Friday, October 31, 2008

Expert

This is the final frontier my friend; if you have come this far then rest assured, fuel not blood runs through your veins, and that you have gear cogs in your brain rather than grey matter. This is passion bordering on obsession!

“If money is no object then sky is the limit in terms of car modification. We in our garage can strip down a car to its chassis and build a completely new body from the ground up. Give us even a Maruti and 30 days and we’ll make a convertible out of it! For roughly 2-3 lakhs we can give a new look to any car,” says Jagjit Singh who owns Fine Auto Works in Khan Market, with a super confident air. Although the ‘look’ matters at this juncture, but the changes taking place under the hood take precedence.

First up, nitro boosters, turbochargers, and heavy duty K&N air filters, rest assured these are as effective as they sound. Skipping the technical details, installing these will cost you a bomb, but they’ll ensure that you never lose a street race again. Designed to take your torque and horsepower to stratospheric heights and to force more air into your cylinders, these will give you more power than you or your car can possibly handle. For that tricky business, you have four-point disc brake and sports clutches.

Nowadays, most cars come with disc brakes in the front tyres, however, most cars don’t have turbochargers and nitros! But you do, so before you ram headfirst into a concrete divider at 200 kmph, it’s better to have disc brakes installed on all four tyres. As for the sports clutch, this little baby will ensure that a mere tap of the clutch pedal will change the gears for you, saving you those precious seconds in a tight race.

Lastly, a racing car should sound like a racing car (not like an Amby with a bad throat) so to get that elusive whine of a rally car when you rev the accelerator, make sure that the exhaust is made free flowing. And now for the final touch, it’s called the Spitfire. And what it does is ultra cool. At the touch of a button, a jet of flame shoots out of your exhaust pipe, both a sign and a warning. A sign that tells other people that the spirit of adventure burns within you and also a warning that tells everyone that you happen to be as crazy as they come!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

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'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
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India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Markets desire designs and technology

Markets now desire designs and technology which is unique, and throughout these years Honda’s USP (of innovation) has diminished to a considerable extent. The company has just been overtaken by South Korea’s Hyundai, hondawho now sits snuggly at the No. 5 spot. Honda has to move quickly and deliver great new products much before its rivals, something unlike the Honda Civic introduction which happened in 1972, six years after its closest rival, the Toyota Corolla. (For the records, the Corolla is the world’s largest selling car!) Even hybrids which are the latest trend were not spared from the ill-effects of the ‘casual’ Honda pathogen. The company spent too much time (and money) in studying the hybrid market, thus giving competitors time to establish themselves. The Toyota Prius sells an enviable number because it was launched almost two years before Honda launched the Insight in 1999 and FCX sometime later. And sadly, even today, the FCX has not been able to establish itself as a viable hybrid, especially because of poor hydrogen infrastructure.

On a positive note though, with nearly 50% of the European market now being diesel driven, mainly due to the vast difference in diesel and gasoline prices prevalent there, Honda is developing its own high-tech diesel engines. With so much at stake in Europe, the company doesn’t want to take any chances. Again as part of its wait and watch policy, Honda knows that the European market is obsessed when it comes to diesel propulsion in cars. After the success of the Volkswagen PD and the Ford TDCi diesels, Honda has finally got the fundamentals right to showcase itself as a technologically capable company. Honda has been a part of Formula 1 racing right from inception. The company knows that the only way to a European’s heart is to make a European drive a Honda to the limits and demonstrate technical abilities of the company.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Taste the waste!

Corporate need to wake up fast
Have you ever thought what happens to those TVs, music systems and PCs that we dispose off? Well, they accumulate in the environment and contribute to the ever-growing hazardous mass of eWaste.

