More than a month since I posted anything. Came across this interesting article from the Economic Times which outlines the woes of Indian FMCG companies, which seem to be having a problem selling their exports at international prices (higher than domestic prices) in markets other than their home countries because of under cutting my the merchant traders. Infact they seem to be facing the heat from their own brands in the international market
Well not unusual its an arbitrage opportunity and it will be explioted no doubt. Companies like Marico seem to have learnt their lessons and are offering market specific packaging a with local language covers. Every problem.. is an opportunity for an innovative mind afterall.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Friday, November 19, 2004
Work, Family, Personal Life: Why Not All Three
We have lost the capacity to fall in love, for many reasons, but above all else because we take ourselves so incredibly seriously.
(Rabbi Shmuley Boteach)
Before you think am into some mushy/preachy kind of stuff, this is a quote from a article covered in HBS- Working Knowledge series. The quote was made at Möbius Leadership forum session titled "Walking the Tight Wire: Family and Career, Finding the Balance".
There were three spaekers at the conference, Myra Hart (HBS professor), Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a popular speaker and author and Scott W. Ventrella, a management consultant & an adjunct professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Business.
Two take aways from the whole story....
a) Work & Family life balance is being covered in business schools and not left to self help books and such similar mentors. Also means they have more competition at their hands now :)
b) I hope I am not sterotyping but, what struck me was, the proff's(a female herself) research work was specifically done with female graduates of HBS. According to her about 40 percent of HBS female grads take time out from the workforce at some point in their careers to either raise families or pursue other options such as working at nonprofit organizations etc. If this is the case in Harvard wonder would be the percentage for females who attain higher education in India.
Wonder why men don't have to do that. Though work life balance as an issue started with men, it indeed has bigger connotataions for the fair sex. In case of men it is more about giving attention to family while in case of women, the issue somehow boils down to her having to make a choice between the two.
Why is work life balance not an issue for the males? Two possible expalnations can arise. either u expect & appprove of males neglicting one of the two. ( No need to specify which one would not get their attention). Or is they we force males to put a strong face, not come out with rheir problems and not ask for help in trying to live a better life because its not manly enough? I guess either of the explanations is not the kind what we would rationally approve and yet we continue with age old traditions.....
Interestly if this was not all , the Rabi had another observation about equality of sexes. According to him,
women have fought for equality and in so doing have lost their souls. They have responded to the model of the classical hero...Equality for women was a step back for women.. real greatness is where you don't have to prove yourself constantly
(This reminds of a little tiff I had with a team mate this evening over some project work. My rather weak attempt at delegating a difficult part to him on the pretext that he is a guy, was met with 'try to a behave as equals' retort)
Anyways....maybe i'll go with the proff's opinion....
I think you have to look at how you value your choices on multiple dimensions.... People shouldn't just choose work based on prestige or salary.....If you're satisfied with the kind of work you're doing and the place where you're doing it, you will be successful...... And so you will open up doors you can't even imagine. But if you let others define what success is…then it's easy to lose sight of yourself.
Let the woman of today define her success. Maybe this is the only way she can lead a balanced life.
(Rabbi Shmuley Boteach)
Before you think am into some mushy/preachy kind of stuff, this is a quote from a article covered in HBS- Working Knowledge series. The quote was made at Möbius Leadership forum session titled "Walking the Tight Wire: Family and Career, Finding the Balance".
There were three spaekers at the conference, Myra Hart (HBS professor), Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a popular speaker and author and Scott W. Ventrella, a management consultant & an adjunct professor at Fordham University's Graduate School of Business.
Two take aways from the whole story....
a) Work & Family life balance is being covered in business schools and not left to self help books and such similar mentors. Also means they have more competition at their hands now :)
b) I hope I am not sterotyping but, what struck me was, the proff's(a female herself) research work was specifically done with female graduates of HBS. According to her about 40 percent of HBS female grads take time out from the workforce at some point in their careers to either raise families or pursue other options such as working at nonprofit organizations etc. If this is the case in Harvard wonder would be the percentage for females who attain higher education in India.
