Hartal and traffic free - work from home

Does your company allow you to work from home? Given the fact the spoilticians (spoilt politicians) are determined to make ‘hartal’ part and parcel of life in the country, may be human resource department in your company will need to review existing policies to encourage and allow employees to work from home if required. Other than hartals, think about the snarling traffic or even any emergency family issues which will require you to stay back at home. Rather than taking a day off or calling sick falsely, it would be nice if your company introduces flexible policies to accommodate familial and social realities. In the end of the day, what is more important is getting agreed outputs from employees as part of their job contract – physical presence in the office premises is required but the job should be done and can be done from any location, if technology, infrastructure and rules are in place. 

Working from home too much has its own risks – either you end up working too much as the boundaries between work and family life is blurred or you can totally become a scumbag and start misusing your flexible arrangements. Although one of the reasons I preferred to go to work in one of my jobs in Bangladesh as early in the morning as possible was due to the fact that there was a massive generator at work and it was all air-conditioned. So work or no work – I could stay away from the terrible Dhaka summer, nice and cosy in the office cabins – no power cuts, no heat and humidity. You can always argue that what is the point of staying at home and work via laptop/internet if there are so many powercuts, unreliable net connection and all the usual complains? Well, no easy response to this though, but there is for sure a trade off between travelling for 2 hours to reach work, wasting valuable economic times due to hartal – and staying at home to get the same jobs done via easy technologies – as and when required. HR managers welcome to shed some light on the topic.

Pees of doing business in Bangladesh

McCarthy must have become a household name for students of business management. The management guru who looked to marketing management through the lenses of 4Ps (Product, Place, Price, Promotion) has given us enough insight to formulate our marketing strategies for our businesses. Lately more Ps have been added to this alphabet soup for management as the triple bottom line (abbreviated as "TBL" or "3BL", and also known as "people, planet, profit" or "the three pillars") which captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational (and societal) success: economic, ecological and social. I wonder if the time has arrived to consider more Ps when it comes to doing business in Bangladesh or not. I voiced these Ps, tailormade for Bangladesh, to Farooq Sobhan Sir, President of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) during his recent visit to London to encourage non-resident Bangladeshis to invest in Bangladesh. I hoped that Farooq Sobhan Sir would take these into account before he also becomes Sir Farooq Sobhan or something like that thanks to Knight Ridership by Her Majesty the Queen. Essentially the Ps to take into account for doing business in Bangladesh are Politics, Power, Population and Pollution over which we as individual citizens or consumers, have little control. Interestingly you will notice that the related terminologies also somehow start with a P to indicate the Present scenario.

Politics:

So doing business in Bangladesh certainly needs to take into account the much celebrated and much condemned issue of Politics. Ruling and opposition parties and the vested interest of politicians in various business sectors play a crucial role in determining the success of your business. There is perhaps no harm in treating the Bangladeshi politicians as a special type of your business customers, who are ever consuming, the more they consume, the more they want to consume. They love speed money as incentives and hold tremendous power to shut down your businesses showing or not showing silly causes anytime they want.

Try having some current ruling members of parliament or local political leaders in your management board to sail through the tenure as its very unlikely that they will reappear in power next time round, so plan your business cycles on a 5 year basis and prepare to rename your busines if required every 5 years to keep ruling politicians happy.

Power cuts:

As the Bangladeshi politicians burp on having accummulated a lot of power to make sure that their generations are well off for the next century studying or living in the West, power cuts- disruption in the supply of regular electricity, gas and water have turned out to be a veritable nightmare for businesses and general population alike in Bangladesh. Even the so called elite and upper class of Bangladesh (especially living in the golden triangle of Dhaka - Gulshan, Baridhara, Banani) are fuming because of the unprecedented power crisis in Bangladesh and their lack of power in turning on their air conditioners, IPS or generators. Let's not talk about the Poor as its a mundane topic and populace which everyone talks about to appear genuinely concerned. The businesses have been surely hit hard and are exasperating how to get out of this power starvation. This is not only adding to the operational costs of doing business but also contributing to falling productivity of workers who are faced with yet another challenge in another day of business life in Bangladesh.

If there is enough electricity available, try thinking of ways how your business can save power. Don't just stop there, announce it and inform your consumers that you are being an active corporate citizen by 'helping in every way possible' to preserve the energy and work 'hand in hand with the government' to make sure that 'optimum use of energy' is taking place during this crisis moment. The sentences in quote are certainly mere eye-washes which looks good on your corporate CV, given the current situation, so use them carefully. Remember its a real crisis out there which is not funny anymore.

Pollution:

The more you associate yourself with environment friendly business projects, the more you can talk about it. Climate change is a hot and spicy curry item served in Western meetings of delegates and heads of states. Measuring your 'carbon footprint' in the context of Bangladesh would certainly make your business look informed and concerned about the cause. So along with distributing branded blankets to urban poor in rail stations, focus more on planting trees, recycling, biogas or anything that is related with reducing pollution and has a close link with your core competence. Practice it and promote it.

Population:

This is a tricky one. Its very unlikely that Bangladeshi companies can do much in the matter of controlling a teeming population in Bangladesh. There are too many people everywhere and atleast one person available to do any of your work, starting from driving your car, washing your clothes, cleaning your house, watering your garden, cooking your food to massaging your legs.

Businesses need to take into account training this huge pool of labour. Its easy to ask for experience in job adverts but if there is not enough scope to get jobs in the first place, experience would remain a unicorn fantasy. So businesses can think of opening the door for voluntary job placements, even unpaid or minimally paid for semi-skilled population. Prioritising employees with only 2 children or those who belong to a 2 sibling family are also future foods for thought for Bangladeshi employers (Go China go!). Since businesses can't control what happens in bedrooms, atleast they can control things in the interview boardrooms with respect to encouraging to keep population in check.

So please take into account these extra 4 Ps of doing business in Bangladesh. These have become genuine Problems and are affecting ordinary Public. The P category policitians are Painfully Procrastinating the Prosperity of Bangladesh and only Patriotism will not be Powerful enough to undergo this man-made crisis. There is no alternative to Planning, Practicing and thus reaching to some sort of a Peaceful situation for doing business in Bangladesh. I guess I have mentioned enough Ps in this Para to make a nice diagram out of it incorporating the external environment, goals, stakeholders etc. Can you think of any other Peeful terms or activities which will Progress these issues in the context of Bangladeshi businesses? If yes, then please release your Pees without further ado.

Business blogging in Bangladesh - three years on

As this blog enters three years into existence with a view to promote the use of business blogging by Bangladeshi companies, I made a few quick phone surveys to a few contacts working in various industries there to find out how they are perceiving business blogging to start the conversation with Bangladeshi consumers. Following is a summary of the present state of unofficial views from a few Bangladeshi executives.

Lack of knowledge

Many Bangladeshi companies, infact most of them, seem to be unaware about the use of business blogging as a marketing tool or social media as a matter of fact, to engage with their customers. The general impression is that since the companies have websites up and running so that should suffice as far as online brand management is concerned. Moreover, the companies are confident that the existing business functions such as customer services, market research, media etc. are good enough to 'engage' customers through various surveys, ATL and BTL activities. Moreover, since there are dedicated personnel to liaise with the press and media, they are not interested to anything which is untried and uncommon in Bangladeshi business landscape.

Difference between business journalism and business blogging

Those who are aware of corporate or business blogging are still not sure whether business journalism and business blogging are the same thing and who exactly does what. They expressed satisfaction that they are getting required hotspots in TV, radio and print media to convey their brand communications to their existing and potential clients, moreover business journalists are already 'doing a good job' by regularly publishing updates and news on various aspects of their businesses, so there is no need to confuse the situation by experimenting with business blogging.

Issues of transparency and lack of rules

The 3rd category of Bangladeshi businesses have adequate knowledge of various game-changing technologies such as blogs and social media but they are unsure about protocols, regulations in their companies about how much of business information can they divulge in public space. Most are fearful of backlashes from within the company. For example, an engineer from Robi voiced his embarassment with the new brand name, is aware of the recent conversations in online space but not sure whether or not someone from Robi should engage in the conversation in the same social networks with people or not. Moreover, according to him, the management is simply not interested to pay attention to unofficial forms of communications customers try to have with the companies. Its not a priority.

