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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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

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What should be the retirement age of Politician of India?

This is due to several factors – a major one being that there is no effort by the entrenched political class to engage them. After the late Rajiv Gandhi, it is only his son Rahul who has brought back the issue of youths' involvement in active politics into the public domain. Like his father, he too believes in the power of the youth and is convinced that only the involvement of the young in politics will usher in real change. Rahul has repeated this in almost every speech: "I am here to open the door for the youth." And he blames his own party for not allowing them to come forward, thus effectively arresting its growth. During his recent visit to Punjab, he wanted to see new faces. But when he arrived most of the state leaders who had lined up were oldies. This so disgusted Rahul that he reportedly announced the names of youth leaders all by himself. Let the older politicos work as think-tanks and guides for the young: no more!

It is sometimes argued that even old politicians can deliver and have vision and courage like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The frail "naked fakir" – as the British called him – had the vision and guts to undertake something that is today a globally revered model: Satyagraha. In 1942, at age 73, he sent out the Quit India movement call, braving, along with his unarmed countrymen, the batons and bullets of the British Police. That was also when Sir Winston Churchill, then 65, was leading Britain through the Second World War. And both Gandhi and Churchill won their wars.

But those were exceptions. For every Gandhi and Churchill, there are hundreds whose old age simply does not let them function efficiently. But this has not prevented a large number of them to carve out powerful political fiefdoms that have room for them only – and certainly for no youngster. Politicians need to take a leaf from our super senior cricketers – two of whom have retired for the good of the game. They need to do the same for the good of the country. They must ensure that India is never found on a weak wicket....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

“A content people made us win”

What are the challenges you face in your second innings in power?
We have to justify the faith that people have reposed in us. We have to implement the promises in our election manifesto. Efficient governance, which is honest and responsible to the people is our goal. Corruption is a major issue and the people have to be relieved of that burden. I believe mere paper programmes and promises will not change anything. If we can justify this trust of the people we shall come back for a third inning too.

What lies behind the success in the polls?
We were confident we would win… for the past six months, I have extensively toured the towns and villages of my state. I found people contented with our government. I found no discontent either during the “Gram Suraj” (Good Village Governance) or Vikas Yatra (“Development Campaign”). The kind of reception from women that I was privileged to be accorded was amazing. The entire lot converted into ballots for us. Our efforts at development were serious even during the previous tenure.

The entire poll campaign was focussed on rice and Raman, but many of your candidates lost.
The BJP always enters the poll battle led by the captain of the team. I am happy that I justified the trust of the party in me. If you are a people’s representative, you have to deliver the goods. During voting, people mark how you come through to them, whether their needs have been fulfilled over the last five years, and whoever fails to meet these criteria face defeat. It is simple! And this is why the party had denied tickets to those candidates who had not worked for the people.

Why do you think the Congress lost?
(Laughs) You ought to ask the Congress leaders. They suffered from leadership and trust deficit. Which is why people in other states too rejected them.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

A filmmaker offers a totally new musical experience

During filming, the backdrop, lightings and even the singers’ costumes were changed as per the requirements of the song. The film is made digitally for viewing in theatres with surround sound. Sounds of percussion instruments like the Mirudangam and Ganjira will get a new lease of life, promises the director.

The film was shot simultaneously with seven 4K RED Digital cameras – a world's first – by award winning cinematographer PC Sriram. H Sridhar, famous Tamil film sound engineer did the audio. The film will be first screened at multiplexes, and then gradually screened overseas. DVDs and audio CDs will be released around April 2009.

Describing the experience of singing for a ‘film’, TM Krishna said: “There were around a hundred crew members, yet there was complete silence. I was in complete peace of mind while singing.”

The rupees one-crore film targets music lovers who find it impossible to attend concerts. “The new concept of multiplex cinema has made such experiments possible. Since most theatres are digitally equipped now, films like "Margazhi Raagam" are becoming increasingly possible,” says Jayendra. Good ideas have always brought about changes. Perhaps this one too will do so.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Shankaracharya

Shastri then issued a whip, causing the KVP meeting to be cancelled. But Shukla, Upadhyay and Pachauri formed a parallel body -- the Varanaseya Vidvat Parishad -- and went ahead with Amritanand’s abhisheka (anointment) as shankaracharya. “I have issued a charge-sheet against the erring KVP members. It is parallel bodies like these that have so denigrated eminent institutions like the KVP. The matter calls for a thorough probe and the culprits’ prosecution.”

Swami Aviroopanand, however, disapproves of the KVP’s activities as well. “Of late this organisation has lost all dignity and prestige. No less than five persons in Varanasi claim to be its president or general secretary,” says the swami who is deputy of Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of Badrinath and Dwarka.

Now as the murky side of Hindutva is coming to the fore, most of those who were involved in “anointing” Sudhakar Dwivedi feel safer underground or in finding alibis to deny their complicity. “Pachauri put my name on the invitation without my consent. I attended the function in my capacity as pro-vice chancellor of Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. The allegations that I took money for this are false,” claims Shivji Upadhyay. He also accuses Batuk Shastri of dividing the KVP.

The convener of the function, Ram Yatna Shukla, says he doesn’t know Amritanand “personally” and had protested against his anointment. Pachauri, meanwhile, has been untraceable since the ATS arrested Amritanand alias Dwivedi.

Such is the murky world of these new age shankaracharyas! There is no hierarchy and absolutely no checks and balances. For a price, anyone can claim to be a pandit, an acharya, a ramanujacharya, a mahandleshwar or a shankaracharya.

But no matter! Hindutva’s torchbearers are in no great hurry to look within. Their foremost concern, in the words of VHP leader Dr Surendra Jain, is to prevent the “vilification” of Hindu leaders by “pseudo-secular” politicians and “pliable” organisations like the ATS. Says Jain, “We will pay attention to this aspect too ."...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

A positive match

Often the making of a marriage is seen in the light of everything but love. Even in times when instances of courtship following marriage in order of chronology are becoming rarer, arranged marriages still don’t raise many an eyebrow. But what are the implications of swapping medical histories in addition to the material reconnaissance that is a staple precursor to these alliances? Although “there are no conclusive evidences that prove pre-marital HIV testing has reduced the number of AIDS cases in places that have introduced this law”, according to Tripti of Lawyers Collective Mumbai (organization dedicated to solving cases related to HIV), it is largely the dominance and popularity of arranged marriages in our culture that has stirred debates about the viability of mandatory pre-marital HIV testing for both the parties. However perfect the idea of matching a HIV negative with a negative and rejecting a HIV positive might sound to the ears, there are some compelling contentions and reservations against making it a law that can’t be ignored.

While of all the causes of contracting the infection, “unprotected sex is the most prevalent form,” says Anil, a government employee (from his seven years of experience of creating awareness about the disease), it is the taboo attached to being a HIV+ that makes people refrain from getting tested. “I came close to this struggle that an HIV+ person goes through in terms of the way society treats them and the trauma that the family goes through only when my best friend went through it. Sadly, despite being in the medical profession, he made the mistake of visiting prostitutes. Even though his family stood by him, he remained without a marital partner until his death”, regretfully recalls Anil who after his friend’s demise started a portal www.positivesaathi.com to facilitate matrimonial alliances between HIV+ people across the world. His one and a half year old portal has already registered more than five hundred people and has helped many positive people find partners, the most recent being Chaya Tope of Pune and Yogesh of Canada....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Scared countries stay cool

The government of India may have triumphed and brought home its boys, the sailors from the pirated Japanese ship MV Stolt Valor, but there’s little to celebrate, as yet another Yemeni ship was hijacked on November 25, infuriating the world. In fact, the bigger challenge at present is to rescue ships like MV Fiana, a Ukrainian vessel carrying 33 combat tanks and Sirius Star, Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying over two million barrels of oil which is worth over $100 million. Astoundingly, nearly 17 ships are being held to ransom in the region at present.

No one knows where these pirates get their support from. However, the US has ruled out any al-Qaeda support to these pirates. US Army Gen William "Kip" Ward said the chaos on the high seas is a reflection of the country's political chaos. Somalia has had no functioning government since 1991.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

The Old Testament tells how Cain killed his brother Abel and God’s wrath felled him. Is Andhra Pradesh’s Christian CM, YSR, ...

The Old Testament tells how Cain killed his brother Abel and God’s wrath felled him. Is Andhra Pradesh’s Christian CM, YSR, about to do the same to his brethren and invite the wrath of voters, the God of all politicos? asks TSI’s Nageswara Rao Thamanam

This ascribed identity to these groups has been debated for decades. "Being in the Hindu fold, the Dalit families are deprived of entry into the Hindu temples, and now the state government prevents us from using the welfare scheme to go to the birth place of Christ," said a Dalit Christian leader. Although YSR wants to win the hearts of the Christian community, his move has raised many questions on the genuineness of his commitment.


With the majority of Christians being excluded from the new scheme, it is unlikely their hearts would melt when he next coming pleading for votes. Contrarily, it will definitely provide ammunition for the demogogic Hindutva brigade in the state. The problem with this policy is that it did not recognise the fact that if Dalit Christians are excluded from the reservations for Christian community, it will only fuel their anger against the segregation. YSR government's exclusion of Dalit Christians’ to Holy Lands would permanently damage the sympathy YSR has among the Christian community: he himself comes from a Christian community, whose majority he is now alienating. The scheme will fuel the old fire of caste within the Christians and would split the community's loyalties.

With the general and Assembly elections approaching, this gesture by the ruling Congress government is seen as another ploy to turn every possible group into their prospective supporters. As a matter of fact, Andhra Pradesh is the only state in South India that is under Congress rule and from where Congress has 30 Lok Sabha members. Coming back to power in AP will ensure its strength in the next LS. With its sentimental opposition to separate statehood to Telangana, and being the only major political party to oppose it, the Congress is looking for alternatives to raid the vote bank. But it remains to be seen if YSR will succeed in winning the hearts of minorities.

Precisely at a time when attacks on Christians by the Hindutva forces in Orissa and Karnataka are rising, the populist initiative by the AP government will make the Christian community more vulnerable to the Hindutva forces. On the face of it, the CM is doing a great service to his own Christians brethren but in effect it will perhaps repeat the story of Cain killing Abel!...Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Poll wars in cyberspace

Just as the hi-tech, high-pitch Barack Obama-John McCain campaign drew to a close, news arrived that India’s mainline political parties had lined up similar smart tools for the forthcoming Assembly elections. In at least four states in the Hindi heartland the contestants have migrated to highly sophisticated campaign methods. They no longer rely exclusively on banners, posters, hoardings, cut-outs and graffiti -- and those old-fashioned sound amplifiers are swiftly being discarded for neater stuff. Indeed even the rural voters, long accustomed to politicians making their point through folk songs and local dances and art forms, are this time round being wooed in true firangi style.

While the Congress has fitted its campaign vehicles with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to track their movement, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is using social service networks, mobile telephony and FM radio stations to woo young voters. The Congress has also been aping the BJP’s 2004 campaign strategy by launching the appeals of its president Sonia Gandhi, Youth Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in recorded messages relayed through telephones. So don’t for a moment be surprised if your phone rings and the caller says, Main Sonia Gandhi bol rahi hoon (This is Sonia Gandhi).

Congress’s central unit has hired Crayon Advertising to push its campaign, leaving the state units to pick their own favourites. Another departure from earlier campaigns is to get comedians like Ehsan Qureshi and Raju Srivastava commanding high TRPS to pitch in. “With them we hope to make our campaigns livelier and thus hit the right cord among the electorate,” says AICC Media Committee chairman Veerappa Moily.

BJP’s campaign armour is being overseen by an unassuming IIM Ahmedabad alumni, Prodyut Bora, who is head of the party’s IT cell. Bora had quit his top job at a software company four years ago to join the party fulltime. He has not only updated the BJP’s website (he can’t hide his admiration for Barack Obama’s campaign website), but has also designed his party’s e-mail system with instant messenger (IM) facility. All of the party’s primary members are issued special e-mail ids to enable uninterrupted online chats with their leaders.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Post Leterme's resignation, further instability is feared in Belgium

Early this year, Leterme had set himself a deadline of July 15 to put to rights the parties from Flanders and Wallonia over sweeping reforms to the federal state. But the 47-year-old Flemish conservative failed on three separate occasions, and thus decided to resign. Reacting on the crisis, noted Belgian expert at the Free University of Brussels, Pascal Delwit said to B&E, “Three chances were more than enough, but he clearly failed to grab the opportunities that came his way. In fact, he went out of the way to set things straight. But his limited successes were always followed by psychodramas.”

Belgium, which has merely been a unitary state since 1830, has endured a flurry of political predicaments. The resentment among the Dutch speaking Flemish and the French speaking Walloons goes a long way. However, being a Dutch speaking son of a French speaking father, Leterme's out of the box thinking had generated some hope. The boundaries of Europe's nation states are hardly immutable. Recent incidents suggest Belgium will be the next in the line.....read more

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Madhya Pradesh

IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

You were perhaps taught this in school – geographically, which state lies in centre of India? Madhya Pradesh? Let’s make it easier – which is the largest state in terms of area? Madhya Pradesh, right?! Wrong!!! It’s been pushed to the ‘second’ position post the Chattisgarh split (and for your information, it’s been eight years since then!). Not that size really matters when it comes to gaining attention, but this state is also ranked ‘second’ as per the 4Ps B&M and ICMR Best Marketed State Survey 2008 (that is pure coincidence, trust us!). And thus lies MP, as the heart of the country (No wonder its state tourism punch-line is, “India ka dil dekho”).

So there you are – 308,144 km sq. of beauty and grandeur. Nonetheless, this sizeable land mass is not a favourite haunt for the mindful because of just the Ajantas and the Elloras. It’s not just about the mind-boggling landscapes or the serene waterbodies. It’s also got a lot to do with capitalism! Situated in a strategic landlocked location, MP has 5 states enclosing its boundary – the highest in the country. So, does this mean some luck with investments? Let’s take a sneek-peek into the list of companies who find investment a wonderful proposition in MP. While Mysore Cements has a plant at Damoh, BK Birla Group’s flagship company – Century Textiles & Industries Ltd. has a cement plant at Satna. Near Indore, it also has cotton yarns and denim production plants which are mainly used for export purposes. A Century Textiles official justifies the rationale behind the investment as, “The one factor that prompted us to come here was the very-friendly labour atmosphere existent in this state. Moreover, the kind of labour force available at the existent price levels is amazing!” Another prominent cement brand that has established a solid presence in MP is Grasim Industries Ltd. The AV Birla Group company, has a cement plant located in Jawad and a highly-profitable viscose staple fibre plant (VSF) in Nagda district.

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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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For years, cheerleaders have been dancing to the potential of online advertising in India. But now Internet giants are gung-ho on making online advertising more meaningful for marketers, giving fresh hope to those tired cheerleaders, says VAREEN RAY

It was a bright sunny winter morning and Sagar had just logged on to the Internet to chat with his brother in Philadelphia. While surfing, he couldn’t help but notice the very in-your-face click-able ad of MakeMyTrip.com that popped up on screen. Sheer curiosity made him click on the link, and before you could say Jack Robinson, he was on his way (along with the rest of his family) to Philadelphia, thanks to the irresistible scheme that the travel portal offered through that one ad. A big deal for Sagar and great word-of-mouth publicity for MakeMyTrip.com! The travel portal is not alone in exploiting the growing popularity of Internet surfing within the country, job sites like Monster.com and matrimonial offerings like Shaadi.com are also in the fray.

But apart from sites offering services on the Internet, the vast labyrinth of products and services available in India are still shying away from online advertising. Big ticket players like Pepsi, Maruti (Maruti SX4), ADAG (Zapak) and HLL (Sunsilk Gang of Girls) who have ventured onto the media, have also not tasted expected success. A big reason is the abysmal levels of Internet penetration in the country – just a meagre 46 million users (Internet in India Report 2007 by IAMAI & IMRB), contributing just a miniscule 2-3% to the total advertising expenditure. Prathap Suthan, National Creative Director, Cheil Communications, feels, “If I know that at maximum, I can reach only 5-10% of my total target audience through this medium, I would definitely be less interested in that medium and prefer a mass media, where I can reach the maximum of my target audience.” Even the terrestrial signals of Delhi Doordarshan can reach 87.9% of India’s population. Contrast this to the melancholic 2-3% Internet penetration in India, and you know why online advertising is a poor distant cousin to the traditional mass media.

Says Shailesh Rao, MD, Google India, “It is difficult to be excited about the advances in the telecommunications sector when our computing infrastructure is so far behind from where it should and needs to be.”

However, marketers are increasingly diversifying their media mix to include new genres and technologies like IPTV, broadband TV, mobile TV, et al. Gaurav Arora, Delhi Head, G2 India, asserts, “Fresh blood that is coming on the client side has much more faith in new media. But the decision makers still don’t trust new media.” According to him, every media has its own reasons why users interact with it. While TV and print are what can be called ‘lean backward’ media, Internet is a ‘lean-forward’ media as there is a two way interaction involved, believe marketers.

