We are well past 60 years of our existence and we have enough reasons to celebrate the achievements we have made in these years. Not too long ago, we were known as land of snake charmers and regarded as the epitome of third world. Now we are ranked in top-10 world’s largest economies. Today India is recognized as having a tremendous potential for becoming a global economic player. India has gained worldwide attention as one of the fastest growing markets and a respected, responsible democracy. According to a Goldman Sach report, India is going to “sustain its breakneck growth for the foreseeable future”, and going to become world’s second largest economy in 2050. There are many other respectable reports which also predict similar bullish outlook. But isn’t having the potential and actually achieving it is two different things? And this is where the biggest challenges lie for India.
India has enormous problems especially in the areas of poverty. We talk of calling ourselves global economic prowess, when 60 percent of people don’t get a square meal. The World Bank estimates that 456 million Indians (42% of the total population) live under the global poverty line of $1.25 per day (PPP). This means that a third of the global poor now reside in India. According to a report released by the Indian government, nearly half of the country’s small children are malnourished. Unemployment rate is 7.2%. The per-capita income rate, literacy level and other key human development indicators also lag behind many other developing nations, including those in sub-Saharan Africa. The cost of healthcare is spiraling, government spending on healthcare is shrinking and the impact on the poor is catastrophic. Only 15% of the Rs 1,500 billion healthcare sector is publicly financed. As a result, the public health system is on the brink of collapse. National data reveals that 50% of the bottom quintile sold assets or took loans to access hospital care. There is huge shortage of basic amenities like electricity and drinking water. Power shortages and blackouts are common throughout the country. The deteriorating condition of road and rail networks, as well as port facilities, hampers the continuing rapid growth. Economic losses from congestion and poor roads alone are as high as $6 billion a year, figure by government agency. India's gross fiscal deficit remains one of the highest in the world. The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that more than $330-billion needs to be spent on infrastructure over the next five years to boost the country's competitiveness. The overall government deficit stood at just under 6% in fiscal year 2008. In fiscal year 2009, this may accelerate to above 7%. At such high levels, government borrowing crowds out private-sector credit, keeps interest rates high, adds to already high government debt, and becomes a key source of macro vulnerability. 60% of the labor force is employed in agriculture, which contributes less than 1% of overall growth. India’s economic boom has been powered disproportionately by a world-class technology sector that requires only a comparatively small number of highly skilled workers. Even as the economy soars, overall job creation has not kept pace with the growth of the working-age population, which is projected to expand by 70 million people over the next five years. Most of India’s rural population is young and illiterate, lack adequate access to educational service; they do not possess the skills necessary to compete in the global economy.
With all these problems staring us in the face we say that we are going to become an economic super power? Are we living in a fool's paradise?
You may not be reading the above statistics for the first time. Also, the solution is not easy, but we have to start somewhere. India needs to realize its potential. It’s economic performance in recent years gives some reason for optimism. Fortunately, after decades of underinvestment and political inertia, India's political leadership has awakened to the magnitude of the infrastructure crisis. A handful of major projects have been completed; others are moving forward. Mr Manmohan Singh, is promising a 100-days Marshall Plan-scale effort. But think practically, is it possible to get things on track in 100 days. However, we lack is not policies but the will of our law makers to execute them. We have seen instances where funds either remain non utilized or get siphon off. Policies are made without looking at the feasibility of execution.
Will the current government be able to turn things, atleast, on track? Let's wait and watch.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Four Pillars of Administration Based On the Movie “The Great Escape”
By Swapnil Saurav
In this article I present the review of the movie “The Great Escape" and compare with the four pillars of administration. This 1963 film is based on a true story about the Germans who opened Stalag Luft North, a maximum security prisoner-of-war camp, designed to hold even the craftiest escape artists in 1943. Steve McQueen did an excellent job as Capt. Hilts "The Cooler King". James Garner as Flight Lt. Hendley "The Scrounger" and Richard Attenborough as Squadron Leader Roger Bartlett "Big X" were also too good.
1. Administrative Context:
Intrinsic characteristic of any organisation is heterogeneity of objectives of members. There are conflicting intra organizational goals between functions, departments and human beings working for them and between short term and long term, and becomes the cause of potential conflict in organizations. The task of a leader, a manager or an administrator is the selection of such course of action that ensures maximum congruence between the different set of goals, keeping the conflict and contradictions among these goals to minimum so as to achieve coordination and cooperation between the members.
The movie shows leadership, sacrifice, relationship building and goal setting and how POWs attempts to find freedom. We see them plan, prepare, and dig the tunnels as they elude detection from their captors. It was remarkable to see so many people involved with each other considering their large number and working together in synergy.
2. Role Of The Administrator
The activities have to be broken and assigned to people with required skills (or potential to build necessary skills) to deliver on the distinct strategy. Role of the administrator becomes very crucial in integrating the sub-units of the structure and how well these sub-units are integrated determines the success of implementation. The ranges of roles they perform are: Interpersonal roles, Informational roles, and Decisional roles. They display the traits of: Hard work, analytical ability, taking initiative, attention to details, persuasiveness, value for values, social/political skills, perseverance, and team skills.
In “The great escape” movie, we had a core group of prisoners determined to escape, in fact their goal was to facilitate the escape of 250 men in one night, which they managed to do it. Planning for escape was a daunting task, something never tried before, and required utmost collaboration among the prisoners.
The role of an administrator is to work for the betterment of community at large. This is precisely what Capt. Hilts did:
a. Teams of men were organized specialized in different crafts.
b. Jobs delegated- like survey, dig, dispose the soil, manufacture clothing, forge documents, procure contraband materials, keep track of soldiers movement, distract security guards, supplying fresh air in the tunnels with handmade bellows, and to provide lighting in the tunnels. Noise of digging was covered by men singing in chorus.
c. The list of supplies needed for the job was unbelievable: 4000 bed sheets, 600 feet of rope, 1000 feet of wire etc. It took army of prisoners to find and steal all the materials required.
d. Each person had a job. There were tailors, blacksmiths, forgers, pickpockets and camouflage artists.
3. Administrative Process And Behavior
The behavior of each individual has to be directed towards achieving the team’s objective. In the movie we have seen that people exhibited administrative process and behavior.
This movie is a great example of each of these things mentioned above. It doesn't take long for one prisoner, Virgil Hilts (the late Steve McQueen), who earns the nickname "The Cooler King" for his failed escape attempts. Hilts isn't the only prisoner who wants out, a few others hatch a plan to get 250 men out in one night. How it’s executed is a stroke of pure genius and skill. The movie has a vast variety of characters who are allowed to show their feelings, which is a nice touch. There two characters who make solid examples and I cared for the most. One is Colin Blythe (the late Donald Pleasence), a gentle Brit who specializes in forging names and goes blind, the other one in Danny Willinski (Charles Bronson), a Russian who excels in digging tunnels and tends to get rattled.
The behavior is about ordinary people with commitment creating extraordinary team.
Vision inspires team. The prisoners had a vision of becoming free and that inspired the whole team.
4. Administrative Strategy
The organizational structure must follow strategy if implementation is to be effective.
a. Suitable specialization of task: Everybody is specialized in some art and their tasks are well laid out. The scene that impressed me and I think is the best example for administrative strategy is the 4th of July celebration, where Steve McQueen is riding on a motorcycle and McQueen throwing the baseball against the cell wall to test the alertness of the security guards.
b. They had parallel provision for coordinating.
c. Setup information system. The way they setup their information system was amazing.
d. Collaboration is multiplication: complementing one another is important and not competing. We find prisoners working as single unit, and in spite of some misunderstanding never allowed competition between them.
e. Last but not the least: Great challenge require great team work. Though attempt failed in accomplishing its objective but it offered the world a historical example of collective endeavor.
No doubt this movie is all about leadership, sacrifice, relationship building and goal setting. It was sad that they were caught later but their effort which led to achieving impossible is praiseworthy.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
What can be done to reduce layoffs and increase employment?
Does a family decide to get rid of a member when it undergoes financial crisis? The answer is obvious. When an organisation layoff people, it sends a wrong message to the existing employees, customers and competitors, which is not good if it intends to survive long. Need for layoffs indicate towards either functional inefficiencies or a shrinking customer base. Whatever method is adopted for layoff- performance based or last-in 
first-out or first-in first-out, companies run into the risk of losing capable resources. India has the largest number of population below the age of 25 in the world. Government and policymakers should ensure that job creation keeps pace with the number of young people reaching working age. Otherwise, it could lead to social disruption and strain our social fabric.
Some suggestions on how to increase employment and reduce layoffs:
1. Analyze and identify the reason why sales are dropping and fix it. Fund and encourage innovation and reward the folks who innovate and help to optimize the processes and differentiate.
2. Companies should adopt measures like - pay cut across-the-board, request voluntary separation or sabbatical and introduce additional days off (without pay) to ensure human capital retention.
3. Investment on resources and time can be directed to produce new competitive business plans. Connecting with customers and Interactions beyond just sales and marketing will generate tremendous ideas for new products.
4. Companies should use available human resource to invest heavily in the future product pipeline and develop the products that customers might want in future. They should also increase effort on long term strategic initiatives, than focusing on current situation.
5. More jobs should be created across all categories of the Indian economy, i.e., services, manufacturing and agriculture. Policies should be put in place to foster faster economic growth.
6. Planning infrastructure projects has multiplier effect on the country's economy, including job creations and accelerating economic growth. Public Private Partnerships should be fostered to fund such projects.
7. We should move our mindset from job seekers to job providers. Entrepreneurship ventures should be encouraged.
8. Employees should keep their skills up to date. Idea is to maintain the employability factors high as companies look for a productive and adaptable workforce. Companies should offer alternate role and location to employees to retain the talent as losing them would mean losing already acquired knowledge.
9. In tough times, when layoffs are imminent and no other options seem viable, companies can look to turn full-time jobs into part time. This way companies can save money and the employees do not lose their jobs.
10. Government should support technical and vocational training institutes and course structure should be expanded to include many new technologies.
It’s natural to feel the heat but tight market should not be a major cause of worry as competitors also face same situation. The points mentioned above would help to limit the damage. We must remember that no one formula will work. It has to be a combination.
- Swapnil Saurav
first-out or first-in first-out, companies run into the risk of losing capable resources. India has the largest number of population below the age of 25 in the world. Government and policymakers should ensure that job creation keeps pace with the number of young people reaching working age. Otherwise, it could lead to social disruption and strain our social fabric.Some suggestions on how to increase employment and reduce layoffs:
1. Analyze and identify the reason why sales are dropping and fix it. Fund and encourage innovation and reward the folks who innovate and help to optimize the processes and differentiate.
2. Companies should adopt measures like - pay cut across-the-board, request voluntary separation or sabbatical and introduce additional days off (without pay) to ensure human capital retention.
3. Investment on resources and time can be directed to produce new competitive business plans. Connecting with customers and Interactions beyond just sales and marketing will generate tremendous ideas for new products.
4. Companies should use available human resource to invest heavily in the future product pipeline and develop the products that customers might want in future. They should also increase effort on long term strategic initiatives, than focusing on current situation.
5. More jobs should be created across all categories of the Indian economy, i.e., services, manufacturing and agriculture. Policies should be put in place to foster faster economic growth.
6. Planning infrastructure projects has multiplier effect on the country's economy, including job creations and accelerating economic growth. Public Private Partnerships should be fostered to fund such projects.
7. We should move our mindset from job seekers to job providers. Entrepreneurship ventures should be encouraged.
8. Employees should keep their skills up to date. Idea is to maintain the employability factors high as companies look for a productive and adaptable workforce. Companies should offer alternate role and location to employees to retain the talent as losing them would mean losing already acquired knowledge.
9. In tough times, when layoffs are imminent and no other options seem viable, companies can look to turn full-time jobs into part time. This way companies can save money and the employees do not lose their jobs.
10. Government should support technical and vocational training institutes and course structure should be expanded to include many new technologies.
It’s natural to feel the heat but tight market should not be a major cause of worry as competitors also face same situation. The points mentioned above would help to limit the damage. We must remember that no one formula will work. It has to be a combination.
- Swapnil Saurav
Thursday, May 28, 2009
HR Practices: Job Evaluation
Job analysis and evaluation (JAE) is the process of creating a structure that establishes the worth of each job to the organization and typically is based on the jobs content (such as the skills needed, job duties, and working conditions) or its external market value and not on the abilities of the individual performing the job. The Job evaluation process was started with the intention of providing Role Clarity to all the employees. Job titles can often be misleading - either unclear or unspecific - and in large organizations it's impossible for those in HR to know each job in detail. This is where JAE helps to understand the each role.
It is essential to have clear, detailed and up-to-date job descriptions on which to base the job evaluation. The JAE data can be meaningfully used for the following processes:
* Recruitment and Induction
* Determining pay and grading structures
* Ensuring a fair and equal pay system
* Deciding on benefits provision - for example, bonuses and cars
* Comparing rates against the external market
* Undergoing organizational development in times of change
* Undertaking career management and succession planning
* Reviewing all jobs post-large-scale change, especially if roles have also changed.
Jobs are basically measured against 3 major factors:
Know How (KH) - Inputs
Problem Solving (PS) - Processing
Accountability (A) – Outputs
I have tried to compile the characteristics that are measured in JAE, by no means it represent exhaustive list:
Knowledge and skills
* work experience
* qualifications
* external qualifications
* specialist training
People management
* human relations skills
* ability to deal with work pressure
* supervisory responsibility
Communication and networking
* social skills
* presentation skills
* diplomacy
Freedom to act
* depth of control
* supervision received
Decision-making
* judgment
* initiative
* analytical ability
Working environment
* knowledge of special working practices
* breadth of management skill required
Impact and influence
* efficiency
* impact on customers
* responsibility
* results of errors
Financial responsibility
* budgeting
There are some principles of Job evaluation are:
a. Job evaluation is an ongoing process.
b. Job evaluation is an evaluation of the role, not the person doing it.
c. A job evaluation scheme should be a fair system, understood by and communicated to employees.
d. It should be transparent, and reviewed regularly to ensure business needs continue to be met. The type of scheme chosen will depend on the organisation needs. But any staff making decisions on job roles will need training in the chosen system.
e. Evaluation is based on Job content which means job that has to be achieved.
Evaluation requirements are met by:
a. Job Understanding by means of job description
b. Judgments: JAE is concerned with making judgments in order to maximize the objectivity
c. Criteria for assessing job content: Number of criteria are required. The two most common criteria of job evaluation are: whole job ranking, where jobs are taken as a whole and ranked against each other; and awarding points for various aspects of the job. In the points system various aspects or parts of the job such as education and experience required to perform the job are assessed and a points value awarded - the higher the educational requirements of the job the higher the points scored.
d. A common scale of measurement is required against which to make judgments.
e. Cross-checks are required to ensure that the judgments are sound.
Involving employees in the job evaluation process can increase their commitment and further engagement with the organisation, but they must remain impartial at all times in the process.
Indian Automobile Industry: Driving to the stars
1.Introduction
In 1933, Harlow H. Curtice, president of General Motors had said- “General Motors has no bad years, only good years and better years.” General Motors ruled automobile industry for over 50 years. In 1980, Japan for the first time surpassed the United States as the leading automobile-producing nation in the world. The point being driven here is, there is always something which customers want and even the leaders of the industry fail to see. Ever since then, the world order for leadership in the automobile sector has changed.
Image on the left shows the list of countries by motor vehicle production in 2007. The data for 2008 has been purposefully left out from this study as the current financial turmoil is assumed as a temporary phase, and that things would be back on track sooner or later.
India is currently at 10th position. However, the good news is that Indian automobile industry sales volumes are expected to grow to 3.7 million by 2012 – representing a CAGR of 13.3% (albeit a little lower due to the current financial crisis). The world is now moving towards less expensive and higher fuel efficient cars without compromising on luxury and safety, and this has strengthened the hand of the developing world’s emerging giants. China has become world’s largest manufacturer of passenger cars, though joint ventures with multinational OEMs account for the majority of volumes. Automobile Industry in India too, has come a long way. Time magazine has hailed Tata’s Nano among world’s 12 most important cars of all time. All these are auspicious signs, but fact remain that the Indian Automobile industry is far away from being best in the world. In this article, the strategies that Indian companies are adopting and should adopt to reach closer to the top, are studied. The outline of the article is as follows: Section 2 deals with the opportunities that the Indian automobile companies have in domestic market as well as in international market.
With opportunities come limitations as well. Section 3 talks about the challenges faced by Indian auto companies which could limit the expansion. Finally Section 4 talks about what companies are doing to overcome these challenges and also what they could do more.
2. Opportunities
Automobile demand is influenced by a number of socioeconomic and policy variables, more so in recent times. India has a large consumer base, growing middle class, lot of opportunities opening up, rapid expansion of local production and product launches, rapid rise in income – all these factors are poised to create exciting time ahead.
The Indian government along with support from OEMs and industry experts developed a revised Auto Mission Plan (AMP: 2006-2016) released in mid-2007. AMP Vision for India is “To emerge as the destination of choice in the world for design and manufacture of automobiles and auto components with output reaching a level of US$ 145 billion accounting for more than 10% of the GDP and providing additional employment to 25 million people by 2016”.
These trends have been noticed by the world community and many new market entries are being planned by major OEMs in India. India’s automotive industry is among the fastest growing ones in the Asia-Pacific region. Fastest growing segments are passenger cars; Mini, Small, Medium, Small Pickup, Medium Utility and Medium-Heavy Commercial Vehicles. Companies are looking to take advantage of these opportunities with its current product line-up, and future entries are also being planned in these segments. Introduction of the excise tax benefit for Mini segment vehicles in 2006 pushed up the industry growth. This has attracted foreign OEMs to setup their manufacturing plants in India. The Indian consumer rates technology, comfort and convenience as important considerations for car purchase.
3. Challenges
The challenges faced by India, on the road to becoming the No. 1 in the automobile sector, are also no less in number. Major problem is Infrastructure. India has always been lagging development where growth has pushed authorities to create infrastructure. Lot of infrastructure projects are taking long time for completion and development remains sluggish. Secondly, the Industry remains "Bottom Heavy" with unbalanced segment structure - About 70% of vehicles sold in 2006 were transacted at less than US$15,000. Indian automobile is still heavily skewed towards the low-priced mini car segment (40% of total industry in 2006) with an average transaction price of around US$7,300. Indian firms are not ready with design for advanced market. This means that a large sum of money is to be invested in either R&D or for inorganic growth. It is getting increasingly difficult for Indian companies to fund huge spending for R&D. Recent acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover by Tata motors was felt to be a hasty decision prompting Ratan Tata to say “We went too far too fast”, however such risks have to taken by the companies if they ar
e eying to be a global leader.
India faces a serious threat from Chinese manufacturers. The pro-industry Chinese government policies and the low cost of manufacturing have given Chinese firms a slight lead over Indian firms.
Incidentally, China has overtaken Japan to become the 2nd largest market for automobiles. This has happened due to significant strategic and structural advantages: Chinese carmakers enjoy massive fast growing home market to scale up operations.
They also have significant cost advantages including labor costs and low capital investment. However, Chinese products suffer from quality lapses and lack of prioritizing market segments often paying less attention to marketing and distribution and this is where India stands to gain significantly since it has a better ‘quality’ standing in the global market compared to China.
4. How to face these challenges
Every problem has a solution, but the challenge lies in finding the solution. The following few aspects could possibly help the Indian automobile industry.
Entrepreneurial Aspects
Lee and Peterson (2000) have evolved a cultural model of entrepreneurship. They have proposed that a society’s prosperity to generate autonomous, risk taking, innovative, competitively aggressive and proactive entrepreneurs depend on its cultured foundation. Role of economic, political/legal and social factors are moderators in the relationship between culture and entrepreneurial orientation. Indian automobile company has to adopt entrepreneurship and take risk. There might be a few hiccups on the way but a strong entrepreneurial orientation will ultimately lead to increased competitiveness.
Research & Development
The car industry is different to, say, the mp3 player industry. An Ipod has only one design team, and will look exactly the same no matter where it is sold in the world. This is not the case with automobile industry. The relationship between innovation and market share is one of the cornerstones of economics of innovation and industrial organization at large. Innovators are expected to take advantage of their technological leadership in terms of profitability and market shares (Joseph Schumpeter). The introduction of innovations engenders a competitive
advantage and hence a transient market power for innovators. In the developed world, technology has always played an important consideration for vehicle manufacturers as customers have always embraced state of-the art cars. Hence to boost the long-term market capitalization of their companies, executives should focus on new product introductions and resist relying on sales promotions. Although consumer incentives may yield increased short-term performance and/or prevent severe sales erosion while new product projects are in the pipeline, they do not provide a viable long-term answer to the manufacturer’s challenges in the industry.
Engineering Services
Managers should introduce new products and technologies that best complement their existing set of capabilities. Firms need to command a variety of different types of knowledge, so as to bring them together, exploit their complementarities and recombine them in order to introduce technological innovations.
Technological knowledge accumulated and generated within firms is the result of the mix of internal and external knowledge. In turn internal knowledge is generated by means of learning processes and research and development expenditures (Arrow, 1962a). External knowledge is acquired in a variety of ways, including the direct purchase of technological knowledge in the form of patents, services and intermediary research products delivered by third parties (Antonelli and Calderinib, 2007).
Firms should look at the Toyota Production System (TPS). The TPS has led to a movement of ‘lean production’ focused on taking waste out of value streams. Cost reduction is achieved through the use of just-in-time production. Another design worth mentioning here is the concurrent engineering method, still a relatively new design management system, but has become a well-defined systems approach towards optimizing engineering design cycles. Concurrent Engineering has overlapping phases of development, has failure analysis and vendor involvement in the early part of the cycle. These lead to reduced product development cycle time. Rapid learning along with empowered decision-making systems made concurrent engineering initiatives to succeed at Tata motors.
Firms should also look at technological outsourcing and Merger & Acquisitions. Technological diversification is a sign of eventual business diversification. Sometimes, technological diversification is the effect of the general exposure of firms to a new general purpose technology–such as plastics and new information and communication technologies.
Marketing
After a home, an automobile is generally the second largest purchase a person makes. Therefore, most consumers spend a lot of time researching cars before buying one. This is where the internet has stepped up and become a powerful tool. Selling a car in these internet times takes a lot more than just nationwide television branding. It takes a multi-channel, long-term marketing campaign that follows the customer from initial research on the Internet to purchase in a local dealership. Firms have been successful in implementing direct response marketing. Direct response marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit a direct response which is specific and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is direct between the viewer and the advertiser. DR has become an effective tool for cost-effective automotive marketing. DR can also provide metrics like ROl from marketing programs. "Many consumers see their vehicle as an extension of themselves. The trick is to tap into that emotion and pay it off with relevant product attributes they are looking for — gas mileage, safety, etc," says Mike Sheldon, president of Deutsch Los Angeles, a multi-disciplinary marketing and communications agency.
Internet Marketing
The advent of social networking sites coupled with technologies such as Web 2.0, which rely on user collaboration and include web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts and online social networks, have made internet marketing an exciting way of reaching out to prospective customers. With India poised to have the largest number of internet users, the prospect of selling and marketing through the internet seems bright for automobile companies. Already, some like TATA Motors are using the internet as an effective way of reaching the young audience. Concepts such as Viral Marketing (marketing your product with the help of a different concept) can help catch the attention of the growing internet users.
Supply Chain Management
On the demand side, there has been a tremendous increase in competition, product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter, and customer’s taste is constantly changing; all of this leads to high volatility in demand. It is difficult to predict customer preferences and trends, and it is even more challenging to identify and acquire relevant demand signals that are both accurate and timely. Firms should find ways to quickly sense customer demand and ways to respond to it. New analytical methodologies, IT framework, and collaborative decision-making processes are to be developed to better match demand with supply. As the Indian automobile industry prepares to make its mark globally, the need to improve supply chain efficiency is being given high priority as these lead to improved operational efficiency.
The CPFR (collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment) program is being adopted by the auto industry. Enterprise Demand Sensing helps organizations to have the Right Product at the Right Place at the Right Time. CPFR can be used for better planning capacity requirements and replenishment activities. Indian firms have to develop sustained competitive strength through quality, innovation and delivery. Practices such as supplier capacity booking, use of Third Party Logistics Providers, shortening of product cycle time, lean methodologies and effective distribution through innovative techniques such as those used by Dell computers can help achieve this advantage.
Foreign Partnership
Tata Motors has expanded its operations in Europe and the Americas through partnership with Fiat. More and
more European OEMs are teaming with Indian companies. It gives them access to the growing Indian market, low-cost production and engineering. Indian companies can leverage on such partnerships to be a global player. However, these partnerships have to be strategic in nature and have a long term vision of capturing the world market. A mutual benefit exercise could be one where the Indian company sells its cars through its foreign partner’s distribution channel while at the same time using low cost advantage of India to provide it with components and assemblies.
