Free downloads: The money spinner!

There has been an interesting debate over the last few years as to whether the downloading or file sharing of movies/music on internet should be banned or not. The movie/music industry has been arguing that a lot of efforts, time and money go into the making of it so they should have all the right in the world to make money out of it and that they have not been able to exercise that right due to rampant downloading/file sharing that takes place online. On the other hand, there is a strong belief that there should not be any restrictions of such kind. Recently, the Dutch government passed a landmark judgment that such downloading of content is perfectly legal. The decision was a result of the study undertaken on behalf of the Dutch Ministries of Education, Economic Affairs, and Justice, which concluded that such file sharing adds to the social welfare and that it has an overall positive effect. Surprisingly, it also says that such ban restricts free flow of information and invades internet user's privacy. On the face of it one may feel that the industry will suffer huge losses as the direct revenue from the sales of original CD/DVDs will go down, though I believe this will benefit the industry as a whole.
Of late, we have seen a number of Hollywood celebrities flying down to India in order to promote their music/movies. Why this sudden influx of celebrities? It is because they have realized the potential of the Indian market (i.e. commercial potential). How did we become a potential market for them? It is because we have been exposed to their music/movies through internet. Same is the case in other countries as well. India is more attractive, of course, because even if a small percentage of population is interested in something, the absolute number is always going to be large considering our population. So these companies should realize that internet, on the contrary, has opened up new sources of revenue for them which did not exist earlier. Somebody who had seen Tom Cruise’s earlier movies on his/her computer (by downloading it from some free site) is now shelling out Rs.150 plus to watch him in multiplexes. We have seen Lady gaga promoting her album and getting interviewed by Shahrukh Khan in India. Paris Hilton also launched a product line here recently and these are just few examples. How frequently did this happen earlier? Not much.
Same is true for music as well. Fortunately, there are some artists who realize that the times are changing and they have used that knowledge to their advantage rather than making a fuss about it. Some local band in US had uploaded their music videos online and these videos were made available for downloading free of cost. People had an option to pay if they liked. How many people actually paid is still a mystery (as given a choice nobody would like to pay for something that is freely available) but one should look at the bigger picture. On one hand, a local band got a platform to reach out to a worldwide audience free of cost and on the other hand they get to mint money when they go for music concerts and the same people who had downloaded their videos for free will pay a huge sum to watch them perform live, provided of course they make some good music. So it is a question of sacrificing Rs. 10 in order to make Rs. 15. It is also a lesson for music companies that they cannot take people for granted. Earlier, the original CD costing Rs.60 is now available for Rs.30 and still these companies are making profits. Internet has acted as a great equalizer in this case as it has not only expanded the market for these companies but at the same time it has brought the cost down for the end-users.

Save the bill

As one would have expected the Lokpal bill has hit the dead end owing to dissonance between the ‘Anna team’ as they like to call it and the government, the biggest area of dissension being the proposal to bring Prime Minister & higher judiciary under the purview of the bill along with other demands. But let us not discuss the ‘delay’ part as it had to happen considering the consequences of implementation! What I want to highlight here is one of the USPs of the bill i.e. crowdsourcing: the fact that the bill is open to people’s opinion and that the suggestions of people are being incorporated in the bill ‘to the extent possible’. One may argue here that it is not crowdsourcing in real sense as it is drafted by a committee not people and that point is well taken but I am only referring to the 'editing part' for which the common people are being invited.
Something similar is happening in Iceland as well after the banking fiasco. The council is drafting clauses of the constitution and it is being uploaded on their website/Facebook for people’s opinion. This whole idea of taking vox populi into account while forming legislation has a downside to it I feel i.e. popular opinion tends to be loaded in favour of emotions rather than rationale and emotions can’t be the basis for any law. And also what I feel is most important when we talk about public opinion is ‘majority’. So it made me do some research on situation prevailing in Iceland which is experiencing something similar though it is the constitution that is being referred to people there compared to Lokpal bill in India. What I read on fastcompany.com was terribly disappointing. Of two thirds of Iceland's population (3.2 lacs) which is on Facebook an average post elicited 4 to 5 comments. I, then, checked on indiaagainstcorruption.org and found a total of 1817 comments on Lokpal bill, not a big number considering India’s population. You would find more comments when any wannabe celebrity changes his/her status on any networking site! At the same time I also admit to have not taken the pains to go to the site and comment on it like most of the others. This is because most of the people think their opinion will not have any impact and in the process we lose out, something that happens during election as well (though I must say that I have never missed out an opportunity to exercise my right to vote). So unless the situation improves in terms of more people contributing to the cause we will end up having a legislation by the committee members for the people instead of by the people for the people which is actually the objective behind it. It is practically impossible to reach out to everyone personally for their opinion; closest we can go is to have a national debate on it if possible (even that will only lead to chaos). So please go out or should I say please log on to the site and have your say for a better India.

Going gaga over Gaga

Though I have heard and experienced that time changes everything, change of definition over a period of time is something that I had never expected. So it was nothing less than a shock to me when the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) awards were announced and Lady Gaga was chosen as the Fashion Icon! If one goes deep into deciphering the meaning of the word ‘icon’ one would realize that it refers to a person who embodies certain qualities that others would like to imbibe. It just beats my imagination as to how can Lady Gaga who dresses the way only she can, be adjudged as a fashion icon? Nobody can disagree that she is a crowd puller, can attract attention like nobody can and that the number of awards she has won for her music is more than the number of songs she has sung! She is one of the most successful celebrities around. But considering her outrageous dressing sense; I just fail to understand the logic behind this (though personally I am a big fan of her and believe she carries herself better than most of the celebrities). Not long ago she was selected as the winner of both the best dressed and worst dressed awards at the Shockwaves NME Awards. She was also declared Hollywood's biggest fashion victim in a poll conducted by WENN.com. And now she is in the same league as Kate Moss & Nicole Kidman who have won the same award earlier.
CFDA is a respected body and has been operating for a long time so there must be some reason why it went gaga over Lady Gaga! The arguments in her favour included her global popularity and the fact that everyone wants to see her no matter what see wears. In fact the reason why people wants see her all the time is, I guess, because they want to see what she is wearing! She has always been known for doing things in unconventional manner, here again we see her winning the award due to some unconventional reasons! How many girls would actually want to dress like her is another debate altogether (as an icon is someone people would like to imitate). But she is a winner all the way for changing the way we define fashion.

Consumption versus saving

I always thought of writing something about it but never did. But when I read this news yesterday I could not help but write this. According to The Telegraph, inflation destroyed savings worth $58 billion in UK in just one year! Why it happened? Average rate of interest earned by people on their savings account was about 1.6% and inflation was about 5.2%. Now compare that to what is happening in India: savings account rate is around 3.5% and the wholesale inflation rate hovers around 8.5-9%. And the extent to which WPI underestimates the actual inflation is a foregone conclusion now. Assuming the savings rate of 3.5% and inflation rate of 9% (on a conservative note as the actual rate is much higher than this considering the limitations of WPI), we see that Rs.100 deposited in a bank account become Rs.94.5 (Rs.100+3.5-9) by the end of the year.
This is not nuclear science and we all know it. Now if this situation persists for a longer period of time people start forming an opinion about the situation which basically leads to two kinds of actions. Some (those who like to live for the moment) may be inclined to think that despite savings if their money is getting eroded, they might as well spend it now which leads to even more inflation! So this not only leads to problems for economy as a whole but it creates more problems especially for those who decided to save as they have postponed their purchases, they are missing out on an opportunity to buy at current rates, and also they will see their savings account shrink for deciding to save! There are some who think the other way: they believe if anyways their money has to erode by the end of the year they might as well save some more money for future requirements. This in turn will lead to control the inflation to the extent they save which will benefit those who are buying at this stage (the live for the moment type)! Whichever way you consider, in such a situation those who decide to spend now benefit and those who decide to save lose. But those who save are immunizing themselves against any future emergency which is not possible if you decide to spend all that you have. So eventually it is a fight between those who live for the moment and those who live for the future.
Let us see what an overdose of either of these situations can lead to. If most of the people start spending their money like there is no tomorrow just to beat erosion in savings, we will be encountering even more inflationary situation in the future. Secondly, if all of them decide to save their money for the future it will lead to lesser demand, decrease in production accompanied by loss of jobs etc. So what is the solution? The answer is to strike the balance between present and future needs by doing some financial planning! If you have observed when we say ‘spending’ money we are talking about spending it on food, clothes etc. So the idea is to make sure that the ‘spending’ part has ‘planned investment’ as one of its components. What this will do is that it will take the money out from the savings account so you will not lose money due to inflation and also it will provide for your future needs so it takes care of future emergency as well. I admit, this is what all of us do and that this does not warrant a torture in the form of such a long and boring post but as we see there are lot of issues in the economy so I am sure there are some who are not doing what is mentioned and messing things up. This is post is dedicated to all of them! I also confess that this post could have been a one-liner but since I had some free time I thought of stretching that one-liner!

Time to serve those niches

McDonald’s has done it again. In the past, it had customized its menu to suit the taste buds of its customers in India and now it dishes out something for the spicy-food lovers as well. It has introduced a new range of spicy food exclusively customized for India. It is one of those organizations which realized quite early that success in India depends not only on introducing products that have been successful globally but the extent to which these global products have been Indianized. We saw that with the introduction of more vegetarian dishes earlier and now the spicy range. So it is certainly spicing things up here! Introducing a whole new range will certainly lead to more footfalls as there are many who shy away from McDonald’s for want of spicy food. I may be wrong when I consider people preferring ‘spicy-food’ as a niche market, as the number of people preferring it is huge in India. But creating a whole new range of products specifically for these people certainly qualifies as a niche, I feel.
Second example that I came across recently is of Axis bank. New ad by Axis bank shows a typical young couple arguing where the pregnant wife is not happy with her husband for preferring his banking related work over her and then the second part of the ad shows a bank guy coming to their doorstep to get the work done. It essentially talks about the priority banking service provided by the bank where it is prepared to go the customer’s place in cases like these. This just goes to show what competition can do the industry. Not long ago, it was a pain going to banks and getting your work done and now they are coming to your place!
And mind you these both examples are of companies which are more popular for serving the mass markets. But the way things are going, even this kind of companies cannot ignore the niches. And anyways it makes sense for companies into mass products to serve the niche market as well if it is cost effective. Let’s say in case of Axis bank when you go to your client’s place it helps you develop that rapport and know him better. Who knows you may just end getting another client for opening a savings account when she delivers! I may sound too imaginative when I say this but when the competition is cut-throat even the niche markets need to be served.

