Down and out in Sarai Khaleel

Once razed to the ground in Emergency, a 65-year old roofless Urdu school now faces closure. Firoz Bakht Ahmed reports.

The Congress may have announced the creation of five minority universities in its never-ending quest to play the vote bank card, but it is unable to protect one school which caters to children from poor families in Delhi’s walled city, an institution once demolished by the party’s city elite in the heyday of the Emergency.

The Qaumi Senior Secondary School, a 65-year old institution which has on its rolls poor Muslim students from Sadar, Qasabpura, Quresh Nagar, Bara Hindu Rao and Kishanganj in the Walled City of Delhi, is in terminal stages of closure.

In the salad days of the Congress family cabal which ran Delhi like a personal fief between 1975-1977, the school was razed to the ground in the presence of then DDA Commissioner BR Tamta, Sanjay Gandhi’s friend Rukhsana Sultana and Jagmohan (now with the BJP) on June 30, 1976, on the promise of being rebuilt in the neighbouring premises: the justification was the construction of ‘janta flats’. The flats have long been sold out but the school never found space.

Temporarily, it was shifted to the Eidgah where it has remained since then. Now the Eidgah management has served an ultimatum to the school asking it to move after 37 years of existence there.

The Qaumi School was founded after Partition in 1948 when it was set up with funds raised by poor Muslim residents of the area. It was taken over by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in 1960 as a primary school and in 1975 was raised to the higher secondary level.

Since its callous demolition, the school has perpetually faced an uncertain future. For one, it has functioned with minimal infrastructure; a few tents under tarpaulin sheets, a moth-eaten blackboard and creaky furniture passing off as a classroom. Vermin have not just damaged school records but have all but eaten away into the school’s now almost non-existent library. Nearly 70 percent of its furniture and equipment was stolen when the school was forced to shift in 1976.

During monsoon, the school practically closes down because of water logging. If that was not bad enough, a make-shift laboratory under a tin roof is blown away if the weather is inclement!

“Every time there is a dust storm, rain or a cold gust of wind, over 500 students in the ragged tents huddle together wondering when this official apathy will end,’’ says M Atyab Siddiqui, legal affairs secretary of Friends for Education, an NGO devoted to improve the lot of this hapless school.

The school’s manager Abdul Malik Qureshi says exposed to such natural vagaries it is students who suffer the most. Students report sick due to hot sand storms in summers and chilly winds during winter.

“The plight of students mostly drawn from families of book-binders, muezzins, imams, carpenters, box-makers and petty hawkers is pitiable,’’ says Atif Rasheed, a young BJP leader from Qasabpura.

Since 1976, students passing out of Qaumi School have not experienced a roof over their heads, a far cry from the time the 23-roomed five-storeyed building with more than 600 students in Sarai Khaleel area, was pulled down.

Senior economics teacher Furqan Ahmed says it is irreligious in Islam to run a school on Eidgah grounds. While the post-Emergency resettlement programme rehabilitated other residents and shopkeepers in Shahzada Bagh and Inderlok, nothing was done for the school – apart from a slew of hollow promises.

Naim Querishi, member of the Qaumi School Old Boys’ Association, says a memorandum accompanied by affidavits signed by thousands of residents of the Bara Hindu Rao area was given to the then President of India, Zail Singh and freedom fighter Aruna Asaf Ali.

He reels off an impressive list of VIPs who have been contacted for help: Indira Gandhi, Morarji Desai, Chandra Shekhar, Rajiv Gandhi, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, Sikandar Bakht, Arif Mohammed Khan, Tara Chand Khandelwal, Jai Prakash Agrawal and Jagmohan.

In 1991, Jagdish Tytler, then area MP and Union Communications Minister, tried to get school land in Dwarka, Narela or Pitampura but the plan proved unfeasible; poor students had no means to travel from old to outer Delhi. “We informed DDA that moving to the area allotted by them was akin to closing the school,’’ says ex-principal Azhar-ul-Hadi, adding, “most students are below the poverty line and come walking.’’

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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

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
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Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

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Crimes of endearment

As Coalgate rocks India, an inside account of Jharia-Dhanbad reveals just how high the stakes are. Anando Bhakto reports

The nondescript houses in coalfields and the roofless, dilapidated collieries dotting the dusty landscape of Jharia-Dhanbad in Jharkhand, the country’s mineral rich belt, give you no clue that this could be the breeding ground of 24x7 scams involving hundreds of crores of rupees made right under the nose of the administration, often with its connivance.

How does the racket work? Since it is dangerous in open cast mines to dig coals beyond prescribed limits, the Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) and CIL (Coal India Ltd) do not mine after a point and it is here that illegalities begin.

According to estimates, there are over 2,000 open cast mines in Jharkhand. The coal mafia employs labourers, sometimes those working for coal companies, and then smuggle coal through an organised and elaborate network of cycle carriers.

Apparently, everyone knows. ``Illegal mining and its transport in Jharkhand have become a booming racket for the mafia to reap in huge chunks of black money. This involves everybody, from top officials of the BCCL to the police and politicians,” candidly admits Niraj Singh, Dhanbad Deputy Mayor.

According to information provided by the Ministry of Coal to the Standing Committee of Coal and Steel in 2010, there are 49 illegal mining sites. They include Katras, Baroda, Govindpur, Sijua, Kusunda, Kustore, Bastacolla, Lodna, EJ Area and Chach Victoria under the BCCL.

