Band-baba-barat divinity as fmcg what an idea sir jee

4Ps B&M‘s Consulting Editor Monojit Lahiri investigates this new booming form of market-friendly, Designer Moksha!

It is an astonishing paradox of human life that with progress, sophistication, modernity and success comes depression, loneliness, alienation, and insecurity! Today in the year 2011, as we scan the lifescape inhabiting planet earth – with special reference to the advanced and developed western countries – we find startling horror stories of dysfunctional life amidst plenty. Amongst us in India there is no dearth of mimics and west-apers passionately engaged in the business of living a ‘proxy’ life – a life invested with ‘imported’ thoughts, beliefs, products and processes. They believe it spells progress, being cool, smart, belonging to the swish Page 3 set and generally being perceived as aspirational role-models and preferred objects of desire.

Sadly, nothing is further from the truth! In the insane and direction-less pursuit of a mirage called “happiness”, the first casualty is peace of mind. Why? Because nothing in this world comes for free and the first world joys offered by the enticing packages called ‘Consumerism’ and ‘Globalisation’ come with a sinister price-tag! Suddenly, the sexy, 10-digit paycheck doesn’t look so great because the tension and pressure that accompanies it is scary. Family life, social life, cultural life, intellectual life … everything is sold at the altar of moving up in life. So, what next? What is the solution? Where is the salvation? Enter the marketers of spiritualism!

Ad-man Gullu Sen – Founder of Delhi based agency From Here On Communications – comes up with an instant one-liner. “If you have a Sapnon Ka Saudagar, why can’t you have a guy hawking spirituality?! The con-game is the same, boss!” On a more serious note, Sen believes that in today’s troubled times where tension and pressures rule the roost, spirituality is in high demand & low supply. “Hence, the smart, shrewd marketer who has his ear to the ground and is able to think on his feet, can do wonders – for his desperate clients and laughing wallet.” He cites the example of Aastha and a host of similar TV channels which enjoy a wide viewership cutting across all stratas of society.

Perizaad Zorabian, the gorgeous red-head scorching the Bollywood marquee and modelling scene, takes a more serious view. She believes that each and every human being has a spiritual side to him or her “but unfortunately, due to the pressures of everyday life, sometimes, they are forced to give it low priority. Interestingly, in times of real stress, it is this spirituality that gives them the strength and sustenance to cope.” Although she lives an extremely busy life, Zorabian makes it a point to save some time each day for herself “to catch up with her spiritual self that is a source of both enrichment and empowerment.” As for the spirituality-on-sale tack, the actress believes that something as sacred and precious as this should not be treated as a product or service to be hawked for consumption. “I find it a very sick line of thinking!”

Burly, bearded, iconoclast Ad-man Prahlad Kakkar is however totally comfortable with the idea of marketing spirituality. “Yaar, we live in sexy Kalyug times where everyone knows the price of everything but the value of nothing! Spirituality, therefore, for the stressful, materialistic, gimmee-gimmee community, is something they can easily connect with as a consumer,” he tells 4Ps B&M. Kakkar believes that the simple, innocent days of basic goodness that was the DNA of our forefathers, have long disappeared. They have been replaced by a turbulent and complex environment where basic values are frequently under siege. “Hence, a safety valve like spirituality is a super-seller – a pre-sold, sellout!”

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Planman Technologies

4PS B&M - ICMR Exclusive Survey India's most Admired Consumer Durable Brands 2011

ICMR and 4PS B&M Present The Most Comprehensive Profiling of Indian Consumers’ Preferences and recall of Consumer Durable goods

