Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Those spaceships are long lost!


The IT bubble burst long back, and with it, did many fortunes...

The last decade of 1990s was a dream run for internet start-ups, and anything even faintly related to “.com” syndrome would be lapped by investors like hot cakes, without paying much heed to what the company does or the kind of potential it holds. This was where the bubble began, and this was in itself responsible for its bursting! It began in 1995, peaked on March 10, 2000 when the NASDAQ reached 5,048.62 points before bursting... During this entire period, the stock markets of US and other western countries saw the bulls in total control, especially with regards to the Internet and technology companies. Moreover, most of the Internet companies that were aggressive during these times were financed either by VCs or IPOs. And when this bubble burst, there was mayhem at the stock markets. What triggered the burst of this bubble was a massive multi-billion dollar simultaneous sell order from leading technology companies such as Dell, Cisco and IBM. Though it is said that this initial sell-off was just a coincidence, but it was too strong for investors at the NASDAQ to handle. Between March 2000 and October 2002, the Internet and technology companies shed a whopping $5 trillion in market value!

Different analysts have their own reasons as to what led to the crash-landing. Some say that it was a result of the ‘irrational crowd behavior’ that led people to believe that there was substantial value to be made in this field of business. Others however feel that this was a result of lack of information about this new domain, and their inability to ascertain the asset value, which drove rational people to commit this mistake. According to Rob Enderle, Technology Analyst, “The Dot com bubble burst, because it was feeding frenzy on Internet stocks and investments without any adequate financial controls or acceptable business practices. Folks acted like they were going to be measured on how much money they could spend in the shortest period of time.” Another opinion points out that the business model that these Internet companies followed at that time was flawed. 


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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.


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Sunday, December 9, 2012

WAR: AFGHANISTAN AND SURROUNDING AREAS

History shows Dutch have been more successful than Americans

They call themselves ‘flower strewers’, establishing themselves as a compassionate friend of the locals and targeting to isolate the Taliban influence from the region. The result has been quite encouraging with a jaw dropping black statistic – only 6 Dutch soldiers died in 2008 in Afghanistan, compared to 51 British, 32 Canadian and 155 American soldiers. The Dutch idea of ‘development engaging locals’ is reaping rich dividend. The Dutch strategy involved actually holding themselves back for a year to intellectually understand the complexities – social, economic, political, demographic etc – of the region from a distance. Consequently, when they finally occupied the region in 2008, it was without any resistance – even the Taliban restrains themselves from interference, and not surprisingly.

From opening schools in the region, raising the attendees from 12,000 to 50,000, building 100 health centres with 31 doctors (previously the figure was just 2!) and making infant mortality rate drop from 36% to 25%, the Dutch are procreating ‘socially’ like nobody’s business. If Obama needs to really get it up, we think the Dutch would have no issues giving him the blue pill.


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

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Friday, December 7, 2012

WORLD: FOOD WASTE

Mind your wallet if you waste...

To make the matter worse, rather horrifying, this phenomenon is not just confined to the US but can be felt and found across the globe. Consider this: half of Australia’s landfill is made out of food waste. Likewise more than 30% (worth £10 billion) of all food purchased in the UK never reaches destination (read: the stomach), 30% of total fish is lost in Africa due to discards, post-harvest loss and spoilage. If one collects all the food found in bins in the UK, the whole of Wembley stadium can be covered eight times in a year! Japan leads the race hands down by wasting 20 million tons of food annually. The other side of the story is even more interesting. The University of Arizona believes that if Americans cut their food waste by 50%, it would reduce the environmental impact by 25%, while researches in the UK estimate that if food wastage is contained, the reduction in CO2 emission would be equivalent to pulling off 20% of cars from the UK’s roads! The whole contention of donating 0.7% of GDP to developing countries will be redundant if the Hayashi Ya model is replicated all across. What an idea Hayashi Ya!


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

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

It’s raining ashes in Oz...

Global Warming rears its ugly head in Australia, leaving a trail of death and destruction!