Coal companies seem to be hand in gloves with the mafia. What else can explain why they do not fill voids created after mining by way of sand stowing, an obligatory duty under the Mine Closure Plan - thus paving the way for illegal mining of coal?

Despite the Ministry of Coal admitting the presence of predominant illegal mining sites in eastern regions before its own Standing Committee, no definitive government study has so far been conducted to assess financial losses suffered by exchequer. And there is a good reason why – the losses are enormous.

Interestingly, the Jharkhand government did instruct Jamshedpur-based Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI) to conduct a study with a limited reference point. Says Professor Tata L Raguram, the man behind the study, “The study we did was on small scale, artisanal coal extraction and cycle-based coal supply chains that operate in coal tracts of Jharkhand. The study did not trace large scale illegal coal operations.”

Even so, their findings were alarming. It revealed that 1.37 million tons of coal (estimated to be worth Rs 207 crores) is mined from abandoned sites around Jharkhand every year. Experts mention that due to this the exchequer in the state suffers an annual loss of Rs 34 crore as royalty per annum. What would be the magnitude of revenue losses caused by this organised coal racket? In the lack of any definitive study, such losses are neither assessed nor any attempts made to make changes appropriately.

In view of the XLRI findings, the Standing Committee accused responsible officials of “either indifference or too scared to stop the menace.”

Such is the dominance of the coal mafia that the transport of coal and coke by unlicensed cycles is a regular sight on the Ranchi-Hazaribagh road: there are a total of 616 FIRs which have been lodged in Ramgarh, the sub-divisional headquarters.

Cases against illegal coal operators can be lodged by anyone, government officials or coal companies. Then there are major security lapses at many points when coal is transported from mines to railway sidings. Observed the Standing Committee, “The complicity of some insiders of coal companies with the coal mafia cannot be ruled out… Generally large chunks of coal are thrown off from uncovered wagons and trucks along their routes.” Just one sign of this malignancy.

Add to it vast amounts of illegal monies made by the mafia in loading and transport of coal. According to Deputy Mayor Singh, one lakh ton coal is transported everyday, of which 20,000 tonnes are transported by road on trucks and 80,000 ton by railways. “While Rs 160 per ton is charged for loading of coal to be transported by road, only Rs 80 is paid to labourers who are hired on contractual basis. The remaining Rs 80 goes unaccounted. This means in loading 20,000 tons of coal, around Rs 16 lakh worth of black money is generated everyday. The first part goes to the police who, understandably, refrain from taking any action against culpable parties. The second goes to ‘babus’ in collieries, the third to middle men controlling labourers and the fourth part to conniving officers in BCCL,’’ alleges Singh.

Significantly, contractual labour is prohibited in the coal industry. The BCCL which in 2005 had sought exemption from the Labour and the Coal Ministry to outsource labourers, has not abolished the contract system even though exemption ended in 2010.

It is common knowledge in Jharia that a sizeable part of the money to be paid as wages to labourers is swindled by a closely knit group of coal mafia and officials. “While outsourcing labourers, the least the BCCL could do is to credit their wages directly to their bank accounts, thus ending any scope of foul play. Why do they insist on paying in cash?” questions Deepak Dutta, member of Jharia Coal Field Bachao Samiti (JCFBS).

Then comes in an essential ingredient of the coal industry – the rangdari tax or extortion. According to a dealer at Rajapur colliery at Katras Mod, who naturally prefers anonymity,  anything between Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 is taken for every truck by bahubalis (muscle-men) who work for mafias.

“This works out substantially on a daily basis as there are about 1,300 trucks engaged in transporting coal,” Datta told this magazine.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Book Review: Land of The Seven Rivers

Geography as history

History can be very dangerous because our interpretations are invariably coloured by our ideological worldview. So let me state right at the outset that the JNU school of historians are not going to like this book. The Land of the Seven Rivers: A Brief History of India’s Geography by Sanjeev Sanyal is an audacious attempt that tries to bust many beliefs held strongly in traditional (read Marxist) interpretations of Indian history. For example, the author tries to argue that the Aryans were not invaders but people who originated in India and that the ancient Rig Veda is coterminous with the Harappan civilization. Believe me, hackles will be raised at this!

In any case, I have failed to understand the animosity and hostility between the JNU school of history and the, for want of a better term, the ‘Internet Hindu’ school of history. At their worst, both reveal closed minds and prejudices winning over curiosity. Frankly, I tend to laugh when exponents of Hindutva fashion Indian history though their blinkered eyes, invoking a great culture and civilization of yore when much of the world was hunting and gathering. I think that is taking jingoism a bit too far. For that matter, I also laugh when the more committed members of the JNU tribe dismiss everything to do with Hinduism or Indian civilization as hogwash. I think that is carrying Marxism a bit too far. The truth, as always, must surely lie somewhere in between these extreme positions. I had always thought that keeping an open mind should be the most important qualification for a social scientist! I mean, if theories held sacred even in pure sciences can be found to be untrue by subsequent flashes of genius and discoveries, why can’t the same be true of social sciences?

Take the case of economics. Till 1929, classical economics had unwavering faith in the ability of markets to produce the best possible outcomes. Advocates of this school of passionately believed that free markets lead to fill employment. Then came the Great Crash of 1929 and the subsequent depression when Capitalism faced a crisis of survival. John Maynard Keynes upended the whole structure of classical economics by arguing that markets can fail and government intervention is necessary when economies stagnate. The Keynes school of thought held away till the Reagan and Thatcher revolution of the 1980s when the markets and the pursuit of self interest once again became the reigning deities. Greed is Good became the new mantra till 2008 when Capitalism once again imploded and free market prophets were once again exposed as charlatans.

