Finance Ministry is miffed with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for delay in auction of one block of 20 megahertz of broadband wireless access spectrum, that could have fetched Rs 13,000 crore to the government.R. Gopalan, Secretary Economic Affairs, has shot a missive to R. Chandrashekar, Secretary DoT, asking him to expedite the auction process. The reason, the Budget Estimates 2011-12 had factored in Rs 13,000 crore in the non tax revenue estimates.Gopalan has reminded DoT, that it has failed to act, despite the office memo sent on May 2, 2011 to all the ministries and departments including DoT, to closely monitor the non-tax revenue receipts projected in BE 2011-12 to avoid any shortfall."I hope that DoT would have initiated the process…for auction of BWA spectrum to achieve the target in the current financial year," states a letter from Goplan to secretary DoT.Officials in DoT claimed that Defence Ministry clearance were not available for the auction of that one block of 20 MHz of BWA spectrum. However, industry observers point that this was cleared about three months ago by the Defence Ministry.However, following the missive, the babus in DoT have started the process. But, sources say that a section of the officials feel that it would not fetch a higher price as the last round of BWA auction that concluded on June 11, 2010. The government collected Rs 38,543.31 crore from the auction of BWA spectrum, that was grabbed by five operators—Infotel in all 22 circles, Aircel in eight circles, Qualcomm and Bharti Airtel in four each and Augere in one circle.A DoT official pointed that they are planning to initiate action against those companies that are yet to start the BWA services.Infotel, which was taken over by Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Ltd, has been tightlipped about its project. So are the other winners of BWA spectrum bids held last year.(BW Team)
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Keeping pace with green concerns, Japanese consumer electronics giant, CASIO Computer Company, has always been the flag bearer of eco-friendly technology. From tough and durable solar-powered calculators to green projectors, energy efficiency has been one of their primary concerns. Recently Casio launched a range of mercury free 3D projectors exclusively in India. They consume considerably less power and can be effectively used to make presentations through smartphones. BW Online's Deeksha Batra caught up with Kulbhushan Seth, Head of Sales and Marketing of CASIO India, at the launch of the 3D projectors in New Delhi. Seth explained the concept of ecological projectors and the philosophy behind it and Casio's overall performance (in Japan and overseas) while claiming to be the sole manufacturers of this technology in the world. Why did Casio decide to come up with the range of eco-friendly projectors in India? It is our philosophy; we always decide to get into a category which doesn't exist, so we try to make something new. We have our core technologies on one side and the market on the other; we look at latest technologies as well as current trends in the market, also taking into account our customers' expectations. So we develop the product accordingly. What makes these projectors environment friendly? Whom are you targeting as potential customers for the product? Today our ecosystem is very important; we know what pollution has done to the earth, its soil and water. So, we decided to come up with an innovative product using our own technologies. Mercury, we know is the major pollutant of soil and water, is not degradable and is highly poisonous. Every time we use mercury lamp projectors, they have a life span and then people dump it. This is the first time, we have come up with a new high brightness LASER &LED hybrid light source which is green and eco-friendly because it is mercury-free. This makes it a unique product, very relevant for today's world. It also shows or makes our contribution to society. The big advantage with our light source is its long lamp lighting which is 20,000 hours as compared to 1,500 or 2,000 hours for a mercury lamp. Thus anyone using it — be it educational institutes or offices — can use it for a longer time without replacing the lamp. This serves as the biggest advantage since the projector is green and mercury-free it requires zero-maintenance; as opposed to the mercury lamps which need to be constantly changed during summers. It has a quick start up and switch off time, whereas a normal mercury lamp takes 60 seconds to switch off. In a country like India, where power cuts are very common, a mercury lamp tends to drip, it waits for the lamp to cool down and it takes a couple of minutes, so if it happens in between a meeting or a presentation, it is very inconvenient. S.No Category Price (In Rs.) ANSI Lumen 1. Standard Model 66,995 – 99,995 Upto 3000 2. Pro Model 1,19,995 – 1,34,995 Upto 3500 3. Short Throw 1,29,995 – 1,34,995 Upto 3000 Could also touch upon the price range comparison with existing projectors? Direct comparison may not be true if you see the long lamp light our projectors have, I'll say our product is cheaper than mercury-lamp projectors. For example, if you take five average years and eight working hours a day, we can save the cost of six lamps, each lamp costs around Rs 10,000 so you can save Rs 60,000. If you take that period in account, we are cheaper. What if we take Epson and Toshiba products into consideration? This type of light source is an updated technology which is only with Casio. Laser LED hybrid light source is not available with any other manufacturer in the world. This makes us very unique and special. Do you think your latest product launch will expand your sales and profit margins in India? Yes, definitely as currently we are selling calculators, watches and musical instruments, most of the products are low priced. Quantity is big but the value is low and some of these categories have quite a high market share. This will help us expand our sales and position ourselves as a high technology brand in India. But green projectors put us in a very different league. What is Casio's most popular product