Saturday, August 09, 2008

Whoever let him loose?

If you think rising consumption is to blame, hold your horses. According to OPEC estimates, the organisation’s proven reserves are expected to be somewhere close to 900 billion barrels and conventional sources are secure. Contributing close to 77% of all reserves, OPEC is the primary body controlling the world’s major oil sites.

Major members are Middle Eastern sates such as Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Kuwait. Various other regions are also represented in the organisation; countries like Venezuela, Indonesia and Nigeria are among major members as well. Thus, as a holistic approach towards understanding the oil crises spread across the planet, it is important to understand the composition of OPEC first. According to OPEC facts & figures, “The world’s Ultimately Recoverable Reserves (URR) is to continue to increase in the near future. Therefore, the real issue is not reserve availability, but timely deliverability and here enhanced cooperation and dialogue among all parties to ensure security of demand, as well as security of supply.” The report estimates that from 1995-2003, new discoveries had actually improved recoveries by almost 138 billion barrels. This was especially possible due to more advanced extraction techniques & management. By 2020, oil production is likely to cross 1600 billion barrels with reserves close to 3400 billion barrels! On the basis of OEPC’s own data, it can be logically concluded that the oil price dilemma is not necessarily dependent on consumption alone. Various analysts have contended that OPEC deliberately controls production in order to safeguard its own interests in order to maintain a high price point.

While the top ten oil extracting nations produce about 52 million barrels/day, the top ten oil consuming countries together use close to only 50 million barrels/ day. This means that that a good 2 million barrels of crude can be utilised in price stabilisation, especially when volatility is playing havoc with the global economy. It’s technically proven that the world currently produces more oil than it consumes, but uncertainty of oil prices remains. Production has increased by a salubrious 26% as compared to levels in the 1960s. In fact, oil price insecurity can easily be alleviated on the prospects of huge untapped reserves in Alaska, Latin America and Siberia.

“Oil prices are not determined by the ‘real’ supply-demand for oil, it is the ‘anticipated’ supply-demand, which ascertains the value of the product,” says Saikia. As far as the blame game is concerned, the supposedly new oil hungry nations putting pressure on global oil prices, are factually not the raison d etre’ for the anomaly. China, the nation taking up most of the blame, consumes close to 7.2 million barrels/ day however more than half of this (3.8 million) is met by domestic production. US, on the other hand, consumes a preposterous 20.5 million barrels every day, while contributing a miniscule 8.1 million. Even major oil producing countries like Indonesia cannot hold on to prevailing pressure. With the dangers of ‘galloping inflation’ looming, the country is all set to withdraw from OPEC. It’s the most stinging irony with power. Those that hold oil reserves are making life dificult for the rest by constraining production. The problem then is not shortage of oil per se, but rather the concentration of oil resources in a few hands, which are failing to see beyond their own interests towards the larger good of the planet.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

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Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Talk to me......says PE to Indian media

PE firms have discovered a new love in the form of the Indian media & entertainment industry. Will this affair last or will it go sour, wonders pallavi srivastava

Scrutinise the shareholding pattern of Peter Mukreaja’s dreamchild INX media and one can’t help but bite the tongue. A good 55% stake in the company is held by firms like Temasek Holdings, New Silk Route Partners, New Vernon Private Equity Fund, Employee sweat equity, et al. A cursory glance at NDTV Networks’ shareholding pattern and you find companies like Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, CSFB and eight others jointly holding as much as 24% stake in it. Ashmore Investment Management owns 49% stake in Digicable Network. Then again, what’s common among companies like B.A.G. Infotainment, Times Innovative Media, Hathway cable, UFO Moviez and India TV, besides the fact that they operate in the media & entertainment space. They all have private equity (PE) firms’ expressing their newly found love for them, by buying stakes in these companies.

