Rambo's Blog

Reservations to minorities in INDIA (Andhra Pradesh)

2005-11-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

This blog is to present my view on Reservations to (Religious) Minorities in South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh introduced by Government. In this blog I am going to talk about.

Is it justified to have reservations on communal basis?
What good does this do for the people who really in need?
The motives of Government in introducing reservations?

The reservations make sense if it helps in the development of people who are at disadvantegous position. Does people of minority religion are at disadvantage just because of their religion? Is there anything in this country that puts minorities in disadvantegous position? The simple answer is no, then what the heck in this world justifies reservations on communal basis? Giving reservations to miniorities gives unfair advantage to them.

The reason given by political parties for reservation was miniorities are poor and they are lagging behind in all the fields. Does reservation solve the problem what they are talking about? No it is not going to solve the problem, previleged people (who can afford better education) in the community benefits more than people who really in need. If some one is really trying to change this they should concentrate on the root cause.

The root cause of the issue is unawareness or may be people are aware but not willing to do right thing as it is against the religious faith. Some people preaches that having more number of kids is required according to their religion and lot of people follow that. The end result is more and more poverty in the families already suffering with poverty. If a family is in the low income class and if they have more kids how can they afford better education to every one? How can they provide resources what they need to be successful in life? I have friends whose families are in same income level as mine, they only disadvantage they have is number of people in the family. Because of family conditions they couldn't able to pursue higher education where as I could. They have right to have as many kids as they want but one can't blame the system for this. People need to make decisions in the best interests of their families, reservations are not going to solve the problem.

The government's decision about reservation is just political, they are just trying to extract the votes of minorities nothing more than that. All the political parties who are talking about reservations and not talking anything about the root cause and they make some funny comments (those comments are so pathetic it make me cry to see what kind of leaders we have).

I appreciate the High court decision on reservations for Minorities in Andhra. It makes more sense to provide reservation based on the economic conditions of their families rather than on some meaningless grounds like religion.

Dear politicians think what you are doing, it is just not votes all the time. Where as every one looking to go forward, policies like this take us one step back. I beg you to concentrate on the root cause of the problems and address them, don't make the problems more complicated by making some stupid decisions like this.

What India is doing to prevent terrorism?

2005-10-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

What India is doing to prevent terrorism? The simple answer (in my opinion) is not much, even if there is any effort that is very ineffective. These political leaders suck, I think most of them don't even know what they are doing.

Where is the plan to prevent terrorism? (These policy makers are busy in keeping their seats ... it is hard for them to find time to do anything)

What actions did government took to prevent this from happening again? (They announce some compensation to the victim's families and talk something and in the end do nothing)

Why can't we learn from Other countries like USA? (Our leaders can learn how to become more corrupt, I don't think they are ready to learn good things from others)

How long this country should bleed like this? (Unless this political system or policy makers transform completely, I didn't see any hope) There is one more hope, may be GOD can save us from this.

I am not an expert, but Read this article in WSJ about Terrorism in India. That explains better about the state of our Government efforts.

India on the Frontline
By BRAHMA CHELLANEY
October 31, 2005; Page A17

The Indian capital has faced several major acts of terror since the 1980s, but the serial bombings targeting festival shoppers over the weekend were the deadliest yet, leaving at least 61 dead. Yet India is responding typically to the latest horror -- with brave words that can do little to hide its lack of both a coherent counter- terrorism strategy and the political will to go beyond mere reprobation.

The latest bombings -- crude in their indiscriminate targeting of civilians and sophisticated in their synchronization -- were carried out at the start of Diwali, the country's main festival holiday, to maximize the effect. Although an obscure underground Kashmir outfit has claimed responsibility, there is widespread suspicion that the attacks were masterminded by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based, al Qaeda-linked group labeled a terrorist organization by India and the United States. The attacks occurred on the same day that a New Delhi court had been scheduled to sentence six convicted Pakistani members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and their Indian associates for involvement in a previous terrorist attack.
[Manmohan Singh]

The bombers have driven home a political message: India, despite its rising international profile, is powerless to stop terror attacks. By audaciously carrying out bombings right under the nose of the Indian government, the terrorists may also be seeking to rattle foreign investors and undermine India's booming economy. The bombings also have the potential to undercut the credibility of the bureaucrat-turned-prime minister, Manmohan Singh, and constrict his leeway in the ongoing peace process with Pakistan.

Mr. Singh is the latest in a succession of weak, aging prime ministers whose absence of decisive leadership over the years has resulted in the failure to formulate a prudent counterterror strategy backed by firm resolve. Increasingly, terrorism has been treated as a law-and-order issue requiring more policing. To regard terrorism as a law-and-order problem is to do what the terrorists want -- to sap your strength. No amount of security can stop terrorism if the nation is reluctant to go after terrorist cells and networks and those that harbor extremists.

The Indian and U.S. responses to terrorism are a study in contrast. No Americans have been killed by terrorists in the United States since 9/11 because the U.S. military has gone after terrorists overseas. India, in contrast, has suffered its biggest terrorist strikes since 9/11, including attacks on the national Parliament, the Kashmir legislature, the 17th-century Red Fort, three major Hindu temples and several military camps.

Every time India is tested by terror, it characteristically responds by talking tough but doing nothing. New methodology employed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Terrorism Analysis shows India has the dubious distinction of having the highest number of terrorist incidents.

India has become such a happy hunting ground for terrorists that several major acts of international terror have first been tried out against Indian targets before being replicated in Western democracies. They include attacks on symbols of state authority, midair bombing of a commercial jetliner and coordinated strikes on a city transportation system. In using India as a laboratory, the jihadists have been guided by the logic that if the world's largest democracy can be shaken, so can others.

For instance, the 1988 Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, replicated the midair bombing over the Atlantic of an Air India commercial flight from Canada in 1985. The same Air India bombing technique was also used in the Libyan-orchestrated attack on a UTA jetliner in 1989, which blew up in midair over the Sahara.

The 1993 Bombay bombings, which targeted India's financial institutions and left hundreds dead, have served as a model act of mass terror to international jihadists. The Bombay bombings, according to Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee, were "eerily similar in modus operandi and targets to 9/11 in their synchronized, serial character and targeting of state and economic symbols."

Parallels have also emerged between the 1999 hijacking to Kandahar, Afghanistan, of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 and the 9/11 hijackings, including the similar use of box-cutters and the terrorists' knowledge of cockpit systems. Long before the London and Madrid bombings, terrorists had staged coordinated attacks on city trains and buses in India.

Transnational terrorists see India as an easy target because it imposes no costs on them and their sponsors. If any state strikes deals with terrorists, it not only promotes stepped-up terrorism against its own interests but also creates problems for other nations.

A classic case was India's ignominious surrender, on Dec. 31, 1999, to the demands of hijackers holding passengers aboard an Indian commercial jetliner at Kandahar in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. In a surrender unparalleled in modern world history, Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh personally chaperoned three jailed terrorists to freedom in a special aircraft. One of the freed terrorists, Ahmed Omar Sheik -- a British citizen of Pakistani descent -- went on to help finance the 9/11 attacks.

For India, the chickens dramatically came home to roost when evidence on the December 2001 attack on parliament revealed the involvement of one of the terrorists hand-delivered in Kandahar -- Masood Azhar, who had formed the Jaish-e-Muhammad group in Pakistan.

What India needs is a concerted, sustained campaign against the forces of terror. But what Prime Minister Singh has offered are only words to comfort the nation. If India fails its latest test, it will only be a matter of time before the terrorists strike again at a place and time of their choice.

Political Leaders in my State (Andhra Pradesh, India)

2005-09-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I blogged, finally I decided to blog on political leaders in my state (Andhra Pradesh located in South India). I am fustrated with these political leaders and their policies, so I want to express my side of this.

All the parties are increasingly favouring one group or other for getting the votes. Here are few striking things that came to my attention.

Congress Party:

Naxalite Issue:The first thing they did was lifting the ban on Naxalites and working on discussion process with proper plan or approach. The made mocery of the whole system. Lifting the ban on Naxalites nothing more than getting their votes and winning support. The way this process happened it seems to be they never had intention of solving the problem.

Reservations to Minorities: This is another meaning less policy. How the reservation is working for the benefit of people? Is it justified to provide reservations on communal lines? Society is already having enough problems on communal lines, this is one more to add on to that. I never seen any concrete plan that describing how this is going to be beneficial? Just common sense is enough to understand why this has been incorporated.

TDP
I used to have some respect to TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, now I lost the completely they way they are doing. They are just criticizing what ever the ruling party is doing, sometimes I don't know what they are talking about. At one instance both TDP and Congress are fighting on reservations to minorities. This exaplins what kinds of approaches parties are following for votes.

TRS
This one party that came into existence with the agenda of regional division. They wanted to divide the state based on the regions. What kind of language they use in the meetings, they are just provacting people on regional lines. I never seen anything logical behind their arguments, didn't see any plan the could help in developing the region either.

In conclusion, the political system is so corrupted and parties are going any extent to get their Votes. What a shame on these parties for practising such a stupid vote bank plicies. All the parties use some thing like Region, Caste, Religion favouritism for getting their votes.

If all these resources (time and manpower that goes in election campign, stupid strikes and meeting) are used in developing the state would have been in better shape.

I THINK (just my opinion) the government should run like a BUSINESS with Social Responsibility.

P.S: This is just opinion and understanding.

Dell in Developing countries

2005-07-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

Lately I am busy with my house move and Busines Policy class, didn't get chance to catch up on my blog. This class is little hectic, lot of assignments and reading. I hate working on subjective things and writing, this is class is more of that. Trying my level best to stay up to the speed.

We have been talking about the success of Dell, recently came across an article that talks about short falls of Dell in the emerging Asian markets. Dell is not able to capture the market in Asian markets because of the following regions.

1. Dell's Direct model, this model is diffuclt to succeed in Asian markets because limited access/awareness to online shopping. Another important factor is there is no well established financial system (like credit cards ...etc) to pay online.

2. One of the important factor in Dell's success is their supply chain model, you can't have manufacturing/assembling plants in every major market hence tight monitoring of the process is not possible.

They might still be able to capture the market of big business customers, anyway that segment contributes majority of revenues so that would be ok. It would be interesting how will Dell do in these developing countries.

BlogMap

2005-06-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Isn't it cool to have a blog map on your site. Use this link and follow the instructions. You may need to input your address and the site gives a piece of code which needs to be updated in your blog template the same as we set up site meters.

Protect your privacy

2005-06-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

There are some sites on internet that lists lot of details about people for little money. One such sites is zabatools, I checked on couple of my friend's name that lists their current and previous address, phone number and month and year of birth. This information as such may not be very significant but I am sure for $20 -$30 they would be able to provide lot more information.

This issue is addressed in NBC article, follow the instructions mentioned in the article and act now to protect your privacy.

My Opinion on blogging

2005-06-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

Now I am done with my marketing class and getting ready for Business Policy class for Summer II. During the start of this class my mindset was using blog for the sake of this class, now I decided to continue with my blog. Lot of people says it is time waste and all ... It all depends on how one uses the blogging. For that matter the same holds good for lot of new technologies, for example lot of people consider the usage of instant messaging as waste of time but at the same time lot of people uses to interact on business/technical issues. In my opinion blogging is important tool to express myself.

Today's WSJ (06/23/2005) column (Marketers Scan Blogs For Brand Insights) explanis how advertising companies are using blogs to get consumer opinion. Here are the couple of interesting comments made in this article with respect to marketing.

1. Marketers say bloggers' unsolicited opinions and offhand comments are a source of invaluable insights that are hard to get elsewhere.

2. Walter Carl, a professor at Boston's Northeastern University who has studied "word-of-mouth" communication and marketing, says blog-watching services "are very useful for quickly getting the lay of the land" in trends and consumer reactions.

3. Sometimes blog watchers spot trends before they emerge in mainstream media. This gives an opportunity for people to correct before it is full blown issue.

Next generation blogging - Moblogging

2005-06-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

Here is the new way of live blogging moblogging. I haven't tried this yet as my mobile plan charges me for using internet or sending messages, it is a good option for people who has this kind of mobile plan and wants to blog while on travel or away from desk.

Procter & Gamble Group Team Post Final Project

2005-06-22T05:04:00.000-07:00

Please find our group's final post on Annamarie's blog.

No Brands (Blog referencing my blog subscription)

2005-06-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

Came across an interesting article on my blog subscription to Fastcompany, this is about a Japanese "NO BRAND" retailing company Muji. This is kind of interesting to see a successful business with out any brands where in today’s marketing world revolves around the buzzword “Branding”. Secondly lot of business thinks if there is no brand, there’s no business.

I really didn't surprised about the companies success because of following reasons.

1. Companies can market quality goods with no label. There is possibility that brands add additonal price to the product with out adding any additional value to the consumer.
2. Branding is about certain customers, not all customers.
3. Because of high quality goods this store might have "Store loyal" customers.

On the other hand I think they are trying to do too much by eliminating all the brand and labels. They are going to the level of designing a product for their stores, like involving in the design of CD players ...etc. In my opinion company should concentrate more on their core business rather than involving things which might not have much value add to consumers for better business results.

They are also trying to expand to other international markets. It would be interesting to see how they would perform in international markets.

Extra Credit: My Blog on web search

2005-06-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

I was wondering in the start how to get my blog on internet search engine. As most of my classmates I also figured out "Search by my blog name". Here are the results.

1. Technorati Search the frist search result is pointing to my blog. It is subjected to changes if any one else writes the blog with the same key word.

2. Google Search The second search result is my blog site.

EBay’s new rival (Article on Place)

2005-06-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Are you wondering who's the rival to eBay? I recently read an article on this company(alibaba.com) in one of my blog subscriptions, it is very interesting. The name of the company reminds me about stories I read during my childhood about alibaba and 40 thieves, those stories are famous even today. I lost the original link where I read about this, found some other site which gives lot of details about this company.

Little back ground about eBay

Everybody would be knowing about eBay, would like to provide little bit more information in context to this blog. EBay is $34 billion revenue generating company with profits $778 millions. It now is the dominant auction site in Germany, France and Australia, crushing local rivals or buying them; it leads in Korea and Singapore; and it just launched in Malaysia, the Philippines and India. Potential future markets: Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.

Alibaba.com's profile

Based in Hangzhou, Eastern China, Alibaba.com advertises itself as the world's largest base of suppliers. Indeed there are nearly three million registered members in over 200 countries who have signed up since 1999. Importers, exporters, distributors, manufacturers and retailers can find trade opportunities by browsing through hundreds of thousands of suppliers and buyers as well as promoting their own wares on the site. It's revenues are around $64 millions.

Where is the competition?

EBay is facing increasing competition from Alibaba.com in Chinese mareket, one of the fastest growing economies in the world. China's population of Net users, likely to surpass 100 million this year, is second only to that of the U.S. and may double in two years. Comptetion is also extending to other emerging markets.

Challenges to eBay in Chinese market:

1.Jack Ma (CEO of Alibaba.com) is a Net star at home. He is very respectful personality in chinese business circle, that gives an edge over eBay.

2.So far not a single Western Web site has succeeded in China. AOL in 1999 launched a $200 million joint venture with China's biggest PCmaker, Legend Computer (now called Lenovo). Three years later AOLsold out, and Legend switched to a local telecom partner. All the top sites in China are homegrown:

3.Last year EBay changed the chinese website to worldwide format. The design change confused some customers, and product listings plunged--down to 250,000 from 780,000 before the switch. EBay lost some fans last May, when it changed the rules about how sellers can limit their buying audience.

4.Ebay also lags behind in offering its PayPal payment system in China, while Ma lunched is own version, Alipay, in January.

5.Taobao uses guerrilla marketing to keep up with Ebay's might. The China site advertises the cheap on hundreds of small Web outlets ignored by EBay.

For any company there will always be challenges and competitors especially in hi-tech industry the comptetion is intense compared to lot of other industries. EBay is just lagging behind Alibaba.com in chinese market but it still leading online auction website all around the world. If they continue to keep the share in the existing market they should be able to survive the comptetion from other companies.

Using RFID for inbound logistics (Place post#3)

2005-06-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

What is Goal of Logistics System?

The goal of marketing logistics should be to provide a targeted level of customer service at the least cost. The objective is to maximize profits not sales(According to text book page 420).

How RFID can be used for Inbound Logistics?

The use of RFID on the inbound supply chain is currently in its infancy, but its eventual impact is expected to be significant. Some of the benefits of using RFID.

1.Industries that bring production materials from overseas or that use contract manufacturers between the supplier and the OEM can clearly benefit from the closer material tracking that is possible with RFID.

2.Companies looking to streamline inventory will benefit from clearer lead time and consumption data

The biggest obstacle to the use of RFID for tracking shipments from suppliers to buyer/manufacturers is the lack of infrastructure currently in place to read the tags along the journey. While the growth of that infrastructure may take some time, some manufacturers are using RFID internally at their plants to track inventory. This technology would be useful in addressing the logistics issues(refer Winita's presentation on logistics challenges) that are being faced in the developing countries like China and India.

How can the objectives of Logistics can be met using RFID?

RFID technology enables companies to maintain optimum levels of inventory and at the same time with out disrupting the production. This might not make any difference with respect to customer service however having optimum levels of inventory has direct impact on the companies profits.

Just to give an example how Boeing using the RFID for inbound logistics. Boeing buys and uses a large amount of expensive specialized paint that costs as much as $200 per gallon. Historically, the company has had a difficult time tracking the paint's consumption which made it difficult to order. And because the paint has a limited shelf life, it cannot be ordered in too large a quantity because any paint that expires before its use is a total loss. To get a better view of that consumption, Boeing is using RFID tags to track the cases of paint inside its factories.

Creating Rural Business Hubs (Place post#2)

2005-06-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

This is about an article regarding rural business hub. This article describes how they are planning to implement this in India as pilot project and extending other countries in Asia, South America …etc.

What is rural business Hub?

Vibrant Centres of Commerce in rural areas with the right conditions to accelerate grassroots entrepreneurship as well as to encourage the expansion of businesses that have traditionally operated in urban markets into rural markets. This is also referenced as Grassroots Trading Network (GTN).

Mission:

The mission of this project is to connect poor producers globally to wider markets, providing support for the development marketing and distributions of products. They also involved in facilitating collaboration between different groups, mentoring the whole process and improving the efficiency by bringing in the best practices from the commercial sector.

Critical Issues:

The rural population is little exposed to marketing and distribution. They are more concentrated towards the production. Another issue is with the infrastructure, the distributions network should allow flow of products and services out of rural markets as well as into rural markets. Presently, lack of knowledge, data and experience inhibit success of rural population.

Model:

This program aims at identifying the needs/benefits for involved partners to ensure a win-win (benefit to both producer and buyer) situation. With Globalisation, economies of scale is critical If we can tap the production strength of this large rural population with its small scale enterprises, consolidate it and provide larger players with their requirements - we have an answer projects in agriculture demonstrate the model. Also being extended to handicrafts/handlooms/textiles

Creating a rural distribution

Bring affordable, hygienic and quality goods to rural consumers who are often cheated on weight and quality Economically empower underprivileged rural women through employment and income generation activities. Improve overall realization of small and marginal farmers by establishing an alternate to middlemen Create consciousness of a weight to price relationship. This concept is being used by companies like HLL (Hindustan Lever Limited) to successfully market their products to rural population, please refer Clare's blog post for more details.

My views on this:

I have grown up in farming community in rural India, familiar with the circumstances there. In my opinion the main problem with rural population is education and awareness, most People are not aware of marketing and distribution of products they produce this is mainly being done by middlemen. Current system is more beneficial to middle men, farmers face more risk and less benefit where as for middle men opposite is the case. Though most people in the current generation are educated still lacks knowledge about these things. The change can be acheived at much faster phase by organized groups/project like this. This kind of projects will be beneficial in bringing the positive social change among the rural population.

