Grasshopper Indians

In this century Indians have taken a leap forward in the terms of Business development and the reputation building among the contemporary Business houses. Whether it is the acquisition of steel major Corus by Tata or Liquor baron Vijay mallya's recent buy out of F1 car but still most of the Indians are at the grass root level fighting for their survival agaisnt the moghuls of new generation of Indian business. That is why coining these fellow Indians as Grasshoppers is not a bad term at all. Another reason why i Christened them as Grasshopper Indians is that theyare not at all dagenrous to their counterparts just like the Grasshoppers are chosen to be herbivores.

In every nook and corner of Indian street we find this variety of Indians who opens up their small shop everyday thinking that today he will have enough sales so as not to let slip his budget. He sets financial goals to himself daily which is cumulative to his monthly and henceforth yearly budget. In the age of IT revolution he still never lets his first customer go from his shop. He might make a loss in that deal but the he will make a "boni" a start to his business day. Not to answer why many people in India want to shop early in the morning. End of the day he audits his sales from “Bahikhatta” (cash register) so that no discrepancy creeps in his transactions. Though these Grasshopper Indians haven’t gone to any financial or management school to learn the Business fundamentals or techniques but what amazes the most about them is the skill or trade tricks what we call as "Jugaads" they have invented. Modern day managers refer to them as "Management efficacies". Just to quote an example, a normal car mechanic has his contacts to get all the spare parts, car accessories from different auto shops at the lowest cost within minutes. A simple but perfect example of supply chain management at its best. I sometimes wonder that whether these techniques were developed by management gurus sitting in developed countries or did they just articulated them seeing them happening in the streets of India. Not far from my office a small tea shop owner maintains a cricket scoreboard. He adds up spice to it by adding his own reactions to it. This has not only attracted customer for him for over 35 years now but also earned him a reputation of cricket expert. This marketing technique was not only displays how indians love cricket but also suggests about the involvement of a deep thought process as to what topic Indians like discuss the most at the tea break.

We can find such examples everywhere in India, applying diverse and self-innovated management trick but what is common among them is the spirit of survival which leads them to invent these. It is just the scale of their business which is preventing them to grow big; otherwise these Grasshopper Indians in their own league are synonymous to Sir Henry Ford or any other business stalwart.