I came across this biography courtesy of another blogger Dr. Kumaresh Krishnamoorthy. You can find the original post on his blog here. I have only made cosmetic changes to the content.
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From studying under the streetlights to CEO...
Here is the rags-to-riches story of an extremely talented boy from a small village in Tamil Nadu who has risen to be the Chief Executive Officer of a company in Seattle, USA.
It is also the story of how Kalyana Raman Srinivasan, who was so indigent that he had to study under a streetlight, but then managed to score excellent marks, rose in life and became today's Kal Raman. At every turn in his life, he took the difficult path and it turned out to be the right one and in the right direction. His rise to the top is more dramatic than a thriller. Today, he is a very successful entrepreneur and the founder-CEO of GlobalScholar.
Read his extraordinary story of triumph and determination . . .
Difficult childhood
Kal Raman was born and brought up in a small village called Mannarakoil in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. It was a comfortable normal middle class life for him and his siblings as his father was a Tahasildar there. But the sudden death of his father at the age of 45 changed everything overnight. Kal was 15 then. "My mother got a pension of Rs 420 a month and you can imagine how tough it is to educate four children and feed five mouths with Rs 420?"
His life changed dramatically after his father's death. The family moved from the rented house to a hut that had no proper water supply or electricity. Kal Raman remembers, "All of us used to study under the streetlight and, thank god, the streetlights used to work those days! MGR (M G Ramachandran) was the chief minister then. We had to sell the plates to buy rice to eat and my mother used to give us rice in our hands. That bad was our situation."
But his mother, who had studied till the 8th standard, was very particular that her children studied. "All our relatives wanted my elder brother to stop studying and take up the small job offered by the government but my mother wanted him to continue studying." "Then they wanted me to learn typewriting and shorthand so that I could get some job after the 10th standard. But mother said, 'My children are going to get the best education I can offer. Education is our salvation.' She was my hero for her vision and she still is my hero."
What kept the family going? "We were sad but because we accepted our fate, we were at peace with whatever that happened to us. We knew our father would not come back to lift us up from poverty. We also knew our salvation was a long way away."
He didn't know why he used to tell his mother, "One day I will give you so much money that you will not know what to do with it!" Years later, he did exactly that!
First turning point in life
Kal Raman believes that God played a hand in all the major turning points in his life. The first turning point in life was after his 12th standard. He got good marks in both the engineering and medicine entrance exams. For studying engineering, he got admission at the Anna University in Chennai, while for medicine, it was at the Tirunelveli Medical College.
"While going in the bus with my mother to join the medical college, I told her, "If I join for medicine here, the high probability is that my life may begin and end in Tirunelveli. I really want to see the world." She agreed with my decision to go to Chennai and join Anna University and study Electrical Engineering and Electronics."
So, he stepped into a new world outside Tirunelveli, and that was Chennai. Though he had got merit scholarship and a lot of good people helped him pay the initial fee, the scholarship amount never used to reach him regularly or on time. "The mess fee was Rs 250 a month and I used to be a defaulter in the mess at least six months in a year. Till you pay the mess fee, you cannot eat in the mess. So, I used to live on day scholars' lunch boxes and also use to fast. That is when I learnt to fast ! I must say a lot of friends helped me with money and food."
Scarcity of money was so bad that he had no money to buy food just before the final semester exams. When he gave his final semester exams, he had not eaten for a day-and-a-half. "After finishing the exam, I almost fainted."
The day after the exams came all the scholarship money that was due and it was around Rs 5,000. "So, I went home a rich man and that helped us repay some loans."
First job
Like opting for Chennai and joining Anna University instead of a college in Tirunelveli, Kal Raman took another risk with his first job also. His first job was with Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE), and he had a choice of joining either Chennai or Mumbai.
Although he knew nobody in Mumbai, he chose the capital of Maharashtra.
He remembered the first day. "It was interesting. With bag and baggage, I went to the TCE office after taking a shower at the railway station as I had no money to go to any hotel. After the first introduction at the office, the manager noticed that I was wearing slippers to the office. He called me and said, "I don't care which college you are coming from but this is not acceptable. You should come in shoes tomorrow." I said I couldn't come in shoes the next day and this the manager construed as arrogance. "How could you talk like this?" he asked me. I said, "Sir, it is not that I don't want to, but I can't afford to buy shoes. Only after I get my first pay cheque, can I buy shoes. Sir, I request you not to terminate my job because of this. I and my family need this job."
Shocked to hear the explanation, the manager asked, "Where are you staying?" and the reply was, "Dadar Railway Station."
So distressed was the manager to hear Kal speak that he immediately released a month's salary in advance and also arranged for him to be at his friend's place till he could find a place to stay. "He bought me a pair of shoes and those were my first shoes. The next day, I sent Rs 1,500 from the advance to my mother."
From Electrical engineering to Programming
Kal's rise in career was meteoric in a short span of time. Within a month, he got a chance to move to Bengaluru (then Bangalore) and also to programming. Soon, he was in Chennai with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Within a few months, he was sent to Edinburgh, UK. From Edinburgh, his next stop was the United States. In 1992, he came to the US as an entry level contractor with Wal-Mart. In two years, he was a Director running a division. When he left Wal-Mart after six years, he was a man running the information systems for the International Division of the retail giant.
