Here is a Financial Times article about "Venture capitalists descend on India"...
A group of venture capital funds from the UK and continental Europe have completed a fact-finding visit to India in their first big show of interest in a market that has been dominated by US and domestic companies.
More than 50 delegates from European companies such as Logitech, 3i, SAP Ventures, Nokia Ventures, Advent Venture Partners and Sofinnova made the trip, said Nish Kotecha of The Indus Entrepreneurs, a business association and one of the organisers of the visit.
They had about €7bn-€10bn ($8.8bn-$12.5bn) to invest in the global technology sector, including in India, Mr Kotecha said.
"I'd expect a good number of investments to come out of this over the course of the next couple of years," he said.
"It could become 10 per cent [of the €10bn] quite quickly."
Unlike private equity investment, the venture capital industry remains in its infancy in India.
Read on...
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Welch's advice to MIT students
GE icon dishes out blunt, politically incorrect advice to MBA students...
"Don't fall in love with your workers," a business instructor tells a student who's launching a small startup company. "If you've got 16 employees, at least two are turkeys."
It's hardly the only piece of blunt, politically incorrect advice the charismatic teacher dishes out in a windowless basement classroom filled with 30 MBA candidates, many of them hoping to eventually become CEOs. Wearing a blue blazer and checked shirt, the baldheaded instructor stands in front of a lecture table, rather than behind, through most of the 90-minute session, sharing his management ideas with a preacher's fervor.
If it sounds like the instructor is copping an I've-seen-it-all attitude, it's because he has reason to. He's Jack Welch."
Read on...
Here are some of his Classroom Quotes...
"Don't fall in love with your workers," a business instructor tells a student who's launching a small startup company. "If you've got 16 employees, at least two are turkeys."
It's hardly the only piece of blunt, politically incorrect advice the charismatic teacher dishes out in a windowless basement classroom filled with 30 MBA candidates, many of them hoping to eventually become CEOs. Wearing a blue blazer and checked shirt, the baldheaded instructor stands in front of a lecture table, rather than behind, through most of the 90-minute session, sharing his management ideas with a preacher's fervor.
If it sounds like the instructor is copping an I've-seen-it-all attitude, it's because he has reason to. He's Jack Welch."
Read on...
Here are some of his Classroom Quotes...
iPod revolution
Here is a story about iPod's impact on the culture, commerce and coolness...
"The iPod arrived in October 2001, bringing the promise of pleasure to a world in transformation from its comforting analog roots to a disruptive digital future. But no one expected that the iPod would become the signature artifact of our young century, selling more than 60 million units in its first five years. No one envisioned vast swaths of humanity escaping reality via the White Earbud Express. And no one would ever have believed that a 2005 survey would report that the iPod is more popular on college campuses ... than beer."
Read on ...
"The iPod arrived in October 2001, bringing the promise of pleasure to a world in transformation from its comforting analog roots to a disruptive digital future. But no one expected that the iPod would become the signature artifact of our young century, selling more than 60 million units in its first five years. No one envisioned vast swaths of humanity escaping reality via the White Earbud Express. And no one would ever have believed that a 2005 survey would report that the iPod is more popular on college campuses ... than beer."
Read on ...
Micro Financing: Mohammed Yunus
Newsweek has been covering Grameen Bank extensively for the past decade... Here they are rightfully boasting their coverage about the bank, its founder and its pioneering work to help poor people out of poverty...
"From its humble beginnings more than 20 years ago as a new kind of lending institution that has made loans of as little as one dollar to poor people looking for simple ways-buying a cow, or some small farm equipment—to better their lives, the Grameen Banks of Bangladesh has become a major force in lifting people out of poverty. It’s not charity—the bank has been profitable in all but three years-but a lending revolution that has made a total of $5.72 billion in these “microcredit” loans. NEWSWEEK has been writing for years about Grameen and its founder, economist Mohammed Yunus, winners Friday of the Nobel Peace Prize. Below is some of our coverage:"
Read on ...