Wonder why men don't have to do that. Though work life balance as an issue started with men, it indeed has bigger connotataions for the fair sex. In case of men it is more about giving attention to family while in case of women, the issue somehow boils down to her having to make a choice between the two.
Why is work life balance not an issue for the males? Two possible expalnations can arise. either u expect & appprove of males neglicting one of the two. ( No need to specify which one would not get their attention). Or is they we force males to put a strong face, not come out with rheir problems and not ask for help in trying to live a better life because its not manly enough? I guess either of the explanations is not the kind what we would rationally approve and yet we continue with age old traditions.....
Interestly if this was not all , the Rabi had another observation about equality of sexes. According to him,
women have fought for equality and in so doing have lost their souls. They have responded to the model of the classical hero...Equality for women was a step back for women.. real greatness is where you don't have to prove yourself constantly
(This reminds of a little tiff I had with a team mate this evening over some project work. My rather weak attempt at delegating a difficult part to him on the pretext that he is a guy, was met with 'try to a behave as equals' retort)
Anyways....maybe i'll go with the proff's opinion....
I think you have to look at how you value your choices on multiple dimensions.... People shouldn't just choose work based on prestige or salary.....If you're satisfied with the kind of work you're doing and the place where you're doing it, you will be successful...... And so you will open up doors you can't even imagine. But if you let others define what success is…then it's easy to lose sight of yourself.
Let the woman of today define her success. Maybe this is the only way she can lead a balanced life.
Thursday, November 04, 2004
Ad spend is growing but, aren't you missing the point ?
Economist.com | Media industry
Was reading this story as to how the advertising industry seems to be back. Revenues for media groups and ad agencies are picking up. What I found interesting was the fact that not only media but also Internet Advertising specially that targeted at the search engines is increasing.
This is in line with a rise of 40%, to $4.6 billion, in the revenues from advertising over the internet for the whole of America during the first six months of the year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a firm of consultants, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). In Britain, such advertising is growing even more quickly, albeit from a lower base. There, revenue from advertising over the web grew by 75% during the first half of the year.
Put all this in the context of the project we did for our Marketing Research course. We found that really net savvy people the sample including students here with 24X7 access and professors (Dr, Madhukar Shukla & Proff Fenn) along with others whom we roped in for our online survey outside the campus, clearly indicated that internet ads are not effective. Forget about purchase intention, internet advertisement did not generate any significant recall.. Not one of them could recall an internet ad with product, brand and usage correctly matched.
Infact I put forward this point when I attended a panel discussion at the imes Group Media Conclave at IIMA.
Yes we do need new ways to target the consumer, as the marketing head of ICICI Prudential mentioned. Infact ICICI Pru's circulating pamphlets through the now famous - "Dabbadwallas" of Mumbai is a great viral marketing idea. One pamphlet being read by a group of 10/15 executives at a lunch table and loads of Word of Mouth publicity after that. But I disagreed with Yahoo India's country chairman Mr Neville Taraporewalla's suggestion. He believed Net is that one breakthrough different medium that can capture customer attention, in this cluttered world.
Not in India, not just as yet......
Infact I still stick to my point, media seems to have lost respect for the customer and probably has forgotten that too much indundation leads to switching off. It has already happened on TV, the trend is fast catching up in case of print and on internet.
Was reading this story as to how the advertising industry seems to be back. Revenues for media groups and ad agencies are picking up. What I found interesting was the fact that not only media but also Internet Advertising specially that targeted at the search engines is increasing.
This is in line with a rise of 40%, to $4.6 billion, in the revenues from advertising over the internet for the whole of America during the first six months of the year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a firm of consultants, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). In Britain, such advertising is growing even more quickly, albeit from a lower base. There, revenue from advertising over the web grew by 75% during the first half of the year.