In 1998, he joined drugstore.com Online Pharmacy as the Chief Information Officer and in 2001 at the age of 30, he was the CEO of the company. He was at the right place at the right time. "God was there at every step guiding me to take the right decisions. I was also willing to take risks and tread new paths," Kal says.
Starting GlobalScholar
Philanthropist Mike Milken who had donated more than a billion dollars to education, wanted to use technology so that high quality education was accessible to ordinary people. Milken convinced Kal to join him. That was the time Kal was building schools in his village for poor students.
In October 2007, GlobalScholar was launched targeting both teachers and students by acquiring four companies -- National Scholar (USA), Classof1 (India), Excelsior (USA), and Ex-Logica (USA) -- that were into education. "Three months after the launch, I travelled all over the US, India, Singapore and China talking to teachers and companies and the public. I found that the only way to impact education was by impressing teachers. The biggest scarcity in the world is good teachers. We decided to help teachers with teaching practices and kids, learning practices."
Kal Raman decided to concentrate on the US market as the US is more advanced in using technology. "They are also willing to pay money for technology. At present, schools buy the material which can be used by teachers, students and parents."
Today, they have 200 people working for GlobalScholar in Chennai and 150 in the US. The study material is prepared in the Chennai office. The company that was started with $50 million will have in excess of $32 million and will generate $5 million of profits. In 2008, the turnover of the company was Rs 40 crore (Rs 400 million) and in 2009, it was Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million). In the current year it will be 150-160 crore (Rs 1.5-1.6 billion).
"GlobalScholar is growing at 200 per cent every year. We have 1,000 schools and 10 million students, which is one out of 10 kids in the US, using our study material. This is almost 18 per cent of the US population. We are the fastest growing education company in the US." GlobalScholar will soon introduce a pilot project in India and China. In the course of all this, Kalyana Raman became Kal Raman. "The country gave me everything and took half my name."
Giving back to society
Kal Raman is in India now for the Kumbhabhishekam of the temple at his village Mannarkoil. "It is taking place after 500 years. It is the culmination of two-and-a-half years of work. I have spent more than one and a half crore rupees (Rs 15 million) to renovate the temple and do the Kumbhabhishekam. More than anything else, I have given jobs to all my friends in the village who are masons and carpenters." Other than this, he has also adopted all the orphanages around his village and he takes care of around 2,000 kids, some of whom are physically handicapped. "I feel if I can educate these children, eventually we can make a difference in the society. We also help 100 children in their higher education. Around my village, everyone knows that if a kid who studies well cannot afford to pay fees, he has to only come to my house; his education will be taken care of."
"I do not do this as charity; its my responsibility. I am giving something back to the society that fed me, taught me, and took care of me and gave me hopes. "
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Shuba adds on Mqy 13, 2011:
GlobalScholar was acquired by Scantron Corporation in January 2011 for $160M.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Nine things successful people do differently...
I came across this excellent article in the Harvard Business Review blog. I reproduce it below along with a few lines of commentary -
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Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.
1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.
--> Shuba: The above is spot on. I still don't know how to resolve my particular challenge with this though: My weakness (and therefore goal) is to reach out more often. I recognize a moment which is not pre-meditated, want to seize it, and typically will find myself unequipped to do so. I won't have a phone number, or an Internet connection, or it's an inconvenient time of day for the person I intend to reach out to. I will hesitate even as I sit in the car parked outside their doorstep. Suggestions any one?<--
To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.
3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.
--> Shuba: Analytics! The importance and the utility of this I am fully on board with, to the point it's a personal mantra. You can't drive towards that which you can't measure and track <--
4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.
Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.
--> Shuba: I think grit is related to the optimism point made before that. The key is to be optimistic about the eventual outcome but be realistic about what could be an arduous journey to get there. Once this is in place, grit follows. <--
7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.
To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.
--> Shuba: This works for me. I relish challenges and a bring-it-on response comes naturally to me. I have found this advice doesn't work well for others I need to motivate who are not a Type A personality. What's the secret to motivating them to build willpower? <--
8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.
--> Shuba: This realization came as a result of eating humble-pie a couple of times and reflecting on why I failed. My lesson learned there was self-confidence needs to be tempered with the right dose of humility to make it a winning combination. <--
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.
It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.
-----
Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful people reach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.
1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.
2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.
--> Shuba: The above is spot on. I still don't know how to resolve my particular challenge with this though: My weakness (and therefore goal) is to reach out more often. I recognize a moment which is not pre-meditated, want to seize it, and typically will find myself unequipped to do so. I won't have a phone number, or an Internet connection, or it's an inconvenient time of day for the person I intend to reach out to. I will hesitate even as I sit in the car parked outside their doorstep. Suggestions any one?<--
To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.
3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.
--> Shuba: Analytics! The importance and the utility of this I am fully on board with, to the point it's a personal mantra. You can't drive towards that which you can't measure and track <--
4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.
5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.
Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.
6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.