Here is a video about MicroFinancing from my professor Dr. Bhagwan Chowdhry... He discusses about how to make micro financing accessible to more down trodden villagers in poor countries like Bangladesh, India etc. He talks about the idea of "Village Money Lenders", with a different role than their notorious predecessors (who used to charge poor with an interest rate of 30-50% per day because of lack of collaterals) had. Money to these lenders (with reasonable collaterals) will be lended by bigger banks and these lenders will in turn lend smaller amounts to the poor people at a lower and reasonable interest rates...
Here is a BBC story about how poor peasants in India commit suicides because of huge debt...
"From its humble beginnings more than 20 years ago as a new kind of lending institution that has made loans of as little as one dollar to poor people looking for simple ways-buying a cow, or some small farm equipment—to better their lives, the Grameen Banks of Bangladesh has become a major force in lifting people out of poverty. It’s not charity—the bank has been profitable in all but three years-but a lending revolution that has made a total of $5.72 billion in these “microcredit” loans. NEWSWEEK has been writing for years about Grameen and its founder, economist Mohammed Yunus, winners Friday of the Nobel Peace Prize. Below is some of our coverage:"
Read on ...
Here is a video about MicroFinancing from my professor Dr. Bhagwan Chowdhry... He discusses about how to make micro financing accessible to more down trodden villagers in poor countries like Bangladesh, India etc. He talks about the idea of "Village Money Lenders", with a different role than their notorious predecessors (who used to charge poor with an interest rate of 30-50% per day because of lack of collaterals) had. Money to these lenders (with reasonable collaterals) will be lended by bigger banks and these lenders will in turn lend smaller amounts to the poor people at a lower and reasonable interest rates...
Here is a BBC story about how poor peasants in India commit suicides because of huge debt...
Ethics in Business
Buffett warns his top executives to avoid temptation...
Don't be a lemming.
That, in short, is Warren Buffett's warning to top executives at his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
In a Sept. 27 memo, Buffett cautioned managers that many corporate scandals arise because questionable activity is accepted as normal behavior. He said the rationale that ''everyone else is doing it'' is not acceptable. Rather, it should raise a red flag.
Read on...
Don't be a lemming.
That, in short, is Warren Buffett's warning to top executives at his company, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
In a Sept. 27 memo, Buffett cautioned managers that many corporate scandals arise because questionable activity is accepted as normal behavior. He said the rationale that ''everyone else is doing it'' is not acceptable. Rather, it should raise a red flag.
Read on...
India's infrastructure woes...
India's Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has said that the country needs to spend $320 Billion in the next 5 years to maintain the current economic growth rate.
"The quality and capacity of our infrastructure is certainly a matter of concern to one and all," the prime minister said. Singh added substantial private sector investment would be needed to deal with India's infrastructure "deficit".
Here is a Financial Times column about "Engaging India: Infrastruture and Dengue"...
"While manufacturers are attracted to India’s low-cost environment and burgeoning domestic market, they are worried about moving their goods – be it cars, mobile phones or textiles – through the country’s poor network of roads, overburdened airports and clogged ports. Power cuts can force business to a grinding halt. Notably, software, outsourcing services and telecommunications, India’s leading industries, have flourished partly because they are unfettered by the constraints of transportation."
"The quality and capacity of our infrastructure is certainly a matter of concern to one and all," the prime minister said. Singh added substantial private sector investment would be needed to deal with India's infrastructure "deficit".
He said road, rail, air and water transport, electric power, telecommunications, water supply and irrigation needed investment of about 320 billion dollars between 2007-12."
"Singh singled out the country's power sector as one of the biggest economic trouble spots and asked India's states to take immediate steps to make the sector financially viable.
He said high transmission and distribution losses accounted for almost 40 per cent of the electricity produced. No civilised society, nor a functional commercial entity, can sustain losses on such a scale," he said."
