I’m posting a few pieces on Corporate Social Responsibility in the developing world. I had posted my views on what companies should NOT do here and what they could do here, a few months ago.I’m picking up the theme in relation to the developing world, because the circumstances and the maturity of CSR are , I believe, different in the developing world.In my book, the first role of a socially responsible...
Monday, 31 August 2009
Sunday, 30 August 2009
You can occsionally recycle a post
Yes, I know, it’s the blogger’s equivalent of kicking the dog. But you aren’t human if you don’t do it once in a bluemoon.
Not so long ago, when my blog had a readership of 1 (myself), I wrote, or I should say more accurately I copied, my first weekender “non businessy” piece. I was reminded of it when reading a very nice post by The Thoughtful Train on Solomon Asch’s experiments on Conformity....
Friday, 28 August 2009
Of Leadership styles
I read an interesting and short piece on leadership styles in Tom Peters’ blog – a nice post by Madeleine McGrath. Click here – it’s a lovely little post.What do you think ? This is classic Theory X and Theory Y. Can one leadership style exist to the exclusion of the other and promote excellence in the long run ? I am firmly in the camp of “yes, only one style really works in the long run”. But...
Thursday, 27 August 2009
Which alphabet shall it be ?
When will the world come out of recession ? How will the recovery look like ? Questions that are in our thoughts all the time.Self appointed experts are falling over themselves predicting the answers to these questions. The flavour of the month seems to be to characterize the recovery after an alphabet.Some economists are predicting a ‘V” recovery – a straight rise after the steep down. Other think...
Wednesday, 26 August 2009
And now, Cash for Refrigerators
A few days ago I posted on the Cash for Clunkers scheme that is just closing in the US (Click here). In the post, I jokingly asked the question – “Why not cash for clunkers for TVs, washing machines, dishwashers, or for that matter, kidney machines”.It turns out that this wasn’t a joke. Or else somebody in the US administration is reading my blog (Ha Ha). There is such a scheme coming – Cash for refrigerators....
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
Another household name bites the dust
Well, if General Motors can file for bankruptcy, who is safe ? This recession has been brutal to famous names from the past. Lehman Brothers has vanished. GM and Chrysler went into bankruptcy and are emerging with large parts of them brutally chopped. When the dust has cleared, there will indeed be a new world where many of the familiar faces are gone. That’s the way it should indeed be. The fittest...
Monday, 24 August 2009
Drive on the left or the right ?
You drive on the left side of the road in some countries and right in others. Except , of course, if you drive in India where you drive on the left, right, up, down, under, over, fifth dimension, whatever.Now this is no big deal. Except for some some confusion if you travel between countries which practice the opposite system. Typically in the UK and its former colonies you drive on the left. And...
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Tagged
This is a business blog – where “weighty matters” are thoughtfully commented upon in a classic and serious style, that demands wearing a suit when typing out the post.And then comes a tag. Now readers of this blog know that I convert tags into a businessy one and still post wearing a suit. But then Rads is a cheeky girl. She says she loves tagging people like me as we go to great lengths to keep our...
Friday, 21 August 2009
Cash for clunkers - a bad idea
Germany started this and other countries picked it. The US had its “cash for clunkers” programme this month and is closing it on Aug 24 after “a wild success”.Cash for clunkers, is a dole the US government gives Americans for trading in their old car and buying a new one. The subsidy that Uncle Sam is willing to give could be as much as $4500 per car. The US government has just spent $1.9 bn on it.In...
Thursday, 20 August 2009
About wealth in China & India
The ten most valuable companies (in terms of market capitalization) are (see my separate post on this here)1. PetroChina (China)2. Exxon Mobil (US)3. Ind & Comm Bank of China (China)4. China Mobile (China)5. Microsoft (US)6. Wal-Mart (US)7. China Constr Bank (China)8. Johnson & Johnson (US)9. Proctor & Gamble (US)10. Royal Dutch Shell (UK/NL)Now look at the list of the ten wealthiest persons...
Monday, 17 August 2009
In defence of HR
Concluding a sequence of posts on HR with a defence of the people who run that function ! I’ve been unduly harsh in some of my earlier posts – to be fair, there’s much to be said about what they do well too.HR is the most difficult function in a company, in many ways. In, say finance, 1+1=2 – you can’t argue about that. When it comes to dealing with people, as we all know, 1+1 is never 2. How do you...
Saturday, 15 August 2009
The culture thing
Its really tough to figure out what “culture” is. In a company. Just like any group of people - a community, a village, a country, or a race, - has a “culture”, so does a company. But its often very different from what the leaders of a company want us to believe.Culture is a way of behaviour that characterises many of the people in a company. It develops as a consequence of a series of events in the...
Friday, 14 August 2009
The rem conundrum
Every year, the second leg of the soap opera (see previous post for the first leg), is the drama over the increase in remuneration for the employees.If there is one person, everybody in the company loves to hate, it’s the guy or gal titled “Remuneration Manager”. Many years ago we had a worthy in the company I worked in. It was widely known that he had AIDS (now that was the time when AIDS first surfaced...
Thursday, 13 August 2009
The soap opera called annual appraisal
Once a year (at least), in every company, a special event takes place. Its something everybody dreads, but know it has to be gone through. Its called the annual appraisal (OK you can choose more politically correct terms; maybe “performance management exercise”).Ingredients to this event are many. Firstly an incomprehensible and long form to be filled. The form has been “simplified” this year – shudder...
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
The "bible" that we love to hate
Every organisation has a “Bible” – the HR Policy book. Its called by a variety of names – HR manual, Policy manual, Employee handbook, Red book, Blue book, Green book, whatever …It’s a bit like the Constitution of a country. You have to abide by it, or else a trial will be held and you will be punished. It is also the document that creates a lot of angst amongst employees. For, unlike a constitution,...
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Getting in to a company is tough
First impressions matter, right ? Your first impression of the company is usually when you come for the recruitment interview. What sort of an experience of the place do you get ?It goes something on the following lines. You arrive a little early, not wanting to be late. You get stopped by security who has no idea of your coming. You produce your interview letter. He checks on the phone. He then lets...
Monday, 10 August 2009
Take a vacation for however long you want !
If a company told you that you can take a vacation whenever you want, and for however long you want (paid of course), what would you say ? Unbelievable ? There can’t be a company like that ? Think again. There is a company like that. And a pretty successful company, so far. Welcome to Netflix.Their logic is simple. People act responsibly when given the freedom. After all nobody tells you that you...
Sunday, 9 August 2009
The world's largest companies
Which is the world’s largest company by market capitalisation now ? No don’t look – just guess.Lists of the worlds most valuable companies, largest by sales, etc etc are always dodgy – they rarely represent the truest picture as there are simply too many factors that aren’t common around the world for such comparisons. And they change all the time. But the latest list does produce some telling commentary...
Thursday, 6 August 2009
A pat on the back for Air India !
I had some superb experiences with Air India - the erstwhile Indian Airlines part of it - during my recent trip to India. Readers of this blog would remember that I have been scathing in criticizing Air India here. But praise must be given where its due. So here goes.I flew Air India on two extremely short haul domestic sectors last week. Had a brilliant experience on both flights.Fares were the lowest...
Sunday, 2 August 2009
The neta babu raj is alive and well
Mindless bureaucracy, popularly called the neta babu raj, is alive and kicking in India. It seems to be deeply embedded in the Indian psyche. India’s economic reforms started the dismantling of the neta babu raj, but its so powerfully entrenched that it seems to refuse to go away.Some random experiences on this trip to India. There seem to be very few internet cafes around. To get into an internet...
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