दृष्टिकोण – Indra's Viewpoint

The second round of pleas by the Detroit Big Three automakers to convince the senators for the federal bailout for their survival appears to be failing. Interestingly, unlike the last trip to Washington in private jets, the CEOs this time made the 500-mile return trip from Washington to Detroit in the hybrid cars.

GM asked for $12 billion in short-term loans, plus a $6 billion line of credit. GM needs $4 billion immediately and $4 billion more in January, and hopes to repay the government by 2012. Chrysler needs a $7 billion bridge loan. Ford requested a $9 billion line of credit, though hopes never to use it. Americans have many questions.

Will the onetime giant General Motors survive through the end of this month without a quick rescue or collapse deepening the already painful recession in US? Can GM survive with its restructuring, closure of plants, layoffs, downsizing and dropping of some brands? Will GM free up research, marketing and overhead costs?

Will Chrysler be sold turning the Big3 into the Big 2?

Could the automakers return to profitability even with a massive infusion of government cash? Will President Bush use his authority to find a way out, be it under the $700 billion financial rescue program to forestall the auto industry’s collapse?
Why are the car companies, which support one in 10 U.S. jobs, less deserving of assistance than Wall Street banks and insurance companies? The Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, under President Bush, managed to provide $30 billion for Bear Stearns, and a $150 billion rescue for AIG, and committed $250 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and more than $300 billion for Citi Group. Automakers even today ask for only $34 billion between three huge companies. Bush administration officials remain adamant to reserve the bailout funds exclusively for the financial system. Can’t Bush come out to help?

Will ultimately the Big Three agree to the alternative course suggested by several lawmakers in both parties to consider a pre-negotiated bankruptcy – something they have consistently shunned?

And finally a relevant question remains. Will Chinese automaker like Geely and SAIC with the desire to get a footprint in the U.S buy its way into the U.S. market?

On the part of automakers, GM and Ford are trying to salvage the situations with all the weapons with them. GM promises to bring its labour cost in line with Toyota by 2012. All three are limiting executive pay and have also won money-saving union agreements. GM and Ford both are working overtime for getting green with hybrid and plug-in electric vehicle plans. Will the consumers better accept those than Toyota’s Prius? Will those financially boost the bottom line with their high price? I only hope that the falling prices of gasoline don’t decelerate the work of GM and Ford to come out with the new green and commercially viable technologies. By the time I left US on November 29, 2008, the gasoline price had come down to less than $2 a gallon from the peak of above $4 a gallon last year. GM claims to be learning from the mistakes made in past. Ford also acknowledges big missteps, such as the company’s approach that once was “If you build it, they will come.” “We produced more vehicles than our customers wanted, then slashed prices.” But as a result of these past mistakes, they “are really focused” today. Even United Auto Workers union is aligning today with the industry and is against any kind of bankruptcy, even a prepackaged one, as “a viable option”, as consumers would not buy autos from bankrupt companies.

I wish American lawmakers would save GM and help Ford. In overall restructuring, Chrysler may get merged into GM. And that is pretty rational.

PS: Congressional Democrats and the White House reached for agreement Friday on about $15 billion in bailout loans for the beleaguered auto industry. President George W. Bush warned that at least one of the Big Three carmakers might not survive the current economic crisis.

PS
Here is another solution:A Toyota Takeover Could Save GM

Jet lag, the burglary-caused inconveniences at my Noida residence, and the inefficiency of the best telecommunication company of the country providing my Internet services, kept me away from sharing my views with others. With age it is becoming more difficult to face the situation. But still there are some good friends, and some policemen do also help even now. Life is getting normal and may be soon I get into my normal routine.

In the mean time a coward nation tries to show its brave face in various ways. Politicians have gone extreme. A chief minister of the most developed state can use a filthy language and a senior executive of the main opposition party can doubt the sincerity about the way people of India are trying to voice their views about the weakness of the political and administrative system that caused the worst of terrorist attack in the financial capital of the country.

Persons like me keep on talking and proving themselves real argumentative Indians. Will some resignations and reshuffles solve the critical problems of the country, be it Jehadi terrorism, Maoist attacks, or even the irrational protests by so-called well-wishers of the common men? It requires the steely resolve of those who are in office to carry out their responsibility in interest of the nation that is India. It demands from every citizen to do the best to build an image of India that is the best and that other nation can envy. The new home minister, whom I like many Indians respect and love, has ‘no doubt that ultimately the idea of India will triumph’. I hope his statement with time doesn’t prove a political one.

