Kasab appeals death sentence

The lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left 166 dead has approached th Supreme Court asking for his death sentence to be overturned.

The request by Ajmal Kasab had been filed via jail authorities in Mumbai, where he has been held since the attacks, and lodged with the secretary general of the court. He filed the appeal through the Arthur Road jail authorities.

Pakistani national Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai for nearly three days, was first convicted and sentenced by a trial court in the Indian commercial and entertainment capital in May 2010. The death sentence was confirmed by the state high court in February in the first failed appeal by the 23-year-old school drop-out from a poor farming area in Pakistan's Punjab state.

India has the death sentence for the "rarest of the rare" criminal offences and executions are uncommon. Kasab was found guilty of a string of offences including waging war against India, murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts after a trial at a maximum security prison court in Mumbai. During the trial, the prosecution produced fingerprint, DNA, eye-witness, CCTV and other evidence showing him opening fire and throwing grenades in the bloodiest episode of the November 26 attacks at Mumbai's main railway station.

A number of senior police officers, including the head of the Maharashtra state anti-terrorism squad, were killed as the gunmen fled the scene of carnage. Three luxury hotels, a popular tourist restaurant and a Jewish centre were also targeted by the other gunmen.

If the Supreme Court upholds the verdict and sentence, Kasab can appeal for clemency to the President as a last resort.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Meet the tech-freak!

The stylish Bollywood diva, Lara Dutta gets candid with 4Ps B&M on her larger-than-life philosophy and love for gadgets

In the era of iPhones and Blackberrys, how has technology impacted your life?
As an individual, I have experienced how technology actually impacts and enhances your experience for the better. In fact, I have become a complete gadget freak these days. I love getting my hands on the latest gadgets and gizmos around. I am carrying two mobile phones with me right now. I’ll die if I don’t have any of those two. They facilitate me to stay in touch with family and friends.

What appeals to you in a gadget?
I would like my gadgets to be stylish and sleek. But at the same time, I prefer a user-friendly gadget compared to the one that only looks appealing. I believe in securing value for money and not buying something that just looks cool and trendy.

At this moment, which gadget are you in love with?
Apart from my two mobiles, I have almost all the new gadgets that one should and should not necessarily have.

What does ‘excellence in lifestyle’ mean to you?
To me, being at par with the rest of the world in terms of the standards of living is the benchmark we should look towards. I take a lot of pride in the remarkable transformation we have made in the way we define excellence in lifestyle in our country. We are poised at the brink of the newest technologies entering our doorsteps. All we have to do is embrace them into our lifestyles.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM in sync with the best of the business world.......
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Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

THE NEW INDIAN MIDDLE CLASS WILL IMPACT THE WORLD OF MARKETING IN A BIG WAY

We often assume that the entire middle class is just ‘One Class’ & Try and paint them in one straight go

It is now official. For the first time in the history of modern India, high income households will outnumber lower income households. According to latest NCAER (National Council for Applied Economic Research) estimates, India will soon have over 46.7 million households in the high income category against the 41 million odd households that are supposed to constitute the lower income category.

For starters, households earning up to `45,000 per annum are dubbed as lower income households, and those earning over `1.8 lakh per annum are classified as high income households. But the real story lies in the number of households whose annual income falls between `45,000 to `1.8 lakh. In fact, this number has now reached a whopping 141 million households (out of the total 228 million households in the country), and this is what we call the great Indian middle class. This middle class now is over 60% of the entire population. This is a stupendous turnaround that we are seeing happen to our country.

We often assume that the entire middle class is just ‘one class’ and we can try and paint them in one go. However, the truth is that the middle class in India is a constantly evolving mix of audience. The current decade has seen a very strong growth in middle class. The economic growth, the rising prosperity, more and more people moving up the ladder, et al, have created a new class of customers. These are new members of middle class of India. In fact, they are the ones fuelling this new middle class. After all they are a very potent group of consumers. But who are they? What are the trends that they will trigger?

The new middle class has been powered by women. Just look at the long term literacy data of India and the impact women are having will be clear. The female literacy rate has risen from 8.6% in 1951 to 54% in 2001 census. By the 2011 census, I am sure that this number would have crossed 60%. Interestingly, the growth of female literacy rate was 15% between 1991 and 2001, as against just 11% of male literacy growth. Clearly the women are catching up with males, and this is triggering a set of new trends. The growth of the new middle class is powered by women. With better education they are joining the work force in a greater number. With this they are taking control of their future, having a greater say in their weddings, deciding on when to have kids and how many. Apart from the demographic impact, they are also driving their partners with a greater zeal to improve their future. They are making the most of the change in their demographic and social status.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM in sync with the best of the business world.......
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

BIDDING ADIEU TO FLAT WORLD!

From humble beginnings, Infosys has transformed itself into a global player on the basis of ethics, values and performance. Now, it’s time for the company to take the ultimate leap by marrying its global delivery model with consulting

The textbook definition of holistic marketing is that the entire company must think customer. But it’s rare to actually listen to a person with a finance background talking so extensively about marketing strategy.

Infosys CFO V. Balakrishnan is an exception to that norm. In a write up titled, CFO strategies for winning in a Flat World, he mentions how the company measures its success by the success of its customers and how the key is to be a transformation partner for clients. He also indicates the company’s strategic intent when he says, “Leveraging countries like India is critical to our ability to select the best talent so we can address the needs of our global customers.” We don’t mean intent in terms of customer commitment; Infosys has been famous for that, with 97.3% of turnover as repeat business in FY 2009-10. The interesting part is where he says “leveraging countries like India”. Clearly, Infosys now finds the tag of ‘Indian IT company’ relatively irrelevant as compared to the tag of a ‘global IT company headquartered in India’. Going by the ‘chop shop’, and later ‘body shop’ remarks made by US senator Charles Schumer recently, the strategic shift is spot on for a company that has always endeavoured to be ahead of its time.

Infosys measures its brand value on an internal basis using the ‘generic brand earnings multiple model’ by Michael Birkin. For the financial year 2009-10, the value works out to be `36,907 crore; around 24.7% of its market capitalisation for the year. One of the most interesting facets of brand Infosys is that it is a unique case of a B2B brand that prides itself in the tremendous recognition it enjoys in the B2C space. In fact, the company has been monitoring brand recall regularly since 2004. It does surveys on brand recall in the US, with the target audience as ordinary people rather than CIOs. Of course, the larger challenge is to ensure that all the key stakeholders remain positive about their association with the company, which they ensure through both performance parameters as well as regular communication. Ramanujam Sridhar, CEO, Brand-Comm has elucidated Infosys’ branding strategy quite elaborately in his book – One Land, One Billion Minds, and comments to 4Ps B&M, “Infosys is a typical South Indian company in a certain sense, since they are largely conservative, profitable and well run. But South Indian companies are generally “understated” in their relations with the external world, that includes the media.

Infosys talks about its achievements in the media, that too in a planned and strategic way.”


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM in sync with the best of the business world.......
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management