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Changing Tracks: Reinventing the Spirit of Indian
How to make a 150-year-old run faster, carry more load and make more money In the year 2000, the Indian Railways - the world's second largest railway network under a single management was nearly bankrupt. Over the next eight years,however, there was a dramatic improvement in its performance. From a cash surplus before dividend of Rs 1,071 crores in 2000, it achieved an estimated Rs 25,000 crores (or around Rs 13,000 crores after accounting for all expenditures, receipts and depreciation) in 2008. Alongside came a dynamic and differential tariff policy, and technical changes that led to an enhanced carrying capacity. How all this was accomplished is the focus of this riveting study of change and innovation in the Indian Railways. Based on an extensive examination of internal documents of the Railways and in-depth interviews with key people involved in the change process, authors V. Nilakant and S. Ramnarayan identify four distinctive features associated with the organization's renewal between 2004 and 2008. The change leveraged the strengths of the organization, instead of being preoccupied with its weaknesses. The aim was to change mindsets about costs, revenues, investment and business models. The momentum of the change process was sustained by fostering positive emotions. Changes were persistently and patiently seen to completion by focusing on results. Confronting several myths about organizational change, the book offers powerful lessons for managers and administrators grappling with the challenges of generating innovation and improving performance radically in a changing world.
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Romancing The BalanceSheet
In this book you will learn that there is no such thing as a non-Finance person. It's a misconception that Finance Management happens in the Finance Department. In fact, it is happening right through the organization. There is a direct relationship between every action you take and the bottom line of your organization. This book will help you to discover and strengthen that relationship. Understand here what Profit really means. If Balance Sheets mystify you, these lucid truths will give you clarity. Learn the rules of Good Financial Management which will keep you secure. Make the most efficient use of your Working Capital, and understand how an increase in Sales actually impacts your Profit. Learn also the simple secrets of Marginal Costing, Leverage and Funds Flow. Written in a simple and easy-to-read style, you will find yourself relaxing and enjoying this book as you become smarter at managing Finance
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Innovation And Entrepreneurship
Peter Drucker's classic book on innovation and entrepreneurship This is the first book to present innovation and entrepreneurship as a purposeful and systematic discipline that explains and analyzes the challenges and opportunities of America's new entrepreneurial economy. Superbly practical, Innovation and Entrepreneurship explains what established businesses, public service institutions, and new ventures need to know and do to succeed in today's economy. Peter F. Drucker is considered the most influential management thinker ever. The author of more than twenty-five books, his ideas have had an enormous impact on shaping the modern corporation. Drucker passed away in 2005. Peter F. Drucker (1909-2005) was considered the top management thinker of his time. He authored over 25 books, with his first, The End of Economic Man published in 1939. His ideas have had an enormous impact on shaping the modern corporation. One of his most famous disciples alive today is Jack Welch. He was a teacher, philosopher, reporter and consultant.
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Own It Leadership Lessons From Women Who Do
Most women today are opting for careers over jobs, even if it requires them to play multiple roles with superhuman abilities. Meanwhile, men, at home and at work, struggle to come to terms with their changing priorities. And therein lies the chasm between male expectations and female ambition. As Dame Julia Walsh says in the television miniseries The Honourable Woman, 'In a room full of pussies, I'm the only one with a vagina.' Own It tells women's stories: the ugly, the happy, the rarely discussed, the unacknowledged, the whispered, the denied. Close to two hundred Indian women leaders across industries discuss the challenges they face in the Indian workplace and at home. Heads of companies, human resource directors and senior managers talk about issues like pay parity, harassment, promotion and maternity policies. Why is the workplace agenda skewed against women and what are their own demons that keep them from breaking the glass ceiling? Thought-provoking and controversial, Own It takes the challenges that confront women in the workplace head-on - without discounting the complexities of being a woman in an Indian home.
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Start Up Your Fashion Label
The fashion industry is seductive. The lights, the glamour, the glory. You may be a great artist and have fabulous design ideas, but having a head for business is a different matter. So how do you go about establishing your fashion line? How do you build your brand and get splashed on the inside pages of glossies? Here's the perfect guide for you. Learn the basics of creating and executing a business plan, exhibiting your designs in big retail chains, setting up an e-commerce store and, finally, participating in a fashion week. Study the success stories of masters like J.J. Valaya and Anita Dongre. With the right design ideas, passion and perseverance, you can learn how to be right under the spotlight.
