Lakshya - A Beacon of Knowledge, August 2020 Edition

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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EDITOR’S LETTER “"With Evolution, Changes happen in every part of the world every day, every time."”

Welcome to the twenty-fifth 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.

1

From the Mentor’s Desk

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2

Your Time Will Come

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3

Concept of Operations Management & Industry 4.0 In the Context of Industry Applications

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4

The untold story of the Positive Impact of COVID-19

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5

Streamlining Organizational Communication

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6 7

Entrepreneurship at The Time of Crisis: Adaptability Is the Key to Survive Supremacy to the Online Wholesalers - A Disintermediation or a Reintermediation in the Supply chain?

19 23

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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.

Your Time Will Come

“I will prepare, and one day my time will come.”

- Abraham Lincoln Most people on the earth are optimistic that they will have a good time especially when their time is bad. Life is full of peaks and valleys. Every rise has a fall and every fall has a rise. There is a sunrise after every sunset. Despite knowing these universal truths, most people are concerned excessively about their problems. They hardly explore solutions. The good time arrives when you prepare consistently in your areas of interest with passion and dedication. In this regard, we will outline tools that make your good time come early.

Plan Mindfully and Work Productively Observe the following tools to ensure that your time will come early. Be optimistic. Martin Seligman

said, "Optimists endure the same storms in life as pessimists. But they weather them better and emerge from them better off." Understand the difference between what you can control and what you cannot. Acquire internal locus of control to make things fall into place. Accept the reality that certain things cannot be controlled. Don't get attached to your past emotionally. Come out of your comfort zone. Shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Push your limits. Believe in your gut and intuition. Take risks. Network with the right people in your profession. Exchange your knowledge, skills, and abilities with others.

Improve your personality, attitude, and behaviour.

Treat failures as lessons. Don't waste your precious time thinking about your unpleasant past and failures. Be bullish but be prepared for bearish times. Be simple and humble. Take both successes and failures equally. Reflect to improve yourself.

Make the right choices. Be logical and rational

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while making your decisions. Be committed. Strive Hence, be patient and prepare persistently to wait for excellence. for your day. Remember, every dog has its day.

When you work hard, smart and wise, your time will come. Your time will not come when you sit idle. Instead, your time will come when you follow your dreams. Your time will come when you take action. Your time will come when you draw a strategy and adopt innovative tools and tactics as per the situation. Understand the fact that things happen at their own pace, not as per your expectations and aspirations. Appreciate that everything happens for a reason. There is often a gap in time and timing between your expectations and realities. Fulton J. Sheen once remarked, “Patience is power. Patience is not an absence of action; rather it is "timing" it waits on the right time to act, for the right principles and in the right way.”

Conclusion “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”

-Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace.

No power on the earth can prevent the talent coming to the top. Never wait for your time. Invest your present time productively and effectively to enable your good time to arrive early. When you pray to God your prayers will be heard. But your time will come when you come out of your comfort zone and take action. To conclude, take action right now to enable your time to come early.

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 Dr. Pranjal Kumar Phukan Director (Strategy) International Council for Technology, Management, Applied Engineering Bangalore, India Global Mentor- ISCEA SCNext India

Concept Of Operations Management & Industry 4.0 In The Context Of Industry Applications The concept of Operations management is to yield the utmost level of efficiency possible within an organization and it is concerned with converting materials and labour into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization. It is the process that normally plans, controls and supervises manufacturing and production processes and service delivery. Present operations management is comprised of four theories and are business processes redesigning (BPR), six sigma, lean manufacturing, and reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

The subject is important in a business organization because it helps efficiently manage, control and supervise goods, services and people.

Operations Management Theory Operations management takes four theories into consideration.

Business process redesign, reconfigurable manufacturing systems, Six Sigma, and lean manufacturing.

Business Process Redesign A business process can be redesigned in any of the following areas: manufacturing and production and/or marketing, sales, and customer service, to name only a few.

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems A reconfigurable manufacturing system is a system “designed at the outset for rapid change in its structure, as well as its hardware and software components, in order to quickly adjust its production capacity and functionality within a part family in response to sudden market changes or intrinsic system change” (Koren, Jovane, Heisel, Moriwaki, Ulsoy, & VanBrusell, 1999).

