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Looking Beyond Kyoto Protocol

Any Journey begins with the first step that you take. Is Kyoto Protocol a step towards an Environment friendly world? A deeper insight into it, would answer few of our queries; as also invite us to ask few more questions.

The Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which causes global warming. The Protocol, comes alive today (i.e. the 16 February 2005) following its ratification in late 2004 by Russia. The collective agreement of the Kyoto Protocol is to reduce these emissions by 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels during 2008 & 2012. Will it be the “Big Leap for Mankind” is something our future will tell us?

We are already committing 1.2 to 1.3ºC of average global warming. And if we ever touch the 2ºC mark then we are in for some big surprised: melting of ice-caps resulting rise of sea level, potential damage to ecosystem, loss of lives for factors one to many. While this is pretty know to all of us.

Who’s the target?

The GHGs in hot soup includes carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulphur hexafluoride. Emissions of GHGs is referred to as carbon dioxide equivalents. While the single most important greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide, some other gases are more significant on a molecular basis. Methane, for example, has 24.5 times the climate change impact that carbon dioxide does, molecule for molecule.

Kyoto Protocol – the Flexible Protocol

It is often said that” A weaker treaty is much better than no treaty at all”. But, when we look forward to an International treaty, negotiations are bound to happen and thanks to Kyoto Protocol we have lot of flexibility:

1. Carbon Trading or Emission Trading

Under this provision, at a micro-level emission quotas are provided to companies. The defaults exceeding the quota are asked to pay penalty or trade the surplus with another company who is below the permissible quota. This in EU and few other countries is referred to as the “cap and trade” system. This is also possible at a macro-level, where it is between countries. This would be of advantage when the real cost of emission reduction out-weighs the cost of emission trading.

2. Carbon Credits

Another way to offset the failure to fulfill target level emissions is by way of “Carbon Sinks”. These would be carbon capturing sinks which will store the carbon in the form of biomass like forests; the process is referred to as Sequestration.

This would call for “Carbon Accounting” which is another challenge in itself. The accounting process is a bit complex and it is known that approximately 50% of the dry weight of the biomass (forest in this case) is carbon.

3. Carbon Finance

It is the term used for carbon credits that would help finance emission reduction projects. This will generate credits that can be purchased by countries. Mostly the developing countries would invest in such projects and sell the credits to the developing countries that are overshooting their targets.

Countries committed to this noble cause amount to 141. Few would indeed be able to meet the emission targets, while few may fail in the process especially the OECD. The “cap and trade” mechanism may also gain popularity and cause a dint to the whole process of emission reduction.

Should we celebrate?

The environment groups like Greenpeace maybe celebrating today, at the onset of Kyoto Protocol. But, they also mention the fact that the protocol promises an overall reduction of just 4-5%; but to make a dent on the gaseous “glass” dome which envelopes the globe a reduction of 60% is a must. Harvard scientist and economists have gone up to say that KP is economically inefficient, unobjective, inequitable, and—worst of all—ineffective. Some do argue to the fact that the vast amount being spent to reduce emission levels, if put to the use of environment conservation like investment in forests, would foster larger results. The omission of major countries like China is also of concern (as the previous article points out).

Kyoto Protocol- the start or the end?

Kyoto Protocol comes as a modest beginning. At the end of tenure the citizens decide whether or not the ruling party be brought to power. Kyoto Protocol would be put to test come 2012.

Disclaimer

This article in no way reflects the views, opinions, thoughts or beliefs of any person, institution or organization related to the author and is the personal expression of the author. Some of the facts expressed in this article are a result of Internet findings. The author reserves the right not to be responsible for the topicality, correctness, completeness or quality of the information provided.

When will Gates be Open ?

Patent releases by IBM & Sun Microsystems has given a new dimension to the debate of patent vs. open source. At the backdrop of such an event one really wonders if ever the patent supporters give a thought to it.

