Will the scandalous Satyam saga blow the death bugle for PW in India, asks sutanu guru

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

Both Ramesh Gelli and Ramalinga Raju were touted as the ‘pride’ of Telugu (Andhra) entrepreneurship. Both operated out of Hyderabad. Both turned out to be involved in embarrassing scams. These are not the only things they share. Global Trust Bank and Satyam also had the same auditor: Price Waterhouse. Both the companies have collapsed. Will Price Waterhouse survive this crisis? In 2001, the goose of another ‘Big’ audit firm Arthur Andersen was well and truly cooked when the Enron scam broke out. At the moment, all bets are off on whether Price Waterhouse will travel along a similar path of ignominy and collapse.

Quite predictably, the audit firm is keeping quiet and released a bland media statement when contacted by 4Ps B&M that states: “ Price Waterhouse are the statutory auditors of Satyam. The audits were conducted by Price Waterhouse in accordance with applicable auditing standards and were supported by appropriate audit evidence. Given our obligations for client confidentiality, it is not possible for us to comment upon the alleged irregularities.” Do note the ridiculous and insulting use of the words alleged irregularities when the promoter Ramalinga Raju has himself admitted to cooking the books. For seven years, Raju took employees, clients, investors and other stakeholders for a merry ride and Price Waterhouse could not find any irregularity! That really stretches credibility and imagination!

And the chickens could come home to roost very soon. Says Ved Jain, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, “The auditor’s role is sacrosanct. It is impossible that a fraud of such magnitude would have escaped the auditor’s eyes. The magnitude of missing cash on the balance sheet, on the face of it, points towards the fact that auditors did have a role to play.”

The Institute of Chartered Accountants and other bodies will complete the investigations in a few months and the firm could be permanently debarred from practicing in India. That could well spell the death knell on a global scale. Experts are beginning to see a pattern in such ‘irregularities’ of PricewaterhouseCoopers on a global scale. Over the last few years, there have been many embarrassing examples of the firm getting caught (See Box). The $50 billion Madoff scandal is the latest one in which Price Waterhouse is facing legal action, along with Satyam of course. Meanwhile, in India, the new board has appointed KPMG and Deloitte as the new auditors. But shadows are already looming large over the audit firm even as new skeletons keep tumbling out every day. The Chief Financial Officer of Satyam Srinivas Vadlamani has been arrested and has confessed to the cops that the Raju brothers and Price Waterhouse were partners in the scam and he was kept entirely in the dark.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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When Shah Rukh met Nokia...

1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers

He’s not called King Khan for nothing. SRK has not just managed to change the face of Bollywood, but the year saw him even change the face of brand ambassador-ship, as marketers knew it! It all began when Nokia completed 10 years of its presence in India and roped in SRK as ambassador. Shah Rukh took his role all too seriously and was seen flaunting his latest Nokia gizmo wherever he went – a party, a function or even a star studded premiere. His efforts were rewarded when the Finnish giant was only too happy to step in as sponsor for his Knight Riders team. Here’s to SRK ‘living’ brand Nokia!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
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IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
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IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
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The monster called Piracy!

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The monster called Piracy remains a problem for the Indian media & entertainment (M&E) industry. As per an Ernst & Young and US-India Business Council (USIBC) report, the total losse of the M&E sector has been approximately $4 billion over the past one year.

Piracy has always been a problem for the M&E industry, but with the current slowdown of the economy the situation has got even worse. At a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) conference on counterfeiting and piracy, the industry veterans and experts suggested that there should be an industry body to reinforce the IPR protection as a collective effort will work better in curbing piracy.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!

India’s green meter!

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Despite the fact that many big ticket companies like GE, Apple, Nokia, et al are heavily investing to increase consumer awareness about their green products, as many as 48% of the respondents either could not recall any ‘green’ product or else could think of only a handful of them. Touche! Mr. Savvy Marketer

It’s only words, and words are all I have...

But good news is round the corner. Notwithstanding unawareness, 57% of the people surveyed said that the presence of a green product in that category might have a bearing on what finally goes into their shopping basket. Others stuck to traditional buying behaviour influencers like price, quality, brand name, et al. Here’s hoping that those noble words are put to practice!

How green is my shopping bag?

Well, there you go, one did not really have to wait long to assess actual consumer behaviour to green products. A whopping 68% respondents admitted that they had never actually bought a ‘green’ product, despite claims to the contrary. Sorry environmentalists, so much for eco-friendly consumer behaviour!

All for the love of Green? Naah!

In any case, of the 32% respondents who did claim to buy green products, a majority did not really do it for the love of Mother Nature, but for other reasons. A big reason perhaps would be personal gratification viz. CFL bulbs for lower electricity bills, CNG cars for lower fuel expenses, organic food for personal health, et al. In fact, only 20% of those who have ever bought an eco-friendly product gave its energy efficiency as a reason for purchase. An interesting insight for marketers: Consumers will buy your ‘green’ products, but not for philanthropy alone. Give them an additional USP!

Eco-altruism or the green dollar?

Of all the respondents surveyed, 43% felt that companies, which adopt eco-friendly initiatives did so because of consciousness for the environment. Well, that’s assuming businesses were really philanthropic entities, we guess! Almost another 40% however hit the nail on the head and said that businesses were going green for profit motive, either launching ‘green’ products and services seeing consumer demand; or become energy-efficient to reduce their costs. In reality, eco-makeovers for businesses are not always an act of altruism, instead there’s a heady mix of regulation concern, combined with anticipation of future demand from aware consumers!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!