Tuesday, April 30, 2013

There’s no free launch

An agency that has stumbled hard through decades to indigenously develop a workable cryogenic engine, now wishes to post haste launch missions to Mars and Venus. Can somebody please tell ISRO to focus on Earth?

In October, 2008, India’s first unmanned lunar probe – Chandrayaan-1 – was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Despite failure of key machinery that led to the lunar probe cracking up before completing all its planned projects, ISRO claimed that as the probe had apparently completed 95% of its desired work, it was a resounding success. We, along with the nation, bought the reasoning. The probe did elicit enormous public admiration and took India’s space ambitions to an altogether new pedestal.

If we’re all done with the claps, can somebody please educate us on what exactly did India’s one billion plus civilian population gain in the whole affair? Ideologically, of course, we gained quite a bit (India became the fourth country to hoist its metaphorical flag on the moon); philosophically, much more – oh, what brimming pleasure it must have been for the ISRO scientists waddling away at thrilling videos of our mercurial lunar probe electrifyingly speeding away on the Moon. And yes, someone told us the probe found quite a plentiful of water too there. Okay, what else?

Clearly, either we are or ISRO is missing the whole forest for the trees. In what manner did India benefit in all the hype of the lunar vehicle? Add to all that brouhaha ISRO’s announcements of future missions planned to Mars, Venus and if you may, the Sun itself (forget the fact that Chandrayaan-1 supposedly failed because it couldn’t manage even the lunar heat) and you have the makings of munificent chest-thumping flag-hoisting projects that are going to cost India billions of dollars, with little real benefit to India. Really, how can one justify these behemoth missions unless ISRO proves a direct correlation of these missions in improving India’s defence, communications or economic competence?

The Mars mission got Rs.125 crores from the government in this year’s budget; this is a part of the Rs.6,715 crores overall budget for the space department this year. In 2009, the Planning Commission had even approved the mind-numbing Rs.12,400 crore manned space mission program of ISRO (planned for 2015).

Across the Atlantic, NASA justifies its essentialism to America by managing many national security programs for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland security and other intelligence agencies. It’s not that ISRO doesn’t assist India’s various defence or communications programs – in fact, in projects where it has assisted thus, ISRO has been rightly praised to the heavens. The various SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle) series, INSAT (Indian National Satellite) series, IRS (Indian Remote-sensing Satellite) series, GSAT (Geostationary satellite) series, Kalpana 1 (India’s first meteorological satellite) et al have all been exemplary examples of ISRO’s ‘practical’ commitment.

But great work on the front shouldn’t give ISRO blanket permission to invest the nation’s money into projects that might get featured as cover stories of National Geographic but have no practical worth. For example, it is quite shocking that ISRO has still not been able to develop its own navigation satellite. On July 22, 2012, K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of ISRO and the Space Commission, pointed out that currently, India is using navigation satellites of other countries. And the less we talk about spy satellites the better. ISRO launched India’s first indigenous spy satellite (RISAT-1) only a handful of months back in April 2012 – 55 years after the world’s first spy satellite had already been launched! And even cryogenic engines, after decades of trying, ISRO has had just one self-claimed success.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Saturday, April 27, 2013

"What the RBI does unilaterally will not be effective"

Economist, Deloitte, speaks to virat bahri on the issues facing India Inc. In a slowing economy and how the government needs to manage them

B&E: The industry is peeved by the RBI’s unchanged stance on inflation and refusal to cut rates. Is the RBI right in its assessment?
Anis Chakravarty (AC): When the RBI started increasing interest rates around 14-15 months back, there were some interesting observations. One was that RBI kept increasing repo rates by around 25 basis points and in some cases by 50 basis points. But inflation kept on rising and till a point of time, it was steady. It started as a food inflation issue or it was linked with primary articles. It slowly moved towards secondary articles (manufactured goods) and then reverted back to primary articles. Also, demand in the domestic market was largely intact. Effectively, when you have an economy driven by demand, the only way inflation will rise is when supply isn’t keeping pace. In agriculture, which is largely unorganised, there were lots of inefficiencies in the supply chain. Until we have FDI in retail and more of a market-linked mechanism of looking at supply, we will continue to have this problem. If it remains, it’ll be very difficult for RBI to reduce rates. So what RBI does unilaterally won’t be effective in the long run. Monetary and fiscal policy must go hand in hand.

