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Last Revised and Updated on May 14, 2009

Index - Management Articles for free global public access - Page 1

We are pleased to give below the list of member articles with brief outline for global public access with links to the respective pages.

The following articles are available for free general public and global access:

Action or Experiential learning - Instead of being known as the method of teaching, it has remained the least known. It was founded by the great Chinese philosopher Confucius more than 2500 years ago.

Airline Mergers - No business remains a monopoly and highly profitable for long. Competition comes in and the industry becomes an oligopoly for some time and after some more time, when the market has too many players. the smaller players get squeezed out, because they can't sustain themselves and it is back to square one of the 'Snakes and Ladders' game played by kids with a dice. This gets repeated but the players are different.

How to appreciate employees ? - Employee appreciation is a form of recognition. Most managers and supervisors fail to appreciate employees reporting to them, not because they don't want to. They just do not know how to show appreciation. I have given a few inexpensive tips to show appreciation at workplace.

Attitudes in the Software and Other Service Industries - Real life case studies - India Specific - The boom in IT and other service industries from late 1990s has led to attitudinal problems in young people employed in the services industry.

Bad leaders or bosses - I came across Google search for examples of bad leadership at my site. It set me thinking and I went back 36 years of my career and evaluated my experience with both good and bad bosses. I am giving the characteristics of bad leaders in this page.

Is it Bailout of the US Economy or Wall Street ?- The rejection of the bailout plan by the Congress, initially on last Monday, wiped out USD 1.2 trillion in the stock markets, making it one of the blackest days in recent times. The job losses in September 2008 was 159,000. This was the last straw on the Camel's back. The Congress approved the bailout plan for President Bush to sign as a law.

What is a balance sheet ? - Unfortunately, many companies adopt some illegal practices and window dress their accounts and balance sheets. The company auditors are supposed to verify the veracity of the statements and certify them as correct. We all know what happened to Enron and their auditors Arthur Anderson.

Why giant institutions like Bear Stearns go bust? - We do not know the exact reasons for Bear Stearns collapse, but experience shows that giant institutions go bust primarily because of poor management controls and practices over a fairly long period. There are some people in such institutions who are given wide latitude and powers that are often misused and leading to eventual collapse.

Does technology impact business cycles? - Good corporate governance is the key to survival and growth and for that we need business leaders who have to have the courage of Sir Winston Churchill, the brains of Albert Einstein, the wisdom of Socrates, the foresight of Nostradamus, the empire building skills of Alexander the Great, the ruthlessness of Chengiz Khan in removing corruption, perseverance of Abraham Lincoln, the integrity of Sir Thomas More and the empathy of Mahatma Gandhi.

Impact of Business Cycles on Stock Markets - The stock market does not impact Economy. The stock market is part of Economy. It is the state of Economy that impacts stock market. The stock market booms when the economy is booming and goes into a tailspin when there are recessions and collapses when you have depression.

What is Benchmarking ? - US Steel is the biggest steel manufacturer in USA. But Nucor is rated the best in USA in steel because of its overall practices. Quality is just one of the key aspects of benchmarking. However, it is important to keep the costs down and at the same time delivery must be high.

Biggest is not necessarily the best - It may be the worst - We have often stated that the biggest is not necessarily the best. We were wrong. It may turn out that the biggest are the worst. Let me explain what happened with me.

Biggest problem in Management Today - According to Fortune Magazine in an article titled Rising Stars, dated February 6, 2006, the biggest problem facing management today is finding skilled, effective mangers who can communicate and motivate others.

Business ethics - Blood Money - Social Issues - I have raised some questions for debate and coming to a consensus. However, this is a social and a moral issue and it is for the respective societies to decide.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Tactics shapes Strategy but Strategy drives Tactics. Both cannot be learnt in class rooms. It has to be learnt in the battlefield. What is taught is only theory by people who know all the directions but have never captained ships - with apologies to the great (Late) Mr. Robert Townsend.

Mega brands, perceptions and reality - Business is all about branding. Brand building is an art. Brands are intangible. Brand valuation must not be confused with Market capitalization. It can be only perceived, which may be different from reality. That does not mean brand building can be done away with. It may sound paradoxical but the evaluation of some brands is very much greater than the net asset value of the company owning it. That is the power of the brand.

Broadbanding or overlapping pay scales - My definition of a good manager is a person who knows something and pretends to know everything but good at making other people work on their jobs to get the anticipated results. As a manager, it is not necessary to know everything. You should know how to ask the right questions and get the right answers. You should be able to spot the bull shitters in a jiffy. After that you must take decisions and get them implemented quickly. That is all to management. Management is pure common sense.

Browser Wars - The browser war has become interesting with Google entering the fray.

Business flops of famous brands - In giant organizations, people at junior levels and workers can lose their jobs for a small loss. But in the same organization, top executives can either stay on or have their golden parachutes to jump, even if the company loses billions of dollars. That is the advantage of staying above the firing line. No wonder the top management is more focused on saving their backsides through fancy financial engineering rather than real performance in most companies.

Career choices of young MBAs - This discusses the career choices of young MBAs. Are they taking the right decisions or are they being lured by big bucks ?

Channel Management - Channel management is essentially a function of Sales Management and one of the crucial functions in implementing a company's overall marketing efforts. Organizations have always been struggling in balancing the resources available and controlling the distribution channel.

Why employees and workers have to take charge ? - The workplace of the twenty-first century is different. The divide between workers and management should disappear. If it doesn't they may not have a workplace.

How to make a mess of an acquisition ? - Daimler Benz Style - It is obvious that Daimler was down and out and had absolutely no power to negotiate or bargain. How did a global giant with a worldclass reputation for quality reach such a stage? What made them sell out in the world's largest auto market and become a marginal player? What made them accept such a low price?

Action plans to combat worry - 10 point action plan to combat worry at workplace.

Economic Conundrums as being witnessed in USA today - You must follow the old adage of not having all your eggs in one basket. Do not overly depend upon any particular industry. Do not overly depend upon any particular area. Spread your wings wide but put all your resources at the single most decisive point.

Cost Cutting – when it should be done? - I read an article by Ms. Carol Hymowitz in the Wall Street Journal titled ‘Jeffrey Immelt defends GE’s wide reach’ on July 11, 2008. Mr. Jeffrey Immelt is under fire for missing his first quarter target by 5.9%. According to the report, Mr. Immelt attributed the primary reason to the poor economic condition that is prevailing. I am giving some of my observations.

Why businesses must understand costing ? - The importance of Costing in commercial enterprises has been highlighted and needs no repetition. In the case of Governmental, NGOs and not for profit organizations, it is all the more important. They may be serving the public and just recovering their costs by charging nominal fees for the services rendered. However, if the costing is not right, it results in losses, which ultimately has to be met by the tax payer or the donor.

Courage is necessary to fight anxiety, stress and worries at workplace - We all face anxiety, stress and worries at workplace. There is no way one can avoid it. They have to be faced with courage and equanimity. You are as good as dead if you lose courage. Courage gives you the ability to fight and the winning spirit against all odds. Napoleon Bonaparte said that hardships, poverty and want are the best schools for a soldier.

Credit Crunch in USA - Let it be clear the US market is definitely heading for a recession. Make no mistake about it. In our article titled 'What is a business cycle' we had clearly expostulated about recession and it needs no repetition. However, the reason as to why this recession has occurred is due to entirely different reasons

Customer focused brand management - In many large corporations, brands are sacrosanct. Managers responsible for the brands or divisions will protect their turf at all costs. Unfortunately, the focus is on the brand rather than the customers. The companies and their brand managers are trying to fix or reposition their brands all the time. Brands are important and are to be nurtured but at what costs ?

Customer Satisfaction is preventing customer dissatisfaction - There are no steps leading to customer satisfaction. Required steps only prevent dissatisfaction. They cannot drive customer satisfaction - Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their book 'First break all the rules'

Customer service outsourcing - I repeat what I have said earlier a number of times in our pages. BPO is suitable for such jobs which need no direct interaction with customers. It is a back office function. However, outsourcing customer service will bring disaster in the long run because a company is no longer close to the customer.

