The whole world has been busy analyzing the fall of Wall St. giants and now there is divided opinion about the bail out. There have been interesting comments from different types of experts. But all this is ex-post, when everything was going right (atleast appeared to be), no one was complaining.
A year back, sitting in a B-school classroom, I was thinking that I can understand every business model, scenario and situation. But after about 4 months in the real corporate world, I still have no questions about my ability to understand business models, scenarios and situations but I realized that if there one thing that separates class room from real world then it must be "transaction costs."
While appearing to be most simple, transaction costs are the most difficult to model or come up with assumptions about. Their nature is so different that even the smartest manager cannot predict them. They are ubiquitous and they need no planning, they just happen.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
A major battle won
I have been fighting a battle with one of the telecom biggies for more than a month now. While I have been successful at individual level, my interaction made me feel that these guys are not that customer friendly. They were trying to be legally correct, so I decided to take them on. But then somewhere in the middle I felt that to benefit all the customers like me, I must not first try to see if something can be done without making the issue public.
And I can now claim that I have been able to convince the telecom biggie about a practice of billing postpaid customers as wrong and made them change the practice. Considering that the financial impact is in the tune of 100+ crores, I consider this as a big achievement. As I have promised confidentiality, I will not be making the name of the company public. But I suggest that you check your postpaid bills (whichever company they are from) for the months of August, September and October to verify the following:
1. The monthly charges are for the previous period (which means a bill dated 10th August has monthly charges, say for the period 8th July to 9th August and not 11th August to 10th September, which is the next period - don't worry about the day but look at the month)
2. If the charges happen to be for the next period (as explained above), then make sure they are reversed in September or October bill (no monthly charges :))
3. If the charges are not reversed write to me to know about how to approach the company and get them reversed.
I know that Rs. 250 to 500 bucks may not be much but allowing charges for next period means you are negligent and amounts to giving away your right.
Hope I didn't bore you with this encrypted message but I hope you've been able to read between the lines and decrypted the message.
And I can now claim that I have been able to convince the telecom biggie about a practice of billing postpaid customers as wrong and made them change the practice. Considering that the financial impact is in the tune of 100+ crores, I consider this as a big achievement. As I have promised confidentiality, I will not be making the name of the company public. But I suggest that you check your postpaid bills (whichever company they are from) for the months of August, September and October to verify the following:
1. The monthly charges are for the previous period (which means a bill dated 10th August has monthly charges, say for the period 8th July to 9th August and not 11th August to 10th September, which is the next period - don't worry about the day but look at the month)
2. If the charges happen to be for the next period (as explained above), then make sure they are reversed in September or October bill (no monthly charges :))
3. If the charges are not reversed write to me to know about how to approach the company and get them reversed.
I know that Rs. 250 to 500 bucks may not be much but allowing charges for next period means you are negligent and amounts to giving away your right.
Hope I didn't bore you with this encrypted message but I hope you've been able to read between the lines and decrypted the message.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Delhi Blasts 2008
5 bomb blasts, 20 dead and many more injured, result of illogical attacks by god-knows-who and god-knows-why terrorists. Even after thousands of years of civilization, we, the human race, has not been able to overcome hatred and violence. Only one kind of violence is natural and acceptable (?, to me at least), which is for food and survival, everything else is inflected by contrived human thinking.
Every terrorist or naxal outfit has its roots in the suffering of people either socially or economically. Politics is the institution that society has come up to overcome this but politics in turn is aggravating social and economical gaps leading to further problems. When would our politicians stop this silly nonsense and focus and what they are really expected to do. When would people demand that the politicians do what they ought to do.
As an individual one can do whatever he chooses to and by nature is designed to be selfish. But the moment he chooses to live in a society and benefit from the outcomes of organized labor and other benefits of organized society, he has to keep in mind that some of his actions can harm others and in turn trigger a negative spiral leading to hatred and violence.
To ensure a peaceful society we have practice what I call enlightened selfishness. If you harm someone, that negative energy is going to flow and will eventually harm you back, in what proportion no one knows. If the idea that brain waves have energy and can influence circumstances, then this will be all the more true.
We just have to ensure that our actions do not trigger any negative trigger. I know this is idealistic but I think this is the only answer and as far as I know Mahatma Buddha tried to simplify implementing this by his preachings. I know I have drifted away and not kept myself to the topic at hand as taught at B-school, but what can I do, I am more of a human being than a B-school student
Every terrorist or naxal outfit has its roots in the suffering of people either socially or economically. Politics is the institution that society has come up to overcome this but politics in turn is aggravating social and economical gaps leading to further problems. When would our politicians stop this silly nonsense and focus and what they are really expected to do. When would people demand that the politicians do what they ought to do.
