Defining Poverty

So how does one define poverty? Is poverty absolute or relative? Is someone who does not have access to basic health care and education poor? Or is someone who is financially well off but is not allowed to become a part of society poor? What about someone living below the breadline? Or someone who does not have access to basic shelter and clothing?

I guess this is a debate that can go on for a long, long time. However one thing is clear, though I'm no expert, that the definition of poverty is a matter of perspective. In the developing world, where billions of people struggle to make ends meet, where the next meal is in question, where disease and malnutrition are the scourge of society, poverty is defined as not having access to the very basic of human needs - food, clothing, and shelter. The developed world, on the other hand, largely believes in relative poverty. So anyone in the US who cannot afford a car is considered poor. One in five children in the UK think not owning a mobile phone is a sign of poverty.

The Oxford dictionary rather unhelpfully defines poverty as "the state of being poor", though it defines the word poor as "having very little money; not having enough money for basic needs". Merriam Webster defines it as "a: the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions b: renunciation as a member of a religious order of the right as an individual to own property". The World Bank currently uses a figure of $US 1 per day (in 1985 purchasing power dollars) for absolute poverty. Under this measure, roughly half the world's population lives in abject poverty.

The alternative has been to define poverty as relative deprivation, for example as half mean income (or as 60% of the median income, as in the UK), or as exclusion from participation in society. Thus the European Union has decided that ‘the poor shall be taken to mean persons, families and groups of persons whose resources (material, cultural, social) are so limited as to exclude them from the minimum acceptable way of life in the member state in which they live’.

Growing up in India I have always seen people struggling to scratch together the next meal. In such circumstances, someone living in their own house - however decrepit it may be, someone with assured basic resources, someone not literally starving, is not considered to be living in abject poverty. In some senses this is unfortunate, for just being surrounded by people who are simply struggling to survive denies these 'also poor' the attention they need.

So, is there a right definition of poverty? The answer, almost certainly, is 'no'. Poverty means different things to different people, and to different societies and nations. The true definition of poverty for any individual, however, and the only definition relevant to him or her, is how it is defined in the society he or she lives in. Any other definition is academic, and any other understanding is meaningless.



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Crazy dance

I came across this video and couldn't resist posting it here. Weird? Whacky? Jaw dropping? You choose the adjective.







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Lost in Paris

On our way to the MBAT at HEC School of Management in Paris a few days ago, we got lost in Paris. I wasn't surprised. First, we were driving on the wrong side of the road. Second, we were driving on the right in a right-hand-drive car. Third, the signs were for inexplicably long French place names - and very difficult to read while driving along even at normal speed. And finally, I was completely foxed by the complex road numbering system in France (and a very bad map).


How do you read these signs? Or this map?

In fact we got lost almost immediately on driving into France. We were to take the A16 to Paris from Calais, and followed signs diligently. Yet how we landed onto the A26 and then on to the A1 I have no idea. What we did right was follow signs to Paris and that meant that though we took a rather circuitous route we eventually did get to Paris. However that also meant deviating from the planned route through Paris. And that's where it all went wrong.

In France motorways bear the prefix 'A' and National roads 'N' (what's the difference?). Local roads are 'D'. But then, there are also 'E' roads (what are they?). And if the map we had was to be trusted, some roads were both 'A' and 'E' on the same stretch. Or 'A' roads become 'E' roads. Or 'N' roads. Confused? Not as confused as I was while we were driving through Paris and I was trying to navigate in vain. I still am (confused - not trying to navigate in vain!). And for someone who believes in his sense of direction, it was a cruel, belittling, blow. Strangely, signs often prompted us to take the innermost lane - until we suddenly found we had to exit the busy motorway - changing 3 or 4 lanes in about a hundred metres or so. Bad enough for Seb, who was driving my car, but even worse for the driver of the second car, Joby, who had no idea where we were going and was blindly following us.


Are we on the A26? Or on the E15?

We drove around Paris, trying to decipher what road we were on, what direction we were moving in, and what road we were supposed to be taking next. The map didn't help either. Certain roads disappeared suddenly...and certain others had no numbers associated with them (well, they did, but not on our map). We found ourselves going round in circles, and rediscovering roads and landmarks we had seen only a few minutes before. I think we finally found our way through Seb's sense of direction (I console myself by thinking, 'I wasn't driving...I'd be more in control of my sense of direction if I was') and Vinita's map reading and backseat navigation skills.


Is our car likely to explode on this road? No, as it it turns out, it is the suggested route for vehicles carrying flammable materials.

On the way back from HEC three days later, we rather easily managed to get on to the main Paris ring road, the A86 - but did not realise for about 30 minutes and about 25-odd kilometres that we were in fact driving in the wrong direction! Then to compound matters all signs for the A86 suddenly disappeared and signs for the N86 (or was it E86?) appeared, and we thought we were lost again - until signs for the A86 magically appeared again (and signs for the N86 / E86 stopped!). Thankfully the nature of a ring road dictates that as long as you stay on it you cannot get lost - and though it probably meant about an extra 20-25 kilometres and about half an hour of lost time, we could find our way out of Paris and onto the A16 to Calais with relative ease.

Yet in some ways I found French roads absolutely fantastic. Contradiction? You bet. I suppose once you understand the city layout, the way roads are numbered, and what the major signs say, driving in Paris is a pleasure. On one of our nights there, we took a taxi from HEC, which I guess - judging from how long it took us - is about 30 kms from Paris centre, to Concorde Plaza in the heart of the city. I was surprised that right from leaving the HEC campus to Concorde Plaza we only had to stop twice - there were practically no traffic lights or roundabouts on the way. Almost every single junction was negotiated through a tunnel or over a bridge. A similar journey in London, and you can expect numerous sets of traffic lights slowing down traffic and increasing travel times substantially.

I guess I need to spend some time deciphering the French road system. It can't be that complicated. Or is it?



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MBAT and Road Trip

May 8-11 saw the 18th MBA Tournament in Paris with 1500 participants from 15 European business schools participating. The tournament, hosted by HEC, includes sports from rugby, football and cricket to sailing, poker and salsa.

Oxford came in overall fourth in the tournament, with notable wins in rugby, sailing, squash, Petanque (how many of you have heard of this? I hadn't, before the MBAT), and poker. We also came in second in ultimate frisbee (which I played), badminton, duathlon relay, and rowing.

All in all it was a fabulous experience. HEC hosted a party each night after the sporting events, so there was a lot of drinking involved (a deliberate ploy?). I drove to Paris with a bunch of friends, and that meant we could avoid the painful 14 hour bus journey endured by all the others. It also meant we could get to the hotel early and check in ahead of the 130 others who descended in one go...the last person to check in had to wait for over an hour to do so.

The highlights of the trip? A great road trip; getting lost in Paris and spending over an hour trying to find our way back (more on Paris roads later); staying up until 6 in the morning before heading off to HEC at 8 for further sporting events; spending the night drinking at a pavement restaurant on Champs Elysees - and by 'spending the night' I mean until 6.30 in the morning; cheering our teams until our throats gave way; playing 3 near-consecutive frisbee games; a fabulous game of cricket where we fielded first-timer Chinese Jenny who turned out to be the star of the game.

I guess I could go on and on...but I'll try and cover individual areas in separate, future posts. For now, here are a few pictures that give some idea of what the trip was like.





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Parteeee!!

Ah, finally! Seb, Varun and I were able to host the party we had been planning for months now, on Friday. It was good fun. To all those who came over - a big thank you. I hope you enjoyed yourselves. To those who could not make it, the party would've been better with you around. To the neighbours who couldn't sleep until 5 in the morning - a big sorry. Surprisingly, I was able to not only attend next morning's class and the subsequent two study group meetings, I was also able to function normally.

Check out Seb's dress!




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Snowfall

We woke up on the 7th of April to find a covering of snow. I know, I know...this was nearly a month ago...but here are some pictures now.






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Distinguished Speakers

One great thing about studying in Oxford is the very large number of illustrious speakers who visit the business school. A short list of the speakers who have visited the business school so far this year include: Sir John Rose, Chief Executive, Rolls Royce; Tony Tyler, COO, Cathay Pacific; Sir Lyndsay Owen-Jones, Chairman, L'Oreal; ex-US president Jimmy Carter, ex-US Vice President Al Gore; Neville Isdell, CEO, Coca Cola Group; Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist and member of the Financial Times editorial board; and George David, CEO, United Technologies Corporation, to name just a few.

It would be pointless to try and extol the virtues of listening to the experiences of men who have achieved so much. The opportunity to hear such a large number of distinguished speakers and the chance to actually have a one-on-one conversation with them during the post-talk drinks reception makes it one more reason to choose Oxford.

