HERE COMES INDIA!
Or rather, here comes the latest in corporate strategy, soon to be imposed on the Indians. Reliance Industries, a huge business conglomerate, is planning to open 'Walmart-style' superstores across India, to grab a major slice of the 200 billion dollars currently spent by Indian consumers. This area of the Indian economy is currently dominated by small family-run shops - about 12 million of them - but this may come to an end if the megastores are allowed to spread. Protection has, so far, protected India's markets and shops from Wal-Mart and Tesco themselves, but Reliance, already a huge Indian petroleum company,[1] is hoping that its new company can use similar tactics to reap similar profits.[2]
Another huge company, based on valuable liquid assets, is India's United Beverages Group. The second largest brewer in the world,[3] in 2005 UBS launched India's first 'no frills' airline, named after their famous brand of Kingfisher beer. In a similar case to the Walmartisation of India, UBS chief Vijay Mallya seeks to imitate European airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair.[4] What these two developments means is that India, with a population of over one billion, is being subjected to the low cost, anti-worker and anti-environment practises of that Tesco and Ryanair have developed so well.
LIKE YOUR DAD TRYING TO DANCE Speaking of Walmart, the latest attempt at rebranding by the bland-tastic megastore involves setting up a website based on Myspace, where people can set up personal web pages and network with each other. With a cringe-inducing call to 'express their individuality' Walmart is hoping to lure a generation of net-savvy kids onto their website. However, Walmart forbids users writing certain stuff, including that which is 'profane, disruptive, unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, vulgar', which would seem to destroy the appeal for most kids. As one unimpresed 14-year old asked, 'Are these real kids?'[5]
ROBBERY IS NO FAIR TRADE And finally a word about AngloAshanti, a mining company run by our old friend Mark Moody-Stuart. It seems that AA and the rest of the world's major gold mining corporations are trying to create a 'green' certification for gold that has not been mined in an ecologically destructive way. While this may seem a step forward, it is likely that this simply represents an attempt by the gold companies to get a stamp of approval for their 'green' gold - which can then be sold at a higher price - while in the mean time keeping up their main task of business as usual, i.e. spilling cyanide and working with warlords.[6] References
[1] http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/71/71410.html
[2] www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/14957495.htm
[3] www.answers.com/topic/united-beverages-group
[4] www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/06/26/Navigation/177/207359/High+life.html
[5] http://adage.com/article.php?article_id=110520
[6] www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13829
LIKE YOUR DAD TRYING TO DANCE Speaking of Walmart, the latest attempt at rebranding by the bland-tastic megastore involves setting up a website based on Myspace, where people can set up personal web pages and network with each other. With a cringe-inducing call to 'express their individuality' Walmart is hoping to lure a generation of net-savvy kids onto their website. However, Walmart forbids users writing certain stuff, including that which is 'profane, disruptive, unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, vulgar', which would seem to destroy the appeal for most kids. As one unimpresed 14-year old asked, 'Are these real kids?'[5]
ROBBERY IS NO FAIR TRADE And finally a word about AngloAshanti, a mining company run by our old friend Mark Moody-Stuart. It seems that AA and the rest of the world's major gold mining corporations are trying to create a 'green' certification for gold that has not been mined in an ecologically destructive way. While this may seem a step forward, it is likely that this simply represents an attempt by the gold companies to get a stamp of approval for their 'green' gold - which can then be sold at a higher price - while in the mean time keeping up their main task of business as usual, i.e. spilling cyanide and working with warlords.[6] References
[1] http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/71/71410.html
[2] www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/14957495.htm
[3] www.answers.com/topic/united-beverages-group
[4] www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/06/26/Navigation/177/207359/High+life.html
[5] http://adage.com/article.php?article_id=110520
[6] www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=13829