Friday, December 28, 2007

Popping ‘Growth’ Pills

Buoyed by increasing life spans & lifestyle diseases, the global pharma sector posted a robust YOY growth of 7% for 2006 to register turnovers of $643 billion, and there’s no doubting the sustainability of this growth story. But the same can’t be said for individual players, big or small, who are looking up every strategy in the book to churn out those magical numbers.

They came, they saw, they conquered, they bloated and then they fell like a pack of cards. The R&D giants of the pharma industry have faint memories of the heady days in the 1990s, when the blockbuster drugs were making a killing in the market and making headlines. Today, these companies are still making headlines… but not for blockbuster drugs, but blockbuster restructuring plans! The story is the same, be it Pfizer, Merck or GlaxoSmithKline. Furthermore, they are facing an unprecedented scourge from developing economies, keen on invoking the compulsory licensing clause of the TRIPs agreement, a further blow to their efforts towards discovering new drugs. As pharmaceutical giants continue to grope in the dark on their way towards revival, there are quite a few ominous indications that the entire landscape of the global pharmaceutical industry is undergoing massive transformation.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here

Source: IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Government effort to tackle communalism lacks credibility

The major bone of contention in the proposed bill is section 55, which will grant the Centre a right to deploy central paramilitary forces and the army to ‘communally Government effort to tackle communalism lacks credibilitydisturbed areas’.

The government needs to realise that the need of the hour is that our laws begin to cater to domestic as well as international demands. The International Criminal Court or ICCt (India is not a member) is empowered to deal directly against the individuals found guilty of the crimes against humanity. If our government fails to devise adequate legislation to punish the guilty indulging in sectarian violence, sooner or later the ICCt will pose a challenge to our sovereignty. That would be a moment of acute and shameful embarrassment for our nation.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here

Source: IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

Indian gravy?


Compared to the IAF and the Army, Indian Navy is a little more poised. With an array of frigates, destroyers, aircraft carriers and submarines to be inducted in the next one decade, the Indian Navy would truly have a formidable blue water capability in some years to come. With three Talwar class frigates already inducted, three more on order with Russia, the production of Scorpene submarines having already started and INS Ghorshkov slated to join in 2009, and even with the purchase of amphibious ship USS Trenton, the navy truly is now getting the right kind of attention that it deserved for long.

Yet, it has is own set of problems. Its Sea King helicopters and reconnaissance fleet of Tu-142 is fast depleting. What is badly needed are the P-3C Orion type planes. INS Virat is barely surviving and the navy’s submarine capability is next to nothing when compared to that of China’s. And though its ships are being inducted with Brahmos cruise missiles, its submarine ballistic missile launch capability is severely restricted.

For a country surrounded significantly by water and ‘loving’ neighbours, India’s navy cannot remain a mish-mash bonsai. Unfortunately, the powers that may be still seem to be in a daze about these issues that could well one day have the power to destroy India...
For Complete IIPM Article, Click here

Source: IIPM Editorial, 2006

An IIPM and Management Guru Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Initiative