.
2.55 AM (Saturday late night or can say Sunday early morning)
My cell phone woke up by another cell phone thousand of miles away. So now it decided to wake me up for the company. That was the time I didn’t like my set ring tone and just tried to find it on my bed with closed eyes.
Oh god, its Sankalp and its almost 3 in the morning… what this guy is up to… did Vodka kicked in so late? Even the Batman must be feeling dizzy in Gotham. I just killed the sound of ring and put the cell over my bedtime read.
It rang second time, oh… Not again. I should have kept this Samsung piece silent before going to bed.
Damn you Sankalp… cant you imagine I am in the same time zone.
Ok… now I am sure he is full high over Vodka or may be JD. So now its my turn to make myself prepare before picking the cell to listen… I love you Bhai… Mujhe tum sab ki bahoooot yaad aa rahi hai. Rest you can guess …. Anyway I picked the cell. Till now I was sure night is over for me.
……………………………………….
Hello…
Bhai, H@#$& mil gayi.
(He is not drunk)
Kaun H@#$&?
Abe wahi jo college main mili thi. Genesis main.
Kya baat kar raha hai… kab? Kahan? Kaise?
(Fuck you Sankalp… asshole if you get her then why are you saying me this auspicious time, just go and talk to her, may be this time you can manage to have some good conversation with her better than that Medical Canteen talk)
Abe maine uska bloga padha hai. Uski pic bhi hai. Are you online? I am sending you the link. Check it.
(are you kidding, I am online? Its 3am man.) YES. I can check it. But Alok is on my laptop right now watching Two and Half Man, I guess I will get my laptop in 10-15 min.
Sale jaldi check kar. Abhi dekh.
Ok. Ok. I am opening my Gtalk.
……………………………………………………
By this time even I became excited to see her pic, as it was more than 7 years since I have been listening to this H@#$& crap from this guy whenever he gets high. I have also seen one pic of him at Aligadh beach writing her name with stick in sand (correct me if I am wrong).
Well, here Alok was watching this two and half man like chain smoker. I guess he had seen more than ten episodes one after other and his count was still on. No worry, I asked him that I might need the laptop for a while and he agreed. And now I was sitting on my laptop and looking for one of the biggest crush (Crash) of his majesty Mr. Sankalp. First I opened her blog… Jesus, is this girl do anything but to write blog… hundreds of blogs.
(Anyone interested in her blog, contact Sankalp, Nitya or me seperately)
From videos to songs, from dialogues to some crippy technical stuffs. Book review was also there. And she was looking pretty Ok in her pic (not that fantabulous kind. Sorry Sankalp). Ok means may be I had a lot of expectations considering her physical appearance after listening about her infinite number of times. Well there was another picture of her eating some gross looking meal with her friend in pink and white t shirt. I liked her better, may be because I have affinity towards those specks. Eventually I learned her name is A@&#%. Well, I felt comfortable that Sankalp and I have different favorite. H@#$& for him, and I like A@&#% better. Remember similar case of that super hot Amrita and her un-named not so hot Sister.
Well, now its time to explore so many things about her and after loosing my sleep, I was on for it.
This event suddenly remind me the very first year of my engineering college. Time was almost same. Sankalp and I were chatting useless stuffs and here comes Buntu, coming from his room, eyes full red (may be he was not able to sleep but was in bed), looking a bit lost and serious, very unlike Buntu. I still remember his first line, Maddy… mujhe lagta hai mujhe Pyaar ho gaya hai. Man, can you imagine it? It was so amusing but we (Sankalp and I) manage to maintain our serious and concerned look. It was like we just won a lottery and Buntu is the prize money.
“Who is She?”
“Bhatiya… Sangita Bhatiya” (James bond kind of introduction)
Believe me, we were as sure of this name as was Buntu. But to encourage the conversation and take your poor friend in confidence such kind of dumb question is required. Friends can be (sorry no can be, they are) the best sucker when it comes some emotional situation. They will kill your rational you very easily. And we love them for screwing it up. Anyway, that whole night we spent making plans, convincing him, encouraging him for what we might never had dared, teasing him and off course supporting him that we will always stand by his side. Rest is the history which most of us already know. But I truly admit, Buntu is real cute. (most of girls will definitely agree with me at this point, well some guys too.)
So, now here is this night. History repeats itself with slightly change in characters. After listening from Sankalp, “H@#$& mil gayi” I was sure where this night is heading. Only difference was that time I had a company of Sankalp and today I am alone. Well, my wish granted and Sanklap got Nitya and I on a conference call after several effort. Before that I had several short-long discussion about her, her blogs, her pics,…with him. So here we are…
Sankalp from Mumbai, I from Bangalore and Nitya from Florida we three talking on a conference call about H@#$& from Pune. Can there be any better example of globalization? I am on for a bet.
We talked for almost an hour. Memories of good old times when we used to talk for whole night over any damn thing were back. We talked about this arduous task that Sankalp has found her information. We motivated him as we did with Buntu. We talked, laughed, made some serious comments and laughed again. Wow, it was real fun. I loved every bit of it. Meanwhile, we also talked about the current situations on our personal fronts. I played safe and Nitya did the best while making any comments over these issues. When we had enough of our long lost fun talk and Sankalp was done with two pegs of JD, we decided to call it off. Meanwhile I am damn sure I must have screwed up Bipin and Alok sleep. Sorry guys, but I was really excited.
I was totally out of my sleep and off course I had to go morning dance class, so decided to remain awake.
When asked by Sankalp, what is this coincidence that I got her information after almost 7 years. I may say, it’s a real life, not a story of K2H2, where SRK finds Kajole after 7-8 years and manages to get her in his life. Well, if she is still single, take your chance. But before that just make your mind clear that is that all you want or its just some subjective physical attractiveness or some weird attitude that you like about her and you may like it for a long run. If you have the answers of all what and why, then you know what to do without any doubt…but yes, its always better to try for next item in wish list than writing Shayri and poems in your message status for the lost one. And, yes this girl has Rocky Balboa as the fev movie. And the punch line of this movie is, its not over till its over. So move to your next wish list item, and don’t throw the towel till you believe you have done all that should have been done. And play honest, no blame game. I know, you already practice it, but for the sake of saying, saying.
If you wanna something, go get it. Period.
You know from where this line has come. You like it too, isn’t?
So it was one hell of a night. I enjoyed and will remember every bit of it. I was not very sure, I will write a blog on it. But you know, its Sunday, and after playing badminton, I have nothing to do and as usual didn’t get any phone call (I guess my cell is just for credit card company use not for friends) so why not write it on my blog. Since from tomorrow onward I would be a bit busy with some new short term project for some short period of time, so next blog may take some time.
Just for information sharing from my side:
Santa-Banta are dead. But Chantu-Buntu are doing fine. and I got dart board for my leisure time. And last I might be in Mumbai for my year’s last holiday.
Anyways folks, hope you all having good times in your kitty. Must be busy with official and non official activities. But if you think you have any suggestion for Mr. Sankalp over this issue, feel free to contact him. After all why are friends for? ;)
Cheers.
P.S. I tried to keep some names under cover, but I guess you may guess.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Opel: Deal or No Deal
It was never the first choice for GM to sell off its European hand Opel to Fiat or Magna or to anyone for that matter. Last few months GM has witnessed its one of the worst crisis ever which has not only almost claimed its existence but also in this period it made GM sold its iconic brand Hummer and Saab to almost unknown companies for the price of peanuts. When the economic hurricane has subsidized a bit, till then GM has lost its crown which was intact for more than three quarter of the century and became certainly a leaner if not a meaner organization.
GM sold its one European brand Saab to a tiny company Koenigsegg, a Luxury sports car manufacturer who has the presence in the Top 10 list of world’s fastest cars.
Well, another European unit Opel accounts for significant GM Share in EU market. If GM would have sold its share in Opel, definitely it would have been almost whipped from EU, not so pleasant situation for the automaker.
No doubt it was not the move which has been received warmly by everyone but with this decision GM has faced lots of criticism not from the industry but also from the government of Germany and Russia. But again, its business, where ethics always throws towel whenever it faces profit and greed heads on. This whole deal took a long time while seeing many ups and downs. Now even after GM declared not to sell Opel, condition of Opel has not become any clearer, in fact became a bit uncertain. Where Magna plan was not in the favor of laying off workers more than 2600 and without shutting down any of its plant, GM doesn’t make any such kind of promise. No doubt Magna was also German’s choice for this reason. So very obviously after turning its back from the deal GM management has been told to return the bridge loan of 1.5 billion Euro till the end of this month. Hopefully GM may manage to return it since it is now become Government Motors and it has the support of the US treasury, if they justify their move. Meanwhile Russian Prime Minister Mr Putin didn’t say much about the situation but his disappointment was pretty evident from his statement that he has learned his lesson from this deal. One can only hope that the economical relation between Cold war rivals is going to be unaffected with this U-turn. GM CEO Henderson already made an apologizing statement but sure it’s not going to sooth their temper any sooner.