Surely something similar must happen with interpretations of Indian history? What Sanyal argues in his book about the amazing continuity of the Indian civilization is something that is accepted even by the less strident votaries of the JNU school. Of course, only the ideological hard balls would suggest that India even in ancient times was a political entity in terms of geographical boundaries and systems of governance. Like now, India then too was probably a cacophony of ideas, languages, ethnic backgrounds and a sense of belonging. And continuity is something which we cannot ignore. For example, Sanyal points out how the ox or the bullock cart has been continually visible in India right from the Harappan times to the 21st century. He also points out how the Gayatri Mantra could well be something many Indians have been chanting unchanged for about 4000 years or so. He spends considerable time trying to make sense of the still prevalent myth about the mighty river Saraswati. Sanyal tentatively concludes his quest for Saraswati by arguing that the nondescript river Ghaggar that runs through Haryana was once the mighty Saraswati till geography changed its destiny, and that of the Indian civilization. Not convinced? Even I am not and would wait for more credible evidence.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Book Review: Sunshine Lanes

Words worth the weight

A poetic journey indeed! There aren’t too many contemporary Hindi film lyricists who can legitimately lay claims to being a poet to boot. Prasoon Joshi’s Gulzar-like portrait on the cover of this book, the right temple of a pair of spectacles dangling from a corner of the mouth completes the pensive image of a man who has successfully steered clear of the crassly commercial aspects of his calling and survived to tell the tale.

Sunshine Lanes – A Poetic Journey, which was formally launched at the Jaipur Literature Festival earlier this year, is a collection of some of Joshi’s best songs, printed here in the Devanagari script with the English translations alongside. Each lyric has a story behind it, which explicated in the writer’s own words.

The book, which also includes some non-film compositions and poems, provides an insight into the overall creative process of lyric-writing, besides specific anecdotal details about Joshi’s professional interactions with frequent collaborators like AR Rahman and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

In a preface, Joshi provides a brief overview of his formative years, the influence of which still lives on in his lyrics and poems. It, however, only whets the appetite – does not quite satiate it. Both the ‘writer’s comments’ at the end of each song and the aforementioned preface seem all too pithy to do complete justice to the storehouse of stories that Joshi must be privy to.

Yet, Sunshine Lanes throws just about enough light on the man and his craft to be regarded as an important addition to books about Hindi film music. Lyric writing is central to the evolution of a song and the lyricist has a unique vantage point from where he can view the creation of a film song in its entirety, both subjectively and dispassionately.

Joshi brings his acumen as a writer to bear upon the ruminations. Not only does his book elucidate the elements that constitute a film song, it also explains, if regrettably only in passing, the significance of each of the songs included in this selection, in terms of specific words and lines, or as a whole.

“I am often asked what makes for a beautiful song,” he writes. “What came first, the tunes or the words? For me, a soulful song is one that makes it impossible to decipher this, where there is no overt competition between the music and the lyrics – one that is just a beautiful blend.”              

Joshi does not work in a vacuum. He is conscious of the history of the film song and his own place within its evolutionary continuum. He knows that the quality of lyric writing is currently at low ebb in Mumbai, with the emphasis being firmly on ‘entertaining music’, but he is not willing to write off his fraternity.

He, however, believes that “if this trend continues and the staple and ‘instantly understandable’ songs are demanded and settled for most of the time, the space for experimentation will continue to diminish progressively.”
 
Joshi has been chipping away relentlessly at the shibboleths. As the lyricist of some of the finest film songs of our times, he knows exactly what it takes to make instant connect with the masses without undermining the creative essence
of a lyric.

“Writing lyrics hasn’t been and is not my profession. It’s a passion,” writes Joshi in the preface. It is passion that shields him from the detrimental pressures that less creatively fortified lyricists are vulnerable to in the Mumbai movie industry.

Joshi has a day job. He makes a living as an adman of repute and stature – he is the executive chairman and chief executive of McCann World Group, India and president, South Asia. So he does not have to write Hindi film songs to pay his bills. He can afford to cherry pick his assignments and work only with those with whom he can relate as a writer. He can afford to be an outsider while being an integral part of the industry.

Joshi is acutely aware of the constraints and challenges of his craft. “Writing lyrics for films is like walking a tightrope – one cannot be vague and excessively symbolic like in poetry, but at the same time, the mystique and beauty should not be compromised. Striking the right balance is critical.”

He has been doing just that ever since he wrote his first film lyrics for Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja at the turn of the millennium.

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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

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

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El comandante departs

Chavez's death has created a void but the movement will thrive on the impetus provided by him, says Saurabh Kumar Shahi 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez finally lost the battle against cancer that he fought so bravely for over two years. Vice-president Nicolas Maduro, who is also pegged as his successor, made the announcement on public television shortly after emerging from the Military Hospital in Caracas, where Chavez was being treated. “Those who die for life can’t be called dead,” a tearyeyed Maduro said.

On February 18 this year, the 58-year-old President returned to Caracas from Cuba, where he was operated upon for cancer. Chavez travelled to Havana on December 10 last year for the fourth surgery after his cancer resurfaced, in spite of close to a year-and-a-half of treatment that included chemotherapy. The second round of treatment had begun in late March 2012, when Chavez started receiving radiation treatment in Cuba after an operation in February 2012 that removed a second cancerous tumour from his pelvic region. His first tumour was removed in June 2011.

