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Transcript of LEntrpreneur_June_July_2012
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LENTREPRENEUR June-July 2012
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LENTREPRENEUR June-July 2012
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A few years ago, society expected people to have unimpeachable characters, and it was considered a compli-
ment if a letter of recommendation had a statement that was built on the lines of a quiet hard-working per-
son. Now, generally speaking, such a statement would spell doom.
Times have changed. Introverts are as abundant as before, but introversion is not fashionable. This is largely
because we are no longer working with people whom we have known all our lives. Impressions must be
made. Boasting is required and expected. Contacts must be built quickly. Be assertive and opinionated is
the motto of the day.
But does this imply that introverts are less capable than extroverts when becoming entrepreneurs? In the
modest opinion of this writer there is no such boundary. Amongst other things, the core traits that an entre-
preneur is expected to have in him is creativity, leadership, knowledge, determination, integrity, courage and
patience.
SILENCE OF THE LIONS
BY JAYANTH
Research in organizational behavior has shown that though introverts take more time to be leaders, they make
better leaders for the simple reason that they are more open to ideas. In the thrill of the moment extroverts
tend to impose their additions and opinions on the creative ideas of others, often dampening and discouraging
it. Furthermore, introverts tend to be more thoughtful, and so they often work harder and are more knowl-
edgeable than extroverts. And determination and grit is hardly a characteristic that is restricted to any one set
of people. Surprisingly, it has also been found that introverts tend to lie less often than extroverts.
When we read about poets, writers, painters and others who are often considered the most creative class of
people, the common thread in their lives is that they were at their most creative when they were hearing the
voices of their souls. Silence and peace was the birthplace of their creativity.
Then why does society reflexively react negatively to introverts who wish to be entrepreneurs? Why do most
introverts feel that entrepreneurship is not their cup of tea? Given the current economic scenarios, the
thoughtful, cautious and risk-averse introvert who takes the next step only after thoroughly consolidating the
previous one may often succeed better than others.
Picture Credit : denisewakeman.com
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Is it then, simply a social paradigm that we often absorb and inflict on ourselves? Perhaps it is.
But if we, from our hearts want to make a name for ourselves, if we feel that we should strike out a path of
our own, a road less travelled by, is it not required that we break such rules and be precisely that element of
change which is what all entrepreneurs are?
A few decades ago, there was a change in the work culture, a sudden, dazzling, unexpected and powerful
change that lead to the present open-door policies, group activities, team building strategies and so on. Now
again, after the recession, after innumerable scams and downfalls, there is another change, a silent, unassum-
ing, steady change from the past noise and hubris to an environment where people are given importance, irre-
spective of their preferences in their work culture.
To those of us who are introverts, and who have felt the discordance between social expectations and per-
sonal preferences, there is an example of a particular introvert. He brought about a change that affected an
entire country, and he led them in that revolution. Mahatma Gandhi was an introvert. He led and took the
limelight, because he felt it was required, because he believed in the change that he eventually brought about.
And people followed him because they sensed that belief, and knew that he was not a man who was on stage
merely because he liked to be seen. In the few videos of his that are available, where he was in front of a
camera and was expected to face it, his discomfort is clearly visible. And yet he did what he did, and he did it
so well, that we all know of it.
And there are many more such examples, Martin Luther King was an introvert, and many religious leaders
whose teachings are remembered and followed even after centuries and millennia show characteristics of
introverts.
So, are we introverts capable of bringing something new to the world? Are we capable of forging a life for
ourselves? Do we have it in us to go against the flow?
Perhaps it is time that we brought about a change in social institutions; schools should allow introverted chil-
dren to learn at their own pace, instead of forcing them into group activities and team work that would actu-
ally inhibit them. Offices need not insist on glass walls and open doors, and allow introverts the silence and
privacy that lets them work best.
There is much to be done, and we need everyone to work together, extroverts and introverts.
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ALUMNI SPEAK : A FAILED VENTURE THATSHELPING ME SUCCEED
BY ANUSHA SAXENA
I am a failed entrepreneur and this is the story of how
my failure is helping me shape my future. I failed but
never gave up on my dream. After all, failure is the
first step towards success. Not everybody who's any-
body got to the top today with overnight success. His-
tory proves more often than not that success only
comes after one has faced numerous obstacles, thusforced to work harder and smarter. What matters is
not getting disheartened and looking for ways to
bounce back.
I start the story of my entrepreneurial journey by talk-
ing a little about myself and why I wanted to become
an entrepreneur. I come from a service class family-
simple living, simple aspirations. Even though every-
body in my family is well-established and making
good money for themselves, the fact that they were
working so hard for others (their bosses) bothered me.
Even though they were good at what they did, they
were all doing it to make someone else earn more
money from it! Everyone in the family had the same
story except for my maternal uncle. He is a successful
entrepreneur with a well established Delhi based IT
Services MNC of his own. I always loved the fact that
he didnt have to work for anybody but himself! True
he worked longer and harder than others, but then the
benefits he reaped were also higher. His independ-
ence, his confidence, his sense of ownership all in-
spired me and soon I began to make plans of estab-
lishing my own company. I wanted to be my own
boss, and make a career doing what I loved. All I
needed was one opportunity.
Opportunity came knocking when I was fresh out of
school and barely 2-3 months into my under-
graduation.
I started freelancing to earn some pocket money.
Three of my batch mates were also doing similar
kind of freelance work. So, we decided to pool our
skills together and started our own IT company
called TranceVista Solutions which provided soft-
ware and corporate designing solutions. We decided
to run it while we were still in college so that by thetime we graduate, well already have a successful
business in hand. So, I was an entrepreneur at the
young age of 17!
We were young, talented and extremely excited to
get going. I took up the responsibility of managing
Marketing, Sales and Finances. Projects started
pouring in through our contacts and in less than a
year we were able to break even. As we provided
services at a very low cost and in very little time,
we quickly gathered a loyal clientele. Good busi-
ness, great clients, fast progress - We were on a
roll! A year into our operations, we decided to ex-
pand a little and scale up. We added branding ser-
vices and digital marketing to our portfolio and
that's when the trouble started. Between us four
partners, we split the responsibility for one vertical
each. Since the other three were technical people, I
took up the responsibility of handling the entire
branding services as well as marketing for the com-
pany as a whole.
We were sailing through when a year down the line,
one of the partners decided to split from the com-
pany, since she wanted to chart off on her own
course. The rest of us knew that work was too
much for the three of us to handle while we were
still in college, but somehow we were a little
I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. Thomas Edison
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skeptical about bringing in a new partner and decided
to somehow manage the work within the three of us.
Thats when things got really bad. Unable to complete
projects on time, we began to lose out on clients and
fall behind on our finances. This also affected our stud-ies and we began to lag behind in our grades. Our little
dreamboat was somehow sinking and the more we tried
to make it better, the worse it turned. To cut the long
story short, after 2.5 years in business, our once strong
business had no projects, no finances and a bad market
reputation when we were not even 20 years old! We
realized that we werent well equipped to run a com-
pany on our own at that point, and decided to close
operations and go our separate ways. I and one other
partner decided to pursue our MBAs and the third part-
ner went off to Amritsar to look for work. So, that was
R.I.P. TranceVista.
Now, you must be thinking, Why the hell am I reading
a failure story when this magazine wants to inspire me
to become an entrepreneur?
Well, this is not a story of failure. Like the title says,
my failed venture has actually helped me succeed.
There is only one thing that makes a dream im-
possible to achieve: the fear of failure.
For starters, it leaves a great impression on anybody
when I tell them, Well yeah I am not even 25, but I
have already been the CMO of a company! Secondly,
even at work, my bosses and my seniors notice that I
have this ownership quality inside me as well as the
ability to multitask, which I did learn from Trance-
Vista. This has helped me grow immensely in my ca-
reer as I am being entrusted with many important re-
sponsibilities. Last but most importantly, I havent
given up on being an entrepreneur at all. In fact I am
more determined than ever to bounce back even
stronger! I know where I went wrong and have been
trying to fill in the gaps ever since. As soon as I am set
to start off on a new venture, Ill know what needs to
be done and what needs to be given a miss.
And the story doesnt end there. My third partner,
who went off to Amritsar in search of work, actually
ended up partnering with another small term entre-
preneur and he has now revived TranceVista as
TranceServe in Amritsar (Visit my friend Balwant
Singh at www.tranceserve.com)! The company cur-
rently caters to clients all over the world with a vari-
ety of IT services and has created over 40 odd jobs
and growing. Now thats what you call rising back
from the ashes! A true entrepreneur, Balwant is now
expanding to international markets and trying to
setup offices at Canada and London.
Hence, the inspiration you get from my story is- Do
not give up! Every time you fail, you discover a
new way of how not to do things. Dont define fail-
ure as loss, instead define it as an opportunity to
learn from your mistakes. Try and fill in your gaps
and start afresh. I am certain; youll always come
across new opportunities even if one passes you by.
Signing off, I will see you all when I setup my new
office, for a new venture in the new future!
Failure is temporary. Quitting Lasts Forever.
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THE HUMAN RESOURCES SOLUTIONSTHE HUMAN RESOURCES SOLUTIONSTHE HUMAN RESOURCES SOLUTIONSTHE HUMAN RESOURCES SOLUTIONS
INDUSTRYINDUSTRYINDUSTRYINDUSTRY
BY SUJITHA
Introduction:
The HR solutions industry may be defined as the re-
wards derived from any decisions on buying services
for any part of the human capital value chain. The past
few years have seen a tremendous growth in the Indian
HR solutions industry. This significant growth has beenbrought about by a change in the mindset of many or-
ganizations in following terms:
Many fast growing companies are increasingly engag-
ing the services of HR consultants to meet their ever-
growing HR needs. As companies grow and diversify,
they want employees with the relevant experience to
make the growth transition easy and successful. How-
ever, many times their internal HR system fails to
source candidates from the large and geographically
diversified pool of talent and hence, in such situations
the companies rely on external sources.
This change in sourcing and mindset has lead to more
and more companies now partnering with global re-
cruitment firms to access the global talent database and
source the right candidates.
The people driven service industry has been witnessing
a double digit growth . This industry has a large man-
power requirement that cannot be fulfilled by the in-
house HR department and hence more and more service
industry players prefer to outsource the manpower
requirementfunction to consultants and enable their in-
house HR department to focus on core and strategic HR
activities.
Temporary staffing which was global growing
HR trend is finally catching up in India. The tem-
porary staffing industry is of about US $140 bil-
lion worldwide. However, on the domestic front,
the number is very small. The scenarios is how-
ever set to change as more and more companies
are now tying up with consultancies and hencethe experts expect that very soon 2.5-3% of the
workforce in our country would be hired on a
temporary basis.
The present HR market place in India includes
individual freelancers, start-ups, small and me-
dium players as well as large Indian companies
and MNCs. The size of the HR market place was
INR 228 billion in 2011 and it has grown at a
CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of
21% in 2008-2011. The industry is divided into
three segments Permanent recruitment, Tempo-
rary recruitment and other segments.
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The HR solutions industry comprises of three seg-
ments:
1.Permanent Recruitment
2.Temporary Recruitment
3. Other SegmentsPermanent and Temporary recruitment together com-
prise of 86% of the overall market size, with tempo-
rary recruitment holding 73% of the market share as it
also includes pass through salary cost. Temporary
recruitment holds 13% of the market share and in-
cludes net fees from each successful referral.
The others segment includes small and emerging HR
offerings such as:
Payroll administration (producing checks, han-
dling taxes dealing with sick-time and vaca-
tion), employee benefits (health, life insurance,
medical etc)
Outsourcing of recruitment process
HR Management and consulting
Training of employees
Online job portals
PERMANENT RECRUITMENT:
Permanent recruitment is estimated to be a market of
value between INR 28-31 million. This segment has
been further divided into Executive search and Re-cruitment. Executive search is conducted for the
niche category of posts and is focused on hiring of
CXO level of positions in an organization. Recruit-
ment refers to hiring for mid and junior level posi-
tions.
Permanent recruitment as a process of sourcing con-
sists of three steps screening, selection and on-
boarding, with sourcing being the most important
step as it involves short listing and attracting the
right kind of candidates. Sourcing of candidates is
done through campus selection, employment agen-
cies, internal referrals and job portals. Of all these
sources, internal referrals and employment agencies
account for more than 65% of the candidate sourcing
process. Sourcing through employment agencies is
now becoming a popular trend and has currently a
30% share.
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TEMPORARY RECRUITMENT:
The temporary recruitment market is of a value of
INR 172 billion. Temporary recruitment is when a
temporary work agency finds and retains workers,
while other companies in need of short-term workers
enter a contract with the agency to send temporary
workers on assignment. Temporary workers are usu-
ally used in industries whose business is of cyclical
nature and hence require frequent adjustments of
staffing levels.
Based on the skills of the temporary workers, the tem-
porary recruitment market can be divided into three
segments- Professional Staffing, General Staffing:
White Collar, General Staffing: Blue Collar.
Professional Staffing: This segment consists of staff-
ing company providing temporary skilled profession-
als on their payroll to large companies that typically
operate in the IT and engineering sectors. These are
technically proficient workers such as web develop-
ers, planners etc.
General Staffing: White Collar: This segment consists
of staffing company providing temporary skilled labor
on their payroll to large companies operating in the
ITeS, telecom and retail sector. These are usually peo-
ple with basic or generic training. General staff sala-
ries typically range between INR 10000-INR 13000
per month.
