Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Tuesday, 30 October 2012
Carbon-conscious UK retailers on new track MAMUNI DAS
Lord Berkeley, Chairman, Rail Freight Group. in the Capital on Monday. — Ramesh Sharma
Click to read:
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/carbonconscious-uk-retailers-on-new-track/article4047890.eceHow does Ryanair make so much money?
Loathed by many of its passengers, it’s a wonder Ryanair is still in business, let alone making a profit. So how does Europe’s most successful budget airline keep making cash when the world’s against it?
Click to read:
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/how-does-ryanair-money-29102012.html
Monday, 29 October 2012
The 10 busiest airports in the world
The Airports Council International publishes a report annually on the world’s busiest airports by passenger traffic.
Here’s a look at the top 10.
Source: Airports Council International
Click to read:
http://in.finance.yahoo.com/photos/world-s-busiest-airports-1351245422-slideshow/
Saturday, 27 October 2012
Friday, 26 October 2012
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Monday, 22 October 2012
The last mile challenges for drug-makers P. T. JYOTHI DATTA
Because of opacity in the supply chain, pharma companies rely on primary sales to stockists as a metric for measurement of performance.
Click to read:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/the-last-mile-challenges-for-drugmakers/article4019429.ece
Friday, 19 October 2012
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Why Management & Engineering Education in India Stinks – Part II – Archie D’Souza
I had on Saturday, October 14, 2012 posted
an article entitled “Why Management & Engineering Education in India Stinks”
and suggested my list of remedies. This was
before the publication of this report. Now
that the National Employability Report for 2012 is out, it only corroborates my
views. Here are some of the highlights
of the report:
· Only a minuscule percentage of this year’s
MBAs across India are employable. Here is
an interesting break-up:
o 2.5% are employable in business consulting
o 7.9% as analysts
o 6.9% in marketing related jobs
·
Surprisingly, for me at least, it is higher for HR positions, the figure
being 9,6%
·
For the banking and finance sector the
figure is 7.6%
· An organization called Aspiring Minds (see
www.myamcat.com ) conducted a voluntary test called Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test between
April and September this year at tier-I and tier-II business schools. The employability test comprised of a
combination of the following:
o English
o Quantitative skills
o Analytical abilities and
o Domain-specific knowledge
32,000 students from the
MBA class of 2011 in more than 22 business schools across the country took the
test which is voluntary.
This is what Varun Aggarwal, chief
operating officer and chief technology officer, Aspiring Minds, quoted in the
Economic Times has to say: "The low employability figures show that management
students and colleges need personalised employability feedback and guidance to take the right
corrective steps. This shall not only
lead to more students getting jobs, but also addressing the large talent needs
of our growing industry.” Why do people enroll in an MBA? From my experience it is to specialize in a
particular domain. However, how many
people even know that domain? This indeed
is a cause for concern.
What came as a surprise to me is that, according to
the report, the employability of male and female candidates who took the test
was approximately the same. My personal
experience both in the corporate as well as academic fields has been the
opposite. I’ve always found women much
more competent and knowledgeable than their male counterparts with the same
qualifications. According to the report though,
women did considerably better in HR – only 11.3% of the women surveyed and 8.3%
of the men surveyed were found to be employable in HR roles.
I have suggested in my earlier article
that MBA aspirants go through a mandatory 3-year industrial experience. The fact is that while a student may be
packed with a great deal of theory in the classroom, there just isn’t enough
practical experience for them. This is
the situation even in the top business schools.
Students who’ve experienced a bit of corporate life will certainly make
better managers. It is my belief that
management can never be learnt in the classroom. The only way is baptism-by-fire.
I have also suggested that the level of
instruction be raised. For this one
needs to attract the best to the field. The
best faculty member is one who has spent a good deal of time in industry. I feel, minimum qualification requirements
should be waived for corporate people, both current and retired, who wish to
take up teaching assignments. In fact,
companies should encourage their managers to lecture in local management
colleges.
For the rest of my recommendations please
read my earlier article.