As an individual one can do whatever he chooses to and by nature is designed to be selfish. But the moment he chooses to live in a society and benefit from the outcomes of organized labor and other benefits of organized society, he has to keep in mind that some of his actions can harm others and in turn trigger a negative spiral leading to hatred and violence.
To ensure a peaceful society we have practice what I call enlightened selfishness. If you harm someone, that negative energy is going to flow and will eventually harm you back, in what proportion no one knows. If the idea that brain waves have energy and can influence circumstances, then this will be all the more true.
We just have to ensure that our actions do not trigger any negative trigger. I know this is idealistic but I think this is the only answer and as far as I know Mahatma Buddha tried to simplify implementing this by his preachings. I know I have drifted away and not kept myself to the topic at hand as taught at B-school, but what can I do, I am more of a human being than a B-school student
Sunday, August 31, 2008
ISB admissions for Class of 2010 essay
In the race to outsmart each other, ISB adcom seems to have come up with a tough topic for one of the admission essays. While the essence of the topics remain the same every year, the topic changes, putting the applicants in a fix. From all the requests that I have been getting I have gathered that there is an essay asking the applicant to describe what would he/she do if he becomes student body president.
Most applicants think that they have to gather as much information as possible and only then attempt the essay. I don't know how many people have approached the current and the previous GSB president.
My sincere advise and request to all the applicants is as below:
Are you expected to know everything about what happens at ISB? I don't think so, if you feel so, write to adcom to describe about the position rather than approaching alums you know. If you know too much, you will have to explain how you know in the interview, which may not be a good thing. On the other hand assuming everything may not be correct.
If I have to attempt this essay, I would try to think about how does the student body look like (details available on ISB site), what could be challenges they face, who are the different parties the President have to address (interact and work with), what kind of approach would be good (you would be dealing with a diverse and smart peer group) etc and then put down the essay. Rather than focusing on the specifics, I suggest that essay should address the big issues.
This is more than what I wanted to share, I would take leave otherwise I may get a call from the honor(horror) committee. I wonder what to do if they take away my degree now :?
Most applicants think that they have to gather as much information as possible and only then attempt the essay. I don't know how many people have approached the current and the previous GSB president.
My sincere advise and request to all the applicants is as below:
Are you expected to know everything about what happens at ISB? I don't think so, if you feel so, write to adcom to describe about the position rather than approaching alums you know. If you know too much, you will have to explain how you know in the interview, which may not be a good thing. On the other hand assuming everything may not be correct.
If I have to attempt this essay, I would try to think about how does the student body look like (details available on ISB site), what could be challenges they face, who are the different parties the President have to address (interact and work with), what kind of approach would be good (you would be dealing with a diverse and smart peer group) etc and then put down the essay. Rather than focusing on the specifics, I suggest that essay should address the big issues.
This is more than what I wanted to share, I would take leave otherwise I may get a call from the honor(horror) committee. I wonder what to do if they take away my degree now :?
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Wassup? An Update
I don't know about others but I can say one thing about life after ISB, it becomes slow. At ISB so many things keep happening and you hardly can catch up with half of them but outside things move so slowly that you have to keep pushing them hard.
After watching Barack Obama and Michelle Obama talk in the convention and comparing that with the speech of Chiranjeevi, who launched a new party in Andhra Pradesh called "Praja Rajyam," I started writing a post with the title "What are we proud about, as a Nation?" but then stopped midway due to laziness. The question still remains, while Mr. and Mrs. Obama tried to inspire by talking about the values of America, American dream etc etc, Chiranjeevi could hardly inspire, instead he chose to use the cine background and inspire people. He still made an attempt to relate to people. But in India politics are all about community, caste, regionalism and criticism of the opponent but nothing what we stand as a nation and what we want to achieve as a nation. I think I'll leave it here and ask you guys to leave your comments.
On the other hand, I managed to trigger two interesting and won a small corporate battle.
As a part of our ELP we did a project and I made one innovative suggestion. Recently I came across a source that could make that idea a reality. Immediately I got in touch with the entrepreneur and linked him up with the corporate. I am helping this guy with the proposal and I'm sure it is gonna work. There is a lot of thrill in seeing one's idea take shape into reality.
Second, I got in touch with the CEO of an interesting company and started discussing about how his services could be launched in India and what could be the potential. This too is exciting as I could see how local knowledge combined with global expertise can do wonders.
Finally I won a battle with Airtel as a customer. Now I am waiting for a call from an alum with Airtel to decide whether I should turn this into a war and see how a corporate would react to an attack from a customer equipped with a B-school degree. I have already won the battle and I have the required ammunition to take them head on but I am thinking what's-in-it-for-me. However if you are an Airtel Post-paid customer I can share the details privately so that you too can benefit from what I did. Hope that raises curiosity, leave your contact details or write to me if you want a response.