Create Brand Loyalty
Managers introduce new products as a way to deter or reduce the scale of entry, preserve industry profits by mitigating price competition, or to capture market share from rivals. Luxury producers change models less, and thus choose to maintain the stability and consistency of model designs over time. It is seen that European manufacturers rely on a single design over a longer period of time relative to their Japanese and American counterparts. This is because European consumers are more loyal to particular brands. Thus the European auto market is characterized by long product life cycles, heavy emphasis on engineering elegance, and sophistication. American market focuses on low cost, elaborate body style changes, and powerful engines. The Japanese market is probably the most competitive. Firms that can introduce models quickly to match rivals are successful. These learning can help to form strategies for global operation of Indian companies.
Integration
A company must balance to be successful in a global industry. For example, pressures for global integration include multinational customers, multinational competitors, and pressures for cost reduction. Pressures for local responsiveness include differences in customer needs, market structure, and the presence of substitute products. It is argued that successful companies develop unique strategies to respond to both kinds of pressures in varying degrees.
The first area for integration is pressures for global strategic coordination. The second area for integration is pressures for global operational integration. Third, managers need not always incur the high development and launch costs that are associated with major product innovations. Indeed, the U-shaped relationship between innovation level and long-term firm valuation implies that firms can benefit from “pulsing” innovations (i.e., provide minor improvements to their new market entries rather than engage in continuous intermediate-level innovation). A recent study of many categories indicates that “incremental innovations can be drivers of brand growth in their own right” if they represent additional consumer benefits and are introduced more frequently than competitor products.
Flexibility
The situation like recession is a reality check. To sail through such period a flexible system is required. The ability of the organization to cope with the internal changes requires a degree of redundancy in the system, whereas the ability to cope with the external change requires that the systems be versatile and capable of producing wide variety of parts with minimal change over time and costs (Buzacott 1982 and Chung and chen 1990). Descriptive research by Tichy and Devanna (1990) suggests that transformation of an organization follows a process, which includes a sequence of phases: recognizing the need for change, creating a new vision and then institutionalizing the change. Pro-activeness is the single characteristic that discriminates between manufacturing functions. Flexibility can be achieved through careful planning for different scenarios, having a flexible manufacturing system through deployment of lean techniques and an adaptive mindset. Indian automobile industry has felt a need of change and initiated the change process, mostly in a systemic way. But these firms should proceed to higher levels of change as the demand of competition increases.
Social culture
Firms should work for the community needs and view them as opportunities to develop ideas
and serve new markets. Its only when community accepts the innovation, business can be successful. Indian companies should look to develop and use alternate sources of fuel. Tata is working with hybrid engine and fuel cell makers including Ballard Power Systems for using their technology in future models. These will not only make Indian companies competitive but also help to improve brand image on global level. In advanced countries, Indian car companies are perceived of producing cars of low quality. This perception if changed will provide great opportunities.
Strengthen the Human Resource Role
Indian automobile firms by going global, look to share and integrate the knowledge from both the world to create something new and stronger, not just bigger and HR has a crucial role to play in ensuring the success of this. One of the key success factors in an automobile company is achieving synergy through cooperation and coordination amongst various employees. Leadership vision along with HR plays an important role in this regard in unifying the employees toward a common goal. "Leadership is about taking the view that people capabilities are a source of competitive advantage", Satish Pradhan, executive vicepresident of group HR at Tata Sons.
People
Teams of intelligent people are required to execute. According to the resource-based perspective, successful organizations have unique capabilities or resources that give them an advantage over their competitors. Gersick (1994), has found that these resources are valuable when they are rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. Development of social capital within an organization is the source of competitive advantage for a firm.
Leadership skills
The role of leadership cannot be undermined. Companies have to embrace commitments to lead, to compete, to inspire and to learn. Leadership has to have a clear vision of where they want to be in the future and should accordingly create a mission statement that encompasses the same. Leadership should constantly endeavor to “raise the bar” for superior performance but at the same time also reward those who perform.
5. Conclusion
Approximately 900 dealerships left the business in 1991 in US. Similar numbers are predicted for 2008 and 2009. There is good news on the horizon. Private equity groups are bulish on the auto industry's long-term future. Manufacturers and suppliers could see infusions of capital the next several months. The industry appears to be on the cusp of significant technological advancements in vehicles. This alone will drive investment, create new business opportunities and generate excitement again in the showroom. Leading this is our automobile industry along with Chinese counterparts. Managing change is posing a big challenge to Indian firms in the wake of globalization and liberalization. Successful change demands that all major areas of an organization are kept in focus concurrently. These areas are technology, structure, systems, people and culture. It is seen that all these areas are interwoven and cannot be emphasized upon in isolation. It seems, looking at the how things are moving currently, Indian Automobile firms have done INDIAll not only to tackle the competition posed by foreign players in our soil but take the battle to their home turf. Indian Automobile Industry is Rising, Shining and Brimming with Success. Let's watch as they reach for the stars.
- Swapnil Saurav
In 1933, Harlow H. Curtice, president of General Motors had said- “General Motors has no bad years, only good years and better years.” General Motors ruled automobile industry for over 50 years. In 1980, Japan for the first time surpassed the United States as the leading automobile-producing nation in the world. The point being driven here is, there is always something which customers want and even the leaders of the industry fail to see. Ever since then, the world order for leadership in the automobile sector has changed.
Image on the left shows the list of countries by motor vehicle production in 2007. The data for 2008 has been purposefully left out from this study as the current financial turmoil is assumed as a temporary phase, and that things would be back on track sooner or later.
India is currently at 10th position. However, the good news is that Indian automobile industry sales volumes are expected to grow to 3.7 million by 2012 – representing a CAGR of 13.3% (albeit a little lower due to the current financial crisis). The world is now moving towards less expensive and higher fuel efficient cars without compromising on luxury and safety, and this has strengthened the hand of the developing world’s emerging giants. China has become world’s largest manufacturer of passenger cars, though joint ventures with multinational OEMs account for the majority of volumes. Automobile Industry in India too, has come a long way. Time magazine has hailed Tata’s Nano among world’s 12 most important cars of all time. All these are auspicious signs, but fact remain that the Indian Automobile industry is far away from being best in the world. In this article, the strategies that Indian companies are adopting and should adopt to reach closer to the top, are studied. The outline of the article is as follows: Section 2 deals with the opportunities that the Indian automobile companies have in domestic market as well as in international market.
With opportunities come limitations as well. Section 3 talks about the challenges faced by Indian auto companies which could limit the expansion. Finally Section 4 talks about what companies are doing to overcome these challenges and also what they could do more.
2. Opportunities
Automobile demand is influenced by a number of socioeconomic and policy variables, more so in recent times. India has a large consumer base, growing middle class, lot of opportunities opening up, rapid expansion of local production and product launches, rapid rise in income – all these factors are poised to create exciting time ahead.
The Indian government along with support from OEMs and industry experts developed a revised Auto Mission Plan (AMP: 2006-2016) released in mid-2007. AMP Vision for India is “To emerge as the destination of choice in the world for design and manufacture of automobiles and auto components with output reaching a level of US$ 145 billion accounting for more than 10% of the GDP and providing additional employment to 25 million people by 2016”.
These trends have been noticed by the world community and many new market entries are being planned by major OEMs in India. India’s automotive industry is among the fastest growing ones in the Asia-Pacific region. Fastest growing segments are passenger cars; Mini, Small, Medium, Small Pickup, Medium Utility and Medium-Heavy Commercial Vehicles. Companies are looking to take advantage of these opportunities with its current product line-up, and future entries are also being planned in these segments. Introduction of the excise tax benefit for Mini segment vehicles in 2006 pushed up the industry growth. This has attracted foreign OEMs to setup their manufacturing plants in India. The Indian consumer rates technology, comfort and convenience as important considerations for car purchase.
3. Challenges
The challenges faced by India, on the road to becoming the No. 1 in the automobile sector, are also no less in number. Major problem is Infrastructure. India has always been lagging development where growth has pushed authorities to create infrastructure. Lot of infrastructure projects are taking long time for completion and development remains sluggish. Secondly, the Industry remains "Bottom Heavy" with unbalanced segment structure - About 70% of vehicles sold in 2006 were transacted at less than US$15,000. Indian automobile is still heavily skewed towards the low-priced mini car segment (40% of total industry in 2006) with an average transaction price of around US$7,300. Indian firms are not ready with design for advanced market. This means that a large sum of money is to be invested in either R&D or for inorganic growth. It is getting increasingly difficult for Indian companies to fund huge spending for R&D. Recent acquisition of Jaguar Land Rover by Tata motors was felt to be a hasty decision prompting Ratan Tata to say “We went too far too fast”, however such risks have to taken by the companies if they ar
e eying to be a global leader.India faces a serious threat from Chinese manufacturers. The pro-industry Chinese government policies and the low cost of manufacturing have given Chinese firms a slight lead over Indian firms.
Incidentally, China has overtaken Japan to become the 2nd largest market for automobiles. This has happened due to significant strategic and structural advantages: Chinese carmakers enjoy massive fast growing home market to scale up operations.
They also have significant cost advantages including labor costs and low capital investment. However, Chinese products suffer from quality lapses and lack of prioritizing market segments often paying less attention to marketing and distribution and this is where India stands to gain significantly since it has a better ‘quality’ standing in the global market compared to China.
4. How to face these challenges
Every problem has a solution, but the challenge lies in finding the solution. The following few aspects could possibly help the Indian automobile industry.
Entrepreneurial Aspects
Lee and Peterson (2000) have evolved a cultural model of entrepreneurship. They have proposed that a society’s prosperity to generate autonomous, risk taking, innovative, competitively aggressive and proactive entrepreneurs depend on its cultured foundation. Role of economic, political/legal and social factors are moderators in the relationship between culture and entrepreneurial orientation. Indian automobile company has to adopt entrepreneurship and take risk. There might be a few hiccups on the way but a strong entrepreneurial orientation will ultimately lead to increased competitiveness.
Research & Development
The car industry is different to, say, the mp3 player industry. An Ipod has only one design team, and will look exactly the same no matter where it is sold in the world. This is not the case with automobile industry. The relationship between innovation and market share is one of the cornerstones of economics of innovation and industrial organization at large. Innovators are expected to take advantage of their technological leadership in terms of profitability and market shares (Joseph Schumpeter). The introduction of innovations engenders a competitive
advantage and hence a transient market power for innovators. In the developed world, technology has always played an important consideration for vehicle manufacturers as customers have always embraced state of-the art cars. Hence to boost the long-term market capitalization of their companies, executives should focus on new product introductions and resist relying on sales promotions. Although consumer incentives may yield increased short-term performance and/or prevent severe sales erosion while new product projects are in the pipeline, they do not provide a viable long-term answer to the manufacturer’s challenges in the industry.Engineering Services
Managers should introduce new products and technologies that best complement their existing set of capabilities. Firms need to command a variety of different types of knowledge, so as to bring them together, exploit their complementarities and recombine them in order to introduce technological innovations.
Technological knowledge accumulated and generated within firms is the result of the mix of internal and external knowledge. In turn internal knowledge is generated by means of learning processes and research and development expenditures (Arrow, 1962a). External knowledge is acquired in a variety of ways, including the direct purchase of technological knowledge in the form of patents, services and intermediary research products delivered by third parties (Antonelli and Calderinib, 2007).
Firms should look at the Toyota Production System (TPS). The TPS has led to a movement of ‘lean production’ focused on taking waste out of value streams. Cost reduction is achieved through the use of just-in-time production. Another design worth mentioning here is the concurrent engineering method, still a relatively new design management system, but has become a well-defined systems approach towards optimizing engineering design cycles. Concurrent Engineering has overlapping phases of development, has failure analysis and vendor involvement in the early part of the cycle. These lead to reduced product development cycle time. Rapid learning along with empowered decision-making systems made concurrent engineering initiatives to succeed at Tata motors.
Firms should also look at technological outsourcing and Merger & Acquisitions. Technological diversification is a sign of eventual business diversification. Sometimes, technological diversification is the effect of the general exposure of firms to a new general purpose technology–such as plastics and new information and communication technologies.
Marketing
After a home, an automobile is generally the second largest purchase a person makes. Therefore, most consumers spend a lot of time researching cars before buying one. This is where the internet has stepped up and become a powerful tool. Selling a car in these internet times takes a lot more than just nationwide television branding. It takes a multi-channel, long-term marketing campaign that follows the customer from initial research on the Internet to purchase in a local dealership. Firms have been successful in implementing direct response marketing. Direct response marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit a direct response which is specific and quantifiable. The delivery of the response is direct between the viewer and the advertiser. DR has become an effective tool for cost-effective automotive marketing. DR can also provide metrics like ROl from marketing programs. "Many consumers see their vehicle as an extension of themselves. The trick is to tap into that emotion and pay it off with relevant product attributes they are looking for — gas mileage, safety, etc," says Mike Sheldon, president of Deutsch Los Angeles, a multi-disciplinary marketing and communications agency.
Internet Marketing
The advent of social networking sites coupled with technologies such as Web 2.0, which rely on user collaboration and include web services, peer-to-peer networking, blogs, podcasts and online social networks, have made internet marketing an exciting way of reaching out to prospective customers. With India poised to have the largest number of internet users, the prospect of selling and marketing through the internet seems bright for automobile companies. Already, some like TATA Motors are using the internet as an effective way of reaching the young audience. Concepts such as Viral Marketing (marketing your product with the help of a different concept) can help catch the attention of the growing internet users.
Supply Chain Management
On the demand side, there has been a tremendous increase in competition, product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter, and customer’s taste is constantly changing; all of this leads to high volatility in demand. It is difficult to predict customer preferences and trends, and it is even more challenging to identify and acquire relevant demand signals that are both accurate and timely. Firms should find ways to quickly sense customer demand and ways to respond to it. New analytical methodologies, IT framework, and collaborative decision-making processes are to be developed to better match demand with supply. As the Indian automobile industry prepares to make its mark globally, the need to improve supply chain efficiency is being given high priority as these lead to improved operational efficiency.
The CPFR (collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment) program is being adopted by the auto industry. Enterprise Demand Sensing helps organizations to have the Right Product at the Right Place at the Right Time. CPFR can be used for better planning capacity requirements and replenishment activities. Indian firms have to develop sustained competitive strength through quality, innovation and delivery. Practices such as supplier capacity booking, use of Third Party Logistics Providers, shortening of product cycle time, lean methodologies and effective distribution through innovative techniques such as those used by Dell computers can help achieve this advantage.
Foreign Partnership
Tata Motors has expanded its operations in Europe and the Americas through partnership with Fiat. More and
more European OEMs are teaming with Indian companies. It gives them access to the growing Indian market, low-cost production and engineering. Indian companies can leverage on such partnerships to be a global player. However, these partnerships have to be strategic in nature and have a long term vision of capturing the world market. A mutual benefit exercise could be one where the Indian company sells its cars through its foreign partner’s distribution channel while at the same time using low cost advantage of India to provide it with components and assemblies.Create Brand Loyalty
Managers introduce new products as a way to deter or reduce the scale of entry, preserve industry profits by mitigating price competition, or to capture market share from rivals. Luxury producers change models less, and thus choose to maintain the stability and consistency of model designs over time. It is seen that European manufacturers rely on a single design over a longer period of time relative to their Japanese and American counterparts. This is because European consumers are more loyal to particular brands. Thus the European auto market is characterized by long product life cycles, heavy emphasis on engineering elegance, and sophistication. American market focuses on low cost, elaborate body style changes, and powerful engines. The Japanese market is probably the most competitive. Firms that can introduce models quickly to match rivals are successful. These learning can help to form strategies for global operation of Indian companies.
Integration
A company must balance to be successful in a global industry. For example, pressures for global integration include multinational customers, multinational competitors, and pressures for cost reduction. Pressures for local responsiveness include differences in customer needs, market structure, and the presence of substitute products. It is argued that successful companies develop unique strategies to respond to both kinds of pressures in varying degrees.
The first area for integration is pressures for global strategic coordination. The second area for integration is pressures for global operational integration. Third, managers need not always incur the high development and launch costs that are associated with major product innovations. Indeed, the U-shaped relationship between innovation level and long-term firm valuation implies that firms can benefit from “pulsing” innovations (i.e., provide minor improvements to their new market entries rather than engage in continuous intermediate-level innovation). A recent study of many categories indicates that “incremental innovations can be drivers of brand growth in their own right” if they represent additional consumer benefits and are introduced more frequently than competitor products.
Flexibility
The situation like recession is a reality check. To sail through such period a flexible system is required. The ability of the organization to cope with the internal changes requires a degree of redundancy in the system, whereas the ability to cope with the external change requires that the systems be versatile and capable of producing wide variety of parts with minimal change over time and costs (Buzacott 1982 and Chung and chen 1990). Descriptive research by Tichy and Devanna (1990) suggests that transformation of an organization follows a process, which includes a sequence of phases: recognizing the need for change, creating a new vision and then institutionalizing the change. Pro-activeness is the single characteristic that discriminates between manufacturing functions. Flexibility can be achieved through careful planning for different scenarios, having a flexible manufacturing system through deployment of lean techniques and an adaptive mindset. Indian automobile industry has felt a need of change and initiated the change process, mostly in a systemic way. But these firms should proceed to higher levels of change as the demand of competition increases.
Social culture
Firms should work for the community needs and view them as opportunities to develop ideas
and serve new markets. Its only when community accepts the innovation, business can be successful. Indian companies should look to develop and use alternate sources of fuel. Tata is working with hybrid engine and fuel cell makers including Ballard Power Systems for using their technology in future models. These will not only make Indian companies competitive but also help to improve brand image on global level. In advanced countries, Indian car companies are perceived of producing cars of low quality. This perception if changed will provide great opportunities.Strengthen the Human Resource Role
Indian automobile firms by going global, look to share and integrate the knowledge from both the world to create something new and stronger, not just bigger and HR has a crucial role to play in ensuring the success of this. One of the key success factors in an automobile company is achieving synergy through cooperation and coordination amongst various employees. Leadership vision along with HR plays an important role in this regard in unifying the employees toward a common goal. "Leadership is about taking the view that people capabilities are a source of competitive advantage", Satish Pradhan, executive vicepresident of group HR at Tata Sons.
People
Teams of intelligent people are required to execute. According to the resource-based perspective, successful organizations have unique capabilities or resources that give them an advantage over their competitors. Gersick (1994), has found that these resources are valuable when they are rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. Development of social capital within an organization is the source of competitive advantage for a firm.
Leadership skills
The role of leadership cannot be undermined. Companies have to embrace commitments to lead, to compete, to inspire and to learn. Leadership has to have a clear vision of where they want to be in the future and should accordingly create a mission statement that encompasses the same. Leadership should constantly endeavor to “raise the bar” for superior performance but at the same time also reward those who perform.
5. Conclusion
Approximately 900 dealerships left the business in 1991 in US. Similar numbers are predicted for 2008 and 2009. There is good news on the horizon. Private equity groups are bulish on the auto industry's long-term future. Manufacturers and suppliers could see infusions of capital the next several months. The industry appears to be on the cusp of significant technological advancements in vehicles. This alone will drive investment, create new business opportunities and generate excitement again in the showroom. Leading this is our automobile industry along with Chinese counterparts. Managing change is posing a big challenge to Indian firms in the wake of globalization and liberalization. Successful change demands that all major areas of an organization are kept in focus concurrently. These areas are technology, structure, systems, people and culture. It is seen that all these areas are interwoven and cannot be emphasized upon in isolation. It seems, looking at the how things are moving currently, Indian Automobile firms have done INDIAll not only to tackle the competition posed by foreign players in our soil but take the battle to their home turf. Indian Automobile Industry is Rising, Shining and Brimming with Success. Let's watch as they reach for the stars.
- Swapnil Saurav
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Election Commission of India
Conducting successful election in a developing country battling with security threats, with 714 million voters, 4617 candidates, representing some 300 parties, fighting for 543 seats can only be described as “miracle”. Never in our history has anybody been denied to choose their leader because of any reason. Since 1952 India has been the most populous democracy in the world. At 714 million electorates, we are larger than the entire population of any country in the world except China. It is also more than double the total US population, the second-largest democracy in the world.
The Election Commission has the responsibility for delimiting over 3500 assembly and parliamentary constituencies, organizing and conducting elections, registering eligible voters, recognizing political parties and their election symbols, and establishing procedures for th
e nomination of candidates.In 2004, the counting of 387 million votes began in the morning. By 10 in the evening, detailed results of 533 of the 543 seats could be accessed on the official website of the Election Commission of India. The remaining 10 were completed the next day. Let’s look at the arrangement made by the Commission this year- elections spread over 1 month, with 828,804 polling stations manned by 4.1 million civil staff members and 2.1 million security personnel has been deployed for the exercise.
To hold free and peaceful elections on such a scale is no mean feat anywhere. Can any organization in the world claim to match this kind of feat of success and achievement? Why that is the office which needs to be praised for their fantastic job is always surrounded by the controversies? Is this the way we honor our heroes?
Elections in 372 (68%) constituencies have been completed. Election 2009 is going to be another jewel in the crow of Election Commission India.
--- Swapnil Saurav
Elections 2009: A Journey so far
Our Leaders
You must have read about the news piece where our Prime Minister Mr. Singh referred to independent candidates as "spoilers", urging voters in Mumbai not to vote them because they cannot win. Can we call this statement Democratic? Does anybody has a right to question someone’s candidature if it’s allowed by the law?
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi called the Congress, "budhia" (old woman) and later "gudia" (doll). BJP prime ministerial candidate L K Advani has been constantly attacking the PM as "weak" and Singh has responded with equally un-intellectual statements. Varun Gandhi's now-infamous speech was a low in this year’s election so was the RJD chief Lalu Yadav's response. Then we had Samajwadi Party’s manifesto creating news for wrong reasons.
Is it really impossible for our leaders to behave responsible and have meaningful debate? Why our prominent leaders fail to use their speeches to address the burning issues instead use merely for an entertainment purpose? Will this election give us leaders who can take India confidently to next height? We still have to wait and see.
Law breakers as law makers
Women MPs, MLAs too have criminal records: The study by the Independent Research Initiative suggests that women leaders don't lag behind when it comes to having criminal records or amassing wealth. Kerala (83%), Bihar(25%) and Chhattisgarh(25%), Madhya Pradesh (22%), Karnataka (20%), Tamil Nadu (19%), Haryana and Orissa (18%), Maharashtra and Punjab (17%), Uttar Pradesh (13%), Andhra Pradesh (8%) and West Bengal (6%). are the states with the highest percentage of women legislators.
However, in 11 states, women legislators do not have any kind of criminal record. The states are Assam, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand. On the whole, about 13 percent of women legislators in states and 14 percent of women MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha had criminal records.
(Source: study by PRS Legislative Research based on affidavits filed by candidates with the Election Commission up to 2007)
My belief is people are really desperate for a positive change and a cleaner political scenario. With the statistics like the one shown above, it does not look that we are moving towards right direction. Does this mean that we trust criminals and expect them to work for the society? What can we do as a citizen to stop this? If people promise not to vote for criminals, then with time even political parties will stop fielding them.
--- Swapnil Saurav
This article was originally written on 30 April 2009 for 5th Dimension- http://sites.google.com/a/spjimr.org/thefifthdimension/elections-2009-a-journey-so-far
Can Professional skills help National Governance?
What’s common to a banker, a HR professional, a former U.N. under-secretary general and a dancer? You got it- yes, they all are fighting general elections this year.
Meera Sanyal , ABN Amro Bank (now RBS) Executive Vice President and India country head, has been a part of the banking industry for over 25 years. Now the head honco of the multi-national bank has made a plunge into politics. Contesting as an independent candidate from South Mumbai, Meera hopes to ―”get Mumbai back on track”. We got a chance to interact with her at her Colaba campaign office. As we discussed on the current issues, we could see in her the self-belief, determination, optimism and determination to fight for a change. According to Meera, last year‘s 26/11 Mumbai attacks disturbed her and compelled her to join politics and work for the betterment of the society. If she wins, she plans to quit her job and work full time for the society. She would focus on the city's infrastructure, particularly public transport and stronger security setup. Due to delimitation of Mumbai South constituency, she is pitted against 2 sitting MPs, Milind Deora of the Congress and Mohan Rawle of the Shiv Sena. What is in her favor is her enviable education, MBA from INSEAD (France), 2008" (Award for the best Corporate Executive Citizen) iCONGO Confederation of NGOs.
We move our attention to neighboring state, Mallika Sarabhai, a reputed dancer, is taking on BJP prime ministerial candidate, Mr LK Advani, as Independent candidate. Another news pouring in from Bangalore, Capt. GR Gopinath has taken plunged into the general elections. Mr Shashi Tharoor, India’s candidate for U.N. Secretary General, is gearing up for the elections from Trivandrum. Unlike the names mentioned above, he has a backing of a national party- the Congress. Not to be left behind is the founder of India’s largest recruitment firm, K Pandiarajan, contesting as a DMK candidate in Tamil Nadu (Virudhunagar Constituency). He is taking on Tamil film star Mr Vijaykanth.
With such star professionals entering into politics, we can say for sure “Indian politics is shining”, but will it be “Jai Ho” for them? Will they be able to survive amidst this web of conflicting ideologies, party politics and the existing game of contradictions that is so typical of the Indian political scenario? Will they be able to fulfill a billion aspirations? Will their honest will to bring about considerable change wilt away fast? Or can we hope for a 'real' revolution?…
-- Swapnil SauravOriginally written on 9 April 2009 for 5th Dimension newsletter: http://sites.google.com/a/spjimr.org/thefifthdimension/skills-help-national-governance
India Election watch
Unstable Parties and Alliances
India… the largest democracy in the world. Pride or no pride. But this exactly is the reason for the mushrooming of many political parties, both large and small in the recent past. And as this powerful democracy gears to the polls, there is some need for retrospection now. I was wondering when the last time was, when a single political party rose to the helm, without any alliances. Use your guess work or your intuition, the answer definitely points to the distant past. In 1977 Janata Party formed the government. From then the uncertain times began, the era of coalitions started taking the toll. In 1989, a Janata Dal-led National Front coalition in alliance with the Left Front coalition stayed in power for only two years. The period between 1996–1998 was one of turmoil, maelstrom at the centre as several short-lived alliances emerged and none of them having their say for long. Elucidating this… The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) formed a government briefly in 1996, followed by the United Front coalition that excluded both the BJP and the INC. In 1998, the BJP formed the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with several other parties and became the first non-Congress government to complete a full five-year term. A success.
In the 2004 Indian elections, the INC formed a government with a coalition called the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), supported by various parties. This is past. What will happen in 2009? Most likely we will see another coalition party coming to power. That is again a matter of speculation. Adding to the predictions, the open assertions of INC and BJP saying that without support from their allies they will not be in a position to form the Government is something which makes the run for power tougher. This clearly indicates that the Dominant Party System is on decline and minority and/or coalition governments have become the order of the day.
Instability apart, coalition governments have been effective in enhancing democratic legitimacy, representativeness and national unity. Government policies are more consensus-based and resulting policies are broadly approved of. Each policy goes through rigorous scrutiny and increased attention is paid for coalition is always at a stake. But coalitions can also mean too much of a compromise. Given these conditions, are we ready for an alternative form of government: presidential system? Whatever conclusion we may draw from the discussion, as of now, the fact of the matter is that India as had coalition governments in the past and it will continue to have in the future as well. Therefore, it is in best interest for all that parties develop a sense of understanding and do not play games of power politics and bad politics. Coalitions can outplay all the other forms of the government if they remember the basic idea behind democracy. After all it’s a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
- Swapnil Saurav
Originally written on 11 April 2009 for 5th Dimension-http://sites.google.com/a/spjimr.org/thefifthdimension/unstable-partie
Friday, October 10, 2008
Horse Riding Schools in Bangalore
Following are the list of few horse riding schools in Bangalore. If you know of any other schools in Bangalore please do let me know about it.
1. Agaram Riding School
Agaram Road, Bangalore
Phone: +91-80-2271 6414
-One of the best in Bangalore, the school is spread over 500 acres and has international standard infrastructure. Classes conducted all year round.Fees: Rs 12,000 deposit, plus Rs 2,000 a month
2. Bangalore Amateur Riding Institute
Bangalore Turf Club, Bangalore
Phone: +91-80-2226 2391
-Set up in 1955, itis one of the oldest riding schools in the country. Concentrates on training for races and show horses. Classes are held all year round except in August and Septemger.Fees: Rs 250 annual subscription.
3. Embassy International Riding School
149/2 & 223, Torhunse Village, Jal Hobli, Devanahalli Taluk, Bangalore Dist - INDIA
Phone: +91-80-2846 8296, +91-98450-54013, +91-98440-65015
- A riding school of international standars in ranch-like setting with 240 acres of beautiful cross-country trails and outdoor excursion facility.Fees: Individual: Rs 4,900/annum, Couple: Rs 6,500/annum
4. Equestrian Centre For Excellence
Palace Grounds, Jayamahal Road, Bangalore
Phone: +91-98801-00708
- Former race horses are available for training sessions. The only riding school where one can also endup owning a retired race horse after learning to ride.Fees: Rs 2,500 for 12 classes of one hour each.
5. Princess Academy Of Equitation
Bangalore Palace Grounds,Bellary Road EntraceOpp. Talisma SoftwareBangalore 560080
Phone: +91-80-2361 7331 / 2361 0695Mobile: +91-80-5671159 / 56711513 / 5611509 / +91-98450 46680
Email: pae_mys@hotmail.com
- The only riding school run by erstwhile royal family of Mysore on the 400-acre grounds that offers night riding facilities and special therapeutic sessions for the physically and mentally challenged.
Fees: Varying fee structure
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Prepare for a Marathon race
It was 2007 when I took to serious running. I started it as an excercise to loose fat and control my weight. I liked it so much that it became my passion. I started taking part in races from 5KM to Marathon. In this article, I have tried to put tips and trainings for running a long distance. These tips are proven and have worked well for me and for many other runners. Important declaration that none of the tips mentioned here are from my side. I have collected these info from various sources such as: http://running.about.com, www.hyderabad10k.com, http://mumbaimarathon.indiatimes.com/ and many other emails which I received from my friends.
Beginners' Half-Marathon Training Schedule
Week Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
1 Rest 2 mi Rest 2.5mi Rest 3 mi 2 mi
2 Rest 2 mi Rest 3 mi Rest 4 mi 2.5 mi
3 Rest 2.5mi 2 mi 3 mi Rest 5 mi 2 mi
4 Rest 3 mi Rest 4 mi Rest 6 mi 3 mi
5 Rest 3 mi 3 mi 3 mi Rest 7 mi 3 mi
6 Rest 4 mi 3 mi 4 mi Rest 8 mi 3 mi
7 Rest 4 mi Rest 4 mi Rest 9 mi 3 mi
8 Rest 4 mi 3 mi 3 mi Rest 10mi 3 mi
9 Rest 5 mi 3 mi 4 mi Rest 11mi Rest
10 3 mi 4 mi Rest 3 mi Rest 12mi 3 mi
11 Rest 4 mi Rest 3 mi Rest 5 mi 2.5mi
12 Rest 2 mi 20min Rest 20min 20min! Race Day!
My Races till date:
(Read Header as- Race name, Place, Date, Distance & Time to finish)
1. Bangalore International Marathon, Bangalore, 15 May 2006, 7KM, Time not recorded
2. Bangalore International Marathon, Bangalore, Dec 16 2007, HalfMarathon, 2h9m43s
3. Muthu Marathon, Salem(Tamil Nadu), Jan6 2008, HalfMarathon, 2h10m21s
4. Bangalore 10K, Bangalore, May 18 2008, 10KM, 60min 41sec
5. Hyderabad Foundation Marathon, Aug 16 2008, MARATHON, 5hr 3min 0sec
6. Givelife Marathon, Chennai, Aug 31 2008, HalfMarathon, 2h15m21s
Upcoming Races I am planning to run- Bangalore International Marathon, Hyderabad 10K run, Mumbai Marathon 2009
I also maintain a separate blogs on running.
Please visit http://train4marathon.wordpress.com for more on running.
Beginners' Half-Marathon Training Schedule
Week Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
1 Rest 2 mi Rest 2.5mi Rest 3 mi 2 mi
2 Rest 2 mi Rest 3 mi Rest 4 mi 2.5 mi
3 Rest 2.5mi 2 mi 3 mi Rest 5 mi 2 mi
4 Rest 3 mi Rest 4 mi Rest 6 mi 3 mi
5 Rest 3 mi 3 mi 3 mi Rest 7 mi 3 mi
6 Rest 4 mi 3 mi 4 mi Rest 8 mi 3 mi
7 Rest 4 mi Rest 4 mi Rest 9 mi 3 mi
8 Rest 4 mi 3 mi 3 mi Rest 10mi 3 mi
9 Rest 5 mi 3 mi 4 mi Rest 11mi Rest
10 3 mi 4 mi Rest 3 mi Rest 12mi 3 mi
11 Rest 4 mi Rest 3 mi Rest 5 mi 2.5mi
12 Rest 2 mi 20min Rest 20min 20min! Race Day!
My Races till date:
(Read Header as- Race name, Place, Date, Distance & Time to finish)
1. Bangalore International Marathon, Bangalore, 15 May 2006, 7KM, Time not recorded
2. Bangalore International Marathon, Bangalore, Dec 16 2007, HalfMarathon, 2h9m43s
3. Muthu Marathon, Salem(Tamil Nadu), Jan6 2008, HalfMarathon, 2h10m21s
4. Bangalore 10K, Bangalore, May 18 2008, 10KM, 60min 41sec
5. Hyderabad Foundation Marathon, Aug 16 2008, MARATHON, 5hr 3min 0sec
6. Givelife Marathon, Chennai, Aug 31 2008, HalfMarathon, 2h15m21s
Upcoming Races I am planning to run- Bangalore International Marathon, Hyderabad 10K run, Mumbai Marathon 2009
I also maintain a separate blogs on running.
Please visit http://train4marathon.wordpress.com for more on running.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Back to School
Hi Friends,
I want to share a good news with you. I am delighted to inform you that I have received an admission offer from the S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai (SPJIMR) for class of 2009 Full time 1-year MBA (Post Graduate Programme in Management) program. Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM), is a one year, full-time, residential programme. The mission of the programme is to create and nurture value-based future leaders taking on higher management roles in transforming organizations.
Something about the course, this is taken as it is from the www.spjimr.org : "SPJIMR perceived the need of the industry for thought leaders in middle level management and successfully endeavored to create the PGPM course. The programme, now in its fifth year of inception, has challenged the paradigm of conventional part time courses for working executives. Participants gain management perspectives through an innovative pedagogy of experiential learning and enhanced peer interaction. The programme offers a platform for learning and exchange of ideas with expert faculty. The renowned faculty at the institute facilitates innovative thinking through practical academic inputs and thought-provoking case studies. The programme also has a strong focus on values and ethics."
As part of the course- we had 4-days orientation classes, where we got to meet the professors, fellow students and our seniors. It was an amazing experience going back to school again after more than 5 years. Mumbai is a nice place, this was first time when I got to stay in the city for more than couple of days. The campus is so green and nice. Everything in the city is so accessible, but we heard from our seniors that its going to be a hectic year ahead. But I am sure I will be able to find time to run... and there couldn't be any place better than JUHU beach in Mumbai for running. The beach is at walkable distance, just 2KM from from the campus. I have made many good friends at SPJ. I am really looking forward for a great time. Will keep you guys posted. 
pic: At the Juhu beach
more at: http://pgpmatspjimr.wordpress.com/
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Medical Industry Expo 2008
This year's Medical Industry Expo was organised at Bangalore International Exhibition Center on Tumkur road from 17th Jan to 20th Jan. This is sponsored by IRIA (Indian Radiological and Imaging Association). This show is similar to USA's RSNA.
Entrance photoThere were stalls put up by GE, Philips, Allenger, Toshiba, Siemens, Kiran and many more vendors. All these companies were show casing their latest products and technologies in the fields of CT, MR, XRay and Imaging. There were also many seminars held on various diseases and related diagnostic mechanisms using CT, MR, Radiology, Fluoroscopy by senior radiologists. These seminars gave good deep insight into the requirements of our customers (doctors) and where we are in these technologies. 
Here you see in the GE Healthcare stall. It was biggest of all and had two floors.
Its me stading in front of MR product in GE stall.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sun rise photos
Hi All
I was travelling to Hyderabad from Bangalore by bus. It was early morning and sun was just about to rise. I took these photos with my mobile cam. Enjoy and do send-in your comments :-)
I was travelling to Hyderabad from Bangalore by bus. It was early morning and sun was just about to rise. I took these photos with my mobile cam. Enjoy and do send-in your comments :-)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Muthu Marathon 2008
Salem Road MapWow what a great run it was! My second Half Marathon and that too within one month of the first one. I am talking about the 'Muthu Marathon 2008' conducted by Konganapuram Sports club on Sunday Jan 6th. Konganapuram is a beautiful village in Salem district.
I left Bangalore on Saturday Jan 5th by train for SankiDurg (a place around 12 KM from Konganapur). I boarded Ernakulam Intercity train at 6:30am from Cantt railway station and reached the Sankidurg station at 11:00 am.
My JourneyThe journey was good and the places which I saw along were amazing, I was convinced that I am going to have a nice time.
Sankidurg Railway station
I had my lunch at a small hotel in Sankidurg.
I reached the AGN School, Kongapuram at around 12:30 pm- I was going to spend my night here.
AGN School
I got a nice and warm reception. I came to know this run from Nitin, we met at the school for the first time. He is a fabulous guy and it was great meeting him, very enthusiast. He had come there with his family.
Me getting ready for RUN
Next day morning, we left the AGN school at around 6:30am for the starting point of the Marathon.
Me getting ready for RUNNext day morning, we left the AGN school at around 6:30am for the starting point of the Marathon.
Participants
view of starting pointThe starting point was Vaikuntham [Seliamman Temple] (about 20KM south of Salem on Salem->Coimbatore road) and the finishing point was KAN Govt School [on SH86 road - Sankagiri to Edappidi road].
The route map
The race started at around 8:15am. The track was through a number of villages and mostly on asphalted roads. The people were so friendly, they used to serve us with lemon water on the way and it was just amazing to see their excitement.
Whhattte View
The climated was warm and running through hilly places is not easy but the two things which kept me running was, the beauty of the place- it was so greeeen and simply superb and the warmth of the villagers- they served us with water on the way which kept my body hydrated and me legs moving. Finally I reached the KAN school the finishing point. It took me about 2hrs and 17min to complete. It was no doubt a fantastic run and I am glad I participated. I hope to return next year as well. The organisers and volunteers were amazing. Everything was great.
Prize distribution (man in yellow t-shirt is the winner)At around 11am there was a small function at the KAN school. People talked and thanked the sponsors, prizes were given to the winner. I dont remember the winner's name but he was from a neighbouring village. I left the school after my lunch which was marvellous like everything else. I took the same train on return and reached Cantt station at around 9:30pm. Over all it was a great trip and one of my best weekend.
Waiting for the train- way back to Bangalore
Monday, January 7, 2008
India in Australia 2008
There are lot of emails floating around after II test match between India and Australia. I have compiled a few of them here-
After watching the 2nd test match, some rules have been incorporated by ICC to give the other teams a perfect clarification
(1) Ricky Ponting - (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.
(2) While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.
(3) While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.
( 4 ) All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACISM only.
( 5 ) MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advice only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.
( 6 ) NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.
( 7 ) THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING - "THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET" more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET. These rules will clarify better to the all the teams VISITING AUSTRALIA.
India's 3rd Test against Australia begins at Perthon 16th Jan'2008. Can someone find a pair of eyes for this blind man before that ???
Nice article here if you love cricket: http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/robertcraddock/
Friday, December 28, 2007
Nice Quotes- Enjoy
Without your involvement you can't succeed. With your involvement you can't fail. -- Dr. ABDUL KALAM.
It's better to loose your Ego to the one you Love, than to loose the one you LOVE because of EGO. -- JOHN KEATS.
Behind every successful man, there is an untold pain in his heart. -- BILL JACOBS
When you start caring about yourself, you start loving somebody. But when start caring about others somebody will start loving you.
Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself -- ALEN STRIKE.
There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty.
Some people dream of success... While others wake up and work hard at it
Have u noticed grass???
It's better to loose your Ego to the one you Love, than to loose the one you LOVE because of EGO. -- JOHN KEATS.
Behind every successful man, there is an untold pain in his heart. -- BILL JACOBS
When you start caring about yourself, you start loving somebody. But when start caring about others somebody will start loving you.
Don't compare yourself with anyone in this world. If you do so, you are insulting yourself -- ALEN STRIKE.
You are not responsible for what people think about you. But you are responsible for what you give them to think about you. -- STANLEY FERRARD.
There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty.
Some people dream of success... While others wake up and work hard at it
Have u noticed grass???
Even if somebody steps on it, it never gets hurt.... It never hurts others too.... When a wild storm attacks, all the big trees get uprooted.... But the simple grass survives....
Be noble & humble like that grass... Simple but strong to the core ....
Have a wonderful day ahead!!
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