Well, these all were the situations considering the bidder side in the Opel deal, Magna and Sperbank. Now lets see GM’s stand. Only future will say this step was good or bad but one thing for sure in this economic turmoil situation GM was not in the drivers seat while making the deal. GM has already sold its muscular Hummer to a Chinese heavy machinery company for some $200m odd value, which was even less than half of expected value. Surely GM has to improve its fuel economic image and while Hummer was not a profiting hand, it has to go. Another was Saab which was hardly ever profitable since it has been acquired by GM. So its deal also didn’t hurt much to GM. But Opel story is completely different. Opel captures a significant percentage of European market share and has some very good model in its kitty. Also, build on the Volt platform Ampera is supposed to launch in coming year as an Electric vehicle. Here was one of the major concerns for GM with this deal, loosing its grip over its intellectual property which not only accounts for numerous patents and technologies but also they overlap significantly with GM’s core technology these days. No wonder GM management was not able to digest this and also they were not finding any suitable way out of this issue.
After the elimination of Fiat from the bidding, it was taking way too long for Magna to close the deal and meanwhile economy and Auto sector has started to see the light in the tunnel. Cash for clunkers, stimulus packages, and massive cost cuttings have shown some positive signs and almost all Auto manufacturers and major Auto markets data saw north after long time. Ford has already posted its long awaited billion dollar quarterly profit followed by Toyota, performing way better than wall street prediction of losses. GM was also not left behind in riding the wave of change as it has reported after long the growth in the sell percentage of its car in North America whereas it continues breaking all self made previous records in China, world’s latest largest Auto market.
Seeing these positive signs GM has changed its mind to sell Opel. Off course it has shattered the dream of Magna to enter the auto sector as OEM. But well again, win for some is the loss for some.
Now as GM has retained Opel, this is the easy part. Now hard part comes which is to restructure the company and making it profitable unit. After breaking the trust of the government and the employee, it’s not going to be an easy task for the management. No doubt GM has put its veteran Bob Lutz to come up with a plan. Also, the most successful GM employee in current time Nick Reilly, president of GMIO is going to handle GM European operation replacing Carl Forster from the Opel top position who is supposedly moving to manage Jaguar Land Rover owned by Nano famed Tata Motors. Well this addition and subtraction at top slot in not a Herculean task for the company but the company will have acid test when it will come to manage at lower level considering workers layoff and huge cost cutting is inevitable with chances of some plant closure. In addition to this workers and government are already unhappy. But considering the success story of Nick Reilly its going to be interesting to see how they make their plan viable.
Well the outcome of the whole drama may get clear after some time but lets just hope for a while it will come positive for the former world Auto champion. The whole Opel case may turn around as sweet for some or sour for some but for sure its going to be a hell of a case study in Auto Sector.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Ideal Idle Weekend :)
Another Weekend…
If weekend meant to be lazy and lying on your bed whole day and not getting up then it is going to be the perfect weekend.
After Nitya flying away from Bangalore (actually india) all weekends are no more different. Today too, I woke up after mid day.
After seeing movie (name itself is censored) last night on my laptop when I slept, I got call from Juhi at Sardar-Time. We could hardly talk for ten minutes may be cause I was tired or I had a pretty bad throat. But I lost my sleep after our talk. No...No... No, it was not a romantic talk but I guess these days I am having very delicate and fragile sleep (another drawback of highly overrated professional life). Once it was broken, it was gone with the wind out of my open window.
12:15 AM
After trying almost half an hour to sleep, I open my laptop and started a movie Killshot from my huge collection of movies. Believe me it was not a kind of movie you would like to watch at 1:00 am or may be anytime. But I finished it without taking any break.
1:45 AM
Still Awake…
Lets see Friends, Just a couple of days back I downloaded the first season of it.
After seeing first 7 episodes, I decided to give my Friends a break.
Meanwhile I got two SMS of Sankalp. I think he was drunk.
Wow… Another movie 'A walk to remember', which I kept on downloading is done with downloading.
5:00 AM
Its almost 5:00 in the morning. I decided to wait till 5:45 and then go for morning walk or jogging. I walked outside my bedroom, went to the balcony, felt the freshness of morning breeze and came back in my bed. After seeing half an hour of the movie, I don’t know it was the effect of fresh cool-calm air or my tired eyes, I switched the light off and slept...(Yes, I rarely put off light while sleeping)…till 12:30.
Lots of things happening these days even if my life is pretty much stagnant.
I got promoted, got appraisal. Well I wont quantify it, but I was pretty much upset (my expectations were high). But yes, I have been raised up on rank and on numbers.
I learned to play Table Tennis, just after getting the announcement of a doubles TT tournament in the company.
First things first… I bought TT Bat. I don’t wanna borrow, I prefer to own. Then I studied all the rules of TT from net and just jumped in the TT room. (is it some reason to skip my working hours in office???)
Believe me even in this very short and very early my novice TT career, my win to loss ratio is pretty good and positive. I can boast of defeating some of experienced and good players in doubles as well as in singles. I call it Beginner’s luck. (or whether they were taking me too lightly?)… Well… this so called Beginner’s luck was not so lucky on tournament day (may be till that time I was not a beginner anymore), and we (Team Prime… I named my team after the name of the Transformers movie robot Optimus Prime) got washed out in the very first round in two straight sets. I won’t describe it but I got my share of appreciation in that game. Mind you, it was a doubles…(am I trying to give excuse of my defeat?) Well…. Lets talk something else.
I have lots of vacant time these days. Lots of pending novels on my pillow side, pending outings and pending activities. Seems I am becoming a government employee in my day to day activities. Trying to improve over it but its just not happening…Well keep trying.
My Fishes are doing well. These are perhaps the only living creatures I see during my apartment time. Still I am trying to get friendly with them. But I guess they don’t believe that I am Vegetarian these days and I never liked eating Fish even when I was Non-veggie.
One more day of this weekend is remaining. I have a feeling it wont be any different from today…apart from some room cleaning.
It sounds pretty boring…Isn’t? Come on… What a better way you can spend your weekend. Its way too cool. In last less than twenty four hours I have seen five movies and seven Friends Episodes. Can you beat it?
Won’t it be better if I skip my Room cleaning activity and improve the movie count for this weekend.
Hmmmmmmmm… Sounds cooooool… isn’t?
If weekend meant to be lazy and lying on your bed whole day and not getting up then it is going to be the perfect weekend.
After Nitya flying away from Bangalore (actually india) all weekends are no more different. Today too, I woke up after mid day.
After seeing movie (name itself is censored) last night on my laptop when I slept, I got call from Juhi at Sardar-Time. We could hardly talk for ten minutes may be cause I was tired or I had a pretty bad throat. But I lost my sleep after our talk. No...No... No, it was not a romantic talk but I guess these days I am having very delicate and fragile sleep (another drawback of highly overrated professional life). Once it was broken, it was gone with the wind out of my open window.
12:15 AM
After trying almost half an hour to sleep, I open my laptop and started a movie Killshot from my huge collection of movies. Believe me it was not a kind of movie you would like to watch at 1:00 am or may be anytime. But I finished it without taking any break.
1:45 AM
Still Awake…
Lets see Friends, Just a couple of days back I downloaded the first season of it.
After seeing first 7 episodes, I decided to give my Friends a break.
Meanwhile I got two SMS of Sankalp. I think he was drunk.
Wow… Another movie 'A walk to remember', which I kept on downloading is done with downloading.
5:00 AM
Its almost 5:00 in the morning. I decided to wait till 5:45 and then go for morning walk or jogging. I walked outside my bedroom, went to the balcony, felt the freshness of morning breeze and came back in my bed. After seeing half an hour of the movie, I don’t know it was the effect of fresh cool-calm air or my tired eyes, I switched the light off and slept...(Yes, I rarely put off light while sleeping)…till 12:30.
Lots of things happening these days even if my life is pretty much stagnant.
I got promoted, got appraisal. Well I wont quantify it, but I was pretty much upset (my expectations were high). But yes, I have been raised up on rank and on numbers.
I learned to play Table Tennis, just after getting the announcement of a doubles TT tournament in the company.
First things first… I bought TT Bat. I don’t wanna borrow, I prefer to own. Then I studied all the rules of TT from net and just jumped in the TT room. (is it some reason to skip my working hours in office???)
Believe me even in this very short and very early my novice TT career, my win to loss ratio is pretty good and positive. I can boast of defeating some of experienced and good players in doubles as well as in singles. I call it Beginner’s luck. (or whether they were taking me too lightly?)… Well… this so called Beginner’s luck was not so lucky on tournament day (may be till that time I was not a beginner anymore), and we (Team Prime… I named my team after the name of the Transformers movie robot Optimus Prime) got washed out in the very first round in two straight sets. I won’t describe it but I got my share of appreciation in that game. Mind you, it was a doubles…(am I trying to give excuse of my defeat?) Well…. Lets talk something else.
I have lots of vacant time these days. Lots of pending novels on my pillow side, pending outings and pending activities. Seems I am becoming a government employee in my day to day activities. Trying to improve over it but its just not happening…Well keep trying.
My Fishes are doing well. These are perhaps the only living creatures I see during my apartment time. Still I am trying to get friendly with them. But I guess they don’t believe that I am Vegetarian these days and I never liked eating Fish even when I was Non-veggie.
One more day of this weekend is remaining. I have a feeling it wont be any different from today…apart from some room cleaning.
It sounds pretty boring…Isn’t? Come on… What a better way you can spend your weekend. Its way too cool. In last less than twenty four hours I have seen five movies and seven Friends Episodes. Can you beat it?
Won’t it be better if I skip my Room cleaning activity and improve the movie count for this weekend.
Hmmmmmmmm… Sounds cooooool… isn’t?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Fall(en)ing Apart
I still dream and think that things should have been better. We would be together. There would be no heartbreaks, no setbacks, no broken eyes, no bitter fight… no breakups. But it rarely appear ‘Happily live after’ tagline so early in life. Its not a fairytale. It is the story of my friends, who were friends.
I don’t know exactly what went wrong between them, among them that they all fall apart as if it would be better if they would have never been together. But how can I forget those years (not days or weeks or months) which are still most memorable and enjoyable and complete and fulfilling time span till this day. But I feel they don’t want to look back to those memories and take a trip to those forgotten places where we used to sit together.
But yes one thing for sure we were good together. We were happy even in our adversity. We were complete even with our incompetence. We were neither studs nor smartest but whenever we walked together everyone looked on us with curious and jealous eyes……….. but now again we all are on our own. Separate from places… separate from hearts. Distances made us distant.
What made us apart is still not able to fill those gaps and still at night I (may be we) miss/wait for their call/voice (sometime). It was not an impulsive decision to accept them but it was a choice. We learned from each other. We fought with each other. We shared, we cared. We stand for each other. We cried for each other (well, not we all, but few among us :)). It is not a story of inseparable souls living together but it was the time when different souls came together to live inseparably.
One possible reason could be taking things for granted. We always pursued our dreams, we were (are) ambitious. We put our effort into it. We may/may not get what we want but did we put even part of those effort to remain attached. Thoght, it is by default. We got it, not to loose it….and today…we have lost it (most part of it), not to get it back.
Some cried, some remained silent, some acted as a mentor, some as a pillar. But we all understood and no one liked it. It happened in pairs, subgroups and groups… still happening. Bit by bit. Piece by piece. We kept loosing it. Only we could do to find some satisfactory justifications for ourselves or in the worst case we blamed. But when in lonely moments, in distant (not so distant) memories, if some tease or wish comes in unanswered eyes then you only know no justifications or blame shifting helps. They are just unsuitable temporary ways to hide or cover up your failures…(and lack of effort).
What If…(the worst and ever haunting two words).
What if they would have chosen to walk together?
What if they would have found a way to overcome their differences?
What if they would have put a little extra effort?
What if we all would be together?
What if we would have been never meet?
There could be infinite parallel events possible and we cant predict the butterfly effect of these ‘What ifs’ precisely. But one thing for sure, I wont be writing this (at 2:10AM).
What is making us part?
Can it act like a filler for those vacancies? Can it replace it? Could it replace it?
If not, are we trying to put those fallen part together? Am I playing my part?
I believe we all will be going to places in coming years. But everyone will be there separately and when we wont find our loved ones with us, there is a chance that we may not miss them. But if we miss them, we will miss them bad… very bad. (or may be we would lose our capacity to recognize its intensity by then, I don’t know which would be worse).
P.S. I still wish things should have been better and still hope whatever pieces we have left, those stay together, forever.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Conversation with a Parasite
Parasite: I need your blood. I need it for my survival.
Human: Why do you suck life out of us?
Parasite: Because we can’t live without it.
Human: But it is not yours.
Parasite: But life is mine, I have to protect it.
Human: Why don’t you use other means to survive?
Parasite: We have not given choice.
Human: Why don’t you learn?
Parasite: We can’t. you are saying this because you have been given the capability. We are not born with hands and legs. We don’t have muscle and bones which will allow us to work. You have been blessed with all the means which will make you the leader in the race. Its your responsibility to create and we will consume it. If we are not surviving then its you who has to blame. Because we have been just given a mouth. We can’t produce. We can only eat.
Human: Yes. we have been given hands, legs, muscle, bones everything. But all were useless since I born. I had legs but I could not walk. I had hands, but I could not hold and pick. I had muscle and bones but I could not work. I had mouth, which could only suck the milk from my creator.
Parasite: So it qualifies you to become like us.
Human: Why so hurry. My survival was the only goal of my creator as they believed that I will become their torch bearer. They made my hands strong so that I would be able to support them when they need. They made my legs strong so that I will never lag behind in the race. They made my shoulders strong so that I could bear my responsibilities with ease. They had given me their wisdom so that I can improve over them. They believed in my capacity and will to give back for their favor as a support mentally, physically, spiritually. It was their turn, now its mine. It is symbiosis. I have obligation towards my creator and every single living and non-living entity around who were involved in the making of me. To recognize their effort is one, to give back is second. If I am not paying back to my creators, my supporters, my society that is the only situation I will become like you, a parasite.
Parasite: Its so easy for you to say cause you have been given gifts.
Human: Yes. I have been given this. But I had put my share of effort to develop and protect it. There are efforts made to make me like what I appear today, by different people at different stages including me. If I give it to you free it will be dishonor to my creators, my supporters and to me. I won’t live my life under any guilt. I don’t choose it.
Parasite: What you would have done, if you were at my place? Commit suicide?
Human: I would have done suicide by the moment I would have considered myself incompetent to feed myself my own. Since the moment I became capable to think, I knew I will put my every part and effort to find my way. I won’t demand anything for which I can’t give anything in return. At your place I would have spent my whole life to learn, to create, to produce, to earn and to pass it to my successors. So that one day finally my coming generations would be self sufficient and a truly welcomed part in the society. I would have been exchange my service to different species to learn their skills. I would have done everything to protect my self respect, my self esteem.
Parasite: World is made up of all kind of creatures. I play my part. So what is wrong in it?
Human: You can always choose to remain in whatever conditions you are in. You can always remain in your adversity life long and will always find excellent satisfactory reason to justify yourself. But there will be only one reason to change it. Desire to grow and evolved from your current status. Evolution. This is the only word world accepts. Who manages to evolved, learned to grow, survive. Nature adopted them, otherwise they are found in history books. You are dependent on me. If I go, you won’t last. Why to choose to live such an unsure, unsecured and un-respectful life. At the place give it some good reason. Add some value to it. Give your life to make it meaningful and then I will not only give you my blood but give you my life to feed you, to protect you… This is Human.
Human: Why do you suck life out of us?
Parasite: Because we can’t live without it.
Human: But it is not yours.
Parasite: But life is mine, I have to protect it.
Human: Why don’t you use other means to survive?
Parasite: We have not given choice.
Human: Why don’t you learn?
Parasite: We can’t. you are saying this because you have been given the capability. We are not born with hands and legs. We don’t have muscle and bones which will allow us to work. You have been blessed with all the means which will make you the leader in the race. Its your responsibility to create and we will consume it. If we are not surviving then its you who has to blame. Because we have been just given a mouth. We can’t produce. We can only eat.
Human: Yes. we have been given hands, legs, muscle, bones everything. But all were useless since I born. I had legs but I could not walk. I had hands, but I could not hold and pick. I had muscle and bones but I could not work. I had mouth, which could only suck the milk from my creator.
Parasite: So it qualifies you to become like us.
Human: Why so hurry. My survival was the only goal of my creator as they believed that I will become their torch bearer. They made my hands strong so that I would be able to support them when they need. They made my legs strong so that I will never lag behind in the race. They made my shoulders strong so that I could bear my responsibilities with ease. They had given me their wisdom so that I can improve over them. They believed in my capacity and will to give back for their favor as a support mentally, physically, spiritually. It was their turn, now its mine. It is symbiosis. I have obligation towards my creator and every single living and non-living entity around who were involved in the making of me. To recognize their effort is one, to give back is second. If I am not paying back to my creators, my supporters, my society that is the only situation I will become like you, a parasite.
Parasite: Its so easy for you to say cause you have been given gifts.
Human: Yes. I have been given this. But I had put my share of effort to develop and protect it. There are efforts made to make me like what I appear today, by different people at different stages including me. If I give it to you free it will be dishonor to my creators, my supporters and to me. I won’t live my life under any guilt. I don’t choose it.
Parasite: What you would have done, if you were at my place? Commit suicide?
Human: I would have done suicide by the moment I would have considered myself incompetent to feed myself my own. Since the moment I became capable to think, I knew I will put my every part and effort to find my way. I won’t demand anything for which I can’t give anything in return. At your place I would have spent my whole life to learn, to create, to produce, to earn and to pass it to my successors. So that one day finally my coming generations would be self sufficient and a truly welcomed part in the society. I would have been exchange my service to different species to learn their skills. I would have done everything to protect my self respect, my self esteem.
Parasite: World is made up of all kind of creatures. I play my part. So what is wrong in it?
Human: You can always choose to remain in whatever conditions you are in. You can always remain in your adversity life long and will always find excellent satisfactory reason to justify yourself. But there will be only one reason to change it. Desire to grow and evolved from your current status. Evolution. This is the only word world accepts. Who manages to evolved, learned to grow, survive. Nature adopted them, otherwise they are found in history books. You are dependent on me. If I go, you won’t last. Why to choose to live such an unsure, unsecured and un-respectful life. At the place give it some good reason. Add some value to it. Give your life to make it meaningful and then I will not only give you my blood but give you my life to feed you, to protect you… This is Human.
God bless GM...
The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.
…Winston Churchill
It may not be said in Automotive industry context, but it completely suits today’s scenario of Auto market.
So it is now pretty evident that now GM will follow the footsteps of its younger brother Chrysler. June 1st seems to be the date when the king of Automobile will come in the court to file chapter 11 bankruptcy and will try to protect its remaining reputation in the global market.
Last quarter result seemed to be the final nail in its coffin, when GM had reported net loss of $6 billion (Loss of $9.66 per share), though it was less than expected as per Reuters, who has estimated loss of $11.05 per share. I could only manage to stop my laugh after reading those line “less than expected” even after posting $6 b loss. May be they wanted more from the former world no1. But this time honor goes to new world champion Toyota after posting quarter loss of $6.9 billion with annual loss of $8.9 billion. Now the lean company Toyota president Mr Watanabe must be feeling the heat after reporting consecutive bad report cards. OK, I am not going to comment over Toyota.
Showing consistency in negative growth GM has reported significant drop in its market share. Only hope came from GM Asia Pacific reason where in spite of overall market sell was down GM was able to post some single digit growth rate. Thanks to China and India where GM is reporting positive growth rate. Buick is trying to makeup of GM loss, which has reported around 60% growth in China. India also is trying to give it share in GM growth by giving positive result in the highly competitive and crowded small car segment with Chevy Spark. Captiva is also proving to be right choice but it deals in a highly low volume market segment in India. So, after this quarter result now GM CEO Mr Fritz Henderson is now accepting that bankruptcy is now the most feasible option. Well, I don’t see whether they have any other option.
This week only I was attending All Employee Meeting with Ron Yuile, Executive Director and CEO GMPT-AP, Where he was addressing curious GM India employee and was trying to answer the question. Not surprisingly the talk of bankruptcy was in the core of talk. Well, he has said that now GM bankruptcy is almost inevitable and we might be filling for chapter 11 on 1st June, deadline given by Obama government. What I could not understand him saying that in August GM will be out of bankruptcy and New lean mean GM will take off from there. I wish the same. But will it be possible? If you have such a futuristic vision, how could you let this situation come? I know filling for bankruptcy is your choice but at the same time coming out of it is not yours and its not so easy. You have to make tougher and quick decision then and after seeing the past report of GM decision taking capacity, it doesn’t give a bright hope. But yes, Current CEO Mr Henderson seems a bit quick and clear while taking decision. Here GM has started relying on the positive starting of Chrysler bankruptcy and hoping that Chrysler will come out of it within two months. Hence to go for a quick bankruptcy should be a good and feasible way for GM too. Sounds good. But is it for real?
Chrysler major operation stays in North America and Fiat alone was capable of taking control of the troubled automaker not to mention at a fire sell price. Even after all these now it seems tough for Chrysler to come out of chapter11 in 2 months, as per Reuters analysts it may take up to 2 years. Now here is GM, Operating almost all over world. I am not going to discuss about GM-AP and GM-LAAM operation as their financial results are not as bad if not good. But North America and Europe operations really needs a complete face lift. Where GM NA is facing the burden of seven big brands (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Hummer), Europe also is in a deep mesh. Now its pretty clear that GM will be almost done with Europe market and drastically reduced in its home market too after either selling or phasing out its legendry brands. I really feel sorry about Pontiac, one of my favorite car with more than eighty years of glorious history and models (GTO, Bonneville, Sunfire,G6, Grand Prix, Grand Am, Solstice, etc)behind him.
After Saab, now its other strong unit Opel is under the hammer. Fiat, Magna and many others are waiting to grasp this golden opportunity to take control over this brand. Recently launched Opel Insignia is doing pretty well but now its late for GM to keep maker of Roadster. They have to say now bye (buy) Opel.Since last June GM is trying to sell its Hummer brand which is just proving as keeping and feeding an elephant in recent years. But even after one year GM is unable to close a good deal for its iconic brand. Now it’s clear that it may not get the desired price for this Off-road 4X4 monster. Same way Saturn is also not in the good book of GM. So here is the situation, Once after acquiring several brands to create a global common name GM, which has kept all the brands under one umbrella for almost a century now they are removing them one by one.
With four brands Chevy, Cadillac, GMC and Buick, GM will be a relatively small company but will it become a lean and profitable organization…lets see. With reduced brands and reduced market share GM will not reclaim the top spot in the Auto industry in near future. But I wish at least it mark its presence in the future, as it was my dream to work in GM after visiting Renaissance Center.
In case (most likely) GM files for bankruptcy, end of Detroit reign will almost come to an end. As only ford out of Big3 will remain out of court but again even Ford is now much smaller than its glorious days and now struggling to get rid of its quarterly report in red ink.Coming Back to GM now it’s a critical time or can say last chance to survive. Whatever mistakes you have done in your golden time will always hunt you back in your turmoil period. Its like there is no escape from mistakes. But yes, learn from it, don’t repeat it and grow over it are our only obligations. Prosperity and poverty may show two extreme faces. Its prosperity which defines your strength, guts and wisdom but its poverty which tests them.
Even after shutting down many plants and laying off thousands of employee if GM survives and emerge stronger then it would be a real life time accomplishment of Mr Fritz Henderson. I wish him luck...God bless GM.
…Winston Churchill
It may not be said in Automotive industry context, but it completely suits today’s scenario of Auto market.
So it is now pretty evident that now GM will follow the footsteps of its younger brother Chrysler. June 1st seems to be the date when the king of Automobile will come in the court to file chapter 11 bankruptcy and will try to protect its remaining reputation in the global market.
Last quarter result seemed to be the final nail in its coffin, when GM had reported net loss of $6 billion (Loss of $9.66 per share), though it was less than expected as per Reuters, who has estimated loss of $11.05 per share. I could only manage to stop my laugh after reading those line “less than expected” even after posting $6 b loss. May be they wanted more from the former world no1. But this time honor goes to new world champion Toyota after posting quarter loss of $6.9 billion with annual loss of $8.9 billion. Now the lean company Toyota president Mr Watanabe must be feeling the heat after reporting consecutive bad report cards. OK, I am not going to comment over Toyota.
Showing consistency in negative growth GM has reported significant drop in its market share. Only hope came from GM Asia Pacific reason where in spite of overall market sell was down GM was able to post some single digit growth rate. Thanks to China and India where GM is reporting positive growth rate. Buick is trying to makeup of GM loss, which has reported around 60% growth in China. India also is trying to give it share in GM growth by giving positive result in the highly competitive and crowded small car segment with Chevy Spark. Captiva is also proving to be right choice but it deals in a highly low volume market segment in India. So, after this quarter result now GM CEO Mr Fritz Henderson is now accepting that bankruptcy is now the most feasible option. Well, I don’t see whether they have any other option.
