Pic by Ecram1’s photostream
Another Indian is all set to get immortalised in the hallowed corridors of the Harvard Business School. Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group who gave a grant of USD 50 million to his alma mater Harvard Business School, will adorn the newest executive complex building at the institute. There was a ground-breaking ceremony recently held to start construction of the Tata Hall. Among those present at the ceremony were Ratan Tata, a 1975 graduate of Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Programme for senior executives; Dean Nitin Nohria and former deans. Read more in http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-12-07/news/30486049_1_ratan-tata-jay-light-senior-executives
The Harvard-Indian link made more news last week but not for such ‘noble’ reasons. The Harvard University scrapped two courses taught by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy at its annual summer school session. This move came after Swamy wrote a controversial piece in a local publication, suggesting disenfranchising of religious minorities in India who did not acknowledge their Hindu ancestry. Apparently, the move to eliminate the course was held after a heated debate at the school. Reacting to the news, Swamy has been quoted in the newspapers saying that he assumed Harvard would have sent its petition to him asking for his comments before taking any decision. Hours later, Harvard reacted saying that the “members of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences meet each year vote to approve or amend the course list for Harvard Summer School” and that’s how Swamy’s course was done away with. Some more in http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/harvard-university-removes-courses-taught-by-subramanian-swamy-156269?pfrom=home-topstories
Jugaad is not such a dirty word anymore. Three Indians blogged in the Harvard Business Review that jugaad is increasingly relevant for companies worldwide who are seeking to grow in an increasingly complex and resource-constrained business environment. Unlike traditional, structured innovation methods that rely on time-consuming and expensive R&D; processes, the more fluid jugaad approach delivers speed, agility, and cost efficiencies. The three define it as a Hindi word that loosely translates as “the gutsy art of overcoming harsh constraints by improvising an effective solution using limited resources.” The blog goes on to add that Jugaad innovators are modern-day alchemists who transmute adversity into opportunity, and in so doing create value for their organisations and communities. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/12/think_like_an_indian_entrepren.html
An interesting read in http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/264067/20111208/twitter-terrorists-al-qaeda-shabab.htm about how Twitter is being used to spread the terror word. The article lists examples. One – Al-Shabab, a paramilitary group considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and notorious for hijacking humanitarian aid during the Somalia’s worst famine in 60 years has started using Twitter to spread the hate word. Another example is the case of the attack in Kabul in September by “militants from the Taliban-linked Haqqani Network, which launched a multi-stage attack on Kabul. During the 20-hour long stand-off between the insurgents — five of whom took cover in an under-construction building next to the U.S. embassy — and Afghani and NATO security forces, an electronic battle between the parties was simultaneously waged on Twitter. Yet another example written about is the the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and Taliban spokesperson Abdulqahar Balkhi who had a heated exchange while their respective troops fought each other on the streets. The two had a back-and-forth of about half a dozen Tweets, some with statistics, links and video.
One cannot talk about the week’s happenings without paying heed to the European crisis. The Economist in http://www.economist.com/blogs/charlemagne/2011/12/britain-and-eu-summit?fsrc=nlw|newe|12-9-2011|new_on_the_economist%20discusses details “how after a long, hard and rancorous negotiation, at about 5am on December 9, the European Union split in a fundamental way. The article informs that in an effort to stabilise the euro zone, France, Germany and 21 other countries decided to draft their own treaty to impose more central control over national budgets while Britain and three others decided to stay out. In the coming weeks, Britain may find itself even more isolated, the article warns. It goes on to discuss that none of the measures taken, however, will stabilise the Euro. The agreement is heavily tilted towards budget discipline and austerity. It does little to generate money in the short term to arrest the run on sovereigns, nor does it provide a longer-term perspective of jointly-issued bonds. Much will depend on how the European Central Bank responds in the coming days and weeks.”
And to some lighter news – Video Games – which have come a long way since Ninetendo Wii console in 2006. The Economist states that according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the global video-game market was worth around $56 billion last year, and has grown by over 60% since 2006. The article states that the gaming industry is more than twice the size of the recorded-music industry, nearly a quarter more than the magazine business and about three-fifths the size of the film industry. PwC predicts that video games will be the fastest-growing form of media over the next few years, with sales rising to $82 billion by 2015. While America will remain the biggest market, Britain and Germany will hold huge markets too. And China has recently overtaken Japan to become the second-biggest market. Read it all in http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2011/12/daily-chart-0?fsrc=nlw|newe|12-9-2011|new_on_the_economist
Joshua Gans from the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) has written an interesting piece in the Harvard Business Review about Google+ on why “Facebook gets social and Google does not.” The writer states that he had predicted when Google+ was launched that while the service was technologically wonderful, it did not solve a problem for consumers and therefore would not attract users. While it is still too early to tell if Google+ has completely lost the opportunity to build a virtuous cycle of adoption and greater use, we can assess the one feature of Google+ that distinguished it from Facebook – circles. That feature, and Facebook’s response to it, helps us understand how Facebook “gets social” and the broader implications for both businesses. In http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/12/facebook_gets_social_and_will.html
A fun piece in the HBR on how the language of internet business models has made the problem of understanding people so much more difficult. The writer remarks: When I was younger, if I didn’t understand what people were saying, I thought I was stupid. Now I realize that if it’s to people’s benefit that I understand them but I don’t, then they’re the ones who are stupid. The writer goes on to list five strains of this epidemic. Abstractionitis, he says, is one of them where we have forgotten how to use the real names of real things. Like doorknobs. Instead, people talk about the idea of doorknobs, without actually using the word “doorknob.” So a new idea for a doorknob becomes “an innovation in residential access.” http://blogs.hbr.org/pallotta/2011/12/i-dont-understand-what-anyone.html#.Tt8s7vF—0.facebook
An overdoes of HBR this week but another – interesting thoughts on how much one is responsible for innovation in one’s company. The article admits that in reality, unless one is working in the research or product development departments, most people in organisations don’t think of themselves as innovators. In fact, many managers discourage their people from inventing new ways of doing things pushing them instead to follow procedures and stay within established guidelines. Read more in http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2011/12/innovation-is-everyones-job.html