PUSSY CATS TO HUNGRY TIGERS?

Sabiha Kidwai, General Manager (Marketing), Panasonic India has particularly huge hopes from Panasonic’s ECO range of environmentally friendly products, which are backed with a big budget media plan. “Our rivals also have energy saving models in their line up, but at Panasonic we are going a step further by sharing eco awareness with consumers,” says Sabiha, referring to Panasonic’s celeb laced campaign – ‘I’m doing my bit. How about you?’

The ambition within Panasonic’s Gurgaon headquarters is to double the company’s revenues from Rs.2,200 crore in the last fiscal and the marketing team says that plans are on track to achieve the doubling of turnover by March 2011. Explains Ito, “Despite slowdown, we have grown 200% over 2009 so far,” adding that the company hopes to finish FY10 with a robust 270% growth. The efforts by Ito and his core team are by no means restricted to just advertising communication. The change is reflected simultaneously in the company’s product, pricing and distribution strategies. At the product level, for starters, Panasonic has now begun designing its products within the country (as opposed to importing made in US or Japan products) to leverage on the unique requirements of the Indian consumers. By 2011, there is also a huge investment planned for setting up a production facility within India for ACs, plasmas/ LCDs and refrigerators. Of the $300 million set aside for the Indian market, about $100 million will go into setting up of the proposed plant. Not surprising, given that going purely by sales, Plasmas/ LCDs and air conditioners are the fastest growing product lines at Panasonic India these days. Also on the cards is an extension of Panasonic’s existing PDA technology into India to take advantage of the 3G regime, a move that would once again propel Panasonic in the lucrative Indian handset market (from which it had exited in 2006 after it failed to woo customers) where its biggest rivals LG and Samsung already boast a big presence.

Pricing is the next frontier that Panasonic hopes to conquer successfully. “There is an ongoing debate in the Indian market as to when LCDs will become a commodity as has happened with CRTs. We have already started commoditising the LCD with our 2009 festival offer of a 32 inches LCD at Rs.29,990 only,” continues Sabiha. In fact, next in their line up – to be launched early next year – are the Volume Zone products in every category, which will entail giving the Indian consumer better quality at lower prices.

Distribution however is one area where success still eludes. After all, in a cut throat competitive market where rivals LG and Samsung are virtually falling over each other to buttress their mostly common dealer network, distribution is certainly a tough nut for Panasonic. But undeterred, this Buddhist from Japan is counting on his 3Ps of product, positioning and people to deliver the goods. “Panasonic India is limited compared to our global operations, which makes even small components. Now that the Panasonic management has renewed its commitment to the Indian market, my dream is to get our global range to consumers here,” he says, signing off. After UK and Japan, will this turnaround man manage to give a new lease of life to Panasonic in India? We don’t know yet, but wish him luck anyway!

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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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IS THE LIQUOR ADVERTISING BAN JUSTIFIED?

Monojit Lahiri spoke to a bunch of celebs who made sparks fly – before toasting to a ban of this absurd rule!

We live in strange and troubled times, brother …

We are allowed the manufacture and consumption of liquor – but, sorry – (hic) no advertising! Unlike the US of A where alcohol advertising has “regulatory bodies” that create standards for ethical advertising and where the concern is ‘where’ the ads are placed (mostly in media streams viewed by 70% of the audience over the drinking age) here it’s a blanket ban with no ifs, buts, why’s … When pressed, the general response (please don’t have a cardiac arrest, laughing!) is: it’s unconstitutional to propagate evil habits injurious to health and a bad influence to society. All the celebs interviewed – with the exception of the cool and gorgeously opinionated Pooja Bedi – were of the collective belief that this move was the biggest farce ever; a totally hollow, ludicrous, cosmetic and cockeyed, completely self-defeating in both intent and purpose. In today’s liberated and globalised times, with India celebrating economic prowess and quality of life at par with the West, this brain dead vetoing of publicity of a product category which is a way of life for India’s well-healed, sophisticated, aspirational constituency but freely allowing manufa

cture to scoop up titanic amounts of revenue for the exchequer, tantamounts to an epic hypocritical joke! Here’s what the heavy weights have to say …

