CREST Oct 2010 by Zigu MBA

Issue 11

Consulting Research Entrepreneurship Strategy

Oct ‘10

CREST The E-Magazine of CRESCENT, XLRI

y g e t a r t s t u o b a n r a e ? l S e E w I o G d G t Wha m these BI fro Prize Winning Articles from ‘Writing Spree’ inside

THIS ISSUE...

Crescent The Committee for Research, Strategy, Consulting and Entrepreneurship (CRESCENT) is the result of the endeavor of the student community of XLRI to promote an environment of creative solution building amongst the students of the institute, while

Features What makes a great place to work! | Page 2 Neeti Kumar explores how employers can make their workplace a preferred place to work in

reaffirming high ethical stan-

McKinsey on McKinsey| Page 3

dards and values, and foster-

Mahim Monga writes about what keeps McKinsey ahead of competition

ing personal development in the pursuit of excellence. It

How I managed to become Mr. Popular! | Page 11

works with the two fold

Maneesh Dhooper explains how facebook has succeeded in keeping users glued to its site

agenda of creating a brand presence of XLRI among the corporate and to help nurture ideas of budding entrepreneurs by providing a platform to them to showcase

From the Editor’s Desk... CRESCENT welcomes you all to the new issue of CREST. In this issue, we focus on the all the factors that have kept firms at the top of the value chain in their respective industries.

their Ideas.

Editorial Team Miti Vaidya Neeti Kumar Siddhartha Saran Urshila Ghag

We were having a discussion as a team on the strategies which the top firms such as McKinsey and facebook have deployed over the years which have always kept them ahead of competition. During the discussion, the idea came up “Why not open the topic to some of the best minds in the country and invite articles from them?” We decided to come up with the “Writing Spree” and we are pleased to inform you that we were overwhelmed with the number of entries we received. This issue we look at the two best articles which explain in detail the McKinsey and the facebook strategies to stay at the top. There is also an article on how an organization can ensure a great working environment and retain top talent. The editorial team would once again like to thank all of you for participating in the “Writing Spree” and would love to get your feedback on this issue. Do write to us on crest.xlri@gmail.com. Happy reading!

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What makes a Great Place to Work! In this article Neeti Kumar* explores what makes a great workplace and how even in tough times employers can maintain a great workplace atmosphere . Today companies are talking about building the right organizational culture to sustain and grow in this era of intense competition. Studies show that Fortune 100 best companies are very good employers. These companies also see fewer turnovers than others. Culture is a product of values and defines the vision of a company. One of the important aspects of any culture is to maintain and nurture relationships. How an employee feels about his workplace is determined by its culture also. A study by Great Place to Work Institute India in partnership with Economic Times indicates that India’s economic performance has gone up but employee perceptions have gone down. Perceptions at lower levels have dipped down the most. Only very large organizations have been relatively unaffected. The study has covered 395 registrations and over 53,000 companies and is the largest study on workplace culture in India. Employees’ responses were captured through 60 statements. Even sentiment and buzz analysis of comments of employees were done. The top words of what makes your organization a great place are culture, freedom, atmosphere, care, fun, home. While the top words which can make an organization a good place to work are salary, promotion, hr, benefits. The study measured the trust index and culture index of companies. Trust is the key driver of any great place to work for. A good manager – employee relationship, where an employee can openly communicate with his manager and convey his concerns and apprehensions, is important. Expectation of fair appraisal, integrity and equity are crucial for nurturing a good relationship. Other important factor is environment in the workplace. A good camaraderie with other employees makes a healthy workplace. Giving professional support to each other and collaborating to produce results demonstrate respect for each other. All these add up to pride for the job, team & organization and make a great workplace. As it is said that the true color of a relationship comes in testing times, how a company treats its employees in tough times shows how much it really values them. While the focus of many companies has been to retain the critical employees by offering them financial benefits, a study by Mckinsey has shown that there are cheaper and more effective ways to retain good employees. The HR and line managers should recognize good employees (this is more inclusive than just critical employees) by considering two parameters. ∗ ∗

Assess the impact of departure of employee on the business The probability that the employee in question might leave

Once the hidden gems have been recognized, companies should tailor retention approaches to the mind-set and motivations of specific employees. There are some things money can’t buy; an employee’s loyalty is one of them. By creating a great workplace and nurturing it, an employer can earn an employee’s loyalty. Inputs from India’s Best Companies to Work for – 2010 Study, Mckinsey Quarterly, Organizational Alignment by Donald T. Tosti and Stephanie F. Jackson.

