Marie Elizabeth Holm

Zunaira Malik & Jazib Zahir

Mohak Gambhir

R K Sinha Roy

Pritam Kumar Das

Resilience: A View from Pakistan

Online Marketing Without The Jargon

Secrets of Writing a Winning Business Plan

All You Need to Know About New Age Smartphones

BRAHMAPUTRAThe

Vol: I Issue 2 November, 2009

Rhythm of the Promises

Rowing

What keeps them sailing against time and tide?

With the Rhythm

Interview: Prof Issac Getz on Liberating Leadership

Managing Editor:Fr. V M Thomas, sdbRector, Don Bosco Institute of Management

Consulting Editors:Fr Fernandez, sdbFr Abhilash, sdb

Guest Editors:Ruban PhukanAninda Baruah

Executive Editor:Saumar Deka

Senior Editors:Anabil GoswamiBikash GogoiAmlan DuttaBidisha Mahanta

Resource Managers:Jurimoni SharmaSuman Sharma

Cover Design and Layyout:Birkhang Narzary

Editorial Support:Javed, Hrishikesh

CONTENTS

02. The 'BEING' OF LEADERSHIP

04. Lighting the Billion Watt Bulb

06. Protecting your Trade Secrets

08. Indian Youth and the Second Freedom Struggle

10. Online Marketing Without The Jargon

13. All You Need to Know About New Age Smartphones

16. Women in the Entrepreneurial World

21. Helmsmen: Why Some Companies Are a Good Option

23. Organization Knowledge: An Attempt at Conceptualization

Prantik Bordoloi

30. Resilience: A View from Pakistan

31. Satyam Fiasco: Understanding Audit Failure

33. The Future of Environmental Management in India

35. Tapping in to the Cloud

36. Towards a greener future: Hybrids and electric vehicles

38. Secrets of Writing a Winning Business Plan

41. An Image Makeover That Wins The Deal

43. Guwahati of My Mind!

Leadership

Management

Legal

Education

Social Media

Technology

Entrepreneurship

Interview

Article

Business Paper

International

Fraud

Environmental management

Internet

Automobile

Entrepreneurship

Case Study

Editorial

Fr. VM Thomas

Sumeet Jerath

Sharda Balaji

Prof. Anup Mishra

Mohak Gambhir

Pritam Kumar Das

Ankurita Pathak

Marie Elizabeth Holm

Siddhartha Sarma

Zunaira Malik & Jazib Zahir

Binoy Kr Das

Bhaskar Ray

Rajesh Warrier

Prachurjya Baruah

R K Sinha Roy

Bidisha Mahanta

Anabil Goswami

18 Liberating Leadership: A Talk with Prof Issac Getz

The 'BEING' OF LEADERSHIP

Leadership

The shift from power over people ( M a n a g e m e n t ) t o s h a r e d p o w e r, commitment and vision (Leadership) is

something we are witnessing in organizations today. Management is associated with efficiency, planning, procedures, control and consistency while leadership is associated with vision, creativity, dynamism, change and risk-taking, obviously indicating that leadership and management are not identical though complementary.

Hundreds of books and thousands of articles are written on Leadership, covering various aspects of this complex subject. Basically, an enabling art, leadership is empowerment of the others more than the exercise of power, it is inspiring rather than commanding, it is motivating rather than manipulating. Leadership is for service and not for subjugation.

Two integral aspects of Leadership, which are like

two sides of a coin are 'DOING' and 'BEING'. These two aspects are not mutually exclusive. The doing side of leadership is the ability to manage and get things done in the right way and in a consistent manner. The being side of leadership on the other hand points to the character and personal charisma which add value to the 'doing'. If the 'doing' is the body of leadership, the 'being' may be considered the soul of leadership. Though both aspects are important, I limit myself to making a few reflections on the 'Being' of leadership.

We live in era when leadership is often equated with money and muscle power or we are blinded by a subtle belief that talent, energy and personality are the only things needed for success. But in the long run and on deeper analysis, we see that WHO WE ARE is more important than WHAT WE HAVE and WHAT WE ARE.

The quality of 'BEING” is what distinguishes a great person from an average person. Applied to leadership we can say that what makes a leader great is not what he DOES but what he IS. Before one can emerge as a great leader in public, one has to go

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Fr. VM Thomas, sdb, is a Harvard Graduate in Education. He is presently the Executive Director of Don Bosco Institute Guwahati; Secretary, North Eastern Education Commission (NEEC) and Secretary, Junior Red Cross, Assam. A certified Trainer in HRD from the American Society for Training and Development, he is a visiting faculty member at Lal Bhadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, Assam Administrative Staff College, Assam Staff College, Guwahati University and Meghalaya Administrative Training Institute, Member of National Resource Group (NRG) for Education Guarantee Scheme and Innovative Education, Govt. of India. Formerly he was the General Secretary of the All India Association of Catholic Schools (AINACS), India and Director of North Eastern Regional Youth Commission (NERYC), Guwahati.

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through a process of inner leadership, reflection and mastery over self which will result in enhanced emotional intelligence, increased capacity for self management, improved mental focus and deeper sense of one's own vision and purpose.

'BEING' refers to certain intrinsic qualities and attributes of a person. Applied to leadership, these qualities include authenticity, credibility, honesty, openness and integrity. Authenticity is being true to oneself. The age old dictum “To thine own be true” describes aptly this aspect of leadership. Credibility - which is not just looking good, but being good - is an offshoot of authenticity. Integrity is the unquestionable quality of a great leader. A person of integrity is truthful and speaks the truth; he is just and acts justly. Honesty and integrity are cultivated by choosing what is morally right all the time. One can bend actions and conform to principles or bend principles to conform to actions. The choice will make the difference. But the fact remains. Absolute integrity brings absolute trust.

The best leaders realize that actions speak louder than words. Peter Drucker, the Management Guru has said “the leader's first task is to be the trumpet that sounds a “clear sound”. Every time the leader becomes an example of high ethical standards and integrity, he or she sends out a “clear sound” to others. But when ethical standards and behaviour do not match the message becomes confusing to the people.

Therefore, it is not enough to be authentic. People in leadership should be perceived as such if they have to be effective. They should ensure that their personal behaviours model their organizational norm . Authentic leaders with qualities of integrity, honesty and credibility become inspirational leaders. In conformity with Gandhi's statement: “Be the change you want to see in he world”, they exemplify the type of behaviours they want to see in the organization. The being of leadership has a number of overlapping features which are perceptible in the form of inner calm, resilience, judgment, realism about self , moral courage and compassion.

The challenge of leadership today is to inspire people to be fully involved in generating new and better ways of working. To stay ahead of the competition, an approach that unleashes innovation, creativity and trust is essential. If you cannot gain the trust of your people, you can't ever become a great leader. Authentic self is then our best answer to leadership.

Lighting the Billion Watt Bulb

Management

Mr Sumeet Jerath is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), He has more than two decades of rich administrative experience both in the field and in the secretariat. He is currently working as Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of Assam. Mr Jerath has strong academic leanings and is also currently pursuing a PhD in Marketing and Strategy from the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University.

Our Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh during his visit to DBIM had once stated that “Education and enlightenment leads to economic empowerment

and social emancipation.” Nothing exemplifies this powerful statement more than the life and times of our beloved Prime Minister who rose from a humble background to occupy the highest office of our country. Another name which readily comes to my mind is that of our former President, Dr Abdul Kalam who nurtured a 'dream' and showed the determination to pursue it. Both these leaders climbed the economic hierarchy and social ladder by virtue of their steadfast devotion to studies and self improvement. They are beacon lights for our youth to show the way forward. Even the American President, Barrack Obama, while making references to India and China, has said that countries that outshine America in education in the 21st century would out compete it in innovation. After all “Knowledge is power” in the current information age and knowledge economy.

Let me delve in some detail about the two tasks each manager has to undertake 'Planning' and 'Implementation'. In this context it would be pertinent to draw our attention to another quote -:

“Plan without action is a daydream; Action without plan is a nightmare.”

The above aptly sums up the concomitant nature of 'plan' and 'action'. Planning is about 'thinking' and 'think' one should - not 'in box' but 'out of box'; Think one must but 'laterally' and not 'linearly'. Reflecting the above two strands of thinking, let me exhort you to don your 'thinking cap' and

ùThink ahead Have a dynamic and futuristic vision. Taking a leaf from Marshal Sashkin's visionary leadership, every manager must craft a clear, compelling and credible vision; communicate this vision to all the stakeholders in the organization to 'buy in'; commit personnel to the vision and concretize the vision.

ùThink again No plan is perfect in the first place. Mid course corrections are required by reviewing the progress made vis a vis the targets at regular time intervals say every quarter or every six months. Here one could follow Deming's celebrated PDCA cycle Plan, Do, Check and Act.

ùThink across one must think by not only looking at parameters within one's organization but benchmark one's performance vis a vis the benchmarks of best in class category given in the industry. Cross country experiences can also be looked at to filter out the 'novel, creative and cutting edge ideas'; 'imaginative, innovative and winning practices' which can become 'key organizational learning' for all the members of the organization to emulate. We must take a cue from Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline the art and practice of the learning organization. The fifth discipline is 'systems thinking' where one must have a 'bird's eye view' rather than a 'worm's eye view'; look at the 'woods' (whole) and not just the 'trees' (parts) and possess an integrated and holistic vision rather than a 'tunnel view'.

The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. Similarly after 'thinking' we ought to be 'doing'; walking the talk. Here again I wish to give you three tips -:

ùGenchi Genbutsu This is one of the 14 management principles of the Toyota Way. It means that one should go to the source to find the facts to make correct decisions, build consensus and achieve goals. Seeing is believing and based on the facts seen, should one pursue the next course of action.

ùMBWA Management By Wandering About is the celebrated management principle of Tom Peters. It is of great significance to practicing managers as

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ùonly by going around one's place of work, can one motivate one's staff and take things to their rightful culmination.

ùPerformance Management one should not be caught in the vicious cycle of activities - the activity trap but move on to the virtuous cycle of outcomes. In a nutshell, one ought to move from inputs to outputs and outputs to outcomes.

“Thinking” and “Doing” have been fine tuned by the two leading automobile companies of the world. Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Company, the world's biggest manufacturer of two wheelers believed in 'out thinking and out performing' the others. Toyota Motor Company, the World's No 1 car company adheres to “Relentless reflection (Hansei) and Continuous improvement (Kaizen)” as one of its 14 management principles.

The search of excellence, the pursuit of perfection and the quest for the best must continue unabated with a missionary zeal throughout one's life. While our formal education may cease after we graduate from an institute and step out into the real world; the informal learning should continue till our last breath. These are the times of 'life long learners' who learn 'from womb to tomb' who keep 'sharpening their saw' all the time. We should never rest on our laurels; keep raising the bar all the time and leave no stone unturned to stretch ourselves to meet our BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals). Let me narrate a small story. When I was a young school boy, my teacher (who was a transformational leader) pulled me out of the class. He pointed his finger where the earth and the sky seemed to meet and asked me as to what I could see. I immediately replied that I could see the 'horizon'. We then drove to that point. Standing there, he again asked me as to what I could see in the far distance. I immediately replied that I saw another 'horizon'. He told me that let us go and touch that point. When we reached

there, he again quizzed me as to what I could see. As I replied that I saw another 'horizon', I had understood the importance of life long pursuit of going from 'horizon to horizon' and from 'peak to peak'.

Let me conclude by appealing you to be always positive minded and optimistic. It is easy to be cynical and criticize but difficult to do and reform. Let me quote Baroness Caroline Cox, the Chancellor of Liverpool Hope University, UK on the 'privilege of making a difference' in the Big Hope Global Youth Congress -:

“We cannot do everything; However, we must not do nothing”.

Yes, single handedly we cannot create a billion watt bulb to 'light up' the whole system. However, we can definitely light up a small candle and dispel the local darkness. And as long as we do this, we would have done our duty. I am confident that one day when each one of our billion plus people lights up a candle, we would be able to spread the light equivalent to a billion watt bulb and 'wipe out every tear from every eye'.

Protecting your Trade Secrets

Sharda Balaji is the founder of NovoJuris Services a legal consulting company specializing in corporate, technology, investment advisory and capital markets. She has worked with various corporate houses in India for over 12 years in different facets of corporate affairs and legal functions, including initial public offerings, corporate restructuring, acquisitions, mergers, technical and financial collaborations, structuring of business model and JVs, corporate laws, trade marks, copyrights and other IP related matters, commercial and employee matters, foreign investments, RBI and FEMA matters.

During Sharda's earlier employment with Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd., she was supporting Intel's business in South Asia. Sharda is a Lawyer and a Company Secretary, along with degree from Institute of Chartered Secretaries, UK.

P l e a s e s e n d y o u r c o m m e n t s t o info@novojuris.com

You must have read the news a few months back about an ex-Intel employee being charged with theft of trade secrets. Do you think it was a willful act or negligence or ignorance?

It is imperative for organizations to educate employees on what is classified as confidential information, treatment of the same and not just have an NDA signed and leave it at that. To begin with, what is a trade secret?

Most of us are aware of different forms of intellectual property (IP) like patents, copyrights, trademarks, design rights. Trade Secrets too, is a part of this basket, but often neglected. Trade secret is any kind of 'information' or 'know-how' which is not 'publicly known', has a 'commercial advantage' and the owner takes 'reasonable measures' to keep it a secret. Many countries recognize these as the normal components for protection of a trade secret. Just as I am writing this article, I see that The Department of Science and Technology post the draft bill on The National Innovation Act, which pretty much captures these components in the definition of 'confidential information'.

Protection is usually available for any formulae, product specification, manufacturing techniques, pricing, supplier details, strategic business plans, even a customer list which demonstrates the requirements as mentioned in the above paragraph. Other forms of IP has certain pre-requisites to claim protection. Example, Patent protection requires novelty, inventiveness and utility of an idea. A copyright requires that the expression of the idea has to be original, creative and fixed on a tangible media. Whereas a trade secret does not have any such stringent pre-requisites.

If a trade secret is well protected, there is no term of protection. It can be protected for any length of time…like the coke's formula. In contrast, other forms of IP have statutorily conferred right of protection for limited period of time- for Patents, it is a 20 year protection, for trademarks, it is a 10 year protection (but can be renewed), for copyrights the period varies, example 60 years for literary works.

In India, unlike the USA or other countries, there is no specific legislation to protect trade secrets. (The National Innovation Act is still in a 'draft' stage) USA has a model legislation called Uniform Trade Secrets Act (USTA) and about 40 States have enacted various statutes, modeled after USTA. Protection of trade secret is a process of self-administration by the trade secret owner. There is no office / registry where you could file a trade secret application, reviewed by an examiner and granted a trade secret certificate / registration. The self-administration process is dependent on key factors like, the extent of information known outside the company or amongst the employees; the value of secret to the company or to the competitors; expenses involved in developing the secret; reverse engineering. Accordingly, the organization can have its confidentiality policy / ies. Also, the owner is to exhibit 'reasonable efforts' in keeping the information confidential in order to obtain legal protection. As in, sharing information with third parties only under duly executed Non Disclosure Agreement, sharing information within the organisation on a need-to-know basis, labeling the information as 'confidential' or 'proprietary', not leaving the classified information unattended or lying around. Some must-take steps in order to protect trade secrets are:

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mEnsure that a duly executed non-disclosure agreement is in place before sharing confidential information. The organization may have different non-disclosure agreements depending upon the sensitivity of the information shared under the agreement.

mLabel the information as 'confidential' or 'proprietary'. By doing this, you are putting the other party on guard in terms of treatment given to the information.

mChampion the confidentiality policies amongst all employees, including providing adequate training to all employees.

mShare the information within the organization only on a need-to-know basis.

mTreat and demonstrate that third parties confidential information is protected equally.

mHave an exit interview with terminated employees. During the interview highlight/refresh their memory, on their obligations with regards to the non-disclosure agreement they have signed, on keeping information that had access to during their employment as confidential, it is okay to share best-known-methods with the next employer but under no circumstances, can the employee share trade-secrets. Also, the fact that the next employer would understand that the employee cannot share some information because it is confidential.

mThe organization may also tailor a 'trade secret acknowledgment form, which terminating employee could sign-off before leaving. This form primarily helps in enumerating the trade secrets that the employee is aware of during his employment.

mOther usual security measures of identifying sensitive areas, having certain areas with restricted access, pass-words, badges, document retention / destruction policy, visitor control systems and so on.

