Abstract
This poper shows a way to derive test cases for system level black-box-testing from the spec jfication models already elaborated in the requirements analysis phase. The basis for this process is the UML ((UnWed Modelling Language) we case modeL It provides a good way to describe both the interaction with the user and the system behavior-, The concept of a text template driven structure editor is presented Such an editor can be used to construct aformalized use case description in a user friendly way According to the principles of the already known statistical usage testing which aims ofat statement about the fitness of the system for the intended purpose the most likely usage scenarios are chosen as test cases. It is shown how the Markov property ofthe system description can be preserved in the case of data dependent system behavior
Keywords
Statistical usage testing, usage based testing, behavior speccation, use case, UML, Markov chain.
1. Introduction
Extensive and efficient testing is very important to ensurç software quality. In many projects the costs for testing represent 25-50% of the overall project costs. It can be said that testing is not a yery favored task. The first step to reduce the effort for testing is to use testing tools that execute tests automatically. But the necessary test cases are usually created manually requiring the tester to think about the usage and the behavior of the system, a task he or another person has already done in the requirements analysis phase of the software development.
This doubled work can be avoided when the test cases for black-box-testing are derived from the use case models and the class models. These models are available as products of the requirements analysis phase of the software development. During the development, of a software system there are other kinds of testing that have to be carried out. Usually, these tests examine just parts of the system and take internal details into account or they are intended to find the location of errors. These tests are outside the scope of this paper because the test cases for these tests cannot be deriVed from specification models alone. Taking the specification models as the basis for tests has the positive side effect that more attention is paid to keep the models complete and
1
up-to-date. Another advantage is that testing can start in very early phases of the development process, which is important for incremental development and allows shortening the time to delivery. Furthermore the software quality is raised because the system is tested with respect to the explicitly stated user requirements.
Statistical Usage Testing
The basis for creating test cases in statistical usage testing usage model. A usage model is like a state machine, i.e. directed usage graph consisting of states and transitions, the extension that every state transition is attributed with probability that this transition will be traversed from which the transition arc starts. Hence every state the probabilities of Outgoing transitions sum one. Every transition can be related to an event (possibly parameters), which triggers that transition.
A transition with an associated event may also be related to a guard condition. This means that the transition is only performed if the condition is fulfilled by the event parameter value. There are three approaches to assign transition probabilities. In the uninformed approach all exit arcs of a state have the probability. The informed approach uses sample user event sequences captured from a prototype or a prior version of thesystem to calculate suitable probabilities. The intended approach allowi to model hypothetic users or to shift the test focus certain states or transitions. The Markov property states that all transition probabilities depend only pil the ctual state and are independent ofthe history This neans that they must befl*èd hdmb&s. A ystem with this property is called a Markov chain, for which some valuable analytical deseriptions.cEn be concluded.
One such description is the usage 4istrbution statg steady-stte probability for every state, i e the expected appearance rate of that state. Sinóè each state is aásoéiated with ãn
oftheactualsoftwáre,distributorship pdrts of the softwate get themostattention from u the test eases. Other important descriptions arethe expected tcst.case andthengmberQfsestc4ses that are necessary to verd’ rquire4 reliability of :• the sytepi. .We extend this approach by allowing nondcterministic system beha’ith and b’ handling guards that depend on system data state. This enables to apply statistical Osagë based te•sting to a wider range of systems.
3. System Spec jflcation with (JML
The re4uirethents añäIisphaeyield&at
least to Models to ddeiibe th& planned system
from the user perspective
1. The Use case model to describe the system behavior:
2. The domain class model to describe which kind of real-life objects are represented in the system and what of their attributes, operations and relations (i.e. links) to other objects are relevant for the intended purpose of the system.
This distinction between dynamic and static aspects in the system description is carried over to the notion of state. The overall state of a system is made up of the execution state, which tells what step of a Use case is currently being executed and of the data state which tells what data are stored in the system The data state is made up of the system data state which is persistent between use case executions and the use case data state which is local to the executed use case and hence. transient.
The UML standard defines only a very toplevel structure to describe use cases, which allows only defining use cases as named entities with a textual description. Its common to write use case descriptions in a slightly more structured form, e.g. in tabular or tree form. Because the leave enttzes i these structttrn are still plain text they are textual use case descriptions.
• Nestle tried to create a market for iced tea in India by launching Paloma in eighties & again with Nestea in the nineties & both the cases came up with a failure
• Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American ad campaign:
“Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.”
• When General Motors introduced the Chevy Nova in South America, it was apparently unaware that “no va” means “it won’t go.”
• Volkswagen Schwimmwagen was an amphibious all-wheel-drive off-roaders, used extensively by the Germans during the Second World War.
• Henry Ford’s grandson (another Henry) turned down an offer to acquire Volkswagen after the
Second World War when it was under British Army control because he thought it was worthless.
• ‘Herbie’ and its three sequels (‘Herbie Rides Again’, ‘Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo’ and ‘Herbie Goes Bananas’) is a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions starring Herbie the Love Bug, a white Volkswagen racing Beetle with a mind of its own. Another theatrical sequel, ‘Herbie: Fully Loaded’ was released in 2005 by Disney.
• William C Durant was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry, the founder of General Motors and Chevrolet who created the system of multi-brand holding companies with
different lines of cars
• Prior to the manufacture of Henry Ford’s Model A, Mary Anderson was granted her first patent for a window cleaning device in November of 1903. Her invention could clean snow, rain, or sleet from a windshield by using a handle inside the car. Her goal was to improve driver vision during stormy weather - Mary Anderson invented the windshield wiper.
• Sanford L. Cluett discovered a way to pre-shrink fabrics and his invention was called the
‘Sanforized fabric’. The company he set up Cluett Peabody & Co, Inc. licensed the process and
made it available to everybody in the textile industry. The Arrow brand of shirts comes from this company.
• The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th century French explorer Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701. In 1912, Cadillac was the first
manufacturer to incorporate a successful electric starter on their cars equipped with gasoline
internal combustion engines, replacing the hand starting crank; the device was developed by
Charles Kettering and was marketed as a convenience device for female drivers.
• Lipton launched a tetra-packed fruit drink in India called Noga in India in the 1980s; the product was
unsuccessful and was withdrawn
• Godrej Consumer Products launched Vigil–India's first and only Grade I Health soap. The advanced
Triple Control System (TCS) used in Vigil removes germs, acts faster and lasts longer
• Hindustan Unilever product failures: Aim, 2001, Rural toothpaste; Impulse, 2002, Women’s
Deodorant; Revel, 2001, Washing Machine detergent; Calvin Klein, 2001, Toiletries
• Dandi Namak–salt brand founded by Suresh Agarwal of Kunvar Ajay Industries
• D.S. Narang of RDM Traders launched the Ayur herbal brand
• G. Munusamy founded Kaleeswari Refinery famous for its Gold Winner edible oil brand
• S.C. Sehgal, a veteran of Glaxo, founded Ozone Ayurvedics which is now famous for the No
Marks brand
• Murli Gyanchandani of Kanpur Trading Company is famous for his detergent brands–Ghadi in
economy category& Double Dog in premium one
• M. P. Ramachandran is the founder of Jyothi Labs, famous for brand like Ujala (1982), Maxo
mosquito repellent, and Exo, a washing bar
• Prakash Parakh of Parakh Foods is the founder of famous edible oil brand–Gemini
• Atul Shah of Anchor Health is the man behind the Anchor toothpaste that was focused on
predominantly vegetarian Gujarat and Rajasthan and positioned its toothpaste as a vegetarian
product
• England’s Lever Brothers began importing their Sunlight brand soap into India in the late 1880s.
By 1895, Lever had introduced another of its brands, Lifebuoy, which became the company's
longest-running successful brand in India. Other Lever brands followed into the beginning of the
next century, including the Lux soap flake brand in 1905; and scouring powder Vim as well as soap
brand Vinolia in 1913. In 1963, HLL entered the dairy industry with the launch of Anik brand of
ghee. HLL also launched but later withdrew Signal toothpaste–India’s only brand with colourful
strips in it
• HLL’s Le Sancy soap was famous for its advertisement punchline “Rahul Pani Chalajayega”
• HLL formed a joint venture with Kimberly-Clark, which began marketing the Huggies diaper and
Kotex sanitary pad brands in India.
Headline: Gates and the Great Game
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Defence/Foreign Policy
Date: 25 Feb 2008
When US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates swings through New Delhi this week, India’s civil nuclear
initiative is unlikely to be at the top of his agenda. To be sure, there are growing anxieties in
Washington about the UPA government’s inability to bring around its communist allies on a deal that is
so patently in India’s favour. Gates, however, knows that there is very little that Washington can do to
change the political dynamics in New Delhi. On the other hand, he has every reason to be pleased with
the progress on bilateral defence cooperation. From expanded engagement….
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/276727.html
Headline: Incredible don’ts
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Travel & Tourism
Date: 25 Feb 2008
If only tourists into India would be more diligent and read carefully before catching a flight to this diverse
land the diaries left by the memsahibs of the Raj. But try telling that to the new-generation tourist,
arming herself with nothing more than a Lonely Planet guide and its daredevil exhortations to venture
forth into magnificent ruins and the unruly countryside, with the added globalising order to seek
bonhomie with local residents. No wonder the tourism ministry has had to step in and moot a set to
guidelines for the foreign tourist. Read them, and begin your discovery of India, as told by the
authorities. Here are some cautionary notes from the ministry. Take precautions ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553701000.htm
Headline: Incredible don’ts
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Travel & Tourism
Date: 25 Feb 2008
If only tourists into India would be more diligent and read carefully before catching a flight to this diverse
land the diaries left by the memsahibs of the Raj. But try telling that to the new-generation tourist,
arming herself with nothing more than a Lonely Planet guide and its daredevil exhortations to venture
forth into magnificent ruins and the unruly countryside, with the added globalising order to seek
bonhomie with local residents. No wonder the tourism ministry has had to step in and moot a set to
guidelines for the foreign tourist. Read them, and begin your discovery of India, as told by the
authorities. Here are some cautionary notes from the ministry. Take precautions ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553701000.htm
Headline: General in the east
Newspaper/publication: The Indian Express
Topic: Defence/Foreign Policy
Date: 25 Feb 2008
The week-long India sojourn of General Moeen U. Ahmed, the army chief of Bangladesh, is doubly
significant. For one, it is the first ever visit by an army chief of Bangladesh to India. Since the
assassination of its founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, in 1975, four years after New Delhi helped
liberate the nation, the army in Bangladesh has tended to be an institutional opponent of cordial
relations with India. The very fact that Moeen has chosen to travel to India opens the door for a
productive engagement between the security forces of the two countries. The Indian army’s gift of six
thoroughbred horses to Moeen is hopefully a symbol of South Block’s …..
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/276723.html
Airlines
Indian Airlines -1800 180 1407
Jet Airways - 1800 22 5522
Spice Jet - 1800 180 3333
Air India -- 1800 22 7722
Kingfisher - 1800 180 0101
============ ========= ========= =====
Banks
ABN AMRO -1800 11 2224
Canara Bank - 1800 44 6000
Citibank - 1800 44 2265
Corporation Bank - 1800 443 555
Development Credit Bank - 1800 22 5769
HDFC Bank - 1800 227 227
ICICI Bank - 1800 333 499
ICICI Bank NRI - 1800 22 4848
IDBI Bank - 1800 11 6999
Indian Bank - 1800 425 1400
ING Vysya - 1800 44 9900
Kotak Mahindra Bank - 1800 22 6022
Lord Krishna Bank - 1800 11 2300
Punjab National Bank - 1800 122 222
State Bank of India - 1800 44 1955
Syndicate Bank - 1800 44 6655
============ ========= ========= =====
Automobiles
Mahindra Scorpio -1800 22 6006
Maruti - 1800 111 515
Tata Motors - 1800 22 5552
Windshield Experts - 1800 11 3636
============ ========= ========= =====
Computers/IT
Adrenalin -1800 444 445
AMD - 1800 425 6664
Apple Computers - 1800 444 683
Canon - 1800 333 366
Cisco Systems - 1800 221 777
Compaq - HP - 1800 444 999
Data One Broadband - 1800 424 1800
Dell - 1800 444 026
Epson - 1800 44 0011
eSys - 3970 0011
Genesis Tally Academy - 1800 444 888
HCL - 1800 180 8080
IBM - 1800 443 333
Lexmark - 1800 22 4477
Marshal's Point - 1800 33 4488
Microsoft - 1800 111 100
Microsoft Virus Update - 1901 333 334
Seagate - 1800 180 1104
Symantec - 1800 44 5533
TVS Electronics - 1800 444 566
WeP Peripherals - 1800 44 6446
Wipro - 1800 333 312
Xerox - 1800 180 1225
Zenith - 1800 222 004
============ ========= ========= =====
Indian Railway Enquiries
Indian Railway General Enquiry 131,139
Indian Railway Central Enquiry 139
Indian Railway Reservation 131
Indian Railway Railway Reservation Enquiry 1345,1335,1330
Indian Railway Centralised Railway Enquiry 1330/1/2/3/4/ 5/6/7/8/9 & 139
============ ========= ========= ========= ========= =====
Couriers/Packers & Movers
ABT Courier -1800 44 8585
AFL Wizz - 1800 22 9696
Agarwal Packers & Movers - 1800 11 4321
Associated Packers P Ltd - 1800 21 4560
DHL - 1800 111 345
FedEx - 1800 22 6161
Goel Packers & Movers - 1800 11 3456
UPS - 1800 22 7171
============ ========= ========= =========
Home Appliances
Aiwa/Sony -1800 11 1188
Anchor Switches - 1800 22 7979
Blue Star - 1800 22 2200
Bose Audio - 1800 11 2673
Bru Coffee Vending Machines - 1800 44 7171
Daikin Air Conditioners - 1800 444 222
DishTV - 1800 12 3474
Faber Chimneys - 1800 21 4595
Godrej - 1800 22 5511
Grundfos Pumps - 1800 33 4555
LG - 1901 180 9999
Philips - 1800 22 4422
Samsung - 1800 113 444
Sanyo - 1800 11 0101
Voltas - 1800 33 4546
WorldSpace Satellite Radio - 1800 44 5432
============ ========= ========= =========
Investments/ Finance
CAMS -1800 44 2267
Chola Mutual Fund - 1800 22 2300
Easy IPO's - 3030 5757
Fidelity Investments - 1800 180 8000
Franklin Templeton Fund - 1800 425 4255
J M Morgan Stanley - 1800 22 0004
Kotak Mutual Fund - 1800 222 626
LIC Housing Finance - 1800 44 0005
SBI Mutual Fund - 1800 22 3040
Sharekhan - 1800 22 7500
Tata Mutual Fund - 1800 22 0101
============ ========= ========= ====
Travel
Club Mahindra Holidays -1800 33 4539
Cox & Kings - 1800 22 1235
God TV Tours - 1800 442 777
Kerala Tourism - 1800 444 747
Kumarakom Lake Resort - 1800 44 5030
Raj Travels & Tours - 1800 22 9900
Sita Tours - 1800 111 911
SOTC Tours - 1800 22 3344
============ ========= ========= ====
Healthcare
Best on Health -1800 11 8899
Dr Batras - 1800 11 6767
GlaxoSmithKline - 1800 22 8797
Johnson & Johnson - 1800 22 8111
Kaya Skin Clinic - 1800 22 5292
LifeCell - 1800 44 5323
Manmar Technologies - 1800 33 4420
Pfizer - 1800 442 442
Roche Accu-Chek - 1800 11 45 46
Rudraksha - 1800 21 4708
Varilux Lenses - 1800 44 8383
VLCC - 1800 33 1262
============ ========= ========= ===
Insurance
AMP Sanmar -1800 44 2200
Aviva - 1800 33 2244
Bajaj Allianz - 1800 22 5858
Chola MS General Insurance - 1800 44 5544
HDFC Standard Life - 1800 227 227
LIC - 1800 33 4433
Max New York Life - 1800 33 5577
Royal Sundaram - 1800 33 8899
SBI Life Insurance - 1800 22 9090
============ ========= ========= =======
Hotel Reservations
GRT Grand -1800 44 5500
InterContinental Hotels Group - 1800 111 000
Marriott - 1800 22 0044
Sarovar Park Plaza - 1800 111 222
Taj Holidays - 1800 111 825
============ ========= ========= ======
Teleshopping
Asian Sky Shop -1800 22 1800
Jaipan Teleshoppe - 1800 11 5225
Tele Brands - 1800 11 8000
VMI Teleshopping - 1800 447 777
WWS Teleshopping - 1800 220 777
============ ========= ========= ========
Others
Domino's Pizza -1800 111 123
============ ========= ========= ====
Cell Phones
BenQ -1800 22 08 08
Bird CellPhones - 1800 11 7700
Motorola MotoAssist - 1800 11 1211
Nokia - 3030 3838
Sony Ericsson - 3901 1111
1.Bharti Enterprises Group Chairman and CEO Sunil Mittal has been awarded global telecom industry’s highest honour — GSM Association Chairman’s Award 2008, for his contribution to the development of India’s telecom sector. The award coincides with Bharti Airtel achieving the 60- million subscriber mark, both in mobile as well as fixed line telecom services.
2 French bank Societe Generale lost 4.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) in unauthorized trades by 31- year-old Jerome Kerviel, a junior trader whose job it was to capitalize on small price differences between European equity index futures contracts. Analysts are wondering as to how a junior-level employee, albeit someone familiar with the bank’s “processing and control procedures”, managed to elude risk-management systems in amassing such a huge position.
3 Real estate major DLF bagged the title sponsorship rights for Indian Premier League (IPL) promoted by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for an amount of Rs 200 crore across five years (Rs 40 crore annually) 4 Sony Max (SET Max) will be the official broadcaster for BCCI’s Twenty20 tournament for the first five years. SET has signed a back-to-back agreement with WSG for the TV broadcast rights while the on-ground rights and new media rights will remain with WSG. The Sony-WSG combine
has committed an additional promotional spend of $108 million for the tournament. The contract begins with the inaugural tournament in April this year and will extend till 2017.
Steven Spielberg, the Oscar Award winning film director, has quit as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympic Games, complaining that China was not doing
enough to end violence in Sudan's Darfur region. The move by Spielberg, an unpaid adviser to organisers of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, is a heavy
blow to China's efforts to prevent international criticism of its support for the Sudanese government from casting a pall over the August Games. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has pulled out of the Republican race for the White House after
disappointing primary results in Florida and announced he was giving his support to Arizona Senator and Vietnam War veteran John McCain. Nepal will hold its first national elections in nearly nine years on April 10, capping a peace process with the Maoists after a long civil war. Voters are to elect a special assembly which is meant to write a new constitution for Nepal, formally declare the country a republic after more than two centuries of royal rule and replace the current interim parliament.
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died in the Dutch town of Vlodrop at the age of 91 years. Maharishi, famous for his Transcendental Meditation centres that sprung up across the world,
was born as Mahesh Srivastava in Jabalpur in 1917 and studied physics at Allahabad University. He became the foremost disciple of the Shankaracharya
of Jyotir Math Swami Brahmanand Saraswati but could not succeed his Guru because he wasn’t a Brahmin; being born in a Kayastha family. Social worker and reformer Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, who spent his life serving eprosy patients and working for their rehabilitation at his commune for leprosy patients ‘Anandvan Ashram’ at Warora village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra passed away at the age of 93. He received many national and international awards, including Padma Vibhushan, Gandhi Peace Prize, Ramon Magsaysay and Templeton Prize.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a slew of development package worth Rs.10000 crore for Arunachal Pradesh that includes a Rs. 5,500-crore 1,840-km trans-Arunachal Pradesh highway; the 3,000-MW Dibang power project, the country’s biggest hydel project; the 110-MW Pare power project and a new airport for the State capital Itanagar.
The Supreme Court has reversed an earlier order banning Jallikattu, a festival involving bull
fighting in two villages near the town of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The Union govt has issued a notification for implementing the ‘Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition Of Forest Rights) Act, 2007’ which gives the forest
dwellers exclusive rights over its resources, essentially aims at
providing a framework to recognise these rights. The Karunanidhi government in Tamil Nadu has threatened to take over the plants of the 13 private cement manufacturers in the state if they fail to reduce prices, which are currently ruling between Rs 245
and Rs 260 per 50kg bag. The Karunanidhi government is backing up its threat with plans to import cheap cement which will be sold directly to consumers. The Manmohan Singh Cabinet has approved a central scheme to provide 25 lakh pre-matric
scholarships to students from minority communities in state-run and private institutions for which Rs 1,868.50 crore during the 11th five-year plan has been approved. The Union government will put in 75% while the states are expected to invest 25%.
Chandrasekhar Bhaskar Bhave is the new
Chairman of the capital market regulator
Securities and Exchange Board of India. He
takes over from M Damodaran, who
completed his three year term as the
Chairman of SEBI in February, 2008. This will
be Bhave’s second stint with SEBI. The 1975-
batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre
was the executive director in charge of the secondary and later the primary
markets between 1992 and 1996.
