Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Raga db
Life was so fast that before I write my next blog here, couple of years passed. One of the main reason, I couldn't write much was because there was lot to write.
Life wasn't like this blog. Lots of changes. Lost many loved ones in close relatives. I started working on music, early in 2010. Currently working with some amazing music talents in Atlanta and Chennai. Fells like fully energized. The magic of the word "Fresh" is great. While working on my music projects, thought of giving some fresh look to my music blog. So launched a new domain Raga db. Have to catch up lot! But I don't want to go back to not-writing at all. I better write less and write often.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Is AmWay an ethical business model?
This post is an outcome of the recent meetings I had with people wanting me to join the AmWay.
AmWay :
Many people already know of AmWay, if not :
* AmWay is a business model that tries to deal with the consumers directly instead of going through retailers. It is a multi-level marketing business model. BTB, skipping the retailers, does not reduce the cost for the consumers, infact AmWay products are expensive than the products at retail stores.
* With AmWay, you market their products and get commission.
* You get commission not only for the products you sold, but for every product that is sold by the people who you already sold. We will see an example later in this post.
How will I judge ethical
To me, being ethical is not based on cost effectiveness. Because in many cases, being ethical could make you expensive. So I'm not looking for an answer based on cost. I try to look at AmWay from selling end as well as the consumer end . I believe, the core of the judgement should be based on how the consumer bill is distributed.
Consumer perspective
When I buy some product from a retail shop : my price will include the cost of the product (production, revenue etc), the cost of delivering, commission to be paid to the retail store. Here every single person that is paid from my bill, has worked his / her part to bring the product to me.
When I buy through AmWay, my price will include the cost of the product (production, revenue etc), commission to be paid to the person (say 'Mr.A') who sold it to me, the commission to be paid to all persons through how Mr.A joined the Am Way. Here not every single person paid from my bill has worked for me to get the product.
For example : Mr.X introduces Mr.Y to AmWay. And Mr.Y introduces me to AmWay. Then whenever I buy something through Mr.B, my bill will include a commission for Mr.Y and Mr.X. AmWay doesn't show any commission in your bill. But still there is no free lunch. If AmWay pays commission to Mr.X or Mr.Y, sure it would be from your bill. And the commissioning doesn't stop with Mr.X. If Mr.X was introduced by Mr.W who was introduced by Mr.V and so on till Mr.A, your bill has to include commission starting from Mr.Y all the way back till Mr.A.
It would definitely make sense to me, if my bill includes a commission for Mr.Y who sold to me. But it doesn't make any sense to me, if my bill includes a commission for Mr.X or anybody beyond his hierarchy who did nothing to bring my product to me. All they get is the commission from my bill. This does not sound ethical to me.
Seller Perspective
If I'm the seller, If I sell something to Mr.A, I will get a commission for selling to Mr.A. That sounds reasonable. But In AmWay, if Mr.A sells to Mr.B, I will still get a commission. Here Mr.A did all work to sell something to Mr.B. I did nothing. So getting a commission for Mr.A's work is unethical to me.
Is it Ethical?
When many people sweat their blood and brain to create things and serve consumers to make money, some people simply think through the ways of getting commission without any work. This sounds unethical to me. Here I'm not against any commissioning model like franchising, agents / agencies etc where all these people work hard to serve consumers. All that sounds wrong to me is the idea of AmWay business model and their marketing, where they try to promote "sell once and get paid for the rest of your life".
If I'm wrong on this, I will raise one other question. Is it ethical for schools to get a commission from salary of its students for life time? If some school comes with such contract, will there be any students to go for it?
So my answer is, It does not sound to be an ethical model.
AmWay :
Many people already know of AmWay, if not :
* AmWay is a business model that tries to deal with the consumers directly instead of going through retailers. It is a multi-level marketing business model. BTB, skipping the retailers, does not reduce the cost for the consumers, infact AmWay products are expensive than the products at retail stores.
* With AmWay, you market their products and get commission.
* You get commission not only for the products you sold, but for every product that is sold by the people who you already sold. We will see an example later in this post.
How will I judge ethical
To me, being ethical is not based on cost effectiveness. Because in many cases, being ethical could make you expensive. So I'm not looking for an answer based on cost. I try to look at AmWay from selling end as well as the consumer end . I believe, the core of the judgement should be based on how the consumer bill is distributed.
Consumer perspective
When I buy some product from a retail shop : my price will include the cost of the product (production, revenue etc), the cost of delivering, commission to be paid to the retail store. Here every single person that is paid from my bill, has worked his / her part to bring the product to me.
When I buy through AmWay, my price will include the cost of the product (production, revenue etc), commission to be paid to the person (say 'Mr.A') who sold it to me, the commission to be paid to all persons through how Mr.A joined the Am Way. Here not every single person paid from my bill has worked for me to get the product.
For example : Mr.X introduces Mr.Y to AmWay. And Mr.Y introduces me to AmWay. Then whenever I buy something through Mr.B, my bill will include a commission for Mr.Y and Mr.X. AmWay doesn't show any commission in your bill. But still there is no free lunch. If AmWay pays commission to Mr.X or Mr.Y, sure it would be from your bill. And the commissioning doesn't stop with Mr.X. If Mr.X was introduced by Mr.W who was introduced by Mr.V and so on till Mr.A, your bill has to include commission starting from Mr.Y all the way back till Mr.A.
It would definitely make sense to me, if my bill includes a commission for Mr.Y who sold to me. But it doesn't make any sense to me, if my bill includes a commission for Mr.X or anybody beyond his hierarchy who did nothing to bring my product to me. All they get is the commission from my bill. This does not sound ethical to me.
Seller Perspective
If I'm the seller, If I sell something to Mr.A, I will get a commission for selling to Mr.A. That sounds reasonable. But In AmWay, if Mr.A sells to Mr.B, I will still get a commission. Here Mr.A did all work to sell something to Mr.B. I did nothing. So getting a commission for Mr.A's work is unethical to me.
Is it Ethical?
When many people sweat their blood and brain to create things and serve consumers to make money, some people simply think through the ways of getting commission without any work. This sounds unethical to me. Here I'm not against any commissioning model like franchising, agents / agencies etc where all these people work hard to serve consumers. All that sounds wrong to me is the idea of AmWay business model and their marketing, where they try to promote "sell once and get paid for the rest of your life".
If I'm wrong on this, I will raise one other question. Is it ethical for schools to get a commission from salary of its students for life time? If some school comes with such contract, will there be any students to go for it?
So my answer is, It does not sound to be an ethical model.
Friday, October 09, 2009
Nobel Peace Prize '09
Barack Obama wins the Noble Peace prize '09.
I'm not a big fan of Obama. Nor do I agree that he deserves the prize. Infact obama accepts that he has not done anything comparable to prior winners and his achievements do not deserve the prize. But he says, its the "call to action" and he is deeply humbled.
While this news of the day created many controversies all around the world, and though I don't feel he deserves this honor for his achievements, the views of the Noble committee for declaring the prize, and the way Obama accepts the honor, sounds quite fair to me.
Mean while, I happened to see this post. It sounds funny and tempts me to give reasons that I better deserve the prize than Sridhar :)
* I never went on any kind of war with anybody (including prize war)
* I don't even watch horror / violent movies (including samurai kind of movies)
* In my childhood, I have read many moral stories. I really felt good and wished to live up to that morals.
* To my best knowledge, I've always been polite to others.
* Daily I watch "Indha Nal Iniya Nal", a tamil program that delivers a good message each day.
Thats on the funny side. I strongly believe this prize has great potential to serve its purpose, at the hands of Obama than anybody else in the world at this point of time. Congrats Mr.Obama. In your words, they made call to action. Are you ready to act?
You may be interested to read : how world views this, how world leaders hail, what the committee seems to be thinking
I'm not a big fan of Obama. Nor do I agree that he deserves the prize. Infact obama accepts that he has not done anything comparable to prior winners and his achievements do not deserve the prize. But he says, its the "call to action" and he is deeply humbled.
While this news of the day created many controversies all around the world, and though I don't feel he deserves this honor for his achievements, the views of the Noble committee for declaring the prize, and the way Obama accepts the honor, sounds quite fair to me.
Mean while, I happened to see this post. It sounds funny and tempts me to give reasons that I better deserve the prize than Sridhar :)
* I never went on any kind of war with anybody (including prize war)
* I don't even watch horror / violent movies (including samurai kind of movies)
* In my childhood, I have read many moral stories. I really felt good and wished to live up to that morals.
* To my best knowledge, I've always been polite to others.
* Daily I watch "Indha Nal Iniya Nal", a tamil program that delivers a good message each day.
Thats on the funny side. I strongly believe this prize has great potential to serve its purpose, at the hands of Obama than anybody else in the world at this point of time. Congrats Mr.Obama. In your words, they made call to action. Are you ready to act?
You may be interested to read : how world views this, how world leaders hail, what the committee seems to be thinking
Monday, December 15, 2008
Recession proof life
Economic Times says every 10 second takes off a job. Everyone is hoping for the best but facts couldn't elude the worse. There are myriad articles in the web about the recession and the ways to face them. This one talks about the ways to manage recession. And this one tries to list jobs that are secure in recession, which i briefed below.
* Healthcare : Whatever happens, people need medical care.
* Pharmacy : And then they need medicines.
* Education : Whatever happens, everyone needs to spend for education.
* Entertainment : Recession leads to stress which then leads to entertainment.
* Energy : Fule, Gas kind of items never unsold due to recession.
* Telecom : People don't stop talking in recession.
* FMCG (Fast moving consumer goods) : Soaps, Tooth pastes are all time essentials.
* Insurance : Needed all time.
* Law and Enforcement : Recession leads to crimes, which makes the law and related jobs recession proof.
* Government Jobs : No job or pay cuts like non-government jobs.
As far as I can think of Entertainment, as listed as recession-proof, may not be valid. This is for the reason that even in stress, one can still entertain him / her self from the past investments. For example, If I'm a music lover, I would rather listen to my existing collection of songs instead of buying a new CD. If I'm a movie lover, I can entertain myself with the collection of movies I have at home or from the movies in TV which don't come with any entertainment cost.
As far as I think, there is one other big career missed out by the Economic times. Its nothing but its own business, Media. I feel, for whatever happens, the world wants to know what is it. So whoever brings in the news, survives all times.
Beyond everything, I feel, one who works with complete involvement and strives for excellence will never face a recession. If that one loses a job, will be able to create one instead of seeking another. The real challenge, as one grows in his career, would be to grow in such a way to create jobs instead of searching for it till the end.
* Healthcare : Whatever happens, people need medical care.
* Pharmacy : And then they need medicines.
* Education : Whatever happens, everyone needs to spend for education.
* Entertainment : Recession leads to stress which then leads to entertainment.
* Energy : Fule, Gas kind of items never unsold due to recession.
* Telecom : People don't stop talking in recession.
* FMCG (Fast moving consumer goods) : Soaps, Tooth pastes are all time essentials.
* Insurance : Needed all time.
* Law and Enforcement : Recession leads to crimes, which makes the law and related jobs recession proof.
* Government Jobs : No job or pay cuts like non-government jobs.
As far as I can think of Entertainment, as listed as recession-proof, may not be valid. This is for the reason that even in stress, one can still entertain him / her self from the past investments. For example, If I'm a music lover, I would rather listen to my existing collection of songs instead of buying a new CD. If I'm a movie lover, I can entertain myself with the collection of movies I have at home or from the movies in TV which don't come with any entertainment cost.
As far as I think, there is one other big career missed out by the Economic times. Its nothing but its own business, Media. I feel, for whatever happens, the world wants to know what is it. So whoever brings in the news, survives all times.
Beyond everything, I feel, one who works with complete involvement and strives for excellence will never face a recession. If that one loses a job, will be able to create one instead of seeking another. The real challenge, as one grows in his career, would be to grow in such a way to create jobs instead of searching for it till the end.
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Fear and be prepared
I have read many articles to break the fear of failure. From all these, what I understand is, 'never quit of fear'. Now, my thought on this is, If the reason to get away from fear is to move forward and reach your goal, then you don't need to run away from fear. In fact, I feel, fear is a very essential element to succeed. Human do incredible things in fear. A simple example can be that one could best run when there is a threat to life, if he / she doesn't run.
The real issue of fear, I can think of, is the direction you move out of fear. Out of fear, you can choose to quit or choose to be prepared. It may seem right to quit, because the threat, source of the fear, may disappear. But when you choose to be prepared, you still will be able to overcome the threat but in this case, you will be able to move forward towards your goal.
So if you ever have any fear, you can leverage the most out of it towards your goal, if you choose to be prepared instead of quitting. May be, fear of failure finds path to a better business model, fear of competition makes you more competitive, fear of terror makes you more tough on terror and so on. So fear and be prepared. You will be able to face anything and everything.
The real issue of fear, I can think of, is the direction you move out of fear. Out of fear, you can choose to quit or choose to be prepared. It may seem right to quit, because the threat, source of the fear, may disappear. But when you choose to be prepared, you still will be able to overcome the threat but in this case, you will be able to move forward towards your goal.
So if you ever have any fear, you can leverage the most out of it towards your goal, if you choose to be prepared instead of quitting. May be, fear of failure finds path to a better business model, fear of competition makes you more competitive, fear of terror makes you more tough on terror and so on. So fear and be prepared. You will be able to face anything and everything.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Deewali Interview
This is a delayed post. I never used to see the complete array of Deewali programs. This year the DVR at home helped me to enjoy all deewali programs in SUN TV and K TV, skipping all Ads :). One program that attracted my attention for blog is the interview with Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam by Tamil film actor Vivek.
The former Indian president was answering very interestingly with a gentle sense of humor. If there is one thing I wanted to blog about the interview, that would be his explanation for his so called term 'Dream'. Dream leads to goal which in turn leads to gain knowledge, hard work and die-hard attitude. It was truly inspirational.
Kalam has written and delivered more inspirational messages through his books and speeches to the youth. Many of his inspirational thoughts are available in his website http://www.abdulkalam.com.
Everybody can buy advices for free. But inspiring the youth is more than mere an advice. That too when people like Kalam takes the responsibility of inspiring the youth, it reaches more wider range of young people.
Like the interview on deewali day, I wish more such inspirational programs on air.
The former Indian president was answering very interestingly with a gentle sense of humor. If there is one thing I wanted to blog about the interview, that would be his explanation for his so called term 'Dream'. Dream leads to goal which in turn leads to gain knowledge, hard work and die-hard attitude. It was truly inspirational.
Kalam has written and delivered more inspirational messages through his books and speeches to the youth. Many of his inspirational thoughts are available in his website http://www.abdulkalam.com.
Everybody can buy advices for free. But inspiring the youth is more than mere an advice. That too when people like Kalam takes the responsibility of inspiring the youth, it reaches more wider range of young people.
Like the interview on deewali day, I wish more such inspirational programs on air.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Earning after funeral
Every one works hard to earn, during the life time. Most of us quickly sell our work. But there are very few people who can sell even after their funeral.
I guess this is worth a read about few such people.
May be they created some value of, long lasting interest, which could be successfully commercialized forever. One such work I can think of now is Thirukural. But it is not yet widely commercialized. Heard that A.R. Rahman has plans to make it as an album. I would be happy, if it happens. Not because of the commercialization, but for the fact of giving life to an ever valuable content.
I guess this is worth a read about few such people.
May be they created some value of, long lasting interest, which could be successfully commercialized forever. One such work I can think of now is Thirukural. But it is not yet widely commercialized. Heard that A.R. Rahman has plans to make it as an album. I would be happy, if it happens. Not because of the commercialization, but for the fact of giving life to an ever valuable content.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Lotteries - Inorganic
Root cause of this post is the recent Ad I saw in TV for Georgia Lottery and a long back seminar in AdventNet.
In the Ad, a white man knocks the door of a house and introduces himself as 'you own lost brother' to the millionaire who opens the door. The afro-american millionaire then closes thee door without even a word. The Ad suggests to go for Georgia Lottery instead of other shortcuts.
In the seminar in AdventNet, back in 2002, in the closed-dark-airconditioned-dinning-hall, Sridhar Vembu was explaining what kind of growth the company wants. It is an organic growth rather than an inorganic growth. What happens out of an inorganic growth. Kind of Cancer. Not the one, any body in the world would wish for. Sridhar was explaining that an organic growth can hardly be noticed, unless otherwise you compare snapshots. But it is the real healthy growth. I was inspired.
The lottery in my opinion seems to be an inorganic growth. I don't get, how an average person would better manage a million dollar cash without a prior experience.
I still believe, anything but nothing can beat your hard & the consistent work. There is no shortcut, to heaven or hell, than a birth and death :)
In the Ad, a white man knocks the door of a house and introduces himself as 'you own lost brother' to the millionaire who opens the door. The afro-american millionaire then closes thee door without even a word. The Ad suggests to go for Georgia Lottery instead of other shortcuts.
In the seminar in AdventNet, back in 2002, in the closed-dark-airconditioned-dinning-hall, Sridhar Vembu was explaining what kind of growth the company wants. It is an organic growth rather than an inorganic growth. What happens out of an inorganic growth. Kind of Cancer. Not the one, any body in the world would wish for. Sridhar was explaining that an organic growth can hardly be noticed, unless otherwise you compare snapshots. But it is the real healthy growth. I was inspired.
The lottery in my opinion seems to be an inorganic growth. I don't get, how an average person would better manage a million dollar cash without a prior experience.
I still believe, anything but nothing can beat your hard & the consistent work. There is no shortcut, to heaven or hell, than a birth and death :)
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
US Fedral Tax dept called me! To sue?
5th time in 2 weeks, today got the call from US Fedral Tax dept. What for? Did I not pay the tax? Or not filed the return? No. I have paid my tax and filed the return. The call say's that I have $600 refund. But I have already got the refund a month ago. Then how come I can expect another return?. May be its the stimulus package which is released this year, for an additional return. But by the Economic Stimulus Payment Calculator, I'm not eligible for it.
But the call said me I've $600 more return waiting for me. On taking the call, it asks me whether I would like to get the tax return $s. First time when I got the call, I said YES. However I couldn't wait to hang once they asked my bank details to put the money in my account. God, I have got my return a month back. US Government directly deposited my money into my bank account. Now this Federal phone call, asks me again my bank details. What a kind heart for them to keep calling me for the 5th time, to give my money? :)
Apart from this call, I get lot of mails from Bank Of America (BOA) asking me to login immediately and verify this & that, reset this and that. But the very first printout I got from BOA read that BOA will never ask its customers to login to the online banking by email. :) When I get the email from BOA requesting me to login and do this and that very immediately, I checked out the URLs for login. The URLs in the emails, lead to the same site of BOA except a single difference. Slight variations in the url in the address bar.
Beware.
But the call said me I've $600 more return waiting for me. On taking the call, it asks me whether I would like to get the tax return $s. First time when I got the call, I said YES. However I couldn't wait to hang once they asked my bank details to put the money in my account. God, I have got my return a month back. US Government directly deposited my money into my bank account. Now this Federal phone call, asks me again my bank details. What a kind heart for them to keep calling me for the 5th time, to give my money? :)
Apart from this call, I get lot of mails from Bank Of America (BOA) asking me to login immediately and verify this & that, reset this and that. But the very first printout I got from BOA read that BOA will never ask its customers to login to the online banking by email. :) When I get the email from BOA requesting me to login and do this and that very immediately, I checked out the URLs for login. The URLs in the emails, lead to the same site of BOA except a single difference. Slight variations in the url in the address bar.
Beware.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
I'm my driver
After four months of life in carrollton, GA, I finally fell for a car. I used to rent vehicles and used to look for one, couple of week-ends. On Jan 5th visited a dealer Honda Carland in Roswell, GA. It was 70+ miles away from my place. I heard their name from my cousin Joshi and visited their web inventory and found so many good vehicles of my expectation. So visited them, found a good car. Negotiated and bought the car on the same day. All I did alone. Its a good experience.
Its a Honda Accord Ex-L 2004 model. One feature I make use so much is the 6 disc changer Music System. I loaded 6 CDs of my favorites and listening to them whatever I like while driving without manual loads / unloads. Till now I haven't taken any photo of the car. Here are some pictures of the car from the dealer's web inventory.
The car doesn't completely wipe off my bad 07-08 transition. I just became my driver.
Its a Honda Accord Ex-L 2004 model. One feature I make use so much is the 6 disc changer Music System. I loaded 6 CDs of my favorites and listening to them whatever I like while driving without manual loads / unloads. Till now I haven't taken any photo of the car. Here are some pictures of the car from the dealer's web inventory.
The car doesn't completely wipe off my bad 07-08 transition. I just became my driver.
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