Akshay's World.......

Difference between Plasma TV and LCD TV

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 05:18:00 +0000

The Technology

Plasma TV
There are tiny cells between two glass plates where xenon, neon and argon gases are injected and sealed in plasma form during the manufacturing process. The gas is electrically charged at specific intervals so that gas is ionized and form plasma state. This ionized gas when hits the red, green, blue colored phosphors, they produce the colored images correspondingly. It does not use the electron gun architecture which is used in CRTs.

Pic Source : Wikipedia

This is why the plasma TVs are not that much bulky as the older CRT TVs. But still they use the phosphor burning technique to show the colors. So, they are able to produce extremely accurate colors are better motion pictures as the CRTs.
LCD TV
Pic Source : Wikipedia

In between two layers of transparent oppositely polarized materials, a special polymer is used that holds liquid crystals. The crystals can block or pass light according to the amount of current passed to them. Each individual picture element or pixel is divided into three red, green, blue colored subpixels. These subpixels when appropriately illuminated can produce vast array of colors. Unlike the standard CRT or Plasma, there are no phosphors to be lit. This is why the LCDs are much cooler and requires less power and there is no radiation from the screen.

The Comparison

1. Screen Size and Price

This is the most important point to consider before you buy a TV. Normally, the plasma TV sizes range from 32 inches to 65 inches and the LCD TV ranges from 14 inches to 46 inches though more larger sizes of both are readily available. The comparative prices for the larger size plasmas ( ~ 52 inches) are lesser than same sized LCD TVs. On the other hand, the smaller LCD TVs ( ~ 32 inches ) are cheaper than the same sized plasmas. Though the larger size LCD TV prices are falling off rapidly, still I would ask you to buy a plasma TV if you want a real big screen.
2. Color Accuracy and Saturation
The LCD TV reproduces colors by subtracting colors from white light. This is somewhat more complex and slow technology than that used in Plasmas. The colors displayed in plasma TVs are more vibrant and accurate than the LCD TVs. LCD TVs are efficient in producing colors when producing static images.
3. Picture Resolution
The small sized LCDs have more pixels packed into them than the plasmas. The small sized Plasmas are not so good at displaying high resolution pictures as they have less number of pixels per square inch. So, I again repeat that go for LCDs if you want small sized ones and go for plasma if you want bigger picture as there is no resolution difference in case of the larger plasma and LCDs.
4. Contrast Ratio
5. Burn-In
If the plasma TVs are used for same static image showing off constantly, the same phosphors are being used always. This literally burns the phosphors which can no longer show off the colors accurately. There is no such problem with the LCD TVs. This is why the LCDs are extensively used as display unit for computers where it needs to show static images continuously for a prolonged time. Any way you don’t have to worry about the burn-in problem very much because under normal TV watching purpose there is least chance of burn-in to occur.
6. Pixel Response Time and Screen Refresh Rate
The LCD display is slow to change the pixel color states though the technology has improved a lot. There is no such delay in changing the color states of the phosphors. So, the screen refresh rate can be much higher in case of plasma TVs. The LCD TVs, when displaying highly moving pictures, show a trailer effect of the moving parts which fails to represent the fastness of the scene.
7. Power Consumption
The Plasma TVs are fairly power hungry. Each of the pixels in a plasma TV acts as a light source, so it requires a lot of power to light the whole display. LCD TVs use fluorescent backlighting to produce images, so they require much less power than the Plasma TVs. The power requirement for LCD TVs are nearly half of the plasma TVs.
8. Viewing Angle
The viewing angle offered by the Plasma TVs were always greater than the LCD TVs but now the high end LCD TVs are no worse than the Plasma TVs. However some cheap LCD TVs still has viewing angle less than 160 degrees. So, when buying cheap unbranded LCD TVs check if the viewing angle is better than 160 degrees or not.
9. Weight
Plasma displays are fairly heavy and also fragile. When mounting on wall or ceiling they should be installed by professionals and the supports should be able to take good loads. LCD TVs does not weigh that much.
10. Performance at High Altitude
Plasma TVs have buzzing noise like the old neon signs when used in high altitudes. This is because the gas insidethe plasma TVs has to work in a stressed condition. On the other hand the LCD TVs are not affected by high altitude at all.

Putting the TEAM Into Teamwork!!

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 17:21:00 +0000

"There is no "I" in the word "team". More often than not, teams are on the two ends of the performance scale: synergistically exceptional vs. complete disarrayed failure. Working in a team can often be challenging: Different people with various backgrounds, diverse personalities and divergent ideas. But the even bigger challenge is to create teams that consistently perform, irrespective of team member changes.

Most organisations struggle to keep their teams performing during staff changes. These churns usually creates temporary increases in workload, pressure and stress, which in turn fuels a decrease in productivity and performance - creating a downward spiral until the team basically needs to be completely re-engineered and restructured to become effective again.

In ineffective teams, they might be rescued from this trend if there are one or two superstars in the group, picking up all the issues and actually doing most of the work. But this is not a long-term solution, as those individuals will soon become frustrated and de-motivated if the issue is not resolved quickly. So simply allocating one or two strong individuals to a team is no solution either.

The only realistic way to ensure the longevity of a successful team is to ensure that the team as an entity (in it's culture, processes and perception) is stronger than any of the individuals concerned.

The first step to do this is to empower each team as a unit. This is best explained with four basic principles that can be summarised with the acronym TEAM:

T: TALK to each other. Good communication is vital. Unfortunately this is often the hurdle where many teams unravel. Frequently managers or team leaders will make decisions without communicating outcomes clearly, or new information relating to interdependencies is not shared to members of their team. This can cause a lot of frustration within teams. It is therefore important to ensure that decisions and expectations are communicated to all team members and that there is a measure of transparency in what management is planning. Negative communication is just as bad or even worse for team moral. A lack of respect for and understanding of each other's personalities may also cause a breakdown in communication or misunderstandings. As a result many companies use personality profiling as a team building exercise, to help individual team members understand each other better.

To improve teamwork, the first step is to ensure that the communication within the team is clear and appropriate.

E: EMPOWER members to take ownership. Team members must be responsible for resolving internal disputes themselves and to do so quickly and effectively. This has to be included in the team mandate or charter. It needs to be interwoven into the team culture. If the expectation is that managers or outside consultants need to resolve issues and challenges, team members are disempowered. This creates a situation where issues remain unresolved for weeks or even months while everyone plays "hot potato".

The best way to address such challenges is to be proactive. Dig the well before you need the water! Agree responsibilities and roles upfront and have open and frank discussions to agree on team rules. The first rule should be that the team will resolve all issues and challenges quickly and internally.
In the next article, Coaching teams towards greatness, a system for empowering team members in this way, will be revealed.
A: ALLIANCE creates synergy. Western culture is inherently individualistic - each person is first and foremost focussed on their own interests. This worldview often surfaces in teams. Although a group of individuals may be working together or on the same project, they are not necessarily a team. Unless a group of people produce more than the sum of their own inputs, they may just as well be working separately and simply combine their final results.
The key to exceptional teams and organisations is to ensure that the team synergy is unlocked. This starts with the individual's perception and mindset of "teams". To extract maximum performance and benefit the team need to be treated as an entity that has a life of its own. The entity's success should be the common goal to which all of the team members are working towards.
M: MEASURE the team's progress regularly. Successful people and organisations regularly measure their progress and make adjustments until they succeed. This is not always the case in teams. Team deliverables may be discussed at regular team meetings, but whether the team itself is operating or functioning well is often disregarded. Reviewing the development and performance progress the team (entity) is making is crucial to ensure exceptional and consistent performance.
These four basic guidelines will increase and influence the performance of teams immediately when implemented. Therefore, put the TEAM back into teamwork!

How to Run a Business Properly From Day One

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:23:00 +0000

Starting a business is a monumental decision that will affect you for the rest of your life. While many start-ups end up a huge success, others fail for various reasons. You can improve your chances of success by making a commitment to do things the right way. Here are some tips on how to get there.

Start with your business plan. Take some time and develop a thorough, yet concise, business plan. This will be the starting point for your business. While developing a business plan has been the topic for entire books and college courses, just make sure that all of the essential elements are included. Take the time to research your profession, the market, and financial projections. You will want to refer to this plan often, and revise it as necessary, to evolve with your business.

Consult a business attorney. A knowledgeable business attorney will be able to answer your questions about business formation, taxation, operation, ethics, etc. Ask your business lawyer any questions you can think of, and use the answers in your daily operation.