That was the time when the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was taking its initial steps
to reform the stock exchanges and putting in place systems that help in investor protection. The
Bombay Stock Exchange was then known as a brokers’ club and Bhave was on the board of the
exchange in his capacity as a representative of Sebi. It was during his stint in Sebi that his boss, G V
Ramakrishna, banned badla. Bhave also played a pivotal role in ensuring that market players get
sophisticated hedging tools and are properly regulated.
Bhave maintained that the capital market regulator’s primary job is to protect individual investors and
simultaneously develop systems that take care of the interests of issuers — companies and
intermediaries. He also ensured that the new National Stock Exchange’s surveillance systems were top
class.
Bhave is known to be a tough administrator. As the head of the National Securities Depository Ltd
(NSDL), he revolutionised the capital market by getting market players to accept the new system of
dematerialised shares and debentures.
He won buyers' support by arguing that demat would eliminate bad deliveries of shares and impressed
upon the sellers that this would facilitate early settlement and early payments. Setting up of a
depository that converts physical share certificates into electronic form was a challenging task but the
NSDL achieved paperless trading within just three years, the fastest in the world.
All this experience will come in handy when Bhave takes over as the sixth chairman of SEBI. For, the
challenges are many as the investment climate is much more dynamic now than when he was the
executive director.
He is also coming in at a time when the market sentiment is not favourable for small investors and
many of them have had huge losses in some of the recent high profile IPOs. Short selling and physical
settlement in derivatives are the other issues that Bhave will have to grapple with soon. The allotment
and listing process also needs to be speeded up to safeguard the interests of small investors. Analysts
say his predecessor M Damodaran has ensured that the homework for all these is ready and it is up to
Bhave to “implement” them.
1 TV rights of $1.026 billion for 10 years from Sony-World Sports Group (WSG).
2 Team franchises: $726 million for 10 years Teams: 8, to grow to 12 soon
3 Matches in inaugural season (from April 18, 2008): 59 comprising 7 home and 7
away matches for each of 8 teams, 2 semifinals and a final (to be played in
Mumbai)
4 Prize money: 16% of TV revenues, with winner taking purse of $4 million (about
Rs 16 crores)
5 Venues: 8 cities
6 Franchisees: 8 who will get 64% of TV revenues to begin with, share becoming
less as teams are added and tapering down over the 10 years of the contract
7 Players: Up to 130 players, including 32 from a foreign pool of 84 IPL contracted
cricketers, are likely to get sums ranging from $1 million to a minimum
8 Every squad of 16 must have a minimum of four Indian and four under-21
players, with no more than four international players allowed in any one game.
9 Four "iconic" players - Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid (Bangalore), Sourav Ganguly
(Kolkata) and Yuvraj Singh (Chandigarh) - cannot be traded for three years and
they will be paid 10% more than other team members.
CCI’s Indian Premier League, which seeks to cash in on the enormous popularity of Twenty20 Cricket, has got an overwhelming response from sports buffs & businessmen. The glamorous winners of IPL franchises have to figure out how to turn the teams they own into a money-spinning proposition
he rights to control India's eight Twenty20 Premier League teams have been sold for a staggering $
1.749 billion (Rs 6996 crore). The bidding concerned franchises in Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur and Kolkata. Film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Preity Zinta were part of consortia
that won 10-year rights deals. The tournament was launched by the Indian cricket board (BCCI) as a direct competitor to the Indian Cricket League, launched last October, which it does not recognise. Mumbai, for whom Sachin Tendulkar will play, went for the highest amount, with billionaire Mukesh Ambani winning control. The
eight teams were picked up for a sum far higher than the reserve price of $50 million each. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has acquired the Mumbai franchise in IPL for $111.9 million over a 10-year period while the flamboyant chairman of UB Group has won the Bengaluru Franchise for $111.6 million. SRK’s Red Chillies Entertainment won the Kolkata franchise for $75 million. The Chandigarh franchise went to Preity Zinta and Ness Wadia, together with Apeejay Surrendra’s Karan Paul and Dabur scion Mohit Burman for $75 million. Other franchise winners include Deccan Chronicle, which won Hyderabad for $107.01 million, GMR bagged Delhi for $84 million and India Cements won Chennai for $91 million. Emerging Media, a group of businessmen that owns Investors in Cricket, picked up the Jaipur franchise for the lowest bid of $67 million.
Nearly 60-65 per cent of their costs have been covered through sale of television rights to Sony-World Sports Group (WSG) for $1.026 billion, including $108 million by BCCI. IPL is yet another show of strength for cricket and is set to become the biggest money-spinner in cricket today. The league has been modelled on other Professional sports leagues like the English Premier League (EPL) and National Basketball Association (NBA). IPL will kick start its inaugural season on April 18, 2007, with 59 matches across 44 days. Some of the biggest names in international cricket today, such as Ricky Ponting, Kumar Sangakkara and Sachin Tendulkar, have all signed up to play in IPL, and so have Shane Warne and Glenn Mc-Grath. The top 80 players in the ICC rankings will be playing in IPL, according to BCCI
IPL is also further proof that cricket still rules the roost for marketers, who want visibility for their brands. In all, the board has raked in nearly $724 million from the franchise bids alone, and adding income from media, IPL has fetched it nearly $1.75 billion (approx. Rs 7,000 crore). This amount can only go up once the bids for title and shirt sponsorships come in.