Six Sigma Six Sigma is a strategy designed to improve the quality of process outputs. The Six Sigma program identifies and removes the causes of defects and

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errors by minimizing variability. It uses strategic quality management tools such as statistical analysis and trains employees to become experts in these tools. Six Sigma projects follow a specific sequence of steps including process mapping, trending charts, calculations of potential defects, ratios, and statistics to accomplish defined goals.

Lean Manufacturing Lean is a production theory that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal, other than the creation of value for the customer, wasteful and thus a target for elimination. Lean starts with the customer and values any process or action for which a customer will pay. All aspects of production workflow are evaluated to find waste such as excess motion, excess inventory, and overproduction.

Operations Management Systems- Intelligent Operations Platforms

•

• • • • •

Cloud computing (software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service, infrastructure-as-aservice) Block chain technology Additive manufacturing, hybrid manufacturing, and 3d printing Smart manufacturing Autonomy (e.g. autonomous vehicles) and drones Augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) immersive technologies

The integration of physical objects, human interactions, intelligent machines, processes, and production lines results into the development of a new, intelligent, connected, and efficient value chain. Industry 4.0 allows for a faster response to customer needs than is possible today. It improves the flexibility, speed, productivity, and quality of the production process. And it lays the foundation for the adoption of new business models, production processes, and other innovations.

Industry 4.0 disrupts and transforms operations and supply chain management.

Operations Management systems have transformed into a platform called Intelligent Operations. The current IT landscape for many organizations is a complex combination of spread sheets, homeManagement System for grown applications, and siloed disparate systems. Operations Most of these systems are focused on Minimization of Costs compartmentalized tactical information without In the future manufacturing plants, unattended integrated, aggregated insight. operations are expected to increase and shall be The Industry 4.0 technological development for taken care by the use of big data analysis operations and supply chain management includes: technology, the AI-based robots and automated control. Although the zero-people operations will minimize the human costs, the robots and • Cyber-physical systems (‘digital twin’) production facilities will always be threatened by • Internet-of-Things (IoTs) failures and anomalies in certain circumstances. As • Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence the facility availability rate is reduced, which will (AI) lead to the generation of the human cost of • Advanced robotics (collaborative and recovery, the total cost could eventually be adaptive robots) increased. In order to prevent this, it is essential to • Big data analytics avoid occurrences of failures and anomalies and,

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even if one should occur, to recover from it at an operator will assign monitoring and cause early stage. identification to an appropriate department and countermeasures based on the identification results to a specialized department.

Operations Management System for Maximization of Quality Industry 4.0 uses AI technology to support the automation of materials and production quality management. Thereby the dynamic procurement of raw materials and parts and high quality, lowvolume production and mass-customization are secured.

It is also to be believed that the integrated monitoring of efficient data organization will consist not only of monitoring a single plant but also of the remote monitoring of several manufacturing plants. Ultimately, enterprises providing monitoring as a service will be established and the monitoring will be outsourced to such enterprises.

Integrated Monitoring of Production Facilities Shutdown and quality deterioration of manufacturing plants result from diversified causes including equipment failure, cyber-attacks and operator mistakes. The operator should enduringly monitor signs of such issues and in a case in which an anomaly is observed, be required to identify the cause, such as a failure, attack or operator mistake, and adopt the essential countermeasures quickly.In the future, such operation flow should be changed into the “integrated monitoring system�. The

Conclusions One hierarchical view of operations and supply chain strategy is that a natural tension exists between the competitive priorities of cost, flexibility, speed, and quality; and whilst all are Important, a firm cannot be best-in-class on all four priorities and must therefore choose between them.

Overall business strategy (e.g., which customers to

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target and what do they value?) helps the operations function make this choice. The ranking among priorities then drives both the design of the tangible architecture of operations (i.e., the degree of vertical integration, the capacity and type of production, transportation, and MRO assets, inventories, and the geographic distribution of these various elements) and the design of the intangible processes and procedures that orchestrate the flow of goods and information through this operations and supply chain architecture.

Crucially, Industry 4.0 creates new design possibilities for the operations architecture and its associated processes. Certain technologies, the IoT for example, will directly impact the processes for managing the operations and supply chain architecture and thereby indirectly influence architectural choices. However, the key to Industry 4.0 is that it is not an individual technology.

Instead, it is a synthesis of these related technologies. We can therefore anticipate that Industry 4.0 will have a profound impact on both the architecture and process dimensions of operations strategy

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The Corporate Angle

Mr. Alvis Lazarus Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hesol

The Untold Story Of The Positive Impact Of COVID-19

The untold story of the Positive Impact of In this article I am going to share with you " The Insights on the Impact of COVID-19". To be very frank, the negative impact of COVID-19 has been discussed in stretch on most form of media. But I am going to share with you ‘The untold story of the Positive Impact of COVID-19’.

Before going to the details of what all those opportunities are available, I see this downturn as more of a kind of rejuvenation time for Logistics and Supply chain to prepare ourselves such that we are ready to grab those opportunities as they come.

4 Key Opportunities (positive impact of COVID-19) I. Customer Behaviour Post COVID-19 or during COVID-19 times I see a positive change in the customer behavior, which in turn fuels the transformation of global logistics and supply chain. Traditionally the Issues faced by the global logistics and supply chain are as follows:

● Digital push is always a challenge ● Cost is the key driver ● Tech initiatives hit a roadblock due to lack of buyers The Positive change comes in the form of VALUE taking upper hand over the COST and the Industry is saying in one voice- 'Digital Transformation is the Way forward'. Organizations are ready to pump in more capital to make their supply chains more reliable, scalable, and flexible. I have recently completely a Kano model of the recent global logistics and supply chain and it is evident that there is a drastic change post COVID-19. Note: A Kano Model is a tool by which you document the voice of your customers.

So, Kano model undergone a great transformation means what customers were expecting prior to COVID-19 and post COVID-19 are completely changed. Now it is important to understand those expectations and start building our infrastructure, processes, and our digital product aligned with those expectations such that the organization gains

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the maximum out of this.

Storage Requirements and thereby fueling the growth of Warehousing across the Country. Note: II. Global E-commerce & Impact on Logistics OTIF means 'On Time in Full'. It is the top tier metric of supply chain. This is one of the tough “The offline markets loss is the gain of online metrics in supply chain. market” The trend already shows a 2x growth on the previous forecast for the global e-commerce There is a strong demand towards end to end and the signs are incredibly positive for this sector. Logistics which includes Primary and Secondary The global ecommerce has a revised forecast of 6 Transportation, Value added Services, Warehouse trillion dollars by early 2022 itself it has jumped Management system, Planning Tools, and other almost from 4.5 to 5 trillion to 6 trillion within a Services. If you see here, warehousing alone is quarter and to be very precise this number is very estimated to reach 600 billion US dollars by 2024 crucial for the logistics industry. and logistics going to have a huge pie over here and a very important thing to note here is, one-fourth of Out of the 6 trillion 1.5 trillion that is around 1/4th that i.e., 150 billion US dollars by 2025 is just of the global e-commerce market would be driven value-added services. Customers want to have a by cross-border buying by 2022. So cross-border single third-party logistics provider who just get the buying increase at a huge proportion to the overall job done for them. This is the time you can expand global e-commerce the direct beneficiary of this your service portfolios to get in the value-added number is going to be the logistics sector. The services. By 2024, 10 billion US dollars is the nuances of the e-commerce industry and the estimated market size for digitalization and there expectations of e-commerce on logistics is are so many initiatives focused on logistics & completely different. So, this is where the service supply chain are on the pipeline. portfolio of each logistics organization now should prepare themselves for an e-commerce scenario IV. Global Sourcing such that they can get the maximum out of this boom of the global e-commerce.

Risk management leads the organizational strategy; there is a clear importance given to the risk III. Channel Inventory management tools and risk management methodologies and the first step which has been In general, Inventory is considered a Non-Value decided by most of the organizations is coming up add, Organizations were talking about just in times with an Alternate Source of Supply. This even and lean inventories; now there is a tremendous fueled the growth rate of emerging manufacturing shift towards channel inventory. hubs. India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines, Bangladesh all “Inventory is now seen as a Key Lever to service these countries have specific initiatives targeting customers On Time” which provides Competitive more and more manufacturing at their own Edge to the Supply Chain! countries.

