Lead Feature

Wonder Woman inSomalia

Point of View

The Fear of Knowing andKnowing fear

Insight – Part 2

Leadership Dimensions of the Roleof the Start-up Entrepreneur

Volume 1, Issue 3

TLREditorial

EditorialIt has been a turbulent time in the world. A revolt that began in Tunisiaspread to the most important Arab regime of Egypt and ended what seemedto be an entrenched regime. Yet power has been transferred to the army anddemocracy has not really come in. To celebrate people power may bepremature; until real democratic institutions are set in place it may just be oneset of restrictions exchanged for another. A brief perspective is offered onwhy exactly societies prefer to revolt when things get better rather thanwhen they are at their repressive worst.

We feature one of the most inspirational human beings on the planet DrHawa Abdi. This is the one of the most astonishing and improbable stories ofthe past decade and it is both shameful and painful that the good doctor isnot more famous. This is what it means to be a heroine; she is just awe-inspiring.

Meanwhile in Pakistan, a hitherto hardliner spoke up against the misuse ofthe blasphemy law and was gunned down by his own security guard for hiscourage and pains. But the very fact that protest came from such a quarter isa significant shift in mindsets.

Fear is the greatest derailer. We offer an unusual perspective on how itimpacts us, and how we are moved by it.

Bajaj has decided to ditch the family name and brand its productsindependently. Airtel changed its signature tune and logo into something thatevokes puzzlement and more often than not, rejection. Change for its ownsake? If they get the results, they will be vindicated, but at present it seemslike a wrong footed move.

Leadership is a mutating concept. The variety on offer and display of thatquality in recent times underlies that fact.

R. Rajeshwar UpadhyayaEditor-in-Chief

Global and India News 1

A look at what is happening in and around

Lead Feature 4

Wonder Woman in Somalia

Dr Hawa Abdi and her miraculous hospital

Insight 6

Leadership Dimensions of the Role of theStart- up Entrepreneur

Part 2 of a two part feature Column by Dr. AshutoshP. Bhupatkar

Emergering Economy 9

Egypt

Comments 12

The Rising Expectations Theory of Revoltand Egypt

Bottom of the Pyramid 14

Saloni Malhotra and her Desi Crew

Industry Focus 17

Media and Entertainment

Point of View 21

The Fear of Knowing and Knowing Fear

Ideas that Worked /Failed 25

Airtel’s brand new Avatar

Was it worth a 300 crore investment?

Bajaj: What’s in a name? 27

Exception is the Norm 30

The Blasphemy of Tolerance

Salman Taseer as an unlikely liberal martyr

Company Profile 33

DON’T SEARCH, JUST DIAL

Ponder This 36

Worth a Thousand Words 37

TLR

Editor-in-ChiefR. Rajeshwar Upadhyaya

EditorRohit Pillai

The TLR TeamAjay KumarSharad MathurPriyanka PriyadarshiShailee MehtaPooja GadaNeeta Poojari

Design and LayoutMonish Maitra

TLR – A Par Excellence Initiative

Par Excellence LeadershipSolutions Pvt. Ltd.610, Cosmos,Sector 11, CBD Belapur,Navi Mumbai 400 614, India.

Phone:+91-22-2757 8760 Fax:+91-22-2757 8861E-mail:contact@parexcellence.orgWeb:www.parexcellence.org

Note:The Leadership Review (TLR) isfor private circulation only.

ContentsVol. 1 Issue. 3, Mar 2011

Wipro scraps the Joint CEO idea

‘Wipro’ the thirdlargest IT serviceprovider of India hasappointed Mr.T.K.Kurein as itsundisputed ChiefExecutive Officer andExecutive Director of

the company. The joint CEOs Girish Paranjape andSuresh Vaswani have ‘decided’ to step down fromtheir responsibilities effective February 2011. AzimPremji, Chairman, Wipro, said that joint CEO structurewas made to navigate through the complexities thatarose during recession. In order to improve thedisappointing performance and deteriorating profitsshowed by Wipro over the past few years thecompany has undergone a major leadership change toregain itself in the competitive market. Mr.T.K.Kureinhas played an active role in building and scaling thebusiness for Wipro for last 10 years. "Re-energizing theteam" to deliver results, both on a short-term andlong-term basis is the key focus of Mr. Kurien he alsosaid , "We should be really making investments thathave growth behind them, but it is not necessarydefocusing on those that do not have growth.”

Fuel at Rs.14 a liter? Is the world ready for suchlargesse?

Disturbed by the rise in fuel prices from with petrolnow costing as high as Rs.63/liter, people in India nowa reason to cheer and celebrate. British scientists havedeveloped low-cost and environment-friendly

"artificial petrol" which may cost around Rs 14 a literand could be available at pumps in just three years.

The "artificialpetrol" is expectedto cost around USD1.50 a gallon or 19pence (about Rs 14)a liter. To add thecherry on top of the

cake, the scientists who are refining the recipe for thenew hydrogen-based fuel said that vehicles will run for300 to 400 miles (483 to 644 km) before needing to fillup. The fuel can be used in existing cars and engines ata fraction of the cost of conventional petrol. This newfuel has hydrogen at its heart rather than carbon.Hence it will not produce any harmful emissions whenburnt. Professor Stephen Bennington, who led theteam involved in the project, said: "In some senses,hydrogen is the perfect fuel. It has three times moreenergy than petrol per unit of weight, and when itburns, it produces nothing but water.”

One of the major barriers for widespread adoption ofthis fuel, though, is safe, low-cost storage. Currenthydrogen vehicle prototypes use high-pressurecylinders or expensive super-cooled liquids; neither isideal for mass production. Cella Energy has found away to make materials that can store hydrogen in theform of micron-sized beads. This makes it possible tomove the beads like a fluid, opening up a majoropportunity: It will no longer be necessary to try andre-hydrogenate the material within the vehicle.

Overlooking this cost, hydrogen storage materialsoffer real potential for running cars, planes and othervehicles that currently use hydrocarbons on hydrogen,with little extra cost and no extra inconvenience to thedriver.

Difficulty in handling and storing has also been solvedby using nanotechnology. Cella Energy uses a low-costprocess called coaxial electro spinning or electrospraying that can literally trap a complex chemicalhydride inside a nano-porous polymer. That speeds up

Global and India News

Page 1

the kinetics of hydrogen release, referred to asdesorption, thus reducing the temperature at whichthe release occurs, and filters out many if not all of thedamaging chemicals.

Will this idea be successful? Will countries invest inthis once it’s tested and ready to use? The cynical, butunderstandable, answer is - not likely. Governments allover the world may not allow commercialization ofthis fuel mainly because oil companies will fight toothand nail to prevent it. What needs to be seen is thecost of this fuel once governments decide all the taxesthat need to be levied on it. Also there is a remotepossibility that this team of scientists falls undertremendous security threat if their claims are asstartling as they currently seem. Only time, and costeffectiveness, will tell us if this is the beginning of anew world or just another flash in the pan.

Bridging Apathy

Pradeep Ovalekar of Pankhanda in Thane,Maharashtra, slightly off Mumbai city is an authenticmaverick. Fed up with government apathy thatensured his village was marooned each monsoon by anallah, {a stream that doubles up often as a gutter inIndia} he took action and built a bridge over thewretched stream! This put him out of pocket to thetune of 10 lakh rupees or one million big ones which isa very hefty sum in India even today. As to why theconcerned government departments did not do theobvious there is no answer but lots of buck passing,including a plea that the village was in a forest zoneand no development was permitted there! Themotivation of Ovalekar seems to have been that thevillage children were missing out on the midday mealsthat the schools could not deliver because of therecurrent flooding. One year and hundred meters ofbridge later, that problem seems to be over. That thevillage is a tribal one, and hence subject to benignneglect, seems to be a reason for such apathy but aslong as such stubborn individuals exist, hope alsoremains. To spend money on social infrastructureinstead of lavish festivals and/or religious structures isa new and hopeful note in rural India and Ovalekar’s

lead is most praiseworthy. And now of course thecarping will begin… but that is another story.

The Supreme Court of India tells a home truth

India's highestjudicial authority,the Supreme Courtmade a causticobservation aboutthe Government ofIndia and its

secularcredentials. In a biting comment the apex courtobserved that failure to overhaul personal laws ofminority communities reflects a lack of secularcommitment. Such socially desirable initiatives havebeen limited to the Hindus alone, who “have beentolerant of these statutory interventions. But thereappears to be a lack of secular commitment as it hasnot happened for other religions.”

This is the most scathing observation possible, andfinally makes a simple point that was being denied allthese years, in the name of not riling up minorities.This fearful scurrying away from such ‘sensitive’ issueshas been a major source of disaffection and at leastsomebody has finally grasped this particular nettle.The Government of course will pretend not to hear.

Well begun…

Chattar Singh, 49, livesin the arid state ofRajasthan in India. Wateris so precious there thatit used to be a traditionalitem in dowries!Nevertheless the stateused to have atraditional system of

water harvesting which was highly sophisticated. Itutilized a unique variety of narrow well called Beri,which extracts water trapped in the sand.Modernization had caused this ecologically apt systemto fall into disuse. Chattar Singh decided to revive it

Global and India News

Page 2

Only in India

and has succeeded so well… {oops!} that an areacalled Biprasar has not had rain in four years butnevertheless the twelve villages around it have noshortage of water! To motivate people he had torevive another traditional system of village festivalscalled ilhas; the sense of community feeling andcamaraderie this generated caused people tovolunteer labor and effort to revive the beris as well asmaintain them. Singh works with an organizationcalled Sambhaav, who function in and aroundJaisalmer.

Is Multiculturalism grinding to a halt?

In 2010 the German ChancellorAngela Merkel flatly statedsomething that nobody haddared to articulate before.“Multiculturalism,” she said,“has failed, completely failed.”This signified a Europe fed upwith assimilation issues causedby recalcitrant immigrant

communities. Which is a nice way of saying Muslimgroups do not fit in and get radicalized more oftenthan can be of comfort for anybody. Now the BritishPrime Minister has joined in essentially saying thatmulticulturalism has caused segregated communitieswho get radical and go to the “next level” andbecome extremists. He asked for a “more active,muscular liberalism” wherein equal rights, genderequality, the rule of law, freedom of speech anddemocracy, human rights, cultural integration and aworking knowledge of the English language will allbecome priorities! He went to the extent of sayingmulticulturalism has created a system whereobjectionable views or practices from a white personwould not be tolerated but too much latitude is givento people of other communities.