The pictures of the Australian bush fires leave nothing to one’s imagination of the most feared and dreaded place – Hell! The southwest of the island has been engulfed by the rampant infernos consuming all that comes in their scorching path and reducing it to plain ashes. Over 170 deceased, 500 injured and 5,000 left homeless; the worst natural disaster in the country’s history has already claimed 9,01,935 acres by leaving it bare and charred. The ashes and flames have rendered The Victoria state government in a state of frenzy, forcing it to scrutinise the causes of the fire and also assess the existing bush fire safety guidelines. So devastating can be the effects of global warming...

With 80% of land receiving less than 600 mm/year of rain, and potential evaporation being greater than 2,500 mm/year, the driest inhabited continent suffering from extreme heat waves and severe droughts proves to be an easy prey for these ruthless conflagrations. It’s surprising that Australia is not new to such incinerating wildfires. In fact, the increasing frequency and intensity of such mishaps is getting apparent due to climate change. Well, if that’s not alarming enough, here’s a glimpse of some facts. There have been enough early warnings through reports published by the


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

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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

I just can't wait to be King!

Not a single seat won yet, but the PM candidates are ready

The final outcome of 15th Lok Sabha is still unclear, but, in his eagerness, L. K. Advani had already passed a proposal of becoming future PM six months ago in an NDA meeting and even started meeting titans of industry. However, with the assembly poll debacle in Delhi and Rajasthan; the confidence of the saffron brigade has ruptured. On the other hand, Left parties, who were aggressively pushing for Mayavati as future PM, now, feel that it is quite difficult to build a consensus on Behanji.

An internal survey by BJP and RSS reflected that the party might get 96-106 parliamentary seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections, much below the former tally of 113 seats. Even upper house members of the party were advised to participate in the coming elections to improve poll prospects. But the real drama unfolded when former VP Bhairon Singh Shekhawat showed his desire to participate in the upcoming elections.


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

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Monday, December 3, 2012

Next G8: Star Cruise

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

With passing time, experts now concur that French premier, and (hyper)active G8 member Nicholas Sarkozy has started looking – and behaving – eerily similar to Sylvester Stallone [Go ahead, give it a try; identify sweet Nick in the photograph]. Funnily, this behavioural similarity extends to the whole G8 belt [US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Italy, Russia and Ethiopia... er, alright, if you caught us on this, read on, you seem to be interested], with almost every member contributing his Shylockian best to behaving like a spoilt celebrity during every summit, finally achieving nothing. So we did what we do best [no no, not that; Bush does that better] – we analysed the progress report of the past few summits to decipher what exactly has been achieved in terms of contribution to least developed nations!

G8 summit in Birmingham, England, 1998: Protesters for the first time were formally allowed to give a written letter, which requested G8 to work on the heavy debt burden of the third world. Letter accepted, case dismissed! Nothing much was discussed, leave of course the letter. Cologne, Germany, 1999: To prove that they were worried about poverty, an ‘officially’ undisclosed amount was sanctioned. According to World Bank, the ‘sanction’ was so small that it wasn’t enough to even provide five bread loaves per person per year per poor country. Okinawa, Japan, 2000: Aid amount invested in projects: Close to nil; evidently because of billions spent on militarisation of north-east Asia. Genoa, Italy, 2001: Progress on debt cancellation: Nil! Massive protests took the blame, rather than the G8 members.

Kananaskis, Canada, 2002: Among many important issues, NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa’s Development] was also on agenda. $64 billion was requested, but only $6 billion was sanctioned. The reason? Russia requested – and was presumably given – $20 billion for the upkeep of the Russian nuclear stockpiles.


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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.



 
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Sunday, December 2, 2012

VIRGIN FACTS

Invaluable advice, incredible truth and inspirational guide from a dyslexic

Sir Richard Branson, a man who built an over eight billion dollar conglomerate from scratch in eight different sectors, and one whose brand Virgin tried to take on world’s biggest super brands. Branson now provides a true, candid, remarkable and original guide to success both in business and life, through his book Business Stripped Bare.

As someone who never went to a University, Sir Richard has radical views on education. Committed to excellence and expertise in business, he argues in Business Stripped Bare why some University degrees can’t be finished more quickly, why students are left to their own devices much of the time without direction from tutors, lecturers, and professors, and why entrepreneurial thinking is not a part of the curriculum in universities and colleges. In entrepreneurial business, a conservative mind-set will be hamstring, defensiveness will weaken and a failure to face facts will kill. Entrepreneurial business favours the open mind. It favours people whose optimism drives them to prepare for many possible futures. Branson believes that a great deal of entrepreneurship can be taught, and that we desperately need to teach it, as we together confront the huge global challenges of the following centuries.

Sir Richard lays emphasis on innovation and illustrates how on April Fool’s Day 2008, the launch of Virgle was announced, a partnership between Virgin and Google, looking at creating a community on Mars in the next 15 years. Virgle was advertising for volunteers to travel on a one-way ticket to Mars. It was concocted over dinner at Necker and is about the creation of a human colony on Mars.


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

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Friday, November 30, 2012

Common Wealth of Nations

From Wealth of Nations to Common Wealth of Nations

In Common Wealth, the author Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University and special advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Millennium Development Goals, has elaborated upon some actions that are necessary to fulfil the hopes of generation in building a world of peace, sustainable development and Common Wealth.

These include learning about this generation’s challenges to become acquainted with the underlying science of sustainable development, travelling to see other places and cultures to understand the common interests and aspirations that unite all of us, starting or joining organisations committed to sustainable development i.e., Muhammad Yunus began Grameen Bank and gave life to the world-wide microfinance revolution, Paul Farmer started Partners In Health, Norman Borlaug helped to establish the wheat research institute CIMMYT and thereby helped feed the world, promoting sustainable development through social networking sites, getting politically engaged, demanding our politicians to honour government’s promises and donating time, dollars, and the energy to social networks.

Global survival in the long run will be achieved by recognising that the vast majority of people in the Middle East, China, India, and the rest of the world, just as in the United States, long for their own prosperity and security, not for domination over others. Our fears can easily get the best of us. We must therefore train ourselves and orient our policies to understand the world not only as we would see it but how others see it as well. That is the key to appreciating our common fate, and Common Wealth, on the planet.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

The State of the World: Hunger, Conflict & Death

Ban Ki-moon, Secy. General, UN on how member states must work together. A B&E exclusive...

We all recognize today’s perils. A global financial crisis. A global energy crisis. A global food crisis. Trade talks have collapsed, yet again. There are new outbreaks of war and violence. Climate change ever more clearly threatens our planet. We say that global problems demand global solutions.

And yet, do we act? In truth, today, we also face a crisis of a different sort – the challenge of global leadership. New centers of power and leadership are emerging – in Asia, Latin America and across the newly developed world. In this new world, the challenges are increasingly those of collaboration, not confrontation. Nations can no longer protect their interests, or advance the well-being of their people, without the partnership of the rest.

Yet I see a danger of nations looking inward rather than toward a shared future. I see a danger of retreating from the progress we have made, particularly in the realm of economic development and fairness in sharing the fruits of global growth. Yes, global growth has raised billions of people out of poverty. Yet if you are among the world’s poor, you have never felt poverty so sharply. Yes, international law and justice have never been so widely embraced. Yet those living in nations where human rights are abused have never been so vulnerable.

Yes, most of us live in peace and security. Yet violence is deepening in many nations: Afghanistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, and Sudan. Their problems are part of the development emergency we face. Over the past year, the price of fuel, food, and commodities rose alarmingly. Wealthy countries worry about recession, while the poor can no longer afford to eat.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

BOLIVIA

Does the crisis in Bolivia predicate a downfall of the so called Left bastion? A B&E inference...

Named after Simón Bolívar, the revolutionary who contributed the most for the independence of many South American countries, Bolivia – the land where Che was executed allegedly by CIA in 1967 – has stood as a bulwark of the Leftist ideology. But the recent spate of bloody anti-government violence seems to question that very ideology. Is the Axis of Left finally crumbling?

The last eight years have seen changes in South America that had never been seen in the history of this continent. To succintly underscore the point, in these years, as Mark Becker wrote in The Monitor a few years back, “while North America turned right, South America turned left.” If the Leftist Tabaré Vásquez came to power in Uruguay, then Brazil’s Lula da Silva’s, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and of course, Bolivia’s Evo Morales symbolise the power with which the Left has grown in South America where now, more than 75% of its 350 million people are ruled by left-leaning presidents, with the Cuban Castro totem pole intact since ages.

