meek-investor

Does affirmative action work ? Especially in an economic setting ? News on this theme, from two corners of the world caught my attention yesterday. In Malaysia, they have eased the minimum Bhumiputra limit on investment in listed companies from 30% to 12.5 %. Bhumiputras are ethnic Malays. They are by far the majority ethnic group in that country although the ethnic Chinese are economically more prosperous. Ethnic Indians also constitute a significant minority. Laws in Malaysia , on virtually every aspect of life, are heavily tilted in favour of Bhumiputras and resented by the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indians. In the economic sphere, this requirement of Bhumiputra ownership has brought little economic value. From the US, of all places, I read yesterday of the incredible legal fight in the New Haven firefighters case . The New Haven fire department conducted a written test as a means of deciding who to promote. The test was mostly passed by whites ; black and Hispanic candidates fail

The online MBA. Yawn. Can’t be done. No value. Wait a minute. How would you like it if you could say you are a MBA from the Jack Welch Management Institute ? Sitting up ? What if it was 20% of the cost of a regular MBA. And what if you don’t have to leave your job for 2 years to do this. Interested ? Read on. Jack Welch is taking a 12% stake in a company called Chancellor University System LLC, whose leading investor is Michael Clifford an evangelist for online education. His lending of his name to the MBA program will immediately catapult it to star status. But will it work ? There is no doubt that technology has the capability to transform education. Firstly the pros. It is cheaper and you don’t have to give up your job. You can do it from anywhere in the world. The monster that is the US visa officer can be kissed goodbye. Many more people can do it. The limitation of the classroom size largely goes away. But there are serious doubts, of course. Can the academic rigour be maintained

Oprah Winfrey is taking all her staff and their families on an all expenses paid Mediterranean cruise. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it. Actually not. I am not privileged to work for you, but if I did, I would say thanks, but no thanks. For a semi serious look at why this is not a good idea, click here to read Stuart Jeffries' take. I am adding my own two penny bit. Company socials, especially with spouses, are a massive bore. Ninety percent of the conversation is office gossip anyway. Now, I’ve had my fill of it at the office – do I really want more of it. And the spouses. Their lot is terrible. Have you noticed how the office organization structure is quickly evident amongst the spouses. I’m sure they hate it, but have to dutifully attend. I’ve ranted before of how spouses should have nothing to do with the company. Click here to read this misanthropic rant. Of course, all of us have some very good friends amongst our office colleagues. Hanging out with them is extremely enjoyabl

Carol Bartz, the CEO of Yahoo, said a few days ago , that it was “not our job to fix the Chinese government". She was responding to a question from somebody from Amnesty International who asked a question at the company’s AGM about filtering of internet information in China. She’s dead right. It is not the job of companies to advance political or social causes. That’s the job of governments, the United Nations, religious institutions like the Church, etc. Not companies. She could have put it better though. Her choice of words was not exactly great. Companies come under increasing pressure from all sorts of organizations who want to promote their agenda and find companies as soft targets. They use pressure tactics and publicity to force companies to further their agenda. These range from very worthy causes to cranky, and to , frankly, batty causes. But the worthiness of the cause must not cloud the issue. It is the not the business of companies to further political, social or reli

Air India is lobbying furiously for a massive bailout. Most airlines around the world are sick; so its no surprise that Air India, which is a particularly badly run airline, is in deep trouble. The mood these days is in favour of bailouts of whoever shouts loudest or scares the most. But look at what Air India is reported to be asking - They want Rs 15,000 crores ($ 3bn plus) - They want foreign airlines’ “sixth freedom rights” – the right to operate to multiple destinations in India to be reviewed (read stopped) - They want capacities of foreign airlines to be frozen to give Air India “breathing space” - They want to stop private Indian airlines from operating to areas like the Gulf so that Air India can “gain”. All in the name of “public interest”. Hello ! The cheek to even make such a demand. Air India – do you think the tax payer and the poor flying customer are idiots ? You guys just don’t get it – you are in business to serve a customer, not to screw him. Just look at yourself i

There’s a battle going on between China and Google. Google can’t win and China can only lose. Just for the record, its China who started this battle . The stakes were upped yesterday night, when the Net Nanny blocked Google. Yes b-l-o-c-k-e-d Google. Google everything – Search, Gmail, the works ! I’m gob smacked. What are they thinking ? For some weeks China has been demanding that Google block searches from throwing up pornographic content. That’s the official stated demand. But we all know what this means. We know what they want to block. In China, Google is not the dominant search engine. In fact their market share is some 20% or so. The dominant search engine by far is Baidu . This demand for blocking has not been made of Baidu and searches on Google and Baidu throw up virtually the same results. Google is in a bind. How can they react. If they give in, this is against all that they stand for. If they don't, they get blocked and out of one of the most important markets in the

