Wednesday, August 06, 2008

hot n’ heavy

They could – indeed are – taking cues from the west where adwallahs are doing sharp numbers with this crowd. Revlon, recently, launched a brand called Vital Radiance targetting, hot n’ heavy, the plus-50 women. American car-makers too have started focusing on (baby-boomers) the 50-plus men because this group “accounts for half the US spending,” leading them to confidently believe, the older Gen Grey of today get, the deeper, their pockets become! Renowned and respected Behavioral Scientist, Ashish Nandy agrees. “I am 70 and sometimes feel my age but people associating with me, don’t seem to share this feeling!” They can’t really be blamed because, active as hell, Nandy is perpetually on the move – in the capacity of a much-in-demand speaker at Seminars, Symposiums and other forays – at home and abroad. Did his father, remotely do anything similar? He smiles. “He started feeling old the day he hit sixty!” Nandy believes its really a generational thing and perceptively points out to the two dramatic aspects that has driven this change – mindset and consumption pattern. “In my youth, one couldn’t dream of a 50-plus gentleman wearing shorts, tees or jeans, unless he was hugely anglicised, fashion-conscious and came from rich, upper class stock. Today, it is fairly common to see Gen Grey moving around in these, without the slightest trace of self-consciousness. I guess this has motivated marketers to include them in their target group.”

Suddenly the Gen Grey guy is not the over-the-hill, bored, broke, depressed bozo imagined but an active member of MOFS (Male Over Fifty Spenders). Sure kids understand brand and technology, but when it comes to spending big bucks … and by the way it is reported that 18.8% of India is 50-plus, so we really are talking monster numbers, here!

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Implementing its strategic focus

So how has Emami gone about implementing its strategic focus on bringing in openness, a sense of family bonding and trust among Emami’s employees? “We prefer to listen to employees and learn by working together. It helps employees feel secure and gives them the comfort edge. Amazingly, we’ve never had even a single man day loss; and not even in our factories,” Ratna is quite assertive in her statement. Is that because of the rewards and recognition system in Emami? Partly accepting, Ratna throws a side punch at me, when she says that the one thing that is very hard to find in this world is an employee who is satisfied with his salary and does not seek rewards and recognition. And today, when attrition rates are skyrocketing, one needs to pay proper attention to this particular function too.


Creditably, Emami’s ‘Reward & Recognition Program’ acts as a “catalyst” in the system and is of utmost importance for Emami. Though I knew the answer, I still was curious: How important is ‘money’ in this whole process of recognition in Emami? “Recognition can be surely done via other methods too. Today, people are anyway earning ‘fat’ salaries and hence ‘non-monetary recognition’, apart from monetary incentives, is a ready welcome. Emami, like other companies, is thinking of many innovative ways,” debates Ratna. And the innovative list includes ‘Congratulatory’ and ‘Appreciation’ letters from the top management, gifts, spot awards and promotions, apart from giving higher responsibility to the employee. Interestingly, Emami also has a very fashionable glam-award event on the Emami family day, where they award the titles of ‘Mr. Elegant’ and ‘Ms. Elegant’, obvious references to the well dressed Emami employees.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

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Monday, August 04, 2008

Today’s globalised India

High profile head honcho of PNC, Pritish Nandy however scoffs at any mention of advertising being associated with truth or reality. “To me, advertising is nothing more than a 30 second recreational capsule designed to provide a breather from the brutalities of India’s newscape. Into this, of course, is insidiously built-in the profit motive.” Warmed up, he offers his views on advertising’s depiction of woman. “It’s very interesting. They throw up two stereotypes, neither of which is anchored in reality! The first is the “firang” model, the sassy and sexy international (Kate Moss?) import who sashays across up-market glossies, Sunday supplements as also our TV screens. The creators of this persona believe that teaming with the brand owners, they can successfully hawk style, attitude and looks because, after all, what you see is where the action is! This leads to the conviction that consumers will surely buy into this image because in today’s globalised India, the Western look, style & pizazz is the flavour of the moment.” This tragi-comical colonisation of their mind, Nandy believes is, mercifully, not shared by the Indian consumer and reflects the ad fraternity’s total disconnect with reality. It brilliantly symbolises what today’s India is NOT!

