IIPM - History: January 2013

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

China 1989-2009 Heading for TIANANMEN Square part-II?

The memories are scattered and yet intense in fragments. We (a few young journalists) were sitting inside the decrepit and fashionably shabby Press Club of India in Delhi. The debate was about what exactly was happening in Eastern Europe and China and how Mikhail Gorbachov was bringing radical changes in the world of Communism. The discussion inevitably veered towards China where a group of students had led a protest movement demanding more accountability and more democracy from Chinese leaders. Most of us thought that the presence of hundreds of thousands of protestors at Tiananmen Square would inevitably lead to democracy in China. Just then, a senior sauntered in and gave us a lesson in realism by announcing that tanks had rolled into the square and hundreds of protestors had been killed.

The day was June 4, 1989. The bamboo curtain came crashing down on the Middle Kingdom and censorship ensured that not much was known about what really triggered the Tiananmen Square protests. It is only subsequent research by scholars that revealed why China was ready to explode in 1989. After ten years of rapid growth and growing employment opportunities since 1978 when Deng Xiao Peng unleashed economic reforms, the Chinese economy tanked in 1988-89. The GDP growth rate crashed and unemployment soared. Rapidly rising inflation too added to the woes of the Chinese. Then, there was massive anger at widespread corruption and cronyism in the Communist Party. Educated Chinese started thinking seriously that they were paying a heavy price for the economic downturn while those favoured by the party were having a ball.

The most agonising question that must engage all those who care about the future of the world is: Are conditions in China in early 2009 similar to what prevailed 20 years ago in 1989? The more important follow up question: how intense and widespread will the protests be in 2009? The most important question is this: How will the Chinese State now handle the protests? Will Tiananmen Square of 1989 be repeated or will China ‘manage’ to control the looming unrest by moving towards ‘more’ democracy and personal freedom?

Read more.....

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
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Saturday, January 19, 2013

SOME ANSWERS THAT WILL INTRIGUE AND STARTLE YOU

Both K. V. Kamath and Deepak Parekh won’t be around as ceos in 2010. Manish K. Pandey, Deepak Ranjan Patra and Angshuman Paul talk to people in the financial services industry to compare the legacies of the titans

At Business & Economy, we could not resist asking the inevitable question: Was Deepak Parekh really better than K. V. Kamath? Even five years ago, when HDFC appeared a little somnolent and ICICI was taking aggressive growth to new heights, the question would have been laughable (In fact, many die hard fans of Kamath in Mumbai still find the question outrageous!). We spoke to many senior and mid-level professionals in the financial services industry to get their opinion and verdict. Most were willing to talk; but off the record. But a sense of what a majority had to say about the duo can be gleaned from what Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Equity Head of SMC Capitals Ltd. tells Business & Economy, “Mr. Kamath and Mr. Parekh are two of the finest leaders that India has ever produced. While it is very difficult to pick the better of the two, the award should go to Mr. Parekh for the ‘quality growth’ that has been displayed by HDFC. However, one can’t take away any credit from Mr. Kamath as he was the man who has redefined how India has done banking.” A top communications consultant in Mumbai who has worked on accounts of companies belonging to both the HDFC and ICICI conglomerates disagrees violently. “Parekh has always been the establishment man; please remember he virtually inherited HDFC. On the other hand, Kamath has been classically entrepreneurial. Look at the value, the institutions, the wealth and the sheer number of jobs he has created virtually from scratch,” he says. According to him, Kamath is the Dhirubhai Ambani of the financial services industry in India while Parekh is more in the Ratan Tata mould (Incidentally, the personal favourite of Deepak Parekh when it comes to entrepreneurs is Dhirubhai Ambani!) We decided to check out some ratings and some statistics to compare the two legacies. Let’s take a look at ratings issued by Fitch Ratings.

The sovereign long term outlook for both ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank is negative. But if you factor in the parent company HDFC, the Parekh legacy appears much more sound. Here is what the Fitch report says about ICICI Bank, “…Asset quality is, however, deteriorating and could lead to a lowering of individual rating if the deterioration is significant…” On HDFC, the report says, “…ratings are driven by its strong performance and financial position which are consistently among the best for Indian banks.”

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Friday, January 18, 2013

The road not taken… well taken

B&E’s Pallavi Srivastava catches up with management graduates who looked beyond the traditional corporate career and took up non-conventional jobs... and that’s what made all the difference!

