On an egroup that I moderate, we have been having discussions about the business ethics,Ior lack thereof, in large Indian companies. t started with our rating of various Internet Service Providers and went on to mobile phone companies. Several names were, of course mentioned, but I am not bringing them in here....but I thought I would like to share this analysis and the solutions suggested by this friend of mine from Riyadh:
Why things are so bad even in "Big" companies: 1) Popular feeling among both the elite and common man that we can't change things as they are. (imagine if Mahatma Gandhi had felt the same way) 2) Lack of competition (of good service providers) 3) Public not giving incentives (e.g. tips- this is not bribe- don't we tip the waiter in 5 star hotels) to good service providers like e.g BSNL staff. 4) Active consumer forums (a person I know- now in his seventies and severely ill) still runs an active consumer forum in Chennai. He does not have much support. 5) Lack of cooperation from Mass media dependent on advertising (but internet offers a e-solution via blogs, I think some of us can start one) 6) Tendency of big companies (at mid levels) to discriminate from Big and important clients who follow up and common man clients- who do nothave the time, energy, or money to keep up the protest. Solutions: 1) Support neutral (and paid for by subscription) Product and service Rating agencies (not just credit but also quality- service etc) 2) Express more often such complaints in public as you have all just done. My wife( in chennai )every week complains to me about one or other equipment or service, as even after paying for it she never gets a satisfactory level of quality or service. (This is still the big difference between such mundane matters of day to day living abroad and in India) 3) Ask companies to have double tier service- a) premium service and b) standard service where in premium they would actually "hear and attend" to complaints. 4) Ask several technical people to "comment" on common problems. E.g. my wife had great difficulty to install & connect a wifi connetion to laptop (after it has been installed- it typically cuts of after 40 seconds as Raj Nair's daughter experienced). She tried several technicians including from BSNL and then obscure technician from one of the suburbs fixed it in 2 minutes. 5) Publicize good performers and help them grow. 6) Suggest a course curricula which can be included in IIMs and all graduate degrees on "Quality- why it matters to you and me". May be one of the several hundred educational institutions may even adopt it. Let us not forget that IIMA is better because it stuck to such "quality considerations". P.B.Varadharajan from Riyadh What do you think...especially about his suggestion on "incentives"? Deepa.
