*
Ralph Nader. Friend or Foe?
“Ralph... who???”
“Ralph... who???”
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Sample of my musings on Linked In - 1
*
Do we (as a society) still need business, jobs, companies and corporations?
Jobs, business, companies and corporations do not occur naturally in nature. They are social constructions - items created to serve a purpose.
Their origins can be traced to the Industrial Revolution were their predecessors were created in order to make use of the new technology that was available. For example, where work had once meant running a farm, the new idea of a "job" - a package of work - was created to organise people in the factories.
Ignoring the depression and similar incidents, all in all, this has worked well. Businesses, jobs, companies and the like have raised everyone out of poverty by providing all of our basic needs - like food, shelter, education and medicine and clothing - at low costs. Thanks to the hard work of our forebears, these days, we live in an Age of Affluence - where we have enough products to satisfy everyone needs.
As such, it seems the need for having business, jobs, companies and corporations is gone. We now longer need to be lifted from poverty - as we have arrived.
So do we still need them? Should we be looking at better ways to organise society?
---
PS. I put this question under career development, because the answer will affect how my career will develop over the next 60-70 years. In only the last 10, I've seen the great changes brought about by the internet, so I'm trying to get a grasp what will happen next.
And I believe you can already see the facturing at the edges of these social structures. For example, micro-commerce and the long tail are eating away at the traditional concepts and people are choosing to down-size and opt out of consumer capitalism - rather than push for bigger and better jobs and careers.
“I presume this question to falls into the rhetorical category, therefore I suggest you may want to spend sometime reading ancient and medieval history and economy of Asia. The reading by itself will answer this question of your's.”
*
Do you recommend any books specifically? What ideas did you take away from them?
For starters I suggest you check the link on wikipedia. If your interest is piqued enough I'm sure you will find enough publications on your own to review the business environment around the world prior to the industrial revolution.
It is unfortunate that not enough has been published in the realm and context of business practices prior to the era of industrial revolution that you refer to. Most works are basic academic exercises in the study and documentation of human history only.
It is not hard to comprehend that if formal trade routes existed then there was some kind of organized commerce, which would necessitate the existence of some kind of organized manufacturing activity. All this would have created some kind of economic activity and which would have created wealth and had some impact on the social structure of the populace involved in such activities.
You will find several references to such instances as described above in the literary works of various writers from the ancient to the medieval ages.
So the notion that an organized business and accompanying social / economic structure is of recent vintage is a fallacy. The accompanying corollary that such social structures have or will become obsolete in the future is therefore fallacious also.
I am an avid fan of science fiction, in the '70's when everyone thought utopia was right around the corner a lifestyle of blissful retirement at age 30 in the near future was propagated. Now in the 21st century we find that most people do want to have jobs to be able to sustain their increased economic consumption, as well as to last them through their increased life span due to the marvels of science.
If you are one of the few that has thought of and can opt out of consumer capitalism you are indeed very, very, very lucky and privileged to do so. You represent a very minute fraction of a minuscule percentage of people worldwide who can do so voluntarily, the rest are still trying to attain that level of affluence, so the cycle will keep going on, keep being rediscovered and reinvented over and over again.
I hope I don't sound cynical nor is it my intent to do so, but I find that the more new fangled and revolutionary a certain idea is made out to be if you dig far and hard enough you will find someone, somewhere else has already come up with it beforehand.
Last but not the least the talk of the internet bringing people together and closer is indeed ironic for a society that at first wanted to have anonymity so moved away from the close family and local social community structure through the use of technology, is now trying to rebuild those social networks albeit in the virtual world.
Cheers,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road
Do we (as a society) still need business, jobs, companies and corporations?
Jobs, business, companies and corporations do not occur naturally in nature. They are social constructions - items created to serve a purpose.
Their origins can be traced to the Industrial Revolution were their predecessors were created in order to make use of the new technology that was available. For example, where work had once meant running a farm, the new idea of a "job" - a package of work - was created to organise people in the factories.
Ignoring the depression and similar incidents, all in all, this has worked well. Businesses, jobs, companies and the like have raised everyone out of poverty by providing all of our basic needs - like food, shelter, education and medicine and clothing - at low costs. Thanks to the hard work of our forebears, these days, we live in an Age of Affluence - where we have enough products to satisfy everyone needs.
