Monday, October 08, 2012

Next G8: Star Cruise

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

With passing time, experts now concur that French premier, and (hyper)active G8 member Nicholas Sarkozy has started looking – and behaving – eerily similar to Sylvester Stallone [Go ahead, give it a try; identify sweet Nick in the photograph]. Funnily, this behavioural similarity extends to the whole G8 belt [US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Italy, Russia and Ethiopia... er, alright, if you caught us on this, read on, you seem to be interested], with almost every member contributing his Shylockian best to behaving like a spoilt celebrity during every summit, finally achieving nothing. So we did what we do best [no no, not that; Bush does that better] – we analysed the progress report of the past few summits to decipher what exactly has been achieved in terms of contribution to least developed nations!

G8 summit in Birmingham, England, 1998: Protesters for the first time were formally allowed to give a written letter, which requested G8 to work on the heavy debt burden of the third world. Letter accepted, case dismissed! Nothing much was discussed, leave of course the letter. Cologne, Germany, 1999: To prove that they were worried about poverty, an ‘officially’ undisclosed amount was sanctioned. According to World Bank, the ‘sanction’ was so small that it wasn’t enough to even provide five bread loaves per person per year per poor country. Okinawa, Japan, 2000: Aid amount invested in projects: Close to nil; evidently because of billions spent on militarisation of north-east Asia. Genoa, Italy, 2001: Progress on debt cancellation: Nil! Massive protests took the blame, rather than the G8 members.

Kananaskis, Canada, 2002: Among many important issues, NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa’s Development] was also on agenda. $64 billion was requested, but only $6 billion was sanctioned. The reason? Russia requested – and was presumably given – $20 billion for the upkeep of the Russian nuclear stockpiles.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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posted by Editorial at 11:50 AM

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Whether or not your baby will grow up to be an obese Adult, is partly in your hands!

According to American Dietetic Association and WHO, breast-feeding is necessary for six months, after which it’s ideal to give other food along with breast-feed till 12 months. This practice develops immunity, reduces the risk of asthma, blood pressure and heart diseases. Mothers who subscribe to the trend of quickly giving-up on breast-feeding, should know that it is also beneficial for them as it lowers risk of breast and ovarian cancer, lowers post-partum depression, accelerates the process of shrinking the uterus and thus resume the menstrual cycle, and the calorie expenditure helps mothers return to their pre-pregnancy weight sooner.

Well, promoting breast-feeding doesn’t imply that formula-feed is harmful. It makes for a healthy diet, but it also leads to obesity. Dr. Rahul Nagpal, a pediatrician at Max Healthcare, expounds, “There have been observations and numerous medical papers, which prove that bottle-fed babies, at five years of age, have turned out heavier than those who were breast-fed, reason being that formula milk is tougher to digest than human milk. And formula foods have higher calorie content. Formula food manufacturers try to provide the same nutrients and contents that is present in mother’s milk, although it cannot match up because there are so many components in mother’s milk, which cannot be made otherwise.” Stating other possible reasons for their obesity, Dr. Nagpal said, “In breast-feeding, the intake depends on the baby. In bottle-feeding, the mother will want the baby to finish the entire bottle of milk, thereby over-feeding the baby. Slowly, the baby’s appetite increases, fat cells develop and these fat cells show-up in adolescence.”

So mommies, if you don’t want to spend your midlife fretting about your teen kids fretting about their weight, you know what to do. Or not to do.
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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posted by Editorial at 3:44 PM

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

B&E: There are many brands, one of which is Woodland, which have never believed in the franchisee model for fear of manipulation by the partner(s). What is your opinion?
NPS: There are risks for sure, but it is about taking that chance. You have to ensure that nobody is involved in malpractices that would disturb your brand image. We at Samsonite took the plunge and it has worked out great for us. It is through this very franchisee route that we plan to open 100 more stores by the end of this fiscal year.

B&E: To neutralise the drop in footfalls and turnover thereof during the slowdown, many retailers resorted to discounts. But Samsonite didn’t. How did you deal with the dry situation?
NPS: Rightly said, we did not promote ourselves through discounts because panic price-cut only kills the brand. We only gave discounts in multi-branded outlets; and in the case of our own stores, we combated the fall in revenues by slashing our operating costs. For instance, while in some stores we reduced the number of personnel by 1/3rd, in others, we simply reworked our logistics.

B&E: Will organised retail in India be able to double its size to account for 10% of the total pie by 2012?
NPS: I can’t give a figure here, but if you look at Samsonite, our organised retail is growing at a CAGR of 30%. And there are other brands which are growing equally fast. Considering that there are a many new brands coming up by 2012, organised retail will definitely become much more structured and bigger.