B&E: In which other key areas is India Inc. facing problems?
AC: A large number of companies that bring up the base are SMEs. The issue there is high borrowing costs. A large number of SMEs, which import raw materials, are also seeing input costs rise due to rupee depreciation. Secondly, our export market is primarily led by engineering goods and services. Here, if you have long term contracts, a number of these contracts are delayed unless some of these issues are sorted out. You will see that despite global crude oil prices being sorted out, the rupee continues to depreciate and feed inflation. Secondly, fiscal deficit is high, so the government needs to float bonds or borrow from the public. This is also crowding out investments, as it becomes difficult for SMEs to borrow. You would have also seen the controversy surrounding GAAR; such uncertainty also affects genuine corporate taxpayers. They don’t know whether or not GAAR is postponed permanently, or when GST will be rolled out.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

B&E Indicators

Major Indian ports are running at near-capacity
The cargo traffic at Indian ports increased to 883 million tonnes in FY2011 from 850 million tonnes in FY2010. Interestingly, the 13 major ports in India accounted for some 66% of total traffic handled at the ports in FY2011. However, most of the larger ports are currently running at near-capacity, which suggests strong market share gain potential for the minor ports over the near-term.

Rs.1.5 lakh crore required in the next 5 years
Heavy traffic and lack of capacity kept major ports in a bad shape till around 2009. However, the situation is now changing with utilisation coming down from around 98% in 2008 to about 85% at the end of 2011. Still, an investment of over Rs.1.5 lakh crore is required in the country’s port sector in the next five years, of which a major chunk is expected to come from the public-private partnership.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
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Friday, April 19, 2013

“We will never forge an alliance with BSP”

Rajnath Singh has shouldered crucial responsibilities for BJP, time and again. With elections approaching fast in several states, 2012 promises to be an eventful year for the mass leader. In an exclusive conversation with Parimal Peeyush, Rajnath discusses politics, corruption, Anna Hazare and more...

B&E: What are your expectations for the party’s performance in the forthcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand? How well do you expect the party to fare this time around?
Rajnath Singh (RS): We already have our government in Uttarakhand and I am confident that the party will return to power once again. In Uttar Pradesh too, BJP’s graph is shooting northwards at an immense pace. It is true that BJP was weak in the state. The reason was our alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which I feel was not in tune with the expectations people had from our party. People had seen the rule of SP and they were so filled with anger that they got BSP to power even though they did not want to. Now they have suffered at the hands of the BSP as well. So, the people of UP want the BJP to come to power. They have seen our party’s governance and there is a general belief that when it comes to good governance, BJP fares better than all other parties.

B&E: How many seats do you see it translating into? There are talks that the BJP could go for a post-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Is it true?
RS: Our target, of course, is full majority and the way the party’s graph has been rising in the state, the possibility cannot be negated. Coming to your second question, let me be very clear that BJP has decided not to go for any alliance with BSP, neither pre-poll nor post-poll. We will neither extend our support to BSP, nor ask for it. We will be happy to play our role as the Opposition, but an alliance with BSP, under any circumstances, is not on cards.

B&E: The BJP government in Uttarakhand has recently passed the Lokayukta Bill. The party also replaced Nishank with B. C. Khanduri as the state Chief Minister. How well do you think this has worked for the image of your party?
RS: When it comes to addressing the issue of corruption in India, the first positive step in this regard has been taken by the Uttarakhand government. The legislation is on the lines of the Jan Lokpal Bill. If you look at the Congress Party, there is no doubt left in anybody’s minds today that they are not in favour of bringing a Lokpal Bill on the lines of the Jan Lokpal. I personally don’t feel that there was any shortcoming with Nishank. Sometimes, keeping in mind what role a leader should play, certain strategic changes are brought about.

