From Great to Greater to Greatest value

“Leave the Rest; I feed myself, as I AM THE POOREST.”

The above adage is a reflection of how business used to happen in India till a few years back. Organization, institutions were happy feeding their right hand with their left hand. The Wealth which was created inside was used for paying salaries, dividends, and bonuses to keep various stakeholders merry and chirpy. Like always it was on the government to redefine how the society looked, the standard of living and creating a better eco systems. If asked to contribute and add value to the poor they used the above adage “I AM THE POOREST “though not literally but was a comfortable excuse to shrug off the philanthropically influenced wish of society. After quite a few years passed and industries made merry, government opened different sectors and the business became consumer dominated, these behemoths realized the importance of the so called PHILANTHROPIC DREAM.

                                                Coming back to the present, we see things have changed, transformed and business has been migrated to the world of IRS. IRS stands for Indispensable Responsibility of Society, yes THE WORLD CALLS IT CSR. In India, it has not been an overnight change, its one of most gradual realizations which the industry seems to have gone through. This time its not about making hospital and schools and letting them run , its really about handholding the society , the environment , the ecosystem , just like you handhold your customer .

                                                            The idea of Corporate Social responsibility has taken magnanimous dimensions today. There aren’t any organizations that have not extended their arm to add that incremental value to the society. Whether it is eco friendly air conditioners, energy saving lighting solution, e-CHOUPAL, recycled paper or the EARTH HOUR.  Every corner of our lives, directly and indirectly have been touched by solutions which are a value to the society. The economic aspect has been handheld in form of rural banking and GRAMEEN FINANCE schemes. The Social aspect is taken care by the vocational education initiatives to make India employable. And finally enviornement is being touched by green fuel, green engines and green offices. So far so that now it’s the turn of ecoprenuers rather than entrepreneurs.

                                                            However, what is more interesting is the why?  Why has the industry taken charge of society or their social responsibilities? Why is it that, every organization is willing to invest and divert their funds towards society. What makes them ecoprenuers and humane organizations? To answer these questions, we need to divulge into the dynamics of business and society. The major reason which triggered CSR is the failure on government’s part to deliver on their commitments. (Though it’s not new for the largest democracy on this earth). But when there is unskilled manpower backed by highest drop out rates in primary education and the youth comprising of 65 percent of population, the industry just couldn’t afford to let go of this strength. Hence the educational initiatives to have a better working class thereby increase in disposal incomes. On the other hand when the world talks about global warming and depleting ozone layer, just at that moment the prescription is green fuel, appliances, automobiles and offices. The point here is simple, create a better education system so that the it affects the GDP of the country which in turn means that more people buy the goods and services these players produced. Secondly, making the society a better place is the best and the most cost effective way to position yourself as the HUMANE ORGANISATION. From refrigerators, bulbs to air conditioners, everything has a touch of green to it. All this and much more to express to the society that apart from the government there is some one else who CARES. Today synchronizing your business processes with social objectives is the best way to create a warm and responsive customer base for yourself. So, without an iota of doubt there is also a business case in CSR. That’s exactly my last point is. The business of business is to do business .They should be left to do that. Reforming the society and providing basic amenities or uplifting has never been the blue eyed areas of any investor. Inspite of this when they take charge and add value they create a platform where they stand proudly to do their business and multiply their wealth AND THEN no one complaints.

To summarize, India has traveled a journey of value creation, from great to greater and finally greatest value is being added, through, by and for the society. I not as businessman or any industry expert but as a common man proudly admit that our industry has finally learnt to take the society, economy and the nation along with their pursuit of maximizing wealth.

Strategy: A difficult word for difficult people!!

It has almost been a decade; I have been in the consulting side of business. I kind of have lost count of the no of organization with whom we partnered and made them up and running .Not only that, few have opened their businesses using our backbone. From manpower to consumer insights and to marketing strategies, we gave them all. If I were to say my organization did 360 degree overhaul of India Inc …I wont be wrong or overestimating my deliverables.

                                                However, what still surprises me or my acumen is a strange word in the language of business. This word has always made me feel alien to the world of business. What so ever it means, this word has always meant something which is not to be decoded or cannot be decoded. The word which is in mention here is STRATEGY. Well!! We all grow up hearing and adoring this word. Management graduates worship this in books, organization worship this in context of their CEO’s and consulting firms have mastered the art of producing and reproducing strategies.

