Alarming signals!

The worst sedentary lifestyle habit gets uglier... and it is playing the devil with your system!

“Television has proved that people will look at anything rather than each other,” said Ann Landers. This statement proves to be so true in the present day scenario in India. Family interaction and bonding has hit rock bottom. People sit with each other while watching TV claiming it is ‘family time,’ but who does the talking? The idiot box! Like in the comedy series Friends, protagonist Joey Tribbiani got alarmed at the fact that one of his acquaintances didn’t own a TV and asked, “What is all your furniture pointed at?” Same is the case with most of us and we do tend to raise an eyebrow when we find out that someone doesn’t own a television set. Mankind has often jumped the gun and has overdone things, ruining thus their very raison d’être. It’s a known fact that excess of everything is bad, and with respect to TV, adults as well as kids are these days glued to it 24x7. Sedentary lifestyle has always been proven to be harmful to a person and its side effects have been noted in the form of obesity, heart problems, blood pressure ailments, etc. According to a recent study in the US and Spain, researchers claim that out of all the sedentary habits that one can pick up, TV watching is the worst as it increases blood pressure in adults and also in kids! So, next time your kiddo jumps out of his/her chair while watching a nail-biting cliff-hanger match between India and Pakistan, watch out for his/her pulse rate too.

“Cases of high blood pressure have increased in the recent times due to obesity, excess salt intake in junk food and high stress levels. But as far as TV is concerned, even if kids are watching a cartoon, a high-speed car-chase, a fight or a match, which goes on to excite them, their hormones are pushed and the adrenalin rush increases the blood pressure irrespective of the age of the viewer. I understand that it increases the blood pressure, but whether it affects one’s health in the long run is uncertain. Becoming overweight has been an independent factor for hypertension,” opines Dr. Sandip Jain, Consultant, Pediatrician, Fortis. Maintaining a work-life balance is essential even for adults, and when children are involved, their energy needs to be diverted towards outdoor activities and sports. With innumerable play-station games, video games, easy access to the Internet and of course the television, it isn’t going to be an easy task, but it is absolutely necessary. The physical activity neutralises the effect of all the oily, greasy and calorie-packed food they eat. Comparatively leaner and healthier children should be made to focus their energies on other productive activities such as reading books, painting, sketching, or playing an instrument. Children are gullible and their minds need to be given the right direction from the beginning. There can be a lot of learning from TV as well, but only if one strikes the balance and tunes into something informative.

Not many, until now, would have given a thought to the impact of TV on one’s blood pressure. But now we know, a rise in TRPs might also lead to the rise of one’s blood pressure!

Ravi Inder Singh

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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AT YOUR SERVICE...

Success of a firm can be gauged by the fact that how well it can place its products in the mind of consumers. But, what kind of positioning works when it comes to entice customers in the retail banking arena, an industry that lacks product differentiation?

Beyond a point, this question haunts every business in the world irrespective of which industry it operates in. However, the root to this question lies in the classic viewpoint whether the business is offering a commodity or a service.

Business is a ‘commodity’ if there is no difference between the product offerings of Company A and Company B, whereas, business is a ‘service’ if the customer can sense the difference between the product offerings of the two. In case of former, that is commoditised businesses, the only way to face the competition is by cutting prices. This naturally results in the squeezing of margins for all the players in the industry as everyone tries to compete by undercutting the prices. However, in case of latter, that is in service businesses, as there is differential factor in the product offerings, the customer will be willing to pay extra price for the product of a company that is offering superior service. Meaning thereby that the company offering higher quality product stands in a position of strength to charge higher price.

Hence, the companies in the finance industry have to position their product offerings in a manner that the customers start perceiving them as ‘service’ and not ‘commodity’. One factor is, designing of such product offerings as ‘services’, while the other is positioning them as such.

Further, in case of retail banking in specific, the single most important factor is ‘credibility’. In fact, the terms ‘banking’ and ‘credibility’ are synonyms. Some of you can recall in how little time a banking institution can come crumbling down (remember the panic that spread about the survival of ICICI Bank in October 2008 in a matter of just few days). Once the confidence of the depositors and investors is lost, it just takes few days to wipe out giant institutions. Hence, the top most factor that any retail banking company should focus on is credibility and dependability.

Besides credibility, the banking institutions should be able to differentiate themselves with deeper penetration and locational reach. Thanks to its legacy of generations and its majority ownership with the government, SBI has penetrated into every nook and corner of the country with more than 11,111 branches. This gives it an unique advantage of wide spread distribution capabilities of its products and certainly adds to the confidence of its customers.

Then, of course, the most important differentiator is ‘the quality of service’. It should be professional, effective, timely and efficient. For this, the banks should adopt the latest technological advancements and innovative methods so that it’s in a position to provide better quality of service to its customers. For instance, some banks have tied up with leading stock broking companies, so that the online trading facilities can be made available to all the account holders of the bank. These kinds of tie-ups help banks to provide better service and also attract more clients.

No doubt, the banking industry circles around the concept of ‘interest rates’. But, as the entire banking industry of the country is regulated by the RBI, more or less, the interest rates will fall in line across all the banks in the industry. Hence, beyond a point, it’s not the interest rate factor that can really form the basis of competition amongst banking institutions. Moreover, broadly speaking, ‘interest rate’ for a bank is a ‘commodity’.

Therefore, it is always sensible and profitable for any banking institution to entice customers by providing ‘service’ elements such as credibility, deeper penetration, technology and innovation.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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THE BAZAAR AND ITS MOODS

If you need any insight about Indian consumers, Biyani is your man. In conversation with this magazine, he gives a few fast facts about changing the name of the retail game

Kishore Biyani is beaming from ear to ear. At a time when even heavyweight rivals in India’s organised retail jamboree have been browbeaten by the economic turmoil, the smart and savvy retail czar has done it again. Pantaloon Retail (PRIL) from his stable has grown more than 30% in the last fiscal. Ask Biyani the key to this good fortune and he reiterates his tried and tested mantra about delivering value to customers.

“Even during a slowdown we continued to add value. In Pantaloons, we streamlined the product offering and actually maintained prices at 2007 levels,” Biyani explains. Not a hollow boast! Thanks to their long term relationship with local suppliers across the country, Pantaloon was even able to roll out two collections last year (when rival Westside could only manage one) and also keep a check on input costs. “We also strengthened our sourcing and quality control,” adds Biyani. Besides, Big Bazaar went on a spree of innovative schemes and offerings to entice consumers to open their purses, enabling Biyani’s hypermart format to contribute roughly 60% to Future Group’s turnover for FY09.

What’s more, Biyani sure knows which side his bread is buttered. Taking stock of the changing global economic situation early last year, he decided to continue focus on the two cash cows of the retail industry – food and apparel, instead of spreading his tentacles in specialised retail formats (like white-goods). Incidentally, food and apparel together contribute more than 50% of Pantaloon’s value chain business thanks to higher margins (prêt-a-porter has an average 35% margin, while there’s an average 12% margin in food retailing). Small surprise, irrespective of low volume growth, Pantaloon stood tall as the golden goose for Future Group.

No wonder Biyani is easily talking of investing a cool Rs.350 crore in Big Bazaar, a part of which will go toward adding 45-50 new Big Bazaar stores during the current fiscal. At a time when lack of funds is putting a stymie on expansion plans of players like Shoppers Stop, Biyani is exploring multiple options for raising more funds for expansion. “Internal cash accruals would also play a part,” he explains.

So far so good. Biyani’s retail ride is progressing almost without any bumps. But the road ahead may not be smooth. A key concern is that the group is bidding adieu to its existing JVs with several companies. Problem is the threat to outside brands from PRIL’s in-house labels. For starters, PRIL’s JV with Planet Retail Holdings and Blue Foods has already been terminated. But Biyani denies being bogged down by such issues, instead reveling in his future expansion plans: “We will be consolidating our businesses and large formats like Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Central, Pantaloons, Home Town, eZone, etc by June 2010.” We are waiting, Mr. King of Indian Retail!

Angshuman Paul

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Heal it, now!

Are high heels a part of your dress code? There are reasons they shouldn’t be...

A stylish woman wouldn’t be caught dead without her stilettos, which makes a lady look taller and sexier. It’s no wonder then that the swish set swear by them and have managed to get accustomed to the discomfort caused by them. At the beginning, one unconsciously keeps reminding oneself to be cautious and maintain their balance, because if distracted, they realise that they can easily twist their ankle! “It gives me a stylish posture, and makes me look classy and confident, which is why I wear heels,” says the perky 23-year-old Ruchika who works for a restaurant in Delhi. Agreed, heels do accentuate the curves of the body and gives one a smart look, but it’s also important to be aware of the price one might have to pay in future...

A recent research highlights that high heels, and also the latest wedge heels, can cause enough damage to the body to last a lifetime. Especially with numerous brands of shoes flooding the markets, a steep rise in problems like knee injuries, hip injuries and lower-back problems has been noticed. Pam, who has a sedentary job, has been wearing high heels since her college days and says that she has read a lot and is “aware of the problems that heels can cause” and therefore, at the hint of the slightest of pain, Pam gives her feet some respite by wearing flats for the next couple of days or so. It’s important to give your feet comfort, like Pam does, but let’s also understand the fact that the damage caused to the body because of regular use of high-heeled shoes mostly shows when the lady reaches her 30s and 40s. Dr. Govind Singh Bisht, a foot-care specialist, says, “When we stand, our weight is equally distributed. High heels give pressure on certain muscles and joints of the knees and the back, which causes pain and can lead to arthritis. Girls mostly go with the latest fashion trend and usually don’t know that it’s around the age of 30-40 that joint problems set in.”

As a note of precaution, he advises, “For a sitting job, wearing high heels is alright, but in a place where one has to stand for hours or walk around, it’s always preferable to wear very little heels.” Not flat shoes, but ones with small, about one inch, heels because entirely flat shoes too can cause severe foot pain, shooting pains in the shins, bunions, back aches and arthritis!

So, whether wearing heels is a fashion trend or whether it increases one’s sex appeal, it’s always advisable not to harm one’s body! Instead, why not learn to carry off ‘comfort’? After all, it’s our feet, which will take us a long way!

Spriha Srivastava

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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What’s your bona fides?

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In an industry, where “good faith” means all, it takes super human efforts to become the ‘Best Service’ provider! That’s what makes United India & Ajay worth writing about say Niharika Patra & Ratan Lal...

What’s the world coming to? There was a point in time when the moment you’d hear that it’s a PSU, you’d deem its service quality quotient to be amongst the lowest in the industry, but here we have a PSU - United India Insurance topping the list of top service providers in the ‘general insurance’ segment! What is the world coming to?

Alright, keeping our emotions aside, let’s just analyse why the survey reveals the goods for United India... Easy access is certainly one factor which works in favour of the PSU, but that is not the sole reason for it being numero uno. The reality runs so – even though United India has a PSU background, the level of service that the company is providing to its one crore existing customers can put to shame the Customer Relationship Management efforts of any private player. We decided to check out the reality behind this third-person claim, and that brought us to Nehru Place (New Delhi), where we met up with Ajay Rastogi, Divisional Manager, United India. And as if he’d been warned about our keen ‘testing’ intentions, we first found him delighting a customer who was facing a ‘claim clearance’ issue. Sans self-introductions, we quietly went up to him (while he assumed we were some prospective customers) and took the chairs in the vicinity of his ‘dealings’ epicenter.

While it took no time for Ajay to understand the problem posed by the customer, he was patient enough to hear out frustrated words that oozed out rather violently from the complainant. Half-an-hour and many smiles later, the satisfied consumer left and the floor was open for questions (after introductions ofcourse).

We spoke to him about the same customer, to which he responded by clarifying that it wasn’t something that happens very often with him. Most claims are processed at the basic level itself and the very agents who rope-in customers help them in their claims. Very few ‘complicated’ or ‘special’ cases reach the mid-level and whenever they do, the managers have to devote their entire time to see that the problem is completely solved. And the plaintiff in our question was one such rare case. He explains further how with growth in United India’s consumer base, the number of people coming to him has grown larger by the day. However (and thankfully so), most of those he met wanted to become policy holders’. This for us was an eye-opener... to have actually witnessed devotion and patience from a PSU Insurance manager, which clearly reflected why this general insurance company (which is also the largest in the country), despite a handsome customer portfolio including large business names like ONGC, GMR-Hyderabad et al, has excelled when it comes to handling the queries and grievances of its widely scattered individual customers. And this is where we come to its well-distributed network. Its large network of offices across India ensure that its outreach is much wider than any private player’s. In total, it has 1340 offices across the country, more than 200 of which can be found in Tier II and III cities. All the centers are well-connected and this helps in reducing the ‘claim processing’ time for the company, an extremely critical factor, which not only helps the existing customers but also enhances the brand equity of the company.

Talking about outreach, the human capital of United India is also its forte! A huge pool of agents, who swarm the streets, ready to sell customised policies to anyone and everyone are continuously adding to the already large customer base that the company has developed. Easy-to-access customised services and minimum claim processing time added to the faith that the market has come to inculcate makes for an impeccable combination. Today, every United India customer, by and large, believes that he/she is getting the best in service and quality, and that in times of need, the company will provide relief as soon as possible. Ajay too believes that “it is the ‘manpower’ which is the real USP of United India. The company offers a wide range of insurance products – from car to medical insurance, and most importantly, under one roof! For a product like insurance, convenience is also very critical, and Ajay seconds that.

Coming back to our initial question – what is the world actually coming to? Well, we don’t know, but as far as general insurance players are concerned, they’d be proud to reach where United India is today – atop the ‘Best Service Companies’ list!

Niharika Patra & Ratan Lal Bhagat

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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AMIT PRASAD, CEO, SATNAV TECHNOLOGIES

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1. Airtel’s recent ad campaigns depicting simple real life situations
2. Aircel – eye-catching positioning strategy
3. Sprite campaign – depict the trend of getting to the point without wasting time or energy
4. Center Fresh’s campaign – the message put across is really crisp and to-the-point.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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MONICA OSWAL, EXEC DIR, OSWAL MILLS

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1. ‘Express Yourself’ campaign from Airtel
2. ‘Daag acche hain’ from Surf Excel
3. Pepsi’s ‘Oye bubbly’ campaign
4. ‘Thanda matlab Coca Cola’ campaign, where Aamir Khan dawns various attires of Indian communities in different ads targeting numerous communities across India

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Rising costs and supply chain problems are giving nightmares to some global footwear brands. Is there a solution in sight? by Angshuman Paul 4Ps B&M

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When Bartle Bogle Hegarty created the iconic Keep Walking campaign for the ailing whisky producer Johnnie Walker, little did he have glam footwear brands in mind. But for a majority of aspirational Indians, keep walking simply translates into keep wearing videshi footwear brands, as there are hardly any home-grown options to choose from. Oh sure, there are the likes of Lakhani and Liberty. But because they did not change with the times, their fuddy duddy image hardly puts them in the glam, aspirational category a la Reebok, Aldo, Bata, Adidas, Nike and Puma. All these global brands in fact over the last few years have aggressively dived headlong into the Indian market by seriously expanding their retail footprint and supplier base, as also by venturing into new market segments.

But now that the slowdown bug has started to bite, some of that aggression may come back to haunt these footwear majors. Ask them and they are quick to wave away such pessimism. Puma officials candidly point out that the Indian market has given the company its highest growth globally and that too in a short span of eight years. So where is the question of problems, they ask?

A set of analysts and market watchers however claim that most footwear/ sportswear brands in India are actually over-confident about the market’s potential. They add that strategies of biggies like Nike, Adidas, Puma and Reebok may backfire if not decided cautiously from hereon. Actually, all these global players have been busy changing the rules of the game during the last three years of a 30% y.o.y mind-boggling growth. They not only opened stores left, right and centre (their real estate costs have skyrocketed as a result); they also expanded into non-core segments like fashion, prête-á-porter and even denim. The brand and portfolio stretch which was looking potentially rewarding till yesterday, is now hanging like the proverbial noose around their necks.

First, simply look at the vast retail presence that these guys have notched up in the country till now. The Switzerland-headquartered Bata, for instance, has over 950 stores across the nation, and boasts the distinction of having largest retail presence in the country. Reebok follows with 800 stores. The only difference: while all Bata outlets are company-owned, most Reebok stores are on-rent. The increase in commercial real estate costs is pinching Subhinder Singh Prem, MD, Reebok India, where it hurts the most. Sources say that almost 25% of Reebok sales went toward paying rentals in 2008 (in 2007 that figure was limited to just 10% of sales). The story is not very different for other global brands. Coupled with the decline in sales, some if these players can put paid to their plans of reaching the per store break-even point within the industry standard of three years. Till end-2008, most footwear giants were raring to open more outlets. Prem had said that Reebok would “have 200 more outlets by next year,” while Puma had made public its plans of opening 70 more stores by 2009. Guess we can bid adieu to such grandiose expansions in this financial year at least!

However, the real wrath of the economic meltdown is visible for those brands that failed to tackle their sourcing problems in the country. Although high on retail expansion, most of these brands shied away from making their own manufacturing hub in India. Unfortunately for them, the slowdown has now browbeaten a majority of Indian suppliers. With the collapse of Adidas’ outsourcing system in end-2008, Reebok’s merchandise flow has taken a hit. Reebok, till now, was taking advantage of Adidas’ outsourcing system, an advantage that Reebok had, ever since its $3.8 billion takeover by Adidas in 2006. Although when asked, Prem declined knowledge of any outsourcing problem in Reebok India “till now”, but the industry is abuzz with ‘talk’ about the sourcing troubles in the sports wear major’s operations.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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It’s a $10 billion bait that Aircel is throwing into the Indian waters... But will the fishing rod hold? Surbhi Chawla questions its logic & strategie

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Perhaps it was nothing but the ‘Divide and Rule’ trick that made the British rule the Indian subcontinent for centuries. Dividing the region, on the basis of caste, colour and above all religion not only gave them a superb control over its natives, but also kept stuffing their treasure chest. It just appears that the thought seems to be swaying Aircel (a 76:24 JV between Malaysia’s Maxis Communication Berhad and India’s Apollo Hospital Ltd.) too, in the same direction!

‘It’s time to move on’ is what Aircel (which has recently become a pan-India operator) is professing these days. And all by dividing customers on the basis of demographics (region, age, likings, et al)! It is in fact this approach that’s making a lot of people to sit up and take notice of this new kid on the block. But the question is will the company be able to make a mark for itself and give established players a run for their money?

Though Aircel kicked off its operations from the Tamil Nadu circle in 1999, it was only in January 2008 that the company was awarded a pan-India licence and a chance to paint India red and blue. Growing steadily from just four circles (Tamil Nadu, Chennai, North East and Assam), in which it’s already a market leader, the company at present has operations in 14 circles out of the total 23 circles. In fact, as part of its strategy, Aircel has just earmarked a whopping $10 billion (over a period of 3-5 years) for expansion. All to take its subscriber base from 17 million (market share of 5%) to a whopping 30 million mark by the end of 2009 and make its presence felt across India. Well, it is has started the journey from the Delhi circle and by April, Aircel wants to see its flags flying high in Mumbai as well and is then planning to look towards UP, East and West.

But then, won’t Aircel be perhaps the eight (or even the ninth in many cases) service provider to offer its services in certain circles? Isn’t there already an overdose of competition in these circles with very little scope for a newcomer? Moreover, according to a latest report, as the competition ramps up, telecom players, who are in pan India expansion mode, might see their profitability taking a big hit. “We expect the high capex, network opex and subscriber acquisition costs to weigh heavily on the margins of telecom players expanding pan-India (Idea, Vodafone and Aircel), on alternative technology (RCOM, Tata Tele, BSNL and MTNL) or launching fresh operations (Unitech, Datacom, Shyam, Loop, Swan, STel),” says the report by Kotak Securities. Further, many even fear that in the current market scenario, given the high penetration levels, it will be extremely difficult for a new mobile service provider to venture into a new territory and survive. So, has Aircel really done its homework before taking a deep plunge into an ocean full of hungry sharks?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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There was a lot of pressure on costs...

The Most Revolutionary Concept In Education PLANMAN CHE CENTRE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, Supported by IIPM India’s Leading B-School

Abhishek Jain
Exec.Director – Precision Pipes

4Ps B&M: Do you believe that the hype behind the Nano will actually be able to meet the reality?
AJ: The whole concept of Nano is very sound and the opportunity to be capitalised upon is very huge. However, there is no denying that there will be a huge gap in the demand and supply in the short run.

4Ps B&M: Any particular incident that you can share while working with Tata Motors.
AJ: There was a lot of pressure on the cost aspect in the whole production process of Tata Nano.

4Ps B&M: Do you believe that Nano will be able to replicate the success of Maruti 800?
AJ: You can’t compare both the models with each other. When Maruti 800 came, the market dynamics were very different and more importantly, very few options were available to the consumer. But there is no denying the fact that Nano will surely bring a wave of excitement and change in the Indian market.

4Ps B&M: Will Nano be a profitable product for Tata Motors?
AJ: Well, if you talk about the long run i.e. when their Gujarat plant kicks off and production starts happening at the full capacity, it will surely be a very profitable product. And more importantly in my view, they should cut down on their production of LCVs as they are not doing pretty well.

4Ps B&M: Can you elaborate on your working experience with Tata Motors?

AJ: It has been a very overwhelming experience and very good for our company. We learned a lot from them.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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A miscued opportunity

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Their financial health and brand image have taken a beating globally. Will there be any takers when India opens its arms to foreign banks?

Bayerische Landesbank AG (Bayern LB), an unfamiliar name in the Indian financial domain, is winding up its representative office in Maker Chamber VI, Nariman Point, Mumbai, even before it could make itself known. On the other hand, the oldest foreign lender in the country, Standard Chartered, is keen on making its hold stronger by acquisitions once the sector is opened for foreign players.

On the back of the global financial meltdown, the case of Bayern LB is not exactly what foreign banks are going through in India, though it’s true that most of them are critically reviewing their India strategy. The review is well justified for the fact that under the spillover effects of the global turmoil, growth dynamics of the Indian banking sector are undergoing changes. Also these banks are facing a real tough time on their home turf itself, which is forcing them to be more focused on their domestic strategies. But then, Darwin’s theory, survival of the fittest, is always there.

It is true that on the surface most banks in India have similar levels of profitability. But nonetheless there are “dramatic differences” in the underlying economics. A glance at the financials of Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC, ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank reveals that the former four have a similar split in revenues (65-70% from interest income and 30% from treasury) and for the latter the split stands as 50% form interest income and 40% from treasury. On a cumulative basis the net profit of these banks rose by 44.5%. Nevertheless, the foreign banks are experiencing a moderation in their growth rate (blame it on the fallouts of their global parents). Data from RBI (February 2009 bulletin) reveals that the credit growth of foreign banks operating in India dipped from 30.7% for the year up to January 2008 to 16.9% in January 2009. The net NPA ratio (2007-08) too has been escalating. To put into perspective the ratio for Citi is pegged at 1.23, up from 1.02. For Deutsche Bank it is 0.22 up from 0.01, for HSBC it is 0.58 up from 0.43 and for Barclays the ratio stands at 0.42.

The contours of the foreign banks (considering the review of policies on the presence of overseas bank in 2009) which are involved in a range of activities like consulting services, arranging trade finance, providing support to credit and project finance for infrastructure, energy, oil and gas through the balance sheets of their global parents is unlikely to yield any greater leeway. Dr. Rupa Rege Nisture, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda, outlines, “Opening up the sector for foreign banks or infusion of foreign capital may help resurrect the weak banks in the private sector.” She further adds that the entry of foreign banks would greatly facilitate the process of consolidation and convergence of banks.

However, it will be a real challenge for the foreign banks, as they cannot raise money from the Indian market by getting listed on Indian bourses, which needs them to convert their Indian branch into a wholly owned subsidiary (WOS). And for the same they need to be registered. However given the fact that operating as a registered company has its own hassles including multiplicity of supervision, disclosure norms, minimum capitalisation (Rs.3 billion) et al, foreign banks would see no additional benefits in that. Changing global dynamics will ensure that despite the challenges, the entry of foreign banks will reduce the financial constraints in the economy. But then, that’s just theory. On pragmatic grounds, let the global parents revive first… till then rainy days ahead!

Gyanendra Kashyap

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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The ‘bullion’ $ advice

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Gold has always been a wealth preserver & not a wealth creator

“All that glitters is gold.” Though antipodal of the famous Shakespearean tad, it fits pretty well in the context of gold in today’s times. While investors are wary of the equity market, gold is hell bent on breaking all historic price records. So, is it a golden time to invest in the bullion?

From Rs.10,658.75 (per 10 gm) on January 1, 2008, gold prices have taken a giant leap and touched Rs.14,315.00 on February 11, 2009 – a phenomenal 34.30% increase in just one year. Even, between 2000 and 2008, gold has been averaging 14-17% annualised returns. Amar Singh, Head of Research, Angel Commodities confirms, “Gold buying in the last one year has not yielded any losses.” This is primarily because the base cost of bullion can never become lower than its cost of production unlike in equity market. So, “it’s always safe to invest in gold for long term gains,” agrees Pratim Patnaik, AVP and Head Retail Business, Kotak Commodities.

But then, this has not always been the case. In fact, gold has never been a real wealth creator; rather it has always acted as a wealth preserver. For instance, if you had invested Rs.100 in gold 20 years back, it would have fetched you Rs.387 today, however the same amount would have garnered Rs.2,310 if it had been invested in stock market. And of course, our favourite Buffett considers this commodity amongst the most useless investments. Well Warren, we don’t invest in gold, and we still aren’t ‘bullionaires’.

Savreen Gadhoke

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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The whine-whine game!

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And this war is getting more intense with every passing minute! The reason for this is very simple – in most developed countries, including America, DTH competition is mostly into providing niche content; that is, all the big networks either have their own DTH services or they form exclusive agreements with specific DTH providers, encouraging customer to choose which channels they would want to watch and which they would rather give a skip.

However, this is not the case in the Indian market as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has clearly mandated that no broadcaster can offer content exclusively to a specific DTH player or have their own channels that would not be available on the other platform. The logic given by TRAI is that right now, the market is in too early a state and it is only when there would exist perfect competition that one can look at allowing content differentiation. Admittedly, some players in the industry do not agree with this point of view. Vikram Kaushik, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Sky, firmly states, “With so many players already in the market, I see no logic as to why we should not be allowed to offer content differentiation.” Justifiable? Perchance, as it is true that in the entertainment industry, it is the content that reigns supreme; not so in the Indian context. Leave alone channels, even the movies that are available on the pay-per-view option of various DTH operators is most of the times exactly the same.

Technology, what could have been the other differentiator in this industry, also does not hold its weight in water, as most operators are operating on the same technology platform. If one considers market dynamics, Tata Sky logically has been in an advantaged position to cater to the la-crème of India as it is the only DTH provider to offer a separate set-top box that enables consumers to pause/rewind live TV, apart from even allowing them to record their favourite programmes. But even this so called ‘differentiation’ is quite temporary. It is reported that BIG TV and Sun Direct are planning to offer similar set top boxes by the end of this fiscal. To that effect, Sun Direct is still quite tight lipped about its venture in this field, but insiders at BIG TV have already revealed that their pricing for a similar service would be around half the cost of Tata Sky! Applying similar strategic think, with competitive rivalries expected to go astoundingly high, most players in this sector have chalked out large advertising budgets, and even cornered many celebrities as brand ambassadors. As a matter of fact, Airtel Digital had as many as 10 celebrities in their launch ads; and the company has set an ambitious target of grabbing a market share of 20% in their first year of operations.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Brains that Built Brands in 2008

1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers

In the cutthroat world of marketing, where brands and campaigns have a tendency to become history quickly, it takes a lot of guts to create and sustain a brand in a way that it becomes an icon. It takes a lot of fanfare than just plain old hoopla, to make the brand live long and mesmerise the audiences forever. However, some enduring legends thrive on this extremely tough, unforgiving environment. With their focus on innovation, customer obsession, partnership and networking, they have not just brought their brands to our living rooms, but have also made them a part of our daily vocabulary. They are more than just smart people who understand their brands well. 4Ps B&M profiles the branding masterminds who created history in 2008...

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Take the call!

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Picture this – you buy an asset worth Rs.1651 crore during early 2008 and you manage to find a wiful suitor who values it for an unimaginable Rs.10,200 crore just nine months later! Murderous profit booking; but at a time when the entire Global Inc. community is finding cash hard to come by to finance deals, here is Unitech selling 60% of its telecom asset for a handsome Rs.6,120 crore to Norway’s Telenor!

Unitech Telecom plans to kick-off operations by H1, 2009 and thanks to the deal, Unitech would derive great benefit from telenor’s expertise in both emerging and mature telecom markets, and that certainly is not a bad business proposition in a nation where the monthly mobile growth stands at a healthy average of 4-5 million as Sanjay Chandra, Chairman, Unitech Wireless affirms, “We believe Unitech Group’s local position and strengths coupled with Telenor’s technical, operational and marketing expertise will form a winning team.”

However, this is not the only deal which has promises galore for the growth of telecom sector in the country. Earlier, Swam telecom had offloaded a 45% stake to UAE-based Etisalat for a huge $900 million. So was it another instance of insane profit-making too? Indeed yes! Swan Telecom had bought the telelcom licence for 13 circles on the 2G platform for a paltry Rs.1,537 crore ($330 million). Subsequently, it sold 45% of its stake to Etisalat for Rs.4,500 crore ($900 million), taking its book value to a monstrous $2 billion! Yes, the two telecom players booked huge profits, it was more of a lesson on ‘how to make money during a downturn and do good to the sector and economy at the same time!’

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Glittering like never before!

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Gold has always enjoyed the status of a safe haven. But will the glittering truth allow investors to heave a sigh this time too? 4Ps B&M’s Sunanda Roy explores...

D iamond or gold! Which one do you think is a girl’s best friend? Confused?! Certainly the fight has always been on (and will continue forever) when it comes to choose between the two. However, there are some that seems to have come upon a decision – of course that’s not girls – and have finally placed their bet on one! Well, those weary souls happen to be none other than stock market investors, to be precise the retail investors.

Certainly with a volatile stock market and FIIs pull outs amid equally dull macro indicators the worry of the hour is where should a layman place his savings? In a line – what is the best place to invest? And the sole resort at the moment seems to be gold. Raison d’être, prices of gold have almost doubled in the last few years and experts anticipate them to further keep on as they feel demand will continue to beat supplies for several years.

But then gold too, is now fraught with risks as the global economic outlook remains uncertain. Like everything else, their prices too move up and down. “If the global economy and thus the markets do bad, gold will climb in value. Else it might remain range bound or may even decline. For Indian investors there is an added worry of exchange rate risk since the rupee price of gold will be impacted by both dollar price and rupee-dollar exchange rate,” agrees Swapnil Pawar, Director, Park Financial Advisors. So, on account of this dual uncertainty, is investing in gold recommendable? “Yes of course! Gold or diamonds is anytime a better investment compared at least to real estate and stock market,” answers Sanjay Kothari, Ex-Chairman, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council.

No doubt, gold enjoys the status of a safe haven, but it too has been underperforming in recent times due to continued sell off by fund houses and investor community. Although in the short run gold might be weighed down by the appreciating US dollar but in the long term its bullish sentiment is quite intact and its appeal as a safe investment tool in times of uncertainty may attract some fresh buying in days to come. Agrees, Pritam Kumar Patnaik, Associate VP, Head Retail Business, Kotak Commodities, “Gold has always been an investment for retail public. The risk reward ratio in gold is highly favourable for the long term investors as the returns are expected to be skewed positively”.

Moreover, as markets across globe are going through turbulent times where financial safety is of paramount importance and “since price of gold is negatively correlated to the movement in stock market, investing in yellow metal can certainly provide safety to the investors,” feels Amar Singh, Research Head (Commodities), Angel Broking. In addition, gold prices have remained almost the same as at the beginning of the year (in rupee terms) while all other markets have plummeted drastically. This too works in favour of gold. Adds Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, NCDEX, “Gold is a very good portfolio diversifier, hence can be used as an investment irrespective of what happens in other markets. The coefficient of correlation is low vis-à-vis stock markets and GSecs”. Further, as a high degree of uncertainty continues to be attached to paper assets, gold is likely to emerge victorious.

But then how long will this winning streak continue and to what levels? “We expect gold prices to touch a level of $640 per troy ounce in short term. Domestically by incorporating the average USD/INR rate at Rs.50 the expected gold levels will be Rs.10,360 per 10 grams. However, we expect bargain buying to emerge around $640-650 levels which may take the prices back to $780 levels in 3-4 months,” Ashok Mittal, VP & Country Head, Karvy Comtrade tells 4Ps B&M. But then Pritam Patnaik from Kotak Commodities offers a different view. “Gold is largely a currency play and lot depends on the developments post the G-20 meeting. We expect things to get worse in the next six months and gold is likely to trade around $1,130 an ounce during the 1QCY2009,” says Patnaik.

Certainly, the economic perspective to the price levels depends a lot on the dollar-euro relationship. If the dollar depreciates, then the price of gold will move up. So, one needs to take a call on how the dollar will behave which depends on the actions of the Fed and ECB in response to the monetary situation. Today both the central banks are focused on lowering rates, which in turn will speed up the economy, leading to higher spending and probably the deficits too.

So with the entire positive and the negative perspectives on the platter, their still remains a valid question – what portion of an investor’s portfolio should be in gold? “Normally it should be 5-10%,” feels Swapnil. No doubt, for the long haul, gold works as a good diversifier. But the portfolio should be created in a manner that it diversifies the risk of the investor. Hence, an even distribution based upon the risk appetite of the investor is the best way to go for. Even John Mulligan, Investment Marketing Manager, World Gold Council, says, “Our analysis, using state-of-the-art portfolio optimisation techniques, has shown that even with very conservative return expectations for gold, portfolios with a typical mix of equities and bonds will benefit from an allocation to gold, from as little as 4% in a low or medium risk portfolio to 10% in a high risk one”. So, by now you too would have definitely decided on who is your best friend!

Sunanda Roy

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Adam Smith, father of modern economics said...

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Adam Smith, father of modern economics said, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices (The Wealth of Nations, 1776).

So on October 13, 2008, when Kingfisher’s head honcho Vijay Mallya turned toward Jet Airways’ headquarters in Mumbai’s Andheri suburb to keep his appointment with Chairman Naresh Goyal, the air was agog with speculation. What was cooking between the foes turned friends? The drama reached a crescendo when later in the evening, Goyal returned the favour. Along with his senior team, he drove down to the Kingfisher headquarters at Vile Parle, a western suburb in Mumbai and sat closeted for close to six hours with Mallya and his team. When the duo finally emerged, they made public their plan, a deal to control competition in Indian skies and possibly even air fares, and that too in full view of the government, Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) and the public!

There are many who are thinking it, few who are mumbling it and just about one or two who are calling the Jet-Kingfisher alliance a cartel. Yes! We did say cartel. Mallya and Goyal prefer to call it an alliance, but call a cartel by another name and it still remains just that – a cartel! Oxford Dictionary defines a cartel as: “an association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining prices at a high level and restricting competition,” a phenomenon that runs against the very grain of free markets. Dangerously similar, this ‘alliance’ offers the two airlines a combined share of more than 60% of the domestic aviation market, leading to a near-monopoly situation. The plans, among other things, include code-sharing, cross selling of flight inventory and overall route rationalisation between the two airlines. And route rationalisation effectively means jointly cutting down supply, and a class X economics student will tell you that with supply down, prices are bound to automatically rise. If this is not cartelisation, wonder what is! To be fair to both of them, Indian aviation is undergoing its worst crisis ever. Rising fuel prices, increasing overhead costs, falling air passenger traffic and their combined losses totalling Rs.20 crore per day, literally forced the two competitors into each others arms. Goyal even says that the alliance was “needed by both of us to avoid bankruptcy.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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What are your plans for the movie business?

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We are very keen on movie content production. In fact, we have already started our production company in Hollywood. We have signed a Hollywood producer to work with us and we are looking at producing around 5-10 movies in Hollywood in the next couple of years. One film is already on the floor with a $100 million budget and it is on the life of Lord Buddha.

What’s your strategy for the TV business?
Right now we are working with some of the existing channels. We have some tie-ups and there are many more in the horizon with whom we are in talks with. There is a general entertainment channel, which has not being doing well of late, I would not name it. But it is struggling and requires a revamping. We are looking to acquire it very soon. And we are not interested in the channel just for the stake, rather we are looking for an active participation to revamp the channel and bring the Spice brand.

You have also picked up 32% stake in Multi Screen Media. How are you looking at spicing it up?
The negotiations with the management are going on. We are trying to focus on the age group of 13-35. These young women and men are the future and they are looking for programmes, which move forward. I believe that we will bring this angle of youth, specially to their flagship channel SET.

What kind of leadership model do you follow?
I strongly believe in promoting young talent. You can train them, delegate and get best results out of them.

What is the best advice that you have received so far?
Re-invent yourself everyday, always look for new opportunities. Everyday you can do something new and something better. A lot of companies have got a strong foothold in their business through this and Google is one of them. So, keep reinventing yourself.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Subhiksha plans to increase its number of stores

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Even the consumer has turned his eyes towards hypermarkets and supermarkets (see pie-chart). But will organised Indian retailers stand to gain from this consumer interest, simply by expanding their hypermart footprint? Not really. Even though disposable incomes of the Indian consumer class has increased, it is still less, compared to international standards. McKinsey in its report titled “The Great Indian Bazaar - Organised Retail Comes of Age in India” says that a typical Indian spends between $7-10 in one hypermarket shopping trip as compared to $45 in the US and $10-18 in China.

However, another school of thought believes that the growing middle class will further demand and improve expenditure patterns of Indian consumers. “By 2016 more than half of the Indian households will be from middle class and this will create more demand for organised retail in India as compared to other countries, says Roopa Purushothaman, Chief Economist, Future Capital Holdings.

Another big difference area is in that Indian retail is dominated by real estate players. Land rentals have doubled in the last two years and have created a situation where acquiring real estate at affordable rentals has become a difficult task, especially in metros and Tier-1 cities. One reason why rentals have sky-rocketed is the ambitious expansion plans of individual retailers (Subhiksha plans to increase its number of stores to 2,200 by the end of 2008 from current 1,580; Spencers targets opening 300 convenience stores and 75 large format stores by March 2009...) and their herd-mentality to open stores in the same locality to compete with each other. Moreover, despite all talks to the contrary, almost all players are concentrating their retail engines on metros and Tier-1 cities, further escalating rentals. Naqvi of Technopak states, “The ratio of rental cost per manpower cost is high in India in comparison to the ratio in international markets, which is proving to be a hurdle in the expansion plans of most of the players.” Perhaps this is the reason why retailers are now targeting Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

Even on the plank of credit purchases, India lags behind developed nations. For generations, Indians have been purchasing goods on credit from their local kirana stores, primarily because of the trust and loyalty of both the kirana store owner and the customer. However, such credit purchases have not really kick started in the organised format because of lack of trust and confidence between the retailer and consumer. Yes, a few retailers have tied up with credit card companies to encourage credit purchasing, but Indians are quite unlikely to use ‘plastic’ to buy their routine daal and atta! In stark contrast, global markets thrive on credit purchases.

Shakespeare once said “Comparisons are odious.” Unfortunately for her, India has always faced the veracity of critics when it comes to comparisons. Be it the Delhi Metro being compared to London’s Tube; Western Express Highway pitted against America’s freeways or Indian superhero ‘Kkrish’ pitted against Superman. Despite bottlenecks, the retail graph is only moving upward. If Americans started from A and moved to Z, Indian retail has started from Z and is now moving to A. Some say that as long as all alphabets are there, who cares whether A came first or Z? But if retailers take too much time in this backward integration journey, the prophesied time-table for success may not be really met!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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CELEB USE OR GROSS ABUSE?!

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Idea Cellular is not an exception. In these times of a slowdown, marketers would do well to keep their marketing pennies close to their chest and not simply waste on having a celeb in their ad. Instances of celebrity abusement abound. The Dulux ad featuring Kareena & Karan Johar, Versa campaign sporting Amitabh & Abhishek Bachchan, the Tata Indicom commercial boasting Kajol & Ajay Devgan, Hrithik Roshan’s campaign for Macro Man and Acer, Hema Malini in an ad for a water purifier, the list is endless!

Even globally, the situation is not too different. Celebrities like Shaquille O’ Neal for Reebok and Britney Spears for Toyota’s brand, Soluna Vios had to go through similar abusement woes.

Given that such abusements are an embarrassment for both celebrities and brands, who is to be blamed for the quagmire? Well, in typical fashion, advertisers dump the blame on talent management companies, who in turn, swing the blame right back into the brand manager’s court. Playing tennis apart, fact is that unlike what every person in the endorsement supply chain claims, there is in fact, no science to the endorsement game. As Manish Porwal, CEO, Percept Talent Management justifies, “Just riding on the star appeal makes no sense. Moreover, offshore recommendations by talent management companies also leads to this abusement.”

This is not to say that celebrities should be cast out of the endorsement game altogether. If used correctly, they can boost the brand a million times. Beauty major Emami, which has pioneered the art of roping in celebrities since 1976 (Chayvanprash, Navratan Oil, Boroplus) in fact is quite gung-ho on its benefits. “We want to rope in more celebs, but rising costs are a constraint. Whenever this affordability is overcome, our strategy will centre around endorsements,” gushes Aditya Agarwal, Director, Emami Group.

As ad veteran Luke Sullivan says: “If you were to put five million bucks in a commercial, I wouldn’t worry much and put my five year old and tell him to shoot a commercial. But if you don’t have this (the money) then think of something else (innovate?).” A quick takeaway Mr. Marketer: It’s easy to spend big money and get James Bond star Pierce Brosnan to endorse your new, gadget-heavy, yet sleek bike. But it’s smarter to simply let your creative team take a 3 day-4 night holiday at some exotic locale, rack their brain cells and come up with a power-packed ‘big idea’, which will sell, with or without the celebrity!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Something’s cooking at Reebok. From being a sportswear brand, it is now expanding the net with its ‘Fish Fry’ range and ‘Reebok Classic’ stores.

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Something’s cooking at Reebok. From being a sportswear brand, it is now expanding the net with its ‘Fish Fry’ range and ‘Reebok Classic’ stores. 4Ps B&M’s angsuman paul caught up with man at the helm of Reebok India

Just one day before global sportswear major Reebok was about to unveil its till-then hush hush new global branding initiative – ‘Your Move’ – 4Ps B&M broke the story and indicated how the revamped tagline (Reebok’s earlier tagline was ‘I am what I am’) would fit in with Reebok’s new focus on capturing market share even in the non-sports category in India. But that was the beginning of 2008 and now it’s nearing the end of the year. Over the last six months, Reebok has taken at least six such branding initiatives to grab every possible corner of India’s Rs.11 billion sports footwear & apparel market. And why not, when India is the only market where this British brand enjoys leadership, leaving brands like Nike, Adidas and Puma behind.

To complete its transition from a sportswear brand to an overall lifestyle brand, Reebok has rolled out ‘Reebok Classic’ stores - which on entering give none of the regular sporty look & feel (a la Reebok); instead the stores wear a more elite, fashionable look – a taste of things to come! Reebok aims to open 70 more such stores by the end of 2008. The vision is that by 2009, the company would mint over 10% of its total turnover from these stores.

In contrast, globally Reebok had moved beyond being a mere sportswear brand way back in 1986, when it acquired the Rs.500 million haute couture brand Rockport. But as part of a global strategic decision, the two hardly ever highlighted their association. It was only in 2006, after its $3.8 billion takeover by Adidas, that Reebok started deeply penetrating and promoting itself as a bon ton lifestyle brand globally.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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iPhooon; too cool, too soon!

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iPhone entered the Indian market with its 3G iPhone... But what use is 3G in India? Is the party over already? Or is there more in store...?

The revolutionary iPhone finally landed on the Indian runway... However, what it received here, was just (literally) an empty bus of disheartened and disgusted enthusiasts... Yes, the technological ‘Swiss knife’ was launched across 6 cities in India, but the August 22, 2008 party was spoilt by its ‘hefty price’; and the ‘best buy’ terms, just seemed too ‘hollow’!

Anybody interested in the iPhone would be aware that globally, the 8GB & 16GB versions are available for just $199 & $299 respectively. The typical ‘I wanna buy the iPhone’ Indian therefore anticipated a price range of Rs.10,000 to Rs.15,000! But lo and behold! Apple decided to tweak pricing rules for India and launched the product for a hefty Rs.31,000 & Rs.36,100 for the 8GB & 16 GB models respectively (to be distributed through Airtel and Vodafone)! In a price-sensitive market, this pricing strategy was illogical, right?

For a change, look at it in the light of Apple adopting a skimming strategy, where it enters the market with a high price-tag and then lowers it in intervals, garnering higher revenues with each price fall. Also, the iPhone’s image is nothing but ‘coveted’ in the domestic circuits, hence a high-price point during entry would ensure that it maintains the ‘niche’ image. However, much as its high price is justified, the Rs.30,000+ range still means stretching it a bit too far.

