The Winners of the 2008 Business Book Awards

800-CEO-READ, an online bookseller and champion of great ideas in the business book category, announced the winners of its second annual 800-CEO-READ Business Book Awards. TRIBES: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin, was named the Best Business Book of the Year along with winners in 13 other categories. This is what Todd of 800-CEO-READ has to say about Tribes: |Tribes is Seth's best book since Purple Cow. In his world, leadership is about change, risk, hope, fear and faith. I could pick almost any page for a clever insight given his riff-based style of writing".

Click here for 800-CEO-READ's awards for books of other categories.

Here is a list from The Economist.

Finally, you may want to check-out BusinessPundit's top 10 business books of 2008 here and their list of top 25 business books ever, here.

Thank you very much,


RamP!

Nine predictions for 2009 (not what you think)

Well that is the title of a recent blog post of Tom Asacker, the guru of branding and author of A Clear Eye for Branding. Its brilliant, please read and please pass on. As I try to start a new begining in my new company, facing a tough 2009 ahead, the following two predictions inspire me:

#6 - The passionate will not only survive, but they thrive
#7 - Success will go to those with the best questions, not those with cleverest answers

Thank you very much,


RamP!

Reading list for Dec'08

December typically has several holidays and its my catch-up time with books. However, this year its tough due to commitments both on personal and professional sides.

Experience Economy: Work is theatre & every business a stage
According to Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors, there are four levels of value starting with raw-materials economy at the base. Next up, the goods economy. Then, the services economy, and at the top of the totem pole is the experience economy. Examples of two companies that are reaping rewards by playing in the experience economy are Starbucks and Harley Davidson. Starbucks is not in the business of selling cups of coffee but is in the business of selling an experience referred to as the “third-place” between home and work where customers can find refuge, unwind, chat and connect with one another. Harley Davidson is not in the business of selling motorbikes but is in the business of selling an experience that Harley calls the “Rebel Lifestyle”. This book is continuation of my recent interest in economics.

The Pixar Touch: The making of a company
I'm a student of innovation. Infact I make a living by convincing my bosses that my core competance is to "facilitate impact through innovation". Nothing gives better education than studying firms that became successful through technological innovation. Pixar is one such company whose technical innovation revolutioned animation. Its also a story of company that began with a dream, remained true to the ideals of its founders—antibureaucratic and artist driven—and ended up a multibillion-dollar success. Want even more incentive to read? Steve Jobs too was associated with this company.


iCon Steve Jobs: The greatest second act in the history of Business
Apple Inc, holds a special place for anyone that worships design, I'm not an exception. I salivate of the thought of having my own MacBook sometime. I have seen so many presentations by Steve Jobs in an attempt to improve my own presentation skills. I hope to gain insights into Steve Jobs way by reading this book.





iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon
Steve Wozniak is considered to be an engineer's engineer. In this book the low profile Wozniak tells his story and corrects some information which is wrong - for example it has been chronicled that Jobs and Woz built the first Apple computer, but its only Woz who did it. This month's reading would be incomplete without reading about Woz.

Reading list for Nov'08

Realized that I had not posted my reading list for Nov'08, when I decided to post the same for the month of Dec'08. Here it is, before it is too late:

Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur
Sir Richard Branson is one of my heroes. I'm always fascinated by this man's vision, guts and charisma. In this book he openly discusses his principles, successes and failures. One feels so highly energised when you read the stories on how he took on the biggest companies (be it British Airways or Coca-Cola), how Virgin Mobile USA was made one of the fastest growing company in the US (I can related to Virgin Mobule USA (VMU) as I happen to work on a few cool phones, some of them for VMU, while I worked for Kyocera) and the audacious Virgin Galactic that would start space travel. If you are budding entrepreneur or aspiring to be one, you can also learn about the process at Virgin to fund select companies.

Mindset: The new psychology of success
Ever since my other hero, Guy Kawasaki, wrote about this book by Carlos Dweck, I wanted to read this book. Finally got a chance this month. The main message is contained in this paragraph
Those who believe they were born with all the smarts and gifts they’re ever going to have approach life with what she calls a “fixed mind-set.” Those who believe that their own abilities can expand over time, however, live with a “growth mind-set.” You may also want to read this article If you are open to growth, you tend to grow, which summarizes the work of the author.

Planned/Orgnaized Living vs being Spontaneous

My friend Vinay Dabholkar in his blog Becoming to Being, posted an interesting article on Story of Plan B. Like most of his posts, this too was thought provoking. My personal take on this specific one is that "it depends on the context" and I prefer preparation/planning to Plan B, though it might appear same, there is a subtle difference. When you are preparing, you come from a position of "playing to win". Plan B, though depends on the context, brings in a feeling of not being confident or in other words "playing not to loose".

I was reminded of an interesting discussion I had with a few friends of mine on being spontaneous vs being organized. Personally, I consider myself to be fairly organized. Lot of preparation and planning goes into most of my activities - both personal (like going on a vacation, or preparing for a job interview) and professional (meeting a client, commiting to a set of milestones etc.,). Naturally, I was arguing hard for being organized. Here are a few advantages that I see for "organized" people:

• the chance of succeeding is lot higher
• easier to change course midway because you are in control
• easier to accomplish several things and therefore lead a balanced life
• you become credible, because people would know that if you have committed to something it would happen
• ironically and more importantly, I've found out that I can be lot more spontaneous because I'm organized.

The key ofcourse is not being tied to outlook calendar or being totally inflexible or too much worried about "what people might think" if you change something. Its really not either-this-or-that.

I've no problem being spontaneous as long as being spontaneous is not an excuse for being indisciplined and not keeping commitments.

