Mania-Depression: Naturally Yang then Yin

“India's expected retail boom hasn't taken off, leaving companies large and small to rethink their expansion plans.

“Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which unveiled plans to enter India with a joint-venture partner two years ago amid great fanfare, will open its first wholesale store next year, but it won't comment on future plans. Three Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. franchises in India opened by Murjani Group have closed. Straps, a chain run by India's Oswal Group that featured Wonderbra lingerie from U.S.-based Hanesbrands Inc., has closed its more than 20 stores. Big German retailer Metro AG, after five years here, operates only four wholesale stores; the company says it is taking its time developing its Indian business...

“Just three years ago, an explosion of conferences, analyst reports, Web sites and magazines predicted the arrival of a new Indian consumer who would change the global retail landscape. The first modern retail stores here were so popular that many entrepreneurs thought people would buy almost anything at any price. They were wrong, as both large and small retailers are discovering. For some, the forecast retail boom that promised jobs for Indians and a new market for global retail giants is already a bust.

“‘I was an eternal optimist; now I have become a realist,’ says Kishore Biyani, chairman of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd., India's largest retailer by sales, which has revamped its expansion plans as it discovered more about Indian consumers. ‘Everybody has miscalculated.’ …

“Many outlets discovered that consumers didn't really want their products. And unlike shoppers in Asia's other booming economy, China, Indians are rarely willing to pay three to 10 times more for an international brand than for its domestic equivalent...

“Ritu Sureka opened her home-furnishings store ‘All Living’ in the Grand Sigma Mall, Bangalore's newest, in 2005. She was sure the Indian tech capital's programmers and call-center workers would spend their rising salaries on stylish lamps and pillows for their new homes. Now she [says], ‘I think this retail thing has been a failure.’”

(“Retailers Take a Slower Road in India -- Coping With Competition, Tepid Growth; 'Everyone Has Miscalculated' the Pace.” Eric Bellman. Wall Street Journal: August 26, 2008. pg. B.1)

ALMOST ANYTHING at any price? Who would buy that?

Some pretty sorry people, I guess. Now they are paying the price for trying to strategize at the cutting edge.

Nature's balance: The more rapid the ignition, the more spectacular the flame out. Explosion-implosion, a classic yang and yin in the real world.

Think -- re-think.