Put all this in the context of the project we did for our Marketing Research course. We found that really net savvy people the sample including students here with 24X7 access and professors (Dr, Madhukar Shukla & Proff Fenn) along with others whom we roped in for our online survey outside the campus, clearly indicated that internet ads are not effective. Forget about purchase intention, internet advertisement did not generate any significant recall.. Not one of them could recall an internet ad with product, brand and usage correctly matched.
Infact I put forward this point when I attended a panel discussion at the imes Group Media Conclave at IIMA.
Yes we do need new ways to target the consumer, as the marketing head of ICICI Prudential mentioned. Infact ICICI Pru's circulating pamphlets through the now famous - "Dabbadwallas" of Mumbai is a great viral marketing idea. One pamphlet being read by a group of 10/15 executives at a lunch table and loads of Word of Mouth publicity after that. But I disagreed with Yahoo India's country chairman Mr Neville Taraporewalla's suggestion. He believed Net is that one breakthrough different medium that can capture customer attention, in this cluttered world.
Not in India, not just as yet......
Infact I still stick to my point, media seems to have lost respect for the customer and probably has forgotten that too much indundation leads to switching off. It has already happened on TV, the trend is fast catching up in case of print and on internet.
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Bush or Kerry- My two cents
Nov 2, the Us presendential elections. Over the last few days the media has been ablaze with news about out how Bush and Kerry are tied in the race. Infact this election saw candidates fighting it out on the last day breaking the old traditions.
Another election joke goes that when asked to mention his three mistakes , Bush's answer was..Last Debate, this debate and the next debate. :P
The London based Economist has picked up Kerry over Bush. The Economist tries to do an fair analysis of candidates. Afganisatan thus is as a sucess for America & Bush. Though Osama was not captured, all Taliban training camps were destroyed. And now we have had successful elections there. Even Iraq according to them is not a mistake ( Probably a result of -" The coalition of the Willing" being supported by UK). However according to economist whats wrong was the way the aftermath of Iraq war was handled. The treatment given to POW and also the American treatment of Israel-Palestine issue. Infact a friend of mine working in America prefers Bush because - 'He has leant the ropes' , a euphemism for ' he has made all the mistakes he could'.
Kerry's vacilating records on foreign policy, Iraq war and his protectionist attitude & fiscal policy preferences against deficit are his problems. However in the end the paper decides for Kerry without any convincing arguments except stating that Bush has refused to learn from his mistakes. Infact to my surprise they approve Kerry because
...his plan for the next phase in Iraq is identical to Mr Bush's, which speaks well of his judgment. He has been forthright about the need to win in Iraq, rather than simply to get out . I could not understand why the paper believes that Kerry will definitely approach the palestine issue in different way.
The full article is here
Which brings me to my conclusion. A Duke university proff today said that the choice in US elections was about Bush/No bush rather than Bush/Kerry. All over the world outside USA atleast people seem to be deciding whether Bush is should be the next president or not. Thats wat the BBC correspondents in different countries concluded. And that is the way ecomomist seems to have decided - No Bush an therefore a Kerry
Am not a great bush supporter and the first paragraph of the economist story probbaly sums it all for me..
This year's battle has been between two deeply flawed men: George Bush, who has been a radical, transforming president but who has never seemed truly up to the job, let alone his own ambitions for it; and John Kerry, who often seems to have made up his mind conclusively about something only once, and that was 30 years ago
Another election joke goes that when asked to mention his three mistakes , Bush's answer was..Last Debate, this debate and the next debate. :P
The London based Economist has picked up Kerry over Bush. The Economist tries to do an fair analysis of candidates. Afganisatan thus is as a sucess for America & Bush. Though Osama was not captured, all Taliban training camps were destroyed. And now we have had successful elections there. Even Iraq according to them is not a mistake ( Probably a result of -" The coalition of the Willing" being supported by UK). However according to economist whats wrong was the way the aftermath of Iraq war was handled. The treatment given to POW and also the American treatment of Israel-Palestine issue. Infact a friend of mine working in America prefers Bush because - 'He has leant the ropes' , a euphemism for ' he has made all the mistakes he could'.
