Yummy for investors, as well as for visitors

Well, McDonald’s can definitely afford to eat its burgers and save it too. Matthew Paull, CFO of world’s largest hamburger chain, expects that the company will be able to return at least $10 billion in cash to its shareholders over a period of two years by 2008. The company also reiterated its commitment to be in line with the health levels (read fat) prescribed by the New York City law. The company is already trying to reduce the fat levels in its French fries. McDonald’s is also working on to come up with new premium chicken salad & modified chicken snack wrap, which have been major components of McDonald’s menu for years. The company is planning to spend a whopping $1.8 billion on capital expenditure during 2006 and another $1.8 to $1.9 billion in 2007. According to Chief Executive Jim Skinner, in a move to streamline costs, McDonald’s has now reduced its advertising expenditure through television from 85-70% of the total advertising budget. McDonald’s is experiencing its strongest business results in 30 years, he added.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

An IIPM And Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Initiative

Circa 1991 Immortal Combat

Darwin’s theory of natural selection proposes the viewpoint that only the fi ttest of species survive in the instance of a struggle. But while many Indian family businesses slipped into oblivion post-1991, the era also saw the rise of a host of new entrepreneurs who reveled in the emerging opportunities.
There are a few business families that were well in existence before 1991, but found their true calling only once the markets opened up. Reliance Industries is one of them. Reliance actually started as a textile company, but relentless backward integration took it from textiles to intermediates to petrochemicals to refining and finally to exploration of oil & gas. Even after the unfortunate split, Anil & Mukesh are charting their own separate courses towards glory.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

GM can do wonders; it can also destroy Indian farmers...

It is no surprise then, that you have repeated instances of farmers and activists burning down experimental farms that are show casing GM technology? It is easy to dismiss these acts of ‘arson’ as an extremist stand taken by ‘Green’ activists who detest technology. Yet, a more realistic assessment would compel even a passionate technology zealot to accept that many farmer suicides in the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra and in Andhra Pradesh are related to GM cotton. The fact is, companies like Monsanto are not offering GM technology to Indian farmers as a charity. They stand to earn billions of dollars every year in revenues if the technology gets entrenched in India.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM And Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Initiative

The book that defined the basics of BPR!

No doubt, a blind adherence to tried and tested processes can only lead a corporation to mediocre achievements at best. But to blindly throw out processes and structures, in an insane dash towards ‘dramatic improvements’ is nothing short of ludicrous. Perhaps Champy & Hammer could well learn from brilliant economists like Schumpeter and strategy stalwarts like Harvard’s Christiansen, Raynor and Scott Anthony, who, through their respective theories of ‘creative destruction’ and ‘disruptive innovation’, have relentlessly proved how it is a belief in ‘planned change’, rather than in a slavish harebrained pursuit, that can create dramatic improvements. Clearly, BPR is flawed by its very definition. But hey, does it really matter to firms like CSC Index, who would have played truant with the future of innumerable corporations and destroyed the wealth of innumerable shareholders? Perhaps not, as one wonders why BPR, for so many years, has sounded frighteningly similar to ‘Big PR’. Or has it been just a coincidence? Burp… Run bro’, the beast is just round the corner!

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

An IIPM And Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Initiative

First hit – a buy order for an overseas fund goes through

And this inhospitable situation of the dollar has been a courtesy of some dedicated mismanagement of the US economy. According to Naomi Fink, Currency strategist, BNP Paribas “Support for the dollar has fl own in the face of a continued deterioration of US fundamentals.” It’s not only about debilitating deficits today as growth woes are taking toll on the dollar. With housing continuing to lose steam, a screeching halt of the economy is getting more and more predictable. The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index has fallen from 57 points in January 2006, to 33 in November. Moreover, the manufacturing sector is also showing signs of slowing down. The PMI index, which measures manufacturing activity in the economy, published by Institute of Supply Management fell below 50% to 49.5% for the first time since April 2003.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

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