IIPM Management College: India

Showing posts with label India. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Pneumonia wins in India

The government needs to urgently take steps towards mass prevention and cure

November 12 is marked as World Pneumonia Day. But this year, the World Pneumonia Day brought some horrifying numbers in tow. The third annual International Vaccine Access Center’s (IVAC) Pneumonia Progress Report 2012 reveals that nearly 1,088 children under 5 years of age die every day in India, an increase by 6.7% from 2008.

In a developing country like India, young children under the age of 5 are often victims of pneumonia owing to malnutrition, unhygienic surroundings, overcrowding and pollution. Lack of awareness and education among the poor often leads to delays in treatment, with fatal consequences. Recent estimates from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that pneumonia continues to be the number one killer of children not only for India but also across the globe – causing 18% of all child deaths – which means an estimated 1.3 million child deaths in 2011 alone.

WHO has recommended the inclusion of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in countries that have an infant mortality rate of more than 50 per 1,000 live births. Shockingly, India has not included the pneumococcal vaccine in its immunisation programme simply because it is expensive (Rs.3,800 per dose!). That is unfortunate, since the newest generation of pneumonia vaccines would have successfully protected our children from 23 common strains of the disease.

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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

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

“Egypt has undergone a sea change after the revolution”

Adel el Masry, Director of Egypt Tourism Authority, is upbeat on his country’s tourism prospects, which had taken a hit following the political uprising in the country. In an exclusive interaction with b&e’s Dipshikha Das, Masry talks about how Egypt’s tourism is back on its feet and what his country is doing to promote tourism

B&E: The political turmoil caused by the Arab Spring, the subsequent fall of the Hosni Mubarak regime and the current fragile state of affairs in Egypt have taken a heavy toll on tourism in the country. What are you doing to help it bounce back?
Adel Masry (AM): Tourism to Egypt is returning to stability after a long movement for political democracy. Egypt is receiving immense support from several nations who are helping improve the situation by lifting travel advisories against Egypt. The Egypt Tourism office in India is aggressively taking part in all important trade fairs and travel expos for giving maximum exposure to and showcasing the country’s tourism industry to the entire South-east Asia market.

B&E: In the Egypt tourism’s scheme of things, where does India fit in?
AM: Tourism is an important driver of our economy and the annual growth in this sector has risen to around 30%. Last year we received 16 million tourists, and earned around $11,000 million. Currently tourism contributes approximately 11.8% to Egypt’s GDP. In 2009, we had 87,000 Indian tourists and, in 2010, it stood at 1,14,000, up 36% against the previous year. We are expecting at least a 35% increase by the end of this year.

B&E: After the turmoil that your country has been through, how difficult do you think it would be to lure foreign tourists to Egypt?
AM: It’s true that we suffered a huge loss in terms of tourist flows from Asia and elsewhere in the wake of the people’s movement that Egypt faced. However, we have been taking steps to lure the Indian tourists back. We have doubled our tourism promotion budget in India from a half million dollars to $1million in the current year. We are aggressively targeting Indian tourists in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai and Jaipur. But it’s not just the big cities but also the tier II cities we are looking at now. We have adopted an experimental marketing approach by organising tours for our travel partners to witness the destination in the aftermath of the political unrest and see for themselves that Egypt is now once again as safe and secure for tourists as it has always been in the past. Also, we have increased the limit on baggage allowance for tourists travelling through Egypt Air as well as increased the frequency of our flights to five days in a week from Mumbai to Cairo and vice versa. Post the movement in Egypt, the “Tahrir Square in Cairo” has generated a lot of interest for people to see and visit the place since it was the epicentre of all activities during the movement. We had recently organised FAM trips for the Indian media to witness and see how Egypt has undergone a change after the democratic movement. Also, to raise our profile in India, we have participated at important tourism events like SATTE in Delhi, TTF & OTM in Mumbai, and the recently held PATA travel mart in Delhi.

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

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The hilarity of a photo-op show!

There were few forums across the year that allowed unknown environment ministers of different nations to meet each other. And then someone worked out a brilliant concept of global warming meets! by anchal gupta

It’s extremely tough to understand the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP 15, if you please). But if you really wish to understand the COP 15 summit, you would have to first understand that it’s already an open secret that there is going to be no deal. To understand what does one mean by ‘the deal’, you would have to understand that post the Kyoto Protocal period (where developed nations allowed developing nations leeway in controlling their emissions), developed nations now wish developing nations to sign ‘the deal’ wherein all nations will undertake legally binding measures to control their future emissions. But before that you would have to understand that of the 192 nations attending the meet, key ones – including India – have already rejected the concept of ‘legally binding’ emission controls. And also that many have already formulated their internally acceptable voluntarily implemented emission control standards. And further that these countries have already communicated their stands to the other nation members through various channels and some, like India, have also clearly mentioned why they will not sign at all on a deal that is ‘legally binding’. That brings us to another question – why then have the summit? Steal a glance to the first line of this paragraph, and you will have the answer of how tough it is to understand...

