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Live Like Levi’s...

2006-12-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

...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:

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

2006-12-07T15:23:00.000-08:00

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…

To read more on IIPM Editorial Article, please click here..., please also visit: IIPM Publications, Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative, Business & Economy

Source: IIPM, 4Ps, B&E

Looking at the b‘right’ side!

2006-10-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

“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...

2006-10-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

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...

2006-09-26T00:30:00.000-07:00

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!

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

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Source: IIPM Publication and Business & Economy

Some other IIPM Editorial Articles:

If only I had the money, sigh

2006-09-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

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:

Dwelling on Darwin (IIPM B&E Article)

2006-09-15T15:06:00.000-07:00

A radical insight into the ‘evolution’ of the man himself…

Few are the names that could stake a claim to being as universally illustrious in the history of biological science than Charles Robert Darwin. Fewer conjectures stand taller than the Theory of Evolution, textbook literature no student could deny having pored over in education, that remains to constitute fodder for thought and subject of controversy the world over even today, nearly a century and a half after its manifestation in Darwin’s legendary publication, The Origin of the Species. Cutting a swathe through cumbersome chronicles previously scripted on Darwin, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin is David Quammen’s succinct narrative of the self-educated scientist’s life and times, and events from the instant he trudged down the HMS Beagle, to his last breath in 1882. The upshot of his famed voyage to South America, the Pacific Islands and Australia was the ultimate anthology of species coupled with unparalleled insight into their variance by region, quite truly termed the classic building blocks for the building block that is life itself. And although the culmination of his epic journey infused within him the definitive conviction that it was indeed the process of transmutation (the nomenclature accorded to evolution during the period), which resulted in one species ‘transforming’ into another, Darwin let his beliefs lie dormant on the shelf for more than a decade for fear of being regarded as sacrilegious and shameful science, as the order prevailed back then.

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

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Source: IIPM Publication

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Assembly Elections

2006-09-08T12:26:00.000-07:00

The good result reflected during the next elections as well. Not only did his Biju Janata Dal and its alliance partner BJP win a majority of Lok Sabha seats, the alliance returned to power with an improved majority in assembly elections. Naveen was adjudged one of the best chief ministers in various polls conducted by media houses and industry associations. Not only this, he took the initiative of taking Orissa towards industrial revolution. Industrialists like L.N. Mittal, Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani signed MOUs with Orissa government for setting up steel & power plants in the state. But, politics wasn’t exactly a cake walk for Naveen. A number of his associates having their own political ambitions, have attempted rebellion against Naveen at least half a dozen times in past ten years.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri, Source: IIPM Publication

Other Articles:

A culture czar comes of age!

A Second Paradise

Iraq war kills one more...politically

Anil Dhirubhai Group

IIPM: Setting Benchmarks in the field of Education

Elections to be won & no promises to keep

It's not a matter of choice for Pepsi or Coke, it’s obligatory for survival...

India must counter Chinese expansions into Tibet and elsewhere

Nepotism, groupism what else...

Shiny Happy People! {IIPM B&E Article}

2006-08-14T03:44:00.000-07:00

Everybody says I’m fine. Vanuatu too…

‘Ecological footprint’. Now those aren’t spoors that would unravel the mystery of Bigfoot. Neither do they guide enough to give chase and outpace rampaging hurricanes. Rather, these trace the world’s find of the happiest patch of land on this planet. According to the Happy Planet Index conceived by the New Economics Foundation in UK, the buck of bliss stops at Vanuatu…

Bet you are asking where on earth is that? If you stand thus befuddled, then this hitherto-obscure little one among the happy islands of Oceania proves to be a case in point towards the so-called-thinker’s idea of happiness forever playing hard-toget! Criterion well-met – life satisfaction (“Gee… I drove the damned slowpoke off the road today!”?), life expectancy (“three scores and ten”, quoth the Book?) and of course, the ‘footprint’ mapping environmental impact (stop to smell the roses… and pluck them for girl?) – probably, but the results have most certainly left the rest of the world a lot more unsettled and unhappier than what Bush and Blair have already brought them to. Considering US and UK’s 150th and 108th ranks respectively in the 178 nation list, gigantic GDPs are no covenant to contentment. But then again, with barely enough life on Vanuatu to keep the WWF humoured, there couldn’t have been much reason to not have a good GDP – Great Domestic Party – of their own! Basically, no point picking on those French steel sitting ducks. The Happy Planet Index proves with this Melanesian isle that “people can live long, fulfilled lives without using more than their share of the earth’s resources”. So while we have the BRIC Report’s Superpower-in-2050 prophecy to sit back, let’s just be occupied enough to keep the ‘resources’ of gelatin bombs off our minds. After all, Vanuatu is just about tourism and agriculture. Or you can simply continue with that compulsive peddling of sms forwards in keeping with the utilitarian theory of happiness – action of the greatest good for the greatest number and all that. I go back to being an existentialist, though…

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Publication, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

IIPM Editorial : As the hammer repeatedly struck down on the doorway...

2006-06-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

As the hammer repeatedly struck down on the doorway, there was hope beaming in his eyes, waiting for the blow that would lay bare the sarcophagus of Tutankhamen to vindicate his years of rummage even while the others were spirited at the thought of the revelation of the whats and hows of history afore their eyes. And when coup de grace occurred, there revealed finely preserved exquisite gilded objects unmarred by those thousands of years of floods and erosion, as all present stepped in the burial chamber with decorated walls. After those years of labour, the gratifying contented twinkle in Howard’s eyes was evident as he laid hands on the Boy King’s funerary mask, watching the uncovering of the linen of the creepy mummy, taking the precious stones studded gold diadem off its head.