 

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posted by Editorial at 2:45 PM

Monday, September 03, 2012

OUR MPS ALWAYS HAVE A CONSENSUS ON PERSONAL GAINS AND DIFFERENCES ON NATIONAL IMPERATIVES!

Recently, a much awaited bill with respect to our honorable members of Parliament was given a nod! The bill seeking a three-fold hike in MPs’ salaries from Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000 and increase of 200 per cent in their allowances was passed. Besides this, the daily allowance of every MP when he or she attended Parliament during session was doubled; constituency allowance and office expense allowance also saw a two-fold growth; and conveyance allowance saw a four-fold growth. In all, this hike entails an annual expenditure of Rs 146 crores and an expenditure of Rs 118 crore on payment of arrears!

However, a lot has been deliberated and written on this issue, and many arguments and counter arguments have been put forth with respect to this bill. Without getting into that argument, what I found most interesting was the manner in which the MPs built their consensus on this particular bill. It was amazing to observe how everyone got united, seemingly forgetting their personal and political differences, and lobbied for the raise. Political parties whose ideologies, in normal circumstance, rarely synchronize with each other, were seen singing the same tune. Rashtriya Janta Dal along with Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Janata Dal (United), Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress were seen to be on the same side. While some other parties didn’t join this unison directly, they were not seen opposing the move either. In fact, despite the first round of salary raise (an increase of Rs 10,000 along with increased perks compared to the current allowance MPs receive), almost all members of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party (SP), Akali Dal, Janata Dal (United), Shiv Sena and Bahujan Samaj Party demanded a further hike. Parties like Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and others refrained from participating in the debate.

It is no secret that our political parties – who generally are habituated to never come to any consensus on any given issue – were seen creating no fuss or roadblocks when the issue was all about their own personal interest. It reminds me of a similar phenomenon that happened a few years back, when the Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to frame stringent laws regarding rejection of nomination papers for people with criminal background. There again, our MPs were found voicing their protests – to the move of barring criminals from standing for elections – in unison! On being asked to reveal their criminal antecedents (for the uninitiated, we have more than a fourth of our Parliamentarians facing some form of criminal charge) along with their assets and educational qualifications while filing their election nominations, the entire political class came together, rejected the notification, and without much debate and discussion, sidelined the proposal. In the same lines, our parliamentarians got together when a proposal was mooted to nationalize the money kept by Indians in Swiss bank accounts – and blatantly ignored the same without any discussion, for all the possible obvious reasons!

Most interestingly, amidst all this, the much awaited and hugely important Indian Medical Council bill got passed without any debates or discussion. And why not, when almost all parties were on the same side of the field over salary rise, such debate would have diluted the momentary united spirit! And mind you, this medical council bill which got passed was enacted 76 years ago! Though it took a long time to pass this bill, even after knowing the kind of rampant corruption that exists in the Medical Council of India, not many bills are as fortunate. Almost every time, it is the same old story. Our honorable parliamentarians only wear their respective political ideologies when it comes to significant bills which directly or indirectly affect the most significant stake holders of the country – i.e its citizens. What is even worse is that with an average attendance of around 60%, the parliamentarians do not even feel the need to debate upon such significant bills which have been pending for years. Be it the pesticide management bill 2008, the seeds bill 2004, the coal mine amendment bill 2000, the communal violence bill 2005, the representation of people bill 2006, the insurance law bill 2008, the TRAI bill 2008, the railway property amendment bill 2008, the drugs and cosmetics bill 2007, the motor vehicle bill 2007, the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board Bill, and numerous other bills – all are still pending just because of a lack of consensus!


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posted by Editorial at 3:31 PM

Saturday, September 01, 2012

Iran: The war is over, finally!

With the Obama administration playing down the Bushehr reactor issue, US finally accepts Iran; B&E brings out a completely hidden fact of the timing of the State Department’s pro-Iran statement

“We recognize that the Bushehr reactor is designed to provide civilian nuclear power and do not view it as a proliferation risk!” With this one statement on August 13, 2010, Darby Holladay of the US State Department created history by changing a decades’ long policy stand of United States towards Iran. The statement was brilliantly timed, given the propensity with which Israel was preparing to attack Iran’s nuclear plant. The statement also defined a historic moment in US-Israel relations, by communicating to Israel that the US was no longer ready to blindly accept any anti-Iran tirade.

These voices from the Obama government express an opinion considered improbable just a few months back, when US was said to be on the brink of attacking Iran. In February 2010, Obama had warned, “Despite their (Iran’s) posturing that their nuclear power is only for civilian use, they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponization.” Given such a negative statement, the current US stand is momentous.

