Thought of the Day

" When we fill our thoughts with right things, the wrong ones have no room to enter."

Can Social Media be used to develop new products and Monitor brands?

Facebook recently overtook the United States as the third most populous country in the world. At 700 Million users, Facebook today is one of the largest networks and continues to grow. At the same time many other social networks have been growing, prominent among them are LinkedIn, Twitter and the recently launched Google +.

These networks are sources where a lot of people exchange ideas, comments and opinions. This is a lip smacking opportunity for most business to listen to what their customers and prospects are saying about them and the competition. But not too much effort has been made in this direction.

If we break it down, Social Media analytics can be used for two three main activities

Brand Monitoring - It is important for most organizations to monitor the social networks and hear what is being said about them. Often consumers vent their frustration on a product or service to a friend or colleague on the network. I know this incident when a major hospitality chain in India had gone back on a commitment one of my connections on Twitter. The connection had tweeted the same to her network on Twitter and within minutes the representatives from the chain called my contact and resolved the issue. Also Social Networks are useful tool for Brand Development to help solve any problems that people raise on the networks.

The human factor in service design

Focus on the human side of customer service to make it psychologically savvy, economically sound, and easier to scale.

Poor customer service isn’t a headache just for consumers; it’s a problem that vexes senior managers too. Balancing the trade-offs between the cost of services and the customer experience benefits they provide is difficult. Ensuring that frontline workers can efficiently and consistently execute service offerings across a far-flung organization is harder still. Along the way, many companies lose sight of what makes human beings tick—for instance, by overlooking well-known principles of behavioral science when delivering services—and thus unwittingly predispose customers to dissatisfaction.

At the same time, the customer service landscape is changing as social media and new mobile phone technologies give companies unprecedented access to data on customer interactions, while the technologies are changing the nature of the interactions themselves—for example, by amplifying the speed and impact of customer complaints.

Hierarchy of systems for developing sustainable processes in your organizations/ business

In any organization , there is a system which produces the results and we people manage those already created  system.

The hierarchy is composed of four components for the same system -

The first one is - "How We do it Here"
The second is - "How We Recruit, Hire and Train People to do it Here"
The third is - "How We Manage it Here"
The Fourth is - "How We Change it Here"

And the "It" I am referring is the stated purpose of your organization/ business".

Business Quiz

Q 1. What is the popular name for the UN conference on development and sustainability being held in Rio De Janeiro called ?

Q 2. What is a John Doe order in the context of Internet piracy ?

Q3. Why have the top 11 cement makers been imposed a huge penalty by Competition commission ?

Q4. Which industrialist MP tops the list of LPG consumers in New Delhi as per a recent report launched by Oil marketing cos. ?

Q5. Who is the new CEO and MD of Tata Global Beverages ltd ?

Q6. What is the new brand name of Yves Saint Laurent ?

Q7. In which country they have a vending machine activated by a Tweet that dispenses a cup of  ice tea ?

Q8. Name the luxury division of Nokia which has been sold off recently to generate cash for the beleaguered company.

Q9. What is the name of the Tablet announced by Microsoft ?

Thought of the Day

“Rowing harder doesn’t help

if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.”

How to Win the Third and Forth Market for Brand Adidas

As we know, Adidas is a very famous trademark in the world. It produces many kinds of good products. No matter you like playing football, basketball or other things, you can choose suitable Adidas's products. It is necessary to keep the good market situation. Moreover, we will make efforts to seek for new markets for Adidas. We must increase the market share of Shamrock brand. It can enhance the confirmation of brand and increases Adidas's market share. NEO is one branch of Adidas and it is a new design. It mainly offers the products for the young men who are 14 to 19 years old. Its style is very suitable to the young. The price is about half of the Clover brand. Compared with the local sports brands, it is more expensive. Many young people like its products and are willing to buy them. So, Adidas wants to enter into the third and fourth market of China.

Adidas Company must take a good marketing plan to get the third and forth market. However, the logistics cost is a big peoblem. But Colin thinks that the logistic cost is not Adidas's specific problem. In fact, the whole industry of clothes is facing the problem of high cost. We are making efforts to solve this problem. In a world, logistics cost is one factor of these problems. But, we must know our directions and responsibilities. We should provide high-quality products and appropriate stores. In addition, the price must be suitable. Chinese people's needs are very important for Adidas Company. Therefore, the company must take the customers' needs into account. We can not ignore our situations when we pay attention to the customers' requirements.

Colin thinks that satisfying the customers' needs is the most important for Adidas Company. Many efforts that we made are to satisfy the customers' needs. In order to compete with other rivals, we must make new products and unite with others. In addition, we always draw the customers' attention and good opinions through the most stirring and influential sports activities. So the customers will impress on the products of our company.

Thought of the Day

“Never, never,
be afraid to do what’s right,
especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake.
Society’s punishments are small
compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul
when we look the other way.”

Consumer connect is key

With a generation obsessed with mobile phones and new technology, the question uppermost on everyone's mind probably is - to borrow a phrase from Samsung - Next is What? That also sums up the way Sumsung has been stoking the consumer's curiosity before every big launch.

So months before the Samsung Galaxy Note was launched launched in India on November 2, 2011, the company set the ball rolling in the media. Looking back at the strategy, Ranjit Yadav, country head, mobile & IT, Samsung, says a number of things came together to make the launch successful. For the first time in India, Samsung conducted a multi-city event on the same day and at the same time to announce the launch. While the main event was hosted in New Delhi, audiences in Mumbai and Chennai were connected via video conference. This was followed by on-ground consumer events at variousmalls across the country wherein the audience was given the opportunity to playaround with the S Pen and explore the smartphone's potential.

Right after launch, Samsung opened up more than 7 million contact points for customers to experience the product. "Samsung created various touch points for consumers across key centres in India through multiple platforms - shopping malls, theatres, corporate parks etc. Consumers appreciated the experience and the smartphone's on the go usability," says Yadav. Table-top demonstrations at its new retail format, the Smartphone Cafes, with provided an effective, interactive platform for consumers to touch and feel the Note.

