by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Vikas Datta,
Title: Why Wall Street Matters; Author: William D. Cohan; Publisher: Penguin Random House; Pages: 192; Price: Rs 499
Just a little over a kilometre long, this New York road can lay claim to being the global “headquarters” of market capitalism. Revered as an unmatched repository of capital and financial advice behind a range of innovative services and technologies, it is equally reviled as the site for unconscionably greedy and reckless profit-making. Which of these should we believe about Wall Street?
American financial journalist William D. Cohan leans largely towards the first as he seeks to make a case for Wall Street’s importance to the world we have become used to. Many of today’s innovations, from swanky mobile phones to credit cards to pension plans, he contends in this book, owe their genesis to it.
While he acknowledges that there have been aberrations — of the sort that led to the 2008 financial meltdown with consequences all around the world — and whose malefic influence still lingers, he also seeks to suggest what should be done — and certainly not done — to check their recurrence.
But first Cohan seeks a calmer discourse about Wall Street than the “so utterly hyperbolic, supercharged, entrenched and polemic” discussion underway that obscures the real issues. He also suggests we must understand what it actually is, how it works and what it has contributed.
Noting that even the phrase ‘Wall Street’ is confusing, he asks if we mean the “actual” road itself (which he goes on to subsequently show can be very misleading) or just the very biggest investment banks.
But then what about hedge funds and private-equity firms there or elsewhere in New York as well as in the rest of the US, or for that matter, around the world. And even if we fix Wall Street’s meaning, how we “feel” about it is also crucial, he argues.
Is it a “festering open wound of rampant self-interest and malfeasance” (a la Gordon “Greed is Good” Gekko from Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street”, 1987), or a “convenient metaphor that politicians use to park blame for every bad economic thing that has befallen the country in recent years” or something totally different, he asks.
Cohan suggests that Wall Street could also be the “brilliantly designed engine that powers innovation, growth and wealth creation, and that has become the most sustained way by which billions of people the world over have been lifted out of poverty and given a chance at a better, more economically fulfilling life”.
Given this description — and the book’s title itself — there is no doubt what the author believes himself, though he does accept that the earlier two descriptions are also valid to some extent.
But Cohan, a journalist with Vanity Fair and author of “House of Cards”, a masterly recounting of the fall of investment bank Bear Stearns, does not strike much balance in this slim work. The last third of it seems his own polemic against what he feels are ill-informed politicians (especially Democrats Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders), intrusive bureaucrats and deadening regulations and regulators.
However, the major part of the book is worth it. Beginning with what Wall Street was when the Dutch ruled Manhattan and its role in the early economic history of the newly-independent US, Cohan goes to discuss lucidly what banks actually do (and how) and the American response to financial crises in the 20th century. Here President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s handling of the Great Depression comes in for praise, especially in his attempts to reassure citizens — which Cohan notes was missing in 2008.
He then takes us through the birth of the IPO, and financial innovations like securitisation and mortgage-backed securities, junk bonds, credit default swaps and others (and what their creators’ eventual fate were) before coming to the aftermath of 2008 and his prescriptions.
This, as said above, is the most subjective, not to mention sketchy, part where the author swings from partisan to unworkable measures insofar as regulation of markets, liability of investment bankers, or other related matters are concerned, despite seeking to anchor them in human motivations (especially incentive).
If these are ignored — or taken with a pinch of salt — the clear picture the book provides of how modern market economies operate and the problems that they can face cannot be bettered.
(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Vikas Datta,
Title: Prussian Blue (Bernie Gunther Series); Author: Philip Kerr; Publisher: Quercus; Pages: 546; Price: Rs 399
Some men can never outrun their past. It is not that their wrongdoings cannot be forgotten, but rather that their unique abilities which even their enemies, spanning the spectrum from Nazism to Communism, recognise and seek to utilise for their own ends. As with this outspoken, irreverent but capable German ex-policeman.
Bernie Gunther has survived over over two decades of Nazi rule, World War II’s Russian front, Soviet captivity, the Cold War’s lethal attentions — from all its sides — service to Juan Peron and the American mafia in Battista’s Cuba, and now just wants a quiet life.
But his eccentric fate hasn’t yet finished with him, even in 1956. And in his latest appearance, Gunther learns — yet again — that the pathology of power remains the same, though the name, uniforms and even ideology may change, and today’s oppressed can easily become — and inevitably do — tomorrow’s oppressors.
Fleeing Berlin after a complex intelligence operation where he got even with those kicking him around — with the help of a dangerous figure from his pre-war past — Gunther tries to live obscurely as concierge in a small hotel on the French Riviera. But soon, his unlikely helper — Erich Mielke, the dreaded second-in-command of East Germany’s Stasi — personally appears and threatens him to undertake a mission.
This entails going over to Britain and poisoning — by thallium no less — a covert woman agent, whom Gunther had deftly outsmarted in his previous outing (“The Other Side of Silence”, 2016). And just to keep him on his toes, Mielke has his men arrange a near-fatal hanging for him.
But our hero is not one to give in tamely. While he goes along with Mielke’s assignment knowing the men wished upon him to “help” will eventually be his executioners, he escapes from the train taking them towards the English Channel. The Stasi men are soon on his trail and since their leader is someone who knows Gunther too well — a former pre-war Berlin police colleague who was his aide in investigating a crime in Adolf Hitler’s hilltop Bavarian retreat in 1939 — keeping ahead will not be too simple.
As Gunther flees across France with the French police too on his trail, his mind travels back to April 1939 when another dreaded boss sent him to solve a serious crime in Hitler’s holiday home, just before the Fuhrer visited it for his 50th birthday.
A top engineer overseeing construction and renovations has been shot dead right on the terrace of special tea house planned as a surprise for Hitler and now his close aide Martin Bormann wants the matter to be solved expeditiously without any fuss, so there is no threat to the Fuhrer’s life.
But as Gunther finds out, there is no shortage of suspects given the greed, graft, jealousy, turf fights and more going on between Nazi bigwigs in this Nazi citadel and a mass of resentful local residents, dispossessed of home or property for the Hitler retreat.
Given the high stakes involved, will he be allowed to investigate the case to its logical conclusion and identify the truly guilty or will any scapegoat do?
Flipping between the hazardous 1939 investigation and the nervous 1956 flight, Philip Kerr, in the 12th installment of his most captivating series, brings our wise-cracking, sardonic but resourceful hero back to life in all his tarnished, tired but still irrepressible form.
While it is a thriller twice over, the real worth is the uncompromising light it shows totalitarianism in — especially Nazism, which despite its much touted high ideals, could not advance from the ambition, greed and conceit of its principal leaders. Stalinist Communism, with its readiness to employ former Nazis and be as violent, doesn’t come far behind.
Kerr also scores in his vivid but unflattering portraits of top Nazis — from the boorish Bormann to the devious Heydrich and their system of violent loot or just violence. Apart from the insight into workings of Nazism, there is an unforgettable insight into normalisation of terror and casual brutality to gain and keep personal power.
But as there are a couple of Nazis who are not so bad, our hero also shows that anyone with some dignity and honour can keep his mooring amid the direst evil. That is why Bernie Gunther’s exploits are a must read.
(Vikas Datta can be contacted at vikas.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Ananya Das,
Book: Stories From Saratchandra: Innocence and Reality; Translator: Anindita Mukhopadhyay; Publisher: Rupa; Pages: 195; Price: Rs 295
What is it that translations achieve but the original books do not? The reach, perhaps. It is the sheer magic of translations that allows a native speaker of a given language to appreciate the vast landscapes of literature in other languages. Carefully churning out the author’s work while accepting the restrictions of language is the mark of a good translator — and we have an excellent example in a recent English translation of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay’s stories.
The Bengali author, as we know, was an eminent novelist of the early 20th century. Anindita Mukhopadhyay has taken upon herself the onus of translating into English 12 of Saratchandra’s short stories which delve into issues ranging from the innocence of childhood to those concerning society — like casteism and social hierarchy.
The stories have been categorised into two sections to highlight the different experiences that a person goes through in his life and touches upon an array of subjects — social evils, unprivileged communities and classes, rural communities and rustic life, and inter-caste marriages.
His first three stories sees “Laalu” going from prankster to a youngster who refuses to travel on the same road as his peers; later emerging as a daredevil. Next, “The Child Snatchers” is a story where superstition obfuscates the mind and “A Day’s Tale From Some Fifty Years Ago” is about a youth who is travelling the path of future middle-class professional achievement.
The last story in this section, “Childhood Memories”, highlights the tough exterior of the non-conformist rebel to unravel his inner complexities.
In the second section, “The Memories of Deoghar” speaks about the relation of a man with a dog and “Haricharan” reflects on the qualms of an orphan.
After eight stories we have a female protagonist of a low-caste in “Bilasi” and her life after an inter-caste marriage. In “Mohesh” and “Abhaagi’s Heaven”, the plot is of the blinded village communities. “Ekdashi Bairagi” is indicative of the author’s optimism.
Mukhopadhyay has presented the works of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay keeping perfectly alive the pulse and tonality of the conversations of the characters in their original form. She has been careful to ensure that the original meaning of even the smallest word doesn’t get lost in the sea of translation, whether it is Saratchandra’s anecdotal style or with his use of the English phonetic pronunciation.
Saratchandra’s male child protagonists are wayward and there is a constant leitmotif about rebellious boys refusing to be schooled. Significantly, girlhood is conspicuous by its absence. While his stories, in section one, are mostly about the perceptions of childhood, those in the second section are mostly about the deprived communities of society. In a majority of the stories of Saratchandra, his middle-class protagonists are the vectors of social change and quiet rebellion.
A work of translation is critically assessed because, as is widely known, the charm and meaning of the original work undergo a drastic change. However, in this case, the author has intricately gone through the stories so that the meaning doesn’t change after translation.
(Ananya Das can be contacted at ananya.d@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Porisma P. Gogoi,
Title: The Manager Who Became an Influencer; Author: Harish Shivdasani; Publisher: Rupa Publications; Pages: 98; Price: Rs 195
Apart from usual factors like promotions and salary hikes, the superior-subordinate relationship is a crucial consideration for employees when they decide whether they want to continue working in an organisation. But what lies at the core of this relationship? The answer: Mutual trust.
Being an effective leader, or an inspirer, to a subordinate or lateral employee takes a lot of effort. Aiming to simplify the process, “The Manager Who Became an Influencer” summarises the whole journey of inspiring into two basic pre-requisites.
Firstly, the leader needs to tap into the dreams of the person who s/he aims to mentor and provide the required motivation and zeal. Secondly, give them the confidence that the goal is within their capabilities, which is possible only through constant interaction.
Daily interaction, according to the author, is a crucial part of a work day, which can either make or mar an employee’s attitude to working and producing fruitful results. The senior person knowingly or unknowingly mentors his/her subordinates through these daily interactions — and they require a bona fide connection and hence mutual trust.
Harish Shivdasani, who is currently a leadership coach to CEOs and their teams, attempts to establish the fact that the employer or the manager should take efforts to increase interactive sesssions and establish mutually supportive and trusting relations with subordinates or professional associates to retain them for a longer period of time.
With a combination of management lessons and principles of psychotherapy, the author provides practical, scientific and “sure to succeed” strategies in his book which can be used to mentor and develop teams and raise their performance levels.
Shivdasani writes that a trustworthy relationship is a pre-requisite not only for a superior in an organisation; he stresses on “mutual trust” being able to bring about a change in almost everyone — be it a subordinate or colleague, or even friends or spouse — and lead to fruitful and harmonious relations.
“Trust as the basis of relationship is highly important for bringing about change in the behaviour of a spouse, a teenage child, a friend, even a domestic help. A careful study of the rules and principles of creating mutual trust will greatly facilitate the development of harmonious and productive relations with all those you interact with in everyday life,” he explains.
Shivdasani, a former faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, says: “The book is a result of my deep interest and experience in mentoring and developing people, and its growing significance as sustainable competitive advantage.”
The author divides his book into two broad parts. The first deals with developing genuine and trustworthy relationships, citing the “not so easy to establish” mutual relationship as a condition for effective mentorship.
He says that mentoring, developing and thus changing people is not possible unless they perceive their mentor — or anyone assuming that role — as genuinely interested in their development and their relationship is perceived as genuine and trustworthy.
In the second part, he mentions practical day-to-day strategies for inspiring and mentoring people and explains the necessity of asking questions, focusing on strengths, focusing on individuals rather than teams, and the importance of rewards and punishments.
(Porisma P. Gogoi can be contacted at porisma.g@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Books
By Aroonim Bhuyan,
Title: Santro: The Car That Built a Company; Author: B.V.R. Subbu; Publisher: Hachette; Pages: 254; Price: Rs 599
“Manufacturing a car is a simple business, really,” author B.V.R. Subbu states in the prologue to his book “Santro: The Car That Built a Company” which looks at how the “Sunshine Car” played a pivotal role in the making of automobile major Hyundai Motors India in a market monopolised by Maruti.
“You take some metal, add three parts of engineering, one part of artistry, stir up a lot of passion, and proceed to craft it with care. You pour in the requisite magic with come deft word-smithy, and for garnish you add a little bit of luck. Then you serve it up with humility (albeit tinged with come flourish) and, if you’ve done it right, chances are you’ll end up with an object of desire that dazzles at first glance and then grows into a longing.”
However, here Subbu adds that it can be a double-edged sword that can either leave you making a lot of money or losing the shirt off your back.
But at the same time he ends the first para of the prologue with this: “And, yet, there is no business like the car business.”
To make the reader understand the business styles of the Korean chaebols, he spices up the prologue with a joke narrated to him by someone which goes like this: “What would executives of the Korean chaebols do if they accidentally ran into a bear while walking in a forest? The Hyundai executives would, without hesitation, pick up the nearest club and attack the bear; the (now-defunct) Daewoo guys would immediately call their chairman for instructions; the Samsung chaps would convene a meeting to consider next steps in front of the bear; and the LG group would wait for Samsung’s response, and then do the same.”
The book looks into the birth and the global success of Hyundai Motor India’s debut production, conceptualised and designed for India, that went on to set the record for the quickest small car brand to go from zero to one million units sold.
Today, the Santro is available in markets as diverse as Algeria and Zimbabwe, Western Europe and North America and has achieved profitability for Hyundai at an unprecedented speed as a made-in-India automobile.
Subbu, who started his career with Tata Motors, joined the freshly minted Hyundai Motor India in 1997 as Director (Sales & Marketing) and later took on the role of President.
He writes the book from an insider’s perspective but with brutal honesty, giving credit where it is due and scathingly critical of those he believe need to be criticised.
For example, throughout the book, he is critical of Maruti, its business and technology practices. He mentions one particular bad experience he personally had at a Maruti dealership when looking to buy a Maruti 800 car.
At the same time, he keeps it quite evident throughout that he retains a soft corner for his former company, Tata Motors.
The book is divided into eight chapters and each chapter has a Mao Zedong quote on war with the chapter titles too having war connotations. Not surprising, given that the author is a masters degree holder in economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, known as a bastion of Left ideology.
Though the book is on the Santro, Subbu traces the history of the automobile industry in India and the challenges it faced in a socialist economy.
As for the Hyundai story, he has good words for the Tamil Nadu government for all the support and relief in terms of government regulations and tax from the company’s groundbreaking ceremony at Irrungattukottai near Chennai in December 1996 — and onward. The Santro’s global commercial launch was held in September 1998.
One highlight of how Hyundai believes the customer is the king is the way the company put its vendors on a high pedestal expecting them to stick to the company’s core values.
Subbu’s take on marketing, advertising and media relations makes for equally interesting reading.
In dealing with the media, he did not resort to any PR agency but decided to deal with journalists directly. He would personally take journalists’ calls and not only talk about his own company but also help with tips on the automobile industry in general and the trends surrounding it.
As for advertising strategy, he writes of how Hyundai’s chose the then new-in-India Saatchi & Saatchi to engage in a combative campaign.
Hyundai was among the first companies in India to pitch its products directly against those of rival companies, a rather new trend in Indian advertising then. To put it in perspective, remember “Pepsi – Nothing official about it”?
A heart-warming part of the book is how Hyundai chose Shah Rukh Khan as its brand ambassador and how the company and the Bollywood superstar stuck to the commitments they had made to each other.
“Santro: The Car That Built a Company” is an insider’s take on corporate India, replete with rivalries, conspiracies, corruption and cultural differences between Koreans and Indians.
It makes for a perfect case study for Indian business schools if not already made one.
(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
—IANS