Here is a Financial Times column about "Engaging India: Infrastruture and Dengue"...
"While manufacturers are attracted to India’s low-cost environment and burgeoning domestic market, they are worried about moving their goods – be it cars, mobile phones or textiles – through the country’s poor network of roads, overburdened airports and clogged ports. Power cuts can force business to a grinding halt. Notably, software, outsourcing services and telecommunications, India’s leading industries, have flourished partly because they are unfettered by the constraints of transportation."
Knowledge Assets - UCLA Anderson Management Videos
Here are some good Video Insights from the professors of UCLA Anderson and other distinguished speakers...
Didn't know it existed till today (shame on me - being a UCLA Anderson student). And guess what it was pointed out by a USC Marshall student :)
One suggestion to the folks who manage this site is to show the recorded date for each video.
Didn't know it existed till today (shame on me - being a UCLA Anderson student). And guess what it was pointed out by a USC Marshall student :)
One suggestion to the folks who manage this site is to show the recorded date for each video.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Google gobbles up Youtube
OK folks,
Its official... Google is buying Youtube for 1.65 Billion in an all-stock deal.
"Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution.
Here are some naysayers...
Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks, says "It will be interesting to see what happens next and what happens in the copyright world. I still think Google lawyers will be a busy, busy bunch. I don't think you can sue Google into oblivion, but as others have mentioned, if Google gets nailed one single time for copyright violation, there are going to be more shareholder lawsuits than Doans has pills to go with the pile-on copyright suits that follow. Think maybe how Google discloses what they perceive the copyright risk to be in the SEC filings might be an interesting read?"
New York Times thinks that there were eerie echoes of the late 1990’s boom time. "A profitless Web site started by three 20-somethings after a late-night dinner party is sold for more than a billion dollars, instantly turning dozens of its employees into paper millionaires. It sounds like a tale from the late 1990’s dot-com bubble, but it happened yesterday."
Here are some yaysayers...
Newsweek says "Crazy - but it might make sense"..
CNN goes one step further and predicts that it one of the many such investments Google is going to make. It says, "During a conference call, Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said the YouTube deal would be one of "many investments" that Google planned to make in online video. He added that the combination of Google and YouTube would make Google more desirable to advertisers.
Its official... Google is buying Youtube for 1.65 Billion in an all-stock deal.
"Internet search leader Google is snapping up YouTube for $1.65 billion, brushing aside copyright concerns to seize a starring role in the online video revolution.
The all-stock deal announced Monday unites one of the Internet’s marquee companies with one of its rapidly rising stars. It came just a few hours after YouTube unveiled three separate agreements with media companies to counter the threat of copyright-infringement lawsuits."
As expected, you can hear both yays and nays with respect to this deal...Here are some naysayers...
Mark Cuban, owner of Dallas Mavericks, says "It will be interesting to see what happens next and what happens in the copyright world. I still think Google lawyers will be a busy, busy bunch. I don't think you can sue Google into oblivion, but as others have mentioned, if Google gets nailed one single time for copyright violation, there are going to be more shareholder lawsuits than Doans has pills to go with the pile-on copyright suits that follow. Think maybe how Google discloses what they perceive the copyright risk to be in the SEC filings might be an interesting read?"
New York Times thinks that there were eerie echoes of the late 1990’s boom time. "A profitless Web site started by three 20-somethings after a late-night dinner party is sold for more than a billion dollars, instantly turning dozens of its employees into paper millionaires. It sounds like a tale from the late 1990’s dot-com bubble, but it happened yesterday."
But the purchase price has also invited comparisons to the mind-boggling valuations that were once given to dozens of Silicon Valley companies a decade ago. Like YouTube, those companies were once the Next Big Thing, but some soon folded.
Google, with a market value of $132 billion, can clearly afford to take a gamble with YouTube, but the question remains: How to put a price tag on an unproven business?