Ad-Guru & Theatre Maestro Alyque Padamse is first off the block and takes off with all cylinders firing! “Either make Prohibition work or allow the advertising of liquor. The Government must stop this childish and absurd dilly-dallying and decide one way or the other. In today’s life and times, liquor is a part of young people’s lives and no social event is complete without it. How many kids have tea, coffee or cola’s after 8 pm? C’mon wake up and taste the … stuff! The same goes for Cigarettes. If the powers that are had any guts they would ban the manufacture of these products – not the advertising. Isn’t it amazing that they have messages like SMOKING KILLS on cigarette packs and yet these products roll out in billions of units everyday? But then Delhi is notorious for its double-think!” Film-maker Shyam Benegal agrees. “It’s so hypocritical and doesn’t make any sense at all! They don’t ban the name or the brand but just the idea it is liquor and do a quick surrogate advertising number – Kingfisher Mineral Water, Bagpiper Soda … whatever. And the argument that it will tempt the poor is silly because this segment does not connect with IMFL brands and hence advertising affecting them is a non-starter argument”. Actor & Anchor Kabir Bedi goes along this line of thinking, but with a tiny proviso. “I agree with Alyque & Shyam that while advertising should certainly be allowed, one should ensure that it shouldn’t be consciously created in a manner that it makes drinking a fashion statement or a glamorous recreation for the kids and have-nots. We know the power of clever advertising and the influence it can wield as a force of seduction. So, basically I am advocating Responsible Advertising”.

Film actor Jackie Shroff believes that there should be no ban on advertising of liquor as people are sensible enough to understand what is right and wrong. They know what is good or bad for their health and they should be allowed to use their head and heart to make the decision. Film star Sohail Khan agrees and adds that it is indeed extremely hypocritical of the government to ban liquor ads and yet allow their production. “If they are so concerned they should ban manufacture too”. However, he candidly admits that he would love to be a brand ambassador for a liquor brand if invited …

Hi-profile, iconoclast Prahlad Kakkar – as always – shoots from the hip. He laughs away the whole issue with “but booze advertising is hitting the TV all the time in surrogate avtaar!” He believes that one of the big problems is that it gives established brands a huge – and unfair – advantage over new brands. McDowell, Kingfisher, Officers Choice, in any other (soda, mineral water) form is instantly identified. Any dumbo knows what you are driving at … but the new ones get hit badly”. Kakkar believes that (like the West) the zillions accrued by the government in excise from booze sale could well be invested in good, effective communication towards educating the public – especially the kids – about drinking responsibly. “Look what an amazing job they did with tobacco! Today if you go there and start puffing away in someone’s house, you will be looked upon as an outcast! There are spaces reserved for smokers and public puffing is not considered sexy anymore”. However, he adds, that “when law-makers and the establishment are themselves hand-in-glove with the booze-makers in states where prohibition exists, what do you expect?” Free-spirited Pooja Bedi wraps up the debate in her own style, rooting for the ban, “I think the ban is fine because stuff like tobacco and alcohol are not known to work wonders for mind, body or soul! After all advertising is about making a product desirable, attractive and sexy to the consumer, pushing hard on the purchase intent, right? Sure it is not illegal like drugs but hey, it’s not exactly what the doc ordered for health. Sure, guys who want to drink will drink, but banning advertising will (in some small way) reduce the consumption among the vulnerable, impressionable types”.

Monojit Lahiri

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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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While many seasoned sports television channels had their stumps uprooted in the bygone cricket tournaments,

Neo Cricket still swears by its willows... Will the innings last long? Pallavi Srivastava wonders...

At a time when pundits were busy predicting the slow but sure death of India’s cricketing frenzy (both in stadia and on TV sets), the team at Neo Sports was quietly sniggering. After all, they were happily adding to their ad revenue coffers throughout August, September and October, even as advertisers were fleeing from rival ESPN Star Sports’ Champions Tropy and Champions League for lack of any TRPs. Champions Trophy (the ODI tournament with eight international teams where India made an early exit) got an average of 1.1 and Champions League, which was betting big on the T20 format, got an average of just 1.7 TRPs. Even ESPN’s Rs.100 crore marketing buzz failed to give a push to the tournament ratings.

