tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81074010626570322972024-03-10T00:41:36.612-08:00MethinksMy thoughts on Economics, Business, Management and Public Policy.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-41177219140450823862014-09-13T20:12:00.000-07:002014-09-13T20:17:43.105-07:00Economic growth - queries and concernsRecently the <b>Central Statistics Office</b> (CSO) has published a listing of growth and TamilNadu is first from the last in the list. Bihar has topped the list with a nearly 11% GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) growth. Gujarat once the engine of growth has stood at 6th place with a 8% growth. TamilNadu registered a 3.4% growth. Bihar has overtaken most of the industrialized States in growth. Political motive cannot be attributed as it is a fact that “<span style="color: blue;">the CSO never seeks political approval for any of its reports. Even the Prime Minister need not be provided with any data before it is made public.</span>” <br />
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Critical analysis of the Bihar growth reveals that the quality of growth is questionable. It all were dependent on the fillip to the spend that came from the Government through disbursing of Central funds. From around 40% dependency on Central funding during 2003-04, the State grew (?) to a staggering 72% during 2012-13. The building construction contributed to nearly 13% of the growth, but the industrial infrastructure build was rising not even as high as a crow's leap, leave aside a falcon's. A large number of bridges and other public works were being constructed. Construction now contributes to around a 13% of the state’s GDP now, compared to 4.2% in 2003-04, according to the Bihar State Government's statistics. <br />
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Reserve Bank of India figures show that Bihar’s share of bank deposits was 2.2% in September 2005, while its share of bank credit, an indicator of the growth of business, was 0.9%. After 4 years in September 2009, Bihar’s share of all-India bank deposits was at the same 2.2% while its share of bank credit had been stagnant at 0.9%. Palpably no growth was funded through bank lending for industrial or any other business purposes. <br />
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So the money flow, constructions, infrastructure development were because of the Government's initiatives in getting the basics done. Given the history of Bihar during Laloo regime, this is growth, of course. But can someone boast of this? Yes, because a State which was deliberately kept in stone age has been brought to the current era. But is this growth of Bihar comparable with other States? <b>Not at all</b>.<br />
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Well, there has been a debate in TamilNadu on the state of the State, as the State has stood last in the list of CSO. The ruling establishment has pressed its propagandists in service to defend itself. Their claim is that only economic growth is not an indicator of the people being well off. There are other social factors and with them taken into account the State would be standing much higher in any rankings. Well, with the State's industrial growth rate falling like a falcon on the dive, with consistency in power shortages, chronic water crisis, anarchy instead of governance are a few reasons why the State has not been doing good in economic growth.<br />
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Let us take a look at the social indicators boasted by the ruling party people. Drunkards are being encouraged by the State Government. TASMAC, the State Government's marketing arm which was started to market the handicrafts and the produce of small and tiny businesses, is now a synonym for arrack shops. Has it been selling the alcoholic drinks manufactured in the State by small and tiny makers? Well, one has to get drunk to believe it does so. The alcohol selling unit of the Government has been given sales target and festive seasons and temple functions are their target time and place for sale.<br />
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The corruption in every step of the Government hierarchy is still there. All Government offices are running the show without fear. The administration of Government's pro-poor scheme has been a farce say people who are in the know. The cattle given to Temples by devotees have not been properly maintained. It is alleged that these cattle were used to provide free cattle for the poor offered by the Government. So, what has happened to the fund allocated for purchasing and providing cattle is a query the officials still dodge. The administration of Hindu Temples by the State is pathetic and anarchy is visible in the State's administration.<br />
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Infrastructure is another are of lament. The roads laid during the summer cave in during the first phase of rain. The quality of infrastructure is pathetic to the core. Toll roads which operate on PPP on a BOT basis, take a toll on the health of the passengers, vehicles and their wallet. No queries answered on the quality. Questioners are looked down upon as nincompoops.<br />
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Well, with the similar kind of setup in most of the States how did TN come last? The people of TN have become sophisticated with most of the needs taken care of, not by pedigree, neither by wealth, nor by earnings but by the freebies given by the Government. Free rice of 20 kg per month is distributed. Free meals are provided in Temples across the State. A very low cost food chain namely 'Amma Unavagam' is operated by the State Government, for which it is alleged that primary ingredients like rice and wheat are 'taken' from the PDS. So, with the Government giving free rice and food, one has to earn a very little to get his basic needs fulfilled and rest can be spent on alcohol which is sold by the State with a revenue target to achieve. <br />
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These are a few examples to state the state of the State. With this, no one can claim that the State is socially developed nor developing. It is neither growing economically. TamilNadu is socially deteriorating and economically nose diving. Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-3451062825153631812013-09-14T12:55:00.000-07:002013-09-15T20:12:58.437-07:00Gold Quest of UPA IIWith the title I'm not referring to the <a href="http://www.wikileaks-forum.com/index.php?topic=16060.0">dubious company</a> which asked for Rs. 30,000/- initial investment and some MLM. In turn it offered a gold coin and a promise of a million rupees in due course if you get more people in to invest Rs. 30,000/-. The weird thing is when busted the legal advisor of the company turned and offered to take up the case of the aggrieved people. The case nor the fraud was heard of thereafter. The legal advisor was none other than Nalini Chidabaram, wife of Mr.P.chidambaram, Hon'ble Finance Minister of India.<br />
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Well this is about the RBI circular to Hindu temples asking for the value of gold in stock. The circular asked the temple management (Travancore Dewaswom Board in this instance) to take stock of the gold with the temples and report. This is unprecedented. The gold or any other material offered to the temple is out of piety and gratitude by the devotees. It is against natural justice that something offered for a purpose be used for some other purpose without the consent of the giver and taker. Why has RBI sent out such a circular? What is the pressing necessity to undertake such an unprecedented activity? Let us look around for reasons as the doers won't give reasons since they fear their act would be correctly criticized as unreasonable.<br />
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While many Hindus oppose this and are raising voice against this, the media is shrewdly holding the secular placard high by reporting the reactions as outcry from few Hindu outfits.<br />
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The 'experts say the Gold imports are soaring day by day and thus a large chunk of Forex goes out for the payment. So, they plan to get the gold in the nation and circulate it, to have the import reduced. Well, good thought, if only that is the problem. The moot question is why people invest in gold than any other instrument? A <a href="http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/PublicationReport/Pdfs/RWGS02012013.pdf">study</a> by RBI to ascertain reasons for the mammoth import of gold all of a sudden states that the people have lost confidence in other investment instruments of the Government and business, and hence they invest in gold.<br />
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"<span style="color: blue;">The performance of gold against other comparable domestic assets over the last few years is suggestive of the shift towards gold in India also. Returns from gold investment have outperformed other comparable assets on three of the last five years.</span>" This is what the report starts with. The report goes on with "<span style="color: blue;">Demand for gold appears to be autonomous and a function of several influences and </span><span style="color: blue;">factors in India and may not be strictly amenable to policy changes.</span>"<br />
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The report suggests as a demand reduction measure for gold as follows,"<span style="color: blue;">It is necessary to introduce savings schemes and instruments that can provide real returns. The dominant reason why a person may like to hold his savings in the form of gold is to secure hedge against inflation. Therefore, offering real rate of return </span><span style="color: blue;">considering the high inflation rate prevailing, as an incentive on a financial instrument would better address the issue of excessive clamour for gold imports. Therefore, products analogous to Inflation Indexed Bonds may be considered as alternatives.</span>"<br />
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So, the Lender of the last resort is of the view that the investment instruments offered right now are worthless of investing and a clean up is the need of the hour. If people get something better to invest with more liquidity and with an insulation from the sky rocketing inflation than gold, the Government need not have to beg to stop buying gold. But instead the Government has gone the wrong way of putting more hurdles on gold investments. It has <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324769704579010164286710906.html?KEYWORDS=debiprasad+and+gold">increased taxes</a> on Gold and silver imports. That didn't deter the public rush for gold. And that in turn costs more Forex for Gold import and thus Rupee value plummets.<br />
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India currently holds around 20,000 tons of gold, according to the World Gold Council. At current prices, that would be worth $950 billion. But how to get them out of the private holding of the common man? The only way is to get the economy to perform properly, but with the Government obsessed with corruption in every walk of its life, it is an impossible task.<br />
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At this juncture a skewed idea to curb imports is advised by Mr. Jamal Mecklai. He runs a consulting business on Treasury and Forex risk management called <a href="http://www.mecklai.com/%E2%80%8E">Mecklai Financial</a>. He advised the Government to acquire gold from Hindu temples, especially Tirupati, to pledge it and support the dwindling Rupee value. The Government has taken this advise very seriously and started a survey of gold with the Hindu temples from Kerela eyeing the treasure in the Padmanabha Swamy temple.<br />
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But Mr. Mecklai's advise is on a fundamentally wrong premise. The gold offered to a temple as part of a prayer or out of gratitude by a devotee is the asset of the temple and that gold has to be used for the purpose it had been offered for. Mr.Mecklai has no understanding of the sentiments of devotees, I'm not drilling into the reason for that here, and counts that the temple assets are owned by the Trustees and convincing them will be easy. Trusteeship is Not ownership and thinking otherwise is unethical and unlawful. So, the Trustees of Tirupati temple or any other temple for that matter, are not owners of the temple or the offerings made to the temple. They are just trusted with the responsibility of managing the temple and the assets as by diktats of the Dharma.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px; line-height: 17.99715805053711px;">or any other temple for that matter, </span><br />
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So, taking temple gold is a fundamentally flawed idea ethically, morally and legally. We need to have a referendum to decide on whether to take it or not. So, Mr.Mecklai's argument of easy gold from temples is struck out as it is a tedious process, laden with the risk of upping communal tension. We have an alternative, <a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/india-looking-at-leasing-gold-bought-from-imf/article5042403.ece?homepage=true">a comparably sensible one rather</a>, from the Chairman of the London Bullion Market Association. He advised that the Reserve Bank of India could swap the 200 tons of gold that it had bought from the International Monetary fund in 2009, for dollars. This will boost dollar inflows at a time, when foreign investors are taking out the green-back from the country.<br />
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This is a sensible idea without much disturbance to sentiments and feeling of financial security of the public. But the Government has not mulled over this and got into action to get the gold from temples. Even if the idea of the LBMA head is implemented, there has to be mechanism to prudently manage the economy thereafter to get the pledged gold back and further build a stock with the Government as a reserve.<br />
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To do that I seriously doubt the capability of the current cabinet of ministers. We need to pull on till 2014 elections and vote shrewdly to get a shrewd set of administrators who have a track record of growth despite economic adversities locally and globally.<br />
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VANDE MATARAM.<br />
<br />Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-70424178911329652932013-04-05T22:51:00.000-07:002013-04-05T22:52:57.066-07:00Business Operations, Data Collection and Reporting.I was speaking with one of my friends. He too works with an MNC. Talk was about work. Along with the usual lament on work life balance, he cursed about reports and data. I asked him some questions to get more information to satisfy my conscience that all are sailing in the same boat. I love reports and analysis, but despise the way data is collected most of the time. My friend started swearing about the people working on data and reporting. I asked him to cool down by saying most of us are not dreading the data collection but the queries that come after comparing different reports.<br />
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He agreed, but said that there should be a mechanism to avoid the discrepancy in data collection. Maintaining a spreadsheet is a most despised thing as I understand from experience many employees hate spreadsheets and especially the data filling part. My question to him was "What if we dump spreadsheets and get some other source like <a href="http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/infopath-help/">MS Info path</a> or <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-in/Pages/default.aspx">MS Sharepoint</a> etc?" He opined that this approach too would be Sierra square, Delta, Tango (SSDT) meaning Same S**t Different Tool. We coined this during a review with a quality manager in our previous job in the lines of Sierra Square - Delta Square (SSDD) meaning Same S**t Different Day.<br />
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I asked him to elaborate. He said he is filling some 7 reports a month for the work he does. 'That is quite low a number', I quipped and looked at a different direction to avoid his eyes.<br />
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He then explained that all of his team are doing this exercise of filling multiple forms for the same data to be reported with different views to different audience. I told him to elaborate on what is happening.<br />
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He said there are some 3 different monthly reports. One for the Operations Management, other one for the Finance Management, and another one for the Capability Management. People are filling 3 different forms for these reports at 3 different points of time in a month.<br />
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Then there are two weekly reports for managing the Service Level and Operational Level agreements and 2 different forms are being filled in for that. All these 5 reports are client oriented as they are meant to drive the improvement of Service Delivery. Some key aspects from these analysis are discussed with the clients.<br />
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Apart from these 5 two different set of internal reports for the internal team managers. They are getting this report for analysing the capacity utilisation of the employees and looking for any opportunities for process improvement.<br />
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I asked him why all the required data be cannot be collected at one point and reports with different views generated from that repository. He said the idea is good but not feasible for implementing.<br />
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I wondered why. He said with different audiences requiring different types of analysis, multiple forms need to be filled in. Nope. This is lack of understanding of the problem. The requirement is different types of analysis for the same data. Here the data source and data are the same. The analysis needs to be done differently. So, how does the filling of multiple forms for the same data is given a business justification? This is repetition of task.<br />
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My friend started looking at me with some difference in his eyes. He conceded, "Yes, you have a point buddy." He now asked me how we can implement this idea. I told him to collect all the data with all relevant queries for all the different analysis needed. Then generate reports from that repository with the required queries for the audiences. Analysis of the data needs to be done and that is the analyst's job.<br />
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In this way of data collection,<br />
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<li>We can reduce the time spent in collecting data.</li>
<li>We can drive the data collection with one point and not multiple points, since driving multiple points of data filling is repetition of task and does not motivate employees.</li>
<li>We can definitely reduce the time people spend on filling out multiple data forms.</li>
<li>With reduced time of data filling, analysis can be done quicker and better.</li>
<li>Business Analysts can find time to analyse the current trend and be proactive with his/her suggestions for improvement.</li>
<li>With the data reporting simplified, we can get more time to analyse and drive the business with the findings.</li>
<li>He, as a team lead, will get time to work on improvements and thus delivering better results.</li>
<li>With data available at any point in time, people need not run around when a new or different kind of analysis is asked for.</li>
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My buddy was elated. He asked me to give more suggestions particular to his problem and he would take it to his management and make the work life better.<br />
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My reply was "Sorry mate! I do freelance consulting buut not free consulting. Friendly advice stops with generic suggestions. If you need a particular problem analysed and advised upon, I charge for it."<br />
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I cannot write here, the words he showered me with thereafter :(Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-82252876821446455192013-01-01T03:41:00.000-08:002013-01-01T03:44:32.254-08:00Indian Economy in 2012 - Nothing to base hope on.<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We have had a tumultuous calendar year that ended yesterday. The UPA II Government had projected a GDP growth at 7.6 (+/-0.25) %for FY'13. Chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu was confident about 9% growth but was worried about the impact debilitating politics would have on the economy. With a projected GDP growth of 9% in 2011-12 and ending up with 6.9%, the start of the FY 2012 -13 was upon an established lie. We didn't have any analysis on why we missed the forecast of 9% growth in 2011-12 and what exactly are going to do to achieve the >7% growth as projected. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(<u>Economic survey 2011-12</u>)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) projected Indian economy to grow at 5.9 per cent in 2012-13, compared with 6.5 per cent in 2011-12.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slashed India’s growth forecast to 4.9 per cent for 2012. IMF says weakened growth in the first half of 2012 was an outcome of stalled investment caused by governance issues and red tape, and a deterioration in business sentiment since we have <span style="font-size: small;">soaring</span> current account deficit and <span style="font-size: small;">a depreciated </span>rupee<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Let us see where and how we miss the growth. Drill down and look in detail are not needed to say lack of Governance caused economic growth. Take a quick glance at Gujarat economy and the nation as a whole will tell a lot of tales on the areas need improvement. But that comparison will fetch anyone a brand of Hindutva fanatic with Saffron painted all over the face. Let me try here to do analyze without comparing Gujarat. I would be happy at such a brand and color as it would establish my credentials far away from the inherently corrupt UPA regime. Also, a proud member of the Sangh parivar don't mind his identity getting widely publicized.<br /><br />We have a planning commission and we all know how does it function. <span style="font-size: small;">W</span>ith the infamous 32 INR/day calculation they have established how far away they are from reality. That was defended with a version that seemed acceptable at the outset. 32*30=960 per head. A family of 5 can earn Rs.4800 per month and we have families living on that money in the nation. <br /><br />Well,<span style="font-size: small;"> t</span>his is a spirited <span style="font-size: small;">defense</span> of the insensitive planning commission, but a perfect diversionary tactic to confuse the common man. With inflation soaring day by day in every way possible, how long will a family 5 be able to sustain life with <span style="font-size: small;">sumptuous</span> meals and a decent living?<br /><br />With the price of pulses set to shoot the pulse of consumers, and edible oil prices </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">slick </span></span></span></span>their way of <span style="font-size: small;">life</span>, volume of production of rice and wheat getting shrinking year on year and thus prices go up as by the normal market <span style="font-size: small;">behavior</span>, how can this 32 INR be justified?<br /><br />With MRP ruling the roost and it has uniformity throughout the nation, what was the justification to have 26 INR a day for rural areas?<br /><br />One has to conclude that the food price taken into consideration for this calculation was from the canteen at the Parliament w<span style="font-size: small;">here everything is sold at a subsidi<span style="font-size: small;">zed price, but the feel one get<span style="font-size: small;"> upon knowing the pri<span style="font-size: small;">ce is that <span style="font-size: small;">the MPs are charged some money as free food need not be pr<span style="font-size: small;">ovided at<span style="font-size: small;"> the Parliament</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>. Who foots the bill <span style="font-size: small;">is a question</span> for the taxpayer to ponder and lament about!<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">T<span style="font-size: small;">he management of national economy is marred by <span style="font-size: small;">p</span></span>olitical compulsions<span style="font-size: small;">,</span> greed and callousne<span style="font-size: small;">ss. To<span style="font-size: small;"> add up<span style="font-size: small;">, we have corruption, cronyi<span style="font-size: small;">sm<span style="font-size: small;"> and many of white collar <span style="font-size: small;">ec<span style="font-size: small;">onom<span style="font-size: small;">ic offen<span style="font-size: small;">ses in the book present in our nation. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 2011-12, 175 projects have been sanctioned without specifying any commissioning schedule while 235 projects are running behind schedule. Maximum number of projects delayed relate to road transport and highways (90), followed by power (45), petroleum (29), railways (26), and coal (17)<span style="font-size: small;">, said the economi<span style="font-size: small;">c survey of 2011-12. The delay in railways ranges from 2 to 213 months and in road transport and highways from 4 to 106 months. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(<u>Economic survey 2011-12</u>)</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), shows sub-optimal project implementation across all the major sectors. While some of the project delays are due to exogenous factors beyond the control of the implementing agencies, in the majority of cases the delays are mainly due to a dismal record of project implementation starting from project identification and designing to undue delays in procurement (both tendering and contracting) and ineffective project monitoring. (<u>Economic survey 2011-12</u>)<br /> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Of the 583 central projects underway involving an outlay of Rs.8.21 trillion only seven are ahead of schedule and 166 are on schedule, says the Economic Survey. The original cost of the projects when sanctioned was Rs.7.12 trillion but delays pushed up costs by 15.3 per cent or Rs.1.08 trillion. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">(<u>Economic survey 2011-12</u>)</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYrDXPeNwxkDxz0lQVG7NyRWYXzPampiDHQmLOWKbxRmGRp81CEP0lJHc0Mjvi7Xf9vU2jQx0UIiXHNvN3Sc4yDZpHRQQBbgJZeM17-ItzMvIoIN4mEiDxqSUtUqIxldkIoCk2RTvImZ9A/s1600/images+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYrDXPeNwxkDxz0lQVG7NyRWYXzPampiDHQmLOWKbxRmGRp81CEP0lJHc0Mjvi7Xf9vU2jQx0UIiXHNvN3Sc4yDZpHRQQBbgJZeM17-ItzMvIoIN4mEiDxqSUtUqIxldkIoCk2RTvImZ9A/s320/images+%25283%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We have huge potential for saving money here but the managers of the economy prefer to live with this and try to invent reasons to live with this<span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">They leave the problems and the root causes to grow and find out means to keep the public eye away from the problems. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">A continuously declining rupee could put serious pressure on India's worsening current account deficit. It will increase the import bill largely on account of higher fuel prices. It is unlikely to boost exports which are constrained by painfully slow growth in major markets like the US, Europe and Japan. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The Government's expenditure will only grow. With elections around the corner, <span style="font-size: small;">political</span> parties tend to dole out freebies to get votes instead of s<span style="font-size: small;">tandi<span style="font-size: small;">n<span style="font-size: small;">g f<span style="font-size: small;">irm<span style="font-size: small;"> on the Governance and growth grounds<span style="font-size: small;"> as done and won <span style="font-size: small;">by BJP in Gujarat. Populist schemes will have it<span style="font-size: small;">s own adverse impact on the econom<span style="font-size: small;">y and further strain the al<span style="font-size: small;">ready sick economy.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The
exogenous factors affecting the proper implementation of growth plan<span style="font-size: small;">s, </span>referred to by the MOSPI, may be beyond the control of
the agencies implementing programs, but they are not beyond the
control of the Government. The implementing agencies and agencies
creating trouble for implementation are part of the executive. The
problem<span style="font-size: small;">s</span> i<span style="font-size: small;">n</span> implementation is monitored and reported, but the follow up
action to correct the situation and put the implementation back on track
is not taken and we're advi<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">s</span>ed to live<span style="font-size: small;"> with the problems</span></span>. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This
is attributed to the indecisiveness and reason cited are plethora of
corruption charges and indictment of some bureaucrats in those. The buck
should stop somewhere but we have none to take responsibility with a
sense of national cause.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">With the mammoth share of FDI <span style="font-size: small;">rumored to be launder<span style="font-size: small;">ed money swindled in the nation, the gloomy econom<span style="font-size: small;">ic forecast and c<span style="font-size: small;">ontinuous </span>m<span style="font-size: small;">ismanagement </span></span></span>of the econom<span style="font-size: small;">y wi<span style="font-size: small;">l<span style="font-size: small;">l<span style="font-size: small;"> di<span style="font-size: small;">vert that kind of money too to <span style="font-size: small;">different and p<span style="font-size: small;">r<span style="font-size: small;">ofitable economies. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">India will be looted without even the </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">possibility of the swindled money routed back as investment. In other words we'll be back to the old colonial days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">The impact of this directly affecting the common man <span style="font-size: small;">are:</span></span></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">There will be fewer job opportunities for those seeking work<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">L</span>ower increments for those who are already employed. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Inflation will remain high-around 7% eroding the standards of living of the middle class. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Interest rates will continue to remain high, making car loans and home loans unaffordable. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Consumption will slow down sharply with people losing p<span style="font-size: small;">urchasing power</span>. </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">With high inflation and low increase in income savings or investments will be a distan<span style="font-size: small;">t </span>dream<span style="font-size: small;">.</span> </span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Domestic i</span>nvestment in India will crumble ending in further economic downfall. </span></span></span></span></li>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Government is<span style="font-size: small;"> no<span style="font-size: small;">t</span></span> ready to accept the truth. We, the people, should be worried, very much worried about our future and that of the next generation. Because we don't have people at the helm of the national economic affairs caring much for us. We either need to fend for ourselves or ensure the right people are appointed to manage our key affairs in the proper way that benefits all of us and not some imported elite to whom many of our current national leaders have surrendered to.</span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">But we have hope in Gujarat. Many things work properly in Gujarat that it hardly feels like India says the <u>The Economist</u>. Gujarat accounts for 5% of India's population but 16% of its industrial output and 22% of its exports. The Gujarat Government uses the usual methods to try to kick-start growth, including special economic zones. But more than signing MOUs, it has provided the standard things that businesses have <span style="font-size: small;">been craving </span>for across India but often not provided with: less onerous <span style="font-size: small;">labor</span> laws, good roads, reliable electricity and effective bureaucracy. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_EVQ2gFFrhyBleYNHOP4kuOxb4nRLKTBQsOgQgYoMyBIzt69imLKTQA0lke8GkLL5Begpa0D6CAhOZJFwsW22HcctWIHO9S3HiriRNxlC-XtbKf7RHqgLKRrxHQSLvmoUQ92uJfuMM5Z/s1600/modi_8_17-9-2012.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_EVQ2gFFrhyBleYNHOP4kuOxb4nRLKTBQsOgQgYoMyBIzt69imLKTQA0lke8GkLL5Begpa0D6CAhOZJFwsW22HcctWIHO9S3HiriRNxlC-XtbKf7RHqgLKRrxHQSLvmoUQ92uJfuMM5Z/s200/modi_8_17-9-2012.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefELaU_-f00TRlMyFMy9LlPLmdfZEw0IfaZhvRg6JuC7dMDAEZJohZN_XYaLydMy3vyiDLWCZ-tpbks53rWG15nWzCN-5OwacNEACV4jJx5-JnReNiqjzieBN9Yt8hyHGrVtUNcJAEeu8/s1600/20110709_asc124.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefELaU_-f00TRlMyFMy9LlPLmdfZEw0IfaZhvRg6JuC7dMDAEZJohZN_XYaLydMy3vyiDLWCZ-tpbks53rWG15nWzCN-5OwacNEACV4jJx5-JnReNiqjzieBN9Yt8hyHGrVtUNcJAEeu8/s200/20110709_asc124.gif" width="200" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"> Gujarat'</span>s economy grows by double digits<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> @ 10.08%, </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">even as India's rate slumps to 5 - 6 % this year. There are lots of excited talk about exporters switching from China to Gujarat reports <u>The Economist</u>. A recent comparison of Indian states by McKinsey, a consultancy, sung praises about Gujarat. </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gujarat should be <span style="font-size: small;">the</span> vision of India's future.</span></span></span>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-70934686447633809692012-11-25T09:41:00.000-08:002012-11-25T09:41:15.140-08:00Wholesale FDI in retail - Does harm national interestsThe UPA -II Government is keen on bringing the FDI in multi brand retail in this winter session of parliament. Opposition parties oppose this with many a reason ranging from politics to personal to people's well being. Let us leave off the personal reasons opposing the FDI, but look at political and well being reasons as they are important for an informed decision on such a key issue.<br />
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First off, let us look at the arguments for FDI in multi-brand retail and check how acceptable they are. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgg0kIYp2Wnl0vG3wW4unFiHDfFT4gygRkJI3fjeefJgIIGcUr8IFMnLfytht_jN1eTVgqn8_pSYwDyuEYCUVYE0XJb5Zh5MHCbDlbsTGonvO07XuYP54iXJcWuA1Ez0DKgvFnJCxoAvh/s1600/fdiretail-story_350_091712114803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCgg0kIYp2Wnl0vG3wW4unFiHDfFT4gygRkJI3fjeefJgIIGcUr8IFMnLfytht_jN1eTVgqn8_pSYwDyuEYCUVYE0XJb5Zh5MHCbDlbsTGonvO07XuYP54iXJcWuA1Ez0DKgvFnJCxoAvh/s400/fdiretail-story_350_091712114803.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">F</span><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">ree market competition works – and real people benefit. Enormously, Competition delivers the most goods and services at the best prices to the greatest number of people. It creates bette</span><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">r, more efficient companies and gives buyers more value. That’s the magic of the free market.</span> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">If this is the case, why in the US the leading and ideal free market economy, wealth of a mammoth size is concentrated with a very few people? Why cannot the real people benefit from the free market competition? Or can only those who have benefited be considered real people? </span><br />
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">An additional eight to ten million jobs will be generated in India through direct and indirect employment through organized retail.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: blue;">This is where the </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;">skulduggery</span> lies in. They say 8-10 million job</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">s w</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">ill be generated. How m</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">any people w</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">ill be employed to </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">perform these jobs? For example, if a store manager is asked to </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">manage the supply chain and inventory, which is quite common place in India, </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">we have one p</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">e</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">r</span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;">son doing 3 jobs. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></span>Theoretically 3 job s were brought in, but one person is doing it for a much lesser pay. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>If large retailers, whether domestic or foreign, directly source through farmers, realizations will go up for the farmers. </span></span></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">India can attain huge savings by merely improving the supply chain. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><br /></span></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Pretty questionable claim. Large retailers if source from farmers directly will go only for their preferences, like Pepsico does in the case of potato farming. Right from the seeds to the modus operandi would be theirs. Farmers will be like coolies. Profit will be the motive and food habits will ultimately be dictated by the large corporations. With the wor<span style="font-size: small;">ld moving towards organic agr<span style="font-size: small;">iculture, rolling out red carpet to the MNC in such <span style="font-size: small;">a way is not wise.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The supply chain clai<span style="font-size: small;">m is also dubious, since the Government is not interested in t<span style="font-size: small;">he improvement of the infrastruct<span style="font-size: small;">ure. If the private <span style="font-size: small;">players get into p<span style="font-size: small;">ut up the infrastructure, they will be charging the users for <span style="font-size: small;">every <span style="font-size: small;">paise spent and that <span style="font-size: small;">will ultimate<span style="font-size: small;">ly <span style="font-size: small;">shoot<span style="font-size: small;"> up the transport cost wi<span style="font-size: small;">th the consumer<span style="font-size: small;">s ending up bearing the brunt<span style="font-size: small;">. This may also <span style="font-size: small;">resu<span style="font-size: small;">lt</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: purple;">The quality of the service will i<span style="font-size: small;">mpr<span style="font-size: small;">ove with the international standards follo<span style="font-size: small;">wed by the MNCs and large <span style="font-size: small;">local corporations.</span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Impossible to happen. Mom and pop sh<span style="font-size: small;">ops in the nation serve the local community and the<span style="font-size: small;">y a<span style="font-size: small;">re s<span style="font-size: small;">mall in size and have the advanta<span style="font-size: small;">ge of know<span style="font-size: small;">ing their c<span style="font-size: small;">ustomers person<span style="font-size: small;">ally<span style="font-size: small;">. The kind of perso<span style="font-size: small;">n<span style="font-size: small;">ali<span style="font-size: small;">zation the mom and pop sh<span style="font-size: small;">ops offer<span style="font-size: small;"> can<span style="font-size: small;"> never</span> be <span style="font-size: small;">matched by the large corporations<span style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.91666603088379px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="color: purple;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">It will actually create employment than displace people engaged in small stores.</span></span></span><br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #3d4239; font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 21px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;" /> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: blue;"><span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Our own small entrepreneurs however small will lose their ground and will end up working for some big corporations. Thus we kill the entrepreneurial spirit in the nation and following suit with the MacCaulay method of generating obedient employees/servants.</span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">The argu<span style="font-size: small;">ment of fair competition is a farce given the facts of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/opinion/the-sun-the-moon-and-walmart.html?_r=0">WalMart's </a><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/opinion/the-sun-the-moon-and-walmart.html?_r=0">conduct in Mexico</a>. Grabbi<span style="font-size: small;">n<span style="font-size: small;">g forest lands, <span style="font-size: small;">opening store against sentime<span style="font-size: small;">nt<span style="font-size: small;">s of locals in a monume<span style="font-size: small;">ntal place of religious/cultural importance<span style="font-size: small;"> we<span style="font-size: small;">re<span style="font-size: small;"> a few to mention. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Before i<span style="font-size: small;">t puts a firm step in India, Bhar<span style="font-size: small;">t<span style="font-size: small;">i Walmart is under cloud of corruption charges and has ended up suspending its top people<span style="font-size: small;">, CFO & the whole le<span style="font-size: small;">gal team, pending conclusion of en<span style="font-size: small;">quiry <span style="font-size: small;">in the USA<span style="font-size: small;"> pertaining to</span></span> it<span style="font-size: small;">s conduct </span></span></span></span></span></span>w<span style="font-size: small;">orld over<span style="font-size: small;">,<span style="font-size: small;"> following the Mexi<span style="font-size: small;">ca<span style="font-size: small;">n mess up.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<div class="mod-economictimesarticletextwithadcpc mod-economictimesarticletext mod-articletext" id="mod-a-body-after-second-para" style="background-color: white; border: 0px none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; orphans: 2; padding: 0px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="border: 0px none; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Walmart is also under an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing whether Walmart flouted <span style="font-size: small;">the</span> foreign exchange regulations when it invested about $100 million into the holding company of Bharti Enterprises-owned Bharti Retail Ltd.</span></span></div>
<span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The argument that Honda, <span style="font-size: small;">Mer<span style="font-size: small;">c and BMW etc have not </span>killed Tata Motors also conce<span style="font-size: small;">als<span style="font-size: small;"> half of the tru<span style="font-size: small;">th. What happened to the Premier Autom<span style="font-size: small;">obiles, Hindustan Mo<span style="font-size: small;">tors<span style="font-size: small;">, Standar<span style="font-size: small;">d Motor<span style="font-size: small;">s etc<span style="font-size: small;">? They a<span style="font-size: small;">re banished. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBkFiYqYHgO8rBgw48EXWwmv2r_0M1cx9QnjVp-sDenccpAYBv_B8s6FX4Oetebz67EoVGI_jMVWn8M5xjkJKuxbKtoXyaQv8Pl5JNeByLhSZ48NFryMI9S6JAYNTxNlNZKJ1t5ouza3r/s1600/madurai-market-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBBkFiYqYHgO8rBgw48EXWwmv2r_0M1cx9QnjVp-sDenccpAYBv_B8s6FX4Oetebz67EoVGI_jMVWn8M5xjkJKuxbKtoXyaQv8Pl5JNeByLhSZ48NFryMI9S6JAYNTxNlNZKJ1t5ouza3r/s400/madurai-market-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">But retail business is a very different ball game alto<span style="font-size: small;">g<span style="font-size: small;">ether from selling car<span style="font-size: small;">s and <span style="font-size: small;">aeroplanes.</span></span> <span style="font-size: small;">It directly affects the whole lot of buyers and sellers<span style="font-size: small;">, so instead of taking a<span style="font-size: small;"> studied economic decision <span style="font-size: small;">doing j<span style="font-size: small;">ustice to the market economy o<span style="font-size: small;">r the socialistic system of economics, we need to take national interest as a prime and primary factor to decide on this issue. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">With national interest, it is better to go for organi<span style="font-size: small;">c farming than further damaging the land with chemical pesticides and fertilizers<span style="font-size: small;"> to start with and get the local groups <span style="font-size: small;">of small traders strengthened through perfect infrastructure and fav<span style="font-size: small;">ou<span style="font-size: small;">rable policies. It is the countrymen </span></span></span></span>who matters <span style="font-size: small;">since they generate economic activity and thus income and employment locally,</span> not the business<span style="font-size: small;">men </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>from far off countr<span style="font-size: small;">y who aims to make money and take it away<span style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9167px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-52819950920073011132012-09-29T11:36:00.000-07:002012-09-29T21:06:58.841-07:00Flaws and FeedbacksNobody is perfect. Nobody is identical to others. Everyone has their own style of work and that is the reason we accord a huge importance to people management. It therefore is of utmost importance that people need to be coached to mend their own <i>modus operandi </i>to suit that of the organisation. We have frequent refresher training for people to ensure they do not deviate the fine line of the periphery of organisational behaviour. Yet we have issues with people making mistakes due to myriad of reasons, primarily due to misunderstanding of the expectations and slackness.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
The organisation (stake holders) reacts to such situation through feedbacks, coaching, training, improvement plans etc. The mechanism of reactions to mistakes is pretty well defined. There are some key elements to be discussed, viz.<br />
<br />
<ul><ul><ul>
<li>What went wrong?</li>
<li>Why it went wrong? </li>
<li>What are the impacts? </li>
<li>What are the corrective steps?</li>
<li>How to implement the corrective measures? </li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
While all these points have been addressed and discussed, we still have issues cropping up and the feedback mechanism is repetitively put to task. It is okay to make mistakes as life is a trial and error process. We cannot expect everybody to learn from others' early mistakes in all cases. It is human to err and it is management to take all on board ensuring the overall picture is green.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMKEe6k3S6ey_zFj_5nheWDes2QjoGC2lBnUVl-vnlHskdJ0H226UHQYTEgNDq2km0TgXszkVDcIXZRLL8SE4H8LlIy6ZBHm6SDNY97Z-UgMz0A71MP7bLpjpJrvb7pn7y2o5lnmQxGDY/s1600/Slide211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaMKEe6k3S6ey_zFj_5nheWDes2QjoGC2lBnUVl-vnlHskdJ0H226UHQYTEgNDq2km0TgXszkVDcIXZRLL8SE4H8LlIy6ZBHm6SDNY97Z-UgMz0A71MP7bLpjpJrvb7pn7y2o5lnmQxGDY/s400/Slide211.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #351c75;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">It is better to have people talk about our mistakes than writing us off</span></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
We have a lot of ideas like Kaizen, 6Sigma, Process Improvement, Poka Yoke etc to make the process of work mistake free. These are excellent tools. But there is a problem that still affects the process from a different angle. Process fixes work when humans are cautious about the work and it is due to a flaw in the flow the mistakes take place. Mistake proofing of the process doesn't work when slackness takes over the humans involved in the work. <br />
<br />
<br />
It is the attitude of some of us to get into
denial mode at once or later when a mistake/error is found. Some of us
wish to have people who 'adjust' with all the inconveniences of the
mistake/error and not even to give a feedback.<br />
<br />
Repetition of mistakes of the same kind leaves some of the stake holders miffed and react in a tough manner. The language of the feedback becomes stern and the tenor of their talk speaks volumes about the impact of the repetitive mistakes. But the people who have not developed the attitude of being open to feedback and correction, immediately start their well rehearsed reaction of going into denial mode. They deny the mistake as caused by some thing else and refuse to see the opportunity they had to avoid the mistake.<br />
<br />
Having spent some years in the Corporate world, I can surely conclude that the only domain with an undying demand forever is the soft skills training. We need to educate people on how to handle errors/mistakes which is part of the job. We also need to go some extra miles in educating people on reacting to feedbacks in a positive way and put forth their thoughts and suggestions in a manner that relates only to the problems being discussed and not blaming the people who have found the mistakes and those give feedbacks.<br />
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It is to be understood that when people start talking to someone about their mistake, they are expecting to correct the mistake and prevent it from happening again. It is the denial mode and blaming them back for pointing out the mistake and the 'other-fingers-point-to -you' rhetoric that makes the working together unpalatable. Shooting the messengers won't turn the bad news around nor will it help in keeping everything good in life.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-83636573382428734542012-08-12T05:27:00.000-07:002012-08-12T05:27:58.948-07:00Maruti's Manesar Miseries - a Human Resource Perspective<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: small;">Maruti Suzuki. The nation's passenger automobile pride. </span><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2odrHJAc5HavtOtbywxyDSJfSoXaAdg9-KLB4RW0A5B0BpRoh1czClACVIOXaC9OiSeJ4uzz4EUe7rSl9FPHJKg-CNtuvew9GYHTiGApRdXhdUeRPGTMBofGRb-HGdErh1hR8Hy8JuSd/s1600/245px-Maruti_Suzuki_Logo.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="73" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS2odrHJAc5HavtOtbywxyDSJfSoXaAdg9-KLB4RW0A5B0BpRoh1czClACVIOXaC9OiSeJ4uzz4EUe7rSl9FPHJKg-CNtuvew9GYHTiGApRdXhdUeRPGTMBofGRb-HGdErh1hR8Hy8JuSd/s400/245px-Maruti_Suzuki_Logo.svg.png" width="400" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">All was going well and Maruti was thriving in the market with new models and a proud palpable presence on the India roads. The company was in news for all the good reasons until recently. The recent unrest at the Manesar plant is not the first of its kind. It is the fourth in a year. The plant has been facing labor disquiet for decades and unrest for the past few years. Maruti is being managed by the all dedicated Japanese Management now. Japanese have a reputation for dedication to work and make it a culture in their organizations. Then why this unrest and arson?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Reasons cited vary from cut throat political motives wrapped in caste clashes to cross border armed campaign to destabilise the national economic growth. The employee disquiet has been </span><span style="font-size: small;">brooding for decades due to unfavourable labour policies which are unlike Japanese management. While taking a close look we can figure out that the Japanese management succumbed to the pressure of external forces and nodded to some uneasy practices in hiring contract labourers. It failed to inculcate the company's work culture and ethos into those people, as the contractors were expected to hire people who are fit to fit into the Maruti-Suzuki system and pull on. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">The contractors, money minded as always, hired people fit enough to do the job and it is not their job to inculcate the ethos of MSI into the people. The contract workers were being paid the salary after the contractors took their cut. </span><span style="font-size: small;">Their personal issues would be dealt with by the
contractors and not by the company's HR. Any leaves or absences would
be intimated to the contractors and the statutory benefits would not come
into picture as in the case of a regular employee. The contract
employees would not enjoy the pay and perks that a regular employee of
the company enjoys while they do the same work under a stringent </span><span style="font-size: small;">system of</span><span style="font-size: small;"> penalty. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"> It is human to get irritated when two people doing the same kind of job but getting different pay. The one gets lesser will be motivated to be callous towards the job and this attitude would spread like a vice, as it is one.
</span><span style="font-size: small;">Callousness ends up with a slipping performance which would end up in warnings and disciplinary actions in the case of contract labourers while in case of regular employees the company gives an option of retraining, counselling etc through the HR. Contract labourers do not get the benefits of training on the job unless it is absolutely necessary due to some process change or improvement. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">From the management stand point there are some mistakes too. In a zeal to get the productivity maximised, the management has introduced some extreme productivity measures. The break timings were impossible to follow, with 7.5 minutes to walk nearly half a kilometre and back to work on the 7.6th minute. Late comers were questioned in undignified manners putting them into humiliation. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">The argument that the equi-wage policy was not followed and that caused the labour unrest is a post-mortem analysis. The management should have ensured that the labour is being given a decent salary by the contractors who grabbed a big cut for themselves from the amount paid by the company. Even from a pure productivity stand point, restless workers cannot do the job well and the non-cooperative attitude spreads negative vibes through the work force. The workers were not able to trust the management who went on the treat the workers as resources conveniently passing the humanity buck to the contractors who supplied these Human Resources.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Well, from the management view point, this is a clear case of employee disengagement and management dis-articulation. The employees were asking for a wage rise from a shocking unequal salary. The permanent employees were getting around INR 21000/- per month while the contract labourers were getting only INR 7000/-</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; display: inline ! important; float: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;">per month for doing the same work. This is provocatively discriminatory and becomes the duty of the management to set things right here to ensure smooth sailing of the economic activity. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Management has to give employees a level playing field and encourage competition. Instead we have purely money minded cost cutting plans, mostly applied only to lower level of hierarchy. Such plans wreck havoc in the life plans of employees who get severely affected by such cuts. They have to bear the sorrow unspeakable caused by such cuts in their social and personal lives since we live in a continuously inflationary economy in India and a visibly volatile one around the world, watched by allegedly intentionally inert Government with a </span><span style="font-size: small;"> palpably paralysed policy.</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This will definitely lead to a situation that businesses and investors look around for conducive places for their economic activities. Labourers would follow suit in search of self economic welfare. And finally the inertia will kill the system of the political set up. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">This situation emanates the feel that all is not well and thus people tend to act out of the frustration caused by such feel. Anti-social elements use such feel and carry out acts of violence and destruction, thus putting the economic activity in constant danger and further spoil the already ill at ease labour-management relationship.</span><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">यत्र विधा गमो नास्ति <br />यत्र नास्ति धनाजम:।<br />यत्र चात्म सुख न्नास्ति<br />नतत्र दिवसं वसेत्</span><br />
<br />
<div style="color: blue;">
- नीथि शास्त्रम् </div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<br /></div>
The above given verses from the ancient Justice regulations for the society means:<br />
<br />
<div style="color: blue;">
<i>If
don't find </i><i> in a place, </i><i>any one of the important aspects of worldly human life
viz. Education, Wealth </i><i>and C</i><i>omfortable life, don't live
there even for a day.</i></div>
<div style="color: blue;">
</div>
<div style="color: blue;">
<span style="color: black;">People will definitely move on from places where they cannot find the basics means to lead a comfortable human life.</span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> </span><i> </i></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">Here I remember an incident from Mahabharatha I read in <a href="http://www.tattvaloka.com/">Tattvaloka</a>. In an article about<a href="http://www.tattvaloka.com/magazine/july-2012/article/employee-engagement-key-factor"> Employee engagement</a>,
the author referred to an incident from Mahabharatha where Bhagwan Shri
Krishna had told Arjuna to hold the enemy at bay for a while and drill
the ground with arrow for water. The reason being the horses were
getting tired and He had to water them and rest them for refreshment. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">It
was a WAR. In the middle of the war field the Man who donned the role
of a non-playing captain of the Pandava forces instructed His trusted
General to hold fort till the horses get refreshed to start the run
again. Some thing unheard of in the modern warfare. Not even the
soldiers were given proper rest to get themselves refreshed for the next
round of fight. We have the much quoted saying "everything" is fair in
love and war. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: small;">Bhagwan Shri Krishna set an example of how a master shall
take care of his subjects, be it humans or animals. As a charioteer He
was responsible for the welfare of the warrior and horses as well. He
cannot ignore the horses to serve the purpose of the furious warrior
whom He inspired to fight the opponents for the cause of the eternal
righteousness (Sanathana Dharma). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Likewise,
it is the duty of the HR department to ensure the welfare of the
employees irrespective of their position and the relevance of their
relationship with the company. Had this practise been followed, we could
have avoided several labour-management conflicts, especially surely
this brutal death of the HR manager at Maruti-Suzuki. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small;">To avert such a situation we have to create an environment of <a href="http://www.tattvaloka.com/magazine/july-2012/article/employee-engagement-key-factor">Madhuvan</a>, a place governed by passion and devotion. We have an adage work is worship. In such a place, the employees have dedication and devotion towards the work (not to the bosses, of course) since their needs and requirements are taken care of and the work environment is friendly and pressure free. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Nowadays, we consider business as war and teach "Art of war" as management principle. But we forget to take care of our soldiers and keep them constantly in the war fatigues which makes them fatigued and erodes much needed enthusiasm. Any over worked human will have his own mental tension and is bound to make mistakes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">The managers instead of resolving of the root cause of the problem, impose more regulations which adds to the burden of the employees and ends up in situations of unspeakable unease. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Understanding what motivates and employee and ensuring he/she gets that is the best way to retain best talent and thus grow good business. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Customers are Kings. Agreed, your Majesty! But the Generals serving the Kings have the duty of taking care of their soldiers to keep the Kings, Kings always. </span><br />
<br />Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-71088189452579823472011-11-02T05:16:00.000-07:002012-07-15T19:00:44.775-07:00Skills and CertificationsWhile browsing through some Project Management links, I came across
an interesting discussion whether we really need PMP or other PM
certifications. Comments by one of the contributor reminded me of some
comments by the Hon'ble Judges from an earlier Supreme Court of India
judgement on exams for senior advocates. (Well, I'll come back to this
comment later and I'm not going to search through the AIR for case # and
quote it.) The topic of discussion was whether the PMP certification is
worth it. A lot of contributors were of the opinion that the
certification serves as a gate-opener and it is the individuals
performance that would make it not to open from the other side once for
all. True. This happens with MBA also, and for that matter any
professional qualification.<br />
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But some comments threw
light on how flawed the recruitment system is, on its fundamentals.
