Friday, December 28, 2007

Perpendicularity

Ok, so the ex-PM of Pakistan, who encouraged terrorism in Kashmir and Afghanistan, has been assassinated by the monster she herself created?  She has been consumed by what she has sown.  Not that I am happy, but I aint sad either.   It just does not affect me, I am more worried about jumping jobs right now (1).  Anyway, she was responsible for the deaths of thousands of my countrypeople.  The Indian media, as usual, will stupidly weep buckets of tears, Manmohan and Sonia will lose sleep, etc.
 
Watching the news, our spineless Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, says - We have lost a friend.  Friend ??
 
(1) - I had a verbal tiff with my manager, and he made life difficult for me. So now, I have some offers in hand and I have resigned.  Some of the offers are good, but frankly, they are way too far from my home.  Really, Pune is beginning to suck bigtime. No infrastructure, taxes are almost as high as Mumbai, travelling is a big pain.  I want to go back to Gujarat, where most of my family lives, and where I did my schooling.  There is hardly any IT industry in Gujarat.  The ones who started operations there, have mostly left.  A big factor is prohibition.  Modi is doing great work for the development of Gujarat, but sadly, he has skipped IT industry.  He did mention lifting the ban on alcoholic drinks in SEZs, but of course, the pseudo-secular , pseudo-liberal Congressis think that its bad to do so in the home state of a certain Mr. MK Gandhi...
 
- Why do companies have to set up offices way outside the city in places like Magarpatta?  Well, even that is ok, but whats the point if there are no decent roads to reach there.  Whats the point if it takes someone about an hour risking run over by drunken truck drivers to reach the ugly place, and too tired to start working for atleast half an hour.
 
- Magarpatta complex in Pune might be good inside. But there are no decent approach roads, and it has ugly, dusty, noisy and polluted surroundings. I wonder why companies even go there?? Ok, lower property prices, but then you get what you pay for...

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Modi

All that Modi bashing apart, there is one thing that is remarkable.  Modi has won a third consecutive term, beating anti-incumbency and the high-decibel pseudo-secular campaign against him.  And in free and fair polls, unlike those in West Bengal :-)
 
Good or bad is another matter.. but still do read this.. http://barbarindians.blogspot.com/2007/12/lord-is-thy-shepherd-thou-shalt-not.html
 
Another pertinent point is why Gujaratis are being targeted.  Now now.. not every Gujarati went around participating in the riots and voted for Modi.  Dont the pseudo-seculars use this argument often ? 

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Correlation between Wage rates and Profits

Very good article that disproves the connection between high wage rates and the competitiveness of companies...
 
 
"Consider first some surprising facts about the effects of wage rates on the competitiveness of nations. Japan runs a trade surplus with China, even though Japan has higher wages. High-wage, presumably high-cost, countries such as Canada and Germany also run trade surpluses. "
 
"Profits also are affected by brand image and product design and quality, all of which affect how much people are willing to pay for a car. While General Motors whines about its cost disadvantage because of its health care expenditures and high, unionized wage rates, Toyota achieved almost $6,000 per vehicle more in net revenue in 2004, according to pay more for each car because it did not have to offer as many rebates, price concessions and financing discounts to get customers to purchase its vehicles. "
 
"And even forgetting about the revenue part of the picture and focusing only on costs doesn't change the conclusion that labor rates are overrated as a source of competitive advantage or disadvantage, because labor rates are only imperfectly associated with labor costs. In 2004, it took Ford Motor Company on average almost one-third more labor hours to manufacture a car than it did Toyota. So Ford begins with a cost disadvantage even if its rate of pay is the same. "
 
"That's why John Whitney, when he took over a near-bankrupt Pathmark Supermarkets in 1972, actually raised the salaries of store managers. As he told me, the last thing you want during a turnaround is to have your best people heading for the door, worrying about their futures, or not putting forth their best efforts. "

On Retail

 
 
Govt to protect kiranas from retail majors
 
How ? So now, the government, the all pervasive protector of the aam aadmi, may introduce some "retail tax" on big retailers...
 
Its funny to see how the socialist brigade calls the small kirana stores as "mom and pop" stores, to give them an image of a hardworking and sweet family that honestly runs a shop just round the corner.... I hardly see any "moms and pops" running these stores, they are run by business people.
 
As regards kirana shops being affected by big retailers, personally, I see most people continue to visit kirana stores... in fact on unbranded items like ice-trays or naphthalene balls, I find that the big retailers are costlier.  I mostly visit big retail stores for bulk shopping about once a month.  For rest of the month, its the friendly neighbourhood "mom and pop" store.. :)
 
Also, maybe, for once, the so-called "mom and pop" stores would want to try some things, viz., no underweighing (i think the big retailers do that too), no selling defective or expired goods, faster service, and of course, give discounts on MRP.