Chennai Autos…..

Heard so many things about Differential pricing strategy adopted by everyone. And its relation of pricing by value.  So if anything is more valuable to you you should pay more than same thing when had less value.

i remembered the example of Giant Cola company adopting this…so if weather is extremely hot and you want chilled drink than normal drink you should be paying more simply because the chilled drink is giving you more value to you.

You must be wondering what the hell is this all got to do with Chennai Autos…..

well the best lesson of Differential pricing can be learnt from Chennai Auto Drivers. These fellows know really really how to dupe their customers. If you are a Chennaite/South Indian chances are you would be charged high for any given trip. but, If you are North Indian you would be charged very high.

And what happens if you are North Indian and trying to get auto while its raining heavily and you are stranded in middle of road…..

The soft hearted people might say to give help to such a guy…..but not auto drivers here……….So during one such situation when I tried to catch auto…..Auto Driver looks at me thinks about weather and then open his mouth and his reply made me burst into laughter…..his charges for destination was 250 bucks . Remember the normal rate to reach designation was 80-100  Rs. 

Now clearly this is a differential pricing as he understood that a north Indian guy standing in mid of rain and fully drenched is desperate to take auto and so would be willing to pay maximum for the service and therefore extract maximum out of him……… Though I didnt took that auto and preferred to wait…..but was left wonderstuck as what impact differential pricing can make especially if its not decided in proper context…..

May God give more sense to Chennai Auto Drivers or atleast rule of going by meter is imposed in chennai as at present none of autos in Chennai run on meters -

 Strange but True …..

 

Jet Airways 2 Punjab Roadways

the title of the blog says it all……….

Have heard so much Gyan and fundas of customer oriented business during my MBA days, And fortunately my recent trip from Chennai to Ludhiana gave me opportunity to have a first hand experience of the same when my journey involved travelling on jet airways and subsequently on Punjab roadways , I believe the two put together covered up the two extremes of the present way of doing business….

Jet airways :

The brand name itself  puts you at ease and we feel more or less comfortable to board the plane….. right from e-ticket to option for web-check in there are various options available to make life of its customers at ease …….on top of it u can also expect wonderful crowd on plane…..mix of chicks as well as top notch business professionals……. The sumptuous TAJ food with a friendly tone of crew members brings smile on people’s face.  The internal environment during flight looks busy with most people busy with their laptops doing business activities or watching movies……. I believe people feel proud of themselves when they board the jet Airways plane and somehow its clearly seen at their faces…..Its rare to see anyone having bad experience of Jet and even if its people do treat those as exceptional cases…..

that was the journey from Chennai to Delhi airport…now next leg of journey starts from Delhi ISBT(Bus Stop) from where I am supposed to catch a bus for Ludhiana…..

I have always felt that the Bus Transport is one thing which has not been given due importance that it deserved in our country….Standing inside ISBT , Delhi one can easily misunderstand that the place holds no importance for any Delhites ….The place is in such  a pathetic condition that one can not believe that New Airport and existing ISBT are part of same Delhi………. and u better not dare to see towards roof while inside ISBT ,as you can see so many dangled electrical wires that it might be a place waiting for disaster….

Anyways, once it was confirmed that there are no other roadways busses for Ludhiana from ISBT till morning 5 am except Punjab Roadways buss (PUNBUS)…hesitantly I boarded the bus….being native of punjab I know what the hell punjab roadways are and how they operate,……

Punjab Roadways:

The brand name evokes mostly negative reactions considering their past performances…….looking at PUNBUS which is a long route bus….the legroom space is minimal inside bus..and sitting inside it for continuous hours is a hell…thats what happened,,…for 4 stratight hours I could barely move and was sitting upright till bus stopped at Ambala bus stop… The refreshment place was complete shit…with absolutely nothing…but a small tea shop & a pathetic Dhaba……the tea absolutely was worse and no surprise that almost all passengers left Tea cups as it is …but the passengers were literally angered by the the kind of place where bus stopped for refreshments…many people were coming frm long routes by train , flight and few from outside india too….The interesting part is the response of Bus Driver/Conductor to Passenger compliants………”I have permission to stop only here in route and if I dont do then I get fined 500 bucks”……….even worse no compliant book is there in the Bus and passengers are told to talk to Government authorities directly if they have any compliants…. ,… thats nothing but “Customers Go To hell” kind of attitude

And the rest of Journey I was left wondering my extreme experience in the journey…… this was not the first time I experienced both extremes but guess my MBA did brought a change in me as it forced me to think on business models of the two and dig more deep

 

 

Sales force Strategies during Recession!!!!