This has led to much outcry from the left and also theimmigrant communities but the trend is clearly in favorof the Merkels and Camerons of the world so theyhave to come to terms with it. So the grandexperiment is over, or at least will not continue on theold terms any more.

The first India Leadership Workshop for MLAs has asmooth launch

The India Leadership Workshop for Members of the{state} Legislative Assemblies took place in Hyderabadfrom January 03-06, 2011 at the elite Indian School ofBusiness. A pioneering effort by the PRS LegislativeResearch, part of the Center for Policy Research, itwas an attempt to provide Leadership input to a vitalsegment of society, free of the usual constraints of theideological or geographical spectrum. 44 MLAs fromtwelve states and multiple political partiesparticipated. This is a amore significant and importantachievement than the mere reiteration of the factsseems to imply. Such initiatives need to be morefrequent. Rajeshwar Upadhaya, Director, Par Excellencefacilitated a very high intensity session during theprogram.

Global and India News

Page 3

“You can kill me” she told them,“but I am not leaving.

The world is so used to bad news from Somaliathat something like this qualifies as a bona fidemiracle. Dr Hawa Abidi is a doctor by training. Her jobis to provide miracles by the hour in Somalia. In acountry that has not seen peace in over 20 years ofcivil strife, her hospital compound, based on over 100oacres of ancestral farmland, has succored enormousnumbers of people.Sometimes there are asmany as 100 000 peoplecrammed into thatcompound. To feed themthe good doctor has branched out into farmingwhatever available land comes to her notice. The landhas been abandoned anyways, and she has even got afishing fleet of 20 boats working for her. In the May of2010, a group of militants walked in and begansmashing things. According to their lights, a merewoman should not be in charge like this, and to provetheir pious point they smashed all the hospitalequipment. “You can kill me” she told them, “but I amnot leaving. I am a woman but I am helping people.You are young men but what have you done for yourcountry?” Abashed at this sheer force of presence, and

awed that a submissive populace began openlyprotesting this bullying, the militia retreated. Dr Abidihad pulled one more improbable rabbit out of herturban.

In her lifetime of consistently implausiblevictories, Dr Abidi is one of the gigantic triumphs ofthe human spirit. Somalia is a country where aid

agencies do not venture;they go to Afghanistan butnot to Somalia. It is thatdangerous there. This isthe complete breakdown

of civilization, and the only pulsating heart of hope inthat wretched place seems to the good doctor and hertwo daughters, also physicians like their mama, anddetermined to hang on and help. Why do they do this?Except for George Clooney nobody is interested inSomalia; the world very obviously does not care. Butsomehow they care, they stay, which is perhaps thegreatest, most courageous thing an educated Somaliwith options could do. Dr Abidi was rich, withproperty, a holiday home, qualifications; she couldhave left anytime. {Her husband actually did, starting anew family elsewhere, but her children stuck to her.}Confronted with goodness of this magnitude, even

Lead Feature

Wonder Womanin SomaliaDr Hawa Abdi and her miraculoushospital

Rohit Pillai

Page 4

“Nicholas D. Kristof of the NewYork Times hailed her as“Heroic, Female and Muslim”

armed militia feel the insignificance of their outlookand slink away. She made them write a writtenapology, and their spirit broken, they actuallycomplied! Glamour magazine fell under the spell tooand nominated Drs Hawa Abidi, Amina Mohamed andDeqo Mohamed as their Women of the Year, 2010. Itbreathlessly intoned that“They are fearless. Theirlife’s purpose is to be ofservice to Somali refugees,and their unwaveringfortitude in the face ofinsurmountable obstacles is a testament to the warriorspirit of women.”

This journey into stubborn, unflagginggoodness began in 1983, in a single room medical clinicDr Abdi started. That one room has expanded into thepeaceful city that her hospital compound represents.At 12 she had watched her own mother die at

childbirth and thatdetermined her choice ofmedicine, ob-gyn whenshe got a chance to gowith 90 other Somalistudents to learnmedicine in the Ukraine.She was the only girl.She was only 17. Shebecame one of hercountry’s first qualified

doctors. Since then it has been a life of helping herfellow citizens; she uses her own money and takeswhatever money is donated which is infrequent.Nobody is turned away untreated. George Bush seniorhad once landed in the compound in his helicopter,assured them that all would be well and then leftoffice. Clinton pulled US troops out after the famousBlack Hawk Down episode and the UN troopsfollowed soon after. Dr Hawa Abdi, like her countrywas left to Fate.

She is 63 years old now, and has 400 fullhospitals beds, 6 doctors and 43 nurses to take care ofeach day. It would break anybody else, but the gooddoctor soldiers on. She had a benign tumor removed

from her brain recently which has slowed her downbut not by that much. This is a level of toughness thatis incredible. Nicholas D. Kristof of the New York Timeshailed her as “Heroic, Female and Muslim” saying sheis the sort of role model that Muslim societies woulddo well to emulate, at least as a corrective to the ‘wild

fanatic’ cliché that comesso easily to so many peoplewhen talking aboutMuslims. But Dr Abdi ismore than a Muslimheroine. She is the sort of

person who makes us simultaneously proud andashamed to be homo sapiens sapiens. She haspersuaded herding nomadic communities to take upfarming and fishing. She has convinced them to sendtheir daughters to school, with so much success that850 of them are crammed into 8 rooms. She even runsa prison, for husbands who think they can continue tobeat their wives under the eye of Abdi!

The hospital has no X-ray or ultrasoundmachines, {courtesy of militia thuggery} medicines anddrugs are always in short supply, and they have onegenerator which barely functions. Measles, malaria,diarrhea, epilepsy, tuberculosis and malnutrition are agiven. She does not send anybody away untreated. Ina society, indeed a continent, rife with clan loyalty andclan prejudices, she will have none of it on display ather hospital.

One has heard of chutzpah, read of moxie, andwitnessed audacity but this lady is in a class all byherself.

Lead Feature

Page 5

Power Orientation and Result Orientation

Power-orientation can stand in the way ofResult orientation in many cases. McClelland hasmade a distinction between the Need to achieve andthe Need for power.

Power orientation makes the Entrepreneurgive more importance to his/her Ego and treat theproject as a means of satisfying his Ego. The project isa part of their ego. They can’t stand any rejection.Ego gives them energy, but can also make themunmindful of the reality. They push through theproject without making course corrections and fine-tuning of details. They fail to realize that any rejectionis not necessarily their personal rejection, but rejectionof an action strategy. A carefully thought out changemay very well bring about the desired results. Butthey may not always listen to the voice of reality, ifthey are emotionally committed to people, projects orbusiness areas.(3)

Result orientation on the other hand makesthe Entrepreneur work for his venture and his or herEgo is at the service of the Venture. They put theproject above their ego. They want to make a successof it. Their attention is drawn to all aspects of theworking and they go to great lengths to make surethat every detail is taken care of. Such leaders arelikely to do more reality checks and respect theresponse given by the world. Implicit in such checks isthe belief that one is capable of learning andovercoming the obstacles. That is what Mr Sachdevhas believed and practiced.

E. Sreedharan, Chairman of Delhi Metro RailCorporation, retired from Indian Railways in 1990. Hethen completed the challenging project of KonkanRailway and is now spearheading the Delhi Metro at theage of 76. He has managed the Delhi Metro project fromits inception. Though he is a revered figure in thebureaucratic corridors, he is an unassuming personality.“On his part, Sreedharan clocks in at work on the dot at8.45 every morning, 15 minutes before his staff. For him,

Part 2 of a two part featured columnby Dr. Ashutosh P. Bhupatkar

Entrepreneur

Insight

LeadershipDimensions

of the role of the start-up

Page 6

the job at hand is not just a duty but his “dharma”. He ishardly ever seen in public and rarely gives interviews orattends public functions except some classical musicconcerts,” reports a website story on him.(4)

In other words, Mr Sreedharan’s approach tothe Delhi Metro project speaks of a certain sanctitythat he has attached to the project, wherein his workbecomes akin to a religious duty. This is in starkcontrast to the modernist tendency among technocratentrepreneurs, who set up a business venture only tobe able to sell it in a few years.

Ability to Learn

Most entrepreneurs come to start-up venturesafter gaining experience either in employment or inother ventures. Mr Sachdev came to SuKam aftermaking a success of his cable operation business. MrSreedharan shouldered the responsibility of DelhiMetro after his stint in Konkan Railway. Mr SubrotoBagchi of Mindtree worked with WIPRO earlier beforefounding Mindtree alongwith Mr Ashok Soota.

Doing well in an established set-up is quitedifferent from doing well in a start-up. For one, thestart-up does not have an adequate, ready and well-oiled administrative apparatus or infra-structure. Onehas to build it. You have to not only get on with theoperations but you also lay down processes. You notonly procure resources but also develop systems todeploy them. You are training people while directingthem at work. So you need patience and capacity.You need work habits that value timely action. Youdon’t have the luxury of long meetings and leisurelyaction. You also have to make trade-offs betweentime and perfection, being alive to the situation. Youhave to recognize the non-negotiable in the situationlike safety and reliability and deal suitably with thatwhich is negotiable. Sreedharan’s success lies in thefact that from one project to another, he accepted thechallenges in every situation. But the challenges werenot the same. His energy, integrity and leadershipwere the same.

The most transferable part of experience acrossdomains consists of abstract expertise that we gatherfrom concrete experience. The abstract or generic

expertise consists of generic knowledge, conceptualskills, communication skills and personalcompetencies. There is also the concrete aspect ofdomain-specific expertise, which consists of specificknowledge, technical skills and specific likes andpreferences. It is the ability to learn from experiencethat helps in evolving the domain-free abstractexpertise, which is transferable across assignments indiverse domains. Following James Atherton (5),

Direct experience is cognition, but may not beknowledge, in the sense that one cannot do

anything with it, until it is integrated into somekind of mental model.

