IIPM ARTICLE BROADCAST: 2008

Thursday, October 23, 2008

The American Dream! Keep dreaming...

Is the current stock market strength a beginning of a long-term uptrend?
I am just speechless at the current extremely questionable practices, price manipulations, inconsistent policies, cover-ups, fraudulent behaviour, which are all too common, as well as the total lack of transparency by financial firms, the government and its agencies in an advanced economy and well developed capitalistic system, such as the US. No wonder has consumer confidence plunged while the popularity of Congress is at an all time low! Moreover, it should come as no surprise that the credibility of Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson have been badly tarnished. Still, we need to give these two gentlemen some credit: they are good at interventions into the free market and at printing money.

In terms of market intervention it became evident on July 16 that the government would essentially ensure the survival of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and that the SEC would ban the naked short selling of some financial stocks (not of all stocks). This coincided with earnings of Wells Fargo, which were perceived by the ever optimistic investment analyst crowd to be better than expected and bingo – a huge rally followed which lifted Wells Fargo shares within two days by 40% and Fannie Mae by almost 100%. Noteworthy was that the rally lifted the most heavily shorted financial stocks far more than the least shorted financial stocks. Noteworthy is also that whereas Fannie Mae rose within three days of its low by 98% it is still down by more than 80% from its all time high. Of course, the question which is on every investor’s mind is whether the explosive rally, which unfolded after July 16, is the beginning of a new bull market the way the explosive rally on August 21, 1982 led to a long term bull market.

For Complete I I P M 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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domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A boiling recoil foiled by turmoil

If the term ‘oil’ didn’t quite come out clearly in the heading, wake up!
The roller coaster ride with invariable high crests and

comparably lower troughs in oil prices has made many run for cover. The volatility has resulted in unprecedented economic turmoil to say the least. From skyrocketing highs to touch the peaks of $147 per barrel in July, global oil prices have fallen below $114 per barrel when the magazine went for print. Well, the downward trend, as expected by many, is not going to bring much of a respite from the oily blows that the global market has been taking below the belt since last year.

“Oil is a commodity with both a highly price inelastic supply and demand curve. In the long-term growth in production and delivery of energy sources would reach growth in demand, and at this point oil prices would likely post a fairly aggressive decline”, explains Michael R. Englund, Principal Director and Chief Economist, Action Economics, on the current trend. But not for current levels. The OPEC alliance has lowered its forecast for oil demand growth down from 1.20% to 1.17% for 2008 alluding to the weak global economy resulting in the current price slip. The high energy costs have forced countries across the globe to cut down fuel consumption resulting in crude prices being plummeted. Nevertheless, the rising prices of oil is a supply driven phenomenon rather than demand driven. There was always enough fuel in the world to meet rising demand, but supply has been artificially curbed.

Thus, while a further fall in the price of the golden fluid is expected to be restrained because of the higher demand from Brazil, Mexico and countries from Asia and the Middle-East, restrained supply from OPEC would force the prices up. Besides other factors like the storm in Gulf of Mexico [which temporarily missed the region], supply disruption in Africa and delay in projects in Brazil can further push the price up. This is the time when a cautious approach is required. Countries must consider alternate sources of fuel rather than sitting comfortably since the prices are going down.

For Complete I I P M 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

Gas problems? Wait for worse...

Bio-terrorism adds to the global fear of organised terrorist attacks

Barring a few developed countries, almost all countries remain

highly vulnerable to the new form of terrorist attack, bio-terrorism, defined as spreading and injecting virus, bacteria or other germs (called biological agents) in people to cause illness, even death. Such agents, which are abundantly available in nature, have been the most sophisticated and recent form of identified terror attacks.

But bio-terrorism is not new; biological agents were used much before World War I. Many German agents, including Dr Anton Dilger, had developed Anthrax and Smallpox to attack America as early as 1915-16. Even America began developing biological weapons in 1942 after then President Roosevelt financed its new developments. Later, realising legal viability and international codes of conduct – especially after North Korea accused Western powers of using deadly biological weapons in the Vietnam War – Nixon shut down most of these facilities in 70s. And finally, global efforts were taken in 1972 to prevent production, stock and sale of any biological weapons globally. But then, all that is, as they say, officially. It is well documented that Iraq was alleged to have conducted R&D to develop bio-weapons in the 80s, which – at a secondary level to WMDs – ultimately led to the Gulf war. In 1984, members of a quasi-religious sect of a spiritualist leader called Rajneesh were accused of using salmonella on local people in New Oregan to win a local election, which resulted in over 751 people falling sick. 1995 saw Aleph, a small terror group using Sarin gas in Japan, which killed twelve and injured over 5,000 people. In 2001, the US was frightened sick with several Anthrax attacks on US citizens.

