Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
an avoidable drama
The recent episode of Jet Airways making an announcement to retrench 1100 employees and the reversal with the chairman stating that “The management will have to understand sometimes in a family there are disagreements but the father of the family decides.” had the weirdness one would normally associate with Ekta Kapoor serials . The drama was entirely avoidable .
Jet did not reach it's current employee numbers overnight . Neither were the recruitments done without the knowledge of Jet . When an organization faces challenging times(due to external factors or a crisis of it's own making) it's necessary to look at all aspects of the business to save costs . And not put people on the chopping block as the first measure . Even if retrenchment / retrenchment on this scale was the only way out there were far more humane ways to go about it .
After this episode Jet can probably add ' rebuild employee trust and morale' to it's to-do list.
One hopes that the Jet episode will be instructive for other companies who may be contemplating similar measures as the first course of action .
Posted by Savitha Rao at 5:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: business, leadership
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Nurture the craft
While SEWA Lucknow's ranges at the Mumbai exhibitions have never come anywhere close to the pinnacle of the Lucknowi embroidery - the range at this exhibition was a new low compared even to their earlier ranges . It is possible that they endeavored to make products to fit into some price points . There was a limited range of heavily embroidered products . Those too were disappointing in terms of quality.
(it is possible that my assessment stems from the quality of hand embroidered products we develop and source as SoulQuest . And that lay consumers may have found the range worth trying especially considering the price ranges )
It takes a lot to nurture traditional craft forms . There are no formal schools that impart training . It is knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation . Unlike factory produced goods there aren't any objective standards to assess quality in hand made . The 'quality' in hand made ranges from impeccable , exquisite work to average to shoddy . Passion , rigor and discipline are crucial to ensure that the creations consistently do justice to the craft and the artisan.
Here's hoping that the next range from SEWA Lucknow will delight - for design and quality.
Posted by Savitha Rao at 7:37 PM 0 comments
Labels: hand made, India, textile heritage
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Sari for a hammock...
Posted by Savitha Rao at 10:44 AM 2 comments
Labels: India, think about it
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Women's magazines
Posted by Savitha Rao at 10:46 PM 2 comments
Labels: fashion, hand made, India, textile heritage
Monday, October 13, 2008
Say no to plastic
Posted by Savitha Rao at 10:26 PM 1 comments
Labels: business, environment, retail, think about it
Friday, October 3, 2008
What's in a bottle ?
Posted by Savitha Rao at 6:28 PM 1 comments