B&E: With elections approaching in Punjab as well, what are your expectations for the party’s performance in the state? Do you believe that the BJP-Akali Dal combine could come back to power?
RS: I certainly believe so. There should be a repeat of the BJP-Akali Dal combine. Look, the way prices have gone up, there is a lot of real anger out there. Rise in petrol price has also annoyed people. There is absolutely no reason for the Congress to come to power in Punjab. If you look at the performance of the central government in the past few months, you get a feeling that there is a defunct government working out there, a government, which does not know what to do and what not to do. Even if you look at the history of the Congress, when have they been correct? They have deceived the public either with policies or with slogans.
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Monday, April 15, 2013

Can the new Bill create a level-playing field in real estate?

The Draft Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2011, which is likely to be placed before this winter session of the Parliament, will hopefully live up to expectations in meeting the aspirations and the needs of the industry and its consumers.

The recent order of the Competition Commission of India imposing a Rs.6 billion fine against leading real estate player DLF grabbed media headlines and brought into focus the plight of the real estate consumers who have long been grappling with the twin-challenges of one-sided contracts loaded in favour of the developer/builder on the one hand and the endless delays in projects and cost overruns on the other. But help for beleaguered consumers is at last on hand with the central government now attempting to address these challenges by unveiling a draft of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2011. Recently, the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja released the 29 page-long draft bill in this regard, which seeks to ensure self-disclosure, transparency, fair play and dispute resolution in the real estate sector. The bill, the government believes, will usher in regulation that will help protect homebuyers from fly-by-night operators and rapacious developers. The bill seeks primarily to provide for an adjudicator by creating a real estate regulating authority, which will have the power for prescribing punitive action to bring errant players to book. The draft bill is expected to be approved by the Union Cabinet shortly, and will most likely be placed before the ongoing winter session of the Parliament.

Several influential voices from the sector have welcomed the move to bring in a regulatory body for the real estate sector. None other than Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, India’s largest housing finance company, has spoken in favour of regulation for the sector, which he feels has been getting a bad rep in recent times due to the various malpractices and excrescences finding their way into the industry. Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle India, has welcomed the Model Real Estate Regulation Act and says that it provides for a much need arbitration body to hear out and attend to grievances and redress. “This is a big step in the direction of recognising the Indian real estate industry, since it means that the real estate sector has attained a certain degree of scale and so now warrants a regulatory agency with transparent rules, regulations, safeguards and redress systems,” says Puri.

What is there in the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill 2011 for the realtors? To begin with, the bill will make the real estate and housing sector, which till now has been loosely regulated, directly accountable to the regulator. According to the provisions of the bill, all such projects or plots, which are 4,000 sq. metres or more in size, will have to obtain certificates of registration from the regulatory body. Also, the bill seeks to establish a regulatory oversight mechanism to enforce disclosure, fair practice and accountability norms in the real estate sector, ending its current free run in a largely unregulated environment. Besides making it mandatory for builders/developers to register with the real estate regulatory authority before launching a project, the bill will also ensure that developers submit their project details such as land status, statutory approvals, cost and contractual obligations.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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How Steve Jobs infused passion into a commodity

For many the PC was a piece of hardware. For Jobs, it had a soul that craved for design

In the early 1990s, Compaq Computer was the technology darling of the day, and PC sales were surging. Dell was promoting its build-on-demand model, Gateway computer shipped its products in boxes with Holstein cow markings, and IBM had introduced the ThinkPad with its Little Tramp marketing campaign. Apple’s Macintosh was introduced during the 1984 Super Bowl, but was considered a marginal outlier with its quirky proprietary OS.

About this time I had lunch with Bill Gates, who dismissed PCs as nothing but components held together by plastic and screws manufactured on low-cost assembly lines, a commodity business with narrow profit margins. The future belonged to software and semiconductor makers like Microsoft and Intel, where the real innovation was going on.

This made sense to me, and as the years unfolded, Gates seemed prescient. The PC makers were mostly reduced to commodity producers; IBM sold off the ThinkPad, H-P bought Compaq and may now abandon the business; Gateway was sold off and the brand has all but vanished. Apple nearly went under. But today, the exception is so glaring as to have stood Gates’ prediction on its head: Apple’s operating profit margins have grown (to more than 33%), and Apple’s m-cap of $347.3 billion recently is bigger than that of Microsoft & Intel combined.