                                                            Quite honestly, somewhere and somewhat, at the back of my mind I have termed the word strategy as the most overrated, highly publicized and a perfect gimmick for selling any product/service in the market place.

I do not deny the presence of ideas or the brilliance through which they get executed.

What I detest, loath or despise is the aura of the word which dissects or disconnects a common resource in an organization in contributing to the value chain. To make it crystal clear … a simple question is what I seek answers for … ask a normal average employee…

KINDLY FORMULATE A STAREGY FOR THE DROP IN SALES BY TOMORROW?

After this question, pat comes the unsaid reply …”strategy making is not my job, these are to be made by experts, those people who have been there and done that, so why should I bother myself “

In simple terms, we have just disconnected the resource by putting the onus of this heavy word on his shoulders.

On the other hand, if the question would have been,

I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE YOUR VIEWS ON PICKING UP THE SALES, LET”S SEE WHO IS MOST CREATIVE. SO JUST LET YOUR MIND FREE.

GIVE ME THE MOST INNOVATIVE SOLUTION?

The difference here is quite simple. The first method has an alienated feel to it, as the word strategy needs to have experience, knowledge and expertise so on so forth. However the latter is more inclusive in nature. It connects the human capital with the problem. It also gives the leverage to think as innovatively as possible.

The point here is simple, I request the organizations and India Inc to help me decode or redefine the word strategy into a more user friendly expression. We need people from bottom to top who can think on their feet and come out with ideas every second. Every simple idea which originates in a mind, irrespective of its qualification/experience/expertise is termed as a strategy only when it is accepted in the market. Only when that idea becomes commercial viable, it is called a STRATEGY. Before its execution and success or failure it’s just a simple idea. Hence let’s just treat ideas as ideas and not make them into rocket science by calling them as strategies. If we need more so called strategies, then we need to have more of ideas and to have more ideas, we need to have less of strategy.

Difficult???? ….Yes Strategy is a difficult word for difficult people.

The battle between 50 crore or 50,000: Choice is yours?

A lot has been spoken and written about the warfare in the markets. So much so that experts have compared the competition to the military warfare. Few call it the clash of the titans and few name it as the battle for survival. Organizations in almost all sectors since time immemorial have waged war against competitors, for just one single thing……CUSTOMERS and CUSTOMERS. For instance, telecom industry now realizes that its impossible to convince someone to buy their network services, hence the idea of mobile number portability. These players know for a fact that incoming calls and messages cant run their shops , so now they have been seducing customers with value added service and war of applications . On the other hand the consumer durable sector has also been trying to find out some share of our pockets by offering us eco friendly air conditioners and energy saving lighting solution. Even the retails players through their predatory pricing and thin line margins want to enter every household. In amidst this entire race there is an indispensable point which our India Inc seems to ignore. Every innovation or creativity is important so is its commercial viability but there is something which is even above all this. The so called battle will not be won by better products or better innovation or spending more on research and development. The point which all of us seem to ignore is that the external customers have been and will remain the same. The same set of customers for telecom, the same set for retails and consumer durables. However what differs is the internal customer. Each organization today has its own set of internal customers. These internal customers define and decide what is to be sold and how it is to be sold. For all said and done they are the fabric of the organization. In such an ecosystem, every employee leaving is like a customer in the market buying your competitor. Not only that along with him two other also will buy your competitor that means, leave your organization and serve someone else. The battle out there can be only controlled (not won) by making new products, offering new solutions, new value adds and better services. For those organizations who have to win the war and hoist their flag up and high, they need to build a strong force of internal customers. Before they worry about their dwindling sales, they should worry about the workforce movement. They need to understand that for a sustainable growth and unbeatable competitive advantage, an organization’s internal customers have to be their first priority. An internally bleeding organization will never be able to win over the external customers. The differentiating factor more than anything is the respect an organization gives to its human capital.

Any war can be won in two ways. Make a huge dent in the army of your opponent or have the best army yourself so no one dares to fight with you. What organizations have been doing is trying to make a dent in the opponent by fueling the competition day in day out .However, its very simple, make the best army and create a sustainable advantage for yourself for the longest time you can imagine. Even the numbers state the fact: external customers can be anywhere between 5lacs to 50 crore, on the other hand internal customers will not be more than 50,000. Just ask yourself, is it easy to manage 50 crore or 50,000. I Say just manage the 50,000 and they shall manage even 500 crore for you.

Thus the battle is not just external but internal as well.

To come out and fight it hard the way goes from within deep down inside.