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The recent killing of Tamil National Alliance MP Nadarajah Raviraj has brought to focus the vulnerability of the voice of dissent in the region. While the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) supremo V. Prabhakaran was magnanimous in conferring ‘Maamanithar’ (Great soul) on Raviraj, the highest award of his organisation, the role of his group in the killing has not been ruled out. As the blame game continues, LTTE’s deliberate cleansing of opponents and dissident voices within and outside its ranks has been intriguing. Dreaming of a ‘Maha Eelam’ spread across the northern and eastern part of Sri Lanka as also the whole of Tamil Nadu, the nihilistic terrorist organisation has been more than ruthless in silencing any opposition. Their role in annihilating the Muslim and Sinhalese population has few parallels in modern human history. It has been observed that the percentage of Sinhalese population living in the Jaffna peninsula has dwindled from 4.5% in 1971 to 3% by the 1980s.

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Afire with raging colours, Huntsville in Alabama provides the most picturesque sights in fall. As the scorching summer yields to autumn, and the greens give in to the glittering yellows, crimson, orange and golden hues, Alabama unfurls in a mélange of colour. Sheer divine breeze scented with the sweet smell of ripened fruits and that peculiar fragrance of the atmosphere, having recently seen off rains, intoxicate all senses. Rainbow trails mark the entirety of Huntsville, even as every nook becomes vantage point to Nature’s colourful job, though Maple Hill Cemetery, Monte Sano Mountain and the Smoky Mountains would just take your breath away! Dress up flamboyantly, lest nature beats in you in the competition! For more information on IIPM Editorials, please click here..., Also visit: Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

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While the figures hold great promise, it is certainly not going to be all that rosy for the FM channels to sustain themselves and stand out among the crowd. “The key to survive will be to differentiate,” states Rana Barua, National Head Marketing, Radio City. With so many channels in the fray, the biggest danger lurking is of lack of differentiation. “Most players will want to jump on to the biggest category (contemporary chartbusters), which will result in some channels flopping, some re-inventing themselves and finally evolving into various categories according to the demand of the market,” offers Kaushik Ghose, Senior Vice President Marketing, Radio Mirchi. With the pan India approach of the Phase II of FM expansion, many of India’s C and D class towns will soon get their own FM stations. But the strategy that works for the metros may not work for these sleepy suburbs of India, who are yet untouched by the radio revolution. Anurradha Prasad of BAG films is quick to add, “The trick is how to touch the pulse of the people and give them what they will love.” When it comes to sustainability, the revenue model is extremely critical and depends largely on advertisements. Today, advertising in radio accounts only for about 2% of total advertising in India, but with so many stations coming up, especially in small towns, the revenues are bound to go through the roof.


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Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri; Source: IIPM Publication

A company known for decades as a master provider of products and services and as the largest conglomerate ever, General Electric has never fallen short on the innovation quotient and it is perhaps this quality that has fuelled its growth with an ever increasing vigour. With GECIS, General Electric – and Jack Welch – did to India, what no other company could ever have. GECIS was GE’s captive call centre in Gurgaon (and later in other cities) that taught to India the humungous worth of being in the outsourcing business, not only in terms of foreign business potential, but most importantly, in terms of the way India should develop skilled manpower. CAs, doctors, lawyers, engineers, plain graduates, housewives, GECIS left no stone unturned in recruiting English speaking workforce. No wonder, Infosys (with Progeon), IBM (Daksh), Wipro (Spectramind), and even the likes of Satyam, Mphasis, learnt the ropes studying the behemoth operations of GECIS, and investigatingly minutely each and every process – including the much famous Sig Sigma philosophy – that went into this global corporation, eleventh on the Fortune 500 list. Though GE’s current CEO, Geoffrey Immelt (right), clearly places his bets on China, it is a fact that even GE Healthcare, GE Aviation, GE Shipping and GE Commercial Finance are all flourishing in India. By 2010, GE is targeting a landmark revenue figure of $8 billion in India, and a net asset value of $8 billion. Creditably, if a one word answer were to be given to find out what GE really innovated; it would be... India!


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Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Source: IIPM Publication

As a mainstream masala film, there is very less wrong with Madhur Bhandarkar’s latest film – Corporate. Going by the trade figures, the film is doing good business. Film critics (obviously not very initiated with the corporate culture) have given good reviews, too! However, India Inc. is not too happy with the film, it seems. Assocham Secretary General D. S. Rawat, for one made his disapproval clear, “What concerns us is that a message goes around among young film-goers, as if the corporate sector is heartless... The way the woman protagonist has been shown as a sacrificial goat is just not the real picture of India Inc., which has some of the most respectable leaders to boast.”