A report by International Resource Group reveals that India generates about 146,000 tonnes of eWaste annually and the domestic eWaste is expected to touch a staggering figure of 1,600,000 tonnes by 2012. The metals contribute to over 60% of the total eWaste volume, while pollutants contribute to 2.7%. These pollutants are highly toxic when burnt or recycled in uncontrolled environments and exposure to these materials damage the nervous systems, kidney, bones and reproductive systems. And the situation is nowhere close to improving as a 2008 Greenpeace study proves. In the survey, 9 out of 20 brands tested for their take back practice in India have ‘no take back’ service. Imparting awareness in eWaste and to make take-back centre accessible is therefore the need of the hour.

To make corporates understand the urgency of the situation, the polity needs to make them fully responsible for the end-of-life costs of their products. Surely, India doesn’t need a disaster to happen every time before it dives-in for a solution! Or does it?!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Monday, October 20, 2008

When in India, do the Indians

This is the motto of tyre consumers in India as 3/4th of tyres sold in India are Indian!!!

Digest this: In this age of foreign brands and FDI, 74% of the Rs.190 billion Indian tyre industry is dominated by four big ‘homegrown’ players! ‘Homegrown’ is the word! Leading the race is MRF with a thumping market share of 22%. It is closely followed by Apollo Tyres, JK Tyres and Ceat (with a 21%, 18% and 13% market share). This is very unlike the complementary automobile industry where global names rule the roost. This however was not always the case. Till the late 1960s, players like Dunlop (UK), Firestone (USA) and Goodyear (USA) with vast R&D expertise dominated the tyre industry in India. However, protectionist policies of the government forced these MNCs to pull out, and that’s where the indigenous players struck hard. So will the international giants always remain ‘Also-rans’?

Well, at least when contrasted in the current scenario, it becomes obvious that the Indian tyre makers are not willing to loosen their grip on the roads! Even the targets & investments from the global giants appeared too conservative in a growing market as an auto analyst explains, “In their second stint, a lot of time the global tyre companies came to India with small targets and concentrated only on niche, high-end segment.” They clearly adopted a ‘go-slow’ strategy. Take Goodyear India for example, the third-largest tyre company in the world with a massive 17% global market share. Unbelievably, the same Goliath has a meager 6% market share in India! And now as a revival act, it plans to invest $20 million to expand capacity at its Aurangabad facility. Similarly, Bridgestone is mulling over setting up a truck & bus tyre manufacturing facility in India over the next 3 years with an estimated investment of $200 million. Clearly, they need to invest more...

Even the ‘technological’ superiority of internatinal players is fast diminishing as Indian players work hard ‘technologically’. Take Ceat for instance. It is scouting for a tie-up with Pirelli (Italy) in the truck & bus tyre category as Arnab Banerjee, VP–Marketing, Ceat, explains, “We are looking for a foreign partner and it is purely for the purpose of gaining the technological edge.” MRF too plans to expand its capacity with a capex of Rs.5 billion. However, there is a common challenge in the name of inflationary pressures on input costs in the auto & tyre industry, which is causing a slowdown in the industry. However, industry experts are positive about the future as Revati Kasture, Head, CARE Research, points out, “The tyre industry will register a growth of 9-10% in the next five years. The truck & bus and LCV tyre categories are expected to register a CAGR of 8% and 14% respectively.” Undoubtedly, there is a ‘goodyear’ awaiting for the Indian players. Hopefully it’ll bring smiles to global giants too.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Future CARS

What do we mean by ‘future’? B&E presents a few cars that could redefine automotive concepts in two atypical areas; namely, design and secondly, performance! Of course, we seem to have played to the galleries in choosing a few models and neglecting a few others. Well, that’s how we define the ‘future’, eh...!

KOENIGSEGG CCXR

One of the fastest cars in the world, yet environment friendly, meet the CCXR. This 1000 bhp super car is designed to run on biofuel while developing 20% more power than its gasoline brethren.


This Toyota concept saw light at the Tokyo Motorshow last year. The car has been designed for urbane utilities and is a future proof recreational product.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Friday, October 17, 2008

Leave it to good ol’ Smith!

Western nations must be more accomodating towards the SWFs
Sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) – economic saviours or economic monsters, the debate continues. For the uninitiated, a SWF is a government-owned investment fund, which invests in all kinds of assets.They presently account for 2% of the world’s $165 trillion of traded assets. Politicians & governments of many countries fear that the investment objectives of SWFs are more politically driven rather than commercially inclined. After having infused around $70 billion in US financial institutions suffering from the subprime fiasco, resource firms seems to be their new found love. The almost moribund state of the financial institutions in which the sovereign wealth funds invested have made their investments unproductive. The China Investment Corporation (CIC), a Chinese sovereign wealth fund, faced severe criticism in Beijing because of its investment in the private equity firm, Blackstone Group LP. In June 2007, China acquired 9.9% stake of Blackstone for $3 billion. This 9.9% stake is currently worth only $2 billion, with 33% value eroded over the past one year. US politicians are also raising hue and cry. US Republican Congressman, Thaddeus McCotter, describes SWFs as a threat to economic liberty. However, Sherman Chen, Economist, Moody’s Economy.com counters, “The recent shift in investment preferences reflecting shifting economic outlook lends weight to the assertion that SWF investments aren’t driven by poltical purposes, but purely commercial ones.”

Nevertheless, countries that own major resources will call the shots in future. China’s imperialistic designs are no secret. Suppose China acquires a controlling stake in Citigroup. In case of a conflict with US, it may threaten to shut the bank down. But if China gets too carried away by its imperialistic tendencies, and uses its SWF as a tool of economic domination, it will in all probability end up creating a Frankenstein monster. The same goes for any other SWF that pursues any objectives other than economic ones. Rising global trade imbalances, which are the main cause of only a few countries having SWFs, are always a threat to global stability. Trade imbalances should be urgently checked & SWFs need to be more transparent. And western countries should stop being paranoid. And let Smith’s invisible hand take care of the rest!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Keep it steady!

Dixon will leave behind a great legacy at Qantas , but Joyce may find the going tougher
“Ladies and gentleman, please fasten your seatbelts, for the Qantas flight QS 648 is about to make a safe landing,” (hopefully)! Hope is a powerful emotion, albeit one that Qantas passengers hardly identified with, until last week that is, thanks to the airlines hugely impressive safety record. But three mid-air dramas have been a bit too much for passengers to take. Qantas is going through some turbulence in an already weakening climate for the aviation industry. By its good fortune, the airlines’ ‘no casualty’ record is still intact. Unfortunately, on the other hand, the environment in the aviation sector doesn’t meet that benchmark by miles!

However, continuing to fly high is what Qantas Airways Ltd. aims to do with Alan Joyce as its new leadership wings, when he takes over the post of CEO, replacing current CEO Geoff Dixon. Dixon is credited with establishing the low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways, the ‘down-under’ competitor of rival carrier Virgin Blue. And in this case, it is being rumoured that it is a case of ‘The hand that rocks the cradle’ at work; as ironically enough Jetstar’s current CEO, Joyce is the one who will be taking over Dixon’s post in November after the company’s annual general meeting. Moreover some see this change as a move of ‘out with the old and in with the young’ aka generational shift, for Dixon has shown some rock solid leadership credentials in his stint at Qantas. Did he actually need to be replaced at the moment?

Dixon, 67, who has been managing Australia’s largest airline since November 1998 as Deputy CEO, until being appointed as CEO and Managing Director in March 2001, is credited by most for maintaining a safe and reliable airline. Dixon’s tenure as CEO of Qantas coincided in a period when the aviation industry has been under pressure to remain competitive, with rising fuel and insurance costs.

To cut costs, Dixon also controversially outsourced a range of business activities to off-shore areas, including in-flight and IT services during his career path at Qantas. Binit Somaia, the Sydney-based director of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, shared his thoughts with B&E on Dixon’s achievements as CEO, “Under Geoff Dixon, Qantas has pursued a very disciplined but innovative approach, in fact it could be said that Qantas is one of the best managed legacy carriers in the world.”

