Think big money, and the first thing that comes to mind is the Indian Premier League (IPL). Is the IPL really an innovation as Lalit Modi and his 'cheerleaders' claim? A quick read of the book "IPL: Cricket & Commerce" by Alam Srinivas and T.R.Vivek would give you suitable answers. Lalit Modi was indeed inspired by the business model and marketing might of the NFL during his student days at the US. The manifestation of his keen observation of the American sports business scene has resulted in the Inspiration Premier League, errr.... IPL!
No wonder, Modi today benchmarks the IPL with the NFL and the NBA, and even goes on to say that the IPL will grow bigger than the NFL and the NBA. The bottomline: I hate to call Modi a genius, but he is undoubtedly a smart (Marwari) businessman.
Does the inspiration story end here................................ ? (more to follow in a later post)
@Rohit - "Blatant Copying" sounds deprecating whilst I dont think replication of business success elsewhere warrants that ?
ReplyDelete@Anand - I prefer calling an 'inspired business success' as the insightful equivalent of blatant copying (thereby actually distancing it from a pure blatant copy), where the original idea is indeed a direct take from another successful venture, but it is embellished with local insights and thus packaged marvellously to make it an astounding success.
ReplyDeleteBtw, have you noticed 'Chennai Rawther Thalapakattu' (the shop with yellow boards which serves biryani under bright lights)? I guess it's a blatant copy of an original Thalapakattu from Dindigul, but it's making a killing in Chennai with branches all over! :-)
How about this: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/iplwatcher/archives/2010/04/back_to_the_future_1.php
ReplyDelete@rohit..
ReplyDeleteagree with anand.
'blatant copying' is pretty common in service industry.. packaging it with local ingredients and spices is the key.
was lalu the sole person responsible for his success in railways? :)
cricketing sport la lalit adjusted accordingly the business model.. wat else can we expect from it? iBat? :)
@Rathna Kumar - fully agree with you
ReplyDeletewhat do you say now about the IPL? :) put aside the innovation.
ReplyDeleteHaha... Now it has suffered total damage! Damage control measures needed
ReplyDelete