Friday, August 31, 2012

Do you really believe your colleague’s pretty smile could cost you your promotion?

Mythology has plenty of examples of manipulative women, but if minds in the 21st century are swayed askew by such biases, it is probably time for us to do a reality check. In some cases it might be even true that women are preferred and a sweet smile goes a long way, but stretching the argument to the extent that women only manipulate and never put in efforts is a lopsided perspective. It’s instead a question mark on the moral fibre of the person harbouring such feelings!

So, what are the precautions taken by the recruiters while shopping for their task force? Do they ask relevant questions so as to hand-pick people with the right mind-set? Are they successful in keeping out over-ambitious people with questionable ways of climbing the corporate ladder? “Well, when we interview our prospective employees, we generally focus on their deliverables and how result-oriented they are. When the HR faces issues of favouritism in an organisation, reality-checks are done and proper reports are prepared with records of performance and growth in line. Sometimes it’s purely insecurity on the part of certain employees. But if a ticket is raised then explanation is duly given and corrective measures are taken, otherwise mostly such cases haven’t been observed in the IT industry as it is still dominated by men,” says Vandana Purswani, Senior Executive – HR in a leading IT firm.

In these times when men reveal their hatred towards their women colleagues, the diagnosis should figure in insecurity, fear of being out of job or a simple mental block, which doesn’t accept the fairer sex in a place where only men used to sweat it out.


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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

SADO MASOCHISM: QURESHI & KRISHNA ...

You got it right. When it comes to the impossible task of dealing with Pakistan, a hack can always fall back upon a dictionary full of clichés and yet have room for some of the more tired ones. The one I have stumbled upon this time gives a slightly wicked twist to that old one about hoping for the best. When it comes to Pakistan, it is high time (another damn cliché!) that India hopes for the worse and is prepared for the worst. The real reason for this conclusion is based upon another old one: those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. And yes, we in India are on the verge of repeating history in a manner that will only confuse, befuddle and eventually humiliate the nation.

Look at what happened recently in Islamabad when the former Chief Minister of Karnataka and former Governor of Maharashtra and current Foreign Minister S.M Krishna was holding ‘peace’ talks with his Pakistani counterpart S.M Qureshi. I still fail to understand how the word ‘peace’ is so badly misused and rammed into the agenda of talks between India and Pakistan. I mean, both you and I know that the real chances of peace (at least if you interpret the word honestly) between India and Pakistan are more remote than Rahul Gandhi joining the BJP – as long as the existing ruling establishment in Pakistan rules the roost (another damn cliché!). What happened in Islamabad was predictable, if you know your history. The Foreign Minister of Pakistan was least interested in ‘peace’; his agenda was to play to the gallery (oops, another one!) – a gallery that seats the ruling military establishment and its principal strategic ally, the group of Jehadi outfits whose declared aim is the destruction of India. Semantics about whether Qureshi broke diplomatic protocol and niceties and whether Krishna should have given a fitting reply are useless; the problem is, we persist with the vain hope that Pakistan might one day stop giving two hoots about niceties when it comes to India.

The second decade of the 21st century looks ominously similar to the last decade of the 20th century when the retreating Soviet Union left a vacuum in Afghanistan. It is a matter of time before American and NATO forces will do something similar in this decade. In both cases, the ruling military establishment of Pakistan had, and has, strong and credible reasons to be convinced that its policy of forging a strategic alliance with the Jehadis is paying spectacular dividends. Despite tall talk from America and feigned bluster from the generals in Islamabad, the fact of the matter is that Pakistan has never severed its ties with Jehadi groups even after 9/11.

And now, when the generals in Islamabad sense an opportunity to once again acquire strategic depth in Afghanistan a la the 1990s, it makes no sense for them to stop mollycoddling the Jehadis, particularly the ones that are most viciously disposed towards India. So please stop nursing silly notions of our neighbour actually dispensing justice and punishing those guilty of 26/11. In fact, they will be rewarded.


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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Living history is on your agenda,

Along these 50 miles of highway in Nagaland, where a feared warrior race keep a watch over an uneasy peace, the deeds of thousands of men who have died for their countries are etched. If living history is on your agenda, this is a must see…

Do visit Khonoma, Phizo’s village and the cradle of militancy in the North-east. Seated in Phizo’s small pastel blue cottage in the village, about 25 km from Kohima, 80-year old Vi Sebi Doulie, the legendary rebel leader’s cousin counts on the future to see his people through. “Once the politics of the present goes, there will come a time when India will realise that Naga blood is different.” A short distance away, a plaque on a monument marking the grave of the “first President of the Federal Government of Nagaland” Khrisanisa Seyie declares: “Nagas are not Indians, their territory is not a part of the Indian Union. We shall uphold and defend this unique truth at all costs and always”. As negotiations go on between the two sides, Khonoma offers a rare look into the political churning this region has seen.

Make sure you meet the people who live here – they’re almost always glad to meet you. In the violence of it all, men of peace have found their place in these distant mountains. “After Gandhi told our elders, who met him in Delhi in 1947, that we were not bound to join the Union, he walked through the garden to see them off. On the way, he pointed to a bed of flowers and said: ‘Look they are all different flowers but they live together and aren’t quarrelling.”

Close to Khonoma is a Tragopan Sanctuary that the village now looks after – to the intrepid camper it would mean a stay among high mountains and gurgling streams. If time and energy remain, then trek through the mountains to the Dzoukou Valley close by. If you want more, the Japfu range near Kohima is home to the tallest rhododendron tree in the world!

Drive up a few kilometres beyond the heritage village at Kisama, out on to the road to Moreh. An estimated 45,000 soldiers – 30,000 Japanese and 15,000 Allied and Indian – are said to have died in the battles in Kohima and Moreh in Manipur where the Allies would go following the victory at Kohima, for another decisive battle against the Japanese. A sign tells you where that advance began.

Here, it has always been a war within a war within a war. Post 1947 and the ‘Indian occupation’, casualties on both the sides have been in thousands. The road to Moreh is dotted with graves of Naga soldiers. “Maj Sieso Yano, Naga Army,” says one. “Born 1940, Died 25-5-88. Trained in East Pakistan 1963-1964, 1964-1965, trained in China 1966-1968...” Up on the picturesque hillside, an Assam Rifles unit of the Indian army keeps watch from their camp; the peace, however uneasy, currently holds. Still, this a trip where you have to be on the watch at all times. Back in his small, pastel blue cottage in Khonoma, Phizo’s cousin Dolie speaks on about Gandhi and his ways. “Had the Mahatma not been killed, all this would not have happened in Nagaland,” he says. In the pursuit of peace, some men are remembered, some honoured and some revered. To experience a taste of that, this place is a must see.


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Monday, August 27, 2012

No Tali-‘ban’?

G8 moves from comedy to ludicrous

In their meeting last month, the G8 leaders issued a straightforward ‘warning’ to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, asking him to produce a detailed plan on how he’ll be handling the country’s security and reducing the prevailing corruption. The group asked Karzai to “combat corruption, address illicit drug production and trafficking, improve human rights, improve provision of basic services and governance and make concrete progress towards reinforcing the formal justice system.” That’s fine enough. Then came the comedy. They also imposed a ‘five years’ timeline for the results.

And what if Karzai fails to achieve the targets within the timeline? Well, the G8 kind of skipped that point.

Previously, such demands by G-8 were viewed as a brash display of arrogance. With the current ‘five years’ timeline, they’re viewed as being over-the-top ludicrous. It is amusing that countries like US and UK made such a demand in spite of being actively present in the war-torn nation.


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Saturday, August 25, 2012

RICHARD REKHI, CEO & HEAD OF ADVISORY, KPMG

In the future, Mergers and Acquisitions will remain crucial, but the emphasis will be on making sure these deals deliver the value investors were promised

During 2009, five industry sectors dominated M&A activity, accounting for a combined 69% of announced volume, according to Reuters. The financials sector was most active, with a 20% market share, while the energy & power and industrials sectors accounted for 16.9% and 11.8% of M&A activity, respectively. Healthcare, driven by pharmaceuticals and biotech, drove 10.7% of activity, while materials contributed 10.1%.

Two of the largest transactions of the year were in the healthcare/pharmaceuticals sector: Pfizer’s US$64.4 billion acquisition of Wyeth, and Merck’s US$45.7 billion acquisition of Schering Plough. Other notable deals were ExxonMobil’s US$40.6 billion acquisition of XTO Energy and Rio Tinto’s US$58 billion joint venture with BHP Billiton.

In the first quarter of 2010, worldwide M&A increased by 20.5% from first-quarter 2009 levels and was the strongest opening quarter for M&A since 2008. Emerging markets M&A recorded a 107.2% increase compared to the first quarter of 2009, and the highest volume since the second quarter of 2008.

Capturing Post Deal Synergies
Companies should also feel empowered to dispose of non-core assets to focus on the most promising and profitable areas of the business. Growth should never be an end in itself. The focus must be on sustainable, profitable growth that enhances the value of the business.

To conclude, the idea that cooperation is the new competition has already become something of a cliché. It would be more accurate to say that those who do not have the skills to cooperate and collaborate may find it harder to compete. In the future Mergers and Acquisitions will remain crucial, but the emphasis will be on making sure these deals deliver the value investors were promised.


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Thursday, August 23, 2012

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.


