The news yesterday that two former executives of Bristol - Myers Squibb (a pharmaceutical giant) have had prosecution charges dropped against them, spurred this post. These two were top executives 5 years ago and apparently indulged in “channel stuffing” – the practice of dumping stocks into the wholesale or retail trade in order to show higher sales for a quarter or a period. As happens with such...
Wednesday, 30 June 2010
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Hey Jude - One for the cabbie
Of all the travel “companions” I have had, there has been none more interesting than the cabbie. Just today, I was returning back from the airport, wondering if it would be the first Sunday post I would miss and what do I get ? – an amazing experience on the cab ride back home.There’s something about cabbies that makes them fascinating conversationalists. Maybe because they bump into all sorts of...
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Damned if you do; damned if you don't
The financial markets have gone gaga over the Chinese central bank’s announcement over the weekend that they would allow the Yuan to rise gradually. There has been almost unanimous international pressure on Beijing to let this happen for sometime. But then Beijing does not like others telling it what to do (after all, who does ?). It will do what it wants, when it wants. But Chinese reluctance has...
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Clothes maketh the man
This blogger is prone to swings of a sartorial nature in the Sunday posts. Considering that he is a recipient of several "Worst Dressed" awards, this is a tad curious. But then you can hardly answer tags that ask “what are you wearing ?” (a matter of sublime importance to the fairer sex), in a non sartorial way. And if you have strong views on the necktie (aired here) and on that horrible abomination...
Friday, 18 June 2010
What is BP really responsible for ?
Yesterday was a theatre that has now become a regular feature of US political life. A self righteous and pompous Committee of the US House or Senate “summons” a CEO of some company and harangues him. Political windbags fall over themselves to misbehave with a foreign national. Yesterday was the turn of BP’s CEO Tony Hayward. It got so bad, that one of the Representatives in the Committee, Joe Barton,...
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Datta Samantism in China ?
Readers of this blog may be forgiven for not being familiar with the late Dr Datta Samant. He was a fiery trade unionist in Bombay in the 1980s who changed the industrial relations scene in India. His style was extremely confrontational ; he specialized in making demands of 700% wage increases, going on strikes invariably and was prepared for an agreement only upwards of a 100% wage hike. The textile...
Sunday, 13 June 2010
Oh ! Jerusalem
Of all the places in the world, there’s none so unique and none so disturbing as Jerusalem. This Sunday its a sport free post – while sport is indeed a passion of mine, I appreciate that many fair ladies who visit this space are not exactly enamoured by macho displays of tribalism (which, in one sense, is what sport is). So I turn to the another of my interests, travel, to provide food for this morning’s...
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Oh ; What a May it has been
What a May it has been. If you have been a sports fan, that is. I already posted on the day that the earth shook here. May also saw the world team table tennis championships for the Corbillon (women) and Swaythling (men) Cups. This time it was held in Moscow.China dominates the world of table tennis in a way few countries can dominate in any sport. It is the national sport of China. China wins everything...
Friday, 4 June 2010
Factory Working
The press coverage of the worker suicides at Foxconn is throwing open the debate on China’s challenges as it seeks to continue its economic miracle. If you have not followed the events, last week was the eleventh time this year that one of its workers , at its factory in Shenzhen, committed suicide by jumping from his dormitory. Li Hai was only 19 years old and had worked only 42 days in the factory...
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