On Monday Judge Robert Sweet struck a blow for common sense in that mind boggling area of Patents in the US. He invalidated several patents on two breast cancer risk genes in the human body issued to a bio tech firm. He had a breathtakingly simple logic – you can’t patent a product of nature !The principle of protecting innovation through patents has been rather stretched in the US. All sorts of...
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Bailout or Bonanza ?
Mr Vikram Pandit
Chief Executive officer
Citigroup Inc.
New York
United States of America
Dear Mr Pandit
You are probably used to receiving hate mail, but here’s a letter that you might be very pleased to read.
I read in the Wall Street Journal that the United States Government is planning to sell its 27% holding in Citigroup over the next few months. It is heartening to note that US tax payers...
Sunday, 28 March 2010
With malice towards one and all
Such was the title of Khushwant Singh’s column in the Illustrated Weekly of India. Both the gentleman and the magazine are perhaps unfamiliar to the “teenagers”(the list now officially includes ambulisamma and Vishal) who visit this blog. But there was a time when it was the only English magazine in India and Khushwant Singh, as its editor, was the most famous journalist. Despite the title, the column...
Thursday, 25 March 2010
The bribery mess at Daimler
The bribery mess at Daimler makes sorry reading. Every party involved is showing up in the worst possible manner. Whatever promoted a global corporation of the standing of Daimler to be in this situation ?
The case is as follows. Daimler is accused by the US authorities of paying bribes of tens of millions of dollars in over 22 countries over a 10 year period. Daimler, it is reported, has agreed...
Wednesday, 24 March 2010
The millionth Maruti
You may have noticed the news item that Maruti announced that it had rolled out its millionth car in a single year ; apparently it joins global giants like Toyota, GM, Ford etc ; a handful of companies to have achieved this. For non Indian readers of this blog, Maruti is a Suzuki controlled Indian car company that’s the market leader in India. Such statistics mean little except dubious PR value....
Monday, 22 March 2010
Kill the killjoys
Pepsico will announce today that it will cut levels of salt, sugar and saturated fats in its top-selling products by a quarter during the coming decade amid rising pressure from governments to encourage healthier eating. At the same time it will be increasing whole grain, fruit, vegetable, nut, seed and low-fat dairy content. Other food companies are all doing the same thing, bowing down to a variety...
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Chinese cities you may not have heard of
Mark’s China Blog is one of the best China blogs around. Mark used to live in Xi’an until late last year when he returned back to his native US. He continues to write on China – his posts are meticulously researched , very interesting and has a very balanced perspective on this fascinating country.He’s currently writing a series called – Chinese cities you’ve never heard of, but should know. It’s...
Friday, 19 March 2010
To recall or not to recall ?
"To recall , or not to recall; that is the question". With due apologies to Shakespeare, this could very well be the modern day conundrum for businesses. The travails of Toyota , with its recalls, are very well known. What prompted this post is the news of recall of 1.2 million high chairs (the sort you strap your child to), because they could pose a fall hazard to children.Readers of this blog know...
Thursday, 18 March 2010
Don't vote for XYZ Inc.
Murray Hill is running for the US Congress. At first glance, nothing seems to be wrong with that – surely anybody can run for Congress. But then Murray Hill is unique and a first. For its full name is Murray Hill Inc. It’s a company; not a person. An interesting article in the Economist (click here) examines this quirky issue superbly.This is a consequence of a landmark US Supreme Court judgment in...
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Pip pip, toodle-oo; its just not cricket
If ever there was a misleading title to a post, this must be it. This is not about cricket at all. Neither is it about Bertie Wooster. Instead it’s a most ungentlemanly rant.Readers may recall that I had railed about the behaviour of US Congressmen towards Akio Toyoda here. Something similar has now happened with British MPs and Kraft. This growing trend of activism by politicians towards business...
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Nuclear Noclear
Amidst all the ruckus caused in the Indian Parliament by the Women’s Reservation Bill, you could be forgiven for having not noticed the stalemate regarding the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill, 2010. You would even be forgiven for yawning at the very mention of this “exciting” piece of legislation. Spare a minute to consider how important this is.Anybody even remotely familiar with India will...
Sunday, 14 March 2010
And the award goes to .....
This being Oscar season, it is but natural that some awards float around in the blogging world. But I was completely bowled over to receive an award from le embrouille blogueur. For those of you challenged on the intricacies of French, he is the very opposite of “le embrouille”. Superb blogger, who is however in “prison” these days and hence not blogging very often – but when he does, he produces...
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Crash, bang, tring tring
National stereotypes are always wrong, but that doesn’t prevent us from indulging in them for fun. This blog has some pretense, to serious, thoughtful(?) and boring discussions on business. But on Sundays, this blogger takes a break to write an irrelevant, and opinionated rant on anything other than business. This Sunday, we shall venture shamelessly into an outrageous extrapolation of day to day...
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Beware of the super performers !
The mantra of all business (actually most walks of life) is superb & outstanding performance isn’t it ? It shouldn’t ! If this sounds absolutely ridiculous, read on …Everywhere, the great performers are the stars. They are the ones who get big bonuses. They are the ones who get promoted lightning fast. The division that shows triple digit growth is treated akin to God. The bunch that didn’t...
Monday, 1 March 2010
NGO Terrorism
NGOs find companies as soft targets for bullying. Companies, who are incredibly image conscious can easily be bullied – so catch hold of a company, drum up enormous publicity and companies have no choice, but to fall in line with whatever aim that particular NGO is propagating.Let me state up front – I have no quarrel with many of the objectives that most NGOs are propagating. Some are loony, but...
Posts
