Multilateralism is not the panacea to promote global trade

The end-June deadline is prompted by the fear of US Trade Promotion Authority Act, expiring on July 1, 2007. The revolutionary Act allows US President to enter trade negotiations. This is however questionable as Congress finds its role limited in the process – it needs to either reject or approve such treaties within 90 days of signature, without the possibility of amending them. “The fears get accentuated by the realisation that the US is just not in a hurry to revive the sagging WTO – refusing to cut the agricultural subsidies offered to its farm lobby,” says Dr. Paroma Palit of PHDCCI, talking to B&E. And till the time US takes the initiative, other major players like EU, India & Brazil too refuse to relent on issues of reducing industrial tariff s; export subsidies & opening up the service sector.

Despite EU showing great zealousness to rejuvenate the negotiations before mid-April, the prospects don’t look bright. But what if the talks fail to revive; will the world be a loser? Certainly not. Irrespective of WTO dictates, the trade will continue to flourish because it doesn’t need crutches to trot the globe.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Ashes to ashes...

The exponential increase in pollution and garbage dumps on the higher reaches of Himalayas is an outcome of the increased tourist traffic. In Mount Everest, for example, even before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first successfully scaled the world’s highest peak in 1953, there were heaps of flesh, plastic, parachutes, food packets, empty cylinders splattered in this death-zone. Studies show that about 615 tonnes of waste, including poisonous elements, have been spotted across and around Mount Everest. Against this, the bi-annual clean-up program by the Nepal government could manage to get rid of merely 1,700 kg in 1996 and 2,450 kg in 2001.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

“As soon as our new plant comes up, we will bring in a sibling to the Santro”

Despite the recent three year conviction of their global head on February 5, 2007, South Korean car-maker Hyundai is all set to ramp up production in India for its small car designs. When asked about the company’s plans for compacts, Heung Soo Lheem, CEO, Hyundai Motor India, divulged to B&E, “As soon as our new plant comes up, we will bring in a sibling to the Santro.” Earlier, even Rajiv Chaba, President and Managing Director, GM, had confessed to B&E that “if GM gets a 10% market share by 2010,” that would be promising. Interestingly, now even GM, with Chaba’s proprietory “growing lineup statement,” is eying the compact segment with a new found chutzpah through its key product, Spark. But justice would be misplaced, if one were to not mention the spectacular orientation of Indian firms towards exports, both of automobiles and of ancillaries. Small cars already form big shipments from India. Some 17,772 units were exported from India in June 2006 alone (SIAM). Today, exports are increasingly used as a safety valve for excess production. Even the much maligned Tata Motors is investing an estimated Rs.110 billion for expansion, as it enters high potential foreign markets like Russia and China.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Making laws for borderless world!

For a change, this treatise is not about criticising our already and horribly short staff ed judiciary (who, most strangely continue to be adamant about not demanding additional investments from the government for ramping up the number of judges), but about their pertinent struggle against the Indian government, whose litany of calumnious performances in social development can perhaps only be beaten by their irreverently rapscallion-like behaviour in attempting to be thorough untouchable when it comes to their haphazard and arbitrary decisions.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Professor Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative