A.R Rahman - "An Inspiring Story of Success through Excellence" !

Few weeks back I wrote an article on M.S Dhoni and the lessons from his unique leadership style. We have another role model who has mastered excellence in his profession and brought the whole world under his feet - The Music Legend - A.R Rahman.

Is there any thing common in these two youth icons of our country ? Yes,commitment to excellence is their DNA. Winning is their habit and they always perform at ' WOW '! Aiming for perfection and winning the competitive edge are the things for what they crave constantly and add them to their attitude. The next thing is performance. During any moment of the day, their performance is EXCELLENCE. Performance is their language and they understand the language of result only.

If you pick up any newspaper or see the web or watch the news these days, chances are that you will find an interview of A.R.Rahman. He is all over the place after his OSCAR achievement and he really deserves it! All of us have been seeing videos of his arrival back to India and his press conferences with excitement.

Today, A.R. Rahman is one of the world's most successful musicians. With a brand name like Rahman, movies rake in millions. But it isn't just Rahman's exceptional enthusiasm that's so contagious, but also the quality and success of the work he's churning out. The man has redefined contemporary Indian music and has become an icon for millions all over the world.

Like everyone, I have known him and his music right from the time 'Roja' was released in 1992.. that's a good 17 years! Everyone speaks of his music, and what he eats, sleeps, drinks and what he does when he is free and so on so forth. But really, there are things much beyond that one needs to know and learn from the legend that A.R.Rahman is. With so many people who speak so high of him at all times, there are some things that are unsaid and certain things that we so easily ignore about Rahman, that makes him stand apart from the clutter.

The musical genius that Rahman is, most of that comes from his being and principles. Rahman's success presents some valuable tips to us which can be applied to our professional lives and achieve our goals. And on that note, with the little that I know of him, let me share some of the learnings from A.R.Rahman.

1. Family - Respect your Parents

It might be very easy to brush this fact aside, but the truth is Rahman has always loved, respected and adored his parents. With his father R.K.Shekar leaving for heavenly abode when Rahman was nine years old, Rahman's mother Kareema Begum, gave Rahman a new ray of hope and fresh lease of life. She painfully raised the family, and is one of the driving factors of why Rahman is a legend today.

Remember what he said when he received his first OSCAR award, " Mere paas ma hai, which means I have nothing but I have a mother, so mother's here, her blessings are there with me. I'm grateful for her to have come all the way ". Which other music composer or for that matter which other media/entertainment/corporate personality do we know who follows this principle. How many of us will openly show our love and respect to our parents like him. That makes him truly unique.

2. Belief - Be Spiritually inclined

A.R.Rahman believes in god and spiritualism. Its not about the fact that he follows Islam, and offers prayers 5 times a day…its much more than that. I believe there is a huge difference between being religious and being spiritual, of which the latter is what Rahman is made of. In a recent interview Rahman revealed that, "Religion sounds vulgar these days, I am more of a spiritual person. And I believe in being consistent with my spirituality. As one grows in life, one realizes the magnitude of spirituality. It is the most beautiful passion. It raises you above all the negativities. For me and my music, spirituality is the most important element and I don't think I can create the kind of music I do, if I don't practice spirituality."

Spirituality has not only made him connect to his music, but has also made him connect to humanity. When he received his second OSCAR, he said " all my life I had a choice of hate and love and I chose love and I am here, god bless " . That's the powerful message of his spirituality!

3. Country First - Be Patriotic

Though Rahman acknowledges his accomplishment, after receiving OSCARS he quickly points out that this is a COLLECTIVE INDIAN VICTORY. He says, he is more happy because this is the first OSCAR for an Indian work and the whole country was waiting for this with bated breath and hence he wanted to get it. He says, now all Indian artists will be looked upon with more respect as we have shown what we are capable of. His patriotism is evident in all his patriotic songs including the latest " Jai Ho ". The way he sings ' vande mataram ' injects some kind of positive energy into our blood stream !

4. Roots - Don't leave your Soul

Mumbai the mecca of Indian films and the entertainment industry, a place where any and every musician will find a way out to survive and earn enough to feed him for the day. It would have been so easy for a musician like Rahman to go and settle in Mumbai and work for acclaimed filmmakers post " Roja and Bombay ". But the man preferred not leaving his home, his roots to a place where instant fame, recognition and money was assured. Of the many ignored facts, Rahman's major success lies in working from his home. Home is where your heart, mind, body and soul is.

