This timeless quotation has inspired several generations to realize and appreciate the importance of all the teachings, values, learnings and resources from the past. It’s often the case that these factors congregate into one unifying force for the progress of a particular society. For our nation, the linchpin of this progress lies in the strength of our foundation, our resilience in adversity and our belief in the wisdom of elders. Our progress as a country has been evident throughout the globe with a string of significant events that took place last year. Along the same line the year 2012 promises to provide us with a number of more such exciting moments. The ongoing state elections have already gathered the attention of the nation. Results are being closely monitored by the experts and masses and the whole process is being viewed as a pre-cursor to the next Lok Sabha elections. The month of January also witnessed some scintillating Republic Day celebrations. The whole of India applauded and cheered the awe-inspiring show on the majestic roads of Rajpath with an utter sense of pride which re-emphasized the blend of our military might and an incredibly diverse cultural heritage.

We, amidst a very cold and chilly IIT Kanpur, have entered the year looking forward to different set of challenges and opportunities. The current issue of Avant Garde is going to be a reader’s delight with an eclectic set of articles it has brought with it.

To set the ball rolling, we have launched a new initiative in the form of “Industry Speak” section from this time around. This section would have professionals working across various industries sharing their vast repertoire of experiences and knowledge. As a first in this series, we have Mr. Ratish Mukhoti (Deputy General Manager, Planning and Inventory Control, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals) giving us an insight in supply chain management by sharing his experience in pharmacy industry. He analyses how the processes of manufacturing, purchase and planning need to seamlessly work for more effective market catering as the overall company objective.

We also have an excellent read in form of an article by our alumni Mr. Dhiraj Kumar (Batch 2011). He has made all of us proud by publishing his first book as an author named – “The Asocial Networking”. In the article, he discusses the basic theme of the book and also presents a different take on the social networking today. The article also contains some of the selected excerpts from the book.

Nabarun Sengupta (Batch 2012) writes an informative article on his special studies course done as a part of the curriculum. He discusses the 2 global protocols used for Scope 3 carbon mapping with a brief primer to sustainability, climate change and the need for organizations to start focussing on determining their carbon footprint.

Himanshu Joshi (Batch 2013) comes up with a detailed analysis of the fall of rupee as a currency, especially in the last one year. He discusses the causes of this drop and also the several impacts it has inflicted on our economy. The article also discusses the critical role of RBI in recovering from the situation and also what the future holds for us.

Samreen Jamal (Batch 2013) comes up with an analysis of Government’s decision to bring FDI in multi-brand retail in India. She discusses the effects of allowing foreign investors in our country and its direct and indirect consequences on various sectors and segments of our industry.

Alok Jain (Batch 2013) discusses a topic that has caused a wide debate pertaining to the online media.  He analyses the issues regarding the objectionable content present on internet and the pros and cons of blocking popular websites like Google and Facebook. The article deals with the options we have at present and their respective feasibilities.

We hope that you like this edition of Avant Garde.

Do post your comments on the articles in the “Add Comment” section.  Awaiting your comments, criticism and appreciation.

Till the next issue, wish you a Happy Reading!

Team AG.

This article explains how Pharma companies in India are coping up with ever increasing complexity of operations in the midst of strengthening regulatory and inflationary pressures. More than the time tested approaches of implementing standard SAP packages, the author explains how the real need of hour is  to be able to respond to  changes over and above planning.

The author, Ratish Mukhoti, a Mechanical Engineer and MBA is currently working with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals as a DGM and heads the Planning function. Mr Ratish has an extensive experience in FMCG  and his previous stint in Marico as a part of Supply chain transformation project there was the main driver of service level improvement.

Here he shares his experience in Pharma and describes how manufacturing, purchase and planning need to work  seamlessly for effective market- catering as well as to work for the overall company objective.

The Indian Pharma industry today is in the midst of unprecedented growth with companies faced with multiple options varying from going for new molecule development, partnering with innovators for marketing rights to capturing new markets with their own, and existing formulations.  A typical mid- sized pharma company in India today can aspire for turnovers ranging from 3000- 4000 cr in topline with a value growth, close to 30% y.o.y.  With the West having wisened in the post recessionary scenario, cost and productivity seems to be the key drivers worldwide , bringing new and enhanced focus on the Supply chain, forcing it to explore  and deliver , consistent and never – before efficiencies.

So, while increasing demand and growth is welcome but the way native Pharma companies are gearing up for the same is a big question. If one sees a typical setup, broadly most organizations can split their operations into two halves, the first one being called pure Generics and the latter as Branded Generics or second/ third generation generic formulations. To understand the difference, take for example a typical molecule, say Telmisartan (used against Hypertension related disorders). In highly regulated markets such as US and EU, for example, Telmisartan will be typically sold as a generic drug, meaning a Pharma chain/ large scale distributor will buy the same as a generic and market it as its own product along the chain to the end consumer ( usually through the prescription and insurance cover route). A finished formulation, however, will be given a brand name, for e.g.- Telvam and marketed through a certain warehouse- Stockist- Chemist route to the end consumer.  Herein, the objective is more of end consumer reach with the intermediates acting as inventory nodes to absorb demand fluctuations, whereas the former is more of a business chain reach. This is what is mostly seen in less regulated markets, such as in Asia, Africa and India.  Thus whereas the former is more of B2B, the latter is more of B2C, in typical Supply Chain lingo.

Let us, for now, look more closely at Branded Generics/ Formulations- the second of the above case. In a standard, mid-sized setup, annual SKU variety can vary from 4000 to even 5000 plus. Monthly volumes in such cases will typically be around 2000 SKUs, with volumes of close to 50000 packs per SKU or 100 Mn units. In a standard production setup there are usually 3 different dosage forms (tablet, liquid and lotion) and thus with an even balance also 700 SKUs will be needed per dosage to form line and thus in a month of 25 working days it will be 28 changeovers or more than one changeover a day!

So, for the supply chain, the key issue herein to cope with this level of variety is how can material, capacities, manufacturing times and manufacturing yield, all four fall inline with the deliveries.  There are, of course, other associated imperatives of quality and expenses, typical of any other manufacturing setup. At the outset, what is more important is to make a preliminary make vs buy decision. Apart from a cost and delivery driven, decision, in pharma, it is also a function of regulatation and licensing.  E.g., if one has to market a certain product, say in Russia and there is an existing manufacturer who is approved by Russian Health authorities to market goods there, it is best to go on third party basis with the manufacturer who has the licence and approvals. Similarly, for a company aspiring to add a product to its basket , obtaining licence from the FDA is going to be time- consuming.

Going back to our issues of complexity, let us look more closely at how the pharma sector is dealing with it. There are typically two parts in the overall Supply chain planning and coordination. The first is called Master Planning of Resources and the second is called Scheduling. Typically the demand forecast comes in 2-3 months prior to the start of the actual manufacturing cycle and this is where master planning starts. So, considering the forecast and available capacities at each location, the master planning stage works out material requirements and also projects the capacity shortfall. Typically, in most companies this is worked out in an ERP package such as SAP or other software. Inputs can be directly taken from past ERP data such as expected opening inventory for each input material to arrive at net requirement or can be manually fed in, typically for capacities available, linewise which can vary from month to month. The output from such a system is a firm plan and also material requisitions which are forwarded to the procurement team, alongwith the expected delivery dates, considering the testing times. The next step is scheduling, which is active when that particular month is reached. So, based on net of previous month’s production shortfalls, how much has to be made in next one week say, daywise, and when, looking at the available material releases.

So while Master Planning of resources enables the Planner to look at the long- term and broader picture, scheduling is the immediate future and at a more micro level. So, e.g., while Mater planning will project the capacity constraint in tablet manufacturing at a location depending on the bottleneck capacity, say 3 months ahead, scheduling will be more granular, stagewise breaking of tablet production into granulation, compression, coating and packing. Other key inputs will be the recipe (called formulation or BOM), product routing, i.e. how each product moves and how much time is taken for processing at each stage and alternate recipes, as applicable. So, obviously the need for ERP and other Software applications to handle this level of data and analysis arises.

With all this and much higher levels of automation, where do the challenges exist now. It is firstly on the ability to handle changes. Changes can be market driven, such as market driven urgencies, it can be unexpected breakdowns, it can be delayed material availability or rejections in quality. In many cases it can also be a regulatory change calling for new artworks to be developed on the packs for a certain market. Thus the supply chain planner typically has to navigate these and replan as needed to ensure that value loss to the market and sales loss is minimized.  The second is to continuously upgrade. This upgradation may be in terms of reduced cycle times of processes, in terms of improved vendor reliability calling for lesser inventories to be maintained in the chain or it may be a more cost- effective formulation. Third, but not the last is to analyze plan vs actuals at regular buckets and translate these deviations into inputs for better future planning.  The right set of people of course will thus continue to be the backbone in the entire process.

Thus there are certainly exciting days ahead for Supply chain professionals in Pharma but the key will be looking at processes rather than looking at complexities. Where are our NVA (non value adding activities) and what is the COPQ (Cost of Poor Quality). An objective, number driven, focus to drive efficiencies and control is the path ahead coupled with traditional wisdom and time- tested methodologies. Success at the end of the day will be success at the market and Supply Chain needs to be geared for that just as other teams in the organization.

Contibuted By :

Ratish Mukhoti

Deputy General Manager, Planning and Inventory Control

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals

Taking a closer look at these issues, the fall in rupee can be attributed primarily to 3 broad factors.

• Firstly, the grim global economic outlook, essentially due to the European debt crisis. Due to turbulence in European markets, investors are considering dollars as a safe haven for their investments in the longer run. This led to an increased demand for dollars vis-à-vis the supply for rupee and thus the depreciation. Another line of thought could be that while investors are shifting from European markets, why are they not investing in the Indian markets?  The Indian economic scenario for the entire 2011 has been plagued by high rate of inflation, hovering above 8%, and extremely low growth in manufacturing sector. The HSBC-PMI (Purchasing Managers index) fell to 51 in the month of December 2011.  The cumulative effect of these factors is leading to a shift in investor sentiments towards dollar market.

