Management Expertise

     Mr. Barki is as good an HRD person as he is a solar energy specialist. This is evident from his best-seller management book titled “THE DRIVE”. He says, “If knowledgeable and informative person can be called as an intelligent manager, then computer is as much so! But the difference between the computer and man is the difference between the intelligence and wisdom. And intelligence is the subset of wisdom!

     (Look at Microsoft. Bill Gates is a true marketing / HRD wizard. He has been wise. He knew that every person is, potentially, his customer; probably, that is the reason he gave the world personal computer! And no body could stop him; world’s richest man arrived! Microsoft is a brilliant example of how TECHNOLOGY and MARKETING go hand in hand.”)

    Therefore, technological knowledge base coupled with market understanding of solar PV systems has been the key aspects in making the PV business a successful one. Mr. Barki has in-depth technical expertise in the areas of allied technological options such as, crystalline and thin film based modules. Whereas the market force determines the right applications; for example, solar lanterns for far-flung rural poor households, SHS for middle class people, grid-interactive power plants for the affluent industrialized sectors.

     PV companies need not become orthodox, by addressing selected market areas. While high value solar systems, sometimes, contribute little to the turnover, small systems such as lanterns may find large market leading to high volume business.

     Leading PV cells and module manufacturers such as Siemens (now Shell), Kyocera and Solarex (now BP Solar) depend largely on several system integrators all over the world for selling their modules. It is, therefore, necessary and important for such companies to have systems with System Integrators to push their products. It is, of course, evident that it is not enough for these biggies to just build manufacturing facilities; they should CREATE the market, from Govt and/or private sectors.

     The trouble with most players is that their inability to find the true difference between POTENTIAL and MARKET. While ‘potential’ is abundant, ‘Market’ is what comes out of efforts. Therefore, they need to gauge their strength in assessing what portion of ‘potential’ they can convert into ‘market’!