Happy New Year 2014

Dear All Readers, Wish you all a happy and prosperous new year, may the year 2014 turns out to be the luckiest one so far :) 

The photo is inspired by the video

I never watch motorcycle races but despite that, this was too good to watch. Really inspiring video, the way the top 2 fight for the final spot is really commendable.

Gilli Danda

 

Gilli Danda!

• In Galicia, a similar game is called bilharda.
• Philippines, a game known as syatong is similar to gilli-danda.
• In Italy a similar game known as "Lippa", "Lipe", "Tirolo", or "S-cianco" is shown in the movie Watch Out We Are Mad.^[3][4][5]
• In the United States, a similar game is called pee-wee.^[6]
• Dainty is a street ball game played in Schnitzelburg, Louisville, in the United States
• In England, a similar game was called Tip-cat
• In Poland a similar game is known, called Klipa
• In Malaysia a similar game is known as konda kondi

- Courtesy Wiki

Was there at GOD's own country

Finally the much awaited trip to Kerala, got realized!

Last week I was on holiday @ God's own country, nothing better I could have chosen. Was indeed a memorable tour! A detailed post about the whole tour, the places to visit, the budget etc..will be up soon.

 

TGIS

Thank GOD! it's Saturday

When I get a call from boss on Sunday!

Greatest Living Indians

We are nothing

"The Scale of the Universe"

Diet in our hands

This is a very interesting illustration on the diet we should take. I am seeing it for the first time and felt is worth sharing.

Interview Puzzles - Solved

It's a practice that the interviewers in order to check one's analytical ability ask puzzles so that they understand the thought process of the candidates. There are hoardes of those available on net but for my readers I am herewith providing solutions for 2 of the most commonly asked puzzles. You may also post your puzzles in the comments section for the benefit of everyone.

1) 12 identical marbles with 1 defective piece and you are given a weighing machine. You have to come with the minimum possible weighings to identify the defective piece.

2) You are standing in front of a 100 floor building and given 2 eggs . You are asked to find out the strength of the egg by telling the number of floor from where if its dropped is not broken. The egg may break at any floor. [ If the egg breaks at 22nd floor then it breaks if dropped from any floor above 22 so you have to find out exactly from which floor it starts breaking]

For solutions click Read More link

Perfect Time

"Don't wait for the beautiful moment to happen, instead try making every moment a beautiful one because time once passed is the past and the best part of future is it comes only a day at a time."

Leader vs Boss

This picture tells it all...

Snapdeal - snaps money through deals

What happened?

Almost a month back I had placed an order with Snapdeal for a pair of sunglasses, which on the looks of it seemed a very good deal but only to realise that it was not so when I got it delivered.

 

It looked really cheap, the sun-glasses sold by road side hawkers are better than these. I returned it immediately, and they returned me the money in the form of Snapdeal cash (Basically once you transact with them you have no choice but to part off with your money with them)

You may click this to reach the deal.

 

At the same time I placed another order for a watch (Brand: Breo). Thankfully the brand has a website, so seemed to be a genuine one.

Below was the watch for which I placed the order. I placed the order on 8th April and was expecting it to get delivered atleast in a week's time.

 

If you notice the below screenshot there are three things which I want to highlight

 

1) Delivery

2) Price

3) Refund

 

Delivery

Now if you see they claim to deliver the product in 3 business days, so expecting it get delivered in a week time is not asking too much.

 

 

I placed the order on 8th April

 

On 11th April I got the below SMS

 

On 16th April again I got another SMS

 

I dont know if I should be irritated for the continuous delays or be glad about being intimated promptly about it.

 

On 25th April I called them again to know status of my order and then they tell this sweet news that the order was cancelled. I told them that I havent received any sms stating so, to which he said that they dont send sms when an order gets cancelled.

 

Now,

-> When an order is placed you get an sms

-> When it gets delayed you get an sms again and again and again (dont know when it ends..may be with cancelling only I believe)

-> When the order gets cancelled you are not told anything because you are no more a concern for them

 

The reason they state for cancelling is the vendor is not able to deliver the product so they have cancelled and they were suggesting me to place an order for something else.

 

Now if the reason was to be believed why is the deal still listed on the website, is it some gimmick to cheat more customers?

 

The deal still exists. You may click the link to reach it.