People with 10+ years of successful project management experience and a
good track record have stated that their profiles have been filtered in
the primary search which is based on the PMP tag. This is a lamentable
condition and adds values to referrals by individuals as the best means
to find the right candidate. If that is the case the investment on tools
and people in the recruitment system needs a critical revisit.<br />
<br />
On
the brighter side people opined that they have no worries when pitted
and not being selected against an equally experienced candidate who has
those three letters tagged after his/her name. When other factors remain
natural, the world goes by survival of the fittest. So, when a person
has experience, talent and educational qualification, naturally he/she
becomes the choice over another who has one of them comparatively
lesser. Priority should be given to talent but different schools of
thought have different opinions, so the decision and the consequent
outcome depends.<br />
<br />
<br />
Now on to the comments holding the flips high. Most of the
commentators have attempted any of the Project Management certifications
and obviously have failed. Some have not even attempted exams. We
cannot take into consideration, the comments of people who have bowed
out before even stepping into the testing part. Their comments are not
feedback based on constructive analysis of the system or syllabus of the certifications. Nor had they highlighted any flaws or misses in the knowledge imparted in the training programs nor challenging the core competencies on strong grounds.<br />
<br />
<br />
It is all whine, wail and worry. They all agree on one point that
the institutes imparting certifications make lot of money. Yeah. They
do. If you have the business acumen, you have the idea. But, all these rattling were a result of failure or fear of that. This reminded me of the Supreme Court comment on the law suit on senior lawyer exams. The Hon'ble judges opined,"<i>The plaintiff attempted the exams, without success, for five times before concluding that the exams are not necessary
and has approached this court. The argument that after spending years
as a junior lawyer should qualify a person to become senior lawyer lacks
legibility, as the time if spent properly should qualify the person to
succeed in the exams related to his very profession.</i>"<br />
<br />
Two of the prime arguments against certification is that,"All those certified are not successful." "They fire even certified people". Well, the most successful corporate managers on earth are non-MBAs. Jack Welch and Lee Iacocca are a famous two to point at. Many people armed with an Ivy League MBA spoil businesses and economies. It is all the way you utilize the skills imparted by your education. One of the ancient Indian saints rightly said,"<i>Education should develop character which in turn will bring other riches</i>". But we study to bargain for more money. Character? You're not talking about a role played in any opera or movie, right?<br />
<br />
Management
certification exams, in my opinion, should test the management skills
of the person appearing, like they do in IIM, ISB and the likes to bring
out the best thought out ideas to manage better. It need not be like
the class tests conducted with multiple choice questions on the
fundamentals which don't indeed reflect the management skills of neither
the tester nor the tested. These sort of tests encourage cramming and discourage innovation. As the Great Hindu Guru AdiShankaracharya rightly pointed out,"<i>Cramming lessons will not help you in life</i>." (Nahi Nahi rakshathi Dugrung karane)<br />
<br />
Well, with the information I gathered on PM certifications (as I plan to study and get one), they seem to enhance skills and test the knowledge of
the aspirants on the proven methodology taught to them. This should act as a launch pad for a
successful managerial career, and not as a shield against right-sizings
often happening in the corporate world. Certifications are not 'fire' proof. Jack Welch said this: <i>The way you work is the best job security you can ever have.</i>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-86562164118205311012011-01-25T22:36:00.000-08:002011-01-25T22:36:12.131-08:00Vande Matharam!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWyZcN0EQQEsjWzkFlMo8tWWPvmcYYcGbSEsDryaM7PhfqY0lNpxajliwdmlWlShKmPv3IyHnNmAsVUIt_VbgbMqi4VlpMcKixyadvI8Q3jztYwxv_e3SAPsdofBqw1kpVRJkb9h_DfZu/s1600/rbi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIWyZcN0EQQEsjWzkFlMo8tWWPvmcYYcGbSEsDryaM7PhfqY0lNpxajliwdmlWlShKmPv3IyHnNmAsVUIt_VbgbMqi4VlpMcKixyadvI8Q3jztYwxv_e3SAPsdofBqw1kpVRJkb9h_DfZu/s200/rbi.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The country is now universally recognised as a nation on the move and takes its place amongst the successful economies in the region. The future potential is enormous but the country's destiny is in our hands. The time has come to move from small increments to bold, large initiatives. The time has come to stretch the envelope and set goals which were earlier not seen to be possible. The time has come for performance to be measured and for allocated funds of the government to reach the people for whom they were intended.<br />
<b><span style="color: #073763;"> </span></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="color: #073763;">Ratan Tata</span></b></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><span style="color: #073763;"> </span></b> </span></div>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-85888125942436421012011-01-06T02:16:00.000-08:002012-07-15T19:01:05.274-07:00Being a Roman while at Rome.Communication is the exchange of ideas and flow of information from one person to another. The ways and means for communication are multiple. Words could be deceiving. Voice could vary from thought. That's why communication is looked into as a whole product of words, voice, facial expressions and body language. In customer service, the voice and facial expressions play a vital role in holding a customer with the organization than a well thought and appealingly written script. <br />
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<span class="bodybold">We have an example of a high school drop out mechanical foreman of a ginning factory near Coimbatore convincing a Production Manager from US with his broken English and body language on a particular way of repairing a machine, while the educated lot trying with their accentuated English miserably failed in getting the idea across. This stands proof to the fact that communication is not linguistics alone. </span><br />
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</span><br />
According to most studies, people's number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. As JD Schramm, of Stanford Business School puts it, it is doing the Eulogy that most people fear than getting into the casket. The best way to overcome fear is to face it. So, the best way to get better in communication of any mode is to practice it repeatedly until one gets comfortable. Well, conquering speech is a millionth particle of success in the communication. <br />
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</span><br />
<span class="bodybold">There is a mode of communication which plays a larger role than verbal. That is one of the important survival skills taught in the world. That is non verbal communication. </span>“We ignore these ancient signals at our own peril.", says a <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/26514/?a=f">study </a>on non verbal communication by <a href="http://web.mit.edu/">MIT's</a> Human Dynamics Lab. The non verbal communication is a complex system to understand though, as evident from easily mistook signals and cues between the continuously and extensively communicating people worldwide. <br />
<br />
This group studied extensively about the human behavioral patterns when communication was normal and when communication was curtailed. They studied at a call center where the employees were discouraged from going in groups for coffee breaks to get them back to works as soon as possible, but yet the center was struggling with it's productivity numbers. The employees were finding different ways out to communicate with others during their breaks and were not mindful of timeliness in getting back. Then it was suggested that they be allowed in groups eventually they were getting back to work in time and the productivity stats started hitting the target.<br />
<br />
Through this they found that leaving humans virtually incommunicado stoops their creativity to unexpected low and they end up in a nasty mess. It is unwise to have a hard and fast rule to get humans to get creative. Hard and fast rules help only in getting stereo types. In jobs those demand creativity and imagination which include any management responsibility need freedom to communicate and a good understanding of communication as a whole, not just the popular perception that a good speaker is a good communicator.<br />
<br />
Here we have some cues to take while a person speaks. Order of things (s)he lists out is important to get his attitude. At times people may jumble the order of things with no malicious intent. May be they are confused at that moment or perhaps not good at signaling. But, a person who is not aware of the signals he is sending may also be signaling thinking or deficient people skills.<br />
<br />
We have an example that a company staff got alarmed with rumors of lay-offs and resumes started flying out. When the source of the rumor was tracked, painstakingly though, it was found that a cue of something like that was taken from a closed door discussion between the CEO and the HR Head, which normally happened in open doors. Someone took the cue and the unusually closed door was a valid reason for others to believe that something trustworthy was in that rumor.<br />
<br />
This happened to me couple of times. When working with a computer retailer, I was called for an interview with another. My company was kind of a mom n pop shop so the formalities were not cared for much. But the company I went for this interview was a partnership business, and they were about to enter into software business. Norm there was business like conduct. I was sent off with the second question in that interview. The questions were:<br />
<ol>
<li>Why do you come to interview dressed in business casuals?</li>
<li>Why are you speaking so casually with me?</li>
</ol>
The culture I was used to till then was calling the boss "Anna"(brother) and his wife "Anni"(sister-in-law). The advise I got from both of them were, "The dress and talk would not matter, as long as you know the job do your work". But I could not convince the other company with this argument as they wanted both work and looks. I spoke with one of my friends and he introduced me to a Scotsman. This Scotsman explained to me why I was not even interviewed in full.<br />
<br />
The messages I sent to them with my casual appearance and talk were:<br />
<ul>
<li>I did not care to know about the company before coming to interview.</li>
<li>I was not ready for change.</li>
<li>I would not suit for cross cultural interactions, which is a must for software companies.</li>
<li>I was a happy go lucky person as I did not care to clear my only pending paper in my UG degree. (I told the interviewer that as long as I know the job, degree doesn't matter.) This also made them infer that I won't bother about completing a given task.</li>
</ul>
Then I took a course in "Personality Development", conducted by that Scotsman, worked with him for a while, where I got an overdose of formalities that alienated locals from me. <br />
<br />
Then it was a Swamiji from Ramakrishna Mutt who listened to me patiently and gave the old saying as his advise and explained it. Be a Roman while at Rome, don't confuse things. That is the toughest job in the world. You first have to understand the <i>modus vivendi</i> of Romans and make up your mind to get accustomed to that, then start living like them. But when change happens you have to reprogram yourself accordingly. In reality change happens so suddenly that you find it difficult to manage, if you fail to take right cues from signals. <br />
<br />
Living consciously is akin to a company managing its brand. We are constantly looking for brands and people we can trust. Concluding on such things would demand lot of time and research work, but if we take cues from the day to day happenings things would become a lot easier.<br />
<br />
Words do count, but deeds and gestures matter the most. It is better to be cautious while communicating, since the non-verbal part could easily play spoil sport if we tend to take chances with people who are keen and thorough with picking up cues.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-63950825868504693702010-12-31T23:28:00.000-08:002012-07-15T19:01:55.171-07:00Inflation Skyrockets<a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Inflation.html">Inflation </a>is defined as <i>"a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time." </i>The never dwindling inflation in the Indian economy has reached a 10 week high despite hopes expressed by the economist PM and lawyer FM, along with helplessness conceded by other statutory bodies created to work on economic issues. The suspicion of hoarding expecting a price rise cannot be ruled out since this inflation does not fit into it's abstract economic definition.<br />
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The primary tool for controlling inflation is monetary policy, as widely believed. But, the money supply angle to ups and downs of inflation is fit only to the US economy as other economies have to ensure collateral gold to hold the value of money. The interest rate could not be a tool to control money circulation in India going by the behavioral trend, as Indians are not hell bent on spending with easily available money, but they are traditionally thrifty people, especially the female folk. So, the demand-supply influenced inflation is imagination unleashed to give an intellectual-look to the justification of a pathetic failure.<br />
<br />
Well, we have a lot of issues to discuss come to talk of inflation. The <a href="http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jun/07infla.htm">calculation of inflation in India</a> is done through debatable methods. In all developed nations inflation is calculated based on CPI (Consumer Price Index], but we do it based on the WPI [Wholesale Price Index]. This digs a gulf between the Government's numbers of inflation and the suffering the consumer has to undergo. Calculations based on wholesale price does not take into account the retail market price, so the inflation data maintained and quoted by the Government is far from reality.<br />
<br />
But now, through any price index the inflation in India is super-hyper. But a matter of statistical pride is that the food inflation is still far below the level of 21.19 per cent seen during the same week last year. <span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT"> Food articles contribute about 14 per cent in the wholesale price index.</span><br />
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The rate of price rise of vegetables was 29.26 per cent on an annual basis, while on a weekly basis, it was 4.58 per cent. Food inflation soared to a 10-week high of 14.44 per cent for the week ended December 18, 2010. <br />
F<span style="font-size: large;"></span>ruits became 21.97 per cent more expensive, while milk grew 17.75 per cent costlier during the same week. A good monsoon and prospects of an abundant kharif harvest had prompted the government to exude confidence about a decline in food inflation, but things went haywire and the Government machinery was clueless as to why the prices keep soaring despite a Prime Ministerial hope.<br />
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High food inflation would prompt the Reserve Bank of India to hike key short-term rates at its policy review next month. But the <b><i>demand-pull explanation</i></b> of the might of monetary policy in keeping the inflation at the convenience of the common man would not work in India. The hike in interest rate or the reverse of it would not have an impact on the food prices unless the Government takes some essential politico-economic measures to check the inflation.<br />
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The F&O trade and the derivatives trade play a key role in fueling the skyrocketing of prices. The abolition of these trades, as vociferously demanded by Commies, is impossible given the technological advances in global commerce, but the Government could moderate that effectively to keep food prices safe from such artificial inflationary factors. Indian Railways has raised freight rate for iron ore, coal, sugar and a few other commodities by up to 4% which would contribute in keeping the inflation floating at the existing levels.<span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT"><br />
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The insensitive decisions to export onions and other goods were cited as reason for the price hike, but reason has not been given by the Government for the consumer price being 50% higher than the current import rates. The Finance Minister states that the onion prices have been taken care of, but still the retail market price of onion is lower only to the sky in altitude. The FM also added that <span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">the fluctuation in milk, fruit, vegetables and certain commodities have contributed to the inflation, so are we to infer that the Government is taking up one product at a time in managing food inflation? Do we have a time frame to get the prices down to earth, Mr FM? </span><br />
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Upside risks to inflation are still high, says an RBI top person. This adds fuel to the fears of the common man flying high along with the prices. Politico-economic measures are needed now to bring inflation down, since we have reasons to believe that some politically connected vested interests are playing with the prices of food products. <span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">FM'</span><span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">s estimates of year end inflation, however, is higher than 5.5 % indicated by Prime Minister earlier this month. He puts it at 6.5 %. <br />
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<span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT"></span>The FM today said <span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">that the rise was not because of the <a href="http://www.e-investing.in/fundamental-analysis/2203-inflation-base-effect.html">base effect</a>, but effective measures to control inflation are also not seen in effect. </span><span id="advenueINTEXT" name="advenueINTEXT">"We are waiting for the full monthly figure. Weekly variations are there. Whether these are corrected in the coming week that is to be seen", says Pranab Mukherjee. This gives an impression that the Government views the inflation as a statistical issue and not a matter of humanitarian emergency, which further alienates the people manning the economic affairs from their subject matter, the people.</span><br />