Kerry's vacilating records on foreign policy, Iraq war and his protectionist attitude & fiscal policy preferences against deficit are his problems. However in the end the paper decides for Kerry without any convincing arguments except stating that Bush has refused to learn from his mistakes. Infact to my surprise they approve Kerry because
...his plan for the next phase in Iraq is identical to Mr Bush's, which speaks well of his judgment. He has been forthright about the need to win in Iraq, rather than simply to get out . I could not understand why the paper believes that Kerry will definitely approach the palestine issue in different way.
The full article is here
Which brings me to my conclusion. A Duke university proff today said that the choice in US elections was about Bush/No bush rather than Bush/Kerry. All over the world outside USA atleast people seem to be deciding whether Bush is should be the next president or not. Thats wat the BBC correspondents in different countries concluded. And that is the way ecomomist seems to have decided - No Bush an therefore a Kerry
Am not a great bush supporter and the first paragraph of the economist story probbaly sums it all for me..
This year's battle has been between two deeply flawed men: George Bush, who has been a radical, transforming president but who has never seemed truly up to the job, let alone his own ambitions for it; and John Kerry, who often seems to have made up his mind conclusively about something only once, and that was 30 years ago
Monday, November 01, 2004
WB aid for Faridabad YMCA Engineering Institute & related thoughts
Faridabad YMCA Engineering Institute gets WB grant
My college has been selected as a World Bank "Networking Institute" to get an aid under "Technical Education Quality Improvement Program" to improve the infrastructural facilities.
..
Googled a little more to find out that similar aid has also been sanctioned for fifteen other colleges to Karnataka (including REC Suratkal) to develop them into centres of excellence. Considering how India is becoming a a center for skilled manpower we definitely need to improve both the quality and quantity of institutes part from our flagship IITs and IIM brand names to get the required critical mass for such leadership. I have seen the growth of engineering colleges in Haryana since my final year in the engineering college. Private ownership up of institutions was allowed around then. Unfortunately, I have also seen how quality was compromised in the process. Private partnership in education is needed to ensure we have sufficient number of institutes to serve our growing population. But the loopholes in the system need to be plugged. Unfortunately AICTE has not able able to ensure it, not in haryana atleast. Am wondering if ranking of engineering colleges like business schools is a way to improve things.
My college has been selected as a World Bank "Networking Institute" to get an aid under "Technical Education Quality Improvement Program" to improve the infrastructural facilities.
..
Googled a little more to find out that similar aid has also been sanctioned for fifteen other colleges to Karnataka (including REC Suratkal) to develop them into centres of excellence. Considering how India is becoming a a center for skilled manpower we definitely need to improve both the quality and quantity of institutes part from our flagship IITs and IIM brand names to get the required critical mass for such leadership. I have seen the growth of engineering colleges in Haryana since my final year in the engineering college. Private ownership up of institutions was allowed around then. Unfortunately, I have also seen how quality was compromised in the process. Private partnership in education is needed to ensure we have sufficient number of institutes to serve our growing population. But the loopholes in the system need to be plugged. Unfortunately AICTE has not able able to ensure it, not in haryana atleast. Am wondering if ranking of engineering colleges like business schools is a way to improve things.
Saturday, October 09, 2004
The Da Vinci Code - The two different perspectives
Well yes I am a late reader. But I did finish "The Vinci Code" yesterday. I sat up whole night reading the book on my comp. Amazing thriller. The official reviews are here.The Da Vinci Code � Book Reviews � Official Website of Dan Brown
But ofcourse I looked around and as expected the book has been controversial enough. Thankfully it hasn't been banned like some others of similar kind. Book puts some question marks on Christianity as we see it today and no wonder some Christian scholars raised a hue a cry against the following paragraph in Chapter 55 among many others.
…“The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven….The Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.”
The statements are made by the historian character Teabing, answering some questions from the two lead characters about the nature and background of their quest.