Strategic error in crisis communications - The case of Groupe DANONE - Groupe Danone is a very large food products company with biscuits being a major contributor. Danone had always shown excellent growth right from inception. This case study concerning it will highlight the strategic error in its crisis communications.

Demands of the new workplace - The traditional workplace in the past was fairly limited in its demands. No doubt, some of the work might have been physically demanding or stressful. The workplace is changing fast. The expectations level of employers has gone up sky high.

Devaluation of Sony's brand value - Though Sony is still a well known and respected global brand, its image has dropped to eighth most admired brand in Japan during 2006. Globally, it is not in the top 10 brands any more. 'Sony' was the second most recognized and valuable brand in the world after Coke in 1997.

Acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corp - The acquisition of Dow Jones by News Corp owned by Mr. Rupert Murdoch is complete with the previous owners, the Bancroft family giving their formal assent to the deal. Dow Jones is a highly regarded US media institution with the Wall Street Journal being the jewel in the crown.

A tribute to (Late) Dr. Peter Ferdinand Drucker - The most prolific and most respected management thinker and social scientist of our times.

Education in the modern workplace - The importance of education and literacy of its citizens, has long been understood by practically all countries. In this age of globalization, the nations which have a better educated and trained workforce are going to dominate. The reason why Japanese dominate is due to the fact that, an average Japanese worker is far better educated and trained than his counterpart in other parts of the world.

Entrepreneurial Management - An entrepreneur shifts a resource from a lower yielding area to a higher yielding one by innovating". In this page we will stress on managing entrepreneurship. The principles of entrepreneurial management are the same, whether it is a large existing business, a public service institution or a new venture, big, medium or small.

Common Errors in decision making - I have covered some of the common errors that are made in decision making. Don't waste too much time thinking and planning beyond what is necessary. Though I am no fan of Nike, just do it.

The types of people every entrepreneur needs - Any new business needs various types of people to support it, especially in the start up stage. With increasing competition, starting a new business has become difficult and dangerous. One can get into a debt trap. With so many facets to running a business --like production, operations, sales, marketing, finance, legal, technology and protecting your physical and intellectual properties--having the right people on your side can be a tremendous asset, providing both emotional support and business know-how.

In Search of Excellence - Revisited - I happened to revise through the famous book of M/s Thomas Peters and Robert Waterman Jr. titled as above published by Harper & Row, New York, USA in 1982. It is almost in tatters with age and use. The eight attributes that emerged common to all excellent companies then, are applicable even today. This shows that the basic principles of management does not change with times or technology.

Executive Compensation - Salaries & bonuses of top executives coined compensation by American academics and followed everywhere, have the built in stock options plan today in most American and other MNCs. The concept of stock options was popularized by the Harvard professor, Dr. Michael Jensen based on his study of performances of various companies.

What is Expenditure ? - In this page and a few other pages we will cover some finance and accounting aspects of any business which are bare basics and essentials to understand. We are neither specialists in the subject and nor are we involved in financial management or consultancy. In fact it is the only subject in management where we are not involved. However, it is essential that everyone in business understands the basics of finance, accounts and management.

Fallacies in Marketing - Marketing is an extremely interesting subject and to be successful in it you do not have to be necessarily from Harvard or Wharton or LSE or Lausanne or IIMs or IITs. All you need is common sense and get the basics and fundamentals right. We are giving below one such case study from real life, which highlights some of the common mistakes that are committed in Marketing.

Finding the right job - a myth or reality ? - Majority of the people in the world are looking for the right job or the right fit. The higher or lower the personal KSA level, more difficult it is to find the right job. That is, it is always difficult, if one falls in the top 20 or bottom 10 percentile. The average people, in the middle 70 percentile, are those who provide the bedrock of stability for all organizations.

What is foreign exchange ? - Very often, we all get so confused about foreign exchange transactions and the concept appears alien to most of us and we ordinary mortals refer to experts and financial journals to know what is happening. In view of the globalization, it is becoming more important to understand this, as everybody gets affected in case of a crisis, even if it happens in a remote corner of the world.

