Showing posts with label IIPM INTERNATIONAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM INTERNATIONAL. Show all posts

Saturday, October 06, 2012

We’re Doomed!

If This is the Best The US has Against us, The World is...!

It’s amazing how one woman, who apparently could well become the next Republican presidential candidate, has the capacity to continuously churn out one gaffe after another, giving fright-nights to global leaders about the fact that the lady lacks factual command of international issues and might even bomb the wrong nation one fine day. Here’s a look at some of her rib-tickling output:

October 1, 2008: In an interview with Katie Couric of CBS News, she was asked to name a few newspapers she reads. Unable to name any, she said, “All of ‘em, any of ‘em that have been in front of me over all these years.”

November 5, 2008: In an interview in Fox News, she said, “We spend a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible diseases.”

July 18, 2010: “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate,” Palin tweeted, inventing a new English word.

November 22, 2010: In an interview with Sean Hannity, she commented on her role to media, “I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism... I have a communications degree.”

November 24, 2010: In an interview on Glenn Beck’s radio show, commenting on the Korean tension, “But obviously, we’ve got to stand with our North Korean allies.” Later, she corrected herself.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, September 08, 2012

CANADA: DECELERATING GROWTH

After growing at a red hot annualised rate of 5.8% in Q1 2010, Canada’s Economic growth has come down to just 2% in Q2, 2010. Canadian policymakers now need to look beyond the ‘short cuts’, be it interest rates or output, if they want the Economy to sustain its growth momentum.

Even net exports made a 4.5 percentage point drag on overall GDP growth. Result: In July, Canada’s trade deficit widened to $2.69 billion, the biggest gap since records began in 1971. What’s more? Net exports have not been a positive contributor to GDP growth since Q1 2009. While it does not appear that the drag from net exports will slow down anytime soon, what’s more confusing is the continuing soft inflation (at 1.7%) amid weak productivity growth (0.6% yoy as of August 2010), fast wage gains, and a closing output gap. So, with fragile economic recovery underway and inflation rate at the bottom of its target range, is it appropriate on the part of BoC to further increase the interest rates after already having raised them thrice in 2010?

There are still many who don’t see this as a threat to the sustainability of the Canadian economy in the long run. Jimmy Jean, the US based economist at Moody’s Economy.com tells B&E, “The housing retrenchment was long expected and has not been excessively severe, even showing signs of recent stabilisation. The cooling observed in consumer spending ties in closely with the housing slowdown, which again makes sense and is not overly worrying in light of still-healthy income growth.”

But then, income growth is likely to slow further considering the impact of the weak GDP growth on employment (unemployment rate is already at 8%) and, in fact, one can already see it happening. Second quarter GDP data already indicates a slowdown in consumer spending growth to 2.6% (yoy) from 4.3% in Q1 2010. Though BoC had not replied back to B&E’s queries till the time the magazine went to print, it, however, in its latest press release, accepts that the recovery in Canada will be slightly more gradual than it had projected in its July Monetary Policy Report.

No doubt, looking ahead, the IMF too expects Canada’s economic recovery to be among the strongest of the G-7 countries over the next two years. But, at the same time it should not forget that when an economy is not working normally (as is the case with Canada), one cannot rely on the ‘short cuts’, be it interest rates or output. In other words, policymakers should leave the overnight rates at 1% during their next policy decision on October 19, 2010. Rather, they now need to work towards developing models that have a better understanding of money and credit flows at a more disaggregated level and that include the key institutional features of banking and capital markets. If Canadian policymakers look only at interest rates, inflation, and output, they might miss out on the bubbles that perhaps might be in the making. If that happens, it could spell a disaster for the Canadian economy. Well, they say, it’s always better to be safe than sorry!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face


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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

It pays at times to stay married!

Speculations abound on the probability of the Hero Honda JV heading for a sudden break up. B&E’s Pawan Chabra does a speed-check on the repercussions of such an event for both players

August 26, 2010. Venue: Taj Palace Hotel, New Delhi. SIAM’s 50th annual convention was in its last session before the day was called off. The theme of the session was crystal ball gazing for the Indian automotive industry, and the panel had eminent names of the industry like Anand Mahindra, Vice Chairman & MD, Mahindra & Mahindra, Abhay Firodia, Chairman, Force Motors, Ravi Kant, Vice Chairman, Tata Motors and Venu Srinivasan, CMD, TVS Motors. As the session was in its question and answer round, Madhur Bajaj, Vice Chairman, Bajaj Auto pointed out that it is somehow difficult to predict the future; as an example, Madhur forwarded the example that in the early 1980s, no one could have predicted that scooters will be replaced by motorcycles. Before Madhur could complete his statement, Abhay Firodia gesticulated towards the much respected Brijmohan Lall Munjal, Chairman, Hero Honda Motors (sitting next to Madhur Bajaj on the same table), giving a repartee, “He predicted it!” The statement consolidated the emotion of the event – that not only had the Munjals forecasted correctly the change, they had also acted on the same in a brilliant manner, by forging one of the most successful JVs in Indian corporate history with Honda Motor Corporation in 1984.