General Staffing: Blue Collar: This segment of staff-
ing company provides a large number of temporary
employees to factories and plants. These workers
typically include labor and are paid minimum wages
applicable in the state where the company operates.
OTHER SEGMENTS:
Recruitment Process Outsourcing: In RPO, the pro-
vider takes care of the companys internal recruit-
ment function for all or part of its recruitment activi-
ties, e.g., sourcing of the right candidates, screening
them through tests and interviews, selection of can-
didates based on screening results, on-boarding and
training. RPO is a service that is not yet developed
in India but many consultants are expecting compa-
nies to adopt the outsourcing model to survive com-
petition during a downturn. Since RPO is an annuity,
so most of the large recruitment firms are expected
to offer it as a part of their portfolios.
Payroll Processing and Compliance: Payroll out-
sourcing involves analyzing of organizational data,
computation of gross salaries, TDS, allowances,
reimbursements of expenses and filling of TDS.
Payroll being a complex and non-core activity is
generally outsourced by companies. This space is
dominated by large MNC due to concerns relating to
sensitive personal data sharing and the ability to
provide end-to-end solutions. Contracts in payroll
are generally offered for fixed fees of INR 100-150
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per employee.
Online Job Portals: Job websites help to list jobs ac-
cording to different classifications. Through a job
website, an employee can locate and fill out a job
application, submit resumes to the database which is
accessed by recruiters for any job opening that has not
been advertised. Online job portals are a success for
sourcing resumes at the junior level as in such posi-
tions, quick turnaround time is of prime importance
but at the middle level companies usually prefer con-
sultants.
Employment Training: Employment training refers to
high value corporate training provided to upgrade the
skills of the employees and make them productive
from the time they come on-board. However, training
contracts with the private sector are not long term in
nature and the revenues thus earned are non-sticky.
The Road Ahead:
The HR industry being highly competitive is poised
for enormous growth in the next 10 years as more
and more companies increase their investment in
their HR infrastructure. A lot many companies have
now realized the importance of getting the right
candidates to undertake complex tasks and out-
source non-core activities. Companies that were
earlier reluctant to engage external vendors are now
considering HR consultants as their partners in
achieving their organizational goals and objectives.
Hence, the HR industry is looking forward to inter-
esting times and the overall sector is expected to
keep innovating and evolving towards exponential
growth.
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EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: THE BULLETEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: THE BULLETEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: THE BULLETEMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: THE BULLETOR ANOTHER CHANCE?OR ANOTHER CHANCE?OR ANOTHER CHANCE?OR ANOTHER CHANCE?
BY EUGENE CYRIL
On one regular day in the underworld, around noon, a
worker barges into the chamber of his boss who is
surrounded by guards with AK 47s , interrupting the
bosss lavish lunch. The worker is panting and breath-
less but still manages to sputter these words Maalik,
Kuch Buri Khabar he .. Hum nakamiyab ho
gaye ,aapke mission pe.(Boss,theres a bad newsI
wasnt successful on the mission that you assigned
me). The boss without even reacting, takes his pistol
from the drawer and shoots the worker dead. Declar-
ing for the nth time Hume Buri khabar pasand nai
he!!(I do not like bad news) A typical scene from the
olden days of Indian Cinema isnt it? What if the
same were the state of employees in the organization
that you work for? Obviously not in the exact same
brutality, but the importance of an employee be so
meager that he gets a firing or even gets fired at the
smallest mistake that he does.
What we will be stressing on, in this article is not
how to keep the boss happy even in bad times but
rather how to keep the employees happy so that the
bad times never happen. The concept ofEmployee
Engagement is now being considered seriously by
organizations keeping in mind the ever looming Eco-
nomic downturn. Employee Engagement is the con-
cept wherein employees have such emotional attach-
ment toward their job, colleagues and Organization
that they are highly enthusiastic to do everything they
can for the benefit of the internal and external cus-
tomers and for the success of the organization. Dur-
ing my tenure as an Engineer in Wipro Technologies,
there are very few moments that I will never forget
and I know that these moments are the ones which
motivated me throughout.
Employee perceptions of job importance :
One day, my manager handed me a testing project
which was very critical for the customer . The
reason why I bagged the project was that this pro-
ject dealt with direct customer interaction which
according to my manger I was excellent at even
though I was the junior most member of the team.
I did this job so well that the customer was ultra-
delighted. This concept can be attributed to
Employee perceptions of job importance the
most important part of Employee Engagement
wherein an employee contributes his best when he
knows that the job he is doing is important for the
organization.
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Career advancement opportunity
On one instance, I was promised an onsite opportu-
nity at Canada in case I finish a particular designing
part well. Going onsite would be a major career ad-
vancement for me and that too at such an early stageof my career. This Career advancement opportunity
was a strong motivation to take up that design job
very sincerely but fate had other plans, I got an ad-
mission into IBS after I completed the task.
Regular feedback and dialogue with superiors
During my tenure as the President of the youth wing
of Delhi Charismatic services, the scenario was dif-
ferent. In this case, I was the leader; I was responsi-ble for keeping my team members Engaged. One of
the lessons that I learnt during that time was that ap-
preciating the someones work was a great motiva-
tion factor. At the end of any major event, I used to
go up to every single team member and congratulate
them for the successful event, however minor their
contribution may be. This instilled in them the feel-
ing of being responsible for their work and the same
team would be more than ready to work hard and
take up responsibilities at the next event which would
come.
This behavior can be attributed to concept of
Regular feedback and dialogue with superiors
which is another driver for employee engagement.
Employee EmpowermentAnother lesson that I learnt as President was that if
you hand a member, any responsibility and allow
the person to take decisions instead of holding on
to the control then it results in them taking the
complete ownership for the task. During one of
the concerts when the concert tickets were being
sold all over Delhi, I had appointed a coordinator
from among my team to coordinate with the sales
team and motivate them to reach the target sales ifthe sales were slacking. He was given complete
freedom to divide the sales team and handing them
specific areas and setting the targets depending on
the areas. His only responsibility towards me
would be to report the sales figures at regular in-
tervals. The Coordinator did such a fantastic job
with the team and one of the accomplishments that
stood out was that the Coordinator himself had
sold the maximum number of tickets in his loca-
tion hence generating the maximum revenue for
the concert. This phenomenon can be attributed
towards the concept of Employee Empowerment
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Mehnat ka phal meetha hota he Sambha! (The
fruits of labour are indeed sweet):
Motivated Employees are more oriented towards the
success of the organization rather than just surviving
to earn their salaries.
Better Results: Motivated employees perform better,
leading to better results.
Loyalty to organization: when an organization takes so
much effort to improve employee experience, the em-
ployee wants to stay on much longer in the company.