Bioterrorism is becoming easier as agents are much easier to make. Any trained biologist can engineer it with comparatively lesser cash, but remain equally lethal. Only the US has been able to fight back bio-terrorism with strong regulation and with its capability to produce vaccines. Most of the remaining countries remain vulnerable to it. As the threat from terrorism is increasing, so is the same from bio-terrorism.

For Complete I I P M 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

Performance! Of course

PEUGEOT POD

Pod or pod’ing will be a way to travel in style by the

year 2020. These electric powered individual transporters will become ‘must haves’ as soon as they will hit the markets for sale.

Peugeot 4002

The 1936 Peugeot 402 inspired super coupe is a design

statement in its self. The car gives a glimpse of the direction the French legendry design is heading...

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Friday, October 17, 2008

Have Hurriyat manage the Amarnath Yatra

For years, the signs of outward peace lulled policy wonks into thinking that the ‘Kashmir’ problem was de facto solved. That sense of

complacency has been shattered in the last two months because of the raging fires triggered by the Amarnath Yatra controversy. For hardliners in the valley, the controversy is all about an attempt to erase the Kashmiri identity. For people protesting in Jammu, it is all about the State bowing down to a bunch of hardliners in the valley. This lethal divide is a result of decades of shortsighted policies and hypocrisy.

India has always professed to practice secularism. But the fact is that it has always pandered to religious fundamentalists; usually for political reasons. B.R Ambedkar failed miserably in efforts to conjure up a Uniform Civil Code for India. Since then, the State has continued to surrender. The nadir of this surrender and retreat policy was reached during the eighties. The Supreme Court delivered a verdict in 1986 that granted alimony to divorced Muslim women. Rajiv Gandhi was universally admired as the new hope of a new, younger and more progressive India. And yet, the Indian Parliament passed an Act that negated the SC verdict. Hindu hardliners were up in arms at this ‘appeasement’ and they too were ‘appeased’ by the government opening the locks of the Ayodhya shrine. India continues to pay a heavy price for those actions.

In 1990, the daughter of the then Union Home Minister was abducted by militants in Kashmir. The government tamely surrendered. In 1999, Pakistani terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines flight from Kathmandu to Delhi. The government tamely surrendered. These were occasions of big surrender. The smaller ones are too numerous to recount. One recent example will suffice. Raj Thackeray and his followers continue to ‘terrorise’ north Indians with impunity. The government meekly looks on. What this does is send a powerful message – both to agitators and terrorists – that the government will surrender to hardliners; especially when they are noisy and violent enough.

The Amarnath Yatra controversy shows ominous signs of becoming yet another ‘cause’ like the Ayodhya issue. You already have ‘Hindutva’ activists spraying propaganda about how the Indian government appeases Muslims and contemptuously treats ‘Hindu’ sentiments. You already have preposterous claims being made in Kashmir that the land transfer to the Amarnath Trust is a move to settle ‘Indians’ in the valley, a la Israelis settling in Gaza.

Her husband Rajiv Gandhi lost a historic opportunity in 1986 to ‘fix’ the Hindu-Muslim problem (and let''s not delude ourselves by claiming that there is no problem). Sonia Gandhi again has a historic opportunity. Why not have temporary shelters for Hindu pilgrims in the valley and let the separatist organization Hurriyat take charge of those shelters?

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Is Sapient a verb or an adjective?

Intersection of consulting & interactive business has given Sapient an edge. vareen ray & surbhi chawla explore how this convergence works and where it could backfire
That was the question we started with. But the dictionary

meaning of the word ‘Sapient’ is ‘showing great wisdom.’ And this motto has been imbibed well by the Boston, Massachusetts-based corporation – Sapient. The company was astute enough to understand that marketing and technology can’t survive alone in today’s changing business landscape. There needs to be a convergence between the two spheres. And with this insightful wisdom, Sapient went to the market with two different service groups – interactive marketing & consulting. The dual role was an instant hit with clients, as Sapient was able to identify both technological & marketing need gaps of a client and give solutions.

