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

IIPM B School : King Khan, Bollywood Badshah and Quiz Wiz — that’s Shah Rukh Khan for you

“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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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).

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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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Much before Danny Boyle sold India’s shit-soaked poverty to a global audience

Ratan Tata had already made an example out of the nation’s spirit of innovation – with the world’s cheapest car, no less! But can the Nano revive Tata Motors, which recently posted its first quarterly loss (of $58.5 million) in seven years? Pawan Chabra & Surbhi Chawla’s incisive analysis...

When mentor JRD Tata tapped Ratan Naval Tata in 1991 and asked him to take over the baton of the Tata Group, Ratan, then 54, gregariously went ahead and appointed himself Chairman of the group’s largest companies. The ageing old guard at these units sniggered and viewed the move as an ego trip by the younger Tata. But Ratan was thinking differently. The economy had just got deregulated and he realised that old, pedantic strategies would be insufficient for Indian businesses to deal with the unfolding era. His emphasis on flab-cutting and a new strategic direction for the group put Tata’s businesses on the fast track.

Almost fifteen years later, the word ‘ego’ has come back to haunt Ratan Tata. This time the scenario was spanning continents. What we do know is that he initially wagered 220 pence per share, but eventually paid almost triple that amount – 660 pence per share – for the Anglo-Dutch steel major, Corus. What we don’t know however, is whether he was prompted by the strategic implications of creating the world’s 5th largest steel producer or by the mere desire to pander to his ego, which refused to accept defeat in the face of a fierce takeover battle with Brazilian rival Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN). Tata Steel’s balance sheet has still not recovered from the Corus onslaught!

But it was with the Nano (the world’s cheapest car) that Ratan Tata’s ego applied for top honours. Combined with the $2.3 billion JLR acquisition, Tata Motors and Ratan indeed became top of the mind on the global automotive map. He announced the Nano launch for end-2008. Then Singur happened and Tata had to shift his Nano dream to Sanand in Gujarat. The Nano got delayed – anathema for the now global auto czar.

Simultaneously, the global recession began digging deeper holes into Tata Motors’ financials, input costs began going up and the Rs.1,00,000 price tag for the Nano was not looking conducive any more. Recalls Abhishek Jain, Exec. Director, Precision Pipes (a vendor for Nano), “There was a lot of pressure on cost through out the production process of the Nano!” But does that stop Ratan Tata? Hardly! The man is on a roll – he announced the launch of Nano for March 23, 2009 – at least the bookings are slated to start on that date! The ‘ego’ word is being bandied about yet again! “It’s all about ego for Ratan Tata. The date March 23 is strategically chosen as he wants to launch it in this fiscal, overshadowing his inability to launch it in the last calendar year,” concludes an industry insider on condition of anonymity.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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

O.P. Bhatt & M.V. Nair are not alone.

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

Most CMDs of state-run banks have taken a leaf out of Barack Obama’s ‘change’ mantra to send out fever-pitch messages to consumers. Stylish TV ads, chic logos and slick new launches are communicating their change. But just as Obama is discovering the difference between ‘campaigning’ and ‘implementation’, PSBs will need to wake up and smell the coffee, says Aditi Prasad. For now however life rocks for PSBs - as the global turmoil is boosting their credibility among the young and old alike

Sujeet Beura is the dapper, 33-year-old Accounts Director at a thriving ad agency in Mumbai. When he is not fighting the mad traffic to get to work, Beura concentrates his creative energies on ways to add value to client State Bank of India (SBI) – his agency is one of the eight empanelled with the bank. The fact that the global financial crisis has cast a shadow on SBI’s biggest competitor and private bank ICICI is simply a convenience that divine intervention has pushed his way. So convinced is Beura of SBI’s expertise that sitting in his plush office at Church Gate, all he can think about is shifting his personal savings account to the state-run bank, a move he wouldn’t have contemplated a year ago. After all, SBI then was for the old and doddering, while smarter and sexier private & foreign banks were for his generation.

But things have changed over the last few months. For one, ATMs of his ‘private bank’ are almost always ‘out of order’ – or at least when he needs urgent cash; and two, the global crisis has made him jittery and he wants his hard-earned money safe from the clutches of private and foreign banks. “SBI is more reliable. God forbid there’s some financial chaos here; then at least my money would be safe,” he avers. He swears that his preference for SBI is not dictated by the mere fact that the bank is a client but because of their long-standing credibility. “Besides, I’m 33 and planning to take my first home loan now and SBI is offering the most competitive interest rates,” he adds.

Beura’s musings are not unfounded. The findings of the exclusive 4Ps B&M and ICMR survey echo a similar sentiment. More than 51% respondents said that they trust state-run banks more when it comes to credibility and future security. Interestingly, the survey has been conducted in India’s five metro cities (across 836 respondents) – where till only some time ago private and foreign banks dominated both in actual market share and in consumer mind space. Welcome news for PSBs, many of whom are now vying to win back market share in these very metros. SBI for one, which hogs the chunkiest market share at an all-India level (42% of its branches are located in rural areas, with little competition from private banks), is planning its next ad campaign in a sleeker avatar to appeal to both retail and corporate consumers in these big cities. Explains Beura: “Currently SBI is reassuring people with the slogan The Banker for Every Indian. The next quarter, they are likely to launch a new positioning for SBI, targeted specifically at the metro audience.” Nationalised banks had lost the plot in metros and big cities when private banks came in. In aggregate deposits, the share of PSBs declined from 92% in FY 1991 to 73.9% in FY 2008; in advances, the share of PSBs fell from 92% to 72.5% in the same period, the losses mostly accruing from metros.

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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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TAX PLANNING? for 2009-10 Naah... It’s wealth creation!!!

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Noted chartered accountant G. D. Singla explains, “Early tax planning provides ample time to analyse the options, assess the risk and returns and above all, it allows greater bargaining power to the tax payers to an extent that in many cases, one need not even pay advance taxes!” If that sounded Hebrew, perish the painful thought, as this cover story is made with an atypical contrarian objective of putting penny to the foolish and pound to the wise. Revisiting the books, and at the cost of sounding back to the basics, we put forth the well respected S. Kumar of the leading chartered accounting firm Simon & Cailand, who explains, “In simple terms, tax planning means availing of the benefits of deductions, rebates, exemptions in taxation law to reduce the total tax burden of an assessee.” He further explains that tax planning does not merely imply putting money in some designated options; if envisaged properly it can be a great source of prudent wealth planning that could help to focus primarily on post tax yield taking into consideration the basic parameters of safety and liquidity. Ergo, if the philosophical Zeusian change has been implemented by thyself, you could test new waters with your second move.

And that is to make tax planning a monthly feature rather than an end of the year quarter feature beginning in January and calling it quits by March. The ‘instead’ approach sprains and strains one’s cash flow many a time; some even are forced to borrow to make these investments, certainly a double whack. Add to this the fact that the individuals suffer losses on account of compounding benefits (in case the investment avenue happens to be public provident Fund) and the rupee cost averaging (in case of investment in ELSS, Equity Linked Service Scheme). Change in government’s economic policies, closing of several attractive investment schemes, et al may further add on to the loss. Tax planning early on in the year can actually take care of all such losses. As the tax payer in such a case tends to spread his tax saving investments over 12 months rather than concentrating in three months.

And then we come to the third move. Apart from ‘when’, a tax payer also needs to know ‘where’ to invest. It is of prime importance that he is aware of the investment avenues so that he does not lose out on any opportunity. A host of investment avenues exist in the market: Mutual Funds, National Saving Certificates (NSC), Public Provident Fund (PPF), Monthly Income Scheme (MIS), Employee Provident Fund (EPF), Life Insurance, Systematic Investment Plan (SIP), Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP), et al. The choice of these instruments rests on the individuals need for liquidity. The stock market benders could favour Equity Linked Saving Schemes, or ELSS, as the dividend income earned from units invested in ELSS are exempted from IT Act; and moreover, on redemption of the units the capital gain income is also tax exempted. And the otherwise bent could favour PPF, as the interest paid on it is on a compounded basis and tax free on withdrawal. Also, any amount lying in the PPF a/c cannot be attached by a court of law, thus providing maximum social security.

