Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Business of cartelisation

Mount The Business of cartelisationRushmore and the Statue of Liberty are two things one instantly identifies with US of A. Another classically American term (thanks to Hollywood) is Mafia. The bestselling book, The Godfather, and the movie adaptation where actor Marlon Brando enacts the role of Don Vito Corleone have made ‘mafia’ as well known, if not better than Mount Rushmore!

In the book (and the movie), the Tattaglia and the Barzini families declare war on the Corleones. At stake is control over al the illegal activities in New York. The Don is pumped with bullets but survives. The Don’s mercurial son Sonny Corleone unleashes a wave of revenge attacks that rattles the Tattaglias and the Barzinis. But Sonny is impulsive and is lured to his death. The Don calls for a peace meeting and the five major ‘families’ of New York agree to declare a truce. They also agree not to poach on each other’s territory, and consumers. Hollywood and the media call it the Mafia. If Adam Smith was a 20th century economist, he would have called it a cartel.

As sector after sector in India experienced wave after wave of consolidation, there are serious concerns emerging about a clutch of cartels stifling competition and stiffing the Indian consumer. In layman’s terms, a cartel can be described as a loose (usually informal and always unethical, if not illegal) association of companies in a sector. In a cartel, the companies outwardly ‘compete fiercely’ with each other; in reality they collude with each other, fix prices and raise entry barriers so high that a potential rival cannot barge into the sector even though the profits are alluring and enticing. Economics tells us that competition is good for the consumer; theory also tells us that companies relentlessly compete with each other to grab more market share. But that’s theory. The reality is Finance Minister threatening Indian cement companies with punitive action if they continue to indulge in price fixing. The reality is Vijay Mallya announcing that Air Deccan will raise fares within hours of Kingfisher Airlines acquiring a strategic stake in Air Deccan. The reality is Indian telecom companies refusing to allow the consumer to migrate from one service provider to the other without a change on her mobile phone number. And of course, the reality is a few mafia dons carving up illegal activities in the city of Mumbai!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2007

An
IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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Friday, February 01, 2008

Flower Power


The Sunday Indian - India's Greatest News weekly

A (L) Multitudes of flowers await their ultimate destination in Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer100 years ago, most flowers were grown just outside the cities where they would be sold and rushed to market before they wilted. Technology & transportation have turned this once small-time pastoral occupation into a global, $40 billion industry, $10 billion larger than music sales worldwide. The sentiments may be real, but their vehicle for expression is an increasingly anonymous, mass-produced, global commodity.

In a small town 8 miles southwest of Amsterdam, you can actually witness this worldwide flower commerce in action. That place is a catwalk high above the auction floor in the world’s largest commercial building, the Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer, where 20 million flowers go up for sale every day. Visitors aren’t allowed on the auction floor; there is too much danger of getting run down by one of the 135,000 trolleys loaded with flowers that shuttle between the auction rooms and loading docks. Instead, nearly 100,000 tourists a year roam the network of catwalks, along with the auction staff, and watch the millions of blossoms in constant motion below. These blossoms could be harvested in Ecuador, Ethiopia, Israel, or Kenya, fl own to Amsterdam. Why should something as delicate & perishable as a flower need to travel from all corners of the world to Aalsmeer? The answer, in part, is tradition. The Dutch invented this particular method of fl oral commerce a century ago. Today, the 1,050 buyers & 5,400 suppliers who participate in Aalsmeer still find it convenient to converge at a central meeting place.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2007

An
IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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