It’s no more a secret that India’s consumer durables market is riding the crest of the country’s economic boom. In fact, Driven by a young population, with access to disposable incomes and easy finance options, the Indian consumer durables market has been throwing up some staggering figures lately. Even high inflation and poor consumer sentiment could not take the sheen off the industry. What’s more? pegged at Rs.350 billion, the Indian consumer durables industry recorded a growth of 12-13% in sales in 2010 over the previous year. While the average sales growth in the sector rose to 46% in Q4 2010 from 17% in Q1 2010, profit growth also improved from a 31% decline in Q1 2010 to a spectacular 118% growth in the December quarter. Analysts predict that the industry will continue with its stellar performance going forward as well. and the credit for this goes to those consumer durable brands, which embraced the change, and recognised the need to sprint along that one track that not only led them to win the loyalty and continued trust of customers, but also chart an impressive growth trajectory for the industry. After all, In the cut-throat world of marketing and mass media, where products have a tendency to become history quickly, they stormed into OUR LIVES with ridiculous ease. And that was nothing compared to the ease with which they have stayed there! 4Ps Business & Marketing, in association with THE NATION’S LEADING MARKET RESEARCH FIRM, Indian Council for Market Research (ICMR), presents the Power list of ‘India’s Most Admired Consumer Durable Brands 2011’! THIS LIST, WHICH SPANS THE top five consumer durable brands based on brand recall and THE top three based on consumer preference ACROSS SPECIFICALLY CHOSEN PRODUCT CATEGORIES, aptly reflects the changing moods and aspirations of a young and dynamic nation that HAS entered a roaring new decade full of opportunities.

Methodology: India’s MOST Admired Consumer durable brands Survey

4Ps B&M conducted a survey in association with Indian Council for Market Research (ICMR) on India’s most admired consumer durable brands amongst 855 respondents in 5 Indian cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Chennai – using a structured questionnaire and a random sampling technique. To make the survey more focused and detailed, the consumer durable segment was sub-categorised and brands were listed accordingly, mostly from the household segment of durability, with a deliberate preponderance of the electronics segment – cars, sports equipment, furniture, thereof were excluded. A few other sub-categories (including MP3 players,cameras/camcorders, juicer mixer grinders et al) were excluded from the purview of the survey with a focus on giving specificity to high capitalisation product segments. Cellular phones were another important exclusion given a combination of various factors – rapidly rising technology curve (leading to newer brands coming out with increasing regularity), extremely low product life cycles, and decreasing average usage life cycle per consumer – which almost pushes a modern day cell phone into the FMCG category in the retail segment, leave the business phone users to some extent.

The survey, in the previously mentioned cities, was conducted with SEC-A & B segments. Under the survey, respondents were asked to recall brands under different heads in the consumer durables segment. They were also asked to name their preferred brands. In the statistical representation featured within this section, only the top five recalled brands and the top three preferred brands are documented, along with the percentage divided between respondents who chose ‘specifically’ these brands – in other words, this would mean that the percentages shown in each graph would therefore statistically add up to 100%. The respondent profiling was donhttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=25045928e based on the segment being interviewed. The age-group of the respondents (25 years and above) was also given importance considering that such respondents are high users and buyers of different products.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
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They are The Economist... And they Talked to us

The Man at The Helm of Affairs at The Economist’s office in India, Supriyo Guha Thakurta, reveals to 4PS B&M what makes The Economist, well, The Economist.

Having worked as a leader with brands like Lintas Personal and Adfactors Advertising, this marketing graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur is at the helm of making decisions at The Economist’s office in India, pertaining to strategic leadership, and enhancing business revenue & profits. His task is far from easy considering the battle he fights everyday to increase the awareness of an already strong brand and ensure it gets a consistently better circulation year on year. In an exclusive conversation with Suprio Guha Thakurta, MD, The Economist India, 4Ps B&M finds out how challenging it has been for him to market the magazine in India and what unfolds next in those marketing plans.

There has been a 13% y-o-y increase in the magazine’s readership in India. What factors drove these numbers home?
We had established an office in India towards the end of 2007. The vision was that all factors were driving the Indian economy, and as such it did make a good place for our brand to be in. Our focus is to build a strong business driven by print, reason being our brand is recognised mostly by our magazine; and as such, we want to keep it alive till other forms of media take the front stage. The increasing readership only proves that the demand was always there for our product... it just needed to be marketed well, and we are pretty much in line with what we thought we will get to when we started off in India.

Globally, the magazine has marketed itself through billboards and outdoor advertising. Why is it different in India?
In India, we had the choice of taking that step, but we decided to look at each market in the country separately because this market didn’t know our brand. Brand awareness was there, but nothing beyond that. And based only on the perception of its name, our targeted audience thought it was a magazine focussing on politics and business, which is not the core of our magazine. Initially, we focused on Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore, and we had a pure measure of effectiveness for our communication strategy. We needed people to be aware of the brand and then read the magazine. We measured the number of unique visitors on our website and found that it grew gradually. Eventually, there were visitors subscribing to the print version of the magazine through the website. When we started off, the numbers were approximately 2-3 subscribers per day, but in the last few years that number has grown to an average of 10 subscribers per day. So, the unique readership has grown more than three times over the last three years. After targeting these three cities, we realised that there’s more for our market beyond them. We were spending all the money in three metros, whereas 15% of our subscribers were not even from the first 20 metros. We thought perhaps it’s time to spread the message out there. That’s when TVCs were made. So, it was not some ad hoc thing, it was a well thought strategy. Now to ensure the increased awareness span, we have consistently kept commercials alive across India.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
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Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS

Buy later, pay now,or what?

The 4PS B&M Annual Consumers’ Guide to Post Budget Price Movements

It’s the killing question that hits every consumer before a budget – will the prices rise or will they fall? While the Devil is in the detail, the price movement is in the interpretation. 4Ps B&M, in its inaugural post budget issue, took up six sectors – automobiles, real estate, white goods, computers and gems & jewellery – to give you the dummy’s guide to price movements post budget.

One of the core concepts of marketing theory and practice is that consumers act as value maximisers, and relentlessly make cost benefit analyses before they make a decision on any purchases. Despite that genuine intent, though, value maximization is obviously a very utopian concept. While every marketer puts his best foot forward into the market with his positioning, communication and distribution strategies, the consumer has to move through this intricate maze and seek out what’s best for him. Various factors could help clear the way or even make it hazier, like brand perception, social and economic background, cultural influences, inputs from family and friends, et al. Also, consumers have an upper limit (which is largely psychological) to which they research for the best value, which also varies with respect to the nature of the product they are buying. After that, they tend to simply sign on the dotted line. Moreover, our society is not that advanced in terms of consumer activism as compared to the US. In the US, there are associations like Consumers Union, which are not only keeping marketers and retailers alert through consistent scrutiny of products and services, but are also playing a key role in shaping consumer oriented policies. In that sense, the very notion of the consumer being the king, particularly in India, may be quite distant from reality.

Even if it is assumed that you have decided upon the best possible product, the other critical aspect of value is price, and the entire effort that goes into extracting the best deal. Moreover, pricing is in itself a very strategic tool today, and the ‘cost plus margin’ approach looks centuries old. Companies look at a lot towards factors like perceptions that pricing builds, price elasticity of demand, the stage in the product life cycle, competitor pricing strategies, their positioning strategy, overall company policies, et al. Even the salesperson you interact with has gone through multiple training programmes in negotiation theory. He is taught to make a quick judgment about the kind of customer you are and the values you seek and also use this judgement to decide what price to offer you at the start and at what price to stop.

Conversely, there is a lot that customers need to understand about how they can formulate their own price negotiation strategy. A lot of it comes from experience, but then, if you understand how companies behave today, you can bypass years of bad experiences and non-value maximizing transactions and significantly improve your consumer experiences here and now. It matters to understand, for instance, that if you cannot afford a premium brand like Sony, there are a lot of brands who can give you an acceptable or even remarkably similar experience at a lower price. Or the fact that coffee chains adopt a price differentiation strategy to target multiple customer segments, which is why the Mocha that you drink may be Rs.10-20 more expensive in terms of price over the Cappuccino, but there is hardly any difference with respect to cost of production.

Consequently, the focus of this cover story of 4Ps B&M is on one specific and critical aspect of a consumer’s pricing strategy – the right time to buy, a decision that is hugely dependent on the FM’s budget speech every year. Especially during these days of dizzying inflation, any buying strategy that is even a wee bit lighter on the wallet is definitely worth considering. Through first hand analysis and industry interactions, this cover story discusses ongoing and anticipated price movements across sectors, due to budget announcements or due to specific sectoral trends, to act as a guide to your purchase planning in the coming months. We’ve selected a handful of industries that garners the maximum interest of the investor population and have attempted to give an analysis that, despite going deep into numbers, keeps it simple for your understanding. While there are no guarantees that the prices would move exactly in the way we are postulating, what is true is that the probability of your making the right informed choice – of whether to buy now or later – increases. And now, jump right on to the 4Ps B&M Annual Consumers’ Guide to Post Budget Price Movements.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM Best B School India
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
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Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM RANKED NO.1 in MAIL TODAY B-SCHOOL RANKINGS

Movie Buffs’ Internet Warfare

UTV World Movies, India’s first world cinema channel has revamped its website to cater to the niche world cinema segment in India. The new website displays drop down menus; excel sheets and a cine map to choose films from the database. Various social networking links have been added to increase visitors. World Movies stands with 5% of market share above Warner Brothers and Lumiere which have 4% and 0.1% share respectively. “We had two goals behind the revamp. One that the fans can come and check the movie schedule and figure information about the movie; and two, to increase awareness of world movies as a genre,” said Vahishta Mistry, VP Ineractive, UTV World Movies. The website revamp may attract viewers over the short term; increasing viewership over the long term still remains a per movie question.


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....
IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Idea gets a breather as Rs250 crore fine stayed

The Telecom Dispute Settlment and Appellate Tribunal, or TDSAT, has restrained Department of Telecommunications (DoT) from collecting a Rs250 crore fine from Idea Cellular, country’s third-largest mobile telephony operator by revenue market share.

Idea Cellular — part of the Aditya Birla group — had acquired Spice Communications in 2008 but the merger of the two entities has hit several regulatory hurdles as Spice owned overlapping telecom license and spectrum in different telecom circles.

In June, DoT, apex body in the country that issues licences and regulates telecom services fined Idea `250 crore for violation of applicable regulations while carrying out the merger.

On Monday, Delhi High Court asked Idea to return 6 overlapping licences and spectrum to DoT besides imposing a fine of Rs1 crore.

Idea was also directed to pay Rs1 crore for suppressing information on its deal with Spice, the court said in an order posted on its website.

Idea denied wrongdoing and said it would appeal against the order. With the latest stay order from TDSAT, the firm gets a breather. Idea has maintained that it sought DoT’s opinion before merging with Spice but that the body has not been very responsive to its efforts to communicate but has now gone on an overdrive finding fault with the merger process.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Nokia tries N9 ahead of Windows

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop unveiled a new smartphone on Tuesday that uses software the firm plans to ditch, a move analysts said would probably condemn the device to obscurity. The model — Nokia's first and last to use MeeGo —can be navigated by a single finger swipe and comes in black, cyan and magenta colours in a polycarbonate design.

Once the undisputed leader in hand phones, Nokia has rapidly lost ground in the smartphone market to Apple's iPhone and Google's Android devices, and at the low end of the market to Asian rivals such as China's ZTE and India's Micromax.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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UK's Serco buys Intelenet for Rs 2.8k cr

UK-based international services firm Serco has acquired Indian BPO company Intelenet for Rs 2,772 crore, making it the largest acquisition in the Indian BPO space. It pips the $550 million (Rs 2,475 crore) that Genpact paid in April to acquire Headstrong. The acquisition of Intelenet supports our ambitions as a leading global service company. The international BPO market is growing quickly as companies seek out new ways to improve their service and reduce costs, Chris Hyman, the chief executive of Serco, said in a statement. ntelenet offers a broad range of BPO services including transactional, voice support, finance and accounting services in markets like the US, UK and India. It focuses on the banking, financial services & insurance, travel, hospitality & transport, and healthcare sectors. The valuation, however, appears to be on the higher side. Serco's acquisition cost represents a multiple of around 12 times EBITDA for the year to March 31, 2011. Nikhil Rajpal, partner, private equity practice, Everest Group, said, this deal is on the expensive side considering that Intelenet has a lot of low-margin India business.

The buyout is part of the £4.3 billion Serco's strategy to gain a larger exposure to higher-growth overseas BPO markets. Serco made an investment about two years back in an India-based company called InfoVision, which is now called Serco BPO. Serco BPO, which has about 8,000 people, provides customer services, database management and back office services for only the Indian BPO market. Intelenet has an employee base of 32,000 with about 75% of revenues coming from international business and 25% from domestic business. Their combined BPO operations will have 40,000 employees providing services across seven countries.

The combined entity is a strategic fit for Intelenet as it adds significantly to its consulting and technology capabilities. The vision is to become a complete player offering consulting to front line services to middle and back office and technology, said Susir Kumar, chief executive of Intelenet Global Services.

Analysts say that the BPO industry will see more consolidation, as clients prefer vendors who can provide end-to-end capabilities with stronger domain expertise. Smaller players should either gain scale through consolidation or acquire expertise in niche areas, said Kumar.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
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IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
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Allahabad HC quashes land acquisition in Gr Noida

In yet another setback to Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court on Monday quashed acquisition of 170 hectares of land at Gulistan village in Greater Noida for industrial development. The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justice Sunil Ambawani and Justice Kashi Nath Pandey on a petition filed by landowners and farmers challenging the government notification for land acquisiton issued on September 5, 2007 under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act depriving the aggrieved persons of filing their objections on the ground that the matter was urgent. The declaration of the acquisition was made on February 27, 2008, about more than five months.

The court rejected the contention that there was any urgency and said the landowners have to be given an opportunity for hearing by filing their objections. This was the third time that the HC has set aside land acquisition in Greater Noida where the farmers are up in arms against UP government's land acquisition demanding adequate compensation for their land and had clashed with police earlier this month. On May 12 and May 15, the HC had quashed acquisition of more than 170 hectares in Gautam Budh Nagar district.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

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Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

German govt wants nuclear exit by 2022 at latest

Germany will shut all its nuclear reactors by 2022, parties in Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government agreed on Monday, in a reaction to Japan's Fukushima disaster that marks a drastic policy reversal.

As expected, the coalition wants to keep the eight oldest of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors permanently shut. Seven were closed temporarily in March, just after the earthquake and tsunami hit Fukushima. One has been off the grid for years. Another six will be taken offline by 2021 , Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said early on Monday after late-night talks in the chancellor's office between leaders of the centre-right coalition.

The remaining three reactors, Germany's newest, will stay open for another year until 2022 as a safety buffer to ensure no disruption to power supply, he said. Merkel backtracked in March on an unpopular decision just months earlier to extend the life of ageing nuclear stations in Germany, where the majority of voters oppose atomic energy.

Her Christian Democrats (CDU), their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) and junior coalition partner the Free Democrats (FDP) met on Sunday after an ethics commission ended its deliberations this weekend. Some politicians had wanted a clause allowing for the agreement to be revised in future. The FDP had wanted no firm date but rather a flexible window for the exit, plus the option of bringing back at least one of the seven oldest nuclear reactors in case of emergency.

The coalition agreed to keep one of the older reactors as a "cold reserve" for 2013, if the transition to renewable energies cannot meet winter demand and if fossil fuels do not suffice to make up for a potential shortfall.

IMPACT OF FUKUSHIMA

A massive earthquake and tsunami in March crippled Japan's Fukushima plant, causing releases of radioactivity, sparking calls for tougher global safety measures and prompting some governments to reconsider their nuclear energy strategy.

The German decision still needs to go through parliament and leaders of the opposition Social Democrats and the Greens were present at parts of the meeting to enable a broad consensus.

The decision could still face opposition from RWE, E.ON, Vattenfall and EnBW, the utility companies that run the 17 plants, mostly because of plans to keep a disputed nuclear fuel rod tax.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting


IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

IIPM Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri on Internet Hooliganism
Arindam Chaudhuri: We need Hazare's leadership
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management

Nifty's Lowest Rollover at 59.7% in the Present Calender Year

Nifty derivative May contracts experienced the lowest rollover in 2011 at 59.7%. In 2011 the average rollover so far had been 66.2%. The May rollover was accompanied by a lower spread between the May and June futures which indicated that short positions were more aggressively rolled-over than that of longs.

The spread (difference between Nifty in the cash market and Nifty June futures) has been coming down extensively since the past one week and experts attribute it to be a result of bearish sentiment among traders. The spread between the May and June series or the discount with which June series closed over the Nifty stood at 21.7 on Thursday .

Savio Shetty, research analyst- Institutional Derivatives at Prabhudas Lilladher says, “Even after discounting for the dividend premium of around 24.5, the net spread turns out to be a premium of just over 3 points.

Such low premium along with a lower-than-average market-wide rollover indicates a higher rollover of shorts”.