Sapient currently operates in three geographies – North America, Europe & India. 2007 was a watershed year, with revenues of $546.38 million at 34% growth yoy and is expecting another 20-21% growth in 2008. Sapient started its India operations in 1999. The company was intuitive enough to enter India at a time when the US economy was in the throes of a dot-com bust, as at that time Sapient’s stock also plummeted from a high of over $70 to 75 cents! “Today it might look as a very intuitive plan, but the reality is that during those days, venturing into India was considered a bold step, as India was not seen as an outsourcing hub,” explains Rajdeep Endow, Director, Sapient India.

Today, that decision stands vindicated, as even Goldman Sachs has backed Sapient on this count by stating that it had a two & half year head start over other North American firms in setting up the Global Distributed Delivery (GDD) model in India. But has that happened in real terms? NO. Sapient soon lost its advantage of being an early mover in India to global behemoths like IBM, Accenture, et al, who also set up huge GDD models here and walked away with a greater pie of the revenues. Most IT companies zeroed in on India as an outsourcing option to leverage the cost arbitrage, but for Sapient, the reasons were much beyond that. “The idea was not just cost benefit that we could derive but we looked at India as a great talent pool, which we could leverage,” informs Sandeep Dhar, MD, Sapient India.

Sapient’s unique position at the intersection of marketing, technology & business helps them compete well against firms that don’t have a similar DNA. Sapient was quick to understand the limitless opportunities that the Internet offers and how advertisers have not been able to realise its full potential. This is due to the complex nature of the Internet, in addition to marketers’ uncertainties regarding returns on their dollars spent. For instance, Sapient scores over traditional advertising agencies as it helps clients navigate through the Internet by delivering innovative interactive strategies, optimising relationships with various online media components such as paid & natural search, e-mail & banner campaigns and online advertising, along with measuring effectiveness of online campaigns. Currently, the interactive business contributes close to half of Sapient’s total revenues (47%).

On the consulting side, Sapient is involved in business & IT strategy, process & system design, programme management, custom development, package implementation, systems integration & outsourcing services that include testing, maintenance & support. Adds Dhar, “Our consulting is strongly domain-led. We are not order takers. In fact, we are intimately involved with the client.” This means that Sapient understands the business problem of their clients, for which they are seeking a solution, works with them to come up with a solution from a business process perspective; translates it into a technical solution & then delivers it to them. Sapient claims that this ability to be involved with the clients distinguishes them. This is why they don’t call themselves an IT service firm but an IT consulting firm. Even in terms of delivery, this formula works for Sapient, as each programme that it writes has the potential to pay for itself in as less as six hours of going live.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

World’s most dysfunctional states and collapse

But the new colonialists are doing far more than simply carrying out the mandates of wealthy benefactors

back home. They often tackle challenges that donors and developing-country governments either ignore or have failed to address properly. International Alert, a London-based peace-building organisation, monitors corruption in natural-resource management in unstable countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and serves as an early warning system to Western governments about impending conflicts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has spent more in the past decade on neglected-disease research than all the world’s governments combined, has been so dissatisfied with existing international health indexes that it is funding the development of brand-new metrics for ranking developing-world health systems.

Seeing jobs that need to be done, the new colonialists simply roll up their sleeves and go to work, with or without the cooperation of states. That can be good for the family whose house needs rebuilding or the young mother who needs vaccinations for her child. But it can be a blow to the authority of an already weak government. And it may do nothing to ensure that a state will be able to provide for its citizens in the future.

The power behind the throne

The responsibilities the new colonialists assume are diverse – improving public health, implementing environmental initiatives, funding small businesses, providing military training, even promoting democracy. But whatever the task, the result is generally the same: the slow and steady erosion of the host state’s responsibility and the empowerment of the new colonialists themselves.

The extent of the new colonialists’ influence is perhaps best illustrated in Afghanistan. The government possesses only the most rudimentary control over its territory, and President Hamid Karzai has made little progress in combating corruption and narcotics trafficking. The result is a shell of a government, unable to provide basic services or assert its authority. Today, 80% of all Afghan services, such as healthcare and education, are delivered by international and local NGOs. According to its own estimates, the Afghan government administers only a third of the several billion dollars of aid flowing into the country each year. The rest is managed directly by private contractors, development agencies, and humanitarian aid groups. Major donors such as Britain only briefly include the Afghan government in their aid agendas: Although 80% of Britain’s $200 million in annual aid to Afghanistan is dedicated to state ministries, as soon as the money arrives, it is swiftly handed over to NGOs like Oxfam or CARE for the actual construction of schools and hospitals. The transfers simply reflect many donors’ lack of confidence in Afghan ministries to distribute funds competently and implement aid mandates on their own.