Stagflation, Credit Crunch and FRB Policies - The New York Times online issue of December 12, 2007 carried an article that the US FRB had reduced the interest rate by a quarter percent on December 11, 2007. This was done ostensibly to prevent the crisis in the credit sector and to prevent the economy slipping into a recession. In our articles titled Economic Conundrums as being witnessed in USA today and Credit Crunch in USA, we have clearly mentioned that a recession is unavoidable.

Friendship Branding - The term 'Friendship Branding' was coined and popularized by Ms. Lois Geller in her book "Customer for Keeps". It is all about customer service and customer relationship building. This is not a unknown area and the concept is known for many decades.

Future trends in private equity investments - There was an article in a leading Indian newspaper in June 2007 that China with its 1.3 trillion dollar forex reserve has invested in private equity firm like the Blackstone group of USA and whether India with its 203 billion dollar forex reserve should follow suit. This question was raised because of the huge availability of US dollars, the local currency the Indian Rupee, is appreciating causing great anxiety to exporters.

What is the problem at GE ? - It is a GE's management decision as to what business to be in and what businesses to exit. They have to carry majority of the stakeholders with them. It is not for outsiders to comment upon it. What attracted my attention was the innumerable postings at the particular site. The postings were from GE employees and other stakeholders. I went through all the postings and it is obvious that all is not well with GE.

Global food crisis - The New York Times is carrying a series of articles on the global food crisis in the year 2008. Not many know that India is a major producer of crops and next only to USA. The happenings in India on the basic crops front decides the world food prices just like oil prices are decided in the middle east.

Globalization and Disparities in global wealth - The global reality proves the 'economic man' theory is not completely right in the modern context. It is a sad fact that majority of the people in the world are not able to attain even the first level of Abraham Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs. Human beings have become selfish and like animals they eat, sleep, mate and fear. Very few help or care for each other. We can't blame them entirely because life has become difficult. However, those who can help, do not care. The animals are better.

Group thinks and the resultant team failures - Group Think' is one of the various reasons for team failure and a phenomenon that happens in teams which have good, capable and talented members and are also highly cohesive as units. It is exactly opposite to the phenomenon of 'Apollo Syndrome' where other aspects of a team are the same but the team is not cohesive.

Handling Criticism - Destructive criticism is normally delivered by mediocre people. It is mediocre people who are able to bear it. It is the main reason they often prosper at workplace as compared to very competent people.

What are hedge funds? - In mid April 2008, the New York Times reported that one hedge fund manager took home a compensation of more than USD 3 billion in the year 2007. It is a mind boggling sum and many poor countries do not have their GDPs equal to it. Billion dollar salaries have become a distinct possibility in managing hedge funds as there are many such fund managers. If a fund manager can earn that kind of money in a year, what would be the earnings of the investors in such funds ? Even giant corporations do not make that kind of profits.

The Attitudes of HRD & Senior People - Time and again I have come across senior and HRD professionals who by their arrogant, abrasive attitude and behavior turn off good people. Since they are the frontline people for screening and they have to interview large numbers, approve or reject them, they acquire a big ego and adopt a style that is uniform for all levels of management.

Human Resources Outsourcing - I would like to add here that it all depends on which way a company looks at HRM. Does the company look at it as a strategic function or a support function ? The bottom-line is according to me HRM is a strategic function. Mr. Lee Iacocca said that people, products and profits are very important. However, he also said without people, the other two are of no use. If a company wants to outsource HR function completely, it means it will be losing its strategic advantage in the long run.

HP 'pretexting' scandal - In late 2006, the world's largest technology company, Palo Alto based, HP was in the news for all the wrong reasons. It got involved in what is known as 'pretexting' scandal. The BOD of HP felt vulnerable because they felt that confidential and strategic information from its meetings was leaking to the press. They were rightly concerned and had every right to take action and protect their interests.

How to make a success of an acquisition - Hyundai-Kia Style - My article titled 'How to make a mess of an acquisition - Daimler Benz Style' has not received the attention it deserves. In this page, I will give a case study of how an acquisition can be made a success. Hyundai is a South Korean Chaebol into heavy engineering.

Why all businesses must understand Costing ? - At the end of the day, there is no free lunch for anyone. There is always an indirect price tag. Any business or non profit organization or economy which always depends on deficit financing is doomed, should not exist and heading for extinction.

