IIPM- NEWS RELEASE: January 2013

Friday, January 25, 2013

A one man army

Chandra is known for his passion for clients and he has successfully pioneered several key initiatives at TCS

A graduate in Applied Science from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology; a post graduate in Computer Applications from the Regional Engineering College – Trichy, Tamil Nadu; an active member of Computer Society of India and the British Computer Society; named as one of the top 25 most influential consultants in the world; member of Executive Council, Nasscom; Director of E2E SerWizol Solutions Limited (A subsidiary of Tata Sons Ltd.) and NABARD Consultancy Services (P) Ltd; N. Chandrasekharan is truly a man of many talents. He was appointed COO of TCS about 17 months ago, and was elevated to the position of ED on the company’s board. It is being speculated that Ramadorai will hand over the reins to him. He manages a remarkable number of responsibilities that are critical to the success of TCS. Commenting on his competencies, Dhiren Savla, CIO of Kuoni Travel Group, India comments to B&E, “Chandra is a dear friend for the last many years... and I certainly see him as a leader who can take TCS to the next level.” Chandra is responsible for the formulation and execution of the company’s global strategy, including expansion of its business portfolio to include BPO, Infrastructure and Consulting services. He pioneered the creation of a unique Global Network Delivery Model and ventured into emerging markets including Europe, China and Latin America. He is the chief architect of TCS’ Integrated Quality Management System, which made TCS the first CMMI and PCMM level-5 organisation in the world. Well known for his passion for clients and committed to his work, Chandra’s “career trajectory” reflects that of Ramadorai.

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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)

Heavy weight champ

Telang’s background in operations and his experience with the successful Commercial Vehicles business will be an asset

As Jack Welch once said, “If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don’t have to manage them.” Ratan Tata has done exactly the same in Tata Motors, which is one of the key reasons why the company is the market leader in the Commercial Vehicles segment and more importantly, produces almost half of the Commercial Vehicles sold in the country. Well, P. M. Telang, Executive Director (Commercial Vehicles), Tata Motors would have a lot to do with that, for he is the man standing behind this success.

A Mechanical Engineer and an MBA from IIM-Ahemdabad, Telang has over three decades of experience in the automotive industry as he has been with Tata Motors since 1972. In his previous role as President (Light & Small Commercial Vehicles), Telang played a major role in ensuring a turnaround in the company through cost cutting and e-procurement. He is also serving as Senior VP (Operations), Pune currently. Overshadowing the success that the company achieved under Ravi Kant’s leadership will certainly not be a cake walk for anyone succeeding him. However, if we talk about the Commercial Vehicle segment of Tata Motors, Telang has been able to take its growth story forward very efficiently. And industry insiders believe that if Telang takes charge; it will surely set the stage for the next phase of growth for Tata Motors. And as auto expert Murad Ali Baig asserts, “The person taking charge of Tata Motors after Ravi Kant leaves should have an in-depth knowledge of the automotive industry apart from the basics of management and finance.”

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Smaller States can be Bigger problems

I was waiting for a flight the other day at Mumbai airport and watching a news channel. There was a Russian woman with her face covered who was on screen, plaintively saying how she was raped by an influential politician of Goa and how the cops there were doing everything possible to hush up the case. Then I recalled frequent stories of how Goa has now been completely hijacked by criminals, mafia and politicians who think committing a crime and getting away with it is their birthright. That story was followed by a report on widespread agitations in Andhra Pradesh for a separate state called Telengana. And then I thought about the long standing demand for smaller states in many regions. I thought of Gorkhaland to be carved out of West Bengal, of Harit Pradesh in Western U.P., of Vidharbha in Maharashtra, of Koshal in Orissa and many more.

In each case, citizens demanding a separate state have a seemingly fool proof logic: their needs and concerns are not addressed by existing state governments and only a ‘state’ of their own can lead to better development and delivery of developmental benefits. The logic is that there wouldn’t be so many farmer suicides in Vidharbha if it becomes a separate state; or that sugar cane farmers in Harit Pradesh would get a better deal than what they are currently getting from Lucknow. On the face of it, the logic appears impeccable. But will this work in reality? Will smaller states genuinely lead to better welfare outcomes for citizens; for better governance and stronger democracy?

