Frog in a Boil - Indian Retail - is This Where We Are?

Most often in life changes don't come is perceptible torrents that we should sit up to take notice. Changes good and bad, happen and are happening in tiny tiny measures that we don't sometimes see, until either it's too late to correct, or if it's a good thing, goes unnoticed.

This is like a frog in a boil. The narration goes that if you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water it will obviously jump out. But what if you put the frog in water that is at room temperature? It will happily swim in it's small world pool. Now if you light a low fire under the pot, a very low and slow one, the water heats up almost without having changed anything to frog. It's body adjusts quickly to the heat, till it become too late.

I have this nagging feeling that Indian retailing has been quite like that. In all the years in retail I have not seen significant changes. Infact things have even gone down at the store level. In Foodworld I remember as a VP Operation we ran a drill every day called STUC- Show that you care. Every cashier wished every customer. As small and simple as that. Store being ready before that first consumer comes in. Face ups happening at 3pm. And many small nuances by now would have become hygiene, for the staff and consumer. But check outs are as slow, stock are as high, range is lower, neatness is lower.

Is there a realization that retailers must be on constant vigil so that the small things are corrected and bettered.

Are we on a boil. Well Friedman regret in his latest book "that used to be US", that the US is surely that way. We know for a fact that China is not.

Ice Cream in Winter and Carbon Footprint

I remember, many moons ago, as a younger retailers in Foodworld, I was subjected to a presentation by a Danish company that used to distribute Ice Creams in Europe, and were looking at setting up a similar business in India. This was as far back as 1999. I took them around the Indian cities and markets. It is today a day in 2011, and they have never returned since! Should I laugh or rue the fact that India has changed only at the margins in food distribution.

Similarly, even earlier in 1988,when I was involved with the Indo-Nissin Foods project (makers of Top Ramen and Cup Noodles - then a Unilever JV), I toured with an outstanding FMCG executive by name- Ken Sasahara, from Nissin Japan, (he is today President of Nissin, USA), all over India, and he was adventurous in food exploration. We ate at all types of restaurants, from way-side to 5 star hotels- from Kakeda hotel in delhi, to Dhabas in Punjab to Muniandi Villas and Military hotels in south India. In typical Japanese style he catalogued everything on this laptop.
In a month we were back at our office at Brookefields in Bangalore. As he made his report he asked me- "hey, I have catalogued here 100s of delicious dishes. When there is so much food around, who will want to eat noodles? It will always remain a small category". And so it is. Since Maggi launched in 1983, instant noodles has grown but in the context of the over all food category, it remains minuscule.

Coming back to the ice cream story, the insights from that presentation were startling. The Danish company showed the trends in sales over a year in Denmark. I saw that the sales did not decline in winter and peak in summer, as it does here, to a factor of 10. I saw that in Denmark where it is cold, read freezing, for most of the year, the sales never declined. They themselves could not answer why, and infact it never occurred to them to ask why. It struck me then that their homes, and offices and cars are all climate controlled to 16 to 20degrees at all times. So then what does it matter even if the outside is -20degrees? Our homes in India nor the offices are warmed up in winter. Even in the west and south of India where in winters temperature do not go below 10 degrees, it is considered winter and there is decline in cold beverages and ice cream.

I then begin to think, of the huge carbon foot print that the western countries have compared to India and they consider India polluting? China,USA and Europe account for account for 54% of world's carbon emission. India disconcertingly is in the 5th position, 5%.
Let's not use ice in Coke that is cold, plastic lid off a glass of beverage, cut off the air-conditioning at 6 am, etc. Walk more drive less. These are small things that we can do silently to save our planet. Let's not do it the news papers, let us do it for ourselves, for our own silent satisfaction.

Top Management - Forgotten to lead from the front? The bane of the cozy corner room.

I have been bitten by a “reading history”, bug. Something has provoked my interest in Indian Medieval history of late, and why not? Isn't it true that "the one who forgets history is condemned to repeat it?”

In a passage in it, there is a narration of the life of an Afghan raider of the Sur clan, later to be known as Sher Shah Suri. His conquest and expansive reign was short lived, 1540-45. What is interesting here is that in the 5 years when he was king from his fort in Chunnar, Sher Shah defeated Humayun the great Mughal twice, and the latter barely  escaping with his life, but with the great Kohinoor Diamond!

But finally, Sher Shah in his attempt to capture the fort of Klinjar in Rajasthan, died at the battle front when a rocket rebounded off the wall of the fortress and landed on a pile of ammunition, which exploded to badly burn and char the Afghan. He was a departure from many of the other kings, in  being constructive for the lower strata of people. He reorganized the administration and weeded out corruption from the army ranks (poor man didn't have an Anna then), and many other acts that are admirable. But a raider and looter he remained.

I think in terms of today I wonder how many of the leaders - CEOs, Presidents, VPs, go to  face the gunpowder? How many come down the ladder to the front end staff to understand, empathize, absorb, and act? They need to come down not only to empathize , but to align to what is "on the ground", and what the employee is saying, thinking and serving the consumer. High level decision making, we see happening without a full understanding of consumer speak. Once an individual reaches top-management, he is sucked into other shareholder priorities. I have seen insular decisions made all the time.

I know of only one retailer who does, and it shows in his business.

This is true of all businesses, where the cozy corner room removes the decision makers a long way away from reality. That is unwise for any business. Sam Walton again stands out, for this obsession with being in close contact with the front end associates. Who is our Sam Walton?

India eats what media cooks-Anna included

Who are these two people? One on the right we know by now, our own Anna Hazare. But the one on the left?
Wikipedia tells it better- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irom_Sharmila
Irom has the record for the longest fasting in the world! but hopefully that is not what she will be remembered for.
And who is this man, who died?

If you don't know, you are forgiven, because the 4th estate has not bothered to spend time on him. This man  is Swami Nigamananda, who died fasting for the cause of a clean Ganges. The media didn't cover it for more than 30 minutes I guess, since it won't sell. Even when it did, the swami was dead.
And the lady in the pic is someone, manipuris call "Menghaobi" ("the fair one"). Her fight is against the  Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). She feels it is draconian and unlawful. The Govt thinks otherwise.
Some Pointers on which to Ponder -
1. The Media is needed to make a Cause a Movement. But then what about Gandhi's independence movement in an age where there was only letter writing and postal service? Well even then the Dailies played a key role. But then Gandhi was an enigma, that we can't totally explain! In Modern times it is difficult to get a movement except through the media into which the millions of ears are tuned. The clutter of noise is so high that unless there is something of the thunderous proportions of the kind Anna is doing, it wont be heard. 
2. People are interested only in what affects them locally. Corruption does, and hence the the tuning in. But Telegana does not, the AFSPA does not- it is in Manipur, Narmada does not- it is in Gujarat. We are so busy living, that we don't mind letting some things die, as long as it is not in my neighbourhood, or it affects me. Do people in Mumbai raise a voice for bad roads in MP?
3. Media: selling airtime to eye balls is Money.  Media is a Profit making company. Anna sells well, Irom does not. They are prey to the people's moods. Salman sells , Ritwik Ghatak does not. Poor media blokes, just as much as they want to be a good Samaritan they can't. I was watching a byte on the internet from the Editor of Wall Street Journal, who says that he does not "care about Democracy" he only understands Capitalism - free market economy. From the Holy grail of business if this is what comes out, why are we surprised about what happens in the USA?
We are what we want to be. That is sometimes the problem. We may not end up being what we Like ourselves to be. We don't sometimes know we should be.

Anna Hazare – a Messiah or a Ticking Time Bomb?

We Indians are always known for holding extreme views, and emotions not laced by “pure reason” (as Tagore calls it in Gitanjali). From worshipping our cricketers to burning their houses, from acts of honour during the Kargil war to the 3G Scam.

I am afraid many of those in that rally, proclaiming “I am Anna”, “mein Bhi Anna”, don’t have a clue as to the difference between the Lokpal bill as passed in the Parliament, and the Jan Lokpal bill. Are the youth wrong? Not at all. The youth in any country and era, always wants a cause to attach themselves to. The Indian Government, if it had the leadership to move the country ahead to become a world super power, then that passion would have ignited the young minds to rally around that cause. But alas there is none!
Now Anna arrives on the scene, as a (seemingly) affable old man. Only if the young people knew that the same Anna had in his village flogged two young people for drinking alcohol, banned liquor shops there, regulated TV time, and almost forced people to lead a pious life. Once a driver in the Indian Army, Anna, has now risen to this stature from his own conviction. But unlike Gandhi who never used fasting like an antagonistic tool, Anna is using it to fight adversaries. Anna must remain rigid against Govt attitude but flexible to diverse views. That is the essence of democracy.

So will I not join the rally? Yes I did join the rally. But for me Anna is only a reason. Anna is living his convictions and fighting corruption. We must commend him for rising to the occasion. But even he never would have expected this kind of support he is getting, just as he did not expect such ineptitude on the part of the govt. Why this kind of support? The support is for the cause more than support for Anna, who is revered for being the reason of it.

Some people are asking, whether the Anna movement has dented the Indian image of a democratic nation? In fact to the contrary, it is an emphatic affirmation that democracy in India is truly alive. Thousands came to the street, but all non-violently, for a country where the mob at the smallest provocation torch buses.

Anna has put Corruption on red alert. This is fabulous. Decades ago as a young man in Kerala I heard a wonderful speaker and Gandhian, M P Manmadhan. Even in the 70s he spoke of the curse of corruption. He said the difference between corruption of old and of new, was that in the olden days there was“sourness” (pulip -“sourness” in Malayalam) when it was done. But now there was no sourness, it had become a matter of course. I agonized always, over whether my sons would grow up thinking corruption is ok? Anna has held up the mirror to our faces. At least the sourness is back.

But then that is it. It ends there. I don’t agree to the Jan Lokpal bill being greater than the parliament. Then who will be the Lokpal of the Lokpal?  Anna is saying that impeccable humans will be chosen to head the Lokpal. This is untenable. There is no perfect human. Only Collectively we check and balance.
 I would like every government official to come under the Lokpal bill. Put all the investigating agencies under the Lokpal and then let all findings be sent to the parliament to decide, for major issues.

But what about the small local cases of corruption, who will control and monitor? I don’t know yet.

But let’s give Anna his due and thank him for bringing back the sourness and stirring up the pot. But he needs to be flexible to “listen” to other views from similar crusaders. Let not the situation get reverse engineered- let not public’s misconceived ideas of the Lokpal bill become a burden on Anna himself. Let not Anna be in the situation of Deva Anand in the film “Guide”. Let not his cause become his nemesis. Let us not turn Anna into a time bomb. 

Pesticides Ok for Indian Consumers?

Recently I visited Nasik Area in Maharashtra. Not being an Agri professional, I have had to learn the fundamentals of products at the field itself, with the help of my colleagues. Nothing gives me more pleasure than a new thing to learn (and I hope like hell it will keep Alzheimer away!).

I have come to see that there is a big difference in being an expert in Grapes and being a Marketeer of Grapes. Let me illustrate.
      The grapes industry, as you might not know if you are not deep into its working, is surprisingly well organised, in parts. The part that is well organised is part that exports grapes to Europe and the part that is horrendously disorganized is the one that supplies grapes to the Indian consumer, that is you and me.

      Grape farmers have to make a decision at the beginning itself, whether are they going to make the field to cultivate grapes suitable for the European or the Indian market. If for Europe, then the soil maintenance, the kind of pesticides used, the dosage, the row distance, the leaves per stem, etc. gets well kept, as dictated by whom? The European Food laws.All grapes to Europe are "Pesticide Residue free". And grapes for Indian consumers? Well Chalta Hai! Pesticides residue is OK?
       The European grapes are 16mm in length, and the grapes supplied in India: 8mm to 10 mm, assorted. Do our Indian consumers not deserve pesticide residue free grapes, 16 mm and clean and crispy? 
      Why would they not be supplied to the Indian market? This is because the Indian Consumer is SAID to be price conscious. I decided to test this (what I thought was a Myth). 
       My company (Future Freshfoods, Mumbai) sourced grapes meant for Europe, redefined the sizes, put them in punnet boxes(plastic boxes), and sold them in the FoodBazaar outlets in Mumbai at prices which were Rs. 10 higher per kg than the market, but these are14 to16mm length grapes with pesticide zero residue, no infestation, no surface cracks - clean and neat. Everyone of the experts inside and outside told me that I was being foolish, that the punnet would add cost to the grapes, and that the cost would render the product a non-starter.
    I may not know the botanical name of grapes, but my wife is the consumer-silly, I hear it from her!  
It was sold out! 15,000 boxes in a day. Don't believe me see the pics. I believe the consumers in India have never eaten such delicious and top quality grapes consistently available. 
Don't Indian consumers, deserve to eat grapes of the standard that  European citizens eat? We need to get out of the mind-set that we Indians will make do with lower quality.It is not about being rich it is about being discerning. So help me God!