IIPM Rural Development Programmes

Murdoch to transform a small Australian newspaper group into a global behemoth called News Corp...

2006-12-14T14:23:00.000-08:00

But this unpalatable episode revealed the buccaneering spirit that has enabled Murdoch to transform a small Australian newspaper group into a global behemoth called News Corp., with $23 billion in annual revenues with a global footprint (Star Network in India is a part of his group). He renounced his Australian citizenship to become a British subject and expanded his empire into the UK. A few years hence, he turned into a blue-blooded American. But the real question is whether the Murdoch legacy will live beyond the 75-year old tycoon passes on the baton? The current inheritor is his son James from his second wife while another son Lachlan has ‘retired’ from family business. Surely, the inheritors will find it hard to match their Murdoch’s ability to seek and conquer (a recent example being the manner in which News Corp. paid US$800 million to buy the portal MySpace.com). Perhaps they can never come close to being a shadow of his but being the only hope, James has no choice than to learn lessons quickly. Or does he?

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Business & Economy
An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Source: IIPM, 4Ps, B&E

Rashmi Bansal Editor & Publisher of Jammag Magazine goes underground, for details please click on the following links:

Conservative is Cool

2006-12-07T13:27:00.000-08:00

Commitment to ethics and adaptability are the key survival instincts of the group that have paved its journey

When Dewan Bahadur A M Murugappa Chettiar, founder of Murugappa Group started his business, little he would have imagined that when his fledging group moved to India in 1939, it would, a century later, be spoken in the same breath as the Tatas, Birlas and the Ambanis. The Murugappa Group is one of the few establishments in the country that have withstood the test of time by generating wealth and building trust for its shareholders. In fact, the legacy hasn’t dogged its flexibility at all. Aman Bajaj, analyst with IndusView Advisors points out “Commitment to ethics and adaptability are the key survival instincts possessed by the group that has paved its journey from being a traditional money lender to a $1.6 billion diversified conglomerate.”

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Source: IIPM, 4Ps, B&E

Show me the money jerry!

2006-10-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

In much similar fashion to Mr. Jumping Jack (Tom Cruise, if you insist) in Jerry McGuire, producers are insanely screaming at the top of their voices to their directors to show them the money! Though the crossover phenomenon may still be in a bedlam, there’s no denying the fact that quite a few Indian movies are making a lot of money abroad. Take the case of Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna, a movie that has proved to be an anomaly from the Karan Johar stable. For starters, it was not a Diwali release like earlier blockbusters from the Dharma stable. Worse, this movie did not receive the expected mass euphoria. And correctly so. While the masses could not identify with the idea of adultery itself (the Salman Khan starrer comedy No Entry had a rank better description of adultery), there was a vivid discontent among the upper classes as well, who found grave fault with the ridiculous emotions displayed, the most being with even the logic of why the protagonists (Shahrukh Khan and Rani Mukherjee) fell in love in the first place. For complete information on IIPM Articles, please click here... , Also visit: Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Source: B&E and IIPM Publications

Too much of greed is bad...

2006-10-12T15:56:00.000-07:00

Sure, the government fixes the rules of the game for corporate gladiators to fight it out. Sure, too much of greed is bad. Yet, as the collapse of Soviet Union proved irrefutably, the profit motive is intrinsic to man; and to deny and suppress it has never yielded desired results. Adam Smith called it self-interest. But for a modern corporation, positive and ethical greed and a consistent track record of profits are the only way to earn the respect of stakeholders. An ethical company that’s not very profitable will not survive for long. For that matter, a profitable company that discards all ethical norms too won’t survive very long. Think Enron, WorldCom and many others. One of the key reasons for the US emerging as one of the greatest powers in world history is because of a societal consensus that the pursuit of profits is a legitimate activity. The US military and the seemingly irrational policies of the Bush administration have made America by far the most disliked nation in the world. For complete information on IIPM Articles, please click here...

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Source: IIPM Editorial and B&E

Bedtime stories

2006-10-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

No time for hanky panky? Ya right!