If we see E Sreedharan’s track record, we note that hehad two outstanding achievements to his creditbefore he came to Metro. First he got a railway bridgerepaired in 46 days against the target of 3 months.Second, he completed the Konkan Railway projectwithin time and budget limits. The concrete aspectswere different in both the projects. What wascommon was Sreedharan’s meticulous planning andexecution, apart from his values, beliefs and attitudes.These sterling qualities have made him the Metro Manof India. The significant point to note is that he hasbeen able to distill or literally ‘abstract’ the importantlessons from his varied experience to make for thatabstract essence of competence. There are many whosimply carry the templates of the past achievementsinto the present assignment, whereas the need reallyis to leave the templates behind and take with you theability to design a new template for a new assignment.Carrying templates into new assignments is based onthe assumption that assignments are not significantlydifferent from each other. That assumption is notlikely to hold in a fast changing world. Contextualvariables do impinge significantly on any assignment.

Towards a conceptual framework

Personal competencies of the Entrepreneur that wehave identified can be conceptualized in the form of amodel. (6)

Insight

Page 7

The start-up Entrepreneur needs to perseverein the face of setbacks, analyze the failures and takeaction in pursuit of the desired results and in theprocess must be able to learn from experience tomodify and create new templates for achievingsuccess in the venture. The nature of a start-upventure is such that hiccups, teething troubles andinitial setbacks are inevitable in that phase.

It would be useful to test this hypothesis in theIndian/Asian conditions.

Notes:

(3) Timmons and Spinelli (2004) in their book NewVenture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21stCentury, McGraw Hill Professional, discuss thecauses of trouble in the new ventures and mentionthe emotional attachment as one of the causes.See Chapter 18, The Entrepreneur and the TroubledCompany.

(4) Straight Talk with E Sreedharan, Moinak Mitra,Economic Times, 26 Sept 2008.

(5) See James Atherton’s excellent websitewww.doceo.co.uk for elaboration.

(6) The Conceptual model is adapted from the Modelof Managerial Performance proposed by the authoralong with coauthors in the article, “MBA’s :Swollen heads, Spindly limbs?” South Asian Journalof Management, AMDISA, July-Aug 1996, NewDelhi. This model distinguishes betweenCompetence, which is the accumulated fund of

knowledge, skills and attitudes and Competencies,which link the actor to the situation throughJudgment and Application of efforts. Theaccumulated fund of expertise is brought intocontact with the situation at hand by the Actorthrough his competencies or personal attributes.

Acknowledgement

The author wishes to thank Dr Gour C Saha forproviding the impetus to write this perspective paperand for comments on earlier drafts.

Insight

Page 8

Famously known for its pyramids, pharaohsand enticing tales of magic and the Other World, Egypttoday, has become one of the most rapidly emergingeconomies in the world. Egypt may not have the buzzof a billion-plus population market, but its growth isimpressive.

After a major setback during the pre Gulf Wardays, Egypt has taken strict control of its economy bycorrect utilization of the debt relief funds and theInternational Monetary Fund’s arrangements. TheEgyptian Government has successfully managed tocontrol all adversities by creating a favorableenvironment to launch businesses, support the privatesector, and manage flow of capitals making it one ofthe most developed countries in Africa. Hence, there islittle to wonder why The World Bank has chosen Egyptamong the World’s top ten emerging economies forthe fourth time running. One look at the skyline of the

city of Cairo and it would be hard to distinguish it fromany other modern country in the world.

Political Environment

Egypt is a Republic since June 18, 1953. Afterthe assassination of President Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat , Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has ruled asPresident of the Republic with dictatorial powers sinceOctober 14, 1981. Mubarak is currently serving his fifthterm in office (28 years). Prime Minister Dr. AhmedNazif was sworn in as Prime Minister on July 9, 2004,following the resignation of Dr. Atef Ebeid.

After the President’s unexpected move toreform the country’s presidential election law, theEgyptian people for the first time since 1952 have achance to elect a leader from a list of variouscandidates. . Egypt is due for elections in September2011.

Emerging Economy

EGYPTThe TLR Team

Page 9

However, due to the recent uprising in Egypt,President Hosni Mubarak is struggling to a hold onpower. The police and the military are not making anyefforts to control thousands of demonstrators whoare defying a curfew to call for an end to Mr.Mubarak’s nearly 30 years of authoritarian rule. Theauthorities have however, cut Internet and cell-phonedata services across the country in an attempt tohamper protesters from organizing mass rallies

Causes of Development

Large Domestic Market ( 71.2 million potentialconsumers)Political StabilityDeveloped capital market where securitiestransactions can be undertaken without limitsDynamic financial marketWell developed infrastructurePotential pool of 20 million labor force available at7% of the EU rateAvailability of natural resources like petroleumExcellent global relations with major internationaleconomiesGuarantees and incentives for investorsNew Employment opportunitiesGrowing tourism industry

Recent Developments

According to 2010 “Doing Business” rankingsEgypt is among the world’s 10 most active reformersfor the fourth time based on. Amongst 183 countriesworldwide, the country has moved up to 106 from 116.Egypt has become one of the fastest growingeconomies in the Middle East since 2004. One of thereasons for this is the EU-Egypt AssociationAgreement which came into force in June 2004. As aresult of this, Germany, Italy, and France, are Egypt’smain partners for import. China accounts for 8.3% andthe U.S. which accounts for 11.4% of total imports. Ithas further strengthened its ties with Japan to attractmore Japanese investments into the increasinglydiversified sectors of the Egyptian economy.

Egypt held up well during the first round ofthe global financial crisis thanks to its reformed

banking sector and low integration into globalfinancial. However the second round of global crisiswas a major blow for Egypt. Real GDP growth fell to4.7 percent in FY09 from 7 percent a year earlier andunemployment increased to 9.4 percent from 8.4percent Egypt saw a current account deficit (of 2.3% ofGDP) for the first time since FY01.

To counter the adverse effects of the globalfinancial crisis on the Egyptian economy, thegovernment has taken several measures to prevent adecline in economic activity. Fiscal and monetarypolicy boosted economic activity. $2.6 billion stimuluspackage was infused into the Egyptian economy inNovember 2008, followed by a $1.4 billion second dosein June 2009. Thrown off-balance initially, the Egyptianeconomy soon gained enough economic traction topost a growth rate of 4.3% in the first quarter of 2009.

Currently, a growth recovery in Egypt is underway. Real GDP has grown to 5.3 percent in FY10, upfrom the 4.7 percent in FY09,. There have also beenactivities in sectors such as construction, tourism andcommunication. Inflation has reduced, but remains atdouble-digit levels (down from 16.5 percent in FY09 to11.5 percent in FY10), driven mainly by food priceincreases. Recent forecasts have suggested that foryear-end 2010, there will be an increase for the GrossDomestic Product of 14.84%

Environment for Investors

The Government of Egypt is committed tomaintaining an appropriate economic environmentthat is favorable towards attracting foreigninvestments their main aim is to increase theconfidence, of both domestic and internationalinvestors. The government thus plans to eliminateadministrative barriers and reduce financial burdensimposed on investments in new projects. Qualityservices will be provided to the investors, primarilythrough the newly restructured General Authority forInvestment and Free Zones. Investors are beingencouraged to participate in the modernization ofEgypt.

Incentives and additional facilities will be providedto multinational companies intending to establish

Emerging Economy

Page 10

production facilities in Egypt, which in turn will resultin the transfer of new technologies and expertise intothe Egyptian economy. Egypt is continuouslysearching for and promoting new investmentopportunities in all fields of oil, gas, petrochemicalsand mineral wealth, including gas exploration,production and export projects

Future Prospects

The PetrochemicalIndustry provides UnlimitedPotential and EndlessOpportunities to Egypt forgrowth. Egypt has thenecessary potential todevelop a world classpetrochemical industry, andit has adopted a nationalplan that includes theestablishment of 14petrochemical complexesover the next 20 years whichwill ensure that the localmarket is self sufficient and add 3 billion USD is annualrevenues from exports, in addition to providing100,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. Thegovernment also aims to increase the production ofoil, gas, petroleum and petrochemical products to 100million tons per year by 2010

Information Technology: The Final Frontier

The Government of Egypt has designed astrategy that aims to develop a world-class high techindustry. The IT sector holds great promise forinvestment.

The Pyramids Smart Village is the first truecommunication and information technology park inEgypt. It is planned so that in the near future it will beable to accommodate 30,000 IT employees, provide ahigh tech working environment for IT andtelecommunications companies, and offer 10 year taxexemptions to companies that choose to operatethere.

In spite of the recent crisis Egypt is facing it isclearly obvious that Egypt is gradually inching forwardin the race to become one of the fastest growingemerging economy.

Page 11

It would seem to be a paradox –Egypt is erupting when it is probably at itshealthiest both as a society and as aneconomy. It has been rated amongst thetop ten emerging economies by the WorldBank for the fourth year in a row. Why thendo the citizens rage, instead of making useof what should be a time of greatopportunity?

The answer lies in one of the greatparadoxes of History. Revolutions neverhappen when the rulers hold the people inan iron grasp. It is always when the griploosens a little, when people feel free tobreathe, to express opinions, and above all to aspire,that seven kinds of hell break loose. From the rulerspoint of view this is rank thanklessness on the part of agreedy populace; things have got better, personalliberties have been granted, the economy hasimproved, but these ingrates, like Oliver Twist beforean officious Bumble, keep asking for more. From thepoint of view of the citizenry at the barricades, this istoo little too late. They want more than baresustenance, more than their lot at a perpetualdeference to establishment members who swankabout in monster cars and lavish lifestyles while beingbrazenly corrupt. They want dignity, they want a shotat the good life, they want to be able to marry andbegin families with some sort of quality of life, insteadof somehow carrying on as was the wont. The French,

Russian, Chinese and Iranian Revolutions are just someof the more obvious examples of this social truism.

