Michael Porter classics on Strategy and Competitive advantage..

It was about 3 weeks back that I was asked by Dr Sukanya, Area chair for Operations at Alliance School of Business Bangalore whether I could engage the subject of Competition and strategy for EPGDM students, a term 3 core paper. It was a challenge that I accepted with open hands. 

Immediately I got to the task of collecting the masterpiece reference books from the all-time strategy expert of the world, Prof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business School from Amazon.

1. Competitive Strategy, published in 1980 by Free Press, 

2. Competitive Advantage published in 1985 again by Free Press and  

3. Competitive Advantage for Nations, 1985, all written by Prof. Michael Porter of Harvard Business school in Boston USA.

Competitive Strategy, published in 1980, I have completed reading about 35% and it was getting tough to proceed and understand. In order not to waste time and acquire a rich different total strategy perspective, I started simultaneously with the second 1985 Porter magnum opus, Competitive Advantage.

I should admit both of the strategy classic books by Prof. Porter are not stuff for fast and easy reading. 500 to 600 page each, these are hard nuts to crack. Each line, each para and each page is heavy and powerful. Unless one reads each para a second or third time, one cannot understand the different concepts explained with great care, poise, detail and  attention by Porter.

I started reading the books by third week of October '22 and first week of November '22 respectively. They are real tough nuts for me to crack, but not others. But I am not going to leave it unread. Understand whatever I can, to whatever depth I can, the rest will follow. The perspective I get will be a great asset for me for the future. I look forward to meet Prof Porter, now 75, in the near future or listen to him in real life.

Today I will get the third volume in this series by Porter, Competitive advantage for Nations from Amazon.

Before the start of the term by mid November and through the next five weeks from 19 November '22, I intend to read the first two all time strategy classics by Porter. 

Once again a humble pranaam before this great Strategy Professor of all time. Though I have read a decently good number of books, including Homer's Illiad and partly Odyssey, of 800 BC which laid the foundation for the growth of western civilisation and the great Greek Plato classics of 350 BC, these two books also belong to the above classics list without any doubt.

George 

Chinnu assembles Kullen chest of drawers

We bought two sets of IKEA Kullen chest of drawers, one for master bedroom and the other for the guest room. I just prodded Chinnu to carry out the assembly at home yesterday. With a little help from us she did an excellent job. 

Our vacation in Wayanad Oct '22 ..

 

Our visit to Wayand from 22 Oct to 26 October was interesting and fun. With help from Prof. Alice Mani from Christ College Bangalore, who came with us, the stay and travel was previously arranged. Also the trips inside Wayanad were earlier arranged by Alice's students. In short, in just three days, we got to visit lot of places. Value for money !!

We as we could visit almost 15 places of interest starting from the Orthodox church in Sulthan battery to the numerous lakes where we did paddle boating, walked on bridges, glass bridges (first time in India), saw dams, waterfalls etc. We also visited the famous tribal settlement, En Ooru, (my village) where we could get in close touch with many tribal lifestyle, customs, foods and musical instruments, not tribals. They have all withdrawn deep inside the forests.

One tribal instrument for sale was the tribal flute, which does not have any holes punched to be covered by the fingers to give beauitiful sound. Instead, here instead of holes, the flute had to be swirled around catching at one end and it would produce a gentle sound that changes in frequency and pitch with the speed and direction.

The glass bridge at Thollaayiram Kandi was an unforgettable visit. After a very grueling climb inside a 4x4 drive jeep almost a distance of 8 kms uphill, we stepped on the glass bridge that gave us a bird's eye view of the surrounding valley. This is India's first and only glass bridge and a very interesting experience. For a person with acrophobia (fear of heights) it could be very dangerous and painful. Similar glass bridge videos I have seen coming out of China.

The food was good, we did same basic shopping,  saw lot of places, museums fish aquariums, the old Hindu temple under which Tippu is said to have escaped to Mysore and the Wayanad heritage museum. Though lot of zip rides, 500m, 1 km long, were available at all the bridge sites at heights of 100-200 ft, we did not undertake any due to lack of interest.

As the famous saying goes, a mind that is stretched by a new experience, be that from travel, visiting a place or reading a book, can never go back to its old state of existence. Our minds have been stretched by this experience and we are looking for more experiences and mind stretches in the coming days.

We undertook this visit for the experience of seeing Wayanad and places around. Even though I have been to Wayand at age 14, father working as Manager in SBI Kalpetta, the memories then were not strong and vivid, except for visits to Malayalam Plantations tea estates near Sulthan Bathery. Now when I visited the place with family, the stay and the moments spent there have become priceless. It has stretched my mind for ever and etched indelible impressions.

