Stochastic pricing – Is this the future?
Freshly out of the Quantitative Methods course and into Quantitative Methods course part 2 in this term, forces me to see the text more in terms of numbers and statistics. Off late one word which catches my fascination is a seemingly complex statistical jargon known as “Stochastic”.
If one traces the roots of the word, the roots lie in Greece and means “Skilled at aiming”, since stochos is a target. In very layman’s terms, it is an approach in which a target value is calculated probalistically based on a combination of variables.
This reminds me of some of the backdated issues of Economist. People are talking of stochastic pricing for Baseball matches. Sounds intriguing to say the least, but makes business sense. And if one thinks through, it is a win-win situation for both the buyer and the seller.
Taking cue from this idea, big cold drinks giant came up with the idea of coming up with a vending machine which will sense the outside temperature and other stuff (read as variables) and come with the price of the can. It was an attempt for stochastic pricing. I am not too sure why the idea was abandoned.
Extending the pricing for IT. One is hearing pricing based on
- - Number of incidents for Application management.
- - Number of defects or rather absence of defects for application development.
- - Availability percentage for application support
Going by the same logic, am I staring at a future where salaries are determined stochastically? ;-)
Let us hope not, but pricing the services and products stochastically is indeed something companies should look forward to. But there are many variables to consider!
Want to do your bit for the country? – Simply Marry???
It was Friday, Christmas morning of 2009. I went out to have my regular cuppa and the first page on DNA asks me to forget Pranab.
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_forget-pranab-real-stimulus-is-in-big-fat-indian-wedding_1327247I sip on and ponder on the headline for a while. The cynic in me immediately says this is all ****- ****. I decided to take on the challenge. Armed with lethal weapons like Google and Google, I carry on. For the benefit of the huge fan base of this blog (don’t try smelling sarcasm here, I have 7845 mails from my fans asking me to begin blogging!), these are some of the facts which were presented.
- Half of India is less than 29 years.
- Marriage contributes around 4% of GDP, which is 3rd largest contributor.
- Average wedding spending 1-15 lakhs for the great Indian Middle Class.
- 200- 600 Crore industry/year spent on weddings.
- Growth is easily double digits (Yes, I said double digit growth).
Looking at these numbers, I am compelled to believe the Indian Growth Story in quite a non-literal sense ;-)
There are few more things which I think the report missed. Thanks to urbanization and moving to nuclear families, the bonding between the couples in on a decline. There are innumerable divorces and quite a lot of remarriages (Read more moolah).
And this is not all; government is milking on this industry as well. Have a look at
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/tax-evading-marriage-industry-put-on-tight-leash/258955/For some my friends of opposite sex, who simply love to be in some marriage, be it anyone’s (literally). It is time to hone your planning skills. There is money for the budding entrepreneurs.
The Hindu puts it best.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/jobs/0108/05290021.htmI humbly surrender to the analysis and can certify “ALL IS WELL” with the report.
So dear friends,
Marriages may be made in heaven, but the moolah can be made right here.
Distress and Optimism
The current financial crisis is probably the worst after the great american depression in the early nineteenth century. With the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, now the question in everyone's mind is whether the Financial world going to survive this hard phase. The top indian IT companies have finance as one of their most important verticals in terms of revenue generated. So the downturn of this sector is surely going to effect the IT industry. But it also provide a great oppurtunity for Indian IT companies, known for concentrating mainly in the US market. The fact that in recent times india has seen several big deals that might change the fortune of a few low key sectors also provide a sign of oppurtunity for the IT companies. We should also take a note of the thing that it not neccessary to have a client to start creating a great software package. Its better if we start looking this crisis as a oppurtunity to rectify a few mistakes that we did in the beginning.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/jobs/0808/2008080650110600.htm I think this would give some insight to handle crisis situations. I would say for now, we need to go in the direction of enhancing our product manufacturing than service based things. This is certainly a big opportunity for us to invest more on RnD on out product(s) and improve them. Yes, the US market has slowed down. But has it stopped people from buying laptops/cams/handycams/ all other electronic goods from the US? They are products. US Co.s are still able to sell them and provide service to those products. Its high time we invest more in our product(s). I hope we understand this.
I would end the post with the words from Architect from Matrix Reloaded.
"Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness"
Labels: Crisis
Traveller
I think of this word and all I can think of is my cargo pants...with my bag...out to an unknown location. Outlooktraveller always says ' a good traveller has no destination and no fixed path and has no idea when he is going toreturn'
The idea is apt and true in all senses... Some of things which I believe needs to be done for travelling:
1. I have always believed in being impulsive. I hardly think that is possible.. but i love this idea of beingimpulsive..deciding things in a split of a second. Travelling should be like that..u decide to go one fine morningand all u needs is to pack ur bag with essentials and go..worst even...dont even care for essentials..u can pickthem up from anywhere :)
2. If u dont know, where u r going to travel, nothing like..go to a station..ask them to give u a ticket to astation 5 station southward or 3rd station northward...there is nothing exploring unknown places...u feel likebeing columbus for a day...the experience is amazing...
3. If possible reach ur destination on cycle...no travelling is equivalent to the one, where u r completelydrained by the time u reach ur destination..then its becomes all the more easier to soak in the new place..
4. Take a notebook and pen with u while travelling...google out important things after the travel, I have alwaysbelieved history of a place has a lot to teach
5. Travel alone... nothing more ruins a travel, ur girl friend keeps nagging to finish up the muesuem so that shecan hit the shops ;-).. there are always exceptions to this... I hope I am wise enough to understand when I haveto do this!
