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| NEW THINKING: Prahalad dispenses his wisdom |
Turning accepted
wisdom on its head, management guru C.K. Prahalad prophecies that the
4.3 bn global poor will make the next market for multinational companies.
"The poor is about access and not charity. Charity is misplaced,"
Prahalad said while addressing a motley group brought together by Digital
Partners, a non-profit organisation that is seeking to tap the power of
the digital economy to develop market-based solutions that benefit the
poor. "Poverty is obvious, but opportunity is not," he said.
"In the new economy, the source of competitive advantage is predicated
on privileged and easy access to sources of competence, not ownership.
A similar phenomenon is developing at the level of individual consumers,"
he said and cited the Mumbai dabbawallahs whose delivery systems were
cost effective. "GE is studying them to gauge the prospects of mass-based
e-commerce," he added.
-Anil Padmanabhan
Telling It the Way It Is
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| TICKET TO FAME: Fracis |
Several writers can tell you stories but not the way Mumbai-born Sohrab
Homi Fracis did in his first fiction collection, Ticket to Minto: Stories
of India and America, for which he recently picked up the 2001 Iowa Short
Fiction Award. The excited adjunct instructor of creative writing at the
University of North Florida, who is also fiction and poetry editor at
the State Street Review, says, "It was an incredible, unexpected
thrill to win the award." And now it appears that an Indian publisher,
Indialog, is interested in getting rights to publish the book in India.
"I am just happy that the book will be coming out in my motherland,"
says Fracis.
-Nitish S. Rele
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| SUCCESS IN HAND: Singh |
Bag the Best
Moyna Singh's eye for detail and keen business acumen ensure that her
range of handbags, wallets, scarves, headbands, notebooks, picture frames
and pillowcases shares racks with the likes of Prada and Wendi in stores
like Saks Fifth Avenue and Bloomingdale's. Priced between $50 and $250,
Singh's handbags are her most popular product and have been featured in
magazines like Glamour and Cosmopolitan. "Buyers are like kids in
a candy store because there is so much to choose from," smiles Singh,
43, who notched up sales of $3 million last year.
-Sonia Chopra
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ISSUE DEC 24, 2001
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