Ease of Doing business in Nepal: 2015

Singapore has ranked as a leader in the Doing Business Report- 2015. This year Singapore is followed by New Zealand, Hongkong SAR China, Denmark, Republic of Korea, Norway and so on. The United States ranks 7th, while Japan ranks 29th.

Ease of Doing Business report 2015 is 12th annual report of World Bank group that provides investigated report of the business regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. It is based on measurement of 10 different quantitative factors namely: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credits, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

In 2013-14 Tajikistan was the nation that improved most significantly followed by Benin, Togo, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, etc. To be noted also is the Sub Saharan African region with the largest number of economies accounted for regulatory reforms in 2013/14. While South Asia as a whole has a lower reforms and is slightly placed over OECD countries and Middle Ease and North Africa countries based on the reforms measures taken.

Nepal performance in the Ease of Doing Business has improved by a mere position of a unit with ranking of 108. Still to this date Nepal remains an unattractive place to do business. Though this year figure shows improvements in some indicators of the study, still Nepal needs to improve in many sectors. However if we compare Nepal's rank with that of other South Asian countries, it seems to be in a comparatively better position. Sri Lanka improved the most by jumping six place up in the ranking to 99. Sri Lanka is followed by Nepal with ranking of 108. Other countries rank as follows: Maldives (116), Bhutan (125), Pakistan (128), India (142), Bangladesh (173). The regional rank is 134.

The trading across border of Nepal is lowest among its South Asian neighbours. However it has the best ranking in terms of registering property(globally 27th) which requires 3 procedures, 5 days and 4.8% of property value to register. The regional average is 6.4 procedure, 99.5 days, and 7.2% of total property value.

This year following reforms aided for improvement of the ranking:
1) Adaptation of new building regulations ( Earthquake resilience)
2) Improved building inspections process
3) Improved/Introduced electronic platforms or online services (for obtaining building permits)

The ranking is updated till June 1, 2014 and thus doesn't include the latest strings of development that the Nepalese government has unveiled in Nepalese business environment like, trade agreement, regulatory changes in the hydropower sector etc. However Ease of Doing Business indicator is remarkable in the sense it gives country like Nepal an assessment of which regulatory reforms have been working, where and why, either in a country's scenario or of that of any other country and thus learn from them.

Massive power cuts, uncertainty about constitutional drafting, volatile political and business environment, etc might have had negative effect to this ranking. As such the government should put a vigil eyes on reforms measure and thus should incorporate methods to improve the business condition of the country. The indicators like:- getting electricity, getting credit, paying taxes etc should be improved more to ensure that ranking gets improved.

However the recent bilateral agreements, Power Trade Agreement with India, surging foreign in Tourism sector, possible promulgation of constitution etc makes one hopeful of the overall business environment improving and thus the ease of doing business also to improve.



Reference:
http://www.doingbusiness.org/

Keeping Unethical Practices at bay

Reasoning of ethics as grey and white area has been an escaping reason for many people and companies to justify their unethical practices.  However, Of lately, Ethics has been identified as one of the important aspect for a business. The increasing concerns regarding ethics and moral values promoted by organization like: World Forum For Ethics in Business, Ethics Resource Center , LRN etc. have grasped the attention of the major companies of the world. 

Pic credits: undp.org

To keep unethical practices at bay, we should move forward with following practices:

1) Assessment of cultural base of employees and organization
making an assessment of the cultural background of all the employees in an organization. This helps the company in identification and development of organizations culture. It also enables the company to understand the base of ethical/unethical practices in an organization and thus the tendency of unethical practices not being reported.

2) Designing of desired(ethically sound) corporate culture
The assessment of cultural background and its findings will assist the company to come forward with the desired corporate culture and change some aspects of the existing corporate culture. This need a conscious overhauling of the company's fundamental values and practices, the general practices in the industry, government policies etc. 

3) Implementation of Plans
Generation of detailed plan of implementation is required to fulfill the gap between the ideal corporate culture desired for and the reality. The integration should be a gradual and stepwise process to implement the desired level of ethical practices in an organization. The company must stand in terms of what it preaches and what it practices.

4) Promotion of ethical leadership
This is also another key aspect for ensuring promotion and practices of ethical practices at workplace. Imagine the quality of ethical practices in an organization in which has sound guidelines for ethical practices but the leader is corrupt and thus unethical. As such, the top level authorities should be conscious regarding their practices as they will influence a large chunk of subordinates who follow them. Besides organization should also educate employees to go beyond complying laws and to adopt principled behavior in workplace, ethically justified practices and sound decision making, which thus promote ethical corporate culture in the long term.  

5) Employees engagement in Ethical practices
Employee engagement in activities regarding the promotion of ethical practices should be done. Leadership must generate trust from employees regarding the company's corporate culture. There must be a two way discussions regarding the company corporate culture and why it should be practices by the employees. Everyone should understand why the corporate culture matters to them and feel inspired to implement them.  Engaging employees about company's expectations regarding appropriate conduct at workplace, companies can motivate them for ethical and profitable practice at the same time.

6) Systematic and responsive reporting mechanism
Creation of trustworthy reporting system is another most important part of implementing ethical practices in an organization. The management must develop system that makes the employee comfortable to raise issues about ethics, with their supervisors. A clear and responsive system for reporting of the unethical practices, handling of the grievance/reporting, investigation of raised issues, should be done. Similarly employees must confident that management will be respectful to towards the employees making complaints.


References:
Ethics.org
Hbr.org
World Forum For Ethics in Business

Kochi: South India Tour 2014

Kochi is one of the most visited place in India. The capital state of Kerala, Kochi boasts as the most beautiful natural harbor of the world. Also known as "Queen of Arabian sea", Kochi attracts many tourists to enjoy its backwaters which is famous in the world. Because of the backwaters, kochi is often compared to Venice of Italy.

We reached to Kochi at 3:00 am in the morning. Being deprived of sleep whole night because of 2S seat, we had no option but to sleep in the platform after we reached Kochi railway platform. So as to make ourselves safe, we choosed the clean place outside of Railway station manager to sleep. It was such a sound sleep that we didn't hear any disturbances in spite of the bustling train passing through the platform. 

Early in the morning we searched for accommodation and finally got one near famous Marine drive of Ernakulam, Kochi. It was difficult to manage our travelling in and around kochi because of tourist attraction being scattered apart in contrast to that of Kanyakumari. We felt a kind of shock when we heard that Kochi was in the process of being a dry state and sales of Alcohol was strictly prohibited. For me, I couldn't understand the logic of making a famous tourist destination a dry state. Apparently we could see some of its direct impact when we saw bars shut down, lodges prices dropped down and not much of tourists hanging out inspite of the time being a tourist season.

Inspite of not being able to drink we made sure to enjoy yourself by visiting some of the beautiful places of "Gods own country: Kerala" and enjoyed its  natural beauty. One point to support dry state would have been to make tourist enjoy Kerala naturally and I couldn't disagree. 

We managed to visit following places in Cochin, Kerala.

1) Alappuzha Backwaters ride

This was one of the most beautiful and serene boat drive I had ever experienced in my life. We hired a boat house and went off for 3 hours boat drive in the backwaters. Alappuzha is one of the most preferred location to enjoy the backwater drive in Kochi. Also known popularly as "Venice of the East", Alappuzha also boasts of  picturesque canals, beaches and lagoons. We could enjoy the natural environment the most and were mesmerized by the natural beauty of backwaters. And one thing not to miss was the warm hospitality of the people of Kerala, esp those involved in tourism industry. 

 Backwater boat drive was such a serene and peaceful experience that it helped us to connect with self and to enjoy the nature at the best. We also enjoyed watching people enjoying the boat water ride, waving hand to them, and witnessing the life of people in those areas. It was amazing to have look into the life of people whose daily livelihood was directly linked with water.

2) Marine Drive

Our group in Marine Drive

Marine Drive of Cochin was nearby to our hotel so we managed to visit it during the evening time. I along with my friends were excited to visit it imagining the fun of sauntering around the marine of Mumbai. Plus, the googled photos of Marine drive of Cochin had added more excitement to us. But to our surprise the Marine drive of Cochin was small, not properly maintained, arranged with poor lights and was not the most happening place for evening walk. Thus Marine drive left us disappointed.

Googled photo, Marine Drive in its Decorated structure. At present it is not well maintained

3) Fort Kochi 

Fort Cochin was on our list on the next day of our trip to Cochin. We took a government ferry from Marine drive to Fort Kochi at a cost of INC 4 each. It took us about 20 minutes to reach Fort Kochi. We wandered around for some time until we decided to hire a cycle and took a ride around the island. We could also spot some Nepali speaking guys while we were trying to find cycle for rent. Finally we got some cycles and went off to see the Kochi Fort. We made visit to Mahatma Gandhi beach, Dutch Palace, Jewish museum and street,  beautiful church named as Santa Cruz Basilica Church, etc

Chinese Fishing net in Kochi

Santa Cruz Basilica Church

We also enjoyed visiting the local market in Fort Kochi, purchasing some souvenirs,  and enjoyed the seafood etc.  With this our South India tour came to an end. We boarded a train to our station on evening. And from the next very morning we were again back to our same old routine. 

Kanyakumari:South India Tour 2014

Our journey was a overnight train from Rameshwaram to Kanyakumari. As again, we didn't have enough seats and thus had to manage somehow. We checked seats which were vacant from Rameswaram to Maduria and occupied them. And from Madurai onwards, we shifted to General class compartment which had relatively less passengers. We reached Kanyakumari early in the morning at 6:00 am. The train platform was clean and well-maintained. After checking hoarding board of the railway platform regarding the tourist destination in Rameswaram, we went in search of accommodation.

Sunrise in Kanyakumari 

We checked Vivekananda Kendra for rooms. But unfortunately couldn't get. Our hunt for accommodation continued for next one hour, but still failed to get rooms. The reason being "Dussera" being on the same day. Finally we spotted someone checking out from a lodge and got a room there. After resting for some time and taking a delicious lunch in Punjabi Dhaba near our hotel, we started our exploration for the day.

1) Kanyakumari beach

We took a holy dip in the merger point of Indian ocean, Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal. The place is famously known as Kanyakumari triveni and it is believed that after taking a dip in this holy place, people will wash away their crimes.

Vivekanand Rock Memorial and Thiruvallur Statue

2) Vivekananda Rock memorial

Locate in a rock island , this place is the one in which Swami Vivekananda did meditation and attained enlightenment . A ferry near to Kanyakumari temple take visitors to the memorial. However the ferries are operated by state government and is poorly managed, that makes visitors wait for many hours. 

 3) Kanyakumari Temple

We took darshan of Kanyakumari temple on the very auspicious day of Dashain festival. Kanyakumari temple is one of the shakti peeth (power goddess) of Hindu religion. We also took part in a chariot ride of Goddess Kanyakumari and felt lucky to see the unique culture of Kanyakumari. 

4)  Snow white church

One of the most beautiful church that I  have ever been, this church lies within walking distance from Kanyakumari Temple. We went there to learn about church and about christians way of prayings. 

5) Gandhi memorial
Built in the memory of MK Gandhi who visited Kanyakumari twice, this building marks the place where his ashes were kept for darshan before immersing it to the sea. The architecture of the building is said to be uniques as it is designed in such a style that on the birthday of Gandhi ji (October 2), the sun rays falls from the hole in the roof to directly on the spot where his urn was kept for public display. Also it is 79 feet in height representing the age of Gandhi ji.  One can see a spectacular view of Vivekananda Rock memorial, Thiruvalluvar statue, Lighthouse and View tower from this place.

6) Kanyakumari View Tower
The view tower is nearer to Gandhi Memorial. One can have a mesmerizing view of the major parts of Kanyakumari from this place. The entrance fee is minimal( i guess 10 rs). On the top you can feel the cool breeze of the Arabian sea. If you want to take a panoramic view of Kanyakumari, this place is perfect.

7) Siridi Sai Temple

This place is about 12 Km from Kanyakumari Bus stand. We took a local bus to reach the temple. Unfortunately, because of misunderstanding, two of our friends were left in the bus station. They later catched next bus to teach the temple. It was midday when we reached the temple and the priest was preparing for midday pooja. We attended the puja and after staying there for couple of minutes, we caught a local bus to reach another famous temple of the area: Suchindram.

7) Suchindram
Suchindram is about 30 minutes drive from Kanyakumari. It is another famous temple of this area, which is also famous because of its majestic entrance tower that is filled with many sculptures and statues of hindu mythology.

The place is said to have a idol representing all three major gods of Hinduism: Brahma, Vishnu and Maheswara. We couldn't see much inside the temple as it was lunch time and the temple officials were in rush to close the temple. One disappointing thing here was that they temple officials and priests were so coercive to ask the visitors to donate money.

Well in conclusion Kanyakumari was all about religious pilgrimage. We couldn't manage to do anything  beside visiting temples. However it was a great fun and a religious experience for all of us.

