THE LEARNER

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:23:00 +0000

7 Most Disliked Careers - SiliconIndia | Monday, 23 April 2012,

Do you hate your job? If yes, then you should definitely know that you are not the only one who hate his/her job because many professionals today hate their job as they think that their profession is the worst in this world. However, the reasons of their dissatisfaction vary as some think that they are paid less, some think that they have irregular working hours whereas a few of them are tired of travelling too long to reach their office. According to CareerBliss listed below are the jobs that are considered to be the most hated jobs as professionals who work in these fields of work are discontented with whatever amount of money they make, their work duration and their chances for advancement, amongst other factors, reports CNBC.com .

1. Director of Information Technology:

It is quite surprising to see that although the salary is pretty good in this profession still according to CareerBliss, the IT director’s job emerged to be in the top as the most hated job. IT directors are responsible for planning an organization’s technology needs and strategy as it is an integral element of the firm’s success. They are also required to develop, implement and support both short- and long-term information technology plans. Apart from that, they often build and administer IT policies and procedures, and audit information system use for observance and security.

2. Director of Sales and Marketing: The second position of the most dissatisfied job was taken by the director of Sales and Marketing profession, as most respondents who participated in the CareerBliss survey said that the profession lacks direction from upper management and moreover there is an absence of a room for growth, which is the main reason for their disappointment. Professionals who hold the position of director of sales and marketing are required to plan and implement efforts in order to promote companies and generate business. They are also responsible for budget management, public relations, and employee training.

3. Product Manager: The third position was occupied by the product manager’s job in the most hated job list. During the survey CareerBliss found that the level of job dissatisfaction for this position is extremely high as one participant in the survey claimed that the job restricted growth. Another participant in the survey opined that the job is quite monotonous as they are required to do lots of clerical job.

Depending on the company and its sector the product manager’s job is a wide-ranging job title that takes on many meanings. The job requires the professionals to simply evaluate what products are best suited to an organization’s business model in some cases. Whereas in other cases, professionals working in this field are required to do marketing, resource management, and scheduling.

4. Senior Web Developer: Reporting a high degree of unhappiness in their jobs senior web developers claimed in the course of the survey that their employers are unable to communicate logically, and lack understanding of the technology. As a result this job took the fourth position in the most hated job list. These professionals are required to design, maintain, and develop applications for the Internet. Senior web developer can work in every type of company, in a full-time, part-time, or as a freelance faculty.

5. Technical Specialist: Respondents, who worked in the technical specialist position, said that in spite of their expertise, they are treated with a conspicuous level of disrespect in the organization. They claimed that there is an absence of communication from upper management, moreover they also felt their effort was not been taken seriously by the organization.

These professionals are required to lead and analyze, define, design, construct, test, install, and modify of medium to large infrastructures, in other words if an organization wants to design a project, the technical specialist evaluates it to see what’s possible and what is not possible.

6. Electronics Technician: The job of Electronics technician took the sixth position in the most hated job list as the employees working in this field of work gave several reasons for their job dissatisfaction. One respondent criticized the job for having “too little control,” whereas another had a list of complaints: “Work schedule, lack of achievement, no real opportunity for growth, companions have no motivation to work hard, no say in how things are done, hostility from companions towards other employees.”

These professionals are required to maintain, troubleshoot and collect monthly measurement data for electronic systems. Electronics technicians have the capability to quickly solve complex technical problems under extreme pressure.

7. Law Clerk: Although this job is the most sought after position in the legal field, the main reason of employee dissatisfaction in this field of work is the long demanding work hours. Apart from that, it is reported by “The Bureau of Labor Statistics” that the job brings in a median salary of $39,780 per year, which is not a great salary indeed; moreover one cannot advance much in this field of work. A law clerk mainly assists the judges as they write down their opinions.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:13:00 +0000

Top 5 secrets of hiring managers - according to Learn Vest - Forbes contributor.
1. Hiring managers prefer to hire people who are already employed:
Tips: In order to fill the gap, opt for some educational courses or charity work which you can fill in your resume.
2. Hiring managers spend less than 30 seconds on each resume that they receive:
Tips: frame a resume that highlights your skill without much exaggeration
3. Hiring managers always look for the reason that can keep you from bagging the offer:
Tips: Since today's process of recruitment is elimination, keep very good relationship with your friends/bosses/social contacts/acquaintances....especially on your honesty/integrity/character.
4. Hiring managers tend to avoid newly married women:
Tips: if you are newly married or planning to have a family, do not take a job that demands too much of your time & effort like front office, cashier, secretarial jobs etc. Look for casual/ past time jobs for time being & try to develop newer skill sets.
5. Hiring managers have no hint of what they are doing:
Tips: Try to impress upon the interviewer & do not get into doing that he will not like you doing. Be interactive & ask questions to understand if he is looking for a person like you. Then grab.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:01:00 +0000

An Incomplete Story of an Imperfect Vision

Vajrasan was a reputed sculptor in Vidhanpur, a small kingdom famous for arts and crafts, located on the bank of a legendary river, Revati. He had never disappointed any of his clients who included most of the famous elites of the kingdom. Some were even from outside the kingdom. He had only one problem, he used to leave at least one feature incomplete. For instance, he would leave one leg unsculpted, or one arm, or one ear, or some part in human sculptures incomplete.

This was something people did not like, but given his reputation, nothing could be done. They accepted his idiosyncrasies. He believed that the incomplete part was the conversation starter whenever the people saw his sculptures. Very soon, the conversation moved on to the parts they liked.

One day Nachiketa, a young trainee sculptor, working diligently with him putting things together, by mistake injured a sculpture in making. Vajrasan was very angry and shouted at his disciple. Nachiketa politely said, “Sir, you anyway leave some part of the sculpture incomplete, why can’t you leave the part which got damaged as incomplete?” This infuriated the master Sculptor even more. Vajrasan said, “Do you know anything about the theory of incompleteness? Unless I can see the emerging balance in a sculpture, I can’t decide which part to leave incomplete. In this sculpture, I have not reached that stage yet.”

Nachiketa did not understand the logic, but he kept quiet.

Do you understand? Why should incompleteness be so significant and that too the way it is left in any act, in which part, when and how much? Perhaps, only these imperfections draw our attention to the perfections that any act or person has. Are not these imperfections which keep the act, or the event, or the person, stay with us; don’t we get over the perfect forms, acts, events rather easily? But then obviously, these imperfections or incomplete acts, in company of certain highly exalted act, perhaps make more sense.

Courtesy - Honey Bee Network Magazine Issue - October - December / 2010 - 2010 Volume - 21
Title - An Incomplete Story of an Imperfect Vision

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Education and Training Industry in India

Brief Introduction

With a growth rate of 10 to 15 per cent expected over the next decade, the Indian education market has witnessed a series of developments and changes in the last few years, which has resulted in a significant increase in the market size of the education industry compared to previous years. With a combined market size of US$ 50 billion per annum with more than 450 million students, and investment requirement of approximately US$ 100 billion by 2014 to meet growing demands of the sector, education industry is one of the largest service sector industries in India.

Market Size

The education industry in India can be broadly classified into the Regulated segment (K12 and higher education) and the Un-regulated segment (pre-school, multimedia, ICT, coaching cases, vocational training and books). The expected market size of K-12 sector in 2012 (E) is US$ 34 billion, with a rise of 14 per cent as compared to US$ 20 billion in 2008. The corresponding figures for the higher education sector are US$ 10.3 billion in 2012 (E) with a rise of 12 per cent as compared to US$ 6.5 billion in 2008. The coaching institutes in India will witness a 17 per cent increase from US$ 0.3 billion in 2008 to US$ 0.6 billion in 2012 (E). Similarly, the Pre-schools market in the country will witness a rise of 36 per cent from US$ 0.3 billion to US$ 1 billion and the vocational training from US$ 1.6 billion to US$ 4 billion in 2012 (E).

"The Indian pre-school market is set to become the largest in the world. In India, the pre-school segment is currently worth US$ 750 million and is expected to reach US$ 1 billion by 2012," as told by Arun Arora, Chairman,Serra International Pre-Schools.

Private Equity (PE) Investments

The Private equity and venture capital investors have pumped US$ 93 million into 10 education companies by July 2011, and are bullish about the sector's prospects going forward according to Venture Intelligence. PE investment in the education sector increased from US$ 129 million in 2009 to US$ 183 million in 2010. The other large deals in the country include PremjiInvest's US$ 43 million investment in Manipal Education and India Equity Partners' US$ 37 million investment in IL&FS Education and Technology Services.