line in India and abroad (in Asia, US, Europe or Japan)? In India, calculators are most popular. Abroad, I think it is watches; G-Shock is the world-wide brand of Casio watches. How do you plan to expand your sales routes to promote the development of these projectors in India? We mostly have distributors and retailers as channel partners. But projectors are totally different and we are developing a totally new channel. Our existing channel is more retail-oriented and a projector is not a retail product. It's more of a corporate or institutional product where mostly direct sales take place. We are going to choose some direct channel partners who are going to be pan Indian. We have channel partners like small IT retailers or educational retailers, who supply educational products to schools and colleges and also provide projectors to educational institutes. We would therefore, like to tie up with them and develop a channel so that they offer our green projectors also. The educational sector is highly important and appreciable. We also have many other education related products, so now with the green projectors we will be able to make more contribution to this sector. What has been Casio's growth rate in India since 1996? We have grown more than ten times. In the last couple of years, we have seen good growth because there is synergy, retail is changing, the market is changing and consumer buying patterns are changing. Indian consumers are also spending more money and that is helping us grow further especially in categories such as watches. What are your future plans? What is your projected revenue for the coming year on a half-yearly basis? In the last couple of years, we are almost growing 30 per cent plus year-on-year, so we would like to continue that momentum, maintaining it is not easy but we would like to do that. We target half-yearly growth that is almost similar year-on-year. Do you also plan to manufacture CASIO products in India or open an R&D facility? No, I don't think so. We haven't given it a thought as yet. Could you discuss the respective market shares of your major product categories —calculators, watches, keyboards etc.? If you talk about the organised market for scientific products, we have more than 90 per cent market share. If you talk about official market share of standard calculators, it is 60 to 70 per cent. Keyboards enjoy 65 to 70 per cent market share. Watches have a smaller market share around 3 or 4 per cent. Camera sales are relatively weaker due to greater competition in the market. We are very optimistic about projectors as we are launching them and they have a very unique technology and great money value for consumers. These projectors are effective for a number of applications and can be used for longer hours during the day. Most of the corporates are embracing eco-friendly technology due to the growing consciousness about our eco-system. Hence, I believe they will also appreciate our product. Where do you place yourself in the Indian electronics market? We are into consumer electronics and all our product categories are unique. But we are an electronic company even if we manufacture watches and sell their maximum number quantity wise worldwide. All Casio products, even if it is an Rs 800 watch with a battery life of 10 years, are based on our core technologies which focus on miniaturisation, low power consumption while maintaining high durability and usability. Our projectors are green, our calculators work on solar power, many of our watches also run on solar power. How have your green slim projectors launched prior to the current category, fared in overseas markets? People have appreciated the green slim projectors, especially their mercury-free point as well as their slimness. Even though it takes some time to make people aware and help them shift towards green technology, we have been able to create a strong position worldwide. In this regard awareness and acceptability is increasing.
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IT and business executives in India are out of synch on the potential of cloud computing. There are disparities between expectations and reality indicating that organizations are still learning what these technologies are capable of and how to overcome the new challenges they bring with them, reveals a a study by Symantec Corporation released last month.The 2011 Virtualization and Evolution to the Cloud Survey found 43 per cent of CFOs as well as CEOs who are implementing hybrid/private clouds are less than "somewhat open" to moving business-critical applications to cloud. They were mostly concerned over issues of reliability (71 per cent), security (76 per cent), availability and performance (81 per cent).In practice, however, many C-level concerns proved to be unfounded based on responses from IT. For example, concerns about performance was cited as a top reason for caution. Yet more than 75 per cent of those who deployed server virtualization, managed to achieve their goals related to performance. "Awareness around these emerging technologies is prevalent, but the Indian enterprise is yet to move completely. There is a wait and watch approach to the level of maturity in the market before implementation," said Anand Naik, director, Technology Sales (India & SAARC), Symantec. "Indian CIOs evaluate new technologies with a business driven ROI approach to technology decision–making to meet company's objectives."The Symantec commissioned survey covered 3,700 enterprises including large, medium and small across segments in 35 different countries based in North and Latin America, Europe, Middle East Asia (EMEA), Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) regions. From India, 200 firms participated in this survey.The survey highlighted topics including server, client, and storage virtualization, storage-as-a-service, and hybrid/private cloud technologies; and the results uncover disparities between expectations and reality as enterprises deploy these solutions. CEOs and CFOs are concerned with moving business-critical applications into virtual or cloud environments due to challenges including reliability, security, availability and performance. The survey shows that organizations are increasingly leveraging or planning to leverage virtualization for business-critical applications. Of enterprises who are implementing virtualization, 73 per cent plan to virtualize database applications in the next 12 months. Forty per cent plan to virtualize web applications, and 33 per cent plan to virtualize email and calendar applications. Thirty-three per cent plan to virtualize ERP applications.About 57 per cent Indian firms have adopted server virtualization against 45 per cent globally, while one-third of the 200 Indian firms surveyed are discussing or are at a planning stage for private and hybrid cloud deployments, the survey found."Indian enterprises are discussing virtualization and private/hybrid clouds. While agility and affordability are the main drivers, having fewer legacy systems is helping this transition," Vijay Mhaskar, Symantec's vice president - Information Management Group, said.Server and storage virtualization topped as the most mature technologies with 31 and 26 per cent of enterprises implementing it, while Private Storage-as-a-Services stood at just 21 per cent of adoption, the survey noted. "Awareness around these emerging technologies is prevalent but Indian enterprise is yet to move completely. There is a wait and watch approach to the level of maturity in the market before implementation," Anand Naik, Symantec's director -Technology Sales (India & SAARC)."Indian CIOs evaluate new technologies with a business driven ROI approach to technology decision–making to meet company's objectives," Naik added. (BW Online Bureau)
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Celebrations have already begun as the summer placements process across the country's top B-Schools concludes. The numbers have swelled – stipend or job offers, so are the roles bagged by students in their respective dream companies. Although the summer profiles happen to be of a shorter duration (8-6 weeks), they are instrumental in the overall performance of final placements. It is the time when companies and B-Schools both try to understand each other and warm-up for the final placement session.The stipends for internships increased considerably this year in comparison with last year. For instance, the average overall stipend for Delhi University's Faculty of Management Studies rose by 42 per cent from last year's Rs 60,000 (approx) to Rs 85,000. The highest domestic stipend offered by an investment bank (for domestic location) at FMS stood at Rs 2.5 lakh, a hike of 150 per cent as compared to last year's Rs 1 lakh. The average monthly stipend, on the other hand, for IIM Indore was Rs 40,000 - a hike of 60 per cent as compared to last year's Rs. 25,000. (See table 1)The number of companies flocking to B-Schools to hire interns has also jumped. Around 180 companies had registered to visit IIM Bangalore this year and the entire batch was placed in 127 companies. Around 120 companies had confirmed their participation for summer placements in 2009. Similarly, 163 companies made 456 offers for 414 students at IIM Lucknow in 2010 as compared to 127 companies in 2009 which offered 401 internships for a batch of 315 students. Times Are ChangingOne of the important indicators of a successful summer placements are the PPOs or pre-placement-offers which had sharply declined last year. The number of PPOs at IIM Calcutta during the final placements in 2009 stood at 56 offers which were reduced to 41 offers in 2010. The trend seems to have reversed this year, according to a source, the number of PPOs at IIM-C for the coming placements have already crossed year-2009's figures i.e. more than 56 offers so far. Similarly, the number of PPOs at FMS has increased sharply this year with 41 PPOs confirmed and at-least 10--15 confirmations expected during the PPIs (Pre-placement-interviews) for 143 students. In 2009, the number of PPOs at FMS was limited to just 15 for 109 students. The last year's decline in PPOs occurred in the wake of economic downturn when companies had become too cautious while picking new talent and had even frozen hiring. Sectorial Break-UpThe number of students opting for different sectors depicts the sectorial break-up of placements. Although the overall sectorial distribution for finance has marginally lowered across the B-Schools, it still remained the most preferred sector for B-Schoollers. Famous for the finance-inclination, IIM-Calcutta's 37 per cent of the students opted for opportunities in the ibanks and BFSI sector. The number is however, lesser than last year when 44 per cent students had opted for finance.IIM Ahmedabad's 39 per cent students also chose finance profiles, 41 per cent students had opted for the sector last year. The similar trend was noticed across the top B-Schools (See table 2).break-page-breakMarketing was the second most preferred sector in most of the top B-Schools. Around 47 per cent of the students opted for marketing profiles at IIM Indore this year - highest across all the sectors. Third most popular sector was consulting. Other popular sectors among the students include pharmaceuticals, IT, operations, manufacturing, and media & entertainment.RecruitersMajor finance firms such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered, Nomura, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche GMC, JP Morgan, Citibank, UBS, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and BoA Merrill Lynch recruited students from the top tier B-Schools for domestic and international locations.The top consulting giants including the Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey and AT Kearney made 70 per cent more offers than last year at IIM Bangalore. Other premiere consulting firms that hired interns in bulk across the B-Schools include Arthur D. Little, Accenture Business Consulting, Deloitte Consulting, and Ernst & Young.Other top-recruiters for various marketing and general management profiles include HUL, P&G, Colgate Palmolive, ITC, Reckitt Benckiser, Dabur, GSK Consumer & Healthcare, Tata administrative Services, Cadbury Kraft, Diageo, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nokia, Coke, Marico