Lakshya is an initiative by Club Kaizen which is our monthly supplement designed for people who dare to think above the average and believe in connecting the dots. In an age where technology has taken over every sphere, information is abundant and data is omnipresent, we have conspired to bring to you a collection of thoughtfully created and carefully curated pieces of work by some bright aspiring minds of ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad on the current trends and hot topics in the field of Operations Management and their relevance in different industries. Everything is growing at the pace of nanosecond and hence it is quintessential to know about every minute change in the eco system. With Lakshya we aim to present our readers with compact yet explicit articles on vivid topics such as Internet, Banking, IT, IoT, etc. A fair share of this edition focuses majorly on the banking systems and payment gateways. With the constantly evolving technology it will be interesting to ponder over changes that could be seen in the near future. We look forward to providing the students with some valuable insights and inculcate the passion for reading once again within our readers. Lakshya is an amazing platform for readers as well as aspiring readers to showcase their talent and pen down their thoughts which in turn will be a gold mine for information for the students of not only IBS but from the outside world too.
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OUR KNOWLEDGE PARTNER
Club Kaizen is privileged to have The International Supply Chain Education Alliance (ISCEA, USA) as the Knowledge Partner from Lakshya’s 24th edition. To be a single source for Total Supply Chain Knowledge through Education, Certification, and Recognition is the mission of ISCEA. Many workshops/events are conducted by ISCEA to improve the knowledge of manufacturing and service industry professionals. ISCEA provides a platform to explore leadership potential to the aspiring leaders in the supply chain industry while developing the skill sets and knowledge desired by corporations, through SCNext (ISCEA Young Supply Chain Professional Association). Some of the internationally recognized certification programs developed by ISCEA include1. Certified Supply Chain Analyst (CSCA). 2. Certified Demand Driven Planner (CDDP). 3. Supply Chain Case Competition. To know more about ISCEA, visit http://www.iscea.net/india. We look forward to working with ISCEA in spreading knowledge and reaching greater heights together.
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OUR BLOGGING PARTNER
Club Kaizen is proud to have ATKT as the Official Blogging Partner. ATKT is India’s largest youth campus platform. With a strong network of over 800 colleges in 40+ Indian cities, ATKT has a student base of over 2 Lakh. It provides a platform for college-level students to showcase their talents through various mediums like magazines, articles, etc. This year ATKT has introduced Campus League. ATKT has redefined the art of college festivals by partnering with the country’s top colleges to provide a mega platform for students to showcase their talent. Ranging from Topper’s awards to Best cheerleading video, they have a wide array of prizes to be won.
To know more about ATKT, visit https://atkt.in.
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EDITOR’S LETTER “"With Evolution, Changes happen in every part of the world every day, every time."” Welcome to the twenty-sixth edition of “LAKSHYA”, our monthly supplement designed for people who dare to think above the average and believe in connecting the dots. In an age where technology has taken over every sphere, information is abundant and data is omnipresent, we have planned to bring to you a collection of thoughtfully created and carefully crafted pieces of work by some bright aspiring minds of ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad on the current trends and receiving close review in the field of Operations Management and their relevance in different industries. From the ninth edition, we created a new segment, ‘The Corporate Angle’ where article will be featured from prominent business leaders which will enlighten minds of young managers and business enthusiasts. IBS Hyderabad and Club Kaizen express a sign of gratitude to all corporate leaders for taking out time and scripting their thoughts for our magazine. We have introduced 'Faculties Insight’ from the eighteenth edition, where the articles will be featured from experienced faculties from all over the world that will shed light on the minds of young managers and business enthusiasts. Club Kaizen is grateful to all faculties for taking time out and writing their thoughts for our publication. We hope that you like this issue and please let us know if there are any subjects you'd look forward to be addressed in upcoming editions. Please write to us and become a part of this discussion. Email ID: kaizenclub.ibs@gmail.com
LVS SAI CHARAN JOINT SECRETARY – KORE Kaizen – IBS Hyderabad Batch 2019-21
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CONTENTS
S. NO.
TITLE
PAGE NO.
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From the Mentor’s Desk
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Words of Wisdom- Do the Right Thing
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Companies Can Attain the Perfect Google Model If They Took Machines More Seriously
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Is the World Ready For “Neo-Retail?”
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Wish There's A Course to Teach Us Empathy
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Mobile Communication Tools- A New Trend for Operations Management Impact Due to Pandemic on Supply Chain Of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry
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Misconsurance
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Covid-19 Impact on HR Operations
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From the Mentor’s Desk In the era of competition, it is imperative for students to be prepared for the ever-changing business environment. Knowledge creation plays an important role to learn to tackle the dynamic nature of business. I appreciate and congratulate the initiative of club KAIZEN for bridging the gap between corporate world and academia through LAKSHYA which is an excellent platform where industry practitioners, academicians and researchers can share their knowledge and experience, acting as a beacon guiding students to reach their goal. My best wishes to club KAIZEN in their endeavour of knowledge creation through LAKSHYA.
Nishit Kumar Srivastava Mentor, Club Kaizen
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Faculties Insight
Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D. International Leadership Guru Father of “Soft Leadership” Opinion Columnist, CEOWORLD Magazine Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India.
Words of Wisdom―Do the Right Thing “The good leaders do the best thing in the prevailing situation whereas the great leaders do the right thing in any situation irrespective of the effects and outcomes.” ―Professor M.S. Rao
The fact is that truth alone triumphs at the end. Hence, doing the right thing pays at the end. It helps you lead your life ethically and mindfully. You live like a legend permanently.
People are often caught between doing the best thing and doing the right thing. Some people think of doing the best thing in the prevailing situation whereas some people think of doing the right thing in any situation irrespective of the effects and outcomes. I believe that doing the right thing is always better than doing the best thing in life and leadership.
When you insist on doing the best thing, you may be compelled to cut corners to achieve your ends whereas when you insist on doing the right thing, you don’t have to cut corners. However, you will have to struggle and suffer during the journey. There are people who achieve success at any cost due to peer pressure and cut-throat competition. People are smart and wise to identify such people and separate them from ethical leaders. There are Doing the right thing rather than the best thing is people who achieve success late in their lives easier said done because the path is riddled with through the right means by ignoring peer pressure several challenges inviting controversies and cut-throat competition. In a nutshell, they temporarily. achieve success with integrity. Such people live
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beyond their lifetime and will be remembered Ensure that there is consistency between your forever in history. intentions and actions while doing the right things to get the right results. Always do the right thing at the right time to get the right results. You must have the wisdom of Message to Millennials identifying the right time and timing to achieve the right outcomes. When you do the right thing, you Do the right thing rather than the best thing. If you get satisfied with your life and you sleep peacefully can do both the right thing and the best thing, it is and happily. You won’t have any regrets on the alright. Otherwise, always do the right thing to lead death-bed. Remember that treachery wins first and your life with purpose and meaning. the truth wins at the end. When you want the truth to win, you must always do the right thing and the We humans can control our actions, not the best thing in your life. outcomes. Therefore, we must do what is the right thing to do in the given circumstances irrespective When your intentions are positive and actions are of the outcomes. Life is short. We must make it ethical you will be able to do the right things in life. peaceful and pleasant for us and others. References • https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Power-Become-Big-Within-ebook/dp/B07P64KDF3 • https://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2020/03/when-will-my-time-comeshare-if-youcare.html Author Bio: Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D. International Leadership Guru Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D. is the Father of “Soft Leadership” and Founder of MSR Leadership Consultants, India. He is an International Leadership Guru with thirty-nine years of experience and the author of forty-nine books including the award-winning ‘See the Light in You’ URL: https://www.amazon.com/See-Light-You-Spiritual-Mindfulness/dp/1949003132. He is a C-Suite advisor and global keynote speaker. He brings a strategic eye and long-range vision given his multifaceted professional experience including military, teaching, training, research, consultancy, and philosophy. He is passionate about serving and making a difference in the lives of others. He trains a new generation of leaders through leadership education and publications. His vision is to build one million students as global leaders by 2030.
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URL:http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com/2014/12/professor-m-s-raos-vision-2030one_31.html. He has the vision to share knowledge freely with one billion people globally. He advocates gender equality globally (#HeForShe). He was ranked #1 Thought Leader and Influencer in Business Strategy globally by Thinkers360. He invests his time in authoring books and blogging on executive education, learning, and leadership. Most of his work is available free of charge on his four blogs including http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.com. He is a prolific author and a dynamic, energetic, and inspirational leadership speaker. He can be reached at msrlctrg@gmail.com.
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The Corporate Angle
Mr. Pranav Jain Assistant Manager TrucksDekho.com
Companies Can Attain The Perfect Google Model If They Took Machines More Seriously We’re about four decades into the personal computer era, two into the age of the web and one into the time of smartphones. The next decade will bring in 100x more computing power at our disposal. Companies have begun following the path to “constructive destruction” in this digital era. And would have to further understand the implications of these developments that can make the difference between thriving, merely surviving and perishing. As executives, we will have to navigate successfully, amongst these technically disruptive times, to enable an ecosystem of transformation and growth. As technology enables us to access accumulative knowledge of our humanity, we need to ask ourselves – what would we do with this technology? In the book “Machine, Platform and Crowd”, Andrew Mcafee and Eric Brynjolfsson
describe the rebalancing that companies must do to create and capture value. Let’s explore these factors that are enabling companies to shape successful digital strategies for the future. Are we still relying on intuition to decide? There are studies that suggest that humans are inferior in decision making than their machine counterparts. The idea of biases penetrate in the case of humans that either affects the decision or the heuristics. Machines are better off with judgement but are prone to inaccurate or unethical algorithms if fed with biased data or a completely new stimulus. Also machines lack human-like common sense but intelligence transfer to Machi -
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nes, through machine-deep-reinforcement learning, has gained momentum with more specialized hardware, data and algorithms. Although multiple businesses have leveraged this to virtualize processes and incorporate digital tools into conventional setups – for example Amazon’s “suggested items” algorithm, the fact is that computers don’t exactly understand human conditions and hence their independent decisions add little value in the real world. Hence companies will have to consider resynchronization of human and computer based acumen to set up a data-driven decision making culture in order to use technology to their advantage. Are we aware of the powers of a digital marketplace?
become marketplaces, awarding them with ecosystem building opportunities. This makes it imminent for companies to revisit their value propositions in order to either collaborate or/and innovate independently as powerful platforms of the future will have the ability to make or break brands. Are we using customer networks to our advantage? Managers often focus on “customer feedback” while planning a new product. This is because getting the market’s feedback about an offering not yet launched is possible in the digital era. Companies preparing themselves for the future are using the same analogy to plan their organizational strategies with the help of a global network of participants enabled by the digital ecosystem. These networks have become increasingly relevant as they use technologies to solve problems and build pertinent products – without much interference from the organizations. Examples include manufacturing capabilities like 3D printing and crypto currencies such as bitcoin. Such decentralized applications have been gaining massive popularity as they enable users and companies to work alongside each other at lower costs. But they are likely to collapse as the control shifts from individual contributors to polarized communities, affecting the basic appeal of such initiatives. Companies, hence, would have to look for smart ways to work along with customer networks to discover better problem solving strategies for shared interests.
The internet has redefined how traditional goods and services are available to a user. For instance, a ride across the town or news about your local vicinity is up for grabs through a digital platform connecting a buyer and a seller. As these platforms become widespread with time, companies are looking deeper into these digital dynamics that continue to reshape and drive firms. Firstly, platforms demonstrate direct and indirect network effects that not only affect the demand and supply economics but also promote the concept of compliments, which enables platforms to exercise control beyond a company’s sphere of influence. Secondly, platforms are spreading into physical goods and services through online-to-offline models, also known as phygital or O2O models, which permits it to control user experience, regulate a company’s inventory and collect intrinsic data to optimize matchmaking. Lastly, platforms practice There has not been a better time to produce a good combinatorial innovation which allow them to or service that can leverage the global digital KAIZEN’S OPERATIONS & RESEARCH ENTITY
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infrastructure and reach billions of customers to purpose rather than fear. Companies, hence, will create and share prosperity. The task of combining have the opportunity to shape how the society will tech with human skill can lead to a more sustainable use and benefit from technology & its applications. and productive business ecosystem that thrives on
Reference: • https://www.seed2vc.com/
About the author: The columnist, a consultant, is an author at http://www.entrepreneur.com, https://yourstory.com/ & http://www.businessworld.in/ LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pranav-jain-04a1527b Twitter: @jainpranav94
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The Corporate Angle
Mr. Sarthak Shrivastava Head of Operations Omnirio
Is The World Ready For “Neo-Retail?” Reflections on the impacts of Covid-19 on the and standardized hygiene after the Spanish Flu. larger operational dynamics of the eCommerce and These “New Normals” always shape the current retail industry. times for good and for better. It was a warm Sunday afternoon of 10th March A loss on every transaction 1918. We are in the middle of another such catastrophe. John had been feeling sick all morning. It seemed COVID-19 has already claimed about one million like a case of the common flu. The platoon’s doctor lives worldwide and we have no way of forecasting discharged him and John returned to his day-to-day. how many more people will succumb to it. All we Little did he know that in the following weeks, the know for sure is that the world is not the same as it number of infected people will skyrocket a was before. Retail is one of the biggest industries hundredfold. This event would eventually mark the that has seen many such changes in the last few onset of the worst disaster to ever hit mankind, months. killing more than 50 million people in its wake. The lockdown imposed due to the pandemic led to Be it the Spanish Influenza of the 19th century or global growth in eCommerce and BOPIS (Buy the Bubonic Plague of the 13th, the society changes online pick in-store) activities. With an overall whenever a catastrophe of this nature impacts growth of around 43% of the Indian eCommerce mankind. It brought fair wages and human rights industry and for the lower classes after the Bubonic Plague. Doctors introduced scientific medicinal methods
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Amazon reporting a 40% increase in YoY net sales, The global eCommerce and internet companies strategists believe that this is the new normal of the have already started investing in possible solutions post-COVID era. Commerce has changed. for these last-mile problems. The introduction of micro and nano warehouses in cities with dense order volumes is thought of as one of the leading solutions for this problem. A major drawback though, is that directly acquiring and managing thousands of warehouses in places with steep rentals is a fool’s errand.
Due to this rapid digitalization, the operational challenges of the industry have evolved into a whole new monster. With 17%, the Indian eCommerce industry has one of the highest return rates. High warehousing and logistical charges cripple the industry with high YoY losses. Since the industry is working on a model where the money is lost on every transaction, the growth, while spectacular, has also been alarming. Mix in and saute the rapid need for improving supply chain efficiencies to further reduce the last mile delivery times for consumers and you have the perfect storm.
The industry seems to have found the answer in organized retail stores. These are already located at the prime locations in the busiest of the cities, housing SKUs that are needed for an eCommerce fulfillment center. The cost of management and rents are being taken care of by the offline operations of these stores. With a reduced distance between the fulfillment centers and customers, the costs of logistics and warehousing also decline. Amazon India has already started working on its strategy of converting such stores into fulfillment centers. They acquired 49% of Aditya Birla’s More Megastore in late 2018 and have already started fulfilling orders from these stores. Amazon’s supply chain management strategy could not be more evident.
