Yesterday, we went to Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers Ltd, a UB Group Company for studying the ERP implementation aspects of that firm. The man who briefed us about the implementation wasnt that knowledgeable and he was in the technical section. He couldnt explain us the intricacies in the implementation process. He wasnt even able to explain why they chose SAP and not Oracle or BAN. The points to remember according to him is that one shouldnt go for customisation in implementation and take up the standard product because it has been in use through out the world and all the fortune 500 companies use it. If these guys view the ERP implementation just as another product in the company then it would be pretty difficult to imbibe the acceptance of change. The ERP Package has been in force only for the past 8-9 months. The Honeymoon hasnt ended as yet. He wasnt able to give any reasons as to why they decided to move from Legacy system to the current system. Now I got why Indian Companies cannot make it to the top list.

If this thought of "Other Big Companies use it - so I will also use it" Never takes you any where. If you want to be heard in the Global scene, create your own rules- SAP's main plank is customisation and when you donot customise just because, that is not done anywhere else is not a sign of a buyer and supplier. Now this takes us to another Topic that came up for discussion in the class today.

It is like" Free Markets is the answer for the ills of planned Markets". Our Prof. being a great beleiver of free market took up the issue and told that control by any means of the factors of production or the products isnt the right way of doing things and free market just does the correct thing in that makes it free of control. But he also added "Market Controls". Does this means to say that " Control by faceless is better than control by your government"? If that is the case, then what is the market?- the players- who controls the Players ?- Players themselves- then how do make sure there arent cartels and vested interest groups. I think, free market in the extreme cases will do more harm. There has to be a control by the people who use the products- this is done by the government that is elected by the wishes of the people- which makes it imperative to have a Functioning Democracy, where the wishes of the people are duly taken care of. This makes the point that which should be there first?. Free market leads to democracy or Democracy aids and sustains free markets?. I think these two are interlinked and it is really very difficult to seperate them. It is a really great combination to have both , but is it TIME FOR INDIA?