Showing posts with label IIPM Management Institute. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM Management Institute. Show all posts

Monday, October 08, 2012

Creative capitalism in fact holds all the answers?

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate, explains why creative capitalism in fact holds all the answers to improve human life, as told to B&E’s Neha Sarin

B&E : So are you trying to say that there is really no difference between Creative Capitalism and Corporate Social Responsibility?
MY: What actually is Corporate Social Responsibility?! It is something which started with the idea to help other people; but today, CSR has only become money to gain better public relations. You sponsor a cricket team, a rock concert, that’s CSR. The money goes to the R department and does not go to help poor people. CSR budget is now public relations money.

B&E What kind of government support did you get for your concept of Micro-credit and Grameen Bank? What are the kinds of hurdles you faced to achieve what you had dreamt of?
MY: There were so many hurdles. This was something new. So I knew it was very critical. The kind of words they used irritated me for a while. You had to give money to the poor women. You had to deal with them. You had to address unknown women. These were the hurdles we faced. Then there were legal hurdles too. Initially we did not have any law, which explained how you could lend money without any security. We did not have any banking structure like the government banking system had. When you took some money from the government, it puts some money in the bank @ p.a. interest of 5-6%. As a token of support the government deposits the money. But in our case, we did not even take money from the government. We took it from the borrowers. We take money from them and then lend them to the poor people. That’s how we have always worked, and worked well….

B&E: Aneel Karnani (a Strategic Management professor at Michigan University) criticises the whole idea and system of Micro-credit. He said that giving money to the ladies-folk creates all the problem due to the low level of education and women freedom in these societies. Do critics like him make your job more difficult?
MY: People come with different perceptions. If lending money to poor women make them laugh-at and criticised, let the people laugh. I don’t know what this gentleman sees wrong with it. But he may have some points. I don’t want to argue with that. But it does not convince me that he can lend money to the rich. See, in this world if you want to do something, people will criticise and say something.

B&E: Isn’t it risky that money is lent to poor people?
MY: That is not true at all. In Grameen Bank alone, we have a high rate of return of about 97-99%. Whether we work in India or Bangladesh or Somalia or Costa Rica, it does not matter. High rate of return has impressed people about micro-credit systems.

B&E: For how many people did you actually stand as a guarantor? And what was the amount you lent in total?
MY: There were almost 20,000 borrowers to begin with in the first place. And the total amount that was borrowed amounted to a massive 20 million taka (an average of 1,000 taka per head)!

B&E: With such a huge risk potential, didn’t your strategy backfire or at least weren’t you hesitant to some extent considering the possible negative outcomes?
MY: See, we trust people. It is a continuous system. We do well with them. So they come to us again. Then they stay back with us. We remind them. It is not a one shot thing. So there is no such room of doubt.

B&E: Which was the bank that actually helped you in the end?
MY: The bank is called Janata Bank. It is a government-owned bank and sits in the campus of the University where I teach.

B&E: So what kind of response are you receiving from the market today ?
MY: Yes, we don’t give advertisements in any form of media or newspaper. Yes if you talk about word of mouth we do. We write and people read about it everywhere. Through this, the whole world came to know. Thus the word spreads and naturally so. And about the response, the results are there to prove that it has all been really well accepted. Our model of CSR has done wonders; and that is what real socially responsible capitalistic business should learn to do. No business grows forever without the growth of the entire society and it’s time the global capitalists learn the truth…


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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Saturday, October 06, 2012

How 2G is India’s First Pro-Poor Scam

The chatterati and the pundits seem to be behaving as if the 2G scam marks the end of the Indian civilization. There is passionate agonizing over how the carpetbaggers of crony capitalism have looted more than Rs 1.7 lakh crore (almost $40 billion) of potential revenue due to the Indian exchequer. There are inevitable and familiar laments about how the money could have been used to build more schools, health care centres et al for poor Indians (the real scam being that enough schools and health care centers for the poor have not been built even 63 years after independence; 54 years of Nehruvian socialism; 39 years of Garibi Hatao and 20 years of economic reforms).