His death has come as a blow to progressive leadership all over the world. Indeed, Chavez's impact on world politics was much more than any world leader of his time. A curious mix of personal charisma, pro-people policies and anti-imperial stand made Chavez a darling of the millions.

Chavez came from a very humble background. Born in a poor family on July 28, 1954 in Sabaneta, he struggled his way up and graduated from the Venezuelan Academy of Military Sciences in 1975. It was sometime in the late 70s that Chavez started participating in the revolutionary movements inside the Venezuelan armed forces that was seen by the masses as the protector of capitalist and imperialist interests.

His first chance towards redemption came in 1992 when he spearheaded a military coup to topple the regime of Carlos Perez that was close to the US administration. However, the attempt did not succeed and he was arrested and jailed for 25 months. This failed attempt brought him to the attention of the masses who were desperately looking for a leader from among themselves to lead them. It gave a kick-start to Chavez's political career.
 
Chavez started touring Venezuela and soon garnered a solid following for himself. His oratory, especially his no-holds-barred style, stuck with the masses and catapulted him to his first presidential election victory in 1998. He never lost the elections after that. However, in 2002, a lobby of pro-American politicians, along with some soldiers and officials backed by the United States, staged a coup against Chavez. He was briefly arrested and sent to an undisclosed location. However, merely 48 hours after the coup, a counter manoeuvre by common Venezuelans and officers loyal to him swept him back to office. Over the last 14 years, Chavez put himself and his agenda to the test on 14 separate occasions, and won thirteen of them by huge margins.

Chavez was a street fighter who fought his way up the ladder but unlike many in the past, he never severed his connection with the common masses and made it a habit to listen to their problems. The idea behind his successful Bolivarian revolution was to provide economic and political independence to the masses of Latin America who had suffered from their geographical proximity to the United States all these years. Venezuela under Chavez put its oil revenue to proper use and funded the massive social projects that returned social statistics that stunned even the United Nations. He extended the revolution in the neighbouring countries too and utilized their expertise in lieu of the cheap oil that was sold to them.
 
It was his ascent to power that revitalized the leftist, anti-imperialist movement in Latin America and saw similar socio-political experiments in neighbouring Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. With Cuba at the ideological helm, Latin America for the first time in decades started exerting its economic and political rights in the region. Mercosur, as an economic body, not only challenged the American dominance in the regional market but also put it on the back foot by forcing it to accept the economic positions that it wouldn't have even considered a decade or so ago.

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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

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

BBA Management Education

kenya on the brink?

Uhuru Kenyatta, indicted for crimes against humanity, takes the lead

As Kenya is all set to get a new leader, with Kibaki retiring from politics, the political corridors are hoping for a stable government, especially at the backdrop of violent streaks. Prior to the elections, there was a series of violent bursts that sent ripples in Kenya’s heartland. A clash in the Tana River delta involving a politician resulted in the death of around 150 people. In another incident of violence in 2012 in Mombasa, a Muslim cleric lost his life which led to unrest in the vicinity with people taking to the streets and vandalising property. To top it all, the presence of the Somali militant group al-Shabaab has added to the environment of violence. Incidents of street violence in places like Kisumu and Siaya have epitomised the political unrest ripping the country apart.

Elections in Kenya have had a history of bloodshed and violent uprisings. The protests during the 2008 election that was engineered by the opposition leader Raila Odinga left more than 1,000 people dead and rendered 600,000 homeless. In the last one year, the UN reported over 500 Kenyans dead including police officials and another 1,00,000 displaced.

Today, Kenya is plagued with severe inequality, poverty, unemployment and frequent strikes. With 40 per cent of youth being unemployed, the human capital is plainly unproductive and ends up opting for solutions through violence. So much so, the intellectual class including teachers and doctors are often found resorting to strikes. In order to curtail these social malaises, Kenya’s government had passed a new Western-style liberal constitution with reforms promising a better standard of life to police and security officials. But bills related to economic and social reforms are still to be tabled.

There are reasons to be optimistic about the new constitution that has provisions for new institutions of reforms and audit bodies. The most promise lies within Kenya's youth. As per a March 2012 World Bank working paper, “93 per cent of Kenyans are mobile phone users and 73 per cent are mobile money customers." In other words, over one-fourth of Kenyans are now online. As the youth in Kenya is all set to globalise, the least they expect is a non-violent political future. The new government must convert the young pool of talent into a demographic dividend than alienate them.

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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

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

ExecutiveMBA

Transition phase or terminal illness?

Does the board that owns the most lucrative cricket league in the world possess the will and the means to fight the slump in team india's fortunes?

Team India gets roasted 0-4 in the English summer. The top brass of BCCI shouts in unison – it’s a one-off. The stark reality is the exact opposite. The fact that a series was to decide India’s dominance in world cricket seemed lost upon the administrators. Instead of making sure a fighting fit unit embarked on the tour, the entire pool of players were sent on the IPL trip, six days after an emotionally and physically draining World Cup win.

India receives a 0-4 drubbing Down Under. Leave alone the acceptance of the rot and the need for remedial measures, the biggest name in the Indian cricket establishment delivers a tell-all statement. BCCI president N Srinivasan said: “Next New Zealand is coming to India and it will be followed by England and Australia. We will beat these three teams on our own soil. They cannot beat us here and we will feel very happy."

Kolkata in March 2001 gave Indian cricket its self belief. The belief that battles could be won, even against the best, despite being pushed against the wall. Kolkata in December 2012 not only snatched that self belief but also the reputation of being a formidable force at home.

Victory and defeat follow teams from womb to tomb, but at Eden Gardens, England defeated India in batting, spin bowling and reverse swing in our own backyard. Kolkata to Kolkata, in 11 years, Indian cricket completed a full circle. The richest cricket board in the world is yet to acknowledge this and come out with a gameplan.

Times are changing fast. And so is the sport. As former Pakistan cricketer and coach Waqar Younis said, "Battles in cricket are still won on the 22-yard cricket pitch. But now, lot of macro and micro level planning, integration between the supply and demand line, use of experts for different conditions and situations, scientific scheduling and itinerary are required. This is not possible without a holistic approach to the game."

Having played and coached Pakistan, Waqar now lives in Australia and is keenly involved in understanding the system in that country. One thing that he would have learnt is that in these changing times, one can plan and fail, but simply cannot afford failing to plan.

Geniuses come despite the system and Indian cricket was blessed to have quite a few of them at the same time. The exit of Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble followed by Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman and the near-exit of Sachin Tendlkar has created a deep void and would have tested the best system. West Indies, Australia and England went into a slide for similar reasons. England and Australia managed to come out of it, as they had a proactive system to fight back. West Indies, on the other hand,  struggled because of lack of this.

As cricketer and author Akash Chopra says “The faultlines in our system were there, but we were able to paper over the cracks because we had batting geniuses in our dressing room. Unless we devise a robust system, our present illness will become terminal and we will be permanently relegated to the middle, if not the bottom, of the cricket table." If we compare the way we are approaching the transition phase with that of England and Australia, the signs are ominous.

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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

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
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IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

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Why Yeddyurappa Feels Betrayed

It took him four decades of toil and vigil to catapult the BJP to power in Karnataka. today he feels shortchanged reports Kumar Buradikutti

It was February 19 this year. Two ministers had already been caught watching porn clippings in the Karnataka Assembly and the issue was blown ‘out of proportion by the media’. Some media representative in Shimoga compelled Yeddyurappa to respond on the issue and he literally blew hot and cold at the media:  “Everybody watches them. Don’t you watch them at home?” The thing is that all the Porngate accused happened to be his supporters!

 There was another incident in March 2011. BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar and BJP state unit president KS Eeswharappa, both being his rivals in the party from day one, were holding a meeting with some 57 rebel BJP MLAs in the party office in Bangalore without the knowledge of the then CM Yeddyurappa. Somehow the CM came to know about it. The next moment, he breezed through the meeting and breezed out, anger overflowing on his face. Media representatives blocked his car just as he was about to leave. Suddenly, an angry Yeddy hit his car driver in front of media representatives and their cameras.
Yeddyurappa has always been seen in two extremes: either emitting fury like the above two instances or crying like an abandoned child on the street.

Supporters of Yeddyurappa worship him. A highly ambitious angry young man cherishing in his heart a dream of political revolution roams village after village on his motorcycle, organises the masses, brings them into the fold of his party that then had little or no impact on state politics with its negligible presence, gradually builds the party with strong cadre force at the grassroots level, becomes his party’s first elected representative in the lower house of the Karnataka Legislature, becomes the party’s first Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and finally, after four decades of such efforts, brings his party to power and becomes the chief minister of the first BJP government in South India. But how long was he allowed to hold on to the CM’s seat? Just three years! Forty years of party-building and three years as chief minister! And    no hope for future as well. This is, perhaps, the source of his anger and desperation – and of his supporters too.

Another important reason for his anger is that he had never been allowed to function and do what he wanted as the CM. He faced three-dimensional attacks throughout his tenure: firstly from his own party men who used to gang up on  him on a monthly basis; secondly from HD Kumaraswamy of JD(S) who literally haunted him as a nightmare by unearthing one land scam after another on weekly basis involving Yeddy and thirdly from HR Bharadwaj, who left no stone unturned to threaten to dissolve the assembly and impose President's rule using his constitutional power as the Governor of the state. No chief minister, perhaps, has ever faced such multi-pronged attacks in the history of Karnataka. The second and third aspects can be understood and tolerated. What made him particularly furious was the fact that his own party men tried their best to pull him down more than any of the Opposition parties and eventually succeeded in their efforts.

Read more......

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

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

BBA Management Education

“We have not dropped our prices as we don’t play short-term games”

Debashis Mitra, Former Director, Sales & Marketing, Mercedes India, speaks about his company’s long-term strategy for India and how it plans to reclaim the No.1 spot in the luxury car segment by next year

B&E: Car models in the mass segment are facing the brunt of the economic slowdown but the luxury car segment is doing well. What are reasons for its good showing? 

Debashis Mitra (DM): As elsewhere, the luxury car market in India is not dependent on economic cycles. Only individuals with surplus income purchase a luxury car. However, on the consumer front economic sentiments matter and currently those sentiments are down. But the Sensex has been moving up of late and the market too will bounce back for the auto sector in general.

B&E: Tough competition in the luxury car segment has seen Mercedes lose its top position. Looking back what do you think led to the loss of your position? 

DM: If you add up the premium and luxury segments we may not have the sales numbers to match our competitors. But then we have not dropped our car prices as there is no point playing short-term games. Dropping the price by 20% may get you the volumes but over a period of time you will not be able to sell more. You can already see this happening with the players who claim to be No.1 or No.2. The resale value of their cars has taken a big hit.

