Kaivalyam

Trends in technology has enabled companies to take customized or diverse orders from customers. Internet has also created many opportunities for companies to make mass customization easier. In the HBR article by Pine and Boynton, they explains how continuous improvement and mass customization are different. They also point out that continuous improvement should be should be a pre-requisite for mass customization. Toyota failed to differentiate mass customization and continuous improvement. They found out hard way that these two concepts are different in terms organizational structures, training, management and customer relations. In my opinion, mass customization in one way reduces waste expenditures and creates value for customers by giving them what they want. On the other hand, there are challenges such as finding right workforce with vast amount of creativity, flexibility, breaking cross functional teams, long response times etc that are all required to make mass customization...

I  recently listened to a HR Break Room podcast where Barbara Corcoran was interviewed. She is the founder of The Corcoran Group and investor on ABC’s famous S hark Tank show. The podcast discusses about tips for leading effective organizational changes and the critical role of communication in transformation. It talks about how technology in workplace affects different demographics along with how HR can use technology for better opportunities and emerge as strategic leaders. Interesting facts Barbara Corcoran borrowed $1000 and quit job as a waitress to start a tiny real estate company in NYC. Her company is the pioneer in selling real estate on internet and identified the use of internet technology in their business. Few take away from the podcast are as follows: Transformation and Communication Transformation and communication should go hand in hand. Change or transformation is essential that if not implemented well, organizations disappear. She points ou...

Humans need to feel a sense of belonging among social groups, which was provided previously by close knit communities. With the decrease in these kinds of communities, companies should strive to promote community culture by helping employees with childcare. The HR over Coffee podcast mentions that parents spend an average of USD 28,000 every year on childcare expenses and is one of the largest expenses that families incur. An SHRM article , mentions that companies like American Express, Credit Susie Bank started offering out of box childcare benefits for their employees such as paying for nannies who accompany their employees when they bring their children on business trips, offering recognition program where employees can earn points that they can redeem for merchandise, gift cards etc The same podcast mentions the following as some of the childcare benefits that companies can offer: Flexible work options and generous Paid time off Parents have to balance work and personal l...

Yes, that’s right … Alexa is the new Santa Claus for the present generation kids! With voice assistants in every home, it became easier for children to order for toys of their choice. Even those children that are too young to spell, have made their way to ordering Alexa to bring them toys and candy. According to WSJ article ,   Brenda Dickson’s 3 year old and 6 year old children almost bought 100 boxes of jelly beans. Dickson heard the kids asking Alexa and managed to cancel the order immediately. Unlike Brenda Dickson’s children, Zibby Owen’s son successfully managed to place orders on Amazon. Owen’s son who is only 4 years old uses her ipad to watch “Paw Patrol” show and somehow figured out to to use microphone and placed orders for his favorite Paw Patrol toys!   Owen realized it only after multiple boxes were delivered to her house but, she let her son keep few toys and returned others. She also made sure to delete shopping app in her ipad. Picture of orders place...

Time Value of Money (TVM) is the concept where investors prefer the idea of receiving money now than in the future. For example, if you are given the option of choosing to receive $1000 today or $1000 after 2 years, it is better to choose receiving $1000 today because it has more value and utility. The money can be used to re-invest and gain interest. TVM can be broken down to Present value (PV) and Future Value (FV).  Present Vale and Future Value Present value helps us understand how much the cash that will be received in future is worth today. Future value helps us determine how much the cash received today is worth in future. Both PV and FV can be determined with the help of formulas below. PV = FV / (1+ r)^ t  FV = PV * (1 + r) ^t  where, FV = Future value of money PV = Present value of money r = interest rate t = number of years Conclusion Just as the phrase “time is money”, the value of the money that we have today wil...

Statistics in Business I really wonder why I hated numbers and math as a child. Probably it required me to think or because it was cool to be part of “math hating” group in school or because I never liked my math teachers. Although I always said I hate math, in reality, I am closer to it than I thought. Like my Professor Dr. Karri said, “you can’t do MBA and hate numbers! Ain’t business all about numbers?” Also, I have master’s in pharmacy with a pharmaceutics major. Ain’t pharmaceutical formulations all about math? Whatever is the case, I am sad that I missed to see the value of math earlier in my life. But, I do believe that there are ways to improve it. The more I know about math, the more interesting it is. All business decisions such as measuring performance, forecasting future, understanding risks and ROIs, researching market data etc., are all made easy with the help of statistics. With the knowledge of statistics, we can learn to logically manage and analyze data. Wh...

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) -- it is the hottest topic out there. Should we trust that companies live up their values or there are any underlying motives? But, let's first start by exploring the definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It is defined as the commitment of business to contribute to sustainable economic development, working with employees, their families, the local community and society at large to improve their quality of life ( World Business Council on Sustainable Development, 2000 ). So, CSR is based on the belief that companies make positive contributions to society. Some examples of CSR activities that organizations participate to be socially responsible are as follows: Philanthropic CSR- Companies donate to the needy via charities. Their donations include clean water programs, helping those affected by natural disaster etc. Environmental CSR- It is very important to limit pollution. Companies participate in CSR by lim...