Yadav says the Galaxy Note opened up a new category in the mobile industry. So there was an added need to educate consumers in India about the product and its applications. "In order to highlight the device's ability to enhance mobile communication, Samsung executed an aggressive marketing strategy. Our aim was to reach out to the largest audience and educate them about this product - one that offers a more advanced, productive and creative user experience than ever before." The television commercial of the Galaxy Note demonstrated the key features of the device and the ground events were aimed to give potential consumers a chance to experience the product.

However it was the product and its key selling proposition that attracted the attention of the consumers. While the device was launched at Rs 34,990, it is now available for Rs 33,690. While the online sphere went abuzz with reviews and discussions on Smart Pen feature, ChatON (its global mobile communication service) etc, consumers were given a first-hand feel of the product's 5.3-inch HD display, processor speed and applications while holding it close. With its processor speed, the Galaxy Note users were able to stream videos real-time or engage with friends through online gaming platforms, facilitated through its game hub.

The buzz Samsung generated at the time of the launch of Galaxy Note was 'phenomenal', says Yadav. Ramanujam Sridhar, founder CEO, brand-comm says the kind of word-of-mouth publicity the Galaxy Note enjoyed made a significant difference soon after its launch. "It's a category that has high involvement - the consumer's knowledge and awareness of mobile phones as a category and that of individual models is very high," he adds.

Finance Glossary

Walking Papers: Also called Walking Ticket. A notification of dismissal from a job.


Wet Lease: An arrangement in which an airline leases an aircraft, complete with crew, insurance, etc., to another company, usually for a short period of time.


White Collar Crime: An illegal act such as fraud, embezzlement, bribery, etc., committed by a worker in business or administrative function.

The Corporate language !!

• "We will do it" means " You will do it"
• "You have done a great job" means "More work to be given to you"
• "We are working on it" means "We have not yet started working on the same"
• "Tomorrow first thing in the morning" means "Its not getting done... At least not tomorrow !".
• "After discussion we will decide - I am very open to views" means "I have already decided, I will tell you what to do"
• "There was a slight mis communication" means "We had actually lied"
• "Lets call a meeting and discuss" means "I have no time now, will talk later"
• "We can always do it" means "We actually cannot do the same on time"
• "We are on the right track but there needs to be a slight extension of the deadline" means "The project is screwed up, we cannot deliver on time."
• "We had slight differences of opinion" means "We had actually fought"
• "Make a list of the work that you do and let's see how I can help you"  means "Anyway you have to find a way out no help from me"
• "You should have told me earlier" means "Well even if you told me earlier that would have made hardly any difference!"

Branding a country

Branding has been around us for a long time: Branding the companies, branding the products ,personal branding (living brands like Richard Branson, Amitabh Bachachan ),and now Country Branding. In the wake of globalization, the world has become a supermarket and countries are neatly arranged in a shelf for the passerby global passengers. They are using different strategies to promote Travel, to bring in Investments and to improve Exports.

Creating a branding program for a country requires lot more things. Government policies, media backup and more importantly people support. If a country has positive reputation and clean image, then it’s all the more easy to do. The country Germany makes you think about technology, Italy for fashion, Japan for consumer electronics, China for cheap goods and India for spirituality and snake charmers(well now it is known for its IT industry).

Many countries want to build their brand equity through world famous events. China changed her negative( just a perception in some places) image by conducting spectacular Olympics. South Africa tried to promote the tourism through FIFA world cup. Many  the Bull Fighting .Kazakhstan was known to the world because of one man, “Borat”.

Films and TV also play an important role in promoting a country. Peter Jackson’s LOTR was shot in Picturesque New Zeland, James Bond’s Casino Royale in Venice and recent Airtel ad in Prague, Czech Republic (Bollywood also spends huge amount of money on foreign locations!!!). It promotes Tourism as well as foreign film investments.

Here are some of the countries with their successful branding 

INDIA

The country brand is defined by its people, culture, behavior, education and is an amalgamation of sub brands. Tata’s corporate image, Jaipur palace and Indian free economic policy, all serves to enhance India’s brand equity. With the Incredible India campaign, India  showed its rich heritage, famous land marks and culture which is well diversified. As one of the oldest civilizations, it also gave the world varied things like Yoga, Ayurveda,Indian curry, palaces of Maharajas and now Bollywood. Apart from tourism, India is famous for its IT industry. Bangalore has become the silicon valley of India and recent comments of US President Barack Obama on Outsourcing has given more importance to the industry. The economic reforms and new trade policies have also brought in more FDI in to the country.

Thought of the Day

“Nothing is impossible;

the word itself says I’m possible!”

Need a Charger on the Go? There's an Umbrella for That

Every year at this time 'Summer tech' features pop up all over the internet. Unfortunately, in case you haven't noticed, we haven't had all that much sun in the UK recently. Luckily, some clever chaps have just unveiled a new high-tech umbrella which could make wet weather just as interesting tech-wise as warmer days.

The 'Booster Brolly', co-developed by and University College London, has been designed to keep you dry while also boosting your mobile phone signal thanks to a micro antenna in the canopy.

It also features an LED torch, a hands-free smart phone cradle and a set of flexible solar panels which - when the weather is nice and bright - can charge your devices too. The developers claim the Booster Brolly can charge a phone battery in under three hours. The skeleton is made of durable carbon fiber - and it's also windproof.

Dr Kenneth Tong PhD, lecturer in electrical and electronic engineering at UCL said: "The custom canopy has been fitted with 12 lightweight amorphous silicon triple junction solar cells that have the ability to convert light into electricity, through a series of highly sensitive photovoltaic semiconductors.

"The current generated is then transferred, via a voltage regulator, to the handle of the umbrella where it is stored safely in high capacity rechargeable batteries, or used to directly charge a mobile device through a USB port."

Danielle Crook, director of brand marketing at Vodafone, said: "We wanted to create a practical but high tech innovation that could genuinely improve a festivalgoers experience. The concept Booster Brolly does just that by merging cutting edge technology with a trusted and reliable British umbrella."

K. V. KAMATH

                                       

                                                           (Chairman of Infosys Limited)

                                                          (Born on December 2, 1947)

Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the Chairman of Infosys Limited, the second-largest IT services company in India, and Non-Executive Chairman of ICICI Bank, India's largest private bank. Mr. Kamath served as ICICI Bank's Managing Director and CEO from May 1, 1996 until his retirement from executive responsibilities on April 30, 2009. 

On 30 April 2011, K V Kamath was announced to replace Mr. N R Narayana Murthy as the chairman of Infosys. Murthy's last day as chairman of Infosys was August 20, 2011, Kamath took charge as the chairman from August 21, 2011.

Moreover, Mr. Kamath is currently an independent Director of Houston-based oil services company Schlumberger and Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Lupin.

Early Life:

Kamath was born on December 2, 1947 into a Goud Saraswat Brahmin family, in Mangalore, Karnataka where he spent most of his early years. After completing Higher Secondary and Pre-University from St. Aloysius School, he joined the Karnataka Regional Engineering College (now called National Institute of Technology Karnataka) in Surathkal for a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating from KREC in 1969, he joined the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) for a Masters Degree in Business Administration.

Thought of the Day

“If you want to rule by religion,

you have to rule by peace,

not by gun.”

Vedanta Buys L&T Unit Stake

Vedanta Resources PLC has acquired a 24.5% stake in a unit of Larsen & Toubro Ltd. that holds key licenses for aluminium ore mines in eastern Indian state of Orissa, for 2.01 billion rupees, a filing with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed.

The India focussed mining group has offered up to 18.11 billion rupees (about $326.8 million) to take complete control of the unit, Raykal Aluminium Co. Pvt. Ltd., a move that would give it access to key raw material required for its aluminium plants in Orissa state, the form 6-K filing showed.

Vedanta unit Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. has acquired the minority stake in Raykal Aluminium and agreed to buy the remaining stake in a phased manner. The company said the deal is based on achievement of certain milestones, but didn’t give any details.

The filing, made on May 31 by Sterlite Industries, said the company had entered into a tripartite agreement with Larsen and Raykal on Feb. 23.

Larsen’s website showed that Raykal is one of its subsidiaries, but it wasn’t clear how much of a stake it currently holds in the unit, or if Raykal had any other investors.

Engineering major Larsen holds certain prospecting licenses for bauxite mines located at Sijmali and Kurumali of Rayagad and Kalahandi districts of Orissa, the filing said.

Following the pact, the entire bauxite excavated from the mines will be available for the use of Raykal and to the company, it added.

A spokesman for Larsen said the company had no comment on this information, while Vedanta India executives couldn’t be immediately reached.

JP Associates must sell assets for stock to escape bear grip

Jaiprakash Associates Ltd’s grand projects are providing little cheer to shareholders. Even as the company launched the Formula One race track in Uttar Pradesh last year, its stock trailed the broader markets.

The problem is familiar: Like other firms in infrastructure, Jaiprakash (JP) is heavily reliant on debt to fund growth, but earnings aren’t growing fast enough.

The opening of the Yamuna expressway will bring in much-required new cash inflows. The project is expected to generate substantial toll revenues in coming quarters and could well be a sentimental boost for the stock.

Don’t forget though that Jaiprakash Associates has to repay foreign currency convertible bonds worth $550 million by September.

That could offset the positive impact of the new revenue stream on overall earnings for a couple of quarters.

Last fiscal, long-term borrowings increased 12% to Rs. 43,912 crore. Total liabilities spiked 21% to Rs. 64,459 crore on higher provisions and a 77% spurt in trade payables. At the same time, cash and cash equivalents more than halved to Rs. 2,860 crore.

The reliance on borrowings is hurting the firm’s profitability. Although income from operations grew by a robust 30%, net profits slumped 54% to Rs. 947 crore as a sharp rise in interest costs crimped earnings. Finance costs in 2011-12 jumped 58% to Rs. 3,134 crore.

Even that revenue growth is petering out given the prevailing economic conditions. Last quarter, its cement business clocked a mere 7.5% growth in revenue. Construction and real estate businesses have reported a 0.6-5.8% drop in revenues. These three businesses contributed almost three-fourths of company’s revenue in 2011-12.

To ease the financial pressure, the company is looking to sell stake in its cement assets. It has demerged its cement operations in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to this end. According to Angel Broking Ltd, the company is planning to raise around Rs. 6,000 crore through stake sales. The earlier it finds a buyer, the better it will be for shareholders, as the new funds can be used to reduce debt.

But, like in the case of DLF Ltd, obtaining a favorable valuation will be a challenge in the current environment and could prolong the sale process.

Thought of the Day

“A dream is just a dream.

A goal is a dream with a plan

and a deadline.”

Samsung Puts New Twist on Innovation With Stickers

Samsung has a new sticker that can tell a phone what to do. They’re called TecTiles. Here’s what they do: If you’ve got one of the latest Samsung smart phones including the Galaxy S II, Nexus, Nexus S 4G, Nexus S Blaze 4G or the upcoming S III, you can turn the sticker into a little communication station.

Using the TecTile Android app, which is available in the Google Play Store, users can customize what the TecTile does. A restaurant can program a TechTile to automatically check someone in if they wave a phone over the sticker. Stick it on a business card and people you meet can automatically download your contact info.

The technology it uses is called Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC is a wireless technology that lets two devices swap data when they’re close together. Only in this case, one of the “devices” is enclosed in a sticker.

Here’s the thing about NFC: it’s a solution in search of a problem. Until now, most of the communication around NFC has centered on mobile payments. Instead of taking a credit card out of your wallet, you can wave an NFC-equipped phone past a reader at checkout. It’s a neat trick and all, but really, who needs it? I’ve already got my credit cards in my wallet.

Recession Spawns New Breed of 'Accidental' Entrepreneurs

The Great Recession spawned a new breed of "accidental entrepreneurs" more driven by profits than passion, a new study finds. Unlike the majority of small business founders who launched their companies before the economy tanked in 2008, these new-wave entrepreneurs started their businesses out of pure necessity rather than a lifelong dream of "being their own boss." These agile, highly educated, tech-savvy and battle-tested business professionals are like circling "velociraptors" waiting to feast on the herd, one analyst said.

The companies formed by these accidental entrepreneurs are poised for explosive growth, particularly companies with 10 to 49 employees, and they are aggressively leveraging technologies such as cloud computing to fast-track their success, according to a survey of 305 IT business decision-makers at small to medium-size businesses (from three to 250 employees) conducted by Forrester Research on behalf of Symantec.

"These companies are born of the recession, are focused on the Internet and are finding addressable markets to dominate," Brian Burch, VP of marketing communications for SMB and cloud, told Business News Daily. "They are l very agile, make their own decisions and are more independent than pre-recession founders. They are loaded to win in the market."

They're also candid about their focus on profit, the study found. More than half (54 percent) of the founders of small businesses launched in the dark days of the recession consider their company a growth business with an exit strategy rather than a lifestyle business, which is 15 percent higher than pre-recession companies.

And their road to entrepreneurship is different, too. More than one-third of the founders of these companies came from a position in a large company with more than 500 employees. They are skilled professionals who are used to making a good living who need to reinvent themselves to maintain their standard of living — 35 percent left their employers due to the recession, while another 8 percent came from other accidental entrepreneur backgrounds, such as the newly "un-retired" or returning military.

They're also more bullish than an earlier generation of entrepreneurs. Almost half of the businesses spawned during the recession expect to double their number of employees in the next two years and three-quarters expect revenue to grow more than 10 percent. By comparison, only 12 percent of companies founded before 2008 expect to double employees. It's the same story with revenue predictions. Only 39 percent of the companies founded pre-recession expect to grow revenues by more than 10 percent.

Commerce Glossary

Windfall: A sudden, unexpected sum of money or piece of good fortune received by someone.

White Knight: A company, individual, etc., who offers favourable terms in a takeover, usually saving the acquired company from a hostile takeover.

Without Recourse: A legal term written on a bill of exchange which signifies that the buyer accepts the risk of non-payment from a third party, rather than the seller.

Thought of the Day

“Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.”

10 ways to save money and fight inflation !

1. Credit Card / Personal Loan

-Do not use credit card without knowing your repaying capacity. You will be surprised when you see the Interest & other charges when you default a payment or pay only the Minimum Amount Due.

-Some credit card companies attract people by offering Interest free EMI. This is a catch. They will charge a one-time, upfront service charge, which will almost translate into your interest cost.

-If you have personal loans and have some surplus cash, better to partly close the personal loans.

-With RBI increasing the rates do not get into a debt trap.

2. Be diligent in buying

-One thing most of us do not do is bargaining. Of course, in supermarkets, the prices are fixed. But you can still ask for a product with different brands at a cheaper rate. Why pay for brand cost?

-Look for per unit cost. A shampoo sachet (2ml) may cost lower per ml than a 100ml can. You can check for yourself. Buying huge quantity will not only becomes waste, but also is  not cost effective.

-Look for the expiry dates. If you are buying in bulk, it is better to buy a recently packed/manufactured goods.

-If you have discount coupons, use it when required. Do not buy because you have coupons.

-You may get a good bargain outside your supermarket. Of course, you will not get the convenience of shopping there.

Finance Glossary

1	Restricted funds	These are funds used by an organization that are restricted or earmarked by a donor for a specific purpose, which can be extremely specific or quite broad, eg., endowment or pensions investment; research (in the case of donations to a charity or research organization); or a particular project with agreed terms of reference and outputs such as to meet the criteria or terms of the donation or award or grant. The source of restricted funds can be from government, foundations and trusts, grant-awarding bodies, philanthropic organizations, private donations, bequests from wills, etc. The practical implication is that restricted funds are ring-fenced and must not be used for any other than their designated purpose, which may also entail specific reporting and timescales, with which the organization using the funds must comply. A glaring example of misuse of restricted funds would be when Maxwell spent Mirror Group pension funds on Mirror Group development.
2	T/T (telegraphic transfer)	International banking payment method: a telegraphic transfer payment, commonly used/required for import/export trade, between a bank and an overseas party enabling transfer of local or foreign currency by telegraph, cable or telex. Also called a cable transfer. The terminology dates from times when such communications were literally 'wired' - before wireless communications technology.
3	Advance-Decline Ratio	A ratio that technical analysts use to assess market breadth by two of its indicators: Advances – increases in trading volume – and declines – decreases in trading volume. Essentially, it is the number of stocks that rose divided by the number of stocks that fell during a given time period. An increasing ratio is considered very bullish, especially if the rise is associated with increasing volume; a falling ratio is bearish.
4	Market Breadth	A technique used in technical analysis that attempts to gauge the direction of the overall market by analyzing the number of companies advancing relative to the number declining. Positive market breadth occurs when more companies are moving higher than are moving lower, and it is used to suggest that the bulls are in control of the momentum. Conversely, a disproportional number of declining securities is used to confirm bearish momentum.
5	Third Market	A market for trading listed securities that does not occur on the trading floor and often involves orders big enough to disrupt trading. The two parties to the trade negotiate the price between themselves, often facilitated through a third market broker. The third market consists of a number of firms that trade large blocks of listed stock for institutions
6	Bellwether Stocks	Key stocks that may be indicators of the economy’s direction (i.e. whether it is headed into a bear or bull market). A rally in these stocks, which are generally blue-chip stocks, may indicate an end to a bear market, because it shows that institutional investors are ready to re-invest.