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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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Pirates of the ‘Online’ Carribbean

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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

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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).

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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.
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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).


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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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Off springs of success

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Those who feel that the relatively lesser known agency that has Kumar Subramaniam as its President and Rensil D’Silva as its Executive Creative Director, might have a clientele that would be easily flip-able, are in a for a shock. The clients that this agency has mustered in its little existence are Arvind Mills, Dockers, Radio City, Himalaya Drug Company, INX Media, with many more in the pipeline. When asked about what sets the agency apart, Rensil is straight-forward, “I don’t believe in philosophy of differentiation at all. Everyone is doing their own sweet job. We are here to provide strategic insight to our clients and that has been the rationale behind us bagging clients such as Arvind Mills, Radio City et al. Our work should stand out and nothing else.”

Meridian might be coming from the O&M family but the hard reality is that on several accounts it will be pitched against its parent – O&M and comparisons between the two are inevitable. Kumar agrees and puts forth his point of view, “We are not even looking as us against them (the O&Ms and McCanns of the world!). All I know is that clients would obviously be valuing high quality work. And at this point of time, we are focusing more on procuring high quality talent and deliverables that would give us a strong standing in the market.”

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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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Idea and Tata Indicom are still trying to get the right number...

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No buzz... no biz!

Idea and Tata Indicom are still trying to get the right number...

A German scholar once said, “Even strongest have their moments of fatigue.” K.M. Birla and Ratan Tata, the two behemoths of Indian Inc. would definitely nod their heads in silent approval, if not disagree completely. The two may be taking strides in global business arena, with Ratan Tata acquiring Corus and K.M. Birla gobbling up Novelis, however, a glance at Indian telecom sector and it’s not tough to comprehend what fatigue we are referring to. Tata Teleservices (Tata Indicom) and Idea Cellular, the respective telecom service companies of the giants, are having a trying time connecting to customers as they agonise over 5th and 6th positions, respectively.

But, why are we talking about their agony, when the reference is to the No.3 player. Interestingly, No.2,3,4 players; Reliance, Hutch and BSNL are so close to each other in terms of subscriber base that they can easily be clubbed as one (see chart). Now, while these players are also far from the No.1 slot, their individual might in specific circles, at least grant them a level of leadership in the sweepstakes.

Coming back to Idea and Tata: Not only they are far behind the giants like Airtel, Reliance, Hutch and BSNL but both the players have also failed to grab a minimal 10% market share despite the strong growth exhibited by the sector in the past two years.

In spite of having the Tata Group’s deep pockets, its worth-a-million-dollars tag along with the celeb couple – Ajay and Kajol as its face, Tata Indicom has failed to make a place for itself in the CDMA space, alongside Reliance’s leadership position.

“A high quality 3G-ready network and an extensive branded retail presence are sources of our competitive advantage...” says Ashok Sud, President –Corporate Affairs, Tata Teleservices. The past month witnessed the service provider go on a advertising binge positioning its service as one that ensures ‘Clarity in Communication’. The group has also earmarked Rs.4,000 crores for expansion during 07-08. Idea, on the other hand, showed renewed energy after the take over by Birlas but real numbers are not happening for this marketing events friendly player. Its model is to strengthen its presence in its existing circles (it operates in 13 of them). However, where Bharti, BSNL and Reliance control all 23 circles, Idea lags behind with just a 60% presence in the telephony market of India. The two laggards of the telecom sector aside, even players like Hutch, BSNL and Reliance are far behind the market leader – Airtel which is ahead of the trio by a huge margin. With monthly subscriber additions touching an all time high of seven million, Bharti continues to lead with over two million additions in June 2007. With telecom sector redefining the meaning of growth, let’s see how the players arm themselves against the mighty Airtel. If they continue at the old snail pace, a bigger danger called Vodafone might dwarf them even further...

Edit bureau: Devdeep Singh

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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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When IIPM comes to education, never compromise
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