“God sees the truth, but waits”, the quote from one of my school time stories seems to be applying at least for the Open Source Proponents. The Open Source movement was initiated to change cost, flexibility and control of technology, and its value and momentum continues to grow. And more so because it denounced the myth that “Patents foster Innovation”; patents may just save a few souls while making others crazy wanderlust in search of innovation.

Some respite came after the mega-giants like IBM and Sun Microsystems offered free access to some of their patents for anyone working on open-source projects. IBM, who owns the maximum number of patents in the world and who have been bagging maximum patents year-on-year, contributed 500 of her patents; while Sun Microsystems forwarded 1,673 of hers. This is an unconventional step departing from the cherished idea of “showing protectionism” towards the acquired patents. Though it’s also true that such steps have been initiated earlier, the database program named Cloudscape was given away by IBM last year, which took her $80 million to develop.

Will this come as a setback to the Open Source Critics especially Mr. Gates? Will Gates ever be Open? Considering, the other setback received on the European front for tightening of software patent laws, where the proposal got defeated much to the joy of anti-patent proponents.

Is this the beginning of a new era of IP management? And will similar acts be repeated by other companies? Is perhaps something we have to wait and watch. But, one of the big questions that is still being asked despite this overture is “Why would patents still be good?”

Disclaimer

This article in no way reflects the views, opinions, thoughts or beliefs of any person, institution or organization related to the author and is the personal expression of the author.

Stop Technology to Stop Me!

Banning the use of a technology is not the ultimate “solution” to the formidable problems that are haunting us today, but perhaps a “problem” in itself. Someone would smirk at us and yell out loud: “Rules are made to be broken”.

Mr. BadBoyGood chuckles and whispers aloud “Am the bad one, you can try stopping me, but I an’t no looser, I’ll think of other ways to get more mischievous”. He retorts “You crazy fellows you’ll Stop technology to Stop me, no good”. And he laughs again and disappears in the buzzing crowd. He’s just one amongst them; he’s just one amongst you.

Man is the creator of his own destiny. You certainly have the will and the power to stop a man from doing something; but his mind. And something which is more potent than the strongest armies of this world is an “Idea”, and that may be good or bad. We have been continually inventing, discovering and creating things, that has led us this far. But, in the process what has failed us is that we have not been able to “control” ourselves to make right use of these things. We invented Television and called it the “Idiot Box”. We created the Internet and called it a threat to the society. And latest on the list, for universal criticism is the powerful Mobile or Smart phones. The negative effects of these phones have created a lot of hue and cry. Thanks to the ever increasing misuse of these tiny mobile phones institutions, states, or even countries at large have been banning its use in select places. Good news is that these select places would just include: Hospitals, Airports, Filling stations, Religious places, Sports meet, Security Establishments (like defense outfits, important government offices, parliaments, nuclear plants, dams, hydro-electric power stations, etc.), Work-places, Cinema halls, Change-rooms, Warehouses, Trains, Voting booths, Banks, Schools, while driving, …..well am exhausted now. Would have been better, if I had mentioned anyplace expect home.

You may argue that it’s justifiable to “restrict” (rather than banning) its use at some of the aforementioned places. Yes of course, but does banning give you ANY guarantee that the malicious use of this mobile technology together with the digital multimedia technology be put to check. We have locks, we have sound security systems still we hear about robbery. We have advanced surveillance systems, we have well-guarded territories yet we hear about infiltration. We have the best of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Firewalls, yet we fail to prevent unsolicited intrusion. The same goes for anti-virus systems as well.

This article has been inspired from the recent ban on the use of mobile phones in the schools of my State (and it applies to the teachers as well). And quite surprisingly, the decision has followed after an MMS sex scandal that shocked the nation, which happened in a State other than mine. Prior to my writing this article I performed a goggle (which is synonymous to “search” these days) and was astounded to find numerous cases of mobile phone banning across states, across countries. I seldom recall what my Strategic Management Professor would say”If you give a child the car to drive, he is bound to cause an accident. Who is at fault the Car or the Child?” And as Mr. BadBoyGood mentioned you cannot “stop technology to stop me”. Banning can never be a solution; but it’s a problem in itself. Technology is all-powerful; you just cannot stop it to stop yourself.

