Good Morning Ishan

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Thought for the day

An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't.

- Anatole France

The launch of a new product into a new or existing market. A different strategy is required depending on whether the product is an early or late entrant to the market; the first entrant usually has an automatic advantage, while later entrants need to demonstrate that their products are better, cheaper and so on.

Market follower

A firm that is happy to follow the leaders in a market place without challenging them, perhaps taking advantages of opportunities created by leaders without the need for much marketing investment of its own -
see also 'market challenger' and 'market leader'

Market positioning

A marketing strategy that will position a business’ products and services against those of its competitors in the minds of consumers. To achieve positioning success it is suggested that there are four basic competitive
strategies that a company can follow (based on work by Porter):

- Cost leadership - the company tries to achieve lowest costs of production and distribution

- Differentiation - making use of specific marketing mixes
- Focus - paying attention to a few market segments

The fourth strategy is a losing strategy in which a business pursues a middle-of-the-road path. Businesses that try to be good at everything are rarely particularly good at anything

Market research

The systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services

Business News

India's Kingfisher in Talks with Foreign Airlines

Indian billionaire Vijay Mallya said that Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. 532747.BY -5.19% was in talks to sell a stake to a foreign carrier after the Indian government this month permitted such investment for the first time.

New Delhi earlier this month allowed foreign airlines to take up to a 49% stake in Indian carriers as part of broader moves to open the economy.Mr. Mallya, who made his fortune in liquor and launched Kingfisher Airlines in 2005, had been pressing the government to allow foreign direct investment, or FDI, in airlines, arguing the sector drastically needs massive capital injections.Many of India's airlines are unprofitable due to cut-throat competition from other local carriers, sky-high fuel costs and expensive airport fees.

Kingfisher's woes have mounted in recent months. The airline has been unable to remain current on its bank debt and owes unpaid taxes to the Indian government, according to the government and Kingfisher. As of March 31, Kingfisher had 80.24 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) in debt.

As its debt problems have deepened, Kingfisher and its employees say it has failed to pay staff wages. The airline also has been forced to cut back drastically on routes."Suffice it to say we are in conversation" with foreign airlines, Mr. Mallya said Wednesday. He declined to name any of the interested parties. "The FDI announcement came just ten days ago, so we can go so fast and not faster."

Mr. Mallya is also looking at selling a stake in his flagship liquor business—a move also likely aimed at helping to solve Kingfisher Airlines' problems, analysts say.On Tuesday, U.K.-based Diageo said it was in talks to buy a stake in Mr. Mallya's United Spirits Ltd., Although both Kingfisher Airlines and United Spirits are separate Mumbai-listed companies, Mr. Mallya has controlling stakes in both firms.

That means he could sell a personal stake in United Spirits to Diageo and use the proceeds to help pare Kingfisher's debt, says Jasdeep Walia, a Mumbai-based analyst at Kotak Securities Ltd.Diageo and United Spirits said Tuesday that there is no certainty the discussions will lead to a deal. Both parties also declined to disclose the size of the stake that Diageo is looking to buy.

Thought for the day

Education … has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.

- G. M. Trevelyan British historian

Marketing Glossary

Multi-segment strategy

A strategy by which a business directs its marketing efforts towards two or more market segments by developing a marketing mix for each

New product

A new product can be defined as a good, service or idea that is “perceived” by some potential customers as new. It may have been available for some time, but many potential customers have not yet adopted the product nor decided to become a regular user of the product

Niche marketing

Niche marketing refers to the exploitation of comparatively small market segments by businesses that decide to concentrate their efforts. Niche segments exist in nearly all markets – for example the self-build
sports car segment of the motor industry

Non-personal communication

Methods of promotion that do not generate any personal feedback. Advertising is the best example of this

Company Profile

Go far in the world.
Leveraging our global reach and local expertise opens a new world of communications.

The global reach and industry expertise of Tata Communications drives and delivers a new world of communications. The company leverages its Tata Global Network, vertical intelligence and leadership in emerging markets to deliver value-driven, globally managed solutions.

About Tata Communications

Tata Communications is a leading global provider of a new world of communications. With a leadership position in emerging markets, Tata Communications leverages its advanced solutions capabilities and domain expertise across its global and pan-India network to deliver managed solutions to multi-national enterprises, service providers and Indian consumers.

The Tata Global Network includes one of the most advanced and largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 PoPs, and nearly 1 million square feet of data center and colocation space worldwide.

Tata Communications' depth and breadth of reach in emerging markets includes leadership in Indian enterprise data services, leadership in global international voice, and strategic investments in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka Limited), and Nepal (United Telecom Limited).

Tata Communications Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India and its ADRs are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. (NYSE: TCL)

Our People

Our global office holds talent from six continents. Our vast pool of expertise in the communications and technology sectors embody our commitment to conduct ethical and sustainable business. Tata Communications continues a tradition of developing and deploying innovative solutions for existing and emerging markets worldwide. Our international team reflects the dynamic and diverse market Tata Communications serves.

Our Values

Service and business at Tata Communications is guided by a commitment to ethical and responsible conduct.

Thought for the day

There are millions of children who don’t attend school. However, education is the only way to get ahead in this country.

- Azim Premji

Marketing Glossary

Logo

A graphic, usually consisting of a symbol and/or group of letters that identifies a company or brand.

Macro forecasting

Macro forecasting is concerned with forecasting markets in total. This is about determining the existing level of Market Demand and considering what will happen to market demand in the future.

Panels

Groups of consumers selected to represent a market or market segment who agree to be regularly interviewed by mail

Manufacturer brand

Manufacturer brands are created by producers and bear their chosen brand name. The producer is responsible for marketing the brand. The brand is owned by the producer. By building their brand names, manufacturers can gain widespread distribution (for example by retailers who want to sell the brand) and build customer

Marker leader

The business in a market with the largest market share. The market leader, particularly one with a dominant market share, is often “followed” by competitors in terms of pricing and product strategy

HR Article

Business Experiments

Taking Intelligent Risks

(Also known as Pilot Projects and Pilot Experiments)

Your boss has asked you to develop a new service that will boost customer retention, and you've come up with several ideas that you think might work.

The problem is, you're not sure which ones will have the biggest impact. And you don't have the time and resources to implement each idea fully. So, which idea should you move forward with?

This is one situation where it's useful to set up business experiments. By running these, you can test ideas on a small scale, before you take big risks or commit significant resources to a larger project.

In this article, we'll discuss how to conduct business experiments, and we'll look at how you can learn from them.

Why Experiment?

Many businesses don't grow unless they innovate, and innovation comes from developing and implementing new ideas. However, innovation usually carries a risk of some kind: fundamental assumptions may be wrong, new products may not work sufficiently well, customers may not accept your ideas, and so on.

This is why it's so useful to run business experiments. By testing ideas, you can understand how they might perform on a larger scale. You can also learn from your failures and mistakes, and refine your ideas to make them better.

Business experiments can involve anything from very basic tests (for example, changing the welcome message on your website or testing a new process for dealing with telephone enquiries) to more-complex projects (for example, testing a new product or service with a small number of customers).