No BlindSpot

Monsoon images from kerala

2008-08-01T11:46:00.003+04:00

Fight for a project

2008-05-31T00:04:00.003+04:00

If you are like me and have been chasing the IT ( information technology) desk in the office to install a MS Project and have been shocked to be informed that it would cost 2000$ - there is a way out . Just download the open source Project from the below link

http://sourceforge.net/projects/openproj

The look & feel and usage are similar to MS Project - infact it is better than in overall layout.

Infosthetics

2008-04-10T23:07:00.003+04:00

i happened to stumble on this exciting site by Andrew Vande Moere, it is a interesting site that captures data visualization and visual communication. looking forward to track this site often

http://infosthetics.com/

How Australia got scratched this summer

2008-03-03T17:22:00.002+04:00

Absolutely fascinating summer of cricket – Australia started with some – ‘gunboat cricket’ by unleashing their ‘arrogance’ , ‘intimidating’ way , or as mentioned by Steven Waugh – ‘Mental disintegration’ on India. This entire ‘on the face’ cricket has badly boomeranged on Australia. Their captain woefully out of form scratched though out the whole summer and stamped that he still the bunny of Harbajan, their leading players instead of focussing on the game – was trying to ‘weed-out’ Indians. Adam Gilchrist undoubtly best wicket Keeper batsmen ever- sledged, cribbed, appealed and dropped umpteen catches to survive this summer, but in the end he had to hang his boot. Mathew Hayden went chest beating and proclaimed to whole world how ‘Cricket Australia’ thinks, talks and measures their opponents - especially a wily off spinner who has out foxed their captain time and again. Now the latest stunt was organised by Australian media, which was doing fairly unbiased reporting till now, by publishing a picture showing Harbajan scratching the armpits and indicating the same as monkey gesture . It is surprising to note that leading newspapers would publish something so inaccurate and misleading , where did the dictum of publishing something only after checking ‘corroborative evidences’ all go ? . BCCI and Harbajan should sue Sydney Morning Herald for defaming him and for brandishing him as a racist. In the end of the long summer Australia is left licking its wound.
- bag full of old players with few of them on the verge of retirement
- India produced few sensational young players
- BCCI put ICC in its place
- Steve Bucknor – atlast been told that he is fit to plays cards at home than officiate international match.

The post-warne era looks bleak for Australia, they have to play consistent good cricket on the pitch than sledge, complaint & chest beat.

Whispers of March now a reality !

2008-02-21T13:29:00.003+04:00

With 10 straight wins - USofA - is trying to affirm the greatness of a nation not because of the height of skyscrapers, or the power of military, or the size of economy; but pride based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal......' they might elect first black president in Barrack Obama. He has successfully dogged away from the 'plastic' campagin of Mr&Mrs Clinton.

What Clinton's Wisconsin Loss Means
By ALAN FRAM – 46 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's defeat in this week's Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary wasn't just any old loss.
Exit polls of voters show it was a serious collapse that saw Barack Obama erode — if not capture — much of the heart of her support. As the two rivals turn their attention to crucial showdowns in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania, here is a look at what Wisconsin portends for the road ahead.
Q: How bad was Wisconsin for Clinton?
A: Very. Of the types of voters who usually support her, only older people — especially whites over age 65 — remained solidly loyal. She and Obama essentially split the votes of many groups she has carried easily in previous primaries, including white women, whites with no more than high school diplomas, white Democrats and whites earning under $50,000 annually. In one remarkable turnaround, white men without college degrees supported Clinton in previous primaries by a combined 52 percent to 37 percent, but in Wisconsin they backed Obama 60 percent to 38 percent. The Illinois senator also improved his usual healthy margins with the youngest, most liberal and best educated voters.
Q: Does Obama's success in Wisconsin with groups that usually support Clinton mean he will hold onto them in the next big states?
A: No, but it does demonstrate that it's possible. Last year, before voting began, polls showed Clinton had sturdy-looking leads with those voters, so it's clear that Democrats of all stripes are showing a willingness to listen to him — and to abandon her. Keep in mind the Wisconsin results were not unforeseen, since Obama had been closing the gap with Clinton among some groups of voters last week in Virginia and Maryland and in some Super Tuesday states the week before.
Q: Won't the upcoming big states remove some advantages Obama had in Wisconsin?
A: That's true. For one thing, Wisconsin borders on Obama's home state and parts of southern Wisconsin are heavily influenced by his nearby home town of Chicago. Obama ran up some of his biggest margins in that part of Wisconsin. In addition, Obama had the aggressive help of Wisconsin's governor, Jim Doyle. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell have endorsed Clinton.
Q: Obama was also helped because Wisconsin allows people of other parties to vote in the Democratic contest, right?
A: Yes, but so do Texas and Ohio, which vote on March 4. In Wisconsin, more than a third of voters were either independents or Republicans — a large number. About two-thirds of them voted for Obama. In the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, almost three in 10 Ohio voters were independents or Republicans, as were a quarter in Texas, so these are substantial sources of potential strength for him. Pennsylvania's April 22 contest is for Democrats only.
Q: What about the racial makeup of the next states?
A: One potential edge for Clinton is in Texas, where Hispanics comprised a quarter of Democratic voters in 2004 and could be even more this year. Across the party's primaries so far in 2008, six in 10 Hispanics have backed Clinton. There were few of them in Wisconsin. In 2004, one in five Texas Democratic voters and one in seven in Ohio were black, a group that has voted in near unanimity for Obama. There were no exit polls of Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters in 2004.
Q: If Clinton's advantage has been with the elderly, white women and less educated whites, do any of these states have significant numbers of them?
A: Just over half of white Democrats who voted in Ohio in 2004 and six in 10 in Texas lacked college degrees, compared with 45 percent of whites who have voted in Democratic primaries so far this year. Of the Democratic primaries this year, about one in three voters have been white women, and Ohio had slightly more that in 2004, while Texas had a bit fewer. Neither state has unusually large numbers of older Democrats.
Q: With Texas one of the country's more conservative states, whom does that help?
A: Though Texas may be conservative, the overall ideology of its Democratic voters is similar to many other states, in part because of the substantial Hispanic and black populations, according to 2004 exit polls. Actually, Ohio was a bit less liberal than Texas. Over the first two months of this year's voting, Obama has had an edge over Clinton among those calling themselves very liberal — he won that group in Wisconsin by 16 percentage points. The two have run about evenly among all liberals and moderates, and he has had a slight advantage among party conservatives.
The data is based on exit polls conducted Tuesday in Wisconsin; in 21 other states that have held contested Democratic primaries this year; and in 2004 in Ohio and Texas. The margin of sampling error varies by survey and subgroup.

