Friday, August 19, 2005

A Hairy Session

Last weekend, I had been to this swanky hair saloon in Velachery Chennai. Though I have seen a lot of these on TV and movies, I have personally never believed in shelling out huge amounts of money for cutting hair. Gimme the 15 rupee cut anyday.

Anyway so dad, my brother and I went for this joint cutting session. I noticed that there is a very neat menu card (not a shady paper stuck on the wall) with prices starting from Rs.60 for a haircut to something like Rs.600 for a hair spa session. Given the prices, the number of people waiting was quite large. People were also shelling out amounts like Rs.1600 for a session. (didnt know Chennai folk were so extravagant) I almost felt nostalgic for our friendly neighbourhood barber with a shady bench and people sitting and discussing politics like they were actually running the government back home in Kerala.

Now that I have been running all around, let me come to the actual reason for this post. So while studying the menu, I noticed that this was a chain of saloons run by Cavinkare, the company that is giving the headaches to the HLLs and the P&Gs in the south. On paper, at least, it looks like a smart move. By getting into the 'service' part of the cosmetics business, they are now starting to reach the elite public in India who are becoming more and more comfortable with the act of grooming. Also, if they play their cards well, they can actually change their image to that of a classy company. Let's see how this story develops...

Anyway, so while we were waiting, my father makes the comment that even hair cutting is becoming such a sophisticated business (no offence meant to the barber community). So they will now expand rapidly into 10 saloons. Then they will require a corporate office and setup a HQ setup. And then...............they will go recruit the MBAs from IIMB (my alma mater)!!! I couldnt argue with that logic however condescending it might sound, really because that is when the whole MBA thing comes in. This actually goes back to a post of mine where I mentioned that MBAs are being taught to think in such a structured manner that they become so risk-averse.

Cant wait for the day when XXXXXXXX Hair Cutting Saloon gets a Day 1 slot in campus!!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

they say u cant hold someone responsible for what they dont know. but i still want to tell u to learn more before u disseminate ur ill-informed opinion to the world.
a) cavinkare does recruit from B schools. and they do put MBAs onto roles such as developing the saloons. So, hair saloons already visit campuses :)
b) cavinkare is beating HLLs and P&Gs of the world?? u seriously need to know how to read a balancesheet. check out how much profit cavinkare makes - u'll be shocked to know how poorly this company performs. it has abysmally low margins. media hype has made the cavinkares and ajantas of the world to be Lever/Procter beaters. But see which stocks are rising in the market - Lever and Procter, not Cavinkare!!

Nothing personal against you buddy, but it's just wrong to use the Net to spread incorrect info.

Bibs said...

2 things:
Please note that I said 'giving headaches'..not beating HLL & P&G and for sure, I never mentioned anything about 'a better company' or 'balance sheets' or 'profits'.

Secondly & more importantly, the intention of the post was to bring out the point that in many cases, MBAs are just called in when a critical mass has been made in the company and more often than not, they are not involved in the creation of an enterprise.

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

Anonymous said...

bibs baby
get some written communication classes - ur blog wasnt reflective of your intent.
anyway, applaud ur efforts to put ur thoughts online. cant say much for myself coz i just read and comment on blogs - hv been lazy to get one of my own!

coolsun said...

You vella person. Cant you update your blog more often. Anyways you dont have any work

Nilu said...

Do they also give lap dances during the hair cut ;)

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Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

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Hey, I've got a site on work at home careers. If you're interested come have a look sometime.

Peace,
Bradford
http://bradfordmoore.com

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bradford

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Bradford
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Anonymous said...

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I was searching for stuff on "start work at home business" and came accross your post on A Hairy Session. I can now see why I landed here.

If you'd like to check out my website at http://bradfordmoore.com I'd love to have you as my guest.

Lata, Bradford