Euphoria - the Indian hindi rock band - performed live in Jalandhar for the first time today. It was a concert filled with energy and a lot of enthusiasm - the Euphoria crew totally rocked the place. The concert was organized by Apee Jay College of Fine Arts, Jalandhar for Red Cross Society. The whole place simmered and sizzled with a lot of fun and eclectic mix of songs. And the young crowd of Jalandhar was at its very best - cheering on the crew. A fun evening on my first day of vacation in Punjab. Due to foggy weather, the pic did not come out very clear.
BLACK FRIDAY is here. The day after after Thanksgiving marks the start of one of the hottest shopping season in US that sees the retail chains and stores being mobbed in a quest for the best deals and prices. Economist says that the day is called black not because of the chaos caused by queues and crowds, but because it marks the moment when retailers are supposed to move from the red (indicating losses) to the black (indicating profits). In the coming weeks, the retailers in US would see a sharp climb in the consumer spending levels. And the retail industry expects to see green once again.
In India too, retail is one of the hottest and most recent sectors of the Indian economy to open up for foreign direct investment. Even though most of the sales to the Indian consumers are still made through the corner ‘kirana’ (read grocery) stores, yet recent efforts by companies like Reliance, Spencer and Pantaloon are symptomatic of changing dynamics in this industry. Reliance is planning to spend nearly USD 5 billion over the next few years - the company has opened its first store in Hyderabad recently.
The growth of modern retail in India is converging with the “consumption economy“. The growing interest in Indian retail industry is primarily driven by the strong and consistent economic growth fuelled by rising income levels and a stronger business environment across industries. With nearly 60% of Indian consumers being under 30, the per-person spending levels have suddenly rocketed skywards. And I believe that the opportunity would be in organized retail, a nascent sector that is expected to grow at an extremely rapid pace in the coming years.
Indian Retail has become the cynosure of all eyes and the global retail biggies like Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Target, Metro, Sears and Tesco are already trying to enter the Indian markets, in an effort to cash-in on the rapidly evolving sector. The government has banned FDI into this sector until the end of this year. However, this has not stopped MNCs to partner with franchises in India and open new stores. The model seems to be working fine as the locals run the day-to-day operations, whereas the franchisees take care of sourcing.
The Indian retail industry is moving fast - with the strategy based around different store formats, aggressive pursuit of first-mover advantage, rapid expansion in second-tier cities, and introduction of various metrics and scorecards to analyze consumer spending patterns. Even though there are concerns and challenges that need to be addressed, there are a lot of local players who have become big believers in this space. With a target turnover of INR 90,000 crore on an investment of INR 30,000 crore over the next five years, Mukesh Ambani has already made his move. And a lot of other Indian companies are following suit. What remains to be seen is how Indian players face competition from global retail powerhouses when they make an entry into India - an entry that is now only a question of time.
This is a post dedicated to the ‘mavericks’ at Netscribes.
I have a great job that is not only interesting but fulfilling as well. It involves working on diverse topics right from the realms of information technology to business research and business intelligence. And along with this comes plenty of opportunity for innovation. Everyday at Netscribes brings forth a new set of challenges, new learnings and greater insight into the this rapidly evolving space called knowledge services. Whether it is high end business intelligence or basic data-mining - I have done it all. And I have enjoyed every bit of it. As I have outlined in my previous posts about Netscribes, a good job will not only provide healthy remuneration but would lay greater focus on freedom of thought and an open culture that promotes interaction and discussion.
A major factor in me enjoying my stay at Netscribes is the eclectic mix of people with an extremely interesting and varied thought process. It is this mix of people that are the very DNA that powers this organization. Sitting together and brainstorming on new ideas, or solving day-to-day problems becomes so much fun with my peer group. Every discussion brings about an influx ideas - so much so that we often go back to the discussion table and keep reinventing and refining our existing ways of doing work. The amount of ideas and discussions that we have - healthy debates on the merits and demerits of taking up any one approach during problem solving - becomes so much fun that everyone is extremely enthused to take any responsibility on his/her hands.
I am managing a multitude of projects right now. The insights that you get while working with different teams is extremely remarkable. There are people who are smart - people you can put on any projects and rest assured of a good job. Then there are extremely fast learners - who would scale up depending on the complexity of the work. And then there are the freshers - an exciting bunch of people who have joined the firm recently and are discovering the work environment at Netscribes. These are the kind of people that excite me and make every new day something to look forward to.
This post is just my way of saying thanks to all of my colleagues, who have and are making a difference to the everyday life at Netscribes. You know who you are … so thank you ‘mavericks’ and keep rocking.
CNN Money asked a dozen venture capitalists about what companies they would want to see started and invest in. The replies from the likes of Vinod Khosla and Howard Schultz make for extremely insightful reading. Savvy technocrats and budding entrepreneurs, who are looking to do something different, would definitely spot an opportunity here.
The various ideas include a steering wheel computer with display projected on windshield, new database technologies, energizers and batteries, web-based spreadsheets, wireless devices et al.
Innovation is all about profound faith in one’s abilities, an indefatigueable enthusiasm and the euphoric optimism of achieving success. It feels a little anachronous to see so many people let opportunities just pass by; at first it used to be frustrating. But I have come to believe that each and every person is driven by a different set of goals and aspirations. However, I am experimenting with an idea that innovation can be imbibed into the daily routine and people can be made aware of not only this wonderful word, but the whole conceptual ideology behind it. And it is plain simple - “Learning to Do Things the New Way” !! It is so simple yet so difficult to grasp and implement for most of us.
Infosys CEO has some interesting things to say in an article in Businessweek about the state of innovation in countries like India and China. He says that there are three emerging models in the Innovation space:
- One is process innovation: wiring everyone to the same network and leveraging the cost, talent, and volume of an integrated global economy.
- Another is creating pint-sized products and services sold cheaply to masses of poor people.
- A third is innovating through local partnerships and networks to get around external hurdles, whether bad roads in India or bad government policy on IP in China.
All the three models are visible across companies and industries in India - so much so that there are 21 companies from India in Boston Consulting Group’s list of 100 Emerging Global Companies. Nandan says that lack of an effective infrastructure and absence of strong regulatory systems are the major obstacles in speeding up innovation in India. Even though India has graduated from IT outsourcing and BPO models to become one of the major suppliers of knowledge across the globe, there still exist large voids in strengthening its hold over knowledge-based service and moving up the value chain.
The next step in the Indian Knowledge Services evolution process is innovation - innovation in products, processes and services. This is a crucial ‘next’ step in ensuring India’s continual participation and leadership in the global economy. Nandan’s article not only outlines the major obstacles in this space, but also provides a lot of fodder for thought. The last lines of his article epitomise the whole argument:
In the end, innovation capability depends on economic flexibility. The U.S., with its entrepreneurial culture, relaxed labor markets, and free capital flows, continues to be the most innovative economy in the world. India and China need such an environment to bridge the growth and productivity gap between emerging markets and the developed world and to truly transform themselves into innovative, energetic economies.
The Innovation Sandbox article by C K Prahalad is another must read on this topic.
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