There are a lot of us, Indians, who love to criticize India. We often talk about how bad the roads are, the corrupt politicians, how is it so difficult to get everything done from getting a ration card to a passport and the list is endless. These criticisms are particularly stronger with people who stay abroad. I was a critic when I was in India and continue to be when I moved to US.
Recently a very close friend couple came over to our place for dinner. It so happens that the husband is an avert critic of India, more so than me. And the wife is more of a placid kind. A debate got heated up and the wife asked her husband what had he done to correct the situation? Husband replied, “What can I do? And why do you all become so defensive when someone criticizes, especially when what I am saying is in fact true?” Wife said, “Well if you can’t do anything, you have no right to criticize. I know I can’t change it so at least I am not criticizing” This let me thinking. Both had a point. After mulling over for a few days I came to the conclusion that both were wrong.
Imagine the critic and the placid witnessing a murder. Later on the critic talks to his friends and tells them how very cruel and nasty the murderer was. He goes on an on about how he hates the murderer. The placid on the other hand accepts that she saw the murder but says nothing more. Who is better off? Aren’t they both in the same boat? Just by not criticizing the murderer do you absolve yourself from the responsibility? And by just being a critic, you are hardly helping the society by getting rid of the murderer. So what does one do given that we are all to be blamed one way or the other since we are educated and aware of the situation in India and still not doing anything about it, critic or placid?
I think the solution is to do something. However before attempting it, the first thing to realize is not expect to change the situation all together. Start with doing something small or little to make a difference in someone’s life, not the society. Here are some ideas:
• How about telling your maid that you will sponsor her child’s education and help her move to a better school?
• How about telling your watchman that you would love to teach his 9 year old son computers at your home every weekend?
• How about going to a nearby zhopad-patti and reading stories every Sunday to small kids?
• If you are in the US and cannot be physically present, how about donating a used computer to someone unrelated to you who is not economically well off?
• If you are a techie from Boston, how about offering to set up a website for an orphanage in Bhopal that cannot afford to hire someone?
• How about sponsoring a slide or a see-saw to a park nearby your parent’s home?
• How about donating new/used story books to a small school?
• How about making a wooden prototype of the solar system with sun and the nine planets and donating it to a public school?
I am sure you all are very smart and will think of ways to improve someone’s life. One may ask as to how will these improve roads or remove corruption? Well in the short run it may not. (I will write a separate blog on how will this improve roads and reduce corruption in the long run) But have these not improved life of a person or bunch of people? Is it not enough to know that at this time one small effort from you can make a change in someone’s life, if not the whole society? If all of us do something small that affects people's life positievely, we are collectively changing the society. Think small!
Caution. You are not doing anything to prove to anybody but to yourself. So do not expect help or appreciation. Some people may rather laugh at your ignorance but do you think these efforts are too difficult to achieve, critic or placid?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Foot Massage at the Vatican
This one may sound funny.
The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are one of the most visited tourist destinations of the world. This museum does not accept reservations and you must stand, sometimes for two hours, in a long queue to enter it. And after that, it is such a huge museum (many museums are huge, but this one is the mother of all, I swear!) you keep walking and walking and it never ends. When you come out, your legs ache and you want to just sit down and relax. Imagine if a sign close by says, “Leg Massage € 5 for 10 minutes”.
That is the idea.
Each and everybody is tired when they have finished seeing the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel. However when you come out of the exit, you see restaurants and other shops and no such shop that talks about foot massage. I imagine this would work. But first some number crunching:
Close to 4.5m people visited the Vatican Museum in 2007. That is 16,000 a day if you ignore the holidays and 2000 per hour, varying greatly by time of day and seasons of the year. If 20% use the foot/body massage service, annual revenue is € 4.5m at the above prices, at 10% it is € 2,250,000 and at 5% it is € 1,125,000. Let’s go with the worst case scenario here, revenue of € 1,125,000.
To earn this revenue, you should be able to service 750 customers per day. (750 x 300 days x € 5). If you are using those typical massage chairs, and they are running on 75% occupancy (4.5 consumers served per hour), then each chair is servicing 36 customers per day. You may need close to 25 such chairs to service your clientele, working 8 hours a day. Let’s look at the investment.
One such chair may cost you close to at $4000 (http://sitincomfort.com/masloun.html). Rental space of 2000 square feet may be close to $100,000 per month (this one is a guess). Annual running cost including salaries and other overheads could be close to € 1m. (Salaries 10K/month, OH 10K/month, writing off two chairs every month and the 100K rent, all converted to Euros)
Does 750 customers per day seem high? With 16,000 visitors per day, it may not be. You need to attract just 5% of that. The trick though is that consumers will vary as per season and hours of the day but your costs will not. And the math above suggests that there is not enough room for profitability. So what could be the other way to go?
Well, if you look at it, rent is killing the idea. So if you already have a shop, restaurant, space around there, just buy a chair or two and you will be doing very well for yourself. The chair can potentially pay for itself in a month! (€ 5 per customer, 4 customers per hour for 8 hours for 25 days)
Alternatively if someone could comment on the rent bit, we could be more sure-footed on this one and explore further.
Buyers, anyone?
The Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel are one of the most visited tourist destinations of the world. This museum does not accept reservations and you must stand, sometimes for two hours, in a long queue to enter it. And after that, it is such a huge museum (many museums are huge, but this one is the mother of all, I swear!) you keep walking and walking and it never ends. When you come out, your legs ache and you want to just sit down and relax. Imagine if a sign close by says, “Leg Massage € 5 for 10 minutes”.
That is the idea.