Amazon’s supply chain management strategy could not be more evident with them prospecting a 40% s Consistently ranked in the lower thirties and forties take in Reliance Retail ventures (which recently in the Global Logistics Performance Index, acquired Futures Group’s retail division countries in SEA and Indian subcontinent face comprising of brands like Nilgiris and Big Bazaar). significant logistical challenges due to its large landmasses, geography with jungles and rivers, and The birth of Neo-Retail archipelagic state. On average, it takes 3X longer for deliveries to happen in these regions when This model though functional is very expensive. compared to their western counterparts. These The trend seems to be shifting towards a more regions are the new frontier for eCommerce giants Uber-like model, a “Neo-Retail” network if you to establish their empires as they house more than will, where individual shop owners can be added as 25% of the global population and over a billion nano-fulfillment centers. internet users. Paradigm Shifting
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Just like cloud kitchens in food delivery services, this opens up a possibility of purely online SMB retail shops as well. The Neo-Retail network benefits all the stakeholders:
inventory and order management system. This hypothesized system would seamlessly connect offline POS systems and online order management systems. A collaboration of this kind would give rise to a truly omnichannel retail paradigm. This • The small shop owners get a new channel of paradigm shift rivals the invention of eCommerce itself in the late nineties. sales. • ECommerce companies can have quicker, cheaper deliveries without any capital In conclusion investment. This system, when incorporated in enough small • The end consumers get instantly serviced and retail stores, will act as the cerebrum of the Neogratified. Retail network. Enough resources are already
Neo-Retail plays by the rules of Metcalfe’s Law where the addition of new members continuously increases the strength of the network. As this network grows, the power centers will also move from the hands of big giants to whoever owns the reins of this network. From Google’s multiple acquisitions in the space of digitalization of inventory to Jio’s smart POS and Jiomart initiatives, it is fair to say that the juggernauts have found themselves in a zero-sum game.
deployed in the development of these channels. Small retailers, with their revenues bleeding, have a newfound hunger to grow their businesses. As Bob Dylan would say, “the times they are a’ changing”.
Who will be the winner of this race? Will it be the technology companies like Google and Microsoft who are providing these systems, or the eCommerce giants who are improving their operational dynamics? Or someone entirely else, Even with numerous benefits, the issue of inventory perhaps a little guy who is just a node in this mismanagement cripples the strategy of the network? creation of Neo-Retail. The first hurdle that needs to be crossed is the creation of a centralized Only time will tell.
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The Corporate Angle
Ms. Bhavana A S Associate Product Manager II Bigbasket.com
Wish There's A Course To Teach Us Empathy Graduate courses can teach us how to communicate well, but probably there’s no course which would teach us how to be empathetic. Recent studies show that empathy is the most valued skill in the corporate world. So I want to share some real stories with the upcoming managers, on how being empathetic can make you great managers. I have been in the IT industry for 5+ years now. I’m currently working as a Product Manager at bigbasket. I don’t have juniors working for me, but now I can understand what my juniors would expect from me. So let me tell you five short stories. You’ll know how you could be perceived as a good or bad manager.
Weekly once, you have a catchup of 30 mins. Arya asks what are the things you are working on, because he has no idea on what’s happening with your work. How do you feel when your manager doesn’t read your emails? What can you do as a good manager? Read emails from your reportees. You are there in the loop for a reason. They want you to know what they are working on, thinking you will correct them if they are going wrong. Correct them or guide them on how they can communicate better. Weekly catch ups could be to understand more details where you can suggest how they can improve their work.
Let’s say you have a manager called Arya. Story 2 — Rescheduling Meetings Story 1 — Daily Emails Arya had accepted your weekly catchup meeting. You send ~20 emails a day, keeping Arya in Cc. Then declined the meeting in the last minute Arya doesn’t read any of your emails. He’s too busy because something more important came up for with his work. him. KAIZEN’S OPERATIONS & RESEARCH ENTITY
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Now Arya will tell you to reschedule the meeting First say “Thank you for sharing this”. Saying to tomorrow. What is your thought at this moment? thanks at first ensures that you welcome being What can you do as a good manager? informed about bad news. This will build an honest culture, and the person sharing this (reportees) If you had accepted a meeting and then declined it wouldn’t be hesitant or hiding the truth. Solving the for some reason, do not ask your reportee to problem is important, but appreciating the courage reschedule it. First, apologize and politely ask to share the bad news is much more important. them to reschedule the meeting. Maybe you could reschedule the meeting yourself. It shows that you Story 5—Appreciate Often are humble and you are not trying to be superior. Who doesn’t like appreciation? Be it from an Story 3 — Exciting Presentations unknown LinkedIn user or be it from your peers? But whose appreciation makes you the happiest? Say, you are presenting your first webinar / some I’m sure most of you said either parents or important presentation. You are excited about it and managers. you share the PPT with Arya. But he doesn’t even bother to open it. While Navya, a manager from Say you are giving a webinar. Or say you are some other team cares to check it and provides looking for some votes to be selected in a feedback. Do you notice the clear difference competition. Arya doesn’t care to even vote for between Arya & Navya? you. What do you think then? What can you do as a good manager?
What can you do as a good manager?
