Ek Gaon – Social and Mobile technologies to empower the Indian farmer

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One of the recent examples of doing well and doing good that I saw is “Ek Gaon” which literally means “One Village” in Hindi. The concept is simple, using the basic mobile phones to notify the Indian farmers about the decisions that they need to make with regards to the crops and when to dispense them and so on. However, they are doing well as this is a much needed service to the farmers. Currently, there has been an alarming increase in the number of farmers suicides in India. Hence, Ek Gaon is certainly a step in the right direction

Ek Gaon

Rentcyle and Collaborative Consumption

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Collaborative Fund is a do-goody VC company that has among its aims ‘collaborative consumption’–getting people to consume efficiently by sharing and renting rather than purchasing new products all the time.  Rentcycle is one of the companies that it invests in.

Seems like there is a lot of potential in web companies reducing search costs for reusing products.  eBay is largely a market for second-hand goods, which means people can throw out less.

I wonder if there are limits to the potential of these kinds of services.  Is there a maximal market efficiency for product reuse that we are headed for?

The India Way

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The book “The India Way” explains the sources of Indian success and how a country with a lot of challenges with transparency, efficiency, grinding poverty and adult literacy managed to make a huge progress in last decades.

The India Way is about survival, winning against the odds, about ‘jugaad’ (manage in spite of lack of resources) and ‘adjust kar lenge’ (adjust and accommodate)

The message from Indian leaders to the world is surprisingly “human” and explains:

  • How to engage with employees in a holistic way
  • How to improvise and adapt
  • Identifying products with compelling value
  • Broad mission and purpose (beyond profit)

Can this model be adopted elsewhere? Most likely not. The authors express these doubts themselves – these concepts are deeply rooted in the culture however American leaders should at least take a few lessons from “The India Way” – limit the excess of their model and learn to act more responsible towards the society.

I must say I really like the India way and this book completely changed my view on Indian society and companies. The world would definitely be a better place if leaders allover the World listened to the advice from India and used it.

Leslaw

Good HBR Article: do well and do good

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This is the article in HBR that outlines a compelling argument for “do well and do good” companies. Really worth reading. (it is free, as I write these words…).

http://hbr.org/2011/11/how-great-companies-think-differently/ar/2

Does Fair Trade do good?

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There are plenty of coffee roasters and retailers doing “well” by selling coffee at a premium price with a Fair Trade USA label claiming that it is also doing good.

Fair Trade USA, led by Haas graduate Paul Rice, has recently broken off from FLO (the international Fair Trade Labeling Organization) in order to widen its ability to certify large scale farms and domestic buyers. Many see this move to capture greater market share at the expense of the cooperative based values of fair trade. The argument is that as soon as large players like Starbucks get exceptions to operate below the FLO standards, and large scale farms become certified, the true value of a Fair Trade label as proof of doing good is devalued and diluted.

Yet, it is still the label of choice of so many consumers willing to pay more for socially responsible coffee, has the Fair Trade label become a marketing ploy to do well without real social benefits to back it up?

http://www.coffeehabitat.com/2011/09/fair-trade-usa-muddies-the-waters/

Doing well and … not so good

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Recent GM campaign “Reality sucks. Stop pedalling … start driving” turned out to be not the best idea GM had. The League of American Bicyclists didn’t wait long and mobilized social campaign against it. The rumours have spread quickly and everywhere in the world. Today you can even read about it in the main stream journals in Norway 🙂

Luckily this campaign didn’t last long …

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1067263_gm-takes-heat-for-stop-pedaling-start-driving-college-ads
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=no&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbil.aftenposten.no%2Fbil%2F–Slutt–sykle-kjr-heller-bil-11141.html

Leslaw

Social Technologies at Work? What Social Technologies?

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This article discusses new research from Forrester, highlighting slow adoption of social technologies in the workplace.

 http://gigaom.com/collaboration/social-technologies-at-work-what-social-technologies/

Doing Bad

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The “Declaration of the Occupation“, official statement of the General Assembly of the Occupy Wall Street protest, outlines many ways in which they believe that corporations are doing bad.

Which of these could be inverted and used as a way of defining what “doing good” could mean for corporations?

They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.

They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.

They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.

They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.

They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.

They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.

They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.

They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.

They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.

They have sold our privacy as a commodity.

They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.

They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.

They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.

They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.

They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.

They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.

They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.

They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.

They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.

They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts.

 

The University of Wherever

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“Two recent events at Stanford University suggest that the day is growing nearer when quality higher education confronts the technological disruptions that have already upended the music and book industries, humbled enterprises from Kodak to the Postal Service (not to mention the newspaper business), and helped destabilize despots across the Middle East.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/03/opinion/the-university-of-wherever.html?_r=1&hp

The Twelve Attributes of a Truly Great Place to Work

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This article ties in to the conversation we had last week about workplace culture. It does assume that loyalty and having happy employees is a good thing that doesn’t need to be justified.

kristine

 


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