"How do you manage business objectives and social objectives?"

HEC Social Business Conference: Our Decision Today, Our Impact Tomorrow
Keynote speaker: Emmanuel Faber, Co-Chief Operating Officer, DANONE.

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A different reason for this recession

Why are we in a recession? An NBER paper by Ravi Jagannathan, Mudit Kapoor, Ernst Schaumburg.

In quotes:
"Arguing against conventional wisdom about the causes of the recession, the authors say that the inability of existing financial and legal institutions to cope with the huge increase in the world’s labour supply in a very short time period, led to the recession."

This paper is available as PDF (741 K) or via email.

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Turning the underprivileged into successful entrepreneurs!

Rediff.com: An effort inspired by the Prince of Wales, by Lakshmi Venktaraman Venkatesan, founding trustee and executive vice president of Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust, is the daughter of former President of India, the late R Venkataraman. The idea behind Bharatiya Yuva Shakti Trust (BYST) is (Read more..)

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Engineering with a Cause – Chewang Norphel, Ladakh

Meet Chaweng Norphel – better known as the Glacier Man of India, who has developed a simple technique to harvest water into an “Artificial Glacier” using simplest of locally found materials and pipes. Norphel has made seven such glaciers. One artificial glacier costs just $7,000, compared to $34,000 for a cement water reservoir! Read on..

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Corp Morality!

Did you read the text of the MBA oath being taken some months back (and even now..)? Something similar to the oath being taken by medical professionals.. Well, there is this surge of morality even in boardrooms and courts. (There was this judge getting down from the bench deciding the Ambani's case - because his daughter was legal advisor for another Ambani firm.) How much of it is cosmetic or real is something that varies from case to case - but the way it is being put forth in media is something appreciable. With Tata Tea doing a campaign on anti-corruption drives, and with Google being branded as the best place on earth to work ('Don't be evil!' is their motto) - life looks cleaner? Corporates forgot profit maximization? Corporate good or an illusion of public relation? One company recently donated a day's salary of all its employees to the Karnataka Government for relief work in floods - but no individual employee got the associated tax benefits from the company. Reason - the company was building a good relation with the labor ministry of the state and got incentives at the company level - with its employees' salary money - and no employee is directly involved! What do you say - good? Bad? Depends? Of course, this is a positive environment being built (or rebuilt?) and it will have its associated issues of implementation - but better few than none and better late than never! I am sure that the impact made in B-school blackboards and corporate boardrooms is going to be big. Recession corrections or just another passing fad?

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CleanTech Flight - First Flight Takes Off on Kerosene from Natural Gas

A Qatar Airways flight from London to Qatar has become the first passenger plane to be powered by cleaner-burning natural gas that was converted to kerosene. Click here.

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Confidence Picks Up in Clean Tech Funding: Report

Full article on the CleanTechies Site : Credits: 

Brief Pointer: Thank billions in government funding for helping to lift clean technology investment in the third quarter, said the Cleantech Group and Deloitte in a report Wednesday.

The quarterly analysis reiterated that the recession has kicked but not killed investments in this sector, which remain... (Full article)

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Six Sigma Lean v/s Theory of Constraints

Credits: Scribd.com User Puneet Mehta

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8 Reasons (You Never Thought Of) That Sustainability Will Change Management

By Michael S. Hopkins

As sustainability affects how the world works, so will it affect how business works in the world. Here are eight changes that smart managers are already talking about.  Click here for the full article

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The 15 Best Technology Podcasts - WebStudio13

by ANDREW RAN WONG on SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
Click here or on the image below

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BS - Indian Slums - a Research

Unlike the general impression, slums in major Indian cities not only represent complex political and social issues, but also generate a lot of local economic activities, a latest research by the prestigious Stanford Graduate School of Business has said.

"Indian slums are incredibly productive.. (Read Full Article on Business Standard).

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WSJ - Why Companies See Bright Prospects in Rural India

In late May, when India's GDP numbers were released, many were happily surprised. In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year (January-March 2009), the economy grew 5.8% against expectations of less than 5%. For the year, growth was 6.7%, less than the 9% recorded in 2007-2008, but still very (Read Full Article).

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ISB Talk - DEMYSTIFYING THE DRAGON

Brief: In a talk organised by the Emerging Markets club and the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital (EVC) club at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Ramakrishna Velamuri, Visiting Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at the ISB, spoke about ‘Demystifying the Dragon- What the world can learn from China’. Velamuri is also (read full article).