Dubai Metro - Pictures of the new train

2008-02-19T13:23:00.001+04:00

Much awaited Dubai metro trains have finally arrived it seems !

Punting is back

2008-02-18T11:30:00.004+04:00

Time for late night watching, printing your team sheet, calculating the points and betting how much your team would have won

My revised team for the last 16 is this

Casillas – GK – RM would surely make through and he would play
Bruno Alves
Zanetti – I was tempted to take Maldini though
Cristiano Ronaldo – captain – probability for doubling the scores
Deco – hope he is in the starting
J cole – Chelsea should make through
Kaka –
Ronaldhino –
Messi
Ibrahimovic – he was out with injury, should come back strongly
Tevez – Manu United should make to second round – and he should play.

I have not taken any single player from Arsenal – which should not be surprising keeping in mind the form they are in.

Marketers like sad Customer !

2008-02-18T11:13:00.003+04:00

Hezen has posted a interesting article in his new blog - indicating a Harvard study that - sad customers spends more than a happy one !. Many be this is why the spurt in sales for healthy feel good products, more about this on : http://theworldbeneathmyfeet.blogspot.com/2008/02/sad-consumers-good-for-marketers.html

Region and roles-the success of regional fried chicken outlet – Al Baik

2008-02-16T12:30:00.004+04:00

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, other than pumping 19MT of crude every second, is a vast expanse of land which lacks the hurried growth of Dubai or Doha. But it is a huge swath of a marketplace for any marketer. Port city of Jeddha has stretch of road which is lined up by numerous malls ( I counted atleast 18-20) selling Armani to Aston Martin and Riyadh packs the punch to match any top draw city. Amidst all this foreign brands a local fried chicken chain is teaching the lots of KFC’s and McDonald a lesson or two in running a food chain successfully. You would find MNC food chains aisle empty or near deserted (same is the fate of Carrefour). At Al Baik chain the story is different …people were queuing up.

The differentiation were the following

1. Product – offering was uniquely different- the inner crust of the fried chicken has a special coating of condiments which was very tasty.
2. Execution of the product: Speed at which they served order was amazing , even though there was a long queue ( 25- 30 people before me ) I was served in under 10 minutes.
3. Viral : word of mouth – ‘You are in Jeddah and not tried Al Baik ??’
4. Exclusivity: Al Baik is limited to western part of the Kingdom.

Insipid food and some pictures

2008-01-30T15:05:00.000+04:00

After much deliberation we decided to visit a restaurant that we had zeroed in few months back- chef Lanka in Burdubai area . We wanted to try some spicy food from Sri lanka - but it turned out to be a disaster. Like any good product hotel should also provide at least few basic things

1. Warm Food
2. Waiter / server suggesting and helping us in making the right choice

both didnt happen at chef lanka ..and we ended up eating some cold spicy food ....
the interior had some demon mask ......reminding us of the food we ate

Long Shadow of meat eating ....

2008-01-30T13:29:00.000+04:00

Mark Bittman's article on NYT on ' Meat -Guzzlers' is interesting

he writes -

a study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

more on this :
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?ei=5087&em=&en=7490d3223d2f16cb&ex=1201842000&pagewanted=all

The Monkey Wrench Gang

2008-01-27T17:54:00.000+04:00

Absolute must read if you border the thoughts of being a solider in the 'eco defense'...Edward Abbey's proactive defense of nature in an era of hyperindustrialism.

how 'House Poor' are you ?

2008-01-27T17:48:00.000+04:00

It was intriguing to note that SEC classification across the world differs. So this term - 'House Poor' is significant classification- especially since in certain countries/cities this affects almost all !

House Poor :
A situation that describes a person who spends a large
proportion of his or her total income on home ownership,
including mortgage payments, property taxes, maintenance and
utilities. House poor individuals are short of cash for
discretionary items and tend to have trouble meeting other
financial obligations like vehicle payments.

If your are a expat living in a city like Dubai then you have to replace 'ownership' with 'Rent'..

New year resolutions - and how to solve problems

2008-01-02T12:08:00.000+04:00

Most of us would be facing some sought tough decision at work and life and would be grappling with them- at times wondering how to solve it . Read seth's tips

There are three ways to deal with a problem, I think.
Lean into it.
Lean away from it.
Run away.
You lean into a problem, especially a long-term or difficult one, by sitting with it, reveling in it, embracing it and breathing it in. The problem becomes part of you, at least until you solve it. You try one approach and then another, and when nothing works, you stick with it and work around it as you build your organization and your life.
Some people choose to lean away from the problems that nag them at home or at work. They avoid them, minimize them or criticize the cause. Put as little into it as possible and maybe it will go away.
And sometimes, a problem is so nasty or overwhelming that you just run away.
I'm a big fan of the first approach. And sometimes, quitting isn't such a bad idea. The second approach, alas, is the one that many of us end up with by default, and the one that's least likely to pay off.
If that helps with this year's resolutions, it was worth thinking about...

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/solving-problem.html

Fonts and Emotions

2007-12-22T14:36:00.001+04:00

Anivers - Font

2007-12-11T15:27:00.000+04:00

This is a new font that i saw,.. it is flexible and elegant and can be used in certificates, report titles and posters. you can download and use this

http://www.josbuivenga.demon.nl/anivers.html

Have you ordered this book ??

2007-12-11T15:21:00.000+04:00

I think you should .. , I read Garr's blog daily. It is loaded with information and 'essentials' for making better presentations. We all were delighted when he decided to write a book. check this link and order it - if you are interested in presentations, visual enhancements etc

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321525655/103-6148611-3957463?ie=UTF8&tag=garrreynoldsc-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0321525655

Unhappy? Self-critical? Maybe you're just a perfectionist

2007-12-05T08:17:00.000+04:00

If you go for the jugler always in a presentation, or if you sometime feels that you are tired of mediocre stuff from your agency ..then pls read this

Just about any sports movie, airport paperback or motivational tape delivers a few boilerplate rules for success. Believe in yourself. Don't take no for an answer. Never quit. Don't accept second best.
Above all, be true to yourself.
It's hard to argue with those maxims. They seem self-evident — if not written into the Constitution, then at least part of the cultural water supply that irrigates everything from halftime speeches to corporate lectures to SAT coaching classes.
Yet several recent studies stand as a warning against taking the platitudes of achievement too seriously. The new research focuses on a familiar type, perfectionists, who panic or blow a fuse when things don't turn out just so. The findings not only confirm that such purists are often at risk for mental distress — as Freud, Alfred Adler and countless exasperated parents have long predicted — but also suggest that perfectionism is a valuable lens through which to understand a variety of seemingly unrelated mental difficulties, from depression to compulsive behavior to addiction.

full article here
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/04/healthscience/04mind.php

If you want to see heaven, you have to die yourself

2007-11-12T11:22:00.000+04:00

This is what each marketer would have to do to understand customers better and to build customer expertise - says Mohanbir Sawhney. He has listed interesting 'confusion' that prevails in marketing domain and cures for the same in his article titled - A Manifesto for Marketing. You can access this and much more in his website
http://www.mohansawhney.com/

Sparklines - simple and intense

2007-10-16T14:36:00.000+04:00

This will surely enhance your reports and presentations. Sparklines was invented by Dr Edward Tufte. I have tried using it,( some sites are there from which you can download a xls file) and it makes the report , ppts a notch better.
you can read more about sparklines here
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001OR&topic_id=1&topic=

Whining world champions

2007-10-06T18:27:00.000+04:00

One wonder what Australian cricket thinks about itself, a bunch of extra ordinary cricketers with immense talent, in the last 2 weeks have sullied the image of world champions beyond repair. They assumed that opponents would just cave in seeing them. That didn’t happen in T20. They were so upset with the loss that they even suggested that – India doesn’t know how to celebrate! If one tabulate what all has been said in media – it indicates the poor mind set of cricket Australia

Gilchrist says – T20 is just luck and that India was just lucky (Alan Donald getting run out in the WC 2003 semi final against Australia? What about that Mr Gilchrist)
Andrew Symonds says India doesn’t know how to celebrate ( must be indicating that one should grab the cup and shove out the presenter like they did in during the last champions trophy)
Ponting says India seniors are a liability
Australians would talk tough and if India talks tough – it is not even backyard cricket!
Shane Warne says – this verbal slugfest would spice up the summer. Well it would not be as spicy as his SMS for sure.

Being a champion doesn’t mean winning always – sometime it also involves showing grace when defeated - that Aussie cricket dont have.

More brands under fire- Sweatshop and Much more !

2007-09-03T10:42:00.001+04:00

All major high end cloth brands are being dragged into another controversy. This time some from a serious studies done by Guardian. How far it will affect the brand is to be seen.

The sweatshop high street - more brands under fire

Guardian probe reveals 13p per hour wages behind cheap clothes

Karen McVeigh
Monday September 3, 2007
The Guardian

Two of Britain's major high street retailers launched inquiries last night into allegations that factory workers who make their clothes in India are being paid as little as 13p per hour for a 48-hour week, wages so low the workers claim they sometimes have to rely on government food parcels.

Primark, the UK's second biggest clothing retailer, and the Mothercare, the mother and baby shop, were responding to a Guardian investigation into the pay and conditions of workers in Bangalore, India, who supply several high-profile UK and US fashion brands.

The investigation, which follows our report in July in which Primark, Asda and Tesco were accused of breaching international labour standards in Bangladesh, has uncovered a catalogue of allegations of Dickensian pay and conditions in factories owned by exporters who supply clothes to the UK. India's largest ready-made clothing exporter, Gokaldas Export, which supplies brands including Marks & Spencer, Mothercare and H&M, confirmed that wages paid to garment workers were as low as £1.13 for a nine-hour day. This fails to meet their basic needs, according to factory workers and Indian unions and so falls below the minimum international labour standards promised by the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), a code of conduct which sets out basic rights for employees across the supply chain. Marks & Spencer is a member of the ETI, as are Mothercare, Gap and Primark.

Garment workers for factories owned by exporters who supply to Gap, Matalan and Primark, told the Guardian they were paid similar wages and regularly forced to work overtime of between six and 18 hours per week. The ETI code states that workers shall not regularly be required to work more than 48 hours per week, that overtime should be voluntary and that it should not exceed 12 hours per week.

Texport Overseas, which supplies Gap and Matalan, denied that workers were forced to do overtime.

