IIPM - MEDIA: IIPM Management Institute

Showing posts with label IIPM Management Institute. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

The way our patent act!

Lifesaving drugs, patented after ’95, will not come cheap

While India’s IT industry hogged media limelight for its breathtaking pace of growth over the last decade, the pharmaceutical industry too kept up the momentum, marching at a decent pace of around 13-14 per cent annually in a market that is estimated to be around $11 billion. The catalyst that got the juices flowing for the pharma industry was the Patent Amendment Bill (2005), which in line with the WTO agreement, got the ball rolling for both MNCs and indigenous companies in the sector. The Bill gave MNCs a strong regulatory framework that acted as a bulwark against cheap copy of their discovered drugs while local companies benefited by getting opportunities to tap the off-patented medicines. Indian pharma companies got another shot in the arm with the new Patent Act stating that only drugs invented after January 1, 1995, can be considered for product patenting.

Eight years hence, India is one of the five biggest pharmaceutical producers in the world, contributing to 10 per cent of the world’s drug production, amounting to $22 billion, up from $7 billion in 2005. And if growth comes can employment generation be far behind? A Department of Pharmaceuticals report indicates an employment figure of 340,000, which is split among 20,000 pharma companies across the country. Armed with such growth opportunities, India could become the potential pharma-superpower over the next two decades – a credit that goes singularly to the Patent Bill, 2005.

However, the Bill has had its fair share of controversies too. The main apprehension has been that it would allow the patenting multinationals to charge high prices for their drugs! The low elasticity of demand for pharmaceutical products, coupled with the aggressive marketing by big pharma companies, entails the risk of encumbering the low and middle income groups with financial stress. However, the recent Supreme Court ruling denying patent rights to Novartis’ anti-leukemia medicine, Glivec, has given reasons to belie such concerns. For instance, Glivec costs an unaffordable Rs. 1.2 lakh per month. But its generic formulation, made by domestic manufacturers, costs no more than just Rs. 8,000. The SC ruling came on the basis of the drug being developed before 1995, which made it ineligible for protection under the new Patent Act.

But the jubilation at the SC verdict is ephemeral. With the passage of time, chances of a drug being formulated before 1995 will gradually grow rarer. And that’s where the danger lurks. Abnormally high priced lifesaving drugs, formulated after ’95, will no longer be affordable.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Monday, June 03, 2013

Book Review: The Revenge of Geography

Reductionist scholarship

19th century American journalist and educationalist, Ambrose Bierce, in what was termed a bout of often frequent farsightedness, once quipped that “War is God’s way of teaching Americans geography.” Who would have known that even exactly 100 years after his demise, this man’s observation would still stand relevant.

By sheer coincidence, this also happens to be the year when American journalist Robert D Kaplan came out with his latest book, The Revenge of Geography: What The Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts And The Battle Against Fate. As the title suggests, the book is an effort to know how geography has played its part in shaping geopolitics and how it does not plan to call it a day yet.

I am not exactly a fan of Kaplan’s writings or even thought process. I generally consider his previous works, including the better known Surrender or Starve: Travels in Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and Eritrea and Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan as a case of fish-out-of-water at the best and attempts towards utter reductionism at the worst. These books, although full of ingredients that make a non-fiction bestseller in the US, fared miserably at the Nielsen. In short, even average chest-thumping Americans took a very dim view of his writings. And that is quite low.

But still, these books tell a lot about how he constructs his arguments. Another book of his with the self-explanatory title Balkan Ghosts was again a non-starter. But somehow or other, President Bill Clinton got hold of a copy, and as legend follows, used the arguments put forward in the book to launch an attack on Yugoslavia. Kaplan’s star rose overnight, albeit for the wrong reasons. When George Bush was mulling an attack on Iraq, Kaplan supported the idea in a then secret meeting with Bush administration insiders. However, these days, he admits he made a mistake. This book is supposed to be the product of that learning curve.

So, let’s look at the premise of the book. The book explores a new paradigm, or if we believe the author, an omnipresent but rather ignored paradigm, that geography has pipped ideology as the anchor-stone of geopolitics in a post-Cold War world. That essentially means that nations decide upon their bilateral and multilateral relationships driven by compulsions of geography and not ideology.

While this analogy is as fresh as any, there are works of other theorists that the author draws on. In fact, Kaplan dedicates a substantial number of pages exploring often debunked theories of these geniuses. So, at the very beginning, readers are thrown into the world of English geographer and academic Sir Halford J. Mackinder, who’s ‘Heartland thesis’ is pitted by Kaplan against the ‘Rimland thesis’ of Dutch geo-strategist and his contemporary, Nicholas J. Spykman. Kaplan explores these ideas for the benefit of the readers and helpfully illustrates why they failed. The problem starts when he presents some of his vague ideas and seeks to draw examples from the contemporary world.

While some of them do hold water, the others fall flat. Take for example Panama Canal. Kaplan maintains that it was the specific geography of Panama that led to the canal and dominance of the US in both Pacific and Atlantic. Had Panama not been there, it would have not been easy for the Americans to surpass Brits at sea. Kaplan theorizes that since Britain was positioned as an island west of mainland Europe, it was geographically well placed to outmanoeuvre Portugal and the Netherlands, which it eventually did, in the war of dominance on water. The US did the same with Britain with Panama Canal. This I concede is a remarkably fresh idea.

However, he fails when he draws parallels between Saudi Arabia and Iran by asserting that these are loose conglomerations of ethnic groups, peoples and lands. And their political centres more often than not cannot hold their distant dominions. Anybody who knows the region will only laugh at this. Similarly, he concedes, rather miserably, that autocrats in Russia, from Stalin to Putin, were necessitated by its ruthless geography.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

BBA Management Education

Saturday, June 01, 2013

Book Review: Cell Phone Nation

India without the wires

The cheap mobile phone is probably the most disruptive communicative device in history. In India its potential to stir up society is breathtaking, argue well known historian Robbin Jeffery and leading anthropologist Assa Doran.

The authors are familiar with the emerging landscape in India for more than two decades now. Jeffrey is a visiting professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies and Asia Research Institute, at National University of Singapore, and has also written on the rise of vernacular dailies in India. Doron, a research fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, too has an earlier India book - Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges: Passages of Resistance.

“Like shoes, mobile phones have become an item that almost everyone can afford and aspire to. Unlike shoes, mobile phones often get taken to bed,” the duo writes in Cell Phone Nation: How Mobile Phones have revolutionised business, politics and ordinary life. The authors explore this theme in the context of India to understand the impact of the cheap mushrooming of communication devices, a revolution for a country that until 1991 had only one phone for 165 people.

All this changed in the first decade of the 21st century and by 2012 mobile phone subscribers in India exceed 900 million out of the 1220 million population. It is ironic that India had far more mobiles than it had toilets of any kind; 53 per cent of the country’s 247 million households still defecated in the open; but mobile phone density in 2012 approached 72 per cent.

The impact of the simple version of the device has been deep. Village councils continue to ban unmarried girls from owning phones. Families have debated whether their new bride should surrender them. Cheap mobile phones have become photo albums, music machines, databases, radio, flashlights… Religious images and uplifting messages continue to flood tens of thousands of millions of phones each day. On the other hand pornographers and criminals have found a tantalizing tool.

Each of the eight chapters is worth a book in itself. The canvas has been divided over the concept of three ‘Cs’. The first is ‘Controlling’, which examines how people struggle to control information, beginning with sub-continent’s Mughal rulers 500 years ago but quickly moving to radio frequency spectrum and nexus of big business, politicians and bureaucrats, and discusses the 2-G scam and infamous Radia tapes.

Second part of the book focuses on who did the connecting ranging from the fast living advertising women and men of Mumbai to small shopkeepers persuaded by their suppliers of the fast moving consumer goods to stock recharge coupons for pre-paid mobile services.

Also what made the cell phone revolution possible in the billion-plus nation conscious its caste and class hierarchy is that it developed the cheapest mobile call rates in the world and turned pre-paid mobile phone plans into a complex and much talked about subject. In 2010, a US dollar (Rs 50) bought more 200 minutes of talk time on an Indian mobile phone; in Australia, it often bought less than one minute. At one point of time, the cost of making an international call from India for three minutes was Rs 300. Today, it is as low as Rs 20.

With mobile phones invading every section of the society, authors tell us how masses became consumers. This occupies the third part of the canvas - consuming in a multitude of ways. “Mobiles were used for business and politics, in households and families to commit crime and foment terror. Some of the practices enabled by the mobile phones were new and disruptive,” the authors observe.

At the most phones brought fundamental changes in the lives of people at the bottom of the pyramid whether it was fishermen in Kerala or Banaras with tips on the rough weather on seas or marginal farmers with farm advisory or money transfer in unbanked areas.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

ExecutiveMBA

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Book Review: Tata Log

The company one keeps

Since 1868, when the founder and first chairman Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata established a private trading firm in Mumbai. it has not only grown and transformed into India’s premier industrial house but has also touched everyone’s life with salt to satellite television, steel to supercomputers to automobiles and what not. Not a day goes by when we are not touched by some or the other Tata product or services or news about them. The latest offering was the ascendency of Cyrus Mistry replacing Ratan Tata as chairman of Tata Group.

It is one industrial house in India that has been well chronicled beginning with RM Lala— the man who penned books such as The Creation Of Wealth: The Tatas From The 19th To 21st Century and Beyond The Last Blue Mountain: A Life Of J.R.D. Tata. Three years back, Morgen Witzel, a leading business historian authored a book Tata: The Evolution of a Corporate Brand. What differentiates Tata Log, written by Harish Bhat, managing director and CEO of Tata Global Beverages, from the previous works is that it attempts to portray how Tata companies have broken new ground and set new standards of excellence over the past two decades since the Indian economy was liberalised in 1991. Secondly by focussing on people who were involved in different projects closely and their dreams and dilemmas, crises and challenges, Bhat has captured the subaltern view of the post-liberalisation decades.

An old Tata hand, Bhat, who has been trying his hand at writing besides managing workers and business, has carefully chosen eight stories that reveal the Tata way of life. This lends a human touch to the Tata Group.

The book begins with the making of India’s first indigenously designed car, the Indica, followed by how Tata Chemicals in Mithapur is transforming the lives of a community in a far-flung, semi-arid corner of the country committed to social causes as diverse as raising the water table in a barren area to protecting the endangered whale shark. Equally interesting is the tale of Tanishq, and how Titan Industries is modernizing and transforming the huge jewellery industry in India.

The chapter on the tribulations of Tata Finance that brought out the worst and the best in the group is timely as Tata Capital is trying to emerge as a new player in the market.

Equally amazing is the story on Second Career Internship Programme, or SCIP, of the Tatas, which offers a second career to women who take a break to raise a family, and the building of the world’s fourth fastest and Asia’s fastest supercomputer-‘EKA’ by S Ramadorai and his team. These chapters peep into how Tata Group transformed itself and various communities and stakeholders around them.

Two stories - one on the first-ever acquisition of an iconic global brand by an Indian company - Tetley and the other about how Tata Steel became the first Indian organisation to win Japan’s prestigious Deming Prize for quality - have been showcased by the author to illustrate Tata’s arrival on the global scene more emphatically than ever before.

As a good storyteller, Bhat has taken care to pepper each of the chapters with interesting anecdotes. For instance he quotes Xerxes Desai, the man who founded Tanishq, to reveal that the name was actually inspired by a Harlequin Great Dane owned by him. The dog was called Monishqa.

In all these eight stories Bhat tell us that the Tata Way is all about 4Ps — pioneering, purposive, principled and perfect - and builds his case to exemplify these 4Ps.

If Bhat chooses to tell us how the group transformed after Indian economy began to walk on the path of liberalisation, he ought to have included the Nira Radia episode, the telecom scam, and the withdrawal of Nano project from West Bengal. But none of these finds a mention in Tata Log.
As the title suggests, Tata Log is at best a record keeping or about ‘Log’- people. Of course it is a question whether somebody like Bhat, who is a sensitive insider, would have dared to include these episodes. Also missing is the extraordinary response of the staff of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai during 26/11 attack.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

Friday, May 24, 2013

Movie review :Table No 21

Heavy weather in cool climes

It isn’t love that makes the world go round for Fiji resort owner Abdul Razzaq Khan (Paresh Rawal). Fear does. He asks the male protagonist: do you believe in God? Yes, the latter replies. No, you fear God, retorts Mr. Khan. For good measure, he adds: “Dar sey hi dunia chalti hai.”

You squirm: God! Is Paresh Rawal still in OMG mode? He isn’t. There is no Akshay Kumar here in the guise of Lord Krishna; for Table No. 21 is neither a social satire nor a profound cinematic discourse on the flip side of faith. Is it, then, a dark thriller that pulsates with life? That neither. Simply put, it is an eminently forgettable film.

On the face of it, Mr. Khan isn’t a pleasant guy to know. He employs all the dread that he can drum up and paints an unsuspecting couple, Vivaan and Siya Agasthi (Rajeev Khandelwal and Tena Desae), into a murky corner that proves too difficult for the lovey-dovey duo to squeeze out of.

For sure, Mr. Khan isn’t playing harmless games. He actually has a deadly point to prove, but we know not what he is really up to until the very tail-end of Table No. 21. Not that it matters.

In Aditya Datt’s cat and mouse thriller, the natural beauty of the salubrious island location far outstrips the less-than-dramatic energy of the fictive battle of psychological attrition that plays out as a series of tricky questions and tasks that Mr. Khan, as the host of an online game show, comes up with for the couple.

The basic premise of Table No. 21 is intriguing enough; the performances are adequate, if not spectacular and the cinematography and editing are both of the highest order. What the film lacks is a genuinely gripping storyline.

The screenplay is overloaded with clichés right out of more conventional Bollywood melodramas – an out-of-work young man struggling to make ends meet and waiting for his big break; a doting wife as adept at romping in an itsy-bitsy bikini on a beach as at going the extra ‘immoral’ mile in keeping the home fires burning, and a deceptively courteous tormentor hell bent on messing up the twosome’s not-so-hard-earned idyllic vacation.

“Secrets are sexy”, Mr. Khan intones, his voice dripping menace. But he isn't the only one who has reasons to keep his cards close to his chest. Vivaan and Siya, too, have demons from the past to deal with.

The tale of sweet nothings, half-truths and betrayals that lie at the heart of Table No. 21 – the number refers to the Article of the Indian Constitution that guarantees “protection of life and personal liberty” – has a high-minded purpose.

Sadly, the methods it uses to get its point across are painfully laboured. Neither the social objective of the statement that it makes nor the dramatic intent of the mise en scène is served well enough in the bargain.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

ExecutiveMBA

Saturday, May 11, 2013

KIDNEY TRANSPLANTATIONS: DELAYS

Stringent laws and complicated procedures are delaying the kidney transplantation process killing more people in the process

This amendment may have succeeded in controlling the kidney racket scandal to a certain limit but it has several loopholes. Mostly, it has been severally criticized as being an unduly elongated process to get approvals for unrelated kidney donation. Due to the lengthy procedure and absence of government nominees on the authorisation committee, transplants have been stalled or delayed in several hospitals. One nephrologist from a reputed hospital said, “We appreciate the move of the government but the procedure has been moving at a snail’s pace.”

In one example, in 2011, many transplants in Maharashtra got delayed for a few months in several hospitals due to delays in release of authorisation letters. Although there is no official data on whether any deaths took place due to delayed release of approval letters, there is no doubt that this may have been the case. Kidney transplantation on an average burns the pocket of an individual by almost Rs 400,000 (if the same is done legally!); post-operative expenses come to around Rs.10,000 per month! And in case the deal is illegal, then the recipient’s family has to conjure up another Rs.200,000 to Rs.400,000.

In reality, the stringent laws that have come into force have not been able to completely curb the illegal kidney racket – but worse, in some cases, have ensured that honest and emergency cases of transplants have not been processed in time. The need of the moment is for the government to now set a more stringent time-bound condition on the Authorization Committee to clear any pending case for kidney transplantation within 24 hours of them receiving the application. If such a time duration seems too less, then the government should immediately disband the concept of an authorization committee which does not understand the criticality of life and death situations.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

ExecutiveMBA

Saturday, May 04, 2013

The B&E B-SCHOOL PANEL MEET 2012-13

For three years now, B&E has been coming out with its critically acclaimed annual B-school rankings, which rank the top 30 B-schools in India uniquely based on the scores given by industry leaders to the top 30 B-schools (shortlisted on the basis of rigorous primary and secondary research by ICMR) on five critical parameters – course content, industry interface, faculty research & writing, global exposure and placements & packages.

The B&E B-School Panel Meet 2012-13 focused on whether ‘entrepreneurship’ and ‘social inclusion’ should be added to the five existing parameters to rank the top 30 B-schools. While there was widespread consensus on the need to inculcate an entrepreneurial spirit, panel members also expressed concern that B-schools were creating more employees rather than entrepreneurs. Dr. M. K. Chaudhuri, Founder-Director, IIPM, commented, “To be a successful entrepreneur, some experience is essential. Only after 3-5 years experience in some product/market, I can imagine that they can innovate on a new product and look forward to almost 100% success. A placement is absolutely necessary if you want to achieve some business objective.”

In terms of social inclusion, the debate centred on whether it is really relevant to corporate strategy, and consequently, to B-school education. Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri, Editor-in-Chief, Planman Media, asserted that it was an absolute necessity and stated, “At IIPM, we propagate the philosophy of ‘survival of the weakest’, as opposed to ‘survival of the fittest’, which is how the world runs. But if you want to change the society to a more humane society, you have to focus on ‘survival of the weakest’, which is also the philosophy that we follow in our families.” He further added that if the industry could lobby for purchasing power for the bottom 80%, they would be really lobbying for 20 years of profits.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

BBA Management Education

Monday, April 15, 2013

“We have reduced our guidance by 14%”

Seshagiri Rao, Group Chief Financial Officer, JSW

B&E: The second quarter results this year show a lot of drastic dips for JSW. Is the mining ban in Karnataka’s Bellary and Chitradurg region the only setbacks or were there other challenges as well?
Sehsagiri Rao (SR): Well it had been a challenging quarter for us on account of unprecedented iron ore shortage in the state of Karnataka where we have large investments. In spite of these challenges, volumes grew by 11% and sales were up by 19%. Inventories are being operated efficiently and there are no concerns on that front. But the growth could have been much higher. Whenever we have approached the Supreme Court as an industry, they had been kind enough to give us relief. It has recognised that the steel industry is the backbone of the economy, and allowed some reliefs so far. So when the July 29 mining operations were banned in Bellary, on August 5 we were relieved to know that one million tonnes of ore would be made available by NMDC. There were delays to that and our operations had to be curtailed. During this time, we were supplementing some supplies from Chitradurg, and then again on August 27, the apex court banned mining in Chitradurg. We went back to the SC-appointed central empowered committee and the monitoring committee with representations that the industry requires three million tonnes of ore, which is dependent on Karnataka and one million tonne is not adequate. So we got some relief on September 2 when e-auctions of 1.6 million tonnes of iron ore were allowed.

B&E: So what are the major roadblocks that you are still facing despite the two interventions made by the apex court to improve supplies of raw materials for the steel industry?
SR: The issues facing JSW or the steel industry in Karnataka region are that we are facing problems with the implementation of this order. When the auction was held, only 74% of the ore was sold and the rest had no takers due to high asking prices in the bid. So, there is issue as far as pricing is concerned. There are problems with certain procedural issues to avail this iron ore. Logistics and frequency of auctions are also of concern. These were the four major problems that have been identified and brought to the notice of authorities. As directed by the Karnataka High Court, we have made representations to the central empowered committee and to the monitoring committee. So based on that, we are hopeful they would offer us relief, realising that these are the bottle necks.

B&E: What is the notional loss that the company may have suffered due to these bottlenecks in the current quarter?
SR: The loss of production on account of lack of iron ore amounts to about 450,000 tonnes of total finished steel. That is the loss we have incurred in the last quarter. Our cost of production too has gone up due to higher ore prices. We stood at Rs.2,700 weighted average cost for producing one tonne of steel, which has gone up by about Rs.1,500 per tonne. Inspite of these two issues, the Rs.13.33 billion of EBITDA is just about 2.5% lower than last quarter. The 450,000 tonnes in sales would have added Rs.6.75 billion to our EBIDTA. So you can imagine the kind of impact we could have had in this quarter itself. It is not bad at all given the challenges we been facing in the last two months of the quarter.

B&E: JSW has lowered its guidance of production and sale for the rest of the year. Do you see any hopes to revive your earlier levels any time soon?
SR: This time, we had given a guidance of 8.75 million tonnes of steel production and 9 million tonnes of sales. This is primarily because of the low availability, frequency of auction and other reasons that I mentioned. We are hopeful that by the end of next quarter, the monitoring committee, which is taking a lot of interest over the issues the industry is facing will work to remove the bottlenecks. Till that happens, given the current supply situation of ores and our raw material position, we have reduced our guidance for production by 14% to 7.5 million tonnes and reduced total sales volume to 7.8 million tonnes. Our other projects involving capital expenditure are still under progress. Our phase II expansions at our Vijaynagar plant to fetch up to 12 million tonnes in production are still underway and we are continuing active implementation of all our other expansion plans as well. We have applied for permits to expand capacity to 16 million tonnes (from the current 10 million) and have the land for the same. We have also acquired 4,500 acres for a 10-million tonne steel plant at West Bengal, for which we hope to secure funding and commence by the end of this fiscal.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Saturday, April 13, 2013

B&E This Fortnight

INTERNATIONALBUSINESS, ECONOMY & FINANCE
END OF AN ERA!

August 25, 2011, witnessed the end of one of the most extraordinary careers in business history. Steve Jobs, the ‘Minister of Magic’ at Apple Inc. finally stepped down as CEO of the tech giant citing health concerns and his inability to run the company on a day-to-day basis. Surprisingly, the market did not panic and the company’s stock performed better than the NASDAQ and Dow index – an indication that Jobs had succeeded in crafting a brilliant succession plan. Steve Jobs has been one of the most iconic CEOs in business history and his relentless pursuit for perfection and innovation has earned him a fortune. As of today, Jobs holds Apple shares worth $2.2 billion. Additionally, he is also the largest shareholder in Disney where his shareholding amounts to a staggering $4.4 billion. Tim Cook has been named the new CEO. Although Cook has been responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company in Jobs’ absence, he faces the daunting task of stepping into the historic CEO’s shoes. Ever since Jobs came back to Apple in 1997, the company’s stock price has appreciated by 6,754%. If today, Cook were to replicate the same, the stock would be valued at $25,797 and the m-cap would hover around $23.6 trillion! Nevertheless, Jobs would always be remembered as a maverick who inspired an entire generation of entrepreneurs.

Takeda eyeing india
It seems that the Indian government’s decision to allow 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the pharmaceuticals sector will strip India of its generic competitive advantage. Japan’s largest pharmaceuticals company Takeda is planning to acquire one of India’s leading pharma companies. Unlike its rival Daiichi Sankyo, Takeda does not have a formidable presence in the Indian market. The Osaka headquartered Takeda has approached Cipla (India’s second largest drug company) and Lupin (fifth largest by market share) to lead their endeavour of making a denting mark in the Indian drug market. For Lupin, the talks have progressed beyond the initial stage wherein Takeda plans to buy its domestic formulations business as well as its research facilities. However, Lupin is precarious over selling off its research facilities and expects a price valued at 17 times Lupin’s revenue, which stood at $1.5 billion in FY2011. On the other hand, Cipla has denied any such developments. Last year, US based Abbott bought Piramal Healthcare’s formulation business for over Rs.170 billion, which made it the country’s biggest pharma player by market share. Similarly in 2009, Daiichi Sankyo purchased Ranbaxy for $3.5-4 billion to become India’s largest pharma player by revenue.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Monday, April 01, 2013

“Perhaps The US Navy Seals did Capture Osama Alive...”

Cairo-based Max Rodenbeck, Chief Middle East Correspondent, The Economist, discusses Osama Bin Laden’s death, The Involvement of Pakistan and US in The Capture, and The Effects of Osama’s death on other Terror Outfits, Pakistan’s Neighbours and The Middle East, with A. Sandeep, Editor, Business & Economy.

B&E: Recently, America celebrated the end of Osama bin Laden, as the end of the mastermind behind the biggest terror threats worldwide. Is it actually such a big victory?
Max Rodenbeck (MR): Understanding that he was one of the biggest criminals in world history and the biggest threat to peace, the celebration was called for. But to hope that this would bring an end to all kinds of terrorist attacks like those masterminded by the al-Qaeda under bin Laden’s leadership, I think it is premature to think that such a thing will happen. Osama’s death is a big blow to al-Qaeda, The outfit has grown considerably weaker in the past ten years, and it is not clear as to who will be the successor to Osama. Whoever becomes the successor, he would not have the same profile or the ability to inspire such hatred or admiration amongst like-minded people.

B&E: While reacting to the news of Osama’s death, the British PM had said that there was a need for the West to be cautious of a backlash. Also, Taliban has vowed to launch an attack on US and Pakistan to avenge Osama’s death. How real are these threats?
MR: More than considering them real or not, it is better to understand these as short-term threats. The most striking response to Laden’s death from the Muslim world has been the silence. There was not a great deal of comment at all. Besides the people who are on the fringe of Islamic radicalism – the Jihadist fringe, which is a very small fringe element in the Muslim world today – the rest are not upset about Osama’s death. There also remains some degree of disbelief in the truth about US’ story regarding the killing of Laden and the truth that he died. But in terms of an immediate backlash, it is pretty likely that some of those groups associated with al-Qaeda will feel the need to either express their anger or reassert the fact that they still exist by launching an attack.

B&E: Reports have claimed that Osama bin Laden, in recent times, was not as active as he was, say about 10-15 years ago. What are your views?
MR: It is true that Osama’s leadership has not been that important in recent years. In fact, the central leadership of al-Qaeda has not been that critical. The work of al-Qaeda around the world over the last couple of years has been carried out by groups that are only remotely linked to al-Qaeda. There is no question that bin Laden’s leadership has been less important of late. I think this has also largely been because he has been unable to communicate. It has been quite some time now – I can’t remember how long – since we last saw some video or audio statement from him. His leadership position had weakened even before his death.

B&E: The growth of al-Qaeda also led to the corresponding formation and strengthening of several other similar but smaller outfits across the globe. With their agenda almost clear and certain, how big a deterrent is Osama’s death for these outfits? Or do you think other terror outfits will get stronger due to Osama’s death?
MR: I don’t think we have anyone trying or planning to play the part of al-Qaeda in the same sort of manner. In an organisational sense, there are some people who follow the policy of global jihad, but this is a small minority which mostly exists on the Internet – in terms of being real and operative on-ground, there are really very few. Maximum, we are talking about a few hundred around the world. They are all very like-minded outfits that exist in many different countries. We are talking about small cells, of hardly two dozen people each. And a lot of them have the basic primitive training and have very limited goals and what they can achieve. So, in such a scenario, we will see terrorism on a very small scale, than on a global scale. al-Qaeda’s vision, over the last 10 years, has become increasingly difficult to sustain, because it broke into a franchise, with different branches that operate independently. There is very little central leadership. And it’s hard to see any organisation that will try to emulate a centrally-led terror outfit. It is likely that there will be constant mutations and change in all terror outfits. There is already a considerable amount of debate inside al-Qaeda itself about strategy and tactics – whether they were doing the right thing or not. In the jihadi circle as well, questions have been raised whether whatever they have been doing is right or not. Questions are being increasingly asked about this kind of terrorism and radical wrong action around the Muslim world. It can also be that the pool of recruits at schools of terror is actually getting smaller. All this was happening even when bin Laden was not dead, so I am not sure whether Osama’s death will have any impact on terror groups or on whether his death will make the smaller, lesser known groups stronger. Interestingly, even if you look at geographies, there are considerable differences between the countries. Pakistan is rather unstable and has its own domestically generated and caused sources of violent Islamic radicalism. And these are not often connected to the broader or global movement such as the al-Qaeda. So there could be different forms of local terror groups in different countries.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist). For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Monday, March 18, 2013

The ‘IDEA’ For A Change

The Operator with the Punch Line ‘An Idea Can Change Your Life’ has felt its mark in The Telecom Space. The Company has fared well in FY2010 and now have High Hope with 3G and MNP.

Every corporate houses posses a dream of becoming a part of the Great Indian Telecom Story. While giants like Tatas had realised the potential of the services long back and had become the part of the telecom growth in the early days, players like Reliance entered a little late. Corporate houses like Future Group, Unitech are latest incumbent in the race. But, making a dent in the high competition telecom market – having 15 players and ailing with falling ARPU, shrinking margins – has been a harrowing task for all of them. However, Idea Cellular is the one that has stood the test of the time and is the only telecom player to have made it to this year’s edition of B&E’s Fastest Growing Companies in India.

The $29 billion Aditya Birla Group had a fair amount of “IDEA” about the potential of telecom industry at the dawn of the sector in the mid 90s. The first telecom licence was awarded to the Group in December 1995 in the high ARPU Maharashtra and Gujarat Service Areas followed by the launch of services in the 1997. The company went slow with plans in the first decade of its inception, as during the period mobile telephony was the service of classes. However, Idea became aggressive in 2007 after getting the pan India licence. In fact, by the end of FY2010 it had rolled out its services across all 22 telecom circles in the country.

But, the company’s fortune took a north after it started rolling out services across all the circles. From a mere 12.44 million subscriber base by the end of December 2006, Idea Cellular services are subscribed by 74.2 million people today. It’s market share has also witnessed a significant jump with more than 10% market share already in its kitty.

Idea Cellular’s aggressive expansion plans also included M&As. In fact, in June 2001, it forayed into Madhya Pradesh Service Area after acquiring RPG Cellcom. Similarly, after acquiring Escotel Mobile Communication in early 2004, it started offering services in Haryana, UP (WEST) and Kerala. Spice Communications operating in Karnataka and Punjab was also acquired by Idea. It’s because of these organic and inorganic strategies that Idea today is the sixth largest telecom player in India.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Deal with its chronic problem of lack of feedstock

After a decadal starvation of investments, Indian fertilizer industry is hot again in the books of investors and seems ready for a great run in the days to come. Before that, it will have to deal with its chronic problem of lack of feedstock.

Moreover, with the food price inflation still pricking the government and the demand for food grains increasing faster than ever, the government has now started taking keen interest in agriculture related sectors including fertilizers. One can understand the same from the very fact that in FY09 the government fully met its humongous subsidy obligation of Rs.1 trillion that accentuated due to a sudden and unprecedented rise in input prices. In fact, explains N. Raju, Analyst, Fitch Ratings India, that in order to keep fertilizer prices under control at the pick of the price cycle and check it from hurting the demand scenario by any means, the government paid for almost 90% of the cost of many categories of fertilizer recovering only 10% cost from the consumers. In a way such secured environment has also contributed to the resilience in the particular sector. As a result, apart from all plans for new plants and capacity expansion, the existing players have started operating at a higher efficiency level than what they were operating earlier. As per reports, on a cumulative basis (including private, public and co-operatives), the Indian fertilizer industry increased its capacity utilisation to 76.9% of installed capacity (84.1% in case of private sector) from 61.2% in the previous financial year (67.1% for private sector). This in turn has resulted in a total production of 16.3 million MT of fertilizer in FY10 (estimated), a surge of 14% over FY09.

Meanwhile, adding an impetus to the on going resilience, the government itself is attempting to revive 5 closed urea plants with an installed capacity of 2.2 million MT. Praising the move, Manoj Gaur, Executive Chairman, Jaypee Group, which has recently joined hands with Duncan Industries to revive the latter’s urea plant in UP, explains, “In order to ensure food security for the country’s 120 billion people, good agri-production has now become mandatory for us. And in this scenario, fertilizer will play a very critical role. Every year we import nearly an average of 7 to 8 million tonnes of urea, while our own plants here are closed. So, revival of these plants and their modernisation for better output is the need of the hour.”

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

Monday, March 04, 2013

Ford's new outlook towards India

Ford India President & MD Michael Boneham has worked tremendously hard on his India basics since appointment. In an exclusive interaction with sanchit verma, Boneham talks about Ford's new outlook towards India

B&E: How is Ford applying its One Ford strategy; do tell me about the brief given to you about the strategy while coming to India?
MB: The brief was all about ensuring that the products we are going to deliver to the Indian market are sourced through the global market platform, global product engineering, global development strategy that also meets local needs. And some of the local needs we see with Ford Figo are to provide outstanding value for money, great fuel economy, great technology available to differentiate the product from the competition. You must be seen in the 70% market in India because if you are not, you are not a major player in India. We utilized the resources of the Ford global team; the one team which we have had, to deliver an outstanding launch of Figo and put together a strategy that we use in the global platform as we move Ford. We are not going to have legacy brands any longer for India. We will have the V-car platform, C-car platform and we are going to utiize them across the globe, utilize the economies of scale to get the costs down so that we can price it efficiently and use outstanding engine technology to give outstanding class leading fuel economy. In India, that is a tremendous selling point and if you don't have fuel economy, you are not in the race. If we look at the Ford global strategy, it fitted beautifully with India's strategy plan. The better India plan!

B&E: With major players like Maruti, Tata already having a major share in market, what are Ford’s plans to become a major player?
MB: Firstly, we are going to be 'in' the segment. Secondly, we will be delivering outstanding value for money. This is not something which happens overnight. It is something which grows when customers start to accept your products in this segment in which we have just got in. So you have to ensure that you have great value for money. Cost of ownership is a positive story where we needed to work and we have done a lot of work. Cost of ownership for Ford Figo is very light as compared to big players. We have worked very hard on component cost, part cost when there is replacement, we have worked very hard on what we call the ‘child part’ strategy in which you can buy one small part rather than buying the whole assembly. For instance, you can buy the skin of the door panel if you meet with an unfortunate accident and someone winches your door away. You can just change the skin without changing the whole door. It’s the 1st in the Indian market and no else does that. Unfortunately, accidents are a reality of life in Indian roads, so that was an unbelievable level of creative thinking. So we worked hard on that body strategy to ensure what could we do so that the vehicles were in the great quality range while retaining low cost of ownership.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

The End...?

The prophecies and science behind 21st Dec, 2012

Cataclysmic events unfolded in Roland Emmerich’s film 2012 – the earth’s core began heating up due to solar flare bombardment, California was engulfed by the Pacific Ocean, the Yellowstone Supervolcano erupted, megatsunamis thundered at every country’s shores – and one would imagine Emmerich was a little boy immensely enjoying destroying every conceivable object in his line of view! While most level-headed people enjoyed the effects of the film and let the subject be, there are many equally sane people worried if really all they had before their inevitable end was three years… just a little more than a thousand days… With numerous books and roughly six million websites dedicated to the predictions and prophecies about the year 2012, and 21st December 2012 to be more particular, most of us are being pulled in by these Doomsday prophecies.

The entire hoopla began with the predictions of the Mayan civilisation that say an alignment of the planets in our solar system, which happens only once every 6,40,000 years, will occur on 21st December, 2012 and lead to a catastrophic event. Astronomy was one of the strengths of this race, and they had managed to calculate the length of the lunar month with near accuracy some thousands of years ago. Now, along with their worrying prophecy, their Long Count calendar, credited for its accuracy, ominously ends on the same date.

Another ancient prophecy is by Sumerians circa 5000 BC about a planet Nibiru, which would collide with our planet – in 2003. But, while it obviously failed to do so, the date was moved to 2012, by theorists who probably consider the year to be a much safer bet for widespread calamities! For the record, as of now, there is no planet with that name.

2012 is going to be the year when solar storms will bombard the Earth, which NASA confirms will not cause life to end, but could temporarily cause power outages and the suspension of other services powered by electricity.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.