6. Be Frugal when u r on a journey...this is atleast what I try to do...u r more focussed on thing which is onyour hand..travelling..
Things on my mind - CHAOS
1. Reading the 150 page The Mail on Sunday.
2. Reading Fightclub novel from page 102.
3. Should I read again 7 laws of success by Deepak chopra?
4. When will I go back to India soon?
5. Should I invest more money into Indian Stock market at this stage?
6. Should I leave my job or quit this industry all together?
As read in a book by Ramit Sethi, I should be on information diet.
There is too much I am reading...I am trying to absorb, and after that thinking that I am satisfied with my knowledge... I will prefer writing one post rather than only reading 5 blogs.
AJ
The Course to Assertiveness
Attended a course on Assertiveness. It said, it is a skill that can be aqquired. It is something which can be gained.
haan haan....i dont want to comment on that....
there are three types of behaviour....
1) Passive
2) Aggressive
3) Assertive
Passive is not reactive.
Aggressive is over reactive.
and Assertive is our ideal match....
oh come on...i dont know y prompted me to attend this course....but it was a nice one to make me realize where i fall and that is somewhere between passiveness and assertiveness.....
sometimes a lot passive just out of sheer laziness or sometimes because of a sense to avert conflicts......
Sometimes assertive to meet my "selfish" needs...sometimes just because, there was no other alternative.....
Have a similar kinda of courses lined up for me in next few days....will post accordingly then...
Peace and Love
Akshay
Problem Solving - Must for CAT
I am lost these days....m i too much interested in giving CAT , MBA is do or die for me, honestly speaking i dont hv a concrete answer fr these questions....but fr the sake of 10000 odd ruppes which i hv invested in buying forms for the so called esteemed institutes...i m going to give it a shot... so my post will revolve around problem solving...sequential problem solving to be more precise.....
i bumped into this while trying to relax a bit on net... not my thoughts at all but definitely had some influence on me for a while....
we are constantly trying to make some sense of our world and the way people treat each other.....
sequential Problem Solving is for those who want to reassure themselves that their thinking is logically correct rather than emotionally or impulsively misguided.... it provides step by step procedures for applying computer-like decision making to daily living....many ordinary problems involve not only physical, concrete parts but also interpersonal elements, thus problem solving involves both the physical world and the interpersonal world.
the underlying principle, throughout Sequential Problem Solving, is an obligation to help each other as citizens of a world community, and an acknowledgement that our real enemy is often ourselves. Our common problem is understanding ourselves in order to be a friend to others. Sequential Problem Solving provides us with a way of checking for the kindness factor in problem solving, with the goal of helping others and being a good citizen in the world community.
And that is the altruistic side of solving problems for you.....
Peace and Love
Akshay
Outcome of random search
"Asia (minus Japan) has not produced a single quantum invention since the times of Admiral Zheng He in 1400 AD, when before that it was responsible for nearly all of them.
Quantum inventions = significant leaps in order of problem-solving from cave-man days to now eg taming of fire, domestication of rice, discovery of language, wheel, urban social systems, zero, paper, printing press, electricity, phones, credit cards, computers.
What might the topmost reasons for this be? And what might the best bang-for-the-buck ways of reversing this rot of mental soil be?"
If this was common knowledge, we would be at threshold levels of conciousness.
Black and White & Grey
Is there anything in this world which is right or wrong? offlate i m being confronted with question every now and then and wht i end up convincing myself is all is grey......thr is nothing in this world which can be classified as black or white...it is grey.....
Kant, enlightenment & Modern India
These are the few lines from the article on Modern India........best article of the week for me........
Kant defines Enlightenment as
Enlightenment is man’s release from this self-incurred immaturity [which is] his inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another…Sapere aude! “Have courage to use your own reason!” that is the motto of the enlightenment.
I believe that the transformation of reason brought about by the scientific revolution that so impressed Kant and other Enlightenment thinkers holds the key to the fulfilment of the programme of disenchantment and secularisation everywhere. Kant’s call of ‘Sapere aude!’ was simultaneously an invocation of a new standard of reason meant to challenge all a priori truths that we accept out of faith, cultural conditioning or overt indoctrination. Once we understand the transformation of reason that the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment set in motion, we will be in a better position to understand why modernity in India has this feel of incompleteness, superficiality and even schizophrenia.
Modern India has embraced the end products of the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment in the west – namely, modern technology and a liberal-secular framework of laws encoded in the Constitution. But it has done so without challenging the cultural authority of the supernatural and mystical world view derived from the idealistic strands of Hinduism. If anything, from its very beginning in the Bengal renaissance, India’s project of modernity has evolved within a uniquely Indian inclusive style of counter-Enlightenment. By counter-Enlightenment I mean only this: in a stark contrast to the Enlightenment project of bringing religion within the limits of scientific reason, the Indian counter-Enlightenment has tended to subsume or co-opt scientific reason within the spirit-based cosmology and epistemology of “the Vedas.”1 Since independence, India has created an impressive workforce of scientists and engineers, many of them doing fairly advanced science which meets the standards of excellence in the best laboratories in the rest of the world. But India’s science has not evolved out of a critical engagement with the religious commonsense that still pervades the cultural life outside – and often inside – the labs. Modern ideas and innovations are being incorporated into a traditional Hindu world view, without diminishing many of its starkly irrational, occult and pseudo-scientific tendencies.