Business travel can be just as amusing, interesting, scary, hilarious, as leisure travel. Having unfortunately travelled too much on business, I’ve accumulated a few traveller’s tales. Here are two of them. 1. There was this good British gentleman who was 6ft 6in tall and built of substantial proportions. He was a very senior director in a global company and had the air of the Lord of the World. He was as pompous, as pompous can be and spoke in a regal manner. This is what happened on one of the flights he took. He walked in to the plane and took his seat (first class of course). The stewardess hurried to serve him champagne. After a few sips, the man presses the call button Stew (coming running) – Yes, Sir, what can I get for you He – Can I have a complaint form please ? Stew (very flustered) – Sir, did we do anything wrong. Can I apologise. Can I get anything at all He (in the most patrician voice) – May I have the complaint form please. Stew runs away looking ashen and returns back

Tom Peters is a legend in the business world. He's such a legend that this doesn't even have to be said. But that doesn’t make him always right. Occasionally, he can be wrong, for he is after all, human. In this instance, I think he is dead wrong. I refer to his blog post – “I do not wish you harm” . He rails and rants against Robert Diamond, the President of Barclays plc for his “earning” $36.5m consequent to the purchase of Barclays money management business by Blackrock . He objects to the grin on Diamond’s face calling it “appalling – insensitive – stupefying – outrageous – disgusting - sickening in June 2009”. He seems to be objecting to the public spectacle when “thousands are in the process of receiving pink slips”. Read the comments on this post which are even more vitriolic. Blackrock , a US based money management firm is buying the fund management division (Barclays Global Investors) of Barclays for $ 13.5 bn. Barclays, an UK based bank has been badly hit by the fina

Is there a justice system in India ? Does it really work ? I’m not so sure. These plaintive questions are in response to the continued detention of S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri, the PWC partners who had certified the accounts of Satyam Computers. I argued that their detention is completely unwarranted here . They continue to be behind bars. One after another, their bail petitions are rejected. When I wrote the earlier piece in April, I had expected that they would be released shortly. We are in end June, and it has still not happened. Read an account of their ordeal here . I am not a legal man. I am just an ordinary citizen of India. But India is a democracy. The ordinary citizen has a voice too. So here’s mine. This is an open letter to anybody in the justice system in India - May I remind you that in law, you are innocent until proven guilty. It appears that this principle does not apply in India. - Detention pre trial is not a matter of routine. I know you lock up thousand

I dropped a tag. That too from one of the nicest of bloggers, a writer par excellence, a warm human being and now a dear online friend. How could I drop a tag from A Journey called Life . Shame on me. With a very contrite expression, I make delayed amends. I was tagged for the Honest Scrap award. The tag requires a post listing ten honest things about you. As I do with all tags, I’ll do so in the business context this blog is designed for. 1. I am horribly, “old fashionedly” loyal to my company(ies). I’ve never ever quit a company – only moved as a result of an acquisition once. I would not buy a competitor’s product. Hence my multiple posts on company loyalty. 2. I started with a love of travel. Now I hate it. I’ve travelled too much on business and at last count have spent at least a night in 30 countries. Now I hate the very sight of an aeroplane. As I am now on a sabbatical, I enjoy going nowhere. 3. One of the things I just cannot do is tell a person’s age by looking at him or he

Another tag post. This time on the 'Good old days". I've been tagged by Preeti Shenoy . She's one of the "Le blogueur éminent" of India. A poet, an artist and a superb writer - her book 34 Bubblegums and Candies , which was published last year, is a very nice read. I love cheating a little bit when she asks something, so here's some cheeky doing on the tag. The tag is to write on the good old days and presumably I've been tagged because I can make it really OOLLDD (just joking :)) I actually did so in one of my earlier posts on accounting. Click here to read this trip down memory lane. OK OK, recycling posts is not on, but I told you I was cheating a bit. If you like to wallow in nostalgia, I also strongly recommend watching Mary Hopkins sing "Those were the days" . Again, I ain't tagging nobody, but if someone wants to pick this up, consider yourself tagged !! And even if you aren't a blogger, why don't you write a few words o

I’ve been the recipient of two tags – and it’s a sort of code of honour amongst bloggers that you pick up the tag. So today and tomorrow are tag honouring days. The Thoughtful Train , a lovely blogger and a poet rolled into one, has tagged me on 10 things that send me “boiling crazy”. Well, lots of things send me boiling crazy, but since this is a business blog, I’ll list down 10 things at the workplace that I get pissed about. 1. Answering phones, reading e mails and cross talking in meetings. For God’s sake why come to a meeting to do other things. 2. Coming late for appointments or meetings and not apologising. Yeah, don’t care one bit about anybody else’s time. 3. Listening to a presentation and asking all sorts of questions on Slide 1. Hello – can you let the poor guy say his bit please. 4. Having 74 slides for a 10 minute presentation. And having the last slide that says “Thank You”. 5. Pulling rank. Especially on people 5 rungs below. 6. Talking bullshit. Lying, giving “econo

The price of crude oil has climbed steadily to $70 a barrel. Its of course, way off, from the peak of $147 it touched in July ’08. But its been climbing steadily over the last couple of months. Two major events await us in the near future. The first is inflation. Its already a big risk because of the massive amounts of money governments, the world over, have been pumping in to ward off the recession. When oil prices shoot again, everything is going to be affected. Inflation will hit the poor most – the price of food will rise. Many governments will be tempted to subsidise the price of oil and public finances will become a further mess than they are, in most countries. Inflation is going to be a killer ; unfortunately there’s not much that we can do. Governments should have been acting through last year. When the price of crude oil fell to just above $30, they should have been creating a fund to cushion the inevitable rise that was to come. Nobody did this. Governments who control th

Timing is everything in life. The same act at one point in time is glorious; at another shameful. Leaving or retiring from a company or a job, is all about timing. Get it right and you can be remembered with fondness and respect. Get it wrong and all the good things you have done are forgotten and you are vilified. I was prompted to write this post seeing the messy saga of the lawsuit by AIG against Hank Greenberg . AIG is well known these days for the wrong reasons. But before its financial products division landed it in this mess, it was a solid insurance company – the largest in the world. It was largely brought there by one man – Hank Greenberg. He was CEO of the company for 37 years – from 1968 to 2005. Hank Greenberg is no saint. But it is an undeniable fact that AIG would not have become the largest insurance company in the world , but for him. It is easy to heap scorn on AIG these days. But they were an immensely successful company until the financial crisis hit them. Large pa

Novartis claimed last week that had made the first batch of the vaccine for the H1N1 virus that is the cause for swine flu. What caught my attention was Novartis refusing the call of the World Health Organisation to give the vaccine free to poor countries. Novartis says whoever buys, must at least cover costs. Click here for FT’s reporting of the story. The issue raises a dilemma for which there are no easy answers. For both sides are right. From the WHO’s point of view, this is about saving lives. They’ve just declared a global pandemic. Many millions could die. Here’s a way of preventing the disease. In poor countries, people just can’t pay for the vaccines. So if you price the vaccines, they simply won’t use it. So is it ethically OK to let many die when you could possibly prevent it ? From Novartis’ point of view, they are a commercial organization, not a charity. There is a cost to producing the vaccine. What they are saying to the poor countries is, at least cover costs. If they

Some light reading for a Sunday. I wrote a while ago, on how we, in India, sometimes go to ridiculous lengths to receive a VIP. Click here for a chuckle. Here’s another instance. We were receiving a potential customer group from overseas and our sales guys were going bonkers. Part of the visit preparations was to choreograph their return drive from our office back to their hotel. This was in this wonderful city in India where the roads are lovely and broad and where the 15 km journey was only 2 hours long. The problem was, what to do if any of our honoured guests was to , ahem, feel the need to pee. An one hour conference call across three time zones was set up to discuss this extremely important matter. Various bright suggestions were aired and discussed in all seriousness. One worthy suggested that in Bangkok of the past, where traffic jams were notorious, a roaring business had started in er, portable loos. Apparently two wheelers were circulating on the roads offering distressed c

How would you like a job offer somewhat like this - guaranteed 5 year contract – you cannot be sacked - first year wages $ 15.5 m, or $ 43000 every day - automatic wage increases every year so that the fifth year wages is tripled at $ 48m. That’s a pay hike of 25% per year - all these wages are irrespective of performance. Doesn’t matter at all how you perform - you really have to work only 100 days in a year. The real work is only for 90 minutes in those days – but add and subtract getting ready for work, maybe 4 hours - you are allowed to make money on the side. And the money you make on the side is going to be a multiple of your wages. So much so, that your wages is actually small change. That’s why its called wages; not salary ! - your cost to your company is $ 60m a year - the government is very kindly helping you out by having a special tax rate of 25% to give you an incentive to come - your employer is supposed to be a “non profit social trust” And there is a not a pipsqueak in

