http://blog.gagankaul.com Gagan explores thoughts and ideas on technology and business. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:30:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "Watching Microsoft in the company of Google and Facebook is a bit like watching your dad trying to be cool." - Economist on Microsoft's online initiatives, 26 June 2008 http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/07/03/economist-on-microsoft/ It's happening again. After a continuous downpour last night, the scene outside Takshila once again reminded of the waterworld that was created few years back. Some brave hearts were venturing into the water, letting their mechanical stallions do the fighting and stay alive. There were a couple of people, amongst ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/07/01/mumbai-monsoons-the-second-coming/ As a part of competitive intelligence, we are regularly faced with the challenge of finding an organization structure or the key people in an organization. There are a lot of companies providing such services for a fee - many of them also have online paid databases that you can deep ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/05/29/people-intelligence-finding-key-people-in-an-organization/ As another round of talks continue, I would like to share a beautiful wallpaper on global warming. The ideation and design has been done by my colleague Animesh Banerjee. The soothing green color is a refreshing change from the dull black that was my screen wall earlier. You can download the ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/05/27/wallpaper-on-global-warming/ As a part of its golden jubilee celebrations, IIT Bombay has launched a mega event – 10 Great Ideas to change the world in the Next 50 Years. The message on the website reads: "In this event we invite you, IITB alumni -- IITB students -- IITB Faculty (current and retired) ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/05/25/ten-great-ideas-to-change-the-world/ It is 3.52am right now and I am busy working on a business assignment. This post comes as a break from the last three hours of concentrated effort, wherein I have been trying to assess how a recent strategic move by a telecom operator is going to affect the overall ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/05/22/mumbai-monsoons-here-it-comes/ Competitive Intelligence is suddenly hotter than ever! Over the last four years in my job as a business analyst, I have been amazed to see how much emphasis companies place on managing their internal information. With the advent of Web 2.0, corporate blogging and company wikis have dominated the enterprise information ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/05/12/competitive-intelligence-the-new-strategy-driver/ Britannica has opened up its online subscription-based access to the blogosphere. In a move aimed at attracting greater traffic and also to counter the increasing influence of user-generated content sites like wikipedia, Britannica is offering free one year subscription to a set of people it terms as 'web publishers'. The notice ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/04/24/encyclopedia-britannica-free-for-bloggers/ The global value of private equity buyouts has grown manifold from the start of this decade to the present. As the private equity environment becomes more challenging amidst rising interest rates, the volume of deals that took place in the first quarter of 2008 has plunged, compared to the same ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/03/30/the-art-of-private-equity/ The sale of Bear Stearns at $2 per share to JPMorgan Chase has created headlines globally. The swift end of Bears Stearns is being used as a case example to highlight the laissez-faire philosophy that allowed financial services to spread almost unchecked. I am seeing a lot of debate online ... http://blog.gagankaul.com/2008/03/20/the-end-of-bear-stearns-revisited/