Bring in The ‘Fair’er Sex!

Greater Entry of Women has to be Encouraged at Various levels of Governance, as it is known to be Very Beneficial to Society

History is testimony to the fact that improving participation of and contribution by women in a country is a definite and valuable stride towards prosperity and development. The Indian Constitution does give women several rights, including the right to vote and be elected. But their participation in reality paints a grim picture. According to a UN survey of women in politics in 2008, India belongs to the lowest quartile with just around 9.1% women MPs in parliament. Even some conservative and relatively underdeveloped countries like Mozambique (34.8%) and Rwanda (56.7%) are way ahead. These countries believe greater women participation can improve governance and transparency.

Is India realising this? There have been policy initiatives favourable to women. Reservation has been increased to 33% for women in Gram Panchayat and municipal elections. The Rajya Sabha passed the historic Women Reservation Bill. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has also promised 50% reservations for women in the upcoming municipal elections in 2012. Currently, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has 96 (out of 272) women councillors (35% of the total).

There is one most positive factor that often escapes attention while discussing reservations for women. Global experience and empirical evidence has shown that women tend to be the least corrupt in the society and tend to rarely use fraudulent means. Case studies like Grameen Bank in Bangladesh only give loans to women as they have a near to 100% loan return rate.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

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IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Let Technology do it!

The Literacy divide between Urban and Rural India is Particularly Dangerous. Technology can Provide an Effective Solution

Today, millions of Africans are using mobile phones (m-banking) to pay bills, transfer cash and buy everyday items. It is based on the fact that millions of people who don’t own a bank account own a cell phone. The same can be used to bridge the Indian rural-urban divide in terms of literacy. Indian education systems suffer from a non-uniform standard of teaching, teacher absenteeism, low access to schools et al, but technology can be one certain solution.

With 3G and mobile broadband services, internet can be made available to myriad students who don’t have access quality education. With over 612.2 million mobile phone subscribers in India, this can be extremely effective. Distribution of iPads (especially cheaper Indian versions like ‘Adam’) along with the facility of downloading eBooks would go a long way. Adams cost $327 or Rs.15,700 compared to iPads that come for around $499, and further reductions in price are a positive sign. Massive proliferation of such tablets can be immensely beneficial as it would enable eBooks to reach remote villages at a fast pace and take care of the content standardisation problem we face currently. The Union Education Minister last year talked about introducing a touch-screen, wifi enabled, solar powerd tablet PC that costs just Rs.1,600. These are the innovations that have to pursued with extreme passion is India is to take the massive literacy leap.

Information & Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D) are used by All China Women’s Federation to help rural women get access to updated health information, by Cuba to promote online health initiatives and by Egypt to encourage rural education.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age WomanIIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
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

A Dilemma of Plenty

Wakf boards can Achieve a lot if Managed Professionally

The Sachar Committee created enough sensation across India in its report in June 2006, which highlighted the weak social, economic & educational ground of Indian Muslims.

Are they indeed poor? The Indian Wakf board has a land holding of over 6 lakh acres, with a market value of a whopping Rs 1.2 trillion; more than the combined 2011 budget allocation on health and education in India. This means that Indian Muslims have the third largest land holding after Indian defence and railways. The largest concentration of Wakf properties is in West Bengal (148,200 acres) followed by Uttar Pradesh (122,839 acres). Other states with sizeable Wakf holdings are Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The current value of Wakf properties in Delhi alone is estimated at over Rs.60 billion. So where lies the problem?

As per the Sachar committee report, the Wakf board presently manages Rs 1.63 billion annually out of its lands, while it can generate around Rs 120 billion if efficiently handled. There is widespread corruption on Wakf properties and least coordination between state boards and the central board. Most boards are headed by incompetent people or low ranking government officials. In addition, Wakf lands are often occupied illegally or locked in protracted litigation. Karnataka HC recently upheld the Wakf Board’s decision to evict the owners of Windsor Manor Sheraton hotel. The local managing committee had extended the lease with Windsor Manor without consulting the board. The latter cancelled the lease in 1981 and the case has been pending since.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles. 

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting

Picking brand names in China is a business itself

Western companies choosing a brand name in China now rely on consultants and linguistic analyses to ensure that consumers are attracted rather than amused or even repelled

After a hard day’s labour, your average upscale Beijinger likes nothing more than to shuck his dress shoes for a pair of Enduring and Persevering, rev up his Precious Horse and head to the pub for a tall, frosty glass of Happiness Power.

Or, if he’s a teetotaler, a bottle of Tasty Fun.

To Westerners, that’s Nike, BMW, Heineken and Coca-Cola, respectively. And those who wish to snicker should feel free: The companies behind these names are laughing too – all the way to the bank.

More than many nations, China is a place where names are imbued with deep significance. Western companies looking to bring their products to China face a problem not unlike that of Chinese parents naming a baby boy: little Gang (“strong”) may be regarded quite differently than little Yun (“cloud”). Given that China’s market for consumer goods is growing by better than 13% annually – and luxury-goods sales by 25% – an off-key name could have serious financial consequences.

And so the art of picking a brand name that resonates with Chinese consumers is no longer an art. It has become a sort of science, with consultants, computer programmes and linguistic analyses to ensure that what tickles a Mandarin ear does not grate on a Cantonese one.

Art “is only a very, very tiny piece of it,” said Vladimir Djurovic, President of Labbrand Consulting Co. in Shanghai, which has made a business of finding names for Western companies entering the Chinese market.

Maybe. But there is a lot of artistry in the best of the West.

The paradigm probably is the Chinese name for Coca-Cola, Kekoukele, which not only sounds like Coke’s English name, but conveys its essence of taste and fun in a way that the original name could not hope to match.

There are many others. Consider Tide detergent, Taizi, whose Chinese characters literally mean “gets rid of dirt.” (Characters are important: the same sound written differently could mean “too purple.”)

There is also Reebok, or Rui bu, which means “quick steps.” And Colgate – Gao lu jie – which translates into “revealing superior cleanliness.” And Lay’s snack foods – Le shi – whose name means “happy things.” Nike (Nai ke) and BMW (Bao Ma, echoing the first two sounds of its English and German names) also have worn well on Chinese ears.



Still, finding a good name involves more than coming up with clever homonyms to the original English.

“Do you want to translate your name, or come up with a Chinese brand?” said Monica Lee, the Managing Director of The Brand Union, a Beijing consultant. “If you go for phonetic sounds, everyone knows where you are from – you’re immediately identified as a foreign brand.” For some products, having a foreign-sounding name lends a cachet that a true Chinese name would lack. Many upscale brands like Cadillac (Ka di la ke), or Hilton (Xi er dun), employ phonetic translations that mean nothing in Chinese Rolls-Royce (Laosi-Laisi) includes two Chinese characters for “labour” and “plants” that more or less have become standard usage in foreign names – all to achieve a distinct foreign look and sound.

But on the other hand, a genuine Chinese name can say things about a product that a mere collection of homonyms never could. Take Citibank, Hua qi yinhang, which literally means “star-spangled banner bank,” or Marriott, Wan hao, or “10,000 wealthy elites.” Or Pentium, Ben teng, which means “galloping.” Asked to introduce Marvel comics to China, the Labbrand consultants came up not long ago with “Man wei” – roughly phonetic, foreign-sounding and eminently suited to superheroes with the meaning “comic power.”

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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.

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Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
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