• Secondly, the fall in rupee can be largely attributed to the speculations prevailing in the markets. Due to a sharp increase in the dollar rates, importers suddenly started gasping for dollars in order to hedge their position, which led to an increased demand for dollars. On the other hand exporters kept on holding their dollar reserves, speculating that the rupee will fall further in future. This interplay between the two forces further fuelled the demand for dollars while sequestering its supply from the market. This further led to the fall in rupee.
• Lastly, there has been shift of FII’s (Foreign institutional investors) from the Indian markets during the current financial year 2011. FII’s leads to a high inflow of dollars into the Indian market. As per a recent report, the share of India’s FII in the developing markets has decreased considerably from 19.2 % in 2010 to 3.8% in the year 2011. As FII’s are taking their investments out of the Indian markets, it has led to an increased demand for dollars, further leading to a spiraling rupee.

Encompassing all these factors, there is a lack of firm initiative by government on issues such as allowing FDI in retail. Recent debacles such as 2G have further rendered the Indian market unattractive to a certain extent.

Evaluating the impact of the falling rupee on the Indian economy -

The first major impact of the falling rupee can be seen on the rising import bill. India imports close to 70% of its net fuel requirements. This means the companies importing oil have to shell out more rupees for the same dollar invoices. As is clear from Fig.1 although the price of oil has gone down from $118  per barrel to $109 per barrel, not much benefit can be derived since exchange rate too shoot up from Rs. 44 to Rs. 52.7 a dollar.. Instead, the price of importing oil increased to an extend of RS 489 (as is clear from Fig2 (b)). This has severely impacted the bottom line of these companies as well as the subsidy bill of the Indian government. Huge buying of dollars from the market in order to meet the import bill has further added to the existing woes. Additionally, the falling rupee has added further to the inflationary pressures, as imports have become costlier and thus increasing the prices of key commodities such as oil, imported coal, minerals, and metals. However the falling rupee has substantially appreciated the revenues for the exporters, who receive more rupees for their dollar receipts.  These industries include the IT Services industry, textiles and other export oriented industries. Increasing imbalance in trade i.e. increasing imports over exports is bound to have severe impact on country’s fiscal deficit, which is pegged to increase by .8 percentages to 5.4% of GDP from the originally estimated value of 4.6% of GDP.

Figure 1 – oil prices and exchange rates

Source – RBI

Role played by RBI: RBI has been extremely cautious in its intervention during the entire rupee depreciation crises. RBI has however reacted with timely interventions by selling dollars intermittently to tame sharp fall in the currency. The outflow of dollar reserves from RBI coffers has been extremely cautious, mostly due to the dwindling foreign exchange reserves. The foreign exchange reserves of India in December 2011 stood at 270 billion USD. Recently RBI has intervened with key policy initiatives such as intervening in the forward contracts policy. As per new RBI policy the cancelled forward contracts cannot be rebooked. Exporters in order to rake in more profits, were booking forward contracts, then cancelling the contracts, and again rebooking at better rate. This process led to a further depreciation in rupee and fuelled speculations.  Also, RBI intermittently put trading limits for the banks in the foreign exchange market in order to tame the speculative forces.

Looking at the current economic outlook, the currency crises seems to stay for a much longer period this time around. However, a structuring of Greek debt coupled with higher inflows from FII’s can lead to an arrest in the falling rupee.

Source of Data:

http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/emerging-markets/em-index/purchasing-managers-index http://www.rbi.org.in/scripts/statistics.aspx

–

Contributed by:

Himanshu Joshi

himjoshi@iitk.ac.in

MBA – 2011-13

Consider the arguments, beginning with the one that states that if the doors to the foreign investors are opened, it would provide an opportunity to retail giants like Walmart, Carrefour and Metro to earn a larger pie of the huge Indian market. Foreign sales have been an important source of revenue for many of them , amounting to 52 % for Carrefour in France, 22% for Tesco in UK and 20% for Walmart in U.S. The debate revolves around the rising market power of such giants. They are believed to possess deep pockets and immense outsourcing capabilities that pose a threat to the domestic intermediaries in the supply chain. They have the ability to exploit the economies in procurement, storage and distribution. Once the smaller middlemen are eliminated, few producers on one side and a mass of consumers on the other side are left. Structurally, this interaction provides the basis for an increased trade margin and the ‘giant middlemen’ appropriate these, which could otherwise be shared with the producers to increase the retail volumes and market shares.

ISSUES OF CONCERN:

Producer’s Plight:

One of the major issues of concern is the impact that the transformation would have on the small producers, especially in the farm sector. Union Minister of Commerce, Anand Sharma, who piloted the move, has accused the opposition of playing partisan politics over a “major policy initiative to transform India’s rural economy, help the poor, create an integrated infrastructure to address post- harvest loss, help consumers and generate employment, both in rural and urban areas.” But these claims are posed to various questions. Agriculture is not a homogenous sector, with farmers of different types and sizes engaged in production. The larger farmers with accumulated surpluses or easier access to official credit may gain, but they are by no means the majority and like the small ones, would be subject to competition for the cheapest global resources. They could be shut off from access to potential buyers unless they reduce the prices to a substantial level. Adverse effects on employment and earnings are, therefore a real possibility.

Trader’s Concern:

Organizations like Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have also objected to the move. Kirti Rana, president of the Maharashtra unit of the CAIT, stated that everyday supplies from 3500-odd trucks carrying fruits, vegetables , potatoes and spices were lifted from the mandis and delivered to the retailers.“The government calls them middlemen. What are these multinational retail companies then? They are also middlemen.” In short, though FDI may prove beneficial in short run, small farmers and producers would be forced to sell their produce at a lower rate in the long run, with buyers rejecting it due to inferior quality and farmers struggling to negotiate with the huge players.

Supply Chain:

According to the National Sample Survey Organization’s survey of employment and unemployment in 2009-10, the service category that includes the wholesale and retail trade provides jobs for 44 million in the total workforce of 459 million. Judging from this, we could easily deduce that a number of pre existing players , varying from street vendors and kirana stores to medium and large scale wholesalers, would be rendered irrelevant, the immediate and direct effect being loss of employment in the small and medium unorganized retail trade.

Rationale behind Allowing FDI in Retail Sector:

Despite the above issues, the Commerce Minister’s claim is that the policy has a ‘unique imprint’. FDI can be a powerful catalyst to spur competition in the retail industry, due to the current scenario of low competition and poor productivity. By allowing FDI in retail trade, India will significantly flourish in terms of quality standards and consumer expectations.

FDI in single-brand retailing was permitted in 2006, up to 51 per cent of ownership. Between then and May 2010, a total of 57 proposals have been approved. An FDI inflow of US$196.46 million under the category of single brand retailing was received between April 2006 and September 2010, comprising 0.16 per cent of the total FDI inflows. Retail stocks rose by as much as 5%. Shares of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd ended 4.84% up at Rs 441 on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Shares of Shopper’s Stop Ltd rose 2.02% and Trent Ltd, 3.19%. The exchange’s key index rose by 0.99%.The figures very well reflect the tremendous benefits that can be derived out of this move if executed efficiently for multi brand retail as well.

Lastly, it is to be noted that the Indian Council of Research in International Economic Relations (ICRIER), a premier economic think tank of the country, has also come to conclusion that investment of ‘big’ money (large corporate and FDI) in the retail sector would in the long run not harm interests of small, traditional, retailers. Even the big corporate names like Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata and IT czar N R Narayana Murthy have expressed their support in welcoming FDI in retail, saying any initiative that brings new technologies and benefits consumers is welcome.

Conclusion:

In all, Karl Marx’s famous quotation that ‘ History repeats itself, first as tragedy and second as farce’ clearly fits the mess created by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government through its hasty announcement and the not-so calibrated suspension of the decision to bring FDI in multi brand retailing. The government went through a number of contradictory and farcical political and policy contortions in the 13 days between the Cabinet decision on November 24 and its suspension on December 7 and finally announcing a hold on decision again in January 2012.

The Industrial policy 1991 had crafted a trajectory of a revolution whereby each sector of Indian economy would be embraced by liberalization, privatization and globalization. This move is in that sense a steady progression of that trajectory. It would ask for more involved and informed aid from the government. It will get us one step closer to being a ‘developed nation’. But the government has by far cushioned the adverse impact of the change. One can always hope that the government would stand up to its responsibility, because what is at stake is the stability of the vital pillars of the economy- retailing, agriculture, and manufacturing , i.e. the socio economic equilibrium of the entire country.

References:

1) http://www.metrocorpcounsel.com/articles/17581/liberalization-india%E2%80%99s-foreign-direct-investment-policy-single-brand-retail.

2) http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-12/news/30619885_1_multi-brand-single-brand-single-brand.

3) http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/article2801712.ece.

4) http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2826/stories/20111230282602500.htm

Samreen Jamal

MBA Batch of 2013

Few words about the book

This most unusual book looks at the newfound obsession driving people of all classes, countries and age groups – ‘the asocial networking’ – a must do mode of entry into a new social order. If not adopted and mastered quickly, will it cause us to miss out on one of the greatest forms of modern human experience? It is also interesting and ironical to see ourselves socializing with the help of gadgets when we could actually step forward and socialize with the person standing next to us. For the benefit of those who exhibit their social lives online, this book offers little tricks of the trade to master the art of networking and garner tangible gains in the real world. I have discussed about our vulnerabilities and weaknesses, which are often reflected in the way we socialize on the web. Some people have, however, mastered the art of masking their inhibitions – has this made them desirable and irresistible in both the electronic and real worlds? The ephemeral nature of our fantasy of socializing online, also poses the danger of obsolescence to the current rulers of social networking, while presenting an open window of opportunity to any innovative and enterprising entrepreneur who can better our societal experiences. I have also attempted to look into the future of mankind and its changing priorities, through the future of social networking.

