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The designers from both Germany and Italy had great influence on the way people dressed in thr Renaissance period.
For the affluent, clothing was stitched by special designers. With the progress of time new methods of closure were found. The middle class bought clothes that were ready made and second-hand clothing was also common. The labourers clothed themselves in homespun. There was also influence of the Middle and Far East, both on textiles and costume pieces. The turban hat style adopted by both men and women is one example of this influence
Renaissance silks, especially the finest ones were velvets on a satin background. The patterns were large, formal and bisymmetrical. Many of these designs were from Persia, China and India and the clothing resembled them in one way or the other. “One type of ornament, called the "Italian artichoke", formed the center of an intricate pattern enclosed in an ogival framework. Textile designs of this type were widely used in upholstery and hangings in interiors.”- Laurellen de Brandevin
Also the rich wore fabrics such as velvet, satin and cotton, whereas the poor wore flannel and other cheaply available fabrics. Cotton was regarded as a rich person’s clothing as cotton was not easily available as compared to today and was imported from India and America. Amongst the common fabrics were flax and wool. Wool was spun into a form know as tweed.
Also according to Dress and Décor:
“The men's costume were not different in type from the previous period - linen drawers or braies, shirts - the Italian word is camisia - and doublets to which hose were attached with laces or points. The camisia had a wide boat-neck with a small ruffle, sometimes embroidered, and a full sleeve. Hose was joined at the fork, with a codpiece laced over the front opening. Particoloured hose - constructed with legs of a different colour or stripes - was seen in Italy as well as in northern Europe.”
“The Women’s wear was long flowing gowns that fall from the shoulders with a V-shaped opening laced over the camisia. Sleeves were tight-fitting and were seen in several variations Young women also dressed their hair in complex knots and braids, ornamented with jeweled chains and gold nets. A fine chain, called a ferrioniere was draped across”.

Posted by Vibhashreya Srivatsan at 01:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The humanistic revival of classical art, architecture, literature, and learning in the 14th century was remarkable: Here are some facts on one of the most famous artist of the Renaissance period:
Leonardo Da Vinci
He was known as a man of "both" worlds: art and science. A painter, sculptor, architect, musician, engineer, inventor, and scientist he laid down the basics of many scientific inventions and creations. Da Vinci was born in 1452 near the town of Vinci. His first art work that he finished in Milan was the “Madonna of the Rocks”.
He did many drawings of the human body. One of his most famous human anatomy drawings is the “Vitruvian Man” .There are also other detailed drawings of skeletons, muscle structures and organ-systems.
He, as a scientist also invented a large number of ingenious machines, many potentially useful, among them an underwater diving suit, Parachutes, Submarines, Underwater Rebreathing Devices, Self Floatation/Ocean Rescue Devices and many more.
He had amazing observational skills that enabled him to notice and recreate the effects he saw in nature, to a real life like special liveliness to his portraits. One of his famous paintings:
Mona Lisa:
I is the portrait of a the gentle woman who has become an aesthetic, philosophical and advertising symbol whose history though beenmuch discussed remains in part uncertain.
“The Mona Lisa, Leonardo's most famous work, is as well known for its mastery of technical innovations as for the mysteriousness of its legendary smiling subject. This work is a consummate example of two techniques—sfumato and chiaroscuro—of which Leonardo was one of the first great masters. Sfumato is characterized by subtle, almost infinitesimal transitions between color areas, creating a delicately atmospheric haze or smoky effect; it is especially evident in the delicate gauzy robes worn by the sitter and in her enigmatic smile. Chiaroscuro is the technique of modeling and defining forms through contrasts of light and shadow; the sensitive hands of the sitter are portrayed with a luminous modulation of light and shade, while color contrast is used only sparingly”.- Microsoft® Encarta'97
Leonardo himself loved the portrait, so much so that he always carried it with him until eventually in France it was sold to François I.

Posted by Vibhashreya Srivatsan at 01:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Personal Broadband is a concept that talks about integrating the existing technologies to make it more usable, personal and ubiquitous. Its main concentrations include bringing technology in the hands of the user, seamless connectivity, better throughput and bandwidth. WiMAX and 3G, though are competitors, are being seriously considered for the process of convergence as they also seem to complement each other in terms of providing seamless voice and data service.
When observed, 3G service seems to be moving towards enhancing the data throughput and providing better data service while WiMAX is traversing towards improving better voice service. Thus both the technologies are moving towards the same goal, giving the user a single packaged service with all the basic and advanced requirements in a cost effective infrastructure. The concept also addresses needs the of the service providers in terms of providing the best service to their customers.
The other technology that talks about convergence is 4G. 4G is a fourth generation wireless mobile broadband technology which is expected to offer better end-to-end, high speed IP services with better throughput. The current throughput being concentrated on is about 100Mbps when mobile and 1Gbps when stationary. This technology is most likely to use a combination of WiMAX and 3G. The technologies that will be employed to implement 4G are: OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing), MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and 3GPP (LTE) which is the Third Generation Partnership Project (Long Term Evolution).