The airline is betting on Joyce’ experience of running Jetstar to help cut costs during this fuel price crisis. Joyce, 42, has been a part of the Qantas family for over 15 years, and is already bringing with him an air of change. “A lot of airlines are not economic if they stand alone. Consolidation is a way for a lot of airlines to go on in the future,’’ he said recently in an interview for the Daily Telegraph.

The timing of such a shift will prove to be crucial for the airline. After having the best safety record, Qantas has been in the headlines consecutively for the past two weeks for three emergency landings, putting a dent on its perception. “Joyce will, as always, need to ensure that safety is a priority, but in terms of strategic outlook, the focus will be on negotiating the airline through an increasingly challenging environment...,” adds Somaia. Indeed, maintaining the world’s second oldest continuously operating airline (behind KLM) isn’t the only challenge ahead for Joyce. Flying in the not-so-friendly skies amidst climbing fuel prices and maintenance costs, in older aircrafts, and close to competition are a few things which Joyce will inherit from Dixon’s departure in November. He does need all the wishes he can get for a casualty free reign at Qantas, so that he can carry Dixon’s enviable legacy forward!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Time to terrorise the terrorists?

It is time to bring back stringent anti-terrorism laws to rein in the growing menace of terrorism in India
The debate regarding what we have and what we want will probably never culminate. If we actually had a solution to this predicament, India would have been able to evade its internal conflicts. If nothing else, then at least the inconsequential blame game of having insufficient and ineffective terror laws between the UPA and BJP could have been avoided. But all this hardly matters to the people who lost their loved ones in various terrors attacks; all that matters to them is that their lives are in jeopardy!

Eight blasts in Bangalore followed by 19 in Ahmedabad killed 52 people and left over 100 injured in all. And if Surat’s 21 bombs were not defused in time, the total number of explosions within the country would have easily crossed the ‘glorifying’ figure of 48 within just 2 days time. But, the irony lies in the fact that even in these tough times, political parties are busy playing what they are best at – politics. While the UPA states that the existing National Security Act, 1980, which is the law of preventive detention and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, which has made provisions to penalise unlawful activities and check the menace of organisations funding terrorists, are effective enough, the BJP disagrees. But, in fact, the bigger debate today is on the revival of Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), which was repealed by the UPA government in 2004. “We need to revive POTA. In existing laws like UAPA, important components are missing, even getting bail is comparatively easy,” Former Law Minister Arun Jaitley told B&E.

POTA has nine essential features: Definition of ‘terrorism’, making funding of terrorism an offence, provision for confiscating money and assets earned as profits of terrorism, interception of communication between terrorists, ban on terrorist outfits, stringent bail provisions and protection of witnesses and constitution of special courts to try out offences. Moreover, under POTA, a person, if found guilty, could be detained for up to 180 days without any court filing.

Even law enforcement agencies are allowed to ‘withhold the identities of witnesses and treat a confession made to the police as an admission of guilt.’ Under the regular Indian law, one can deny such confessions in the court, but not under this Act. If the government figures are to be believed, in just a span of two years (between 2002-04) over 4,000 people were booked under this Act, out of which some 800 were arrested and subsequently jailed. Today, around 32 organisations including SIMI and LTTE are banned.

But things seemed to have changed from the time POTA has got repealed. Today, the situation is such that even state organised crime laws seem more stringent than terrorism laws. Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), 1999 defines a terrorist act in a far better manner than even POTA. Where POTA did not take note of organised crime, MCOCA not only mentions that but also includes `promotion of insurgency’ as a terrorist act. Furthermore, under POTA, proving a person guilty depended upon prosecution, while under MCOCA a person is presumed guilty unless proved innocent. Another difference is that MCOCA does not stipulate prosecution of police officers found guilty of its misuse, whereas POTA did. All these were probably the reasons as to why L. K. Advani demanded the implementation of the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Bill (GUJCOC), which is awaiting clearance from the centre.

