escape velocity

Poor Satyam employees!

Venky — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 07:51:38 +0000

>хотелско обзавеждане were happy-go-lucky middle-class software engineers, having finally arrived in life with a job in a good top-tier IT company. Their loyalty was regularly rewarded with stock options. Their wives’ fathers found them ’stable’ enough on Shaadi.com to give their daughters in marriage. Their banks declared unbounded love for them by giving them a housing loans, car loans, Plasma TV loans and ‘Gold’ credit cards. And many of them recently moved in to their new apartments. Proud parents and happy relatives filled their lives. All was well, until everyone of them woke up one morning to learn that their CEO turned out to be a conman, ponzi scheme maker, fraudster of a global scale!!! All of a sudden, the sticker of company logo on their car looks embarrasing, so does wearing the company identity badge on their way to work, no one seems to know the future of their company, everyone’s speculating and gossiping, it’s top management has crumbled, and it’s stock’s fallen to pennies. All of this for no fault of the employees. They’ve been a sincere and loyal employees. And, they are now rewarded for their sincerety by slashing salaries for the next two months, and giving every one in 5 chaps a pink slip.

Adding to their woes, the next day, their banks send them short messages that their credit cards have been blocked as the bank’s exposure to their company has turned out to be a risky proposition. Their lenders are calling in to check if they can pay the monthly instalments on all loans. Neighbours and curious to know what’s happening in their lives. All of a sudden, everyone in the colony seems to know that these blokes work for this infamous company. Their morale’s hit a new low, local media companies want to know how they feel on camera. Television channels and newspapers are ripping apart their employer’s name. Suddenly, everyone of them seems to be guilty by association…

And, so is the case with every one of Satyam’s 50,000+ employees. Poor chaps. I sincerely hope their tough times come to pass. No one deserves to be pained because of a few assholes like Ramalinga Raju, his family and cronies!

Why doesn’t Indian large format retail innovate?!

Venky — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:59:57 +0000

As large institutional players entered the Indian retail business, many debated the death of small kirana stores (as mom and pop shops in India are called).

Many financial newspapers like the Economist flip-floped with articles once predicting the demise of the small shop owner, and once discussing whether big retail can survive in India.

People like Kishore Biyani from Future Group made statements like “Kiranas have clearly won the first round” blah blah!

After going on a rapid expansion spree, the CEO of one of India’s larger Retail groups, Aditya Birla Retail tells the Economic Times that fast growth and wrong choice of locations coupled with high rentals is to blame for all the mess-ups.

I guess there are many more reasons apart from those being laid out, and somewhere no one is admitting that they screwed up in assuming that the Indian growth story will result in a retail business environment similar to the ones seen in the Western world.

I feel retail giants in India recruited highly paid management executives who had no clue about the market they were operating in, and who experimented with their employers’ monies! And, large retail businesses are growing in general, so no one’s head is on the chopping block! Well….not yet. And, there is nothing for them to fear considering the overall retail business in India is set to grow at 13% a year!

I for one believe that India isn’t and will never be a country designed for large format retail to rule the roost. The country does not have the right transport infrastructure to support such establishments to begin with.

Countries where large format retail rules are countries with transport infrastructure and urban planning that facilitate such shopping experiences. These countries also do have a more-or-less homogeneus average customer profile, unlike India where only a small percentage of the population can afford a huge shopping basket every time they step out! A majority of Indians buy what they need on a daily basis or a weekly basis at most. Vegetables are picked up every day, and the average housewife does not walk to the supermarket everyday. Only busy software professionals, BPO workers, working couples and singles tend to pick up processed/pre-cut vegetables. It is here that the vegetable vendor around the corner turns out to be convenient.

Most, rather all supermarkets do not have proper parking lots, nor do people like to drive to a supermarket to shop for a couple of dollars. Supermarket chains do not deliver at home, small stores do.

Why don’t companies interested in the retail business develop models that are more suited for Urban and rural Indian customer profiles keeping in mind the fact that infrastructure, transport, social and economic realities of this country are really not suited for large format retail, atleast not in the way it is, today!

Why don’t they experiment with home-delivery, catalogue shopping, discount retail etc. Why not optimize on retail window space and deliver some from warehouses. Many housewives in India telephone their local kirana store and order stuff by phone!!! Large format retail businesses seem to be too stuck-up!

Is ‘No growth’ a bad idea!?

Venky — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:02:05 +0000

It’s ‘obvious’ for companies to be established with a set of growth goals. You plan for X growth in ‘Year 1′ and 2X growth in ‘Year 2′ and so on. Local establishments aim to be regionally known, regional ones aim to go national, and national aim to go global. In a way, aspiring to grow is the only way (that most of us know) to stay in business. In some ways, it’s like running downhill, you’ve got to accelarate just to stay in balance.

Then again, there are some companies that do not have growth plans, or let’s say their strategy is to stay small and profitable. Not everyone manages to sustain themselves in such a state. Retail shops do. But not many companies are able to. Or, maybe some are. Some technology companies survive being small, and stay so by taking few projects, and also working on a niche area.