It was at a period when the country saw many JVs and alliances happening in the domestic circuit – be it Kinetic joining hands with Honda or TVS and Suzuki getting into an alliance. But the fact is that most of these alliances ended sour – including all those mentioned above; all except the Hero Honda JV.

But apparently, corporate history is set to be re-written. The technological agreement between Honda and the Hero group was due to expire in 2014, but reports are now filtering out that Honda is attempting to move away from the relationship by attempting to sell their stake in the JV, The day these yet unconfirmed reports hit the stock bourses, Hero Honda saw its share price falling by over 6%. But that’s clearly not the worrying part for the Hero group. It’s quite evident that the parting of ways could inflict much more damage to the Hero group; which will be left lagging on the technology front.

In reality, even till last month, there was no such talk, report or discussion about any future breakup. When B&E met Anil Dua, Senior VP – Marketing & Sales, Hero Honda, in August 2010, he had enthusiastically commented, “Honda has had the most profitable JV with the Hero Group in India and as the companies have been launching right products at the right time, the strategy has paid off very well.” On the contrary, sources in the industry are of a view that the main issue of dispute between the two giants is on royalty payments. In case such a breakup does occur, the option of getting a new technology partner, developing its own R&D or continuing with Honda’s support are the most probable choices for the Hero group. For the uninitiated, the Hero Group owns a majority stake in the JV (see chart) and with Honda moving out, it would not only take a huge pile of cash reserves from Hero (to acquire the stake, if it wants to stop others from buying into the company) but the company could also take a temporary blow on volumes (due to supply issues). The market leader is already facing supply constraints and has seen its market share fall from over 50% since time immemorial to 44% in September 2010; and competitors like Bajaj Auto & TVS Motors have been quick to build on the opportunity.



 
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Thursday, August 30, 2012

H. W. Park, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motors India talks to B&E on the present challenges

H. W. Park, MD & CEO, Hyundai Motors India talks to B&E on the present challenges – both internal and external – and the plans of his company for both the domestic and export markets

B&E: The company has been experiencing labour issues for the past many years in the Chennai plant. In fact, this very year, there have already been three such incidents reported. What is the current state of affairs at the plant?
HWP: The factory is now in a relatively safer state and we are currently in a review stage with the labour committee at the plant. We will be in a better position to comment about it after the review stage is over.

B&E: The overwhelming growth in the domestic market has brought about problems of production shortages for many companies. Is Hyundai one amongst them as well?
HWP: Not really. The impact has been minimal and the shortage lag only lasts for a day or two at worst. That is manageable.

B&E: So you do agree that there are shortages. Do you believe that the company will be able to recover from the situation of component shortage anytime soon?
HWP: Surely we will be able to do so. But it also depends on the health of the overall auto industry in India. The industry is growing at a fast pace, something which wasn’t initially expected by anyone. Hence, there has been a minor shortage from the component supplier side, but because we are a big player in the Indian automotive industry, we can handle the problem by adjusting our exports and domestic ratio.

B&E: If the company had been in a situation with no production constraint, would you have produced more cars?
HWP: No. As mentioned before, even today, the production constraint problem is very much negligible, as the lag only appears for a day or two.

B&E: There have been reports of Hyundai India manufacturing electric i10 for the parent company. Your comment...
HWP: For the electric i10, we are only providing parts for the chassis and the engine. This is because chassis for the model can not be locally assembled for the product that will be sold in Korea.

B&E: Initially, Hyundai focussed heavily on exports. So are your views changing in favour of the domestic market?
HWP: We at Hyundai enjoy such a liberty. If the demand in the local market is high, we can always adjust it by reducing the export volumes. As the Indian market is getting bigger, we are gearing up to cater to this rising demand of the Indian consumers.



          
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Monday, August 20, 2012

The strange cases of Benjamin Buttons!

While drug makers around the world are lamenting the death of their patent rights on many blockbusters, there is a certain tribe smiling about it – the Indian generic tribe

A year back, when John Lechleiter took charge as the CEO of the $21.8 billion-a-year earning US pharma giant Eli Lilly, he decided to send his top executives a gift. It was a digital clock, which counted backwards, second by second. The clock was programmed to stop ticking precisely 48,384,000 seconds later. The deadline – October 23, 2011, the day when Eli Lilly’s top-selling (which raked-in $4.9 billion in 2009) schizophrenia pill Zyprexa would go off-patent, setting-off the alarm for generic drug companies to work double-time. This is however, not the only heartache in store for Lechleiter. Besides two more blockbusters losing their exclusivity rights by 2016 (its second-best selling Cymbalta expires 2013 and its third-best Alimta in 2016 – two drugs that make for another $4.8 billion-a-year), two of its most promising compounds failed the final clinical trials last year. Result: Lilly’s stock could not withstand the shock that the company had no new compound ready to hit the global market, while standing to lose close to $10 billion (of its $21.8 billion revenues FY2009) by 2016. It became the worst performer amongst the eleven S&P pharma stocks, and fell by 11% in just the year 2009. This is however just the beginning of the landslide for Eli Lilly, and much remains to be seen. As for the clock, it has started ticking backwards, and it’s the generic challengers that are waiting for the time, to make most of the misery of the once-proud patent holders, Lilly being just an instance.

When shareholders don’t like you, they let you go sans remorse. Much as this sounds a “generic” take on shareholder activism, it is true. Jean-Paul Garnier was voted out despite trying hard for seven-and-a-half years to revive the GlaxoSmithKline stock. Busy ensuring delivery of drugs at cost and selling 90% of its vaccines at not-for-profit prices in developing economies, it lost focus on new drug discovery. During his tenure, the GSK stock had fallen by 41%. He got the boot in May 2008. His successor Andrew Witty hasn’t made amends yet. Since February 2009, the company has enforced price cuts on its patented versions, in more than 50 countries, while winning just one patent (on a vaccine for H1N1 influenza). Witty is dreading the day when the second-highest selling drug in history, the $7.8 billion-a-year earning Advair, expires on April 1, 2011. Pfizer, the biggest pharma giant is no exception. CEO Henry McKinnell was booed-out in June 2006, following a stagnant stock price. His successor Jeff Kindler hasn’t been an exception. Under him, Pfizer’s stock has touched the sub-$18 level for the second time in over a decade and its bottomlines for 2009 have shown a drop of 57% as compared to pre-Kindler days. Worse, despite losing patents on 14 big drugs by 2014 (representing 70% of its annual revenue for 2009), its new launches have simply been shadows. Of the biggest setbacks will be the losses of Lipitor’s patent (the largest-selling drug ever) in 2011, and that of Viagra in 2012 and Celebrex in 2013 – add the losses from these two, and you would have Pfizer’s revenues being reduced by an alarming $13.74 billion (as per Evaluate Pharma, loss of revenues, post-patent expiry, is estimated at 85%). “Pfizer has a number of downward revenue revisions. You have to believe board members are scratching their heads,” says David S. Moskowitz, Analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. The company has 148 compounds in the early developmental stages, but hopes of producing another blockbuster drug remains a fantasy.

Time is running out fast for these Benjamin Buttons of the pharma world, and of the lot most hated by them, the Indians are definitely on top of the list! But the volume-playing generic players in the country won’t mind it. The potential that lies in wait to be tapped by the Indian players can be imagined by the fact that despite being the third largest player in terms of volumes in the world, the Indian pharma market is still 14th in terms of value ($21.04 billion, as per Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers). A market which was written-off about half-a-decade back, when the world was heaving forward at a great rate of knots to catch the patent blockbusters bus, is now chugging ahead faster than imagined before. While the domestic market alone is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12-15%, as opposed to a global average of 4-7% during 2008-2013 (according to an October 2009 report released by research firm IMS Health), Indian pharma companies are finding the proposition of lapping up the opportunities granted by the patent expiries simply irresistible. Over the next two years, more than 26 bestsellers, with an annual value of $70 billion (Rs.3.1 trillion) are going off-patent, representing 240% of the current Indian pharma space. This justifies well why despite struggling to win approvals for generic versions from the USFDA, Indian drugmakers are filing for generic licences at a brisk pace. Indian companies have filed for approvals to market 11 of 15 drugs that go off-patent by 2010 and 22 of the 26 that expire by 2012. “These developments present large opportunities to the Indian pharma companies and with their low-cost manufacturing capabilities India is well-positioned to tap the opportunities,” says Animesh Kumar, Principal Consultant, Datamonitor Healthcare to B&E.