Turning around Malaysian Airlines

In these days of gloom one can get doses of adernaline by reading fascinating stories of big turn arounds. Happen to read one such thing in Mckinsey Quarterly, in which the CEO of Malaysian Airlines, Idris Jala explains how he went about turning around the ailing airline in a span of about 2yrs (from -$363M in 2005 to +$247M in 2007). Idris Jala had based this turn around on the following 6 principles:

• the game of impossible
• anchoring everything on the P & L
• building a winning coalition
• discipline of action
• situational leadership and
• divine intervention

He had to take some tough and emotionally charged decisions (like selling their building in KL downtown, which gave him monies to survive for 20more days) etc., He makes it looks very simple though. But the highlight is the clear execution. Bigger highlight is that Idris Jala had never run an airline, which clearly shows why leaders are important.

You can read the complete interview here (registration (free) needed).

100K clicks

From the last one year, I got a new passion - taking video clips of the (mostly) hindustani music concerts that I attend and post them on youtube. I posted a few clips and people started liking it and I started getting a ton of mails thanking me for posting. I suddenly realized that classical music lovers, that are living outside India, rely solely (well almost) on youtube or similar video sharing sites to enjoy live concerts, even if the clips represent only a tiny percentage of the whole concert. So I decided to take clips from all the concerts that I attend and post them. I've now posted, in an year, about 20+ live concerts and early this week, the total clicks crossed 100K.

It also helped me in my work. Around the same time, I was also studying Web2.0 and it was all making sense suddenly as I had this small project running. I had too many clips and decided to organize the same thru a blog that I titled SuSwara. Once this blog was up, I tried driving traffic into the blog and its been a very interesting experience, as my work revolves around content discovery.

Youtube makes it easy to analyse through their insights tool.

• The daily clicks are anywhere between 250-450.
  
• More than 50% of the viewers are in the US and about 30% is in India.
• Young gen, teenagers are not too much into hindustani music. Age group of 25-34 is about 12%, 35-44 is about 22%, 44+ is about 54%.
• Males are 77% and females the rest
• Bulk (more than 90%) of the content discovery happens thu Youtube's "related videos". My blog is slowly picking traffic and has started accounting for about 5% of the traffic.
  

You can even notice Longtail phenomenon too, Out of the 22 concerts that I've presented the analysis above, about 4 concerts are runaway hits, but the clicks on the remaining 18 concerts are far more than the clicks for the top 4 concerts. Never thought it would be so much fun.

Artists too fall into Web2.0 or old world categories. There are some artists who happily grant permission to post them as they understand the power of internet. There are stubborn ones who openly announce not to record. Ofcourse I never asked the greats - Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, they don't need such things.

But the most satisfying part is the mails that I receive almost daily thanking me for posting the clips and telling me how much they enjoyed. I now have e-friendships all over the world, thnx to youtube. The obsession to attend concerts has become so much that earlier when I had to skip a concert, I used to think I miss the concert, now I start thinking lot of other people outside on India are going to miss. So, I try to attend almost all concerts that come my way (though my wife is not happy) and what a blessing it is.

Bharat Ratna for Pt. Bhimsen Joshi

I'm thrilled to note that BharatRatna, the highest civilian award has be conferred on the giant of Hindustani Music, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Its a moment of great joy for millions of his fans like me. I started listening to his Daasavaanis (kannada bhajans, if you will), some 20-25yrs back and never knew that would be the starting point of my interest in Hindustani Music. I started buying Panditji's albums and now I've almost all of his albums and some mp3 files from live concerts.

Panditji is now about 86yrs old and even he was hospitalized, he came back and sung in the annual Sawai Gandhrwa Music festival that he has started in memory of his guru. Will pray god that Panditji lives for several more years.

Presentation of Doom

Techcrunch managed to get their hands on the presentation of doom, that Sequoia sent to the CEO's of the companies where they have put their monies. The presentation has a detailed analysis of how the situation became this bad, suggestions to manage in the turbulent times and their take on what might happen in M&A world.

Get Real or Go Home .....
is what their last slide tells.

You may also want to check out Guy Kawasaki's latest post How to tell whether your CEO is clueless.

RamP!

How not to organize a classical music concert

Times of India, the most popular daily in Bengaluru, is doing all sorts of things to stay in touch with the general public, who they feel are behind their success. Few weeks back, they had organized Ganesha festival and last week they celebrated Time Bangalore Festival. The grand finale was a hindustani classical music concert by the Santoor maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma.

I never miss Panditji's concert, for this man is as divine as it can get. His concerts, for me, are more a spriritual experience than a musical one. So I grabbed the opportunity to attend Panditji's concert again.

Trouble started at the first step itself. The passes were available, it was announced, at the Forum Mall. After asking several people over there I found a gentleman who had these passes. I needed passes for 3 of us, self and two of my sons aged 11 and 7. However, he'd give only one pass per person. No amount of begging and cajoling would help. I asked him would be give me another one if I came back little later - he said "NO" and said I'll have to wait till the new person takes over after his shifts get over in 45mins. He had tons of passes with him and that gave him a sense of power over me (these are free passes, you can't pay and buy any number of tickets and therefore I felt helpless). I had two options - first to go back home and get my wife or someone or the second one was to beg any stranger that is in the mall to get a pass for me. I took the second approach and a kind soul helped me out to get another pass.

Armed with the passes, we went 30mins before the specified start, only to see that the doors were closed and more than that, we were told that the general pass holders like me, would have to be seated in the balcony and the entire ground floor is only for VIP pass-holders. The balcony at Ambedkar Bhavan is simply not suitable atleast for classical music concerts where artists sit and perform, as you can only see the heads of the artists at best. The balcony was quickly full (about 400+), whereas hardly any VIPs turned up. The ground floor was looking pathetic with a max 100 of VIPs present in a hall that could accomodate about 500 people. I'm sure Panditji would not have liked it. Better sense prevailed on the rude people that were managing the show and they allowed people from balcony to come down.