Click below to read:
http://sunriseacademyonline.blogspot.in/2012/10/why-management-engineering-education-in.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/news/general/University-System-Not-Producing-WellEducated-Graduates-Tharoor-nid-133397-cid-1.html?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=l1
http://www.siliconindia.com/news/general/University-System-Not-Producing-WellEducated-Graduates-Tharoor-nid-133397-cid-1.html?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=l1
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Build it Bigger - Mumbai Airport
Lovely video on Mumbai Airport. Click to watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a3oaiQlpiQ&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_a3oaiQlpiQ&feature=youtu.be
Monday, 15 October 2012
Sunday, 14 October 2012
No Airline Bashing From Me
An interesting insight from
Mohamed El-Erian CEO of PIMCO and Author of "When Markets Collide"
Click to read:
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121014052901-204274949-no-airline-bashing-from-me?fb_action_ids=10151114777508191&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582
Saturday, 13 October 2012
Why Management & Engineering Education in India Stinks Archie D’Souza | Sunday, 14 October 2012, 10:31 IST|
What do the letters MBA or M/B E/Tech. mean? Are they passports to high paid jobs? During my corporate life I must have
interviewed over a thousand management and over two hundred engineering graduates
from across the country. I haven’t found
even one percent of them employable.
And, that 1%, why do they have to apply for commercial jobs in the
airline or freight forwarding industries?
India today has close to 4000 management colleges with over 3.5 lakh
seats and an even higher number of engineering colleges offering 15 lakh seats. We pride ourselves on having the greatest
pool of technical personnel in the world.
What exactly do these so-called engineers and managers amount to?
An MBA graduate I interviewed recently wasn’t able to frame even a
simple sentence at a written test I gave him.
When I queried him about how he passed his MBA, he said he never
understood a word the teacher said in class.
All he did was learn certain answers by rote and reproduce them at the
examination. He could neither speak nor
write in English. He read with great
difficulty a passage from a Std. VII text and wasn’t able to translate it into
Malayalam. Most of the peons I’d hired
over the years could express themselves better than he in English. Where does such a person get employed?
I have a group of engineering graduates in my logistics
class. I was trying to explain to the
class how an injection-moulded product is made.
I asked the class a question about how poly-ethylene granules are made
expecting the answer from the so called engineers. I must say I was extremely disappointed. Most of the class, including the BEs thought
that plastic was mined from the ground like copper or iron ore. A few who didn’t think didn’t even know what
mining was. I’m talking about a group of
university graduates wishing to make a career in international logistics.
In India as elsewhere, students enrol in colleges hoping to acquire
a good education and, after graduating, a good job, which offers handsome pays
and perks. Because of the demand for
engineering and management graduates there are many aspirants and there has
been a proliferation of institutions offering these streams. In addition, there are institutions offering
an integrated BE/Tech & MBA programme.
But, has this improved the educational levels?
The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) chairman Mr.
SS Mantha told the Times of India (see TOI AUG 13, 2012) that “Colleges in
remote India and institutes of poor quality are not getting students. And for
colleges, there is just one key to attracting students: institutes need to be
top-of-the-line colleges. There is no payoff in running a bad college.” There have been several studies on this
subject and I’ve posted some of them in the blog. So what we see are MBAs and
engineering graduates not fit to be clerks.
After all what does it take to become and engineering or
management graduate? Mug up answers to
about a hundred questions. There are
question banks available for you.
Reproduce these and presto! You’ve can put a BTech or MBA after your
name. Lack of quality education has
resulted in there being an army of unemployable youth.
So, what are the remedies?
·
Many would suggest that we
limit the number of MBAs, but that would be a very politically unpopular
decision. But, raising the standard
ought not to be.
·
I think the BBA programme
should be abolished altogether. It doesn’t
make sense. Management and Law should be
PG disciplines
·
A person should have 3
years of mandatory industrial experience before s/he seeks a management degree
·
Every semester, for engineering
and management, should a compulsory 2 month internship period
·
At least 50% (I would
prefer 100%) of the faculty members in both engineering and management colleges
should have a minimum of 10 years industrial experience
·
Raise the salary levels of
instructors to industry standards to attract the best talent into teaching. Several management colleges have started this
practice and the results are very heartening
·
Consider a person’s
industrial experience akin to qualifications.
E.g. a person who’s been in a management position for 10 years should be
recognised as an MBA and allowed to teach in MBA programmes
·
Raise the level of teacher
training
Friday, 12 October 2012
Thursday, 11 October 2012
Kochi port extends sops for ships calling at Vallarpadam
A view of the Vallarpadam International Container Transhipment Terminal in Kochi. — K. K. Mustafah
Move aimed at making terminal a transhipment hub in South Asia
Click to read:http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/article3988366.ece
BLOODHOUND supersonic car to reach 1,000 mph (1,609 km/h)
Bloodhound SSC, is a car created by the international education initiative 'BLOODHOUND Project'to attempt a 1,000 mph world land speed record. The team aim to break the land speed record with the pencil-shaped car, powered by a jet engine and a rocket designed to reach 1,000 miles per hour (1,609 km/h) together with a Cosworth CA2010 Formula 1 V8 petrol engine auxiliary power unit. It is being developed and built with the intention of breaking the land speed record by 33%, the largest ever margin. BLOODHOUND SSC will be tested on the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa where a track 20 km long, 500 m wide has been cleared by a local workforce, employed by the Northern Cape Government. The construction should be complete by the end of 2012 and the record attempts should take place in 2013 and 2014
Click to see:
http://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/bloodhound-supersonic-car-to-reach-1-000-mph-1-609-km-h-slideshow/
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
How to attract FDI in shipping and increase the currently declining share of Indian ships in national cargo ARCHIE D’SOUZA KOCHI, OCT 10
The two-day India Shipping Summit
is underway in Mumbai as I write this (see www.indiashippingsummit.com) and we have seen a great deal of suggestions coming
from various quarters of the industry.
Two issues dominate the summit, one the declining share of Indian ships
in national cargo and two, relaxing cabotage rules to allow foreign carriers
operate on coastal waters. I have
expressed my views on the second subject in earlier posts in this blog. Let me today address the first. I have already written about FDI in civil
aviation and how it will benefit India (see http://sunriseacademyonline.blogspot.in/2012/04/fdi-in-civil-aviation-how-it-will-help_28.html).
To begin with the Central Government must ease
the fiscal burden on Indian shipping companies in line with what it is in the
developed markets. It is only if the
government extends policy support will Indian shipping lines be able and
willing to acquire additional tonnage.
The nation’s annual freight spend is $ 40 billion and the share of
Indian carriers is less that 10% of that.
I’m of the opinion that before we relax the cabotage rules we must
ensure a level playing field for Indian flag carriers. Frankly I don’t see why foreign vessel owners
would be so interested in carrying our coastal cargo. At the moment though, I’m referring to
international cargo and how to increase the share of Indian vessels. The main focus though is FDI in shipping.
Today, Indian flag carriers lack a level
playing field. The government allows
100% FDI in shipping but potential investors are put off due to various taxes
and levies. The relaxation of cabotage
rules, currently only to & from the ICTT at Valarpadam, has resulted in foreign
lines being permitted to carry coastal cargo.
These carriers are not subject to the local levies that are forced upon
Indian carriers. This is the main
stumbling block of FDI in shipping.
According to a repost in The Sunday Guardian on
Sep 30, 2102, in spite of 100% FDI being allowed, as many as nine shipping
companies have exited India in the last five years (see http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/100-fdi-but-nine-shipping-companies-leave-india). Why has this happened? The main reason cited by them is the taxation
policy. They say that Indian shipping
companies pay three times more tax than their counterparts in Singapore. Also, Indian seafarers prefer to work in
foreign flagged vessels due to the fact that they pay no income tax if they do
so. When working for Indian flagged
vessels their salaries are taxable as per Indian standards. India is the largest supplier of seafarers
after the Philippines.
In the fiscal year 2004-05 India introduced the
tonnage tax regime which cut the incidence of income tax on Indian shipping
companies. This resulted in a sharp
growth in tonnage. However, in course of
time, the initial impact of the tonnage tax regime
petered out and very few investments have come from foreign sources. This indicates that more needs to be done on
the tax front. The introduction of the
tonnage tax has been neutralised due to the new service tax regime. This has increased to 12.36% resulting in
shippers having to pay much more.
Here
are some ways in which the sector will be able to attract FDI:
·
The centre should relook at the taxes affecting shipping. These include service tax, MAT and withholding
tax.
·
Seafarers working with Indian shipping lines should be treated as NRIs
and taxed accordingly
·
The infrastructure for coastal shipping should be improved. Besides increasing the volume of local good
moved by sea, it will have a lot of other fringe benefits such as less pollution
and congestion on the roads.
·
Surplus resulting from the sale of vessels should be covered within the
scope of the tonnage tax regime
·
Exempt Indian shipping companies from payment of dividend distribution tax and fringe benefit
tax
·
Exempt imported ship spares/supplies from customs duty
·
Exempt tugs & pusher crafts, dredgers & floating docks, cranes,
production platforms, etc from customs duty
·
Exempt shipping services from service tax
I
am certain that once these measures are in place there will be a great increase
in investment, both FDI & domestic, in the shipping industry.
Monday, 8 October 2012
Barcode birthday: 60 years since patent By Zoe Kleinman Technology reporter, BBC News
The barcode has also become popular body art
Click to readhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19849141
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
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