and Pepsi (See table 3).It's DifferentApart from the surge in offers and stipend, the summer placements were marked by a series of 'new trends'. The biggest shift came from IIM Ahmedabad that has adopted the cohort system of placements for the summer placement process this year. IIM Ahmedabad had incorporated major changes in its final placement process last year when it switched from the decades-old slot system to cohort system – a rolling system of placements. The new system allowed companies to interact with the students for a longer period of time where group processes and interviews were decoupled and held on different days during the process.A higher number of students chose to opt out of the internships to pursue the lesser explored avenues at IIM-A this year. Four students chose to work under Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on the PURA project (envisaged by him). Another student with an interest in governance and public policy formulation would be interning under Shri Prem Das Rai, Member of Parliament from Sikkim.Several students (IIM-A) keen to pursue a challenging and entrepreneurial experience have chosen to intern with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. NIF works towards discovering grassroots innovations and helping those innovations to become self-supporting business activities.Another premiere B-School - IIM Calcutta became the only B-School in the country to host a $6 bn hedge fund that offered internship to 2 students. It was the second time that a hedge fund visited an Indian B-school after 5 years (first time as well, it was IIM Calcutta).Summer placements are not just an opportunity for students to get their hands on the real-time projects, but also is an opportunity to explore their area of interest and nail the chances of a full-time job in the same organisation. For recruiters it is a fair chance to spend more time with their prospective employees and make an informed decision while handpicking fresh B-School minds.With a sudden surge in the summer placement opportunities and corporate and finance biggies once again showing keen interest in the summer sessions after a period of two long years, the coming final placements are in for a better than ever session.
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When it comes to criminals, a great many Indians think that the real problem with India is its laws, or lack of them. We hear cocktail party chatter that criminals should be shot out of hand and that corrupt politicians should be sent to jail without trial and so forth. Not that we don't already shoot criminals out of hand: what else are 'encounters' but assassinations? Lately, we also seem to be sending a lot of people to jail without any great 'legal' reason to do so. I will give you some examples. This new trend first emerged in October 2010 when Satyam's promoter Raju had his bail cancelled by the Supreme Court because he was "involved in one of the greatest corporate scams of the commercial world". In the old world, businessmen didn't go to jail for economic offenses, not for long anyway. Then it got worse. Notwithstanding that it is no part of an auditor's job to discover accounting frauds (Fall Guys), Satyam's internal and external auditors were tossed into jail too and, when the Andhra Pradesh High Court finally let them out, the Supreme Court send them right back. You could have spotted a paradigm shift right there.Then there was the Pune-based stud farm owner Hassan Ali Khan, who is accused of stashing away humungous amounts of cash in Swiss bank accounts. Like it or not, this rather dodgy looking man, who is also defending a Rs 70,000 crore tax demand, has been attending Enforcement Directorate summons in its on-going investigation for money laundering for nearly ten years! In all these years, the Directorate has not been able to gather material sufficient to arrest him. In March this year, the Supreme Court suddenly decided that custodial interrogation of the man was a good idea. Am I the only one who thinks that in the best tradition of the inquisition, the Enforcement Directorate has received carte blanche to 'cleanse his soul through pain' till he squeals and they have a case against him?Not that anyone cares about this Khan or the Satyam protagonists. Two of them are seriously crooked and the others are either dumb or easily corrupted. Yet the fact remains that if you look at the law on bail as it stands, what is happening here is not right. Let me share some nitty gritty legal stuff with you.Since at least 1978, the law on letting people out on bail has been clear to the legal community. In the 1978 Gudikanti Narasimhulu case, the Supreme Court ruled that there were primarily only two reasons to keep a man in jail: (a) to make sure he turns up for his trial and (b) to keep him from interfering with witnesses. In the colourful words of Justice V.R. Krishna Iyar: "Realism is the component of humanity which is the heart of the legal system…the injustice of innocence long in rigorous incarceration inflicted by the protraction of curial processes, is an irrevocable injury". Okay, that was comic relief for you! I think Justice Iyar is saying that unless we have a very good reason to deny it, we must protect a man's liberty! Who can disagree and still claim to be a liberal?There is another critical spin we need to put on the table. The 2004 Delhi High Court judgment in Court on its own motion versus CBI arose when the first secretary in the Embassy of Tanzania made some fast bucks by issuing visas for cash. The CBI concluded its investigation and filed the charge sheet in court without ever arresting this hotshot. Could he be arrested after the case went to court? The high court said no. A man who does not flee and does not interfere with witnesses during an investigation is not likely to do so later. You'd think that was the last word on the subject. Not so.Look what is happening in the 2G case. Throughout the investigation, the CBI never made any arrests at all. Once the case went to court, we find powerful businessmen, not so powerful employees of powerful businessmen and a poetic politician —and a woman too — chucked