Keeping time

Recently I was scheduled for a meeting for 11:00 am at office. Mind you, this was one of those high precedence meetings, which have an imposing agenda and priorities of no less than saving a planet sort of list. This being one of my latest assignments, I sought after making a remarkable impression.

Life can become a cakewalk when you smile a lot, attend meetings in time, stick to deadlines, follow your work like religion, keep high energy levels, love your coffee vending machine at office . So, bearing this in wits, the prime concern was to get to the meeting and be the torch bearer.
One of the things on my agenda was to dress well, pick up keywords and address the issues in a right and straight way. Peter Drucker says "Efficiency is doing better what is already being done." and I was straight away going for that. I was bingo, at the meeting room ten minutes before the meeting, at the door of the Meeting room and tried to get inside, only to figure out that there was another meeting was in progress there and I have to wait. Not baffled by that, and sticking to my plan, I waited for this meeting to get over and shared the room with my meeting partners.
After the meeting got over, one of the managers coming out gave me a amusing smile which told me "come on, you can pull it on as ever" and while I got into the room, I took a deep breath and reflected at my watch just to keep a tab, which pointed me towards 2 mins before striking that 11 am when all come in. Wondering why no one had turned up, I settled into the chair, a nice cushioned one.
It was a while as I was sitting into the room alone waiting for these two folks to join in, and checking out the room and its decor. I was beginning to get aggravated with the delay and I missing out on my coffee for the sake of this meeting, but then you lose some, you win some... it was this 11:15 when I lost it and left the room, only to discover that the folks who were supposed to be joining in for the meeting were stuck in the traffic driving to the office and they had completely forgotten to check their calendars and this meeting details. Nodding my head, moving towards the cafeteria, realizing that all management talks and trains people about keeping their time but fails to instill this habit and probably everyone ends up keeping a watch, instead of keeping time.

Confusions & CrossRoads

It’s been over a week I wrote something. The reason behind that was an hodgepodge of bad health due to the never ending throat infection, thanks to "Namma Bangalore traffic", oodles of work at the office and also some bewilderment which has started its dingdong once again.
It’s not a recent confusion but one which has been lingering since last probably 7-8 years. Now don’t apprehend me for trying to quote that I have been into the corporate world since donkeys years, but that 7-8 years mean that during my graduation I was game for starting something on my own, started too, moved on and then while I was into my computer majors from Madurai, always back of my mind was whether this would be a technical De-tour to my own fantasy land of starting some business. As I plunged into my job, the only thought to spend sometime and then run out for my MBA and start out. But soon I realized that I should be spending some quality time in the corporate sector before seeking out for a eminent college in the country. Accepting the fact, I moved on but always boiled seeing the business models and team integrations and wondered if that was what I was built for. I never felt that I would want to fix code or provide any technical support, when the only support I could provide was to me and that too morally. I was thoroughly inclined towards a business orientation and so did the job give me an option to move on.
To sum up my confusions in a single go, I have been an avid reader, and love to write too. I started writing a book during my sabbatical out of my graduation, finished some 200 odd pages and then things got pushed due to my entrance tests clouding in. I started some couple of websites, did some freelancing for almost 3 years, earned some quick bucks and quite an amount of publicity, and could not mature the idea of going entrepreneur and making it big. Still the idea of starting a web dev company haunts me and I appreciate the fact that now I can club thinking about business models to top any such ideas. Then its just thousands of potential ideas which strike in and out and get confused with. I was pretty amazed by the speech of my director here at my Red organization, where he stressed the point stating his own examples that one should try to find that one thing which one love and should go for it. He even quoted that he spent 20 years moving around, hoping jobs and trying to explore himself and see exactly where his interest and happiness lied.
At times my mind gives me great ideas about developing a small food chain and growing it big, then a company which specializes into web development, and trades on supporting business ideas do throng in. At times since I have edited some articles and even started a small journal kind of stuff back at my colleges haunts me and gives me confidence that I can start up a magazine and if I can run it and make it big, this would be something of my utmost love. I am already going ahead for a management journal, just out of my sheer love.

And then the ground reality strikes where the decision to quit and chase something like this without having a reasonable investment backing up hits hard. I am sure anyone who starts or plans something of this sort, would or may be going through the same confusion, but I would really like to get inputs on how do people plan such decisions and if any suggestions can get the ball rolling.

Serenity

“The serenity of mind, gentleness, silence, self-restraint, and the purity of mind are called the austerity of thought.”

"Nothing is worth more than this day."

Goethe
"Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it."

Brian Tracy

"There is no greatness where there is not simplicity."

Leo Tolstoy

A life saver-less engaging

Its a blood donation camp operating at my company's recreation room today and we have been receiving mails for reminding people about coming forward and registering for the same. After i went and donated my share of units of blood, little did i realize how worthwhile the effort can be, especially when you see someone suffer and die without blood.
Mine was a first experience and i saw only 15 folks enrolled for 40 mins time slot. No wonder few minutes back there was another note sent out to the global mailer, requesting all to come and donate blood and also a photo from the mornings donation being pasted into the mail, which makes it more convincing. I was a feeling well but i could see lot of people tensed out, being regular donars too. Probably the sight of blood and needles around make people skip few beats. As i filled up my forms and got my blood group confirmed with a medical test, was amazed by the smooth conduct of the officials from the Rotary blood bank and the way whole thing was getting together. After my Blood pressure check, was waiting for my turn when i got to meet one of the colleagues who was also a first timer and was a bit tensed out. We shared few small talks, and then i was called for.
I was smiling and as the lab assistant got the blood bag ready and took out a new needle, he asked me if i was feeling fine and gave me a smile. I was already glaring and seeing across the room where few people after donating, were sitting and sipping some juice and some volunteers were collecting details of others. It pained a little as he pricked the needle into my vein, but then it was OK afterwards. I was enjoying my blood go off, when i was given a stress buster type ball, so that i could keep pressing it for continuing the blood flow. Meanwhile, as this process went on, one of the older volunteers, from Rotary TTK blood club, came across and stood by me. We exchanged smiles and she asked if i was a first timer. Upon a positive nod, we started discussing about blood banks and their roles. I never miss a chance to gather such information & discuss and it was a great opportunity to hear from this lady who had been working with the blood bank as a volunteer for the past 29 years. As she started telling about her experience, and especially the functioning of the blood banks, i realized that blood banking is a noble but a very serious cause. They are really choosy about from who they draw blood. She also shared this piece of information, that normally during any emergency, they do not recommend people taking blood from their relatives, as that is a circle of influence where people are not transparent fully. There is a severe chance that one of the relatives of yours, has been suffering from some ailment which may not let them donate blood, but just seeing the emergency they gulp the truth down and it can be risky for both the parties at the end.
As the talk went on, i could not resist asking her about how much response they get of people while they conduct such camps. I could see the statistics myself though, out of our whole organisation, almost 100 had only registered which is just a meager number. She also explained the similar situation, where they have visited any and every IT company, colleges and factories at Bangalore but they observe that normally 10-15% people only turn up. Considering that any point in time, 15-20% would be suffering from something or the other which would not let them donate, but then out of the remaining 80-85%, the turnout is quite less. But she was quite optimistic and that's what i liked about the whole group. She emphasised that they need to have more volunteers and spread the word so that more no of people could be roped in to satisfy the requirements.
Also after i donated my share, thanked this volunteer and relaxed for sometime, sipping apple juice, another volunteer explained about their operations in Bangalore and also about Stem cells from blood beign collect by Apharasis, which is a technology geared way of acquiring Blood steam cells which can be further divided into its classifications and donated to people suffering from severe dieseases. That discussion was really an eye opener and i could feel that how much more volunteering is needed to set the record straight.
As i left the room, commit ed myself to donate blood after regular interval and wish this post gets few more to come in and volunteer and helps spread a word.

Some basic details which i learnt from them, are shared here for your reference.
The amount of blood drawn and the methods vary, but a typical donation is 500 milliliters of whole blood.
Donors are typically required to give consent for the process.
Normally at a given time, a person has 5-6 ltrs of blood in the body.
Components of whole blood-usually red blood cells and plasma.

for more information, please visit Rotary Blood Bank Website

A trip to Hesarghatta and NtriyaGram

As the weekend approached, we had been long planning for an outing. As the last planned outing was washed with one of my previous post. We had dreaded over the fully planned trip to Mysore where the rain had played spoil sport. The weather looked good on Friday evening as I left my office with the printout of a map of place called Hesarghatta.
Early morning as the alarm rung at 5 am we got up and took to our journey to Hesarghatta. The intention was to have a good day out and capture some scenic photo and quite a few birds too. It was an quite early start and the road was empty. We hit the outer ring road as the clock struck 5:30. After some time; as we crossed Hebbal flyover, we hardly knew that it was going to be a never ending journey. The Goggle map helped little as the road started going through lot of villages and we had to take directions from lot of people. In the middle of the journey; we started feeling if we were going to the right place or not? Finally, somehow after driving of one hour and thousands of route changes; we reached a small village called Hesarghatta. It looked that our journey had come to an end and we were in for a surprise.

