Dutch Auction for Jasmine Flowers in Chennai

I am in Chennai, India enjoying a few weeks of vacation with family. Chennai is now a totally different city from the one I grew up in - including the name itself. The city known as Madras before decided to shed the name given by the British and go by its original tamil name of Chennai.

It has been an interesting trip so far. Yesterday I was talking to a flower woman who buys jasmine flowers in the wholesale market every morning at 3 am and then sells it in the city in small quantities. She told me about the predictable but changing prices of flowers - the flowers were most expensive on Thursdays as the demand for them exceeded the supply on Fridays. But there was no way she could avoid paying the high prices on Thursday as they would wilt and get brown if she bought them earlier. I told her about the tulips in Amsterdam and explained the Dutch auction and how it worked. "Oh that," she said non-chalantly. The sellers use that when a large truckload of jasmine flowers arrive and they need to get rid of them quickly. They set it at 500 rupees per bundle and if no one buys them they reduce it by 25 rupees till someone like me buys them. Flowers sell very quickly that way, she explained.

So much for my detailed explaining! The flower sellers in Chennai probably never heard of tulips or Dutch auctions but are using the same method whenever appropriate. This is one case when recreating the wheel is not a bad thing. Each one creates a wheel to their specific needs. Dutch auctions in Chennai - what an awesome concept!

Comments

[S.Sreekanth]

Hello Anu,now its a really interesting knowledge for me to knw that people in different parts of the world are using the same tricks for the same business even if they dont knw each other...justs amazes me of the similarity in human thought process :). Well, my name is sreekanth and i am staying at Kochi in kerala. I really dream of getting into MIT Sloan. I have no idea what i need to do for it. Can u please guide me?. Its a humble request :). Hope u will be able to find time to help me :). My email id is srksinger2@gmail.com.

[Ananth Krishnan]

Hi Anu,
To introduce myself, I am financial services professional based in Mumbai aspiring to study in one of the elite B-Schools.

Recently, i have started reading blogs of current students and alumni of the schools that i aspire to study at. I'm hoping to get a better understanding of life as a student in these schools . I beleive this would also help me prepare myself for the journey ahead and give me deep insights into the application process. I read some of your blogs and hence this correspondence. I would like to have opportunities to discuss about this further .

Do let me know if we could exchange emails in this regard.

Thanks a million!- Ananth