IPL – A Simulated Gateway Model

All’s well that ends well. You must be wondering about the hoopla of IPL & the waves it created in the country. Well if you’re thinking that this article squeezes the same old interrogations or the post mortems of any act in public then you’re wrong.

The motive of my penning down my thoughts here is to take back you to a memory lane that signifies the association of IPL in the context of Management. Gone are those days where only participation mattered it’s time to showcase your best & thus proving your mettle in the very 1st attempt.

There have been various incidents/policies these days which reflects the art of management in them. Infact everything we do involves this art, only thing is our mind wasn’t conscious about it until now. Well to start it, the IPL reflects a model highly followed these days in Management – Simulation Model.

Simulation is a means of echoing/creating an environment with all those factors, forces, pressures, targets & situations that may well exist in any practical environment. Many will debate that it also reflects a concept of test markets & prototypes. But simulation is the next level of these primary footsteps.

IPL gave the players – the exposure where every day is a big day, competition with the bloody best, challenge to take on & more importantly the channel for showcasing the talent. It paved the way to mix with players of different approach, attitude & ability to come to a common ground & come up as a team as a whole. It gave a sport a perfect commercial vehicle for many young aspirants as well as for the reigning legends.

Management is thus an art which if we carry out in our lives will lead to astonishing outputs & will catapult our thoughts into action. Simulation mechanism also gives the organization a hands-on experience as how to lead on in the crisis & help them effectively plan out & chop out their priorities. So people look out & you’ll definitely transform your lives to the next level.

As they say, “Keep looking out, you may meet out the unexpected “.

A Kingdom in Convergence - Network 18

Business often signifies some barometer to seek for. It always calls for –

Flaking the Customer’s Skin
Reading the future
Elegant Opportunist
Walking the rope of risk with planned balance

Whenever we read any biography of business tycoons & maharajas, we shall always observe these characters popping out. The list may feature some add-ons as the time moves on with the kicking competition. One thing which is constant is Risk n it’s Return. Raghav Bahl – the man in frame share the same story of fighting his stalk of odds.

The man was an anchor for Doordarshan in the late 1980s began assembling & producing business shows for television in 90s.

The Great Gamble
When content was king at the time, he saw the future lay in broadcast business. After his broadcasting venture was a flop, he formed a union with Singapore-based Asia Business News (ABN), but because of a poor audience response it also didn’t lasted long. But he then sought for more Indian news content with CNN & CNBC came in 1999 with TV18 partnership.

A Preferred Venturist
Network 18 has been like an octopus, using its tentacles to seize every part of the media pie. When other media companies prefer to guard their own chunks of territory, he aimed to have a crunch diet of the media boom. Bahl grabbed 46% stake in Jagran TV – ailing Hindi news channel & then marked the arrival of IBN7. It added 2 music channels – MTV & VH1 & Nickelodeon – the acclaimed kids’ channel. They are planning to spread its wing by launching – a retail shopping channel Home Shop 18 & IBN Lokmat.

Human Brands
As the economies are shifting to the K-World, the most quintessential asset for any company is its varied blend of skills & talent pool of workforce. Bahl has relied heavily on bringing the star power in his quest for the best. He initiated the entrepreneurship by bringing on Rajdeep Sardesai & Sameer Manchanda by giving them 26% stake in GBN.

Keeping consumer within our basket
Bahl was a man for the future. His acts & his bets signified him as a man who can see the road off the next turn. He set up e-Eighteen Dot Com, & then picked up an ailing personal finance portal, Monneycontrol.com he tied with online brokers with ASK Raymond James to offer transaction capabilities. Today with 7milllion users & an Rs45 crore brand those bets paid off.

They are believed to be the king of convergence who leapfrogged into the news-wire space by acquiring Crisil MarketWire, a real time finance news wire service.

What earlier was Synergy is now Convergence, & the soul idea is to keep the media consumer within the network18 cluster.
Market is very apprehensive about their stunning growth & some say that their leap lacks focus & thought. They are also being accused of acting in unethical ways in its private treaties programme.

In mere 3 years, TV 18 has grown like a baby on steroids, from an Rs.15 crore revenue to a whopping Rs.1000 crore.

The New Media Moguls have announced their trench & the quest is still on.

They say “The ride may be fast & risky, but it’s still hot & enticing”

Offshore IT Showdown – China takes on India

The world was watching the desperate Indians to make their big impact in the world economy. When nothing was coming our way, suddenly IT boom happened. Earlier world had impressions of India as a cultural & traditional heritage. IT gave them the stand point, to have a morning tea-talk on their usual sip n zip sessions. The reason I mentioned sip n zip was they did like to tear apart the world economies on their table of theories & practices.

Since last 1 year their have been some serious concerns making waves in the international arena. It starts & ends in the IT industry’s slowdown which talks about a Dip in the US & World economy. The policy makers are watching closely the steps of the business barons.
India isn’t any way isolated, from being one of the global leaders in Offshore Outsourcing it faces challenges from China in their recent quest to the IT offshore services.

Here we shall dissect that how serious the challenge is for India –

The comparative analysis is thus in thumping up the IT boom n zoom in India.

Though on some grounds the structural concerns needs to be vied for which will but only strengthen the stamp of the Global Outsource Leader.

