Tuesday, October 30, 2012

STICKY POINT: ABORTION (TO ALLOW IT... OR NOT TO)

The debate on abortion has moved away from the empowerment of women to cutting religious propaganda

An Anthology of Ethics Through Literature’ and Bernard Gert’s ‘Bioethics: A Systematic Approach’) concludes that the foetus “satisfies only one criterion: consciousness (and this, only after it becomes susceptible to pain); the foetus is not a person and abortion is therefore morally permissible.” Using a scientific angle, a former President of the British Academy and current President of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, the well known Anthony J P Kenny believes that since division of the zygote into twins through the process of monozygotic twinning can occur until the 14th day of pregnancy, abortion should not be permissible after two weeks! Again, noted American moral philosopher and metaphysician Judith J Thomson states that even if the foetus has a right to life, abortion is still morally permissible because a woman has a right to control her own body.

The concepts of pro-life versus pro-choice are in general visible across the world, leading to starkly distanced abortion laws across the world – for example, if in Canada abortion is available ‘on demand’, then in a country like Nicaragua, abortions are illegal. In history, under Roman law, abortion did occur and was allowed, though only sometimes. Under the common law in England and in the US, abortion was illegal after the movements of the foetus could first be felt by the mother to be. In the 19th century, many western countries began to use statutes to codify abortion. Under Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet Union legalised all abortions in 1920, but this was fully reversed in 1936 by Stalin in order to increase population growth. Between 1930 to 1960, several countries like Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Mexico legalised abortion in some special cases. This was followed by legalisation of abortion in Japan, Yugoslavia, Soviet Union, Canada, United States, France, Austria, New Zealand, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.


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

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Monday, October 29, 2012

The Queensberry Hotel, Bath

Make your visit to the Georgian city, even more memorable with your stay at the Queensberry Hotel. A contemporary boutique hotel situated in the heart of Bath, The Queensberry is an ideal getaway for those who like to live it up in style. The common areas of the hotel provide a serene atmosphere for a quiet evening with friends... treat yourself with some exquisite liquor at the hotel bar, relish the delicacies at the restaurant or pamper yourself at the spa... Queensberry is ‘The Hotel’ to stay in Bath.

The View: Spreading over four classic Georgian-terraced houses, the Queensberry hotel is a visual delight. The hotel is surrounded by short shrubs, bearing berry-coloured flowers, complementing its name. The view of the city from the hotel’s terrace is spectacular.

Archi Type: The hotel mixes modern style with historic architecture, a combination which never ceases to impress. The rooms are done in contemporary design complimenting the honey-coloured Georgian walls of the building. The stylish drawing rooms of the hotel boast of some exquisite chandeliers, serving as a cherry topping to its plush interiors!

Bon Appétit: The Olive Tree Restaurant of the hotel, with its fine British and Mediterranean cuisines, has become the numero uno choice of many Bathonians. Kick-start your day with a continental breakfast and choose from the lavish a la carte menu for a candle-lit dinner.

Around The Corner: Just a stone’s throw from the Circus, this hotel is ideally situated to let you explore the city and its surroundings. The main attractions, including Thermae Bath Spa, Georgian Gardens and the Royal Crescent, are all at a walking distance from the hotel. Take an evening walk to the city centre for some shopping, while exploring small picturesque passageways on the way.

From Under the carpet: Internet facility is restricted to the front desk computer, besides the unavailability of tea and coffee-making services in the rooms. Too many stairs between rooms makes it difficult for the people who are not mobile.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Rich dad, poor dad

Barack just needs to look to his neighbours to understand health policies

That America has not done as well in supporting health issues over the years is a given fact. But how bad is ‘not done as well’? The answer is pretty bad. Not many would know that in the US, the incidence of cancer among males and females is 562.3 and 417.3 per 1,00,000 respectively (American Cancer Society, Surveillance and Health Policy Research, 2009), life expectancy is 77.8 years, infant mortality rate is 6.9 deaths per 1,000 live births (CNN once reported that the US has the second worst newborn death rate in the modern world), mortality rate under the age of five years for males and females is 9 and 7 per 1,000 live births respectively, only 2.7 acute care beds per 1,000 people are available (5th worst amongst all OECD nations), 2.8 physicians per 1,000 and ranks 72nd by overall level of health on WHO parameters!

Perhaps today, the biggest issue in the US is the failure of its healthcare system, especially given the debate on Obama’s policy decisions. Though Obama is not labelled a failure, yet when it comes to healthcare reforms, it might not take too long for his 300+ million supporters to ‘change’ their point-of-view. One need not travel miles to prove what ails the States. Their next door neighbour – Canada – is a case in point, or rather, against the point. Canada has a healthcare model that is better; because it works!