Forgive me for being cynical; but I think the poor of India would actually cheer and welcome 2G style scams because they have actually given something worthwhile to the poor. Look at it this way: till former Minister A. Raja started doling out telecom licenses like prasad in a crowded temple, a handful of telecom operators were making a killing and the really poor could not still afford the tariffs charged by them. Post the monumental 2G scam, telecom tariffs actually dropped to a paisa a second and even lower. More importantly, intense competition forced telecom operators – both old and new – to look beyond saturated urban markets. The fact is: most of the 300 odd million new subscribers since 2008 live in small towns and rural India. For them, the power of mobile connectivity at often Rs.100 a month is literally a dream come true. Also, do not forget how smart entrepreneurs have grabbed this exploding market by importing Chinese handsets. Most of these models are in sync with this new market: they offer long battery (upto 72 hours, even 72 days!) life to people for whom long and unending power cuts are an unending reality.

Ask these poor Indians about the moral, intellectual and existential issues raised by the 2G scam and they will laugh at you. And justifiably. For more than 60 years, they have helplessly witnessed false promise after promise and scam after scam without any material difference to their wretched lives. Now, scam or not, they have got something concrete and worthwhile. As far as they are concerned, the pundits can go on debating to kingdom come.

And don’t underestimate the poor or their ability to figure out what is good for them. The perpetually scam tainted MRNEGA is another example of a pro-poor scam. Everybody knows corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and contractors are still brazenly using NREGA funds to line their pockets. And yet the poor in rural India consider the scheme to be a divine blessing. Their logic? Earlier, they used to get nothing; now they at least get something. Raving and ranting and railing against NREGA corruption is not going to change that.

The fact is: Indira Gandhi was dead right when she categorized corruption as a global phenomenon. You must be living in cuckoo land if you think there is no corruption in countries like Japan, USA, UK et al. The best a society can do is miniminize corruption; it can never be eliminated.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

Ready for a divine holiday?

In the hills of Tirupati, nature and man have collaborated to proffer the traveller more than just a holy communion

It was still dark outside. Lord Balaji was being awakened. Slokas were being recited. Tightly packed among the throngs of people offering their orisons, I tried to get a peak of the devotees who were rolling on the ground around the temple, slowly chanting the Lord’s name. Some minutes later we all shuffled in a single file along a long path. In no time I was face to face with the imposing and awe-inspiring idol of Lord Balaji. Five moments later, before I could entirely take in the magnificence before me, I was asked to move along. Roughly 60,000 people come for a darshan of Lord Venkateswara/ Lord Balaji every day to this ancient temple at Tirumala. I’d travelled in a car for some 150 kms from Chennai to reach; pilgrims often abandon their vehicles and climb roughly 4000 steps for a darshan, for their prayers to be fulfilled by Lord Balaji. I had witnessed the Suprabhatam (awakening the Lord) that morning; similar sevas are conducted through the day, where the Lord is given a bath, the Lord is given breakfast, to finally when around 10pm the Lord is put to bed.

3200ft above sea level, the Tirumala Hill comprises seven hills. On the seventh hill is the sacred temple of Sri Venkateswara. Legend has it that Thondaiman, the ruler of Thondaimandalam (present-day Kanchipuram), built the temple after Lord Vishnu appeared in his dreams. Its current grandeur and richness is primarily thanks to the competition among rulers of South Indian dynasties, be it the Pallavas of Kanchipuram (9th century AD), the Cholas of Thanjavur (10 AD), the Pandyas of Madurai, or the kings and chieftains of Vijayanagar (14th-15th century AD), who all attempted to out-do each other in their offerings to the Lord. This tradition especially gained strength during the reign of the Vijayanagar dynasty, and to this day there are people who offer bags filled with jewels to the Lord.