There is an early morning meeting tomorrow, so I must take leave know. Bbye and good night.
After watching Barack Obama and Michelle Obama talk in the convention and comparing that with the speech of Chiranjeevi, who launched a new party in Andhra Pradesh called "Praja Rajyam," I started writing a post with the title "What are we proud about, as a Nation?" but then stopped midway due to laziness. The question still remains, while Mr. and Mrs. Obama tried to inspire by talking about the values of America, American dream etc etc, Chiranjeevi could hardly inspire, instead he chose to use the cine background and inspire people. He still made an attempt to relate to people. But in India politics are all about community, caste, regionalism and criticism of the opponent but nothing what we stand as a nation and what we want to achieve as a nation. I think I'll leave it here and ask you guys to leave your comments.
On the other hand, I managed to trigger two interesting and won a small corporate battle.
As a part of our ELP we did a project and I made one innovative suggestion. Recently I came across a source that could make that idea a reality. Immediately I got in touch with the entrepreneur and linked him up with the corporate. I am helping this guy with the proposal and I'm sure it is gonna work. There is a lot of thrill in seeing one's idea take shape into reality.
Second, I got in touch with the CEO of an interesting company and started discussing about how his services could be launched in India and what could be the potential. This too is exciting as I could see how local knowledge combined with global expertise can do wonders.
Finally I won a battle with Airtel as a customer. Now I am waiting for a call from an alum with Airtel to decide whether I should turn this into a war and see how a corporate would react to an attack from a customer equipped with a B-school degree. I have already won the battle and I have the required ammunition to take them head on but I am thinking what's-in-it-for-me. However if you are an Airtel Post-paid customer I can share the details privately so that you too can benefit from what I did. Hope that raises curiosity, leave your contact details or write to me if you want a response.
There is an early morning meeting tomorrow, so I must take leave know. Bbye and good night.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Market competitive pay may not be perfect but it works
I wrote this post as a contribution for another blog - http://marketcompetitivepay-pegasus.blogspot.com/ but decided to reproduce it here for the regulars
Whether it is the stock market or the job market, Market does work, though they may not be perfect as yet and may not become perfect ever. Cost-benefit analysis may not be done consciously, either by firms or individuals, it is always done.
There are many direct and indirect costs and benefits involved. What is valued, how much it is valued is different for the firm and for the individual. For example, consider office location. I know many people who are willing to take a lower salary so that their travel time is reduced. Recently I met a lady who changed the job so that her travel time is reduced but after joining she learned that the new company is also shifting to a far off location shortly. I am sure that she is going to change her job shortly, once again.
Alternative to Market Competitive Pay is to fix the compensation based on the reservation prices of the firm and the candidate. Based on the value addition, company can calculate its reservation price and similarly candidate can come up with a reservation price based on her priorities. But consider doing this for yourself or the next candidate you want to hire. It is quite difficult in both cases and one immediately tends to fall back on the market information to benchmark. Apart from this the Market Competitive Pay is the BATNA (Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement) for both the parties. Except in few cases where the company or the candidate has clear negotiating power, where we can observe negotiation happening and the compensation may not be comparable to market, in majority of cases Market Competitive pay works. Even in the minority cases, where one party can fix prices, it would lie somewhere in the bargaining zone, which is Market based.
Though HR Managers keep talking about intangible benefits, very rarely they succeed in bringing down the direct salary costs unless the claims are well accepted in the market and the candidates believe the claims to be credible. On the other hand money is credible in all circumstances and conveys lot of information when examined in combination with other information publicly available. This could be one reason, we observe that candidates tend to choose either a well-known firm or a firm that pays very well. Even the reputed firms can't go below a certain level in pay, which indicates that reputation of a firm is only marginally beneficial. Firms that are average in both pay and reputation finally end up with adverse selection issues.
The first two posts rightly identified that stage of career also affects choices of the candidate, we cannot simplify and generalize it. I have personally observed that even gender would play a part. But before we draw a conclusion, we have to verify whether these factors have statistically significant effect on choices or not.
This post clearly sounds a little (or too much) technical but I hope the readers got the essence of it. Feedback and comments would be greatly welcome.
Whether it is the stock market or the job market, Market does work, though they may not be perfect as yet and may not become perfect ever. Cost-benefit analysis may not be done consciously, either by firms or individuals, it is always done.
There are many direct and indirect costs and benefits involved. What is valued, how much it is valued is different for the firm and for the individual. For example, consider office location. I know many people who are willing to take a lower salary so that their travel time is reduced. Recently I met a lady who changed the job so that her travel time is reduced but after joining she learned that the new company is also shifting to a far off location shortly. I am sure that she is going to change her job shortly, once again.