Salary data from the annual newspaper compensation study done by the Inland Press Association underscores the points I made in a lecture at Oxford University recently on why journalists deserve low pay. According to the salary study, average newspaper wages in the U.S. increased 2.1% between 2008 and 2009, but that result was skewed because hefty increases went to producers of interactive (online) content and editorial personnel involved in new business development. Journalists on the average received no or marginal increases depending upon their category. My lecture, which was carried in a significantly reduced form in the Christian Science Monitor , and redistributed by multiple online sites and blogs, produced shock, anger, and invective by many journalists who missed its point. The text of the full lecture can be found at the website: http://www.robertpicard.net/files/Why_journalists_deserve_low_pay.pdf Journalists today create very little economic value and are having a difficult

Kenneth Feinberg would rather be called anything else. But the name that is sticking is “the pay czar”. He’s the guy appointed by the Obama administration to oversee pay for the top executives in companies that have received US government bailouts. While his remit is only the companies that have been bailed out, his framework will, no doubt, receive wider consideration amongst all American corporates. In any other circumstance, we would think the US is actually Stalinist Russia. Governments deciding executive pay in the US ?? Even one year ago, we would have laughed at it. No more. By its own greed and unbelievable tone deafness, corporate America has brought this upon itself. Feinberg has an impossible job. It would be humanly impossible to state anything on executive pay without the majority disagreeing. But he comes with an impressive background. He was the guy who decided the compensation for individual 9/11 victims, which was accepted without much noise. What can he do here ? Publ

Here’s something to provoke you. The more senior you are, the less you know your own company. You spend a lifetime slogging away to do what ? Reach the corner office. Shut yourself in a huge cabin. Place two pretty secretaries between you and anybody who wants to reach you. Hear what you want to hear. Be told what others think you want to listen to. Do you know your company any more ?? Communication in the work place is one of those funny things – despite all the noise and bustle, it seldom takes place effectively. From the top down , you get those unbelievable newsletters filled with platitudes. Write up on how great we are doing and how we must all tighten our belts to face the future. The odd photos of some employee who has got married or somebody who got some award. Grinning photos of the completely untelegenic CEO. I’m yet to see any company newsletter that’s even remotely readable. From the bottom up, you get completely slanted news. If it’s a presentation, its about how great a

On a clear day, you won’t see General Motors any more. At least the GM of yore. GM is being cut apart and fed to any meat eater in the vicinity. One titbit, Hummer , is going to an unexpected place. Hummer, for the auto uninitiated, is a gas guzzling Sport Utility Vehicle, particularly loved by the Americans. It was very popular, but is no longer so – its global sales declined by 62% in Q1. A few days back it was announced that Hummer would be acquired by Sichuan Tengzhong , a Chinese company based in Chengdu. This is not the most obvious of deals – lets put it that way. Why is an unknown Chinese company doing this acquisition ? The deal looks shaky for a number of reasons. Firstly Sichuan Tengzhong makes highway and bridge structural components, construction machinery , energy equipment and yes – trucks carrying cement mixers. What has this got to do with American SUVs ? Where is the business fit ? Secondly, Hummer is a gas guzzler on a steep decline. What will Tengzhong do with it.

There’s something immoral about sitting on your butt and making a lot of money as against working your socks off and making less money. I find it difficult to reconcile to this. The Indian stock market has exploded in the last five months. Its gone up by 50%. Popular perception is that its because of the euphoria of the elections throwing up a stable government, which was unexpected. But as Swaminathan Anklesaria Aiyar notes in his very well written article in the Times of India , the rise has little to do with the elections. Global money which had retreated shellshocked into US gilts is pouring out again into stock markets. Some $ 20 bn has gone into emerging markets since April. China’s stock market has gone up by 57%, Russia by 63%, Brazil by 60%, Argentina by 45%. India is not alone, by any means. And no wonder, the rupee is strengthening again, if there’s so much dollar inflow. I think, as a society, we have learnt little from the financial crisis, we are right in the middle of.

