July 2015

Nestlé’s crisis in India

Nestlé has handled a product safety scare stunningly badly, appearing to have learnt little from its multinational experience over many decades Nestlé has found itself in hot water in India after the local food safety regulators said the company’s instant noodles contained unsafe levels of lead and traces of monosodium glutamate (MSG), contrary to the food’s labelling. Nestlé’s handling of the situation has created a new case study on how not to handle a crisis. First, let’s look at the potential and actual severity of the crisis and the damage. Maggi, Nestlé’s instant noodles brand, has been a household name in India for 30 years. According to market estimates, Maggi contributes more than 20% of the $1.5bn annual sales Nestle has in India. Maggi accounted for 60% of India’s noodle sales last year, according to a Euromonitor report. Maggi ranked among the top five most trusted brands last year in a survey-based ranking issued by India’s leading business newspaper the Economic Times. Nestle introduced instant noodles to India, where noodles were not previously part of the culinary culture and instant food was not common. An aggressive advertising campaign with a catchline of “two-minute noodles” proved so effective that Maggi became the breakfast of choice for parents struggling to get their children ready for school in the morning. The advertised idea of a delicious and nutritional meal that could be cooked in just two minutes appealed to millions. Maggi became a preferred snack for children, singletons and working couples. In more recent years, hundreds of thousands of Maggi stalls have opened across the country making it a popular street food. First signs of trouble ignored The first sign of trouble emerged on 30 April this year when the local food safety regulator in Lucknow, the capital of the most populous state […]

Go Set a Watchman

Go Set a Watchman is a novel by Harper Lee published on July 14, 2015, by HarperCollins in the United States and William Heinemann in the United Kingdom. Although publicised as a sequel, It is actually the first draft of Lee’s first and (until 2015) only other published novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). The title comes from Isaiah 21:6: “For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” It alludes to Jean Louise Finch’s view of her father, Atticus Finch, as the moral compass (“watchman”) of Maycomb, and has a theme of disillusionment, as she realises her father’s bigotry. The book’s unexpected discovery, decades after it was written, together with the exceptional renown of the author’s only other book, an American classic, caused its publication to be highly anticipated; Amazon stated that it was their “most pre-ordered book” since the final book of the Harry Potter series in 2007, and stores arranged all-night openings from midnight to cope with expected demand. The publication also sparked controversy over the circumstances of its publication due to Lee’s health, contradictions to the discovery story, and questions as to whether Lee had the ability and desire to authorise publication. The novel follows an adult Scout Finch (referred to using her given names “Jean Louise”) who travels from New York to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch, 20 years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird. According to the publisher, Scout “is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father’s attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.” Go Set a Watchman includes many of the characters from To Kill a […]

Restless Genius: Barney Kilgore, the Wall Street Journal, and the Invention of Modern Journalism

By Richard J. Tofel One of the forgotten titans in American journalism, Barney Kilgore was the subject of a book written by Richard J Tofel, a former assistant publisher of the Wall Street Journal and author of Sounding the Trumpet. A Midwesterner from Indiana, Kilgore emerged from smalltown America to rise through the ranks at the Wall Street Journal on the eve of the Great Depression. Through the war years of the 1940s into the Cold War era, he reshaped the publication’s news focus, visuals, composition, circulation and advertising. He championed a unique style of journalism as its top executive, with keen instincts, intelligence and a progressive view, transforming the broadsheet into a first-class national business newspaper. Innovative and unyielding, Kilgore had one of his finest moments when he faced down General Motors in a controversial 1954 advertising spat, bolstering the newspaper’s reputation. Tofel’s excellent work on this pivotal figure in journalism is a significant addition to the seminal books on American media.

Championing “Innovation for Inclusive Development” in Southeast Asia

Philippines- Are you working on innovations to address poverty? Are you engaging grassroots communities, especially the poor and marginalised? Are you an expert on social innovation, community engagement, social change management or institutional innovation? If yes, then share your knowledge and expertise as teaching and learning packages, and reach a wider network of social innovators and grassroots communities. The Universities and Councils Network on Innovation for Inclusive Development in Southeast Asia (UNIID-SEA) – in cooperation with the ASEAN University Network (AUN) – is launching a new grants program that aims to recognise and connect “Innovation for Inclusive Development” (IID) advocates in the region. The IID Fellows Program will facilitate the development and sharing of teaching and learning packages on topics that help people understand and practice IID. In line with the integration agenda of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), this pioneering small grants program helps to reduce the internal development gap among its members by facilitating the sharing of knowledge and innovations that address common development issues in the region. The program supports the collaborative efforts of UNIID-SEA and the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs, through its Office of ASEAN Affairs, to push for the integration of inclusive development in the ASEAN agenda. What is innovation for inclusive development? “Inclusive innovation” and “inclusive development” are new buzzwords in the political and development arenas. As the United Nations, key donor agencies and governments promote more inclusive and sustainable development, current discussions and initiatives are looking into new technologies and ways of doing things that take into account not just strategic but also interdisciplinary innovation to address social needs, especially of the poor and disadvantaged. Inclusive innovation is at the heart of innovation for inclusive development, which is broadly defined as “innovation that aims to reduce poverty, and enables as […]

Bush and Blair should ‘Answer for their actions’

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has called for Tony Blair and George Bush to be hauled before an international criminal court and delivered a damning critique of the physical and moral devastation caused by the Iraq war. Tutu, the retired Anglican Church’s archbishop of South Africa, wrote in an op-ed piece for The Observer newspaper that the ex-leaders of Britain and the United States should be made to “answer for their actions.”The Iraq war “has destabilised and polarised the world to a greater extent than any other conflict in history,” wrote Tutu, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1984. “Those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in the Hague,” he added. The Hague, Netherlands, based court is the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal and has been in operation for 10 years. So far it has launched prosecutions only in Africa, including in Sudan, Congo, Libya and Ivory Coast. TutuÊhas long been a staunch critic of the Iraq war, while others opposed to the conflict including playwright Harold Pinter have previously called for Bush and Blair to face prosecution at the Hague. “The then-leaders of the U.S. and U.K. fabricated the grounds to behave like playground bullies and drive us further apart. They have driven us to the edge of a precipice where we now stand with the spectre of Syria and Iran before us,” said Tutu, who last week withdrew from a conference in South Africa due to Blair’s presence at the event. While the International Criminal Court can handle cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, it does not currently have the jurisdiction to prosecute crimes of aggression. Any potential prosecution over the […]

Investing with Impact: Why Finance Is a Force for Good

By Jeremy Balkin Investing with Impact: Why Finance Is a Force for Good outlines the roadmap to reinvigorating a skeptical public and demoralised financial services industry by making the case that, contrary to popular misconception, finance is not the cause of the world’s problems; in fact, it can provide the solution. Author Jeremy Balkin presents the case that the finance industry can improve the state of the world by positively influencing the allocation of capital. Investing with Impact explains the methodology of Balkin’s 6 E Paradigm, opening the toolbox to this revolutionary framework for the first time. In so doing, Balkin expands the impact investment universe, enabling mainstream capital to flow where opportunities generate positive investment returns and have demonstrable social impact. Described by the Huffington Post as the “Anti-Wolf of Wall Street,” Balkin is challenging the status quo on Wall Street by leading the intellectual debate embracing the $1 trillion frontier impact investment market opportunity. The book demonstrates conclusively that, if we can change the culture in finance, we can change the world for the better.

Commuter families: Analysis from Malaysia

Commuter families normally consist of dual-career marriages that choose to establish separate homes to fulfill their career commitments. Around the world, the numbers of dual-income, dual-household families is on the rise, fuelled by such reasons as the desire of spouses to improve their lifestyle, obtain a higher family income, or pursue better opportunities for career advancement. However, in Malaysia, the most common reason (44.4%) that married couples adopt a “commuter family” lifestyle is that they are required to by their employers, according to a recent study published in the Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. Conducted by researchers at the Universiti Putra Malaysia, this study is the first in Malaysia to investigate the challenges faced by long-distance commuters and their families. The study involved families based in Klang Valley that had one spouse working outside this region. Commuter families normally consist of dual-career marriages that choose to establish separate homes to fulfil their career commitments. However, life for these families can be challenging and difficult to manage due to such factors as the time spent travelling back and forth every week, increased expenditures and financial cost, as well as changes in the relationship dynamics with spouses, family and friends. According to the study, among commuter families, more men than women (60.2% versus 39.8%) work away from home in Malaysia. However, no gender differences were observed in terms of how commuting impacts personal wellbeing. Overall, the study found that most respondents have a negative perception of their commuting lifestyle (80.6% of males versus 96.5% of females). “This may be because the majority of these commuters not only did not choose to work away from home and their families, but also they did not receive any financial incentive or stipend to cover commuting expenses such as accommodation, transport or food while […]