HBR on Managing Your Career : A Review

Recently finished this awesome HBR-Managing Your Career. The book contains classic article on how to personally manage your career. The wisdom talks from the career managment experts ask for changing our hard wired mind-set. The book takes completely practical outlook while narrating the real life examples. The books says that individuals themselves should take sole responsibilty to build and manage their career, life and success in them.  T

The topics in the book are:

1. Reawakening Your Passion for Work by Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee, and Daniel Goleman;

2. Goodbye Career, Hello Success" by Randy Komisar;

3. The Right Way to Be Fired by Laurence J. Stybel and Marianne Peabody;

4. Managing Oneself by Peter Drucker;

5. A Second Career: The Possible Dream by Harry Levinson;

6. Five Strategies of Successful Part-Time Work by Vivien Corwin, Thomas Lawrence, and Peter Frost;

7. Managing Your Boss by John Gabarro and John Kotter; and

8. Managing Yourself: A Survival Guide for Leaders by Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky.

This collection of articles talks gamut of topic ranging from career challenges, effective time management to part-time arrangements to launching a new career.The book not just preached but also tell you the complete strategy of how to follow them what is said.

Few topic were just a treat to read and will definitley make you to think of changing yourself in the way you see your career. Few topics from the chapter which I loved and influenced my thoughts are:

"Reawakening your passion for work" make you think and reflect that why and what you should be working for.

"Goodbye Career, Hello Success" tells about pursuing passion driven career which is the only way of being successful in life.

"The Right Way to Be Fire" is yet another practical approach which says that you should always be prepared for the turbulent times. So, always remain on toes, be vigilant and keep yourself most sought after.

"Managing Oneself" talks about introspection and finding about yourself before making your moves to the outside world.

"A Second Career" prescribes for keeping alternatives career mainly in your areas on interest and passion, as this could become your primary job after retirement or a feeling of achievement after doing mundane things in your primary job. I loved the concept of realising and writing your Ego-Ideal.

"Managing Your Boss" talks about shining your boss to shine yourself.

The book has something to learn for every professional. A must read for all MBA and other professionals too.

Microeconomics in Real Life – Household TV

By: Varun Khandelwal

Indian Television Household industry is a great real life example of application of Microeconomics. Till late 80s, Indian Manufacturer like Crown, Salora, Texla, Oscar and Beltek were the market leader of Black & White TVs in India. However, advent of Color TV technology which was great substitutes of obsolete Black and White TV led new market leaders like Videocon, BPL and Onida emerge in TV market. This is a great example of Threat of Substitutes (Color TV overruling B&W TV market) and significant impact of Technology on firms.

Below is the industry analysis of the TV market incorporating Porter’s Five Forces model:

Till late 90s Videocon, BPL and Onida enjoyed leadership and apparent oligopoly in the TV market. However, advent of MNCs such as AIWA, Akai, LG, Philips and Samsung changed the landscape of TV industry. Especially Akai and AIWA which used to work upon procurement/assembly based model brought upon the cut-throat price war in TV market. For an instance, earlier prices of Color TVs used to be around Rs 20,000 for a 21’ TV. However, Akai and AIWA through its smart operations and marketing strategies brought down the same TV cost to almost half. Moreover, it brought concept of TV exchange for the upgraders and rebuyers leading to same TV cost mere Rs 5000. At the same time, world leaders like LG and Samsung started Sales on Volume strategy to push their quality product in Indian market.

From the above table it could easily be observed that with increase in demand the nominal price of TV has decreased significantly and hence obeying the Demand-Supply rule. New Technology advent and price war also led to significant shift in Demand and Supply curve many times. Another point to note is that demand of TV is highly seasonal in India. During festivals and marriage season, there is always a high demand for TV. TV market has become highly competitive market and the life cycle of any new TV has become too small. Currently, TV industry in India is undergoing tremendous changes in terms of Technology and customer segments. New augmented features in TV, becomes in expected and generic within months. New technology based television like HDTV, LCD are replacing traditional color TV very fast. The few important things TV manufacturing/marketing firms should keep in mind are:

1.       Research and Development and Innovation are the key to become successful in TV market.

2.       Quality and trustworthiness is important. TV is still bought by majority consumer for a long term basis so they want good quality.

3.       Smart Pricing strategy is required to have an edge among so many competitors and no product difference.

4.       Consumer Segmentation is important for every TV

5.       Increase in disposable income in India will lead to further increase in Demand of TV.

Hence, we can observe practical application of microeconomics in Household Television industry of India.

Money & Power : "The road to riches is open to everyone”

Money & Power – The History of Business. Howard Means, David Grubin (2001). John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 2001. 274 pp.

Reviewed by: Varun Khandelwal, Great Lakes Institute of Management. (Roll no: 9265, Group G2)

Money & Power is a lively and fascinating documentary on how modern business grew and developed. The book outlines the history of business, industry, commerce and power from the year 1065 to the recent time up to 2005. The book is an excellent resource to students, educators, business man and even to a common man for understanding important economics’ concepts and issues in business and monetary operations at micro as well as macro level in a very simple manner.

The book is chronologically ordered into 12 chapters like a story, in which each chapter highlights one of the most charismatic business personality and event the world has known from as early as 1065 to as recent as 2005.

The story begins around 1000 years ago with an early peddler-merchant, St. Godric. He was among the most successful entrepreneurs who began to freely pursue business for profit. However, due to the church and prevailing belief during those times, profit-making was considered to be sinful, so he gave up his business to become hermit. However, he proved to be a model of wealth creation through emerging free-market capitalism. The trade kept on flourishing even in the absence of the much desired capital markets. During renaissance at around 1400, the founder of modern banking Cosmo de’ Medici made Italy understood the alchemy of modern banking system. This made Florence, the financial capital city of the continent. The Cosimo efforts led to power shifting from men of Church to men of Business. Even till early 1900, banking was highly based upon the trust and influential people. J.P. Morgan, the biggest banker of 18^th and 19^th centuries bailed out markets three times – the panics of 1873 and 1893 and the Wall Street crisis of 1907. After Morgan, the Federal Reserve System was created in 1913 to fulfill the critical economic role by controlling macro and micro economic factor and to avoid handing power of such scale with one man.

The author also tells tales about the wasteful use of fortune by Philip II of Spain in wars during late years of 1500 which led to Spain into the most perilous situations of the era. It tells about the power of greed to move market in irrational directions, citing story from Netherlands, well known as “Tulipmania” in which investment bubble arose through unprecedented investments in unlikely commodity – tulip bulb.

All great inventions and applications begin with great ideas. The author tells about the conglomeration of business and innovation. The book tells about the equally important contribution by Matthew Boulton, the ever experimenting entrepreneur, in the invention of Steam engine by the father of Industrial revolution - James Watt by putting his idea into a real working machine. The same theme has been continued by Henry Ford who created a mass market for cars through his innovation of assembly lines for mass-production and low price.  There is a chapter on John D. Rockefeller's creator of the Standard Oil trust who slit all his competitors in Oil industry and came out as a baron of the Oil industry in late 1800s. He used latest technology, resolved the logistics riddle, created advanced selling methods, vertically integrated Oil Corporation and put modern management to run his oil business. The book also describes about the partnership between government and private interest leading to Transcontinental Railroads in U.S. during 1860s. This ultimately led to development of new industries and markets in U.S. ultimately leading to strongest economic power on earth.

There are also the success story of Robert Woodruff of Coca-Cola who turned the sweet syrup into the most powerful and fist global brand. A chapter on Time Warner tells about the strange partnership for profit-making in business of public-media and communication.

Finally, the book covers the success story of the most famous business tycoon of the modern age, Bill Gates who proved that in the modern and fast changing world with Information Revolution - “the road to riches is open to everyone”

Truly, Business is all about Money & Power as emphasized by the title of the book itself. The book is a great literature in terms of understanding the business from its root and then formulating it well to come to the conclusion of the modern business operations which are still having a big scope for creating efficiencies.

The last line “the road to riches is open to everyone” is so true in the era of Information Revolution. Any common man with a great idea in mind and aspirations to face the tough times may easily make money and power. Change is the only constant in this world. Rise and fall of economies, businesses, nations as described in the book are the great examples of timely change in the world. In today’s world, technology has become a powerful tool to make the changes in whole world at the tip of the finger. Innovations are happening at an unprecedented rate, forecasting next technology orientation have just become next to impossible. People can interact anywhere to anyone. World is open and full of opportunities as never before. I feel there is a big opportunity lying into the technological growth. That’s where the future business and economics rest.

Money & Power is a must read for all. It provokes to think about what could be the next moves into the market. Finally, concluding the theme of the book – “Where there’s a greed and ambition you will find Money & Power”.

Readings I conquered !!

This is after a long time, that I got good time to be free whole day as well as my spirits are high to write about.
Today I just thought of writing all the novels/books I have read to satiate avid reader inside me.
So here you go:
1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone by JK Rowling (first novel I read)
2. Harry Potter and the Chambers of secret by JK Rowling
3. The Road ahead by Bill gates
4. The alchemist by Paulo Coelho
5. Making the minister smile by Updhayay
6. 5 point someone by Chetan Bhagat (full gap shap, filmy)
7. 11 minutes by Paul Coelho
8. The Code book by Simon singh (very boring)
9. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
10. Monk who sold his ferrari by Robin Sharma (good read)
11. Deception point by Dan Brown
12. Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
13. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
14. It's all about the bike by Lance Armstrong
15. Night @Call centre by Chetan Bhagat
16. You can be healthy by BM Hegde
17. 12 Red herrings by Jeffery Archer
18. The God Father by Mario Puzo (good read)
19. Rich Dad Dad by Robert Kiyosaki (Loved this book, big fan, must read)
20. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
21. Harry Potter and Prisoner's of Azakaban by JK Rowling
22. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (ultimate characters but too long)
23. Karma Yoga by Swami Vivekananda (thanks IIO (Intelligent Interaction with Others) subject that I got opportunity to read such books, meant for everyone)
24. Jnana Yoga by Swami Vivekananda (too tough and thoughts are sometimes impractical, courtesy of IIO subject)
25. The Upnishads by Swami Prabhavananda(very very tough, IIO)
26. Lectures from Colombo to Almora by Swami Vivekananda (treat to read the complete compilation of Swami Vivekananda speech and preachings, IIO)
27. Practical Vedanta by Swami Vivekananda (easy and brief, another short compilation of Swami Vivekananda speech and preachings, IIO)
28. Bhagavad-Gita The Song of God (pocket-book, however tough to understand by simple plain reading, IIO)
29. Money & Power by Howard Means (Great documentary of 12 business tycoons of the world)
30. HBR on Managing Your Career (2002, an eye opener, must read for all)
31. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (ongoing, stopped reading till MBA)

In addition, I am ardent fan of Chacha choudhary, naagraaj, super commando dhruv, doga, bankelal and dilbert too. :)

The best part of reading all these novels is that I did not buy most of these novels except three (2. Harry Potter and the Chambers of secret by JK Rowling, 9. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown 19. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki).

All other novels which I bought, I never read them. :P
So my principle is - "Maang kar padho" :)

This is just the start ... be ready for my begging if u have the novel on my top-list...(will come up soon with the list)