ARE YOU LOADED?!

If over-indulged, it’s as good (or bad) as any of the seven vices from the Book. And like most sins, it’s sheer pleasure. Even stress busting, they say. In fact, it is probably one of the ideas of recreation in our lives chock-a-block with hair-raising schedules and challenging routines. And like all good things that come for a price, this one does too… literally! For sure, by now, you’ve guessed it and almost tempted to get on with it – shopping!!

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

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THE EXPORTS DILEMMA

Creditably, the Sugar Development Act 1982 has been amended to provide cheap loans for sugar development. But for a country which is to produce an estimated 22 million tonnes of sugar in SY-07, where total sugarcane production is valued at Rs.240 billion per year, the biggest problem Indian farmers & domestic processing companies were facing was that imported sugar was much cheaper than domestically produced sugar. EU is a case in point. EU is one of the largest exporters of sugar with a heft y 14% share in world sugar trade. In fact, one of India’s disagreements during the recent moribund WTO trade talks (refer Policy lead in this issue) was with EU’s continuing subsidies to its farmers that gave them undue advantage. But now, with an EU guarantee that its subsidies will be dropped by 36% over a period of four years, Indian farmers have a huge potential in the new level playing field.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

Editor:- Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

A chilled treat from Ben & Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry’s is all set to serve its British customers with 150 ml and 500 ml tubs of fair-trade ice cream (a certification that the farmers were paid the right price for their harvest). The ice cream will be stocked in co- operative stores and also in branches of Britain’s third largest super market, Sainsbury’s. The ice cream will also reach customers in Ireland, Belgium & Netherlands foraying into other countries later. The motive is to boost Britain’s fairtrade food market. In comparison to last year food articles carrying fair trade logo saw a 40% jump in sales to $366.23 million

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

Editor:- Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

Contour technology jumps miles ahead of its contemporaries, and promises to change the face of animation

Next time you see the actual Michael Schumacher driving his Ferrari or Tiger Woods playing golf in a video game, don’t be flabbergasted – it is the magic of digital replicas that makes the virtual world look so real. And the fun is not limited to just video games, but is even changing the face of movies; quite literally!

This mind moving latest technology on the block is called “Contour,” which creates digital copies of various human actions and reactions. These digital reproductions help create highly realistic animated characters by controlling and reproducing innumerable facial expressions and body movements. But hey, so what? Hasn’t the motion picture industry doing similar stuff till now? Definitely not! Till date, film and video game developers have been using ‘motion-capture’ technology to add a realistic touch to digitally animated human characters. The technology uses sensors to monitor movements of the actors dressed in specially designed suits. But these sensors cannot gather enough data in the limited time to make images appear realistic enough. So, though digitally animated human characters have been created in movies like Matrix and Polar Express, the inefficiency of motion capture has stymied accurate portrayal of the infinite human expressions.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

Editor:- Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

Companies are scrapping pension plans; social security is in dire straits

For the auto giants, General Motors and Ford, it has been one of the worst nightmares; even some of the big airliners are not being spared. Well, companies are making sure that it doesn’t trouble them again, not even in their dreams. It’s now being observed that more and more companies are moving from the defined benefit to defined contributions; a development that might prove incapacitating, both for employees and the employers.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

Editor:- Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri.

India could witness a mammoth surge of FDI - IIPM Publication

According to him, once the Special Economic Zones’ Act is notified by the government, India could witness a mammoth surge of FDI. However, before being swept away by the euphoria generated by the news about the “pending proposals”, one needs to assess the performance of Indian SEZs, as well as, the present investment environment in the country.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

hey, where’d it go?

Without an iota of doubt, AOL’s Johnycome- late free strategy is as useless as it could ever be. Unless AOL re-focuses its market orientation towards maps, music downloads, and of course, advertisements, AOL is as good as... hey, where’d it go?

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

Editor:- Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri