Alex Whitty

2008-11-08T15:54:00.000-08:00

Im having major issues uploading my scans onto blogger. I can get to one particular step in the process which is where the blog uploads the image, but i does not complete this set. I dont know how to resolve this issue as the scans need to be uploaded onto the site in order to be marked.

Plans

2008-10-16T21:52:00.000-07:00

Sections

2008-10-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Elevations East and West

2008-10-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Elenvations North and South

2008-10-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

PROBLEM UPLOADING

2008-10-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Im currently having problems uploading my drawings from the last assessment task. My camera yesterday decided to give up the ghost and my scanner is not operating. I am currently tyring to locate a friend whose camera and computer is available for me to use to upgrade my drawings and models. I will (hopefully) have the drawings up by tonight. Sorry.

Submission Two-Section 1:20

2008-09-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

1:20 Detail Cross Section of the administrative area of the centre. Designed as two parallel buildings, separated by a moderate walkway for the employees of the centre and the general public to pass through from the public park. Designed to extend the landscape of the park into the community centre grounds, heightening the temporal sense of accessibility of the site to the general public. Glass walls defining the walkway illustrate reciprocity in that the public are able to see the workings of the site and employees are able to view the users of the site. Reciprocity also exists individually within the buildings, that between employees and the oval between the manager and the street and between the manager and employees themselves, as defined by the structure of the buildings. Contrary to a sited opinion, this section was not created the morning it was due, but was thoughfully considered and designed. As instructed at the beginning of the term, i chose a medium that i was not entirely comfortable or efficient at, in the hopes of increasing a skill base that had previously not been developed.

Submission Two-Sections 1:200

2008-09-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

Sections through the Coogee Beach Community Centre, longitudinally and a cross section through the centre right of the site. The first section details the progression through the site from right to left (from the oval): from the basketball court defining the end of the public park, through administrative areas, to the cafe (central meeting point) finally ending at the historic grandstand. The second section details the basketball in relation to the street and the oval, illustrating the characteristics the court possesses in relation to threshold.

Conceptual Model Three

2008-08-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Conceptual Model Two

2008-08-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Conceptual Model One

2008-08-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Site Analysis

2008-08-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Coogee Community Centre Site Model

2008-08-17T17:35:00.000-07:00

Project Three Final Model Cont'd

2008-06-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Project Three Final Model

2008-06-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

Project Three Poched Site Drawing

2008-06-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Project Three Poched Sections Cont'd

2008-06-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Project Three Poched Sections Contindued

2008-06-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Project Three Poched Sections

2008-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Project Three Poched Plans

2008-06-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

Sketch Up Model

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Site Analysis Continued

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Site Analysis

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Chosen Artist-Nicholas Burton

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Chosen Artist-MIchael Rae

2008-06-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Project Two Final Model Cont'd

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Project Two Final Model Continued

2008-06-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Project Two Final Model

2008-06-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Project Two Casementless Window

2008-06-15T20:19:00.000-07:00

Project Two Poched Axonometrics

2008-06-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

Project Two Poched Sections

2008-06-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Project Two Poched Plans

2008-06-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Project Two Geometric Drawings

2008-06-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

Project Two Working Drawings Continued

2008-06-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Project Two Working Drawings

2008-06-15T20:05:00.001-07:00

Project One Model Continued

2008-06-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Project One Model

2008-06-15T20:03:00.000-07:00

Final Poche Drawing Section2

2008-06-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Poche Drawings Section 1

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Final Parti Drawings Continued

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Final Parti Drawings

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Final Parti-Enclosure

2008-05-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Working Drawings...Parti Continued

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Working Drawings....Parti

2008-05-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

Project One 2008-Robert Venturi's Mothers' House

2008-05-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

Link to Filefront

2007-10-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

Alex Whitty-Filefront

Final Final

2007-10-23T20:57:00.001-07:00

The meeting point of both Carlos Slim and Ratan Tata was designed to be a neutral area, at face value. The dining table and chairs were not designed to favour one particular party, poporting to the fact that there is no power play or struggle between the two. However the meeting point does highlight a slight favouritism to Carlos Slim and the power he holds. Ratan Tata's office is placed in direct view of the meeting point, enabling Slim to observe Tata at work. This on its own does not seem significant until one takes into account that Tata is unable to observe Slim at work-his office has been purposely placed below the bridge structure and the elevator that carries Tata to the meeting point is also restricting in what he is able to observe and perceive of the world around him. IN this way, by obstructing Tata's access to information (of the physical world around him), Slim is able to control the level of power Tata is able to hold.

Final Images Continued

2007-10-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Final Images

2007-10-23T20:31:00.000-07:00

Assessee PART TWO (think i posted the weeks in the wrong way...apologies)

2007-10-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

Assessor, or assessee...? PART ONE

2007-10-23T16:23:00.000-07:00

Tip/Something Learnt

2007-10-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

1. Ability to rotate rectangles in UT2004-sounds lames but not being able to do it annoyed the hell out of me. CONTROL+RIGHT CLICK. Not left!
2. Actually being able to use the follow me tool in Sketchup. It needs a path to follow in order to be created.
3. Elevator and Dining Table animations-you need to created different layers by copying and pasting the object that you want to move.

Second Draft of Offices

2007-10-23T15:59:00.001-07:00

Conceptual Ideas behind Office Spaces

2007-10-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

Conceptual Ideas on Dining Tables

2007-10-23T15:54:00.000-07:00

Dining Tables and Chairs Examples

2007-10-23T15:45:00.000-07:00

Draft of Meeting Place

2007-10-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Sketchup Animation of Interplay at Dining Table

2007-10-23T15:33:00.002-07:00

Texture Set Two-Fluidity, Experience, Degree

2007-10-23T15:33:00.001-07:00

Texture Set One-Linear, Scalar and Rotational

2007-10-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

UT2004 Draft Elevator Movements

2007-10-23T15:15:00.003-07:00

Elevator Examples!