This week only I was attending All Employee Meeting with Ron Yuile, Executive Director and CEO GMPT-AP, Where he was addressing curious GM India employee and was trying to answer the question. Not surprisingly the talk of bankruptcy was in the core of talk. Well, he has said that now GM bankruptcy is almost inevitable and we might be filling for chapter 11 on 1st June, deadline given by Obama government. What I could not understand him saying that in August GM will be out of bankruptcy and New lean mean GM will take off from there. I wish the same. But will it be possible? If you have such a futuristic vision, how could you let this situation come? I know filling for bankruptcy is your choice but at the same time coming out of it is not yours and its not so easy. You have to make tougher and quick decision then and after seeing the past report of GM decision taking capacity, it doesn’t give a bright hope. But yes, Current CEO Mr Henderson seems a bit quick and clear while taking decision. Here GM has started relying on the positive starting of Chrysler bankruptcy and hoping that Chrysler will come out of it within two months. Hence to go for a quick bankruptcy should be a good and feasible way for GM too. Sounds good. But is it for real?
Chrysler major operation stays in North America and Fiat alone was capable of taking control of the troubled automaker not to mention at a fire sell price. Even after all these now it seems tough for Chrysler to come out of chapter11 in 2 months, as per Reuters analysts it may take up to 2 years. Now here is GM, Operating almost all over world. I am not going to discuss about GM-AP and GM-LAAM operation as their financial results are not as bad if not good. But North America and Europe operations really needs a complete face lift. Where GM NA is facing the burden of seven big brands (Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick, Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Hummer), Europe also is in a deep mesh. Now its pretty clear that GM will be almost done with Europe market and drastically reduced in its home market too after either selling or phasing out its legendry brands. I really feel sorry about Pontiac, one of my favorite car with more than eighty years of glorious history and models (GTO, Bonneville, Sunfire,G6, Grand Prix, Grand Am, Solstice, etc)behind him.
After Saab, now its other strong unit Opel is under the hammer. Fiat, Magna and many others are waiting to grasp this golden opportunity to take control over this brand. Recently launched Opel Insignia is doing pretty well but now its late for GM to keep maker of Roadster. They have to say now bye (buy) Opel.Since last June GM is trying to sell its Hummer brand which is just proving as keeping and feeding an elephant in recent years. But even after one year GM is unable to close a good deal for its iconic brand. Now it’s clear that it may not get the desired price for this Off-road 4X4 monster. Same way Saturn is also not in the good book of GM. So here is the situation, Once after acquiring several brands to create a global common name GM, which has kept all the brands under one umbrella for almost a century now they are removing them one by one.
With four brands Chevy, Cadillac, GMC and Buick, GM will be a relatively small company but will it become a lean and profitable organization…lets see. With reduced brands and reduced market share GM will not reclaim the top spot in the Auto industry in near future. But I wish at least it mark its presence in the future, as it was my dream to work in GM after visiting Renaissance Center.
In case (most likely) GM files for bankruptcy, end of Detroit reign will almost come to an end. As only ford out of Big3 will remain out of court but again even Ford is now much smaller than its glorious days and now struggling to get rid of its quarterly report in red ink.Coming Back to GM now it’s a critical time or can say last chance to survive. Whatever mistakes you have done in your golden time will always hunt you back in your turmoil period. Its like there is no escape from mistakes. But yes, learn from it, don’t repeat it and grow over it are our only obligations. Prosperity and poverty may show two extreme faces. Its prosperity which defines your strength, guts and wisdom but its poverty which tests them.
Even after shutting down many plants and laying off thousands of employee if GM survives and emerge stronger then it would be a real life time accomplishment of Mr Fritz Henderson. I wish him luck...God bless GM.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
911: Auto Sector
I just opened the list of Forbes 2000 companies of 2009 (www.forbes.com).
Actually after reading that GE is the rank1 company for the year 2009 (market value $89.87b), suddenly I got curious that what is the ranking of GM, once upon the undisputed No.1 for almost half a century. When I became tired of searching the name of GM in the list which was ranking wise I decided to search by the name wise(Actually I was hopeful that I will find the ranking in top20, Toyota is No.3). It took some effort to find the rank finally. In this economic turmoil period there are very few news which have enough potential to surprise you. But here it was. GM rank: 844
(www.forbes.com/lists/2009/18/global-09_The-Global-2000_Rank.html).
All other company you know, name it and they are far far ahead then GM. Even Eaton was under 500. I checked it again for verification, but it didn’t change. With the net market valuation of $1.37, it is just a billion dollar company now. It has already lost almost all the money in the market and showing the consistency in reporting losses quarter after quarter, year after year. Once the share value of GM which was touching $100, has seen as low as $1.27 in recent days. Who knows it is not the bottom yet.
After shaking the CEO Mr Rick Wagoner, things have hardly turned in a way which we can say better. I am surprised too by the Obama government stand on Auto sector. Putting hundreds of billions of dollars to City, AIG and like companies make sense to these guys, but providing few billions to these wounded Auto giants are taking numerous meetings and planning. After witnessing a significant part of the bailout money, which is nothing but the taxpayer share, is going in the bonus and maintaining the luxuries of so called executive, Mr Obama only showed his disappointment. House was unhappy with the Big3 top rankers by using their corporate jets and eventually they came via ground transport next time. But it was Citygroup who is buying corporate jets from the bailout money, why such discriminations? Why is such hesitation to provide the loan amount of around $30b to these guys, who was one year before the No1 Company in the world for continuous 77 years. Here is AIG getting bailout and supports even after making loss of $60b in a quarter and here is Auto guys who are still in search of supporting hands even after going through numerous meetings and deadlines for a more viable plan. It won’t be surprising if we see in coming months that just to approve the viable plan these so called intellectuals have taken so much time that company itself has vanished. Its like one is calling 911 in fire and at the place of getting immediate understanding and support, that one is being asked for the description and urgency of the situations, so that they will sit and decide whether to help and support that guy or not. If you know what is not a good viable plan then you must be knowing what it is. If so why don’t you provide the viable plan to these companies to act upon and ask their agreement on it and save some critical time.
I am not playing a critique here and won’t comment on Mr. Wagoner capability and working. But one thing for sure, whatever he had faced was the mistakes of previous management team mostly. And considering his stepping out seems more political than rational. May be Mr Obama wants to show his people that he is not only giving easy tax money to these guys but also acting tough and punishing them for their mistakes. Its not that guys at the bottom line are being axed but also guys at the top are facing the heat. If that is the case, then why not with big guys of City, why not of AIG?
Seems these wall street executives have enough influence on the government decision making capacity and process. Also, government need their support in many cases, so lets not burn hand. This only shows here that Mr. Wagoner has just been proven sacrificial lamb.
Lets not criticize this event as well, coz its critical to concentrate on critical issues. Mr Henderson, the current CEO of GM is just continuing the restructure plan which was started by the ex-CEO. He is also a bit more vocal about the possible Chapter11 bankruptcy for the company. Considering the sell of the vehicle is directly related to the sentiments of customers, filling for Chapter11 is not the most eligible candidate in this situation.
Another lifeline has been provided by government, within 60 days come up with a more viable plan to get the aid. Also, Mr. Nardelli, CEO Chrysler has been asked to finalize the deal with Fiat by the end of April to get the support from the government. Remaining brother of these two, Ford seems to be in a bit more healthy and secure condition right now and also recovering at the same time. Thanks to Mr. Mulally, who has shown some vision and acted aggressively to restructure the company. Result, now it has better ranking than GM and share price is leading too. Public is also more optimistic about Ford right now, which is showing in the vehicle sell data of recent months.
Now facing loss after more than 70years, Toyota is again towards another loss. This time estimated loss is approx $5-6b. Toyota, who got the No1 slot last year and current world’s 3rd biggest company could get this position only because GM has lost ground continuously for several years (more than $80b has been lost since 2004 by GM). Now tough time for this new No1 has come too.
In this tough and transition phase of auto sector any prediction or speculations are pretty uncertain. But what is expected and hoped from the government that Auto sector should not be treated as a step son, coz this sector itself has a potential to reform this recession phase. After all millions of people had worked day and night to create this sector and are still attached directly or indirectly to this sector and working positively in this negative atmosphere.
Let’s give them a positive hope.
Actually after reading that GE is the rank1 company for the year 2009 (market value $89.87b), suddenly I got curious that what is the ranking of GM, once upon the undisputed No.1 for almost half a century. When I became tired of searching the name of GM in the list which was ranking wise I decided to search by the name wise(Actually I was hopeful that I will find the ranking in top20, Toyota is No.3). It took some effort to find the rank finally. In this economic turmoil period there are very few news which have enough potential to surprise you. But here it was. GM rank: 844
(www.forbes.com/lists/2009/18/global-09_The-Global-2000_Rank.html).
All other company you know, name it and they are far far ahead then GM. Even Eaton was under 500. I checked it again for verification, but it didn’t change. With the net market valuation of $1.37, it is just a billion dollar company now. It has already lost almost all the money in the market and showing the consistency in reporting losses quarter after quarter, year after year. Once the share value of GM which was touching $100, has seen as low as $1.27 in recent days. Who knows it is not the bottom yet.
After shaking the CEO Mr Rick Wagoner, things have hardly turned in a way which we can say better. I am surprised too by the Obama government stand on Auto sector. Putting hundreds of billions of dollars to City, AIG and like companies make sense to these guys, but providing few billions to these wounded Auto giants are taking numerous meetings and planning. After witnessing a significant part of the bailout money, which is nothing but the taxpayer share, is going in the bonus and maintaining the luxuries of so called executive, Mr Obama only showed his disappointment. House was unhappy with the Big3 top rankers by using their corporate jets and eventually they came via ground transport next time. But it was Citygroup who is buying corporate jets from the bailout money, why such discriminations? Why is such hesitation to provide the loan amount of around $30b to these guys, who was one year before the No1 Company in the world for continuous 77 years. Here is AIG getting bailout and supports even after making loss of $60b in a quarter and here is Auto guys who are still in search of supporting hands even after going through numerous meetings and deadlines for a more viable plan. It won’t be surprising if we see in coming months that just to approve the viable plan these so called intellectuals have taken so much time that company itself has vanished. Its like one is calling 911 in fire and at the place of getting immediate understanding and support, that one is being asked for the description and urgency of the situations, so that they will sit and decide whether to help and support that guy or not. If you know what is not a good viable plan then you must be knowing what it is. If so why don’t you provide the viable plan to these companies to act upon and ask their agreement on it and save some critical time.
I am not playing a critique here and won’t comment on Mr. Wagoner capability and working. But one thing for sure, whatever he had faced was the mistakes of previous management team mostly. And considering his stepping out seems more political than rational. May be Mr Obama wants to show his people that he is not only giving easy tax money to these guys but also acting tough and punishing them for their mistakes. Its not that guys at the bottom line are being axed but also guys at the top are facing the heat. If that is the case, then why not with big guys of City, why not of AIG?
Seems these wall street executives have enough influence on the government decision making capacity and process. Also, government need their support in many cases, so lets not burn hand. This only shows here that Mr. Wagoner has just been proven sacrificial lamb.
Lets not criticize this event as well, coz its critical to concentrate on critical issues. Mr Henderson, the current CEO of GM is just continuing the restructure plan which was started by the ex-CEO. He is also a bit more vocal about the possible Chapter11 bankruptcy for the company. Considering the sell of the vehicle is directly related to the sentiments of customers, filling for Chapter11 is not the most eligible candidate in this situation.
Another lifeline has been provided by government, within 60 days come up with a more viable plan to get the aid. Also, Mr. Nardelli, CEO Chrysler has been asked to finalize the deal with Fiat by the end of April to get the support from the government. Remaining brother of these two, Ford seems to be in a bit more healthy and secure condition right now and also recovering at the same time. Thanks to Mr. Mulally, who has shown some vision and acted aggressively to restructure the company. Result, now it has better ranking than GM and share price is leading too. Public is also more optimistic about Ford right now, which is showing in the vehicle sell data of recent months.
Now facing loss after more than 70years, Toyota is again towards another loss. This time estimated loss is approx $5-6b. Toyota, who got the No1 slot last year and current world’s 3rd biggest company could get this position only because GM has lost ground continuously for several years (more than $80b has been lost since 2004 by GM). Now tough time for this new No1 has come too.
In this tough and transition phase of auto sector any prediction or speculations are pretty uncertain. But what is expected and hoped from the government that Auto sector should not be treated as a step son, coz this sector itself has a potential to reform this recession phase. After all millions of people had worked day and night to create this sector and are still attached directly or indirectly to this sector and working positively in this negative atmosphere.
Let’s give them a positive hope.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Auto Run 2008
It is a transition phase for the globe not only in the field of economy or finance but at the same time in many other sectors as well. Domination of West has been challenged and replaced by the East. Collapse of North American structure has shaken the foundation of European Union as well. Even Asia Pacific and other parts of globe are not immune with this one of the worst financial situation of the century but the effect has been modulated and we didn’t see any big setbacks apart from market slow down here.
OK…I wont go in much details of these huge and complicated area of economics. Even I am not an eligible candidate to comment on it right now. Here I will focus on the Automotive Sector in this turmoil period primarily.
As mentioned this transition phase has also been seen in the world of wheels. In fact it was most obvious in this sector. 2008 didn’t come as a big surprise package for auto experts. Because whatever came from the quarter results and number, only thing was unexpected that it was worse than the expected.
Toyota has outsold GM in number game of vehicle sold in 2008. 77 years of North American domination has been ended by one of the smallest but hardest working country. As per the company released reports, GM has sold around 8.3 million vehicle in the year 2008 approx 0.6million less than Toyota. GM has seen the decline of around 11% of sales compare to last year after crude oil has risen to record high. Again it was not a surprise as observing previous few years numbers it was clear that its only a matter of time that when Toyota out thrown GM from No.1. GM still has something to breathe as it retained the crown at its home turf, which is the biggest market of automobiles in the world. But considering the performance and decline of the auto major it wont come as a surprise if it looses at its home market as well eventually.
But certainly there are some surprises stored for auto pundits. First time in history, after 70 years Toyota has registered a loss. This was not welcomed by Japanese but the Big 3 should take a lesson from this. Toyota has responded after the loss one year, whereas Big 3 are so lazy to take any aggressive step even after registering losses year after years.
Ask for more surprise?
Here comes the biggie. China was never or I will say very few times came as a surprise in a technical field especially in innovation and never heard in automotive sector.
This year NAIAS is an exception. BYD(Build Your Dreams), 2nd largest manufacturer of Li ion battery in the world came up with production version of their electric vehicle fleet which has not only surprised auto pundits but also send a clear warning message to all Auto makers including invincible Japanese and Germans.
Whatever they claim about their Electric Vehicle e6 is really like a dream wish. Lets just see what these Chinese people has done and come up with.
Specification of the Vehicle (e6)
Range: 250mile(400km)
Charging time: 1Hr
50%charge: 10min
80%charge: 15min
Seating capacity: 5 persons
Battery type: Fe
Top Speed: 160km/hr
0-100km: <8Sec
Emission: Zero.(For more or detail specification and the vehicle check www.byd.com)
Can you ask for more?
Even if it is half true, it will give volt, the most ambitious plan of GM a run for money.
Compare to Volt’s range of 40miles it has 250miles. Charging time of Volt will take 5-6 times more than what BYD claims. Also, seeing their pace and claim that vehicle will be launch within an year compare to estimated launch of Volt in 2011-2012, I don’t understand where GM stand a chance against this new innovation.
GM has always boasted its continuous investments in RnD. But for last so many years it is still waiting for such breakthrough innovations and ideas to come. Whereas, approx 20 year old companies are coming with such ideas, which will not only change the way we drive but it claims to become No.1 in coming 10-15years.
BYD is not only a threat for GM but also for Toyota and others at the same time. It may lead another transition in auto industry. From NA to Japan and now from Japan to China. ICE was lead by NA, so Hybrid was lead by Japan and now here comes China, started to claim the EV segment.
After the President Mr Obama has taken charge of White House, it would be his Herculean task to revive Auto industry of NA and reclaim the supremacy of this sector again. Already cash starved and cramp auto industry in NA will how long survive such blows, nobody knows.
After GM stepped back to acquire Chrysler, Fiat has now bought approx 30% of the stakes of this dying company. Even Fiat is not in a good health but its long awaited wish to come in NA has come true. It has got a nice platform to penetrate in NA market. Only concern remains, like Cerberus, Fiat don’t burn its hand in this deal. By mid of 2009 Fiat is expected to acquire more than 50% of Chrysler stake to take the ownership of the company. After Japanese, here comes Italian Stallion in NA. anything else GM management wish for. In flood you are getting rain. God bless GM.
As per COO of GM, it will run out of cash by 31 March after paying its due bills. Hopefully they have another slot of bridge loan pending which was promised my ex Bush administration. But this is not at all a permanent solution to revive a company. Its like feeding an starving elephant from house grocery. Whatever you do, you cant full its appetite. Just by giving the money of taxpayer to some incapable management is not a wise idea.
2008 has shown the reality of so many things. It has removed mask and shown the real picture and face of the otherwise glamorous market and industry. But it made us to think that it’s a high time to go for a reality check.
