Wallpaper

 

Wallpaper of the Day

 

."Have Breakfast… or…Be Breakfast!" - By Y. L. R. MOORTHI

DEAR VISITORS,

Recently I read an article by Y. L. R. MOORTHI (Professor, IIM Bangalore) in Wall Street Journal. The article is placed here . The source of the article has been acknowledged at the end.

[Management Views from IIMB is an exclusive column written every two weeks for india.wsj.com by faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.]

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones.

Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).

Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther from truth.

Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future. But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The "Mahabharat" (the great Indian epic battle) is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question – "who is my competitor?"

Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."

In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned. The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. (India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no. Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India. PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!

India has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor. On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India are called 3 hour "tamasha" (entertainment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.

One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker. They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!

On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary! The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition. He said "Have breakfast …or…. be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly.

—Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a post graduate in management from IIM, Bangalore.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126465641868236415.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Monkeys and Cap Seller – NEW GENERATION STORY

All of you must have listened the story of a cap seller who slept under a tree and when he wakes up all monkeys took his caps and bears it. He tried all his best but monkeys were not leaving his caps and tease him by copying his acts. In the last he thinks a trick and through his cap which was on his head. All the monkeys also through their caps and immediately he collects all the caps. And go back to home. After some decades that seller tells this incident to his grandson. Who was also in this business?

A few time later the grandson also slept under a tree and when he wake up he sees that all the caps were stolen by monkeys which were on the tree. He tries for taking caps but could not succeed... All the monkeys copy him. In the last he remembers the grandfather's story. He takes his cap from head and through it on the ground. A monkey comes from the tree and takes that cap also.

Monkey went on the tree and said to the seller-What do you think? Only your grandfather told you this story, our not?

MORAL : Do not make blind faith on old tradition. 

MUDRA (Gestures)

A mudrā (Sanskrit: , lit. "seal") is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudrās involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. Mudrā (Sanskrit) is "spiritual gesture" and energetic "seal of authenticity" employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions and Taoism. (Wikipedia) Mudrās are arm, hand and body positions used in the traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism. The great Buddha knew the use of mudrās and is often depicted using these ritual gestures. Various Kung Fu forms contain positions identical to these mudrās.

108 mudras are used in regular Tantric rituals. Mudras are also used in Indian Classical Dance. There are over 200 mudras in bharatanatyam and over 250 in mohiniattam.

MAKE MARRIAGE LIFE HAPPY ……..

Jyoti married Dipak this day. At the end of the wedding party, Jyoti's mother gave her a newly opened bank saving passbook with Rs.1000 deposit amount.

Mother: 'Jyoti, take this passbook. Keep it as a record of your marriage life. When there's something happy and memorable happened in your new life, put some money in. Write down what it's about next to the line. The more memorable the event is, the more money you can put in. I've done the first one for you today. Do the others with Dipak.

When you look back after years, you can know how much happiness you've had.'

Jyoti shared this with Dipak when getting home. They both thought it was a great idea and were anxious to know when the second deposit can be made. This was what they did after certain time:

* 7 Feb: Rs.100, first birthday celebration for Dipak after marriage
* 1 Mar: Rs.300, salary raise for Jyoti
* 20 Mar: Rs.200, vacation trip to GOA
* 15 Apr: Rs.2000, Jyoti got pregnant
* 1 Jun: Rs.1000, Dipak got promoted
* And so on...

However, after years, they started fighting and arguing for trivial things. They didn't talk much. They regretted that they had married the nastiest people in the world.... No more love....Kind of typical nowadays, huh?

One day Jyoti talked to her Mother: 'Mom, we can't stand it anymore. We agree to divorce. I can't imagine how I decided to marry this guy!!!"

Mother: 'Sure, girl, that's no big deal. Just do whatever you want if you really can't stand it. But before that, do one thing first.

Remember the saving passbook I gave you on your wedding day? Take out all money and spend it first. You shouldn't keep any record of such a poor marriage.'

