We are at the threshold of the decade at the end of which we are supposed to be counted amongst the world's superpowers.
From the outsourcing for cost arbitrage era of 90s to value-based outsourcing in this decade, we will be stepping into developing products, inventing technologies and putting new
concepts into motion. If we play our cards well, we will, in the coming decade, also be the country which will represent its huge middle-class buying power, finally.
If Tata's Nano became a global case study in disruptive production processes in building a product for the masses, another technology company Netmagic was invited by the Federal Communication Commission to demonstrate its new concepts of freeing videos on the Internet before it formulated draft broadband policy for United States of America. The world will listen to Indian businesses and court Indian buyers like never before.
We are entering a decisive decade which will be characterized by speed and perseverance of execution. In fact, we are at the threshold of the decade at the end of which we are supposed to climb up to be one of the superpowers globally. Remember the vision set out in the Vision 2020 papers by former President APJ Addul Kalam? Upcoming Indian businesses will find themselves in a new business environment where the stakes are high but the rewards will be higher. One alarming trend is that we may make the barrier to entry for new businesses too high which may hurt the guts of Indian economy. A case in point is the heady 3G auction. How will companies, which will sub-contract work from license winners, be able to derive value while not burning themselves up is something to wait and watch. We need to tread these waters carefully and ensure that the democratisation of businesses is not reversed.
The next 10 years are going to be crucial in deciding India's place in the economic universe. Emerging Indian businesses will find themselves in the centre of gravity of this activity.
Whom we are going to miss is the great business philosopher and guru who nudged the global attention to the power of the masses, Dr CK Prahalad (Dr. Prahalad was part of DARE's advisory board). DARE will dedicate itself, as it did two-and-a-half-years ago, again into playing the evangelist, communicator, community builder, facilitator of knowledge dissemination to the emerging businesses and bring together the fraternity of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs into helping the nation achieve its aspirations.
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| Social media is changing the world dramatically. |
Is social net working for you?
The digital divide is witnessing another split. The digital social divide. Those who are active on social networks and those who are happy using email and google. Just as everyone realises the importance of networking in real life but only a few take to it with ease; social networking sites have seen people flocking to it but only a fraction using it.
We ran a cover story last July, almost a year back, on how to make social networking work for you. As the year rolled we started hearing views to the contrary and true to the spirits, we ran those views on our blogs and in the magazine. Actually it was time to take a little tour of our own constituency, the entrepreneurial world, and see whether social networking is really being used and whether it is working for companies. In the pages following, you can read our travelogue.
Prashanth Hebbar
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