If we take the instance of the US, all terrorist activities have been largely contained after the implementation of Patriot Act post- 9/11. Clearly, there can be no alternative to stringent terror laws, since the law and order situation in India is only going from bad to worse.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Live hungry? Or die eating GM?

The US vs EU trade war is stupidly ignoring millions of poor Africans
Africa is experiencing the worst, not only because it is poor but also because the unending US-EU trade war which is going on for decades, is forcing millions of them to live in starvation.

Numerous think-tanks across the US and EU have analysed the trade war, but very few have expressed their concerns over its implications in third world countries. The trade war started in 1989 with US’s excessive export of hormone-treated beef to Europe. EU suddenly banned beef exports from the US and appealed to WTO on ‘human health grounds’. In reality, the EU was frightened as the beef market was gradually being monopolised by US exporters. US reacted belatedly in 1993 accusing EU of having a discriminatory trade policy for Carribean banana producers! When US envisioned grasping the world food market by inventing genetically modified (GM) foods, EU completely denied the exports of such ‘stuff’. US refuted EU’s allegation of social, economic and ecological hazards. But as the ‘war’ continues, EU’s warning against GM crops has left Africans in a dilemma. Zimbabwe, Zambia Uganda and many others are frightened to accept GM foods as this may ruin Africa’s relations with Europe; subsequently, Africa may lose its agri-export business in Europe. Africa is also frightened of losing aid from the single largest continent to aid Africa, that is, Europe.

The question facing the world is, should one embrace abject poverty and killing hunger rather than accepting GM foods? Or does it make sense [even a little] to save a few hundred million people by taking a temporary chance on GM foods? We know of 315 million Africans and above, who continue to live – and die – in sickening hunger and abject poverty who’ll choose the latter option with some tears and many smiles...

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Monday, October 13, 2008

'Eagle eye'

Cisco''s differentiating factor in becoming ''business relevant'' is that it has demonstrated its skills in the communications space and intends to continue on that path. For example, when telecom used to be a pure play analogue and voice and data travelled separately, Cisco proved that voice could travel on the IP backbone and successfully demonstrated it. Now even video and security applications are travelling on the network. The next step is virtualisation, where the user is not aware of whether he is accessing multiple sources or the same source.

And that’s exactly where Cisco is playing a big role by being the network itself. “We are saying that network is a platform and as applications start coming onto the network, Cisco will have more and more play in terms of how we become more business relevant... Earlier we were plumbers, but as the network is becoming intelligent, more and more applications are happening on the network rather than on the end points,” Wadhwa further adds. Once Cisco successfully established its stranglehold in the networking market, it gradually entered the service provider market as well and today it is counted as one of the leaders there.

Also, through its go-to-market strategy, in collaboration with its channel partners (which again includes names like IBM, HP, Wipro, TCS) Cisco can today boast of a presence in over 100 cities. According to Kaustubh Dhavse, Deputy Director, ICT Consulting, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East, “This is mainly because Cisco is not into IT software developments, but has great expertise in the telecom sector. As each company has its own set of technologies, working together can prove quite beneficial for all in this growing market.”

Cisco entered the commercial market precisely 4 years back. That was when it decided to come out with products specific to the commercial market. “Until then, we used to have a product strategy basically for the enterprises and would resell that product in the commercial market by re-working on the strategies,” says Wadhwa. However, Cisco soon realised that to make it big in the commercial market, it had to address the issues of distribution model, cost structures, channel management, inventory controls, et al prevailing in the SMB segment. “To make our presence in the SMB segment specific to India, we are not only pushing our eco-system, but we are also going upcountry,” Wadhwa adds. Cisco has been aggressive in building relationships with customer and attracting more number of channel partners. Also, it''s pumping in big time investments in order to create awareness in the market. “Marketing, channel enablement, et al combined with the right kind of distribution engagement & supply chain model makes it relevant for our partners to do business with us in that area,” quips Wadhwa. The next strategy, as revealed by Wadhwa, is that of the service provider where Cisco engages with the service provider who, in turn, can engage with those who can sell Cisco’s products and services to SMBs.

