On my flight to Srinagar from Delhi, a very apprehensive me pondering hard, what awaits me at the city. A city, which everyone forbade me to visit going by various press reports and the recent October earthquake which shook the entire State that was already in turmoil. But I was proved wrong. It was a very pleasant sight to see a normal city going through the hustle bustle of daily grind at 12:30pm on a clear Monday afternoon.On my way to the airport, I was greeted by people looking very cheerful despite the hardship they had to undergo all the years. The wide and beautiful road that took me to the City center looked so normal and made me feel as if I was in a Delhi suburb. It was only after I saw security personnel every 100 yards, which made all the difference. Srinagar, a city that once was the toast of Bollywood producers and the honeymooners alike, today looked like a protected bride. The people, however made all the difference with their warmth and generous smile. Even the coldest winter in a decade (-6.5 degrees celsius temperature) could not take away this warmth. On checking in at the Hotel, my home for the next 5 days, I was made to feel like I was the bridegroom visiting my in laws after many years. The hotel staff at the Reception were excited when I mentioned I came from Bangalore. Oh, you come from the IT capital of the world, they gushed. The hotel had all the facilities I could expect in a 5 star hotel, contrary to my expectation. That night on Tuesday, December 13th at 3:15am I felt the experience of my life. The earthquake, which had an epicenter in Afghanistan, shook the city out of its sleep. When I came out of the hotel room, I was greeted by the hotel staff which ensured that all its guests were safe even at that time of the day. We did not dare rush out of the hotel as the temperature was lesser than -6 degrees celsius outside. If the God above us willed we will be very safe, is what the hotel staff said and assured us of safety in case there were aftershocks. Switching the Television on, we saw that the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale and this time, God did not will to take away any life. He had certainly heard their prayers! The years of turmoil and the earthquakes that shook this beautiful state, has certainly made the people very tough and they could face any trouble or problem that posed before them. The next day I visited Dal Lake and was pained to see almost all houseboats with Vacant board hanging outside the majestic boats. A top tourist destination for years was reduced to this state. This was only due to unfound fears of people like me who now prefer to visit other countries than holiday in Kashmir. The state has everything to offer and can easily offer tough competition to Swiss locales which we see in Yash Chopra films. The place has people with large hearts and this makes a big difference when it comes to tourism. I could hardly see any form of terrorism or experience anti India bashing throughout the five days I was in Srinagar. Where dont we see terrorism in today's world... New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Delhi. Have people stopped going there? We have seen the terrorism of worst kind in Bangalore, a city which prides itself to be a safe city and the IT capital of the world, where a lady employed with a MNC company is raped and murdered by the company's own contract staff. That evening I took a stroll near Lal Chowk, the city hub. I was enthralled to see the market place and the lively atmosphere. When the shopkeepers came to know that I came from a distant place, they took more care to offer the best service. This city demands better tourism facilities and the local Kashmiris want us to visit them. The general feeling of the people contained positive hope that the new Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad would take the State to its former glory. I could see that change happening. Almost all leading private air carriers flying to Srinagar, new International airport, wide and beautiful roads, flyovers etc. are certainly positive signs. On my day of departure, I could clearly see the moistened eyes of the hotel staff who bid adieu to me. They wanted me to visit the place once again with my family. Let us restore Kasmir to the earlier glory - The Crown of India. The Government should take positive steps to promote tourism in Kashmir and bring us closer to these wonderful people and the place once described as the Heaven on Earth.