Neeti Kumar is a first year PGD-PMIR student at XLRI Jamshedpur. She has done her engineering in IT from NSIT, Delhi. She has worked as a Technology Consultant with CSC and is a founder member of an online startup, Chotanarad.com. She can be reached at p10092@astra.xlri.ac.in.

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Mckinsey on Mckinsey! Mahim Mongia analyses why Mckinsey is the No. 1 Management Consulting Firm by using Mckinsey’s 7S framework. This article was the winning article in CREST’s ‘Writing Spree’ . Think management consulting, and the chances are high that the first name that comes to your mind is McKinsey&Company. Founded in 1926 by James O.McKinsey, it has grown in these 75 years to become a global partnership firm with three of the world’s five largest companies and two-thirds of the fortune 1000 companies as its clients. It is the preferred employer for the Ivy League management graduates as well as B-School students in India. With some of the greatest management thinkers as its alumni, it has been truly a global think tank that has shaped some of the world’s greatest global organizations. But what makes this consultancy firm so unique? What is its distinct competitive advantage and core competence? What if the same strategy principles McKinsey applies to global organizations for analysis, are applied to the firm itself? McKinsey had introduced its 7S framework in the late 70’s as a means to analyze how well an organization is positioned to achieve its objective. This framework holds good even today and is applied widely by McKinsey for consulting assignments. This first part of the article (What makes McKinsey “McKinsey”?) will analyze McKinsey’s success using the same framework and enumerate the factors which keep it at the top of the consulting world. Competition is unavoidable in the today’s globalized world, and there are hardly any sectors which have a monopoly. This holds true even for the management consulting field which is dominated by BCG, Bain & Co., Booz Allen & Hamilton, Monitor Group, AT Kearney as the top notch strategy consultants and McKinsey’s key competitors. There are challenges ahead for the firm in specific and the economy in general. The second part of the article (The “McKinsey” Way Forward) will deal with these challenges and an analysis of where the competitors are heading to and where McKinsey should move in order to maintain its position in the future. What makes McKinsey “McKinsey”? The question that how well an organization is positioned to achieve its intended strategic objectives has been approached in various ways. Michael Porter’s 5-forces, VRIO Framework, Core Competence and every B-School student’s favorite SWOT are some of the popular approaches which look at internal factors, external factors and combination of these perspectives to analyze an organization. These approaches look for congruence between various aspects of an organization being studied. The main issue which needs attention is that out of a plethora of factor in a complex organization, which are the few which need to be focused upon? McKinsey 7S Framework is one such model which has stood the test of time and persisted while some other models of organizational effectiveness have gone in and out of fashion. 3

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When introduced in the late 1970s, the 7-S framework was a turning point in thinking about organizational effectiveness. Featured in the book In Search of Excellence, by former McKinsey consultants Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, the framework maps a constellation of interrelated factors that influence an organization's ability to change. These factors are evergreen, simple, easy to remember and effective in understanding an organization. Some 30 years later, 7-S remains an important tool to understand the complexity of organizations. The basic premise of the model is that there are seven internal aspects of an organization that need to be aligned if it is to be successful. The lack of hierarchy among these factors suggests that significant progress in one part of the organization will be difficult without working on the others. A circle opposed to a pyramid, indicates that all work together in tandem.

