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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.

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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.

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“Competition is not restricted to urban markets alone...”

4Ps B&M: Which is CK’s strongest product category?
RV: Hair wash is our strongest business in terms of current size. We’ve four brands – Chik, Nyle, Meera and Karthika and together they constitute 25% (in volume) of the Indian shampoo market.

4Ps B&M: What about distribution strength?
RV: CK has a direct coverage of around 5,50,000 outlets and our brands have a presence in about three million outlets. Our focus on distribution at present is to beef up our presence in markets with population in excess of 5,00,000. Here, we’re intensifying the distribution by as much as 50% to cover more outlets to make our brands available to larger number of people to get maximum mileage for our marketing investments.

4Ps B&M: How do you tackle competition against cash-rich FMCG players in the urban market?
RV: Competition from other FMCG players is not restricted to urban markets alone but exists in rural markets as well and strategies to take on competition are not sensitive to urban versus rural. The essentials of the strategy to take on any competition are understanding the needs of consumers in terms of product propositions, developing products which perform better than your competitors and communicate these effectively and above all building relationships with consumers over time so that they remain excited.

4Ps B&M: Can you describe the clear positioning of ChiK Satin Shampoo?
RV: The objective of Chik Satin brand is to focus on the bottle consumer whose shampoo needs are very different from that of existing Chik consumers. To this end, the launch of Chik Satin came with a completely new marketing mix – new formulation with higher conditioning levels, new packaging looking premium to the existing portfolio, advertising focussing on the new Indian women looking for confidence to take on the world (with a brand line of Khule Baal, Khuli Duniya) and focus on the metro and urban markets in terms of distribution. We are aiming to develop newer consumer segments and improve brand imagery for reassuring existing users.

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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.
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“Our focus is to grow in India”

Ramesh Ramanathan,

MD, MHRIL

4Ps B&M: How has your company fared in the last year?
RR: We were able to turnaround quickly despite the recession. As a company we focus on domestic tourism where by and large the lifestyles of people have changed. We did cut on our costs last year, but at the same time built our infrastructure in terms of sales and went for a lot of Below the line (BTL)activities. Our income grew at a CAGR of 43%.

4Ps B&M: Did you alter your strategy to counter slowdown?
RR: Our strategy to go forward has been three fold. The first being to roll out our services in tier II and Tier III cities to record a pan India presence. Secondly we attempted to be present across age and income groups and thirdly we have set up our own hospitality school so that we have our own trained manpower.

4Ps B&M: What are your future plans?
RR: We want people to relate holidays with Club Mahindra and thus our focus is to grow in India. Currently we are in the process of buying lands and building resorts. We are also looking into related services like a web based travel agency. We have also introduced the concept of Home stays, which gives foreign tourists a feel of true India.

Neha Saraiya.

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.
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You
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Keep it short and sweet! Believe it or not, it works for the insurers.

Instead of blowing customers’ brains out with a plethora of financial functions, one can do the trick with a sweet emotional one liner. At least Bajaj Allianz has done just that says Gyanendra k. Kashyap

A boy jumping into a river from atop a rock, a woman riding a bike with a carefree attitude, a girl with a fractured leg on a wheelchair and an old man sky-gliding; well, these are the last things that you can probably think of while describing a financial product. But then someone, somewhere has found a reason to use emotional branding even when it comes to financial products. And that someone is Bajaj Allianz life insurance, that has taken a good shot at fame, all with the same idea and has only emphasized more on emotional communications based on real life situations. “Ye kis pyari hifaazat mein ho, befikri ki halat hai…” very subtly portrays the twin concept of Hifaazat (protection) and Jiyo Befikar (live carefree). The deliberate shift from functional communication to emotional communication speaks volume about the insurer’s belief in staying by the consumers’ side at every stage of his/her life. It is no wonder that 15 million customers across age groups, geographies and income classes have placed their trust with them. Banking on that trust the insurer is now set to strengthen its retail business. In an exclusive interaction with 4Ps B&M, Akshay Mehrotra, Head - Marketing, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, reveals that the insurer is now eyeing at increasing penetration of life insurance in the country.

