General research processes,funding in Local services and in General. Local services like what sulekha does,urbanclap and just dial does. It also talks about research funding and evaluation in local services like home services,home improvement,packers and movers, education, health care

1. 1. Why research?
2. Why research is very much necessary for Sulekha.com
3. Research possibilities
4. Problem with existing structure
5. What new structure/org willdo
6. Why new structurewill succeed
7. How and whereto start
8. Tools,technology and resourcerequirement
9. Funding the structure
10.Evaluation criteria

2. Why Research?
1. Thisis mostfundamental question,thatwe askwhetheritsrequiredornot.Whyonly
guessmate,copy,gutsfeeling,laymanideas,throughownexperiencesare notsufficient.
2. Because majority of the caseswe see onlythe symptoms,notthe cause,problemdon’tcome in
a structuredmanner,problemsare veryinterconnected.
3. Its cost-benefitanalysis,day today we face many problemsinlife on
food,transport,education,health,finance etc.Butwe eithertake decisions if the consequences
are lessserious oroutsource the decisionstodoctors,engineers..because we don’thave the
abilitytofinance the researchandmajorityof the solutionalreadyexist,we cangetitby paying.
But whenitcomesto societygovt.addressesornow a daysmany private companiesaddressesthe
problemsthrough variousfundamental researchon health through developmentofnewmedicines,
vaccinations or food through developmentofseeds,biotechnologyoronrenewable energy or do
social and governance researchsothatproperdeliverystructure canbe made,betterfiscal
management,bettermonetary management,inflation,investments,employment etc..
But whenitcomesto companyit facesmanyissues porter’sfive forces- 2 verticals– bargaining power
of suppliers,bargainingpowerof customers , 3 horizontals- industrial rivalrly,threatof newentrants,
threat of new substitutes
On Top of thiswe face additional risk- we are yettobuildaviable businessmodelinfactnobody,hence
there islarge amount of innovationrisk involvedintermsof introductionof businessmodelstocreate
and capture value,newtoolsandtechnologytocollect,organizeinformation(productsayprice capture)
and delivervalues muchefficiently,effectively withappropriatequality.
Here I am going to little concrete from higher order:
1. New knowledge,ideas
2. Futuristicbusinessmodel
3. Newbusinessmodel anddiversifiedandpersonalizedacrosscategories
4. Porter’sfive forcesanalysis
5. Futuristicideas
6. Newprocesses
7. Newproduct

3. Why researchis very muchnecessary for Sulekha.com
1. Unprovenbusinessmodel –scope to try new always
2. All are on startup stage to fail fast,experiment,implement
3. Consumerbusiness(B2C),here more competitionandscale,volume matters
4. Here repeatconsumption/retainedcustomersare more valuablethannew asitsexpensiveto
acquire newinthiscompetitive world
5. Too manyverticalscomingup
6. Porter’sfive forcesagainheavy
8. Diversifiedcategorybutsinglebusinessmodel
9. Rise of micro/individualentrepresuship
10. More accountabilitythroughmarketthanemployeesdoingjobs
11. Huge numberof unemployedbutskilledyouth
Research possibilities:
1. Market and economicresearchonlocal services
2. Competitorresearch(SWOT,Businessmodel)
3. Categoryresearch(Knowledgebuilding,packagingasproductstosell)
4. Behavioural research
5. Researchto empower,educate SP
6. Researchto create general frameworkforall orgoupsof categories
7. ResearchonGeneral approach,process,Methodology
8. Researchonbringingfuture service delivery/businessmodel topresentandtake leadsthere
Overall canbe categorizedas – strategic,operational,educational,futuristic research
Problemwithexisting structure:
FundamentallyitsproventhatResearchconductedunderline agencydon’tyieldresultsas
researchisbiasedas ouroutome ispredecided.Incentivestoimplementnotknowledge
creation.Incentivesalignedtohow manyreleases/featuresnottooutcome.It’sverydifficultto
measure andchallenge whetherthe outome is optimalasanyotherreference pointisnotthere
to measure andcompare.
On existing:
1. Nowit’smainlyconcentratedinproduct,whichisaline agency(implementingstructure)

4. 2. NowanalysisishappeninginSilos,independentof eachother,withminimumco-ordination
3. Nowresearchisverymicro,bias towardsfeatures(addingsome microexperience orsome new
needcreationordeletion)
4. Duplicate efforts
5. Reinvention
6. Effort/knowledge sharingislessasincentivesare alignedtoimplementation,henceone PMby
sharingknowledgehe speedingupotherPM,whichlooksbadinrelative terms.Worldismore
relative thanabsolute
7. Individual whimsandfancies
8. Lesserdebate
9. Lessresourcesindividuallydohardcore research
10. Hardcore researchisnot rewardedasobjective isimplementation
11. Loyaltyto product/projectismore thanloyaltytocompany
12. Hence producthavingnegative impactoncompanybutpositive impactonproductcan be
implemented
13. Notlongterm onlyShortterm orientedinnature asimplementationisonheadnotknowledge
Etc…
What Newstructure will do?
Researchisalwaysstaff agency,be ituniversity,govt.institution,Researchdepartmentinacompany.
Staff agencyisaccountedfor whatknowledge itproducesandhow muchitconvincesothersto take
helpfromthe agency.
1. Missionorientedtowardsknowledge creationnotimplementationandloyaltytowardscompany
2. More macro oriented.Itwill create atoplayerresearch,framework,guidelines,innovative
methods,ideas
3. Long termin nature
4. Incentive isalignedto produce knowledge,methods,framework,new businessmodelsetc..not
featuresimplementation
5. It will bringdiverseexpertise andproduce outstandingdebates
6. Its not competitiveinnature asitwill produce forwhole company
7. Anybodycanuse the knowledge –it’sa kindof knowledge repository
8. On topof thisresearchlocal researchandanalysiscan be conductedbyproduct
analyst/manager
9. No duplicationof effort
10. No reinvention
11. More co-operationthancompetition
12. More resources/people todebate,review applystatistical tools,samplingetc..

5. 13. It can create a small structure tomarketthe knowledge internallyandhelpinimplementation
14. No force onlyrecommenderyinnature
15. In longtermit can act as a knowledgeengine fortopmanagement,itcanbe leveragedand
expandedfasteraswe will have structure,expertise,processes,learningsandexperiences
16. It can act as brainfor CEO/Topmanagement
How to Begin
1. Goalsfixing
2. Start a small team
3. Prioritize problems
4. In my viewitshouldstartwithanalysisof urbanclapandsulekha,then teamcangainthe
market,businessandproductknowledge fast
5. Create a soliddocumentationof Urbanclaphistory,evolution,emergence,stats- all facts
6. Thenit’seasiertogo individual areaslikecategory,matchmakingasBigpicture will be clear
Tools and Technology:
1. Major researchshouldhappenbyusingsimple tools
2. Notepad,pen
3. Sql,ssrs,powerBi,excel –manyreports/dashboardsalreadyexist
Funding
1. Its commonresources- usedby all andbenefitforall
2. It can have two models
3. 1-2% of revenue
4. Once it stabilizeswe canmake the teamcreate revenue model basedonotherteamsusage and
help- 1-2%isbetter.
5. We can increase ordecrease basedontheircontributionandevaluation.

6. Evaluation
1. We have to create a methodology
2. Variables –rating,usage by otherteams,influence onprojects,researchreport
3. One quarterlyaccountof researchpublication,knowledgeaccountingcanbe carriedout
4. One applicationof knowledge accountingcanbe carriedout
My next documentis more specific- Specificnesswill evolve once we establishstructure. More scientific
wayof lookingatthings,future will only decide any company’sfuture. Butwe shouldthinkof the
inevitability of thisstructure if we wantbe an innovativeorganizationthatwill take itsrightplace.