Dressing up badminton

It seems this is the season of bizarre news. I had written one post earlier about a town in Italy that had banned girls from wearing mini skirts. This post talks about a new ruling by badminton world federation which has made wearing of skirts mandatory for all female players! This shocking move is making news everywhere. The federation is of the opinion that this is important to ensure attractive presentation of the badminton. So their stupid logic is that the popularity of badminton depends on what players wear on court. The federation wants badminton to be as popular and eye-catching as tennis it seems. This is nothing but a desperate attempt on part of the federation which wants to glamorize the sport on similar lines as tennis. And as one would expect this move has elicited cries from many parts with the world champion Lilyana Natsir giving it thumbs down. It is also expected to raise eyebrows in conservative countries especially in Asia. We have already seen how Sania Mirza’s dressing sense on court was criticized by certain section of people.
This proposition is not only outrageous and illogical but at the same time it is an insult to the players who have dedicated their life to the sport. You can not expect to make any sport more popular or more ‘presentable’ by dictating the dress code of its FEMALE players. Nobody can claim that tennis is popular or presentable because of the way Sharapova dresses herself on court. This claim will only undermine the skill sets of Sharapova who has made it big purely on her skills, so let us not attribute her success to her dress code which is her personal choice. Agreed, badminton is not as big as tennis and that it should make efforts to make it big but this move just does not make sense. All sports cannot be equally popular and we have to accept that. Badminton has its own icons and followers, we have players like Saina Nehwal who can inspire a generation of young shuttlers based on her achievements rather than what she wears on court. Fortunately sanity prevailed and decision regards to the dress code has been deferred and hopefully it will never come into effect.
There are other ways of making a sport popular. It should do what Hockey federation did with Premier Hockey League (PHL). Having teams at state/city level and making them compete with each other should help. It will also give a chance to some of the unknown players to make an impression. PHL may not have been a runaway success but it certainly made people, other than hockey fans, notice it. You could actually see people turning up at stadiums with their families like IPL. Even at IPL matches we see how the female spectators and even those who do not follow cricket (there are few but still the specie does exist in India) turn up at stadiums or watch at home. So you never know doing the same in badminton may help the cause. However going the IPL or PHL way always has a danger of putting sport in the same category as going for a movie on a weekend as it then becomes a pure form of entertainment due to the commercialization/glamorization of sport.

DIScount CARD the idea

I do not know the name of the company but I read somewhere that it is coming out with a card that is giving discount to the LGBT community i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgenders people. One of the supporters of this said finally this community will have one reason to cheer that there are certain places friendly to them as well. It is hard to see any logic in this. If someone is really concerned about the community than he should take steps to represent their interests at a national level which would help them live a normal life as we do rather than subsidizing their food, clothes, and drink bills which will not serve any purpose. In fact, it will only lead to discount-induced purchases which in turn will lead to inflation!
The reason why I say this is because there is no way of verifying anyone’s sexual preferences. So even those who do not fall in this category but do not mind being considered a part of it will go for this card and avail of its benefits. This just looks as one of those marketing gimmicks by retailers to boost their sales and nothing else as somebody who is actually concerned about their well-being would take more concrete steps. One more way it will be misused is when the number of people holding such cards will be used to extrapolate the population of LGBT category.

kissa kursi ka

I remember the last time we went out for a movie called Faltu, my friend gave me call saying he would reach early and buy tickets before they run out. On reaching there he realized that as always we were the select few who had gathered the courage to see that particular movie as a result of which tickets were available in all parts of the theatre! Seriously, the kind of movies that are released nowadays be horror, comedy, or romantic, they are certainly not suitable for weaker hearts! But Faltu was in a different league as this is for the first time we have seen that both the name of the movie and review of the movie are same!
Anyways, criticizing Faltu is not a topic of discussion here as I do not have such 'faltu' time. The point that I want to make here is that of seating arrangement in theatre and its pricing. As we had all the seats available I got a call from my friend saying that we should go for the 'Platinum' seats instead of 'Gold' seats as they would offer a better view. I fail to understand how the 'O' row in platinum section is giving a better view than the 'P' row in the gold section. Since there is clear difference of at least Rs. 30-40 in pricing, the view and the experience must be different. But to your horror you would realize that the views are exactly the same except the fact that when you are sitting a row behind you have to tilt your head a couple of degrees lesser compared the row ahead! Bad jokes apart, what I am trying to say here is that when you have three section say: Premium (costing 250 from rows A-E with A being the farthest from screen), Platinum (costing 220 starting from F-O), Gold (costing 180 starting from P-T with T being nearest to the screen) the view that you get from 'P' i.e. the last or the best row in Gold section is not different from 'O' i.e. the first or the worst row of Platinum section, still you pay Rs.30-40 odd more always. I agree this is not rocket science and we all know this but the tragedy here is that nobody would buy 'O' by choice. He will buy ‘O’ when 'N' is not available so he is paying more for something that he does not want. I do not mind paying more for 'A' or 'B' row as it certainly gives better view compared to a row say ‘H’ or 'M' but paying extra in cases like this pinches me the most. I have always felt this kind of pricing is not justified at the same time there is no other option as well for the theatre owners. Differential pricing is the call of the day for them. But the theatres should give something to the unfortunates i.e. people who buy (as there is no other option) seats in rows such as 'O'. May be discount on popcorn!
This also reminds me of one poster that was pasted on those metal sheets used as barricades at construction site. The ad was of a 'nautanki' with rates given at the bottom of the ad. There was no confusion like Gold, Platinum or Premium seats etc. As there were only two kinds of rates i.e. Rs.50 for 'Kursi' i.e. chairs and Rs.20 for 'Zameen' i.e. for sitting on ground. Now how is that for differential pricing!

Religion rediscovered

The quote “The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world“by Georgia Harkness aptly summarizes the situation that exists in India today. Communal tension has always been there in India especially due to different ideologies propagated by various religions. But when I say ideologies, I am talking about the ideologies of certain sections of people who are trying hard to force their point of view on others by claiming ‘their judgments’ to be ‘divine commands’ only to serve their personal interests. Even today we have different interpretations of Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana and other religious readings; nobody can claim to know the actual meaning of these. So it is hard to understand why common people get influenced by these instigators who have nothing to do with religion and know nothing about it. Everyone cannot subscribe to the same values and that is what gives birth to a different faith. But it does not mean what I believe is true and what others believe is false. Everyone has a right to his opinion but nobody has a right to demean someone else’s opinion or faith. This is precisely happening in India, courtesy people whose survival depends on the discord among Indians and it has resulted in number of religious fights. So religion by itself has been used to create friction among people and this is what brings us to the second part of this post.
Religion in real sense may have been made use of by people to provoke others but if there is one thing that has united the country time and again, it is Cricket. And the interesting part is that Cricket is a religion in India! The difference between the two kinds of religions is obvious. One religion (religion in real sense) is in a position of being influenced by certain groups of people whereas the other religion i.e. Cricket is of the people, by the people and for the people. We have recently seen how people of all creeds and castes came out on the streets of Mumbai boozing and dancing when India won the world cup. There was no feeling of animosity among people following different religions, in fact it was people’s religion i.e. Cricket that had brought them together. By definition, Cricket may not be religion but considering its role in uniting people, it certainly qualifies as a religion. There has never been any divide among the countrymen; it was always among few people who were provoked to indulge in such heinous acts. And the rest of the people who accounted for the most of India were looking for a reason to show their oneness and Cricket provided that reason. The celebration post the world cup victory was not just another celebration it was a slap on the face of those who believe they can divide the country on the basis of faith people follow and values they hold. I just wonder what would happen if Cricket was not considered a religion in India? Scary thought! It actually serves as an example for the rest of the countries that it is nice to have something that is considered as religion despite not being one in real sense, as the actual religious differences are bound to be there always and only a quasi-religion like Cricket can keep us all together.