Each and everybody is tired when they have finished seeing the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel. However when you come out of the exit, you see restaurants and other shops and no such shop that talks about foot massage. I imagine this would work. But first some number crunching:
Close to 4.5m people visited the Vatican Museum in 2007. That is 16,000 a day if you ignore the holidays and 2000 per hour, varying greatly by time of day and seasons of the year. If 20% use the foot/body massage service, annual revenue is € 4.5m at the above prices, at 10% it is € 2,250,000 and at 5% it is € 1,125,000. Let’s go with the worst case scenario here, revenue of € 1,125,000.
To earn this revenue, you should be able to service 750 customers per day. (750 x 300 days x € 5). If you are using those typical massage chairs, and they are running on 75% occupancy (4.5 consumers served per hour), then each chair is servicing 36 customers per day. You may need close to 25 such chairs to service your clientele, working 8 hours a day. Let’s look at the investment.
One such chair may cost you close to at $4000 (http://sitincomfort.com/masloun.html). Rental space of 2000 square feet may be close to $100,000 per month (this one is a guess). Annual running cost including salaries and other overheads could be close to € 1m. (Salaries 10K/month, OH 10K/month, writing off two chairs every month and the 100K rent, all converted to Euros)
Does 750 customers per day seem high? With 16,000 visitors per day, it may not be. You need to attract just 5% of that. The trick though is that consumers will vary as per season and hours of the day but your costs will not. And the math above suggests that there is not enough room for profitability. So what could be the other way to go?
Well, if you look at it, rent is killing the idea. So if you already have a shop, restaurant, space around there, just buy a chair or two and you will be doing very well for yourself. The chair can potentially pay for itself in a month! (€ 5 per customer, 4 customers per hour for 8 hours for 25 days)
Alternatively if someone could comment on the rent bit, we could be more sure-footed on this one and explore further.
Buyers, anyone?
Friday, December 26, 2008
Passport Bank - Business Plan
Ever being paranoid about losing your passport while travelling abroad? This idea came to me while I was recently at the Rome airport checking in my luggage and a hassled passenger jumped in front of me, breaking the line to my annoyance. The agent smiled at him and gave him his and his family’s passport. Apparently, they had lost their passport a couple of days ago. The relief on his face was so obvious that it left me wondering.
Chew on this:
• You use your passport to enter a country and have to stay there for a few days before returning back to your country or visiting another one.
• Rather than carrying your passport and risk losing it, you deposit it to a ‘passport bank’ after immigration, before leaving the airport.
• The passport bank makes a copy of your passport and your finger print and stamps the copy as valid – one that you retain to use at hotels and other occasions.
• You travel freely for these days – even if you lose your copy, you can come back to this office validate your finger print and get another copy, while your original passport is safe.
• While leaving the country, you can collect your passport after paying the fee.
• A reasonable fee may be equivalent to a dollar a day, with a minimum of $5.
Now the business proposition:
There were approximately 840 million international travelers in 2006 according to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Out of this, 45% are air travelers and 7% are thru sea. For this exercise, we will consider these lots only since these are legitimate travelers. Out of these, close to one-third could be travelers not required to carry a passport and half of these could be discounted as same traveler doing a to-fro journey. That leaves us with 210m travelers. Assuming only a fourth of these use the service, we are talking approximately 50m travelers. If these people travel twice a year, five days per tour, on an average, we are talking about revenue of half a billion US dollars. If we have this service in about 1000 locations/airports around the world (most touristy/travelled) and cost of managing each location is 30000 dollars per month on an average, then the annual cost of the service is $360 million.
The success of this can depend on how trustworthy or reputed the institution is. A good bet could be a reputed bank, a credit card service or an airline. All it requires is a small, but well guarded office at most air and sea ports around the world. If an airline opens it, they can use their existing space. Most processes could be automated to save further on costs.
I understand that there are lots of assumptions in this back of the envelope plan. For example 50million travelers may be a high estimate – perhaps, but 50m by the third year of operation is not unconceivable. What about trust? A credit card company may score well here given that they already have a lot of your information anyway. Security? Yes, but then it is probably safer there than with the traveler. There could be more concerns. However one thing is very clear that there is a need, which means that logistics and math can be helped by technology to make this a business success. Buyers anyone?
Chew on this:
• You use your passport to enter a country and have to stay there for a few days before returning back to your country or visiting another one.
• Rather than carrying your passport and risk losing it, you deposit it to a ‘passport bank’ after immigration, before leaving the airport.
• The passport bank makes a copy of your passport and your finger print and stamps the copy as valid – one that you retain to use at hotels and other occasions.
• You travel freely for these days – even if you lose your copy, you can come back to this office validate your finger print and get another copy, while your original passport is safe.
• While leaving the country, you can collect your passport after paying the fee.
• A reasonable fee may be equivalent to a dollar a day, with a minimum of $5.
Now the business proposition:
There were approximately 840 million international travelers in 2006 according to World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Out of this, 45% are air travelers and 7% are thru sea. For this exercise, we will consider these lots only since these are legitimate travelers. Out of these, close to one-third could be travelers not required to carry a passport and half of these could be discounted as same traveler doing a to-fro journey. That leaves us with 210m travelers. Assuming only a fourth of these use the service, we are talking approximately 50m travelers. If these people travel twice a year, five days per tour, on an average, we are talking about revenue of half a billion US dollars. If we have this service in about 1000 locations/airports around the world (most touristy/travelled) and cost of managing each location is 30000 dollars per month on an average, then the annual cost of the service is $360 million.
The success of this can depend on how trustworthy or reputed the institution is. A good bet could be a reputed bank, a credit card service or an airline. All it requires is a small, but well guarded office at most air and sea ports around the world. If an airline opens it, they can use their existing space. Most processes could be automated to save further on costs.