into the slammer for a good bit. Why? The Delhi High Court judgment defeats me when it argues that the CBI's failure to arrest these persons during investigation "gives an insight into the influence wielded by the petitioners during investigation". Damned if you do and damned if you don't, isn't it? That not being enough, the court also said that just because these accused behaved perfectly "cannot be guarantee that during trial, the petitioners would not try to interfere with the process of justice by tampering with witnesses". What can you say? Why don't I get sent to jail because there is no guarantee I won't drive dangerously and kill someone next week?What comes through in all this legal speak is that since last year, the courts have found a way to send and keep a great many corrupt types in jail for long periods. The courts have done so in the face of clear and established law thus unsettling well settled principles of law. Most people would agree that at least some of these people deserve to be in jail. Isn't this doing wrong things for the right reasons?All this may seem very cerebral, arcane and remote because you are dealing with corruption in high places and exotic laws. What happens if these same issues face you? Have you ever tried to get your burnt out electricity meter changed or hook your spanking new house to the municipality's sewerage line. Would you like to spend a long hot summer in jail because you need to move into your new house and can't get a completion certificate without paying someone off? Sure Unitech can live without a telecom license, like you can manage without electricity…Seen at a distance, I see a clear pattern emerging. As I have already argued (A Century After), the serendipity of changing dynamics in the Indian climate is creating something of an inflection point. The first of these dynamics is political. Having only just managed to put Bofors behind it, very few people believe that the Congress party has a realistic chance of winning another election without doing something about corruption. King Singh wants to do something and Madame agrees. The time has come.Then there are the changing dynamics within the Indian judiciary. We finally have a man of impeccable integrity at the head of the Supreme Court, determined to undo the damage his two immediate dubious predecessors have done. We also have amongst us now a new breed of crusader lawyers - Prashant Bhushan amongst them - who care nothing for the risk they run in what they are trying to do. These forces have come together to try to initiate change that India desperately needs. Suddenly, corruption is not okay, and we are attacking it at the top.But there is a problem. In this august quest for a better cleaner society, we are seeing a certain subversion of the very legal system that we have so doggedly and meticulously developed. In our quest for a more obtuse, elusive sense of justice, we are handing out judicial order that on the face of it are unjust. You can be cynical and say this is just collateral damage but can you afford such damage? I think we need to pause and ponder because history shows that when you start to tamper with something as complex as India's judicial system in this radical way, the Law of Unintended Consequences may have some really nasty surprises yet. And the erosion of individual liberty may be the first of them.The author is managing partner of the Gurgaon-based corporate law firm N South and author of the pioneering business book Winning Legal Wars. He can be contacted at rcd@nsouthlaw.com
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High oil prices are bad not just for consumers but also for producers. And there is a reason to believe that. In a recent interview with CNN, Saudi prince Al-Waheed expressed his fears about the high oil prices and that they might accelerate the US and the European attempts to go and find alternatives and bring in the ultimate demand destruction for oil. Being at the helm of an economy that still gets 80 per cent of its budget revenues from oil, he knows what that means. He would want the prices to be in $70-80 per barrel while the current prices are hovering at $100.Given the highly inelastic nature of oil demand, it is a double edged sword for the oil kingdom. Automobiles are not like soaps which you could change every month but once you've bought a car, it stays with you for three, four or even ten years. Therefore even if the prices are oil prices are high, people cannot junk their cars at once. This is why the higher oil prices can sustain. But the other side is once a consumer picks up an alternative energy car he would not return as an oil customer for many years, even if the oil price reduces. And therefore as and when the side-effects of high oil prices will become evident, they will do so in a very sudden manner. Infact OPEC officials have often expressed their concerns about the alternatives becoming more competitive due to higher oil prices. But there is nothing new about these worries. Such fears have cropped up after each oil shock and yet there has really been no alternative to oil till now. And this time could be no different except for the fact that the alternatives today are much closer to reality than they were any time before.Oil shocks have happened in past. After the oil shock of 1970s, countries around the world started contemplating to reduce their dependence on oil, US congress even introduced a 55 mph limit on highways to save oil, but that was back then. After the oil shock much of that focus disappeared. And none of that was because of any love for oil but for the lack of any practical alternatives. And that is where things are no longer the same.From fuel cell vehicles and electric cars to biofuels and renewables- a score of alternative energy technologies are expanding and inching closer to being competitive with oil. Daimler and Linde are on their course to put up enough hydrogen refueling stations in Germany that fuel cell vehicles would be able to move anywhere in Germany. Hybrids and even pure electrics are already available commercially with some latest offerings available at competitive prices. According to Deutsche