Rameswaram: South India Tour 2014

It was almost the end of September and Dashain vacation was near. In Nepal it lasts for complete 10 days. But in India it is symbolically celebrated just for a day or a two by worshipping goddess durga and festival is known as Dussera. As such it was sure that we weren't getting long vacation that would be enough for us to go to Nepal and thus came the plan for south India tour: Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari and Cochin.  Originally the idea was to include almost every one of the class but latter train ticket unavailability, cost factors etc. caused the number to decrease to 6 . Finally we started to plan for the journey and took a ticket 2 weeks prior of the journey. In spite of trying early, the tickets were almost full and in some of the route we were bound to accept waiting list tickets.

Tirupati:

Shopping was done. Bags were packed and we were all set for our week long south India tour. In the morning of September 30, 2014 we checked out of the hostel at 8:00 am and took a public bus to Tirupati. After a bus ride of about 1 hr. 30 mins, we finally reached the city of temple: Tirupati. Tirupati is known as one of the most visited religions shrines of the world after Vatican City and thus is very famous among the followers of Hinduism. This time our purpose of going to Tirupati was not for pilgrimage but to catch a train to Rameswaram.

In contrast to the railway platforms of the north India, we came to find the platform of Tirupati very clean and well-maintained. As we were early by some hours, we took some foods and waited in the platform. As we were placed in waiting list, we were just elated to get an SMS from Indian railways informing that we have been allocated with four seats. Finally at 12:30 pm Meenakshi Express (our train) arrived and we boarded the train.

Since it was first train journey to some of our friends, they were just elated and were sharing about the experience of the journey. So as to pass some time, we started to play card games. After about 2 hours of travel, the train passed just from the league nearer to our college. As the train moved on, we started to take a track of the position of the train via Google map. The scenery outside the train was so lovely and green. I came to realize those parts of Tamilnadu as being relatively cooler and beautiful than that of Andhra Pradesh.

The train was stopping in different locations. We were managing to get ourselves engaged by getting something to eat from wherever the train stops. Time was passing by and soon it was darker outside. We started to eat our packed foods and went to sleep early. As we didn't had enough seats, we managed to sleep two people in  a single berth.

Rameswaram:

The next day we woke up at around 5:00 am when the train stopped in Madurai. In Madurai junction the train got almost empty thus we changed our seats and started to sleep more comfortably as the final station was still 3 hours away from Madurai.

We woke up at 5:00 am to see the sea link in Rameshwaram known as Pamban Bridge. Our train had started to swiftly pass from the sea link. The view of the sealink was breath-taking as this was a unique experience to us. Early morning beautiful sunrise in the island and the clear blue water of the Indian ocean made a perfect beginning of the day.  We equipped ourselves with cameras and cell phone and began to take videos and photos of the bridge. Finally within couple of minutes, we reached Rameswaram rail station.

We then started searching for accommodation. We had googled about Bangur Yatri Niwas which was nearer to Ramesworam temple, and one of the beautiful place to stay at, in an affordable cost. As we asked the caretaker about rooms he firstly refused. But after requesting for sometime, he finally provided us two rooms at a cost of Rs 750. We went to our rooms and took rest for some time. As a very good veg food was available in the Ashram at a cheap price of Rs 60, we took lunch in the same hotel. It was about 11 am when we checked out of the hotel to go to Dhanuskoti Beach and the surroundings where a sea link was said to be established between India and Srilanka by Lord Ram. Following were the places that we visited in Rameswaram

1.       Dhanuskoti beach:

We took a bus to Dhanuskoti beach from the gate of Rameswaram temple which cost us something like 16 Rs and took about 25 minutes. On the beach of Dhanuskoti we could see a mesmerizing view of the clear (but rough) blue Indian Ocean on one side and silent Bay of Bengal on the other. From that place we hired a bus to take us to Ramsetu that was about half an hour drive and would cost us Rs 100. As the market was not properly regulated, the charge was very high here. This place was once a living hamlet, and was burgeoning trade route and pilgrimage route between Indian and Srilanka. On the way we saw some wrecked Church, roadways, railway track etc. I came to know from the fellow passenger that there was a small town in this place which was destroyed by a cyclone in 1964. Now you get to see very few in this place. The bus driver said us that the nearest distance to Srilanka from this place was like 18 Km (but of course we were not permitted to go). As I stood on the tip of India, I thought of Rama and Rawan as ordinary people who fought for land or women, but whose success stories passed over to the generation as religious sculptures. However, the remnants of sea link between India and Srilanka (also proved by NASA) made me more confused.  After staying there from some couple of minutes, clicking some photos, we went back to the bus station.