Cut to September 9, 2008. In bloodied clashes with the military, anti-government protesters take over many buildings and public offices in eastern Bolivia ranting against the Leftist fav Evo Morales, [leader of the Movement for Socialism party, elected President of Bolivia since 2006 with a majority seen rarely in Bolivian history]. In Chaco, one of the richest in natural gas, protesters take over a natural gas pipeline control station that supplies gas to Brazil [Bolivia is Brazil’s largest gas supplier] and try to destroy the same. If Santa Cruz and Chaco are symbolic, anti-Morales protests rip across now in five of the nine Bolivian regions ruled by the rightist opposition. The demands are simple, yet critical. Protestors wanted Morales to roll back nationalisation reforms particularly of gas companies, wanted more autonomy and clearly a bigger share of State revenues.

Cut to Cuba. Various reports comment that Fidel Castro is on his last leg, suffering ailments that’ll see him passing away sooner than later; and with Fidel gone, his brother Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz – Cuban President since Fidel’s 2006 illness, and himself 76 years old – would not be able to hold the Left fort much longer. Cut to Venezuela, 2007! Chavez’s historic Constitutional referendum proposing unlimited Presidential powers is defeated by a majority. Nationwide protests occur against Chavez before and after the referendum. Similar, though smaller protests have been going across many of the Leftist South American countries, with Spain, Mexico and Colombia already ‘fallen’ to the right a long time back. Bolivia, despite being second richest in gas resources, is the poorest South American country. Is that proof enough that Leftist rule has not given what it was supposed to provide, namely, social security? Deafeningly, is the Left seeing its last leg? Is the way the US has dealt with South America since allegedly knocking off Che – namely, targeting individuals instead of nations – finally succeeding?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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It pays to love George Bush!

Sans Bush, the nuclear pact would not have happened; it marks a paradigm shift in US's India policy

I will not term what has transpired as a Nuclear deal between India and US as a mere pact. It is, in fact, a process that has led to the end of international sanctions against nuclear commerce with India. These sanctions came into force when the US passed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act in 1978 and thereafter norms were set up for the 45-member Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Apart from ending India’s nuclear isolation and clearing the way for easier exchanges of technology pertaining to nuclear energy and other dual use technology items; the NSG clearance has now given us the opportunity to cooperate with countries like France and Russia so that we can expedite our moves towards energy security and self–reliance in the development of our indigenous fast breeder reactors.

Now, it is not just something that moves us into close cooperation with the US. Readers should remember that the Americans have not built any new reactor since 1982. Secondly, US firms like Westinghouse are not all American. The other prominent firm General Electric is there, and has shown a readiness on part of the US to treat India and deal with India as a serious partner.

I would say that the shift is extremely significant, having negotiated with the US on nuclear issues for four years, both in Delhi and Washington, between 1976-1980, at the time when US sanctions were coming into place. I never thought I would see such a paradigm shift in our relationship with the US during my lifetime.

The deal went ahead despite the efforts of China to equate India with Pakistan with regard to the nuclear sanctions. It was part of the greater Chinese policy to contain India. Transfer not just of conventional weapons but also nuclear weapons designs and technology to Pakistan is a part of this policy.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

GEORGIA: SCO COMMUNIQUÉ

Post SCO's move on Georgia, it is a mere cakewalk for Russia to build support in other regional groups

The agenda to isolate Russia has fallen flat on its face. Russia has reclaimed its sphere of influence,” told Fyodor Lukyanov, an international affairs analyst based in St. Petersburg, while talking to B&E. According to the guidelines of SCO; decisions can only be taken by consensus, and each of the member nations can exercise their right of veto. Therefore, it can be safely said that all the member nations have toed the Russian line here.

The organisation has a strong geographical point of reference to Central Asia. China and Russia have taken its membership because the region holds key importance to them.

After conquering SCO, Russia is all set to convene the meeting of another Kremlin dominated regional grouping, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), to make a joint communiqué on the issue. Its member nations include all of the four Central Asian nations and Belarus and Armenia. A victory there will be a cakewalk. Belarus, currently heading the presidency of the group, is the staunchest ally that Russia has, and Armenia has been won over through tactical and moral support by Russians in their conflict against Azerbaijan. One only wonders, what will be Russia’s next stop. Iran?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Where, Mrs. Robinson, lies the problem?