--> Shuba: I think grit is related to the optimism point made before that. The key is to be optimistic about the eventual outcome but be realistic about what could be an arduous journey to get there. Once this is in place, grit follows. <--
7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.
To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.
--> Shuba: This works for me. I relish challenges and a bring-it-on response comes naturally to me. I have found this advice doesn't work well for others I need to motivate who are not a Type A personality. What's the secret to motivating them to build willpower? <--
8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.
--> Shuba: This realization came as a result of eating humble-pie a couple of times and reflecting on why I failed. My lesson learned there was self-confidence needs to be tempered with the right dose of humility to make it a winning combination. <--
9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.
If you want change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.
It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.
Monday, April 18, 2011
A story of grit, determination and achievement over a lifetime.
I am back as promised with the story of Saras Saraswathi. She and I are members of a technical women's mailing list and she had posted this to the list. I reproduce her posts below verbatim with her permission, in reverse chronological order. The "thesis" she refers to is her PhD thesis. Saras was traveling to Canada to help out family even as she was trying to write up her thesis to meet the deadline. I found it mildly ironical that the one who's named after the Goddess of learning and knowledge should experience this, but the outcome is only fitting.
Perhaps you will find it as inspiring as I did. I feel incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had all the opportunities I've had, together with extremely supportive family and friends (you know who you are!) that have enabled me to take advantage of them. Thank you.
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On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 4:27 AM, Saras wrote:
Hi Everyone...
My 38 year old dream came true yesterday. I successfully defended my thesis two years ahead of my classmates.
My research was in Secondary Structure Prediction of Proteins. We have very high accuracies of over 90% and I will be spending the next couple of months publishing my papers. I hope to join Nationwide Children's hospital in Ohio state later on.
Had to share this with my SYSTERS !! Thanks to all those people who rooted for me.. I still remember the day in 2007, when I was overwhelmed with all your responses and encouragement.
Saras
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On Tue, Nov 20, 2007 at 5:48 PM, Saraswathi wrote:
Hi.. all,
I am back in school after 35 years... Just wanted to be proud of it.. and announce it to all of you...The story of my pursuit of education is for all those who are still trying to pursue their dreams............ read on if you are discouraged in any way.... and I hope to inspire you to keep going.....
I did not get a chance to pursue my studies in a university after my marriage was arranged at 16 in India. (1972). My family thought the best bet in life for me is to be married to a 'well educated' person and it was not important for me to be educated myself... I was the best student in my class in high school and all I was interested in was books, books and books. Unfortunately , my family did not agree with my views and did not let me go back to college.
Of all the boys and girls ( cousins, almost 20 of us, with equal number of boys and girls) in the family, although they knew I did better than anyone in my studies, everyone except me got a college education. Except me, just because my horoscope matched with the boys' horoscope !! I later found out that it did not match after all, and that 'things' were moved along, so that the girls' side could get a 'good catch' and the boy's side wanted a good 'housekeeper'. !!
I made a vow to myself, that even if I am 80 I will go back to school, when I get a chance at education in a world class university. This was all I meditated on for the past 35 years.... One day, I will continue where I left off....
Meanwhile, just to keep my brains from rusting, I did a correspondence course soon after my marriage, to make sure I had a basic degree at least. I had to take math and economics since they were the only subjects which did not involve lab work. I had my daughter the following year and even had to take her to the exam hall, since my family refused to babysit her while I wrote my exams. But i was naturally thrown out of the exam hall when my baby started screaming!!. this afffected my grades of course... they hoped I wont graduate.... I was determined to do this anyway and got my degree after 5 yrs instead of 3.
anyway I did my MS in CS in 1985 at ODU, when I got a break while visiting USA for a couple of years. I was not allowed to attend all my classes and never leave my kids with babysitters ( not that we could afford it). Still, I managed to graduate. Since I was not allowed to work over these years, to pass time, I taught IT part-time in colleges/universities and I did many courses, CCNA, E-Commerce engineering, became a certified accountant and did many other courses and learned to play many musical instruments, to keep my mind busy ( to avoid going mad).
But my life ambition was to do a PhD and it kept nagging my heart all the time. Because of my age, I could not get any job offers. I was surprised that there was no response from any companies, although I applied to hundreds of them over the years in USA and Singapore (between 2000 and 2005). I never found out why.. .. no one wanted to employ me.. Perhaps too many degrees or too wide a base, not enough industrial experience ?? So, how to leave home with no job to support myself ?
I had to wait another 21 years before I got admission for MS in bioinformatics at NTU, Singapore. I managed to finish the course in one year.. I had applied to many universities in USA. No admission was offered until May and I was at the lowest point in my life. I had a GPA of 3.64 and three research papers and twenty years of research, teaching and consulting experience.. but still no offers !!... FINALLY..... I got admission at IAstate and here I am. I am 53 years old.. and hope to finish my PhD within 5 years.....
There have been untold miseries in my fight to get an education.. I did not want to agree with people who thought that I do not need to pursue what I wanted just because I was born a woman in a poor Brahmin family and married to a conservative family who did not believe in woman advancement. I was forced to be a cook and do house work all these years in spite of my insatiable thrist for knowledge. I brought up two daughters and was determined they got the education I did not get. One is a gold medalist with a MS in networking and another is a nanotechnologist with a PhD. Both are professional musicians also. I have two grand kids.. 6 and 2 yrs.. a boy and a girl
Finally when I insisted that I wanted to pursue my study on a full time basis, I was told that I could stay if I wanted to continue to be a cook or leave forever....In my last months of studying, I even paid the expenses for my food and rent, in my own house !! So, I left when I got the admission offer from IaState !! It is totally unbelievable that this could happen, since we have lived together for over 35 years... with me doing most of the housework with no servants .. most the tutoring for the children came from me and that too when he is a university professor !!. I guess it was foolish of me to have stayed that long.. hoping that there will be a change of attitude. But the things you do in the name of family and kids and a closed society are quite unbelievable. I never could convince him of my thirst for knowledge...
so.. wish me well.. and I hope to write to you sometime.. when I finish my PhD. 5 yrs..? 6 yrs..? who knows.!!. the important thing is I am enjoying myself pursuing what I always wanted to do... and bless the souls who finally gave me a chance at this !!
I am writing this not to brag.. but for those who are pursuing your dreams... in all those countries where women education is not a priority.. dont lose sight of your dreams.. it is NEVER too late... Sustain your hopes and there will be someone somewhere who will help you achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams....
It does not matter what anyone thinks what we can or cannot do. We can do one of the most wonderful things.. bringing a life to earth.. IN ADDITION to everything that THEY can do !! Isn't that good enough ??
WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT WE BELIEVE WE CAN DO ......
Saras
Perhaps you will find it as inspiring as I did. I feel incredibly fortunate and grateful to have had all the opportunities I've had, together with extremely supportive family and friends (you know who you are!) that have enabled me to take advantage of them. Thank you.
-----------------------------------------
On Thu, Apr 7, 2011 at 4:27 AM, Saras wrote:
Hi Everyone...
My 38 year old dream came true yesterday. I successfully defended my thesis two years ahead of my classmates.
My research was in Secondary Structure Prediction of Proteins. We have very high accuracies of over 90% and I will be spending the next couple of months publishing my papers. I hope to join Nationwide Children's hospital in Ohio state later on.
Had to share this with my SYSTERS !! Thanks to all those people who rooted for me.. I still remember the day in 2007, when I was overwhelmed with all your responses and encouragement.
Saras
-----------------------------------------
On Tue, Nov 20, 2007 at 5:48 PM, Saraswathi wrote:
Hi.. all,
I am back in school after 35 years... Just wanted to be proud of it.. and announce it to all of you...The story of my pursuit of education is for all those who are still trying to pursue their dreams............ read on if you are discouraged in any way.... and I hope to inspire you to keep going.....
I did not get a chance to pursue my studies in a university after my marriage was arranged at 16 in India. (1972). My family thought the best bet in life for me is to be married to a 'well educated' person and it was not important for me to be educated myself... I was the best student in my class in high school and all I was interested in was books, books and books. Unfortunately , my family did not agree with my views and did not let me go back to college.
Of all the boys and girls ( cousins, almost 20 of us, with equal number of boys and girls) in the family, although they knew I did better than anyone in my studies, everyone except me got a college education. Except me, just because my horoscope matched with the boys' horoscope !! I later found out that it did not match after all, and that 'things' were moved along, so that the girls' side could get a 'good catch' and the boy's side wanted a good 'housekeeper'. !!
I made a vow to myself, that even if I am 80 I will go back to school, when I get a chance at education in a world class university. This was all I meditated on for the past 35 years.... One day, I will continue where I left off....
Meanwhile, just to keep my brains from rusting, I did a correspondence course soon after my marriage, to make sure I had a basic degree at least. I had to take math and economics since they were the only subjects which did not involve lab work. I had my daughter the following year and even had to take her to the exam hall, since my family refused to babysit her while I wrote my exams. But i was naturally thrown out of the exam hall when my baby started screaming!!. this afffected my grades of course... they hoped I wont graduate.... I was determined to do this anyway and got my degree after 5 yrs instead of 3.
anyway I did my MS in CS in 1985 at ODU, when I got a break while visiting USA for a couple of years. I was not allowed to attend all my classes and never leave my kids with babysitters ( not that we could afford it). Still, I managed to graduate. Since I was not allowed to work over these years, to pass time, I taught IT part-time in colleges/universities and I did many courses, CCNA, E-Commerce engineering, became a certified accountant and did many other courses and learned to play many musical instruments, to keep my mind busy ( to avoid going mad).
But my life ambition was to do a PhD and it kept nagging my heart all the time. Because of my age, I could not get any job offers. I was surprised that there was no response from any companies, although I applied to hundreds of them over the years in USA and Singapore (between 2000 and 2005). I never found out why.. .. no one wanted to employ me.. Perhaps too many degrees or too wide a base, not enough industrial experience ?? So, how to leave home with no job to support myself ?
I had to wait another 21 years before I got admission for MS in bioinformatics at NTU, Singapore. I managed to finish the course in one year.. I had applied to many universities in USA. No admission was offered until May and I was at the lowest point in my life. I had a GPA of 3.64 and three research papers and twenty years of research, teaching and consulting experience.. but still no offers !!... FINALLY..... I got admission at IAstate and here I am. I am 53 years old.. and hope to finish my PhD within 5 years.....