A few days ago the school had its annual public lecture, delivered by Oxford Graduate Nicky Oppenheimer, the billionaire chairman of the De Beers group. The lecture delivered was an informative discourse on the company's business and perspectives in the extremely complex mix of diamonds, development, and democracy.

Indeed there have been (and I suspect there will continue to be) questions about the ethics of the diamond business in Africa: issues relating to conflict diamonds, development of communities and countries in some of the poorest parts of the world, and to De Beers' role in influencing matters (including politics) in these areas. Regardless of the merits (or indeed lack of) of such arguments, it was refreshing to hear the company's perspective, and to Mr. Oppenheimer's candid submission that a lot more could be done, and needed to be done, in these areas. It was also amusing to hear, when he was introduced as an Oxford graduate who started as the chairman's assistant, that Mr. Oppenheimer was quick to explain that the only reason he could do that was because the chairman whose assistant he started out as was his father.




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Invisible

It's amazing how a good comic can amuse people without words - or props. And some comics are better than most others. Check out these videos of Rowan Atkinson that rather vividly demonstrate the point.







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The Blues Book: SBS Unplugged

Many students coming to the Said Business School and to Oxford, especially those coming from very different parts of the world with very different systems and cultures, need all the help they can get to fit in and to make the transition as smooth and as hassle-free as possible. Those researching the school with a view to applying often do not get to know enough - after all, official sources, like the fabulous SBS and Oxford University websites, can only give you so much information. Some students search the internet for any information, anywhere, while others trawl the various internet MBA groups and forums hoping to find someone with the knowledge they seek. But most prospective students often miss out on the most valuable perspective - that of current and past students, and on little nuggets of information too mundane to be included in official websites .

Therefore, some enterprising students in the current class have set up this Wiki site to help all Said Business School prospective students, applicants, and aspirants to gain a better understanding of what life is like in Oxford, what the business school and studying here is like, what to expect, and what to prepare for. The site is still in its infancy and contains limited information at the moment, but as current and past students share their experiences and opinions it should evolve into something really useful.

It is important, however, to note that the Wiki site contains the opinions of the writers - the school's students, and has no official standing whatsoever. Also, as a Wiki site it can be edited by absolutely anyone, and therefore prospective students should use their own judgment in evaluating all information, opinions, and experiences detailed on the site.

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Trinity begins

Trinity term started for me today with my first class of the term - Business in China. It was a fascinating class to begin the term with. International business in this rapidly evolving and shrinking world is dynamic and challenging as it is; business with a country like China, even more so. The country's politics, culture, markets, and legal systems are perhaps as different as they can get from the capitalistic west. Yet, more or less every company in the western world wants to do business there. So much so that it has become a cliche to say that one really cannot afford not to be in China. This paradox of evident attraction versus apparent risks makes the study of business in China even more interesting.

Incidentally, many classes, including this one, have started this term in what is still Week zero. This is partly because of complex scheduling and the availability of the lecturers, and partly because of the MBA tournament (more on that later) in the second week of May. The term promises to be the most difficult one yet. Like Hilary, we have electives and different study groups for different modules. However, unlike Hilary six different electives mean more assignments and six different study groups. Though the exact number of assignments during the term depends on the exact electives opted for, I suspect most people would have close to 15 different assignments during the term. I have 14.

I have some very interesting electives lined up for the term, in addition to 'Business in China': 'Branding and Communication', 'Marketing Innovation', 'CSR and Ethical Marketing', 'Retailing', and, 'Strategic Decision Making in Dynamic Environments'. If nothing else, this great mix of subjects should result in fantastic learning opportunities.

We are technically half-way through the year and into our last academic term (the final, summer, term is for projects, internships, theses, etc.), and the rest of the year should really fly by from here.


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Trinity - the start of a new term

Well, here we are - half way through the one-year MBA programme, and what a six-month period it has been! After the first term - Michaelmas, and the second - Hilary, the third term - Trinity, starts on Monday.

Michaelmas was characterised by getting used to being a student, to attending classes, to learning new stuff, and to making new friends. Hilary, with us now settled in, was about capitalising on the learning opportunities in terms of academics, social networking, career planning, and life in general. This was capped by the first real sense that we've learned an awful lot in six short months - by way of the Entrepreneurship Project. A lot happened during the term, however, and it whizzed past in a blur. Looking back it is hard to identify landmark events that help bring a sense of scale to time - maybe it is just me, but I have a feeling a lot of my friends will agree.

Trinity, I have been reliably told, will be even more of a blur. It's like being on a roller coaster - we're moving along at incredible speed; yet we have no idea when we're going to reach the top (or even if we have already passed it).


