Open Access Journal

CORPORATE LESSON

There were these 4 guys, a Russian, a German, an American 

and a French, who found this small genie bottle. 

When they rubbed the bottle, a genie appears. 

Thankful that the 4 guys had released him out of the bottle,

 he said, "Next to you all are 4 swimming pools, 

I will give each of you a wish. When you run towards the

 pool and jump, you shout What you want the pool of water 

to become, then your wish will come true."

The French wanted to start. He ran towards 

the pool, jumped and shouted WINE". The pool 

immediately changed into a pool of wine. The Frenchman 

was so happy swimming and drinking from the pool.

Next is the Russian's turn, he did the same and 

shouted, "VODKA" and immersed himself into a pool of vodka.

The German was next and he jumped and shouted, "BEER". 

He was so contented with his beer pool.

The last is the American. He was running towards the

 pool when suddenly he steps on a banana peel. 

He slipped towards the pool 

and shouted, "SH** !!!!!!!........."

MORAL OF THE STORY: Mind your language; you never 

know what it will land you in.

 

Corporate Lesson

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the
 pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of  the Story:
 1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
 2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
 3) And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

Basu, Kaushik, Oxford Companion to Economics in India: pub. by Oxford University Press.

Review:

This is a  valuable encyclopedic work on the Indian economy. This volume will be a lasting resource on India and an intellectual treasure trove for economists and social scientists. It will be an indispensable reference for researchers, policy makers, and students of economic development and the Indian economy. Essential.”–CHOICE

“This book is a unique and important guide to the dynamic Indian economy, and also a collection of penetrating essays by many of the world’s true experts on subjects ranging from India’s intriguing economic history to its potential as a world economic power.”–Stephen P. Cohen, Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Studies Program, Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C.

“Many of us inside and outside India who try to study the economy cannot possibly carry the breadth and knowledge and understanding that is likely to be relevant to a particular set of issues under examination. This volume will be of economic value to all those working on and with an interest in the Indian economy.”–Nicholas H. Stern, Head of the Government Economic Service and Second Permanent Secretary to the Treasury of the United Kingdom

Blatz, Michael, Corporate restructuring: pub. by Springer-Verlag

Review:

Corporate Restructuring: Finance In Times Of Crisis

The number of corporate crises has increased significantly in recent years. The companies affected must be restructured, and it has become conventional wisdom that they must do more than improve operations and realign their strategies. Companies today must also focus on reorganizing their finances, as this is a fundamental part of restructuring. In order to do so, they must master the use of corporate financing tools. This book discusses the related challenges and provides ways to overcome them. In doing so, the focus is always on increasing the company’s value. The book uses case studies to show how financial restructuring can be implemented in practice, thus paving the way for successful expansion. The book is written for restructuring professionals who want a detailed overview of new developments in corporate recapitalization. 

Amir Ulla Khan, State Of Indian Economy: pub. by Sage

Contents: . Acknowledgements. Introduction.

1. Making sense of a fast growing economy.

 2. Services in rural India.

 3. Progressive states.

4. Emerging states.

5. Infrastructure growth and investment.

 6. Industrial Renaissance

6 Steps to go From an Idea into a Business

Too many people have a great idea but don’t make anything out of it.

Some are afraid of failure, some are afraid of the pressures of success, and some just want to tell people about their ideas, just for the sake of doing so. Here is a general step-by-step guide to taking an idea and turning it into a business.

Once you get an Idea…

1. Talk – Share your idea with your friends. Don’t worry about someone stealing your idea. Feedback will triumph over excessive paranoia. Take all feedback objectively, but consider them all.

2. Write it down – Putting things down on paper gets a lot of things out of your head and onto an initial plan. Don’t worry about structure, all the analysis just yet. Put down everything that comes to your head first. Getting this out of the way paves a much easier path to sit down in the future and do up a proper business plan.

3. Assemble a team – Pick your people based on motivation, communication, and skills. The lack of any one of these attributes will result in a higher likelihood of your team not reaching its full potential and morale being affected adversely. Having an especially cohesive team is essential, as a start-up will take a much longer time to reach a point of big rewards.

4. Find a deadline – Make your own deadlines and set your own lofty targets. Break things down into small tasks each which its own deadline so that you at least make baby steps towards the final goal. Failure of this will likely result in procrastination and unnecessary slowdown of the project

5. Manage the team – Be decisive. Insist on reasonable commitments on team members, and don’t be afraid to seek out new blood if they don’t reach expected levels of commitment.

6. Rinse and repeat steps 4 and 5 until you get into business – Constantly seek out new goals to meet, and manage your team based on those goals on deadlines.

Simplistic as it sounds, these are practical steps that will move you in the right direction in a timely manner.

New Arrivals, January, 2009

Economics

1. States of the Indian economy, Amir Ulla Khan/ Harsh Vivek, Sage (See contents)
2. Reforming Indian agriculture, Bhaumik/ Sankar Kumar, Sage

3. Oxford companion to economics in India, Basu/ Kaushik, Oxford University Press  (See contents)

Soft Skills

4. Doing interviews, Kavale/ Steiner, Sage

Marketing Management

5. Brand building advertising, Parameshwaran/ M. G., Tata McGraw Hill
6. Marketing research: Concepts, practices and cases, Easwaran/ Sunanda/ Sharmila J. Singh, Oxford University Press

Human Resource Management

7. Leadershiip engine, Tichy/ Noel M./ Cohen/ Eli, Harper Collins
8. Cycle of leadership, Tichy/ Noel M./ Cardwell/ Nancy, Harper Collins
9. Judgement: How winning leaders make great calls, Tichy/ Neol M./ Bennis/ Warren S., Harper Collins
10. Human resource development in commercial banks, B. Madhavi/ Rao/ C. Rama Prasada, Associated Publisher

Finance

11. Corporate restructuring, Blatz/ Michael/ Kraus/ Karl J./ Haghani/ Sacho, Springer-Verlag (book-reviews)

management tips

#65: Don’t Limit Yourself. The difference between leaders and managers is that leaders do not set limits on themselves. There are enough people trying to limit what you can do. Don’t be one of them.

#64: Leaders create change. If you lead, you will cause changes. Be prepared for them and their impact on people within, and outside, your group. If you are not making changes, you are not leading.

Role of Marketing in Business

Marketing is perhaps the most important activity in a business because it has a direct effect on profitability and sales. Larger businesses will dedicate specific staff and departments for the purpose of marketing.

It is important to realise that marketing cannot be carried out in isolation from the rest of the business. For example:

The marketing section of a business needs to work closely with operations, research and development, finance and human resources to check their plans are possible.

Operations will need to use sales forecasts produced by the marketing department to plan their production schedules.

Sales forecasts will also be an important part of the budgets produced by the finance department, as well as the deployment of labour for the human resources department.

A research and development department will need to work very closely with the marketing department to understand the needs of the customers and to test outputs of the R&D section.