Rudy Giuliani on leadership .. Video from CSPAN

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Walmart ready to enter india?

It looks like they are... WSJ is reporting that they will partner with Bharti a cellphone giant who own BPL, idea and airtel...

About three months ago, I had a debate with a friend at IIMA that walmart will enter India with a partnership model. At that time i had considered Bharti as a contender for the partner i guess i was right. The other option i thought walmart could enter India with a franchisee model.

The mode of entry was also the way i had thought they would do ...
do all the back end stuff and let the partner do the front end ...

The reason is India's FDI policy, it allows only FDI in retail that sells it's own brand such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony. But policy does not allow FDI in retail where it's a multi brand store.

official reason for such as policy
it'll jeopardize the interest of small vendors...

But rumors are that it's lobbying by Biyani and the retail group who wants to get as "tagda" as possible before the inevitable happens.

So inevitable is about to happen ...

Reliance v/s Bharti-Walmart v/s Biyani v/s Star bazaar (Tata)

I'm surprised that Tata is not doing anything in this area .. who know what's cooking there ?

link to article on WSJ

A consultant ..

please click on it ..

Entrepreneurship lessons from Sanjeev Bhikhchandani

I see a note in today’s media "Info edge listed at Stock exchange". Info edge aka naukri.com is a company founded by IIMA alumni Sanjeev B. I thought it may be a good time to recollect his knowledge sharing on entrepreneurship with us. The market os cheering his success and some would envy him to be in a billion Rs. club, but not everyone knows the story behind the success.

About 3 months ago when we had a case from Naukri.com I had requested prof. Sahay to ask if we could invite Sanjeev to our class. And to my/our luck he did come on short notice. Since he was coming, I requested him if he could also share lessons of his way of looking entrepreneurship.

Some of the key takeaway were

1. keep trying, success never comes easy and it’s never ever quick
2. use your experience to your advantage
3. Perseverance pays
4. Nothing wrong in being opportunist at times
5. Do the math … V IMP…
6. you can not sail in two boats …

The Freemium Business Model

“Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, etc, then offer premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base.”

- Jarid Lukin

The billionaire next door?

The billionaire next door? How?Can a billionaire be living next door? But Warren buffet is one! He lives in Omaha Nebraska for bout 45 years. He had bought the house that he lives in for 31.5K and he is happy. Upon asked by CNBC reporter why not move to mansion. His answer was “I’m happy with all I have got”. This is the answer he mentioned about 20 times in last one hours “a day with WB” a CNBC show.

Yes I came home early for the show. Luckily, traffic has not been bad and I was here in 15 minutes. So the time well spent. An hour of time watching who is WB? What’s WB’s philosophy and what’s his success secret.

University of Missouri actually teaches “WB way of investing”. They recommend book called essays for WB Larry Cunningham. Ashwath Damodaran in NYU – a professor in valuation – say his success is in his staying back in Omaha and not having wall street influence. Upon asking do you not hire Wall street host shots for due diligence? He answered “are they hot shosts?” and he added “he bought a company in Israel with out being there just on meeting that man.

Rule # 1 don’t loose the money, #2 don’t forget the rule #1., #3 do what you know? And don’t do you what you don’t. That’s what he describes his success.

link to his interview snippet

At a Tie event in Bay area

Yesterday night I went to an event organized by Tie. Tie, the Indus entrepreneur, network is a volunteer organization with 44 chapters across the globe. The focus was on security industry and how an entry to exit. “Software Security Entry to Exit - Decode the entrepreneurial code”.

The event was structured in three parts 1. networking 2. panel discussions and 3. Q&A. It was fun meeting folks at the networking, ofcourse some of the folks were really snobbish and some were just too good. I met few people one British embassy associate wanting to invite companies to setup offices in UK, A Chinese lady wanting to find clients, An American executive wanting to grow his company, an India sales manager hanging out, few entrepreneurs wanting to find opportunity and of course few vellas like me who just came to find whats happening.