Another offering especially associated with this temple is that of hair. Both men and women completely shave their head as a gesture of sacrifice in return for fulfilment of their prayers or as penance. The temple earns in millions annually through the sale of tonnes of devotees’ locks! Thus through receiving the offerings of hair and people’s wealth, the temple has built a reputation of being the richest temple in the world.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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Thursday, September 06, 2012

Wars of the Luxury Car Makers in India

The Indian Luxury car market is on the verge of exploding, led by the increasing affluent class. this has catapulted Germany’s big 3 into an internecine and long drawn war. Is their any winner in sight yet? B&E’s Sanchit Verma Gives an incisive sectoral update on the current relative sales figures, positioning issues, production plans...

To understand a nation’s economic growth, one could study many indicators, from GDP rates to consumption indices to even employment levels. But the most fascinating and alluring of all such factors remains the automobile industry growth, which over time has become a seat-of-the-pants clinker of a method to forecast expected economic momentum. In other words, positive automobile industry sales are in general signals for positive GDP growth; and vice versa too. For example, when August 2010 US automobile sales figures were released, analysts realised that these were the worst August auto sales figures in 27 years –immediately, market expectations of and from the US economy fell in an instant. Yes, there are many economists who deride the drawing of such a clunky correlation between the auto-industry and economic growth – but then, the fact of the matter is, such a correlation not only exists but is supremely inevitable.

And for sprightly economies like India’s where in reality there exists no true middle class, and where factors like UN’s Gini index (shows income inequality, with 0 denoting total equality and 100 denoting utter inequality) have become more eccentric by the year – apparently, at 36.8 on Gini, the UN believes India is pleasurably floating on brilliant equality of income across classes – an extension of the auto sales correlation to the luxury car segment throws up brilliant market understanding, again seat-of-the-pants, of how forcefully would India’s top segment of consumers drive our economy.

While this was one of the primary reasons why we took up this issue’s cover storyline, this wasn’t the only one. The lives and styles of the rich and famous fascinate one and all – including yours truly. And there’s always this infatuated fascination with getting to know how richer are the rich growing by the day (well, not many might wish to entertain a commentary on how much poorer are India’s poor) – something similar to how new records in high-end b-school placement packages are followed by everybody. What better a method to study the same, and look intellectual at the same time, than to minutely analyse the luxury car segment, interrogate top CEOs in this sector, and get to drive a few of their dapper suave monster machines – all for the sake of the nation! And given the suspiciously elongated justification we’ve attempted to pull for this article, we jump right into the issue.

The target market: There’s no gainsaying the fact that the current rabid war in India’s luxury car segment is clearly because the target market has undergone a similar rabid growth. Some statistics would put this inference into context. According to the World Wealth Report by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini, India’s HNWI (High Net Worth Income) population came down by 31.6% yoy to 84,000 in 2008 after growing by 22.7% yoy in 2007. The Indian industry, which had suffered a slowdown in 2008, came back strongly in 2009, apparently on the backs of the HNWI population, which grew by 50.9% yoy for the year. The report further suggests that India’s HNWI population will reach three times its 2008 level by 2018. Cut to the luxury car segment in India, and in a similar vein to the HNWI movement, a recent study by AT Kearney projects that the Indian luxury market is set to triple from current levels to $14.72 billion by 2015. And going by SIAM figures, even though the luxury car segment accounts for just around 1% of the Indian automotive market, this minute segment in itself grew by 33.58% yoy in the period of April-September 2010.

Clearly, there’s not much left to imagination about why western car manufacturers, especially in the luxury segment now, are focusing in a mammoth way on developing nations like China and India. For example, German luxury car maker Mercedes Benz assembled its first car in India in 1996, and had had a virtually free run since in the affluent class for years – till the time competitors entered and got on with the battle in double time. Today, the field is still dominated by the Germans, with Mercedes Benz, BWM and Audi (Volkswagen’s premium arm) engaged in an epic battle to capture. Besides them, brands like Porsche, Bentley, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Maybach, Rolls Royce, Toyota, Volvo, Nissan and Mitsubishi are present in one or more segments, since they still don’t feel the Indian market is ready for their products. That’s a surprising take, given that the increasing desire to own luxury cars simply to ‘up’ one’s status has led to India’s luxury car market heating up like how. From a mere 600 units back in 1999 (primarily Mercedes Benz), the luxury car segment is poised to give annual sales of over 15000 units per year.