Channel Inventory becomes a popular topic now and most Risk tools recommend Stocking Points as the Mitigation plan to ensure OTIF (On Time in Full) is Intact. This leads to strong growth in

Due to this, there will be a lot of Newer Lanes emerging with great volumes leading to a GOLD Mine of opportunities for Logistics and Supply Chain. In addition to the end to end logistics

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outsourcing, services like Load Consolidation for themselves more in terms of People, Capacity, better Logistics Cost would be a Winner.

Systems and Digitalization will have an edge over competition and they would take a Lion’s share on Summary the opportunities that would be presented by the market boom.

To summarize, once the Covid-19 weakens out, the market would revive stronger than ever. Logistics And I could not wait more to see and be part of & Supply chain would be the biggest winner and those positive times ahead! whichever organization is going to prepare COVID-19

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Emerging Managers

Mr. Vaibhav Joshi Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, Pune

Streamlining Organizational Communication

While the pace of technology innovation moves at breakneck speed and businesses rush to catch up to the latest trends, operations managers play an increasingly important role in carving out a competitive edge. As we embark on the “next normal” for businesses in a world that has been rocked by a global pandemic, operations managers are more important than ever. Operations is a broad job function. These leaders will be responsible for keeping the business running efficiently through the aftermath of COVID-19. They will also play a leading role in paving the way towards a new future for companies around the world.

Effective communication between a company and its employees enables businesses to fully tap into the unique knowledge, insights, and talents of its people. Often, the benefits stretch beyond pure profit. More open discussions help build a strong community within a firm, allowing workers to feel confident and happy, and to outperform expectations at their roles.

There are countless communication tools for office workers: Slack, Teams, Flock, etc. But in reality, these tools only get half the job done. Workplace communication technology often leaves out frontline workers who represent 80% of the global workforce. What’s more, better communication can boost a manufacturer’s bottom line by 10%.

This cost savings is the result of more timely communication between head office, team leads, and frontline workers. With less time spent in meetings, frontline managers can focus on leading their teams and improving performance, while eliminating non-value-added tasks. (Note: 71% of frontline worker’s state that new communication tools increase their productivity)

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Tools used in Streamline Organizational communications

4. Video Conferencing: Just about every business needs a reliable conferencing system, doubly so for international, large, or scattered companies.

Speaking "face-to-face" is much more meaningful and personable than a phone call or email. Services like GoToMeeting and Join.me are popular modern conferencing tools. Both allow you to "schedule conferences with multiple offices, loop in employees working remotely, and schedule meetings with clients or vendors...you can see a picture of everyone included on the call and know who is speaking at any given time, which is a huge plus for businesses that have multiple locations.

1. Company Chat: Chat programs have been around for a while; their features have changed drastically since their inception. Far beyond simply instant messaging, tools like Microsoft's Skype for Business (formerly known as Lync) allows users to connect to their Outlook calendars to automatically display when they are free or busy, view others' status notes and out of office messages, sort users into groups for easy searching and multi-user chats, archive conversations for later referencing, take advantage of peer-to-peer video-based screen sharing and conferencing, send and receive files, 5. Project Management: Effective project call and leave voicemails, and much more. management is a huge deal for many companies.

Without proper organization and communication 2. Team Surveys: Another tool that has improved projects can become delayed, exclude important the internal communication is SurveyMonkey (tool details, or fall apart altogether. There are tons of used for team survey) . Even with a staff of just over project management tools to choose from, ranging a dozen people, it can be difficult to get questions from simple to very elaborate depending on your answered by each team member in a useful time needs. Asana, Trello, BaseCamp, ZoHo, frame, especially with technicians and management Salesforce, Slack, and many many more. They all going in and out of the office frequently. offer different features and toolsets, including many outside of just project management and 3. File Sharing: it is much more simple and communication, so finding the perfect one for your productive to invest in a cloud-based storage and organization is very doable. file-sharing service such as Dropbox (tool used for file sharing). Dropbox has the ability for users to Some other ways in which streamlining access files from any device, anywhere; control the organizational communication can save time and content being shared and who is sharing it; make money by reducing. . . live edits to shared content so the latest version is • Time spent coordinating projects and tasks always being used; and offers highly secure data • Mistakes protection methods including strong encryption, • Time spent identifying and resolving issues password-protected links, and advanced access When teams are communicating, they get more controls. done and they solve problems faster.