Recalling a tryst with destiny

Some dates that makes history

Some times that profuse a nation

Some events that schedule glory

Marching the world’s bay…

Along the sea, weaving the dreams of clay…

Holding the hands, chanting & pray…

Languages different, cultures unique

Yet the heart beats the same pulse,

Framing the lives, Milking the skies

Chimes whistling a song, Rhymes of love

Celebrating the glories, Enacting the way…

India’s Republic Day

Embryonic Sight Ahead

Indian IT services market is pegged to grow to $10।73billion by 2011 with anticipation of more contracts from firms, which are grappling with high attrition of IT staff, IT Research Company Gartner Inc said.

The market segments which are slated to strongest growth are –

(a) Consulting – CAGR of 28.1 %
(b) IT management – CAGR of 23.8%
(c) Business Process Management (BPM) – CAGR of 27.1 %

So the message is loud & clear, the Indian IT market is destined to arise to new feats & accomplishments & add many wings to its feathers of flight.

Unzipping the Lions in their Den

It needed a Yorker delivery to finish it all & then team huddle to start the fireworks of celebration to kneel down the Australian side in the 3rd test match.

The young blood came out roaring with the experience of masters to register an unprecedented win over the World Champions Aussies in their den, the Perth, where they haven’t lost any match for 10 years.

The Team India’s ecstatic win over the impeccable Aussies in the Perth test match ended all the allegations & fingers that were raised on the Team India’s ability & credibility to match the winning instincts.

Australia yet again checked squarely by India in their measures of glory to extend their winning streak. You say it & it was there, contributions coming on all over from the park, the batsmen ensuring a stiff target, significant contributions from the lower order & wickets from every bowler.

To the Kangaroo surprise we had with us the complete winning package that any captain can ask for. If there was a young fast Ishant Sharma from the one end it was Sehwag from the other. If there were brilliant batting display from Sachin, Dravid & Laxman then there were some big hitting from Sehwag, Pathan, Dhoni & RP Singh.

Chak de India…. We are very proud of our country & the team.

Philosophy of Success - 1

Thomas Monaghan, Founder, Dominos Pizza

A 23 year old, no college degree, no business experience & no money.

A entrepreneur – extraordinaire who transformed his little pizza shop into a giant business empire by developing & adhering to a simple, successful concept ( delivery of a hot, tasty pizza in 30 minutes or less ), incredible persistence, hard work & a set of remarkably simple values.

What were those values…??

Stick on… n, Wait till I take you on the journey of story & triumph

Story abhi baaki hain mere dost…

The Collaborative Web 2.0

Let’s make this world a smaller place to live in. This statement about 10 years ago wasn’t awarded the seriously by many people but this statement now prevails the existence of any business today.

We have always been very good in some of the things & not so good in the others but unfortunately we believed that we can be the masters of all trade-arts.But the Internet brought around the most revolutionary changes in this thinking of the people.

As we see the example of HP & Compaq coming together on a common platform to give a world-beating services.

Web 2.0 is based on social software where the users not just consume the content but generate it.

Web 2.0 refers to second-generation of web-based services - social networking sites, wikis, blogs, User Generated Content (UGC) - that accentuate online collaboration and sharing among users. It is an arena where the web is a dominant platform compared to the desktop.

This new web environment 2.0 has become so much a part of our life that Time magazine named it as “The Person of the Year 2006” as You. Now Internet users are engaged in a two-way collaborative platform with an amazing array of web services like tagging, blogging, & social networking among others.

Web 2.0, seen by many as a confluence of technology, people, and their attitudes, has changed the way we think and use the Internet.

Ringing Down… Everywhere

The market has never been so possessive. The consumerism has seen them making statements at any point they have the leverage to.

The disparity to make a strong impact is taking them on to look for brighter avenues for their growth prospects. I am talking about the down-market extension which is been looked upon much these days.

Days after TATA extended their 1-lakh car Nano to the newly crafted segment of people; the HCL Infosystems has again stormed the market by introducing the World’s cheapest laptops. It’s ringing cash registers all over again.

They have launched MiLeap – a fully functional, portable range of laptops that sports a stating price tag of Rs. 13,990. It would be available in 2 series – X & Y at a starting price of Rs. 13,990 & Rs. 29,990 respectively.

Both the models have network ports, are Wi-Fi ready, have an option for a data card & are available with GUI-enabled, user friendly Linux OS. Weighing less than a kg, the MiLeap laptops have a 7-inch screen & are equipped with an Intel – processor.

Guess what, is it the best time to be a consumer or seller …?? Well let the experts ponder over it, may be they have some takes on this.

From the Playfield to Business School

Chak De India might have refueled the spirit of Hockey in India but when its terms of business for some people its still the chase of their choices & priorities.

You guess it right; it’s about Viren Rasquinha the 27-year old center forward from Indian Hockey. The man called it off from the game on Tuesday, January 15th.

As a young lad he stood 13th in 10th standard merit list in ’96 that marked his 1st major stint to the academic greatness, but however came the Hockey in between. Here are some of the flashes of his talent –

International Appearances - 180

Medals

Gold – Junior World Cup 2001
Silver – Asian Games 2002
Gold – Asia Cup 2003
Gold – Afro-Asian Games 2003

Captain - 2 tests against Pakistan

World Cup Appearance - Munchengladbach, 2006

Awards - Arjuna Award 2005

But as they say in the B-world the portfolio should go on expanding the wide horizons of life encashing the best of opportunities so be it. The man will be now moving on to the business world as a 1 year course from ISB, Hyderabad.

So does it means that he chased a game that didn’t meant to be his flavor of life or he wasn’t strategically fit for it to make it the best the nation can have.

Often people make some choices in their life & then one day they realize that may be that wasn’t me. Do they lack decision making skills or are they unaware of their talents in the right sense?

Does it leave a statement for you ?? May be its still the time for you to read between the lines…