The life of the world cannot be concealed frompeople anymore and when citizens see how muchbetter off other countries are, it will not do toperpetually blame western hegemony. The rulers areseen to have failed and all their assurance that theirpeople are of greater moral significance in the worldthan the decadent and corrupt West does not wash,when this morally elevating life does not drag theordinary person out of the poverty pits they have beenin for many generations. China is amoral, corrupt,brutal and breathtakingly self serving but it does striveto improve the material life of the ordinary person.Servility to the powers that be does mean that peopleeat better, dress better and live better than theirparents and that is still a powerful social glue as well

Comment

The RisingExpectationsTheory of

Revolt and EgyptRohit Pillai

Page 12

as validation for the system. Egypt, and before Egypt,Tunisia could not offer its citizens any such balm. Afruit seller was slapped by a minor functionary inTunisia. Feeling that he was bereft of being treatedwith even basic human decency the fruit sellerimmolated himself to death and unleashed a tsunamiof repressed anger which brought down theestablishment. Facebook and Twitter were only toohappy to take the credit for having facilitated thisprocess, creating online communities andcommunication lines that the entrenchedestablishment could not fully comprehend.

In Egypt, the Tunisian example, that thepowers that be are not invincible, proved intoxicatingto a populace suffering the same skewed priorities andlack of opportunities. The difference is that the army isstill backing Mubarak and as long as that is a reality thecitizens cannot win. They will be praised lavishly by theworld, and even nurture delusions of change, but anarmy that is willing to shoot its own people is the bestguarantee of tyranny. The army is standing by, neitherwilling to intervene nor turn upon its people. Theyhave their own compulsions. Democracy may meanthe fanatic elements come to power, and they couldinvolve the armed forces in costly and meaninglessbloodbaths. The sort of futile macho religiousposturing that drained Iraq and Iran in the Khomeiniera has no appeal for a professional armed force butthey also share the irritation of the protestors. Hencethey wait and watch. It is hugely ironic that Israel, of allpeople, is most apprehensive of any regime change.Mubarak has been a force for keeping the peacebetween Arab and Jew; to replace him is to risk that

fragile calm. History, it seems, has an exquisite senseof irony.

The establishment shut down the Internet andof course foreign correspondents were assaulted butthis is all par for the course. Mubarak has respondedas all dictators boxed into his position have reactedbefore. He begins with uncomprehending bluster,changes tack and mixes threats with appeals tonational honor and vague promises of a better, moreliberal future, moves onto face saving lies – “ I alwaysintended to step down in September” but of course –and finally retreats into bewilderment and a whiny selfpity. After all the personal sacrifices they makedictators are always mortified to find the populacewould rather sacrifice them, the unappreciative louts.

And watching this from the comfort of ourhomes, feeling smug and gratified that it is not us insuch turmoil, the question arises – Why Not? Here inIndia we are barely one step ahead of this level offrustration, and complacency that it does not apply tous is probably the greatest self delusion. Egypt, oldestof civilizations, could also be the youngest ofexamples.

End Note:

Mubarak has finally stepped down since this waswritten, but power has been handed over to the army.This is hardly a democratic development, socelebrations may be premature.

Comment

Social entrepreneurs arehelping to create a more peaceful, just andsustainable world.-- Robert Alan

Saloni Malhotra, Social Entrepreneur, CEO,DesiCrew Solutions, founded in February 2007,employs unemployed rural youth to work in BPOs andtrains them extensively raising their quality of serviceand productivity. She quit her well-paying job to followher dream of creating employment in rural areas. Herwork is slowly being recognized and this is evidentfrom the fact that she has made it to prestigiousBusiness Week's Asia's 25 Youngest Entrepreneurs list.She had been nominated as MTV Youth Icon 2008,Tata-NEN Hottest Start ups 2008, Global ReaderFavorite in 2007, Fast50 from the Fast Companymagazine and many more that could be added to thelist of her accomplishments.

What does DesiCrew do?

DesiCrew Solutions is a Rural BPO initiativewhich provides significant scope for maximizingbusiness value through cost management, operationalefficiency and innovation. They set up IT enabledservice centers in rural areas, employ and train localpeople with a vision “To expand economic geographic

boundaries by leveraging local talent pools to providea competitive advantage to customers.” They cater tothe needs of their clients from various sectors such as

Insurance, Market Research, Social Sector, E-Governance, etc. by providing services and solutionson content creation and validation, GIS based mappingservices, transcription and localization. As mentionedon their official website the DesiCrew Business modelis a rural delivery model in which a network of micro-centers is strategically selected across rural and semi-urban locations. “Each center is professionally runwith a 25 seat facility working in 2 shifts providingback-end services to global clients. Locations of themicro-centers are identified in those territories with apopulation in the range of 10 to 100 thousand. Theworkforce manning these centers is built up bytraining the educated but under employed.” This hascontributed to 40% cost savings for their clients as wellas building credibility for the organization and itsemployees. As the organization focuses on tapping anuntapped market its growth prospect is tremendous interms providing a low-cost workforce, creating a socialimpact and supporting reverse migration.

Bottom of the Pyramid

Saloni Malhotraand herDesi Crew

The TLR Team

Page 14

Only in IndiaThieves call on cops to rescuethem

Three thieves who were burgling a financier’shome in Delhi on January 28 2011 found themselvestrapped inside the home, when he returned earlyand saw a light on, and gathered over 250 angryneighbors outside to give them a thrashing. This isa very dangerous situation in India as thieves gethammered to within an inch of their lives in suchsituations and very often the beating turns fatal.Why Indian society has such zero tolerance forpersonal theft while billions are siphoned off withofficial connivance is a fascinating conundrum, butthe hapless thieves were not in the mood for suchenquiries. Realizing they were trapped they hitupon a creative solution. The called the local policestation and asked to be rescued! The bemusedmight of the law scooped them in and saved themfrom certain pain. One of the thieves turned out tobe a neighbor which would certainly haveworsened the situation.

History:

Saloni Malhotradescribes herselfas, “FounderDesiCrew, a sociallymotivated businesswith a doublebottom line(financial and social

development),connects global clients with low cost back officecenters in rural India.” The idea of launching anorganization which is completely engrossed intoevolving of a rural village came when she heard ProfJhunjhunwala speak about n-Logue communications in2004. She later wrote him a letter expressing herinterest in carrying out a venture followed by a oneand a half year research. She spent three monthsunderstanding the people and working with the kiosksof n-Logue in the rural villages of Tamil Nadu. She alsospent six months on surveying as to what clients lookout for. She admits that one needs a lot of courageand determination to cope with challenges it imposesto get clients convinced about rural productivity. Beingan entrepreneur "feels like a big responsibilitycombined with a lot of fun," she says. "Every day is anew challenge with new problems to be solved.”

Positives:

Builds on the potential of BOP markets: Developing aprospective business model and generating wealthfrom the rural area.

Competitive advantage: Providing Low-cost workforce

Job Creation: Generating employment by training therural people

Increased Social Standing: Increasing the averagemonthly household income of the major ruralpopulation.

Attrition rate low: People tend to stay on the jobbecause of improved life quality it offers. Rs 5000 amonth is nothing in a city but a big deal in mofussil orrural areas even today. Engaged in a process ofcontinuous innovation, adaptation, and learning.

Negatives:

Inhibition of the rural areas: Convincing the ruralpopulation about the opportunities a service sectorcan provide is difficult.

Inhibition from the client end: Penetration into themind-set of the clients with respect to acceptance ofproductivity of rural areas is a major area of concern.

Lack of qualified people: It is difficult to get people asminimum requirement is12th pass which is stillunusual in rural areas

Bottom of the Pyramid

Engaging Minds to

Engage People

Our Employee Engagement initiative is a custom-designed exercise which acts as abarometer to determine the extent to which employees are passionate about theirwork and emotionally committed to their company and to their coworkers.

We use Sarah Cook’s WIFI© Model – Well-being, Information, Fairness andInvolvement to conduct the engagement survey.

We use our proprietary web-based tool Excellmetrics™ to conduct the exercise. It isa flexible, integrated, easy-to-use, hassle-free to administer, web-based tool andcomes with a round-the-clock support. All the while, maintaining a strictconfidentiality and anonymity in a true sense.

610, Cosmos, Sector 11, CBD Belapur, Navi Mumbai 400 614, IndiaPhone: +91-22-27578760 E-mail: contact@parexcellence.org Website: www.parexcellence.org

Par Excellence Leadership Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

WIFI©

Model

The Media and Entertainment Industryincludes a wide variety of products and services thatentertain all kinds of consumers or as used asinformative tools. The Industry is categorized into anumber of segments, each of which provides adifferent form of entertainment or information aroundthe world. These segments include traditional printmedia, radio broadcasting, television, filmentertainment, music videos, videogames and mostimportantly internet. None of these segments wouldhave been so popular without the technologydevelopers for these segments. So, the importance oftechnology developers can’t be overlooked if we talkabout the whole industry. Due to the dependency ontechnological developments, the industry is always influx with new segments constantly entering andexiting.

Media & Entertainment Industry Global Scenario

Changing consumer choices, advent of newtechnologies and rapid globalization has been the

growth drivers of this industry. Increasing penetrationof the Internet has changed the dynamics of theindustry. The US market has witnessed the maximumimpact on account of these changes. Despite suchincreased spending, majors are also witnessing fasterincreases in costs. With margins coming underpressure, majors are trying to develop newdistribution channels to minimize the impact of suchcost increases.

Industry Focus

MEDIA AND

ENTERTAINMENTThe TLR Team

Page 17

Indian Media & Entertainment Industry at a glance

The Indian Entertainment and Media industrythat is back on the right path if the latest studyconducted by the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ – IndianEntertainment and Media Outlook 2010 is to bebelieved. It reports that the Media industry wouldswell by 12.4% in the next 4 to 5 years. This comes aftermost Media and Entertainment types suffered declineor underwent gradual growth in the year 2009 vis-à-visthe current trend (2010); and also the future trend.

