Reflections

There have been talks in the country for quite some time for forming a seraiki province in south of Punjab and a Hazara province in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There exists a strong case for more provinces in the country if we look around at the world around us. Although Pakistan is the 6 th most populous country and the 36th largest in terms of geographic area, it would rank 56th in a list of countries with most provinces (& im considering FATA as the 5 th province). These countries include all of the most developed ones. On the other hand, ours is obviously the epitome of national mismanagement. There are many reasons why there should be more provinces. One, as per the general rule of management, it is easier to administer if the whole is divided into homogenous parts which share the same characteristics. In large administrative units, it is more probable that an area of the province may get neglected in terms of its economic and development needs. Moreover, having more provinc...

I don’t understand how anyone could believe that uniting, under whatever umbrella, could be wrong or useless. Human race comprises of different races, creeds, religions etc (& of-course in today’s world “countries”) often driven by their own interests/perspectives which are not necessarily in consonance with the interests/perspectives of others. Who’s would reign supreme? And Muslims are fortunate to have a very clearly laid down ideology and raison d’être. Thinking of the strength of Muslims (being roughly 24% of world population); thinking of the combined military strength and thinking of the natural resources present in Muslims lands, the Muslims as a “nation” could actually be leading human civilization today instead of being subservient and underdeveloped. (It is said that the purpose of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 which introduced the concept of “nation states” was done so by “secularists” in order to ensure that the primary allegiance of man is not towards his religion...

In the middle of last year, Engro Foods launched it’s low end “milk” brand by the name o f Dairy Omung. It confounded some people as to what was the need for a cheaper milk brand when they had Olpers as the market leader; would it not cannibalize Olpers?   The fact is that this has been yet another move by engro foods which which shows its superior marketing capabilities. As AG Laffley, former CEO of P&G, used to see it: “We have a philosophy and a strategy. When times are tough, you build share.” In recessionary times, an organization has certain decisions to make: -           Increase A&P Since the PnL is under pressure during such times, firms tend to cut down on their marketing budget, as Olpers appears to be doing as they did not, for the first time, run any thematic during last Ramazans. Such a move which seems a necessity in the short term and does not really have any immediate future implications does carry long term im...