Better coordination between management and employ-
ees: Since there is constant dialogue between the boss
and employees, the boss has a clear understanding of
the performance of the employee and employee has a
clear understanding of the expectations.
Greater Ownership: The employee takes complete
ownership of the task rather than just completing his
own task and leaving the rest to others
Succession plan : It helps in identifying potential lead-
ers, especially employee empowerment gives employ-ees a chance to show their leadership and decision
making skills.
The Climax with a Twist:
On an afternoon on a sunny day. In the middle of no-
where, a furious dacoit leader asks his trembling
worker, who has recently failed in the mission as-
signed to him :
Tera kya hoga Kaliya?(What will be your
fate,Kaliya?)
The trembling Kaliya, on the verge of a nervous
breakdown now stutters :
Sardar,Maine apka namak Khaya he
Sardar(Boss ,I am loyal to you only) .
The scorching sun burning down on Kaliya increas-
ing his anxiety multifold. Sweating profusely what
could be his last and final beads of sweat depending
only on the mercy of his master. The leader surpris-
ingly replies
Koi baat nai Kaliya, Agli baar dhang se kaam
karna. Jab ye kaam kar dega, tho me tujhe Ramgadh
ka Sardar bana dunga (Not a problem,Kaliya try to
complete the task next time,if you do,I will make
you the leader of Ramgadh village)
This would be the real essence of employee engage-
ment not in the exact same niceness, but the organi-
zation understands the value of its employee. The
employee is given more than one chance to prove
himself. This rational thinking, human touch and
empathy binds the employee and the organization in
a bond that is stronger, lasts longer and motivates
the employee to work towards the organizations
betterment .
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SENSORY MARKETING
BY JYOTI MEGOTIA
Everything Consumers Experience is the Result of Sensory Stimulus. If we have 5 senses, why not use
them?
Coffee in a coffee shop tastes better than at coffee at home. Food at restaurants taste better than food made
by our mothers. Where does the difference lie ? Is it the difference in recipe or in ingredients ? Perhaps. Or
perhaps, the difference comes from the experience that one encounters at these places. It is all about the five
senses that are engaged together to bring out a long lasting emotional connection. This is what Sensory
Marketing is all about.
In order to compete, retailers have transformed from conventional marketing to sensory marketing where
they create multi-sensory environments which have a long lasting effect on customers mind. Competitors
can copy the product quality or pricing strategy of others, but one can be different by striking the emotional
chord of customer. This influences the perception, attitude and decision making behavior of the customer.
This is what creates a powerful brand.
Retailer branding is not a new concept, so what has pushed it to come to limelight ? The difference between
retail branding and other types of branding is SPACE. You can see retail space at each and every corner of
your city, be it a music shop, supermarket, home dcor etc.
Any retail space should be able to attract the customer to enter the space and make them spend more. This
can be done using a different mix to appeal to the five senses sound, touch, taste, sight, and scent. There
should be appropriate mix of these elements otherwise they can act as negative element for retailers.
A study by Millward, Brown & M. Lindstrom shows that the number of senses appealed to
are correlated with the perceived value of the product.
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So, let us start with the effect that SOUND can make. According to a researcher ,the background music
has lot of effect on consumers wait time, spending pattern, and turnover rate. The retailer should choose the
pace of sound carefully according to their type of business. For example in a restaurant the music should be
slow which will increase the spending of the customer( which will be decreased by fast music) whereas in
clothing section for teens need music which is full of energy. Retailers should also take care of distracting
sound from outside like of tariff.
How do you select a shirt or a handbag for yourself? Just getting a look of it is sufficient for you? I dont
think so- here the importance of TOUCH comes into picture. The touch of the product gets directly linked
to our brain which releases a hormone called Oxytocin which changes our perception and the confidence in
the quality of product. So it depends on retailers - how they choose to enhance the experience of their cus-
tomers. iPod Touch is a MP3 player which should target sound as an avenue for sensory marketing but
Apple added Touch word which itself created some emotional connection in customer before even listening
to the sound quality of the MP3.
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When you cross a restaurant what it that attracts you towards it ? the SMELL. A human being can recognize
10,000 fragrances, it is said, and 75% of his emotions are generated by what he smells. It is not only about
product fragrance but also environment in which the product is kept. This element can be used by any type of
retail shop. For example ,Sony uses the fragrance of Vanilla, Cedar and Mandarin which enhances the buying
behavior of customer.
Many of us go for window shopping and at times we are unconsciously tempted to enter the shop and buy the
product- that is because of the VISUAL effect created by the combination of color, architecture and design of
the space.
Last, but not the least is TASTE. It is the most important element for edible brands. When you enter an ice-
cream parlor you can taste and choose the ice cream you want. But the retailer should be careful because
when the customer tastes a large variety he gets confused and ends up choosing nothing. But taste is not only
limited to edible brands but the products like lipstick have also targeted taste element to make it even more at-
tractive.
Sensory marketing is now not just limited to the retail show room. It has been incorporated into online market-
ing. Even though it is very difficult to incorporate the smell, touch and taste element in online marketing, it is
not impossible. The most important weapon with the retailer is Words which when efficiently and cleverly
used , can create magic. By use of proper words the retailer can evoke the emotion virtually and the customer
will feel as if the experience is genuine.
All these have one thing in common - all elements are targeted to satisfy the needs of the customer. The retail-
ers need to understand their product and work upon it to make more appealing to the customer so that they are
attracted to it. Those that are able to make emotional connection with the product become loyal customers after
all. Sensory branding is one area which is still to be tapped efficiently by retailers and by using the best combi-
nation of these five senses, customers and retailers can be benefit simultaneously.
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The Indian retail industry is divided into organized
and unorganized sectors. Organized retailing refers
to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers,
that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income
tax, etc. These include the corporate-backed hyper-
markets and retail chains, and also the privately
owned large retail businesses. Unorganized retailing,
on the other hand, refers to the traditional formats of
low-cost retailing, for example, the local kirana
shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi
shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement
vendors, etc. Indias retail sector is wearing new
clothes and is the fastest growing sector in the Indian
economy. With growing market demand, the indus-
try is expected to grow at a pace of 25-30% annu-
ally. The Indian retail industry has grown at a Com-
pounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13.3% for
the period FY06-10.
Traditional markets are making way for new formats
such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, super-
markets and specialty stores. Western-style malls
have begun appearing in metros and second-rung
cities alike, introducing the Indian consumer to an
unparalleled shopping experience. The Indian retail
sector is highly fragmented with 94 per cent of its
business being run by the unorganized retailers like
the traditional family run stores and corner stores.
