Sujavna 2015 (12)

Sunday 22, March 2015 1630 hrs

Shared Economics, is perhaps not a new idea. In fact many traditional economies prior to the industrial economies, were some sort of shared ones. Even today, many urban initiatives that are propelled by ecological concerns (such as carpooling, share-a-cab) are all offshoots of this concept. But the concept of Shared Economics, needs a more robust theoretical framework (and a definition, indeed!) and a concerted initiative to make it into a mainstream practice.

To begin, it may be a good idea to just start listing what all can be examples of shared economies. And then to extract the underlying principles, practices, transactional and institutional structures that define them, the economic gains and the underlying risks. My illustrative list would include:

(a)  Joint ventures of all kinds including contract-farming and contract-manufacturing, PPP models for infrastructure and healthcare projects.

(b)  Off-shored business processes, SaaS models, E-Tutoring.

(c)  Citizen-Journalism, publishing-promotion-distribution-retailing of discrete entertainment products such as books, movies, travel and food products.

(d)  And now for some creative illustrations…

1.    Government clerks who can share their work and pay with an unemployed but empanelled and capable person for just weekends and holidays.

2.    Schools and Colleges offering their building and other infrastructure facilities during non-working hours, to private e-learning companies who can use the same to efficiently distribute education and training products to a wider population of needy students.

3.    Pharmacies who can capture vital input healthcare trends for policy makers and healthcare research institutions.

4.    Design Studios and Design professionals working with Business Chambers and Trade Associations to make products and services excellent in design and ecologically better.

5.    Airport operators and Metro Rail operators offering business meeting spaces and related services within their main hubs so as to minimise road travel and increase the productivity of travelling sales and marketing personnel.

(e)  And plentymore.

So what is your view on the subject of shared economies?

Have a great week ahead.

Sujavna 2015 (11)

Sunday 15, March 2015 1700 hrs

Is there a real need for mainstream media to return to the days of pure and simple reporting of happenings that need to be reported? If so, how does it reinvent itself to meet this primary requirement, in these days of advertorials, lobbying and opinion polls? Do newspapers and television news channels have the innovative spirit in them to face this challenge?

If you know of any instances where such innovations are happening in the mainstream media space, pleas share the same with me.

Wising you a great week ahead.

Sujavna 2015 (10)

Sunday 08, March 2015 1930 hrs

The week that went by was a week of bans for a citizen of Mumbai. First a ban by the local government against killing of bufalos and bulls, storing or transporting or consuming beef and beef products. Then there was the Indian government ban on a documentary film that attempted to report on the ideas and thoughts of a convicted criminal.

My reason for raising the topic on bans has very little to do about the bans themselves or on the rights of citizens. It has more to do with the need for society to follow a rule-based system and why it is becoming harder for the authorities in power to keep a sense of balance in framing new rules and implementing them. What I would like to explore is if societal well-being can be unambiguously defined and effectively achieved by pursuing “centuries-old” systems of criminal and civil legal and jurisprudence systems or if the time has come to innovate. I would like to believe the latter. What do you say?

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Sujavna 2015 (9)

Sunday 01, March 2015 2330 hrs

I came across an interesting plea that formed part of an article written by the Secretary General of Amnesty International and reproduced by an English newspaper. The plea as addressed to the governments of the world’s richest countries and those of the UN Security Council’s permanent members. It rued the fact that the veto powers of these members as well as the growing reluctance of rich nations to offer asylum to refugees from the world’s most conflict-ridden regions are very unbecoming of them and serves to undermine their expressed support for human rights.

To me this presents a unique and excellent opportunity for organizations such as the UNHCR and Amnesty International as well as the world’s rich nations to collaborate and innovate for solutions that will transcend the challenges. How about the UN having its own sovereign territories in each continent that is meant only for refugees seeking basic human rights and that is administered with funding support from all UN members and technological and managerial support from the CSR initiatives of the Fortune 500 companies of the world? Such territories can also be excellent schools to propagate universal brotherhood and other UN principles for global community living together. This way the problems of refugees need not be the moral responsibility of a few numbers of rich countries, which also have their own economic and socio-political problems to manage!

Hope your weekend was great and you are all fired up to meet the excitement that the week ahead may offer.