Apart from the IT vertical, which is the main growth driver for Cisco, there are others like BPOs & call centres, retail, banking and complete infrastructure where there lies a huge opportunity. Tiwathia of CII says, “The pace at which connectivity is growing will prove to be a main driver for Cisco. More and more people are coming online today and the country is growing at a stupendous rate.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
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Saturday, October 11, 2008

Did i forget to forget..?

Scientists scratch their heads over hyperthymesia
Have you ever thought how interesting it would be if you could replay in your mind the events of your life like a movie, and in the exact chronological order of its occurrence? Sounds interesting, but wishful right? Well, not really... Neurologists from the University of California (UC) Irvine had conducted studies on a few people who were diagnosed with this extraordinary ability to recall every moment of their life whenever desired!

Neuroscientists James Mc Gaugh and Larry Cahill of UC Irvine had been conducting studies on such cases and it was in 2006 that a case study on a person called AJ (name changed), who was detected with this syndrome, was published for the first time for everyone’s perusal. It was way back in 2000 that AJ had sent a mail requesting for help for her uncontrollably sharp memory that allowed her to recollect the exact events that had happened in her life since the days of early childhood, which intrigued scientists and triggered the study of such brains. Dr JD Mukherjee, a neurologist at Max Hospital explains, “The Super Memory Syndrome, scientifically termed as hyperthymesia allows one to recall even the trivial details of events that have occurred in their lives. Such cases are a rarity and till now only four people with this syndrome have been found. People with hyperthymesia also have the capability to remember the day which fell on a certain date. Basically, they have sharper non-stop detailed memory capacity.”

The mention of ‘sharper memory’ prompted just one question – could such people prove to be of greater utility if trained for advanced research for scientific inventions or the likes? – to which Dr Mukherjee clarified that “memory and intelligence are separate things.” The human brain has three types of memories. Immediate memory, which allows one to register and recall incidences occurred just minutes ago; short-term memory which enables one to recall the events of the previous few days and long-term memory which keeps the happening that had occurred long ago etched in the mind forever. “Those with hyperthymesia have a bigger area in the brain to preserve long-term memories. The brain stores memories as proteins, so such people’s brains have the capacity to store more proteins, but that does not necessarily make them intelligent. They just have the capability to recall the events that they had personally experienced,” expounds Dr. Mukherjee.

Such prodigies leave one wondering about the ‘how’ of the development of such extraordinary brains. Well, scientists too do not have an answer to this yet. “Researches on the ‘Super Memory Syndrome’ are at a nascent stage, perhaps because not many cases have been detected to conduct an elaborate study. And uncovering the science behind such syndromes will not only be a pathbreaking step in the field of science, but will be another big leap for the human mind’s intelligence as well,” concluded Dr. Mukherjee. But studies indicate that hyperthymesia is neither hereditary nor a genetic disorder. Such rare cases provide scientists a chance to delve into and discover the various types of antics that the brain can play.

Therefore, UC Irvine invites those who feel that their brain can perform this unusual antic, to conduct studies on them and analyse the ‘how’ of the sparks floating in such brains... and, with this, to take science and research to a whole new paradigm.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
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B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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Friday, October 10, 2008

Powerless

Electricity is still a hope..
Centre’s dream project of providing electricity to all the villages (1,25,000 of them), proved to be a non-starter due to lack of responses from States. According to the policy, all State Governments were required to prepare and notify a rural electrification plan to achieve the goal of providing access to all households within six months of the policy being notified. However, not even a single State had forwarded its plans to the Centre by the stipulated deadline.