2007-10-23T15:14:00.001-07:00

2007-10-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Two Point Perspectives

2007-10-23T15:04:00.001-07:00

2007-10-23T15:01:00.002-07:00

Opinions On Power

2007-10-23T15:01:00.001-07:00

Week One Independent Study-Pathways

2007-10-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

One Point Perspectives

2007-10-23T14:44:00.001-07:00

Ratan Tata Newspaper Article 2

2007-10-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

"Business Week"

JULY 26, 2004

ASIAN BUSINESS

Ratan Tata: No One's Doubting Now
He has transformed Tata from an overgrown conglomerate into an agile global force

The entrance to Bombay's Birla Matushree Auditorium is festooned with blue and red bunting. Outside, scores of people mill about, waiters serve free coffee and soda, and a long queue waits to get into the hall. Suddenly a flurry of excitement sweeps the crowd. What's the attraction? No, it's not an appearance by the latest Bollywood starlet. It's a tall, graying man in a conservative suit: Ratan N. Tata, 67-year-old chairman of Tata group, arriving to lead the annual meeting of Tata Motors, the group's largest company. "When Ratan Tata is there, you don't have to worry about anything," says longtime shareowner Pravin D. Shah as the chairman strides by.

Tata, India's largest conglomerate, has certainly achieved the kind of results that set shareholders' hearts aflutter. The group's revenues are up 30% since 2002, to $12.8 billion last year, and profits have grown 60%, to $1.2 billion. Stock prices of the group's biggest publicly traded companies, Tata Motors and Tata Steel, have tripled in that period. And this summer, Tata is expected to raise $1.2 billion by selling 13% of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Asia's largest software-services player and pioneer of the outsourcing business that has fueled India's fast-growing economy. The initial public offering will boost the group's international profile as Ratan Tata gears up to make Tata a global player. "TCS exemplifies our dual thrust: It is a dominant player within the country, but it will also focus our growth outside India," he says.

It's a sweet moment for the gentlemanly Tata. Since 1991, when he took over as chairman at the behest of his uncle J.R.D. Tata, he has faced plenty of opposition as he dragged the group out of the cozy -- but stifling -- embrace of socialist India and streamlined the overgrown conglomerate. J.R.D. Tata had been a darling of the Indian Establishment, but many observers were skeptical about his untested nephew. Ratan Tata's plan -- sketched out a decade before he became chairman, back when he ran the group's business-development arm -- was to build a more focused company without abandoning the best of Tata's manufacturing tradition.

It took the better part of a decade, but Tata's vision is paying off. Today, the group has interests from autos and steel to software and telecom and is prospering as India's economy booms. "The group is now well-positioned to benefit from India's rapid growth and evolution as a global sourcing base," says Amit Chandra, a managing director at investment bank DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd. (MER ) in Bombay.

HOUSEHOLD NAME
The group has come a long way in its 136-year history. It was founded by Jamsetji Tata, who started a textile-trading business in 1868 in Bombay and then built the country's first steel mill and hydroelectric plant. Since then, Tata products have become interwoven with the fabric of Indian life. Indians season their food with Tata salt, drink Tata tea, drive Tata cars, and use Tata's power, air conditioners, and phone networks. They stay in Tata hotels and wear Tata watches. India's infrastructure is built with Tata's steel, and its companies and government agencies run Tata's software.

Ratan Tata isn't satisfied: He wants the world -- not just India -- to embrace Tata products. So for the past four years he has been in global expansion mode. In 2000, Tata Tea Ltd. paid $435 million for Britain's Tetley Tea, a company three times its size, to gain a ready-made international brand. In March, Tata bought Daewoo's commercial truck operation for $102 million, with the idea of using Daewoo technology for his truckmaking operation and establishing a springboard into other Asian markets. In Britain, MG Rover Group Ltd. is selling Tata-built Indica compact cars under its own brand name, while Tata trucks ply roads from Malaysia to South Africa. The lodging division is expanding into luxury and business hotels around the world. And TCS is looking to buy software houses in North and South America.

Tata, though, isn't neglecting his home turf. He is using the group's engineering and technological skills to innovate and develop affordable, high-quality products and services for a young, emerging class of Indians with big aspirations but limited means. In June, Tata's Indian Hotels Co. launched indiOne -- a chain of $20-a-night self-service hostelries that feature Wi-Fi connections and flat-screen TVs. By early next year, Tata Motors plans to roll out the first prototype of a four-door car expected to sell for just $2,200. Tata says the ventures are meant to be profitable, but he admits he is also motivated by a family tradition of charity and good works. "It's the foundation on which the group was built," says Tata. Investors are watching to see whether such a model can generate the kind of profits they're accustomed to seeing from Tata. "The challenge is to ensure that the group's sense of social obligation doesn't collide with shareholder-value creation," says Ajay Sondhi, managing director of investment bank Kotak Mahindra Capital in Bombay. "But if anyone can pull it off, it is the Tatas."

Tata's riskiest bet may be on telecommunications. In 2002, the group paid $530 million for 46% of the state-owned international telecom monopoly, VSNL. That investment has been something of a lemon. The sector was deregulated soon after, and instead of benefiting from the monopoly, Tata faced a flood of new competitors. Tata has invested $2 billion in licenses and infrastructure for a mobile network, but in 18 months it has attracted just 2 million subscribers and remains a distant fifth in the market. Ratan Tata is nonetheless doubling down his bet and plans to invest an additional $3 billion to expand the network, install new technology, and market its service. Investors worried about Tata's slow pace in cellular are lauding the move. "The group was conservative on telecom for too long," says Dinshaw Irani, who heads portfolio management at Bombay brokerage SSKI Investor Services. "The infusion of funds isn't a moment too soon."

