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...