INFORMATION

                                                            INFORMATION

                        THE POWER OF INFORMATION IS OFTEN UNDERVALUED. SIMPLY STAYING INFORMED INCREASES THE CHANGES OF OPPORTUNITIES COMING TO OUR ATTENTION. THE VALUE OF INFORMATION IS BEST ILLUSTRATED BY A STORY FROM DHIRUBHAI AMBANI'S  LIFE.

                        IT IS WELL- KNOWN THAT DHIRUBHAI GATHERED INFORMATION FROM  ANY AND EVERY SOURCE- INFORMATION ABOUT GOVERNMENTS, POLICIES, PRODUCT, COMPETITORS, EMPOYEES, POLITICS AND LOT MORE.

                     A CANDIDATE ATTENDED A PERSONAL INTERVIEW WITH DHIRUBHAI FOR A SENIOR POSITION IN RELIANCE, BUT HE HAD OTHER OFFERS TOO. RELIANCE WAS NOT HIS FIRST CHOICE. AT THE INTERVIEW, DHRUBHAI CASUALLY ASKED, HOW IS YOUR FATHERS HEALTH?

                     APPARENTLY, THE YOUNG MAN'S FATHER A SENIOR PROFESSOR AND RESEARCH SCHOLAR, HAD UNDERGONE A BYPASS SURGERY FOLLOWING A HEART ATTACK A FEW DAYS AGO.

                      DHIRUBHAI'S INFORMATION NETWORK AND ALREADY BRIEFED HIM OF THE DEVELOPERS, MUCH TO THE CANDIDATE'S SURPRISE. NEED I SAY THAT THE CANDIDATE TOOK THE RELIANCE OFFER? INFORMATION HAD MET OPPORTUNITY.

                    CONSIDER YET ANOTHER MUCH OLDER EXAMPLE FROM INDIA'S BUSINESS HISTORY.

                IN 1861, THE US CIVIL WAR BROKE OUT. UNTIL THEN THE COTTON MILLS OF ENGLAND SOURCED ONLY TWENTY PERCENT OF THEIR RAW MATERIAL REQUIREMENT FROM INDIA, WITH THEIR MAJOR SUPPLY COMING FROM AMERICA. AS A RESULT OF THE WAR, THE DEMAND FOR INDIA COTTON SHOT THROUGH THE ROOF. THE GREATEST COTTON SPECULATOR OF THE TIMES WAS PREMCHAND ROYCHAND. DURING THAT AGE WHEN NO TELEGRAGH LINE EXISTED BETWEEN INDIA AND EUROPE, THE IMPERFECT FLOW CREATED A TERRIFIC OPPORTUNITY MIND YOU, THE OPPORTUNITY WAS AVAILABLE TO ALL, BUT IT WAS ONLY ROYCHAND WHO WAS ABLE TO EXPLOIT IT SO VERY EFFECTIVELY.

             IN THOSE DAYS, LOCAL COTTON PRICE IN MUMBAI WOULD CHANGE TO REFLECT INTERNATIONAL PRICES ONLY AFTER ENGLISH SHIPS DOCKED AND SAILORS CAME ASHORE WITH THE LATEST PRICE INFORMATION.

              ROYCHAND WOULD SEND HIS AGENTS OUT ON BOATS TO MEET THE ENGLISH SHIPS COMING TO MUMBAI, THEIR PRIMARY TASK? TO LEARN AND CONVEY TO HIM THE LATEST LONDON COTTON PRICES BEFORE THE SHIPS DOCKED AT PORT. 

             ROYCHAND'S ADVANCE TEAM GAVE HIM A HEAD START OVER ALL THE OTHER COTTON TRADERS, ROYCHAND WOULD TAKE MASSIVE POSITIONS IN THE MARKET BEFORE ANYONE ELSE KNEW WHERE PRICES WERE HEADED. OBVIOULY, ROYCHAND REAPED ENORMOUS PROFITS FROM THE COTTON BOOM.