Key Segments:

Television- India isthe third biggesttelevision market, inthe whole worldcoming after Chinaand USA. India also isamongst thecheapestsubscription of cablemarket, where innumerous places amonthly cable cost ismerely averagely US $ 4 and hardly ever surpasses US$ 10. The television industry is projected to continue tobe the major contributor to the overall industryrevenue pie and is estimated to grow at a rate of 12.9per cent cumulatively over the next five years, from anestimated US$ 5.69 billion in 2009 to US$ 10.45 billionby 2014, as per a report by PwC.

Radio- Radio is considered a mass medium. It ideallysuits the Indian environment - leveraging its twinadvantages of wide coverage and cost effectiveness.Latest concepts such as satellite, community radio andinternet have also started to punch the market moreand more, and radio is gradually making a return in thelifestyles of the people. Currently, the sectorgenerates annual revenues worth US$ 49.5 million andis growing at around 20 percent annually, according tothe joint report by KPMG and an industry chamber.

Print Media- A roaring Indian economy leading toincreasing necessitates for contents and regimeinitiatives which have opened up the segment to

foreign investments are pushing growth in printmedia. Also, with increasing literate population, morefolks in rural and urban regions are reading thenewspapers and the magazines nowadays. The printmedia industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 9 percent and targets to reach around US$ 5.93 billion by2014, according to the joint report by KPMG and anindustry chamber.

Internet Advertising- Roughly 28 million Indians arepresently connected on the internet. And thisincreasing number is resulting to the increase of

internetadvertisement, whichat present stands ataround Rs 100 crores.

Outdoor Advertising -Outdoor medialocations in India aremainly owned or runby small, local playersand are usually, whodirectly markets them

to the advertisers and also advertising agencies.Nonetheless, this sector also is witnessing a myriad-change through technological innovations.

Films- Films Division has been motivating the broadestspectrum of the Indian public with a view to enlistingtheir active participation in nation building activities.According to the joint report by KPMG and an industrychamber, the growth drivers for the sector wouldinclude expansion of factors like an increase in thenumber of multiplex screens, digital screensfacilitating wider releases, higher cable and satelliterevenues, improving collections from the overseasmarkets and supplementary revenue streams like DTH,digital downloads, etc, which are expected to emergein future.

Music- Emerging segments, the key growth driver forthe music industry over the next five years will bedigital music, and its share is expected to move from16% in 2008 to 60% in 2013. Within digital music, mobile

Industry Focus

Page 18

music will continue to increase its share and maintainits dominance.

Live Entertainment- Live entertainment is a hugesource of revenue for the global Media industry. Liveentertainment - sometimes also called eventmanagement- is growing at a fast and steady rate. Thenumber of corporate awards, television, films, andsports events are increasing rapidly, helping the sectorgrow at a fast rate.

Characteristics of Media & Entertainment Industry inIndia

The various segments of the Media andEntertainment industry like television and filmindustry have a large customer base

The growing middle class with higher disposableincome and change in their lifestyles and spendingpatterns has become the strength of the Mediaand Entertainment Industry in India

Technological innovations like online distributionchannels, web-stores, multi and mega-plexes arecomplementing the ongoing revolution and thegrowth of the sectorIndian film industry is second largest in the worldand the largest in terms of the films produced andtickets soldThe low cost of production and high revenuesensure a good return on investment for IndianMedia and Entertainment industry

The Media and Entertainment sector in India ishighly fragmented

There is lack of cohesive production & distributioninfrastructure, especially in the case of musicindustry

Expected Future Trends

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in its report titled‘Indian Entertainment & Media Outlook 2010’predicts that the industry is poised to return todouble digit growth to touch US$ 22.28 billiongrowing cumulatively at a 12.4 per cent CAGR to2014.

A research study conducted by Deloitte and anindustry body predicts that The Indian animationindustry is expected to grow at 20 per cent to

reach US$ 253 million by 2013 from the current US$122 millionThe Indian gaming market alone has beenestimated at US$ 239 million and is expected togrow at a compounded annual growth rate of over50 per cent to reach US$ 1.3 billion by 2013The television industry is projected to continue tobe the major contributor to the overall industryrevenue pie and is estimated to grow at a rate of12.9 per cent cumulatively over the next five years,from an estimated US$ 5.69 billion in 2009 to US$10.45 billion by 2014, as per a report by PwC

A report by research firm Media Partners Asia(MPA) stated that India is poised to become theworld's largest direct-to-home (DTH) satellite payTV market with 36.1 million subscribers by 2012,overtaking the USDue to the tremendous uptake of the mobilevalue-added services (VAS) market, the industry isprojected to grow at a CAGR of 28.6 per cent over2010-14, reaching US$ 567.6 million in 2014, as perPwCThe key growth driver for the music industry overthe next five years will be digital music, and itsshare is expected to move from 29 per cent in 2010to 75 per cent in 2014

The radio advertising industry is projected to growat a CAGR of 12.2 per cent over 2010-14, reachingUS$ 342.7 million in 2014 from the present US$192.8 million in 2009, as per PwC

Opportunity

The greatest opportunities naturally lie inthose sub-areas that are expected to grow the fastestover the next few years, namely, in the developmentof digital distribution platforms for TV such as DTH,digital music platforms, digital media advertising(internet, mobile and digital signage) and globalcinema content. According to the industry experts theindustry still has room to expand within India as themarket is wide. Media services are being sought withmany organizations and thus this offers the industry toincrease its market share. The high technologicalinnovation which is happening everyday also presentsa good opportunity for the media industry to utilizethe latest technology in expanding its product mix orimproving existing ones hence reaching or increasing

Industry Focus

Page 19

its market. There is exists new business in the globalmarket for the industry. Good laws and liberations ofthe market are other factors which have enhanced themedia industry, though there is high competition inthe industry there is room for new players andexpansion of the current players. The television andthe print media are the biggest segments of theindustry. Of late FDI in India is a rise and the country ispositioned has a major market global for the mediaindustry.

Road Ahead

The rising income levels, improvements ininfrastructure, technological developments, and theinternet have contributed to the Indian entertainmentand media industry's growth. Besides, theliberalization of foreign investment in theentertainment and media industry has provided astructured economic boost in this sector.

On the road ahead, Timmy S. Kandhari,Leader– Entertainment & Media Practice, Price waterhouse Coopers India, said, “Many of the factors, whichcaused the slowdown in 2009, are not likely to persist.With confidence returning alongside a likely increase inconsumer and advertisement spends, the E&Mindustry is looking to get back to its high growthtrajectory.”

Some of the other factors in the outlook are adspends, which did not exhibit any growth in 2009, andare showing a rebound. Ad spends are projected togrow at 11.4 per cent CAGR for the period 2010-14.Another factor is the digital versus non-digital spend.Talking about the move to digital spending, MarcelFenez, Global Leader, Entertainment & Media Practice,PricewaterhouseCoopers, said, “Although there isconsistency in inevitable migration to digital, thechange continues to vary by market. Uptake in digitalmedia could be different in a country like India due tolocal factors around infrastructure as well asaffordability.” This year, PwC, in association withAidem Ventures, also conducted the IndianEntertainment & Media CEO Survey in order tounderstand how the business leaders of this industryresponded to the challenges brought about by the

recession, the concerns they are facing today and theirtake on long-term growth prospects of the industry.The findings of the survey suggest that even thoughCEOs are under cost pressure, they continue to workto strengthen their organizations, while seekingopportunities emerging from structural shifts in theirindustry, economy and regulatory environment.

Commenting on this, Ray Nayak, Managing Director,Aidem Ventures, said, “On the whole, the Indian mediaCEO confidence is rising from where it was a year ago.They are now cautiously optimistic about generatingrevenue growth in the near term and decidedly moreconfident of their long term prospects.”

The Indian entertainment industry is on a highgrowth path. Domestic majors are finding betterearnings potential in the huge overseas markets. Atthe same time, corporatization is finally starting toemerge in this highly unorganized industry. This islikely to instill a greater discipline in the functioning ofthe industry and lead to greater consolidation in thefuture. The domestic consumer will opt for moresophisticated technology in the near future.Consequently, domestic majors will have to redefinetheir product offerings.

With literacy levels forecasted to increase inthe future, the publishing industry will continue towitness growth. Advent of new technologies such ase-book etc will take a longer time to have an impact onthe domestic market when compared to the globalmarkets. While piracy levels are declining slowly,better copyright laws and the rapid implementation ofthe same are imperative to preserve the creativetalent in this industry. The government needs toimplement the same in order to facilitate the highgrowth in this industry.

Industry Focus

Page 20

The aim is to avoid becomingconscious of unpleasant and selfshattering truths and steeringclear of all painful directions.

Fear is perhaps the real reason people fail. Fearparalyses, fear derail and fear internalizesincompetence. Dharmeshwar Upadhayaya examines thenotion of fear and how it can be traced back to anunwillingness to recognize oneself in all honesty. Fear isdiscomfort with knowing. This leads to controlresponses which lead further into fear. But honest selfrecognition leads to transforming ‘vision’ as opposed tostatus quo ‘sight’. To become responsible is to nullifyfear.

Fear is innate and in many instances at the veryheart of all. I wish to explore the consequences of thefear of knowledge of oneself. In my experience, fear islinked with awareness. The more one is aware of one’semotions and impulses the more is one aware of one’sway of living, while the more one is afraid of suchknowledge, the more ignorant is one of the ways ofgoing about in the world.

What is at the root of the fear of knowledge ofoneself? Could it be that knowledge of the world is

isomorphic with the inner states of knowing andbeing? Could it be that both the inner and outerproblems are causally related to one another? Before Istart with this inquiry I would like to state that Ichoose to deliberately neglect the distinctionsbetween the fear of our inner delusions and illusionsfrom our outer realities.

Fear is a defense that shields us physically. Itprepares us psychologically to defend our self-loveand self esteem, while any knowledge that can makeus feel ‘inferior’ causes anxiety. We protect our idealself image by repression or receding into primary

stages, by inflating our false egos, or by creating falsehopes, or by beginning to deny the state of affairs. Theaim is to avoid becoming conscious of unpleasant and

Point of View

The Fear of

Knowing and

Knowing FearDharmeshwar Upadhyaya

Page 21

We respond to the feeling ofbeing inadequate by denying ourbest sides, abilities,accomplishments and our refinedimpulses.

