How does BCG gets project from BSNL?

BCG has recently done a study for "Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited" (BSNL), the fifth largest mobile operator in India. BSNL is semi- overnment telecom operator in India, the only one untill few years back. And it is losing market share to private operators. I remember that 15 years back when the phone was a luxury in India, BSNL was the only provider of landline phones, so if there is any problem with your connection such as the open hanging telephone line from pole to your home is damaged by a monkey, next morning you have to go and wait for the BSNL lineman to come and fix it. Additionally you have to give him some "kharcha paani"(accepted bribe). The situation is widely understood to be same (for bribes) from lineman (the lowest in hierarchy) to the top bosses (either executives or minister responsible). The result of this unholistic approaches widely taken over the years, looking only at short term face saving fixes (and personal gains), BSNL is a loss making company and going down. BCG, on the contrary is an epitom of professionalism. BCG like consulting firms and Cisco like vendors works usually with the givernment firms like BSNL. Then What Happens ?

I am putting some thought points but also would urge the reader to add anything as comments freely...

We can analyse on many issues:

1. Who benefits: BSNL does for sure. But does Cisco gets something from BSNL? Has BSNL something which Cisco needs to learn?

2. Are these deals bribe free? BCG is supposedly ethical, but for BSNL consulting projects, Will BCG like to pay upto 1 M USD to various officials for getting the contract?

3. What is the future of such governmental organisations? Can under monopoly systems (such as in China) they learn to complete projects within time and upto satisfaction? (Indian common wealth games vs. China Olympics/ Indian railways vs. China's transportation services).

And many more to see....

China to India, My airport story

I landed in India after completeing my MBA from CEIBS, China. It was 4 o'clock in the morning when I realised that I was on New Delhi airport rather than a train station. The differences were evident. It was looking everything was shabby. The baggage belt had flight number which was written so small that u will see it only from very near. So I went around but could only find one for our flight, when I saw some fellow travellers standing there. After studying an MBA (where we discuss about giving comfort to customers) and living in Shanghai, where sometimes I have seen them makign new road newer again, I was thinking why not put up a bigger LCD here, will it be a big expense compared to the expected comfort of travellers?
Second shock, I wasn't expecting that it would be so bad, but there was no sign for which way somebody at 4 AM could look at for washroom. Again you need to go to information counter, where the young lady was sitting with an angry face and seeming to be giving a great service by showing her hand into oine direction and looking into completely opposite:-). That was quite unpleasant but funny. Finally, I could find a washroom, entrance was so small that one have to leave the trolley outside and go in, may be the space inside was also small :-).

And finally, for me to make a local call, I waited for the guy on phone booth for 30 minutes but he never came back from his tea time.....

Welcome to INDIA!!