Yours truly,
Arvind Kamath
Bangalore
Bhubaneshwar Trip
This was my first visit to Bhubaneshwar, the Temple City of India and was very apprehensive before landing here since I had heard lot of stories about this place – both good and bad. From the aircraft the city looked flooded due to incessant rainfall since last couple of weeks but looked neat and compact with a small town look. Bhubaneshwar airport is small but well maintained. I was greeted by a board that read “ Infosys welcomes ARBINDH KAMATA” . My name was already translated to Oriya language by the friendly cab driver J The drive to airport to Infosys campus (about 20 kms) took just 25 minutes with no traffic jam. The roads are wide and well maintained with good amount of greenery all around. Being a travel freak, I made the team miss the Saturday afternoon siesta. We set off for local sight seeing starting with the main temple – Lingaraj temple. We were already warned about the priests who pester a lot and make you pay “dakshina” forcefully. The ancient temple houses the Shiva Linga which is “swayambhoovu” – which means orignated from the Earth naturally. The city gets its name from this temple. We also visited the famous Buddha Stupa at Dhauligiri just on the outskirts of this temple. This place is related to the famous War of Kalinga fought by King Ashoka. Later we visited the Khandagiri and Udayagiri, famous for rock cut caves built by Jain monks. On Sunday we started early morning for Konark. We were lucky to have a localite within the group - Daisy Smita who belongs to Bhubaneshwar. Thanks to her we could ward off local guides and priests. We started with visit to the magnificent Sun Temple at Konark, which is the most stunning monuments of religious architecture in the world. From Konark, on our way to Puri we visited the Chandrabhaga beach. The route to Puri is extremely picturesque via the Marine drive and in about 30 minutes we reached the abode of Lord Jagannath. On reaching Puri we visited the temple of Lord Jagannath. None of the temples here allow cameras and entry is restricted only to Hindus. Being the tallest temple in Orissa, it is one of the most magnificent pieces of monuments of India. After the darshan we had lunch and then spent some time at the vibrant Puri beach. On our way back from Puri we stopped at Pipli famous for various kinds of handicraft items like lamp shades, wall hangings, umbrellas etc. Thus came to an end my visit of Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Konark carrying back sweet memories of these places. Even the rains could not dampen our spirits but certainly affected quality of our snaps.
Decision-focused Planning
In a recent HBR article (Jan 06), Marakon consultants Michael C. Mankins and Richard Steele argue that in most companies, strategic planning is not about making decisions, but about documenting choices that have already been made.
They describe a disconnect between strategic planning and decision-making, which is caused by the length (1 year) and timing (annually) of traditional planning processes, and also because the strategy process is predominantly business-unit oriented, while decisions are often issue-oriented.
The authors recommend to add 6-8 issue-based meetings per year and integrate those in the planning process, which as a result becomes more continuous. Additionally this helps to improve the communication between senior corporate managers and business unit managers.
Although an occasional issue-based strategic meeting can have its merits, I believe that adding 6-8 of those each year plus an additional level of planning on top of the usual network, corporate, business and functional levels is too much of a thing and business unit managers are perfectly capable to take major decisions themselves. Besides, board-level executives cannot afford to spend that much time on the issues of their business units.
Are you an advocate of decision-focused planning?
They describe a disconnect between strategic planning and decision-making, which is caused by the length (1 year) and timing (annually) of traditional planning processes, and also because the strategy process is predominantly business-unit oriented, while decisions are often issue-oriented.
The authors recommend to add 6-8 issue-based meetings per year and integrate those in the planning process, which as a result becomes more continuous. Additionally this helps to improve the communication between senior corporate managers and business unit managers.
Although an occasional issue-based strategic meeting can have its merits, I believe that adding 6-8 of those each year plus an additional level of planning on top of the usual network, corporate, business and functional levels is too much of a thing and business unit managers are perfectly capable to take major decisions themselves. Besides, board-level executives cannot afford to spend that much time on the issues of their business units.
Are you an advocate of decision-focused planning?
Strategy in uncertain markets requires active waiting
Strategy in uncertain markets requires active waiting. That is what Donald N. Sull says in HBR of September 2005. Furthermore, he identifies a number of management principles for surviving and thriving in unpredictable markets. These principles, taken together, define "active waiting":
- Keep the vision fuzzy and the priorities clear.
- Conduct reconnaissance into the future. Send probes and watch for anomalies and gaps.
- Keep a war chest. Save cash for when disaster strikes or when faced with a golden opportunity.
- Maintain the pressure. During the waiting, focus on improving operational efficiency.
- Declare the main effort. Decide and communicate. Focus all resources on the golden opportunity.
Doing active waiting well requires from leaders that they are patient, disciplined and alert during the waiting process, and courageous and bold during the rare times of major disaster or major opportunity. Not many people are capable of aligning their leadership behavior to these crucial external circumstances.
A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy
It is now 25 years ago that Harvard professor, Michael E. Porter wrote "Competitive Strategy". Essentially Porter says you need to consider Five Competitive Forces to analyse the attractiveness of an industry for a company.
A new book on business strategy: "Competition Demystified - A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy" by Bruce Greenwald, a professor at the Columbia Business School, and Judd Kahn, is a conscious simplification of Michael Porter's classic.
According to the authors, in most cases, studying only one factor will do: Potential Entrants. They claim the Barriers to Entry is by far the most important factor in business strategy.
If they are right that would make business strategy formulation a lot simpler!
"Either the existing firms within the market are protected by barriers to entry or they are not," the authors write. " No other feature of the competitive landscape has as much influence on a company's success as where it stands in relationship to these barriers." And: "Avoiding competition is the only way to escape a level playing field in which anyone can join... [and] only the best... survive and prosper."
Greenwald and Kahn argue that:
A new book on business strategy: "Competition Demystified - A Radically Simplified Approach to Business Strategy" by Bruce Greenwald, a professor at the Columbia Business School, and Judd Kahn, is a conscious simplification of Michael Porter's classic.
According to the authors, in most cases, studying only one factor will do: Potential Entrants. They claim the Barriers to Entry is by far the most important factor in business strategy.
If they are right that would make business strategy formulation a lot simpler!
"Either the existing firms within the market are protected by barriers to entry or they are not," the authors write. " No other feature of the competitive landscape has as much influence on a company's success as where it stands in relationship to these barriers." And: "Avoiding competition is the only way to escape a level playing field in which anyone can join... [and] only the best... survive and prosper."
Greenwald and Kahn argue that:
- Firms operating without competitive advantages should concentrate all their efforts on being efficient;
- Companies that do have competitive advantages need to design strategy with their competitors in mind;
- Most competition is over pricing or capacity, and there are established techniques for analyzing these situations and devising the right strategies to handle them;
- Cooperation between competitors is possible and beneficial and can be accomplished without breaking the law;
- In an increasingly global economy, competitive advantages still stem primarily from local conditions. Even large international firms need to understand and protect the local sources of their success.
Most importantly, according to the authors there are really only three sustainable competitive advantages;
- Supply. A company has this edge when it controls an important resource: in Hollywood, for example, it may mean having Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise star in a movie. Or a company may have a proprietary technology, like a prescription drug, that is protected by patent.
- Demand. A company can control a market because customers are loyal to it, either out of habit - to a brand name, for example - or because the cost of switching to a different product is too high. Companies often put off changing software vendors, for example, for that reason.
- Economies of scale. If your operating costs remain fixed while output increases, you can gain a significant edge because you can offer your product at lower cost without sacrificing margins.
Greenwald and Kahn explain in depth how a business can capitalize on each type of advantage.
Customer S. taken beyond CRM
In the HBR of December 2004, Jeffrey F. Rayport and Bernard J. Jaworski write that the task of managing customer interfaces and managing interface systems is an underestimated strategic imperative. Those who deal with this in their customer S. cracking the code of interface systems will have a competitive advantage.
Advances in service technology have opened up new possibilities for how companies can create value not only through improvements in productivity but through better interactions with their customers. Businesses must change fast to embrace these new realities. Reengineering the front office will eliminate and displace many jobs, but it will also inevitably create new opportunities for human labor. Getting the balance right will require Corporate leaders to develop a subtle understanding of how to manage the intelligent division of labor between people and machines. A company's interface system works best when it combines the best of what people and machines can do.
Every customer interface must deliver high levels of customer-perceived value relative to the competition. This is possible along the four dimensions of a customer interface:
After years of cost cutting, it may well be that Customer S. will become more interesting now as a source of creating competitive advantage with so many new technology options to choose from.
Advances in service technology have opened up new possibilities for how companies can create value not only through improvements in productivity but through better interactions with their customers. Businesses must change fast to embrace these new realities. Reengineering the front office will eliminate and displace many jobs, but it will also inevitably create new opportunities for human labor. Getting the balance right will require Corporate leaders to develop a subtle understanding of how to manage the intelligent division of labor between people and machines. A company's interface system works best when it combines the best of what people and machines can do.
Every customer interface must deliver high levels of customer-perceived value relative to the competition. This is possible along the four dimensions of a customer interface:
- physical presence and appearance
- cognition (recognize customers, draw intelligent conclusions and act upon that)
- emotion or attitude (right sense of humor, repect, etc, calibrated with the customer)
- connectedness (Amazon generates recommendations based on buying patterns of people with similar interests)
After years of cost cutting, it may well be that Customer S. will become more interesting now as a source of creating competitive advantage with so many new technology options to choose from.
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