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REFERENCE: •

https://www.beekeeper.io/blog/trends-operations-management/ This website is used for understanding the trends of operations management which will be effective post-COVID 19.

•

https://blog.techvera.com/tools-methods-streamline-company-communications This website is used for understanding the tools and methods used in Streamline company communications.

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Emerging Managers

Mr. Utkarsh Dwivedi International Management Institute, Bhubaneswar

Entrepreneurship at The Time of Crisis: Adaptability Is The Key To Survive

There is no doubt that the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus has created an Immense disturbance across the globe and is a major destabilizing threat to the global economy. The impact is so severe that many economists have compared it with the great Depression of 1929-1933.

an S&P Global report. As a result, liquidity is expected to remain tight, as the cost of borrowing in the real term is going to jump up. Banks and financial institutions will be under immense pressure as the fear of NPAs, insolvency, and bankruptcy increases multifold. The government will have more focus on the hyper demand for Consequently, the government has taken a strong essential goods while the non-essential companies initiative for containing the outbreak. will have to focus on recovering their outstanding money due to debtors.

However social distancing and lockdown have made drastic negative impacts on the supply chain However, this is just one side of the story, indeed of the FMCG, service sector, Manufacture sector, many companies could not able to bear the loss and and other sectors in the country. Logistic issues, have shut down, whereas some have transformed lack of adequate labor, operations limiting to the their business to survive. Remember the rule of production of only essential items, etc. are some of survival of the fittest, that rule also implies to the the few common examples most companies are companies, those who can adapt survive and those facing across the globe. The healthcare sector, on who wouldn’t, die. the other hand, has faced no less impact during this crisis. Staff quarantine, supply-chain failures, and So, what happened to the start-ups in India sudden reductions in customer demand have generated serious complications for companies Since 2019, with the addition of over 1,100 startacross a wider range of sectors than initially ups, India has continued to maintain its position as anticipated. The impact in the economy is expected the third-largest start-ups ecosystem in the world, to create a GDP loss of almost 11%, according to taking the total number of a tech start-up to 8,900-

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9,300 in the last five years, National Association of software and services companies (NASSCOM). In this year Indian start-up had raised over $11 billion which is 55% higher than 2018 in value and 30% higher in deal volume.

Before the pandemic outbreak, it was expected that in the next five years they would attract investment of over $21 billion, creating 550,000 direct and 1,400,000 indirect jobs, according to US-India strategic and planning Forum. However, according to a recent NASSCOM study, out of 9,300 tech start-ups, 90% plus are facing declines in revenue, about 30-40% have temporally put down shutters to their operations or they are in the threat to closing down, and 70% had a runaway of fewer than 3 months. But then, entrepreneurship is all about taking risks.

The enlisted properties will cover some holiday destinations like Bangaluru, Jaipur, Mysore, etc.

Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, Co-Founder, and CEO-Zostel addressed the travel community in his letter, “While it is true that travels & tourism is one of the worst-hit sectors by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with business relying on tourism to sustain themselves have come to a standstill, all is not lost yet. If all the players in the travel ecosystem rise to the occasion and come forward to support each other, we can ensure that all of us emerge through the incumbent crisis safe and sound”.

FabHotels

FabHotel, founded in 2014 by Wharton School alumni Vaibhav Aggarwal and Adarsh Manpouuria, has more than 600 hotels in over 60 cities, including Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, How Start-ups in India surviving themselves Chennai, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, among others. Mr.Vaibhav claims that the number of E-commerce and other online service platforms are cancellations was not as high, but they have performing work from home, which is now new stopped receiving the bookings after the 24th of normal and providing vital services in retail, health, March when business travel came to standstill. education, agriculture, finance, and marketing.

In this hard time, while some start-ups’ have However, refusing to stay down, they have decided temporarily closed or either cutting their staff pay, to launch several new innovative steps to keep the others are working hard to reinvent themselves with business afloat. Earlier in March, as people started the existing staff and client. maintaining physical distancing, FabHotel saw this as a good opportunity and launched their workFor instance from-FabHotels Campaign, which became very popular among the IT sector and other service Zostel provider companies.