Lack of defined roles and resources

Since brands attempt to share control with customers in the social media space, Bangladeshi companies can't fully stop customers from setting up fan pages and groups for the brand, either to sing praise or do brand bashing. Groups in Facebook for Aktel (Robi), BRAC Bank, GrameenPhone etc. exist but what is not clear is whether these are official representations of the brands or not. It could be the artworks of a loyal employee who thought to make a mark on behalf of his/her employer in the social media space by setting up pages for free and attempting to start conversations with consumers. But unless there are no official roles assigned, its difficult to ascertain who the official spokesperson is. Most of the time, brands discover accidental spokespersons in social media who prove to be efficient mouthpieces for the company, Bangladeshi companies are yet to wake up to this reality. So the companies would prefer to keep blogging and social media 'to a personal level and for fun only'.

A formal media survey by market research companies would be useful to provide more concrete views on this topic. Feel free to share your views and the views of your businesses on this.

Lost jobs, lost in words, lost in pain

In a country like ours where (1) getting a job is like getting the moon, (2) getting a good job is like getting the sun, the moon and (3) getting a well paid good job is like getting the universe in hand....the topic of losing a job, or being fired can be the least welcome, unwanted and untimely. Nevertheless, the global financial crisis have already started appearing as a Tsunami and lashing at people's livelihoods in the west, hundreds and thousands are being shown the exit with a pink slip in hand under the banner of very interesting terms and jargons used by their ex-employers. 'Streamlining', 'right-sizing', 'special force philosophy', 'business re-engineering', 'cost improvement plans' etc. are only to name a few terms used to disguise the unpleasant act of job termination.

I am not sure how the trend is out here, has there been any social research on this area of Bangladesh? Perhaps its too early, as usually since jobs are scarce here, we don't usually switch jobs as they are found after much struggle...so we prefer to become 'joke' employees, this 'joke' is not that 'joke', this is the Bangla 'joke', once glued, always glued. Also, those who are fortunate enough to be able to dictate terms with employers and do job-hopping from one company to another don't have to bother about the pangs and pains of being fired, of hearing the L-word (layoff) from the devil boss. Baki thaklo those unfortunate ones who are put under the axe wrapped around nice shiny jargons to spell sweet to the ears of the media. How does it happen? in Bangla...how do you say that you are being fired? apnake agun deya holo? apnake jaliya deya holo? What about 'right-sizing'? apnake shothik bhabe size kora holo? I wonder. Or may be all these are done in writing in English, sometimes English has an interesting quality to express harsh terms very vaguely.

Whatever the terms are, I hope we don't fall on the receiving end, God help us prosper fast so that we sit on the other side of the table and start hiring and firing 'others' at our and ofcourse Your will, under the umbrella of interesting and creative Bangla, English, Banglish words. apnake rasta dekhano holo, apnake dourer upor rakha holo, apnake baate falano holo. apnake dhora khawano holo etc.

Image courtesy:

http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/original/layoffs.jpg

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0206/features/images/feature_consult1.jpg

Empowering the Consumer

Consumer protection law has been promulgated recently. While this is a welcome step I would say promulgation of a law without a well thought out process will continue to be a reactive piece of legislation and will fall far short of the objectives that a consumer would want to see it achieve.

Laws in our part of the world, even if not deficient in their own intent and wording, are at the mercy of a process which winds through red tape, palm greasing and a stately reluctance on the part of those who should be enforcing them. And above all, unless there is a suo moto culture in the judiciary, laws themselves never help by just sitting there. An active and justice-seeking society is equally important to make triumph of justice a reality. While this new law is one good step in the right direction it should be taken as just a beginning of a journey and now more rests on pressure groups and active members of the society to make an otherwise reactive process into a proactive one.

It is necessary that dedicated NGOs having a full time objective of protecting consumers’ rights play an active role. If that is not possible because funding such organizations may be a matter of low priority for donors whose focus is more on primary social issues of the rural, Universities should encourage their students to form societies for consumer protection and they network across the country’s universities to establish a uniform voice on behalf of the society. These individual bodies can form a federation to promote a single voice and the funding can be done by the students’ bodies through a number of means starting from a humble beginning and ending up at an indirect taxation on the consumer, eventually through an act of parliament.

The importance of such a move should be seen in the scope of consumer protection which actually transcends anti-adulteration, anti-hoarding and unjustified price hikes by producers. Ultimately it is the quality of the product or service that should come under constant scrutiny of these bodies (read society). Activities like sample tests of products picked from shelves, consumer polls, chemical lab analyses etc. will be the real service to the society in the realm of consumer protection. Finally through a culture of widespread information sharing a consumer must be made aware all the time which brand of goods is giving a fair value for money.