Bank, Hybrid electric vehicles will attain economic cost parity with gasoline cars when the oil reaches $ 110 per barrel. Oil was hovering at $100 on the last count. This explains why there is a very small margin of comfort for the oil producers. This also explains why prince Waheed would want lower oil prices. Alternative energy platforms like fuel cell vehicles and electric platforms will be much cheaper in running costs when the technology scales up. Per kilometer cost for electric vehicles can be just one-tenth of the cost incurred for gasoline vehicles.By keeping the oil prices low, the oil nations can keep the alternative energy technology away from maturing faster. Deutsche bank believes that due to falling prices for hybrid-electric car technology the point of economic parity for hybrid cars would reach at only $80 by 2015. And if the alternative energy vehicles keep selling encouraging numbers — as some are doing —the platform might achieve scales much faster and therefore gain competitiveness even faster. Automakers currently making electric vehicles want to build volumes faster to reduce costs. The high oil prices are just helping that cause. Infact oil producers would do great by using some low prices to restrict the alternative vehicles achieving scales they need to compete with oil. This will buy them some time that they need to adjust to the eventuality.Nobody doubts that eventually we will run out of oil or that we would move beyond it eventually but the crucial question is how soon will that happen. Saudi Arabia which has an economy heavily dependent upon oil is already making attempts to diversify itself. But that is not an easy task to do. UAE another oil producing nation dependent on oil is accelerating its attempts to move away from oil. It is diversifying into financial services, hospitality, and retail in order to keep itself running when the oil runs out. Yet after years of efforts, 25 per cent of its GDP is still based on Oil & Gas. Perhaps the real estate and construction sector that today accounts for a large share of GDP went bust in 2009 and threw the desert economy into a tizzy. It only underlines the fact that how difficult is to reinvent the economy and perhaps for that reason the oil kingdom of Saudi Arabia would want as much time as it can get to adjust. This also explains its intransigence on any international climate treaty.Therefore at the end while rising oil prices may be good for producers in the short term but they are risky in the long term. On the other hand rising oil prices would be painful for consumers in the short term but good in the longer term -as it will get us to shift to alternative energy platforms which are way more economical to run.In spite of the spectre of alternative energy platforms destroying demand, it will be difficult to cool off the prices. Oil is getting costlier to drill out and oil discoveries are now being made in terrains where its costlier to drill for oil.Yash Saxena is a sustainability consultant with Emergent Ventures, a climate change mitigating consultancy. He also works on innovation evangelism with Techpedia
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Can you imagine going up to your friends and acquaintances at a party and beseeching them to like your shirt? You'd probably lose your popularity fast! Just visualise accosting a stranger you think looks interesting and saying "I am now following you"? You'd likely get yourself arrested.A video from Business Insider shows a young man attempting "in real life" some of things we only do online — with understandably funny results. He goes up to a group and asks if he can be their friend. Then he goes to another lot and asks if he can write on their wall. He stops someone to tell them how he likes their jacket. And finally, he asks a group of girls if he can poke them. He gets some strange looks, I can tell you. The video is a humorous comment on how very strange our lives online are, and how different from reality, sometimes. You would never do any of these things for real. It's also true that you wouldn't dream of revealing in real life and to almost-strangers, some of the things you do freely and prolifically on Facebook and other networks. Privacy isn't what it used to be.I had written before, in my column While You Were Out that the whole landscape of privacy as we know it will change even as we participate in that change without fully realizing it. Practically all the big tech and social companies slip in features that violate our privacy grossly, say sorry, and go right on using those features. Facebook being the chief culprit. Thanks to Facebook, what you Like can appear anywhere and to anyone, and your friends can take you to whatever they choose. When the complaints from users get too loud, Facebook will point out how you can get into your settings so easily and change your privacy preferences. Most people are not tech-savvy enough to attempt this fiddling around. You'll have perhaps heard of the young girl who didn't realize how un-private her birthday invitation was until 1600 or so guests (including 100 police) arrived at her house. Even wittingly, people today seem to have no hesitation putting up all manner of bizarre things online, leading one to wonder what sort of voyeuristic-exhibitionistic culture we've spawned through technology. Well, be that as it may, things are about to get worse. Or better, if you want to look at it that way. With tech innovators building social networking into the DNA of every product now, we will see stranger things still. And one of them is a pair of glasses from Seattle-based company, Zion-Eyez. This cool shades, which don't look very different from others, have more than just brand value and looks to offer. They have a hidden camera, which may be small but records 1280x720p HD video, microphone, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. The next time someone in dark glasses is looking at you for too long, it could be a nice video of you going right out to Facebook or YouTube. And with three hours of battery life, there's quite enough time to do it too!That does it. I'm outta here, as they say in America. These glasses aren't ready yet, but they're already on pre-order for $200.I'm all for technological innovation, but this is downright uncomfortable. Legal eagles, get ready with your briefcases, for there're sure to be lots of issues with this set of Eyez. With Eyez that not only see but record and upload, can we ever feel private again? Yes, there are great uses possible. You could eyewitness an important happening and transmit it to the world, if you're a journalist - or not. You could do field trips and send video reports instead of lengthy wordy ones. You could go on a trip and send back amazing experiences for friends and family to see. But you could also be part of something you didn't opt to have anything to do with.Of course, it's not about this product in particular. More will come. It's about how we'll handle it. Technology is not to be blamed for what human beings do with it, after all.Mala Bhargava is a personal technology writer and media professional. Contact her at mala@pobox.com and @malabhargava on Twitter
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Today organisations world over are emphasising the importance of a gender balanced workforce. This emphasis of including a balanced ratio of women in the workforce is essentially pronounced through a multitude of HR policies. Though individual organisations have their signature approach in terms of creating gender neutral work environments there are certain broad hallmarks that characterise these organisations. Firstly gender neutral organisations are conscientious about providing equal opportunities to men and women. There is psychological evidence that women are predisposed with a set of qualities that place them in a winning stead as far as certain organisational roles are concerned. For instance women have an inherent sense of empathy that auger well in positions pertaining to corporate social responsibility and human resource development and management. At one important level ender neutral organisations are essentially those organisations that on one hand support more avenues that can translate to fulfilling careers for women. They also score high in terms of offering training and mentoring programmes that are tailored to meet specific needs. Study after study shows that having more women in the boardroom improves corporate financial performance. Companies with more women on boards far outperform those companies with fewer women directors: by 66 per cent return on invested capital of companies, 53 per cent return on equity, and 42 per cent return on sales between 2001 and 2004, according to Catalyst, a diversity organisation Further there are enough studies to suggest that women have a set of leadership styles that in turn translate to a beneficial equation for the progressive minded organisations of today which thrive on innovation and are constantly seeking newer and more effective management styles. For instance women core higher than men in areas such as participative decision-making, mentoring and coaching, defining expectations and offering rewards, inspiring peers and taking the mantle of role model. These facts clearly portend to the fact that women are endowed with certain unique leadership traits. Consequently organisations that want to truly qualify as gender neutral organisations need to recognise this fact and have structured leadership succession programmes for the benefit of aspiring women leaders. Further organisations that are genuinely inspired by gender balance imperatives are the ones that champion transparency in the decision making process so that all employees irrespective of their gender feel valued in the organisation. Moreover such organisations are sensitive to the unique challenges faced by a woman and hence provision flexible timings and virtual work environments that in turn considerably help in easing the pressures of work life. Another distinguishing hallmark of gender sensitive organisations is that they provide ample opportunities for women to network both within the organisation as well as outside of it in the business ecosystem. This is done both with the objective of helping them establish their professional credentials and identifying new people, causes and opportunities that can absorb their interests and potential. One simple way through which organisations can help women increase their network is by placing them in charge of new organisational initiatives. This approach automatically increases the scope of interaction with a greater number of colleagues. There are some networks in companies that are only cater to women. It is advisable to run these networks through men and not women. This is one way of ensuring that the issues of women employees are understood by their male counteraprts. More usually than not when there are male champions of women centric networks the potential of women and their issues are better understood. This invariably leads to the creation of a humane and sensitive work environment. It is not just enough for organisations to take a stand on gender equality. Women themselves have to be assertive in terms of their rights and prospects at the workplace. They need to ascertain their unique skills and aptitudes and be clear about their professional goals and expectations. This clarity will help them determine the exact support that they require from the organisation (in terms of training etc) and enable them to be more convincing and assertive while asking for the same. Women should also be conscientious of sharpening their negotiation skills to reach senior leadership positions. It is also advisable to find mentors and learn from experience sharing. Last but not the least they should always be forthcoming in terms of learning new skills and accepting fresh career challenges. The author is Associate Vice President - Diversity & Sustainability at HCL Technologies