The last ten posts were on things India and China can learn from each other. I had expected a lot more brickbats but was pleasantly surprised by the rather kind words. Of course, some of the brickbats were saved as many of my Chinese friends cannot access Blogspot. But more than differences between the two countries, I am amazed by how much is the same – for after all, we are both Asian cultures and share many of the same strengths and weaknesses. Sometime later on, I’ll post on "Hindi Chini bhai bhai" – bringing out the many similarities I have observed. For non Indian readers , this was a phrase conjured by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India in 1961 signifying that Indians and Chinese are brothers. For now, I’ll give China and India a break and get back to making CP on business in general. For those of you unfamiliar with the term CP , it refers to “Class Participation” – a concept peculiar to business schools where you get marks based on opening your mout

Laowai in Chinese is the same as firanghi in Hindi – a slightly condescending word for a foreigner. Look around most of the multinationals in China – the CEO is likely to be a laowai. Too many laowais inhabit the senior corridors in companies here. It is well tolerated, and many a time even welcomed, by the Chinese. I think Chinese should be less tolerant of laowais running their companies. That used to be the situation in India a long while ago – its no longer true. I happened to work for a company that was, before my time, the pioneer in the movement to “Indianisation” of management in the 60s. India gained enormously from that move. Its time China did too. Why do so many laowais run companies in China. Multinationals bemoan the lack of senior management talent in China. Various reasons are given – including the effects of the cultural revolution on the generation which would be senior managers today. I beg to differ. There are three reasons why companies don’t find senior managemen

May 20th, featured our largest audience to date and the most interesting show to boot. After losing the traditional opening game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, Alex Koll discussed a variety of topics, including what song his father might sing if he had Alzheimer's (working title: "I'm Somebody's Dad"). Sean Keane followed with ten minutes, primarily about the George Washington Memorial Parkway in Virginia and why people hate the dollar coin. Special guest Eric Andre , visiting from LA, then performed fifteen minutes of energetic, crowd-pleasing standup. His mom was in attendance, so it was especially great that he killed it. Bucky Sinister - totally anchoring these shows every week - did his usual "rambly, ranty storytelling" to much acclaim. If you are interested in learning about cocaine, 80's gangs, door-to-door atheism recruitment, or even why Jared Leto gets his ass kicked so badly in every movie he's in , just listen to Bucky. We then premie

The question of whether we are witnessing the end of journalism is perhaps the most common topic at contemporary gatherings of journalists and journalism scholars. Although hushed and apprehensive conversations about it have taken place in recent years, today’s discussions are open and filled with alarm and fear. Many of the voices and opinions, however, misunderstand the nature of journalism. It is not business model; it is not a job; it is not a company; it is not an industry; it is not a form of media; it is not a distribution platform. Instead, journalism is an activity. It is a body of practices by which information and knowledge is gathered, processed, and conveyed. The practices are influenced by the form of media and distribution platform, of course, as well as by financial arrangements that support the journalism. But one should not equate the two. The pessimistic view of the future of journalism is based in a conceptualization of journalism as static, with enduring processes,

San Francisco can't get enough of the underground comedy sensation, "The Business", and neither can our fabulous guest stars. Fresh off a killer performance at the SF Punch Line showcase, New York City's (and Seattle's) Andy Haynes joins us this Wednesday, along with local legend Brent Weinbach (Comedians of Comedy Tour, Andy Kaufman Award). To paraphrase Wooderson, that's what I love about The Business shows - they keep getting better, and the admission price just stays the same (Five dollars).

Today they blocked Hotmail, Twitter and Flickr. As Thursday draws near (don't ask me what Thursday is - google the date) its getting worse and worse. The current blocked sites are 1. Hotmail 2. Twitter 3. YouTube 4. Blogspot 5. WordPress 6. Flickr 7. MSN Spaces 8. Bing 9. Most of BBC 10. Most of CNN 11. A few thousand other sites We can manage without most of the sites, but Hotmail !! Its my main e mail tool, as for many millions of Chinese. I am a great fan of this country. There's so much here to be admired. I have only good things to say about this place. But on days like this, my affection is sorely tested.

In India, agriculture is a “saintly” profession, from a public policy perspective. It is mollycoddled worse than even the French farming industry. Income from agriculture is completely tax exempt. Food and fertilizer subsidy eat an enormous proportion of the government’s budget. Power (when it comes) is free for farmers in most states. Loans are often waived for farmers, especially at election times, which come all too frequently. At least from a government’s perspective, agriculture is the most virtuous of professions. And yet given half a chance, most farmers would give it up and run. Its easy to see why this conferring of sainthood on agriculture. Most of India is rural. The majority of the population is engaged in agriculture. To the older generation, food shortages are not some distant memory – even in my childhood I have stood in a line to buy rations (and I am not that old !!). So agriculture must be “protected” at all costs. China has many similar characteristics to India. A l