Five years ago, when E. Sarathbabu joined the MBA course at IIM Ahemdabad, he too just like thousands of other MBAs in the country had a dream of working in a plush and grandiose office of a big corporate house. However, destiny had something else in store for him. It was while doing his summer internship at Central Fuel Research Institute in Dhanbad that Sarath realised that he needed a different fuel to run his life. “While doing my internship I came across few statistics that made me think. When I came to know that more than 30% of the people in India live below the poverty line, I was taken by surprise. And that was when the seed to do something to change the situation cropped in my mind,” he tells B&E.

In fact, this was not the only reason that motivated him to take the road not taken by others. Sarath himself had had an early life of difficulties as he was brought up in a slum in Madipakkam in Chennai with four siblings; his mother being the sole breadwinner of the family. Thus, he could feel the plight of those 30% Indians. “I knew the best way to improve their situation was to give them decent jobs.” And that’s how this Chennai lad started off Foodking Catering Services three years ago with a vision to employ illiterate and poor people. Today, Foodking undertakes event catering, industrial catering, and institutional catering. It also has its own retail outlets. In fact, Sarath’s aim is to employ at least 1,00,000 people before he reaches the age of 50. But it was not an easy call for Sarath to reject the lucrative corporate jobs and start his catering business. He admits that he was in a dilemma whether to do something for the social cause or opt for a corporate job. “I thought if I take up a job, things will be good only for my family.

But if I start a company for a social good, things will be really good for the families of the hundreds of people whom I am going to give jobs,” says Sarath. However, Sarath’s efforts to serve people don’t stop at Foodking. He feels that politics is also one of the strong platforms to serve the people and that’s what motivated him to contest for the General Elections from Chennai as an independent candidate early this year.

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
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Book business hits a Wal!

As price wars between booksellers heat up, the customers rejoice and the publishers watch out...

In the monopolistic e-world of books, created and run by amazon.com, a new entrant has not only stirred the market but has also slashed prices to pittance, bringing to the fore several debatable questions for the publishing industry and authors. Walmart.com, the new entrant is offering upcoming, highly-anticipated, hard cover books such as Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue and John Grisham’s Ford County for as low as $10 – a 60% cut from the cover prices! The competitor, amazon.com, in return has brought down the prices to the same - $10. In fact, 200 current best-sellers have been identified, including Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, to be sold at the same price along with free home delivery.

While this new offer is customer-friendly and gets ardent readers to grin, it will fetch very little to the sellers who acquire books at the wholesale price, which is close to a 47% discount over the cover price. In simple terms, a book at a cover price of $25 would’ve cost any seller around $12 and some cents. Now, online stores such as Wal-Mart can make up for losses on individual items (books, in this case) from other products, but what about the corner book stores that can’t afford such cuts? In the long run, if such price wars continue for popular books and best-sellers, there might be a scenario where purchasing books would have to be done without spending time in the warmth of a book store, flipping through a few pages and enjoying that familiar friendly fragrance of brand new books. Well, that’s just about one repercussion...

The publishing industry doesn’t approve of Wal-mart using the prices of books to better its position in the online space, that too, at ‘unrealistically low prices.’ But, if the publisher has to re-adjust the rates to keep the regular bookstores as well as the online stores alive, the authors will have to bear the brunt (which seems inescapable).

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
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A Lakeside Story

Nestled amidst the Jungfrau, the Eiger and the Mönch peaks, with the Aare river flowing through it, Interlaken (meaning between two lakes that of Thun and Brienz), is a beautiful town in Switzerland. In fact, Interlaken truly represents what Switzerland is all about. An ideal holiday destination for those looking to relax and enjoy a quiet vacation, Interlaken has everything that a village-town in a developed country should have – lush green trees, small cosy houses, broad roads, loads of peace – and more.

In spite of being a quiet place, Interlaken can definitely give you an adrenaline rush, for there’s no dearth of small establishments that organise activities like bungee jumping, canyoning, paragliding, river rafting, ice climbing, glacier walks and much more... Be assured of a once-in-a-lifetime experience in the Swiss Alps.