One tends to believe extremely strongly that irrespective of whether global warming is really at work or not, the fact is that the climate and environment ministers of various nations – post the creation of the masterstroke called United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the latest fashionable name for the almost extinct Kyoto Protocol – or was it vice versa? Don’t bother if you don’t know) – now have a fashionably important portfolio and an all expenses paid tour schedule that they can look forward to throughout their tenure.

Imagine this scenario. Around fifteen years back, if you had been an environment minister in a developing nation in South Asia, you would mainly have had to worry about policies regarding cattle, livestock, forests (of course), and other nick nack. Cut to the present, and the environment minister’s post is perchance the most coveted one dealing with the ad nauseum claim of how to “mitigate the effects of global warming” (you’ll find this statement copied in many policy government documents in many nations) leading obviously to massive media exposure, public glory, global speech making and a sureshot future book.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

“Competition is no cause of concern!”

R. S. Sharma, CMD, ONGC, in an exclusive with B&E counts the challenges and the strategies to tackle them.

B&E: ONGC profits fell by 3% in the last fiscal, how much of it would be attributed to the economic slowdown and volatility of oil prices and how are you tackling the same?

RS: Actually, we have a lot of upsides and these come into play when you are under pressure, especially when the crude price came down from $147 per barrel to $34 per barrel; we were in a much better position to withstand that onslaught because of the same strong fundamentals. When oil price peaked we never got this upside because of the subsidy sharing mechanism. Thus we were naturally hedged in the business. So during those times we got maximum $69 per barrel against $147 and the remaining $70 was shared as subsidy discount. And we gave a huge discount of almost 50% .But the same phenomenon played in our favour when the prices crashed. For us the prices did not crash from $147 to $34, they came down from $69 to $34. And of course our last fiscal’s performance has not been able to match up to our growth trend over the past few years. Well the prices are again on a rise but the government cannot do away with the subsidy mechanism yet we are more comfortably placed in comparison to others.

B&E: KG basin has been in the news for long. What are your plans for the KG basin production? What is your take on the coordination and competition with private players like RIL?

RS: ONGC is working on developing East Coast discoveries in an integrated manner in three phases starting from this year itself. Twelve wells have been planned to be drilled in the first phase and more than 35 wells in the subsequent phases. Reserves are estimated to be quite substantial.

Production is expected to commence from 2011. It is a global practice that in the oil and gas business the sharing of infrastructure and resources is very common among the operators. To derive the benefit of economies of scale, to synergise and reduce the cost, sharing of rigs and resources is a common practice. We are happy that we have good synergy with Reliance. They are our equity partner for Panna Mukta field and we are also in talks with them for the sharing of infrastructure, some of the board facilities, online processing facilities, pipeline structure, et al. So I am sure that in times to come instead of duplicating all these investments it will be of national interest if we shared our resources. As for competition, it is very good from the country’s prospective and also if there is no competition one does not get enough motivation to do better. So to stay ahead ONGC is applying the world class technologies and domain experts. As a result we find that our own efficiency has improved. Our exploration success has improved in the last 4-5 years as we have been sourcing and deploying best of these technologies in our activities. And I would say that competition is not a cause of concern as in this business India is so much dependant on imports that I don’t see a situation in the coming future where this competition would be detrimental to the interest of the business.

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)

Thursday, January 10, 2013

In the lair of adephagia

there was hardly anything ‘fast’ in the manner in which this fast food chain spread its reach in the indian market. but mcdonald’s would still look back at the past 19 years with satisfaction, for indians have accepted them quite well

She did it again! It’s quite well established now that there is a lot that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks forward to whenever she visits India. And Indian food definitely figures up there on the list. That is why, when she came to the Taj Palace in New Delhi during the current visit, she had an extended 2 hour dinner session, where she got to taste the best of Indian cuisine, one of the main reasons why she made headlines in her previous visit as well.

