IndianMaze

I have recently moved from NCR to Mumbai. I have spent a sizeable time living in Greater Mumbai for over 7 years earlier leaving the city about 12 years back. In these 12 years, India has undergone a lot of changes and so have her cities. I see that Mumbai has changed but at the same time retained some of her key characteristics. Public transport remains the backbone of the city and is not only easily available but has the customer convenience at its heart. Its a fact that Mumbai is the only city where a customer just hails an auto/taxi and just sits without asking about the readiness of driver to go to a particular destination. They will charge as per the tariff card and give you the balance in coins. Impressive. Bravo Mumbai. Equally what has not changed is the cleanliness levels of Mumbai and that is a disappointment. The city's professionalism stays but the difference viz other cities has narrowed down and unless Mumbai does something about it will have the danger of losi

I was travelling in two different trains last week, each journey lasting about 5 hours but that is where the similarity ends. First was in the Executive coach of Shatabdi patronised by so called elite and the next one was in a secong class coach of an express train patronised by so called middle class. Shatabdi covered nearly 300 kms in the 5 hours whereas the express train covered nearly 100kms in the same time. The Indian consumer in Shatabdi was self indulgent - books, magazines, ipods, music on mobile, laptops and and occassional phone call or conversation within the family or work group. Her world was confined to self and inanimate objects. The Indian consumer in Express train was seeking similar knowledge and enjoying as much but with a big difference - it was all done in a community way. Source of music was a CD player/radio and the songs played were the choice of all and sundry in the compartment. Newspapers were split into 2-3 parts and shared. First time visitors shared appre

Entrepreneurship is the new buzzword amongst Indian literati. However, the truth is that Indian Entrepreneurship has had a very long history and has always been flourishing. The only difference now is that this is turning into corporatisation and scaling up with external financing. There was a great 3 hour conversation I had with a 30 something entrepreneur who is into his 3rd business model. His acumen in keeping it low cost as well as taking risks has been phenomenal. As I have said earlier, Indians are one of the greatest value seekers and therefore, entrepreneurs also need to deliver extra value. This gentleman told me - he was 21 when he started - Gold interested him so he got in jewellery retailing in a large (1m+ city) - got fed up with customers spending a lot of time before buying and that even with aconversion rate of about 1.5% (mind you he rattled these statistics) - he started a new business after disposing off his assets in the shop being a supplier to shops in the same t

It was 25 years ago to date that I started my journey in the corporate world. This journey has taken me not only through the dramatic changes in the way corporate world has changed but also through an unprecedented change in India and use of technology. India - 25 years ago - no mobile phones - no PCOs except in post offices. Calls to be booked for intercity connections. - no faxes (except in a few multinational company HQs) - no computers (except in universities and a few corporate HQs) - no organised couriers - no private universities - manual railway and airline bookings - Telegrams were still in use - there were 2 airlines in india - Delhi and Mumbai had about 6 flights a day (60 on the last count) - there were 3 car manufacturers and a total of 8 models - nobody had heard of CNG - maximum speed on highways was 40kmph I started with a monthly stipend of Rs 1650 with a very prominent multinational company. Amazing journey. I am looking forward to more amazement in the next 25 years

India has been a provider of brain power to the west for quite a long time. So much so that a lot of major positions in US/UK and many MNCs are held by Indians. In fact not only Indians but Asians and Africans have been adding to the brain power in the west leading to "browning" of "white west". Now a days, I can't help but notice two key developments. One, many professionals who went overseas (westwards) for studies/jobs and stayed back have started looking at India as a serious option. But additionally, many more westerners are looking at India as a destination for employment. "White" CEOs in India were common in the past amongst MNCs who wanted to have control from the people who were "close" to HQ country. Things have moved and now one can see many "white" CEOs for Indian companies. Not only that, there are a large number of professionals in C suite and lower positions who want to have India on their CVs. Malls in major cities a

Last 20 years or so in Indian economy have been phenomenal not only in terms of economic growth but also - removal of licence raj in general - becoming adequate/surplus from a scarce economy (imports not withstanding) - rise of brands, and - rise of organised retail Above all have transformed the consumer life and also the decision making. The choices have widened beyond comprehension and still not reached a saturation point. My experiences over the last week(in Delhi) showed how spoilt we are with the choices available in various product categories. Tea - earlier it was 3 products (leaf - 3/4 brands, dust - 1 brand and Darjeeling - 1 brand). Now 13 products (leaf, dust, darjeeling, green, flavoured, tea bags, instant, instant flavoured, iced, packaged, packaged flavoured, infused) and each with at least 6 brands and 2pack sizes. Coffee - earlier 2 products (instant - 2 brands and filter - 1 brand). Now 10 products (instant, decaff, arabica, robusta, columbian, powder, granules, instan

Interesting thoughts were evoked when in a conversation a renowned marketeer posed a question about segmentation on a consumption basis rather than sales basis. As we got further into discussions, we realised that how this was seen by many as same/similar and an issue of sementics though the concept, per se , is absolutely different. I was reminded of one of my own hypothesis that was subsequently tested positive in practice in the category of prestige alchoholic drink. The consumption of prestige products cuts across income levels. The difference is in the frequency of consumption. This was further complicated by the famous example of one red soap that had (at the time of limited survey) a phenomenally high penetration in a high income category and so was the case of a popular brand of tea. Of the recent examples, penetration of TVs amongst people is more consumption led than otherwise. This perhaps also explains the fact the penetration of DVD players is far more than refrigerators.

Another torch bearer of Indian might of the mind passed away. Though his best known work is on Bottom of the Pyramid, he contributed immensely to the thought leadership. He worked relentlessly for the new thoughts for business leaders. More than that, he was a great human being with no arrogance typical of intelligentsia. We will miss you CK.

This article is all about what we know! Insight is to know it fast enough.... This is an article by Dr Moorthy Prof. at IIM Bangalore "Have breakfast "or" be breakfast"! Who sells the largest number of cameras in India? Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones. Reason being cameras bundled with cell phones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cell phone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note. Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours). Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscri

I think I am a fairly straight jacketed person. Two experiences that make my ears go red but had to be polite..... A distant cousin of mine was given an opportunity to do a summer job in a sister concern. He completed without even calling me up (not expecting thanks but just a statement that summer job is over). Silence for a year and then all of a sudden call last week to say that he would seek my help in getting an assignment in X industry and in Y place....... Another call from a person I have not met/spoken to for the last 15 years. Unknown number and the first question is if I have recognised the voice? Obviously not! Help for getting a job to a brilliant son of her's with 9 years workex and his current organisation is hell bent on retaining him!!!! Why does he need a change? Why he needs my help when he is brilliant? Such is the social network in India.

Saw Indian Awards at NDTV. The moment to remember "My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist"

Over the long weekend, one wandered to watch a few things on Youtube. Must say was a great experience with what can one do. I ended up listening to longing but not listened to music, watch my childhood icons, delve into war history of India, cross border exchanges of freindly and not friendly kinds and last but not the least an interview of Dean Dipak Jain of Kellogg school fame. I am a great fan of Dipak for a multiplicity of reasons. Apart from the usual great mind, great achievement (first non American Dean and all for 10 years), mastery on the subject etc what makes him even greater is his firm feet on the ground. I can go on as I have had the pleasure of meeting and interacting with him on a few occassions but the key purpose is to take on from what he said in an interview with Chicago Business School. Before people trust you, you must trust them. Once you trust them they cannot got haywire. If you are not able to trust then somewhere you are insecure. Micromanagement is one such

Over the long new year weekend, we were looking at old family photographs and videos. Apart from hundreds of other things, one thing that stuck me was the curiosity levels of the toddlers and kids. It is a common knowledge that kids ask a lot of questions (ask me, they are teenagers now and questions have not stopped) but what I observed that at a very young age they will continue to ask the same question till the time they understand the same. This led me to a comparison where how many times consumers ask the same question more than once or even complain more than once if at all. This has a new meaning for me as a leader of some sorts as I have a few people reporting to me just as much I report to others. Answers are not enough till the time they are well understood by others. Are consumers different? Makes you healthy means nothing. How has to be well understood. In hindsight we are all wiser. The key is for the foresight! In this context, I read in bried about a brief concept of &qu

New year is the time for many thoughts for the year gone by and for the new year. These thoughts come as a jig saw puzzle and with no apparant connectivity now. How many times, we seem to connect the dots in hindsight. What did I gain last year: - joys of TED and you tube - use of twitter - fun of Linkedin - talks with kids on topics alien to me like psychology, cars, helicoptors, 9 types of cats etc - testing my nerves in dealing with people who are just opposite of me - pressure of the environmental conditions (economic, social and real environmental) - reduction in plastic consumption by more than 80% (thanks to persistent forced learning imparted by my son) What to I want to gain in the new year - art of dealing with idiots - exploring new management tools - looking with a new pair of eyes - doing more of PR - making notes of my thoughts more than now - travel to new places - meet more people who are different - try to meet all my past bosses (12 on the last count) - spend at least