The factors can be categorized as “Hard” elements and “Soft” elements. "Hard" elements are easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them: These are strategy statements; organization charts and reporting lines; and formal processes and IT systems. "Soft" elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible and more influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elements if the organization is going to be successful.

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7S Framework on McKinsey Let’s now look at McKinsey from the perspective of the seven factors: 1. STRATEGY Strategy can be defined as a coherent set of actions aimed at gaining a sustainable advantage over competition. McKinsey is known as a strategy firm – strategic consulting being its core competence- its consultants usually are engaged to help create long-term strategic plans for a company, product or operation. In most cases, consultants work with senior-level executives at client companies. It clearly demands a premium for the customer value proposition it provides. It’s into the business of selling strategy and business ideas in diverse domains ranging from aerospace to technology on the basis of rigorous analysis. It doesn’t intend to provide end-to-end business solutions and be present in the downstream consulting value chain. McKinsey endures an ultimate brand name which needs no marketing- it shuns publicity of any kind. It has a relationship driven approach to marketing since many ex-McKinsey consultants serve on company boards (up to a third of all boards, according to some estimates), the firm has long -term ties and relationships with CEOs at many major organizations. It is one of the most powerful firms with an ability to influence business and institutions and hence its business model is based on a PULL from the client rather than a PUSH approach. 2. STRUCTURE Structure refers to the organization chart showing who reports to whom and how tasks are divided up and integrated at the same time. McKinsey is a largely non-hierarchical, decentralized group of knowledge workers connected by shared values and a multitude of informational axes. It is a flatter organization which minimizes hierarchy- a place where an idea coming from an associate carries an equal weightage to that coming from a director. At the same time there is a chain of command, where Director and to a lesser extent the Partners make decisions about the firm which the Engagement Manager, Associates, Analysts and Support Staff are free within that boundary. It also follows an unofficial meritocratic hierarchy where experience and credentials of stellar associates is respected and promoted. For any engagement, the best people from any of the locations are chosen for the delivery team as per the client requirements. 3. SYSTEMS Systems refer to the processes and procedures through which the things get done from day to day. McKinsey has a very strong problem solving process which has three attributes: •

Fact Based

•

Rigidly Structured

•

Hypothesis Driven

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The three step process of analyzing the facts rigorously, generating the hypothesis and testing the hypothesis is strictly followed. While approaching any client problem, McKinsey doesn’t jump to solutions immediately- it diagnoses if the client is targeting the right problem or not and hence digs deeper. The 80/20 rule is extensively applied in the process as a powerful rule of thumb. The McKinsey models and frameworks are developed and honed to solve client problems in a focused way. The members share a structured problem solving approach where all opinions and options are considered, researched and analyzed carefully before recommendations are made. 4. SHARED VALUES Shared Values refer to those ideas of what is right and desirable which are typical of the organization and followed by most of its members. McKinsey believes in certain set of beliefs which are never compromised. It believes in the power of one firm and fosters teamwork and collaboration. “WE” comes before “I” in McKinsey, and hence a non competing environment where brainstorming leads to better ideas It puts the client interest before its own, always behaves as professionals, keeps client information confidential at all costs, tells the truth as it sees it and delivers in the most cost effective manner to the client as it can. This builds a relationship of trust and lasts in a long term association enhancing its image as an advisor and a counselor further in the world. 5. SKILLS Skills refer to the capabilities posses by the organization as a whole as well as by the individuals. McKinsey pays a premium to analytic ability and the brightest minds from diverse educational and cultural backgrounds. It follows a tough selection process which chooses the best from the Ivy Leagues as well as outside US. The associates have to continuously update themselves. McKinsey positions itself as the repository of all business information and theory worth knowing. McKinsey's annual expenditures on knowledge is more than $50 million, much of it spent on conferences, research projects, and intra firm communication. Its India based research centre is especially established for churning out research. It has a systematic knowledge building into its institutional portfolio. McKinsey also runs what amounts to its own business press, churning out, in addition to its widely followed McKinsey Quarterly, hundreds of pamphlets, magazines, papers, and articles a year. Partners individually publish a lot of books and research. 6. STYLES Styles refer to the way managers collectively behave with respect to time, attention and symbolic actions. McKinsey follows a democratic and participative leadership environment where merit is respected and all are encouraged to share ideas and opinions. Team performance is important for achieving client service- and hence collaboration is encouraged though leadership style. 7. STAFF

Staff refers to the people in the organization considered in terms of corporate demographics and not individual personalities. McKinsey considers itself to be a network of high performing individuals with leadership potential, integrity, a sharp analytical mind, creativity and ability to work with people from all levels in the organization.

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The “McKinsey” Way Forward The much celebrated McKinsey is perhaps the most well-known, most secretive, most high-priced, most prestigious, most consistently successful, most envied, most trusted, most disliked management consulting firm on earth. For all that might appear absolutely perfect, the firm does face challenges which need to be addressed by it. Challenges 1. McKinsey firm is known to have an elitist tendency which has lead to arrogance in a lot of associates- a potential situation when they can be blinded by their own limitations. A sense of being always right is not good for the firm to provide solutions. It is considered not to be a very open organization. Even from the client side, what they see is the tip of the iceberg. It might suffer from some of the same ailments that eventually brought some of its clients down. The chance of being a monolith trapped in its own world might do more harm than good. 2. McKinsey is dominated by white young men with very less non Americans. It consciously needs to have more racial and gender diversity. The appointment of Rajat Gupta as the CEO in late 90’s was the first step in that direction. 3. McKinsey needs to keep its essence intact while it grows in the future and evolve without losing its unique culture and values inspite of the scale and complexity involved. It needs to be more professional in its approach. 4. McKinsey earns much of its money showing other companies how to become more efficient yet in its own affairs scorns efficiency, choosing to run itself through a seemingly endless chain of committees. It needs to focus on cutting flab and being lean and mean. 5. McKinsey is supposed to have the best brains in the industry with great analytic minds. It follows a cookie cutter approach to recruitment where one McKinsey-ite is no different from another. In this process, certain creative individuals might not come on board. It needs to change this approach and be more diverse in this sense as well, apart from racial and gender diversity 6. While McKinsey’s core strength lies in its rigorous analysis, the organizations now days face more challenges in strategy implementation which is a lot dependent on organization and leadershipa “soft” factor relatively ignored for “hard” factor like analysis etc. It needs to focus on providing insights to the top management on organization front. 7. The recent case of Anil Kumar- an eminent partner of the firm is the first case of security violation and client breach of trust. It needs to make sure that such incidents are not repeated in the futures and its value system is protected. Emerging Opportunities 1. China and India- the future growth engines of the global economy provide an opportunity to be exploited fully. In the next five years, they together will have 900 million consumers- three times the US market. Also, the numbers of affluent citizens are more than any other country except US, UK and Japan. Sheer numbers here present a great market for consulting organizations.

2. Public policy, climate change, water crisis provide a potential opportunity with huge potential for consulting.

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3. Small and mid-sized companies in Asia provide a potential business opportunity since they are the major chunk of the organizations requiring help. Cost is one big hindrance for such organizations to involve consults like McKinsey About McKinseyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Competition

Time for a Change 1. While 80% of its assignments come through referrals, the firm has been not very active at growing the 20% for which it has to compete. As in the future, organizations gear up for more complexity, they might prefer a different perspective and drift away from sticking to just one consulting firm. Future business might come more from competitive bidding than reference. It needs to consider marketing as an option now. 2. Organizations in Asia are in a growing phase and might require solutions different from those provided to mature organizations in US and Europe. For this, it needs to increase Asia focussed research and build capability to understand the complex business environment here. Also, the priorities of Asian organizations, plagued by qualified managerial manpower shortage might be to grab immediate opportunities than long term strategy- which is the speciality of McKinsey. It needs to consider tweaking its solutions to suit the Asian needs. 3. Post the financial crisis and recent slowdown, there has been introspection by the organizations on what lies ahead and how to have sustainable growth. The financial system needs a new infrastructure, and a new paradigm of ethical growth with sound decision ability has to be ushered. With its influential power, McKinsey can be bringing the era of the next level of management thinking. Also, economic downturn is still to be solved. A lot of the recent improvements have come from cost reductions, not revenue improvements. Companies and governments need to focus on this issue as well, where McKinsey can engage them. 8