I look at the examples of Jharkhand and Goa and shudder at what might happen in reality. You and I already know about how Goa is rapidly descending towards hell; it became a state back in 1986. Then, in 2000, three states called Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were created. Almost 10 years down the road, can anyone say with even an iota of confidence that freeing Jharkhand from the clutches of Bihar has led to more prosperity for citizens? In fact, exactly the opposite seems to have happened. Chronic political instability and relentless Maoist violence have become the signature themes of the state. It is a unique state where an independent MLA became Chief Minister.

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Saturday, January 19, 2013

POSTULATE III : DEADLY DISEASES

Humans have fallen prey to deadly diseases much easier than expected. With the advancement of science, we’ve won some battles but clearly not the war; and as experience shows, we’re waiting for the next animal...

The Asian flu too took 2 million lives worldwide in 1957. Although most Americans had lived through the typhoid and small pox epidemics of 1876 and 1890, its debilitating effects, and those of yellow fever and diphtheria, are still well within living memory across the world.

Even in this modern 21st century, the number of people dying because of epidemics is more than people dying in wars or terror attacks. According to the World Health Report 2004, if 7.2 million people die of ischaemic heart disease every year and 5.5 million out of Cerebrovascular disease, then 3.9 million also die out of lower respiratory infections.

One of the deadliest diseases, HIV/AIDS, kills 2.8 million every year, with over 39.4 million people living with HIV today. Over 32.7 million die every year from just 12 leading diseases worldwide. The World Health Report 2004 further reveals that out of the 57 million who died in the world in 2002 out of diseases, 33.5 million died out of non-communicable diseases, 18.3 million died out of communicable diseases, perinatal and nutritional conditions (rest from other external injuries).

Though medical science is advancing, so is the emergence of new viruses; in just 39 years, 40 new viruses have emerged, including Ebola, HIV, H1N1, H2N2. Avian, swine, mouth-and-foot, salmonella... although we’re winning the battles, scientists accept we’re not even close to winning the war – in fact, some say they don’t even have an idea where the war is supposed to take place.

In the Pulitzer Prize winning book, Guns, Germs, and Steel, cult author Professor Jared Diamond proves how Eurasian cultures have ruled all the other continents by spreading their ‘germs’ within foreign populations, thus killing them en masse, consequently allowing Eurasians to gain physical superiority.

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 18, 2013

FINANCIAL CRISIS: POOREST NATIONS OF THE WORLD

Recession has thrown up crazy results in the poorest nations of the world; they’ve become richer!

Liberia, the second poorest nation, saw its GDP grow from $0.53 billion in 2005 to $0.87 billion in 2008 (9.4% growth in 2007, 7.1% in 2008), with per capita GNI increasing from $250 in 2005 to $300 in 2008. Much credit goes to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who held innumerable meetings with UN, IMF and even US officials on how to mitigate the impact of the financial crisis. And this despite FDI and aid contracting heavily.

Burundi is the next poorest nation in the world. The landlocked economy is primarily dominated by agriculture, dependent purely on international aid, a factor which in fact dramatically fell in the years leading to the recession – aid aggregated $1.247 billion in 1997, $1.2 billion in 2003 and fell to a tiny $181 million in 2005. Yet, Burundi’s GDP grew from $0.71 billion in 2000, to $0.8 billion in 2005, to $1.16 billion in 2008 (63% since 2000; an average of 4% growth over the last two years). Per capita GNI grew from $310 to $380 from 2000 to 2008.

The paradox of cash flows in a so-called flat world continues to surprise us; and we hope the Friedmans too.

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Thursday, January 17, 2013

Here are the real Nobel Prize winners

You would think that the Nobel Prize has been given to Osama instead of Obama; such has been the ballyhoo and brouhaha generated over the act of edifying the first Black President of a country that historically treated blacks as slaves and chattel to be traded in the American version of Mandis. But then, surely Obama deserves it more than the now deceased former Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin who was once designated a “terrorist” by the British! And much more than another deceased soul (may his soul rest in peace) named Cordell Hull who – as American Secretary of State – refused exile to God knows how many Jews who wanted to escape from Nazi Germany. All of them subsequently died in concentration camps.

But for whatever it is worth, here is the Business & Economy list of Nobel Prize nominations for next year across categories:

peace: This was a very, very close contest. In one corner stood two brothers who have completely redefined the concept of brotherly love. In the other corner stood a ‘brother’ who has completely redefined the very concept of ‘neighbourly’ love. In one corner stood Mukesh & Anil Ambani and in the other corner stood the Chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba Hafiz Saeed. Ultimately, it was clinched by Saeed for his actual demonstration of ‘peace’ and ‘love’ during 26/11

economic sciences: Yes, the prize is not for ‘economics’ but ‘economic sciences’ since virtually all economists across the world have been mesmerised by the delusion that the study of quirky human behaviour is an exact science. There were many contestants for this prized prize – most belonging to the political and corporate class who understand ‘money’ like no one else. After much deliberation, debate, wrangling and mud slinging, the nomination was conferred upon the honourable Sharad Pawar for taking economics even beyond the frontiers of science. How else can you explain an inflation rate of zero percent and less when the prices of sugar, oil and vegetables have soared by more than 100%?

literature: If you believe that great literature transcends wretched reality in a sublime manner that borders on fantasy, then this one is a no brainer. The unanimous verdict was The Draft Direct Tax Code that has been circulated for debate and discussion. This masterpiece contains a sparkling gem that says that the market value of the plum houses that bureaucrats occupy in VIP Delhi will be added to their taxable income. Now if that does not border on fantasy, I don’t know what will.

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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

The Blue Bull goes on the rampage in the fields of Uttar Pradesh

As the Blue Bull goes on the rampage in the fields of Uttar Pradesh, the state government wants a return to the days of bounty hunting

The current law on hunting in India states that anyone can kill a Nilgai if – a) He or she has a valid licensed gun b) Has the requisite permission from the government, and c) Hands over the carcass to the forest department. However, indiscriminate hunting of the as-of-now healthy numbers of Nilgai seems like a bad idea. In the absence of a proper machinery to monitor their numbers, such a move is likely to drastically bring their numbers.

A similar story is unfolding 13,554 kms away in the US state of Idaho. The mostly mountainous state is home to the Gray Wolf, where hunting the animal is set to begin. Hunters are bracing for a field day with loaded guns to go after the once-endangered animal and it is believed that the move could leave the state with as many as 220 wolves dead. Ironically, Idaho’s state motto is Esto Perpetua, which in Latin translates as “Let it be forever”.

Coming back to the Nilgai ‘menace’, Belinda Wright, a well known conservationist says, “Sympathy towards the farmers is understandable, for the loss of crops is a loss to their livelihood. If hunting of one species is allowed, it could open up the possibility of hunting other species in the future. It’s best not to touch hunting laws at this point. Instead, other options should be considered to address the issues of the farmers.

Perhaps it is one of those situations where it is difficult to make a choice in favour of either man or beast, but certainly there is need, now more than ever, to look for a more meaningful alternative like the one being worked out where castrating the male bull could at least curtail the problem… for in allowing hunting we are only curing the symptoms and not the disease...

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)

Monday, January 14, 2013

INFLATION: FOODGRAINS

For the middle class families, rising food prices have proved to be killing and the steps by government are a big joke, say Vikas Kumar and Niharika Patra

Those are not just the normal day to day food items that are wreaking havoc on middle-class family budgets. Thanks to the largesse doled out by the Sixth Pay Commission, the amount of money they have to pay as school fees for their children has virtually doubled – often with retrospective effect. And unlike their luckier ‘government employee’ counterparts, an overwhelming majority of those working in the private sector have not seen a pay hike for more than a year. Says Rajarshi, “I have two sons and their school fees have now doubled. I don’t know how will I pay all this.” Rajarshi and her husband really don’t know how to tackle this situation. So, middle-class Indians like Sadhna and Rajarshi who used to save about Rs.5,000 per month have now seen their savings dwindle to literally nothing.