“If you believe it’s the future of television, it’s clearly worth $1.6 billion,” Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, said of YouTube. “If you believe something else, you could write down maybe it’s not worth much at all.”
Washington Post warns, "Behind the buzz of the high-priced deal come a number of gambles, including a large amount of copyrighted material on the site that attracted both viewers who shared the videos and lawyers who cried foul on behalf of the copyright holders. Clips of popular shows such as "South Park," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "Laguna Beach" can be found on the site.Also a factor is the fickleness of YouTube's online audience, which could migrate elsewhere or become turned off by the large amount of corporate advertising making its way onto the site. A year after online star MySpace.com, a social networking site, was acquired by News Corp. for $580 million, the core audience has shifted from teenagers to people in their thirties.
"The game back in the 1990s to 2001 was to attract as many eyeballs as possible. That hasn't changed," said Tim Bajarin, a longtime technology consultant and futurist with Creative Strategies. "The big difference today is the social network. One of the most powerful methods for spreading information is word of mouth, and the incredible explosion of that use, from spreading information and inviting people, especially within this young age group, is one huge difference."
Here are some yaysayers...
Newsweek says "Crazy - but it might make sense"..
CNN goes one step further and predicts that it one of the many such investments Google is going to make. It says, "During a conference call, Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said the YouTube deal would be one of "many investments" that Google planned to make in online video. He added that the combination of Google and YouTube would make Google more desirable to advertisers.
"This is just the beginning of an Internet video revolution," he said.
There is some debate about whether or not YouTube or other user-generated video sites will be able to attract the interest of top advertisers. But Tancer said that big corporations may be forced to start spending on ads tied to such clips."
Goolge Gives It Gas... says theStreet.com.
Disclaimer: I hope this deal works out well.. I own google shares...Saturday, October 07, 2006
Wipro
Here is an impressive story of how Azim Premji transformed a mediocre vegetable oil company to a IT outsourcing powerhouse...
Rean on...
Also Morarji Desai's ultra-socialist policies had some positive effects...
Says Premji, "As the years went on, I oversaw Wipro's diversification into other products, including soaps, wax and tin containers. But things really changed in 1977, when IBM left the country after India's then-socialist government required them to have a staff that was at least 60% Indian.
"That opened the door for home-grown computer scientists and stepped up the government's push for increased computer education throughout the country.
"We seized that moment and began to find ways to capitalize on the computer's growing popularity and utility. By 1981, Wipro was producing its own computer. That profoundly changed my family's company.
"It changed me, too. When I started out in business, I was an electrical engineering student. In 1994, I went back and finally finished my bachelor's degree."
Rean on...
Also Morarji Desai's ultra-socialist policies had some positive effects...
Says Premji, "As the years went on, I oversaw Wipro's diversification into other products, including soaps, wax and tin containers. But things really changed in 1977, when IBM left the country after India's then-socialist government required them to have a staff that was at least 60% Indian.
"That opened the door for home-grown computer scientists and stepped up the government's push for increased computer education throughout the country.
"We seized that moment and began to find ways to capitalize on the computer's growing popularity and utility. By 1981, Wipro was producing its own computer. That profoundly changed my family's company.
"It changed me, too. When I started out in business, I was an electrical engineering student. In 1994, I went back and finally finished my bachelor's degree."
Friday, October 06, 2006
Google Getting Into the YouTube Groove?
"Is Google (Nasdaq: GOOG - News) finally about to put its billions to work by buying its way to the top in online video? A report coming out of The Wall Street Journal online claims that talks have advanced between Google and the popular YouTube site, with a price tag of about $1.6 billion being bandied about. The speculation originally surfaced last night in a TechCrunch blog entry that was titled "Completely Unsubstantiated Google/YouTube Buyout Rumor.""
Read on...
Read on...