The organized retail however is at a very nascent stage
though attempts are being made to increase its propor-
tion to 14-15 per cent by the year 2013 bringing in a
huge opportunity for prospective new players. The sec-
tor is the largest source of employment after agricul-
ture, and has deep penetration into rural India generat-
ing more than 10 per cent of Indias GDP. Over the
past few years, the retail sales in India are hovering
around 33-35 per cent of GDP as compared to around
20 per cent in the US.
The last few years witnessed immense growth by this
sector, the key drivers being changing consumer profile
and demographics, increase in the number of interna-
tional brands available in the Indian market, economic
implications of the Government increasing urbaniza-
tion, credit availability, improvement in the infrastruc-
ture, increasing investments in technology and real
estate building a world class shopping environment for
the consumers. In order to keep pace with the increas-
ing demand, there has been a hectic activity in terms ofentry of international labels, expansion plans, and focus
on technology, operations and processes.
OVERVIEW OF THE RETAIL INDUSTRY
- CONTRIBUTED BY THE INCUBE TEAM OF MAON
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This has lead to more complex relationships involving
suppliers, third party distributors and retailers, which
can be dealt with the help of an efficient supply chain. A
proper supply chain will help meet the competition head
-on, manage stock availability; supplier relations, newvalue-added services, cost cutting and most importantly
reduce the wastage levels in fresh produce.
Large Indian players like Reliance, K Rahejas, Bharti
AirTel, ITC and many others are making significant
investments in this sector leading to emergence of big
retailers who can bargain with suppliers to reap econo-
mies of scale. Hence, discounting is becoming an ac-
cepted practice. Proper infrastructure is a pre-requisitein retailing, which would help to modernize India and
facilitate rapid economic growth. This would help in
efficient delivery of goods and value-added services to
the consumer making a higher contribution to the GDP.
International retailers see India as the last retailing fron-
tier left as the Chinas retail sector is becoming satu-
rated. However, the Indian Government restrictions on
the FDI are creating ripples among the internationalplayers like Wal-Mart, Tesco and many other retail gi-
ants struggling to enter Indian markets. As of now the
Government has allowed only 51 per cent FDI in the
sector to one-brand shops like Nike, Reebok etc.
However, other international players are taking
alternative routes to enter the Indian retail market
indirectly via strategic licensing agreement, fran-
chisee agreement and cash and carry wholesale
trading (since 100 per cent FDI is allowed inwholesale trading).
Retailing Formats
Modern retailing has entered India in form of
sprawling malls and huge complexes offering
shopping, entertainment, leisure to the consumer
as the retailers experiment with a variety of for-
mats, from discount stores to supermarkets to
hypermarkets to specialty chains.
However, kiranas still continue to score over
modern formats primarily due to the convenience
factor. The organized segment typically com-
prises of a large number of retailers, greater en-
forcement of taxation mechanisms and better la-
bour law monitoring system. It's no longer about
just stocking and selling but about efficient sup-
ply chain management, developing vendor rela-
tionship quality customer service, efficient mer-
chandising and timely promotional campaigns.
The modern retail formats are encouraging devel-
opment of well-established and efficient supply
chains in each segment ensuring efficient move-
ment of goods from farms to kitchens, which will
result in huge savings for the farmers as well as
for the nation. The Government also stands to
gain through more efficient collection of tax reve-
nues. Along with the modern retail formats, the
non-store retailing channels are also witnessed
action with HUL initiated Sangam Direct, a direct
to home service. Network marketing has been
growing quite fast and has a few large players
today. Gas stations are seeing action in the form
of convenience stores, ATMs, food courts and
pharmacies appearing in many outlets. In the
coming years it can be said that the hypermarket
route will emerge as the most preferred format for
international retailers stepping into the country.
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At present, there are 50 hypermarkets operated by
four to five large retailers spread across 67 cities ca-
tering to a population of half-a-million or more. Esti-
mates indicate that this sector will have the potential
to absorb many more hypermarkets in the next four to
five years.
Traditionally, the small store (kirana) retailing has
been one of the easiest ways to generate self-
employment, as it requires minimum investments in
terms of land, labour and capital. These stores are not
affected by the modern retailing as it is still consid-
ered very convenient to shop. In order to keep pace
with the modern formats, kiranas have now started
providing more value-added services like stocking
ready to cook vegetables and other fresh produce.
They also provide services like credit, phone service,
home delivery etc.
The organized retailing has helped in promoting sev-
eral niche categories such as packaged fruit juices,
hair creams, fabric bleaches, shower gels, depilatory
products and convenience and health foods, which aregenerally not found in the local kirana stores.
Looking at the vast opportunity in this sector, big
players like Reliance and K. Rahejas has announced
its plans to become the country's largest modern re-
tainers by establishing a chain of stores across all ma-
jor cities. Apart from metro cities, several small towns
like Nagpur, Nasik, Ahmedabad, Aurangabad,
Sholapur, Kolhapur and Amravati as witnessing the
expansion of modern retails. Small towns in
Maharashtra are emerging as retail hubs for large
chain stores like Pantaloon Retail because many
small cities like Nagpur have a student population,
lower real estate costs, fewer power cuts and
lower levels of attrition. However, retailers need
to adjust their product mix for smaller cities, as
they tend to be more conservative than the metros.
In order for the market to grow in modern retail, it
is necessary that steps are taken for rewriting laws,
restructuring the tax regime, accessing and devel-
oping new skills and investing significantly in
India.
Types of Retail Business
1. Food and grocery retail
The food business in India is largely unorganized
adding up to barely Rs.400 billion, with other
large players adding another 50 per cent to that.
The All India food consumption is close to
Rs.9000 billion, with the total urban consumption
being around Rs.3300 billion. This means that
aggregate revenues of large food players is cur-
rently only 5 per cent of the total Indian market,
and around 15-20 per cent of total urban food con-
sumption. Most food is sold in the local wet mar-
ket, vendors, roadside push cart sellers or tiny
kirana stores. According to McKinsey report, the
share of an Indian household's spending on food is
one of the highest in the world, with 48 percent of
income being spent on food and beverages.
2. Apparel retail
The ready-mades and western outfits are growing
at 40-45 per cent annually, as the market teams up
with international brands and new entrants enter-
ing this segment creating an Rs.5 billion market
for the premium grooming segment. The past few
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has seen the sector aligning itself with global trends
with retailing companies like Shoppers stop and
Crossroads entering the fray to entice the middle
class. However, it is estimated that this segment
would grow to Rs. 3 billion in the next three years.
3. Gems and Jewellery retail
The gems and jewellery market is the key emerging
area, accounting for a high proportion of retail
spends. India is the largest consumer of gold in the
world with an estimated annual consumption of
1000 tones, considering actual imports and recycled
gold. The market for jewellery is estimated as up-
wards of Rs. 650 billion.
