Book Review An Unfinished Agenda

Some dream, some discuss and very few actually do it, this is the story of Dr.Anji Reddy, son turmeric farmer and his journey from a humble town called Tadepalli in Andhra Pradesh to getting his business Dr. Reddy's labs listed on the New York Stock exchange the epicenter of capitalism. A book written by Dr.Reddy himself about his early days as a chemical scientist and how his entrepreneurial journey started.

A lot of details about the policy environment during the 60's in India like the MRTP act, price controls specifically related to Pharma products have been described in detail and will give the reader an idea of how difficult it must have been to start an enterprise in India. In spite of all the ups and the downs and multiple failures Dr.Reddy's is one among the few Indian Pharma success stories that has created tremendous wealth for all its stake holders.

Very few might know that Dr Reddy's was the first company ( all though it had a different name then) to make bulk drugs at such a large scale in India, while older stalwart Indian pharma companies like Cipla and Ranbaxy were too apprehensive to get into the bulk drugs market , Dr Reddy's takes this huge risk and comes out with quite a few block buster chemicals like Metronidazole, Sulfamethoxazole, Ibuprofen etc etc.

The book also gives an overview of the golden period of the 60s and 70s which is often reffered to as the golden era of antibiotics when penicillin, Norfloxacin, Ciprofloxcin became extremely popular in treatment of various medical complications. We also get to understand how competitive the international pharma market is and why there are so many litigations, patent infringments every now and then in the pharma world, the sheer size of business opportunity and stakes make it so competitive. DRLs journey outside India, especially the lucrative markets of western Europe and US are well explained with all details of challenges faced and is a lesson for future generation of Indian companies that might want to enter the US market.

DRLs foray into drug discovery and its moderate success in this field, the failed acquisition of German company Betapharm( at that time it was the biggest Pahrma aquisition by ann Indian firm) , DRLs entry into Biotech and DRLs CSR initiatives have all been elaborately detailed out.

Lots of anecdotes of Dr. Reddy's work style, why Hyderabad is the pharma capital of India,how he dealt with the MNC competition when he started the business, his relationship with industry peers like legendary Cipla Boss Dr.Yusuf Hamied, Bhai Mohan Singh of Ranbaxy, how they decided to name a molecule of the glizatone family as Balaglizatone in honor of Lord Balaji etc etc make it all the more interesting.

Lots of technical stuff that mostly a pharmacologist or a organic chemist can only understand have been written, I personally did not understand most of it but I sure understood one thing that Dr.Reddy was fascinated by chemistry and medicines and never ending ambition to find new methods to produce drugs and thereby reduce cost and make it more affordable to people in the developing world.

The dominant theme throughout the book was about good science, affordable medicines and reasonable business sense to deliver profits.

A good read to understand the early years of the Indian Pharma Business.

Book Review - The way of the Runner

A completely new subject - Book on Japanese Running.......

The two countries that most of us know about when it comes to long distance are Kenya and Ethiopia, however very few of us know that Japan is also a very serious and seasoned competitor in the world of long distance running having had 5 Boston Marathon winners till date and many more top level finishes in major races around the world. Japanese and their obsession with distance running is something unknown to a large part of the leisure running community

Author Adharanand Finn an Englishman who is also a very serious leisure runner has written this very engaging book about this journey and stay in Japan to find out what has made this sport so popular in Japan. Finn after having spent time with the elite Kenyan runners now shifts base with family to Japan and in his year long stay meets various stake holders in the Japanese running community.

Running took center stage in Japan mostly after the world war, running was used more as a community building exercise in those difficult times and since then has been becoming popular year after year, the most popular events are the Ekiden ( running relays as they call it ) where teams of anywhere from 5-12 members run over distances from 21 kms - 220 kms sometimes Ekidens last for more than a couple of days.

Ekidens are held at various levels right from the shcool level to corporate championships. In such a scenario it is quite natural that the pool of runners is going to be huge and unlike
other countries like the US or UK running and being part of a top corporate Ekiden team is not a bad idea to make a career and living out of running.

It is no surprise that the timings of many of the top university level runners in Ekiden is on par with some of the best professional runners in the west off course nothing compared to the east African runners. The level of intensity and popularity with which people compete, watch and cheer the top Ekiden runners speaks volumes about how ingrained running is in their culture( Many Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes also are recruited to be a part of Japanaese Ekiden corporate teams). The most popular Ekiden, Hakone Ekiden is to Japan as what Super Bowl is to America or FA cup is to Europe.

That brings the author to a question, why is that in spite of such intense competition and such a large pool of talented athletes, why arent they able to beat the Kenyans, many reasons have been attributed to this which include training.

Japanese believe in this core philosophy in life that if you need to achieve something you have to work hard and the same is used in the field of long distance running, they focus more on covering long mileages very week, running on asphalt roads unlike the Kenyans whose training is more tactical and in the trails on soft mud. This strategy of the Japanese has often lead to runners getting injured at a very young age and hence not reaching their true potential, coaches in Japan focus on discipline to such a large extent that they rarely tell the runners that they should also enjoy what they are doing unlike the Kenyan training atmosphere which is much more fun and relaxed.

As it is the Japanese are known for hard work and putting in long hours at office, the same culture seems to have been carried to the running field also where focus is to always train hard and run long something that the east African runners cannot relate to when they come to Japan and train with the Japanese for the Ekiden runs.

In japan sports is not just about winning but it about using sport to unify body with the soul and that is why they take running so seriously , and Ekiden running is not about an individual running but the team running in harmony, Finn also runs a few Ekidens during his stay in Japan and has very nicely detailed out what it takes to run in an Ekiden. Finn also meets the Marathon Monks also known as the Daigyoman Ajira who is pursuit of spiritual enlightenment run a thousand marathons in thosuand days, they use the time when running in these long distances to reflect upon life and its purpose to attain spiritual mastery.

The pinnacle of success for runners in Japan is winning the Ekiden and that is why so many of them take up to running, even an Olympic qualifying or win cannot replace the thrill that these runners get when they win the biggest Ekiden run in the country which is the Hakone Ekiden. For a Japanese runners who is part of an Ekiden it is not just another team and a run, it is all about Bushido( loyalty , courage and honour) that is how seriously they take this event and competitive running in general.

Finn also writes about his interaction with the country's biggest running star at the moment ,Yuki Kawauchi and his philosophy in life, Yuki has resisted the temptation of joining a Ekiden team to avoid the pressure of performance, instead Yuki who has a regular day job trains on his own and run about 10-12 marathons in a year, in fact a couple of years back he finished 6 marathons under 2 hrs:12 mins time. After having finished 14th in the Tokyo marathon ,Yuki shaves his head as as mark of punishment on himself for faring so badly on home ground, such is the commitment and insanity with which some of these athletes in Japan train .Finn gives another example of a Japanese marathoner Kōkichi Tsuburaya who finished 3rd in the Tokyo Olympics of 1964 and the fact that he let his home crowd down he then takes a vow to get gold in the 1968 Olympics , unfortunately due to some health issues he cannot take part in the games of 1968, unable to bear the ignominy he kills himself and a day later his body is found with the bronze medal in hand.

A lot of research has been done to see why the Japanese have not yet beaten the Kenyans and many reasons have been attributed to it the most important being the training regime itself somethings which is also endorsed by the legendary long distance running coach and Boston Marathon winner Alberto Salazar of the Oregon Project.

A good engaging book, with a decent dose of humour and at the same time you get a glimpse of Japan's obsession with long distance running.

Book Review - Merchants of Tamilakam

Book on Business History and Trade
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A very underrated subject caught my attention and hence decided to pick up and read this book, after reading this book
about the merchants from Tamilakam I can confidently say the seeds of globalization started way back during this era ie about 1500 years back.

The book draws data and facts from multiple sources to trace and undertand the political,business and trade ennvironment
that was prevalent in Tamilakam. Tamilakam refers to the area in the Deccan plateau predominantly consisting of people
bound by the Tamil language.

Trade with the outside world was something that came naturally to the merchants of Tamilakam, there are many pieces of historical
evidences which show trade happening with Rome in the 2nd and 3rd century, merchants from Tamil country exporting spices in exchange for metals, horses, brocade etc etc from the Roman mechants.

The Sangam Era was also a important phase where trade with the external world only increased with Tamil merchants taking big risks and travelling to China and south East Asia to sell their goods.

There are numerous instances in the tamil epics like Silappatikaram and Manimekalai which talks about the role and the various aspects of trade by the merchants of Tamilakam. Tamil Country had a big advantage of a long coastline and the merchants used it to their advantage to travel by ship across the high seas and establish trade links, the ports of Mamallapuram, Tondi, Nagapattinam were major trading ports built during the 5th-10th century.

The various dynasties that ruled Tamilakam like the Pallavas, Pandyas and the Cholas and their support to the merchant community have been well highlighted. Of all the dynasties the Cholas deserve a special mention as they used military conquest to not just capture new territory but also to grow trade and business.The phenomenon of why urbanization which lead to formation of cities like Kanchi, Madurai, Tanjavur which became major trading hubs and market places has been explained well.

The role of the temples, how they were funded, what standing they had in the socio,political and economic aspects of society during this era is detailed out well in the book. How merchant guilds across different trades were formed to protect their interest and negotiate better is something which we see today also in industry trade associations is also explained in detail. Capital formation, tax structure and collection , city administration , monetisation of state and temple assets are all concepts which were well used in this period itself.

A quick read to get a glimpse of our rich business and trade history.

Book Review - The TCS Story

A definitive guide not just on how India's largest IT company TCS was built starting from the mid sixties but also about the early days of the IT industry, the challenges it faced and how the leadership overcame these challenges. 

The book also highlights the vision the Tata Group in general has about the future, about business and its role In society and how the company is committed to performing it's roles be it on the corporate side as a responsible profit making business or as a committed citizen to the overall development of society around it.

Former CEO Ram has outlined the various milestones the company has been through in the last many decades right from buying it's first mainframe, winning a big order from major Swiss bank, delivering software for national stock exchange NSE in India, reaching it first billion dollar sales target, becoming one of the top ten IT companies in the world to listing it's shares on the Indian stock exchange exchange and making it the most valuable Indian IT company on the stock exchange.

All in all a good read about how a nascent industry took birth in India and scaled to great heights in the decades to come by.

Book Review - Intel Trinity

Anyone even remotely connected with the semiconductor industry should read this definitive guide of how Intel Corp becomes the most important company of the digital age, silicon valley and its impact on humanity.

A combination of three unlikely technocrats who came together from Fair child Semiconductor and then founded Intel...the trinity of Bob Noyce know for his vision and jaw dropping risk taking ability, Gordon Moore , the soft spoken technological genius ( founder of the Moore's law ) and Andy Groove( author of Only the Paranoid Survive) the business Wizard with super human energy is stuff of legends.

The defining moments when Bob Noyce co-invented the Integrated circuit ( had be been alive in 2000 he would have got a noble prize for the same) , the creation of the revolutionary 8086 Intel microprocessor which powered millions of computers in the 80s and last the greatest hitech marketing campaign of the century which is Intel Inside for the pentium chip is beautifully detailed out.

As with most businesses complacency and fatigue seems to have crept in and Intel has been caught on the wrong foot with nothing really worthwhile to contribute in the mobile era and have lost the game to more nimble companies from Korea and the Valley itself.

Nevertheless great corporations dont die away easily and are known to comeback with even more greater products and intel with its technological prowess is capable of doing it .

Book Review - Bhujia Barons

Well researched book about one of the biggest food brands in India, offers insights into how typical Marwari businesses start and flourish and also how the future generations have adapted themselves to take the business to the next level.