Google Puts Lid on New Products
I thought this was long overdue... Especially after reading the article in Fortune magazine "Chaos by design", I was wondering where it was going to lead Google to. The sub-header said it all in that article. "The inside story of disorder, disarray, and uncertainty at Google. And why it's all part of the plan. (They hope.)"
The new article in LATimes business section says "Realizing that its myriad services are confusing users, it will focus on refining what it has."
"In another sign of Google Inc.'s growth from start-up to corporate behemoth, the company's top executives said Thursday that they had begun telling engineers to stop launching so many new services and instead focus on making existing ones work together better."
"Co-founder Sergey Brin is leading a companywide initiative called "Features, not products." He said the campaign started this summer when Google executives realized that myriad product releases were confusing their users."
Read on...(free registration reqd.)
The new article in LATimes business section says "Realizing that its myriad services are confusing users, it will focus on refining what it has."
"In another sign of Google Inc.'s growth from start-up to corporate behemoth, the company's top executives said Thursday that they had begun telling engineers to stop launching so many new services and instead focus on making existing ones work together better."
"Co-founder Sergey Brin is leading a companywide initiative called "Features, not products." He said the campaign started this summer when Google executives realized that myriad product releases were confusing their users."
Read on...(free registration reqd.)
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Can I use this excuse to start drinking???
Does Drinking Help Your Career?
One thing I am not sure is this assertion in the article...
"Regular drinkers make 10% to 14% more money than those who do not drink, according to the study, conducted by the Journal of Labor Research, published quarterly by the Department of Economics at George Mason University, and the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based think tank."
It could also be that people who earn more money can afford to drink. The question is which one is the cause and which one is the effect...
But I agree with the article's general premise...
"CEOs, particularly those running smaller, fast-growing companies, say that social and professional networking is an essential business tool. And while Johnnie Walker and Grey Goose may not actually be career wonder-tonics, the reality is that a significant amount of this networking takes place at company happy hours and other social events involving alcohol."
One thing I am not sure is this assertion in the article...
"Regular drinkers make 10% to 14% more money than those who do not drink, according to the study, conducted by the Journal of Labor Research, published quarterly by the Department of Economics at George Mason University, and the Reason Foundation, a Los Angeles-based think tank."
It could also be that people who earn more money can afford to drink. The question is which one is the cause and which one is the effect...
But I agree with the article's general premise...
"CEOs, particularly those running smaller, fast-growing companies, say that social and professional networking is an essential business tool. And while Johnnie Walker and Grey Goose may not actually be career wonder-tonics, the reality is that a significant amount of this networking takes place at company happy hours and other social events involving alcohol."
Online matrimony: A big business in India
"The organised matrimonial business in India is worth about Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion). Until a few years ago, it operated mainly as a loose network of friends, astrologers, family priests and so on."
"Now, the business model has evolved further. Both companies are looking to housewives and retired people to help expand their business. The brick-and-mortar model will expand primarily through franchises sold to this group."
"Now, the business model has evolved further. Both companies are looking to housewives and retired people to help expand their business. The brick-and-mortar model will expand primarily through franchises sold to this group."
"Accordingly, initial investment in the franchise operation has also been pegged at an affordable Rs 800,000-10 lakh, and office space requirements kept at 600-800 sq ft. In the next two years, Shaadi Point (the offline model of Shaadi.com) plans to expand its current 100 centres to 500, while BharatMatrimony is aiming for 300 centres in the same period."
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
INFY and IFN hit because of Belgaum, Karnataka
A daylong strike by local political groups shut down India's technology hub, Bangalore, forcing many outsourcing companies to shift work elsewhere in the country and abroad.
Wednesday's strike was called to press the southern Karnataka state's decades-old claim over a small town (Belgaum) in a dispute with neighboring Maharashtra state.
Strike Shuts Down India's Technology Hub...
Wednesday's strike was called to press the southern Karnataka state's decades-old claim over a small town (Belgaum) in a dispute with neighboring Maharashtra state.
Strike Shuts Down India's Technology Hub...
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