Differentiating the men from the boys in business - Innovation & Marketing - What makes a company great and successful ? What differentiates the winners, the also rans and the losers ? What differentiates the men from the boys ? Why do companies with equally good products fail to capitalize, while others succeed ?

Job Hopping - Its psychopathology, cause and effect - Is it beneficial in the long run ? - Its psychopathology, cause and effect - Is it beneficial in the long run ?

Choosing a Career Option- Job or Consultancy ? - One of the disturbing aspects, I would like to share with our readers is the tendency of bright and fresh B-school to join consultancy and services fields in giant organizations. A few months back, I happened to run into a young lady, a fresh MBA, while waiting in the reception area of an IT major to see the Director - HRD. She was from Symbiosis School of Management, Pune, India. She had come to Chennai on behalf of placement wing of their alumni association and she was also waiting to see someone in HR department.

Knowledge, Skills, Attitudes, Habits and Talents - How do they differ ? - In the article on 'Promoting people and thereby putting round pegs in square holes', I had mentioned the term 'talents and its importance'. It is absolutely a must for managers and supervisors to understand the differences, so that they can evaluate, judge and motivate people.

Secrets of Successful Leadership – Quick Implementation of Decisions Taken - Very often people ask the secrets of successful leadership. There is enough literature available on the subject. However, successful people in all fields have one common quality across the board which is the ability to implement the decisions taken, quickly.

Leveraged Buyouts - Historically, many LBOs in the 1980s and 1990s focused on reducing wasteful expenditures by corporate managers whose interests were not the same as shareholders. After a major corporate restructuring, which may involve selling off portions of the company or assets, called asset stripping, and severe staff reductions, the entity would be producing higher income streams.

Creativity Management - Very few business organizations attach importance to creativity though its importance is realized of late. Progressive organizations have large creative teams and no wonder they win. What is the problem with GE and IBM amongst the top 5 global brands ? Both lack creativity and originality. Both are left brain driven companies. Though they are classified as innovative companies in academic circles, they are innovative in acquisitions only. Their strengths lies elsewhere.

Problems of SMEs – Managing Cultural Change - Often, we find that many organizations, especially SMEs, do not know how to arrive at various goals and objectives. To arrive at proper goals and objectives, one needs strategic thinking. Most SMEs are reasonably good at operational and field tactics, but are not fully aware of the strategic aspects of the business. They do not have the inherent capacity to look at the problems holistically.

Marketing to Women - Understanding their Psychology - Marketing to men and women is different. The situation today is that more and more women are becoming the decision makers, irrespective of the nature of the product. Women, generally, prefer honesty, integrity and ethical behavior. Women are more difficult to please. Women are very difficult to understand. People often say that even God does not understand the behavior of women, though he created them. Any marketing person, who does not take women very seriously, will be making the biggest mistake of his or her life.

The Missing Qualities of top leaders and strategists - Top class leadership is a rare commodity in this world. Only 8 CEOs out of the Fortune 500 corporations would qualify for the title of top class leaders at any time. If most of the corporations are doing well, it is due to the huge momentum achieved by them as a resultant of their large mass.

More on Business Cycles - The above means the present stagnation has started in and around 2006 and will continue till 2009. What we are undergoing is called stagflation. The recessionary trends are due to high oil prices, malinvestments and imprudent money management policies of the central banks and governments. The single biggest culprit is the housing mortgage industry. Last time it was the dotcoms. The onset of recession can be postponed even now, but that needs some very severe actions on the part of FRB. Most important action that is to be taken is breaking the oil cartel's stranglehold on the world's economy.

Are Maintenance Workers Different from the Rest? - Maintenance people are as much human as the rest with different skill and mind sets. Many confrontations between production and maintenance people can be avoided once the above differences are understood.

Oil Price and its impact on Economies - As an aftermath of the 'Yom Kippur War' between Israel and Egypt in the Middle East, the world saw a massive increase in price of oil in the early 70s and the economies of many developing countries went for a tail spin. Oil is no longer a commodity which follows the law of supply and demand. It is a political weapon in the hands of some states. Since very few countries produce oil for export, it is easier to form a cartel like OPEC and manipulate the prices artificially. Cartelization in business is illegal as per laws of most countries. But it is different in the case of oil because of political reasons and the fact it is an essential commodity and very few countries produce surplus to export and meet its ever burgeoning global demand. OPEC controls 40% of the world oil output.

