The FABINDIA Model: Gandhi Lives

There is a company called FABINDIA that collects and markets the handicrafts of rural Indians. It's not the Indian version of Cost Plus World Market. The owners of the company believe in this handicraft form of manufacturing. They recognize that they are enabling a certain way of life to survive. They accept that the urban-drone model is not the only path of development for a society--which old societal patterns do not necessarily have to disappear as a culture modernizes. FABINDIA was founded, ironically, by an American--a buyer from the Macy's chain, John Bissell. That he, and subsequently his son, could keep a view that departs from the spirit of the age is admirable. Most of the time entrepreneurs lack a social conscience. Of late many seem to have installed one in the form of environmental consciousness, but this has adhered so closely to the herd-mind that it hardly counts as innovative thinking. On the other hand, those who recognize something in extant folkways worth preserving can be painfully ignorant of the world's realities. They can act; or rather react, as if economic dimensions don't exist.

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Contributed By:
Sumit Choudhury - PGDM 6
Marketing - Major
(Globsyn Business School)

Bite-Size Learning

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." - Henry Ford

What is bite-size learning?

Bite-size learning is a phrase that has come to prominence in the last five years or so. In particular, promoters of the Learning at Work Day have adopted the phrase to refer to training courses that can be run for employees in the workplace without impinging too greatly on their output.

An obvious implication of the phrase 'bite-size' is that whatever it is, it's a small chunk that can be easily digested - in the case of learning, quickly learned and easily remembered. It means offering a small number of easily remembered pieces of information is something that training providers should bear in mind when constructing their training packages.

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Contributed By:
Ipsita Pramanick - PGDM 6
HR – Major
(Globsyn Business School - Kolkata)