Repositioning IMERT

We are proud to announce the release of new IMERT Desktop Wallpapers & New Year Greeting Cards. Enjoy the quality release.
Cheers!

Unity in diversity @ IMERT

IMERT - The Right Mix

IMERTians - The True Leaders


IMERT


IMERT Wishes all of you a very happy and prosperous new year. Enjoy the New year greeting cards.


New Year Greeting - Type 1


New Year Greeting - Type 2

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System Cell Team,
IMERT, Pune

SPECIES

Being a science student the most interesting chapter I have studied in my 12th std was regarding Darwinism. I always wondered how we are linked to the apes?

It was surely uncomfortable when I thought about it for the first time, like how do you answer when someone asks you: - 'what did your family traditionally do?' Answer: - 'well, hang around the trees; you see my forefathers were monkeys'.

  To speak only scientifically the statement is quite true because if we compare the ape gene pool with ours (human) the there is almost 95% data redundancy.

  How do we interpret the statement? It practically means we are no better to the apes. But on second thought we are not quite alike either. So now negating the above mentioned similarity posses its own set of interesting questions like: -
 
 1. What is the hallmark of being 'human'?
 2. What is it that makes us really 'human'?
 3. Why are we successful?
 4. What ensures that we keep on propagating our species despite of   evolutionary pressures?

  There could be more but these are what struck at the very first go.
  
  These questions sound too intellectual, philosophical and may be too taxing to the human brain, but it's not the matter that is complex except that it is unusual. We normally agree to facts without challenging them, so when posed by a fundamental query it seems, challenging something too pious to violate.

  So let's analyze one by one.

  1. What is the hallmark of being 'human'?

   The answer is quite simple, yet noteworthy 'the remaining 5% of different genes'. It's just how we have been able to express these different genes to develop a completely new organism, 'Homo Sapiens Sapiens'.



  2. What is it that makes us really 'human'?

    It's our ability to feel, to perceive things multidimensionally, to analyze situations quickly, and to think of answers, to think of more questions, find answers to them too and build logic so strong that it is transformed into a reflex arc.
   The most quintessential aspect of human nature is 'curiosity'. We almost always do things basically due to curiosity. To satisfy curiosity with dogged efforts by delving to the depth of the matter is the exact other side of the 'curiosity' coin.


  3. Why are we successful?

 We may think that if all the points have been previously noted this question is nothing but repetition.

  No, not so. You see thinking from different angles, being curious and satisfying curiosity only does not ensure existence. The major reason for our success has been 'application of thought'. It means we are the only specie to have not only continuously 'invented', 'innovated', 'improvised' things but also probably the best ones to have reinstated what we call 'teamwork'.
  The outcome has been utter resilience to vanish from the ecosystem.

   
  4. What ensures that we keep on propagating our specie despite of   evolutionary pressures?

  It is important to be resilient, but how do we ensure we remain so?
There is seemingly mundane yet elegant answer to this: - 'Adapt'.
Adaptability has been the backbone of human success.

Here is where we demarcate ourselves as 'humans'.

All the points we have seen like curiosity, perseverance, inventions, innovations to teamwork when used harmoniously and applied at the right time gives us what we call adaptability.

 No wonder why Darwin himself gave the essence of his theory of evolution as: - 'Survival of the Fittest'.  

  Yes, for a very long time I have been repeating something most of us would have by hearted to pass 12th.But its time to prove we are humans.

Time for some basic thinking to be done.

I pose this entire matter as question to you all; give the best possible application of this matter.

There is of course an interesting link to what we do now and how we do it?

If you can answer it possibly you can learn how to be a human again, if you give up (very un-human to behave) I will gladly write the answer, but till then give it a shot.

(To leave your comments please click on the comments link below)


Dhairyasheel Patil

MBA- I, (IMERT)

The World Is Flat - Worth a read!

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is a best-selling book by Thomas L. Friedman analyzing the progress of globalization with an emphasis on the early 21st century. It was first released in 2005 and was later released as an "updated and expanded" edition in 2006.

Overview

Friedman believes the world is flat in the sense that the competitive playing fields between industrial and emerging market countries are leveling. Friedman recounts many examples in which companies in India and China are becoming part of large global complex supply chains that extend across oceans, providing everything from service representatives and X-ray interpretation to component manufacturing. He also describes how these changes are made possible through intersecting technologies, particularly the Internet. Friedman criticizes those who resist these changes, arguing that global change is inevitable. He also warns that companies that are now part of a supply chain may eventually want to build a supply chain of their own. As he puts it, "they are racing us to the top." The World is Flat is part global reporting, part theory and reflection about how the world got here and what the ramifications are for education, government policy and readers.

