Leave Sharing amongst co-workers: Augure India first introduced and applied in 2009

On May 4, 2012, Times of India, the largest circulated English news daily from India, published an anchor story on a scheme which allows employees to donate their excess leave to their colleagues who may need it in the times of crisis. Most probably, the story has been carried in all editions of the Times of India.

Ms. Namrata Singh of Times News Network (TNN) in her story "Leave-pooling catches on in companies", wrote, “The latest on the sharing front is something called leave-pooling that one can, quite literally, bank on. An innovation by a corporate, the scheme allows employees to donate their excess leave to their colleagues who may need it in times of crisis”.

Naming the corporate which recently introduced this policy, she continued, "Accenture India, which recently introduced this policy called ‘Hours That Help’, believes that apart from the basic benefit it offers needy employees, encourages the spirit of sharing as well”. 

Quoting Manoj Biswas, Geographic Unit HR Lead of Accenture India, Ms. Singh wrote, "it emerged as a result of many of our people wanting to assist their colleagues who needed extra leave on account of a medical emergency or personal problem. We also recognized that many people did not avail of their leave fully by the end of the year. This offered us an opportunity to address both situations”.

But in real, it is not Accenture India which is “the pioneer” in introducing leave sharing application as claimed in the Times of India story, rather a very little known company – Augure India Information Services Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Augure SA, France, had introduced and applied the policy of online leave sharing system way back in 2009.

Incorporated in 2008, Augure India Information Services Private Limited was into design and development of corporate communications solutions for reputation and media management for its overseas clients. With two offices in India – Vadodara in Gujarat and Pune in Maharashtra, Augure India which worked  with boards, management teams, communication professionals and marketing agencies worldwide to manage complex national and global CSR, public affairs, PR and product strategies, had delivered an end-to-end portfolio of software, intelligence, tools and consulting services.

Sharing leaves with co-workers online was conceived by Abhijit Mukhopadhyay, the then Director on Board and Country Head of Augure India. Mr. Mukhopadhyay, a seasoned internal and external communications professional, realised that more than bonding, it was employer branding which was a need of the hour to attract and retain best talent for a little known start up company like Augure India. The main challenge was to denote the reputation of Augure India as a good employer.

Ms. Anindita Basu, who was an MCA student and a project intern with Augure India Information Services Private Limited, submitted her project report on “Employee Management System at Augure India” as partial fulfilment of Master of Computer Applications (MCA) studies in June 2009 to Vasad based Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Technology under Gujarat University. In between January to June 2009 she got involved in the development and enhancement of the entire Employee Management System of Augure India where sharing of leaves with co-workers was a module.

Sick Leave Donation Application of Augure India

Though Augure India Information Services Private Limited was a very small company dedicated to Sentiment Monitoring, Reputation Management with Public Relations Consultancy, but acted in a transparent manner and had deployed written policies on Employee Management Systems. The Employees Engagement System which was comprised of Creation of own profile with name designation, department, contact address and number, official and personal mail ids, sharing of news, views, photos, music etc with read, edit, delete and searching facilities; posting comments on a particular article or photograph; planning out vacations in advance; one click newsletter sharing; online leave application and approval with leave history; searching of various policies of the company including leave rule policy etc were introduced to be transparent from the initial days of its operation.

The online leave sharing helped Augure India in three ways – increased the bonding amongst co-workers, employee branding and goodwill as well as employee engagement.

There are many organizations which have failed miserably in proper employee engagement programme. In a recent study, it has been observed that 57 per cent of unengaged employees do not trust seniors of their organization!

Since Augure India has deployed a transparent employee engagement system since its initial days of operation, there were hardly any incident that employees had not trusted their seniors and left the organization with a bad note.

But sharing leaves is still not very common in India. What Accenture India has introduced recently, Augure India has developed and implemented the system way back in 2009.

‘Atithi Devo Bhavah’ campaign proves ‘The Customer is King’

Atithi Devo Bhavah [Atithi devo bhavaḥ] (English: 'The guest is God' or 'Guest become God') is a Sanskrit verse, taken from an ancient Hindu scripture which became part of the "code of conduct" for Hindu society. Atithi Devo Bhavah regards a procedure of the Host-Guest relationship. Recently it has also become the tag line of India's Ministry of Tourism's campaign to improve the treatment of tourists in India; the Indian version of Peter Drucker's customer satisfaction slogan, 'The customer is king'.

