MERCEDES

It’s a brand that bespeaks power and pelf in its owners. Any arguments on that?
A brand which is more of a status symbol in India and which undoubtedly has not given its clients much to complain about – Mercedes Benz undoubtedly symbolises one of the best mixes of luxury, quality and consistency when it comes to automobiles. Driven down by eight floors, to a modest 43rd rank, the brand appears to have lost its shine of late. However, it does seem to show consciousness about the same as it understood that just a 11% increase in sales volumes to 2,121 units during 2006 alone, wasn’t enough. This year’s first quarter was much healthier with sales growing by 17% to 690 vehicles.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

TATA GROUP

Analysts might be doubting his aspirations, but this Tata’s Safari doesn’t seems to be stopping
The Group has been on a maddening acquisition spree in the past one year. Right from Corus to Indonesian coal mines to hotels in the US to Glaceau et al, Tata Group has left no stone unturned in its quest to go global. However, it is this acquisition spree that has created doubts in minds of industry watchers regarding long term sustainability of the Group. Consequently, this year Tata Group has observed a fall of two rankings in the 4Ps B&M 100 Most Valuable Brand list. However, with base of 96 companies operating in seven different sectors ranging from as basic as consumer products to super hitech sectors like IT, engineering and so on, Tata Group is definitely not losing grounds, as of now. The Group employs more than 240,000 employees, has 28 publicly listed companies and its operations extends to six continents in over 120 countries. Whether it is the IT giant TCS or it is the automobile major Tata Motors, the way these companies are growing, the Tata brand seems to be unstoppable!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

IMAGE & PERCEPTION

If you have a belief that creating a strong brand image or enforcing corporate identity are just buzz phrases for brand consultants, then please think again. The fact is that companies have to focus keenly on various aspects like strong customer service, distribution and promotion in order to create a strong and powerful brand image. Evidently, Hutch with its simple positioning and aggressive marketing, claims the top spot in the image and perception list of India’s 100 most valuable brands. The fact that it has been swallowed up by global brand (Vodafone) may also have worked in its favour. Following Hutch closely is media house NDTV, which has emerged as one of the strongest ‘news’ brands in India. Other brands that predictably form a part of the image and perception index are Nescafe, Tata Group, Hero Honda, Lux and Sony, among others, which have delivered as per customer expectation, every time they have been put to a litmus test. Brands like M&M (with its international positioning) and Times of India also make a debut in this list.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

All that you wish wasn’t greek!

RBI’s complicated talk finally makes sense to individual investors
For the sake of small mercies, all the much hyped RBI talk about capital and current account convertibility was as Greek to individual investors as, well, Greek! Perhaps, it’s only now that such complicated adjectives have been finally converted into concepts that can be easily utilized by the common man... uhh, that is, if he has that much money to invest! Cutting the edgy humour short, the fact is that RBI’s recent decision to double the annual remittance limit for individuals to $100,000 per Financial year (from the earlier limit of $50,000)can actually work wonders for an investor who wants to own different asset classes in different countries.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Global Power

This strategy was buttressed by catapulting India to a status of global power and thus appealing and appeasing the Indian elite. The whole drama about India as the future ‘super power’ culminated with, July 18, 2005, civilian nuclear agreement between President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Without reading between the lines, the so-called doyens of Indian strategic community began to shout out that India has been granted the status of a ‘nuclear weapon state’. Although the left -liberals and the concerned scientific community did raisehackles about the actual US intentions, but their voice was drowned in the din.

The net result is that two years after the July 18 agreement; the Hyde Act & numerous bilateral talks, India is slowly, but gradually, beginning to comprehend the true US government’s intentions to lure into a deal which primarily intends to put a lid over India’s strategic options, limiting its ability to conduct further nuclear tests. As the growing opposition within the US about approving India’s entry into the exulted nuclear club gains momentum, a feeling of being cheated is beginning to dawn upon the Indian decision-makers.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2007

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative