Monday, April 6, 2009

Tamil proverbs and management concepts

In the previous blog I claimed that INC followed free trade through exports and BJP's focus towards domestic consumption. These technical terms are explained easily using two tamil proverbs.

neo-liberal policies -

"ஊரான் பிள்ளையை ஊட்டி வளர்த்தால் தன் பிள்ளை தானே வளரும்."

This particular proverb explains clearly the concept behind neo-liberal policies. This liberalization policy encourages countries to open up the country's market for foreign companies and the goods manufactured by them. They encourage the other countries to export more instead of serving the local consumers. The effect of this is seen in the form of surge in prices of commodities in local market. I claim this as a risky strategy because the countries that are in power provide subsidies to the local players there by making their product cheaper. On the other hand the so called poor nations that are governed through neo-liberal policies are denied to provide subsidies because the governments are asked to reduce operating expenses. This forces the local players to increase their selling price of goods in domestic market. However, the competition from foreign players forces them to fix the price less than their cost price. This can be identified as the main reason for the formers to suffer because they are affected mostly by this Washington Consensus.

retion-o-centric approach -

"தனக்குப்பின் தானம்."

This approach follows a different route. The approach focuses towards the domestic needs. Hence, the main motive of this approach is self sustenance in other words this is called "Swadesi movement". It is very much possible to think that this strategy might isolate us from the rest of the world. But this notion is false. The example is seen through developed nations. Considering any sector it is seen that these countries export those goods that are available plenty. For example Scotch whisky is very famous world wide and India is not isolated from this. Last year the Scotland government increased the age limit for the purchase of Alcohol to 21. A country that is proud of manufacturing alcohol is trying to safeguard its own population from the ill habits. Contrary to this the same government encourages the export of alcohol to countries such as China and India. This is because these countries have major population. By encouraging these countries to consume more alcohol the government is trying to balance the loss of income incurred due to the rise in the age limit in its own country. Thus the country benefits financially and builds a healthy culture for its own public interest.

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