B&E: But the fact is that BMW and Audi sell more cars than Mercedes in India. Do you have a plan to reclaim your position? 

If we look at the traditional luxury market, i.e above the Rs.3 million C-class, E-class, S-class, the SUV segment, ML-class and GL-class, we are still far ahead of the competition. However, right now we are not present in the premium segment, i.e in the Rs.2.5-3 million price bracket. But we will be back in competition by 2014 when the market grows and is much bigger than what it is today.

Read more....

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

 

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

ExecutiveMBA

Budget expectations 2013

It’s the last annual budget that the present Congress-led UPA government is set to table in the parliament before the nation goes for general elections next year. irrespective of whether the FM makes hard choices or not, ICMR attempts to find out what are the expectations from this budget of the middle aged indian living in a metro (45-60 years); clearly, the results should not be seen as recommendations but as simple responses

The Finance Minister will push for reforms...

A huge 98% of India (at least from our set of respondents) believes that the FM will push for reforms in this upcoming budget. Although there is an insignificant minority that believes there will be no reforms, there’s also a growing perception that the FM might not wish to rock the boat during these turbulent times.

Will agriculture receive a fair share of the budget?

Over the years, the share of agriculture in India’s total output has continuously reduced (from 21% at the start of the century to 14% last year). Ergo, the finance minister may attempt to provide impetus to the industry in this budge; his recent comments that ”agriculture and allied sectors are critical for inclusive growth” could be a pointer to that. Irrespective of that. 65% of India thinks so too.

Read more.....

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

IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

BBA Institute

29 suitors, 1 tuxedo

RBI should have 29 different interest rates for 29 different states based on the Taylor’s law

RBI’s interest rate fixing in India is a scattershot approach, which assumes that the country is uniform, which is not the case in reality. A uniform interest rate, therefore, is a wasteful proposition in a country that varies from the prosperity of Punjab to the utter neglect and backwardness of Tripura – both economically and socially. Progressive states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have high per capita income, low level of hunger, better infrastructure and low poverty rate, thus inspiring confidence in the minds of investors. States like Orissa, Rajasthan, Bihar, et al find it difficult to attract investment. In this light, the current interest rate/lending rate mechanism is out of sync.

Furthermore, economist & Nobel laureate Taylor explained in his widely accepted Taylor’s law that if inflation augments by 1%, the interest rate should rise by a little over 1%. He also remarked that a rise in total output by 1% should correspond with a 0.5% rise in interest rate, and when it falls by 1%, interest rate should be cut by 0.5%. However, RBI’s methods in this direction have confounded everyone. When SDP fell for some states (like in Karnataka, last year’s growth fell to 14.92% from 17.35% the previous year), interest rate has been uniform. Similarly, when the output rose, RBI did not act in accordance with Taylor’s principle.

Read more.......

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

 

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

ExecutiveMBA

The only way to reverse the trend in the European Union

The only way to reverse the trend in the European Union is to recapture the spirit of solidarity that animated the European project from the start

To that end, I recently established an Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE). In doing so, I recognized that the best place to start would be where current policies have created the greatest human suffering: Greece. The people who are suffering are not those who abused the system and caused the crisis. The fate of the many migrant and asylum seekers caught in Greece is particularly heart-rending. But their plight cannot be separated from that of the Greeks themselves. An initiative confined to migrants would merely reinforce the growing xenophobia and extremism in Greece.

We could set up solidarity houses in Greece, which would serve as community centers for the local population and also provide food and shelter to migrants. There are already many soup kitchens and civil-society efforts to help the migrants, but these initiatives cannot cope with the scale of the problem. What I have in mind is to reinforce these efforts.

The EU’s asylum policy has broken down. Refugees must register in the member country where they enter, but the Greek government cannot process the cases. Some 60,000 refugees who sought to register have been put into detention facilities where conditions are inhumane. Migrants who do not register and live on the street are attacked by the hooligans of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party.

Sweden has made migration and asylum policy a high priority, while Norway is concerned about the fate of migrants in Greece. So both countries would be prime candidates to support solidarity houses. And other better-off countries could join them. OSIFE is ready to provide support for this initiative, and I hope other foundations will be eager to do the same. But this has to be a European project – one that eventually must find its way into the European budget.

Currently, Golden Dawn is making political headway by providing social services to Greeks while attacking migrants. The initiative that I propose would offer a positive alternative, based on solidarity – the solidarity of Europeans with Greeks and of Greeks with migrants. It would provide a practical demonstration of the spirit that ought to infuse the entire EU.

Read more......

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

 

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

BBA Management Education

"Our aim is to be in the top-3 players in mobile phones"

Kenichiro Hibi, MD, Sony India, speaks to B&E about his company’s plans to ramp up its mobile division and grow its other businesses in the country

B&E: It’s been three months since you took up your current job. What are your immediate priorities?
Kenichiro Hibi (KH): I am just starting and everything looks challenging here. The market is very big, with a huge potential. We want to connect with our consumers both inside their homes and outside as well with our TV and mobile offerings. We are already the leading player in the flat panel space. In the mobile space, our aim is to be among the top-3 players. According to GFK, Sony Mobile already has a 9% share in the Indian market, and we will further build onto it. We are looking at a rapid growth in the mobile space. Our overall target is to triple our turnover three-fold by 2015-16 fiscal, from the current turnover of over Rs.63 billion to over Rs.180 billion.