With no distraction whatsoever, he has all his energies focused on doing quality work from the comfort of his home. It means a lot to be based out of the place where your family is, where your soul is..your home, your hometown.

5. Focus - Let your work speak for itself

Yes, let your work speak for itself. Many a times, there are instances where one will be criticized for the way he is, his dressing, his upbringing, his economic background. One will be made fun off, and will be called names. One will not get the support he expects to receive from his seniors and so on….But at the end of all this, if you have a strong will power you can overcome all these, and prove yourself with your work.

There was a time when Rahman was being humiliated by some critics, directors and producers over the kind of music he had scored, and all this when he was at the peak of his career. He could do nothing about it, and preferred to remain calm and unmoved. And when ever his work was released, it got an outstanding response and was embraced by the masses. This overwhelming response and success was a slap on the face of those critics, producers and directors. This tell us, all we need to do is to focus on what we are good at, not on the success it can bring. Success will follow us, our work will speak of itself.

6. Service - Consideration for others

Not many may have noticed that Rahman has introduced maybe a hundred new young singers to the Tamil and Hindi screens – his faith in the youth of India is evident in his statement that he would like youngsters to take a different view of music after his winning the OSCARS. Rahman has done what no other music director has done for the cause of music-starting a music school, the KM MUSIC CONSERVATORY. His objective for starting this school is to make Indian musicians have a global orchestra of their own. This is such an innovative idea and Rahman is spending a lot of time, money and energy towards realizing this noble musical mission!

Rahman is the UN ambassador for the campaign fighting against poverty and he has associated himself with many social causes. When he was in a state of probably disillusionment - one of the things his mother said to him was "why don't you live for others and then you will find a meaning to life". Rahman stuck to that and he does music to make people happy and to enrich their lives.

On the night he returned to India after receiving the OSCARS, his request that his fans ought not to disturb his neighbors in the dead of night attracts attention to a long forgotten quality in India—consideration for others.

7. Humility - Be Humble. Be Honest. Be Simple

With all the above in place, being humble, simple and honest is all that one needs to do to ensure a great life. With so much of stardom and attention after the Golden Globe and OSCARS, Rahman could have got carried away with the success, however he always chose work over publicity.

After winning the OSCARS, he was asked by the press, " what's left for you to achieve? " He replied in a polite way, " Well, I have not achieved anything. I have not ended poverty level. I have not stopped wars happening.For me these are achievements. And in my opinion, I am just a small musician who has got an award that is it " !

He carries no weight around him, and that makes him completely approachable and genuine. His childlike smile can pacify ones fear and anxiety of meeting him in person. Its like his smile speaks a thousand words. It depicts the purity of his heart and soul. Each and every success makes him more humble, honest and simple. What more we can learn from this winner!

Regardless of season he march towards rock climbing success. Even in tough time his eyes do not move away from excellence. Commitment, giving 100 percent, focusing on performance is the key ingredients to his success. Meeting challenges and riding over obstacles are in his blood cells. Transferring stumbling stones into opportunities with conviction and leading towards 'WOW' level is the essence of his success.

Through his eternal value and simple living A.R Rahman presents us with opportunities for professional success provided we learn from them, adapt them to our own situations and implement them appropriately.

He convey a message to all of us silently especially to the youth - " humble origins need not prevent us from aspiring for and achieving great success ". How does he convey this message ? Dil Se !

Shamim

India's Rural Market - " The Fortune At The Bottom Of The Pyramid "

For the last five days I was out for a market visit to some of the districts in south Tamil Nadu. I opted to travel by car covering thousands of kilometers through rural areas of Tamil Nadu. It was truly an experience to travel through the villages and my mind was stuck at the rural market - the so called untapped markets !

Each & every small shop I passed through reminded me the two books I have read on rural Indian markets, " The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid" By C.K. Prahalad and " We are Like that Only " by Rama Bijapurkar. My eyes were surfing through the leading brands hanging at almost every shop in the villages which include products like Mineral Water, Cola's, Shampoo, Detergent Powder, Tooth Paste and even Packed Snacks.