Market share movements: Even to the untrained eye, the critical years that have changed India’s luxury car marketing landscape have been the last two to three years, with 2009 being the watershed year. In 2006, BMW had a market share of simply 9% in India. Cut to 2009. While Mercedes’ sales reached 3,202 units, BMW managed to clock a fantastic 3,587 units. As a result, BMW overtook Mercedes and gained over 40% market share. BMW President Dr. Andreas Schaaf told B&E, “2007-2009 were demanding years for BMW in India, and at the same time, the most successful entry for BMW in any country recently.” Successful because BMW was able to increase its sales by ten-folds from 2006 to 2009. Audi wasn’t far behind, with a record 2009 as well in India. Audi sold 1,658 cars in 2009, translating into a growth of 58% over 2008.

Understandably, this was news that shook the whole industry. In the first five months of this financial year, however, Mercedes again recaptured its leadership position with a sale of 2,212 cars, with BMW at 1,987 units and Audi at 1,876 units in hot pursuit. Dr. Wilfried Aulbur, CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, told B&E, “We will end up with more than 5000 units this year, which means we have had a CAGR over these 5 years of about 30%.” In January 2010, Mercedes broke its own past records by selling 411 units, with BMW and Audi standing at 341 319 respectively. Mercedes-Benz India announced a sale of 321 units in April 2010 taking the cumulative sales for January-April 2010 to 1603 units marking a growth of 80% yoy. E-Class registered 139% growth while the SUV portfolio registered 67% growth. There was a significant month-on-month growth in April 2010 for both C-Class (71%) and E-Class (84%). Such huge growth figures in the face of competition are critically surprising and momentous. Mercedes’ July 2010 month sales of 521 vehicles in India was apparently the best ever month sales since Mercedes entered India 15 years ago. Their August 2010 sales at 573 units bettered that too! And if you were to see the 662 units they sold in September 2010, you’d start understanding why we have been continuously using the term ‘rabid’ to describe this segment’s growth.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
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Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Courtney, lovable at last

Courtney Love surprised all at her recent turnout at Ziegfeld Theatre (NYC). The Calvin Klein red dress, well accentuating her newfound contours, and flawless make-up, was quite unlike Love’s previous image, chequered with infamous episodes of drugs and bad fashion. Setting the red carpet ablaze, hats off to the lady who took pains to find the right dress, even while she fights for her daughter’s custody. Or perhaps her clean-up act is an attempt on her part to fit the mother’s role? A little over the top perhaps, but the lady’s sure trying.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Singing his way to fame?

Neil Nitin Mukesh is blessed with singing talent, perhaps inherited from his father and grandfather. While Neil has used this talent before by composing and singing a song for Jail, he now is all geared-up to release his very own album of 12 tracks. The actor wishes to use four tracks for his films and the rest for his album. Still struggling to find a foothold as an actor, we hope his other competence paves way for more success.


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

The group’s flagship company jaypee associates ltd

While there is a lot of hue and cry about jaypee infratech’s yamuna expressway project, the group’s flagship company jaypee associates ltd is climbing up the ladder with its diversified approach, says Deepak Ranjan Patra

Buoyed by the performance of the cement division, JAL, which has an installed capacity of 21.3 million tones, now aims to scale it up to 37.55 million tones per annum by FY 2012 through various greenfield projects. Interestingly, if forecasts about Indian cement industry in FY 2012 hold true, then at that capacity JAL will be the second largest cement manufacturer in the country. Certainly, increased capacity will result in higher top-line for the company. But, considering the prevailing oversupply scenario in the industry, the question remains whether the company will manage to save its margin and thus the bottom-line? Well, analysts like Shailesh Kanani from Angel Securities puff up some doubt on the same. Shailesh explains to B&E, “Capacity expansion will certainly help JAL’s top-line to grow high, but the pressure on margin due to over supply conditions will hurt its bottom-line in the near future. It’s a risk arising from the market conditions. So, it will be tough for the company to avoid the same, more so for the fact that the company itself is increasing its production capacity by a great extent.”

However, the company, which hopes to mop up revenue of around `60 billion from the cement division this year, sounds positive on this front and expects the demand-supply situation to ease in the later part of this fiscal. As per it, with the government giving higher importance to the infrastructure sector and its new production facilities operating at full capacities, the cement business can achieve a significant growth.

The company’s real estate wing too showed resilience in the last fiscal by selling premium real estate of around 1.4 million sq. ft. at an average rate of `5500 per sq. ft. at its on going projects at Noida and Great Noida regions. In fact, backed by strong real estate results the company’s engineering business (including real estate and others) saw its income rising 79.26% from `36.66 billion to `65.72 billion. However, at present JAL’s real estate business is heavily focused on residential projects. And as analysts feel, down the line this may not bring much onto the plate unless the company enters into the commercial segment, which offers a higher margin.

Meanwhile, to keep its growth track intact, the company is in the process of strengthening its interests in other sectors. Despite having a strong faith in organic growth, it has recently forayed into the fertilizer segment by signing a joint venture with Duncan Industries to revive the latter’s urea plant in UP. Considering the fact that the country imports around 6 million tonnes of urea every year, the plant may be a value proposition for the company in the years to come. Further, hospitality is another area where the company aims to gain ground in the days to come and thus continuously adding impetus to the expansion of its presence in the particular sector. However, despite its thrust on other sectors, the company still believes that it’s infrastructure, which will continue to guide the company to new heights. Manoj Gaur says, “JAL has an established track record as the leading infrastructure company with clear competitive advantage and immense growth potential in Indian infrastructure and core sector. The group is fully geared up with the avenues opened by the government of India in infrastructure, real estate and power sectors.”

Yes, there are hiccups. But with a strong determination, experienced management and impeccable track record of project execution, JAL is confident enough to move up the ladder when it’s about being the country’s best in terms of earning profits for their investors. Perhaps, that’s what even makes analysts like Shailesh say, “If you are ready for the long-term, this company will offer you great returns.”


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Friday, August 31, 2012

“We’re doing our best to understand India”

He works for a company that makes a billion simply by certifying other companies. Mark Loughead is the COO at Intertek, whose first-half revenue for 2010 rose by 4.9% to £652 million. B&E met Mark up to question him on the future of the certification business by Neha Saraiya

Although Intertek has been operating in India for over a decade across various domains including textiles, food, electrical products, auto sector and chemical industry, it’s only recently – post the global warming brouhaha and renewable energy focus – that manufacturers and even the government in India have realized the benefits of certification and the requirement of syncing their processes with global benchmarks. Intertek has surely done its noteworthy bit – for one, it fast tracked the air-conditioner energy labelling program in India. Development of bio fuel testing standards in the country is being led by Intertek too. B&E met up with Mark Loughead, global COO, Intertek, for an exclusive talk on India, the future of testing and of his firm’s business model:

B&E: Is India up to your standards in terms of certification?
Mark Loughead (ML): The current infrastructure of the country is by and large similar. The issue we face is [transportation and] re-transportation. Our customers want the product quickly after it is designed as in today’s world, time is money. Still, we are doing all possible things to get accustomed to the various conditions in India and to get all the skilled people required by us. Other than that, it is very cost effective to work here. Moreover, with India being touted as the offshoring capital of the world, this gives us an immense opportunity to expand.

B&E: How much importance do you pay to R&D at the corporate as well as at the country level?
ML: It’s extremely important. We always work according to some set standards to get into force. We conduct maximum R&D in our processes stream with an aim to get new technology to help our customers, as it is comparatively difficult to manage them during a business cycle. We take our experts into our research department and help them work independently as this gives us the benefit of a variable cost. We can then test many products and thus, we get high realization rates for our products. Thus, it’s a win-win situation for both. Moreover, when the business cycle gets changed, we get to know the needs of the customers and then we modify accordingly.