It is important that the organization have a systematic approach in the identification of trade secrets. This would be a continuous process. Most employees tend to believe that they own the outcome of their efforts, be it a document or a drawing or a customer list. Train them on the organization's right to trade secrets.

Before signing off, a quick word on 'contamination', the scary situation where a third party's confidential or proprietary information gets mixed up with one's own, without appropriate licenses or approvals. Caution: the other party has remedies of claiming damages, accounting profits, may be even royalty for every piece sold. Trade secrets are valuable assets of the Company. Protect it. The above processes are simple indeed, but goes a long way in protecting both employer and employee interests. It is not expensive either.

Post Script:

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. This is not a legal advice or opinion.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/151039/exintel engineer charged in trade secrets theft.html

The information in this article is as of 14 October 2008

Prof Arup Kr Misra is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in Assam Engineering College. He has also been taking up the additional charge of Training & Placement Officer for last 7 years. AEC has been doing extremely good in this area of late. He is very passionate about popularization and communication of science. He served Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi for three and a half years as a Senior Fellow (1998 2001) and initiated a few national projects still very popular in India. He is at present Secretary of the Assam State Centre of the Institution of Engineers (India), and the Secretary of North east Technical Education Society (NETES), which has established an engineering college in Mirza this year. He is widely traveled in Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and South America for professional and academic assignments.

Indian Youth and the Second Freedom Struggle

The youth of India nurtured a highly romanticized view of the future for this great country immediately after independence in 1947 because they thought that our

own people would now rule the nation instead of an alien power. They thought that India would truly be casteless, religion-neutral, welfare-oriented and would flourish under a “mixed-economy”. State would be able to provide education, healthcare, sanitation, infrastructure, transport and communication to all, they thought. Their dream was to create a united country with strong economic foundations, without any social evils and superstitions.

Perhaps this dream was justified in the beginning, because quite a few great success stories set the pace for development, like construction of the Bhakra-Nangal Dam; adoption of a Constitution and thus becoming a Republic in 1950; setting up of a machinery for propelling “mixed economy” with coexistence of public and private sector industries; setting up of the planning Commission; holding of the first General Elections in 1952 with resounding success; establishment of the Atomic Energy Commission, and so on. These were followed up by Etawah Experiment of Community Development under the able guidance

of S K Dey; and Bhoodaan, Shramdaan and Sarvodaya movements under the leadership of Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash Narayan. Success stories conjured up visions of hope and fairness. Hopes in turn created dreams and aspirations among the youth.

But, how long did these dreams survive? Stratification of society and demands for secession started in the late fifties and the first signs of l inguis t ic in to lerance and cas te-based discrimination surfaced in the sixties. Communal and community conflicts threatened the very fabric of unity in India. Even very well-planned public institutions like the banking system, the postal system, the railways, to name a few, started crumbling, and the worst of all disasters to have s t r u c k u s i n f i l t r a t e d i n t o o u r systems…..Corruption. Indians did not approve of John Lewis when he said in the early 1960s that “Indians are talkers, not doers.” We even became more furious when famous economist-scholar John Kenneth Galbraith remarked that “India's social and economic justice programmes represented only post-office socialism.” Today no sensible Indian would disagree with Lewis or Galbraith.

The biggest challenge facing the country in general and the youth in particular is to reverse these trends and bring back the country to its track. It's a mammoth, but doable, task. A large section of our youth believes that there could be resurgence. Today a potential and pragmatic spirit is back in our society which is different from the romanticized vision of the 1950s, and this can be observed from various initiatives in place at various levels. My intention is not to review these programmes and initiatives; but to drive home a simple point in the same context. Without education and practical skills we cannot venture into any nation-building programme, nor can we motivate others to do so. Mahatma Gandhi led the freedom struggle with the help of overwhelming majority of simple illiterate Indians against a well-educated superpower. Today we have to fight the second battle of independence against ourselves and the systems created by us.

'Education holds the key to solutions'

The current model for public education in India was created at the end of the 19th century in the same line with its British rulers, when the industrial revolution was bringing about extensive mechanization of production systems. But the reality at that time was that, 90 percent of the students left school after the 8th grade to work in mills or on farms. A working knowledge of the "three R's" (readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic) provided workers with sufficient educational foundation to cope with the demands of their jobs.

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Today, the three R's hardly suffice to survive, not to speak of fetching any job. Lakhs of graduates are working as peons and chowkidars in banks, railways, MNCs and other offices. Thousands of post-graduates and innumerable professional graduates are doing odd-jobs and daily wage labour to make both ends meet. This is not just an Indian phenomena; it is a global concern. Between ages 15 and 24 globally we have 1.1 billion illiterate people, which comprise 47% of the world's 186 million unemployed people. Around 59 million youth between the ages of 15 and 17 years are engaged in informal and hazardous forms of work. About 7000 youth get affected by AIDS everyday somewhere or other in the world. When they should be in schools, at that age something like 300, 000 children are fighting endless struggles for some secessionist forces trotting “real” guns at each other.

This is no doubt a century of great opportunities, but only for the prepared ones. Our challenge is to face tomorrow head-on by converting all negative outcome of globalization into positive factors of development. Twenty-first century businesses seek employees with a host of sophisticated skills, including the ability to solve problems, communicate effectively, think critically, and grasp complex systems. As a result, today we require a significantly more advanced education than our 19th century counterparts. For example, let us have a look at the critical success factors, followed by many institutions and organizations all around the world.

“Identifying critical success factors of education”

Success factor 1: An involved and connected learning community: We have not yet understood the paradigm shifts of education and technology, thus grappling with age-old ideas and making “outdated” curricula for our children and youth. On one side we are experiencing continuous explosion of information and communication technologies with vast opportunities; while on the other side we are observing massive school-dropouts, failures, uneven distribution of technologies between and within countries. Global village demands a connected learning community.

Success factor 2: A proficient and inviting curriculum-driven setting: The world market today is a buyer's, and not seller's market. Similarly, the education modules developed today are not teacher-centric, but student-centric. Our inertial forces and egoist academic administrations refuse to accept this. With the right type of curriculum and exciting setting for imparting that to students, we should be able to arrest most of the rot that has set in our educational systems.

Success factor 3: A flexible and sustainable learning environment: We are very good at starting new courses, developing innovative models of education; but very bad at implementing those in large scale to empower the students. Flexible models of learning were developed long back in India, where selection of courses was a prerogative of the learners. But except the top-class professional institutions and management schools how many universities or colleges follow this? Flexibility is lamentably poor in our systems.

Success factor 4: A cross-curriculum integration of research and development: Flexibility induces cross-curriculum research and development. After widespread environmental degradation we have realized that not a single branch or discipline of study can correct the wrongs in environment without the help of the rest. Is it the botanist or the zoologist; the geologist or the geographer; the civil engineer or the chemical engineer; the climatologist or the glaciologist; who is responsible for fighting pollution and devising corrective technologies? No one alone can.

Success factor 5: Professional leadership: There has been a revolution in the management and professional education at the global platform, which has surely touched India too. Still experts are not happy. They are demanding more efforts for value addition to its manufacturing facilities, more competency in its skilled manpower, upgrading capital equipment and raw materials to be more competitive and sustainable. Professional leadership is created only in all-inclusive environments that do not uproot the students from their cultural settings and throw them into unreal world situations. Nothing succeeds like success; and one day I wish to share a few thrilling success stories of most ordinary people in these pages.

Conclusion: The process of bringing about transformation is long, complex, and strewn with many hurdles and challenges. Management of conflicts among social and economic groups itself is a daunting task. But someone has to do it. 50% of India's population is youth, the powerhouse of energy and ideas. If the youth don't take up this nation building process and lead the second freedom struggle, no one can achieve it. Before I sign off for today, let me mention about the well-known 6i Development- Cycle, which reads as follows:

Stage 1: INTROSPECTION

Stage 2: INVESTIGATION

Stage 3: INCLUSION

Stage 4: INNOVATION

Stage 5: IMPLEMENTATION

Stage 6: INTROSPECTION

This is not merely a model which we academicians are so fond of. Rather, it is an analytical tool, a roadmap for planning and assessment of our activities. And the activities need not be limited to only academics; it could be from any sector at any level. In spite of many external and internal hurdles in society, we have the knowledge base and experiences of the past to carry forward the struggle for development, equity and justice.

Mohak Gambhir is an Entrepreneurial Online Professional with experience across Product Management and Marketing. Part of the core launch team at two very successful Indian Internet start ups (yatra.com, ibibo.com). his exposure to social media has been that of an early adopter. He is convinced that social interactions and conversations will change the way online will be perceived. For the past 10 years, Mohak has been consulting organizations and individuals of all sizes and statures with online marketing strategies.

Email: m@mohak.in

Twitter: www.twitter.com/mohak

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mohak

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mohak.gambhir

ONLINE MARKETING WITHOUT THE JARGON

How much would an email address cost?” “Yes, at a family gathering an acquaintance with a modest auto part

manufacturing business asked me this question. The age of innocence I guess. After all it was 1997 and the Internet left the

phone line engaged and the users enraged. Speeds were dismal and dial-up subscriptions were some 5000 rupees for 500 hours of connectivity. The ecosystem seemed expensive, out of reach and pretty fuzzy with respect to understanding. Not to mention, the application form at VSNL Internet office had a mandatory field that asked for the purpose of usage. So, when I told the man with slight hesitation and perhaps unconvincingly, that an email address comes for free it evoked a reaction,which I cannot summarize. However, the middle aged uncle accompanied with his overgrown paunch took a few steps closer and asked me what the cost of sending and receiving one 'letter' would cost him over email. The assumption could actually be true, incoming calls on his cellphone would cost over eight rupees a minute if not more. Cleared his questions, but the hawk-eyed businessman in him was not satiated with my theory of advertising funded email, as a free communication tool and showed no empathy towards me. So, I developed and marketed his website and he secured overseas business for radiator caps to secure his confidence over the medium.

10 years later, incoming calls in India were free, outgoing calls were the cheapest in the world and we had 30 million active Indian users of the Internet.

The same year, I happened to read an article in the New York Times. Trevor Edwards, Nike's corporate vice president for global brand and category management, came out aloud and said, “We're not in the business of keeping the media companies alive. We're in the business of connecting with consumers.” Ofcourse it was October 2007, the slowdown in the US was starting to show. Trevor was speaking from fact and undergoing a litmus test of forging a relationship with the consumers directly without any media. It was very different from the image of Nike with glossy magazine ads, expensively produced television commercials and extensive use of celebrities. This was soaked in the steam of triumph for Nike+ and ratified by the critical consumer of 2007.

Perhaps the same time, a politician who dared to think differently in the US was preparing for Presidential campaign fund raising. His belief that millions of online donors would far exceed the big donors to the campaign, in sheer dollars. His belief was true; the visitors and donors to his campaign were far younger than his peers. The confidence and focus on the online media to create momentum and exhibit gratitude got hundreds of millions in dollars for the campaign funds. All it involved was direct dialog with the audience, the voters that were the consumers in the election campaign and using low cost and high return ideas like the niche social network created for the campaign. Who was he? An easy one to guess. Yes he is Barack Obama.

In the above illustrations, I have attempted to outline how the Internet can be successfully used for almost any marketing problem, business, audience, business owner, individual, geography, agenda and brand. Similarly, it knows no boundaries of reach, is actually free and can be extremely swift to gain momentum. It is interesting to know how long standing brands like New York Times, with a legacy of over a century now feel defeated in the hands of the consumer. The key word here again is 'free'. Free, as in economics and free, as in democracy. You are free to post and express your opinion, it doesn't cost to publish and it

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doesn't cost to consume. The speed with which social utilities like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Flickr grew without any advertising are testimony to it.

The next few paragraphs, I would like to reflect upon are simple ideas on how you can use do-it-yourself (DIY) online marketing and branding techniques to help yourself. These are actionable and easy to do. It is not necessary that you are in a marketing role, a business man, or running for the presidential election!

First of all, understand what your objective is. You may want to sell products, just generate leads for your products, get traffic or create awareness, generate funds for your NGO, create personal branding/get popular, and help other people achieve their marketing objectives as a consultant or build relationships with your existing user base. Depending on what your objective is, you'd need people to be aware. Awareness builds familiarity, familiarly is the stepping stone for confidence, confidence will direct transaction and transaction can lead to relationship. Focusing on your objective(s) helps in figuring out the channels you will use.

Secondly, identify your audience. Audience can be defined in multiple ways as individuals or by grouping similar people together. You could segregate based on the geography, gender, age, education, employment, affluence, whether they are aware about your product or service, users of competitive products etc.

Thirdly, set a budget. The budget allocation is two ways, time and money. You should dedicate a specific time band and total time you'd like to spend on your marketing led activities online. The opportunities are abound, and therefore an early marketer can get lost in the abundance and plethora and end up either losing impetus or direction. Similarly, if you are looking for a paid stream of marketing activities, you may wish you set aside some funds. Remember, time and money are key in any marketing activity. Time is also relational to patience and letting the seeds you sow in the virtual world, ripe. Similarly, spending money alone may not bear fruit. The budget would also help you understand if you should look for free marketing, using social media or spend money on slightly high cost banner advertising.

Creativity on online may not mean bold colours, gimmicky headlines or rhyming jingles. If you are looking for that particular job in that niche industry or want to establish yourself as an authority on a subject of hobby of yours, with only a few hundred rupees or so you can reach your audience on pay per click programs such as Google AdWords. So say, you know everything about Tea. When someone searches for “tea recipe”, or

First, Be Objective!

Second, Know your Audience!

Third, Set your Budget!

Fourthly, be Creative!

“English tea”, or even “tea cup designs”, you could bid on those keywords to display your sponsored ad on Google. You only pay when someone clicks on the ad. Imagine if you were to pay the TV channel only when someone sees your ad on television. Not possible, right? No wonder TV companies are struggling behind Internet globally.

It is not necessary that you begin your marketing initiatives online using a heavy Flash website with animations and graphics. You can start with something very basic. Begin by knowing if you need to invest in a domain name. Buy a .com or a .in domain name for your business. Have a name that is easy to remember. The best test is to call a friend and narrate the domain over phone. If he understands the name in the first try it's good to register. Then, you may not even need a website at all. Why spend money and make it an expense, if it wouldn't become an investment and have returns on it.

The internet media allows you to measure everything. How many people visited your website, what was the previous site they were on, how much time they spent on your site, what items were they interested in, have they come before, etc etc. It's almost like maintaining a visitor register and very diligent guard at your shop entrance. Using these reports, you can see what ads are working for you, what products you should display on the main page on your website etc. Try free products like Google Analytics, SiteMeter, Yahoo Analytics.

Fifthly, think big, start small!

Lastly, analyse and review !

Trevor Edwards, Nike's c o r p o r a t e v i c e president for global brand and category management, came out aloud and said, “We're not in the business of keeping the media companies alive. We're in the business of c o n n e c t i n g w i t h consumers.”