Is it wise to think that Mr.BadBoyGood will be less mischievous once he is outside the school premises? Just think about it.

Disclaimer

This article in no way reflects the views, opinions, thoughts or beliefs of any person, institution or organization related to the author and is the personal expression of the author.

Customer is King; But should a King be your Customer?

The too much glorification of today’s Customer and the adage “Customer is the King” can turn your tomorrow’s dreams into nightmares.

“Your majesty, two hundred shoemakers have assembled in your courtroom to display their make of your royal shoe”. Needless to mention, each shoe was prepared after months of painstaking work. After a long wait the King finally selects a shoe but in the end rejects it by saying “That’s not my favorite color” …… well, this story isn’t atypical because here the customer is the King.

Coming back to our era, no businessman would ever want to have a customer who is like the king of old times. But, yes we do talk about the now clichéd adage: “Customer is the King”. This has more to do with providing “more value” to the customers, in short making them “more satisfied” by means of “more compromises or adaptations”. And yes, business is now more customer-centric, than what it used to be when the Ford was all black. And the quest for such an orientation would continue till customers feel they have finally landed into an eternal bliss.

Let’s take a minute off, to realize a subtle difference. A prospective customer goes to a shopping arcade and visits one of the garment stores and immediately grumbles “You don’t have the AC, at least the next-door shop was offering me a cold drink in this scorching heat”. This is what happens when the “value” held by the product on-sale looses its’ significance and something “else” takes precedence over “the decision making factor”. And this is just one case in point, to keep it simple. We do discuss at length about the New Economy business, but seldom forget to talk about the New Age customer who will now become the “CustEmperor”.

In a survey over a base of 2,000 senior executives and managers, 85 percent of respondents said their customers' expectations are higher than what was two years ago. The tough part is that meeting current customer expectations can cause those expectations to keep rising even higher. Each time a customer receives service that makes a positive impression, it becomes harder to impress that customer the next time. And the pressure flows down the value chain. CRM is then thought of another savior, but “Technology does not make the customer king”. Bad news is that a better informed customer becomes all the more demanding. Trying to provide better service through technology or customer care or just by offering your customers some cold-drinks; isn't anyway unfounded. The issue of contention is that who will bear the cost. There has already been much debate on the issue of Ad-spending, and the hefty cost bearing. But, your zeal to provide “more” for the same “less” that you are getting will land you nowhere. This would gift you the 4C’s in the process: Cost, Complaints, Cut-throat-competition and of course more customer Churn.

Small businessmen do question at times: “Why should we have this passion for customers when they, in return to our services, default on payments, complain continuously, or make unreasonable, unethical or illegal demands?” Is segmentation the answer? Segmenting customers by value potential will become more common, so that the best customers will continue to get the best services. But, this is against the much popular adage, Customer is the king, and then another social concern rises: Service Differentiation.

Giving in too much to the unseemly demands of the customers, would allow them to have obnoxious gist. The improper treatment vetted out to front-line staff by some of those prospective customers is a forewarning. “Customer is the King”, is a fitting adage, but we need not take the phrase in its literary sense. It means treating your customer in an appropriate manner. So on his second, third or for that matter hundredth visit back to you, he doesn’t get an increased level of service, but the appropriate level of service. Acquiring customers today is difficult and a challenge in itself, but you need not go head-over-heals to catch hold of them. Curse me if you like, believe me if you can, even too much of love can turn your adorable kid to a spoiled brat and in no time. Isn’t it better for all of us to remain as a reasonable customer and not be an impish CustEmperor. Certainly, history would be made from the decisions you & I will make today.

Disclaimer

This article in no way reflects the views, opinions, thoughts or beliefs of any person, institution or organization related to the author and is the personal expression of the author.