Friday Funda : Competition

Today's funda has a bit to do with strategy. Not a bit, but a lot! It's about competition. I can start off with jargon like Porter's five force analysis of an industry and so on. But, that would take a separate article in itself. In a nutshell, the 5 force analysis basically helps you analyze the worth / attractiveness of an industry. So, the five forces are

1. Threat of new entrants
2. Threat of substitutes
3. Suppliers
4. Buyers
5. Internal rivalry

A 5 force analysis generally evaluates the degree of threat of each of the above factors and delivers a verdict on what the industry is like.

That said, the funda I wanted to talk about, are a couple of snippets related to such analysis. One - if you want to enter an industry, enter to win. It doesn't make sense to enter just for the heck of entering it. There is no cosmic, karmic connection between a new entrant and an industry. The goal, like Eli Goldratt says is to make money at the end of the day! So, keeping up ol' man Welch's point about being number 1, number 2 or out, when you analyze a new idea, a new plan, you must think about why you're doing what you're doing. Will it result in monetary or societal benefits (everything cannot be weighed against money, right). If not, it's ok to drop the idea. No issues at all. Second, figure out your ranking in the industry. Like for instance, Naukri.com, entered the online job search market as a first entrant, and is still number 1. Jeevansaathi.com, by the same founder entered 3rd, and it has been almost 5 years and they are yet to break even. They still are third and they hope to make it this year. At that time, think back, on the reasons why you want to keep that venture going in the industry, whether being 3rd in the industry is helping you protect your interests vis-a-vis your flagship product, or whether you don't care that you're third, because pulling out of the venture can hurt your interests elsewhere, say brand-wise. So, a continuous evaluation and rethinking exercise is in order. At the end of the day, I'll have to come back to the age old cliche - change is all that is permanent! And that brings me to my second snippet - does it make sense to keep fighting competition all the time?

The answer, surprisingly is NO. At times, you're better off collaborating with the enemy than fighting her. You may not believe it, but Coke and Pepsi, who have forever been perceived as being at loggerheads with each other, have more or less worked in tandem while structuring the industry. They have together ensured complete control on the 'buyers' and 'suppliers' part of the 5 forces model in the cola industry. Think of this. You cannot take on wars that have a foregone conclusion. If newspapers were to think of the internet as the enemy, would they have ever found respite? Would we have had epapers and the news sites? And had there been no news sites, would it have been possible for all the desis in foreign lands to keep abreast with the latest goings on in their muhalla, town, city and so on?

So, change is inevitable. The easier you notice the need to change, the better. The more flexible and amenable to change you are, the better it is for you as a firm! Good night!

An outrageously funny snippet in Pak media

Now, I can't really generalize about all of Pakistani media, but thanks to Youtube, I received a link to an outrageously funny take on the Mumbai terror attacks. Now, I am sure that neither the presenter - a bumbling, clumsy presenter by name Qudsia Qadri (let's call her QQ), nor the guests - some defence analyst and some member of the Pak Parliament would have intended to make the show akin to a sitcom, but the kind of things they said - hideously howlarious.

First, at the start of the show, QQ says that over 135 people are killed in the bomb blasts in Mumbai. Eh? When did that happen?????? Maybe Intelligence needs to take note!!! Second, she speaks about the death of two key people who were investigating the Samjhauta express blast, while they were at the Taj. ???? When did that happen????? Then she goes on about how Pak has been the victim of ire all the time, in spite of their innocence. WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN???????????? Funniest of all. A passport size photo of Mr Ram Jethmalani springs up, and QQ quotes from a certain 'interview'. Mr Jethmalani apparently gave Pak a clean chit, she says. HAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Now, how do we know whether the voice is indeed his voice - like a blogger noted. Second, the voice said that it did not understand the rationale of terrorists, since terrorists were just accruing global ire against Islamic nations. I didn't hear Pak or clean chit anywhere!!!! Even funnier??? This interview goes across the border, without any of us Indians knowing!!!!!!!!!! And like some intellectually profound thinker, QQ asks - '24 hours on, why couldn't the commandos kill the terrorists?' Ahem, QQ, I guess that's because there were HOSTAGES involved, who incidentally had to be rescued as well!!!!

Then came the guests. One defence analyst, who actually said that unlike in the case of the 9/11 attacks that had been deftly orchestrated by Amaaricans, Indians did a shoddy job in case of the terror attacks on Mumbai. Apparently we Indians tried to garner sympathy and made massive fools of ourselves! He went on to say that these attacks were the beginning of the end of the Indian federation! INTELLIGENCE... PLEASE NOTE.........Then he continued ranting about how the terrorists look Hindu, because one wore a saffron band - not worn by Muslims... Hello..... What about the huge rage amongst youngsters post the Lance Armstrong phenomenon???? Almost everyone wore some band???!!!???????????? AND WHEN HARD EVIDENCE, AND THE WORLD INTELLIGENCE ALIKE POINT TO THE LeT, how did they become Hindu???????The guy had the nerve to say that Indians have no brains!! Try telling that to Sabeer Bhatia, Vinod Khosla, Rajat Gupta, Ambanis, Azim Premji, Narayan Murthy, APJ Abdul Kalam, DR. MANMOHAN SINGH!!!! And all this while QQ says Ji Ji Ji... Hahahaaaaaaaa.. She reminded me of Johnny Bravo! Honest!!!

Then came some Maarvi Memon - MP, of PMLQ. She called Pakistan, India's peaceful neighbor. She spewed venom about how we, Indians, who did not know how to handle our own 'homegrown terrorists' kept training our guns on Pak, without looking at our own 'issues'. QQ spoke of our top 3 terror groups. ' Left Wing extremists', 'Left wing terrorists' and I guess she forgot to mention the third group. Or perhaps someone cut it out, cos it said - 'PAKISTAN'. Hello!! Madam, our biggest issue is on the left side of the Western border, not any other left whatever!!!

But at the end of it all, if this is the kind of crap that is fed to Pakistanis, I feel sorry for them, since the whole world is decidedly having a laugh.... Here is your dose of laughter.... for today....

Crises and Media - Part 2

'BREAKING NEWS'. Almost every statement becomes breaking news. Any statement - ratified or otherwise becomes breaking news. In the mad rush to be the first to bring news to the people, our newscasters broadcast anything and everything. Insensitive to the carnage at hand, with a mission to sensationalize everything they see.

Like I'd said before, why do we, the common people need to know full details including vantage points of the commandos in a rescue operation? I would exhort all news channel reporters to please read at least some spy novels by Ludlum or John Le Carre. That would suggest to them the degree of preparedness in terms of technology terrorists can get into. Forget sat phones. Everyone would have a cell phone. Is it difficult for an accomplice to send a message like ' Fourth floor - right corner'??? These news channels can be viewed all over the world, and the least the security forces can ask for, is the comfort of carrying out their operation in peace. But no. Our reporters treat a hostage situation like a Tamasha. They herd around the site of the attack and a handful of Rapid Action Force personnel are needed to control that crowd! Tomorrow, God forbid, if a stray bullet kills a journalist, there will be unending discussions on the callous behavior of security personnel!!!

Around noon yesterday news channels were blacked out here. There was a massive hue and cry on the same. Today's papers have carried a report on the same, wherein Ravi Singh, VP Cable Operators Distribution Union has said that this move was uncalled for, since the news channels were carrying vital information about hostages to their near and dear ones. He also said that the blackout was responsible for the rumors about renewed firing in other parts of Mumbai like CST and Marine Lines. As a resident aware of what was being broadcasted and what was actually happening, I would like to clarify that a couple of news channels went on air with the rumors and then the blackout was implemented. As for vital information to near and dear ones, save for a scrolling list of rescued hostages, there was no information forthcoming! Besides, what could they have relayed???? NSG didn't know the location of the hostages, how were these reporters to know? And messages from near and dear ones to the hostages? Hahaha, cable connections were cut in the hotels from the start of the operation.

So, the fact remains that media persons were out for their pound of flesh no matter what the cost. They wanted their face to be associated with gruesome images, heroic images, the cost to hostages and security personnel notwithstanding. Later in the evening, the Naval chief went on air to say that the terrorists had blackberries (d-uh, who doesn't these days???) and so they were constantly monitoring the media and perhaps media overexposure might have affected the mission. Vindication to my earlier post!