Dinner was aweful, after eating food in India for six or so months, I don’t think I can eat India food anywhere in North America. It just does not compare in quality forget the cost. I’m side tracking …

So the panel started the discussion. Rob Owens, Vice President and Senior Research Analyst, Pacific Crest, was the moderator. He was the first one on the street to make the security as a group, an industry and cover it differently in 1997. Since than, he has covered the industry and considered an authority. The panel was Don canning, a sr. fellow from Microsoft’s emerging business team, Ashsih Chandna from greylock partners, Stephnie Fohn, CEO whitehat securities – a managed outsourcing company and Praveen jain EVP Mcafee.

Some of the key points from discussions were
 The industry is not saturated in terms of $$ the expected size is $120 billion and current industry size is $20 billion
 The industry does not have many big players
 The industry has seen few segments mature that are firewall and anti-virus.
 The industry does not have common standards and in the game theatric situation of not having one specially every one having MS and CISCO big brother in bed together
 The industry has not seen an ipo in last five years but trend may change with ipo for 3 to 5 players
 Mr. Praveen’s opinion was that the smaller company should not stay small, they should merge (hostile nature of big boys).

Question answers were boaring for me hence I came back.. Overall time well spent than watching TV/documentary 

Gandhiism, Gandhigiri is big in India

You turn on th TV today and it's all about Gandhiji today. It's a shame that i have not been able to visit Sabarmati ashram yet (know here in Gujarat as Gandhi Ashram).

Anyway every one is talking about Gandhiji today. A one movie (munnabhai) has created a "Vamal", circles in steady water. It'll be great to see how long does this last. I hope for ever.

There is a website gandhigiri.org that's come up and spreading words about Gandhiji.

Is it relevent to today's india? Is the question being asked everywhere? But i think before one asks that, get an answer to What is Gandhgiri/Gandhism?

Indian culture not suitable to westernes

One more day and one more reveling information..

We had a guest today, a Dutch lady who did study for three years with westerners managers having well educated Indian workers.

The study is an eye opener...
Westerners (in India for 3 years) think
Indian's do not value time, do not take initiatives. They also think Indians though can speak like westerners but the cultural divide is large (is it new ?).

On the other side;
Indians thinking about themselves
don't see any of these problem.

There is certainly a mismatch somewhere in terms of thinking, and if India wants o become global sourcing destination, she will have to change some of the practices while also demanding westerners to change...

One last thought .. are a lot of Indians not coming back because of this cultural divide or is it the standard corruption, pollution issue.. a worth to study..

Meeting Dave Martin

This is one of the best thing that could happen to my life.

A CEO of a company who gives pharma companies run for their money. Every minute, I was getting to know him listening to his business model and small thoughts were melting down. I was learning about a man's pursuit to divde the bridge between so called money maker and controllers and the poors.

He has developed a software that finds fingerprints of how a human mind writes when thinking flawlessley and when trying to cheat - he calls it lingustic genomics. On that basis he has been able to identify patents that were purjuries be it pharma, telecome and others.

Once identified, he does the due dilligence and works invaldate the patent. Wow what an innovation ...

Ofcourse in doing so, he has created a rightfull $27B cmpany too. I'm happy i went to dinner after exhaustion fo the whole day...

And special thanks to prof. Gupta...

NID Garba

This year I hope to make most out of A'bad with garba. What better to start the season with NID?

NID (National institute of design) organizes garba all of the nine nights. I guess they only allow students for first three nights. We went there yesterday, our first garba of the season.

Not knowing what to expect if they did not let spouse and kids in we went there. Nevertheless, they did allow every one in. So start our garba adventure.

Wow!! The pathway about 150 ft. long was decorated with diyas (like candles). All I can say is that’s why they are best in design.

Next thing was garba ground. It was less than 1/5th full. The music guys were awesome, one of the best traditional music folks. (I have not seen it all though, my opinion may change).

