Showing posts with label IIPM Admission Detail. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IIPM Admission Detail. Show all posts

Monday, October 08, 2012

G8 SUMMIT: SWISS ALPS, DISNEYLAND TOUR ALSO OPTIONS...

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

Evian, France, 2003: “Iraq has WMDs! And everybody better contribute to kill that damn nuke-bomber Saddam!” We told you, Bush churns out gas better!
Georgia, USA, 2004: Main agenda: Extending the controversial Heavily In-debt Poor Countries [HIPC] initiative for debt-relief and to vaccines development. Achieved: Magnanimous relief to Iraq’s $120 billion debt on US insistence.
Gleneagles, Scotland, 2005: This summit, like all years before, was again aimed to provide $50 billion debt-relief to Africa [Nothing new! Nothing achieved!].

Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2006: For the first time in recent history, the G8 leaders proactively agreed on energy security, fighting diseases and encouraging education. Oh yes, it didn’t at all mention them providing any financial assistance!
Heiligendamm, Germany, 2007: Top agenda: Africa! Promises made in 2005 [in Scotland] of $50 billion aid to Africa: More or less overlooked! Creditably, developed nations in all have donated around $2.5 trillion since 1960 to LDCs. However, official estimates confirm that even this falls short of the required – and so called ‘promised’ – aid amount by a mammoth $3.5 trillion. As per the World Bank, it will cost developed countries just 2.8 cents per person per week to meet the promise. But we believe the first world still hasn’t understood the cheapness of life’s existence for the poor.

Having said that, we have a strategy for poor beleaguered Nick. We suggest that instead of being uselessly exposed to global criticism year after year, the G8 should officially confirm that leaders would meet simply to have a good time. After that, hand over the event management to our team [please, we insist]! Disneyland, Star Cruise, bungee lessons, paragliding, you name it guys, we’ll have that for you. And what about least developed countries? Goddamn those Africans...


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, October 06, 2012

TELECOM: MNP

Mobile Number Portability Promises to Usher in a New Paradigm in Indian Telecom. While New Players would benefit, The Real Advantage would be to the Customers

Clearly, MNP would create a lot of new game changers in India, the world’s second largest mobile market, and would pose many new challenges for the service providers. Introduction of MNP now certainly shifts the balance to a huge extent towards the newer players, who can now attempt to gain from poaching subscribers of the traditional incumbents. Operators would now need to invest significantly on attractive schemes and promotions. Investment would be required on the marketing front with key focus on quality, differentiation and pricing plans. New players will also have to be careful and ensure that the market share they gain in this manner is not fragile and can sustain for a longer time. Hemant Joshi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, India agrees, “MNP will mostly increase the subscriber acquisition and retention costs for the operators, especially for the giants like Bharti Airtel who have the greatest revenue market share pie at 31%, Vodafone Essar at 21%, Reliance Communications at 14% and Idea Cellular at 13%.”

The recent trend had been that operators were becoming least interested in investing to improve and maintain quality of services as the margins had fallen to an all time low. As per a latest Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) report, as many as 24 licenses (out of the total of 211 licensees in all the telecom circles) do not meet the minimum metering and billing benchmark defined by the TRAI. The number is 42 in the pre-paid segment. Similarly, 27 licensees do not match the minimum parameter for 100 per cent refund of deposit within 60 days of closure of service. The report also highlights that the service providers have shown a bad response time to customer calls for assistance. The report released in October 2010 says that 59 licensees in different circles do not meet the required norms. All the incumbent operators including BSNL, Bharti Airtel, MTNL, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and RCOM somewhere do not meet the minimum QoS norms defined by the regulator. Similar is the case with new entrants. So far, TRAI has had a very little role when it comes to forcing telecom subscribers to increase the QoS. “The most effective tool that the regulator has is – naming and shaming, by which the regulator can inform the subscriber about his service provider’s quality shortcoming by putting the report in public. TRAI can recommend a penalty and cancellation of license, but cannot take action on its own,” highlights former Principal Adviser, TRAI Satyen Gupta.

With the introduction of MNP, a poor quality of service will have much more dire repercussions than before. Call drops, problems with the billing, network congestion, failure to have proper customer redressal forums et al would become more critical factors than ever before. Still, players will have to decide what their playing field would be – price or service offering. “Entering a price war is not going to help as there already has been a significant drop in ARPU and margins. Operators need to focus on the quality of services and customer retention plans,” says Abhishek Chauhan, Senior Consultant, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East. Acceptably, the tariff war is likely to take a breather for some time, as the call rates have already touched all time lows.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Friday, October 05, 2012

TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR: THE SMALL CAR CHALLENGE

Etios can prove to be a Fortune Changer for Toyota in the Indian Market. But there are Challenges Galore that are Hell-Bent on Proving why the Jap’s Slow-Coach Small-Car Strategy may work Against It.

Today, everyone from Nissan to even Volkswagen (and Skoda), has entered the compact car fray. Toyota may have spent too much time in finalising its entry, which already has 23 models on offer in India. However, Sandeep Singh, Deputy MD, Toyota Kirloskar Motors has a justification for the delay. “We took a long time because we had to take into account the needs of the Indian consumer while finalising every detail of the Etios,” says he, while speaking to B&E. Accepted, but being a careful late mover is one thing and being the last to take the plunge is another. Therefore, carving out a comfortable space for itself may now call for some serious effort on the part of the Japanese, and even the Rs.32 billion committed by the company towards setting-up a dedicated production unit at Bidadi (near Bangalore, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units) may prove to be just half-a-leap. Considering that Toyota plans to sell 70,000 units of Etios in the first year of launch alone, with a further target of 300,000 units by 2015 (after having sold just a total of 63,843 vehicles in the Indian market in FY2009-10), the carmaker will need a far more robust distribution framework to realise the goods. Not to forget, profitability in the A2 segment (where the margins are the lowest amongst all passenger car segments) is largely dependent on dealership network. While Maruti has 850+ dealers and Hyundai has 670, Toyota only has 114 – lesser than even GM (250) and Ford (172)!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face


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Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Lesson #1: Don’t implement Panic Price-cuts during a slowdown; It kills the brand

Travel bags and retailing have never formed quite the blend that deserved a strong mention. But then, if Louis Vuitton – a traditional suitcase maker – could make the jump, why can’t others? Brands like Samsonite are attempting that, though. B&E catches up with Samsonite’s South Asia retail head, N. P. Singh, for inputs on current conditions and strategies

The plus point of the franchisee model is that it enables the retailer to have a pan-India presence. But there is the other side to this coin too. Malpractices by any franchisee can spoil the image of the retail brand. Add to this the dangers posed by reduced consumer spending. N. P. Singh, who heads the retail operations of Samsonite in the South Asian region, talks to B&E about the franchisee model in Indian Retail, the opportunities, the challenges faced so far and his expectations from the industry.

B&E: After IT, retail was considered to be the next sunrise sector of the Indian economy. But the slowdown came down hard on the sector and wiped out many hopes and promises. Do you still claim that Indian retail will bloom?
N. P. Singh (NPS):linkages that retail has with other sectors, and the widespread impact of this sector on the economy in question. India is no exception. But organised retail still holds a miniscule portion of the overall sector in India, so it would be early to claim that a boom will occur. But then, yes, post-slowdown, there appears to be great business opportunities mushrooming in the Indian retail industry as well.

B&E: Talking about new business opportunities, there are foreign brands that are making news in the Indian retail landscape. Are we betting big here?
NPS: The franchisee model presents very strong business opportunities, be it domestic brands or international. But of course, with the global (and Indian) economy bouncing back, foreign brands are increasingly looking to tap the pots of riches that Indian consumers are willing to present. Over the coming quarters, there will be many more foreign brands that will set up shop in India through the franchisee route. Big opportunities await Indian retail in this respect.