Channels for online marketing:

Social and free:

mFacebook: Start a fan page, upload photos of your products, invite your friends to the page, even advertising using small amounts

mWordpress: write a blog about a personal passion, product or service offering

mTwitter: Connect with audiences in real time over short messages

mReview Websites: TripAdvisor for travel, Mouthshut for Indian products, Epinions for Global products etc.

mFlickr: Upload interesting photos about your category on this photo sharing site

mSearch Engine Optimization: Tweak your site for people to find it easily when they are looking for information on search engines

Paid Advertising:

mPay Per Click: Paying a website owner or search engine only when someone clicks on your ad. Google AdWords, Komli, Yahoo Search

mAffiliate Marketing: Paying a website owner only when your product gets sold. In India, DGM, Shoogloo

mBanner advertising: image ads on various websites. Yahoo, Rediff, MSN

mAd Networks: You can pay a single company who would show (serve) your ads. Komli, NetworkPlay, TribalFusion

Some myths about online marketing:

mIt is technological, expensive and difficult these are absolute misnomers, and as shared before, you can start with as low as a few hundred rupees. Try Google AdWords.

mI need a website to start online marketing it is not necessary at all you can start a free blog on Wordpress.com, start selling by listing your products on Ebay

mOnline marketing is only for those who sell to people absolutely untrue you can list your products on business to business marketplaces such as Alibaba and IndiaMart.

mThere is low trust on the Internet agreed, there are scams on the Internet, but it is important to know that they exist in the offline world too. The internet perhaps allows you to investigate and choose much better still.

mThe buyers of my product are not online well, they are not online today, but they will be, either to research or to buy. It's important that you are ready for when then come. Even further, without trying, don't get fooled by this assumption. Do a Google search for the category you operate in and see if you have your competitors online!

mOur business is offline well, let's say you run a barber shop, a restaurant or even a grocery shop you will have some loyalists who would want to connect together, review and recommend your products. You can assist them today! Furthermore, there would be people looking for your product or service who are visiting your location, are new in the area or they are unfulfilled by their current provider/store.

This article is in a way encouraging people to think about online marketing in a simple non-intimidating way. It is the author's sincere belief that the reader can apply simple tools and techniques to manage marketing a product or oneself easily on the internet. Want to know more, need help with an online campaign? Or if the article doesn't simplify thinking for you, and your thirst for online marketing is not quenched, please get in touch with Mohak Gambhir. All the best!

Post Script:

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Pritam Kumar Das is an engineering graduate from National Institute of Technology, Surat. He currently resides in Bangalore and is working with Intel Corporation. He has over 6 years of work experience and is the co founder of ThinkBig Corporate Consultants in Assam. He is an avid technology enthusiast. He works closely with the major technological giants and is well traveled in the asiapacific region. You can reach him at pritamkd@gmail.com. He is also active in the major social networking sites.

All You Need to Know About New Age Smartphones

The Internet is ubiquitous now, and with WiFi and WiMAX, on-the-go high speed broadband is a reality. If you have heard about Wimax, you

would know that it is the next generation of wireless technology which is designed to deliver high speed mobile Internet access and that too, at a lower cost. You can call it the fourth generation (4G) of wireless technology. With this entire spread, there is an increased shift of personal computing products towards being more 'Internet centric'.

The newest and biggest wave in the personal computing industry is exactly that building you the best device that is easy to use, light to carry and delivers the Internet to you. What with companies like Nokia and Qualcomm, who never designed a computer in history, are chipping in with their own internet computing devices, for instance the Nokia Booklet and the Qualcomm Smartbook. Several products are available in the market today with a lot of different form factors and value propositions. Its all about finding out which one fits best for your kind of Internet usage.

Let's set the distinction between the classic cell-phone/PDA/smart-phone as it exists today and these devices centered on the Internet. Today's smart-phones have comparatively very low processing power and most of them have a limited user interface. They lack software portability - for instance, the Blackberry smart-phone's need conversion from the most popular document formats to the proprietary Blackberry OS (RIM) format, even before you can open the document on the device. They have limited external connectivity options - you cannot plug in your USB thumb-drive to your phone and need an external computer to sync up, also you cannot easily hook up your smart-phone to an external display today. These limitations make the classic cell-phone/PDA/smartphone not so great for computing applications, but it still is a great telecommunications device.

The closest that a phone has come to a smartphone-like-MID is the iPhone, primarily because of Apple's iPhone OS, which gives software portability to a large extent. If we look at the iPhone, it really is not a MID or a new age Smartphone as yet. If I were to remove the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card, there is no reason why we wouldn't want a higher resolution screen, greater computing and graphics processing power, which is when we dwelve into the realm of the MID.

Technology

Today's smart-phones have comparatively very low processing power and most of them have a limited user interface.

middle of this new Internet revolution

Mobile Internet Device (MID): The category of handheld computer devices that are multimedia capable, provide you on-the-go wireless internet, and can claim to be 'always connected', are called MIDs. These are bigger than smart-phones but smaller than the smallest notebook. They will fit in to your jeans or jacket pocket and you can carry them easily with you, just like your cellphone. The input media is usually manual touch or a stylus, but some of them do have a thumb-able keyboard, like the one on your cellphone. They usually run a full mobile operating system, but one that is optimized for power. With a 5 to 7 inch screen, they are big enough for streaming your favorite video online. Most of them come in ultra sleek designs and with a decent enough computing power, definitely more than what the smartphone can handle and do.

On a positive note, you should definitely see the prices of these existing PDAs and smartphones come down in the near future, what with Apple reducing the price of the new generation iPhone 3GS by almost half of its original.

Now that we know there is a legitimate niche market for these new internet-centric devices, lets go explore them. Maybe you can buy your next mobile internet device, based on what we find out. We will look at MIDs (Mobile Internet Device)/UMPCs (Ultra-mobile PC), new age Smartphones, and Netbooks

The New Age Smartphone: The new smartphones are devices with an open operating system, full telecommunications stack, and a form factor that would allow you to easily hold it up to the ear for voice calls. Screen sizes would range from 3 to 3.5 inches in width with a decent enough resolution. These devices would trend to making way for innovation in the telecom arena, and will diverge away from the personal computing space. However they would still have a working browser and email application. Obviously, they will have WWAN capability, 3G, WiFi and maybe even WiMAX, once it is voice-optimized.

Here is the very popular Apple iPhone that is in the

The key differentiating factors for a MID are - 'always on' and 'always connected'. It is designed to be used standing up, with a form factor that you can easily carry along. The software is usually customized for Internet usage. With new mobile operating systems like Google initiated Android and Intel initiated Moblin being designed bottom-up for mobile and Internet centric usage, compared to the old ones like Windows® Mobile OS, which was nothing but a stripped down version of the original Windows kernel, you can definitely expect a very responsive and easy-to-use system.

These devices are designed to provide the best user experience in terms of handheld internet usage by integrating social networking and location-aware services, mainly aimed at the growing consumer market. The MID category of devices was first conceived by Intel Corporation.

Here is an example of one of the first MIDs demoed by Intel Corporation

UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs) : UMPCs are the more developed cousins of MIDs with slightly bigger and higher resolution screens. The key difference being that UMPCs are more laptop-like and not necessarily have to be 'always on' or be operated standing up. They are the more petite versions of our traditional tablet PCs and need not have location aware features like GPS (Global Positioning system) or even a camera. They support VOIP for voice communication and will not have access to the cellular network.

The UMPC was conceived and driven by Microsoft, so they are naturally optimized and sold with all Microsoft developed software in them. For those of you who feels this is an instant turn-off, some of the newer UMPCs also have the option of installing Linux, as the secondary OS.

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Here is an UMPC from GigaByte

For all practical purposes, a Netbook is a stripped down version of the NoteBook and is defined by the price and technology. These devices are mainly aimed for the developing market, due to the low cost factor, and also partly for the developed market, as a second laptop for an individual.

Technically they lack an optical drive, so you cannot watch your favorite DVD/CD - which was done in part to reduce cost and size, and also to leave users with more reason to buy a Notebook. Alas the PC industry doesn't want to cannibalize the Notebook in developing markets.

Other things that you mostly will not find in a Netbook are Bluetooth, a legacy PC card slot, Hi-def video and Hi-def audio. They lack the processing power and memory technology to run the full range of media applications/games that you would normally run on a Notebook and are definitely not designed for intensive office-

related tasks. They will not have high screen resolutions, but just enough to browse the

T h e s e d e v i c e s a r e designed to provide the best user experience in terms of handheld internet usage by integrating social networking and location-aware services, mainly aimed at the growing consumer market.

Internet. They are not more than 10 inches wide. In terms of storage, some of them do have SSDs (Solid State Drives) in lieu of traditional hard drives. These SSDs are a lot faster than the spindle driven ATA HDDs, but they cost a lot more. This is optimized by providing less storage SSDs on Netbooks.

Now that we have seen all these four device categories, we know that some of the lines separating them are a bit blur for instance between the Smart-phone and the MID, MID and the UMPC etc. But with time, as in any industry, there is going to be a consolidation in the Internet centric devices too and with it, simplification of the market segments. However there is enough reason now, to go check out these in your local stores and find out which ones going to be the best use for you.

If you are interested in contributing to software development for these devices, I would suggest to go check out the below open source projects. You can download the latest released packages and tools, become a member of the development community and contribute your own applications too.

Moblin, short for 'mobile Linux', is an open source operating system - www.moblin.org

Android is also a mobile operating system, initially developed by Google and now an o p e n s o u r c e p r o j e c t -

Here is the most famous Netbook till date, the ASUS Eee PC

http://www.android.com

Women in the Entrepreneurial World

Ankurita is currently working with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) as an Assistant Director. She is part of the FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), which was established in 1983, as a division of FICCI, the apex body of industry and commerce in India. As an All India Organisation for women, FLO has chapters in Mumbai , Chennai , Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Guwahati and Kolkata with its head office in Delhi. Their members comprise of entrepreneurs, professionals and Corporate Executives.

The primary objective of FLO is to p ro m o t e e n t re p re n e u r s h i p a n d professional excellence in women. FLO endeavors to enhance the various skills of women through their educational and vocational training programmes, talks, seminars, panel discussion and workshop on a wide range of subjects like information technology, taxation, insurance, venture capital, stock market operations, accountancy, marketing, mutual funds, investment planning, e n t re p re n e u r s h i p d e v e l o p m e n t programmes etc. They also focus on women related legal and social issues like uniform civil code, domestic violence, etc.

She has done her B.A in English Literature from Cotton College, Guwahati and M.A from Delhi University. She has also done a diploma course in Print Journalism from YMCA, New Delhi and had a stint with journalism as a reporter with The Asian Age and the India Today Group.

Entrepreneurship has always been considered a male bastion but the scene has

considerably changed in the proverbial 21st century times .This change is synonymous with the shifting role of women in the society and economy around the globe. In almost all the developed countries in the world women are putting their steps at par with the men in the field of business and are playing an impressive and inspirational role model.

In India, though it has not been a very easy journey for women to enter the threshold of a man's arena, they are successfully combating long-standing prejudices and are working their way to the top of companies or starting their own businesses in increasing numbers. The more overwhelming fact is that a lot of middle and lower middle class women as well as rural women are coming ahead and entering the entrepreneurial world.

A Woman Entrepreneur can be defined as any individual woman or a group of women, who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise. Government of India has defined women entrepreneurship as an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women.

Entrepreneurship is a difficult undertaking as it calls for innovative ideas, risk taking, strong business acumen and effective leadership in all aspects of business. It's a challenging role for a woman but growing sensitivity towards the role of a thinking individual and increasing economic independence has made it possible today for several women to don the entrepreneur's hat.

The social situation for a woman has undoubtedly changed a lot in terms of acceptance of a woman as

economically independent and a working professional. But there is still a clear overshadow of the dogmatic past which is marked with traditional expectations from a woman i.e. playing the role of a homemaker rather than a bread earner.

The traditional role of a woman confines her to the household, doing the daily chores and tending to her family's needs. Therefore, venturing into a so called man's territory, a woman has to face several impediments in her way. It is difficult for a woman to make a fine balance between her business and home. The patriarchal social order makes it difficult for the women to carve a niche as an entrepreneur, primarily because she is considered an outsider and her entrepreneurial abilities are doubted at every step by the society. Even the financial institutions are skeptical to fund women in new ventures.

Moreover, there is gender prejudices almost everywhere. She is seen as a woman first and then as an entrepreneur. There is also constant competition and antagonistic a p p r o a c h f r o m t h e i r m a l e counterparts that make things more difficult for them. It is not an easy path to tread upon but there are several women entrepreneurs in India who have made their mark against all heavy odds, social pressures and cultural shackles.

Most women entrepreneurs in India embarked on their entrepreneurial journey in a relatively smaller scale, mostly based out of their homes. They began with traditionally women-oriented business like beauty and well-being, garments, fashion etc, mostly without any formal training or a rigid business framework.

Shahnaz Hussain, who believes in “making her own destiny” is one of

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the pioneering women entrepreneurs in India. She had no legacy and no mentor. Infact,she set off to create her own legacy as she made her foray into the entrepreneurial world in 1970, when she first started by selling herbal remedies out of a first floor flat in Delhi with Rs 35,00 borrowed from her father. With the 'World's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur' award by the 105 year old US magazine, Success in 1996, Shahnaz is now the queen of the herbal business.

In today's world of urbanization, globalization, industrialization and IT revolution, many new business houses and industries today have women leading the front. A name to reckon with in the field of entrepreneurship, Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In 1978, she joined as a Trainee Manager with Biocon Biochemicals Limited in Ireland, Collaborating with the same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs. 10,000/- in 1978. Currently the Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd, Kiran grew from a modest entrepreneur to be the richest woman in India in 2004.

Today women have move beyond the known and have ventured into the less traversed sectors in entrepreneurship. Some names are Geeta Anand who is the Managing Director of a plastic moulding unit, AG Indutries Pvt Ltd in Gurgaon, Chitra Bharat Kumar owner of Bangalore based Mayur Industries, manufacturing plastic folders, files, albums and similar products and Prabha Kulkarni, Managing Director of Kulkarni Engineering Associates Limited in Maharashtra.

Further citing examples of women entrepreneurs from Assam, the name of Lalita Devi Jain, fondly known as Madhu by the people of Guwahati, Assam is worth mentioning. She stepped into the entrepreneurial world, created her own brand 'Madhushree' and has marched her way forward in the global market. She started with five looms and over the period of last more than 25 years, she has built up 50 looms. Almost 200 women are employed and they all have become the part of the family to create the brand of Madhushree. At present the brand has its own design centre of 1500sq feet in the heart of Guwahati city and production centre at Rajapara. Over the years reputation of Madhushree has reached far flung region in the country and many Central and State Ministers, bureaucrats and dignitaries have visited its production centre to get firsthand experience of the product.

Jahnabi Phookan, owner of Jungle Travels India is another woman entrepreneur who has proved the fact that with unsurpassable courage and indomitable strength of mind, it is not difficult for a woman to turn her dreams into reality. Along with her husband Ashish Phookan, Jahnabi has successfully established her position in the tourism industry not only in Assam but also in the whole North Eastern region. Recognised by the Government of India, Ministry of Tourism as a Tour Operator, Jungle Travels is now a leading travel company of the North East India with offices in

Calcutta and four locations in the North East; Shillong in Meghalaya, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Jorhat and Guwahati in the state of Assam.

These are only a few random names and there are many women who have been doing equally good in their respective fields as entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, this is only one aspect of the women's entrepreneurial world which looks quite bright and encouraging. No doubt, glass ceilings are being shattered by women entrepreneurs today but it is not a uniform process in India. It is confined to only a particular section of women who either had some kind of financial resources in hand or the fortitude to pave their own way to success.

Empowering women entrepreneurs is truly essential for achieving the goals of sustainable development of the nation in totality. Therefore, right efforts from all areas are required in the development of women entrepreneurs and their greater participation in the entrepreneurial activities. Government should extend better educational facilities, suitable financial schemes, training on technical and management skills and professional competence to women folk and on the part of the society, incessant support and recognition is equally essential. Though the current situation in India is not extraordinarily brilliant, the continuously evolving paradigm and we can definitely expect the best in the near future.

Moreover, there is gender p r e j u d i c e s a l m o s t everywhere. She is seen as a woman first and then as an entrepreneur. There i s a l s o c o n s t a n t c o m p e t i t i o n a n d antagonistic approach f r o m t h e i r m a l e counterparts that make things more difficult for them.

Liberating Leadership: A Talk with Prof. Isaac Getz An interview exclusively for The Brahmaputra, Rhythm of the Promises”

Isaac Getz, with Ph.D.s in Psychology and Management, is a professor of Idea, Involvement, and Innovation Management at the top ranked ESCP Europe Business School operating in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid and Turin, and has been a visiting professor at Cornell and Stanford Universities and at the University of Massachusetts.

Named by a leading French business magazine as one of the top eight international business professors in Europe, in 2003 he co authored a book that was a top three finalist for the Manpower Award for the best book of 2003 in France and has been translated into German, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian. Isaac's work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and Fortune, as well as on TV and radio. He is also an author/co author of four books, many articles and is an active public speaker. His most recent article “Liberating Leadership” appeared in California Management Review. In 2009, he co authored his new book Freedom, Inc.: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to Higher Productivity, Profits, and Growth (Published by Crown Business/Random House in October 2009).

You can get in touch with him at isgetz@gmail.com

Find out more about his new book http://www.freedomincbook.com/

An organization's successes or failures are finally dependent on one big factor - its people. It has always been a matter of much curiosity as to how

some companies manage to remain ahead in terms of innovation, better customer satisfaction or larger market share (despite the fact that its close competitors may have similar quality products under their belts). The answer perhaps lies in approaches towards leading people. To get a better insight into this concept, The Brahmaputra got in touch with Professor Isaac Getz, one of the top international business professors in Europe. In his recently released book Freedom, Inc., Prof. Getz talks about “liberating leadership” required to build freedom-based organizations that are more conducive (for employees) to achieve phenomenal results and unprecedented growth for the organizations.

Professor Getz speaks with Marie, exclusively for “The Brahmaputra, Rhythm of the Promises” on leadership, innovation and organizational behaviors some of the key issues that his book has attempted to address.

Prof. Getz, thank you for your time and cooperation and congratulations for your recently launched book Freedom, Inc. Your book speaks about a noble approach to leadership which benefits both employees' and the organization's success. Can you enlighten our readers about this approach?

The Brahmaputra:

Prof. Getz:

Prof. Getz:

I wouldn't call it noble because the leaders who use it don't call it that. Rather, they embraced this leadership approach that my co-author Brian Carney and I call liberating because it's great for business and for employees. What they did was to build a corporate environment in which every employee is free and responsible to take actions they-not their bosses-decide are the best for the company. Our book describes this environment and provides many illustrations but its focus is on the leaders who built these freedom-based environments.

Are there any factors of how this approach might reach greater or less success in Asian countries such as India, China or Vietnam compared to its potential in the West?

National cultures and environments matter but not as much as corporate cultures. If you go to a Toyota plant in US or Europe and then in India, China or Thailand, you'll find very similar norms of behavior respected among the employees, like not blaming people for mistakes but rather analyzing what went wrong and improving the process so that the mistake is not repeated. The same is true for freedom-based companies. One of the liberating leaders we discuss in our book, Bob Davids, built a freedom based company Radica Games in China, beginning in the early 1990s with 97% of its 8.000

The Brahmaputra:

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employees from mainland China. They were first surprised to see a CEO who had no office and whose desk was the same as-even worse than-theirs. They however, espoused the freedom-based culture as well as employees in other countries because it provided for their universal needs of intrinsic equality (called also consideration, dignity, courtesy, even love), growth, and self-direction.

Aren't people programmed to an extent to expect that when they go to work they will be told what to do? If business leaders suddenly shift the decision making power to their employees, might some amount of confusion and chaos result in?

It's true that all the schooling systems (I assume in Asia too) are built on the respect of authority, and students who don't obey authority and don't follow the rules, even if they are senseless, are quickly punished. As a result, companies all over the word hire complacent people who will execute an order even if they know that it will make a customer flee or waste money. Of course, that is not the way to reach great business performance and some leaders-many of whom we discuss in the book-decided to change radically. They went to build an environment opposite to the command-and-control system that uses “teachers know all-students know little” model with “bosses” and “employees.” Liberating leaders, though, are aware that their approach is radical and in order to implement it an evolution and not a revolution is required.

Is it more difficult to create a freedom culture within organizations and cultures where hierarchies have traditionally reined? Can a company's culture successfully be more liberating than the culture of the society surrounding it? For example, if we talk about countries like India or China that are characterized by high power distance cultures.

That's a very interesting question. First, at the level of organizations, it's true that building a freedom-based culture in a start-up is easier than transforming an existing hierarchical company. Although, one shouldn't idealize start-ups either because their employees are still coming with the experience of hierarchical schools and/or their previous companies and thus have a tendency to solve problems through rules, policies, and controlling bosses. Second, at the level of entire societies, it's true that some Asian cultures are known for “high power distance,” Japan included. This will definitely show up in companies where such distances and strong power exist. But what happens if the CEO stops wielding around his power, if he affirms that front-line employees know better what needs to be done and that he expects them to decide the best actions to take? More, he behaves correspondingly, walks the talk: when they still come to him with problems, he refuses “to take the monkey off their shoulder” and rather asks them what they propose to do. Such freedom-based corporate cultures have been built in Asia, as I've told before, but you're right: they may be quite different from what's going on in the larger society. Although, I wouldn't confuse the millennium's long,

The Brahmaputra:

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Prof. Getz:

Prof. Getz:

religiously and philosophically enthused respect for elder and wiser members in Asian cultures with the fear of arbitrary power that some political wielders may inspire.

What benefits can freedom-based cultures bring to innovation in organizations?

Good question. It's indeed one of the main business benefits of freedom-based cultures and explain why these companies show such a tremendous profitable growth. Indeed, most recent studies of innovation show that it cannot be managed. That innovation unlike say, supply chain management, is not a process that can be programmed in steps and controlled. Innovation is a stochastic phenomenon which needs a lot of experimentation out of which a small proportion will convert into new and useful product, services, process or business models. But, one can never know in advance what experiment will be the most successful in the end. So the most I-believe the only-approach to successful continuous innovation is gardening: you provide an eco-system, water, mineral, light, protection from the bad weather elements and you let “one thousand flowers bloom.” Statistically, several of them-but you never know which ones-will be spectacular. Of course, the million dollar question is what kind of corporate environment is best to provide this garden? Obviously, a command-and-control one with its planning and managing focus doesn't, since it tries to predict in what “flowers” one should invest. Now, in the freedom-based environment, everyone can come up-and many do-with the idea and start a small, low-cost experimentation, and then if the results are interesting, continue with it. So you get “one thousand flowers” all the time, and some great one regularly.

It seems that you are advocating workplaces to become free of rules and control systems - how can business leaders ensure that employees will act towards the best interest of the firm and not out of self-interest? Is it possible to strike a sweet balance between freedom and control?

Freedom is not anarchy, it's inseparable from responsibility. So if you give employees the freedom to take actions that is the best for the company, you also have to give them the criteria to assess what this “best” means. These criteria come from the corporate vision, that liberating leaders actively share with everyone. In command-and-control companies, vision criteria are used only by the top executives in what is called “strategic decisions.” For the rest of the folks, detailed rules and procedures-and controls accompanying them-are established so that people down the ladder don't ask too many questions and just execute what they are told to. Of course, very often, frontline people see that in their local geographical or time conditions these procedures don't work; but they have no freedom to take actions that they know do work. Not in the freedom-based

The Brahmaputra:

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Prof. Getz:

Prof. Getz:

companies. There everyone owns the vision, “why we are doing what we're doing,” such as providing outstanding customer service. “How” they do it is up to these knowledgeable employees.

What advice might you have for existing and upcoming business leaders in India, if they desire to create a freedom based culture?

Read our book. No, I'm serious. This is as much a philosophical, existential book as it is a business book. I'd like to believe that it's more the first than the second. Indeed, every leader has to ask himself a certain amount of personal, existential questions like what's his dream for his company that he wishes to share with its every employee, what's the corporate environment that is the best to satisfy people's universal human needs so that they are self-motivated to get up every morning with the pleasant thought of spending a day in advancing this dream even further. Leaders can also ask themselves the opposite questions: What nightmare would I hate to achieve for my company and what is the environment that would go completely against my employees' universal human needs and make them wish to go on sleeping when the alarm clock rings in the morning.

Lastly Prof. Getz, what brought you to be interested in this topic of research? How do your background in innovation and other topics link to your passion for freedom cultures in organizations?

During my observations of some very innovative companies I became puzzled by the atmosphere that reigned in them. Simply speaking, people were smiling to each other all the time. This indicated that there was more going on in these companies than some “innovation management” mechanisms. How do you build environments where everyone smiles? It became a mystery that I set myself to resolve.

The Brahmaputra:

The Brahmaputra:

Prof. Getz:

Prof. Getz:

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Siddhartha Sarma is Associate Copy Editor, Outlook Money, India's largest personal finance magazine, and is based in Delhi. Formerly an award winning investigative journalist, he has covered external affairs, insurgency, crime and law. He is also the author of the novel The Grasshopper's Run and other fictional works.

He is from Guwahati and did his schooling at Don Bosco High School, later passing Higher Secondary from Cotton College. A few years later, he worked with The Sentinel newspaper.

His phone number: 0 9910407002.

email: siddhartha.is@gmail.com

Helmsmen: Why Some Companies Are a Good Option

My magazine recently announced the Outlook Money-NDTV Profit Awards, 2009, which recognise the best players in banking, insurance, mutual funds, equity,

debt and all the other categories that make up the financial sector. These awards have come to stand for a benchmark, not just of performance, but also as an aid to individual investors in zeroing in on offerings from these companies.

There are various criteria for judging the best in each category: obviously, criteria differ from sector to sector, and weightage for criteria also varies, based on the nature of the product and the people who create, sell or buy them.

For instance, what makes a bank better than the other, really? The cost an ordinary citizen incurs while banking is important, as is convenience. You have a bank with more ATMs and shorter queues, that's an advantage. How fast does a bank approve loans, and after approval, how fast are these loans disbursed? What is the reach of the bank? All these factors cannot be taken in isolation. A bank might have a branch in every boondock in this country, but if you still need to sweat in line for a couple of hours for a simple over-the-counter transaction, the purpose will not be served.

So, all these factors combine and inter-play to provide the complete picture for the customer. And this fact is equally true when it comes to deciding among the best in (take your pick) manufacturing, related services, pharma, you name it.

The requirements of the consumer are naturally different from yours: the management graduate's. You have a set of expectations, possibly some rules that you are in the process of refining, while deciding which company or which sector to focus on while job-hunting or riding the career graph. But there is one factor you have in common with the consumer, one criteria which both of you seek in your target companies: leadership.

Going back to our awards: some companies keep re-appearing at the top of the heap, and some individuals helming them, have almost become, what you might term regulars. Why is that? The financial industry has seen a lot of ups and downs in the past one year, one of the few parts of the world economy hit the most, the hardest and the quickest by the downturn. The rules of the game have changed, returns to investment are not what they used to be, strategies had to be hastily altered and entire tactical scenarios re-worked overnight. Insurers, fund houses, banks, they all struggled to stay afloat. Some went under, others survived, a few prospered. These few were led by people who were quick, even prophetic, at noticing the downturn and its causes. They were quicker at creating damage-control mechanisms, and also found the time to come up with new offerings reflecting the new market and the needs of the harried, hassled customer. They stayed on top all the way.

It is then, no surprise that these companies are also among those which are preferred places to work. With a few exceptions here and there, managers who are very good at their jobs, are also good bosses. They encourage an inner work culture relatively free of the kind of insecurity that plagues the less efficient or the less competent. Why? Because people who are good at their jobs are inherently confident of themselves and at home in their working environment. It is therefore not in their interests to create cliques or situations that lead to infighting. That's a big plus right there, if workplace ambience matters to you, as it should.

They do not exactly promote the ours-is-one-big-happy-family idea, because, let's face it, workplace is workplace and family is at home. Instead they encourage true teamwork, everyone doing their jobs under a stable chain of command, people taking and handling responsibilities. They also rarely become slave-drivers.

These organisations, being led by people who, as mentioned earlier, are up-to-date and even prophetic, are also keenly aware of the needs of employees. I had a little discussion the other day with some industry watchers on expected workplace changes in the coming year. We all agreed that inflation would play a big spoiler to career decisions. One way companies could handle this would be, to evolve packages for employees, which acts as the adequate factor in inflation, something like the good old dearness allowance, remodeled to reflect the open market.

So we looked at each other and wondered aloud which companies would move first to secure their employees' interests before the coming inflation tsunami hits our shores. Guess which names came up? Yup, that's right. The same organizations that routinely create a better environment for consumers, also move the quickest at creating more comfortable situations for the people who work in them.

Sure, the other companies might also make tentative moves, but I seriously doubt if they can progress beyond the sad old notion, that in a free market, attrition exists, so if someone leaves us, we will hire others. If someone works for you and is good, you take steps to retain them. And it is in such organizations that you should seek employment, not just because of the package or the working environment, but also because of the many good lessons in corporate leadership you will learn.

So these other companies, which have so far been also-rans in different industries, will continue to be largely indifferent not just to market requirements but to employee needs. Finally, forced by trends and other external factors, they will take a few hesitant steps in the right direction. And they will be almost on time.

Sadly, 'almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

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Organization Knowledge: An Attempt at Conceptualization

Business Paper

Prantik Bordoloi is presently a Doctoral candidate at Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. His areas of consulting and research interests are in Knowledge Management, E Learning, Healthcare, and Corporate Training Design and Development. Prantik grew up in Duliajan, completed his school and college from Kendriya Vidyalaya and Jorhat Engineering College respectively. He can be reached at prantikb@gmail.com; and his LinkedIn profile can be accessed at www.linkedin.com/in/prantik “Prantik warns that the paper that follows is rather academic and 'dry'. He is willing to take flak for the paper by email.”

1. Introduction

he value of intangible assets of an organization was brought into the focus by Tobin's q. Tobin's q is the ratio of a firm's market value and the

replacement value of firm's assets. Tobin's q highlighted the role of intangibles for an organization. Though assets like brands are also intangibles, now there is a recognized place for knowledge as a strategic asset. It is now accepted that knowledge leads to organizational capabilities, which is the starting point for an organization to develop its core competencies that leads to competitive advantage (Prahalad and Hamel, 1990).

Strategic management now recognizes the 'economic' role of knowledge. It has been noted the organizations that utilize knowledge can more effectively coordinate and utilize traditional resources as well, leading to development of new capabilities, by which they can provide additional value to customers (Teece et al. , 1997). Also the current changes in the social and economic patters of the society, like greater importance for the service sector, better informed and a more networked society, are having an implication on how organizations manage their resources and knowledge has been identified as a “key resource and driver for organizational performance and value creation” (Marr et al., 2004).

There are many aspects of knowledge in an organization, which has been the focus of researchers. These include (Choo and Bontis, 2002)

m How do organizations create knowledge and share them?

m What is the value of knowledge in an organization?

mHow does organization effectively manage knowledge for competitive advantage?

mWhat difference does the knowledge based view of the firm make?

mWhat are the principles based on which a knowledge-based strategy can be formulated?

TmWhat are in fact, knowledge-goals?

But it has to be noted that central to all these research questions is the assumption as to what constitutes organizational knowledge? The objective of this paper hence is to explore the core concepts and perspectives that have went into understanding, how knowledge exists in an organization. It is also intended that if possible, I would synthesize these different perspectives and try to formulate a framework of organizational knowledge.