Many of the gains that Afghanistan has made since the fall of the Taliban can undoubtedly be attributed to the efforts and largesse of the many thousands of NGOs that have set up shop in Kabul. But not everyone is thankful for their labour. Karzai has derided the wasteful overlap, cronyism, and unaccountability among foreign NGOs in Afghanistan as “NGOism,” just another “ism,” after communism and Talibanism, in his country’s unfortunate history. In 2005, Ramazan Bashardost, a parliamentary candidate in Kabul, sailed to electoral victory by running on an anti-NGO platform, threatening to expel nearly 2,000 NGOs that he claimed were corrupt, for-profit ventures providing little service to the country. Many NGOs understandably resent such criticism, particularly as it lumps together a diverse lot – private contractors, international aid agencies, local NGOs – and ignores the important contributions some have made. But none of these groups is anxious to perform so well that it works itself out a job. No matter how well-intentioned, these new colonialists need weak states as much as weak states need them.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

‘S’mall; but ‘M’assively ‘E’xciting

If entrepreneurship can save India, SMEs can save entrepreneurship...
It is no hidden truth that agriculture alone cannot address the

growing unemployment and poverty in rural India. With Indian agriculture relying chiefly on rains and other climatic conditions, it’s vital to provide these farmers with an alternative method of income. What can be better than creating awareness about SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). If studies are to be believed, SMEs are growing at no less than 12%; but then, this growth has not percolated down the most destitute parts of the society.

With the demand of Indian handicrafts recording a turnover of US $1.9 billion in the last decade and with growth prospects of 15% [contributing 10% to the world handicraft export market], this industry deserves a bigger and better focus than it currently has. A recent study by Zinnov Management Consulting reveals that the Indian SME market stands in terms of volume at 35 million units, with retail contributing 52%; but again, the concentration is more towards urban cities. It’s important for policy makers to create more awareness and provide training for SMEs rather than just providing them with loans and financial aid.

Moreover, in order to increase the reach of SMEs, technology intervention is a must, which can further allow SMEs to reach international customers and increase their export and customer base. Even allowing these SMEs to participate in various ‘handicrafts fair’ will allow them to reach their audience easily. The rise of SMEs will not only inculcate entrepreneurial spirit to a large extent but will also help remove disguised unemployment in rural areas. Clearly, only entrepreneurship can enable masses to be employed; and SME promotion is a heaven of a solution for India.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Monday, October 13, 2008

126 and going strong!

On May 22, 2008, Cisco acquired San Jose-based Nuova Systems and celebrated its 126th acquisition sinc

e 1993 (which means an average of 8.5 acquisitions per year; so Oracle sure has competition!). Speaking on the occasion, John Chambers, CEO, Cisco Systems Inc. exclaimed, "The company''s 126th acquisition marks another major milestone in Cisco''s efforts to create a new and a far more efficient architecture for data centres." Most of the acquisitions and buy-outs that Cisco has ventured into in the last few years have opened up new market opportunities.

Be it the take-over of Crescendo Communications Inc. in 1993 (which helped elevate Cisco''s position to number one in the routing and switching market), or Scientific Atlanta (2005)that opened avenues in the service provider market. It is believed that Nuova''s product portfolio, which goes beyond the Nexus 5000 has the spark that will open up another significant market for Cisco.

Headquartered in California, Cisco achieved annual revenues of $35 billion in 2007 and $7.3 billion in net income (a y-o-y increase of 23.28%). In Q1 2008, Worldwide Enterprise Telephony (IP Telephony + PBX/KTS) sales decreased 3.8% sequentially. And to everybody''s surprise, Cisco, for the first time, took the number one position in market share followed by Avaya and Nortel. Jeremy Duke, President & CEO, Synergy Research Group, Inc. asserts, "Cisco is now selling more voice lines than all of the other vendors including their legacy TDM products.

