Sudhir Ahluwalia's Blog, page 19

How are people making money by purchasing land in Sandbox Metaverse?

We can use a piece of land in the Metaverse in the way we do in the real world. The value of that property is determined by its location, like in the real world.
Some use cases can be:
Construct a virtual palace, game parlor, shop, playground, auditorium, or whatever you may fancy. Just like in the real world, the value of your property is dependent on its location. So it is in the Metaverse. If the virtual land is located in an area where celebrities have built a mansion, your property, too, will be able to get more eyeballs. Some visitors may be interested in what you have built on your virtual property. The visits can lead to potential sales and revenues.
An alternate use case could be to set up a virtual display of innovation. The principles of attracting eyeballs and converting these into dollars are the same as in the real world.
The long-term revenue potential of anything in the Metaverse is dependent on its ability to serve a purpose that attracts customers. Ultimately, it will be the customer that will decide its value. There will be revenues if there are buyers of what you want to sell. Otherwise, the Metaverse will disappear as a fad like many technologies have in the past.

Business strategy expert

Business model expert Similar Posts:

Is Metaverse for real?What are NFT and Metaverse?What is the difference between business policy and business strategy?

The post How are people making money by purchasing land in Sandbox Metaverse? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

How do I grow revenue with the Freemium business model?

If your revenue growth is stagnating, your venture requires a transformation.

It will entail looking at your business strategy, business processes, marketing strategy, business model, and organization. The transformation process will follow the following steps:

Problem identificationSolution optionsTesting and implementation

A brief overview of the problem identification stage will probably be something like this:

Strategy review:

Compare your value chain and activities with that of your competitors to determine the areas of change that will help you secure a competitive advantage.

Undertake a strategic planning exercise to identify change areas in your product and your go-to-market strategy.

Business model innovation

Look at customer persona to determine changes required to the product offering to make people graduate to the premium version.

It could be that the pricing requires to be tweaked or the business process requires modification.

Organization reform:

The problem could lie inside the organization. A human resources and organization analysis will help identify the bottleneck.

Strategy expert

Business model innovation expert Similar Posts:

How often does a company revise its strategic plan?What would be your top 5 questions to the board to work out a digital transformation strategy?How do I make my business stand out amongst competitors?

The post How do I grow revenue with the Freemium business model? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

Where do I obtain funding for my not-for-profit venture on water?

Water is a segment of interest for most development agencies, charities, and individual funding agencies. Crowdfunding is another option to explore.
Funding will be dependent on how good a business case you can create. Funding agencies, private or public, would want to look at the founders’ credentials. Your track record and connections with the communities you seek to serve will help make a case.
Project plan: You will need to prepare a project plan. It should reflect your insights into the sector. Most non-profit founders understand the lay of their target market intimately and reflect that in the program.
Competing landscape: Who else is operating in the segment on the ground in the target areas. It would help if you had studied the operations closely, and the competitive landscape should reflect these facts.
Customer profiling should present the persona of the communities. Make it as detailed as possible.
The implementation plan should include activities, timelines, outputs, and outcomes. It should consist of implementation risks and mitigating actions.
The organization plan should contain details on project execution and engaging communities in the planning and execution process. Most non-profit organizations thrive on community involvement and support. Volunteering and giving back to society are popular themes of such programs. Try and think about this and include that in the organization plan.
Budgets should contain costs, outputs, and outcomes.
If you can persuade business experts and business planners to be part of your project, they will be able to assist in creating the fundraising plan document outlined above. Not-for-profits, like other businesses, are driven by the energy and innovation of the founders. You will need to spearhead the conversations with prospective donors.

Climate change and ESG expert

Business strategy expert Similar Posts:

What are the key features of a business plan for popcorn production venture?How often does a company revise its strategic plan?What would be your top 5 questions to the board to work out a digital transformation strategy?

The post Where do I obtain funding for my not-for-profit venture on water? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

What are the key features of a business plan for popcorn production venture?

A business plan has the following components:

Industry analysis: Study the popcorn production industry in your region and country. The research will help you understand the nature and intricacies of the industry, from production to selling finished products.

Competition analysis: Look at the key competitors in your region. Get into as much detail as you can on the key competitors. The more you understand about the competitors, the better you will be able to plan your business.

Customer profiling; is an important component of the business plan. Create the persona of each customer segment. Get into detail.

Popcorn production: Write all the details of your popcorn production. Include information on plant and machinery, production processes, products, etc.

Business models: What is your business model? I normally look at several business models, analyze each of these models for their suitability to the business and finally zero down on the best option.

Workplan and organization plan: Here, do a work breakdown structure on popcorn production and put a timeline for each component. Think about the organization that you will need to run your business

Financial model: It has costs, revenues, and cashflows

Common errors committed by entrepreneurs while asking for professional help for a business plan:

Hire the cheapest business planner to create the plan. An experienced business expert will charge you anything from $1000 for doing a business plan. It is the analysis that is critical to business planning. Check for certification in modeling and strategy.Entrepreneurs think that a beautiful PowerPoint deck makes for a good business plan. If you are looking for an investment, they believe that the investor is looking for a pretty-looking document and a financial excel sheet with positive cashflows and exponential growth numbers. Investors are smart people. They see through these gimmicks.

If you cannot afford to hire a business expert to prepare a plan for your venture, use the guide I shared. You will be able to do a better job at your business plan than content writers making pretty decks or chartered accounts, giving you an excel sheet with great projections.

Brian Chesky and his two co-founders got their first funding for Airbnb without a formal business plan. Investors look for energy and clarity of thought to get interested in your venture.

Business strategy expert

Business model innovation

 Similar Posts:

Are co-dependant business models sustainable in the long run?I want to start a vegetarian food business in Bangalore; how do I go about making it a success?Is it profitable to start a cryptocurrency startup in the US?

The post What are the key features of a business plan for popcorn production venture? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

Challenge of building global sustainability standards

The need for building global sustainability standards that are widely accepted as critical to benchmarking the progress and performance of companies and corporates towards sustainability is vital. Comprehensive standards should include not just Scope1, 2, and 3 emissions and social and governance components of sustainable development.
Climate science and business response to adaptation to climate change and sustainable development are still in the early stages of development. We are still a long way away from building comprehensive frameworks that will cover all aspects of sustainable development.
We do have some standards like the GHG global carbon accounting standards. Emission monitoring support agencies like STPI (Science-based target Initiative) have been created to assist larger corporations in reporting progress made in a few select sustainable development components.
New ones are being developed by institutions like the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), set up in November 2021 by the IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) Foundation Trustees. The Board is developing a comprehensive global baseline of sustainability-related disclosure standards. These will provide investors and other capital market participants with information about companies’ sustainability-related risks and opportunities, helping them make informed decisions.
The Task Force for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) is another institution created in 2020. TNFD is developing a framework for organizations to report and act on evolving nature-related risks.
Many more bodies are developing specific standards for a set of metrics on sustainable development. We are still a long way away from a comprehensive set of standards that will cover the entire sustainability spectrum.
Sustainable development presents a confusing picture. People report and talk about sustainability based on their perceptions. It enables many corporations to resort to greenwashing and using sustainability practices as a branding tool.
In this confusing picture, small companies and businesses are left with no other option but to use common sense logic. They report to their customers a personal view of sustainability. Sustainable development is often used for brand development.
Let us hope that a comprehensive picture emerges in this decade.

Climate risk and ESG certification

Strategy expertSimilar Posts:

Why do businesses need to adopt sustainable practices?Why does a company need to set sustainability goals?What are the key features of sustainable development?

The post Challenge of building global sustainability standards appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

Is Microsoft capable of surviving a volatile business environment?

Microsoft is a product company. It thrives on innovation and building products that help other businesses operate with increased efficiency. Great companies like Microsoft thrive and grow because they have business strategies that give them a sustained competitive advantage.
Take a look at the competitors of this company. None of them are even close to it. It is not that the competitors’ products are poor quality or are less innovative or user friendly. They cannot compete with Microsoft because of their business strategies to gain a competitive advantage. None of the competitors have succeeded in achieving even strategic convergence with Microsoft.
Steve Jobs made a valiant attempt to outperform Bill Gates but failed. Steve Jobs was forced into forming a business alliance with Gates to keep Apple from sinking. It is an example of Microsoft’s resilient business strategy.
The success of Microsoft is also aided by the way the company has structured its organization. Microsoft sales teams work very close with bulk users and system integrators. They aggressively offer solutions that meet the requirements of customers. Microsoft’s business processes and organization have been streamlined to meet its strategic business objectives.
Volatility in the business environment does not impact the performance of companies with carefully thought-through business strategies. These help it build great business processes. An organization is made, and a great strategy nurtures leadership.

Strategy expert

Business modeling expert Similar Posts:

How do I make my business stand out amongst competitors?How can digital transformation be effectively implemented in the apparent industry?Why is regularly making improvements vital to maintaining and growing a successful small business?

The post Is Microsoft capable of surviving a volatile business environment? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

Why do organizations change their structure?

The organization structure should reflect an entity’s business strategy, business model, and business objective. The business strategy, model, and objectives, in turn, are influenced by the competitive environment, technology, and customer need.

When the organization structure is aligned to the entity’s strategy, model and objective, it operates efficiently and can meet its goal.
A dynamic organization should review its strategy periodically and make shifts to it as the external dynamics change. Let me illustrate this with the example of the Indian IT company TCS.

As the company grew in size and competition grew, the company was forced to look at its strategy to keep its focus on its customers and enhance service delivery quality.

The company moved from the then prevailing structure of specialist groups and restructured itself into lines of business. Each line of business called Industry Practice was now made accountable for its profit and loss. An Industry practice now acquired specialist resources critical to service its customers. The individual specialist groups disappeared.

The restructuring brought increased customer focus and agility in service delivery. The new organizational structure helped the company move to the next cycle of growth and performance.

Strategy expert

Business model expert Similar Posts:

When should I think of organization design in the business transformation journey?What is the relationship that exists between organizational structure and strategy?How do I make my business stand out amongst competitors?

The post Why do organizations change their structure? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

Does a neem and turmeric mixture help prevent cancer?

Preclinical and phase 1 clinical trials in various cancers have shown that curcumin (isolated from turmeric) may be useful in the chemoprevention of colon cancer in humans (Azuine & Bhide, 1994).
It has further been shown that curcumin inhibits proliferation and helps kill cancer cells. These are attributed to the ability of this molecule to positively interfere in the functioning of cancer-causing genes (Bar-Sela & Schaffer, 2011).
Ar turmerone isolated from turmeric is said to suppress the growth of leukemia cells (Kuo et al., 1996).
The anticancer action of curcumin is attributed to its ability to inhibit a cancer master switch, which is called nuclear factor kappa beta. Inflammation is said to fuel the nuclear factor kappa beta activity, which is claimed to account for 95% of all cancers. Cancer activity is also indicated by high interleukin 6 (IL6) levels in the blood.
Stage 2 and, in some cases, stage 3 clinical trials are underway to validate turmeric’s anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and anti-Alzheimer properties (Cole et al., 2007).
Turmeric is emerging as a possible option for the treatment of cancer.
I did not find any scientific evidence supporting the anticancer properties of Azadirachta indica (common name neem). It is also not listed as an anticancer herb in Ayurvedic formulations.

Additional reading:

My books on natural remedies Similar Posts:

Can curcumin slow the growth of cancers?Can turmeric help colon cancer patients?Is turmeric good for skin cancer?

The post Does a neem and turmeric mixture help prevent cancer? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

Why do businesses need to adopt sustainable practices?

Customer demand and preferences determine business actions. Customers in major markets of the world, especially in Europe and parts of North America and others, demand sustainable development. Governments in these regions have enacted legislation and rules that require businesses to adopt sustainability practices.
Businesses respond to these pressures from society and actively promote sustainable practices. Major corporations of the world are preparing annual sustainability reports in which they report actions taken by them to achieve sustainability targets.
Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi) is a partnership between CDP (Carbon disclosure program), the UN Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). SBTi is a major institution that assists in the monitoring of these targets.
But dressing of sustainability actions is also quite common. The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor reported that headline pledges made by companies are often ambiguous. In a survey of 25 companies, the Monitor notes that “just 3 of the 25 companies – Maersk, Vodafone, and Deutsche Telkom have committed to deep decarbonization of over 90 percent of their full value chain emissions. The evaluation found that the actual achievement of the 25 companies is less than 20 percent of their 2.7 GtCO2e emission footprint of their respective headline target years. In short, greenwashing is common amongst corporations.
The business health of companies requires them to be transparent in their reporting of progress towards achieving sustainability goals. It is a business imperative for companies to follow sustainable practices.

Climate change certification

 Similar Posts:

Why does a company need to set sustainability goals?Should businesses make net-zero plans to achieve climate goals?What do ESG funds invest in?

The post Why do businesses need to adopt sustainable practices? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.

What are good, bad and trans fat and health risk they pose?

While all fats, when consumed in excess, will contribute to weight gain, unsaturated fats, when taken in moderation, help bring down blood cholesterol levels as they replace harmful saturated fats.

Unsaturated fats stay liquid at room temperatures. Some examples of food where these are found in high concentrations are olive, peanut, and canola oils, avocados, nuts like almonds, hazelnuts, and pumpkin and sesame seeds. These are examples of foods that are rich in monounsaturated fats.

The sources where polyunsaturated fats are found in high concentration include – sunflower, corn, soybean, flaxseed oils, walnuts, fish, and canola oil (this has both mono and polyunsaturated fat).

Omega 3 is unsaturated fat. While fish is a good source of this type of fat, these are also found in flax seeds, walnuts, canola oil, and soybean oil.

The American Heart Association suggests that 8 to 10% of daily calories should come from polyunsaturated fats.

A good diet should decrease saturated fat consumption and reduce blood cholesterol by consuming more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish, and poultry and less red meat. This diet will protect the body from cardiovascular diseases (Krish-Etherton et al., 2001; Hu., 2003).

Polyunsaturated margarine with plant-based phytosterols was seen to reduce cholesterol absorption in the gut and lower blood cholesterol levels. It reduces heart disease risk by 25% (Law, 2000).

Nuts (tree nuts and peanuts) are nutrient-dense foods rich in unsaturated fats and bioactive compounds like high-quality vegetable protein, fiber, and minerals. This food provides wide-ranging cardiovascular and metabolic benefits (Ros, 2010).

Monounsaturated fatty acids found in plant oils like a rapeseed or olive oil positively impact the blood lipid profile. These favorably influence the metabolism of diabetics too. Suppose the fatty acid composition of the diet is optimized. In that case, even a total dietary fat content of 35% of total energy intake (at the top end of the recommended information of energy from fats) continues to have a protective effect. In such cases, a higher level of physical activity is recommended. This diet is largely plant-based (Wahrburg, 2004).

When choosing the type of fat we should consume in our diet, it is best to avoid trans-fatty acids or trans fats. Heating liquid vegetable oils make trans fats in the presence of hydrogen gas and a catalyst. This process is called hydrogenation. Partial hydrogenation makes the oil more stable and less likely to turn rancid. Fat is converted into a solid and functions more like margarine or shortening.

Additional reading:

Nutrition Facts – a guide to good health

Natural Solutions for obesity Similar Posts:

Which oils are best for good health?What fats are good and bad for our health?Is olive oil the healthiest option?

The post What are good, bad and trans fat and health risk they pose? appeared first on Sudhirahluwalia, Inc.