OK, everyone settled, but the concert started full 30mins behind schedule, with the compere talking like a DJ, which is very alien to how the classical music concerts are held. Other gaffe was incorrect pronunciation of Pt. Yogesh Samsiji's father, the renowned vocalist and composer Pt. Dinakar Kaikini (she said Samsiji is the son of Dinakar Kai-niki). All these irritants quickly took a back-seat as soon as Panditji started fine-tuning the Santoor. At the end of the first piece (Raag Kalavati), Pandiji complanied that he was sweating and no one from ToI took notice. After the second piece (Raag Pahadi), all of us wanted Panditji to play one last song and he politely refused as the stage was not conducive and he was sweating.

What a waste!! There are a good number of sabhas in Bangalore that have dedicated themselves to Indian Classical Music and have been organizing such concerts for decades. ToI can easily rope in one of them.

The SEZ vs STPI debate

I'm continuing my learning on setting up an India Development Center, after a gap of few weeks.

Once it was decided that I'd be joining this set-up, I started to get the center incorporated, which is the first step. And the first decision was whether to be in a SEZ or whether to get into STPI. Here is a debate on SEZ vs STPI.

My main concern for registering under SEZ is that typically such units are on the outskirts and commute is going to be a major factor. Also, I'm not too confident that any SEZ would even entertain us for our requirements of 3-4K sq.ft. SEZs are typically for huge operations of >1K enggs. On the other hand, any building in the country could be "bonded" under STPI and we will enjoy tax benefits anyways till 31-Mar-2010 (whether or not this would continue beyond this date is pure speculation as we will have a new govt early next year, which would take the final decision).

Here are some technical points we need to keep in mind:

1. The STPI Unit is Exempt from payment of Income Tax U/s 10A upto 31.03.2010. This means any profit earned after 01.04.2010 will be taxed in the hands of STPI. A SEZ Unit will be exempt U/s 10AA from 100% Tax exemption for First 5 years after commercial production- & 50% of profits are exempt for the next 5 years (subject to certain conditions)
2. Eventhough an STPI Unit is exempt from payment of tax as aforesaid in point 1- It still needs to pay Minimum Alternate TAX (MAT)- In effect 10% of its books profit effectively will be paid out as MAT which can be treated as advance tax and set off when it pays regular income tax after 01.04.2010. A SEZ unit will be exempt even from payment of MAT.
3. An STPI unit when Distribute dividends to its shareholders will have to pay a Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT) of 12.5%- However an SEZ unit will be exempt from payment of DDT.
4. The input services received by an Export Unit under the STPI Scheme will have to opt for Refund/Rebate of Service Tax paid. In other words, when an STPI units pays service tax for Rent, Professional charges, consultant fee etc.,- They have to pay the service tax and ask for a refund which is very cumbersome and difficult to get back. Therefore there will be cash flow issues. SEZ unit will be exempt from payment of service tax on inputs services. In other words, the vendor will not even charge Service tax to an SEZ Unit.
5. The SEZ unit has to be located only in the designated SEZ. Under STPI Scheme the unit can be located anywhere in India. Custom bonding will be carried out for STPI units so that duty free imported goods can be bonded.

Having listed the comparison- there are certain points that needs to be kept in mind.

• A Small company wanting to grow to less than 25-30 people, would find it difficult to get an area in SEZ of about 3-4K sq ft Area. The rentals are also on the higher side.
  
• Employee Travel costs to/from SEZ would be an additional cost for the company as generally SEZ's are located at far off places. Since we are a small unit and typically have enggs coming in all parts of Bangalore, the costs of transportation would be lot higher than an organization like say Accenture which has thousands of employees.
  
• NASSCOM is lobbying in a big way to extend the sun-set cluase of Sec 10A. Originally the exemption is supposed to have been ended on 31.03.2009, However, the Govt has extended that by one year to 31.03.2010. In all likelihood, after the fresh election, the exemption will continue for some time atleast for Small and Medium software companies.. ( Please note this is speculative)
• STPI as Quasi Judicial administrator has taken extremely company friendly steps. STPI approvals/permissions are generally given across the table and they work on a strict SLA's.SEZ's being controlled by Development commissioner's one is not sure of how effectively/efficiently they will be able to help the Units.. (Red tapism?) Again my Guess.

Based on all these things we felt that we may not save much by taking the SEZ route and decided to go with STPI, with which we are little more comfortable.

Reading List for Oct'08

The Undercover Economist: Exposing why the Rich are Rich, and the Poor are Poor
I buy lot of books and music albums. One thing that I never understood was how the pricing was done. Few parameters that come into mind are: the popularity of the author/artist, the size (of the book or #songs/length of the album), the quality (of the paper or the medium) etc., But I could never understand why CDs are priced 5-6 times higher than the respective tape. Other similar things that I never understood were the steep price of branded shirts (or branded anything for that matter. In what appears to be an entertaining and informative book by Tim Harford, I hope to find answers to my above questions and little more.


Boeing vs Airbus: The Inside story of the Greatest International Competition in Business
I'm always fascinated by airplanes of all shapes and sizes. I can spend hours just watching the airplanes take-off and land. In terms of innovation and research, Aerodynamics industry occupies the top slot. Its always fun watching from the sidelines the players in the industry - the airplane makers, the carriers, the governments and to a lesser extent other people in the eco-system (the engine makers, numerous sub contractors including the software people and the people that run the airports). The other important thing is the long (often several years) cycle time to develop a new aircraft and the International Politics that play a major role for the sales. (You'd recall that AirIndia, which had planned to buy several AirBus planes during 2004-05, reversed its decision and instead opted for Boeing, causing much heartburn for the Europeans, its alleged that the Nuclear Deal signed yesterday was one of the carrots thrown in to influence India into buying Boeing planes).

This book by John Newhouse throws light into the thinking behind the strategies, moves and counter moves, politics and other things that makes Boeing and Airbus.



What do you Really Want for your Children?