There was a time when the whole world thought that the rural India was a land of snakes and holy men with magical powers, maybe its time to re-acquaint ourselves with the true identity of the rural side of our country. Coke / Pepsi or Chic / Pantene or Colgate / Close Up or Ariel / Surf or Lays / Cheetos are house hold brand names in rural markets today!

"The future lies with those companies who see the poor as their customers" says C. K. Prahalad in his book " The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid " . He clearly pinpoints on the raw fact that there is vast potential for profits in the rural markets. He says, globally the bottom of the (economic) pyramid consists of 4 billion people living on less than $2 per day. If we stop thinking of the poor as victims or as a burden and start recognizing them as value-conscious consumers, a whole new world of opportunity will open up. Prahalad suggests that four billion poor can be the engine of the next round of global trade and prosperity, and can be a source of innovations.

He cites numerous examples of companies that have generated wealth for the poor and profits for themselves by focusing on underserved rural markets. As urban markets become saturated, more businesses are retooling their marketing strategies, and in many a case their products targeting rural consumers with tiny incomes but rising aspirations, giving birth to a new era of rural marketing.

To expand the market by tapping the countryside, more and more MNC's are foraying into India's rural markets. Among those that have made some headway are Hindustan Lever, ITC, Coca-Cola, LG Electronics, Britannia, LIC, HDFC Standard Life, ICICI, Philips, Colgate Palmolive and most of the Telecom companies.

In this article let me share with you my views on Opportunities & Challenges for all the Companies targeting to tap this huge rural untapped markets.

Opportunity

The Indian rural market with its vast size and demand base offers a huge opportunity that companies cannot afford to ignore. We are a country with 1.12 billion people of which 70% live in rural areas which means more than 700 million people spread around 6,27,000 villages. India's rural population comprises of 12% of the world's population presenting a huge, untapped market.

The importance of the rural market for some FMCG and durable marketers is underlined by the fact that the rural market accounts for 55 per cent of LIC policies, 70 per cent of toilet soaps, 50 per cent of TV, Fans, Bicycles, Tea , Wrist Watches, Washing soap, Blades, Salt, Tooth Powder and 38 per cent of all Two-Wheelers purchased. Of the two million plus BSNL connections, 50% is from small towns/villages and out of 20 million Rediffmail signups, 60% are from small towns ! Let me also give you the gigantic market size of rural markets (in Indian Rupees) : FMCG - 6500 Billion, Agri-Inputs - 4500 Billion, Consumer Durable's - 500 Billion, Automobiles ( 2 & 4 Wheelers ) - 800 Billion ! The figures tell us that the rural market is growing much faster than the urban counterpart. A recent forecast revealed that the Indian Cellular Services revenue will grow at a rate of 18.4 per cent with most of the growth coming from rural markets.

In 2008, the rural market has grown at an impressive rate of 25 per cent compared to the 7–10 per cent growth rate of the urban consumer retail market. According to a McKinsey survey conducted recently, rural India, with a population of 700 million, would become bigger than the total consumer market in countries such as South Korea or Canada and it would grow almost four times from its existing size in the next few years.

Understanding the Rural Market

I believe understanding the characteristics that make the people and the market in rural India unique, can help companies to enter this market with success. With an average income of less Rs.2000/- per month (Rs.24,000/- per annum), rural Indians have a very low disposable income. Most rural homes have minimal storage space and no refrigeration. Very few people own or have access to cars. As a result, rural Indian purchasing habits tend to be of an "earn today, spend today" mentality.

Rather than buying in bulk, which would mean paying more for a large quantity upfront, rural Indians tend to buy what they need for short segments of time. These factors result in consumers buying products locally, in small quantity on a daily basis. Before a company considers entering the rural market, understanding the types of products and packages that rural Indians typically use is crucial. By taking into account the low disposable incomes and the unique product and package needs of this market, consumer products that are designed and packaged for this market have great potential.

Approach

The rural market may be alluring but it has got its own problems like: Low per capita disposable incomes that is half the urban disposable income; large number of daily wage earners, seasonal consumption linked to harvests and festivals and special occasions; poor roads; power problems; and inaccessibility to conventional advertising media.

In her book, " We Are Like That Only ", Rama Bijapurkar points out, the main problem with the MNC's entering India is that they think the world is one homogenous market. They believe, what works in America, Europe, Asia has to work in India too. Its because of such thoughts that many of the multinationals have not managed to penetrate the Indian markets. After spending billions and being in India for more than 15 years, Coke and Pepsi still don't make profits.Another notable flop in the Indian market is Kellogs Cereals. The company couldn't understand that Indians prefer a hot steaming breakfast every morning, instead of cereals dunked in cold milk. Even if the lady in the household is working, the kitchen in an Indian household starts buzzing very early in the morning.

The rural consumer is different from his urban counterpart in many ways. I think the biggest challenge for any MNC's are meeting the four aspects in rural marketing: Availability, Affordability, Acceptability & Awareness.

Availability

The first challenge is to ensure availability of the product or service. India's 627,000 villages are spread over 3.2 million sq km; 700 million Indians live in rural areas, finding them is not easy. However, given the poor state of roads, it is an even greater challenge to regularly reach products to the villages. Over the years, India's largest MNC, Hindustan Lever, has built a strong distribution system which helps its brands reach the interiors of the rural market. To service remote village, stockists use autorickshaws, bullock-carts and even boats in the backwaters of Kerala. Coca-Cola, which considers rural India as a future growth driver, has evolved a hub and spoke distribution model to reach the villages. LG Electronics defines all cities and towns other than the seven metro cities as rural and semi-urban market.

Affordability

The second challenge is to ensure affordability of the product or service. With low disposable incomes, products need to be affordable to the rural consumer, most of whom are on daily wages. Some companies have addressed the affordability problem by introducing small unit packs. Godrej recently introduced three brands of Cinthol and Fair Glow in 50-gm packs, priced at Rs. 4-5 meant specifically for rural markets. The success of Cavin Kare has become a very notable case study. It is a company that began in a small way. It started the Chic shampoo sachet for 50 paise when shampoo was available at Re.1, and it revolutionised the market.

Hindustan Lever, among the first MNC's to realize the potential of India's rural market, has launched a variant of its largest selling soap brand, Lifebuoy at Rs.2 for 50 gm. Coca-Cola has addressed the affordability issue by introducing the returnable 200-ml glass bottle priced at Rs.5. The initiative has paid off: Eighty per cent of new drinkers for coke now come from the rural markets.

Acceptability

The third challenge is to gain acceptability for the product or service. Therefore, there is a need to offer products that suit the rural market. One company which has reaped rich dividends by doing so is LG Electronics. It developed a customized TV for the rural market and was a runway hit selling 100,000 sets in the very first year. Because of the lack of electricity and refrigerators in the rural areas, Coca-Cola provides low-cost ice boxes — a tin box for new outlets and thermocol box for seasonal outlets.The insurance companies that have tailor-made products for the rural market have performed well. HDFC Standard LIFE topped private insurers.

Awareness

Since large parts of rural India are inaccessible to conventional advertising media, building awareness is another challenge. Hindustan Lever relies heavily on its own company-organized media. Godrej Consumer Products, which is trying to push its soap brands into the interior areas, uses Radio to reach the local people in their language. Coca-Cola uses a combination of TV, Cinema and Radio to reach rural households. LG Electronics uses vans and road shows to reach rural customers. Philips India uses wall writing and Radio advertising to drive its growth in rural areas.

With all the above facts & figures the question is, can we afford to ignore rural India and move ahead? Well the answer is, we will not be able to survive without rural India in future! It is estimated that the rural India will consume 60% of the goods produced in the country.

For most of us, rural India is an unknown entity even today, and it calls for a lot of investment. Initially, the ratio between investment and returns will not be the same as we see in urban India. But eventually, we will get the returns. In today's corporate world, all the entrepreneurs and managers, looks for quick returns and depend on their quarterly results. They only look at what gives them immediate success. I think freebies have no meaning in rural India. Indian rural market is undoubtedly complex but there are some simple truths that we need to accept. The rural consumers are very value-conscious. They may be poor, but they are not backward and they can make a difference to our products and brands.