 

Price

Coming to the second most important aspect any customer would be interested in.

They say the actual price is 2699/- and they are offering it at a price of 1619/- which is like 40% percent discount. Sounds like snapdeal is only for charity.

 

Below is the original listing on the brand's website

 

It costs $31 and with shipping charges of another $13 it comes to $44 so if you convert it into INR at 54/- it works out to be 2376/-. This is the price I will have to pay if I have to order as an individual. Also I am assuming it to be from UK, while Breo has HongKong also as center.

Overall I dont think the deal is any great.

 

Refund

Finally refunds.

I was very disappointed about the cancelling of the order. I was eagerly waiting for the watch as I wanted to give it as a suprise gift but SNAPDEAL spoiled it all. Also my previous order for the sunglasses was also delivered late. With this experience I told them to return the cash which was in their account. To which they say that they dont have any policy to return money to customers, instead they suggest me to buy something else.

This Trustpay is also another reason to get fooled.

 

When I know the product quality is bad, the delivery is going to test your nerves and there is no refund policy why should/will I buy anything from Snapdeal. When I demanded them to return my money multiple times, because I dont want to deal anything with them, the executive escalated(upon insisting) it to his senior, who told that the request has been taken and closed the call. I was pleased that it was happening but again the next day they tell me that it is not possible and suggested me to buy another product.

 

Hmm.. now all I can do is just write about it.

 

If I were to be the CEO of the snapdeal, I will definitely implement the refund policy. This shows how much confidence I have on the products I am listing. Also, a customer who is duly refunded an amount might even come back to make more purchases because he knows his money is secure.

 

My suggestion to all my readers. Think before you transact. These days everyone is coming up with an ecommerce venture.

Snapdeal started with just a deals website copying groupon and now I feel it has lost it's focus and is copying ebay. No wonder if they copy facebook also creating a social networking platform also.

 

Below is my rating on Snapdeal.

 

Delivery : Worst of All (Takes more than 10 days to deliver any product) (Flipkart is better)

Service  : Pathetic (Takes minimum 3 calls to reach an agent)

Quality  : Dont get fooled by looks of the product (Groupon is better on this aspect)

Price : Its no big deal.

Dog with hands

Snapdeal

A picture is worth thousand words, but for snapdeal it's a different story.

 

Always read!

 

 

Management Consulting Industry - Radical Shift

The Consulting Story in INDIA
This post is going to be one comprehensive update on the current state of affairs of the consulting industry.

The dream of every MBA aspirant would be to wear business formals and rub shoulders with CXOs, draw hefty pay checks, play golf and roam in big cars after graduating. This is the very reason why management consulting jobs are the most sought jobs in all B-schools, as the profiles offer lucrative pay-checks and lustrous work styles.

 

I once took a dig at the consultant profiles in one my blog posts, of course on a lighter note. Do read.

 

A survey, conducted by InsideIIM.com, on career choices and preferred companies of MBA aspirants. Consulting was clearly the most sought out one and Mck rules.

Read this Consulting-Primer by Shyam which gives a fair idea about what? why? how? where? of consulting.

 

Last 2 decades witnessed drastic changes in the way businesses are run.

An excerpt from Business Line - 

Last two decades mark a critical turning point — a radical shift even — from Nehruvian socialism to Manmoha- nomics, from mixed economy to market economy, triggering unprecedented changes in nearly every aspect of life

 

With the sea changes in environment, the consulting industry game plan has also changed and is not the same as it was in 90s; the pitch is totally different now.

Market Scenario

• Fastest-growing markets

• Difficult economy

• Tougher clients

• Buying cycles are getting longer

• Competition is tougher

• Project mandates are forcing consultants to raise the game

Smarter clients are now demanding more. Earlier a firm's name would be enough to get projects; now partners are becoming more important in the equation.

Consulting Industry in India - Pyramid

 

The Top 5 Consulting Firms Profiles

 

 

Client’s Expectations

Gone are the times when the promoters and CEOs wanted reports or ideas or portfolio analysis; Clients increasingly want the consulting firm's skin in the game too.

 

Now they want

  • On-the ground changes;

  • Streamlining distribution,

  • Better go-to-market strategies

  • Operational excellence and

  • Efficient supply chain management.

In fact, pure strategy kind of projects would add up to only 10% to 15% of the high-value consulting market. Clients want consultants to get their hands dirty; not just give them a study.