If you thought oil would run out, take a walk (no pun!). Oil isn’t running out, but your money would, given the fact that despite current oil price falls (!!!), rising demand would ensure future oil price rise! And worse, alternative fuel also sucks! virat bahri of B&E confounds [us too!]...

“We are very sorry, Sir, no more is left, not a single drop :(”
“C’mon, mate, you must be joking; this can’t be happening.”
“Believe us Sir, the world has seen the last of black gold! It’s the end of ‘automobil’ity...”

Uhh, alright, it sounded more childish than I should have wanted; but how does one put across the fact that oil may one day run out when, er, it perhaps would never! OPEC’s latest report estimates that between the years 1995-2003, new discoveries improved recoveries by 138 billion barrels. Production has already increased by 26% as compared to the 1960s. By 2020, oil production is likely to cross 1600 billion barrels annually. If such is the case, as Dustin Hoffman asks lovely Mrs. Robinson, where lies the problem? Demand honey, demand. Demand for oil would [should?] far outstrip supply in the coming years. Oil has become a necessary evil for us; it is guzzling down our, and my, bank balances like nobody’s business, yet you can’t imagine life without it. Goddammit, I can’t! And there lies the need to cut across to alternative or quasi-alternative fuel. This dire need to make black gold less ‘necessary’ so that it can become a much subdued ‘evil’ has given rise to numerous technological breakthroughs in alternative fuel technology, giving cars that can run on electricity, hydrogen, E 85 (85% ethanol and 15% gasoline), nuclear, solar, et al. Hybrids have shown some promise too. India has seen its first hybrid in the form of Hero Honda Civic. But considering that these alternatives are yet to convert into truly marketable solutions, aren’t we moving a bit too slow? Moreover we seem to have many technologies posing as possible solutions, but do we have ‘the’ solution in sight?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Saturday, November 24, 2012

STEEL: PRICE RISE

The sector needs more regulation

Till now, the government has tried to control the activities in the sector through imposition of export tax and export bans. But such short-term measures send wrong signals to new entrants and big players like Mittal Steel and Posco. In absence of new entrants, the sector would continue to see lobbying and a demand supply gap, which would have direct impact on prices. To be able to regulate prices, long-term planning is required. Agrees Ashok Jainani, VP Research, KSL Securities Ltd. As per him, “The government should focus on controlling the root-cause i.e. iron-ore prices catapulted by 150% from $60 to $150, which have high margins of around 80% and considerably high costing raw materials like coking coal and power prices.”

But the first step in the right direction would be to set up a Steel Regulatory Body. The work of the body would be to keep an eye on the sector. This would stop lobbying and would also make sure that even the government gets to negotiate. The government has to come up with best option to gets itself out of the steel muddle and protect the ultimate sufferers, the common man.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Run, it s the global textile beast! burp!

When our Editor called us to his office a few months back and told us that us two ‘lucky’ one’s had been chosen to ‘recon’ the Indian textile sector and to compare its progress globally, we realised that finally, us two upstarts had arrived; and our calibre recognised. Visions of the fashion capitals of the world started floating all around us. Which one should be the first one we should hit to really understand the effects of India’s textile sector on global players? Should we travel to New York? Or perhaps Paris & Milan? Maybe London would be a better bet? Or closer home, Tokyo?

The truth hit us hard, too hard. When our cab stopped at the city centre, the searing heat got to us faster than the bill we had run up from New Delhi! We were in Ludhiana! The fact is that if one has to understand which places really drive the Indian textile sector, the names are as unfashionable as they could be. There are basically three belts that drive Indian textiles – the Ludhiana belt, the Tripur belt and the Ahmedabad belt! Punjab, Gujrat and Karnataka in fact contribute a smashing 40% to India’s total textile exports! And this story is about our experiences through these belts with people who can change industry dynamics with just a phone call. And about the fact that 3 years after the textile quotas were abolished, the Indian textile industry is surely dying; waiting for that last bone crushing hit from the sharks of the global textile world, led by the ruthless beast of an animal called China!

How better could you describe it? Walk through any street of Ludhiana, and you’ll see at least one dying textile unit. Ahmedabad – once called the Manchester of India – has seen 65 mills close down in the past two years. The irony is that it wasn’t too long ago that the contagious energy of the blued eyed boys of the Indian textile industry was propelling analysts from all over the world to think big about India.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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