Zostel, a Gurugram based hospitality chain has innovated by starting #Movein campaign to celebrate the spirit of the Travellers by offering staycation and workstation packages after months of lockdown, which gives options of 15 days, 21 days and 30 days packages at its various enlisted properties starting from 13th of July 2020.

Apart from this FabHotels has also tied up with Hospitals like AIIMS, Apollo Hospitals, RML Hospitals, Dr. Lal PathLabs, etc providing them sanitized stays for Medical personnel, right now 80 FabHotels properties are hosting medical staff and the rates for the medical staff are heavily discounted. It is not wrong to say that this campaign has become boon for the FabHotels as they not only

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survived from this crisis but also increase their revenue by 3x from April to May this year.

Edu-Tech Start-up Now if we talk about the Edu-tech startup-like BYjus, Grade-up, and Unacademy, they took initiatives while colleges and schools are closed down during the lockdown and helped students to cope up with their studies during the crisis. They have filled the gap between students and teachers by providing them online classes that are safe and can get students hooked to learning. Gradeup launched the #padhainhirukegi campaign which aims to cover the topic that is covered in two months at the school. Similarly, BYjus,toppr, and Unacademy have given free access to the student for their online classes so that they can continue their studies. Now by taking this step, these Edutech companies have undoubtedly increased traffic to their apps and websites.

For Delivery partners 1) Rider relief fund 2) COVID Insurance, so that no delivery partners force themselves to work if they infected by COVID 19 For Restaurant Partners and Restaurant workers 1) Providing extra Gold membership to the partners 2) Takeaways For Underprivileged Community 1) Feed the Daily Wager by Delivery Rations to them.

2) Food Security campaign by Zomato to ensure the quality of food.

Indian Entrepreneurs are always been know for their resilience and their “Never-say-die” attitude.

As Ratan Tata says, “Ups and Downs in life are There is no doubt companies like Zomato, Swiggy very important to keep us going because a straight and other restaurant aggregator start-up are the one line even in an ECG means we are not alive.” of those who has the worst hit by this crisis, But even after this they rose and support each other. So, what do surviving start-ups have in common?

Zomato and Swiggy has stepped up for their How they have managed or say survived in this customer, their delivery partners, Restaurant critical situation? Well if you observe, there are partners, and worker, Underprivileged community some patterns that they followed and Corona patients by running several campaigns like 1. Care for the customer.

2. Meet your customer’s Need.

For customers 3. Engage and Connect with your community.

4. Adopt innovative, cost-effective solutions 1) Contactless Delivery to the customer by without sacrificing experience.

Leaving their order in front of their door.

2) Delivering grocery Taking a proactive step to understand the 3) Disabling COD customer’s and employees' pain points and partner 4) Assured of the safety and Hygiene standard with them to identify the alternative solution to of the food their problems without sacrificing the quality, would be the way to move forward in this crisis. In Restaurant and Transportation start-up

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the time of crisis, we should be Creative, proactive, with our customers and communities will always and Resourceful, as the current crisis will one day endure. come to an end but the relationships that we made

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Emerging Managers

Mr. Aditya Dandina ICFAI Business School Hyderabad

Supremacy to the Online Wholesalers - A Disintermediation or a Reintermediation in the Supply Chain?

With more than 13 million mom and pop stores India surpasses even countries like China, and the demand that is originated from these stores is highly fragmented. Individually a small store, but collectively very large. Millions of mom and pop stores are facing unusual supply chain constraints due to current crisis and stock-outs are bound to happen, failing to fulfill customer’s needs.

stores. The marketplace platform that these companies provide connects these stores to brand and staple producers. They offer a single platform for these stores to place an order for all the goods of all FMCG brands and lets them to track their stock in order to identify their re-order point, which even enable them to forecast demand in the region using data science.

Source: Redseer Consulting

Company Profiles

This mom and pop stores have come a long way and the time has come where their dependency on a fleet of salesman servicing the outlet can be an alternative and the registering with the online wholesalers could reduce this confusion of storing plenty of bills from various distributors and the delivery constraints. The recent startups have built businesses on online wholesaling of grocery which has proved very essential during this time of COVID-19 crisis for the mom and pop grocery stores. Distributor’s efficiency to supply goods to all shops have reduced in the last 4 months. The online wholesalers have jumped and made businesses around digitalizing the mom and pop

Jumbotail Established in 2015, Startup based in Bangalore that caters to the wholesalers and the mom and pop stores for supplying grocery/daily essentials.