Book Reviews

The book has managed to generate quite a good interest among people who are regular to internet and social networking in general. The book is doing good business and is awaiting institutional reviews from business magazines, newspapers and book review websites/blogs.

In the words of Mr. Akshay Pandey, a friend, literary critic and senior consultant at a Sapient Consulting, “This book provides a fascinating glimpse into the big, bad world of social networking, the biggest craze of our time. This book is collection of articles on various facets of Social networking, both good and bad. Each of the articles is though provoking, written with a tinge of humor, sarcasm and witticism which keeps the reader interested throughout. Each article discusses a new facet of Social networking and has enough material to be discussed and debated among friends. This book need not be read from beginning to end, the reader can choose any article which interests him and straightaway start from there. The author’s ability to cover he complex world of social networking in a style layman can understand and appreciate it is praiseworthy. At no point of time does the book become geeky or preachy. It’s a must read for those interested in Social Networking and wish to ensure that they do not miss the bus. The writing style of author is reminiscent of the greats like R.K.Narayan, Ruskin Bond (Though too early to draw comparisons with the greats). The author displays his ability to convert the small and ordinary things of everyday life into memorable literary anecdotes. The book reminds one of tea/coffee which should be shipped through cherishing each sip rather than like lunch which has to be complete at one go. To summarize, it’s a typical coffee table book which should be read in small bits, thought about and discussed. To me, it is the best coffee table book of the year.”

In the words of Ms. Tina Shamli from SAWYERS copy-editing service, “The Asocial Networking- The subject is very relevant to the present context. The book touches on aspects of social networking that are often swept under the carpet. A good relaxing and humorous read.“

My Motivation for writing

I would say it is never too late to achieve your dreams, and it is always the best time to start afresh to go for the kill. The desire to choose professional degree for most of us is often fueled by the necessity to earn good money and lead a decent living in the society. And as MBA grads we are best positioned in the industry to achieve most of these mundane goals. However, when we would grow quite old enough and try to recount the moments which were different, then very a few of those memoirs are left to be relished. This is where our hobbies and passion come in and add a completely different flavor to our otherwise predictable lives. If we could realize this potential early-on in our lives, then I believe that most of us can make it big by simple-thinking and intelligent execution.

So getting to what motivated and inspired me to write the book on ‘social networking’ is social networking itself. The world out there is so very vast, so infinite and so unpredictable, that it presents an entirely new gamut of ‘friendly society’ and animated events loaded with possibilities and opportunities. And given the fact that so many of us are so enthused by this entirely new concept which came out of nowhere and swept us all off our feet- provided me enough material to write  a dedicated book.

The other fact that played more important role is that in India very few people take up full-time writing as compared to other western countries, where there is a whole culture of writing and reading. In world-over (excepting India and few other countries), 1 out of 200 people write a book, whereas in India only 1 out of 10,000 person writes a book. I think, this startling fact of skewed writer to reader ratio in India would be enough even to incite the writerly-buds in readers of this article! However, I have always aspired to reach wider audience through my work. Book-writing certainly proved to be the most convenient and important medium for this.

Also, as I contemplate my past, I had always desired to write a novel but never really got hold of any good story to write about. Besides this, I got this feeling that any works of fiction has a reach and appeal limited to a particular set of people. Or you can also put it like this that I found a glut in terms of content available, which dealt solely in social networking.I wouldn’t say that my book is the best of the lot, but it does have the advantage of dealing in a topic that has few predecessors to compare with. However this first mover advantage is like more of a responsibility to do justice to this gargantuan topic, which is now a rage among all the internet groups.

I would thank AG for having provided me the opportunity to write this article and reach more and more people in the MBA community. I must also thank my friends and colleagues at IIT Kanpur for all the love and support. I credit all my learning to the interactions with my world-class professors as well as my  fellow students, friends and seniors, as the driving force to do something different and break the clutter that has mono-chromatically awed everyone into the buzz-world, social networking.

Few words for the budding writers

I have learned the skill of book writing the hard way and it is always a very slow, arduous and lonely path. To be a writer, at first, you must have the patience of penning down all your thoughts in the manuscript and structure it nicely. Once it is done, you will have to start searching for the publishers who can publish your book and most importantly, do justice to your book as well as your literary career.

Excerpts from the book exclusively for the AG readers!

“It is a surprising thing. How can so many of us be so willing to network in a virtual society? We are fooled into believing that another world exists, which can be the extension of our real lives – so much so, that we are always glued to the blue screen and Facebook – irrespective of whether we are at work, at home or on the fly. We all socialize with aplomb through the exchanges of whatever blabber, gibberish or issues we wish to discuss, by plastering them on our walls – only to be retrieved later in exactly the same format, adulterated with the additives of ‘Likes’ and ‘Comments’ of people on whom we affably confer the term ‘Friend’.”