Employees of factories owned by exporters who supply Gap and Matalan claimed they were often made to work extra hours without pay to meet unattainable production targets. They claimed the mostly female workforce was harassed and bullied by male production managers and supervisors for not achieving targets and that they were refused time off when ill. One worker claimed that security guards patrolled the toilets, harassing the women inside to get back to work, while the unions said public address systems were used to publicly humiliate and harass workers. Texport Overseas denied there was pressure to meet targets. It said female guards in the toilets were present to ensure "proper security", while the address system was to "coordinate production" and ensure health and safety.

One worker, a tailor who makes clothes for Gap, told the Guardian she was dismissed after being off work for more than 15 days due to illness. Texport Overseas denies this.

Another tailor who makes clothes for H&M, said that when she could not achieve her production targets, the clothes were thrown in her face. She said up to 15 workers a day collapsed and had to be given medical attention. Workers and unions claim the conditions in the factories led to two tragic incidents this year.

In February, a young woman hanged herself in the toilets of one factory, Triangle Apparels, owned by Gokaldas Exports. A report by a number of Indian NGOS alleges that she was verbally sexually harassed and repeatedly refused permission for leave on the day she died.

Jagadamba, 43, the mother of the dead woman, who now looks after her daughter's two sons, Sarti, eight, and Surya, four, told the Guardian that her daughter had only worked at the factory for 20 days, but had been very unhappy there. "She told me, 'They are always shouting at me because I can't meet the targets'."

Gokaldas denies that she was verbally sexually harassed. Triangle is not one of the factories supplying Marks & Spencer or Mothercare.

A month later, a nine-month pregnant woman from Shalina Creations, a factory supplying Gap, went into labour at work and subsequently lost her baby. Rathnamma, 27, a mother of two, claimed that she was refused immediate leave on March 29 this year, after going into labour. When she asked to go home, the production manager made her fill in forms that took an hour and a half, she said. "I was in such pain, I could hardly stand up."

When she finally made it outside the factory gates, she collapsed, she said, and gave birth to the baby in the street. A passerby helped her into an auto ricksaw, but when she got home, she discovered the baby was dead. Rathnamma, who has returned to work after being given paid leave for three months, said: "I feel angry. They gave me money, but nothing will bring the baby back. But I need the job. If I have no job, I have no food."

Gap representatives in the US did not dispute her allegations. However, a Gap representative in India denied that she was refused immediate leave, said that she gave birth in a rickshaw, and not on the street, and claimed the baby died when it slipped from her grasp.

KP Gopinath, the director of Cividep, an Indian workers' rights group, said: "When we speak to the workers, they tell us all they want is to be treated like human beings. They need a living wage to live in dignity, to get running water, to get a better education for their children."

He said a report by the Garment and Textile Workers union estimated a living wage in Bangalore to be at least £2.50 per day.

John Hilary from War on Want, said: "Exploitation of workers in developing countries such as India is standard practice for British retailers right across the spectrum. This just underlines the urgent need for Gordon Brown to step in now and stop these abuses once and for all."

A spokesman for Primark said that it took the allegations "very seriously".

He added that it had initiated immediate audits of all supplier premises and would re-audit to ensure compliance if necessary.

Mothercare also said it took the allegations seriously and would re-audit its two factories in India.

H&M said the harassment and forced overtime alleged was "unacceptable" and it would forward the complaints to its suppliers. It said it required suppliers to pay a legal minimum wage.

A statement from Gap said it regularly monitored suppliers, and had recently experienced a "number of compliance violations at factories in the Indian subcontinent region", and would work to resolve the issues.

A spokesman for Marks & Spencer said the two Gokaldas factories it used paid the legal minimum wage in India, as "there is no legal or industry-agreed" definition of a living wage. It added that it was working to "better understand this complex area".

Matalan said its suppliers paid above the minimum wage for Bangalore. Two compliance audits carried out on Texport Overseas in the past two years had found no record of forced overtime.

http://business.guardian.co.uk/retail/story/0,,2161302,00.html

Prompt your Creativity

2007-09-01T10:43:00.000+04:00

Creativity do not exist in vacuum - peopled need some stimulation or source to start with. In case you want some stimulus to come with some great clean ideas - you can download this Majency Oracle- The Majency Oracle is a 169-card deck of original prompts or "matches" to spark the imagination. You can download this and try !

Link : http://www.jamesbickers.com/majency.html

Its Not Luck !

2007-08-24T12:24:00.000+04:00

Eliyahu Goldratt- have been always asking probing questions with Alex Rogo and we always waited for the inputs of mentor Jonah. I found this nice clip - Brings back the memories of project management Sessions- have you defined your constraints ??

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WyZTRNbjoLE&mode=related&search=

Monsoon Reading

2007-08-22T15:14:00.000+04:00

If you happen to leisurely stroll away your time during a monsoon afternoon in India then you are a lucky person. I chanced upon few days on monsoon drenched Goa. The sea was unapproachable for most part of the day but not the beach shacks and the wet sands. It was pleasure to go for a bike ride on a monsoon day and I also chanced to finish some good reading . There is one collection of writings that pays tributes to this phenomenon called monsoon, rain and wet climate ( along with Kerala )

' Where the rain is born' - writings about Kerala - Edited By Anita Nair
Penguin books

Breaking & Entering -

2007-08-12T10:47:00.000+04:00

This is Anthony Minghella’s first written-and-directed movie- great watch - simply for its cross-cultural parallels and mirror-images of how a alienated a person can be in modern times.

Google - Mapping Progress ahead

2007-08-11T15:42:00.000+04:00

There has been significant changes in the goggle earth images - in the last few months. Now you can scan across India and get high resolution images - which are quiet clear !
and you can make out - places, roads and plots. Now this is a handy tool if you are planing to buy land in India. ( real estate guys should utilise this in their ppts !. For OOH marketers this lets you plan OOH rentings / media planing etc - now you don't have to download - maps of india - flat maps !