4. Pharmaceutical retail
The pharma retailing is estimated at about Rs. 300
billion, with 15 per cent of the 51 lakh retail stores
in India being chemists. Pharma retailing will follow
the trend of becoming more organized and corpora-
tized as is seen in other retailing formats (food, ap-
parel etc). A few corporates who have already for-
ayed into this segment include Dr. Morepen (with
Lifespring and soon to be launched Tango), Medi-
cine Shoppe, Apollo pharmacies, 98.4 from Global
Healthline Pvt Ltd, and the recently launched CRS
Health from SAK Industries.
In the south, RPG groups Health & Glow is already
in this category, though it is not a pure play pharma
retailer but more in the health and beauty care busi-
ness.
5. Music Retail
The size of the Indian music industry, as per this
Images-KSA Study, is estimated at Rs.11 billion of
which about 36 percent is consumed by the pirated
market and organized music retailing constitutes
about 14 percent, equivalent to Rs.1.5 billion.
6. Book retail
The book industry is estimated at over Rs. 30 billion
out of which organized retail accounts for only 7 per
cent (at Rs.2.10 billion). This segment is seen to be
emerging with text and curriculum books account-
ing to about 50 per cent of the total sales. The gifting
habit in India is catching on fast with books enjoying
a significant share, thus expecting this sector to grow
by 15 per cent annually.
7. Consumer durables retail
The consumer durables market can be stratified into
consumer electronics comprising of TV sets, audio
systems, VCD players and others; and appliances
like washing machines, microwave ovens, air condi-
tioners (A/Cs). The existing size of this sector stands
at an estimated US$ 4.5 Billion with organized re-
tailing being at 5 per cent.
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Retail Forms
Pure Retail
Pure Retail is any sale to an individual or companyfor end use. Retail is any sale to an individual or
company for end use. Retailer has costs, (like rent,
employees, taxes, loss/breakage, advertising, etc.)
and needs to make a profit (which is the reason they
are in business). Those added items must be placed
on the price charged the customers, above what the
retailer paid for the product.
Wholesaler
Wholesale is a bulk sale by a manufacturer or dis-
tributor to for resale to a retailer. In almost all states
it is illegal to sell wholesale to an individual, or claim
to sell wholesale when it is for end use and not for
resale. Also in most states wholesalers may not sell
to the public. Wholesale sales do not carry sales tax,
as sales tax is charged to the end user. Thus is a"wholesaler" were to sell an individual something
and charge the sales tax it would be by definition a
retail sale and it would be deceptive to claim that it
was a wholesale sale or that the merchant was a
wholesaler. Retail is marked up from the price the
wholesaler sold it for to the retailer. The wholesaler
usually gets their goods and pricing from the manu-
facturer which is marked up as well.
Franchise
A franchise is defined as a business that is authorized
to sell or distribute a company's goods or services in
a particular geographic area. When you open a fran-
chise, you own the business and its infrastructure
along with the right to use the franchising company's
brand, trademarks, and promotional materials. In
most cases you also own the exclusive rights to sell
the product in your franchise area.
In return for these rights, the franchisee (we) agree to
pay an upfront fee to the franchising company. This
fee can is usually significant and covers a variety
services that are provided to us by the franchising
company. There is often also an ongoing franchise
fee that is paid on a monthly, quarterly, or annual
basis.
A person who operates a franchise business owns his
own business but has to pay to the franchise owner,
but a chain is owned by the central corporation and
all the employees are employees of the "big" busi-
ness.
The franchisee pays the franchisor for the business
opportunity and agrees to operate the business ac-
cording to the franchisor's directions. The franchisor
owns all the trademarks, business methods, and sup-
plies that it allows others to use under its contract.
The difference between a franchisor's and corpora-
tion's operating a chain of stores is that the chain
store has store managers who are company employ-
ees, whereas the franchise operation is owned and
managed by self-employed business people.
Editors Note : We shall continue with this report on
the Retail Sector. In the next issue, we shall give anoverview of the cost structures and pricing strategies
for this sector. We would like to thank the members
of INCUBE TEAM of MAON for this report.
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THE STORY BREWERTHE STORY BREWERTHE STORY BREWERTHE STORY BREWER
BY DHRUTI K. BADAMI
You might have seen beautiful books in coffee-shops,
you might have seen coffee-shops in bookshops like
Crossword, and you might have seen readers enjoying
reading while having hot coffee. But, have you ever
seen on a roadside, a tea-stall offering you books with
tea? A cup of tea worth six rupees and a book worth
three hundred rupees with a fifty percent discount! Do
not be amazed. Its not a story, its a fact.
If you ever happen to step on the pavement outside the
building of Hindi Bhawan near ITO in New Delhi, In-
dia, you will find a tea-stall having tea, sugar, stove, cup
and radio, but along with those things, what might coax
you to look over your shoulder is the stack of books
neatly placed alongside. You might ask yourself what
are these books here for? They might be there to be sold
but whats noteworthy is the name of the author in print
on the covers!
All those are penned by Laxman Rao, the teaseller and a
self-taught, self-made writer.
At Laxman Raos roadside stall, customers come, not
just for tea, but for a taste of Rao's wise words. This tea
vendor has written twenty-four books, of which seven
have already been published with two reprints. Tea may
be a social starting point for many, but for Rao, it's a
vocation to survive. It allows him to burn midnight oil
every day to follow his passion for writing. Writing
gives him happiness. In pursuit of nurturing his talent,
his conviction gave him the strength to brave rejection
and the condescending treatment from publishers.
Over 30 years ago when Laxman Rao ran away from his
home in Talegaon Dashashar, Western Maharashtra,
with just forty rupees in his pocket, he had no idea as to
what life might unveil. As a child, Rao was quite
fond of reading but the thought of becoming a
writer never crossed his mind. An incident forced
Rao to look for an outlet to vent his intense pain
and he decided to write. During daytime, he did
some labor work and by night he sat and read
books. Circumstances forced him to give up stud-
ies after tenth standard and he began working in a
local spinning mill to earn extra money. Then after
sometime, he left his home and headed for Bhopal.
There, he used to do labor work at construction
sites to survive. After a couple of months, the fear
of losing his creativity made him board the train to
Delhi. He wandered in search of job, but failed.
Then, he started working as a mason at construc-
tion sites and washed dishes at a roadside tea stall.
Daryaganjs famous Sunday Market became a
hunting ground for Rao. He read works of Ma-
hatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Karl Marx, Wil-
liam Shakespeare and Lenin. Realising the need to
educate himself, he gradually acquired a Bachelor
of Arts from Delhi University as an external can-
didate.
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He finished writing his first book Nai duniya ki nai
kahaniya (The stories of the new world) in 1979.
This book was a narration of Raos hardships and his
efforts to sustain and nurture his talent.