Create an office manual. Some experts will advise you to create the office manual during the time period shortly after opening your doors. However it is crucial that your office manual, which will outline all the essential and regular procedures for your business, is at least drafted prior to opening. If you want to operate properly from day one, you need to know how you plan on doing things. You can always revise your manual as you implement policies, and find that things are working or not working. But without a policy at all, you are bound to be inconsistent.

Have a strategy and stick with it. Once you have created your office manual, and found that something works, stick with it. The important thing here is to consistently operate. For example, if your policy is to send out monthly invoices and you have found that this is working, continue to send out monthly statements.

But don't be afraid to re-evaluate. Some of your policies won't work. As a business owner, you have to continuously look at what you're doing and figure out what can be done better. For example, say you decided to give every potential client a brochure outlining your services. If the brochure is not helping, you may want to look at whether this is a good policy.

Trust your instinct. In the end, you started a business because you have faith in your ability to operate successfully. You have done the planning and worked hard to get where you are. Now let your personality and vision show.

NEW PROMISE!!

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:07:00 +0000

By:- Supriya Sharma

Be happy with what you get,

May be for you it is THE BEST..

Crying,Cribbing,Complaining 3 C's you leave,

Feeling Lucky,Learning,Loving your work 3 L's is the key I believe..

Less work--try to do it good,

Be a champ in it,prove yourself a learning bud..

Complete it with fun,

And enjoy all weathers too and all seasons..

More work--people will see you slog,

May you get attention and be the lucky princess kissed frog..

Be happy,be optimistic,no time to be sad,

Gain higher knowledge,may be moving on in it is for you a suiting fad..

Enjoy each day as life wont wait anymore,

Learn the max,leave what sacks,prepare for more as life's second chance is what you are waiting for..

Someday sooner or later will realise,

I did get the best,why wasnt I wise..??

So better not repent,not remember later,

Do it today,this instance,now that will be better..

Life is so short,so many years,moments,already past..

Rest should be lived to an extent that it doesnt seen so fast..

So here I am again with spirits too high,

Will improve I promise,be a new person before time flies..

The poet, Supriya Sharma is Working as a Software Engineer in Accenture and very keen towards the imaginative world of poetry. To find more of her creations kindly visit http://supriya-creations.blogspot.com/

Branding With a Corporate Logo

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:31:00 +0000

In an aggressive world of competition, there is a constant demand among the entrepreneurs for creativity and innovation. There is no room for complacency in the world of modern business. The key to success in the market is not only to deliver high quality products and services to the customers but also to establish a favorable brand image of the organization.

Branding is considered as a means of communicating the message of the company to the customers. A businessperson aims at establishing an undying corporate image among the customers as well as the public. Logo is one of the basic and essential tools used for brand promotion in the marketplace.

It carries a corporate identity that fleshes out the core values, essence and philosophy of the enterprise.

A trademark can be used profitably in branding the image of the organization. It helps a target customer to distinguish a product from other similar products of the competitors. A business logo is used to identify the product or service of an organization. Therefore, a marketer should be able to get a well-designed trademark of the enterprise. An attractive graphic symbol can leave a memorable impression on the mind of the onlooker or the customers. It should be able to mirror the true image of the organization.

Hence, a graphic symbol representing a company is not simply any image or a clip-art. It is a pictorial illustration of the enterprise in the market. You cannot simply use a clip-art or any other image and use it as the logo of your industry. One can also not use a very simple design for the graphic symbol. A designer can use the company name as the logo. The main idea behind such a design is to enable the customer to recall the brand easily. Another factor is that the symbol should stay in the mind of the onlooker for a longer time. These are the two most vital facets of branding. It is for this reason a person should decide carefully the color, font type, text, font size, shape and size of the trademark. Effective designing of a corporate logo can go a long way in branding a company.

Mobile Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 17:15:00 +0000

Mobile marketing in now thought to be the best way of reaching the target audience. As we are aware of the fact that marketing is the only way through which a business organization can promote its products or services. With the advancement of technology we are gifted with newer forms of marketing tools, which helps in increasing revenue and promoting brand. Till a few years back the concept of mobile marketing seemed impossible to many. But technology has now made it possible. Marketing through mobiles can prove very lucrative for both big and small business industries. The best thing about mobile marketing is that you can reach a wide range of existing and potential customers at one go.

Mobile marketing can earn its revues if planned and executed properly. Mobiles are now an essential commodity, which is used by millions in their daily lives. As a result of this business organizations can reach their customers within a span of few seconds. You will be amazed to know that certain business establishments have undergone drastic changes after a small mobile marketing campaign. Your marketing partner needs to be experienced enough to understand your requirement and plan out a marketing strategy suiting your business. Prevalence of marketing have increased to such an extent that many mobile users expunge a message without even reading it.

This is the greatest drawback of a marketing. If your selection of customers is not proper and your message reaches people who are not interested in your product, then your entire campaign might get wasted. So, the best way to keep your mobile marketing campaign foolproof is to identify the target audience at the initial stage. Marketing is primarily done for two reasons. First of all brand managers want to promote their brand for a wider reach and secondly for high revenue generation. So, if the customer identification is not proper, then revenue generation will never be high. Thus for marketing a beauty product through mobile, it is essential to send SMS or text message to women who are interested in beauty care products. If the product is only meant for men, then only SMS can be send to the mobiles of men only.

Big clothing brands usually take a very good measure in promoting their brand. You will hardly find them advertising on television or radio. Either they use big billboards so that interested buyers can take a look or they market their brand via mobiles. They choose people who are already existing customers and whose cell numbers are already in their database. And the rest responsibility is shouldered by the partnering agency. Once your message reaches the correct target audience then the campaign becomes very successful. SMS and text messaging are the two most important ways of mobile marketing.

Both the marketing processes are very popular and one can reach a larger audience. Moreover, mobile marketing is very cost effective as well. The amount of money spent in the making of a television advertisement is huge. Whereas mobile marketing has the potential to bring in such a huge amount with much lesser investment.

The Psychology of Investing Money and 5 Negative Personality Traits

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 19:27:00 +0000

By Marcus De Maria

Investing in the stock market, in options, in foreign currency, in commodities, or in other financial instruments will only be successful if you do technical analysis and fundamental analysis and when you have a trading strategy that incorporates risk and portfolio management. To be successful in investing money, you must understand the psychology of investing. One aspect of this is to understand the negative personality traits that investors have - these traits prevent investors from succeeding in their investments.

Tape watchers

A tape watcher is a person who sits all day looking at live data. If you are a tape watcher, whenever the price of the stock you have invested in is up, you will think you have make a good investment, and vice versa. This makes tape watching an emotional experience. You should set your stop losses and you should take the time to do research or to do other constructive things.

The uncertain

Some people are always unsure about the decisions they make. This is a bad trait because they are not able to take risks and since the greater the risk the greater the reward, uncertain people will not succeed as investors. If you are not sure about your investment decision, you should do fundamental and technical analysis and then you should trust your intuition.

Roller coaster riders

Roller coaster riders are people who buy and sell when others are buying and selling. This is not prudent because sometimes the market is driven by external factors that are not related to the actual value of the stock they have invested in. You should be able to filter the noise and to make decisions based on sound judgment.

The backward thinkers

Some investors are backward thinkers. They do not use analysis tools such as trading calculators and volatility data and they do not have access to live data. Avoid being a backward thinker by taking courses on how to invest in whatever you are investing in.

The stupidity

Some people make very stupid investment decisions. These people buy a stock just for the sake of buying or for emotional reasons. They also buy without doing any analysis and they will sell when the prices are low and buy when they are high. Such an investor should find something else to do.

Marcus is dedicated to providing financial education that helps individuals create wealth for themselves and their families.

Marcus is the author of the book, 'Wealth Workout - the Simple Seven Step Formula for Financial Success', and the contributor to various money, finance, stock market and property publications in UK.

Top 50 CEOs of the World

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:02:00 +0000

Source:- Harvard Business Review

1. Steve Jobs

Apple

1997–Present

United States

Information Technology

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 3,226%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 3,188%

Market Cap Change $150B

2. Yun Jong-Yong

Samsung Electronics

1996–2008

South Korea

Information Technology

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 1,559%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 1,458%

Market Cap Change $127B

3. Alexey B. Miller

Gazprom

2001–Present

Russia

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 2,032%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 2,427%

Market Cap Change $101B

4. John T. Chambers

Cisco Systems

1995–Present

United States

Information Technology

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 922%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 1,054%

Market Cap Change $152B

5. Mukesh D. Ambani

Reliance Industries

2002–Present

India

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 1,001%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 1,430%

Market Cap Change $72B

6. John C. Martin

Gilead Sciences

1996–Present

United States

Health Care

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 2,089%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 2,054%

Market Cap Change $39B

7. Jeffrey P. Bezos

Amazon.com

1996–Present

United States

Retail

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 4,592%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 4,586%

Market Cap Change $37B

8. Margaret C. Whitman

eBay

1998–2008

United States

Information Technology

Outsider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 1,434%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 1,368%

Market Cap Change $37B

9. Eric E. Schmidt

Google

2001–Present

United States

Information Technology

Outsider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 387%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 344%

Market Cap Change $101B

10. Hugh Grant

Monsanto

2003–Present

United States

Materials

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 684%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 572%

Market Cap Change $35B

11. Robert L. Tillman

Lowe’s

1996–2005

United States

Retail

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 459%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 456%

Market Cap Change $40B

12. William E. Greehey

Valero Energy

1997–2005

United States

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 613%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 525%

Market Cap Change $33B

13. Gareth Davis

Imperial Tobacco Group

1996–Present

United Kingdom

Consumer Goods & Services

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 937%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 638%

Market Cap Change $25B

14. William J. Doyle

PotashCorp

1999–Present

Canada

Materials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 651%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 939%

Market Cap Change $24B

15. Benjamin Steinbruch

Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional

2002–Present

Brazil

Materials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 2,337%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 3,360%

Market Cap Change $18B

16. Bart Becht

Reckitt Benckiser Group

1999–Present

United Kingdom

Consumer Goods & Services

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 402%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 364%

Market Cap Change $38B

17. Masahiro Sakane

Komatsu

2003–2007

Japan

Industrials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 652%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 497%

Market Cap Change $28B

18. Terry Leahy

Tesco

1997–Present

United Kingdom

Retail

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 309%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 307%

Market Cap Change $47B

19. John W. Thompson

Symantec

1999–2009

United States

Information Technology

Outsider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 839%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 851%

Market Cap Change $19B

20. Graham Mackay

SABMiller

1997–Present

United Kingdom

Consumer Goods & Services

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 341%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 291%

Market Cap Change $38B

21. Mikael Lilius

Fortum

2000–2009

Finland

Utilities

Outsider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 768%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 964%

Market Cap Change $18B

22. Mikhail Prokhorov

Norilsk Nickel

2001–2007

Russia

Materials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 260%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 739%

Market Cap Change $30B

23. Mark G. Papa

EOG Resources

1998–Present

United States

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 1,128%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 908%

Market Cap Change $17B

24. C. John Wilder

TXU

2004–2007

United States

Utilities

Outsider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 396%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 313%

Market Cap Change $31B

25. Frank Chapman

BG Group

2000–Present

United Kingdom

Energy

Outsider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 333%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 242%

Market Cap Change $50B

26. Paul Chisholm

Colt Telecom Group

1996–2001

United Kingdom

Telecommunications

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 1,923%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 1,770%

Market Cap Change $16B

27. David B. Snow, Jr.

Medco Health Solutions

2003–Present

United States

Health Care

Outsider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 418%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 396%

Market Cap Change $25B

28. Tomeo Kanbayashi

NTT Data

1995–1999

Japan

Information Technology

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 658%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 436%

Market Cap Change $21B

29. Chung Mong-Koo

Hyundai Motor

1998–Present

South Korea

Automobiles & Components

Outsider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 357%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 822%

Market Cap Change $21B

30. John C.S. Lau

Husky Energy

2000–Present

Canada

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 504%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 576%

Market Cap Change $21B

31. Stanley Fink

Man Group

2000–2007

United Kingdom

Financial Services

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 637%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 738%

Market Cap Change $18B

32. Antoine Zacharias

Vinci

1997–2006

France

Industrials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 861%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 1,048%

Market Cap Change $16B

33. Juan Villalonga Navarro

Telefónica

1996–2000

Spain

Telecommunications

Outsider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 252%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 219%

Market Cap Change $127B

34. Harry Roels

RWE

2003–2007

Germany

Utilities

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 223%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 281%

Market Cap Change $52B

35. Charles Goodyear

BHP Billiton

2003–2007

United Kingdom

Materials

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 407%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 157%

Market Cap Change $103B

36. Matteo Arpe

Capitalia

2003–2007

Italy

Financial Services

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 322%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 392%

Market Cap Change $22B

37. Florentino Pérez Rodríguez

Grupo ACS

1997–Present

Spain

Industrials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 536%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 751%

Market Cap Change $16B

38. Fujio Mitarai

Canon

1995–Present

Japan

Information Technology

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 292%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 226%

Market Cap Change $39B

39. Roy Gardner

Centrica

1997–2006

United Kingdom

Utilities

Outsider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 342%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 482%

Market Cap Change $19B

40. Thierry Desmarest

Total

1995–2007

France

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 261%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 169%

Market Cap Change $209B

41. Wang Jianzhou

China

Mobile

2004–Present

China

(Hong Kong)

Telecommunications

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 186%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 244%

Market Cap Change $138B

42. Fu Chengyu

CNOOC Ltd.

2003–Present

China

(Hong Kong)

Energy

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 239%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 226%

Market Cap Change $46B

43. Mark C. Pigott

Paccar

1997–Present

United States

Industrials

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 696%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 705%

Market Cap Change $15B

44. William A. Osborn

Northern Trust

1995–2008

United States

Financial Services

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 552%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 604%

Market Cap Change $15B

45. Craig S. Donohue

CME Group

2004–Present

United States

Financial Services

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 350%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 379%

Market Cap Change $19B

46. David Simon

Simon Property Group

1995–Present

United States

Financial Services

Insider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 325%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 497%

Market Cap Change $18B

47. Larry C. Glasscock

WellPoint

1999–2007

United States

Health Care

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 240%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 203%

Market Cap Change $53B

48. A.J. Scheepbouwer

Royal KPN

2001–Present

Netherlands

Telecommunications

Insider CEO

MBA No

Country-Adjusted TSR 253%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 356%

Market Cap Change $23B

49. Fred Kindle

ABB

2005–2008

Switzerland

Industrials

Outsider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 262%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 205%

Market Cap Change $38B

50. David E.I. Pyott

Allergan

1998–Present

United States

Health Care

Outsider CEO

MBA Yes

Country-Adjusted TSR 609%

Industry-Adjusted TSR 610%

Market Cap Change $15B

Does an MBA Make You a Better CEO?

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:45:00 +0000

By Morten T. Hansen and Herminia Ibarra

Are CEOs with MBAs actually stronger leaders? The answer might depend on the age of the CEO.

Inspired by the raging debate last year over the role of MBAs in the financial crisis, we tried to analyze whether having an MBA influences overall CEO performance. In a large-scalestudy of CEO performance since they took office, we found that other things equal, MBA CEOs had a slight performance edge over their non-MBA peers. In our analysis and ranking of the performance of 2,000 CEOs around the globe, CEOs who had an MBA on average ranked 40 places higher than CEOs who didn't have an MBA (a statistically significant effect).

Why the positive effect? Is it as simple as CEOs with MBA training are, in fact, better equipped to lead companies? Does this, in effect, vindicate MBAs programs battered by criticism in the past year about their role in the ethical and strategic lapses that, in turn, led to the current economic crisis?

Perhaps it's not that simple. Thinking through this question, we reflected on changes in MBA programs over the past couple of decades. As eloquently documented by Rakesh Khurana, there was a massive influx into MBA programs over the past 20 years. And, curriculum and faculty foci underwent a transformation from generalist topics taught by faculty grounded in the world of business to a specialized (read: analytic) curriculum taught by a research faculty increasingly disconnected from the practice of management.

So, we wondered if the MBA would be different for different age cohorts of CEOs. One hypothesis is that having an MBA might have given an edge to CEOs getting them when it was less of a commodity, and when business education was more of a generalist, "art rather than science" course of study. Has the performance value of an MBA decreased over time? That's one hypothesis. The competing one would be that over-time the value of the MBA has increased: thus, the tens of thousands of students rushing to business schools are reading the market signals right. Which one is your guess?

Let's take a look at age. The median age of becoming CEO was 52 years old. When we restricted the sample to CEOs who started when they were less than 50 years old, the ranking advantage for having an MBA increased: it was an even bigger advantage of having an MBA in the sub-50 group (from 40 to 100 places higher on our list). That is, in this "younger" crowd, CEOs who had an MBA tended to perform better than those who didn't have the degree.

We also divided the sample by year that the CEO took charge, splitting the sample at the year 2000 (i.e., ranking of CEOs who started before versus in or after 2000). We find that the MBA advantage is bigger for CEOs who started before year 2000 (from 40 to 108 places higher in the ranking). That is, in the pre-2000 group, CEOs who had an MBA tended to perform that much better than those who didn't have an MBA.

So, if you were "young" (less than 50 when becoming CEO) and started the chief job before 2000, you got more bang for the buck for your degree.

For older CEOs, the benefit of an MBA was there before 2000, but not after 2000.

The year-effect raises an important question: Is the value of the MBA for aspiring leaders declining? Or is it more important than ever as we dive into a highly global and uncertain business world this new decade?

Morten T. Hansen (morten.hansen@insead.edu) is a management professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Information, and at Insead. Herminia Ibarra (herminia.ibarra@insead.edu) is a professor of organizational behavior and the Cora Chaired Professor of Learning at Insead.

How to choose an MBA Specialisation?

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:49:00 +0000

After three terms of whirlwind introductions to more than 30 subjects that make up a management course and summer training in the corporate world, you are expected to make the mother of all decisions – which discipline to specialize in:

The traditional streams: Marketing, Finance, HR, and Operations

The newer streams: Systems, Telecom, E-business, and Foreign Trade

There are many ways to select a specialisation, but given below are a few standard methods to choose from:- Internal and External Specialization Finder

The Internal Specialisation Finder uses two methods:

1)The Great Passion Method:

As the name suggests, this is all about identifying the subject(s) that you simply love. And how do you figure out the subjects that you love? You do so by asking yourself three simple questions:

a. Is this a subject for which I have done more reading than what is required for my course?

b. Am I consistently amongst the top ten percentile for these subjects?

c. Am I consistently aware of what is happening in the corporate world in this area of specialization?

2)The Deep Hatred Method:

This method tries to choose your specialisation using a “not this” method. Here you ask yourself the questions:

a. Which are the subjects that I would gladly not attend a single class of?

b. Which are the subjects in which, I receive my lowest grade point average?

c. Which subjects do I have absolutely no clue about inspite of attending lectures?

Even if a subject fits in as the reply for one question, you know that the subject is not the one to specialise in.

However, while choosing either one of the Internal Specialisation Find methods, you should be aware that the professor who teaches you that subject could be biassing your answer. As students we tend to like and take interest in the subjects whose professors we like!

The External Specialisation Finder also has two methods:

1)The Statistical Method:

This method requires the student to undertake some serious research and answer a few questions such as:

a. Campus recruitment oriented:

* Which were the companies that came for campus recruitment?

* What were the kind of students they picked up, which specialisation?

* What specialisation had the easiest placement?

* Which specialisation got the higher average pay packet?

b. Corporate rung climbing oriented:

* What were the specialisations of the CEOs of the top ten companies?

* Who gets a better pay packet? The marketing person, the finance person…?

* Who has a better chance to rise more rapidly up the corporate ladder?

* Who has a greater demand in terms of number of job offers?

Once you have appropriate answers for all these questions, you can choose the specialisation that offers the best prospects. However, one should be aware, that every five years or so, this trend undergoes a change.

2)The Value Method:

In this method, you select the specialisation, for which everyone around you feels that you are a wiz at! As you go through your MBA, you will find that your classmates, juniors and seniors, tend to slot you depending on their perception of your greatest value. For example, juniors will come to you for guidance for a particular subject, or seniors will make you in-charge of a particular activity related to a specialisation. But beware, this selection depends upon an external worldview and is not your own. So it may not always be as fulfilling!

Hope my reader comes out with a best solution to his dilemma!!!

Thanks for reading !!!

TRANSCEND-“Go beyond Obvious”

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:30:00 +0000

I wrote this article as my first round in IMT Nagpur for the event called Transcend...

ICE AGE TO I.C.E. AGE

“Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”

- Chinese Proverb

This statement is complete in itself to prove its worth. True to its words, humanity tends to proceed itself in some or the other way. Of course, the road is not smooth always and one needs to think far beyond the set standards or we can quote that one needs to transcend. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions.

The caption – “Ice age to I.C.E. age” is the replica of the transition phase that Transcend depicts. Ice Age, in terms of the behaviour of individual, was a meter of “ice” that represented physical evidence (no place for innovation), “cold” that represented lack of heat (or enthusiasm), “hard”, which represented rigid (less adaptive to dynamic environment), “good in appearance but difficult to carry for long” that represented lack of sustainability, “easily melting during high pressure”, represented deficiency of qualities to bear pressure from the surrounding environment and many more like this.

The ideology of transcend is the major boost that is the ground for the paradigm shift from ICE AGE to I.C.E. AGE. Now, the query that tingles our mind is, that, what this I.C.E. age is all about and ofcourse, how the concept of transcend marks its footsteps here. The solution is very generic. Utilization of the concept of transcend is in the hand of mankind only. The shift in the generation is an outcome of the shift in the personality, attitude, perception and behaviour of the people who comprise this I.C.E. age. I.C.E represents the belief of the people of this generation. They believe, “I Can Establish”- means they are independent enough to mark their presence in any field they put their feet into. They believe, “I Can Educate”- means they have the ability to spread knowledge to make this world a better place to live. They believe “I Can Emulate”- means they have the desire to compete and benchmark the qualities of some eminent brains. They believe, “I Can Entice”- means they have the capability to convince others agreeing to their own wish. We are no more rigid and have inculcated the ability to mould concording to the dynamism of the external environment surrounding us. We are filled with enthusiasm and adventure to touch the sky and energize us to the peak. We believe “I Can Experiment”- means that we have the resources to evaluate the best out of the available alternatives. The concept of transcend is highly applicable here, as it is because of our guts to “go beyond the obvious” that we dare enough to experiment and drag the best out of knowledge pit. Creation of mankind was actually of an animal with brain. During the Ice Age, the former (animal) part was more dominant. But gradually, due to the ability of transcend, later (brain) part became more dominant. Therefore we also believe that “I Can Energize”- which means I can thrive hard to pull up my capability and serve best in any deed I am involved with. Therefore it is clear enough that, this desire of mankind to work and strive for things beyond obvious has lead him to transform from Ice Age to I.C.E. age successfully.

Finally, the message that an individual conveys in this I.C.E. Age is that “I Can Exist” – meaning that he is capable enough to survive the current and explore the future by transcend.

'BLOSSOMS-09' Poem

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:44:00 +0000

"I wrote this poem for the much exciting and adventurous event held at Christ"

"BLOSSOMS 09 "

Topic:-

Water shortage in year 2025............

The poem is probably going to be a lullaby recited by a mother to her baby who has never seen "water"

Like stars, in the sky, glow and vanish,

water was there, deep and lavish.

A drop in need, felt like an ocean,

For scienties and divers, twas work and passion.

For babies to play, for younger to swim,

used, we water, for summers, to trim.

Think all once, think all twice,

where is the stock, with not even a slice.

SME FINANCING IN INDIA

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:22:00 +0000

SME FINANCING IN INDIA

-Issues & Challenges-

I. Introduction

In the current scenario, if we talk about the product and process innovation, the most ignored section of the industry that cannot be ignored any more is the Technology based Small and Medium Enterprise or popularly termed as SME industry. These enterprises play a vital role in egressing the latest technology based sectors of the industry and in preserving and enhancing the economic competitiveness of the established industries. The long term health of the economy of a country is highly dependent on the strong domestic technology sector.

Over the past decades, many developments have occurred in public and private sector markets serving SMEs in India. The definition of SMEs varies from country to country. The classification can be based on the firm’s assets, number of

employees or annual sales. The International Finance Corporation defines SMEs as firms with less than 300 employees and total assets less than

US$15 million. In smaller economies, SMEs are defined as less than 20 employees. Whatever the definition, and regardless of the size of the economy, the growth of SMEs throughout the region is crucial to regional growth.

The most premier and critical role that SMEs play is, ofcourse,

in providing jobs to the needful
enhancing the quality of human resources
nurturing a culture of entrepreneurship
breeding the creativity and
opening up new business opportunities.

II. FUNDING THE SMEs – a vital issue

The major boost for the SMEs to spring up, to reposition, adjust themselves quickly in response to market and economic changes, has been as a result of flexibility, as well as low start-up and operating costs. To add to this , they can easily expand or contract in a short time. SMEs have not only survived the impact of big enterprises and the law of economies of scale but have carved out niches for themselves, which enable them to coexist with big enterprises. So far, the lack of access to market information and technology, the low quality of human resources and the lack of access to capital has proved to be few of the common problems of SMEs so far. Financial institutions and public-sector bodies have concentrated a lot to bridge the funding gaps but till the time they continue to experience difficulty in obtaining risk capital.

These funding gaps relate to firm size, risk, knowledge, and flexibility. SME borrowing requirements are small and frequently do not appeal to financial institutions. Collateral required may be more than what SMEs can pledge. What can be judged so far, is, that financial institutions may lack expertise in understanding small and medium Knowledge-based business. The terms and conditions of financing may still not be conducive in accordance to the requirements of SMEs.

III. FUNDING OPTIONS

Let us now have a brief overview of some of the possible funding options available their in the market.

Credit Unions, Leasing Companies

Options for funding at the start-up stage include credit unions, leasing companies, personal finance and contributions from family relations.

Private Equity and Venture Capital

The venture capital in the United States has developed without any official government policy and to finance high technology firms that are “informationally opaque,” often without tangible assets and established products and markets. If we take the case of United States, venture capital accounts for only a small part of SME financing (fewer than 2%) concentrated in certain industries considering private equity funds from institutional

investors (primarily pension funds and wealthy individuals), these are typically structured as limited partnerships with fixed lives (usually around ten years) and general partners responsible for making investments with incentive-based

compensation schemes.

To respond to issues raised by investors,

venture capital funds typically demand board representation and play an active management role, which may not be acceptable to some (family-owned) firms. There has been rapid growth in venture capital and private equity in Asia since

the Asian financial crisis.

Taxes, the regulatory framework, and

funding policies differ greatly across

economies, which affect the efficiency of

transfer of capital.

There is evidence that private equity in economies like Korea and Japan is used to replace sources of funding not available from traditional institutions which can also be implemented in India. Private equity is not restricted to finance blue-chipfirms only , but rather to finance therestructuring of established firms in the traditional industries. We can see this as an open opportunity to uplift, both, the morale and status of SMEs.

Banks

Industries that are traditional and are also possessing some tangible assets along with a well run business, can often raise funds from sources like banks. Indian banks, that are growing rapidly with their balance sheets often touching skies are both, keen and capable of lending money. Government needs to bridge this gap between the SMEs and the banks by considering the lending rates. Also the return period should consist some kind of relaxation to encourage more and more entrepreneur to come and raise their capital via loans. Analysis of SME financing in the U.S. suggests that banks and traditional credit-granting institutions still provide the largest source of outside financing. The constraints before the banks to go for the deal with SMEs are:

Lack of accurate reliable information on the

financial condition and performance;

Unconvincing and weak business plans;
Weakness in SMEs management, market

links,

Governance and information technology.

Therefore, we can conclude that banks need to adopt appropriate lending technologies and operation systems to enable them to realize the

market potential and to lend profitably to small businesses.

The government’s and banks’ recent commitment to a revised statement of principles on business

banking is an excellent opportunity to improve SMEs’ access to finance as well as the credibility of

lenders.

A revised Code of Practice for Business

Banking should include:

A commitment to give adequate notice of changes to terms of service. In particular, withdrawing or reducing credit facilities will require notice periods much longer than 30 days, allowing SMEs to plan their cash flow, seek advice and arrange alternative funding.

A commitment to facilitating access to independent financial advice. Information on

independent sources of financial advice should be offered to all new business customers.

A commitment to discouraging late payment of suppliers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that

businesses have, in some cases, been advised to use late payment as a formof free credit.

IV. RAISING FUNDS THROUGH CAPITAL MARKETS

The reason of separately discussing the funding of SMEs through capital market is because of its huge investment options. Avoiding the traditional funding option from banks, SMEs often or should turn to fund growth by raising equity on the Stock Exchange. They can spread and share the risk of high growth strategies by sharing equity ownership. The Stock Exchange facilitates marketable shares to

acquire other companies. Apart from the mention need of raising funds, listing on the Stock Exchange

can increase corporate profile.

But the unpopularity or refraining of SMEs from the Stock Exchange so far is understandable. The cost of listing to raise a small amount of funds has proved to be as costly as raising large amounts of

funds. The increasing pressure for continuous

disclosure places great pressure on small management teams.

The costs of listing and ongoing compliance costs combined with requirements for continuing disclosure have been a disincentive to small growing companies with limited management

skills. The high-risk nature of these small

businesses and the limited information

they can provide has not attracted support

from the brokers so far.

The major aspect in public securities market, that is most required is “disclosure". Track record is important when investors are comparing options.

The lack of such disclosures in a proper manner is a major reason for the investors showing their back to SMEs.

V. SME-FINANCING--ISSUES AND STRATEGIES

SMEs, if developed and practiced on modern lines shall primarily remain profitable options for banks and can guarantee earning for banks at a rate higher than the lending to corporate clients.

There exists strong evidence that SMEs expansion boosts employment more than large firm growth because SMEs are more labour intensive. In Pakistan, the SME sector contributes 30 percent towards the country’s GDP, along with agriculture provides 90

percent of the jobs, accounts for 35 percent of the value added in the manufacturing industry and generates 25 percent of manufacturing sector export earnings ($ 2.5 billion). Given its huge potential for generating employment, the Government has identified the SME sector as one of the leading sectors along with agriculture and construction and housing which will spearhead its efforts towards generating employment to alleviate poverty in the country within the framework of the Pakistan Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. While the sustained and long-term growth of the SME sector in Pakistan remains constrained by a number of factors that include skills shortage, scarcity of capital goods, poor management, lack of data on the sector, resistance to change and marketing difficulties especially for export-oriented SMEs; by far the biggest problem facing the sector is the unavailability of adequate financing facilities. The problem of limited access to credit for the SMEs is not exclusive to Pakistan as a recently conducted World Business Environment Survey covering 4000 firms in 54 countries found that SMEs cited

inadequate access to finance as their primary constraint to growth. This sector is characterized by information asymmetries; the creditors’ search costs, information acquisition and processing costs exceed the returns. Hence, there is risk aversion by the banks towards extending credit to small and medium enterprises.

It is relatively easy to lend to large corporates where the economies of scale, published financial information, collaterals and creditworthiness parameters favour such types of lending. As the small businesses cannot offer adequate collateral, the banks are unable to determine whether the borrower possesses technical, managerial and marketing skills that will allow him to generate adequate cash flows and repay the loan on time. The process of financial intermediation therefore breaks down for the SME borrowers. Therefore, the need of the hour is that we take more holistic view of this problem, instead of looking at the issue of financing to the SMEs in isolation. We actually are in need of a large number of players to work for the uplifment of the SME sector.

VI. ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

Government can uplift the status and working capital of SME by modifying the supply of funding for SMEs. It can do so by introducing rules and regulations to encourage banks, venture capitalists and capital markets to create uniquely tailored programs, for example, directing venture capital to seed firms in growth sectors and supporting pension funds participation in venture capital funds and

tax incentives. Impacts of globalization such as global competition, rapid changes in technology

and the evolving market conditions add to the high risk of funding fast-growing small businesses. R&D costs are rising. Strategic alliances are increasing,

particularly, cross-border alliances. Mergers and acquisitions cross borders. Information networks are becoming more sophisticated, for example, through development of clusters.

In working with the Small Business Finance Forum, the government has correctly identified access to advice as being central to SMEs’ financing problems. Its efforts to provide free credit management advice must be complemented by encouraging the use of professional financial

advice, especially as the credibility of lenders diminishes. SMEs taking financial advice from

accountants, the most popular source, are still outnumbered by those that take no advice at all. Yet

those with access to accountants and financially qualified managers are likelier to secure the

finance they need, from a wider variety of sources. In preparation for an even sharper downturn in

2009, these professionals need to work with SMEs to help them manage their resources, navigate

the range of finance products, build stronger relationships with lenders and, if necessary, compare and switch between banks.

VII. THE ROAD TO RECOVERY

Themarket for SME finance is under a great deal of strain; it will take government support and

commitment fromlenders to restore it to health. But the SME sector has entered this recession in good financial health.With adequate advice and targeted support it should recover before too long. This, however,will requiremore than government funding and signposting. Effective support must engage small business owners within their peer groups, relying on support and mentoring

networks embedded in the local enterprise community.15 At the heart of these, open and honest communication between lenders and SMEs, mediated by the accounting profession, can yield enormous benefits. Entrepreneurs themselves can act as trusted, unbiased mentors to SME owner managers and regional development agencies (RDAs) should show more strategic leadership by

supporting more high quality, sustainable local mentoring services.

VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS

Creation of a flexible environment for

the venture capital specific to SMEs

to flourish

Tailor credit in banks and other

similar institutions to the need of

small firms

Give a greater emphasis on training

programs to help banks’ staff

understand the unique requirements

of SMEs better

Harmonization of the financial policy

framework across economies will promote cross-border strategic alliances including SMEs and facilitate transfer of experiences between the regional economies.

