Thursday, May 07, 2009
"The upside in times of slowdown" by Amar Bhide
The deck gets reshuffled in a recession as habits are re-examined and patterns of behaviours are broken, perhaps to greater degree than , when things are humming along at a steady pace. And that's what creates business opportunities !
With a down turn, overall incomes, consumer spending, and capital expenditures fall, but not to the same degree for all individuals, products, or businesses !
About 20 years ago, I studies a 100 founders of Inc.magazine's 1989's list of 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Virtually all of them had started between 1981-83 in the midst of an awful recession. But that didn't prevent those founders from starting a new venture - in fact, in many ways, it may have helped !
Several of those successful entrepreneurs , had lost their jobs and hence, were not risking steady careers - and they were able to hire employees, where didn't have great job prospects on the cheap.
Landlords offered leases without asking too many questions about credit histories. Suppliers were willing to wait to be paid. And even though the old economy and the rust belt was in deep slump, the personal computer was taking off, and with it , opportunities not only for new hardware and software professionals but also for retailers, resellers and even magaine publishers.
More than a third of the founders I have studies had started computer related businesses. What were the worst times for the economy as a whole , turned out to be one of the best times for resourceful and opportunistic entrepreneurs !
" upside in times of slowdown " by Amar Bhide
With a down turn, overall incomes, consumer spending, and capital expenditures fall, but not to the same degree for all individuals, products, or businesses !
About 20 years ago, I studies a 100 founders of Inc.magazine's 1989's list of 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. Virtually all of them had started between 1981-83 in the midst of an awful recession. But that didn't prevent those founders from starting a new venture - in fact, in many ways, it may have helped !
Several of those successful entrepreneurs , had lost their jobs and hence, were not risking steady careers - and they were able to hire employees, where didn't have great job prospects on the cheap.
Landlords offered leases without asking too many questions about credit histories. Suppliers were willing to wait to be paid. And even though the old economy and the rust belt was in deep slump, the personal computer was taking off, and with it , opportunities not only for new hardware and software professionals but also for retailers, resellers and even magaine publishers.
More than a third of the founders I have studies had started computer related businesses. What were the worst times for the economy as a whole , turned out to be one of the best times for resourceful and opportunistic entrepreneurs !
" upside in times of slowdown " by Amar Bhide
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
"On Goverance " by Dani Rodrik
"Good governance by which I mean transparency, accountability, rule of law and bureaucratic competence and effectiveness, is clearly desirable as an objective in itself. We might even say that good governance is what development is all about. Fine and good.
The problem here is that I doubt economists - whether in or outside the World Bank - have much to say on how to achieve governance - as-an-end. On the other hand, we often also refer to govenrnace in an insturmental sense : better governance. We say, should enhance investmetn and entrepreneurship - and through these , stimulate economic growth. Except that we actually do not know that it does.
Al the evidence we have on the relationship between good goverancne and growth is about the long-term : there is virtually no evidence that improved governance stimulateds growth over the time horizons that policy makers care about.
And the experience of countries such as Vietnam, China and Combodia - all of which are the cases of high growth with very poor governance according to standard criteria ( like YSR Govt in Andhra Pradesh between 2004-2009? ) - should make us sceptical that there is such a relationship. So how can economists conribute ? Where economists have comparative advantage is in designing institutional arrangements for the specific policy reforms targeted at binding growth constraints 0 whether in trade, monetary policy, or education. This agenda differs quite a bit from the broad-brush governance agenda on which discussion tends to focus.
Dani Rodrik - ' On Governance'
The problem here is that I doubt economists - whether in or outside the World Bank - have much to say on how to achieve governance - as-an-end. On the other hand, we often also refer to govenrnace in an insturmental sense : better governance. We say, should enhance investmetn and entrepreneurship - and through these , stimulate economic growth. Except that we actually do not know that it does.
Al the evidence we have on the relationship between good goverancne and growth is about the long-term : there is virtually no evidence that improved governance stimulateds growth over the time horizons that policy makers care about.
And the experience of countries such as Vietnam, China and Combodia - all of which are the cases of high growth with very poor governance according to standard criteria ( like YSR Govt in Andhra Pradesh between 2004-2009? ) - should make us sceptical that there is such a relationship. So how can economists conribute ? Where economists have comparative advantage is in designing institutional arrangements for the specific policy reforms targeted at binding growth constraints 0 whether in trade, monetary policy, or education. This agenda differs quite a bit from the broad-brush governance agenda on which discussion tends to focus.
Dani Rodrik - ' On Governance'
All marketers are liars - Seth Godin
If you don't like what's happening in your company, the only way to change the story is to allow direct interaction between your employee and your customer.
Personal interaction cuts through all the filters. Personal interaction is the way human beings actually make big decisions - by looking people in the eye , by experiencing them first hand. That's why it was so hard for the dot-com s to build a loyal following - they couldn't afford to provide the interactions that are built into the retail experience.
Personal interaction comes from allowing people to be people, not script readers !!
When a consumer talks to a telemarketer, reading a script from a cubicle in New Delhi or Omaha, there is no interaction. but when a human being works with the consumer and takes independent action on her behalf, something changes.
Allowing your employees ot post an honest blog or to engage in direct instant-messaging conversations with your customers is a way to promote honest communication. If it makes you nervous to do that, may be you need to worry about authenticity a little more. Sometimes the interactions are nasty or rushed or even selfish. But when they are genuine, they have an impact.
Seth Godin, from ' All Marketers are Liars '
Personal interaction cuts through all the filters. Personal interaction is the way human beings actually make big decisions - by looking people in the eye , by experiencing them first hand. That's why it was so hard for the dot-com s to build a loyal following - they couldn't afford to provide the interactions that are built into the retail experience.
Personal interaction comes from allowing people to be people, not script readers !!
When a consumer talks to a telemarketer, reading a script from a cubicle in New Delhi or Omaha, there is no interaction. but when a human being works with the consumer and takes independent action on her behalf, something changes.
Allowing your employees ot post an honest blog or to engage in direct instant-messaging conversations with your customers is a way to promote honest communication. If it makes you nervous to do that, may be you need to worry about authenticity a little more. Sometimes the interactions are nasty or rushed or even selfish. But when they are genuine, they have an impact.
Seth Godin, from ' All Marketers are Liars '