This was the place where we could also see the same road leading towards Narityagraam which is a dance village. After few minutes drive; through the cloudy weather, we reached this huge junction which you will normally have at the bank of a river or a canal. Few of the villagers were standing there going for their nature’s call, were a bit taken aback of surprise by their early morning visitors. We parked the vehicle and rushed upstairs. As we reached at the top of the bank there was another surprise waiting for us; An awful one . It was a huge river bed without a river or a lake in it. We could hardly believe our eyes and took a round of this whole place to discover nothing more than few birds. The place indeed was very green and scenic but hardly close to anything we expected. After spending few minutes and a couple of shot; we decided to move along the same road and check out the Narityagraam. we went past a poultry form and turkey center, and we came across a film training institute. After a few minutes drive from there we reached the famous Narityagraam and a very beautiful Taj Kutiraam. The place was a treat to eyes and satisfying. But disappointing too as Narityagraam showed up a sad board of being closed due to vacations till 1st Oct. We checked with the manager at Taj Kutiraam about the famous Hesarghatta lake. To our surprise; He told us that the lake has already gone off since last 10 years. Before that Yes it was famous for River rafting and birding. We spend some time and captured few birds and started back home. It was indeed a disappointing drive and I was wondering How the websites have been supporting photos and details of Hesarghatta.

A king fisher captured our attention and then as we moved around the lake, here is one of the birds which i caught at hesarghatta lake. Few birds were around there and most of the crows and brahmin kites were making rounds of this place. Unforntunately i could not get hold of any of those.

As we had come out of the NrityaGram, Outside the compund wall, could see these few birds and could not resist capturing them. I am sure these resorts, like the one besides Nrityagram, TAJ KUTERAM make lot of contribution to the nature in a way to lure guests and in return nature comes back visiting them with full bloom and makes the spot worth paying for it.

And this one was a beauty. I spent sometime running behind these, as they wont stick to anything for long. tried spot metering these brids and if you could observe the beauty, the bird at first looks like it has its mouth opened up in a howl posture but actually its the crown in its head. I am still not sure about their names. So any comments about the same would be appreciated. I am planning to visit this place again, but for nrityagram and probably would check in at the TAJ KUTERAM as it is an awesome place to spend time at the outskirts of bangalore.

Need Inputs-A new change, a new name

Its been ages since i started using my blog for writing out my feelings and talking to the world outside. I still have those memoirs of the website and the excitement it created for sometime among my friends at college, and around the town getting huge hits and lot of emails of congratulations and Kudos. I took to publicising the website, used that odd friends cyber cafe and posting a note there to put small advertisements across the local free ads.
but now, as this is a different genre and lot has changed, this is the time when i am getting back to writing to my blog and preparing to commit that i write daily.

Also this is the time when learning out of my management studies and corporate boardrooms, I am planning to launch a monthly journal on business management and wide spectrums to it. I am not sure how much readership i currently have and how many inputs do i get for this, but i am looking for name for my Journal. Any suggestions. Please feel free to suggest a name also write to me what according to you would be an ideal read in a business management journal, if i could call it so.

Season of Wait

Jack Canfield once said "Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it. "

"The quieter you become the more you can hear."

That was the same we experience when we a gang of Five, planned to go to Mysore on bikes. We planned, packed, stuffed and drove but to no escape as rain caught us at lot of spots and made us to reconsider our decision of not yet driven 140 Kms. We choose to return back to the comfort of home made food and Hot cup of teas.
But the post is dedicated to one of the co-trippers who was left high & dry with the change in plan, and was caught on my camera sighing. Check out my flickr link for more.

My Management Collection-Defining the Supply Chain Management?

What is Supply Chain Management?
As per the Institute of Supply chain management Inc, US, SCM can be defined as design, and management of a huge, value added process across organizational boundaries to meet the real needs of the end customers. Personally from my observation, supply chain management is finding the most optimized way to delivery
value to customers and the organization as well.
Continuing with more of would explain that when you put together the technological resources which would include the most sophisticated tools available(from forcasting to inventory management), to the hardware side of the ever changing hardware with the people working with them, thats is termed as Supply Chain integration. Ain't no rocket science yet.
There was no substantial need felt for any of these, until the business started going above bounds and the aspects which were covered by the business house themselves, was let off to be a responsibility of the vendor/supplier itself and this fusion led to more management joints and nut bolts needed to get the system working. These days, for a huge business to run successfully, most of the collaboration is fused from the outside entities to the business like, suppliers, distributors etc. Such an arrangement of lesser control and more integration gave all the supply chain concepts and Logisitics handling, inventory management, distribution and stock handling took as much of concentration as forcasting the trends took the industry share.
Supply Chain Major Focus Areas:
Some of the major areas of concentration, in todays business are:

• Distrubution Network Configuration.
• Distribution Strategy
• Information
• Inventory Management

1,Distribution network configuration: The words can sound too techie but in real terms its a very common sense phenomenon but unrealistic to come to terms with. DNC takes into account of Number of location of suppliers, production facilities, distribution centres, Warehouses and customers. Well, if some one could find a perfect resoution, life would be a better one but it one of the tough bets to conlude upon. The real analogy would include, having a store and then find all the permutations and combinations of cost involved in different no of suppliers, no of carriers, their no of shifts of work and then the conclusion telling us the optimal figure good for the business.
2, Distribution Strategy: I shall try and write another writeup on different distribution strategies to explain more in details, but for the completeness, the strategy to be choosen could from either Centralized Vs Decentralized, Cross docking or Shipment directly, Pull or Push Strategies, Third party logistics etc. Its again basically a variable to choose how you want to distribute your stuff.
3, Information:Integrate systems and processes through the supply chain to share valuable information, including demand signals , forecasts, inventory and transportation.Its as simple and tough as that.
4, Inventory Management:Quantity and location of inventory including raw material, work-in-process and finished goods service providers and customers.
I shall be writing on different aspects of supply chain management and shall try to write another one on forcasting as that is one of my favs.

My Management Collection-Consumer Behaviour and purchasing

Consumer:It would refer to an individual or household which would use goods and/or services, and dictate and emulate their production.

Consumer Behaviour:
Consumers make purchases in order to satisfy needs. Some of these needs are basic and must be filled by everyone on the planet (e.g., food, shelter) while others are not required for basic survival and vary depending on the person. It probably makes more sense to classify needs that are not a necessity as wants or desires. In fact, in many countries where the standard of living is very high, a large portion of the population’s income is spent on wants and desires rather than on basic needs.
Over here, when I mention the consumer i am referring to the actual buyer, the person spending the money. But it should also be pointed out that the one who does the buying is not necessarily the user of what is bought and that others may be involved in the buying decision in addition to the actual buyer. While the purchasing process in the consumer market is not as complex as the business market, having multiple people involved in a purchase decision is not unusual. For example, in planning for a family vacation the mother may make the hotel reservations but others in the family may have input on the hotel choice. Similarly, a father may purchase snacks at the grocery store but his young child may be the one who selected it from the store shelf.
So understanding consumer purchase behavior involves not only understanding how decisions are made but also understanding the dynamics that influence purchases.

What Influences Purchasing

The decision-making process for consumers is anything but straight forward. There are many factors that can affect this process as a person works through the purchase decision. The number of potential influences on consumer behavior is limitless. However, marketers are well served to understand the KEY influences. By doing so they may be in a position to tailor their marketing efforts to take advantage of these influences in a way that will satisfy the consumer and the marketer (remember this is a key part of the definition of marketing).we will break these influences down into three main categories: Internal, External and Marketing. However, those interested in learning more about customer buying activity may want to consult one or more consumer behavior books where they will find additional methods for explaining consumer buying behavior.
For the most part the influences are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are all interconnected and, as we will see, work together to form who we are and how we behave.
For each of the influences that are discussed we will provide a basic description and also suggest its implication to marketers. Bear in mind we only provide a few marketing implications for each influence; clearly there are many more.

Internal influence shall cover:

1, Perceptual Filter which shall cover Exposure, attention, awareness and retention.
2, Knowledge.
3, Attitude.
4, Personality.
5,lifestyle.
6,Roles and Involvements.

External Factors shall include:

1, Culture.
2, Group.
3, Situation.

How Consumers Buy

This process is presented in a sequence of 5 steps as shown below. However, whether a consumer will actually carryout each step depends on the type of purchase decision that is faced. For instance, for minor re-purchases the consumer may be quite loyal to the same brand, thus the decision is a routine one (i.e., buy the same product) and little effort is involved in making a purchase decision. In cases of routine, brand loyal purchases consumers may skip several steps in the purchasing process since they know exactly what they want allowing the consumer to move quickly through the steps. But for more complex decisions, such as Major New Purchases, the purchasing process can extend for days, weeks, months or longer. So in presenting these steps marketers should realize that, depending on the circumstances surrounding the purchase, the importance of each step may vary.

Weekend Getaways- Nandi Hills

Voila, so finally here i am to write a review on Nandi hills to cover and uncover all the details about the place, and everything related to this place. For any of the information which i have not been able to put in, you can always mail me

Journalist inside::Diwali Special::Significance Of Festival of Lights

Significance Of Festival of Lights
‘The festival of lights’ is celebrated with much enthusiasm and zeal in all of north India. In fact the festival of Diwali is regarded to bring the supernatural joy and brightness in a person’s life with the hope of discovering light amidst darkness, achieving happiness in place of ignorance and spreading love amidst hatred and violence. The tradition of lighting the diyas on Diwali holds much importance as in Hindu mythology the light signifies goodness and vitality. In cities candles and classy neon lights often substitute these diyas.

The word "Diwali" is the corruption of the Sanskrit word "Deepavali" - Deepa meaning light and Avali, meaning a row. It means a row of lights and indeed illumination forms its main attraction. Every home, the hut of the poor or the mansion of the rich is lit with the orange glow of twinkling diyas-small earthen lamps to welcome Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth and prosperity. Multi-colored Rangoli designs, floral decorations and fireworks lend grandeur to this festival which heralds joy, mirth and happiness in the ensuring year.

Diwali Decorations

Every house glitters like a jewel in the dark night sky during Diwali. People go out of their way to ornament their houses, streets, market places, schools and even slums with glittering decorations. It all starts a few weeks before Diwali when the frantic spring-cleaning gets underway. Every member of the household is expected to play a role in this ritual cleaning affair. Floors are scrubbed, thee walls whitewashed and the kitchen immaculately dusted. Every man, rich or poor, young or old, follows this custom. Since Diwali marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year, it is considered auspicious to make a good start by cleaning all the rubbish of the last year. It symbolizes not only the cleaning of the house but spiritual cleaning as well. It is also said that Goddess Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth and prosperity does not visit houses that haven’t been spotlessly cleaned. Once the cleaning and whitewashing has been done, it is time for the beautiful decorations to be bought out.

Diyas

Diyas are small oil lamps made out of clay. Diwali is Sanskrit for row of lamps, therefore it is but obvious that Diyas are an integral part of Diwali celebrations. They come in different shapes and sizes and patterns ranging from the intricate Rajasthani varieties to the poor man’s Diya made out of simple clay. Rows of Diyas line the entrance to the house and the areas surrounding it. This is done to guide the Goddess Lakshmi when she makes a visit to everyone’s humble abode to bless them with success.

Rangolis

Rangolis are one of the oldest and most beautiful Indian art forms. They are patterns, usually depicting Nature, drawn on a floor or wall with powdered color mad e out of natural vegetable dyes. These Rangolis are drawn at the entrance of the house, again to welcome Goddess Lakshmi.

Idols Of Gods and Goddesses
On this auspicious day, the idols of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Lakshmi are worshipped. They are first thoroughly cleaned, then ornamented in jewels, many a times the jewels are real gold and pearls and at other times they are garish cosmetic jewelry. These idols then occupy the pride of the place in the family mandir (temple).

Diwali Lights and Lamps
Many people decorate their houses with rows and rows of electric lights in different colors. These lights cascade from balconies, are coiled around a tree or strung along electrical wires in the market place. They create a mesmerizing atmosphere with their shimmering glow.

Origin Of Diwali Rangolis
According to the Chitralakshana, the earliest Indian treatise on painting, when the son of a King’s high priest died, the king was most distressed. Brahma, lord of the universe decided to help the king and asked him to paint a likeness of the boy on the wall so that Brahma could breathe life into him again. That was believed to be the first Rangoli. Another legend has it that God, in one of his creative moods, extracted the juice of a mango and painted with it the figure of a woman so beautiful that the painting put all the maidens in heaven at shame!

The Indian Kings and royal families to gave impetus to this art form which it was believed that only the very skilled could attempt. The Chola rulers are notable in their propagation of the art of Rangolis. Like Hindu and Buddhist Mandalas, the reason for using powder or sand as a medium for creating Rangoli (and its resulting fragility) is sometimes thought to be a metaphor for the impermanence of life and Maya.

Diwali Fireworks Do and Don’ts

• An adult should always supervise the use of fireworks by children.
• Check the area before igniting fireworks to ensure that all inflammable and combustible materials are removed.
• Follow all safety precautions issued with the fireworks.
• Ensure that your children don't engage in dangerous pranks such as throwing lighted crackers or sparklers at others, or try to make fireworks themselves.
• Never use fireworks inside a vehicle
• Never ignite fireworks while holding them. Put them down, then ignite them and walk away.
• Wear close-fitting clothes of thick material instead of loose or flowing garments.
• Flying fireworks - rockets, missiles, etc. - should always be lighted in open grounds pointing straight up.
• Firecrackers, bombs and flowerpots should not be lighted holding them. It is always safer to light them from the side without bending over them.
• Keep a fire extinguisher or bucket of water nearby to extinguish any incipient fire.
• Keep burn ointments handy
• Use a candle or an agarbathi to ignite fireworks. They burn without an open flame and provide a greater and safer distance between your hands and the fireworks.

Diwali calendar:

Here’s a Diwali Calendar which will keep you well informed over the next couple of years. However, the dates are subject to change depending on the lunar activity.

YEAR	DATE, MONTH AND DAY
2006	21 October, Saturday
2007	09 November, Friday
2008	28 October, Tuesday
2009	17 October, Saturday
2010	05 November, Friday
2011	26 October, Wednesday
2012	13 November, Tuesday
2013	03 November, Sunday
2014	23 October, Thursday
2015	11 November, Wednesday
2016	30 October, Sunday
2017	19 October, Thursday
2018	07 November, Wednesday
2019	27 October, Sunday

Journalist inside:: Grooming the Ravana

It's Festival season all around and the shops and malls have been lit up across the country to mark the festivals season onset, in where countrymen shop in bulk for sweets, gifts and other items which they find to be auspicious and cheaper on price, due to lot of Dushera and festival dhamakas and bumper sales. Buying something for half the price than any other time of the year, will definitely make it look auspicious though even if god doesn't mind or bother giving it a thought.

The exchange of sweets, utensils, clothing has found its way since the civilization inception which symbolizes prosperity and happiness. The history of exchanging gifts can be traced back with the birth of Christ when three Magi blessed the Lord with some precious ones. Studying the tradition on a deeper level tells us that even Christians have borrowed this custom from the Germans and Dutch. Also the christians started exchanging gifts with each other's families to mark the occasion, dressing up the christmas tree and exchanging good-luck gifts called Stenae (lucky fruits). These would also be hung to the tree which would remind them that spring would come again and reap them the same good times and fruits they saw. In India, in earlier times, people would give more value to love token given as gifts and families would enjoy those moments with their neighbour and friends and gift them lot of items which in turn adds a human touch and value and also mutual exchange would add love and sharing inculcated into the society. The same tradition would set roots for helping each other during times of needs and that where the people in villages and small towns are more glued together when it comes to festivals or natural calamities. In olden times, people would prepare lot of sweets and those would be distributed across to all. Most of the emphasis was given to Dried fruits and sweets.

But with times gone by, those traditions have caught dust and now look gloomy from where we stand. Gone are the days when that home made sweets and hand made gifts used to hold importance. For specially the festivals, new product ranges are launched into the market and the upper brass finds it quite an offence to deal with anything below certain standards. It has to be a costly affair and the gifts received from others are also kept under the tight scrutiny so that the favour can be returned with the came price or same in kind. A thalli of laddus and dry fruits has already been exchanged up with chocolate hampers, suit length gift hampers and holiday packages, gift

coupons worth thousands which can be spent over a mall near you. Certain section of the society also makes sure to not let any stones unturned when it comes to show off during these seasons. Babus, ministers and other section which sits on a strong position in govt. body are often have people queued up to gift them their love which is normally in cars, land acquisitions and also in favours which can go up to any level. Due to the festival season, people get a reason to present something worthwhile to the other party so soften and getting their work done, be it a pending land case or a management seat for their kids in near future....

