Vol: I Issue 2 November, 2009

The
BRAHMAPUTRA
Rhythm of the Promises

Interview: Prof Issac Getz on Liberating Leadership

Marie Elizabeth Holm
Resilience: A View from Pakistan
Zunaira Malik & Jazib Zahir
Online Marketing Without The Jargon
Mohak Gambhir
Secrets of Writing a Winning Business Plan
R K Sinha Roy
All You Need to Know About New Age Smartphones
Pritam Kumar Das

Rowing
With the Rhythm
What keeps them sailing against time and tide?
 CONTENTS
02. The 'BEING' OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership
Fr. VM Thomas
04. Lighting the Billion Watt Bulb
Management
Sumeet Jerath
06. Protecting your Trade Secrets
Legal
Sharda Balaji
08. Indian Youth and the Second Freedom Struggle
Education
Prof. Anup Mishra
10. Online Marketing Without The Jargon
Social Media
Mohak Gambhir
13. All You Need to Know About New Age Smartphones
Technology
Pritam Kumar Das
16. Women in the Entrepreneurial World
Entrepreneurship
Ankurita Pathak

18 Liberating Leadership: A Talk with Prof Issac Getz

Interview
Marie Elizabeth Holm
21. Helmsmen: Why Some Companies Are a Good Option
Article
Siddhartha Sarma
23. Organization Knowledge: An Attempt at Conceptualization
Business Paper
Managing Editor: Prantik Bordoloi
Fr. V M Thomas, sdb
Rector, Don Bosco Institute of 30. Resilience: A View from Pakistan
Management International
Zunaira Malik & Jazib Zahir
Consulting Editors:
Fr Fernandez, sdb 31. Satyam Fiasco: Understanding Audit Failure
Fr Abhilash, sdb Fraud
Binoy Kr Das
Guest Editors:
Ruban Phukan 33. The Future of Environmental Management in India
Aninda Baruah Environmental management
Bhaskar Ray
Executive Editor:
Saumar Deka 35. Tapping in to the Cloud
Internet
Senior Editors: Rajesh Warrier
Anabil Goswami
Bikash Gogoi 36. Towards a greener future: Hybrids and electric vehicles
Amlan Dutta Automobile
Bidisha Mahanta Prachurjya Baruah
Resource Managers: 38. Secrets of Writing a Winning Business Plan
Jurimoni Sharma Entrepreneurship
Suman Sharma R K Sinha Roy

Cover Design and Layyout: 41. An Image Makeover That Wins The Deal
Birkhang Narzary Case Study
Bidisha Mahanta
Editorial Support: 43. Guwahati of My Mind!
Javed, Hrishikesh Editorial
Anabil Goswami
2 Leadership

The 'BEING' OF LEADERSHIP

Fr. VM Thomas, sdb, is a Harvard Graduate in Education. He is presently the Executive Director of Don Bosco Institute Guwahati;
Secretary, North Eastern Education Commission (NEEC) and Secretary, Junior Red Cross, Assam. A certified Trainer in HRD from the
American Society for Training and Development, he is a visiting faculty member at Lal Bhadur Shastri National Academy of Administration,
Mussoorie, Assam Administrative Staff College, Assam Staff College, Guwahati University and Meghalaya Administrative Training
Institute, Member of National Resource Group (NRG) for Education Guarantee Scheme and Innovative Education, Govt. of India. Formerly
he was the General Secretary of the All India Association of Catholic Schools (AINACS), India and Director of North Eastern Regional Youth
Commission (NERYC), Guwahati.

T he shift from power over people

( M a n a g e m e n t ) t o s h a r e d p o w e r,
commitment and vision (Leadership) is
something we are witnessing in organizations today.
Management is associated with efficiency, planning,
procedures, control and consistency while
leadership is associated with vision, creativity,
dynamism, change and risk-taking, obviously
indicating that leadership and management are not
identical though complementary.
Hundreds of books and thousands of articles are
written on Leadership, covering various aspects of
this complex subject. Basically, an enabling art,
leadership is empowerment of the others more than
the exercise of power, it is inspiring rather than
commanding, it is motivating rather than
manipulating. Leadership is for service and not for
subjugation.
Two integral aspects of Leadership, which are like
two sides of a coin are 'DOING' and 'BEING'. These two
aspects are not mutually exclusive. The doing side of
leadership is the ability to manage and get things done in the
right way and in a consistent manner. The being side of
leadership on the other hand points to the character and
personal charisma which add value to the 'doing'. If the 'doing'
is the body of leadership, the 'being' may be considered the soul
of leadership. Though both aspects are important, I limit myself
to making a few reflections on the 'Being' of leadership.
We live in era when leadership is often equated with money and
muscle power or we are blinded by a subtle belief that talent,
energy and personality are the only things needed for success.
But in the long run and on deeper analysis, we see that WHO
WE ARE is more important than WHAT WE HAVE and
WHAT WE ARE.
The quality of 'BEING” is what distinguishes a great person
from an average person. Applied to leadership we can say that
what makes a leader great is not what he DOES but what he IS.
Before one can emerge as a great leader in public, one has to go
 3

through a process of inner leadership, reflection and mastery over self which will result in enhanced emotional
intelligence, increased capacity for self management, improved mental focus and deeper sense of one's own vision and
purpose.
'BEING' refers to certain intrinsic qualities and attributes of a person. Applied to leadership, these qualities include
authenticity, credibility, honesty, openness and integrity. Authenticity is being true to oneself. The age old dictum “To
thine own be true” describes aptly this aspect of leadership. Credibility - which is not just looking good, but being good - is
an offshoot of authenticity. Integrity is the unquestionable quality of a great leader. A person of integrity is truthful and
speaks the truth; he is just and acts justly. Honesty and integrity are cultivated by choosing what is morally right all the
time. One can bend actions and conform to principles or bend principles to conform to actions. The choice will make the
difference. But the fact remains. Absolute integrity brings absolute trust.
The best leaders realize that actions speak louder than words. Peter Drucker, the Management Guru has said “the leader's
first task is to be the trumpet that sounds a “clear sound”. Every time the leader becomes an example of high ethical
standards and integrity, he or she sends out a “clear sound” to others. But when ethical standards and behaviour do not
match the message becomes confusing to the people.
Therefore, it is not enough to be authentic. People in leadership should be perceived as such if they have to be effective.
They should ensure that their personal behaviours model their organizational norm . Authentic leaders with qualities of
integrity, honesty and credibility become inspirational leaders. In conformity with Gandhi's statement: “Be the change
you want to see in he world”, they exemplify the type of behaviours they want to see in the organization. The being of
leadership has a number of overlapping features which are perceptible in the form of inner calm, resilience, judgment,
realism about self , moral courage and compassion.
The challenge of leadership today is to inspire people to be fully involved in generating new and better ways of working.
To stay ahead of the competition, an approach that unleashes innovation, creativity and trust is essential. If you cannot
gain the trust of your people, you can't ever become a great leader. Authentic self is then our best answer to leadership.
4 Management

Lighting the Billion Watt Bulb

Mr Sumeet Jerath is a member of the Indian Administrative Service
(IAS), He has more than two decades of rich administrative experience
both in the field and in the secretariat. He is currently working as
Commissioner, Panchayat and Rural Development, Government of
Assam. Mr Jerath has strong academic leanings and is also currently
pursuing a PhD in Marketing and Strategy from the Faculty of
Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University.

O ur Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh during his

visit to DBIM had once stated that “Education and
enlightenment leads to economic empowerment
and social emancipation.” Nothing exemplifies this
powerful statement more than the life and times of our
beloved Prime Minister who rose from a humble
background to occupy the highest office of our country.
Another name which readily comes to my mind is that of our
former President, Dr Abdul Kalam who nurtured a 'dream'
and showed the determination to pursue it. Both these
leaders climbed the economic hierarchy and social ladder by
virtue of their steadfast devotion to studies and self
improvement. They are beacon lights for our youth to show
the way forward. Even the American President, Barrack
Obama, while making references to India and China, has
said that countries that outshine America in education in the
21st century would out compete it in innovation. After all
“Knowledge is power” in the current information age and
knowledge economy.
Let me delve in some detail about the two tasks each
manager has to undertake 'Planning' and 'Implementation'.
In this context it would be pertinent to draw our attention to
another quote -:
“Plan without action is a daydream; Action without plan is a
nightmare.”
The above aptly sums up the concomitant nature of 'plan' and
'action'. Planning is about 'thinking' and 'think' one should -
not 'in box' but 'out of box'; Think one must but 'laterally' and
not 'linearly'. Reflecting the above two strands of thinking,
let me exhort you to don your 'thinking cap' and
ùThink ahead Have a dynamic and futuristic vision.
Taking a leaf from Marshal Sashkin's visionary
leadership, every manager must craft a clear,
compelling and credible vision; communicate this
vision to all the stakeholders in the organization to
'buy in'; commit personnel to the vision and
concretize the vision.
ùThink again No plan is perfect in the first place.
Mid course corrections are required by
reviewing the progress made vis a vis the targets
at regular time intervals say every quarter or
every six months. Here one could follow
Deming's celebrated PDCA cycle Plan, Do,
Check and Act.
ùThink across one must think by not only
looking at parameters within one's organization
but benchmark one's performance vis a vis the
benchmarks of best in class category given in
the industry. Cross country experiences can also
be looked at to filter out the 'novel, creative and
cutting edge ideas'; 'imaginative, innovative and
winning practices' which can become 'key
organizational learning' for all the members of
the organization to emulate. We must take a cue
from Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline the art and
practice of the learning organization. The fifth
discipline is 'systems thinking' where one must
have a 'bird's eye view' rather than a 'worm's eye
view'; look at the 'woods' (whole) and not just
the 'trees' (parts) and possess an integrated and
holistic vision rather than a 'tunnel view'.
The proof of the pudding lies in the eating. Similarly after
'thinking' we ought to be 'doing'; walking the talk. Here
again I wish to give you three tips -:
ùGenchi Genbutsu This is one of the 14
management principles of the Toyota Way. It
means that one should go to the source to find the
facts to make correct decisions, build consensus
and achieve goals. Seeing is believing and based
on the facts seen, should one pursue the next
course of action.
ùMBWA Management By Wandering About is the
celebrated management principle of Tom Peters. It
is of great significance to practicing managers as
 5

ù
only by going around one's place of work, can one there, he again quizzed me as to what I could see. As I
motivate one's staff and take things to their rightful replied that I saw another 'horizon', I had understood the
culmination. importance of life long pursuit of going from 'horizon to
horizon' and from 'peak to peak'.
ùPerformance Management one should not be
caught in the vicious cycle of activities - the Let me conclude by appealing you to be always positive
activity trap but move on to the virtuous cycle of minded and optimistic. It is easy to be cynical and criticize
outcomes. In a nutshell, one ought to move from but difficult to do and reform. Let me quote Baroness
inputs to outputs and outputs to outcomes. Caroline Cox, the Chancellor of Liverpool Hope
University, UK on the 'privilege of making a difference' in
“Thinking” and “Doing” have been fine tuned by the the Big Hope Global Youth Congress -:
two leading automobile companies of the world.
Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Company, “We cannot do everything; However, we must not do
the world's biggest manufacturer of two wheelers nothing”.
believed in 'out thinking and out performing' the others. Yes, single handedly we cannot create a billion watt bulb to
Toyota Motor Company, the World's No 1 car company 'light up' the whole system. However, we can definitely
adheres to “Relentless reflection (Hansei) and light up a small candle and dispel the local darkness. And as
Continuous improvement (Kaizen)” as one of its 14 long as we do this, we would have done our duty. I am
management principles. confident that one day when each one of our billion plus
The search of excellence, the pursuit of perfection and people lights up a candle, we would be able to spread the
the quest for the best must continue unabated with a light equivalent to a billion watt bulb and 'wipe out every
missionary zeal throughout one's life. While our formal tear from every eye'.
education may cease after we graduate from an institute
and step out into the real world; the informal learning
should continue till our last breath. These are the times of
'life long learners' who learn 'from womb to tomb' who
keep 'sharpening their saw' all the time. We should never
rest on our laurels; keep raising the bar all the time and
leave no stone unturned to stretch ourselves to meet our
BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals). Let me narrate a
small story. When I was a young school boy, my teacher
(who was a transformational leader) pulled me out of the
class. He pointed his finger where the earth and the sky
seemed to meet and asked me as to what I could see. I
immediately replied that I could see the 'horizon'. We
then drove to that point. Standing there, he again asked
me as to what I could see in the far distance. I
immediately replied that I saw another 'horizon'. He told
me that let us go and touch that point. When we reached
6 Legal
Sharda Balaji is the founder of NovoJuris
Services a legal consulting company
specializing in corporate, technology,
investment advisory and capital markets.
She has worked with various corporate
houses in India for over 12 years in
different facets of corporate affairs and
legal functions, including initial public
offerings, corporate restructuring,
acquisitions, mergers, technical and
financial collaborations, structuring of
business model and JVs, corporate laws,
trade marks, copyrights and other IP
related matters, commercial and employee
matters, foreign investments, RBI and
FEMA matters.
During Sharda's earlier employment with
Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd., she was
supporting Intel's business in South Asia.
Sharda is a Lawyer and a Company
Secretary, along with degree from Institute
of Chartered Secretaries, UK.
Please send your comments to
info@novojuris.com
Protecting your Trade Secrets
Y ou must have read the news a few months back about an ex-Intel
employee being charged with theft of trade secrets. Do you think it
was a willful act or negligence or ignorance?
It is imperative for organizations to educate employees on what is classified
as confidential information, treatment of the same and not just have an NDA
signed and leave it at that. To begin with, what is a trade secret?
Most of us are aware of different forms of intellectual property (IP) like
patents, copyrights, trademarks, design rights. Trade Secrets too, is a part of
this basket, but often neglected. Trade secret is any kind of 'information' or
'know-how' which is not 'publicly known', has a 'commercial advantage' and
the owner takes 'reasonable measures' to keep it a secret. Many countries
recognize these as the normal components for protection of a trade secret. Just
as I am writing this article, I see that The Department of Science and
Technology post the draft bill on The National Innovation Act, which pretty
much captures these components in the definition of 'confidential
information'.
Protection is usually available for any formulae, product specification,
manufacturing techniques, pricing, supplier details, strategic business plans,
even a customer list which demonstrates the requirements as mentioned in the
above paragraph. Other forms of IP has certain pre-requisites to claim
protection. Example, Patent protection requires novelty, inventiveness and
utility of an idea. A copyright requires that the expression of the idea has to be
original, creative and fixed on a tangible media. Whereas a trade secret does
not have any such stringent pre-requisites.
If a trade secret is well protected, there is no term of protection. It can be
protected for any length of time…like the coke's formula. In contrast, other
forms of IP have statutorily conferred right of protection for limited period of
time- for Patents, it is a 20 year protection, for trademarks, it is a 10 year
protection (but can be renewed), for copyrights the period varies, example 60
years for literary works.
In India, unlike the USA or other countries, there is no specific legislation to
protect trade secrets. (The National Innovation Act is still in a 'draft' stage)
USA has a model legislation called Uniform Trade Secrets Act (USTA) and
about 40 States have enacted various statutes, modeled after USTA.
Protection of trade secret is a process of self-administration by the trade secret
owner. There is no office / registry where you could file a trade secret
application, reviewed by an examiner and granted a trade secret certificate /
registration. The self-administration process is dependent on key factors like,
the extent of information known outside the company or amongst the
employees; the value of secret to the company or to the competitors; expenses
involved in developing the secret; reverse engineering. Accordingly, the
organization can have its confidentiality policy / ies. Also, the owner is to
exhibit 'reasonable efforts' in keeping the information confidential in order to
obtain legal protection. As in, sharing information with third parties only
under duly executed Non Disclosure Agreement, sharing information within
the organisation on a need-to-know basis, labeling the information as
'confidential' or 'proprietary', not leaving the classified information
unattended or lying around. Some must-take steps in order to protect trade
secrets are:
 7

m Ensure that a duly executed non-disclosure agreement is in place before sharing confidential information. The
organization may have different non-disclosure agreements depending upon the sensitivity of the information
shared under the agreement.
m Label the information as 'confidential' or 'proprietary'. By doing this, you are putting the other party on guard in
terms of treatment given to the information.
m Champion the confidentiality policies amongst all employees, including providing adequate training to all
employees.
m Share the information within the organization only on a need-to-know basis.
m Treat and demonstrate that third parties confidential information is protected equally.
m Have an exit interview with terminated employees. During the interview highlight/refresh their memory, on their
obligations with regards to the non-disclosure agreement they have signed, on keeping information that had
access to during their employment as confidential, it is okay to share best-known-methods with the next
employer but under no circumstances, can the employee share trade-secrets. Also, the fact that the next employer
would understand that the employee cannot share some information because it is confidential.
m The organization may also tailor a 'trade secret acknowledgment form, which terminating employee could sign-
off before leaving. This form primarily helps in enumerating the trade secrets that the employee is aware of
during his employment.
m Other usual security measures of identifying sensitive areas, having certain areas with restricted access, pass-
words, badges, document retention / destruction policy, visitor control systems and so on.
It is important that the organization have a systematic approach in the identification of trade secrets. This would be a
continuous process. Most employees tend to believe that they own the outcome of their efforts, be it a document or a
drawing or a customer list. Train them on the organization's right to trade secrets.
Before signing off, a quick word on 'contamination', the scary situation where a third party's confidential or proprietary
information gets mixed up with one's own, without appropriate licenses or approvals. Caution: the other party has
remedies of claiming damages, accounting profits, may be even royalty for every piece sold. Trade secrets are valuable
assets of the Company. Protect it. The above processes are simple indeed, but goes a long way in protecting both employer
and employee interests. It is not expensive either.

