climbed to 60 percent between 2003 and 2006!” You got it! That’s Saudi Arabia!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Bus(c)h: SOLD!!!

20% premium makes a great sell...

Did you miss this space in B&E’s July 24, 2008 issue? Well, for the uninformed, B&E had advised using sound research that Anheuser-Busch (AB) should not accept the “fair-value” $65/share takeover offer made by InBev during the first week of July and that it should wait for the premium to rise, which InBev did!!! There was another piece of advice – that AB should wait for “some weeks” till the offer price shoots northwards and the premium level touches about 20% (considering these low liquidity times].

Cut to the present and we have the “increased fair value” of $70/share or $52 billion takeover from InBev being accepted by AB on July 18, 2008 (2 weeks later), marking a premium of 18.23% as compared to its July 6, 2008 Mcap of $43.98 billion! The new company would be known as Anheuser-Busch InBev.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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RCOM, MTN: END OF TALKS

Discontinuing talks with MTN will not prove to be a long term setback for RCOM

MTN on its part has made it clear that it would continue to expand in more emerging markets, and plans a subscriber base of 300 million by 2012 (they currently have 66 million subscribers). There are speculations that MTN may target Mexico’s America Avil or a company in the Latin America region.

On the other hand, RCOM would have had a definite advantage with MTN as it already has a optical fibre network of FLAG in that region. But RCOM’s existing expansion plans hold it in good stead. Harit Shah, telecom analyst, Angel Broking, opines, “It might put the global expansion plans of RCOM on the back foot for some time but I don’t think there would be any long term impact.” RCOM has always been an aggressive player with a keen appetite for all probable targets so we may soon hear about a new ‘love’ interest. Also, given that RCOM has already announced plans to roll out its own GSM network in India, it’s less likely that it would be looking for acquisitions in the Indian market. Instead, RCOM is expectedly scrutinising options in the other developing markets such as Middle East and Latin America to add value to its existing business. And, with the GSM foray coming up, Anil Ambani already has a lot up his sleeve at the moment.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Brands & Retail shares his present stance and future plans

J. Suresh, CEO, Arvind Brands & Retail shares his present stance and future plans. A B&E exclusive...

B&E: Do you also manufacture for these other franchisee brands?

JS: Apart from Gant, we manufacture for all the brands that we franchise. Gant does its own manufacturing but for the remaining brands we produce. I think as a manufacturer there are advantages of having your own plant and you are not dependent on any other to meet the market demand.

B&E: What’s your key strength?

JS: Our pricing and positioning have been very strong against domestic brands. In apparel business investing in front-end and targeting the proper audience matters a lot, and even we are planning to invest more in front-end like retail. We have big plans with our retail arm MegaMart where we would be retailing other brands also. We would be opening more than 100 stores for MegaMart and EBO for our other brands also like Arrow, for which we are opening 70 stores by the end-2008. We want to become a $1 billion company by 2012.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Dearest to fight the bulge and stay healthy

It’s time to stop blaming one’s work schedule for those increasing waistlines, and join hands with your nearest and dearest to fight the bulge and stay healthy.

There can be plenty of imaginative ways of working out together, and the truth is that we do them all the time. Except if we’re more conscious about them, we’re more likely to do them more frequently and with more interest. One could plan biking together or just put on some great music and dance with each other! And might we add, family workouts surely are a better way of bonding than over a lavish dinner at a crowded hot-spot of the city!

Adventure in your dna?

Adrenaline rush is no more the privilege of film stars and stunt men alone, rather it is a growing phenomenon in the lives of many a common man. People these days are looking out for action-packed vacations that are by far even more hectic than a regular day at work! “The trend is definitely towards outdoor vacations and active holidays compared to the four-walled five-star getaways. More and more families prefer outdoor camps while couples prefer long expeditions or treks together. Needless to say that lone individuals also seeking some action are present in each kind of group,” says Vaibhav of Aquaterra Adventures. Started in the year 1995, Aquaterra made it to the National Geographic’s list of world’s best adventure travel outfitters in the year 2007. It is the growing popularity of India, land of the mighty Himalayas and very many lofty rivers that a lot of people from the USA, UK and Europe plan their adventure getaways here. While most of the Indian population is “inclined towards river trips due to their proximity to the rivers, especially in northern India,” there are those who go for impromptu vacations for diverse activities.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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