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

Source: IIPM Editorial

Oops I did it again, but I forgot that (IIPM Publication)

2006-05-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

The Citibank in Japan recently recovered from a big computer mess, due to which the bank committed 2,74,800 erroneous transactions. Around 69,800 transactions, though processed correctly on May 2, were again mistakenly processed on May 9, 2006. The rest of the transactions were processed, but the statements did not reflect so. The types of accounts affected were yen Savings, US dollar Savings, checking, International Loan Card and Advanced Money. An incorrect Batch Process due to a new process implementation is the culprit. To polish its tarnished image, the bank was quick to react and the matter was tackled by May 10.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Source: Publication, IIPM

Toyota was a change agent (IIPM Editorial)

2006-05-08T05:38:00.000-07:00

When Toyota arrived in the 1970s, it too was accused of upsetting the status quo. Decades have passed, and most people now accept that Toyota simply had a better way of doing business. Its value proposition to consumers raised the standards of the entire industry, requiring many car companies that had lost their manufacturing and design edge to wake up, reinvent their ways and start making better cars for a lot less. Toyota was a change agent, and as such has done more for society than any failing company. And that’s the Wal-Mart story too. It’s a great company that helps consumers and employees win and grow, and as long as it does, it will too – deservedly so.

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Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

2006-04-22T02:19:00.000-07:00

Around 19 million Indians took the aviation route this year; and according to the civil aviation ministry, the growth of the industry is currently projected at 20% annually. Notwithstanding the immense growth potential of the industry, the aviation market seems to have become overcrowded and on an expansion overdrive. Suddenly, Indian skies have become a battle ground for a number of newly launched airlines and older established veterans. Spice Jet, Indigo, Indus Air, Yamuna Air are few of the combatants in this now highly competitive industry. The competition is now so fierce among low cost airlines that prices are starting to hit rock bottom. A ticket between Delhi and Mumbai is now available for as low as Rs.500, even cheaper than a three-tiered AC train ticket. Read More on IIPM Article...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Not more free food again...

2006-04-14T01:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks for including the beautiful article by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs (B&E, September 9 to September 22: Ed). The simple and practical suggestions offered by him are worth adopting in our country. I am of the opinion that rather than recommending measures like subsidies cut, it would be prudent to suggest to the Indian government to ensure provision of four much needed inputs to the Indian farmer – soil nutrient replenishment through organic and chemical fertilisers, irrigation or other water management techniques, improved seed varieties and sound agricultural advice to our rural farmers across India. This long term solution is likely to succeed in increasing food production, slowing rural population growth (consequently inflow to cities) and mitigate long term global climate change. As illustrated by Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, such increased food production could be easily turned into sustained national economic growth as reasoned by the author in his article. THE CORE DILEMMA could indeed be resolved!

Col. D. R. Solanki

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

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Karnataka coalition experiment...

2006-04-03T03:42:00.000-07:00

The renunciation will also send unmistakable signals to the Muslim community in India about the party. After the Ayodhya debacle, Muslims in India had lost faith in the party’s ability to look after their interests. This one act can do wonders for reviving Muslim confidence in the party. In any case, the Karnataka coalition experiment where the Congress runs a government with the Janata Dal (Secular) shows that getting the Chief Minister’s post is not enough to decide who calls the shots. Though the state has a Congress Chief Minister, it is the Janata Dal led by former Prime Minister H.D Deve Gowda that calls all the shots. More...

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

International Crisis Group

2006-03-31T01:23:00.000-08:00

This comes even so when Eritrea’s flight ban is being seen as an attempt to obstruct surveillance by UN Peace keeping forces, in areas bordering Ethiopia. Kofi Annan’s call that both sides “exercise maximum restrain” is significant considering the fact that the two-year border war between them from 1998 to 2000, which according to Brussels based International Crisis Group (ICG) took 100,000 lives, notwithstanding the tremendous human sufferings that both the sides witnessed during Eritrea’s long armed struggle for self-determination, that lasted for over 25 years. Read More on IIPM Publication Article....

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

Arvind Mills has actually shown an amazing 95% increase in PBT

2006-03-27T01:55:00.000-08:00

To the credit of Arvind Mills, this PBT fall has occurred only after five straight quarters since June 2004 that showed increasing PBT. Further, textiles being a true seasonal industry, Arvind Mills has actually shown an amazing 95% increase in PBT in the quarter ending September when compared to the same quarter last year (Rs.210 million); impressive cost cutting measures seem to have paid off, even though year on year revenue growth was a mere 2% in the same quarter.

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

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The Arabian hunters...

2006-03-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

Life’s a game for these great raptors
A treasured tradition’s techniques must be altered, says the new law of the land, compelling the lords of the United Kingdom to pull out of their top hats a replacement to the good ol’ hounds for catching game. While this winter, many will stoop to sneak through the loopholes of the 2004 Hunting Act, others look towards nature’s feathered sailors of the sky officially engaged in the 4000 years old sport of falconry. Soaring through the sky, the falcons pursue their prey, and when it’s time, they tear through the blanket of clouds and swoop down lashing out at the quarry! Hot in pursuit, the falconer accompanied by his companions gallop onto the scene just in time; sitting tall on his steed, he holds out his gloved hand and the falcon flies back to his master.

Source: IIPM - Business & Economy

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