Business to the Buddha

Category: Business

  • When will we stop?







    I watched this movie – Salaam Bombay! directed by Meera Nayar (1988). This movie was nominated for Oscars as Indian entry. A sad movie with only one good thing – a character ‘Baba’ dies, receiving the fruits of his deeds.

    The end of the movie seemed very artistic, philosophical and thought provoking to me. The hero – Chaipau or Krishna – is back to square one. Khali haath aaya tha aur khali hath hi hai. (in Hindi) He comes to Mumbai (Bombay of that time) empty hands and is empty hands in the end too. He has a beyblade (or torque) in his hand. That toy to me was the vicious circle of life.

    The protagonist has to collect INR 500 for his elder brother for a damaged bike. Circumstances happen such that he could never save that much. It seemed similar to me as the Ice Age 1 2 3 squirrel on which I wrote earlier in the blog Cogito Ergo Sum meaning “I think, therefore, I Exist”. The squirrel is behind the corn and our protagonist is for collecting INR 500. A sad truth – we are always running behind something. When the Buddha told to Angulimala – “I stopped long back, when will you stop?” Angulimala – a hardened criminal – stopped.

    Our INR 500 will never be saved and the corn will always elude us… When will we stop?

  • Euro! is it dead?







    For some time I did not write. I was considering writing either on “Utopia – the Dream world” (in Hindi – Ram Rajya) a type of communism in my opinion or on economics. A news item of yesterday made me select economics the later one. This news read “Deutsche Mark set for comeback instead of Euro in Germany”. I thought that Euro may die soon, so first thing I wrote to Prof Mankad (he is an expert of Macroeconomics) for his opinions on my fear of disintegration of European Union or dilution of the currency Euro.

    I believe that the concept of EU is very interesting and appreciating. However the question to ask is – who would tame the monkeys, those who are more interested in personal gains rather than collective wisdom? I read a book on similar concept of being individually wise and collectively dumb – “Games Indians Play“. The same is happening with different economies. Austerity measures – why there is so much of hue and cry? Because as per my understanding of austerity measures – “maximum of expenses to be controlled by austerity measures are on usage of tax payers money”.

    Earlier, when I read the Financial Times often I used to wonder about the crisis in EU. And I wrote about Germany as probable next super power. I had few reasons to think that way. However, later and now when I see economic crisis in EU (Greece, Spain, Iceland, Ireland and Portugal the list may become bigger in future) I changed my mind. Even further, when I read the news yesterday about ‘Deutsche Mark’ I felt more compelled to think of bigger consequences – could EU disintegrate? Is Euro dead?

    The other reason to dwell on my fear was another discussion with Prof Mankad some time back. He said UK has foreign debt in multiples of its GDP, what could happen to UK? UK has 400% of external debt to its GDP. So, are we seeing Euro as dead in future or Germany would have two currencies running in parallel – Euro and Mark? only time will tell us.

  • Blind men and the elephant







    I read this story in a book. A father once gave his son a telescope. One day the boy was using the telescope, he was little disappointed with the performance, he went to his father and said “father it is useless, I can see better without it. Everything is too small.” Father smiled, the boy was looking from the wrong side, he was not getting the BIG PICTURE at all. The boy had a narrow outlook through the glass. The father turned the little telescope around.

    The father had widened the son’s outlook. The boy grew up and improved the primitive telescope and with it discovered the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn and the Mountains on our moon. The boy was Galileo.

    What is important is seeing things in proper perspective and we must widen our outlook. So it is generally about the perspective, outlook and the way we look at things on which I wrote earlier. Similarly, there is a story about blind men and the Elephant. I took it from Wikipedia for the blog, however this story is very famous in India and we learnt this as kids. The story goes like this…


    A king has the blind men of the capital brought to the palace, where an elephant is brought in and they are asked to describe it.”When the blind men had each felt a part of the elephant, the king went to each of them and said to each: ‘Well, blind man, have you seen the elephant? Tell me, what sort of thing is an elephant?” The men assert the elephant is either like a pot (the blind man who felt the elephants’ head), a winnowing basket (ear), a plowshare (tusk), a plow (trunk), a granary (body), a pillar (foot), a mortar (back), a pestle (tail) or a brush (tip of the tail).

    I searched for books on blind men and the Elephant and found out that there are many books with this title for professionals are –
    Blind Men And The Elephant : Demystifying The Global It Services Industry
    The Blind Men And The Elephant: Mastering Project Work and
    on spirituality The Elephant And The Blind Men, Finding The Oneness Of God And Man you can check these books if you want to read them.

    Image source – http://history.cultural-china.com/en/38History960.html

  • The Machine that Changed the World







    I read this book recently “The Machine that Changed the World“. It is indeed a good book every businessman should read it. “The business is run on trust” or “the business will be run on trust”. When we hear this statement it seems odd, however it is true Trust is the factor. I wrote often about ‘interdependent co-arising‘ (Blog 1, Blog 2 and Blog 3). When I read this book I realized that it is practiced in Japan for many years. Toyota has substantial equity share in its suppliers and the suppliers of suppliers. This is a complete mesh of cross-locking equity structure. They trust each other decide a profit margins rather than hiding the cost structures. According to the book “…This system has replaced the vicious circle of MISTRUST into VIRTUOUS circle of COOPERATION…”.

    The cross linking equity structure goes to a deeper level and different competitors also own each others share. This shareholding pattern is to help each other raise funds. Reference to this is – “The Machine that Changed the World” page 194 perhaps it is edition 1.

    What I found interesting (page 151 of the book I think first edition) – when the volume of demand changes and assembler gives notice to the supplier and in case the volume (demand forecast) fluctuates “…The assembler will work with the supplier to look for other business…”. This is not only interesting but also a surprising and welcoming effort to build trust. One more thing I found very impressive and useful – “…we (suppliers) work without safety net, so we cannot afford to off the high wire…” and thus suppliers maintain the quality not only for their own sake but also for the assemblers.

    The other interesting fact is not just production but also product development is done in cooperation. We hear “crowd-sourcing” as a means for innovation however, a crude system has been used by Toyota for years now. New product development at Toyota involves the suppliers and major work of NPD is done by the suppliers.

    One more interesting factor I realized while reading the book. When we say “one customer at a time” and “managing customer relation in Marketing”, this concept was far more ingrained in the Lean system of sales even in 60s. So beyond Operations the Lean system has been a pioneer in Marketing and Sales too.

    Still after praising the book I am of the opinion that there would be some method which will change the game even further. The question to ask is when and how (which I contemplated earlier)?

  • Connecting the dots – innovation







    This is the third blog in the series of Connecting the dots… which started from way off the track blog on cricket.

    You see how things and ideas connect to one another. I was wondering about cartoon channels. These channels show many foreign based cartoon series and the characters are very famous amongst children. Ask kids – “Pokemon, who is this?” and see their reaction as if you are an alien, ‘oh! you don’t know Pokemon?’ And “world becomes their stage” they would show all the trademark actions and dialogs of the key characters of the series. Well, I don’t see any issue to this however it made me think on a tangent. The tangent resulted in an earlier blog on Cricket… another on “Amar Chitra Katha” and finally here I am writing on innovation. I connected the dots and here I am. The dots are as below –

    Cartoon Channel -> Blog on Cricket -> Amar Chitra Katha -> an article by Darrell Mann -> Blog on Innovation.

    Darrell Mann

    Once in a tutorial Dr Darrell Mann (a renowned TRIZ expert and professional) created a solution space for Better Mobile Phone starting from an Elephant. Surprised! Yes he did that in 2006 in a tutorial session. And if one knows how to connect dots one can design/formulate or conceptualize faster and better.

    I started thinking in the following fashion –
    ‘why we do not have any local Indian Character?’ I asked myself. Then answered to myself – ‘Hello! do people know that Chess and Badminton are conceptualized in India? Well in India Cricket is a sport rest are time pass. Perhaps true! How many notice, that the first archery competition in world happened during the time of Mahabharat, when Arjuna hit the eye of a fish. Oh! Olympics, from 1996 onwards in each Olympics India brought at least one medal home’.

    1996 – Peas
    2000 – Karnam Malleshwari
    2004 – R S Rathore and
    2008 – a few… who were they? Let me ask people if they recall names of these sports men/women

    Mahabharat, cartoon characters and kids not knowing about the Indian Mythologies – wow! that was what was the premise on which Amar Chitra Katha was born.

    Innovation requires flow of thoughts, flow of thoughts from different directions to a solution or an offering (Product/Service). However, we cannot rely on random thought and free-will for solutions. We need solution better and faster. Innovation requires open mind, ability to connect dots and think and look beyond obvious. At the same time it does not mean innovation is a play of experts, if someone is open and willing to learn one can learn approaches to be innovative. All the freewheel thoughts were the random stimulus and I connected them in the form of blogs – Cartoons, Cricket and Amar Chitra Katha.

  • A tree is only as strong as its roots







    Have you heard this saying before?

    This is the second blog in the series of … wait for it… (updated on Jan 2013) Connecting the dots – innovation

    Well, to continue from the earlier blogs – Cricket… here I am to write the next in one which takes off from the Amar Chitra Katha.

    Why Amar Chitra Katha? Because it relates to me on two levels. One on Business and the other the Buddha… As an innovation consultant I observed that innovative ideas not necessarily become successful revenue source. There could be many reasons for the same. One most important point for constant innovation and healthy top/bottom line is understanding the customer, understanding their overt and covert needs. That is what Uncle Pai could do with the concept of Amar Chitra Katha. No doubt he had a noble cause at the center. However, he also knew the need gap and could fulfill the same. So effectively, he was one who could understand the consumer insight and voice of the customer.

    I loved reading the comic and magazines by him and I was unfortunate that even though I lived in Dadar for a long time I could never meet him and when I heard about his sad demise I was not in India.

    Part two of Amar Chitra Katha is the Buddha. Again reiterating the fact that when I say “the Buddha” I do not restrict myself to the Buddha only. This relates to every possible concept which connects us more on a higher plane above our made so called ‘religion’. Amar Chitra Katha was born for all round development of kids. Read any story it would be either for knowledge, imparting some lesson or last but not the least to develop the habit of reading. Uncle Pai took this root as an obvious path – stories are easy to remember, kids (at least that time – 60s-70s) used to hear stories (Dada Dadi ki kahaniya) – when Jatak tales were used by the Buddha why reinvent the wheel?

    A to Z mysteries 1, A to Z mysteries 2, A to Z mysteries 3, A to Z mysteries 4, A to Z mysteries 5, A to Z mysteries 6,

     

  • Cricket is a sport in India rest are time pass







    Spoiler alert! Answers to the question posed here are below, please do not spoil the fun of the post… Believe me I knew the answers to many of the questions asked below…  This is the first blog in the series of … wait for it… (updated on Jan 2013) Connecting the dots – innovation

    1. What is the ATP ranking of an Indian men’s singles player, after recently concluded French Open? (First tell me his name…)
    2. Who won the lone medal in Olympics in 2000 for India?
    3. What was the score of Abhinav Bindra when he won the Medal in Olympic in China? Well, can you answer when did China Olympic happen?
    4. Who are the other two members who won individual medals in Olympics for India (this post was written in 2011 June)?
    5. Which games played in international arena are originated in India?

    On the contrary if I ask questions on Cricket (which I do not follow that much after 2003 world cup Final defeat of India) –

    1. who hit 6 sixes in an over for India some time back, in an international cricket tournament, which was the opposing team? This seems easy to even me to answer. Even there would be people who would tell me name, location, scores of winning and loosing teams and even the run/wicket difference etc etc. which I didnt even ask here.

    2. Let me ask little more difficult question. What is the name of one daughter of Lara. Brian Lara named his daughter after name of a city, why? This is kind of difficult, Very difficult question.

    Do you have answer for any of the above questions? Well, without the Google Search. Mostly Cricket related questions are answered easily by Indian people. Therefore, I say “Cricket is a sport in India rest are time pass.” No offenses against other sports women/men. How many would agree with me on this statement?

    I guess the number of people able to answer the above questions on cricket would be more than the number of people able to answer the question posted in first few lines. Take a random sample. So what is the reason.

    Now let me come to the other part which relates to me and I wanted to write about. “Amar Chitra Katha” was started by Uncle Pai on the same premise. He observed that kids participating in a quiz contest were able to answer questions related to Greek mythologies however they were not for Indian mythologies.

    There is a saying in Hindi – Ghar ki murgi dal barabar meaning: Self possessions are always undermined and other’s possessions seem better. I think when I am writing this I look like a representative of political faction BUT I AM NOT. We need to learn our own culture better before looking beyond. I love Amar Chitra Katha on which I will write later…

    Answers are as follows –
    1. Somdev Devvarman ATP ranking 67,
    2. Karnam Malleshwari in Weight lifting, medal – Bronze.
    3. Find out yourself, now at least Google it 🙂 in case you do not know
    4. Leander Paes 1996, Tennis (of course) Bronze Medal Atlanta Olympics 1996 and Major Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore doubletrap shooting Silver Medal 2004.

    The sports originated in India and played internationally (at least the following two)
    1. Chess
    2. Badminton (How many of you know the fathers name of a Bollywood actress who won All England Badminton competition) – Prakash Padukone
    3. I am not sure on this (and I didnt Google Search it) – Horse Polo is also originated in India

    Cricket
    1. Yuvraj Singh, Against England in T20 2007.
    2. Sydney after scoring 277 runs in Test Match, try Google for the year (at least you can do that)

    Answering questions of sports – other than cricket  – by people of India is difficult. And therefore I say “Cricket is a sport in India rest are time pass.” I apologies for the sports people of other sports, this is just an effort to bring this to the notice of WE THE PEOPLE…

    Further blogs on – we the people and Amar Chitra Katha…

  • Porters five forces







    Three or four years back when I was reading the book – Blog – Old path white clouds (Book – Old Path White Clouds), I started looking at businesses with a changed mindset. In India, there are small stalls on roadside. The stalls could be tea stall, paratha stall, idly dosa stall, Sandwich or others. What I observed was, at many places these stalls were near each other e.g. tea stall near the sandwich stall or the idly stall. This is so common that we overlook such arrangements of shops.

    What is the reason of them being next to each other? The reason is roughly 50% of the buyer of sandwich would buy a cup of tea or the other way round some people buying tea would order for a paratha. These offerings are seemingly different for the stall owners, they are selling a refreshing drink or a breakfast however, from the point of view of a customer it is a wholesome offering – tea with paratha/sandwich.

    Well the point I am trying to make with the example is one and the same. In terms of business Prof Mohan Sawhney (of Northwestern University) says ‘Metamarket’ and in Buddhism they called it interdependent co-arising.

    Representation of porters five forces
    In organized retail, there are two parties catering to the end customers. One the manufacturer and the other retailer. Here too, we would see the collaboration or the dependence of one on the other. If I relate the concept of interdependent co-arising further with the very basic management lessons – Porters Five Forces – we would observe few things. Earlier the manufacturers had power (suppliers power) and now the retailers are gaining power (buyers power), and this cat and mouse game would continue. This power would shift to the ultimate buyer – the customer – perhaps it will happen in the future.

    How can the forces be balanced? Well, when we look in the basics we would learn. The idea in any game theory based dilemma (Prisoners dilemma) is that when each one starts co-operating everyone wins. That would apply in long term. Net net – we would have to be on the basics – the concept of interdependent co-arising.

    Image source – http://www.smartcode.com/

  • A cup of tea







    I see at this cup of tea kept upon my table. Oh yes this cup is full of tea :)… I have to consume it… I have heard a tagline (Cafe Coffee Day an Indian Coffee chain) – “a lot can happen over coffee”. Let me replace Coffee with Tea.

    ‘A cup of tea’, it actually relates to many industries. The packaging industry, the cup/disposable cup manufacturing, tea company, tea farm, sugar (if added), Milk, Energy (utilized in making tea as well as manufacturing/processing other parts). Energy goes to a different tangent again – how produced, how transmitted etc. So this simple cup of tea kept on my table makes me think about so many things. Wait let me drink it, it is getting cold and horses of my mind are running unnecessarily. Whatever is the case this cup of tea has made me think of ‘interdependent co-arising’.

    ‘Interdependent co-arising’ is a concept in Buddhism. This concept states – everything in the world is dependent on other thing and things evolve together. [This is my understanding of the concept…]

    If we extend this concept to business – observe the value chain of any business. The cup of tea I was thinking about is a perfect example of Interdependent co-arising. I read a concept proposed by Prof Mohan Sawhney (of Northwestern University) – ‘metamarket’. Metamarket is a cluster of complementary product. The complementary product actually belong to diverse set of industries. This goes again to the cup of tea and a very basic as well as vital concept for each one of us to understand – interdependent co-arising.

  • Fruit will arrive in its season…







    We talk about long term sustainability, but want to gain in short term. Shareholders want quick dividends as well as long term performance of the company. If reserves and surplus (R&S) are given in dividends where would company get money for growth. In such cases our actions and desires conflict. I initially thought about the Japanese currency crises in similar fashion (common cause Vs individual gain). Though later Prof Mankad told me that the reason of the appreciation of Japanese Yen could be the computer triggered buying/selling, the way people put stop loss trigger in share trading.

    In operations, different departments try to optimize their performance, what happens to the overall performance? It is synergy that matters rather than the individual performance. Thats where ‘Theory of Constraints’ plays an important role to achieve global optimum against the local optimum.

    I was thinking about the same for some time in a different fashion. What is long term goal of an organization and an individual? How do both the goals meet and how to build synergy between individual’s aspirations and organizations perpetuity? Why did the question arise at the first place? A branding expert told us that marketing managers want to start new brand building exercise (to gain in short term for writing on their resume – ‘I started this initiative’) and move to next level. New manager comes he/she too does the same. Short term gains are there for the marketing manager; yet for long term the brand is diluted perhaps no one knows what would the brand stand for in future. I believe, Sataym fiasco started similarly – to show the investors that Satyam is growing, numbers were made up.

    Effectively, the question to ask is – how many times we look at the bigger picture? The question goes back to Why are we doing what are we doing? I recall Prof Lopez digging deeper and probing us to the fundamental reasons and the importance of asking right questions. Where does the bug stop?

    In school we learnt couplets (termed as Doha in Hindi) of a mystic Kabir, one of them was –
    धीरे धीरे रे मना धीरे सब कुछ होय
    पानी सीचे रे घणा ऋतू आये फल होय
    Literal translation (courtesy) of the same is –
    O mind! everything happens at its own pace, slowly
    Gardner may water a hundred buckets, fruit arrives only in its season.

    I am hopeful that some day those questions would be answered and we individually and collectively would balance between the long term Vs the short term perspective. there would not be much (if not any) of opportunism. We as human beings will evolve. I am optimist, “…fruit will arrive in its season…” and we are nearing the season.