The Amazon of India?

Ever since I started e-shopping, like most out there, Amazon.com was my default choice. They are way ahead of the competition in brining innovative ways of shopping experience for the customers. Having used Amazon.com while in US, I was thinking that they have a similar global reach. In US, they ship most of the articles without any shipping and handling fee. I was in doubt about their plans for international shipping strategy before I set out to order right from India. I was ready to pay up for a minimal S&H fee for the International Shipping and of course, I was ready to wait and let Amazon take their sweat time dispatching the product. Unfortunately, I realized that the S&H cost was much higher than the article itself that I was planning to order.

That is when I googled for the same product with "India" suffix and the first hit was http://www.fabmall.com/. I had an experience with fabmall in the past trying to order a house hold appliance from US destined for delivery in India. That was, by far, one of the worst online shopping experience I ever had. Even after collecting the payment, they took about 2 months before they delivered the product. And, for the worst part, they shipped an alternate model than the one I ordered citing reason that thye ran out of stock of the previous item. Okay, enough to have them black-listed in my list of shopping sites.


However, I recently checked out their service again. I had to order for a book urgently and they seemed to be the only store carrying it. And the experience was not bad. They shipped the item on time. Unfortunately, this time their courier service failed to deliver the product on time. I logged a compliant with fabmall, and at the same time tried to get in touch with the local courier agency. The courier folks finally made it to deliver, of course after a delay. By then, fabmall shipped a replacement for the item lost in transit. I was embarrassed and acknowledged them that I already received the order. Then comes the final twist! They shipped the replacement order after a month and asked me to accept the replacement and ship back the original. The ultimate climax! Of course, they charge you for S&H (I paid Rs.25 for a book that costs Rs. 500/-)


Following are certain other sites out there are that you may want to check out!
http://www.ndtvshopping.com/
http://www.futurebazaar.com/
http://shopping.indiatimes.com/

For Books, you may want to check out the following.
http://books.rediff.com/
http://www.firstandsecond.com/
http://www.booksatbahri.com/
http://gobookshopping.com/
http://www.kithabay.com
http://www.bookshopofindia.com/


Rediff books ste is pretty responsive and they offers most of the latest books on print. Some of these sites claim that they have free S&H service. So, whom do you think is poised to become the Amazon.com of India?

Why they say Bigger Projects always fail...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0612170278dec17,0,61792.story?track=rss ...just a perfect example of why they say bigger projects have one sure fate; "to fail" more often than not. interestingly, this could be a perfect case study for anyone in the industry; just enough failures to keep every discipline get a handful of learnings...software version control or change control failure, absence of a technology assessment board, lack of agility in process, One-shot approach..let me explain some of them in little more detail:

Absence of a Technology Assessment Board
As per the best practice, every organization should maintain an approved "Technology Stack" at the enterprise level. The "approved technology Stack" contains the list of softwares (or hardwares may be) and their "Version Numbers" that can be used by any projects going on in the firm. Any entity in the organization, be it an SBU (Strategic Business Unit), suppliers in the extended enterpise, partners who associate with the project or any individuals or contractors should adhere to the compliance standards of this stack. Having established a stack, the owner of the stack should be resposible for scheduling a periodic audit or review of the project to ensure the compliance.

Lack of Agility

If turbulence and turmoil define the problem, then agility is key to the solution http://www.awprofessional.com/articles/article.asp?p=25930&rl=1 . Agility is a hot word in IT these days. However, it is a must and can be very easily deployed in such a "Jumbo" project like that of A380. Just look at the number of problems this approach could have solved for Airbus. The "progressive elaboration" can only go in perfect blend with a phase-wise approach.

Theory of Constraints

Theory of constraints (TOC) is an overall management philosophy that aims to continually achieve more of the goal of a system. If that system is a for-profit business, then the goal becomes one of making more money, in the present as well as in the future http://www.goldratt.com/. The bigger the project gets higher the need for following the fundamentals.