Once in Interlaken, Jungfrau, (said as Yung’frou’) the top of Europe, immediately grabs eyeballs. The best way to reach Jungfrau is by Jungfraubahn cog railway, which runs inside the mountain up to the Jungfraujoch railway station. One could also trek his way up to the mountain, which is not a very difficult climb but can be dangerous at times. It’s advisable to check the weather condition before you set out for the top! On reaching Jungfrau, one could either ski or take a husky-drawn sledge ride, but a must see is the Ice Palace, which has various sculptures... igloo, snowmen, eagle, bears, mouse et al, made of ice! Do wear shoes with a good grip though, as the chances of slipping are rather high. If hunger pangs come calling, ‘Bollywood,’ an Indian restaurant offering authentic Indian buffet, offers a pleasant surprise. What’s more, posters of Bollywood movies line the walls; add to that the various signboards in English and Hindi (one could thank Yash Chopra for that) for a ‘at home’ feeling.

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Monday, January 14, 2013

It’s how you look at it, finally

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.

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
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Friday, January 11, 2013

My son would be back...

I realised... if I pay them the ransom, my son would be back...

B&E: So how did you proceed and how long was it before Anant came back home safe?

NG: The consultant told me very clearly that it was a business deal and that they would never harm the asset if I fulfilled their demand. I did just that. I had the consideration and I realised that if I gave them their price, without making any mistake or taking any foolish step, my son would be back with me. It took us three days, the deal was done and I paid them Rs.60 lakh. Yes, I paid them the money, and the deal closed. Anant was back home and all in my family were greatly relieved...

B&E: Did the event lead to any emotional or mental stress on Anant?

NG: Not really. He is rather proud about it and goes on telling all his friends his heroism when he was kidnapped. He explains the situation well and is rather proud to be the protagonist of the tale (Naresh laughs).

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, January 7, 2013

Police + Pak = Paupers!

Unless Zardari massively increases investment on modernising the police, his war against terror will fail

Ever heard of a weak foundation making a building stronger?

Strangely, the under-trained, under-equipped and underpaid Pakistani police seems to fit the bill aptly in Pakistan’s fight against terrorism and Taliban.

It’s true that the US alone has invested $12 billion in Pakistan to fight terror. But a large portion of the money – perhaps correctly – was used to assist the Pakistani Army. Still, merely 2.2% of the funding, a meager $268 million, has been spent on Pakistan’s police force in seven years (from 2002 to 2008). It’s important for the Pakistani government as well as foreign donors to understand that the Pakistani police force has a greater role to play than military for many reasons. One – according to the Rand Corporation, a US based think-tank – is that the Pakistani army generally believes that the primary reason it has been created has been to fight a war against India. Presumably, this means that even though the current ‘will to fight’ quotient against Taliban is pretty high within the Pakistani army, it should not be long before the generals realign sentiments once again to become pro-Taliban, as had been the case before (In the first week of July, while speaking at Capitol Hill, Zardari accepted that militants were deliberately created and nurtured [by Pakistan] as a policy).

Secondly, while any army is best suited for conventional warfare, the fight against insurgency is generally a low-intensity domestic conflict, which demands high police involvement.

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.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Will they ever get ‘warm’?

Trust will play a major role in making US & Russia natural allies

In what can be termed as yet another step towards finalising a deal between Russia and the US, the talks between the two nations over the replacement of Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) have ended and the next meeting is to take place on June 1. While this could draw in a more fruitful and rich array of co-operative security issues, it can’t be denied that Russia is still skeptical in its dealings with the US. As per the meeting that took place between Dimitriv Medvedev, President, Russia and his US counterpart Barack Obama in April, it was decided to finish the START issue by the end of this year and the first meeting seems to have had a positive outcome. The announcements made by the two after the meeting were pragmatic and forward looking, and even mentioned the areas of disagreement. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said, the agreement should bring forward “equal security and parity in the sphere of strategic stability.” More recently, the two have announced July as the deadline for a substitute to START.

Obama knows that he can gain a lot through friendly relations with Russia, particularly when dealing with problems in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea. Lewis A. Dunn, Senior Vice President, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), comments, “The replacement of START confronts deep Russian mistrust of US strategic intentions.” More so, US officials, too, are less than confident of any dealing with Russia. Russia’s hostilities towards Georgia, US plans for a missile defence shield in Poland, US not ratifying CTBT, Russia’s inclusion into WTO and the growing influence of the NATO remain pressing issues.

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.