“Most of these friends of mine only exist in a virtual habitat as they rarely have the time to actually meet me. Still, I keep up with them like a good friend should, by occasionally visiting their homepages, sometimes by stalking their profiles and updates, fearful of waking them up, and sometimes by poaching their friends and family members. These friends have a tendency to show up in thumbnail-sized photographs alongside some text or as names abutting some numbers indicative of my popularity. Whenever they drop in, they carry the gift of glowing numbers that appear on the top left corner of my homepage. They help me fight boredom and ennui by existing in their hundreds and thousands, but most of the time they are in a dormant state and rarely do anything special to attract my attention. Sometime I feel bad about not having time  for everybody, but my close friends make up for inadequacy by constantly keeping me on my toes with their likes and updates in the world of social networking.”

“The world out there is strangely upbeat, with so-called ‘life changing’, ‘only one of its kinds’, ‘the best ever’ categories of material – which in normal parlance is termed ‘multimedia content’. I am often awed, sometimes stupefied, and most of the time listlessly lost, in this world – frenetically pressing the refresh button for some more interesting stuff to pop up. I rarely have the time to do anything in reality, for I know irrefutably that whatever I do on the web will have more widespread repercussions than anything that I could do in the actual world. It is like a bonanza for an action lover like me. I rarely go offline as electronic gadget manufacturers have empowered me with some of their latest gizmos, which helps me to socialize even when I am not hooked to my PC. For an addict like me, it means multiplying my entire lifespan by two – a windfall gain to my longevity.”

“Anyone can fall prey to it – and many have already. We all believe that we get a brand new home when we open a Facebook account. Then we adorn it with our photographs, hobbies, interests, and of course, testimonials from friends who still uphold the virtues of the barter system in our modern world. Then we invite friends and families to our ‘homes’ and exchange freebies. We socialize with others and comment on their thoughts – we blare through the loudspeaker when we have some achievement to share. We also force others to know the mood we are in. We visit friends and acquaintance and stalk strangers with insidiously and innocuous regularity. In short, we exhibit the most sophisticated and suave of all societal characteristics by spending as much time on the web as in the real world, exchanging favours.”

“Perhaps we are all unsatisfied with the one real life we are all blessed with? We are all deprived of an audience, we are unsatisfied by our ‘lesser than life’ image; we are unsatisfied with the normal course of events that fill our days; we are all unhappy with only a few people knowing about us; we are weary that we have to spend most of our life in day-to-day drudgery. We all want to escape this social boredom so that we can liberate ourselves in the relentless world of networking, where we are fooled into believing that we can magnify and often glorify even the little achievements and lead the life of a shooting star.”

“We are also lonely people who wish to share our feelings with the world at large. As a result, we are on an unceasing pursuit to express ourselves in a manner that reflects our personality and charisma. We often go overboard when we are upbeat, sometime diminutive when we are down, and clueless most of the time about why we are so overwhelmed with the concept of social networking. We wish to be heard, thanked and appreciated. We tease our friends; rebuke our adversaries; and appreciate our acquaintances. We are all doubly ‘humane’ when we are glued to the screen, continually hitting buttons and listening for updates that could titillate our inner selves. We post something on the wall and wait for the whole world to respond. We are overjoyed when we see the glowing number at the top left which indicates somebody has tried to connect us. We comment on somebody’s status and expect the whole world to marvel how intelligent and ‘out of box’ we are.”

“It has made me into an introvert. It has also made me look inward through the eyes of others. I hate Facebook. It keeps me occupied even when I am not logged in. The bottom-line is that most of us are having a so-called ‘great time’, while socializing on the web. It brings out the most verbose and outspoken part of ourselves, thereby often driving us to extremes – sometimes to ecstasy, or pleasantly surprising us; or causing amusement; or keeping us engrossed. But most of the time, it instills absolute listlessness and an indifferent obsession with the new virtual reality – social networking.”

“Let’s also talk about Facebook‘s vulnerability, of losing its hegemony owing to the growing numbers of demanding customers who everyday seek new experiences. The fickle minded human poses a great danger to these early captors – who are now making hay in social and financial world – so much so that every investor worth his salt wants a piece of the pie of this networking mania. With technological advancement and growing awareness among common people, the day is not far when more and more PC and mobile manufacturing companies will jump into the fray to outdo each other in providing the best social networking on our palmtops and androids when we are offline.”

“The game of networking has intensified so much and the power shared by three players (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn), that any change of status quo would require huge investment along with ingenuousness from new players. These players would also need the financial wherewithal, charisma, resourcefulness and above all, understanding of the human mind, in order to cajole and manipulate human minds by conjuring up something better than what everyone has become accustomed to. It will be interesting and ironical to see people going the extra mile to socialize on the web with the help of these gadgets when they can actually step forward and socialize with the person standing next to them!”