4Ps B&M: Ever since its inception Bajaj Allianz has shown impressive performance. Where do you see it a few years down the line?
AM: Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has significantly improved its performance. In fact if one traverses its journey since its inception in 2001, it has been a roller-coaster ride. For three years since inception, Bajaj Allianz was ranked no.7 among all the private insurers. In 2005 it emerged as no. 2 and was no. 1 for a brief period. We feel that these rankings are purely ego-boosters for our sales force. In the FY 08-09, inspite of the recessionary pressures, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance was the only private life insurer to generate profits of Rs.45 crore. As a prudent insurer, Bajaj Allianz believes in managing growth with profitability.

4Ps B&M: How do you plan to further strengthen your retail business?
AM: Bajaj Allianz has a vast network of over 1100 offices spread across the country. The field force is over 2.5 lakh agents, bancassurance partners, retail outlets and other channels to strengthen our retail business. Bajaj Allianz is now on a consolidation mode to effectively use these channels and network to increase penetration of life insurance in the country. In the coming months we would further beef-up our distribution network to increase our penetration.

4Ps B&M: Have you given enough importance to the marketing mix?
AM: Bajaj Allianz is a mass insurance brand, our communication strategy and marketing mix needs to be very broad based. We still need to be heavy on TV and radio.

4Ps B&M: How different is insurance selling in rural areas? Does brand play a role while convincing the rural customers?
AM: Insurance is always sold and seldom bought. This is true irrespective of whether it is urban or rural consumer. The challenge in insurance selling in rural areas is the awareness level. When we started our expansion model, we increased our presence in tier 2 and tier 3 towns so that we can have the first mover advantage in that area. This has worked well and almost 40% of our sales comes from these areas. When it comes to an intangible product like life insurance, trust plays an important role in convincing a customer, the brand is secondary. But when the market is crowded with over 20 players, strong and powerful brand does invoke trust and friendliness. But finally it is the convincing power of the field force that makes customers buy insurance products.

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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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Epson Stylus CX5500

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Technical Specification

Excellent functionalities of 4-in-1: Print, Scan, Fax & Copy.
PRICE: Rs.5.5 lakh without taxes
WARRANTY: 3 months or 50,000 copies (whichever is earlier)

The printer is undoubtedly one of the best bets as it is the only entry AIO (printer-scanner-copier) offering 4 individual ink cartridges with a speed of 5760 DPI resolution (highest amongst other entry level models). “Its Dura-Brite Ink technology ensures water, fade and smudge resistant Prints. Moreover, Epson uses the Micro-Piezo Print technology which takes full control of the size, shape and placement of ultra fine Super Micro Dots and which are the important parts of any product lying the category,” asserts Rahul Addy, spokesperson, Epson. Its Low ink Cartridge is cheaper than others and starts from as low as Rs.250 each. The product has other important features like CCD technology, which helps it for 3-D scanning. The printer is small, portable, unlike big printers which are very difficult to carry, and is quite easy to move from one place to another.

Marketers’ delight: A high-precision letter edging on colour makes its high quality speak loud.

Tester’s note: Pros – Fast printing speed and excellent image printing. Overall looks, performance, speed and priced under 5K. Definitely a buy for those who have a limited budget yet want a high performing printer.

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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Fujitsu Lifebook LifeBook U1010 (3.5G)

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Technical Specification
Screen size: 5.6 inch; RAM: 1 GB; Operating Systems: Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium; Processor: Intel A110 Ultra Mobile CPU (800MHz, 512k L2 Cache, 400MHz FSB)

PRICE: Rs.1,15,884
WARRANTY: 1 year

The first thing that you notice about the Fujitsu LifeBook U1010 is of course its size. Spread over just 5.6 inch of screen space, it’s closer to a PDA than a standard notebook. With a WideScreen LCD (1024*600 resolution), a passive touch panel, integrated Intel graphics, Realtek 100Base Ethernet, integrated web cam and a 56 key keyboard (with fingerprint reader), the notebook packs quite a punch. And yes,it weighs only 630 gm. But a RAM of just 1 GB can’t ensure a speedy performance.

Marketers’ delight: The LifeBook U1010 is compact and featherweight. Size is the USP; not performance.

Tester’s note: Pros – Ultra-portable. Good video performance. Reasonable price. Dual memory slot Cons – Slow performer. Mediocre battery life.

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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Hopes & dreams, trapped under the rub(b)le

IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA

External factors dealt the final blow. Short-term external debt of commercial banks grew to $19 billion and spelled doom for the financial system of the country. Artificially supported ruble led to the warp of prices on export and import – competitiveness of Russian goods became low, it became inefficient to produce goods domestically. As a result, for example, 60% of food items were imported. The country had a clear oligopolistic socio-economic model with 10% of domestic companies producing 70% of goods. Consumption level was high and there was no saving. Everything which was produced was “eaten away”. Canceling export duties instead of excises led to inflating of energy prices, which also decreased competitiveness of domestically produced goods. Further, oil prices fell, which decreased budget revenues. Capital investment into the economy fell sharply too.

Moreover, published statistical data was often misleading. Informational war of oligarchs versus new reformers who came to power led to the fall of confidence in markets, among banks and foreign investors. Then the Asian crisis came to Russia and the country saw a massive sell-off of assets. There was an intensive capital outflow from the country. CBR’s interventions did not have an effect. Yields on GKOs exceeded 100%, money market rates overnight reached 170% and the stock market crashed. Moreover, the anti-crisis program was of no help and IMF didn’t agree to give the second rescue money tranche. Result – default.

But, then it was long back. Whether Russian economy has became sturdier or not is the real question now. Yes, certainly, it has. Currently Russia faces favourable external economic conjuncture (with oil prices above $110/bbl) and continues to accumulate economic and political weight in the world.

Russia’s annual GDP growth amounted to 8.1% y-o-y in 2007 while the nominal figure stood at $1.39 trillion. Unemployment rate amounted to 6.6% in February with 5 million people from the labour force currently unemployed. Disposable income of the population grew by 10.6% y-o-y in February 2008. Russia’s industrial production demonstrated good dynamics in February with 7.5% y-o-y growth figure. Despite all talks about poor democracy of elections, political risks were diminished with the end of the presidential elections campaign. The country will keep the economic course unchanged, which creates a sustainable background for healthy investment climate. Moreover, it retains positive ratings from leading rating agencies: Moody’s (Baa2), S&P (BBB+), Fitch (BBB+) with Moody’s further going to increase Russian rating soon.

Small number of emerging market economies can boast of such high results, which Russia achieved in recent years. Russian banking sector is also strong and shows good growth dynamics despite the fact that it was affected by global financial crisis triggered by the meltdown of the US housing market and sophisticated structured investment products. Gold and forex reserves of more than $500 billion, the Reserve Fund, the National Welfare Fund and higher than expected budget surplus lend confidence with respect to the strong support of the economy.

However, there are a lot of problems which the government is planning to solve: higher than expected inflation and increase in real disposable income of the population are some of them. Possible difficulties with payouts of corporate and banking foreign debt, which have been heavily discussed recently are exaggerated. Debt burden is moderate and is manageable. The situation on money market is also much better than expected before. The Russian economy, indeed has come a long way since 1998.

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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GHULAM NOON - Curry king of london

IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA

GHULAM NOON
Curry king of london

Realms and realms of paper have been written on the success stories of Non-Resident Indians like L. N. Mittal, Sant Singh Chatwal et al. One person who sits pretty on this A-list of NRIs is Ghulam Noon, a UK based businessman who took age-old Indian culinary delights from an Indian woman’s kitchen to become one of the biggest suppliers of Indian food – frozen, chilled and packaged – internationally. His company, Noon Products produces more than 10,000 dishes for the highly sophisticated packaged food industry of London.

From a remote village of Rajasthan, to filling the shelves of supermarket stores with Indian cuisine, Noon has walked quite a distance. Witnessing the surge in Indian restaurants in London, gave him the idea for this novel concept. Instantly his venture was a runaway success with the Indian fraternity living in London. Noon Products was later taken over by Irish food conglomerate Kerry Group.

In March 2006, after loaning £250,000 to the Labour Party of UK, Noon became a key person to exercise his clout on the British politics. With such dynamism, Noon has come to symbolise the modern and much more liberated section of the Indian society.

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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RANA KAPOOR - Knowledge driver

IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA

RANA KAPOOR
Knowledge driver
I have been extremely fortunate to have known Rana Kapoor, Founder/MD & CEO, YES BANK since the past 19 years. Rana Kapoor has completed 28 years in the banking industry, and he still believes in an important philosophy injected by his late father who believed that “the harder you work, the luckier you get.” Since his very early days in banking, he always nurtured a dream – that of building a world class knowledge-driven private Indian banks catering to a fast emerging India.

Despite several challenges faced in these past years, he successfully conceived the idea of YES BANK, a Bank that would create a strong platform for professional entrepreneurship, set the highest standards for corporate governance, professional integrity and transparency, set higher benchmarks in banking services, and create and share value with all stakeholders. As a professional entrepreneur, he has focussed on establishing a high quality, technology driven, state-of-the-art private Indian Bank catering to “Future Industries of India”, since mid-2003. Under his leadership, YES BANK is steadily evolving as the finest quality bank in India with exemplary business & financial outcome.

Kapoor envisages the bank in the role of a ‘money doctor’ and has a diagnostic approach to banking. He has also spear-headed various knowledge leadership and developmental initiatives in emerging sectors like the Food & Agri-business sector as well. He envisages India taking centre stage in the 21st century as the Global Knowledge-based economy, driven by fast-paced, growth focused corporates and exemplary entrepreneurship, and therefore believes in a knowledge driven approach focusing on the key growth sectors of the Indian economy.

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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What about my loan

IIPM - Admission Procedure

The distress of the farmers can be understood through another set of statistics. “About 85% of outstanding debt of cultivator households from institutional agencies was in the interest range of 12 to 20% per annum. On the other hand, 36% of cultivator households’ outstanding debt from non-institutional agencies was at the interest rate of 20 to 25% and another 38% of outstanding debt at 30% and above. This shows the exploitative nature of non-institutional credit market,” stated the Radhakrishna Committee report.

Clearly, the Chidambaram’s loan mela will not help those it is meant for. Experts contend that the Finance Minister could have easily opted for other, more realistic, solutions to help the Indian farmer. Joshi thinks that the existing defaulters should have been made “eligible for another loan with a condition that previous ones will be waived off in case the first few installments of the new loan are paid back in time.” He adds that the government should have focused at long-term solutions to “augment farm incomes and empower farmers so that they are able to repay their loans.” Even Sharma admits that “a new mechanism has to be worked out to bail out farmers who have taken credit from the moneylenders, and crack down on a new breed of lenders, who charge exorbitant interest in the name of micro-finance. The loan waiver package does not address the real causes of growing indebtedness. It has to be accompanied with a road map that ensures that farmers do not pile up more debt in the near future. Or else, future governments will have to go in for yet another loan waiver.”

Others like S.L. Shetty, Director, EPW Research Foundation, believe that such loan melas “create a psychology amongst all classes of indebted farmers (even those who were willing to repay) to not repay their loans in future.” And the final word comes from Amir Ulah Khan, Director, India Development Foundation, who says that “the key to the success of the loan waiver (even in the form that Chidambaram expects) will be in the implementation of the scheme.” But knowing the delivery systems in the case of other welfare schemes in India, we know who will enjoy this Maha-Mela.

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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HCL’s ‘nano’ ambitions

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

The company launches the smallest and the cheapest laptop

While India is still wondering about the practicality of Tata’s Nano project, another Indian manufacturer HCL has gone ahead and embraced the ‘Nano’ concept. HCL Infosystems has unveiled its MiLeap series, which is supposed to be the smallest and cheapest laptop available in the country. The notebook has a 7-inch LCD screen, weighs less than a kg and has an attractive starting price point of Rs.14,000.

Ajai Chowdhry, Chairman & CEO, HCL Infosystems Ltd. commented on the product, “This revolutionary new range of ultra portable laptops will herald in a new category of computing devices, opening up a wide range of new usage scenarios and application areas.”

Well, HCL’s MiLeap can definitely be called revolutionary when it comes to price. Before the launch of MiLeap, the entry level laptop segment was dominated by companies like Acer, Compaq & Zenith but even these companies were unable to break the important Rs.15,000 price point. While HCL is the first company in the world to launch a laptop at this price point, globally its counterparts are focusing more on performance and design. Recently, Apple launched its super-slim laptop called the Macbook Air. With its innovative slim design and ultra portable features, the ‘Air’ gives the mobile computing a completely new standard. Even Lenovo is revolutionising the mobile computing with its new IdeaPad range of low weight laptops.

With the tech giants realising the growing importance of laptops in daily life, the futuristic technological innovations in the laptop arena are going to be even more exciting.

B&E edit bureau: Neha Saraiya

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 Queen of Wellness

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Rajvi Mariwala connects with & understands Marico’s brands. She hopes to create a brand on her own in the future. But can she? BIKRAM KESHARI JENA presents an analysis

Although the pedigree factor is in play here, this 27-year-old gives you the feeling that she wishes to carve out a name on her own. There’s a strong underlying drive in her to become a self-made entrepreneur. Meet Rajvi Mariwala, daughter of Harsh Mariwala, CMD, Marico. So, while one can’t rule out the ‘Born with a Silver Spoon’ marque, one may have to keep it on the side in this case. Unlike the sons and daughters of several industrialists, Rajvi proved her worth before joining the family-owned business. During the first few years of her career, she spent time in other firms and climbed the corporate ladder like any other trainee.

An MBA from the University of Geneva, Rajvi has got the right training to prepare her to run the business. She might be in her twenties but she’s not short of experience. Apart from Marico, she has had stints at the US based Merci Corps North West and Trikaya Grey. In 2006, she joined Marico to shoulder the responsibility of creating new brands and positioning them. In the future, she hopes to create a new and successful brand and she’s willing to learn as well as wait for it to happen. Her ideal leader is her father, who has built one of the fastest-growing niche FMCG companies with an annual turnover of Rs.15.6 billion, which enjoys leadership in most segments that it is present in.

In the past year or so, Marico has initiated a slew of brand acquisitions and product launches, including Fiancee, Nihar, Manjal, and HairCode. Explains Asish Dangi, Analyst, Pinc Research, “The rationale behind the acquisition of Fiancee and HairCode was to enter global markets like Africa and South Asia. The brands are powerful and have given the company an upper hand compared to its competitors. Currently, the company’s growing at 20-25% globally, and this establishes that the brands have been successful. Thanks to Fiancee and Haircode, Marico controls a fifth of the Egyptian market in these respective segments.” Others contend that the strategy behind acquiring Nihar from Unilever India was to kill competition.


For example, when Marico acquired the coconut oil brand Nihar from Hindustan Lever for a total consideration of Rs. 2.27 billion in February 2006, it helped the company to increase its market share by nearly 9%. “The major gain has come in the Eastern India market where perfumed oils from Nihar have helped Marico in gaining an additional market share of over 40%,” as revealed by a recent study.