Someone said "before marriage I had six theories of raising children, now I have six kids and no theories". Raising kids is a humbling experience. Wayne Dyer has had a significant influence on my thinking (the best amongst his several good books are: Your Erroneous Zones, Pulling Your Own Strings, You will see it when you Believe it and The Power of Intention). Hope to learn a few things to be a better father.

Munnar

Took one complete week and Sat and Sun on each side of the week for a vacation in Munnar and later in Mysore. Enjoyed the drive upto and within Munnar. The only uncomfortable thing was that Munnar was pretty hot and there were hardly any clouds and was disappointed to an extent. Here is the travelogue: Part-1 and Part-2, mostly photographs.

Dhwani 2008 - Hindustani Music Concerts

The Bangalore Kidney foundation had organized Dhwani - 2008, 5th Mallikarjun Mansur music festival last weekend (20th and 21st of Sep) at JSS auditorium near my home. There were 6 concerts from and it was a heavy dose of music even for someone like me that listens to classical music atleast 8hrs every day and attend all Hindustani concerts that come to my notice. Except for Sanjeev Abhyankar, I was listening to the remaining 5 artists for the first time. Here are the artists that performed over there:

• Pt. N. V. Gopinath - Sitar (Raags Bhoop Kalyan, Jaijaivanti)
• Vidushi Shruti Sadolikar (Raags Maru Bihag and Kaunsi Kanada, Bhairavi Thumri)
• Pt. Samaresh Chaudhary (Raags Bairagi, Todi and a Thumri)
• Pt. Sanjeev Abhyankar (Raags Madhuvanti, Din Ki Puriya, BhinnaShadja, Hori Geet and Bhajan)
• Pt. Jayateertha Mevudni (Raags Puriya, Shahana Kaanda, Thumri and a Kannada Bhajan)
• Pt. Ajay Pohankar (Raag Rageshree, a Raagaamala and a Bhajan)

I may be biased, but I found Sanjeev Abhyankar's concert to be the best. His beautiful voice (in contast with a rather unpolished voice of Pt. Samaresh Chaudhary whose sung before Abhyankar), ever smiling demeanour and the encouragement he gives to his tabla and harmonium saaths, makes it a great experience. His rendition of Bhinna Shadja and especially the taraana which is his own compostion was just out of the world. Due to popular request, he sung beyond the specified time. Shruti Sadolikar's Kaunsi Kanada in the complex Jaipur-Atrauli style and Jayateertha Mevundi's Puriya would remain in my memory for long. Found Ajay Pohankar rather casual and for a Bhajan he was urging everyone on the stage and the audience to sing with him and atmosphere resembled a typical bhajan session in some Swamiji's ashram. He had an young person as his vocal support and that guy was too good and seem to have a bright future. Overall it was a great experience, even though it became a bit hectic.

I have started uploading few clips from these concerts and these can be seen at my classical music blog.

Dream come true, again!!

I have been blessed to have many "dream come true" events happening in my life since my childhood. 24-Jun-08 was one such day when one of my skip level boss, whom I admire very much and with whom I have worked in two MNCs, called me. His message was simple - he has joined a new company and wanted to start its India center in Bengaluru and he asked me whether I'd be interested in starting and running this center (do you need a better definition of "dream come true"?). I was excited at starting something from scratch and running a center all by myself and readily agreed.

In the series to be labeled under "Intrapreneurship", I'll document my experience in setting up the India Development Center.

Thus started the long process. I was interviewed by several people including the CEO. Next step was to prepare a budget and I was told clearly that my bonus would be linked to my running the center under this budget and meeting the agreed deliverables. Suddenly, I was forced to think from the "other" side. Its funny, I've been in management for a while now, but the perspective suddenly changes if you are to run a center under a given budget.

Anyone in the IT industry would tell you that wage-bill is the biggest expense and I started looking at an optimal combination of the team that I need to hire. I eliminated several high-cost roles, took a few responsibilities upon myself and arrived at a "pyramid" with the right mix of experienced and fresh enggineers. Once the wage-bill was under control, I turned my attention to next big ticket item - infrastructure. I want to have a world class facility, it means there would not be any compromise on the IT infrastructure. All essential things got budgeted and the last item was the building. Office space availability in Bengaluru broadly falls in 3 zones:
1. The Whitefield, ORR, Electronic City - Typically housing large companies
2. The Central business district and
3. Predominantly residential areas like Jayanagar, J P Nagar, BTM, Koramangala etc.,

For the budget that I have, it makes sense to find some place in the 3rd zone (the fact that I live in J P Nagar is purely a coincidence).

After the budget got approved, we hired a consulting firm that would help us with incorporating India entity and all the reqd. paper work with several nodal agencies (RBI, SEZ/STPI, IT, Excise etc.,). The first decision to be made was whether we need to register under STPI or SEZ. In my next post, I'll talk about relative pros and cons of these two.

In the mean time, I've started reading The first 90 days: Critical success strategies for new leaders at all levels to prepare myself for the new role in the new organization.

Google's browser Chrome debuts today

Google announced that it is launching its own browser Chrome, today.

Just wondering why Google has jumped into the browser market, which is already crowded with IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera amongst others. Chrome would definitely eat into IE's market share (Here is Janco's whitepaper on browser market). If this is the prime reason, why not buy Mozilla? Are there any other reasons? Would there be some link to Android?

Reading list for Sep'08

Last month, I got a chance to spend 3 days in my village and completing the books planned was a cake walk. This village is about 25kms from Mysore and my mother comes from here. We have a coconut grove next to the house and reading anything over here is great - both for the speed of reading and the amount at which you can absorb. Here's the list for this month.

Wikinomics: How mass collaboration changes everything
User Generated Content (UGC) has been much talked about subject these days. I was trying to understand UGC and its implications little more and ran into this book. In this book, the authors show how the masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. The authors argue that smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success. You may want to check out wikinomics blog, which is a collaborative effort of several individuals, in the true spirit of the message of the book


The Definitive Drucker
Rajiv Mody, Chairman and CEO, Sasken Communication Technolgies, on whom Peter Drucker has had (and continue to have) tremondous influence, keep telling all the managers to read Drucker. He told me too and that is how I started reading Drucker's classics. Drucker just "tells" what you should do. Period. The Definitive Drucker, is a biography of his ideas, and not a traditional biography. The book has brief summaries of Drucker's thinking on various management topics (innovation, customers, leadership, decision making) with examples of how his ideas have been practiced at specific organizations and comments from contemporary business leaders.

Man's Eternal Quest: Collected Talks and Essays on Realizing God in Daily Life
I read Sri Sri Paramhamsa Yogananda's celebrated book "Autobiography of a yogi" in the month of July'08. Its a fat book and reading the book was an experience in itself. I was in a trans while I was reading the book and you feel that Sri Sri Yogananda is talking to you directly. The biography talks a lot of miracles and super-natural experiences, they all seem real and one gets drawn to Sri Sri Yogananda. This book is a collection of this talks and promises an another spiritual experience.

Buzz of the week: 25-Aug-08

1. Verizon and Google near signing mobile search deal

US giant Verizon is nearing an agreement with Google on a wide-ranging partnership, the Wall Street Journal said, citing sources. The deal under discussion would make Google the default search provider on Verizon devices and give it a share of ad revenue, the paper, quoted by a Reuters report, further said. The deal is not yet final and the two sides are still negotiating on key issues, such as Google's desire to save information from user cellphone searches, it added. More here.

2. Virgin completes Helio acquisition

Virgin Mobile USA completed its planned acquisition of Helio. Helio shareholders SK Telecom and Earthlink have received shares and limited partnership units equivalent to 13 million shares of Virgin Mobile stock valued at $38 million. In addition SK Telecom and Virgin Group will each invest $25 million in Virgin Mobile USA. SK will have a 17 percent investment in Virgin Mobile and two seats on the Virgin Mobile board of directors. More here.

3. Nokia unveils iPhone rivals

Nokia unveiled two new high-end phone models, the N79 and the N85, as the firm battles against increasing competition from the likes of Apple and Samsung, a Reuters report said. The news lifted shares in Nokia more than 2% as it reassured investors the company was on track to refresh its offering for the key Christmas sales period. More here.

4. India 3G bidding to include CDMA

India has decided to auction CDMA licences for 3G services, a change in policy that means Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices will have to bid for spectrum they were previously guaranteed of getting, a Reuters report said, quoting a government official. No. 2 mobile operator Reliance Communications and sixth-ranked Tata Teleservices are the only operators with major CDMA operations in India, where the GSM platform dominates. More here.

Thank you very much,


RamP!

Mobile Internet Usage: BRIC vs America and Europe

Research from Nielsen Mobile, shows that entertainment-themed websites are the most popular with mobile Internet users in the growing Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) mobile markets. This stands in stark contrast with the American and European markets, where information and news draw the most mobile Internet browsers.

According to a new report out from Nielsen, entertainment, gaming, and music websites rank among the top 5 categories visited in all four BRIC countries, but do not have a place among the top US and Europe rankings. More here.

Buzz of the week: 18-Aug-08

1. Google/HTC readies Android-powered phone

Google is teaming with T-Mobile and HTC to launch a new interactive smartphone. The phone will feature a touch screen and a slide-out, five-row keyboard, The New York Times reported. The phone will run on Google's Android software and, like Apple's iPhone, allow consumers to download new applications. More here.

2. Gartner sees rise in telecom spending

The economy may be stuck in low gear, but telecom and IT spending will continue to be strong for at least the next three years, says research firm Gartner Inc. The firm expects 2008 spending to increase 8 percent to $3.4 trillion. "The U.S.-led economic downturn shows no sign of causing a recession in IT spending," said Jim Tully, an analyst with Gartner. Tully also said information technology spending rates will slow down in the coming years, "but the fundamentals remain strong (as) emerging regions, replacement of obsolete systems and some technology shifts are driving growth."

Services and telecom products are expected to continue to dominate IT spending budgets, and together should account for $2.8 billion of 2008's IT spending and almost $3 billion in 2009.

3. Apple issues iPhone fix

According to the BBC, Apple has released a software update, which it is believed aims to stop signal maintenance problems that result in dropped calls. True to form, Apple has not said which bugs it has targeted. More here.

4. Google launches Youtube mobile advertising trial

In its continuing effort to monetize user-generated video aggregator site YouTube, web services giant Google is now testing display ads on selected YouTube mobile clips in the U.S. and Japan. "This is our first step in testing mobile advertising for YouTube," reads a post from YouTube product marketing manager Christine Tsai on the Google Mobile Blog. "It will give you a new way to interact with content on the go, while allowing us to learn how video viewers engage with mobile advertising. Our test advertisers will also have an additional branding tool at their disposal and the opportunity to reach the millions of people who visit YouTube every day on their phones." Tsai notes that Google plans to explore additional new approaches to mobile advertising in the weeks ahead. More here.


Thank you very much,


RamP!

Planning a trip to Munnar

For the last several years, October, December and April/May are the months to go on a long drive somewhere with my wife and kids. Typically in October we head towards some beach and in summer towards some hill station. December, usually is a low cost vacation visiting relatives in and around Mysore, my home town. This time for a change, we are headed to Munnar.

For some reason, I'm addicted to planning such trips and this addiction is so much that my wife believes that I can have an alternate career as a tour operator. Not a bad idea given how ill informed most of the travel people that I run into. Of course such indifferent tour operators are the primary reason why I started planning all my trips, all by myself. Thanks to internet, a ton of information is available in the form of blogs, travelogues and on the portals of the online communities of travel enthusiasts. All these make the job a lot easier than a trip to your neighborhood tour operator.

This time we chose to go to Munnar, a hill resort in the Idukki district of Kerala. I've been to this place twice during my bachelor days and simply love this place. I'm lot more excited this time, because I'd driving.

