Deepavali (also called Diwali), one of the popular Indian festivals was celebrated early this month. As a kid, this was one of my favorites because this is one festival when we kids got involved completely like in the run up to the festival, which involved purchasing and bursting crackers, eating sweets, meet with friends and family and wait a minute – get a new pair of clothes. Preparations for deepavali would start typically a week or so earlier. We would buy small quantities of firecrackers from the near by shops for the run up. A day or two before the festival, we would buy significant quantity of crackers from Bangalore’s city market wholesale or retail sellers. We always compared our scale of celebrations with our neighbors who some how beat us in the quantity and the variety of firecrackers. Firecracker packing material, left overs made up majority of the roads and the front yards and definitely this was one of the indexes used to measure the level of celebrations!
Over the last few decades, there have been some changes to the firecrackers supply chain and the ways the firecrackers reach common people. After a major fire accident destroyed many firecracker stores in city market area, retail firecracker sales moved to open grounds where vendors set up temporary stalls. These vendors attract budget customers who constitute significant population. As always, the “big” customers have their own sources: some go to the wholesale stores in city market area, some to the TamilNadu bordering town, Hosur. Some even buy crackers directly from the manufacturers at Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu. Firecracker buying associations are common sight in many organizations. People enroll themselves in such associations to gain a) collective discount based on the large base; b) Make monthly contributions towards the firecracker fund to get avoid huge expenditure in one particular month. These associations perform quite well, meet their objectives and offer token gifts to keep their customers happy. Association representatives visit manufacturers well in advance, negotiate prices and the custom packing. In addition, it is common to find businesses, industries distributing sweet boxes to their employees. Deepavali is the major motivator for retail sales in India and is comparable to Thanksgiving or Christmas sale in the USA. Retail stores, popular shopping streets, malls are decked with lights, decoration stuff and the ambience is simply superb.
In Bangalore, I found that the business community spends significant amount of money on firecrackers compared to the salary class. In addition, many big restaurants, apparel shops conduct fireworks display, which are open to common people. Wilson Garden Janata Hotel’s fireworks were a delight to watch and people would flock around the hotel around 11PM on the deepavali night. After cordoning off the roads, the hotel staff would entertain the people with the fireworks display for over 30 minutes.
Off late there is awareness about noise pollution, safety and the child labor used for manufacture of firecrackers. These may eventually reduce the firecrackers sales but cannot take away the spirit of the festival. Deepavali will continue to be one of the most celebrated festivals in India and definitely a great booster for the local economy.
Nov 30, 2007
Oct 26, 2007
Back to Square One
You have heard "Back to square one" number of times. It makes more sense when one goes through this in the real life. It happened in the last weekend trip to Leavenworth, wa - the bavarian village in Washington state. On the way back, we were looking forward to exploring Stevens pass. At one point on the state highway, there was a left direction to Stevens pass. We turned left and followed other directions got on to a 2 lane highway. The views of the mountains were breathtaking and the fall foliage was simply amazing. We were not sure how far to go and what to expect. I suggested pulling out at the next rest area which was 10 miles away. After about 30 mins ( with breaks for photo shooting), we almost reached the rest area. Just before making the turn, Dinesh said loudly "we've been here just half an hour ago". Me and wife dismissed his claim by telling him all the rest areas in the state look similar. Since there were light showers and my daughter was sleeping, I rushed to the place where they had set up coffee and snacks counter. For reasons that I don't know, some volunteer groups provide free coffee, cookies, etc in the washington state rest areas. Coming back to the story, I thought the 2 elderly gentle men looked very familiar to me. I asked them what to expect in the stevens pass and they took 5 mins and told me all they knew. Something was telling me I've been here before and seen these guys. However, i picked up my coffee and came back to the car. By then, the 2 other passengers in the car had made their analysis and declared we were back to square one. Dinesh submitted his evidences of seeing the same car/truck/sand dunes in the area. On the way back, we saw the same landmarks we had seen 45 mins ago. Actually before turning in to that stevens pass road, we had spent a good half hour in the very same rest area. Also, I had asked those 2 elderly gentlemen, creamer for coffee!. By going back to the same place, we had not only lost 45 mins, we also went 20 miles behind... No more doubts..we understood what "Back to Square One" means! - This is my first & unique experience while driving in the US..have you had similar ones?