Post Script:
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. This is not a legal advice or opinion.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/151039/exintel engineer charged in trade secrets theft.html
The information in this article is as of 14 October 2008
8 Education
Indian Youth and the Second
Freedom Struggle
Prof Arup Kr Misra is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering in
Assam Engineering College. He has also been taking up the additional
charge of Training & Placement Officer for last 7 years. AEC has been doing
extremely good in this area of late. He is very passionate about
popularization and communication of science. He served Department of
Science & Technology, Govt. of India, New Delhi for three and a half years
as a Senior Fellow (1998 2001) and initiated a few national projects still
very popular in India. He is at present Secretary of the Assam State Centre of
the Institution of Engineers (India), and the Secretary of North east
Technical Education Society (NETES), which has established an
engineering college in Mirza this year. He is widely traveled in Asia Pacific,
Europe, North America, and South America for professional and academic
assignments.
T he youth of India nurtured a highly romanticized view
of the future for this great country immediately after
independence in 1947 because they thought that our
own people would now rule the nation instead of an alien power.
They thought that India would truly be casteless, religion-neutral,
welfare-oriented and would flourish under a “mixed-economy”.
State would be able to provide education, healthcare, sanitation,
infrastructure, transport and communication to all, they thought.
Their dream was to create a united country with strong economic
foundations, without any social evils and superstitions.
Perhaps this dream was justified in the beginning, because
quite a few great success stories set the pace for development, like
construction of the Bhakra-Nangal Dam; adoption of a
Constitution and thus becoming a Republic in 1950; setting up of a
machinery for propelling “mixed economy” with coexistence of
public and private sector industries; setting up of the planning
Commission; holding of the first General Elections in 1952 with
resounding success; establishment of the Atomic Energy
Commission, and so on. These were followed up by Etawah
Experiment of Community Development under the able guidance
of S K Dey; and Bhoodaan, Shramdaan and
Sarvodaya movements under the leadership of
Acharya Vinoba Bhave and Lok Nayak Jaya
Prakash Narayan. Success stories conjured up
visions of hope and fairness. Hopes in turn created
dreams and aspirations among the youth.
But, how long did these dreams survive?
Stratification of society and demands for secession
started in the late fifties and the first signs of
linguistic intolerance and caste-based
discrimination surfaced in the sixties. Communal
and community conflicts threatened the very fabric
of unity in India. Even very well-planned public
institutions like the banking system, the postal
system, the railways, to name a few, started
crumbling, and the worst of all disasters to have
struck us infiltrated into our
systems…..Corruption. Indians did not approve of
John Lewis when he said in the early 1960s that
“Indians are talkers, not doers.” We even became
more furious when famous economist-scholar John
Kenneth Galbraith remarked that “India's social
and economic justice programmes represented only
post-office socialism.” Today no sensible Indian
would disagree with Lewis or Galbraith.
The biggest challenge facing the country in
general and the youth in particular is to reverse
these trends and bring back the country to its track.
It's a mammoth, but doable, task. A large section of
our youth believes that there could be resurgence.
Today a potential and pragmatic spirit is back in our
society which is different from the romanticized
vision of the 1950s, and this can be observed from
various initiatives in place at various levels. My
intention is not to review these programmes and
initiatives; but to drive home a simple point in the
same context. Without education and practical
skills we cannot venture into any nation-building
programme, nor can we motivate others to do so.
Mahatma Gandhi led the freedom struggle with the
help of overwhelming majority of simple illiterate
Indians against a well-educated superpower. Today
we have to fight the second battle of independence
against ourselves and the systems created by us.
'Education holds the key to solutions'
The current model for public education in India
was created at the end of the 19th century in the
same line with its British rulers, when the industrial
revolution was bringing about extensive
mechanization of production systems. But the
reality at that time was that, 90 percent of the
students left school after the 8th grade to work in
mills or on farms. A working knowledge of the
"three R's" (readin', 'ritin', and 'rithmetic) provided
workers with sufficient educational foundation to
cope with the demands of their jobs.

Today, the three R's hardly suffice to survive, not to speak of
fetching any job. Lakhs of graduates are working as peons and
chowkidars in banks, railways, MNCs and other offices.
Thousands of post-graduates and innumerable professional
graduates are doing odd-jobs and daily wage labour to make
both ends meet. This is not just an Indian phenomena; it is a
global concern. Between ages 15 and 24 globally we have 1.1
billion illiterate people, which comprise 47% of the world's 186
million unemployed people. Around 59 million youth between
the ages of 15 and 17 years are engaged in informal and
hazardous forms of work. About 7000 youth get affected by
AIDS everyday somewhere or other in the world. When they
should be in schools, at that age something like 300, 000 children
are fighting endless struggles for some secessionist forces
trotting “real” guns at each other.
This is no doubt a century of great opportunities, but only for the
prepared ones. Our challenge is to face tomorrow head-on by
converting all negative outcome of globalization into positive
factors of development. Twenty-first century businesses seek
employees with a host of sophisticated skills, including the
ability to solve problems, communicate effectively, think
critically, and grasp complex systems. As a result, today we
require a significantly more advanced education than our 19th
century counterparts. For example, let us have a look at the
critical success factors, followed by many institutions and
organizations all around the world.
“Identifying critical success factors of education”
Success factor 1: An involved and connected learning
community: We have not yet understood the paradigm shifts of
education and technology, thus grappling with age-old ideas and
making “outdated” curricula for our children and youth. On one
side we are experiencing continuous explosion of information
and communication technologies with vast opportunities; while
on the other side we are observing massive school-dropouts,
failures, uneven distribution of technologies between and within
countries. Global village demands a connected learning
community.
Success factor 2: A proficient and inviting curriculum-
driven setting: The world market today is a buyer's, and not
seller's market. Similarly, the education modules developed
today are not teacher-centric, but student-centric. Our inertial
forces and egoist academic administrations refuse to accept this.
With the right type of curriculum and exciting setting for
imparting that to students, we should be able to arrest most of the
rot that has set in our educational systems.
Success factor 3: A flexible and sustainable learning
environment: We are very good at starting new courses,
developing innovative models of education; but very bad at
implementing those in large scale to empower the students.
Flexible models of learning were developed long back in India,
where selection of courses was a prerogative of the learners. But
except the top-class professional institutions and management
schools how many universities or colleges follow this?
Flexibility is lamentably poor in our systems.
9
Success factor 4: A cross-curriculum integration
of research and development: Flexibility induces
cross-curriculum research and development. After
widespread environmental degradation we have
realized that not a single branch or discipline of study
can correct the wrongs in environment without the
help of the rest. Is it the botanist or the zoologist; the
geologist or the geographer; the civil engineer or the
chemical engineer; the climatologist or the
glaciologist; who is responsible for fighting pollution
and devising corrective technologies? No one alone
can.
Success factor 5: Professional leadership: There
has been a revolution in the management and
professional education at the global platform, which
has surely touched India too. Still experts are not
happy. They are demanding more efforts for value
addition to its manufacturing facilities, more
competency in its skilled manpower, upgrading
capital equipment and raw materials to be more
competitive and sustainable. Professional leadership
is created only in all-inclusive environments that do
not uproot the students from their cultural settings
and throw them into unreal world situations. Nothing
succeeds like success; and one day I wish to share a
few thrilling success stories of most ordinary people
in these pages.
Conclusion: The process of bringing about
transformation is long, complex, and strewn with
many hurdles and challenges. Management of
conflicts among social and economic groups itself is
a daunting task. But someone has to do it. 50% of
India's population is youth, the powerhouse of energy
and ideas. If the youth don't take up this nation
building process and lead the second freedom
struggle, no one can achieve it. Before I sign off for
today, let me mention about the well-known 6i
Development- Cycle, which reads as follows:
Stage 1: INTROSPECTION
Stage 2: INVESTIGATION
Stage 3: INCLUSION
Stage 4: INNOVATION
Stage 5: IMPLEMENTATION
Stage 6: INTROSPECTION
This is not merely a model which we
academicians are so fond of. Rather, it is an analytical
tool, a roadmap for planning and assessment of our
activities. And the activities need not be limited to
only academics; it could be from any sector at any
level. In spite of many external and internal hurdles
in society, we have the knowledge base and
experiences of the past to carry forward the struggle
for development, equity and justice.
10 Social Media
Mohak Gambhir is an Entrepreneurial Online Professional with experience across 10 years later, incoming calls in India were
Product Management and Marketing. Part of the core launch team at two very free, outgoing calls were the cheapest in the
successful Indian Internet start ups (yatra.com, ibibo.com). his exposure to social
media has been that of an early adopter. He is convinced that social interactions and world and we had 30 million active Indian
conversations will change the way online will be perceived. For the past 10 years, users of the Internet.
Mohak has been consulting organizations and individuals of all sizes and statures The same year, I happened to read an article
with online marketing strategies.
in the New York Times. Trevor Edwards,
Email: m@mohak.in Nike's corporate vice president for global
Twitter: www.twitter.com/mohak brand and category management, came out
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/mohak aloud and said, “We're not in the business of
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mohak.gambhir keeping the media companies alive. We're in
the business of connecting with consumers.”
Ofcourse it was October 2007, the
slowdown in the US was starting to show.
Trevor was speaking from fact and
undergoing a litmus test of forging a
relationship with the consumers directly
without any media. It was very different
from the image of Nike with glossy
magazine ads, expensively produced
television commercials and extensive use of
celebrities. This was soaked in the steam of
triumph for Nike+ and ratified by the critical
consumer of 2007.
Perhaps the same time, a politician who
dared to think differently in the US was
preparing for Presidential campaign fund
raising. His belief that millions of online
donors would far exceed the big donors to
ONLINE MARKETING WITHOUT the campaign, in sheer dollars. His belief
was true; the visitors and donors to his
campaign were far younger than his peers.
THE JARGON The confidence and focus on the online
media to create momentum and exhibit

“ How much would an email address cost?” gratitude got hundreds of millions in dollars
for the campaign funds. All it involved was
direct dialog with the audience, the voters
that were the consumers in the election

Y es, at a family gathering an acquaintance with a modest auto part

manufacturing business asked me this question. The age of
innocence I guess. After all it was 1997 and the Internet left the
phone line engaged and the users enraged. Speeds were dismal and dial-
up subscriptions were some 5000 rupees for 500 hours of connectivity.
campaign and using low cost and high return
ideas like the niche social network created
for the campaign. Who was he? An easy one
to guess. Yes he is Barack Obama.
In the above illustrations, I have attempted
The ecosystem seemed expensive, out of reach and pretty fuzzy with to outline how the Internet can be
respect to understanding. Not to mention, the application form at VSNL successfully used for almost any marketing
Internet office had a mandatory field that asked for the purpose of usage. problem, business, audience, business
So, when I told the man with slight hesitation and perhaps owner, individual, geography, agenda and
unconvincingly, that an email address comes for free it evoked a brand. Similarly, it knows no boundaries of
reaction,which I cannot summarize. However, the middle aged uncle reach, is actually free and can be extremely
accompanied with his overgrown paunch took a few steps closer and swift to gain momentum. It is interesting to
asked me what the cost of sending and receiving one 'letter' would cost know how long standing brands like New
him over email. The assumption could actually be true, incoming calls on York Times, with a legacy of over a century
his cellphone would cost over eight rupees a minute if not more. Cleared now feel defeated in the hands of the
his questions, but the hawk-eyed businessman in him was not satiated consumer. The key word here again is 'free'.
with my theory of advertising funded email, as a free communication Free, as in economics and free, as in
tool and showed no empathy towards me. So, I developed and marketed democracy. You are free to post and express
his website and he secured overseas business for radiator caps to secure your opinion, it doesn't cost to publish and it
his confidence over the medium.

doesn't cost to consume. The speed with which social
utilities like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Flickr grew
without any advertising are testimony to it.
The next few paragraphs, I would like to reflect upon are
simple ideas on how you can use do-it-yourself (DIY)
online marketing and branding techniques to help
yourself. These are actionable and easy to do. It is not
necessary that you are in a marketing role, a business
man, or running for the presidential election!
First, Be Objective!
First of all, understand what your objective is. You may
want to sell products, just generate leads for your
products, get traffic or create awareness, generate funds
for your NGO, create personal branding/get popular, and
help other people achieve their marketing objectives as a
consultant or build relationships with your existing user
base. Depending on what your objective is, you'd need
people to be aware. Awareness builds familiarity,
familiarly is the stepping stone for confidence,
confidence will direct transaction and transaction can
lead to relationship. Focusing on your objective(s) helps
in figuring out the channels you will use.
Second, Know your Audience!
Secondly, identify your audience. Audience can be
defined in multiple ways as individuals or by grouping
similar people together. You could segregate based on the
geography, gender, age, education, employment,
affluence, whether they are aware about your product or
service, users of competitive products etc.
Third, Set your Budget!
Thirdly, set a budget. The budget allocation is two ways,
time and money. You should dedicate a specific time band
and total time you'd like to spend on your marketing led
activities online. The opportunities are abound, and
therefore an early marketer can get lost in the abundance
and plethora and end up either losing impetus or
direction. Similarly, if you are looking for a paid stream
of marketing activities, you may wish you set aside some
funds. Remember, time and money are key in any
marketing activity. Time is also relational to patience and
letting the seeds you sow in the virtual world, ripe.
Similarly, spending money alone may not bear fruit. The
budget would also help you understand if you should look
for free marketing, using social media or spend money on
slightly high cost banner advertising.
Fourthly, be Creative!
Creativity on online may not mean bold colours,
gimmicky headlines or rhyming jingles. If you are
looking for that particular job in that niche industry or
want to establish yourself as an authority on a subject of
hobby of yours, with only a few hundred rupees or so you
can reach your audience on pay per click programs such
as Google AdWords. So say, you know everything about
Tea. When someone searches for “tea recipe”, or
11
“English tea”, or even “tea cup designs”, you could bid on
those keywords to display your sponsored ad on Google.
You only pay when someone clicks on the ad. Imagine if
you were to pay the TV channel only when someone sees
your ad on television. Not possible, right? No wonder TV
companies are struggling behind Internet globally.
Fifthly, think big, start small!
It is not necessary that you begin your marketing initiatives
online using a heavy Flash website with animations and
graphics. You can start with something very basic. Begin by
knowing if you need to invest in a domain name. Buy a
.com or a .in domain name for your business. Have a name
that is easy to remember. The best test is to call a friend and
narrate the domain over phone. If he understands the name
in the first try it's good to register. Then, you may not even
need a website at all. Why spend money and make it an
expense, if it wouldn't become an investment and have
returns on it.
Lastly, analyse and review !
The internet media allows you to measure everything. How
many people visited your website, what was the previous
site they were on, how much time they spent on your site,
what items were they interested in, have they come before,
etc etc. It's almost like maintaining a visitor register and
very diligent guard at your shop entrance. Using these
reports, you can see what ads are working for you, what
products you should display on the main page on your
website etc. Try free products like Google Analytics,
SiteMeter, Yahoo Analytics.
Trevor Edwards, Nike's
corporate vice
president for global
brand and category
management, came out
aloud and said, “We're
not in the business of
keeping the media
companies alive. We're
in the business of
connecting with
consumers.”
12

Channels for online marketing:

Social and free:
m Facebook: Start a fan page, upload photos of your products, invite your friends to the page, even advertising
using small amounts
m Wordpress: write a blog about a personal passion, product or service offering
m Twitter: Connect with audiences in real time over short messages
m Review Websites: TripAdvisor for travel, Mouthshut for Indian products, Epinions for Global products etc.
m Flickr: Upload interesting photos about your category on this photo sharing site
m Search Engine Optimization: Tweak your site for people to find it easily when they are looking for information
on search engines
Paid Advertising:
m Pay Per Click: Paying a website owner or search engine only when someone clicks on your ad. Google
AdWords, Komli, Yahoo Search
m Affiliate Marketing: Paying a website owner only when your product gets sold. In India, DGM, Shoogloo
m Banner advertising: image ads on various websites. Yahoo, Rediff, MSN
m Ad Networks: You can pay a single company who would show (serve) your ads. Komli, NetworkPlay,
TribalFusion
Some myths about online marketing:
m It is technological, expensive and difficult these are absolute misnomers, and as shared before, you can start
with as low as a few hundred rupees. Try Google AdWords.
m I need a website to start online marketing it is not necessary at all you can start a free blog on Wordpress.com,
start selling by listing your products on Ebay
m Online marketing is only for those who sell to people absolutely untrue you can list your products on business
to business marketplaces such as Alibaba and IndiaMart.
m There is low trust on the Internet agreed, there are scams on the Internet, but it is important to know that they
exist in the offline world too. The internet perhaps allows you to investigate and choose much better still.
m The buyers of my product are not online well, they are not online today, but they will be, either to research or to
buy. It's important that you are ready for when then come. Even further, without trying, don't get fooled by this
assumption. Do a Google search for the category you operate in and see if you have your competitors online!
m Our business is offline well, let's say you run a barber shop, a restaurant or even a grocery shop you will have
some loyalists who would want to connect together, review and recommend your products. You can assist them
today! Furthermore, there would be people looking for your product or service who are visiting your location,
are new in the area or they are unfulfilled by their current provider/store.
Post Script: This article is in a way encouraging people to think about online marketing in a simple non-intimidating
way. It is the author's sincere belief that the reader can apply simple tools and techniques to manage marketing a product
or oneself easily on the internet. Want to know more, need help with an online campaign? Or if the article doesn't simplify
thinking for you, and your thirst for online marketing is not quenched, please get in touch with Mohak Gambhir. All the
best!
Technology 13

All You Need to Know About New Age

Smartphones

T he Internet is ubiquitous now, and with WiFi and

WiMAX, on-the-go high speed broadband is a
reality. If you have heard about Wimax, you
would know that it is the next generation of wireless
technology which is designed to deliver high speed
mobile Internet access and that too, at a lower cost. You
can call it the fourth generation (4G) of wireless
technology. With this entire spread, there is an increased
shift of personal computing products towards being
more 'Internet centric'.
The newest and biggest wave in the personal computing
industry is exactly that building you the best device that
is easy to use, light to carry and delivers the Internet to
you. What with companies like Nokia and Qualcomm,
who never designed a computer in history, are chipping
in with their own internet computing devices, for
instance the Nokia Booklet and the Qualcomm Pritam Kumar Das is an engineering graduate from National
Smartbook. Several products are available in the market Institute of Technology, Surat. He currently resides in Bangalore and
today with a lot of different form factors and value is working with Intel Corporation. He has over 6 years of work
experience and is the co founder of ThinkBig Corporate Consultants
propositions. Its all about finding out which one fits best in Assam. He is an avid technology enthusiast. He works closely with
for your kind of Internet usage. the major technological giants and is well traveled in the asia
Let's set the distinction between the classic cell- pacific region. You can reach him at pritamkd@gmail.com. He is also
active in the major social networking sites.
phone/PDA/smart-phone as it exists today and these
devices centered on the Internet. Today's smart-phones
have comparatively very low processing power and most
of them have a limited user interface. They lack software
portability - for instance, the Blackberry smart-phone's
need conversion from the most popular document
formats to the proprietary Blackberry OS (RIM) format,
even before you can open the document on the device. Today's smart-phones
They have limited external connectivity options - you have comparatively very
cannot plug in your USB thumb-drive to your phone and low processing power
need an external computer to sync up, also you cannot
easily hook up your smart-phone to an external display and most of them have a
today. These limitations make the classic cell- limited user interface.
phone/PDA/smartphone not so great for computing
applications, but it still is a great telecommunications
device.
The closest that a phone has come to a smartphone-like-
MID is the iPhone, primarily because of Apple's iPhone
OS, which gives software portability to a large extent. If
we look at the iPhone, it really is not a MID or a new age
Smartphone as yet. If I were to remove the SIM
(Subscriber Identity Module) card, there is no reason
why we wouldn't want a higher resolution screen, greater
computing and graphics processing power, which is
when we dwelve into the realm of the MID.
14
On a positive note, you should definitely see the prices
of these existing PDAs and smartphones come down
in the near future, what with Apple reducing the price
of the new generation iPhone 3GS by almost half of its
original.
Now that we know there is a legitimate niche market
for these new internet-centric devices, lets go explore
them. Maybe you can buy your next mobile internet
device, based on what we find out. We will look at
MIDs (Mobile Internet Device)/UMPCs (Ultra-
mobile PC), new age Smartphones, and Netbooks
The New Age Smartphone: The new smartphones are
devices with an open operating system, full
telecommunications stack, and a form factor that
would allow you to easily hold it up to the ear for voice
calls. Screen sizes would range from 3 to 3.5 inches in
width with a decent enough resolution. These devices
would trend to making way for innovation in the
telecom arena, and will diverge away from the
personal computing space. However they would still
have a working browser and email application.
Obviously, they will have WWAN capability, 3G,
WiFi and maybe even WiMAX, once it is voice-
optimized.
Here is the very popular Apple iPhone that is in the
middle of this new Internet revolution
Mobile Internet Device (MID): The category of
handheld computer devices that are multimedia
capable, provide you on-the-go wireless internet, and
can claim to be 'always connected', are called MIDs.
These are bigger than smart-phones but smaller than
the smallest notebook. They will fit in to your jeans or
jacket pocket and you can carry them easily with you,
just like your cellphone. The input media is usually
manual touch or a stylus, but some of them do have a
thumb-able keyboard, like the one on your cellphone.
They usually run a full mobile operating system, but
one that is optimized for power. With a 5 to 7 inch
screen, they are big enough for streaming your
favorite video online. Most of them come in ultra
sleek designs and with a decent enough computing
power, definitely more than what the smartphone can
handle and do.
The key differentiating factors for a MID are - 'always on'
and 'always connected'. It is designed to be used standing up,
with a form factor that you can easily carry along. The
software is usually customized for Internet usage. With new
mobile operating systems like Google initiated Android and
Intel initiated Moblin being designed bottom-up for mobile
and Internet centric usage, compared to the old ones like
Windows® Mobile OS, which was nothing but a stripped
down version of the original Windows kernel, you can
definitely expect a very responsive and easy-to-use system.
These devices are designed to provide the best user
experience in terms of handheld internet usage by
integrating social networking and location-aware services,
mainly aimed at the growing consumer market. The MID
category of devices was first conceived by Intel Corporation.
Here is an example of one of the first MIDs demoed by Intel
Corporation
UMPCs (Ultra Mobile PCs) : UMPCs are the more
developed cousins of MIDs with slightly bigger and higher
resolution screens. The key difference being that UMPCs are
more laptop-like and not necessarily have to be 'always on' or
be operated standing up. They are the more petite versions of
our traditional tablet PCs and need not have location aware
features like GPS (Global Positioning system) or even a
camera. They support VOIP for voice communication and
will not have access to the cellular network.
The UMPC was conceived and driven by Microsoft, so they
are naturally optimized and sold with all Microsoft
developed software in them. For those of you who feels this
is an instant turn-off, some of the newer UMPCs also have
the option of installing Linux, as the secondary OS.

Here is an UMPC from GigaByte
For all practical purposes, a Netbook is a stripped down version of
the NoteBook and is defined by the price and technology. These
devices are mainly aimed for the developing market, due to the low
cost factor, and also partly for the developed market, as a second
laptop for an individual.
Technically they lack an optical drive, so you cannot watch your
favorite DVD/CD - which was done in part to reduce cost and size,
and also to leave users with more reason to buy a Notebook. Alas the
PC industry doesn't want to cannibalize the Notebook in developing
markets.
Other things that you mostly will not find in a Netbook are
Bluetooth, a legacy PC card slot, Hi-def video and Hi-def audio.
They lack the processing power and memory technology to run the
full range of media applications/games that you would normally run
on a Notebook and are definitely not designed for intensive office-
These devices are
designed to provide the
best user experience in
terms of handheld internet
usage by integrating social
networking and location-
aware services, mainly
aimed at the growing
consumer market.
15
related tasks. They will not have high screen
resolutions, but just enough to browse the
Internet. They are not more than 10 inches
wide. In terms of storage, some of them do
have SSDs (Solid State Drives) in lieu of
traditional hard drives. These SSDs are a lot
faster than the spindle driven ATA HDDs, but
they cost a lot more. This is optimized by
providing less storage SSDs on Netbooks.
Here is the most famous Netbook till date, the
ASUS Eee PC
Now that we have seen all these four device
categories, we know that some of the lines
separating them are a bit blur for instance
between the Smart-phone and the MID, MID
and the UMPC etc. But with time, as in any
industry, there is going to be a consolidation
in the Internet centric devices too and with it,
simplification of the market segments.
However there is enough reason now, to go
check out these in your local stores and find
out which ones going to be the best use for
you.
If you are interested in contributing to
software development for these devices, I
would suggest to go check out the below
open source projects. You can download the
latest released packages and tools, become a
member of the development community and
contribute your own applications too.
Moblin, short for 'mobile Linux', is an open
source operating system - www.moblin.org
Android is also a mobile operating system,
initially developed by Google and now an
o p e n s o u r c e p r o j e c t -
http://www.android.com
16 Entrepreneurship
Women in the Entrepreneurial World
E ntrepreneurship has always
been considered a male
bastion but the scene has
considerably changed in the
proverbial 21st century times .This
change is synonymous with the
shifting role of women in the society
and economy around the globe. In
almost all the developed countries in
the world women are putting their
steps at par with the men in the field of
business and are playing an
impressive and inspirational role
model.
In India, though it has not been a very
easy journey for women to enter the
threshold of a man's arena, they are
successfully combating long-standing
prejudices and are working their way
to the top of companies or starting
their own businesses in increasing
numbers. The more overwhelming
fact is that a lot of middle and lower
middle class women as well as rural
women are coming ahead and entering
the entrepreneurial world.
A Woman Entrepreneur can be
defined as any individual woman or a
group of women, who initiate,
organize and operate a business
enterprise. Government of India has
defined women entrepreneurship as
an enterprise owned and controlled by
a women having a minimum financial
interest of 51% of the capital and
giving at least 51% of employment
generated in the enterprise to women.
Entrepreneurship is a difficult
undertaking as it calls for innovative
ideas, risk taking, strong business
acumen and effective leadership in all
aspects of business. It's a challenging
role for a woman but growing
sensitivity towards the role of a
thinking individual and increasing
economic independence has made it
possible today for several women to
don the entrepreneur's hat.
The social situation for a woman has
undoubtedly changed a lot in terms of
acceptance of a woman as
Ankurita is currently working with the
Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce and Industry (FICCI) as an
Assistant Director. She is part of the
FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO),
which was established in 1983, as a
division of FICCI, the apex body of
industry and commerce in India. As an All
India Organisation for women, FLO has
chapters in Mumbai, Chennai,
Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Jaipur,
Guwahati and Kolkata with its head
office in Delhi. Their members comprise
of entrepreneurs, professionals and
Corporate Executives.
The primary objective of FLO is to
p ro m o t e e n t re p re n e u r s h i p a n d
professional excellence in women. FLO
endeavors to enhance the various skills of
women through their educational and
vocational training programmes, talks,
seminars, panel discussion and workshop
on a wide range of subjects like
information technology, taxation,
insurance, venture capital, stock market
operations, accountancy, marketing,
mutual funds, investment planning,
e n t re p re n e u r s h i p d e v e l o p m e n t
programmes etc. They also focus on
women related legal and social issues like
uniform civil code, domestic violence,
etc.
She has done her B.A in English
Literature from Cotton College,
Guwahati and M.A from Delhi
University. She has also done a diploma
course in Print Journalism from YMCA,
New Delhi and had a stint with
journalism as a reporter with The Asian
Age and the India Today Group.
economically independent and a
working professional. But there is
still a clear overshadow of the
dogmatic past which is marked with
traditional expectations from a
woman i.e. playing the role of a
homemaker rather than a bread
earner.
The traditional role of a woman
confines her to the household, doing
the daily chores and tending to her
family's needs. Therefore, venturing
into a so called man's territory, a
w o m a n h a s t o f a c e several
impediments in her way. It is difficult
for a woman to make a fine balance
between her business and home. The
patriarchal social order makes it
difficult for the women to carve a
niche as an entrepreneur, primarily
because she is considered an outsider
and her entrepreneurial abilities are
doubted at every step by the society.
Even the financial institutions are
skeptical to fund women in new
ventures.
Moreover, there is gender prejudices
almost everywhere. She is seen as a
woman first and then as an
entrepreneur. There is also constant
competition and antagonistic
approach from their male
counterparts that make things more
difficult for them. It is not an easy
path to tread upon but there are
several women entrepreneurs in
India who have made their mark
against all heavy odds, social
pressures and cultural shackles.
Most women entrepreneurs in India
embarked on their entrepreneurial
journey in a relatively smaller scale,
mostly based out of their homes.
They began with traditionally
women-oriented business like
beauty and well-being, garments,
fashion etc, mostly without any
formal training or a rigid business
framework.
Shahnaz Hussain, who believes in
“making her own destiny” is one of

the pioneering women entrepreneurs in India. She had no
legacy and no mentor. Infact,she set off to create her own
legacy as she made her foray into the entrepreneurial world
in 1970, when she first started by selling herbal remedies out
of a first floor flat in Delhi with Rs 35,00 borrowed from her
father. With the 'World's Greatest Woman Entrepreneur'
award by the 105 year old US magazine, Success in 1996,
Shahnaz is now the queen of the herbal business.
In today's world of urbanization, globalization,
industrialization and IT revolution, many new business
houses and industries today have women leading the front. A
name to reckon with in the field of entrepreneurship, Dr
Kiran Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as
trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages in 1974. In
1978, she joined as a Trainee Manager with Biocon
Biochemicals Limited in Ireland, Collaborating with the
same Irish firm, she founded Biocon India with a capital of
Rs. 10,000/- in 1978. Currently the Chairman & Managing
Director of Biocon Ltd, Kiran grew from a modest
entrepreneur to be the richest woman in India in 2004.
Today women have move beyond the known and have
ventured into the less traversed sectors in entrepreneurship.
Some names are Geeta Anand who is the Managing Director
of a plastic moulding unit, AG Indutries Pvt Ltd in Gurgaon,
Chitra Bharat Kumar owner of Bangalore based Mayur
Industries, manufacturing plastic folders, files, albums and
similar products and Prabha Kulkarni, Managing Director of
Kulkarni Engineering Associates Limited in Maharashtra.
Further citing examples of women entrepreneurs from
Assam, the name of Lalita Devi Jain, fondly known as
Madhu by the people of Guwahati, Assam is worth
mentioning. She stepped into the entrepreneurial world,
created her own brand 'Madhushree' and has marched her
way forward in the global market. She started with five
looms and over the period of last more than 25 years, she has
built up 50 looms. Almost 200 women are employed and they
all have become the part of the family to create the brand of
Madhushree. At present the brand has its own design centre
of 1500sq feet in the heart of Guwahati city and production
centre at Rajapara. Over the years reputation of Madhushree
has reached far flung region in the country and many Central
and State Ministers, bureaucrats and dignitaries have visited
its production centre to get firsthand experience of the
product.
Jahnabi Phookan, owner of Jungle Travels India is another
woman entrepreneur who has proved the fact that with
unsurpassable courage and indomitable strength of mind, it
is not difficult for a woman to turn her dreams into reality.
Along with her husband Ashish Phookan, Jahnabi has
successfully established her position in the tourism industry
not only in Assam but also in the whole North Eastern region.
Recognised by the Government of India, Ministry of
Tourism as a Tour Operator, Jungle Travels is now a leading
travel company of the North East India with offices in
17
Calcutta and four locations in the North East; Shillong in
Meghalaya, Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Jorhat and
Guwahati in the state of Assam.
These are only a few random names and there are many
women who have been doing equally good in their
respective fields as entrepreneurs. Nevertheless, this is
only one aspect of the women's entrepreneurial world
which looks quite bright and encouraging. No doubt,
glass ceilings are being shattered by women
entrepreneurs today but it is not a uniform process in
India. It is confined to only a particular section of women
who either had some kind of financial resources in hand
or the fortitude to pave their own way to success.
Empowering women entrepreneurs is truly essential for
achieving the goals of sustainable development of the
nation in totality. Therefore, right efforts from all areas
are required in the development of women entrepreneurs
and their greater participation in the entrepreneurial
activities. Government should extend better educational
facilities, suitable financial schemes, training on
technical and management skills and professional
competence to women folk and on the part of the society,
incessant support and recognition is equally essential.
Though the current situation in India is not
extraordinarily brilliant, the continuously evolving
paradigm and we can definitely expect the best in the
near future.
Moreover, there is gender
prejudices almost
everywhere. She is seen
as a woman first and then
as an entrepreneur. There
is also constant
competition and
antagonistic approach
from their male
counterparts that make
things more difficult for
them.
18 Interview

Liberating Leadership: A Talk with Prof. Isaac Getz

An interview exclusively for The Brahmaputra, Rhythm of the Promises”

Isaac Getz, with Ph.D.s in Psychology and Management, is a professor of Idea, Involvement, and Innovation Management at the top ranked
ESCP Europe Business School operating in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid and Turin, and has been a visiting professor at Cornell and
Stanford Universities and at the University of Massachusetts.
Named by a leading French business magazine as one of the top eight international business professors in Europe, in 2003 he co authored a
book that was a top three finalist for the Manpower Award for the best book of 2003 in France and has been translated into German, Dutch,
Spanish, and Italian. Isaac's work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and Fortune, as well as on TV and radio.
He is also an author/co author of four books, many articles and is an active public speaker. His most recent article “Liberating Leadership”
appeared in California Management Review. In 2009, he co authored his new book Freedom, Inc.: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead
Your Business to Higher Productivity, Profits, and Growth (Published by Crown Business/Random House in October 2009).
You can get in touch with him at isgetz@gmail.com
Find out more about his new book http://www.freedomincbook.com/

A n organization's successes or failures are finally

dependent on one big factor - its people. It has
always been a matter of much curiosity as to how
some companies manage to remain ahead in terms of
innovation, better customer satisfaction or larger market
share (despite the fact that its close competitors may have
similar quality products under their belts). The answer
perhaps lies in approaches towards leading people. To get
a better insight into this concept, The Brahmaputra got in
touch with Professor Isaac Getz, one of the top
international business professors in Europe. In his recently
released book Freedom, Inc., Prof. Getz talks about
“liberating leadership” required to build freedom-based
organizations that are more conducive (for employees) to
achieve phenomenal results and unprecedented growth for
the organizations.
Professor Getz speaks with Marie, exclusively for “The
Brahmaputra, Rhythm of the Promises” on leadership,
innovation and organizational behaviors some of the key
issues that his book has attempted to address.
The Brahmaputra: Prof. Getz, thank you for your time
and cooperation and congratulations for your recently
launched book Freedom, Inc. Your book speaks about a
noble approach to leadership which benefits both
employees' and the organization's success. Can you
enlighten our readers about this approach?
Prof. Getz: I wouldn't call it noble because the leaders
who use it don't call it that. Rather, they embraced this
leadership approach that my co-author Brian Carney and I
call liberating because it's great for business and for
employees. What they did was to build a corporate
environment in which every employee is free and
responsible to take actions they-not their bosses-decide
are the best for the company. Our book describes this
environment and provides many illustrations but its focus
is on the leaders who built these freedom-based
environments.
The Brahmaputra: Are there any factors of how this
approach might reach greater or less success in Asian
countries such as India, China or Vietnam compared to its
potential in the West?
Prof. Getz: National cultures and environments matter
but not as much as corporate cultures. If you go to a Toyota
plant in US or Europe and then in India, China or Thailand,
you'll find very similar norms of behavior respected
among the employees, like not blaming people for
mistakes but rather analyzing what went wrong and
improving the process so that the mistake is not repeated.
The same is true for freedom-based companies. One of the
liberating leaders we discuss in our book, Bob Davids,
built a freedom based company Radica Games in China,
beginning in the early 1990s with 97% of its 8.000

employees from mainland China. They were first surprised
to see a CEO who had no office and whose desk was the
same as-even worse than-theirs. They however, espoused
the freedom-based culture as well as employees in other
countries because it provided for their universal needs of
intrinsic equality (called also consideration, dignity,
courtesy, even love), growth, and self-direction.
The Brahmaputra: Aren't people programmed to an extent
to expect that when they go to work they will be told what to
do? If business leaders suddenly shift the decision making
power to their employees, might some amount of confusion
and chaos result in?
Prof. Getz: It's true that all the schooling systems (I assume
in Asia too) are built on the respect of authority, and students
who don't obey authority and don't follow the rules, even if
they are senseless, are quickly punished. As a result,
companies all over the word hire complacent people who
will execute an order even if they know that it will make a
customer flee or waste money. Of course, that is not the way
to reach great business performance and some leaders-many
of whom we discuss in the book-decided to change
radically. They went to build an environment opposite to the
command-and-control system that uses “teachers know all-
students know little” model with “bosses” and
“employees.” Liberating leaders, though, are aware that
their approach is radical and in order to implement it an
evolution and not a revolution is required.
The Brahmaputra: Is it more difficult to create a freedom
culture within organizations and cultures where hierarchies
have traditionally reined? Can a company's culture
successfully be more liberating than the culture of the
society surrounding it? For example, if we talk about
countries like India or China that are characterized by high
power distance cultures.
Prof. Getz: That's a very interesting question. First, at the
level of organizations, it's true that building a freedom-
based culture in a start-up is easier than transforming an
existing hierarchical company. Although, one shouldn't
idealize start-ups either because their employees are still
coming with the experience of hierarchical schools and/or
their previous companies and thus have a tendency to solve
problems through rules, policies, and controlling bosses.
Second, at the level of entire societies, it's true that some
Asian cultures are known for “high power distance,” Japan
included. This will definitely show up in companies where
such distances and strong power exist. But what happens if
the CEO stops wielding around his power, if he affirms that
front-line employees know better what needs to be done and
that he expects them to decide the best actions to take?
More, he behaves correspondingly, walks the talk: when
they still come to him with problems, he refuses “to take the
monkey off their shoulder” and rather asks them what they
propose to do. Such freedom-based corporate cultures have
been built in Asia, as I've told before, but you're right: they
may be quite different from what's going on in the larger
society. Although, I wouldn't confuse the millennium's long,
19
religiously and philosophically enthused respect for
elder and wiser members in Asian cultures with the fear
of arbitrary power that some political wielders may
inspire.
The Brahmaputra: What benefits can freedom-based
cultures bring to innovation in organizations?
Prof. Getz: Good question. It's indeed one of the main
business benefits of freedom-based cultures and explain
why these companies show such a tremendous profitable
growth. Indeed, most recent studies of innovation show
that it cannot be managed. That innovation unlike say,
supply chain management, is not a process that can be
programmed in steps and controlled. Innovation is a
stochastic phenomenon which needs a lot of
experimentation out of which a small proportion will
convert into new and useful product, services, process or
business models. But, one can never know in advance
what experiment will be the most successful in the end.
So the most I-believe the only-approach to successful
continuous innovation is gardening: you provide an eco-
system, water, mineral, light, protection from the bad
weather elements and you let “one thousand flowers
bloom.” Statistically, several of them-but you never
know which ones-will be spectacular. Of course, the
million dollar question is what kind of corporate
environment is best to provide this garden? Obviously, a
command-and-control one with its planning and
managing focus doesn't, since it tries to predict in what
“flowers” one should invest. Now, in the freedom-based
environment, everyone can come up-and many do-with
the idea and start a small, low-cost experimentation, and
then if the results are interesting, continue with it. So you
get “one thousand flowers” all the time, and some great
one regularly.
The Brahmaputra: It seems that you are advocating
workplaces to become free of rules and control systems -
how can business leaders ensure that employees will act
towards the best interest of the firm and not out of self-
interest? Is it possible to strike a sweet balance between
freedom and control?
Prof. Getz: Freedom is not anarchy, it's inseparable from
responsibility. So if you give employees the freedom to
take actions that is the best for the company, you also
have to give them the criteria to assess what this “best”
means. These criteria come from the corporate vision,
that liberating leaders actively share with everyone. In
command-and-control companies, vision criteria are
used only by the top executives in what is called
“strategic decisions.” For the rest of the folks, detailed
rules and procedures-and controls accompanying them-
are established so that people down the ladder don't ask
too many questions and just execute what they are told to.
Of course, very often, frontline people see that in their
local geographical or time conditions these procedures
don't work; but they have no freedom to take actions that
they know do work. Not in the freedom-based
20

companies. There everyone owns the vision, “why we are doing what we're doing,” such as providing outstanding
customer service. “How” they do it is up to these knowledgeable employees.
The Brahmaputra: What advice might you have for existing and upcoming business leaders in India, if they desire to
create a freedom based culture?
Prof. Getz: Read our book. No, I'm serious. This is as much a philosophical, existential book as it is a business book. I'd
like to believe that it's more the first than the second. Indeed, every leader has to ask himself a certain amount of personal,
existential questions like what's his dream for his company that he wishes to share with its every employee, what's the
corporate environment that is the best to satisfy people's universal human needs so that they are self-motivated to get up
every morning with the pleasant thought of spending a day in advancing this dream even further. Leaders can also ask
themselves the opposite questions: What nightmare would I hate to achieve for my company and what is the environment
that would go completely against my employees' universal human needs and make them wish to go on sleeping when the
alarm clock rings in the morning.
The Brahmaputra: Lastly Prof. Getz, what brought you to be interested in this topic of research? How do your
background in innovation and other topics link to your passion for freedom cultures in organizations?
Prof. Getz: During my observations of some very innovative companies I became puzzled by the atmosphere that
reigned in them. Simply speaking, people were smiling to each other all the time. This indicated that there was more going
on in these companies than some “innovation management” mechanisms. How do you build environments where
everyone smiles? It became a mystery that I set myself to resolve.
 21

Helmsmen: Why Some Companies

Are a Good Option

M y magazine recently announced the Outlook Money-

NDTV Profit Awards, 2009, which recognise the best
players in banking, insurance, mutual funds, equity,
debt and all the other categories that make up the financial sector.
These awards have come to stand for a benchmark, not just of
performance, but also as an aid to individual investors in zeroing
in on offerings from these companies.
There are various criteria for judging the best in each category:
obviously, criteria differ from sector to sector, and weightage for
criteria also varies, based on the nature of the product and the
people who create, sell or buy them.
For instance, what makes a bank better than the other, really? The
cost an ordinary citizen incurs while banking is important, as is
convenience. You have a bank with more ATMs and shorter
queues, that's an advantage. How fast does a bank approve loans,
and after approval, how fast are these loans disbursed? What is
the reach of the bank? All these factors cannot be taken in
isolation. A bank might have a branch in every boondock in this
country, but if you still need to sweat in line for a couple of hours
for a simple over-the-counter transaction, the purpose will not be
served.
So, all these factors combine and inter-play to provide the
complete picture for the customer. And this fact is equally true
when it comes to deciding among the best in (take your pick)
manufacturing, related services, pharma, you name it.
The requirements of the consumer are naturally different from
yours: the management graduate's. You have a set of
expectations, possibly some rules that you are in the process of
refining, while deciding which company or which sector to focus
on while job-hunting or riding the career graph. But there is one Siddhartha Sarma is Associate Copy Editor, Outlook
factor you have in common with the consumer, one criteria Money, India's largest personal finance magazine, and is
which both of you seek in your target companies: leadership. based in Delhi. Formerly an award winning investigative
journalist, he has covered external affairs, insurgency, crime
Going back to our awards: some companies keep re-appearing at and law. He is also the author of the novel The
the top of the heap, and some individuals helming them, have Grasshopper's Run and other fictional works.
almost become, what you might term regulars. Why is that? The He is from Guwahati and did his schooling at Don Bosco
financial industry has seen a lot of ups and downs in the past one High School, later passing Higher Secondary from Cotton
year, one of the few parts of the world economy hit the most, the College. A few years later, he worked with The Sentinel
hardest and the quickest by the downturn. The rules of the game newspaper.
have changed, returns to investment are not what they used to be, His phone number: 0 9910407002.
strategies had to be hastily altered and entire tactical scenarios email: siddhartha.is@gmail.com
re-worked overnight. Insurers, fund houses, banks, they all
struggled to stay afloat. Some went under, others survived, a few
prospered. These few were led by people who were quick, even
prophetic, at noticing the downturn and its causes. They were
quicker at creating damage-control mechanisms, and also found
the time to come up with new offerings reflecting the new market
and the needs of the harried, hassled customer. They stayed on
top all the way.
22
It is then, no surprise that these companies are also among
those which are preferred places to work. With a few
exceptions here and there, managers who are very good at
their jobs, are also good bosses. They encourage an inner
work culture relatively free of the kind of insecurity that
plagues the less efficient or the less competent. Why?
Because people who are good at their jobs are inherently
confident of themselves and at home in their working
environment. It is therefore not in their interests to create
cliques or situations that lead to infighting. That's a big
plus right there, if workplace ambience matters to you, as
it should.
They do not exactly promote the ours-is-one-big-happy-
family idea, because, let's face it, workplace is workplace
and family is at home. Instead they encourage true
teamwork, everyone doing their jobs under a stable chain
of command, people taking and handling responsibilities.
They also rarely become slave-drivers.
These organisations, being led by people who, as
mentioned earlier, are up-to-date and even prophetic, are
also keenly aware of the needs of employees. I had a little
discussion the other day with some industry watchers on
expected workplace changes in the coming year. We all
agreed that inflation would play a big spoiler to career
decisions. One way companies could handle this would
be, to evolve packages for employees, which acts as the
adequate factor in inflation, something like the good old
dearness allowance, remodeled to reflect the open market.
So we looked at each other and wondered aloud which
companies would move first to secure their employees'
interests before the coming inflation tsunami hits our
shores. Guess which names came up? Yup, that's right.
The same organizations that routinely create a better
environment for consumers, also move the quickest at
creating more comfortable situations for the people who
work in them.
Sure, the other companies might also make tentative
moves, but I seriously doubt if they can progress beyond
the sad old notion, that in a free market, attrition exists, so
if someone leaves us, we will hire others. If someone
works for you and is good, you take steps to retain them.
And it is in such organizations that you should seek
employment, not just because of the package or the
working environment, but also because of the many good
lessons in corporate leadership you will learn.
So these other companies, which have so far been also-
rans in different industries, will continue to be largely
indifferent not just to market requirements but to
employee needs. Finally, forced by trends and other
external factors, they will take a few hesitant steps in the
right direction. And they will be almost on time.
Sadly, 'almost' only counts in horseshoes and hand
grenades.
Business Paper
Organization Knowledge: An Attempt at
Conceptualization
Prantik Bordoloi is presently a Doctoral candidate at Asian Institute
of Technology, Thailand. His areas of consulting and research
interests are in Knowledge Management, E Learning, Healthcare,
and Corporate Training Design and Development. Prantik grew up in
Duliajan, completed his school and college from Kendriya Vidyalaya
and Jorhat Engineering College respectively. He can be reached at
prantikb@gmail.com; and his LinkedIn profile can be accessed at
www.linkedin.com/in/prantik
“Prantik warns that the paper that follows is rather academic and
'dry'. He is willing to take flak for the paper by email.”
1. Introduction
T he value of intangible assets of an organization
was brought into the focus by Tobin's q. Tobin's q
is the ratio of a firm's market value and the
replacement value of firm's assets. Tobin's q highlighted
the role of intangibles for an organization. Though assets
like brands are also intangibles, now there is a recognized
place for knowledge as a strategic asset. It is now accepted
that knowledge leads to organizational capabilities,
which is the starting point for an organization to develop
its core competencies that leads to competitive advantage
(Prahalad and Hamel, 1990).
Strategic management now recognizes the 'economic'
role of knowledge. It has been noted the organizations that
utilize knowledge can more effectively coordinate and
utilize traditional resources as well, leading to
development of new capabilities, by which they can
provide additional value to customers (Teece et al. ,
1997). Also the current changes in the social and
economic patters of the society, like greater importance
for the service sector, better informed and a more
networked society, are having an implication on how
organizations manage their resources and knowledge has
been identified as a “key resource and driver for
organizational performance and value creation” (Marr et
al., 2004).
There are many aspects of knowledge in an organization,
which has been the focus of researchers. These include
(Choo and Bontis, 2002)
m How do organizations create knowledge and share
them?
m What is the value of knowledge in an organization?
m How does organization effectively manage
knowledge for competitive advantage?
m What difference does the knowledge based view of
the firm make?
m What are the principles based on which a
knowledge-based strategy can be formulated?
23
mWhat are in fact, knowledge-goals?
But it has to be noted that central to all these research
questions is the assumption as to what constitutes
organizational knowledge? The objective of this paper
hence is to explore the core concepts and perspectives that
have went into understanding, how knowledge exists in an
organization. It is also intended that if possible, I would
synthesize these different perspectives and try to
formulate a framework of organizational knowledge.
Since this paper will refer to the terms of epistemology
and ontology, which have multiple and sometimes
confusing interpretations, I would like to clarify their
meanings as I have interpreted them. Epistemology to me
it is the study of knowledge, which tries to evaluate what
classifies as knowledge, and how knowledge can be
systematically organized. Ontology on the other hand tries
to organize and understand knowledge as a hierarchical
phenomenon.
2. Knowledge in Organizations
2.1 Attempts at Organization Knowledge
Classification
“…. there is knowledge consisting of what the
organization believes about its identity and its purpose, its
capabilities and its environment. Knowledge is embedded
in the physical goods the organization produces and in the
rules and the routines that the organization develops.
Individual and groups possess knowledge derived from
experience, skillful practice and personal collective
insight.” (Choo and Bontis, 2002; pg. viii)
Knowledge in organizations does not have similar
origins or uniform applications, but is developed from
different origins and engaged in different modes. Much
literature within the domain of organizational learning has
been devoted to understanding how knowledge manifests
itself in an organization. Carrying a review of literature
and adapting from the typology of knowledge as
postulated by Collins (1993), Blackler (1995) has
identified five ways in which knowledge manifests exists
24

in an organization: embrained, embodied, encultured, knowledge-routinized organizations, which

emdebbed and encoded.
Embrained knowledge has been defined by Blackler as the
knowledge which is abstract and is “dependent on conceptual
skills and cognitive abilities” (Blackler, 1995). Embodied
knowledge signifies skills and competencies for action or
practical activity (Walton & Guarisco, 2007). Encultured
knowledge has been defined by Blackler (1995) as the “process
to achieve shared understandings”. Embedded knowledge
derives itself from the rules, technologies, formal and emergent
processes of an organization, and Encoded knowledge is what is
conveyed through signs and symbols and can be transferred
without loss trough traditional as well as electronic media
(Collins, 1993; Blackler, 1995).
While all these dimensions of knowledge will exist in an
organization, some of the dimensions might be more prominent
according to context (Walton & Guarisco, 2007). Walton and
Guarisco (2007) further goes on to state that familiar problems
might be addressed by embedded and embodied knowledge,
whereas embrained knowledge will be better suited to deal with
unfamiliar problems. They further state that encultured
knowledge might act as a mediator to learning and change in an
organization in the context of problem solving. Based on
whether organizations utilize individuals or collective effort to
solve familiar or unfamiliar problems, Blackler (1995) has
classified organizations as: (i) expert-dependent organizations,
which depend on the embodied knowledge of the experts; (ii)
depend on the embedded knowledge in the
organization; (iii) symbolic-analyst dependent,
which depend on the embrained knowledge of the
individuals; and (iv) communication-intensive
organizations, which depend on the encultured
knowledge amongst the individuals in the
organization.
These classifications bring forward the
individual and the collective/organizational aspect
of knowledge. Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) while
classifying knowledge as explicit and implicit also
emphasizes that knowledge can be created and used
by an individual, a group or an organization. Cook
and Brown (1999) also classify knowledge based on
whether it is explicit or tacit and whether it is
owned/possessed by the individual or the group.
This is further elaborated by Nonaka (1994) in the
Organizational Knowledge Creation Spiral and the
SECI Model.
Poikela (2004) has suggested that encoded and
embedded knowledge can be viewed as “objective
resources” as they have no direct relation to
individuals, and embrained and embodied
knowledge as “subjective resources” as they reside
within an individual. Encultured knowledge
meanwhile is not only dependent on the individual
but also on the informal and formal processes and

Encoded Knowledge
The
ory
Practice

Encultured Embrained Knowledge

Knowledge Embodied Knowledge

ce
pe rien
Ex
Embedded Knowledge

Figure 1: The Organizational Knowledge Triangle (adapted from Poikela, 2004)

knowledge as such can be presented in a triangle
(Figure 1) “which separates theory, practice and
experience” (Poikela, 2004).
Some organization knowledge classification has been
based on the practical need to actually manage and use
knowledge at an operative level in the organization. For
the purpose of managing professionals, Quinn et. al.
(1996) has suggested that professional 'intellect' or
knowledge operates in four-levels: know-what, know-
how, know-why and care-why. Know-what is basically
the 'cognitive' knowledge of individuals that is acquired
through training and certification. Know-how or
'advanced skills' as they mention them are the intellectual
capability to transform know-what to real-world
problems. Know-why or 'systems understanding' is a deep
understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships that
underline the particular context in question. Care-why or
'self-motivated creativity' consists of will, motivation and

adaptability to success. Care-why allow individuals in
organizations to adapt to external conditions and move
towards organizational goals.
Similar to Quinn et.al., Demarest (1997) has suggested 4
categories of organizational knowledge knowledge that is
imperative or cultural, predictive or having a pattern, bound
by rules, and knowledge which are prescriptions for
performance. This classification is derived to understand the
attributes of knowledge that affect organizational processes
and hence their value for short-term performance gains.
Boisot (2002) analyzed the creation and sharing of
knowledge in an organization using his 'information space'
model. He has analyzed knowledge through the dimensions
of 'abstraction', 'codification', and 'diffusion'. His
'information space' is a three-dimensional matrix of these
three dimensions of abstraction, codification and diffusion.
Boisot defines abstraction as the number of cognitive
categories required to make sense of events, by an
individual. The fewer categories it takes for an individual to
make sense of the activity, the more abstract is the
apprehension of the event by the individual. Similarly, the
more categories it takes to make sense, the concrete is the
apprehension. Hence the range of abstraction will be from
abstract to concrete. In contrast, Boisot defines codification
as the degree of refinement of these cognitive categories. In
his words “the fewer data individuals have to process to
distinguish between categories, the more codified” the
categories are.
Boisot states that knowledge which is more abstract and
codified will probably also be more diffused. This diffusion
will result in the knowledge being absorbed by individuals
and put into practice, which might in fact lead to embedded
knowledge.
Holsapple and Joshi (2001) have classified
organizational knowledge based on whether the
organizational knowledge resource can exist independent of
the organization or not. The knowledge resources that can
exist independent of the organization are classified as
“Content” and those that cannot as “Schema”. The authors
have identified four schematic resources culture,
infrastructure, purpose and strategy. Schematic resource
may change over time, but their existence depends on the
organizations existence and they are a source of value to the
organization. Participants and artifacts comprise content
resources. Participants and artifacts can have existence
separate of the organization which hosts them at any point of
time. The schema knowledge resources shape the working of
an organization. Collectively they are the basis of the
organizations identity and also are the basis for attracting,
organizing and deploying content resources. It is important
to note here that participants here mean an individual or a
group of individuals which can be both internal to the
organization and external, like customers, partners and
suppliers.
2.2 The Intellectual Capital Approach
25
Intellectual capital has also emerged as one of the
important frameworks in organizational learning and
knowledge management domain. Intellectual capital
has its origins from the attempts to determine how and
what 'intangibles' contribute to the value of the firm. It
was probably one of the major frameworks which
caught the fancy of researchers to analyze the firm's
worth during the dotcom boom. It is also probably one of
the better frameworks to study knowledge from an
ontological perspective. Frameworks of knowledge
categorization using Intellectual capital put forward by
Teece (2000), Sveiby (2001) and Petrash (1996) are
similar. They recognize individual employee knowledge
as human capital, organizational processes,
organizational structures and organizational culture as
organizational capital and knowledge from external
sources like customers, suppliers as external knowledge
sources. These classifications deal with the intangible
resources. Bontis (1999) has proposed the widely used
and referred framework for managing knowledge based
on the diagnosing the intellectual capital resources at an
organization. He had conceptualized that intellectual
capital has three sub-constructs:
Human Capital: the tacit knowledge embedded in
l
the minds of the individuals in the organization
Structural
l Capital: knowledge from the
organizational routines
Relational
l Capital: the knowledge embedded in
the relationships with the external enviromment
Fernandez et. al. (2000), has defined intangible
resources of an organization as “soft” resources.
According to their classification, organizational
knowledge is differentiated into four types: human
capital, organizational capital, technological capital and
relational capital. The first type is individual dependent,
whereas the others are not. Human capital has been
defined by the authors as knowledge acquired by
individuals that increases their professional
qualification and value of their contribution to the
organization. This also includes personal contacts and
relations, and other individual qualities such as
reputation, experience, judgment, intelligence and
loyalty. Human capital can usually be distinguished as
generic or specific. Generic human capital is equally
important for all similar organizations but specific
human capital is knowledge which is important for one
organization or one specific activity within an
organization. The authors define Organization capital as
something which contributes to the order, stability and
quality to the organization. An organizations norms and
guidelines, databases, organizational routines and
corporate culture, as well as its strategic alliances,
constitute its organizational capital. Technological
capital is defined by Fernandez et. al., as the knowledge
that an organization possesses to access, use and
26
innovate production and process technologies. These
can include both be codified (like patents) or tacit (in
individuals tacit knowledge of R&D and processes) or trade
secrets (like Coca Cola's formula). Fernandez et. al., define
Relational capital as the potential of the intangibles for the
organization, that it derive from the market place or the
environment it which it is operating (like reputation, brands,
customer loyalty, supplier relations, etc.). A large part of
relational capital is derived from the reputation of the
organization, which itself is derived from its level of “social
legitimation”. Social legitimacy is formed from the past
action of the organization and is a predictor for its future
actions.
Though new classifications for Intellectual Capital seem
to appear in literature, they are still variations of the model
proposed by Bontis, wherein the underlying components are
changed and the way these subcomponents interact are
studied differently.
Probably now the literature on intellectual capital seem
to focus on the development of metrics and measures, to
accurately ascertain the value of intellectual capital in an
organization. Still much of the literature in the field of
intellectual capital measurement is still in the theory
building stage and very less of these models are actually
being empirically tested (Marr et. al., 2003). The primary
ways in which intellectual capital measure are considered,
are through Human Resource Accounting (HRA), Market
Value Addition (MVA), Skandia Navigator, Economic
Value Added (EVA) and Balanced Scorecard (Chen et. al.,
2004; Tayles et. al., 2002).
2.3 Where does trust come in?
Due to the importance of relational and structural capital
dimensions, the tacit nature of knowledge embodied in the
organization is evident. In fact, Bontis (1999) describes trust
and culture as two supporting drivers for development of
intellectual capital in an organization. Bontis argues that as
organizations become more and more flatter and disperse
geographically, traditional norms of control will be needed
to be updated, to reflect the increased need to trust
individuals and groups, to carry out critical tasks without
close and frequent supervision.
This leads right into the arguments on the changing
forms of an organization and the need to understand the
importance of trust in an organization. Researchers now
agree that there are typically three organizational forms: (a)
the hierarchy/bureaucratic form, (b) the market form, and
(c) the community/clan form (Adler, 2002; Ouchi, 1980;
Zenger and Hesterly, 1997). The hierarchy/bureaucratic
form uses authority and rules as coordination mechanisms,
the market form uses price as the coordinating mechanism,
and the community/clan form uses trust as the coordinating
mechanism (Adler, 2002; Ouchi, 1980).
While some see the organization forms as a three or two
way trade off or alternatives (Ouchi, 1980; Williamson,
1993), some also suggest that organizational form can be a
combination of these modes (Adler, 2002; Zenger
and Hesterly, 1997). The combination of market and
hierarchy forms is often seen in the mix of incentives
and authority that is typically found in employment
relations between divisions and headquarters of large
multidivisional organizations, and in relations between
Relational High-trust
contracting Hybrids
High
Spot Low-trust
market Hybrids
Market
Enabling
Clan bureaucracy
Low
Asocial Coercive
horde bureaucracy
Low High
Hierarchy
Figure 2:Institutional Forms in the Market,
Hierarchy and Community Mix (from Adler, 2002) -
(low-trust forms in lower left triangles; high-trust
forms in upper right triangles)
firms and their suppliers (Adler, 2002). Adler also
suggests that this hierarchy/authority mix takes trust as
a third component. He provides the framework to
analyze the three dimensional mix of hierarchy, market
and community as summarized in Figure 2.
Adler (2002) discusses the aspects of knowledge in
the first two organizational modes. Under the
hierarchy/bureaucratic form, he asserts that
“knowledge is treated as a scarce resource and is
therefore concentrated, along with decision rights, in
specialized functional units and at higher levels of the
organization. Research has shown that organizations
structured in the hierarchical mode are efficient when
performing routine and particular tasks but face quite a
bit of difficulty when they are required to work in
innovative new tasks which require new knowledge to
be generated or used. Adler observes that under the
price mechanism, the dynamics of competition, supply
and demand leads to Perato-optimal (i.e, no one's
welfare can be increased without reducing someone
else's) level of social welfare. As such knowledge in this
case, faces an allocation production trade-off. On one
hand, the production of new knowledge would be
optimized by establishing strong intellectual property
rights that create the incentive to generate knowledge,
and on the other hand not only are these intellectual
property rights difficult to enforce, but they
fundamentally block the optimal allocation of
knowledge.
Adler suggests that trust, which is a key component

in the community form of organization, can make
possible an enlarged scope of knowledge generation and
sharing. Trust can reduce transaction costs (by replacing
contracts with handshakes) and agency risks (by
replacing the fear of misrepresentation with mutual
confidence). When knowledge takes the tacit form, trust
will almost become like a precondition for effective
knowledge transfer. Trust will be even so more important
when the context is about interfirm relations.
In general, Trust, Adler notes, is not one-dimensional,
rather its dimensions can be analyzed in terms of its
generation (i.e., sources and mechanisms of trust
generation) and its targets (i.e., the objects and the bases
on which trust is invested). From a review of literature
Adler has compiled the components that comprise these
four dimensions of trust. The three sources of trust are:
familiarity through repeated interaction, calculative trust
based on interests, and from norms and values that create
predictability and trustworthiness. Trust is generated
through three mechanisms, by direst interpersonal
contact, by reputation through a network of other trusted
parties, and by understanding the way institutions shape
the other individuals values and behaviors. Three generic
objects of trust can be distinguished: a person, an
impersonal system, or a collectivity. Finally the bases of
trust can be the other individuals or party's consistency
('contractual trust'), competence, benevolence (or loyalty,
concern, fiduciary trust), honesty (or integrity), and
openness.
Adler has proposed that in the new knowledge
economy wherein the organization mode will be a mix of
hierarchy, market and community, the trust that is
embedded in the organization will not be based on loyalty
or tradition, but it will be built upon the values of
competence and integrity. Trust thought in this case will
be tempered with by hierarchical rules to ensure stability
and by market competition to ensure flexibility.
2.4 Moving from Knowledge to Knowing
Nonaka (1991, 1995) noted that knowledge is
something which is always created by an organization
though a continuous process in which it first identifies the
problem, and creates new knowledge to solve it. But as
Blackler (1995) notes, this approach and many of the
knowledge classification approaches discussed before
assumes that knowledge is a distinct entity in itself.
Cook and Brown (1999) and Blackler (1995)
differentiate 'knowledge' and 'knowing'. They state that
while knowledge can be used in action, it is not generally
the action. Taking the 'pragmatist' perspective, they argue
that an organization should not be concerned with
“knowledge which is seen as abstract, but with 'knowing',
which is a part of concrete and dynamic human activity”.
Cook and Brown (1999) state that “knowledge is a tool of
knowing, and knowing is an aspect of our interaction with
the social and physical world”. They accept it that
individuals and groups use both explicit and tacit
27
knowledge, in what they do; but they argue that not
everything they know how to do, can be explained in
terms of the knowledge that they possess. They explain
knowing with the analogy of riding a bike. When
someone rides a bike they use their tacit knowledge stay
upright, but this is not enough that person to ride. Riding
the bike requires an interaction between the tacit
knowledge of the person and the activity of being in
motion on a bike. This interaction they term as
'knowing'. Knowing they state “is to interact with and
honor the world using knowledge as a tool.”
Vygotsky's approach to understanding human mind
and society state that the consciousness of human beings
is shaped by social experiences (this is considered to the
Marxist approach as opposed to the capitalist approach
which focuses on the clear distinction of cognitive and
explicit knowledge). This probably is the basis of
activity theory, which attempts to provide a unified
account of knowledge and work. As Balckler (1995) has
noted, there are two approaches to activity theory, one
which concentrates on the “processes through which
people develop shared conceptions of their activities”,
and the other which “tries to model the relationships
which exists between the activities and the material,
mental and social resources (Engestrom, 1987)”, cited
here in the context of an organization.
Engestrom (1987), proposed the socially-distributed
activity system, which tries to analyze the relationships
between individuals (agents), the community of which
they are part of, and the object, which is the activity that
they do. These relationships are further mediated by the
instruments (technologies, language etc.) which the
agent uses to accomplish the activity, the rules through
which the agent is linked to the community, and the
division of labor and the role system that has been
adopted by the community (Blackler, 1995). Figure 3,
depicts this activity system.
Instruments: language,
technologies
Agent Activity
Rules (Implicit or Community Division of
Labor, Roles
Explicit)
Figure 3: Model of Socially-Distributed Activity System
(Adapted from Engestrom, 1987; Blackler, 1995)
Based on Engestrom's model Blackler (1995)
suggests that the dynamics of the activity system reflect
the complexities in an organization. Lack of cohesion
and clarity between the relationships always results in
tensions in the activity system. But dynamic, as it is the
28

activity system adjusts to these by changing its constituents. New knowledge and new ways of interactions (in a sense
'knowing') will emerge from these adjustments. This is similar to Dewey's concept of 'productive inquiry' as explained by
Cook and Brown (1999). They describe productive enquiry as “that aspect of any activity where we are deliberately
(though not always consciously) seeking what we need, in order to do what we want to do.”
Thus taking a pragmatic, social and an activity, or rather practice based approach, it can be asserted that knowledge not
only needs to be looked into as a static and distinct activity, but also as a constantly evolving and transforming entity. It has
to be looked in as result of dynamic activity systems.
3. CONCLUSION
Organizational Knowledge has been studied in the literature in many ways to pursue different research interests. But
basically knowledge in an organization is an interplay of theory, practice and experience. This interplay happens within a
context. The context when conceptualized with regards to an organization would include its organization form (with all its
internal mechanisms and activities) and the external environment of the organization. Activity theory (through

