Tuesday, 15 September 2015

The months that were - 2015 : Blog # 238

The months that were - 2015

            Just to reinforce the thought that there is room for improvement in everything in this world, Google just restructured itself giving rise to ‘Alphabet’. Like is the case with most of the world corporate affairs, an Indian had a key role in it and was designated as the CEO of Google part of it, Mr. Sundar Pichai. As much as we all were in agreement to that change, I am not sure how many of us like the new logo apparently based on the philosophy of minimalist design.

This year started off with Charlie Hebdo which reminds us of the loss of tolerance in the world around us. Is that why the gifted cartoonist, Shri.R.K Laxman who gave us the ‘Common Man’ decided to bid adieu from this world?

            Adding more power to women in the board room, Accenture appointed Rekha Menon as Chairperson of Accenture India’s operations. Speaking of women power, Tamil nadu Global Investors Meet saw a proposed investment plan of over 1 lakh crores with TN’s only-man-in-the-cabinet returning.

            The civil war in Syria is wreaking havoc making one wonder if it is leading to one of modern world’s largest refugee crises. Images of little children washing ashore from capsized boats of hoards of refugees seeking solace must prick at the conscience of mankind. Oil rich Arab nations are being asked as to why they are not opening their doors wider. About that, will shale gas emergence challenge the supremacy of OPEC nations in energy sector? If one were to believe Goldman Sachs, oil prices can hit a rock bottom of 20$ a barrel. But Al Saud family and cousins aren’t blinking.

            Global markets went in to a tizzy for fear of Grexit (Greek exit from Eurozone and reintroduction of its own earlier currency, drachma). Amid fears of default and shutting down the banks across the nation, Grexit was averted. Just when my Gujarati friends were about to say Jai Shri Krishna in relief, the stock markets crashed again, this time thanks to China. The dragon missed its factory output forecast and comes tumbling along, the capital markets world over.

For all the talk that e-commerce firms are burning cash in advertising and freebies, comes some good news. Flipkart has introduced some refreshingly new pro-employee HR policies. 6 months of career break? Now that’s unheard of in Indian corporate world. Chief People Officer, Mekin Maheshwari looks like he knows what he is doing when he talks about Employee Assistance program where in any Flipkart employee can get free guidance from professional experts in regards of personal life, career development, work-life stress, legal and financial issues.

It looks like Nestle is committed to bringing Maggi back. What was surprising was that Maggi was or should I say is such a strong brand that when it went down, it took the whole category along with it. People stopped consuming noodles altogether. Such is the power of a brand

It did not come as a surprise when Modi met Mark given the fact that how social media savvy our PM is. I wonder if Mark is planning to take up Swachh Bharat mission in Menlo Park, California too. Meanwhile, Apple has launched iPad Pro and Apple Pencil! Should faber-castell be worried; or closer home, Nataraj?

Recently read about the ongoing tussle between Indigo airlines and Tata Indigo w.r.t brand name. It has more to it when one thinks about the competing - less than an year old - Vistara airlines which also belongs to the Tata group.

The recent past took away from us, the great teacher, Dr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Kalam who inspired the world much more than most of India’s past presidents have managed to do collectively.

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2 comments:

  1. Good read to know about everything happening around the globe in just 10 mins. :)

    ReplyDelete