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!!
Friday, August 19, 2005
Thursday, August 11, 2005
India Ahead
It's been a week since I came back to Bangalore and started logging in. Already I can see the differences. There is so much chaos for everything - the roads, in the office everywhere. I am just wondering when do people live here. We end up spending so much time in just doing the daily things that we have no time for anything else. There is just work, career, loans, bills, petrol prices. I am sure this is quite similar in other societies too but I think we are really up there in terms of paranoia. Not that things dont work here but it is a world away from Europe.
Actually we are becoming very similar to the US society. I think Europe is so much more laid back. They at least consider enjoying their life seriously and spend valuable time on that. We on the other hand take our work and job as the number 1 priority. Of course, the fact is that Europe is probably the one region in the world which is in real danger of being overtaken by the 'Asia' powers.
The US for example, has been going through this consumer frenzy for quite some time now which in some sense is actually causing the 8-9% growths in the Asian economies. Because of this consumerism, the Americans are all neck-deep in credit and therefore they have to put in even more hours to just pay their credit card bills. I fear that, we in India, are going towards that direction. The only thing that is different is that we do not have a social security net from the Government protecting us. Hence if the IT market just tanks one day, I wonder how a lot of us will be able to maintain this lifestyle.
A difficult proposition, indeed. If we want to do better as a economy, we need to spend as consumers. If we spend, we are in debt. If we are in debt, we are not happy anymore. We have to work harder. But then we get the comforts of life by doing all of this. We get more choice as consumers. We can travel to the Alps or to Sydney for holidays. No wonder, governance is so tough!!!
Actually we are becoming very similar to the US society. I think Europe is so much more laid back. They at least consider enjoying their life seriously and spend valuable time on that. We on the other hand take our work and job as the number 1 priority. Of course, the fact is that Europe is probably the one region in the world which is in real danger of being overtaken by the 'Asia' powers.
The US for example, has been going through this consumer frenzy for quite some time now which in some sense is actually causing the 8-9% growths in the Asian economies. Because of this consumerism, the Americans are all neck-deep in credit and therefore they have to put in even more hours to just pay their credit card bills. I fear that, we in India, are going towards that direction. The only thing that is different is that we do not have a social security net from the Government protecting us. Hence if the IT market just tanks one day, I wonder how a lot of us will be able to maintain this lifestyle.
A difficult proposition, indeed. If we want to do better as a economy, we need to spend as consumers. If we spend, we are in debt. If we are in debt, we are not happy anymore. We have to work harder. But then we get the comforts of life by doing all of this. We get more choice as consumers. We can travel to the Alps or to Sydney for holidays. No wonder, governance is so tough!!!
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Hiring Peaks
This was a forward that came sometime back to me from a friend...supposedly a quote made by a HR executive.
"Every day for the last four months I have been hiring. I come to office each day, hassle my recruitment team, agencies and consultancies for resumes, perform interviews, negotiate salaries and make offers. It's amazing to see how people negotiate for salaries and perks, no one asks anything anymore about what the job entails, what they can contribute, or how they can grow and realize their dreams here. It's about pay, and people are eagerly willing to display unbridled stupidity in managing their careers by focusing incessantly on money. Heck, the time it takes
to finalize an offer nowadays, I could send out an offer letter, go have several children, watch them grow, put them through school and then head back to office, the candidate is likely to have finished negotiating his pay and ready to join. This is all fine and dandy; it's a hyper-inflationary job market.
What's disturbing is the not-so-new trend of IT jobs flying out of India. I hear an 850-seater call center has decided to move out of India due to attrition and increasing costs. Hell, my own company has pushed out 100 jobs out of India into Eastern Europe, and I was part of that decision. We need to wake up and smell the stink of the decay we are creating all around us in the IT job market. Year-on-year end people here expect nothing less than 30 to 45% salary increases, where as the average salary hike in the US per year is 3% and Eastern Europe is 4%.
I could go on and on about the quality of the flotsam and jetsam that washes on to my desk in response to job ads, but we all know it. Sometimes it takes as many as 40+ interviews to close one position. Sad part? The bozos still think they are worth it.
At this rate IT India better ensure they have transferable skills,
because in a couple of years from now they will not have jobs to feed their money-frenzied lifestyles.
Let's do justice to the lessons the dotcom tried to teach us, what goes up must come down."
I think this is very true. I cant think that this kind of 40% hikes can go on for ever. I guess I can buy property in Bangalore once the dreams come down!!
"Every day for the last four months I have been hiring. I come to office each day, hassle my recruitment team, agencies and consultancies for resumes, perform interviews, negotiate salaries and make offers. It's amazing to see how people negotiate for salaries and perks, no one asks anything anymore about what the job entails, what they can contribute, or how they can grow and realize their dreams here. It's about pay, and people are eagerly willing to display unbridled stupidity in managing their careers by focusing incessantly on money. Heck, the time it takes
to finalize an offer nowadays, I could send out an offer letter, go have several children, watch them grow, put them through school and then head back to office, the candidate is likely to have finished negotiating his pay and ready to join. This is all fine and dandy; it's a hyper-inflationary job market.
What's disturbing is the not-so-new trend of IT jobs flying out of India. I hear an 850-seater call center has decided to move out of India due to attrition and increasing costs. Hell, my own company has pushed out 100 jobs out of India into Eastern Europe, and I was part of that decision. We need to wake up and smell the stink of the decay we are creating all around us in the IT job market. Year-on-year end people here expect nothing less than 30 to 45% salary increases, where as the average salary hike in the US per year is 3% and Eastern Europe is 4%.
I could go on and on about the quality of the flotsam and jetsam that washes on to my desk in response to job ads, but we all know it. Sometimes it takes as many as 40+ interviews to close one position. Sad part? The bozos still think they are worth it.
At this rate IT India better ensure they have transferable skills,
because in a couple of years from now they will not have jobs to feed their money-frenzied lifestyles.
Let's do justice to the lessons the dotcom tried to teach us, what goes up must come down."
I think this is very true. I cant think that this kind of 40% hikes can go on for ever. I guess I can buy property in Bangalore once the dreams come down!!
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
In Air
At the end of it all, I finally made it to the homeland. My friends had appraised me about how consistently Air India usually screws up but even by that standards, a 48 hour journey for a 24 hr one was a stretch.
The part that worked perfectly was the Air France part from Munich to Paris. After that, it was at the mercy of Air India. They did not deem it important that the passengers should know when they would be taking their flight to India. After all, a 12 hr delay is only incidental.
The only good thing about the flight was the party atmosphere in the flight. Based on my prior Lufthansa flights where we had to sit stiff and be favored by the crew, this was a great one. Everybody talks to everyone else. The air hostess was fun refusing to give me a pillow because 'she was busy' (to quote her words). She says, I have no non-vegetarian but I can give you as much booze as you want. I found all of this so funny. Made me wonder...is this the face of the country?
At the end of it all, we knew most of the other people in the flight and had exchanged business cards. Call it 'networking in the air'.
But then the worst was to come. A long 10 hr wait in Mumbai with the rain gods not in the best of moods. While Mother Nature has her own ways of getting attention, Air India really came up short on making life easier for the passengers. We had no clue as to when the next flight out was. They said 1 am and finally we took off at 4 am the next morning.
There was this French couple along with me. I could actually sense the frustration that was building up in them. They werent sure if they will get their baggage and also as to what the gate was and at what time etc. The whole thing seemed a bit amateurish to me, the way, Air India handles this whole thing. I think we have a long way to go before we can be a good tourist location. I am just suprised that so many tourists are still coming to India even with the amount of complications that they have to go through. There are so many basic things that can be done right without even making major investments for example by just putting enough people to help out the foreign tourists and provide them with information (after all, people are not a scarce commodity here). We can do all the marketing but if we cant follow up this with the basics back here, we can never be a serious contender for the 'share of wallet' in the tourism industry.
The part that worked perfectly was the Air France part from Munich to Paris. After that, it was at the mercy of Air India. They did not deem it important that the passengers should know when they would be taking their flight to India. After all, a 12 hr delay is only incidental.
The only good thing about the flight was the party atmosphere in the flight. Based on my prior Lufthansa flights where we had to sit stiff and be favored by the crew, this was a great one. Everybody talks to everyone else. The air hostess was fun refusing to give me a pillow because 'she was busy' (to quote her words). She says, I have no non-vegetarian but I can give you as much booze as you want. I found all of this so funny. Made me wonder...is this the face of the country?
At the end of it all, we knew most of the other people in the flight and had exchanged business cards. Call it 'networking in the air'.
But then the worst was to come. A long 10 hr wait in Mumbai with the rain gods not in the best of moods. While Mother Nature has her own ways of getting attention, Air India really came up short on making life easier for the passengers. We had no clue as to when the next flight out was. They said 1 am and finally we took off at 4 am the next morning.
There was this French couple along with me. I could actually sense the frustration that was building up in them. They werent sure if they will get their baggage and also as to what the gate was and at what time etc. The whole thing seemed a bit amateurish to me, the way, Air India handles this whole thing. I think we have a long way to go before we can be a good tourist location. I am just suprised that so many tourists are still coming to India even with the amount of complications that they have to go through. There are so many basic things that can be done right without even making major investments for example by just putting enough people to help out the foreign tourists and provide them with information (after all, people are not a scarce commodity here). We can do all the marketing but if we cant follow up this with the basics back here, we can never be a serious contender for the 'share of wallet' in the tourism industry.
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