Government Initiatives/Policies

Union Budget 2012 - 2013 Highlights

Education

For the year 2012-13, Rs 25,555 crore (US$ 4.98 billion) have been allotted for RTE-SSA (Right to Education - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) which represents an increase of 21.7 per cent over the previous year allotment in 2011-12
6,000 schools have been proposed to be set up at block level as model schools in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17)
Rs 3,124 crore (US$ 0.61 billion) have been provided for the RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) which is an increase of 29 per cent over BE 2011-12
In order to ensure a better flow of credit to students, a Credit Guarantee Fund has been proposed

Skill Development

National Skill Development Corporation has approved projects that are expected to train 6.2 crore people at the end of 10 years
The National Skill Development Fund has been allocated Rs 1,000 crore (US$ 0.19 billion) for the period 2012-13
To improve the flow of institutional credit for skill development, a separate Credit Guarantee Fund will be set up
"Himayat" scheme introduced in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to provide skill training to 100,000 youth during the next 5 years and the entire cost will be borne by the Government of India

Chicago-based Encyclopedia Britannica intends to launch online learning and knowledge products in India. The Indian market, in which Encyclopedia Britannica has been present for 12 years, accounted for about five per cent of the company's global print sales. Britannica has sold around 1,100 of each edition in the country over the past 30 months.
The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIM-K) has signed an agreement of co-operation with Leeds University Business School, UK to promote the internationalisation of efforts by the institute. The project intends to enable both the institutions to carry out activities such as exchange of students, exchange of faculty members and collaborative research on contemporary management issues.
India developed Intel Future Scientist programme that aims to sustain the innovative streak in students, has been launched by the global chip maker, Intel Inc. The programme will provide support to teachers in transforming the method of teaching science and math subjects. The focus of the initiative is to help science teachers present their curricula from an inquiry-based perspective to help foster a spirit of research and innovation among their students.
India's growing Rs 350 crore (US$ 68.33 million) executive education space continues to attract B-schools. US-headquartered Harvard Business School (HBS) will offer executive programmes at the TajLands End, at Bandra, in suburban Mumbai. The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, will also set up its own centre in India. University of Chicago, Tuck School of Business, INSEAD, Oxford University's Said Business School and Duke University are among others, to offer their executive education programmes in India.
Technology-based education solutions provider Core Technologies will set up 150 skill development centres across the country. With an investment of Rs 450 crore (US$ 87.86 million), these training centres will offer vocational training across disciplines such as automobile, construction, hospitality, retail, IT and IT-enabled services.
IIHT Ltd, a technology-training organisation, along with Microsoft, has announced the launch of a certified cloud expert programme at Kochi Infopark. The programme would help information technology (IT) professionals acquire the necessary skills to develop into cloud professionals.

Road Ahead

With the focus on the Indian education sector, an increase in allocation for Right to Education - Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan reiterates the Government's commitment towards education. The increase in budgetary allocations for school education and adult literacy is also a welcome step for the future of the Indian education sector.

Exchange Rate Used: INR 1 = US$ 0.0195246 as on March 23, 2012

References: Press Releases, Media Reports, KPMG Report

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 05:42:00 +0000

Real Estate – An industry in transition - ATANU KUMAR DAS -

Real estate in India, though fast growing, is still a nascent industry that offers immense scope, says Atanu Kumar Das.

The numbers say it all.

The Indian real estate industry, valued at about US$ 12 billion, ranks second in the world, after the United States, in terms of contributing to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and generating employment. Presently, real estate accounts for about five per cent of India’s GDP; in the next five years its share is expected to rise to six per cent. It is also the second largest employer in India after agriculture.

According to some real estate firms, employment generation has grown two-fold in the last two to three years. “Five years ago, we used to do two to three projects at one time, but now things have changed and we are doing 15 to 20 projects at one time and this means we require more manpower and mostly we need people at the middle management and senior level who can drive the project. I feel that since the demand supply ratio is still skewed, we will witness lot of more real estate projects taking place across the country,” said Rajeev Talwar, Group Executive Director, DLF.

What’s driving Real Estate?

Real estate in India, though it is a fast growing vertical, is still a nascent industry that offers immense scope. Though it may see spikes and trenches in keeping with the trends of the past few years, it holds out the prospect of unhindered growth over the next two decades:
• Real estate thrives on growth of national infrastructure and is fuelled by the Government of India’s thrust on infrastructure development. In last year’s budget the Indian government outlined an investment of Rs 1,73,552 crore for infrastructure development, in its bid to attract investment from the international community.
• India’s fast paced growth in recent years – including its success as an outsourcing hub in various fields like banking, finance, information technology, high-end information technology-enabled services (ITES) & consultancy services – has given a boost to the demand for commercial space and urban housing. Despite weakening global sentiment, given India’s growing population, there will be no slackening in the demand for housing.
• Liberalization policies have simplified the investment process by reducing the need for permissions and licenses for large scale construction projects. The government has opened its doors to foreign investment, which has given a further push to the development of the real estate industry in India.
• Organised retail in India is also accelerating with players like WalMart, Bharti & Reliance as well as multinational retail players making their foray into retailing and thus stepping up the demand for real estate. This has led to capturing of prime retail locations in metro cities as well as Tier I & II cities. Real estate firms that were earlier invested into the residential segment have recognized this opportunity and ventured into commercial real estate. Moreover, if FDI into multi-brand retailing does go through as planned, it will be a boon for the realty industry.

On the other hand…

Though seeming unstoppable, the real estate sector faces two key challenges. According to real estate analysts, one key concern is that the realty market is still an unorganized one and lacks a transparent pricing mechanism. The government needs to step in and appoint a regulator to ensure fair pricing in markets across the country. The silver lining: the Ministry of Urban Development is working on the first draft of bringing in a regulator for this sector that will ensure fair pricing across the country, boost consumer confidence and facilitate transactions.

Another concern that looms over the sector is that of the recent Repo rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of India. The Central Bank has raised the repo rate – interest rates at which it gives loans to banks – 13 times in its bid to control raging inflation in India, before finally pausing last week. However, the impact of successive rounds of increases is yet to play out.

Reacting to the repo rate increases, Mr. Lalit Kumar Jain, president of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI) said, “It has come as a shock to the realty industry as it would hit developers as well as home buyers.” Moreover the cost of materials for manufacturing has increased by over 40 per cent and the wages of labour have also doubled during the last three years. The increases in repo rates and spiraling costs have hit builders who will most likely pass the burden to consumers and dampen the demand for housing.

Key Players

Most of the real estate companies, be it big or small, have been growing at 20 to 35 per cent on a yearly basis and this clearly shows the immense demand which persists in this market. While national real estate developers like DLF, Unitech, Emaar MGF, Jaypee Greens, Tata Housing, Ansal API, Ansal Properties have carved out a name for themselves, regional players, too, have grown from strength to strength. These include Omaxe, Parasvnath Developers, Assotech, Amrapali, Housing Development & Infrastructure Ltd, Purvankara, Supertech, Orior Developers, Tulip Infratech, Lodha Developers, Mantri Developers, Nitish Estate, HM Constructions, Bengal Ambuja Housing Development, Purvanchal Construction Works, Ashiana Homes to name a few. Projects like the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor will bring real estate development to this zone and in the coming years will be a major contributor for the real estate sector.

The Indian real estate today offers potential for tremendous career growth and enhancement. However it is still in a stage of transition from a relatively unstructured industry to an evolved one in keeping with its counterpart in more developed countries. While this will pose challenges, it will reward those who have the mettle to take it on.

About the Author: Atanu Kumar Das is a business journalist.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:25:00 +0000

Introduction

India is set to witness the next revolution in the food processing industry, as per Mr Subodh Kant Sahai, the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries. The Centre has set an investment target of Rs 100, 000 crore (US$ 18.90 billion) by 2015 in the sector. The sector is expected to grow by 20 per cent and value addition to increase by 35 per cent by 2015.

India is the second largest producer of food and holds the potential to be the biggest on global food and agriculture canvas, according to a Corporate Catalyst India (CCI) survey. The Indian food industry comprises of food production and the food processing industry. The food processing industry is one of the largest in India – it is ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth.

Market Size of Indian Food Industry

The Indian fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market is estimated to grow to US$ 100 billion by 2025 from US$ 12 billion in 2011, according to market research firm Nielsen's report titled Consumer 360. The report has identified four key trends that will drive consumption: premiumisation, consumers switching from commodity to brands, from indulgence to regular consumption, and acceptability.

Food Processing Industry

The Union Ministry of Food Processing plans to give emphasis on improving supply chain, by creating large primary collection and distribution centres throughout the country involving private sector, in the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) period.

Food processing industry is of enormous significance for India's development because it has linked up economy, industry and agriculture in India, efficiently and effectively. The three pillars being together have synergised the development process and promoted the growth of the nation to a great extent.

There are 25, 367 registered food processing units in the country whose total invested capital is Rs 84,094 crore (US$ 15.90 billion), as per a competitiveness report of the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council. This information was provided in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, by Dr Charan Das Mahant, the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries.

Food processing industry is one of the largest industries operating in India and is divided into several segments.

Segments

The Food Processing Industry operates across various segments that include:

Fruits & vegetables
Meat & poultry
Dairy
Marine products, grains and consumer foods (that includes packaged food, beverages and packaged drinking water)

Value addition of food products is expected to increase from 8 per cent to 35 per cent by 2025. Fruit & vegetable processing is also expected to increase from the current level of 2 per cent to 25 per cent of total production by 2025, as per the CCI report. Dairy sector – that holds highest share in processed food market – holds large potential to be exploited. The report reveals that 37 per cent of the total dairy produce is processed, of which only 15 per cent is done by the organised sector. Hence, there lies a plethora of opportunity for investment and development.

The Vision Document 2015 envisages increasing the value addition to 35 per cent by 2015. The food processing sector is presently growing at an average rate of 13.5 per cent per annum. Food processing industry is a potential source for driving the rural economy and is of great importance to an agrarian economy like India.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:23:00 +0000


The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the first quarter of 2012 was conducted by interviewing a representative sample of 4,556 employers in India. Employers forecast a dynamic labor market in India during first quarter of 2012. With 43 per cent of employers anticipating an increase in staffing levels, 2 per cent predicting a decrease and 35 per cent expecting no change, the Net Employment Outlook stands at +41 per cent. Employers in all four regions expect to grow payrolls in first quarter of 2012. A vigorous hiring pace is predicted in the East, the South and the West, with employers reporting Net Employment Outlooks of +44 per cent. In the North, employers report robust hiring intentions, with an Outlook of +40 per cent. Employers forecast workforce gains in all seven industry sectors during first quarter of 2012. The most optimistic Net Employment Outlook of +49 per cent is reported in the Services sector, and bullish hiring plans are also evident in the Mining & Construction sector, where employers report an Outlook of +47 per cent. Booming labor markets are likely in both the Finance, Insurance & Real Estate sector and the Manufacturing sector, according to employers, who report Outlooks of +44 per cent and +43 per cent, respectively. Brisk hiring activity is expected in the Transportation & Utilities sector, with an Outlook of +34 per cent and the Public Administration & Education sector, where the Outlook stands at +33 per cent.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:17:00 +0000

PepsiCo Inc expects to cut 8,700 jobs as part of a plan to save an extra $1.5 billion over the next three years, as it pours more money into its brands.

Its shares fell 1.1 percent to $66 in premarket trading from Wednesday's close of $66.74 on the New York Stock exchange.

PepsiCo, maker of Sierra Mist soda, Tropicana juice and Gatorade sports drink, also reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit and forecast a 5 percent decline in 2012 earnings as it increases advertising and marketing by $500 million to $600 million.

The investment will be focused on 12 brands, including Pepsi-Cola, Lay's, Gatorade, Tropicana, Doritos and 7-UP. It is trying to improve performance in North America, where it lags behind archrival Coca-Cola Co.

For 2013, PepsiCo expects earnings to grow at a high-single-digit rate.

The job cuts will occur in 30 countries, PepsiCo said.

The $1.5 billion in extra savings is in addition to $1.5 billion it already planned to save over that period.

PepsiCo also said that Massimo D'Amore, president of its Global Beverages Group, would retire at the end of February.

The company reported a fourth-quarter profit of $1.42 billion, or 89 cents per share, up from $1.37 billion, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, PepsiCo earned $1.15 per share, topping analysts' average estimate of $1.13 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 11 percent to $20.2 billion.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:01:00 +0000

http://bangalore.quikr.com/Software-Engineer-Senior-Software-Engineer-W0QQAdIdZ76161840

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 04:37:00 +0000

Corporate culture

In six words, corporate culture is "How we do things around here."

Corporate culture is the collective behavior of people using common corporate vision, goals, shared values, beliefs, habits, working language, systems, and symbols. It is interwoven with processes, technologies, learning and significant events. In addition, different individuals bring to the workplace their own uniqueness, knowledge, and ethnic culture. So corporate culture encompasses moral, social, and behavioral norms of your organization based on the values, beliefs, attitudes, and priorities of its members.

Corporate culture can be transformed, but leadership to sustain anything that sweeping has to come from "the top."

Adaptive Cultures

Your corporate culture is good only if it fits its context, i.e. your business space and your business strategy. In today's rapidly changing economy, "only cultures that can help organizations anticipate and adapt to environmental change will be associated with superior performance over the long time."⁸ Research findings¹⁰ show that cultures that are externally oriented (e.g. risk taking, readiness to meet new challenges) tend to be more strongly associated with organizational performance (operationalized using a range of measures) than do those cultures which are bureaucratic and predominantly internally focused.

Corporate Culture: The Three Levels

The three levels of a corporate culture are

1. Surface Level: At this level, culture is both enacted and reinforced through visible appearances and behaviors, such as physical layouts, dress codes, organizational structure, company policies, procedures and programs, and attitudes.

2. Middle Level: Here, culture is manifested through our beliefs and values.

3. Deepest Level: At this level, culture is manifested through basic assumptions – our long-learned, automatic responses and established opinions.

by Priti Shah

Laurent & Benon Management Consultants Ltd

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:43:00 +0000

Every organization must be prepared to abandon everything it
does to survive in the future.
Peter F. Drucker

The Gini - Indian Epics and Stories

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 01:29:00 +0000

The Gini - Indian Epics and Stories

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Mon, 30 May 2011 04:44:00 +0000

Ricardo Semler: Creating Organizational Change Through
Employee Empowered Leadership

The Semco Survival Manual

Organization Chart
Semco doesn’t use a formal organization chart. When it is absolutely necessary
to sketch the structure of the company they always do it in pencil and dispense with
it as soon as possible.
Hiring
When people are hired or promoted others in that unit have the opportunity to interview
and evaluate the candidates before any decision is made.
Working Hours
Semco has flexible working hours and the responsibility for setting and keeping track of
them rests with each employee. People work at different speeds and differ in their
performance depending on the time of day. Semco does its best to adapt to each person’s
desires and needs.
Working Environment
We want all our people to feel free to change and adapt their working areas as they
please. Painting walls or machines, adding plants or decorating the space around you is
up to you. The company has no rules about this and doesn’t want to have any. Change the
area around you according to your tastes and desires and of the people who work with
you.
Unions
Unions are an important form of worker protection. At Semco workers are free to
unionize and the persecution of those connected with unions is absolutely forbidden.
Unions and the company don’t always agree or even get along but we insist that there is
always respect and dialogue.
Strikes
Strikes are considered normal. They are part and parcel of democracy. No one is
persecuted for participating in strikes as long as they represent what the people of the
company think and feel. The workers’ assemblies are sovereign in this respect. 11
Participation
Our philosophy is built on participation and involvement. Don’t settle down. Give
opinions, seek opportunities and advancement, and always say what you think. Don’t just
become one more person in the company. Your opinion is always interesting, even if no
one asked you for it. Get in touch with the factory committee and participate in elections.
Make your voice count.
Evaluation By Subordinates
Twice a year you will receive a questionnaire to fill out that enables you to say what you
think of your boss. Be frank and honest and not just on the form but also in the discussion
that follows.
Factory Committees
Employees at Semco are guaranteed representation through the Factory committee of
each business unit. Read the charter, participate, and make sure your committee
effectively defends your interests, which at times will not coincide with Semco’s
interests. We see this conflict as healthy and necessary.
Authority
Many positions at Semco carry with them hierarchical authority. But efforts to pressure
subordinates or cause them to work out of fear or insecurity, or that show any type of
disrespect, are considered unacceptable use of authority and will not be tolerated.
Job Security
Anyone who has been with us for three years, or has reached the age of fifty, has special
protection and can only be dismissed after a long series of approvals. This does not mean
that Semco has no layoff policy but it helps to increase the security of our people.
Change
Semco is a place where there are big changes from time to time. Don’t worry about them.
We consider them healthy and positive. Watch the changes without fear. They are
characteristic of our company and its culture.
Clothing and Appearance
Neither has any importance at Semco. A person’s appearance is not a factor in hiring or
promotion. Everyone knows what he or she likes or needs to wear. Feel at ease – wear
only your common sense.
Private Life
Semco has no business interfering with what people do when they are away from work as
long as it does not interfere with work. Of course, our human relations department is at
your service for any help or support you may need.
Company Loans
The company loans money to its people in unforeseen situations. Thus, loans to cover the
purchase of homes, cars, or other predictable expenses are not included. But the company
wants you to know that the day you run into difficult and unexpected financial problems
that it will be here for you.
Pride
It’s only worth working in a place in which you can be proud. Create this pride by
insuring the quality of everything you do. Create pride by insuring the quality of
everything you do. Don’t let a product leave the company if it’s not up to the highest
standards. Don’t write a letter or memo that is not absolutely honest. Don’t let the level
of dignity drop.
Communication
Semco and its people must strive to communicate with frankness and honesty. You must
be able to believe fully in what is said to you by your co-workers. Demand this transparency when you are
in doubt.
Informality
Promoting a birthday party at the end of the workday, barging into a meeting where you
are not invited, or using nicknames are all part of our culture. Don’t be shy or stick to
formalities.
Suggestions
Semco does not believe in giving prizes for suggestions. We want everyone to speak out,
and all opinions are welcome but we don’t think that it is healthy to reward them with
prizes of money.
Semco Women
Women in Brazil have fewer employment, promotion, and financial opportunities than
men. At Semco, women have various programs, run by women that seek to reduce this
discrimination. They are known as:
Semco women.

1. If you are a woman, participate.
2. If you aren’t don’t feel threatened and don’t fight against this effort.
Vacations
Semco is not one of those companies that believe anyone is irreplaceable; everyone
should take their 30 days of vacation every year. It is vital for your health and the
company’s welfare. No excuse is good enough for accumulating vacation days for “later”
(Semler, 1993, Pg 299).
Appendix B
The rules created with regard to union relations are totally humanistic and takes
seriously the position that the decisions of unions are also to be respected. For instance:
1. Treat everyone as an adult.
2. Tell the strikers that no one will be punished when they return to work. Then
don’t punish anyone.
3. Don’t keep records of who came to work and who led the walkout.
4. Never call the police or try to break up a picket line.
5. Maintain all benefits.
6. Don’t block workers access to the factory or the access of the union
representatives to the workers. Insist that the union leaders respect the
decision of those that want to work, just as the company respects the decision
of those who don’t.
7. Don’t fire anyone during the strike, but make sure everyone sees that a
walkout is an act of aggressiveness.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Sat, 28 May 2011 08:45:00 +0000

Son Camel: Mom, why do we look so ugly than other animals?
Mom Camel: No son, we are good with the physical features we have and our creation has a purpose too.

S.C: Then why do we have such a ugly skin?
M.C: That protects us from the heavy sunlight in the desert.

S.C: Why do we have sharp teeth and long mouth?
M.C: We seldom get food & water in the desert. When ever we get it, long mouth easily sucks the water and teeth helps to chew the desert vegetation.

S.C: Why do we have a flat toe?
M.C: Our legs play a major role on a fast movement in the desert and also it forms like a shoe layer from the sun's heat.

S.C: Why do we have have humps?
M.C: Camels use it to store fats and water in the humps as we don't get water in the desert.

S.C: Then why do we have a broad stomach?
M.C: We are used also as the domestic animal to pull carts and helps people to travel in the desert.

S.C: Thats fine mom, what the hell we are doing in the zoo with these features?
M.C: !@#$%^&*

Moral of the story:
* Understand your skills / ability first.
* Stay in a place where you are allowed to use your skills.
* Even if you are a guru in your competency, your values are measured by the environment you are.
* You will not go anywhere if you stay in unwanted place for long time.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Fri, 27 May 2011 05:52:00 +0000

Signals for a Big Change

1) Losing interest

2) Thoughts rather than actions

3) Suddenly thinking about responsibilities other than that of current job

4) Started asking WHY (not HOW) before any action

....................................... You need a BREAK............ BIG BREAK ................. or a CAREER CHANGE

Remember, CAREER CHANGE is a natural life progression and YOU need to take complete control of your career progressions(Changes).

Here are some simple steps.

1) Review your likes & dislikes in the job activity.

Less than 2% of the entire population write down their plan enhancing clarity of thought and thereby increasing their probability of getting what they want multifold than the others who dont write down

a) What did you love doing all these years while in job?

b) What functions you enjoyed doing?

c) What responsibilities you loved taking?

d) What kind of careers ( eg: technical, process, people, machinery etc)

e) What business models ( combinations of Engagement & Growth)

f) What kind of Corporate Ethics ( Inclusive or overall growth or Exclusive or financial/designation growth)

g) What is that you always wanted to do in life? Your passion/Obsessions. Remember, this may not have anything to do with whatever jobs you have done so far & can be tangentially opposite also.

h) Take a psychometric test or career assessment test . Plenty of them are there online & most of them are affordable from INR600.

II. Find CAREERS that your passion can fit in.

People who chase their passions dont normally think too much about themselves or associate themselves too big with their designations & promotions. There are plenty of live cases & one such case is where a professionally qualified doctor turned a marketing person, then a strategic consultant and now into a self taught story telly. He is a very successful story teller & works as Chief Belief Officer in Future Group. His name is Devdatt Patnaik whose presentations are the most watched in TED.

a) For eg: You are a banker & want to be a nurse. Or a salesman wanting to be a teacher. Start understanding the sectors/industry/companies/locations/levels etc. Always look at a company that gives you a chance & the size of the company is immaterial here.

III. Consciously transfer skills & Learn newer skills

Certain Skill & Compeencies overlap sectors no matter what business you are in. Eg: Leadership, relationship management, Ability to understand new business dynamics, ability to plan & execute, bring out a simpler yet widely applicable processes etc etc.

Read, Research, Study,acquire newer skills, understand new businesses etc. Dedicate yourself regularly in assimilating knowledge.

IV. Network Network Network

Popularity is not knowing more people but being known by more people.

Interact with people. Join Linkedin, Brijj, etc

V. Find a Mentor/Guide

Indian mythology proves that a GURU is the means to GOD(Salvation).Guru is someone who attracts.

He/She needn''t be a highly placed individual. It needs to be someone who is knowledgable, updated & interested in you. Rely on him, take personal challenges & work on them to change your personality.

VI. Refresh your hunting skills

Sharpen your saw. Put on your learning cap

Sit and work with your resume.

Build a new resume with your discovered passion & set direction.

You can always get free templates online once you have written your basic resume.

Prepare for interview skills; get the help from your friends/mentor for mock sessions.

VII. Be Flexible

Dont Settle. keep looking.

Remember, you have embarked to chase your own dreams - not the other''s.

Most of the time in our lives, what we think & understand now may not be permanent and hence you may also end up as an entrepreneur or a freelance consultant or a business partner.

Remember, this phase will also go by.......................and all these are just Means & the End is YOU!.

BE Happy & Enjoy Life!

See you

B S Sekhar

link - http://ayana.marsconsultants.co.in/LessonDisplay.aspx?Module=Training&Subject_ID=1

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 24 May 2011 23:17:00 +0000

Managing Yourself: The Paradox of Excellence

by Thomas J. DeLong and Sara DeLong

Why is it that so many smart, ambitious professionals are less productive and satisfied than they should or could be? Why do so many of them find their upward trajectories flattening into a plateau? In our experience—Tom’s as a business school professor and consultant and Sara’s as a psychiatrist—high achievers often let anxiety about their performance compromise their progress. Because they’re used to having things come easily to them, they tend to shy away from assignments that will truly test them and require them to learn new skills. They have successful images to preserve, so instead of embracing risk, they hunker down and lock themselves into routines—at the expense of personal growth.

We’ve seen this time and again with the executives and managers we’ve counseled—between us, some 600 professionals over a combined 35 years. Many high performers would rather do the wrong thing well than do the right thing poorly. And when they do find themselves in over their head, they’re often unwilling to admit it, even to themselves, and refuse to ask for the help they need.

Consider Ted, a highly successful sales executive at a major enterprise software firm. He excelled at the huge deals that were the revenue engine for the company. He knew the product inside and out, understood the pain points of his customers, and could unerringly sniff out and connect with the real decision maker in a deal. After years of praise and enormous commission checks, Ted began to sense that something was off. The company had expanded in a new direction, shifting to a software-as-a-service business model. Though the majority of revenue was still coming from the legacy products, all the innovation and energy were focused on the subscription offerings. At first, Ted was contemptuous—selling software as a service was all about small transactions and high volume. “Just get some telemarketers for that nickel-and-dime stuff,” he’d say. “I’ll handle the big boys.” Soon, though, he began to see the writing on the wall: He was becoming increasingly marginalized in the company—and in the industry. But he was paralyzed by fear and self-doubt. His professional identity and self-esteem were wrapped up in his success as a salesman.

Consider, too, Kurt, a lawyer known for his trial skills and intellectual heft; he was a natural in the courtroom and a skilled writer with a keen sense of nuance. When he was assigned a case that required combing through thousands of technical documents, he believed it would just be a matter of rolling up his sleeves and getting to work. But early on, he realized he didn’t have enough content expertise and couldn’t make sense of the casework his associates delivered. He began to find himself alone in his office, late at night and on weekends, wading through and deciphering the facts. It wasn’t until almost the eve of a trial that Kurt finally asked for help—which didn’t endear him to colleagues who suddenly found themselves joining him in the office after hours.

Of course, leaders within organizations bear some of the blame for this mind-set. They don’t always want to hear that somebody’s struggling, nor do they necessarily reward new ways of doing things, despite the lip service they might pay to innovation and prudent risk taking. As one executive we worked with pointed out, “My boss wants innovation as long as it’s done perfectly the first time.” Another confided, “We tell our people over and over again that we will support their professional development, but if a new project doesn’t work out immediately, we basically push them over the cliff.”

However, it’s possible to break this cycle and make the next move toward professional growth. First, you have to take a hard look at yourself and identify the forces that escalate your anxieties and cause you to turn to unproductive behaviors for relief. (See the sidebar, “The Curse of Being a High Achiever.”) Then you must adopt counterintuitive practices that give you the courage to step out of your comfort zone. This won’t happen overnight. It requires acknowledging vulnerability, something that driven professionals don’t like to do and that runs counter to their obsession with managing their image at all costs.

The Curse of Being a High Achiever

To achieve continued success, you must open yourself up to new learning experiences that may make you feel uncertain at best and incompetent at worst. Remember that those feelings are temporary and a prelude to greater professional ability.

Let’s look at steps you can take to get past self-imposed limitations.

Put the Past Behind You

No doubt you’ve had negative experiences when it comes to taking on new challenges. Research shows—and our experience bears out—that most of us tend to make irrational comparisons between a past bad experience and a current situation. But painful memories don’t have to remain obstacles to change.

One exercise we use successfully with our clients can help you distinguish between reality and perception, with regard to both your own past behavior and the way your organization responds to honesty and risk taking. Think about a time when you tried something new and were disappointed with the result. Why did you take the assignment on? Why did you struggle? Did you ask for help? Did your perception of your performance match that of your colleagues? Knowing what you know now, what would you have done differently? Write down in two columns the similarities and the differences between a risk you are currently contemplating and that past negative experience. Identifying the key differences will make it easier to move forward.

Or, think of a risk you took that went badly and rewrite the story from another person’s perspective. Let’s say you obsess about a longtime customer who signed on for an engagement from your firm’s fledgling consulting division but then suddenly backed off and switched his business to a competitor. He’s a liar and a jerk; he made a fool of you. Now put yourself in his shoes and retell the story: Maybe his boss made some unexpected demands or his company had to revisit cost or feature trade-offs. You don’t have to believe that version, but acknowledging that a credible alternative perspective exists is a reminder that it’s not just about you.

Another simple but surprisingly effective strategy is to write down what happened in a difficult interpersonal interaction—one page should suffice—and then read it over, underlining just the facts. You will find that there are only a handful of underlined phrases—the rest is pure interpretation. The point is that when you shift the way you view a painful interaction, you can begin to put the past behind you.

This approach helped Joanna, a marketing manager at an international spirits company. Her particular talent was in creating sophisticated branding campaigns to appeal to big high-end retailers. When the company started selling directly to consumers over the web, an entirely new skill set was required. At first she dug in: She insisted that her marketing approaches would be just as successful online and refused to ask for help. She was faltering badly until she forced herself to think hard about why she was so afraid to adapt to the new medium. She thought back to her first job as an assistant at a publishing company. She had volunteered a risky idea for an author promotion, and the president, known for her temper, had thrown a pencil at her. A little older and a little wiser, Joanna could laugh at the story. But it was nonetheless a formative experience, and for years it subtly influenced her behavior at work. Upon reflection, Joanna realized that the incident was not about her poor judgment or misguided risk taking—it was about her erstwhile boss’s unprofessional behavior. The president was probably taking out her own deep-seated insecurities on Joanna, an easy target owing to her youth and inexperience.

It’s hard to exorcise past demons until you’ve looked at them dispassionately from multiple points of view. Almost without exception, overwhelming feelings of inadequacy are in our own minds. Our personal disasters are but tiny specks when it comes to other people’s reality.

Once Joanna realized how that long-ago episode had been holding her back, she challenged herself to volunteer for a task force exploring new channel opportunities. She also got up the nerve to ask a colleague to serve as a sounding board. The aim was not just to test the viability of her ideas but to bolster her courage. What began as a fairly stressful career-booster turned into a productive monthly dinner. In the end, Joanna moved on to a senior position at a global cosmetics company as the vice president for duty-free promotions. She surrounded herself with a team of smart, reasonable people and resolved never to let her own fears get in the way of embracing new ideas.

Use Your Support Network

High achievers are, as a rule, very independent and don’t like to think they need a lot of help. Even those who have been lucky enough to have good mentors think they’ve won them by being excellent contributors. As they rise to the senior level and become mentors themselves, they often become even more reluctant to confess to fear, confusion, or incompetence. Making matters worse, they confide in people who tell them what they want to hear, not what they need to hear.

A case in point is Catherine, a manager at a rapidly growing software firm, who was accustomed to having the high regard of her executive team. After a few years on the job, she found herself in charge of a presentation that included an overview of a project run by her previous boss, who was now in a more senior role. She put off her review of his slides because she was worried she wouldn’t be able to deliver the content as well as he would have. She was terrified of sounding stupid or embarrassing herself in front of somebody she truly respected. She kept procrastinating until the night before the presentation, when she finally reviewed the content and sent him an e-mail with some very cautious inquiries. He surprised her by answering her questions without defensiveness and offering suggestions for improving the presentation. Catherine felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She realized how silly she’d been not to ask for his feedback sooner.

Many high achievers avoid other people’s opinions when they fear their work is not up to par. That kind of behavior is self-destructive. Challenge yourself to develop a support network and then regularly ask individuals to give you honest feedback, even if the process is painful. Ask key people to engage in what a former professor of mine, Phil Daniels, calls an SKS. It’s a process where you ask others what you shouldstop doing, what you should keep doing, and what you shouldstart doing.

When you review the answers, consider—or better yet ask—why people might suggest that you stop a behavior (it could even be a behavior you view as a strength). Think about whether you’ve been dismissive of certain skills or behaviors because they come easily to you. Consider why people may have suggested that you acquire other skills.

Become Vulnerable

Practice acknowledging uncertainty or confessing mistakes with people who are close to you or about projects that aren’t central to your professional identity. Admit to small failures—without rattling off a litany of extenuating circumstances. Consider another executive, who had joined the board of a local nonprofit. He believed in the cause and wanted to give back to his community. But realistically, with his day job, his children at home, and his wife also working full time, he didn’t have the bandwidth to keep up. He skipped board meetings, making excuses, and avoided duties that would expose his inability to fulfill his obligations. The commitment became, for him, a source of deep embarrassment.

He suffered quietly for nine months before telling his wife of 20 years that he thought he couldn’t do the job. Even then, he felt humiliated and was reluctant to admit that he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

But it turned out that just voicing his anxiety brought him a surprising degree of relief. He shared the same story with several close friends, and after a few days he decided to resign his directorship. He told the board quite simply that he’d taken on too many responsibilities and that, although he would still help with individual fundraising events, he could no longer commit to full board membership. His fellow members, who were by no means unaware of his struggle to keep up, were actually pleased to come to some closure and genuinely appreciated his commitment to contribute in a way that was manageable. Because of his honesty, his relationship with the board improved.

Consider, too, Anne, an executive who called in an analyst to demonstrate a sophisticated modeling approach to improve forecasting at her company. The analyst plunged into the material, using highly technical jargon to explain the model. Anne was reluctant to admit that she couldn’t follow the presentation, but swallowing her pride, she interrupted, saying, “I’m sorry—this is not a comfortable area for me—could you explain those terms and go a bit slower?” The analyst began to speak in clearer terms, and in doing so, some faulty assumptions came to the surface. The meeting took on a much more collaborative tone, and both left with a better understanding of the challenges facing the company.

Often the failure to admit vulnerability can have devastating consequences. Arguably, the recent financial crisis was exacerbated by the fact that some leaders were embarrassed to acknowledge that they did not understand the financial products they were selling. Things might have gone differently if somebody had had the courage to raise a hand and say, “I’m not getting this—could you please explain again the product you’ve created?”

Another way to practice vulnerability is to deliberately put yourself in situations where you literally know nothing. Take a language class unrelated to your heritage. Join a book group where you can’t control the selections—and force yourself to speak up at every meeting.

Most likely, your colleagues and acquaintances are also high achievers who hold back from sharing their concerns. When you take the bold step of being vulnerable, you send a powerful message to those around you that invites them to do the same.

Focus on the Long Term

Major goals can withstand interim setbacks. When you are looking at the big picture, you often give yourself more latitude to make a few missteps. One lawyer with a passion for civil liberties, Steven, told us of an experience writing a brief that was in an area of law that lay outside his experience. He was paralyzed by the prospect of looking incompetent to the members of the legal community he admired most. That the subject matter was only slightly out of his area of expertise made it all the more daunting—he felt he should know instinctively how to respond.

Steven realized that he had to grant himself the permission to be mediocre—an appalling prospect for achievers. He weighed the possible consequences of a subpar brief against the broader benefits of expanding his expertise and making an influential contribution to the case. As it turned out, his work on the brief garnered him additional respect from his colleagues. It was a solid effort that demonstrated his ability to stretch beyond his comfort zone.

Long-term success requires some willingness to commit to necessary short-term risks. High achievers often let their fear of failure stop them from taking those chances. That was the case with Rick, a respected professor but a dismal team player. His students loved him, but his peers were increasingly vocal about his refusal to contribute at an organizational level. He couldn’t be counted on to complete any work other than what was on his own to-do list. Rick consciously ignored his colleagues’ feedback, in part because he knew he was less talented at organizational tasks. Mostly, though, he was just too self-absorbed to pay attention to anything other than his own teaching, research, and publishing agenda. Unfortunately, Rick’s inability to see the big picture was his undoing, and his contract was not renewed.

In his next position, Rick resolved to do things differently. He invested time and effort in shoring up his organizational abilities. Though he worried initially about not focusing his all energies on teaching, his farsightedness paid off: He’s now one of the most highly regarded professors in his department—on all counts. He still feels anxiety about his weaknesses—that’s who he is—and in a way it’s what makes him great. He’s never satisfied.

Doing the right thing poorly is painful for high achievers. It’s much more satisfying to do something well, even if it’s not the best use of your time. Moving your A game to a new level or in a new direction takes humility, it takes practice, and it takes patience (not necessarily your strong suit). But it’s a necessary step on the road to doing the right thing well.

mas J. DeLong is the Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School and the author of Flying Without a Net (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011).

His daughter Sara DeLong is a psychiatrist in private practice and community mental health in San Francisco and an assistant clinical professor at UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 10:31:00 +0000

Career myths that stop people cold

Some career myths are less about occupations than about the working world in general. Myths like these
can derail a career search and sap motivation. Here are ﬁve common myths, and realities, about careers.

Myth: There is one perfect job for me.

Reality: There are many occupations—and many jobs—that you would enjoy. Focusing on ﬁnding a single, perfect career is not only intimidating, it’s limiting. If you’re like most people, you will have several jobs and careers in your life, and each will have positive and negative aspects to it.

Furthermore, your job preferences are apt to change over time as you gain experience, skill, and self-knowledge. Keeping your options open is a position of strength, not weakness.

Myth: I will use all of my talents and abilities in this job.

Reality: No one job uses all of your talents. And trying to ﬁnd one that does will derail your job search. Learning a variety of tasks helps you to sharpen abilities that might not be needed in one job but could be invaluable in another. Especially at the start of your career, you should expect to

spend time acquiring experience and skills. This is one reality about careers that, career counselors say, many new graduates fail to grasp. Counselors remind jobseekers to be patient. New workers should expect to start in entry-level positions and be willing to do routine tasks as they gain experience.

Myth: My job has to match my college major

or vocational training.

Reality: You need not restrict your job search to careers related to your degree or training. Most jobs do not specify which college major is needed, even if they require that workers have a college

degree. Many computer specialist positions, for example, are ﬁlled by workers whose degree is in a subject unrelated to computers.Vocational training is often more closely related to speciﬁc occupations. But even this kind of training can open the door to a wider array of jobs than people think. Consider that electrical technicians are now repairing fuel cells, for example, or that veterinary technicians become pharmaceutical sales workers. Often, technical skills are applicable to many settings—and most workers learn the speciﬁcs of an occupation on the job.

Myth: No one will hire me because I lack experience,

have low grades, have gaps in my work history, etc.

Reality: People overcome all kinds of challenges to find satisfying work. Experts say that how you handle adversity is a good indicator of your ability to persevere. Need experience? Get it! Volunteer, work in a related occupation, or focus on school projects that are relevant to your desired career. Low grades are the problem? Highlight other parts of your resume, and remember that grades usually matter only for that ﬁrst job after graduation. Gaps in your work history? Overcome them with a well-designed resume that focuses on skills rather than chronology, and then get a little interviewing practice.For most entry-level jobs, employers are looking for general attributes such as communication skills, interpersonal abilities, and enthusiasm.

Myth: It’s too late to change my

career.

Reality: It’s never too late to change careers. Workers who change careers come from many backgrounds, age groups, and situations. There’s the doctor who decided she’d rather be a chef, the retiree who enrolled in college to become an accountant, the construction worker who wanted a steadier income without moving to a warmer climate. For each of these workers, the desire for job

satisfaction outweighed the desire for status quo.To make the change easier, look at your past work and education to see what skills relate to the job you want. Most jobs’ entry requirements are more ﬂexible than people think. Gain needed skills with volunteer work, internships, or a class, and don’t be afraid to start at the bottom to get the career you want. If you are out of school and want expert

advice, consider a local One-Stop Career Center or the counseling center at a nearby school.

courtsey : Career myths that stop people cold - http://www.okcimc.com

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 05:56:00 +0000

How to do a robust career planning?

Career planning is often perceived as a one-time activity that needs to be undertaken only while we are in high school or college. It’s assumed that this plan that we chalk out with regards to our vocation would hold our careers in good stead for the rest of our lives. However, contrary to this popular belief, career planning yields best results when it’s done on a regular basis. Such a well-charted career planning approach should take into consideration our personal evolution, the changing economic landscape and the new vistas and avenues that open up with passing time.

Here, then, are 10 tips to help you achieve a robust career planning.

Engage in career planning annually:
While we maintain a stringent timetable for visiting the doctor, getting our car maintenance done or reviewing our financial accounts, career planning is one activity that conveniently escapes our well-slotted plan-sheet. To optimise the benefits of career planning, find a weekend once a year, block out all disruptions and sit down to chart out a career plan for yourself. By making career planning an annual event, you will feel more protected in your career choices and be better prepared for the many unanticipated hindrances that may lie ahead.

Formalise career and job goals:
A critical constituent of career planning is formalising a set of short-term and long-term career and job goals. Once you are done setting these immediate and enduring objectives, you need to review and adjust your set goals as your career plans move ahead and also synthesise new goals once you have achieved your past goals.

Retrace your growth curve post the last career plan:
Always take stock of where your career is going, plan where you think it needs to go and the essentials to fulfilling this roadmap you have set for yourself. While you should not let your past weigh too much over your present, an honest reflection and reviewing of your growth curve can help you immensely in planning your future.

Don’t get warped in your current job title:
Quite often, we get cocooned in our job titles and don’t see beyond career possibilities beyond it. Your suitability for a job should correspond with whether you have the skill-sets essential for the job. Hence, it’s always important to keep sight of your transferable skills, which can then be applied to a larger cross-section of work processes in other careers.

Take into consideration, your likes and dislikes, needs and wants:
Quite often, collective experiences and time bring about a transformation in our tastes, likes and dislikes. Take stock of these changing elements, when engaging in career planning. Jot down your current likes and dislikes and assess them in the wake of your current job. If what your job imparts, tally mostly with your dislikes and not your likes, its time to begin examining new career avenues.

Explore career paths by factoring them in time:
Always keep sight of the future and then engage in career planning; about where you see yourself in a year or another five years. A key component to developing multiple scenarios of that future is researching about the various career paths. When you research career paths, you naturally end up devising techniques to make these career visions a reality.

Make note of your leisurely diversions:
Many times your hobbies and leisurely pursuits can offer you great insight into future career paths. More often than not, what you consider a pastime can actually pave the way for a full-time career.

Do not sidetrack your past accomplishments:
Many people don't maintain a record of their career achievements and then struggle with creating a powerful resume when it's time to search for a new job. Making note of your past accomplishments and keeping a record of them is not only useful for building your resume, but also for career planning.

Evaluate the current career and job trends:
They say that downturn does not actually affect the proficient ones. However, it’s always important to have information about career trends for long-term career planning success. It is important to see where there is a surge in job opportunities expected. Conducting an in-depth investigation of the market will give you a better view of how to position your strengths in the market.

Investigate and unearth fresh training prospects:
Always hold on opportunities to learn and evolve as a person and as a professional. Go beyond mere reception of training avenues and find new ones that will help propel your career. Always reflect on the type of educational experience that can help catalyse your career goals. Look within your company, local education centres and also online distance learning programs for career-enhancing prospects.

courtesy: Hindustan Unilever Ltd

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 05:53:00 +0000

Career advancement techniques

You move into your dream job. You work really hard. The results are there for everyone to see. You work harder and the results become more evident. Everything looks a tad too easy from your perspective.

But then, stagnancy with regards to your job is a luxury no professional can afford. Here are a few career advancement tips that will ensure your continuous professional growth

Constantly update your resume

Your resume is what represents you completely. So, never rush through into preparing it. In case you haven't referred to your resume in years, make it a point to pull it out, leaf through it and add relevant information. If you are not happy with it, keep working on it till you are.

Join a professional organisation catering to your industry

Find out what's available for professionals who share your expertise or your industry domain. Join such associations and attend the meetings regularly. These offer precious education opportunities as well as the chance to hobnob with some of the top executives from your industry. If given a chance, proactively offer to lead such associations. Through active participation you'll get to know your fellow members and make a name for yourself, share experiences, set up best practices and discover new opportunities.

Find a mentor

A professional mentor can steer you through your professional choices by sharing his or her experiences and offering sensible counsel. Find a professional in your field whose career you'd like to imitate. It doesn't have to be someone who does the exact job you'd like to do in the future. Instead, focus on finding a person who demonstrates the character traits you'd like to inculcate in yourself.

Become a mentor

Irrespective of where you are in your career, there is always someone who can benefit from your knowledge. Find that person and take him or her under your guidance. Being a mentor is a wonderful opportunity to learn as you teach. You can share your advice and help someone else grow while, at the same time, increase your own leadership skills.

Maintain a win list

As you progress through your career, keep a running list of your accomplishments. These can be of any size at all. Even small victories should be recorded. This list is also a great tool to refer to during performance reviews and job interviews. You can reference specific projects you successfully completed, and you can offer details on how your work impacted the business.

courtesy: Hindustan Unilever Ltd

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 06:16:00 +0000

Organized sector generates 1.13 mn jobs: Survey

The organized sector in India has created 7,39,064 jobs between January-September 2010 and 3,94,700 more jobs are getting added in the current quarter, reveals the latest results of Ma Foi Randstad Employment Trends Survey (METS).

Ma Foi Randstad, a leading integrated HR services provider in the country, has been conducting the employment trends survey since 2004.

The latest projection for the October-December 2010 period clearly shows that India is almost back in track with the high growth rate it had achieved before the economic crisis. At the beginning of this year METS predicted creation of 1 million new jobs in the year 2010.

The latest METS survey reflects a more-than-anticipated growth in the hiring sector of India with a few sectors such as Healthcare, Real Estate & Construction; Hospitality and IT & ITES leading this momentum.

The latest projection for the October-December 2010 period, and estimates of actual job creation from January-September 2010, for the organized sector was arrived at, after surveying the employment trends in 660 companies across 13 industry sectors in eight major cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. These companies were queried about (a) hiring in the first 9 months of the year and (b) hiring intentions over the next 3 months.

The METS findings show that while advanced economies are still going through the process of recovery from global recession, the Indian economy has shown strong signs of comeback and has gained momentum during the first two quarters of the fiscal year.

Speaking on the occasion, K Pandia Rajan, MD, Ma Foi Randstad, said, “We see a strong positive growth in the overall picture of the organized employment in the country, as companies are recruiting more than what was anticipated during the beginning of this year.

“We see that the industries have regained their confidence and the increased momentum in the hiring process clearly signifies that the Indian economy and the sector players are preparing for further growth. We expect aggressive hiring in the coming months and also increase in salary levels.”

Sector-wise Employment Trends:

According to the survey, the employment trend across all sectors – BFSI; IT & ITES; Pharmaceuticals; Healthcare; Trade, including consumer, retail and services; Energy; Transport, Storage and Communication; Real Estate & Construction; Hospitality; Media & Entertainment; Non-Machinery Manufacturing; Manufacturing – Machinery & Equipments; Education, Training & Consulting – are growing at a robust pace, which is expected to continue in the next quarter.

Amongst the sectors covered under the survey, Healthcare; Real Estate & Construction; Hospitality and IT & ITES are among the top most sectors contributing to the country’s increasing employment base. Energy and Transport were relatively moderate performers as compared to other sectors of the economy.

The Healthcare sector has consistently reported the largest employment generation in the year 2010 by generating 2,60,052 jobs. This sector has emerged as one of the most progressive and largest service sectors in the country with an expected GDP spend of 8 per cent by 2012 from 5.5 per cent in 2009. It is believed to be the next big sector.

The sectors like Hospitality, Real Estate & Construction, IT & ITES have also joined the 1 lakh plus jobs pack for the year 2010. Hospitality sector with a total number of 1,65,700 jobs in 2010 has grown tremendously during the last six months. This is due to a combination of factors like increase in foreign tourists arrival, massive investment in hotel infrastructure and open sky policies made by the Government. A large number of approvals for new hotels is also likely to result in substantial job creation in the near future.