Of all Steve Jobs’ accomplishments, this, to me, remains both the simplest and the most astonishing. How did he take a commodity – to borrow from the novelist Tom Wolfe, the “veal gray” plastic boxes that once weighed so heavily on both our desks and spirits – and turn it into one of the most iconic and desirable objects on the planet? “Steve Jobs and Apple never – ever – wanted to be a low-margin commodity producer,” Donald Norman, a former VP for Advanced Technology at Apple Inc. and author of “Living With Complexity,” told me recently. “Even the Apple II had some charm to it. It was the first PC that had professional industrial designers. Before that they were designed strictly by engineers, and they were ugly. Steve was always, if not an artist, then someone who was charmed by style. He had this dream of something beautiful. If it was going to cost more, it didn’t matter. This was in his genes.”

Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, recalled buying a 1990 Macintosh Classic and taking it back to Italy. “When I got home, I took it out of that brown, padded carrying case with the rainbow-colored Apple logo on it and put it on my desk in Milan. It was like a little pug dog looking at me. It wasn’t just something I worked with; it kept me company. It had such personality and such life.”


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
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Saturday, April 13, 2013

Search for The Next ‘Hundred Zeroes’!

Technology Companies are setting up VC funding Arms, Raising optimism of a Great Inorganic Leap forward. Seriously, aren’t corporate venture funds already too overrated?

When Google founders Sergey Brin & Larry Page decided to take up VC funding of $12.5 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in 1998, they told the VC firm’s partner John Doerr that they were willing to hire an outside CEO, but they backtracked a few months later; saying they would like to go on their own. They were then taken by Doerr to meet a number of CEOs like Andy Grove of Intel, Jeff Bezos of Amazon & Steve Jobs of Apple to really appreciate what a CEO’s job entailed. Finally, they relented on the outsider proposition, provided the outsider was Steve Jobs and no one else, before finally being convinced to explore further!

Considering Steve Jobs’ iconic personality and a high probability of a clash of equals, that may not have been a genuinely good idea. But this anecdote from Steven Levy’s book titled In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works & Shapes Our Lives, really underscores how Google’s founders never really were comfortable letting their baby being run by anyone but themselves. The inevitable happened this year, when Page took the reins as CEO and Eric Schmidt became Chairman. Page already is talking about taking Google back to its start up days when it comes to the culture of innovation.

They have always been concerned about the company slowing down on growth. Levy mentions that they once fired all the middle managers for that! In fact, though not all may take such extreme action, that reflects a genuine concern of technology companies beyond a certain size, as they risk getting blown over by the next disruptive technology in a dynamic industry. This fact has proved true for companies like Microsoft, Yahoo!, HP, BlackBerry, Dell, IBM and Google itself, to an extent. Apart from a number of initiatives to get the company on the innovation drive again, which include working on book search and autonomous vehicles, one of the Google’s most ambitious moves is with respect to its VC firm Google Ventures, which has earmarked $200 million to fund promising start up companies (touted as a move to find the next Google?). That’s significantly large by VC standards and Google claims that it has a special secret algorithm that can help it find what the next big start ups would be. Apart from Google itself, a number of big technology names are on the list of corporate venture funds like IBM, Intel, SAP, Microsoft and National Semiconductor. But how successful can this VC model led by technology companies be?

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Friday, April 12, 2013

“We Aim for 15% Market Share”

Victor Shan, President India, Device Business Development, Huawei

Huawei, a leading telecom equipment manufacturer is planning to tap the growing smartphone market in India. The company, known mainly for its B2B products, has launched three smart- phones recently and is planning to expand its portfolio shortly. Tablets are also on the cards. Akhilesh Shukla of Business & Economy talks to Victor Shan, President India, Device Business Development, Huawei about his company’s India plans and targets

B&E: Huawei has been operating in the B2B space, even in the handset segment. What made you to go direct to the customer with the launch of smartphones?
Victor Shan (VS): The handset market in India is huge and witnessing a handsome growth. Last year 170 million units of handsets were shipped into the country, a large part of which were smartphones. Indian customers do not buy products bundled with services, unlike in the US and Europe. As a result, we at Huawei have decided to go direct to the customer with our smartphone devices. These phones will be available for sale in 10 cities through our national distributors Redington and Ingram Micro. We are confident that our new 3.5G phones will receive a good response in metros and tier II cities.

B&E: Huawei, as a handset brand, is largely unknown in India. What is your marketing strategy to promote Huawei as a handset brand?
VS: It is not that we are completely unknown to telecom subscribers in India. We have been reaching to the end customer through our data cards, available with all the major Internet service provider in India. In the early stage of our lunch we are planning to promote our handsets on digital platform as we are targeting urban youth with access to the Internet and social networking websites, including Facebook and Twitter. Further, we will promote the handsets at all the retail outlets where we are present. Talks are in an advanced stage to tie up with a leading large format retail outlet. After the completion of the first phase of the smartphone launch we will hit the mainstream media.

B&E: The after-sales service is a key requirement to surviving in the competitive handset industry. How you are planning to offer post-sale service support to Huawei’s smartphone customers?
VS: We already have authorised post-sale service centres in India for our data cards and set-top boxes. These service centres cater to the needs of the customers of  25 million Huawei devices sold in the India market so far. We have around 350 authorised post-sale service centres spread across India. Besides, we have specialised service centres at the regional level. Other than that, Huawei has two high level service centres as well. As we grow further we will add up more service centres to cater to the needs of our customers.

B&E: Every handset player is planning to launch tablets, as they are expected to be the next mass device in the market. When will we see Huawei launching tablets in India?
VS: We have ambitious plans for launching our tablets for the Indian market. Our tablets will compete with Tier II tablet brands in the market. In India we will launch two tablets in the Q3 2011 with competitive pricing, as it is a price-sensitive market. The top device will be priced at sub Rs.25,000 and the other at sub Rs.20,000. These tablets will come pre-loaded with our application store - HISPACE - with Indian specific content developed at our Bangalore R&D unit.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
 
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
 
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Monday, April 8, 2013

Can Bharat compete with India?

The rural market is the platform for FMCG companies to turn around businesses now. But they need to be really innovative if they want to tap its true potential.

I ndia has always been termed as an agrarian economy, but not much has been done to utilise the massive potential of the rural market. There have been initiatives like AMUL and the Green Revolution, but they were not enough to boost the massive growth of the neglected parts of the country. It is indeed sad that there have been three major industrial policies since independence, but not one for agriculture, which was once the prime GDP earner for the economy. But times are changing as urban markets are almost at a critical stage; and marketers all around are hunting for opportunities, nowhere else but in rural India.

In fact, as the income levels rise and rural populace become more aware than ever, companies, especially FMCG players, are revamping their rural strategy, only to grab a bigger piece of the lucrative pie that India’s hinterland offers. Further, the idea is to build long-term trust and not just focus on the immediate sale of their products. After all, rural India today contributes to over 54% of India’s GDP, a significant number which in itself is higher than the GDP of Switzerland ($527.9 billion). Even the FMCG market in India is set to treble from $13.1 billion at present to $33.4 billion in 2015.

Bharat too is keeping pace with India when it comes to spending on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), forcing the existing players to ramp up their rural operations. In fact, the rural penetration of products such as soaps, shampoos, washing powder, hair oil and biscuits is already at par with urban India. For instance, while toilet soap penetration is as high as 99%, washing powder too boasts of an admirable 97% penetration.

Broadly, the strategy is to not only have a presence in the larger segments that were traditionally meant for the masses, but also in niches which till now were invisible from the rural landscape. The reason is simple. Today, rural India boasts of a large consuming class with over 41% of India’s middle-class and 58% of the total disposable income. Even a recent survey by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) reveals that rural middle class is growing at 12%, almost neck-to-neck with its urban counterparts, which is clocking a growth of 13% per annum. What’s more? 25% of the total number of upper income households (with earnings of over Rs.1 million), which is projected to go up to 21 million by 2011 end, will be coming from rural India. Considering that the rural population is estimated to have risen to over 155 million households by the end of 2011, and urban markets nearing saturation, future growth in the sector is bound to come from increased rural and small town penetration.