Atithi Devo Bhavah campaign by Amir Khan

India attracts millions of tourists each year, 3.3 million in 2003, but lags far behind other destinations. To attempt to improve the number of tourists travelling to India, the Tourism Department of India started the Atithi Devo Bhavah campaign with the theme The Incredible India.

'Atithi Devo Bhavah' is a Social Awareness Campaign aimed at providing the inbound tourist a greater sense of being welcomed to the country. The campaign targets the general public, while focusing mainly on the stakeholders of the tourism industry. The campaign provides training and orientation to taxi drivers, guides, immigration officers, police and other personnel who interact directly with the tourist.

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan was roped in as the brand ambassador of the 'Atithi Devo Bhavah' campaign for the Ministry of Tourism.

As the old saying goes, “Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.” That is the essence of Atithi Devo Bhavah. It’s all about developing a sense of responsibility towards tourists in India and preserving India’s rich culture and heritage.

And for that to happen, there was a need to change the attitude towards tourists. There were vivid instances where the touch of hospitality was seen lost. It was hospitality on which India was known for. - The campain - Atithi Devo Bhavah was aimed to bring that warmth back.

Atithi Devo Bhavah was a seven point program of hospitality and training. The insight of seven points are hereunder:

Samvedan Sheelta or Sensitisation: Educate various sections of the tourism industry on how each one of them contributes to the growth of the tourism industry.

Prashikshan or Training and Induction: Teach people how to approach and interact with a tourist, as this forms the ‘moment of truth’ in any service industry.

Prerna or Motivation: Motivate people to participate in this programme through various measures e.g. awards/recognition for the best worker in the segment.

Pramani Karan or Certification: Certification to ensure that standards shall be maintained at all times in the training programme.

Pratipushti or Feedback: Obtain feedback from the tourists about the service they have received and the experience they’ve had.

Samanya Bodh or General Awareness: The mass media communication campaign will be undertaken to create general awareness among the public about the necessity and the benefits of the Atithi Devo Bhavah programme.

Swamitwa or Ownership: Adopt the Atithi Devo Bhavah movement as your own, fellow Indians, for many livelihoods are dependent on tourism.

The social campaign by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Atithi Devo Bhavah has done a miracle for the ministry. The impact of this specific campaign can be measured based on two parameters - Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India and Foreign Exchange Earnings.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during the Month of September, 2011 was 4.01 lakh as compared to FTAs of 3.69 lakh during the month of September, 2010 and 3.31 lakh in August, 2009. There has been a growth of 8.7 per cent in September, 2011 over September, 2010 as compared to a growth of 11.6  per cent registered in September 2010 over September, 2009. The growth of 8.7 per cent in September 2011 is higher than 5.3 per cent in August, 2011. FTAs during the period January-September, 2011 were 42.20 lakh with a growth of 10.0 per cent, as compared to the FTAs of 38.35 lakh with a growth of 8.0  per cent during January-September 2010 over the corresponding period of 2009.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) during the month of September 2011 were Rs. 5748 crore as compared to Rs. 4678 crore in September 2010 and Rs 3798 crore in September 2009. The growth rate in FEE in Rs terms in September 2011 was 22.9 per cent as compared to 23.2 per cent in September 2010 over September 2009. FEE from tourism in rupee terms during January-September 2011 were Rs. 53761 crore with a growth of 16.6 per cent, as compared to the FEE of Rs. 46115 crore with a growth of 22.7 per cent during January- September 2010 over the corresponding period of 2009.

FEE in US$ terms during the month of September 2011 were US$ 1208 million as compared to FEE of US$ 1015 million during the month of September, 2010 and US$ 785 million in September 2009. The growth rate in FEE in US$ terms in September 2011 over September 2010 was 19 per cent as compared to the growth of 29.3 per cent in September 2010 over September 2009. FEE from tourism in terms of US$ during January-September 2011 were US$ 11886 million with a growth of 18.7 per cent, as compared to US$ 10012 million with a growth of 30.5 per cent during January-August 2010 over the corresponding Period of 2009.