There have been untold miseries in my fight to get an education.. I did not want to agree with people who thought that I do not need to pursue what I wanted just because I was born a woman in a poor Brahmin family and married to a conservative family who did not believe in woman advancement. I was forced to be a cook and do house work all these years in spite of my insatiable thrist for knowledge. I brought up two daughters and was determined they got the education I did not get. One is a gold medalist with a MS in networking and another is a nanotechnologist with a PhD. Both are professional musicians also. I have two grand kids.. 6 and 2 yrs.. a boy and a girl
Finally when I insisted that I wanted to pursue my study on a full time basis, I was told that I could stay if I wanted to continue to be a cook or leave forever....In my last months of studying, I even paid the expenses for my food and rent, in my own house !! So, I left when I got the admission offer from IaState !! It is totally unbelievable that this could happen, since we have lived together for over 35 years... with me doing most of the housework with no servants .. most the tutoring for the children came from me and that too when he is a university professor !!. I guess it was foolish of me to have stayed that long.. hoping that there will be a change of attitude. But the things you do in the name of family and kids and a closed society are quite unbelievable. I never could convince him of my thirst for knowledge...
so.. wish me well.. and I hope to write to you sometime.. when I finish my PhD. 5 yrs..? 6 yrs..? who knows.!!. the important thing is I am enjoying myself pursuing what I always wanted to do... and bless the souls who finally gave me a chance at this !!
I am writing this not to brag.. but for those who are pursuing your dreams... in all those countries where women education is not a priority.. dont lose sight of your dreams.. it is NEVER too late... Sustain your hopes and there will be someone somewhere who will help you achieve your goals and fulfill your dreams....
It does not matter what anyone thinks what we can or cannot do. We can do one of the most wonderful things.. bringing a life to earth.. IN ADDITION to everything that THEY can do !! Isn't that good enough ??
WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT WE BELIEVE WE CAN DO ......
Saras
Saturday, April 9, 2011
An inspiring beginning to 2011
I can't believe I haven't posted once so far in 2011. But perhaps it was for the best because I come bearing an inspirational story this time. I have requested the protagonist to write a guest post on my blog, or if she's too busy, permission to reproduce an email she wrote to all of us on the mailing list. It's a story of incredible drive, tenacity, determination and an insurmountable will to win against all odds. It's hard not to be incredibly inspired by her story. Stay tuned!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Food Revolution - Marketing Strategy
Here I am, with the final installment of my commentary on Food Revolution, after indulging in all the sugary goodies that’s associated with the holiday season. I felt this smallest pang of guilt writing about eating healthy while indulging away from the keyboard, but the end of indulgence is near, so here’s the post:
Being a student of marketing strategies adopted by high tech. companies, I found Jamie’s strategy very interesting. I thought some of it was clever but also spotted some missed opportunities.
1. Jamie offered free cooking lessons at different points in time to the community. There seemed to be an implicit assumption that it’s only fast food and processed food that is unhealthy, and that one of the contributing factors why the people of Huntington were eating unhealthy food was a lack of cooking skill. I found this approach a tad questionable, without educating the population on basics of nutrition. Perhaps Jamie’s recipes were healthy, but it’s very easy to cook extremely unhealthy foods from scratch in one’s own kitchen. I did not see Jamie explaining that it’s perfectly possible to undo the positive effects of eating salad for lunch if you don’t go easy on the dressing or choose your dressing wisely. While the cooking lessons were a good marketing tool in that it brought people together, (hopefully) helped them understand that cooking from scratch can be tasty as well as healthy, I might have taken a more multi-pronged approach.
Specifically, I would have added a basic nutrition education component, and enlisted as allies and sponsors manufacturers of these healthy foods. For instance, I imagine companies like Quaker Oats, the makers of “I can’t believe it’s not butter”, and producers of lean cut meats would have been interested in sponsoring a cooking + education session that promoted their products while enjoying the free publicity and limelight. I felt that partnerships that could have made this even better received were left under utilized.
2. Jamie’s interaction with the radio station host made for drama for TV viewers as well as served as a good marketing tool to raise consumer awareness. I though this was pretty clever, especially the part where Jamie won the bet and made a convert of the talk show host...
3. Initially, Jamie had reached out to the pastor of the local church who was a deep believer in Jamie’s “product". I haven’t seen any episode yet where Jamie took full advantage of the pastor’s support and tried this method of outreach to get his message out to the wider community.
4. While reading up on Huntington, I learned that the city is home to Heiner’s Bakery, and this bakery was owned by Sara Lee Corporation, one of the early manufacturers of the Whole grain white bread. I would have enlisted them as an important ally in my marketing efforts. This company is actively pushing the sales of its healthy breads and the irony of it being manufactured in a city that has more pizza joints than number of health clubs in the entire STATE of West Viriginia is inescapable! As one of the largest employers in the city, one would imagine this would make them the perfect ally but nowhere was this mentioned as a part of his marketing strategy.
On November 10, 2010, Sara Lee sold Heiner’s and other assets as a part of a $959M deal. I imagine the value of their brand equity would have been even higher had they been spotlighted in the national media and consciousness as a result of this show! (Caveat: I don’t know if there is indeed already such a partnership that will be revealed in a future episode!)
5. Nearly 30% of Huntington’s population lives below the poverty line. Huntington’s city council consists of 9 Democrats and 2 Republicans. Can these 2 facts be exploited to levy some kind of “health fee” on the pizzerias and other fast food purveyors in town so as to make fast food more expensive? If that’s illegal, perhaps something along the lines of Santa Clara county’s ban on sale of Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high calorie fast food sold to children.... The point is waving a carrot in front of consumers to motivate is great, but coupling it with the right stick to deter unwanted behavior makes it even more effective.
6. Eating better is certainly one way to make the population healthier, but it seems to me that putting the right incentives in place for the citizens to pursue a more active lifestyle should go hand in hand with better eating habits to reach the overall goal of a healthier city. Perhaps the show is skewed this way because Jamie is a chef, but it seems like a great opportunity to couple this show with another TV show such as “The biggest loser” to generate a bigger bang for buck all around.
When the campaign goes national, I would also think about harnessing the power of social media - specifically Facebook and YouTube - to make this viral. I did not list Twitter because I feel that an effort such as this one which needs time before results can be observed is not well suited to the instant nature of Twit-verse. I will of course, take back the suggestion to not use Twitter if celebrities want to get involved and use their fan following to help reach critical mass!
Being a student of marketing strategies adopted by high tech. companies, I found Jamie’s strategy very interesting. I thought some of it was clever but also spotted some missed opportunities.
1. Jamie offered free cooking lessons at different points in time to the community. There seemed to be an implicit assumption that it’s only fast food and processed food that is unhealthy, and that one of the contributing factors why the people of Huntington were eating unhealthy food was a lack of cooking skill. I found this approach a tad questionable, without educating the population on basics of nutrition. Perhaps Jamie’s recipes were healthy, but it’s very easy to cook extremely unhealthy foods from scratch in one’s own kitchen. I did not see Jamie explaining that it’s perfectly possible to undo the positive effects of eating salad for lunch if you don’t go easy on the dressing or choose your dressing wisely. While the cooking lessons were a good marketing tool in that it brought people together, (hopefully) helped them understand that cooking from scratch can be tasty as well as healthy, I might have taken a more multi-pronged approach.
Specifically, I would have added a basic nutrition education component, and enlisted as allies and sponsors manufacturers of these healthy foods. For instance, I imagine companies like Quaker Oats, the makers of “I can’t believe it’s not butter”, and producers of lean cut meats would have been interested in sponsoring a cooking + education session that promoted their products while enjoying the free publicity and limelight. I felt that partnerships that could have made this even better received were left under utilized.
2. Jamie’s interaction with the radio station host made for drama for TV viewers as well as served as a good marketing tool to raise consumer awareness. I though this was pretty clever, especially the part where Jamie won the bet and made a convert of the talk show host...
3. Initially, Jamie had reached out to the pastor of the local church who was a deep believer in Jamie’s “product". I haven’t seen any episode yet where Jamie took full advantage of the pastor’s support and tried this method of outreach to get his message out to the wider community.
4. While reading up on Huntington, I learned that the city is home to Heiner’s Bakery, and this bakery was owned by Sara Lee Corporation, one of the early manufacturers of the Whole grain white bread. I would have enlisted them as an important ally in my marketing efforts. This company is actively pushing the sales of its healthy breads and the irony of it being manufactured in a city that has more pizza joints than number of health clubs in the entire STATE of West Viriginia is inescapable! As one of the largest employers in the city, one would imagine this would make them the perfect ally but nowhere was this mentioned as a part of his marketing strategy.
On November 10, 2010, Sara Lee sold Heiner’s and other assets as a part of a $959M deal. I imagine the value of their brand equity would have been even higher had they been spotlighted in the national media and consciousness as a result of this show! (Caveat: I don’t know if there is indeed already such a partnership that will be revealed in a future episode!)
5. Nearly 30% of Huntington’s population lives below the poverty line. Huntington’s city council consists of 9 Democrats and 2 Republicans. Can these 2 facts be exploited to levy some kind of “health fee” on the pizzerias and other fast food purveyors in town so as to make fast food more expensive? If that’s illegal, perhaps something along the lines of Santa Clara county’s ban on sale of Happy Meal toys and other promotions that come with high calorie fast food sold to children.... The point is waving a carrot in front of consumers to motivate is great, but coupling it with the right stick to deter unwanted behavior makes it even more effective.
6. Eating better is certainly one way to make the population healthier, but it seems to me that putting the right incentives in place for the citizens to pursue a more active lifestyle should go hand in hand with better eating habits to reach the overall goal of a healthier city. Perhaps the show is skewed this way because Jamie is a chef, but it seems like a great opportunity to couple this show with another TV show such as “The biggest loser” to generate a bigger bang for buck all around.