Oct 15, 2007
Dasara Festival
The ten day dasara festivities in India concluded just last weekend. Given the work schedule and other things, I did not even realize when Dasara started and how it ended. Going back 3 decades, Dasara used to be one of the major festivals at my place. We would place our collection of antique wooden dolls, clay models of various gods & godesses and so many other fancy items. We would also create a small artifical "forest" with lots of plastic animals in them. Most of the traditional dolls were inherited. 2 pairs of couple dolls, made out of rosewood were the center of attraction. I was told they were at least 150-200 years at that time. My grand father was very popular in Mysore for displaying his collection of dolls and paintings during dasara time. Schools recognized Dasara period as a half yearly milestone in the annual calendar. We would finish our half yearly exam just before dasara and enjoy the mid term holidays which co incided with the dasara festival. We also would go around other houses in the neighbourhood to look at their display of dolls. I vividly remember my cousin taking me to one house in Tyagarajanagar, Bangalore where the entire ground floor of the house was full of dolls. They had displayed so many dolls, it almost looked like a doll shop instead of a house!. Half yearly holidays took us either to my grand father's house at Vyalikaval, bangalore or to the Dasara capital of Karnataka - Mysore.
My grand father's house at Vyalikaval would look like a family reunion with my cousins joining in from other locations. Our favourite past time would be taking care of our younger cousin, giving him bath, play with the dog Johnny or head out for long walks to Palace Orchards or Malleswaram or go to one or two movies. Palace Orchards was (still is) home to the famous film stars and politicians. My cousin used to show us around in this area, he some how knew most of the famous houses out there.
Our dasara holidays in Mysore was a different kind of a family reunion. As we descend on our ancestral home, there would be steady stream of visitors. Many of dad's siblings and other relatives lived within 2-3 miles distance and we used to get lot of invitations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With so many cousins, I personally enjoyed shuffling between various houses, playing various games and enjoying the food specialities of each family. Once, one of my aunts took us once to the Khas darbar at the Palace and we were amazed at the grandeur of the Mysore palace. We watched the darbar from the near distance, the royal throne looked impressive. As we grew, other priorities came in and we gradually scaled down our dasara celebrations.
My grand father's house at Vyalikaval would look like a family reunion with my cousins joining in from other locations. Our favourite past time would be taking care of our younger cousin, giving him bath, play with the dog Johnny or head out for long walks to Palace Orchards or Malleswaram or go to one or two movies. Palace Orchards was (still is) home to the famous film stars and politicians. My cousin used to show us around in this area, he some how knew most of the famous houses out there.
Our dasara holidays in Mysore was a different kind of a family reunion. As we descend on our ancestral home, there would be steady stream of visitors. Many of dad's siblings and other relatives lived within 2-3 miles distance and we used to get lot of invitations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With so many cousins, I personally enjoyed shuffling between various houses, playing various games and enjoying the food specialities of each family. Once, one of my aunts took us once to the Khas darbar at the Palace and we were amazed at the grandeur of the Mysore palace. We watched the darbar from the near distance, the royal throne looked impressive. As we grew, other priorities came in and we gradually scaled down our dasara celebrations.
Sep 30, 2007
My early morning walks
This is about my commute to work during the 2 years when I worked as a production engineer at Widia, Bangalore. I worked earlier in the regular business hours and later moved to production department where I worked in weekly shifts of either 6AM-2PM(first shift) or 2PM-10PM(second shift). First shift commute was always a challenge because I lived 20 miles away and the nearest pickup point for my company bus was about 3 miles away.
I used to walk few days or my dad dropped me on his scooter. The last option or backup was traveling by my motor cycle. The bus would arrive at my pickup point around 4:55-5:00 and there was no waiting for any employee. If I missed the bus, the only option was to hitchhike a ride in another company's bus up to the point where I can get public transport or our own company bus in the different route.
On the days I walked to the stop, I would be up by 3:45 AM and leave home around 4:15 to start walking. The roads were empty, sparingly lit. The only company I had during those hours - milk supply guys distributing the milk in the local area and stray dogs! . Some of you might not know, stray dogs are rampant in Bangalore. Step in to any area, you will find scores of dogs on the roadside. Some how in the early hours, these dogs don't like people walking on the roads and bark or sometimes attack people. So while walking 3 miles, I had to be watchful in the 4-5 points where there was major concentration of dogs. May be the dogs are also scared of strangers at that hour. It all used to start with one alert dog blowing the whistle. Rest of the team would gradually join in the barking spirit and the enterprising ones would dare to get up and approach me. Even though we had 2 dogs at home, I am some how scared of stray dogs even to this day. So I would offer all the prayers, lift my 2 hands up and get ready for any onslaught. I knew I should not run to invite more trouble, I simply slowed down or stopped for a brief while and then proceed. But those tense moments would later result in self reflection and I used to think is this job that worth at all? I was not the one who quits for such things, I would dismiss these thoughts and go on with the life.
The other risk of walking at that hour was getting mugged or robbed. At that time Koramangala was a quiet and upcoming suburb and had a fewer population, so walking at early hours was considered risky. So while walking I had to keep an eye on any approaching vehicle(s). Fortunately nothing untoward incident happened except once when a car followed me briefly for about 10 mins.
I was lucky to have a coworker live near by. When our shifts matched, the bus would come very close to my place about less than a mile. That's because he belonged to a different department that worked round the clock and he had bargained long enough to get this transport deal.
Thanks to all those tough days, today I have no problem or no complaints in getting up early. One thing remains that stray dog issue in Bangalore is still not completley resolved. Bangalore dogs still rule the early hours and late nights. Some interim solutions were in force, however a majority of the suggestions are turned down in the name of animal cruelty.
I used to walk few days or my dad dropped me on his scooter. The last option or backup was traveling by my motor cycle. The bus would arrive at my pickup point around 4:55-5:00 and there was no waiting for any employee. If I missed the bus, the only option was to hitchhike a ride in another company's bus up to the point where I can get public transport or our own company bus in the different route.
On the days I walked to the stop, I would be up by 3:45 AM and leave home around 4:15 to start walking. The roads were empty, sparingly lit. The only company I had during those hours - milk supply guys distributing the milk in the local area and stray dogs! . Some of you might not know, stray dogs are rampant in Bangalore. Step in to any area, you will find scores of dogs on the roadside. Some how in the early hours, these dogs don't like people walking on the roads and bark or sometimes attack people. So while walking 3 miles, I had to be watchful in the 4-5 points where there was major concentration of dogs. May be the dogs are also scared of strangers at that hour. It all used to start with one alert dog blowing the whistle. Rest of the team would gradually join in the barking spirit and the enterprising ones would dare to get up and approach me. Even though we had 2 dogs at home, I am some how scared of stray dogs even to this day. So I would offer all the prayers, lift my 2 hands up and get ready for any onslaught. I knew I should not run to invite more trouble, I simply slowed down or stopped for a brief while and then proceed. But those tense moments would later result in self reflection and I used to think is this job that worth at all? I was not the one who quits for such things, I would dismiss these thoughts and go on with the life.
The other risk of walking at that hour was getting mugged or robbed. At that time Koramangala was a quiet and upcoming suburb and had a fewer population, so walking at early hours was considered risky. So while walking I had to keep an eye on any approaching vehicle(s). Fortunately nothing untoward incident happened except once when a car followed me briefly for about 10 mins.
I was lucky to have a coworker live near by. When our shifts matched, the bus would come very close to my place about less than a mile. That's because he belonged to a different department that worked round the clock and he had bargained long enough to get this transport deal.
Thanks to all those tough days, today I have no problem or no complaints in getting up early. One thing remains that stray dog issue in Bangalore is still not completley resolved. Bangalore dogs still rule the early hours and late nights. Some interim solutions were in force, however a majority of the suggestions are turned down in the name of animal cruelty.
Sep 26, 2007
Coming to America - Final Post
This is the concluding post of earlier "Coming to America" post. This post is all about how a typical Indian working in US ( read H1-B or L1) settles down after arriving in the US and how he/she moves on.
"Visibility" of the assignment drives all major purchases. Visibility I mean here is the most likely duration of the customer engagement, employer's location & policies and the individual's long term plans of staying in US. A person coming on a short term assignment would prefer to keep his investment to the minimum. Friends/Colleagues offer immense advice /help in setting up the home, help in moving furniture and complete all other legal / official formalities like getting SSN, updating some federal forms, setting up payroll information/opening bank account, etc. The first few weeks or months goes away in adjusting to the commute/work culture/work time/work pressures.
