As Indians, we have become accustomed to the frequency of strikes called by various associations or trade unions across the country. Strikes in India are often political in nature and are called in protest against a policy or to make authorities agree to a set of demands. This article will focus on the worker strikes that force big corporations to fall to their knees in helplessness.

Recently, a series of strikes at Maruti’s Manesar plant has put the spotlight on company relationships with trade unions – let us concentrate on this issue in greater detail.
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Why India will not miss its Growth Story
A most debated recent issue is whether ‘Recession 2011’ will be worse than the ‘Recession 2008’.  According to me, in global context, the key difference between the two in economic terminology is that while the economy in a former period can be termed as having been in  a sort of “depression”, the present situation of 2011  can be more authentically described as a ‘ recession’ in the western world. From India’s stand point, a key difference is the strength of its domestic economy, which will hold it back from falling in to a recessionary trap. India in 2011 is much better prepared to weather, rather side step the adverse global economic trend.

While the events of 2008 have been termed as “Great Recession” and not the depression – perhaps not to scare away investors from the US economy, according to me, India could as well call its present economic situation as recessionary, in relative terms.” This would truthfully reflect the actual situation while not pressing the panic button.

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Knowledge and Evil grew on the same tree – Roland Barthes

The recent ‘News of the World’ scandal has shaken the Fourth estate in a big way. Rupert Murdoch’s senior leadership team has been accused of illegal information gathering activities including invasion of privacy, in order to generate news. In the light of the recent debate on widespread corruption in India and other 3rd world nations, recent incidents could suggest that our western counterparts are also not far behind.

Corruption in India has been rampant for decades. In recent times however, its proportions seem to have increased severely; the most worrisome being that it is steadily receiving societal acceptance as a way of life. When I was growing up, we were often used to seeing the government officers being consistently nabbed for indulging in corrupt practices like bribery and unethical conduct. Read More…

Can crude oil sustain below $100 for long? My take is it will not. It would require herculean effort that goes well beyond the release of strategic reserves by IEA members to keep oil prices low. For the moment of course, the release of strategic reserves has done the job and crude oil price has dropped below $100 a barrel. But this is not sustainable as long term solution to keeping oil prices under control.

Consider the total strategic reserves of 28 IEA members. As of now about 1500 million barrels is held in strategic reserves by the western governments. Of this, US accounts for about a half, Europe about a quarter and the rest of OECD, the remaining.

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Who is an entrepreneur? Prevailing wisdom says only those who start a business on their own can be called entrepreneurs. But to arrive at a better understanding, the term requires further refinement. Different derivatives of the term co-exist but I find it difficult to contend with any fixed definition.

To drive home my point, I will take the example of Louis V. Gerstner – the man who turned around IBM’s fortunes and saved the company from going out of business. When Gerstner joined IBM as its CEO, the management gave him free rein to run the business. Right from strategy to sales and finance to HR, Gerstner called the shots and one man’s drive and business acumen resuscitated a billion-dollar organization.

Biz pundits have coined the term ‘intrapreneur’ to define people like Mr. Gerstner. But to my mind, definitions restrict possibilities. Indeed, it would be unfair not to call Gerstner an entrepreneur.

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In my view there should not have been a flutter when Infosys’ announced Shibulal to succeed S Gopalakrishnan as CEO & MD, last month. So far, the company had appointed all of its chief executives from its stable of founding members and Shibulal’s appointment in this sense was no different. But it did ruffle feathers, as T V Mohandas Pai, a senior director and long time Murthy confidante was overlooked for the corner office.

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