The Centre, meanwhile, could be looking at limiting the role of Central public sector utilities, including NTPC Ltd. and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., in the task of rural electrification. The Government had earlier pressed the CPSUs into service to assist State electricity boards in the work of rural electrification and distribution reforms. The scheme is being implemented by the state-owned Rural Electrification Corporation, which is providing 90 per cent of the capital cost of the programme on behalf of the Centre as grant for creating rural electricity distribution backbone.

Under the proposed rural electrification plan, States should have mapped and detailed the electrification delivery mechanisms (grid or standalone) on an urgent basic. For the purpose of rural electrification, a village would mean a census village.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

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Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Tough times reveal the genius within

Write back to Jack & Suzy Welch at editor@businessandeconomy.org
Que: What is the difference between a bureaucrat and an effective manager? How do we differentiate between the two? (Brian Napoli, Medina, N.Y.) Ans: Talk about perfect timing. Given recent events, we don’t really have to write a word to answer your question; it’s simple – what we need to do is to point at two examples and they say it all. And we’re pointing in the direction of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

They had excessive pressure on them and with all such pressure, these government officials had every reason and logic to act like your typical rigid, unimaginative bureaucrats over recent weeks. Rather, their actions and steps demonstrated not just effective management, but also established an exemplary brilliant leadership with right steps at the right time.

Now, you could stay up all night arguing about the merits of what Bernanke and Paulson have done on the logic that the economy first started slowing down. Indeed, picking apart and blindly criticising their actions has become something of a national pastime for everyone and at any time. You have ideological purists demanding to know why Bear Stearns wasn’t allowed to go bankrupt and its executive officers and even the shareholders weren’t made to suffer a more immense brutal flogging. Their share price drop from $160 to $10 was not punishment enough and there have to be more.

You have some members of Congress and advocacy group members demanding to know why, with all that money flying around for a corporate bailout, strangely the federal government didn’t also pour $30 billion into some kind of the homeowner’s rescue fund. These members will always want to know something.

And you thought, you have the usual coterie of pundits and experts putting forth their own hodgepodge of fixes, demanding to know, say for instance, why the Fed plan didn’t involve even the purchasing of mortgage-backed securities from the government-backed agencies or organisations.

Do you know which of these “solutions” would have been better than the Bernanke and Paulson plan of attack, and if any plan exist at all? All we know is, their approach worked and it was successful. It averted an immediate crisis that would, with definite conviction, have had cataclysmic implications had it been played out. This resulted in stabilising the financial system of the United States, and from a larger aspect – it stabilised the world, at least for a short time being.

This means what’s just as impressive to us – and coming back to your point – are the management qualities, which are displayed in the execution of this feat: courage, swift action and definitely up front communication skills and coordination. Sure, these are not the only skills involved in leading effectively. But they are critical at all times and, in a crisis, imperative. You should never ever ignore this.

Take courage. If there is one behavior bureaucrats uniformly shun, and too many managers tend to avoid, it is gutsiness under the fire. For now you’ve seen the drill. Something in your organisation blows up – an old product is recalled or a new one tanks or whatever it is. Blame starts flying and the higher-ups start calling for a quick fix or an instant solution to the problem

The bureaucratic types in the crowd immediately go into hiding, fearing that whatever they suggest or recommend, especially something bold or creative, will get shot down or absorbed in the heat of this battle. The mere possibility of criticism makes them cower and scary. On the contrary, Bernanke and Paulson, facing flak from all possible direction, jumped right into the line of fire. Seemingly out of the thin air, they brokered the audacious buyout of Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase. And after a few hours, for the first time ever since the Depression, in a move that they surely knew would instigate all sorts of sound and fury, they opened the discount window to bring in the investment banks. Talk about their nerve and that’s not enough.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
'This is one of Big B's best performances'
IIPM to come up at Rajarhat
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs