Website Launch date: December 16, 1998 Last Revised and Updated on July 21, 2008 Important Announcement This is to inform that we have made some major policy changes. Free membership will only be necessary to access the restricted articles in the free 'members' folder, except those published in the 'public_html', 'free', 'general' and 'other articles' folders with effect from June 16, 2008. However, free members will not be able to access articles reserved for paying members. The article or editorial or newsletter of the week that is available for free global public access is also available as the default page of the respective folders till the new ones are published. If interested in free membership, please click on the link to peruse the terms and conditions of offer and send in your acceptance. Please see the important notification at the bottom of this page. The restriction on robots, spiders, crawlers and web bots was removed on July 16, 2008. Readers will now be able to use both Google and Pico Searches. The indexing by Pico Search Engine will be carried out in due course. However, its search is limited to 200 pages or thereabouts under its free service plan.  Letter from the Webmaster Dear Reader, Greetings. Customer service and relations is a subject that has attracted too many people with diverse opinions. Everybody has their own theories. One question that often comes up is do we treat new customers and old and established customers alike. Many people say that new customers should be treated fairly but not equally. My response to the question is given in our pages. The management article of the week covers this topic and can be accessed by clicking on any of the links below.  Thank you for your time and have a nice week, Madhavan Gopalachary Treating People Fairly and Equally - Is it a myth ? ----- Let me tell you straight. I don't mince my words. Treating people fairly and equally is not a myth. Period. We can have our preferred customers but have to do it in a different manner. Hug and Kiss them if you want to but when you are dealing with general public in a store, restaurant, hotels and in such public places, it will pay to treat people fairly and equally. Otherwise, you will never get new customers. Any business that does not generate new customers will be dead very soon.  Recent Management Articles, Editorials & Newsletters for free global access Strategic error in crisis communications - The case of Groupe DANONE - Danone decided to close two of its biscuit factories in France, as it found the operations at those units not viable. Nothing wrong with that and many companies do that. The problem was the French Labor Unions. The labor unions are a very powerful force in France, just like in the former socialistic countries, though France cannot be considered as a socialistic state in the literal sense. Treating the customer with respect - I read Mr. Seth Godin's brief article titled 'The bad table'. It was a great read. He has hit the nail right on the head. In his article, he has said that treat new customers the same way you would treat valued, established and loyal customers. He has also said that, if you have to allot a bad table to somebody, treat them extra special, whether they are new or established customers. He is absolutely right. Cost Cutting - When it should be done ? - There is no company in the world that is recession proof and that includes GE. No human beings collectively can control the environment. We have to change ourselves to meet its demands. Mr. Immelt has one more disadvantage. He is just compared with Dr. Jack Welch all the time and will be under his shadow. I feel sorry for him but he must be mentally prepared for that. This will apply to all leaders who will follow at GE for decades. Dr. Welch will remain the benchmark for leaders at GE for a long time to come till a new super guy comes along. Biggest is not necessarily the best - It may be the worst - Many big companies make their site very fancy with great looking graphics and ads. But they forget a visitor needs to access the page he or she wants. The most important element in the home page or the site map is the navigation bar and links. It should be simple and self explanatory. If you have to search for the concerned link, then it becomes useless. The KISS principle is forgotten by most. The game, reality shows on TV and racism - It also shows an average viewer has a dirty mind and the underlying racial prejudices still exist. All the bull shit in the last Soccer world cup and so many other events saying 'no to racism' have no meaning. Remember the notorious 'head butt' incident involving the Soccer great Zinedine Zidane of France and of an Italian player in the 2006 World Cup Soccer tournament. Click here for the list of most popular management articles, editorials and newsletters. What makes us different and unique ? - Grit, Focus and Determination ! Our management site is amongst the first of its kind in the world and was started on December 16, 1998. We are from a developing country with no big banner supporting or sponsoring us. We had to face doubting Thomas's, skepticism, bias, prejudices in the initial stages. We had no prior experience in a highly competitive global environment, coming from a country with a socialistic past and a restrictive license based economy, where knowing people in the right places, having tons of money and how to grease the palms were the only qualifications required for success in business. We had to build our credentials at the global level. We had no money but had belief in ourselves, our abilities, attitudes, knowledge, talents and skills. There are three kinds of writers in the management arena. The first kind are the highly qualified academics who are theoretical and write from their lofty ivory towers, which very few can understand. The second kind are the functional experts who focus on 'quick fix' solutions, without a holistic view on the subject. For people in business, both kinds do not fully meet the needs. We realized the need for suitable blend of theory and practice and written by people who have actually captained ships and are the third kind. Not all captains are necessarily good at communications. The captains must possess unimpeachable integrity, honesty, ethics, involvement and commitment. It was essential to keep the complicated and difficult concepts simple to understand. Our unbiased, impartial analysis, views and opinions count in the corridors of power. We influence individuals, organizations and governments and shape policy and strategy with no formal power or position of authority. That is what true leadership is all about. We didn't go in for any search engine optimization, banner exchanges or links or fancy designs to attract people. If the content is good, people will come to your site and the quote of the great Ralph Waldo Emerson is given at the bottom of the page. We received global recognition within three years of presence on the web. We are approached and invited for contributions of articles and deliver keynote addresses on management from all over the world. We are driven by our strong beliefs, culture, integrity and value system and are extremely proud about it. Grit, Focus and Determination sums it up all. Size has never been an obsession with us but being ranked along with the best in the world, is. This is where our difference and uniqueness lies because the biggest is not necessarily the best. Important and must read notification for all We would like to reiterate that all our pages are covered by US Federal, State and Indian Copyright Laws and governed by the Berne Convention on Copyrights in countries that are signatories to it. All our DNS, web and mail servers are located in USA and we will enforce US Laws in case of breach of copyright and the jurisdiction of San Jose county courts in the state of California, USA will apply, though our virtual private server is located in Atlanta, Georgia and the server provider is based in Houston, Texas. In India, we will enforce the jurisdiction of Chennai courts in the state of TN and for all other countries we will enforce the jurisdiction of San Jose courts. Instances have come to our notice that some unscrupulous people are using our pages, including cached ones by search engines, their portions and images without permission and it is a copyright violation. This is similar to stealing a newspaper from a newsstand. This does not apply to brief quotes as permitted under the US Copyright Act of 1976 (sections 107 and/or 108) and subsequent amendments, if any. However, this exception does not cover images. We have never denied permission to anyone for personal and non commercial use. Any unauthorized use will entail legal action by us and consequences of not taking permission can turn out to be very expensive. This may please be taken as a friendly warning, as Copyright and IPR violations are taken very seriously by the legal systems in all countries that have signed the convention. It will be deemed that all visitors have read this notification and understood it. However, ignorance of laws is not acceptable or tenable in a court of law. Beliefs & Values Legal Information Editorial Policy Notifications Terms of use Privacy Policy The research support for the articles, editorials and newsletters is provided by MMG Consulting. The financial support is provided by Madras Management Group. 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