Appreciaate that communal passions

Moreover, one need to appreciate that communal passions were being raised in the society for years preceding the riots. Did the police officials in Mumbai & the administration system in the country take any concrete measures to stop this virus from seeping into minds of their men? What programmes did the higher police management team launch to ensure the integrity of their rank & file is preserved during tough times? What did the police intelligence networks do to identify & weed out the politicized elements within their force? Search for the answers to these questions and all you will receive is a stoic silence from those who consider themselves to be professionals. By letting politics make inroads within the police structures, all that the police personnel have done is to fracture the state monopoly over organised violence. And no doubt it is because of this enfeebled monopoly that communal carnages continue to engulf our nation at repeated intervals.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

America's Glossiest Glossy

So, on last Tuesday, when America’s glossiest glossy, Vogue’s obese September edition, hit newsstands with 727 pages of just advertisements, it appeared, for a minute, a case of reverse syndrome, of the print media winning back its honour. But the moment was short lived, when the real picture was disclosed. The deal was, in fact, a union between print & virtual gloss. By investing in Vogue’s pages, advertisers became entitled to feature their products on ShopVogue.TV, Vogue’s much delayed foray into broadband entertainment. “America seems to be very much interested in entertainment about fashion,” furthers Thomas Florio, publisher of Vogue. On visiting Shop Vogue.TV, you are immediately drawn to the Vogue shop on the left hand corner divided into categories defined by brands, trend, departments & even price.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Patently pathetic!

Are just fines & defamations the true purposes of patents?
When was the last time the word ‘patent’ gave you a reason to smile? Well, “tough to remember at best; and never at worst”, right? Today, the word ‘patent’ has become a synonym for legal cases, fines & most importantly... negative publicity! For the initiated, it’s not a surprise that pharma industry is one where many ‘patent- dramas’ are witnessed. Pfizer, after having struggled with close to $900 million in total fines slammed by Federal authorities over its best-selling drug Lipitor (which raked-in an incredible $12.8 billion in revenues during 2006), lost out on a re-issuance of patent proceeding on August 17, 2007 – a ruling which would prove dear to the drugmaker (estimated to amount to $6 billion annually). Then there is AstraZeneca, which was fined a massive $82 million (by the Eurpoean Commission) for ‘adopting an unhealthy’ attitude by protecting its patented bestseller drug Losec in the open market.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

One bad apple can spoil the whole fruit basket...

Q:How do you weed out the bad apples in a big fruit basket known as organisation? (David Michalek, Bartlett, Ill.)
Ans: Its very simple. Start by putting down the pruning shears and picking up a buzz saw. Look, nothing hurts a company more than when the big bosses (knowingly or unknowingly) ignore, indulge or otherwise tolerate a jerk – or two or three – in the house. Such latitude on the part of these bosses undermines organisational trust and morale. Without those, the competitive linchpins of collaboration and speed are just plain harder – not to mention the fact that jerks in question take the fun out of work in the organisation. But before we talk about how to get rid of the jerks – or bad apples, as you derisively call them – let’s be clear about who these people are. In business, you can divide the employees into four categories. And how do you do that? By looking at them along two dimensions: how well they perform – that is, how often they make the desired numbers – and how well they demonstrate company values.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

One world…

but still a reverie in this land
History has been testimony to the fact that while many have aspired to make the globe one happy family or where Vasudhev Kutumbakam, every era had its share of Dirty Harrys too, who have been more than willing to use their oratory and absolute power to not just foment hatred but to exterminate certain communities as a whole from the face of the Earth. While it took an Earth shattering World War to defeat the Nazis, the death of Hitler and his dream, did not make sure that the concept of anti- Semitism or racism was annihilated altogether. This has essentially taken today, the shape of Neo-Nazism in the grip of which has come the countries like Germany, Russia, USA, Greece & Belgium and expatriates have to face its brunt. Eight Indian migrants were brutally beaten up in Germany recently while in Russia, Neo-Nazis brutally killed a migrant and put its video on YouTube declaring ‘Russia for Russians.’ One world is dead, long live the dream of one world. How long for the dream to be realised, with Hitler’s suicide going waste.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Pantaloon takes a coffee break…

India’s leading retail chain, Pantaloon has strike a franchise deal with California based Coffee Chain. The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Pantaloon earlier had a partnership plan with Starbucks, but due to the rejection from Indian Foreign Investment Board, the deal got terminated. The retail chain with its joint venture company Blue Foods has now finally managed the deal with Coffee Bean. Blue Foods, which was started in 2006, has its food courts and restaurants across the country. On the other hand, Coffee Bean that has more than 390 outlets across the globe will have its first outlets in India. The company plans to customise its portfolio according to the Indian taste buds.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Holcim

If successful, Holcim’s stake in ACL will stand at a level of 56% from the current level of 32%. It’s indeed extremely eccentric that the cement sector which was once nursed by the government has become the centre of gravity for players across the globe (Lafarge, Heidelberg etc), raisond’être? Well, the sector in a span of two decades has matured from dilapidated stage to a juncture where it has outclassed nations like the US and Japan to become the second largest cement producer, the largest being China. In the last decade, the sector registered a CAGR of 8%, at variance with the world’s average of 3.5% & 7.2% of China. For Holcim, this is the first phase, in the next phase, the company should focus on integrating its assets, de-bottlenecking of plants & on organic growth. All the Holcim entities have announced capex plans. Lastly but not the least, inorganic growth too will have its own importance. In this ferocious sector, where more than 60 MMT new capacities are coming up over three years, all laws, principles, emotions & so on, says ‘go for a kill or be killed’.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

CEO’s quest over a sentence!

At last a sigh of relief – the federal appeals court ruled that the former Chief Executive of Qwest Communications International Inc. could stay free while the court takes up his appeal of an insider trading conviction. Joseph Nacchio’s confidence, heavy fines & compensation requirements were seen as a major win for the US government in its extensive efforts to fight commercial corruption. US District Judge Edward Nottingham had sentenced Nacchio to a six year imprisonment and ordered him to begin serving it, 15 days aft er the Federal Bureau of Prisons intimated him where to report. However as a favour, the Denver based tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 3-0 decision, granted Nacchio’s request for release on bail over hostility from prosecutors.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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