Typically, this is the process that works for me in planning my trips. Once the place is decided, I rely primarily on two sources - Outlook Traveller's Getaway Guides and HolidayIQ.com to select a decent place to stay. After identifying an approximate route map using a set of maps (I've all sorts of maps ranging from the India road atlas all the way to the district maps), I browse Team-BHP's travelogues and route information forum. Most information (distance between towns along the way, places to eat, petrol pumps, ATMs, current situation of the road and related tips) is directly available in this huge community of travel enthusiasts. These days, I've also started using MapMyIndia.com, which gives fairly good route map between any two places in India. The next step is to collect adequate information about the place, things to do, things to buy etc., I rely heavily on VirtualTourist.com for this information. Getaway guides also contain very useful information. Armed with all these, I plan out the complete itinerary. Since it is a vacation, we don't very strictly stick to the plan, but believe in the philosophy of "plans doesn't matter, but planning helps". This process has helped me travel peacefully and enjoy every moment of all our, including the one to Singapore and Malaysia.

Now, I've no idea what is so interesting in browsing the few websites mentioned above and going over maps. But it is addictive. Bunch of people in my network simply call me to get my suggestion on where to go, how to go and what to do. Perhaps there is some merit in considering an alternate career as a travel consultant.
Thank you very much,

RamP!

Strategy School 10: The Configuration School

10. The Configuration School: (Strategy formation as a process of transformation)

This post is continuation of my previous posts on strategy, based on Mintzberg's book Strategy Safari.

This school differs from all the others in one fundamental respect: it offers the possibility of reconciliation, one way to integrate the messages of the other schools.
Among the types of stages within an organization we find:

• Stage of development
• Stage of stability
• Stage of adaptation
• Stage of struggle
• Stage of revolution

Premises of the Configuration School

• Most of the time, an organization can be described in terms of some kind of stable configuration of its characteristics: for a period of time, it adopts a particular form of structure matched to a particular type of context which causes it to engage in particular behaviours that give rise to a particular set of strategies
• These periods of stability are interrupted occasionally by some processes of transformation- a quantum leap to another configuration
• These successive states of configuration and periods of transformation may order themselves over time into pattern sequences, for example describing life cycles of organizations
• The key to strategic management, therefore, is to sustain stability or at least adaptable strategic change most of the time, but periodically to recognize the need for transformation and be able to manage that disruptive process without destroying the organization
• Accordingly, the process of strategy making can be one of conceptual designing or formal planning
• The resulting strategies take the form of plans or patterns, positions or perspectives.

Critique of the Configuration School

• Organizations come in “many shades of gray and not just black and white”!

Thank you very much,

RamP!

Strategy School 9: The Environmental School

9. The Environmental School: Strategy formation as a Reactive Process

This post is continuation of my previous posts on strategy, based on Mintzberg's book Strategy Safari.

Leadership as well as organization becomes subordinate to external environment. The environmental school has its roots in contingency theory, which grew up to oppose the confident assertions of classical management that there is “one best way” to run the organization. To contingency theorists, “it all depends”: on the size of the organization, its technology, the stability of its context, external hostility, and so on.

Premises of the Environmental School

• The environment, presenting itself to the organization as a set of general forces, is the central actor in the strategy-making process
• The organization must respond to these forces, or else be “selected out”
• Leadership thus becomes a passive element for purposes of reading the environment and ensuring proper adaptation by the organization
• Organizations end up clustering together in distinct ecological-type niches, positions where they remain until resources become scarce or conditions too hostile. Then they die.

Critique of the Environmental School

The greatest weakness is that environment is often so abstract and vague.

Thank you very much,

RamP!

Strategy School 8: The Cultural School

8. The Cultural School (Strategy formation as a collective process)

This post is continuation of my previous posts on strategy, based on Mintzberg's book Strategy Safari.

Culture was "discovered" in management in the 1980s, thanks to the success of Japanese corporations. They seemed to do things differently than Americans. All fingers pointed to Japanese culture, and especially how that has been manifested in large Japanese corporations.

Bjorkman has pointed that radical changes in strategy have to be based on fundamental change in the culture. He described this as happening in the following 4 phases:

• Strategic drift
• Unfreezing of current belief systems
• Experimentation and re-formulation
• Stabilization

Premises of the cultural school:

• Strategy formation is a process of social interaction, based on the beliefs and understandings shared by the members of an organization
• An individual acquires these beliefs through a process of acculturation, or socialization, which is largely tacit and nonverbal.
• The members of an organization can only partially describe the beliefs that underpin their culture
• As a result, strategy takes the form of perspective above all, more than positions, rooted in collective intentions and reflected in patterns by which the deeply embedded resources, of the organization are protected and used for competitive advantage
• Culture do not encourage strategic change; at best, they tend to promote shifts in positions

Critique of the Cultural School

Cultural school should be faulted for conceptual vagueness. It can discourage necessary change. It favours the management of consistency, of staying on track.

Thank you very much,

RamP!

Buzz of the week: 11-Aug-08

1. App store download exceed 60M in the first month

Consumers have downloaded more than 60 million iPhone applications in the month since Apple opened the App Store, the computing giant's CEO Steve Jobs revealed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. While a majority of the applications were free, Jobs said that Apple still sold an average of $1 million a day in iPhone apps, generating about $30 million in sales so far--if sales continue at their current pace, the company is poised to earn at least $360 million in new revenue from the digital storefront. "This thing's going to crest a half a billion, soon," Jobs said. "Who knows, maybe it will be a $1 billion marketplace at some point in time. I've never seen anything like this in my career for software." But Jobs said Apple stands to derive minimal direct profits from the App Store, claiming the 30 percent of application proceeds the firm retains are just enough to cover operating expenses. Jobs said iPhone application earned about $21 million during the first month, with the top 10 developers raking in roughly $9 million. He declined to update sales totals on the iPhone 3G itself. More here.

2. US: Mobile data market grows by 40 percent

The U.S. wireless data market grew 40 percent in the second quarter compared to year-ago totals, generating $8.2 billion in data revenues, according to a new report issued by advisory firm Chetan Sharma Consulting. Mobile data has now yielded $15.7 billion in the first six months of 2008, a 38 percent increase over the first half of 2007 and on pace to reach $34 billion for the year.
Some Q2 highlights:

• Overall ARPU among U.S. operators increased by $0.46, with average voice ARPU declining by $0.05 while average data ARPU grew by $0.50.
• Verizon Wireless leads in data ARPU with $12.58 (or 24.4 percent of total revenues), followed by Sprint at $12 (or 21.4 percent), AT&T at $11.59 (or 22.9 percent) and T-Mobile USA at $8.60 (or 17 percent).
• Verizon generated an industry-record $2.6 billion in data revenues, followed by AT&T at $2.5 billion. Both operators are on target to exceed $10 billion in annual data revenues, and together they account for 62 percent of the U.S. market's total data services revenues.
• Non-messaging services account for 50 percent to 60 percent of U.S. operator data revenues.
• Venture investment in mobile is on the decline--during the first half of the year, private wireless firms announced $1.8B in 173 financings, compared to $2.7 billion in 209 financings over the first six months of 2007.

More here.

3. Study: 56 percent of consumers have never viewed mobile video

While video-capable mobile handsets are now present in nearly one-third of U.S. households, 56 percent of consumers have never viewed mobile video content according to a new study issued by market research and consulting firm Parks Associates. The report argues that mobile video is largely the victim of a chicken-and-egg dilemma: Consumers are reluctant to pay for a new, unfamiliar service, but will remain unfamiliar with mobile video until taking the plunge. Parks Associates suggests mobile operators can solve the problem by offering more mobile video programming for free, contrasting the success of free mobile TV efforts in Japan and South Korea with disappointing uptake for premium services in the Italian market. More here.

4. T-Mobile to launch first Android phone in late'08

T-Mobile USA will debut the first mobile handset based on Google's Android operating system, The New York Times reports. Citing unnamed sources briefed on the operator's plans, the NYTYouTube video, and according to the report, a person who has seen the Dream up-close confirmed it is indeed the same phone depicted in the video. The retail release date of the HTC Dream hinges in large part on the device and the Android OS earning network standards certification from the Federal Communications Commission--execs from T-Mobile, Google and HTC all hope to officially announce the Dream in September in an effort to cash in on the lucrative holiday season. The Dream is expected to be the sole Android-based device released in the U.S. during the remainder of 2008. More here.

5. Leap and others ask FCC to deny Verizon/Alltel merger

Leap Wireless along with a group of rural carriers and associations including the Rural Telecommunications Group, NTELOS, SouthernLINC Wireless, SpectrumCo, the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO), Mobi PCS, Revol Wireless, LCW and Denali Spectrum have petitioned the FCC to deny the proposed merger between Verizon Wireless and Alltel.

Leap and the other parties argue that the merger reduces the competitiveness of the wireless industry by eliminating a major regional carrier, exacerbates roaming issues by having fewer major roaming partners (particularly for CDMA carriers), and allows a mega-carrier to increasingly control spectrum.

Leap asks the FCC to do the following before it approves the merger: revise the existing Roaming Order by eliminating home roaming and "in-market" exclusion and initiate a rulemaking on spectrum caps. More here.

Thank you very much,


RamP!

US: Carrier Metrics for Q2 and OEM Sales

During the second quarter of 2008, U.S. wireless carriers kept their average revenue per user steady thanks to growing data revenues. In addition, churn levels remained low while net adds climbed (at least for some operators). (Source: FierceWireless)

Mobile phone shipments in the U.S. managed a 5.3% increase in the second quarter, as cellphone companies beat the weak economy and posted strong results. Strategy Analytics, an independent consulting firm, said 41.9 million cellphones were shipped in the quarter, up from 39.8 million a year earlier.

Motorola managed to cling to its lead in U.S. market share at 26%, South Korea's LG made a return to No. 2 in the U.S. market as it sold 16.8 million phones in the first half of the year and aims to hold 22% of the market by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Research In Motion Ltd.'s (RIMM) Blackberry phones gained a double- digit market share for the first time in the U.S.

Thank you very much,


RamP!

Strategy School 7: The Power School

7. The Power School (Strategy formation as a process of negotiation)
This post is continuation of my series of posts on strategy, based on Mintzberg's book Strategy Safari.

Politics thus becomes synonymous with the exploitation of power in other than purely economic ways. This would obviously include clandestine moves to subvert competition, but it also include cooperative arrangements designed for the same effect (such as alliances). Power relations can surround organizations; they can also infuse them. Need to note two types of power relations:

• Micro Power deals with politics within the organization and
• Macro Power concerns the use of power by the organization

Premises of the power school

• Strategy formation is shaped by power and politics, whether as a process inside the organization or as a behaviour of the organization itself in its external environment.
• The strategies that may result from such a process tend to become emergent, and take the form of positions and ploys more than perspectives
• Micro Power sees strategy making as an interplay and sometimes direct confrontation, in the form of political games
• Macro Power sees the organization as promoting its own welfare by controlling or cooperating with other organizations, through the use of strategic manoeuvring as well as collective strategies in various kinds of networks and alliances

Critique of the power school

• While it is true that political dimension can have a positive role in organizations, this can also be the source of a great deal of wastage and distortion in organizations.

Thank you very much,

RamP!

Strategy School 6: The Learning School

6. The Learning School (Strategy formation as an emergent process)
This post is continuation of my series of posts on strategy, based on Mintzberg's book Strategy Safari.

According to this school, strategies emerge as people, sometimes acting individualy but more often collectively, come to learn about a situation as well as their organization's capability of dealing with it.