The typical wry comment on marriage, more often than not, concedes this oft-quoted remark from Oscar Wilde: “Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same.” Then there’re also women who proclaim the joys of monogamy, while men sigh and look the other way. Even better are those researches which take upon their broad shoulders the weight of carrying out extensive surveys to re-present the same old wine in the same fungus ridden bottle. Read on... Feedback from 77,895 respondents (90% of which were in monogamous relationships) for an Elle/MSNBC. com poll unearthed that 67% of the lady respondents were completely content with their partners and their sizzling sex lives. Men, however, who were a few years into the relationship, were not having as much fun anymore! What’s new (sigh!)! But then there were also some more revelations, like lack of communication between the sexes: While only 38% of the women felt that their beaus would like to turn on the heat more often in the bedroom, 66% of poor ol’ men, in fact, were hopeful of more frequent action. Now take this: 41% of the guys wish their love-making sessions would last longer, and (perhaps the only place the survey hit on something new) 97% of men and women were absolutely satisfied with their partners and sex lives. Ahem... don’t agree with that one completely? Well at least allow the surveys to continue in the hope of a more monogamous world. We know better anyway...

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Today, with the top 3 business houses: Birlas, Tatas and the Ambanis...

2006-09-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

The company already provides GSM services in the circles of West Bengal, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam and other states in North East India, and has about 2.85 million subscribers for its GSM base, which is not what you could quite call taking advantage of the GSM boom! So even while Anil Ambani decides that he should now pull up his socks and ride the wave on the GSM boat, should he or should he not give away his CDMA competence? According to Prashant Singhal, Telecom Analyst, Ernst & Young, “Today, with the top 3 business houses – Birlas, Tatas and the Ambanis – engaged in the fast growing Indian telecom market, the market is certainly booming. But GSM players certainly have an edge over the CDMA operators, where growth is concerned. All the old players and the new entrants have to realize this.” Anil might not play on yet, or ever, to give up his blatant CDMA competitive advantage, as it’s not just Qualcomm (who anyway has a royalty sharing conflict going on with Anil), the inventors of CDMA, who are betting on CDMA’s relatively efficient bandwidth processing capabilities (as compared to GSM), even reports from COAI confirm the same.

For complete IIPM Research & Publication Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri; Source: IIPM Publication and Business & Economy

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In international trade, negotiators from different nations... (IIPM B&E Article)

2006-09-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

In the pharmaceutical industry, “development and license agreements” allow small research labs to work with global drug development companies under terms that may shift if, for example, a promising product fails clinical trials or an apparently trivial technology turns out to be exceedingly valuable. In international trade, negotiators from different nations may arrange to periodically divide financial rewards that were not anticipated in the original treaty. Safety-net clauses, also common in many industries, generally state that faltering renegotiations will move to litigation or arbitration. Adopting such clauses for the international arbitration of large projects requires very detailed provisions for variables such as governing law, supervisory agency, language, location and types of damages.

For complete IIPM Research & Publication Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Source: IIPM Publication

Narcotics Control Bureau (IIPM Editorial)

2006-09-12T16:52:00.000-07:00

Now you put a price on that,” says K. C. Verma, Director-General, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). It’s Verma’s job to keep the streets clean. He’s damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. When the NCB gets cracking, recoveries go up. This leads to panic that there’s a rush of narcotics. If there are no seizures, people wonder what the NCB is doing. “Seizures only show that the enforcement agencies are at work. The true indicator (of a drug situation) is the street price of drugs,” says Verma. For instance, an addict in the Big Apple has got used to the idea of paying $10 for a shot. In Delhi, it is Rs.50 a pudiya (a small packet) for better quality smack (brown sugar), a crude variety of Heroin. It gets down to Rs.10 if the stuff is bad and in smaller quantity. This is what the Indian addict is used to. The peddler, the middleman and the wholesaler will do anything to keep it that way. They will dilute the drug if there’s shortage of supply. So the actual drug quantity may be going down, but there’s no way to know this.

