Live Like Levi’s...

...if toughness is in your ‘Jeans’

An era is dominated by public ownerships, Levi Strauss & Company still represents a small brigade of businesses that are completely owned and managed by family descendents. Incorporated in 1853 as a dry goods wholesale business by Levi Strauss along with his brother-in-law David Stern, the actual journey started in 1873, when Jacob Davis (a tailor by profession) and Levi received the patent to manufacture the famous Levi’s brand of jeans. Gradually, Levi along with his nephews (the Sterns) turned his enterprise into a family business and passed on the legacy of his thriving business to his nephews in 1902. In the year 1928, Levi’s became a trademark. Gradually, the company expanded its presence in the global market and finally got listed in 1971. But, the company started losing ground in the early eighties. Here, stepped in Robert Haas (the great-great grandnephew of Levi) taking over as the CEO in 1984. He focussed on the core products, streamlined the work-force and closed down many plants to increase productivity. In the mid-nineties, he again made Levi’s a private company by deploying a leveraged buyout worth $1.6 billion. Later, he handed over the mantle to Philip Marineau, a veteran from PepsiCo. Now, under Marineau’s new leadership, the company is undergoing a serious strategic makeover & operates as the world’s largest apparel marketer with best selling brands like Levi’s, Dockers & Levis Strauss Signature.

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• An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Source: IIPM, 4Ps, B&E

Jammag Magazine Editor & Publisher: Rashmi Bansal arrested, please click:

• Hindustan Times Article - Publisher goes underground
• Rashmi Bansal (Editor of JAMMAG) eats humble pie; felicitates IIPM as being the top institute
• Rashmi Bansal (Publisher of JAMMAG)

Reliance under Mukesh is taking off to new vistas...

Mukesh is set to expand the network to seventy cities by 2008 and his retail venture is set to have a turnover of $25 billion by 2011, which is anything but small! It is no wonder that Reliance is being regarded as India’s answer to American retailing giant Wal-Mart. Mukesh has been lauded for his near uncanny ability to get projects completed on time, but his ability to raise money for the proposed 27 million tonne RPL refinery was a surprise to many. Global oil exploration, refining and marketing giant Chevron invested $300 million for a 5% stake in the venture. And the IPO received an overwhelming response from retail investors, as it was oversubscribed by around 50 times reminding one of how Dhirubhai Ambani raised money from the equity markets in the 1980s. RPL has purchased 10000 acres of land in Jamnagar, Gujarat to set up a SEZ for the refinery. Another key area where Mukesh is focusing his mega investments is gas exploration. Truly, Reliance under Mukesh is taking off to new vistas with the same aplomb and dauntlessness that Dhirubhai Ambani was famous for. The Godfather of small investors is no more, but his legend lives on…

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Looking at the b‘right’ side!

“2006 has been a more promising year. There were many quality films like Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Omkara... the basic quality is improving,” pushes Rauf Ahmed, well known senior film journalist. Without taking away credit, stupendous is how some specific film makers have pulled off dramatic product repackaging endeavours, what with the likes of films like Rang De Basanti (the sixth film based on Bhagat Singh, with due respect to the legendary freedom fighter) and Lage Raho Munnabhai (making ‘Gandhigiri’ fashionable in 2006) becoming the top two Indian contenders for the Oscars this year. And the juggernaut doesn’t stop here. This quarter starting October (the hottest season in the Bollywood calendar) sees not only the Shahrukh Khan starrer Don molesting the senses (we guess you still haven’t seen the sneak on the shocker of a song, ‘Khaike Paan Banaras Wala’), but also has Ms.Aishwarya Rai perfect her poise, pout, and prayers (for a hit, for crying out loud) for JP Dutta’s Umrao Jaan. Ah yes, how could one forget Gautam Ghose’s Yatra, in which Rekha will once again play a courtesan from Lucknow and dance to thumri tunes composed by the legendary Khayyam and sung by Asha. We can already see mobs attacking movie halls to be the first ones to get seats! But we’ve not even started talking of small budget films. For complete information on IIPM Articles, please click here... , Also visit: Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Source: B&E and IIPM Publications

Latest ranking of 100 most powerful women in the world...

