jun 8th, 2007
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070607_796583.htm?campaign_id=nws_insdr_jun8&link_position=link10
mallya also shows off. despite the heat and light here regarding ambani, i am not sure that we must all be into self-abnegation.
it's also true that almost by definition, big businesses do have to do unethical things. some do more, some do less, but in general, all do bribe politicians and violate environmental and other laws.
4 comments:
Branson is a sort of Vittal Mallya - middle class boy who made it big. Vittalanna led a frugal life (in all but one respect) and drove himself to work till the last few years of his life. He was an extremely hard working man and expected nothing else from his employees. The entire UB organisation worked as if it was business as usual, the day Vittal Mallya passed away. Vijay M was back at work in less than a week. The Mallya family has been a very generous patron of Sri Balaji. They are in their way helping Balaji repay the loan he took for his own wedding a few 1000 years ago! UB went thru a bit of a dip about 15 years back. The man is back in action busier than ever. Of all of India's businessmen, this man has panache and flair and is the only one who can some day take on international media tycoons on their own turf. Would be fun to see him bid for WSJ!
the comparison to branson is apt. mallya is entering new businesses and doing well in them. kingfisher is a fine airline to fly (although personally i think paramount is the best airline in india now). i also find the kingfisher inflight magazine a bit too much -- lots of horrible pictures of ugly socialites. so mallya has his excesses, but if he's successful, his big ego and his flaunting of wealth are acceptable. he is playing his cards right, like mittal did in building up his huge empire. (so much so that there was a story in the WSJ wondering if mittal's entry into oil would mean he could consolidate it as he did steel. they concluded it was too much even for mittal to do.)
conspicuous un-consumption is also an affectation. it's like sarojini naidu said about gandhi: "it costs the country a fortune to keep gandhiji in poverty."
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