As I’d written in my Owleye column this month, there are plenty of global summits and conferences this summer and all the way up to the new year. It makes sense at a time of heightened conflicts and geopolitical tensions, not to mention wars. In a year where my blog is celebrating 25 years of… Continue reading Brands Addressing Global Issues – Part 1
The Trump administration just announced a set of new reciprocal tariff rates for more countries and has set a new deadline of August 1, 2025 for these to take effect. It’s still early days, and it’s hard to tell their effect on consumer prices, on trade, and on consumption and economic growth, both in the… Continue reading Have Non-Tariff Ticket, Will Travel
Reading HBR posts online on LinkedIn where I follow them, I was always quite disappointed by the kinds of subject matter and articles that were being shared. Being unemployed for decades now in India, I cannot afford to subscribe to the publication, so I browse and read the occasional free article whenever I find something… Continue reading HBR Book On Strategy Does It a Disservice
It’s hard to believe that half of 2025 has just flown by. At the start of the year the two most anticipated developments of 2025 were going to be Trump tariffs and a wave of AI innovations. You could say that these phenomena are opposed to each other, with the first slowing down the economy… Continue reading AI Entrepreneurs in Serious Need of Child Protection Lock
I began this year by writing about the challenges facing India this year as Trump’s tariffs take effect and cause a global economic slowdown, from which India too will not be immune. Then in February 2025, I wrote about the Indian Union Budget which I thought was desperate to push growth, including by cutting taxes… Continue reading Time for India’s Economy to Become More Competitive
Having just read the book, HBR’s 10 Must-Reads on Strategy, that I ordered from Amazon India, I am once again reminded of how central brands are to strategy. Not merely product brand strategy, but to corporate strategy. It’s something I have been thinking about for the past couple of decades that I have been unemployed,… Continue reading When Brands Can Guide Strategy and Execution
Some of you might have seen my posts on LinkedIn about a new book, The Corporation in the 21st Century by John Kay, that I bought and was reading recently. Actually, it was a review that I read in the Financial Times that prompted me to buy and read it. I must admit that I… Continue reading The 21st Century Corporation in the Rear-view Mirror
Time to turn my attention to brands once again, after all the chaos and confusion that Trump’s tariffs have caused from the start of this year. I must say, though, that if companies have to raise prices of their goods in the US and elsewhere, it ought to be because of a superior dimension to… Continue reading Hardwiring Brands into Products and Services
When I read about the latest tranche of Vodafone Idea equity stake that the government of India is going to have to acquire, as spectrum auction dues get converted to equity, the first thought that occurred to me is “Oh gosh! Soon it will become a PSU!” And we all know the fate of our… Continue reading How Not to Allow Vodafone Idea to Go the Air India Way
In all the hype and news flow around AI and technology in general, it appears that there are some changes taking place in a few industries at least that might require us to pay attention. Where these changes might be real and enduring, perhaps it’s time to engage in “What if?” kinds of thought experiments.… Continue reading Implications of Changes in Some Industries: Playing Devil’s Advocate
Peripatetic Perch 