Think BIG – Reliance in Retailing

Being a follower of the retail industry, I typically keep abreast when time permits of news on this. However, I have to confess, the speed and scope of Reliance’s initiatives in retailing have completely taken me by surprise. I first saw Reliance “fresh” stores mushrooming all over Bangalore – the long/ traffic stopping queues bore testimony to their popularity – we heard of the “sabzi mandi” (wholesale fresh produce markets) vendors cribbing because they were suffering big time losses. Within no time, we saw the Reliance Footprint store springing up at strategic locations, the Reliance Wellness format (with tie ups for eye care), as well as the Jewelry store. All this happened within the space of a month in Bangalore.

But, on reflection, I am not surprised. The large Indian companies (whether it be Reliance, Tata Steel, Infosys/ Wipro or ICICI) have learnt to think and act scale – in fact, they seem to be following Jack Welch’s principles avidly – get into a business only if you want to/ and can, become a leader there. Look at what Reliance states on its Web-Site - “The retail initiative of Reliance will be without a parallel in size and spread and make India proud….Through multiple formats and a wide range of categories, Reliance is aiming to touch almost every Indian customer and supplier.”

It is however, unfortunate (maybe even inevitable) that this scale/ ramp up almost invariably is less than perfect – call it teething troubles/ call it inadequate planning – or maybe its just smart business – jump first/ over engineer the financing/ fill the gaps and misses only later – whether it is ICICI bank ATMs’ reported less-than-adequate back up; or the bugs in the RelianceOne Membership card as well as its pricing, apparently the secret to the success of the big companies’ scale plans is the fact that they (much like Microsoft) work on a ‘version’ philosophy – i.e., launch first, tweak later.

Meanwhile, there is no getting away from the fact, that only today’s news said that Mukesh Ambani is India’s “Billionaire of the Year”. Size, DOES matter, eh?

Social Media – The Use For The Common Man

So, a whole generation is being raised on the joys and attendant fears of Myspace, Orkut, Facebook and other social networking sites. Metrics of success and failure of emerging technology/ media companies are now very deeply embedded in how well they can cross-link to these sites.

The concept is so simple, yet so effective – For those of you who have read the “Three Investigators” series popular in my youth (where Alfred Hitchcock featured as the expert), it is reminiscent of the “ghost to ghost hook up” that the three friends used as an investigating technique – that, according to me, many years ago, laid down the very backbone of ‘viral’ networking.

However, the one website that really makes the grade in their niche is, according to me, LinkedIn. I was pushed into it, reluctantly so, but in a short time, have come to realize the enormous help this can be to me, and my company.

We have used this across all functions in EmPower Research – by our HR Department for Recruitment (since prospects have come to us via LinkedIn); by our Research Department as a market research tool to get expert opinion on a diverse range of issues; by our BD teams to build sales lists; by a few experts in our industry who wanted to interview us for thought leadership; we even got some unsolicited business via LinkedIn – our first Asia Client!

Their algorithm is powerful, they have cool analytics, they have very good search engine optimization (whenever I type my company’s name (EmPower Research) on Google, I get a few LinkedIn profiles on the first page!), they seem to be fairly secure, they are expanding really fast, and seem to have very widespread adoption….

Did you know that 14 million professionals are LinkedIn? That executives from 498
Fortune 500 companies use the network? That 65,000 new Professionals are added every week? That it generates over 100 million ad impressions per month?
Fantastic, eh? Are you LinkedIn?

About Lifecasting And ‘Peep Shows’

Talk about the Web 2.0 – did you know that many people are now broadcasting their daily activities ALL the time – I saw this item on the paper yesterday about Jody Gnant, who has chosen to share all moments of her life with “friends around the world” and has not switched off her Webcam since July – even when she sleeps! Per this news item, early pioneers of “Lifecasting” included the “conceptual” artist Jennifer Ringley, who called her contribution “Jennicam”, and posted it on the net from the late 1990s to 2003.

Apparently, there are now 10,000 such “lifecasters” who display almost every aspect of their lives via cameras fixed to hats, laptops, bedroom doors, steering wheels.

A true example of user generated content – and the ultimate truth of the prediction ‘Big Brother is Watching You!’

The Flip Side…Reality Shows - User Generated Voting, Or Marketer’s Myth?

So now there’s this big hullabaloo about the sms (text) voting for preferred candidates on reality talent shows in India --- more examples of people power controlling the world – my 7 year old has already depleted the household coffers a bit by impassioned voting for her favorite “awesome” contender on a singing show…there were recently very unseemly incidents because one state’s contender did not win a show, and a rival state’s contender did…Telecom operators (I am assuming so also the channel/ TV program producers – because they MUST be sharing, right?) are raking in the moolah due to frenzied smses sent in by supporters for their favorites…

The question really is – are we, in a bid to offer people ‘control’, at some point in time, effecting a compromise that is undermining “true” talent? Is this even about giving control to the people, or just about clever marketing harnessing people’s myth of control? (The director of one of these talent shows recently said at the ouster of a talented youngster from a singing program – “even though I am the one who devised this format of selection of the final winner, I am now deeply repenting it!”)

In answer to this dilemma, let’s not forget that the 12 members of a jury in the U.S. are completely drawn from the general public – every citizen of the U.S. can be called upon for jury duty ..now that’s an old existing form of consumer controlled decision making for you!

Well, it’s a delicate balancing act, isn’t it? Web 2.0 (or, in this case, Mobile 2.0), vs. an ‘expert’ deciding a person’s destiny? Which side are you on?

User Generated Media – Taken To A New Frontier…

With all the buzz about Web 2.0, and the consumer taking over ultimate control of all content on the net; with the rise to iconic status of “my” space, “(h)e” bay, and “you” tube, and all the other offshoots of this phenomena jostling to grab a share of the pie (Facebook, Joost, Revver – see more posts later); with Second Life/ Virtual World becoming a fully traded parallel economy via Linden Dollars (see more posts on this later); with ads now being renamed avatarsement – the new consumer/ user generated media phenomenon is slowly but surely pervading every aspect of our lives.

But I think the ultimate representation of this phenomenon was to me a small news blurb that said that the famed British band Radiohead is letting fans decide what to pay for a new release online. "It's up to you," reads a message on the Web page where fans can pre-order the band's highly anticipated seventh album and pay whatever they choose, including nothing! How do they make money? By having a “deluxe” edition of the album “In Rainbows” that has some bells and whistles (read extra songs and some merchandize) added that they sell – and they sell it for a lot!!!

This REALLY puts the control in the user’s hand – I remember back in my youth being very impressed with the Ayn Rand play “The Night of January 16th” which had a dual possible ending – the audience was supposed to decide which way the play would end….that to me is one of the fore runners of User Generated Content – but to enable fans to decide pricing is really the ultimate in that direction. Some people would say its just cool/ innovative positioning – i.e., instead of saying – we are offering it for free – these folks have used a clever hook – “pay what you want” – but the fact remains, it’s a great sign of the times that such a stunt is even possible….Ralph Nader would be happy - More power to the Consumer!

My Experience With ‘Time Management’

“Yesterday is a cancelled cheque, Tomorrow is a promissory note, Today is ready cash. Use it." –Proverb

Everybody at sometime in their life (at least in their professional life) has made the universal comment: “I wish I had more time!” I also did, and I stand guilty as anybody else when it comes to managing my time. Time always has been a constraint to me right from my college days.

However, all I saw was despite all my machinations, the day had only 24 hours, and the week only seven days. Where was I going to find the time to do all the things I wanted? I was literally like the pup, which chases its own tail. The more I hurried the more tasks were at hand.

Then I came across the time management matrix featured in Stephen Covey's ‘Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People.’
Read my article: Time Management – A New Paradigm

A paradigm shift occurred in my understanding of time management. It wasn’t a question of trying to squeeze in 75 minutes an hour, and 30 such hours a day, it became a matter of putting first things first. It was apparent that I needed to manage energy not time and I needed to drive and not just react. I understood the dynamic interplay between the urgent and the important. Things really became clearer when I realized as Covey says that. I was a perennial inhabitant as of ‘Quadrant of Crisis’ and trying to shuttle to ‘Quadrant of Deception’. I was spending very little time in ‘Quadrant of Quality’.

I realized that if I needed to my time effectively as per this grid then by default it needed to be more in ‘Quadrant of Quality’, and my time management efforts will have a more firm foundation than trying to do the maximum tasks in the minimum possible time. I have made a conscious decision to shift to ‘Quadrant of Quality’. which entails:

-Review my mission: to connect with what is important in my life as a whole.
-Identify my roles: make a list of all the roles that they fulfill in my life.
-Create my goals: once I have defined my roles then I needed to focus on what are my goals.
-Schedule my goals: the key here was not just to prioritize the schedule but to schedule my priorities.
- Adapt my schedule: the daily task is to focus on priorities while facing unexpected opportunities and challenges that may arise. This involves responding wisely to unanticipated events, relationships, and experiences.
- Evaluate my progress: needed me to turn the week into a continuous means of learning and living through a process of reflection and review.

I think I am close to mastering the art of time management. I now leave for home early everyday night………….. By 9.30 PM!!! But I am getting there.

G Ravi

Drug Safety Surfaces Again

Is the FDA adopting a more proactive stance on drug safety issues? Following the withdrawal of Vioxx and the more recent furor over Avandia, the agency has been at the receiving end over drug safety concerns.

Avandia received a black box warning, which still says that the link to cardiovascular risks is not conclusive and advises consulting a doctor regarding continuing treatment with the drug. Sanofi’s Acomplia did not receive FDA approval as it was linked to an increased risk of suicide.

The latest drug to draw attention is the anti-smoking pill Chantix and the FDA is reviewing adverse event reports submitted by the manufacturer Pfizer about the drug. A preliminary assessment found cases where patients experienced "depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and changes in emotion and behavior within days to weeks of initiating treatment".

The agency said the role of Chantix was "not clear" in suicidal cases, because stopping smoking can exacerbate existing psychiatric symptoms, and create nicotine withdrawal symptoms. However, it said doctors should monitor patients taking Chantix for behavior or mood shifts, and patients should contact their doctors if they notice any changes

Chantix is the first drug of its kind to reduce the intensity of nicotine cravings while also making smoking less pleasant. The drug affects dopamine, a chemical in the brain involved in controlling mood and behavior. As dopamine triggers a positive mood response, regulating its levels can remove some of the pleasure derived from smoking.

The FDA is currently analyzing all material submitted by Pfizer and expects to communicate its conclusions and recommendations once its analysis is complete.

James Kelly, analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: "It will be key to watch physician behavior in the wake of this public disclosure, as well as the FDA's future communications, based on additional data and analysis provided by Pfizer."

- D R Sudhakar