I understand that there are lots of assumptions in this back of the envelope plan. For example 50million travelers may be a high estimate – perhaps, but 50m by the third year of operation is not unconceivable. What about trust? A credit card company may score well here given that they already have a lot of your information anyway. Security? Yes, but then it is probably safer there than with the traveler. There could be more concerns. However one thing is very clear that there is a need, which means that logistics and math can be helped by technology to make this a business success. Buyers anyone?
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
10 things to know when doing market research in India
10 things international clients should know when doing market research (MR) in India
1. India goes beyond metros – Most research studies done by international clients are restricted to larger cities. They assume that if they have Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore covered, they have pretty much represented the country. This is of course incorrect for mass market products but is also not true for high-end products like multi-function devices, servers, watches etc. Though these three cities coming from three different zones house the who’s who, given India’ s size and complexity, the mini-metros and other cities can be ignored only at the marketers’ peril. So even if budgets are small, take one or two smaller cities to make the results more representative. If you have budget for just one city, consider a mid-rung city that is closer to being nationally representative for the product. E.g. Ahmedabad, Pune, Cochin, Kolkata or even smaller ones such as Kota, Asansol, Mysore etc
2. Sampling – Coming from a background of phone or web surveys, international marketers do not really care about sampling. Questions you could ask your vendor to ensure a representative sample include how would you select households/offices to be surveyed, what kinds of localities are represented, how will sample be spread out across the city and so on. Questions like these will ensure that the vendor is not doing surveys close to his office location for the sake of convenience. Given that more than 90% of all surveys in India are still face to face, sampling matters.
3. Incentives – Most MR surveys in India do not offer incentives to respondents. This is especially true for the consumer segment. Even if the MR companies budget and charge the client for it, many times it does not reach the desired end. Understandably, the quality of survey is low. Respondents do not co-operate leading and those who do initially, back out mid-way thru the survey. Clients should ensure that incentives are budgeted and disbursed as agreed.
4. Length of survey– Unlike many international vendors, Indian vendors would rarely cost the study based on survey length. They would claim several ‘experiences’ of conducting face to face quantitative surveys of 40 minutes to an hour. Whereas this may be true for some, it is hard to imagine respondent co-operation for that long a duration. Keep the survey length small (20 minutes ideally) even if your vendor claims he can pull it off.
5. Web surveys – Those clients who want to save costs doing web surveys should chose this methodology very carefully in India. Net penetration overall is less than 5% and even in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore is less than 20%. Further, the term ‘net penetration’ in India is not comparable to that of, lets say, US. In US if one is a net user, there is a high likelihood that he is using it frequently, at least a few times (3-4 times) a week. However the numbers for India could be misleading. Most large scale surveys define net usage as ‘used in the last one month’. If you drill down to frequency of usage, you would find that there are very few users who use it three to four times a week or more leading to a much smaller ‘potential universe size’. Therefore, unless the product is for an up market youth or middle/junior executive in professional firms, this methodology may not work.
6. The top 1% of Indians by income are comparable to the top 1% of the population in even the rich countries. Getting them for a survey is very very difficult. They cannot be motivated by financial incentives (Hansa has had moderate success by enticing them to donate on their behalf to choice of their organizations like CRY, AIDS relief, Cancer Funds etc). Clients should look here for the quality of the interviewer (more on this later). He/She should not only be fluent in English, but also be very well groomed. To know whether the vendor can deliver on this audience, look up the quality of the key account reps who interact with you. Are they good? Could they pull off these interviews? Do not fall for the ‘we have MBAs on our payroll’ carrot. Most of these so called MBAs cannot even write a simple letter on a piece of paper without at least seven typos or grammatical errors!
7. Income data in India is not very stable. Given it is a male dominated society, homemakers, usually women, who are addressed this question, have limited understanding of the full household income. What they often report is what is given to them to spend on household groceries and utilities. Further there are some societies that over claim their incomes and some that understate making the adjustment complex. So my advice would be to stay away from having income as a criteria for respondent selection. Look for car ownership, air travel, foreign vacation and similar such variables to define high-end audience and two-wheeler ownership, household durable ownership etc as you move down the ladder. (Ask for a free copy to the Great Indian Pyramid white paper which deals more on this topic by writing to info@hansagcr.com)
8. Responsiveness – Most Indian vendors not experienced in dealing with international clients would not respond to your emails, if they do not have an ‘answer’. If you wanted to check the status of your project and there has been no progress beyond what was reported last Friday, they would not even say so. If you are dealing with such an agency, encourage them to respond even if there is no progress or bad news. Further, an Indian vendor, unlike most of those around the world would be happy to give you his personal mobile phone in case you wanted to get in touch with him. However, most mobile phones in India do not have a voice message facility. So if you were unable to reach him, you cannot leave a message. All he has from you is a missed call. So check with him if he has voice message set on his desk and mobile phone.
9. The interviewer – I strongly believe that the Interviewer is the single most important person in the entire MR process, not only the survey process. Sample some of your vendor’s interviewer. Most Indian vendors do not have interviewers on their payroll. Quite often, interviewers quit in between projects if they do not find it lucrative. Check with your vendor how he plans to pay his interviewers and how soon can he replace. Another complexity is that in most metros, there is a high percentage of internal migrants –people living in other Indian states coming to big metros to make a living. Given that questionnaires are primarily written in English and then translated in the local language of that state where the surveys are taking place, internal immigrants not well versed in English find it difficult. And there are many of them. As a client, and depending on the respondent level, you could either ask for English speakers or local language speakers or both. Check with the agency if they would like to translate the questionnaire in Hindi as well as most internal migrants are from poorer Hindi speaking states of north and east. The bigger issue however is if the survey is to be conducted purely in English. Fluent English interviewers doing face to face in India are now a rare breed. Call centers, private banks and other upcoming sectors have sucked them up. Thanks to price wars and clients unwilling to pay for good MR data, it is not feasible for the industry to retain good interviewers. Result often is bad quality. Given that clients know that MR costs in India are half than China and probably a third of Brazil, they should encourage vendors to hire better interviewers and should be willing to pay for it.
