meek-investor

If you are a company doing business in the developing world, chances are that you are not far away from poverty in a very basic form. You cannot, and should not, be an island behind electrified fences. And at the same time, its not your job to solve global hunger. What can you do ? What should you do ? You are doing something, by the very fact of your existence. You provide jobs to people. There is no better way of fighting poverty than that. This is the greatest good that companies can do. Locational choices on where to operate are dictated by a whole host of considerations – nearness to market, availability of inputs, government incentives, cost structures, etc etc. I suggest that one more criteria be added – poverty around the location. Other things being equal, go to a place with higher poverty. Perhaps go to places where others haven’t been. Go outside of the big cities. This isn’t an ideological rant. In my business life, I’ve been part of many many locational choices. Our best d...

I’m posting a few pieces on Corporate Social Responsibility in the developing world. I had posted my views on what companies should NOT do here and what they could do here , a few months ago. I’m picking up the theme in relation to the developing world, because the circumstances and the maturity of CSR are , I believe, different in the developing world. In my book, the first role of a socially responsible organization is to follow the law. This is not so simple in the developing world as it might seem. The first question is “what law ?”. The laws of the country you are operating in ? The laws of the country you are headquartered ? You say it should be the law of the country in which you are operating in. But what if the law is silent on something which is taken for granted in other parts of the world – say for eg pollution. If the standards are lax in the country , would you follow only those standards, or would you follow those in the developed world ? Is "pollution outsourci...

Yes, I know, it’s the blogger’s equivalent of kicking the dog. But you aren’t human if you don’t do it once in a bluemoon. Not so long ago, when my blog had a readership of 1 (myself), I wrote, or I should say more accurately I copied, my first weekender “non businessy” piece. I was reminded of it when reading a very nice post by The Thoughtful Train on Solomon Asch’s experiments on Conformity. I am no psychologist, but this came to mind on reading her post. And I am much flattered by a very kind and large hearted blogger friend A Journey called Life who is egging me on to do “non businessy” stuff. So please forgive me. It’s a lazy Sunday morning. The moon is blue today. Here’s an old piece titled The Violonist at the Metro .

I read an interesting and short piece on leadership styles in Tom Peters’ blog – a nice post by Madeleine McGrath. Click here – it’s a lovely little post. What do you think ? This is classic Theory X and Theory Y. Can one leadership style exist to the exclusion of the other and promote excellence in the long run ? I am firmly in the camp of “yes, only one style really works in the long run”. But this post set me thinking. What do you say ?

When will the world come out of recession ? How will the recovery look like ? Questions that are in our thoughts all the time. Self appointed experts are falling over themselves predicting the answers to these questions. The flavour of the month seems to be to characterize the recovery after an alphabet. Some economists are predicting a ‘V” recovery – a straight rise after the steep down. Other think it will be a “U” – down, flat and then up again. Nouriel Roubini , an economist noted for being one of the few to have thought a recession was coming before it came, thinks it will be a “W” . As economists have to invent a term for everything, this will be a “double dip” recession. Now Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, an advertising giant, thinks it will be a “L”. Unfortunately, humility has not been a particular virtue of economists. The least they can do, after failing en masse to see a recession coming, is to keep quiet in penance. No. They are loudly proclaiming their abili...

A few days ago I posted on the Cash for Clunkers scheme that is just closing in the US (Click here ). In the post, I jokingly asked the question – “Why not cash for clunkers for TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, or for that matter, kidney machines”. It turns out that this wasn’t a joke. Or else somebody in the US administration is reading my blog (Ha Ha). There is such a scheme coming – Cash for refrigerators . Usual rubbish being given on improving energy saving. Cost ? Some $300 m. It IS becoming a joke. What next ? For some prosaic speculation, click here . Where will this all end ? The wallet is empty. You are borrowing from your children. And then recklessly spending like this . When the history of our generation is written, it shall be said of us – that was the most irresponsible, reckless generation in all of human history; a generation that committed the unpardonable sin of bankrupting its children before they were born. The United States Constitution is the one of the most d...

Well, if General Motors can file for bankruptcy, who is safe ? This recession has been brutal to famous names from the past. Lehman Brothers has vanished. GM and Chrysler went into bankruptcy and are emerging with large parts of them brutally chopped. When the dust has cleared, there will indeed be a new world where many of the familiar faces are gone. That’s the way it should indeed be. The fittest should survive, shouldn’t they ? Buts it's still a sad day, when an icon like Reader’s Digest totters. They filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. They aren’t going out of business; at least not yet. The Chapter 11 filing is only for the US business; not for their operations in the rest of the world. And they’ll continue to hit the stands – Chapter 11 does not mean you stop operations ; it just means that you get some breathing time and space from the creditors hovering outside and have time to restructure. But for sure, the old Reader’s Digest is gone. What emerges out o...