Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Hinduja TMT buys US BPO co AFFINA

Hinduja TMT has acquired a US-based BPO company, AFFINA, as part of its move to grow the BPO business and substantially expand the number of employees.

HTMT’s turnover will nearly double to about $130m due to the acquisition. Its total number of employees is expected to rise to about 9,000. Hinduja TMT decided in April this year to demerge its BPO business into a separate company and list it on the stock market.

Read More

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Capgemini to double headcount in India

BANGALORE: France based IT services company, Capgemini plans to double its headcount in India to 10,000 by the end of next year and is looking at three more cities in the country......

For more info ..
Read here

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Payscales In India - Ask what you are worth for !!

Are you being paid peanuts ??

Not aware how to negotiate your salary with your potential employer ??

Awaiting a hike ??

Difficult to predict what would be your next hike ....How to know what would be right pay package you can negotiate with your employer ...These are a few questions pop into your thoughts.This post is dedicated to all those brain stomers who are worried about their hikes / negotiating thier pay with their present / potential employers or just for people who are just figuring out what is their market value.

At times it's really a mess to think about what would be the right package .... Lot of my friends are in a dilema when it comes to the pay packet "What to ask for".... in the background we always keep figuring out "Am I expecting more" or " What I expect is less according to my skills".

According to a salary survey conducted by Payscale.com the projected figures are below :

Median Salary by Job - All People in All Surveys (India)



Currency: US Dollars (USD) Updated: 10/25/2006 Individuals reporting: 17,427



Median Salary by City - All People in All Surveys (India)





Currency: US Dollars (USD) Updated: 10/25/2006 Individuals reporting: 17,422



Median Salary by Years Experience - All People in All Surveys (India)





Currency: US Dollars (USD) Updated: 10/25/2006 Individuals reporting: 17,418



=======================================


For personalized salary projections visit www.payscale.com

Mobile handset firms see roaring business in India

More and more global mobile handset manufacturers, including Motorola, Haier and Sony Ericsson, are planning to set up manufacturing units in India to “be where the business is”.

Motorola, the world’s second largest mobile phone firm, is setting up its first manufacturing unit in India during the first quarter of 2007.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

How to Evaluate a Job Offer

How to evaluate your Job Offer ? A tough call to make - for most of us. What are the minutes which need to be analysed before accepting a Job Offer.

You've spent the last few months answering help wanted ads, visiting recruiters, and networking. You've sent out your resumes and gone on a bunch of interviews. And now the moment you've been waiting for is here. It's your turn now. You have some job offers to consider. During those long days pounding the pavement, you didn't think making a decision would be this difficult. But this is serious business. The job you take now may be yours for a long time to come.



What's the most important thing to consider? Is it salary, health benefits, or vacation time? Or could it be the corporate culture or the length or your commute? What about your boss and co-workers -- will working with them be pleasant? As you can see there are a number of factors to take into account and only some are negotiable.

Read More

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Fujitsu, Hitachi to outsource software development to India

Fujitsu Ltd, Hitachi Ltd and other Japanese technology companies plan to farm out software development to India in order to lower costs and cope with staffing shortages.......
A whole lot of new employement opportunities awaiting.........

Read here

When its time to GO -- !!!!

I was just cruising different blogs this morning and came across this interesting post "When its time to GO" by Mr. Ben Gothkin. He has penned down his views, why and what are the reasons for his job shift.

According to him its not his boss, his job, his compensation, etc which pushed him to look for a change. He's only leaving because he'd been presented with an opportunity to move up into a strategic leadership role, an opportunity that would not have happened with his current employer for at least a few more years.

Do you agree on the same ???

Unions protest BBC's plan to move jobs to India

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is moving its finance-based work from Britain to India.

In a statement, the corporation said it was outsourcing the work to Indian tech company Xansa in a contract worth around 85 million pounds over 10 years.

10 Powerful Career Strategies for Women

The general impression is that women are becoming incrementally more successful in the workforce -- and some of the news is good. Women are represented in the workforce in greater numbers than ever and holding a higher percentage of managerial and executive jobs than in the past. Women-owned businesses have doubled in the last dozen or so years.

Lack of pay equity and the ever-present glass ceiling continue to be obstacles to women's career success. But women have secret weapons, opportunities to deploy their special strengths, and the ability to adapt talents typically thought to be men's domain. If our 10 strategies seem to suggest male-bashing or a war between the sexes, that's not the intent. It's just about leveling the playing field in a work world that has been inequitable for women for far too long

Here are 10 strategies women should consider for advancing their careers:

Read More

Monday, October 23, 2006

Is Technical Writing a viable career option?

Ever thought about what goes into creating the user manuals or instruction brochures of your music system, mobile phones or even the car maintenance guides? Most of us just manage to glance through the item, leave alone going into the technical details.


Since such information is meant for the layman, simplifying the jargons associated with any particular product or process is the key function of technical writers. A bridge between technology and its users, technical writing is also the ‘science’ of designing, validating, and packaging the information created to meet a certain objective. The irony of the situation is that in spite of playing such a crucial role, not much work has been done to assess the number of technical writers in the country. The IT industry, which absorbs a major chunk of technical writers has also shied away from giving due credit to this work


In today’s customer-centric business model , the very process of acquiring and losing deals depends on the effectiveness of the technical writers. According to Priyadarshi Tripathi, consultant, HCL Infosystems, “Any organisation that is conscious about the information/messages catering to its customers, employees or business partners employs technical writers who are specialists. ” Pradeep Henry of Cognizant Technology Solutions adds, “ For a software services organisation, its user manuals and technical write-ups act as its public face and reflects its level of professionalism.”

Technical writing as a niche profession
Read more



Top Jobs for the future

How would you feel if the job you've been doing for most of your life just moved offshore without any warning?

What if you just spent several years getting an education for a job that was no longer in high demand?

How would you like to know the secrets to choosing a satisfying career that will also be in high demand?


By understanding the major trends that are affecting our lives, you will be able to play an active role in planning and directing your career. By understanding these trends you will have a better chance of seeing the big changes before they hit.
This look into the future will show you the careers that are expected to have high demand and some that aren't. But more importantly this article will show you the basics of "trend spotting" so that you can make your own intelligent career choices.

If you are not interested in "the how and the why" of looking into the future of careers and jobs, simply click here to jump to the list of "Top Jobs For The Future."

Premier IT event to focus on IP development

Bangalore: The eighth edition of India's premier IT event, BangaloreIT.in 2006, slated from Oct 28, will focus on intellectual property (IP) developments taking place in the country to create high-end products for global markets.


Among the foreign countries to be represented by their companies are Australia, Belgium, Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the US.


Read Here

Organisation Behavior

Well friends i am not going to brief here anything on this topic...ya but would recommend you all to read the book by Fred Luthans-'Organisation Behavior'.

Its a must read book for all who are about to take the plunge and those who are already into the feildwork.

Some amazing case studies ,a good lot of relevant examples are illustrated and you can get a close look on how important every aspect of human behavior is and its impact on the organisation as a whole.

Friday, October 20, 2006

Corporate Policy Making,due you have any clue.......


Well, I am not really going to talk about corporate policy making techniques here. Just wanted to share with you a little piece of internet humor, that is going around as email forwards. Most of you probably have already read it, but no harm having a hearty laugh once again.
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 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 with cold water, set upon him and beat him up.After a while, none of the eight monkeys ever wants, or 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; 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 monkeyshammer the hell 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 hasno idea why he’s attacking the new monkey.

Kanbay opens new campus in Hyderabad

Kanbay International Inc, a US-based global leader in delivering end-to-end IT solutions, Wednesday opened its new software development campus in Hyderabad.Inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the campus with world-class infrastructure has come up on 15 acres of land in the IT park.
Kanbay India managing director Cyprian D'Souza said the company would also look at other potential locations for expanding its operations in India.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

BODY LANGUAGE,makes all the difference

How to appear defensive

Avoid eye contact and looking away. Cross your arms and keep your hands clenched. Keep rubbing your nose or one eye or one ear. Lean as far as possible from the other person; cross your legs if seated and swivel your feet towards the door if standing. These tactics should get the other people on the defensive too and ensure failed communication.

How to appear anxious

Blink frequently and lick your lips. Try clearing your throat regularly too. Tug at one ear and put a hand over your mouth when speaking to make all conversation in distinct. Open and close your hands frequently. If you are sitting down, keep fidgeting in your chair and jig your legs up and down. Such behaviour should ensure a total atmosphere of nervous tension, which is bound to stifle any real communication.


How to appear aggressive

Stare at the other person, preferably over the top of your spectacles. If you don’t wear spectacles, try raising your eyebrows in exaggerated disbelief or amazement; or you could always wear an 'I've heard it all before' smile. Point your finger at the other person or thump the table. If that fails, grab the back of your neck and rub it while frowning. Stand while the other person remains seated and then stride around so they have to keep moving to keep you in sight. If you decide to sit, lean back in your chair, legs splayed and hands clasped behind your head. This approach should terrify even the strongest of individuals and ensure total communication failure.
Of course, if you would rather encourage communication and solve people problems, try the following three patterns of behaviour:

How to seem friendly and co-operative

The other person in the face without staring. Smile when you see them and nod your head as they talk. Keep your hands open, occasionally moving one hand to your face. Do not cross your arms. If you are sitting, keep your legs uncrossed and lean forward to show interest. If you are standing, move closer to the other person, but not so close as to be threatening.
The behaviour will ensure a relaxed and friendly response from your colleagues and give every chance for successful communication.

How to seem confident

Look into the other person’s eyes, thrusting your chin forward and avoiding blinking. Stand straight and at ease with your hands behind your back, or steeple your fingers; but at all times keep them away from your face. When you are seated, lean back with leg stretched out in front of you; at all times avoid sudden movements.
These tactics should ensure the other party is aware of your strength of resolve and confidence in the outcome of any negotiation.

How to seem thoughtful

When listening, tilt your head to one side and make small agreement noises without interrupting the flow. Stroke your chin, or pinch the bridge of your nose. Lean forward to speak and back to listen keeping your legs still.
This approach should ensure that you seem thoughtful and willing to listen to the other person’s point of view.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Indian Pros To Get Long-Term Visas

In what is turning out to be a major bonanza for Indian professionals, Mauritius is working on a long-term visa that will allow them to work there for years. There will be no limit on their stay in terms of duration. Mauritius plans to grant them all privileges except the right to vote. Indian professionals working in Mauritius would also be allowed to purchase property after putting in certain years of work, according to Mr Madan M Dulloo, the Mauritian government’s minister for foreign affairs and international trade. The visa liberalisation programme would be part of the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) that is being negotiated between the two countries. The move would allow Indians to explore the opportunities available in the southern and eastern parts of Africa as Mauritius has strong economic relations with countries in the region. Besides, Indian companies setting up business in Mauritius will also enjoy the freedom to hire from India without restrictions. The move would be subject to reciprocal benefits for Mauritian professionals in India.

Source: The Economic Times New Delhi Edition

94,000 Heads Needed To Manage Hospitality

With hospitality industry set to add 53,000 new rooms across 40 properties over the next five years, the industry needs about 94,000 fresh heads to manage these new hotels. Apart from the major metros - Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore - the big demand for hospitality manpower is slated to come from tier II cities like Pune, Jaipur, Goa, Hyderabad and Cochin. Tech city Bangalore will add over 7,700 rooms over the next five years. This is slated to increase its stock of human resources in the hospitality sector from 3,300-level to over 17,000 in the next five years, a jump of over 400 pct The pink city of Jaipur which adds over 2,700 rooms over the next five years, will need to over 4,700 heads more to manage the extra inventory. According to Mr Saurabh Gupta, head, Hospitality Executive Search, HVS International , the hospitality industry will start feeling the impact of manpower shortage from 2008 onwards when bulk of additional supply starts flowing in. Over 40,000 new rooms are set to enter the market between 2008 and 2010.

Source: The Economic Times New Delhi Edition

Infosys - Hire And Fire

Buoyant market conditions and increasing demand for people will see Infosys Technologies adding a little more than 28,000 people during the current fiscal as against its projected number of 25,000. Meanwhile, for the first time perhaps, there is ‘involuntary attrition’, with Infosys firing people who don’t measure up performance wise. For the second quarter of the current fiscal, Infosys made a gross addition of 10,795 people, which is the highest for any quarter in its history, the company said during the announcement of its second-quarter results. For the quarter, it made a net addition of 7,741 and takes its total headcount to 66,150 as against 58,409 people in the first quarter. The distribution of its headcount was also spread across its different business units, while software services added 7,900 followed by its BPO operations at 2,628. The rest were among its various subsidiaries like Australia, China and consulting business. Mr TV Mohandas Pai, director, human resources, said they would be adding 9,500 people in the next two quarters of the current fiscal and has already made offers for 13,000 freshers for the coming fiscal. The fresh hirings will see bulk of them coming from Karnataka as Bangalore has already reached the saturation point, he said. However, in line with its increased hiring, the attrition rate of Infosys also showed a 1 pct increase from 11.9 pct in the first quarter to 12.9 pct in the second quarter.

Source: 12 Oct' 06 The Economic Times New Delhi Edition

Hot Sectors of the next decade in India

If 1990s was the decade of privatization of the Indian industry, this decade promises to be the one in which the private sector achieves its full potential, while new industries find a place in the top ten list. We have brought to you a list of happening industries, which promise to take centrestage on the Indian industrial scenario in the next decade - Writes Meha Khanduri
  • BIOTECH
  • IT ENABLED SERVICES
  • MEDIA
  • IT (Software)
  • TOURISM
  • PHARMACEUTICALS

Read More

Reversing the Brain Drain !!

For each foreign student eyeing internship options and job opportunities in the booming Information Technology (IT), Information Technology enabled Service (ITeS) and services sectors in India, there is today a swelling number of Indian professionals working abroad, who are keen on returning to their motherland. The widening canvas of lucrative career options to choose from is proving to be a major draw for the high-quality Indian expatriate manpower, writes Upasna Pandey.

Read More

Welcome back ... Do feel free to reach me for any more inputs. Would be glad to assist you.

How to sail through your first job !!


By Pallavi Jha

After all those grilling sessions and competitive academic trails, you have finally landed yourself that dream job. But you somehow find it completely different from what you had expected. Does this sound familiar? If it does, relax.

The trick is not to get bowled over, but to learn a few strategies that will take you through the little hurdles and help you retain the enthusiasm of the dream job.

Read More



Dont you think this would be the right strategy :-)

Monday, October 16, 2006

Leadership and Team building

Organisations are gradually realising the importance of effective, high performimng teams as the most essential ingrediants of organisational development and growth.One of the most effective methods of building teams is by letting them go through an experiential learning experience in outdoor environment.

Globalization has created intense competition. To survive in the market, it is extremely important for a company to have a motivated and efficient workforce..

We need team building, self empowerment, self confidence, creativity, communication skills, risk management, handling failure, business etiquettes and social graces, corporate dressing and deportment, body language, presentation skills, motivation and group discussions etc...

Read More

Why to have a Career Goal

Why to have a career goal? Does a career goal limit your future?

Many of us spend most of our working hours engaged in work. Yet over 75% or working population is not happy with their current job situation. Here comes the importance of having a Career Goal. A career goal helps you focus on what you want to do for a living. A career goal can be a specific job you want to do – such as doctor, teacher or engineer – or a career goal can be a particular field you want to work in, such as IT, Education etc.

Rather than limiting your future, a career goal may help you discover career opportunities that you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. There are several job opportunities with ......

Developing a Career Plan

With all kinds of career possibilities available, how do you make a decision? Once you know what career path you want to follow, how do you get there?

Following are simple rules to follow - Develop a career plan. Think about what you want to do and find out more about the kind of training, education, and skills you will need to achieve your career goal.


Assess your skills and interests. Think hard about what you enjoy, what you are good at, what kind of personality you are, and the values you hold.

Research occupations. Find out more about the nature of the jobs that interest you, such as education requirement, salary, working conditions, future outlook, and anything else that can help you narrow your focus.

  • Analyze and evaluate your skills and capabilities.
  • Set career goals.
  • Create a high profile resume.
  • Grab information on Industry Trends and specific companies.
  • Develop sophisticated networking capabilities.
  • Develop winning interview skills.
  • Prepare yourself for salary negotiations.
  • Use marketing techniques to get a competitive edge.
  • Use an approach that meets your needs.
Read More

Desi IT cos flock to South America

P P Thimmaya BANGALORE

LATIN America is now a favourite destination for a large number of Indian IT companies. It’s closeness to the US is driving these companies to set up delivery centres in the region. Even the cost differential is not much when compared to other centres.

A host of companies —TCS, Wipro, Mphasis BPO, 24/7 Customer and most recently ICICI OneSource — have set up their in Latin America.

Mr Siddharth A Pai, partner, TPI India, said that Latin America is an ideal location to offer services like remote infrastructure management and maintenance services.

TCS, for example has already got development centres in Brazil and Uruguay providing its services for ABN AMRO as well as its other clients in South America. According to Mr Sudip Nandy, chief strategy officer, Wipro, this region as a delivery centre would evolve over time. “It is a critical market not just for the export of services but also for the domestic market.”

Wipro got a foothold in Latin America through the acquisition of Portugal based company Enabler, which has a development centre in Brazil. There is also competition for Indian IT services from MNCs like IBM, Accenture in the region .Mr Sudin Apte, country head-India, Forrester Research, said that the multinational IT firms have been supporting their US clients from these locations for some time and believes that the Indian companies are catching up.

But the expansion would be more evolutionary as the Indian players will have to get used to the local language and culture. Mr Pai said that there would be operational issues as the Indian players will have to understand these local markets though the replication of IT global delivery centre is not very difficult. Mr Apte felt that as the brand identity of Indian companies is quite limited it would be difficult to attract talent.

Source : Economic Times

Friday, October 13, 2006

HR ALIGN:A Unique Product Linking People Strategy

Neterson Technologies Pvt. Limited the IT arm of the Neterwala Group* has embarked on an ambitious project of filling a much needed gap in the integration of workforce management with best in class HR practices. This business-critical HR suite is called HR Align®.Unlike other workforce management and HR products in the markets HRAlign® permits you to seamlessly align and unleash the hidden potential and latent talent of your human capital into achieving your company’s objectives. A lot of effort has gone in to make this software, process friendly by linking People, Strategy and Performance in an organized and efficient manner. It improves performance and accountability, by providing a matrix of critical tools, workflow and information that helps companies drive business results from your HR activities.

Any takers may contact the below and do visit their site for more info: http://www.netersontech.com/

manoj@netersontech.com

HR Align® has just been launched and we have received excellent feed back wherever we have demonstrated the product. We have received orders from several large to medium size companies. We believe this to be a benchmark product of the future a must for all IT & HR personnel in getting positive results from your workforce and managerial team in attaining your company’s goals.
Manoj...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

BPOs

BPOs are the most happening sector in the Indian employement market today.A close look into the present senario and we can forcaste the future employement gaps and fills..............
Read here for more info:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articlelist/26865660.cms

Job aspirants cheer up, more hiring in Oct-Dec 2006 !!

BANGALORE: It’s a good news for those in the job market right now. All major sectors are expected to increase their hiring activities in October-December quarter, according to the TeamLease Employment Outlook Survey. The main recruitment drivers include retail, media, FMCG (all at 95 index points), IT (94 index points) and financial services (91 index points). The five sectors are expected to hire at a rate faster than the growth of their business.

Read More : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2154051.cms

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Pay them, pamper them and add 20% to your bottomline

Companies which lay stress on human resource activities and provide their employees incentives such as pay hikes and flexitime may get several benefits, says a new study.

Such companies could enjoy a 10-20% improvement in employee retention, employee productivity, profitability and stock price, said the study that is to appear in the upcoming issue of the journal Personnel Psychology.

Read More : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1941547.cms

For countries like CHINA & INDIA where the cost advantage matters, what would be the diverse effects of this kind of a policy. Raise your comments ...

Satyam to add 4,000 staff in Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE: Satyam Computer Services is planning to expand its footprint in the Asia Pacific region with the addition of 4,000 employees this year.

A large part of the increase in headcount will be in China where the company is planning to set up a 3,000-seat development facility. The company is also close to clinching an acquisition in Japan in the IT services space.

Read more : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2062328.cms

Leadership styles-Management styles

There has always been a thin line between the basis of leadership and management.lets see what the 'big and successful' define both by their real life experiments.

Read here:
http://www.secretsofsuccess.com/leadership/

So how do YOU define both.........?

7 lakh IT jobs to be created in 2006

Indian Economy has seen a rapid growth in these couple of years, and we have seen up's and down's in the job markets as well. The Ma Foi Employment Survey has pegged the new number of jobs in ’06 at 10.3 lakh plus.

The IT and ITES sector will account for over 7,00,000 jobs ....

A detailed article has been published by Economic Times

Read : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2143003.cms

Any comments are welcome on this subject.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The essence of Leadership

The essence of Leadership, according to Mr Vivek Man Singh of Dell lies in the building trust and connecting with people



He says “A manager can tell his team what to do, but it is the leader who makes them want to do it.’



Read http://www.thesmarttechie.com/Leadership/StoryDetails.asp?stid=240&cat=Leadership

Monday, October 09, 2006

Hospitality sector may add 94,000 new recruits !!

WITH the hospitality industry set to add 53,000 new rooms across 40 properties over the next five years, around 94,000 fresh heads are required to manage these new hotels. Apart from the major metros, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, big demand for hospitality manpower is likely to come from tier II cities like Pune, Jaipur, Goa, Hyderabad, and Cochin.

As per latest research by hospitality consultancy HVS International, around 53% of the fresh room inventory is entering the luxury and first-class segment across ten key markets in the country. To manage the additional inventory, the hospitality industry will need to increase its current stock of hotel professionals by over three times from 45,000-level to over 1,38,300 over the next five years.

The Pune market will add over 4,600 rooms between 2005-06 and 2011-12, and the city will see 900% growth in hospitality manpower in the same period. Hyderabad will see its stock of hotel-related human resources grow by over 500% from current levels of around 2,500 to over 15,000 in the next five years.

The Nizam city will add over 7,400 rooms in that period, the bulk of which will be in five-star and five-star deluxe category. Tech city Bangalore will add over 7,700 rooms over the next five years, over 50% of which will be in luxury and first-class category. This is slated to increase its stock of human resources in the hospitality sector from 3,300-level to over 17,000 in the next five years, a jump of more than 400%

Another market that will register almost 300% growth in its hotel manpower stock is Cochin, growing from current figure of around 600 to beyond the 2400 mark by 2012. The port city will add over 1,000 rooms in that period, 60% of which will be in the mid-market and budget segments. Chennai will have over 11,400 hotel professionals by 2012, growing its current stock by 214%. The southern metro is set to add over 4,400 rooms over the next five years to its current inventory, with close to 60% in five-star and five-star deluxe categories.

The pink city of Jaipur, which adds over 2,700 rooms over the next five years, will need to hire over 4,700 heads to manage the extra inventory. Sun and sandy state of Goa will add another 2,600 rooms and an additional 4,500 heads in the next five years. Delhi and NCR will see its stock of hospitality-related pool grow by 155% to cross the 31,000 mark in the same period while in case of Mumbai, the figure would be touching the 30,000 mark from the current 13,000.

Delhi/NCR and Mumbai would see the biggest growth in room inventory over the next five years, adding between them over 20,000. The Eastern metro of Kolkata will see its pool of hospitality professionals grow to more than 6,700 from the current 2,300 level over the next five years, as it adds another 2,400 rooms to its inventory, the bulk of which will be in mid-market and budget segments.

According to Mr Saurabh Gupta, head of hospitality executive search, HVS International, the industry will start feeling the impact of manpower shortage from 2008 onwards when bulk of additional supply starts flowing in. Over 40,000 new rooms are set to enter the market between 2008 and 2010. The average employee-to-room ratio in India is 1.8, across all markets, with the only exception being three-star hotel category where the ratio drops to 1.5 per room. Incidentally, Indian hotels remain overstaffed by 20-25% compared to international standards, where the average is 1.6 person per room.

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Top 10 geek business myths

Myth #1: A brilliant idea will make you rich.

Reality: A brilliant idea is neither necessary nor sufficient for a successful business, although all else being equal it can't hurt. Microsoft is probably the canonical example of a successful business, and it has never had a single brilliant idea in its entire history. (To the contrary, Microsoft has achieved success largely by seeking out and destroying other people's brilliant ideas.) Google was based on a couple of brilliant ideas (Page rank, text-only ads, massive parallel implementation on cheap hardware) but none of those ideas were original with Larry or Sergey. This is not to say that Larry, Sergey and Bill are not bright guys -- all three of them are sharper than I can ever hope to be. But the idea that any of them woke up one day with an inspiration and coasted the rest of the way to riches is a myth.

Myth #2: If you build it they will come.

There is a grain of truth to this myth. There have been examples of businesses that just built a product, cast it upon the ether(net), and achieved success. (Google is the canonical example.) But for every Google there are ten examples of companies that had killer products that didn't sell for one reason or another.

Myth #3: Someone will steal your idea if you don't protect it.

Reality: No one gives a damn about your idea until you actually succeed and by then it's too late. Even on the off chance that you do manage to stumble across someone who is as excited about your idea as you are, if they have any brains they will join you rather than try to beat you. (And if they don't have any brains then it doesn't matter what they do.)

Myth #4: What you think matters.

Reality: It matters not one whit that you and all your buddies think that your idea is the greatest thing since sliced pizza (unless, of course, your buddies are rich enough to be the customer base for your business). What matters is what your customers think. It is natural to assume that if you and your buddies think your idea is cool that millions of other people out there will think it's cool too, and sometimes it works out that way, but usually not. The reason is that if you are smart enough to have a brilliant idea then you (and most likely your buddies) are different from everyone else.

Myth #5: Financial models are bogus.

As with myth #2 there is a grain of truth here. As Carl Sagan was fond of saying, prophecy is a lost art. There is no way to know for sure how much money your business is going to make, or how much it will cost to get to market. The reason for doing financial models is to do a reality check and convince yourself that making a return on investment is even a plausible possibility. If you run the numbers and find out that in order to reach break-even you need a customer base that is ten times larger than the currently known market for your product then you should probably rethink things. As Dwight Eisenhower said: plans are useless, but planning is indispensible.

Myth #6: What you know matters more than who you know.

The truth is, who you know matters more than what you know. This is not to say that being smart and knowledgable is useless. Knowing "what" is often an effective means of getting introduced to the right "whos". But ultimately, the people you know and trust (and more importantly who trust you) matter more than the factual knowledge you may have at your immediate disposal. And there is a sound reason for this: business decisions are horrifically complicated. No one person can possibly amass all the knowledge and experience required to make a broad range of such decisions on their own, so effective business people delegate much of their decision-making to other people. And when they choose who to delegate to, their first pick is always people they know and trust.

Myth #7: A Ph.D. means something.

Reality: The only thing a Ph.D. means is that you're not a moron, and you're willing to put up with the bullshit it takes to slog your way through a Ph.D. program somewhere. Empirically, having a Ph.D. is negatively correlated with business success. This is because the reward structure in academia is almost the exact opposite of what it is in business. In academia, what your peers think matters. In business, it's what your customers think that matters, and your customers are (almost certainly) not your peers.

[UPDATE: this is not to say that getting a Ph.D. is useless. You can learn a lot of useful stuff by getting a Ph.D. But it's the knowledge and experience that you gain by going through the process that is potentially valuable (for business endeavors), not the degree itself.]

Myth #8: I need $5 million to start my business

Reality: Unless you're building hardware (in which case you should definitely rethink what you're doing) you most likely don't need any startup capital at all. Paul Graham has written extensively about this so I won't belabor it too much, except to say this: you don't need much startup capital, but what you do need is a willingness to work your buns off. You have to bring your brilliant idea to fruition yourself; no one else will do it for you, and no one will give you the money to hire someone to do it for you. The reason is very simple: if you don't believe in the commercial potential of your idea enough to give up your evenings and weekends to own a bigger chunk of it, why should anyone else believe in it enough to put their hard-earned money at risk?

Myth #9: The idea is the most important part of my business plan.

Reality: The idea is very nearly irrelevant. What matters is 1) who are your customers? 2) Why will they buy what you're selling? (Note that the reason for this could very well be something like, "Because I'm famous and I have a huge fan base and they will buy sacks of stale dog shit if it has my name on it." But in your case it will more likely be, "Because we have a great product that blows the competition out of the water.") 3) Who is on your team? and 4) What are the risks?

Myth #10: Having no competition is a good thing.

Reality: If you have no competition the most likely reason for that is that there's no money to be made. There are six billion people on this planet, and it's very unlikely that every last of them will have left a lucrative market niche completely unexploited.