For complete IIPM Research & Publication Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri; Source: IIPM Publication

Businesss&Economy, IIPM >>No Nelson Mandela and No Million Mom March

2006-08-29T00:19:00.000-07:00

There is nothing that you can’t do to someone in the Middle-East today, and there is no leader or movement – no Nelson Mandela and no million mom march – coming out of this region, or into this region, to end the madness. And I mean madness. We’ve seen Sunni Muslims in Iraq suicide-bomb a Shiite mosque on Ramadan; we’ve seen Shiite militiamen torture Sunnis in Iraq by drilling holes in their heads with power tools; we’ve seen Jordanian Islamist parliamentarians mourning the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, even though he once blew up a Jordanian wedding; we’ve seen hundreds of Palestinian suicide bombings of Israeli cafes and buses; and we’ve seen Israel retaliating by, at times, leveling whole buildings, with the guilty and the innocent inside.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Publication, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

No Major Saudi Arabian companies have setup operations in India

2006-08-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

Air India, New India Assurance Co., LIC International, Polaris Soft ware Lab Ltd., Wipro Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services and Larsen & Toubro are a few such companies. The policy initiative taken by the Saudi government to allow 100% FDI approval and full ownership rights to foreign companies, has boosted confidence of Indian firms. Till now, 82 Joint Ventures between Indian and Saudi companies have taken place. Major areas of interest for Indian companies are consultancy services, infrastructure projects, telecommunications, IT and pharmaceuticals. But, while Indian companies have shown immense interest in investing in Saudi Arabia, the reverse isn’t true. In the period of fifteen years from 1991 to 2006, a pitiful $19.14 million FDI has fl own into India from Saudi Arabia. Till date, no major Saudi Arabian companies have setup operations in India, either. But the scenario can be expected to change very soon. The recent talks between India and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC, of which Saudi Arabia is a major member) are aimed at initiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by the year 2007. If this agreement fructifies, it is expected to remove many significant bottlenecks between the two countries. For Indian businesses, it’s time to take their relationship with the ‘Desert Rose’ to a newer level.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Publication, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Bihar’s politicians are unruly... yawn...

2006-08-12T01:01:00.000-07:00

The treatise on Bihar’s politicians is better unsaid than even mentioned

Seven months after Lalu Prasad Yadav’s exit from power, Bihar continues to create newer benchmarks for politicians displaying activities that could well be related to hoodlums and gangsters. The CM Nitish Kumar really needn’t bother about brothers- in-law like Lalu, he has his brotherly state MLAs to improve his image. Some world class examples follow... Journalists covering the CM’s speech in a hotel at a seminar on good governance recently, were amused to find a ruling JD (U) MLA, Sunil Pandey, creating unruly scenes in the hotel’s lobby. The MLA ostensibly got infuriated after he was presented his expense bill. Within minutes, he was hogging headlines on all news channels. Undeterred, an inebriated Pandey threatened the media persons. Braying at one of his henchmen, he pointed towards journalists, “Thok de, marva de” (Shoot them, get them killed). The very next day, another ruling party MLA, Ram Pravesh Rai, allegedly manhandled and assaulted the state’s Culture and Youth Affairs Minister, Janardan Singh Sikriwal, belonging to the BJP. It required Nitish’s personal intervention to persuade Sikriwal to end his dharna demanding Rai’s arrest. Two months ago, BJP MLA Giriraj Singh intimidated the Patna Airport Director. And before that, a JD (U) MLA, Anant Singh, threatened a government offi cial. Again on July 6, MLAs, Avinash Kumar Singh (BJP) and Pappu Dev (RJD) were booked for intimidating Transport Commissioner, Pancham Lal. For lack of space, we omit 17 other examples...Money and muscle power are the necessary ingredients of Bihar politics. Nitish too rode to the power on support of such factors. The regrettable fact is that true & much clichéd issues of governance – like literacy, employment, health, poverty eradication – all take a back seat in the daily action soap opera that keeps politicians busy, and media people happy. Unless politicians rise above such pitiable displays of unruliness, Bihar would continue to remain...Bihar!

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Source: IIPM Publication, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

IIPM :: The Magic Carpet

2006-06-23T04:19:00.000-07:00

Indian textile manufacturers are now also moving beyond the US and are venturing into other virgin markets. For example, during April-October 2005, textile product exports to Spain grew at a rate of 57%. The value-added segment such as cotton garments, witnessed a glamourous growth of 114.16% in the same period (EXIM Data Bank). Even the exports of woollen yarn to Spain had a stupendous growth of 369.26%. And the total exports to Spain during April-December 2005 witnessed a humongous 61.74% increase (TEXIM Report). Apart from Spain, countries like United Kingdom, Germany and France are also fast emerging as the golden geese for Indian textile Industry. United Kingdom is considered as the second largest market. This is very well reflected in the 44.18% increase in exports during April-December 2005. Israel, Thailand and Russia are also opening up their gates for Indian textiles industry.

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Source: IIPM (Business& Economy), Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

IIPM Editorial : Reuven Pedatzur wrote in Ha’aretz...

2006-06-14T02:10:00.000-07:00

For the political leadership, the threat of adherence to these principles – and to the rule of law in general – is serious indeed. Or it would be, if anyone dared to defy “the single ruthless superpower whose leadership intends to shape the world according to its own forceful world view,” as Reuven Pedatzur wrote in Ha’aretz last May. Let me state a couple of simple truths. The first is that actions are evaluated in terms of the range of likely consequences. A second is the principle of universality; we apply to ourselves the same standards we apply to others, if not more stringent ones. Apart from being the merest truisms, these principles are also the foundation of just war theory, at least any version of it that deserves to be taken seriously.

For complete IIPM Publication Article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Editorial

IIPM Editorial : Justice Jackson’s eloquent words at Nuremberg...

2006-06-14T02:06:00.000-07:00

The concept was restated in an authoritative General Assembly resolution. An “aggressor,” Jackson proposed to the tribunal, is a state that is the first to commit such actions as “invasion of its armed forces, with or without a declaration of war, of the territory of another State.” That applies to the invasion of Iraq. Also relevant are Justice Jackson’s eloquent words at Nuremberg: “If certain acts of violation of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others, which we would not be willing to have invoked against us.” And elsewhere: “We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.”

For complete IIPM Publication Article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Editorial

DreamWorks pushes Viacom ahead (IIPM Publication)

2006-05-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

The DreamWorks buyout seems to be a good decision for Viacom. The company that owns MTV and Paramount Pictures had bought DreamWorks in December last year. Though the annual revenues of Viacom increased by 12% to $2.4 billion, the profits reduced by 9%. The profit reduction can be attributed to the $57 billion extra interest payments. The buyout of DreamWorks expanded the kitty of Viacom, as the former has been associated with hit films like Munich, which released in the last year.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Source: Publication, IIPM

Wal-Mart’s huge market share gives it substantial leverage (IIPM Publication)

2006-05-08T05:29:00.000-07:00

No conspiracy; just the free market at work. As for “better cared for” employees – nonsense. In most small towns, the storeowner was the one who drove the best car, lived in the fanciest house and belonged to the local country club. Meanwhile, his employees weren’t exactly sharing the wealth. They rarely had life insurance or health benefits, and they certainly did not receive much in the way of training or big salaries. And few of these storeowners had plans for growth or expansion; their lives were pretty nicely set. That was good for them – but a killer for any employees seeking life-changing careers. Critics also lambast Wal-Mart for being brutal to its suppliers. It’s hard to negotiate, they say, with the company that “owns” the channel. Be it swing sets or beef jerky, you sell to Wal-Mart on its terms, or you don’t sell at all. We’d say this is pretty true. Wal-Mart’s huge market share gives it substantial leverage over its suppliers. But in decades of negotiating with them at General Electric, for example, Wal-Mart buyers were never unethical or unfair. They were just tough.

For complete IIPM Publication article, please click here...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Open source software allows programmers and developers to quickly develop Web applications (IIPM Publication)

2006-05-04T04:11:00.000-07:00

Open source software allows programmers and developers to quickly develop Web applications. It will be classically strategic move for Oracle – if a pure database management software supplier company gets into open source operating systems and applications. An area where it has never ever contended directly before. With Linux OS in its portfolio, Oracle will be in competition with IT giants, Microsoft, IBM and RedHat, among others. Oracle’s plan to endorse Linux can very well shift the dynamics of the software business, pulling Oracle into the OS business to pitch against Microsoft and Red Hat. All said and done, if such merger and expansion trends continue to grow, combined with Oracle’s more than 80% share in the total Linux database market, the day is not far when Oracle will ultimatelty become the all powerful king of Linux’s operating system database. And that is also Larry Ellison’s dream!

