Despondent about India’s inability to spawn a Google or Apple? Watch out for ISRO...(Jhunjhunwala…watching?)

While we are busy getting impressed with overhyped unicorns, crazy valuations and doltish delivery models masquerading as valuable business models, we’ve perhaps skipped giving a more than adequate attention to a real revolution happening in our backyard. Hassan, Aluva, Thiruvananthapuram & Sriharikota rarely find mention in business pages and economic dailies but are locations that constitute the stellar nursery where a star has taken birth and is already shining bright in the USD 250 B global satellite industry. Let us all say hello to ISRO the Indian Space Research Organization

As humanity keeps pushing the limits of the final frontier, the importance and the potential of this industry can least be underestimated. If the Sputnik launch in 1957 be taken as an index, then the satellite industry has been around for a mere sixty years. Perhaps a nano fraction in terms of timeline considering the endless exploration potential it offers

ISRO’s achievements have been nothing short of spectacular. The recent reusable launch vehicle, the Mars orbiter, the very successful PSLV and GSLV launch systems, an error rate that is the smallest in the world, a world record in delivering the most number of payloads in a single launch… the list is endless …and these are projects that have been executed. The drawing board plans are even more spectacular.... talk about POC & scalability!

But ISRO’s crowning glory has been the way it has shifted the cost paradigm and set new benchmarks in the way the game in this industry will be played in future. Just imagine. A reusable launch vehicle program under USD 15 Million and a Mars Orbiter Mission for under USD 70 Million! (Compare that with a mission cost of USD 500 Million for every space shuttle launch)

Of course in this ISRO has an unknowing comrade in arm in Elon Musk’s Spacex in pushing a similar paradigm shift. And the Falcon-9 and dragon capsule admittedly have a head start over ISRO considering the latter has already docked to the ISS (which sadly had become like desolate bus stop in the outback receiving fewer and fewer buses ever since the Shuttle program was abandoned and the cramped Soyuz was the only bus plying!)  

Although ISRO never started as a commercial program but the domain has suddenly turned commercial and an attractive industry to boot. Civil & commercial satellite demand both from Government and Non Government agencies have dwarfed the military satellite demand. Approximately 1500 payloads are planned over the next 5 years.  Add to that the dreams of mankind for interstellar travel & exploration, space colonization, tapping energy resources in space etc. makes even guessing the size of the industry unimaginable. Just imagine. If the global healthcare industry is USD 9 Trillion what could be the size of the space and satellite industry in the next 50 years…… ZILLIONS !!

But what is perhaps most significant from an India and ISRO point of view is that never before has there been an Indian enterprise on the start up grid of such a high potential sector and that too a grid comprising of a mere handful. Even today ISRO operates only in a small 20% satellite manufacturing and space transportation sector segment of the overall sector. The bigger profitable play is in the space services sector.

And thankfully ISRO through the Department of Space reports directly to the PMO. Which in the present times could mean no scarcity of vision, direction, funds, independence and risk taking ability

ENDNOTE: If ISRO lists at a face value of Rs.100 today even with a whopping premium of Rs 900 I'll invest in as much stock as I can afford and I am certain even Rakesh Jhunjhunwala will…. his investment of course will fund a few missions I am sure  :-)

My Top-5 trend picks at CES 2016

I was at the CES in Vegas last month, the annual congregation that is the holy grail of the consumer electronics industry. If there is one place that allows a peek at how devices will control and change our lives in future, it is here

Beyond the audio, video and washing machines, CES is the place for trend spotting

My top-5 trend picks for this year

1:IoT: Smart offices, smart homes, smart cars and smart devices. Clearly M2M, device connectivity and “smart” are domains where money is being bet. And it’s not just about the devices but also platforms. They’ve got their own little war going on. Zigbee, Z-wave, Bluetooth, WiFi and more. Jury is still out on who will win & its only a matter of time when Cupertino and Mountain View jump in and add another dimension to their own wars games




2:Drones: From war accessories to outdoor adventure toys to application drivers in industry, drones are at their next level of evolution. With chip makers like Intel driving core process innovation in tandem with drone manufacturers it’s only a matter of time when civil aviation and lawmaking authorities around the world will have invest in procedural operating standards




3: 3-D printing. Though far from a gallop or even from a slow canter this horse is getting at least into a slow trot. In terms of an equivalent comparison, the evolution is still at the dot Matrix stage but the speed of evolution here is going to be fast, very fast. That that 3-D printing is going to impact manufacturing, especially tooling and precision engineering, is a no brainer but I feel it has the power to change geo-eco -political dynamics if you know what I mean …and that's why watch out for this trend