10. Finally, the vendor. One rule that works especially well for the MR industry in India is that beware of the lowest bidder. In order to win projects I have known many vendors that quote below cost and later cut corners on incentives, poorer interviewers, and quality control etc, which you as a client will never know sitting thousands of miles away. Also be wary of vendors that say yes to every request of yours. Find out about the data collection team. How many offices does he have of his own and in which cities? How well networked is the organization to have real time information on projects? Keep your ears open – he may not make a suggestion twice and almost never strongly. After all you are the client and he wants your business. For example, if you ask for a video shoot and he says that it will be difficult. Don’t brush him away saying that other vendors offer it. Ask him why he thinks that it will be difficult to ensure that there are no surprises later.
As easy it may seem since people there speak English, things can get complicated beyond imagination. Go well prepared.
1. India goes beyond metros – Most research studies done by international clients are restricted to larger cities. They assume that if they have Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore covered, they have pretty much represented the country. This is of course incorrect for mass market products but is also not true for high-end products like multi-function devices, servers, watches etc. Though these three cities coming from three different zones house the who’s who, given India’ s size and complexity, the mini-metros and other cities can be ignored only at the marketers’ peril. So even if budgets are small, take one or two smaller cities to make the results more representative. If you have budget for just one city, consider a mid-rung city that is closer to being nationally representative for the product. E.g. Ahmedabad, Pune, Cochin, Kolkata or even smaller ones such as Kota, Asansol, Mysore etc
2. Sampling – Coming from a background of phone or web surveys, international marketers do not really care about sampling. Questions you could ask your vendor to ensure a representative sample include how would you select households/offices to be surveyed, what kinds of localities are represented, how will sample be spread out across the city and so on. Questions like these will ensure that the vendor is not doing surveys close to his office location for the sake of convenience. Given that more than 90% of all surveys in India are still face to face, sampling matters.
3. Incentives – Most MR surveys in India do not offer incentives to respondents. This is especially true for the consumer segment. Even if the MR companies budget and charge the client for it, many times it does not reach the desired end. Understandably, the quality of survey is low. Respondents do not co-operate leading and those who do initially, back out mid-way thru the survey. Clients should ensure that incentives are budgeted and disbursed as agreed.
4. Length of survey– Unlike many international vendors, Indian vendors would rarely cost the study based on survey length. They would claim several ‘experiences’ of conducting face to face quantitative surveys of 40 minutes to an hour. Whereas this may be true for some, it is hard to imagine respondent co-operation for that long a duration. Keep the survey length small (20 minutes ideally) even if your vendor claims he can pull it off.
5. Web surveys – Those clients who want to save costs doing web surveys should chose this methodology very carefully in India. Net penetration overall is less than 5% and even in cities like Mumbai and Bangalore is less than 20%. Further, the term ‘net penetration’ in India is not comparable to that of, lets say, US. In US if one is a net user, there is a high likelihood that he is using it frequently, at least a few times (3-4 times) a week. However the numbers for India could be misleading. Most large scale surveys define net usage as ‘used in the last one month’. If you drill down to frequency of usage, you would find that there are very few users who use it three to four times a week or more leading to a much smaller ‘potential universe size’. Therefore, unless the product is for an up market youth or middle/junior executive in professional firms, this methodology may not work.
6. The top 1% of Indians by income are comparable to the top 1% of the population in even the rich countries. Getting them for a survey is very very difficult. They cannot be motivated by financial incentives (Hansa has had moderate success by enticing them to donate on their behalf to choice of their organizations like CRY, AIDS relief, Cancer Funds etc). Clients should look here for the quality of the interviewer (more on this later). He/She should not only be fluent in English, but also be very well groomed. To know whether the vendor can deliver on this audience, look up the quality of the key account reps who interact with you. Are they good? Could they pull off these interviews? Do not fall for the ‘we have MBAs on our payroll’ carrot. Most of these so called MBAs cannot even write a simple letter on a piece of paper without at least seven typos or grammatical errors!
7. Income data in India is not very stable. Given it is a male dominated society, homemakers, usually women, who are addressed this question, have limited understanding of the full household income. What they often report is what is given to them to spend on household groceries and utilities. Further there are some societies that over claim their incomes and some that understate making the adjustment complex. So my advice would be to stay away from having income as a criteria for respondent selection. Look for car ownership, air travel, foreign vacation and similar such variables to define high-end audience and two-wheeler ownership, household durable ownership etc as you move down the ladder. (Ask for a free copy to the Great Indian Pyramid white paper which deals more on this topic by writing to info@hansagcr.com)
8. Responsiveness – Most Indian vendors not experienced in dealing with international clients would not respond to your emails, if they do not have an ‘answer’. If you wanted to check the status of your project and there has been no progress beyond what was reported last Friday, they would not even say so. If you are dealing with such an agency, encourage them to respond even if there is no progress or bad news. Further, an Indian vendor, unlike most of those around the world would be happy to give you his personal mobile phone in case you wanted to get in touch with him. However, most mobile phones in India do not have a voice message facility. So if you were unable to reach him, you cannot leave a message. All he has from you is a missed call. So check with him if he has voice message set on his desk and mobile phone.