Great way to read newspaper

2007-08-06T15:43:00.000+04:00

Now you can download full version of Guardian newspaper and read it - in 5 pdf forms and updated throughout the day

access site : http://www.guardian.co.uk/g24/0,,1820858,00.html

Graph Font

2007-07-28T15:09:00.000+04:00

Usage of fonts in presentations/Reports etc cannot be underplayed. They give the presenter a unique opportunity to increase the aesthetic quality. It brightens up the (otherwise) boring Microsoft powerpoint presentations. I came across this - Architext font- which fits well into the graphs/Daigrams in excel - Architext-A font styled on the sort of hand lettering architects used to put on drawings back in the days when an architect could still work a pencil. you can download the same from here : http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=2581

No cooling off in SMP/WMP

2007-07-25T21:17:00.000+04:00

1. No significant change in prices in the last 20 days for SMP/WMP, which cannot be taken as the indicator for cooling down of the prices.
2.Fonterra Raises 2007 Payout on Record Prices, Output :New Zealand farmers who own the cooperative and supply its milk will get paid NZ$4.46 a kilogram for the year ended May 31 ,Fonterra's NZ$5.6 billion ($4.5 billion) payment raises the risk that spending by farmers will stoke economic growth Fonterra accounts for about 40 percent of the international trade in dairy products and almost 7 percent of New Zealand's economy. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=ahVhHrcEFpDc&refer=australia
3.High dairy prices affect Hershey's earnings :High dairy prices meant Hershey's operating margins fell to 3.1 per cent for the quarter ended 1 July, compared to 17.3 per cent for the same period in 2006. http://www.confectionerynews.com/news/ng.asp?n=78386-hershey-dairy-prices-emerging-markets
4.Starbucks increasing drink prices:The coffee conglomerate says by July 31 prices on hand-brewed coffee will increase by nine cents. The reason: higher dairy, energy and fuel prices. http://www.wwaytv3.com/starbucks_increasing_drink_prices/07/2007
5.Britannia adds to its dairy business:Britannia, which also makes bread, cake and cheese, is test-marketing yogurt in Bangalore and will extend it to other markets soon, Vinita Bali said We're looking at extending our dairy portfolio and evaluating other opportunities,"
6.Dairy farmers peturbed over rising milk prices, Reliance Retail moves into dairy sector: Dairy officials were quoted by the Financial Express as saying that rising SMP prices have forced dairies to increase price at least three times in last one year. Reliance Retail is at present procuring 10,000 litres per day at its procurement centre in Atmakur in Nellore district. The packaging, which is outsourced, is being done at Vikarabad in Ranga Reddy district. http://www.dailyindia.com/show/157970.php/Dairy-farmers-peturbed-over-rising-milk-prices-Reliance-Retail-moves-into-dairy-sector

Have some more black Coffee

2007-07-15T14:27:00.000+04:00

This picture nicely captures the increase in the prices of daily need products. The highest being the orange juice concentrate and dairy.

Cartels - perpetuate ' business inefficiency'

2007-07-08T14:33:00.001+04:00

we have seen many groups being formed to protect business interest, consumer interest and at times even religious interest. The over riding feeling that I have about these interest group is that they perpetuate ' business inefficiency' and ' market standing'

People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

A survey of hundreds of published economic studies and legal decisions of antitrust authorities found that the median price increase achieved by cartels in the last 200 years is 25%. Private international cartels (those with participants from two or more nations) had an average price increase of 28%, whereas domestic cartels averaged 18%. Less than 10% of all cartels in the sample failed to raise market prices.

In general, cartel agreements are economically unstable in that there is an incentive for members to cheat by selling at below the agreed price or selling more than the production quotas set by the cartel (see also game theory). This has caused many cartels that attempt to set product prices to be unsuccessful in the long term. Empirical studies of 20th century cartels have determined that the mean duration of discovered cartels is from 5 to 8 years. However, once a cartel is broken, the incentives to form the cartel return and the cartel may be re-formed. Publicly-known cartels that do not follow this cycle include, by some accounts, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Price fixing is often practiced internationally. When the agreement to control price is sanctioned by a multilateral treaty or protected by national sovereignty, no antitrust actions may be initiated. Examples of such price fixing include oil whose price is partly controlled by the supply by OPEC countries. Also international airline tickets have prices fixed by agreement with the IATA, a practice for which there is a specific exception in antitrust law.

International price fixing by private entities can be prosecuted under the antitrust laws of more than 100 countries. Examples of prosecuted international cartels are lysine, citric acid, graphite electrodes and bulk vitamins.

Virtual Earth project,

2007-07-07T15:25:00.001+04:00

Stephen Lawler, from Microsoft, takes us on a tour through the company's new Virtual Earth project, which is, basically, an attempt to turn the entire planet into an interface to the web. Collecting and synthesizing massive amounts of data -- bird's-eye views, street-level photos, 3D wireframes -- the Virtual Earth team are building a world of possibilities. Bonus: This talk may explain the mysterious vans with cameras on top that you might have seen cruising up and down your street.

Stunning - Earth Image

2007-07-07T11:20:00.000+04:00

absolutely stunning creation
I happened to stumble on this imagery at http://paperpad.blogspot.com/

Can commodity prices go higher?

2007-07-07T11:09:00.000+04:00

MARKETS depend on a dynamic of supply and demand in order to effectively set prices that clear the supply, writes NICK HOLT-MARTYN, Director, The Dairy Group.