The enthusiasm and quiet sniggers at Neo Sports however were not entirely unwarranted. Advertisers have teamed up in hordes and Neo’s strategy to buy up rights of all cricket extravaganzas in India has seemingly paid off. So how did Neo Sports try to liven up the damp mood of both the viewers and advertisers and give a boost to its six month-long cricketing season (which started just after the champions league)? Verma replies, “We had a burst of ad and marketing activities just before the beginning of the Hero Honda Cup to light up the mood and promote the event.” Neo has spent Rs.5 crore on the marketing of Hero Honda Cup. The company’s advertising kitty focussed largely on print and television (a 60:40 ratio). It also roped-in controversial yet popular cricketer Harbhajan Singh as the brand ambassador to promote the tournament... And it was not just advertising!

Neo has activated a lot of PR activities. “We organised lots of media interactions with players and other key people. This generated extra interest amongst the audience and boosted their confidence in cricket.”

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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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WHY FAMILY COMES FIRST?!

Dynasty
If there were any lingering doubts about the influence the word dynasty has in Indian politics, Lok Sabha elections 2009 acted mercilessly to dispel them for good – and at least for a generation. It is not just about how the great grandson of Nehru won a decisive mandate from his ‘family’ constituency and was quickly anointed the prince awaiting his crowning. Fact is that at least 150 winners in the Lok Sabha elections belonged to major and minor political dynasties. Barring the Marxists, no political party in India is now immune to the dynasty syndrome. From J&K to Kerala and from Mizoram to Gujarat, sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, widows and the likes have been chosen to preside over the fortunes of India. Now many pundits label this as an unhealthy trend since it acts as the ultimate barrier to competition in an arena that badly needs better quality and products that offer more value for money. But then, in the political arena, products with a familiar brand pedigree are a better bet than untested products who only offer a better deal. And if the consumer doesn’t seem to mind it; who are we to judge?

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

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Nostalgia sells. And from using living icons as brand ambassadors, marketers are now stretching back to dip into history.

Result: some iconic men & women are being brought back to life, say Sray Agarwal & Gyanendra Kashyap

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Can you spot the similarity between Hamburg-based penmaker Mont Blanc and Bollywood flick Lage Raho Munnabhai? Nah... no product placements by the former in the latter; instead, the fact, that both have used Mahatma Gandhi’s imagary – albeit in different ways – to attract eyeballs. Not only did Lage Raho Munnabhai’s promos actively prop up Gandhi’s images in the backdrop, even the storyline incorporated Gandhi and his non-violence credo to successfully ring in the moolah at the box office. This Munnabhai sequel was an instant hit.

Similarly, to cosy up with the Indian audience, German pen maker Mont Blanc launched a gold nib plated pen costing a mind-boggling Rs.1.4 million on bapu’s 140th birth anniversary in 2009. The ostentatious effort was to commemorate Gandhi’s historic salt march, but market watchers claim that since Mahatma Gandhi has been also associated with literary achievements, the freedom fighter’s sheen will rub off on Mont Blanc and improve the luxury writing instrument’s standing among India’s discerning target segment. Reportedly, Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi has even endorsed the idea. As a thank you, Tushar’s charitable foundation has already received a donation of $145,000 from Mont Blanc and will receive between $200 and $1,000 for each pen sold.

Aditi Agarwal of Ghalla Bhansali Stock Brokers (they’ve recently released a report titled ‘Marketing the Mahatma’), however, takes exception to such marketing moves. “It’s indeed ironical, that Mahatma Gandhi who was considered as an epitome of austerity is being misused by business barons to make money. Marketing and publicity is vital in today’s tough competition, but to what extent? All efforts need to be taken to protect the legacy that Gandhi has left behind,” she argues vehemently.