Similar concept has been used in establishing co-operative (these are owned and managed by farmers) unions. One of the popular success stories is AMUL, which started by group of famers and ultimately triggered the white(milk) revolution in India.

In conclusion in opinion this program would be of great help for rural population in developing countries. The success of the program depends the available options, education, training and mentoring.

3PL Supply Chain functions (comments on blog#2)

2005-06-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

Jason’s blog on Supply Chain management gives good insights about 3PL functionalities and the changing supply chain/logistics functions.

Just add on to that, some of the things third 3rd Party Logistics companies provide that are very useful to the organizations are.

1.Supplier Management service: Helps in managing the international suppliers. Managing vendors and orders can be a daunting task when you factor in varying languages, cultures, time zones and distance. Doing business with suppliers in other countries can open up possibilities.

2.Reverse Logistics: Provides post-sales support for effectively managing the return product, excess inventory ...etc.

3.Consulting: Provides supply chain consulting services to the organizations.

P&G - Place (team post#1)

2005-06-15T11:47:00.000-07:00

P&G as an organization focusing on enhancing the customer experience by creating an optimal desired shopping experience (DSE). This involves working closely with retailers to build total in-store solutions for end users that include multiple categories.

Creating DSE is the cornerstone of total solution management for consumer products. In addition to reduced stock outs, increase sales and improved closure rates, DSE-focused category solutions are further fostering collaborative relationships between manufacturers and retailers in pursuit of a common goal: shopper satisfaction.

P&G transformed its supply chain system by using agent-based modeling to meet the goal of DSE. This is something that is sequential and requires handling off information in sequence. In this model System operates like a network, like an Internet, so everybody has visibility to the information. Computer simulations, software agents represent the individual components of the supply system, such as trucks, drivers, stores and so on. The behavior of each agent is programmed via rules that mimic actual behavior, such as, "Dispatch this truck only when it is full" or "Make more shampoo when inventory falls to x days' demand.

This process involves matching inventory with consumer demand based on careful analysis of a customer’s store portfolio and marketing are a is creating a win-win situation for both P&G and their retailer customers. As a result, the end consumer benefits from an enhanced buying experience, and the right product at the right place at the right time.

This concept is in alignment with the "Setting channel Objectives" mentioned in the text book (page 411). Channel Objective is to set the customer service requirements and meeting the objectives with minimal channel cost. In the approach P&G set the objective of meeting the service levels of both retailers and end customers, outlines the direction it is going to take in meeting those requirements.

P&G Health Care division:

For our team project we are concentration on the P&G's health care products division. P&G has wide variety of health care products ranging from generic drugs to prescription drugs. They also established P&G health science institute with the objective of using leading health care technologies in the development of effective products for both the developing and developed world.

Some of the key performance indicators used in the distribution of health care products.

1.Shelf-Level Out of Stocks: The percentage of products that are out of stock on retailers' shelves at any given time.

2.Total Supply Chain Response Time: The time from when a cash register records the sale of a product to the purchase of raw materials to produce its replacement.

3.Total Supply Chain Inventory: The hard count of all products flowing through the supply chain at any given moment, whether on store shelves, in back of the store, at warehouses, in trucks or wherever.

4.Shelf-Level Quality: The percentage of packages damaged or otherwise unappealing when a customer sees them on a store shelf.

5.Pricing-Design From the Shelf Back: Determining an acceptable price point for an item and then working it back through manufacturing and distribution to see if that product can be delivered at a price acceptable to consumers and a profit acceptable to P&G.

P&G also working with other companies in marketing and distributing some of their health care products.

My recommendations

The health care industry is kind of double-edged sword, this is highly profitable industry but at the same time if something goes wrong companies would end up paying huge money for lawsuits and legal fees. Lately lot of pharmaceutical companies are facing law suits due to product issues.

P&G is meeting all the challenges by allocating resources and research. If they continue to do they would be successful in the health care products division as well.

Supply Chain Management in DELL (Place post#1)

2005-06-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Importance of supply chain: In today’s marketplace, selling a product is sometimes easier than getting it to customers. Companies must decide on the best way to store, handle and move their products and services so that they are available to customer in the right assortment, at the right time, and in the right place. Physical distribution and logistics effectiveness has a major impact on both customer satisfaction and company costs.

Supply chain involves managing the inbound distribution, outbound distribution and reverse distribution. Inbound distribution is moving products and material from supplier to the factory, outbound distribution moving products from the factory to resellers and ultimately to the customers and Reverse distribution is moving broken, unwanted or excess products returned by consumers or resellers.

Came across interesting webcast about the the next generation Supply chain management(free registration required to access the article). This is something that has been preseneted in planet 2005 conference sponsered by i2 technologies. This article talks about the i2 technologies view for future generation supply chain management and the presentation by some of the top companies about their supply chain management. DELL briefly explained their supply chain process during the conference. My initial plan was to present on next generation supply chain management, the information was way too much to cover so decided to go with supply chain management in DELL.

Dell is mainly operated on the priciples of “Be Direct” and “Build to Order”, in Dell nothing would be build with out any customer order. Dell collects all the customer orders for every 2 hrs and notifies the Suppliers about the bills of material required. For Supplier it takes around 90 Minutes to bring the supplies to Dell’s plant and another 30 minutes to unload and place them in assembly line. The Manufacturing, Sales and Marketing groups work together in making the whole process more efficient. Manufacturing and sales data keeps sychronized to reflect the real time information. Suppliers will be provided with forecasts every week that would help them in positioning their inventories.

What are the customer benefits from the Dell’s supply chain management.

1. Prvoides customization ability to customers as all the computers built on order.
2. Product quality.
3. Price for formance.
4. Reliability, Service and Support.
5. Latest technology.

One more important benefit is Demand shaping, when a particular component is not available Dell dynamically handles the situation by offering promotions. For example for some reason if 40 GB hard disks are not available, they can track the situation offer discounts on 60 GB hard disk or give promotion of free upgrade.

Connexion by Boeing (comments on Blog#1)

2005-06-10T13:59:00.000-07:00

I would like add present my views about Curt's blog on Connexion from Boeing. In my opinion this is an very useful service to have on board and the it is priced reasonably considering the overall flying costs and the technology.

I did a small survey with my colleagues, most of them rated the service between 4-5 on the scale of 1-6 where 6 being the price is reasonable for the service that is being provided.

Especially for corporate employees who travel frequently they can get lot of things done and more importantly they can constantly keep in touch with people. Some directors whom I work with travel a lot and some time they do even attend conference calls from airports, for such people this kind of service would help a lot in attending the important calls.

Currently the option for users on board are limited to reading books, watching movies and things like that. With this service the options are unlimited. During international journeys where in fly time is more than 6 hrs, it would be nice to have options.

The website indicates that the service is being extended to cruises and ships (Maritime Mobility). This would be extremely useful for them as people would spend days as compared to hours on airplane.

In conclusion this is useful technology and the product is structured to penetrate the market.

Rambo's Introduction

2005-05-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

This is Rambo (my real name is Rambabu but people call me Rambo), attending Business Essenstials Certificate Program, Wharton Business School. I was born and rasied in India, came to Philadelphia in Apr 2000 on job assignment. From that time I have been working here for most part except for few months where in I went back to India on job.

I completed my Bachelors in India and joined Infosys Technologies Ltd. as software engineer. Worked in INFY for around 6 years at various positions before taking up my current position as Advisory Analyst for Information Systems in IKON Office Solutions . My job function is more of technical in nature, this involves designing, reviewing, approving and implementation of IT solutions for business needs.

My hobbies includes watching sports, reading and learning new things. I am big sports fan, I like watching sports. I like all the sports teams in Philly, especially Eagles and Sixers. I read lot of news and keep me updated with the current events. I am not big fan of reading books, but I like reading things that are related to real events or facts (Auto Biography, Achievments of individuals or Organizations) and management concepts or theories.

Why am I taking this course? To learn the fundamentals of business. In the long run I would like to pursue MBA, I am seeing this course as an opportunity to know whether business education really helps in achieving my goals or not.

That's what breifly about me. One last note, I am not writing person, more of number person. This is my first blog, I wouldn't have written any if this is not part of the course :-).