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4. Energy sustainability, climate change, water shortage crisis are glaring issues facing the earth today. Climate change is a both a massive challenge and a big opportunity. Water is a looming crisis: a recent McKinsey report forecasts that global water demand will rise 40% over the next 20 years. Providing frameworks for these areas would be a good move to gain the first mover advantage. 5. Many of the biggest challenges demand co-ordination between business and governments, requiring thinkers and managers who can span the corporate, public and social spheres. McKinsey has cultivated all three arenas. Its work with governments comprises a fifth of its revenues, and its growing fast. The firm is modernizing the education system in Saudi Arabia, revamping health-care delivery in Egypt and designing new training methods for medical staff in Tanzania. It needs to broaden its partnerships on public-sector issues and go after these opportunities aggressively. 6. Small and mid size companies’ pie is one area McKinsey can look into. Already in India, firms like Milagrow have started which provide SME focussed solutions for various areas of business problems. McKinsey can have a “low-budget” solution approach for such emerging economies like India, where they provide minimal no-frills solution to the SME and partner with small consultancies to let them implement the solution. It might sound to be against the culture of “elitist” McKinsey but this is where the future lies. Conclusion Despite its criticisms, McKinsey is highly profitable and largely recession-proof organization. Its revenues are estimated to have grown more than 12% in 2008. It is a successful institution which is revered and influential. As they say- those at the top also need to reinvent, McKinsey- though a clear leader, should think about strategies for keeping pace with change to continue enjoying its sacrosanct status. References “The McKinsey Way” by Ethan M Rasiel https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/wrapper.aspx?ar=2123&story=true&url=http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Enduring_ideas_The_7S_Framework_2123%3fpagenum%3d1%23interactive_7s&pgn=frameworks_7S http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/strategy-consulting-in-india/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company http://mckinsey.com/ http://www.kelloggforum.org/top-10-consulting-firms/ http://www.canadianbusiness.com/managing/strategy/article.jsp?content=20100113_10019_10019&page=3 http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/industries/industry-profile/Consulting---Management--and--Strategy? industryId=266&search_result_id=266&POPULAR_TRACKIDG=TRUE&assignid=266&page_type=industry&search_type=employer_review&rank ingId1=266 http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_91.htm http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1993/11/01/78550/index.htm

Mahim Mongia is currently a second-year HR student at SIBM Pune. He can be reached at mahimmongia@gmail.com

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How I managed to become Mr. Popular! In this article Maneesh Dhooper tells the Facebook Story. Hi! I am Facebook. If you are above 13 years of age and have access to the Internet, you would most probably have visited my blue and white residence in the city of ‘World Wide Web’. I might also feature the most in your web history and also in that of over 500 million people worldwide. People call me a ‘Child Protégée’. I am just 6 years old, yet I have given a whole new meaning to modern communication. Till recently, ‘feed’ was something that one ate, a ‘wall’ was something on which a house was built, a ‘tag’ was a piece of paper that was pinned to our shirts in kindergarten. I gave confused lovers a new name to describe their relationship – ‘Its Complicated’. I showed people a whole new way to ‘like’ the world. I am the most popular student at my school, ‘Social Media %etworking’. In February 2010, I had about 134 million unique friends. My closest rivals (May God bless them!) MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn had 51 million, 23 million and 15 million unique friends respectively. I must confess that I was quite overwhelmed as well as curious. And like any other 6-year-old kid, I approached my father, Mark Zuckerberg, a billionaire and a Harvard dropout. I was surprised to discover that my popularity was not the result of complicated strategic models. Instead, it was a result of simple learning from real life situations. After all, the best things in the world are simple! To explain, I shall break my school’s name into ‘Social’, ‘Media’ and ‘.etworking’ and analyze learning from real life and correlate it with concepts in Strategy. Social 1) Learning from Real Life Birds of a feather flock together

Jargon in Strategy Segmental Focus

Unlike my classmates, I was born in a dorm at the Harvard University. I made a humble beginning by placing the photographs of two students together and asking people to chose the ‘hotter’ of the two. Through this, I had achieved a unique feat – getting half of the students of the Harvard University on a single platform within just one month! This was the first time the intellect pool of a top university had collaborated online! Soon, I was introduced to the students of Stanford, Columbia, Yale and later to all Ivy League colleges. I had fulfilled a very important need in the lives of the university students – the need to collaborate on one common platform. Students could get connected only through their university IDs. This had two fold advantages – i) Easy to connect – The University IDs made it easy for people from the same university to connect. New entrants were automatically added to the university networks. They were saved the pain of searching for their friends. ii) Stronger Bonding – The people who had connected online through me were REAL FRIENDS who ACTUALLY knew each other. Unlike my rivals, who brought together unknown people, the people networked through me were people who had a lot in common, hence building stronger bonds.

Hence, I focused my attention on reaching out to similar people, with similar interests and help them connect easily. MySpace and Orkut banked upon diverse people to bond together on their own.

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2) Learning from Real Life

Jargon in Strategy

Make friends with the most intelligent person in the class

Exclusivity / Top Down Approach

Next, I offered my services to some of the exclusive companies, such as Apple and Microsoft. A high school version of the website was also launched. Hence, in a systematic way, I was able to get the crème la crème of the society aboard. This was a group of dynamic and educated people, who were the future trendsetters. My rivals on the other hand, focused on gathering the masses, while I chose to remain elitist.

3) Learning from Real Life The grass is always greener on the other side

Jargon in Strategy Aspirational Value

It is a human tendency to WANT what one CANNOT have. Humans want to achieve their ideal self -image. Because very few people possess an Apple Mac, they have a certain value attached to possessing a Mac. This value is known as Aspirational Value. In spite of my increasing popularity, I had remained elitist. Trespassers were a strict no! I had soon become the aspiration for those who could not join me. Amidst great excitement and media hype, I opened my doors to the general public on 26th September 2006. 4) Learning from Real Life Herd Mentality – “My friends are preparing for an MBA; I will also prepare for an MBA.”

Jargon in Strategy Social Compulsion

As the general public started joining my ‘elitist’ group, their peers also felt the need to be a part of this new wave. Under the fear of being left out, they too joined the group. This is known as Social Compulsion. Within a year of opening my doors to the general public, my popularity increased from 12 million in September 2006 to 50 million in October 2007. 5) Learning from Real Life One in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Jargon in Strategy Security

As my friend circle expanded, it was imperative that I provided security to all. I had a two-fold task: Preventing members of one group from the other – I had developed a strict ‘Privacy Policy’, under which the information about the users would be kept private and not shared with those from other groups. Orkut and MySpace failed to provide such a security to their users.

Preventing members from Application Developers (such as Farmville) – I do not allow the developers to become too strong or to have control over user information. I have maintained strict ‘Developer Principles and Policies’, which has enabled me to have a control over user experience and maintain a high standard.

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6) Learning from Real Life Pick the best players in your team

Jargon in Strategy Attracting Key Talent

In view of the dynamic nature of the industry, I have followed the policy of “acq-hire”, i.e. hiring experts through acquisitions. I have made five such acquisitions in the past six months, including the acquisition of ‘Hot Potato’ $10 million. Media Learning from Real Life

Jargon in Strategy

I prefer a supermarkets over several separate shops

Integrated Approach

Mr. Popular is a difficult contest after all! There are several aspirants offering specialized services. For example, Flicker offers ‘Photo Sharing’, Youtube offers ‘Video Sharing’, ‘Wordpress’ offers ‘Blogging’, Twitter offers ‘Micro Blogging’, Zapak offers ‘Online Gaming’. However, I follow the ‘Integrated Approach’. I decided to offer ALL the social media at one single package. .etworking 1) Learning from Real Life Share a rumor with a student and the entire school knows by the evening!

Jargon in Strategy .etwork Effect

My popularity can be attributed to – Elite people initiate a chain reaction – By having elite, intellectual trendsetters in my team, I ensured that every person attracts multiple persons. This initiated a chain reaction, leading to a growth of 10 times from 2007 to 2010. %ew companies join; attract more people – With my growing influence over the world, many companies have started maintaining their presence. Slogans such as ‘We are now on Facebook’ have become quite common. 2) Learning from Real Life If one member of the family has a cold, the entire family catches a cold!

Jargon in Strategy Viral Tools

While my rivals Orkut and Myspace were quite static, I made my groups more Dynamic. a) Feeds – Earlier, people used to visit their friends for the latest news in their lives. I brought all the news about all the friends at the doorstep of the person through news feeds. b) Status Updates – Once, a friend of mine had a status update of “F grade in Accountancy :( ” at an Instant Messenger. And then suddenly, like the classical Newton and the apple story, an idea struck me. I integrated all the instant messenger updates as a part of my offerings. Essentially, I made the exit-curve impossible for anyone to breach. 12

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3) Learning from Real Life Who has the time to switch on the laptop?

Jargon in Strategy Mobile Penetration

I have tried to do anything I can to extend my real-world social graph and simple communication features using the mobile web. Today, I have 100 million mobile users with me. Challenges As the modern day Robert Frost would have said, “The FB users are lovely, smart and sweet, But I have huge private data to keep, And if applications leave me, I won’t sleep, If Applications leave me, I won’t sleep”. Hence, the challenges that I face are – i. Control over too much user information – How to effectively utilize this information without hurting the privacy sentiments. ii. Too much dependence on Application Developers for revenue - If the application developers leave me, I will be in deep trouble. Logging Out of Facebook! The beauty of nature is such that the systems keep on changing, but the essence remains the same – be it mechanical, electronic, magnetic, economic or even social systems! What I did was not rocket science. I simply analyzed the key elements of a ‘real social system’ and applied them to the ‘virtual social system’. Lastly, reiterating in true Facebook style,

References: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics http://graphics.ms/blog/877-social-networking-statistics-2010/ Ibid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Facebook http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Facebook http://cdubya.typepad.com/chris/2006/08/aspirational_ma.html http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=2210227130 http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline#!/press/info.php?timeline http://www.facebook.com/policy.php http://developers.facebook.com/policy/ http://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/careers/facebooks-growth-strategy-acq-.php#bottom http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?timeline#!/press/info.php?timeline http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/04/09/facebooks-mobile-focus/

Maneesh Dhooper is currently a first-year PGDPMIR student at XLRI. He can be reached at p10030@astra.xlri.ac.in 13

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CRESCENT MEMBERS Faculty Advisor Prof. Munish Thakur

Secretary Mohammed Sadique Quraishi

Senior Executive Members Aalok Sanghvi Miti Vaidya Nitin Agarwal Siddhesh Ajgaonkar Vikas Kedia Vikram Singh Rathore

Junior Executive Members Namrata Singh Neeti Kumar Rama Krishna Chava Rohnak Shah Shashwat Sahai Siddhartha Saran Urshila Ghag

CRESCENT e-mail id crescent@xlri.ac.in

Cover Photo Courtesy Karthik Srinivasan

The Editorial Team of Crest invites articles from readers for publication in forthcoming issues. If you have articles/ experiences/ studies to share in the areas of consulting, entrepreneurship, research or strategy, please do send them in to crest.xlri@gmail.com mentioning your name and institute name.

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Oct 2010