 

2.       Rameshworam Temple:

We came directly from Dhanuskoti beach to our station. We changed our dress and decided to go for Ramesworam darshan as because the pilgrims were very few in the evening. You need to make sure that you keep you footwear, cameras, cellphones etc. away while you plan to enter the temple. In the beginning it was confusing for us as we entered via opposite gate. Finally we reached the main gate where temple miking was going on. A gentleman offered to help us saying that he would charge little more for taking holy dip in the kundas inside the temple. We agreed and later to find that the man had cheated us for Rs 100 each. However taking holy bath in Rameshworam temple kundas was a worthy experience and it gave us religious vibe when we chanted “Om nama shivaya” while taking holy bath in 22 kundas.

3.       Agni Ksehtra:

This place is exactly on the front side of the temple which in fact is Bay of Bengal. You can find many pilgrims taking holy bath here.

4.       Gandhamathana parvatham:

This is the tallest place of Island that we went on second day of Ramesworam stay. One can see a spectacular view of the whole island from this place. This temple is said to have the footprints of Lord Rama on a chakra. Because of being located in a topmost hill of island, we took lots of pictures in this place

5.       Pamban Bridge:

We visited to Pamban Bridge on the second day. We just walked across the bridge, took some photos, watched the train pass by etc. On the other side of the bridge we could see lots of peacock playing near the sea beach.  This was an amazing experience to all of us who had seen peacock only in zoo.

6.       House of Kalam:

We also visited the House of Kalam, which is house of former president of India-Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. In spite of our expectation to see the simpler life of Kalam from his original house, we were disappointed to see a modern house with a kind of museum about Dr. Kalam. However we came to know at least sth. about Dr. Kalam and how this man of wisdom had struggled to occupy the highest position of India.

Our Rameswaram tour was totally religious. Beside these place, we visited many other places like: Lakshman Tirtha, Panchamukhi Hanuman, Jatayu Tirtha, etc during our two days and one night stay. As we had out train to Kanyakumari on the evening of second day, we took some food and reached to train platform to wait for the train.

Colonization, Independence Day and it's aspects

While you are away from your home, it’s obvious for you to miss your country. In such condition, It is generally seen that people display greater deal of patriotism regarding their nation. Exactly same situation was observed last Thursday (October 9, 2014) when Ugandan friends studying in India celebrated their 52nd Independence Day, here in Chittoor-India. The program was organized in the evening and about 20 Ugandans friends were present along with equivalent number of invitees from different countries like: Nepal, Botswana, Laos, Vietnam, Guyana etc. From Nepal it was me and my two friends from Nepal.

While I was seated in the program, to my surprise, I came to find the program very formal, well-planned, and well arranged. Members from the organizing committee were sharing their happiness about Uganda being an Independent country and how a former British colony has progressed rapidly over time. As part of the program, I was asked to share some words on behalf of the friends from representative countries.  For me, I congratulated the organizing committee and the people of the Uganda on the occasion of a happy independence day and wished them a bright future. I also wished that the relation that we shared at personal level to be elevated to the country level as most of the country representative present there (including Nepal) didn’t have bilateral relationship with Uganda. And finally I concluded my speech by thanking them for having me as a part of the program.

While the program was going with much enthusiasm, I began to think about the relevance of celebrating Independence Day. I believe that Independence Day is celebrated to mark the end of oppressive and tyrannical rule of colonizer on a particular country. It also means that the particular colonized country has attained a position to craft its future by itself and the people have rights to be involved in national development with much of human rights.

For a citizen of a county which has never been colonized(Nepal), I began to ponder about celebration of particular day which would make us delighted.  We have lots of national days in Nepal: Democracy day, Republic day, National Unity day, etc.  It’s not that Nepalese are less patriotic but when it comes to celebration of particular day of national day, we aren't that much enthusiastic about it. The prime reason behind this is that, in spite of bringing many changes and successful revolutions in the country, we haven’t been able to develop the nation to according to the desired expectation. As such this is creating frustration among the people and thus they are least bothered to mark such days.

While drafting this piece of opinion, I remember some of my friends repenting about Nepal not being colony of British when British raj was prevailing in its neighboring country India. They also sometime curse Gurkhas forces for stopping British invasion troops from entering Nepal. They reason that had British ruled Nepal, Nepal would have been much more developed that what it is now. While for me I just trash this opinion.