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Saturday, September 01, 2012

CONTROVERSY: INDIAN MAP

In Jan 2010, NatGeo was warned by the I&B ministry for deliberately exhibiting wrong maps of India and was threatened with stringent action if non-compliance was continued. Let off then, NatGeo continues its misrepresentation! What does the government plan to do now?

But to pick on National Geographic singularly would be wrong, as many other notable agencies mirror this behaviour – including, as mentioned before, CNN, BBC, Lonely Planet, Wikipedia, Google and the quite infamous Central Intelligence Agency. All of these agencies currently carry Indian maps on their websites that are rampant equivocations of reality, yet are freely available from within Indian boundaries.

While the very first result of Google’s image search (for a keyword search of “India map”) gives a wrong map of India, CIA’s World Factbook Report has shown northern Kashmir as being cut off from India and being a part of Pakistan and China. Even the US Department of State endorses a map quite similar to the CIA map on their official India advisory. In the advisory, the Department mentions flagrantly, “The US considers all of the former princely state of Kashmir to be disputed territory.” CNN endorses this viewpoint and has gone a step ahead to term the entire J&K as “disputed.”

One has to realise that these are leading agencies of the world (for example, National Geographic is the world’s largest read magazine published in 32 languages with a mammoth monthly readership of over fifty million; Lonely Planet is the world’s largest travel guide book; Wikipedia is the world’s most referred encyclopaedia; Google the most used search engine; CNN/BBC the largest global media channels) and continued misrepresentation of the Indian map in these forums can only lead to global perception changing negatively against India. The nation necessarily needs to take quick and extreme steps to arrest this situation.

A call for action has to now come directly from the Prime Minister’s office that raises the diplomatic ire to the highest levels possible to enforce immediate and instant change. If compliance is still absent from these agencies, then the Indian government should ban these media/information/government agencies and immediately block access to their channels, both on and off the web.

On the other hand, if the government believes that such a continued misrepresentation by global agencies – some like Google and NatGeo which have already been warned – is not of grave concern, then it should call a spade a spade, tell the Indian public that what is lost, is lost forever... and label itself the most unpatriotic government in the history of independent India!


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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Marketing mantras

Hrithik Roshan is busy promoting his home production Kites, and everyone is going ga ga about how hot this blue-eyed boy is looking and the smouldering chemistry he shares with his co-star Barbara Mori. Hrithik though feels that he needs marketing lessons from Shahrukh Khan and Aamir Khan! But considering all the hype around his co-star Mori to the edited 90-minute version of the film in English, Hrithik we bet, is just trying to being modest!


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Monday, July 30, 2012

The shame of being a Maharaja & The pain of being a King

Air India is a Palaeolithic case study living shamefully on borrowed time and undeserved tax payers’ money. How did the rot start? What continues to weaken the airline’s operations today? what, if at all, can be a quick revival plan to save the airline? Also, is the youthful King of Good times following a similar pattern and slipping into a coma? Bottomline: Should the troubled titanics be allowed to sink? B&E provides the answers...

The ecosystem that has encouraged both the operational and financial breakdown of India’s national carrier did not grow out of vacuum. [To be fair, the Mallya-led private carrier Kingfisher Airlines is equally in trouble.] For AI, the merger of the-then profitable Indian Airline; (which had made Rs.1.60 billion in net profits between FY2003-04 & FY2005-06) and the deadweight-for-long Air India (in March 2007) played the trigger. The imagined post-merger synergies remained a reverie. Integration could not be completed, the fleet and route rationalisation process took forever, union issues killed flights, weakened the airline’s market share and cost more money because the erstwhile Indian employees demanded the “promised” equality and higher compensation (comparable to that received by the AI crew).

Numbers represent the murk well. As per Accenture, which was paid handsomely by the powers-that-be for consulting related to the AI-IA merger and beyond, the merger was expected to result in a bottomline gain of Rs.10 billion in the very first year. Reality check: In the first year post-merger (FY2007-08), the combine’s loss touched Rs.222.62 billion. The blotches grew bigger in the years that followed – Rs.719.08 billion in FY2008-09, Rs.555 billion in FY2009-10, and Rs.580 billion in FY2010-11. Add to this the accumulated losses of Rs.160 billion and you have the national carrier bleeding Rs.2236.70 billion ($49.28 billion) in the four years following the merger until FY2010-11. To say that AI is in losses is underestimating its potential for disaster. The airline is today the world’s highest loss-making entity in its industry. And if you add up the losses reported by the world’s five largest loss-making airlines in the world since 2007 (United-Continental, Delta-Northwest, American Airlines, US Airways and China Eastern Airlines), AI’s total loss shamefully adds up to 146.28% more! In terms of passenger count, AI is today Asia’s 16th largest carrier. It however is very different from the top 15 in one respect – no other large carrier of Asia (including the three-largest Chinese carriers China Eastern Airlines, Air China, China Southern Airlines and others like Taiwan’s China Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific et al) has recorded a single year of loss since FY2009. As for AI, the divide between glory & shame has only got wider.

Over the years, AI’s management has blamed its losses on either escalating fuel prices or intense price-wars that are rampant in the domestic airline circuit. Not hard to disbelieve, but is it only a practice of saving one’s face behind a cocoon of excuses? Going by the recent performance of Jet Airways, IndiGo & SpiceJet (which command 59% of the domestic traffic; as of June 2011), the answer is an obvious yes. The three private-run carriers have managed improved report cards over the years, marked with feathers of profits. While Jet managed a turnaround to make profits of Rs.96.90 million in FY2010-11, IndiGo managed a high Rs.5.5 billion & SpiceJet Rs.1.02 billion after making Rs.615 million in FY2009-10. Clearly, it is the very management that deserves the fat pointing finger at AI.

Over the years, the situation at AI has grown into that of a fish rotting from the head. The recent unceremonious ousting of CMD Arvind Jadhav (on August 12, 2011) is one of the fallouts of the turbulent state of affairs that has marred planning and execution in AI’s boardroom for over three years now. From his selection to the manner in which he handled issues at AI, Jadhav, a 1978 batch IAS officer with nil experience in the aviation sector before he took charge, perhaps rightly deserves criticism. When B&E spoke to sources in the government, the AI management and the airline’s union, many unsettling facts emerged. A year before he assumed office in May 2009, Jadhav (the-then CVO at GAIL) had been found unsuitable for the task of turning around the merged entity by a search committee appointed by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (ACC). The panel thus chose Raghu Menon, a 1974 batch IAS officer – given his expertise in the domain – to handle the complex administrative issues in the areas of personnel and finance management arising out of the merger of the two airlines. A year later, the same panel submitted a list of three officers to the Centre for appointment to the post of CMD – one of whom was Arvind Jadhav. Subsequently, Jadhav was selected to handle an entity whose condition had worsened (with a loss of Rs.941.69 billion in the two years post merger). Jadhav was handed over the shotgun. He did the rest.

Perhaps in his haste to be seen by the political class as the perpetrator of a low-cost vision, Jadhav chose to shoot from the hip at the first thing that moved. On May 4, 2009, his first day in office, Jadhav perplexingly cancelled the appointment of cabin crew who had been selected from five regions across the country – north, south, east, west and central. This marked the sudden end of a process that had been on for a year, and in many cases, where appointment letters had already been issued. Jadhav considered little the fact that the cabin crew were being selected to ensure minimal delays in the on-time operation of the new aircraft that were being inducted in the AI fleet. This single decision of Jadhav, says Rajiv Pratap Rudy, former Civil Aviation Minister to B&E, cost AI Rs.20 billion. During the eight months of delay in hiring cabin crew that resulted, hundreds of flights were either cancelled or delayed due to shortage of crew. Add to this the foxing fact that during the same time as fresh cabin crew appointments were cancelled, long leaves were sanctioned for the already short staffed cabin crew. The endemicity of Jadhav’s shotgun approach resulted in notable and unpardonable devil and the deep sea situations – one being when three Boeing 777-300ER, which Air India acquired at a total price of $852.30 million, could not be used for three full months just because AI did not take delivery of the aircraft!



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Friday, July 27, 2012

“We are now Focussing on Specialty Fibres’’

Adesh Gupta, Director & CFO, Grasim Industries, talks to Shephali Bhatt on what Worked and what didn’t for The Company Last Fiscal

B&E: Grasim Industries reported a 37% yoy growth in profit in Q4, FY2011. What factors drove the number home?
Adesh Gupta (AG): The strong cash flow (supported by buoyant demand conditions) from our VSF (Viscose Staple Fibre) business was a major growth driver. In fact, the business achieved 100% capacity utilisation during the quarter as prices were in line with competitive fibres. The cement business also contributed significantly to our topline. Better performance came in from both the RMC (ready mix concrete) and white cement division.

B&E: How much has the overall market for sectors, which Grasim Industries caters to, grown in the last fiscal?
AG: Cement has grown at 5.3% in FY2011. The growth has been subdued due to de-growth in key consuming states of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi; and lower spending on reality and infrastructure and non availability of resources like railway wagons, construction material etc. But we are confident that these are aberrations and that growth will revert to the 9-10% in the long term, given the huge potential which exists in the housing as well as infrastructure sector. At the same time, volumes were maintained by the VSF business despite a shutdown at one of our plants. Grasim’s growth mirrors the industry growth since we are the only major player in India.

B&E: But when it comes to full year, Grasim Industries’ net profit after tax plummeted by 43.52% in FY2010. What were the reasons for this massive fall?
AG: The cement business has been facing oversupply issues, due to which in the early part of the year, particularly in Q2 FY2011, the cement realisation and profits had fallen to unrealistic levels. Even the VSF business went through market related challenges. The better profits in Q4 FY2011 have helped in nullifying the lower profits in the previos three quarters of the year.



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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

India needs to be Led by a Man like Anna Hazare-whose Heart is in The Right Place - Than by a PH.D in Economics who Allows Corruption !

 When I wrote my previous editorial, “Anna, my Prime Minister,” many people pounced on me accusing me of writing it a bit too soon and getting carried away. It is true that I had written that piece on the second day of Anna’s fast. But to us, Anna was not a new phenomenon. Twelve years ago, the IIPM 0Th ink Tank had initiated visits to Anna’s villages and had undertaken a study. For us, he has been a great icon since then and before too. And therefore, when he decided to come to Delhi, I instantly knew we needed to be behind him. Dr Kiran Bedi, whom I personally respect very much, had already come to our institute during the Bharatiya Manavata Vikas Puraskar ceremony – where she had also received an award for her longstanding commitment to changing India – and had given a passionate speech to support the cause. Arvind Kejriwal, to whom not just me but the entire nation also should be thankful (for fi ghting selfl essly for the RTI Act) was also there with Anna; and so was Swami Agnivesh – a swami with a very balanced outlook to social causes. Th at’s a group that, for the fi rst time in my life, I could feel proud of. And yes, these are the people I want our country to be led by. Th at is why even in this issue, instead of doing a story in our magazine, we decided to do a special supplement on this great movement initiated by this great man Anna Hazare – for the fi rst time ever in our magazine’s four and a half year history.

So, if the question is whether I still stand by my initial proclamation, the answer is yes; I do stand by it – and more so aft er meeting the man himself in person. India is the country of people who barely live around the globally defi ned standard of poverty line of 2 dollars a day. And Anna is one their true representatives. India is a land where the common man has not been allowed to get great education. And Anna is one of them, and yet someone whose life education is worth many Ph.Ds. India lives in its villages and so does Anna. India still has a heart of gold and so does this man. When we suggested to him that we wished to institute the Anna Hazare rural leadership fellowship, he had such wonderful thoughts on the same and explained why we needed leaders in rural India more than w did in urban India if we really wanted to change the nation as a whole. Th e man, his selfl essness, his down-toearth ways, his simple yet honest and powerful thoughts... everything made me personally respect him far more than I had imagined.

Sitting next to him in the most unassuming and simple manner was Arvind Kejriwal – another inspiration and solid example of selfl essness, the man who had given an entire nation hope through the RTI Act and made the government much more responsible in many ways. And every word he spoke added to the belief with which I went to them –the belief that we needed to bring them to mainstream politics. Although they both vehemently disagreed on coming to mainstream vote-politics, I was more than convinced that these are the leaders we needed; because if we can’t respect our current leaders, then the current ones are of no good. Anna and his people, on the contrary, are those that every Indian can easily respect.

I just want to say that it is time that we don’t breathe easy just with this one small win that Anna and his group of committed Indians have achieved. I was happy to know that even they don’t plan to leave it here.Up on their agenda are judicial and electoral reforms – two subjects extremely close to our hearts at the IIPM Th ink Tank and Planman Media. Anna and his people plan to bring forth each of these issues and continue their struggle till things change. I wonder why they are ready to be called unelected people’s representatives, when they can win with votes and do much more than they can do now by staying out of politics. Politics is not the last resort of scoundrels. It’s the fi rst resort of every committed soul. Th ey need to show us the way.


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Monday, June 13, 2011

48 hours to go; govt in a huddle over Ramdev fast

With Baba Ramdev refusing to call off his plans to go on an indefinite hunger strike against corruption from Saturday, the government is meeting once again to try and find a solution. Sources have told NDTV that a team of Cabinet ministers will also meet him again today to break the deadlock. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held an emergency meeting with senior Cabinet ministers last night too to discuss how to deal with the yoga guru. This after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay met Baba Ramdev for over two hours at the Delhi airport. The leaders briefed the PM on their discussions with Ramdev and are also understood to have discussed his proposals and ways to defuse the crisis.

Despite government's assurances on its seriousness of tackling corruption and black money, Ramdev has said he will go ahead with fast at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi. "Till there is 100 per cent agreement on all issues and a decisive stage is reached, the fast will go on," the yoga guru said. He is insisting on concrete measures. His plans have put the government in a spot as he claims crores of people will join his 'satyagraha' against corruption.

After the meeting at the airport, Sibal said, "Baba Ramdev raised significant national issues. We listened and responded to him. We agreed to have dialogue in next couple of days. I am sure we will take all those issues into account." Baba Ramdev in a separate gathering also said that he had written three letters to the Prime Minister in connection with his demands to tackle corruption. He also called for the need for fast-track courts at the Central and state level to try cases of corruption. The yoga guru also added that social activist and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare would join his hunger strike. "I give him full support," Anna Hazare said when asked if he supports Baba Ramdev. Anna Hazare will come to Delhi on June 5 to participate in the agitation to be launched by Baba Ramdev. Mr Hazare said ministers are approaching Baba Ramdev to spoil his movement.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had written a letter to Baba Ramdev to appeal him call off his proposed fast. "Corruption is a big problem and we are making serious efforts to tackle it. It's not a divisive issue," he had written in the letter.

The government clearly worried, doesn't want a repeat of an anti-corruption fast similar to that of Anna Hazare, which had galvanized thousands of people forcing the government to give in to his demands.

However, Congress' Digvijaya Singh says the party is not scared of the yoga guru."If Congress were scared of Baba Ramdev, the party would have put him behind bars. Baba Ramdev is more of a businessman now. He charges Rs. 50,000 for teaching yoga," he said.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
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Friday, July 23, 2010

THE MIGHTY DAVIDS

Local brands in India have in fact been very smart in identifying select markets for their products, winning the confidence of a select consumer base with their unflinching focus. Pan-India and MNC brands with their focus areas spread slim across the nation have therefore lost out to these regional rajahs in these pockets. Take for instance Jyothi Laboratories’ Ujala fabric whitener. It was when the market leader Reckitt Benckiser’s Robin Blue was looking elsewhere that this underdog spread its wings in other parts of the country. Today, Ujala is present in the entire north-eastern part of the country, including West Bengal.

Distribution too plays an imperative role in setting a regional brand onto the national forefront. CavinKare, which owes its success to the revolutionary sachet revolution in India, set a robust distribution network first down south (primarily in Chennai), and then set its manufacturing units and distribution centers all across India. Vishal Retail, which started with a single retail outlet in Calcutta in 1980s, today has its centralised warehouses in north India from where it caters to all its 165 stores across the country.

But having the right product and acquiring distribution muscle is only half the battle won. The other half depends on the unique selling marketing proposition that a regional brand adopts. Why would a customer not go in for a pan-India brand that spends great monies on advertising and promotion, and settle for a relatively unknown regional brand? When Anchor Group (which also manufactures wires, fans and mixers) launched its eponymous toothpaste, the only USP it could think of – which was not offered by any pan Indian rival – was vegetarianism. Selling its product as a 100% vegetarian toothpaste, Anchor (which started from Rajasthan) not only challenged the might of Colgate, but confidently sauntered into markets in UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and is now a preferred toothpaste in Gujarat as well, with a sales turnover of over Rs.7 billion (much higher than even the ubiquitous Colgate).

Of course, the biggest prerequisite for national roll outs of any regional proposition is a big budget facilitated largely by strong backing from an established business house. How else would one explain the conversion of a little-known Cemplus’ brand of dry cement paint from a regional brand to a national one? The fact that the brand belongs to Tata Pigments (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Tata Group) made it much easier for Cemplus to go in for a national roll-out. Similarly, Mumbai’s Bhaskar Salt (owned by the Dainik Bhaskar Group) and even the Adani Group-owned Gemini Oil have got much-need support from their parent companies to help them in their national ambitions.

“Regional brands have a loyal audience, they understand consumer pulse, have a set robust distribution network and a powerful brand,” asserts Walia of Brand Talk. Perhaps this is why the big guys are actively scouting regional brands as viable take-over options. Be it Dabur, Godrej, HUL or P&G – all have been looking for viable takeover options to strengthen their stranglehold in low intensity pockets. Another logic that justifies the takeover of small regional brands by big national players as explained by Rajesh Tanwar, Director, Integrated Retail Solutions as “Competition. Take for instance Dabur’s acquisition of Balsara’s Babool and Meswak toothpaste. HUL and Colgate were reigning high in oral care category when Dabur, through these acquisitions, challenged the two behemoths head-on.” To spark more fire in this brand cauldron, even retailers these days are on the prowl to acquire regional brands and store them as private labels in their retail outlets. Earlier this year, Mukesh Ambani-onwed Reliance Retail bid for two of Henkel’s regional brands - Aramusk (male deodorant soap) and Moloy (sandalwood soap) with similar goals in sight. Sure, the story of regional brands taking on national brands is a perfect David vs. Goliath saga. But while on the one hand, big players always had great bucks to support their business intentions; it has been an uphill, windy road for local players to carve a national niche for themselves.

The next few pages give a first person account of how some more local brands are carving their national even global fortunes... Read on to discover how they became bigger than the big guys on their home turfs...

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Pioneer Exposes the fraud called Mahesh Sharma and Mahesh Peri of Career 360 and Barbel Schwertfeger of mba-channel.com
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Saturday, April 03, 2010

Rethinking in Recession


Prof Arindam Chaudhuri of IIPM on MF HUSAIN‎

A clutch of brands have repositioned themselves over the slowdown years. Now that green shoots of recovery are sprouting all over, is it time for them to reap rewards? Team 4Ps B&M spread out amidst the indian marketing fraternity and got some answers...

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