MyTake

Capability is nothing but the power to do something. The more one has, the better it is, for individuals as well as for organizations they work for. More power provides more choices and the more the choices, the more one enjoys freedom. This is an interesting continuum, whether we consider human beings in global context, citizens in national context, or employees in organizational context. The agency function gets performed by different agencies in different contexts. Whatever the case may be, one thing is sure that one has to improve one’s capabilities in order to enjoy more freedom. And incase of organizations, HR has to actively involve in facilitating the process of building capability so that the employees get empowered and make choices that are compatible with organizational goal. One should not misunderstand the term freedom in the sense that one can do anything in the organization, once one has better capability. Here it is related to one’s choices and expectations. It i...

Sitting in the Vivekananda Hall at the Delhi School of Economics on the day of his birth anniversary while witnessing the discussions on Digital Revolution and the future ahead, I get reminded of the worldview Swami Vivekanand portrayed through his preaching and practices. The inscription in the hall reads - May I be born again and again, and suffer thousands of miseries so that I may worship the only God that exists, the only God I believe in, the sum total of all souls – and above all, my God the wicked, my God the miserable, my God the poor of all races, is the special object of my worship . The farsightedness of his thinking and the depth in his beliefs brilliantly blended the universal conception that science and technology is trying to bring together by making the world look like a village and the flattening is proving to be a temptation for an entrepreneur and enterprise. Yes we are all beholding digital journey into the new world and as Nandan Nilekani had told Thomas...

Kim and Renee brought out the concept of Blue Ocean Strategy in 2004 through their research and writings and popularised it. That was related to the organizations that were trying to compete and were finding it difficult to sustain in the market full of related products and services and the pressures of the market in improving quality, reducing prices, designing well defended promotional schemes etc.  This is where BOS proposed to create a new market, develop a new product, convert noncustomers to customers, convey a new message, so that one does not feel the pressure of competition.  It was to kill competition and create a blue ocean where there is no competition.  And when in this blue ocean, competitors take birth, participate and compete and start hitting and eating your share it converts the blue ocean into red ocean.  This is the time one needs to come out of it and create another blue ocean. This strategy helped many companies to learn lessons and create blu...

I received following question from one of my former students: I have trying to find the answer regarding, "What happens to the Vision and Mission Statement in the case of Merger and Acquisition/Take Over", but has not been able to find precisely. In the world of business Mergers and Acquisitions are inevitable, especially today. With this I would like to ask, "What happens to the Vision Statement of the companies when they are merged? What happens to the Vision and Mission Statement of the Company which is acquired or taken over by another? Does it get diluted and the company adopts that of the parent company? So I would like to ask for your opinion in this case. My Reply to him: Merger and Acquisitions are part of routine for the companies of today. However they have to take place within the overall objectives, vision and mission of the organization. This is an ideal situation and companies should acquire or merge with such companies where there is match...

While I was waiting for a friend at city centre, Agartala, capital of this small state Tripura, I felt little uncomfortable. My head was getting heavy and I felt like vomiting. Something was blocking my throat. I tried locating a medicine shop and as I found one, I spotted my friend waving. It was around 7 in the evening.  I told him 'I am not feeling well' . He showed his concern and inquired the reason and diagnosed that it is gastric problem. He said we should have spicy tea at this stall (indicating the exact location of a tea vendor on a side). I avoided as I thought maybe it might spoil my stomach further. We started walking towards the other end and I started feeling better. Took a small bottle of soda and after few sips it made me little light. I was getting better. We reached back to city centre and he again suggested that better we have this tea. He had told me about this tea stall and its delicacy before. So I agreed and as we sipped tea I started admiring the t...

Recently Vijay Govindrajan, Professor of strategy at Dartmouth College, USA was asked – ‘ While Innovating, whom should companies target – local consumers or global ones? ’ His reply was:   ‘The focus has to be Indian consumers, especially Indian non-consumers.’   He divided India into three categories, namely   ‘Developed India’   (100 million people living in 15 major Indian cities), ‘ Developing India ’ (300 million people living in 6,000 small towns), and   ‘Underdeveloped India’   (700 million living in the 600,000 villages). He combined developing and underdeveloped India into one group of customers as non-consumers. The needs of these non-consumers have to be addressed in order to capitalize on the opportunity that India provides and it is possible through developing innovative products and services which cater to their pockets. These non-consumers pose a greater challenge for the corporate houses to attract their attention. Mo...

My thoughts on the present situation in NEHU a central university 2nd April 2010 As I See it… It was good Friday today, for me it is was a better Friday. Last Friday was on 26th March and we at the department of commerce were all busy with the national seminar on Global Economic Crisis and Indian Industry. It was its first day, and being seminar director it was a very busy Friday for me. So in this context this Friday was better than the earlier Friday. After so many months it was a good family outing. I kept trying getting details of the village called Mawlynnong – the cleanest village. Just thought it is proper time in place to visit this village. Many of us might not have visited. Cleanliness is a virtue, cleansing is closely associated with it. But what to do instead we chose to go to Nartiang Monoliths. They remind us of their rigidity, solidness, and silence all around. So many things happened between these two Fridays that I thought I should scribble down my thin...