4: Virtual reality. Or immersive multimedia if you like. Entertainment and sensory experience is changing and how. Ears and eyes are converging and its only time before the other three get involved. I perceive two primary challenges 1: unwieldy hardware. That semi helmet like device makes me claustrophobic and 2: Entertainment for many is social and not individual (though most kids glued to their phones will disagree) so how does virtual reality crack that? Samsung did showcase a full theater. But then again it was limiting and unwieldy

5: App linked devices. Or device linked apps if you are software biased. Huge action in wearable (devices and apparel) in the wellness and healthcare domains. From pregnancy tests to BMI index to HRM all can be captured and measured conveniently. Hope it promotes a healthy race and reduces healthcare coats for all



I wish there was some Indian presence

I came across innovative companies from around the world. There were Chinese, Koreans, Malaysians, Singaporeans, Brazilians, Croatians, Czechs Taiwanese but not one single Indian company! Not even big names like Reliance, Tata’s, Mahindra’s, Birla’s.  Not even our famous IT SWITCH

To be counted at a global level innovation and leading the trend curve is the only benchmark Helicon Consulting

Patanjali vs Colgate – A head to head interview showdown!

While it was interesting to compare the not so subtle difference in the interviewers tone, tenor, accent etc. (she almost finds it almost obligatory to be tongue cheek, skeptical and accusatory with one and reverentially gushy with the other – find out with who J!), the difference in approach of a rustic entrepreneur Baba Ramdev and a professional manager in Issam Bachaalani is equally interesting to spot& compare

I thought posting both the videos in the same link would make it convenient for those who may want to compare

Who do you think seems more convincing ?

Would be interesting to note your comments.

 Cheers ...

Trillion dollar “Sarkari” logos!

The Government of India has a virtual treasure chest in them. Not all may be aesthetically appealing but from a visual index, recognition and recall perspective these logos would be together worth trillions of dollars if not more. At least notionally. Any private enterprise will trade in an arm and a leg for such instant visual recognition and recall and will count it as its most important valuation component. There are ways even our government could extricate at least some real value out of this huge notional value. It would more than cover the costs of many an essential services I am sure !!!

I am compiling a list that I feel make up the top 15. These are all commercial ventures of the government with some B2C connect. They do not include logos of non-commercial enterprises like police, defense services, public services etc. and not even co-operatives like Amul etc.

 

1: Indian Railways

25 Million eyeballs a day! Phew!!

2: State Bank of India (SBI)

 Twenty thousand branches (including associate banks and over 1 Lakhs ATM’s. This logo MEANS a bank!

3: India Post

6 Lakh Villages 2 Lakh Post offices. Not to forget “Dakiya Daak Laaya” Still can rule in the era of email and mobile

4: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)

1.5 million individual agents, 50 Crore policyholders, 3000 offices, how many eyeballs?

5: Air India

Global Flagship. The only logo touched repeatedly by designers and screwed up! I liked the Maharaja and the Unicorn. Hope they leave these brands alone now!

6:All India Radio (Akashvani)

The audio nemonic ruling the auditory since 1930!

7: Doordarshan

How can we forget. The original still rules C&S. In fact saner than many methinks. Both, the logo and the signature audio nemonic is iconic)

    

 

 

8:Indian Oil

Wish this was seen on global racetracks. F1, Moto GP.

9: Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT)

Sad! I wish they would sell it. But I know they wouldn't. (I wish I could buy it and I know I couldn’t)

10: ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) 

Let us hear it for them ladies and gentlemen. The only Indian logo in space

 

11: ITI (Indian Telephone Industry)

God! Let it not go the HMT way. There is just so much that can be done

12: BSNL

13: Nirodh

The original family planning & Aids prevention pioneer from Hindustan Latex

14: OFB Ordinance factory

Can turn out to be a great brand in the current context. AK, Howitzer...?

15: FCIL (Fertiliser Corporation Of India)

City slickers may not recognize but a big logo for

rural India

Employees are assets but not in the balance sheet!

Isn’t it one of the most cliched statements that you’ve come across? “Employees are our biggest assets…” booms the speaker.  And the bombastic claim is broadcast from every corner of the business world. From glitzy AGM podiums to polished hickory boardrooms, from canteen town halls to annual incentive gigs. OK. So if they really are, then why aren’t they considered worthy of the balance sheet damn it? Under some “asset” class? Any asset class? Some teeny-weeny special category? After all there are many. Current, tangible, intangible…

Personally I find this statement icky and hypocritical. We term employees as “assets” profess to “invest” in them, come up with neologisms like human “capital” and routinely post pontificating quotes on social media that “rich dividends” will accrue from this capital if we get it right. Yet we never question why employees never make it to the balance sheet. We meekly agree to the finance departments “technical foul” argument without even questioning the logic. And what makes it even more irritatingly supercilious is the ease with which the “manpower account head” slithers into the P&L account. And that too on the expense side! Why?!