BUILT-IN SOCIAL CONSCIENCE
The frenetic activity represents a big change of pace for the old-world Tata group. Although the conglomerate has always been run by a Tata, family members own only a tiny stake in Tata Sons, the holding company that controls the group's ownership in the various enterprises. Instead, Tata Sons is run by a pair of trusts that get dividends from the group's operations. That money is deployed for social services such as education grants and health care for the poor. Very little wends its way back into the pockets of Tata family members.

That management structure -- while laudable -- combined with India's restrictive socialist governments to hold back the group's growth for years. Tata companies came to be run by genteel consent and permission, rather than by aggressive ownership control. The group degenerated into a bunch of randomly run fiefdoms, with octogenarians on the boards and no modern management systems, checks, or controls. By 1991, when India liberalized its economy, shares in Tata companies languished in Bombay's then high-flying stock market.

That year, the board appointed Ratan Tata chairman even though investors and employees doubted his ability to pull the group forward. A shy and reticent man, Tata's career had been undistinguished, with desultory stints in various divisions. His early ambition was to be an architect. After earning an architecture degree at Cornell University, he worked for a few months at a Los Angeles architectural firm. But his uncle pressed Ratan to join the family business. "I often wanted to return to the U.S. Sometimes I felt I wasn't getting anywhere," Tata says. "Many times my name was a disadvantage. My elders didn't want to be seen to be favoring me." So Tata was never offered (and never asked for) company benefits such as subsidized loans for refrigerators -- precious perks in the socialist, supply-short India of those days.

Shortly after joining the group, Tata spent three years in the steel business, "shoveling limestone in the steel-melting shops, working with the foreman at the blast furnaces," he recalls. Tata loved the shop floor, and the experience gave him a comfort level with the factory workers across the vast Tata empire that he still deeply values. After his stint with steel, Tata put in time at the auto and software divisions, then faced his first real test: He was given charge of Tata Sons' limping consumer-electronics business. Tata got the company back into the black, but the business was ignored by the group, and it was soon shuttered. In 1981, Tata joined the group's business-development arm and started writing his dream plan. It envisioned a restructured Tata in eight core industries, including Old Economy stalwarts such as steel and utilities, as well as the more forward-looking information-technology and biotechnology businesses. Top management ignored the proposal.

When he got the top job, Tata pulled his plan out of the filing cabinet and set about shaking up the pedigreed but plodding conglomerate. He sold off noncore businesses such as cosmetics and cooking oil. He shrank the group to 80 companies from 250 and angered some investors by strengthening Tata Sons' stake in group companies to at least 26% -- which gives the group the right to block takeovers -- from as little as 1.7% before.

Doubters watched in amazement as the nonconfrontational and aristocratic Tata started to develop battle instincts. After a year of bitter public spats with powerful group chieftains -- especially in the steel and hotel businesses -- Tata ousted them and installed new management. Then he tackled Tata Motors. The truckmaker had too many employees and too many suppliers, and costs were climbing while market share was slipping. So Tata halved the number of suppliers, to 600, using the company's clout in the truck market to get better prices from the survivors, and instituted a rigorous quality-control program in Tata's factories. He sold off real estate holdings and other noncore assets and exited joint ventures such as one with DaimlerChrysler to make the E-class Mercedes -- a luxury few Indians could afford. Finally, he introduced a voluntary retirement scheme to trim employment by 40%, to 22,000. That generated $250 million in cash, which Tata Motors used to pay down debts that were pushing $1 billion.

FAST REPAIRS
Then he fulfilled a long-cherished dream of his uncle's by making a move into passenger cars. In 1991, Tata Motors introduced a station wagon and later a sport-utility vehicle. Then, in 1999, amid much skepticism, he invested $400 million in the Indica, a four-door hatchback that sells for just $5,100. Known as "Ratan's folly," the Indica would have to face off against Suzuki Motor Corp.'s (SZKMF ) popular compacts. But Tata took a personal interest in the project, often spending weekends at the factory to help with the rollout. Initially, customers groused about a grinding gear shift, poor air-conditioning, and lousy tires. So Tata's engineers swung into action, going to showrooms and talking to customers about their complaints. In six months, many of the problems were fixed, and a new version of the Indica, the V2, was launched. Now the car is the third-biggest seller in India.

Will Tata realize his dream of remaking the group into a global giant? There are hurdles ahead, and Tata doesn't have much time -- he retires in three years. He won't disclose his succession plan, but the market is abuzz that his half-brother, Noel Tata, 47, who runs the group's small retailing business and hasn't had a high profile, will inherit the mantle. For now, though, the show is all Ratan Tata's, and Indians -- and the world -- are watching.

By Manjeet Kripalani in Bombay

Ratan Tata Newspaper Article 1

2007-10-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

JULY 26, 2004

ASIAN BUSINESS

Online Extra: Ratan Tata's Trials and Triumphs
Group Chairman since 1991, he looks back at his darkest and brightest moments, and ahead to future challenges

In the old Fort area of Bombay, where the British once had their mercantile offices, is a stately stone building called Bombay House. It's the headquarters of the $12.8 billion Tata group of companies, run since 1868 by the Tata family. Presiding over the conglomerate today is Ratan N. Tata, 67, a descendant of founder Jamsetji Tata. The patrician and courteous Ratan Tata has been chairman of the group since 1991.

He has had a hard tenure, but Tata is emerging as a victor. He has restructured the group, defied skeptics by developing and rolling out an indigenously developed passenger car, which is now India's third most popular, and remade himself from a shy, reclusive man into a confident chieftain.