Online Advertising - The market share of internet advertising is expected to go up from 5.8% in 2006 to 10.2% by 2010. The present global ad market pie is estimated at $ 285 billion. The article also said that there is a shift from traditional media like Print, Radio and TV and all the large advertisers are increasing their ad spends on the internet. Everybody related to the media business wants a piece of the pie.

Business Ethics - Blood Money - Social Issues - I have raised some questions for debate and coming to a consensus. However, this is a social and a moral issue and it is for the respective societies to decide.

Preventing and Managing conflicts and disputes - Prevention of conflicts and disputes is one of the sub topics under Interpersonal or People skills. All of us have reasonable people skills to manage 80% of the people. The problem is remaining 20%. This is highlighted by the following quote: "But what do you do if someone is difficult? If they just refuse to see your point of view? If they are totally irrational?” This type of situation often leads to misunderstandings, conflicts and disputes.

Process Mapping - Process Mapping is also known as Process Charting or Flow Charting. It is one of the oldest, simplest and most valuable techniques for streamlining work. It is practiced by the engineering industry for a very long time. Any production or a manufacturing process is always shown in the form of a flow chart. It can be equally applied to any other non technical process but is subtle and requires experienced facilitators for best results.

Promoting People and thereby putting round pegs in square holes - When promoting people, if the talent of individual is not taken into consideration, organizations will just manage to put round pegs in square holes while promoting people. Many organizations are just doing that and blithely unaware of it. As management consultants when we tell them that, you must personally see the reactions of the concerned people.

Redefining Business Education - Getting an MBA degree has always been an obsession of most ambitious young people. The huge supply demand gap has led to plethora of institutions and colleges whose credentials are suspect. Is it education or a money making racket ?

Resource Management - Resource management is basically an economic activity. Majority of the businesses do not understand economics.

Treating customers with respect - I read Mr. Seth Godin's brief article titled 'The bad table'. It was a great read. He has hit the nail right on the head. In his article, he has said that treat new customers the same way you would treat a valued, established and loyal customer. He has also said that, if you have to allot a bad table to somebody, treat them extra special, whether they are new or established customers.

(Late) Mr. Robert Townsend - Profile of a great leader - No other business leader and writer has influenced me more in my career than the great Mr. Robert Townsend. I hold him in the highest esteem for his forthright leadership. Thank you very much Sir. Very few managers have the integrity and honesty advocated by him.

(Late) Mr. Sam Walton and Wal-Mart - (Late) Mr. Sam Walton is one of the great entrepreneurial business leaders of the twentieth century. He revolutionized retailing and made Wal-Mart one of the biggest corporations in the world. He was a typical level 5 leader and it is rather sad that the company founded by him has been in lot of controversies with its own employees of late.

Search Engine Wars - The search engine business on the internet is very big. While there are a number of search engines, Yahoo and Google are the largest. Yahoo is the largest internet portal and according to authentic reports one out of every two persons using the internet uses Yahoo in some form.

SEC, Accounting Frauds and Insider Trading - In October 2006, the ' New York Times' reported that the SEC was under an investigation by a senate investigation committee for its handling of the issue of 'insider trading' by hedge funds. It was felt by the government legislators that SEC might not have put in adequate action and efforts on the issue. This means an investigating and a regulating body itself is being investigated. It is rather a sorry state of affairs.

Self Esteem - Self Esteem is often mixed up with arrogance, egoism or over confidence. Human nature is such that we tend to compare ourselves with others and not satisfied with what we have. In this process, we either tend to get into depression or into excessive grandiosity about ourselves and swing like a pendulum from one end to the other.

Tips for becoming successful in Sales - Simple tips for salesmen to become successful in their profession

Balancing size and profitability - Size is a strategic advantage in any business. It gives you the economies of scale in a highly competitive world. It makes you a dominant force and player in any field. Size has always been an obsession with almost all well managed, well organized and ambitious companies from time immemorial. Even ordinary and poorly managed companies are obsessed with size and want to become big. Why ?