But, Mont Blanc and Munnabhai are not alone in having made use of Mahatma Gandhi’s name to sell their wares. The list is long. Be it Apple, Telecom Italia, Martin Luther King Jr., Raj Kumar Hirani, or even the American President Barack Obama, all have used Brand Gandhi to break the clutter and reach out to their respective target segments. Leaving aside the hullabaloo of shocked critics and their lengthy petitions to correct the trend, here’s the moot question. What sense does it make to bring back a popular icon from history? Does using the Mahatma as your brand endorsers work better or should marketers settle for current mass icons like Big B, Tendulkar or even couples like Pataudi & Sharmila Tagore?

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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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So, are you covered?

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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).

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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…”

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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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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!

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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 Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
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Udit Bhandari, CEO, Indimoto.com

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“Maruti not only provided India with efficient wheels but also showed the car makers the transparency that an auto manufacturer has to maintain while developing & executing a design of an automobile that the customer should not only have the confidence of buying and using, but also have trust in the after sales service. Maruti showed the-then existing car manufacturers how systematic planning, collective decision-making, sharing of information and delegation of responsibilities help in getting better production. Personally, I think Maruti has brought in an industrial revolution in India, where it has not only changed the outlook of the industry, but also brought in confidence amongst consumers. Maruti deserves to be the number one brand amongst all auto makers in india today. it really deserves it!”

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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 Sunday Indian:- B-SCHOOL RANKING SCAMSTERS EXPOSED!
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Beyond Just Coffee and hangouts!

IIPM conceptualized the grand final of Dare ‘10 — the most prestigious of international B-school student quizzes

Analysts believe that the bid to make CCD a complete food and beverage player in the Indian market smells suspiciously of an effort to become a me-too McDonald’s. And though these are early days yet, if the plan works, CCD’s potential may well expand much beyond the Rs.450 crore domestic coffee market to encompass the limitless potential of India’s food market. However, brand watchers say that in the process CCD may well make some unpromising compromises with its ‘coffee hangout’ brand identity. “Not at all,” disagrees Alok, reasoning that whatever the changes in product portfolio, CCD will always have a coffee focus. “There will always be formats within our brand that will allow consumers to continue flirting with coffee viz. Coffee Day Square.”

This detailed segmentation of the market is where CCD really scores over competition. While the augmented food menu would be available at mostly the flagship CCD stores; other formats like Coffee Day Express, Coffee Day Square and the soon-to-be-launched Coffee Day Lounge will largely retain their coffee focus, where 80% of the portfolio will revolve around coffee. This, believes Alok, will allow the brand to keep their coffee positioning alive even as they offer Rajma Chawal to hungry consumers. “Coffee Day Square is for the premium single-origin coffee and Coffee Lounge would be for corporate guys who want privacy in official meetings,” explains Alok.

With over 10,000 acres of coffee estate spread in key coffee producing zones like Chikmagalur (Karnataka) and Araku Valley (A.P.); and 805 stores spread across India, CCD is already the market leader in the coffee chain segment and growing fastest at 30% per annum. In contrast, Barista has only 400 stores and neo-entrant Costa Coffee has 200 stores. To sharpen its edge, CCD is now sharpening its flank by planning to take its store-tally up to 1,000 stores by end-2009, including 15 Coffee Day Squares and 10 Coffee Express stores. At a time when other players are finding it difficult to cope up with the expensive real estate market, Coffee Express (with its small drive-in format) is growing at almost 25% per annum. Small surprise that CCD is proving to be a cash cow, contributing almost half of ABC’s total turnover as of today. Add to that Alok Gupta’s latest ambition to do a McDonald’s within CCD (with a carefully crafted positioning strategy to boot) and one can almost taste (pun intended!) the nature of success to come...

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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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“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).

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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.

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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.
Management guru Arindam Chaudhuri’s latest blockbuster book, Discover The Diamond In You
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Pirates of the ‘Online’ Carribbean

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

2008 is done with. But have you done away with your fears of a possible cyber attack in the New Year? Clearly, the chances are – if you are an online surfer, you are still a likely target. Steven Philip warner & Arun Kumar Roy warn...

