Monday, October 08, 2012

A piece on Israeli grandmothers!

And on why mothers and grandmothers of this great nation play a critical role in the Israeli-Russia spar

Since August 28, 2008, almost all western media in some or the other form, are criticising Russia’s decision of recognising the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia [once considered part of Georgian influence] by considering it Russian-occupied territories. Not only have both Fortune and Economist featured Russia’s growing influence on their cover stories in the last few weeks, even global leaders have suddenly started recognising that Russia still exists. In sarcastic criticism, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expectably showed her support to Georgia and warned Russia, “In contrast to Georgia’s position, Russia’s international standing is worse now than at any time since 1991...” How interesting dear Ms. Rice that you use that year as an example, for we believe that for the first time since 1991, Russia is finally regaining its rightful position on the world platform. And please Ms. Rice, neither you nor your favourite ‘Kiss Army’, of whom you are a self-confessed die-hard fan, are even an iota interested in what happens in Georgia, are you ma’am?

But what we wish to impetuously implicate out here, and what has been missed out by a majority of media in the process has been the emergence of a strange spar between Israel and Russia over the Georgian war! Analysts and experts in both Israel and Russia are bombarding each other with anti-Russian and anti-Israel statements respectively. Even in the media, while on one hand, Israeli press is accusing Russia of increasing its arm trade with the Middle East, on the other hand, the Russian media is leaving no stone unturned to prove the presence of arms and Israeli training hubs in Georgian land. And now, gravely serious political leaders allege that Russia’s nuclear fuel supply to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear plant is an initiative against Israel and Georgia. The question is, why is Israel suddenly getting into the benign act of protecting Georgia?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face


 
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Saturday, October 06, 2012

“In HP we look at Two Dimen-Sions, Reach and Richness”

Philip Mckinney, VP & CTO, Personal Systems Group, HP Reveals to Neha Saraiya the Reasons for Choosing India as the Launchpad for HP’s Latest Offering – HP Dreamscreen and its Future Roadmap

B&E: You come from a telecom background. Considering that telecom is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, how do you think that the sector’s scenario has changed across the globe over the past 2 decades?
Philip McKinney (PM): I was associated with the telecom industry for almost 20 years in my previous job. Regarding my contribution to Indian telecom industry, I had actually built the first GSM operator in Kolkata back in 90s. But, the scenario has changed tremendously since then. From a standpoint, what used to be a novelty has now become a key aspect of infrastructure for the countries and societies to be competitive. Thus, delivering to the mass has become really important and necessary.

B&E: But this growth in telecom has brought in a huge change in the personal systems segment. Your opinion.
PM: I think the reality at present is that all the devices are connected. 5 years ago, there would be some data services on the phone that were hardly used. But now it is amazing to look at the social networking sites and the way they have shaped up. Actually, it’s quite funny. If you consider the laptops 5 years back, the mobility was only from table to the bed. But over time, it has completely changed. As a result size, weight, battery... everything has become critical as everyone wants to be online always. It’s almost like an addiction. Here, being offline has become a state where people don’t know how to operate. And it’s all because of the mobile products.

B&E: In the Indian context, 90s was the phase when computers came into the country. Then, they were replaced by laptops, notebooks, netbooks and now tablets are making an entry. So where do you see this profile heading?
PM: In HP we look at it in 2 dimensions. One is ‘reach’ and the other is ‘richness’, be it any product created by us. What has happened in the past 24 months is a journey in order to bridge the gap between a mobile phone and the PC. Like some people came in the market with a 7 inch netbook stating that a small netbook is better. So the question is how the segment will look like in coming times. What we predict is that sleeks (notebooks, netbooks, tablets, e-reads et al) will see an explosion in the number of devices. But the reality is that every consumer has a different need. So, rather than forcing the consumers to do a trade-off, the ultimate objective should be to build those devices that are suiting consumer needs. Like, I can’t put a 50 inch screen inside my pocket. I need a smaller one for that but at the same time I don’t want to compromise with the features. So technically speaking, we have to decompose the computers in a way so that they open up a whole range of new possibilities.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Friday, October 05, 2012

Revving It Up On The New Normal

The Superbike Segment in India is beginning to open up as Incumbents and New Entrants fill up gaps in The Market. B&E’s Sanchit Verma does a Quick Stopgap Review before the Number Game Begins

Outrageous is what defines these mean machines – be it their pricing, their power quotient, their cool factor, or even their target customer. Superbikes have always enjoyed a cult position across the world among those who have them, and never have failed to get noticed by those who don’t. And India has been no exception. Bikes like Yamaha R1, Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki Ninja have been painstakingly beckoning the creed of rich young and style conscious Indians of late. And they are not exactly getting disappointed, despite being high on the price factor, due in part to the high import duties. Otherwise, it is more of a smooth ride over the rough Indian landscape, since Indian home-grown manufacturers like Hero, Bajaj and TVS are still to manufacture a genuine superbike.

The market for superbikes in India was conspicuous by its absence till the earlier part of this decade. The era changed with rising urbanization and with the two wheeler sports segment, whose share in the total motorcycle market has grown to 17% in 2009-10 (from 14% in the previous financial year). Yamaha initially disappointed bikers with its products, which somehow didn’t give the owners the ‘Yamaha’ global brand experience. But bygones became bygones with the launch of the R15, which helped Yamaha rebuild its sporty image. Interestingly, when Yamaha brought to India their global favourites R1 and V-Max for a test sale to the Indian customers, they sold a surprisingly high 50 units in 3 months. Soon, other global players realised that the Indian market has matured enough to take on these high-end machines. Players like European major Aprilla have already announced big plans to re-enter the market with their motorcycles and scooter line up. Ducati opened its second showroom last year in Gurgaon with bikes ranging from Rs.1 million to 4.5 million in the portfolio. “We have received a positive response from all bike enthusiasts and it’s good to know they are excited about the Ducati brand. We feel honoured to be part of the evolving motorcycle industry in India,” said Mirko Bordiga, CEO, Ducati, APAC.

Bajaj also has understood the importance of a luxury bike in the portfolio. They have tied up with European major KTM Motors, and their product might hit Indian roads in 2011. Kawasaki also brought in the famous Ninja, which has received an enthusiastic response. Suzuki introduced the Hayabusa with proper service and spares parts availability. Never too late Harley-Davidson announced its much awaited cruiser bike entry by launching 12 bikes in the portfolio ranging from Rs.6.75 lakh to Rs.3.5 million. In fact, their recent plans to open up the CKD plant in Haryana showcases the rising demand in the industry.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Monday, September 10, 2012

Follow the Sun Tzu way

Lakshmi Vilas Bank is planning to grow purely on secured lending. That kind of risk aversion is not only rare but is quite strange given the industry in which the bank operates. But does such a strategy really work? B&E runs through the bank’s top management to understand the answers.

83years, 58,000 shareholders and 1.64 million customers, yet the predominantly south-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB), which wants to spread its footprints across the nation and become a strong name in the retail lending space, is not ready to take the risk of unsecured lending including credit cards and personal loans. When we heard this rare and stringently risk averse premise of doing business in the banking industry, our first assumption was that it was a joke. Obviously, it wasn’t; but be that as it may, we did realise that there was a well endowed case study in the making, and grabbed the opportunity to go through the bank’s operations and top management’s strategic intent to understand the nature of the beast.

Amazingly so, the bank’s (over) conservative approach has resulted in an unexpected 52.71% growth in operating profit in the last fiscal. This is one of the best amongst various South Indian banks. LVB’s financial results can fox even the most discerning critic. Not only did LVB’s interest income jump by 38.28% to Rs.9.09 billion in the financial year 2009-10 from Rs.6.57 billion in the year ago, its total income too grew by a strong 32.47% to Rs.10.12 billion in the last fiscal.

And then comes the paradox. If a bank is so risk averse, its NPAs should be at historic lows, right? Wrong! LVB has some of the highest and most worrying NPA levels in the banking industry. For starters, LVB has managed to reduce both its gross and net NPA levels to 4.27% and 3.31% respectively from 5.12% gross NPA and 4.11% as of March 31, 2010. But, going by industry norms, the figures are still very high. For that matter, other South Indian banks like Karur Vyasa and Catholic Syrian Bank – two which B&E covered in its previous issues – are operating at a net NPA to net advance ratio of less than 1.5%. In fact, the NPA ratio was one of the biggest reasons for a sharp 38.82% drop in LVB’s net profit last year despite the earlier mentioned income growth.

The bank, which kept aside Rs.585 million as provisions and contingencies in FY’09, had to increase the same by a mammoth 131% to Rs.1.35 billion in FY’10. However, the bank, which is now investing on process changes and credit monitoring to improve credit quality of its asset portfolio, is seemingly confident that they will be able to bring down the NPA level to below 1% within the next 18 months. P. R. Somasundaram, MD & CEO, LVB, accepted to B&E, “The bank’s credit monitoring and recovery efforts have been very reactive in the past. Now we are keen on making it highly pro-active.” But then, as Vaibhav Agarwal, VP – Research, Angel Broking points out, “Despite the negative effect on the NPA front, smaller banks like LVB still need to lend to riskier segments as this is the way they can improve their overall earnings and deposit base, leading to an overall reduction in the bank’s deposit cost.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)