When your reportees are trying to do something Spare a few mins and attend it. If you can’t make it, extra, not just conventional work, always support say you missed it. Watch the video, give feedback. them. Appreciate in front of bigger audiences, before your team, because they are doing something different It’s not about saying ‘Wow! Congratulations’. It’s than the rest, which definitely needs to be about going through that PPT / doc and sharing highlighted and appreciated. If votes are needed, your feedback. Giving them some tips. you be the first person to vote. Also spread the message among groups to vote for her or him. Show Real encouragement is shown in actions, not just that support – it is the least you could do. It makes with fancy words. a lot of difference. Story 4— Welcoming bad news
Are these practices only applicable for managers and reportees? — No.
When you say “Release is delayed by a month”, Arya says “Oh no! Why so much delay? How can we reduce it?”. How do you feel? Do you think you gave some stress to Arya and both of you are anxious now? What can you do as a good manager?
If you are a person who invests their time for others, who shows empathy, who shows support not just in fancy words but in actions, are the ones who are trusted, loved and respected. That’s when people enthusiastically do all the work for you, go that extra mile when needed.
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The above instances could happen with your coworkers. People may not read or respond to your emails. Do not get agitated. Maybe it’s better to talk to them over the phone and get an answer. Perhaps ping them over hangouts or Whatsapp, SMS. If you
can work out ways (with coworkers or juniors or seniors) and get things done smoothly, that’s when you are on the path of becoming a great manager. Being empathetic is the key.
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Emerging Managers
Mr. Vaibhav Joshi Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, Pune
MOBILE COMMUNICATION TOOLS: A New Trend For Operations Management On an average, workers waste 3 hours of working time per week looking for information. So, if we have 1000 frontline employee, that’s Rs.58, 896,000 or $800K on average wasted every month simply looking for information to do the right job. Digitally enabling your frontline workforce is the singular most impactful investment you can make to optimize productivity, increase safety, and reduce costs in the current uncertain climate. If your business’s operations and internal communications are not mobile, you may be leaving a critical part of your workforce out of the loop — frontline workers. Whether you’re in the technology industry and rely on mobile devices to achieve sales targets, or you’re in manufacturing and the company is facing constraints on output, mobile accessibility will play a vital role in operations management for 2020. Apart from today’s reliance on mobile devices for communication, consumers also turn to their smart devices for everything from household goods to travel accommodations and job applications. When
it’s all said and done, your frontline workforce will expect the same access, ease, and utility from their tools at work. Help your employees put that time to better use by providing a single point of contact for all their communications and tools.
Establishing outlets for mobile collaboration, like an employee app, enables a multitude of improvements to employee and overall workplace experience, including access to: • Maintenance requests • Shift handovers • Updated SOPs
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Mobile accessibility for remote staff allows them to key to achieving desired business objectives and access the information, tools, and connectivity they securing a market share is to get every staff member need to best perform their job regardless of their aligned to the task at hand role within the organization. This is especially • Value alignment: Leaders should establish a relevant for frontline workers who don’t have a set of core values that every employee agrees company email address, or whose work requires an to as a member of the organization. These on-the-go communication solution. Mobile-first, create the ethical guidelines that dictate how digital enablement meets this need. an organization should work towards goals. Outside of the relying on their mobile devices for • Cultural alignment: A strong, highcommunication, consumers today are using their performing culture unifies a workforce phones and tablets for everything from traveling, through policies which emphasize the job applications, and buying groceries and other employee experience, like employee household items. As you research technology that recognition programs. facilitates mobile operational communications, be sure to keep in mind that different things are • Objective alignment: Mobile communication important to those at the top of a business and those is a portal for disseminating information, both on the front line. They have different opinions unique and automated, to ensure everyone is about their priorities, the scope of their work, and aligned on company goals and objectives. how it all connects to mobile platforms. One potential way to navigate the divergence is to ensure that a great user experience is an integral part of the technology. Given that everyone in the business, at every level of the business, will be using any new communications platform, it’s important to focus on the overall shared experience and ensure everyone will have no problem using it. Establishing an outlet for mobile collaboration, such as team apps, allows for a range of improvements to the employee experience and enhances workplace experience. Reasons to embrace Mobile communication tools1. Organizational Alignment: When a company forms, they set out a clear mission statement. The
2. Improved Efficiency: Mobile solutions can improve efficiency in a variety of ways, but it is especially helpful to mobile workers who spend their time on the sales floor, a job site or simply working remotely. It increases operation efficiency by: • Cutting down the need for face-to-face meetings which are often unnecessary and mismanage • Creating increased opportunities management to communicate with staff
for
• Eliminating data silos for a free flow of information accessible to all workers
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• Enabling real-time messaging for faster fingertips gives workers a greater sense of alignment and decision making. belonging within the company. It also empowers them with features that allow them to be more 3. Deeper Employment Engagement: This rise in autonomous. Few examples can be: employee engagement is increasing as companies are forced to make flexible arrangements so their • They have the power to initiate teams can work off-site due to social distancing communication through a flattened hierarchy. requirements. The right mobile communication • They can manage their own schedules. solution can support this new normal in business and strengthen employee engagement by keeping • They have the power to provide feedback everyone connected no matter where they’re through surveys and messaging that can working. In fact, at 38%, workforce engagement is benefit the company. higher than it’s been in two decades. 4. Improved Productivity: With mobile solutions, managers can capture the wisdom of their operations staff and apply it to an entire division or department. The employees in the action are most intimate with the challenges their company faces. An enterprise messaging app allows management to capture this valuable intelligence.