The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) sector has never been a hot cake among PE investors. But of late (especially over the last one year) PE firms are showing great interest in the sector. Blackstone’s 26% stake in Ushodaya Enterprise for $146 million, Future Capital-promoted Indivision Capital’s 4.9% stake in Dish TV for $58.14 million, Chrys Capital’s 27% stake in Hathway cable for a whopping $120 million, Shyam Equities’ 20% stake in Independent News Service (holding company of India TV) for $25 million are just a few examples.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Emerges from instinct

What does Prasoon Joshi bring to the table that is special at Mccann? He is forthright, “Honesty of purpose & fearlessness. The passionate desire to bring honour & glory to the organisation by celebrating excellence collectively that resonates first with the market place, then peers & finally all who value great communication.” Fearlessness, Joshi reckons, is his middle name because he approaches his work with originality and individuality which emerges from instinct, intuition and insight. Its not a dikhawa, posturing or fake bravado. “I came to this line with nothing. I did not come with money, influence or big-ticket background of a reputed Public School or ameer baap. I came, however, with the greatest and most expensive gift a parent can give to his child – culture, values, redefined taste in artistic things and above all integrity. The guts to hold on tight to your legacy and not sell out to fame or fortune, come what may.”

All this has certainly made Prasoon Joshi special… but what about Brand Mccann? What makes it special? He smiles, pride writ large on his face. “The X factor. It is something others do not have.” He takes pains to articulate this special quality which is about finding a voice for brands that is unmistakably integrated within the soul of the brand. These make McCann’s work truly different & memorable. This is further reinforced by the tactile touch & feel they impart to the communication. He cites the example of Choloromint that is defined by the ‘dobara mat poochna’ tag line. When the celebrated head-butt incident involving Zinedine Zidane erupted in the year 2006, the flood of SMSs and mails circulating indicated that this happened only because some dumbass must have asked the moody soccer star aap Chloromint kyun khate hain?! Same with Happydent (which swept awards everywhere), Parachute (Gorgeous hamesha!), Tehelka (Jhoot Bole Kauwa Kaate) & others from the McCann stable.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Monday, August 04, 2008

FDA-approved manufacturing facilities

Moreover, with around 100 FDA-approved manufacturing facilities – the highest outside the US – and low-production cost, India has attracted global companies to scout for assets as a low-cost alternative. “India is well positioned to be a buoyant future for generics. While there are potential downsides to consider, India is becoming more pronounced as a global strategic asset for developed world businesses. Foreign companies should be looking to India as a platform for building their European & the US markets,” agrees Brian Tempest, former Chief Mentor and Executive Director, Ranbaxy.

Thus, as international pharmaceutical companies increase their activity in India and bring in significant resources, domestic companies will have to move up the product value chain. In this context consolidation seems to be the best possible move. “Consolidation will not only provide the required size and expertise, but will also certainly improve efficiency; provide economies of scale and scope; and strengthen their product portfolio, eventually benefiting the industry as a whole,” avers Shetty. And with Indian pharma growing at a CAGR over 13%, smaller companies are ripe for the kill. It’s just that the predators are biding their time.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Friday, August 01, 2008

Yikes! And they call it a gentleman’s game?

The cricket tamasha has begun. But, amidst the hoopla around IPL, can rebel league ICL, survive? pallavi srivastava finds out...

The nearly packed 55,000 seat Chinnaswamy stadium in Banglore was on fire during the opening spectacle of the hyped Indian Premier League (IPL). The cheerleaders from America, stilt walkers from Holland, bubble dancers and acrobats performing on 250,000 watts of music… left the crowd awestruck. Many in the crowd were gesticulating excitedly while on their mobile phones, exchanging notes with friends & family watching the tamasha cricket live on the idiot box in pubs, clubs or their homes. You couldn’t help but flashback to November 2007, when Subhash Chandra’s Indian Cricket League (ICL) played its first match. It generated about 1/10th of the excitement that IPL did. Is this a harbinger of ICL’s impending doom? The natural response will be in the affirmative, keeping in mind the present frenzy around IPL and its association with biz & Bollywood biggies. But then there are many who are mooting for ICL instead. 4Ps B&M presents a reality check of the war between underdog ICL and current hot favourite IPL.