In Chapter 11, "The Unflat World," Friedman discusses his philosophy of history: "I am a technological determinist! . . . I believe that capabilities create intentions. . . . But . . I am not a historical determinist". He notes that there are still three billion people who still live in an "unflat world" unaffected by the technologies and socioeconomic changes, sometimes this is caused by poverty. He addresses what these three billion people--as well as their governments and the world's businesses--need to do in order to join the "flat world."

Criticism

The central image of the book―the "flat" world―has been criticized by The Economist as an "inaccurate and empty image" that does not suit Friedman's own argument. While Friedman points out that the world is increasingly inter-connected, his image may suggest the opposite, as a flat world would be harder to navigate than a spherical one. However, Friedman more likely meant the metaphor to imply the "playing field is flat" in the competitive sense.

There has also been criticism of Friedman's use of the flat earth theory in his book. Friedman perpetuates the myth that Christopher Columbus set out to prove the world was round, while his contemporaries believed it was flat and that his ships would sail off the edge of the Earth. This false idea was begun by a biography of Columbus written by Washington Irving, and many have felt that Friedman should know better. However, even some critics of the Columbus reference have still been subject to the popular myth of the flat-earth era. The well-respected publication 'The Economist', in a review of Friedman's book, stated incorrectly that "Mr Friedman claims that this proved Columbus's thesis that the world is round. It did nothing of the kind. Proof that the world is round came only in 1522, when the sole surviving ship from Ferdinand Magellan's little fleet returned to Spain." In actuality, few people in 1492 believed the Earth to be flat.

Peak oil advocate James Howard Kunstler believes that the globalization model supported by Thomas Friedman is a "false doctrine" because it relies on cheap oil and implies a growth of its use, and in a century to be sealed by future oil depletion and global warming it is nor sustainable nor desirable.

Friedman's book recently became required reading for undergraduate engineering majors at Case Western Reserve University. For a counter perspective, students read excerpts from William Marling’s How 'American' is Globalization? in which Marling calls Friedman’s “flat world” metaphor “anachronistic” and “wrong” (202). The book is also required reading in an upper division computer science course at California Polytechnic State University and during the 2006 Orientation for the incoming class at Vanderbilt University MBA program.

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Corporate Study Team,
IMERT, Pune

Interesting Statistics Part II

Open source software would in 2007 get the architectural backing and distribution channels it needed to gain acceptance from enterprise customers that aimed to deploy enterprise applications at a lower per-transaction cost, Unisys said.

It expects far-sighted organisations to be looking to open source to develop even more of an "edge" to increase their competitiveness and drive innovation in 2007.

"There are literally hundreds of thousands of open source projects in the world today," said Anthony Gold, vice-president and general manager, open source business, Unisys.

"Until now, Linux has been one of the most mature and widely adopted elements. In 2007, Unisys sees the entire open source stack attaining a similar inflection point in adoption for critical mainstream business solutions such as business intelligence and enterprise content management," he added.

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Corporate Study Team,
IMERT, Pune

Interesting Statistics

Over the last six months, Mumbaites have forgotten 32,970 mobile phones, 349 laptops and 349 USB (Universal Serial Bus) sticks/thumb drives at the back of licensed taxi cabs – and these are just the ones that have been reported as lost.

Mumbai is not a lone case. A survey of taxi drivers (2006-07) from 11 major cities across the world, conducted by Pointsec Mobile Technologies, reveals that thousands of valuable mobile phones, handheld devices, laptops and USB Sticks are forgotten in taxis every day. Of all the cities, London emerges as the capital with the most forgetful population losing 54872 mobile phones.

In case of handheld devices such as Pocket PCs being lost, London (4,718) ranked highest once again, followed by Washington (2,260), Munich (1902) and Berlin (1125). The number of lost laptops was also highest in London (3,179) with Munich in the second place with 355 followed by Mumbai in third spot with 349. Courtesy - Business Standard

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MBA I, S-ID: 21,
IMERT, Pune

Promotions gets in-no-vative!