Explaining his company’s outlook in the generics space, Ramesh Adige, President, Ranbaxy tells B&E, “Ranbaxy is today well positioned in the global generics space and is amongst the top 10 generic companies globally offering products in over 125 countries. With over $80 billion of drugs going off patent by 2012, the generics market will continue to provide attractive growth opportunities in future.” Even Uday Baldota, VP – Investor Relations, Sun Pharma tells B&E, “In our view, generic drugs is a significant, growing and profitable opportunity, worldwide. We are working towards getting a meaningful presence in the worldwide generic industry over the longer term.” As per a report by HDFC Securities, 34 Indian players are looking ahead to play this game. While Dr. Reddy’s stands to gain the most, there are others like Ranbaxy and Sun Pharma (despite their troubles with USFDA), which are amongst the top gainers. Even Cipla, which has so far avoided the US market, has filed for permission to market generic/low-cost editions of drugs that make over $45 billion annually! While 10 Indian firms have seeked permission to sell generic versions of the highest-selling Lipitor, in US alone, it is Merck’s Cozaar (anti-diabetic drug) and Astra Zeneca’s Arimidex (anti-cancer), which have received the maximum number of applications from the country.


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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

“Customers who left us, came back”

Two years of consecutive turnover rise in the recession era have given BHEL (ranked #14 on our wealth creators list) a hard-earned lead over competitors. M. K. Dubey, Executive Director, BHEL, talks to B&E

B&E: Last year, while on one hand BHEL gave VRS to its employees and closed vacancies, on the other it recruited 500 people. Can you explain such a clearly contradictory HR decision?
M. K. Dubey (MKD): There are two reasons behind these decisions. First is that with the change in our strategies, BHEL needed more manpower. So, we hired more people. The second is the demand assessment for the future. Also to be able to increase efficiency, people with new mindsets needed to be trained with the ones that were already working in the organisation. This was done so that the new people get fully trained by the time the existing ones leave. As part of this strategy, more than 500 young individuals were hired by BHEL for the core segment. Even amongst those hired, only the ones with engineering diploma and/or degrees were recruited.

B&E: Earlier, there was nothing called ‘competitive threat’ to the protected public sector enterprises. Is the situation the same as far as BHEL is concerned?
MKD: No, not at all. We are in a kind of an environment where BHEL has to face stiff competition from private players. There are private players like Crompton Greaves, Alstom, Siemens, L&T, Areva, ABB, Telik et al, which compete with us.

B&E: It’s said that this competition has had a big impact on BHEL...
MKD: Yes, there has been a lot of impact, but in a positive way and not necessarily in a negative way. BHEL, in fact, has been able to improve on its work efficiency due to competitive pressures. We have also started to give importance to our expansion plans. But most important of all, competition has made us realise that most of our clients are faithful to us. Since most of BHEL Bhopal plant’s customers are private players, we understand that they are sticking on with us due to their loyalty towards us.

B&E: But many of your customers and employees have opted to shift to private companies...
MKD: Many a time, the work load with us becomes very high. That is why employees, who cannot handle such a workload leave. As far as our customers go, you would have seen that in many past situations, our once lost customers have come back to us. I don’t need to say anything more about this...


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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Tale of a tri-city

Chandigarh is fast moving beyond the shadow of its legacy of being a sleepy town to a hot hub of realty opportunities, says nirupama dutt

No longer can Chandigarh be dismissed as a sleepy little town on the Shivalik foothills, which was described by a cynical writer as the abode of green bushes and white beards. Up North, it is the fastest growing city and as predictions go it is going to be India’s richest city in three decades; with Delhi following close on its heels. This is a great change for a city that showed very slow growth in the first fifty years of existence. Even the tiniest piece of land of around 125 square meters is over a couple of crores. Yet it has takers aplenty; including landlords, industrialists, NRIs, doctors, lawyers and bureaucrats.

Its great location in the Shivalik foothills, proximity to Delhi and its growth as an IT city; all work to Chandigarh’s advantage. The Chandigarh Technology Park has attracted many multi-nationals like Infosys, Wipro & Convergys. Quark is also planning to establishing a ‘Quark city’ in Mohali. Earlier, many professionals had to shift to other places in search of high employment. Due to advancements in IT sector, the city has become a virtual magnet for professionals. It has also helped improve the economy and quality of life in the city. Now the city has its share of malls and multiplexes with builders moving in to make the most of the changing mood.

Chandigarh has limited land; so adjoining areas like Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur and Kharar are developing very fast. Ritu Singal, MD, Raglan Infrastructure Limited, says: Chandigarh’s periphery is the area of the future as property has now gone out of the reach of common man. So over the next few years, Derabassi, Kharar and Zirakpur would be to Chandigarh what Gurgaon is to Delhi now.”

Besides the big fish, a large number of local builders have made their fortunes in real estate. The builders are now selling the concept of luxurious apartments and penthouses. The rates of property in these areas adjoining Chandigarh are still affordable and thus property developers are making a beeline to make investments there. They are expected to make huge returns on these investments in the near future with the considerable increase in commercial and infrastructure development activities taking place. In main city, owners are converting their spaces into one, two and three bedroom apartments and giving them out on lease or rent. Also, floors are being refurbished into small shops and retail outlets to meet the demand for commercial property. Shravan Gupta, Executive VC and MD, Emaar MGF, says: “Punjab is a progressive state and offers endless opportunities of development aligning with our vision of ‘Creating a new India’.”

Ludhiana is another classic case of the big boom in property and Ashok Malhotra CMD AMGECO (Ashok Malhotra Group of Companies) says: “The boom was due for a long time. In winters, the hosiery market had done great business and the profits were high.” AMGECO has come up with the first IT Park in Ludhiana and is moving onto group housing colonies on the highway.


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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Scrutiny-NUCLEAR DEAL: PARADISE THAT NEVER EXISTED

Most Indians had hailed the nuclear deal with US as one of India’s greatest achievements. Instead, it is increasingly looking like one of its costliest mistakes

The 123 deal allows US the expansive power to withdraw ‘reprocessing’ rights from India. Along with destroying our thorium based nuclear ambitions, this deal also killed the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline ($7.5 billion & 2,700 kilometer pipeline) that was aimed at sharing Iran’s abundant natural gas reserves with India and Pakistan. On the contrary, it promoted another pipeline for India – the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-Indian pipeline (TAPI). This pipeline, unlike the IPI, is controlled by US oil companies and passes through US-controlled Afghan territory. Thus, this allows US to keep an eye on the energy transfer and to further moderate deals and India’s energy usage to their benefit! The IPI pipeline deal, which had fantastic diplomatic and economic benefits, started way back in 1994; but then, in the enthusiasm of signing the 123 deal, India was made to back out from the same in 2009. In the same light, to be doubly sure, US further blackmailed Pakistan and asked the nation to halt the pipeline work (at a time when India was reconsidering the IPI deal & had called for a meeting with Iran’s and Pakistan’s respective heads in May 2010) in exchange for aid and donations in January 2010. US also helped Pakistan in the construction of a liquefied natural gas plant, which will allow Pakistan to transfer electricity from Tajikistan. In summary the deal has been a shrewd double-edged sword, which on one hand, inserted a pause on India’s nuclear ambitions and on the other, stole the chance for diplomatic ties between India, Pakistan & Iran and energy sufficiency. The deal was basically done to curb Iran’s IPI plans, which is evident from how US pressurized Singh’s government as the IPI deal was getting nearer.

Policy and national strategy analyst, Brahma Chellaney, wrote recently about the deal, “In sum, India has a deal under which it got no legally binding fuel-supply guarantee to avert a Tarapur-style fuel cut-off; no irrevocable reprocessing consent; and no right to withdraw from its obligations under any circumstance, although the US has reserved the right for itself to suspend or terminate the arrangements if it holds India not to be in compliance with the stipulated terms. Moreover, the continuation of the deal will hinge on India not conducting a nuclear test ever again. These are the four “no”s embedded in the deal. In fact, this is the first case in world history where one nuclear-weapons state has used a civilian cooperation deal to impose a weapons-related prohibition on another nuclear-weapons state, which has only a rudimentary nuclear military capability.” We couldn’t agree with him less. 






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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Can we Move Out at All?

India’s Traditional Transport Systems Including Road, Rail, Air and Water never got their due Importance from Successive Governments.

The very essence of the phrase ‘national priority’ often gets diluted due to the number of times it is used, reused and misused in our country. It’s almost as if everything is national priority depending on how hyped up it is at a particular point in time. In that context, it is indeed debatable whether reforming and modernising India’s transport systems, including road, rail, air and waterways, were ever ‘national priorities’ in the sense that we expected it to be. On both technological advancement and security, India’s transportation systems seem to have fallen way behind when compared to our economic progress. And the gap is only increasing with time.

Indian Railways, which spawns across the nation connecting almost all cities and towns, is still awaiting modernization and suffers from many shortcomings. During the last 20 years, Indian Railways added merely 1,648 km, which is less than 90 km per year. Given the population size, we have very less rail route length per capita. According to the Centre for Transforming India, when it comes to roadways, New Delhi saw a mere 20% increase in road length and an alarming 132% increase in vehicles, which has led to a congestion cost of Rs.40 billion per year and a loss of 2.5 productive hours every day in Delhi alone. And this is the state of the capital; one can imagine the plight of the rest of India.




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