Interestingly what made the scholars react against the book was the following text in the prologue of the book
"FACT"
All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate
Read a comprehensible list of the objections of the Christian scholars here . The site mentions itself as Tektonics -The building blocks for Christian faith.
But all said and done, the controversy has helped a book a lot. The book has been on New York Times bestseller list (Fiction of course) for quite some time now. If want my opinion, I loved the book. It builds up amazingly. I couldn't get away from my comp the whole of yesterday night though my eyes were aching. Though its true that the end isn't quite as riveting as the rest of it. But it's still worth it. Even if partially true or fiction, it gives you the story from a different perspective. If you believe being spiritual is different from being religious, and the religions of the world are less than perfect, the book doesn't shake anything inside you. But religion/faith/beliefs are a very personal matter and what might be acceptable to many readers of Dan Brown might also evoke equally opposite reactions from others.
But ofcourse I looked around and as expected the book has been controversial enough. Thankfully it hasn't been banned like some others of similar kind. Book puts some question marks on Christianity as we see it today and no wonder some Christian scholars raised a hue a cry against the following paragraph in Chapter 55 among many others.
…“The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven….The Bible is the product of man, my dear. Not of God. The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds. Man created it as a historical record of tumultuous times, and it has evolved through countless translations, additions, and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.”
The statements are made by the historian character Teabing, answering some questions from the two lead characters about the nature and background of their quest.
Interestingly what made the scholars react against the book was the following text in the prologue of the book
"FACT"
All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate
Read a comprehensible list of the objections of the Christian scholars here . The site mentions itself as Tektonics -The building blocks for Christian faith.
But all said and done, the controversy has helped a book a lot. The book has been on New York Times bestseller list (Fiction of course) for quite some time now. If want my opinion, I loved the book. It builds up amazingly. I couldn't get away from my comp the whole of yesterday night though my eyes were aching. Though its true that the end isn't quite as riveting as the rest of it. But it's still worth it. Even if partially true or fiction, it gives you the story from a different perspective. If you believe being spiritual is different from being religious, and the religions of the world are less than perfect, the book doesn't shake anything inside you. But religion/faith/beliefs are a very personal matter and what might be acceptable to many readers of Dan Brown might also evoke equally opposite reactions from others.
Friday, October 08, 2004
Outsourcing - Indian firms show the way in Telecom
Well the noise about outsourcing causing job losses hasn't died down completely. But here have Bharti Televentures here trying to correct some misgivings. Text books say outsourcing is what companies in developed world do to cut costs right? Outsourcing means that you hive off some off the non core functions of your company.
Wrong! outsourcing could also mean a company from the developing world deciding to give management of its network to the Nokia, Siemens & Erricson. Sunil Bharti Mittal redefined non core again when his decided to outsource his network management and systems functions( these to IBM) . So what is no-core for bharti ? Managing the Airtel brand :) Bharti has gained a lot in the process - It will save huge amounts in Capex over the next few years. The idea is a first nad has its risks. So, the world is watching because if this succeeds we have a number of telcom companies willing to venture because someone here in India has shown them the way.
Read the full story here - The man who gave away his network
Wrong! outsourcing could also mean a company from the developing world deciding to give management of its network to the Nokia, Siemens & Erricson. Sunil Bharti Mittal redefined non core again when his decided to outsource his network management and systems functions( these to IBM) . So what is no-core for bharti ? Managing the Airtel brand :) Bharti has gained a lot in the process - It will save huge amounts in Capex over the next few years. The idea is a first nad has its risks. So, the world is watching because if this succeeds we have a number of telcom companies willing to venture because someone here in India has shown them the way.
Read the full story here - The man who gave away his network
Friday, October 01, 2004
Of Corporate Communication and Blogger Support!