In the latest ranking of 100 most powerful women in the world released by Forbes, Indian born CEO designate of Pepsi, Indira Nooyi, is ranked well above India’s most powerful woman Sonia Gandhi. And before her ouster, Carly Fiorina of HP was routinely ranked as one of the most powerful women in the world. There has always been a nagging feeling in societies that encouraging the pursuit of profits increases inequalities and creates social divisions that end up destroying the social order. In fact, Karl Marx based his entire edifice of Marxism and Communism on the belief that the capitalist will always exploit the worker and keep denying him his dues till the revolution of the proletariat overthrows Capitalism. Exactly 110 years ago, Henry Ford, who otherwise never treated his workers fairly by any standard, demolished this belief by making cars that even his workers could afford. For complete information on IIPM Articles, please click here...

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Source: IIPM Editorial and B&E

And now, Big Mac to grow southwards

Big Mac is looking down south – very seriously. Brand McDonald’s, that is represented by Hardcastle Restaurants in west and south India, plans to invest Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore for further growth in the south and the west over the next three years. But, the south, particularly after the smacking taste of success with Bangalore (the fast food giant, that is celebrating its tenth anniversary in India, opened its 94th restaurant at Brigade Road in the city), is going to figure big-time in the company’s roadmap. To begin with, McDonald’s will focus on IT hub Bangalore and Cyber City Hyderabad and then gradually spread across the region. The approach, says the company, will be to open more stores in one city rather than one store in many cities. Either Bangalore or Hyderabad will be the base around which the hub of its supply chain logistics will be built.

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Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri; Source: IIPM Publication and Business & Economy

RIL is presently selling gas...

The reason given by policy makers stands that the agreement was not in accordance with other competitive sale prices at which the gas is being supplied under similar conditions in the same region where RIL is currently operating. RIL is presently selling gas (from its Panna/Mukta and Tapti fields) that is priced at $4.75 per million British thermal units (mBtu), which is much higher than the proposed price of $2.34 per mBtu by RIL for sale to RNRL. Internationally, the price of gas hovers around the $10 per mBtu. The Petroleum Ministry argues that the price discovery process should come about after a transparent competitive bidding process. And also that family agreements cannot guide a contract against public interest. The Anil camp is expectedly crying foul, stating that the RIL-NTPC deal is also based on price levels below $4.00. Clearly, RNRL officials are concerned about having to pay higher prices for gas, which would logically mean much higher prices to be paid by RNRL and would completely change the economics of the Dadri project that the group is banking heavily on!

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Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Source: IIPM Publication and Business & Economy


Some other IIPM Editorial Articles:

• Growth in motorcycle market
• Superman Returns
• Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commissions (EEBC)
• Wal-Mart’s International Growth
• ‘Rags’ to Riches
• Justice Jackson’s eloquent words at Nuremberg...
• Reservoirs of Lucre
• Toyota was a change agent
  

If only I had the money, sigh

BBC TopGear winner, Apache 150!

The funky youth of today, who wish to make no compromise on either style or quality, are lusting for their dream machines. And the brand that has satisfied this lust quite admirably, is the one and only Apache 150. In the fourth month of its launch, this brand has already become the number two brand in the premium motorcycle segment and is expected to garner a sizeable share in this segment during the current financial year. The parent company TVS’ motorcycle sales went up by 28% in July, and a big chunk of this is due to Apache. Truly, TVS’ erstwhile conservative outlook has seen a paradigm shift since the entry of the Apache. As now, finally, the company has turned a new leaf and has been exploring international expertise in enhancing the style factor. K. N. Radhakrishnan, President, TVS Motor Company, upholds: “India has the youngest population in the world with 70% under 35 years. However, the motorcycle density in India is just 40 motorcycles per one thousand persons.

For complete IIPM Research & Publication Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri; Source: IIPM Publication and Business & Economy


Other IIPM Editorial Articles:

• Are Indians finally rich?
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• The Cost of Capital: An International Comparison
• The chameleon changes its colour again
• Iraq war kills one more…politically
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• The average rent per day in five star hotels in the city towered to as much as Rs.11,000...
• Don’t walk out of your home