Promoters are looking at offbeat ways to talk about their products.  After a dull, lean period of staid and boring out-of-home (OOH) advertising in India, advertisers are finally getting in-no-vative.  

A case in point is the Ginger Hotels outdoor advertising initiative where the company put up a makeshift structure of a two-storeyed hotel room on a busy Mumbai road, and even had a real guest staying in there! Nor is this the only one.  

To promote its Xbox, Microsoft put up digital guns on bus shelters. Then theres Hutch, which put up a huge record player to promote its music service. Talk about getting quirky!

Although outdoor advertising doesnt figure high on the list of company ad spends, more and more brands are now beginning to look at it in a big way. This, says Indrajit Sen, COO, Jagran Engage, is because of two factors.  The interactivity that the medium provides is far greater than any other medium and secondly, the promoters are beginning to realise that TV advertising is a one-way street. True, as theres not much that one can actually do in terms of innovation there!

The outdoor, on the other hand, provides a chance to customers to live the experience, as in the case of the Ginger gimmick  R Laxminarayan, CEO, Mudra Marketing Services, feels that people are finally beginning to realise the potential of OOH as a medium. It is good to see brands experimenting with outdoor advertising.  

More important, it is not only the mainstream brands that are using the medium, niche segments such as jewellery brands, production houses and even radio is showing their interest in it.  The OOH market stands close to Rs 1,200 crore and is expected to grow at a rate of 15 per cent. The reduction in ad spends on TV is a clear indication of people looking at OOH and other mediums.  But with more innovative campaigns on the anvil, does it mean the death of the hoarding? Of course not, says Laxminarayan.  

Look at Amul, people still wait for every Monday to see a new Amul hoarding. So, it is not only about the medium but the message also has to be delivered in the right manner.

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Corporate Study Team,
IMERT Pune

Are we ready to face competition?

The government intends to allow foreign educational institutions to offer courses in India independently or in collaboration with Indian education institutions and a Bill for this purpose is under consideration, union finance minister, P Chidambaram the FM said in his convocation address at Symbiosis International University in Pune on Saturday

"The time has come to recognise the right of every qualified student to pursue higher education. The other side is the right of a qualified education—be in the public sector or private sector or be it a foreign educational institution—to offer the opportunities for higher education." Chidambaram said.

A truly liberal and forward looking society will seize upon every instrument that can augment and nourish human capital, the FM said in his convocation address at Symbiosis International University in Pune on Saturday.

Sustaining and increasing a high rate of growth was not a function of capital investment alone and it required highly qualified and trained human resources, he said.

S B Majumdar, chancellor of the Symbiosis university, said unaided private institutions in the country had no problems with 50% reservation and did not understand by government aided institutions were opposing reservation.

But will foreign educational institutions agree to this?
Will we have an Oxford in the Oxford of the east?
Are our universities ready for such competition?
Which students will the corporates prefer to hire?
Will universities & private educational institutions loose its value or will education loose its value?

Bill to allow foreign institutes on anvil: FM

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Corporate Study Team,
IMERT, Pune

The Jungle Rule of the Global Market

Mergers, Takeovers & Acquisitions... continue to be the buzz words. This weeks updates...

Shoppers' Stop forms JV with Swiss firm

Shoppers Stop Ltd has formed a 50:50 joint venture firm with Switzerland-based The Nuance Group

Jet ties up with American Airlines

Jet Airways has entered into a special code sharing (SPA) agreement with the worlds largest carrier American Airlines for India-US flights.

Steel magnate L N Mittal and a wholly owned unit of San Francisco-based fund house Farallon Capital have together bought a 13.33 per cent stake in Indiabulls Infrastructure Development Ltd, the majority-owned arm of Indiabulls Financial Services, for Rs 447 crore, valuing the subsidiary at Rs 3,350 crore.

Ranbaxy buys SA firm Be-Tabs for $70 million

Ranbaxy Laboratories has consolidated its position in the South African pharmaceutical market by acquiring Be-Tabs Pharmaceuticals (Pty) Ltd, the fifth largest generic player in the country

McLeod to buy Moran Tea

Brij Mohan Khaitan-controlled McLeod Russel (India) is set to acquire Moran Tea Company (India)

Thomas Cook acquires TCI

Thomas Cook India (TCIL), the country's leading travel and tourism company, has acquired 100 per cent stake in Travel Corporation India (TCI) for a total consideration of Rs 182.45 crore.

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Corporate Circle Team,
IMERT, Pune