Spaghetti Karma…

 

Apple is Samsung’s second biggest customer. Samsung blatantly copies Apple’s iPad designs for its Tablets. Apple will not be able to keep its competitive cost edge without working with Samsung. Apple sues Samsung for IP infringement. Samsung counter sues Apple. Business goes on as usual.

 

A Classic case of what I call ‘Spaghetti Karma’.

 

In this complex and hyper competitive business world, there are no rights and wrongs – ‘per se’ – it seems. A Company can be ‘mixed’ up; some parts good, some parts bad and some pieces even evil. The best part? Such Companies are forgiven, accepted and even partnered with. Because the guy on the other side isn’t any better any better.

 

Let me relate my favorite story here (pardon me if you know it from before):

 

On a riverbank lived a scorpion, a boatman and a priest. The story of their lives was interesting. When the priest wanted to go to the other side, the boatman would oblige. The scorpion would request the boatman for a lift. The boatman would say ‘You always sting me in the middle of the ride, so no way’. The scorpion would promise that this time he would not sting the boatman. The boatman would reluctantly agree and they would all set out on the journey. In the middle of the river, the scorpion would sting the boatman. The boatman would get furious and throw the scorpion out into the river. The scorpion would begin to drown. The priest would jump out of the boat, rescue the scorpion and swim to the other side.

 

BOATMAN, WILL YOU FERRY ME?

 

 

What was going on in their lives?

 

The scorpion’s karma was to sting. The boatman’s karma was to ferry his passengers. The priest’s karma was to rescue anyone in trouble. They were living a beautiful life of Spaghetti Karma

 

 

Doing what is right?

 

In business today, it’s tough to be able to comply with best practices across the board. If you did, you would be extinct. I guess every company and its management has to find its peace and function with what it believes it can live with?

 

So, Apple believes it is being ‘right’ in suing Samsung – its most reliable supplier. In the court testimonies, apple calls Samsung copying of its IP ‘disappointing’. It’s clearly a message that Apple is not happy with Samsung’s karmic vibes.

 

Samsung on the other hand believes (my speculation) that the design of an iPad is not really intellectual property (IP). The Asians (China, India, Koreans) never had any respect for core IP anyway (just refer to the piracy of software in these markets), so expecting a Samsung to stay away from making its tablet (whose parts it entirely supplies to everyone), just because it cannot copy the ‘design’ is silly.

 

Will Apple and Samsung stop working with each other? Not in the near future! I read a comment that said that in these suits and counter suits, the ‘lawyers of both firms will work it out’. The Management of Apple and Samsung are not going to get involved.

 

Sleeping at Night.

 

I have begun to realize that when it comes to personal and professional Karma, as long as you can sleep at night, its fine.

 

As a case study, just examine at the testimonies of the Rajaratnam case of insider trading:

 

Lets assume that Rajaratnam’s karma is to be the best trader in the world and he will do what ever it takes to reach there. So, insider trading, bribing Company officials and extracting tips and hints from whatever source possible is fine for him. That’s his life and he sleeps well at night doing so.

 

But why would Rajat Gupta be part of this game?  Rajat Gupta is one of the most reputed men in the top circles of corporate management and is (was) on the boards of Companies like Goldman Sachs. He was founder of the ISB school in Hyderabad that teaches courses in ethics. Why would he sleep with this slimy pirate called Rajaratnam?

 

My ears can’t believe the transcripts I hear of the conversations between Rajat Gupta and Rajaratnam. Rajat Gupta just exits a Goldman Sachs board meeting and then calls Rajaratnam to give him a run down of what happened. Its unbelievable.

 

Why do people do what they do?

 

What was Rajat Gupta seeking? Was it more money that he has made? That not possible because he wasn’t trading the insider stocks himself. Was his agenda getting more ‘recognition’? After being one of the most respected Indian in the USA and the globe, this association with Rajaratnam was destructive to that path! Or was Rajat Gupta seeking a ‘thrill’? Like some men ride bikes and some fly jets, was this Rajat Gupta’s way of ‘getting off’? Was being sleazy a fantasy that he was playing out via Rajaratnam?

 

To summarize, I quote the words of my favorite poet – WH Auden ‘The hearts of Men are as crooked as Corkscrews. Not to be born is best for man’.

 

In my terminology, it’s a dish of Spaghetti Karma.