Changed Game Plan

 

Businesses are not assigning bulk deals anymore; they are matching the areas with respect to expertise of the consultants. Companies are also becoming more aware of the differentiation between firms.

 

For strategy or portfolio kind of work - McKinsey or BCG

PE firms choose Bain for strategic diligence

Supply chain and operational kind of work - AT Kearney

Sales distribution and reorganisation - Big Fours

 

In fact, the Big Four's consulting arms and Accenture have made big inroads in the mid- and low-value part of consulting. Firms are getting more traction despite the on-going economic slowdown. But the nature of growth is changing. Over half of all assignments in the last 4-5 years have come from newer clients like family-owned mid-caps, private equity and private equity-owned companies, infrastructure projects, public sector (excluding banks), and state governments.

 

Clients now don't get taken in by the 'messenger' but go by the message.

Payment

The payment is not just linked to deliverables but to the results. They want full paisa vasool for the money spent, at times 15-20 times more returns. There is more contingency and variable pay now

 

"Premium is now on outcomes. Fifteen years ago, the premium was on ideas,"

Typical Consulting Project

Big Four vs the Top Consultants

Big Four’s offering
 
• Right strategy,
• Right course of action,
• Set up the organisation structure,
• Proper compensation structure
• Set up Information systems,
• Merger & Acquisitions

Also, given the wider range of services that the accounting firms can offer at much more reasonable fees, their value proposition is compelling.

Strategy of Big Fours

-> First, they offer a wider range of services, from IT implementation to shared services to risk management to even forensic services.

-> Second, they work with middle management as most of the work is heavily execution led.

-> Third, they are much more affordable with rates up to 30-50% lower than the big boys of consulting.

Source :

Gold down with Cold

The million dollar question of the moment is ,

 

 

"What is the right time to buy Gold?"



 

With so much of news doing rounds all over.. this is the only thing which everyone wants to know..

 

This blog post by Manshu answers the question if this is the right time to buy gold and there are scores of them available on web answering the same question... 

 

My 2 cents on the same subject.

 

Disclaimer : I am not an expert,

 

Crisp Analysis :

Gold as an asset has its key value drivers as dollar, global demand/supply,global inflation.
With increased selling pressure (thanks to Cyprus, Portugal etc), reduced inflation (US,India etc), rising dollar price and booming stock markets the prices of gold are going only south!
But inflation cannot be controlled for long, with reduced interest rates(Quantitative Easing) and increased money supplies into market..sooner or later, it will surely go up... also the real estate bubble is going to see a similar downfall..even if it doesnt nosedive..a significant correction will surely affect the overall market..so the focus might shift towards gold in future.. nothing can rise indefinitely..so is gold is getting into realistic valuation.. the time when it touches it local minima..it will start surging up.

 

Verdict : It will fall for sure in near future and slightly far future might rebound and very long term future will definitely go up.

 

Dr Ivan Coste-Manière, Professor Luxury Brand Management,Skema Business School, France,

 used to say jokingly that you Indians are not poor, you are the largest buyers of Gold in the world...

 

So much is our affinity towards gold..

 

specially our women are so emotionally/psychologically/physically/chemically/mentally  attached to it...

 

that they drive their husbands crazy to buy gold jewellery..

 

 

 

 

And then there are some men also, who are an exception;  If the specimen is a prudent one he should be roaming around topless now having sold all that.

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think any of the latest developments of the yellow metal is going to affect to our mallus. Marriages in Malluland is more like a gold mela..the brides are covered from top to down with the metal

 

...So readers..anyone yet to get married.. look forward to get hitched with mallu girls..or check if our friend Dawood Ibrahim has got any more daughters..

 

 

and our new channels are always there to sensationalize everything..so are floading continuously with the falling gold price news...

I am sure there will be many who will be tempted to buy now after having missed the last gold run..as a matter of fact it was 12 year long run.. running high for so long..our metal is taking a break now..

 

Below is an analysis of the key value drivers of gold. It was prepared when gold was soaring high, so now we should check if any of the drivers can pull up gold in the coming future.

 Source

Tough Times

    

"The ultimate measure

of a man is not where he

stands in moments of

comfort and convenience,

but where he stands

at times of challenge

and controversy."

 - Martin Luther King Jr