Gone were the days when a rural consumer had to go to a nearby town or city to buy a branded product. The growing power of the rural consumer is an opportunity for us to flock to the rural markets. At the same time, they also threw up major challenges. Gandhiji believed that India's future lay in her villages and it goes without saying those among us who can bring innovations in marketing mix with rural markets in mind will take away the " fortune at the bottom of the pyramid " !

Shamim
Visit : www.winnerinyou.in

" Can Indian Tiger trample the Chinese Dragon? " The India v/s China Story

In an article posted on my blog few weeks back on the topic " Made in China - A Threat for India? " , I was trying to analyze how we can compete with China. But today, I want to get into an interesting topic. Ever wonder who will win the economic competition between India & China? End of the day who will survive the recession? I am sure, there is no dispute that India & China are emerging as the World's two Economic Super Powers.

The conventional wisdom suggests that China will soon rule the world, because of its world leading population and massive economic growth over the last two decades.

But let me bring a new twist to the ' India-China, who's better ' story. I was reading a report published by Capgemini Consulting Service, which says, ' Made in India' could be the next big economic story in the world. The report says that in the next 3-5 years, India, while retaining its IT hold, could challenge China as the world's manufacturing hub.

Adding on to this, according to the Economic Times, some economists believe that India will overcome China as the fastest growing economy in 2009. If India achieves a better growth rate than China even for one quarter, the message will go across to the world and help India in attracting more foreign capital. Already, Government Officials in India have been highlighting reports of a few investment analysts who doubted China’s official GDP numbers and claimed that it could be just an inflated one. Its true that, the economic slowdown has hit both India & China but i think the situation in China is worse than us. Exports are drastically coming down and China is hit hard. Our economy is driven more by domestic demand and our rural economy is much more dependable than that of China.

We have strong reasons why the Indian economy will be the most successful one when it comes to riding out the current economic storm. Are you surprised with such a statement when all we get is hysterically bad news about economy from media's? Don't be. I have some facts and figures published in Business & Economy to support my views.

REASONS FOR TIGER'S SMILE !

FDI : China comfortably gets more than $ 150 billion in foreign direct investments every year. As a percentage of GDP, it will be between 7% to 10%. On the other side, Indian FDI has crossed $ 20 billion but has never exceeded even 1.5% of GDP. Now, we all know that foreign investments will dry up. But since our GDP growth has been driven by domestic investment, we will be the least adversely affected.

EXPORTS : There are horror stories floating around of how hundreds of thousands of jobs are being lost because exports are slowing down and declining. I read, half a million jobs were lost in the last quarter of 2008 because of contrasting exports. But on the other side, Chinese government admit that, 20 million jobs were lost in the same period and now you know where India stands compared to other nations. Also remember, exports from India is only around 15% of GDP, one of the lowest among major economies in the world.

CONSUMPTION : China's consumption accounts for just about 35% of GDP while it constitutes about 65% of GDP in India. When bad times come, consumption might stagnate in India while investment is bound to fall suddenly in China. No wonder, the Indian GDP growth rate will be around 7% in 2008-09 while it might crash from 13% to 6% in China. Slow & steady is often better!

INTEREST RATES : If every crisis is an opportunity, here is the mother of all opportunities. A few years ago, when major economies of the world had started cutting interest rates because of recession worries, our RBI kept hiking them to fight inflation. After the meltdown, there has been a move to cut interest rates. But the fact of the matter is that no other major economy of the world has interest rates as high as India's. That means, there is enough scope to reduce it drastically which puts us in a better position compared to other nations.

HEALTHY BANKS : This is arguably the biggest advantage that Indian economy enjoys in these turbulent times. Nobody knows for sure the position of Chinese Banks when it comes to bad debts ; but things have started rottening for them post recession. But our banking system is literally in the pink of health for sure.

INDIA INC : Many economists now acknowledge that India holds the advantage compared to China because of two reasons. Most successful Indian companies are private. More importantly, they have used capital far more productively and efficiently than Chinese counterparts. Chinese companies purely rely on Government incentives for growth. Also remember, most of our companies are sitting on billions of dollars of reserves!

DRAGON RUNNING OUT OF FIRE!