“Let us attempt to look into the future of humankind and its changing priorities by explaining the future of social networking. In my view, people will become more and more demanding and search for real time experiences as they grow accustomed to the digital mode of socializing. This will lead to a demand for physical meeting places where people can congregate and share their thoughts and experiences. The same places will help people interact in small interest groups, bound by common beliefs, ideologies, hobbies, interests etc. To provide these services, social networking would have to invest heavily in opening brick-n-mortar offices (multi-storey buildings with different floors dedicated to different hobbies or interests), in every major city. I do believe that in future, social networking will not be free as it is now. Once people get used to it, they will not mind paying a user fee in – which is likely to happen.”

“To benefit those who exhibit their social lives on the web, the book also educates one on the small tricks of the trade in mastering the art of networking in order to garner tangible gains in the real world. Let us also look at our vulnerabilities and weaknesses which are often reflected in the way we socialize on the web. Of course, some people have mastered the art of masking their inhibitions, which has worked in their favor and made them desirable and irresistible, both in the electronic world and real world.”

“I present a glimpse into the social order in a hundred years time. With growing industrialization and exploitation of natural resources, industry will move to the most economical locations. This will lead to reaching the highest level of efficiency in every sector. And so will begin a horrendous rate of exploitation of resources, leading in turn to surplus capacity in every sector. The balance of power will slowly collect in the hands of powerful conglomerates, who in a few years time will acquire almost all ownership rights over these natural resources.”

“The world will move in exactly the opposite direction – from perfect competition to the oligopolistic or even monopolistic system that existed two or three centuries ago. What will remain will be small nuclei of power, in the hands of either States or corporations – who will have the operational wherewithal to exhaust almost all the world’s natural resources, if they are allowed to work in isolation.”

“Additionally, every State would be equipped with a repertoire of devastative weaponry, which would have the capability of destroying the entire human race at the word ‘go’. So this will lead to another sort of world democracy building up, where players will be united by their right of equitable distribution of natural resources – not for their growth and prosperity, but for their survival. Every country would be wary of irritating another. State boundaries would all have to go in favor of one nation that will be the Earth. Citizens of the World This entire scenario will, however, develop in its own time. But why should we stop ourselves from gazing into the crystal ball in order to avoid Armageddon?”

I can be contacted at: dhirajmba.iitk@gmail.com

Good luck and happy reading!!

Dhiraj Kumar

MBA (Batch of 2011)

Let’s try to understand the context, which is central to this issue. We’re living in 2012 where internet as a medium of communication has changed immensely. With India achieving stupendous growth in most of the sectors in the past decade, online media has reached another dimension. Social networking sites have changed the very nature of our media. It has become an enormous channel where almost the entire world meets at a single place and exchanges information as well as opinions. This has provided new strength to our communication network but has also aggravated some problems for a simple reason that all it takes is a couple of seconds for the content to go viral. Any undesirable content can widely spread in the blink of an eye and thus poses a huge threat to the society. So doesn’t this call for some amount of check or regulation? To me it certainly does.

Now, despite the willingness to ensure some check, there’s a million dollar question that of the limit of free speech i.e. distinction between what is reasonable to be allowed on the web and what is not. Moreover, who decides what is right and what is not? Is it the Government or the Websites or the Religious communities? The courts can’t be approached for every other post. Moreover, the present IT act is highly subjective to interpretation and can be molded for vested interests.  The Government talks of screening the web content but is ignoring the feasibility of such a process. 40 million Facebook accounts and several hundred million tweets per day is a reality in our country.  Is it really possible to monitor the web in its entirety either manually or technologically? In light of these limitations, one of the possible ways to deal with this issue is setting up an independent body that would regulate the web content. This legally authorized regulator being independent of any kind of influence and bias would deal with the issues pertaining to the internet content. The individual websites could be asked to take some responsibility whereby they could specify in their terms and conditions that posting of any inflammatory material would invite penalty. This would at least deter the exchange of malicious content.

The result of any hasty decision may have to be faced by a complete generation of our society. Hence it’s also important to analyze the effect of a probable ban on our booming yet vulnerable economy. While Google has maintained from the start that the idea of pre-censoring everything can have serious consequences towards the growth of India, the Government and High Court have been pretty vocal in saying that they would not hesitate in blocking them. Our whole IT industry is massively dependent on Google. The solutions to professional problems in various other sectors, the efficiency of vast electronic commerce continuum, the immense pool of information exchange and the ever-increasing faith in online communication are some of the many vital elements which simply can’t be ignored.

