Second round?... No sweat!

The first round of the 2006 presidential elections of Bulgaria reinstated the stronghold of the incumbent President, Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov (above). Th ough Parvanov of Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) secured himself a landslide victory of 64.6% in the first round with his principal right wing opponent, Volen Siderov, securing a measly 20.3%, he was forced to face the run-off polls because of the poor voter turnout. Bulgarian law prescribes a minimum of 50% turnout of the registered voters, but only 42.5% showed interest in casting ballot. Encouraged by the results, Parvanov claimed, “Outcome of the first round casts no doubt on Bulgaria’s European future. Our European policy has won firm support yet again.” He was instrumental in Bulgaria joining the NATO in 2004. And though he won admiration for getting EU to accept Bulgaria’s entry into the Union from January 1, 2007, he is criticised for the government’s massive failure to tackle organised crime, corruption and high- level fraudulency.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

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It is India’s misfortune to be stuck with neighbours who haven’t developed a strong culture of democracy

It is India’s misfortune to be stuck with neighbours who haven’t developed a strong culture of democracy and are also prone to descending into chaos. But we cannot be mute spectators. It would be even worse to gloat at how the neighbours seem to be botching up the task of building a modern nation state. Great nations cannot be built when you are surrounded by violence, unrest and anarchy.

Of course, there is little India can do in the immediate short-term to help stabilize South Asia. Nor can it be seen to be interfering in the ‘internal affairs’ of these nations. But there is a lot it can do through back channel and unobtrusive diplomacy that is mature as well as far-sighted.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

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Most product markets comprise four distinct tiers...

Because of the institutional voids in developing countries, multinational companies find it difficult to serve anything but the market’s global tier. In product markets, the lack of market research makes it tough for multinational companies to understand customers’ tastes, and the paucity of distribution networks makes it impossible for them to deliver products to customers in the hinterland.

In talent markets, they don’t have enough knowledge about the local talent pool to design policies that will attract and motivate employees at the glocal, local and bottom-of-pyramid tiers. Therefore, when a developing country opens up, multinational companies rush into the global tier and local companies dominate the local tier.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

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Generic’s passé!

India’s largest pharmaceutical company, Ranbaxy Laboratories, is in the news again for an unsuccessful legal battle against American pharma giant, Pfizer in the US Court of Appeals. And the bone of contention remains the blockbuster drug Lipitor. Ranbaxy continues to challenge the Pfizer patent in many countries, in an attempt to launch its generic version as soon as possible. Th is has been the traditional economics of the Indian pharma industry. Lacking the resources and the right kind of support, Indian firms have largely depended on generics.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

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Save US ‘arms’ energy to gain global ‘fuel’ synergy!

It always comes back to oil. The continuing misguided interventions in the Middle East by the US and the UK have their roots deep in the Arabian sand. Ever since Winston Churchill led the conversion of Britain’s navy from coal to oil at the start of the last century, the Western powers have meddled incessantly in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries to keep the oil fl owing, toppling governments and taking sides in wars in the supposed great game of energy resources, which is almost over because the old approaches are obviously failing.

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Source:- IIPM Editorial

Visit also:- IIPM Publication, Business & Economy & Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative