Friends: Till I twist your arm again

Reading the headline the most obvious question that comes to mind is that
would you like that kind of friend? How would you react is someone was always
trying to make you do something by threatening you. Would you listen to them
even if they were saying something logical? Would you go out of your way to help
them, knowing fully well that when their time comes they would not mind taking
you for a ride?

Well the answer to all these questions if you ask me is a resounding NO.
Simply because this is a human world, and we all need to take each others needs
into consideration. Even at the time of our freedom struggle, Gandhiji advocated
the use of the middle path. But somehow in today's world, no one believes in the
goodness of the middle path. If you do not get what you want then create a
ruckus. It is famously happening in the newspapers these days, with the two
Ambani brothers spat turning ugly with neither willing to back down. While one
prefers to keep silent and work behind doors, the other is screaming his case
from paid advertisements across newspapers. And both of them are heading to
court at the slightest option. So our already overburdened legal system is being
further bent because the two brother cannot talk to each other.

In case any of you by now are thinking that it only happens in the big
corporate wars since big money means bigger ego, please hold on. The problem is
not money, it is power. Whoever gets it misuses it-from the babu in your office
who will not pass your bill when you most need money to the minister in the
government. Power corrupts and absolute power well corrupts absolutely.

Something similar is happening in the IT channel associations across the
country. More and more association presidents are becoming a power center and
instead of fighting for the cause of the community they let their egos rule. So
an association president has no qualms about badmouthing any vendor, disti or
other association when their personal objective are not being met.

I can take numerous examples here where the office of the association
president has been used to further their own objectives. In a candid
conversation one prominent reseller recounted how a national level association's
president had no qualms about getting concession for himself from the vendors
while the entire community has been grappling with the same issue. The same
association's South chapter went one step forward and took the matter to court,
which in effect means that now the rest of the community is just sitting and
grappling with the issue on daily basis. No vendor is ready to hear them out
because on the president is not keen to take up a big fight since his objective
has been met and the government is not willing to help them because the matter
is now sub judice. And knowing the backlog of cases in our courts its anyone's
guess when they will come to some conclusion.

The same is happening with the tax on back-ends and incentives. There is as
always no clarity in any association on what they want to do. All association's
want to become national but they do not want to tie-up with each other, since
who will become the head is a matter of contention. So what they will do? Will
they keep their ego's aside? No, the emerging consensus is that they will take
the matter to court and then wonder why no vendor came forward to help them or
why government does not listen to them. Well my dear friends, no one will. One
of the best examples of an industry association is NASSCOM and they have never
ever threatened anyone, leave alone resort to such measures as putting a ban. So
where are the channel associations going wrong? Well to put it bluntly most of
them are using the wrong tactics to get the right results. You would not help
someone who is trying to undercut you, so what makes you think that you will be
treated differently. Try a different approach, after all what have you got to
lose?

Shivangi Yadav

shivangiy@cybermedia.co.in