As we have seen recently with milk quota, when there is very little supply or demand markets struggle to operate effectively. A similar position is now being seen with powders where despite good demand there is little available supply to set prices.
The effect is a reported spot skimmed milk powder (SMP) price of more than £2,500/tonne, which is confirmed in reports from Dutch official prices of €3,580/tonne and yet the United Kingdom reported market price is only £2,000/tonne.
This suggests further UK price rises are to come and that the expected switch away from cheese will have started in earnest.
The effect should be commodity prices rising further and, increasingly, a reduction in cheese supply as we enter the autumn. This all points to significant price rises across the whole market in the next six months.
A note of caution for the future is that climate experts are suggesting the possibility of La Nina conditions in the Pacific this autumn, which would provide favourable conditions in Australia allowing a recovery of sorts in their drought damaged industry. A strong recovery could lead to weakening commodities in 2009.
In the meantime, these are excellent market conditions in which to draw up closer ties with customers, markets and production costs. Agreeing smart supply contracts now will help protect against future adverse market conditions.
The Market Price Equivalent (MPE) has rocketed to another new peak due to increases in skim and whole milk powders, while cheese/butter has slipped back due to a fall in whey prices. Returns are now up by 1.95 pence per litre (10 per cent) on May 2006, due to the strength in commodities, but particularly milk powders.
SMP is leading the way, up 47 per cent on the year, whereas mild cheddar is down one per cent, indicating the disparity in returns. With market returns rising, even through the May UK production peak, suggests there should be further price rises as UK production falls from the seasonal peak. The likelihood of cheese production falling over the next six months should strengthen the cheese market and allow an increase in powder production to partially satiate the commodity demand.
The strength in commodity sectors suggests the potential for a 10 per cent rise in the cheese market as milk is switched into commodities. With continued growth in world GDP and adverse weather affecting Australia for at least another production season, prices are set to remain at these high levels until 2009.
The graph of market returns, milk prices and milk deliveries shows that rolling prices are now set to improve for the next 12 months. The rolling weighted average milk price in March was down 0.6 ppl (3.3 per cent) on March 2006, the lowest level since October 2003.
The increase in the farmgate price should feed through as the year progresses, with continual up lifts as the market returns finally benefit dairy farmers. As outlined above, a significant price increase in cheese should be achieved before winter, helping to counter the increase in production costs, particularly energy and feed costs.
The weather has turned again with a wet May leading to a prevention of drought and a continuation of the recovery in production. Grass supplies will now last out June and it seems less likely that drought conditions will hamper UK production until later in the summer at the earliest.
Currently world weather is recovering from El Nino. However, if there is a sharp La Nina in the Pacific we could enter a period of prolonged wet weather similar to 1998-2003 which lead to increased world production and lower commodity values. The current commodity highs do not mean an end to volatility, only that we are on an upward price curve, the end of which we cannot yet foresee.
o The MPE is calculated from the weighted actual wholesale prices for liquid milk, cheese, butter and powders after the normal processing costs. The MPE accounts for 90 per cent of the UK market utilisation of milk.
The MPE is calculated from wholesale market values, whereas IMPE (Intervention Milk Price Equivalent) accounts for just 11 per cent of UK milk production and is effectively determined by the Council of Ministers and the prevailing exchange rate. The MPE provides a far superior indicator of the wholesale value of milk and therefore the likely market returns available to the dairy farmer.

Fantastic Graphics

2007-07-04T19:33:00.000+04:00

Megan Jaegerman graphics are outstanding. Her work is smart, finely detailed,elegant, witty, inventive, informative. It easy to read and pleasing to eye like the one above. You would like to see them in your morning newspaper.

Hara hachi bu !

2007-07-02T13:33:00.000+04:00

Eating to Powerpoint slides !
The Japanese have a great expression concerning healthy eating habits: Hara hachi bu. Hara hachi bu means “Eat until 80% full” (literally, stomach 80%).

When do you know the momentum is on your side?

2007-07-01T15:50:00.000+04:00

This is the most difficult question for a marketer – to know the ‘Tipping point’ – that you have crossed the bridge and now you have a smooth ride. How do you quantify that tipping point is so essential – is it the 100% sales growth, 25 NPDs that you chase, doubled your tonnage sales, increased your TOMA/ITP or is it the weighted distribution growth? Answer is indeed difficult.

seth had a nice article on this

Pushing and running
One of the most difficult transitions that marketing organizations go through is shifting from pushing against resistance to running with acceptance.
The culture at insurgent companies is all about pushing. You get turned down on sales calls, you have tiny market share, people walk away from your trade show booths. You have trouble finding suppliers and a bank loan and even employees.
So you learn to push. In fact, you may discover you start to lean against that resistance, that it becomes part of who you and your team are.
If your work is successful, you break through. You become Apple or the politician who leads in the polls. And then what?
If you're very good, you start running like crazy. You have the wind at your back and the chance to dramatically increase your impact and market share. But most organizations keep pushing. Because that's what they know how to do. Instead of running up the scoreboard, they look for something else to push against. I think the fascinating transformation at Apple is worth noting. The iPod gave them the opportunity to start running.
It's not easy.

more on this
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/07/pushing-and-run.html

Keynote Vs Powerpoint

2007-06-27T10:20:00.001+04:00

Keynote is indeed gaining ground- with strong support from a section of specialist
this is the take of Edward Tufte

With characteristic Apple elegance, Keynote produces more gracefully designed slides than clunky PP. Keynote is useful as PP slide reader. Both Keynote and PP serve as competent Projector Operating Systems: projecting full screen color images and videos.

About 80% of the deep problems with PP, however, are also problems with Keynote since there is inherent defect in slideware: low resolution, replacing sentences with grunts, relentless sequentiality, and so on through the rest of the problems. About 80% of my essay could just as well be called The Cognitive Style of Slideware: Pitching Out Corrupts Within.

Consequently, slideware redesigns are largely futile exercises; solutions for serious technical reporting are found in good technical reports, not in the interior redecorating of slides. My essay is largely about what happens to the quality of evidence and analysis when passing through slideware. Patches for PP and slide redesigns by commercial artists cannot solve those problems for technical reports.

All history of improvements in human communication is written in terms of improvements in resolution: to produce, for viewers of evidence, more bits per unit time, and more bits per unit area. Slideware is contrary to that history. Trading in reductions in resolution for user convenience or for pitching may useful in mass market products or in commercial art, but not for technical communications. The solution is not to rescue slideware design; the solution is to use a different, better, and content-driven presentation method. On this solution, see our thread PowerPoint Does Rocket Science--and Better Techniques for Technical Reports

entire discussion is available at
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0000zF

Starbucks Squeezed by Dairy Prices

2007-06-23T13:38:00.000+04:00

When a company is prefectly 'efficent' they are bogged down by any change in production costs, they do not have any "Inefficency" to curb and contain cost- Starbucks is an example

Starbucks Squeezed by Dairy Prices

By William Spain
CHICAGO (Dow Jones) -- Shares of Starbucks fell to a 20-month low Thursday after the coffee chain's chief financial officer said meeting the top end of its 2007 profit target will be "very challenging."
The company had set a range of earnings of 87 cents to 89 cents a share for the year, but CFO Michael Casey, speaking at a conference in Chicago, cited "rising dairy costs and soft transaction growth" as factors that are weighing on the bottom line.
Starbucks shares (SBUX) closed lower, falling $1.06, or 3.8%, to $26.26 in heavy trading volume that was roughly triple its average. The stock has been on a slow but steady skid since cracking the $40 mark late last year.
Starbucks added that it plans to open 2,400 new stores this year and is targeting 20% revenue growth and a same-store sales rise of 3% to 7%.
David Tarantino of Robert Baird cut his price target on the stock following the news while trimming his earnings per share outlook to reflect the higher cost assumptions.
"While disappointed to be lowering estimates, we maintain our outperform rating," he wrote to investors. "We believe pressure from dairy prices is a transitory issue that is masking a solid underlying outlook for [the second half].
The current valuation makes for "an attractive entry point for a compelling growth story that includes substantial long-term prospects . . . .high returns on capital, and healthy balance-sheet and cash-flow characteristics," he added.
Finally, "we expect sentiment to improve as [Starbucks] demonstrates ability to achieve good results in upcoming periods . . .despite external headwinds."

From TG... to TA

2007-06-21T16:36:00.001+04:00

Presentations are always difficult- for most, exception could be Garry Reynolds. We all know that it requires intensive preparation on the topic that one is going to speak, I also feel that it is important that the speaker understand the listeners requirement- which most of them forgets. Yesterday I attended Arab beverage forum held at Dubai, audience comprised of marketers from the Middle East beverage industry.

I happen to listen to a speaker who had his 50-60 odd slides filled with statistics and information which any one in the beverage category would already be having. These numbers ( population,Mkt Share) are bread and butter for a marketer, and all of them would surely have tucked them in their ‘Market Share’ folder somewhere in the notebook. I can bet some people in audience would have had these numbers on their finger tip, at least I saw 4 spelling errors and graphs with numbers all wrong. When the presentation ended the audience pummeled the speaker with some questions that indicated how prepared and well informed the audience was – since the crowd corrected the speaker on some of the numbers. Knowing your TG is not just for hawking a product; it is equally relevant for a speaker also- one should know the TA - Target Audience well.

"precipitous fall" - Expected

2007-06-21T12:43:00.000+04:00

After reading this article in NZ herald My assumptions just got strengthened - (which is rooted in increasing US class IV prices )that the decline in prices of SMP/WMP is just months away !

Panic buying hits global dairy trade
By Malcolm Burgess
Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier denied that high prices would burn off demand for dairy.
"Panic buying" appears to have broken out in the global dairy trade as supply constraints ratchet prices up into uncharted territory, according to agricultural forecaster Agrifax.
The latest data from the NZX-owned rural information provider show prices for milk powders jumped 4 per cent, and butter leapt 10 per cent, in the past fortnight in US dollar terms. Some prices for skim milk powder hit almost US$5000 ($6628) a tonne - more than 2 1/2 times last decade's average of US$1900.
"There are signs of panic buying and a wide range of prices are quoted by various sources," Agrifax said. "This is totally uncharted territory."
But Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier denied those giddy prices would burn off demand for dairy, insisting a small number of trades at those levels is nothing new. However he told the Business Herald the full impact on consumers would not be clear until the end of the year.
"We want to ensure that dairy prices are at a level that is not going to have a material impact on demand - we just don't know what that price level is yet."
News of the surge follows the European Union's decision last week to scrap its dairy export subsidies in a move expected to cut dwindling European dairy production further.
Demand for dairy plummeted following spikes in commodity prices in 2000 and 2001, resulting in a dramatic slump in dairy prices and reduced payout to Fonterra shareholders for the 2002 season.
But Ferrier, who heads the world's largest exporter of dairy products, says that was a result of "very different dynamics" - an oversupply of product as opposed to today's shortage.
"We think it's very different than previous cycles because global demand has been so strong, global stocks are at an all-time low and we think there is just not enough [in the way of] pricing dynamics out there to drive a substantial fall."
However he acknowledged that high prices increase supply and tend to reduce demand, so care was needed.
While Ferrier did not predict a "precipitous fall" after the boom, he expected that "over time dairy prices will soften from the current peak and settle at a more palatable level".
However in the next six to nine months he did not see much changing the current supply-demand dynamics behind the dairy boom.
The drought in Australia, increasing use of land to grow corn for biofuels in the US, and Westernised diets in rapidly developing regions such as Asia and the Middle East are driving a surge in dairy prices, and supply can't keep up with demand.
"They just need product," Agrifax founder and market analyst David Meares said. "And it's not there."
He expected the price rises would have some impact upon consumption, especially in less affluent countries.
However, he did not think there would be much impact on developed economies such as the EU and the US.
Although demand in the short term was "very inflexible", the longer-term outlook was less certain. "The consumer hasn't been tested yet," he said.
He said that since no one had predicted the meteoric rise in dairy commodity prices, forecasting when they would come down would be difficult.
If current prices hold, Fonterra's payout for the 2007/08 season could be $6 per kg of milk solids at the current rate of US75c to the kiwi dollar, and go even higher depending on Fonterra's hedging policy, Meares said. "At a US71c conversion, a payout of about $6.40 is possible."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/62/story.cfm?c_id=62&objectid=10446743

StreetSmart-Streetview !

2007-06-19T13:55:00.000+04:00

Google - Streetview offers street smart sellers to hawk their products in virtual world also - with some virtual promotion banners, Menu cards by restaurants, It is indeed exciting

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&layer=c&cbll=40.75859,-73.98509&cbp=1,16.9191318327974,0.5,0&ie=UTF8&om=1&ll=40.760366,-73.984584&spn=0.006079,0.01133&z=17

Less is more is less - Patient Autonomy

2007-06-19T10:14:00.000+04:00

Barry Schwartz wrote - Modern Torture

285 Type of cookies
100 TV
30 VCR
75 Ice - Teas
175 salad Dressing
275 cereal
40 Tooth Paste

Is it so ? is more choice harmful ?
Choices come from extension of a services or product – where in benefits of an existing product can be ‘stretched’. When a marketer gives choice to the customer it – makes customer ‘engage’ with a product. Entire kids range of products – like beverages, biscuits works on this- engagement – ‘collectables’ – where kids are encouraged to collect different freebies with the products. And all people have there own ‘consideration set’. For Eg: Hundred’s of movies are released across the world every Friday – but we read the review of the movie that we wants to watch and watch the one we want to see.

Read the other viewpoint here
http://www.livemint.com/2007/06/18140808/Drivers-Seat-When-less-is-mo.html

Omega 3 Story

2007-06-18T14:07:00.000+04:00

During stone age -humans used to have better diet - then the ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 was 1:1. Now the ratio is skewed to 1:30 in some places. The source for Omega 3 is from fish liver & Algae - and for Omega 6 - it is from Sunflower,corn,soy & nuts. It is prudent to have a balance of both omega. I happened to meet a team from Deomega, company based out Fredrikstad , Norway. They sell omega 3- they source the fish from waters of Norway and extracts omega 3 and delivers at your factory gate- so you can mix it in juice, milk or Ice cream.

more on Deomega :http://www.ingredients.no/eway/default.aspx?pid=242&trg=MainPage_8406&MainPage_8406=10853:0:

Its all from the desert

2007-06-17T19:36:00.000+04:00

It is just remarkable what Al Safi has done - more so it is outregous also.The world's largest integrated dairy farm, Al Safi, is located in the Saudi Arabian desert, 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of Riyadh. The dairy is a result of the 1973 Arab oil embargo against Western nations. During the embargo, the Saudi royal family realized their nation couldn't rely on food imports from other countries. Vowing the kingdom would become self-sufficient, the royal family set out to revolutionize agriculture in the mostly arid country.
Through government subsidies, Saudi farmers were able to import irrigation equipment to grow grain. They also imported dairy cattle from Europe, Canada, and the United States. Al Safi, which is owned by the royal family, quickly became the largest dairy in the country and then the world.
Al Safi has more than 29,000 head of Holstein-Friesian cows, which produce 122,000 gallons (462, 000 liters) of milk a day, supplying 33 percent of the kingdom's dairy market. These cows survive in temperatures that drop to freezing in the winter and soar to 115º Fahrenheit (46º Celsius) in the summer. There's no grass in the desert for them to eat, so all their food is grown on the farm. The cows' water is pumped from 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) underground. Each cow uses about 30 gallons (100 liters) a day for drinking (and cooling off) via sprinkler systems in the shed.

Milk it. Sell it. Or complain about it.

2007-06-17T09:40:00.001+04:00

Nice use of visual representation - along with a satire of the milk prices ?

http://indexed.blogspot.com/2007/06/milk-it-sell-it-or-complain-about-it.html

A perfect pitch? - Undercover Economist

2007-06-17T09:32:00.000+04:00

Economists tend to study ”the market” in the abstract, but some markets are anything but abstract. The Aalsmeer auctions in the Netherlands burst with the colour of more than 20m flowers a day, while Tokyo’s early-morning Tsukiji fish market is enthralling enough to compete for tourist attention with the nightclubs of Roppongi. (The stink of alcohol in the tourist pens of Tsukiji suggests that many visitors have combined both experiences to make a night of it.)These celebrated markets deserve attention from economists as well as tourists. A lot of economics assumes away the details of how market transactions actually work. That is a shame; the late John McMillan, an economist at Stanford, argued that markets will only work well if they are well designed. The whole idea of a market is to allow gains from trade to take place; a badly thought-out market will often fail.There is more than meets the eye even to a simple transaction such as buying fish.The economist Kathryn Graddy once spent a month shadowing a trader at the Fulton Fish Market in New York, rousing herself in the early hours and paying protection money to park her car in a safe spot near the market. She discovered that market traders appeared to charge different prices to different ethnic groups - in particular, Asian buyers tended to win keener prices than white buyers. The likely explanation was that the Asian buyers had more price-sensitive customers in Chinatown.Still, this was a surprising result.Continued at ft.com, subscription free.
Labels: FT, UndercoverEconomist