The words "appalling" and "airlines" are synonymous in the language (allegedly English) spoken in the US of A. It wasn't that way some time ago. Pan Am was synonymous with "wonderful", as long as it flew. It was THE airline in the US. Unfortunately it went bankrupt in 1991. But the brand is still powerful amongst a certain generation (not comprising readers of this blog !). Those with a taste for...
Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Sunday, 25 October 2009
One people divided into warring nations
Moreh is a border town between Burma and India in the state of Manipur. If you go there, you'll hear a strange language spoken - Tamil. When Indians were kicked out of Burma some 50 years ago, many Tamils who had settled there began the long walk back home. Some came all the way back. Many decided to just cross the border and stay there. Hence the Tamil in Moreh.
At the other end , the famed Grand...
Friday, 23 October 2009
Obil Boil
Oil on the boil again, screams the headlines in India’s Economic Times. Or as our wonderful little friend Chotu might say, Obil Boil. I am certain that his words were prescient and not just a child’s lisp of mama’s olive oil.
Crude oil prices have touched $80 a barrel. The US dollar has continued to weaken and since oil prices are globally stated in US dollars, they are bound to rise further. I argued...
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
What was he thinking ?
You normally associate business leaders with high intellect, sound judgment, and in general, greater ability than many of us, mere mortals. Then I read this front page report in today's Guardian in the UK.
I had promised to myself that I'd stop writing about either bankers or Goldman Sachs after my last two posts on the subject. But what can you do when somebody makes a speech like that. And where...
Monday, 19 October 2009
When shareholders’ and company’s interests don’t coincide
What happens when the interests of the shareholders do not coincide with what’s good for the company ? Ordinarily there should not be any conflict – the company should have no interests of its own other than the interests of its shareholders. In the capitalist model, the interests of management or the employees – doesn’t matter; they operate solely to safeguard and promote the interest of the shareholders....
Sunday, 18 October 2009
A treatise on buyer behaviour based on observational experience, with particular emphasis on matters sartorial
Frivolousness on a Sunday is unbecoming of a serious business writer and therefore the idea of a light post is hereby being discontinued. Instead this is a learned treatise on buyer behaviour.
The mere sight of an Indian lady getting ready to embark on a shopping expedition to buy a sari for Diwali, or a wedding, is sufficient to strike terror of the sort Osama bin Laden can never hope to achieve....
Friday, 16 October 2009
A Letter
Mr Lloyd C. Blankfein
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Dear Mr Blankfein,
Congratulations on the stupendous third quarter results of Goldman Sachs, you announced yesterday. To achieve some of the best ever results in the firm’s long and distinguished history, just one year after its worst crisis, is a remarkable achievement indeed.
We are writing this letter to make...
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Something is not right with this world
Last year, virtually the entire financial sector in the world went belly up. 12 months on, Goldman Sachs reports a quarterly profit in excess of $3bn. Yes 3 BILLION DOLLARS. In one quarter. Profit
Goldmans is the one bank everybody loves to hate. But even by their standards, this is something. The last two quarters have seen the highest quarterly profits in their 140 year history.
Now, the economics...
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
"Isation"
Business Leaders who can see far far ahead are an extreme rarity. Usually a business leader’s definition of long term is the next quarter. Occasionally, there comes a business leader who plans for the next couple of years. Rare is the leader who sees decades ahead.
Two such examples are the subject of this post. The surprising thing is that their names are completely unknown – I don’t think there...
Monday, 12 October 2009
Should businesses tweet, or twit ?
What does a business do with social media ? While a trillion words have been written on this subject, not much light has been shone, I submit. Businesses are still struggling with what to do. Take the example of Twitter.
I will straightaway confess that I am not a fan of Twitter. I don’t tweet (the more appropriate phrase should be “twit”, but because of the unfortunate connotations of that word,...
Sunday, 11 October 2009
A pajama by any other name is still a pajama
The mysteries of fashion were never intended to feature on this blog – it having some pretense to address the weighty matters of the business world. But completely flattering comments went to my head and I converted the Sunday post into a somewhat irreverent one on less weighty matters. Matters sartorial crept in here because of numerous girlie tags that addressed the famous question – what are you...
Friday, 9 October 2009
OMG, where has "outsourcing" gone ?
Outsourcing is a big and growing industry, in which India, and now China have major stakes. What started off as IT outsourcing quickly spread to a number of traditional areas – call centres, finance, HR, etc and then to exotic areas – children’s homework, tutions and the like.
I have a passing acquaintance with this industry but I had not even dreamt of the possibility of surrogate child bearing...
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Zero Finance scheme ? My foot !
This is festival season in India. Traditionally the season when Indian families tend to buy stuff that they neither need nor can afford ! The new two wheeler. Or maybe even the car. The new fridge – all the goodies in life that adorn showrooms the Ponnuswamy family passes by daily.
But , much as they might like to have it, they don’t have the money to pay for it. Cue to the wonderful world of financial...
Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Recession and the family business
The recession has been brutal for many businesses, but perhaps none more so than small family run businesses. In the land of entrepreneurship, the United States, about 90% of all businesses are actually family owned and run; mostly small businesses with less than 20 employees. The mom and pop store, the restaurant round the corner, the self employed consultant. They have been the massively affected...
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
When what happens at work becomes a life and death affair
France Telecom’s deputy CEO resigned yesterday after considerable criticism of the company over its handling of a spate of suicides by its employees.There has been a worrying number of suicides by employees in France Telecom. More than 20 of them over the last 18 months. While suicides are often triggered by a complex set of issues, work related stress seems to have been a major cause of them.Its...
Monday, 5 October 2009
I cannot predict the future accurately !
The United States is well known for the excesses of its lawyers. Citizens of other nations, while marveling at the upholding of the law in the US, are left scratching their heads in bewilderment at the famous McDonald’s case or the Washington DC laundry case. Cases like this have resulted in some labeling gems such as “Contents Hot” on a cup of coffee or “Remove the baby before folding the pram”....
Sunday, 4 October 2009
Men of the world arise; burn the tie !
Women normally beat men by a mile when it comes to sartorial extravagances. Witness the one standard question in each of the one million girlie tags that float around in the blogosphere and that are thrust upon unsuspecting men ! What are you wearing ? God ! Especially as the answer getting a little too close to the truth might be a lungi and a banian.And yet, if there is one fashion accessory that...
Friday, 2 October 2009
Is there nobility in business ?
Are some sectors of business activity more "noble” than others ? Pure capitalism is completely agnostic in the softer emotions. But humans are not “pure”. They have emotions. So it is , but natural, that they rank some spheres of activity as more noble than others. Show me a human being who’ll say that being a real estate agent is better than being a teacher.It is rare, but sometimes you come across...
Thursday, 1 October 2009
Mush and business
Will they , or won’t they ? Get married that is. The very public match making process between K and C is as riveting as any soap on TV.Readers of this blog would know that I’ve taken a fancy to mush in my old age. Especially since A Journey called Life and The Thoughtful Train have suggested that I better wear black than pink. This is another mushy post to prove that “macho men” can also mush !K...
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