Wasted by toxics

“Do you think if you got no uterus and no breasts, you are still technically a oman?” asked one of the several crestfallen victims of toxic effluents released by the factories in their town Hinkley, California in the movie inspired by the life of Erin Brockovich. Human life is as much vulnerable to the acute consequences of toxic wastes as Nature. The ordeal of sunken eyes, a bleeding nose, chest congestion, grave respiratory problems, liver failure and skin cancer to irreparable neural amage to many more this-can’t–happen-to-me diseases won’t end unless steps are taken to ensure that these virulent wastes are disposed off appropriately or even better, not produced unnecessarily.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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


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Global Warming : Investment Options

A convenient truth, Mr. Gore!
Are investments in eco-asset classes really as electrifyingly promising as they’re made out to be? Uhh, yes...

Going green sounds awesome; but can you make money out of it!?! Well, if you honestly feel bugged by the large and ever increasing hole in the ozone layer hanging over your head (!); if you really worry that a melting Arctic could flood your kitchen (!!); if you feel convinced that former US Vice-President Al Gore, the presenter of the mind boggling environment documentary An Inconvenient Truth (which documents how global warming is destroying the world) is not wasting his own and the world’s time and doesn’t need a new way to earn his living; then believe us, there’s a jackpot to be cracked while the Earth gets painted green!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Asia’s largest contributor

And here lies the other side of the world order. China (Asia’s largest contributor, accounting for nearly 18% of world emissions: US government data) and India, (which contributes around 5% to global warming today) have refused to accept strict curbs on their greenhouse emissions, stating that this would seriously undermine their economic growth. While India feels that the developed countries, with their wasteful habits, are to be blamed and should be setting higher emission caps for themselves, the Chinese stand is not very different. After recent talks with EU officials, Chinese Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, stated in no uncertain terms that developing countries were not to be blamed for global warming. He further added that it was the responsibility of every country “to do what it can for the environment.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

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Successfully supplemented

Successfully supplemented

Then there is jathropha derived bio-diesel which can be successfully supplemented with diesel. Being extracted from a process that is surprisingly on the basis of sugar production, jathropa which, being among the cheapest sources has attracted large firms like the erstwhile DaimlerChrysler, D1 Oils (which claims 1 million hectares of plantations), and now Reliance (which is set to enter the ray with plantations in the South). The sad part remains – there are no clear-cut policies outlined to encourage and streamline their activities in a uniform manner. For instance, wind energy contributes just 1% and solar contributes just 4-5%, primarily due to low numbers of trained manpower. As revealed by P. P. Bhojvaid, Senior Fellow, TERI, “The future of alternate fuels is uncertain because of ambiguous government policies. When it comes to bio-diesel derived from jathropha; even at 5% blending ratio, we need at least 11 million hectares of jathropa plantations.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Desired step

There are other oil behemoths too, which have initiated the much desired step towards accelerating the time-limit set for potential usage of bio-fuels and replacing the dreaded, polluting fossil-fuels with renewables like hydro, wind, solar energies et al. Chief of the lot being the $233.3 billion British oil giant BP, which is now popular as Beyond Petroleum! BP has announced a walloping $8 billion in investments evenly spread over a decade till 2015 to its alternative energy division, which currently has wind, solar & hydrogen power on its list. Most encouragingly, the Briton expects its revenues from solar business to touch a rollicking $1 billion in 2007, perhaps only proving why Exxon ‘should have carried-on’ its quest for alternatives twenty years back!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Landfill bans

As it is, 26 states are regulating the disposal of consumer electronics or considering such regulations. And landfill bans on CRT monitors are - already in effect in Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Wisconsin and California. Sure, you can just toss your old machine into the garbage can, but remember, all those PCs and monitors also have serial numbers. No one likes a litterbug, and polluters get even worse press—not to mention the much steeper fines. I don’t want to be living in a world that is without PCs, iPods, and always-on broadband internet connections. After all, this is my livelihood. That said, it’s high time we all start thinking very seriously about the carbon off sets that result. We are not going to solve the global warming problem simply by planting a few trees in our backyard. But then it’s a start, isn't it?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Carbon emissions

This implies that Unites States would be able to save 7,439 tonnes of carbon emissions every year on deployment of Project Green! IBM is presently rescuing Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), which is estimating an 80% reduction in its energy use by shifting to IBM ‘System p servers’. “We are providing clients, the IBM action plan to make their data centres fully utilised and energy efficient,” says Mike Daniels, senior VP, IBM Global Technology Services. Though IBM might be promoting it as a Green initiative, the fact is that the whole Project Green of IBM targets to make a lot of money by helping the corporate data centres (suffering from energy constraints) with its high efficiency servers. According to analyst firm IDC, roughly 50 cents is spent on energy for every dollar spent on the hardware.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Rest in peace...