With several aspects to the complex scenario we have in front of us right now, it’s our responsibility to make sure that the correct decision is taken. The importance of a free flow of information on internet has to be kept at par with the importance of keeping the websites free from any further offensive content.  This whole issue can also be looked upon from another dimension which is Virtual world vs. Real world. Living in the real world, we restrain ourselves in terms of our communication and action. This restricted behavior can be attributed to factors such as respect, avoiding conflict, fear of law etc. However, when we step into the virtual world, the dynamics change altogether. Why do we demonstrate this dual persona? Shouldn’t we hold some respect, some decency and some sensibility in the virtual world just as we have in the real world? Let’s not blindly boast of the clichéd phrase – “Freedom of speech” and propagate hatred . Freedom of speech doesn’t equate to Freedom to abuse or defame.   It’s high time that we act with some conscience collectively so that there are no differences of opinion in the future and we all are consistent in our vision of a spotless information exchange system.

-Alok Jain

MBA Batch of 2013

Carbon emission reduction and climate change mitigation show increasing prominence in corporate strategy and sustainability initiatives. Companies addressing their carbon footprint, i.e. the quantum of carbon emissions generated measured in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP), identify opportunities to bolster their bottom line, address climate risks and discover competitive advantages. Governments are expected to set new policies and provide additional market-based incentives to drive significant reductions in emissions. These new policy and market drivers will direct economic growth on a low-carbon trajectory. Thus, companies which show proactive approach in reduction of their carbon footprint benefit from the first mover advantage as well as develop in-house capability in risk mitigation and abatement strategies.

As an effective climate change strategy requires a detailed and accurate idea of the company’s Green House Gas Protocol (GHG) impact, a carbon mapping initiative assumes great significance in developing a baseline. This baseline is used to quantify the significance of abatement strategies through the corporate GHG inventory maintained by the company. Through the Corporate Value Chain Accounting and Product Life Cycle Accounting reporting standards developed by GHG Protocol, there is now an established framework to account for the GHG inventory generated from a product’s or service’s life cycle.

This report introduces the GHG Protocols for Corporate Value Chain Accounting and Product Life Cycle Accounting and gives a perspective of how to apply these protocols for a carbon mapping initiative.

Introduction

In the area of global warming abatement, there are numerous organizations and frameworks which outline the path to be followed for industry to be aligned to future developments and mandates. The Green House Gas Protocol (GHG) is such an initiative which has outlined robust practices which can be tailored to suit the specific business that a company is in. It provides the framework, methodology and the tools required for carbon footprint calculation and determining a company’s carbon inventory (a term used to signify the virtual inventory of carbon emissions which a company emits while doing business). A well-designed and maintained corporate GHG inventory can serve several business goals, including:

• Managing GHG risks and identifying reduction opportunities

• Public reporting and participation in voluntary GHG programs

• Participating in mandatory reporting programs

• Participating in GHG markets

• Recognition for early voluntary action

The following sub-sections will look at the GHG protocol specifically the Corporate Value Chain Accounting and Product Life Cycle Accounting protocols which are of relevance to this project.

Global Protocol – GHG Corporate Value (Scope 3) Chain Accounting

The GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard (also referred to as the Scope 3 Standard) provides requirements and guidance for companies and other organizations to prepare and publicly report a GHG emissions inventory that includes indirect emissions resulting from value chain activities (i.e., scope 3 emissions). The primary goal of this standard is to provide a standardized step-by-step approach to help companies understand their full value chain emissions impact in order to focus company efforts on the greatest GHG reduction opportunities.[1]

Figure 1: GHG Protocol scopes and emissions across the value chain^[2]

As can be seen from the figure above, the various economic and productive activities of a company are classified into Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3. Scope 1 mainly refers to the carbon emissions from the production activities taken up within the company premises. Scope 2 refers to the carbon emissions which have taken place to produce the electricity, steam, heating and cooling needed for operation of the company. Finally, Scope 3 refers to the supply chain activities of the companies which stretch beyond the organizational boundary to the operational boundary of the company. This typically involves a cradle-to-grave analysis of the end to end carbon emissions which have gone into the final operation of the business.

Global Protocol – GHG Product Life Cycle Accounting

The GHG Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard (referred to as the Product Standard) provides requirements and guidance for companies and other organizations to quantify and publicly report an inventory of GHG emissions and removals associated with a specific product. The GHG Protocol Scope 3 Standard and GHG Protocol Product Standard both take a value chain or life cycle approach to GHG accounting. The Scope 3 Standard builds on the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and accounts for value chain emissions at the corporate level, while the Product Standard accounts for life cycle emissions at the individual product level.[3]

As defined in the Product Standard, the combined use of the protocols would be done in this project to use product-level GHG data based on the Product Standard as a source of data to calculate scope 3 emissions associated with selected product types.

Figure 2: Relationship between Corporate Standard, Scope 3 Standard and Product Standard[4]

The Product Standard primarily differs from the other standards in the treatment of the emissions. It stresses on the attribution of end to end emissions occurring from material extraction to end of product life. This attribution process makes it different from the Corporate Value Chain Standard which includes many non-attributable processes which cannot be assigned to a product emission but are important to show the overall emission pattern and carbon inventory of the organization.

[1] Source: Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard

[2] Source: Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard [Page 5]

[3] Source: Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard

[4] Source: Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard [Page 7]