Month: February 2021

Public Relations (PR)

Shabbir Chunawalla

An organisation comes in contact with a wide variety of people. It has to communicate with them and touch them. This communication should be such that generates goodwill for the organisation. By definition, public relations establishes and maintains relationships which are beneficial between the organisation and the public. By public we mean the people or groups with which an organisation interacts — employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, investors, lending institutions, government, local communities, pressure groups, trade unions and the society at large. In other words, all those who have a stake in the organisation or stakeholders. It could be a financial or non-financial stake.

An organisation may have an in-house PR department or may avail of the services of an outside professional PR agency. PR is both tactical and strategic. It enables an organisation to build a corporate image tactically. As a function of management it enables to maintain favourable relationships with audiences to create corporate reputation. It deals with both the internal and external publics.

E-Commerece

Shabbir Chunawalla

Exponential growth is seen in online commerce. Brands make efforts to reach the customers through a variety of channels — on line and offline (omnichannel approach). Corporates and organisations put apps which serve as shopping platforms. Brands reach the remote and interior areas of the country through online shopping. It is estimated that by 2023-24, the e -commerce revenue will reach $100 billion. Thus the current decade is an important decade for e-commerce. Consumer electronics including mobile phones is a major category selling through e-commerce (PwC). Soon after categories such as groceries, apparel, consumer durables, life-style products would be selling reasonably well on e-commerce sites.

Most companies would have a variety of channels. There would be offline sale through sellers and there would be e-commerce.

Some brands would be direct-to-consumer brands. Many small players would also sell online. Companies would create super apps and there would be fintech apps on e-commerce sites. Convenience factor has boosted the sales on e-commerce sites. Sellers sell online through a third party or a site of their own. There could be hybird models of sale.

Spurious Drugs

Shabbir Chunawalla

Spurious drugs have many other names — fake drugs, adulterated drugs or counterfeit drugs.

Not of Standard Quality ( NSQ ) drugs are those drugs which fail to comply with the standards set out in the Second Schedule of the Act.

Let us be acquinted with the definition of a spurious drug under The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. (Sec 17 B).

i. If it is manufactured under a name which belongs to another drug.

ii. If it is an imitation or a substitute for an another drug or resembles another drug in a manner likely to deceive or bears upon it or upon its label or container, the name of another drug unless it is plainly and conspicuously marked so as to reveal its true character and its lack of identity with such other drug.

iii. If the label or container bears the name of an individual or company purporting to be the manufacturer of the drug, which individual or company is fictitious or does not exist.

iv. If it has been substituted wholly or in part by an another drug or substance.

v. If it purports to be the product of a manufacturer of whom it is truly not a product.

In this Act, the popular term counterfeit has not been used. The corresponding term that has been used for counterfeit is spurious.

Spurious/substandard/falsely labelled/ falisified and counterfeit (SSFFC) medicines are purposely and fraudulently mislabelled with respect to identity and/or source.

The drugs are classified in the Act as of Standard Quality or Not of Standard Quality. If a drug is declared NSQ by the regulatory authorities, the legal process is initiated including the process of recall.

Key Factors for Launch of 5G

Shabbir Chunawalla

The launch of 5G in India depends on the four key factors:

i availability of spectrum in the 3500 mm bands like 26-28 GHz bands.

ii 5G devices and their availability at reasonable prices.

iii. investible surplus with the telcom companies to invest in high speed network.

iv. appropriate technology such as open radio networks (O-RAN) which is cost effective and allows for faster roll outs.

O-RAN provides the operators to buy software and hardware from a number of vendors and then integrate the system. The telecom operators would not depend upon a few gear makers such as Nokia or Ericson.

Clubhouse App

Shabbir Chunawalla

Clubhouse is new audio-based social network. The app has a clubby nature where users can enter into different rooms either to participate in or listen to a conversation. The person who made the room is the one who bestows speaking priviliges to participants.

Many celebrities have tried this app — the latest to do so are Musk and Vlad Tenev CEO, Robinhood. Oprah, Mark Cuban, Van Jones and Chris Rock have tried the app.

Though Twitter had rolled out a voice-tweet feature that allowed users to record and post messages, Clubhouse wants to leave a mark on the voice-driven social media.

The app is in the beta mode and is still not available for public to use. There are 3.6 million installs, worldwide for the app which is available only on Apple’s iPhone. It is a new invite-only voice-based social media app.

This is a San Francisco-based company. Its closed-door nature of chats is being criticised. Clubhouse CEO is Paul Davidson.

3D Printing

Shabbir Chunawalla

Another name for 3D printing is Additive Manufacturing. It has the potential to change life, business and global economy. It has made mass customisation a reality. There are some complementary technologies such tissue engineering and bioprinting. In future, we will be able to produce heart and kidney.

In this technology, 3D design data is used to build a 3D object by depositing material layer by layer. Some make a distinction between additive manufacturing and 3D printing. In AM, industrial grade printers are used to print on a commercial scale. 3D printing (3DP) uses desk-top personal printers for prototyping and modelling. Mostly the terms are used interchangeably.

It is called disruptive technology. There is rapid and high rate of technology change. There is high social impact. It affects the economic value and has a high economic impact. In short, it transforms life, business and global economy.

A 3D product is fabricated using modelling software, say computer-aided design or CAD, a computer-controlled 3D printer and appropriate layering and printing material for the object. The layering materials commonly used are metal, plastics, ceramics, glass, liquids or even living cells and tissues in bioprinting.

In Japan, the first 3D printed objects were made in 1981. In 1984. GE, France filed a patent application for a process of 3D printing, but withdrew it soon. In that very year, Chuck Hull, a US engineer filed his own patent application. It was for the process ‘stereolithography.’ Here photopolymers printed in layers and cured by UV laser to create a 3D object. Chuck Hull is thus the pioneer in this area.

The technology progressed rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s. The technologies developed were inkjet printing, laser sintering and extrusion processes. In 2013, McKinsey hailed 3D as a disruptive technology. In the same year in Med Tech, a research paper from Morgan Stanley reported that medical applications topped the list of patents applied for.

In medical 3D printing, first a 3D image by MRI or CT scan is made which is converted to 3D printing software. It is then printed by using suitable material and by choosing appropriate printing technique. Lastly, there is post-printing processing.

There are over forty 3D printing technologies developed and in use.

3D printing is used in dentistry for creating 3D solid dental models, and implants dentures, crowns and bridges. Here oral scanning is used.

It is also used in orthopaedics and medical prosthetics. There are 3D printed drugs too. Spritam tablet which anti-epileptic is the first 3D printed tablet approved by FDA in 2015 in the US.

RBI’s Digital Currency

Shabbir Chunawalla

In the Budget session of parliament in early 2021, the government proposes to ban private cryptocurrencies in India. However, the underlying technology and its uses can be allowed. Cryptos could be allowed as commodities. It is to be seen what constitutes a private cryptocurrency and whether a Bitcoin-like asset could qualify as a private crypto. The earlier attempt was to ban the cryptocurrencies but the present attempt seems to promote the public cryptocurrencies. Private currencies are issued by private organisations or individuals who settle the transactions. As Bitcoin is used for settlement, people started calling it a currency. In reality, it is an asset, a digital commodity or store value. Bitcoin is decentralised — it is not run by an individual but by a network.

Since cryptocurrency is a global and decentralised system, it is difficult for any government to ban it. Such a technology and control is not vested in any entity.

The idea is to stop the scams running in the name of Bitcoin. There was a Bitcoin mining scam too.

The Government proposes to introduce a bill — the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021. It seeks to create conducive environment for an official digital currency to be introduced by the RBI. There are countries like China which are examining Central-bank-regulated-digital currencies (CBDs). India may join this club. It proposes regulation for such digital currencies. Indian rupee would be globally acceptable if there is digital currency issued by the RBI. Money transfers would be quicker, even internationally. it would be cheaper.

India’s decentralised blockchain could be called BharatChain.

Bitcoin : Some Minus Points

Shabbir Chunawalla

The rush for bitcoin could be called digital gold rush. However, the mining of bitcoin and its maintenance consumes huge amount of energy. Algorithms of bitcoin demand great computational power for transaction validation. In the process, carbon dioxide is released — several million tonnes of it. Power consumption is also huge — several tetra-watt hours. There are crypto farms which require power. There is so much mining in Southwest China where power is cheap, less taxed and is either thermal or hydro-electricity.

Bitcoin justifies this by stating that many a time the power is wasted. Some farms use waste material such as metal, are kept cool by sub-zero temperatures and are powered by economical electricity. However, cheap power too has its costs. The recent power blackouts in Iran are attributed to bitcoin. It is a fact that bitcoin wastes enormous amount of energy. However, all cryptocurrencies are not power-hungry. The Government and its departments too are energy guzzlers.