Jyoti thought it was true. So she went to the bank, waiting at the queue and planning to cancel the account. While she was waiting, she took a look at the passbook record. She looked, and looked, and looked. Then the memory of all the previous joy and happiness just came up her mind. Her eyes were then filled with tears. She left and went home.

When she was home, she handed the passbook to Dipak, asked him to spend the money before getting divorce.

The next day, Dipak gave the passbook back to Jyoti. She found a new deposit of Rs.5000. And a line next to the record: 'This is the day I notice how much I've loved you thru out all these years. How much happiness you've brought me.'

They hugged and cried, putting the passbook back to the safe. Do you know how much money they had saved when they retired? I did not ask. I believe the money did not matter any more after they had gone thru all the good years in their life.

"When you fall in any way, don't see the place where you fell instead see the place from where you slipped. Life is about correcting mistakes."

 

9 STEPS FOR ACHIEVING GOAL

1.     START WITH THE END IN MIND:

 

The best way to set your goal is to visualize the end result you will achieve with your goal. Once your goal is achieved, what will you have? If your goal is to write a book, then you should end up with a professional looking book in your hand. If your goal is to make $100,000 a year, then you will have that amount in sales at the end of the year.

 

2.     BE SPECIFIC:

 

Don't say 'I want to make more money in 2001.' Always make your goals specific. 'I want to make $50,000 in sales from my Web site by December 31, 2001.'The more specific you are in setting your goals, the better success you will have in achieving them.

 

3.     WRITE IT DOWN:

 

Put your goals in writing. Don't leave them floating in the air or in your mind. By writing your goals down, in a goal log, you make them tangible. They become real.

 

4.     CREATE A PICTURE OF YOUR GOAL:

 

If you want to write a book, then create a representation of your book, or just clip a picture of a book and paste your title on it and post it someplace where you can see it every day. If you want to create a Web site, then do the same. Create a visual representation of a Web site with your name on it and post it prominently. The key here is that you want to be reminded of your goal every day so that you will constantly strive towards that goal.

 

5.     RESEARCH THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE:

 

You can't just say you want to create a Web site and have one magically appear. Every goal has certain steps that must be performed to achieve that goal. This part is critical. You must learn what the steps are to achieving your goal, otherwise, you will never achieve it. Go to the library and read every book you can find on the subject. Sign up for a course. Ask professionals for advice. Find all of the free resources you can, but don't be afraid to invest in quality resources too. You can only learn so much from free resources. The easiest and surest way to learn how to do something well, is to invest in resource materials from experts who already know the step-by-step systems for achieving the goals you want to achieve.

 

6.     BREAK THE STEPS DOWN:

 

Once you understand the steps you must take to achieve your goal, it's time to break them down into simple, easy to accomplish segments. While the entire goal may seem overwhelming, by breaking it down into smaller pieces, it will not seem so daunting.

 

7.     SET DEADLINES:

 

A dream is a goal with a deadline. Without a deadline you won't achieve most of your goals. Why? Because there are so many things in life that will take over your time, and before you know it, a year will have gone by and you will be no closer to your goal than you were before. Set an overall deadline for the completed goal, and also set interim deadlines for each piece that needs to be accomplished. A deadline must be a specific date, not just sometime before the end of the year, or when I get around to it. If you miss a deadline, don't beat yourself up over it, just set new one and get back to working on the steps to your goal.

 

8.     REWARD YOURSELF:

 

As you accomplish each step of your goal, reward yourself with something fun. A dinner out, or a new CD, or just a relaxing evening. Always associate rewards with accomplishing steps to your goals and goal achieving will become a fun experience that you look forward to. It will become a way of life.

 

9.     DON'T GIVE UP:

 

Winston Churchill is credited with the shortest speech on record. It was presented to a college graduating class. He approached the podium, looked out over the audience and said slowly . . . 'Never, never, never, give up.' Having made his point he then sat down. It was probably the most profound advice these graduates ever received. So much of success is simply not giving up. Remember, the only time you fail is when you stop trying.

 

SOURCE: Mail from a friend