In fact, FMCG players have been looking at every opportunity to penetrate in rural India for years. Reason: The consumers here accounts for 60% of the total consumption and moreover, the biggest scope lies in the fact that most of the market is unorganised and handled by local players. Players like ITC have already been very successful here with initiatives like e-Choupal and HUL’s Project Shakti has been equally well known and celebrated. A few years ago retail giants were happy catering to urban masses, but now with the development of infrastructure in rural India, they are planning to tap this area in a much bigger way.
 
Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

This University is Under Siege!

Usage of Outdated tools, Wrong Analysis, faulty Reportage, Attrition of key Personnel, lack of Forward Integration – thanks to its Complacent Approach, IMRB risks Losing Ground very fast

The early birds do catch the worms, but in the corporate world, it’s really about how long you can keep them. Being born in a period (1970, to be precise) when Indian companies weren’t even updated on the real meaning of the word ‘customer’, does provide several advantages to IMRB, a company that’s well known for its customised researches. But when one looks at how it’s failing to set new benchmarks, one wonders how long it can continue to keep its competitive strengths intact.

For a company that claims to be the ‘University’ of the Indian market research industry, it would be quite appropriate to do a quick ‘research’ on the pioneering work by brand strategy guru David Aaker on Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA). Aaker had said that a company’s assets and skills will ultimately determine whether it can retain a sustainable competitive advantage.

For IMRB, development of the right kind of assets and skills appears to be the major challenge. A more embarrassing challenge is the fact that faults in IMRB’s reportage and findings have crept up faster than one could have ever expected or imagined – and it’s surprising that IMRB’s management could have overseen (and overlooked) these issues. For example, an IMRB report like the Internet Usage and Habits of Cyber Cafe Users (December 5, 2010) is riddled with numerical conflicts that could fox even the most intrepid analyst – 4Ps B&M has listed one such mistake in the graph at the right.

Some industry players put the blame for such lack of professionalism to be the result of their manpower challenges. Lakshmikant Gupta, Chief Marketing Officer at LG Electronics India, tells us from his experience and interactions, “IMRB is having a tough time retaining people, as they are moving to international MR firms or other sectors for better career options.” Numerous surveys point out lack of growth opportunities as the main reason for employee attrition. For an international MR company, it could be quite appalling if they were unable to provide their performers the right career progression, and it definitely has a worrisome bearing on growth prospects.

In general, the malaise starts from the top of the industry ladder. Dhiraj Chaddha, Marketing Head, Voltas Ltd. points out, “I think there’s a big room for improvement in the Indian MR industry. Most of them are following archaic models, which haven’t changed over the years.” Pioneers do have a role in shaping the best and worst in an industry. IMRB proves quite true to the stereotype.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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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Monday, April 1, 2013

“We Will follow our Motto of Keeping Supply Below Demand!”

Enrico Galliera, Commercial & Marketing Director at Ferrari SpA, joined the Italian luxury carmaker just a year back, after working for over two long decades at various positions in the marketing department of the Italian pasta-maker Barilla Holding Spa. In an exclusive interview with B&E, he reflects upon Ferrari’s rough ride during the slowdown, its performances in markets like China, Japan & South Africa, its attempt to create fuel-efficient engines, and his “supply-less” motto for succeeding in new markets.

B&E: Ferrari is a very well-established brand in the luxury car segment. It believes in selling premium quality than volumes. But contrary to conventional wisdom, even the luxury car sellers suffered considerably during the recent slowdown. How was the slowdown experience at Ferrari, especially when compared to the tough times faced by players like General Motors, Toyota and other labels which focus on volumes?
Enrico Galliera (EG): As compared to what the volume players in the automobile industry went through during the economic crisis, the time was still a relatively better period for Ferrari. As we generally work with a 12-month waiting period, the economic crisis cannot be termed the worst period for Ferrari so far, though we did get hurt to an extent. To be honest, it would be wrong to say that we were totally insulated from the economic crisis. But what saved our topline during the 2008-2009 period was our entry into newer markets like South Africa, which helped the company manage overall volumes. The fact that South Africa, in such a short time has become the 15th largest market for Ferrari out of the 59 countries that we are present in, gives you a fair idea of how the market played a saviour.