It is depressing all around with the story of meltdown caused by a system that works to exploits the human weaknesses for materialistic gains. But I have hope and it’s get firmed up when I go through books such as one by Nilekani’s ‘Imagining India’ and the latest special issue of ‘India Today’ with a theme of spirit of India that tells the stories of unusual entrepreneurs- 50 wealth creators who made it big in unique ways. I am sure with a huge readership for the magazine in various languages of India, it will make a big impact on the readers and inspire them to emulate. Everywhere I go, I find India engaged in improving itself.

I wish the rulers of India learn some useful lessons from Mumbai massacre and get some warning hints of the people’s anguish and anger about their lethargies to solve the national problems to keep their jobs in tact. Will the people of India go above the petty things and be a partner in making the nation a brave one? Will the government take the opportunity to take the assistance of whosoever it may be (even US or Israel) to deal firmly and get demolished the training camps and their masterminds across the borders?

Residents in Noida are much better informed than those in many satellite townships. Newsletters such as Samvad and Flash are providing a lot of information that improves the quality of life of the residents. RWA of Sector 41 has now a website too. However, many a times some controversial local issues cause some ruffles too. Here is one:

I was shocked and pained after going through the December Issue of ‘Samvada Sector 41, Noida’. As I glanced, I found four of the write-ups in the issue are by the same person. I couldn’t understand if in absence of any one from the sector writing about the issues of the sector, the reporter has been hired by someone with vested interest to do it. I didn’t like the mention of my name in the cover report- ‘Residents Happy With The A-B Boundary Wall’.

Let me tell the writer and the publishers that the residents affected are not happy at all. Unfortunately, we shall have to live with it with all inconveniences thrust on us by some collaborative efforts of RWA executives and Noida Authority officers with vested interests. I was neither a leader nor I had supporters ever, as mentioned in the report. I was never the leader on the issue of raising the wall too. I only assisted when the residents that too almost all of them facing the road, requested me to be with them. On the day Noida Authority bulldozed the gardens and its own fencing, I had requested the President of the RWA to come and listen to the residents, but he never did. In evening some residents from Block A went to the RWA office to plead the case of security. I was among them. I was for a wall, wrote abut it but wanted it to be aesthetically designed and constructed without becoming an eyesore. Thereafter perhaps RWA approached CEO for a boundary wall without apprehending that the wall will not be constructed in place of fencing but it will be at only 9 meters from the built-up end of the residences. The residents objected when it started getting built up, protested, and represented too, as the free space available to the residents since the dates of the purchase, got restricted. For many like me, the choice of the house was only because there was open space before it. The protest was but natural.

After the representation by the whole lot of the residents facing the proposed wall, the CEO and DCEO agreed to drop the project. It got withheld. But then the CEO got suddenly transferred. In a mysterious manner, the project got started with urgency and under threat of police shield. The project can be a nice case study in collaborative corruption that is going on in all government institutions.

The boundary wall has come up. Noida authority has considered my appeal to make it nice looking. The wall can’t be demolished anymore, as it happened for the walls of the Block C market. But, the boundary wall has created problem for the affected residents. It restricts the movement of the cars of the residents and their guests.

Those who are taking credit for building this China’s Wall and are celebrating must also answer at least two questions and provide solutions or services. All the residents are concerned and worried, as it has started happening.

With the walls providing privacy, dogs, the pet ones and some humans of the same class are defecating in the area beyond the boundary wall. Passersby are daring to urinate in this no man’s land. Who should take care of this nuisance- RWA or Noida Authority?

Secondly, many of the residents of Block A-B had planted trees including some fruit-bearing ones (such as guava and aamla in my area) that have grown but gone on the other side of the wall. Who will water them, put in the manures and protect them?

Will the writer or his mentor take a lead to get this service for the residents through RWA or the horticulture department of Noida Authority?

However, Noida Authority has not done anything to provide suitable drainage to remove the water logging in the area when it rains. Now the water logging will be on the both sides of the wall. I wish RWA took up the issue with Noida Authority.

The executives of RWA must listen to the people affected with open mind and seek their active assistance in getting the maximum benefits out of the Noida Authority projects carried out at huge cost. Two recent projects in the sector: the boundary wall and the service lane along the sector are simply wasted money.

One question comes up in my mind after seeing the wide red line showing the wall with the report. Will the Noida Authority construct it all around the Sector 41? Unless the wall runs all around, it hardly helps the security cause. If the cost of the present boundary wall is Rs 16 lakh, what will be the cost of the total? Will Noida Authority create similar walls around all the sectors? What will be the overall project cost for the whole of Noida? Is it the best use of the taxpayers’ money? Should it not instead be a RO system for drinking water for all the residents or a world-class library or gym?

We came to US on invitation and request of Shannon and Anand to be of some help to them. We reached Pleasanton on September 2008. We welcomed Krish on September 25, 2008 and thereafter tried to be good grandparent. These days were just great. I experienced the best of my life with Emma and Krish rather relived my childhood again. I had never spent so much time at a stretch with any of my grandchildren, for which I had remorse. I had scarce little experience of being involved with my own children some 36 years ago, when HM used to keep me engaged totally. Before coming, I doubted if I shall be able to handle Krish and play with him, as he will be just two months old before we live US. But Krish proved me wrong.

Every morning I enter the office room of Anand anytime between 3AM and 5AM for keeping myself in touch with the rest of the world and pen down my views on some issues of my interest. At around 6AM either Shannon or Anand bring Krish to me. Krish is at his best at that time-a serene calm face and pure pearl like, sleeping and waking, smiling and murmuring, perhaps conveying some divine message to me with his right hand fully open and raised. His innocent face appears cute and divine at that time. He knows his time of feed. His crying indicates the time. I feed a bottle of milk in between carefully holding him on shoulder for burping. He plays, perhaps converse and then sleeps.

Any time around 8.15 AM, Emma joins me with her favorite blankets, and gives a kiss. I warm her milk and now she has learnt to drink milk holding the bottle herself. After Shannon changes her night dress, I take her along with me on my morning walk encircling our residence through Valley Avenue and Paseo Santa Cruz. Emma is still learning the language we speak, but we keep on communicating with each other during the 30-40 minutes morning walk in the universal language that every grandfather and his grand-daughter understand. Emma at one year and few months excites and enlightens me time and again with her mechanical and creative traits.

Krish remains at home and keeps us engaged, while Emma mostly goes to Nancy at around 9.30 or so, and remains there up to evening when Shannon brings her back at around 5PM. I felt bad about it, but seeing the long term advantages and our old age, it was decided so. We keep on waiting for Emma’s return, and she brings the whole lot of happiness where every second is unique and delighting. Emma dances with the music of her toys or when Yamuna sings her pet self created lyric, ‘mannan mannan bhai mannan mannan’.

Evening chore of Emma dinner is something real interesting. Shannon uses all her skills to feed her, and after Emma finishes her dinner, it appears that she has used all her body and not only the mouth for dinner. But after dinner, Emma goes in her best mood and spirited energy that one can invariably see in her dancing and running. At 8.30 or so, Anand takes her for a bath and then sleep after taking some milk. During that time, we maintain total silence. I keep Krish and see that he does not cry. And thus we part with Krish and Emma to see them next morning again.

Emma and Krish both have taught me many things of childhood that I would not have known otherwise. But I can’t end without mentioning Bart, the pet that has been with Shannon since his childhood. Bart is member of the family as Yamuna keeps on calling him the ‘badka bhaiya’ of Emma. And on November 29, 2008 we are leaving for Noida, New Delhi with sweet memories of Krish and Emma and all the fun and delight that their company gave us.

India gets a mention in all the news related to ‘the global war for innovation and talent’, be it the number of scientific and technical papers produced annually, the investment in R&D, or the world’s top science and research universities.

Among the logics behind the strong position of India in innovation, the mention of Tata Motors’ Nano is one of the most popular success stories, and then come the stories about the R&D centres established by the MNCs in India. For example, ‘some 70% of the employees in General Electric’s Bangalore Global Research Center hold masters degrees or PhDs. The 680 patents GE’s Bangalore team has filed since 2000 are critical to the company’s global innovation efforts.’

My Google News Alert for ‘R&D in India’ confirms the coming in or expansion of MNCs’ R&D activities in India almost daily. One can easily take pride in the availability of Google news in four India languages, a record of a sort, and all created in India.

Is the development going to challenge the might of the Western countries so far innovation is concerned? The right answer may be a simple ‘no’. Many management thinkers such as Amar Bhide of Princeton University or Arindam K. Bhattacharya of the Boston Consulting Group suggest that the developed world must take advantage of the rising capability of the Asians.

According to a recent column on ‘Innovation in America’ in The Economist, ‘Even before the financial crunch began, many businessmen were worried that America was losing its lead in innovation to India and China. So does the relative decline of America as a technology powerhouse really amount to a threat to its prosperity?’ The opinions differ, but certain developments are interesting and heartening. IBM plans to train as researchers exceptionally talented engineering graduates and postgraduate students in computer science from leading technical institutions in India. To encourage graduates to take up careers in research, Microsoft Research India also introduced various programs, including a two-year assistant researcher program for engineering graduates to do research work at the Microsoft lab.

Further, India has retained the first slot for the seventh year in succession with the number of Indian students in the US increasing by 13 per cent in 2007-08 to reach 94,563, according to the Open Doors report published by the Institute of International Education with support from the US Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. Many more Indian students are also going to other countries in all corners of the world too for higher education. And most of these are non-IITians enginerring graduates coming to US for Master’s and Ph.D. Mckinsey, Fareed Zakaria or Vivek Wadhawa may keep on debating about the quality of education in Indian professional institutions, but the students themselves will get over the gap of knowledge with their intense urge to compete with the best of the world.

Between 2004 and 2007, MNCs increased R&D staff by 22 percent; 91 per cent of that increase was in China and India. Companies in the US spent the largest amount on R&D in other countries, as that helps in improving its sales and profits. India was the second-largest, with $12.9 billion. Its large, English-speaking talent pool and fast-growing auto, computing and electronics, and pharmaceutical markets will stimulate further growth. Steven J Veldhoen, managing director, Asia, Booz & Company, Japan, said, “India has created a centre of excellence in automobile manufacturing, both for domestic and global demand. India is going through a development phase, where manufacturing will follow.” “India wants to catch up with China. Presently it lags behind China in both volume-based and technology-based manufacturing, though India may be ahead of China in skill-based manufacturing. India’s share in the world’s manufacturing is 1.8 per cent, while China’s share is 12 per cent. India needs to have a growth rate of 12-15 per cent on a sustained basis.”

India is the new IT research hub. From ideation and conceptualization to end-to-end designing, the entire product development cycle now happens in India. Many Indian R&D teams even have the ownership of products developed for different companies. The high-end research and development work in the Indian IT sector has started a reverse brain drain.

Interestingly many innovations are coming from grassroots. Missionaries such as Anil K Gupta of IIM- Ahmedabad are trying to get the best from the grassroots’ innovation. In a recent article in Outlook, Prof Gupta writes, “One of the largest German dental restoration technology firms (Bego.com) contacted NIF after reading about a tooth made of bamboo by Dodhi Pathak, an innovator from Assam in ’02. No Indian company ever bothered. A physics graduate from a European country thought he had come out with an original idea: magnetic shock absorbers. But after a search, he found that Kalpita Patil, a student, had already been awarded for the innovation by NIF. Similarly, Kanak Das, an innovator from Assam, developed a cycle that ran faster on uneven roads back in 2002-03: it converted energy from the shock absorbers into mechanical as well as electrical energy. In the US, a patent was applied for such a technology much later.”

All this development that may be exhilarating for Indians at large, but there has been hardly any breakthrough innovation. No scientist or technocrat working in India has got Nobel after CV Raman. And Nano might have got a lot of media attention, as the idea is certainly unique with a lot of potential for Tata Motors and many manufacturing companies in India. However, Indians are not sure if it will come out in production in the desired number and that too, fast enough to take advantage of the early arrival and be excepted by the local and then global car buyers.

Can Indians show in the coming general election some innovative way to eliminate all unscrupulous politicians that are holding back the country? Can Indians stop wasting Rs 150 crore in performing yagya to get rid of the global financial meltdown and go to establish 150 first class schools or healthcare centres out of the money?

Let us go by Jeffrey Immelt, the boss of GE, the world’s largest industrial firm. “Companies and countries that really play offence vis-à-vis technology and innovation are going to come out ahead,” he said this week at an event in New York to present GE’s coming innovations in health-care technology.

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PS: India’s Design Boom
TIME’s Best Inventions of 2008

It was fun to be in Borders again after three years. I used to spend regularly 6-7 hours in Borders during my last visit to US. As Anand goes early morning to his office, I got ready by 7AM.