It's a rainy mid-July afternoon, and Tata is deep in the annual-meeting season for Tata group's many companies. Just the week before, he was the star at the meeting of the group's flagship, Tata Motors. After a few rough years, it has turned in a spectacular performance and paid out an 80% dividend to thrilled shareholders, thanks to the new Indica model. At the meeting, investors sang Tata's praises and composed poetry about his leadership qualities, embarrassing the chairman. Still, he listened patiently, gave thanks in polite and measured tones -- just what shareholders expected. In an extensive interview with BusinessWeek Bombay Bureau chief Manjeet Kripalani, Tata reflected on his coming of age in Tata group companies, his most difficult days, his recent triumphs, and what he dreams of now. Following are edited excerpts:

Q: I saw you at the Tata Motors annual meeting last week. Your shareholders are full of your praises. It was very different three years ago. Did they throw eggs instead of praises at you then?
A: No. As a matter of fact at the end of my opening remark, I thanked one and all for staying with us during our difficult times. Yes, three years ago there was a good amount of noise. In fact the worst noise was made by an ex-employee of the Tatas who stood outside and was distributing pamphlets advocating my removal. But by and large, most of the shareholders were understanding of the situation and supportive.

This is my second such episode because the first year that I took over Tata Steel, it came fairly close to a loss -- we cut the dividend by half, and it was on the back of [previous Chairman] Russi Modi having promised growth. There was an angry session. But when the company turned around, we increased the dividend again, we compensated shareholders, and by and large they had a feeling that we were being fair.

Q: Let's talk about the upcoming [$1.2 billion] initial public offering of your software arm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). What is that going to do for the group apart from increasing the market capitalization?
A: The market capitalization issue is of least consequence to us considering the size of the IPO we are working on. We are not doing it for the market cap and definitely not for the cash it brings to us. We are doing it because we really believe that the growth of TCS as a division of Tata Sons, rather than as a corporate in its own right, would have hurt its business growth.

In the marketplace also, going in as a division of an unknown private company, is not going to give it the kind of credentials that it might need to compete with the Infosys' (INFY ) and Wipros (WIT ) of this world. While we get one big dollop of cash upfront, we forgo all the profits that TCS has been providing us all these years on a continuing basis as we move forward.

It is really about taking a jewel and letting it shine. We will still be 80% owners. It's just another company that will take its place in our portfolio.

Q: One part of your overall strategy seems to be internationalizing the operations according to your vision, and the other part is looking at leadership in the domestic markets. Where does TCS fit in this big picture?
A: In both areas. I think it is one of the few IT companies that has a serious space in the country. And secondly, it would focus on growth outside India. I visualize in the next few years the following companies to be the international face of the group: TCS, Tata Motors, Indian Hotels Co., and to some extent, one which won't be that visible, is Tata Power. [But] if you have an opportunity of establishing 1,500 megawatts in South Africa or acquiring a power-project agreement in Bangladesh or in Malaysia or wherever, why would we not think of Tata Power [having] a role outside India?

Q: As India went into liberalization, everything seemed to be falling as per your plans -- the 1981 plan while you were at Tata Industries and then in 1991, when you became chairman.
A: Yes. In some ways the 1981 plan preceded the opening up of India. As luck would have it, when Rajeev Gandhi became Prime Minister, it was almost as if we had collaborated on what areas would be open up to private sector! We wanted to look at what we could contribute to the growing economy of India. We now have to look beyond reaching to the high-end of the market.

We started with Indica, didn't go to a Toyota (TM ) or a Honda (HMC ) [for a tie-up]. We tried to do something at the lower end of the market, and we are trying to do the same again with hotels. And we really must now look at that vast market of India and several other places outside India where we can really penetrate that market with good value, good-quality products and services which welcome the need for a mass market. Maybe not China, but other places in Asia, Eastern Europe and Southern Africa.

Q: Is corporate governance really going to hinder the group, or are you finally going to get premium out of it?
A: I don't know about any premium, but it will earn us a reputation and preference as a brand. Many people look at quality as a cost. Quality is not a cost -- it is a gain. If it can do the same thing for us, then we can succeed in our efforts. We are not there as yet.

Q: Tell me about your entry into the Tata Group. When you finished studying at Cornell University in the U.S., were you conscious of the fact that maybe because you were a Tata, you got the job and you had to live up to very high expectations?
A: No. Most people don't know that I came to India with a job offer from IBM (IBM ) in the U.S., assigning me to India. It was a three-year offer with IBM World Trade, presumably a market-oriented job.

But in the first few days J.R.D. [Tata, Ratan's uncle] was really upset that I was not working in the group. At that time, the IBM office had the only electric typewriter. J.R.D. asked me for my résumé, [so I went there and] got my résumé typed and gave it to J.R.D. And that's how I got into Tatas. I wasn't planning to be in India anyway and was planning to go back. I came to India because my grandmother was ill.

Q: So how was it, to work in the group as a Tata?
A: I thought many times my name was a disadvantage. My elders were afraid of doing something lest they would have been accused of favoring a younger Tata. So if normal employees got a loan to buy a refrigerator, I could not. It was the reverse kind of thing, and so everyone seemed very careful about what they did for me. In many ways it was a disadvantage for me.

How did I overcome it? In the beginning, I let it ride. I didn't feel I had to work twice as hard to prove myself, but I could not ask for anything. On two or three occasions, I almost went back to the U.S., but I never asked for anything. I didn't know where I was going [in the company]. At that time, I would have rather gone back, but as time went on, going back became more and more difficult.