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Sarcasm suggests that the nation might be better off with economists launching satellites and rocket scientists managing inflation! Have a happy 2011 folks, though!Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-29365134276202261482010-12-13T01:36:00.000-08:002012-07-15T19:02:13.377-07:00Turnaround King(pin)s of IndiaThe title of Turnaround King was given to Jack Welch for his wonderful job at GE and also to Louis V. Gerstner for his historic turnaround of IBM. Nithish Kumar was given that title for his great turn around of Bihar. Come to think of turnarounds of economies and businesses one has to wonder why such a nation brimming with brilliant minds, have starvation deaths in the first place, keep aside Governmental apathy towards that for discussion later.<br />
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With the Radiagate exposing journalists doing a kind of a second job as political lobbyists for vested interests <i>viz </i>friends, NDTV has more explaining to do on it's own loan scam, along with Barkhagate. The electronic media has not even reported the NDTV-ICICI Bank nexus in getting the former out of a financial quagmire, when compared with the standards it reported any other scam. Most of the electronic media masters today are disciples of Dr.Prannoy Roy, but attributing that as a reason for this act of omission, enough to suspect act of commission though, would damage the standards of journalism once upheld and mentored by Dr.Roy. <br />
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The deal between NDTV-ICICI Bank took place between July and October 2008 during a "buyback" of shares from the stock market announced by NDTV Limited at the price of Rs 439 per share, which is done through raising funds by alleged false declaration of the value of shares. Share prices were sky-rocketing at that time and NDTV Ltd expected prices to rise even further. So, it wanted to buy the shares back. Since the company did not have sufficient liquid funds to finance this purchase of shares, it took a loan from India Bulls Financial Services of Rs 363 crores, pledging 90 lakhs of NDTV shares in July 2008.<br />
<br />
In August 2008, the stock market collapsed due to the subprime crisis in USA and the NDTV shares plummeted to Rs.100 from Rs.390. India Bulls recalled the loan since the collateral depreciated. But NDTV for want of cash to get through this problem approached ICICI Bank for loan. ICICI took NDTV shares worth Rs.200 crores and lent Rs.375 crores. The moot question is how the bank chose lend such a big amount at such a value of collateral when the original value of the collateral was much lesser. <br />
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The price of the shares offered as collateral was not INR 400+ as declared, but lesser than INR 100 at the time of the <span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">mortgage</span>. So, INR 375 crores was given out for a collateral value of INR 45 crores. Since such huge amounts of money would not be easily given out, ICICI Bank has to do some answering on this as it is a publicly traded company with Government and quasi Government institutions having a substantial stake in it. <span id="search" style="visibility: visible;"><i>RRPR</i> Holding Private Limited had, in fact, bluffed its way to get this loan, but the question is on the verification mechanism employed by the Banks. </span><br />
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</span><br />
The finacial reports on the NDTV website say that the NDTV Group has been consistently posting only loss quarter-on-quarter, since the year 2009. Right thinking business minds would wonder how a loss making company has enough cash-flows to sustain itself for close to 2 years and still buy-back a large bulk of its shares in the open market. Also, this clearly shows that the <span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest <i>Act</i>, <i>2002</i></span><br />
<span id="search" style="visibility: visible;"><i></i>was flaunted out in the open.</span><br />
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<span id="search" style="visibility: visible;"> </span><br />
<span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">The exemption granted , as claimed by NDTV, could be legally challenged and on questionable grounds. But the moot question here is how a loss making company was able to convince the bank and the regulators that their shares were worth what they were quoting and not what the market said? Also, the claim that all the financial transactions were advised by PwC, brings a lot of questions in. PwC advised Satyam and was under fire for condoning financial misdemeanor. This malfeasance has happened during the same period and had the regulators not even raising eyebrows, leave alone acting against.</span><br />
<span id="search" style="visibility: visible;"><br />
</span><br />
<span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">The ICICI Bank was holding </span>17.75% stake in NDTV since 2003 which was a NPA during the issuance of the loan, since the stock was NPA as NDTV was posting loss continuously. The silence of the MCA is understandable given to understand the quality of the ruling set up <i>vide </i>Radiagate. But the silence of the RBI is painful, since it was an institution that stood firmly against the suggestions of the then FM P.Chidambaramto follow the US model in the interest rate issue thus saving the national economy from following the US way into the infamous subprime trap.<br />
<br />
The worrisome part in this scam is the RBI's inertia which poses serious questions about the independent functioning of the institution. Also, the sanctioning of the said loan poses serious questions about the approval mechanism followed by the commercial banks. <span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">For small businesses, loan sanctioning takes a lot of scrutiny and lot of time. But this is methodic deception by NDTV and ICICI has chickened out for reasons those would come out only upon proper investigation.</span><span id="search" style="visibility: visible;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span id="search" style="visibility: visible;">We need to look at another related fact that the TATA Nano sale was down due to banks' reluctance in sanctioning loans to customers fearing defaulting. Doesn't this send a weird signal to the lay people that the bigger the the amount you take as loan the greater you can flaunt the regulations? The haves collude with the trustees of public finance and swindle public wealth leaving the havenots lurch in the darkness of poverty. </span><br />
<br />
The economic problem of the widening gulf between the haves and the havenots is getting serious day-by-day in every way in India. This may not pose a serious problem until the basic economic necessities are affordable so the general public, which generally comes in the havenots category. But here in India, with wasted and looted food grains and Government remaining inert in such serious crimes while the general public starves could result in two possible situations.<br />
<br />
One could be a revolution where the public comes to the street and demands the rights. Two could be mass deaths because of starvation and lack of other basic economic needs. With the public attitude being subservient even in the face of heinous crimes against them in India, we could not expect the first situation to come up. The second situation could be a possibility, an alleged happening with alleged concealing of facts though.<br />
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This may end up the people siding with separatist forces which flourish on money from across the political border. The current situation of corruption in every step of Government could end up the nation in chaos. We have a class of people employed in MNCs enjoying the luxuries of life, ignorant to the prevailing problems in the world around them and another class which cheats with method and live a luxurious life ditching the foundation of the political set up. We also have another class which laments and raises voice for the affected class, that is the judiciary, but that too is suffering from the corruption fever now and then. The media known as whistle blowers, blow the looters and get their share thus handing a thunderous blow to the democratic set up.<br />
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Unless someone sits up and takes stock of the situation and act with some human sense, we the people of India, will have to lurch in the dark. Given the economic imbalances and the political chaos, the nation needs a turn around King not kingpins looting to turnaround and turning around to loot royally. The problem plaguing India now is the ratio between Kings and kingpins, democratically speaking. Kingpins and accomplices of ruthless loot outnumber Kings and soldiers of real turnaround. Majority rules in a democracy. The need of this time is to give majority to Kings and soldiers of true turnaround, for the good of the economy.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-12001751749072013772010-11-10T07:34:00.000-08:002010-11-10T07:34:44.445-08:00My Thamizh blog!Folks!<br />
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I've started to write in my first language Thamizh here.<br />
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http://hmsjr.wordpress.com/<br />
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Your bouquets and brickbats are welcome.<br />
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Regards,<br />
Arun.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-78583311810213083742010-09-08T07:35:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:03.268-08:00Desi Subprime?<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> o<span style="font-size: xx-small;">n Monday 8 December 2008.</span></span></span></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></span></h2><br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">A news report that the RBI has a package proposal to accelerate the growth of the dawdling real-estate sector, by offering special consideration to the upper middle and middle class people who plan to take home loans up to Rs 20 lakhs, ring an alarm bell. The reason for the slowdown in the real estate sector is e unreasonable spike in prices, and the upward interest rates. The high interest rates, indeed, saved many from the inflated sale price of the property market.<br />
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Now that the proposal </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">through banks </span><span style="font-size: 100%;">to infuse money and induce people to buy houses would give only a notional stimulus to the real estate market, but would not be beneficial to the buyers in the long run. With a constantly inflationary economy, such packages would not do much help to the common man, but for pushing him into more troubled finances, as the constant price rise and slow growth of the economy are </span>antithetic in nature.<br />
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The moot question is whether naturally savings minded Indian middle class would plunge into such offers and find themselves in the middle of a meddle. The Indian home buying scenario is not dominated by market forces or economic incentive packages. It is a family event and the women of the family have a definite say in the decision making. Given fact that Indian women are not price sensitive but price performance sensitive, we cannot expect that the inflated prices would be paid by the Indian middle class families for a few thousand bucks incentive from some banks.<br />
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The mathematically shrewd lot of Indian middle class men would calculate the interest rate/EMI and would finally conclude that the few thousand Rupees of discount/incentive by the banks would not be beneficial to them at the end of the day, as they would end up paying more than the incentives they got <span style="font-style: italic;">vide</span> EMI and interest on loan. So, this stimulus package would induce people who have no financial plan and care free of the money spent, as they could easily be dragged into a financial deal which might not be beneficial to them.<br />
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Come to think of the IT professionals, they were the lot to be wooed in by such packages. But given the volatility of the industry, and the stress many from IT industry have undergone during the meltdown of the US economy and it's global impact, only a few takers could be found for such an incentive to home buyers.<br />
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The need of the hour is to curb the unreasonable price hike of the property and related materials, so that the industry could be trimmed from the economic obesity. In general, the Government, instead of putting money in people's pockets, should try and keep inflation under check. Any deal without having inflation under control would not work and deliver the expected result. Instead this stimulus package would further feed the inflation, and hence fillip would be given to the inflation not to the economic growth.<br />
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With this step the Government has started a walk into a land of financial mines and economic quick sand. Let us hope the mindset of the Indian middle class would help people from falling prey to such failed economic models and save the nation from a <span style="font-style: italic;">desi</span> subprime.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-17865904058493354072010-09-08T07:33:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.674-08:00Integrity compromises at work - Why?<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> o<span style="font-size: xx-small;">n Sunday 14 December 2008</span></span></span></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></span></h2><br />
Every human being lives on, based on trust. We go to sleep trusting that we would awake after a good sleep. Work is given to us in the same kind of trust, that we would finish it up as required, without any questionable actions. Life is shared among people in different forms like friendship, relationship, etc in the same sort of trust. But when the trust is found violated/breached, it would be chaos in the concerned relationship, personal or professional.<br />
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Of late we have come across quite a disturbing trend of integrity violations at workplaces, right across the globe . Why these are happening? The answer to this is none other than performance pressure and lack of a work culture. When it comes to performance managers prefer to reward the go-getter kind, irrespective of where they go and how they get the results.<br />
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I know a person who was awarded best performer for getting unbelievably good numbers with his work. His photo was flashed across the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">LoB</span> and he was rewarded for being an example to others. A couple of weeks he was found to have fudged the numbers in some way and was asked to leave the job. But still, his name remained in the toppers list and people were shown that result as an example till the end of that business quarter.<br />
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These sort of activities send out wrong signals. I know people who did what was told to them and got axed, while the perpetrators got safe with preaching integrity to the rest. It is the administering of the organizational culture that really matters. Organizations need to send out clear signal that integrity violation would never be taken easy, and follow that as night follows the day. This would keep a check on people aiming at short term goals, losing sight on long term objectives.<br />
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When people work for immediate gains and lose sight of the long run objectives, they create and operate in a vicious environment, that would end up the organization and the people in trouble. The consequences may come up to losing a client account, thus bringing heavy loss of business and goodwill. The thought leaders in an organization shall make sure the middle and junior management is educated and constantly reminded on the long term objectives of the organizations, so that they could be aware of the consequences when they tend to go for the short term benefits.<br />
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This happens because of the aloof style of management, where the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" style="font-style: italic;">modus</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" style="font-style: italic;">operandi</span> is not checked before lauding the result. A culture of checks and balances could effectively be implemented only if it comes from top down. The difficulty when it comes from bottom up is that, at any given point, the mission could be aborted by an aloof/corrupt manager.<br />
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It is the responsibility of the top management not just to preach integrity and roam around, but also to check at random and make sure an awareness and alertness of being watched is created and spread across the organization.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-36114605785972804602010-09-08T07:32:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.674-08:00Why people quit organizations?<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> o<span style="font-size: xx-small;">n Saturday 27 December 2008.</span></span></span></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></span></h2><br />
The prime problem that creates a sub prime of talent in organizations is attrition. The common definition of attrition is <span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_content"> a reduction in numbers usually as a result of resignation, retirement, or death. Refer to any dictionary, </span></span></span></span></span><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_content">and you get the meaning that "the act of weakening or exhausting by constant harassment, abuse, or attack", "</span></span></span></span><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_break"><span class="sense_content">the act of wearing or grinding down by friction". I'm not here to think aloud about job hoppers. I'm here to speak about career minded people who find it difficult indeed to leave an organization and the relationships they have nurtured throughout their stay in an organization, yet part ways.<br />
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Why do they decide to move out? The frustration they have with their work, which makes them feel ostracized without reason. Most of such separations happen during change in the organization, with the immediate colleagues and boss or policies which make people feel that they have been lured into something worthless to work for. This could be either because the management had failed to convince the people about the change, or the good change promised, had been brought only in paper.</span></span></span><br />
Brain drain is because most of the managers tend to manage people in an autocratic way. They do not explain why a decision is made and in which direction the organization would tread thereafter, and what are the contributions expected and gains to expect. Either the managers lack the capability to communicate, or they expect the people to follow orders without questions. Even in military establishments, do or die orders without explanations are given only after taking the people into confidence about the decisions made and the decision makers.<br />
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We lack true leaders and fill the leadership positions with managers, who remain glorified overseers, instead of being given the responsibility to lead a part of an organization. This could well be attributed to the organizational practice of appointing people without adherence to proper recruitment process, lack of plans to educate managers, failure to impart the organizational values to new recruits irrespective of the levels they've been hired for. This results in a know-it-all attitude of managers taking charge of a new environment, which demands ceaseless learning, instead.<br />
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If a good manager takes a bad decision that results in attrition of good talent, we can accept that as bad time and move ahead with a confident satisfaction that a lesson is learnt. But when an incapable fellow takes indiscreet decisions, to assert his control over the department he handles, with a gross indifference towards employees' <span class="ResultBody">concerns, that would put the organization's goals in jeopardy with freshmen all around looking forward to (of course, incapable) manager </span><span class="ResultBody">for every other step, resulting in </span><span class="ResultBody">pandemonium</span><span class="ResultBody">. </span><br />
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If managers tend to run their departments as their fiefdoms without adhering to industry standards or organizational principles nor an acceptable civil conduct, it is high time for people who run the business to raise their eyebrows toward this and their fists, if needed, to save their business. The widely talked about management adage "<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">People don't leave organizations; They leave managers</span>", is worth a bar of solid gold for every letter of it. Well, talked a lot about chaos and the root causes, now let us think about some ideas to arrest attrition.<br />
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Talent retention is not just about giving fat paychecks, bombarding the employees' wallet with other benefits, and fun activities at work. Talent acquisition and talent retention are the much discussed about topics in management circles. But most of us are not following them up with talent nurturing. If a person in promoted as manager he had to be trained with management basics, a brush up on organizational goals and principles, and a constant follow up on his activities by his boss unless he satisfies the purpose he had been recruited for. Just by promoting people based on the time spent with the organization and/or their proximity to "somebody" in the organization is nothing but forcing people to do the job they can't do best. This would result in organizational <span class="ResultBody">anarchy.<br />
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People have to be given hope that their contribution would be recognized and rewarded. They have to be allowed to voice their opinions that counts for the process of business they work for, as most of the top notch management advises and ideas have come from production/assembly line, than from board rooms and lecture halls. It is the responsibility of the organizational leaders to acquire, nurture and retain managerial talent and thus facilitate the organization in turn to acquire, nurture and retain other talents to stay firm and fly their flag high in the business environment.</span>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-70881577814152240032010-09-08T07:30:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.675-08:00What they DON'T teach at Top Business Schools?<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> o<span style="font-size: xx-small;">n Saturday 10 January 2009. </span></span></span></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></span></h2><br />
Bouquets, brickbats and troubles target the ones who are at the top. The recent crisis in global economy, the recession (<span style="font-style: italic;">Oh! it is slow down.... </span><span style="font-style: italic;">I'm sorry Mr,Chidambaram. Fine. That's okay, he is no more FM</span>.), the financial mismanagement, the failures of giant companies, the learned and certified people who connive with or show callousness when it comes to fudging in a grand scale, you name it. All these point to the top notch B-Schools, as most of the people involved in such condemnable conducts, in one way or the other, are from the top B-Schools around the world.<br />
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Recently rocked Satyam scam raises the suspicion to higher levels. Given fact that most of the top business people are educated in top most B-Schools, we tend to ask what do they teach you at Top B-Schools and what do they not? Not limited to any businesses, all these companies have Top B-School alumni in leadership roles. These are the people who have the genius of overlooking the basics of management, which is quite well known to common man, but in a very much de-jargonized language. "If you give more loan to a person already in debt, he would not be able to repay", is the basic knowledge of laymen, that was overlooked by these elegantly educated experts, which led to the sub prime crisis and resultant global economic downturn.<br />
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The paying of bulk bonuses to top executives, irrespective of industry trend or economic trend is another part of this Top B-School culture. Talk at length about sacrifice and inspire people to shed even their shirts in sacrifice, but don't compromise even a dime in your pay is an attitude that would not help the society to live in tranquil. These people with top B-degrees, top notch doctorates, and pay checks those of Godzilla's size, fail to realize the baseline of lifecycle that good or bad things would come to and end. The universal fact that darkness would definitelybe followed by light and <span style="font-style: italic;">vice versa</span> is known to common man, but not to these elite men.<br />
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This is a pathetic failure of the education system which doesn't prepare people to accept the adversity as part of human life and endure it with positive thoughts and deeds to make it less painful. The thought process is not developed properly by the education they had, hence whatever they had is not education. The ruin runs thorugh to the rock bottom of the system. Right from the primary school we tell our children that studying will give them a better life. We tend to ignore the fact that education is a life long process, not a preparatory process for life and we pass on this wrong notion to our children also.<br />
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The refusal to accept failure is hailed as a fighitng spirit, but the fight against failure is fought without ethics and victory often evades such fighters. A mistake was spotted with the functioning of the home loan system and people at the helm of affairs refused accept failure of their system and made it more complicated with the subprime. Such kind of refusals to accept failures deserve termination from the system.<br />
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Unless we do some self analysis, and try to find out our mistakes and correct them, we'll have more crisis of the subprime kind. Business schools and the teachers there shall devote some of their time to educate their students on educating them that there do exist something called non monetary values in human life. What they don't teach you at top B - Schools are the basic facts of human life without which any education will not stand worth, the true sense of the word.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-13771071866467245282010-09-08T07:27:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.675-08:00Implementing Change<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u><u><u><u><u><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> o<span style="font-size: xx-small;">n Tuesday 24 February 2009.</span></span></span></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></u></span></h2>Change is the most live thing happening in the world. Every passing second is change, but yet humans find difficult to accept visible changes. We tend to hide changes in physique due to aging with beauty therapies, hair dye etc. When it comes to change in some thing we do in life, personal or professional, we tend to avoid change and to the possible extent we tend to evade change.<br />
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This is because of the psychological effect to remain with status quo and the fear of the change having in store something unpleasant. Unless change is forced on us by forces of the market or of the nature, we have some suggestions from experts on how to implement change and manage it.<br />
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Good or bad change has resistance. People are so mentally intertwined with status quo that they detest change when it is inevitable, but live with it as TINA factor plays a major role. The transformation process will be successful, when the organization goes through a step-by-step process of change. Real change happens when the change in practices, structures, and strategies and vision are implanted in the changed culture.<br />
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To successfully implement change we need to plan the change. A meticulous plan with every detail covered with the goal in mind has to be prepared. In the planning process, opinions and ideas shall be asked for from everyone involved. This would be a welcome move as people would be open to improvements and more willing to advise others than taking suggestions. With all the ideas, we need to carefully consider them and get a consolidated frame work. This frame work is known as a plan.<br />
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With this plan, devise a strategy to implement it. A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal. Unless we're implementing military strategy, highest secrecy is not required. So, we need to give the people involved a brief idea about the goal. Tell them the ways and means we're about to follow. Welcome ideas and suggestions, as we've always time and space for improvement, unless we've a closed mindset.<br />
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We have psychologists to affirm that people change their mind-sets only when they see the purpose of changing. How to make/help them see the purpose of change? How to get our vision visible to others involved in the changes we're planning to make? The only way out is communication. Communication is an important factor that favorably contributes to successful implementation of change. US President Barak Obama is the latest example of successful communicator advocating change, who took people in his stride.<br />
(We can also get some elite Gentlemen to the list Lee Kwan Yew, Deng Xiao Ping, Jack Welch, Lee Iacocca, Loius V.Gerstner Jr. who showed us how to successfully implement change and have it sustained.)<br />
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Communication is two-way and helps the change process to move on smoothly. Unless the initiator of change is able to communicate effectively his/her ideas, we cannot guarantee success. We need to change the beliefs that influence specific behaviors. For that we have to be witty enough to communicate to people, answer their questions, reason out with them on the need for change. If a change is forced, people would either resist that by making mistakes and blaming them on change, or would quietly walk away from the organization, but both would end up in a messed up end result.<br />
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If the change is implemented successfully, there ends the job? <span style="font-weight: bold;">NO</span>. The implemented change has to be sustained. It is not enough you stand you must stay in the business, so adaptations to the changed culture needs to be done. Adaptions are also changes of small nature. Is this a never ending process? <span style="font-weight: bold;">YES</span>. That's why the adage goes, change alone is constant. How to live up to it?<br />
Change the organizational culture to get going with adaptations and be open to changes of any magnitude.<br />
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How to do it? Let us summarize whatever we thought in the previous paragraphs. Conceive an idea and vision for change. Plan it. Get a good strategy to implement it. Communicate the goal and need for change. Take people along. Implement change. Stay awake to time to time adaptations. This is the way to sustainable success.<br />
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Should the heading be "<span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cultivating sustainable success</span>"? I'm open to thoughts from everywhere. Let us think for good change!Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-15917742819881203402010-09-08T07:25:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.675-08:00Taking Business Client centric<span style="font-size: small;"></span><h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> o<span style="font-size: xx-small;">n Sunday 10 May 2009</span></span></span></u></u></u></u></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br />
</span></span></h2><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">There is story told in almost management every management seminar, class or workshop. There was a telephone company which was leading the market with large customer base. They outsourced their billing and customer support to a company called Alice services in wonderland. There was a proposal in the telecom company to club the bills of one customer for different services. For example, if a customer has 3 phone connexions, one for office, one for personal and another for his wife they would be clubbing together the bills of all the three. This arrangement was to check the paperwork and reduce the billing expense.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Customer were given an option to choose for it or ignore it. The next month, there was a call volume spike at Alice services, with customers who opted for the new joint billing finding it difficult and wishing to return to the previous state. Now that the Alice services have no clue what to do in such a situation. The customer were pressing for a restoring previous status or threatening to close the account. There was no SOP for such a situation.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Alice services were given the business of soliciting new accounts and also closures as and when necessary. So, when customers insisted on closure if their demands are not met, they opted to offer closure, as they have no specific instructions for such a situation, and customers were also demanding a quick solution so, checking with client was also not feasible. The client realized the impact after a week and a loss of hundreds of accounts. Then a roll back of the scheme was announced and alterations made to take necessary care for the business to stay. But the damage had already been done, smarting from that took a lot of time and money.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">This is one of the banes in outsourcing, but there is another side to this issue also. Taking everything to the clients. To service a customer's special request, the outsource partners would wait and get the clients approval, by which time the customer would have gone out of hands.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">The same happened in a place where one of my friend works. He was with a team that handles critical issues and dissatisfied customers. His team was trained by the client and they were deciding on the solutions to be provided for the customers. Once there happened a management change and the new manager didn't know an iota of the business intricacies. He was much concerned about the industry basic standards of TAT, on-time calls, and metrics like same day case closure, delayed case closure etc. The business was of a nature that the customer's were to be taken care of in every possible way. When freebies were to be stopped due to recession-bite, these guys still managed to get it in a different way for the customers.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">But the new manager insisted on metrics through numbers. He didn't care for appreciation letters, praising mails etc. He wanted numbers to show that he mattered. When client came up with new work arounds, he would not question back as to the nature of the customers the team was handling. Had he done so, the clients not so business conducive proposals would have been scrapped at the start. Without discussion, the client's proposals were implemented and when results shot back they would still take "</span><span style="color: #990000; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">gaalis and golis</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">" from the client and go around with the new work around.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">None seemed to have realized the famous words of Jack Welch,"</span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">If an idea doesn't stand for a no holds barred discussion, the market place would kill it ruthlessly</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">". The manager had his infamous justification, "</span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">If client says crow is white, crow is white. Because he is client and it is his business.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">" Finally some of the people who were veterans in the business were sent off as they were not doing their "allocated job" and were asking too many questions. Now people who were retained in the business are looking around for opening elsewhere.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, what is the moral of the second story. BPO businesses should been run client centric. But making it centered around the client and according a demi-God status to the client would definitely ruin the business for the client- they are also humans and would err by nature- consequently to the outsource partners.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">It should rather be a cooperative effort by both the client and the partners right from choosing the people to run the business. People who run critical business should atleast have a minimum business intelligence, rather than a "Yes Minister" attitude. The business managers and leadership team should dare to question the client on his proposals keeping the business in mind. Outsource employees should have the feeling of ownership towards the part of the business they run for the client. This attitude could be brought through by training, orientation and encouragements by the outsource management and the management of the client.</span><span><br />
</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">Jack Welch, Louis Gerstner and Lee Iacocca have developed a sense of ownership for GE, IBM and Ford respectively and they succeeded because of that. For that matter, take any of the successful business managers. They own it, they win with it. If you don't feel you own something, you will have indifference towards it. If you have indifference towards it, you will not care for it. If you don't care for it, you're not fit to run it, be it business, family, nation or a bicycle. Business managers need to develop a sense of ownership towards the business they manage to successfully run the show.</span></span><br />
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<h3><u>1 Comments</u>:</h3><dl><dt id="c6795808890854969984"><a href="" name="c6795808890854969984"></a> At <a class="comment-data-link" href="http://arunambie.blogspot.com/2009/05/taking-business-client-centric.html#c6795808890854969984" title="comment permalink"> 21 May 2009 9:36 PM </a>, <span class="comment-icon blogger-comment-icon" style="line-height: 16px;"><img alt="Blogger" src="http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif" style="display: inline;" /></span> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/10200500399432772433" rel="nofollow">Vijay Kumar</a> said... </dt>
<dd> You are right. In many situations, the customer requires to be educated so that they can articulate their needs better.</dd></dl>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-28788750741820000862010-09-08T07:19:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.675-08:00Refunds, Rebates, Returns & Recession<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> on Friday 11 September 2009.</span></span></u></u></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"> </span></h2><h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Nowadays we hear a lot about people asking for rebates, returns and refunds especially in the US market. Customer support and technical support of businesses get a lot of callers asking for return of products, refund of money or while purchasing they ask for a lot of rebates. Why this has become a trend now? Or are we getting a lot of spotlight on this aspect of business nowadays?<br />
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People ask for rebates and refunds but businesses are very reluctant in giving them. We have people lamenting about the worthlessness of products compared to the price. They whine about how they have been duped by the sales person to shell out lot of money on a product that would not meet their requirement.<br />
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Many of my friends working in the customer service divisions working on the US markets, tell a lot about this. At times people pay for a service and after completion of the service ask for a refund claiming that the amount charged was too much for the service provided. They would threaten a law suit claiming that the service they have been charged for was part of the free service agreement during the time of purchase. This prolongs the service incidents of the business and costs money as almost all businesses have toll free numbers for which they pay for the customers to call them.<br />
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Interestingly some of the businesses call the customers when the issues get aggravated due to unreasonable claims by the callers or untenable service quality by the representatives of the businesses. This case is worse than the tall free call. The business pays money for the call as well as higher pay for the personnel calling the customers and they would have to track the incident till they satisfactorily resolve the issue raised.<br />
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Abundance of knowledge through internet has also been a reason for this. Users of products surf the net and read a lot (expert opinion and casual remarks in expert language as well) and get worried when they experience a hitch in the functioning of the product. They tend to recall all they have read about the product, possible causes of failures, possible fixes for the failures etc. before getting the trained experts of the product take a look at the situation and provide a resolution.<br />
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Nowadays we see a lot of comments for product reviews and analysis online. Most of them highlighting a negative experience of a distant past and from a dim memory. Headquarters of businesses have seen a spate in receipt of complaints, most of them squealing for a refund/rebate. A careful look into the prevailing economic and social situation would lead us towards an understanding of this scenario.<br />
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The mindset of people is that with the loss of jobs and hardship to find new jobs, is to hold money as much as possible for turbulent times. Businesses would like to maximize their profit by cutting costs in every possible aspect. This most of the times put both the parties to the transaction in a denial mode. Customer refuses to accept what the business offers and business refuses to give what the customer demands. They both have no patience to sit and talk their problem out for a reasonable solution.<br />
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Businesses need to have people who have the patience, understanding and conscience of the prevailing situation to handle customer service especially during trying times like the present. But most businesses still run on a target of sales and good index numbers for QoS. This makes the representatives of businesses push the customers to buy products. Such a push leads to exasperation of customers who are already irritated.<br />
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An exasperated customer is very hard to handle and could hardly be convinced to stay put doing business with insensitive pushy people. Businesses those boomed and puffed their purse with money with sales without responsibility of service are now suffering. Those who were proud of minting money during the boom with insensitive sales and irresponsible service, have now suffered heavy losses. Some have been closed down many of their profit centers.<br />
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One good thing that has happened in the worldwide market due to the recession is that people have become price performance sensitive. Most of them already were, but the graph of sensitivity and the count people who have it, has the arrow representing both going upwards. Businesses have to understand this and instead of blindingly targeting to exceed the past number tally, they have to be innovative enough to hold their customer base in tact atleast until the economic recession recedes and boom blooms.</span></span></h2>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-58912789894317181672010-09-08T07:17:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.675-08:00Technical support is mechanical nowadays.<h2 class="date-header" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><u style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span>This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> on</span> </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Thursday 31 December 2009</span></u></span></h2><h2 class="date-header"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></h2><span style="font-family: georgia;">I was reading the much talked about book of former IBM Chief Louis Gerstner. It was like a reference material for management students. Once Mr. Gerstner was referring to an incident with IBM tech support that happened when he was with Amex. The Amex technology people had installed a non IBM server in their department, and the IBM tech support representative refused to support the existing infracture of which 99% were IBM products. The reason behind that was one 3rd party product in the whole lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">As a tech support guy, I could understand the reason behind the IBM stand at that time. It was early 1980s and technology at that time was not as people savvy as it is now. Even products from the same manufacturer would not be compatible with a different model of machine from the same company. So, a 3rd party server in the network would cause constraints in the support process. The way of expression of that IBM techie and the apathetic reaction to Mr.Gerstner's complaint on that were a cause of concern.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">But this attitude of the tech support continue even today. We have an industry standard architecture for any hardware product. We have the most common Operating System, Windows, that occupies 95% of the computers nowadays. Even in cases of Linux or other Operating Systems , we have applications those enable cross platform compatibility. Well, the issue I'm here to discuss is that of the hardware part. Wehad an issue when one of the customers of the company I work with, had called us for.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">He had a computer purchased from us which had a network adapter integrated to the motherboard. His internet was working fine for two years. Once he had an issue with the internet. He called us and asked for help. We checked it and found that the network adapter had to be replaced, but in this case the entire motherboard and offered to send a technician to his home to replace it. He said he could not wait for 2-3 days for our technician to go and replace the board. He said he would call us when he was convenient for this arrangement. Someone at his office gave an alternate solution also, that was to purchase a network card and install it. He opted to purchase the network card from a local store and called us for support.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Our tech support refused to help him with that card. That was a 3rd party card, so we should not support, was the reason given by our team. The customer had contacted the card manufacturer and they told that they are not sure about installing parts in this computer and asked him to contact the computer manufacturer. We in turn, referred him to the card manufacturer. After couple of hours of shunting back and forth he decided to hire a local computer technician to get the job done for a cost of a couple of hundred dollars.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Then came the mammoth trouble. The customer then called us asking for refund of the warranty money. His argument was that we didn't support him during a critical time. He was running a business and was in need of internet connection to work on his orders. He could not wait for 2-3 days, our tech support had asked him to wait for. For getting crucial orders processed he had purchased a network card, but we refused to support him citing policy and procedure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Interestingly during these days, I had gone through a session (online, of course) on customer service. There they had mentioned an incident about a bank taking up a customer's personal request to inform his wife about a flight delay. That bank customer was overseas and called his bank's toll free number, asking them to inform his wife about the flight delay, since he didn't have enough money to make an international call. The bank could have given him some credit and asked him to call his wife and charged him later. Nobody would complain as it was not the bank's job to take up personal requests. But the bank's customer support did take up that request and promptly called the customer's wife and informed about the delay. Then that customer had started recommending this bank to anyone who asked him for any banking needs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Where did we miss in our case? He was our customer. He had some emergency and had purchased a part from local store. He asked us for help. That part was compatible with our computer and the OS in that. We knew what to do to make that work. I think we should have helped the customer, after giving him the mandatory caveat that we're not trained in the product he had purchased, but we were help him trusting that the product is in compliance with the prevalent industry standards. We could have gained the customer's confidence, and might have got the "</span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-weight: bold;">word of mouth</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">" in a positive sense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Our people were cursing the customer stating that he had asked for a warranty refund after violating policy agreement. We're not running any Government that could penalize anyone for violation of its policy and regulations. We're running a business. To sustain customer base and grow it, we have to be customer centric. We have to get rid of the rigid mindset of following policies and losing the customers, and start thinking rather issue centric and focus on resolving customer's problems. Customer support or technical support should have a dash of humanity to survive by serving humans. People who run the service industry must understand the basic tenets of service. </span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: georgia; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Policies are for customers; but customers are not for policies.</span><span style="color: #3333ff; font-family: georgia;"> <span style="color: black;">Would the metric breathing and number crunching corporate czars have time to listen to my voice, that echo most of our customers'? </span></span>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-32182070156739289382010-09-08T06:56:00.000-07:002010-12-17T00:53:30.676-08:00Leadership and use of best talent<h2 class="date-header" style="color: #0b5394; font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: normal;"><u><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">This was posted on <i>Ambie's Blog</i> on Friday 8 January 2010</span></b></u></h2><br />
<span style="font-family: georgia;">There is a notion in the management fraternity nowadays, that the best talent shall be given the responsibility of managing the rest. This is fundamentally wrong. A talent in doing a job or mastery of a specialized skill does not mean that the possessor of the skill or talent would be good in managing people. Management involves a lot of tasks in administrative nature, that consumes a lot of time. There are people who would be good at handling people, but with limited expertise in specific skills.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">We have excellent example to support this argument in Mahabharatha. In the war between Pandavas and Kauravas, Pandavas had chosen Dhrishtadhyumna to lead their troops, a person with a lower profile but with a clear motto of defeating the Kauravas, who was born to kill one of the strongmen of Kauravas Dhronacharya. He was a warrior of an impeccable courage and skill, but not as comparable to Bheeshma or any of the other Kaurava front-line generals. He was given charge of administrative duties of the Commander-in-Chief to device strategies and conduct the war, while the likes of Arjuna and Bheema were left free of other tasks and to concentrate on fighting the enemy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Whereas in the Kaurava army, the task of commanding the forces was given to Bheeshma who was also the one to tackle Arjuna, Abhimanyu and the likes. He was over burdened. His fall on the war field had a morale damaging impact on the troops. Next came Dhronacharya, who was capable of defeating all the Pandava warriors, but was over burdened with the duties of Commander-in-Chief and the daily chores took it's toll on his performance in the war field. But Arjuna or Bheema or any other of the Pandava brothers were fighting wars and Bheema as sworn was on a killing spree of the Kaurava brothers. No front-line warriors of the Pandava forces were given any additional administrative task of anything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Their supreme leader Yudhishtra was a good listener of his people, who listened to his adviser Krishna and they often brainstormed before devising strategies and were at unison at mind of the way they were going to conduct the war. After the decision was made the C-in-C was given the powers to carry them out. Whereas in the Kaurava camp the supreme leader Dhuryodhana never listened to his advisers. He made them do what he thought was right and the freedom of operation for the leaders were absent. Any step taken inching away from the idea of the supreme leader would result in the head honcho yelling at other leaders in front of others, which resulted in the loss of morale of the troops and also made the leaders perform what was told, but not what was right.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Let us relate this to the latest of the wars. US has waged war on Iraq. Let us not get into the merits of the reasons given by US. The conduct of war was given to professional generals and they have chosen people to do the jobs and they have served the purpose of the war. Saddam was defeated, dethroned and now he is dead. Whereas the other side had advantages of home ground, patriotic people, courageous generals and staff, but yet the leadership was not listening to them or given freedom to them to do what is right. The generals had to follow what the leader had told them. Unlike the allied forces, where the political leadership had given due support to the military leaders had them conduct the business of war. They had finally defeated the enemy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">The same applies to business also. Where the top management conducts the day to day affairs of the business, it ruins the operations finally. They should get the correct people to manage the talent, nurture the talent and make the talented feel good. The conduct of the business operations is the job of the person who manages the operations. The middle management should be given direction to tread and they have to choose the path to tread. The conduct of the march through the path should be left to the junior management. The junior management had to decide at what pace to march, where to slow down and where to speed up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">The people who are chosen to manage things have to possess some talent in the core business to understand it, and the knack of managing people and motivate them to do the right thing. The middle management has to have an understanding of the business and they have to ensure a different and right way of doing the right thing is devised or found in testing times and lead the people in the chosen path. The top management had to be there to look around and find out how to achieve the broad objective and all involved are rewarded and left happy at the end of the day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">We have examples for this too. Lee Iaccoca was not an extremely talented automotive engineer, but he was instrumental in bringing Ford to forefront. Jack Welch was not an extremely talented chemical engineer, but he turned GE around and is still known for his managerial acumen. We have examples in every industry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: georgia;">Bottom line is skill has to be taught and nurtured and updated. Talent has to be developed and nourished. People management is taking care of the talent and skill, by not ruining it with more additional responsibilities.</span>Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8107401062657032297.post-91343609438069543132010-09-08T06:53:00.000-07:002010-09-08T07:36:59.433-07:00Segregation of topicsHello folks!<br />
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I've decided to segregate my blog into two.One for topics on politics, public administration, law and related issues while another on business, economy, management and related subjects. Here under the blog titled "Methinks" I would be speaking (writing rather) about business, economy, management and related subjects.I would also post my earlier write ups on these subjects from my old blog here with date in reverse order. Would keep thinking aloud here hopefully from tomorrow.Arun Ambiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15051826514784655486noreply@blogger.com0