Instruments: language,
technologies The
ory

EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT
Practice
Knowledge
Agent Activity

ce
ien
per
Ex

Rules (Implicit Community Division of

or Explicit) Labor, Roles
Organizational Form

Figure 4 A Conceptualization of Organizational Knowledge

Engestrom's socially-distributed activity system) provides a framework to study and explore the practice component.
Figure 4, presents a conceptualization of the aforesaid arguments.
Within this interplay of theory, practice and experience, Organizational Knowledge can be classified by way of
epistemology and/or ontology. There are various epistemological dimensions and their combinations, in which
organizational knowledge has been studied,
Explicit knowledge vs implicit/tacit knowledge
l

Level of abstraction
l

Individual vs group knowledge

l

Knowledge from internal sources vs from external sources

l

How diffused in the knowledge

l

Possession and activity based approaches

l

Researchers have picked some or combination of these dimensions to maintain consistency with the context of the
organization.
Taking the intellectual capital approach to understand organizational knowledge gives a good framework to
understand and probably deduce the 'value' of knowledge in an organization. Intellectual capital also provides an
ontological based perspective of organizational knowledge. Presently, researchers seem to have pretty much a consensus
on the broad categories of subcomponents of intellectual capital, but here are still diverse opinions in terms of relations
between the subcomponents, what constitutes these subcomponents and what metrics to use to measure them. Many of
these opinions also occur because of the context in which the studies are conducted.
Some radical pragmatic approach to organizational knowledge differs a lot from the generally accepted concepts. The
pragmatic approach states that the traditional concepts of knowledge as abstract, disembodied and individual and formal,
are unrealistic. They state that practical knowledge is always constructed and undergoes transformation while in use, and
hence it is foundationless and partial. These arguments have been taken forward to propose the concept of 'knowing'
which is an aspect of our interaction with the social and physical world.

Choosing an approach to organizational knowledge
would mean having clear understanding of the context
and the issue that is under investigation. Though not
ideal, this would possibly minimize inconsistencies
when exploring and making deductions.
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30 International

Resilience: A View from Pakistan

Zunaira Malik and Jazib Zahir have recently completed thier
Masters in Business from the prestigious Lahore University
of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Pakistan. Zunaira came
to India for her exchange program, to the Indian School of
Business,where she exhibited interest in learning about
opportunities for economic and academic cooperation
between the two countries. Her professional ambitions are
focused on marketing. She has also worked in the
telecommunications and agri business industries. Jazib
Zahir has worked in engineering management for the
telecommunication industry. He is involved in the strategic
opertation in several high tech startups in Pakistan.

I n this particular decade, Pakistan has suffered

more than its fair share of woes. It tends to draw
headlines primarily for militant uprisings in
Waziristan and frequent suicide bombings that hold the
nation in a terror grip. The blame game with India that
ensued following the Mumbai shootings in 2008, has not
endeared the country to foreigners scrutinizing it for
investment opportunities. There is a national electricity
shortage as previous governments have neglected to
spend foreign aid on the infrastructure needed to support
a burgeoning economy.
In 2008, the stress on macroeconomic stability was
most visible in an unsustainable balance of payments
position and the depreciating rupee. The central bank
attempted to counter this by setting up an interest rate
corridor and accepting much needed assistance from the
IMF, in the form of US$ 7.6 billion. As a condition to
accepting the IMF loan, the government has adopted
stabilization measures with a tighter monetary and fiscal
policy, along with various structural adjustments, in
order to improve the liquidity situation. The idea now is
to attract foreign investment in the form of development
projects, since infrastructural shortcomings are a major
impediment to our growth.
However, an optimist might see the brighter side of
the situation, by observing the mushrooming
entrepreneurial ventures. From herbal beauty workshops
to bakeries, internet startups to coffee-shops, small
businesses have emerged on the commercial scene. This
can be owed in part to the recession, since the youth of the
country, being unable to find gainful employment, has
been driven to find alternative outlets for its business
acumen. It is refreshing to see young people so
committed to running their own enterprises. Many
realized the cash crunch many families were facing and
the need to spend on better and less costly merchandise.
Others got fed up waiting for multinationals to end the
hiring freeze and decided to let their creative juices flow.
Luckily for most Pakistanis, their elders had money
saved up for a rainy day. This can be owed to the frugality
gene, that is possessed by those born in the subcontinent.
These savings came to save the day for most who wished to
start something new which they believed would sell. Zoya's
herbal workshop, Masoom's bakery and See'n'Report are
some of the names that come to mind. (See'n'Report is a
People Powered News service. It empowers citizens to
report photos and videos of unfolding news events directly
from their cell phones. The readers get a first- hand account
of breaking news stories, as and when they happen.)
Pakistan is focusing on education as the best means of
ensuring long-term productivity of the economy. The
founding of Pakistan's first private sector science and
engineering school at the Lahore University of Management
Sciences (LUMS), is part of a national aspiration to emulate
the Silicon Valley model of technology diffusion, from
laboratory to industry. It is also part of a realization that the
brightest minds of the country need to be given an incentive
to study and pursue careers in Pakistan, by offering them
local options of high quality. While a school like LUMS is
fortunate to have access to the deep pockets of successful
industrialists, financiers and the Pakistani diaspora around
the world, public institutions are less fortunate. The concern
here is that class distinctions may widen and cause socio-
economic conditions to deteriorate. The government has
attempted to redress this balance by providing additional
investment to public institutions to ameliorate their
standards. But there remains a significant discrepancy in
opportunities for public and private school graduates.
Pakistan has certainly benefited from the role of
returning expatriates, who bring with them professionalism,
energy and the spirit of entrepreneurship. Many are from a
generation that sought greener pastures when younger but is
looking for a less frenetic environment, as retirement looms.
Others are disillusioned by the opportunities abroad in the
light of tighter immigration controls and xenophobic
sentiments. Many such expatriates have taken the initiative
to found small companies out of their homes, that have
increased employment opportunities and provided a means
Fraud
of developing products and services for the local market. Many
such startups focus on foreign clientele and compete on a cost
basis, particularly as call centers, business process outsourcing
centers and web marketing establishments. The challenge for these
startups is to move up the value chain with time, so that their
functions in turn are not outsourced to competing low cost centers
such as those emerging in South-East Asia and inevitably in Africa.
Professionals with foreign training have a tendency to introduce a
Research and Development based environment within the country
and also encourage employees to continue to sharpen their skills
through additional education while on the job.
Government policy will remain critical to the improvement of
our economic fundamentals. The government remains focused on
agri-business and has set up relevant investment funds. It realizes
the benefits of technology clusters and is attempting to expand the
equivalent of IT parks in the country. There has been recent interest
in the deployment of renewable energy infrastructure, starting
Satyam Fiasco:
Understanding Audit Failure
Binoy Kr Das is a Chartered Accountant practicing at Guwahati, with 25
years of experience as auditor and tax consultant for various firms in the North
East of India. He has a brilliant academic record behind him, holding ranks in
HSLC as well as HS (then PU) exams. He did his MSc in Physics from the GU
before deciding on a career in Chartered Accountancy. He is a long standing
partner of Das & Sharma, Chartered Accountants. He is a keen follower of
developments in the IT field and its use in improving the life of people. When
work doesn't keep him busy, he travels and reads books and keeps himself well
informed.
P ost Satyam, a great deal of interest has been generated
amongst the people about the roles played by auditors vis a
vis the corporate sector. The people are naturally curious to
know about the duties and responsibilities of the auditors and also
the likely impacts the audit failure entails.
From whatever has appeared in the newspapers and other media,
Satyam appears to be a case of unbridled greed of one man, Raju
Ramalingam coupled with failure of the auditors to do a thorough
professional job. Its negative impact on the India Inc. and more
particularly on the IT sector has been immense and somebody has
rightly compared it to the Mumbai terror attack. While it will take
sometime for the investigators and other agencies to unravel the
complete shenanigans of the erstwhile CEO, and the case may
linger before he can be convicted and put behind bars, in case of the
auditors the regulatory body ICAI, has already completed its
inquiries in the role of the auditors and has started disciplinary
proceedings.
31
with an extensive wind farm, along the Karachi
coast. Solar energy is of great interest given the
intensity of sunlight available in the country but a
regulatory framework that provides incentive to
pursue such ventures is not yet in place.
This country has been through much these past
sixty two years but it is noteworthy that it possesses
remarkable resilience in the face of all adversity.
One can witness it in the heated dialogue on
economic policy that transpires between people
from all walks of life. We hope that these dialogues
and questions bring in accountability at all levels, so
that stability can be restored to the country that is
immensely gifted and has the potential to be self-
sustaining, in the years to come.
But this episode and its aftermath have thrown up
certain issues which need to be understood and
analyzed. Correct lessons are required to be learnt
so that the future may be spared of coming across
more such cases. However, one may be excused if
a little cynicism is displayed at the reactions of the
government machinery. It has displayed
uncommon zeal and swiftness in moving in and
starting vigorous investigation into the issue, by
engaging different agencies under its jurisdiction.
The top GOI Ministers, right from the PM, has
expressed their dismay and disapproval of the
whole thing at various forums and interviews.
But let us not be fooled by their holier than thou
32
attitude. If we remember the fates of the reports of the CAG on
various scams and irregularities indulged in by the several GOI
departments, then clearly it seems to be case of hypocrisy. The
disdain with which these high sounding officials treat the CAG
reports clearly show these gentlemen in their true colour. It seems
nobody was even suspended, not to speak about arrests, when the
latest CAG report indicated that Rs 51,000 crores were under the
GOI flagship progrmames like NRHM, Sarva Sikasha &
NREGA were shown as having been spent falsely by resorting to
the old trick of transferring money to other accounts. Rs 51,000
crores certainly dwarfs the amount involved in Satyam saga,
namely Rs 7,000 crores.
Be that as may be, we have to look beyond these 'do-gooders' and
look at the real issues. The episode has in a way forced India to
come face to face with the way our entrepreneurs and
businessmen conduct their business in India. The underbelly of
the Shining India Inc. has been exposed in a most spectacular way
before the whole world. The fact of the matter is that Satyam is
not an isolated case. The problem is endemic and afflicts the
whole system. There are many satyams lurking in the background
ready to explode any moment like time bombs. The country will
have many occasions to pretend to be embarrassed. Yes, 'pretend'
is the right word because people are aware of the ground reality
and yet they will do nothing about it. Few Rajus may be put
behind bars but nothing beyond that is going to happen and
everything will be 'business' as usual. India has been ranked
consecutively low since Transparency International started
publishing its reports. The corruption level in India is so high that
nobody can escape the tentacles of this menace and do business in
India. You have to bribe, bribe and bribe if you want to start and
continue running a business here. It has resulted in creating a
parallel black economy which goes hand in hand with large scale
fudging of accounts. No business in India can afford to maintain
true accounts the accounts have to be falsified and fudged
continuously if the business wants to survive. It does not matter
whether the business belongs to the largest business groups or the
petty shopkeeper. There is no escape from extortionate demands
of the officialdom and consequent accounts falsification. After
all, can any businessman show the bribes paid in his books of
account?
But what does it imply as far as the audit is concerned. The
implication is obvious the audit reports are based on false books
of accounts, referred to as 'do numbari' in common parlance. The
reports are surely in agreement with the books of accounts the
auditors take care to see that it is so. They don't want to be caught
on this point which is easily verifiable by anybody. Perhaps the
biggest mistake made by the Satyam auditors was that they did
not bother to verify this matter and will now find it difficult to
explain away their position. But what about the spirit of the audit
report? The auditors are required to report that not only are the
financial statements in agreement with the books of accounts but
they also believe that these represent the true and fair view. But
given the situation in India, can any auditor really believe the
accounts to be true and fair? The auditors, besides the owners/top
management, are the first people to know about the falsification
of accounts. Then how can they continue to issue 'clean' audit
reports? The answer is very simple their own survival and the
realization that their reports can not be otherwise.
Because the day auditors start taking their jobs
seriously and refuse to certify accounts to be
untrue because they do not believe these to be
true, no audit report will ever be written in India.
The situation in the country simply does not allow
that.
The readers who have endured my writings till
this stage may suffer from the delusion that
falsification of books is a business phenomenon
and confined to the business world and thankfully,
the accounts maintained by government
departments are hunky dory. Nothing can be
further from the truth. And the reasons and
motives are clear to escape being caught
siphoning off public funds for private gains. Any
number of instances can be cited. For a
discernible reader it will be enough to point out
the life styles of the politicians and bureaucrats
right from the top level to the peon. What is the
source of this extra 'income'? I will not be
revealing a secret if I state that businesses and
public works in India provide the moolah to these
gentlemen and ladies. CEO like Raju may have to
spend rest of his life behind bars, but rest assured
nobody can touch these 'honourable' gunless
extortionists masquerading as 'servants of the
people' and bureaucrats in India. They will
continue to flourish and auditors will have to keep
up the pretense of being satisfied with the 'true'
financial statements.
The episode has in a
way forced India to
come face to face
with the way our
entrepreneurs and
businessmen
conduct their
business in India.
Environmental management 33

The Future of
Environmental
Management in India
Currently working as a Senior Engineer with Degremont Ltd. Gurgaon,
Bhaskar Ray did his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Kanpur University
and M.E. in Environmental Engineering & Management from AIT Bangkok.
He recently came back from France after working there on a sea water
desalination project. Previously, he worked as a consultant for Aditya Birla
Group in their Thai Acrylic Fibre Company and also briefly worked as a
Research Associate at SIIT, Thammasat University in Thailand.

You can reach him at bhaskarorama@gmail.com

C limate change is one of the most pressing global

challenges facing the international community
requiring global cooperation on an unprecedented
scale. As the world awaits with bated breath the result from
the high-profile world body meet at Copenhagen next
month, India is on the verge of making/ breaking its own
destiny in the historical saga of Climate Change politics and
policies. Though it's stance at present seems non-committal,
what appears to the best for its interest is to continue on the
path it has already started out on and carry on it's
demonstrative efforts of becoming one of the green countries
of the world by implementing CDM (Clean Development
Mechanism) effectively.
What is CDM?
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) instrument is an
innovative tool within the Kyoto Protocol, wherein the
developing countries can seek to undergo sustainable
development by using clean technology and resources
provided by a developed country. In turn for it's commitment
towards such a reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions,
the developed nations would be given carbon credits.
Carbon credits are measured in units of tonnes of carbon
dioxide reduced. The other units which may be transferred
under the scheme, each equal to one tonne of CO2, may be in
the form of a removal unit (RMU) on the basis of land use,
land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) activities such as
reforestation, an emission reduction unit (ERU) generated
by a joint implementation project or a certified emission
reduction (CER) generated from a clean development
mechanism project activity. Transfers and acquisitions of
these units are tracked and recorded through the registry
systems under the Kyoto Protocol. Presently, the rate stands
at 12-13 Euros per carbon unit. Under the IET (International
Emissions Trading) mechanism, countries can trade in the
international carbon credit market. Countries with surplus
credits can sell off/ trade off the same to countries with
quantified emission limitation and reduction
commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. As such, the
developed countries that have exceeded the levels can
either cut emissions directly, or as an option buy or
borrow carbon credits from developing countries. The
latter becomes a more attractive option for them, as the
cost of meeting emission targets in developing
countries is usually much lower than achieving the
reductions in their own countries.
CDM is supervised by the CDM Executive Board
(CDM EB) and is under the guidance of the Conference
of the Parties (COP/MOP) of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).
In reality, the United Nations Federation for Climate
Change (UNFCC) has divided the countries in to two
main groups: A total of 41 industrialized countries
currently listed under the Convention's Annex 1, such
as United States of America, United Kingdom, Japan,
Australia, Canada, Austria, Spain, France, Germany
etc. which have commitments to reduce emission levels
below their 1990 levels. All other countries (non-
Annex 1) such as India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran,
South Africa, UAE etc., have no immediate restrictions
under the UNFCC.
However, to prevent industrialised countries from
making unlimited use of CDM, Article 6.1 d) has a
provision that use of CDM be 'supplemental' to
domestic actions to reduce emissions.
Carbon Credits and Carbon Markets
Carbon credits are traded at the CO2 exchange centre in
UK, CDM Exchange centre in Europe and the Chicago
Exchange Centre (CCX), which has announced a
license agreement with the Multi-Commodity
Exchange of India to trade in emission as a commodity.
34

CDM Methodology rules and modalities pertaining to CDM in addition to

The CDM project methodology and project cycle is illustrated the guidelines issued by the Clean Development
as a flow diagram in Figure 1 below. The process has been Mechanism Executive Board and Conference of
described briefly below. Parties serving as Meeting of Parties to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Ø An industrialised country that wishes to get credits
from a CDM project must obtain the consent of the Indian CDM projects have covered more than 30
developing country hosting the project that the project different industrial sectors. Power generation from
will contribute to sustainable development. renewable energy sources, like hydro power and wind
power had the early entrant advantage. Off late, CDM
Ø Then, using methodologies approved by the CDM in industrial processes and biomass application have
Executive Board (EB), the applicant (the industrialised dominated project developments in the country.
country) must make the case that the carbon project Significant opportunities exist for areas like Iron and
would not have happened anyway (establishing Steel, Fuel Production and Fertilisers.
additionality).
According to Dr. S. K. Panigrahi, member of the
Ø Then it must establish a baseline estimating the future NCDM Authority, “Although the process started
emissions in absence of the registered project. right from December 2003, most of the stakeholders
Ø The case is then validated by a third party agency, were not taking interest maybe because the
called a Designated Operational Entity (DOE), to awareness level was not there then. Also most of them
ensure the project results in real, measurable, and long- had an impression that CDM is more international
term emission reductions. than national. However, by now, most of the people
understand that CER's are safe commodities, which
Ø The EB then decides whether or not to register can provide attractive returns, compared to other
(approve) the project. If a project is registered and type of commodities they are trading with for years.”
implemented, the EB issues credits, called Certified He also added that India is one of the top 5 nations in
Emission Reductions (CERs,), to project participants the world in terms of the CDM projects approved and
based on the monitored difference between the the CER's generated, and has identified 'Coal Bed
baseline and the actual emissions, verified by the DOE. Methane Projects' and 'Solid Waste Management in
Landfill Sites' as potential areas of interest in India for
CDM projects in the future.
What Can We Do?
Project Owner Project Idea Registration CDM Executive
Board As individuals linked to professional bodies, we can
Monitoring of Project Owner
Project Owner Project Design Document Emission Reductions help our organizations gain CER certifications by
Verification & Certification of
first developing a project design report containing all
Operational
DNA Host Country Approval
Emission Reductions
Entity the project details. The hard copy of this document
CER CDM Executive then has to be sent to DNA secretariat along with 20
CDM Executive Approval for Baseline Issuance Board copies and soft copy in CD format. The 'Host Country
Methodology
Board
Operational
Approval' would be granted after a formal
Validation
Entity Periodically during crediting time
presentation to the DNA, if invited within 30-60 days
unless approved methodology is ised of the submission.

Figure 1 CDM Project Flow Diagram

CDM in India
India, being a developing country, is exempted from the
requirement of adherence to the Protocol. However, it can sell
Carbon Credits to the developed countries.
The central government constituted the National Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) Authority for the purpose
of protecting and improving the quality of environment in
terms of the Kyoto Protocol.
The National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
Authority receives projects for evaluation and approval as per
the guidelines and general criteria laid down in the relevant
 Internet
Tapping in to the Cloud
T raditionally, Small and Medium businesses
(SMB) have always been at a disadvantage
when competing with the 800 pound Gorillas in
their sector. The huge investment made by these giants,
in IT infrastructure and applications, gives them a
significant upper hand in terms of pricing and
scalability of their service/product offerings, which the
small businesses find it very difficult to match. This
disadvantage turns in to a vicious life cycle, where they
have to compete on price till it bleeds or where they
would need to focus on areas, which are not in the radar
of the giants
This has been a limiting factor to the growth of SMB till
recent times. The advent of cloud computing services
promises to narrow that gap in this competitive business
landscape. Cloud services refer to services offered by
software vendors using the infrastructure deployed on
the internet. This is also referred to as Software as a
Service (SAAS). SAAS model allows the small
business to pay for services based on the actual usage
and consumption. Cloud computing is frequently
compared to the electricity services of the individual
companies, which no longer create their own power, but
instead, uses power provided by an electricity company
that is connected to a larger electric network. Due to this
comparison, cloud computing is also sometimes
referred as utility computing. In this case, the
companies are tapping in to a larger network for their
computing and business needs. Major software
companies have started offering their solutions based on
this model. These services immediately bring complex
business solutions within the reach of SMB, at an
affordable cost, enabling them to compete on a more
even platform with big enterprises. The businesses can
choose to use only those modules or applications, which
make a significant impact on their revenue earnings and
pay only for the period used or quantity consumed, like
disk space. SAAS vendors take care of infrastructure,
development and maintenance of applications, freeing
the business from those hassles and bringing many
advantages like lower upfront costs, faster time-to-live
and zero maintenance to the table.
35
Rajesh Warrier is the co founder of Webyana technologies, a company
focused on cloud computing services and has more than 12 years of
experience in the field of Internet based technologies, product
development and business. He is also the co founder of Bixee.com, a
vertical search engine that was acquired by ibibo and has worked with
companies like Yahoo in the past. st.
SAAS works on the principle of sharing the cost of ownership
among many businesses, thus bringing down the cost.
Applications run on a common platform and will be used by
many businesses simultaneously. The slight disadvantage to
this is the limit on the extent of customization possible,
specific to a business, but the significant lower cost of
operation, more than over-shadows those disadvantages.
More and more businesses are realising the advantages of
being in the cloud. A recent Microsoft study reveals that
SAAS adoption by SMB will grow to 86% by end of 2009.
This has lead to a trend “Lower budgets mean less has to be
more!”. An application on cloud can seamlessly connect
customers, suppliers & employees of a business on the same
platform.
The rise of software as a service has opened up whole new
opportunities for many software vendors to develop new
applications, which are hosted and delivered via the web.
Some of the notable ones are Salesforce.com, Intuit.com and
Amazon EC2. Salesforce and Intuit offer various business
applications for a monthly subscription fee and pricing varies
as per modules chosen by businesses. Examples of
applications that a business can use over the cloud are the
CRM, Book-keeping, Order Management, document
management and many more. Amazon EC2 & S3 services
offers computing and storage facility on a “pay as you use”
basis. Subscribers pay for units of computing and storage for
these services and have the flexibility to increase or decrease
the units as per their requirements. This avoids the need for
businesses to invest in on-premise computing infrastructure.
The software as a service has also given rise to a new buzz
called Platform as a Service (PAAS). Platform as a service
consists of making available common platforms and business
frameworks over the cloud, that enables businesses to
develop new applications very quickly or customize an
existing business application offered by the vendor. “Custom
Cloud” is one such initiative from Salesforce.com, where
businesses can build an application quickly and share it with
the world.
Cloud computing is redefining the way business is done
around the globe by significantly reducing the costs,
improving turnaround time, connecting various stakeholders
of business seamlessly and helping businesses stay focused
on their core competency. Looking back at the way cloud
computing has evolved over the decade, it is simple and clear
to understand that operating in cloud is how business would
be done in near future and businesses not in it, is likely to be
left behind.
36 Automobile
Towards a greener future: Hybr d and
electric vehicle
W ith 'go green' being the mantra of our times, it's
no wonder that any form of eco-friendly
technology creates a buzz and is touted as the
“next big thing”. However, for very personal reasons, the
term “next big thing” itself makes me skeptical. After all,
this is the country where Irfan Pathan was supposed to be
the “next Wasim Akram” and Kumar Gaurav “The next
superstar”! Going by the current buzz in the auto industry,
hybrid vehicles as well as pure electric vehicles (EVs) will
make its presence felt in India with all auto majors
launching cars of such models in the near future. This will
make them an affordable option for the average Indian
customer, thus leading to drastic reduction in emission
levels and fuel consumption. Going by the buzz, it seems
the age of electric and hybrid cars have truly arrived.
Interestingly, long before Henry Ford revolutionized
automobile manufacturing by introducing mass
production, electric powered vehicles were the norm
rather than the exception. The first electric locomotive
dates back to 1838. However , with the internal
combustion engine gaining popularity and gasoline
becoming more affordable in the US , electric vehicles
died a sudden death .The use of battery driven vehicles
were limited to industrial forklifts and pallet trucks , golf
carts and certain special purpose vehicles to be used in
places like airports. Infact , I believe, the sudden death of
the electric vehicle will make an interesting case study
given the fact that electric vehicles have several
advantages over conventional gasoline driven ones as far
as city driving is concerned. It is noiseless, has no
vibrations, lesser mechanical linkages and has zero
emission. For those with a love for conspiracy theories ( I
live on them!), a documentary called “Who killed the
electric car” was made in 2006 which explores the theory
that US oil majors as well as US government officials
acted in collusion in the early 90s to prevent the growth of
electric vehicles thus preventing the demand of crude oil
Prachurjya Baruah works in the field of Manufacturing
Execution Systems (MES).He has wide experience in
deploying IT based solutions for various manufacturing
industries like automobiles, steel and electronics. Trained
as a controls engineer, he has been part of projects with auto
giants like Tata Motors and Daewoo, South Korea .He has a
keen interest in using IT as a tool for improving production
processes and integrating production to ERP systems. His
other interests include quizzing, reading, writing and
playing table tennis.
E Mail:prachurjya@gmail.com
Linkedin: http://in.linkedin.com/in/prachurjyabaruah
Blog: http://polkaexercisinghisfatfingers.blogspot.com/
from dropping.
The current fascination with vehicles driven by alternate
energy options can be attributed as much to growing
environmental concerns on emissions as to the steps
taken by several governments in the European Union to
encourage buyers to opt for such cars. Such moves
include waiving parking fees for pure electric vehicles (
as in UK) and reduction in registration fees for EVs.
Although pure electric vehicles are yet to emerge as a
serious competitor for conventional commercial vehicles
, the launch of the Toyota Prius hybrid model in 1997 and
its widespread global popularity made it clear that fuel
economy and emission will now be among the major
factors deciding customer choice. In may 2008 , global
cumulative sales for Toyota Prius reached the 1 million
mark. Now, unlike pure electric vehicles which run on a
motor driven by a battery pack, hybrids use both the
internal combustion engine as well as electric energy to
power the drive train. At low speeds and start stop
condition , common in city driving, the vehicle is driven
purely by electric motors thus leading to drastic
reduction in fuel consumption. At higher speeds, when
the combustion engine performs at its best , it switches
over to the engine mode. Also the engine at its running
condition is used to charge the battery pack. Sophisticated
electronic controls ensures smooth transition from one
mode to another. Besides improved fuel economy, hybrid
vehicles are low on C02 emissions thus making it a
favorite among the Green Brigade.
For a long time electric vehicles in India were
synonymous with the REVA electric car developed by the
Maini group . Now this diminutive car, priced at over 3
lakhs on road was never meant to offer any serious
competition to auto majors in India. Also due to its design
,this car always made me feel that it leapt straight out of
cartoon network! Though REVA managed to do well in
the UK , it once again proved that Indian consumers are

not yet ready to take the plunge for pure
electrics. Concerns of safety , power and
battery life continue to plague the minds of
the potential buyers. However, going by
some of the announcements made by auto
majors , the times seem to be changing.
Honda Motors have already launched its
Civic Hybrid in India. General Motors have
announced that it will develop an electric
version of the “Spark” by working in
collaboration with Reva Electric Car Co. Tata
Motors have announced the introduction of
the electric “Indica” in collaboration with
Norwegian electric vehicle manufacturer
Miljo Grenland. Both Maruti and Mahindra
have announced that they will be out with
their own hybrid models in the near future.
With increasing environmental concerns and
vehicular congestion on Indian roads , the
day may not be far when the government will
enforce stricter emission norms and
encourage use of vehicles running on
alternate energy. A very utopian view of city
traffic in India in the near future would
include pure electric vehicles ruling the roost
in the small car segment while a lot of larger
vehicles may be running on hybrid
technologies. The repercussions of such a
scenario would be felt not just on the
37
environment but also economically. For a country so heavily
dependent on imported crude oil , encouraging electric and hybrid
vehicles would always be an economically viable option. According
to automonitor magazine “ If we can have three lakh Electric
Vehicles on the roads by 2020, including three-wheelers, cars, and
scooters, this could result in a reduction of over 16 lakh metric tons
of CO, NOx and HC by 2020, savings of over Rs 3,700 crore in
foreign exchange and significant health costs savings”. Mass
manufacturing of such vehicles would require a very different set of
suppliers for parts and accessories as currently most electric vehicle
parts are imported. Battery manufacturers would come up with
newer technologies that ensures better performance and longer life.
Vehicle charging stations may be as common a sight on highways as
the roadside dhabas. Also there will be a demand for technicians
with a different skill set as compared to the regular car mechanic.
Courses on electric vehicles will be introduced in ITIs and at
diploma level. Also since such vehicles will involve electronic
controllers, there will be demand for engineers with familiarity in
automotive electronics and experience of software development for
embedded systems. The possibilities seem limitless. Whether these
vehicles will live up to the hype is something only time will tell. All
I can do meanwhile is keep my fingers crossed and hope that this
“next big thing” actually makes it big.
38 Entrepreneurship

Secrets of Writing a Winning

Business Plan
I f you are thinking of having your own start-up soon or
you have recently started one, phrases like entrepreneur,
venture capital, pre and post-money valuations, stock
options, IPO, acquisitions must have already become an
integral part of your everyday vocabulary. Well, believe me it
happens with every passionate entrepreneur! If you haven't
experienced this amazing phenomenon yet, probably you
should continue in your current job for some more time (and
skip to the next article). For all those who are already into this
experience, this article will uncover certain myths in creating
a good B-plan. Following some of the tips mentioned in this
article, you can make investors run after you instead of you
running after the investors to raise money for your business
(which again happens with 98% of the entrepreneurs). After
all the investors also want to make money and your business
plan should reflect that.
Do not get me wrong but true art of writing a business plan is
never taught in a B-school (at least in the best ones I've seen
so far) and can never be taught as well. Primarily because it is
delivered from an academic angle which is good to learn the
basics, but brutally bad when you go and present it to a
successful investor or entrepreneur. So what are those
missing gaps in a B-plan that you may have presented in your
last B-school exercise and the ones that win investor's
attention and money? Well, I will share with you some of the
key factors that I have learnt in my current start up. As an Rudra Kamal is a founding employee and Senior Product
added bonus there is no IP or copy right protection to these; so Manager with a network security startup iViZ Security. He has
you can freely copy and execute these very easily for quick successfully bootstrapped Pre sales, Delivery and Product
success. (After all everyone wants that!) Management teams and processes at iViZ. He has been
instrumental in his current initiative to have successfully raised
So what's wrong with the plan that I already created from a B- an angel investment and a VC funding from IDG ventures of
plan template? over $ 3 million. Incidentally iViZ is also one of the first
companies to be invested by IDG ventures who have previously
Okay, you will perhaps get ten thousand B-plan templates out funded companies like myspace, netscape, baidu, F5 Networks,
there in the internet (and some even write it for you charging a Sohu etc. The technology developed by iViZ has been selected as
fee). Next time when you see such a plan ask yourself these the Top 5 Global Innovative Technologies in the world by Intel
questions: and UC Berkeley in 2007. Also iViZ has been nominated as the
Top 2 security start ups in Asia by London School of Business
1. “Can somebody write for my startup and envision the and Pentagon and Business Today's hottest startup in 2008.
future without knowing a dime about myself or my Recently they have also been nominated as the winner in Red
passion?” Herring Asia 100 and NASSCOM Emerge 50 in 2009. He is also
a frequently invited speaker in various start up conferences and
2. “Does this plan look significantly different from the leading B schools in India. He can be reached at
ones I have already learnt or seen?” (apart from rudra@ivizsecurity.com.
formatting issues and display of excellent excel skills)
If both of these answers are NO, congratulations you are on
the right track! Read on. If either of these is yes, you may have
just discovered an amazing resource. Pause here, deal with
that first and return back to this article later (probably when
that thing fails).