There is more bad news for them in store with the monsoon being far from normal. Says JP Malik, Department of Economic Analysis and Policy at RBI, “It is simple economics. The problem is because of the supply-demand gap which has happened because of the trouble in monsoons. Pulses and cereals have suffered more because they are more dependent on monsoon water”. But poor monsoons alone cannot be blamed for the incredible rise in prices. There is something rotten in the supply chain related to food products in the country. The farmer in the village still gets less than Rs.10 for every kg of cauliflower that he can harvest and sell. By the time you buy it from the market, it costs at least Rs.80 per kg. This is a clear sign that the trader and the middleman are making hay while the farmer as well as the consumer suffer. Add to that the complete absence of modern cold storages in rural areas despite many pious announcements from myriad policy makers.

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)

O.M.G! G.S.T

for people like us

In the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, Saint Joseph says, “But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.” While the Pharaohs have given way to the Government (that’s easy), the ‘one-fifth’ has become a ‘one-third’ (almost)! But interestingly, what St. Joseph says is equally relevant in the context of indirect taxes as well – paying a part of the produced goods to the governing authority in one’s state.

This entails the development of a comprehensive IT network for real time recording, sharing, and dissemination of information for calculating taxes later on. One look at the current Tax Information Exchange System (TINXSYS) will be enough to tell even an inadvertent viewer that the system is purely inefficient in handling all these functionalities; for that matter, it is not even present in all the states. Can the presence of multiple check posts within a few kilometres on either side of the border for two bordering states help? Any frequent interstate highway traveller would tell you how even a state entry tax collection booth causes huge delays; implementation of the GST through such check posts will further aggravate the problem as the states will probe even more into the goods passing their borders in order to minimise tax arbitrage. And we’ve not even come to the other informal ‘tax’ that border post guards collect.

But to its credit, the gargantuan challenge that the proposed tax aims to tackle is to minimise the problem of tax cascading, which has by far been the biggest cause of tax evasion and has been the reason that small unorganised players have spawned uncontrolled within the Indian market, as these are largely outside the threshold level of tax – due to both real income and unreported income – under the current regime.

Tax cascading can be understood by a simple example. Imagine a producer buying raw materials from a vendor for Rs.1,000 including Rs.100 as tax at a 10% rate to the vendor. Now, when the producer sells the final product to the end consumer for Rs.2,000, the tax at the same rate of 10% in the current VAT system comes out to be Rs.200. The customer should pay only Rs.100 as Rs.100 has already been paid on the raw materials before the value addition took place. But the customer pays Rs.200 as the producer does not get any input credit on the tax already paid. Hence, in essence, the end customer ends up paying a “tax on tax”. This leads to non-accounting of transactions, especially in sectors like construction and housing, leading to massive revenue losses and a direct incentive for the parallel economy.

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

“We started with fewer products”

B&E: You have the highest retail presence and often in the same market you have more than one store. Doesn’t it end up in cannibalizing the sales of your products?

SS: No, I don’t think so, we have huge portfolio to offer and we design two stores in the same locality in different ways. Say for instance, in one store the first floor has lifestyle products and second floor, sports goods. In the second store, the first floor has women’s apparel and the second floor, men’s; It might sound very simplistic, but this is indeed the strategy that helped us to run our stores in same locality, phenomenally.

B&E: What understanding of the Indian market did you have when you entered and what strategies did you adopt at the initial stage?

AJ: When we entered, we saw that the sports market in India, unlike any other country was largely male dominated and so we thought that it’s not suggestible to launch our entire portfolio. We launched only those products which pertained to the choice of the male customer and we also kept our offerings limited only to cricket and athletics.

B&E: Tell us more about your future plans in the Indian market?

AJ: We have entered the kids apparel segment and we would be entering into several other segments also, but not compromising with the brand equity of Reebok. Our vision is to establish Reebok as a most loved fashion and sports brand in India and we would be offering whatever a consumer requires to dress up for all possible occasions.