Booming Hospitality and Retail sectors, clubbed with increased demand for office space has led to a jump in the Real Estate & Construction sector resulting in a significant increase in the number of jobs. This sector has reported a total number of 1,50,512 jobs in the year 2010.

In spite of being hit hard by recession, IT & ITES sector has bounced back and reported more job creation at 1,16,700 as compared to 97,000 jobs forecast a earlier. Inter-industry shifting of skilled workforce has increased significantly, as a result of growing demand.

The industry sectors like BFSI, Non-Machinery Manufacturing, Media & Entertainment and Education, Training & Consultancy have joined the 50,000 plus jobs pack.

City-wise Employment Trends:

Amongst the cities surveyed, Delhi & NCR has reported greatest employment generation by creating 1,13,897 jobs in the year 2010. This region has created 44,183 jobs during the period of October to December 2010, which is the highest in the year so far. Large scale hiring was in place during the third quarter 2010. Commonwealth Games 2010 was also a significant contributor for the region in terms of hiring activities in the third quarter of 2010.

This was closely followed by Mumbai with 1,07,806 jobs in the year 2010. The hiring situation has improved significantly in the third quarter as compared to the previous two quarters. BFSI, Trade, Real Estate and Hospitality sectors have played a key role in this growth. In the current quarter, hiring situation is expected to be almost stable, though the growth rate may be lower due to the base effect.

Compared to a dull scenario during H1 in Chennai, job creation has improved significantly in Q3 and is growing at a faster rate in Q4. This region is expected to generate 32,087 jobs during the current quarter.

The hiring scenario in the cities like Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad has seen tremendous improvement during the third quarter and was substantially higher than the previous two quarters. All these three metro cities are together adding 26,534 more jobs in the current quarter.

Ahmedabad and Pune have been showing a strong positive movement in hiring consecutively for the third quarter of the year. Both the cities are generating 11,345 new jobs in the current quarter.

Sector-wise Fresher / Experienced Hiring:

The survey shows that BFSI sector is creating the most number of new jobs for the freshers (32.5%) closely followed by Manufacturing of Machineries & Equipments (32.2%) and Healthcare (32.1%).

The leader in hiring of experienced staff is Pharmaceuticals (83.7%) followed by Trade including CRS (76.5%) and Energy (73.6%).

Amongst the cities, New Delhi & NCR leads in job creation for freshers (41.1%), followed by Ahmedabad (39.4%) and Bangalore (36.2%). For the experienced employees, Chennai is leading the job creation market with 74.1% closely followed by Kolkata at 73.7% and Mumbai at 70.9%.

The structured analysis of METS was administered by India’s leading economic research firm Indicus Analytics, which is headquartered in Delhi.

http://www.indicus.net/Media/index.php/mediahome/1618-organized-sector-generates-113-mn-jobs-survey

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 06:02:00 +0000

Insurance
The US$ 41 billion Indian life insurance industry is considered the fifth largest life insurance market, and is growing at a rapid pace of 32-34 per cent annually, according to the Life Insurance Council.
As per data released by Life Insurance Council, the apex industry body of all life insurance companies in India, total premium collected by the life insurance industry increased 13 per cent to US$ 41.05 billion in calendar year 2010 from US$ 36.23 billion in 2009. The new business premium of life companies has grown by 28 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to US$ 19.14 billion till December 31 2010 as compared to US$ 15 billion in 2009. The growth comes in the backdrop of significant regulatory changes made in product profile of ULIPs (unit- linked insurance products) in 2010, which was also a year in which a few private life insurers completed a decade of their existence, the Life Insurance Council said in a statement.
State-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India, the largest and most dominant life insurer crosses has given an exuberant performance in terms of first year premium. As of January 29 2011, LIC received an income of US$ 7.52 billion by successfully selling 2, 52, 44,846 policies. SBI Life has overtaken ICICI Prudential to become the country's largest private insurer in terms of first year premium collection, garnering a new business of US$ 1.04 billion in April-December 2010. ICICI Prudential collected the first year premium of US$ 1.02 billion in nine months to December 2010, according to the data released by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).
General Insurance
According to data released by IRDA, the general insurance industry recorded 22.76 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in gross premium underwritten during April–October 2010. The industry collected gross premium of US$ 5.29 billion during April–October 2010 compared with US$ 4.31 billion in the same period last year.
The public sector players posted 21.09 per cent y-o-y growth in gross premium during April–October 2010 over the corresponding period last year. At the same time, private players recorded a 25.19 per cent y-o-y increase in gross premium.
The state-run insurers fared better than their private counterparts, with New India Insurance collecting the maximum premium of US$ 916.77 million during April-October 2010, compared to US$ 770.25 million in the same period last year, growing by 19.04 per cent.
According to the IRDA's Summary Reports of Motor Data of Public and Private Sector Insurers - 2009-10, nearly 28.4 million policies were issued and a total premium of US$ 2.31 billion was collected.
Health Insurance
The Indian health insurance market has emerged as a new and lucrative growth avenue for both the existing players as well as the new entrants. According to a latest research report "Booming Health Insurance in India" by research firm RNCOS released in April 2010, all emerging trends including the key factors driving the market growth. Furthermore, the report also identifies what could be the possible growth areas for expansion and gives a detailed overview of the competitive landscape. The Indian health insurance market has continued to post record growth in the last two fiscals (2008-09 and 2009-10). Moreover, as per the RNCOS estimates, the health insurance premium is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25 per cent for the period spanning from 2009-10 to 2013-14.
According to a report published by Yes Bank and an industry body in November 2009, the medical insurance sector would account for US$ 3 billion in the next three years.
Health insurance premium collections were US$ 1.75 billion in 2009-10 compared with US$ 893.76 million in the previous year, IRDA said in its annual report for 2009-10. It should, however, be noted that figures for 2009-10 include policies served by third party administrators (TPAs) as well as those directly served by insurers whereas figures for 2008-09 include policies served by TPAs only.
Bancasssurance
Private insurers have adopted bancassurance in a much bigger way than the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) in recent years. Bancassurance is distribution of insurance products through a bank's network.
In 2008-09, private insurers forked out US$ 44.64 million as commission for bancassurance, while the payout by LIC for this distribution model was only US$ 26,075, as per official data.
According to Towers Watson India, Bancassurance Benchmarking survey 2009-10, released in May 2010, bancassurance will play a crucial role in the overall development of the Indian insurance sector with the channel expected to generate 40 per cent of private insurers premium income by 2012, compared to the current 25-28 per cent. In general insurance, presently 17 per cent of premium income comes from bancassurance.
LIC HFL Financial Services, a subsidiary of housing mortgage lender LIC Housing Finance, has tied up with public sector insurer United India Insurance for distribution of non-life products of the latter.
Investments
The Indian insurance unit of Dutch financial services firm ING plans to invest US$ 51 million in 2010/11 to fund expansion in India.
Private life insurer Future Generali India will expand its distribution network by opening around 100 branches in addition to its existing network of 91 branches during 2010. It will also increase the agency force by 21,000 to 65,000 people.
Max Bupa, the health insurance JV between UK's Bupa and the Max Group said on December 7 it would invest over US$ 100.35 million in the next four years to expand its business. Max Bupa Health Insurance Chief Executive Damien Marmion said in the next 3-4 years the equity base of the company should be US$ 156.11 million.
Investment Policy
According to a guidance note released by IRDA, the regulator has increased the lock-in period for all unit-linked insurance plans (ULIPS) to five years from the current three years, thereby making them long-term financial instruments, which basically provide risk protection. The commission and expenses have also been reduced by evenly distributing them throughout the lock-in period. Moreover, IRDA said that insurers will provide a mortality cover or a health cover to all ULIPS, other than pension and annuity products, thereby increasing the risk cover component on them.
IRDA has ordered life insurers to offer customers a guaranteed return of 4.5 per cent per annum on pension and annuity plans.
In a move that would result in lower capital requirement for life insurers, the IRDA has asked them to initiate the process of calculating ‘economic capital’ from March 2010.

http://www.ibef.org/artdispview.aspx?art_id=28090&cat_id=801&in=40

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:59:00 +0000

Electronics, IT sector to need 3.2 million workforce by 2022: NSDC



Kolkata: The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) has estimated that the electronics and IT hardware industry will require an additional 3-3.2 million skilled employees till 2022 and 70% of them will be absorbed into manufacturing and servicing support. NSDC had engaged IMaCS (ICRA Management Consulting Services) for the study. It revealed that the electronics and IT hardware industry has the potential to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 17% till 2022 if we consider that the GDP will grow at the rate of 7.5% to 8% over this period. Production of electronics and IT hardware, during this period will increase from 84,400 crore in 2008 to 7,52,000 crore by 2022. Consumer electronics, computers, telecom equipment, and industrial electronics will contribute to a large portion of the size of the industry. "This will translate to the overall employment in the industry increasing from the current level of 0.9 million to over 4 million by 2022 -requiring incremental human resource requirement of about 3 million to 3.2 million ," the study said. About 1.5 million additional workforce will be required for manufacturing while another 0.6 to 0.7 million will be required for servicing and repairs. The study estimates that the consumer electronics industry will require an incremental 4,82,000 employee, while the industrial electronics industry will require another 4,61,000 by 2022. The computer segment will require 6,17,000, telecom equipment 5,75,000, strategic electronics 4,05,000 and components will require another 6,85,000 employees. The Economic Times : March 25, 2011

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 04:49:00 +0000

INDIAN MONEY IN SWISS BANK - MORE THAN THE REST OF THE WORLD

This is so shocking…. ….If black money deposits was an Olympics event…. India would have won a gold medal hands down. The second best Russia has 4 times lesser deposit. U.S. is not even there in the counting in top five! India has more money in Swiss banks than all the other countries combined!

