Superwoman of Group Buying

Flaming enthusiasm, backed by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success. Mrs. Anisha Singh, founder and CEO, Mydala.com, knew this well when she started the enterprise in December 2009. Her concept to start a group e-shopping by launching Mydala.com is today one of the leading web portals that offer immense opportunity to its customers to shop with ease while saving the big buck. With a Masters degree in political communication and an MBA in information systems from American University, Washington DC., Mrs. Singh, at just 21, joined the Clinton administration at the National Women’s Business Association. Here she helped women entrepreneurs raise funds for innovative women-led businesses. She then worked at Centra Software in Boston before returning to India and establishing Kinis (Software) Solutions, a provider of customised e-learning solutions to clients across US and India. “I was travelling back and forth for my first business, but after a period of time, my presence was not required 24x7 as things started to settle down and were taken care of by a management team. It was then that I started to think about what else I can do,” says Mrs. Singh, who feels that Indians have entrepreneurship inherent in them as is proved by the large number of hotels and motels being run by Indians throughout the world. Then Mydala.com happened.

She says, “I was working for 18 hours every day while setting up Mydala. In fact, I was in office till 10 pm before going to the hospital at 2 am to deliver my baby and attended my first business call after only four hours. I was back in office just 10 days after becoming a mother.” The hard work was worth it. Mydala.com is today one of the leading names in the realm of group buying. It currently has associations with 2000 plus merchants across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad and has created savings for users to the tune of over INR 2 crore till date, she says. It offers deals from restaurants, saloons and spas and a host of other services at discounts ranging from 40 to 90 per cent. Just within two years of its launch from Delhi, it has a remarkable subscriber base of around one million. Click here to read more...

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What needs to be done?

Two types of solutions to the problem of groupthink have been suggested.

1. Solutions that seek to insert particular processes into meetings with the aim to ensuring effective debate and discussion. Organisations should set up several independent groups, working on the same problem. The board should invite outside experts into meetings to discuss key issues. Each member should discuss the group’s ideas with trusted people outside the group (That is, a coach or mentor). First, and not surprisingly, simply having a debate helps, as can extending the time available for discussion. Likewise, assigning at least one group member the role of devil’s advocate can affect decision-making positively.

2. Insight solutions that focus more on helping teams understand how they make decisions and the politics and biases involved.

Harvard Business School’s Professor Emeritus Chris Argyris says, simply creating debate is of uncertain use when the issues involved are potentially threatening or embarrassing to the participants. His method involves engaging executive groups collectively and individually as a coach/facilitator, giving them feedback, challenging their thinking and using focused exercises to help them reflect on how they operate. Click here to read more..

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Rajeev Narang (Vice President - HR, Tech Mahindra ltd.) explains why The Employee Graduate Scholarship Programme was his Best Decision

The success of the programme can also be measured with the significant drop in the attrition rate. It has come down to more than one-fourth for the BPO as compared to the overall attrition. Participation in pursuing the work integrated learning activities is greatly encouraged. These programmes are conducted in a collaborative environment with various premier national and international educational institutions. There are several objectives behind these activities; some are stated below: 1. Stable resourcing for existing business needs over four years. 2. Higher profile resourcing for future business needs in large numbers. 3. Value addition to fresh and experienced graduates. 4. Concurrency of learning opportunity and work experience. 5. Acquisition of post graduate degree in engineering. While there are various opportunities involving financial demands, some are fully funded by Tech Mahindra, some are partially funded, and others are conditionally funded. Currently employees can pursue these programmes from: BITS, Pilani; British Telecom – University College, London; IIT, Mumbai; and, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Click here to continue....

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A Carrot a Day !!

The dil in most cases is insatiable; like a whimsical child, it keeps asking for more. If the chant ‘give me more’ is for self-growth, work, or self-actualisation, there is nothing like it. But if it is for incentives, perks, and increments, then the individual may gulp, belch and burp, till he or she falls sick, yet the desire for more may not reach its saturation. The only paramount motivation is to ask, pray, and wait for more. Applying this to an organisational setting, an individual would climb the ladder one rung at a time, and hold on to a rung till he or she gets a KITA (Herzberg’s Two-Factor theory stated KITA as an acronym for ‘Kick In The Ass’; giving rewards or punishment for someone to do something), then move up to the next rung and hold on there; this exercise would continue indefinitely. Yeh Dil Maange More is very much a part of corporate culture, and is adversely affecting intrinsic motivation, positive work culture, productivity, and retention of employees. We try to look into this malady, and how organisations can motivate employees to give their best and gain their loyalty without resorting to the carrot-and-stick policy.

Motivation is an intriguing topic; one of the most commonly confused words and equally haphazard are the procedures for developing it. Most confuse ‘movement’ with ‘motivation’. Motivation is: consistently putting effort, energy, and commitment into desired results; the imperative words being ‘consistently’ and ‘desired’. Movement is short-term and usually stops once the force is removed, so it is not consistent and it may not be desired. It is what Herzberg graphically summed up as KITA, which can be positive or negative – carrots or sticks – but they have the same effect, an outside force that generates movement.Read More..

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G8 SUMMIT: SWISS ALPS, DISNEYLAND TOUR ALSO OPTIONS...

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

Evian, France, 2003: “Iraq has WMDs! And everybody better contribute to kill that damn nuke-bomber Saddam!” We told you, Bush churns out gas better!
Georgia, USA, 2004: Main agenda: Extending the controversial Heavily In-debt Poor Countries [HIPC] initiative for debt-relief and to vaccines development. Achieved: Magnanimous relief to Iraq’s $120 billion debt on US insistence.
Gleneagles, Scotland, 2005: This summit, like all years before, was again aimed to provide $50 billion debt-relief to Africa [Nothing new! Nothing achieved!].

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2006: For the first time in recent history, the G8 leaders proactively agreed on energy security, fighting diseases and encouraging education. Oh yes, it didn’t at all mention them providing any financial assistance!
Heiligendamm, Germany, 2007: Top agenda: Africa! Promises made in 2005 [in Scotland] of $50 billion aid to Africa: More or less overlooked! Creditably, developed nations in all have donated around $2.5 trillion since 1960 to LDCs. However, official estimates confirm that even this falls short of the required – and so called ‘promised’ – aid amount by a mammoth $3.5 trillion. As per the World Bank, it will cost developed countries just 2.8 cents per person per week to meet the promise. But we believe the first world still hasn’t understood the cheapness of life’s existence for the poor.

Having said that, we have a strategy for poor beleaguered Nick. We suggest that instead of being uselessly exposed to global criticism year after year, the G8 should officially confirm that leaders would meet simply to have a good time. After that, hand over the event management to our team [please, we insist]! Disneyland, Star Cruise, bungee lessons, paragliding, you name it guys, we’ll have that for you. And what about least developed countries? Goddamn those Africans...

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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TELECOM: MNP

Mobile Number Portability Promises to Usher in a New Paradigm in Indian Telecom. While New Players would benefit, The Real Advantage would be to the Customers

Clearly, MNP would create a lot of new game changers in India, the world’s second largest mobile market, and would pose many new challenges for the service providers. Introduction of MNP now certainly shifts the balance to a huge extent towards the newer players, who can now attempt to gain from poaching subscribers of the traditional incumbents. Operators would now need to invest significantly on attractive schemes and promotions. Investment would be required on the marketing front with key focus on quality, differentiation and pricing plans. New players will also have to be careful and ensure that the market share they gain in this manner is not fragile and can sustain for a longer time. Hemant Joshi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, India agrees, “MNP will mostly increase the subscriber acquisition and retention costs for the operators, especially for the giants like Bharti Airtel who have the greatest revenue market share pie at 31%, Vodafone Essar at 21%, Reliance Communications at 14% and Idea Cellular at 13%.”

The recent trend had been that operators were becoming least interested in investing to improve and maintain quality of services as the margins had fallen to an all time low. As per a latest Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) report, as many as 24 licenses (out of the total of 211 licensees in all the telecom circles) do not meet the minimum metering and billing benchmark defined by the TRAI. The number is 42 in the pre-paid segment. Similarly, 27 licensees do not match the minimum parameter for 100 per cent refund of deposit within 60 days of closure of service. The report also highlights that the service providers have shown a bad response time to customer calls for assistance. The report released in October 2010 says that 59 licensees in different circles do not meet the required norms. All the incumbent operators including BSNL, Bharti Airtel, MTNL, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and RCOM somewhere do not meet the minimum QoS norms defined by the regulator. Similar is the case with new entrants. So far, TRAI has had a very little role when it comes to forcing telecom subscribers to increase the QoS. “The most effective tool that the regulator has is – naming and shaming, by which the regulator can inform the subscriber about his service provider’s quality shortcoming by putting the report in public. TRAI can recommend a penalty and cancellation of license, but cannot take action on its own,” highlights former Principal Adviser, TRAI Satyen Gupta.

With the introduction of MNP, a poor quality of service will have much more dire repercussions than before. Call drops, problems with the billing, network congestion, failure to have proper customer redressal forums et al would become more critical factors than ever before. Still, players will have to decide what their playing field would be – price or service offering. “Entering a price war is not going to help as there already has been a significant drop in ARPU and margins. Operators need to focus on the quality of services and customer retention plans,” says Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East. Acceptably, the tariff war is likely to take a breather for some time, as the call rates have already touched all time lows.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR: THE SMALL CAR CHALLENGE

Etios can prove to be a Fortune Changer for Toyota in the Indian Market. But there are Challenges Galore that are Hell-Bent on Proving why the Jap’s Slow-Coach Small-Car Strategy may work Against It.

Today, everyone from Nissan to even Volkswagen (and Skoda), has entered the compact car fray. Toyota may have spent too much time in finalising its entry, which already has 23 models on offer in India. However, Sandeep Singh, Deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar Motors has a justification for the delay. “We took a long time because we had to take into account the needs of the Indian consumer while finalising every detail of the Etios,” says he, while speaking to B&E. Accepted, but being a careful late mover is one thing and being the last to take the plunge is another. Therefore, carving out a comfortable space for itself may now call for some serious effort on the part of the Japanese, and even the Rs.32 billion committed by the company towards setting-up a dedicated production unit at Bidadi (near Bangalore, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units) may prove to be just half-a-leap. Considering that Toyota plans to sell 70,000 units of Etios in the first year of launch alone, with a further target of 300,000 units by 2015 (after having sold just a total of 63,843 vehicles in the Indian market in FY2009-10), the carmaker will need a far more robust distribution framework to realise the goods. Not to forget, profitability in the A2 segment (where the margins are the lowest amongst all passenger car segments) is largely dependent on dealership network. While Maruti has 850+ dealers and Hyundai has 670, Toyota only has 114 – lesser than even GM (250) and Ford (172)!

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

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