This is quite an accomplishment, especially given that it has been achieved in less than 10 years." Of late Cisco has shown tremendous amount of aggressiveness in the emerging markets. After exploring the market opportunities in India, Cisco recently announced its plans to invest heavily in UAE – $1.59 billion on information & communications technology over the next five years.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Britain is Home to terror

UK is fast turning into a hub of international terrorism
This is one uncomfortable legacy that former Prime Minister Tony Blair

will find difficult to shrug off. Ever since he publicly championed the cause of invading Iraq and supported George Bush and his policies, Islamic terrorism has become a clear and present danger to London and England as a whole. The EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report has revealed that British foreign policy presented critical dangers for all Europe: “The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have a large impact on the security environment of the EU,” the report stated.

An analysis of the terrorist threat by Europol, (the European Police Office), has given clear signals and warnings that Britain is rapidly emerging as the European hub of al-Qaeda that is actively seeking to recruit “young, radicalised British citizens.” The notorious 2005 bomb attacks in London that killed close to 60 people is just one example of the threat that looms over the country. Every week, police and intelligence agencies are busting 'sleeper cells' and preventing more terror attacks in the nick of time. Security analysts fear that even the best intelligence and policing will not be able to prevent some terror modules from carrying out another horrifying attack.

Most of the terror recruits have origins in South Asia, particularly Pakistan. New recruits with British passports are being regularly sent to training camps in Pakistan. Fed with a strong diet of hatred against the West, these British passport holders present the biggest security hazard to England. Now, the virtual civil war in Somalia is adding new members to the ‘hate Britain tribe’.

Most analysts agree that the current Prime Minister Gordon Brown had a thankless task trying to clean up the foreign policy mess left behind by Blair. Can brown handle this one?

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Friday, October 10, 2008

Bruce Willis, damn!

The lack of a central anti-terror agency is hitting some countries too hard
Alright, beat this question! What’s common between Italy &

Germany? Of course, they have some of the world’s most fanatical extremist outfits – Germany has the Baader-Meinhof gang, while Italy has the infamous Red Brigade – but more importantly & unbelievably so, these two nations [like many other developed nations] have not had even one terrorist attack in the past many years! And even the ones that have happened, have been one-off, unlike countries like India, where terrorist acts are almost monthly, if not weekly, in strife-torn areas.

How have these countries achieved this? By using a straightforward strategy – make sure that a central intelligence mechanism of the nation state is able to neutralise the elements even before their terror plans get executed. While everyone acknowledges the need for a central anti-terror agency, it has been witnessed that some countries, like USA [where FBI, CIA, NSA, DEA all operate on different intelligence platforms – one reason why, experts say, 9/11 happened] and India [with CBI, EOW, CID etc...] were quite unwilling to accept such a proposition. While in the US, the different agencies yielded too much individual power, the case in India has been quite promiscuous – for example, if, say, police intelligence comes under Central control, state ministers would worry that they themselves would come under scrutiny!

But things have been changing. In USA, post 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security was formed to integrate all the activities of internal security; further, the effort was termed a “national strategy” rather than “federal” to ensure individual states do not feel their agencies are being taken over by Central rule. Russia today consists of 21 republics, 46 federal provinces [oblasts] and nine territories [krias]. One would be surprised to know that each of the 21 republics under the Russian federation even have their own Constitution. Yet, when it comes to terrorism, Russia has often been harsher than even the US.

One still well remembers what happened in the Beslan school terror attack where more than a thousand students were made hostage by a Chechen rebel group, or the Moscow Theatre crisis where more than 700 hostages were taken by similar guerrillas. The special anti-terror force called OSNAZ of FSB, the Russian version of FBI, did what it had to do, without worrying about short-term implications [that is, they killed most of the rebels without negotiating]. Though it can be argued whether this was an intelligent move, the fact is, in cases of national security, individual states take second place.

Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Denmark and many others have wiped themselves clean of terror attacks. The case is surely ripe for setting up similar central agencies even in countries like India. So has India moved ahead? We hear they can’t even decide on a central active commander for their defence forces (who continues to be the non-executive titular head, the President), what to talk about their intelligence agencies. What’re they waiting for? We know the answer – Bruce ‘Die Hard’ Willis! He always ends up saving the world!

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

“Change is imminent”

Van Jackson, Strategy Consultant & Analyst, Foreign Policy in Focus

B&E: Will the Samsung scandal herald the end of Chaebol’s grip on South Korean economy?

VJ: The Samsung scandal itself is not the factor that may herald the end of the Chaebol’s grip on the Korean economy. The greater strategic context of the Lee Myung-bak administration within which the scandal has occurred may spell the end of the Chaebol era; the Samsung scandal might simply be a convenient political catalyst. I think the Lee administration understands the risk inherent in Korea’s economy today due to the country’s failure to diversify the sources of its wealth. In this context, the Samsung scandal is best viewed as something that is forcing the Lee administration to decide on the economy’s strategic direction sooner rather than later.