• They have access to professional development opportunities over their mobile devices. While there are many benefits to mobile communication, it’s important to keep in mind that there is always a security risk when using it. That’s why it is so crucial to choose business-specific, secure, qualified platforms, and systems.
5. Greater Autonomy and Empowered workers: A mobile communication tool at the tip of their
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Emerging Managers
K Pavan Kumar Reddy ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad
Impact Due To Pandemic On Supply Chain Of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry While the world is eagerly looking for a vaccine to be developed. Let’s have a look at the present scenario in pharmaceutical industry of India, with vaccine in reach major countries are looking at the doors of India and its pharmaceutical production capabilities for the production and distribution of the vaccine when developed. The major questions that need to be answered here is to what extent Covid19 affected Indian pharmaceutical industry? Is India’s supply chain capable of fulfilling the responsibility? What changes post- pandemic is expected to bring? Supply Chain Management (SCM): SCM is defined as the management of flow of goods and services which includes the total process from procurement of raw materials into final products and fulfilment of order from point of origin to point of consumption.
The last three decades gave birth to a new term Global value chain(GVC) which means production and distribution at different geographies or supply, processing, assembling and distribution taking places in different countries to lower the economic cost of production. The present situation calls for the evaluation of the GVC. Impact on pharmaceutical industry: The pandemic Covid19 has its negatives in almost every sector across the globe. But the major important positive note that different sectors gained from it is the drawbacks or setbacks that they have in supply chain management. First let’s take a look at the major concerns that are exposed in pharmaceutical industry’s supply chain due to impact of Covid19 on Indian pharmaceutical industry:
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1. Manufacturing - Manufacturing of medicines is a complex process that cannot be majorly done in a single manufacturing unit. The sub components required to assemble the final product are developed in various countries and assembled at a final unit but the disruption in logistics during the pandemic made imports, exports and manufacturing very difficult which exposed the major flaw in GVC. 2. Procurement - India is over-dependent of raw materials from China to reduce the economic costs. India is currently importing more than 70% of the required active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and intermediaries required. Many companies are only dependent on China and the domestic supply has been neglected that turned the tables when China imposed regulations and lockdown forcing India to search for alternatives. 3. Distribution - Distribution is also facing unique challenges in the form of reduced staffing, increased demand and orders, delay in delivery of medicines due to restrictions and lockdown, which points out the lack of transparent distribution channels. 4. Cost of drugs - The increase in demand provided the companies a chance to increase their profits. They have increased the prices of many of the drugs mainly the two drugs that have been in high demand paracetamol, vitamin the prices have gone up by almost 50%. 5. Increase in duplicate drugs - With the situation in chaos, the duplicate drug markets are increasing at a rapid level. For example, the number of nameless sanitizer brands in market before pandemic and at present have increased.
6. API reserves - As of present, the reserves in major companies were expected to run only for six months and some of the minor companies have already ran out of the inventory and unable to procure raw materials have stopped production temporarily. Future of Pharmaceutical Industry in India As for the future, India is provided with a chance to prove its power and capability to take on the challenges and overcome them. It is a blessing in disguise as it opened an opportunity to invite companies that are exiting from China and establish itself. When it comes to pharmaceutical industry, Indian government and companies still have a lot of loop holes to work on to position itself at global level. Consideration for companies and industry1. Supply chain risk management practices and mitigation - Companies should re-evaluate their strategies, risk assessment. They also have to consider dual sourcing and location of supplier and the import rate of API and slowly shift to domestic suppliers to avoid any future problems. 2. Digitalization and Automation is expected to flourish to create more transparency in distribution as this will help the distributors and manufacturers to keep an eye on the stock visibility and improve forecasting. 3. Although being largest producer of medicines, India is not a vaccine developer. So, companies have to adopt to new technologies to be more efficient and productive and should focus on R&D to develop new vaccines and stay updated on the situations around the world.
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4. Sourcing/Mapping: Companies should have a clear mapping of the suppliers available at different geographic locations and details regarding the production capacity, quality, methods. This information will help the companies to look for alternate supplier very easily, in case of unexpected situations. 5. Simulation of different strategies based on different conditions and parameters should be prepared and these results will be very useful in selecting the best supply channel under any circumstances. 6. Take advantage of Make in India which opened a new chapter to Indian companies and people by promoting self-dependency. This has brought different schemes to collaborate and cooperate in researching, developing and promoting the companies with a financial aid from government.
Conclusion Covid19 has created havoc not only on the people but on all industries across the world by disrupting their supply chains completely by creating difficulties at each step of the process and shortages and fear among the people. This pandemic shifted the main focus of the world to pharmaceutical industry and its supply chain across the world. It exposed the flaws in the current supply chain and methods the companies are following. With human ability to learn from mistakes and adopt. The postpandemic is expected to witness drastic change in the industries supply chain, strategies, digitalization, technological advancement and distribution transparency with more reliable and efficient methods. It reminded the world the importance of research and development to forecast the future and prepare for the unexpected.
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Emerging Managers
Yasaswini Ponduru ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad
Misconsurance “Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation” we all must have heard this statement in a lot of insurance advertisements but hardly some of us would know what it actually means. This was mandated by IRDAI and it basically means the products are not meant to be sold by the advertisement but the customer have to reach to the intermediary for purchasing the right insurance policy. While doing my internship in an insurance company, I noticed a lot people having misconceptions about insurance so what is the reason behind it? And, the answer I got was lack of awareness and knowledge. So, this made me talk about misconsurance, which was derived from two words misconception + Insurance. In this article I would be majorly addressing some of the popular misconceptions about insurance. Let’s start first from defining the term ‘Insurance’.
Insurance is considered to be a legal contract between two parties ‘Insured’, the person who is willing to purchase the policy and ‘Insurer or Insurance Company’, the entity who is willing to accept the risk for a remuneration. Here, ‘Insurer’ promises to pay a certain amount if any event happens as stated in the policy to the subject matter, known as ‘Sum Insured or Sum Assured’ and in return the ‘Insured’ pays a regular amount of money for a certain period to the ‘Insurer’, commonly known as ‘Premium’. Generally, Insurance is classified into two broad categories i.e., General Insurance and Life Insurance. General Insurance can be further classified into motor insurance, marine (cargo or hull) insurance, fire insurance, liability insurance, etc., whereas life insurance is classified into mainly six type of policies which consists of Term insurance, Whole life insurance, Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs), Endowment Policy,
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Annuity Plans, Money Back Insurance plans. Now, let’s talk about the whole insurance process. We all know about filling up a personal detail form got through an agent or broker and then submit it to the insurance company then the policy is either extended or not and accordingly calculation of Sum Insured, premium amount, policy tenure, etc., is done. And, in the time of crisis, you go for a claim. But is insurance limited to that only? My answer would be somewhat similar but a lot more details are missing in here. After reaching out to an agent or a broker, a specific policy fulfilling your needs is chosen and then a form is filled which is known as ‘Proposal Form’, it contains personal details and the details of subject matter. Let’s say I want to purchase a Term insurance policy for myself then I need to mention the details such as my past health record, my family health history, my hobbies, occupation, etc. A question might pop up in your head why do such things matter for the ‘Insurer’? For their general knowledge, it isn’t important but we should know that Insurance is a method of transferring risk so as per the principle of insurance ‘Uberimma Fides or Utmost Good Faith’, both the parties should disclose all the material facts and the effect of such information might the affect the magnitude of risk which is the base for calculation of premium. Higher the risk, Higher the premium. After submitting the proposal form, the insurer either accept, reject or accept with some special terms then accordingly the policy is initiated. A lot of us do not know about the concept of ‘Free-look period’, it is a certain amount of period provided to the Insured in which they can review the terms and
conditions of the policy and can cancel a policy. This time period usually consists of 15 days and the first premium paid is refunded deducting expenses such as administrative costs, etc. A proposal form before being accepted or rejected is carefully examined and in here the major part is done by the ‘Underwriters’, they are the people who analyze the factors affecting the risk and take the decision of acceptance of policy and on what terms. The underwriters are classified into several other categories such as financial underwriter, Domain specific underwriter (Medical underwriter for life and health insurance), etc. For any changes or updating of information, the policy is called and an attachment is added which are known as ‘endorsements.’ For claims, a similar certain procedure is applied where a claim form is submitted by the insured and then the Insurer appoint a ‘Surveyor’, to assess the loss and its credibility and on the basis of surveyor’s report and policy’s terms and conditions, the claim is either accepted or rejected. We discussed a basic idea of insurance, its terminology and process but our main concern is still left to be addressed and those are misconceptions about insurance. Some of the popular misconceptions are “Insurance is not needed until any occurrence of loss”, “Other investments are far better than Insurance”, “Preexisting diseased person is not allowed to take an insurance policy”, “Claim is provided whatever the reason of loss is”, “A group insurance policy opted by the employer for its employees is sufficient”, etc. Are these actually true or just a misconception or a myth? If an insurance policy is purchased after the occurrence loss it would be escalating moral hazard and the insured would be less careful about
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his subject matter and also it may lead to insolvency of insurance companies. Other investments such as gold, securities, etc., are definitely a far better option but insurance is not only an investment but it is more of life cover or financial cover from unexpected losses. Pre-existing diseased person can have an insurance as per his/her risk profile probably their premium would be high than a fit person or might include some exclusions. A group
insurance policy opted by an employer is not sufficient for an employee and an additional individual policy is definitely recommended. And, to safeguard the interest of general public IRDAI was established to regulate and supervise the insurance business in India in the year 1999. I hope I was able to clear at least some misconceptions or doubts.
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Emerging Managers Rishika Nigam ICFAI Business School Hyderabad
COVID-19 Impact on HR Operations The current pandemic situation has brought in tremendous changes in the current organizational and workforce models, they are no longer similar to what they were before. The entire working system has to survive by prioritizing what is important, working on necessary operations, and have found way out for constraints of technology. The supreme courts in some countries have started adopting oral arguments for their justice. This way it has safeguarded themselves from the virus and has enabled them to live broadcast the proceedings to the public. With the numerous challenges, the virtual working environment has been effective in a lot of ways, like, it has enabled flexibility in people’s daily schedules, and they can work between different departments. With the stretch of pandemic throughout months and now years, the new reality of work unfolds wherein the Government is required to plan the shape of the future workforces. The temporary fixes have worked for now but won’t for longer durations. Covid-19 has also made it clear about what exactly is the priority for getting efficient
output and how? When? And Where? Should people work to get productive and successful organizational results? It is a golden opportunity for leaders to articulate to shape the future workforce. Instead of making trivial changes in the current organization structure, they could rather take a big step towards forming the future workforce. Any plan which might seem as an impressive plan now might not be a grand plan later. A plan that fits in perfectly in the current scenario will have different repercussions in the future, these plans may not work in the post-pandemic era. To avoid any kind of discrepancies in the future the leaders must follow certain considerations throughout the recovery phase to avoid taking backward steps:
1. Leadership Aspect The current requirements of the team would be very different from what they were in past. The leaders need to be ready to accept the dynamic changes happening and support the diverse teams. This does
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not mean that the decisions would be held on till the time the employees are back into office. This would highly reduce the productivity of teams for a longer period. But on a positive note, the employees will know about a holistic working environment of the company. Recruitments too has to look upon keenly. To create a balance between employee costs and business continuity in future scenario a new optimal workforce mix of buy (recruit), build (reskill), borrow (3rd party and contingent), bot (automate) and base (where to locate people).
2. Productivity of Roles The post-pandemic situation would require the disintegration of work to get a clearer view of what exactly are the skills required, the tasks that would be automated, and how all parts fit together across an organization. The disintegration would lead to efficient working conditions, allocation of properly skilled people that suits them. Cloud platforms, automation and diverse partner ecosystems, effect operations. The workforce can be the ultimate differentiator. An untangled approach towards understanding the exact skills would be essential. Since the current pandemic condition would push employees working in multiple teams, across the department, a reward being added would also help managers decrease absenteeism.
will enable them to work across departments. The global gates being opened because of work from home have bought in opportunities with a lot of challenges as well. The managers should ensure that proper training is provided to all the employees throughout, to help them adapt to the conditions. 4. Physical working environment Throughout the pandemic conditions, the working habits have changed. People have now become very comfortable around homely environments. A challenge for the organization and the team would be to provide a similar kind of conditions to them. The important fact is to ensure safer conditions. The comfort has to be provided to them again but not at the cost of productivity. The organization should also take a call on which of the tasks can be done from home. This will increase efficiency and help in the reduction of costs. 5. Flexibility in working
The environment has become convenient for them. There is a need to develop mechanisms for remote mentoring, on-demand training and knowledge transfer. A collaborative and socially engaged employee will be created by working in Crossfunctional teams. Aspects like pulse surveys, collaborative virtual tools, crowdsourcing, 3. Skills performance check-ins and anonymous feedback will help provide an integrated view of how well The pandemic conditions have pushed the people to those virtual connections are maintained. come out of their comfort zones and develop a knack for learning newer skills. With a wide variety Pushing people out of the homes and fitting again of skills available freely it has become easier to to the physical environment of the workplace will learn them. But again, to make an impact on the be a task. The management has to look for a balance profile it would be suggested to take up a course between the family commitments and the emotional that matches the profile. The employer would also well-being of every employee. Coming back to the become more specific to what they want from the routine will always hurt. The change of flexibility employees. Since there has been a lot of would involve a mixture of work of home and redeployment, employees need upskilling. This office.
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6. Emotional and Physical Well-being One of the biggest impacts of Covid-19 has been on the mental well-being of people. The impact has also been on the physical health of the employees. Therefore, it becomes a necessity to keep them fit because, at the end of the day, a company’s employees are the biggest assets. Frequent calls for communication apart from work, check-ins in Teams, checking if the employees can properly adapt to changes will become necessities. The companies should also encourage healthy lifestyles, conduct events, workshops for the same.
The current conditions have bought in a lot of challenges as nobody was ready for it. The world was in other dreams. The bubble which now is burst and showed actual reality. It will become essential for the managers and organization as a whole to be proactive rather than reactive. The operations about to structure the current environment would shape the future. If the operations are not up to the mark, the impression would be felt on the current and future as well. Added, a path has to be found to make it work for present and future conditions for maximum obtaining efficiency.
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ABOUT US The word “Kaizen”, where “Kai” = change “Zen” = good, simply means “change for better”. In English Kaizen is typically applied to measures for implementing continuous improvement. It is an approach to activity organisation based on common sense, self-discipline, order and economy and is a strong contributor and fundamental part of a lean production process model in lean manufacturing. Kaizen- The Official Operations Club of IBS Hyderabad believes in relishing in the essence of "Constant Change and Evolvement" and hence we, as an organization work willingly for the betterment of the student community. KORE- Kaizen’s Operations and Research Entity, one of our primary wings which flaps to cater to the needs of students and motivate them to soar high by polishing their technical competencies. KORE’s area of expertise includes Case Based Research, Consultancy, Live Projects and Workshops. LAKSHYA, an initiative taken by KORE primarily focuses on the concepts of operations management and various articles based on the day to day operations and logistics of an organisation.
NISHU KUMARI KEJRIWAL EDITOR IN CHIEF - KORE Kaizen – IBS Hyderabad Batch 2019-21
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