News like the fifth man pleads guilty over Citibank ATM hack scam, browsers fail password protection tests, German card leak delivered by microfilm, electronic votes mysteriously vanish in Ohio election et al have become too common to be surprised about. But just like surprises never end, shocks too don’t. And though it’s a brand new 2009 (and you’d want to enjoy a security threat-less year), there’s no guarantee of a threat-free year from anyone or anywhere! We discuss such threats here; threats that are not your ‘typical’ enterprise security issues but are more dangerous – mainly large-scale Internet threats that could well trickle down to your organisational mainframe. The good news/bad news is that your organisation is more likely to suffer a simple ‘Website hack’; but that doesn’t mean you can gleefully put your security officers to rest! And we are caught helpless many a time, as Kevin Prince, chief architect for Perimeter eSecurity avers, “These aren’t something IT administrators or everyday Joes can do [much of] anything about.” So before you turn out the office lights for the night, check out these lesser-known potential threats that security experts are watching out for in 2009.

1. An Internet “e-bomb”: The attacks of 2008 indeed were focused on applications as the network perimeter was more secure. But before we knew it, our faith was shaken by disclosure of some major vulnerabilities in the Internet’s TCP/IP architecture: the Domain Name Service (DNS) cache-poisoning flaw and a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). David Maynor, CTO, Errata Security, opines, “2009 could be the year when the first large-scale and widespread attack occurs on the Internet’s infrastructure.” He thinks that we’ll see the first wide-scale ‘e-bomb’ that will make large portions of the Internet unreachable.

2. Radical extremist hackers: iDefense predicts that 2009 will be the year that Middle-Eastern cybercartels expand into online fraud. According to the agency, a recent wave of fatwas issued by radical Islamic religious leaders in that region authorise these groups to use cyberattacks to defend Islam. This has opened the door for these groups to wage ‘open’ cyberattacks in the name of God and religion. “They will do it openly to fund the Islamic agenda,” avers Rick Howard, Intelligence Director, iDefense. iDefense also opines that US financial institutions would be the prime targets. The fact that Islamic extremists have already hacked into Israeli websites over the past few days with more than 300 sites defaced with anti-Israeli and anti-US messages might just be the start.

3. Attacks on online ad-revenues: Internet ads could be hit too, as enterprises and users increasingly begin to deploy technologies that block third-party content. ScanSafe says that the volume of Web-borne malware is growing at a considerable rate of 6% a month, and the rate that a user is exposed to this malware is increasing at a rate of 16% per month.There are many incidents where attackers target Google AdWords. We’ve seen them inject iFrames for SQL injection attacks or other things inside ads on websites also. Till date, users are mainly blocking pop-ups rather than legitimate ads, but now attackers could wreak havoc on online ads and their potential revenue by compromising the ad’s source. 2008 is over. But can you put your fears to rest? Not yet, dear netizens!

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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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Business

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

The Sleepy Heads
Last Year ITC Bingo shook up the snack food industry with its peppy flavours and peppier advertising. But the newness has worn off and one can only just stifle a yawn at their ‘No Confusion-Great Combination’ lingo. Worse, competitor Frito Lay has caught up with their ‘Chala Change Ka Chakkar’ campaign. Time for another big idea?

And a Wake-Up Call...
Linking waking up with awakening one’s conscience was the big idea for Tata Tea. Their Jaago-Re slogan must have robbed many netas off their deep slumber. If not, blame it on their super thick hide ;-)

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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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IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
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RATAN TATA

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I don’t know if this humble missive will reach 10, Janpath or if Sonia Madam will even read it. But I hereby nominate you for the next Bharat Ratna for your pioneering efforts to save corporate India. Your efforts are so refreshingly different from the controversial actions of Vijay Mallya and Naresh Goyal, who have acquired a nasty habit of going hat in hand to the government. After announcing global conquests a la Vasco da Gama through Kingfisher and Jet, the duo have now hunkered down and want a series of bail outs from both the government and the consumer. (As a frequent flyer, you might have heard of how consumers are bailing out Mallya and Goyal by paying through their noses for air tickets). You are also so refreshingly different from the likes of Rahul Bajaj who claims to bat for India Inc. by allegedly asking for more protection from foreign competition.