The real problem here is with Bhandarkar’s reputation of being a realistic filmmaker. His Chandni Bar and Satta were good, realistic films, and of course, Page 3 was too brilliant. And that exactly is the problem. Though films needn’t necessarily be based on realism (in fact, those are the non-realistic masala films, which make more money), post Page 3, Madhur has earned a reputation of making well researched films, which show reality as it is. In Corporate, however, that research is completely missing. Apart from using some of the left over research inputs of Page 3, Madhur relies on Bollywood’s depiction of the corporate sector over the years through its typical ‘Amrish Puri’ type ‘Dhanna Seths’. He just makes them sit in high rises, gives them Allen Solly dresses, makes them owners of ‘cola’ companies (instead of ‘coal’ mines), takes the more corporate looking Rajat Kapoor (though for the rival’s role, he keeps our old baddie Raj Babbar), asks them to talk in hush-hush tones with fake seriousness (in the absence of any worthwhile serious cause), and of course, keeps a laptop in everybody’s lap (when the women aren’t there); because after all, the corporate world means a laptop, doesn’t it? And yes, the rest remains the same... There are the politicians and bureaucrats, always ready for bribes and women (and therefore, the item numbers are an obvious necessity). There are women who are dressed to seduce in order to take out corporate secrets, very innovatively (sic!). They also use call girls to drug the rival to sleep, while they transfer his corporate secrets through a smart card (oh yes!!) from his laptop. And then, there are the planted spies and the betrayers; and not to forget, the no-tension murder of anyone spoiling the image of our corporate czar, even if it’s his own brother-in-law! Ya, in between somewhere, there is a line that almost goes unnoticed – about the corporate world being all about ‘profits’ – something that could’ve been the main theme of the movie, instead of the mindless and clichéd politicians making calls and women seducing men and drugging them.

However, as I mentioned, the film does work as a commercial film, and I am not debating that these things have never happened in the corporate world. But making a film on ‘exceptions’ and promoting it as ‘realistic’, is the problem. Page 3 was reality; that’s how that world is ‘in general’... superficial, and hiding their dirt through glamour. But, the corporate world ‘in general’ is not this way, and that’s why Madhur’s Corporate goes awfully wrong, and misleads. A friend of mine constantly kept telling me, “Oh, so this is your corporate world?” while watching the film. And another friend of mine from the film industry messaged me, “I saw Corporate... It seems your corporate world is dirtier than our industry.”

Being associated with the corporate world as well as with the film world, I thought of writing on this, since none of the reviews I have read, have been from anyone in the mainstream corporate sector. I am personally inspired by modern day corporate leaders like Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji, Naina Lal Kidwai, and many more; and know they are icons of today’s youth. I do realise Corporate puts a question mark upon the reputation of these leaders at the helm of India Inc., who are taking India towards higher growth rates and towards developing a favourable outlook of India’s talent, largely due to their intellect and integrity with which they conduct their businesses. However, what the heck! It’s just a film. My personal opinion is that India Inc. should go and enjoy the film... and then ignore it – like it ignores scores of others – as a nonrealistic, but well made masala film, for what else, but ‘profits’ :-)


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Source: IIPM Publication, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Compared to the previous year, total expenditure of Zee has risen by 35%, amounting to Rs.3.2 billion in the quarter ending March 2006 and operating profits have declined by 38% due to augmented investments in newer businesses like cable & DTH. Zee seems to be putting too many eggs in the DTH basket, whose revenues they anticipate to touch Rs.10 billion over the next two years. But cable & DTH require patience to reap long term benefits. Moreover, Sky TV’s entry will make the going tougher. Of course, it is still early to declare a winner in the TRP war. Finally, unless Zee’s newspaper foray generates revenues, and the cable business gets consolidated, investments that are needed could easily cross all limits! For the moment, Chandra seems to be having a ball, since his vision is there for all to ‘Zee’! And perhaps again, it is time to say, “Shabaash Chandra!

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Source: (Business& Economy), IIPM; Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Que: You are determined to move GE from a culture of productivity to a culture of growth – organic growth that is – and not growth by acquisition. Why?

Ans: We’re now in a slow-growth world. Things were different 25 years ago. Oil was under $30 a barrel; most growth came from the developed world; we were a country at peace. After I came in as CEO, I looked at the world post-9/11 and realized that over the next 10 or 20 years, there just was not going to be much tail wind. It would be a more global market, it would be more driven by innovation, and a premium would be placed on companies that could generate their own growth. We have to change the company – to become more innovation driven – in order to deal with this new environment. It’s the right thing for investors. Productivity is still very important, but if you look back at GE’s businesses over the past decade or so, those that have been managed for both productivity and growth have done the best.

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Source: Business& Economy, IIPM , Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri