E & Y Fraud Study and The Fifth idiot

“Young players play with a great deal of fairness and sportsmanship. Once they learn how important the game is to adults, they will learn how to cheat.” – Dr. Ron Quinn, Professor of Sports Ethics at Xavier University.

Cheat to win is the mindset we adults have developed and that is spoiling our children too. The recent study on fraud conducted by E & Y indicates about 70% of the Indian executives would indulge in unethical business practices to achieve the targets.

Parents’ expectations are the biggest CRISIS in our society. Be it winning in sports or getting top ranks in schools or studying the course of interest of parents and even marrying the partner of their choice. Fulfilling parents’ dreams make children do unethical things and study the subjects of their least interest. Parental pressure and expectations are the biggest stress for the children. Continue reading...

The new currency & the new gold reserve in the Sharing Economy

A new survey reveals:

Customer experience will overtake the product and pricing as a key brand differentiator. ( I am not saying so to promote my book on Customer Experience in times of social media “The Bread is moving”. Check the source of the survey here.)

Many enterprises are either not yet aware about the customer experience or they have other priorities than working on to create a customer experience focused organisation.

But a few statistics will awake the decision makers and people responsible for P & L A/C. Read more...

Exposure is Given, Manage your Behaviour not Exposing Medium

Lousy product reviews on FB or Twitter and whole efforts on product and marketing fails.  On the contrary superlative reviews can boost the sales and brand image beyond imagination.

Therefore companies have stared focusing on their social bushiness strategies.

Bigger question or issue is: With Social Media (SM) is taking center stage companies need not only design their social media strategy but has to change business strategy altogether.

Yes, emergence of SM, organisation is exposed to the world i.e. potential customers, existing customers, suppliers , potential employees and investors, everyone. Therefore advertising and marketing campaigns will have to be realistic and under claiming.

Ad Guru David Ogilvy has said “Great Marking only makes weak /lousy product faster .”  This was in times of no SM. Imagine what can happen in times of SM?  Movie JOKER is the latest example. Earlier this week Volkswagen (VW) ad in TOI was talk of the town, now suppose VW’s  product is not up to the mark or people reads not so good review about their other products, what will happen to so brilliant advertisement? Though its is unlikely for VW but not for majority of the companies.

When the company is exposed to masses about their behaviors, it has to change the behavior and not only strategy to deal with exposing medium. With people to people contact , what company says is hardly of any significance. Its time to get real. Its time to revisit objectives and mission statement  again. Its time to revisit business processes, people soft skills, HR policy, product innovation and afters sales service. Its time to check the air in all the four Tyre (people, process, product and communication). Puncture in any one will curtail the speed and end products/outcome. All companies NOW has to work towards creating brand advocates. Yes that is the ultimate thing that all companies must aim for and best things that can happen in favour of the company through SM.

Now its a time to work towards not triple bottom-line but SINGLE bottom-line through happy customers, motivated employees, supporting vendors, community building, active CSR , concern for environment. Every activities will be watched and  discussed on SM. Now is the time BRANDS will be built by company business strategies and not by advertising and marketing team.  Measurement parameters MUST include other  parameters than only financial share holder driven parameters. Net Promoter Scorecard, Customer SATisfaction, Employees-SAT, Community-SAT etc etc.

When EXPOSURE is given , you don’t try to strategies to defend mis-behavior but certainly-try to behave and put up EXPO-SABLE show.  Brand building is NOW everyone’s role in the organisation. Happier times are here not again for the first time.

9 (old) + Three (new) Early Warning Sings of a Troubled Company

Gems stated in 1 to 9 below I read about a decade ago.

1. The One Man Show - Does the company allow key person to grow in their jobs and make key decisions?
2. No Succession - Is someone being groomed to replace the president?
3. High Profile / Low Tech - How does company's hardware compare with that of its chief competition?
4. The Giant Customer Trap - Would the company survive if it lost biggest customer?
5. Operating on Old News - Does the company have an accurate financial snapshot of its operations on a monthly or fortnightly basis?
6. Touring Without Road Map - Does the company have a written business plan & its still valid?
7. Banking Blues - Does the company communicate with lenders regularly?
8. Hazardous Growth -Expanding too quickly on a non sustainable basis ?
9. The Change Factor - Whether company and how much company has changed during last 12 months?

This was the fact about a decade back. However MOST of these may still hold true, rapid change in economies , technology and entrepreneurial landscape,  we can safely add a few more.   

x) No focus on CUSTOMER. - Business Plan/Strategy defines everything else but  Customer Experience company propose to offer.

y) Not engaging customers on social media (SM) platforms by providing great insights on the products and services being offered.  Using SM to address customer concerns and complaints {quickly}.

z) Inability to attract Great Talent. Yes war is of TALENT. People run the business. Rest all can be improved upon if people are right. This also applies to having diversified & some what weird board members.

As we advance in the TIME we need lesser reasons to fail { even survive and succeed }. Test Check TODAY. Its all early warning signs. Be alarmed NOW or be surprised and shocked, later. 

Focus on Balance Sheet first to restructure d Business

Focus on Balance Sheet first to restructure d business

Entrepreneurs mainly focus on sales first and then profit. However it is the Balance Sheet and not P & L statement is the most important business document.  P & L Statement only talks about how company has fared operationally during that particular year. 

Its the Balance Sheet that reflects that whether company is receiving payment of sold goods, leverage is in order or its risky, whether company is  paying their suppliers in time or no, how much have company earned all these years and what company has retained in the business, funds diverted or no, bank limits are overdrawn or otherwise, liquidity position etc etc. 

Therefore review of balance sheet on an on going basis is a MUST to measure the company performance. Even if you want to restructure yr business start with Balance Sheet.

When was the last time Balance Sheet and implications were discussed with auditor or management consultant???