'The Long Tail' by Chris Anderson

Every once so often a book comes that aptly captures the underlying logic of a great revloution, be it economic, socio-cultural or political. The emergence of internet and an internet based 'e-economy' is revloutionising both the economic and socio-cultural landscape of our times. This book by Wired editor analyzes this phenomena and seeks to explain the fundamentals of this emerging play.

Long Tail refers to the extraordinarily lengthy tail of the consumption pattern that any product has on the web. This can be explained by looking at the fact that almost all of the millions of titles, books and other products available on e-tailing sites have been bought, downloaded or used at some time or the other. The standard retailing template of 80:20 (80% of the sales coming from 20% of products) has been diluted. Today the bottom 80%-90% of products on e-tailing sites provide a significant chunk of the revenues (around 25%) and still more of the profits (nearly 33%).

The author claims this has come about primarily because of three reasons,

1. Democratization of tools of production: Since PC's, low cost cameras, camcorders, mp3 players are available to the masses, just about everyone can become a content producer. This has led to enormous amounts of arbit content been available everywhere.

2. Democratization of tools of distribution: The presence of internet in almost all homes (in atleast the developed economies) has made distribution of this content easily possible. Internet, in the words of the author, makes it cheaper to reach more people, effectively increasing the liquidity of the market in the tail.

3. Connect supply and demand: Sites like Google, YouTube, Metacafe, Flickr, Blogger and others have led this democratization from the front. With the emergence of social networking sites like these, consumers can talk to each other and discover mutual tastes and interests and form narrower and narrower interest groups leading to the proliferation of niche communities, interest groups, music and products.

In simple words, the secret of creating a thriving Long Tail business according to the author is,

1. Make everything available,

2. Help me find it.

Chris Anderson first explored this idea in an article in his magazine Wired. The book is written in an extremely luciid, easy to read manner with examples from across the industry. Explaining a phenomena, that is just about starting is a tough thing to do, but the author has done it remarkably well. Anyone with an interest in contemporary economics or the impact of web on our lives should read this.

The Prince of Ayodhya' and other stories by Ashok Banker

How does one write a story that everyone knows by heart and still make it exciting enough, mesmerising enough to be unputdownable. If you don't know the answer then read this six book series on the Ramayana by author Ashok Banker.

Starting from 'The Prince of Ayodhya' and upto the 'Bridge of Rama' (i haven't been able to read the sixth book yet), the author has spun a centuries old yarn in such an eloquent yet identifiable manner that it is unbelievable.

And he's not only re written the Ramayana, but according to me he's re-introduced the whole drama in a very civilian way. When i say civilian, i mean in a manner i and you can identify with the characters and their emotions. For in Banker's 'Prince of Ayodhya', Rama is no divine being, but a young prince struggling with his own set of emotions and realities.

And its not one person's point of view, rather everyone who gets a fair representation in the books. Thus he's given a colourful and fascinating view of what the thought processes of Dashratha had been and what his weaknesses were and how he coped with them. What Kaushalya feels and why Kaikaiyi behaves the way she does.

In fact he's done such a brilliant job that even Ravana is not painted totally black. He seems to want to paint various shades into all the characters rather than paint people as black or white.

Along the way he's also built so many of his own characters and colourful details in to it that one feels like he's never really read or understood the Ramayana.

In the later books, of course with the entry of Hanuman and the kidnapping of Sita, he does feel the need to project Rama in a more 'superhuman' light. And maybe in the end (in book six i.e.) he will spring some surprise as well.

And the beauty of it all is that one discovers in a very subtle or nuanced manner the real message of 'The Ramayana'. Or maybe that's just my take away. But the essence of 'Dharma' and the way it is explained in a very peer to peer manner is very comforting and eye opening. One tends to feel for the characters and identify with them.

And it is in this identification with the character of Rama that one feels empowered. If a 'man' (and not god) can behave as Rama does, then what stops us from behaving in that particular way, is the question i am struggling with these days.

The success of Ashok Banker, according to me is to present Ramayana as a tale, a very emotion filled human story, as i suppose it was meant to be and not as a mythological extravaganza. It is in doing so that he so very successfully delivers to us a very, very human Rama and Ramayana.

'The Running of the Bulls' by Nicole Ridgway

Here is a very good review of a good book (one that i plan to read sometime soon) on a very relevant (more so to us ex- b-school students) topic. The review by Rashmi Bansal, the editor of JAM (a students magazine), appeared in latest issue of Businessworld. With students even in India today getting salaries topping Rs. 85 lakhs annually (atleast technically), the book will explain to the layman what lies behind all the moolah and why it is justified, if at all. Read on....

'The idea of investment banking, not necessarily what investment banking is, but rather the idea of it, was sexy. “It created delusions of grandeur — of being a multi-millionaire in your twenties — in even the most mild-mannered of students.”

If you too share such delusions, it may help to pick up this book and lose your illusions. The Running of the Bulls takes you “inside the cutthroat race from Wharton to Wall Street”. The book, written by Forbes journalist Nicole Ridgway tracks the lives and times of six students enrolled in Wharton’s very competitive undergraduate business programme.

Chapters with titles like ‘Goldman or bust’ and ‘Battle of the Bulge Brackets’ outline, in lurid detail, the experience of summer internship (‘a 10- week interview’), the wooing of students by companies and, of course, the process of procuring one’s dream job. Most dreams are centred on entering into ‘white collar slavery’, a satirical reference to the standard 80-120 hour week in the world of investment banking.

If you are a past or present B-school student, you will be relieved to know that really smart people, an ocean away, think exactly the same way as you. Note this gem: “The recruiting season serves as the culmination point for everything they have devoted themselves to working so tirelessly for throughout their years of pricey academic training. It’s in these weeks they will discover if it was all worth it... ”

The only difference is that companies conduct information sessions at the Wharton campus, but hold interviews at their headquarters. CEOs interact with prospective candidates over lavish dinners. Students are also allowed time to choose between multiple offers, which does not happen in India.

The students seem to be way too competitive and single-minded for their own good. You wish you could throttle wunderbankerkid Jessica Kennedy when she states: “I’ll be sitting on the beach (on an Xmas vacation) studying the history of M&As... I’ll be so far ahead of my analyst class!”

Diversity exists at entry level, but it is effectively ironed out by groupthink. In high school, Shimika Wilder was an avid athlete who dreamt of working for Nike and even starting her own sports goods store. A year at Wharton, and she is a convert to the cult of investment banking.
To be fair, there are students who realise they are not cut out for Wall Street, or who have other long-term goals. Of interest to Indians is the story of Bombay boy Shreevar Kheruka, who is under pressure to return and join the family business. He stays on to get some experience with a consulting firm.

The book also details the growth of Wharton as an institution. Apparently, it was the first school to teach marketing (then known as ‘merchandising’), while women entered the Wharton classroom only in 1954! The many campus traditions as well as the magnificent graduation ceremony are, in fact, far more interesting than the students breathlessly racing towards their pay cheques.

On the whole, the book ends up feeling like a 279-page public relations exercise. It was written with the cooperation of the Wharton faculty and administration and, is therefore, politically correct. And it is far too wide-eyed in its admiration for the ‘career above all else’ cult of Wharton in what reads like a business magazine article stretched into a book.

Yet, it can be useful for prospective and current B-school students. Or anyone intrigued by those $100,000 salaries bagged by IIM graduates, which will be making headlines soon as the placement season kicks off, and the mindless running of our very own bulls begins.

NICOLE RIDGWAY, the author, is a financial reporter who writes for Forbes magazine. She was earlier a newswire reporter for Dow Jones News Service and her articles have appeared in Wall Street Journal, Toronto Globe and Mail

'The Roaring Nineties' by Joseph Stiglitz

'The Roaring Nineties' by Joseph Stiglitz is a scathing commentary on the economic and financial developments in the the U.S during the 90's. It provides a stimulating analysis of the successes and failures of the policies followed by the Clinton Government as well as the Fed during the period 1992-2000 and beyond. He brings an insiders perspective to the whole thing , since he was the Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policies during the regime of President Clinton. He therefore had a vantage point of view as regards major policy initiatives of the nineties.

His work indiscriminately criticizes the Fed for feeding on the frenzy of the markets in the Boom period during the late nineties, for which he specifically blames the Fed Chairman Mr. Alan Greenspan. According to him the market crash of 2000 could have easily been avoided had sensible ideas prevailed. He also comes down heavily on the skewed policies of institutions like IMF and the World Bank, which he says follow a an agenda set down by the Developed nations of the west,and which lets down the developing and the Least developed nations. Thus he puts all blame of the Mexican crises as well as the Asian crises at the doors of the IMF. According to him measures which suited the Western Developed nations were implemented in these crises ridden nations in the aftermath of the crises, which led to even more problems for these economies.

Though he seems to have a soft corner for President Clinton and has frequently cited his intentions as been noble, however he does not stray from taking him to task for not standing by his idealogies when it mattered the most. Thus Clinton comes under attack for allowing extensive deregulation , especially in sectors like Telecommunications , which ultimately added to the investment frenzy of the times and proved costly for the investors as well as the economy. In the end he has provided certain guidelines for future course of action,which seems more relevant today given the kind of financial mess the U.S is into on account of the Twin Deficits.

The book provides excellent insight into the way economic policy is made , and on the factors which govern the economic prowess as well as well being of a nation. It demolishes the myth of Free Trade been a boon for everyone and gives a counterpoint to those favour a no holds barred globalization. All in all the book is an excellent study into the various subunits of an economy and provides good insights for someone interested in Economics as well as Globalization. A must read for those who want to understand the drawbacks and loopholes of the present Global Economic System.

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