9. The interviewer – I strongly believe that the Interviewer is the single most important person in the entire MR process, not only the survey process. Sample some of your vendor’s interviewer. Most Indian vendors do not have interviewers on their payroll. Quite often, interviewers quit in between projects if they do not find it lucrative. Check with your vendor how he plans to pay his interviewers and how soon can he replace. Another complexity is that in most metros, there is a high percentage of internal migrants –people living in other Indian states coming to big metros to make a living. Given that questionnaires are primarily written in English and then translated in the local language of that state where the surveys are taking place, internal immigrants not well versed in English find it difficult. And there are many of them. As a client, and depending on the respondent level, you could either ask for English speakers or local language speakers or both. Check with the agency if they would like to translate the questionnaire in Hindi as well as most internal migrants are from poorer Hindi speaking states of north and east. The bigger issue however is if the survey is to be conducted purely in English. Fluent English interviewers doing face to face in India are now a rare breed. Call centers, private banks and other upcoming sectors have sucked them up. Thanks to price wars and clients unwilling to pay for good MR data, it is not feasible for the industry to retain good interviewers. Result often is bad quality. Given that clients know that MR costs in India are half than China and probably a third of Brazil, they should encourage vendors to hire better interviewers and should be willing to pay for it.
10. Finally, the vendor. One rule that works especially well for the MR industry in India is that beware of the lowest bidder. In order to win projects I have known many vendors that quote below cost and later cut corners on incentives, poorer interviewers, and quality control etc, which you as a client will never know sitting thousands of miles away. Also be wary of vendors that say yes to every request of yours. Find out about the data collection team. How many offices does he have of his own and in which cities? How well networked is the organization to have real time information on projects? Keep your ears open – he may not make a suggestion twice and almost never strongly. After all you are the client and he wants your business. For example, if you ask for a video shoot and he says that it will be difficult. Don’t brush him away saying that other vendors offer it. Ask him why he thinks that it will be difficult to ensure that there are no surprises later.
As easy it may seem since people there speak English, things can get complicated beyond imagination. Go well prepared.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Only if he sees the need
It amazes me how senior managers of world’s largest corporations sometimes talk and think. Recently I was visiting a leading software company on the pacific coast and was talking to one of their senior managers responsible for gaming. He said that their pricing strategy in India failed. “We were trying to sell these consoles at the same price that we sell in US, at around $250”. In another visit to one of the largest computer manufacturing companies, a senior executive said, “One of the things that we are battling with is to find the right channel to sell thru in India”.
When I meet such people, I really feel sorry for them. It is not that they are not getting answers to their questions, but the fact is they are chasing the wrong questions. Chew on this…
Last year, of all the motorcycles that were sold in India, more than half of them were sold in rural. The cheapest motorcycle sold in the Indian market place is priced around Rs. 35,000 or $700 at today’s exchange rates. Rural farmer or trader has realized the value of owning a motorcycle. He understands that a motorcycle helps him satisfy the needs of transportation given the lack of good public transportation. Other than that it helps him in his business. Occasionally, he drives to the nearby town 30 miles away and loads it with sometimes close to a ton of products, say seeds and fodder. While he is in town, he buys some toys for his kids something to please his wife and then fills gas in his tank and is back home by evening. On some Sundays, if he has time and money, he loads his family on the motorcycle and they go for a movie. With an annual income of around Rs.100,000 ($2000), he took a loan and invested in a motorcycle as he understands that it serves as means of transportation primarily but also helps him in his business needs and sometimes fulfils his needs of entertainment.
A computer comes at $500. Instead of worrying about which channel to use to sell a computer, executives should worry about how to make a computer as important as, let’s say a motorcycle, for a rural Indian. If you have cracked that, then you are selling as many computers in rural India as you sell in United States of America. Like a motorcycle serves the need for transportation, a computer serves the need for information and communication. If the same person in the above example knew that instead of travelling 30 miles east, if he travelled 40 miles north, he would get a better price on seeds and save $10 in the process, he would be very grateful. If he knew that a computer can help him get this information, then it turns out to be as useful as a motorcycle. In stead of burning gas and spending on four tickets to watch a movie, he could watch it at home with his family renting a DVD, satisfying the need of entertainment, at a much lesser price.
I don’t buy the poor infrastructure logic that gets raised each time you talk about computers in rural India. The reason that motorcycle prospered is precisely because of poor infrastructure and public transport. If there were a bus every 20 minutes to a nearby town, why would you need a motorcycle? If the town was 3 miles and not 30 miles away, why would you need a motorcycle? Computers will work and should work despite poor infrastructure. In fact, that is the reason for success not failure.
If the farmer drives 30 miles of pot holed roads to reach the nearest town to fill gas in his tank, he could travel 10 miles to charge the battery of his computer during times when he needs it and there is no power! If he takes a loan for $700 product, he could for a $500 one. These obstacles can be overcome, if he sees the need.
Have the corporations been able to ‘sell’ the need before selling the product or struggling to find channels? No matter how rich an Indian is, he would scorn if his child asked for a $250 video game as an Indian parent has not been ‘sold’ to the idea of a video game. Understandably so. The fact that some video-games do improve your child’s lateral thinking, team building and leadership skill, has not been communicated. The fact that video games could be great family times together and perhaps one of the few ways a father and teen aged son can have uninhibited interaction, has not been sold. Forget video games, technology firms have not sold the idea of internet and computers as a result some Indian parents scorn net browsing as well. This may strike you as odd, but majority of Indians are buying computers not because they need it, but because the other family has it. (As happened with mobile phones initially) But if the need was sold, people would buy in hordes. One could argue that mobile phone companies never sold the need. But then the real revolution in mobile phones happened in India only when Reliance offered them at Rs.500 ($10). Till then it was still a top 5% population product.
Computers are not selling for Rs.500 or even Rs.5000, at least not in the near future. The issue here is not the price as demonstrated above. If a farmer can afford a $700 product, he can afford a $500 one, only if he sees the need.
Folks, there is money to be made at the bottom of the pyramid.