Micro breweries are another example. I just found this through the blog of 37Signals, whose folk seem to take up every opportunity to justify how to stay small and happy. I guess they believe their company has similar principles.

The posting refers to an article on Chow.com, where the interviewer asks Vinnie Cilurzo, a Microbrewer on the importance of their local company going national, to which he answers…

Not at all……I get calls from distributors all the time from all over the country. But we do this more for the lifestyle…..I can ride my bike to work. …..I think you can get caught up way too much in growth. We don’t have any growth goals.

I guess it’s good to be clear about whether one is in business to grow or to live a lifestyle

Better Blogs, thanks to Twitter and Facebook?

Venky — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:15:32 +0000

Blogs come in many avatars. And, for someone following people’s writings through blogs, sifting through the various types of content can be quite exhausting. But, thanks to new social utilities like Twitter and Facebook, I guess we are witnessing a culling in the blogsphere. I guess this is a good trend too. This way, Blogs would remain as focused and ‘information rich’ mediums, while other forms of information sharing moves to newer niche services.

People wanting to update what they are up to are switching to Twitter, and people who are trying to keep in contact with their acquaintances, share photos, talk about life etc, are doing so using Facebook.

Furthermore, the new Facebook has crossed over in to the Twitter space, with it’s ‘what are you doing now?’ feature, where people are litterally ‘twittering’ within a closed group of acquaintances. And to top it all, since services like Facebook only allow access to ‘friends’ we see more personal and detailed updates being shared with each other.

All in all, it’s nice to be witnessing a natural process of sorting of information dissemination happening on the Web, and I guess this is good.

When a company does a country thing! That’s history.

Venky — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:17:42 +0000

How advanced is the ‘West’ be compared to the ‘East’! Half a century maybe. Going by the fact that way back in 1965, the Gemini 4 mission enabled United States conduct it’s first ever spacewalk! And, only 43 years later did the Chinese manage to send their men to space! Now this is not history or ground breaking. It’s just ‘me too’, ‘good job guys’, ‘Oh, better late than never, welcome to the club boys!’.

Space exploration is a ‘country versus country’ thing. It’s a showcase of a country’s growing technological prowess. It’s not a ‘yay! we build rockets too’ thing, it’s a finally, ‘we too’ build rockets thing… But what happens when a private company gets in to this space. That’s exactly what happened when Space X an American company, showcased it’s capabilities in an area that’s traditionally the domain of a few privileged countries. I just saw a video that shows them successfully launching Falcon 1, a space vehicle. Now, ‘this’ is history, as it is the first ever privately developed rocket that has made it into space. Notwithstanding the fact that this was their fourth attempt.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I wonder how long it would be before a private company in the ‘East’ takes up a space mission. Technically, it isn’t possible in China, unless they usher in democratic reforms and privatisation . Then again, who knows what’s going to happen in the next 50 years in Asia! That leaves India! Well, we are yet to put our first man out there! It’s still a long way to go.

Mumbai to Hollywood’s Rescue!

Venky — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:42:32 +0000

Just read reports that India’s Reliance Entertainment has pumped in $500 million in equity towards a 1.3 Billion investment that would help Hollywood’s Dreamworks establish itself as an independent studio!

According to Reuters the deal with Reliance allows the studio co-founded by director Steven Spielberg to leave Paramount Pictures. Apparently Spielberg has not been having a good time at Paramount where he often clashed with it’s studio chief.

I guess this is a win-win for both parties. Spielberg gets to go ahead with a new company, and Reliance Entertainment gets to build their brand further.

The LA Times says that this occasion might be a reason for Hollywood to celebrate. “With so many companies foundering, in a desperate search for funding or totally out of business, seeing DreamWorks back up and running with a nice chunk of cash in the bank is probably music to the ears of agents, producers and screenwriters everywhere.”

This isn’t the first time that Hollywood’s seeing Asian participation in it’s business. The last I remember was Sony’s purchase of Columbia Pictures back in 1989! Not sure there were many Asian entrants since.

Well, am quite glad to see more and more Indian companies going global

30s the new 20s?

Venky — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:56:49 +0000

“I am essentially racing for free. No salary. No bonus. Nothing on the line.… This one’s on the house. And you know what? At the end of the day, I don’t need money.… Not only will I be fine, my kids will be fine, my grandkids will be fine.�?

Now, that was Lance Amstrong, saying what he seems to believe in!

Inspired by Olympic triumphs of older athletes (the 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres and the 38-year-old marathoner Constantina Tomescu-Dita for example) Lance seems to believe that he can return to racing and weave his magic! And, having come second in a recent 100-mile mountain bike race, he might as well have a reason to do so.

A lot of people say that it’s best to get out when you are at the top. At 37, almost three years after having retired, I guess it’s either a lot of courage and conviction or just vanity and megalomania!