When the campaign goes national, I would also think about harnessing the power of social media - specifically Facebook and YouTube - to make this viral. I did not list Twitter because I feel that an effort such as this one which needs time before results can be observed is not well suited to the instant nature of Twit-verse. I will of course, take back the suggestion to not use Twitter if celebrities want to get involved and use their fan following to help reach critical mass!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Food Revolution Market Entry Strategy
It occurred to me that I did not fully address FR’s market entry strategy in my previous post. Traditional wisdom says that when a newcomer attempts to take on a well entrenched incumbent, the newcomer should initially focus their efforts on gaining a strong toehold in a market niche, ideally one that is not well served by the incumbent.
Going by that logic, Jamie should have picked a school district where the parents were already reasonably health conscious, whose kids did not eat at the school cafeteria because the offerings were unhealthy and it would have been preaching to the choir to talk to these parents about the importance of healthy school lunches. This would have been a great slice of the market to go after because:
(a) Barriers to entry would have been lower - he would have enjoyed widespread parental and potentially educator and administration support
(b) Results would have been relatively easy to show (say the percentage of students bringing lunch from home went down from 50% to 10%, it would have been an impressive statistic)
(c) Given the correlation between income and healthy heating habits, these schools would have been located in wealthier neighborhoods where fundraising to support his goal would have been easier
However, Jamie went after the “fattest city” in the “fattest country” in the world - Huntington in West Virginia in the US - irking many people right off the bat with that characterization. I speculate he may have chosen this market entry strategy for a couple of reasons:
(a) Forgive my cynicism in listing this as #1, but the drama makes for good TV. Think back to the tear-jerker episodes where he interviews the overweight families and takes them to the doctor who tells them their daughter will die before the parents if she doesn’t lose all that extra weight... To be fair though, if a TV show was generating your paycheck, helping you sell more cookbooks and gear, and making you a celebrity while you’re at it, this is a pretty astute and strategically sound decision. People who are not in nearly as bad a situation will see it as if-they-can-do-it-we-can-do-it. Works either way.
(b) If the goal is to make something widely adopted, it’s a much more compelling story with a greater impact if it was applied on the worst possible case, and that case was turned around to produce results. It’s a combination of couple of Cialdini’s principles of persuasion. A greater authority is conferred upon Jamie if he succeeds with the “fattest city” making it much more likely his suggestions will be accepted elsewhere, and people in a similar situation will see it as social validation.
(c) It nips arguments such as “they could do it because they lived in a wealthy school district that was not in a cash crunch” type of arguments in the bud.
(d) In some ways, raising money from the administrators of the local hospital is a shrewd move in that it forces the more educated, health conscious section of the Huntington community to commit to effecting a change in their community. It also enhances their public image in the minds of those who view the hospital as benefiting financially from the poor health of those living in the community.
Overall, I can see why FR adopted the latter strategy when theory says the former might be the way to go. Goes to show that theory and practice are not always congruent, but there’s a good reason behind it in this case at least!
Going by that logic, Jamie should have picked a school district where the parents were already reasonably health conscious, whose kids did not eat at the school cafeteria because the offerings were unhealthy and it would have been preaching to the choir to talk to these parents about the importance of healthy school lunches. This would have been a great slice of the market to go after because:
(a) Barriers to entry would have been lower - he would have enjoyed widespread parental and potentially educator and administration support
(b) Results would have been relatively easy to show (say the percentage of students bringing lunch from home went down from 50% to 10%, it would have been an impressive statistic)
(c) Given the correlation between income and healthy heating habits, these schools would have been located in wealthier neighborhoods where fundraising to support his goal would have been easier
However, Jamie went after the “fattest city” in the “fattest country” in the world - Huntington in West Virginia in the US - irking many people right off the bat with that characterization. I speculate he may have chosen this market entry strategy for a couple of reasons:
(a) Forgive my cynicism in listing this as #1, but the drama makes for good TV. Think back to the tear-jerker episodes where he interviews the overweight families and takes them to the doctor who tells them their daughter will die before the parents if she doesn’t lose all that extra weight... To be fair though, if a TV show was generating your paycheck, helping you sell more cookbooks and gear, and making you a celebrity while you’re at it, this is a pretty astute and strategically sound decision. People who are not in nearly as bad a situation will see it as if-they-can-do-it-we-can-do-it. Works either way.
(b) If the goal is to make something widely adopted, it’s a much more compelling story with a greater impact if it was applied on the worst possible case, and that case was turned around to produce results. It’s a combination of couple of Cialdini’s principles of persuasion. A greater authority is conferred upon Jamie if he succeeds with the “fattest city” making it much more likely his suggestions will be accepted elsewhere, and people in a similar situation will see it as social validation.
(c) It nips arguments such as “they could do it because they lived in a wealthy school district that was not in a cash crunch” type of arguments in the bud.
(d) In some ways, raising money from the administrators of the local hospital is a shrewd move in that it forces the more educated, health conscious section of the Huntington community to commit to effecting a change in their community. It also enhances their public image in the minds of those who view the hospital as benefiting financially from the poor health of those living in the community.
