Relationship between Laziness, Automobile sales & Pollution

Whenever I go out with my family the first thing that I do once I get out of my building is to look for a rickshaw whereas my father would continue walking. This actually sums up one-third of my argument in this post i.e. present generation is lazier than the previous one. The other one-third of my argument being that this laziness is leading to more sales and the last one-third of my point being that everything that I have just mentioned is leading to more pollution!

Last week on my way to Ghatkopar station I made an interesting observation that majority of the people walking belonged to the 30-plus age group and those below 30 preferred going by rickshaw or private vehicles. This pattern has remained consistent since then. This is shocking as one would actually expect the reverse. But as I mentioned above, our parents don't mind walking a long distance whereas we wouldn't mind spending Rs10-15 just to cover a couple of alleys. The only positive that I see here is that youngsters are actually helping in automobile sales but the negative part is that it is creating pollution. As if this wasn't enough, we have found out a new way of increasing pollution i.e. home delivery. It has become a norm to order food which has forced restaurants to employ a few delivery boys and there are many who use scooters, bikes for the purpose which is again leading to pollution though even this is adding to vehicle sales! One may argue that even if one doesn't order and decides to go to the restaurant he will use some mode of transport which will again create pollution so the situation remains as it is. It is this attitude that needs to be changed. Why can't we just walk to a restaurant and also save some money in the process?

If not for environmental reasons one may do this for personal reasons i.e. to reduce flab which is becoming more and more obvious with an increase in the sales of XXL T-shirts! Speaking of environment reminds me of latest Idea ad which talks about tree conservation. Nice ad that by Idea (I have no idea whether it is leading to sales). Anyways, the other day I had gone to a restaurant with friends (of course I didn’t go by rickshaw or car!) where this idea came to my mind that why can’t we have a system where while we give order we also give our cell number and the bill is messaged on that number which we can show to the person at the counter and make payment accordingly. Even this can do wonders as far as tree conservation is concerned as a lot of paper can be saved.

Vision & Mission: Relevance in present scenario

Just attended one seminar last Sunday which was basically about how the companies should try to work towards business excellence. There one of the speakers talked at length about the importance of vision & mission of the company as to how the company’s character is communicated through its vision & mission and how people develop a certain attitude towards a company that has a clear vision of where it wants see itself certain years down the line and how it plans to reach there. But somehow I feel that these things don’t hold too much of importance in today’s world where everyone is looking for a best deal and not the best company to deal with! So I questioned the speaker about this but he got offended may be because I questioned the central theme of his lecture! So I left it at that.

But since then I have been thinking about it and the speaker whose mission, it seemed, was to convey the importance of vision to the audience! He kept on stressing on one thing i.e. the stakeholders. He held the view that the stakeholders would deal only with those companies whose vision & mission coincided with their belief and principles. Let’s consider a case of some company whose stakeholders would obviously be shareholders, employees, creditors, suppliers, government, society and customers. Now what percentage of these stakeholders would know the vision & mission of the company they are dealing with? Let’s take one by one.

Investors: Barring a few who actually do a thorough analysis of a company (whether it involves the analysis of vision & mission is still a question), most of the people invest in a company on the basis of tips they receive!

Employees: How many employees would recall their company’s objectives? Not the job hoppers at least! I am sure all the B-School graduates would remember though as they have to mug up the vision & mission of all the companies that come to campus but they forget it as soon as the company leaves!

Creditors: Even in case of creditors, I feel, they would see the financial ability of the firm before dealing with them. They wouldn’t just lend to the companies having a nice vision statement.

Suppliers: Suppliers would obviously look for long term relationship and location advantage while dealing with the companies regardless of its vision.

Government: I don’t think the government would have any problems as long as the company pays its dues (taxes and other payments!) on time.

Society: The society is okay with a company if it has not specified its vision and mission as long as the company carries out some socially responsible activities and contributes towards social welfare.

Customers: Last but not the least, the smartest set of people alive: the customers. When was the last time you heard your friend saying that he didn’t buy a particular pair of jeans for his girl friend as the apparel company didn’t have a good mission!

So where do we stand now? Does a company need vision? Of course it does! I was fortunate enough to have read the book ‘Made in Japan’ (about Akio Morita and Sony) before I wrote this post where he explained the importance of having a goal in life and how that goal gives directions to all your efforts otherwise things go haywire. He mentioned how after Russia became the first country to reach outer space; President Kennedy announced mission to reach moon within ten years. It was that announcement that set the ball rolling and all efforts started being directed towards the accomplishment of that mission or vision whatever one may call it. So vision & mission are important but what is more important is its communication to its stakeholders and sincere efforts on your part to show that you actually mean everything you mention on your flashy site and that you are taking pains to work towards their realization.

Before I end this post, I would like to mention one more thing to confuse you all. Though I have been using Google (arguably the biggest brand) regularly, I had never bothered to know its mission & vision. But while writing this post I decided to find it out. After a lot of search (of course on Google) I came to know that Google doesn’t have a vision, it only has a mission! So now it’s up to you to decide whether vision & mission are necessary or not. Because I am not committing anything!

Please read this

Life of Hijras has always been a mystery in India. I was looking for some information when I came across an interesting article on Wikipedia where I found out a few interesting things about them. One of them being that the Hijras used to be employed as the servants for female royalty in the imperial palaces and enjoyed a very high status in those times. In fact many families converted one of their children into a Hijra so that the child could get a good job in one of the palaces which would ensure a steady income for the family. Later this practice was banned by Aurangzeb in 1668. Compare that to the present time where they are not being given the respect that any human being deserves. Agreed their blessings are revered by many families who welcome them whenever a child is born or there is a shop opening where they come, sing, give their blessings and in turn get sweets, sarees and money from the families and that is it. This doesn't guarantee a livelihood as we see them asking for money at traffic signals, in trains etc. They don't get jobs as people are not ready to accept them for what they are. Today, as we see, they are suffering and being deprived of a normal life for no fault of theirs which is very unfair. So the least that we can do for them is to create opportunities where even they get a chance to live a normal life as we do.

One solution that I suggest is this: Pharmaceutical companies can develop a new distribution channel with their help. Their network is very strong and they are always aware of the number of births taking place in a particular area. Since they visit all those houses where a birth takes place, companies can ask them to sell their baby care products to those families and at the same time companies can also get data about the likely births in a particular area which can help them predict demand and make arrangements in advance. People are more likely to listen to them than those salesmen who at times can irritate people to death. This will lead to a situation where the Hijras will get a normal livelihood and companies will develop a new distribution channel and it will also act as a CSR activity. I know that their reach is restricted to certain areas but still that shouldn’t stop companies from taking their help in selling their products as they, I certainly believe, have the potential to become the best sales force.

Kindly recognize the unofficial union

This post, to an extent, is related to the one I had written earlier but I decided to mention it separately as the earlier one had got a bit longer and I didn’t want anyone to lose interest midway! I am sure all housewives are witnessing this unofficial alliance of domestic servants (kamwali bai as they are popularly known). Recently one of my neighbor’s servant had not come for 8 days without giving any prior notice. So finally when she came she was scolded by my neighbor and asked to leave. But when she started looking for another servant she wasn’t able to find one or let’s just say that nobody was ready to take up the job giving reasons like “time nai hai” so my neighbor was left with no choice but to call her back. There is no point hinting at some union here because we all know it exists though they may not admit it openly.
Let me also say that housewives are also to blame for this situation as servants have suffered a lot in the past. We know how they have been asked to do extra work apart from their regular work without being paid for it and their salaries are cut when they don’t come to work which is not fair as even they deserve some paid leaves! People who work in the organized sector get a certain number of leaves (read paid leaves) every year but they don’t think twice before cutting their domestic servant’s salary. Even domestic servants deserve all the employment benefits but they don’t get them as they are not into organized sector. So it’s nice to see them form a union of sorts to fight for their rights. Nowadays, their rights include paid leaves, Diwali bonus etc.!! But with rights come responsibilities and there should be a way to make sure that they exercise all their duties with diligence. So one solution that we can have is this: Recognize their union as official, select one of them as their representative and have a system in place where housewives are assured of the daily services by making sure that when servant is not able to come due to some unforeseen circumstances then somebody else substitutes on her behalf so that housewives' interests are taken care of. Also have consensus on number of days that can be taken as leave and also the hike that may be given every year or a couple of years so that servant doesn’t ask for unnecessary hikes anytime. With a system like this in place everyone will benefit.

Curious case of two cobblers

I walk for at least an hour everyday owing to a lot of reasons like busses' timing not coinciding with that of mine, my inability to afford rickshaw, and to an extent my tummy which, lately, has started gathering some fat! This habit of walking, as one would expect, takes its toll on shoes etc. And let me tell you that I am a regular visitor of those roadside cobblers and most of them address me by name! I have spent a fortune getting my shoes, slippers, or chappals getting stitched. Last week while I was getting out of my home I realized that the outsole and the toe cap of my shoe had been separated exposing my tow with amorphous nails! I had no idea as to how in the hell was I going to reach the nearest cobbler. Still I made it there after 20 minutes which on any other day would have taken 2 minutes. I wasn't sure whether that guy would have come by then but it was such a relief when I saw him there. When I was removing a shoe of mine that had to be stitched he looked at me in disbelief and said "yeh dhandha to maine 3 din pehele hi bandh kar diya!" (I have closed down this business since three days). Now it was my turn to look at him in disbelief! I took about 10 seconds to recover before I asked "yeh dhandha bandh kiya to ab karte kya ho aap?" (Now that you have closed this business of yours, what do you do for a living?) Then he went on to say that he had stopped doing the shoe-chappal business and instead decided to stick to doing only the Rickshaw business i.e. the stitching of torn black outer covers of rickshaw and other rickshaw related work. I didn’t ask as to why he had switched his family business (it was started by his father).
[There are actually two cobblers situated within a distance of a few meters, close enough to snatch away each other's customers. Of late, there was a price war going on between them! Especially in the last few months where it seems people had stopped buying shoes or reduced the frequency of buying them (may be due inflation which forced them to postpone their purchase) which had led to good business for cobblers as people had to stay with their old pair of shoes. We actually experienced a buyer’s market where the cost of stitching went down by almost 30%!]
So now here I was left stranded with a shoe in my hand and a few meters to cover before I could reach another cobbler. And when the second one was finally done with all the stitching I extended one Rs.5 coin expecting a rupee or two back. But then he replied that it would cost me Rs.7! Without arguing I gave Rs.7 and left as I was running late. But I could not help asking one question “lagta hai aapne rickshaw ka stitching karma bandh kar diya hai?” (It seems you have stopped doing the rickshaw business) to which his reply was “haan!!” (Yes) Then I realized what had happened. Few days back they were competing for both groups of customers (Rickshaw wallas as well as people who came with their chappals, shoes etc.) which had led to a small price war. But now suddenly one dedicates himself to the rickshaw business and the other to the Chappal business which allowed them to charge higher prices as there was no competition now. And as you would agree if someone requires the services of a cobbler, it’s the nearest cobbler who would get the business. So it’s not difficult to conclude that both of them have come to some sort of agreement to create a situation where there is only one cobbler giving a particular service (which may be for shoes or rickshaw) within that area.
Now a question may arise that how did they agree upon this considering that one business may not be equally profitable as the other. And here’s where location advantage comes into picture. The person who is providing services to the Rickshaw wallas is situated near a Rickshaw stand, a chai walla as well as one sulabh shauchalaya! And the interesting thing is the Rickshaw wallas are being charged the same as they used be earlier indicating a tacit agreement between the two cobblers as the one who is looking after the chappal business would earn less than the other so to compensate for that loss he would increase the charges. One more thing which could be a part of the agreement is that the one who is handling the rickshaw can’t charge more to take advantage of the situation as this would put him in a better position than the other which could motivate the one suffering to break the agreement and start doing the Rickshaw business as well.
I know I am assuming a few things here but all these coincidences can’t be happening at the same time right? And if this is true then hats off to them for pulling it off!!