Q: What were your early years at the group like? At Tata Steel, you shoveled limestone and worked on the blast furnaces?
A: I did little bit of everything. I wasn't employed as someone to shovel limestone, to drive a crane, or to do any of those things, but I got a chance to be involved in it. So I did shovel limestone, spent time at shop floors, at the blast furnace, steel shops. I felt I belonged to that shop while I was there. I was really rubbing shoulders with the workers, which I would have never have been able to do before. They treated me as one of my own.

I became chairman of Tata Steel and went back to Jamshedpur to Tata Steel and went from shop to shop. Some people came up to me and said, "You remember, we worked together." They got flowers for me. It felt really nice. That was 20 years ago. It's something I gained. It made me one with everyone, so I have been able to have the same kind of spirit on the shop floor today.

Q: Your strategy after 1991, was it something that you felt was actually needed or...
A: I think the group needed cohesion, or let me put that another way, the cohesion the group had was through the persona of J.R.D. Tata, the patriarch. There was no institutionalized cohesion that existed, legally or financially, without him. My concern was that after him, it would be difficult to hold it together. I don't think I was wrong. He never agreed with me on that. We discussed it many times.

I really believed that whoever took his place -- it wasn't necessarily me -- that person would have a difficult time holding the group together. And I thought that there needed to be some institutionalized cohesion that we needed to create and articulate that, set up a structure for that.

Q: What was your darkest hour and your best time?
A: Certainly, among the best times are now. The success of developing the Indica was another best time. And when we wiped out our losses at Nelco [the consumer-electronics business]. For the first time, I felt I was doing something. The group never supported it. At the time they didn't see electronics as a big thing.

I think my darkest moment was in the '80s, when the Tatas didn't support keeping Empress Mills alive. It was the first company that Jamsetji Tata started. The group needed to spend only a small sum at that time, just $630,000. It was literally that key moment of support. It made me feel bad because I felt we had let everybody [the workers] down.

I remember in that year, it's a stupid thing, very childish, but when I got my bonus, I shared it with the officers of the company. Our bonus at that time was very small, insignificant, but I gave the whole thing away. People may have got just about $200 each, but I felt I could not take it. It made me feel better to give it away.

The whole thing was shut down, all 8,000 employees lost their jobs. Eventually, the government took it over, and the Tatas ended up meeting liabilities and the litigation and so on worth $5 million thereafter.

Q: How would you describe yourself as a strategic risk-taker?
A: I am a moderate risk-taker. I am not a gambler. But I love to take risks. If I believe in something, I would do it vigorously.

Q: What is your dream for the group dream? Apart from what you have done so far.
A: I would be happiest if, 10 to 15 years from now, the group can [not only] be much bigger and more profitable but that we have reached a level where people say we are a group that provides value for money, whose customer sensitivity is very high, and that it really caters to the demands of its customers better than the others.

I have no desire to strive to be No. 1 in size, but being No. 1 in quality and No. 1 as a corporation in its human and business practices. I would say, I would consider that to be really great.

Q: Do you attribute that desire to your heritage?
A: Maybe. I think that's the foundation on which the group was built and that it is a tradition or a legacy that it follows.

Q: Was your upbringing strict? Lenient? Stress on your cultural activities, or sports or academics?
A: Neither was it very strict, nor very lenient. My brother and I were brought up by my grandmother. Yes, she was very indulgent. But also quite strict in terms of discipline. I can't think of any kind of pressure on us in terms of what we should do. We were very protected, didn't have many friends. I had to learn the piano, and played a lot of cricket. I'm trying to find a piano teacher, so I can play again. I just bought an electronic piano.

Q: Your succession plans?
A: Not to talk of today. Yes, there is a succession plan. At the right time I will talk about it. In the meantime, I've plans to learn to play the piano.

Cheung Yan Newspaper Article

2007-10-23T14:27:00.000-07:00

Cheung Yan interview on Talk Asia (taken from CNN.com)

POSTED: 6:18 a.m. EDT, June 3, 2007

AR: Talk Asia's host, Anjali Rao
CY: Cheung Yan

AR: At the moment, China is the country that every company wants to be able to make a mark on. Although it does still have some severe problems such as corruption and also a lot of red tape, plus it's very male-dominated still. What's been your experience of trying to be financially successful there as a woman building up your enterprise from nothing?

CY: In the process of building up my business, I did not feel the impact of the Chinese government on my business development, like what you described, for example, corruption. We are a foreign-owned enterprise; we're not a state-owned enterprise. I didn't feel I was affected by any sex discrimination in the business community. Actually I felt that whether it was in China or whether it was in the USA, males and female are actually now equal. And in my career development, I didn't feel that as a woman I experienced any difficulty because of that. And my belief is in any business transaction, it's not sex that makes the difference. It's actually that you should use your intelligence to win. Whoever has the intelligence will win the game. For the past twenty years, I have been very pleased that I was able to build this success and it was not just because I was a woman.

AR: Plenty of companies doing business in China have previously found themselves in conflict on various levels with the Chinese government. Is that something that you've ever come up against?

CY: I don't believe that there has been any conflict with the government. For example, we have been getting our financing from Hong Kong. And we do understand some government concerns and so even if we have experienced a long process in getting approval at the initial stage, actually, the results were very satisfying. It was a good result. And we are seeing that in the '80s and '90s the government policy was to actively promote foreign investment and we fall into that category. And also because container box making was almost an empty industry in China, so was also encouraged by the Chinese government.
For example, in the Pearl River Delta, it was a very well established industrial area and we needed container board production in the supply chain. So, overall speaking, we believe that the process of interaction with the government has been relatively smooth. The only problem we had was that at that time, the policies were not that comprehensive and you may say if that there had been problems, then we wouldn't have seen such a solid company like Nine Dragons being built up within a short period of ten years. Today, in terms of scale and capacity, we are satisfied with the results, so were the investors from the international communities.