B&E: Do you see a situation in South Korea where the Chaebols will have a say in the functioning of the government?

VJ: Of course! It is a well documented fact that South Korea practiced what was known as bipartite corporatism from the early 1960s all the way through to its democratisation in 1987. By definition, then, the Chaebol has had a say in the functioning of the government. And since 1987, virtually every scandal in Korea has had both a political & corporate component. The western world has more than its share of problems when it comes to corruption and influence peddling but, for the most part, at least the western nations have trustworthy governmental institutions & global consumer confidence. The same cannot always be said for South Korea.

B&E: Do you think that the western media is showing an unusual interest in the happenings with regard to Chaebols and calling it the end of the Chaebol era?

VJ: I think the western media shows a tremendous interest in any scandal irrespective of what country is at the centre. I do not believe there is a double standard in this regard, although I do believe that most western media reporting does display an ethnocentric viewpoint more generally. That being said, I think that “the end of the Chaebol era” is probably an accurate prediction over the longer term but not for the reasons reported in the western media; rather it will be due to the Lee administration’s decision to shift focus towards the SMEs.

For Complete I I P M Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Burning the midnight oil

MNCs are lining up procurement plans, but only an aggressive retail strategy will enable them to make inroads
This genre of oil draws quite a few parallels with crude oil

currently, only, it is of the edible kind. For one, it is becoming a critical component of the Indian economic scenario, with projections of the sector reaching a phenomenal annual turnover of Rs.980 billion in 2015. And then, just like crude oil, India faces a critical problem of rising prices and demand-supply gap currently. Demand is increasing at 20% per annum (as per All India Food Processors’ Association). Part of the problem is that around 45% of edible oil is being imported. In response, the Government has imposed a ban on export of edible oil till March 16, 2009. “We must meet the demand of the country first and at present, edible oil has a big market in our country,” feels Subodh Kant Sahai, Minister for Food Processing Industries.

Considering that the Indian domestic market is teeming with potential, there are clearly visible trends showing an optimistic response by companies within and beyond our borders. The $88 billion Cargill from the country of Uncle Sam seems to be bent on living up to benchmarks in India too. “We will be venturing into new segments and we will be leveraging a lot of our global strength, which has enabled us to create an edge,” reveals Siraj A. Chaudhry, ceo, Refined Oils India, Cargill. Leveraging its global strength and bucked up by its phenomenal set up, which includes three state-of-the-art refineries; Cargill, with its brand Nature Fresh, is on a spree to double its turnover in the edible oil market. And the group believes that to cash in on India, it becomes necessary to bank on its global outsourcing model, like 50-60% of raw material is outsourced by Cargill from their parent company, which has enabled them to produce at a very low cost. With the Government not imposing any restrictions on import of raw material, players from usa, like Cargill & Agro Tech (of Sundrop fame) are scouting for raw material outsourcing destinations in places like Indonesia and Myanmar.

On the other hand, Singapore-based Wilmar International Ltd, which entered India in a joint venture with the Adani Group, believes in local procurement for its operations. Reasons Angshu Mallick, Asst. Vice President, Sales & Marketing, Adani Wilmar Ltd, “It ensures quality for the long run and the market is constantly growing, so to meet the demand, you have to be present in every segment of the production cycle.” Ensuring its presence on the front end, the group has made its Fortune brand available in 6 lakh out of 8 lakh organised grocery retail outlets across the country (according to ACNielsen figures). This has enabled Adani-Wilmar to mint an incredible turnover of Rs.32 billion for the financial ended 2007-08 and to target a turnover of Rs.120 billion by 2010. Marico’s Saffola is not sitting quite either, as sources from the company confirm to B&E that they are charting out plans to significantly increase production capacity and enhance their retail presence. This increased retail presence has also played the most critical role in making Ruchi Soya’s story a success in India; making it the largest domestic player today.

In the face of such promises, however, there is a challenge, which stares at all those dreaming big on the subcontinent – a market which today includes 80% of the organised segment. Hence, for those wanting to walk steadily here, the only strategy left forward is to magnify their channels and grow it to the maximum. It’s a slippery surface out there and you do need the retail support to run on it!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative