June 22, 2008
JAL- Joy of India
Recently KOHLER a bath fittings and bath wares brand got active in indian market. I beleive other similar brands present in Indian market like JAL, Jaguar, etc need to tighten their belts as the growing market for housing would be changing the industry completely. We can learn from what happpened in cement market in 90s when an aggressive player like Gujrat ambuja challeged the might of the biggies like ACC with devastating consequences for them. If cement can be successfully branded why not an engineering product like bath fittings?
Monte Carlo to Sportking-Ludhiana Hosiery Brands
Ludhiana in Punjab comes second to Tripur, Tamilnadu in hosiery industry. India being an emerging economy has the problem of scaling up of business organisations. Most Indian entrepreneurs prefer a 'minimal' risk route by manufacuring goods for other brands rather than going directly into the market with their own brand.
In fact most businessmen do not plan a budget for marketing more than salaries of sales staff and a few rupees for an odd advert in the print media or a tvc. Marketing is treated as an additional post production activity. How could one compete in market without a name and reputation?
We all have heard of Lifebuoy, Lux, Dettol, Dove, Pears etc. But how many have heard of VVF? My humble suggestion to our decades old established business houses would be to go in for branding and secure thier long term position.
Some years ago india did not had the 300 million middle class then it was okay to manufacture for european and US brands. But now when Indian consumers have demonstrated their natural preference for strong brands, it is time for us to have a relook at our branding abd positioning to keep the customer happy. It is not that ludhiana industry has not tried their branding but their experience does not seem to be very happy.
I remember OWM casablanca people tying up with pringle decade ago. You would surely recognise Montecarlo as a wollen brand. Some other business houses from ludhiana also roped in national level advertising agencies but the result has not been great. Why? Firstly Ludhiana businesses suffer from chronic deficit of talented marketing pros. Though the leaders are open to innovation. I remember having sold a 'cartoon contest' feature to leading most cycle manufacturer while working for a english daily. It was a completely new exercise.
Secondly most business leaders control thier businesses very tightly killing any possibilities for a talent to flourish. Let us have look at some of the brand issues from Ludhiana. Monte Carlo has been stretched to cover non wollen items, When montcarlo launched a new premium brand to compete with Pringle of casablanca, the packing carried the mention of from the house of montecarlo. A junior brand should not be used to endorse the premium segement.
'Sportking' does not have much market in the sports segment. If it is a fashion brand then why call it 'Sport' at all? Its selling good? Try position it properly and see the hidden treasures in terms of marketing dollars. 'Duke' has the potential to become the aspirational wear for Indian youth but then is soemone listening to strategise to put it before the world's youthful nation?
I beleive time has come for business leaders to understand the potential of branding. Since most punjabis travel worldwide we all have seen that WAL-Mart is not a fancy looking store but a greatly strategised retaling business. If we continue to depend on producing for others we may loose our chance to add greater value and may also loose the manufacturing race to China, Africa etc. Let us get up and put our name under the arc lights! Ludhiana listening..?
In fact most businessmen do not plan a budget for marketing more than salaries of sales staff and a few rupees for an odd advert in the print media or a tvc. Marketing is treated as an additional post production activity. How could one compete in market without a name and reputation?
We all have heard of Lifebuoy, Lux, Dettol, Dove, Pears etc. But how many have heard of VVF? My humble suggestion to our decades old established business houses would be to go in for branding and secure thier long term position.
Some years ago india did not had the 300 million middle class then it was okay to manufacture for european and US brands. But now when Indian consumers have demonstrated their natural preference for strong brands, it is time for us to have a relook at our branding abd positioning to keep the customer happy. It is not that ludhiana industry has not tried their branding but their experience does not seem to be very happy.
I remember OWM casablanca people tying up with pringle decade ago. You would surely recognise Montecarlo as a wollen brand. Some other business houses from ludhiana also roped in national level advertising agencies but the result has not been great. Why? Firstly Ludhiana businesses suffer from chronic deficit of talented marketing pros. Though the leaders are open to innovation. I remember having sold a 'cartoon contest' feature to leading most cycle manufacturer while working for a english daily. It was a completely new exercise.
Secondly most business leaders control thier businesses very tightly killing any possibilities for a talent to flourish. Let us have look at some of the brand issues from Ludhiana. Monte Carlo has been stretched to cover non wollen items, When montcarlo launched a new premium brand to compete with Pringle of casablanca, the packing carried the mention of from the house of montecarlo. A junior brand should not be used to endorse the premium segement.
'Sportking' does not have much market in the sports segment. If it is a fashion brand then why call it 'Sport' at all? Its selling good? Try position it properly and see the hidden treasures in terms of marketing dollars. 'Duke' has the potential to become the aspirational wear for Indian youth but then is soemone listening to strategise to put it before the world's youthful nation?
I beleive time has come for business leaders to understand the potential of branding. Since most punjabis travel worldwide we all have seen that WAL-Mart is not a fancy looking store but a greatly strategised retaling business. If we continue to depend on producing for others we may loose our chance to add greater value and may also loose the manufacturing race to China, Africa etc. Let us get up and put our name under the arc lights! Ludhiana listening..?
Nokia 6708 !! Panasonic X 300
NOKIA 6708 is a touchscreen phone. Does anyone wish to buy an used NOKIA 6708 or Panasonic X 300 ?
June 21, 2008
Is MBA all about research?
Is MBA all about research experience?
Management institutes in India and abroad generally prefer to recruit those as faculty who have a PhD degree. Such PhD professors may lack the work experience in corporate/industry and have never got an opportunity to experience & understand business management. Therefore they fail to properly make aware the students about the real management environment in the corporate resulting in severe mismatch in the skill portfolio of the students and the demands of the corporate world.
MBA course in India has become very popular due to economic growth & the privatization of the education sector. Lots of grads are joining the newly opened Business Management schools with a hope to make it big in the corporate world. Being a faculty member at three such institutes I have the opportunity to appreciate the prevalent circumstances.
There are some subjects like Marketing, Sales Management, Distribution, SCM, CRM, Strategic Management that definitely require some exposure to the real market place. It is not possible to disseminate these subjects without referring to some real life cases from the current business scenario. When I was studying for MBA at Punjab University, my marketing professor could not tell which were the leading advertising agencies in India only. Sic.
Professor holding PhD degrees and teaching Marketing Research to MBA students would be unaware of AC Nielsen! Please ask you teacher of research if s/he has ever heard of ac Nielsen. What kind of education are we talking about?
Agreed that a good business management course must follow a multi disciplinary approach and one requires a general smattering of Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Mathematics etc, but how could you a scenario when majority of the teachers have no knowledge and experience of the corporate world? Walk in any nearest business school in India and discover the truth for yourself. How could we support our economic growth if the human resources lack on quality?
The b-schools in India must encourage and invite professionals with industry experience to teach real stuff to the students. This would enhance the economic growth of India. If the b-schools give due preference to industry experience and not insist on PhD degree the quality of education would certainly improve inside the classroom. And the corporate sector would definitely get ‘ready to use’ human resources. In my opinion we need to put professional in charge of business education than mere theoretical teachers with PhD degrees and no real knowledge of the corporate.
Management institutes in India and abroad generally prefer to recruit those as faculty who have a PhD degree. Such PhD professors may lack the work experience in corporate/industry and have never got an opportunity to experience & understand business management. Therefore they fail to properly make aware the students about the real management environment in the corporate resulting in severe mismatch in the skill portfolio of the students and the demands of the corporate world.
MBA course in India has become very popular due to economic growth & the privatization of the education sector. Lots of grads are joining the newly opened Business Management schools with a hope to make it big in the corporate world. Being a faculty member at three such institutes I have the opportunity to appreciate the prevalent circumstances.
There are some subjects like Marketing, Sales Management, Distribution, SCM, CRM, Strategic Management that definitely require some exposure to the real market place. It is not possible to disseminate these subjects without referring to some real life cases from the current business scenario. When I was studying for MBA at Punjab University, my marketing professor could not tell which were the leading advertising agencies in India only. Sic.
Professor holding PhD degrees and teaching Marketing Research to MBA students would be unaware of AC Nielsen! Please ask you teacher of research if s/he has ever heard of ac Nielsen. What kind of education are we talking about?
Agreed that a good business management course must follow a multi disciplinary approach and one requires a general smattering of Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Mathematics etc, but how could you a scenario when majority of the teachers have no knowledge and experience of the corporate world? Walk in any nearest business school in India and discover the truth for yourself. How could we support our economic growth if the human resources lack on quality?
The b-schools in India must encourage and invite professionals with industry experience to teach real stuff to the students. This would enhance the economic growth of India. If the b-schools give due preference to industry experience and not insist on PhD degree the quality of education would certainly improve inside the classroom. And the corporate sector would definitely get ‘ready to use’ human resources. In my opinion we need to put professional in charge of business education than mere theoretical teachers with PhD degrees and no real knowledge of the corporate.
June 18, 2008
Oh God! make their films work at box office
Recently a well known Indian film star and his family walked bare foot to visit a temple so that their career may look up after a string of flops. Surprisingly this person after working for decades have not found confidence in his abilities to get success in profession? If people in that old ripe age with tons of money at their command do not believe in their abilities then who else can? One has to look outside than inside of one's persona? What a dangerous thought to undermine the confidence of young India in their abilities.
This sends a loud signal to the new generation that abilities and honesty are not enough to succeed in life but one has to pull other strings too. No wonder India do not win medals in Olympics, writes great books, create engineers etc because we inculcate in our children that one can not build oneself up to a level where s/he can be the world best. Because it is unachievable without help from outside. Come on. I am finding it difficult to explain it to my son. Oh God!
In India the unorganized sector, be it religion or the corporate, has a greater following than that of organised one. When we look at toiletries, food, clothing, footwear, auto component, retail & services....the greater market share is generally in favor of the unorganized sector. We attribute it to the nature of market economy. India being a developing economy would take time to consolidate businesses in the organized sector and requires more time to benefit from the resultant synergies , enhance operational efficiencies and reduce unnecessary costs in the processes.
The effort to organize retailing has already hit major road blocks in major states. Why do the masses prefer to unorganized over the organized and branded offerings? We all understand that a brand from the organized business offers greater promise of quality. And the prices have less stability in commodities market than manufactured goods and brands. Let us not digress from the real point of faith and religion.
Most faiths have clear guidelines for the believers then why ever new 'saints' are emerging on the scene. These new saints have huge money following them. I went to study from two reputed universities for MBA, MJMC and have been working for over over 20 years, but i do not have finance to set up a professional education institute. On the contrary there are several great men who have set up huge infrastructures to offer astrology, religion, ayurveda, yoga etc without going for any training in research and education. Whats this?
India has been known as land of saints, gurus and religious people. We have mainstream national parties that swear by their own brand of religion. This creates schisms among different groups. These parties convince the masses that once their brand of religious thoughts are implemented in the country then India would become a super power. If you ask them to prove their point with reference to history they can not site any time when their brand of thinking helped the masses in India to achieve peace, happiness and glory. But they continue preaching their idea and acquire political power for themselves. Now how do we view the concept of religion in the new globalist world?
Are we Indians more religious than Japan, China, Malaysia, US, Europe? Is there a link between following religious tenets and becoming successful. Does it have any impact on businesses and living? Certainly it has, don't you agree? In India religious persons, places and concepts attract huge money. People go to visit persons, places of religion to donate money so that the almighty may help them in life and living. In this transaction, like other transactions in business, the motive is to get higher returns.
How would the religions cope with a the march of globalization? Won't the masses would start comparing various thoughts finally settling for a new world order in which everyone has a level playing field.
This sends a loud signal to the new generation that abilities and honesty are not enough to succeed in life but one has to pull other strings too. No wonder India do not win medals in Olympics, writes great books, create engineers etc because we inculcate in our children that one can not build oneself up to a level where s/he can be the world best. Because it is unachievable without help from outside. Come on. I am finding it difficult to explain it to my son. Oh God!
In India the unorganized sector, be it religion or the corporate, has a greater following than that of organised one. When we look at toiletries, food, clothing, footwear, auto component, retail & services....the greater market share is generally in favor of the unorganized sector. We attribute it to the nature of market economy. India being a developing economy would take time to consolidate businesses in the organized sector and requires more time to benefit from the resultant synergies , enhance operational efficiencies and reduce unnecessary costs in the processes.
The effort to organize retailing has already hit major road blocks in major states. Why do the masses prefer to unorganized over the organized and branded offerings? We all understand that a brand from the organized business offers greater promise of quality. And the prices have less stability in commodities market than manufactured goods and brands. Let us not digress from the real point of faith and religion.
Most faiths have clear guidelines for the believers then why ever new 'saints' are emerging on the scene. These new saints have huge money following them. I went to study from two reputed universities for MBA, MJMC and have been working for over over 20 years, but i do not have finance to set up a professional education institute. On the contrary there are several great men who have set up huge infrastructures to offer astrology, religion, ayurveda, yoga etc without going for any training in research and education. Whats this?
India has been known as land of saints, gurus and religious people. We have mainstream national parties that swear by their own brand of religion. This creates schisms among different groups. These parties convince the masses that once their brand of religious thoughts are implemented in the country then India would become a super power. If you ask them to prove their point with reference to history they can not site any time when their brand of thinking helped the masses in India to achieve peace, happiness and glory. But they continue preaching their idea and acquire political power for themselves. Now how do we view the concept of religion in the new globalist world?
Are we Indians more religious than Japan, China, Malaysia, US, Europe? Is there a link between following religious tenets and becoming successful. Does it have any impact on businesses and living? Certainly it has, don't you agree? In India religious persons, places and concepts attract huge money. People go to visit persons, places of religion to donate money so that the almighty may help them in life and living. In this transaction, like other transactions in business, the motive is to get higher returns.
How would the religions cope with a the march of globalization? Won't the masses would start comparing various thoughts finally settling for a new world order in which everyone has a level playing field.
June 16, 2008
waste thoughts
Life's goal can not be filling up the tummy, putting on expensive clothes, driving best cars, living with best women. Then what is life meant for?if all our actions would come to naught? but does all our actions actually have no value? Why should we remember a napoleon, a shakespear, a newton, a pele, these guys would never be forgotten till the time their works are relevant to life on earth.so we must act in context to relevance to human life. since charity begins at home, shall the individual not strive to built oneself first, or shall the personal interest be given second importance to public good. oh God, pls tell us what is right?
Let the life lead us
Let the life lead us?I agree, yes! I agree.Life as 'understood' by us from the past around 5000 odd years of living on this planet does not offers many answers. I agree that we have found some explanations, but the main questions remain unanswered.Like the need for a 'God'? is He there? Is HE a HE? Do we need Him. some religions discount HIM.What is happiness? Is it an islandic feeling? I mean how can we celebrate the winning, when most who participated lost the contest? How can we enjoy a chocolate sitting in our car when a street urchin is looking at us on the traffic light? Happiness must be a meaningful experience. Ignorance, or the willing suspension of disbelief, shall not make us happy.What actually is a crime[crime & punishment;dostoevsky]? If Saddam kills thats crime, if Bush kills thats not? Who struck first cannot be the basis of definition of a crime.Let us find answers, let us be Happier, let us talk to each other. There are no good, or bad people here. The time has not come to decide whats good and whats bad, till that moment let us keep living!!
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