Mighty sir, I also want to apologise for words written two years ago in the sister publication Business & Economy. At that time, I had the temerity to suggest that the Tata Steel takeover of Corus (hailed by many in the media as the reverse of East India Company) will saddle your company with unmanageable debt. The temerity transformed into untrammeled insolence when this humble hack suggested that the double whammy of a falling rupee and falling demand and profitability for steel could lead Tata Steel to an unprecedented crisis. When you took over Corus, the rupee was about 40 to a dollar. Now, it is about 50 to a dollar.

So the $6 billion odd loan that you took for the Corus takeover seems an even steeper mountain to climb now. Of course, your letter to the Prime Minister has nothing to do with this niggling doubt about the future of Tata Steel. It has also nothing to do with fears that foreign institutions might recall loans. The letter is purely selfless. And really, how does it matter that the debt-equity ratio of Tata Steel increased from 1:1 in 2006 to 2.74:1? Only the cynics will say that a mighty entrepreneur like you will worry about these trivial matters when you are on a noble mission to save India Inc. And I will be the last one to suggest that P. Chidambaram imposing a 5% duty on steel imports to protect domestic players from global dumping as steel prices crash has anything to do with the future of Tata Steel.

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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.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
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Lentils@40% premium, anyone?

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The jury is out on the benefits of organic food. Will producers be able to lure the masses without compromising on their hefty price tags? By Savreen Gadhoke

“I was on a diet for the last two weeks, and all I’ve lost is 14 days,” read the slogan on the T-shirt of a 20-something over-weight girl, whom I saw rummaging through the organic foods shelves in a departmental store. Unable to control myself, I decided to eavesdrop on her conversation with her friend: “I’ve heard organic foods help lose weight. Which brand should I buy?” even as she compared rates of different packs. I went back and did my own little research on how far the craze had travelled in India. To my surprise, the segment had really found its ground amidst consumers with names like Fabindia and Khadi Gram, investing heavily in organic foods. But however fast-growing the demand in India may be, the real moolah for organic food is found in global markets, which according to a RNCOS report is pegged to touch $70 billion by 2010. B.L. Dalmiya, Director, Centre of Organic Farming reveals, “Internationally, the demand for organic foods is rapidly growing because of increased consumer awareness.” In response, India has increased its production of organic foods and exports to a whopping 45% of the estimated Rs.560 crore organic food market in the country.

According to National Centre for Organic Farming, the area under organic cultivation is likely to quadruple in the next couple of years and cover two million hectares of land by 2012, as compared to the present area of 5,28,000 hectares. In fact, various state governments have also announced incentives and tax benefits to farmers who opt for organic agriculture. But R&D is one area where organic foods manufacturers are facing problems. Grins Dalmiya, “To keep pace with the global demands, we have to regularly invest in R&D, which is a big problem for small farmers,” adding that it eventually adds to higher costs. Within the country, organic foods enjoy a relatively niche demand and so far mass appeal has evaded. The reason, according to a January 2008 Assocham survey, is largely to do with premium pricing. The price differential between organic and non-organic products ranges from 35-40%, which finds little takers among even the educated and health conscious urban lot. Over 1,000 lead retailers selling non-organic and organic products participated in the survey.

Despite that however, the fast-multiplying growth of the industry cannot be entirely attributed to the increase in global demand. The Indian consumer too is getting savvier, fed by Internet information overload and satellite connectivity. Like their NYC counterparts, uber crowds in Gurgaon and Bengaluru alike, are getting hooked to the supposedly healthier organic alternatives. When asked, a local organic foods retailer in south Delhi explained that while there weren’t too many regular buyers for this category because of its higher price tag; amidst the swish set (premium segment consumers), these products were really sought after. Organised retail has in fact spawned dozens of private labels in the category, led by retailer Kishore Biyani’s Food Bazaar. As for the 20-something girl I saw in the departmental store the other day, I hope she has found her choice of brand in organic food and is working toward losing more days... oops, kilos!

Savreen Gadhoke

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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.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
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Toast with style...

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Designed by Steven Weinberg, these Crystalline Toasting Flutes look anything but a figment of human imagination! The festive flutes from the crystal house, Swarovski, with stems rolled with clear crystal inside and a faceted clear base with such perfection that even the most finicky ones would be left bedazzled! Go ahead, raise a toast in style! Price Rs.19,495 (for a set of two).


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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