Assess your Leadership skills ..

Hope you find this useful to know where you lack ..

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/uzzi/ftp/skills.html

ge..

India SC ruling denying gay rights ..

The Indian Supreme Court ruling on criminalising homosexual activity in the country has been warmly welcomed by sensible political parties and citizens groups of the country. It  is actually a victory of sense and simple intelligence over simple pleasure. In the name of enjoyment and nothing else, the gay community is trying hard to make homosexuality legal in the country.

Humans have been created in evolution (or by God) as man and woman. From our basic biological and sexual organs itself, it is clear that nature wanted man and woman to be together. Only a man and woman union can bring another progeny into planet earth. A union of man and man or woman and woman cannot bring progeny into this world. That basic union is by the very nature criminal and illegal.

Irrespective of some litterateurs and intelligensia gunning for its decriminalisation, the LGBT community is a gang of humans trying to legalise unnatural emotions and bringing selfish thoughts and actions into the mainstream. This has to be resisted by all sensible thinking persons in the country, Even if it means that a meagre 10% of society will not find sexual contentment, humanity as a whole cannot allow this 10% to contaminate the other 90% of peaceloving, natural law abiding citizens.

Gay parents cannot bring up straight children - this is the simplest and most plausible reason for not permitting homosexuality in society.

It is very much against nature, period.

george.

Why people immigrate or futility of immigration ..

Why do people immigrate ? This thought has always been at the back of my head for a long time. Or for that matter, people with good educational qualifications, first try to migrate to a foreign country or try to get a job in an MNC first. Why does it happen so ? Is India such a hopeless country ? Or have the immigrants lost the balance in their head to ditch their own rich motherland ?

Is living in India so bad or is working with Indian corporates or organisation inferior to working with foreign MNCs ?

I am not saying that xenophilia is wrong nor is xenophobia justified .. coming from a very rich culture which had a profound impact on the world for time immemorial, except for the past three hundred years, it would sound strange to go to a foreign land in search of opportunities, opportunities of a good job otherwise denied in India due to high competition and high intellect ..

 People immigrate between countries for opportunities. For opportunities which are denied to them for being born to a particular set of parents, economic background  religious background and so on. Opportunities in a new land without prejudices he feels has been denied to him back home. It gives him/her chances to improve one's perceived sense of self worth and search for better standard of living, better paid jobs and a higher quality of life in terms of health and enjoyment.

When people migrate wanting to make a different impact on their lives, foregoing all that is their own in their own country, does it bode well for the individual, his future generations to leave his or her motherland and settle in another ?

India has been doing well throughout the whole of history. But we have not flaunted our well being, intellect or wealth for political purposes, to conquer, dominate or subjugate countries. Our political leaders have framed such a constitution for our country that we will never ever try to go aggressive , but only act to preserve our freedom.

In another twenty years, India will once again get to lead the world in all senses, unshackling itself from the bondages of poor development imposed on it by invading cultures. Following our principles of Sanatana Dharma, we will never ever want to rule other cultures, conquer countries, flaunt our wealth or denigrate other cultures, races, religions and civilizations.

India will keep up to the high standards of cultural, spiritual, intellectual excellence it has enjoyed over centuries, at the same time respecting the rights of other countries and civilizations to pursue theirs..

For a person in space or from a different planet, it does not matter whether we are whites or blacks, from India, China or US, tall or short etc.. We are humans.. Let us go beyond all such claustrophobic prejudices and work for a better world.

george..

Reverse Innovation - Innovation from developing to the developed world ..

When I first took this topic for discussion in the class in Alliance university, Bangalore never did I think so many ideas would crop up from the students and I would learn so much.They say the Indian consumer is the most exacting customer in the world, if the operator does not cater to him, the Indian customer ignores him , as simple as that. That is why MNCs are rethinking their strategies to develop items for the developing countries and then move those ideas and products to the developed world.

I found this high value TED talk video on reverse or frugal innovation by Prof. Vijay Govindrajan of Tuck School of Business, NY interesting.. 

Tata Nano is a great example ..

India Knowledge at Wharton in interview mode with Prof Govindarajan 

Click here for Prof. Vijay's TED talk ..

I have been engaging classes in lean Operations and the aspect of frugal innovation of reverse innovation is really great while discussing about Aravind Hospital, Madurai and Narayana Hospitals Bangalore in my Lean Operations classes ..

Prof Vijay's paper in HBR of Oct 2009 with Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE, " How GE is disrupting itself", talks of how GE has taken the lead in this Reverse Innovation.

By developing medical equipments like the "low cost and high value" desktop ECG for $15,000 and the ultrasound scanner for Chinese market, introducing the same products to western markets and finding novel uses for the same.

The "Reverse Innovation playbook" by Prof. Vijay highlighting the case (HBR April 2012) of Harman Automobile Infotainment division coming up with Saras, a reverse innovated product for the carmakers of the world makes good reading..Prof. Vijay's book title "Create far from home - win everywhere" is self explanatory ..

GE Triveni power turbines from 30 MW to 100 MW ..

Thank you Vijay for this. Even though this TED talk is for the US audience, it is very informative and will make people in the developing world think of innovation and how to take the frontiers of human endeavour and living forward.

An example of Tata Swach, the ultra low cost water purifier which does not need electricity , costs Rs 999 and is very portable.. ..

This is a list of great reverse innovation examples, mainly all of these are from India ..Maggi noodles from Nestle, Tacobell from KFC, Denizen jeans from Levi's, Renault Logan from Rebault and Mahindra, Etios/Liva from Toyota are all great examples .. When Tata docomo, the mobile phone operator came with the 1/2 paisa per second plan for mobile tariffs across the country, all other players followed suit and now the metric for mobile operators have moved from Average revenue per user to Gross / net profits / revenue.

With a vast market of almos a billion users ( 3.5 times the US market and about 15 times the markets of Germany, UK, France etc..,)  the possibilities to innovate again and bring value to customers is huge ( at the same time giving fair profits to the operators).

This is Prof. Vijay's idea of a $300 house.. 75 million people in this world do not have a roof above their head when they go to sleep every night. Won't this be a great opportunity for countries to experiment with ?

Here is Prof. Govindarajan's blog on Reverse innovation

george..

The great Indian democratic debate on AAP Minister Somnath Bharti ..

It is always great to see an over enthusiastic TV crew and an even more enthusiastic public come out in support and against AAP party on TV these days.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASGYbN6NCTU  watch this video for a clear understanding ..

When the AAP minister, (IIT Delhi Post Grad) Somnath Bharti on the request of his constituency members from Malviya Nagar went to see for himself the activities of possible drug peddling and human sex trafficking taking place there, (which the police had always overlooked) and asked the police to raid the place, the police never acted. Nobody raises a hue and cry for this incident of refusal of the Police which is the main reason for this controversy and continues to be bane for the people of Malviya Nagar. It is a different thing that the incident has actually been a blessing for Indian democracy.

Why did the police officers not act on the request of the concerned MLA of the constitutency and Law Minister of Delhi is a question which we need to ask the police.? Had the police been a little more vigilant and heeded to the request of the people, would the needless post controversy have erupted ? Why are political parties making a hue and cry regarding the post crisis developments when timely action of the police at the right time would have brought it much applause ?

One thing we need to understand is that the Minister Somnath Bharti's outbursts or actions were not for his personal/selfish interests. It was for the people of his constituency.

The other good thing in the Indian democracy is that such deep dissection and analysis of pre and post incident developments will happen only in really "advanced mature and great democracies" like India. ( need not be materially advanced or democracies in crutches..) . The great learning from such incidents and discussions led by the media on TV and all discussion forums across the country of 1200 million in every nook and corner of the country is actually the strength of the democracy in India. I am doubtful whether other countries even after centuries will reach this matured state of political development.

Such advanced democratic exercises involving so many people rarely do happen in any other part of the world. And these discussions help to make the foundations of our democracy, strong, safe and sound.

My request to all political parties and media, Indian and foreign, making a hue and cry against Somnath is to request them to continue this noise for the sake of strengthening Indian democracy. AAP will definitely benefit from this initial ragging exercise by the senior political parties and make it more stronger. It will emerge more mature, responsible and careful in its future conduct.

The other offshoot of the the emergence of AAP, is that of 1) reducing the opulence and waste by ministers by way of unnecessary security and protection to add status (and not necessarily to cover the perceived security threat) and 2) reduction of power tariffs across the country by important states on fear of being caught red handed siding and scheming with the wrong-doers. These actions reaffirm that all is not lost yet . These actions will only make the Indian democracy stronger in the coming years.

This is also a lesson for the other democracies in crutches and self-proclaimed defenders of democracy of the world, to never be worried of initial hiccups and not take actions in haste. As long as the final objectives are pure and chaste, things have to automatically fall in place,. strengthening the hands of a strong democracy, upholding the values of honesty and sincerity, helping improve the transparency of the democratic process.

george..

Unnecessary blowing up of case against Somnath Bharti, AAP Law Minister of Delhi..

What confuses me regarding the case against Bharti, an IIT Delhi Science graduate being hounded by vested interests for his patriotic remarks against some vested interests is whether these people who are raising the objections are raising any serious ones ?  I need to ask these interests, whether they stand for the unity and integrity of the country, whether they stand for the security of women folk in the country or for settling petty personal scores in politics and scoring some brownie points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASGYbN6NCTU watch this video.. Politicians of all political parties are missing the woods for the trees !! How sad ..

Here are a group of local dwellers and residents of the area after getting fed up with immoral activities happening with the blessings of some higher ups, try to raise their voice against immoral activities happening around Malaviya Nagar in New Delhi. They go and complain to their elected MLA, Mr Somnath Bharti who also is also the Law Minister. The Minister and the public together ask the Police to conduct a raid, which the police refuse.