He met many publishers and showed his manuscript,
but nobody was willing to publish his book. One
even told him tum paan beedi bechanewale kya
likhogey (A betel leaf/cigarette seller like yourself
cant possibly write!). He, however, decided if he had
come so close to making this book happen, there was
no reason to give up. So he bought paper and spent
seven thousand rupees to get the hundred and twenty-
eight page book published. . He priced it at a mere
seven rupees and decided to distribute it himself.
Everyday, armed with a bag full of his novels, Lax-
man made the rounds of schools and colleges on his
bicycle. Its a routine he still continues with, ap-
proaching principals of schools and librarians , stat-
ing that he is the author of the book and requesting
them to keep a few copies to read and decide if they
wanted to buy it for their library. Mostly, they end up
buying it. His second book resulted after his meeting
with Indira Gandhi. His play, Pradhan Man-
tri (Prime Minister) written in 1984, came out of his
encounter with the then Prime Minister, late Indira
Gandhi, at Teen Murti Bhawan in 1984. The plot
portrays the Prime Minister in a social setup, with her
subordinates responsible for corruption. He published
his next novel, Ramdas, in 1992. It sold in more than
two hundred schools in Delhi.
Whatever little money he made from one book went
into the publication of another. His books have never
been a bestseller, but they have the ability to emo-
tionally hit the nerve of the audience . By the very
virtue of his novels, Laxman has had the chance to
meet Indira Gandhi and recently President
Pratibha Patil.
Winner of the Indraprastha Sahitya Bharti Award,
Laxman is an inspiration for
many people.
So, now, the question remains: Can we consider
Laxman Rao as a creative entrepreneur? If no, then
what is the justification of this no?
Creative entrepreneurship is a practice of self-
employment in a creative occupation. The distin-
guishing characteristic of a creative entrepreneur is
that his/her first priority is of creating and exploit-
ing creative or intellectual capital. They are the in-
vestors of talent. Laxman Rao has used his creativ-
ity to unlock the wealth that lies within himself.
Since his first novel, he has touched topic related to
politics, social issues, people and life in general.
Most people cant believe that a
chaiwala (teaseller) can write books, but, LaxmanRao has proved them wrong. He set up his own
publication called Bhartiya Sahitya Kala Prakashan
and published eight of his twenty books, with four
more ready to go to press.
Laxmans writings are woven around ground reali-
ties of life. Rao has retained that all through the
years and has never let go of the hope of success as
a writer.
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He has written books like Narmada, Renu, Pa-
rampara se judi Bhartiya Rajniti (The link be-
tween tradition and Indian politics) and now, he
is busy in writing Pattiyon ki Sarsarahat (The
quivering of leaves). To achieve all these, he hadan understanding that he has to build something
that people actually want and are willing to pay
money for, before he can expect to see profit.
Laxman has learned to live with risk and ambi-
guity. He closely observes the world, recognises
omens and stays open to opportunities. Thats the
reason of his success- he has identified his pas-
sion for life and he still wants to explore it fur-
ther, because the efforts of making his life crea-
tive and worthy, are nurturing to his soul and
help him to spread positivity in his surroundings.
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THE HR START-UP KIT
BY NIKITA BERRY
Loaded with a three month long firsthand experience of the corporate world, striding into the campus, we now
are somewhat wiser to the realities of our MBA. All of us pretty much chose our profiles in the specialization
of our individual interest and were at the best possible places we could arrange for, our little roller coaster ride.
We went into this experience with certain kinds of mind set and came out with either with a hundred and eighty
degree spin - off the base or with a clearer picture of what we had imagined initially. Some of us slogged over
each assignment while some just breezed by them. Whatever the case may be, we now have a better idea of
what the future holds for us.
Working with a start-up, away from my home, that too for the first time ,was akin to being pushed into a lake
and told to sink or swim. Earlier, I could never see how a fresher could to actually get a job and hold it down.
I always doubted whether I had the required knowledge and the skill set to be in the HR industry. However, I
realized that sinking is not an option.
Entrepreneurship is something the B- Schools attempt to equip us for. Most of us plan to be entrepreneurs and
one of the many things that I have gained from my internship can be termed as an Entrepreneurs guide to
building the HR function of a company from scratch.
It is the HR setup Tool-kit. Let us begin.
WHATS THE MISSION, CAPTAIN?
When a company is set- up, one of the first and foremost step, in order of importance, is understanding and
writing down what the mission of the company is. You can start with a simple mission like: Being the most
sought after company in the industry, for product and/or services. The mission becomes important for setting-
up the HR framework because, it gives the HR policies of the company a goal to work with.
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BELAY THE MISSION
Once you have decided upon the mission of your company, you need to decide how you are going to achieve
that mission i.e. draw a Vision statement for the company. The vision acts as an outline for the framing of HR
policies for a company.
BRING IN THE JACOBS LADDER
The next step for a company in order to decide its HR policies is to lay down the ethical values the company
believes in and wishes to follow throughout its operational areas.
HIRE THE CREW
It is obvious that in a start-up company/ firm only a few people are running all the essential functions for the
company to make into the main- stream and earn some profits for the company. In such case, an entrepreneur
needs to select the correct people for framing his HR policies.
KNOW WHO SHALL BE THE BOATSWAIN
In a start-up, as important it is to have a perfect HR policy framework and by extension, the budget allocated
to hire HR personnel. It is necessary to look for the sources from where you can hire someone to start with the
basic frame of the policies. Hiring an outsourcing firm for HR work is one of the easiest ways to do so. These
firms can be easily contacted online and they have special packages for start-ups, which are also in accor-
dance to your pocket size. The other option can, of course, be providing internship at your firm.
What kind of policies is an HR supposed to frame for your company at this stage ?
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: The first thing that the HR professional must do is to chalk out the
organizational structure for the company such that the different types of department and roles and responsi-
bilities of the employees can be decided accordingly.
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RECRUITMENT: Hiring is the first thing your firm is going to do as soon as it has enough revenue to ex-pand. Here you need the HR to write down when, where and how your company is going to recruit its em-ployees. This policy will also include information about the induction, the orientation process and the train-ing process the employee has to go through after joining your company.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: Each level of employees need to know their job description, thus, speci-
fying roles and responsibilities is very important.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS: As soon as the employees are hired, retaining them becomes an impor-tant issue. For this the employees need proper policies for compensation and benefits for them.
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: Policies for the type of training module required for the employees atvarious stages of their employment is very important. This policy has to be in accordance with the budget andrevenue of the company.
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL: After compensation and benefits, performance and appraisal also helps thecompany in retaining the workforce for a longer duration and lowering the attrition rate.
ATTENDANCE AND PUNCTUALITY: This deals with setting up the office timings, the attendance proce-
dure, penalties, the lunch hours etc.
CORPORATE BEHAVIOUR: It is necessary to set up the guidelines for the proper behavior expected in theoffice, with colleagues as well as clients and customers for each employee.