While the lower rollovers in Nifty are in line with sluggish market sentiment, the open interest on the put side indicates that traders are looking at 5,300 as the near-term strong support.
June 5,300 puts gained 11.6 lakh shares, highest for any strike on the put side to obtain a total open interest of 49.4 lakh shares.

However, the marginal difference between the open interest of June 5,000 and 5,300 puts indicate that traders are considering 5,000 to be the next crucial support for the Nifty in case 5,300 gives away. Currently, June 5,000 puts have the highest open interest of about 51 lakh shares on the put side.

Sector-wise, real estate companies, namely, DLF and Indiabulls Realestate saw a high rollover of 84% with higher discounts indicating transfer of short positions.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
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DGCA probes air ambulance crash

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation on Thursday started an inquiry into the crash of a small medical ambulance aircraft in a residential area here that left 10 persons including seven on board dead.

The DGCA has appointed an inspector of inquiry, who will take charge of all material evidence at the site of the crash including the wreckage of the plane in sector 22 here.

A six-member DGCA team is inspecting the site of the crash.

The inspector of inquiry will hand over the material evidence to the Court of Inquiry when it will be set up.

A senior DGCA official had said last night that the plane was in contact with the Air Traffic Control and on the radar before suddenly vanishing and losing touch.

Three persons on the ground -- all women -- were among the 10 dead when the P-12 single-engine turboprop aircraft belonging to Delhi-based Air Chartered Services India Limited crashed in Jawaharnagar locality near the IAF station in the Delhi suburb at around 1035 PM shortly before landing at IGI airport in Delhi.

Officials assessing property loss

Haryana Government officials assessed the loss suffered to property due to the crash of an air ambulance aircraft in a residential area here that left 10 persons dead.

Officials from the revenue department inspected the two houses which suffered damages when the aircraft crashed into their roofs.

A senior official said mainly two houses -- one belonging to Sobhraj Shehwrat and Sunil suffered damages in the crash.

“There are damages to two houses. We are assessing the loss. We will prepare a report regarding the damages and recommend to the government the compensation to be given,” the officials said.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

Attempt was made to attack Mumbai two months before 26/11': Headly

David Coleman Headley has now told a Chicago court that an earlier attempt to attack Mumbai in September 2008, two months before 26/11, had failed as "the boat carrying Pakistani assailants hit the rocks.

" Headley, a Pakistani-American, is the key witness in the trial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Chicago businessman accused of helping coordinate the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks and has agreed to testify against Rana to avoid the death penalty. Earlier during the trial, Headley identified his ISI handler, the shadowy Major Iqbal, as Chaudhery Khan, the man with whom the Pakistani-American had several email exchanges. Headley wrote to him at the email id chaudherykhan@gmail.com.

On being interrogated about those mail exchanges, Headley told the court that Chaudhery Khan was Major Iqbal, the man Headley had identified yesterday as one of his ISI handlers. Major Iqbal is named as a co-defendant in the indictment.

Headley has already pleaded guilty to laying the groundwork for the Mumbai attacks, and has agreed to testify against Rana to avoid the death penalty.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

MD PRABHU S HAS TAKEN ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED BY TAKING ON THE LOW MARGIN SEGMENT OF IT SERVICES TO SMES/MSMES YET IN A CANDID

How do you cope up with the challenges faced in a competitive environment?
When we are confident of adding value to customers, the question of competition does not arise. In this context, we haven’t still got exposed to a competitive environment yet.

Would you like to share any anecdotes from your learning of business in the industry?
I would like to narrate an incident which occurred recently. When we approached a firm for selling our product, the IT manager politely declined stating that “I am unable to provide all reports that the management needs”. Although we were initially setback, we persisted and somehow managed to get an appointment with the MD. When we asked him, “What information do you get today? And what do you don’t get today?”. We were taken aback when he replied – “I don’t even know the company’s turnover! The Accounts department gives one figure while the sales and IT gives another’. That’s when we realized the true state of the top management. Overall, the company is making profit, but certain brands/regions/area are not profitable and they are not noticing it because of data. Even though it may be strategic, they need to have control over that which can be monitored using our product/solution.

