Friday, January 25, 2013

Is he the ‘suitable boy’?

It would not be surprising if Vivek Paul is actually being considered for the role, but his experience may not fit the bill. Right Mr. Tata?

His name springs up whenever there is a crisis of leadership in any big ticket company, especially in the IT sector. After all, Vivek Paul was known as the poster boy of the Indian IT industry, the way he took Wipro’s international business to towering heights as CEO before he stepped down in 2005. An MBA from the University of Massachusetts, Paul brought the first wave of investment into India through GE medical equipment and a change in the global business mindset towards the country. Paul began his career with Main & Company, and later on he joined PepsiCo. He spent around 10 years in GE after 1990, and was elevated to the post of CEO of GE’s medical equipment joint venture. In 1999, this GE veteran was handpicked by Azim Premji to run Wipro’s software unit in India. He was later on elevated to the post of Vice Chairman of Wipro and CEO of its global IT, product engineering and business process service segments. He has been credited for Wipro’s growth from $150 million (when he joined in 1999) to a $1.4 billion company with 50,000 employees in 2005. A month after resigning, he become a partner at Texas Pacific Group (TPG) capital and put in his papers in December, 2008.

It is in the news that he will replace Ramadorai. In fact, his name was also being taken for the post of Satyam CEO before it went to A. S. Murthy. Compared to Ramadorai and Chandrasekharan, “Paul is more competent, but less likely to take the job actually,” avers Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst, Enderle Group. But perhaps the Tatas may go for a strong and experienced veteran who has been into the same business for a long time.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Meet the ‘Car Guy’

He is young, energetic and known by his credentials as the quintessential ‘Car Manager’; invaluable traits for Tata Motors as it moves forward

Tata Motors’ front man, Rajiv Dube is one of the most admired top tier executives in the country. From the launch of the Tata Indica V2 to the $230 billion Jaguar-Land Rover deal, the man has been in the limelight through it all. Dube is one of the top contenders for the top job at Tata Motors after Ravi Kant retires this year, and his experiences at the helm of various Tata projects speak for themselves. Currently the President (Passenger Cars), Dube has climbed the ladder remarkably fast and held responsible positions like Senior VP (Passenger Cars) and VP (Manufacturing & Commercial).

Dube has overseen the investment of close to Rs.17.4 billion in new product development. He has had a major role to play in the development and launch of the game changing Indica Vista. Even though Tata Motor’s officials denied any comment on the subject, some analysts suggest that Dube is the quintessential ‘Car Manager’ that Tata Motors was so desperately looking for. As per a stock analyst who did not wish to be named, “A number of people from the top management are eligible for the job. However, there has to be a leader who can check on the fall in sales of Indica at the earliest.” Sirish Chandran, Editor, Overdrive, suggested (without commenting on any specific candidate for the company), “These are difficult times and the convention of business models is changing... Tata needs to find a person who has an international perspective.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Barack Obama His Asian Conspiracy?

Obama’s mysterious Asian policies seem more conspiratorial than what meets the eye. Is his current silence an omen? Sutanu Guru from India, Shahid Hussain from Pakistan, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Simon Shen from China, Iran Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and more investigate expected future US policies towards Asia in this issue of B&E

B&E’s Managing Editor Sutanu Guru commentates on why Barack Hussein Obama cannot treat Asia the way his predecessors have done in the past and why the defining moment of his character would be when (and if) he allows Iraqis to vote freely in an election that could perchance even end up electing an anti-American government...

1853: It has been a few centuries since Asia has been on the decline, most of it colonised in one way or other by European nations. British engineers have constructed the first railway tracks in Bombay. But there is one Asian nation that has not been penetrated by any European power. That is the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan. Not for very long though. Commodore Mathew C. Perry of the United States Navy uses superior firepower to literally barge inside Japan. That year marks the beginning of engagement between America and Asia – a tale of hope, betrayal, destruction and renewal. One hundred and fifty one years after Perry’s ‘gunboat’ diplomacy, Barack Obama is poised to deliver hope and renewal instead of betrayal and destruction. His predecessor George Bush had brazenly followed gunboat diplomacy and wrecked American prestige and standing in Asia. But Obama has to realise that the Asia that Bush mishandled is not the Japan of 1853, Philippines of 1898, Japan of 1945, Vietnam of 1968, China of 1973 and Iran and Afghanistan of 1979. The Asian nations that the predecessors of Bush dealt with were colonies, supplicants, allies, stooges, puppets and pawns in the Great Game of Superpower rivalry.

Not any more. Sure, the Colossus still appears formidable. Sure, America has a military (open and discreet) presence in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea and Japan, to name just a few. Sure, financial convulsions in America are sending shock waves through the whole of Asia. Yet, Asia is now fundamentally different.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Pigs, hens, cows... who next?

Humans have fallen prey to deadly diseases much easier than expected. With the advancement of science, we’ve won some battles but clearly not the war; and as experience shows, we’re waiting for the next animal...

Perhaps the most lethal but less talked about weapon of mass destruction is emergence and re-emergence of deadly epidemics and endemics. History clearly proves that epidemics have wreaked more havoc in this world than wars; and not just in terms of the death count.

To begin with, who can forget the Spanish flu? Well, we all can! In fact, our guess is nobody even remembers the fact that this influenza strain brought disaster to Europe in 1918, and wiped out 5.5% of the global population – a 100 million people across the globe died at a time when the population of the world was merely 1,800 million. More than 900 million caught the flu. The flu had a far greater impact than World War I, where total deaths were estimated to be 15 million. In just 18 months if the flu’s existence, it killed about 650,000 Americans, 450,000 Russians, 375,000 Italians, 228,000 British, 500,000 Mexicans, 44,000 Canadians and many millions more in the Asian subcontinent. Considering its severity, it has been named as the most lethal recorded epidemic in human history. And a majority of civilians today have no idea about it.

Many other epidemics have occurred in history. The major plague ran during 1855-1896 worldwide, but mostly in China and India, wherein more than 12 million died. Likewise, endemics like cholera took millions of lives and reemerged on a global scale eight times: during 1817-1823, 1829-1851, 1852-1859, 1863-1879, 1881-1896, 1899-1923, 1961-1970, and from 1991 to the present. And it kills more efficiently than flu. For example, over 20,500 of 30,000 people affected died in Egypt during 1947.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Thursday, January 17, 2013

4 learning$ from the life of a vampire $quid

You could call Goldman Sachs the greatest market manipulator and cry foul at every announcement that it makes. Yet, in an unrivalled environment, the best option is to learn from the Alpha male of Wall Street – the brat of the whole lot! by gyanendra kashyap

“The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money!” This is how Goldman Sachs, a bank-holding company with a market-cap of $90.74 billion (aptly termed 'Government Sachs' – thanks to its former employees like Robert Rubin, Henry Paulson, et al, who took up high positions as Treasury Secretaries) is described by Matt Taibbi, Contributing Editor, Rolling Stone magazine; a libertine description, which Goldman Sachs' Chairman and CEO Llyod Blankfein accepts, in a statement to TIME, would stay with him forever. The vampire squid description is a metaphor that Taibbi draws from a combination of highly aggressive Sachs' scabrous characteristics, topped up now by allegations against it relating to bonus distributions.

But the truth is that Goldman Sachs lives on as an excellently performing entity in a country that embraces profit-making as its primary motive. And despite the level of commimatory resentment directed at Wall Street’s most astute, most opaque firm by social and media groups, the fact is that finally, when you push the pen on the balance sheet, the vampire squid seems to have performed better, and fantastically so, than all those financial institutions harping the concept of 'ethical' and 'socially responsible' functioning. It's time that global financial institutions started learning this brilliant art of being indecorously unethical and socially irresponsible, and of making billions out of the dungeons of recession.

How successful has Goldman Sachs actually been? Obscenely! To begin with, they repaid the $10 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme package they had received from Obama; the consecutive profit-making quarters (net earnings of $3.19 billion in Q3, 2009 and a staggering $35.65 billion during the nine-month period leading to Q3, 2009; and that too excluding the bonus pool) helping it do the same...and more. Chairman Lloyd trenchantly cleared the announcement of fat bonuses to Goldman's top performing employees (totalling a gut-wrenching $20 billion). Coming at a time when, by large, people all over the US are still fighting hard to wake-up from a financial calamity, the masses condemned the bonus payouts quite raucously, especially as Goldman Sachs did not work the last mile to provide intelligent media communication to get their message across, of why the bonuses were appropriate. Anna Greenwood, a member of Goldman Sachs' communications team in the US, although inviting B&E's queries, had not responded by the time we went to print.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Lack of proper management to handle the aftermath

What is more painful than the disasters that destroy everything is the lack of proper management to handle the aftermath. What can bring hope is in itself hopeless and raises real alarm bells, say ratan lal bhagat & niharika patra

The excessive misusage of natural resources and the mounting burden that have destroyed the ecological balance have made natural calamities inevitable. But timely preparedness and preventive approach for both natural and man made disasters can definitely mitigate the damage to manageable limits.

Not that India does not have a system. The successive governments and policy makers did formulate many bodies to look after disaster management. From the enactment of Disaster Management Act, 2005 to setting up the National Disaster Management Authority to coming up with the National Institutes of Disaster Management (NIDM) along with various states’ Disaster Management Cells. But these so called saviours at the time of distress have proven to be more of paper puppets than anything else. Whether it was the Bengal famine, Orissa Super Cyclone, Latur earthquake, Bhopal gas tragedy, Andhra cyclone, Bhuj earthquake, tsunami or the recurring floods in Bihar (Koshi in 2008), terrorists attacks in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or the most recent spread of the epidemic swine flu virus and the current havoc causing floods down south, India has always been found wanting and under-prepared. The quality of Indian infrastructure has also proved to be a big hurdle. The loss of NH-7 to flood waters is a shame and the same can happen again unless the quality of assets in India improves.

“We are prepared to tackle any situation but when there is a huge deviation from the expected occurrence all the planning goes for a toss. For example the floods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka had deviated more than 600% thus one can do very little in such disasters,” defends Dr. Santosh Kumar, Professor at NIDM. The fact also remains that while the media has shown disaster in a crude manner, what has occured post any such kind of unsuspected happenings have never made headlines but have been poorly and shabbily covered, just for the sake of doing so.
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tango on to good health!

If you thought tango is only about passion, oomph and attitude then think again!

“Have feet, will dance” is choreographer and dance educationist Shiamak Davar’s mantra as he asserts that it doesn’t matter if you have two left feet, you can still dance! Well, now doctors will only second that in order to heal diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, various phobias, depression and marital breakdowns! Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine, have reported that balance of patients suffering Parkinson’s improved considerably when they took tango lessons.

Tango was a dance form that originated in the lower class districts of Buenos Aires, sprouting from the black African cultures, as slaves from Africa were brought into Argentina. Tango then was associated with a meeting place where working as well as freed slaves came together to dance. Later in the 19th century, people from poor backgrounds who had left their families and moved to Argentina in order to earn more, would usually do tango. In fact, the passion and sexual overtones exhibited in tango today is a spin-off of the moves that suggested the separation of the slaves from their partners.

For a long time, tango was looked down upon and considered ‘vulgar and distasteful’ due to its long lost connection with poor dance venues, bars and brothels. Well, if the same notions were to be held true today, many diseases would have remained uncured. Stina Almroth, who has been teaching Argentine Tango for many years, or rather is “a tango dancer looking for other people to dance with,” says that “tango requires you to focus and concentrate, and so you develop that ability. It also helps you to balance; you tend to multi-task and do more than one thing at the same time.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Are the killing fields back?

As the Blue Bull goes on the rampage in the fields of Uttar Pradesh, the state government wants a return to the days of bounty hunting

At a time when things couldn’t get any worse for wildlife – what with species disappearing at an alarming rate, and others being forced to encroach on human lands thanks to shrinking forest covers – two incidents in two very different parts of the world only confirm our worst fear – that when the choice is between man and nature, it’s the former that stays and latter has to make way.

In the first case and in a move that has made wildlife lovers and animal rights activists in India see red, the Uttar Pradesh government has urged the Central government to allow for the unrestrained hunting of what is Asia’s largest antelope, the blue bull. It is being reported that ‘Nilgai,’ as the animal is locally known, is responsible for the loss of most of the state’s total pulse output.

Bizarre as it (the suggestion of shooting down the animal on sight) may seem, the state’s reason might not be completely unfounded though. Considering that our country imports around 2-3 million tonnes of pulses each year to fill up the deficit in demand, it is a Catch-22 situation for authorities when the over three lakh Nilgai population destroys around 60-70% of the pulse crop in the state. Besides, with 1.6 million tonnes of annual pulse output, UP’s share is a substantial 10% in the national output.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Three strikes for the Indian Fat Cats

In recent weeks, India Inc. has witnessed two resounding calls for 'strikes'. The first, the stillborn one, was masterminded and spearheaded by Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal. Their plan was to stop all flights by private airlines on August 18 to "highlight their demands". The second one is on even as this magazine goes for printing. This one is by employees of public sector banks who are demanding better salaries and perks. Being highly patriotic, the union leaders of the Bank strike have deemed that ATM machines will function during the two day strike. Similarly, a late upsurge of patriotism in the hearts of Mallya and Goyal made them cancel (Or defer?) their planned strike to 'respect public sentiments'. Of course, both the Mallya-Goyal duo and the bank union leaders insist that they are victims. But I would rather call them the fat cat aristocracy of India Inc. who are greedy, myopic and brazenly arrogant in their quests to protect their turfs and vested interests. And I think it is time the mainstream media shamed them into admitting as much; by persistently highlighting their willingness to blackmail.

Nobody asked Mr. Mallya to personally select air hostesses or buy out Air Deccan or offer 'gourmet' cuisine on full service flights to economy class passengers. Nobody asked Mr. Goyal to blithely ignore the danger posed by low cost airlines or gamble by buying out Sahara in an expensive and messy deal. And now that competition is beginning to hurt them; they are clamouring for government bailouts. The fact is, almost all their claims are specious. The charges imposed by new airports are paid by passengers; the high costs of fuel are paid by passengers. So why are they cribbing? Imagine a situation where manufacturers of TV sets, soaps and shampoos start demanding government bail outs when input costs rise while smarter and cheaper rivals eat into their market shares and margins. Have you ever heard small entrepreneurs – responsible for almost all the growth in jobs in India – making similar demands? 



Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)
 

Goods and Services Tax is the latest term being thrown at us in the long list of tax reforms that the government has planned.

for people like us

In the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, Saint Joseph says, “But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.” While the Pharaohs have given way to the Government (that’s easy), the ‘one-fifth’ has become a ‘one-third’ (almost)! But interestingly, what St. Joseph says is equally relevant in the context of indirect taxes as well – paying a part of the produced goods to the governing authority in one’s state.

Today, the stage is being set in India for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to be launched from the next financial year; positioned as a tax reform to make life easier for consumers as well as producers. More importantly, it is supposed to enable the government to play its Big Brother role much more effectively, by ensuring that tax theft is minimised. But is it really going to benefit Indians like it promises to?

The introduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime in the country in 2005 was cited as a watershed moment in modern India’s post liberalisation history by legions of experts and it has indeed paid dividends. The combined Central and State tax revenues registered a leap in the very next financial year post VAT introduction, and have followed the new trajectory ever since. The tax to GDP ratio, a critical indicator of the fiscal health, has also shown similar jumps over the last 3 years over earlier periods. Now, with the upper echelons of the government setting the ball rolling for the introduction of GST, the frenzy on its far reaching consequences in transforming India’s economy has reached fever pitch. But a reality check reveals a rather crooked picture.

As declared in the Budget speech this year by the Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, the GST will be imposed as a dual tax by the Centre as well as the states and it will do away with the Central Sales Tax (CST). At the same time, it brings services also into the ambit of the states’ taxation under State GST. This makes it imperative that the ‘timing’ and ‘place’ of supply of goods and services must be recorded and monitored constantly, especially in the case of services.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail

IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program) 

 

Thursday, January 10, 2013

“We’ve maintained steadiness”

B&E: McDonald’s has had a significantly better run as compared to most multinational QSRs in the India What have been your main recipes for success in the Indian market?

AJ:
The foundation of McDonald’s is Quality, Service, Cleanliness & Value, that means we focus on providing our customers with high quality products, served quickly with a smile, in a clean and pleasant environment and at affordable prices. With a brand philosophy of ‘Forever Young,’ McDonald’s India has always modified its strategy to cater to the contemporary market requirements. We have always worked towards establishing an emotional connect with the consumers. We have also strived to provide convenience to our customers by evolving business models like McDonald’s Delivery and Drive Thru.

B&E: When it comes to retail penetration, McDonald’s is still lacking behind in terms of number of stores set up in India. Don’t you feel that you could be seriously undermining your potential as compared to competition?

AJ:
We don’t believe in opening new stores or going to a new city, unless our research and supply chain support us to take such an initiative.

B&E: How do you think easy on the pocket and Indianising the menu has helped McDonald’s?

AJ:
McDonald’s success worldwide can be definitely attributed to the “Think Global, Act Local and Sell like a Retailer” philosophy. McDonald’s has customised its pricing and menu in India and this has yielded great returns for the brand in India.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

“Our prices are still low...”

B&E: Can you reveal to us, the initial ground work that was done by the company before entering the Indian market?

VB:
The initial five-six years went into understanding the market and in setting up an adequate cold storage system. Setting up this extensive cold chain distribution system has involved the transfer of state-of-the-art food processing technology by McDonald’s and its international suppliers to pioneering Indian entrepreneurs, who are today an integral part of the cold chain.

B&E: Was it difficult to popularise the concept of QSR in the land of samosa eaters?

VB:
From the very beginning, unlike the other players, we Indianised our menu and always kept its pricing easy on the pocket of Indians, (a strategy) which I term as branded affordability.

B&E: Who were your biggest competitors when you commenced operations? Were you worried about the other global brands that were entering the country then?

VB:
Not really (on the question of whether other global QSRs were competitors), rather the local branded and unbranded players were our key competitors. Even the roadside aaloo-tikki vendor was our competitor.

B&E: Coming back to the present, where players like Burger King are gearing up for India and Indian entrepreneurs are planning to create Indian QSR brands, do you think that it’s a potential threat for you?

VB:
No, because we are very popular among the Indian consumers and we also offer a wide range of products. And at a time when most of the other players have increased their prices, we have still been able to keep our prices comparatively low. And when it comes to delivery, we started McDelivery way back in 2004 and we have always customised it depending on the place where delivery is needed.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Jet’s brand journey

Despite holding pole position in the Indian aviation industry, Jet Airways was known for its apathy towards branding and marketing. 4Ps B&M does a snapshot seat-of-the-pants recap of Jet’s brand journey and the new branding move by Goyal to combine low cost carrier operations under JetKonnect

To repair the damage caused to its brand, the airline, for the first time in more than a decade of operations, came out with a television advertisement campaign to lure premium fliers. The campaign featured Bollywood hearthrob Shahrukh Khan drooling over the luxuries offered by the airline’s first class and premium class cabins. By a strange logic, the airline, long after it discontinued the campaign for its premium class customers, has inexplicably kept itself away from any fresh, new campaigns. Either its 2009 campaign did not accrue enough customers or the airline simply does not believe in advertising. But since then it has not come out with any new television ad campaign.

What appears even more paradoxical is that the airline has actually pared down its communications spend by 21.3% from Rs 51.2 crore in 2010 to Rs 40.25 crore in FY2011. All the while, new entrants such as IndiGo and SpiceJet laid out big budgets for marketing and advertising spends. While SpiceJet doubled its ad spend from 2% of its turnover to 5% in 2009, IndiGo too rolled out its first TV commercial showcasing its smooth operations and attentive service, despite being a low-cost carrier. Considering that 70% of the Indian aviation industry belongs to the low cost carriers, to compete with the established market players, Jet airways needs to get serious about its marketing plans and promotional activities.

Advertising may not come cheap but it does help to boost brand value and helps to connect more strongly with customers. A case in point is the Richard Branson promoted Virgin Atlantic Airlines. In 2009, it suffered its worst year ever, financially reporting a pre-tax loss of 158 million pounds. However, instead of cutting its ad spends, the airline nearly doubled its media expenditure from 6 million pounds to 10 million pounds in a bid to capture newer markets as well as to regain its lost sheen in the existing markets. At the end of the financial year 2010-11, the carrier had returned to black, generating a profit of 18.5 million pounds before taxes. Similarly, British Airlines too spends big bucks on advertising and is splurging to the tune of 40 million pounds to sponsor London Olympics 2012. Over and above this, the airline plans to unleash an advertising blitz to promote its brand before and during the international games.

The effect of not having a focused advertising campaign is obvious in the way the market share of Jet Airways tumbled to 25.4% in 2009 (post the Air Sahara acquisition) from 31.2% in 2006, which after taking Air Sahara’s share into account, adds up to 40% of the market. While the decline inadvertently takes into account the influx of new players in the market, Jet’s complete inability to ward off competition caused the weakening of its brand value and nearly cost the airline its market leadership position. Low-cost airline IndiGo, in the same time span, increased its share ten-fold from 1.3% to 13.9%, while SpiceJet grew from 6.9% to 12.4%. In contrast, Jet suffered a cumulative loss of around Rs.11,000 crore between 2007 and 2009 dealing a direct blow to its brand value. It’s a no-brainer clearly that the fall in operating margins of an airline will definitely lead to an erosion of its brand value over time.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Have you ‘written’ on a brand lately?

The paper industry in India has been late to the party when it comes to creating strong brands, but they can’t afford to stay laggards in this domain anymore

Think about it the next time you take a few printouts. Have you ever spared a moment to contemplate the quality of the paper being used? Or do you have a vague idea of the brand? Do you see any unique differentiation in the quality over the years? For instance, does it jam less or do the prints appear brighter? Or is the paper environment friendly? We aren’t really anticipating any ayes here. In fact, if we look at common perception, we would generally conclude that there is hardly much to differentiate between different paper manufacturers. Also, with digital going mainstream at a fairly brisk pace, does branding of paper really matter?

It certainly does. Firstly, India makes for a unique case study, since even analog print has a long way to go in the country yet. Going by the 2011 projections of Indian Paper Manufacturers Association, demand for paper in India is going to almost double by 2020 to reach to 20 million tonnes annually from the present levels of around 11.7 million tonnes per year despite growing influence of digital and this provides humongous amount of opportunities in front of marketers. Also, the competition in this space means that individual players as well as the Indian paper industry as a whole need to do serious introspection on this front.

Branding in this industry, however, gained traction only in the late 1990s. Entry barriers were high before that, with import duties at around 110%. But as the environment eased, a flurry of domestic and global manufacturers entered, including ITC in 2002. With the existing clutter in the space, branding has become more of a necessity rather than a luxury. According to Shrinivas Ayyar, Brand Strategist, RBC Worldwide, “Initially, Indian paper manufacturers were trying to educate the customer as well as the end consumer about the need for a trustworthy name. Now when they have managed to establish their ground, the second wave of marketing will be about positioning themselves as superior and different from others.” Also, early attempts in branding were focused on increasing penetration in B2B markets and the end consumer was nowhere on the radar. But today, the scenario is different and some genuine attempts at branding are being made at the individual level.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Friday, January 4, 2013

GORDON BROWN: BRITAIN

Labour Party is in trouble and so is Brown, but his resignation will not make matters any better

Gordon Brown is fighting on all fronts to save his job after his colleagues deserted him, the Opposition pounded him and some of his own trusted men mounted pressure on him to step down and hand over reins to more ‘capable’ leaders, like Alan Johnson, so that the party could be resuscitated. He was quick to reshuffle his cabinet after three senior cabinet ministers, including Home secretary Jacqui Smith and Communities Secretary Hazel Blears, put in their papers in three days. He came under intense pressure after Works and Pensions Secretary James Purnell resigned. In his resignation letter sent to national dailies, he wrote, “I now believe your continued leadership makes a Conservative victory more, not less likely.” This led to Conservative leader David Cameron – the PM-in-waiting if Labour fails to stop the slide – renewing his call for snap polls. So will Labour’s fortunes change if Brown steps down? Sceptics feel that it won’t make much of a difference. London-based political commentator K. Ganapathi Reddy told B&E, “Even if Labour dumps Gordon Brown, it’s unlikely that the party can beat the Conservative who are rapidly gathering strength among the voters. Whoever replaces Brown; he or she cannot match David Cameron’s charisma.” It’s difficult to write off Brown and his party as of now. One year is a long time in politics. So Brown may not really need to step down, unless he feels it necessary to redeem himself in front of his own partymen and call the bluff of his critics.
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPMMalay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.