First thing, I am more proud to be citizen of a country which has never been colonized in its history.

Second, colonizers do more harm to the colonized country than benefit them. For example, prior to India being colonized, it had economic growth rate of approx. 24% which was ripped off to 4% when British raj left India.(see this link for reference)  Most of the colonized countries are still poor to this day: Tanzania, Gambia, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, etc.  As such it largely depends upon the country, its people and its institutions for the development of a nation, also advocated in the book “ Why Nations Fail: James A. Robinson and Daron Acemool”. We can never expect other country to come to our nation and develop it. 

Early Phase of Globalization: Phase III

First phase of globalization (1492-1850) was basically about state-funded voyages that would later on pave way for colonization. In Second phase of globalization (1850-1914), scientific development in means of communication and transportation speeded-up the pace of globalization. Finally the favorable ambiance created by first and second phase of Globalization turned out more encompassing and humongous in Third phase of globalization(1945-present).

On the dawn of 1945, the global economic reforms initiated by United States along with its allies of World War-II provided a framework for commencement of international trade and commerce. Economic cooperation were headed in a direction to prevent the recurrence of global economic crisis like that of 1930s.

The period from late 1940s to early 1970s is often referred to as Golden Age of Capitalism as this phase involved transfer of capital from the Colonial center to its large colonized states started. More global regulatory bodies were installed : World Bank, International Monetary Fund etc that facilitated global trade and played an intermediary role to settle the trade related disputes. Adding more, vital concepts of modern economy: deregulation of the corporate sector, the privatization of public enterprises and institutions, tax reduction, deregulation of capital flows etc flourished in this period. This would change the future of business within the county border and across the national frontiers.

The structure of economy then was quiet different in contrast to what it is at present. Banking sector then was characterized by control of politicians. But at present, banking sector has evolved as strong force for globalization and in most of the advancing economies it is independent and more powerful. Also on the dawn of third phase of globalization, state began focusing on expansion of welfare states, catering to the needs of the poor population, safeguarding the interests of business communities, etc.

Post 1945 saw a major structural change in global politics in which the proponent of capitalism, USA began a global superpower. Similarly global organization like UN acted as a beacon for effective global governance and peace keeping. Beside UN, the emergence of other ING-Os like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Greenpeace etc focused to work on the issues which was difficult for the governmental bodies to work upon. Their operation and cooperation across the world strengthened the global cooperation, understanding and goodwill.

Being Unethical: Is it a gradual process ?

Picture Credits: Wikipedia

Ethics is often referred to as a grey area, especially when we talk about it in correlation with business. However those who are adamant that ethics should be integral part of business opine that ethics though is an abstract concept, should be put forth as Blank and White area. Most of the time people are aware about what is ethical and what is not. However what is that very thing which drive people away from being ethical? Let’s analyses.

Reference Cases:

1) After I enter into my MBA class, it is implied that cell phones should be kept silent or switched off. This was strictly followed during some of the earlier classes. However, after some days, we started using cellphones within class for messaging, using email and internet etc. Since this act wasn't being interrupted by faculty members, there was more lax. And finally some of us started even receiving calls in classes.

2) Our hostel mess serves single banana per meal. But as I am fond of it, I am keen to get some extra bananas. But this is not possible in ethical way. So I started to take one right in the beginning(and have it) and another right after lunch saying that I didn't take it previously. And what next, I even tried getting more when the mess servers are busy.

What generalization we can develop from these two simple real life cases is that "being unethical is a gradual process and if unethical behavior is not checked/interrupted, we tend to become more unethical".

Why is it so? 

A person who commits small unethical act will be motivated when he/she performs that task. This will bring on him/her a sense of achievement or accomplishment because of being able to disobey the law. It will also enhance on you a feeling that you won't get caught and it's easier for you to master such unethical practices.  It will make the doer comfortable about that, and before you know, it snowballs into something vehemently large. This tendency of committing one unethical task after another will lead to a vicious cycle of being unethical and we become a total corrupt.

Though I assume that whether you commit a small degree of unethical activity or a huge degree of unethical activity, the jurisdiction is the same: you end up doing something unethical. However, it is the society that defines whether an activity is ethical is or not, based on the perception of the larger size of the population. So sometimes society may forgive small degree of unethical practices as being a normal act. But we should be conscious of whether or not that lax has been promoting our society to be more unethical.