I thought of putting to accounting test this “employee an asset” claim in my own small company. I inquired of my CA if I could technically manifest this in our final accounts by capitalizing (at least in part) the manpower cost. I really wanted to. Just to test the principle if nothing else. Even accounting wise it seemed to make sense from a depreciation & interest point of view. Ludicrous looks aside, I was brusquely told that the gods of accounting had ruled on the matter & I’d better tow the line & not try anything funny lest I dared to invite the wrath of the IT authorities (On a lighter note; is the CA institute Chitragupt and IT department Yamraj in matters like these? Oops. Politically incorrect! Fingers crossed for next assessment year J)

But getting back. I asked a few of my CA friends for a logical explanation. I got replies but none the most convincing. Samplers:

·      “We are busy. The filing deadline just got over. Will revert”:  Okay I am smart. Dismissiveness I can sense

·      “That's the institute guideline. Period”: And thou shalt bow to thee

·      “It's a recurring expense”: So? Same applies to software licenses. And they are intangible assets

·      “Advertising gives long term results” (when I asked about advertising being capitalized partly): And employees? What do they give in the long-term?

·      “You require an invoice” (this was funny): So why not treat them as consultants and ask them to raise a service tax invoice? Even rids you of payroll hassles

·      “But assets depreciate over time”: Well so do humans. We all do 

·      “But you own assets & you can sell them. You don't own employees and you surely can't sell them” (this I found held at least some water): But then how do leagues clubs treat sportsmen? May be there is some best practice there?

But the point is not about technical hairsplitting. My problem is with the hypocrisy of it all. I don't have a problem if the statement was “Employees are our most important expense”!

And finally, the best was from a close accountant friend. “Don't you have anything better to do than to bug me? Let me buy you a drink”

But come on HR guys. Time for your fraternity to take up the cudgels on behalf of the employees and at least wave it at the finance chaps. Even if only for the principle of it all…

Blindsided into tracking JUST competition? Beware. Rank outsiders can gobble up your ENTIRE industry… Lesson from the Apple way

Obsolescence was a threat of the past. Irrelevance is the threat of the present. It seems like yesterday when management gurus and professionals were consumed by concepts like competitor tracking, benchmarking, differentiation and the likes. But in a short span, operating within the paradigm of your own competitive set seems myopic and frog in the well like

Coke Vs. Pepsi, Chrysler Vs. Toyota, Hertz Vs. Avis, Hilton Vs. Holiday Inn, such jousts have constituted popular management lore in the past. But today its not about who will win but will they both survive? Or more importantly, will their industry survive? Uber and Air BnB rank outsiders have rendered at least the latter two rattled

Apple and its strategy best epitomize how quibbling and unsuspecting players in a completely unrelated industry were delivered a lethal punch that left them reeling. Lets look at few examples

Portable Music Players: It was a cozy club of Walkmans, Walkies, Cassetboys and MiJockeys.  An upstart computer company would have never been considered for membership. But in a single bearlike swipe Apple practically brushed aside all of them. Walkman is finding it difficult to walk today even with an Ericsson crutch!

Phones: Ditto. A clean left hook and an uppercut to a blindsided phone industry and Nokia the leader was kayoed. Last heard, still nursing its wounds in a neighborhood Microsoft hospital!

Cameras: Nikon San, Canon San, Minolta San, Pentax San and others have perhaps already spent hours in a warm, private luxury onsen near Mt. Fuji discussing whether “Shot on iPhone 6” could really mean Shot “BY” iPhone 6 for them!

Watches: A recent supra intellectual apple Watch critique by Tag CEO - no battery and juvenile design! C’mon! Does he think Apple is stupid!? And this will be a third blindsiding for the Swiss. Remember Swatch & Quartz? Guys.. smell the air beyond the Alpine. Also Citizen San, Seiko San and Titan Bhaijaan…. watch out (no pun)

And finally Visa & Master. There is an Apple pay coming your way…

So don't be lulled into a feeling of infallibility of your company or of your industry. Keep an eye not just on your company’s future but also your industry or sectors future. Doesn't matter if you are a traditional FMCG company or a core sector behemoth. There are several Apple like players out there evaluating your sector in real time and could administer a kiss of death

I am compiling a list of sectors that require taking predatory insurance and how they can do it. A few that require emergency attention are banking, entertainment, media, chemicals, logistics, and durables… But more on that and what they should do later

For now, if you are only thinking about your competition, be cautious…. and, if you have anything to do with technology…then, be afraid, be very afraid…

5 Hypocritical words in the corporate world

Cubicles, corridors and corner offices around the world constantly churn out words and phrases. Some stick, some become concepts and yet others fade out. A quick list of few hypocritical and misleading ones that perhaps began with a good intent but ended up to mean something quite different. Opinion is personal.

Intrapreneur This one is fashionably overused in my view. From evolving as a neologism for a new projects guy within the organization whose risk of failure is covered, the term has gone on to become a generic attitude descriptor of a professional manager who has entrepreneurial spirit. But entrepreneurial spirit means an ability to risk it all and tenaciously face uncertainty. Frankly, if risk and uncertainty are removed there is no entrepreneur. Will an “Intrapreneur” risk it all? Paychecks, perks, anything? Doubtful. Conversely will organizations willingly share ownership? Again, doubtful. So unnecessary liberal use of the word is a mystery to me. Both, professional managers and entrepreneurs are complementary, important and have their own place in the world of business. No point attempting forceful tagging

Devils Advocate This is one ecclesial concept gone too far in the corporate world.  Devils advocates are as easily found in offices as black coats in a courthouse. God’s advocates are woefully short by comparison. They arrogate solely to themselves the task of pouring chilled water on any new idea & rarely take the trouble of coming up with an original idea themselves. Being one has also become a great personal branding tool. Smartly intellectualize the advocacy and you can even obtain an angelic halo. Besides it is easy. It takes serious hard work to come up with something original but to shoot it down requires a mere micro fraction of an effort. My suggestion. As soon as someone begins, “Er, ahem…let me play the devils…” Stop him right there and tell him that you would gladly let him but only if he places his own original idea at the beginning. Touché

Experience Yes, Buddha did sit under a tree for a long time and gain that supreme experience. But then that was of the philosophical and subjective kind. Just basing it on a single dimension of time however cannot ensure attainment of the objective experience of our mundane type. Yet this is perhaps the most commonly used word in every organization, “I have x years of experience” So? What about variety, depth, quality etc. So beware of the types who remind you of their years of existence in a hurry. They do it as a ploy to mask their resistance to any change. Best to ignore these types. The genuinely experienced will never count you the years. They are permanently childlike and in an inquisitive and a learn mode. Besides in an era of twenty something’s as leaders time as a measure of experience holds no water in any case   

360 Feedback This one is famous but Machiavellian in my view. In good old days feedback was when your boss told you what was expected of you and you in turn told the boss what you aspired for and you went out for a drink after that. When did this simple & pristine “one to one” mechanism transform into a “many to one” and for what reason I don't know. Perhaps because of increased hypocrisy and reduced transparency. Besides, this methodology is frustratingly one way. After all it is impossible to express your feeling to everyone around you. So you just give up and hopelessly sit in the center of the circle and take it from everyone around you. Till of course your turn comes to sit on the periphery and throw it at someone else! My vote goes for qualitative one on one feedback even today

Collaborative This one is a personal favorite. Often the biggest execution deterrent especially in the planning stage. It is supposed to mean teamwork, collaboration and all the good things, but is often used in situations when one person does not or can not take on responsibility and accountability and gathers a bunch so that the blame can be shared in case failure. I feel an idea or a project should start with at least one person taking a clear responsibility. Collaboration can happen in the execution phase. To begin an initiative with a collaborative responsibility is to risk a chaotic end. The buck has to begin and stop at one table 

Add-on to the list if you like. I am sure there are many….

Can the world of marketing come crashing down?

Imagine. Imagine our world where there is no one to market to since there is no one who wants to buy anything. What would then happen to the corporation? To enterprise? To goods, to services? To currencies, to stocks, to options, to futures? To jobs, to professions, to vocations…would our daily work a day life come to a grinding halt just like the huge metal blades of a turbine slow down and eventually stop when the plant shuts down. Will then that be the end of the world of marketing as we see it?

