Number of words: 190 The Big Three, with labor as a fixed cost and no freedom to cut earnings in bad times (as Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers could), were caught in an infernal cycle. They could not close factories quickly enough to adjust capacity to falling demand. This made them even less competitive against … Read more

Number of words: 273 Modern America and automobile grew up together. But like so many early-twentieth-century Americans, it was born elsewhere. “Automobile” is a French word. The nursery of the industry was France. In 1900, just seven years after the French people gave the United States the Statue of Liberty as a belated centennial birthday … Read more

Number of words: 626 We then tried to sell the dairy. Dr V. Kurien had suggested that through National Dairy Development Board’s (NDDB) support, it might be possible for the Uttar Pradesh Government to acquire the Etah dairy. Kurien never liked HLL or any private sector incursion into the dairy industry, which he felt was … Read more

Number of words: 713 The initial reaction of most people to the Emergency was admittedly very positive. Everyone was tired of the strikes and bandhs organized by people like George Fernandes. They disrupted normal life for most working people and served very little purpose in making things better for most people. lt only benefited trade … Read more

Number of words: 573 Most European multinationals were traditionally operated as multi-domestic companies with the people at the head office exercising their hold mainly through financial controls and authorities. In earlier years, the chairmen of both HLL and Unilever used to say that the control from the centre on the subsidiary was mainly in two areas, … Read more

Number of words: 540 That was the period when I began to develop an aversion to young men called “Product Managers”. They usually came with a degree in English or economics, and the more recent ones had done engineering but had abandoned the technical career to do an MBA at one of the Indian Institutes of … Read more

Number of word: 1,015 I was a man in a hurry because I knew that the company was in a financial crisis. We had huge piles of imported raw materials and an equally large pile of unsold stock, all of which was hypothecated against loans from banks. There was a very small cash balance and … Read more

Number of word: 120 As Dewan of Travancore he undertook a tough campaign against the State Congress leaders, who were arrested. The principal target of the government was the Christian community which used its economic resources to support the Congress Party. Christians had been almost totally excluded from government jobs by generations of Travancore Maharajas who … Read more

Number of word: 182 There is a chivalrous tradition behind the Aranmula boat race. Centuries earlier, the priest of the temple had to come by boat from his village which was several miles upstream to perform the puja during the annual festival of that temple. He had custody of the ornaments of the deity of … Read more

Number of words: 160 A number of years ago we worked on a rent-a-solvent for a chemical company. A solvent is a chemical that is used to remove grease, for example, from machine parts. Companies ordinarily buy the cheapest degreasing solvent available, even if it comes from halfway around the globe. After its use, the … Read more