DROP IN GDP : China is surely paying price for its past mistake ( heavy reliance on exports for growth ) these days. The GDP growth for them remained in single digit during 2008, now its slipped below 8% and expected to go even further down!

INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION SLIPS DOWN : Even the much talked Chinese production machines are slowing down. Industrial output, which was dependent on export-oriented industries is rapidly loosing speed. It has slipped down from 17 % during march 2008 to just 5.7% during last December. In fact, this downward trend will continue to haunt China in 2009 as well.

EXPORTS BOUND TO SINK FURTHER : Exports the backbone of Chinese economy, is continuously declining over the last one year. This decline in exports is happening not only in labour-intensive sectors but across all sections of the economy. The factories are shutting down and the manufacturing boom seems to have come to an end in China.

DOMESTIC MARKET SLOWS DOWN : China's strength was always the fact that they have a 1.3 billion population which makes their domestic market the largest in the world. But that seems not coming handy for them during this recession! In fact, China witnessed the slowest pace of retail sales growth since November 2007. The China Retails Sales percentage was 21.6% during May 2008 & its been dropped to 19.0% towards the end of December 2008.

I hope the reasons and comparisons stated above tell us that the Indian economy will ride this storm without much damage. Our government is confident of achieving close to 7% growth this fiscal. In addition to the two stimulus packages, recently, the government announced a Rs,30,000- crore boost to the slowing economy by cutting excise duty and service tax.

The global recession looks to me as an opportunity for India to start closing the lead that China has built over it in the past decade or so. A growing majority of economists predict that India's democratic structure and the resulting transparency will allow it to over take China in near future.

Guess its time for the Indian Tiger to trample the Chinese Dragon !

What do you say?

Shamim

" Made In China " - A Threat for India ?

I receive lot of interesting questions from some of my Friends or Associates and most of the topics will be related to Leadership, Marketing, Hiring, Change, Strategy or Time Management. These questions actually come to my mind several times when I sit to write some thing on the blog.

Yesterday I received a call from an Entrepreneur friend of mine who is into manufacturing. While talking about his business, he asked me an interesting question which is the seed for this article. Let me quote him, " I have spend the last ten years bringing up my Company with lot of pain and we were extremely competitive in the market till recently. But now we're getting killed by imported products from China. How can we stay alive? "

I guess he asked me this question, since I had the opportunity to travel around the world over the past several years ever since I got into the foreign trade business for my Company. One Country I have often traveled to is China and my first visit was a decade back, during 1998. I could travel across China to various Provinces and interact with Entrepreneurs , Middle and Top Executives from different industries.

Coming back to the question my friend asked me, will there be any manufacturing jobs left in certain sectors in our Country if Chinese keep lowering and lowering the price of their products? Can our Government always protect the local industries with a temporary ban ( like the Chinese Toys banned for six months recently ) or keep on imposing anti-dumping duty? I know there is no easy answer to this China question! On the other side, we hear about China's problems - being an export depended economy how they are hit badly with present recession, its scarcity of middle managers, poor Intellectual Property Laws and the massive number of poor farming families moving into unprepared cities with not enough jobs to support them. We have also heard about Country's Banks troubled with close to 20% bad loans.

But I feel, for China these aren't mountains to be scaled, and they have grown big enough to handle any crisis. Increasing prosperity from spectacular economic growth over the past twenty years has given the Chinese enormous self-confidence. And China has more, a massive pool of low-cost, hardworking laborers and a rapidly expanding number of well-educated engineers and English speaking youngsters.

And, then, they have their work ethics, which may be their single biggest strength. Entrepreneurship and competition seems to be baked into the Chinese culture. During my last visit to China, I was watching a Television Program on the legendary political leader and statesman of Communist China, Mao Tse-tung. It showed his visits to all the villages and in all his speeches, he kept on telling his country men one thing, " work hard, work hard for the country " . No wonder, even today they follow Mao's ' work hard for the country policy '. I was at a city called Taishan and a girl visited me to have a business discussion traveling 320 Kms! She said every day she's at the office from 7.00 am until 6 p.m, goes home to join her husband and son for dinner till 8.00 pm., and then returns to work until midnight. " This is very typical here ", she said, six days a week " !