As such, it seems the need for having business, jobs, companies and corporations is gone. We now longer need to be lifted from poverty - as we have arrived.
So do we still need them? Should we be looking at better ways to organise society?
---
PS. I put this question under career development, because the answer will affect how my career will develop over the next 60-70 years. In only the last 10, I've seen the great changes brought about by the internet, so I'm trying to get a grasp what will happen next.
And I believe you can already see the facturing at the edges of these social structures. For example, micro-commerce and the long tail are eating away at the traditional concepts and people are choosing to down-size and opt out of consumer capitalism - rather than push for bigger and better jobs and careers.
“I presume this question to falls into the rhetorical category, therefore I suggest you may want to spend sometime reading ancient and medieval history and economy of Asia. The reading by itself will answer this question of your's.”
*
Do you recommend any books specifically? What ideas did you take away from them?
For starters I suggest you check the link on wikipedia. If your interest is piqued enough I'm sure you will find enough publications on your own to review the business environment around the world prior to the industrial revolution.
It is unfortunate that not enough has been published in the realm and context of business practices prior to the era of industrial revolution that you refer to. Most works are basic academic exercises in the study and documentation of human history only.
It is not hard to comprehend that if formal trade routes existed then there was some kind of organized commerce, which would necessitate the existence of some kind of organized manufacturing activity. All this would have created some kind of economic activity and which would have created wealth and had some impact on the social structure of the populace involved in such activities.
You will find several references to such instances as described above in the literary works of various writers from the ancient to the medieval ages.
So the notion that an organized business and accompanying social / economic structure is of recent vintage is a fallacy. The accompanying corollary that such social structures have or will become obsolete in the future is therefore fallacious also.
I am an avid fan of science fiction, in the '70's when everyone thought utopia was right around the corner a lifestyle of blissful retirement at age 30 in the near future was propagated. Now in the 21st century we find that most people do want to have jobs to be able to sustain their increased economic consumption, as well as to last them through their increased life span due to the marvels of science.
If you are one of the few that has thought of and can opt out of consumer capitalism you are indeed very, very, very lucky and privileged to do so. You represent a very minute fraction of a minuscule percentage of people worldwide who can do so voluntarily, the rest are still trying to attain that level of affluence, so the cycle will keep going on, keep being rediscovered and reinvented over and over again.
I hope I don't sound cynical nor is it my intent to do so, but I find that the more new fangled and revolutionary a certain idea is made out to be if you dig far and hard enough you will find someone, somewhere else has already come up with it beforehand.
Last but not the least the talk of the internet bringing people together and closer is indeed ironic for a society that at first wanted to have anonymity so moved away from the close family and local social community structure through the use of technology, is now trying to rebuild those social networks albeit in the virtual world.
Cheers,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Non-Corporate Indian Brands - 2
Recently, one of my friends in India asked for my views on Non-corporate Indian brands that have had global impact.
His question was -
What is your take on these global brand concepts from India. How does world see it? Do they have momentum of their own which could turn them into a big global phenomenon?
# 2 in the Series
As far as other brands go - "Indian Eateries", are probably the 2nd most pervasive "Brand Category" (Don't know whether it is proper to label a "Category" as a "Brand Category") to have an impact at least in the US. I'm quite sure the rest of world follows the US lead just due to the innovation and economic aspect of it. (This is not American arrogance, just a fact!)
Indian food is no longer "Exotic", "Esoteric", or plain "Weird". It does not give the "Delhi Belly" (diarrhea), the "Bombay Burp" (heartburn) or any other similar symptoms. It is not served - just in very "Swank" downtown restaurants, or "Dirty & Dinghy Hole in the Wall places" in ethnic Indian neighborhoods, it has and is going mainstream.
This is a mass upheaval from the cultural aspect - Indian food, no longer smells and tastes strange to most people. Funny these days - Indians, per say no longer have the - "Funky curry odor", they have a "Unique aroma" emanating from them.
Indian Eateries are now dotted in almost every metro area in the US. From my personal experience my friends will ask me to bring - 'samosas', 'barfies', 'kababs', 'nans', and the perennial favorite 'TANDOORI CHICKEN'. My friends and colleagues regularly ask me for Indian recipes, how I cook, where they can get supplies and 'masala curry' to try their hand at Indian cooking. With growing emphasis on eating healthy the vegetarian lifestyle, which used to be bland, uninspiring, and unpalatable is now something to look forward to by using different Indian cooking techniques and spices to give flavor to food.
Pre-cooked Indian food is gaining mass traction and respectability by being available in local as well as ethnic supermarkets alongside offerings from the Hispanic, Jamaican, Oriental palate. You have pre-cooked "Daal Makhani", "Palak Paneer", "Bhindi Masala" "Gobhi Aaloo", "Paranthas", etc from brands like - SWAD, DEEP FOODs, MTR, etc, secondly, you know you have arrived when Wal*mart starts carrying Indian food products on it's shelves. When you say "Basmati" in a store they know you are talking about high quality rice, lentils are not just for making soup, and "kulfi" is better than any ice cream for desert.
Almost 30years ago when we lived in Arlington, VA, less than 10miles from Washington DC, my parents would take us on these everlasting 35-40mile long drives to buy rice, 'daal', 'ataa', 'dry masala', loose Indian tea, Dettol, etc. from the Indian grocery store. Now you don't have to drive more than 5 miles in most metro areas to get any of the stuff, if your local grocery store doesn't have it.
As inconspicuous as this phenomenon is there is no stopping this cultural -"Juggernaut".
His question was -
What is your take on these global brand concepts from India. How does world see it? Do they have momentum of their own which could turn them into a big global phenomenon?
# 2 in the Series
As far as other brands go - "Indian Eateries", are probably the 2nd most pervasive "Brand Category" (Don't know whether it is proper to label a "Category" as a "Brand Category") to have an impact at least in the US. I'm quite sure the rest of world follows the US lead just due to the innovation and economic aspect of it. (This is not American arrogance, just a fact!)
Indian food is no longer "Exotic", "Esoteric", or plain "Weird". It does not give the "Delhi Belly" (diarrhea), the "Bombay Burp" (heartburn) or any other similar symptoms. It is not served - just in very "Swank" downtown restaurants, or "Dirty & Dinghy Hole in the Wall places" in ethnic Indian neighborhoods, it has and is going mainstream.
This is a mass upheaval from the cultural aspect - Indian food, no longer smells and tastes strange to most people. Funny these days - Indians, per say no longer have the - "Funky curry odor", they have a "Unique aroma" emanating from them.
Indian Eateries are now dotted in almost every metro area in the US. From my personal experience my friends will ask me to bring - 'samosas', 'barfies', 'kababs', 'nans', and the perennial favorite 'TANDOORI CHICKEN'. My friends and colleagues regularly ask me for Indian recipes, how I cook, where they can get supplies and 'masala curry' to try their hand at Indian cooking. With growing emphasis on eating healthy the vegetarian lifestyle, which used to be bland, uninspiring, and unpalatable is now something to look forward to by using different Indian cooking techniques and spices to give flavor to food.
Pre-cooked Indian food is gaining mass traction and respectability by being available in local as well as ethnic supermarkets alongside offerings from the Hispanic, Jamaican, Oriental palate. You have pre-cooked "Daal Makhani", "Palak Paneer", "Bhindi Masala" "Gobhi Aaloo", "Paranthas", etc from brands like - SWAD, DEEP FOODs, MTR, etc, secondly, you know you have arrived when Wal*mart starts carrying Indian food products on it's shelves. When you say "Basmati" in a store they know you are talking about high quality rice, lentils are not just for making soup, and "kulfi" is better than any ice cream for desert.
Almost 30years ago when we lived in Arlington, VA, less than 10miles from Washington DC, my parents would take us on these everlasting 35-40mile long drives to buy rice, 'daal', 'ataa', 'dry masala', loose Indian tea, Dettol, etc. from the Indian grocery store. Now you don't have to drive more than 5 miles in most metro areas to get any of the stuff, if your local grocery store doesn't have it.
As inconspicuous as this phenomenon is there is no stopping this cultural -"Juggernaut".
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