B2B here has no connections whatsoever to the plebeian meaning of business-to-business transactions in the marketing sense of the term. It is a more personalized term here, referring to the newest happening thing of my life – “Back to B-school” (albeit for a shorter stint than I would have liked, I admit).
Since the time I started working I had been sorely missing the feel of being a student. The longing and wistfulness was addressed to some extent by the weekend Spanish classes. Not a believer of half-measures, I plunged head on at the first given opportunity to get back to a real classroom.
Now the subject I am learning might come as a surprise to many, even I surprised myself by deciding to study it. Econometrics was very much an elective which I could have opted for while pursuing my MBA in environmental management. But I decided not to opt for it owing to a multitude of factors at that time. Its utility in quantitative research can’t be denied. The current situation is overwhelmingly conducive to study this subject. I would say a lot of things happened which I can only term as sheer coincidences which goaded me to begin my journey in this applied field.
I learnt about the usefulness and practical value of this bailiwick while attending a practitioner’s conference on evaluation of developmental programs. There I learnt that the power of making time series estimations is not one to be underestimated (pun intended). Even as I was listening to erudite professors holding forth on econometric techniques in the development sector, a mail popped in my inbox announcing this opportunity to join the IFMR B-school to study econometrics for 25 hours flat! Hurrah!!! Now I would be able to fully appreciate the finer nuances of this science by intelligibly following the meat of all the technical discussions.
Hopefully Bikram, soon we will be on the same page when discussions veer towards propensity score matching (PSM), difference in difference etc. So here I am crossing my fingers to take my newest endeavour to its logical conclusion!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
BP rising
The oil spill from a rig off the Mexican Gulf coast has been hogging the headlines for quite some time now. It is now being termed the biggest industrial disaster in the history of the United States, leaving the Exxon valdez incident looking like a minor fortuity. Let’s just look at the numbers to get a sense of the magnitude of the accident – Exxon Valdez spilled 40.9 million gallons of oil, and as per the estimation on 15th June, 2010 the BP oil spill has spewed 543 million litres of oil and the figures are rising by the day. What adds to the acuteness of the problem here is the nature of the accident itself. Exxon Valdez oil spill was confined to the surface of water whereas Deepwater Horizon is releasing oil 5,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
It is all about business
While I worried and fretted about the environmental consequences of this spill on the marine biodiversity, a banker friend added his own 2 cents to the discussion. His primary concern was the impact of the spill on the crude oil markets in future and how the loss of so many gallons of oil will ever be compensated. Already the exercise of finger pointing has commenced with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (a partner of BP and owner of a quarter of the Deepwater Horizon rig) dragging its feet from any liabilities and putting the blame squarely on the doorsteps of BP.
Some ingenious solutions have also been put forth. A scientist of Indian origin, Seshadri Ramkumar has created a special form of cotton fabric that can clean up crude oil up to 40 times its weight and Texas University suggests that this would be the best bet to clean up the mess. Kevin Costner the Hollywood star on the other hand proposes to put his 32 machines to work, which can separate crude oil from water at the rate of 200 gallons per minute. But this number pales in comparison to the amount of water that is to be cleansed of oil - 6.43 quadrillion gallons of water!!! Thus it would take approximately 60 million years if we solely depended on Costner’s machines.
British Petroleum or Beyond Petroleum?
What is in the name you may ask? Everything I say. The continued anti-British rhetoric by the U.S administration led by the supreme commander Obama himself has ruffled the feathers of the Britons. The whole situation is getting political overtones – with Obama giving his battle plans for the spill, attacking Britain tacitly owing to its British roots. But the oil giant is anything but British, it is a true blue MNC and has even changed its name to Beyond Petroleum long back. But I feel the reaction of the US is the typical “Uncle Sam behavior”. There is a sense of déjà vu as we see US plans to handle the situation and a parallel can be drawn to the issue of world terrorism. As long as the problem happens in the third world no one bothers and the moment the trouble crops up in your own backyard you shake the world. This irony is particularly stark as the oil spill comes at the backdrop of the delivery of sentence in the Bhopal gas disaster in which a callous US company is the main perpetrator of the tragedy.
I can’t stop myself from drawing vicarious pleasure to see the US fumbling to set its own house in order in the aftermath of a tragic chemical disaster that is bound to affect the biodiversity and livelihoods in the region for the decades to come.
It is all about business
While I worried and fretted about the environmental consequences of this spill on the marine biodiversity, a banker friend added his own 2 cents to the discussion. His primary concern was the impact of the spill on the crude oil markets in future and how the loss of so many gallons of oil will ever be compensated. Already the exercise of finger pointing has commenced with Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (a partner of BP and owner of a quarter of the Deepwater Horizon rig) dragging its feet from any liabilities and putting the blame squarely on the doorsteps of BP.
Some ingenious solutions have also been put forth. A scientist of Indian origin, Seshadri Ramkumar has created a special form of cotton fabric that can clean up crude oil up to 40 times its weight and Texas University suggests that this would be the best bet to clean up the mess. Kevin Costner the Hollywood star on the other hand proposes to put his 32 machines to work, which can separate crude oil from water at the rate of 200 gallons per minute. But this number pales in comparison to the amount of water that is to be cleansed of oil - 6.43 quadrillion gallons of water!!! Thus it would take approximately 60 million years if we solely depended on Costner’s machines.
British Petroleum or Beyond Petroleum?
What is in the name you may ask? Everything I say. The continued anti-British rhetoric by the U.S administration led by the supreme commander Obama himself has ruffled the feathers of the Britons. The whole situation is getting political overtones – with Obama giving his battle plans for the spill, attacking Britain tacitly owing to its British roots. But the oil giant is anything but British, it is a true blue MNC and has even changed its name to Beyond Petroleum long back. But I feel the reaction of the US is the typical “Uncle Sam behavior”. There is a sense of déjà vu as we see US plans to handle the situation and a parallel can be drawn to the issue of world terrorism. As long as the problem happens in the third world no one bothers and the moment the trouble crops up in your own backyard you shake the world. This irony is particularly stark as the oil spill comes at the backdrop of the delivery of sentence in the Bhopal gas disaster in which a callous US company is the main perpetrator of the tragedy.
I can’t stop myself from drawing vicarious pleasure to see the US fumbling to set its own house in order in the aftermath of a tragic chemical disaster that is bound to affect the biodiversity and livelihoods in the region for the decades to come.
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