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Start-Up City
Traditionally, big business in India was the domain of a handful families. There were few stories of educated middle-class professionals making it big. Then Bangalore burst onto the global business stage. With its fast growing software sector and young, ambitious men and women looking to break new ground, it has dramatically altered the scene as far afield as Silicon Valley. Start-up City is an ode to this new idea of enterprise and to a world where everyday people are making modern business history. There is Bharat Goenka, whose father pushed him to develop a user-friendly accounting software that has captured more than 80 per cent of the market; B.V. Venkatesh, who started his own venture at the ripe age of fifty-eight; Ravi Rangan, who made kiosks a medium of governance to empower the common man; and many more who started out on empty pockets but built companies that are worth crores today. These tales of struggle and success hold lessons too. Policymakers can spot and correct the factors that deter new ventures, while budding entrepreneurs will find ways, means and the inspiration to strike out on their own. Most of all, though, they are a testament to where grit, determination and single-minded focus can get you in life.
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Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in his Own Words
Ruthless billionaire or benevolent philanthropist? Whatever your take on him, Bill Gates is a force to be reckoned with in the world of business and in the realm of international philanthropy. Hailed by most as an ingenious visionary and considered by some to be an unscrupulous monopolist, Gates has had an indelible impact on the growth of digital technology. As founder and former CEO of Microsoft, he helped spearhead one of the greatest revolutions in modern history, seizing on the importance of software in the rise of personal computing and becoming in 1987 at the age of 31 the youngest ever self-made billionaire. But Gatess second act has been no less compelling than his first. After leaving Microsofts day-to-day operations in 2008 to devote himself full-time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a kinder, gentler Gates began to emerge, one deeply concerned with Third World health issues and educational reform. Drawing on more than three decades of media coverage print, electronic and online this book offers real insight into the man behind the millions. Essential reading for anyone seeking wisdom from the worlds entrepreneur extraordinaire.
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Amul's India
he Amul campaign tells the stories of India, a hoarding at a time. The hoardings are markers of the ‘popular’ history of India and have been followed by fans for decades. Timeless and ageless, this long-running campaign has captivated Indians of all ages. The key character in this saga is the little girl in polka dots, who helped Amul Butter win over an entire nation. This book celebrates her journey through the eyes of prominent writers, public figures and the subjects of the hoardings themselves. It contains a series of vignettes, creating a patchwork quilt of essays, snippets and selections of classic hoardings. It offers us an inside peek into the back story of the creation of the ads. Amul’s India is a celebration that would be of enormous interest to an observer of contemporary India, be it a brand manager, a management student or a fan of Amul. Or just somebody who wants a rollicking good time.
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Kiss That Frog!
Negative thoughts and emotions are the number one reason people don’t fulfil their potential. The good news is that you have the power to change this.You can ‘kiss’ your negative frogs and transform them into positives. Use the simple but powerful methods and techniques in this book to turn every problem into a benefit and live a truly extraordinary life!. Bestselling author and speaker Brian Tracy and his daughter, therapist Christina Tracy Stein, present a step-by-step plan that addresses the root causes of negativity, helps you uncover blocks that have become mental obstacles, and shows how you can transform them into stepping-stones to achieve your fullest potential.The book distills, in an accessible and immediately useful form, what Tracy has presented in more than 5,000 talks and seminars with more than five million people in fifty-eight countries and what Stein has learned through thousands of hours of counselling people from all walks of life. The many powerful techniques and exercises in this book will help you change your mindset so that you discover something worthwhile in every person and experience, however difficult and challenging they might seem at first.You’ll learn how to develop unshakeable self-confidence, become your best self, and begin living an extraordinary life.
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A Guide To Understanding And Surviving B-Schools
Let me start by saying this - Sameer Kamat’s “Beyond the MBA Hype: A Guide to Understanding and Surviving B-Schools” can be rightly regarded as - “A Comprehensive Solution” for those who have a dream. Dream for a better career, Dream for a better lifestyle and …most importantly – A Dream of pursuing an MBA. This book provides brings in realistic and descriptive process of the entire life cycle of a typical MBA Aspirant who believes that MBA is the key to success. This book starts off from the very basic question – Why go for an MBA? The answer to this question is never simple but Sameer demystifies the question by challenging the assumptions, common beliefs by providing the big and the entire picture. The entire application process is explained in simple layman terms making it easy for a candidate to understand the process. At the same time this book provides you with suggestions of improving your profile. This crucial step is not only helpful for MBA aspirants but also for general public to make themselves different from the league. Sameer makes strong points so that you are aware of the evaluation techniques and yardstick used by Universities throughout the world. The book enters altogether in the next stage when the aspirant is able to secure himself as a student in B-school. The myths and the academic rigors of student life internationally have been discussed. Amazingly true real world issues with students have been cited related to the networking, internships, and career fairs. It gives you the insight of career change and again asks some basic questions and makes you realize that ultimately every action narrows down to just one thing – What’s your goal? In the end Beyond the MBA Hype leaves the reader with a plan. A plan for realizing what’s best for him, a plan for pulling up the socks and a plan for taking important steps to achieve the feat. If you are an MBA aspirant who is a true believer of the saying- “A lot can happen over coffee”, spare your body with some less caffeine. Plan to invest that minimal amount of money in to this book because this book can surely be THE GAME CHANGER.