Land acquisition or Customer acquisition : Are they similar?

While there has been a lot of buzz over methods adopted for land acquisition in India in recent times specially in Noida and Singur, a random thought actually crosses the mind: Is customer acquisition similar to land acquisition ? In first look, the concepts look poles apart, but are they really different? Let us consider how:


1. Both require convincing : In land acquisition, you need to convince the land owner to part with the land. In regard to customer acquisition, one needs to convince the customer to buy your product.


2. Both face Competition / Resistance : In case of land acquisition, the company planning to acquire the land faces resistance/ opposition from social activists/ NGOs. In a similar manner in case of customer acquisition, one faces resistance from the competition and often leads to price wars.

3. Both are susceptible to price changes : In case of both land acquisition and customer acquisition, price plays a big role: Higher the price greater the chances of a successful land acquisition, and lower the prices greater the chance of customer acquisition.

4. Both have their own share of loyalty : In case of land acquisition, there will be always be certain land owners who will be unwilling to part with their land. In case of customer acquisition as well, there will always be a significant number of core consumers of rival products in the market. The key to succeed in the long run will depend on  succeeding in these segments.

5. Both are dependent on government policies: In both cases, government and state policies determine the rules of acquiring land and marketing the product in the market !

Thought of the Day

" The path that leads you to fear is the path that will re-define your goal."

Branding strategy of Cafe Coffee Day

Cafe Coffe Day.....the "third place" for India's young at heart

If I am going to sing like somebody else, I don’t need to sing at all…

                                                                                                                       -Billie Holiday

                   How true is this particular saying of the famous singer in building a branding strategy? And how truly it has been followed by V G Siddhartha to make him now virtually the coffee king of India? V.G.Siddhartha, chairman of the Bangalore-based Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Co. (ABC) is the man behind India’s largest coffee chain, Café Coffee Day (CCD).On October 11,2011 Siddhartha was awarded as the Next Gen Entrepreneur award by Forbes India.

                   But this was not a cake-walk for Siddhartha. From setting up its 1st cafe outlet in 1996 on Brigade Road in Bangalore, CCD is now bubbling with 1232 stores and counting, with another 6 stores outside India in Vienna and Karachi. No doubt that he made the juice worth the squeeze.

                   Your brand is more than your logo, name or slogan — it’s the entire experience your prospects and customers have with your company, product and service. This is where CCD pulled a master stroke of changing the whole calculus of coffee consumption in a tea drinking country like India.

A currency that can replace dollar as reserve currency

A few months back, some businessmen launched world’s first gold ATM in London. You put in your credit card and the machine will give you the real gold.

The current global economic scenario has become increasingly interesting with the gold rising and the euro and the dollar falling apart. The point here to be noted is, the dollar is in long term decline. This can be seen from certain recent events happening across the globe. IMF released a report that says that the Dollar holdings by central banks in their reserves in declining for last few years. UBS recently conducted a survey of investment institutions with more than USD 8 trillion under their management and most of them think that the dollar will lose its reserve currency status in 25 years from now. 

For more than 50 years, the dollar has dominated the global trade. It was the most dominant unit used for cross-border transactions and formed major part of the reserves of central banks and governments. This bright and shiny currency has now started losing its luster. It has lost its share in the global trade, a change from 70% to just over 60% in last decade. The reason is so clear, US economy no longer dominates the world economy to the extent it dominated in the past. Also, it makes more sense for the global monetary system should direct the global economy in becoming multipolar. The stage, which belonged solely to USA, must now be shared with other economies and the dollar must create some room for other currencies. The US debt- ceiling fiasco has created concerns for the central bankers for holding dollars. Europe has failed to resolve its sovereign-debt crisis and there is a doubt on the existence of euro. Thus, the central bankers are now looking for alternatives other than these two falling currencies. 

Everybody seems to admit the fact that sometime in future the dollar will lose its position of the global currency but there is no agreement on what will replace the dollar as world’s reserve currency.

There are many contenders to take this crown like Gold, Yuan, SDRs, Euro, Commodities, etc.Now let us explore each of these options one by one.

Gold

The gold has been on a rise as the dollar continues to fall in the international market. The gold has been riding on the increasing concerns over dollar as reserve currency and the risk of dollar falling further. The long term graph for gold shows that it has adjusted for inflation over a long period of time 

Thought of the Day

“He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.” 

Creating God Particle: Making an Advertisement Work

Recession has once again asked a fundamental question for marketers: Is it the best time to market more and increase sales or is it the time for showing restraint and controlling the marketing budget. Nevertheless, while the answer to this might remain oblivious, there is no doubt about one pressure that marketers face: Create ever lasting advertisements, those which stand the test of time. This will help the company multi-fold: on one hand leading to lesser marketing spends , on the other hand enhancing the brand recall for the firm leading to a win-win situation.

Ever wondered why Vodafone’s ZooZoo and Kolaveri Di became viral ? What really differentiates them from millions of ads created worldwide annually that don’t make the cut and die after the initial launch. There are major brands that have failed in their advertising strategy while there are smaller brands that succeed at times in creating such everlasting ads. The answer to it lies in the presence of a so-called magic formula also referred as “God” particle by some advertisers. 

India to Give Incentives to Boost Exports

India Tuesday announced a 100 billion rupee ($1.8 billion) package to boost exports in an effort to narrow the country's trade deficit, which is one of the main reasons for a recent slowdown in Asia's third-largest economy.
As part of the package, the government has extended the import-tax waiver on certain capital goods used by exporters by a year to March 31, Trade Minister Anand Sharma told reporters. The tax waiver aims to aid technological improvement that would make Indian exports more competitive.
It will also extend a 2% interest subsidy given on loans to handloom and handicraft exporters and some other small and medium enterprises by a year to March 31. The subsidy benefit will be extended to companies which make processed farm goods, sports goods, toys and readymade garments.
A senior government official, who didn't wish to be named, said that the steps would cost the government 90 billion rupees-100 billion rupees. Of this, 80 billion rupees-90 billion rupees will be toward the import tax waiver while the rest will be for interest subsidy, the official said.
Deteriorating economic conditions in the U.S. and Europe have hurt demand for India-made products, while high oil prices have driven up its import costs. The South Asian nation's trade deficit ballooned in the last fiscal year to $184.9 billion, partly contributing to weakening the local currency that is trading near its all-time low against the U.S. dollar.

Thought of the Day

" The only sure route to failure is to think failure is never an option."

case study on Harley Davidson

Introduction:

In 1903, H-D was established by William S. Harley (William) and Arthur Davidson (Arthur) at Milwaukee in the US. William, who was born in Milwaukee on December 29, 1880, started working in a bicycle factory at the age of 15.

Arthur, who was William's childhood friend, also started working at a young age. Both of them were mechanically inclined. They manufactured their first motorcycle in a 10x15 feet wooden shed with a hand-written sign on the door that read, 'Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Company'. The first product launched was a racer bike. The company's operations expanded rapidly and the two were later joined by Arthur's brother Walter.

In 1906, H-D started a new 28x80 feet factory at

Chestnut Street

, which later came to be known as

Juneau Avenue

. By then, the company's employee strength had increased to six full-time employees. In the same year, the company also produced its first motorcycle catalog. On September 17, 1907, the name 'Harley-Davidson Motor Company' was incorporated.

HR Glossary

Extrinsic Motivation	Motivation for factors external to the individual, such as money.  Typically employees are less motivated by these factors than by intrinsic factors.
Grievance	Complaint brought forward by an employee relating to another employee.
Gross Misconduct	An act in serious breach of the employment contract and possibly the law that could to instant dismissal, e.g. theft, violence, etc.
Human Capital	The collective skills, knowledge, and abilities present within an organisation.
Induction	The process by which a new employee is introduced to the organisation.
Intrinsic Motivation	Motivation for factors internal to an individual such as self-satisfaction, achievement, praise, etc.
Job Share	The same role shared by at least 2 employees, who would usually work part time to produce the work of one full time employee.

Determine Your HR Department's Current Reputation and Brand

If you were to ask your employees today, "What does the HR Department do?" would they mutter something unintelligible to you and make a run for it? If that is the case, your human resources department needs to rethink its role and do some in-house marketing, marketing research and public relations.

First, you need to ask yourself some important questions:

·                        Do you know what your HR department's reputation is among the employees? When HR is mentioned, do managers picture savvy strategists, backward bureaucrats, or pleasant, people-pleasers?

·                        Do employees understand and appreciate the importance of the HR department in furthering the organization's mission and objectives?

·                        Does the HR department make an effort to market its services to the organization? If it does not, then it has the reputation it deserves. You can, however, easily correct this reputation.

Talk to Employees to Learn the HR Department Reputation and Brand

The key is to open up conversations with all levels of employees, and present you in the role of facilitator instead of enforcer. You have to get out of the HR office and into the world of your organization’s employees. Finding these answers requires dialogue, which means that HR must communicate. That communication must consist of equal parts of listening and promotion.

First, HR must listen carefully to what its customers need. Then it must promote what it has done and can do. HR staff must educate the organization about its capabilities and potential contributions. No one knows your capabilities as well as you do.

Thought of the Day

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are,

you would never think a negative thought.”

Newsmaker: Kishore Biyani

'Creator' as well as 'destroyer'.

Most people find it difficult to walk away from what they have created. They often hold on tenaciously, unwilling to let go of their brainchild. In that sense, Kishore Biyani is an outlier. India's retail tycoon has often taken pride in referring to himself as a "creator" as well as a "destroyer". It's perhaps this detachment from his businesses that has always helped Biyani move on-whether it was from his denim manufacturing outfit, his readymade garment brand, Bare, or more recently, Pantaloon Retail (where he had a controlling stake) as well as Future Capital.

This ability is helping him rejig his business model, while disposing of some of the businesses and formats he created over the years. His peripatetic nature may have fostered an avalanche of brands, but having burnt his fingers, he is now working fast to overhaul his existing business model so that his core retail operations become viable. Until last year, his critics didn't quite believe that he would actually go out and sell assets. Now, he's proved them wrong.

The one area where his critics have been proved right is his aggressive expansion. Prior to 2008, India was awash with easy money, with investors frantic to pump funds into businesses that leveraged India's 'growth story.' Biyani, with his grand vision for a retail empire, was a natural target. He welcomed them with open arms.

In those good ol' days, Biyani's Future Group looked like it was in a blazing hurry, opening a store a week, raising capital at will and hiring high-profile managers who were offered eye-popping salaries. As a result, the company managed to expand its footprint to over 15 million square feet of retail space in less than a decade. The company serves customers in 85 cities and 60 rural locations across the country and employs 35,000 people directly.

Govt comes out with a set of austerity measures

Under pressure to announce measures to rein in India’s widening fiscal deficit, the government announced a string of austerity measures on Thursday aimed at controlling unproductive expenditure.

These include a 10% cut in non-Plan expenditure for the current fiscal across all ministries, a restriction on official foreign travel, a ban on creation of new posts, conducting conferences and seminars in five-star hotels, and the purchase of vehicles. The austerity measures will come into force with immediate effect. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee . PTI

“For the year 2012-13, every ministry/department shall effect a mandatory 10% cut in non-Plan expenditure excluding interest payments, repayment of debt, defense capital, salaries, pension and the Finance Commission grants to the states,” according to a statement from the finance ministry, signed by expenditure secretary Sumit Bose.