B&E: Considering the steep revenue target you have set for 2016 fiscal, where will this growth come from?
KH: We have a three-pillar growth strategy. We expect the TV business to grow further. There is the CRT replacement market, with over 10 million customers who could possibly graduate to LCDs and LEDs. Our focus is on the premium range of products only. As in the case of Bravia though majority of sales still happens in the 22-inch range, but the 55 inches TV sets are doing well too. Also the segment is a big frontier for us. As India is a youth market, so we have products that appeal to the youth like digital cameras, Vaio PCs, gaming, etc.

B&E: What’s the revenue share of your main product lines?
KH: Our flat panel Bravia range contributes 35% of the revenue. Our laptop range Vaio contributes 20% of the revenue, while the Cyber-shot digital camera range contributes 15%. India is already the sixth-largest market for us country-wise.

B&E: Sony is facing strong headwinds in most of its major markets. How do you see those challenges affect your India business?
KH: The global weak economic sentiments have affected us, so has the situation in China. But in India the fundamentals like customer demand are strong. Though in India too GDP growth has slowed down, there’s still demand for our products. Also, since we import all our products, the weakening rupee and the appreciation of Yen creates some price-balancing issues for us here.

B&E: Are you considering local manufacturing here to become more price competitive?
KH: We will decide as we go ahead depending on the market conditions. For the time being we plan to use the FTA agreements that India has with Malaysia. We have production facilities in Malaysia for TV and audio products, while the majority of mobile phones are manufactured in China.

Read more....

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

 

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

BBA Management Education

10 Ways to revive the Indian Economy

With faulty policies and incompetent policy makers, the Indian economy has seen its worst. IIPM Think Tank suggests ten critical policy measures that can save the Indian economy from mirroring the paralysed socioeconomic conditions of US and Europe

When the northern, eastern and north eastern power grids in India collapsed in July and left more than half the country in the dark, it was declared to be another vivid indicator of India’s incredible growth story having run its course (following S&P’s downgrade, which predicted that India would be the first fallen angel among the BRICs). What the world chooses to ignore is that structural flaws in our power sector in generation and T&D have been holding back our economy for years, including the years where they felt so overtly optimistic (and even insecure) about India’s potential on the world stage. For the record, India achieved a net capacity addition of around 4 GW per year from 1997-2007. But a McKinsey report (however much you might wish to believe it) indicates that a growing India’s needs from 2007-2017 merit a net capacity addition of 20-40 GW per year, i.e. 5-10 times that figure. And the 11th Five Year Plan added only around 53.12 GW, or a little over 10 GW per year. In fact, the last year (2011-12) was particularly a good one with installation of 20.5 GW. In other words, despite the best attempts of the ‘powers’-that-be in scuttling our growth in the past decade, the economy has somehow pulled itself together and kept up the heat.

Clearly, it appears that countries are perceived very similarly to companies today, and you are only as good as your last quarter. By that yardstick, the Indian economy is still struggling with a depressed GDP growth of 5.5% for Q1, 2012-13; which makes it 9 consecutive quarters of declining growth rates. The surprising part is the shock and awe most Indians feel with this slowdown, as if they were in the middle of a rude awakening! That’s really because even till June last year, the government was predicting 9% GDP growth for India in FY 2011-12 and the RBI was looking at an 8% figure!

However, as B&E had concluded from its statistical analysis last year (refer B&E’s issue dated August 4, 2011 titled “The Upcoming Indian Economic Slowdown”), there were really no surprises. We had predicted it based on a multifactor correlation analysis using inflationary trends in India as the base. Interestingly – and snapping back temporarily to the start of the past decade – during the year 2000, the Indian economy followed a trend in inflation similar to the US. The trend was again repeated in 2010 when the Indian economy mirrored the US economic condition of 2008 just before it (US) stumbled into a deadly recession. As per our polynomial forecasting trend line analysis, the correlation will continue till the end of 2012 with its impact lingering till the last quarter of this fiscal year. So our prognosis is that India would see a relatively depressed growth at least till FY 2012-13. But all is not lost. In fact, this trend is based on the fact that the government will continue to simply do nothing to reverse the situation. In other words, it’s quite easy to electrifyingly turnaround our prognosis.

What is it that our government spokespersons – including our Prime Minister – have done best in this economic slowdown? Blame external factors, and that’s quite a convenient thing to do at the moment! The US grew by 1.7% yoy for the quarter ending June 2012 as compared to 2% for the previous quarter. The Eurozone remained in a quandary with GDP shrinking by 0.4% yoy for the quarter and jobless rates at a record high of 11.3% in July. And that’s why the escapist reasoning by the government. But then, that is hardly an excuse for not setting our own house in order. There is no denying the fact that the Indian economy has sufficient potential of its own accord, and if given the right impetus, India can indeed get back to 8-9% and beyond sooner than expected. B&E and IIPM Think Tank present 10 critical ways in which we can bring the economy back to its high growth phase.

Read more....

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

 

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

"There is stalemate in dialogue with China"

Clad in an starched white Indian kurta-pyjama, speaking fluent Hindi, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Dr. Lobsang Sangay breaks his silence for the first time on several key issues. In an exclusive interview with B&E’s Aditya Raj Kaul, the Tibetan leader says that with likely changes in China’s top political leadership, the struggle for Free Tibet will reach a decisive stage next year.