B&E: So do you plan to enter other countries in the African continent, just in case you would require more cushion if there is another slowdown soon?
EG: Actually, yes. The response we got in the South African market has motivated the company to expand to other African countries as well in the near future. We already have Ferrari owners in markets like Mozambique, Angola and Nigeria, and I am sure, given a tough business scenario in the near future, these emerging markets will serve us well.

B&E: China is another market which has over the years, impressed luxury automobile sellers. Your company has spent 7 years in China, but it has all been rather silent there. Has your time in China been a rather dull one?
EG: No. We have seen huge growth and penetration in the Chinese market over the past few years. China has been and is a very important market for Ferrari. Though I confess that after entering China in 2004, we did take a few years trying to understand the market. But today, we are geared-up to increase our volumes there as well. To quote a figure, Ferrari sold over 300 units in China in 2010, which market a y-o-y increase of 40%. That for us is phenomenal. And going forward, we only expect the sales to rise higher. It was a slow start, but we are catching up very fast.
 

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
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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An Opportunity that Grabbed us

Benefits of Economy and a Quicker Passage to The Operating table have Made India one of The Front Runners in Medical Tourism. But Critical Failings, from The Government as well as The Private Sector, mean that India is Failing to Adequately tap The Opportunity

Since time immemorial, the mystical land of India has been enchanting foreigners from all over the world. Healing of the body, mind & spirit has been one of the country’s most compelling value propositions, one which even a young Steve Jobs couldn’t resist, many years ago. And as the costs of healthcare have soared, particularly in developing countries, India’s hospitals and physicians have made all possible efforts to become a destination for tourists who seek not just therapeutic solutions but a range of other treatments and sight seeing tours; adding to the “wellness” factor. Almost a decade has passed since medical tourism was originally envisioned as a major phenomenon in India.

A 2009 report by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) & McKinsey forecasts that medical tourism will generate $2.4 billion between 2009–2012 for India by attracting 1.1 million health tourists, up from 150,000 in 2002. India’s share in the global tourism industry is expected to rise to around 3% by 2013 (RNCOS report) with revenues of around $3 billion and a CAGR of 26% during 2011–2013.

There are over 3,371 hospitals and around 754,985 registered practitioners catering to the needs of traditional Indian healthcare. Indian hotels are also entering the wellness services market by collaborating with professional organisations in a range of wellness fields. According to the Ministry Of Tourism, as against an ordinary vacationer’s per-capita spend of $3,000 per visitor, the average medical tourist in India shells out more than $7,000 per visit. Traditionally patients from neighbouring SAARC countries and Middle East frequented hospitals in India. But patients from Africa and even Europe and US have started coming only in the last five years. Pricing is the clear advantage. The Planning Commission points out that India is far economical compared to peer countries. For example, heart bypass surgery costs $6,000 in India, $7,894 in Thailand, $10,417 in Singapore, $19,700 in Britain and $23,938 in the US.

India spends roughly 6% of GDP on healthcare and is expected to reach 8% by 2012. Private sector expenditure in healthcare is expected to reach $45 billion by 2012. But in comparison with America’s 15.3%, Switzerland’s 11.3% or France’s 11.1%, the country still falters when it comes to quality as well as quantity of medical facilities. B&E does a reality check to analyse whether the country has really lived up to the hype.

The flip side has majorly been the role of the government; or may we say, the lack of it. Although infrastructure spending for health care has intensified, only the private sector has flourished. Top Indian corporate hospitals like Apollo, Fortis, Wockhardt, Max and Manipal have stepped in to provide quality healthcare and technology. Nearly 75% of health care services and investments in India are provided by the private sector.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist). For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,
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