Alternative to Market Competitive Pay is to fix the compensation based on the reservation prices of the firm and the candidate. Based on the value addition, company can calculate its reservation price and similarly candidate can come up with a reservation price based on her priorities. But consider doing this for yourself or the next candidate you want to hire. It is quite difficult in both cases and one immediately tends to fall back on the market information to benchmark. Apart from this the Market Competitive Pay is the BATNA (Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement) for both the parties. Except in few cases where the company or the candidate has clear negotiating power, where we can observe negotiation happening and the compensation may not be comparable to market, in majority of cases Market Competitive pay works. Even in the minority cases, where one party can fix prices, it would lie somewhere in the bargaining zone, which is Market based.
Though HR Managers keep talking about intangible benefits, very rarely they succeed in bringing down the direct salary costs unless the claims are well accepted in the market and the candidates believe the claims to be credible. On the other hand money is credible in all circumstances and conveys lot of information when examined in combination with other information publicly available. This could be one reason, we observe that candidates tend to choose either a well-known firm or a firm that pays very well. Even the reputed firms can't go below a certain level in pay, which indicates that reputation of a firm is only marginally beneficial. Firms that are average in both pay and reputation finally end up with adverse selection issues.
The first two posts rightly identified that stage of career also affects choices of the candidate, we cannot simplify and generalize it. I have personally observed that even gender would play a part. But before we draw a conclusion, we have to verify whether these factors have statistically significant effect on choices or not.
This post clearly sounds a little (or too much) technical but I hope the readers got the essence of it. Feedback and comments would be greatly welcome.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Zidd Karo, Duniya Badlo
Last time I visited PVR, one ad caught my attention and the title of this post is the punchline of that ad. The ad essentially asks people to push the system in the right direction. If you haven't seen it, here's the video for you:
I tried pushing ICICI and I found that they are far more responsive than the so-called customer savvy telecom players including Airtel and Vodafone. These telecom players must learn something from ICICI's process. May be ICICI's officers are not as trained as the CSE's of Airtel/Vodafone but they follow the process very nicely. Last time when I wrote a post about ICICI network problems, someone from the bank noticed it and requested me to make an official complaint. While the complaint was not against the people, I got a call today from the branch in question and an assurance to take care of any issues if I have any in the future. I had another issue with ICICI last week and I was surprised at the responsiveness of ICICI customer care. I got a call within 24 hours and a resolution in another 12 hours.
On the other hand Airtel has asked for seven working days to revert back to me and that too the response appeared to be an automated response. Surely ICICI is working hard and kudos to the ICICI team.
The issue that I have raised in front of Airtel is not a small one. If all goes in the way I think, it is going to create a bang. Wait for the update on that.
Meanwhile after Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra including their capitals getting flooded, looks like its time for the national capital to get flooded. Fols from Delhi had earlier warned me that I will not be able experience as many rains as in the south here but surprisingly there have been lot of rains and today's rain was really heavy. Since the drain system is not used to these kind of downpours, there is water logging at many places. I don't know if I am the only one facing trouble to drive car as the visibility becomes quite poor in rains but I am little worried about the upcoming winter. But I hope it will not be as worse as people have been telling me.
Finally Happy Independence day.
I tried pushing ICICI and I found that they are far more responsive than the so-called customer savvy telecom players including Airtel and Vodafone. These telecom players must learn something from ICICI's process. May be ICICI's officers are not as trained as the CSE's of Airtel/Vodafone but they follow the process very nicely. Last time when I wrote a post about ICICI network problems, someone from the bank noticed it and requested me to make an official complaint. While the complaint was not against the people, I got a call today from the branch in question and an assurance to take care of any issues if I have any in the future. I had another issue with ICICI last week and I was surprised at the responsiveness of ICICI customer care. I got a call within 24 hours and a resolution in another 12 hours.
On the other hand Airtel has asked for seven working days to revert back to me and that too the response appeared to be an automated response. Surely ICICI is working hard and kudos to the ICICI team.
The issue that I have raised in front of Airtel is not a small one. If all goes in the way I think, it is going to create a bang. Wait for the update on that.
Meanwhile after Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra including their capitals getting flooded, looks like its time for the national capital to get flooded. Fols from Delhi had earlier warned me that I will not be able experience as many rains as in the south here but surprisingly there have been lot of rains and today's rain was really heavy. Since the drain system is not used to these kind of downpours, there is water logging at many places. I don't know if I am the only one facing trouble to drive car as the visibility becomes quite poor in rains but I am little worried about the upcoming winter. But I hope it will not be as worse as people have been telling me.
Finally Happy Independence day.
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