... for HCL, if it won’t go green!
For many computer fanatics, the hottest buzz this March wasn’t the marvellous results posted by IT companies but was the launch of eco-friendly laptops by HCL. By introducing a complete range of ecoefficient consumer & business notebooks in compliance with the EU directive on Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS), the $2.7 billion company is certainly showing some intent on making its presence felt in the green arena. When asked about the business imperative, Rajendra Kumar, Executive VP, HCL Infosystems, states, “It won’t be fair to label eco-friendly laptops with tags like ‘making business sense’ or ‘a regulatory burden.’”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Innovation

And an innovation centre in Mumbai has also come up recently to add to this list. Adds Rahul Aggarwal, VP, Global Marketing Hub & India Marketing, Lenovo, “The company believes in making the best engineered products.” He mentions at length the superior, innovative additions in Lenovo desktops, “The think light for reading in the dark, the face recognition system, the hard disc protection system, the jog dial for quickly moving from music to movies to photos, the roll cage for protecting the screen…” The IBM effect is still visible here. Then, one wonders, what gives Lenovo a better chance than IBM, which was always famed for these technologies, but failed to convert them into market gains. Here, Rahul clarifies, “IBM’s focus was slowly shifting towards large enterprises, services and soft ware. In client PC segment, on the other hand, the rules of the game had changed...” This, according to him, is where the Chinese edge is helping now.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

To start or not to start? That is the question...

Write to Jack & Suzy Welch at editor@businessandeconomy.org
Que: Sometimes I get a feeling that I want to start my own business and fly freely. And while I know some smart friends who might join me, I still wonder whether I have the instincts and leadership required.
(Umair Malik, Islamabad, Pakistan.)

Ans: Forget for a moment your desire to fly free. Forget the “required” levels of instinct and leadership. And while you’re at it, forget your smart friends. To start a company, you need those things eventually. But first and foremost, you need a great idea. That doesn’t mean we want to discourage you or denigrate the entrepreneurial urge. To us, the gutsy individuals, who launch ventures, are some of the society’s biggest heroes. And yes, there are people who dump their day jobs, hunker down in a garage or spare bedroom with a bunch of friends, and then five years later, can be seen ringing the opening bell on Wall Street. But before you start visualising yourself in that picture and make the leap from stability to start-up, it probably makes sense to separate wishful thinking from the less-rosy realities that usually characterize the entrepreneurial experience. Let’s start with a favourite “wish” – you mention it right in your letter – that entrepreneurship grants independence.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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

Why Suzlon is turned on

Many say that the RE power acquisition by Suzlon signals a meteoric high for promoter Chairman Tulsi Tanti. Will he crash or fly higher?

“The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind, the answer is...” That was poet and rock phenomenon, Bob Dylan, about 50 years ago. Having completed 50 years, the multi-billionaire Tulsi Tanti has neither the time nor the inclination to go nostalgic about Dylan. But for sure, he and his brainchild, Suzlon, have turned the meaning of ‘blowing in the wind’ on its head.

His neighbours hardly ever get to see him. They are typical upper middle-class professionals, who are realising their own versions of the Great Indian Dream. But they can’t help talking about Tulsi Tanti, who stays in a rented apartment in this upscale locality of Pune. Tanti’s brothers stay in similarly modest adjoining apartments and the family has dinner together. Tulsi Tanti is missing most of the time because he is inside an aircraft for about 200 days in a year. Of late, neighbours talk more oft en about the modest lifestyle of Tanti, who is worth about $5 billion at the moment; particularly after a high-profile builder from Pune called Abhay Bhonsle was arrested recently by tax authorities for evading duty. Bhonsle stays in a 56-bedroom mansion in a tony Pune suburb. About 200 kilometres away in Dalal Street, nobody is interested in where Tanti and his family stay.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

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