“The second is the homegrown Kanta Bai / Lalitaji model. This representation attempts to propagate old-fashioned values of thrift and choices. The models also are (consciously) unglamourous, plain, non-threatening, cosy and cutesy hitting the security zone and evoking visions of the virginal, innocent, blissful past. Pity is, that it symbolises India of yesterday, not today! It is a corny and romanticised version that just doesn’t resonate with today’s life and times.”

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Read these article :-
ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global (Print Version)
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

Read More Articles on IIPM:-
IIPM makes business education truly global-Education-The Times of ...
The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM
IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...
IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...
IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...
IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...
The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs
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India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India
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Friday, August 01, 2008

Now for some Micro’hard’ talk

What had started as a good ol’ peaceful offer for merger, is now turning into a rather unpleasant war of words between Steve Ballmer and the Yahoo! board of directors.
Despite an elongated period of negotiations (since Microsoft put forward their proposal to buy Yahoo! at a 62% premium to the closing price on January 31, 2008, the day preceding the announcement), the stalemate continues. Steven A. Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corp. said in a letter on April 7, “The goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction.” But since speed is a pipedream still, Ballmer has threatened to take the battle to the shareholders and also that the valuation will be reduced significantly.

“Yahoo! is pulling out all the stops to try to prevent such an acquisition, primarily because I believe management really does feel that Microsoft’s $44 billion offer is too low,” feels Richard Dorfman, MD, Richard Alan Incorporated (a New York-based investment firm) and Chairman, TransMedia Institute. If first quarter numbers are good, it would signify Yahoo!’s best shot at gaining some power in negotiations with Microsoft ahead of its Saturday deadline to accept the software company’s nearly $44-billion takeover offer. A good Q1 would mean that Ballmer eats crow.

Even if a combined Microsoft-Yahoo! is unable to dethrone Google as the online advertising leader, the combined company would still be a very substantial player in this extremely profitable business. The present Yahoo! sentiment is tough to agree with but the situation shows it all. Others are equally getting vehement at the situation. “At the moment, Microsoft is mired in a three-dog fight to acquire Yahoo!”, reveals Marc Edelman, a New York law professor with an expertise in antitrust law. At present it’s competing against Google, which has tons of free cash flow and AOL, which presents lower antitrust risk. At least publicly, Microsoft is the only company that has submitted a formal acquisition bid. Plus, of these three companies, Microsoft may stand to benefit most based on synergies between Microsoft’s core business units and Yahoo!’s web-based capabilities. “Yahoo! will eventually sign a sale agreement with Microsoft but is using Google and AOL to try to convince Microsoft to both increase its bid price and incur the antitrust risk of regulators rejecting the deal on antitrust grounds,” adds Marc.

For Complete
IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Kinds of funding

The second round of funding for the group, Consim Info, came from Mayfield Fund, (along with the existing investors) for a whopping $1,175 million. Whenever a company gets these kinds of funding it gives it a great boost. With capital at your disposal you can go out and grab each opportunity that awaits you, as money is no longer an issue to ponder about. Also your credibility in the marketplace increases as you have prestigious names that are backing you and your business ventures. All this helps in attracting good talent towards the organisation, as great minds would work with vigour when they know that their monetary needs would be well met by the organisation in both the short & the long run. More money in your hand also helps you to grow faster than the market.

Apart from all these, the fundings from these Venture Capitalists (VCs) have also helped the group in streamlining the business and putting proper processes in place. We also got more professional guidance and now are strengthening our top management further, through the support of our investors. We have been enjoying these fundings for a couple of years now and as one knows the average span of any VC is normally 3-5 years, so we have a couple of more years to enjoy these liberties and make our systems stronger before we are ready to test the markets through our IPO.

For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article

Source :
IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative