US housing market report

With US facing the fears of a double dip recession, investments in real estate remains sluggish. However, continuous fall in home prices and mortgage rates have brought in a great opportunity. Though the post-crisis over-cautious approach of lenders and borrowers is still playing spoilsport, current valuations and demographic dynamics may soon change the scenario.

Housing crisis continues

Housing boom in the US that began in the late 1990s led to an exponential growth in home sales. In fact, the demand remained quite strong during the period and outpaced the supply of new built as well as old homes on sale. As per reports, average sales of houses stayed at around five million per year. But with the economic crisis coming into picture, demand dipped thick and fast from over five million to less than four million. Since then, inventories have been on a painfully slow drift downward as a drop in demand offset much of the impact of the collapse in home building. However, by August of this year, combined new and existing homes listed for sale have fallen to 3.6 million units, having completed roughly 70% of the journey back to normal.

Mortgage payment at record low

With a sharp dip in mortgage rates, US Families have to leash out very low rates out of their income to pay for mortgages. As per Freddie Mac, by October 7, 2011 mortgage rates have fallen to an average annual level of 3.94%. Assuming the use of a fixed rate mortgage with 20% down, it will make the median mortgage payment on a single family existing home just 6.9% of per household personal income, compared to an average of 14.4% since 1966. While this presents a downside market, it also emphasises on the long-term gain that one can achieve by investing in the cheaper than average houses locking in cheaper long term financing available at present. Because, any demand pull in future will also pull these prices up.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

“Our global strategy fitted beautifully"

Ford India President & MD Michael Boneham has worked tremendously hard on his India basics since appointment. In an exclusive interaction with sanchit verma, Boneham talks about Ford's new outlook towards India

B&E: What was your initial reaction when you were informed by Alan Mulally to handle the Indian operations?
MB (Michael Boneham): Firstly I have been a previous manufacturing director for the region of Asian Pacific & Africa; so I had a good understanding of India and I have come over here a number of times and spent time over here. I thought I have a good understanding of India but in reality I didn’t, because Chennai is not India and India is not Chennai. For me, I was always very excited about the opportunity because I knew that India was going to become very very strong in Ford's plans globally. Three years ago, we were still in the process of putting that strategy together and working on the strategy and trying hard to get a vehicle into the heartland of the Indian market. That was certainly a small car because 70% of vehicles in India are small cars and we have never done that in India before. We have done well in the segments we are in but those were small segments. And what we were, was being a niche player, a very interesting niche player; and that was what we didn't want to be any more. We wanted to be a major player. So obviously for me as an individual, it’s challenging. My boy is in Australia and it's the most difficult separation. So overall, the opportunity and challenge which the Indian market gave me is fantastic. I couldn’t think of a better place to be in.

B&E: During the economic breakdown when GM announced bankruptcy, Ford managed to survive. Can you share your experience of those times?
MB: Everyone suffered to an extent through the global financial crises. It was not only the car industry; it was the total industry; the global economy which faced difficulties. For Ford, we started with a better plan which Alan Mulally initiated. During the crisis, we were heavily into restructuring, looking at volume, doing balancing, getting capacity as per demand, looking at our global product range and making it from the fuel efficient perspective. We were taking our profile from being a truck manufacturer to a motor vehicle manufacturer, where we went through the segment range. We all started significantly on the journey and borrowed over $20 billion to fund our products right and that was when the credit markets were open and available to us. That was a smart move when the economy came down and it enabled us to come though the very difficult period. We were very proud of the fact that we did not use any government funding in US. If you look at the turnaround and the way we moved very quickly from what was the most devastating and the most difficult period for the global economy and the industry in 2008-09 to $2.3 billion dollar profit in Q1 this year.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Kicking... But alive?

