News Source: USA Today News Highlight: As the conventional supermarket turns 75 this month, its celebration takes shape amid sweeping changes in the industry.Consumers are buying nearly half their food at restaurants and takeout establishments, up sharply from 25% in 1980. Fueling the trend is a rise in dual-income households with time-starved couples, as well as young adults who don't want to cook."Families still eat most of their main meals at home, but a dramatically increasing number of those meals are fully or partially prepared by outside sources," says Todd Hultquist, spokesman for the Food Marketing Institute. URL of the news item: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2005-08-09-supermarket-usat_x.htm Read more

URL Link: http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_abstract.aspx?ar=1638&L2=21&L3=37 Highlights: By recasting the long-running argument about the role of business in society, companies can dislodge a debate that's now wedged between two seemingly incompatible points of view. The relationship between big business and society can be viewed as an implicit social contract, with obligations, opportunities, and mutual advantages. Large companies must take the lead in explaining their contribution to society. They should define their ultimate purpose in a way that is more subtle than "the business of business is business" and less defensive than most current approaches to corporate social responsibility. Source: McKinsey Quarterly Read more

URL Link: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=4938&t=marketing Highlights: The Balanced Scorecard introduced customer metrics into performance management systems. Scorecards feature all manner of wonderful objectives relating to the customer value proposition and customer outcome metrics—for example, market share, account share, acquisition, satisfaction, and retention. Yet amid all these measures of customer success, some companies lose sight of the ultimate objective: to make a profit from selling products and services. In their zeal to delight customers, these companies actually lose money with them. They become customer-obsessed rather than customer-focused. When the customer says "jump," they ask "how high?" They offer additional product features and services to their customers, but fail to receive prices that cover the costs for these additional features and services. How can companies avoid this situation? By adding a metric that summarizes customer profitability. Source: HBS Working Knowledge Read more

News Source: Knowledge @ Wharton News Highlight: He's heard it time and again from Western investors who have financed infrastructure improvement projects in developing countries. It goes something like this: Angry crowds protesting on the street. Political unrest. Governments caving in. Privatization failing. Money being lost. And, Henisz says, one last common denominator that made him more than a little curious: The involvement of the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank. "When we first had investors telling us this, we thought, 'Well, they're just giving us a line,'" says Henisz, a Wharton management professor. "But we kept hearing it. So then we said, 'Well, we've got an anecdote, and now we have to find some way to prove whether it's true.' The mob-on-the-street story cropped up enough times that we wanted to pursue it." URL of the news item: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=printArticle&ID=1259 Read more

News Source: Rediff News Highlight: Justice G T Nanavati Commission has examined the killings of 2733 Sikhs (The official figure of Sikhs killed in 1984 riots is now accepted by Justice Nanavati also) in New Delhi between October 31 and November 7. As many as 2557 fresh affidavits were filed before the commission. Long before the Nanavati Commission inquiry, Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission had inquired into anti-Sikh riots. Around 3752 affidavits were filed before Mishra Commission. These were also produced before the Nanavati Commission. Besides this, another 5000 affidavits were filed of general nature asking for compensation. URL of the news item: http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/09riots.htm Read more

News Source: Times Online News Highlight: A diary that purports to reflect the anger, boredom and loneliness of a young British Muslim who wanted to wage holy war has been found in Pakistan, according to The New York Times. NI_MPU('middle'); The newspaper claims in today's edition that the 35-page type-written diary of Zeeshan Siddique was found in a small house outside the city of Peshawar in north west Pakistan, where Mr Siddique, a 25-year-old man from Hounslow, West London, was reportedly arrested by Pakistani security officials on May 18.  URL of the news item: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1726730,00.html Read more

News Source: Rediff.com News Highlight:   The G T Nanavati Commission, which probed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, has said that there is "credible evidence" against now Union Minister Jagdish Tytler that he "very probably" had a hand in organising attacks on Sikhs, and recommended the government to take further action as may be found necessary.The Commission, in its report tabled in both Houses of Parliament on Monday along with the government's action taken report, also noted that "there was credible material" against Congress leaders Sajjan Kumar (now member of Parliament) and Balwan Khokhar that they were "probably involved as alleged by witnesses". URL of the news item: http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/08nanavati1.htm Read more

News Source: Netscape Money & Business News Highlight: Conspicuous by its absence in the sweeping energy bill that President Bush has championed and will sign Monday is his top energy priority: opening an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling. But the fight over the future of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will flare anew in Congress next month with drilling advocates saying they have their best chance in more than two decades of making it happen. Tapping what is believed to be at least 10 billion barrels of oil within the refuge's 1.5 million-acre coastal plain has been the centerpiece of Bush's energy agenda dating back to his first presidential campaign in 2000. Bush has repeatedly said the oil is important to the nation's national and economic security. URL of the news item: http://channels.netscape.com/ns/pf/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20050807/2037943525.htm&sc=1333&photoid=20030402WX101 Read more

News Source: Rediff News Highlight: A Russian mini-submarine that was trapped for 3 days beneath the Pacific ocean was brought to the surface on Sunday with all 7 people aboard alive after a British underwater robot helped rescue the vessel slicing through nets and debris entangling it.  The Russian minisub AS-28 'Priz', trapped 190 metres down, surfaced at 8:45 am IST and its crew independently opened the hatch and boarded the rescue boat. The condition of the crew members is 'satisfactory,' Rear Admiral Vladimir Pepelyayev said. They had been given necessary medical assistance on board the missile ship. URL of the news item: http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/07sub.htm Read more

News Source: Telegraph India News Highlight: Hardline Marxist academics are up in arms against a section of their own fraternity — left-liberal educationists — for drawing up a flawed national curriculum framework (NCF) that will come into effect in schools from the next academic year. Historians like Irfan Habib, Bipan Chandra and Arjun Dev today launched a campaign against NCERT director Krishna Kumar and his team of experts at a day-long seminar, saying they will not allow the framework to be adopted. “The 2005 NCF is appealing to the NDA-BJP constituency. We will stoutly oppose it and will try to get it withdrawn at the Central Advisory Board of Education (Cabe) meeting later this month,” Habib said. URL of the news item: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050807/asp/nation/story_5084804.asp Read more