Another Election Season in India. 2013-2014.

A republic is based on equality of citizens rather than domination of majority over minority or vice a versa.  

Modi campaign strategy of direct attack, commonly used in American electioneering, doesn’t suit a developing country with a diverse & fractured society. It may win over many semi-educated urban middle class voters, but it would surely aggravate the fissures in society. Besides it lacks the potential to benefit the rural voters.

Marketing strategists in India often sing the paeans of how an upstart Nirma took on mighty MNC brand Surf and took away a large market from right under its feet. To drive the point succinctly & with more emphasis, the citation is followed by another case that of Kwality -Walls vs the rest of India.  The audience & students feel motivated to know the outcome, though a little bewildered. The victory of home grown brands over the European empires on Indian soil or anywhere else is a rarity. Both the cases depict defeat of the behemoth HUL, which continues to be market leader in fmcg sector in India.

Political marketing borrows concepts, tools and strategies from commercial marketing and apply them to field of politics.  Cornerstone of political strategy is the campaign theme & communication strategy. The incumbent & challengers need to craft the political strategy in a manner that it could attain strategic balance between discrediting the opponents & creating positive image and goodwill for its programs and leadership. It looks easy on paper but its complex to design and implement with success.

Campaign theme must be designed keeping in focus the political agenda and profile of the citizen voters.  In a large diverse country like India, one theme doesn’t fit all, so a political player would do well to segment carefully and then make a suitable promise to convince the citizen voters to come out and vote. A great strategy would also require assessment of position of a player in the total market. A rank outsider can gain by adopting frontal attack strategy aimed at the market leader or the incumbent political party. But close competitors must avoid a direct confrontation because usually the lower positioned guy would lose more naturally. So what can number two do to become the leader? Go the Avis way, work hard & promise less. 

Education, Life & Change.

When a student from Chandigarh won Singapore Airlines Youth scholarship, few years back, it made a news.Many other bright Punjabis head abroad in search of good higher education as well as to escape the cut throat competition in India. You would agree that many Punjabis go to study abroad with an aim of completing education in the place they wish to work & live. Many bright Indians who enroll in IITs also head for foreign shores for further studies or employment. It would not be out of place to mention that none of Indian higher education universities figure of world's top 200 anymore. Perhaps the decay in India is not limited to quality of education only.

Education has long been considered as the most potent elixir for social mobility in a hierarchical society of India. Therefore middle class Indians, spend huge sums on higher education with hope to improve their employment prospects and consequent standing in the society. Almost 15 percent Indians go for higher education, part of that, a small section, head abroad to all sorts of countries & universities. The reasons could be rational, emotional or social for deciding upon the country or university one may chose to attend abroad.

As a child i recall visiting uncles & aunties to our home as an annual feature. It would be joyous occasion for all children as every visitors would bring some gifts that were not available in India. Although visiting relatives from Europe would bring more gifts than those from Africa. Punjab may geographically lie in India & Pakistan but Punjabis are found in almost every nook & corner of the world, including fastest growing country on Earth, Mongolia. You would be amused to know people from a couple of villages near Phagwara Punjab go to Philippines in large numbers to work as Money lenders. Many of them have been killed due to the nature of business and other social factors.

Most Punjabi boys want to go abroad for studies & work and the girls prefer to marry such men over the ones left behind to sit idle in Punjab. Actually most Punjabi boys who head abroad for studies join nondescript courses in unknown colleges. People don't go abroad for education, neither the join colleges here for sake of studies. Most would prefer to avoid the 'burden' of studies if they could. Visits any college in Punjab and you would know the sorry state of education here. Private colleges & universities particularly prefer to entertain the students than give them an opportunity to master a field of study.

So most Punjabi youth end up wasting their education years in useless colleges within India and abroad. This has led to creation of huge unskilled work force in India with fancy diplomas & degrees in their name. Those who head abroad, struggle there, for long years before finding their feet and majority of those who remain here end up on menial call center or front end sales jobs. Govt of India has launched an ambitious Skill Development scheme to arm the youth with necessary skills need for work but such initiatives would also fall flat like the Industrial Training Institutes set up earlier.

Education has the power to open the human mind and make a person lead a purposeful life so that s/he could change the world in which we live.  But absence of good education leads to perpetuation of status quo and decay of a nation. Can the call for changes in education system become top priority for India? Can political parties make it an issue of national survival? Well my guess is as good as yours. India faces more challenges from within that externally and good solid education can save it.

BJP- The Baggage Party !

2014 would be a watershed year for the BJP. Not for the RSS. Rival Congress may also escape unaffected by any outcome of 2014 elections too, as it has had a long tryst with India. If BJP wins 2014 national elections it may turn to hardcore Hindutva agenda and shower its proud parents with many gifts including a Grand Temple at Babri Mosque site. But if it loses the election then it may disintegrate before emerging into a new avatar.

India has definitely changed since 2009, but is it any different now than what it was in 2009? Though some vehemently would like us to believe that, but the facts need examination. According to the BJP, & opposition camp political parties, the UPA2 has failed to manage India completely. BJP want everyone to agree & approve their thesis that India is poor & faltering whereas Gujarat is rich and exponentially growing.  Well a part of body can’t be declared healthy if the heart & brains stop functioning. The heart & brains of an economy lie with the union government in Delhi.  Few strings pulled wrongly in Delhi could ruin any or all states’ economies.

BJP has to carry the load of its founding ideology, unlike Congress which has no such burden. BJP is an ideological party that exists to promote Hindutva agenda of RSS. Its core values of Hindutva simultaneously propel it forward and also obstruct its way to make an acceptable set of appeals to all sections of society in India. But the BJP hasn’t changed much over the years. BJP don’t have the freedom to micromanage & customize its core appeal at constituency level. Wise ABV knew the solution so he ruled India for a longtime by customizing the core ideology of RSS.

BJP steadfastly believe in strong leaders & leadership style. BJP behaves like a right wing masculine outfit and such behavior satisfies the emotional need of its loyal cadres. But such an appeal has limited scope only.  Some believe that passing on the baton from LK Advani to N Modi is a distinct change. But actually there is not real difference between LKA & NM, except the age gap. Ask any political marketing analyst to know that majority India feels threatened by Strong leaders & would like to avoid them.

INC, on the other hand, does not carry any burden to promote one ideology over the other. Congress is free to leverage even the Hindutva agenda, if it suits a situation in some constituencies.  Actually Congress uses many different appeals in various constituencies spread over length & breadth of India to enhance its prospects of grabbing power in each particular constituency. Congress under Sonia Gandhi is a different party than what it was under previous leaders. Moreover Sonia Gandhi cautiously avoids projecting Congress as a dominating & strong political force, which the INC actually is.

A political party with market orientation has greater chance of success in a democracy.  Selling and product oriented parties find it difficult to adjust their ‘offer’ to the dynamic needs of the citizen voters as they have to carry the burden of ideology & fixed image. If BJP could rebrand itself like Tony Blair's rebrand of Britain's Labour Party then it can reap the benefits. 

No Skills despite High Marks - Incredible India !

Who would believe that some undergraduate colleges in Delhi, don't accept students without almost 100 percent marks. How could students score such high marks? And how the teachers establish the fact that someone deserves 90 percent plus marks? Is it for real or just another mythological tale from an incredible India, the most mysterious country on the face of Earth.

In the real world a genius drops out of formal education system to blaze a trail. Steve jobs didn't like the taste of fruits served to him in college, so he left the formal system to cultivate his own Macintosh Apple.  Naturally why in the world someone with 100 percent marks in 12 the year of education be need to seek admission in some formal college? S/he could pretty much be on her/his own. But in India, innocent young people go around flashing their 'percentage prize' like a designer accessory, simultaneously, pray to god for mercy to help them get admission in a branded college. So the education in India is all about marks alone.

Though more students obtain significantly higher marks today than a decade ago but employers are complaining about poor quality of training & absence of skills in the fresh youth. How could rise in marks be indirectly proportional to skill creation in India? Govt of India has already committed itself to skill creation in India. In this direction, India signed an MOU with the US govt for setting up of community colleges in India during the recent visit of Secretary John kerry. High marks are like Himalayan peaks, very attractive but difficult to scale.

But the deluge of high marks in India is leading to more chaos on the ground than presenting a pretty picture on the canvas of economic development & industrialization of India.The absence of skills in not limited to technical & professional sector alone. India is not producing great quality managers, actors, academicians, writers, administrators and politicians.  So the education system is unable to improve on existing quality and take it to next higher level. How can India become a global power with low quality human resources?

Its time India wakes up and take steps to upgrade the quality of its citizens through formal & non-formal education. Let us end this note with an anecdote. Decade ago HUL used to invite all- India CA (accounts) topper to join its executive team. A gentleman, Mr Gupta CA topper, was invited by HUL to join its management team but the interview lasted only one minute. Later this gentleman joined a state financial corporation and has retired this year on superannuation.

Market Orientation of Political Party

Political parties don’t want to be left behind in employing any means, fair or foul, to achieve the political goal of wresting & wielding power.  Use of marketing concepts & tools has become prevalent in many developing countries including India. Although most often the political players in India don’t trust professional judgment in planning their political marketing campaign but they realize critical importance of the discipline of marketing.

Political parties, understandably so, restrict the use of marketing to political communication field alone than use it in a comprehensive manner to align its behavior according to wants & needs of citizen voters. A political party in modern democracy needs to use marketing concepts to market itself effectively than limit itself to use of marketing techniques only.

Most political parties seek professional help in marketing their party & programs to the citizen voters during election campaign. Hardly any party realizes the need for regular marketing even in India which is called the land of perennial elections. Therefore most parties approach elections with intrepid fear and or exuberance. This piece is on a more fundamental issue of market orientation of political players than the theme of campaign strategy. A political party without suitable market orientation cannot win despite a great communication strategy.   

Political players, like firms, in a democracy require suitable market orientation to win & sustain trust of citizen voters. What is the type of market orientation every political party is seeking to compete with each other to capture the trust of citizen voters? MARKOR & MKTOR scales are inappropriate to unravel the nature of orientation of political parties, as these are designed for commercial firms.  A political party need to find out whether it has product, sales or market orientation and factor in the knowledge to customize it behavior in each electoral cycle. 

Market Orientation is a business approach or philosophy that focuses on identifying and meeting the stated or hidden needs or wants of customers. A marketing orientated approach means a business reacts to what customers want. Since marketing has permeated into not-for-profit and social sector too, therefore it’s imperative that political party must be aware of its nature of orientation. It’s possible that Product Orientation of a political party may be obstructing the path to success. A Sales oriented party could fail to factor in current needs & wants into the new offer and may prefer to persuade the consumers.

Political parties in democracy are required to deliver better life to citizens. They can do it only if they try to understand what people want. And then behave in a unique manner that is appreciated by the masses. Their party policies, leaders, organization, members and symbols must align to the expectations of the masses. Political parties in democracy are required to provide leadership & vision to masses so they can’t just use marketing techniques or concept where it does not make sense. There is need to coalesce marketing & political science in a synergistic manner as both have many similarities than differences. 

Why Shoot the Messenger !

"No one loves the messenger who brings bad news" -Sophocles in Antigone

When the PM said lets revive the animal spirit of the Indian economy media let loose its dogs of war. Because last time the suave economist did it in early nineties there was an explosive growth of economy resulting in corresponding increase in the earnings/salaries of the working class. The two decade long growth gave birth to new middle class India which demands better control over their lives & freedom. 

Slowdown in global economy have made the capitalist class unsure of handsome returns on their money so they look forward to governments to make available tranches of cash to bail them out of the mess. How could the crony capitalist media let the wages grow further making it difficult for the corporate to ‘control’ the rising independent middle class? Media editorial line is dictated by the Board not he editorial head.

Spectacular success of China is visible worldwide. It has lifted a staggering part of its population out of grinding poverty & made their lives worth living. China achieved all this without taking over other economies by force to rip them of their wealth. China quietly worked hard and served the consumerism in the developed world. Quietly is the key to Chinese success. Though China held Olympics but it has managed to stay off the publicity radar globally.

China leveraged local wisdom mixed with global technology to earn a respectable place on the high table of world’s leading nations. The Great Wall of China remains the enduring metaphor of its wisdom & success. China didn't join internet revolution without tweaking it to suit its national needs. India on the other hand jumped onto the internet wagon lock stock & barrel without a second thought as to where it will take it.

India remained under foreign rule for centuries so in the middle class India feels exuberant & can't resist the temptation to have an opinion on all subjects under the Sun without regard to any exposure to the topic. Like other 'unsuccessful' people, India has also similar self defense mechanism. People suffering from inferiority complex are very touchy about criticism. Moment you point out an aberration they reject your argument by citing two unrelated facts. Truth is gold in India actually, its very expensive.

Privately run media in India represent view of powerful corporate lobby and particular cultural supremacist  group. Media like Bollywood film industry prefer to divorce truth & reality for pursuit of greed. Instead of challenging the ancient traditions for sake of a modern and more just society. Indian media contributes to perpetuation of  an ancient way of life without regard to the fact that the very same culture caused immense pain to majority of the Indians for thousand years. India has a home grown slave tradition based on work profile of individuals duly sanctioned by religion and Dharma- the caste system of sage Manu. Media subscribes & works to perpetuate the ancient order.

Chairman of Press council of India Justice M Katju has held a mirror to media lately which has forced media to close its ranks & attack the illustrious gentleman with vengeance. I see the class struggle in India getting out of hand due to size of the population. Brahmins, the upper caste group, has been attacked several times by Dalit movements successfully, second ranked caste Kashtriyas have also been targeted in Naxal movements of 70s but the third ranked & actually financially most powerful caste group of Vaishyas have never faced any direct challenge. Opening up of retail to FDI is single most critical challenge to this caste group. Trade & Industry is dominated by this caste group only in India. This is the main reason for anti government stance of the private media in India.      

Media holds a mirror to society and challenges status-quo of all shades rather than  the political establishment. Indian media has completely failed to challenge the prevalent socio-religious order which has led to sudden increase in crimes of greed & rapes. Any sociologist would infer that spurt in crimes is directly related to psychology & culture promoted by media. Its time the visionary leadership in India wakes up and allows global media into India to give India a fair & free media. India should open up news media & education to foreign players so that India could join the new world order. 

Selling to Your Sales Team !

India is the land of Micro Small & medium enterprises [MSME] and such firms face unique functional challenges to succeed in the domestic & global market. Particularly the task of organizing a powerful sales & marketing team is tremendous. Although several SME players would insist that finding cheap credit & trained workforce are far more serious than getting new orders. Well entrepreneurship is a challenge in itself and majority of SMEs are generally young firms that don’t have long experience & critical knowledge of the market garnered through years of operations I the market. However some firms fail to scale up with time due to many factors despite their efforts and vision. And majority of the times such firms show a distinct common strand of not having a powerful Sales & Marketing team to propel it to grow faster than the competition & demand in the market.

Many SMEs that have regional & national sales operations are straddled with teams that were relevant 20 years ago. Majority of such sales & marketing teams are full of people who have no formal business education and also have not been trained regularly on the job. Such teams function in a bureaucratic manner and lack creativity essential for real success in the market. You would be surprised to know that many sales professionals lack knowledge about size of market, nature of competition & consumer profile despite years of reasonably satisfactory performance. Well in a rapidly growing market it possible to sell with little or no effort but mature markets can only be dominated by a strategic approach.  

Few years ago I was hired by an established SME to rejuvenate & reengineer their sales team. The said company has been led by a technocrat engaged in manufacturing of capital equipment for high speed packaging machines catering to the need of other firms. The capital equipment they make were generally sourced from abroad at a premium & only limited domestic competition was there for them to take on. Therefore there was a ready market of export substitution at an Indian cost to the entrepreneurs.

Their commission based sales & service team had national presence and it recently had become the major bottleneck in achieving higher sales numbers to help the firm acquire critical size in the market. The promoters also enjoyed close relationship at top level in customer organizations. Business selling is a team sport and the seller has to satisfy large team at the customer firm consisting of cost & finance guys to operators. Another company engaged in manufacture of faucets, showers & bath fittings had virtually no control over the sales agent responsible for half the market. In India majority of firms involved b2b segment lack direct control over distribution network or the customers.

Several SMEs are in awe of the power & hold of their sales people on the market. Many firms are held hostage by the Sales & Marketing teams which lead to negative impact on the top line & strategic growth of such firms. There is need to create & train the sales teams to face the challenges of the contemporary market scenario in India. SMEs need to audit their sales team periodically and organize them based on their objectives such as nature of the competition, product handled, type of market and demand structure in the market.

The top management must keep two paces ahead of their sales force to get the desired results. Technical sales team must have trained sales professionals so that quality cold calling result in communicating the brand of selling firm. Sales professionals, like leaders, are made not born and regular training & nurture keep them in fighting fit condition. Sales training must be factored in the plan and be taken as ongoing activity rather than periodic break from selling routine. Healthy sales & marketing team attract customers, credit and effective team mates for other functions too as they are the external & internal ambassadors of the firm.