Catch 22 situation

Okay, I am sorry for using a commonplace title but could not think of something else. Coming back to the dilemma, I just happened to bump into a friend of mine who has just opened a restaurant. He was just sharing his experience as an entrepreneur and as to how he has to make difficult decisions everyday with regards to the routine activities. This is when we came to discuss the most recent problem faced by him. He had this person working as a hotel manager in his restaurant who was also involved in the day-to-day purchase of the grocery. And he came to know somehow that this guy was cooking the records that he used to maintain for the purchases made. On any other day one would have asked that person to resign on the spot but what would one do when that person is one of the reasons for your success as was the case here?
My friend, somebody who has just started a restaurant and who wants to give the best of services to his clients, when took feedback from clients regarding the service provided, got the best feedback about this guy who had already developed a good rapport with them and trained the waiters so well that he had become almost indispensable to the hotel. But at the same time my friend could not allow this to continue. Luckily for him, this guy took leave for about a month due to some family issue and he was quickly replaced. My friend started hoping he does not come back only as anyways he was planning to sack him. But when the new manager took over, things started to change: the money spent on purchases came down which confirmed my friend’s doubt about the mismanagement of hotel's funds. But there was one more change that my friend did not anticipate: the quality of the services got affected and clients suddenly started complaining. There came a situation where my friend had to make a decision and a tough one at that. He finally decided that he would stick to the old manager who, though corrupt but was efficient and what mattered was not how he behaved internally but how he carried himself in front of the clients and how he affected the bottom-line. So when it came to making a choice between someone who was corrupt and efficient and someone who was honest but inefficient he had to choose the former! One may argue at this stage that he should find someone who is honest as well as efficient and I agree with that notion as well. As there are many people out there of such kind, but the task is to find them. At the same time one cannot refute the fact that there comes a situation like this most of the times, when tough decisions have to be made. I do not know whether the decision made by my friend was right or wrong but decisions like these certainly have bearing on the long term success of any organization.

Victory for now, defeat for future?

So finally it is victory for social activist Anna Hazare who had been fighting for the Jan lokpal bill. The newspaper headlines applauded Anna and lacs of people who came forward for this noble cause. But the thing that made me write this post was the survey conducted by HT-C FORE whose results were also given on the front page. When asked "Should civic society activists be given the right to frame laws?" 45% people said yes and 47% said no! It was very shocking to read this as the impression that we get on TV and online would have us believe that the whole of India is behind Anna and his crusade against corruption but when it comes to the right to frame laws by civic society activists the odds are against Anna.
There has been a huge debate surrounding the whole affair especially the idea of fast-unto-death. Certain section of the society does believe that it is almost equivalent to blackmailing the government and that law making should left in the hands of government as it is impractical to make laws based on popular opinion.
(Well, Congress should be happy that we have Gandhian people like Anna who, along with his supports, has a very non-violent way of communicating things. Because if it was otherwise, I would not be surprised to see people on the streets of India like Egypt to overthrow the government considering the series of scams that it has seen in the last few years! Thanks to our forgiving or forgetful nature many corrupt people are roaming free. But this act by Anna has mobilized people who were so engrossed in their day-to-day routine that they were oblivious to the wrongdoing happening around, which in turn allowed the corrupt to continue and flourish.)
Coming back to the debate, many people feel this is a not way of getting things done and that the drafting of laws should be left to legislators as they were elected by us to do the same on our behalf! Government giving into demands of Anna Hazare may encourage people to do the same in future as well and this could happen at state level or at local level so drawing a line somewhere is of utmost importance. To this perception Anna and his supports did reply, that though the legislators are chosen by them but they were not doing their duty and despite several requests and letters the government did not pay any attention and that they were left with no option but to resort to this.
While I do support Anna in his fight against corruption and I was in complete support of his way of fighting as well but in hindsight I just hope that this was one off episode and we do not have such events taking place in future as making laws like this may create problems . One suggestion for them was to have a party of their own and have its representatives change the system by being in the system instead fighting for a cause from outside. But Anna clearly mentioned in one of his interviews that he has no plans to enter into politics. It is safe to assume now that whenever there is a mass feeling that legislators are not doing their duties properly we could have the same scenario again which could be dangerous.
But how do we tackle the problem of corruption then if nobody is paying heed to the issue? One thing that can be done is to have a system in place which makes it possible to complete government formalities online, try and reduce the interaction of officials. If somebody wants to start a shop, the licenses and formalities should be complied with online. I guess something similar is happening in Gujarat. Apart from that, Gujarat has also implemented the SWAGAT system for registering grievances online, a must-read for everyone. Something like this should be implemented on large scale. I am sure the UID scheme will also help the cause once it becomes fully operational. We can also implements things at local level. e.g.: I do not remember the name of the country but I read somewhere that it has installed CCTV cameras on the government vehicles or/and traffic junctions which has helped them reduce the incidences of unnecessary hassle caused by officials to the drivers and reduced bribery cases as well. These things will make an impact at the small level but as far as the national level is concerned we will have to make sure that we choose the right candidate. As Anna rightly pointed out in his interview that one of the reasons why he does not want to get into politics is because many a time the voters are 'influenced'. It is heartening to see people come on streets in support of Anna; hopefully we can do the same during elections as well and improve the voter turnout percentage which was 59.7% during 2009 election. If we manage to do this we could actually have a government in power whose actions would not warrant another fast unto death episode.

Market Leaders: leading from the front

I remember reading Philip Kotler while pursuing my management degree explaining marketing strategies for market leaders, challengers, followers, nichers. The strategies mentioned for market leaders included the expanding market share (but this may lead to unnecessary price wars), defending market share and expanding the total market (this is more preferred as it is observed that when the total market is expanded the market leader benefits the most). And I want to concentrate on this third strategy. Total market can be expanded in mainly two ways i.e. by getting more customers to buy your product or by increasing the usage of your product (theme of this post).
One of the companies that has used this strategy to its advantage over the years is Colgate which currently enjoys the market share of 51.2 % in toothpaste market (Source: Colgate analyst meet in May, 2010) It has been the leader in this particular market since the time one can remember but the interesting thing to be noted here is the fact that Colgate did the market a huge favor by increasing the usage of the toothpaste by coming out with ads showing the importance of brushing one’s teeth before going to sleep. And it connected with people so well that the number of people brushing their teeth twice a day is moving up with every passing day.
But one company which has consistently increased its scope of business over the years using the same strategy and in turn also helped the industry benefit in the process is my favorite Cadbury. They are a master at this. Let us see what it has done with Cadbury Dairy Milk. We all still remember the classic ad featuring one beautiful girl running on the ground and doing a free style dance (my all-time favorite) with the background song “asli swaad zindagi ka”. Even at that time the ad promoted Cadbury as something that makes you express yourself and something representing the test of life. There were never any efforts to position it as purely ‘chocolate’ as it actually it is. Then there is another brilliant ad of Cadbury celebrations shown during Raksha bandhan. I have personally seen my sister using Cadbury instead of sweets. The product is the same that is available throughout the year but what is different is presentation and suddenly it replaced sweets and made people buy more of it compared to normal! There was one ad i.e. “pappu pass ho gaya” which I did not like as much as other ads but otherwise Cadbury has been superb with its ads. Recent ads have also been quite brilliant. One ad features a girl waiting at a bus stop having a Cadbury when one guy approaches her asking for it saying “acha kaam karne se phele kuch meetha khana chahiye” And on being asked about that “acha kaam” he shows his willingness to drop her home. It was so brilliantly executed and conveyed the message so well that Cadbury is something that you can have or rather should have when you planning to start something new. The ad ends with the words “shubh aarambh”. The latest one features a cute girl refusing to part with her Dairy milk with the family members when they are discussing as to what they should have in dessert. Again the ad ends with words “Khane ke baad meethe mein kuch meetha ho jaaye”! And I am sure there many other ads doing the same thing.
So as it can be observed that it has always made efforts to increase the usage of Dairy milk with every new ad and it has done it successfully and as I mentioned, if this strategy of expanding the market by increasing the usage if executed well the one who benefits the most is the market leader itself i.e. Colgate as well as Cadbury!

Schumpeter’s theory revisited

One market research firm called IBISWorld came out with a report listing out the top 10 industries in the US which are on the verge of death. Interestingly among these 10 industries, at least 5 are affected by the digital revolution that is taking place. These 5 industries include wired telecommunication carriers, Newspaper publishing, video rental, video post-production services and photofinishing.
Newspaper publishing has been facing a lot of competition from internet with the same news available online for free. However, as far as India is concerned the industry is still flourishing thanks to the low access to internet, negligible cost of newspapers; in some cases it is actually profitable to buy newspapers as the amount of money that you can make from raddi is more than the cost of yearly subscription! India is way behind the period that US is experiencing at this stage in case of newspaper publishing at least. But as far as the rest of the industries are concerned the trends are not much different. We see how video rental has almost disappeared due to availability of downloadable media online and how ubiquitous the digital camera has become nowadays.
This news story reminds me of one theory that I studied during college: Theory of creative destruction by Joseph Schumpeter. The theory explained how status quo is disturbed by some innovation where you gradually witness the downfall of present technology/trend and the same getting replaced by the new one. The theory perfectly explains the reason behind the downfall of these industries in US but the amazing part is that all most of these have been victims of digital technology. Hats off to people like Joseph Schumpeter who had the foresight and the intelligence to publish something like this in 1942, which is applicable even today.

We want more (read three holidays)

Match between India and Pakistan saw the whole of India coming to a standstill. When I say ‘standstill’ I am talking about ‘the commercial or the working’ part of it as we saw people suddenly getting ‘sick’ in the morning and taking leave on that day, there were some who went to office but never seemed to work and the rest managed to get away in the second half to catch the spectacle on television with their friends and family.
I appreciate the government realizing the importance of these matches and in turn declaring a public holiday. But my question is whether one holiday is enough? I certainly do not think so as the ‘previous’ and the ‘next’ day of any ‘big’ match in India is as important as the match day itself. We are living in a country where everyone has an opinion on Cricket (unlike Mahesh Bhatt who has an opinion on everything under the sun!) And the best part about this is that everyone likes to express it as well. So you can not expect people to come to work on the ‘previous’ day do their work at their productive best and leave and get a holiday to watch a match at home or outside and then turn up the ‘next’ day and be at their productive best! No, it is not possible, at least in India. As the ‘previous’ day is usually spent by all of us discussing as to what the Indian team should do on the match day and the ‘next’ day is spent discussing the right or the wrong decisions depending upon the outcome of the match! The worst part is that you have people on these two days i.e. ‘previous’ as well as the ‘next’ working halfheartedly so you see productivity per person going down. Productivity of people on the ‘previous’ as well as the ‘next’ day, I am sure, can be a topic of some path-breaking and earth-shattering research!
I understand that giving three holidays is not only impractical but nonsensical as well and that I am just writing this post because I have nothing else to do but I feel this is one fact which can not be overlooked. Personally, I am fortunate to be working in a company where arrangements were made to watch the match in the second half. So is there any solution to make sure that the productivity remains in tact? Yes I have a solution. I am sure the companies will be ready to pay me millions to know the solution but I do not mind sharing it for free. The idea is to hire people who hate cricket! How is that for a solution? If the companies do decide to go with this idea, the HR professionals have a tough job on their hands. We could see some ads like
“ABC Ltd. requires people with at least 2 years of work-ex in sales & marketing and he/she should not like watching or discussing cricket”!