RULES AND REGULATIONS: Here, the HR outlines the rules and regulations for various areas like dresscode, smoking in the office premises, solicitation, gifts etc.
MISCELLANEOUS: Other policies may follow, like the employee personal file maintenance, grievance reso-lution, reimbursement, absence, vacations, paid/ unpaid leave, travel policy, non- disclosure agreement etc.
The above points should help an entrepreneur to setup a strong Human Resources department within his com-pany, which will in turn lead to the well managed, efficient and easier operation of the company.
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BORN WILD
BY SUNIL G. PILLAI
When I heard of the word Entrepreneur for the first
time, probably around the seventh standard in school,
it intrigued me. Thats when my adventure with this
world of entrepreneurship probably started. Its true
that the feeling of creating or building something is
truly exhilarating. Otherwise why would a child
smile in delight after building his first sand castle or
Lego tower ?
Reading , researching and observing people lead to
one conclusion. If not anything else, it is this : that
entrepreneurship can never be taught. Either one has
it within them or one doesnt. However this is cer-
tain. Most of us are born entrepreneurs. It is the cir-
cumstances around us that mould us and our futures.Many times the environment we are exposed to
change- what we wished to be. You cant force any
one or wish for anyone to be an entrepreneur. It just
happens.
Oliver and Wilber Wright were never told they
would have to create something. They just wished to
fly. They fought against odds and ridicule of people.
Elisha Otis saw an opportunity when the people werehuffing and puffing up the stairs.
In a couple of years , he was on a moving platform
shouting crisply Perfectly safe Gentlemen, Per-
fectly safe. The worlds first lift was born. Even
more recently when the markets were flooded with
various kinds of music players dominated by
Sonys Walkman, Steve Jobs saw them as just
push-buttons. Where we saw a portable and light
music player, Jobs saw them as big and unneces-
sarily heavy. Where we saw easy-rewind and
play modes, Jobs saw inadequate interactivity.
He and Apple set out to make an interactive de-
vice and thus was born the iPod. The rest, as they
say, is history.
Our country has given the world many geniuses,
academicians & leaders. But men like entrepre-
neurs and sportsmen have been far too few. How
are entrepreneurs and sportsmen related? They just
think differently from the rest and have the guts to
follow their dreams, come what may, in a field not
much supported by the authorities in this country.
If we still had those little pieces of paper in which
we wrote I want to become in our primary edu-cation years, we would be surprised how much we
have changed.
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LENTREPRENEUR June-July 2012
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LONELINESSA FROZEN SOLITUDE
~~~WINNING ENTRY FOR THE LENTREPRENEUR WRITING COMPETITION ~~~
BY VIKAS RANJAN JENA
The year was 2004. It was the spring season. It was a year of change. I stood testimony to the change in gov-
ernments, I witnessed changes in technology. I had experienced the genesis of an innovation through which I
am able to spread my word. To be precise, it was the greatest year of my life. Why is it so special to me ? The
answer to this lies in my boorish heart.
A simple kid that I was at that time, I never knew what love meant. It was an alien word to me on the whole. I
was a free bird, who was destined to succeed in life. But fate interfered as usual. This time it was in the form of
an unassumingly mind boggling face.
The year is 2012. I am right now travelling in a train, filled with different kinds of people, from all around the
country. The hustle and bustle of vendors, kids playing around, youngsters roaming about, middle aged people
discussing politics and other random things. Here I am, sitting near a window, away from the crowd and lost in
my own tiny world.
The winds are blowing unusually hard on my face, as if nature is slapping me hard for every mistake that I had
committed. I am staring outside the window, looking at the vast stretches of land, which seem to be unending.
As I slip into the black hole of my memory, I see a face, which was beyond my perception. Life after that
would never be the same again. It is the auspicious day of Holi. As a kid, I was always excited about the very
idea of Holi. I would play with the different colors on the streets with my friends.
Suddenly, everything changed in front of my eyes. The weather became cloudy, I saw a face, a face which I
would remember for a long time to come. Did I approach that enigmatic person ? Yes, I sure did, but with lots
of hope, expectations. Did I know then, that the very person I was meeting would transform my life hugely ? If
I had known so, I would have never set my foot forward. Everybody has got their own perception, when it
comes to preferring people over other people. I had mine too. They say that every good thing starts with a badomen. My own started with the word Idiot
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LENTREPRENEUR June-July 2012
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I sprinkled my colors on a face which was full of compassion, a face which I thought would never fade away
so easily from imagination. Why is it so hard to describe your inner feelings ? Cant it be made more simple
through words ? It is said that action speaks louder than words. Then why is it that words hurt much more than
actions ? Which should be given more weight-age ? I leave this to the Almighty, if there is one. I was a born
genius or prodigy, as they say, not in studies, neither in any form of art, but in understanding people. If compre-hending people is an art, then I am the Picasso of my times. But why did I falter that day to comprehend that
exotic face ? Was it my weakness or was it my alter ego, stopping me from going deep within ?
Time is a precious treasure. Once lost, you can never get it back. How do I know ? Well, it is like asking a per-
son, who has lost a lover, how it feels. Can I describe Death ? Again, a different yet obvious answer. I see death
in front of me every time I go to sleep. I see death as a beautiful woman. Not surprising enough that a womans
condescending look is much deadlier than death itself. Have you ever heard of the story Narcissus ?
Narcissus was a very handsome human being, who used to admire his beauty in the reflection of a lake every-
day. One day, while admiring himself, Narcissus fell into the lake and drowned. Suddenly, Narcissus trans-
formed into a beautiful flower. The lake was in grief over his death and so decided to turn him into a beautiful
flower. When someone asked the lake why it felt so sad, the lake replied that Narcissus had always admired
himself in the it - that meant that it was also a part of his life. In fact the lake was overwhelmed, because it used
to see itself in him. Now that Narcissus was no more, the lake could not see itself in anyone that hurt the lake
most. Every person in our life has a part to play, whether it be good or bad - we just need to identify who is
worth caring for.
I now return from a journey , which started as early as my life had been. It takes a lot of sacrifice from withinyourself. Sacrifice is all I know. While coming back, I saw a father sacrificing his seat for his two children, so
that they can sleep happily, a mother sacrifices her food for her little one. In the same way, many people in and
around our life make sacrifices we should never take them for granted or ignore them. You might never
know, when the carpet might slip from beneath your legs.
Someone asked me what loneliness means. For that very person, I would like to define it in my own terms.
Loneliness is a virtue which when imposed by ourselves, is good to some extent but when imposed by others
upon us, is like rotting in Hell. If I am lonely, do not take me for granted. I am, then, much more deadlier and
shrewd ! But I am always the same for those who care for my well being !
This is dedicated to that person in my life, who taught me how to fight alone and still survive !
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