Monthly Archive for July, 2003

Adsense by Google

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 10, 2003
in General
. 0 Comments

The popular search engine, Google has introduced a dramatic new contextual advertising service called Adsense. This new program could mean death to affiliate programs on those web sites that qualify for the Adsense program. Why would Google advertising affect affiliate programs? Because Google is making Adsense ads available to smaller content rich sites.

Adsense dramatically simplifies the process of choosing appropriate advertising for sections of sites. Since it’s all automatic with Adsense, there is no need to look for content specific affliliate programs which match the content on your website.

Allan Gardyne of Associate Programs penned an interesting and insightful article on Adsense this past week where he mentions this as an issue and predicts the death of smaller or weaker affiliate programs.

India Turns Bullish in International Oil Market

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 9, 2003
in News
. 0 Comments

Just bought a copy of BusinessWorld, the weekly AFFORDABLE business magazine. It was exhilirating and exciting to see the Indian government and government organizations coming out of a shell and fighting it out in International Markets. The story discussed here is the fillip to the oil security intiative being undertaken by India. OVL Videsh managed to pick up a substantial share in Sakhalin 1, the gas fields in eastern Russia, bordering Japan. And that too, when it was competing with international oil giants like BP. The story unfurls a host of channels being utilized, including economic diplomacy et al. This story makes an interesting thriller. Here is an excerpt:

WELCOME to the world of global oil deals - the most thrilling game in town. It is a game that the Americans, Russians and British, and, recently, the Chinese and the Malaysians, have been playing and one which India has just joined in. It involves picking up stakes and ideally control of each key new oil field around the globe that gets discovered. It is a playing field teeming with sharks and the Indian players are still minnows. OVL has a turnover of a mere Rs 2,622 crore. The other Indian player, Oil India, is around the same size at Rs 2,000 crore. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), however, has a turnover of Rs 119,848 crore ($25.5 billion), while Reliance Industries, India’s biggest private sector company and the only private sector player getting into the game, is all of Rs 60,000 crore ($12.8 billion). By comparison, the smallest of the global oil giants, TotalFinaElf, had a turnover of $94 billion (2002). The biggest, ExxonMobil, is a $191-billion giant with operations in 75 countries.

That’s not deterring the Indian players though. In the last four years, the Indian quartet has agreed to fork out nearly $3.3 billion (Rs 15,510 crore) between them to pick up interests in oilfields in 10 countries including Russia, Yemen, Sudan, Vietnam, Iraq and even the US.

The whole story is available online at the Business World site.

Entering New Markets Internationally

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 6, 2003
in General
. 0 Comments

Market entry decisions are among the most important strategic choices companies make. Entering any market requires a major commitment of financial and managerial resources, but foreign markets can be especially demanding.

The recent issue of the SternBusiness carries an article on a discussion of strategies for enterning new markets globally.

It says that the majority research on the internationalization process focuses on two factors as the primary determinants of foreign market entry: cultural similarity and economic attractiveness. Many researchers find that cultural similarity with respect to the domestic market is an important determinant of entry, while others have found that market entry decisions are positively related to country size and the levels of development, trade, and infrastructure.

Higher near-market economic knowledge is associated with higher probability of entry. By investing in a small country first and learning about the cultural and economic characteristics of its consumers and business institutions, a firm may be more successful when entering a larger country with similar characteristics.

The article explores the prevailing assumptions regarding the entry of an MNC into a new market, and then further goes on to analyse the most common product domains which have been a success in entering new markets. An interesting article, and the inferences drawn from the study henceforth.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 5, 2003
in General
. 0 Comments

B-Logs: The Business Blogs Paradox

HindustanTimes.com discusses the effects of technology and blogs in particular. According to the article, Blogs are ‘a direct, one-to-many vehicle for communicating ideas’. What makes them disruptive in business application is that they allow businesses - which are after all human — to communicate with a human ‘real voice’. On the other hand, Webpronews.com discusses the idea of corporate newsletter publishing via blogs. I found the idea very pragmatic and futuristic. Way to go !!

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 4, 2003
in General
. 0 Comments

Bohemian Rhapsody : Is it??

I have just come back to my room from the IIT coffee shack. The place, where we have shared laughters and joys, sat for long hours over countless cups of coffee and maggi and chat sessions. Where we have shared our thoughts and fought over stupid topics discussing them passionately. I have just come back from that very place, but with thoughts and feelings so different from what it used to be.

Today the laughter has given way to a look of tension and frustration on everyone’s face. “Its so frustrating. There is no job. I am applying everywhere. No vacancies.” And then on the next table you hear, “I am planning to go abroad on a scholarship. The job scene is really bad and I don’t think I will get a nice job. Going for higher studies is the only option left in front of me.” And then a person comes who does have a job. Meeting him, I congratulate him. But he is too irritated with the job he got. The job is in a core engineering one, in a chemical MNC, but the pay is a punitive six thousand bucks; the only perk being free accomodation in some small village-town.

There are ruminations galore, about the uncertain futures. About the decisions made. About the hard work, before and during IIT years. And to end thus, with a degree in hand but no job to do justice to years of hardships and hardwork, and that too when you are the product of one of the best institutes in the country. It gets too disappointing.

I only wish those people, my dear friends, good luck !! May serendipity happen !!

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 3, 2003
in General
. 0 Comments

Entrepreneur Guidelines

EntreWorld is a website for entrepreneurs. It is a resourceful site for budding start-ups, discussing various dos and donts and giving practical advise for all stages of a start-up life cycle.

Auren Hoffman’s recent article on Entrepreneurial Boards discusses the leadership engine for the evolutionary stages of a start-up.

“Boards of advisors are best for helping entrepreneurs build companies in the formative stage, whereas boards of directors lend a hand during times of crisis or change, writes a serial entrepreneur.”

Read the full article here.

A strong board of directors can make the difference between success and failure for a start-up company. And, an effective advisory board can help one recruit those directors. Specific examples, indicating the tasks a board can accomplish and the skills it can bring to them, make this article particularly enlightening. The article can be assumed to be a Business 101 course :)).

Further, here is a business plan guide.

Published
by
Gagan Kaul
on July 3, 2003
in General
. 0 Comments

Business Profiles of Some Companies

Business Profiles Home Page makes an informative reading. Biz/ed have created profiles for a range of business organisations. These are presented as sets of FAQs, grouped into themes.The companies profiled vary from McDonlad’s to easyJet.

*How much does it cost to set up your own pizza delivery franchise?
*What’s the best way of promoting online gambling?
*How do the major supermarket retailers compete?
*Is it possible to run a professional football club as a private investment?

Answers to these questions and many more can be found on the Site.