The other day I was reading article on the immediate strategies that might be needed at the sales force level for any company . It refreshed me few fundas about Sales & Distrbution course and pushed me to look for more

I believe that the article “Breadth of Salesman” makes a great sense in today’s times. As the sales is no longer transaction sales and it has gone way beyond that and have reached the stage of enterprise Sales, which will ensure strategic relationship between cross functional teams on either side .

Below are some of the interesting strategies that any company can try to implement during recession times:

- Make sure that Sales force are targeting Right customer. This is perfect example of what was time and again enforced by our Professor V.K. Murthi as to be very sure about “whom to pursue” in any sales job.  This is important because during tight budgets, most of times the authority to spend more money is shifted upwards in the hierarchy and therefore the kind of customers being targeted might no longer be in position to decide…

- At any point of time if a senior level person is accompanied by the sales force to customer then it brings amount of confidence to the customer. And specially when the decision power would have shifted upwards, the reason to take senior people out to customers make all he more logical for cracking the deals.

Hope to write more on this !!!!

 

Address by Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia!!

It is generally said that MBA brings on host of opportunities and great moments in one’s life….and here was another one for me……………

Apart from Classroom learnings , I believe MBA has given me a chance to meet and listen to great people …………..

Last time I wrote about meeting with Dr. Dipak Jain…….and now its the address from Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia to students of Great Lakes Institute of Management. It’s been so many years that we have been seeing this gentlemen on TV and listening to his views on various issues.  And this opportunity became even more interesting once Former Chief Election Commissioner Mr. T.N.Seshan also joined and directed the questions & Answers section for Dr. Montek’s speech.

I also had a chance to see the master skills of handling Press meets by Dr. Montek once he finished his address to Great Lake students. It was so clear how the journalists were trying to bend questions from different angles and trying to get his views on various topics …(ofcourse including Satyam Fiasco)….and trying to put words into his mouth , which they wanted to hear………..but glad to see that wonderful personality of Dr. Montek could not budge down infront of journalists and he discussed only those things which he wanted to do so……..

Dr. Montek Singh with Great Lakers

 

Meeting with Dr. Dipak Jain

Very few people would get a chance to stand right next to Dr. Dipak Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, North western University.

And I am one of those lucky people. …..

It was simply amazing to listen to this great man who rose from a small place in Assam and has gone to a level where he heads one of the best Business school of the world. It is amazing to see that the great man has his feets totally on ground and is so humble and down to earth while interacting with students…….

The kind of comfort that we bunch of students felt while interacting with him during dinner party was soothing………never ever we were completely awed by him but he ensured that we all had a very friendly talk………

And today when I sit back and think over the interaction that we had…..it is amazing to recollect the realities that he told ….he made us realize about things that we think are very simple and often overlook but are most critical……….

Whatever learnings we get from our MBA course……this inspiring talk will be right at top…..

1st Row: L to R : Dr.Taruna Gupta, Dr. Dipak Jain, Dr. "Seenu" V Srinivisan, "Uncle" Bala, Mr. Sankaran, Prof Sriram

 

Great Lakes HR Conclave 2008

on 2nd Sept we had HR conclave in Le Royal Meridien in Chennai. It was a grand event and was a major success. We had a fantastic response and had a great feedback from HR faternity from various corporates.
Our chief guest Hon’ble Union Minister of Corporate Affairs Mr. Prem Chand Gupta was also present and was great in his speech.

One of most defining moment was when Mr. Muthuraman ( MD – Tata Steel group) came to stage and addressed audience. To see and hear views from such a great man was really amazing and something which I will always remember.

For more details:
http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/03/stories/2008090360231200.htm

 

Ye bhi ho gaya!!!!!

It is been over a month now since I wrote my last blog………..
And its not that there was nothing that happened during this course of time…..instead too many things have happened in such a short span of time……..

