Managerial Section

“For every XYZ product you buy, our company donates Re.1 to its rural development initiative. You can be truly proud that your contribution is a part of it.”

Advertisements like this have become the strategy of every other firm to flaunt their efforts towards “corporate social responsibility”, with a motive to gain popularity amongst the masses and build up a good image to rake in more moolah. The consumers on their part feel proud of themselves for doing their bit for the society even if it means shelling out a little more.

Job well done.  Full marks to the marketing department.

Corporation - 1:0 - Society

The first and foremost thing to be understood by the consumer should be whether the company is actually doing what it claims. What this basically implies is that while the company might be spending a negligible portion of its profits on some, it might in turn be harming a larger number of people, which is sadly the case with most of the firms. A firm selling clothing line, for instance, can claim to be really generous when it comes to shelling out for the society, but it’s a lesser known fact that majority of these big brands employ underpaid child labour in third world countries so as to minimise their production expenditure and this exploitation is the same in a variety of other sectors like cosmetics, automobile, handicrafts, food processing and through recently discovered facts, in the major production units all across our country.

These concepts might seem obsolete to some but recent instances, such as the strikes in an automobile plant of a well known and trusted automobile firm, where the workers were allegedly being underpaid and exploited in direct violation of labour laws, prove that such elements exist on a large scale, even though under a veil of their “efforts towards CSR”. The recent stir against some designer firms against the use of sand blasting in jeans manufacturing, for: (1) employing child labour and (2) exposing them to hazardous environment resulting in loss of their eyesight, is another example.

Another point that needs to be noted on the part of consumer is that whether the product itself is of harmful nature. A cigarette company would be shameful to showcase their work on social causes. However, it would be incorrect to blame the firms totally since their success is driven by the demand amongst the masses and therefore, it’s necessary for the people to realise the not so known aspects of the so claimed corporate social responsibility drive which has become a trend rather than a cause amongst the firms. A firm should have no right flaunt its fake efforts and misguide people if it is indulging in any kind of activity which, directly or indirectly, cause more harm than good and this responsibility needs to be undertaken by the corporate laws as well as people, since ultimately, the firms are dependent on the consumers for their revenue.

While one perspective would be that this “trend” is beneficial since it would promote social welfare, no matter what the actual reason behind it, another perspective would be to judge it on a broader scale and then concluding whether any good is being done. Educating 10 children by making 1000 of them work in miserable, underpaid and at times, hazardous conditions, is not a gain for society in any manner and it’s our responsibility to act against it. The dirty truth behind many industries is not hidden from us. Time and again, it has been brought up by media and NGOs. Being negligent towards this issue would act against us in the long run, and who knows if we might end up becoming the next victim of their malpractices. Therefore, while we still have the time and opportunity, it’s the responsibility of the people to cooperate and act against such evils.

What the society needs to realize is that they are the ultimate beneficiaries/victims of the choices they make and should hence, give their decisions a more just thinking. Corporate laws need to be amended to ensure that the claims by the companies are not equivocal. These changes when juxtaposed with the correct decisions on the consumers’ part would actually result in the meaningful welfare of the society as a whole.

As all football fans have looked in incredulity at the astronomically high transfer fees and logic-shattering wages bandied about by major football clubs - Manchester City, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United etc - more and more of us are speculating on the impact, if any, of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

The UEFA FFP is basically a set of rules devised so that clubs learn to live within their means. That the clubs can spend only what they earn and no more. In short, UEFA wants to do away with ‘sugar daddies’, so as to speak. The owners who pump in mindless cash so as to attain instant glory in terms of trophies won. The exact objectives of the UEFA FFP are:

• to introduce more discipline and rationality in club football finances
• to decrease pressure on salaries and transfer fees and limit inflationary effect
• to encourage clubs to compete with(in) their revenues
• to encourage long-term investments in the youth sector and infrastructure
• to protect the long-term viability of European club football
• to ensure clubs settle their liabilities on a timely basis

This is the first block of three seasons (2011/2012-2013/2014) in which the FFP will be used by the UEFA’s newly created Club Financial Control Panel to evaluate the financial performance of all European clubs wishing to take part in UEFA competitions with permitted deficit being 45 million Euros over the course of 3 years. However, this can be subsidized by the owners if they invest in the club through issues and not loaning money as famously done by Roman Abramovich. Else the limit is a measly 5 million Euros.

The second block of three seasons will have a permitted deficit of 30 million Euros over a three year period. And so on. UEFA essentially wants the clubs to break even by the end of the second block and could start taking action by then. The actions could range from financial penalties to downright revoking of license to compete in European competitions.

And yet these rules haven’t really instilled people with confidence. Why is that? Let’s look at the case of Manchester City, a club that in recent times has come to represent astronomical transfer fees and obscene wages.

Manchester City have announced the biggest loss in English football history, £197m for the most recent financial year. The loss on that huge scale, bankrolled by the club's oil-rich owner, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan during the third year since he bought City in 2008, eclipses the previous biggest loss ever made, £141m by Chelsea in 2005, the second year of their ownership by the oil oligarch Roman Abramovich. City's loss was made principally by buying players to make Roberto Mancini's squad strong enough to top the Premier League, and paying wages of £174m, £21m higher than the club's entire turnover. During the 2010-11 financial Year City made an extraordinary series of player purchases, an eye popping figure of £156.5m. Mansour made it clear when he took over that he would spend the fortunes necessary to make City successful, and since June 2010 he has personally poured a further £291m into the club. Added to the £500m Mansour invested up to May 31 2010, he has now spent an unprecedented £800m on the football club, to bankroll the expenditure on transfer fees and wages the club would otherwise not have been able to afford. All the money has gone in as equity, in new shares, making it permanent, not as loans. A loss on such record-breaking scale raises immediate concerns about whether City have any chance of complying with Uefa's "financial fair play" rules.

It has not only been Manchester City. The elite English and Spanish clubs have been the greatest beneficiaries of the global football explosion over the last decade. Using the television revenue from the Champions League and the two most-watched domestic competitions in the world, they have dominated the European scene, splashed out on the best players and become a magnet for billionaires keen for a slice of the action. Yet only Arsenal of the five highest profile Premier League clubs would comfortably meet the requirements of FFP based on recently published financial results. Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City would all fail.

“But what defines these losses?” you ask, if you’ve not all switched off at the merest hint of accountant speak.

A good question as UEFA do not merely intend to look at audited accounts, but at a statement of relevant income and relevant expenditure, using figures extracted from the financial statement by the clubs management.

Already there is a grey area as the definitions of “relevant income” and “relevant expenditure” are not exhaustive and therefore open to a degree of interpretation. This is because Uefa’s break-even calculation is not the same as a club’s statutory accounts. Expenditure such as youth development, stadium infrastructure and community development does not count towards FFP. Depreciation on tangible fixed assets is also excluded. There is room for clubs to maneuver in other areas. The entirety of a transfer fee does not automatically show up as an annual expense because clubs tend to amortize player acquisition costs over the length of their contracts. For instance, Fernando Torres’ £50m January switch from Liverpool to Chelsea would not show up as one lump sum in Chelsea’s 2010-11 accounts – instead it would be an annual amortization of £9m (£50m fee divided by the 5.5 years of his contract). Add in an estimated salary of £8m and the total cost of Torres, as far as Uefa’s accountants are concerned, is £17m per year.

Furthermore, deep in Uefa’s 91-page FFP document lies a safety net. Even if a club misses the break-even target, it can still be granted a license if it meets two criteria – the trend of losses is improving; and the over-spend is caused by the wages of players that were contracted before June 2010 (when the fair-play rules were approved). However, that flexibility is only available for the reporting period ending in 2012.



There is skepticism among football finance experts how City’s Abu Dhabi owners can possibly indulge a record loss of £197m last year and break even within three years. One avenue is generating more commercial income. Even without the sell of Champions League football, City’s commercial revenue more than doubled last year to £52.8m, nearly £9 more than that of Arsenal, an established member of Europe’s elite.

Yet a simple glance at City’s official website reveals the club’s sponsors are predominantly linked to the owners. Shirt sponsor Etihad Airways, telecommunications company Etisalat, Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority and investment company AABAR are all based in the Middle East. Even Ferrostaal, a virtually unknown German engineering company, has been taken over by the Abu Dhabi government.

If the deal had been undertaken by unrelated parties then alarm bells wouldn’t have rung but as both Etihad and Manchester City are owned by the Abu Dhabi royalty then we cannot be expected to believe that market value had been used in the deal.

The club with the most cache in terms of world wide appeal is Barcelona, and they recently concluded a sponsorship deal for 5 years worth £125million, yet Manchester City, a team with a fraction of Barca’s fan base and heritage of success on the pitch, “negotiated” a £400million deal over 10 years?

The feeling is in financial circles that UEFA won’t be able to, or have the inclination to, enforce any punishment of transgressors of FFP till around 2018 and while clubs can be banned from UEFA competitions that is very likely to be a last resort.

So where does that leave my beloved Arsenal, a club taking the implementation of FFP very seriously?

In the opinion of this humble writer, we are perhaps a tad too mindful of FFP as we seem to be handicapping our development in anticipation of FFP being implemented both rigorously and on schedule.

To not use the leeway of permissible losses in the next few years in our haste to be break even in advance of the required date seems to be putting ourselves at an unfair advantage.

However I do concede anticipating just how strictly UEFA will enforce FFP will be a task that I’m glad is not mine to wrestle with.

 

We were sitting in a café when a friend casually remarked to me, “I think India doesn’t have horrendous poverty anymore.” This naïve statement rendered me speechless. Then I looked around and realized how the poor are kept away from the vision of urban India.

Gladiator spectacles were once used to distract the citizens of Rome to conceal the inadequacies of the government. In “modern” India, is it the cameo of Bollywood and sports like cricket and hockey that shades the reality? Our yesteryear movies such as Mother India (1957) and coolie (1983) focused on poor protagonists and magnified the struggles of a farmer or a common man. Now there are no poor people in our movies, not even supporting characters and background is far away from the thoughts. The hero is a multimillionaire who switches countries at the blink of an eye and the heroine always wears designer clothes, even their bikinis are designed by some Bengali fashion designer.

While I was thinking about this question, I noticed a cobbler right below magnificent high-rise buildings at Connaught place in Delhi. I never gave cobblers much thought except now when I realized that he has been there at the same spot for many years. He looked frail in a loose cream shirt and faded, worn out trousers. He kept his down mending a shoe, raising it occasionally to answer greetings from the hawkers around him. I went to him and he raised his head and asked, “Polish?”

“No!” I said.

Then why are you standing here babuji? He asked raising his head towards me which was possibly shading his face against the harsh sun. “I want to ask you certain things…….,” I hesitated.

“Hunh!!” he grinned and asked, “Are you from any of the news channels?”.

“No! Basically I want to talk to you……may I?” He gave me a slight smile which exemplified his wrinkles all the more. He welcomed me to his stall, but agreed to give an interview on one condition : that he would continue mending shoes as we spoke.



We began and he told me that this profession came to him as a natural choice since his father, too, was a cobbler.

“So, do you have the same dream for your children?” I asked.

“I have put all my three children in a government school at Badarpur. I can’t speak with certainty about their future; they have to decide.”

I, then, brought conversation to his earnings. “I make a 200 on a good day,” he said without exhibiting a trace of awkwardness. 200!! On a “good” day!! Ironical! In a common man’s life good day comes just a few times. Otherwise it is busy. I thought, how does he buy new clothes for his family, toys for his children?

“I buy them gifts on Diwali if I have money.” The word “if” is very problematic in a common man’s life. But at the same time it is easy to understand the answer hidden behind it, and it says a clear and bold “No!”

I began to wonder if he is harboring any anger against the rich. “There is nothing to be angry about. There are people who are richer than these too,” reverted he.

Owing a pucca house could possibly save him from having his Below Poverty Line (BPL) card taken away, which guarantees him access to cheap rations.

He told me he doesn’t believe in holding big expectations from his children. “All that is a matter of fate. I want to do my duty and leave the rest on god. This is what the Gita also preaches.” That’s when I realized that it was his faith in destiny and God and his uncomplaining acceptance of poverty that kept him going. And, that is what today, our “educated” herd lack. I felt contented at having got all my answers.


“Bhaiya, your name?”

“Suresh”

“Suresh…..aagey?”

“it’s Suresh only. Suresh Kumar actually, but everyone calls me Suresh.” I left him alone in his work.

I wonder if David Dhawan plans to make Cobbler No.1 anytime soon; and hence it’s time we take up the onus to notice, just not the Mercedes at a traffic signal, but also the leprosy patient banging the car window or an abandoned granny on a roadside. And, of course the cobbler. 

In the limelight are the three guiding principles listed under UN Charters 8, 9 and 10, "Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility;  Businesses should encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies."

Economists and ecologists alike refer to the above as ethical demands of business and I disagree. Ethics would interfere in a distinction of the right from the wrong whereas the present scenario is a do-or-die situation. Earlier one could shrug responsibility by claiming it to be the Government’s job but as we are aware now, entrepreneurs are the instruments of critical social change. An utmost priority for any upcoming business would be to minimize its carbon footprint and research a path of maximum productivity with a sustainable long term coexistence with the environment. Though I dyed a despondent portrait of our bereft attempts at rebuilding this world but I do believe that if we have time to whimper and complain about something then we have the time to do something about it.

I suggest we take it a step further. Here use a lot of imagination, I sure did. What if each village or county had its own enterprise? What if the enterprise grew only the crops native to that land? What of the enterprise promoted tourism through its local flora and fauna? What if the enterprise sold the carbon credits generated locally? What if the enterprise solved energy problems through bio-diesel production? What if the enterprise also supported social awareness viz. domestic violence, child abuse etc)? What if I shared my vision with you? Wouldn't you all see a holistic development? The best part is no new cost is incurred in the process. By now most of the readers would have deemed me a Marxist and I do have a surprise for them.

The answer to all the above questions is ‘Local Entrepreneurship’.

It is a fact that we live in a capitalist society, but that does not mean that we cannot be guided by the idea of social scruples in our work. The present world trade requires consumers to consume, but we can do our bit for the environment by running our companies in a responsible way, and by creating products that promote respect for social and environmental issues.

Let me focus on the Indian scenario with 638,365 different villages : that is a hefty number of entrepreneurs. And that is exactly where I see the opportunity for us.

There couldn't possibly be a better time to take up the initiative. Now, consider this : even the huge multinational companies adopting at least one such village. Taking labor form the village growing non-edible oil seeds and using them to power the village. Someone once said strike when the iron is hot and with legislative mandates around the world encouraging increased use of PV, wind, and bio-fuels.

For example, national tax credits, production directives, and import tariffs are promoting bio fuel production in the United States. In Germany, pro-solar policies have prompted companies to boost global photovoltaic’s production capacity. Again a cited example would be the very recent Indian bio fuel policy (finally announced on 23rd December 2009). It still lacks any figures or financial commitments. It basically outlines minimum support price for non-edible oil seeds and cultivating the same on community wasteland.

The farmers employed for the same would be envisaged under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program. A responsible and profitable venture would be to grow Jatropha and algae as a cash crop and with the government coming to the forefront with so many constructive policies it is the responsibility and sensibility of every person to at least consider once this fruitful venture. The BRIC region has been consistently collaborating to come up with joint ventures and a trade-of-technology is most likely to trigger an ecologically sustainable shift of our joint economies. When a country institutes policies that favor the business it is a sign of future collaboration and I foresee the same for bio-diesel in India with private-public partnership.

Project management, as it sounds, is the science and art of organizing a project and its components, whether it is a new product, a new service, a new campaign or even a wedding. It may be as small as designing a new kitchen to as big as relocating a whole company overseas or even bigger. To understand how to manage a project, one should know what exactly a project is.

A project is a one-time effort which produces a specific result. As someone noted “It has a beginning and an end.”

A project consumes resources. (People, capital, time). It has a limited budget and a defined scope.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, techniques to manage these resources efficiently and effectively to execute the project within its schedule and budget.

It’s a strategic asset for companies. It enables them to forecast accurately their performance helping them reach their business goals.

Project management typically follows a pattern.

1. Initiation.
2. Planning
3. Execution
4. Monitoring and Controlling
5. Closing

 

Initiation defines what the project is, the scope and the expected outcome.

Planning involves listing out all the activities, their inter-relationship, the resources they will take. It is in this stage where the constraints are defined. For example, a budget constraint will limit the number of people who can work on the project.

In execution, a project manager builds teams and assigns them resources and allocates them budget.

In the stage of controlling, the project management, also at times known as project control update the project plan to reflect the actual resources utilized for each activity thus making them able to understand how well the project is progressing. Software like Microsoft Project facilitates this stage.

The closure stage is about analyzing the final outcome of the project. This helps in building the strategy for the upcoming projects.

Even if a project is perceived as successful it may not be viewed in the same manner by the customer. The client may not be satisfied by the end result and it has not fulfilled their requirements fully. This situation can be avoided if the requirement and assumptions are fully documented but also explained to the client.

Regular and frank communication with the client throughout the project will ensure that the expectations are met and the client is satisfied. Remember, a satisfied client comes back and a project well done speaks louder than any marketing strategy.

A personal project may be managed easily, but large commercial projects require a large team with proper skill set and well trained in project management.

The gentleman sitting next to me had his head tilted towards the right in the most unnatural position. His mouth was slightly ajar. Sprawled all over his seat, some of him was also spilling on to mine. Train journeys in India tend to bring out the best in uncomfortable sleepers.

It was 8:00 a.m. in the morning and I found myself hurtling towards a city that was once established many centuries ago by Sikandar Lodi. My second day in the job and I was moving at a little less than 150 km/hour, in India’s fastest train, towards my first energy audit. This time, my journey would extend beyond Agra, approximately 50 kilometers by road, to the SME (Small and medium enterprises) cluster in the small town of Firozabad.

They told me that one can get all the glass they may ever need in that place.
The only flirtations I had with an SME cluster were brief and superficial. This one, however, had the makings of something intense. While I reflected over a shaky cup of tea, the driver from a small village near Almora, the SME glass cluster with its myriad glass manufacturing units and the rest of the TERI team went about their work.
**********

The signs were there from the start. The driver’s assessment of the place was littered with words like ‘bekaar’ and phrases like ‘sahi nahi hai’. We had something in common, this was the first time we were both in the city. Even though he was a few days old, the optimist in me brushed aside his grim musings.

The only excuse for a ‘royal’ hotel in the small town was the inaccurately spelt ‘Monark’. It was either an example of lazy spelling or something I did not pick up. I acquainted myself with the 4 other people from the TERI team. I knew that I was in the midst of well-traveled and experienced professionals, seasoned in the harsh and tough environs of industrial settings. Immediately it was plain to me that I was a novice in the midst of veterans.

As quickly as I entered the only available ‘big’ hotel in that small town, we were out in our vehicle bouncing along what vaguely resembled a motor able road. I assume the effect on the factory workers was magical. Let me remind you, Firozabad is no tourist town where the locals are accustomed to a seasonal influx of SUVs and people dressed in somber office attire. Case in point; total number of SUVs spotted during the entire week long trip was only 2, including the one hired by us. So an Innova loaded with jet black KGB style suitcases (holding all the precious instrumentation that even an elemental energy audit merits) trembling through a cloud of dust, must have been a source of amazement for the factory folk. Little did I know that a few startling revelations were up around the bend for me too.
The team of distinguished audit experts had spelt out the precautions; be cautious, be conscious of movements and be attentive.
Standard instructions, I thought.

Crucial life-saving reminders, I realized later.

There is, indeed, an awful lot of glass there. But It is only all the glass in the world, a woman, from a small town like Firozabad, would need. No, I am not being chauvinistic. Apart from drinking glasses, the only other thing the people seem to make there is ‘glass bangles’! Bangles of all colors, sizes and shades with enough variety to make an Asian Paints catalogue look insufficient! Plain, with designs, without designs, all you have to do is ask!
**********

The factories were as factories are supposed to be; shades of black, brown, grey, metal, steel, piping, loud machines, dirt, grime, angry and orange furnace tanks, electrical wiring that seemed to grow like vines, water – hot, cold, clean and dirty, emaciated workers and their porky, blubbery and rotund factory owners.

I knew what a manufacturing unit looked like. I knew that the machines would be loud and make the air around them oppressive. I knew this from a two-month stint in a power plant during my engineering days. A unit, operated with passable safety standards and protocols.

This was a completely different ball game. The wiring snaked in and out of the way. The water – hot and cold, dripped unannounced. The dust and fumes rose and settled like a symphony of dangerous music. The machines screamed, as if they were on the edge. The factory roof looked ramshackle, the whole place, like an accident waiting to happen! I had braced myself for visiting the bowels of these manufacturing units, but the realization, that these units in their entirety were the bowels of manufacturing in India, was indeed a revelation.

But this is India, this sort of thing happens, doesn’t it?

All of this, however, was not alarming. It was alarming to see a young man, probably my age, or younger, lifting hot molten glass bottles with a gloved hand, in a place where we couldn’t stand for more than a few minutes. He stood there for the entire day, lifting the bottles that were on their side, to stand them on their base while we went about visiting less oppressive parts of the setup. We left the place after a week; he is probably still standing there, braving the mad heat, taking in the fumes, condemning his health. And he was just one, among so many others who were lifting inhuman loads, trudging along with drudgery or baking in close proximity to kilns.

But this is India, this sort of thing happens, doesn’t it?

We have over a billion people, if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else. Time to cling on to the patronizing justifications – “The human body is resilient / this is his fate / it’s his choice / somebody has to do this job / should not bother you…”

Credit goes to him for trying to eke out an honest living. Though it seems, his plight did not bother me enough, because I went about my work. Not alarming enough for me. This was followed by the sight of an eight year old boy walking briskly from a pot furnace to a spinning unit. Barefoot and with an iron rod 8 feet long held tightly in his hand. The tip of the rod was glowing with an incredibly hot globule of molten glass. ‘Sonu’ was eight and he had just joined the job. It was his second week and he was still coming to terms with how hot the rod became after a few minutes in the furnace. He was again, one, among many little children with their dreams melting and shattering with that glass.
But this is India, this sort of thing does happen…

What will become of this? The benefactors of this trade will grow more obese and daring. Children will come and go. A young lad with big-city education and a penchant for writing, will probably blog about it somewhere. Some people might read it. The Wikipedia entry for Firozabad, will still casually say – “Child labour is practiced widely in the city…”

Indeed, this sort of thing happens…

So there I was, at Firozabad, a city on the northern edge of the Deccan Plateau, looking down or up at an ignominy for our country – a culture of colors, magnificent shades and shattered dreams. I couldn’t wait to go back to the 150 km/hour train and the uncomfortable sleepers leaning on my shoulder. At least when they sleep, their dreams don’t melt away or even worse, shatter!
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The highlight of the trip! I got one dozen bananas for 20 Rupees at Firozabad! A ‘burkha’ and a thick local accent will get you a dozen for 15!

A bed tea in my hand, and I begin to think

How does she manage it all, that too with a simple blink?

Everything always falls in place

A penny never lost in that household maze,

Haircuts, clothes, parties and the food

Everything is ready with a rocking mood!

She needs no description and no unnecessary attention. She is the woman of our house. She is a grown and matured manager, No matter that the Birla’s and the Tata’s need a paid one, I am talking about the one we have. A multitasking manager, who can be the most apt individual to teach at the top institutions, the ability of management of all kinds, finance, HR or International relations because she is always full of practical experiences coming from responsibilities dealing with budgets, family and relatives.

It’s such a beautiful degree that every woman on the earth has : skilfully managing the home; although they always want more resources, no one ever in their family starves. It starts from beginning of the day, month and even the year that each cycle of necessity is run successfully. Paying the bills (that so includes the bargains) and keeping their track is an imbibed quality each woman (and yet-to-be woman) naturally has. It undoubtedly is helpful in the times of crisis as well as celebrations.

The list does not end here. They always have a hidden treasure too. The synonym of ‘black money’ for the ‘Home Ministry’.  The one which is filled with the coins n notes lying here and there and from the very potential source; the laundry .She always has money with sources never defined. She will handle the chaos and the curry with such an ease that the fellow members will never get to realize the possible struggle it has. It’s not about efficient housekeeping but a legacy which is passed on from one generation to the next ,to be precise ‘Tijori ki chaabiyan’ which symbolizes the acknowledgement to the contribution each woman has in making the house ,a home to live in.

This manager is the most ethical of the lot. Social transformation through efficient managerial skills is the reason of the same. Think about it, she may forget the extra expenditures in the name of buying clothes but will definitely never forget the ones spend on the Booze! From children to adolescents and husbands to In-laws she has a definite role to play while dealing with each specific set of people undergo some kind of dynamic growth in their personality and that is why they always say, ‘Behind every successful man ,is always a woman’.

Despite all the versatile traits, The Home manager gets no acknowledgement apart from a housewife status in the CV of their kids.

What if I say that she manages the world? Think about it!

During his recent trip to India, American President Barack Obama made a statement that tickled the grey matter of a lot of people in the Indian and American student fraternities. While answering a question on the job scenario in India and the USA, he made a statement that said, “Back home, I’m telling people that while others will struggle to find a job, the Indians WILL MAKE JOBS FOR THEMSELVES”.

A first glance at the statement is enough to open the gates to a whole new global scenario wherein Indian and Chinese students are proving themselves to be more efficient and productive than their European and American counterparts while at the same time being more cost-effective in their work approach and their organizations.

Looking for the possible reasons, one would mostly conclude that we’re smarter or we work hard, but if we bother to dig a little deep we end up discovering very stark differences right from the childhood to the retirement of an Indian professional.

The first and foremost reason would be the fact that even in 2011, majority of India struggles hard to earn their meals and are subjected to hard work since the very beginning. Also, while it would be wrong to undermine the potential of our American or European counterparts’ potential, our predominant orthodox culture, which gives very little importance to sports or any other extra curricular activities paves way for extreme academic inclination. Obviously, a major disadvantage is lack of innovative ideas and rote learning which is evident in our case. A careful insight into our culture shows that education for a majority of the students is the only means to come out of poverty which goes on to explain our better comparative performance

“A cat outruns a dog most of the times. This is because the dog is running after a meal but the cat is running for its life.” Enough said.

Another factor is population. Obviously, right from the post of a clerk to a CEO, we have numerous candidates. Wait. Numerous eligible and bright candidates. (We’ve loads, trust me .)

A recent opening by SBI for several thousand clerical vacancies received more than 2 million applicants. While it increases struggle from the grass root to the topmost level, sometimes also leading to unhealthy practices, it also ensures that the succeeding candidates are better than the best and capable of performing better than their global counterparts.

Another major factor is cost of living. While we can go about cursing the government for increasing inflation, it’s a known fact that our cost of living and resource consumption is a fraction of that borne by the Americans and the Europeans. It is therefore monetarily beneficial for the firms to hire a large number of Indians at a cost that would help them have a smaller number of Americans. Also the labour and corporate laws are not up to date in Asian countries yet, as they are in developed countries. The global shift of the BPOs from USA and Europe to India and China proves this fact.

Our rise economically stands testimony to this fact. The current trend, if sustained will establish India as one of the biggest economies and ultimately help us to achieve our “target 2020” to emerge as a superpower and most of all, as a knowledge economy.