So, are you covered?

Exclusive In chat with Society Magazine - Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri

producers-multiplex owners’ spat, the swine flu alert, fear of terrorism – the uncertainties operating in the market dynamics of Bollywood has given way to the relatively unknown norm of applying for ‘film distribution insurance’. Had it not been for these uncertainities and the corresponding losses arising out of them (the estimated losses for Kaminey and Life Partner is Rs.7 crore), distribution insurance would have continued to be the terrain less traversed. Distribution insurance starts a week before the release of a film and is effective up to 60 days thereafter, covering losses suffered by the producer when the release of the film is stalled due to any reason. What’s Your Raashee, for instance, took a distribution insurance cover of Rs.20 crore. Given the increase in losses due to external negativities and the surge in interest in the new domain by other public and private sector entities (United India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, National India, New India Assurance and Bajaj Allianz), it seems that distribution insurance is becoming the latest fad. The brewing competition is only helping the premium rates to come down. However, rather than merely coming up with lower premium rates, insurers should opt for competitive rates, better estimation, unparalleled levels of service and understanding the peculiarities of the business. As mutually dependent industries, film distribution insurance must not merely remain as a fad.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!
IIPM exposes Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam
IIPM - We will change your outlook : Career 360 and Mahesh Peri scam is exposed

IIPM Related Links
IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter

IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year

while it is passionately pushing ahead the ‘brand’ envelope, does it stand the danger of falling off the ledge? By Steven Philip Warner

Fiction mirrors many truths in a myriad of fashions that meet the eye, one of which is found in the field of the healthcare business. A staunch believer in this legitimate fact is Sudarshan Mazumdar, Director of Marketing & CMO, Fortis Healthcare Group, who boldly puts it as, “Healthcare is just like any other form of service. The problem is that the medical community in the past has not been used to considering healthcare marketing, and while they want to sell themselves, they don’t admit that they want to be marketed! All they do is comment upon what is ethical, and what is not… Then there are strict guidelines about what you can talk about and what you can’t talk!” Indeed, and while many lament over the truth that 80% of India still survives on earnings below $2 a day (source: UNDP), there is a lot to be had from the ‘rich’ few and another 300 million strong middle-class lot. Today, hospital chains in the country have easily established themselves superior to many of their counterparts in the West, and while many still give out the clichéd talk about ‘We have the best doctors in town’, the Fortis-Escorts combine are proving what Indian hospitals have to undertake if they are to take advantage of the Indian healthcare industry, which is scheduled to touch $75 billion by 2012 and a double $150 billion by 2017 (Report titled ‘Indian Healthcare Trends 2008’, Technopak Advisors) – market yourself fearlessly!

Having realised the massive earnings potential from the sector, Fortis has made remarkable strides in the past four and half years in the area of selling itself to the market as Mazumdar confesses, “I’ve been with Fortis since April 2004, and the company is very different today than what it was.” Then, except in Punjab, the brand was completely unknown as Mazumdar puts it as, “In five years, we’ve grown dramatically both as a company and as a brand. Doctors are important, but the hospital brand is more important than an individual doctor and that is the principal guideline that we have followed all along.” As a company, Fortis has grown from two to 39 hospitals (including the Wockhardt assets that it acquired during the second half of August), which Mazumdar says will take “until December 2009, by the time the acquisition is formally made complete and Fortis moves in.” That means a growth of 1,900% in terms of presence across the country in just half-a-decade.

Then comes the question – what about the Fortis brand? When put in a sentence, branding campaigns as recent as pre-2008 were literally unknown for the 9,000-strong employees at Fortis. But since last year, there have been aggressive marketing attempts from the group; the most recent of those being the ‘Human Touch’ campaign that was launched in August 2009. Talking about the essence behind the recent campaign, Mazumdar claims, “It is very different. It is based on market research, training of personnel and about keeping the patients first. At the end of the day, it’s all about patient care. The earlier model of hospital designs was that it was centered around the doctors and the patients would be moving. We have minimised the movement of the patients, but we don’t mind the doctors moving…”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Outlook Magazine's B School Ranking Scam Exposed
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM Related Links
IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter

IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)

Discounts are passé!

IIPM 3-year full-time Integrated (MBA BBA) Programme

Then there are others in the business, thinking out of the tool box. Skoda for that matter is thinking along the lines of 360-degree media campaigns with the launch of its new Laura and Superb models. Just like BMW, it has little faith in the power of discount pricing as Ashutosh Dixit, GM-Sales & Network Development, Skoda Auto India avers, “We have a discount campaign running for the Fabia but apart from that, there are no cash discounts that the company is offering. Rather, we will be coming up with a new media campaign for Laura.

Skoda is banking on the Laura and the Superb to generate the maximum sales as we are expecting a 20-25% jump in sales during the festival period as compared to last year...” There is the number one two-wheeler manufacturer in the country – Hero Honda – which is also charting similar routes. After the launch of the much-awaited Karizma ZMR, the company is now delving over storming the marketplace with an aggressive marketing campaign. The aim: break the six-lakh-unit-sales-in-a-month benchmark, which it set during the festive season last year.

Even FIAT, which made a perfect comeback into the Indian market with the launch of the elegant Linea, seems to be in no mood to offer any freebies to the consumer. “We will be launching a brand new campaign for the Linea. We expect the sales to jump by a decent 8-10% in the festive season period,” asserts Ravi Bhatia, VP-Commercial, FIAT India. Then comes a surprise from an Indian firm, which was largely born in the country. Despite having understood the price-sensitiveness of customers, especially in the segments in which it operates, Maruti Suzuki is also strangely in no mood to give price concessions this season... “There are no special discounts this festive season. Rather we will focus on new launches, along with very aggressive marketing to generate higher sales during the festive period,” opined a senior company official.

However, there are still many who believe in Marshall’s Law of demand. One such name is Yamaha, which besides a few new launches, has announced a scratch card scheme for the festive season, wherein the company is “giving a chance to the consumer to gamble a bit, as during the festival period, people like to gamble a lot. We expect a healthy growth in this period,” opines Pankaj Dubey, National Business Head, Yamaha Motor India. Yes, there are also companies like GM and Hyundai, who are offering a host of discounts to lure Indian consumers, but by offering discounts on products like (Chevrolet) Spark and (Hyundai) i10, the companies are only slicing their already wafer-thin margins.

Everyone is hopeful that this festive season will prove better, more so Wilfried Aulbur, CEO, Mercedes Benz India, who chuckles when he says, “Yes, only if there isn’t any Lehman repeating history this time. And I pray there isn’t any this time.” Aulbur, you have all us second that!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

The Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
For Exclusive Footage by Sunday Indian Click Here

Business Standard Exposes the Outlook Magazine Money Editor
Don't trust the Indian Media!

IIPM ISBE Programmes
Follow Arindam Chaudhuri on Twitter
IIPM B School on Twitter
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You

IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM 2-year full time Programme (leading to the award of the MBA degree from IMI)
B-schools expect higher rate of campus placements this year
IIPM B School : King Khan, Bollywood Badshah and Quiz Wiz — that’s Shah Rukh Khan for you