Good ol’ B.O is worried that Indian (and Chinese) BPOs are taking away American jobs! His worries might actually be true, irrespective of whether he can do anything about it

“We were a team of six in November 2008, which has subsequently been reduced to just one as of today,” says Gaurav Jain (who works as an executive with a US-based KPO in Delhi) as he recalls the pain he has gone through since the last year when global recessionary waves finally made their way into the Indian outsourcing industry. Though he was fortunate enough to retain his job, it hasn’t been an easy swim across for him, especially after his company got acquired by UK-based Copal Partners in March last year. Since then, he has consistently been facing the fear of retrenchment.

This is not the case with Gaurav alone. Madhu Smita, an executive working with a domestic BPO (a vendor to Microsoft) had to face the same truth. She was sent to US in March 2009 on ‘promotion’, but just four months of working there and she was handed over a pink slip (in August 2009) by her firm. “The company I worked for fired as many as 400 employees at that time. But as I had taken a house on lease for a year, it was financially difficult for me to move back to India at that moment. I stayed completely jobless for almost three months after that incident,” Madhu Smita tells B&E. The reasons are obvious. Global economy was in doldrums and there was uncertainty everywhere. Both vendors and clients were facing all kinds of problems – from squeezing profit margins to declining toplines – so much so that over the last 18 months the Indian BPO players had to cut off over 50,000 jobs. This not only disturbed the industry matrix, but also resulted in a negative spin off effect as every direct job in the BPO industry was backed by seven indirect jobs.

Obama’s worried Indian (and Chinese) BPOs are taking away US jobs? Are his worries with basis? Obama baiters might not like it, but the fact is that he might have weight in his statements. As per a latest Nasscom report, the $50-billion IT-BPO industry is headed for a 13-15% growth in FY2010-11. While business is reviving, hiring too seems to be back in full swing.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

The ‘Nixon shock’

How the Viet-war ended the gold standard

The hugely respected Joel Kurtzman, erstwhile editor of Harvard Business Review coined the term ‘Death of money’. Little did people know how meaningful it would be in their lives. Stuck between the double-trouble of widening balance of payment deficit and trade deficit on account of the Vietnam war and increased domestic spending, US rampantly printed dollars to fuel its war expenses. As a result, the gold backup for the paper dollar fell from 55% to a meagre 22%. Considering the deterioration in dollar’s position, countries with dollar holdings started to demand gold against the dollar, which meant a sharp fall in dollar’s value.

57To counter the situation, President Richard Nixon, in a shock to the world, closed the gold window making the dollar non-convertible to gold directly. It simply meant that gold standards were no more applicable to the dollar. In the short term, it seemingly saved the US from a currency crisis; but in the long run, it created even bigger threats for the entire world. It is because of this move that today we see non-existing electronic currencies building up castles in thin air and then destroying them within seconds. The modern financial world has moved far from reality.

Read more

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Fighting change

Shifting again? Your child could be deeply disturbed at being the new kid on the block all over again…

It had been a few years since Ridhima’s dad’s change of job had brought them to Delhi from Pune. Back then, moving to Delhi hadn’t been much of a problem for the nine-year-old. But recently, her dad’s decision to move closer to his new workplace had separated her from her school and friends again. Acclimatising to a new world wasn’t very easy for the young teenager. Ridhima’s perturbed mental state slowly started harming her health and left her despondent…

While in the US, repetitive relocations have increased the number of suicide attempts by young children, spurts of depression and stress in Indian kids display the premature symptoms of a similar situation. In present times, ambitious parents strive for more and more comforts, which often lead to job-hopping. Rekha Pathak, wife of a Marketing Manager in a leading consulting firm and mother of a 16-year-old boy, said, “My husband previously had a transferable job. We would not live for more than three years in one city, and I don’t think that bothered my son. Children get used to the lifestyle that they are brought up in. My son faced initial adjustment problems, which is natural, but then made new friends wherever we shifted.” When asked if her son ever complained, Rekha said, “Even if he did, we could not do anything because the nature of my husband’s job required constant travel. In this competitive world, it is not always possible to get a job which also suits the family. Besides, we provided our son with all the comfort possible.”

This couple was, indeed, lucky to not have had to deal with adjustment issues their son might have faced. And till a few years ago, such was the scenario where parents’ career graph overshadowed their children’s say. But now that kids are more vocal about their problems, it’s difficult to not pay heed to their feelings.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

4 learning$ from the life of a vampire $quid

You could call Goldman Sachs the greatest market manipulator and cry foul at every announcement that it makes. Yet, in an unrivalled environment, the best option is to learn from the Alpha male of Wall Street – the brat of the whole lot! by gyanendra kashyap

“The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money!” This is how Goldman Sachs, a bank-holding company with a market-cap of $90.74 billion (aptly termed 'Government Sachs' – thanks to its former employees like Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, et al, who took up high positions as Treasury Secretaries) is described by Matt Taibbi, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone magazine; a libertine description, which Goldman Sachs' Chairman and CEO Llyod Blankfein accepts, in a statement to TIME, would stay with him forever. The vampire squid description is a metaphor that Taibbi draws from a combination of highly aggressive Sachs' scabrous characteristics, topped up now by allegations against it relating to bonus distributions.

But the truth is that Goldman Sachs lives on as an excellently performing entity in a country that embraces profit-making as its primary motive. And despite the level of commimatory resentment directed at Wall Street’s most astute, most opaque firm by social and media groups, the fact is that finally, when you push the pen on the balance sheet, the vampire squid seems to have performed better, and fantastically so, than all those financial institutions harping the concept of 'ethical' and 'socially responsible' functioning. It's time that global financial institutions started learning this brilliant art of being indecorously unethical and socially irresponsible, and of making billions out of the dungeons of recession.

How successful has Goldman Sachs actually been? Obscenely! To begin with, they repaid the $10 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme package they had received from Obama; the consecutive profit-making quarters (net earnings of $3.19 billion in Q3, 2009 and a staggering $35.65 billion during the nine-month period leading to Q3, 2009; and that too excluding the bonus pool) helping it do the same...and more. Chairman Lloyd trenchantly cleared the announcement of fat bonuses to Goldman's top performing employees (totalling a gut-wrenching $20 billion). Coming at a time when, by large, people all over the US are still fighting hard to wake-up from a financial calamity, the masses condemned the bonus payouts quite raucously, especially as Goldman Sachs did not work the last mile to provide intelligent media communication to get their message across, of why the bonuses were appropriate. Anna Greenwood, a member of Goldman Sachs' communications team in the US, although inviting B&E's queries, had not responded by the time we went to print.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Slumdog millionaire: firangi style

One look at the First World reveals a much darker side to poverty

The earmarked poverty line in the US is $22,050 annually for a family of four. This figure is derived by a standard mechanism way back in 1960s, which quite naturally is outdated. A recent survey indicates that the figure will be twice as much today as compared to the one four decades ago. There are about 41 million families in the US, out of which 12.5% are below Poverty Line. The total count below the poverty line is a staggering 35.9 million people; a huge figure, yet better than the averages of 1980s and 1990s. Interestingly, there are over 73 million children in US; and 18% of them belong to the poor families. The poverty rate is 10.8% in the age group of 18 to 64 and 10.2% in the age group of above 64.

The worst off people in US are the unskilled illegal immigrants, a majority entering the country crossing the porous border with neighbouring Mexico. For a long time, the US government has made only a half hearted attempt to stop illegal immigration, as it is highly profitable for US employers to exploit them with less than minimum wages and facilities.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

EMBRYO STEM CELL RESEARCH: ETHICAL CONCERNS

Don’t play against nature, it will surely bite you back later...

Obama’s decision may revolutionise the medical research world but everything comes at a cost. US alone has 400,000 embryos in labs and it’s only a matter of time when selling embryos would become a vibrant business. Worse, some individuals have certain genetic uniqueness which make their body more resistant to chronic diseases than rest. Michael Crichton’s best seller named ‘Next’ precisely talked about how such people can be hounded by the research agencies for commercial cultivation of such blood. There are several instances where experiments with stem cell research created severe anomalies on those treated. Even if one keeps aside the religious reservation against stem cell research, if the objective is to create more healthy people then on any given day such artificial mutations are less effective than natural healing, something mankind has forgotten nowadays. Isn’t it better to do yoga to heal the body than tamper with genes? Think once..

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

CUBA: RAUL CASTRO

Raul Castro is finally taking over in Cuba, US must now take notice

Strangely, US seems to be napping. Says Col. Lawrence, “For roughly 50 years, US policy vis-à-vis Cuba has failed – the most recent pointer being that while our administration talks of changing the command in Cuba, it appears to be ignorant of the fact that Cuba has already undergone regime transformation.” US needs to now do some signature moves towards improving relations with Cuba and lifting the nearly 50-year old embargo. US may find that its hopes of being a controlling force in Cuba, if and when Fidel Castro breathes his last, are mere hopes, nothing more...

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Officer - Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India

B&E: Amongst all auto majors, Maruti was best able to withstand the slowdown period. The secret(s)?
MP: One of the major factors that has worked in our favour in this case is our network expansion in the rural areas. We decided to go to the rural markets much before competition realised the potential. So, when other players were busy tapping the rural consumers, we were targeting the rural markets to generate future growth for the company. If a Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 in a developed market like US, it will hardly affect the consumer who is living in a Tier-III city in the Indian market. Once, close to 3% of our total sales used to come from rural markets but today, the percentage has risen to 18% and that too in a span of just two years. We have even broken many myths. In fact, 2% of our total sales come from villages which have less than 200 people! All in all, the rural strategy has worked well for us.

B&E: What is the progress on your planned R&D Centre at Rohtak?
MP: We have earmarked close to Rs.25 billion for the R&D project at Rohtak. We have already purchased land for the same and aim to build a world-class test-track on it. The central idea is to conceptualise, test, develop, design and manufacture a car for India in India.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

NBER report proves what we knew

Unemployment benefits help in hard times, but are also likely to be misused

Undoubtedly, unemployment is a curse. It not only decreases income and consumption but also hampers national productivity. Moreover, unemployment means a sheer wastage of the national talent pool. Whenever recessions occur, unemployment emerges as a major issue, for which developed countries in particular have one ‘potent’ pill in mind – unemployment benefits. While benefits go a long way in reducing destitute living and in increasing consumption, the latest June 2010 revision by National Bureau of Economic Research of their research paper titled Unemployment Insurance and Unemployed Spells, quantitatively and statistically proves what was suspected all along: “Higher unemployment benefits are found to have a strong negative effect on the probability of [an individual] leaving unemployment.”

The unemployment benefits across the developed world are quite shocking. Norway provides 87.6% of the past salaries for 500 days as unemployment benefit. Finland gives 85.1% of the previous salary to the unemployed for one year. In other countries including Sweden, Israel, Japan and Germany, the unemployed can demand unemployment benefits between 66% to 99% of the previous salaries. An unemployed individual can claim 80% of his previous income in Luxembourg. In the US, Bush signed a bill to provide unemployment benefits for 13 additional weeks (over the 26 weeks of regular benefits), which cost $5.5 billion. The Obama administration is currently paying $290 per week per individual as benefit and planning to extend it further to 2.5 million people (the administration is paying $30 billion every week).

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

F-bomb diplomacy!

All Obama requires to ensure that US is seen as a great ally by the world is to force US officials to control their urge to humiliate people

That Americans use the F-word quite conveniently in their daily communication is no Brezhnevian state secret. But the fact is that the usage of this word and the philosophy it propagates (of course figuratively) – of caring two hoots – unfortunately has filtered into the attitude of American officials when they deal with representatives of other nations, and in fact even with their own ilk.

First, some examples of how brilliantly even top US officials have gone over the board in their executive communication:

December 2003: US presidential candidate Senator John Kerry uses the F word in an interview in the magazine Rolling Stone.

June 2004: During a heated exchange at the US Senate, VP Dick Cheney tells Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, “Go f*** yourself!”

May 2007: US Senator John Cornyn objects to John McCain’s perceived intrusion into a Senate meeting on immigration, to which McCain replies, “F*** you! I know more about this than anyone else in the room.”

August, 2009: Rahm Emanuel, Chief of Staff, at a weekly strategy session featuring liberal groups and White House aides [on a plan to run advertisements against conservative Democrats] reportedly rebukes them by calling them “F***ing retarded!”

March 23, 2010: US VP Joe Biden whispers into Obama’s ear, “This is a big f***ing deal” (for the healthcare plan).

April 22, 2010: Cheney appears on The Dennis Miller Show and takes a compliment about his “F*** yourself” comment from the host and responds, “That’s sort of the best thing I ever did.”

Why are these examples shocking? To understand that, imagine your own country’s Vice President speaking the same words Dick Cheney spoke in public! Or the words US Vice President Biden spoke. The hypothesis is not even a conjecture anymore. The fact is that American officials, while being quite comfortable with their “hire and f-off” attitude – both in language and behaviour – have started assuming that the same attitude can be blindly exercised upon the representatives of foreign nations.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri 
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles. 

Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine 
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society.... 
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM B-School Detail

Finally, a wrong move?

You can look at it as an advantage or as a drawback, but when Apple makes any kind of play, it is bound to invite numerous discussions, debates and scrutiny. The same is true for its latest acquisition of Intrinsity. Is Steve Job’s new penchant for semi-conductors the ‘wrong move’ that experts had been waiting for so long? by Amir Moin

It’s hard to discount the ability of Apple Computers to offer differentiated, futuristic and well designed products that enthrall customers across the globe, a fact that the iPod and iPhone have proved beyond doubt. But Steve Jobs also realises the perils of not watching his back. In what comes out as the latest edition of Apple’s endeavours towards becoming a fully integrated consumer electronics company, Apple has acquired Intrinsity, a small Austin-based firm for $121 million, that makes embedded processor cores, circuit design tools, design services and intellectual property based on their proprietary Domino Logic.

The reason why this acquisition is ringing alarm bells in the industry is because Apple had acquired another fabless semiconductor company, P.A. Semiconductors in April 2008; subsequently, in April 2009, Apple hired two former ATI/AMD chip designers. One was Raja Koduri, the former Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at AMD’s graphics group and the other was Bob Drebin, who held the same position at AMD before Koduri.

The induction of these highly skilled hires also coincided with Mark Papermaster’s official return to work at Apple. Papermaster was instrumental in developing the PowerPC architecture with IBM. His return at Apple was delayed owing to the legal settlement between them and his former employer, IBM. These developments have led the industry to believe that Apple plans to have the chips custom made in its own backyard. Tom R. Halfhill, Senior Analyst, The Linley Group, US, tells B&E, “By developing custom SoCs and embedded-processor cores, Apple is assuming more risk, but the potential payoffs are great: less dependence on third-party suppliers, greater differentiation, higher retail prices and richer profit margins.” Given the super secretive nature of the company, this revelation shouldn’t come as a surprise.

But there is more to this than meets the eye. By acquiring Intrinsity, Apple buys four things: Intrinsity’s Fast 14 technology, exclusive access to Intrinsity’s processor cores, a skilled processor design team and a multi-gigahertz Fast 14 implementation of ARM’s Cortex A9 Dual core processor. The last item has been in development for the past one year and could figure in Apple’s plans for future iPhones, iPads, and other gadgets.

With the acquisition of Intrinsity, Apple is poised to do what IBM did in the 1980s. It will be ‘legitimizing’ tablet computers, just as IBM had legitimized personal computers with its first PC in 1981. IBM was late in the market, but set a standard that soon dominated the market. In order to make tablets practical, five technologies have to mature – lightweight rechargeable batteries with high energy density; low-power microprocessors with enough performance to run complex software; flat, lightweight screens with pen or touch sensitivity; sophisticated graphical user interfaces; and smartly incorporated broadband wireless networking. These technologies are now on the verge of a boom. “With iPad, Apple is adding its usual extra elements: superlative user interface, trendy industrial design, cultural caché & unmatched marketing hype,” says Halfhill.

Read more.......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri 
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles. 

Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine 
IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society.... 
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM B-School Detail