In much suffering was muchwisdom which delivered a newmeaning to their suffering.

self shattering truths and steering clear of all painfuldirections. Not only do we fight all efforts made by ouracquaintances including specialists and therapistswhose main aim is to help us see such directions we sovehemently resist, wecreate impenetrable wallsof self deception. The besteffort any human being canmake is to be completelyhonest with oneself; that isthe starting point of allpractitioners ofpsychology,psychotherapy, psychodynamics and coaches workingwith people. In one way or another, they all reveal thissimple truth, or create conditions and directions for usto receive it or make strong the individuals so thatthey can bear the painful shattering of the ego andthose private truths they have so deeply and skillfullyburied under layers of defenses and distortedmemories.

In addition to our psychopathologies, there isanother kind of truth we tend to consciously shrinkaway from. Those are of our self created illusions inwhich we are entangled and which retard our personalgrowth. Growth in these is associated with the painfuland the traumatic. It is usually concomitant withanother kind of fear, the fear of feeling inadequate.We respond to the feeling of being inadequate bydenying our best sides, abilities, accomplishments andour refined impulses. We even deny our potentialitiesand our creativity as if we were without intentions andmotivations. This is an endless struggle against ourown greatness, as life and its events tend to becomecyclic, we are caught in self-fulfilling patterns findingourselves repeating what we always did, getting whatwe always got. We re-live in some ways the age oldmyths of Adam and Eve, their much forbiddendangerous tree of knowledge that took away theirhappiness, banished them from the innocence ofparadise when they reached out for the fruit ofknowledge that was never to be touched. This fearfrom the myth in many ways permeates in thecollective psyches of most cultures, politics,

institutions as if the sacred knowledge or knowing isreserved for a chosen few while the rest of mankindhas no right to know. All religions are bound togetherwith the same malaise; anti-intellectualism as they

subordinate all knowledgeto faith. The rest isblasphemy. They feel thatsome form of knowledge isnot meant to be tamperedwith and best beinaccessible to the majorityat hand. What is worse, themajority believes in this

truth as well and assigns to itself designations of thelesser chosen.

Adam and Eve, Prometheus, Oedipus,Odysseus, among others who had defied the will andwisdom of powers greater than theirs, were brutallytreated, thus reinforcing the truth that someknowledge is not for all. In much suffering was muchwisdom which delivered a new meaning to theirsuffering. Nevertheless, the discourse that has beentransmitted for a few thousand years has warnedagainst defying the will and wisdom of a few chosenones, the godlike. But is there a godlike in us at all? Is itthe good, is it the powerful, is it the artist, or thedivinity in us? At some level it fascinates us and makesus fearful. It motivates us by persecuting us and yetmakes us unique. We find ourselves in the between ofimpulses, of issues which we try to overcome andpowers before which we subjugate to survive. Thoughgodlike in our creations we realize that we cannotknow and will likewise. We are beings bothdominating and being dominated.

The dominated and the minority populationsshare the same experience, the fear of knowing toomuch to explore freely. Some of these groups are

Point of View

Page 22

In institutional setups, knowingunconsciously has a dimensionof psychological domination,mastery, control, and evencontempt for those who don’thave the privilege of knowing.

The irony is that we seekknowledge to reduce anxiety butat the same time also act as ifknowing would increase anxietyand choose not to know.

often permeated with a defensive way of being,resembling an idiosyncratic stupidity. The ones whodominate are not likely to encourage curiosity in thedominated lest the weak rebel. Besides, thedominating group knowstoo well that low selfesteem invariably inhibitsthe drive to know. Thesame dynamic is seen in aboss and subordinate,student and teacher,criminal and police, priestand sinner. These areinvariable threats to oneanother and somewhere in the equation knowledgeplays a crucial part. In institutional setups, knowingunconsciously has a dimension of psychologicaldomination, mastery, control, and even contempt forthose who don’t have the privilege of knowing.Knowing also has an intrusive ‘masculine’ aspect whenassociated with some form of power, unless knowingis for its own sake. Knowing for a purpose, forexploitation, for economy, is a perversion and isalways oblique, invariably ego’s slave. But in knowingfor its own sake, one can understand the complex ofone’s inner worlds and how they manifest in the worldoutside as our inner and outer realities are isomorphic.

I advocate knowing for it’s own sake. Thissatisfies the primitive drive of being perceptive andmakes us stronger and humbler at the same time. Theactualization and fulfillment of our potentialities andour destinies arerepresented by knowingfor the sake of knowledge.Like the effortless bearingof the first leaves by thesmallest saplings; knowingis the only expression ofour nature. Curiosity andexplanation are thenoblest of human needs, even more noble than selfsecurity. In our times, the need to feel safe is strongerthan curiosity. A child in a new environment will clingdearly to its parent and explore bit by bit. When the

parent disappears, so does the object of the child’scuriosity, until safety is re-established. We as adults arefar more reserved about our anxieties than any child.When the fears of our traumatic experiences

overwhelm us, we repressand deny them as if theynever existed. We burythem under several layersof different languages,behind multiple ways ofthinking and being. But oncareful listening toourselves we can catch thelanguage of anxiety. In such

a state of heightened anxiety knowing becomes it’svery opposite. We are afraid even to begin to knowbecause we are anxious.

There are many cognitive ways of coping withanxieties. It is understandable because the unfamiliarwill be threatening to us, but if we do not attach asense of economy, it will have an anxiety reducingeffect. We have on one hand relief and lower stress,and on the other knowledge and the joy ofillumination. In the latter we experience fulfillment outof growth as the life force nurtures one of our mostprimitive drives; to be perceptive and porous. Such alinear growth dynamic is shared by many philosophies,religions, sciences and cultures. Almost always, thesafety needs out-do the cognitive ones and reducethem to levels of threat and anxiety. An anxiety freeperson, I reason, can explore and theorize clearly, for

the sake of knowledgealone to realize the truthbeyond the senses, beyondthe quintessence, while aperson suffering anxietycan never do that. Anxietynot only subverts curiosityand knowing for its ownends which are perversions

of the ego, but the lack of curiosity becomes an agentof anxiety. The irony is that we seek knowledge toreduce anxiety but at the same time also act as ifknowing would increase anxiety and choose not to

Point of View

Page 23

The larger “vision” for mankind canonly emerge when we destroy the“sight” of our egos and its beliefs.

know. A similar dynamic can be seen when one haslearning difficulties which are ego defenses. We findourselves incapable of accessing the structures andmeanings of our ownexperiences. Knowing forthe sake of knowledge andaction for its own sake areas isomorphic as our innerand outer realities. Whenwe know, reflexive actionfollows and we can now make sense of the fear ofknowing and the fear of action. Often, it is better notto know because if one did one would have to act. Andif one were to have to act, it would always be a strainthreatening the ego. Part of the Oedipus mythcaptures this refusal to know because such knowledgeis a call for action which annihilates the ego.

When Oedipus had to listen to the truthfrom Tiresias, Oedipus would have to deal with theconsequences of the knowing which he had madeinaccessible to himself. He chose to be blind to theknowledge of what he could have done to his fatherLaius, and his mother Jacosta. Had he wanted toknow the truth, he would have to punish himself.The remedy for the plague lay in Oedipusacknowledging the truth which he was avoiding. Aslong as he did not know that he was the criminalwho was unpunished, he could not act. But whenthe truth of killing his father and bearing daughtersfrom his own mother were revealed to him, heblinds himself. I find this act synonymous withknowing the truth. Though he punishes himself byblinding himself, he develops a vision and freeshimself and his people. In this, I believe that we areall Oedipus’ not wanting to know the consequencesof our actions and how we have buried them in ourpsyches. The larger “vision” for mankind can onlyemerge when we destroy the “sight” of our egosand its beliefs.

Every belief equivocates: many believe thatwe selectively distort our cognitive needs to satisfyour egos. I feel that we do not distort but we do onlyto the extent we have to and no more. This is

because we are motivated by the desire to see andengage with reality from our inner compulsions.Therefore, the need to know has to be integrated with

the inadequacy ofknowing, the anxiety itcreates, its needs forsafety and security andwith its own fear that isas archaic with the driveto “know-act”. All

spheres that increase fear will inevitably diminish thedrive to know-act, while in all spheres which nurtureour impulse to know-act we would find hope in.

Point of View

Page 24

Airtel’s USP was its signature tune, iconic ,instantly recognizable and sticking in the mind withpersistence. In its TV commercials that signature tuneand its logo were widely accepted & identified in everycorner of the world. It had the inspirational &traditional connect that had helped Airtel cross the 20-crore subscriber mark from its operations in 19countries in Africa and Asia. A change in the signaturetune that is widely desired & liked by millions ofpeople in the world could cause serious damage to thecompany’s brand. Why fiddle with something that wasso overwhelmingly successful merely for the sake ofchange?

When Bharti Airtel Ltd., the telecom giantunveiled its new logo on 18th November, 2010 itwanted to deliver an experience in which the Airtel’scustomers would become Airtel’s brand ambassadors.Was it really successful in doing so? If it wanted tomake Airtel customers the brand ambassadors, what isSaif Ali Khan doing in its new TV commercials, justpretending to play around the new logo?

For a telecom giant like Airtel to come up witha new logo, new signature tune & TVCs as a part of itsrebranding & repositioning exercise is a big step.Although the new Airtel logo has more or lessreplaced the old logo at all shops & billboards in the

country, television shows, cricket fields & all, but towhat extent has it been successful to replace the oldlogo in the minds of the customers & society as awhole?

This change in Airtel’s avatar happened afterAirtel acquired the operations of Zain Telecom inAfrica in June this year in a $10.7 billion deal. It alsolaunched its 3G services in Karnataka because it is oneof the most dominant markets. Through the launchingof the new logo & new signature tune, Airtel aimed toachieve an international appeal wherein customersnot only in India but across the world could connectwith their brand.