BCCI has also sweetened the deal for the franchises by giving them media income for a longer duration. According to BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah, “We’re sharing 80% of the media income with the franchises for the first five years, and it’ll be slightly lower for non-media income.” This amount works out to be nearly $80 million per franchise per year, going a long way in boosting profit hopes for franchise owners.
In addition, franchises will get to keep 100% of ticket revenues, which previously went to state associations. Licensing and merchandising are also set to be a huge opportunity for franchises to cash in on. Commercial deals, a huge chunk of which comprise licensing and merchandising, account for nearly a third of the revenues for the top 10 European football clubs, according to the Deloitte Football Money League 2007.
Opinion is, of course, sharply divided among the bidders — depending on which side of the fence they
ended up on — whether there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
One of the biggest international stories so far this year has been the rise and rise of Barack Obama. Its
twin is the collapse of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. She now has the unmistakable air of a loser as the
aura of inevitability and the mystique of invincibility give way to a scramble for relevance. Perhaps she
is learning the meaning of the audacity of hope. One former British politician said famously and
damningly of another that there was something of the night about him. There truly is something of the
dawn about Mr. Obama. He has been able to shine light on the dark landscape of despair and selfdoubt
afflicting the country. His launch of a presidential bid …..
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/23/stories/2008022355201000.htm
In a rare display of bipartisan political sagacity, Pakistan’s two major democratic parties, which have
traditionally been at daggers drawn, have made common cause on key democratic and institutional
issues and decided to work together in forming governments at the Centre and in the provinces. This is
bad news for the dictator, retired General Pervez Musharraf, who was clearly banking on the Pakistan
People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League(N) going separate, if not opposite, ways. Their farsighted
agreement to “stay together in principle” and amicably discuss and resolve specific issues on
which they might have differences can consolidate the inspiring outcome of the recent elections — and
lay the foundation for genuine parliamentary democracy in a country ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/23/stories/2008022355211000.htm
The beard, the cigar, the fatigues, above all the unflinching courage and determination of the world’s
longest-serving and most charismatic political leader are unmistakable. Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruiz —
Fidel to his legion of admirers in every continent — has announced that he will stand down on Sunday.
Now 82, this revolutionary has been Prime Minister and President of Cuba since the band of
revolutionaries he led overthrew the dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959. He has outlasted nine U.S.
Presidents and six top leaders of the Soviet Union or Russia. Tiny Cuba has endured an economic
blockade — which even a moderate commentator calls ‘thuggish’ — imposed by the United States. It
was the target of a failed CIA-inspired invasion in the Bay of Pigs in 1960 …..
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/23/stories/2008022355291000.htm
The new constituency boundaries fixed by the Delimitation Commission have without intending to do so
liberated the Congress — and its rivals — from the phantom of mid-term polls. The eight or so months
the Election Commission of India (ECI) will need to graft the changes on to the Lok Sabha map, in
effect, mean eight or so months without the big election. So how will the political parties use the
reprieve? On current form, the Congress should sink into further inaction. Even without the mid-term
threat, the farthest approximate date of the 15th General Election….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553681000.htm
Newspaper/publication: The Hindu
Topic: World Economy
Date: 25 Feb 2008
A recent decision of the British government to take over the ailing Northern Rock Bank, has predictably
raised a storm. Until September 2007, when its main sources of funding dried up owing to the turmoil in
the global financial markets, Northern Rock was the country’s largest, high profile mortgage lender,
although in hindsight it seems to have indulged in some reckless lending, very much like the global
banks across the Atlantic. The loss of depositors’ confidence caused a run on the bank, the first for a
British bank since the 19th century. To prevent the run from spreading to other banks, the government
intervened aggressively by pumping in a colossal amount of tax-payers’ ….
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553701000.htm
If we are too easily offended as a people, then we capitulate even more easily to those who take
offence. The suspension of the screening of Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodhaa Akbar in Madhya Pradesh
and two Haryana districts expresses the distressing tendency of governments and local administrations
to appease the intolerant by banning films or books. The Hindi film — an extravaganza in which a
marriage of political convenience between the great Mughal emperor Akbar (Hrithik Roshan) and a
proud Rajput princess, ‘Jodhaa Bai’ (Aishwarya Rai), develops, through many a fiery trial, into true love
— has evoked nasty protests in some States. Cinema halls in Rajasthan …..
URL: http://www.hindu.com/2008/02/25/stories/2008022553691000.htm
Punch was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire founded in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and
engraver Ebenezer Landells.
1 At its founding it was jointly edited by Mayhew and Mark Lemon.
2 Initially it was subtitled ‘The London Charivari’, this being a reference to a satirical
humour magazine published in France under the title Le Charivari.
3 The masthead was an anarchic glove puppet, Mr. Punch.
4 In early 1996, the Egyptian businessman Mohamed Fayed bought the rights to the
name, and it was re-launched later that year.
5 It was reported that the magazine was intended to be a spoiler aimed at Private Eye, which had published
many items critical of Fayed. The magazine ceased publication in 2002.
1 Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine published in eighteen countries by Condé Nast Publications.
2 Vogue was described by book critic Caroline Weber in The New York Times in December 2006 as ‘the
world's most influential fashion magazine’.