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Tata Motors and Blu-ray

No, they're not connected in any way. Except that I wrote about both shortly before conclusion of affairs in each case. Therefore, an update is called for.

First, almost immediately after the last post on Blu-ray, Toshiba conceded defeat and that proclaimed Blu-ray as the undisputable technology leader. So, we can now go out and buy Blu-ray players and recorders, certain that we are not buying obsolete technology - though with the cheapest Blu-ray players currently selling for £200 in the UK it may be a while before they become ubiquitous.

Second, shortly after Easter the finalisation of the $2.3bn Jaguar-Land Rover deal between Tata and Ford was announced. Ford will also contribute up to $600m to the pension plans of the two brands. The sale is expected to close by mid-year.


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Death Knell for HD-DVD?

WalMart's decision to stop selling Toshiba's HD-DVD format may well be the sounding of the death knell for the technology.

This just goes on to show that there is so much more to making a business success of a technology than the technology itself. When one buys a product, one buys more than just that - one buys the whole constellation of capabilities and services that surround the product. One buys intangibles like service support, available accessories, and reliability. One buys expansion capabilities and potential for future development. And often one buys a product that is recognizable by all.

Network effects (the phenomenon whereby a product or a service becomes more valuable the more people use it - think of mobile phone services and same-network call rates, which encourages friends and associates to stay on the same network) are also often vastly more important than the product itself. Just look at one of the most hotly contested battles in recent times - that of Microsoft Vs Apple. It isn't that Microsoft's products are superior to Apple's. If anything, it is the other way round. Yet Apple has never succeeded in threatening Microsoft to any significant extent.

Sony had learned this the hard way when its Betamax video players lost out to VHS in the late Seventies and early Eighties. Sony missed a trick by sharing some details of the format with Matsushita (Panasonic) and JVC, expecting all other players to accept Betamax as the industry standard 'for the good of all'. However Matsushita and JVC had plans of their own and developed the VHS format (some say with some help from their newly gained knowledge of the Betamax format). This started the format wars.

Though Betamax was arguably the better format (from a purely technological viewpoint), there were other reasons for its demise. The recording duration on Betamax was only 60 minutes, while VHS could record up to 3 hrs on one tape. This meant that initially Betamax could not be used to record movies. Two, Betamax lost out on the rental market - even after recording duration was enhanced, a much larger number of movies were available on VHS than on Betamax. By the time Betamax became aggressive on this front, it was too late to recover. So, VHS offered a greater and cheaper range of hardware, the tapes were cheaper and more easily available, and there were a much larger number of movies to rent. How much of this true and how much urban legend is actually irrelevant.What matters is that what probably killed Betamax were network and external effects.

Now, the situation with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD is not very dissimilar. Blu-Ray has recently gone on to become the preferred format of most major Hollywood studios. And with the largest DVD seller in the world - WalMart - also opting out of HD-DVD, it won't be long before Toshiba and the HD-DVD format concede defeat.



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Tata closer to closing the deal?

The FT reported recently that there are signs that the talks for the sale of the Jaguar and Land Rover marques is nearing completion.

Land Rover and Jaguar are believed to have made a joint profit of $1.2bn in 2007, though Jaguar is believed to have made a loss. Incidentally, Ford does not release individual financial results for these brands.

Jaguar's new XF has been well received in the market, prompting thoughts of a change in the company's fortunes (it has been a perennial loss-maker for Ford). The XF is a great-looking car. What Car and Auto Express magazines both give it 5 stars. Check out these pics.



Photos from www.jaguar.co.uk

Surely does float my boat, it does!


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GM announces third consecutive year of losses

General Motors today announced its third consecutive year of losses in 2007. Compared to 2006 losses of $2bn, 2007 losses amount to $38.7bn! In the year 2007 there were only 161 companies worldwide with revenues higher than that figure. The entire Tata Group had revenues to the tune of $29bn in 2006-07. Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn't it?

The figure, however, is inflated by a special charge related to the valuation of deferred tax assets and therefore cannot be taken at face value.

The company only expects a real push for earnings in around 2010-2011. Earlier, GM just about pipped Toyota to the post in terms of total number of vehicles sold in the year, maintaining its position as the largest vehicle manufacturer in the world by volumes sold. GM claims to have sold 9.367m cars in 2007. While Toyota first announced sales of 9.37m cars, the figure was later revised to 9.366m. Too close to call, really!


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