Month of July was an eventful month with me very busy in organizing activities of First ever International Study Tour coming up in moth of September. In addition , work of organizing First ever HR Conclave in Great Lakes was also at its full swing…….and studies….hmmmmmm was going on somehow…………

With so much involved in activities , there was hardly any time to think anything else until 28 July something tragic happened!!!!

Ya that was the day when I broke my right arm and thus got a fracture……..Had a tough time since then as it needed some work on part of doctor to repair the damage………..This was time when suddenly everything came to scorching halt………as now I was on bed having complete bed rest…….ofcourse work goes on only that somebody else does the work now…….Study tour organizing activities carried on and so as HR conclave preparations………..

Since our Dean uncle Bala was there in month of July and August so these two months were packed with activities in college…..we had SWIM celebrations and then Sangamitra 2008 celebrations occured………Sangamitra was great but I was disaapointed as I could not participate in the event because of my fracture……….I think first time I saw full event without any event participation……….anyways thats how it goes……….

 

Salsa Fever strikes again!!!!!!!!

It’s been quite a time since I wrote my last blog……..Not that I was too busy in my studies but just got busy in lots of other activities………Infact I realised that in a B-school even if there are few days where Study pressure is bit low still rarely people get free time…..Thats what has happened since past few days………..We had few days where lectures were less and some free time and everyone ensured that time is utilized smartly………….

On personal note I did lots of other activities which otherwise would have been difficult or not possible…….Last few days gave me a chance to have a quick visit to bangalore and meet all my friends there and have a gala time……… Got chance to visit Pondicherry again with chennai gang……Last few days have also been very hectic in organizing International Study Tour for our college……….working on HR summit with BPR team and ofcourse something unusually interesting which is Salsa ……..

just thought to write down few words on Salsa here in blog……..Salsa for a Punjabi guy like me who will bhangra like anything was totally new………… I mean people like me who have enjoyed every bit of Bhangra now trying to do Salsa……Looks funny!!!!!! But I enjoyed most………It was challenging initially to get sophisticated steps of salsa, but I guess my partner Deepti was intelligent enuff and gave me time to adjust to this form of dance……………. And morever who would not enjoy a dance where you get to literally twist/turn/push/pull the girls in any direction you want……. guess that’s why Guys were enjoying classes bit more…………..Most interesting part of Salsa classes was the session on last day when everyone was in full party mood as visible by the attire……..It was full to fun and party time….We did everything that day which included Salsa/ Jives / Bhangra / Tamil special and what not………

Elegance and fun in form of Salsa has been a fundoo experience and me looking forward for more classes…………and ofcourse look forward for better performance than this one………

 

Infinite Self!!!!!!!

Dont get too wooried by the title of the post………..

Thee were one of few words that have kept us engrossed on spirituality in our 2nd term…….Now that  everything has an end (ofcourse xcept Atman )so june 30 our course on Spirituality came to an end with final exam………Last one month we all have been quite busy with books like teachings of Vivekananda/Upanishads/Bhagwad Gita and other research articcles on Spirituaity…….

So much has been talked about Brahman/Atman and spirit of oneness that it had become kind of 2nd lingo for everyone here. Anywhere and everywhere great Lakers were talking about Maya /Vedanta and Atman………With an end to this course I am sure People will miss these discussions, though I am pretty sure that every now and then we would get to hear these words amongst ourselves………….

Not sure how much I understood spirituality through this course but I am enjoying the expansion of my self with end to this course and so “Just Chill”

 

birthday bumps!!!!!!!

Something which you enjoy all throughout year except for one day!!!!!!!!

Nothing different for me but only worry was for me that day arrived on 28th June when it was my B’day……….

Seems people were waiting for my B’day as everyone pounced upon me at stroke of 12 and had a go at me……..And this time it were not just plain kicks but it was freestyle and alternate left-right shots aimed by people who were under influence of today’s Som Ras……..After 3 rounds of inflicting love people came to their senses and thus I got time to breathe……….

And as it happens every year that pain of birthday bumps strengthen one’s belief to hit next one in line hard so I will wait for next one……….

Nothing serious its just plain fun but sure it needs to be done with care…………