So how will this Indian party be different? Globally, the gadget tasted great success as a staggering 1 million units of the 3G version were sold just 3 days post-launch in 21 countries. However, the figures stood at just a poor few thousands in India during the same time-period. “Buying at Rs.31,000 doesn’t seem to be an intelligent idea, especially when even the 3G technology is unavailable in the country. I will wait for the price to come down,’ asserts Rajan Malik, who was one of those disappointed. Sources confirm that the highest number of handsets sold by Airtel was in Delhi, whereas Mumbai proved luckier for Vodafone on the first day of its launch. Airtel sold around 200 handsets in Delhi and Vodafone around 250 in Mumbai on the first day itself. But these numbers aren’t by any means symbolic of a box-office hit! However, Apple has shown that it is willing to allow a lowering of price to boost demand, a glimpse of which was first seen with Vodafone slashing the price by Rs.1,500 already. A telecom analyst also opined on conditions of anonymity that, “Huge price-cuts can be expected in the coming 3 months as I don’t see iPhone capturing a really huge market share in India at the current pricing levels.”

Moreover, with the iPhone 2G already available in the Indian grey market for around Rs.20,000, the 3G enabled new iPhone’s 3G feature is rendered worthless in India. Vodafone and Airtel are also trying to save the day for Apple as they’re offering a free downloading pack along with the iPhone for the initial time-period. But don’t be surprised if the download happens at a dead pace as the user will be on a 2G network! Further on, absence of user-friendly blue-tooth, absence of zoom & flash feature et al, makes iPhone far less than the gadget that India most desires at a Rs.30,000+ range. And talking about the party, Steve Jobs (Apple’s CEO) was nowhere to be seen in India! Maybe he’s just avoiding those angry stares (he knew about it, didn’t he?). And as for Sanjay Gupta, CMO, Bharti Airtel Ltd. (who owns a Blackberry), he’s willing to wait for his first iPhone. “I will switch over to iPhone once all my customers are serviced...” Hopefully, Sanjay will get his iPhone soon.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Is the ‘teleputer’ finally here?

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And how does one handle the unbelievable number of spam messages that have become a trademark feature of almost any email account? Filters! The option of applying filters – which would enable the subscribers of this service to select the senders or domains from which they want (or don’t want) the emails – is also present. And with just a swish of your cell phone, in other words an SMS, you can even deactivate or later activate the service without any issue or delay.

So that was the fancy part! And now to the brickbats. Although this service really catches the fancy of people in the first go, there is a lot of scepticism that arises out of the fact that an SMS is normally restricted to only 160 characters and the mails that people get would be usually longer than that. To that effect, Netcore Solutions had made the provision that a user can send/receive up to 480 characters in the first message itself; and multiples thereon.

In other words, if your email is really long and, say, runs into 4,800 characters, it would be broken up into 10 parts, and the subscriber would be able to see the email one part at a time, of course with a facility to directly jump to the second part the moment the first part ends (and so on so forth). Though promising, critics do state that this is only a poor alternative to seeing the email in one go, a feature that is available in any standard net email service. And the situation gets worse when one has to ‘view’ heavy attachments. How does one do that if one only gets to ‘read’ emails? But then, as supporters say, this was never meant to be the perfect alternative to the Blackberry, but only a practical low-cost solution for the non net users. Rajesh Jain, MD of Netcore Solutions, adds, “This service can also be a further driver to GPRS because, if one wishes to read the complete email in one go, one can also log onto the GPRS mode [if available on the phone]; and in case the email has attachments, then the GPRS can even be used to view those attachments!”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Philips HTS8100/59 SoundBar DVD Home Theatre

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Technical Specification

Power supply 100-240VAC, 50/60Hz; High Def (720p, 1080i, 1080p), Video upscaling , Faroudja DCDi; 2 x 1” Soft Dome tweeters, 6 x 2.5” Full Range woofers; MP3 bit rates 32-256 kbps and VBR;
PRICE: Rs.59,990;
WARRANTY: 1 year

Philips HTS8100 has been designed to offer a complete surround sound experience. The design is futuristic which packs all audio components into one single bar leaving no cluttered space or obstruction of speaker wires. It boasts of high end technology with Soft Dome tweeters, 3-band equaliser with Doublebass, High-efficient drivers, Smart Surround, Faroudja DCDi, HDMI 1080p. Featuring Ambisound, the HTS8100 delivers full multi-channel surround sound in any sort of room.

Marketers’ delight: The stylish design coupled with amazing AV performance creates a best in class.

Tester’s note: Pros – No messy wires around. A decent bass and excellent tweeter. Sizzling in looks!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Pioneer DEH-3090 UB

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Technical Specification

CDR, MP3, WMA Compatible 3 band parametric equaliser; Direct sub drive;16 Character display; Direct Aux input; Bass Boost; 2 RCA pre-outs: selectable (front + rear/front + subwoofer)
PRICE: Rs.8,500
WARRANTY: 1 year

This system is one of the latest versions from Pioneer’s 9 series. Complete with all the kit, the system boosts of front-loading Auxiliary and USB ports. Though the system is devoid of cutting-edge graphics, it features a very clear instruction screen and provides amazing 16 character display. And then comes the real story. “Get carried away in a rising tide of sound,” says Pioneer Singapore’s Goh Ee Waye. Pioneer’s legendry bass boost system has once again proved why it is respected the world over for power and finesse... It is CDR, MP3 and WMA compatible and is therefore usable over a wide range of pre-recorded media files. You also get the 3 band parametric equaliser for any customised setting. At sub-Rs.10,000 price, it really will not get any better than this.

Marketers’ delight: This car stereo is for the die hard Pioneer fan, big music, big bass and affordable price. Indeed promises to make your drive musical!

Tester’s note: Pros – A beauty to look at, the sound quality indeed is out of the world. Mid-range pricing makes it a great deal for the money.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Apple iMac 24” (2.8GHz)

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Technical Specifications:

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo; RAM: 2 GB; Graphics: nVidia GeForce 7600 GT; HD/ Blue Ray Support: No/No
PRICE: Rs.61,800 without taxes;
WARRANTY: 1 year

Apple Imac 24” powered by Intel Core 2 Duo Processor is equipped with the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. It has processors with a 6MB L2 cache and a faster 1066 MHz front-side bus across the entire line and 2GB of memory standard in most models. Philip Schiller, Sr. VP, Marketing, Apple explains, “With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option and more reminiscence, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac.” On the other hand PC Mag analyst Joel Domingo says, “If you have been waiting to upgrade to a G4- or G5-powered iMac, the new 24-inch Apple iMac should be at the top of your list.”

Marketers’ delight: Apple iMac’s incredible speed, graphics & gorgeous aluminum & glass design is a hit!

Tester’s Note: Pros – Fast in media multi-tasking, vivid display. Con – Problems with Photoshop CS3 script.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Another explosion heard

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Then fell the bomb with the government tightening the financial noose in May 1989. This was primarily meant to arrest the ‘illogically’ rising asset price bubble. The Japanese yen was revalued and interest rates too were raised by the banks explaining which Mamoru Yamakazi, Economist, Barclays Capital had rightly warned, “Higher interest rates will delay a full recovery in the economy. And Japanese companies still have too many workers and factories.” Rightly so, by the end of 1990s, the Nikkei (Tokyo Stock Market) had washed its hands off $2.07 trillion (300 trillion yen) and land prices had fallen by over 60%-80% in just a couple of months!

The result of this was the Great Depression in Japan which hit the economy during 1991 and lasted for at least 3-4 years, something which Japan is still recovering from as Andrew Shippley, Senior Analyst, Shroder Securities recalls, “Japan was on the road to ruin. We had deflation building, a policy paralysis, companies not restructuring and the value of Japanese assets tumbling..,” After World War II bombings, this was the next biggest bomb on Japan; no wonder its GDP grew by just 1.43% y-o-y during the subsequent 52 financial quarters following Q1 1990!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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BOBBY JINDAL - He’s got the power

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BOBBY JINDAL
He’s got the power

October 2007, a prestigious election in the American state of Louisiana, and the Indian immigrants got a new role model to look upon. The 36-year-old Republican, Piyush ‘Bobby’ Jindal, became the first-ever Indo-American to be elected as a Governor of a US state. In fact, he is the second Indo-American to enter the US Congress after D. S. Saund, a Democrat who was elected from California, almost 46-years-back.

“Mom & dad came to this country in pursuit of the American dream.... They found the dream to be alive and well right here in Louisiana,” he had remarked to the media while celebrating his victory last year. And as he said this, he definitely marked the start of a new era of the growing Indian dominance in the United States. Bold, intelligent and energetic, he undoubtedly represents the new face of emerging Indians. His is a story of the son of an Indian immigrant who overcame hurdles to become a highly influential part of the American governance.

Chosen as “one of America’s top 10 extraordinary young people for the next millennium,” by Scholastic Update magazine, his win means a lot to India. He certainly comes as a new source of inspiration, not only for the Indian community in the US but also for the young Indians who are chasing their dreams across the globe

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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AMOL GUPTE - ROADIE ON CINEMA sT.

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AMOL GUPTE
ROADIE ON CINEMA sT.

Jim Morrison once told Rolling Stone magazine, ‘I’m interested in films because to me, it’s the closest approximation in art form that we have to the actual flow of consciousness, in both dream-life and in the everyday perception of the world.’ The cult rock star’s philosophy would not be too different from Amol Gupte’s – the man who wrote the superbly touching saga about a dyslexic child, Taare Zameen Par (winning the Filmfare award for his endeavour). A man who is consumed by the possibilities of the art form called cinema, Gupte “having gone to the film institute as an actor” admits that he “just got possessed by the spirits there” and his journey took shape from that point on.

Gupte’s is a bold, unconventional and unconstrained mind, and he can easily be the neo-revolutionary face of Bollywood. “There is a tumble of aesthetics that keep forming over a period of 20-30 years; so at every change of that tumble, there is a new aesthetic about which one feels very hopeful. As one stands today, there is a need for that aesthetic to be addressed,” believes the man, who is also a painter.

Indian cinema seems ripe for such a “tumble of aesthetics.” Gupte believes that the emergence of the multiplex and the accessibility to DVDs will be the key factors in taking Indian cinema to the next level so that it can serve the “different palettes to be fed.”

Rare people like Gupte could be the ones leading the new age from the front. He values intellectual prowess and believes in weaving it into the grammar of cinema without upsetting the intrinsic appeal of the medium. “If a certain powerful thought emerges due to intellectual intercourse, then that person would automatically become big for me,” says Gupte, underlining just how much he treasures ‘thinking’.

Collaboration, not competition is his credo (“I don’t believe in competition. There is no competition at all, it is all about living. It is about falling and living. Why competition?”). When told that he has been included in a list of 75 Indians who will make a ‘century’ for India, he first exclaimed, “Goodness, that is a lot of responsibility!” and then said: “It’s about where you are and what you are thinking.” Amol Gupte definitely is thinking, and in the right direction.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Ballet for Ballot

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In addition, Chavan launched a new employment generation scheme to “provide additional funds to selected 120 districts which are backward and suffer from acute unemployment.” Without making too much of a fuss about it, Manmohan Singh merely said that “it is estimated that the Rural Employment programmes… generated about 800 million mandays of employment in 1991-92. In 1995-96, these programmes are estimated to generate 1,290 million mandays of employment.” Period.

If you as a Finance Minister were presenting an Election Budget, I am sure you will be worried about the fate of our farmers, who still constitute a sizeable proportion of the voting constituency. And the easiest you can do is to dole out more credit to them or, as Chidambaram did, add the cream by also waiving off their existing loans. In 2003, this is what Jaswant Singh did as the FM, when he knew that the general elections would be held by May next year. He too thought about the farmers.

“Timely availability of adequate credit is of utmost importance for the development of the rural economy and agriculture. I am not satisfied with this (the current) arrangement. We can not have a system wherein credit for motor cars is on easier terms than for farm equipment or tractors. Therefore… private banks will hereafter be encouraged to open branches in rural areas to service both farm and non-farm sectors there. I will also examine afresh this whole question of franchising agricultural credit….”

At the same time, a lot of money is allocated for other rural-based welfare schemes. They invariably relate to health, education, food, infrastructure, and housing. But I should mention one difference between past Election Budgets and Chidambaram’s. The current FM, unlike others who focused on some of these areas, decided to open his coffers for all the areas. In a sense, Chidambaram cleverly and brilliantly wooed each and every voters’ constituency, be it farmers, rural women, or urban Middle Class.

But we are digressing slightly from our main ‘rural’ story. Indira Gandhi announced a slew of package for small farmers, rural works, and supply of drinking water. She supplemented the schemes for school-feeding (doesn’t it remind you Chidambaram’s mid-day meals?). Chavan expanded the Integrated Child Development Services programme, and decided that the Centre would fully finance the social sector projects, which were being implemented by the state governments.

Manmohan Singh set up a new fund for rural infrastructure, NABARD, and doubled the targets for houses to be built under the Indira Awaas Yojna. Jaswant Singh proudly announced his ‘Panch Priorities”, of which the first one talked about “poverty eradication; addressing the ‘life time concerns’ of our citizens, covering health, housing, education, and employment. And one doesn’t need to list out the ‘social’ initiatives taken by the current FM – this list is just too long.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Bells jingled, but who heard

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Fears of a recession led to the lowest sales growth in the US since 2002

With snow all around, carols in the air, and Santa Claus with his gifts, Christmas and New Year season is the most awaited one in the US. Sadly, this time the festive mood did not translate into accelerating retail sales. Looks like the housing and credit crunch crisis has extended itself to retail sales as well. Agrees Rick Moss, President, Founder, RetailWire.com, “There are a multitude of factors, but I would point primarily to the downturn in the US housing market.” Adds Lee Peterson,VP, Brand & Creative Services, WD Partners, “The main reason for the decline is the general worry by the US consumer that there are tough economic times coming up in 2008.”

According to data released by the National Retail Federation, 2007, holiday sales (combined sales of November and December) grew by only 3% against the predicted 4%. It is also the lowest growth in the season since 2002, when it had clocked a mere 1.3% growth. Well, it is definitely not a good indicator for the economy, as consumer spending comprises the major part of US economic activity. While Goldman Sachs has said that the US economy is entering a recessionary phase in 2008, Merrill Lynch believes it has already done so.

However, various retail chains tried their best to devise strategies to increase sales and fight the economic crisis. Sale figures clearly indicate their failure. “There should have been a more conservative approach to their store and square footage expansion plans and, in terms of merchandise, more concentration on affordable items that offer lasting value, as opposed to trendy, fashion-oriented goods” explains Moss. “You always need a “Best At” strategy for Holidays in the US. In other words, how can we use our “Best At” to drive sales? What is it that will make us different at Holidays? I didn’t see that from retailers the past season. It seemed to be “business as usual”, to which, the American consumer replied, “Oh no it’s not,” says Peterson.


The after effect saw many chains bringing down their profit predictions; they included Kohl’s Corp., AnnTaylor Stores Corp. and J.C. Penney Co.. NRF has revealed that luxury and internet sales are also not likely to be spared from the downturn of events. Tiffany, one of the largest jewellery retailer, has trimmed down profits forecast and is mulling cutting down on current year’s targets, as soon as it witnessed a 2% decline in its same store sales. Apart from the economic slowdown, another factor affected retail sales, as pointed out by Mark Lilien, Management Consultant, Retail Technology Group, was the presence of many retailers and much square footage devoted to retailing. “The best-run retailers have tremendous capital allocation discipline. They don’t invest unless the ROI is superior. Investing for market share growth alone is a losing strategy, but it’s what most American retailer’s love” says Lilien.

All said and done, the billion dollar question is that would this phase continue in 2008? With elections round the corner, there are expected uncertainties. “Nevertheless, with elections occurring in the heart of the ’08 holiday season, I would anticipate a level of uncertainty that will depress spending again,” says Moss. Or perhaps as Peterson says, “Things could change after the election. But it’s time for retailers to batten down the hatches and go back to the innovation team for new ideas.”

B&E edit bureau: Sreoshi Ghose

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Valuable Asset

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Nirma’s Hiren Patel has the same instincts as his father, says SAVREEN GADHOKE

Google ‘Hiren Patel’ and you are unlikely to find more than a few links. Search using more key words and there are only a handful of articles that have his reference. That’s the low profile that Hiren maintains, despite being in charge of the Rs.25 billion consumer-care giant, Nirma, along with his brother, Rakesh. Agrees Dipankar Roy, Regional Director, FICCI (Ahmedabad), “He is not very flamboyant and is totally entrenched in his culture. He believes in doing more and talking less. Hiren is a soft-spoken, young, dynamic leader who believes in action.”

For those who know him, he’s in the mould of his father. In his younger days; Karsanbhai started as a small-time chemist at Gujarat’s Department of Mining & Geology, prepared washing powder in his backyard, and started selling 20 packets a day on a bicycle while returning from office. Hiren may emulate his father more over time. When he was older; Karsanbhai took on the might of Unilever when he launched Nirma, which originated from his daughter name, Nirupama. Reminisces Harish Bijoor, CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults, “Nirma was established as a home-grown business with a unique consumer proposition.”

But it was under Hiren’s leadership that the brand reached a new level. From being touted as a value-for-money detergent manufacturer, Nirma made the transition to a premium products maker. For example, Hiren played a key-role in acquiring the India manufacturing, marketing & distribution rights of global beauty care soap, Camay, in 2002. Globally, Camay is owned by P&G Home Products. Call it far-sightedness or sheer instincts, this move increased revenue channels as competition in the soap & detergent market became cut-throat.

While launching two premium variants of Camay, Milk Cream and Saffron, in 2002, Hiren disclosed that he would position the brands in the skin care segment to give them a broader perspective, & price them lower than competitors. He hoped Camay would be able to do well this time, referring to the fact that P&G had earlier failed to reposition the brand in the premium segment.

Even as Nirma has gone forward to acquire a premium image, it has strived to strengthen its backward integration initiatives. On November 27, 2007, it acquired the US-based natural soda ash manufacturer, Searles Valley Minerals. for over $200 million. An official statement said: “The acquisition would enable the company to raise soda ash capacity to more than 2 million tonnes a year, placing it among the world’s top seven producers.” Nirma’s scrip price spiraled, closing at Rs.220.05 on the day, an impressive 7% higher than the previous day’s close. According to news reports, the move gives Nirma an access to low-cost raw material, apart from an entry into newer markets.

Like his father, who created a new market for detergents, Hiren has tried to do the same. When he re-launched Nirma Shudh salt in 2002, he said that the “salt will be a distinct business. We aim to be a major foods player within the next two years. Be it a product or segment, Nirma believes in creating markets.” However, many analysts believe that diversification is not Hiren’s, or Nirma’s, cup of tea. They maintain that each time the group entered new categories, it was unable to make an impact.

For instance, Camay has a miniscule share in the marketplace. The salt business is still quite small as a proportion of the group’s overall turnover. It’s only in the bread-n-butter business of soaps and detergents that the group is doing well. According to the latest report by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Nirma commands a 20% market share in the detergent powder segment. The company recorded consolidated net profits of Rs.1.15 billion and net sales of Rs.22.9 billion in 2006-07.

In addition, there’s a question mark on the management capabilities of the Patel brothers, Hiren and Rakesh. Critics claim that they have been unable to make the shift from being a family-managed firm to professionally-run. An analyst at FICCI, who started his career at Nirma, says, “I felt that they lacked professionalism and were conservative. But, of course, they are hard working. And whatever may be their successes and failures, they take it on their own shoulders.”
Also, Hirenbhai, as he is fondly called within the organisation, has managed to strike an emotive chord with his employees. “Once an employee committed a grave mistake because of which the company incurred losses. Hirenbhai took control of the situation, and made sure the matter was not leaked publicly. And, in a calm manner, he explained the repercussions of such mistakes to the employee. The idea was that the individual realises his folly and does not repeat it again,” recalls a current employee.

Adds the same employee, “Hirenbhai knows how to take care of people. It is his care and the individual importance he bestows on employees that has enabled him to motivate them. No wonder, in Nirma, all employees share a long-term relationship with the organization.” And Roy of FICCI adds, “Hiren is a soft-spoken, young, and dynamic leader who believes in action.” Maybe, these are the qualities that have worked in his favour. Whether Hiren emulates the successes of his father or not, the fact remains that the MD of Nirma Consumer Care lives in a world that’s defined by one mantra – take Nirma to newer heights.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Princess’ diaries

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

With Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi for father and the legendary Sharmila Tagore for mother, how was life for the young Soha?
My childhood was very normal. I got an idea of their celebrity status and of their popularity, much later, in my late teens, when I started noticing the media glare and constant talk about my parents all around.

How has your family image helped you?
My family image, at one level, has given me a lot of protection, a sort of respect that one gets. I have heard horror stories (within the film industry) but haven’t experienced one myself. And I think I owe that to my family image.

How often do family reunions happen?
There are occasions (such as my mother’s birthday) when we make an effort to get together. But for the five of us to get together is now indeed a rare occasion.

Who inspires you more… your father or your mother?
Both. I like the way my father handles and conducts himself. My mother’s inspiration becomes useful because she’s an actor herself and I can learn a lot from her films and her choices.

Had you been a boy, what would you have taken up… acting or cricket?
Still acting. There’s something about it that I find very rewarding.

Are you a star first, or an actor?
I would never want to be a star without being an actor. There are many people who are more of socialites and celebrities, but I’d rather be an actor and make my impression there.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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The genesis of the Earth

IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence

The booming realty sector... almost everywhere

One third of our planet’s surface, is land, which is abode of six billion people. It is an irony though that majority of the world’s population is deprived of any land ownership. Over the last couple centuries, man has tried to correct this malevolent design by introducing land reforms. No other country in the world has experienced as much land reform as People’s Republic of China did. China’s land reform happened at multiple levels starting from early 1940s. Their last land reform came in early 1970s, called Household Responsibility System which became very popular initially.

In urban USA (where 87% population lives in towns) real estate replaces land reform. Real estate value and market in USA is at its nadir now with the ‘Housing Bubble Burst’ in 2005. This deflated value of property has created the monster of Mortgage and Credit crisis, which compelled the US federal government to consider bailing out the victims. Like the US, Western Europe too is industrialised. In urban Europe however the real estate market is booming, where the property price is in dizzying ascendance especially in the UK and Spain. Weak stock market and low interest rate are supposed to have caused the bubble. Therefore, like any product or service lifecycle, real estate also has its share of ups and downs. But what cannot be underestimated is the importance of land to a man. Like any other basic element, the land will remain inherent and inalienable to human beings for forever.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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What an Idea, sirjee... really?

IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence

Idea Cellular might have picked up the stake of Spice Telecom for Rs.2,200 crores, but will this deal really rake in synergies for this telecom player from the stable of Aditya Birla group? Noteworthy is the fact that Spice Telecom had operations in Punjab and Karnataka, the two places where Idea till now had no presence at all, although they had been granted the licence for the same. So, it really gives Idea an access to a readymade customer base of a wee-bit more than one crore subscribers (subscriber base as on May 2008 by COAI). But they have ended up paying a mind-boggling price of Rs.21,900 per subscriber. But then, Idea had not been present in these circles till now and would have had to build its brand from scratch in these circles given that Spice has no intention of selling their brand to them. On the up side is the fact that this addition in its existing costumer base would enable Idea to displace Tata Indicom and lap up the fifth spot in the race for service providers. Add to it the fact that Spice Telecom, through its recent aggressive marketing tactics, had been billing the highest number of subscribers in the Punjab belt and second highest in the Karnataka region which would give some ground to Idea as it makes an entry in these areas. Another positive for Idea is that surprisingly, Spice Telecom is also one of the telecom operators that even today has a Average Rate Per User (ARPU) at a healthy Rs.304 as compared to an industry average of Rs.220 which would now be going into Idea’s kitty. The irony of this deal though is that Spice Telecom had recently got the license for four new circles – Delhi, Haryana, Andra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Although Idea had to pay through its nose for these circles as well, but the fact is that they already have established subscriber base in all these circles so there wasn’t much business sense in garnering these circles additionally. There are also arguments being raised that Spice Telcom has been a loss making proposition till date (loss of Rs.365.06 for the quarter ending on 31st March 2008). But Idea feels that the reason for these losses is the operational inefficiencies surrounding this player and that Idea could turn the losses into profits in as little as three quarters. On the overall, this move is in sync with Idea’s plans to soon become a pan-Indian operator with a sizable subscriber base.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Ravi Deshpande, Chief Creative Officer, Contract Advertising

IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

Ravi Deshpande, Chief Creative Officer, Contract Advertising: What I like most about Vineet is his drive and his energy. He is very assertive and most importantly, I love his quality of work in art direction. He is a very eager guy. He always has his thinking cap on and has very strong thinking reflexes. One has to have the appetite to succeed. In fact, that is a crucial precursor to success. And Vineet has a keenness to succeed in life. He is definitely a promising guy for the future. He has been doing consistent work in the past as well as in the present and that too across the board. This makes it very difficult for me to single out and choose the best out of the whole lot of work he has done.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Aneesh Jaisinghani (29) & Sambit Mishra (27), Bates David Enterprise.

IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

The ‘Aath ke Thaath’ ad for 8PM Whisky, one of the most memorable campaigns of the year gone by, immediately catapulted Aneesh & Sambit to an ivy-league position in the ad-frat. Doing the re-launch ad of 8PM after a hiatus of 10 years was a tough one, as the previous Border ad of 8PM had broken all records (being voted among the top five commercials of the last century). With that kind of a legacy to live up to, the task was certainly not easy. Many in the ad-frat envy the duo for producing such ground-breaking work for Radico Khaitan. “8PM is the best work I have done till date because it encompasses everything that I had learnt in advertising,” says Sambit. The duo have also worked together on accounts like Nokia & Corner Book Store. While the Nokia 6070 campaign was a commercial hit (winning an Abby nomination), the Corner Book Store campaign was well received by the critics, receiving three Goafest silver medals. “The best creative I have done is the Corner Book Store campaign even though it didn’t have much of a visibility,” says Aneesh. It was pure destiny that brought this team together. Sambit accidently stumbled on to the creative scene, but for Aneesh it was a natural step as his mother was also in the creative field.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
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DLF Ltd.

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Investee: DLF Ltd.

Investor: Merrill Lynch & Co.

Investment Value: $377 mn

Naveen Jain, Real Estate Analyst, Emkay Research, says, “DLF, one of the largest real estate company in the country, and has huge land reserves which it plans to develop over the next 10 years or so. The company already has a large pipeline of projects, which are currently under development and require funds to meet the working capital requirements. By raising funds at the project level, as has been done in the Merrill Lynch deal, the company has not only got the necessary funds to develop these projects but it has also unlocked value in the properties for the shareholders.“

After pioneering Indian real estate domain, the richest realtor in the orb, K.P. Singh of DLF, is painting the town red by redrafting the technique to unlock value in the real estate prefecture. The company raised as much as Rs.1,481 crores by selling 49% of the promoter’s stake in eight of its residential projects to Merrill Lynch. The move comes in good time for both since, of late, DLF has increased its focus on the burgeoning housing segment and that too in the Rs.4-5 million bracket – which is the pulse of the Indian housing segment. DLF will enjoy a significant increase in its net asset value and Merrill Lynch will encash exciting returns. The housing projects in which stakes have been diluted are located in the cities of Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Indore. Besides, in order to re-enforce its strength in the domain, DLF recently announced a $15 billion deal with Dubai’s Limitless Group to build a township in Bangalore. Moreover, with its billion dollar projects across various segments (Hotels, Commercial, infrastructure, et al), it looks like DLF is racing against itself.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

Read these article :-
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King no more The Maharaja takes a final bow

When IIPM comes to education, never compromise

Air India’s legacy mascot is given a boost...out of the door – 4Ps B&M delves into royal history

As the driver used to pick us up from our school, dispassionately herding the thoroughly hungry and raucous lot of us students into the bus, the grime and the heat of the afternoon sun – garnished with a motionless traffic jam – perhaps can never be forgotten that easily... And neither can be forgotten those spectacularly huge Air India billboards standing resplendent in the sun, glorified by the mascot we all knew as the Maharaja, billboards we would crane our necks to see, for not only were they creativity benchmarks of those times, but also because we, er, loved the Maharaja!

Born in 1946 – with all credit of his ideation going to the late Bobby Kooka (the then Commercial Director of Air India) – this royal ruler stole all eyes, proudly donning a fresh avatar each time he was happily placed on the government airline’s towering billboards of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and right within the churning 90s too.

His attire, persona and communiqué – sometimes dressed as a sumo-wrestler; sometimes playing the snake charmer and some other times, becoming a part of Moscow’s popular chess board – all combined to make him perhaps the most recalled brand of us Indians through the latter part of the last century! When 4Ps B&M caught up with the effervescent J. Bharghav, Head, Corporate Communication, Air India, he expectably and quite succinctly agreed on the unbeaten popularity of the Maharaja, “Around 30-40 years ago, the advertising of Air India was purely conservative as Air India spent most of its advertising budgets on hoardings based on current affairs fancying the Indians at large with the Maharaja as the spokesperson.”

But we wanted more dope; and dope was what we got when we found that it was J Walter Thompson that was the agency credited to have coordinated with Bobby Kooka to create the Maharaja! We scurried out Ivan Arthur, former National Creative Director, JWT and current Vice Chairman, Aicar, who gave some eye-openers, “One day, simply looking for an interesting letterhead, Bobby Kooka phoned the agency and promptly received a number of designs, all done by this talented young JWT Art Director named Umesh Rao. One of these designs had a neat line-drawing of some Maharaja bowing in a gracious welcome. Kooka liked it a lot and the letterhead was finalised.”

But remaining confined to the letterheads wasn’t supposed to be the fate of our prince, there was more to come Initially introduced merely to ornament the Air India letterhead. As Arthur reveals, “Sometime later, the ever-inventive mind of Bobby Kooka asked why that cute little drawing could not step out of the letterhead and be used in the advertising as an add-on. ‘But of course, it could’, said the agency and the next advertisement had the little bowing Maharaja signing off above the Air-India International logo. (The airline was called Air-India International then). Kooka was pleased. And the Maharaja continued to sign off on some of Air-India International’s advertisements, till on another inventive day, Kooka asked why the little fellow could not grow bigger and actually take centerstage? He did. And so was born the Maharaja as mascot.”

Soon the Maharaja won many hearts and became one of the most important members of the Air India family. And since then, he was seen in all their advertisement campaigns; and for over sixty years, he continued to remain Air-India’s surrogate salesman, selling tickets not by hawking but by being charming. Rohit Manchanda, CEO, Planman Life, comments to 4Ps B&M, “The Maharaja usage was the first example of non-advertising icons used as advertising, in the Indian ad industry. A breakthrough!”

Could anyone have then imagined that this royal ad-king would subsequently gel not only with Indians, but most brilliantly with foreigners as well? Ergo, it seems more surprising that such an emblazoned iconic creation’s dominance has now ended, and that too because of competition. Bharghav diplomatically explains, “No doubt, Air India has been a conservative advertiser in the past; but now, as the environment has changed to become much more competitive... the need of the hour is to move on...”

Arthur rebutts, “At a time when the competition was the likes of BOAC and Pan Am, the Maharaja did with a chuckle what they found hard with their dollars. And with so much more competition today, the Maharaja is even more useful now; only, we must know how to make him relevant, meaningful and ‘today’.” Arthur claims that in the absence of anything else to set the airline or its communication apart, Air-India today is merely a product, not a brand! But really, can a yesteryear champion speak to a global audience in different contemporary languages without losing his identity?

Bharghav gives his take, “Now, advertising is making use of all media channels, leaving not even a single medium untouched. There are highly acclaimed ads and a total departure from the past, as market scenario has changed. We need to reach out to the customer for him to understand the product to be used. So luring and incentivising is our mantra.” And not the Maharaja! Quoting examples, Bharghav elaborates on his recent advertising strategies, “USP changes overtime. You have to keep changing according to the environment. For non-stop flights, it’s been comfort, high degree of punctuality and luxurious seats. But it’s different for the limited-budget or the price-sensitive consumer; we offer good deals to them. Earlier in the 60s and 70s, we had a limited budget so we did it via our mascot cum spokesperson-Maharaja, but advertising today is much superior.” Issues like Air India’s on-going future alliance with Star Alliance – that gives the company a global touch – become more pristine selling points than the Maharaja.

Clearly, times are a changing. During those times, the post-independence Indian aspired to be... and experience, royalty! The Maharaja was a classic metaphor for that! But today’s Indian identifies more with the Bills and the Gates than with the heirs and the fiefdoms. Today’s Indian aspires more for the Virgin than the Prince! The King is no more! Long live the King of Moustaches... Maharaja!

Edit bureau: Romsha Singh

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
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Are you also a double income no kids (DINK) couple?

IIPM, GURGAON

Newly weds Anshul and Rachna Yadav have been married for a couple of months now. Settled in Bengalooru, Anshul is working as a Senior Software Engineer with Wyse Technologies. Rachna has been at home for a while, but plans to get back to work in the near future with a media house. The don’t plan to have children for at least the next four years. Their combined gross salary would soon become anywhere between Rs.11-12 lakhs per annum.

Anshul & Rachna

“Short term goals are good to plan and easy to achieve. It boosts the morale and provides tremendous confidence to decide the next bigger goal for the life,” enthuses Anshul. Full of life, he and his young wife have already stepped into a short term achievable goal (by saving and investing in tax saving funds) for the next five years. They want a ‘healthy financial status’, ‘happy family’ and ‘secured future life’. He believes that the achievements of the first five years will pave way for the next crucial five years of their life. “I belong to a service oriented family background and that might be a reason why I can’t think of my own company, but I am keen to support a business started by any mate with a vision.” Happy with his salary package, but raring to have more money to spend, he feels that there is good money to be made at the bourses in India. “In time, I’d like to go and settle abroad,” he says contentedly.

Start investing early as that is the ‘key to a happy life’, where your needs at every stage of life can be met. Market watchers aver that Anshul’s choice of funds and saving habits are commendable and planning for the first five years is also a good tactic, since he’s just married and can afford a moderate to high risk appetite. If in a similar category, one can look at further adding a mid and small cap oriented fund to their portfolio, to give the portfolio aggression.

However, analysts also warn against adding too many funds to a portfolio. A portfolio of 5-6 funds should be adequate. Further, through a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), you can gradually build your position in these funds. A close eye needs to be kept on such a portfolio to ensure that no particular fund becomes too dominant. Additionally, investing in an Equity-Linked Saving Scheme (ELSS)even after exhausting the Rs.1 lakh exemption under Section 80C is a good idea. There are some ELSS funds that outperformed some of their other diversified equity counterparts. Having said that, the matter of a three-year lock-in still remains.

Here’s a look at the consistent performers in the diversified equity category. In the five-year return slot, Reliance Growth (No.1), Magnum Contra (No.2) & Magnum Global (No.3) have consistently held on to the top three rankings. The above table highlights the top performers in the tax planning category, which can be considered in order to gain the maximum from your Rs.1 lakh (tax saving) investment.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

The Rest of the Pack

When IIPM comes to education, never compromise

Well that’s just the best, but how are the remaining IT companies doing? Cognizant is one among the leading companies that are moving their way up slowly and steadily through small acquisitions. The company is particularly exuberant about the health care and life sciences sector. Declares Francisco D’Souza, COO, Cognizant Technology Solutions, “Our health care vertical is one of the oldest at Cognizant. As a result of over a decade of serving this industry and building our industry expertise over that time, we are now able to capitalise on opportunities… Health care companies are increasingly transitioning from paper to electronic processing and many of these companies have turned to Cognizant to increase operating efficiencies through business process management and workflow automation engagements.”

If health care is Cognizant’s game, HCL Technologies is slowly bucking up with “Blue Ocean strategy” delving into unexplored territory where the competition is slow. “Transformation strategy and focus on uncontested market spaces through new propositions, deepening customer relationships and launching new partnerships initiatives,” are the key strategies in place that HCL has disclosed this quarter in the investor release.

Adds Ranjit Narasimhan, Executive VP, HCL Technologies and Head, HCL BPO, “The quarter (ending December 2006) has been marked by our foray into the Insurance domain with UK and US based Insurance companies, and a major deal win from a leading media corporation in the UK for high value customer services process.” The company is also unique in the Indian IT space due to its distrution tie ups with technology giants like Nokia, Microsoft, Apple and Toshiba.

Satyam is another leader in its own right. B. Ramalinga Raju, Founder and Chairman, Satyam Computer Services explains, “Increasingly, we are participating in engagements that are strategic in nature, dealing with business transformation issues. This qualitative change is evident across all market segments giving rise to potential for a broad based growth… ” While announcing the Q3 results, Raju reiterates, “Q3 was yet another quarter which saw an increase in the contribution of consulting and enterprise business solutions, which now stands at 42% of revenue.”

Talent is a scarce commodity for the Indian IT sector nowadays. Satyam, with its high attrition rates, has been hiring away furiously as well, bringing in 4025 people in Q3, the highest ever quarterly recruitment for them. Infosys’ Nandan Nilekani argues vociferously on the need for investing in the company’s own people before competition swipes them. “The war for talent is real and companies are competing for a more complex type of person… (you must) invest in your internal staff… The more you invest in training people, the more likely it is that they will want to stay with you.” Narayana Murthy, Chairman & Chief Mentor holds a similar view, in fact he attributes employee loyalty also to the sheer pride they feel for their association with Infosys. No wonder, the company has been featuring on the best employers list ever so often.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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‘Fresh’ attack of the clones...

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The answer to Reliance’s problem lie beyond the shutdowns!

What was common between the mungo dinosaurs which tread heavily on the earth a million years back and the super-colossal titanic which met its fate in the early twentieth century? Gigantic for sure they both were; but more common is the fact that both met their ends much sooner than expected by most! Sure enough, that was history! And we did believe the same, till the latest occurred in the high-potential organised Indian retail scenario where lady luck seems to have jettisoned the most-discussed amongst organised retailers – the cash-rich Mukesh Ambani’s venture – Reliance Fresh.

On one hand, there are political leaders like Mayawati and several others who are pledging to put a stymie to Reliance Fresh, while on the other the consumers who appeared all so enthusiastic about the whole organised retailing revolution are giving more of a step-motherly treatment to it. So while Mayawati’s government and Kolkata’s Trade Union seem to have sworn by the gods to openly attack any Reliance Fresh initiative on their terrain, what can the mighty Reliance do other than stare helplessly at the lugubrious turn of events?

When asked, Raghu Pillai, President & CE, Operations & Strategy, Reliance Retail Ltd, snappingly retorted, “We are not doing anything illegal and neither are we manipulating any social norms. So nobody can stop us!” Brave words indeed, like a true commander in the ranks of Reliance Retail who only believes in his war-strategy; but what about the fact that during just the past two months, eight Reliance Fresh stores have been shut down mercilessly?


Then comes the unorganised blitzkreig as even in areas where Reliance Fresh is operational, it’s facing tough competition from the unorganised players. For instance, in New Delhi and NCR region, wherever Reliance Fresh has opened-up its store, the footfalls have been very low – call it ‘barren’, at best. A Mumbai-based retail analyst explains the situation as, “The reason is that, when it comes to buying vegetables and fruits, maximum Indian consumers are not habituated with the buying behaviour inculcated by Reliance. Moreover, many of these Relaince Fresh stores are not located in prime areas within the cities.”

Sure enough, other smaller players like Big Apple and Subhiksha have understood from the very beginning that ‘location’ within the city is a big factor to ensure success... a fact which Reliance of late seems to have realised as it opened a Reliance Mart in a well-known mall at Ahmedabad. Apart from this, the fact that Mukesh is mixing up his ‘Vimal’ brand with other brands in the apparel segment is in itself a strategic positioning blunder... Sure enough, Reliance must look beyond the recent shut-downs & concentrate on better geographical & product-mix strategies.

4Ps edit bureau: Angshuman Paul

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Of all tales ‘Standard’, this one’s a tad different

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HDFC Standard Life Insurance, with Rs.16.24 billion worth of premiums up to 2007 and 5,23,147 product offerings (policies), claims the next slot in the list.... So while many talk about being a great Indian player with great Indian aspirations, HDFC Standard Life only talks through its actions. What with an overwhelming presence across 693 cities and towns and a wider cluster of 75,000 financial consultants? As, Deepak Satwalekar, CEO & MD, HDFC Standard Life Insurance, assertively states, “The company wants to be as close to its customers as possible and wants to ensure complete customer convenience and delight.” Presently, the insurance arm of HDFC Ltd. is also planning to raise some amount of capital via the primary market, which leads to its big plan of coming up with an Initial Public Offering (IPO), by the end of 2009. Well, for now, with the nation abuzz with expansions from all corners, and by all competitors, there is no denying that big-time expansion plans from this titan’s desk is more of a strategic necessity. So, there you are, HDFC Standard Life, a player who is playing its cards rights and may well be springing happy surprises in the near future... Well, to be honest, it will!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Cheers to living longer

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For ICICI Prudential, the mantra is to live well today and kiss the worries of future goodbye

Imagine a life that is sans tensions and all the hassles – that is what ICICI Prudential wants to convey through its latest ‘Jeetey Raho’ ad campaign. When 4Ps B&M caught up with R. Balakrishnan (Balki), Executive Creative Director, Lowe (the agency behind the creative), he asserts, “Normally the concept of insurance is always associated with death and hence a lot of negativity is, so we wanted to come out of that kind of association.” With the opening of the insurance sector in 1999, ICICI Prudential set shop in December 2000 after receiving approval from IRDA. But it was only in the year 2001 that it decided to come out with ad advertising campaign. Balki calls the first phase of advertising as the ‘Sindoor’ phase, as Sindoor in the Indian tradition is seen as the symbol of protection by every woman. So the message for the consumers was clearly to project ICICI Prudential as a means of protection. The objective of the campaign was to establish the positive side of life insurance and entrench the brand in the minds of consumers.

The first commercial of ICICI Prudential opens with a marriage ceremony and a couple taking vows. The voiceover says, “Main vaada karta hoon ki tumhein swast or surakshit jeevan doonga.” More promises were made & the final voiceover says, “Har vaade mein aapke saath hain hum...” and the logo of ICICI appears with the man’s thumb drawing a line of Sindoor. The connotation was simply to show that with ICICI Prudential by one’s side, one would be able to fulfil all the promises one makes. The ad campaign also helped the company amass tremendous goodwill that was the need of the hour.

Although the campaign signifies protection, it also talks about the responsibility on the shoulders of the head of the family. In a bid to focus more on this aspect, ICICI Prudential tweaked its advertising strategy a bit in its second phase. Sujit Ganguli, Sr. VP & Head-Marketing, ICICI Prudential, told 4Ps B&M, “In 2005, our communication was centred around the proposition of satisfaction by fulfilling responsibilities towards one’s family. This was brought alive by the visual of a ‘kandha’ or the shoulder, which was used to symbolise responsibility.” All the ad films were visually arresting, with powerful lyrics & music.

Not diverting from the basic theme, in 2007, ICICI Prudential ventured into its third phase of advertising with the ‘Jeetey Raho’ campaign, which goes on to portray that insurance helps to forget all tensions & hence live longer. Balki adds, “The idea was to state that live for today without any worries about tomorrow.” The expression ‘Jeetey Raho’ is universally accepted as a blessing for living well and living long and therefore it serves the purpose of the creative to deliver the key message that is to live well today without worrying for tomorrow.

Ganguli elaborates, “The new campaign moved away from the concept of ‘protection’ to a wider proposition of ‘goals guaranteed’.” The campaign reflects the shift in customer attitude towards life insurance. It’s now seen as an assurance for one’s important life goals – wealth creation, retirement planning or saving for children’s education – to be met. This communication thus marked a shift in focus from a primarily emotional-benefit driven campaign to a more rational-benefit platform. Following the success of the corporate campaign ‘Jeetey Raho’, ICICI Prudential Life’s latest retirement category campaign extends the message of goals guaranteed into the realm of retirement planning. ICICI Prudential has always brought to the fore very Indianised elements in all their ads, with a backdrop of hope and happiness to shoo away the negativities that subconsciously get attached to insurance.

Surbhi Chawla

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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The bold and the beautiful!

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The moment you lay eyes on something that oozes class and elegance, with bold designs combining large weighty metal links, trust it to be Bvlgari! And its latest range of eye-wear is no exception. Reinterpreting Quadrato (one of the most classic themes), the glasses offer a seductive-yet-understated look. At Rs.18,000, its graceful round lenses and unparalleled Astrale frames blend both, tradition and innovation together!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Harried Potter?!?

Keep him away to keep I.B.S. at bay!

‘They guaranteed I’ll suffer depression. All I’m left with is Irritable Bowel Syndrome.’ Thus goes a bumper sticker currently being displayed with a vengeance by innumerable disgruntled Potter fans across the US. The genesis lies in latest reports from international psychologists confirming that the latest, and worryingly the last, Potter book (FYI: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows; that is, if you’re Rip Van Winkle and we’re from the Vatican) has resulted in millions suffering what is now known as Post-Potter Depression Syndrome (PPDS), with key symptoms being depression, irritation, emptiness, anger and also unnatural bowel movement. An earlier survey by AbeBooks.com, a top retailer, found that 63% of readers expect to feel sadness, while 31% would suffer emptiness! Considering that till August ‘07, around 800 million copies of the latest book have been sold in more than 200 countries, one guesses that not justpsychologists, but even rest-room managers (as seems to be hilariously evident in the US already) have quite a task up their sleeves. But help is at hand with many Harry Potter support groups being spawned for PPDS patients, which also intend on incorporating cutting-edge workshops and seminars. So don’t be surprised if the most visited website in your company turns out to be www.ibsgroup.org. What’s that you ask? Tch tch, you forget faster than your visits to the Long John. It is the numero uno Irritable Bowel Syndrome Support Group. Go on, click away, nobody’s watching!

Edit Bureau: Pooja Priyadarshini

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Bowled over

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Lara, Dev and many others are already on the field. A ball by ball update of Chandra’s Indian Cricket League...

“Had I got those TV rights I was prepared to withdraw from the scene and leave the running of cricket to the board. I will take no steps now to help anyone. It’s every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.”

These words had marked the launch of the World Cricket Series, a parallel form of cricket in Australia, in the 70s. An angry and manipulated Kerry Packer had roared in front of the official board, promising to change the face of cricket – come what may. Packer was an Australian media baron who was repeatedly refused cricket rights for his network.

Back home, history is repeating itself. And there are not many dissimilarities but for the fact that the home grown media mogul, Subhash Chandra has chosen not to announce the war as vehemently as Packer. Instead, Chandra is quietly making his way forward, picking up names that – once on the field –would shine like stars.

The recent addition to his pack is former West Indian Captain Brian Lara. Chandra already has one of the biggest names of Indian Cricket – Kapil Dev with him and a host of have beens like Tony Greig, Kiran More, Madan Lal, Balwinder Sandhu, Sandip Patel and Dean Jones among others. But, the entry of Lara has upped the equity of Indian Cricket League (ICL) like how. Since the announcement, there is a palpable buzz and anticipation around Chandra’s ICL. What’s more, with Lara on its side, the breakaway ICL is making waves, even internationally now. The rumour mill is abuzz with names like Australian Shane Warne, Pakistani Inzamam-ul Haq and many others who have agreed to bat for Chandra. However, talking to 4Ps B&M, Ashish Kaul, Executive Vice President, Essel Group clarifies, “The last player that we have signed is Lara and the other names are just rumours. We are in the process of putting together the Twenty20 team and expect to hit the fields by the end of this year.”

In true Packer style, Chandra also plans to invest in infrastructure like sports academy, stadiums, R&D cells to search and develop young talent. But the going for Chandra is far from being easy. Right from creating controversies over the league’s name, to barring players who are going the ICL way, BCCI is trying every trick in the trade to stop Chandra and ICL. “It’s normal for BCCI to react in this way. Guess, some people need to react to be heard,” says sports commentator, Gautam Bhimani. The controversies surrounding ICL are so many that some senior players who were contacted by 4Ps B&M declined to even whisper in its favour, for fear of inviting BCCI’s wrath. But unfriendly pitch aside, Chandra is undeterred.

What’s of significance is the impact of ICL on the future of Indian cricket. ICL seems to be the right answer to the allegedly unprofessionally run BCCI. However, the other point of view is not very optimistic. In today’s times, when a viewer has many options and tournaments are in plenty, whether ICL will get takers is not sure. “It will give a new meaning to domestic cricket. But whether it takes off or not, only time will tell. We don’t know if it is only great exhibition as the entry of Lara signifies or it will be a serious ‘country playing against country’,” opines Bhimani. Packer introduced new concepts to cricket like day/night matches, marketing and big moolah which have become the backbone of cricket today. Look out for Chandra’s unique brand of innovations to the game!

Edit bureau: Surabhi Agarwal

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Billboard - Play it your way

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CATEGORY : Billboard
BRAND : Grand Vitara
HEADLINE : Play it your way

4Ps TAKE : Maruti Udyog Limited’s all-new Grand Vitara has hit Indian roads and is out to lure sporty Indians. The single-minded focus is to introduce the new product in a powerful manner to leave a lasting impression (remember, this is a re-launch, so obviously there was something wrong with the company strategy the first time around). The headline ‘Play it your way’ invites Indian consumers to drive the giant vehicle ‘their way’, bringing out the USP of the product: its strength and its rough and tough nature. The visual is sheer eye candy with the Grand Vitara in shades of blue. Wanna drive it your way?

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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...with your friendly-neighbourhood bacteria, as brand ambassador!

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The writing on the wall is clear from the very fact that Nestlé, which till now, had never heavily advertised its dairy products aggressively (in fact, rumour once was that Nestlé India may well close down their dairy operations) is going the whole hog in the probiotic race. This is Nestlé’s sixth brand in the dairy segment.

Not to be left out, Mother Diary has also responded proactively with its huge advertising outlay of Rs.4 crores. But will high-decibel advertising campaigns and claims and counter-claims on who pioneered the probiotics product (both were launched on the same day) give leadership position to any company in the Rs.360 crore curd market?

“The curd market in India is dominated by regional players or is mostly consumed as a home made commodity. Spending Rs.15 on a pack of curd is still perceived as luxury in semi-urban and rural India,” points out a FICCI FMCG analyst. But Mother Dairy denies being bogged down by such issues. Snaps, Paul Thachil, CEO of Mother Dairy India, “Indian consumers were not even used to processed vegetables, but we have made Safal peas a very successful brand. If we offer high quality and constantly add value to our first mover’s advantage, we can establish a new commodity brand too.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Duelling for Dahi...

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27th July 2007: An unsuspecting Delhi woke up to screaming full page ads in India’s leading newspapers, from rival dairy product majors, Swiss major Nestlé and Indian cooperative Mother Dairy. Nothing earth shattering there for sure, except that the ads worth crores were peddling their respective versions of Probiotic Dahi (or yoghurt, if you please) priced at an average of Rs. 12 per pack.

On that fateful Friday, while Nestlé unleashed its lowfat Nesvita Dahi; arch rival Mother Dairy made its maiden entry into probiotic yoghurt. Soon after, even Yakult Danone India, a joint venture between Yakult Honsha and Danone Group announced its plan to enter the Indian market with a probiotic drink by the year-end.

The probiotic strains with healthy bacteria that build immunity are the latest in a long line of ‘healthy initiatives’ launched by marketers in India to cash in on the growing trend of ‘eating healthy’. The demand for probiotic products globally is already estimated at about $15 billion, and with the Rs.3.6 trillion Indian food and beverage industry extrapolating an extensive growth of 20% in the probiotic foodmarket for this year, Nestlé and Mother Dairy are certainly not misguided in their bacteria-infected ambitions. In fact, the marketing plan over the next few months (as disclosed to 4Ps B&M) is to pump in hundreds of crores of rupees to effectively market this supposedly friendly-bacteria laced dahi.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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A new look at the IT-ITeS Sector

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Who is the top IT-ITeS employer in India? To find out, every year, Nasscom (the National Association of Software and Services Companies) sends out a detailed questionnaire to all its member companies (who account for 95% of the Indian IT software & ITeS industry revenue). The list of the top 20 ITITeS employer for financial year 2006-07 is just out, and this year’s list of companies, collectively, employ over 500,000 people out of the 1.6 million employed in the sector. Here, we give the top 5: 1. Tata Consultancy Services 2. Infosys Technologies 3. Wipro Technologies 4. HCL Technologies 5. Cognizant Other top IT-ITeS employers in the list of 20 include Satyam Computer Services, Hewlett Packard, Genpact, Oracle, Patni Computer Systems, Convergys, L&T Infotech et al. Commenting on the survey findings, Kiran Karnik, Nasscom President, said: “The Indian IT-ITeS industry is India’s largest employment generator in the organised sector today, creating jobs for over 7.5 million people, both directly & indirectly and, as per our research, this figure is expected to cross the 10 million mark by 2010. A varied combination of factors has led to this – healthy growth environment, attractive remuneration and different kinds of employment opportunities in the new economy based on varying skill sets, and above all, the availability of talent in India which meets the employment projections.”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Barbie goes all new age

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And yet another new face of Barbie! This Barbie has just hit the US retail shelves this week, and it promises a lot of high-tech excitement. The world’s favourite doll is now going to be fully loaded; she is also going to double up as an MP3 music player! Not just that, if one plugs her feet into the iPodesque docking station that she comes with, she unlocks pages and pages of games, virtual shops and online chatting functions on the BarbieGirls.com website. But whatever content one surfs for will be charged, and the new doll is a roundabout way of charging for online content. Instead of asking young web surfers to punch in their parents’ credit card numbers, BarbieGirls.com and other sites are sending customers to a real-world toy store first. There is a reason why every little girl’s favourite doll has suddenly gone so hitech. While sales of dolls have been going down, electronic sales of gadgets have been increasing rapidly. So what better way to hike sales than installing something that is bound to grab the eyeballs?

According to TheNew York Times, “With children’s leisure-time habits shifting online, toy companies are responding with new productsthat can be construed as fun, both online and offline. That Barbie in the docking station? Go to a physical store and buy her an extra outfit, and you get access to even more web content.” Nice play, Barbie!

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An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Marketing and Marriages

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The minimum budget for a wedding ceremony is $34,000 and business houses have taken note of this. This is one season, when come what may people are most willing to open their wallets. So smart marketers are using ‘weddings’ as a sure shot opportunity to increase sales. Companies like Sony, Samsung and LG now time their discounts according to the wedding season. It is wedding time when couples buy electronics, household appliances as they start a new life. So Bang and Olufsen, the Danish entertainment giants decided to launch their new range during this time last year.

The mammoth size of the wedding market tempted ‘Bregeut’ the world’s most expensive luxury watch brand to launch in India. Rado of Switzerland too came out with a wedding package of two elegant watches for the bride and groom. Not just that, they even organised a contest where the lucky couple could win a 7-day honeymoon trip to Switzerland!

Titan, India’s leading watch manufacturer too launched its jewellery watches in 2004 in the country, just before the wedding season.

This is that time of the year when Indians have to shop. The favourite item on their wedding list is ‘gold’. So ICICI Bank has come out with 99.99% pure gold coins-which they launched just before the wedding season this year. India after all is the largest consumer of gold with 20% of global consumption happening here, and marriages are the perfect excuse to buy this favoured yellow metal. Marriages bring along with them a whole lot of business opportunities. From hoteliers to chefs to beauticians – all seems to flourish with the advent of the marriage season. Be it VLCC or Kaaya Skin Clinic – all have special packages promising to turn you into a beauty queen on your marriage day, only of course if you are ready to pay a bomb.

With marriage comes honeymoon – the most memorable trip of your life and many tourism departments have worked out special honeymoon packages to attract newly weds. From Australia, to Mauritius, to South Africa, all plan their promotions and advertisements around this time, so much so that Star Cruise has launched a cruise to Lakshadweep keeping those lovey-dovey honeymooners in mind!!

Copyright © : Rajita Chaudhuri and Planman Media.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Tourism and Wedding

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Kerela was once known for its awesome backwaters and beaches. Today it’s a popular wedding destination and Kerala tourism is planning to promote it as an exotic locale for wedding ceremonies, to attract international tourists. Udaipur is offering heritage palace-hotels for a memorable once-in-a-lifetime ‘Royal Wedding’. NRIs are a big market for these destination weddings, the most popular being Goa, Agra and Varanasi, among others.

Today approximately 5,000 international weddings take place every year. An average NRI wedding organised in India costs Rs.50 lakh and could go up to Rs.3 crore easily. Laxmi Mittal spent $55 million for his daughter’s wedding. From Elizabeth Hurley to Vikram Chatwal, everyone is getting married in India and all this has increased the Indian tourism earnings to $42 billion.

Cox & Kings saw a 15% increase in the number of wedding clients. In fact, weddings are causing crazy earnings for all associated with the tourism industry. Not surprising then that many tour operators are becoming wedding planners as well. According to experts, wedding tourism is growing at 100% year-on-year.

Copyright © : Rajita Chaudhuri and Planman Media.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Careers and marriages

Thanks to heavily promoted celebrity weddings, today every couple wants something new and different as they say “I do”, and the trend has opened up a whole lot of new businesses and careers. Back in the 90’s a specialisation in ‘wedding management’ was something to be smirked at. Today it is a profitable career.

Trousseau and gift packing is a profession where one can charge anywhere between Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh!!

Wedding planners are the new breed of hot professionals who promise to give you whatever you want to make the D-day your most memorable one. They come in all shape and sizes – from J.Lo in the Wedding Planner to Dubey in Monsoon Wedding – you can choose whoever you want. Be it a beach wedding or a skydiving wedding or a fairytale wedding – you ask for it, they will do it.

Every wedding ceremony is a business opportunity. Rajendra Singh was a poor kathak dancer living in Mumbai a few years back. Today he is a ‘Masterji’ who jet sets around the world teaching nubile women to dance to Dola Re for sangeet ceremonies. Similarly, Chandraprakash Agle, grew up in a slum and today exports mandaps to NRI’s in UK and the US.

The Best Guests Centre, based in Jodhpur even supplies guests in case you are running short of them – to make the wedding look grand! £10 for fair skinned English-speaking ones and £6 for Hindi-speaking ones!Even the real estate biggies are being lured by the grand wedding market. Omaxe Construction has opened a mega mall to cater to this insatiable consumer. Wedding malls and wedding exhibitions are growing at a very fast pace. Bridal Asia started as a small exhibition. Today it’s the subcontinent’s largest wedding exhibition and a one-stop-shop for prospective brides and grooms. Today wedding festivals are booming and are a sure shot way to boost business. Not just Bridal Asia, you now have Vivah, the Marwar Mega Wedding show and many more.

After all a wedding is the most anticipated event and everyone wants the best. So all you young & dynamic entrepreneurs – look around. As two people take the saat-pheras you too could be tying the knot with a bright future...

Copyright © : Rajita Chaudhuri and Planman Media.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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R&D is one of Ranbaxy’s core strengths... that have led to the delivery of a robust product pipeline...

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RANBAXY... Constantly proving the world wrong with its path breaking innovations, this pharma biggie has really travelled far since its inception

Creativity and innovation are two things that go hand in hand with the global pharmaceutical industry. But that’s not beentrue for Indian pharma, or at least that’s what the world thought till a few years back. While the industry long struggled to rid itself of the image that labelled its affiliates as trespassers of intellect; only few actually attempted to test their mettle against time. And Ranbaxy happens to be one such company. While growth through acquisition is one of Ranbaxy’s stated strategies, the enunciation has always been on delivering value through path-breaking studies and R&D. “R&D is one of Ranbaxy’s core strengths and fundamental to our growth. Our innovation capabilities have led to the delivery of a robust product pipeline,” a Ranbaxy spokesperson told 4Ps B&M. Well, the results are there for all to see. Ranbaxy, in 2006, landed itself on top position in patent filing list of companies from the developing nations. Being the first among its Indian peers to file for (Para IV) products last year, the company has attached the tag of a true Indian multinational to itself. It was one of the first Indian drug-maker to start a joint venture abroad, a strategy that has led it to such great heights. One of the biggest R&D spenders among Indian pharma biggies, with over 7% of its global revenues (much ahead of the industry average) being invested in R&D, Ranbaxy has emerged as an ingenious innovator in true sense!

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‘HiDesign’ing for a class apart...

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It’s been an uphill task, but ‘hi’ on design, this one did not falter!

Let’s start by asking you a simple question this time. Of course, dedicated to all those bling kings and queens supposedly high on fashion quotient. What comes to your mind when you hear the brand - ‘Hidesign’? Allow us the privilege to guess! With definite conviction, the answer is a foreign ritzy brand (well, we mean from most of you). That’s how Hidesign has positioned itself – a global bon ton brand, high on acumen among fashion freaks. But surprise! Hidesign actually has it’s origin in India. What started as a hobby, later fortuitously became a venture for Dilip Kapur. “I saw that my PhD had nothing new to offer and I found more interest in creating leather goods for global brands. With that I started manufacturing leather products in 1990s,” reminisces Dilip.

However, he initially didn’t create a separate brand name. But after he became a constant supplier to global elite dealers like House of Fraser, John Lewis, Magasin Du Nord and Selfridges et al, he felt the need to create his own ensemble. Finally his quest to create a more organised company, led him to introduce Hidesign in 2000, both globally and on the domestic soil. Reasons Dilip, the founder and MD of Hide sign, “Globally people knew what we were but we wanted a brand name and that time we entered the Indian market. And whether you call it a challenge or an opportunity, our products being very different from the regular ones, we were not allowed in the regular stores.” This could not bog down Dilip and he resorted to word of mouth marketing. Indian consumers, who picked up a Hidesign product abroad started promoting it in India. It was one such user that helped Hidesign foray into the John Players showrooms.

That was just the beginning. Hide sign started tying up with the country’s leading retailers (Shoppers’ Stop, Westside, Lifestyle) and at the same time expanded its global arms. However, it was just three years back that they started paying heed to having their own exclusive outlets, both in the desi domain and at the global front. Today, with 38 exclusive stores in India and another 15 spread across West Asia, Europe, Scandinavia & Africa, Hide sign (of course with a growth rate of 35%) can definitely boast of being one of the few brands among the Indian fashion fraternity that can truly be termed global.

Now for the obvious question. With more foreign brands coming in, will Hide sign be able to sustain its glory? “See there was competition for us abroad too, but still we created our own brand. Now, if Christian Dior or anybody is coming to India, their high price will make us an affordable luxury and increase our market,” replies Kapur.

In fact, he is relentlessly testing the waters with new ideas. His recent tie up with LVMH for technical up gradation and his future intentions to enter Wal-Mart stores (not to forget 18 new stores by the year-end) says it all. Dilip is excruciatingly focused on designing his plans such that Hidesign reaches the hi-pinnacle, that’s if global biggies don’t force him to ‘Hide’ sign first!
Edit bureau: Angshuman Paul

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Smart girls get ahead in life!

It’s all about women being on top! Research compiled by the Department of Sociology at Queens College (New York) indicate that fulltime female workers in their 20s earn more than same-age males in the cities of Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, Dallas and New York. While in New York City, these women professionals earn 17% more than men, in Dallas (Texas) they earn 20% more. But strangely, women are no longer on top by the time they cross 30. And it’s only been over the last seven years that women have started to surpass men’s salaries in urban centers. One reason for women getting ahead of men at these centers, the study summarises, could be that they get married much later in lifein cities than in smaller towns. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, women (in the US) who are doing best are from the states of Maryland, District of Columbia and Massachusetts, while they fall behind in money matters in Arkansas, Louisiana, and West Virginia.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Osama’s son’s reign of love

While Osama bin Laden continues his reign of terror, his son is spreading love. Or so it seems. According to British tabloid, The Sun, Osama’s fourth eldest son, the 27-year-old Omar has married 51-year-old Jane Felix-Browne, a five-time British divorcee and parish councillor from Cheshire, who’s also a grandmother! Omar’s Saudi wife, the 20-something Rasha bin Laden, is furious, and has vowed not to return to Omar unless he leaves Jane. “Rasha feels left out. Jane’s always in the limelight – the papers in Saudi Arabia are full of stories about her marriage to Omar. Rasha’s made it clear she won’t return unless things change,” the paper quoted a source as saying. The Omar-Jane romance is the stuff of movies. He first saw her in Egypt last September riding a horse near the Great Pyramid – and fell for her hook, line and sinker! Apparently the two married in Cairo (at a friend’s place) in an Islamic ceremony. Currently, The Sun says, Jane is trying to organise a visa so that she can visit her latest husband in Saudi Arabia. “I was told by my family that they do not approve of the marriage and there will be consequences. But I love my second wife and am not going to divorce her. I am going to struggle along with her and this will all settle down,” Omar had said earlier, The Sun added.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Asia’s lop-sided growth story

A recent Asian Development Bank (ADB) study, Key Indicators 2007, points to the obvious – but extremely alarming – trend: the fact that in developing countries (in Asia) the rich are growing richer faster than the poor, and that disparities between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ continue to widen. “Inequalities in life start early, and they begin with extreme circumstances that deny millions the opportunity to have adequate nutrition, health and basic education… The key challenge to public policy here lies on not just increasing the quantum of public expenditures, but also ensuring that these are well targeted, effective and funded through mechanisms that do not detract from economic growth,” the report said. And although poverty rates have been on the downswing over the past decade or so (ever since the region started witnessing a boom), the poor have been left way behind in the race as relative and absolute inequalities have increased. So what are relative inequalities and absolute inequalities? Well, relative inequalities are the proportionate differences in incomes , while absolute inequalities are the actual dollar differences in incomes.

“…the expenditures of the rich or top 20% have increased much more than those of the poor or the bottom 20%… This has happened even in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia where relative inequality declined,” the report observed. Among other things, the report also said that there is lop-sided growth in the urban and rural areas.

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An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

HERO HONDA...

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HERO HONDA... Affordable, efficient and effective, that’s what Hero Honda’s ingenious fuel injection technology in mobiles are all about.

Fuel injection technology! Seems too much of dream theory for bikers, right? Wrong! As far as Hero Honda is concerned, it’s something that has bought a place for itself amidst our coveted list of 25 most innovative companies. The fuel injection technology not only uses fuel efficiently, but also goes on to add to the comfort level for bikers. And all of it comes at amazingly low emission levels. And how important technology is in two wheelers? Urmil Negandhi Auto Analyst, proclaims to 4Ps B&M, “Technology will play a crucial role in coming days. The player with latest technology, will eventually dominate.” Are the Munjal’s hearing?

Well, certainly seems so! Hero Honda has a legacy of bringing superior technologies and enjoys an edge over others in terms of affordable technology. “When you have high potential products like the Splendour, then you should leverage them fully” says Anil Dua, VP, Sales, Hero Honda. Indian consumers, who often times have been deprived of world class technologies, are having a field day. “Indian customer is not only price sensitive, but also wants latest designs, comforts, aesthetics and new technology at the same small price,” explains Negandhi. Hero Honda is walking the ramp with accolades, for being the first to bring an affordable technology into the price-sensative twowheeler segment. Have you begun to clap yet?

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TATA MOTORS...

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TATA MOTORS... Magic & the Winger is not the title for another Harry Potter tale, instead they stand tall amidst Tata’s slew of product innovations!

The Magic & the Winger sounds like the title of a fairy tale! The launch of the four-wheeler public transportation mode – the Magic and the Winger, by Tata Motors in June 2007, is indeed a boon for the masses; those dependent on public transportation such as three wheelers and buses. The Magic seats 4-7 passengers and with pleasant interiors, comfortable seats and a number of benefits for the driver. The Winger, however, takes the tempo a notch higher. Seating 9-13, passenger comfort has been provided from all angles – starting from seat belts and spot-lamps to a 2-litre turbo charged engine and demisters. Both diesel engines, they cover the needs in rural & urban towns, promising to take intra-city transportation to the next level.

The launch of the longwheel base Indigo XL marked another product innovation from the Tata stable, earlier this year. Offering comfort and lavishness, this one’s is nothing short of a super-luxury car. But there have been reactions to its claim of being ‘India’s first stretch limousine’. Jigar Valia, Analyst, Parag Parikh Financial Advisory says, “The Indigo XL is a comfort vehicle and can do well, but it can’t really be called a limousine as it does not live up to that image.” More recently, Tata Motors also launched a trimmed version of the Indigo XL Classic, with a price cut and a few ‘grand’ features missing, making it a more value-for-money offering.

First with Indica, then with Winger & Magic, and now with the planned ‘Rs.1 Lakh Car’, Tata Motors has only reinforced its innovation for the ‘masses’ strategy. What say?

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India Today Group

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States Mala Sekhri, Publishing Director, Lifestyle Group, India Today Group exclusively to 4Ps Business & Marketing, “Magazines like Cosmopolitan cater to this new, self assured - yet information seeking woman who wants to live life to the fullest. She is sure of where she wants to go, yet unsure of how to get there. Cosmopolitan employs the highest standards of service journalism which is hard working how to - where to information.” She elaborates that this rise is linked to the trend of woman no longer limiting herself to her family, relatives and friends. As they get more involved in the workforce, Sekhri feels that they would be more of influencers when it comes to purchase of products and services for the family. And she confidently asserts, “We think that these are early days – even though Cosmopolitan has been in the country for 11 years now. The potential is just being realised & the future of this sort of magazine is very bright.”

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BRAND : MotoRazr2 - Sharper than ever

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BRAND : MotoRazr2
AGENCY: O&M
BASELINE : Sharper than ever

DESCRIPTION: A guy gets out of the metro, and unknowingly his MotoRazr 2 slits a girl’s dress. The girl takes out her MotoRazr 2 and slits his jacket into two halves. The battle between the two begins. She splits both his sleeves off his shoulders and both of them end up kick fighting. Then, the guy holds the girl down and clicks her picture using his MotoRazr 2; she’s angry, but as the train is ready to leave, she jumps into it. In all the commotion she forgets her Razr 2 but the guy throws it at her; but it gets stuck on the wall.

4Ps TAKE: This time Motorola says hello with a really sharp edge – and how! The power idea is to launch the new MotoRazr 2 in the Indian market (as well as globally), and the USP is the sharpness of the product: razor sharp technology and razor sharp looks. The storyboard is interesting and depicts the handset’s “edge” through the battle of the sexes: with fight sequence between the hot chick and the handsome guy is as stylish as hell, much like the product itself! Aimed at the upwardly mobile, this one is sheer chic and a style statement. Say Hello Moto with style now!

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BRAND : Nike - Where’s the next Ronaldinho?

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BRAND : Nike
BASELINE : Where’s the next Ronaldinho?

DESCRIPTION: The ad begins with a boy thinking of becoming a professional football player while brushing his teeth and Ronaldinho’s image in his bathroom mirror. Next we see Ronaldinho playing with his football inside the train, on the busy road, as he says, “I always have the football with me, it’s my best friend.” People are almost fed up of Ronaldinho’s football mania – but he doesn’t care The ad ends with a caption asking, ‘Where’s the next Ronaldinho?’

4Ps TAKE: Last time it was gully cricket and this time it is soccer doing the trick for Nike. Despite the language restriction (which is resolved through the English sub-titles), this ad scores on every account. The visual grabs all eyeballs especially those soccer crazy viewers and Ronaldinho fans, as the Brazilian player steals the show. The USP? Nike’s sports gear that makes it possible for one to practise to attain the kind of perfection that Ronaldinho has today. The reward to the prospect is of course the great soccer star: do you have it in you to be the next Ronaldinho? As far as Nike is concerned, it’s done it – yet again!

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Wrigley’s Orbit - Chewing Orbit regularly helps keep your teeth healthy

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CATEGORY : Online
BRAND : Wrigley’s Orbit
HEADLINE : Chewing Orbit regularly helps keep your teeth healthy
BASELINE : Sugar free chewing gum

4Ps TAKE : Just days ago, Ram Gopal Verma came out with a pathetic copy of Sholay titled Aag. Wrigley’s too have used Sholay as a backdrop to promote its Orbit brand. But unlike RGV, they have been successful not only in tickling the funny bone through this online ad, but also in conveying their message to the audience. The idea is to communicate (of course dubbed in Thakur, Gabbar’s voice) the USP that Chewing Orbit regularly helps keep your teeth healthy. The visual is animated & engrossing, especially the fight sequence between Thakur & Gabbar. Shall we say, ‘An Orbit a day keeps the dakus away’!

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ASIAN PAINTS

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Its commercials still bring smiles to millions in India. But the energy has visibly faded!

Remember ‘Gattu’ – the mischievous little boy with a paint brush, mischievous and willing to paint your whole neighbourhood in bright shades? He’s been replaced by Asian Paints which has undergone a serious makeover, but their commercials have remained – just the way Gattu was – full of life and mischievous! With a firm focus on innovative offerings, employing supreme quality schemes and possessing a wide distribution network, Asian Paints has truly become a brand to reckon with! Then came along the ‘Chotte Nawab’ commercial which once again brought to surface the perky character hidden behind the brand. Ads, be it ‘Waah Sunil babu’ or ‘Har rang kuch kehta hai’, have worked their magic with the timetested formula of subtle humour juxtaposed with an innocent appeal. Speaking on its branding efforts, Abhijit Avasthi, Group Creative Director at O&M states, “While the communication ‘Har ghar kuch kehta hai’ is emotional, the work on Apex Exteriors is always product centric and humorous in the manner of ‘Wah Sunil babu badhiya hai’ and ‘Chote Nawab”. But somewhere with time, the brand hasn’t lived upto the mark when it came to communiqué, no more exuding the same energy and expectedly fell 18 spots to the 61st rank for 2007. But then again, as even Gattu would agree, we are talking of a six decade-old grizzled veteran who for sure knows how to fight (paint?)

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PARKER

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By avoiding the mass market, the brand has attained a ‘premium’ image, but with trade-offs

Imagine you come across an executive using a Parker pen. What would your first impression be? “He’s not using an ordinary pen!” Right? Sure, yes; and that’s precisely what brand Parker has attained over the past few years – and likewise, during the past year! From the flagship Duo fold-line, Sonnet, Rialto and to the more affordable Latitude series, the brand ‘Parker’ has forever held an image associated with pens that give its owner a ‘certain’ status and offer consistently high quality and value. An innovator in true sense when it comes to stationery – whether its ‘Lucky curve’ or ‘Qunik’, the first pen with a metal cap or first pen that filled itself through capillary action, et al – the brand has been at the forefront of design and usability. For years now, Parker has stuck to its strategy of targeting consumers who do not fall in the mass market category. To be honest, this strategy has paid-off to build its image, but at the same time, little could it have imagined that its strength would become its weakness a years later. During 2006, its parent company, Luxor Writing Instruments Pvt. Ltd. Announced a foray into ‘stationery retail outlets’ thus giving hope to an ushering of the brand in a bigger fashion. Currently, its competitors have flooded the mass market which ‘Parker’ consciously avoided. From a branding perspective, Parker has to aggressively magnify its efforts to ward-off competitors than just rely on Big B to do it for them... everytime!

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