The five competitive forces that shape strategy

Watch Mr.Porter re-introducing 5 forces framework ..if you have seen the old video u will find it more interesting..(like using airline industry example)

Freedom to express

An interesting stat on Press freedom.

Web's secret stories

Jonathan Harris shares about his project "We feel fine",which collection emot(icons) across the globe and "Yahoo Time Capsule" which preserves images,thoughts,and quotes snapped up in 2006

 

In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India

In the earlier post,business week has listed this book as one of the best business books for the year 2007.

Edward Luce, a journalist who lived in and covered India and South Asia for the Financial Times from 2001-2006, weaves his own keen reporting with the opinions and perceptions of Indians from all walks of life.

This video provides author's insights and perspectives gained while writing this book..

(Length : 1hr)

Author clears many prejudices set in western thinkers about the opportunities and provides clear analysis of various aspects for the phenomenal growth of India.

LINK

The best of Devil's advocate

Best Business Books of the year

Here are Businessweek's top 10 picks from a long and strong list of business books published this year.

In nonfiction book publishing, 2007 could go down as the year of Chindia. There was a small avalanche of books on the history, changing economics, and investing opportunities in Asia’s two powerhouse societies, India and China. But the two countries are quite different economically, with enterprise in India tending to be more capital-intensive and more reliant on skilled labor than is business in China.

• In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India
• Asian Godfathers: Money and Power in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia
• The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
• Strategy Paradox: Why Committing to Success Leads to Failure
• Boeing Versus Airbus: The Inside Story of the Greatest International Competition in Business
• The Oil and the Glory: The Pursuit of Empire and Fortune on the Caspian Sea
• The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
• The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune
• Innovation Nation: How America Is Losing Its Innovation Edge, Why It Matters, and What We Can Do to Get It Back

www.flickr.com

20 Worst Capital Investments of all TIME

Catastrophic collapses and classic crashes in the high-tech business world. Checkout

Consistency in data across MBS and HBS

Earlier this year I posted about no.of students (Over 25%) from India or PIO in our school, which some found ( and some still find..) surprising in early days and later realised it much different than what it looks.

Today economictimes has featured prime article featuring students in Harvard Business School(HBS).

 

 

 

 

 

 

"As is well known, about 15% of HBS’s faculty are either from India or of Indian origin, making them the highest international representation after the US. Today, many of these professors teach cases based on frontline Indian companies like TCS, ITC e-choupal and ICICI Bank. In addition, HBS also holds an India conference annually and invites business leaders from India to share their perspective." - Economic Times

Am sure this is gonna really open make some Eyes Wide Open :-)

this picture is quite popular caption of Hutch(Vodafone) mobile service provider..so ...data follows...

Carrefour into supplying Micro-Retailers in India

Interesting article in FT on Carrefour's market entry strategy by not agitating the micro-retailers and small shop-owners sounds convincing. All the theories and concepts we learn about market-entry strategy are unfolding to those who are interested to understand managing international businesses.

Organised retailing has only about 5 per cent market penetration in India. But it is attracting increasing opposition from the nation’s estimated 12m small shopkeepers, who fear that supermarkets and convenience stores will put them out of business. - FT

Isnt it beautiful to see how companies are trying to enter the market by tampering the value chain and not getting into direct conflict.

Windows Live Writer

I just tried to download the latest version of windows live writer and messenger..these tools are similar to what flock browser provides.but i would like to try this.. Flock does just posts and writer has got some cool add-ins too..

Chak De India...India wins its first international football cup

India won its first international football cup beating Syria 1-0(slideshow). Apart from the worlcup football season, very rarely do we find anyone discussing about football india. Probably, tournaments like these will trigger interest and hope to see more games being played atleast in near future. By no means, we have to shy away from cricket(which some say the religion which unites india) but can encourage other games too..as SK says in Chak De India...!!!

Wikipedia Unmasked...!!!!!

Anyone who has used a search engine would have observed that Wikipedia is more often in the Top 5 suggested sites for any search. Wikipedia has been epitomised as the centre for knowledge management and democratising information. But a new tool created by a "noted" hacker reveals the amount of vandalism and self-editing goes within the wikipedia.

WikiScanner, shows all the anonymous editing and ego-editing in Wikipedia. Its true that Wikipedia is occassionaly incorrect and not encouraged in academic institutions to take it as a reference.

Many instituitions' self-edits and vandalism on other articles are being revealed by this tool. Check the site and one can understand what can be done by just reorganising public information

Terror attack clouds 400yr old city

Last saturday, two bombs exploded in Hyderabad killing more than 40 people. Both bombs were planted in most busy areas of the city Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat,Koti. Other bombs in the city have been defused but these strikes shook the most diverse city in India. The city known for its hyderabadi urdu and virtual gateway for northern and southern regions attracts tourists and also has been center of booming IT industry.

Wall Street Journal quotes " Fortunately, terrorists cannot easily sow discord in India, where democracy and tolerance are deeply rooted. Saturday's bombings provoked horror across the country, not religious or race riots. The more frequent the bombings, however, the less patient the public will become. Here's hoping that Delhi learns the right lessons from Saturday's tragedy."

Fortunately the strike did not bring any new conflicts in the city as it has been one of the sensitive places where people from different religions and faith live. Hoping the security arrangement tighten and avoid any kind of damage to the city and public.

Google "Time to Cleanup and No more Unlimited space in Gmail"

There isnt any unlimited mail storage space and Google will be introducing charges to its Gmail service which was launched in 2004 with a storage space of 1GB. Yahoo has introduced unlimited storage space with certain terms and conditions to avoid abuse of the service.

Analysts who hailed gmail as a saviour to mail users with messages shown as threads rather than linear mail view.

Already google has online-advertising revenue with gmail and also brought all of its services under one email ID. So whats next move of google ? will it be restricting other free services??

Behind the Miracle : India's mighty movers

On this wednesday-aug 15, India will be celebrating 60th year of independence and raring to step into the space of greater challenges and opportunities. Especially,the next decade will be governed by more and more changes in the way world will perceive India. Forget about IT and outsourcing and watchout for other sectors.
Business Week has tried to list 50 most influential Indians particularly the ones who have greater impact on diverse sectors.

SLIDESHOW

Nardelli era starts at troubled Chrysler

Bob Nardelli will be leading the troubled Chrysler and it is going to be one of the famous turnaround cases,if he does. If you remember my earlier post after his exit from homedepot, you can understand the reasons behind new role.

Nardelli is a brand name manager, like him or not. And it appears that Cerberus felt that Nardelli’s well-known brand of operational discipline and back-breaking style is what is needed to hot-foot confidence in this turnaround idea…The New Chrysler.

And this could be a great case in continuation to DaimlerChrysler M&A case.

March to Enslavement - IPhone or IEye

Stephen gets his iPhone

How to use Flipcharts??

Its really funny and u can actually learn some tips about making presentations

McDonald's Delivers—Worldwide

McDonald's Delivers—Worldwide

McDonald’s offering delivery service to callers in about two dozen congested urban centers across the developing world, a business that’s been growing at 20% or more a year, or three times faster than the chain’s overall growth rate.
In Istanbul, customers can even just SMS/message for the food from their cell phones.
In this comptetive space,McDonalds has been making some serious moves to get close to all segments of market and serve different taste buds rather than with a standard meal.

Slideshow from BusinessWeek

You would not understand this guy until u see the complete video

Probably, one of the most creative marketing videos i have seen recently. If you are really observant, you can observe some clues in the first instance itself