Life Insurance: a must-have thing

We were just discussing our past work-ex in the office when the question cropped up: what is the most difficult thing to sell? Luckily we have people coming in from various industries so it turned out to be very interesting and informative discussion. There were some who believed FMCG offers more challenges than any other sector and some thought it was telecom but finally there was a consensus as to one of the most difficult things to sell is LIFE insurance. This discussion made me thing as to why it is tough to sell life insurance compared to any other product or any other insurance for that matter?
I remember reading somewhere that insurance is one such industry which runs on the mutual ignorance of both, buyer as well as the seller. If the buyer knows that he is not going to die in the next 20 years he will not take insurance for the next 20 years and if the seller knows that the buyer is going to die tomorrow then he will not sell it to him. Since both are not sure as to what is going to happen in future they enter into contract of insurance. So the basis of contract itself is the mutual ignorance of people entering into it!
Coming back to the selling part of it as to why it is so difficult to sell, especially in India where the percentage of people having life insurance is minimal compared to other countries where celebrities have insured right from legs to chest hair to butts to middle finger to semen and what not! Talk about niche markets in insurance! I feel the factor playing a major role in it is our optimistic nature. An average Indian feels so positive about himself and things around him that the fear of sudden death rarely crosses his mind (this is despite all the bomb blasts in trains and buses. Even when there are blasts you would see these same buses and trains going jam packed the very next day). And there are some orthodox people who are just not convinced about ‘profiting’ out of death as they believe whatever happens is destined and things finally will fall in place with or without insurance.
People have always preferred investing somewhere where they would get reasonable returns and that is where term insurance loses ground. As the term insurance does not give any returns though it gives maximum life coverage (actual objective behind life insurance). The issue is that whatever few people are buying life insurance are going in for products which give returns along with life coverage and in the process they are jeopardizing the future of their families.
Some seriously innovative ideas are the need of the hour to drive home the point that insurance is a must. And if we manage to do this, may be few years down the line insurance will be one of the easier things to sell! One thing that we can do is providing special tax benefits to people who buy TERM insurance as incentives never fail to motivate people whether they are selling or buying!

Buying democracy

We are all aware of the cash-for-votes scandal that hit the headlines in July 2008 when video tapes were released by the opposition party showing its MPs being bribed to save the government. It left an indelible blot on the idea of democracy where representatives of people were caught red-handed accepting money and in turn selling their votes. It just confirmed the level of corruption in India, the largest democracy in the world.
Same thing is taking place once again in Tamil Nadu but under the garb of freebies. The ruling as well as the opposition parties are competing with each other as to which one of them gives out more gifts. Freebies include a mixer, grinder, TV, laptop, free bus travel for senior citizens, rice at subsidized rates, free goats for poor families and even direct cash transfers! Forget about the results, people are just waiting for the elections to get over! Just to give you some idea of generosity: according to one newspaper, freebies that were announced by the earlier governments have cost around Rs.100, 000 crores!
Something seems to puzzle me about the whole affair: why do we not consider this in the same bracket as cash-for-votes scam. Just because it is out in the public officially at the insistence of parties (who want to garner as much attention as they can) and people are being benefited at large it is not considered as buying votes? These are the same people who were screaming on television abusing those politicians who tried to jeopardize national interest for their personal gains. But now it is okay as we are all getting something out of the booty. Secondly, this also prevents honest independent candidates and smaller parties from making their mark in the election as they can not afford such largess. It is like our own money (in the form of taxes) is being used by them (in the form of gifts) to win our hearts and rule us for five years as a result. Democracy is being mocked at, meanwhile there are parties happening in Tamil Nadu, courtesy some other parties (read political parties)!

Fortune at the middle of pyramid

I was just surfing the net when I came across this piece of news on forexpros.com about Cayman Islands (more popular as one of the tax havens) which said that a famous heart surgeon has decided to build a 2000-bed health care city in the country. Logic behind the move: it will come as a boon for patients and health insurers in US, as the cost of the same medical treatment will be a fraction of what one has to pay in US. In fact, the founder in his interview said that the insurance company, apart from footing the medical as well as the travel bill will be in a position to offer a two-week holiday in the country and all this at less than fifty percent of cost in US!
People talk about blue ocean strategy of making the competition irrelevant, this is a perfect example. And what makes even harder or almost impossible for others to replicate it, is the experience of the founder in handling this business model successfully before and anyways how many people can boast of having taken care of the most compassionate heart in the world: that of Mother Teresa! No doubt this is a brilliant idea and deserves all the publicity that it can get, but what prompted me to write this post was the fact that this feat has been achieved by an Indian born surgeon Dr. Devi Shetty. He is the same person who founded Narayana Hrudayalaya in Karnataka and helped the Karnataka government design the world’s cheapest health insurance scheme at Rs.5 per month for the poor farmers of the state.
Low-cost and high volume model is something that has constantly inspired people in India. Not content with the success Swach (the water purifier) Tata has now tied up with an MIT professor whose team plans to generate electricity out of waste water at a cheaper cost. We have also seen the success of Arvind eye care in India.
But this particular example of Cayman Islands can not be treated as serving the bottom of the pyramid like Swach or Arvind eye care as health care-cover costs in the US are not low and can not be afforded by anyone who wants it. So the people who will actually make it to the Cayman Islands are not exactly poor. Same is the case here in India, where Tata Nano and Air Deccan are put in the same bracket as Arvind eye care and Tata Swach. But it is not the case I feel, as the Nano and Air Deccan (now called Kingfisher Red) are serving the “aspiration category” which is constantly trying to improve its standard of living by trying and taking that one step ahead. Somebody who is driving a bike wants to buy a Nano or somebody who has been traveling in an AC compartment of train wants to use a low cost airline and mind you they are not poor or the ‘bottom’, as the poor in India still can not afford a bicycle. The idea behind writing this post was not only to highlight the achievement of Dr. Shetty but at the same time I wanted to convey my apprehension about confusing between the ‘middle’ and the ‘bottom’ of the pyramid. It is irritating when media attaches the ‘bottom’ word with people who buy a Nano or use a low-cost airline.