Anyway, so we had 1.5 rounds and than our daughter wanted to go home so we came back. However, memories still remain and will stay forever...

Lalu came and left

Sorry, I forgot to write about the visit....

OH yeah one caveat: I did not attend the session, as it was not madatory for folks not taking SCLM (supply chain and logistics management) course.

However, I heard a lot from my colleagues and other folks...

I guess it was a visit we will remember for good time... why? It was a different type of visit...

We had some expectations/apprehensions. Some were overran by his team, by prof. we (at least I) also saw another side of Indian media...

How?

Laluji was prepared so was his team, he answered the apprehensions the folks had about IR turn over... (One -ve his team had more data than we did).
He set in as another student and let prof. Raghu take control (not true what media reported -- he taught).
However, with out teaching there were learning our team draw from him on being prepared, leading by empowerment and using charisma to subdue apprehensions.

He also went to LKP (the famous Louis Kahn plaza) for speech after class with PGPX and (few pgp and ABMS).

Anyway, life is back to same. He is gone and next thing is confluence 2006 (PGPX will be missing It. we will be away for a month internship)



So what did he do good/bad?

He was very prepared for questions

Shree Laluprasad at IIMA

We will have Mr. Laluprasad at IIMA today...

It's a big hype created by media. I guess it is the same in west when Mr. Clinton goes to a univ. for lecture...

It is no different for us than having a CEO of a company as a casing point, except 1. He is giving us gyan for multi directions
a. Govt
b. leadership in a chaos (after all railways was a chaos)
c. Knowing Indian railway's story for success from the person who was/has been there on turn around

Oh yes there are few intangibles
We have every media at our door step a
we have all things chamkaofied


So anyway, the session is happening... I’ll write the experience later...

the grades are coming

Oh yes.. had two so far ... have not been butchered yet... managed to stay afloat...

I have actually changed my dbab name to "I’ll be at hospital soon"... The best part about grades is even though I do not claim to care I do want to look at them and find how professor has evaluated me...

With Strategy and Macro Economics out seven more to go.

Is Gandhigiri next big thing?

We saw lage raho munnabhai other day. I could feel, it is much needed for today’s India. Why? Simple answer is Gandhigiri in my opinion is allowing all those who are helpless/faceless/voiceless to have a say of their own. But, the say does not have to be irresponsible, it does not have to hurt any of your enemy and most importantly Gandhigiri and satyagrha goes hand to hand.

In my opinion, Gandhigiri gives folks who have no courage and have left hope a hope of fighting that suits their style. I still remember the scene about that old uncle in the movie undressing and embarrassing the govt. servent asking for bribe.

Anyway so is it next big thing? I’m not sure if I can predict that but it is possibly a big thing. With RTA (right to action) and media Gandhigiri as they call can become big thing…

It has really been long time

Yes, about two months and 4 days...

I have been a lazy blogger. Ofcourse I was not that lazy elsewhere. Working in so many comities was one part but working with innovators, learning new subjects, meeting new people and last but not the least exploring myself as new me has been what I have been doing.

In last two months four day some of the memorable events that I would not want to forget are
1. Learnt finance from corporate and market side
Now I now how to value options and how to value stocks and a company. Now I know what is the difference between stocks trading based on fundamentals and technical analysis.
2. Went to Singapore for a week long vacation
Wow...... Singapore is a great city/country. If some one claims there were a better city than Singapore, I would want to debate with him/her. We did a lot of site seeing and had a lot of fun/massages and more massages.
3. working with NIF (national innovation foundation)
This topic needs it's own thread...
4. few business ideas
5. Munnabhai
How can I figer lage raho munnabhai, ofcourse main hero was Mahtma Gandhiji and we had Sanjay dutt too.

India in the news

I'm watching Maria barteromo on cnbc and India is being featured on cnbc, but the reason is not that I would ever want to see. My home city Mumbai was bombed 7 times. 160 + ppl dead. This is just not right we had a small riot in Mumbai few days ago and now these blasts and few more in Jammu and Kashmir. Something is wrong..