AR: Still, though, it's not like you're a movie star or a big time financier. How does it feel when people say to you that, you know, that you've far surpassed people like Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart, people like that in terms of wealth.

CY: My achievement was a natural consequence of the building of values in my enterprise. The Nine Dragons development was a step-by-step process. Today the achievements are all derived from excellent management in the company, my own long term vision about the market, and it's from the raw material market where I had a good vision of the potential of the Chinese paper market that I started to build a business and become successful. In my management, I emphasized a humanized approach and also an approach that you may say is an amalgamation of the Chinese and Western management and culture.

AR: It sounds like such a simple idea though. Take some recycled paper and then recycle them to make some paper products! But was it simple for you to be very successful at it?

CY: My success didn't come so easily and simply. It's a lot of hard work over the past twenty years. The industry is good. That is a prerequisite definitely. And I have a passion for the business. I like the paper recycling business. Fortunately, I had the wholehearted support from the bankers because of Nine Dragon's vision of the business and the valuable assets of the company so I was able to get the funding. I believed that, one day, China would be like Europe or the USA. So that's why I started to invest in the first paper machine in Dongguan with an international approach. Meaning that I imported the machines from overseas, components from the USA and Europe and also the scale of the machines were much bigger than my peers at that time.

AR: Ms. Cheung, take us back to the day where Nine Dragons was floated on the Hong Kong stock exchange and how much that meant to you?

CY: At the time of the IPO I felt that the significance was that Nine Dragons had entered the international business scene and the IPO was mainly to raise funds to address the market space created by the increase in demand in the Chinese market and when we started our public listing I felt it was the beginning of a new set of responsibilities for me. Actually even before the IPO I had prepared and was ready psychologically for such new responsibilities. So I understand the potential of the company very well and deep down I feel very confident about the future of the company after the IPO…….

AR: So in all how many people work for you?

CY: In this Dongguan premise, there are over 5,000 people. But for each paper treatment machine, we only need less than 20 people. All the machines are very advanced and automatically controlled. We provide a one-stop service, from resources to products. Everything is controlled automatically. So you may think 5000 staff is a large number, but actually it's not……

AR: You have customers all over the world I am assuming?

CY: Including the entire world, we also export to the U.S as they lack product like this. So we export to U.S, Middle East and Asia.

AR: Ms. Cheung, let's just have a look at just how you started out professionally. In 1985, you moved to Hong Kong from the Mainland to set-up a waste paper trading business with $4,000 USD in your pocket. How did you manage?

CY: I was actually working for a paper company before I came to Hong Kong. By chance, I came to Hong Kong and I had the mission of bringing waste paper to China. And that was the expectation of the Chinese paper companies. And, of course, my role was to make the Chinese paper companies accept recycled paper as a raw material when, at the time, straw was the main raw material. So that was a mission and the Chinese paper companies had high expectations of me. So, that's how I managed to get these paper companies to pre-pay the purchase in Hong Kong. And that's how I built my first packet of gold. At that time the paper recovery collected in China had a high level of moisture, it was not desirable and the Chinese companies would like me to change this and bring good quality recovered paper to China.

AR: You moved to the U.S. - how hard was it to get going?

CY: I only understand very little English now. When I moved to the States I really saw the future potential for the Chinese market was really very large. Also I had the right views on the industry which was highly recognized by my peers in the States. And so within five years I managed to build the largest exporter of recovery paper in the States. I had a pleasant business experience in the States and I benefited a lot from my development there. First, is that Americans had long term views about businesses and I shared the same views. Even though my English was not good and I benefited a lot from her experience there. For example, credibility was important and I observed American businessmen all kept their promises.

AR: Does the perception of nepotism worry you?

CY: First I would like to talk about my younger brother Mr. Cheung. Mr. Cheung actually was also a founder of Nine Dragons and he was an excellent manager and leader in the business. He's a very intelligent businessman and he's a very important decision maker and leader in the company. Regarding my son, well we have examples in the enterprise where we had appointed a 23 year old staff member as the vice president. I felt my son, although even he started at very young years had already had already been exposed to the paper recycling business. So I saw he had good potential to help develop the business in the future. He's now only a non-executive director of the company and he may become the future management although the company might not be led by him.
Of course he'll be the person who will take priority in being considered as a successor -- but it's not a must. Only when he can prove he is capable can he do this.

…..AR: As its economy zooms ahead, China is often slammed for letting industrial pollution run rampant, if you like, sort of making money at the expense of the environment. As the head of a huge company which recycles paper, you were once even said that "other people saw scrap paper garbage; I saw it as a forest of trees." Do you consider yourself in any way, sort of a model for environmental protectionism?

CY: When talking about industrial pollution, that was an issue some years ago. Now the government is promoting "Green GDP." And in the Nine Dragons case I was in Hong Kong since I was 20 years old and I moved to the States when I was 30 and when I was in these communities, I learned of the importance of environmental protection. And that's why in Nine Dragons we make substantial investments in environmental management. Also, all advanced countries in the world such as USA, Europe and Japan, they are all recycling paper. This is really an environmental friendly business. And we are seeing that the government now is moving in a direction that is encouraging these kind of larger paper makers and they require the smaller manufacturer of under 50,000 tonnes to close down their business. So, overall speaking, we believe that environmental protection is a positive factor to Nine Dragons because it is helping us to consolidate our market position when the smaller non-compliant paper makers have to leave the market.

AR: You've got three and a half billion dollars U.S to your name. Has money changed you?