Lets face it. At its core the entire world of commerce as it is structured today is like a “need satisfaction” engine. It is like this humongous locomotive hurtling at great speed satisfying multiple needs of corporations and individuals by producing a vast array of goods and services. And what fuels this engine? A highly combustible compound fuel called “need creation”. The more fuel you add to the firebox the faster the engine travels

With a little help from Vedanta if we try and identify the ingredients that lend the combusting property to this potent fuel they are primarily two; “the desire to acquire” something new and the “fear of losing” something that you already have. And if we analyze deeper we find that marketers are constantly engaged in altering these two ingredients to achieve maximum potency of this need creating fuel

For a moment consider the “fear of loss” ingredient that is constantly thrown at you. The preventive healthcare industry instills the “fear” that you may succumb to an ailment tomorrow, the insurance company portends that your house is sure to burn down someday, the lawyer charges for a prenuptial making you imagine that divorce could be a distinct possibility, the iodized salt manufacturer scares you with pictures of abnormal goiter, the fund manager scares you that you are headed for a depressing poverty stricken lonely old age, builders of old age homes warn you that your children will indeed desert you to the elements some day….and the fear list goes on

And then there is the “desire to acquire” ingredient. You can “acquire” a better skin by using a certain cosmetic and in-fact outdo even the almighty in the domain of dermatology, you can acquire a certain status by owning an expensive car, you can acquire friends by buying into a club membership, why you can even acquire the neighbors envy if you own a certain television and wait, you can even acquire an ego (!!) if you buy a certain laptop…

They say as long as humans exist, the human mind exists; desire and fear will drive activity. So in that sense marketers and marketing is blessed with perennial existence
But one can see contrarian signals emerging. People are getting tired of constant sense bombardment by goods and services that claim to satisfy some need or the other. There is some movement in the direction of controlling if not reducing needs. There are signs that the modern concept of "happiness through need-satisfaction" is losing ground to the traditional concept of "happiness through need reduction"

So what happens when the potency of the need creation fuel drops? What if people stop getting scared of losing something they have or do not desire to constantly acquire something that they don’t? Will the need satisfaction engine slow down? Will it produce lesser number of goods and services? And is marketing as a function prepared for this scenario. Or will its relevance as a function as we conventionally see cease to exist? Or will it emerge in a new avatar? And what will that be?
Marketing professionals will need to be prepared…anti-marketing is lurking somewhere…. waiting to rise…Helicon Consulting

Trustworthy or Competent who do you prefer?

Leaders often find themselves facing this dilemma in assessing members of their team. And each time they feel they have finally arrived at the correct answer they realize that they’ve made a mistake yet again. And this keeps repeating. They swing in their preference from the trustworthy to the competent and back again… like a yoyo… never really finding the right answer. It can be frustrating!

Personality is a cocktail of several traits. When a leader connects with deeper emotional traits of her team member such as honesty, fairness etc. she considers him trustworthy. And when she connects with relatively outer or operative traits such as confidence, grasping ability etc. she considers him competent

To successfully accomplish a task the ideal lieutenant would obviously be the one who is both trustworthy and competent but leaders find it difficult to discover this combination. In reality the problem is not that this combination does not exist, it is just the leaders inability to connect, nay even identify the traits at different layers of her team member’s personality. As a result there is a tendency to search for these two types in isolation and consider them as mutually exclusive. This could in fact be beginning of a larger problem. The team may get divided into two distinct sub-classes giving rise to unhealthy team dynamics

In my view it is futile to even try and perhaps even wrong to brand someone as either trustworthy or competent. It is best to internalize that in every member of your team there is a combination of traits that are best suited for every task, which make him either competent or trustworthy for that task. Attempt should be to hone the art of managing this task and trait matrix. This is perhaps one way to address the dilemma…Helicon Consulting

Is demotivation an alibi for non-performance?

Demotivation being cited as a reason for non-performance is common. But sometimes I wonder whether demotivation is also an alibi for non-performance? Perhaps it's like the chicken and egg story but it is important for organizations to distinguish between those who are genuinely demotivated and those who are merely pretending

Organizational performance is judged on rational and tangible criteria. Targets, operating margins, growth, share of market and the like. Achievement or the lack of it is a combination of skill and attitude. Winners combine both very well but amongst those who aren’t, it is difficult to identify the real cause. Operational excuses are common alibi for skill deficiency and demotivation for the latter. It’s important to gauge the relative weight of both. Since ego prevents genuine and honest self-introspection often the latter is touted as the bigger issue. And since there is no empirical diagnostic test to really isolate and identify demotivation it is a convenient option to pick. One can always claim to be demotivated and wait for myriad motivation tools to be deployed yet keeping the option of remaining demotivated or otherwise with oneself all the time!

Again, unlike professional managers, I rarely come across demotivated entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur either succeeds or fails. Something like a tiger in a jungle. Wonder whether there is a demotivated tiger not wanting to attack its prey when hungry

Being demotivated is a luxury and perhaps a function of choices and options one has. But whatever be the case it is important to distinguish the genuinely demotivated from those pretending. And it can be done …Helicon Consulting