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Clean Tech - SSB Aug 09

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My post on the Headstart Network Blog

The August edition of Startup Saturday showcased two of the finest efforts in the domain of clean tech. While the term clean tech is in a lot of discussion, these days, there are a number of concepts that need clarifications, and when it comes to start-ups in clean tech, SSB is always at the forefront with its showcase! In fact, we had rush not just in nominations, but also amongst speakers and the demos in Lightning Pitches - we had more than we could accomodate and till the last minute, this kept us on our toes! So finally, NextGen PMS and AutoBoxx Automation were the ones that comprised the main demos and we had a number of speakers that made us decide about having a panel discussion. The concept of a panel discussion during an SS event was one of the two 'firsts' that we had  - the second one being mentioned next.

One of the newest feather in our cap was the concept of live streaming of the event, thanks to mobisy.com. The idea sprung up from the fact that we needed online videos of the event for archiving and streaming over the Net. In fact, our media partners have always been interested in having a copy of the part they have sponsored and live streaming really served this purpose.

Since this was an experimental effort this time, we have further efforts to improve the quality, lighting, timing and other related aspects of the video. View videos

­The way the volunteers have been supported by the people who attend SSB events was so clear when we faced a hitch in the mobile camera used for live streaming (it's battery went off!) and immediately, one of the members of the audience offered his phone's battery to continue the recording. Thanks to this spirit that SSB events have been so successful in Bangalore.

         

View more pics 

­ NextGen PMS are involved in the entire green chain, and are involved in estimating carbon waste footprints, and providing energy and emission efficiency measures and implementation plan. It was really a crisp presentation and Abhishek, who is the co-founder of the startup, interacted very well with the audience. He seemed to present a number of complicated topics in a very simplified manner to the group.

Think about managing energy in offices and houses and you got to talk to Ramandeep from Autoboxx Automation. They are not just into this but also in monitoring and tracking of company personnel, outsourced vendors as wel as customers. Their clientele includes banks retailers and telecom companies.

InOutAds was the first one to come up for the Lightning Pitches and went to showcase their approach towards connecting the folks who have places to advertise with the folks who have things to advertise. This was followed by Narahari from Presiding Tech India (They are primarily into Carbon credit and related activities), and Freeman who talked about the iAccelerator program at IIMA. Alleway Info talked about grooming the students entering the job market, and how they are not a placement agency but a source of well qualified and more than normal freshers in to the industry. Daniel from Daniel Power Systems was on stage with his wife and 3 month old kid and showcased his efforts at minimizing power thefts from the supply lines (not from homes) and at optimizing smart grids (without the hassles of having expensive smart switches at home/grids). MASH from IIMB presented the Marketing club efforts by the students and how they are coming up with innovative methods to reach more relevant people. They also mentioned briefly about the upcoming events at IIMB during the networking sessions.

The panel discussion was a very warm one with biggies like Vasudev Avdhani from the Tata Group,  Karthee Madaswamy from Qualcomm Ventures, Elmar Stroomer and Pradeep from Enviu, and Shashidhara K from Blueray Solar joining together with the audience to understand deeper aspects of opportunities in Clean Tech in India, and part of the discussion involved topics such as solar power, rechargeable dance floor, and hybrid autorickshaw project in India.

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­ We had a new concept of categorized business card collection and folks dropped their cards in to boxes with different labels such as web services, product based startups and so on. We also had a graffitti board up during the networking session for people to put in their thoughts about Startup Saturday events! Bangalore Mirror and StartupNews.in were present amongst the audience and did an excellent job of interacting with the audience. The audience enthu was brimming, and was visible during the networking session!

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Nothing But Zero: Nissan Electric Car

Text from Nissan's official site:

Zero emissions isn't a future endeavor. It isn't hype. It's happening.
Right now Nissan is doing everything it takes to make electric driving a daily reality. Starting with a pure electric car. Not a hybrid, not even a plug-in hybrid. But a zero-emission electric vehicle made for the real world of highways, morning commutes and everyday living.

USA Today's Review: Click Here

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The Next Energy Innovators - BW

BusinessWeek and GreenBiz.com have assembled a list of 25 intriguing energy startups, including young companies that tap geothermal heat, turn waste into biodiesel, and more By Pete Engardio and Adam Aston (Full Story)

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I want to dream..

"jaage hain der tak
hamen kuch der sone do
thodi si raat aur hai
subah to hone do...
aadhe adhure khwaab jo
pure na ho sake
ek baar phir se neend mein
woh khwaab bone do"

Contact me for a translation, in case you didn't get the meaning.

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Dearth of Product Companies in India - repeat call!?