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Didn't I read somewhere that the British royals were once really TV-shy? Either it was Queen Elizabeth's wedding or her coronation, but there was much convincing before they allowed a television crew (TV was new back then) to film and broadcast the event. Well, what a far cry William and Kate's wedding is from that. They're saying an estimated two billion people all over the world will "participate" in the wedding; and I can quite believe it. But what's most remarkable is the manner in which they'll do so. The number of apps that have sprung up around the royal wedding leaves you a bit flabbergasted. Broadcasting organizations, media houses, regular developers and just anyone, have put out a slew of apps out on the Apple store and on the Android market. And if you think these are a total waste of time, let me tell you that thousands seem to disagree as they download these apps and rate them high. One app, from Harper Collins, features the popular historian and television presenter, David Starkey. He's presented many riveting documentaries on the kings and queens of England and is wholeheartedly embracing technology today, making the transition to the app world quite happily. Starkey's and other apps feature timelines, family tree, British royal history and the entire story of the ten-year Kate and William romance. Other apps have a live stream of the event and one extremely popular app has a countdown to the final ceremony. The countdown started when they got engaged, by the way. Some apps have live wallpapers and beautiful images, constantly updating. There are some that lap up and relay every bit of trivia, from the dress to the car to the public kiss – nothing will be missed. The guest list and news on the many activities happening leading up to the event also make up much of the app content. Some of the apps are games, predictably. Apps also stream content from Twitter and Facebook updates on the subject and pick out interesting content from blogs. Not all of this is trivial and fluffy. The more attention the royal wedding gets, the nicer it is for brand Britain. This is a time when Britain is reeling under the effects of a faltering economy and the way it conducts itself through this event will be watched and probably admired, throughout the world. That can only help. I have a long time fascination for the British royals (specifically the head-chopping Tudors) but it's equally fascinating that apps can today spring up in response to events. Certainly, they'll have a short life, but that's fine; as long as they do the job they were intended to. They could, for example, develop in response to a disaster or a social cause. They could come up in response to political events, letting people participate in different ways. They do so on the social networks to begin with, but on smartphones and tablets, mobility adds a new angle of immediacy. As cricket fanatics, we are of course already familiar with cricket apps which come up in response to our national's obsession. Mala Bhargava is a personal technology writer and media professional. Contact her at mala@pobox.com and @malabhargava on Twitter
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The word 'inclusive' is now in vogue. Politicians give speeches about inclusive growth. Corporate executives talk about inclusive strategies. And business academics write about inclusive innovation.After a decade of excess and the sins of the financial crisis, it is not surprising to see interested parties take positions. Politicians, worried about the growing gaps between the rich and poor emphasise the need for growth to reach all segments of their nation's populations. CEOs of multinationals, eager for growth after the shocks of the crisis, see the rising middle class in emerging markets as the panacea for reenergising profits. Business academics, always searching for the next magical mantra, see potential in extolling the reinvention of innovation strategies.The business logic for emphasising inclusiveness is sound. After all, inclusive growth brings the bottom of the pyramid into the mainstream economy as customers, employees and intermediaries. Companies that are able to cater to and attract the loyalty of these emerging masses are laying the foundations of their future growth and success. However, creating and executing on inclusive innovation strategies has proven to be hard for corporations.Many executives wrongly assume that inclusive growth simply means making lower quality products at lower price points. This they argue is either against their corporate goals or simply incompatible with their existing capabilities and production processes. However, entrepreneurs in many emerging markets such as India and Brazil have shown that inclusive innovation requires a fundamental rethinking of business models. How else could they offer mobile phone calls for less than one cent a minute or perform high quality cataract surgery for thousands of needy individuals at around $25 dollars per head. In fact, the motto adopted by the National Innovation Council in India, inspired by the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi is doing more good with less resources for more people.Affordability and sustainability have come to the fore of innovation and they will have to be achieved while maintaining or even improving quality. This poses a non-trivial challenge for even the most successful corporation. While business models will have to be rethought bottom-up, having the right mindset and culture are even more important. Business leaders will have to commit in unambiguous terms to making inclusive innovation part of their corporate goals. There has to be a fundamental desire to serve more people, in fact many more people, with relevant and affordable products as opposed to being content with serving more products at premium prices to current customer segments.The winners in inclusive innovation will reap big benefits in a changing world where the fastest growth in consumer spending is coming from the bottom of the pyramid in emerging markets. However, winning in this new arena will not be easy and cannot be taken for granted by incumbents.Are you ready for this challenge?The author is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, France. He has authored several books on technology, policy and innovation.Comments on this note can be sent to: mail(at)soumitradutta(dot)com
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