So faced with the inevitability of China, what do we do? First and foremost, get out of the tank. The sense of panic I heard from my friend is perhaps understandable and he could be one among several like him, but it doesn't take us anywhere.

It's not as if our country is next to any other country. We have a large consumer and industrial market, all thirsting for products, with great brands and distribution networks. We have an open economy and mature legal systems. Ours is a transparent society with democratic government and good education and good social systems. Even though the world has just discovered it, our growth story is not new and we are heading to be the world's largest economy sooner or later.

Our business has fully developed management processes. Many of our Corporates have gone global and successfully acquired several Big Brands and Companies. The rise of globally competitive Indian Companies like Reliance, Jet Airways, Infosys, Wipro, Ranbaxy, Tata Motors, TCS, Bharati, ICICI tells the story of Indian success. I am sure, the Indian success is market led whereas China's is state induced. The list of our competitive advantage could go on and on. So let's think positively. At the very least, ' a can-do attitude ' is a place to start. I agree, with recession and competing with Chinese products, some are in the worst of times.

But in the heat of battle, it always feels like the worst of times. Low-cost competitors are not new. History says, Hong Kong, Philippines and Taiwan have been in the game for over forty years. But how did China get on top of all these countries? Simple - because they changed. They grabbed the new technology and transformed themselves, emerging stronger than ever. And change is what China demands of us now. But the question is how?

Let me try to get an answer from the Japanese. As a part of " Association of Technical Scholarship's " training program, I went to Japan and visited several big factories including Toyota and Daifuku. And I learned whether its in Japan or in China, they all ride on three old warhorses of competition - Cost, Quality and Service - and drive them to new levels, making every person in the organization see them for what they are, a matter of survival. Lets zoom into these three factors.

Costs : Everyone needs to be searching everywhere, inside the company and out, for best practices. Find where and how every single process should be performed to increase productivity. Like I heard from the Japanese and Chinese Companies, don't think about reducing the costs just by 5 to 10 percent. We have to find the ways to reduce it by 20 to 30 percent. In most cases, that's what it will take to be competitive in the China world.

Quality : I have always heard people quoting that Chinese products are of cheap quality and I always correct them. Its not that Chinese produce only cheap quality products, they produce products to match any price and what we happen to see is just one of those low priced cheap quality product. But lets realize that, they can produce excellent quality products and most of the international brands which we bench mark as quality products are Made in China! They spend lot of money into R&D and we need to look into that aspect as well. On quality, we just can't have a trial and error approach. Getting it 95% perfect is not good enough. We need to use Six Sigma or any other methodology we like in order to deliver the best quality and get rid of defects.

Service : It is the easiest advantage to exploit. China is thousands of miles away from most developed markets. But still they manage to get new customers, give them good service and retain them. I think, our challenge is not just to improve service. It is to break the service paradigm in our industry or market so that customers aren't just satisfied, they're so shocked that they tell strangers on the street how good we are! I am sure we can do much better than China in giving the best service to Customers.

While we have to innovate to improve Cost, Quality and Service, lets go beyond that. Take a new, hard look at our market and search for untapped opportunities; find new niches. The market we're serving may seem saturated, but it is filled with plenty of demand for exciting new products, services or technologies.

And finally, while we are innovating and searching for new products and markets, lets realize the fact that China can be much more than just a competitor. I think, its time for us to think of China as a market, an outsourcing option, and a potential partner. Unlike Japan in its early development, China's huge market is relatively open to direct investment. It may be a good idea to think about selling our products or services in the Chinese market while sourcing products for our home market.

Now, I don't want to sound like a brand ambassador of China. Its presence is a real game-changer in business today. And even if trade restrictions get enacted, its currency is allowed to fluctuate, and intellectual property laws are passed, we cant ignore them and move ahead in business. Let me quote Jagdish N Sheth in his fantastic book "Chindia Rising " ( do read this book, its an amazing one ), ' the future is uncertain, but the present day makes clear that, China & India are rising, and much evidence suggests that, this trajectory will continue. "

I think, its time for us to stop looking at China as a competitor and it is a classic case of the ' glass half empty or half full '. We have two options, look at the situation and feel victimized or look at it and be excited about conquering the challenges and opportunities it presents. I prefer to pick the latter. How about you ?

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Shamim