India’s non-Plan expenditure for 2012-13 is estimated at around Rs. 9.7 trillion. A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows the government may be able to save about Rs. 4,500 crore through this measure. It is a small step, said N.R. Bhanumurthy, professor, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. “There are many more steps required to control the fiscal deficit,” he said. “Reducing unwanted subsidies, especially food and fuel, which are a big component of non-Plan expenditure, is important to control fiscal deficit. The government has managed to control subsidies to some extent with the hike in petrol prices. But it will be challenging for the government to increase diesel prices.”

Separate data released by the Controller General of Accounts showed India’s fiscal deficit narrowed to 5.76% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the year ended 31 March from a revised estimate of 5.9%.

The government wants to limit its fiscal deficit to 5.1% of GDP in the current fiscal by controlling subsidies to less than 2% of GDP.

Thought of the Day

“A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.”

Piramal eyes more acquisitions in pharma, sets up M&A team

Piramal Healthcare Ltd, which sold its pharmaceutical formulations business for Rs. 17,000 crore to the US drug maker Abbott Laboratories in 2010, is on the prowl to build its pharma business again.
The company has set up a mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team to buy pharma companies, led by chief operating officer Vijay Shah, considered a business turn-around expert and a confidant of chairman Ajay Piramal.
The M&A team is already in talks with some contract manufacturing companies in Europe and the US for possible acquisitions, Shah said, without disclosing more details.
“Contract manufacturing and services is a widely fragmented segment in the pharma industry at present and there is enough scope for consolidation,” Shah said in an interview last week.
Contract research and manufacturing services, or Crams, was one of the three businesses Piramal Healthcare retained when it sold its domestic drug formulations and diagnostic services arms to Abbott and Super Religare Laboratories respectively.

Countdown to Cannes 2012: Leo Burnett's trump cards: Bajaj Exhaust, Tide & Coke Studio

For this year's Cannes Lions, the agency is banking on its work on Bajaj Exhaust 'Reclaim your space', Tide 'Fragrance', and Coke Studio 'Sounds of happiness'.

The countdown to this year's Cannes Lions has begun and Indian creative agencies seem to be prepared to take on the 'Lion' with as many as 1,182 entries as compared to 1,177 entries sent last year. Amongst the agencies, Leo Burnett is optimistic and is betting high on some of its entries such as its creations for Bajaj Exhaust, Tide and Coke Studio, among others.

Submitted in the Print and Poster category, the series, called 'Reclaim your space' for Bajaj Exhaust shows how the exhaust fans provide a fresh breath of air. The creatives show the pictures of a kitchen constructed of 'real' fish, a bathroom made out of cigarettes and a bedroom made of sticking socks. Each creative is backed by messages such as, 'Reclaim your kitchen', 'Get your toilet back' and 'Get your bedroom back', respectively.

The Tide 'Fragrance' creatives, which the agency has submitted in the Photography category, highlight the two fragrances - rose and jasmine - of the detergent. One photo shows a man taking a nap in a kitchen full of left-over food. Interestingly, to get rid of the smell, he has a shirt on his face, which has been washed in Tide. The second photo shows a man sleeping in a room full of fishes. A shirt washed in Tide hangs on the wall, offsetting the odour. The third photo shows a man sleeping in a room full of onions. He, too, uses a washed white shirt to get rid of the smell of the vegetable.

Thought of the Day

 “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”

Case Study on The DownFall of Quest

 This case study is mainly based on the recent troubles (1999) of a real computer manufacturer.

1997 was a banner year for Quest Computer Corporation, a leading manufacturer of personal computers. The company surpassed $15 billion in sales, nearly seven times its revenues in 1992, the year John Clarke took over as CEO.

Clarke is a hard-driving, no-nonsense leader. His vision was to create a $30 billion enterprise by the year 2000, but things were slowly started to crumble around him. What once had been an open and productive atmosphere that cultured teamwork, was now deteriorating under the strains of political infighting, cronyism, and allegations of sexual harassment.

In the eye of the storm was Samuel Anderson, vice president of human resources. Anderson and Clarke worked together in the eighties at another corporation before Clarke came to Quest in 1992. Three years later Anderson followed. Anderson immediately started using his relationship with Clarke to influence business decisions. Anderson also leveraged his ties to discreetly resolve two allegations of sexual harassment against him.

Although the majority of senior executives and managers believed Clarke was an extremely tenacious and good executive, they also believed he was getting bad advice and accepting it. Clarke, when asked about the sexual harassment complaints against Anderson, replied, “People make things up. There is no way of knowing. People spread rumors.” This and other incidents further strained relations between Clarke and the rest of the senior executive team. Busy with the task of running one of the world's leading PC manufacturing organizations, Clarke began relying heavily on three senior executives — Anderson, Senior Vice President Tim Hunt, and Chief Financial Officer Barry Lynn.

The rest of the team felt increasingly alienated. Over a three-year period, starting in 1996, 10 top executives left the company and following them were several essential managers and supervisors. At the center of this exodus was the bizarre dynamics between Clarke and Anderson. Many believed that Clarke empowered Anderson to do things way beyond his role in human resources. For example, Anderson had significant influence on changing the organizational structure of the company, determining what divisions ought to sell into what markets, and which products should be sold through various departments. He also took steps to drive a wedge between senior executives, strengthening his position with Clarke while inducing a communications breakdown throughout the organization. Anderson had a list of people whom he would constantly campaign against by advocating organizational changes to lower their profile. Once he lowered their profile, he would start a process of easing them out of the door. As one executive put it, “Anderson was instrumental in deciding which people to bring in and which were no longer acceptable in the company.”

Entrepreneurship

Introduction

In the 20th century, the understanding of entrepreneurship owes much to the work of economist Joseph Schumpeter in the 1930s and other Austrian economists such as Carl Menger, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek. In Schumpeter, an entrepreneur is a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful innovation. Entrepreneurship employs what Schumpeter called "the gale of creative destruction" to replace in whole or in part inferior innovations across markets and industries, simultaneously creating new products including new business models. In this way, creative destruction is largely responsible for the dynamism of industries and long-run economic growth. The supposition that entrepreneurship leads to economic growth is an interpretation of the residual in endogenous growth theory and as such is hotly debated in academic economics. An alternate description posited by Israel Kirzner suggests that the majority of innovations may be much more incremental improvements such as the replacement of paper with plastic in the construction of a drinking straw.

For Schumpeter, entrepreneurship resulted in new industries but also in new combinations of currently existing inputs. Schumpeter's initial example of this was the combination of a steam engine and then current wagon making technologies to produce the horseless carriage. In this case the innovation, the car, was transformational but did not require the development of a new technology, merely the application of existing technologies in a novel manner. It did not immediately replace the horse drawn carriage, but in time, incremental improvements which reduced the cost and improved the technology led to the complete practical replacement of beast drawn vehicles in modern transportation. Despite Schumpeter's early 20th-century contributions, traditional microeconomic theory did not formally consider the entrepreneur in its theoretical frameworks (instead assuming that resources would find each other through a price system). In this treatment the entrepreneur was an implied but unspecified actor, but it is consistent with the concept of the entrepreneur being the agent of x-efficiency.

Thought of the Day

“All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.” 

Case Study on Safety Improvements

The OSHA inspections were triggered solely by employee complaints. The chief inspector reported that OSHA's chief concern was to ensure that the workplace is safe for workers.

Worker training and safety programs at Wholesome Path's food processing plant were found to be below industry standards during the inspection. Inspectors for OSHA identified more than 25 safety and health hazards at the plant during an inspection conducted during the last three months. The agency cited Wholesome Path for:

• Violating requirements for turning off machinery during maintenance and providing safeguards so they cannot be restarted during maintenance (Lock-out Tag-Out).
• Critical safety guards missing on moving machine parts.
• Incomplete procedures for work performed in confined spaces including tanks and pits.
• Missing guardrails and safety harnesses to protect workers from falls.
• Lack of training for forklift operators.
• Posted safety rules not being enforced or obeyed.

Economic Glossary

1. Money Supply:

The total stock of money in the economy; currency held by the public plus money in accounts in banks. It consists primarily currency in circulation and deposits in savings and checking accounts. Too much money in relation to the output of goods tends to push interest rates down and push inflation up; too little money tends to push rates up and prices down, causing unemployment and idle plant capacity. The central bank manages the money supply by raising and lowering the reserves banks are required to hold and the discount rate at which they can borrow money from the central bank. The central bank also trades government securities (called repurchase agreements) to take money out of the system or put it in. There are various measures of money supply, including M1, M2, M3 and L; these are referred to as monetary aggregates.

2. Revenue receipts:

Additions to assets that do not incur an obligation that must be met at some future date and do not represent exchanges of property for money. Assets must be available for expenditures. These include proceeds of taxes and duties levied by the government, interest and dividend on investments made by the government, fees and other receipts for services rendered by the government.

3. Economic infrastructure: The underlying amount of physical and financial capital embodied in roads, railways, waterways, airways, and other forms of transportation and communication plus water supplies, financial institutions, electricity, and public services such as health and education. The level of infrastructural development in a country is a crucial factor determining the pace and diversity of economic development.

COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT

Human Resource is the most vital resource for any organization. It is responsible for each and every decision taken, each and every work done and each and every result. Employees should be managed properly and motivated by providing best remuneration and compensation as per the industry standards. The lucrative compensation will also serve the need for attracting and retaining the best employees.

Compensation is the remuneration received by an employee in return for his/her contribution to the organization. It is an organized practice that involves balancing the work-employee relation by providing monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees.

Compensation is an integral part of human resource management which helps in motivating the employees and improving organizational effectiveness. 

Components of Compensation System Compensation systems are designed keeping in minds the strategic goals and business objectives. Compensation system is designed on the basis of certain factors after analyzing the job work and responsibilities. Components of a compensation system are as follows:

Thought of the day

“I’ve found that anger is the enemy of instruction.”

RBI rate cut seen; markets may not cheer

 Mumbai: India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in three years on Tuesday, but investors will be pleased only if there is an accompanying cut in banks' reserve requirements and a dialing-down of policymakers' hawkish tone. 

In a poll this week, 17 of 20 analysts forecast a 25 basis point cut in the policy repo rate next week, which would bring it to 8.25 percent. A minority expected a cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR). 

The disappointment would be huge (if there is no policy rate cut), said Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC Bank in New Delhi. 

However, economists have scaled back expectations for rate cuts in India for the rest of the year following last month's release of the federal budget, which did little to allay worries about the government's ability to cut its current account and fiscal deficits. 

At its mid-quarter review a day before the budget, the Reserve Bank of India left rates on hold and surprised with hawkish comments, disappointing investors who had hoped it would finally begin cutting rates to boost sagging growth. 

Morgan Stanley this week rolled back its rate cut forecast and now expects the RBI to leave rates on hold on Tuesday, citing a wide current account deficit, a loan to deposit ratio at an all-time high of 78.1 percent and stubbornly high inflation. 

Business Quiz

1. Which Indian brand name means priceless?

1. Kohinoor
2. Emami
3. Amul
4. Nakshatra                                                                            

2. Which brand of apparel you find at Barista?

1. Crocodile
2. Nike
3. Lacoste
4. Reebok                                                                                  

3. Pajero Lancer & Montero are launched in India by whom?

1. TVS Motors
2. Maruti
3. Hero Motors
4. Hindustan Motors                                                                     

4. “A passion to perform” is the adline of which company?

1. Deutsche Bank
2. Citi Bank
3. ICICI Bank
4. HDFC                                                                              

5. Who is the author of “The Monk who sold his Ferrari”?

1. Ken Blancard
2. Alvin Toffler
3. Tom Peters
4. Robin Sharma