It's about 5 + minutes and the show "closing bell" is still covering India report. i have not seen CNBC USA or any other US press doing this before. i guess, how much does capitalism and growth gives a weight to India in world economy.

anyway, I wish India had gained news in better way...

Another thing to note.. the resilience of Mumbai Junta i saw on tv was commendable. No police on the accident spot for 45 minutes and folks were taking care of the situation.. One thing i can commend the Indians for, how ever careless they are in good time, in bad times they come together.

Closing remarks . infy stock plunged 4 % and recovered during the day and in +
Nandan nilekani will be on the CNBC show tomorrow with is company's earnings report ..

Doosri barish

yes it's been 20 odd days and we had no rain. The temperature had topped up to 44 plus degree. For those in US it was Celsius about 115 F.

Anyway it's been 20+ days I have not written, a lot has happened that I would like to summarize...

I had gotten sick during my exams with loose motions, fever, infection and allergies.. Yes I'm talking about one person having all of these at same time... But managed well and I'm back in action..

We finished exams in 2nd week of June. two a day for three days .. Oh boy it's fun .. I have not seen something challenging like this for a long time .. Last time GSMLS project..

After we finished we cancelled our plans for a 2.5 days vacation..As I was sick and than D. Anyway no regret, 2.5 days let me rejuvenate..

One thing I forgot to mention in my earlier blogs, I have been actively participating in a lot of activities besides school. One of that is industry interaction event, we had a CEO of a private Equity firm visit us. Another memorable session of life about how deals are done behind the scene.

It's been about three weeks in term II and I'm loving it, finance is fun, macro economics is just too good.. ofcourse all other subjects are great too.. Now I can listen to mark haynes (CNBC) and understand when he speaks CPI, PPI, GDP and Valuations ... I mean just understand not do anything with that info.. :-)

This is my story so far for last three weeks.

Hope to get back in writing mode.. stay tuned.

Pehali Barish (First rain in Monsoon)

I mean to write this blog a few days ago, had been caught up some much in work and other tasks.

The monsoon has arrived and we missed the first rain. Yes we were studying in the class when it was raining. A kid inside me wanted to leave the class and just go run and get wet.

The song was running through my mind "Yeh daulat bhi le lo, yeh shauhrat bhi le lo, bhale chin lo mujh se meri jawani, magar mujhu ko lauta do bachpan ka sawaan, woh kagaz ki kashti woh barish ka pani." ( Take away all the fame and wealth, take away my youth, all I want is the monsoon rain the game of paper ships".

I was this close to achieving it ... it was not meant to be :-)

Everything else is good otherwise. I'll be 32 in few days. I am 32 times knowledgeable in last two months. The school is fantastic so is studying here. Looking forward to final nine months. A new me to born .

It's been two months

Yes it has been two months. We are nearing our first term. The finals (6 left) are just around the corener. Two a day , it'll be an experince for me to give two exams a day, each of which is 3 hours long. :-)

Not many things to write. On acadmics front please see pattus log on JIT. I wanted to write about it, but could not have written any better than that.

The other learning that i'm inventing india in terms of busiess and management. When i had left about 9 years ago, i was a programmer and my perspective was narrow in terms of position and industry (software).

The cases from india like Adanis, M&M etc and the folks from indisutry as my batch mate are breaking my sterotypes on how legit business is being done besides the red-tape (my sterotype).

One of the friend mentioned about FMCG that how the company has saftey standards for employees(almost same as world), how ethics are followed and persued (specially for a FMCG -- who has to deal with govt on day to day basis). Just by the sheer weight the company carries. For me this is whole new world, shattering my sterotypes.

Anyway we have an emimenet quiz tomorrow on FRA so get back to studying on ratios, lease, tearing apart balance sheets and P&LS (i have a long way to go though).