3 Vogue was founded by Arthur Baldwin Turnure in 1892.
4 When he passed away in 1909, Conde Nast picked it up and slowly began growing the publication.
5 As current editor-in-chief Anna Wintour came to personify the magazine’s image in the 90s and beyond,
she and Vogue drew critics.
6 Wintour’s one-time assistant at the magazine, Lauren Weisberger, authored a ‘roman à clef’ entitled ‘The
Devil Wears Prada’, a best-selling novel published in 2003 which was made into a highly successful,
Academy Award-nominated film in 2006.
The central character in ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ resembled Weisberger, and her boss was a powerful
editor-in-chief of a fictionalized version of Vogue.
7 The success of both the novel and the film has brought new attention from a wide global audience to the
power and glamour of the magazine, and the industry it continues to lead.
1 Jeff Bezos was a model student who was profiled (under an assumed name) in the 1977 book titled
‘Turning on Bright Minds: A Parent Looks at Gifted Education’, by Julie Ray.
2 In 1982, Bezos won the Silver Knight Award from the Miami Herald. He graduated summa cum laude from
Princeton in 1986, earning Phi Beta Kappa membership.
3 Bezos's entrepreneurial spirit became evident when he obtained his first post-graduation position at Fitel, a
start-up that focused on creating a network for international financial trade.
4 After two years, when Fitel failed to get off the ground, Bezos moved on to Bankers Trust, where he was
responsible for developing software applications for pension-fund clients. He eventually became a vice
president at Bankers Trust.
5 He then moved on to D. E. Shaw & Company, a financial-trading company on the cutting edge of computer
technology.
6 He made a thorough study of the book business, beginning by attending the American Booksellers'
Association's annual convention before setting up Amazon.Com.
1 Berlusconi put himself through college with variety of jobs: selling vacuum cleaners, writing papers for his
classmates (for a fee), and singing on cruise ships.
2 He received a law degree, with honors, from the University of Milan in 1961
3 He then borrowed money from the bank where his father worked and went into real estate development,
setting up the companies Cantieri Riuniti Milanesi in 1962 and Edilnord in 1963.
4 Berlusconi went into television by establishing the cable TV company Telemilano in 1974
5 Set up a holding company Fininvest, in 1978
6 Fininvest's advertising agency was Publitalia.
7 In 1980 he set up the Canale 5 television network.
1 Bernard Arnault is the Chairman & chief executive officer of luxury goods company, Moét Hennessy Louis
Vuitton.
2 Both Arnault as well as his wife Helene Mercier are accomplished pianists.
After graduating from the École Polytechnique, France's esteemed engineering school, Arnault worked as
an engineer and ran his family's construction and property business firm, Ferret-Savinel.
3 He spearheaded the company's move into the lucrative new niche of building time shares on the Riviera.
4 When the French Socialists rose to power in 1981, Arnault immigrated to the United States. He prospered,
developing condominiums in Palm Beach, Florida.
5 The French Socialists switched to a more conservative economic course in 1983, prompting Arnault to return
to his native France.
6 His rise to control of the world’s largest luxury group began with an opportunity created when a textile firm,
Boussac, went bankrupt. The textile firm owned the prized couture house of Christian Dior.
7 Arnault was involved in a bitter struggle for control of LVMH in 1989 with Henry Racamier, the former
chairman of LVMH’s Louis Vuitton subsidiary and a member by marriage of one of the firm’s founding
families.
8 Although he concluded early in life that he did not have the mettle for a career as a concert pianist, Arnault
was classically trained and made time to practice Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann. Both his wife and mother
were pianists as well.
1 Subhiksha founder Ramaswami Subramanian did his B Tech. from IIT-Madras in 1987 and followed that
up with an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad with a gold-medal. His first job was with Citibank’s investment
banking division with a salary of Rs 5,500.
2 He quit the Citibank job in three-four weeks and joined two-wheeler maker Enfield.
3 After a brief stint Subramanian borrowed Rs 2.5 crore from Enfield Chairman S. Vishwanathan and
launched Viswapriya, a financial services company.
4 When he started Subhiksha with a capital of Rs 5 crore in 1997, Viswapriya was Rs 100-crore company.
5 Currently, Viswapriya is an NBFC with interest in real estate as well, but Subramanian is no longer into
managing that business.
6 His recommended list of reading includes Alfred P Sloan’s My Years with General Motors, where the
author describes his systematic and of course the “logical style” in which he built the business.
7 Subhiksha has bought a majority stake in Madras Stock Exchange-listed Blue Green Construction and
Investment Company for Rs 3 crore
�� Lonely Planet Publications (usually known as Lonely
Planet or LP) is one of the largest travel guidebook
publishers in the world. It was the first popular series of
travel books aimed at backpackers and other low-cost
travelers.
�� The Melbourne, Australia headquartered Lonely Planet
is now controlled by BBC Worldwide, who own a 75%
share, while founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler still
own 25% of the company.
�� Lonely Planet has a television production company (Lonely Planet Television), which has produced and
developed four series: Lonely Planet Six Degrees, The Sport Traveller, Going Bush, Vintage New
Zealand and Bluelist Australia.
�� Lonely Planet’s first book, Across Asia on the Cheap, was written and published by Englishman Tony
Wheeler, a former engineer at Chrysler Corp. and the University of Warwick and London Business School
graduate, and his wife Maureen Wheeler in Sydney in 1973, following a lengthy jaunt across the continent
from Turkey, through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before ending up in India or Nepal.
�� Written with panache and full of strong opinions, Across Asia on the Cheap sold well enough in Australia
that it allowed the couple to expand it into South-East Asia on a shoestring (nicknamed the ‘Yellow Bible’),
quickly became the classic guidebook for budget travelers in this part of the world, and remains one of the
company's biggest sellers.
�� The Lonely Planet name comes from a misheard line in ‘Space Captain,’ a song by Joe Cocker and Leon
Russell. The actual words are ‘lovely planet’ but Tony Wheeler heard ‘lonely planet’ and liked it.
�� Lonely Planet’s free Thorn Tree web forum is used to trade tips and advice.
�� The founders, Tony and Maureen Wheeler, have written a book titled Once While Travelling: The Lonely
Planet Story (known as Unlikely destinations: The Lonely Planet story in North America) telling how they
met and married, how they travelled from London to Australia overland and how Lonely Planet was formed.
Drishti
(5) of (10)
�� Lonely Planet has been blamed for the rise of what is sometimes referred to as ‘the Banana Pancake
Trail’ in South East Asia. Critics argue that this has lead to the destruction of local culture and disturbance of
once quiet sites.
�� In 2006, Tony Wheeler launched a joint awareness campaign with Mark Ellingham (Rough Guide
founder) on the impact of aviation on climate change. The two travel publishers urged their readers to ‘Fly
less, stay longer’ wherever possible.
�� In April, 2008, American writer Thomas Kohnstamm published the memoir Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?,
which touched on his experience writing a guidebook for Lonely Planet in Brazil.
Tata Motors has plans to invest about Rs 1,500 crore at Singur with the vendors bringing in another Rs 500
crore. The plant was to have a capacity of 2.5 lakh units a year on a two-shift basis, going up to 3.5 lakh units on
three shifts. In addition, it would have vendors and act as a mother plant for many aggregates to the tune of five
lakh cars a year.
A comprehensive package of incentives — subsidy on land, concessional power, a soft loan and tax
paychecks— to match the benefits that Tata Motors would have got in Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh, was
what got it to choose Singur in West Bengal for making its low-cost car Nano.
The agreement between Tata Motors, West Bengal Government and the State industrial promotion agency —
West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation — available on the corporation’s Web site, provides details of
the incentives offered.
Soft loan: According to the agreement, the West Bengal Government will provide Tata Motors a loan of Rs 200
crore at 1 per cent interest, repayable in five equal annual instalments starting from the 21st year from the date of
disbursement of the loan
Concessional power: The Government will provide electricity for the project at Rs 3 a kWh. In case the tariff is
increased by more than 25 paise a unit in every block of five years, the Government will provide relief through
additional compensation to neutralise the increase.
Subsidy on land: The West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) will provide 645.67 acres of
land to Tata Motors on a 90-year lease, on an annual lease rental of Rs 1 crore a year for the first five years, with
a 25 per cent increase after every five years till 30 years.
Tax paychecks: The agreement says that WBIDC will provide an industrial promotion assistance in the form of a
loan at 0.1 per cent per annum for amounts equal to gross value-added tax and Central Sales Tax received by
the State Government in each of the previous years ended March 31, on the sale of the small car from the date
the sales begin.
building their small car factory on their farmlands has unnerved India’s premier
corporate group. The state government and the Tatas have found the Trinamool
Congress backed violent agitation too hot to handle. A cloud of uncertainty hangs over
the fate of the project in West Bengal. The Tatas may move out of the state and shift to
a more hospitable location elsewhere.
Singur is now a name known all over the world. A section of farmers who are unwilling to part with their land have
carried on a violent agitation that has made the
Tatas do a serious rethink about continuing at
Singur. However, not all the farmers in Singur
want to persist with farming. A large number of
them willingly sold it off for a handsome
compensation.
There are large numbers of farmers who have
happily sold off their land to be used for setting up
the Tata's car factory or for its ancillary units. But
enough of them have opposed the land sale to
give Tatas the jitters and even make them
threaten to leave West Bengal for more welcoming
climes.
Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress
supported agitation could not have been so successful if the farmers of Singur were not really on the warpath.
Enough of them are disgruntled to have led to this agitation. Many of them are pointing out that a one time
compensation for the land sale will not feed them all their lives.
Their reasoning is valid. There are reports of numerous farmers having sold off their land in areas around Delhi
owing to the growing urbanisation of the national capital region and then having literally blown up the money
within a short period and then having to face the consequences. So the concerns of the Singur farmers are
genuine as they point out that the land will always give them a livelihood but mere cash will not last for ever.
At the same time, with fragmentation of holdings, revenue from agriculture is gradually declining. This situation
has been acknowledged by the Left Front government in West Bengal led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya which
has recognized that there is need for farmers to move into other sectors of the economy. In such a scenario,
innovative ways to provide farmers both compensation as well a long term livelihood need to be incorporated into
future land acquisition agreements.
The compromise formula that is sought to be hammered out currently by the West Bengal Governor
Gopalkrishna Gandhi with the state government and Mamata Bannerjee apparently envisages providing jobs to
each family that is being uprooted. Reports have also appeared in the media about large industry trying to take a
new approach to dealing with farmers whose land is being acquired for special economic zones. The aim should
obviously be to ensure that the farmer's family does not lose out in the long run after selling their land.