Vijayadashmi, called as dashera marked the win of truth over mighty falsehood and evil and teaches us that its not long when one's ego and evil inside will reap similar results but in spite that, we have commercialised the whole festival and expensive gifts and favours may have shine and luster in them, but lack lot of love and harmony which was inculcated long back by our scriptures and holy books. have we lost the human touch or have the colors or our festivals going bright because ostentatious us, is still unanswered...But true, somewhere we are only grooming the Ravana inside all of us, inside our society and try to burn its effigy ever year and rebuild it through the rest of it.

My Management collection: what is Supply Chain Management?

Supply chain management (SCM) is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the operations of the supply chain as efficiently as possible. Supply Chain Management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point-of-origin to point-of-consumption.

Problems addressed:
Distribution Network Configuration: Number and location of suppliers, production facilities, distribution centers, warehouses and customers.
Distribution Strategy: Centralized versus decentralized, direct shipment, Cross docking, pull or push strategies, third party logistics.
Information: Integrate systems and processes through the supply chain to share valuable information, including demand signals, forecasts, inventory and transportation etc.
Inventory Management: Quantity and location of inventory including raw materials, work-in-process and finished goods.
Cash-Flow: Arranging the payment terms and the methodologies for exchanging funds across entities within the supply chain.
Supply chain execution is managing and coordinating the movement of materials, information and funds across the supply chain. The flow is bi-directional.

Activities/functions
Supply chain management is a cross-functional approach to managing the movement of raw materials into an organization and the movement of finished goods out of the organization toward the end-consumer. As corporations strive to focus on core competencies and become more flexible, they have reduced their ownership of raw materials sources and distribution channels. These functions are increasingly being outsourced to other corporations that can perform the activities better or more cost effectively. Less control and more supply chain partners led to the creation of supply chain management concepts. The purpose of supply chain management is to improve trust and collaboration among supply chain partners, thus improving inventory visibility and improving inventory velocity.

Different models and groupings:
Several models have been proposed for understanding the activities required to manage material movements across organizational and functional boundaries. SCOR is a supply chain management model promoted by the Supply Chain Management Council. Another model is the SCM Model proposed by the Global Supply Chain Forum (GSCF).

Supply chain activities can be grouped into strategic, tactical, and operational levels of activities.

Strategic
Strategic network optimization, including the number, location, and size of warehouses, distribution centers and facilities.
Strategic partnership with suppliers, distributors, and customers, creating communication channels for critical information and operational improvements such as cross docking, direct shipping, and third-party logistics.
Product design coordination, so that new and existing products can be optimally integrated into the supply chain, load management
Information Technology infrastructure, to support supply chain operations.
Where to make and what to make or buy decisions.
Align overall organizational strategy with supply strategy.

Tactical
Sourcing contracts and other purchasing decisions.
Production decisions, including contracting, locations, scheduling, and planning process definition.
Inventory decisions, including quantity, location, and quality of inventory.
Transportation strategy, including frequency, routes, and contracting.
Benchmarking of all operations against competitors and implementation of best practices throughout the enterprise.
Milestone payments

Operational
Daily production and distribution planning, including all nodes in the supply chain.
Production scheduling for each manufacturing facility in the supply chain (minute by minute).
Demand planning and forecasting, coordinating the demand forecast of all customers and sharing the forecast with all suppliers.
Sourcing planning, including current inventory and forecast demand, in collaboration with all suppliers.
Inbound operations, including transportation from suppliers and receiving inventory.
Production operations, including the consumption of materials and flow of finished goods.
Outbound operations, including all fulfillment activities and transportation to customers.
Order promising, accounting for all constraints in the supply chain, including all suppliers, manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, and other customers.

Supply chain management Scenario
Organizations increasingly find that they must rely on effective supply chains, or networks, to successfully compete in the global market and networked economy. During the past decades, globalization, outsourcing and information technology have enabled many organizations such as Dell and Hewlett Packard, to successfully operate solid collaborative supply networks in which each specialized business partner focuses on only a few key strategic activities (Scott, 1993). In the 21st century, there have been a few changes in business environment that have contributed to the development of supply chain networks. First, as an outcome of globalization and proliferation of multi-national companies, joint ventures, strategic alliances and business partnerships were found to be significant success factors, following the earlier "Just-In-Time", "Lean Management" and "Agile Manufacturing" practices.