B&E: Almost 40 Tibetans including monks have attempted self-immolation since 2009. Why this sudden increase in such desperate acts of protest? Have they lost hope for a free Tibet?
LS: [Brief silence] Yes, it has been really unfortunate. Question is why? The Chinese Government doesn’t allow any form of free speech like we see in India, here we can have dharnas, hunger strikes, and we can protest, and organise rallies. But in China, especially in Tibet, it is not so. You simply cannot participate in protests, even if it’s a gathering of three people, they get arrested and tortured. Tragically, Tibetans are taking to this rather drastic political act of self-immolation. But all the 40 self-immolators have only hurt themselves and not harmed others. Their demands are pretty clear – the return of His Holiness Dalai Lama and Free Tibet.

B&E: The 27-year-old Tibetan activist Jamphel Yeshi also self-immolated himself hours before Hu Jintao’s arrival in March this year. Is self-immolation the only way of being heard?
LS: We have told people not to indulge in self-immolation. A few days after Jamphel Yeshi’s self- immolation we in fact issued a very strongly worded letter asking Tibetans-in-exile particularly not to resort to self- immolations because we have freedom of speech in India. We can resort to and engage in many other forms of protests. Unfortunately, Tibetans inside Tibet don’t have any other option, but to commit self- immolations.

B&E: Have the concerns over Dalai Lama’s security intensified of late? The Dalai Lama himself recently said that a Tibetan may attack him?
LS: His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s security is of major concern to us. Threat perception always remains. The report (about a Tibetan attacking Dalai Lama) is reliable but not verified. Reports are that the Chinese Government at one time was training people like that, so we have to take all this under consideration.

B&E: Your views on Indo-Tibetan relations in the near future?
LS: Before 1959, India and Tibet had close relations. The 1914 Simla agreement makes it very clear. Tibet is of major interest for India from geo-political, environmental and cultural point-of-view. Culturally, because we follow Buddhism, which we adapted from India. Environmentally because Tibet’s Himalayan geography directly affects the region. And geo-politically because China is building a railway line all the way to India. The Indian government spends billions of dollars for border security. Before 1959, it was not necessary. Resolving the Tibet issue is in India’s interest.

B&E: Is there any ongoing back-channel dialogue with China or does a stalemate persist considering recent resignations of your two appointed emissaries?
LS: At the moment it is a stalemate, mainly because of the Chinese government. The relevant Chinese officials have not reciprocated positively to the memorandum that we submitted. That is why our two appointed envoys resigned. The environment is not conducive for dialogue. The situation inside Tibet is also getting worse. Having said that, we are ready to engage in dialogue with the Chinese government anytime. We seek autonomy within China and within the framework of the Chinese constitution. Most likely with the changes in leadership, by early next year there might be slight changes in the trend.

Read more....

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

 

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

What in heavens went wrong?

It was one of the most highly anticipated IPOs in the history of Wall Street. But despite all the hype and drumbeats, the Facebook stock has lost almost 25% of its value within the first month of trading and become the second worst listing in US history. Is this just a short term glitch or does it have long term implications for the social network?
Issue Date - 30/07/2012

From the days when his business card read “I’m CEO... Bitch” till today when it has become virtually impossible for him to justify the plummeting stocks of his company, Mark Zuckerberg has begun looking much older than his 28 years. And why not? The billionaire tycoon who was habitual of calling the shots from the confines of an insulated environment, now has to mingle with (and forcibly smile at) the perpetually hungry hounds of Wall Street after his botched IPO – an IPO which Dealogic (a specialist data research firm) calls the second worst listed in US history. The gloss of being the world’s youngest billionaire is swiftly being wiped away with class action lawsuits alleging blocking of revised information about the IPO’s prospects hours before its listing. And of course, there is now also the accompanying headache of having to create value for a lot more shareholders than he originally bargained for.

No matter how much one tries to justify the sequence of events, fact is that Facebook’s debut on the bourses has been a mess. The social network’s $104 billion valuation at the time of its offering was the largest ever by an American company. But then things went downhill. If General Motors’ announcement that it was pulling off all ads from Facebook because of low returns was not enough, lead underwriter Morgan Stanley let slip that it was lowering Facebook’s revenue forecast. A spooked Wall Street went into a tizzy and Facebook’s stock expectably nosedived from its $38 debut. The stock has lost almost 25% of its value within the first month of its stint at the bourses. So is this the end of the hugely successful saga of Facebook’s gravity-defying growth? To answer that, we need to look at issues much deeper than a depressing debut at the bourses. Read on...

The good...
There’s no denying the fact that Facebook will go down in history as a company that spearheaded and laid the foundation for a radical online advertising model of the future. Facebook has built a reach and target driven engagement platform with a user base that is just phenomenal. For the quarter ending March 2012, the social network – that is available globally in more than 70 languages – reported a monumental 901 million monthly users, an increase of 33% compared to the same period last year. Roughly 80% of these users are based out of the US and Canada. On any given month, an average of 526 million users are active on the website. During March 2012, on average 398 million users were active with Facebook on at least six out of seven days. Further, Facebook is home to more than 125 billion friend connections. Of late, Facebook has also seen extraordinary growth in terms of users accessing the social network on mobile. Ironically, Facebook was late to market with a dedicated mobile app. But its growing breed of 500 million plus mobile users speaks volumes for growth prospects. With this wealth of data, Facebook is in a unique position to collaborate with its partners by giving them access to demographic information based on login credentials. Chances are that Facebook might eventually succeed in creating an advertising network that is as deep rooted as present day television networks. But here’s the big question. Despite significant competitive advantage over off-line media, why has the Facebook IPO floundered?

Read more....

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

 

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