Strengthening of the dollar in the financial crisis - The exchange rate of the dollar is soaring in developing countries and emerging markets. The Japanese Yen is also soaring. It might appear to be strange to many that how is this happening when the global economy is in turmoil.

Success through employee participation - Managing Change is the latest wave in management. The US Presidential Candidate, Senator Barack Obama has made it as his theme for his campaign. However, any change management program is fraught with danger. Since 98.4% of the people do not want to change and want to maintain the status quo, most change management programs fail even before they begin.

Ten factors that can make a manager succeed or fail - What differentiates a good and a bad manager ? What are the factors that decides success or failure ? This page covers the 10 most important factors for managerial success or failure.

Time Management and Motivation - There are many excellent books on time management. I have only one comment to make. You can read as many books or attend to as many programs on time management. If you do not develop it as a habit, you will continue to waste yours and others time.

Tips for Better Internal Communications - This is a communication advisory, whose basic purpose is to make communication, both oral and written, more effective. Very often it is found that lack of proper communication and understanding leads to misunderstandings, confusion and delays. This is given in tips form for easy understanding.

Treating People Fairly and Equally - Is it a myth ? - Customer service and relations is a subject that has attracted too many people with diverse opinions. Everybody has their own theories. One question that often comes up is do we treat new customers and old and established customers alike. Many people say that new customers should be treated fairly but not equally. My response to the question is given in this page.

Anatomy of a Crisis - The Vioxx Case - There is too much of corruption and/or unethical practices in the drug and healthcare industry. It is for the drug and healthcare industry to decide whether making money by experimenting, disabling and killing people is right or wrong.

Vulnerabilities in Software, Hackers and Software Security Companies - With the launch of 'Windows Vista' operating system, one aspect which is receiving the world wide attention is its security aspects and how vulnerable it is to bugs, flaws, security holes and hackers.

Using web mail for both office and personal use - The issues - A two page article appeared in the New York Times on the security issues and problems plaguing various companies in USA, on the issue of staff using personal web mail for both office and personal use. Bulk of the documents in almost all companies in USA and other developed world are electronic and are sent to each other over the local intranet or by e-mail over the web.

What is Arbitrage ? - This term basically means that a buyer buys some stock at a lower price and sells at a higher price, either in the same market or in a different market.

What is Innovation ? - We come across the term " innovation" in business and many times people have asked me its exact meaning and what it represents. Innovation is the specific instrument of Entrepreneurship. According to Drucker, just starting a new business alone is not entrepreneurship.

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Important Note for readers

Ethics is of paramount importance to us. There are two approaches to the subject of Business Ethics. One is the Normative approach and the other is Empirical. The normative approach is the option chosen mostly by Philosophers and Theologians focusing on morals, truth, fairness, justice, rights and wrongs, which are rather abstract and difficult to understand, whereas the empirical approach is chosen by most social scientists, management consultants, academics and scholars who are more concerned with implementable decisions on the subject. Unfortunately, the subject of business ethics cannot exclude moral and immoral considerations and as a result a symbiotic relation of both approaches has to exist to come to any meaningful conclusions. We are not present to pass value judgments on incidents and people, which is against our editorial policy. We avoid reference to people, as far as possible, unless the incident or event, warrants it. We have to refer to incidents or events in some real life case studies. Any comment on the incident or event is not a reflection on the individuals or organizations concerned. The objective is that such mistakes are not repeated and we learn from them. There is an opportunity to learn, even from a calamity.

The articles and editorials are put through spell, grammar check and proof reading. However, some inadvertent errors may still exist. They are corrected as and when noticed. We crave the indulgence of readers in such cases. The interpretations, views and opinions expressed are personal. Sponsorship of these articles, newsletters and editorials does not imply, either explicitly or implicitly, that the sponsors and/or advertisers endorse or agree with them. We stopped publishing the articles, editorials and newsletters under MMG and its units banners from December, 2002 to retain the editorial independence and to avoid unnecessary conflict of interests.

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