As a policy I refrain from using my blog for any kind of endorsements or viral marketing but this one really needed a mention. I have been really missing my blog after it was deleted some two months back. The other day I just shot a mail to blogger support asking if they restore it , without expecting anything to happen actually, but guess what in about 48 hours I have mail saying my blog is back. I love this. Wonder if anyother blog hosting site would have done it.
Coming back to issue of using blogs for endorsements and corporate communication, blogs seem be taken very seriously. For example, Harvard Business Review in its Sep 2003 issue published a narrative case study- 'The Glove Girl' to discuss how bloggers could impact organizations. The case discusses if an online diarist whose opinion seems to be credible to people outside but who can sometimes be indiscreet and incorrect, is a liability or an assest to an organization. What should te organization do about it ? This case study is fictional but harvard making a case for blogging definitely gives the issue a significantly important dimension.
Coming back to issue of using blogs for endorsements and corporate communication, blogs seem be taken very seriously. For example, Harvard Business Review in its Sep 2003 issue published a narrative case study- 'The Glove Girl' to discuss how bloggers could impact organizations. The case discusses if an online diarist whose opinion seems to be credible to people outside but who can sometimes be indiscreet and incorrect, is a liability or an assest to an organization. What should te organization do about it ? This case study is fictional but harvard making a case for blogging definitely gives the issue a significantly important dimension.
Tuesday, August 17, 2004
Fin funda - Real Options and Strategy
SAPM cases are most interesting. Every case session enlightens you so much about the real action in world of finance . Would be discussing the the Real Options Case tomorrow.
Real options is the extension of financial option theory to options on real (nonfinancial) assets. In contrast to the valuation of financial options where decision-making it is a matter of shopping for the best deal on a specified contract the valuation of a real option requires that it be identified and specified..
While the Present Value Calculations and standard Discounted Cash Flow techniques are needed as check on strategic analysis, they can not estimate he option value attached to a new/profitable line of business.
According to Myers
So does the market price real options ? Consider this ..
Lucent. - If you used a traditional analysis based on projections of cashflow from current products, Lucent would be priced at just over $4 per share. Since its spinoff from AT&T, Lucent has been trading far above that amount, often in the range of $70 per share. The difference is the capitalization by the financial markets of Lucent's growth options
Amazon.com. - Company went public before becoming profitable and announced in its IPO prospectus that it would not be profitable in the near future. Amazon.com is also a growth option play. A large part of the company's value is its strategy to make strategic investments today that create options - opportunities to possibly make further investments in the future. Enhancing Amazon's value is Wall Street's perception that the company has the managerial abilities to execute these options.
Cable industry (The case for tomorrow) - Laura Martin of Credit Suisse First Boston has used the real options approach to value cable plant.
Real estate - Emphirical evidence suggests that real estate prices reflect development options and research papers such as Quigg (1993) prove it.
The real options approach has and can thus be been applied to water infrastructure, film , industry, technology sectors like telecom, R&D sectors like Pharma, Biotechnology and capacity critical sectors like Power.
Get the real options FAQ here while I wait for Proff Mohanty to shred the case threadbare with his analysis tomorrow (or today its past 5:00 am already;)
Real options is the extension of financial option theory to options on real (nonfinancial) assets. In contrast to the valuation of financial options where decision-making it is a matter of shopping for the best deal on a specified contract the valuation of a real option requires that it be identified and specified..
While the Present Value Calculations and standard Discounted Cash Flow techniques are needed as check on strategic analysis, they can not estimate he option value attached to a new/profitable line of business.
According to Myers
"Strategic planning needs finance. Present value calculations are needed as a check on strategic analysis and vice versa. However, standard discounted cashflow techniques will tend to understate the option value attached to growing profitable lines of business. Corporate finance theory requires extension to deal with real options."
Stewart C. Myers, Sloan School of Management, MIT (1984)
So does the market price real options ? Consider this ..