ICL: One fish eats all the profits
IPL: Many hands chasing the money
Going by sheer numbers, there are ten big stakeholders in IPL – BCCI, eight franchise owners (or even more considering that there are more than one stakeholder in most team franchises) and Sony Entertainment Television – taking the most conservative estimate. So, whatever revenues & profits are garnered by IPL will get divided among at least these ten big stakeholders, resulting in a thinner slice for each.

On the contrary, ICL is the sole beneficiary of all revenues generated by the league. “Everything associated with the event, whether it’s ground sponsorship, team sponsorship, on-air broadcast, ticket collections, et al, all the revenue streams belong to ICL. That’s the best part of our revenue model,” says Himanshu Modi of ICL. But IPL’s Lalit Modi rubbishes the argument, “We are very happy with the business and revenue model that we have. And there is a lot of money to be made in IPL. If people are raising doubts about IPL making money they simply don’t understand our model.” ICL: Making tomorrow’s star

IPL: Cashing-in on existing stars
Most ICL players are upcoming cricketers. For them ICL is a platform to hone their skills in the cricket battlefield. The best of these fresh talent may be picked up for the national cricket team (that is if BCCI agrees). IPL however is charged with cashing in on the popularity of existing stars. Lalit Modi argues, “It’s not that we have only star cricketers and we are not giving chance to fresh talent. It’s mandatory for each team to have at least four under-19 players. Plus, what’s wrong in having star cricketers in the team? Even EPL has star players in the team.” Be that as it may, the star players in EPL clubs are reckoned as ‘stars’ because they are playing for their respective clubs and not the other way round like IPL.

What cannot be ignored is that these star cricketers have indeed managed to get all eyes hooked to the IPL game and created so much hype. Purists argue that the strategy can backfire. A former leading cricketer (who is associated with IPL), on conditions of anonymity, told 4Ps B&M, “An Indian cricket lover found himself in a dilemma when Zaheer took Ganguly’s wicket! He is in utter confusion: should he feel gloomy for Ganguly or cheery for Zaheer?” There is no such dilemma with ICL, as most ICL players are playing for the first time. You see them as a member of Mumbai Champs or Kolkata Tigers, and more importantly as each others’ competitor. So viewer loyalty is not divided. Besides, the commitment of international cricketers to IPL can be shaky because of their previous commitments. In fact, Cricket Australia has confirmed that the rescheduled Pakistan tour of Australia may inhibit them from playing for IPL next year.

ICL:
Preparing for the long run – building stadiums and academies
IPL: The focus is on here & now
Like the EPL model, ICL is building its own set of stadiums (they own three stadia as of now) and is also opening formal training centres (the first one will be announced by June). “If we go by the EPL model, a considerable amount of revenues comes through stadia,” says Gaurav Saxena, Senior Analyst with a research firm. Saxena further explains that this is where ICL has an edge over IPL. IPL is not looking at creating such infrastructure; it is relying on the lease model, which reflects its short term focus. But then, IPL is targeting on minting money in the short term and so in the long run, the league will be in a better position to buy stadia and training grounds in one go.

ICL: Phased investment; less risk
IPL: High investment; high risk
IPL is very high on investment. With teams backed by the big daddies of business and Bollywood, there is a rat race among the franchise owners to brand their respective teams, while they are crazily putting up big bucks to create big noise. This makes IPL a heavy investment model, increasing the risks involved. On the contrary, investment in ICL is in a phased manner and based more on the development of the game (stadia, training centres). “These investments in itself open additional avenues of income. If you have a formal training institute you will have additional revenues through that,” adds Saxena. But then, there’s another school of though, which claims that the bigger the risk you take, the higher the return you reap. Today, the odds may be against ICL, but Subhash Chandra is known to redefine the rules of every game he plays. Remember 2001-2005 when everybody said that Zee is dead because of competition from Star and Sony! But Zee made a smashing comeback, dethroning Sony from No.2 slot and giving a tough fight to Star as well. History may repeat itself once again! If that happens, the Mallyas and Ambanis would have at best lost a few hundred crores (small change for them), but what of SRK, Juhi & Preity Zinta’s new-found entrepreneurial zeal? Hey, this is not to say that we don’t believe in IPL. After all, the higher the risk...

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus