Wednesday, July 22, 2009

The concept behind "APJ Inc.":

Hi guys (and girls too obviously),

Thanks a lot for following, appreciating, commenting, discussing and cursing (yes, the victims of the blog did that too!) the blog. Before I say anything more, I wish to share my vision behind starting this blog last year.

IIM Lucknow, a place which brings together some of the brightest minds in the country (supposedly) is much different from the rest of the world - in a way it can be said that its a self, sufficient world in its own right. However, the people there too have their own share of funny stories and incidents to boast of - which the outside world is completely unaware of. Thanks to the media publicity, the IIM grads are seen as geeky, extremely interlligent, studious fellows indulging in intellectual readings and discussions all the time. There was the need to throw light on the lighter side of IIM life! Through APJ Inc. I wanted to share some of these interesting stories, funny characters, juicy on-campus gossips and all sorts of tabloid-like masala news in the most 'geeky' style possible. That motivated me to opt for the 'Case Study' approach - the much talked about pedagogy followed at the IIMs. The idea was to portray every character in the story as a Company and talk about the link-up gossips doing the rounds on campus as "mergers and acquisitions". Weights represented as 'stock prices' and CGPA represented as Globe ratings was an attempt to bring in some more management lingo.

Hope u all enjoyed reading the posts!

Now coming back to business, I have a few readers asking me to restart the blog (its been dead since December last year). People are finding work life too boring and are looking for sources of entertainment! So, like any rigged reality TV show of the 21st century, let me ask you - "Should APJ Inc. be revived? Should I (and may be some of u'll) provide stimulus packages in the form of gossip stories? "

Awaiting your responses!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Update on Business Environment in Hel(L)

With much effort from the existing CEO, APJ Inc managed to stay away from controversies and hence stayed out of news for a long time. However, the low profile maintained by APJ Inc can also be attributed to a large extent to the absence of popular associates of APJ Inc in India over the last few months. The first among the supporters, Melkor Inc seems to have undergone a major restructuring after its CEO returned from Switzerland. The output as well as the efficiency has increased multi-fold.

The biggest supporter of the good old APJ, Mr. Khali, CEO of the ‘conglomerate’ Chaddhaji Group of Companies, too has come back from France. However, this conglomerate has been badly hit by the ongoing recession and in the process is no longer in sound ‘health’. The share prices too have taken a beating, falling from over 120 kgs to the current levels of 90-100 kgs. Mr Khali is however a determined man and has promised all the shareholders that the company will be increasing the consumption of mess food, a vital raw material and come back to prosperity soon.

Lastly, Doc & Co. whose return to India was awaited most by its alleged subsidiary, “Good Looking Facchi & Co.” is making waves in hel(L). While the CEO of Doc & Co still denies any reports of the alleged acquisition of the subsidiary, inside information suggests the process of the merger is underway and the deal is likely to be closed by March ’09. Mr. Partha of Khud ki Maaro and Co was chiefly instrumental in bringing to light details of the alleged merger including important evidences like ‘bench’, ‘walks’ and more recently ‘idle status’(for more details about these evidences please contact Mr Partha).

Sunday, October 12, 2008

VRS News Corp.

Results have been announced, and as reported earlier, M.M. & Co has been rated marginally higher at 9.5 compared to Aby & Co at 9.4. The credit for first reports in public domain on emergence of the new market leader goes to APJ Inc.’s infamous news agency “Udti Udti khabar” regarded as a tabloid by many in Hell. However, now with Hell’s most famous, most credible and the only international news agency taking active interest in reporting the matter and expressing its views on the future prospects of the two players, the matter has assumed great importance.

VRS News Corp., unlike APJ Inc.’s infamous tabloid “Udti Udti Khabar”, is the most reliable and respectable news agency of Hell. It is also believed that any matter in Hell gains supreme importance and tremendous attention only when VRS decides to report it. This is exactly what happened with the ‘Globe Rating Results’ for the previous quarter where M.M. displaced Aby at the top spot.

Varun Reddy, CEO, VRS News Corp. also expressed his views on the future of the two companies:

“I am sure that this is just an aberration and that Aby and co. will come back again the next quarter. MM and Co. is relatively new and is not so high on the sames of CG as compared to the TG. This relative difference will certainly secure the position of Aby and Co. as the overall market leader. The markets are down now a days and the MM effect will fade away...”

It is widely believed that this year VRS News Corp has achieved new heights in news reporting with its extensive and comprehensive coverage of the US Presidential elections. VRS has used all mediums possible viz. Orkut, Gtalk status etc to provide hourly updates on the moves of all parties involved in the Obama vs McCain showdown. Also, Varun Reddy, CEO of VRS News Corp is believed to be in close touch with Sarah Palin as suggested by an album titled “Sarah Palin - Some pics from the life of this enigmatic and charming woman...” among the private photos of the CEO. (http://www.orkut.com/Main#Album.aspx?uid=6605411674781593330&aid=1223635421)

With the amazing coverage of the recent Presidential elections, VRS News Corp has moved way ahead in the competition among news agencies including BBC (Blondie Broadcasting Corporation), Radio 3.4 – channel hell (Radio news by 3.4) and Udti Udti Khabar (APJ Inc.’s tabloid). Melkor Inc. along with his co-sponsors collectively called Team Synapse will now have to look for a radical change, a renaissance in their news reporting methods or bring in high quality content to increase the TRP of Blondie Broadcasting Corporation.

DISCLAIMER:

Mention of ‘Team Synapse’ in the above article has been made at the kind request of Mr. Vineet Bobade, MD, Booby & Bobby Consultants, one of the member concerns of the team.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

The Globe market:

Besides PJs, another product that APJ Inc. is forced to produce due to its presence in hel(L) is ‘Globe’. Globe is a niche product using ‘common sense’ as its primary input and packaged with attractive management jargons. The product life cycle for globe involves a 5 week production phase followed by a one week sales phase. The site of globe production in hel(L) is called PGP block. The total duration required for globe production per course per term is 30 hours. The two most popular markets for sale of globe are mid terms and end terms.

Globe in these markets is traded in a currency called ‘Marks’. The rising exchange rates have led to most players selling their products at very low prices. While some buyers have been generous enough to offer fair prices, most have undervalued the products. Further, post purchase these products are rated by a number of different ‘Globe Rating Agencies’ like Chitta bhi pitta hai & Co., Bulldog & Co., Matman & Co, Prima Facie & Co., Core-mo-core & Co. etc. The measure of globe rating is called CGPA – a rating on a scale of 10 indicating the effectiveness of the globe.

APJ Inc is continuously facing problems with the consistently falling globe ratings. In the first quarter of the previous financial year, APJ Inc posted an overall globe rating of 6.33 which fell to 5 pointers in the subsequent quarters finishing the year at just over 5.5. The market leader in terms of Globe rating has been Aby & Co scoring over 9 pointers in each quarter of the first year. However, with the results of first quarter of 2nd year expected soon, the market might possibly witness emergence of a new market leader. News have been doing the rounds of M.M. & Co. posting high sales across territories and possibly replacing Aby & Co. at the top spot. According to sources Aby & Co. is likely to lose out on the top spot only due to unfair pricing of its products in a territory called MFS. It is also speculated that Aby & Co. is likely to be rated B+ for the first time in its history by Bulldog & Co. More information about the ratings will only be available after the announcement of the results.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Enter Khali...

Mr. Khali, CEO of Chaddhaji Group of Companies, a ‘conglomerate’, is one of the most popular figures in the business circle in hel(L) and a well known corporate ‘heavyweight’ and also the leader of the cartel called ‘Section D – Group1’ comprising APJ Inc., Melkor Inc., Nitol & Co. and Khud ki Maaro & Co. The cartel started with these five founder members a year ago and subsequently gained force with the addition of Doc & Co. and Maggu & Co. However, the driving force in the cartel still remains Mr Khali, the corporate ‘giant’.

It is often heard from inside reports that no one within the cartel ever challenges the decisions and policies of Mr Khali, an indication of his ‘might’, his influence over others and his charismatic leadership. Partha from Khud ki Maaro & Co. has tried on several occasions to challenge the leadership and failed miserably. However, the challenge still continues and Partha is expected to continue to get beaten in future too. Maggu & Co. too seems to be ‘compliant’ towards the policies suggested by Mr Khali for the cartel even if they are poles apart from their own company policies.

As per the reports on Blondie Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Doc & Co. too was in the risk of losing the acquisition of ‘Goodlooking Facchi & Co.’ after Chaddhaji & Co. launched a ‘popular music album from the 70s collection featuring Amitabh Bacchhan’ in collaboration with APJ Inc and Maggu & Co.

Reports suggest existence of strong bonds between Mr Khali and APJ Inc. With the involvement of Khali the shareholders are now reassured of right decisions, fair policies, improvement in performance and end of the ongoing crises in APJ Inc. It will be interesting to see in whose favour the events in future roll out.

Friday, September 12, 2008

APJ Inc. launches new financial instruments!

Leadership worries, shrinking market share in the PJ market, and falling share prices - APJ Inc. has seen it all. And so have its original promoters – Mr and Mrs Jain, who founded APJ Inc. in April 1985. After the successful run APJ Inc enjoyed over the last 22 years in Mumbai, little had they thought that shifting headquarters to Lucknow would see the fortunes slide.

The CEO’s recent Mumbai visit and reports of fresh help from the original promoters have brought APJ Inc in the news again. The original promoters are investing heavily raising the share prices from 63 kg to 66 kg in just 5 trading days.

Amidst this healthy share performance, APJ Inc has launched a line of new financial instruments called ‘Relationship Derivatives’. The 3 most popular derivatives include Forwards, Futures and Options.

Relationship Forwards: A contract between two parties to enter into a transaction (relationship/engagement) on a specified future date is called a forwards contract. An important characteristic of this contract is that only the two parties are involved in the contract without recourse to their original promoters (parents).

Relationship Futures: A contract between two parties to enter into a transaction on a specified future date involving not only the two participating concerns but also their promoters is called a Futures transaction. The promoters here act as regulatory bodies ensuring the execution of the contract on the said future date and rejecting any transactions appearing fraud or unsafe for the participating concerns. The permission of promoters is mandatory for entering into a futures contract, and due to promoters from both sides being involved in the transaction, the riskiness of the contract reduces.

Relationship Options: A relationship option is a contract involving two parties – option writer and the option receiver. In this contract, the option writer ‘proposes’ to enter into a contract with the option receiver on a future date. However, it then depends upon the decision of the option receiver- whether to exercise the option or not. If the option receiver agrees to the proposal and exercises the option, the two parties enter into a transaction, else if the receiver chooses not to exercise the option, the transaction does not materialise. Hence, the option receiver has the right but not the obligation to exercise the option.

An important feature of options is that an option receiver may receive proposals from multiple option writers; however, it may exercise only one of them. Similarly, in case of rejection by one option receiver, the option writer may approach other option receivers.

Another important parameter in option trading is the duration of the option. The option remains valid till either of the two parties – the writer or the receiver – does not enter into an agreement with a third party. If even one of the parties ‘engages’ itself in a transaction with a third party, the option expires.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

APJ Inc. losing market share

APJ Inc. entered the PJ market in hel(L) a year ago. The PJ market then, was saturating with potentially strong and established players like Anand Vaidya’s ‘God & Co.’, Niranjan Pai’s ‘PaiN & Co.’, Nikesh Rathi & Co. and Rohit Marathe & Co. The target for APJ Inc. was a challenging one. Competing against senior and established players, APJ Inc. had to create a brand image for itself.

The strategy followed by APJ Inc. was – delivering high quality PJs, by far the best hel(L) had ever seen, publicity and distribution through a variety of channels viz. Orkut, Batchmails, GTalk status messages, Yahoo groups, word of mouth publicity at gatherings etc., wider reach to the PGP22 and PGP23 customer base through Orkut and GTalk friend lists. In a few months of entering the PJ market, APJ Inc. was a dominant player and had not only grabbed a major market share, but virtually created a monopoly for its products in hel(L).

However, after the change in leadership, APJ Inc.’s focus on its primary product has been continuously declining resulting in lower outputs and shrinking market shares. APJ Inc. still holds the brand value for PJs, thanks to the ‘good old APJ’, but its dominance in hel(L) has reduced significantly. Under the new CEO, APJ Inc. is not concentrating enough on the production and publicity of its product. With a lot of new players entering the market from PGP24, it will be interesting to see if the new CEO succeeds in regaining the market share and dominance of his predecessor.