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 10, 2013

A lesson taught ...and learnt?

from the ceo to the office boy, from the business tycoon to the paan waala, from urban to rural; mobile handsets have travelled a great distance in india, and so has nokia. but thanks to the latest twists in the tale, nokia may need to adapt quite a bit very soon

The ‘Black & White’ era went into decline mode in India way back in 1982, when the first colour TV sets were introduced on the occasion of the Asiad Games (movies were already in colour, though; interestingly, India’s first indigenously produced colour film was Kishan Kanya; way back in 1937). But the ‘grey’ era continues to be strong till date. Not on your screens, my friend, but in markets. Ask the MNCs and they will recount, in horror, countless stories on how the grey market has, time and again, wreaked havoc with their plans.

And that was just the beginning of Nokia’s quagmires when it entered the Indian market in 1995. It was a market where mobile phones and services were a luxury item. With the prices that these models commanded, you could get a decent second hand Fiat car in those days!

There were a few key planks on which Nokia played its cards, and played them well. Firstly, they developed phones specifically for the Indian market, with durability to withstand Indian conditions and features like torch, vernacular SMS, news feeds, et al. Also, with other players like LG, Sony and Samsung being perceived as diversified consumer electronic companies, Nokia scored heavily on the fact that it had a core focus on mobile phones & developed strong brand equity.

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, January 09, 2013

Jet’tisoning a brand!

Despite holding pole position in the Indian aviation industry, Jet Airways was known for its apathy towards branding and marketing. 4Ps B&M does a snapshot seat-of-the-pants recap of Jet’s brand journey and the new branding move by Goyal to combine low cost carrier operations under JetKonnect

Exactly five years ago, in April 2007, Jet Airways decided to buy Air Sahara (for the second time, after the previous deal fell through). That was a time when it was flying high and seemed to be within touching distance of becoming the indisputable lord of Indian skies. Its revenues had increased by a whopping 21.5%, closing at Rs 7,401.31 crore for FY 2006-07 as compared to Rs 6,087.57 crore a year ago. Buoyed by its performance, the airline was quick to declare a dividend of Rs 6 on equity shares of Rs 10 each for the financial year 2006-07. Nobody could have faulted the airline and clearly all straws in the wind suggested that the airline was destined to peak new highs in the Indian aviation industry. Things were working to the airline’s plans and the famed merger with Air Sahara was supposed to fuel its future growth.

But the merger, instead of being a seamless exercise in integration and a trigger for growth, brought along a bagful of problems. Instead of deepening the airline’s bench strength for skilled manpower and adding to its reservoir of talent, the airline found itself saddled with redundant resources that could not be put to productive use. As a result of the merger Jet Airways suddenly found itself in a situation where there were crew members far in excess of its own requirements and with more number of expensive pilots than were needed to fly its machines. Also, around this time, economic winds had started turning baleful and the fangs of global recession had started biting. The aviation industry across the world, including in India, found itself stuck in the storm clouds of an intensifying recession. Airlines’ profits took a sharp beating and revenues for the industry plummeted precipitously. Like others, Jet Airways too found itself in the crosshairs of a blowing ill-wind. Its problems were compounded because the adverse business environment foreclosed any options that it may have had for deploying its surplus human resources. As a result, the airline’s management found itself faced with a knotty issue. After keeping this baggage grounded for nearly a year, the airline finally moved to cut the Gordian knot. In October 2008, the airline handed out pink slips to around a 1,000 of its employees.

Unfortunately, for Jet Airways the move backfired. The en masse sacking of employees kicked up a media hysteria and forced the airline to beat a hasty retreat. Two days later the airline reinstated all sacked employees but the episode left a lingering doubt about the health of the airline besides also denting its reputation in the public eye. Also, the market fallout was swift and brutal. Its stock price took a hammering, sliding from Rs.955 on December 17, 2007 to Rs. 115 on March 12, 2009. In a matter of months, the airline which had its nose in the cloud found itself buffeted by turbulent air pockets and desperately seeking a safe landing.

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.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

India has been late to the party

The paper industry in India has been late to the party when it comes to creating strong brands, but they can’t afford to stay laggards in this domain anymore

In an effort to create a strong presence in consumer segment, ITC launched its ‘Papercraft’ brand in the premium stationery segment and ‘Classmate’ brand in the mass stationery segment. The most important part was the way their ads communicated the quality of the products. This was one of the very first keen attempts by a large player in India to create a positioning of superior quality and also an environment friendly image. To add to it, their CSR campaign, which said that Re.1 from the sale of every Classmate notebook is contributed towards education of underprivileged children, also proved a great fit for their branding attempts. Today, ITC’s paperboards, paper and packaging business fetches them Rs.819.24 crore in revenue (year ending March 31, 2011) & a 31% growth yoy. The company’s proposed marketing budget for the segment for 2012 is projected to be Rs.350 million with a yoy leap of around 15%.

For 2012, the Rs.3000 crore Ballarpur Industries Ltd. (BILT) has upped its advertising budget from Rs.100 million in 2009 to around Rs.180 million in 2012. As much as 65% of this goes towards print advertisements while banners, hoardings, billboards, et al make the rest. BILT has also been a regular sponsor of BILT Skins Golf Tournament since 2002. The company presently owns a premium range of paper-based stationery products under the name ‘BILT Matrix’. It also has various brands of printing paper like BILT Magna Print and BILT Wisdom Print. JK Paper also owns various well known brands like JK Excel Bond, JK Ultima and JK Evervite to name a few.

However, the industry needs to really step on the gas on branding now, with the threat of cheap imports from China and Indonesia looming large. So far, growth in the domestic paper industry has been at around 9% over the past decade compared to a mere 4.2% average yearly growth for Chinese paper products in the same period. But this may not last long. “These imports are at least 25-30% cheaper and unless Indian companies come out with an image of superior quality, they will lose the war”, says M. L. Pachisia, member, Indian Paper Manufacturers Association. Over time, Chinese players like Nine Dragons, Shandong Chenming and Lee & Man have acquired global prominence. The interesting thing to note, however, is the fact that besides price, Chinese manufacturers have also been lauded globally for their unwavering adherence to environmental standards. A. K. Ghosh, VP-Marketing Sales, JK Paper, admits in an interaction with 4Ps B&M, “Brand identity to paper globally has started much earlier than in India. This is because many top paper companies are multinationals and sell their paper in many countries. Indian manufacturers fare well in terms of branding efforts but we are constrained by the amount we can spend on marketing and branding.”

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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.

Friday, January 04, 2013

‘Brown’, but not out!

Labour Party is in trouble and so is Brown, but his resignation will not make matters any better

Julius Caesar would surely lend a sympathetic ear to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown; as he would relate to him quite well. It’s not only the Opposition and rebels who are baying for Brown’s blood. Even party insiders view the PM as the key obstacle to the party’s hopes of avoiding defeat in the next elections. Rebel Labour MPs are distributing a letter calling on Brown to step down. He has survived a political gale by hastily reshuffling his cabinet, but political analysts say that the storm is far from over. The Labour party performed miserably in the recent local elections for the first time in 30 years. In power since 1997, it lost over 300 councillors and chances are high that the party may be wiped off in some southern counties. Some Labour councillors say that the MPs expense scandal, a wave of senior minister resignations and the government’s failure to handle Britain’s worst recession since World War II led to the catastrophic election results. But the embattled premier has put a brave front, saying on his new cabinet, “I have chosen a determined and strong Cabinet that will fight hard for the British people in these difficult times.”

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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 03, 2013

CHECHNYA: INSURGENT GROUPS

Russia has to ensure that sleeping dogs continue to lie in Chechnya

During the military operation, Caucasian militants (the separatist group) carried out large-scale attacks throughout Russia. The most prominent were the 1999 apartment-bombing campaign, the 2002 Moscow theatre siege and the 2004 Beslan school massacre. The Chechen war also attracted jihadists from Middle East and Central Asia to the Chechnya cause. More recently, under President Kadyrov, the Chechen insurgency has been toned down, as extremist groups have been suppressed. But their traces can be still found in the neighbouring republics.

As of 2009, Russia has partially succeeded in mitigating the separatist movement. The Government officially declared the end of hostilities towards Russia in April this year, but there are still groups of insurgents taking the battle forward. Russia has to ensure that the issues that led to the radicalisation of the people of Chechnya are buried so that the era of lasting peace prevails.

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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.