B&E: In areas like consumer electronics and automobiles, certification has now become kind of mandatory. But then, there are many industries where certification is not compulsory. How do you develop business in such a situation?
ML: Yes, in areas like consumer electronics and automobiles, certification now plays a pivotal role. But even if we just look at the testing part, only around 10% is compulsory as it is of standard quality and there is no requirement of inspection to be done outside the factories. Still, many companies follow it the other way, as mostly around 80-90% of the products still fall under the non mandatory category. It also translates to a huge untapped market size of almost £200 billion, which is large in itself.

B&E: Which are the basic areas where certification can be implemented?
ML: Traditionally, from the stage of R&D, products would generally be certified at their production stages only. But now, we are working with our customers in a much different way. Right from the product design stage till the delivery stage, we ensure that certification is followed at every required step. This largely stems from the fact that today, our engineers are able to see and monitor the products getting developed from the very early stages. We want to introduce certification from the very early stages not only to satisfy our customers in terms of quality and safety but also to add more value to our product offerings eventually.


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Thursday, August 30, 2012

“We often work without competition”

In an exclusive with virat bahri, Aricent CEO Sudip Nandy talks about how focus has been one of Aricent’s key strengths and how they will leverage it to enhance value proposition and growth prospects for the future
 It’s been over 4 years since Aricent was set up as a conglomeration of different entities post the acquisition of a majority stake by PE giants KKR and Sequoia Capital. The company has seen an impressive success rate, with revenues at $484 million in FY 2009-10 (from $238 million in FY 2005-06, a CAGR of 19.4%). The company’s business model has several unique hues to it; starting from the exclusive focus on telecom to the multiple client engagement model to the intense focus on design as well as R&D. In this exclusive with B&E, Aricent CEO Sudip Nandy discusses the company’s plans to grow in the telecom space and how the sector is expected to evolve further.

B&E: Tell us about how Aricent evolved as a pure play IT company in the telecom vertical. Do you feel it remains a compelling strategy?
Sudip Nandy (SN): Different parts of Aricent have got different ages, some of the parts are very old. For instance, the larger part of the building where we are sitting was one of the entities called Hughes Software Systems. These were independent companies in the 1980s and 90s. Hughes was listed on the BSE. In 2004, Flextronics acquired Hughes Software Systems in India and made it a part of Flextronics Software Systems in India. They continued buying a few more companies in India. In 2006, Flextronics became a part owner, and a significant investment was brought in by PE KKR and Seqouia Capital. At that point, we became Aricent. It just so happened that the larger entity called Hughes Software Systems and so many of the other entities that got acquired under it, were focussed in some way or the other on the communication eco system. There was a synergy in what was there together. The decision was taken that we should focus on the telecom and communications area since the feeling was that this is going to be a very very high growth area. Three years on, we find that was highly prescient in terms of where we are today. It is not only high growing; it is going to find its way into all parts of life and industries. It’s almost like internet in the mid-1990s. Communication in the next ten years is going to be embedded into everything. We think that with the focus we have, we are able to a) better predict what the future could bring b) invest ahead of the curve and c) when required beat out competition but often work without competition on our own work with clients. Over the last four to five years, we have been growing well and have been able to ride the crest and the trough.

B&E: You have had a long experience at Wipro. What motivated you to make the shift to Aricent?
SN: I have had a more broad experience in technology from 1989 onwards, with a little under 26 years in Wipro. And this is the first change; about an year and a half back I joined Aricent. And at Wipro, Aricent was our competition number 1! And when we talk about Aricent in comparison with other IT companies in India there are some unique aspects; besides the fact that we are sharply focussed. Companies are struggling and are at different levels of readiness in terms of the kind of consulting they have created. For us, around 20% of the revenue comes from situations which is really consulting; where the revenue per employee would be in the $300,000 per employee range; where in normal outsourcing and services business, it would be in the $50,000 per employee range. Second interesting thing is that the model that we have is what we call rightshoring. Around 82% of our people in US and Europe are actually local people. For other companies, the figure is around 20% and the rest are expatriates from India. We are more strategic for customers here whereas in my previous job, I would say we were probably more tactical for the customers. More positive was the sense of what is possible in Aricent. We had an innovation piece that was chugging along and doing very well; and then there was this engineering piece, and there was also a piece which was products and licences. All three had a significant communication component but it was not woven together. If you put the missing piece of strategy, it becomes a very compelling and complete story. Secondly I understood the business very well as we were competing with Aricent. The possibility of creating a new class of company was a motivating factor.

