Wit Wisdom and Whoop

An early lesson I learnt when dealing with customers was that invariably there is a Stated reason and there is a Real reason. Not always easy to even know such a situation exists and very difficult to know the real reason.  Over time I have realised that this behaviour extends to even strategic decisions of companies, decisions by politicians and sometimes even within family and friends. My most interesting lesson in this was in dealing with a giant multi billion dollar corporate where they needed an electronic consumer product “reworked”. The estimated size of the deal was hardly Rs 2 Million but someone two heartbeats away from the Chairman was talking to me and putting pressure to close the deal. Sensing that there was something I didn’t know – the Real reason - I doubled our price estimate, he agreed without batting an eyelid. I then said extras not included and he further increased price by about 15% and I had no choice but to agree. We did the work, didn’t lose money and ...

It’s one of those days when a few random tweets or blogs create a unifying thread within you to share some thoughts on a variety of issues but again bound by a common thread – the future of India & our children. I was motivated by the following blogs early in the morning on a Monday. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/toi-edit-page/six-point-agenda-to-fix-hate-riot-hit-bengal-must-cure-this-disease-mamata-must-move-beyond-wait-and-watch/ http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/shooting-straight/flagging-off-our-northern-frontiers/ http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/yieldcurve/not-islamophobia-but-justice-what-hindus-want/ http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/Undertheinfluence/open-letter-from-lutyenswood/ http://www.nandinibahri-dhanda.com/wordpress1/2017/07/23/kuch-nahi-hone-wala-hai/ Now one may wonder what is the common thread between these blogs. It is the realisation of the truth that the citizens of India are waking up, that soci...

In this the 4th and last part of my 4-blog series on doing business in India I try to cover what it means to succeed in India. What you need to do. Importantly, it must be understood that doing business in India means dealing with different types of industry classified, treated and protected differently resulting in different behaviors. So, you have the small-scale sector, medium scale, large scale, public sector, large private sector, government sector. Apart from the idiosyncrasies of different types of people, geographies that I have spoken about earlier, you now need to factor in these idiosyncrasies of industry type. First a small secret that must be known. When an entrepreneur starts a business, it is always small and gets classified as small-scale industry. He gets tax breaks, gets lesser paperwork and gets many more advantages. Normal human behavior is to expect that he will grow, become big and thus not only outgrow the hand holding but also become more socially responsible. B...

In this the 3rd part of my 4 part blog about India and its market, I talk about the major characteristics of the Indian market.  The Indian market is not exactly price sensitive but more cash flow sensitive. They like to spread every dollar as much as possible. Hence for example a leasing option or a deferred payment gains greater attraction than outright purchase. The whole motivation is to do more with less and if the option is to do less due to price, it’s usually the desire for more that wins. The single use shampoo sachet is said to be 90% of the Indian market as against the bigger bottles. While unit cost may be lower, the fact is that the vast population at the bottom of the pyramid can now afford to buy a single use shampoo sachet.  Generalists run most institutions in leadership positions than specialists. They multi task on various areas of a business, industry and technology. So you will have a government officer who runs the Tourism department one day and then the...

How often have you heard the phrase "India is different"? But how many have tried to ponder as to why it is different ? Usually the focus is on the diversity, the languages, dress, food and so on which is taken to mean that India is different from other markets. However when it comes to doing business, India IS DIFFERENT and most including our own selves fail to understand this and so doing business becomes difficult. The ease of doing business is seen as how quickly you get government paperwork completed. While that is no doubt important, there are other complex issues that need to be understood, For this note I have classified the world into 5 market geographies, namely - Americas, Europe, China, India & Rest of the world. The American market is the most advanced and mature technologically and the rest of the world follows them over time. The closest behind them is the European market which is unified on many issues since long, even before it became the EU. Both these m...

Prompted by a question I was asked, I decided to write a 4 part blog on the subject matter of India and doing business in India. The audience to me for this blog is anyone who is keen to do business in and with India, invest in India. I published this first on Linkedin but thought will share it here also. This is the first part of the blog. In my long career with global companies meeting people across the world I have learnt to accept diversity of every kind including biases, discrimination but it has mostly been wonderful relationships, friendships and the positives far outweigh the negatives. The learning has been beyond compare or valuation. One question that I get asked often is about describing India, of knowing India especially when it relates to foreigners making business or investment decisions. I get told about how they have met people who seemed to know India, know everything and making assurances while I come across as someone who is not making commitments at the big picture...