Whatever be the case, I am happy to note that Lance Amstrong is not (yet) history. It doesn’t matter whether he wins or not! He proved that one can kickass after having fought and survived cancer, and now he is bent upon proving that a sporting life doesn’t end by one’s late 20s / early 30s. So…way to go ‘Mellow Johnny’.

Was Firefox Chrome’s Red Herring?

Venky — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:21:20 +0000

Browser wars have never been so dramatic in a long time. Every big player seems to have an ace up it’s sleeve, and nothing’s surprising anymore.

Four years back, the media was talking about ‘a new browser from the makers of Mozilla, called Firefox’. Back then, the Mozilla Foundation funded by Time Warner, IBM and Sun Microsystems launched Firefox version 0.9 on June 15, 2004. And, Firefox 1.0 was out by early November the same year. By 2006, Google had become the largest revenue source for folks at Mozilla with their paid referral agreement.

And, all that Microsoft could pull of in these years was Internet Explorer 7, which had a few features such as a Google-circumventing search bar, and a tool that auto-linked addresses to Microsoft’s Live Maps. This cut no ice for the folks at Redmond. It was soon touted to be one of the worst browsers with poor standards compliance, and a serious memory hog.

By, 2008, Mozilla managed to take up close to 19% of the market share. In it’s fourth year, the company set a record with Firefox 3.0 being downloaded 8 million times since it’s release in June the same year. To top it all, by August, Mozilla announced the renewal of their contract with Google till 2011, ensuring revenue streams for quite some time to come. This was all that we got to hear about Google’s Browser strategy. Back Mozilla!

Redmond rolled out Internet Explorer 8. Soon enough, experts pronounced that IE8 had a long way to go if it was to catch up with Firefox 3.0 in terms of JavaScript performance and web standard compliance.

By now, Apple was pushing Safari, Mozilla was pushing Firefox, Microsoft was pushing IE8, and there was Opera lagging behind with it’s slice of the pie. And, this was all that people were talking about. Microsoft seemed worried about Mozilla! And, everyone seemed to be betting on it to take on Microsoft.

And, all of a sudden, on a sunny September morning, we all wake up to see that folks at Googleplex had a plan! Chrome! Overnight, we have a new wild-card entrant. A Google browser which integrates it’s search engine into a browser like never before! And, the initial responses are amazing.

Chrome in brief:

a. Is quick to launch
b. has an intuitive User Experience (tabs are above the address bar)
c. Integrates ‘’search” and ”address bar” allowing one to type in the address bar and get suggestions for both search and web pages.
d. Is going to be open source, would include a new JavaScript virtual machine, and Google Gears add-on by default

Well, they’ve packed quite a punch for a start. Wonder which way the browser wars would go now? Is Google planning on dislodging Firefox with Chrome, or is it looking to take on Microsoft? Is Google’s relationship with Firefox a purely commercial one or a strategic alliance? Was it’s support to Firefox a Red Herring all this while, as Google prepared to enter the space with it’s new weapon! Or will Chrome and Firefox complement each other, co-exist and together take on Microsoft’s IE? Well, we’ll see! One thing’s for sure, all this competition can only do good for the end-user, and that’s what matters

Rediff, and the myth of online shopping – II

venky :) — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 08:35:06 +0000

This is a follow-up to my blog posting on 08/03/2008. I wonder if folks at Rediff.com work with fraudulent courier services, or if they are incapable of tracking their deliveries.

In fact, when I first realised they claimed to have delivered my books, I also left them feedback ‘Where are my books?’. No response. They just don’t seem to care.

Here’s a screenshot of what my dashboard says. Lies, lies, and lies…now, who is to blame?

All I can think of is that Rediff is burnt out, with a set of people who don’t know what to do next.компютри

Rediff, and the myth of online shopping (in India)

venky :) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:55:33 +0000

It’s been three weeks to date. On January 21st, I decided to shop online, at Rediff.com. I’ve never shopped online in India till date, and I wanted to know if it works that way it is meant to be.

I was warmly surprised to see that the site not only shipped books for free, but also allowed it’s customers to pay on delivery. Excited, I picked three books, and placed my order. They also confirmed my order and showed me ways to track my order through an SMS service (57333) and the Website. So far so good.

Khatam! That’s it! I haven’t heard from them since. I’ve since used the 57333 service twice, paying Re 3/- each time I sent my query, and I keep staring at the Web interface.

I see that one of the books is shown as ‘dispatched’, the other two are ‘pending’. But as far as I am concerned, I have no clue what’s happening and when I will get my books. I am off, out of station soon and I don’t care what happens in my absense.

Now, I’ve tried to fish out a contact number at Rediff who can address my problem, but they seem to like playing hide-and-seek, and I have no intention of spending an hour searching for a page with a number, if they have one such.

My conclusion so far.
1. Pathetic delivery model
2. No call-center/support (if any, not promoted well)
3. Unconcerned of time to deliver
4. Inefficient (what happens when I am not around, will the courier company return the books to Rediff?)

It’s sad to see that Rediff’s not figured out online commerce yet. And it’s been around for donkey’s years now! It’s pathetic…must be having dinasours on it’s payrolls.