Crises and Media - part 1

Crisis situations traditionally feed the continuous dope needed by the 24x7 news channels. You have daredevil reporters out on the streets covering the story 'in the line of fire'. Camera persons effortlessly zoom in and out of the actual site of action. Thanks to the all new powerful digital video cams of today' age, one can zoom up to a distance of over 100 meters even! So you have the journalists going non stop about the situation and lens-happy camera persons accentuating the stories with images. The result - UTTER IRRESPONSIBILITY.


I am sorry to be so blunt, but in the extreme enthusiasm to be the first to provide 'breaking news', people telecast images that showed commandos landing from helicopters, taking up positions and so on. Now, looking at the images, if I were around, I could have quite easily comprehended where they were landing and how they were moving. The terrorists are supposed to have satellite phones, and the mother ship that was hijacked is rumored to be very very well equipped. How long does it take to transmit information? In today's day and age, technology is so advanced and no one needs to be told that generally terrorists are wayyyyyyyyy ahead of the common man in terms of technology, and their crooked, deranged mind, operates in a sinister manner. So how difficult would it be to relay information to the terrorists, when it is clear that they are operating with cartloads of outside help???? And as citizens, why do we need to know inch by inch, what commandos are doing to save 200 lives? This is not a movie, 200+ commandos, army personnel and policemen are facing fire and grenades to save lives of civilians. And these are news channels, and not entertainment channels. But who cares!!! In spite of repeated appeals, the cameras never stopped. The result - during the crescendo of the rescue mission, all news channels were blacked out. Period.

The second pain - the reporters making their own conclusions and bannering those conclusions as 'breaking news'. For instance - one reporter was talking to the director of the NSG, Mr Dutta, on Thursday evening, who said that one terrorist at the Taj was injured and that the NSG was closing in. The reporter said, " So that means we have 2 terrorists captured alive." DNSG was quick to correct her saying, " We haven't captured the one at the Taj yet, but we hope to do so, soon". Within seconds, the news channel said - 'Breaking news - 2 terrorists captured alive'. This same second terrorist at the Taj kept up explosions and gunfire well into Friday afternoon and as I write this, there are reports of fresh violence from the Taj. Then in the extreme enthusiasm of being in the middle of the action - just as a commando operation was about to begin, one reporter caught hold of a passerby and asked him whether the operation has begun. The guy guffawed and said, "Mujhe kya maalum ???" and walked off. Perhaps most of these Indian reporters belive that they need to keep speaking non stop, describing the images one sees on their screens, as if the viewer is blind! or brainless. Unmindful of whether they make sense or otherwise, in order to prove their 'sincerity' in relaying the 'truth' they go on and on talking, making baseless guesses and speculating on the rescue tactics employed in the situation at hand. As a result the non stop chattering ends up getting on one's nerves. The reports keep swinging 'yes hostage, no hostage, mission over, mission underway', just because no one ratifies what one speaks. I have seen foreign media cover such crises and their reports cover direct accounts, analyses by experts, professors and policy makers in some cases, government officials and so on. Over here, never once has any reporter even provided an impassioned view about implications, methods, government actions and so on.

The third highly annoying part is the stupid questions part. Unmindful of the situation, some silly questions are - 'How do you feel about this whole mess?' I wish I could answer with a song - 'Time of my life'. Yesterday, when Ratan Tata, head of the Taj group fielded questions, he was asked a monetary evaluation of the extent of the damages and the amount he would spend on compensation for his staff. I was disgusted by the question, and I can only imagine the agony in Mr Tata's mind. Another stark case - One man was waiting for news about his brother at the Oberoi, and our reporter asked him how he was feeling. The poor chap could say nothing except a helpless 'What can I say'. I was told that on CNN a reporter accosted a passerby and asked - "When did Bombay become Mumbai?" If this was indeed true!!! Holy smokes!!! Another reporter catches a passerby who's walking, and asks him what he's doing. 'Walking', he says matter of factly.

The gross lack of responsibility in the media floats rumors, in a city already plagued by terror and uncertainty. The least the people with the power to reach a million others can do, would be to be responsible and try to help in solving the issue, and if they can't solve the issue, please stay away, and not complicate the lives of the law enforcement forces.

So while we have been watching this whole nefarious saga unfold, with the excitement and nervousness associated with a cricket match, the annoying chatar patar continues.