Since this paper will refer to the terms of epistemology and ontology, which have multiple and sometimes confusing interpretations, I would like to clarify their meanings as I have interpreted them. Epistemology to me it is the study of knowledge, which tries to evaluate what classifies as knowledge, and how knowledge can be systematically organized. Ontology on the other hand tries to organize and understand knowledge as a hierarchical phenomenon.

2.1 Attempts at Organization Knowledge Classification

“…. there is knowledge consisting of what the organization believes about its identity and its purpose, its capabilities and its environment. Knowledge is embedded in the physical goods the organization produces and in the rules and the routines that the organization develops. Individual and groups possess knowledge derived from experience, skillful practice and personal collective insight.” (Choo and Bontis, 2002; pg. viii)

Knowledge in organizations does not have similar origins or uniform applications, but is developed from different origins and engaged in different modes. Much literature within the domain of organizational learning has been devoted to understanding how knowledge manifests itself in an organization. Carrying a review of literature and adapting from the typology of knowledge as postulated by Collins (1993), Blackler (1995) has identified five ways in which knowledge manifests exists

2. Knowledge in Organizations

in an organization: embrained, embodied, encultured, emdebbed and encoded.

Embrained knowledge has been defined by Blackler as the knowledge which is abstract and is “dependent on conceptual skills and cognitive abilities” (Blackler, 1995). Embodied knowledge signifies skills and competencies for action or practical activity (Walton & Guarisco, 2007). Encultured knowledge has been defined by Blackler (1995) as the “process to achieve shared understandings”. Embedded knowledge derives itself from the rules, technologies, formal and emergent processes of an organization, and Encoded knowledge is what is conveyed through signs and symbols and can be transferred without loss trough traditional as well as electronic media (Collins, 1993; Blackler, 1995).

While all these dimensions of knowledge will exist in an organization, some of the dimensions might be more prominent according to context (Walton & Guarisco, 2007). Walton and Guarisco (2007) further goes on to state that familiar problems might be addressed by embedded and embodied knowledge, whereas embrained knowledge will be better suited to deal with unfamiliar problems. They further state that encultured knowledge might act as a mediator to learning and change in an organization in the context of problem solving. Based on whether organizations utilize individuals or collective effort to solve familiar or unfamiliar problems, Blackler (1995) has classified organizations as: (i) expert-dependent organizations, which depend on the embodied knowledge of the experts; (ii)

knowledge-routinized organizations, which depend on the embedded knowledge in the organization; (iii) symbolic-analyst dependent, which depend on the embrained knowledge of the individuals; and (iv) communication-intensive organizations, which depend on the encultured knowledge amongst the individuals in the organization.

These classifications bring forward the individual and the collective/organizational aspect of knowledge. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) while classifying knowledge as explicit and implicit also emphasizes that knowledge can be created and used by an individual, a group or an organization. Cook and Brown (1999) also classify knowledge based on whether it is explicit or tacit and whether it is owned/possessed by the individual or the group. This is further elaborated by Nonaka (1994) in the Organizational Knowledge Creation Spiral and the SECI Model.

Poikela (2004) has suggested that encoded and embedded knowledge can be viewed as “objective resources” as they have no direct relation to individuals, and embrained and embodied knowledge as “subjective resources” as they reside within an individual. Encultured knowledge meanwhile is not only dependent on the individual but also on the informal and formal processes and

knowledge as such can be presented in a triangle (Figure 1) “which separates theory, practice and experience” (Poikela, 2004).

Some organization knowledge classification has been based on the practical need to actually manage and use knowledge at an operative level in the organization. For the purpose of managing professionals, Quinn et. al. (1996) has suggested that professional 'intellect' or knowledge operates in four-levels: know-what, know-

how, know-why and care-why. Know-what is basically the 'cognitive' knowledge of individuals that is acquired through training and certification. Know-how or 'advanced skills' as they mention them are the intellectual capability to transform know-what to real-world problems. Know-why or 'systems understanding' is a deep understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships that underline the particular context in question. Care-why or 'self-motivated creativity' consists of will, motivation and

Encoded Knowledge Theory

Embedded Knowledge

Figure 1: The Organizational Knowledge Triangle (adapted from Poikela, 2004)

E

xperience

EnculturedKnowledge

P

ract

ice

Embrained KnowledgeEmbodied Knowledge

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adaptability to success. Care-why allow individuals in organizations to adapt to external conditions and move towards organizational goals.

Similar to Quinn et.al., Demarest (1997) has suggested 4 categories of organizational knowledge knowledge that is imperative or cultural, predictive or having a pattern, bound by rules, and knowledge which are prescriptions for performance. This classification is derived to understand the attributes of knowledge that affect organizational processes and hence their value for short-term performance gains.

Boisot (2002) analyzed the creation and sharing of knowledge in an organization using his 'information space' model. He has analyzed knowledge through the dimensions of 'abstraction', 'codification', and 'diffusion'. His 'information space' is a three-dimensional matrix of these three dimensions of abstraction, codification and diffusion. Boisot defines abstraction as the number of cognitive categories required to make sense of events, by an individual. The fewer categories it takes for an individual to make sense of the activity, the more abstract is the apprehension of the event by the individual. Similarly, the more categories it takes to make sense, the concrete is the apprehension. Hence the range of abstraction will be from abstract to concrete. In contrast, Boisot defines codification as the degree of refinement of these cognitive categories. In his words “the fewer data individuals have to process to distinguish between categories, the more codified” the categories are.

Boisot states that knowledge which is more abstract and codified will probably also be more diffused. This diffusion will result in the knowledge being absorbed by individuals and put into practice, which might in fact lead to embedded knowledge.

Holsapple and Joshi (2001) have classified organizational knowledge based on whether the organizational knowledge resource can exist independent of the organization or not. The knowledge resources that can exist independent of the organization are classified as “Content” and those that cannot as “Schema”. The authors have identified four schematic resources culture, infrastructure, purpose and strategy. Schematic resource may change over time, but their existence depends on the organizations existence and they are a source of value to the organization. Participants and artifacts comprise content resources. Participants and artifacts can have existence separate of the organization which hosts them at any point of time. The schema knowledge resources shape the working of an organization. Collectively they are the basis of the organizations identity and also are the basis for attracting, organizing and deploying content resources. It is important to note here that participants here mean an individual or a group of individuals which can be both internal to the organization and external, like customers, partners and suppliers.

2.2 The Intellectual Capital Approach

Intellectual capital has also emerged as one of the important frameworks in organizational learning and knowledge management domain. Intellectual capital has its origins from the attempts to determine how and what 'intangibles' contribute to the value of the firm. It was probably one of the major frameworks which caught the fancy of researchers to analyze the firm's worth during the dotcom boom. It is also probably one of the better frameworks to study knowledge from an ontological perspective. Frameworks of knowledge categorization using Intellectual capital put forward by Teece (2000), Sveiby (2001) and Petrash (1996) are similar. They recognize individual employee knowledge as human capital, organizational processes, organizational structures and organizational culture as organizational capital and knowledge from external sources like customers, suppliers as external knowledge sources. These classifications deal with the intangible resources. Bontis (1999) has proposed the widely used and referred framework for managing knowledge based on the diagnosing the intellectual capital resources at an organization. He had conceptualized that intellectual capital has three sub-constructs:

lHuman Capital: the tacit knowledge embedded in the minds of the individuals in the organization

lStructural Capital: knowledge from the organizational routines

lRelational Capital: the knowledge embedded in the relationships with the external enviromment

Fernandez et. al. (2000), has defined intangible resources of an organization as “soft” resources. According to their classification, organizational knowledge is differentiated into four types: human capital, organizational capital, technological capital and relational capital. The first type is individual dependent, whereas the others are not. Human capital has been defined by the authors as knowledge acquired by individuals that increases their professional qualification and value of their contribution to the organization. This also includes personal contacts and relations, and other individual qualities such as reputation, experience, judgment, intelligence and loyalty. Human capital can usually be distinguished as generic or specific. Generic human capital is equally important for all similar organizations but specific human capital is knowledge which is important for one organization or one specific activity within an organization. The authors define Organization capital as something which contributes to the order, stability and quality to the organization. An organizations norms and

guidelines, databases, organizational routines and corporate culture, as well as its strategic alliances, constitute its organizational capital. Technological capital is defined by Fernandez et. al., as the knowledge that an organization possesses to access, use and

innovate production and process technologies. These can include both be codified (like patents) or tacit (in individuals tacit knowledge of R&D and processes) or trade secrets (like Coca Cola's formula). Fernandez et. al., define Relational capital as the potential of the intangibles for the organization, that it derive from the market place or the environment it which it is operating (like reputation, brands, customer loyalty, supplier relations, etc.). A large part of relational capital is derived from the reputation of the organization, which itself is derived from its level of “social legitimation”. Social legitimacy is formed from the past action of the organization and is a predictor for its future actions.

Though new classifications for Intellectual Capital seem to appear in literature, they are still variations of the model proposed by Bontis, wherein the underlying components are changed and the way these subcomponents interact are studied differently.

Probably now the literature on intellectual capital seem to focus on the development of metrics and measures, to accurately ascertain the value of intellectual capital in an organization. Still much of the literature in the field of intellectual capital measurement is still in the theory building stage and very less of these models are actually being empirically tested (Marr et. al., 2003). The primary ways in which intellectual capital measure are considered, are through Human Resource Accounting (HRA), Market Value Addition (MVA), Skandia Navigator, Economic Value Added (EVA) and Balanced Scorecard (Chen et. al., 2004; Tayles et. al., 2002).

2.3 Where does trust come in?

Due to the importance of relational and structural capital dimensions, the tacit nature of knowledge embodied in the organization is evident. In fact, Bontis (1999) describes trust and culture as two supporting drivers for development of intellectual capital in an organization. Bontis argues that as organizations become more and more flatter and disperse geographically, traditional norms of control will be needed to be updated, to reflect the increased need to trust individuals and groups, to carry out critical tasks without close and frequent supervision.

This leads right into the arguments on the changing forms of an organization and the need to understand the importance of trust in an organization. Researchers now agree that there are typically three organizational forms: (a) the hierarchy/bureaucratic form, (b) the market form, and (c) the community/clan form (Adler, 2002; Ouchi, 1980; Zenger and Hesterly, 1997). The hierarchy/bureaucratic form uses authority and rules as coordination mechanisms, the market form uses price as the coordinating mechanism, and the community/clan form uses trust as the coordinating mechanism (Adler, 2002; Ouchi, 1980).

While some see the organization forms as a three or two way trade off or alternatives (Ouchi, 1980; Williamson, 1993), some also suggest that organizational form can be a

combination of these modes (Adler, 2002; Zenger and Hesterly, 1997). The combination of market and hierarchy forms is often seen in the mix of incentives and authority that is typically found in employment relations between divisions and headquarters of large multidivisional organizations, and in relations between

Figure 2:Institutional Forms in the Market, Hierarchy and Community Mix (from Adler, 2002) - (low-trust forms in lower left triangles; high-trust forms in upper right triangles)

Relationalcontracting

High-trustHybrids

Low-trustHybrids

Enablingbureaucracy

Coercivebureaucracy

Asocialhorde

Clan

SpotmarketH

igh

High

Mar

ket

Low

Low

Hierarchy

firms and their suppliers (Adler, 2002). Adler also suggests that this hierarchy/authority mix takes trust as a third component. He provides the framework to analyze the three dimensional mix of hierarchy, market and community as summarized in Figure 2.

Adler (2002) discusses the aspects of knowledge in the first two organizational modes. Under the hierarchy/bureaucratic form, he asserts that “knowledge is treated as a scarce resource and is therefore concentrated, along with decision rights, in specialized functional units and at higher levels of the organization. Research has shown that organizations structured in the hierarchical mode are efficient when performing routine and particular tasks but face quite a bit of difficulty when they are required to work in innovative new tasks which require new knowledge to be generated or used. Adler observes that under the price mechanism, the dynamics of competition, supply and demand leads to Perato-optimal (i.e, no one's welfare can be increased without reducing someone else's) level of social welfare. As such knowledge in this case, faces an allocation production trade-off. On one hand, the production of new knowledge would be optimized by establishing strong intellectual property rights that create the incentive to generate knowledge, and on the other hand not only are these intellectual property rights difficult to enforce, but they fundamentally block the optimal allocation of knowledge.

Adler suggests that trust, which is a key component

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in the community form of organization, can make possible an enlarged scope of knowledge generation and sharing. Trust can reduce transaction costs (by replacing contracts with handshakes) and agency risks (by replacing the fear of misrepresentation with mutual confidence). When knowledge takes the tacit form, trust will almost become like a precondition for effective knowledge transfer. Trust will be even so more important when the context is about interfirm relations.

In general, Trust, Adler notes, is not one-dimensional, rather its dimensions can be analyzed in terms of its generation (i.e., sources and mechanisms of trust generation) and its targets (i.e., the objects and the bases on which trust is invested). From a review of literature Adler has compiled the components that comprise these four dimensions of trust. The three sources of trust are: familiarity through repeated interaction, calculative trust based on interests, and from norms and values that create predictability and trustworthiness. Trust is generated through three mechanisms, by direst interpersonal contact, by reputation through a network of other trusted parties, and by understanding the way institutions shape the other individuals values and behaviors. Three generic objects of trust can be distinguished: a person, an impersonal system, or a collectivity. Finally the bases of trust can be the other individuals or party's consistency ('contractual trust'), competence, benevolence (or loyalty, concern, fiduciary trust), honesty (or integrity), and openness.

Adler has proposed that in the new knowledge economy wherein the organization mode will be a mix of hierarchy, market and community, the trust that is embedded in the organization will not be based on loyalty or tradition, but it will be built upon the values of competence and integrity. Trust thought in this case will be tempered with by hierarchical rules to ensure stability and by market competition to ensure flexibility.

2.4 Moving from Knowledge to Knowing

Nonaka (1991, 1995) noted that knowledge is something which is always created by an organization though a continuous process in which it first identifies the problem, and creates new knowledge to solve it. But as Blackler (1995) notes, this approach and many of the knowledge classification approaches discussed before assumes that knowledge is a distinct entity in itself.

Cook and Brown (1999) and Blackler (1995) differentiate 'knowledge' and 'knowing'. They state that while knowledge can be used in action, it is not generally the action. Taking the 'pragmatist' perspective, they argue that an organization should not be concerned with “knowledge which is seen as abstract, but with 'knowing', which is a part of concrete and dynamic human activity”. Cook and Brown (1999) state that “knowledge is a tool of knowing, and knowing is an aspect of our interaction with the social and physical world”. They accept it that individuals and groups use both explicit and tacit

knowledge, in what they do; but they argue that not everything they know how to do, can be explained in terms of the knowledge that they possess. They explain knowing with the analogy of riding a bike. When someone rides a bike they use their tacit knowledge stay upright, but this is not enough that person to ride. Riding the bike requires an interaction between the tacit knowledge of the person and the activity of being in motion on a bike. This interaction they term as 'knowing'. Knowing they state “is to interact with and honor the world using knowledge as a tool.”

Vygotsky's approach to understanding human mind and society state that the consciousness of human beings is shaped by social experiences (this is considered to the Marxist approach as opposed to the capitalist approach which focuses on the clear distinction of cognitive and explicit knowledge). This probably is the basis of activity theory, which attempts to provide a unified account of knowledge and work. As Balckler (1995) has noted, there are two approaches to activity theory, one which concentrates on the “processes through which people develop shared conceptions of their activities”, and the other which “tries to model the relationships which exists between the activities and the material, mental and social resources (Engestrom, 1987)”, cited here in the context of an organization.

Engestrom (1987), proposed the socially-distributed activity system, which tries to analyze the relationships between individuals (agents), the community of which they are part of, and the object, which is the activity that they do. These relationships are further mediated by the instruments (technologies, language etc.) which the agent uses to accomplish the activity, the rules through which the agent is linked to the community, and the division of labor and the role system that has been adopted by the community (Blackler, 1995). Figure 3, depicts this activity system.

Based on Engestrom's model Blackler (1995) suggests that the dynamics of the activity system reflect the complexities in an organization. Lack of cohesion and clarity between the relationships always results in tensions in the activity system. But dynamic, as it is the

Division of Labor, Roles

Instruments: language, technologies

ActivityAgent

CommunityRules (Implicit or Explicit)

Figure 3: Model of Socially-Distributed Activity System (Adapted from Engestrom, 1987; Blackler, 1995)

activity system adjusts to these by changing its constituents. New knowledge and new ways of interactions (in a sense 'knowing') will emerge from these adjustments. This is similar to Dewey's concept of 'productive inquiry' as explained by Cook and Brown (1999). They describe productive enquiry as “that aspect of any activity where we are deliberately (though not always consciously) seeking what we need, in order to do what we want to do.”

Thus taking a pragmatic, social and an activity, or rather practice based approach, it can be asserted that knowledge not only needs to be looked into as a static and distinct activity, but also as a constantly evolving and transforming entity. It has to be looked in as result of dynamic activity systems.

3. CONCLUSION

Organizational Knowledge has been studied in the literature in many ways to pursue different research interests. But basically knowledge in an organization is an interplay of theory, practice and experience. This interplay happens within a context. The context when conceptualized with regards to an organization would include its organization form (with all its internal mechanisms and activities) and the external environment of the organization. Activity theory (through

Division of Labor, Roles

Instruments: language, technologies

ActivityAgent

CommunityRules (Implicit or Explicit)

Theory

E

xperience

Knowledge

P

ract

ice

Organizational Form

EX

TE

RN

AL

EN

VIR

ON

ME

NT

Figure 4 A Conceptualization of Organizational Knowledge

Engestrom's socially-distributed activity system) provides a framework to study and explore the practice component. Figure 4, presents a conceptualization of the aforesaid arguments.

Within this interplay of theory, practice and experience, Organizational Knowledge can be classified by way of epistemology and/or ontology. There are various epistemological dimensions and their combinations, in which organizational knowledge has been studied,

lExplicit knowledge vs implicit/tacit knowledge

lLevel of abstraction

lIndividual vs group knowledge

lKnowledge from internal sources vs from external sources

lHow diffused in the knowledge

lPossession and activity based approaches

Researchers have picked some or combination of these dimensions to maintain consistency with the context of the organization.

Taking the intellectual capital approach to understand organizational knowledge gives a good framework to understand and probably deduce the 'value' of knowledge in an organization. Intellectual capital also provides an ontological based perspective of organizational knowledge. Presently, researchers seem to have pretty much a consensus on the broad categories of subcomponents of intellectual capital, but here are still diverse opinions in terms of relations between the subcomponents, what constitutes these subcomponents and what metrics to use to measure them. Many of these opinions also occur because of the context in which the studies are conducted.

Some radical pragmatic approach to organizational knowledge differs a lot from the generally accepted concepts. The pragmatic approach states that the traditional concepts of knowledge as abstract, disembodied and individual and formal, are unrealistic. They state that practical knowledge is always constructed and undergoes transformation while in use, and hence it is foundationless and partial. These arguments have been taken forward to propose the concept of 'knowing' which is an aspect of our interaction with the social and physical world.

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Choosing an approach to organizational knowledge would mean having clear understanding of the context and the issue that is under investigation. Though not ideal, this would possibly minimize inconsistencies when exploring and making deductions.

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Petrash, G. (1996). Dow's journey to a knowledge value management culture. European Management Journal 14 (4), 365-375.

Poikela, E. (2004). Developing criteria for knowing and learning at work: towards a context-based assessment. The Journal of Workplace Learning Vol. 16 No. 5 , 267-274.

Quinn, J. B., Anderson, P. and Finkelstein, S. (1996). Managing professional intellect: makign the most of the best. Harvard Business Review (Mar-Apr) , 71-80.

Sveiby, Karl-Erik. (2001). A Knowledge-based theory of firm to guide in strategy formulation. Journal of Intellectual Capital 2(4), 344-358

Tayles, M., Bramley, A., Adshead, N. and Farr, J. (2002). Dealing with the management of intellectual capital: The potential role of strategic management acounting. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal 15(2) , 251-267.

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Walton, J. S., & Guarisco, G. (2007). Structural issues and knowledge management in transnational educational partnerships. Journal of European Industrial Training Vol. 31 No. 5 , 358-376.

n this particular decade, Pakistan has suffered more than its fair share of woes. It tends to draw Iheadlines primarily for militant uprisings in

Waziristan and frequent suicide bombings that hold the nation in a terror grip. The blame game with India that ensued following the Mumbai shootings in 2008, has not endeared the country to foreigners scrutinizing it for investment opportunities. There is a national electricity shortage as previous governments have neglected to spend foreign aid on the infrastructure needed to support a burgeoning economy.

In 2008, the stress on macroeconomic stability was most visible in an unsustainable balance of payments position and the depreciating rupee. The central bank attempted to counter this by setting up an interest rate corridor and accepting much needed assistance from the IMF, in the form of US$ 7.6 billion. As a condition to accepting the IMF loan, the government has adopted stabilization measures with a tighter monetary and fiscal policy, along with various structural adjustments, in order to improve the liquidity situation. The idea now is to attract foreign investment in the form of development projects, since infrastructural shortcomings are a major impediment to our growth.

However, an optimist might see the brighter side of the situation, by observing the mushrooming entrepreneurial ventures. From herbal beauty workshops to bakeries, internet startups to coffee-shops, small businesses have emerged on the commercial scene. This can be owed in part to the recession, since the youth of the country, being unable to find gainful employment, has been driven to find alternative outlets for its business acumen. It is refreshing to see young people so committed to running their own enterprises. Many realized the cash crunch many families were facing and the need to spend on better and less costly merchandise. Others got fed up waiting for multinationals to end the hiring freeze and decided to let their creative juices flow. Luckily for most Pakistanis, their elders had money

Zunaira Malik and Jazib Zahir have recently completed thier Masters in Business from the prestigious Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. Zunaira came to India for her exchange program, to the Indian School of

Business,where she exhibited interest in learning about opportunities for economic and academic cooperation between the two countries. Her professional ambitions are focused on marketing. She has also worked in the telecommunications and agri business industries. Jazib Zahir has worked in engineering management for the telecommunication industry. He is involved in the strategic opertation in several high tech startups in Pakistan.

Resilience: A View from Pakistan

saved up for a rainy day. This can be owed to the frugality gene, that is possessed by those born in the subcontinent. These savings came to save the day for most who wished to start something new which they believed would sell. Zoya's herbal workshop, Masoom's bakery and See'n'Report are some of the names that come to mind. (See'n'Report is a People Powered News service. It empowers citizens to report photos and videos of unfolding news events directly from their cell phones. The readers get a first- hand account of breaking news stories, as and when they happen.)

Pakistan is focusing on education as the best means of ensuring long-term productivity of the economy. The founding of Pakistan's first private sector science and engineering school at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), is part of a national aspiration to emulate the Silicon Valley model of technology diffusion, from laboratory to industry. It is also part of a realization that the brightest minds of the country need to be given an incentive to study and pursue careers in Pakistan, by offering them local options of high quality. While a school like LUMS is fortunate to have access to the deep pockets of successful industrialists, financiers and the Pakistani diaspora around the world, public institutions are less fortunate. The concern here is that class distinctions may widen and cause socio-economic conditions to deteriorate. The government has attempted to redress this balance by providing additional investment to public institutions to ameliorate their standards. But there remains a significant discrepancy in opportunities for public and private school graduates.

Pakistan has certainly benefited from the role of returning expatriates, who bring with them professionalism, energy and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Many are from a generation that sought greener pastures when younger but is looking for a less frenetic environment, as retirement looms. Others are disillusioned by the opportunities abroad in the light of tighter immigration controls and xenophobic sentiments. Many such expatriates have taken the initiative to found small companies out of their homes, that have increased employment opportunities and provided a means

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of developing products and services for the local market. Many such startups focus on foreign clientele and compete on a cost basis, particularly as call centers, business process outsourcing centers and web marketing establishments. The challenge for these startups is to move up the value chain with time, so that their functions in turn are not outsourced to competing low cost centers such as those emerging in South-East Asia and inevitably in Africa. Professionals with foreign training have a tendency to introduce a Research and Development based environment within the country and also encourage employees to continue to sharpen their skills through additional education while on the job.

Government policy will remain critical to the improvement of our economic fundamentals. The government remains focused on agri-business and has set up relevant investment funds. It realizes the benefits of technology clusters and is attempting to expand the equivalent of IT parks in the country. There has been recent interest in the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure, starting

Binoy Kr Das is a Chartered Accountant practicing at Guwahati, with 25 years of experience as auditor and tax consultant for various firms in the North East of India. He has a brilliant academic record behind him, holding ranks in HSLC as well as HS (then PU) exams. He did his MSc in Physics from the GU before deciding on a career in Chartered Accountancy. He is a long standing partner of Das & Sharma, Chartered Accountants. He is a keen follower of developments in the IT field and its use in improving the life of people. When work doesn't keep him busy, he travels and reads books and keeps himself well informed.

ost Satyam, a great deal of interest has been generated amongst the people about the roles played by auditors vis a Pvis the corporate sector. The people are naturally curious to

know about the duties and responsibilities of the auditors and also the likely impacts the audit failure entails.

From whatever has appeared in the newspapers and other media, Satyam appears to be a case of unbridled greed of one man, Raju Ramalingam coupled with failure of the auditors to do a thorough professional job. Its negative impact on the India Inc. and more particularly on the IT sector has been immense and somebody has rightly compared it to the Mumbai terror attack. While it will take sometime for the investigators and other agencies to unravel the complete shenanigans of the erstwhile CEO, and the case may linger before he can be convicted and put behind bars, in case of the auditors the regulatory body ICAI, has already completed its inquiries in the role of the auditors and has started disciplinary proceedings.

But this episode and its aftermath have thrown up certain issues which need to be understood and analyzed. Correct lessons are required to be learnt so that the future may be spared of coming across more such cases. However, one may be excused if a little cynicism is displayed at the reactions of the government machinery. It has displayed uncommon zeal and swiftness in moving in and starting vigorous investigation into the issue, by engaging different agencies under its jurisdiction. The top GOI Ministers, right from the PM, has expressed their dismay and disapproval of the whole thing at various forums and interviews. But let us not be fooled by their holier than thou

Satyam Fiasco: Understanding Audit Failure

with an extensive wind farm along the Karachi coast. Solar energy is of great interest given the intensity of sunlight available in the country but a regulatory framework that provides incentive to pursue such ventures is not yet in place.

This country has been through much these past sixty two years but it is noteworthy that it possesses remarkable resilience in the face of all adversity. One can witness it in the heated dialogue on economic policy that transpires between people from all walks of life. We hope that these dialogues and questions bring in accountability at all levels, so that stability can be restored to the country that is immensely gifted and has the potential to be self-sustaining, in the years to come.

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Fraud

attitude. If we remember the fates of the reports of the CAG on various scams and irregularities indulged in by the several GOI departments, then clearly it seems to be case of hypocrisy. The disdain with which these high sounding officials treat the CAG reports clearly show these gentlemen in their true colour. It seems nobody was even suspended, not to speak about arrests, when the latest CAG report indicated that Rs 51,000 crores were under the GOI flagship progrmames like NRHM, Sarva Sikasha & NREGA were shown as having been spent falsely by resorting to the old trick of transferring money to other accounts. Rs 51,000 crores certainly dwarfs the amount involved in Satyam saga, namely Rs 7,000 crores.

Be that as may be, we have to look beyond these 'do-gooders' and look at the real issues. The episode has in a way forced India to come face to face with the way our entrepreneurs and businessmen conduct their business in India. The underbelly of the Shining India Inc. has been exposed in a most spectacular way before the whole world. The fact of the matter is that Satyam is not an isolated case. The problem is endemic and afflicts the whole system. There are many satyams lurking in the background ready to explode any moment like time bombs. The country will have many occasions to pretend to be embarrassed. Yes, 'pretend' is the right word because people are aware of the ground reality and yet they will do nothing about it. Few Rajus may be put behind bars but nothing beyond that is going to happen and everything will be 'business' as usual. India has been ranked consecutively low since Transparency International started publishing its reports. The corruption level in India is so high that nobody can escape the tentacles of this menace and do business in India. You have to bribe, bribe and bribe if you want to start and continue running a business here. It has resulted in creating a parallel black economy which goes hand in hand with large scale fudging of accounts. No business in India can afford to maintain true accounts the accounts have to be falsified and fudged continuously if the business wants to survive. It does not matter whether the business belongs to the largest business groups or the petty shopkeeper. There is no escape from extortionate demands of the officialdom and consequent accounts falsification. After all, can any businessman show the bribes paid in his books of account?

But what does it imply as far as the audit is concerned. The implication is obvious the audit reports are based on false books of accounts, referred to as 'do numbari' in common parlance. The reports are surely in agreement with the books of accounts the auditors take care to see that it is so. They don't want to be caught on this point which is easily verifiable by anybody. Perhaps the biggest mistake made by the Satyam auditors was that they did not bother to verify this matter and will now find it difficult to explain away their position. But what about the spirit of the audit report? The auditors are required to report that not only are the financial statements in agreement with the books of accounts but they also believe that these represent the true and fair view. But given the situation in India, can any auditor really believe the accounts to be true and fair? The auditors, besides the owners/top management, are the first people to know about the falsification of accounts. Then how can they continue to issue 'clean' audit reports? The answer is very simple their own survival and the

realization that their reports can not be otherwise. Because the day auditors start taking their jobs seriously and refuse to certify accounts to be untrue because they do not believe these to be true, no audit report will ever be written in India. The situation in the country simply does not allow that.

The readers who have endured my writings till this stage may suffer from the delusion that falsification of books is a business phenomenon and confined to the business world and thankfully, the accounts maintained by government departments are hunky dory. Nothing can be further from the truth. And the reasons and motives are clear to escape being caught siphoning off public funds for private gains. Any number of instances can be cited. For a discernible reader it will be enough to point out the life styles of the politicians and bureaucrats right from the top level to the peon. What is the source of this extra 'income'? I will not be revealing a secret if I state that businesses and public works in India provide the moolah to these gentlemen and ladies. CEO like Raju may have to spend rest of his life behind bars, but rest assured nobody can touch these 'honourable' gunless extortionists masquerading as 'servants of the people' and bureaucrats in India. They will continue to flourish and auditors will have to keep up the pretense of being satisfied with the 'true' financial statements.

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The episode has in a way forced India to come face to face with the way our entrepreneurs and b u s i n e s s m e n c o n d u c t t h e i r business in India.

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The Future of Environmental Management in India

Environmental management

Currently working as a Senior Engineer with Degremont Ltd. Gurgaon, Bhaskar Ray did his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Kanpur University and M.E. in Environmental Engineering & Management from AIT Bangkok. He recently came back from France after working there on a sea water desalination project. Previously, he worked as a consultant for Aditya Birla Group in their Thai Acrylic Fibre Company and also briefly worked as a Research Associate at SIIT, Thammasat University in Thailand. You can reach him at bhaskarorama@gmail.com

limate change is one of the most pressing global challenges facing the international community Crequiring global cooperation on an unprecedented

scale. As the world awaits with bated breath the result from the high-profile world body meet at Copenhagen next month, India is on the verge of making/ breaking its own destiny in the historical saga of Climate Change politics and policies. Though it's stance at present seems non-committal, what appears to the best for its interest is to continue on the path it has already started out on and carry on it's demonstrative efforts of becoming one of the green countries of the world by implementing CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) effectively.