Stated a recent analyst report: “Marico is riding high on its international business. The journey so far in Bangladesh, Middle East, USA etc. has been very encouraging. We believe that the company’s experiment would continue as far as entry into other geographical regions is concerned.” It added that “Marico has acquired 4 brands in FY ’06, 2 in India and 2 in Bangladesh. These have helped the company achieve tremendous size, volume and market share. Further acquisitions cannot be ruled out, should it appear as a strategic fit to Marico’s portfolio.”

Rajvi has already received kudos for these actions. “Harsh Mariwala is no doubt a great visionary, but the way Marico was growing, it required the zeal of the next generation. Rajvi understands sales and branding well. Although a year is too short to prove her sole contribution, she will do great work with the brands in Marico’s portfolio,” affirms FICCI’s FMCG analyst, who has worked with the family.

As a professional, she’s hell bent to do justice to what the Marico name stands for. Rajvi has inculcated the ‘organisation’ philosophy. She thinks that Marico is about the organization & the team, and any individuals should not be highlighted. This was one reason why she refused to be quoted in this article. One of her colleagues in the division agrees, “Rajvi is very committed and focused, and professional interactions with her are really pleasant experiences.”

Rajvi has started mulling out strategies to strengthen Marico’s brands. According to a recent analysis, “Marico’s biggest strength lies in its brand management, whether regional or national, particularly in a commodity-like business where margins play a hide-n-seek game. Today, most of Marico brands command either leadership or challenger positions in their respective categories and hence enjoy premium pricing resulting in better margins. This also makes it easy to launch new products.”

But she has a long way to go from here. This is a learning experience, and she still works as a trainee. In addition, adverse external factors can spell doom for Marico’s growth strategy. For example, higher tax rates can slow down the sales of premium products. Similarly, an ongoing change in competitors’ strategy can harm Marico. Finally, if Rajvi fails to live up to her father’s expectations and is unable to manage future growth as well as the positioning of Marico’s brands, the company’s future can be a bit clouded. Its wellness can easily be threatened.

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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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Trying hard for level playing fields

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Sort out the operators & make sure that the consumer gets his due

The former Secretary of the Department of Telecom (DoT), Nripendra Misra, who was appointed Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) last year has opened the Pandora’s box by aiming to bring in competition in telecom sector. His dual-tech policy allowing a single operator to provide both the CDMA & GSM services within the same circle, have set the operators marching to court and media. The other issue, which Misra would have to expedite in 2008 is related to 3G spectrum and broadbasing the broadband network across the nation. The 1967-batch IAS officer will have to do much & at a much faster pace in 2008 to make consumers happy.

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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Resurrecting the lost pride

IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence

We are only busy with the trinity of the big cats – tiger, lion & leopard and in contemporary India, the best known of the non-roaring big cats – the Cheetah, who are fastest land animal, has been forgotten. It can reach speeds between 112 km/h & 120 km/h and can accelerate from 0 to 110 km/h in three seconds, faster than most of the modern racing cars. Its hunting prowess attracted nobility, through 5,000 years, to keep it with them, & it was this practice, which has cornered it to few corners of the world, as it is biologically weak to breed in captivity. Moreover, growing human & livestock population caused reduction in Cheetahs’ habitat and that was major reason of it being extinct in India, since 1952. Cheetah is also in World Conservation Union (IUCN) list of vulnerable species. 90% cheetahs are now in Namibia & Botswana. “Earth is left with just 12,000 Cheetahs,” Dr. Divyabhanusinh, an authority on Cheetahs in India, told B&E. But, can’t Cheetahs be rehabilitated in India? In 100-200 sq. kms. of grassland, with sufficient prey base & vegetation, Cheetahs can be rehabilitated, Sinh said, adding that he had studied empty DNA of Indian Cheetahs and Botswana Cheetahs and they are same. Then, their Cheetahs can be rehabilitated in India. “Cheetahs can be brought from Botswana, where their growing numbers are harming human’s interests,” said Sinh. “The Narayan Sarovar in Kutch, holds the potential for introduction of the lost specie,” said Dr. Yadvendra Dev Jhala of Wildlife Insitiute of India.

“Lack of money isn’t hampering rehabilitation of Cheetahs in India, it’s absence of political will,” said Sinh.

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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Can Mallya’s Deccan and similar low-cost airlines handle the onslaught of a new competitor, Lalu’s Indian Railways? shashank tripathi of 4Ps B&M digs

IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence

As a kid, strange as it might seem, I always used to scoff at cartoons, especially the ones with superheroes. And through the years, my favourite hotshot target superhero always remained the man of steel, Superman! As comical as the reasons might seem, I had two to berate him. One, he was always there to do social service and save the world (I mean, come on, is there no other good reason for a superhero to exist?!); and two, he could fly (Oh please! Get real!). For me, Superman was, in short, a loser, who was like a sissy with just one pocket-full of Kryptonite! And who was, in fact, my favourite toon emperor? Uncle Scrooge! Consider this. Scrooge couldn’t ever fly; he was never there to do social service; and saving the world was as alien to his mind as the Indian football team thinking about qualifying for the World Cup. And what more, Scrooge could have eaten Kryptonite dry for breakfast and not have indigestion (till lunch at least)! So what was he there for? Money! Period! Scrooge didn’t care less about relationships, and lesser about what people think of his dressing sense!

I guarantee, the deja vu and the metaphoric similarity would hit you as hard as it hit me, if you were to compare – like I did – India’s low cost carrier (LCC) industry with a competitor they never expected, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Indian Railways. Think about it, Lalu ‘Scrooge’ Yadav doesn’t care less about relationships, gives two hoots about what people think of his dressing sense or deportment, and would kick ‘world-saving’ ideas out of his dairy farm if it would cost him even a penny. But the one issue CEO Lalu has never lost sight of in all these years, is profit! The Indian Railways has perhaps never seen brighter times! And what, on the other hand, has the LCC industry focused on? Social service. What else would you call year after year of operating with humungous losses of thousands of crores, and still attempting to offer lowest prices to air travellers?

“There are no real pure low cost airlines in India and there will probably not be any in the future,” shared Maunu Von Lueders, CEO of Jet Lite, when I caught up with him, “In other words, even the best performers are bleeding and they’re trying to use Band-Aids to stop the bleeding!” Without doubt, the King of them all, Vijay Mallya, was and continues to be the poster boy of the aviation industry, rewriting the entire inflight experience to world class standards using Kingfisher Airlines, offering exceptional services at affordable prices. When Mallya jumped on to the LCC bandwagon using Deccan Aviation’s takeover, everyone expected this sector to have glorious days up ahead. But nobody had counted on fuel prices, eh!

But really, LCC’s competition had started way back in May 2004, when the UPA government was sworn in and Lalu took over the huge loss making Indian Railways as the Union Minister. Imagine how he would have felt. There was the authoritative government funded Rakesh Mohan Committee report, which forecasted that the sordid state of affairs of Indian Railways would guarantee over Rs.61,000 crore losses by 2015 and the only way out was privatisation.

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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Debashis Paul, Senior Vice President and General Manager, McCann Erickson

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Debashis Paul, Senior Vice President and General Manager, McCann Erickson: Anand has an extraordinary sense of art direction, which is very contemporary, most relevant and striking. That’s why he is quite different from others. He has powerful visualisation and that’s why he can easily work on any theme, which is quite tough. He has mastered the skill of art direction and can easily understand the connotation of the theme and work on it very fast. Vaybhav, on the other hand, is a good creative thinker. He brings a lot of fresh ideas to the table. He is a radical thinker. As a person, he is reliable, professional and approachable to work with. Both of them have recently brought out a wonderful ad campaign on Reebok (I am my biggest challenge) with Bipasha Basu.

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
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
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