CY: I am still the same Cheung Yan. After I became the rich woman with such a size of wealth, one change I observed of course was there was more attention from the media. In that regard I actually would like to thank the media and readers for their attention and concern about me but in my daily life there was not much change. For me the most important things everyday is still to make greater achievements and to fulfil my responsibilities. The share price of the company may go up but the most important thing for me is the value of the enterprise keeps continuously improving. And sometimes even though in my business I make a lot of money that's not the only thing that makes me happy. What I am most pleased to see is the long term growth and development of the company.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/03/talkasia.cheungyan/index.html?eref=rss_latest
CNN.com

Carlos Slim Newspaper Article 3

2007-10-23T14:25:00.000-07:00

I don't care if I'm richest in world...
Fri Aug 3, 2007 10:58am EDT

By Chris Aspin

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, who is estimated by some calculations to be wealthier than Microsoft founder Bill Gates, said Thursday he did not care if he was the world's richest person.

"It's water off a duck's back to me," the cigar-smoking Slim told foreign correspondents. "I don't know if I'm No. 1, No. 20, or No. 2,000. It doesn't matter."

In July, a journalist who tracks the fortunes of wealthy Mexicans said Slim was worth an estimated $67.8 billion and had overtaken Gates as the world's richest person.

Slim hit the No. 1 spot after a recent surge in the share price of his America Movil, Latin America's largest cell phone company, according to Eduardo Garcia of the online financial publication Sentido Comun.

Garcia said that made him close to $8.6 billion wealthier than Gates, whose estimated worth was $59.2 billion.

Slim, 67, told foreign journalists at a luncheon on Thursday that making sure his job was compatible with his family or personal life was more important than his wealth.
Forbes magazine reported in April that Slim had overtaken billionaire U.S. investor Warren Buffett for the No. 2 spot in the world's richest stakes, but it is not scheduled to recalculate Slim's wealth until next year.

Slim, known for his Midas touch in turning struggling businesses into profit-making machines, told Reuters this year he did not calculate his fortune on a regular basis.
In Mexico, a small elite holds most of the country's wealth and about half the population lives on less than $5 a day.

Slim said Thursday his charitable foundations planned to invest $300 million in the next few years to build 100 schools in poor regions of Mexico that will focus on digital education. The plan would later be expanded throughout Latin America.
© Reuters2007All rights reserved

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0247043920070803?sp=true

Why Not All of Mexico Is Happy for Carlos Slim

Saturday, Apr. 14, 2007 By TIM PADGETT

Microsoft boss Bill Gates, the world's richest man with $56 billion, and Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu, who is now No. 2 with $53 billion, have one thing in common besides cool private jets. They owe their fortunes to near monopoly control of their respective markets.

But while U.S. authorities have thwarted Gates' subjugation of the PC software business in recent years, Mexico has done precious little to rein in ubiquitous business empires like Slim's — which today accounts for almost half the Mexican stock exchange's $370 billion value and controls a horde of industries ranging from telecom to tobacco. Forbes magazine, in fact, noted that Slim's holdings alone represent about 7% of Mexico's GDP — and that if Gates held a similar share of the U.S. economy, he would be worth $874 billion.

All of which explains why few Mexicans were doing hat dances this week when Forbes announced that Slim, 67, had suddenly passed U.S. investment wizard Warren Buffett ($52 billion) as the world's second-richest person — and may well topple Gates as Numero Uno by the time next year's list is unveiled. Whereas Gates' wealth reflects America's tech leadership, Slim's riches —despite the sweat and savvy that built them — tend to symbolize Mexico's archaic system of monopolies and oligopolies, which helps keep almost half the nation's population in poverty by choking oxygen away from the rest of the economy. Gates' fortune is part of an engine that creates jobs; Slim's, say critics, is part of an order that sends Mexican migrants across the U.S. border looking for them. And Slim didn't aid his image much last month when he seemed to scoff at the celebrated philanthropy of Gates and Buffett. His priority, he told reporters, was to "accomplish and solve things, rather than giving. That is, not going around like Santa Claus."

As a result, Slim, still relatively unknown outside Mexico, seems destined in the coming year to be more than a rising name on the pages of Forbes. He's likely to become a poster boy of sorts in the ongoing cacophony over hemispheric issues like illegal immigration. One of the stiffest challenges facing Mexico's conservative new President, Felipe Calderon, is the creation of almost a million new, decent-paying jobs a year. But first, say most economists, Calderon has to accept a task that Mexican governments historically have dismissed — that is, regulate the monopolies, which lord over every industry from cement to broadcasting, and chip away at their epic privileges. The big reason for that urgency: the majority of Mexican workers are employed not by Big Business but by the nation's beleaguered small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Slim, fairly or not, is often fingered for some of the obstacles facing Mexico's underdogs. According to the Paris-based Organisation of Economic Cooperation & Development, for example, Telmex, which is the flagship of Slim's Grupo Carso and which controls 90% of Mexico's telephone market, charges small businesses some of the highest fees in the world. Telmex insists those charges have dropped considerably in recent years; but the situation points up the distortions that many feel help keep Mexico underdeveloped.
To his credit, Slim, a widely respected figure and the son of a Lebanese immigrant, seems to be acknowledging the problem. He has accepted, for example, a rare move by Mexico's Federal Competition Commission to block Telmex from expanding into cable television until it allows all competitors to be smoothly hooked up to its telecom services.

And he is lifting his charitable profile, announcing he'll pour $10 billion over the next four years into his health- and education-related Fundacion Carso. Business and philanthropy experts alike hope these developments will help prime the pump not only in Mexico but throughout Latin America, where economic competition and charitable giving have abysmal histories. Slim may not have much competition at home, but when it comes to playing Santa Claus, he may finally be poised to take on the likes of Gates and Buffett

Link:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1610610,00.html

Carlos Slim Newpaper Article 2

2007-10-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

Carlos Slim's Embarrassment of Riches

Wednesday, Jul. 11, 2007 By TIM PADGETT

Carlos Slim isn't just Mexico's richest man — he possesses an astronomical 8% of the country's GDP. So it's not surprising that Eduardo Garcia, one of Mexico's most respected business journalists and the editor-founder of the online financial publication Sentido Comun (Common Sense), last year started a quarterly feature called Slim Watch. It tracks the telecom baron's swelling fortune as well as his companies' alleged monopolistic practices. And this month Slim Watch claims to make it official: Slim, 67, has now passed Microsoft founder Bill Gates as the world's richest man.

