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Sarbanes Oxley & Corporate Governance

We all know by now, what forced major legislators worldwide to enforce Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 and the likes of it the world over. WorldCom, Enron…the names flow. What is Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) and how is it related to corporate governance? Well! SOX is “An act to protect investors by improving accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the US Securities laws” and the birth of SOX is the effect of clandestine mis-governance of corporations by the agents (as in Agency Theory). Simply put, Corporate Governance is a mechanism of having an oversight over the functioning of the Management and to maintain transparency and disclosure norms when communicating with the stakeholders (investors, employees, society etc.). The Structure of the board is designed to constitute Independent Non-Executive Directors who member and chair various committees like the Audit Committee, the Finance Committee, the Nominating Committee etc. to which, respective functional heads directly re
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Greening - stop talking, start doing.

For times immemorial, I have heard this about greening, environment protection etc. Corporates promote it, governments spend money on it. So, where is all the money going? I think it is only going towards the promotion of the issue. Corporates pass on these messages to their employees and sometimes use this as a concept to brand their image. Governmets run conferences of foreign delegates and then talk business on the same table I believe. So if I understand it right, money is spent on promoting the issue of greening/environment by corporates and by the government to promote brand. What is being done to actually address the issue? Maybe I do not have visibility there, but I have visibility about what we as individuals can do to addresss the issue of greening. By the way, by greening i mean helping save the environment by optimally using its resources so that less of the trees are cut, less of the minerals are mined, less of oil wells are drilled and less of everything is produced. I
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Gadget savvy or gadget slaves?

The title might sound intimidating to people like me but sometimes I feel this is the case, at least with me. I am a gadget savvy person. I love reading, listening and discussing about the everyday gadgets that we use. The mobile, laptop, touchpad, smart phones et all. On the first look these are the ones that make your life convenient. Now let's ask the question how? I will list down personal usage experiences as these are definitely professional productivity tools. Now that we have set the context, lets look at this. Mobile/Smartphone : It is supposed to connect people but do we do just that or more than that. I actually think it superficially connects people. Smartphones of today do more than just connect calls. They let us think that it helps us stay connected. Connected on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Messengers of the varied kind etc. And on these, we are pouring details of our life. Think about it, how many meaningful one-on-one connections have we really ma
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25 Management Tools from Bain

I was going through a few searches for Strategy tools and hit upon the website of Bain. I learned that every year, Bain conducts a survey of the top strategy tools that corporations use to make their lives simpler. In the 2009 edition of the "Management Tools", Bain listed out 25 or so different management tools. 1. Balanced Scorecard 2. Benchmarking 3. Business Process Reengineering 4. Collaborative Innovation 5. Core Competencies 6. Customer Relationship Management 7. Customer Segmentation 8. Decision Rights Tools 9. Downsizing 10. Growth Strategy Tools 11. Knowledge Management 12. Lean Six Sigma 13. Loyalty Management Tools 14. Mergers and Acquisitions 15. Mission and Vision Statements 16. Online Communities 17. Outsourcing 18. Price Optimization Models 19. Scenario and Contingency Planning 20. Shared Service Centers 21. Strategic Alliances 22. Strategic Planning 23. Supply Chain Management 24. Total Quality Management 25. Voice of the Customer Innovation
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Where is Google heading to!!!

Google plans to experiment with an Ultra hi-speed ISP service in cities across US. This it plans to do by building its own infrastructure of fiber network to deliver speeds 100 times faster than conventional networks - a 1-gigabit-per-second fiber-to-the-home connection at a competitive price to potentially 500,000 people. An interesting discussion happened today around the diversification of Google and we ended up realizing that Google is into more things than we thought it was, as a layman user. Here is what came out: 1) Search Engine, 2) Online Advertising Real Estate, 3) Mobile O/s, 4) Cloud apps (edocs), 5) Ultra hi-speed ISP (with Fiber network). Now if you put all of these in a melting pot, what do you get. A technology company which provides free search facility, which provides a mobile O/s, which provides you internet connectivity (ISP), helps you use applications on the future and the best part...it still makes major chunk of its money from advertisement dollars. Now here
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North American Monetary Regime - Is it possible?

There is a theory of an economic co-operation among all countries in North America. That there is a possibility of "amero" in North America like "Euro" in Europe. NAFTA might already be in place but a common currency like amero could change the dynamics of all countries in NorthAm. After normalizing all currencies for the first time, how would subsequent exchange rate fulctuations be taken care for amero?. Subsequently, the value of canadian amero and US amero will remain fixed after currency normalization. The catch is, there is every possibility of change in value of each currency in real time. Which means amero normalization needs to be done in real time. However this need not be done if other countries still maintain their currenies and have amero as an additional currency. In that case, why is there the need for amero. Economics seems complicated.
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Location Based Services - Changing Mobile Dynamics

Focus: The value web of the Location Based Services (LBS) and its challenges. Defining LBS : LBS is a location technology that can be provided on any mobile unit (PDA, SmartPhone, personal navigation Device). The location of the mobile can be computed by triangulating the device by three adjacent Mobils Switching Centers (MSC) or by GPS imbedded in the device. To make an LBS Service work , the following components talk seamlessly to each other. These include: The Mobile Unit (PDA, Mobile, Smart Phone, GPS etc.) The GSM Network of the Mobile Service Provider All the other OSS systems of the Network operator (for security, validation and authentication of user) The Location Enabling hardware and Software The systems of the Application Service provider (The LBS Provider responsible for fulfilling the request from mobile user) Enterprise Servers of other Business Service Providers (Like Pizza Hut, Travel Agents, Hotels, etc.) The LBS Engine and the GIS Applications and Databases. How LB
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Making Your Own Way - GIS Navigation

Think about large vessels carrying shipments on a strict deadline. Think about an oil spill on the route of a vessel carrying important shipment to be delivered on time. Think of a truck load of medical supplies, which doesn't reach on time because it missed a turn. Think of a family going on vacation to a remote resort. These are real world challenges. And then think of how easily all these challenges can be addressed if there were a navigation system that guided each of these people/vessels/trucks to effectively reach their destinations. GIS plays a major role in developing and operating these navigation systems of the real world. The most advanced auto pilot in the modern day aircrafts is a result of meticulous calculations done by the navigation solution inside the aircraft's computer. GIS navigation solutions can be classified as Personal Navigation Solutions and Commercial Navigation Solutions. Speaking of personal solutions, In-Car Navigation and PDA (Personal Digital A
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