Known for digitalizing and organizing the Mom and pop stores. They use technology such as data science and design to anticipate demand in a specific region and do predictive analysis.

Ninjacart Established in 2015, Startup based in Bangalore that covers the fruit and vegetables segment.

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Ninjacart connects the farmers and the retailers.

Brand themselves as fresh produce supply Chain Company. There is a win-win situation for both the parties, 20% more revenue for the farmers and fresh supply of goods to retailers.

Efficient deliveries During this time of COVID-19, as the distributors face difficulties servicing all the outlets these ewholesalers have ensured that they are covered and have sufficient stock to meet demand.

MaxWholesale Data science and Insights Delhi based startup that caters to mom & pop stores and wholesalers in grocery items. Known for better price, better reach, more choice and convenience.

Enables right working capital based on payment history. Using proprietary algorithms it helps predict demand and reduce wastage for an outlet.

Udaan

Companies like MaxWholesale and Jumbotail have used data science for the stores to anticipate demand, check out most selling SKU, reduce wastage, ideal quantity to stock, demand fluctuations etc.

Quality Sourcing Established in 2016, A B2B online platform that caters to small and medium retailers across India. It Ensuring the stores get high quality products by deals with electronics, apparels, footwear and home taking measures like inspection and quality check & kitchen supplies. It ensures delivery of the processes. product, credit facility and returns.

Capital Credit Peel Works By tying up with various fin-tech platforms, they Established in 2010, Headquartered in Mumbai. have availed the capital credit facilities for various Focused on catering to the corner stores. Deals with stores according to their performance. grocery and FMCG goods. The USP includes 24 hour replenishment cycle, Offers loans to Mom and Lack of technological knowledge pops and look to serve even the smallest of stores with minimum purchase orders. They operate on Majority of the Kirana shops owners being from the top tier cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi less educated sector, would find it very difficult to and Chennai. make digitalized advancements to their business and would take long hours teaching them to do it.

Online Wholesalers Vs Distributors Distributors Online Wholesalers Dominance of distributors Consolidation of Invoices By an online wholesaler acting as a middleman they The companies usually set up distributions units in tend to integrate all the bills from all the companies all regions for better reachability, online and single digitalized invoice is generated which marketplaces might have a huge challenges to makes it easier for a store owner to keep track. replace them because of their familiarity.

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Distributors offer a personal touch

of payments since January. Future of wholesale puts a greater dependency on automation help, increase speed and communication which will keep your supply chain free of any snags. The future certainly lies with digitalization as it is a growing trend and many companies have come into the Fintech sector to enable this transition.

Usually the salesmen would build a good rapport with shopkeepers and maintain a healthy relationship, while the distributors give a surety.

Loyalty points and better schemes. The distributors usually have various offers which would entitle an outlet to earn more and get more margins as the quantity goes higher. The loyalty programme will Let’s come back to the title “Disintermediation or a enable members to earn points on purchases and Reintermediation of a Supply chain of channel earns them gifts.

Many distributors are supported by their companies Extended credit periods in their set up and the brands respectively help the distributors and give them certain targets to achieve Standard credit period for essential items range in the respective locality. Due to restrictive from 7-21 days. While having a salesmen service channels and a diminished supply from the your outlet you could suggest for extension of time distributors are the online wholesalers going to for payment and it would be granted also. replace them or are they going to be working Awareness and Knowledge about products together in the same channel in the long run.

When there are new product launches or change in scheme rates the distributors would keep updating Another possibility where the Indian’s mega the shopkeeper with such news, which usually the company Reliance Jio is looking to knock players shopkeeper doesn’t keep track of such things. of this platform, after they have sold 9.9% stake to Facebook which would give them an opportunity to Road Ahead ignite Whatsapp, the easiest chatting tool used by more than 300 million people in India and would in It could be the millennial influence or growing turn make it easier for the shopkeepers of Mom and influence of digitalization has witnessed four-fold pop stores to keep track of orders or to take orders growth in the last 4 months. Paytm announced that from customers. its ‘Business Khata’ had recorded over 1500 crore

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