Paris attacks: World need to wake-up.

The unfortunate attack on Paris on Friday 13 November 2015 that killed over 129 people in Paris should act as an alarm to wake up for western nations as it is very clear now that no western nation can claim immunity from so called ‘Islamic state’. It seems western nations are not aware of their vulnerability. Paris Friday attack was very similar to what happened in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 when 10 heavily armed Pakistani Islamic militants attacked public places and killed. France or for that matter any western nation had not imagined that this can happen with them too. It seems Western nations are also not aware of their own vulnerability to an ideology that has led to the recruitment of their own people to be used for these terror attack. These attacks are not standalone incidences of terror but well coordinated and planned acts of terror executed in a very professional manner.

 At this point what appears is that world community be it a Muslim and non-Muslim country has no answer on how to deal with this ‘Islamic state’. There seems to be no solutions with western nations except airstrikes. They do not want to sacrifice military lives to stop ‘Islamic state’ and not willing to commit ground troops. They only have plans that have obviously failed in the past and will fail in the future.    

The obvious objective of ‘Islamic state’ is to isolate Muslims in their own countries and let the countries vulnerable to terrorist attacks increase internal security. That will result into militarization of the society where police spy their own people arrest and detain individuals without probable cause. This will make people feel unsafe - be it a Muslim or a non Muslim. France will cease to be France to prevent these attacks. If this is the road any nation takes to fight ‘Islamic state’ they will for sure handover another victory to this so called ‘Islamic state’. These terrorist have again proven that they have the power to give a blow to these nations and bend nations to their will.

It is also very clear that Muslims are not only the victims they too need take efforts and clean their own house. But this cannot be done by isolating Muslims. Muslims and non-Muslims need each other in this swelling war. Muslims need to actively educate their youth and this is needed not only in western countries but also in Muslim countries, Asian and African countries. There is an urgent need to stop ‘Islamic state’ create a new generation of militants. The western countries just cannot afford to have a very aggressive approach by having very strict border control, very heavy airport security, heavily armed police and a very strong spy network. This will only create a illusion of safety. Especially in the United States where firearms are easily accessible. Involving Muslims at the local level and involving Muslim countries. Political reforms, reduction of poverty, education are few urgent needs of many Arab nations. This problem also needs military force and the potential for loss of life at the ground by western nations. One generation of arab nations already blame western nations for their own failures but we must not lose hope in the next generation.

Nestlé's Maggi noodles - What went Wrong?

Nestlé's Maggi noodles is in a soup in India. This is one of the flagship Brand of Nestle in India. India is the largest consumer of Maggi noodles across all Nestle operations in the world. Maggi is an international brand of instant soups, ketchups, instant noodles etc. It is owned by Nestlé since 1947 (the original company was founded in Switzerland in 1872 by Julius Maggi)

No one including Carlo Donati who was the person who brought the instant noodle brand to India during his short stint in the early 1980s would have thought this quagmire for Nestlé's Maggi noodles in India.

Nestlé India Ltd is the leader with a 63% market value share. Its Maggi brand was the most entrenched instant noodle brand in India in 2014. This is mainly because of its widespread distribution network and consumer loyalty towards it for being a pioneer in the noodle category in India.

What is the controversy around Maggi? What have tests shown?

A officer of the UP Food Safety and Drug Administration based in Barabanki ordered tests on a dozen samples of Nestle’s Maggi instant noodles at the state laboratory in Gorakhpur, and repeat tests at the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata, a referral lab.

The Gorakhpur lab tested for monosodium glutamate (MSG) to check Nestle’s claim that Maggi had none. Both tests found MSG; in addition, the Kolkata lab found “very high quantities” of lead — 17.2 parts per million — according to UP authorities.

What went wrong?

How can such a strong brand/ product can come down so fast? Will things revive for maggi? What struck maggi? A very small issue in a remote place snowballed. One thing is for sure that Nestle cannot deny the fact that there was nothing wrong in the product. In fact the company has come up with an statement that their product is safe for the consumption.

Nestle India said it has got tested samples of the noodle brand in an external laboratory as well as in-house and the product has been found "safe to eat" with lead levels within the permissible levels for consumption.

Nestle India said on May 21, “We do not add MSG to our Maggi noodles sold in India and this is stated on the concerned product. However, we use hydrolysed groundnut protein, onion powder and wheat flour to make Maggi noodles sold in India, which all contain glutamate. We believe that the authorities’ tests may have detected glutamate, which occurs naturally in many foods.”

Even if we believe what Nestle is calming; a very important question here is - Is it not responsibility of Nestle, who should have conducted the test and should have checked for MSG. It is Nestlé’s responsibility to check of MSG even if it is coming from Natural sources. Major target customers for maggi are children so they should have kept the food safety a priority for their product.

As far as lead is concerned, Nestle India has also said it “regularly monitors” for lead, including testing by accredited laboratories. On June 1, the company said it had submitted samples from almost 600 product batches to an “external laboratory” for an “independent analysis”, but did not identify the lab. It also said it had conducted in-house tests on 1,000 samples at its accredited laboratory. “These samples represent around 125 million packets. All the results of these internal and external tests show that lead levels are well within the limits specified by food regulations and that Maggi noodles are safe to eat. We are sharing these results with the authorities,” Nestle said.

Reports in news are coming where more than one sample have failed for lead testing. The question here is how these labs can give wrong results? There has to be something wrong. How can results be so different when it comes to government labs and Nestlé’s in house and accredited laboratories?

The issue of health is not new to nestle for maggi. They changed their marketing strategy few years back very sucessfuly when they realized that health is now a very important concern for Indian consumers. Nestle just at the right time, came up with the campaign “Taste Bhi-Health Bhi”. This was a very successful campaign and they proved that “marketing does matter”.

It seems Nestle had missed a very basic principal that just advertising campaigns are not sufficient. If the company talks about the health, it should actually be reflected in the product as well.

Lets  look at few facts –

Its Interesting to look at Nestle’s Annual report

https://www.nestle.in/investors/stockandfinancials/documents/nestle-india-annual-report-2014.pdf

It reflects Maggi as its one of the most powerful brands in India. Few of Nestle’s marketing achievement on Maggi are –

MAGGI amongst the Top 5 in Brand Equity’s ‘Most Trusted Brands’ 2014

MAGGI adjudged the Most Powerful Brand in India by WPP Milward Brown (2014)

What Nestlé’s Annual report says is (some parts of massage by the chairman and the managing director)

India is severely impacted by malnutrition. While on the one hand, inability to access or afford nutritious food is causing under-nutrition and related disorders, it is also forecasted that economic growth and related lifestyles changes will lead to over-nutrition related disorders such as obesity, and further aggravate the double burden of nutrition.

..

‘Good Food, Good Life’ is our mission and we are constantly researching and observing the role that food plays in the lives of consumers across the income pyramid. We are focused on understanding the changing lifestyles, evolving needs, and dietary preferences of consumers and rely on Nestlé’s extensive global R&D network and expertise in science based nutrition to develop products that enable consumers to lead better lives and help them to improve nutrition in their daily diets.

..

Our vision and ambition is to be the recognized leader of Nutrition, Health and Wellness in India.

..

We are convinced that it is the winning strategy and will strengthen our ability to provide our consumers with Nutrition, Health and Wellness.

The Managing Director Mr. Etienne Benet’s statement is –

As a Company we maintain high standards and values. Stakeholders have seen that we are ethical and responsible with strong business principles.

In fact Mr. Benet answers a question in the report –

Q. How do we ensure that the food we eat is good?

Ansewer - People tend to categorize foods as good or bad primarily on account of mis-information and the lack of awareness. No food is good or bad. Each food has a role to play in our diets and we need to also appreciate that responsible pleasure is part of a balanced lifestyle. When our lifestyles change, we need foods that enable us to live that lifestyle and also provide Nutrition, Health and Wellness. The need is to constantly understand the changing lifestyles and to use R&D and the science of nutrition to develop high quality products that can complement the consumers.

Reading the report which I did after the reports in media by Food-safety regulator testing for contamination after state authorities found seven-times permissible level of lead in a routine test.

The report reflects very clearly (if one looks closely) that Nestle’s focus is more on Branding and Food safety is missing in the report. There is literally no discussion on Food safety where as the company has decorated its report with lot of big talks where they present themselves as big savior of India which in severely impacted by malnutrition.

Look at one more part of the report . This is Q&A with the General Manager ‘Maarten Geraets’

Q. But how can Healthy food be enjoyable?

Answer - This is where food technology and expertise in nutrition can make the difference. Even though there is growing awareness about healthy eating, health seems to be a boring thought for many of us or we just do not have the time. Therefore, we set ourselves the objective ‘Health ko Mazedaar Banaao’. We have been working very closely with Nestlé R&D to pack in nutrition and taste. We already have a range of excellent products in the portfolio and the latest is MAGGI Oat Noodles.

Looking at this report the cause of the problem is clearly the neglect of Food Safety and focus on the branding of Maggie. It seems that the onus of keeping the Maggi safe was on R&D where as the top management was more interested in branding of Maggi and they are talking of nutrition and taste. They have missed the concept of food safty. Even if the lead or MSG was coming from external sources and they were not mixing it in their product they should have checked it, afterall it was their product and they had claimed it to be a healthy product. This again is a classic text book example how shortsightedness in marketing can crumble a strong brand like Maggi.

I too am in pain as Maggi has been a favorite food for me and my family but today I feel cheated.  

माँ By Tripti Pandey

माँ

माँ प्यार है दुलार है,

ममता का वो संसार है.

वह धीर है गंभीर है,

नदियों सी वह अधीर है,

 शीतल सरल समीर है.

                    ज्वाला के जैसी फटती है,

                    रक्षक के जैसी डटती है.

                     जीवन कठिन संवारती,

                     उज्वल भविष्य निखारती.

वह पुष्प बनके है खिली,

खुशबू हमें उससे मिली.

वह दीप बनके जलती है,

दुनियां को रोशन करती है.

                      माँ प्यार है दुलार है

                      ममता का वह संसार है.

Sacred relics of Buddha - How close can you get to God?

How close can you get to God? The answer to this question can depend who is answering this question. It has been always been philosophical subject for me to know about God. I have asked this question to my mother when I was a kid and to myself when I grew up. I am not an atheist and believe in god. My belief in god has been a feeling very close to my heart and has given me strength to me in life. But closest I could get to god in physical sense in my life was when I visited any Hindu temple being a Hindu. I am writing this to share my experience of my visit to National Museum in New Delhi. I had not expected it to be a divine experience. I have a fondness for museums but have never gone to one to seek any godly encounter. This visit to National Museum changed my perspective towards Museums. Let me give you more details what I am talking about. It is my visit to National Museum specifically to the Buddhist Art Gallery. It turned out to be a spiritual Journey as it has sacred relics of the Gautam Buddha unearthed from Piprehwa, Distt. Sidharth Nagar in U.P India. The gallery also has other Artifacts (according to the museum website it has - outstanding specimens of Buddhist Art as a global movement, is illustrated through 84 exhibits in stone, bronze, terracotta, stucco, wooden sculptures and painted) Now why do I say it is a spiritual experience? Because Buddha is generally included as an avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism.  Buddha was declared an avatar of Vishnu in several Puranas. So looking at something so closely can get you a feeling of getting close to god. Even if you find this a exaggeration but I am sure you will feel different being so close to sacred relics of the Gautam Buddha. You can look to them very closely take photos so this is a must visit which I will recommend to anyone who is in Delhi.       

Thukpa

So am I a Gourmet or a connoisseur of fine food. “No” infect I am writing about something which I have eaten for the first time in my life. So if you are looking for some expert advice I think you are at a wrong place and you will be wasting your time, you should try zomato.com or some other place. I too am not sure about these websites except zomoto as I am not a foodie types. So why am I writing this? I am writing this as I conceder myself from a class who wants to taste exotic food but will not go to a “exotic” place with 5star tag for oblivious reasons. 

This Dish was “Thukpa” and the place was DILLI HAAT INA market New Delhi. I am going to give you a firsthand report of a layman tasting this dish for the first time. There are stalls for different states selling different foods from their respective states. Cheap and OK standards, at times food is good. It can be a very good outing with family on a weekend if you belong to my category that looks at the right hand side of the menu card first in a restaurant. So let me start on my experience of eating Thukpa. I had a friend who had suggested me Thukpa which he told me is a Tibetan noodle soup, which it is. I was at Dilli Haat and wanted to try this, Wikipedia on my mobile told me --Thukpa is a Tibetan noodle soup. The dish became popular in Bhutan, and the states of Sikkim, Assam, and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. It is also popular in the Ladakh region and the state of Himachal Pradesh. 

Wow!! This information got me excited and could not resist this call to adventure. 

There are few stalls of food at dilli haat where you can get Thukpa.

I went to Manipur food stall as my friend had told me about this stall, but I am not sure which is best out of them, I don’t think I can make out a difference between a good Thukpa or a bad one. I ordered one chicken Thukpa, you get differ Thukpa including a pork and even vegetarian Thukpa. I loved the dish and for sure this will not be the last time I am eating this. So what it is? It is what Wikipedia had told me - a noodle soup. Let me ask you few questions? Do you like clear soups specially clear chicken soups? Do you like noodles? If the answer is - yes. Than this dish is for you. The soup is spicy but not very hot. You can try this with a fruit beer which had very sweet test so if you don’t like extra sweet taste go for normal coke or Pepsi. I have liked the Thukpa… not only liked it but now I am a fan of it, will try it again if you have any suggestion for me, I will be more than happy to know anything you tell me about Thukpa.

दामिनी By Tripti Pandey

आहात हुआ है मन नारी का घायल हुआ है तन नारी का I

बन के दामिनी उठी आवाज परिवर्तन का समय है आज II

तन नारी का नहीं खिलौना जब जी चाह खेल लिया I

नारी ने भी हस्ते हस्ते अबतक ये सब झेल लिया II

अज समय कर रहा पुकार स्वस्थ्य बनाओ अपने विचार I

दीप जलाओ मन में अपने करो उजाला तुम जीवन में II

बड़े गर्व की बात है गर नारी का सम्मान करो I

नारी है अपराजिता इसका हमेसा ध्यान धरो II

बदल रहा हर आदमी है By Tripti Pandey

बदल रहा हर आदमी है 

धरती का फटना लाज़मी है 

न शर्म किसी के पास रही

न मर्यादा की भाष रही

सब अधनंगे से खड़े हुए 

और भ्रस्टाचार से भरे हुए 

हे इंसा इंसानियत को मार रहा 

लज्जा के वस्त्र उतार रहा 

बदल रहा हर आदमी है 

धरती का फटना लाज़मी है 

न इंसानियत की आस रही 

न अक्ल किसी के पास रही 

मिथ आकर्षण मे फसे हुए 

भौतिकतावाद में धसे हुए 

है इंसा चीख़ पुकार रहा 

आपनो को खंजर मार रहा 

बदल रहा हर आदमी है 

धरती का फटना लाज़मी है 

मानवता जिन्दा लाश हुई

आखो से असुरता झांक रही

जीवन में अँधेरा लिये हुए

मै की मदिरा को पिए हुए

नित कोई किसी को लूट रहा

आपनो से दामन छूट रहा

बदल रहा हर आदमी है 

धरती का फटना लाज़मी है 

न कर्मठता की आस रही 

न रोटी सब के पास रही

धन वैभव के आकर्षण में 

है धस्ते जाते दलदल में 

मैं मैं न रहा तू तू न रहा 

यह दुनिया अब अनजानी है 

बदल रहा हर आदमी है 

धरती का फटना लाज़मी है

वक्त का है खेल तमाशा by Tripti Pandey

वक्त का है खेल तमाशा,

आज उम्मीदे कल है निराशा.
आशाओ की डोर है पतली,
उम्मीदो का दिया बुझा सा.
सागर की लहरों के किनारे,
मन मेरा हर वक़्त है प्यासा.
नये नये से ख्वाब दिखाती,
बुझती नहीं कभी अभिलषा.

Entrepreneurship and family owned business.

Entrepreneurship is building a dream more than building a business. A great sense of achievement is the reward which is dear to an entrepreneur more than the financial reward which business gives. Family managed business The micro, small and medium enterprise sector is crucial to India's economy. MSME finance in India are 29.8 million enterprises in various industries, employing 69 million people. This sector accounts for 45 per cent of Indian industrial output and 40 per cent of exports. Although 94 per cent of micro, small and medium firms are unregistered, the contribution of the sector to India's GDP has been growing consistently at 11.5 per cent annually, which is higher than the overall GDP growth of 8 per cent (this is 2013 data). MSME sector is synonymous to family managed business in India but do you know only less than four per cent of family businesses last up to the fifth generation, most families are unable to sustain the entrepreneurial spirit of the first generation promoter. So what is it that is important for sustainability of family run business. To sustain the entrepreneurial spirit of the first generation promoter is the most important task which a small business must undertake. The first generation of business has the enthusiasm which sustain the entrepreneurial spirit but the later generations are more involved in operations and running of exiting business that the entrepreneurship orientation.

Now, What is entrepreneurship orientation? And how important is it for a family owned business? Simply - Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) is a firm-level strategic orientation which captures an organization's strategy-making practices, managerial philosophies, and firm behaviors that are entrepreneurial in nature[i]. It represents the policies and practices that provide a basis for entrepreneurial decisions and actions. Thus, EO may be viewed as the entrepreneurial strategy-making processes that key decision makers use to enact their firm’s organizational purpose, sustain its vision, and create competitive advantage(s)[ii].

Sandra Schillo in article - Entrepreneurial Orientation and Company Performance: Can the Academic Literature Guide Managers?[iii] Explains components of EO –

The most widely used definition of EO is based on work by Miller[iv] (1983), developed further by Covin and Slevin[v] (1989) and many others, and augmented by Lumpkin and Dess[vi] (1996). This conceptualization has been used in over 200 studies focusing not only on entrepreneurship, but ranging from management and marketing to healthcare (George and Marino, 2011)[vii]. The five components of EO in this stream of research are:

1. Risk-taking was historically a key characteristic associated with entrepreneurship. It originally referred to the risks individuals take by working for themselves rather than being employed, but has since been widely applied to companies, for example, when managers make decisions that commit large amounts of resources to projects with uncertain outcomes.

2. Proactiveness describes the characteristic of entrepreneurial actions to anticipate future opportunities, both in terms of products or technologies and in terms of markets and consumer demand. This characteristic was at the centre of early economic thinking in this field: the entrepreneur was thought of as someone who identifies opportunities in the marketplace and proactively pursues them (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996). Translated to the level of the firm, proactive companies are leaders in the market, rather than followers.

3. Innovativeness relates to the types of products and services a company has introduced to the market. For some theorists, innovativeness is intrinsically linked to entrepreneurship in that entrepreneurs create new combinations of resources by the very fact of their entry into the market. In the context of EO, innovativeness is defined more narrowly, emphasizing the importance of technological leadership to the company, as well as changes in its product lines.

4. Competitive aggressiveness refers to the company’s way of engaging with its competitors, distinguishing between companies that shy away from direct competition with other companies and those that aggressively pursue their competitors’ target markets.

5. Autonomy “refers to the independent action of an individual or a team in bringing forth an idea or a vision and carrying it through to completion” (Lumpkin and Dess, 1996) without being held back by overly stringent organizational constraints.  Although this component seems to primarily have “face validity” in the context of large organizations, many researchers have applied it to the context of small companies and obtained statistically significant findings.

The components have typically been measured using questionnaire items with Likert-type scales (i.e. from 1-5 or 1-7), as shown in Table 1. Some researchers have anchored the items of both sides of the scale (i.e., they provided explanations of both the 1 and the 7), while others have only provided a single statement to be ranked (e.g., as shown in Table 1). There is some evidence (Miller, 2011) that suggests that the scale remains robust even with slight variations in the wording of questions or other minor measurement variations.

---

[i]  Anderson, Brian; Covin, Jeffrey; Slevin, Dennis (2009). 

[ii] Rauch, Wiklund, Lumpkin, Frese (2004) Entrepreneurial orientation and business performance: an assessment of past research and suggestions for the future

[iii] http://timreview.ca/article/497

[iv] http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2630968?sid=21106375518283&uid=4&uid=2&uid=3737496

[v] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smj.4250100107/abstract

[vi] http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/258632?sid=21106375518283&uid=4&uid=3737496&uid=2

[vii] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2011.00455.x/abstract