B&E: With respect to your co-creation strategy with clients, what are the different models of revenue you employ and how is it working out?
SN: We do co-creation because the work we are doing is very strategic. Often when services companies work with customers, it’s more of a play on the cost side, whereas our work is more to do with creating new and enhanced revenue streams. Most people go and talk to a CIO and get business, but with a CMO it is a very different discussion and value proposition. Even if it is not licensing of something we have created, we have different models – fixed price model, fixed price + sharing of rewards, capped royalties, et al. We haven’t made it a huge part of our business yet but it could over time become a huge part of our revenue. In situations like cost saving, clients want to share the risk and to keep you happy, they give a bit of a reward. With co-creation, they want to share the reward. We don’t own the IP in these cases; the customer owns it. We have not just people doing delivery work but also project management for the customer and defining their product road map. They have their eyes and ears on the ground to understand what competition is doing and how we can be a step ahead. Our people also work for customers on the strategy front. This is very different from a purely product engagement.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

“I rate the UPA government’s second tenure only a five on ten.”

Sudarshan Mazumdar, Former Director of Brand and Communications, Fortis and Escorts Group, speaks to Steven Philip Warner on why he considers the UPA II regime a half-success...

B&E: How would you rate the first and second tenure of the UPA government?
SM: Considering the overall performance since 2004, I rate the UPA government’s first tenure a 6.5 on 10 and its second tenure only a 5 on 10. The second season for UPA has been marred with failures. Be it the Budgets or the failed implementation (so far) of an issue like GST.

B&E: But aren’t you satisfied with UPA II’s foreign policies?
SM: We have tried to improve our relationships with China, Russia and others. But how beneficial it has been for India? Even today, we have not been able to strike any agreement with China, which still supports the nuclear programme in Pakistan. I think the biggest failure of the UPA has been that even after the Mumbai attacks of 2008, it did not succeed in creating a cohesive pressure on our neighbours to stop them from shipping terrorists. That is blatant. There has to be a coherent policy. You cannot have external parties representing you, which is precisely what has been happening. This has given Pakistan an undue advantage during inter-border talks. All this represents a failure of UPA II.

B&E: And what are your thoughts on inflation in basic food commodities?
SM: Even today, we still have to count on the weather gods to forecast how our economic growth will be. Currently, our agricultural growth is below expectations. Food grain production actually dropped this year by 12%. Then, there is poor food preservation. The lack of government supported logistics creates great wastage. Inflation is just the end result.


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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Kat’s Game for more!

While the world swayed to Shakira’s Waka Waka at the South Africa World Cup, the organisers of the Commonwealth Games have roped in Katrina Kaif to work the magic for India. The actress, who turned 26 recently, is learning belly dancing for her performance on an anthem composed by AR Rehman. Already struggling with a hectic schedule, Katrina seems to have agreed to many more sleepless nights!


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Friday, August 24, 2012

AMIT SRIVASTAVA, COORDINATOR INDIA, RESOURCE CENTER

THE SIGNIFICANT DROP IN GROUNDWATER LEVELS DUE TO COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES, CONTINUES TO BE THE REASON FOR WORKABLE ISSUES BECOMING JUDICIAL MATTERS

In March this year, a High Power committee appointed by the government of Kerala validated the community concerns. The committee concluded that Coca-Cola was responsible for water depletion and pollution, and applied the “polluter pays principle” in recommending that Coca-Cola be held liable for around $48 million in damages that it has caused in Plachimada, which have destroyed the very fabric of the agrarian community.

In a manner that characterizes the way with which Coca-Cola has continued to operate in India, the company has questioned the very legitimacy of the High Power committee that was appointed by the state of Kerala.