What is it according to you that takes to make a great brand?
When customers see value in the solutions offered, the brand gets established automatically. However, a great brand should have an well-established ecosystem of partners who can provide quality and timely service.

From a business point of view, what is your ultimate objective?
My ultimate objective is to provide game-changing solutions that can enhance the turnover and profits of Indian SME businesses.

What do you think is the best way you could market your brand?
We approach the market through consultative selling. We believe that our customers are our best marketers.

How would you describe your and your company’s success story?
Success is a journey, not a destination. We are so far happy with the progress made. And we are confident of seeing more successes in our way.

How do you manage your personal and family priorities?
My first family is Cindrel. I am enjoying each and every moment I spend for Cindrel and I am sure it will take care of my other family.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

GHOUISE MOHIUDDIN TALKS TO 4PS B&M ABOUT HIS DREAMS TO BECOME THE NEW BEVERAGE KING

So what is the USP that separates Cafe Desire from the pack?
There is not one, but many. But most importantly, the message which I regularly drive across to my team is that we have to adopt a “customer-centric” approach, both when it comes to our growth strategies and thought processes. All our meetings and interactions start and ends with two subjects – customer and competitor. Thankfully, we have always managed to deliver more than what our customers expect. A clear differentiator in our industry would be that we operate and deliver on Marketing 3.0 platform, unlike all our competitors who deliver on Marketing 1.0 or Marketing 2.0 levels.

Cafe Desire is known for its high-quality 100% natural hot beverages. Do you use market research before devising that perfect blend?
We have always conducted in-depth researches, geography-wise, into what a customer really expects in that region, when he takes a sip of coffee or tea. As a result, our regional blends have helped us gain and retain larger chunk of market share. For example, our coffee is which is served in Hyderabad is different from what we serve in Delhi.

But just an honest thought – doesn’t competition bother you at times?
Actually, no. Instead, it excites me to the hilt. One thing which keeps me pepped-up is the thought that we are competing with brands which are giants with history of 90 to 200 years. It’s exciting to imagine how despite being a young company, you can give them sleepless nights. But having said that, I have to agree, our team burns gallons of midnight oil to compete strongly. I would just say one line on competition – I love competing with Nestle (smiles).

People – how important is that P to your company’s success?
I am surrounded by people who share my passion and excitement. We work for the long run. I believe that I have one of the most dynamic management team, which shares the dream of making it big before we all touch 40 years of age. All my boys are bubbling with lot of energy to make a mark. Our average age of employees is just 30 years, and we invest a lot on T&D.

Any learning that you would want to share with the readers?
Start small, think big and build from your strengths – you can build a national brand even if you lack the bucks for massive ad campaign. Think logically. At Cafe Desire, we understood the logical difference between scale and growth.

So what is your ultimate aim?
We want to be an integral part of everyone’s daily life by offering a minimum of five brands out of 42 brands that every human being touches every day. We plan to only grow organically, reach the no.1 spot and stay there.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

RAHUL JINDAL REALLY BEEN WEAVING AT LOOM CRAFT

You infused new life into an ancient weaving technique, whose origins can be traced back to ancient Egyptian civilisation. It is fast becoming a fashion now. But do you think you are betting on a sustainable future demand as well?
We have been in the furniture business for decades now and Loom Crafts was born just five years back. The demand for wicker furniture is surely on a rise and the trend is sustainable and in complete sync with our targets. Today, we are catering to some niches like 5-star hotels, farm house owners et al. But given the fact that demand for wicker furniture is rising amongst the masses, we are also coming up with a special product line to fill the supply-demand gap. We want to give great value products to our consumers, and outperform our Chinese industry peers by miles in terms of quality!

What are the marketing and advertising initiatives that you are undertaking at present?
We have been heavily advertising in hospitality magazines and other print vehicles. On one hand, while we keep launching new marketing and advertising campaigns with a high frequency, on the other, we also keep innovating our products, once every two months. That further gives us an opportunity to advertise more. We also participate in exhibitions where we can directly interact with our customers.

What is the USP of your brand?
We provide outdoor furniture that lasts for years in a 100% eco-friendly manner. Plus, we provide a lifetime guarantee with great after-sales services.