Some of the common initial milestones or challenges;
"Visibility" of the assignment drives all major purchases. Visibility I mean here is the most likely duration of the customer engagement, employer's location & policies and the individual's long term plans of staying in US. A person coming on a short term assignment would prefer to keep his investment to the minimum. Friends/Colleagues offer immense advice /help in setting up the home, help in moving furniture and complete all other legal / official formalities like getting SSN, updating some federal forms, setting up payroll information/opening bank account, etc. The first few weeks or months goes away in adjusting to the commute/work culture/work time/work pressures.
Some of the common initial milestones or challenges;
- Learning to drive & getting a driver's license, Finding a decent accommodation(preferably with some Indian community around), Get used to public transport modes if car is not feasible
- Initial home setup - As always, Walmart is the favorite
- Work Related - Initial days require lot of interactions with the customer teams. So meeting new people, remembering their names & designations. Lucheon meetings and dinner meetings with the customer teams are common. Vegeteraian Indians feel like fish out of water because it takes a while to understand the veggie options in the menu. Some people are shy to ask for what they want.
Once the individual spends few months, he / she gets used to the local environment and is now ready for travel around USA. Refer to my earlier post, theertayatra in America...so there is a list of must see destinations and friends /family to visit. Meanwhile, some people are blessed with children and most often the grand parents come over from India for offering moral support and help during the initial months. Some individuals pursue the green card option to continue staying in the US. Getting a green card is a major milestone for many people and this will lead to home /upgrading or buying a better car. People who are not in the green card race will eventually move back to India.
Bottom Line: Apart from technical expertise, goodies like communication, presentation, networking & other skills go a long way in making the stay more comfortable, challenging and successful.
Just a Note; The subject of this post is so vast, I've picked only few points to end this post here!.
Sep 18, 2007
Beijing Olympic Games 2008!
The count down has already begun and the next Olympic Games are coming up in less than a year from now. Other day the local FM station featured an interview with a US journalist stationed at Beijing. Amongst other things, following caught my attention;
- Chinese federal and state authorities have begun urging people to follow queue system while making getting in to public transport systems, banks, post offices, etc. There will be few volunteers on the street helping people to "fall in line".
- Spitting - Chinese authorities have begun educating people not to spit in the public places and instead use plastic bags or spit in the trash cans
- Cab drivers in Beijing are being encouraged to learn at least 50-100 english phrases like "hi how are you?". A lot of cabbies are seen playing the lessons tapes when they are free.
Way to go Beijing...Check out the Olympic games related details in the following LINK.
Sep 15, 2007
Lost & Found
Do you misplace something at home and find it after few days? Well,that happens to me a lot of times. At first it's all funny, later on turning in to frustration & disappointment. It appears some items get misplaced in the hour of their need and to re establish their importance. In my own experience it is usually the small, inexpensive stuff that normally gets misplaced. The above thoughts came to me as I just discovered a misplaced treasure..Remote controls of the TV & the cable TV.
These days sometimes we've gone a day without watching TV. So a day went by with the normal search without yielding any results. Next day,the heat gradually caught on and we finished searching all the other obvious places and it wasn't there. Unfortunately,the cable TV unit was turned off which deprived us of watching at least one channel. Our patience levels reached its limits on the end of day 2..we simply could not figure out where to search for the remote control...we had finished looking in all the closets(just in case they were buried in some other stuff,behind the window blinds,my daughter's toy bag,kitchen, etc. One hope was it was within the house and not disposed off with the trash. On the morning of the day 3, I got this strange feeling that I did not check under the sofa. So some exercise in moving the sofa,bending and looking down did not yield any results. One last elimination point was under the sofa cushions...which again did not help. I decided one last try and literally ran my hand across the tiny space between the sofa seat and the back rest...My hand felt 2 familiar objects and I was way too happy. So there it was...the2 remote controls tucked away in the secret location.
Somehow this is the most hilarious and frustrating lost & found incident in the recent past.I am sure most of us experience similar incidents in our daily lives. It takes sometime to realize that an item is misplaced, some time is spent plainly scanning the normal places and postponing the search. It reaches its zenith when the frustration limits are reached and upon finding the item, there is that moment of relief & celebration!.
These days sometimes we've gone a day without watching TV. So a day went by with the normal search without yielding any results. Next day,the heat gradually caught on and we finished searching all the other obvious places and it wasn't there. Unfortunately,the cable TV unit was turned off which deprived us of watching at least one channel. Our patience levels reached its limits on the end of day 2..we simply could not figure out where to search for the remote control...we had finished looking in all the closets(just in case they were buried in some other stuff,behind the window blinds,my daughter's toy bag,kitchen, etc. One hope was it was within the house and not disposed off with the trash. On the morning of the day 3, I got this strange feeling that I did not check under the sofa. So some exercise in moving the sofa,bending and looking down did not yield any results. One last elimination point was under the sofa cushions...which again did not help. I decided one last try and literally ran my hand across the tiny space between the sofa seat and the back rest...My hand felt 2 familiar objects and I was way too happy. So there it was...the2 remote controls tucked away in the secret location.
Somehow this is the most hilarious and frustrating lost & found incident in the recent past.I am sure most of us experience similar incidents in our daily lives. It takes sometime to realize that an item is misplaced, some time is spent plainly scanning the normal places and postponing the search. It reaches its zenith when the frustration limits are reached and upon finding the item, there is that moment of relief & celebration!.
Sep 6, 2007
Toothbrush!
At my place, me & my wife get a new toothbrush at the same time.Because of this timing,similar model,location(placed in the same holder) it takes me a day or two to get to the correct one. Sometimes this leads to a sort of funny/semi-serious arguments.
Flash black 25-30 years ago, we(I mean my family only) were not changing our tooth brush as often as we do now.That was typical of many Indian middle income families those days. Why? reasons might be many;cost, availability, need, lack of awareness, etc.Those days toothbrush cost considerable amount, even though it was not very expensive. Also to create awareness and demand, there were not so many dentists or many manufacturers in the market. Add to this, there was no TV at our home.Many toothpaste manufacturers also produced or made available their own brand of toothbrush. Some of the toothpaste manufacturers offered free brush along with the toothpaste purchase.
My grand father's place used to be the common meeting point for all cousins during summer holidays. So there used to be a crowd of over 10-12 people during summer and some how we all had a way of identifying our respective tooth brush. One simple way was to put in the the same place every day and not disturbing the position of other brushes. As kids we curiously observed other brushes and each one had a story to tell.Some had their bristles bent left/right or in both directions, some were simply wearing away waiting for retirement.
Today's Toothbrush:Toothbrush industry is well established and offers numerous varieties of toothbrush for kids & adults. Electric tooth brush seems to be selling very well these days.Read the latest developments in the following LINK
My future dream: That day is not far where I just need to go to bathroom, put my chin on/in a device & press a switch. A computer guided toothbrush will go in do all the work. Wow...there could be a combo device which will do tooth brushing and shaving one after & another!
Flash black 25-30 years ago, we(I mean my family only) were not changing our tooth brush as often as we do now.That was typical of many Indian middle income families those days. Why? reasons might be many;cost, availability, need, lack of awareness, etc.Those days toothbrush cost considerable amount, even though it was not very expensive. Also to create awareness and demand, there were not so many dentists or many manufacturers in the market. Add to this, there was no TV at our home.Many toothpaste manufacturers also produced or made available their own brand of toothbrush. Some of the toothpaste manufacturers offered free brush along with the toothpaste purchase.
My grand father's place used to be the common meeting point for all cousins during summer holidays. So there used to be a crowd of over 10-12 people during summer and some how we all had a way of identifying our respective tooth brush. One simple way was to put in the the same place every day and not disturbing the position of other brushes. As kids we curiously observed other brushes and each one had a story to tell.Some had their bristles bent left/right or in both directions, some were simply wearing away waiting for retirement.
Today's Toothbrush:Toothbrush industry is well established and offers numerous varieties of toothbrush for kids & adults. Electric tooth brush seems to be selling very well these days.Read the latest developments in the following LINK
My future dream: That day is not far where I just need to go to bathroom, put my chin on/in a device & press a switch. A computer guided toothbrush will go in do all the work. Wow...there could be a combo device which will do tooth brushing and shaving one after & another!