Sell healthy and get wealthy

Some facts: Diet coke has overtaken rival Pepsi to become the second most popular soft drink in US with Coke retaining the number one spot. Subway has become the largest restaurant chain dethroning McDonald’s with 34,225 restaurants worldwide compared to 32,737 for McDonald's. Now the question is to find out the common thread running between these two which is also an indicator of a change taking place in the food and beverages industry. Answer: It is the fact that both Diet coke and Subway are targeted towards health conscious people. Mind you this is the same category of people which was considered a niche some years ago and now they are in majority.
Hats off to these companies especially Subway which foresaw the trend at a time when not many realized it that health is actually wealth. McDonald's is of course popular worldwide, but not for serving the kind of food that Subway specializes in (McDonald's still ahead of Subway when it comes to revenue though the growth of subway confirms the increasing demand for healthy food). Of late McDonald’s has become proactive on this front with products containing fewer calories and fat (I just loved the print ad that it came out with in Israel when it launched some new products there. The ad featured only four square boxes with each one of them indicating sizes i.e. first one had "XL" printed on it, second one had "L" written on it, fourth one had "S" written on it, the third box had McDonald’s "M" printed on it indicating medium calories and fat).This trend is quite visible in India as well with growing popularity of subway sandwiches, probiotic ice-cream and increasing usage of sugar free.
One reason why I feel these products are selling more is because the people who play the role of "influencer" in the buying process are promoting them big time. The other day, I just heard one pregnant lady saying that doctor has advised her not to eat outside and if she does eat out at times then it has to be subway for health reasons! It will be interesting to see how things shape up in future. I am just waiting for a healthy "vada pav" now!

Networking is not working!

It is out now: Facebook is mentioned in one out of every five divorces in US according to one study done by American academy of matrimonial lawyers (AAML). It did not come as a surprise to many considering how facebook has helped people connect and get up close and personal with their “old friends”. But it is the human nature which is at fault and not facebook. Social networking sites can not be blamed for people losing their senses. But it is so contradicting that something that has been created to connect with “others” is leading to “disconnect” with your family. Aakhir apne to apne hote hai!
But if you are married and in India do not panic and delete your account just as yet. As whether you do social networking or not the main cause of divorce in India always was, is, and always remain the nosy mother-in-law! So keep facebooking and stop reading stuff that discourages you from doing so!

Forget Shanghai, time to go the Venezuela way!

The number of times we have heard the Maharashtra government promising to turn Mumbai into Shanghai is, I guess, higher than the number of times we have seen India TV discussing the end of the world in 2012! And how many of us actually expect the government to deliver on its promise? Not many actually. It is like expecting Ashish Nehra to win a match for India in the last over! (I know the non-existing fans of Ashish Nehra will give the example of his match-winning performance against England, but that happened at a time when Homo etrectus inhabited the Narmada valley or before that!). Agreed, criticizing Ashish Nehra is not the topic of discussion here and anyways one can write a treatise doing just that!
Coming back to the main story, we were just discussing the problem of slums in Mumbai as to how it spreading like a virus (by the way the computer virus is forty years old now and we wish it a very happy birthday) and not getting solved. At the same time we hear news of corrupt politicians involved in fraud land deals all over India so you can imagine the chances of it actually happening. But I do have a suggestion though: I am sure there many such “Adarsh” societies out there in India. Our job is to find them and punish the corrupt the officials. But I just do not understand the idea of demolishing such illegal structures as it will only lead to more costs, monetary as well as environmental. And that is where the solution comes into picture: we should do what Venezuela did in 1994 when its economy suffered a huge blow and the investors ran away from the real estate. There was one 45-storey building on verge of completion when this happened, instead of demolishing it Hugo Chavez decided to let the slum dwellers occupy it! And mind you it was supposed to be eighth tallest building in Latin America at that time and also one of the most luxurious in terms of amenities. Today there are people living in it and they have also formed a society to which they contribute money for overall maintenance of the building and it is, according to my understanding, tallest slums in the world!
So why not have something of this kind here as well? I know it is very illogical suggestion but if you thing from your heart it is dillogical! Very bad joke to end the post!

Hair fare

I get upset every time I go through the list of funny ads and see that the matrimonial ads rarely make it to the list. I feel most of the matrimonial ads are funnier than the funniest ads that we would have seen and suggest you go through these ads online or in newspapers; you will surely fall off your chairs laughing. But few days a go I found ads similar to these online albeit for a different reason i.e. for selling hair. One girl had posted something like “I will be cutting my hair…12.5 inches…silky…smooth…receive compliments for hair all the time…will cut it once the money is received!” This is a very good example of how internet is turning the tables in our normal life. On any other day one would go to salon have his/her hair cut pay for the service and leave, that was it. But now they are paid for doing the same thing! All you need to do is just upload a picture of your hair on site and let people start bidding for it. We all know how big this industry has become in south where devotees offer their hair and then it is exported to a number of countries. But earning money from selling hair online is something that I had never heard of. This whole thing does explain the logic behind Garnier’s tagline ‘Take care’ i.e. take care and get a good fare!

Crime pays and how!

