Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Real-estate industry work

So how does the real-estate industry work in SL? As I said earlier, you start with 512 square meters (16 by 32 meters). You could buy more from Linden Labs (in real world currency) for an additional fee that they call Tier. This could range from $5 a month up to $295 a month for an entire island which would be 65,536 square meters. You could also pay a one time flat tier of $1,675 instead of a monthly thing. Also, just like the real world, you could book your favourite plot of land for $30 if you don’t have the money and pay later. But interestingly, it does not end there. Just like our housing societies, you need to pay a monthly maintenance charge to Linden Labs. This is calculated on the amount you own. The more land you own, the more you pay. So, based on the current tier system, your starter 512 square meters would cost an additional $5 per month, 65,536 square meters of mainland will cost $195 and an island would cost $295 per month. You could also buy land from another resident or purchase it at a Land Auction. Pretty much like an eBay auction, land auctions are extremely popular in SL. What starts with $40 ends up selling at $2000 at the end of a week. In-world sources say that over 15 million square meters of land has been sold in Q1 2007. If I may draw a real world analogy, we are talking about a property boom very similar to what’s happening in India right now.

And just like the real world, this property phenomenon has created a new breed of virtual real estate moguls in SL. The biggest example is Anshe Chung (Chinese-born language teacher Ailin Graef living near Frankfurt, Germany in the real world) who is the first online individual to become a millionaire from profits earned entirely in a virtual world. Dubbed as the virtual Rockefeller and featured on the cover of Businessweek, She owns 36 square kilometers of land and a few million Linden Dollars in cash not to mention shopping malls, store chains, virtual brands in SL. Liz Bartlett’s Livingston Properties (www.khyri.com/livingstonproperties) sells prefabricated housing in SL for as low as 900 Linden dollars along with agent and building services. And the most interesting one: popular american real estate brokerage firm Coldwell Banker (www.coldwellbanker.com) has set up shop in SL selling and renting its own tracts of land in areas like Ranchero, Crowfoot, Elboya, Gorbash and Scurfield.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Waterhead region

The place I appeared once I logged in for the first time is the Orientation and Help Island. This is where you learn the basics of SL. This is where SL teaches you about Avatars, transport, mouse movements & communication. The first place I saw after that is called the Welcome area. It is the starting point for all newbie residents in the SL world. Originally, the Welcome area was in Natoma in 2002 which moved to an area called Ritch in 2003. Currently, SL has three welcome areas: the Ahern/Morris region, another in Lime/Plum and a newer one in the Waterhead region. Arriving at the Welcome area can be a bit disconcerting. You will see humans no doubt but also aliens, devils, vampires, furries, animals, insects, robots. You may even see a dragon. Usually there is a Linden or two patrolling the welcome area, available for advice. I learnt the hard way not to accept advice from strangers. Some folks will come and try to sell you strange items. Sell? How am I supposed to buy stuff in a virtual land? Well, this is where I learned that SL has its own currency called Linden dollars (L$). Premium accounts receive a weekly stipend (paid in Linden dollars). That’s one of the special features. And since the real world payment can be tendered in L$, there is an actual currency exchange rate of around L$ 270 to one US dollar. In-world currency exchanges and ATMs allow residents to change real world currencies to L$. It took me some time to come to terms with this fact – a virtual currency that has real value!

Stay in the welcome area for as long as you take to familiarise yourself with this new environment. Only when you decide to set up a home for yourself should you venture out. This brings us to the other special feature of premium membership and of SL itself. Premium membership comes with 512 square meters of land. This is actual virtual land that you own in SL. And this is where the fun begins. You can do anything you want on this land. Using the tools provided in SL, you can build your dream home or build a store to start your business. Build some strange but interesting structure that everyone will come and see. Buy an island and create your tropical paradise, modify the landscape, expand it, maybe build your own continent. And if you lack imagination, you could just sell it to someone willing to buy it from you in Linden dollars – the in-world currency. Why would you want to sell your land? Well, you could buy some more land with it. Or use the money to fund your virtual bookstore. For the last three years, thousands of residents have bought land to build their houses, offices, nightclubs, spas and resorts.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

What to look for in a fund?

It all depends on your risk appetite and the investment’s raison d’ĂȘtre

While investing in any mutual fund the most important factor to look for is the investment objective of that particular fund and how well does it tally with an individual investor’s financial g oal. Once the same is established and the fund category is selected the investor should focus on the following key elements:

Pedigree and track record of the fund house promoting the mutual fund. This is extremely critical as it would speak of the discipline culture that is followed while making investment decisions for the fund. Mutual Fund business is not only about managing investor’s money, but it also involves managing trust. Hence parentage and track record of the fund house becomes an important parameter in fund selection.

Secondly, for an already existing fund it is important to look at its long term performance, consistency and sector composition. A fund depicting a volatile performance record is avoidable as it may give astonishing returns under certain market conditions, but can fail miserably under other market conditions, not offering a safe avenue.

For a new fund, detailed understanding of the fund’s investment pattern and focus is critical. Since the new fund does not even have a track record to support it, hence investor must focus on understanding what is it that the mutal fund is offering and does a similar fund already exist in his portfolio or not.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs


Monday, August 11, 2008

Hulked out!

Whoever let him loose?

‘Hulk’ing oil prices have gripped the world, and the problem isn’t rising consumption. karan mehrishi of 4PsB&M takes a closer look


What goes up must come down? How one wishes this was as true for oil prices, which, besides defying gravity, have upset the budgetary calculations of millions of households across the world; not to mention bringing entire governments to their knees. When oil prices breached the $110 mark, analysts were of the opinion that prices would stabilise themselves as consumers would abstain from consumption as soon as they feel the pinch. Those analysts have been caught on the wrong barrel... er... foot, since oil prices are now touching $130, and a super spike to 200 is now considered possibile.

Even though some factions believed that a super spike, prices exceeding $200 per barrel, will be an eventuality, some analysts have a separate opinion. “I don’t think prices of crude will cross $200 per barrel simply because it’s too high. We are at the $120-130 range and consumers and governments have already started to contribute significantly,” says renowned oil expert Sebastian Mallaby, Fellow, Counsel on Foreign Relations (CFR), to 4Ps B&M.

However, there is still no respite from the reality of the impending oil shock and stakes are indeed high. According to Petro India’s Shantanu Saikia, “There is a fair amount of volatility, it all depends on what rice the demand-supply equilibrium is settled at. However, this is not a violent shock; prices can stabilise in 5-6 years, but it should be understood that this is an era of high oil prices.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Top Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India
India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
IIPM Delhi - Indian Institute of Planning and Management New Delhi ...
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs