Lets have another round on personal Integrity!

Its legal! So what do you think when you hear this. It means that the laws of the land have said it is ok to do so or the laws dont have any explicit opinion about it, hence its legal.

Think about it. Where do the laws come from? They definitely do not originate from human nature, otherwise we would not go about breaking so many of them on a regular basis. These are created by people based on their judgement about right or wrong at the time of framing the law.

Now this does not mean that the law is all encompassing. In fact laws are created when people find ways to do things which are not right but the law at that time did not object to it. Think about hoarding. Inherently it means that you are utilizing your resources to stimulate market demand without exerting direct compulsion. This would have been perfectly fine if you were not dealing with food.

My point is that even if the basic values of a person are in the right place, he cannot always depend on the legality of a situation and decide accordingly. He may end up violating his values without even knowing about it, unless some one explicitly points out to him. So it is necessary that you question your own move and be comfortable with it personally, cause if you seek solace or justification externally, you probably will twist the message to suit your frame.

These thoughts are not mine. They are credited to my professor, Dr. Mark Kamstra from the Financial management class at Schulich. I am really glad that they have shaped my thoughts in this manner and the experience has compelled me to pen my thoughts down...

Integrity - by Michael Jensen

I attended a talk on "Putting integrity into Finance - A positive Approach" by michael jensen on the 17th of September 2010 at Schulich School of Business and was propelled to share the ideas discussed.(http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=876312). Michael had a very interesting way of defining Integrity which was void of morality or ethics.

Drawing from the field of ontology he said that integrity is such a basic quality of a being that it cannot be termed as good or bad. An entity has integrity when it is whole and complete. For organizations to have integrity it is important that the design, the implementation and the use of the organization - all three are carried out in a manner which was intended and planned for.

He goes on to further say, that integrity can be maintained in two ways :
A. When the person (or organization) honors his promise in timely fashion.
B. If he is not able to honor the promise, then inform the other party well in time and be ready to accept consequences. There have been numerous cases where companies have gained customer loyalty at times of service failures just by ensuring that the company does everything in their power to amend their shortcoming.

Integrity comes when a person follows the rules and abides by the law of the land. Interestingly, integrity can also be maintained if a person chooses to not follow the rules but let everybody else around him know of his intention of not following them. He should accept all consequences openly and not have anything to hide. A shining example in this regard is Mahatma Gandhi who openly defied the government with his non-cooperation movement and accepted all the hardships.

Some of the interesting analogies he drew were :
1. Integrity compared to spokes of a bicycle : If some of the spokes of the bike are missing and we keep on adding weight onto it then the bike would eventually give in and fail.
2. Integrity as compared to gravity : Like integrity, gravity is neither good nor bad, it just is. Gravity keeps the atmosphere together or it is instrumental in causing death when a person walks off from the top of a building.

These ideas seemed revolutionary to me when I heard them.. I know I have been able to convey only a fraction of the enthusiasm I had when I attended the seminar itself but I would love to hear thoughts of people around this.

Have you been using Windows as well ?

You have probably heard a lot of things which Microsoft does that are not exactly approved by the masses, but are you really bothered by them ? I mean, if IE comes preloaded in Windows and not with Google Chrome or Firefox I do not care personally. I can pretty much download Chrome and start using it.

Then there are those few things which start bugging you. You are the admin of the laptop and even you do not have access to some folders. I agree, system files hence probably in some weird imagination Access Denied.

So far, it is livable. But Windows really gets to me when it comes to installing updates. First every time you connect to the internet there are some updates waiting for you - as if I have won a lottery and am privileged with them updates. These are essentially fixes for goof ups that Microsoft could not iron out and now is attempting them in parts. Had it been something actually beneficial it would definitely not be available as a free update!

The point that really psyches me out is that Microsoft has the temerity to assume control of my PC and do an automatic restart of Windows so that its updates are installed correctly. I mean, what gives it the confidence that if the user has not specifically authorized a restart of the OS, it should just go ahead and assume it within a 5 minute countdown ? I could have programs open and some unsaved work.

Well to hell with them says Microsoft, we need to get that update fixed!

I wonder if this kind of programming talks about the mindset of a company which has held a death grip on the software industry. I have never used a Mac but I doubt whether its users have a similar gripe.

Small Miracles!

Small miracles! We three brothers - Me, Anant and Anupam went bowling in Kolkata after a long time...In the first game itself Anant scored three strikes in a row in the first game. In the second game I performed the same miracle...! Wow...

Living in Kolkata

I think this picture defines Kolkata for me..sadly....its a group of men passing in front of my building shouting slogans, in essence - "cholbe na and korte hobe". I dont get it...What will not do and what needs to be done...!

I am disappointed at being in Kolkata, I find it depressing. Could this be because I am not studying here and have relatively nothing to do ? I like the fact that I am with my parents here and Chandni and that I am able to play huge amount of TT but overall I find a sense of prolonged gloom in this city...Anyways on to Toronto...!

Financial Dilemma - The question of nominee and heir

In a landmark ruling the Bombay High Court has granted ownership of shares belonging to the deceased to the nominee instead of the legal heir. This was done basis the interpretation of the Companies Act and Depositories Act which were deemed to be different from the laws governing insurance companies and housing societies.

It was made clear that in the case of insurance companies and housing societies, the nominee was just the guardian of the property and rightful owner was the legal heir.

I wonder what would be the case when it comes to Banking. My understanding and experience in this sector says that a nomination is essential so that in the event of death, the bank can discharge its duties by transferring the money to the nominee and then the nominee and legal heir can battle it out for ownership. Though I think the legal heir should get the ownership.

There is a bigger question - how can we have different laws defining the role a nominee across multiple financial sectors. It is a sure fire way to increase the case backlog of the already overburdened courts..

Stroke of Strategy

One of the recent masterpieces of a strategy implementation can be found in the Direct to Home (DTH) market in India.

There have been a lot of instances where technology was "lifted" from the west and implemented in developing countries like India. Some of the examples have been straight forward like - cellular technology (both GSM and CDMA) and large format shopping stores and supermarkets, while some have undergone an adaptive transformation to suit the Indian palette - for example the localization of the Mc Donalds franchise with a Happy Price menu. (Though I admit, it took some time for Mc Donalds to figure out this winning strategy).

Coming back to the domain of DTH, there was a fair amount of controversy with the launch of this service in India. The local cable operators almost took up arms to destabilize the launches, government officials being iffy about the format. There was obvious support from the channels as they could finally have transparency in viewership figures. My post however does not deal with these strategic issues as they affect the DTH industry as a whole.

The first DTH service was launched by the TATA group, in association with the Star group as Tata Sky. This was a phenomenal development and the customers started warming up to this idea. The point to note is that when the market developed enough, then the other competitors stepped in, notably - Dish TV, Big TV, Airtel. I personally think that some one who can judge the experience of the various services, Tata Sky stands out way above others. But the point is that people had options and there was no real reason to choose Tata Sky over others.

Have you wondered why do soap companies keep adding one thing or the other to their products and re-releasing their product constantly? Why is it that your shampoo bottle is in a constant run to get facelifts and present a more slick and appealing outlook every season ? Differentiation.

So again coming back..what was it that Tata SKY could now do to counter the plethora of service providers crowding the market? And bang - we have Tata SKY Plus. Not only do you get dvd quality reception, you can record it now as well! This is great strategy in play.

At the time of launch, TATA had the option of launching Tata Sky Plus right away, instead it decided to leverage the novelty of DTH first and then sweep the market with PLUS. This is because it anticipated that the world will copy and follow its first approach and it would NEED to have a second "brahmastra" to regain the market. Till date, no one has been able to counter this service with a similar offering but it will be interesting to watch the TATAs counter copycat moves!!!

The Blind Side

Finding Forrester, To Sir with Love, October Sky and now I think The Blind Side. Fantastic film. There is something delicate about a struggling student story and it chokes me up totally when I see something great happening on screen.

Sandra Bullock plays her part perfectly as the care giver in the movie. There is a certain resolve in her eyes which comes through brilliantly. Another interesting character was Michael Ower's younger brother. Totally awesome outlook. Must watch.

A new blog

I have always had a fascination with ads and I remember some time back talking about doing something about it. Well I have done something about it. Stuff happens, they need to be reported.
I have created a new blog - http://ad-addictions.blogspot.com/. Lets see, if I can do justice to this new venture.

Peace.

Signs of aging

Was attending a guest lecture from a Ms. Shira Abel-Shvo at Schulich India. The topic of the lecture was quite offbeat (from my initial perspective) - Social Media.

I am guessing that every one will be able to figure out the content of the presentation but the reason why I am writing this blog is the revelation which I had about my increasing experience level...!

I was attending a lecture about how to network on the digital media...Facebook - linkedin - twitter - friendfeed - blogs etc. I was transported 30 years back in time, sometime in the early 1980s, when managers would have been put in a similar room and introduced to the Personal Computer.

I think social networking is a hard thing for the people of my generation to adapt to but for a couple of generations below me, it will be second nature. I would be very surprised if it is not. The tools may change, but the idea will be around for sure...

A different spin on Digital Piracy

There is a whole generation of young and middle aged people who have got used to enjoy things for free. Software, latest music and movies. Companies and governments around the globe are going crazy in developing technology and regulations to stem the growth. Pressure is being exerted on Internet service providers to filter sites or report on their clients. Individual pirators are being sued and made example of. And lets not forget about the attempts of the media to demonize roadside DVD pirators in India by linking them to Dawood Ibrahim's gang. ( I personally think that there is some truth in the last point)

While all this is being done, I am compelled to think of an immensely positive development with the spread of piracy. With the advent of piracy, the market size of these digital products has grown immensely. Why am I saying so ? I dont have numbers with me ( my Schulich professors would insist on getting some though) but when I meet people on the street having internet access- they listen to the latest music from Bollywood, watch latest Hollywood and Bollywood flicks. 95% of them are not paying for it. Data is being downloaded day and night, aided by the packages of ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like - Unlimited download for a month for Rs 999 only.

Every one knows what we are going to do with unlimited download but the industry is not doing anything about it. Its like with the introduction of VCR after the VHS on which you could record stuff off the television. Its like introduction of the cassette recorder where the purpose was to record voice, but it was usually used to create mixed tapes from CDs- fuelling countless love stories !

The previous paragraph was a slight digression from my main topic...Anyways, imagine the day when we are able to control piracy...When we are able to change the mentality of the people to make them voluntarily pay for digital entertainment...That day, these media companies will discover an expanded market, ready for consumption, beyond their expectations.

What piracy has done is that it has hooked the people on the culture of consuming. The "free but illegal" hook has jump started countless people to get on the cheap entertainment bandwagon. I have a strong feeling that when the free tap is turned off, people will still need their daily fix of entertainment. And thats when the cash cow will start mooing...