Whoever said crime pays went to jail in Austria! Located in the city of Leoben in Austria is a jail that will put any heaven to shame. A look at it from outside will make you think of it as five-star hotel, it is that deceiving. We see how new buildings provide amenities like gym, indoor games inside their clubhouse and charge a premium for it. Here you have all these amenities and many more and that too at free of cost! The jail has a world-class gym, provision for indoor games, basketball court, huge jogging track and what not. I am just wondering whether Austria has done this intentionally as it features in the list of countries with least crime rates in the world and may be it is so bored of not having crime related news that it is now giving incentives to people to commit wrongdoing!
Just imagine having a prison like this in India. We will see lawyers fighting for (read against) their own clients to make sure that they get the maximum punishment. Highest paid lawyer will be the one who would request and convince the judge to give his client (criminal) the life sentence. Forget about criminals, common man who is so frustrated in India for want of basic facilities like water, electricity would prefer living in jail for rent. You would see all the anti-India organizations surrendering to the government, as instead of living incognito and run the risk of losing their lives anytime they would prefer the hospitality that this jail offers. I have no idea about the actual reasons of making such prisons in Austria but jails like these in India will certainly mark the end of all crimes considering the way most of the people are living here with no basic facilities in place.

The other side of literacy

Reading TOI is fun and literally so as you would rarely find some 'news' in it. Most of the times the newspaper is busy discussing, improving sex life of people! But after a long time I came across some news which combined its favorite topic sex with some really shocking news. The article that I am referring to talks about how Thailand, more known for its sex tourism is now becoming a tourist attraction but for some different reason this time i.e. for attracting married couples to improve or guarantee their chances of having a baby boy!
We talk about how big businesses always find a way around government policies to get permissions or to save taxes by exploiting loopholes in the existing system and how common man is always made the victim. But wait, the common man has become smarter and like others has found a way to get around the law in India which does not allow prenatal sex selection. As a result of this 1600 girls per day have gone missing in India from 2001-07 (source: UNPF). One fact that goes unnoticed most of the times is that the practice of sex selection is more prevalent in those places where people are literate and as a result more aware about the various treatments and facilities available like screening technologies etc. Someone has rightly said "There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling, and technology. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technology." This awareness coupled with some ruthless selfish doctors has created a very scary situation in India: we are running out of girls. I have had my share of GD i.e. Group discussion or group dogfight during my MBA to find a job. I don't want to go through the same process to find a girl. To support my argument (can't call it MY argument as I read it somewhere long time ago) let me just share some data with you all. I made list of top 15 literate states in India along with the list of 15 states having the worst sex ratio. Shockingly, there were nine common states in these two lists! This may not be the most conclusive evidence but certainly augments the argument made above regarding the relationship between literacy rate and sex ratio.
Whereas I do agree that there are many factors responsible for the present scenario, but at the same time no one can deny the link between these two factors.

It’s a MINI issue, SKIRT it!

Recent news of Khap panchayat in Muzaffarnagar banning girls from wearing jeans came as a shock to many. The panchayat believes this will prevent eve-teasing incidents and help maintain decency. A lot of furor is created every time something like this crops up and rightly so. What in the hell the panchayat has to do with this? On one hand we talk about the freedom of speech where even the worst of stand-up comedians make fun of Prime minister on national TV and on the other hand we want to decide what one should wear. If this ridiculous news makes you angry I have got some more news to cool you down on the same lines. One small town in Italy, Castellammare di Stabia is planning to ban wearing of miniskirts! The mayor (modern version of panchayat) believes miniskirts can be very provocative and can lead to indecent behavior. Surprisingly this news comes from a country which has produced Giorgio Armani! Forget Armani, it comes from the country headed by Silvio Berlusconi who himself has been alleged to have a lot to do with miniskirts! Nobody knows how much of this allegation is true, may be the opposition is trying to tarnish his image. But one thing that is sure is that if this kind of stupid laws can exist in a country like Italy then it should not come as a surprise if a small town in India decides to ban wearing of jeans. Besides, nobody has defined what decency is? If a well known director in India makes a movie depicting intimate scenes it qualifies as aesthetic movie and same movie by an unknown person becomes a ‘C’ grade movie. So let’s just not get affected by this news as it is just a mini issue, skirt it!

Unity is strength?

Saying "unity is strength" is like saying bombshell Neha Dhupia's next movie will fail to detonate, it is that obvious! Okay, I am not here to discuss Neha Dhupia’s non-existent career so let me come back to the main topic. Just yesterday I experienced two different incidents of this particular adage. The reason I am saying ‘different’ is because one of those examples reconfirmed my belief in the proverb whereas the other made me see the darker side of it.
As always I was traveling in a bus where moving your body was a crime as if everyone in the bus had told each other to "statue" (old school games...Still love them). On its way through the alleys of Kurla, the bus happened to brush along the side of a truck. Initially I felt only the left hand side mirror of the bus had kissed the driver's door. But I was mistaken as the bus driver didn't seem to care and it continued moving forward jolting the truck on its way, one could actually see the truck moving. Still the driver didn't care and moved forward. Nothing happened for few seconds, and then we saw the truck driver racing towards the bus from behind. He, like a speeding car, overtook the rear-wheels of the bus and reached the front door and got in. Without wasting a second he started beating the bus driver. He was so much aggrieved as the bus driver didn't even come out to see what had happened and how much damage was done. It was then the proverb came into picture. Everyone in the bus started getting angry with the truck driver as they were running late! Despite it being bus driver's fault, the passengers threw the driver out of the bus, abusing him they asked him to go to BMC and complain instead of wasting their time here. It is anyone's guess whether that truck driver would get justice or not. But the unity of passengers certainly saved the wrongdoer!
When I finally got down from the bus I was a bit shocked as this could happen to anyone driving his personal vehicle and even in that case the bus driver would manage to get away. That is when I experienced another example of this. One bus had broken down on the slope and I could see all the passengers as well as the passers-by having their share of fun pushing it upwards. It was such a relief to see the strength of unity in real sense.