Anand took me first to his new office, where I could see the unique transformation in workplace design. Anand can sit anywhere he likes. He docks his laptop, goes on line with the rest of the world. He can make any telephone his own with a simple programme, as it is an Internet-based telephone. For privacy, there are small rooms with thick glass doors. For presentation to larger group, there are halls that can be reconfigured fast as per the requirement. Toilets are eco-friendly with no water.

I had to spend half hour in Wal-Mart waiting for Borders to open at 9AM. As usual, I kept on looking at the tags giving the country of manufacture. One Wal-Mart is giving jobs for millions world over. Before entering Borders, I was afraid if it would keep me busy for 7-8 hours that will take Anand to come for picking me again. However, pretty soon I got busy and never realized the time flying. The latest journals of my interest such as the issues of Harvard Business Review, Scientific American, Popular Science, Forbes, and Fortune kept me engaged. Among the books, I glanced through the racks on ‘History’ related to India. It showcased the latest books on India including ‘India Express’ by Daniel Lak. I went through its chapter on ‘Educating India: Then and Now’. Lak has written about IIT-Kharagpur, Boddha Gaya, Rajgrih and Nalanda through Patna. I didn’t find Lak doing a good job. He hadn’t planned his trip well. Other books that I managed to look through were ‘The World is Curved’ by David M Smick. Chapter ‘Tiny Soprano Rides the Chinese Dragon’ dealing with China’s role in global economy was interesting. China appears to have awed American intellectuals and thinkers somewhere.

I have a tip for booklovers. One can use Borders or Barnes &Noble to glance through the books. If you find some interesting ones, you can buy it at just nominal cost of transportation through Amazon. For ‘Made in China’ by Donald N. Sull, I paid only $4.24.

This is one thing that I miss in Noida. Why can’t Amazon, Borders or Barnes and Noble start its operation in India? With a number of bookshops now in Sector 18, and in the malls-Wave and Great India Place, Noida appears to be a place of book lovers.

Time and again, a question crops up in mind. Why do I not come across anything worth remembering about the gurus of IIMs or other coveted management schools in India? Why do the business magazines or pink papers in India not publish their views and articles, or cover their success stories or write about their books?

Yesterday I was going through Fortune and found at least two major stories that related to management gurus of Indian origin working in US. In a report on 10 new gurus, the name of CK Prahalad got mention with Peter Drucker and Jim Collins. Rakesh Khurana is one of the 10 new gurus. Khorana is Professor of business administration, Harvard Business School, Cambridge, Mass. “Khurana has consulted for several companies about leadership, and he’s cautioned against what he calls the “irrational search for charismatic CEOs,” a misguided belief that a CEO with a magnetic personality translates to corporate success (it doesn’t).” In the same issue, the suggestions of another management guru Ram Charan with Jia Lynn Yang for Obama have appeared.He proposes:

Set a goal to get our fair share of exports and jobs in the world.

Rename it the Department of Exports and Imports and make this cabinet post as critical as Treasury or Defense. Appoint a heavyweight who gets things done. Hold the secretary accountable by requiring the department to publish its goals.

Launch a competition among the country’s top half-dozen consulting firms with a $10 million prize for creating the best plan showing us how to get ahead, region by region and sector by sector. Get them to run analyses on what other areas of the world might be receptive to our products. And have them focus on smaller, midsized companies, which have a lot of room to grow in terms of exporting more.

Examine where we need to spend more on infrastructure. Discuss priorities for highways, bridges, and airports based on hard facts and analysis. Make them transparent by publishing the results.

Devote more federal money to industrial research. Innovation creates jobs.

There are many management gurus of Indian origin working in US. Professor Bala Balachandran and Vijay Govindrajan are the other names known as management gurus in the United States. About 10% of the professors at places such as Harvard Business School, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business, and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business are of Indian descent — a far higher percentage than other ethnic groups. Issues of Harvard Business Review and many publish their papers. Many have published their research work as books. I have read recently two pretty good books one by Tarun Khanna and the other one by Amar Bhide. May I request Business India, Business World or Outlook Business to come out with a special issue about the management gurus from the management schools in India for the benefits of persons like me? Will IIMs take up the researches, publications, and consultancy by the faculty members seriously? And will India Inc provide the necessary funding and sponsor the projects? Let the faculty members not be afraid of talking about the current issues of the country in media. The country needs their advices and suggestions, as Ram Charan has done it for US.