Deep Impressions

  Lockdown Learning : Gandhi’s Strategic Prowess   The choice of Salt and Charkha were not just about revolution or nationalism. They were part of Gandhi's strategic decision making                       ----------------------------     ----------------------------  ----------------------------   During the Lockdown, my CXO friends are faced with two common organisational dilemmas. The former is about the challenges in growing demand for their products and the latter relates to the lack of energy and creativity among employees in the Work From Home (WFH) environment. Incidentally, the solution to both lies in Gandhian thinking. And this is not about Gandhian philosophy but about Gandhi’s prowess with Strategic Thinking.     If one finds generating consumer demand as a challenge in today’s crisis, one needs to imagine the travails in selling a product like swaraj to Indians who were struggling in crisis for  do waqt ki roti  ?    In such testing times, the demand for swaraj was gene

In Search of Villain ( also published in movietalkies.com )  OTT  is seen as the key factor in the shift of audience away from cinema halls,  But the absence of 'villain' - who was so instrumental in driving audiences to cinemahalls - has escaped everyone's eye     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   “OTT may kill the business of cinemahalls” was cabinet minister Piyush Goyal’s observation during last fortnight's  FICCI Frame’s virtual event.   Experts would most likely have consensus on the above prognosis. But if the same question was reversed, “What can bring back audiences back to cinemahalls ( post the Covid crisis) ?”,  consensus would most likely remain elusive. However, in a country with limited options for Out-of-the-Home entertainment, a high youth population and  a growing economy, it would only raise one’s eyebrows when one learns that cinemahalls are expecting reduced ticket sales.   

Nepotism : The answer lies in Technology Instead of criticising nepotism, the solution lies in making it irrelevant.  ( Also published in movietalkies.com )        ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   In his widely read research work, Management guru Michael Porter, has talked about competitive strategies that make successful companies. He states that one key competitive strategy that makes companies successful and command high valuations on stock market is creation of entry barriers against new entrants. These barriers could be :           Denial of access to customers/vendors         Network effect          Brand loyalty      In film industry, all the above are essentially bye-products of the current buzzword ‘nepotism’. So if building entry barrier is lauded by consultants and stock markets, should that really be a matter of concern? Before we answer that, a quick look at the history of the reward system in t

(Category: Marketing) Also published in  CNBCTV18 Can real estate be marketed as an IPO? Broadly speaking, it is inappropriate. However, there are extremely special circumstances when this can be tried. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Proponents of IPO Style Marketing believe that this strategy creates an artificial scarcity resulting in the urgency of decision making for the consumers. They believe that when the customer sees the likelihood of being left out, he decides faster.  Technically speaking, IPO style allotment is inappropriate for real estate.  In Initial Public Offering for securities, all securities on sale are identical and have similar valuations and offer identical benefits to all purchasers. However, all homes in any given project do not offer the same value to all customers. Certain home buyers will never buy a south-facing home – even at steep

(Category: General Business Reading) ( also published in  CNBCTV18.com  )  If you thought falling home prices are good for the nation, this blog may clear some of your myths. --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- --------------- ------- The general belief is that with homes getting more affordable, a larger share of the population will be able to buy homes, resulting in a better quality of life for the citizens. While this argument is correct but not without a fallacy. The fallacy lies in the fact that this logic only looks at interest of future home buyers. It neglects the interest of citizens who already own real estate.  Besides impacting existing owners of real estate, falling home prices will also hurt interests of banks and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) as the value of underlying assets they hold shall come down, affecting their asset coverage ratios. Falling asset prices also create a disincenti

(Category: Marketing) Also published in  CNBCTV18.com Purpose of Myth Series : While real estate is amongst the fastest growing businesses in India, it rarely finds respectable space in curriculums of business schools. Also, there are hardly any case studies available to explain the intricacies of the sector. For these reasons, many facts and theories floating about real estate follow a ‘common sense-ical logic’. Unfortunately, many of these are misconceptions, myths or even downright false.  The purpose of this series, therefore, is to take one real estate myth in each blog and provide insights on the real issues. The ten myths have been classified into three categories – Finance, Marketing and General Business Reading.   ===================================================== When prices of iPhone drop, its demand increases. The same happens to commodities like jute, aluminium, polyester fibre etc. Lower prices increase

Southward movement of South Mumbai My friend from Malad (to his teen aged son) : Parth, this weekend we will meet my college friends. First in Cuffe Parade and then while returning we will meet another friend in Lokhandwala Complex ? Parth : Daddy,  I know Lokhandwala Complex but where in Cuffe Parade ? -----   ***   ----- Stunned ? Shocked ? At the ignorance of Parth ?  If yes, then equally ignorant are those who fail to the see the reality. Rhythm House, Eros, Regal, Kamling, Paradise.…. the list of fading icons of South Mumbai is not just a nostalgic concern but an Urban Planning dilemma too. Among of four geographical blocks - South Mumbai, Central Mumbai, Western Suburbs & Eastern Suburbs, the unique phenomenon that differentiates South Mumbai from the rest is its stagnant population. One would wonder, isn’t that an advantage when everyone is talking of congestion as the biggest concern. The problem is when one sees the demographic forc

Towards Making Hindi The New X-Factor Also published in Movie Talkies http://www.movietalkies.com/news/towards-making-hindi-new-x-factor/ Link to the Hindi version of the same article : ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When spoken it resembles Urdu, when written it is like Marathi ; while its origin is Sanskrit, its name itself originated from Persian. Hindi is like the River Ganga. Alaknanda, Mandakini, Bhagirathi have different identities and characteristics, yet they all are ultimately Ganga. Hindi becomes Hindustani, when you add a few Urdu words to it ; pepping it with Urdu phrases, makes it morph into Urdu. With addition of English words, Hindi become Hinglish. Be it any form, the core of Hindi is to provide communication and emotional connect among Indians in India and among South Asians across the world. More than a language, Hindi is a movement. L

हिंदी बने एक एक्स-फेक्टर Also published in Navbharat Times on 9 th Sep 2018. ( on the occasion of Hindi Divas - 14th Sep ) http://epaper.navbharattimes.com/details/808-69551-1.html जब वह बोली जाती है तो उर्दू के निकट लगती है, लिखी जाती है तो मराठी दिखती है । अपना नाम उसे फ़ारसी से मिला है और मूल उसका है संस्कृत । बहु-वर्णीय हमारी हिंदी भाषा - गंगा नदी के समान है। अलकनंदा, मंदाकिनी, भागीरथी जैसी अन्य अलग पहचानें हैं, अलग अलग चरित्र है, फिर भी समग्र रूप से गंगा है।  हिंदी में थोड़े से उर्दू की शब्द मिलने से वह हिंदुस्तानी हो जाती है। नुक़्तों और महावरों से ज़रा शृंगार कर दो तो उसकी शक्ल बदल कर उर्दू की तरह हो जाती है।अंग्रेज़ी शब्दों का मिश्रण करने पर हिंदी हिंग्लिश बन जाती है। किसी भी रूप में हो, हिंदी का काम तो भारत में भारतियों के बीच और दुनिया भार में दक्षिण एशियाइयों के बीच संवाद और भावनात्मक जुड़ाव पैदा करना है। एक भाषा से भी अधिक, हिंदी एक आंदोलन है। भाषाएँ तो इंसासों को बाँट भी सकती हैं, लेकिन आंदोलन लोगों को जोड़ता है। आंदोलन, किसी तयशुदा रास