Interestingly, for most of the successful entrepreneurs I've
seen so far, they have considered the business plan
document to be the most trivial factor in raising capital.
Consider this:
l If the investor is already in a positive zone to invest in
you, then the business plan “document” will only add
force to his decision. It is possibly not accountable for
moving you in the comfortable zone in the first place.
Don't be mistaken!
l If the investor is in a negative zone and isn't
considering you at all, then it is very stupid to expect
that the business plan will change his mind. Wisely,
he may not even go through the complete plan.
So why should I write a B-plan at all?
Many inexperienced entrepreneurs feel that B-plans alone
can produce fascinating impressions in the mind of an
investor. “How much money do you want?”- is the question
they expect to hear from the investor after they ripped apart
their 60 min 30 slides presentation. Wake up from your
dreams and realize the true intention of writing a business
plan. The reasons why B-plans are absolutely necessary are:
l When the investor carries out a due diligence on your
start-up (after you have convincingly pitched him
your idea), he will ask for a B-plan document from
you. He needs that to go the next step and put a tick in
the document checklist. Don't be surprised. This is
the fact!
l The best internal reason of writing a B-Plan is that it
forces you and other co-founders to work elaborately
on the idea. That's where you develop the bonds of
solid team. In the process you also realize who all
may not be the right fit to this new initiative. Your
other co-founders most likely aren't aware of this; so
keep this deadly secret to yourself.
l Working on a B-plan forces you to focus on issues
which otherwise may have been definitely
overlooked in the joy of new start-up. For example in
depth competitor analysis, pricing strategies, risks,
revenue pipeline etc.
l There will be certain stumbling blocks in your B-plan
that needs to be overcome. If none of your founding
members are able to solve it, you understand that
“some one” is missing. Thus even if you plan to boot
strap your own start up, you should write a plan. The
end document is not as imperative as the process
through it has been documented.
Pitch Early, Pitch everyone and then start writing!
If you were asked to name the most important thing about a
startup what would you say? People? Culture? Or your shiny
little piece of new product? Wrong! It is the pitch. The pitch
is one sentence which when delivered correctly makes
people in the room say “Fantastic, that one is a great idea and
I want to know more!” That is when you show your business
plan.
39
Many entrepreneurs try perfecting their business plan
powerpoint deck for days and even months. They
believe that pitch is only a small portion of the entire
business plan. This is a very normal phenomenon which
is the wrong way round. A business plan is a complete
reflection of the pitch vis-à-vis pitch being a refined
version of the business plan. If the pitch impresses
everyone in the room, most likely the plan also will. The
reverse is never true. Here is how you should develop
the right pitch for your start-up:
l Make a presentation with no more than 3 slides to
it. The first slide should contain 2-3 lines about
the business and technology problem that you are
trying to solve. The second one should have 3-4
lines on the market opportunity and how others
are doing it. (Do not ever mention that you have
no competitors!). The last one should highlight
how differently you are going to do it and why the
customers will be happier than ever before.
l Conclude it with a one liner for e.g: “On Demand
Penetration Testing Company”. This is of course
the tagline of my start-up thanks to my effort.
This few words have an immediate impact on the
minds of an investor or customer: on demand
means cost saving, time saving, repetitive,
scalable and uninterrupted service of security of a
customer application. Investors understand that
there are a lot of companies who are doing
penetration testing but iViZ is the one who is
doing it over SaaS (software-as-a-service) and
therefore the company's valuation and exit would
be interesting.
l Pitch this to friends, relatives, entrepreneurs or
any one whom you feel appropriate. The key is
you should pitch this atleast 20 times. Believe
me; you will discover a lot by their questions,
interest level, excitement or indifference.
l Call all your co-founders over a beer and
emphasize what you have realized.
l Patch up the pitch and then start writing the B-
plan
l Present it to prospective investor or customer and
see the magic!
Remember: If no one accepts your pitch, don't expect
them to pay for your product as well!
How should my B-Plan look like?
Your B-plan presentation should not be more than 12-
13 slides; the word document being not more than 18-
20 pages long. Yes, the human mind has the capacity to
handle this much. Beyond these all are junk; even if you
do some splendid job in buying a Gartner report and
spend two pages explaining it. All those are good for
academic interest but not to your potential investor.
They have a team who will verify with the top notch
40

industry analyst anyway. So bother not too much on the What next?
supporting data, get your facts right only. Broadly follow The value of your B-plan exponentially loses its value
these 12 steps which I find useful while pitching for any after the initial 6 months or so. At first a B-plan moves the
business plan. You may feel free to modify the flow as entire squad on the same page, facilitate in getting new
long as it suits your need and delivers result (very team members up to speed, and raises capital. This initial
critical!) plan is good enough to pull you through the second year.
1. Title slide After that however, you won't be writing full fledged B-
2. Problem plans. At this point onward, your B-plan will be focused
on capital and operating expenditure issues including cash
3. Market Opportunity flow summary of goals (what) and strategies (how).
4. Your Solution and perceived Value Proposition by
customers
5. Business model
6. Competitive Positioning
7. Defensibility (why you can only do it?)
8. Go to market and sales
9. Management team (Most important)
10. Financial forecast and key metrics (include your
assumptions which may terribly go wrong)
11. Current status, client till date, beta customers and
use of funds
12. Investment Opportunity
Case Study
Bidisha Mahanta is currently working with the Don Bosco
Institute of Management as Asst. Professor. In her previous career
assignments she has worked as Corporate Relationships Manager
in Kolkata in the domain of Financial Services at L&T Finance
Ltd. and at ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services Ltd., besides others.
She has done her B.E. in Chemical Engg., from Assam Engineering
College with First Class Honors and her MBA (Finance) from
Tezpur University securing a Gold Medal. She loves to read,
dream, write and capture the nature in her lenses.
Her professional interests are in Micro finance and economic
development of the less privileged.
She can be reached at bidisha mahanta@yahoo.com and
bidisha.mahanta@dbim.ac.in and followed at twitter @
“bidisha mahanta”.
H aving cleared the written examinations held by
the prestigious PSU, Bidisha prepares herself
well to appear for the personal interview.
Unfortunately, the panel of interviewers chooses not to
spend much time with Bidisha. Quite understandably,
she does not get selected for the job position in spite of all
the academic accolades she had to her credit. Bidisha
gets disappointed.
Sometime later she appears for another similar
competitive exam and once again clears the written test
to get selected to the interview. This time she prepares
herself even better to enable herself hold the attention of
the interviewers for a longer duration of time.
Surprisingly this time again she does not get the
opportunity to expose her level of knowledge and talent
as the interview is cut short to just few minutes.
Disheartened Bidisha, after being done with the cursing-
at-the-skies-to-her-hearts-content part, sat down to
analyze both the past situations objectively.
41
AN IMAGE MAKEOVER
THAT WINS THE DEAL
What went wrong?
She had always donned the confident persona that she was
and made a decent presentation of herself and her potential
in diverse subjects. In fact, she had been a presenter all her
life making some modest exhibitions of her leadership
qualities time and again. With the help of a few analytical
well wishers, Bidisha discovered that her the-
unpretentious-Indian-bahu image probably didn't gel well
with the professional roles she was eyeing.
Interviewers probably became cautious of the newly
married Bidisha's lately acquired status and avatar which
sent out the message that she'd be a better homemaker than
a tough and hard-working professional. Possibly her avatar
sent out the signal of a soft docile girl which didn't quite
match with the qualities or outer appearance being sought
for in the job positions on offer for employment for a
person of her caliber and qualifications.
The make-over
As advised by few well-wishers and upon consultation
with a couple of good friends, Bidisha decides to go for a
makeover and air her confidence and potential in a hard-to-
let-go-unnoticed-way the next time.
An image makeover in the right direction for the right
purpose creates a positive vibe in the personality, enhances
self-esteem and adds value to an individual's contributory
capabilities. When done in the appropriate manner it acts as
the greatest feel good factor for the individual concerned
increasing one's productivity and overall effectiveness.
And thus emerged a Bidisha in a new look with a complete
image make-over for her next big interview in a mid-size
corporate house in one of the metropolis. To her sheer
surprise, she met with success in her very first
experimentation. And there has been no looking back
since. She has managed to maintain a 100% strike rate as
far as her performance in interviews goes.
For Bidisha, her image make-over became the harbinger, a
miracle mantra for bringing in completeness and success to
her professional ventures. Her skill-set, knowledge level,
poise and individuality might have contributed up to 99%
towards her accomplishments. Nevertheless, the tiny
indispensable 1% component has since invariably been the
emerging persona in her, which became the deal clincher
on several occasions.
Change-overs around
We have witnessed some great instances of image make-
over followed by their stupendous outcomes. The greatest
example from the immediate past is that of none other than
the chocolate-boy-turned-hunk Aamir Khan and his
42

'Ghajini'-look. Prior to that we had seen Karishma Kapoor's image makeover in 'Raja Hindustani' that spelled the success
story for the actor, paving her way for the many star performances that followed thereafter.
The corporate world too have resorted to many image makeovers of their logos to mark shifts in their corporate culture
and strategies. Corporations like IBM, Microsoft, Google, TATA, Apple, Samsumg, Coke, Intel, AT&T, Shell, Xerox,
Nike, Reebok, Kodak, MasterCard, Pepsi, GE, Wal-Mart and many others have a history of logo updates; some to
modernize their look, while others as a result of revisions to the company name or marketing focus.
The political parties too have not been left behind. Off late, we have been witnessing The Indian National Congress Party
trying to done a youthful look buzzing with energy and vibrancy by way of inclusion of a number of young and dynamic
future leaders and members.

Why a make-over?
A make-over is inevitably associated with the brand image of an individual or organization. By opting for a make-over, an
entity can earn a renewed image and brush up its image in public. Just as skills and self-confidence are important for a
successful professional life, an individual's outer appearance too is an essential element for carving the path towards
glorious achievements.

At 32, Bidisha is now the team leader of a business unit and oversees the operations across two geographic regions in the
company she works for. Her renewed acceptability and competency now makes her a strong contender to lead a couple of
new ventures that her company plans to launch in the near future. Bidisha is now contemplating upon any possible new
make-over to skillfully done the role of an emerging business leader.

Look good. Feel

great. Carry
accomplishment.
Editorial 43

Guwahati of My Mind!
Anabil is an Asst Professor at Don Bosco Institute of Management,
where he takes up marketing courses. He is an engineer from Jorhat
Engineering College and an MBA from IBS, Hyderabad. Anabil has
worked previously with Tata Chemicals Ltd, as a Key Account
Manager, responsible for Exports and Global Accounts for their
Chemicals Business. Before joining the house of TATA, Anabil had
worked with organizations like Inflatable Ideas and RRB Networks.
His interest lies in Sales and Marketing. Anabil prefers to read books
in his free time and has also published a few of his own short stories.
He is currently working on setting up a business incubator for the
youngsters from the NER.
He maintains a blog http://www.protidhoni.blogspot.com, and can be
reached by mail in anabil.goswami@dbim.ac.in and
anabilgoswami@gmail.com.

L ong long time ago… well perhaps not that long ago,
but when we were still unaware of what Mr.
Fernandez did to Multinational companies (not that
I knew what MNC meant that time) or what economic
liberalization was or what could have been the future of IT in
India, I used to cycle my heart out along the banks of the
mighty Brahmaputra. Writing for Brahmaputra today
brings in a lot of nostalgic feelings that I treasure and
occasionally share during weekend parties with so many of
my Dilli Bumbai friends acquired over the years. While the
rest of the world was perhaps gearing up for the DotCom
bubble (was it a bubble everybody was chasing?), I was
leisurely surfing through my dreams of what I shall become
when I grow up. Engulfed amidst the most beautiful
surroundings I knew only one color for a newspaper and that
too in black and white. Later on when I graduated into an
Engineer and ventured into the world that had already
switched on to the overdrive mode in the fast lane of the
energetic economic boom; I realized how different the
world was from where I have been. The “Half cha Singara”
order changed into the biggest burger available in the
McDonalds. It was no longer kewl to say cool. Wassup
needs practice to be said correctly. The world was getting
flatter I started believing. I did not know what that meant.
Working in the international business department in my
previous organization, I often wondered whether I have
properly understood Mr. Friedman. Or was it plain romantic
to call the world a flat place. Oh yes, I did get my Google
Chrome on time. And yes I do know for sure that some of my
own friends from school were involved in the designing of
tomorrow's new gadgets in India as well as away. But
surprisingly when today I type “the world is flat” on Google,
I get more responses on why the world is not flat. And this
time the authors of these articles do not face the same fate as
Mr. Galileo. Perhaps each one of us has some time or the
other, overestimated the flatness of the world we live in. Mr.
Ghemawat once said “The subtitle ("Crossing Borders in a
World Where Differences Still Matter) is meant to
emphasize that we continue to live in a semi globalized
world, one where differences between countries and
regions continue to matter”.
We can all debate the flatness of the world we do
business in. In our day to day activities, we have the
comfort of choosing either side as per our convenience.
In a world of free opinion we can put into words what
seems to be the most justified and the viable opinion.
But today as I stand in front of the mighty Brahmaputra,
I start comparing the economic scenario in Guwahati
and the North East in general and the rest of the cities I
lived all these years. It took me days to think up a line to
draft a suitable continuation of my earlier thoughts and
yet I could not find a parallel. Trying to understand why
it was so, I realized that the reason was not because there
was nothing happening here but more because what was
happening here has been mostly in silos. The
Brahmaputra in its current avatar is a means to highlight
the dreams of many. Perhaps in its own way the
magazine tries to flatten the hilliest terrain in the
country.
Also starting soon from the house of Don Bosco Institute
of Management is a new business incubator. MouiZori,
Business Incubator is an endeavor to provide the right
platform for upcoming entrepreneurs from the region, to
transform their dreams and ideas into concrete and
sustainable business enterprises. The incubator plans to
44

chisel out ideas into concrete business proposals and allow the plans to ride the bandwagon of a flat global world we all
aspire to be in. People from across the globe in turn will have the right platform to contribute in making the dreams of the
youth from the region start and develop world class quality enterprises. Before sowing the seeds, the farmer ploughs his
land and then flattens his land using a Moui dragged by a Zori and that is what we want to do from the incubator, “prepare
for sowing of the seeds for tomorrow”. The incubator aspires to be able to bring in an impactful change in the current
entrepreneurship scenario in the region by joining hands with the global think tank and professionals who have
contributed much to the development and sustainability of their enterprises and organizations. While doing a small pilot
of whether we could manage any youngster to come up with ideas, we realized that so many of them were full of bright
ideas that could be an envy of many premier B School students. The challenge now lies is to ensure that these ideas are
properly banked and given the right support to be able to blossom into enviable enterprises for the world to see.
And today as I stand in front of the resilient Brahmaputra I realize that the hope quotient in the North East might not be as
distinct and elaborate as in perhaps Mumbai, but here lies many dreams.
DON BOSCO INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT
Building Dreams, Shaping Lives