For the trained political analyst though, the past year should have been enough to give much evidence of what was around the corner in not only Obama-Iran relations, but most importantly Obama-Israel relations. Last year, when US Vice President Joe Biden, during an interview with ABC Sunday, announced that US would not “stand in the way” of Israel attacking Iran, US President Barack Obama had immediately backtracked asserting that US had “absolutely not” given any go ahead to Israel for attacking Iran. Obama had reiterated further, “We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East.” For Israel, that was bad news, and not just because of worsening political relations with US – Israeli fighter crafts would have had to pass over Iraq to attack Iran; and Iraq was under US control then.


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posted by Editorial at 12:01 PM

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Miley’s milestone birthday

Miley Cyrus’ 18th birthday this November promises to be an eventful one. For one, she plans to move in to her own home at the Toluca Lake in Los Angeles on her birthday, which she will be renovating this summer. The young starlet has already spent a whopping $3.4 million on her dream house. The singer-actress will also be tying the knot with boyfriend Liam Hemsworth once she turns 18. Miley sure seems in a rush to shed her image of a cute teenager!


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posted by Editorial at 4:38 PM

Monday, August 13, 2012

“We will enter the interactive space”

And if you are thinking about the rationale behind the move, this is what Amit considers a need!

B&E: Among all businesses that you have handled so far which one do you think you enjoyed the most?
AG: I enjoyed all of them. In fact, I am very much part of all of them, but from day to day perspective I run Playwin and as such is more involved with it. Playwin keeps me on my toes constantly. It’s a very dynamic business as it keeps on changing quickly and drastically, both from the consumer perspective as well as the regulatory perspective. Thus, I have to keep a close watch on things around.

B&E: One particular business area that you would like to handle and get involved intensively in the near future?
AG: I think for us as a group there is lot to be planned in the coming years. Currently, there are few areas where we are not strong or are not present, for instance, interactive space. This is one area where we would like to strengthen going forward and I think that will happen soon. In fact, this is something in which I want to get involved personally. We’re working on it and a couple of announcements are in the pipeline. May be in the next 6-9 months you might see a lot of things happening in this regard.

B&E: What kind of growth is expected from Playwin in the next one year?
AG: Playwin business has grown rapidly over the past seven years. But currently there are a lot of changes happening on the regulatory sides as the government is working on to put together a regulatory framework for this industry. So, once we get little more clarity on what’s happening there, we would be in a position to really figure out things. Otherwise, as of today, our growth rate has come down to a single-digit number, which, unless there are some drastic policy changes, is not going to change in the near future.


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posted by Editorial at 12:33 PM

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Demand upswing of steel & cement in india

As long term demand upswing of steel & cement in india is assured, larger players in both Sectors probably look for distressed assets in the coming months 

Avinash Gupta, consultant with Deloitte India said, “Consolidation is typically driven when there is an overcrowding in the industry or a shortfall in terms of work for everybody.” In the case of cement, the situation is similar to steel, as the larger players are on the look out for capacity expansions as well. Take the recent example of Lafarge India – the Indian subsidiary of the world’s largest manufacturer of cement. To expand its reach and become a more national player, it is trying to purchase Chennai-based Ramco Group’s West Bengal cement grinding unit for around Rs.3.5 billion, which originally took an investment of Rs.1.20 billion to set up. Given the strong demand from building and construction, recent forecasts and upcoming development projects in India, most large cement producers are eying expansions of up to twice their capacities. For buyers in steel & cement, this is a better route to the greenfield option, which has become a red flag in India due to land acquisition controversies. On the other hand, the sector has a number of smaller players facing pricing pressures at the moment due to a dip in demand that is typical in the monsoons. Prices are down by around Rs.20 per bag since April. Moreover limestone costs could go up by around Rs.75-80 per tonne after the new mining laws. Furthermore delayed execution and the slowdown imminent in real estate with high interest rates would have an obvious negative effect. Larger players can survive more easily on volumes and also push surplus to off trade markets. But regional players face a high probability of losses and often look to milk their assets to a suitable bidder. This year, the only major acquirer so far has been Ambuja Cement, which has bought an 85% majority stake in Nepal’s Dang cements for Rs.191.3 million. But in both steel & cement, the coming months should see a number of incremental value generating deals and the competitive battle lines getting redrawn.


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posted by Editorial at 3:03 PM

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Energising India

Finally, the Indian government recently unveiled its much awaited Exim Policy, commonly known as the Trade Policy, with once again an ambitious export target to achieve. Guess what’s the projected export target for the year 2007-08? It’s a humongous $160 billion! Looks like a pretty difficult target, but one must not forget the accomplishments of our government, which in the recent past, has exceeded all set targets of exports. Consider export figures of the last three years, $83.5 billion in 2004-05, $103.1 billion in 2005-06 and a mammoth $125 billion for the last fiscal year, and one would easily understand the pace of our growth rate.

For complete IIPM article click here

Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof.Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

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posted by Editorial at 11:22 AM 0 Comments