Empowering the consumer is the only check that can protect the society. A decision of the consumer to boycott a product is far bigger and staggering a punch then a case in the court of law. Society needs to move into that direction. Youth, are you reading?

By Anis Motiwala

Anis Motiwala-Management Consultant

Image courtesy : http://www.wfdsa.org/cepi/ConsumerModule/main.jpg

Enough with Dhaka, move to Chittagong

We ask questions, we seek answers, we remain curious, as we loiter around the streets of Dhaka. Its true that not all answers are found readily, some questions are meant never to be answered perhaps, you are expected to understand which are those questions. For example, one of the questions that keeps me haunting is trying to find out the rationale why the head office of the Coast Guards of Bangladesh is situtated next to my apartment in a residential area? I also try to find out how far is the coast line of Bangladesh from my apartment, my neighborhood and why the head quarters of the saviours of Bangladeshi coastline is choking my small alley? Similarly, everytime I ply through the airport road and the deadly warship and the torpedo intrigue me wondering why even the headquarters of Navy is situated in Banani and not in Chittagong? Well, let me very carefully shy away from blogging about men in uniform and their headquarters, that is not the point, the poing I am trying to drive home is...the reason why on earth and on Bangladesh...Chittagong has been kept at the back seat for so long?

Not only the government offices, I wonder how many of Bangladeshi corporates have their head offices in Chittagong. I am not talking about mere branch offices, I am talking about full fledged, fully functional and possibly flashy headquarter mansions in Chittagong, which merits to be the 'Business Capital' of this country. However, before pointing fingers at others, let me first reflect on my own reasons, why I don't live in Chittagong in the first place, if I love it so much and am advocating it to be officially called the Business Cap of Bangladesh.

1. I live in Dhaka because of historical reasons, since my father owns a house in Dhaka which he got from the government, I grew up there too and thus stay in Dhaka.

2. I am not rich enough yet to buy an apartment in Chittagong and live there

3. The company I work in does not have any function or any activity whatsoever in Chittagong, so I am assigned in Dhaka only

4. I never had any amourous relationship with any woman from chittagong, which never made me think of settling in the port city, or even asking 'would be father-in-laws' for an apartment by the sea side as dowry.

Now I wonder, in a layman's knowedge level, why should Chittagong be the business capital of Bangladesh.

1. It has a port

2. It is close to one of best tourist locations of Bangladesh i.e. Coxs Bazar and the Hill Tracts

3. It has an airport

4. There is still room (literally too) for some modern urban planning to make the city livable, unlike Dhaka which has become unlivable, unmovable, undoable.

5. Many industries are already located in or around Chittagong

6. Chittagong region has a history of great businesspersons and business ventures

So what can be done to encourage more businesses to set up their activities in Chittagong?

1. Offer some sort of tax incentives, lower loan rate for those willing to have their businesses in Chittagong

2. If 'Brand Bangladesh' is targeted more towards external audience i.e. foreign investors, 'Brand Chittagong' campaign should be targeted towards internal audience, and the lead needs to come from those who hail from the great port city

3. Chambers of Industries can take up a role to insist on having headquarters of their member businesses in Chittagong

4. Employees can be offered cash incentives, holiday incentives for accepting to stay in Chittagong on a rotational basis or even permanently. This influx of work force in Chittagong would eventually make way for better services in that region, also creating more demand in domestic/regional tourism surrounding the city.

Well, count these as some really rudimentary thoughts of a curious passer-by like me, who asks questions, sometimes uncomfortable ones for some, but seeks answers...that is for you to give. That is as Karachi is for Pakistan, Mumbai for India, where the political and commercial capitals are kept separate, its high time that we make the Gateway to Bangladesh...that is Chittagong...the Business Capital of Bangladesh. Time to move Motijheel and Gulshan office-para to Halishahar and Agrabad. Perhaps its easier to build from scratch an intelligent 'Vision City' in Chittagong like Putra Jaya in Malaysia than thinking of how to clear the mess and chaos in Dhaka. And the Bangladeshi businesses hold the key to this change in mindset.

Monkey See, Monkey Do: A Parable on Corporate Policy

Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.

Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana.

As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the monkeys are sprayed with cold water.

Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, turn off the cold water.

Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.

The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs.

To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one.

The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.

The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one.

The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well.

Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys that have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.

Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.

Why not?

Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here.

And that's how company policy begins ...

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Perhaps someone can contribute some salient examples of this kind of dynamic in our corporate environment, both internally and externally?