The committee was the highest empowered committee possible to be set up in the state of Kerala, and its members included eminent officials like the state department heads of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Health, as well as regional directors of the Pollution Control Board and the Ground Water Board, along with a number of experts.

If Coca-Cola chooses not to accede to the findings and recommendations of such a high power committee in India, they should not do business in India. Adopting such an adversarial position would be unthinkable in the United States, Coca-Cola’s home country, or even in the European Union. The company’s actions therefore exhibit a double standard – it has more respect for the law and institutions in developed countries than in India. This is not acceptable.

An international campaign is underway, reaching all the way to Coca-Cola’s boardroom in Atlanta, to ensure that Coca-Cola respect the rights of communities and farmers in India and around the world.


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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

OUR GOVERNMENTS HAVE COMMITTED MORE TERRORISM ON HUMANITY THAN THE MAOISTS HAVE

In Chattisgarh, more CRPF jawans get killed by mosquito bites than by Maoists! Yes, that’s the ironic piece of research my friend Prasoon dug out for his article in the issue dated 3 May-9 May 2010 of The Sunday Indian! It does tell a big story. Of course, on one hand it tells the pitiable story of our CRPF jawans, as Prasoon pointed out in his article. Thanks to the Maoist attack recently, which left 75 dead, the government suddenly is feeling concerned about the jawans’ lives! However, before this incident, in the last two years over a hundred of them had died of malaria, which was more than the numbers killed on duty. But previously, of course, the government was not concerned about the lives of jawans because malarial deaths obviously don’t happen in a dramatic newsworthy manner.

Is it not ironic that our paramilitary forces die more of curable diseases than of bullets? Well, that’s the crux of India’s problems. That more CRPF jawans are today scared to die of malaria than of Maoist bullets tells just one side of the story. The other side of the story is the story of India’s reality today. The story of how we neglect about 60% of our population and condemn them to die of hunger, curable diseases and mosquito bites. That’s roughly about 650 million Indians who live below the internationally accepted standard of poverty line of $1.25 per day. While India and Indian media celebrate the rise of its billionaires in the Forbes lists, the poor die penniless out of hunger – unknown and unheard!

And unlike the perception that the government wants to create of Maoists as terrorists, the truth is that Maoists are from these very poor families who are marginalised and left to die of hunger. Worldwide, when leaders have kept such huge sections of masses marginalised, there have been revolutions. You ignore human beings and condemn them to die, they will one day believe that picking up arms is a better option than to die without a fight. History is full of heroes who have killed. Those who kill for a cause are celebrated and those who kill without a cause are called murderers. And the cause is also determined by history, not by today’s media and their judgment.

While the government might be hell-bent on calling the Maoists murderers, the fact is that our governments over the years have been full of murderers, not just in terms of the cases against most of our politicians, but in terms of the way they murder their people by depriving them of food, health and employment – the three basic things a government was supposed to be judged by. Our governments kill about 40% of our masses before they reach the age of 45. These people would have gone on to live till 75 had they got access to food and health. Our governments, over the years, have killed millions through their unpatriotic acts of selfish politics – that of enriching themselves and a handful of business houses while allowing massive poverty to exist all around. And that is why in the eyes of many – from Medha Patkar to Maheshwata Devi – Maoists are not terrorists or murderers but those poor people who have taken to arms and kill for a cause. They want food. They want masses to rise out of rampant poverty. They want health and freedom from destitution and freedom from an assured death sentence that the government has given them by not providing them the right to live and a life of dignity. Men thrown to die will always try to fight back. Such men have the support of the masses where they fight.

If the government wants to really end the Maoist problem, it needs to look beyond. It needs to begin by finding its heart first... a heart that beats for the poorest. And then do real good work for the poorest of the poor. Poor have no reason to pick up arms. They need food. They need employment. They need health, education and dignity. Give them these and they would not take to arms. Condemn them to die young, hungry and penniless, and they will take to Maoism. The slogan mongering and name calling utilised by the government against the Maoists would not absolve the government of its terrorism on humanity.


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