What is CDM?

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) instrument is an innovative tool within the Kyoto Protocol, wherein the developing countries can seek to undergo sustainable development by using clean technology and resources provided by a developed country. In turn for it's commitment towards such a reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions, the developed nations would be given carbon credits. Carbon credits are measured in units of tonnes of carbon dioxide reduced. The other units which may be transferred under the scheme, each equal to one tonne of CO2, may be in the form of a removal unit (RMU) on the basis of land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities such as reforestation, an emission reduction unit (ERU) generated by a joint implementation project or a certified emission reduction (CER) generated from a clean development mechanism project activity. Transfers and acquisitions of these units are tracked and recorded through the registry systems under the Kyoto Protocol. Presently, the rate stands at 12-13 Euros per carbon unit. Under the IET (International Emissions Trading) mechanism, countries can trade in the international carbon credit market. Countries with surplus credits can sell off/ trade off the same to countries with

quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. As such, the developed countries that have exceeded the levels can either cut emissions directly, or as an option buy or borrow carbon credits from developing countries. The latter becomes a more attractive option for them, as the cost of meeting emission targets in developing countries is usually much lower than achieving the reductions in their own countries.

CDM is supervised by the CDM Executive Board (CDM EB) and is under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties (COP/MOP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

In reality, the United Nations Federation for Climate Change (UNFCC) has divided the countries in to two main groups: A total of 41 industrialized countries currently listed under the Convention's Annex 1, such as United States of America, United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Canada, Austria, Spain, France, Germany etc. which have commitments to reduce emission levels below their 1990 levels. All other countries (non-Annex 1) such as India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran, South Africa, UAE etc., have no immediate restrictions under the UNFCC.

However, to prevent industrialised countries from making unlimited use of CDM, Article 6.1 d) has a provision that use of CDM be 'supplemental' to domestic actions to reduce emissions.

Carbon Credits and Carbon Markets

Carbon credits are traded at the CO2 exchange centre in UK, CDM Exchange centre in Europe and the Chicago Exchange Centre (CCX), which has announced a license agreement with the Multi-Commodity Exchange of India to trade in emission as a commodity.

CDM Methodology

The CDM project methodology and project cycle is illustrated as a flow diagram in Figure 1 below. The process has been described briefly below.

ØAn industrialised country that wishes to get credits from a CDM project must obtain the consent of the developing country hosting the project that the project will contribute to sustainable development.

ØThen, using methodologies approved by the CDM Executive Board (EB), the applicant (the industrialised country) must make the case that the carbon project would not have happened anyway (establishing additionality).

ØThen it must establish a baseline estimating the future emissions in absence of the registered project.

ØThe case is then validated by a third party agency, called a Designated Operational Entity (DOE), to ensure the project results in real, measurable, and long-term emission reductions.

ØThe EB then decides whether or not to register (approve) the project. If a project is registered and implemented, the EB issues credits, called Certified Emission Reductions (CERs,), to project participants based on the monitored difference between the baseline and the actual emissions, verified by the DOE.

CDM in India

India, being a developing country, is exempted from the requirement of adherence to the Protocol. However, it can sell Carbon Credits to the developed countries.

The central government constituted the National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Authority for the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of environment in terms of the Kyoto Protocol.

The National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Authority receives projects for evaluation and approval as per the guidelines and general criteria laid down in the relevant

Project Owner CDM Executive Board

Project Owner

Operational Entity

CDM Executive Board

Project Owner

DNA

CDM Executive Board

Operational Entity

Project Idea Registration

Project Design Document

Host Country Approval

Approval for Baseline Methodology

Monitoring of Emission Reductions

Verification & Certification of Emission Reductions

Validation

Periodically during crediting time unless approved methodology is ised

CER Issuance

Figure 1 CDM Project Flow Diagram

rules and modalities pertaining to CDM in addition to the guidelines issued by the Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board and Conference of Parties serving as Meeting of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Indian CDM projects have covered more than 30 different industrial sectors. Power generation from renewable energy sources, like hydro power and wind power had the early entrant advantage. Off late, CDM in industrial processes and biomass application have dominated project developments in the country. Significant opportunities exist for areas like Iron and Steel, Fuel Production and Fertilisers.

According to Dr. S. K. Panigrahi, member of the NCDM Authority, “Although the process started right from December 2003, most of the stakeholders were not taking interest maybe because the awareness level was not there then. Also most of them had an impression that CDM is more international than national. However, by now, most of the people understand that CER's are safe commodities, which can provide attractive returns, compared to other type of commodities they are trading with for years.” He also added that India is one of the top 5 nations in the world in terms of the CDM projects approved and the CER's generated, and has identified 'Coal Bed Methane Projects' and 'Solid Waste Management in Landfill Sites' as potential areas of interest in India for CDM projects in the future.

What Can We Do?

As individuals linked to professional bodies, we can help our organizations gain CER certifications by first developing a project design report containing all the project details. The hard copy of this document then has to be sent to DNA secretariat along with 20 copies and soft copy in CD format. The 'Host Country Approval' would be granted after a formal presentation to the DNA, if invited within 30-60 days of the submission.

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Tapping in to the Cloud Rajesh Warrier is the co founder of Webyana technologies, a company focused on cloud computing services and has more than 12 years of experience in the field of Internet based technologies, product development and business. He is also the co founder of Bixee.com, a vertical search engine that was acquired by ibibo and has worked with companies like Yahoo in the past. st.

raditionally, Small and Medium businesses (SMB) have always been at a disadvantage Twhen competing with the 800 pound Gorillas in

their sector. The huge investment made by these giants, in IT infrastructure and applications, gives them a significant upper hand in terms of pricing and scalability of their service/product offerings, which the small businesses find it very difficult to match. This disadvantage turns in to a vicious life cycle, where they have to compete on price till it bleeds or where they would need to focus on areas, which are not in the radar of the giants

This has been a limiting factor to the growth of SMB till recent times. The advent of cloud computing services promises to narrow that gap in this competitive business landscape. Cloud services refer to services offered by software vendors using the infrastructure deployed on the internet. This is also referred to as Software as a Service (SAAS). SAAS model allows the small business to pay for services based on the actual usage and consumption. Cloud computing is frequently compared to the electricity services of the individual companies, which no longer create their own power, but instead, uses power provided by an electricity company that is connected to a larger electric network. Due to this comparison, cloud computing is also sometimes referred as utility computing. In this case, the companies are tapping in to a larger network for their computing and business needs. Major software companies have started offering their solutions based on this model. These services immediately bring complex business solutions within the reach of SMB, at an affordable cost, enabling them to compete on a more even platform with big enterprises. The businesses can choose to use only those modules or applications, which make a significant impact on their revenue earnings and pay only for the period used or quantity consumed, like disk space. SAAS vendors take care of infrastructure, development and maintenance of applications, freeing the business from those hassles and bringing many advantages like lower upfront costs, faster time-to-live and zero maintenance to the table.

SAAS works on the principle of sharing the cost of ownership among many businesses, thus bringing down the cost. Applications run on a common platform and will be used by many businesses simultaneously. The slight disadvantage to this is the limit on the extent of customization possible, specific to a business, but the significant lower cost of operation, more than over-shadows those disadvantages. More and more businesses are realising the advantages of being in the cloud. A recent Microsoft study reveals that SAAS adoption by SMB will grow to 86% by end of 2009. This has lead to a trend “Lower budgets mean less has to be more!”. An application on cloud can seamlessly connect customers, suppliers & employees of a business on the same platform.

The rise of software as a service has opened up whole new opportunities for many software vendors to develop new applications, which are hosted and delivered via the web. Some of the notable ones are Salesforce.com, Intuit.com and Amazon EC2. Salesforce and Intuit offer various business applications for a monthly subscription fee and pricing varies as per modules chosen by businesses. Examples of applications that a business can use over the cloud are the CRM, Book-keeping, Order Management, document management and many more. Amazon EC2 & S3 services offers computing and storage facility on a “pay as you use” basis. Subscribers pay for units of computing and storage for these services and have the flexibility to increase or decrease the units as per their requirements. This avoids the need for businesses to invest in on-premise computing infrastructure.

The software as a service has also given rise to a new buzz called Platform as a Service (PAAS). Platform as a service consists of making available common platforms and business frameworks over the cloud, that enables businesses to develop new applications very quickly or customize an existing business application offered by the vendor. “Custom Cloud” is one such initiative from Salesforce.com, where businesses can build an application quickly and share it with the world.

Cloud computing is redefining the way business is done around the globe by significantly reducing the costs, improving turnaround time, connecting various stakeholders of business seamlessly and helping businesses stay focused on their core competency. Looking back at the way cloud computing has evolved over the decade, it is simple and clear to understand that operating in cloud is how business would be done in near future and businesses not in it, is likely to be left behind.

Internet

Towards a greener future: Hybr d and electric vehicle

Automobile

Prachurjya Baruah works in the field of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES).He has wide experience in deploying IT based solutions for various manufacturing industries like automobiles, steel and electronics. Trained as a controls engineer, he has been part of projects with auto giants like Tata Motors and Daewoo, South Korea .He has a keen interest in using IT as a tool for improving production processes and integrating production to ERP systems. His other interests include quizzing, reading, writing and playing table tennis. E Mail:prachurjya@gmail.com Linkedin: http://in.linkedin.com/in/prachurjyabaruah Blog: http://polkaexercisinghisfatfingers.blogspot.com/

With 'go green' being the mantra of our times, it's no wonder that any form of eco-friendly technology creates a buzz and is touted as the

“next big thing”. However, for very personal reasons, the term “next big thing” itself makes me skeptical. After all, this is the country where Irfan Pathan was supposed to be the “next Wasim Akram” and Kumar Gaurav “The next superstar”! Going by the current buzz in the auto industry, hybrid vehicles as well as pure electric vehicles (EVs) will make its presence felt in India with all auto majors launching cars of such models in the near future. This will make them an affordable option for the average Indian customer, thus leading to drastic reduction in emission levels and fuel consumption. Going by the buzz, it seems the age of electric and hybrid cars have truly arrived.

Interestingly, long before Henry Ford revolutionized automobile manufacturing by introducing mass production, electric powered vehicles were the norm rather than the exception. The first electric locomotive dates back to 1838. However , with the internal combustion engine gaining popularity and gasoline becoming more affordable in the US , electric vehicles died a sudden death .The use of battery driven vehicles were limited to industrial forklifts and pallet trucks , golf carts and certain special purpose vehicles to be used in places like airports. Infact , I believe, the sudden death of the electric vehicle will make an interesting case study given the fact that electric vehicles have several advantages over conventional gasoline driven ones as far as city driving is concerned. It is noiseless, has no vibrations, lesser mechanical linkages and has zero emission. For those with a love for conspiracy theories ( I live on them!), a documentary called “Who killed the electric car” was made in 2006 which explores the theory that US oil majors as well as US government officials acted in collusion in the early 90s to prevent the growth of electric vehicles thus preventing the demand of crude oil

from dropping.

The current fascination with vehicles driven by alternate energy options can be attributed as much to growing environmental concerns on emissions as to the steps taken by several governments in the European Union to encourage buyers to opt for such cars. Such moves include waiving parking fees for pure electric vehicles ( as in UK) and reduction in registration fees for EVs. Although pure electric vehicles are yet to emerge as a serious competitor for conventional commercial vehicles , the launch of the Toyota Prius hybrid model in 1997 and its widespread global popularity made it clear that fuel economy and emission will now be among the major factors deciding customer choice. In may 2008 , global cumulative sales for Toyota Prius reached the 1 million mark. Now, unlike pure electric vehicles which run on a motor driven by a battery pack, hybrids use both the internal combustion engine as well as electric energy to power the drive train. At low speeds and start stop condition , common in city driving, the vehicle is driven purely by electric motors thus leading to drastic reduction in fuel consumption. At higher speeds, when the combustion engine performs at its best , it switches over to the engine mode. Also the engine at its running condition is used to charge the battery pack. Sophisticated electronic controls ensures smooth transition from one mode to another. Besides improved fuel economy, hybrid vehicles are low on C02 emissions thus making it a favorite among the Green Brigade.

For a long time electric vehicles in India were synonymous with the REVA electric car developed by the Maini group . Now this diminutive car, priced at over 3 lakhs on road was never meant to offer any serious competition to auto majors in India. Also due to its design ,this car always made me feel that it leapt straight out of cartoon network! Though REVA managed to do well in the UK , it once again proved that Indian consumers are

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not yet ready to take the plunge for pure electrics. Concerns of safety , power and battery life continue to plague the minds of the potential buyers. However, going by some of the announcements made by auto majors , the times seem to be changing. Honda Motors have already launched its Civic Hybrid in India. General Motors have announced that it will develop an electric version of the “Spark” by working in collaboration with Reva Electric Car Co. Tata Motors have announced the introduction of the electric “Indica” in collaboration with Norwegian electric vehicle manufacturer Miljo Grenland. Both Maruti and Mahindra have announced that they will be out with their own hybrid models in the near future.

With increasing environmental concerns and vehicular congestion on Indian roads , the day may not be far when the government will enforce stricter emission norms and encourage use of vehicles running on alternate energy. A very utopian view of city traffic in India in the near future would include pure electric vehicles ruling the roost in the small car segment while a lot of larger vehicles may be running on hybrid technologies. The repercussions of such a scenario would be felt not just on the

environment but also economically. For a country so heavily dependent on imported crude oil , encouraging electric and hybrid vehicles would always be an economically viable option. According to automonitor magazine “ If we can have three lakh Electric Vehicles on the roads by 2020, including three-wheelers, cars, and scooters, this could result in a reduction of over 16 lakh metric tons of CO, NOx and HC by 2020, savings of over Rs 3,700 crore in foreign exchange and significant health costs savings”. Mass manufacturing of such vehicles would require a very different set of suppliers for parts and accessories as currently most electric vehicle parts are imported. Battery manufacturers would come up with newer technologies that ensures better performance and longer life. Vehicle charging stations may be as common a sight on highways as the roadside dhabas. Also there will be a demand for technicians with a different skill set as compared to the regular car mechanic. Courses on electric vehicles will be introduced in ITIs and at diploma level. Also since such vehicles will involve electronic controllers, there will be demand for engineers with familiarity in automotive electronics and experience of software development for embedded systems. The possibilities seem limitless. Whether these vehicles will live up to the hype is something only time will tell. All I can do meanwhile is keep my fingers crossed and hope that this “next big thing” actually makes it big.

Secrets of Writing a Winning Business Plan

Entrepreneurship

Rudra Kamal is a founding employee and Senior Product Manager with a network security startup iViZ Security. He has successfully bootstrapped Pre sales, Delivery and Product Management teams and processes at iViZ. He has been instrumental in his current initiative to have successfully raised an angel investment and a VC funding from IDG ventures of over $ 3 million. Incidentally iViZ is also one of the first companies to be invested by IDG ventures who have previously funded companies like myspace, netscape, baidu, F5 Networks, Sohu etc. The technology developed by iViZ has been selected as the Top 5 Global Innovative Technologies in the world by Intel and UC Berkeley in 2007. Also iViZ has been nominated as the Top 2 security start ups in Asia by London School of Business and Pentagon and Business Today's hottest startup in 2008. Recently they have also been nominated as the winner in Red Herring Asia 100 and NASSCOM Emerge 50 in 2009. He is also a frequently invited speaker in various start up conferences and leading B schools in India. He can be reached at rudra@ivizsecurity.com.