Many of the business scandal that were followed in recent history follow the same trend. They being from something small and finally end up with something really uncontrollable unethical practices. While they manage to cheat something small in one round, they might be willing to cheat a bit more in another round and most likely a really a big in the upcoming rounds. And this is because of the organization's behavior of  not paying attention to the small issues signaling that it is willing to tolerate a level of questionable behavior. For reference:

•  Modoff Ponzi scheme started when he covered relatively small financial losses. Later on, over the period of 15 years, the scam grew in manifold time and finally reaching a galloping figure of $65 billion. 
• The same is in case for World Phone hacking scandal. 
• Collapse of Enron etc

The beginning of most corrupt practices is a lower one. Most of the time we begin with small practices like taking away of office equipment, hiking of transportation expenses, labeling of personal meeting as official visit and son on. And this trend can be identified as a serious problem for the future of the business world. The case is more serious (and interesting) as a recent survey conducted by ethics.org reveals the following findings: 

• About 73 % of surveyed Americans employed full time reported ethical lapses on the    job, 36% said they were distracted by such an incident.
• Young workers, from 18-34, reported substantially higher levels of witnessing ethical lapses and being distracted than middle-aged and older workers.

As such we can observe it vividly that if we do not take proper corrective actions/measures instantly, the future of business world and the society in which we will be jeopardized and our ethical and moral standards will degenerate. 

References:

Ethics.org

Hbr.org

World Forum For Ethics in Business

(for reference about systematic procedure to address unethical practices in an organization, refer to another BlogSpot on ethics) 

Early Phase of Globalization : Phase II

The second phase of globalization covers the period between 1850 AD to 1914 AD. It is marked by the period of extensive internalization of science, commerce, transportation and communication in the middle of the nineteenth century. As such, this phase is also known as "The Age of Transnational Integration".

We can make a study of second phase of globalization based on following four topics:

1. Marvellous Inventions: 
During the second half of the 19th century, world saw the advent of advancement major technological findings that would largely shape the future of the world. Invention of Train system, Postal system and Steam Engines. All these inventions facilitated the integration of the world in an speedy way. These inventions shaped people expectation regarding the future of the integrated world.

2. Flow of Capital and Goods:
We can also identify this phase as one in which there was a cross-national flow of investment capital. This phase of history was marked by an enhanced colonized system that also aided the globalization of business and economic development of colonies. Great Britain investment in its colonies: America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand would later-on facilitate economic development. Also there was extensive flow of goods in this period: the international voyage of goods from India (Asia) to Great Britain (Europe), Canada to Britain, Australia to Britain, etc.  Similarly other colonies based in Europe exploited the vast resources of Africa, to their benefit. However this vast integration of world economies was changed after first world war, which to some extent disrupted the chains of globalization.

3. Establishment of Global facilitating Institutions: 
The proliferation of social organization in this phase: The Scout(1901), Rotary, The Red Cross(1863), The Salvation Army (1865), Olympic games, Nobel prize etc would later prove as a facilitating mechanism for the integration of the whole world.  Also it was visualised that the world would need a global language for regulating and enhancing future global trade. Developed in Poland by Zamenhof', the language was called Esperanto(1887) , which though did not develop enormously, was overtaken by English as language of globalization.  

4. Promotion of notion of Free Competition and Global Integration:
Organizations like Olympic games(1896), FIFA (1904)  developed a common platform to bring together global population together,  and compete for the better international relations among nations. This helped to promote the feeling of competition while also favoring co-operation and harmony among the global population. As such, the basic lifeline of Globalization, i.e free competition, was popularised in second phase. Also they promoted humanitarian ideals and belief in the value of knowledge.

Hence we can conclude that second phase laid down those rudimentary framework which paved way for rapid and massive form of globalization in the third phase.

Sources:
Wikipedia
University of Texas @ Austin
The World is Flat 

Early Phase of Globalization : Phase I

Globalization has tied people of the world living together, no matter what part of the world and what walks of life. No country, regardless of its size, structure and business can ignore the globalization of business. In the present world, advancement in science and technology has completely transformed the concept of globalization. Forces like: modern and sophisticated means of communication, transportation, establishment of global trade facilitation bodies like World Bank, IMF etc, establishment of regional/bilateral/multilateral economic treaties etc has completed added new spheres to the discussion of globalization. 