The previous logo of Airtel had gained widerecognition & had left a mark in the minds of thepeople. Even the rural illiterate farmer could easilyidentify with the Airtel logo. It had both white and redcolors interchangeably. The interesting part was thatthe word ‘Air’ was written in black with a whitebackground while ‘Tel’ was written in white on a redbackground. Sometimes they also included theirslogan “Express Yourself” with the logo. The peopleliked the logo & got accustomed to it, owing to itswidespread presence over the years.

The main objective behind re-designing the old logowas to give the company’s identity a new youthful and

Was it worth a 300 croreinvestment?

Ideas that Worked / Failed

Airtel’sbrand newAvatar

The TLR Team

Page 25

dynamic look, signifying the company’s innovativeadvancement in the telecom industry across the globe.It was venturing out globally & so it needed an identityto connect to their international customers.

The new logo of Airtel was designed by aLondon based agency, Brand Union. It has the letter“a” in lowercase, forming a mark for the brand andAirtel, written in lowercase under it. Today, the logolooks more like a curved ‘A’ with little bit ofhighlighting to indicate what they call dynamism andthe warm and friendly appeal of Airtel. If carefullyexamined, the new logo can be observed as a coalitionof the Airtel’s logo & that of Zain Telecom.

But what is the real scenario? Has Airtel livedup to the hype and expectations? The quick answerwould be NO. People do not seem connect as wellwith with the new logo, which has lost the element ofuniqueness.

The justification is that Airtel’s new identitygoes beyond telecom; in the future if it plans to getinto new services the brand image will not cause ahindrance. How does this new logo actually help thecompany to venture into new services? Wouldn’t ithave been much easier for Airtel to enter into newservices & gain acceptance in society with its oldavatar?

Another important aspect about the new logois that it does not display much creativity. Instead ofbeing a coalition of Bharti Airtel & Zain Telecom, itlooks a combination of logos of Videocon & Vodafone.Surely that was not the intent, but that is how itappears. The new logo has Airtel written in lower case,which is explained as an attempt to show humilityrequired in a service brand. Which is a very noblesounding thought but what, if anything, does thatmean? Improved customer service? Somebody actuallypicking up the phone when you call to complaininstead of going to an automated service? Customersprefer efficiency and effectiveness over humility any

day. How does the new logo translate into thepotential new businesses where the old logo wouldhave been an image hindrance?

The name game exercise undertaken by Airtelto promote & market the new logo has also not beenthat successful There have been approximately 1,50,000 posts only for the name game. This shows thatthis promotional activity has not been marketed well.On the other hand getting feedback from an Indianaudience is notoriously difficult so they may haveactually got a sizeable sample!

The new signature tune of Airtel has mixedreviews to put it kindly. Some people liked the peppytune & lyrics in it. On the other hand, there is a largergroup of the audience who think that the new tunehas lost the traditional touch and so there seema to bea mismatch between the desired & the actualoutcome.

Again, Airtel did not conduct a premarketingcampaign to promote its rebranding exercise. Had itbeen more creative in its marketing strategies byasking the customers to design its new tune or logothere is a possibility that the strategy would have beenvwery successful instead of debatable as it seemscurrently. Airtel did involve customers after the launchof the new logo where it has achieved success to someextent.

Had Airtel spent the 300 crores in improvingtheir customer services and infrastructure maybe itwould not have needed to redesign things! Just athought.

Ideas that Worked / Failed

Page 26

Bajaj:What’s in a name?

India’s 2nd largest twowheeler maker with a capital ofRs. 37,800 crore is undergoing aradical change. The company willno longer use its brand name ’Bajaj’ on its twowheelers and three wheelers. The reason behind thismind boggling rebranding decision is to promoteBajaj’s individual life brand Pulsar and Discover ratherthan parent brand Bajaj. Bajaj is trying to emulate themarketing success of International automotivecompanies like Germany’s Volkswagen with respect toAudi. Rajiv Bajaj feels that both the products, i.e Pulsarand Discover, have been well received and appreciatedin the domestic market and enjoys loyalty; thus hefeels that it no longer requires the support of anumbrella brand like Bajaj Auto.

When Rajiv Bajaj, son of Rahul Bajaj, joined thecompany after completing his M.S in manufacturingsystem engineering from the University of Warwick UKhe seemed to feel there was something wrong in thecompany as it focused primarily only on scooters. Rajivsaw a potential market in motorcycles. The focusshifted from scooters to motorcycles with the famouspunch-line of Bajaj changing from “Buland Bharat kiBuland Tasveer” {A resurgent India has a great Image}to “ Badal Rahe hain Hum Yahan”{ We are changingourselves here} and suddenly Bajaj auto found itself onthe 4th rank for motorcycles after Hero Honda,

Yamaha and TVS ( as shown in the figure) rebuttingthe critics who once rather unfairly said about Bajaj

auto,” You can’t make bikes. Even if you make bikes,you can only make 100 cc bikes with the help ofKawasaki and that too with issues of quality. Then youneed hundreds of Japanese to come and set it right”.

A purely rational approach favors this startlingdecision as this move wasn’t meant for India in thefirst place. It is only trying to build its two wheelerbrands as global brand deprived of Indian-ness and allthe issues of doubtful quality that it still seems toimply. Rebranding would give “independence” to each

Page 27

The TLR Team

brand family and free the various brands like BajajAlmond Drops Hair oil, Bajaj Appliances, Bajaj Auto etcfrom the ‘blurring effect’ due to a common andseemingly overused link name. One of the reasons forshedding the brand name was, “The name traps us inthe past. And we want to move forward”. That is hardto argue with. It has always been Rajiv Bajaj’s style.When his father would give nostalgic interviews aboutthe Chetak scooter, how it was a compulsorycomponent of dowries in North Indian weddings fordecades, his son would give interviews saying theChetak represents a past he would rather not focuson.

But rebranding perhaps comes at a cost.“Humara Bajaj” - the first thing that pops up in themind is the80’s- 90’s advertisement that sold scootersto the middle-class which instilled a sense of pride,ownership and feeling of being a self sufficient Indian.This has now deemed to be outdated, even thoughBajaj is still associated with brand values such as trustand reliability. Will abandoning the parent brand name

adversely affect the customers trust? The Tata name islinked with all its brands be it tea, salt, watches, carsetc. These products are doing fine; in fact they mayenjoy a larger chunk of market share under the parentbrand Tata.

The Bajaj decision of rebranding has receivedmixed reviews. Only time will prove if this decision wasa wise ‘Discovery’ or a major ‘Pulse-error’.

Note:

Rahul Bajaj has recently opened up the possibility thatBajaj will re-enter the scooter segment before venturinginto the car business

Page 28

Music Maestro

Bhimsen Gururaj JoshiFebruary 4, 1922 – Forever

Ever since the blasphemy lawscame into being veterans insocio-political life like AsmaJehangir, Hina Jilani and JuliusSalik have been waging a waragainst the blasphemy laws, butcould never garner anysignificant support – even fromthe so called liberals.

Pakistan came into being in 1947. While thedream of an Islamic state of Pakistan was beingrealized, thousands were massacred on both sides,Hindu and Muslim, in the name of religion. Ironically ayear after that Jinnah in an Australian radio broadcastsaid “Make no mistake: Pakistan is not a theocracy oranything like it.” This disconnect in the ideology,wherein a state created in the name of religion wasstriving to be a democratic republic, has been thecause of over thirty two years of Military rule inPakistan. It has also been a perpetual embarrassmentfor the Pakistani establishment that their Founder wasso secular. Starting from Ayub Khan, to Yahya Khan, toZia-ul-Haq – military dictators, left to their owndevices, played the hardliner Islamist card to distractthe masses from the anxiety of living in an autocracy.

Zia-ul-Haq, the most silky smooth of militarydictators, introduced a series of blasphemy laws inPakistan in the 1980s to the horror of the minority. The

new laws laid out death for insulting the ProphetMohammed{PBUH}, and barred the minority sectAhmadiyas from behaving like Muslims, proclaiming

themselves to be Muslims, and trying to convertMuslims. Over the years they have been theinstruments of harassment and subsequent murders

Exception is the Norm

TheBlasphemyof ToleranceSalman Taseer as an unlikely liberal martyr

Sharad Mathur

Page 30

Although, Salman Taseermaintained his anti-India ways,which in Pakistan is a political

necessity, he was championingthe rights of minorities.

of many innocent civilians from minority communitieson the hands of local landlords, intolerant clerics, andestablishment. Sadly, these laws introduced by Zia-ul-Haq are still enforced in Pakistani society, but notwithout opposition from the intellectuals and liberals.

Ever since the blasphemy laws came into beingveterans in socio-political life like Asma Jehangir, HinaJilani and Julius Salik have been waging a war againstthe blasphemy laws, but could never garner anysignificant support – even from the so called liberals.Even in the protests fromminority communities,notably Christians whomake up most of theminority in Pakistan, callsfor removing blasphemylaws remained concealedunder the garbs ofdemands for protectionfrom Muslim hardliners. As to why a fearful andmarginalized minority would commit the insanity ofinsulting the Prophet {PBUH}, well that is a sensiblequestion, and therefore not relevant to a situation likePakistan.

After 9/11 the world witnessed a gradual shiftin the mindset of Pakistani youth towards peace anddemocracy from radical Islam. A lot of credit goes toParvez Musharraff’s efforts against radicalization, plusthe growing realization that this sort of reflexive anti-Western paranoia was not serving anybody. Sincethen, a new crop of journalists, human rights activists,philosophers, students, and bloggers have providedmuch needed support to the struggle againstBlasphemy laws. It is all good intentions; nobody willever ask for it to be scrapped as that itself could beconstituted as blasphemy!

Until Aasia Bibi case, where a Christian womanAasia was condemned to death following theallegations of defiling Prophet Mohammed’s name,and a subsequent appeal from the Pope and varioushuman right groups within and outside Pakistan, the

protest against blasphemy laws seldom came out ofselect print and online forums. The movement actuallygained momentum, after Salman Taseer became itsface.

