IIPM - Live

Monday, August 16, 2010

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS RE-VISITED!

Are celebs paid monster-bucks for their glamour, star attraction and red-hot performance curve in their area of showbiz, or snow-white morality and politically correct image in the public space?

Ad film-maker Prahlad Kakkar insists that “How hypocritical and corny can society get? I think most of the men could secretly wonder how better endowed the Golf Superstar is compared to them, to rattle-up such a fantastic score-card! I would advise Tiger to immediately relocate to France, the one place on earth where girlfriends and mistresses are perceived as trophies and winning advantages! Jacques Chirac at age 80, is still on the job [if reports are to be believed], so Tiger could be a God there!” Media Entrepreneur & Chairman of PNC, Pritish Nandy dismisses it disdainfully as he says, “It’s a reflection of the double-faced and hypocritical times we live in. We’ve had far more scandalous goings which have not been talked about.” Nandy points out that the Western Media – US especially – believes that celebrities should lead sanitised, squeaky-clean lives and be held up as models of virtue and values. “Do you know that reports and statistics have indicated that nine out of ten marriages collapse in the US because of infidelity? Which planet are they living in?!” questions Nandy.

Chicago-based ad-person Namita Sen, however, is hopping mad! “It’s a disgrace! Sure the sponsors pick up a celeb for skills he/she exhibits in his/her chosen field, but not at the expense of immoral and irresponsible behaviour! Once you are in the public domain, revered, idolised and hero-worshipped by your zillion-fans, you have a moral obligation to not ‘be seen’ doing anything that would tarnish this image. Agreed they are also human beings with their share of weaknesses, but for gawdssake, at least be discreet.” Mumbai-based housewife, Suman Mehra agrees, “It’s shocking! I loved Tiger Woods. He was cool, sexy and charismatic with a gorgeous wife and lovely kids. What a creep he turned out to be! He’s bad news as a brand ambassador. A brand is about reflecting core values.”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Friday, August 13, 2010

“Our concern was – How do we manage our rate of debt?”

In the midst of the general concern and uncertainty in the market regarding the realty sector and companies like DLF, the company’s Group Executive Director Rajeev Talwar is optimistic of a more evolved market & consistent supply in the coming years. In this exclusive with virat bahri of B&E, Talwar talks about DLF’s downturn adjustments and future vision. Some excerpts

Therefore your cost of acquisition becomes high. It therefore becomes impossible to give you what is normally called affordable housing or middle income housing below Rs.20 lakh. But Rs.10-20 lakh homes, even below, will be available for the poor. If housing costs Rs.50-75 lakh as mid-income housing in the super metros; in a tier 1 city it will cost Rs.45-60 lakh and going down to a tier 3-4 cities, you will get good homes at even less than Rs.20 lakhs. Since we are not in those cities and towns, I don’t think it will be possible for DLF. Our value housing even below Rs.5 lakh and Rs.10 lakh will be adjunct to the service category of our mid-income and high income group housing in super metros & tier 1 towns. Due to our name, quality, & location in the heart of the town, we tend to be in the upper end, but certainly, we also provide housing for the economically weaker section. Those will also be coming & will be costing anywhere between Rs.5-20 lakh depending on their proximity to premium locations.

B&E: Downturn increased debt levels significantly. How have you managed them over the past year?
RT: Some time after 9/11 in the US, everyone thought there was no end to the upswing. When it did come, it caught everyone by surprise. They weren’t unmanageable levels of debt for us but the only concern was how do you reduce the rate and increase the tenure. There was so much commercial paper in the market prior to that. Anywhere from 120-180 days seemed to be a long cycle till the time we realized that a good long cycle commercial paper or debt is of a period from 3-5-7-9 years. The second lesson was to reduce the interest rate. Our debt from under 1 year has increased to 3-5 years in tenure and also has portions of 7-9 years. At the same time, from 11.98% interest level, we have already come down to 10.5%. In real estate, people ask whether your debt levels are high or going higher. The fact is that there is so much of embedded value in your assets that debt is not something that you are normally so worried about, till the time a company is so highly leveraged that it cannot meet its development requirements (front flow) or its overhead costs for its normal cash flow. For us, thanks to various policies before and therefore very far-sighted policies even to take care in a downturn where you have a steady rental inflow of income, we have been through that much more easily. It’s already established that whatever overhead developmental costs or interest costs we have are well met from our usual leasing and launch businesses; so DLF doesn’t face pressures that some other overleveraged companies may face.

B&E: As far as divestment is concerned, which are your prime targets?
RT: Hotels seem to be an obvious choice, as we don’t have the expertise to run hotels. There are other businesses also where we got into aggressive banks of land. If they don’t fall into our pipeline visibility of 5-7 years for development, there is no sense in holding these and adding to holding costs. We have been withdrawing from projects of very long gestation. If they are large enough projects and if there was money committed to it, we said that if they have not been launched to the public, then might as well get back.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Is your work killing you?

Working non-stop could be the ladder to a promotion and a host of health problems...

Most urban Indians are caught-up in a fast-paced lifestyle where home is a place to quickly gulp down dinner, exchange a word or two with the children and other members of the family, and then either pin the phone to the ear or start punching the keys of the laptop. Not that you’re to be blamed; yes, the times are such, but while you flow with the rapids, it’s also important to be wary of the rocks along the way. And stress happens to be the harmful side-effect of overwork, which can lead to various health issues. A survey conducted by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy reported that one in every four employees is risking their health by working continuously without breaks or by reporting to duty while ill and working for long hours with no space for exercise in their schedules. In our country, people employed in the BPO sector suffer additional stress as their body clock goes for a six as their work begins at night and ends at day-break.

Dr. Ajay Pal Singh, Consultant Psychiatrist at Max Healthcare, agrees with the findings of the survey and adds, “It’s only in the last couple of years that cases of health issues due to stress have started pouring in. I have seen patients struck with depression, hypertension, loss in immunity, obesity and back and joint problems due to overwork.” In this competitive environment, overwork is inevitable. “But by accommodating some exercise like half-an-hour walks daily, healthy and timely eating habits, and taking a vacation once in a while, will reduce the risk of health problems”, said Dr. Singh.

In India, to a very large extent, men are still considered the bread-winners of the family. And as most of the men reach their 30s, they noticeably begin to look much older than their actual age. While women still manage to maintain their beauty and health, men start developing a paunch, their hair begins to grey and many also start experiencing major hair loss. Makes one wonder if men tend to neglect their health and ignore the warning signs, or whether they are simply less aware than women. “Both. Also, men are more prone to health problems because they easily resort to drugs and alcohol. I’ve had cases where wives have come to ask for help for their husbands. But unless the person who needs help does not visit, I cannot even recommend anything! Men, by nature, are more hesitant in taking medical help. Also, women socialise more, talk more and show their emotions more than men, which helps busting their stress. And this is also one reason for them having a longer life-span”, explained Dr. Singh.

Time travelling to a relaxed stress-free world is unfortunately not possible. The world stops for none and there’s little one can do but to keep coping-up with the changing times, but one must remember that this must not be at the cost of one’s health. It isn’t just coincidence that one of the most popular adages about health is – ‘Health is Wealth’!

Spriha Srivastava

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Dr. Manish Gupta

Director, IBM Research - India & Chief Technologist, IBM India/South Asia talks at length with virat bahri of B&E on IBM’s Vision 2015 and the future of business analytics

B&E: IBM has established a new vision for 2015 based on smart world technology. What is the smart planet concept all about?
Dr. Manish Gupta (MG): Technology is now becoming an enabler of fairly profound changes that we can make happen, in not just what was traditionally the field of IT but also to solve some of the long standing problems affecting society. A lot of it is behind the so called smarter planet vision that we have. With the cost of transistors having dropped to say fractions of a paisa, it has now made it possible for us to build sensors very cheaply. And the sensors can be essentially embedded anywhere, which lets us measure the exact condition and status of practically anything. We used to talk of the internet where people would interconnect. It is now evolving into what can be called the internet of things. These sensors or these objects are now available on the internet. The status of what’s going on, like the traffic situation on the highway or where my goods are at a given time through RFID tags; all this is potentially available on the Internet of things. Earlier, the concept was sense and respond, now we are reaching the stage of predict and respond. For example with smart transportation systems, you don’t want to wait for the traffic to build up before doing something; you want to predict before the build-up of the traffic and then plan how to prevent the build up.

B&E: Tell us some practical implications and the business potential that you see with the smart planet vision.
MG: A study done by the IBM institute of Business Value revealed the following. The entire world economy is estimated at $54 trillion and $15 trillion of that is wasted. Examples are billions of gallons of fuel wasted every year in cars stuck in traffic. Another estimate says that in Delhi alone, we waste 3 million litres of petrol daily (essentially vehicles). We estimate that roughly half of the food supply produced by the world is not reaching people. There are a lot of cities, where again upto 50% of the water could just be getting lost. A lot of sub-optimal decisions have to be taken. In any industry, you can see a lot of inefficiencies and the estimate is that around $4 trillion of inefficiency can be removed using IT. That, in a sense, is the kind of market for smart planet. Also, any business that is able to sense or predict some of these changes in environment, supply chain, demand, businesses have and meaningfully act upon it in real time will have a significant advantage. IBM has launched Business Analytics & Optimisation (BAO). We believe that globally it is a $100 billion opportunity today and growing very fast, at around 8% per annum. We believe that business analytics will be bigger than ERP.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

An electric shock or a safe recharge?

Despite promises, Reva has been struggling over the past decade to strike gold when it comes to sales. But with M&M acquiring a controlling stake in the electric carmaker, much is expected to change in the near future. So has Anand Mahindra placed an electrifyingly winning bet? by Pawan Chabra

He was all of six when he surprised many by winning an award for having designed a remote-controlled toy car during one such competition at school. Chetan Maini’s love for machines had just started bearing its first fruit. Much water has flown under the bridge since then, but what has remained unchanged in the past 34 long years has been Maini’s (today the Chief of Technology & Strategy at Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Company) love for machines. He started Reva in 2001 and nine years later, has witnessed the change in ownership at the electric car manufaturing company. And just like every other journey, there have been times of thirst for Maini too. This mechanical engineer (from Stanford University) turned entrepreneur’s has been time and again running after banks to finance his business plan. He finally seems to have found solace in Anand Mahindra’s cash-loaded arms. On May 26, 2010, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) bought a majority stake (55%) in Reva. [Post-sale to M&M, Maini’s family will hold just 31% in the new Reva. It’s now called Mahindra Reva Electric Vehicle Company. The other large shareholder will be Lon Bell, the other co-founder, who holds 11%.] So, the question bothering many a well-wishing heart is – Is this really the end of problems for Maini? Seemingly, yes. But chances are, the Oracles might just be proven wrong this time.

Interestingly, for the lesser informed, Reva had joined hands with GM India in December 2009, for developing an electric version of Spark for the Indian roads. The final product was to hit the market in December 2010, and was to be sold via GM’s sales & distribution network. GM however called off the deal (most likely for information security purpose) once M&M entered the scene. So, while many are grieving over GM’s loss in the process, the more pertinent issue to mull over would be to question what the transaction brings to the table for both Reva & M&M.

“The deal between M&M and Reva is beneficial for both the parties in their own ways. While Reva will benefit financially, Mahindra can add Reva’s technology to complement its vast existing portfolio,” says Pankaj Karna, MD, Maple Capital Advisors. So for now, Maini’s footsoles can take some rest from rambling about in search of fresh fund infusion, as the stake purchase by M&M brings-in close to Rs.450 million for the electric carmaker. For M&M of course, the case is stronger. It gives it the much needed hybrid edge, something which it would have been eyeing for long now. Maini’s brainchild would further strengthen M&M’s electric vehicle portfolio, that as of now consisted of only a three-wheel vehicle called Bijlee apart from a yet to be launched ‘Maxximo’, an electric-powered mini-truck.