As different from earlier years, it is a good sign to understand that the government is taking many sincere efforts to promote tourism in Kerala, the people were friendly and helpful.

George..

How IKEA has conquered the world of home furniture - great VALUE ..

Recently I happened to buy a 4 drawer IKEA MALM chest of drawers from the ikea.in website. Do it yourself  (DIY) assembly. Cost was INR 9990/=.

I received 2 heavy packets and kept the final assembly to last Sunday. At 12 noon we started with Anila helping me support, lift the heavy planks etc. The assembly instructions were very clear and by 4.30 pm, we finished the assembly.

The assembly though done by a novice like me, the final chest of drawers looks superb, a real thing of beauty and joy. I never expected my first attempt to come out so professional looking and neat. 

 

IKEA has done all the pre-assembly drilling, supplying the needed nails, screws etc. Though I have a good collection of carpentry tools at home, needed only the hammer, star and straight edge screw driver for the whole assembly. 

 

I never thought DIY assembly would be so interesting and absorbing, that I am planning to buy and assemble more wooden furniture in future. (what IKEA needs ..).

I always wonder how IKEA has grown to be a global interior decor brand of $48 billion and is slowly establishing its presence in India. I happened to visit the largest IKEA showroom cum sales store in India in Bangalore two months back.  In four hours could just speedily scan through the vast IKEA merchandise available there.

IKEA has properly understood the Indian people's mindset and is sure to offer great value for money to its Indian customers. 

If you look at the edges and joints, it is very difficult to believe I got this level of perfection in my first attempt itself. I believe it is the same with everyone. This is IKEA perfection.

At forty seventh blood donation and going strong ..

Do you want to live longer, DONATE BLOOD..

Narayana Hrudayalaya and Rotary Club were organising a blood donation drive on 14 October 2022 at the Alliance University Bangalore and I was in the Student Activity Centre by 11 am. By 11.50 AM I had donated about 400ml O+ blood and was back in my room in the Learning centre.

The past five donations were at St. John's and were apheresis procedures to take out just the platelets. Though the process was lengthy, 2 hours and less impactful, the blood returns to our body after passing through the machine after 200 ml of platelets are removed, I had minor health complications as a result. So took a voluntary hiatus of ten months and am back again, this time for whole blood donation. 

The feeling that someone somewhere will benefit from this donation is a very calming and peaceful thought. Doing our job, reaching heights of personal accomplishments and glory etc is very good but going that extra mile to see that through you, someone's life has been saved  is indeed a very calming satisfying experience and thought.

Here are two impressive quotes from two great human beings who made a big difference in this world. 

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.” – Albert Schweitzer.

“The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

By helping others we are going to a higher plane of consciousness,  spiritual enlightenment and reasoning for our physical existence on planet earth. 

Blood donation has great health benefits too. Read this from firstpost.com (click here)

    1. Reduce risk of heart attacks and liver ailment

Donating blood regularly is beneficial to prevent and reduce heart attacks and liver ailment. The risk of heart and liver related problem is caused by the iron overload in the body. Donating blood helps in maintaining the iron level in the body and thus reduce those risk.

    2. Lower the risk of cancer

Cancer is the most feared and deadly disease. Blood donation helps in lowering the risk of cancer. By donating blood regularly the iron level in the blood is balanced and the risk of cancer-related to the liver, lungs, and intestine gets lower.

    3. New blood cells

Once we donate blood, the body tries to restore the blood loss. This helps in the production of the new blood cells and maintain good health.

    4. Reduced risk of hemochromatosis

Hemochromatosis is a disease that occurs due to increase in the absorption of iron by the body. Blood donation helps in reducing iron overload in the body and prevent Hemochromatosis.

    5. Maintain Weight

It is recommended to donate blood for those who are overweight. Regularly donating blood helps in weight loss and burn fat up to 650 calories.

    6. Helps prevent premature ageing.

While donating blood, you not only lose weight but it also helps in reducing stress. Stress is one of the reasons that triggers premature ageing. Blood donation helps in reducing stress on your mind and body. Also, keeps the skin tight and wrinkle-free.

    7. Speeds up healing process

The body tries to adjust to the loss of red blood the cells we donate blood, these adjustments also help in accelerating the wound healing process.

    8. Lower cholesterol level

Blood contains iron, if the iron in blood is overloaded it can increase the chances of blockage in blood vessels. Blood donation can help to reduce the amount of iron in the blood thus helps in lower cholesterol.

    9. Free Medical checkup

Every donor goes through a routine checkup prior to donation. Body temperature is checked along with blood pressure, hemoglobin and pulse. Blood is tested for 13 infectious disease like HIV, West Nile Virus, hepatitis B and C and Syphilis. It gives you a cost free quick look into your health.

    10. Live a longer life

The people who involve in the altruistic work have proven to live a longer life. Blood donation is altruistic works so it not only save lives of other but also helps you live longer and healthier.

    11. Psychological Upliftment

Beside all the healthy benefits that we obtain by donating blood, we also get the powerful benefit psychologically by helping the one in need.

    12. Blood storage

There is no other method to manufacture blood; the only way to collect blood is from the people who are willing to donate. The blood that we donate is also stored at the blood bank after their usage and used in future when needed. Some chemicals are added to it in order to preserve it for long time and use it in future when needed.

     13. Save lives

Every time we donate one pint of blood it helps save three lives, so if we donate four times in a year we end up saving 12 lives. We don’t have to be a superhero to save someone, a simple act of donating blood can also save lives.

Blood donation is so simple, it does not need complicated machinery but still can save many lives.

I dedicate this 47th blood donation very affectionately and caringly to my elder cousin brother Rajan P George IRS retd. (64 years) who passed away three days back due to possible asymptomatic Covid complications.

 

George 

Rajanchayan funeral, Pandalam

It was with shock we received Rajanchayan's death news on Monday 9 Oct 2022 in the afternoon. I left Bangalore on the evening of Tueday 11  Oct, reaching Adoor. Went to Kochumonchayan's house and then went to Pandalam to attend achayan final prayers. 

Achayan was a very helpful person. Even though he held high position as an IES officer in the dept of Customs and Central Excise, he never showed the air with anybody, was as cool and humble as ever. Anyone who contacts never would go depressed because he was very much there to help us. Be it any time of the day, he was always ready. He did all these help with no expectation of rewards or actions in return. 

While the body was on display at his home in Pandalam, it was a swarm of people who came there from all quarters of life. From setting up the school to helping the church submit applications for new schools, to faculty appointment, to setting up local welfare assocuiations and so on. He did it with lot of happiness and satisfaction.

Since Rajanchayan was keeping good health, he did not feel the necessity of visiting doctor for regular checkup and hence this incident happened.

Praying to God to give peace to the departed soul and peace to the family.

George

Do we really need Windows for desktop computers ?

As a humble member of the global teaching fraternity, I do a lot of work on the computer like accessing the Internet, download papers, write blogs, papers, cases, read articles from high quality resources of the web and so on.

All the while over the past five six years, I have been working on a Linux based USB on Ubuntu distribution, to log from my office windows machine through Linux OS and access the Internet. The experience is cool. 

No worries of safety, security, unauthorised access and so on. With double security checks for my Google cloud, it has never failed me the last twenty years, no fears of unauthorised access to the Google cloud. Everytime I access the net, a different IP address is automatically assigned, so it is the most safest way to access the net.

For all personal and office work yours faithfully uses only the Google office suite and access the Google cloud for storage of docs, 15 GB free and for Institute files  access the 100 GB One Drive, Linux based cloud from MS to store and access official files.

Anyway you look at it, yf has not accessed the hard drive on my local machine at College at least for the past 4 years, all the time working on Linux USB. (usually carry four USBs in my bag having four different distros, just for the fun of it). All important files are on my personal Google cloud or the MS office cloud. 

Perhaps yf is the only teaching faculty from Alliance University to work on Linux all the time, a practice  continuing  from my IIT Bombay days, thanks to my mentor and guru, Prof. Uday Gaitonde, a die hard Open Source Linux fan.

Using the Google cloud and Google AI for academic purposes have overnight, improved the quality of my understanding and research, better and more effective delivery of teaching material and finally effective student understanding and feedback monitoring mechanisms.

The cloud storage and working has actually simplified my access either through my mobile while travelling, a 10 year old HP laptop at home or the latest desktop machine from office. Thin client technology very much in action.

It is high time the University authorities start slowly discontinuing MS licenses in the uty asking faculty to work the Open source way, install Ubuntu or any Linux distros on all machines, or even use Linux on USB as the learning curve is so fast and steep. It is my sincere request to the uty authorities to use the money thus saved (Institute license for MS may be draining a couple of crores of rupees every year from uty funds) to buy better quality hardware, 3D printing machines, AI capability and so on.

George.