One of my articles published on the NSRCEL Blog

We were lucky as well as unlucky to have missed the industrial revolution during its birth pangs - we got the stuff once it was already in a shape in the west. If it was the first car that was made or the first record player that played music, the entirety of products came up in some form in the west. This had a dual effect of having some form of product on the one hand (acceleration of technology use in the society) and forgetting to develop newer products in the country. We always had a thought that the product gets developed in the west and then it is migrated in an appropriate form to countries like India. (In fact, if a Indian product really comes up, it is not looked at with the same respect as the one born outside the country!) And now with folks like Friedmann singing about the services industry, the media and the public in general are in a euphoria of being the services capital of the globe, forgetting and unfortunately, ignoring the importance of product development in India. The number of original products developed in India has been very less, in comparison to the other aspects of industry. Well, we need to look at the long term effects of this assumed 'high'!

Whether it be post-independence economic policies, or a rush to get richer quicker by providing services (rather than wait for the full development cycle of a product), there are numerous reasons to look at. But the time has come when indegenous products from India have to be honored, with services being looked as the cream on the milk.

How do you think most developed countries have been able to remain competitive? According to NSF (National Science Foundation, USA), “High-technology industries are driving economic growth around the world”.

Although a lot has started happening in encouraging products as the main motive for development, we have to push the pedal harder. “Even during the recent, slow-growth, ‘post-bubble’ period (2000–03), high-technology industry continued to lead global growth at about four times the rate of all other manufacturing industries.”

Is this article dated by a few years - because it seems, that with people like Mahindra, Tata and Bharat Forge, we do have a product oriented approach!? Well, this article, is not really dated - it is just a reminder for the intense focus that we need to have when we go ahead with products. The definition of product from being a physical entity has been shattered. We need to have the central idea that can materialize into a definite form, and that can by itself sustain the services industry that we are proud of.

To quote a random internet user (login Dharma - no link):

Its hard to build product companies when the markets for these products are elsewhere. Now, with India emerging as a major market for high-tech products/services, its only a matter of time before we have some product-based entrepreneurial success stories coming out of India. I personally know several different entrepreneurs in B’lore working on ambitious product ventures. What is needed now is a combination of (1) govt regulation, (2) infrastructure development, and (3) seed/early-stage support from “mentor” funds/VCs to nurture this budding ecosystem. The service companies have done a great job building up Brand India, and the folks who have made lots of money in the process have an unique opportunity to give back to Indian IT by helping with (3) above.

We do not want to undermine the software services companies - they have contributed brilliantly to the economy - we just should not over-enthusiastic with this and tend to lose a product oriented approach.

Again, quoting Sramana Mitra, in an address to IITians:

In the last decade, IT has sucked all other engineering disciplines dry of their best minds. Even the IIT Civil Engineers and Mechanical Engineers are writing low-level software for Oracle or IBM. If you continue at this rate, none of the other major disciplines will get their rightful share of leadership that is your responsibility to provide.

This may look like a repeat call for a product based economy - but in today's world, it does have its significance.

Any thoughts!?

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'Closer-to-life' Tech

One of my articles published on the NSRCEL Blog

With the buzz about cleantech going around, it seems to be very interesting to find companies investing more and more technologies that are closer to the survival issues of living beings. What started as a revolution in the auto industry with the introduction of diesel and gasoline as the driving fuels for automobiles, has now turned into a simmering source of pollutants that very well threaten the climate around us. It is like all the oil in the oil wells of the globe has been spread out horizontally over the earth through numerous vehicles and has been put on fire.

What exactly does the word clean mean in the term cleantech? Is is clean with respect to the harmful substances spewed by any process or is it the re-cyclability factor of any substance that makes it 'clean'? Apart from the auto industry, there are thousands of other processes which need to employ cleaner technologies and we have seem some improvements due to cleaner methods being used. If you look at the textlie industry, or at the pharma industry, there are numerous holes to be plugged. We are sitting in a room that is fast getting filled up with water and while we are busy plugging the bigger holes, the smaller holes are getting bigger.

When you look at startups and cleantech together, it seems to be a major fad that people are going with. With numerous b-plans that bank upon emerging technologies and industries, based on principles of biology, resource efficiency, and second-generation production concepts in basic industries. To begin with, there is an estimation of the human-caused results of industrialization - examples include: ozone hole, acid rain, desertification, and global warming.
In the 2007 report compiled by Dow Jones VentureSource, numbers show a strengthening trend in clean technology investments worldwide. A record sum of over $3 billion was poured into 221 clean clean technology deals globally in 2007, representing a 43% increase compared to $2.1 billion in 2006.
Looking on the innovations side, people are going to the very limits of their imagination - we have a working model of a battery that sustains itself on 'air'! (Have a look here.) The new design has the potential to improve the performance of portable electronic products and give a major boost to the renewable energy industry. The batteries will enable a constant electrical output from sources such as wind or solar, which stop generating when the weather changes or night falls.
We are moving closer to sustainability - we got to maintain balance - for, like all of us, our planet too is vulnerable beyond an extent! Any thoughts?!