A missed call for your hot cup..

This is story of a "Mobile Tea Shop"

Manjunath Tea Stall in Chikpet takes 2000 orders for tea and coffee each day. Guess how the orders are placed ... Manjunath has more than 1,000 contact numbers on his cell phone. A little unusual perhaps for someone who owns a small unpretentious shop in Chikpet, but certainly nothing remarkable. But what he does with those contacts is indeed something that should figure among the 10 Most Innovative Business Models.
Manjunath at work, taking orders on his mobile On an average, Manjunath sells about 2,000 cups of tea and coffee every day. Like in most business districts and shopping complexes, the beverages are delivered to the offices and shops, except that in his case the orders are placed in a unique way. Anyone who wants a tea or coffee delivered to his office gives a missed call to Manjunath and soon enough, one his boys comes in with a large flask apiece of tea and coffee and a stack of styrofoam cups to pour in the required number.
Manjunath used to run an electrical shop on the third floor in DK Lane in Chikpet. To order a cup of tea, he used to send his office boy to the ground floor, and more often than not, three times before the tea arrived. One fine day, he decided to get rid of this problem by setting up his own tea shop. He then purchased four mobile phones and started asking prospective clients their phone numbers. His USP was "give a missed call and get tea or coffee at your desk".

He found legions of takers for the idea. He stored their numbers and started his business after winding up his electrical shop. Within three months, his initiative became a huge success story and people started calling his shop Mobile Tea Shop instead of Manjunath Tea Shop. When the profits started coming in, he gave mobile phones to some of his delivery boys to speed up his service. He now employs 12 boys to prepare and serve tea and coffee. "Earlier, people used to orally place orders, sometimes even clap or whistle at the tea supplier. But with this tea 'revolution', everybody does it Manjunath's way," said Padam Jain, who owns a business close by.

NO SHORTAGE OF CLIENTS

In case Manjunath is running short of tea he switches off his mobile From Juma Masjid area to Iyengar Road, he caters to most of the establishments. He has a chain of mobile phones strung
around his neck. As soon as he receives a phone call, he gives directions to his delivery boys. The uniqueness here is that the cost of calling him is free. He gets a call and doesn't pick up the phone, thus saving his customer's money. If he is busy or is running short of tea, he switches off the phone for a while. "They are doing wonders in the tea business. I just give a missed call and get a cup of tea at Rs 4.50. Just like every normal business, his business also shoots up on Saturdays. It's because more customers come to buy things on Saturday and Sunday. When there are more customers, he will get more missed calls. In summer, he also supplies butter milk and lemon juice in the afternoon," said another customer M Nirmal. In a way, Manjunath's business is also recession-proof. "One drinks tea irrespective of moods or of financial fluctuations," Manjunath said. Of course, that's irrefutable logic.

are you working with unknown?

when i or you work in India, we don't know the person sits next you always. There are many people, there are many projects and we don't bother to know each other and ultimately gives you a feeling that you working with the unknown people, unknown faces. Which is completely different here in France. When i came here and i have worked in 2 different offices and i have seen and felt a very good gesture by all the employees. all of them even even they dont know me, Came and greet me, and most importantly every day, Which makes you feel that you know every one and you feel that you working with known people know faces. This is very small thing which makes me think how important is the ice-breaker words are, or we name it as greetings "Good morning" "Good day" "Hi" "Hello". We just need these words to make you feel differently and give you different work environment, a friendly environment.

The scenario i am talking may not be same in all the companies there. Because when i was working for Eka Software Solutions, CDAC, it was not the case, there i was knowing almost all of them. But in big multinationals we have this issue, working with unknown. you may give argument that how many people you will greet if there are more then 3 thousand employee. But certainly we can greet the people around the work place. They may not be many.

This one good thing about the work culture here in clermont-ferrand, ATOS offices and Logica Offices.

Write your comments, specially if you disagree with me.

The Washer man and the Foolish Donkey.

To refresh your memory, and for the benefit of those who have not grown up listening to this moral story, it goes like this…

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog. One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly. Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.

Moral of the story " One must not engage in duties other than his own"

Now take a new look at the same  story…

The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management institute. He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night. He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it. Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite pet. The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties  as well. In the annual appraisal the dog managed a " meets requirement" . Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around. The donkey was rated as " star performer". The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards. Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a job rotation… 

Lesson from Life..

“Challenge is something that pushes you up.

Life is not just a routine affair.

Its a goal to be achieved a challenge to be met.

we give our best to get what we like.

or else we will be made like what we get.”

“It breaks your heart to see the one you love is happy with someone else,

But its more painful to know that the one you love is unhappy with you.”

The 90/10 Principle

The 90/10 Principle

Author : Stephen Covey

Have you read this before? Discover the 90/10 Principle. It will change your life (at least the way you react to situations). What is this principle? 10% of life is made up of what happens to you. 90% of life is decided by how you react. What does this mean? We really have no control over 10% of what happens to us. We cannot stop the car from breakingdown. The plane will be late arriving, which throws our whole schedule off. A driver may cut us off in traffic. We have no control over this 10%. The other 90% is different. You determine the other 90%.
How? By your reaction. You cannot control a red light., but you can control your reaction. Don't let people fool you; YOU can control how you react.

Let's use an example. You are eating breakfast with your family. Your daughter knocks over a cup of coffee onto your business shirt. You haveno control over what just what happened. What happens when the next will be determined by how you react. You curse. You harshly scold your daughter for knocking the cup over. She breaks down in tears. After scolding her, you turn to your spouse and criticize her for placing the cup too close to the edge of the table. A short verbal battle follows. You storm upstairs and change your shirt. Back downstairs, you find your daughter has been too busy crying to finish breakfast and get ready for school. She misses the bus. Your spouse must leave immediately for work. You rush to the car and drive your daughter to school. Because you are late, you drive 40 miles an hour in a 30 mph speed limit. After a 15-minute delay and throwing $60 traffic fine away, you arrive at school. Your daughter runs into the building without saying goodbye. After arriving at the office 20 minutes late, you find you forgot your briefcase. Your day has started terrible. As it continues, it seems to get worse and worse. You look forward to coming home, When you arrive home, you find small wedge in your relationship with your spouse and daughter.

Why? Because of how you reacted in the morning. Why did you have a bad day?
A) Did the coffee cause it?
B) Did your daughter cause it?
C) Did the policeman cause it?
D) Did you cause it?

The answer is D. You had no control over what happened with the coffee. How you reacted in those 5 seconds is what caused your bad day. Here is what could have and should have happened. Coffee splashes over you. Your daughter is about to cry. You gently say, "It's ok honey, you just need,to be more careful next time". Grabbing a towel you rush upstairs. After grabbing a new shirt and your briefcase, you come back down in time tolook through the window and see your child getting on the bus. She turns and waves.You arrive 5 minutes early and cheerfully greet the staff. Your boss comments on how good the day you are having.

Notice the difference? Two different scenarios. Both started the same. Both ended different. Why? Because of how you REACTED. You really do not have any control over 10% of what happens. The other 90% was determined by your reaction.

Here are some ways to apply the 90/10 principle.

If someone says something negative about you, don't be a sponge. Let the attack roll off like water on glass. You don't have to let the negative comment affect you! React properly and it will not ruin your day. A wrong reaction could result in losing a friend, being fired, getting stressed out etc.

How do you react if someone cuts you off in traffic? Do you lose your temper? Pound on the steering wheel? A friend of mine had the steering wheel fall off) Do you curse? Does your blood pressure skyrocket? Do you try and bump them? WHO CARES if you arrive ten seconds later at work? Why let the cars ruin your drive? Remember the 90/10 principle, and do not worry about it.

You are told you lost your job. Why lose sleep and get irritated? It will work out. Use your worrying energy and time into finding another job.

The plane is late; it is going to mangle your schedule for the day. Why take out your frustration on the flight attendant? She has no control over what is going on. Use your time to study, get to know the other passenger. Why get stressed out? It will just make things worse. Now you know the 90-10 principle. Apply it and you will be amazed at the results. You will lose nothing if you try it.

The 90-10 principle is incredible. Very few know and apply this principle. The result? Millions of people are suffering from undeserved stress, trials, problems and heartache. There never seem to be a success in life. Bad days follow bad days. Terrible things seem to be constantly happening. There is constant stress, lack of joy, and broken relationships. Worry consumes time. Anger breaks friendships and life seems dreary and is not enjoyed to the fullest. Friends are lost. Life is a bore and often seems cruel. Does this describe you? If so, do not be discouraged .

You can be different! Understand and apply the 90/10 principle. It will change your life.

Vision & Mission of any firm

By definition:

Vision: It is the vivid descriptive image of what a company wants to be 'or' wants to be known for; it preserves the core of future. Its a hallmark of an en-lighten forward looking organization.

Mission: It is a statement of intent of what a company wants to create and though which type of business. It is a definition of the business. It is an answer to the question -i) what business the firm is in; ii) why the firm is in this business; iii) what could be the business if the firm was not in the existing business. It is process of legitimization for existence of the business. It reflects the culture, philosophy and grand design of the firm.

The vision and mission for any firm is very very important, these are two artifacts for any company's strategy for market. And strategy gap may leads a company to zero % market share. There are so many examples, talk about bajaj chetak scooter they didn't change their strategy with the changing market and there market share from 90 % came to 0%; yes they have stopped the production. Similarly Colgate, they lost their market share 90 % to 52% due to strategy gap. All that due lack of proper vision and mission,

Now talk about successful companies; IBM, Vision: Business On Demand.. a virtual office,The on demand vision is for companies or institutions to respond dynamically, whatever their business challenge; this statement may not be true 10 years back, but now it looks true; Motorola: Mobilizing people; Nokia: connecting people. Tata Steel: Tata Steel strives to strengthen India's industrial base through the effective utilisation of staff and materials. The means envisaged to achieve this are high technology and productivity, consistent with modern management practices. LogicaCMG: LogicaCMG’s mission is to help leading organisations worldwide achieve their business objectives through the innovative delivery of information technology and business process solutions.

These great companies knows their business very well and are in business for long long time, that is what is mission and vision which help companies to decide strategy.

I feel it is not complete will write more some time later.. till then; Chao;

Always look for simple solutions.

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought
a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly!  line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

 

Moral : Always look for simple solutions.

Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems

Missing Rib...

A girl asked her boyfriend...

 Girl: Tell me... who do you love most in this world..?

 By: You, of course!

 Girl: In your heart, what am I to you?

 Boy: The boy thought for a moment and looked intently in her eyes and  said, "You are my rib. In the Bible, it was said that God saw that  Adam was lonely, during his sleep; God took one of Adam's rib and created Eve. Every man has been searching for his missing rib, only when you find  the woman of your life; you'll no longer feel the lingering ache in  your heart . . ."

 After their wedding, the couple had a sweet and happy life for a while.  However, the youthful couple began to drift apart due to the busy

 schedule of life and the never-ending worries of daily  problems...their life became mundane.

 All the challenges posed by the harsh realities of life began to gnaw  away their dreams and love for each other..  The couple began to  have  more quarrels and each quarrel became more heated.  

 One day, after the quarrel, the girl ran out of the house.... At the  opposite side of the road, she shouted, " You don't love me...!"

 The boy hated her childishness and out of impulse, retorted, "Maybe,  it was a mistake for us to be together..! You were never my missing rib...!"

 Suddenly, she turned quiet and stood there for a long while.... He  regretted what he said but words spoken are like thrown away water,

 you can never take it back. With tears, she went home to pack her  things and was determined in breaking-up.

   Before she left the house, "If I'm really not your missing rib,  please let me go..... She continued, "It is less painful this way...

 let us go on our separate ways and search for our own partners..."

 Five years went by....

 He never remarried but he had tried to find out about her life  indirectly...... She had left the country and back.... She had married

 a foreigner and divorced..... He felt anguished that she never waited  for him. In the dark and lonely night, he lit his cigarette and felt

 the lingering ache in his heart. He couldn't bring himself to admit  that he was missing her..

   One day, they finally met.... At the airport, a place where there  were many reunions and good-byes.... He was going away on a business  trip. She was standing there alone, with just the security door separating them. She smiled at him gently.

 (b): How are you?

 (g): I'm fine. How about you... Have you found your missing rib...?

 (b): No.

 (g): I'll be flying to New York in the next flight.

 (b): I'll be back in 2 weeks time. Give me a call when you are back...You know my number... Nothing has changed.

 With a smile, she turned around and waved good-bye..

 "Good-bye . . ."

 

   One week later, he heard of her death. She had perished in New York. In the event that shocked the world. Midnight..... Once again, he lit his cigarette..... And like before, he felt the lingering ache in his heart.... He finally knew, she was the missing rib that he had carelessly broken . . . 

  "Sometimes, people say things out of moments of fury..... Most often than not, the outcome could be disastrous and detrimental.... We vent  our frustrations 99% at our loved ones.... And even though we know that we ought to "think twice and act wisely", it's often easier said than done. Things happen each day, many of which are beyond our control. Let us treasure every moment and everyone in our lives.

 Tomorrow may never come; give and accept what you have today . . . "

---

Self-Appraisal:

Self-Appraisal:
A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a
soda carton and
pulled it over to the telephone.He climbed onto the carton so that he
could reach the
buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits.The
store-owner observed
and listened to the conversation: The boy asked, "Lady, Can you give
me the job of
cutting your lawn? The woman replied, "I already have someone to cut my
lawn.""Lady,
I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your
lawn now."
replied boy.The woman responded that she was very satisfied with the
person who was
presently cutting her lawn.The little boy found more perseverance and
offered, "Lady,
I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have
the prettiest
lawn in all of North Palm beach, Florida."Again the woman answered in
the negative.
With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The
store-owner, who
was listening to all this, walked over to the boy and said,"Son... I
like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to
offer you a
job."The little boy replied, "No thanks, I was just checking my
performance with the
job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady, I was
talking to!"

monkey story

A Nice monkey story

from: http://rkvsraman.blogspot.com/2005/06/nice-monkey-story.html
Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of
the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas
hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey
tries to climb the ladder, all the other monkeys are
sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable.

Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the
ladder, all of the other monkeys, not wanting to be
sprayed, set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of
the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.

One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new
monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the
ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are
doing the obvious, but, undaunted, he immediately
begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall
upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.

However, he no longer attempts to climb the ladder. A
second original monkey is removed and replaced. The
newcomer again attempts to climb the ladder, but all
the other monkeys hammer the crap out of him. This
includes the previous new monkey, who, grateful that
he's not on the receiving end this time, participates
in the beating because all the other monkeys are doing
it. However, he has no idea why he's attacking the new
monkey. One by one, all the original monkeys are
replaced. Eight new monkeys are now in the room. None
of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of
them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up
any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why.
"AND THAT'S HOW MANY COMPANY'S POLICIES GET ESTABLISHED".

What is Effective Communication ????

What is Effective Communication ????

Jack and Max are walking from religious service. Jack wonders whether
it would be all right to smoke while praying. Max replies, "Why don't
you ask the Priest?" So Jack goes up to the Priest and asks, "Priest,
may I smoke while I pray?" But the Priest says, "No, my son, you may
not. That's utter disrespect to our religion." Jack goes back to his
friend and tells him what the good Priest told him. Max says, "I'm not
surprised. You asked the wrong question. Let me try." And so Max goes
up to the Priest and asks, "Priest, may I pray while I smoke?" To
which the Priest eagerly replies, "By all means, my son. By all
means."

Moral : The reply you get depends on the question you ask.

For Example : Can I work on this project while I'm on vacation ?