Having a resemblance to a dissipated JackNicholson, Taseer was one of the most charming andinfluential leaders of the ruling Pakistan People’sParty. He rose to power when he successfully builtbridges between Mushrraff and Asif Ali Zardari, andlater helped Zardari oust Mushrraff to become thenew President of Pakistan. He was a very powerful

man, but what made hissupport againstblasphemy laws moreinteresting were hisxenophobic inclinations.In the words of his ownIndian born son AatishTaseer, “He harboredfeelings of hatred, for

Jews, Americans or Hindus, that were founded in faithand only masked in political arguments.”

Although, Salman Taseer maintained his anti-Indiaways, which in Pakistan is a political necessity, he waschampioning the rights of minorities. This however,was not going down too well with a lot of religiousbigots –well-known and closeted.

Ever since Taseer voiced his opinion onblasphemy laws, that they were being misused tointimidate and terrorize minorities, a lot of personalvilification and threats came his way from the clerics,terrorists, clerics and terrorists like Azhar Masood, andeven from self-proclaimed enlightened mediapersonnel like Hamid Mir. A lot was said and printedabout his “non-Islamic” ways of consuming alcohol – atrait Jinnah shared - and allowing his daughters tofreely mingle with men in parties, mostly to reject hisopinion on grounds of his lacking “Islamic morality”.The whole generation of Taliban-like extremists,originally raised to be used against India and withconsent of Taseer, saw a new enemy in Taseer. OnJanuary 4, 2011 he was shot dead by his own securityman Malik Mumtaz Hussein Qadri.

Exception is the Norm

Page 31

Only in India

A life-long fanatic, perpetuallysuspicious of the ‘other’,

gunned down for not beinghard-line enough. Of such

unlikely clay is the chariot ofchange fashioned.

What came next can be described as the mostpowerful opposition religious-bigots ever faced fromthe liberals in Pakistan. Salman Tasser became the faceof movement against the blasphemy laws, and theliberal activists gave him thetitle of “Shaheed”(translates to martyr inUrdu). The calls to “denyTaseer an Islamic funeral”were fiercely matched withchants of “Long liveShaheed Taseer”. Evenestablished hardlinerleaders like Maulna FazalurRehman had to come out and condemn his killing. Thiscondemning of Taseer’s murder from knownextremists becomes of great significance, as it alsoimplies condemnation for killings due to difference inopinion. It is a progress for the country where lawspells out death for alleged insults against a particularreligion and religious figure.

Sherry Rehman’s private member’s billproposing amendments to the blasphemy law has longbeen presented in the National Aseembly, and it isgoing to take a while before blasphemy laws will bereduced to the history books where they belong. Thetide is not very hopeful at the moment, as the forces

of orthodoxy upped the ante rather dramatically, andRehman has dropped the bill after actually living inDubai for a while in fear of her life. Nevertheless a tinynational movement has started which promises to go

beyond the blasphemyrules, and interestingly ithas been fueled by theblood of an allegedextremist Salman Taseerwho was assassinated fornot being extremistenough. There is also theminor fact that the eliteof Pakistan do not like

being at the mercy of the unwashed masses like this.What use is wealth and privilege if you can beexterminated thusly? The situation is so replete withirony that a dramatist would not dare to invent ascenario like this. A life-long fanatic, perpetuallysuspicious of the ‘other’, gunned down for not beinghard-line enough. Of such unlikely clay is the chariot ofchange fashioned.

Exception is the Norm

Page 32

It is as easy as picking up the phone and justdialing. In these online times, tracking down atelephone number or having it available just a phonecall or sms away is pretty hard work. But one Indiancompany had made this very easy by going back to thebasics.

A restaurant, an orphanage, a bank or awedding planner and many more. Need a number forany of these? Chances are that someone here will beable to help you. The yellow pages for any contactinformation needed are almost extinct today. Just Dialhas taken a print based contact model andtransformed it to a phone-based, online and SMSmodel. Just Dial caters to over 2 million uniquecustomers in over 240 cities across the country. India’sNo. 1 local search destination engine is a 24 hourservice.

Take 2

Owner & founder VSS Mani had a sales jobwith a yellow pages company called United DatabaseIndia (UDI) in 1987 where he worked for 2 years. It was

here that he got the idea of starting something likethis over the phone. Ask Me was a product of thisinnovative idea in 1989. However, this was before thetelecom boom when very few people ownedtelephones. As a result even though the idea wasunique, it did not work. After a period, differencesstarted cropping between the partners and VSS Maniwalked out.

However, Mani was determined to make this ideawork and for the next 6 years he worked in variousfields to get enough capital to start his company.Finally , in 1996 Mani’s dream was realized when hestarted Just Dial, with the number 888 8888, someborrowed furniture, rented PCs, and a small 3x5 feetgarage on hire all with a capital of Rs 50,000! Mani’sdetermination coupled with the telecom boom helpedJust Dial grow at a fantastic rate. In March 2010, JustDial took an online avatar.

When everyone was looking outside the country toearn profits and grow their business, Mani lookedinside the country and cashed in on the demands ofthe people.

Company ProfileDON’T SEARCH,

JUST DIALThe TLR Team

Page 33

How May I Help You?

Why did Just Dial become such a hotcommodity? Just Dial in India employs a 4000 strongwork force and has more than 1, 35,000 paidadvertisers.

Just Dial aims at helping buyers find the rightproviders of products and services while helpingsellers improve the efficiency of their marketingchannels. Just Dial a 24/7 Local Search Engine does allyour work in seconds, just on a phone call. It helpsyou:

Instantly connects to millions of commercialestablishments in your city.

Gets the right help at the time of emergencies.

Finds the most popular vendors and places.

Troubleshoots all household needs.

Helps with the best deals for shopping.

Reminds you of most important dates.

Assists with all travel related work.

Gives solutions to all personal needs.

Sends flowers & gifts to loved ones.

And a lot more

The company makes its money through localbusinesses that pay to be listed with it. Just Dial has adatabase of over 2 million establishments and receives1.4 million calls per day. All that a person has to do ispick up the phone, dial 69999999 and state hisrequirement, no matter what part of India he is in. eg:A person sitting in New Delhi can order flowers forsomeone living in Chennai. To understand how JustDial works lets understand the Revenue Modeldiscussed below:

Just Dial isunique becausethe call andservices provided for the customers are free. It is like

having constantly updated yellow pages on the movewithout errors or waiting period. The customer careexecutives of Just Dial are specially trained to have afriendly voice. No recorded messages are played.There is a human touch to the whole process whichhas helped the company to succeed.

Dialing Up To Success

Started with just Rs 50,000, Just Dial now hasan annual turnover of Rs 100 crore and a valuation inexcess of Rs 500 crore. And the success of thiscompany can be credited to none other than thefounder VSS Mani. Mr. Mani firmly believes that if youare passionate about something, you will surely findthe means and ways to do it. He further goes on to saythat every day is a success. And why not? The companyis projected to grow at the rate of 50% a year. Thecompany has also managed to retain almost 70% of itsstaff.

The success and growth of the company isevident from the fact that in March 2010, Just Diallaunched its own local search destination engineonline. Now information is literally just one click away.The company’s goal is to create a long termshareholder value by enhancing its position as aleading local search destination to different parts ofthe globe. Going forward the company intends toleverage its experience and strength in theInternational arena.

Just Dial also provides the same services to all 50states in the U.S with one toll free number.

Rocky Road Ahead

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

A leading local search brand in India, Just Dial hasvery few competitors in the space. It has a nationwide coverage having a largecustomer base.It has a highly scalable platform in terms ofexpansion & growth.It has an excellent track record in user experiencewith a very high customer satisfaction.

Company Profile

Page 34

Only in IndiaAlexander Graham Bell patented the first Telephone instrumentcapable of practical use in 1876. This method was used in the firstcommercial instrument developed by Bell in 1876. In 1878, the firsttelephone exchange was established at New Haven.

In 1880, two Telephone Companies viz. The Oriental TelephoneCompany Ltd. and The Anglo-Indian Telephone Company Ltd.approached the Govt. of India for permission to establishTelephone Exchanges in India. The permission was howeverrefused on the grounds that the establishment of Telegraphs was a

It has an experienced management team that isaccompanied by modern infrastructure andtechnology.The executives have a friendly voice & no recordedmessages are run during a call.

Weaknesses

There is a surprising lack of awareness about JustDial among the people.There are many businesses that are reluctant toregister themselves with Just Dial.Their website is neither updated nor user friendlyThey fail to market themselves well because ofwhich there is lack of awareness among thepeople.

Opportunities

There has been a telecomm revolution due towhich the phone usage has increased & peopleprefer to have information on their finger tips.Increasing net usersThere are many internal areas in India that havebeen untapped by the companyCall connect feature

Free SMSesIt can start selling movie tickets online & increaseits revenue base.There are immense growth opportunities in USA,CANADA ,etc

Threats

Foreign PlayersLow visibility in small areas

Based on this, Just Dial has plans to expand toAustralia, New Zealand, Hongkong & Singapore. It alsovery soon plans to launch an application for mobilephones, BlackBerry and iphones.

It is true that there is a part of the populationthat is very unhappy with Just Dial and its aggressivemarketing strategies towards customers. The constanttext messages, calls and a very unfriendly webpagehave now become a source of irritation. Just Dialneeds to rethink its strategies in terms of marketingand advertising if it plans to achieve the projectedgrowth.

Company Profile

Page 35

Government monopoly.

A hero is born among a hundred, a wise man is foundamong a thousand, but an accomplished one might not befound even among a hundred thousand men.

A good decision is based on knowledge and not onnumbers.

How can you prove whether at this moment we aresleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whetherwe are awake, and talking to one another in the wakingstate?

People are like dirt. They can either nourish you andhelp you grow as a person or they can stunt yourgrowth and make you wilt and die.

Rhetoric is the art of ruling the mindsof men.

PONDER THISBy Plato

Plato was a Classical Greek philosopher,mathematician, student of Socrates,writer of philosophical dialogues, andfounder of the Academy in Athens, thefirst institution of higher learning in theWestern world. Along with his mentor,Socrates, and his student, Aristotle,Plato helped to lay the foundations ofWestern philosophy and science.

Page 36

Worth a Thousand Words

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