The Real Life MBA is a series where InsideIIM and Professors from Top Business Schools learn the practicalities and challenges of running a successful business in India by interviewing business owners.
Reading about Ron’s car rescuing him and Harry from the Acromantula colony in J.K. Rowling’s bestselling book “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, I remember wondering as a kid whether driverless cars were indeed possible in real life. However, Harry Potter, being the story of a magical world, I was quick to dismiss the idea. It might have seemed far-fetched at that point but watching Johnny cabs, the artificial intelligence powered cars in “Total Recall” and then those sleek self-driven cars in “Minority Report”, the idea no more seems as absurd as it seemed earlier. With the advent of technology, driverless cars have now become a reality. However, autonomous cars are not the only “big thing” of this century. We are uniquely poised to witness the relentless parade of new technologies. Emerging disruptive technologies such as 4D printing, advanced genomics, routers that can recharge devices in a few miles radius, energy storage devices, Apple Pencil that can translate movements of the hand directly to a computer without needing a scan, to name a few, have the potential to disrupt the status quo and alter the way people live and work.
Urijit Patel has reputable college degrees in his kitty plus plethora of experience on variegated economic and monetary fronts. Here is wiki link to his profile Urjit R. Patel.
There was a lot of hoopla around the introduction of GST bill in parliament recently. GST in simpler terms is a value added tax that will replace all the other existing indirect taxes. Currently, a product being transferred entails an excise duty, VAT, central sales tax and octroi in some cases as well. With implementation of GST, the cascading effect will be eliminated. Let us study the impact of implementation of GST on supply chain:
The track record for JV's breaking up has been quite high. According to one estimate almost 60% -70% of JV's do break up finally, once the honeymoon period is over. And that is the global rate. While there is no hard data on India, it is possible that the failure rate is even higher for Indian companies since we have relatively less experience than developed countries in forming joint ventures and we have been at it for a shorter length of time, largely post liberalisation.
Chennai was reeling in flood, facing one of its toughest times. Remorseless and intolerant, it was taking a toll on the spirit of Chennai. Life had come to a standstill and it was becoming difficult for people to move on. Roads drowned, water at eight feet and hopes were pinned on boats. A certain Venkatesh Krishna chuckled in a humor. Little did he know that OLA would turn it around?
Who would have imagined ten years ago that people would be checking their social media profiles, soon after waking up. Even before they brush their teeth or sleepily make their way to the kitchen for their morning cuppa. But such is the impact of social media that it is changing our habits, behaviours and with that our attitudes. The consumer psyche is now going through a complete overhaul.