If you are thinking of having your own start-up soon or you have recently started one, phrases like entrepreneur, venture capital, pre and post-money valuations, stock

options, IPO, acquisitions must have already become an integral part of your everyday vocabulary. Well, believe me it happens with every passionate entrepreneur! If you haven't experienced this amazing phenomenon yet, probably you should continue in your current job for some more time (and skip to the next article). For all those who are already into this experience, this article will uncover certain myths in creating a good B-plan. Following some of the tips mentioned in this article, you can make investors run after you instead of you running after the investors to raise money for your business (which again happens with 98% of the entrepreneurs). After all the investors also want to make money and your business plan should reflect that.

Do not get me wrong but true art of writing a business plan is never taught in a B-school (at least in the best ones I've seen so far) and can never be taught as well. Primarily because it is delivered from an academic angle which is good to learn the basics, but brutally bad when you go and present it to a successful investor or entrepreneur. So what are those missing gaps in a B-plan that you may have presented in your last B-school exercise and the ones that win investor's attention and money? Well, I will share with you some of the key factors that I have learnt in my current start up. As an added bonus there is no IP or copy right protection to these; so you can freely copy and execute these very easily for quick success. (After all everyone wants that!)

So what's wrong with the plan that I already created from a B-plan template?

Okay, you will perhaps get ten thousand B-plan templates out there in the internet (and some even write it for you charging a fee). Next time when you see such a plan ask yourself these questions:

1. “Can somebody write for my startup and envision the future without knowing a dime about myself or my passion?”

2. “Does this plan look significantly different from the ones I have already learnt or seen?” (apart from formatting issues and display of excellent excel skills)

If both of these answers are NO, congratulations you are on the right track! Read on. If either of these is yes, you may have just discovered an amazing resource. Pause here, deal with that first and return back to this article later (probably when that thing fails).

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Interestingly, for most of the successful entrepreneurs I've seen so far, they have considered the business plan document to be the most trivial factor in raising capital. Consider this:

lIf the investor is already in a positive zone to invest in you, then the business plan “document” will only add force to his decision. It is possibly not accountable for moving you in the comfortable zone in the first place. Don't be mistaken!

lIf the investor is in a negative zone and isn't considering you at all, then it is very stupid to expect that the business plan will change his mind. Wisely, he may not even go through the complete plan.

So why should I write a B-plan at all?

Many inexperienced entrepreneurs feel that B-plans alone can produce fascinating impressions in the mind of an investor. “How much money do you want?”- is the question they expect to hear from the investor after they ripped apart their 60 min 30 slides presentation. Wake up from your dreams and realize the true intention of writing a business plan. The reasons why B-plans are absolutely necessary are:

lWhen the investor carries out a due diligence on your start-up (after you have convincingly pitched him your idea), he will ask for a B-plan document from you. He needs that to go the next step and put a tick in the document checklist. Don't be surprised. This is the fact!

lThe best internal reason of writing a B-Plan is that it forces you and other co-founders to work elaborately on the idea. That's where you develop the bonds of solid team. In the process you also realize who all may not be the right fit to this new initiative. Your other co-founders most likely aren't aware of this; so keep this deadly secret to yourself.

lWorking on a B-plan forces you to focus on issues which otherwise may have been definitely overlooked in the joy of new start-up. For example in depth competitor analysis, pricing strategies, risks, revenue pipeline etc.

lThere will be certain stumbling blocks in your B-plan that needs to be overcome. If none of your founding members are able to solve it, you understand that “some one” is missing. Thus even if you plan to boot strap your own start up, you should write a plan. The end document is not as imperative as the process through it has been documented.

Pitch Early, Pitch everyone and then start writing!

If you were asked to name the most important thing about a startup what would you say? People? Culture? Or your shiny little piece of new product? Wrong! It is the pitch. The pitch is one sentence which when delivered correctly makes people in the room say “Fantastic, that one is a great idea and I want to know more!” That is when you show your business plan.

Many entrepreneurs try perfecting their business plan powerpoint deck for days and even months. They believe that pitch is only a small portion of the entire business plan. This is a very normal phenomenon which is the wrong way round. A business plan is a complete reflection of the pitch vis-à-vis pitch being a refined version of the business plan. If the pitch impresses everyone in the room, most likely the plan also will. The reverse is never true. Here is how you should develop the right pitch for your start-up:

lMake a presentation with no more than 3 slides to it. The first slide should contain 2-3 lines about the business and technology problem that you are trying to solve. The second one should have 3-4 lines on the market opportunity and how others are doing it. (Do not ever mention that you have no competitors!). The last one should highlight how differently you are going to do it and why the customers will be happier than ever before.

lConclude it with a one liner for e.g: “On Demand Penetration Testing Company”. This is of course the tagline of my start-up thanks to my effort. This few words have an immediate impact on the minds of an investor or customer: on demand means cost saving, time saving, repetitive, scalable and uninterrupted service of security of a customer application. Investors understand that there are a lot of companies who are doing penetration testing but iViZ is the one who is doing it over SaaS (software-as-a-service) and therefore the company's valuation and exit would be interesting.

lPitch this to friends, relatives, entrepreneurs or any one whom you feel appropriate. The key is you should pitch this atleast 20 times. Believe me; you will discover a lot by their questions, interest level, excitement or indifference.

lCall all your co-founders over a beer and emphasize what you have realized.

lPatch up the pitch and then start writing the B-plan

lPresent it to prospective investor or customer and see the magic!

Remember: If no one accepts your pitch, don't expect them to pay for your product as well!

How should my B-Plan look like?

Your B-plan presentation should not be more than 12-13 slides; the word document being not more than 18-20 pages long. Yes, the human mind has the capacity to handle this much. Beyond these all are junk; even if you do some splendid job in buying a Gartner report and spend two pages explaining it. All those are good for academic interest but not to your potential investor. They have a team who will verify with the top notch

industry analyst anyway. So bother not too much on the supporting data, get your facts right only. Broadly follow these 12 steps which I find useful while pitching for any business plan. You may feel free to modify the flow as long as it suits your need and delivers result (very critical!)

1. Title slide

2. Problem

3. Market Opportunity

4. Your Solution and perceived Value Proposition by customers

5. Business model

6. Competitive Positioning

7. Defensibility (why you can only do it?)

8. Go to market and sales

9. Management team (Most important)

10. Financial forecast and key metrics (include your assumptions which may terribly go wrong)

11. Current status, client till date, beta customers and use of funds

12. Investment Opportunity

What next?

The value of your B-plan exponentially loses its value after the initial 6 months or so. At first a B-plan moves the entire squad on the same page, facilitate in getting new team members up to speed, and raises capital. This initial plan is good enough to pull you through the second year. After that however, you won't be writing full fledged B-plans. At this point onward, your B-plan will be focused on capital and operating expenditure issues including cash flow summary of goals (what) and strategies (how).

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AN IMAGE MAKEOVER THAT WINS THE DEAL

Bidisha Mahanta is currently working with the Don Bosco Institute of Management as Asst. Professor. In her previous career assignments she has worked as Corporate Relationships Manager in Kolkata in the domain of Financial Services at L&T Finance Ltd. and at ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services Ltd., besides others. She has done her B.E. in Chemical Engg., from Assam Engineering College with First Class Honors and her MBA (Finance) from Tezpur University securing a Gold Medal. She loves to read, dream, write and capture the nature in her lenses.Her professional interests are in Micro finance and economic development of the less privileged.She can be reached at bidisha mahanta@yahoo.com and bidisha.mahanta@dbim.ac.in and followed at twitter @ “bidisha mahanta”.

Having cleared the written examinations held by the prestigious PSU, Bidisha prepares herself well to appear for the personal interview.

Unfortunately, the panel of interviewers chooses not to spend much time with Bidisha. Quite understandably, she does not get selected for the job position in spite of all the academic accolades she had to her credit. Bidisha gets disappointed.

Sometime later she appears for another similar competitive exam and once again clears the written test to get selected to the interview. This time she prepares herself even better to enable herself hold the attention of the interviewers for a longer duration of time. Surprisingly this time again she does not get the opportunity to expose her level of knowledge and talent as the interview is cut short to just few minutes.

Disheartened Bidisha, after being done with the cursing-at-the-skies-to-her-hearts-content part, sat down to analyze both the past situations objectively.

What went wrong?

She had always donned the confident persona that she was and made a decent presentation of herself and her potential in diverse subjects. In fact, she had been a presenter all her life making some modest exhibitions of her leadership qualities time and again. With the help of a few analytical well wishers, Bidisha discovered that her the-unpretentious-Indian-bahu image probably didn't gel well with the professional roles she was eyeing.

Interviewers probably became cautious of the newly married Bidisha's lately acquired status and avatar which sent out the message that she'd be a better homemaker than a tough and hard-working professional. Possibly her avatar sent out the signal of a soft docile girl which didn't quite match with the qualities or outer appearance being sought for in the job positions on offer for employment for a person of her caliber and qualifications.

The make-over

As advised by few well-wishers and upon consultation with a couple of good friends, Bidisha decides to go for a makeover and air her confidence and potential in a hard-to-let-go-unnoticed-way the next time.

An image makeover in the right direction for the right purpose creates a positive vibe in the personality, enhances self-esteem and adds value to an individual's contributory capabilities. When done in the appropriate manner it acts as the greatest feel good factor for the individual concerned increasing one's productivity and overall effectiveness.

And thus emerged a Bidisha in a new look with a complete image make-over for her next big interview in a mid-size corporate house in one of the metropolis. To her sheer surprise, she met with success in her very first experimentation. And there has been no looking back since. She has managed to maintain a 100% strike rate as far as her performance in interviews goes.

For Bidisha, her image make-over became the harbinger, a miracle mantra for bringing in completeness and success to her professional ventures. Her skill-set, knowledge level, poise and individuality might have contributed up to 99% towards her accomplishments. Nevertheless, the tiny indispensable 1% component has since invariably been the emerging persona in her, which became the deal clincher on several occasions.

Change-overs around

We have witnessed some great instances of image make-over followed by their stupendous outcomes. The greatest example from the immediate past is that of none other than the chocolate-boy-turned-hunk Aamir Khan and his

Case Study

'Ghajini'-look. Prior to that we had seen Karishma Kapoor's image makeover in 'Raja Hindustani' that spelled the success story for the actor, paving her way for the many star performances that followed thereafter.

The corporate world too have resorted to many image makeovers of their logos to mark shifts in their corporate culture and strategies. Corporations like IBM, Microsoft, Google, TATA, Apple, Samsumg, Coke, Intel, AT&T, Shell, Xerox, Nike, Reebok, Kodak, MasterCard, Pepsi, GE, Wal-Mart and many others have a history of logo updates; some to modernize their look, while others as a result of revisions to the company name or marketing focus.

The political parties too have not been left behind. Off late, we have been witnessing The Indian National Congress Party trying to done a youthful look buzzing with energy and vibrancy by way of inclusion of a number of young and dynamic future leaders and members.

Why a make-over?

A make-over is inevitably associated with the brand image of an individual or organization. By opting for a make-over, an entity can earn a renewed image and brush up its image in public. Just as skills and self-confidence are important for a successful professional life, an individual's outer appearance too is an essential element for carving the path towards glorious achievements.

At 32, Bidisha is now the team leader of a business unit and oversees the operations across two geographic regions in the company she works for. Her renewed acceptability and competency now makes her a strong contender to lead a couple of new ventures that her company plans to launch in the near future. Bidisha is now contemplating upon any possible new make-over to skillfully done the role of an emerging business leader.

Look good. Feel great. Carry accomplishment.

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Guwahati of My Mind!Anabil is an Asst Professor at Don Bosco Institute of Management, where he takes up marketing courses. He is an engineer from Jorhat Engineering College and an MBA from IBS, Hyderabad. Anabil has worked previously with Tata Chemicals Ltd, as a Key Account Manager, responsible for Exports and Global Accounts for their Chemicals Business. Before joining the house of TATA, Anabil had worked with organizations like Inflatable Ideas and RRB Networks. His interest lies in Sales and Marketing. Anabil prefers to read books in his free time and has also published a few of his own short stories. He is currently working on setting up a business incubator for the youngsters from the NER. He maintains a blog http://www.protidhoni.blogspot.com, and can be reached by mail in anabil .goswami@dbim.ac. in and anabilgoswami@gmail.com.

Long long time ago… well perhaps not that long ago, but when we were still unaware of what Mr. Fernandez did to Multinational companies (not that

I knew what MNC meant that time) or what economic liberalization was or what could have been the future of IT in India, I used to cycle my heart out along the banks of the mighty Brahmaputra. Writing for Brahmaputra today brings in a lot of nostalgic feelings that I treasure and occasionally share during weekend parties with so many of my Dilli Bumbai friends acquired over the years. While the rest of the world was perhaps gearing up for the DotCom bubble (was it a bubble everybody was chasing?), I was leisurely surfing through my dreams of what I shall become when I grow up. Engulfed amidst the most beautiful surroundings I knew only one color for a newspaper and that too in black and white. Later on when I graduated into an Engineer and ventured into the world that had already switched on to the overdrive mode in the fast lane of the energetic economic boom; I realized how different the world was from where I have been. The “Half cha Singara” order changed into the biggest burger available in the McDonalds. It was no longer kewl to say cool. Wassup needs practice to be said correctly. The world was getting flatter I started believing. I did not know what that meant.

Working in the international business department in my previous organization, I often wondered whether I have properly understood Mr. Friedman. Or was it plain romantic to call the world a flat place. Oh yes, I did get my Google Chrome on time. And yes I do know for sure that some of my own friends from school were involved in the designing of tomorrow's new gadgets in India as well as away. But surprisingly when today I type “the world is flat” on Google, I get more responses on why the world is not flat. And this time the authors of these articles do not face the same fate as Mr. Galileo. Perhaps each one of us has some time or the other, overestimated the flatness of the world we live in. Mr. Ghemawat once said “The subtitle ("Crossing Borders in a

World Where Differences Still Matter) is meant to emphasize that we continue to live in a semi globalized world, one where differences between countries and regions continue to matter”.

We can all debate the flatness of the world we do business in. In our day to day activities, we have the comfort of choosing either side as per our convenience. In a world of free opinion we can put into words what seems to be the most justified and the viable opinion. But today as I stand in front of the mighty Brahmaputra, I start comparing the economic scenario in Guwahati and the North East in general and the rest of the cities I lived all these years. It took me days to think up a line to draft a suitable continuation of my earlier thoughts and yet I could not find a parallel. Trying to understand why it was so, I realized that the reason was not because there was nothing happening here but more because what was happening here has been mostly in silos. The Brahmaputra in its current avatar is a means to highlight the dreams of many. Perhaps in its own way the magazine tries to flatten the hilliest terrain in the country.

Also starting soon from the house of Don Bosco Institute of Management is a new business incubator. MouiZori, Business Incubator is an endeavor to provide the right platform for upcoming entrepreneurs from the region, to transform their dreams and ideas into concrete and sustainable business enterprises. The incubator plans to

Editorial

chisel out ideas into concrete business proposals and allow the plans to ride the bandwagon of a flat global world we all aspire to be in. People from across the globe in turn will have the right platform to contribute in making the dreams of the youth from the region start and develop world class quality enterprises. Before sowing the seeds, the farmer ploughs his land and then flattens his land using a Moui dragged by a Zori and that is what we want to do from the incubator, “prepare for sowing of the seeds for tomorrow”. The incubator aspires to be able to bring in an impactful change in the current entrepreneurship scenario in the region by joining hands with the global think tank and professionals who have contributed much to the development and sustainability of their enterprises and organizations. While doing a small pilot of whether we could manage any youngster to come up with ideas, we realized that so many of them were full of bright ideas that could be an envy of many premier B School students. The challenge now lies is to ensure that these ideas are properly banked and given the right support to be able to blossom into enviable enterprises for the world to see.

And today as I stand in front of the resilient Brahmaputra I realize that the hope quotient in the North East might not be as distinct and elaborate as in perhaps Mumbai, but here lies many dreams.

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DON BOSCO INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Building Dreams, Shaping Lives