At the present time, when the concepts of globalization is dragging more attention than ever and is ever evolving, we need to understand the historical development of concepts and practice of globalization. 

First Phase of Globalization:

First phases of globalization began in 1492 AD. with the voyage of Christopher Columbus to the new world and the voyages of european exploration that made possible for proliferation of European colonies throughout the world. 

The explorers like: Christopher Columbus, sponsored by Spanish crown, completed four voyages across the Atlantic ocean. Columbus introduced American lands to the world. Similarly Portuguese explorer Vasco Degama made India know to the world in 1498. Similarly, Ferninand McGellan made the first circumnavigation across the world in the service of King Charles -I of Spain, between 1519-1522. Francis Drave made second circumnavigation across the world from 1577-1580, to the service of Elizabeth -I. Drave implemented the concept of tax and executed the confiscation of foreign treasures across the world. 

Basically there were many other overseas expedition prior to these. But these particular event are referred to as beginner of globalization. We can accredit following reasons for this:

1) All of these events were state sponsored acquisition of strategically valuable knowledge and skills that enabled nations like Spain, United Kingdom and Portugal to establish vast colonial empires across the world.

2) These expedition carried out state sponsored expedition to confiscate lust treasures of colonial states that could later on become wealth of the state. This later on paved possibilities of collaboration between state and private companies. eg: Great Britain and East India Company.

3) State sponsorship of global trading monopolies was a foreshadowing of state sponsored national champions global corporations of the model era.

References:
Age of Globalization course, Coursera
Wikipedia
Google

North Korea : Why is it Failing ?

While we talk about reasons of countries failing, we may infer different reasons for the failure of the nations. Even developmental experts may differ in opinion regarding this. (By failure, here I mean, the inability of the state mechanism to address the basic issues like: control over its territory, political stability, basic human rights, strong international relations, etc.)  People may attribute the reason of failure of nation to religion factor, meaning that religion practices forbids or hinders development. While some experts may opine that the cause for such phenomena of poor performance is Climatic factor. Experts are also found identifying geographical factors as forces that brings poorness to a nation. But digging more into this topic, we can ascertain without difficulty that none of the aforementioned factors prove hinderance for a nation to develop.

A more illustration to this would be:

1) Religion factors:
Any particular religion does not favor peopperity. Protestant countries like : England, Netherland etc are developed. So are Catholic countries like France. While inspite of following Christianity, the status of  Congo is still pathetic.

2) Climate factors:
 Prosperity has flourished even in tropical country like South Africa.

3) Geographical factors:
The geographical factor cannot justify the differences between North Korea and South Korea.

4) Cultural factors:
Generally held belief that "islamic values are inconsistent with economic successes" does contrast with the development of countries like Qatar,UAE etc.

Well lets us dump all these reason and look forward to see case of North Korea and South Korea in details.



Case of North Korea

The landmass on the both side of 38 parallel share almost the same religion, climate, geography, culture, history, ancestors, common diseases, language, cuisine, and ethnic identity.  However the period after the separation of Korean peninsula in the early 1950s, the two countries have evolved differently. After the separation, like the American troops residing in the South, the USSR troops remained in N. Korea to rebuild the country.  This incident would turn out to affect the status of the two country in longer period of time.


After the division, the political institutions and economics institutions that proliferated in these countries were of different nature. Under the influence of United states, S Korea developed inclusive institutions that favored growth via entrepreneurship and innovation, basic human rights, right to property, etc. While in contrast, N Korea influenced by Soviet Union created a single party system, favoring Totalitarianism (family dictatorship). The economic system in isolated Korea is wrecked and over the period of around 64 years of separation, the Per Capita of South Korea has reached to             $ 32,020(2012), while that of N. Korea is $ 1,800(as of 2010). Until mid 1970s, both the countries had almost same GDP per capita.

To add more to the clarity, let's make the use of this light picture of the Korean peninsula, taken at night. S Korea is seen lit brightly at night with crowded population, living sound life in prosperous city. In contrast, the other Korea seems like an abandoned nation. North Korea with a dim picture, akin to what the reality is there; in terms of development status, happiness of people, and prosperity of the nation.

View of Korean Peninsula at Night: NASA Earth observator

Will days come for North Korea to propel away the darkness from the nation and to lit up the country with kind of infrastructures and fuels that would blaze it in the world map ? Will such political juncture appear in North Korea, that will  force its totalitarian ruler to adopt to the political system in favor of the people? Only Kim Jong-un or future can answer this...