Best Practices in IT for Supply Chain

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:52:00 +0000

Supply Chain Management

The current era is termed to be the era of supply. Before I start with my persuasion on this dynamic field of Supply Chain Management, let us concisely take a feel of what a basic supply management marks it ground on.

Not very far ago, even a perfect business strategy would start off being more concerned about production and finally about the sales. Logistics were not conceived of as much importance as they deserved to be. It is difficult, to imagine the business model of any entity without talking about the supply chain mechanism in this modern digital economy.

An effective supply chain management delivers a solution to the following problems:-

1) Distribution network Configuration

This deals more or less with the number of items , location of products- both the source and the management and network missions of suppliers, production facilities, distribution centers, warehouses, cross-docks and customers.

2) Distribution Strategy

The distribution strategy is concerned with the questions of operating control (centralized, decentralized or shared); delivery scheme, e.g., direct shipment, pool point shipping, cross docking, DSD (direct store delivery), closed loop shipping; mode of transportation, e.g., motor carrier, including truckload, LTL, parcel; railroad; intermodal transport, including TOFC (trailer on flatcar) and COFC (container on flatcar); ocean freight; airfreight; replenishment strategy (e.g., pull, push or hybrid); and transportation control (e.g., owner-operated, private carrier, common carrier, contract carrier, or 3PL).

3} Trade-Offs in Logistical Activities

The above activities must be well coordinated in order to achieve the lowest total logistics cost. Trade-offs may increase the total cost if only one of the activities is optimized. For example, full truckload (FTL) rates are more economical on a cost per pallet basis than less than truckload (LTL) shipments. If, however, a full truckload of a product is ordered to reduce transportation costs, there will be an increase in inventory holding costs which may increase total logistics costs. It is therefore imperative to take a systems approach when planning logistical activities. These trade-offs are key to developing the most efficient and effective Logistics and SCM strategy.

4} Information

Integration of processes through the supply chain to share valuable information, including demand signals, forecasts, inventory, transportation, potential collaboration, etc.

5} Inventory Management:

Quantity and location of inventory, including raw materials, work-in- progress (WIP) and finished goods can be effectively overcome through a proper supply chain management.

6} Cash-Flow

Arranging the payment terms and methodologies for exchanging funds across entities within the supply chain. The way the supply chain is designed has significant implications on companies' working capital, and can have important consequences especially for leveraged and distressed companies.

I believe that by now I have created a location of the field of supply chain management in the minds of the people. Let us now combine all the aspects above and form a definition, for the term “supply chain management”.

“The term supply chain management means a network existent that follows a particular strategy to perform logistical activity and coordinates the movement of material information and funds across the supply chain”

Use of Information Technology in smoothening the supply chain management.

There are a numerous vital factors that play an important role in successfully managing the supply chains in today's highly dynamic environment. Some of these that cannot be ignored are:

• paying utmost attention to the needs and desires of the end customer

• designing flexibility into the supply chain for rapid response to changing conditions

• utilizing the latest communication and logistics technologies

• employing a sound measurement system for making the right decisions

• always communicating through the total supply chain.

The one that can be termed as most critical are distribution network configurations, inventory control system, product design, information technology, supply chain integration and strategic partnering.

As we move on in the 21st century, like all other functions supply chain management is in a state of metamorphic flux. Supply Chain Management is witnessing the incoming of several new and latest technologies that are enhancing the whole mechanism and creating a more efficient business model.

Let us take a look of some of the latest technologies that are creeping into Supply Change Management and are reshaping its crucial business functions:-

1} Information Technology

The management of the supply chain has been revolutionized because of Internet as well as the intranet (connecting the workstations within an organization) and extranet (electronic network among business partners, e.g., EDI). Due to the power and flexibility being inculcated by these strong networks, helps the business to have a more control over the flow of products, services and funds than ever before. Dramatic results have been obtained from using information to improve supply chain performance.

The Web has created a rare opportunity for organizations to access global markets. It allows for mass customization, stronger business relationships, a greater degree of channel coordination, and enhanced communications with customers and business partners. Information technology can further be segregated into few areas of operation like:

• E-Commerce:-

Electronic Commerce is the paperless exchange of business information using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and related technologies. If you are familiar with Electronic Mail (E-Mail), computer bulletin boards, facsimile machines (faxes), Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) You can very well understand what is e-commerce. These are all forms of EC. All EC systems replace all or key parts of paper-based work flow with faster, cheaper, more efficient, and more reliable communications between machines. In today's Defense Department procurement arena, however the most important EC technology to know about is Electronic Data Interchange, or EDI.

Electronic commerce has revolutionized how business is conducted in today's world. It is now a reality in both business-to-customer and business-to-business transactions and is rapidly accelerating in both areas.

• Internet based procurement:-

Information technology (IT) has long been applied to support the exchange of goods, services and information between organizations. Early on, when interorganizational information systems (IOIS) like EDI systems were introduced, electronic markets emerged for business purchasing. However, it is only with the advent of Internet-based e-procurement systems and business-to-business (B2B) electronic markets that the real opportunities for any-to-any (A2A) online transactions have opened up across space and over time. The extensive connectivity offered by online trading networks creates value by lowering communication and search costs. But this benefit is just one aspect of what is desired by adopting firms. The other aspect is that purchasing firms expect to maintain established long-term relationships with preferred suppliers.

Webs are about to gain popularity with increase in business-to-business sales. Nowadays companies globally are showing more concern about Internet-based procurement (IBP) because of the high return on a relatively modest investment and of course with a minimal risk. We can categorize the Internet based procurement as follows:-

Direct-Material Procurement, which involves the acquisition of products directly required for production. These include the components and materials from key upstream supply chain partners.

Indirect-Material Procurement, which is the purchase of products that are indirectly used in the production process. They include office supplies; maintenance, repair and operating supplies (MRO).

2} Outsourcing of Logistics:

Outsourcing, as we all know, is an arrangement in which one company provides services for another company that could also be or usually have been provided in-house. Outsourcing is a trend that is becoming more common in information technology and other industries for services that have usually been regarded as intrinsic to managing a business. 'Logistics' is defined by the Council of Logistics Management as "that part of the supply chain process that plans, implements, and controls the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption in order to meet customers' requirements. Traditionally, logistics activities were handled internally, particularly in medium to large size corporations. In the United States, third party logistics services have gained momentum over the past decade.

3} Business Process Reengineering

Business process reengineering (BPR) efforts can be termed as restructuring of an existent process to eliminate waste, improve quality, increase service level and enhance customer satisfaction. Most BPR efforts are confined to one company; however, BPR across multiple members of the supply chain should become increasingly common. By thinking in terms of supply chains instead of individual operations or functions, companies can improve their competitive strategies. Advances in information and communication technologies have made it possible to have real-time connectivity among supply chain partners.

4} Automatic Identification Technique

Automatic identification, or auto ID for short, is a term given to a host of technologies that are used to help machines identify objects. Auto identification and automatic data capture are often coupled with each other. That is, companies want to identify items, capture information about them and somehow get the data into a computer without having employees type it in.

Automatic Identification Technique systems are ought to be functional with following aims and purposes:-

• Increase efficiency

• Reduce data entry errors

• Free up staff to perform more value-added functions, such as providing customer service.

Some of the technologies that fall under the umbrella of automatic identification technique are: - bar codes, smart cards, voice recognition, some biometric technologies (retinal scans, for instance), optical character recognition, and radio frequency identification (RFID).

RFID- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a means by which we can identify a person or object using the transmission of radio frequencies, typically 125 kHz, 13.56 MHz or 800-900MHz. There are several methods existent for the same, but the most common is to store a serial number that identifies a person or object, and perhaps other information, on a microchip that is attached to an antenna (the chip and the antenna together are called an RFID transponder or an RFID tag). The antenna enables the chip to transmit the identification information to a reader. The reader converts the radio waves reflected back from the RFID tag into digital information that can then be passed on to computers that can make use of it.

5} E-Procurement

E-Procurement also called as supplier exchange in a very gentlest manner can be termed as platform for business-to-business or business-to-consumer or Business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work and services. The mode used for the same can be internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as Electronic Data Interchange and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Typically, e-procurement Web sites allow qualified and registered users to look for buyers or sellers of goods and services. Depending on the approach, buyers or sellers may specify prices or invite bids. Transactions can be initiated and completed. Ongoing purchases may qualify customers for volume discounts or special offers.