Visiting India and enjoying Indian cuisine is one thing. But when it comes to bringing cuisine from back home to tantalise Indian taste buds; well… MNCs haven’t exactly been having a ball there, have they? Firstly there is the tremendous competition that MNCs have with traditional Indian food. That’s where many failed at the onset – to adapt their tastes to Indian likings and sensitivities. Moreover, careful planning was missing in most of the forays, so was the kind of investment that is needed to sustain in this market; where breaking even can take what seems like eternity. And price… who can forget price? They made strong attempts to make Indians adjust to their pricing norms, but in fact ended up adjusting their own. Brands like KFC and Domino’s, therefore, learned the hard way. But the most recognisable Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) brand in the world – McDonald’s, was a notable exception.

As journalist John F. Love points out in his book – McDonald’s – Behind the Arches, that in the 1950s, McDonald’s realised the importance of logistics and supply chain to maintain the consistency of the brand. While the initial aggressive approach followed by most American MNCs ultimately gave way to a humble growth model, the McDonald’s headquarters at Oakbrook had other plans for India. The company has always had the policy to wait for as long as possible to find the right franchisee along with a sturdy supplier base, before entering any country. Critics have lambasted it for running bullock carts in the era of jet planes. But its patience is showing results, as it’s the only American MNC in the fast food chain business that has seen success from day one and reached break even in 17 years 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.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Famous

Will their comeback tales have a happy ending?

They say it is not easy at all to carve out success, reputation and a name that you are proud of in today’s fiercely competitive markets. But you know what? It is even more difficult to rebuild the same if hubris, history or bad luck have contrived to put you down. Yes, comeback tales are way too tough; that’s why they are that much more interesting. In contemporary India and its arena of brands, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Auto, Nokia, LG and jet Airways are classic examples of once blue chip brands that encountered misfortune and worse after the Great Recession of 2008. But they are clawing back, some more successfully than others. Some have decided that going back to basics is the best idea; some have decided that it is time to wield the broom and sweep the Augean stables; others have opted for simply hunkering down and waiting for the ill winds to blow away and still others have taken the risk by gambling on radical new strategies. In each of the cases, the advantage was a huge base of customers that stayed loyal. But they all realised that it was not enough by itself. Guess what? These tantalising tales are about to reach stirring climaxes as the famous five hit back at competitors.

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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.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Poor man’s labour lost

The UPA announced some schemes for the working class, but largely ignored the issues that really needed to be urgently addressed, says vikas kumar

When the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government assumed office, hardly anybody had expected drastic steps in the direction of the much contentious labour reforms. This was because the oxygen for the government’s survival was being supplied by Left parties. However, its performance on many accounts was even below the modest expectations.

The National Common Minimum Programme specifically mentions about the implementation of minimum wage laws, “ The UPA administration will ensure the fullest implementation of minimum wage laws for farm labour. Comprehensive protective legislation will be enacted for all agricultural workers.” Minister of Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes says to B&E, “Whatever we had promised in the CMP for the organised or unorganised sector, we have fulfilled it.”

Labour laws face severe challenges at the grassroots level. One major problem is that there is a paucity of clear statistics on the number of people working as domestic labour. The estimated number of domestic workers in India is 90 million, but this is probably an underestimate as there has been hardly any systematic study to document such workers throughout the country.

The other issue which haunts a majority of the labour class is lack of a credible social safety net. This forces them towards bonded labour-like situation under appalling conditions for less than decent wages, often from childhood to old age.

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, November 24, 2012

How will they manage nuke power?

Our policy makers can’t even manage thermal power. How will they manage nuke power?

There are even more scandalous facts. Of all the major nations of the world, India boasts of the worst Transmission & Distribution (T&D) systems. Even in the capital city of Delhi, T&D losses are in excess of 40%. If you give up the jargon, T&D losses simply mean outright theft of power. When power supply was privatised in Delhi in 2002, theft and loot accounted for almost 50% of the total supply. Six years after ‘efficient’ operations by private players and umpteen hikes in rates, theft and loot in Delhi is still more than the national average of about 30%. In effect, honest households are paying higher tariffs to subsidise thieves and inefficient private players, who cannot or will not stop the loot. The total installed power capacity in India is more than 1,40,000 MW at the moment. If T&D losses are brought down to global levels of about 10%, there will be 28,000 MW more of electricity available to honest users. Ask our ‘power’ hungry politicians why they don’t allow this to happen by shielding thieves.

In 2003, the Parliament passed an Electricity Act that required all state governments to reform their bankrupt and moribund electricity boards. The Act also required that consumers must pay for electricity consumed. Five years down the road, the boards remain unreformed and bankrupt and politicians keep announcing new schemes to give ‘free’ power. That’s a joke because bankrupt boards have no power to supply.

Then again, regulation is routinely caught up in corporate feuds. The huge reserves of gas found in the Krishna Godavarai basin will be a crucial raw material for new power plants being planned. Anil Ambani wants to use gas to produce 15,000 MW of power as soon as he gets his hands on gas supplies. But elder brother Mukesh Ambani is not happy and the Ministry of Petroleum has jumped into the fray, prohibiting Mukesh from supplying cheap gas to Anil. The matter is in Supreme Court and all gas-based power projects have been stalled.

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, October 30, 2012

Many miles to go before we hit pay dirt!

India hasn’t really arrived as an automotive hub as recent data seems to suggest; but it cannot be denied that the country is staring at quite a few phenomenal opportunities, analyses virat bahri of B&E

Being overawed by, and often envious of most things Chinese seems to come naturally to us Indians; be it with respect to their economic growth, their military might, their influence in major world forums, their manufacturing prowess, their infrastructure development or even their Olympic games! Though the competition is largely one sided, Indians surely do look for every possible reason to believe that they can outclass the dragon. Well, they got one recently, from the automotive sector that is, when data was released for automotive exports for the period of January-July 2009, where India managed to actually overtake China in terms of automotive export figures. India’s total exports grew by 18% yoy to reach nearly 2,29,809 units; while China’s exports actually declined by 60% yoy to reach around 1,64,800 units. Even South Korea and Thailand witnessed significant declines in their export numbers by 43% and 31% respectively (yoy).

Remember, the automotive industry is a key indicator of the manufacturing prowess of a country. So is the world finally recognising India’s manufacturing credentials?

Unfortunately, all the mindless media hype surrounding this ‘achievement’ tends to overshadow the true picture. India has actually become recognised as a car exporter more by default rather than by design. In fact, India only exported commercial vehicles mostly to the Middle East and Africa before Hyundai came into the picture, as Ashvin Chotai, Managing Director, Intelligence Automotive Asia, agrees, “The major boost to exports started after Hyundai made India the global hub for the production of its small cars. The main destination for Hyundai is Europe and hence this lifted the status of India as a serious exporter of cars to developed markets.”

Further, the export data needs to be analysed in perspective. Around 2,01,000 of these exported units belong to the passenger car segment. And exports in the passenger car segment are dominated largely by two players – Hyundai and Maruti.

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.

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

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Old, but not gold

The Wadia group faded with Dhrubhai’s rise

Their battle is the stuff of corporate legend. It all started in 1981 when Nusli Wadia, after gaining the license to build the Di-methyl terephthalate (DMT) plant, found Dhirubhai Ambani in the way for the first time. The latter, as we all know symbolised the aggressive new India, ready to break age old barriers and cover new ground. The Wadia Group, founded in 1879, was symbolic of colonial India. Dhirubhai moved from strength to strength in the textile business, shaking the stalwarts to their very roots. The Wadias accused Ambanis vehemently of breaking the laws and tried every trick in the book to stall his rise. In no time, the war took an ugly turn. Ramnath Goenka, initially a negotiator for both parties, decided to support Wadia. The battle went on till Ambani suffered a stroke in 1990. Ambani’s detractors in business, media and political circles tried what they could to stop him. But the Reliance Group was destined to tide over all the barriers that came before it. The group’s forward and backward integration strategy left the Wadias miles behind.

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.

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

Friday, October 12, 2012

Recession hits the World Bank :-)

Who would’ve thought that the Third World would get to see this day

Damn the recession! One can’t even keep quasi-nationalist and snobbish institutions insulated from the pungent smell of the Third World. Look at what’s going on at poor IMF and World Bank, two institutions who in the past have not only ensured that power and policy is dictated by the western world, but have also ignominiously had their own policies initiating economic crises in various parts of the world. The pretty poor World Bank is planning to introduce some changes in their constitution. In the new set up, emerging economies will get a bigger say in policy and decision making. And how did this doe-eyed garbled monster end up accepting such a huge ego destruction? Look no further than its prettier, and now much poorer cousin IMF.

Surprise surprise, the IMF is now eyeing countries like China, Brazil, Gulf countries, South East Asian countries and India to get some ‘funds’. Though Japan, which has been hit hard by global meltdown, continues to fork out large amounts of money for the IMF and World Bank (Recently, the Japanese government donated a gigantic $100 billion to the IMF), economists say the IMF would still need a minimum of $500 billion to start its ‘good work’ for battered economies globally.

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.

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face