Overall, I can see why FR adopted the latter strategy when theory says the former might be the way to go. Goes to show that theory and practice are not always congruent, but there’s a good reason behind it in this case at least!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Jamie Oliver’s food revolution and business strategy
I was catching up on Jamie Oliver’s TV show “Food Revolution” last night, and my mind couldn’t help but draw parallels between the entrepreneurial nature of what Jamie was trying to do and launching a new start-up or a new product. If you have not heard of the show, details can be found here and you can also watch the episodes online for free. I thought it would be fun to do a strategic analysis and compare theory to practice.
The challenge: Take on entrenched incumbents (processed junk food), change consumer behavior (eat freshly cooked unprocessed foods) through marketing (customer education and raising awareness) and eventually capture the American market (every school in America should offer their students nutritious food choices).
When entering a new market, one of the first things to do is to determine the state of the current and future markets. In this case, the current market is the total number of schools in the US, with schools being classified as elementary or secondary (high) school. Per this data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the market consists of 132,656 schools. The future market is expected to grow since the census predicts that the US population will reach 392 million people by 2050. This is mildly reassuring from a business perspective. I say mildly because although the US population is growing in terms of absolute numbers, the growth rate is expected to slow down significantly as the population ages and dies in the coming decades. Assuming that the market entry strategy of food revolution (FR) focuses on schools and is not an end in and of itself, one recommendation might be for FR to next target the other end of the age spectrum since that demographic is growing rapidly and may I dare say, experiencing first hand the effects of years spent eating junk food.
The second thing to look at is competition. In this case, the competition is the processed food currently being served in school cafeterias. They have an advantage over the newcomers in a couple of different ways (a) it’s cheaper (b) less work for the school cooks (c) it’s easy to buy in bulk and (d) they have a longer shelf life than fresh food. Here, it’s important to look at how competition will respond to the entry of a new competitor. In this case, I suspected competitors will react by dropping prices even further making it hard for cash strapped school districts to financially justify replacing processed food with fresh ingredients. I was proved right in the latest episode where Rhonda was considering introducing processed food in the school cafeteria on Fridays to work through the stock in the warehouse. Even more alarming, she had already placed an order for the 2011 school year with the processed food suppliers, citing “cheap” as a reason...
The third thing to examine is the barriers to entry. I see the following as barriers to entry for freshly cooked food in school cafeterias: (a) fresh ingredients are more expensive (b) have a poorer shelf life (c) need more resources to process (people and time) (d) need cooks to be re-trained to use them and (e) students’ palates need to be retrained to appreciate this food. I liked how Jamie systematically tackled each of these issues. The big market risk in this case is that the students may not like this new food and may clamor for the old menu.
The fourth and final thing I would think about when introducing a new product or entering a new market is a strategy for entering the market. In this case, it’s rather obvious that neither acquisitions nor joint ventures are options, and FR must start from scratch.
In my next post, I will attempt to analyze FR’s marketing strategies and their effectiveness.
The challenge: Take on entrenched incumbents (processed junk food), change consumer behavior (eat freshly cooked unprocessed foods) through marketing (customer education and raising awareness) and eventually capture the American market (every school in America should offer their students nutritious food choices).
When entering a new market, one of the first things to do is to determine the state of the current and future markets. In this case, the current market is the total number of schools in the US, with schools being classified as elementary or secondary (high) school. Per this data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the market consists of 132,656 schools. The future market is expected to grow since the census predicts that the US population will reach 392 million people by 2050. This is mildly reassuring from a business perspective. I say mildly because although the US population is growing in terms of absolute numbers, the growth rate is expected to slow down significantly as the population ages and dies in the coming decades. Assuming that the market entry strategy of food revolution (FR) focuses on schools and is not an end in and of itself, one recommendation might be for FR to next target the other end of the age spectrum since that demographic is growing rapidly and may I dare say, experiencing first hand the effects of years spent eating junk food.
The second thing to look at is competition. In this case, the competition is the processed food currently being served in school cafeterias. They have an advantage over the newcomers in a couple of different ways (a) it’s cheaper (b) less work for the school cooks (c) it’s easy to buy in bulk and (d) they have a longer shelf life than fresh food. Here, it’s important to look at how competition will respond to the entry of a new competitor. In this case, I suspected competitors will react by dropping prices even further making it hard for cash strapped school districts to financially justify replacing processed food with fresh ingredients. I was proved right in the latest episode where Rhonda was considering introducing processed food in the school cafeteria on Fridays to work through the stock in the warehouse. Even more alarming, she had already placed an order for the 2011 school year with the processed food suppliers, citing “cheap” as a reason...
The third thing to examine is the barriers to entry. I see the following as barriers to entry for freshly cooked food in school cafeterias: (a) fresh ingredients are more expensive (b) have a poorer shelf life (c) need more resources to process (people and time) (d) need cooks to be re-trained to use them and (e) students’ palates need to be retrained to appreciate this food. I liked how Jamie systematically tackled each of these issues. The big market risk in this case is that the students may not like this new food and may clamor for the old menu.
The fourth and final thing I would think about when introducing a new product or entering a new market is a strategy for entering the market. In this case, it’s rather obvious that neither acquisitions nor joint ventures are options, and FR must start from scratch.
In my next post, I will attempt to analyze FR’s marketing strategies and their effectiveness.
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