Using the Right Software

Most OEM has a tendancy to have a "lock-in" to a particular software vendor. This is attributed to the fact that their engineers and analysts are comfortable using this software having used the same for long. However, it is not just the efficieny that matters here. OEMs have to keep re-evaluating their technology stacks at regular intervals for the emerging technologies and softwares in the industry that makes them more efective. One classic example for a revolutionary product in the Virtual Product Development industry is "SimEnterprise" suite from MSC Software http://www.mscsoftware.com/products/?Q=131

Welcome to the age of "Paritrana"

India has an incredible history of either believing stuff with extreme optimism or rejecting ideologies with extreme neglect. As negative energy is so powerful and easy to acquire, our nation seem to embrace and blindly follow the leaders of the pessimist world. Amidst these controversies that rules, the nation has now focused their attention on the newly formed “Paritrana” party. A party who proclaims to have born to cater to the deepest desire of a generation to break free from the shackles of irresponsibility and comatose momentum.

This has happened in the past in Indian and world history. No ideology or party can sustain its growth and synergy as the world is growing through an innovative transformation. Companies change their strategies to face the ever-changing market. Markets change their response to a changing economy. Leaders were born out of dare distress to lead the companies, economy, society or nation to see through the status quo. They monitor the environment they strive on and move on to formulate strategies for future.

So was the cause for the formation of Indian National Congress (INC). Mahatma Gandhi envisioned it just as a mean to unite entire India fight for freedom. Once the objective was attained, he advised dissolution of the party. But in those days, India badly needed a leader and a brand name to keep the pieces of a disintegrated nation together. And, through Congress India achieved what it wanted of those days: a written constitution and a largest democratic nation were born.

But, INC did not satisfy the thirst of a young generation. They believed in the principles of equality and a socialistic nation. That was a generation that did not want the nation to bow in front of Capitalistic and wealthiest nations. A deepest feeling of hatred was framed in their minds against the wealthiest nations and even wealthier society and people. This generation thought socialism would solve their problems and was abundantly supported by media and events that followed in neighboring nations. To the youngest generation of those days, this revolutionist concept was the solution to revitalize the nation. And communist party gained supporters at grass-root levels and they did what was the requisite of those days. But, the party failed to make inroads into some of the societies of the illiterates. This revolutionary concept was too much for those people to even digest.

That paved way to a section of people who emerged to build a nation based on religion. Religion was easy to be digested even for illiterates. Coupled with a sense to build a nation based on the true ideologies of the Hindu religion seem to have succeeded to a certain extend. The party was able to penetrate to the deepest pockets soon enough and made credible progress. Some of the educated leaders provided a decent interface for the party which attracted even the educated masses into believing their mantra for building a prosperous nation. But there was not much of a focused long-term vision for the party to lead the nation their way.

Meanwhile, the nation was seemed to favor localization. A large number of parties were formed in each part of India with local customization. Some that focused on religion, others on caste, or buffalos or fodder or terrorism etc. At the same time, IT wave was spreading the entire nation. India was perceived as a knowledge hub by many corporations. Industrial and agricultural output increased manifolds. Youth had a better opportunity to get employed soon enough. Everyone is now talking about a growth rate that equals the blistering pace of the new generation computers.

Stage is set for “Paritrana” with new mantra to rebuild a nation from the grass root level. They are an extraordinary league of gentlemen with outstanding career record. They represent the true Indian youth that wants to hear only good things about their nation. While they work their way out for a new “Outlook” for the future India, rest assured that they are not cheap fodder scam or coffin scam politicians. India might as well reject them with their pessimist attitude, but, there is still hope. They might probably stand out to deliver the goods that India lost in transition in the last couple of centuries.

While the optimists will join their hands with “Paritrana”, I would say….”hey pessimists, at least, there is nothing wrong in dreaming for a better world for you and your folks”. For certain, I salute their patriotic spirit!