Even after having a US-like healthcare model, Canada has successfully achieved better results in its healthcare report card. Healthcare spending in Canada is around $160 billion or 10.1% of its GDP in 2007, which is one percentage point higher than the average spending by OECD countries. But very interestingly, it is far lower than the US allocation, which is 16% of GDP. Canada also spends lesser on a per capita basis compared to the US. Canada’s total healthcare per capita spending was around $3,895, which is lower than the $7,290 per capita spending of the US. The critical reason why the system, despite spending less, works better in Canada is that while the public sector is the main source of funding for Canadian healthcare, the US system is dependent on private source funding.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, October 26, 2012

infosys has been definitely hit by the global slowdown, but it is also learning valuable lessons for its future, say virat bahri & arun roy of B&E

Endless sessions of yoga, meditation or spiritual advice would be all in vain. If you want long lasting success for your organization, worry, by all means. Worry, even if your doctor gets on your nerves! That’s not us, that was Andrew S. Grove, Senior Advisor Intel Corporation in his bestseller book on management and strategy – Only The Paranoid Survive. If you go by his logic, paranoia is a necessary trait for a leader; a trait which he must inculcate in his people too.

If we were to speculate on the name of the one Indian IT company where Andy Grove would feel quite well at home, we would suggest – Infosys. The company has traditionally been a believer in traits like conservativeness, ethics, succession planning, exceptional customer orientation, et al. And, although badly hit, they are fighting the recession better than their ilk.

September 15, 2008, the day Lehmann Brothers fell, Infosys realised some bitter truths. As Kris points out in an exclusive to B&E, “The first lesson we learned was that the world has become very unpredictable. The second was that when even large companies fail, you do become more paranoid.” According to him, speed is very critical now w.r.t. anything you do, so is the manner in which you manage risk.

Strategically, there was obviously little room for manoeuvre. And the biggest problem was that the failing of financial institutions was like a body blow for them, as that is their main bread and butter business. Within this backdrop, the company did credibly well by posting net profits of Rs.58.19 billion for the year ending March 2008-09, a stellar growth of 30.2%, with revenues at Rs.216.93 billion.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Keys to the executive suite

A clear focus on select and premium clients has made ABN AMRO Bank a familiar name among the über-rich in India

You get the drift, quite a bit, as soon as you enter ABN AMRO’s swanky office located on the 9th floor at the ultra-urbane Cyber Greens in Gurgaon. From sophisticated interiors to a switched on working environment, it almost gives you a feel of a place that is certainly not meant for the masses. And if that’s the impression you got, then, my friend, you are bang on.

“The target segment for a public sector bank or even for a private Indian bank consists mainly of the common masses; with the middle-class forming a bulk of its customers, while we have a niche market to cater to. Through our private banking services in India, we offer our select & premium clientele, which mostly consists of HNIs and major institutions, a comprehensive range of quality banking services coupled with a sophisticated execution platform,” reasons V. Vasantha Kumar, Senior VP and Head – Marketing and Communications, AMN AMRO Bank, India. Though the bank started its India operations way back in 1920 (like any other foreign multinational bank focused primarily on wholesale banking) to service top-tier corporate clients, the philosophy somewhat changed 1990 onwards, when strategic business imperatives and an increased level of competition, both from domestic and multinational banks in India, forced the bank to look at retail banking as a key engine for growth. But then, the target audience remained the same – the HNIs.

In fact, by leveraging its global reach and size (with assets over $504 billion, ABN AMRO Bank ranks among the top 10 banks in the world in size and strength) along with a clear cut focus on select and premium clients, the bank has succeeded in becoming a familiar name among the über-rich in India. This, in fact, was a reason healthy enough even for The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to value ABN AMRO Bank’s India operations at about $500 million, when it took over the latter in 2008. (RBS was part of the consortium that acquired ABN AMRO in 2008, with Fortis group of the UK & Banco Santander SA of Spain).


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2012

A river (used to) run through it

The biggest issue of this century will be preservation of water

Mark Twain (in an editorial by Charles D. Warner, Hartford Courant, in 1897) said, “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” 112 years ago, Warner’s op-ed quoted that if you are in Colorado, it’s illegal to divert rainwater falling on your property unless you have a very old water right or when the weather is “very happy.” In other words, you could not harvest rainwater for personal use. Surprise surprise. The situation’s the same even now in Colorado.

Interestingly, many other states in the US are reportedly taking steps now to set up similar rules. UK goes one-step further and fines anyone using hosepipes (a 1,000 pounds fine). On the other extreme is New Mexico, which makes it mandatory for new dwellings to harvest water. So what’s our drift? The drift is that today, one third of the world’s population is suffering from water shortages; and by 2025, as per UN, two out of three people would undergo “water stress.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, October 22, 2012

ELECTIONS: COMING TO POWER

Two CMs who bravely defied anti-incumbency and emerged trumps in both assembly and Lok Sabha elections

Above all, while people like Narendra Modi were giving confused signals of looking for a ‘larger-than-Gujarat’ role, Patnaik has ensured that BJD remain largely a regional party. “In the last five years, BJD has sat on the opposition benches in Parliament and we will continue to fight for the demands of our people, we are a regional party,’’ he reemphasises his winning card.

In Andhra Pradesh, YSR Reddy’s claims that allotting seats to a large number of women candidates paid them dividends. Currently, there are six women in the state cabinet, including Andhra Pradesh’s first woman Home Minister, Sabita Indrareddy, widow of former Home minister, Patolla Indrareddy.

“Six women were inducted into the cabinet and I, as a woman, have been elevated to a superior status. This is the chief minister’s democratic humanism,’’ says Indrareddy. A YSR insider, she belongs to Telangana and held the mines and geology portfolio in the last government. “New parties were formed, alliances created, we performed well. Politics is not mathematics. Voters know to choose between state and the centre. We have to accept the verdict.” the first woman to hold a full fledged home portfolio, explains how her party did less spectacularly in the assembly. It had won 185 seats in 2004 assembly polls.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that both Patnaik and Reddy have struck a powerful connection with the people of their respective states over the years. The election results are only the logical end to their exemplary efforts.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Sunil Bharti Mittal is exuberant as the company announces its first dividend since it started the business

B&E: What makes Airtel one of the most admired companies in terms of their service offering amongst their subscriber base.
SM: At Airtel, the customers are at the heart of every service that we offer and this is what makes us special in their eyes. We have always believed in being relevant to the entire customer base that we have; be it the rural customer, semi-urban and even urban and would continue to do in the times to come as well.

B&E: Going forward, what would be the expected future drivers for Bharti Airtel’s growth?
SM: Well we are hoping that 3G would be available soon, which would lead to better data services. Already, music-related services are quite popular and we would hope that in times to come, their popularity would continue to increase.

In fact, there is an interesting tale that an India Inc. insider shares with this magazine. The person was on a flight from Delhi to Mumbai on the day the Reliance Power share opened to hallelujahs on Dalal Street. In the same flight was a close lieutenant of Mukesh who gently asked this insider to just wait for a day or two to see the ‘fate’ of Reliance Power. We all know what happened – the Reliance Power share crashed and tarnished the hitherto golden reputation of the Ambani family to always handsomely reward shareholders. Talk of sibling rivalry and the gossip that surrounds it!

To come back to the MTN deal, in June 2008, Reliance Industries Ltd. wrote a formal letter to MTN claiming that the terms of agreement of the split between Mukesh and Anil made it very clear that Reliance Industries (controlled by Mukesh) had the first right of refusal over the shares of Reliance Infocom. Basically, the letter asked MTN to say out of Reliance Infocom or face the consequences. The Anil camp, predictably, reacted furiously and issued a press release saying that the claims that were made by the camp of the elder brother were “legally and factually untenable, baseless, and misconceived.” For a while, the MTN top brass made polite public noises about being still excited about the possible deal with Reliance Infocom. But then, that letter from Reliance Industries had effectively killed the deal. One year down the road, it does look as if the coup de grâce being planned and executed by the Mukesh Ambani camp is successful, since it is Sunil Mittal and Airtel who are publicly having the last laugh now!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Friday, October 19, 2012

Model A to Z of failure...

...rather of failure in terms of product innovation!

Alan Mulally may well be on his way to driving Ford out of its problems, innovatively sans any grants from the Fed, but that really doesn’t imply a century sans a single error at innovation! Ford’s Model A and Edsel are two cases proving the point. Ford’s decision to halt the production of Model A (as it was preparing the launch of its first low-priced V8) in 1932, cost it millions in dollar revenues. Why? Introduced in 1927, Model A was the second most popular product from Ford’s stable after Model T. Then came Edsel in 1952, which proved a bigger commercial failure, as the product wasn’t able to match buyers’ expectations after the success of the Thunderbird model. The car was positioned against GM’s Oldsmobile. But the old & conventional Ford design and more importantly, the name which resembled an image of a tractor (Edson) finally resulted in cooking up a complete product failure in the US automobile market.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Enterprise nipped in the bud

Walchand’s ambitions were right, but the times were very wrong

If Dhirubhai Ambani woul have been born in the pre-independence era, he would have better understood the dilemma of Walchand Hirachand, who was an extremely ambitious businessman. But he happened to be the right person born at the wrong time. Born in a Gujarati Jain family in Sholapur in 1882, Walchand was never interested in his family business of selling agencies of textile mills. In 1903, he completed his first construction project of the Indian railways and by 1912, Walchand’s construction company namely Walchand-Phatak had many big projects to its credit.

Two high-capital intensive and industrial businesses that caught his fancy were shipping and manufacturing aircrafts. He floated Scindia Steam Navigation Company in 1919 (with a capital of Rs.45 million). But Walchand had to fight against the might of British India Steam Navigation Company (BINC), which ruled the Indian shipping arena. He was forced to change the route of his cargo from India-Europe to India-Rangoon, which did not yield the desired results. In 1923, Walchand unwillingly signed an agreement with the Government, which stated that Scindia’s fleet would be limited to seven ships for the next 10 years and be limited to Indian coasts only. Walchand also created a subsidiary, Haj Line Limited, but it didn’t work as rivals drastically reduced their fares. Walchand’s plans to build a modern shipyard also didn’t fructify due to the outbreak of World War II. In the 1930s, Walchand registered the Hindustan Aircraft Company in 1940. However, the Government took complete control of the company on pretext of protecting it from the Japanese. War also shattered Walchand’s car manufacturing project, which he had launched assuming that Government would appreciate it as a part of war effort and give permission to import plant and machinery.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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