Principles of the learning organization: (Joseph Lampel)

• Organizations can learn as much, if not more, from failure as from success
• A learning organization rejects the adage "if it ain't broken, don't fix it".
• Learning organizations assume that the managers and workers closest to the design, manufacturing, distribution and sale of the product often know more about these activities than their superiors.
• A learning organization actively seeks to move knowledge from one part of the organization to another, to ensure that relevant knowledge finds its way to the organizational unit that needs it most.
• Learning organizations spend a lot of energy looking outside their own boundaries for knowledge

Premises of the learning school:

• The complex and unpredictable nature of the organization's environment, often coupled with the diffusion of knowledge bases necessary for strategy, precludes deliberate control; strategy making must above all take the form of a process of learning over time, in which, at the limit, formulation and implementation become indistinguishable.
• While the leader must learn too, and sometimes can be the main learner, more commonly it is the collective system that learns: there are many potential strategists in most organizations.
• This learning proceeds in emergent fashion, through behavior that stimulates thinking retrospectively, so that sense can be made of action.

Critique of the learning school:

• There is always a danger of going to the opposite extreme - no strategy, lost strategy or wrong strategy.

Thank you very much,

RamP!

Buzz of the week: 4-Aug-08

1. Yahoo board unscathed from annual share holder meeting

Yahoo's board emerged largely unscathed from the company's annual meeting as a subdued crowd of shareholders raised few questions about the directors' rejection of Microsoft's €30.4 billion (US$47.5 billion) takeover bid, an Associated Press report said. The report further said some shareholders expressed displeasure by opposing the re-election of Yahoo's current directors, but the resistance wasn't as intense as last year, when three directors were rejected by more than 30% of the vote. More here.

2. Verizon strike averted for now

Verizon Communications and the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers unions agreed to extend negotiations just after midnight Saturday, and the unions agreed to postpone a strike. The CWA, which represents about 50,000 of the 65,000 workers affected, issued a statement saying that progress has been made on issues such as job security and ongoing funding of health care coverage for active and retired workers, but also that further discussion was need to work toward a contract settlement. Verizon also issued a statement saying it continues "to negotiate in good faith to achieve new contracts for our employees." More here.

3. MobiTV passes 4 million subscriber mark

Mobile broadcast service provider MobiTV announced that its managed mobile television and radio network now tops more than 4 million subscribers. The milestone follows 10 months after MobiTV passed the 3 million benchmark--the firm first launched service in late 2003, and now boasts more than 50 channels, availability across over 350 devices and partnerships with more than a dozen operators, including AT&T, Sprint and Alltel.

"We see MobiTV as a continuation of the home viewing experience. Because it's on a mobile device, when there is something important going on and you're away from home, [mobile TV] is the natural place to go. We're very big believers in streaming live video, and we believe it's critical to building usage habits, but it's only part of the whole system" said MobiTV chairman and CEO Charlie Nooney. More here.

4. Sanjay Jha named CEO of Motorola Devices

After months of speculation, Motorola has named Sanjay Jha CEO of its ailing mobile devices division. Jha will also be co-CEO of Motorola, sharing the responsibility with Greg Brown. Jha, a well-known wireless industry executive, was considered a rising star at Qualcomm where he was the firm's COO. He joined Qualcomm in 1994. Len Lauer, Qualcomm's executive vice president and group president, will replace Jha as COO. More here.

5. Qualcomm working on Android platform

Qualcomm confirmed that it is working on a mobile phone platform that will be based on the Android operating system. During an analyst conference in San Diego last week, Qualcomm executives said that the company anticipates a large number of Android phones will run on Qualcomm platforms. Qualcomm is a member of the Open Handset Alliance, which promotes the Android platform. In addition, Qualcomm and several other manufacturers exhibited Android-based prototypes or proof-of-concept devices at the annual Mobile World Congress industry conference in Barcelona last February. More here.

6. Rumor: Apple to launch iPhone Nano

Apple is poised to launch a nano-like edition of the iPhone, according to The Daily Mail. Citing an unnamed source who said the nano device will boast a scroll-wheel on the back and a display screen on the front, the newspaper said the phone will hit retail in advance of the Christmas holidays, with Apple's exclusive U.K. partner O2 targeting pay-as-you-go subscribers unwilling to pony up the iPhone 3G's retail price. But rival British pub The Guardian scoffs at the report, suggesting it is nothing more than a PR stunt engineered by O2. Time will tell. More here.

Thank you very much,


RamP!

Reading list for Aug'08

Last month, I chose a rather heavy set of books and this brought in some discipline of daily reading. Here is my reading plan for this month.

Made to Stick: Why some ideas take hold and others come unstuck

I first read about this book in Guy Kawasaki's blog and immediately got interested. The authors talk about six principles ("SUCCES") that link sticky ideas of all kinds - Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, Emotional and Story. You may also want to watch a video clip of the authors (Dan and Chip Heath) talking about this book.



The Answer to How is Yes: Acting on what matters

I'm not sure how I ran into this book by Peter Block. The review of the book was very interesting and I got this book. This particular comment on the book triggered my interest "We too often ask "How?" which focuses too closely on the practical way of getting something done and is actually a subconscious expression of society's emphasis on control of people, time, and cost. Instead, our concentration should be focused on "Why?" In other words, we need to pay attention to what really matters to us personally, from heart-felt commitments in our private lives to the creation of projects in the workplace".


Branching Streams flow in the darkness: Zen talks on the Sandokai

I became a big fan of Zen Master Shunryu Suzuki after reading one of his celebrated books "Zen Mind, Begginer's Mind". Shunryu Suzuki also formed the San Francisco Zen Center. The Sandokai is a poem and this book is a collection of lectures by Shunryu Suzuki on Sandokai. Sandokai addresses the question of how the oneness of things and the multiplicity of things coexist.

Thank you very much,


RamP!