Lucent. - If you used a traditional analysis based on projections of cashflow from current products, Lucent would be priced at just over $4 per share. Since its spinoff from AT&T, Lucent has been trading far above that amount, often in the range of $70 per share. The difference is the capitalization by the financial markets of Lucent's growth options
Amazon.com. - Company went public before becoming profitable and announced in its IPO prospectus that it would not be profitable in the near future. Amazon.com is also a growth option play. A large part of the company's value is its strategy to make strategic investments today that create options - opportunities to possibly make further investments in the future. Enhancing Amazon's value is Wall Street's perception that the company has the managerial abilities to execute these options.
Cable industry (The case for tomorrow) - Laura Martin of Credit Suisse First Boston has used the real options approach to value cable plant.
Real estate - Emphirical evidence suggests that real estate prices reflect development options and research papers such as Quigg (1993) prove it.
The real options approach has and can thus be been applied to water infrastructure, film , industry, technology sectors like telecom, R&D sectors like Pharma, Biotechnology and capacity critical sectors like Power.
Get the real options FAQ here while I wait for Proff Mohanty to shred the case threadbare with his analysis tomorrow (or today its past 5:00 am already;)
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Sumantra Ghoshal (1948-2004)
"This is a belief that business and, by implication, both entrepreneurs and managers, are the key engines of both economic and social progress. It is business that creates and distributes most of an economy's wealth, that innovates, trades and raises the living standards of people. So business is and must be a force of good..."Sumantra Ghoshal (1948-2004)
A tribute to management literature's most prolific and creative writers by the man who succeded him as the dean of Indian School of Business
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Achieving dreams - The story of Dr. V
To gradually make this blog impersonal was a conscious choice. But I really want to share what I felt today after the class and more than that the reason for it.
Am still looking for words - impressed (not good enough), proud (yes, but only partly correct), motivated .(yes indeed), but more than everything else humbled and touched.
Here is this one man who had a dream, a vision - to eradicate needless blindless and with it he had, a dedication to pursue that dream. Something that made Aravind hospital a case study in Harvard Business Review. A business model to serve people but one that is self sustaining and growing. A business model that does not rely of donations. It serves the community and does that from its internal accruings and efficiences. A man who has involved three generations of his family in serving people. I salute you Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy. The man whose name all those mangement professors could not pronounce and just called him Dr V. The man who has done 100,000 successful eye operations with his cripled hands.
I can't show others the video that I saw, the this link -The vision of Dr V covers the facts of the case.
Thanks a lot Prof Prabhu for sharing this with us.
Am still looking for words - impressed (not good enough), proud (yes, but only partly correct), motivated .(yes indeed), but more than everything else humbled and touched.
Here is this one man who had a dream, a vision - to eradicate needless blindless and with it he had, a dedication to pursue that dream. Something that made Aravind hospital a case study in Harvard Business Review. A business model to serve people but one that is self sustaining and growing. A business model that does not rely of donations. It serves the community and does that from its internal accruings and efficiences. A man who has involved three generations of his family in serving people. I salute you Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy. The man whose name all those mangement professors could not pronounce and just called him Dr V. The man who has done 100,000 successful eye operations with his cripled hands.
I can't show others the video that I saw, the this link -The vision of Dr V covers the facts of the case.
What started as a 40-bed hospital in little-known Theni near Madurai has become a global centre for excellence in eye surgery - the Aravind Eye Hospital. It now boasts of a 5,500-bed setup spread across five hospitals in Theni, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Pondicherry. What's even more amazing is that this fast-growing, sustainable model has been possible despite the fact that two-thirds of the patients at Aravind are treated free of cost.Someone said this 'success and growth story' is something they should show to all b school grads. Can it help ?. Is it motivating enough when all efforts are going into selling soap or working on excel sheets. This is not something you can teach, it can only come from within.
Thanks a lot Prof Prabhu for sharing this with us.
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Of strategy through movies and arbit stuff
One of my favorite courses this term is winding up. Strategic Management or Corporate Strategy and Policy as the gentleman teaching us, Proff Ganesh Prabhu likes to call it. He is really an amazing professor. Learnt a lot about real life companies, analyzing their environment, their strategies and also how to deduce and solve their problems. More than three hour session today and no one is complaining. How can we if he decides to give us a lesson or two in hostile takeover and principles of shareholder wealth maximization with a movie - Other People's Money This review describes this Derry Devito comedy as a business essay. Danny Devito plays the role of short greedy weird Larsen Garfield. The star cast includes Penelope Ann Miller and Gregory Peck. Danny takes over undervalued companies and makes money by liquidating them. His next target is New England Wire and Cable Limited. The company is unlevered and would fetch 2.5 times its share price even if sold as scrap. But the owner ofcourse do not want to loose the company.
That reminded of the just failed takeover attempt by Philip Green Of Marks and Spencers. Three bids which were rejected by the Marks and Spencers Management. The shareprice did fall after te takeover bid failed as this article states, but according to analysts the company gained overall because of the measures that the bid prompted chairman Stuart Ross to adopt. Plan to look for more info and financial data about the case when I get some time. Useful links and contributions are most welcome.....
Anyway in the class discussion the proff said management puts their careers in stake in an organization and hence it is probably not unreasonable on their part to expect something more than ordinary shareholders. He justified the expectation of some extra compensation expected by management in case of takeovers etc and how that would increase efficiency by increasing their stake in the system. Would it? Am not sure actually. If that were the case Enron, Arthur Anderson would not have happened. After all isn't is an accepted and logical conclusion these days that ESOPs more often than not lead to artificial inflating of stocks prices. Wanted to argue/discuss but then it was almost 10 pm and junta looked as if it needed food so gave up the temptation for CP :) ..Peer pressure works...;)
That reminded of the just failed takeover attempt by Philip Green Of Marks and Spencers. Three bids which were rejected by the Marks and Spencers Management. The shareprice did fall after te takeover bid failed as this article states, but according to analysts the company gained overall because of the measures that the bid prompted chairman Stuart Ross to adopt. Plan to look for more info and financial data about the case when I get some time. Useful links and contributions are most welcome.....
Anyway in the class discussion the proff said management puts their careers in stake in an organization and hence it is probably not unreasonable on their part to expect something more than ordinary shareholders. He justified the expectation of some extra compensation expected by management in case of takeovers etc and how that would increase efficiency by increasing their stake in the system. Would it? Am not sure actually. If that were the case Enron, Arthur Anderson would not have happened. After all isn't is an accepted and logical conclusion these days that ESOPs more often than not lead to artificial inflating of stocks prices. Wanted to argue/discuss but then it was almost 10 pm and junta looked as if it needed food so gave up the temptation for CP :) ..Peer pressure works...;)
Wednesday, August 04, 2004
YourManinIndia.com - For anything you need in India and WTO
YourManinIndia.com - For anything you need in India - A TTK Service A new concept. This site provides services to Indians living and working outside India for what they want to do but could not. Starting from buying,selling , renting real estate to providing legal advice to filing tax returns to taking care of their old/sick parents. The service was covered by BBC today which made me go and check out their website. ET too covered it a few days back. Accomplishments enough for a website that was started just four months back. Entrepreneurship needs creativity indeed.
By the way, more WTO, It seems Brazil, Australia and other developing countries won a big battle which one court ruling that the EU subsidies to sugar farmers were illegal. BBC has been playing the story for last two hours not missing to mention that the ruling is confidential ( hmm ? funny eh?). The Brazilian official too couldn't hide(intentionally displayed ??) his happiness though he said , "Umm Its confidential, we can not talk about it, BUT we are satisfied" ;)
By the way, more WTO, It seems Brazil, Australia and other developing countries won a big battle which one court ruling that the EU subsidies to sugar farmers were illegal. BBC has been playing the story for last two hours not missing to mention that the ruling is confidential ( hmm ? funny eh?). The Brazilian official too couldn't hide(intentionally displayed ??) his happiness though he said , "Umm Its confidential, we can not talk about it, BUT we are satisfied" ;)
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