Recently, due to international pressure, the Swiss government agreed to disclose the names of the account holders only if the respective governments formally asked for it.. Indian government is not asking for the details….. ..no marks for guessing why?

We need to start a movement to pressurise the government to do so! This is perhaps the only way, and a golden opportunity, to expose the high and mighty and weed out corruption!

Please read on……and forward to all the honest Indians to…..like somebody is forwarding to you…….and build a ground-swell of support for action ! Is India poor, who says? Ask the Swiss banks. With personal account deposit bank of $1,500 billion in foreign reserve which have been misappropriated, an amount 13 times larger than the country’s foreign debt, one needs to rethink if India is a poor country?

DISHONEST INDUSTRIALISTS, scandalous politicians and corrupt IAS, IRS, IPS officers have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about $1500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 times larger than the country’s foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs 1,00,000 each.

This huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India by exploiting and betraying them. Once this huge amount of black money and property comes back to India , the entire foreign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will have surplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt. If this surplus amount is invested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government. So even if all the taxes are abolished, then also the Central government will be able to maintain the country very comfortably.

Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of whom 25,000 travel very frequently. ‘Obviously, these people won’t be tourists.. They must be travelling there for some other reason,’ believes an official involved in tracking illegal money.. And, clearly, he isn’t referring to the commerce ministry bureaucrats who’ve been flitting in and out of Geneva ever since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations went into a tailspin!

Just read the following details and note how these dishonest industrialists, scandalous politicians, corrupt officers, cricketers, film actors, illegal sex trade and protected wildlife operators, to name just a few, sucked this country’s wealth and prosperity. This may be the picture of deposits in Swiss banks only. What about other international banks ?

Black money in Swiss banks — Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries :
TOP FIVE

INDIA $1,456 BILLION
RUSSIA $470 BILLION
U.K. $390 BILLION
UKRAINE $100 BILLION
CHINA $96 BILLION

Now do the math’s – India with $1,456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947:

Can we bring back our money ? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind — the loot of the Aam Aadmi (common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen.

The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear. What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed away abroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world’s best known tax havens. And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indians may not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of ‘Swiss bank accounts,’ the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferage from developing countries into rich developed ones.

In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of the western world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens in the twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarce capital from the developing countries to the rich. In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research finding demonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals across the globe.

The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth was managed from some 70 tax havens. Further, augmenting these studies of TJN, Raymond Baker — in his widely celebrated book titled ‘Capitalism’ s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free Market System’ — estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries to the West since the mid-1970.

It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of the world’s population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing it invariably through these tax havens.

How much of this is from India is anybody’s guess.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 06:03:00 +0000

Business Opportunities in India: Ideas and Tips

There are plenty of exciting business opportunities in India. We have started a list of business ideas for those entrepreneurs who are interested in Internet ventures, outsourcing technology, e-commerce opportunities, software development opportunities, business trends and other business ideas. We hope to add to this list as we find case studies in Bangalore, India.

Online Customer Support From India
E-Commerce Export Opportunities In India
Export Animations, multimedia, Graphics Or Other Content Products
Export Data Services
Start A Software Company
E-Commerce Business Opportunities Within India
Future Topics...

1. ONLINE CUSTOMER SUPPORT FROM INDIA
There is a company in Bangalore that has pioneered this idea. Aditi (www.aditi.com) provides email customer support for Real Media. The customer in America who needs support will have his problem solved via email by a team of Indians. The Internet has opened the door for this type of opportunity. It really is true that the geographic barriers are coming down.

The Potential: The business potential in this type venture is the cost savings of running a business in India. There is a huge labor pool of good quality English speakers who can easily handle customer support for web sites like RealMedia. The cost to hire someone to do this is about US $150-$200 per month. You can expect to hire a very nice English speaker who has had some computer training. Furthermore he or she will have a pleasant attitude, as most Indians are warm and friendly.

The Downside: The risk is that the customers will not be served well if the Indian staff is not trained properly. The staff needs to understand the mindset of the American customer. This can easily be overcome as long as the potential problem is recognized.

2. E-COMMERCE EXPORT OPPORTUNITIES IN INDIA
There are plenty of things that can be purchased and exported. One young man has sought out unusual coffee and spices and now has an e-commerce site where he sells these items through the mail. Perhaps it is not even necessary to purchase and warehouse anything. Partnering and establishing joint ventures with Indian companies would give you the opportunity to handle a variety of products without the risk and cost. You could simply create a website that sells the products. This is not much different than Amazon.com. Do you realize they don't publish books? They just sell other's. Often they have the book sent to the customer directly from the publisher eliminating the shipping and storage.

The Potential: The potential is to find a niche market. Perhaps this could be in the area of health care products, herbs or plants that are only found in India.

The Downside: The risk is that the product may not sell. Fortunately the Internet can be used to test the market before taking much risk. It is much easier to find the demand for items and then meet that demand than to start with the product. India has plenty of products that can be tested on the market.

3. EXPORT ANIMATIONS, MULTIMEDIA, GRAPHICS OR OTHER CONTENT PRODUCTS
Again this idea utilizes the skilled creative labor force in India. We have not been able to find a case study of a company doing this in India.

The Potential: The potential is to fill the huge demand for quality content that the web is creating.

The Downside: The downside is that it requires careful supervision to assure that the product communicates effectively to a Western audience. For example, a Westerner's taste for colors is different to that of an Indian.

4. EXPORT DATA SERVICES
Any kind of outsourcing of data entry or data conversion is a good candidate for a successful start up business in India. The hottest thing these days in Bangalore is medical transcription. Doctors and hospitals in the USA send their audio transcriptions via the Internet to Bangalore, India. They send the audio file at 5:00pm which is around 5.00am in India. The workers can do their work so that the Doctor has the text document the next morning. In Bangalore you can find good examples of companies already doing this. Go to Yahoo and type in "data entry India" or "data conversion India". You will be startled by the amount of information that is available.

The Potential: The potential for this type of business venture is great. Many of the Bangalore companies are growing and adding employees quickly. The reason there is such a global demand for this kind of work is because companies want to have their documents in a digital format. This conversion may include scanning the document into the computer and then going one-step further and tagging and indexing them in HTML SGML or XML so that it can be put on the Internet and easily retrieved. The entrepreneurs who are willing to joint venture with Indian partners to start up a business like this will not only make money but will be doing a great service for India by providing high quality skilled jobs.

The Downside: The risk is in, not maintaining top quality work for the client. This has been a complaint of many clients.

5. START A SOFTWARE COMPANY
There is nothing new about this. There are plenty of success stories. Bangalore already has at least 600 software companies. Most of these are Indian owned and non-resident Indians have started a few of them. For a list of Bangalore software companies you can go to resource page. Government of India and especially Karnataka (the state in which Bangalore is), is encouraging foreign involvement and investment and has turned on the green light to hi-tech companies. They have even created some tax incentives for this industry.

The Potential: The potential is for the development of quality software using the extremely intelligent labor force in India at a lower cost. Cost savings can be found in rent, insurance etc. High quality programmers can be hired for 25%-50% of the cost of the same software programmers in the West. For a good example look at gseindia.com and read the history of this high end Swedish/Indian Software Company.

The Downside: The downside is that there are inefficiencies related to working in India i.e.: erratic power, government bureaucracy, poor Internet connections etc. Unless the cost saving is considerable, many of the problems related to doing business in India will offset the benefit.

6. E-COMMERCE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN INDIA
The consumer market is huge and expanding. It is not only growing by sheer population growth but also because the improving economy is producing a growing class of people with disposable income. Furthermore this potential market is relatively untouched. It is only in the past few years that many consumer products have become available in India.

The Potential: The potential is to get involved early in the e-commerce boom. As of now there are only a handful of companies involved. The potential is limited for the next year or two (see below). But keep in mind that China had only 600,000 Internet users in November 1997 and by October of 1999 China has about 4 million users (And the big advantage that India has over China is the common use of the English language.). The same growth of the Internet will happen in India.

The Downside: There are some serious obstacles in the way. Few people are used to the idea of mail order. It may take one or two years for the trust to be established between the customer and the company. Also the middle class is 50-70 million but only about 1 million have direct access to the Internet, only 1 in 36 Indians have a phone and most don't have a credit card.

noreply@blogger.com (MARS CONSULTANTS) — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:36:00 +0000

A son and his father were walking in the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself
and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!! … why did that stump trip me?"
To his surprise, he hears the voice repeating, somewhere in the mountain:
"AAAhhhhhhhhhhh!!! … why did that stump trip me?"
Curious, he yells: "Who are you and why did you put that in my way" He receives the
answer: "Who are you and why did you put that in my way". Angered at the response, he
screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"
He looks to his father and asks: "What's going on?" The father smiles and says: "My son,
pay attention." And then he screams to the mountain: "I admire you!" The voice answers: "I
admire you!" Again the man screams: "You are a champion with unlimited power!" The voice
answers: "You are a champion with unlimited power!"
The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains: "People call this
echo, but really this is life. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a
reflection of our thinking.