What are your expansion plans?
We want to expand globally and increase our exports. Five years from now we want to make the name Loom Crafts a synonym for “outdoor furniture”, and grow manyfolds!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2011.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

NARESH GUPTA, DIRECTOR – STRATEGIC PLANNING, DENTSU MARCOM

In fact, this version 2.0 of Internet may spark off four dominant trends, here’s a look at all four of them

Go out often: Technology has made finding interesting places around the cities easier than ever. Places can not only be discovered, but also commented upon. This will encourage people to explore their world more.

Get bitten by wanderlust: The constant feed of holiday pictures from a variety of locations will encourage people to pack their bags and discover their world more often. The normal holiday hotspots will make way for newer, more exotic destinations. Maybe tourism boards need to revisit the very motivations of travel.

Niche will get powered by mainstream: The niche performers, products, brands will increasingly get access to mainstream audiences as customers will become patrons and interest groups will broadcast their approval to a wider set of audience.

The world will become large: The world instead of becoming a global village will actually become a very large thriving vibrant mega polis. This will mean more people to meet, more things to do, more smells to savour, more connections to be made.

This is a very interesting transformation that we will see all around us. A generation that was supposed to be socially challenged will challenge the norms of social connectivity.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting

IIPM Proves Its Mettle Once Again....

PLAYING IT ON CELEBRITIES

Gone are the days when only Nokia, Samsung or Motorola had celebrities talking for them. The new age Indian handset makers too now have celebrities on their side to announce their arrival. But will the strategy help them to move on to the next level?

Neither Nokia, nor Samsung would have ever thought this. But as noticed over the past couple of years, the global handset giants are being challenged massively in India by a flurry of numerous affordable indigenous handset makers. Their strategy of offering look-alike models of existing popular handsets, at one third the price, has allowed them to eat into market shares of their established counterparts. In the process they [the new brands] have also established themselves as the ones that offer maximum value for money. And with their latest initiatives, they have entered into an arena where only the big guys were seen earlier – having high profile celebrity brand ambassadors.

So far, Indian consumers had only seen Shahrukh Khan flaunting a Nokia handset, Abhishek Bachchan going gaga over a Motorola, Aamir Khan adding a little of his perfectionist touch to Samsung and John Abraham portraying LG handsets as peppy as youth with Abhay Deol and Genilia D’Souza. Over the past few months, the new indigenous handset players too have joined the bandwagon giving these stalwarts some dose of their own medicine.

Micromax was the first one to follow the formula bringing Akshay Kumar on board, followed by Maxx Mobiles getting Dhoni to talk about their latest offerings. Later, SAR Group’s Wynn Telecom launched its handsets with Saif Ali Khan and Bipasha Basu doing the honours. And Zen Mobile became the latest brand to join the league when it roped in none other than Amitabh Bachchan to be the face of the company. But how will the brand ambassadors help these handset makers in their venture? Answers Deepesh Gupta, MD, Zen Mobile, “India is a critical market and the competition in mobile handset technologies is growing fast. Mr. Bachchan will help render sheen to our brand with his grandeur. Nothing compares with the legendary Big B, a style icon, who is admired as an aspirational figure and Zen Mobiles is placing its bet exactly on that.”

Another critical aspect where these celebrities are proving handy for the Indian handset makers is building the trust factor. Most of these new players are viewed skeptically by the consumers. The general perception is that they are just fly-by-the-night operators. In such a scenario, association of a big celebrity with the brand helps it in bringing in the assurance that the company is in for a long term play.

Nevertheless, benefits of using a celebrity brand ambassador certainly depends on where the brand stands it in its life cycle and what are their needs. For example, the need for Micromax – which has been around for about two years now and after building its brand in rural India is now getting aggressive in the metros – is very different from the players like Zen or Wynn who are just starting. For Micromax, the idea behind having Akshay on board is to be able to connect with their target customers and take the brand to the next level. Vikas Jain, Business Director, Micromax shares, “People may forget the name of the brand, but they would come to the shop asking yaar woh Akshaywala phone dikhana.” And one would have to admit that the company has so far managed to create the noise it intended to. As a result, today Micromax is the number three handset player in the country surpassing MNCs like Motorola, LG and Sony Ericsson.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM B-School
Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri
Planman Consulting