For complete article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Editorial

Satyam sets up Detroit centre

2006-04-22T00:02:00.000-07:00

Satyam Computers is taking an interest in automotive sector, to which end they are setting up an Automotive Centre of Excellence (ACE) in Detroit, US. This 6,000 sq. ft facility with a workforce including about 50 engineers plans to focus on automotive solution building and R&D. The location is ideal as Detroit is the centre of automobile manufacturing in the US and the facility will have neighbours like Ford, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler. The automotive segment gives Satyam around 12% of their revenue. They also have plans to open similar facilities in other regions of the world including Japan and Germany.

Read More...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Malignant Design...

2006-04-14T06:10:00.000-07:00

In the interest of fairness, perhaps the President’s speech writers should take him seriously when they have him say that schools should be open-minded and teach all points of view. So far, however, the curriculum has not encompassed one obvious point of view: Malignant design. Unlike intelligent design, for which the evidence is zero, malignant design has tons of empirical evidence, much more than Darwinian evolution by some criteria: The world’s cruelty. Read More on IIPM Editorial...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Thanksgiving an exclusive American festival

2006-04-10T04:57:00.000-07:00

Most consider Thanksgiving an exclusive American festival, but the acts of gratitude and a celebration of life have been universally carried forward since generations. Scores of cultures have held festivals to celebrate a bountiful harvest, from the ancient He brews to the ancient Greeks. To the Jewish, Thanksgiving for the harvest translates into their nine day festival Sukkot. More Info....

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Ukraine has been marked as the most corrupt country

2006-04-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

Shamefully, Ukraine has been marked as the most corrupt country in the world by various leading reports. Political commotion has already shaken up the economy and thrown away many investors. For a country that could just about manage investments’ growth from an annual $437 million in 1999 to $583 million in 2005, the recent statement by the Ukrainian government that it expects a growth in annual investments up to $900 million in the coming year, is truly hard to believe. And that too when cumulative investments since 1991 have been a measly $3.6 billion.

Sustained growth with adequate aids is urgently needed. The World Bank had extended a $260 million credit to sustain the financial sector; but with a clear covenant to Ukraine that further grants will be discouraged till economic reforms are hastened. The country has already suffered a lot and allegations of corruption at the president’s level are only worsening the situation. A handful of reforms will in no way assist Ukraine now. For any hope to remain, Ukraine has to comprehensively throw away its current political and bureaucratic machinery; in other words, ‘BPR’ the nation now. Read More...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Valley of fears (IIPM Research & Publication)

2006-04-03T03:33:00.000-07:00

A golden opportunity for Congress
While everybody’s attention is on the devastating earthquake in Kashmir, the state is reaching a cross road of sorts that could be decisive. Under the coalition deal signed by the congress and the People’s Democratic Party, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayid will have to vacate his post for a Congress nominee to become Chief Minister in a few weeks time. Already, Congress hopefuls have started lobbying the powers that be in the Congress high command to grab the post, though the front runner appears to be Ghulam Nabi Azad. Not surprisingly, Mufti Mohammed Sayid is not all that willing to quit and would like to continue as Chief Minister. More on IIPM Publication Article...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Parliamentary Elections in Nepal

2006-03-31T01:11:00.000-08:00

Shunned by the world for his autocratic ways, King Gyanendra has just announced that parliamentary elections would be held in 2007 to elect a new government. It might be too late for Nepal by then. Read More...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Arvind Mills switched its energy source from naphtha to natural gas

2006-03-27T01:46:00.000-08:00

The company witnessed net sales of Rs.4.2 billion in the first quarter this year, a 7.1% surge over the previous year. Net profits increased more dramatically to Rs.451 million, a growth of over 148% over the previous year. The profit growth was due to decrease in raw materials, power and fuel costs (Arvind Mills switched its energy source from naphtha to natural gas, from the second quarter this year, to cut down costs). More Info...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Time to go Scot... free?

2006-03-23T20:56:00.000-08:00

Unless you have reasons to quiver at the ‘Scotland’ word that causes to evoke torments of super intelligent sleuths hot on your trail, the November 23-30 week would be well spent in St. Andrews, in a constituent country of the United Kingdom Scotland. Particularly, with the Scots believed to be amongst the friendliest folks around, it promises to be a reassuring place in the middle of many seas and oceans.

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

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