In as much, the power of the Internet as an advertising media cannot be discounted. Of course, the benefits of online advertising remain far superior for online sites, as a majority of their clients are online. But other sectors are also cashing in. The financial services sector for one is a clear leader as far as online-spends are concerned. Hari Shankar, Business Director, Starcom IP India says, “The industry which has gained maximum by online advertising is banking & finance (banks, credit cards, mutual funds, stocks & shares etc.). They use the Internet as a lead generation medium. Other sectors that are active on the Internet are mobile, automotive, computers & technology, entertainment, to name a few.”

Going by the sheer number of advertisers optimistically looking at online advertising as a strong upcoming media, even analysts have upgraded their forecasts. Earlier reports suggested that online advertisement segment would grow to Rs.9.5 billion by 2011. But according to the Internet in India report 2007, online advertising in India will be worth Rs.20 billion in 2009 itself. Google’s Rao is as bullish as these figures. According to him, marketers “demand to know the concrete value delivered for a given investment. AdWords, as an example, fulfils this by providing a detailed understanding of ROI.”

Though search engines like Google boast of being able to calculate the actual ROI per online marketing campaign, a majority of marketers in India are still questioning the validity of reaping ‘payback’ benefits from this much hyped medium. ROI simply depends on the definition of ‘success events.’ A case in point being the banking sector. Banks have defined success event as ‘lead generation’ (because they possibly see Internet only as a ‘sales tool’). But advocates of online advertising believe that such an assessment is stifling to the vast potential that the medium offers. They prefer to define success events as ‘time spent with content, number of pages viewed, number of repeat visits, number of users who visited as a result of exposure, number of conversations generated as a result of advertising, number of voluntary participations as a result of exposure’. Asserts Rahul Nanda, COO of Web Chutney, “The medium allows you to measure and track reach, it also allows you to be in control of your budgets real-time and target your audience with more focus.”

All said and done, for the present and even in the near future, online advertising in India will just remain an add-on medium or as Titus Upputuru, Creative Director, O&M, puts it, “For marketers it will always be ‘achcha kuch online bhi soch lete hain’.” And even then, for most marketers, Internet advertising simply means banner ads. The more adventurous ones adopt the ‘pay per click’ model. But even here, faultlines creep in as the risk of false clicks is very high and marketers end up paying huge amounts for false clicks. Savvy marketers are therefore increasingly using consumer profiling, demographics and proper media planning to overcome such obstacles. Adds Nanda, “Understanding user behaviour is the first step in the online advertising process. Any online campaign seeks to engage the user with carefully targeted ads based on their browsing behaviour, time spent on different web properties, matching the ad content with the website content and other relevant parameters. The next step is ‘Behavioural Targeting,’ but India is still some time away from it.” Foolproof consumer profiling techniques are also reducing privacy intrusion of surfers tremendously. Intrusive banner formats today, are moving towards a scenario where users are given the choice of making them non-intrusive. Many formats today ask users if they want to play the ad whereas all the formats give the user an immediate option to close the ad. Advertisers also limit the exposure of the ad to the same user these days (example – person sees the ad only once a day) so that there is minimal irritation. The usage of ‘pop-ups’ specifically as a format is largely done by transaction-oriented companies (banks, money transfer etc.) who want an immediate response/action from the user in the form of a lead. This definitely can be an irritant factor, which can disrupt the user experience but this again, is slowly changing to formats which are less intrusive. such as pop-unders.

Online research tools such as Red Sheriff, Nielsen et al, allow media planners to feed in users’ demographics and get real time data on their usage patterns, content consumption & site visits. This enables even seasoned online media professionals to get insights from post-campaign evaluations done across industries and brands. Adds Shankar, “Such seasoned professionals are what I call the ‘road warriors’ who know exactly the answer (media solution) to a question (media brief) without the support of media software runs and research data. But India will eventually have to get to a scenario where third party measurement, auditing, media behaviour analysis and monitoring are available akin to the US (tools such as Nielsen @Plan) and then planners can work with the support of such tools.” Adds Dr. Subho Ray, President, IAMAI, “Collectively setting up proper rules of engagement between advertisers, agencies and online publishers, as exists for other media, will certainly help.” Even new forms of online advertising like Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media Optimisation (very popular in the western world and much effective than banner advertising) are still to be explored in India.

But for online advertising in India, the biggest hurdle to be crossed is in changing the mindset of the traditional marketer. Of course, there’s no way that the Internet can ever replace traditional mass media, but once marketers start looking at online advertising as an ‘add-on’ media strategy rather than a ‘now off-now on’ strategy, it won’t be long before things brighten up for this fresh kid on the block.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Read these article :-
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