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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

THOMAS ISAAC

kerala’s finance minister tells B&E’s anu warrier how his state plans to move into production-related services

B&E: Kerala is known for being the most literate State in the Indian economy. So are you planning to leverage this plus point to make Kerala a hub for manufacturing by leveraging the educated lot in the State?
TI: We are proud to have a literacy rate, that in itself sets standards of the highest levels. But we will continue to focus on the services industry and I see no chance that Kerala will become or will want to become a bigger manufacturing hub of the likes of Gujarat. However, not sticking to dogmatic ideologies, the nature of services that Kerala concentrates on is in for a radical change very soon. We were concentrating on consumption-related service industries but the thrust will now be on tourism, IT and modern agro-processing. These are purely service-based industries. The change will be from consumption-related service industries to production-related service industries, and that will soon bring Kerala into the list of top five GDP States of India.

B&E: Over the past couple of years, the State has started nurturing a culture of entrepreneurship, making Kerala more attractive for non-Keralites, and ensuring that it gets easier to conduct business in Kerala, thereby promoting economic development. Your views...
TI: Unlike some other States, Kerala never had a class of commercial entrepreneurs. In fact, a new generation of entrepreneurs is emerging now, especially in the new sectors. The profit-making PSUs have probably encouraged the private sector industries. The general thinking of entrepreneurs is – if PSUs can make profits, why can’t they? Moreover, Kerala is a State with organised labour force, which has its advantages too!

B&E: Social welfare programmes are a big part of the agenda of growth for Kerala. How is that working out?
TI: The state is contemplating on a social consensus regarding growth. Last few years saw the State witness a paradigm shift in the development pattern and a surge in social welfare programmes. Now a general consensus in infrastructural development and land acquisition is required. We are confident that a consensus wil emerge regarding the development plans. We have provided excellent education and employment atmosphere to youngsters of the State. The next step for us is to ensure the remittance from those who work overseas, to be able to use it for the development of the State.


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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Discover the secrets of the culinary masters...

Gourmands crown the best chef in the world, and we set off on a quest to discover the secrets of the culinary masters...

Choosing to close elBulli for six months in winters, during which time they created and reinvented recipes for the next season, Ferran, in an earlier interview with us had said, “It is not a question of being courageous, but a question of whether you’re free; for if you’re free then only you can be creative.” It seems that under Franco and his predecessors’ callous domination, culinary freedom was the only vent for Spaniards who have given the world delicacies like tapas, paella, flan and churros and have taken three out of the five top positions in the world’s best restaurants list this year!

If, creativity is all it takes, it is not surprising to see the imaginative aces of one domain experimenting with dishes from around the world. The restaurant chain, Veda has been conceptualised and set up by renowned fashion designer Rohit Bal to bring out brand India through a wide range of “truly Indian delicacies”. Cultural mingling has led to the diffusion of the Indian taste in restaurants and that’s why, “Veda has kept an ancient feel in the restaurant’s ambience and the right flavour of spices to keep the exact Indian taste, what you often get by not experimenting with the recipe,” tells Vishesh Nanda, Manager, Veda.

Well, I don’t care whether we reach the ‘world’s best lists’ by holding tight our old traditional ways or by adding changes to them in moderation or by developing all-together new flavours, I only demand to see India at the top of these lists!


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Monday, August 20, 2012

It is yet to give its verdict on even one of the 30 cases pending in its offices

Despite the fact that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has sharper teeth than its predecessor, MRTPC, it is yet to give its verdict on even one of the 30 cases pending in its offices. by Gyanendra Kumar Kashyap

Sample the list of cases pending with the CCI since its inception: a complaint against many banking and financing firms et al for penalty on prepayment of loans, alleged cartelisation between DTH TV service providers Tata Sky, Reliance Big TV, Dish TV and Sun TV, complaint against North Delhi Power Ltd, BSES Rajdhani Power, BSES Yamuna Power on installation of electric meters, complaint against Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines related to code-sharing agreement (an alleged cartel). Yes, CCI has passed one interim order (initiating investigations against SAIL due to a complaint by Jindal Steel), but that too was stopped by the Competition Appellate Tribunal. CCI, instead of resolving the other cases, took its own tribunal to court.

The argument that CCI is a new regulator and will take more time than expected to dispose off the first file, does not hold water, given that’s it’s a standard excuse quite often peddled by many other bureaucratic agencies. Grapevine has it that amidst mounting criticism, the CCI is planning to resolve at least four pending cases in the next one month, one amongst them pertaining to banks charging pre-penalty from customers who foreclose a loan. The question is not whether CCI would rule for or against the companies (An official from HDFC Bank, while respecting the CCI’s intervention, tells B&E, “Prepayment leads to asset-liability mismatch and thus necessitates prepayment penalty”), but the question is, will the process even start? Considering the fact that the jurisdiction of the commission extends to the entire economy, it is imperative that the government pushes the CCI harder, so that it can promote efficiency and consumer welfare. We’ve seen too many decades of a less than useful MRTPC. Let’s not have many more being added by CCI.


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