Why blow up this case, missing the woods for the trees ? Why are politicians across affiliations not addressing the issue of drug and human trafficking and worried only about the case of over zealousness exhibited by their Minister to help them out ? The common man gets a strong feeling whether the police and the political leaders of the two mainstream parties are hand in glove with the immoral activities happening in the area.

Is controlling immoral activities happening unquestioned in a part of New Delhi or questioning a Minister for some enraged conversation he may have entered into pursuant to finding hints of immoral activity at the place, which is more important for the country ? We should understand that this issue was raised by the Delhi Law Minister not for his personal gain or selfish interests. It was on the request of the people in his constituency that the Minister went to see what is happening and took umbrage at the events.

In my opinion any right thinking individual, having any sort of patriotism for the country, irrespective of party affiliations, would firstly applaud the Minister for boldly taking up this action than gunning for his resignation and blood. The fact is that he is against the establishment with good intentions, to cleanse up the system and not work for its downfall. Working against the establishment is harming some of the vested interests who would love to maintain the status quo, continue with the confusion and troubled consciences and fish in muddied waters.

People who are raising voice against Somnath, should introspect and see whether any of Somnaths' actions were against the states interests of were in his selfish interests ? If so, only then should they shout against the Minister. Else they should let the incident take its normal course, allow Police to raid the site where immoral activities were for sure taking place and book the culprits.

That way the police can reclaim some of its lost respect and reputation among the people of New Delhi.

ge..

Playing the Beer Distribution Game ..

Prof. Siddharth Sengupta and myself played the Beer Distribution game in the class last week with students of the Operations stream in Alliance University. (click here for the shared doc)

There were three supply chains of 17 students each in the Operations stream of about 50 students.

Each supply chain had two retailers taking orders from the customers. The retailers were placing orders with a wholesaler, the single wholesaler was placing orders with the single Distributor and the Distributor was placing orders with the single manufacturer.

Supply Chain A                            Supply Chain B                   Supply Chain C Mean of orders placed SD Total Cost Mean SD Total Cost Mean SD Total Cost Customer 4 1.5 4 1.5 4 1.5 Retailer 1 4.2 1.9 680 3.8 2.44 920 5.2 1.93 1220 Retailer 2 3.8 2.1 1020 4.1 2.38 1140 3.8 2.3 1040 Wholesaler 6.9 3.9 720 8 5.6 800 6.8 6.2 1980 Distributor 8.3 6.6 1060 8 6.75 1170 8.5 7.94 1730 Manufacturer 7.5 8.9 1050 8.5 9.7 2000 8.4 16.3 810 4530 6030 6780

The Supply Chain C had the largest total cost, then supply chain B and least was for supply chain A. In all the cases, we found that the Mean of the orders placed by the entities were higher for supply chain C than for the other supply chains. Likewise the standard deviation of the orders placed by the supply chain C was higher than the other supply chains. This was clear indication that the bullwhip effect, which is nothing but the amplification of the variance of orders placed by downstream entity on an upstream entity as we go upstream in the supply chain is very pronounced for all the three supply chains. If we were comparing the relative values of the mean of the orders placed and the values of std dev. (variance) of the orders placed, we find for that these values are higher for supply chain C, than for supply chains B and A. This also goes to prove that the higher the variability in the orders placed, higher are the costs.  This is because due to higher variance ( or SD) there are either higher numbers of items in stock, leading to high holding costs and to higher numbers of items short, leading to high shortage costs. This goes to prove that Bullwhip Effect not only plays havoc with your inventory stock, it also increases your costs, affecting the bottomline of the organisation. The reasons for these costs are as under ( Lee et al, '97) 1. Demand forecast updating : the rational thinking on the part of the players - thinking that the orders will either increase or decrease, the upstream entities either placed large numbers of items as orders or less numbers of items, forced them to place larger or lesser orders.

2. Rationing and shortage gaming : the single wholesaler was supplying to two retailers, naturally there was rationing and the retailers placed larger orders to avoid being shortsupplied.

3. Impact of leadtimes of replenishment : the replenishment happening after passage of a fixed period of time and the pipeline inventory thence was forgotten by the entities while placing orders, leading to higher inventory on order and delivery.

4. The negative impact felt by the backorders forced entities to order more than what was actually needed.

5. Order batching and price fluctuations did not happen in this instance and hence its effect on the bullwhip phenomenon has been ruled out.

Another cause which we wanted to highlight was the impact of leadtimes. It has been seen earlier while playing other versions of the game, higher leadtime of replenishment also results in higher costs of the supply chain.

The delay in getting the replenishment stocks due to high leadtimes, leads to panic among the ordering entities, who place larger orders , unmindful that stocks are in the pipeline. Finally when stocks arrive, there is a glut and this causes excess holding costs.

It was so good to see the Bullwhip Effect in action because of the rational thinking of the players of the game ( the students themselves). This is indeed great learning for the students..

You can read my writeup on the Beergame ..

Ref :

The bullwhip effect in supply chains- Hau L Lee; V Padmanabhan; Seungjin Whang, MIT Sloan Management Review; Spring 1997

ge..