Aug 28, 2007
Pharma stores in India & USA
This post provides my perspective of the retail pharmaceutical industry in India and the USA. Even though the ultimate goal is to make medicine available to the end customer, it is done in slightly different ways in the two countries.
Pharma Industry in India
Organized retail pharmacy is still in its infancy. Popularly called pharmacy or medical stores, numerous pop & mom stores dot the busy streets of any city or town. Most of them just sell the packaged medicine in its original packaging and do not make any medicine.
The Business Model
In most the cases, the prescription is not recorded by the physician's office or hospital. Wait a minute, did I say you can go to any medical stores? There is a catch in it. The doctor/hospital, medical stores and pharmaceutical companies operate in a closed loop triangle model. The Pharmaceutical Company first sells the "medicine" idea to the doctor, then to the medical stores who has to invest in stocking the item. If the sales volumes are not met, the pharma sales person will make a "co-ordination" effort to increase the sales otherwise offers alternatives or the competitive products take over. Sometimes the competition in the "special"(read expensive) medicines category is so intense, if you plan to purchase the medicine like 5-10 miles away from doctor's location, you may not find it!. So the pharma sales cycle is customized to city/locality/street(?) level that it has not gained international attention!. Compare to the US, big box retailers are investing millions of dollars
in customizing their outlets suiting to local residents needs and preferences, a concept which is called Customer Centricity. Some medical stores sponsor the prescription stationary for the neighborhood doctors and in the bottom of the prescription is the medical stores address!!.
Some important Observations:
Doctor's Handwriting in Prescription: There exists some encryption logic which only the doctor & the pharmacist can understand. Common people try hard & fail to decipher these cryptic notes. May be the doctors got bored of writing prescriptions all their life or they want just the pharmacists to understand what they write.
Inventory Management:
Mostly manual, occasionally some shops have computerized sale & inventory transactions. Most of the inventory, sale transactions are recorded offline in a notebook or human brain!. It's really amazing how a pharmacist searches for a medicine in the maze of shelves containing numerous medicine packets, small carton boxes, bottles, etc. The prescriptions are filled on a first cum first serve basis and are done in a remarkably less time. Most of these guys do multi-tasking like work with 1 or 2 customers at a time. Vendor's sales representatives also help sometimes in inventory management & replenishment. Wait a minute, this is called Vendor Managed Inventory in the informed world and this concept is followed quietly in Indian pharmacy stores for so many years!
Customer Service: Being a competitive industry, store owners try to build a good relationship, trust and offer value added services like recommending the best OTC, Occasional discounts, product samples, door delivery, etc. A customer with a good rapport can negotiate exchange unused medicine with alternate medicine, soaps or other consumables.
Pharma Industry in USA
Unlike India, Retail Pharmacy is a niche industry and some of the big box retailers like WalMart, Target, WalGreens, CostCo, SamsClub offer OTC (Over the Counter) medicines & pharmacy services. The OTC department is the first stop for picking up medicine for common ailments. The prescription written by the doctor is documented in the physician/hospital records. The pharmacy stores take away the prescription and provide the prescribed quantity of the medicine (for tablets, capsules) in the small plastic bottles. Refills, if required are decided by the doctor, additional refills need to be authorized by the doctor. Pharmacy provides a detailed write up on the medicine which includes constituents, effects, side effects and allergy symptoms. The doctors generally do not oversubscribe to avoid overdose, any risk of wrong treatment or legal implications.
Business Model:
Looks more organized and not much is visible to the common man. I have seen medical representatives dressed in crisp suites calling on doctors towards the end of the morning or evening rush hours. From there on, I have no clue as to how the business model operates!
Customer Service: Professional, Pharmacist works with one customer at a time. Even though they provide excellent customer service, first time prescription filling time is significant because it involves checking the insurance details, recording the sale transaction in the system, preparing the medicine, etc. Refills are relatively easier and faster, however takes at least 10-15 minutes. Refills can also be ordered ahead by phone and picked up later. The OTC medicines offer a wide choice of medicines for common ailments. Branded medicines are expensive and some pharmacies offer alternate generic medicine which is quite economical.
Pharma Industry in India
Organized retail pharmacy is still in its infancy. Popularly called pharmacy or medical stores, numerous pop & mom stores dot the busy streets of any city or town. Most of them just sell the packaged medicine in its original packaging and do not make any medicine.
The Business Model
In most the cases, the prescription is not recorded by the physician's office or hospital. Wait a minute, did I say you can go to any medical stores? There is a catch in it. The doctor/hospital, medical stores and pharmaceutical companies operate in a closed loop triangle model. The Pharmaceutical Company first sells the "medicine" idea to the doctor, then to the medical stores who has to invest in stocking the item. If the sales volumes are not met, the pharma sales person will make a "co-ordination" effort to increase the sales otherwise offers alternatives or the competitive products take over. Sometimes the competition in the "special"(read expensive) medicines category is so intense, if you plan to purchase the medicine like 5-10 miles away from doctor's location, you may not find it!. So the pharma sales cycle is customized to city/locality/street(?) level that it has not gained international attention!. Compare to the US, big box retailers are investing millions of dollars
in customizing their outlets suiting to local residents needs and preferences, a concept which is called Customer Centricity. Some medical stores sponsor the prescription stationary for the neighborhood doctors and in the bottom of the prescription is the medical stores address!!.
Some important Observations:
Doctor's Handwriting in Prescription: There exists some encryption logic which only the doctor & the pharmacist can understand. Common people try hard & fail to decipher these cryptic notes. May be the doctors got bored of writing prescriptions all their life or they want just the pharmacists to understand what they write.
Inventory Management:
Mostly manual, occasionally some shops have computerized sale & inventory transactions. Most of the inventory, sale transactions are recorded offline in a notebook or human brain!. It's really amazing how a pharmacist searches for a medicine in the maze of shelves containing numerous medicine packets, small carton boxes, bottles, etc. The prescriptions are filled on a first cum first serve basis and are done in a remarkably less time. Most of these guys do multi-tasking like work with 1 or 2 customers at a time. Vendor's sales representatives also help sometimes in inventory management & replenishment. Wait a minute, this is called Vendor Managed Inventory in the informed world and this concept is followed quietly in Indian pharmacy stores for so many years!
Customer Service: Being a competitive industry, store owners try to build a good relationship, trust and offer value added services like recommending the best OTC, Occasional discounts, product samples, door delivery, etc. A customer with a good rapport can negotiate exchange unused medicine with alternate medicine, soaps or other consumables.
Pharma Industry in USA
Unlike India, Retail Pharmacy is a niche industry and some of the big box retailers like WalMart, Target, WalGreens, CostCo, SamsClub offer OTC (Over the Counter) medicines & pharmacy services. The OTC department is the first stop for picking up medicine for common ailments. The prescription written by the doctor is documented in the physician/hospital records. The pharmacy stores take away the prescription and provide the prescribed quantity of the medicine (for tablets, capsules) in the small plastic bottles. Refills, if required are decided by the doctor, additional refills need to be authorized by the doctor. Pharmacy provides a detailed write up on the medicine which includes constituents, effects, side effects and allergy symptoms. The doctors generally do not oversubscribe to avoid overdose, any risk of wrong treatment or legal implications.
Business Model:
Looks more organized and not much is visible to the common man. I have seen medical representatives dressed in crisp suites calling on doctors towards the end of the morning or evening rush hours. From there on, I have no clue as to how the business model operates!
Customer Service: Professional, Pharmacist works with one customer at a time. Even though they provide excellent customer service, first time prescription filling time is significant because it involves checking the insurance details, recording the sale transaction in the system, preparing the medicine, etc. Refills are relatively easier and faster, however takes at least 10-15 minutes. Refills can also be ordered ahead by phone and picked up later. The OTC medicines offer a wide choice of medicines for common ailments. Branded medicines are expensive and some pharmacies offer alternate generic medicine which is quite economical.
Aug 23, 2007
Independent India - After 60 years
I am writing this after India celebrated 60th birthday as an Independent nation. No doubt, India still lacks in many areas, but we need to also appreciate our journey so far. Here I am orchestrating a positive outlook about some of our achievements which in some ways may be similar to the views already expressed or may be different too!
a) Expect less: We are still 60 years old as a independent country and still need a lot of time to put together people, process, technology and common mindset to achieve higher goals. Diverse cultures, languages and regional priorities are few of the large set of things that we need to work with. Bottom Line: Have Patience
b) Remarkable Progress:
Thanks to the public sector undertakings which generated millions of jobs and generated a rich pool of labor force. Some of the talented people from the public sector are today instrumental in running some of the successful private engineering, mechanical companies. Also, an offshoot from the main stream industry resulted in creation of the IT industry, which we know is reaching newer heights by the day. Also significant efforts in agriculture & food packaging have been made.
c) Resource Pool of Qualified People; India has generated(still) a huge resource pool of qualified engineers, doctors, scientists, skilled labor and other specialists. Look around the IT companies in the US, Europe, Australia and the oil industry in the Gulf ..They are all beaming with Indian techies and engineers. Off late the nurses from Kerala are the most sought after people in USA!. Ten years back, who imagined nursing industry had so much potential? However, some changes are inevitable in future to avoid oversupply of resources in few areas like engineering, medicine, etc. Indians need to look beyond IT, Engineering to explore areas like aviation, medical services, life sciences, etc
d) Economic Improvements: Early 90s saw the elimination of some red tape and some radical improvements in the economic front.
e)HealthCare: India has an amazing pool of qualified doctors and the medical staff to cater to the burgeoning population. In the 1970s, most of the middle class and upper middle class population was born in the government hospitals. It is just
that increased population, lack of focus in government hospitals, corruption and the higher affordability levels, which have made govt.hospitals to look like poor cousins. However, please note most of the current day famous doctors ( in the age group of 50 and above) had prior govt.hospital experience where they gained immense experience handling a variety of complex medical cases
g)Infrastructure: Believe it or not, we are not doing that bad. Any city has at least a decent network of at least one mode of public transport. Railways have been innovative enough to make profits and offer strong competition to the emerging aviation industry.
h)Retail Power: Look around any major Indian city and you will realize the increase in the number of shopping malls. Some of the malls in Bangalore have visitors of about 1,00,000 per week. A good retail performance is the indicator of many factors like income & spending levels, also generating the direct & indirect employment in the services and hospitality industry.
a) Expect less: We are still 60 years old as a independent country and still need a lot of time to put together people, process, technology and common mindset to achieve higher goals. Diverse cultures, languages and regional priorities are few of the large set of things that we need to work with. Bottom Line: Have Patience
b) Remarkable Progress:
Thanks to the public sector undertakings which generated millions of jobs and generated a rich pool of labor force. Some of the talented people from the public sector are today instrumental in running some of the successful private engineering, mechanical companies. Also, an offshoot from the main stream industry resulted in creation of the IT industry, which we know is reaching newer heights by the day. Also significant efforts in agriculture & food packaging have been made.
c) Resource Pool of Qualified People; India has generated(still) a huge resource pool of qualified engineers, doctors, scientists, skilled labor and other specialists. Look around the IT companies in the US, Europe, Australia and the oil industry in the Gulf ..They are all beaming with Indian techies and engineers. Off late the nurses from Kerala are the most sought after people in USA!. Ten years back, who imagined nursing industry had so much potential? However, some changes are inevitable in future to avoid oversupply of resources in few areas like engineering, medicine, etc. Indians need to look beyond IT, Engineering to explore areas like aviation, medical services, life sciences, etc
d) Economic Improvements: Early 90s saw the elimination of some red tape and some radical improvements in the economic front.
e)HealthCare: India has an amazing pool of qualified doctors and the medical staff to cater to the burgeoning population. In the 1970s, most of the middle class and upper middle class population was born in the government hospitals. It is just
that increased population, lack of focus in government hospitals, corruption and the higher affordability levels, which have made govt.hospitals to look like poor cousins. However, please note most of the current day famous doctors ( in the age group of 50 and above) had prior govt.hospital experience where they gained immense experience handling a variety of complex medical cases
g)Infrastructure: Believe it or not, we are not doing that bad. Any city has at least a decent network of at least one mode of public transport. Railways have been innovative enough to make profits and offer strong competition to the emerging aviation industry.
h)Retail Power: Look around any major Indian city and you will realize the increase in the number of shopping malls. Some of the malls in Bangalore have visitors of about 1,00,000 per week. A good retail performance is the indicator of many factors like income & spending levels, also generating the direct & indirect employment in the services and hospitality industry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)