A proud to be Indian said, this is really a good initiative taken by the Government of India to improve India's image. We Indians have very good ethics and moral values, but somewhere there is some glitch caused due to increasing westernization and broadcast explicit media on television. All we need is a refurbishment and revival of our moral ethics and this is being done very well through the campaign - Atithi Devo Bhavah.

After many instances of foreign women being raped in India were observed, foreign visitors got discouraged. To repair India’s tarnished image, Atithi Devo Bhavah campaign with brand ambassador film actor Aamir Khan was initiated to increase people’s awareness which is now paying dividend.

India Government and Team Anna Face Off | How to manage the crisis situation of this magnitude?

Let’s do a role play today. No..no, I am not taking about the same role play which we often perform in the chat rooms. This could be a role play for communications and public relations specialists who are serious about managing the reputation of their respective brands during a crisis situation.

Think of a scenario. This scenario is having a direct link with the ongoing tussle between the Indian Government led by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Civil Society led by Mr. Anna Hazare. The background of the tussle runs like this:

India is indeed in a serious need of an Anti-Corruption Law. Now, to have a strong and effective anti-corruption law, under pressured Government has constituted a committee comprising of five members from the Government side and five members from Civil Society. After series of meeting and discussion, both the agitating sides came out with two different drafts of the proposed bill. The Indian Cabinet pushed the draft before the Indian Parliament which has been prepared by the representatives from the Government rejecting the draft prepared by the Civil Society. The Cabinet, however, included many effective points from the draft of the Civil Society before forwarding it to the Parliament for enactment of the Act.

Now, not satisfying with the rejections of the six vital sections to be included in the proposed Act, Civil Society led by Mr. Anna Hazare triggered a nationwide agitation. He effectively used media, both print and electronic, ATL and BTL campaigns to mobilize masses in his support and demand.

The Government, on the other hand, which has to work under a Constitutional and legal framework, cannot but accept all suggestions from the Civil Society. Above all, it is the Parliament and Legislations which decide to pass or reject a bill before getting it enacted.

The Government wishes to stress that the issue before India is not whether a Lok Pal Bill (popular name of the Government’s draft) is necessary or desirable. All of elected representatives have agreed that a Lok Pal Bill must be passed as early as possible. The question is, who drafts the law and who makes the law? The Prime Minister of India submits that the time-honoured practice is that the Executive drafts a Bill and places it before the Parliament and that Parliament debates and adopts the Bill with amendments if necessary. In the process of adoption of the Bill, there will be opportunities for the members of the Civil Society including Mr. Anna Hazare and others to present their views to the Standing Committee to which this Bill has been referred by the Speaker of the Lower House of the Indian Parliament. The Standing Committee as well as Parliament can modify the Bill if they so desire.

As wished sections are not included in the proposed bill, Mr. Anna Hazare and his team, threatened Government to go for an indefinite hunger strike against the Government until and unless the bill proposed by the Civil Society is passed by the Parliament.

After that, Government using and flexing its own muscle, imposed prohibitory orders on the venue of the fast. Without taking a chance Government arrested Mr. Anna Hazare and some top leaders of the team before they start their indefinite fast.

Hang on, I am not here to tell you what happened between the Government and Mr. Anna Hazare. All media channels are covering it.

Let’s now start the role play.

Imagine that you are the Chief Executive of your company with a very reputed brand. As a Chief Executive, you have control of money, power etc. At the same time, you have to work under a constitution of the organization. Also think that one of your stake holders has mobilized a campaign against you or the brand that you manage using various communication channels and exploring various means.

This is a very ideal situation for Communications or Public Relations professionals to manage the crisis and to bring it under control without causing much damage to the reputation of the brand.

The situation mentioned above, is very much similar to the context of the tussle between the Government and Team Anna. The face-off between the Government and Team Anna would leave us a huge management lessons on how to mobilize masses with you against the authority, how to use the media effectively and how to generate maximum RoI (Return on Investment) or “brownie points” without spending a single penny. On the other hand, it was a total calamity and disaster for the Government’s communication machinery which collapsed. No representatives from the Government were seen to address or brief the media during the high-voltage drama despite the fact the basic thumb rule during the crisis is to “tell it all and tell it fast.”

Given this situation, we are expecting our readers to contribute and comment how to manage the crisis of this magnitude. We are also expecting our readers to explain, how only strengthening communication machinery could have helped the organization to overcome the crisis.

IDS Technologies integrating Google +1 in its application to monitor Sentiment to manage Brand's Reputation

Facebook hits its 700 millionth member, Myspace dies and a new social Google is born. Info Data Soft Technologies (IDS Technologies) is quickly integrating Google +1 to monitor sentiment of a brand, product or services sothat the reputation could be monitored effectively and managed efficiently.

For more details, please contact IDS Technologies.

How effective is the communication strategy of Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is suffering from bad reputation which is very common in the PR and brand management industry. If a brand is not visible or the brand communication is not clear during the crisis period, it would allow people to assume and speculate. This is the same thing happening with the Indian Prime Minister also. 

When Mr. Singh  assumed the office of the Prime Minister even for the second time, people had great respect for him and he was amongst some finest brands which enjoyed huge reputation in the mind of common people. But as the days go ahead, he is slightly but definitely loosing the reputation without notice which has taken a huge time to build. It could be the bad attitude or bad strategy adopted by his advisor(s). 

But, as he is becoming friendly with media and coming before the media to advocate what he has to say facing the brutal questions from the seasoned journalists, he may regain his reputation once again.

This is a very ideal situation of crisis for the UPA - II government in general and the Indian Congress party in particular. The basic thumb rule during the crisis has not been followed. The basic rule of Corporate Communications or Public Relations says that during the crisis "tell it all and tell it fast including first".

The Prime Minister is like a CEO of the country and when his subordinates have failed to minimize the bad noise and negative publicity by the opposition, the Prime Minister himself should understand and gauge the gravity of the situation and could have appeared before the media much earlier. He has earlier initiated the process when he first met the editors from television but that too more than six months back. He should appear before the media frequently and announce or comment on the situation quickly, responsibly and with positive note.

Never late than ever, he has started the process. The goal is all set, the ball is rolling. Let's measure his reputation once again after two or three months. As a professionals, teacher and a learner of Reputation Management and Image Makeover, we would then learn the effectiveness of his communication strategies.

PM's opening remarks at the interaction with newspaper editors

 

Following is the text of the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's opening remarks at the interaction with newspaper editors: 

“I think that there is a growing perception that this government is in siege, that we have not been able to deliver on our agenda. An atmosphere has been created in the country - and this I say with all humility – the role of the media today in many cases has become that of the accuser, the prosecutor and the judge.

Now that way no Parliamentary democracy can function and I would like to tell you that if you are taking governmental decisions, particularly big macro decisions, we don't know all the facts and yet we have to take decisions. When I was a student at Cambridge, Sir Paul Chambers, who was then the Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries, came and addressed us on who is a good manager, who will be considered by industry as a good manager.
He told our student group that, in an uncertain world in which we live in, if 5 out of 10 decisions that I take ex-ante turn out to be correct ex-post that would be considered as a job well done. If out of 10 decisions that I take, 7 turn out to be right ex-post that would be considered an excellent performance. But if you have a system which is required to perform 10 out of 10 cases I think no system can be effective and satisfy that onerous condition.
We live in a world of uncertainty and ex-post whether it is the Comptroller and Auditor General, whether it is a Parliamentary committee then they analyse post facto. They have a lot more facts which were not available to those who took the decision.
I am not saying that it is not possible that some people may deliberately do wrong things, but in many cases it would turn out in that sort of a scenario it is very difficult to operate. So we must create in this country an environment in which Governments, Ministers and civil servants will not be discouraged from taking decisions in the national interest when all facts are not known, they will never be known. We take decisions in a world of uncertainty and that’s the perspective I think Parliament, our CAG and our media must adopt if this nation is to move forward.
Our basic task is to deal with poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions and millions of our citizens and whatever the ideological moorings of different parties, there is nobody who would say that you can satisfy all these aspirations of the people except in the framework of a rapidly expanding economy which is able to create 10 to 12 million jobs. For this, we need skilled citizens and we need to put in place a system of skill formation in education which is going to create employable skills which alone can provide our people the security of jobs that they need.
We have put in place an entitlement system. Entitlements have a role, but quite frankly there is a limited role. In the institutions of social security that we are trying to build, there are a large number of leakages in health, in education, and the allocation of subsidies. Our challenge is to plug these leaks and we will do that.
Corruption is a big issue. It has caught the imagination of the people, and we will deal with it. Let me say that while the Lokpal is an essential and desirable legislation, we will honestly work to evolve a broad based national consensus so that we have a viable statute in place which will give us a strong Lokpal. We have differences, there will be differences, but there are mechanisms to resolves these differences.
I certainly respect members of the civil society. It is out of my respect for members of the civil society that whether it is Anna Hazare or Swami Ramdev, I myself took the trouble to interact with them. In February-March itself I had an hour long meeting with Anna Hazare, the Bhushans, both father and son, Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. They were all there and I assured them that we are committed to come with the bill in the Monsoon Session and it was not a commitment made under duress. I had mentioned it to them at that time itself. I said we will introduce a Bill in Parliament but then it is for Parliament to pass it or amend it and that right cannot be taken away.
In the same way people talk about black money. Black money exists, but if you look at all European countries also the average amount of black money which is talked about is at least 25 % of the economies of a large number of European countries. These are transactions that are not taxed and intended to avoid social security payments. But this is a reality. We can deal with corruption, we can deal with black money but quite frankly it is wrong for anyone to assume there is a magic wand which will lead to an instant solution of these difficult societal problems.
We need system reforms. If the project Nandan Nilankani has promised to design, if the UIDAI can give unique ID numbers to all our residents we would have discovered a new pathway to eliminate the scope for corruption and leakages in the management and distribution of various subsidies to which our people are entitled. But it will take time. It cannot be done instantly.
Four lakh crores or whatever the figures or black money being mentioned…… I do not know what is the basis of those calculations. Whatever is possible is being done. We are in the process of negotiating double taxation avoidance agreements, tax information agreements and we have fought hard in the Group of 20 to see that the secrecy of tax saving banking systems should be modified. This is not a one shot operation. We are doing all that is possible and we could accelerate it. We are committed to pursue all that is fiscally possible to deal with these problems of black money, problems of tax evading money and corruption.
But there are other instruments. Tax evasion is one important source of generation of black money. But there are other issues - narcotics, trafficking in human beings - all these illegal activities…. we need a strong mechanism to track down these criminal elements. But in all these my worry is to avoid a situation when we convert this vast country of over 1.2 billion people into a state where everybody is policing everybody else. We must not bring back the license permit raj which we sought to abolish in 1991.
I think our nation has prospered as a result of that. If you look at the list of top 100 firms today you will find a sea change in that list today. New entrepreneurs have come into the list. These are some of the gains of liberalization which we must cherish, we must nurse and we must develop.
We are committed to a growth rate of 9 to 10 % per annum. Our savings rate is about 34 to 35 % of our GDP with an investment rate of 36 to 37 %. And with a capital output ratio of 4:1 we can manage to have a growth rate of 9%. It requires strong commitment to development and modernization of our infrastructure; a strong commitment to modernizing and making our education system more relevant to the needs of our time; it requires strong commitment to work for a universal health care system. We are now engaged in looking at how insurance can be expanded to cover all elements of our population.
These are some of the priorities of our government. But frankly speaking in our country this constant sniping between government and opposition or if an atmosphere of cynicism is created all round I think the growth impulses, the entrepreneurial impulses of our people will not flourish and that is what worries me. We must do all that we can to revive the animal spirits of our businesses. And the fact that businessmen cut corners is partly a reflection of the loopholes in our regulatory system. We must therefore reform and strengthen the regulatory system where there is a need to do so. And when it comes to the management of natural resources we need a regulatory system but it must be transparent and it must be functional and that is the next step of our government.
Despite corruption in public procurement we are committed to work towards a public procurement law which will make procurement a transparent operation, and will eliminate to the extent possible the scope for corruption.
But in the situation that we are faced today, day in day out I think we are described as the most corrupt government. There have been aberrations. But quite frankly I have been a civil servant all my life, except the last 20 years. What surprises me is not that there are corrupt civil servants but that despite all the temptations, so many of our civil servants remain honest and lead frugal lives and this is the mainspring that we have to tap.
We must punish the wrong doers but we must not paint all civil servants as babus and contemptuously describe them as a despicable class.
These are the concerns that I have and I would like to hear from you what you think of them and what we should be doing.
And let me say on the international front I think the situation is not that positive. The international global recovery is fragile. Even the United States growth rate is faltering. In Europe it is the sovereign debt crisis, the problem of the Greek crisis and whether the Euro-zone will survive or not. If it will not survive it will be a major institutional collapse.
What is happening in the Middle East is of direct concern to us. Apart from the fact that we have 6 million Indians working in the Middle East nearly 70 % of our oil supplies come from the countries of the Gulf and North Africa. What turn these events will take nobody knows.
So we have to swim against this adverse tide and therefore India requires all the energy and all the cohesiveness of our polity to swim against these tides and come out victorious. We can do it. We showed that in 2008 when most people believed that our financial system would also be a victim of the global financial crisis. We put in place correctives and we managed to retain a growth rate of 7% and next year it was back to 8 to 8.5 %. We must have the vision, the ability and the determination to prosper even when the world environment is hostile.
And because nature has blessed us with a large common market, if we can put in place the goods and services tax legislation and if we can remove barriers to interstate commerce that itself will create new opportunities internally for accelerating the tempo of growth.
These are our top priorities, these are national priorities and I invite you as very influential members of our polity to help the government to deal with these problems with courage, with clarity and with determination.”

Investment in climate change adaptation big business opportunity

A majority of corporate leaders around the world feel that investing in areas related to climate change adaptation offered a good business opportunity.

Businesses worldwide are beginning to see the risks and economic impacts of more frequent and intense storms, water scarcity, declining agricultural productivity and poor health, reports UNI, a news agency from India.

Climate adaptation offers competitive advantages to businesses worldwide, says a new report, Adapting for a Green Economy: Companies, Communities and Climate Change, jointly released by the UN Global Compact, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Oxfam and the World Resources Institute.

In response to a survey of global businesses, 86 per cent described responding to climate risks or investing in adaptation as a business opportunity.

Drawing on the results of a 2010 survey among companies engaged in Caring for Climate, the joint climate action platform of the UN Global Compact and UNEP, the study makes the business case for private sector adaptation to climate change in ways that build the resilience of vulnerable communities in developing countries.

''Business can only thrive in stable and enabling environments," says Georg Kell, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact.''Climate adaptation offers a pathway to help communities that are already feeling the devastating impacts of climate change.

At the same time, it creates a wealth of new opportunities for the private sector'' The study suggests actions that companies and policy makers can pursue to catalyze and scale up private sector engagement.

Confirming the notion that the climate threats many communities face are also business risks, 83 per cent of companies surveyed responded that climate change impacts pose a risk to their products and service.

''Businesses are facing increasing challenges from the rise in extreme weather events, such as droughts, heat waves and floods,'' said Manish Bapna, Managing Director, World Resources Institute.

In this changing environment, companies that move first to address the risks and develop innovative strategies to adapt to climate change are likely to be the winners and gain a competitive advantage moving forward.

The study recommends, among others, that businesses integrate climate adaptation into core strategic planning and build a portfolio of climate-resilient goods and services. Addressing policy makers, the authors call for stronger policy and finance commitments to adaptation, financial and risk-reduction incentives to stimulate the market, and for new forms of public-private partnerships.

Communities around the world are already dealing with the impacts of climate change. Since they depend on community members as suppliers, customers and employees, and need to count on local services and infrastructure to be able to operate efficiently, the well-being of communities on the frontlines of climate change and the viability of companies are intricately intertwined, said Raymond C Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America.

''There are multiple reasons why the world urgently needs a transition to a low-carbon, resource efficient Green Economy, including climate change and adapting to its impacts. This report underlines that climate-proofing is not just a responsibility of governments, but should be at the centre of more and more companies' business models and forward-looking corporate strategies,'' said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Directorhe added.

''We live in a world where extreme weather events on one day can move food and fuel prices the next, impacting vulnerable and poor communities and a company's supply chain. We also live in a world where infrastructure established decades ago will become increasingly at risk to events such as storm surges and high winds, that in turn threaten the viability of the business-as-usual models, he said. (Source: UNIIndia.Com)