When I meet such people, I really feel sorry for them. It is not that they are not getting answers to their questions, but the fact is they are chasing the wrong questions. Chew on this…
Last year, of all the motorcycles that were sold in India, more than half of them were sold in rural. The cheapest motorcycle sold in the Indian market place is priced around Rs. 35,000 or $700 at today’s exchange rates. Rural farmer or trader has realized the value of owning a motorcycle. He understands that a motorcycle helps him satisfy the needs of transportation given the lack of good public transportation. Other than that it helps him in his business. Occasionally, he drives to the nearby town 30 miles away and loads it with sometimes close to a ton of products, say seeds and fodder. While he is in town, he buys some toys for his kids something to please his wife and then fills gas in his tank and is back home by evening. On some Sundays, if he has time and money, he loads his family on the motorcycle and they go for a movie. With an annual income of around Rs.100,000 ($2000), he took a loan and invested in a motorcycle as he understands that it serves as means of transportation primarily but also helps him in his business needs and sometimes fulfils his needs of entertainment.
A computer comes at $500. Instead of worrying about which channel to use to sell a computer, executives should worry about how to make a computer as important as, let’s say a motorcycle, for a rural Indian. If you have cracked that, then you are selling as many computers in rural India as you sell in United States of America. Like a motorcycle serves the need for transportation, a computer serves the need for information and communication. If the same person in the above example knew that instead of travelling 30 miles east, if he travelled 40 miles north, he would get a better price on seeds and save $10 in the process, he would be very grateful. If he knew that a computer can help him get this information, then it turns out to be as useful as a motorcycle. In stead of burning gas and spending on four tickets to watch a movie, he could watch it at home with his family renting a DVD, satisfying the need of entertainment, at a much lesser price.
I don’t buy the poor infrastructure logic that gets raised each time you talk about computers in rural India. The reason that motorcycle prospered is precisely because of poor infrastructure and public transport. If there were a bus every 20 minutes to a nearby town, why would you need a motorcycle? If the town was 3 miles and not 30 miles away, why would you need a motorcycle? Computers will work and should work despite poor infrastructure. In fact, that is the reason for success not failure.
If the farmer drives 30 miles of pot holed roads to reach the nearest town to fill gas in his tank, he could travel 10 miles to charge the battery of his computer during times when he needs it and there is no power! If he takes a loan for $700 product, he could for a $500 one. These obstacles can be overcome, if he sees the need.
Have the corporations been able to ‘sell’ the need before selling the product or struggling to find channels? No matter how rich an Indian is, he would scorn if his child asked for a $250 video game as an Indian parent has not been ‘sold’ to the idea of a video game. Understandably so. The fact that some video-games do improve your child’s lateral thinking, team building and leadership skill, has not been communicated. The fact that video games could be great family times together and perhaps one of the few ways a father and teen aged son can have uninhibited interaction, has not been sold. Forget video games, technology firms have not sold the idea of internet and computers as a result some Indian parents scorn net browsing as well. This may strike you as odd, but majority of Indians are buying computers not because they need it, but because the other family has it. (As happened with mobile phones initially) But if the need was sold, people would buy in hordes. One could argue that mobile phone companies never sold the need. But then the real revolution in mobile phones happened in India only when Reliance offered them at Rs.500 ($10). Till then it was still a top 5% population product.
Computers are not selling for Rs.500 or even Rs.5000, at least not in the near future. The issue here is not the price as demonstrated above. If a farmer can afford a $700 product, he can afford a $500 one, only if he sees the need.
Folks, there is money to be made at the bottom of the pyramid.
10 days in Italy
Though we had thought of visiting Italy long ago, in between we were in two minds. We were not sure whether we would enjoy Italy per se since it was too ‘artistic’ and neither of us understood art. Plus we are not the typical ‘museum visitors’ and have a short attention span for such places. And Italy was all about museums and galleries and art and history. Were we making the right choice?
On the 8th day while hiking from Monterosso to Veranzza I told Rupali, “You know, I think this trip has been worth the time, money, effort and everything else that made it possible”. Our itinerary included Rome, Florence, Venice and Chinque Terre (Veranzza). Here are a few highlights of the trip:
• Rick Steve’s guide books - This man knows the region inside out and our travel philosophy matches his. His guide books were so good that we did not waste time enquiring in a non-English speaking country or waiting in queues. They explain art and history interestingly in easy to follow language, making our visits to museums and galleries involving and worthwhile. We knew exactly where to spend time and what to skip and enjoyed this tour without any tour guide, just his books, quite economically.
• Borghese Gallery – By far the best gallery/museum from our perspective. We have this ‘wow’ factor that we attribute to things that just make us spell bound. Snorkeling in Hawaii, a night spent in Jaiselmer desert, Gurudongmar lake in Sikkim are examples of what we felt as ‘wow’ experiences. Among the places we have visited, we typically come across one or two such ‘wow’ experiences in a two week tour. Two hour Borghese gallery tour itself had two such experiences (three for Rupali). These were three marble master-pieces - Venus Victrix ; The Rape of Proserpina; and Apollo and Daphne.
In Venus Victrix, Pauline Bonaparte, (sister of Napoleon) posed full monty. One can see the creases formed and the dent made when upholstery gets strained as someone sits on a sofa or a couch. The folds that occur on the fabric that one has draped as one sits is all finely detailed in this marble piece which has all the imagination and finesse.
In Rape of Proserpina, you can see Pluto’s (her abductor) fingers sink into the flesh of his victim, Proserpina. Her lips are slightly opened, as if she were screaming and begging for help, while delicately crafted marble tears roll down her eyes look as though they are literally dripping down her face. Pluto’s muscular and Proserpina’s supple skins show how a strong marble stone is a slave to a great artist.
In Apollo and Daphne, Apollo pleads with Daphne to fulfill his desire while she, repulsed by the idea, begins to flee. Immediately, her skin turns to a tree. Walking around the sculpture gives an impression of the metamorphosis taking place capturing Daphne's transformation to a tree with intense emotion and drama by portraying the different stages of her changes.
These three marble sculptures are so finely done that you are absolutely amazed at the artist’s imagination and skill to turn marble in such supple forms. These pieces of art and more such we saw in Italy underscore the point that a sculptor not only needs the strength to cut the marble but also the skill to get it to form.
• Chinque Terre - Chinque means five and Terre means villages. This place is a cluster of five villages, nestled on the Ligurian Sea. What is funny about this place that it is so out of regular Italian touristy spots that only two types of tourists can be seen here – the locals and Rick Steve’s readers. After so much of art, culture and history absorption, Chinque Terre was a relief. Pure natural beauty, lovely food and relaxed ambiance made up our last two days in Italy seem like a great desert after a wonderful meal. Our room, perched on the top of a hill had an amazing sea view. The terrace on top of it, though difficult to maneuver, was a treat with a 360 degree view of the village and the sea.
• St. Peter’s Basilica - St. Peter is considered as the first Pope. He was one of Jesus’ first disciples and given special authority. His tomb rests under this church (basilica). Another wow experience. Calling it gigantic would be modest. It can accommodate 60,000 people and runs two by one football fields in dimension. The height from the center of the dome to the base is itself more than one football field. Letterings on top from the New Testament that run across the periphery of the basilica are seven feet in height. Dozens of marble sculptures inside measure 15 to 21 feet. Not only in size, the basilica is precise even when it comes to geometrical symmetry.
• Dueling Orchestras of Venice - Why Venice is called a romantic city puzzled us. It is too crowded for seekers of privacy, the canals stink at places, food is not particularly great and gondoliers, contrary to popular opinion, seldom sing. There is one exception however. The orchestras at the St. Mark’s square. Each restaurant has an orchestra with 4-5 musicians with violin generally being the lead instrument. Restaurants are juxtaposed to each other and they set the tables on the square. One can either sit on a table and splurge on coffee or wine or just stand on the square and watch them play free of cost. They are coined ‘dueling’ orchestras probably because one plays while the other rests, though they are not actually dueling. Though we had as much knowledge about European music as you may about rocket science, this was a treat. If you understand music, you don’t need to understand the language. The tunes that they were playing were so sweet and rhythmic that anyone can follow, indulge and enjoy. Some of those standing, start dancing to the tunes and those sitting extend and hold hands or lean on shoulders. The experience, romantic, is second to none. On both the nights that we were in Venice, we spent time listening to the orchestras. The only European tune that I am familiar with is the one played in the movie Godfather. I was hoping that they would play it. They did not in the first night. And on the second when we were just about to leave, they played it. It was enigmatic.
Italy is recommended to anyone who wants to have a wonderful holiday.
On the 8th day while hiking from Monterosso to Veranzza I told Rupali, “You know, I think this trip has been worth the time, money, effort and everything else that made it possible”. Our itinerary included Rome, Florence, Venice and Chinque Terre (Veranzza). Here are a few highlights of the trip:
• Rick Steve’s guide books - This man knows the region inside out and our travel philosophy matches his. His guide books were so good that we did not waste time enquiring in a non-English speaking country or waiting in queues. They explain art and history interestingly in easy to follow language, making our visits to museums and galleries involving and worthwhile. We knew exactly where to spend time and what to skip and enjoyed this tour without any tour guide, just his books, quite economically.
• Borghese Gallery – By far the best gallery/museum from our perspective. We have this ‘wow’ factor that we attribute to things that just make us spell bound. Snorkeling in Hawaii, a night spent in Jaiselmer desert, Gurudongmar lake in Sikkim are examples of what we felt as ‘wow’ experiences. Among the places we have visited, we typically come across one or two such ‘wow’ experiences in a two week tour. Two hour Borghese gallery tour itself had two such experiences (three for Rupali). These were three marble master-pieces - Venus Victrix ; The Rape of Proserpina; and Apollo and Daphne.
In Venus Victrix, Pauline Bonaparte, (sister of Napoleon) posed full monty. One can see the creases formed and the dent made when upholstery gets strained as someone sits on a sofa or a couch. The folds that occur on the fabric that one has draped as one sits is all finely detailed in this marble piece which has all the imagination and finesse.
In Rape of Proserpina, you can see Pluto’s (her abductor) fingers sink into the flesh of his victim, Proserpina. Her lips are slightly opened, as if she were screaming and begging for help, while delicately crafted marble tears roll down her eyes look as though they are literally dripping down her face. Pluto’s muscular and Proserpina’s supple skins show how a strong marble stone is a slave to a great artist.
In Apollo and Daphne, Apollo pleads with Daphne to fulfill his desire while she, repulsed by the idea, begins to flee. Immediately, her skin turns to a tree. Walking around the sculpture gives an impression of the metamorphosis taking place capturing Daphne's transformation to a tree with intense emotion and drama by portraying the different stages of her changes.
These three marble sculptures are so finely done that you are absolutely amazed at the artist’s imagination and skill to turn marble in such supple forms. These pieces of art and more such we saw in Italy underscore the point that a sculptor not only needs the strength to cut the marble but also the skill to get it to form.
• Chinque Terre - Chinque means five and Terre means villages. This place is a cluster of five villages, nestled on the Ligurian Sea. What is funny about this place that it is so out of regular Italian touristy spots that only two types of tourists can be seen here – the locals and Rick Steve’s readers. After so much of art, culture and history absorption, Chinque Terre was a relief. Pure natural beauty, lovely food and relaxed ambiance made up our last two days in Italy seem like a great desert after a wonderful meal. Our room, perched on the top of a hill had an amazing sea view. The terrace on top of it, though difficult to maneuver, was a treat with a 360 degree view of the village and the sea.
• St. Peter’s Basilica - St. Peter is considered as the first Pope. He was one of Jesus’ first disciples and given special authority. His tomb rests under this church (basilica). Another wow experience. Calling it gigantic would be modest. It can accommodate 60,000 people and runs two by one football fields in dimension. The height from the center of the dome to the base is itself more than one football field. Letterings on top from the New Testament that run across the periphery of the basilica are seven feet in height. Dozens of marble sculptures inside measure 15 to 21 feet. Not only in size, the basilica is precise even when it comes to geometrical symmetry.
• Dueling Orchestras of Venice - Why Venice is called a romantic city puzzled us. It is too crowded for seekers of privacy, the canals stink at places, food is not particularly great and gondoliers, contrary to popular opinion, seldom sing. There is one exception however. The orchestras at the St. Mark’s square. Each restaurant has an orchestra with 4-5 musicians with violin generally being the lead instrument. Restaurants are juxtaposed to each other and they set the tables on the square. One can either sit on a table and splurge on coffee or wine or just stand on the square and watch them play free of cost. They are coined ‘dueling’ orchestras probably because one plays while the other rests, though they are not actually dueling. Though we had as much knowledge about European music as you may about rocket science, this was a treat. If you understand music, you don’t need to understand the language. The tunes that they were playing were so sweet and rhythmic that anyone can follow, indulge and enjoy. Some of those standing, start dancing to the tunes and those sitting extend and hold hands or lean on shoulders. The experience, romantic, is second to none. On both the nights that we were in Venice, we spent time listening to the orchestras. The only European tune that I am familiar with is the one played in the movie Godfather. I was hoping that they would play it. They did not in the first night. And on the second when we were just about to leave, they played it. It was enigmatic.
Italy is recommended to anyone who wants to have a wonderful holiday.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Reducing congestion, improving productivity
Have you seen the movie Crash? Though the story is about citizens of Los Angeles from different ethnicities with varied issues and goals in life, the underlying theme is the frustration or challenge of living in a metro or in a city where you have a hard time fixing small things.
Bombay is one such city. See the people there. They are running all the time – at times trying to achieve something and at other times trying to fix things. But they are running never-the-less. From early morning to late evening, there is always a rush and a gradual frustration built-up that comes from the inability to help oneself. This makes one whine, irritable and frustrated and starts affecting personal and professional life without our knowing. Take for example, what it takes to commute to work.
I do not have world statistics but New York, and by some estimates Atlanta, are the worst cities in the US for travel. People on an average travel 38 minutes a day in New York. In Mumbai, it would be safe to assume that this would be more than 2 hours. If a person lived in Mumbai for 60 years, he was travelling for 5! Commuting to work is largely a social waste of time. Though some of us try to make it productive by reading or catching up with people on phone, these are things we could do anyways without having to travel so long. Solutions, anyone?
The government could increase the 9-car trains to 12, 12-car to 15. This will alone increase the capacity by 20-30% for the 4 million or so people who take trains every day. The government has probably known this for a long time and has not done anything about it. But how can the private enterprise help?
If CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) or any such body gets together and proposes common working hours from 11.00 AM to 4.00 PM and a stretched one from 8.00 AM to 7.00 PM, it may go a long way. Broad industry sectors could then agree to a common industry sector specific time. Services (marketing, media, publishing, technology etc) may start early, let’s say by 8.00 AM. Consumer products (auto, office, appliances etc) may start later, say from 11.00. Common working hours will have limited affect on cross industry working and overtime people will learn to make use of it. This, if implemented, will ease a lot of traffic from roads and rails. People will have more time for work and play. And most importantly these travels will be relaxed and not a struggle. Not sure here, but easing out carbon emissions for longer duration may help the environment as well.
Less and relaxed travel will result in happy and productive employees at work. Its time private sector takes the onus in Bombay and other such cities to correct the situation. After all, they get to gain the most.
Bombay is one such city. See the people there. They are running all the time – at times trying to achieve something and at other times trying to fix things. But they are running never-the-less. From early morning to late evening, there is always a rush and a gradual frustration built-up that comes from the inability to help oneself. This makes one whine, irritable and frustrated and starts affecting personal and professional life without our knowing. Take for example, what it takes to commute to work.
I do not have world statistics but New York, and by some estimates Atlanta, are the worst cities in the US for travel. People on an average travel 38 minutes a day in New York. In Mumbai, it would be safe to assume that this would be more than 2 hours. If a person lived in Mumbai for 60 years, he was travelling for 5! Commuting to work is largely a social waste of time. Though some of us try to make it productive by reading or catching up with people on phone, these are things we could do anyways without having to travel so long. Solutions, anyone?
The government could increase the 9-car trains to 12, 12-car to 15. This will alone increase the capacity by 20-30% for the 4 million or so people who take trains every day. The government has probably known this for a long time and has not done anything about it. But how can the private enterprise help?
If CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) or any such body gets together and proposes common working hours from 11.00 AM to 4.00 PM and a stretched one from 8.00 AM to 7.00 PM, it may go a long way. Broad industry sectors could then agree to a common industry sector specific time. Services (marketing, media, publishing, technology etc) may start early, let’s say by 8.00 AM. Consumer products (auto, office, appliances etc) may start later, say from 11.00. Common working hours will have limited affect on cross industry working and overtime people will learn to make use of it. This, if implemented, will ease a lot of traffic from roads and rails. People will have more time for work and play. And most importantly these travels will be relaxed and not a struggle. Not sure here, but easing out carbon emissions for longer duration may help the environment as well.
Less and relaxed travel will result in happy and productive employees at work. Its time private sector takes the onus in Bombay and other such cities to correct the situation. After all, they get to gain the most.
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