Earlier this year, Forbes Magazine reported that Slim, at $53 billion, had surpassed investment guru Warren Buffett as No. 2, but still behind Gates and his $56 billion. Since then, however, the rising value of stock in Slim-controlled giants like Telmex, Mexico's largest telephone company, America Movil, Latin America's largest cell phone company, as well as numerous other holdings — from retail to offshore drilling rigs — have raised Slim's wealth to almost $63 billion, Garcia reports. "My numbers are much higher than Forbes'," Garcia concedes, adding that he would also put Gates' current fortune at $59 billion. "But based on what is publicly traded in Mexico, I'm certain this is an accurate calculation [of Slim's wealth]." Forbes has not yet said if it will revise its list as a result of Garcia's report.

Garcia's math has also grabbed the attention of federal regulators in Mexico, who finally have a substantive antitrust law at their disposal to pursue companies suspected of monopolistic market control — a chronic bane of the Mexican economy. The Federal Competition Commission has announced that it will soon begin an investigation into whether Telmex, which has about 90% of Mexico's landline market, and America Movil, which has more than three-fourths of the country's wireless subscribers, are stifling competition in an industry that is the linchpin of any 21st-century economy. Sanctions could include stiffer regulation that would curb any anti-competitive practices: Telmex, for example, has been accused by potential rivals in the past of thwarting competition by charging especially high interconnectivity fees.

Telmex and America Movil deny they've engaged in any monopolistic practices and have pledged that the commission's probe will bear that out. And Slim, to his credit, has made certain concessions of late, such as agreeing not to expand into cable television until Telmex allowed competitors to hook up to its telecom network. But critics say the tougher scrutiny of Slim is long overdue. "Mexicans on the one hand are rightly proud that we have such a talented businessman with such a keen mind," says Garcia. "But nobody feels proud of the awesome wealth disparity that he represents." Mexico has more billionaires than Switzerland, but almost half its population of 108 million people lives in poverty.

Slim, the son of Lebanese Christian immigrants, started his financial ascent by forming his own brokerage firm when he was in his early 20s. He branched out shrewdly and prodigiously, buying up a dizzying array of businesses that he stuffed into his Grupo Carso holding company. The door to superwealth was opened in 1990 when Telmex, then the government telephone monopoly, was privatized: a Slim-led international investor group bought it for $1.7 billion, and today it's worth almost $40 billion. America Movil is worth almost three times as much. But Garcia charges, Slim's inordinate dominance has meant that, according to the Paris-based Organization of Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD), Mexico's telecom customers pay some of the highest rates in the world. "If not for those rates," Garcia insists, "Mexican businesses would have generated better profits and could have paid their workers better. Mexico would have been a more efficient economy."

Still Garcia and other Mexico business watchers agree that Slim has just done what any tycoon would do — and that the real blame lies with the Mexican government's notorious indulgence of monopolies. President Felipe Calderon was elected last year on a platform that included cracking down on those economic behemoths. Meanwhile, all the talk about the Competition Commission's upcoming probe has sent Telmex's share price tumbling more than 5% in recent days on the Mexico stock exchange, the Bolsa. If the slide continues, Slim could find himself No. 2 again

Link:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1642286,00.html

Carlos Slim Newspaper Article 1

2007-10-23T14:17:00.000-07:00

Link to Filefront

2007-09-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

Alex's Filefront File

Florence

2007-09-09T06:48:00.001-07:00

Meeting Place

2007-09-09T06:47:00.002-07:00

Darwins' Lair Continued!

2007-09-09T06:47:00.001-07:00

Darwins Lair

2007-09-09T06:44:00.000-07:00

Axonometrics Set 2b

2007-09-09T05:28:00.001-07:00

Hatches

2007-09-09T03:56:00.001-07:00

Axonometrics Set 2a (minus one-technological glitch)

2007-09-09T03:45:00.001-07:00

UT 2004 Second Draft-Inside Axonometrics

2007-09-09T03:43:00.000-07:00

First UT2004 Draft

2007-09-09T03:26:00.000-07:00

Axonometrics Set One

2007-09-09T03:08:00.000-07:00

QUUUUOOOOOOOOOTTTESS

2007-08-21T20:17:00.000-07:00

Charles Darwin
"The very essence of instinct is that its followed independently of reason."

Florence Nightingale
" she said the objects and colour in the materials around us actually have a physical effect on us, on how we feel."

Stephen Hawking
"The whole history of science has been the gradual realization that events do not happen in an arbitrary manner, but that they reflect a certain underlying order, which may or may not be divinely inspired."
"Most sets of values would give rise to universes that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at that beauty.

Animations

2007-08-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

3D Warehouse Submission

2007-08-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

Semester Two Design Submission by Alex Whitty

Second Sketchup Stairs

2007-08-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

First Stair Sections

2007-08-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Custom Textures

2007-08-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Design

2007-08-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

More Staircase stuff

2007-08-14T14:11:00.000-07:00

Staircase Ideas

2007-08-14T14:05:00.001-07:00

Battleship Potempkin

2007-08-13T22:47:00.001-07:00

That Shirley Temple Movie

2007-08-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

2007-07-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

2007-07-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

Me

2007-07-24T20:19:00.000-07:00

Patricia Puccinini

2007-07-24T20:07:00.000-07:00