E-procurement software may make it possible to automate some buying and selling. Companies participating expect to be able to control parts inventories more effectively, reduce purchasing agent overhead, and improve manufacturing cycles. E-procurement is expected to be integrated with the trend toward computerized supply chain management.

Conclusion:-

To conclude I would say that in the current scenario, it is not possible to continue with the historical methodologies of supply chain management and therefore this utmost vital segment of an organization cannot be dreamt of anymore without the IT enabled systems.

I hereby bring my paper to terminus with this popular quote:-

“The best supply chains aren't just fast and cost-effective. They are also agile and adaptable, and they ensure that all their companies' interests stay aligned”

Hau L. Lee, US Professor of Operations, Information and Technology in Harvard Business Review, Oct. 2004

References: - 1} Principles of Supply Chain Management, Joel Wisner

2} Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management, Kenneth B. Ackerman

3} Self Research in consultation with college faculty

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:17:00 +0000

Abstract— This paper is drafted so as to discuss the vital presence of the mergers and acquisition in the global business today. The content of the paper are more or less revolving around the Indian economy. It elaborates the past-present-future of the Indian business giants in the arena of mergers and acquisitions. The paper is convincing enough to prove that India is turning out to be significant player in terms of mergers and acquisitions.

Keywords- Mergers, Acquisitions, Amalgamation, Diversification.

I. INTRODUCTION

“When you have M&A (merger and acquisition) activity continuing, it's a sign of stronger economic activity ahead.”

-Peter Cardillo

Very true to the statement quoted above by Cardillo, Mergers and Acquisitions have turned into one of the well accepted facts and stimulus for the growth of a country’s economy and same goes out with India also.

As a result of a survey done by us in our college including the students and the faculty we could conclude that there are three basic condition, that are required to make happen, a merger or an acquisition, i.e. interest, cash and most importantly the environment.

Until upto a couple of years back, the news of Indian company acquiring American-European entities was very rare. However, the stone has turned now, as the news of Indian Companies acquiring foreign businesses are getting more common than the other way round. The contributors to this new acquisition trend are acclivitous Indian economy, extra cash with Indian corporates, Government policies and newly found dynamism in Indian businessmen. Indian corporates are now aggressively looking at North American and European markets to spread their wings and become the global players. Presence in the foreign market has been dominated so far by the IT and ITES companies however, other sectors are also now growing rapidly. . The increasing engagement of the Indian companies in the world markets, and particularly in the US, is not only an indication of the maturity reached by Indian Industry but also the extent of their participation in the overall globalization process.

II.REASONS FOR MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

The following are the major causes, that enforce corporates to go for mergers and acquisitions:-

1. International market expansion.

Globalization is the key for success in the present scenario of rapidly growing world economy. Corporates with a motto of exploring the resources and business want to capture the international market. With the increasing trend of globalization, the impact of globalization has lead to a fast changing environment the boundaries for business is diminishing day by day so is the movement of people between different countries and cultures. The requirements of multinational organizations like expansion plans in international market has continuingly increased the need to understand the cultural dimensions of different countries to achieve better results.

2. Diversification.

Companies often implement corporate-level acquisition strategies to achieve product diversification that can build core competencies. In fact, acquisition strategy is the most common means of implementing diversification. For each strategy discussed in the book, including diversification and merger and acquisition strategies, the company creates value only when its resources, capabilities, and core competencies are used productively.

Companies from different industries decide to use an acquisition strategy for several reasons; however, acquisition strategies are not without problems. When acquisitions contribute to poor performance, a company may deem it necessary to restructure its operations.

3. Strategic acquisition of key technologies and skills.

Acquisitions have always been a fundamental component of growth strategy. Through acquisition, companies can increase their customer base and expanded their business internationally.

An acquisition strategy is based on three objectives:

· To broaden the portfolio of our existing products and services we can offer our customers

· To enter new geographic regions

· To add new industry-specific applications to our product lines

Acquisitions also contribute to make a strong customer base, with new customers who can migrate to the broad product range.

4. Competitive developments

In response to the rapidly growing competition among he corporates, it becomes very necessary for the company to reduce its competitors by either a merger orby acquiring them.

III. PAST STATUS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Acquirer

Target company

Country Targeted

Deal value($m)

Industry

Tata Steel

Corus

12000

Steel

Hindalco

Novelis

Canada

5,982

Steel

Videocon

Daewoo Electronics Corp.

Korea

729

Electronics

Dr. Reddy’s Labs

Betapharm

Germany

597

Pharmaceutical

Suzlon Energy

Hansen Group

Belgium

565

Energy

HPCL

Kenya Petroleum Refinery Ltd.

Kenya

500

Oil and Gas

Ranbaxy Labs

Terapia SA

Romania

324

Pharmaceutical

Tata Steel

Natsteel

Singapore

293

Steel

Videocon

Thomson SA

France

290

Electronics

VSNL

Teleglobe

Canada

239

Telecom

Table 1: (Top 10 acquisitions by Indian companies)

If you calculate, top 10 deals itself account for nearly US $ 21,500 million. This is more than double the amount involved in US companies’ acquisition of Indian counterparts. The graph also determines how fast and rapidly the Indian companies are marking their footsteps globally. It is very much noticeable that uptill 2002-03, the concept of mergers and acquisition was still immune to the Indian corporate giants, though they were capable and had enough of cash reserve with them. Post 2003, the trend took a step ahead and accedes into the era of Mergers and Acquisitions. But it was only after 2005-06, that it went out of the roof. Indian giants significantly captured the global market and thus became big hunters for acquisitions.

Indian outbound deals, which were valued at US$ 0.7 billion in 2000-01, increased to US$ 4.3 billion in 2005, and further crossed US$ 15 billion-mark in 2006. In fact, 2006 will be remembered in India’s corporate history as a year when Indian companies covered a lot of new ground. They went shopping across the globe and acquired a number of strategically significant companies. This comprised 60 per cent of the total Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in India in 2006. And almost 99 per cent of Acquisitions were made with cash payments.

The total M&A deals for the year during January-May 2007 have been 287 with a value of US$ 47.37 billion. Of these, the total outbound cross border deals have been 102 with a value of US$ 28.19 billion, representing 59.5 per cent of the total M&A activity in India.

The total M&A deals for the period January-February 2007 have been 102 with a value of US$ 36.8 billion. Of these, the total outbound cross border deals have been 40 with a value of US$ 21 billion.

There were 111 M&A deals with a total value of about US$ 6.12 billion in March and April 2007. Of these, the number of outbound cross border deals was 32 with a value of US$ 3.41 billion.

There were 74 M&A deals with a total value of about US$ 4.37 billion in May 2007. Of these, the number of outbound cross border deals was 30 with a value of US$ 3.79 billion.

The sectors attracting investments by Corporate India include metals, pharmaceuticals, industrial goods, automotive components, beverages, cosmetics and energy in manufacturing; and mobile communications, software and financial services in services, with pharmaceuticals, IT and energy being the prominent ones among these.

Dominating the African Market

So far the foreign market that is heavily dominated by Indian corporates in terms of mergers and acquisition is the African Market. Africa has been a favourite destination for Indian tycoons to expand their business. Let us take a look of the domination of Indian companies so far over the African giants.

· Ranbaxy’s acquisition of Be-Tabs Pharma for $70 million announced in 2006.

· Apollo Tyres buying South Africa’s Dunlop Tyres for $66 million.

· Godrej Consumer Products bought Kinky brand of hair business for $33.2 million.

· Tata Communications and Neotel for an undisclosed amount.

IV. PRESENT SCENARIO OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Today, the base on which mergers and acquisitions happen is a very simple statement, we all are aware of – “survival of the fittest”.

Some of the key foregrounds of the current scenario of mergers and acquisitions are as follows:-

· Upcoming of Business Restructuring which accounted for 83% of M&A’s

Eg. - Merger of Reliance Industries and Reliance Petroleum at $1.89 billion.

· Eight of the total deals in 2009 were cross-border deals valued at US$ 296.67 million. The total value of the outbound deals was US$ 52.22 million.

· 29.6% = US$ 17.4 billion rise in the total outward investment from India, excluding that were made by individuals and banks in 2007-08, largely due to acquisitions.

· Bharti’s proposed acquisition of 49 per cent stake in MTN worth up to US$ 23 billion.

· GMR International to acquire the 100 per cent ownership stake in Netherlands-based power producer InterGen NV.

· Dell’s proposed acquisition of Perot System.

· Nomura acquires stake in LIC mutual fund.

· Lanxess to buy Gwalior chemicals.

· Federal Bank to ‘takeover’ Thrissur based Catholic Syrian Bank amidst the opposition from the Church.

· Dorf Ketal acquires Sanmar unit.

· Zandu’s FMCG business to be merged into emami.

· EMC proposes to acquire Data domain.

Bharti – MTN hinged with each other

The most burning proposal out of all these which is still under progress and not finalized yet is Bharti-MTN. Let us discuss this proposed merger in detail.

India Inc is heading towards creating a milestone by proposing its biggest ever Merger & Acquisition deal, worth $23 billion. The aforementioned amount emerges out of payment by cash and stocks for stakes, by both the entities in each others company. The largest deal by an Indian Company so far has been that of Tata steel’s takeover of the European giant, “Corus” worth $12 billion. As per the agreement, MTN and its shareholders would acquire around 36 per cent economic interest in Bharti Airtel. While, the Sunil Mittal-promoted Bharti Airtel would acquire 49 per cent stake in South African telecom giant MTN. The two giants, if combined, will be a part of the top five operators globally.

A number of operators including those from China, Russia and Europe were keen to grab stake in MTN, given its pan African presence across 21 countries. Though no operator other than Bharti has so far confirmed the interest in the South African company. Some analyst still forecast counter bids over the near future. The deal is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity for the Indian giant, as they will be marking their footprints in African telecom market which has been dominated by local operators and European majors, including Vodafone Group and France Telecom.

The only key issue so far in terms of Bharti-Airtel is to raise a heavy amount of capital, as much as $20 billion to acquire a 51% stake in MTN. Bharti, will also be required to dilute its equity, as will MTN. The talks of merger between the two entities broke off last year when a dispute of, who would take over the merged entity, came up. A merger would create an emerging markets giant with more than 200 million customers across

India

, Africa and the Middle East. When asked by Reuters if a deal would be reached by MTN's half-year results announcement on August 27, Azmi Mikati, the chief executive of M1 Group said: "Most probably". The Lebanese Mikati family holds about 10 per cent of MTN through the M1 Group.

"There are no major issues holding up the proceedings -- it just takes time to finalize and address all the issues," said Mikati, who is also a non-executive member of MTN's board, according to the latest annual report.

Bharti Airtel has appointed E&Y to study the books of the South African telco. MTN has given PwC the mandate to carry out a similar process on Bharti’s books. As per stated by Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal, both Telco’s would retain the current management structure and operate as separate companies until they were able to implement a full merger within the next couple of years.

The two giants will also have to qualify well, in the eyes of Government and the law. In South Africa, the deal would require approval from the country’s telecom regulator — Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) — as well as the Competition Tribunal of SA. In India, the two sides will need a go-ahead from the department of telecom (DoT) as well as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).

Based on the current scenario, we can draw certain possible outcomes regarding the future of this deal:-

1) Deal will collapse:- The two sides are still independent to part away their ways, but this outcome sounds very unlikely.

2) Extension again:- Due to the outburst of stakeholders coming due to long uncertainty of the deal, further extension sounds impractical.

3) The deal is clinched:- This, obviously sounds the most likely outcome as the talks have proceeded smoothly. The current stage of negotiations indicate that both the parties are serious enough to consummate the deal,"

We can do nothing but to wait and watch these two benchmark companies coming together on a single platform. The merger of course forecasts a great future to coming ahead for us and India Inc as whole.

V. FUTURE FORECAST OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

Though we say that, the future is never known, but still we can forecast the best possibilities in the field of Mergers and acquisition. We can do so because of the rapid expansion of all the big companies globally. They intend to grow more and more. The scenario has become just like fishes in the sea. A bigger fish will always engulf the smaller one. Some of the forecast that we can make keeping the current needs and trends in mind are as follows. We have given our forecast alongwith the data to substantiate it.

Forecast 1:-

Companies going to take turn towards merging the rural market in their main domain.

Reference data 1:-

1. Mahindra finance wants to focus on the needs of housing and rural India.

2. Max New York is eager to tap the insurance market in the villages.(keeping small premiums)

3. More than 3 mn households are added every year in rural India.(Source-CRISIL)

4. Avg. Household income in rural India---2.28 L pa

5. Rural housing loan is expected to grow by 22% till 2010-11(could be more than Rs 34000 crore.

Forecast 2 :-

Indian banking and finance system will be globally competitive.

Reference data 2:-

1. The Banking and finance system will improve competitiveness through a process of consolidation either through mergers and acquisitions or through strategic alliances.

2. Restructuring of banking sector in India is strongly expected through merger and amalgamation by experts in order to make them more capitalized, automated and technology oriented so as to provide environment more competitive and customer friendly.

Forecast 3 :-

Telecommunication giants to focus on value addition.

Reference data 3:-

1. Network operators and service providers may have to merge with content developers to add value to their services.

2. Process of expansion very keen in reply to the growing competition by 2020.

3. Changes in business models by telecomm giants will bring a significant restructuring of the industry through new partnerships and through mergers and acquisitions.

Forecast 4 :-

Acquiring the foreign companies, specially from US.

Reference data 4:-

• During 2008-09, Singapore, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the UK, the US and Mauritius together accounted for 81 per cent of the amount of proposals for outward FDI (US$ 5 million and above).

• Western economy in distress, values of companies coming down making it vulnerable to be acquired.

• Expected deal sizes to be around $15-20 million up to $300 million

• Increasing interest in the traditional overseas markets such as the UK and US and also across Europe especially in larger markets such as France and Germany.

• Indians already marked their footsteps as major global acquirer due to Tata –Corus ($12billion), Suzlon – Hansen ($565million), Dr Reddy's Labs – Betapharm ($570 million) deals.

Forecast 5 :-

Mergers in BPO and KPO sectors.

Reference data 5:-

1. Certain sectors such as the BPO/KPO, where larger suppliers look to scale up and fill spare capacity. It also sees increased M&A activity in India in spin-offs of Captive BPO operations by global corporates.

2 Over the next five years the Indian BPO and KPO industry would see over 100 mergers and acquisitions and IPOs, (by Trade body Assocham and Evalueserve)

3. Most of the 20 mega deals, involving M&As and IPOs, would be undertaken only by a group of 10 large companies.

4. Small and medium-sized BPO vendors would witness considerable acquisition and funding activity in the short term, whereas larger vendors will look for opportunities to diversify

5. Indian BPO/KPO industry will also see consolidation and the likely creation of few listed global players

Forecast 6 :-

Acquiring the foreign companies, specially from US.

Reference data 6:-

• During 2008-09, Singapore, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the UK, the US and Mauritius together accounted for 81 per cent of the amount of proposals for outward FDI (US$ 5 million and above).

• Western economy in distress, values of companies coming down making it vulnerable to be acquired.

• Expected deal sizes to be around $15-20 million up to $300 million

• Increasing interest in the traditional overseas markets such as the UK and US and also across Europe especially in larger markets such as France and Germany.

• Indians already marked their footsteps as major global acquirer due to Tata –Corus($12billion), Suzlon – Hansen($565million), Dr Reddy's Labs – Betapharm($570 million) deals

Forecast 7 :-

Integration of oil companies will result in global majors

Reference data 7:-

• Nowhere in the world are there so many public sector companies in the same business.

• The burgeoning demand for petroleum and gas, the government had completely opened the exploration and production sector for private participation.

• Merging all oil PSUs into one mega firm or creating two oil behemoths by merging HPCL and BPCL with ONGC and Oil India Ltd with IOC.

• Merging all the oil PSUs would create a monolith, ranking 34 in the Fortune 500's list of global majors.

• This brings about better efficiencies in the upstream as well as downstream sides of the activity and also reduces the cost of production as well as the price.

• The percentage of oil to be imported will also come down.

And there are many more sectors that show promising attitude towards M & A’s. To quote few, we have:-

1} SERVICE SECTOR

2} AVIATION SECTOR

3} HEALTHCARE

4} AUTOMOBILE

and many more……

VI. CONCLUSION

To conclude, we would say that mergers and acquisitions are going to become a significant mission of ech and every sector in near future. The best way to become a market leader is to finish the competition from the market. This can be done using either of the two weapons:

MERGER AND ACQUISITION

VII. REFERENCES

1. Personal research at college.

2. Discussions with the faculty.

3. Newspapers

4. CNBC interviews

Welcome All

noreply@blogger.com (Xa.....) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:21:00 +0000

hi all.......... lets make this blog as a platform for a bond between u and me............. Feel free to comment on the posts as ur views and suggestions will make me more competent in future.... I have aimed to add maximum of my papers and other important data relevant for any of us into this blog. I hope that my blog provides you with maximum of support you intend to get from me.

urs Xa(akshay)....