Posted by Vibhashreya Srivatsan at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NASDAQ, the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system, is an American Stock Market founded in the year 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers. It is the largest Electronic stock market where orders for the stock are sent electronically and once a price is agreed upon the transaction is made. The network traffic is controlled by a Market Maker who competes for the customer by displaying the quotations.

Features of NASDAQ:
ECN (Electronic Communication Network): The feature allows unlimited participants to trade a company’s share thus increasing competition.
SOES (Small Order Execution System): ensures that changes in market condition are processed electronically.

The 3 levels in which NASDAQ quotes its prices to public:
Level I: Here, the person asking for the stock or doing the bid is not disclosed.
Level II: It gives the name of the market maker looking for the stocks.
Level III: This allows asking quotes or entering bid as the process is going on.

The NASDAQ 100 index comprises of the 100 most actively traded domestic and international companies in diverse fields like: hardware, software and telecommunications but not the finance industry. The NASDAQ composite index has seen an extraordinary growth during the 1990’s period but also an equally rapid downfall due to the dotcom crash.

Posted by Vibhashreya Srivatsan at 12:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A company’s performance and success is often been measured either in terms of their value in the stock market or product performance or customer service provided. Though all these factors are important in determining the success rate of the firms, research and analysis have proved that excellent companies have certain specific attributes instilled in their structure which has been and is the reason for them to outperform other industries. However, success is not limited to attaining a certain level of excellence, long term superiority is required to achieve greatness. Sustained excellence paves the path for a good company to eventually become a great one. Two books, “In Search of Excellence “, by Tom Peters of the 20th century era and “ Good To Great”, by Jim Collins of the 21st century highlight some of the important attributes and strategies used by a selected few companies to achieve excellence and eventually greatness.

In Search of Excellence:
One of the interesting aspects of this book is the McKinsey’s 7-S concept which is a tool for managers to handle businesses considered irrational or intractable. Few of the other attributes which are relevant also in the 21st century include:
1) Excellent customer service: The companies like: IBM, Wal-Mart really care about their product and service provided thus in turn aim at providing exceptional service, quality and reliability to their customers. They listen, take surveys, improvise and learn from them.

2) People, the most important asset: Every employee is given the autonomy to contribute ideas and the freedom to speak out. Rewards for work, creating comfortable work environments and motivational techniques are used to imbibe positive attitude and enthusiasm in the work force.
3) Cultured Environment: Cultured environment refers to a set of disciplined people who act keeping in mind the basic philosophy of the company. Companies like: PepsiCo realize that their productivity and innovation is dependent on the people. They have a certain set of values and strong beliefs like: to believe in the best, importance of execution and importance of informal communication which aims at inspiring employees.
4) Communication within the organization: Informal communication is encouraged in the offices. Decentralization is encouraged to improve decision making and every care is taken so that there is free flow of information within the offices.
5) Flexibility: With the changing scenario in the market or when a new manager is appointed the companies also adapt to the change.

Significance of Good to Great- Relevance and Contrasts:
Jim Collins and his research team have built a framework called the “Fly Wheel” loop which comprises of the basic concepts: Disciplined people have disciplined thought which lead to disciplined action. Few of the companies which worked with this framework include: Abbot, Circuit City, Kroger and Kimberly Clark and each of them had, over a fifteen year span, outperformed their competitors and sustained over the time period.
Relevance: All the companies believe in unparallel customer service, importance of employees, disciplined culture and to confront reality however brutal.
Contrasts: Great companies believe that it is not just people, but the right people who are the most important asset, (stated by Nucor, Good to Great, Pg 51). The right people are self disciplined and have specific traits, educational background and knowledge for the required job. Another contrast is related to the company remaining in its core business. The company’s allied businesses may not always be the right one for the company. The Hedgehog concept, provides a set of questions to help’s understand “what the organization can be best at”. Also, in contrast to the moral leadership as mentioned by Peter’s, the great companies are headed by a level 5 leader who are diligent, have a passion for their work and are a characteristic blend of personal humility and professional will combined together.
Relevance to Management Consulting
When we focus on the field of Management Consulting, it requires day to day meetings with clients and problem solving capabilities to provide effective and efficient solutions. Thus this job profile requires: level 5 leadership qualities: to be work driven, motivating and an effective communicator, apply the Hedgehog concept to understand the true nature of the client’s company, confront issues and difficulties yet remaining unwavered and persuasive, adapting a flexible approach and also to apply the “First Who.. Then What” technique, since it is critical to have the right people with the right background on the job.

Posted by Vibhashreya Srivatsan at 12:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)