But again it’s a new year and it will be a new start. Only thing which should remain with us is hope. It’s a world of survival of the fittest. But being the fittest, needs lots of effort and practice. Lost at one front doesn’t mean end of the battle. There will be lots of challenges coming and continue to come till you say quit. But that is the best part of the market. So many came, so many will come. Ideas, companies, products, changes, setbacks, technologies, people, management…will keep coming one after another but…the show must go on.
OK…I wont go in much details of these huge and complicated area of economics. Even I am not an eligible candidate to comment on it right now. Here I will focus on the Automotive Sector in this turmoil period primarily.
As mentioned this transition phase has also been seen in the world of wheels. In fact it was most obvious in this sector. 2008 didn’t come as a big surprise package for auto experts. Because whatever came from the quarter results and number, only thing was unexpected that it was worse than the expected.
Toyota has outsold GM in number game of vehicle sold in 2008. 77 years of North American domination has been ended by one of the smallest but hardest working country. As per the company released reports, GM has sold around 8.3 million vehicle in the year 2008 approx 0.6million less than Toyota. GM has seen the decline of around 11% of sales compare to last year after crude oil has risen to record high. Again it was not a surprise as observing previous few years numbers it was clear that its only a matter of time that when Toyota out thrown GM from No.1. GM still has something to breathe as it retained the crown at its home turf, which is the biggest market of automobiles in the world. But considering the performance and decline of the auto major it wont come as a surprise if it looses at its home market as well eventually.
But certainly there are some surprises stored for auto pundits. First time in history, after 70 years Toyota has registered a loss. This was not welcomed by Japanese but the Big 3 should take a lesson from this. Toyota has responded after the loss one year, whereas Big 3 are so lazy to take any aggressive step even after registering losses year after years.
Ask for more surprise?
Here comes the biggie. China was never or I will say very few times came as a surprise in a technical field especially in innovation and never heard in automotive sector.
This year NAIAS is an exception. BYD(Build Your Dreams), 2nd largest manufacturer of Li ion battery in the world came up with production version of their electric vehicle fleet which has not only surprised auto pundits but also send a clear warning message to all Auto makers including invincible Japanese and Germans.
Whatever they claim about their Electric Vehicle e6 is really like a dream wish. Lets just see what these Chinese people has done and come up with.
Specification of the Vehicle (e6)
Range: 250mile(400km)
Charging time: 1Hr
50%charge: 10min
80%charge: 15min
Seating capacity: 5 persons
Battery type: Fe
Top Speed: 160km/hr
0-100km: <8Sec
Emission: Zero.(For more or detail specification and the vehicle check www.byd.com)
Can you ask for more?
Even if it is half true, it will give volt, the most ambitious plan of GM a run for money.
Compare to Volt’s range of 40miles it has 250miles. Charging time of Volt will take 5-6 times more than what BYD claims. Also, seeing their pace and claim that vehicle will be launch within an year compare to estimated launch of Volt in 2011-2012, I don’t understand where GM stand a chance against this new innovation.
GM has always boasted its continuous investments in RnD. But for last so many years it is still waiting for such breakthrough innovations and ideas to come. Whereas, approx 20 year old companies are coming with such ideas, which will not only change the way we drive but it claims to become No.1 in coming 10-15years.
BYD is not only a threat for GM but also for Toyota and others at the same time. It may lead another transition in auto industry. From NA to Japan and now from Japan to China. ICE was lead by NA, so Hybrid was lead by Japan and now here comes China, started to claim the EV segment.
After the President Mr Obama has taken charge of White House, it would be his Herculean task to revive Auto industry of NA and reclaim the supremacy of this sector again. Already cash starved and cramp auto industry in NA will how long survive such blows, nobody knows.
After GM stepped back to acquire Chrysler, Fiat has now bought approx 30% of the stakes of this dying company. Even Fiat is not in a good health but its long awaited wish to come in NA has come true. It has got a nice platform to penetrate in NA market. Only concern remains, like Cerberus, Fiat don’t burn its hand in this deal. By mid of 2009 Fiat is expected to acquire more than 50% of Chrysler stake to take the ownership of the company. After Japanese, here comes Italian Stallion in NA. anything else GM management wish for. In flood you are getting rain. God bless GM.
As per COO of GM, it will run out of cash by 31 March after paying its due bills. Hopefully they have another slot of bridge loan pending which was promised my ex Bush administration. But this is not at all a permanent solution to revive a company. Its like feeding an starving elephant from house grocery. Whatever you do, you cant full its appetite. Just by giving the money of taxpayer to some incapable management is not a wise idea.
2008 has shown the reality of so many things. It has removed mask and shown the real picture and face of the otherwise glamorous market and industry. But it made us to think that it’s a high time to go for a reality check.
But again it’s a new year and it will be a new start. Only thing which should remain with us is hope. It’s a world of survival of the fittest. But being the fittest, needs lots of effort and practice. Lost at one front doesn’t mean end of the battle. There will be lots of challenges coming and continue to come till you say quit. But that is the best part of the market. So many came, so many will come. Ideas, companies, products, changes, setbacks, technologies, people, management…will keep coming one after another but…the show must go on.
Understanding Business
I don’t know how many times I have said it to others and more often to myself that I will do my own business. I want to build my own organization. Nothing new. So many have the same dream. So many pursue it too. But do I really understand its meaning or I just want to follow the crowd. Let me explore its true meaning just sitting alone and finding the true essence of it. After all its my business.
What is business?
Making profit…? Selling products…? Sustaining growth…? Eliminating competition…?
I am not an MBA kid. I don’t pose the bookish knowledge or definition of Business. But to start with first let me explore the basic or fundamental of it. It is not only what is business. It is why do we do business. What is the objective of doing it…pursuing it. The true nature of business…where does its spirit lie?
Is it money, which drives business? Then again, there are so many methods to own money.
Is it like, since I am not capable of doing others things, so business. Believe me no one would like this idea.
Is it buying and selling the products and creating the market for it fascinates me. That’s why I am doing business. This sounds like a complete sentence. But is it the only thing which fascinates me?
Allow me to go a bit further and deeper.
Business or trade is a basic and ancient human behavior. I believe it is one of the most noble characteristics developed within men. It has dramatically put human species miles ahead of other species. Initially before this trade or business concept human must be snatching or stealing the object from the possessor without giving anything in return. A typical animal behavior. What it would lead to? Not letting any motivation arise to generate idea or innovation or desire to produce something worthy. The kind of war between tribes or individual were the result of the same. Lack of business practice. Otherwise it would be a hand shaking process. Smooth and pleasant. Give me that, take equivalent this in return. Both happy, both satisfied.
This process of exchange made people more productive, innovative and motivated. It lead to believe individual that if they produce something worthy, they can earn their most desired luxury on return. They can exchange their product with others who has something which can be traded in return.
It made the society. It nurtured the civilization. It has organized every single thing. Actually it has chanellized the whole available energy and capabilities in a proper way. The person who was capable to produce became the leader of the society. The one who refused or unable to produce became the slave. Serve your masters and earn your salary. Again this service term is generated form the same business practice.
From here I can derive my definition of business. It’s a process of exchange or trade to get the desired object in return of what I can offer to other who find it worthy. It’s a give and take process.
Money, which is just an invention in the field of business or method for exchange, drastically made the whole process of business so flexible and versatile. It is just a byproduct of business.
It can be imagined as the center of the whole business process. All different business process is assumed at the peripheral of the circle and money is at the center. If you want to trade of two product, just come to the center from first product and move to the other product from here. It has created a well defined method and path. In a nutshell, Money is the Unified Theory for the business process and practice.
So here comes my understanding or the steps of the business.
Ø Find or develop the capability to build
Ø Arrange resources to build or create it.
Ø List your desired product or wish
Ø Get the person interested in your product.
Ø Trade it directly for your desired product or indirectly, i.e. through the money exchange process.
Here most of the time we consider the step of exchanging as a complete business, which is incomplete statement according to me. That is just a part of business, not a complete picture.
Manufacturing the product and at the last step getting the desired product, completes the circle of business.
Now again each step has and require different set of skills set and capabilities, like from idea to product, from product to market and from market to customer. Most of the time one is not capable of doing all things individually. One may be good in one part but may not carry the skill set require for the other area of business. Here again money comes as a solution for it, which allow you to buy the support require to run the complete process.
Now I believe I have a complete 360 degree view of the business process. From desiring to achieving in a manner which is beneficial for all the persons involved in the loop.
Now after reviewing all previous definitions make sense to me and all of them are falling at right places.
Ø Making money: Refers appropriate exchange value for my product which will in return get me the desired product eventually.
Ø Selling product: So that I can exchange it for my wish list.
Ø Sustaining growth: So that I can continue to get my desired product. Again note here that men desires are endless.
Ø Eliminating competitors: It looks like the dark side of the business from outside. But look deeper, it eliminates the monopoly of a single person and at the same time makes the market and create an environment, where products are finer day by day. Improve or vacant that place for a better and more eligible manufacturer or businessman. It will lead to innovation and growth for the whole human race.
Business process reflects the true capability of a human, which is more intellectually than physically. The motion in the society is the result of its practice. Without it stagnation of growth is guaranteed. It creates a parameter for a society as per its ability to create. Want to see a happy society, check its business practices.
This ancient practice has come a long way and there are lots of changes and modifications occur in this area which has made this process versatile and relevant to current culture. But the real essence is still intact….getting by giving.
What is business?
Making profit…? Selling products…? Sustaining growth…? Eliminating competition…?
I am not an MBA kid. I don’t pose the bookish knowledge or definition of Business. But to start with first let me explore the basic or fundamental of it. It is not only what is business. It is why do we do business. What is the objective of doing it…pursuing it. The true nature of business…where does its spirit lie?
Is it money, which drives business? Then again, there are so many methods to own money.
Is it like, since I am not capable of doing others things, so business. Believe me no one would like this idea.
Is it buying and selling the products and creating the market for it fascinates me. That’s why I am doing business. This sounds like a complete sentence. But is it the only thing which fascinates me?
Allow me to go a bit further and deeper.
Business or trade is a basic and ancient human behavior. I believe it is one of the most noble characteristics developed within men. It has dramatically put human species miles ahead of other species. Initially before this trade or business concept human must be snatching or stealing the object from the possessor without giving anything in return. A typical animal behavior. What it would lead to? Not letting any motivation arise to generate idea or innovation or desire to produce something worthy. The kind of war between tribes or individual were the result of the same. Lack of business practice. Otherwise it would be a hand shaking process. Smooth and pleasant. Give me that, take equivalent this in return. Both happy, both satisfied.
This process of exchange made people more productive, innovative and motivated. It lead to believe individual that if they produce something worthy, they can earn their most desired luxury on return. They can exchange their product with others who has something which can be traded in return.
It made the society. It nurtured the civilization. It has organized every single thing. Actually it has chanellized the whole available energy and capabilities in a proper way. The person who was capable to produce became the leader of the society. The one who refused or unable to produce became the slave. Serve your masters and earn your salary. Again this service term is generated form the same business practice.
From here I can derive my definition of business. It’s a process of exchange or trade to get the desired object in return of what I can offer to other who find it worthy. It’s a give and take process.
Money, which is just an invention in the field of business or method for exchange, drastically made the whole process of business so flexible and versatile. It is just a byproduct of business.
It can be imagined as the center of the whole business process. All different business process is assumed at the peripheral of the circle and money is at the center. If you want to trade of two product, just come to the center from first product and move to the other product from here. It has created a well defined method and path. In a nutshell, Money is the Unified Theory for the business process and practice.
So here comes my understanding or the steps of the business.
Ø Find or develop the capability to build
Ø Arrange resources to build or create it.
Ø List your desired product or wish
Ø Get the person interested in your product.
Ø Trade it directly for your desired product or indirectly, i.e. through the money exchange process.
Here most of the time we consider the step of exchanging as a complete business, which is incomplete statement according to me. That is just a part of business, not a complete picture.
Manufacturing the product and at the last step getting the desired product, completes the circle of business.
Now again each step has and require different set of skills set and capabilities, like from idea to product, from product to market and from market to customer. Most of the time one is not capable of doing all things individually. One may be good in one part but may not carry the skill set require for the other area of business. Here again money comes as a solution for it, which allow you to buy the support require to run the complete process.
Now I believe I have a complete 360 degree view of the business process. From desiring to achieving in a manner which is beneficial for all the persons involved in the loop.
Now after reviewing all previous definitions make sense to me and all of them are falling at right places.
Ø Making money: Refers appropriate exchange value for my product which will in return get me the desired product eventually.
Ø Selling product: So that I can exchange it for my wish list.
Ø Sustaining growth: So that I can continue to get my desired product. Again note here that men desires are endless.
Ø Eliminating competitors: It looks like the dark side of the business from outside. But look deeper, it eliminates the monopoly of a single person and at the same time makes the market and create an environment, where products are finer day by day. Improve or vacant that place for a better and more eligible manufacturer or businessman. It will lead to innovation and growth for the whole human race.
Business process reflects the true capability of a human, which is more intellectually than physically. The motion in the society is the result of its practice. Without it stagnation of growth is guaranteed. It creates a parameter for a society as per its ability to create. Want to see a happy society, check its business practices.
This ancient practice has come a long way and there are lots of changes and modifications occur in this area which has made this process versatile and relevant to current culture. But the real essence is still intact….getting by giving.
Bedtime Thinking
Sometime I wonder am I really mature enough to define the path and rules of my life… am I experienced enough to predict the future (up to some extent)… have I learned enough to distinguish between good or bad… am I strong enough to face any challenge?
What comes in mind when you stay alone…?
Memories or questions… mostly.
Rarely comes the solutions.
I always challenged myself…
Many time.
Pushed the limit to test my stamina, power and courage….loved to go extra miles.
I lived, I loved, I hated, I cried, I laughed….
I am not an ambitious guy…may be don’t like seeing dreams… or can say my way of seeing dreams is different.
I prefer to see my dream in my goal than to see my goal in my dream.
Sometime I find myself getting involved in something other that I forget my own way of living….when gets a slap then only wakes up from the sleep.
Pain.
Can you see it?
It’s a feeling…it may rest in smile too or in a frustrated laugh.
But a good part of pain is…it shows your limit…define your limitations…and also awakens you from the sleep.
I loved pain (…afterwards).
I know it won’t last…. It has to be finished. But what will remain is the mark and memory…and most important its lessons. Lessons that I would like to treasure through my life. Lessons that will make my action in future more sharp and accurate.
Its fun to learn. Its my only earning in my life.
What can give you pain…? Trust on others.
What eases your pain…? Trust on yourself.
I loved others.
That fortunate person will love you for sure…but doesn’t necessarily will love you the way you love…doesn’t reciprocate your feeling the way you do…may not respond according to your choice.
Result…
heart break? Pain?
Now you start thinking and searching inside yourself…find that one is not wrong…even you are not wrong… then what went wrong?
This is a world of individuals…you tried to see their lives from your eyes…Wrong. You don’t have any right.
Suddenly you realize Expectations…from where it came?
I was not a person who expects from anyone…how did this happen?
Change?
Yes.
But why?
Did you find your previous path was wrong? If so…then again why do you want to go back to that path? May be for the one I decided to change or change happened had realized you this. I know I am wrong to decide to go back…but I can’t stay on the same path…..
I m egoist.
What comes in mind when you stay alone…?
Memories or questions… mostly.
Rarely comes the solutions.
I always challenged myself…
Many time.
Pushed the limit to test my stamina, power and courage….loved to go extra miles.
I lived, I loved, I hated, I cried, I laughed….
I am not an ambitious guy…may be don’t like seeing dreams… or can say my way of seeing dreams is different.
I prefer to see my dream in my goal than to see my goal in my dream.
Sometime I find myself getting involved in something other that I forget my own way of living….when gets a slap then only wakes up from the sleep.
Pain.
Can you see it?
It’s a feeling…it may rest in smile too or in a frustrated laugh.
But a good part of pain is…it shows your limit…define your limitations…and also awakens you from the sleep.
I loved pain (…afterwards).
I know it won’t last…. It has to be finished. But what will remain is the mark and memory…and most important its lessons. Lessons that I would like to treasure through my life. Lessons that will make my action in future more sharp and accurate.
Its fun to learn. Its my only earning in my life.
What can give you pain…? Trust on others.
What eases your pain…? Trust on yourself.
I loved others.
That fortunate person will love you for sure…but doesn’t necessarily will love you the way you love…doesn’t reciprocate your feeling the way you do…may not respond according to your choice.
Result…
heart break? Pain?
Now you start thinking and searching inside yourself…find that one is not wrong…even you are not wrong… then what went wrong?
This is a world of individuals…you tried to see their lives from your eyes…Wrong. You don’t have any right.
Suddenly you realize Expectations…from where it came?
I was not a person who expects from anyone…how did this happen?
Change?
Yes.
But why?
Did you find your previous path was wrong? If so…then again why do you want to go back to that path? May be for the one I decided to change or change happened had realized you this. I know I am wrong to decide to go back…but I can’t stay on the same path…..
I m egoist.
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