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Saturday, December 29, 2007

Neighbors: poles apart


On one side of Kashmir lies a nation moving towards peace, stability and democracy. The Himalayan kingdom of Nepal has been declared a federal, democratic republic. It seems to be on the road to development now. But this path was not an easy one. It started with the tragedy that struck the royal family a few years back. This was followed by a civil unrest. The people of Nepal earned their democracy the hard way. So was the way for King Gyanendra.


Proclamation had the elements of a Greek tragedy. It signified the downfall of an overambitious king who was lucky to ascend the throne twice though he was not entitled to, not being the eldest son. After ascending the throne in 2001 following the tragic massacre of his brother Birendra and his entire family, the new king began meddling in the government. After sacking the elected PM and appointing three premiers, Gyanendra finally dispensed with all subterfuge and seized power through an army-backed coup in 2005. - TOI




On the other side of Kashmir is a nation frenzied by the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Its been literally death of democracy and with it dies any hopes of a stable government in near future. Pakistan's election commission said it would hold an emergency meeting to assess the impact of the violence raging across the country on the parliamentary election planned for Jan. 8. The violence that followed Bhutto's killing Thursday led to the destruction of nine election offices, including the voter rolls inside, and adversely affected the printing of ballot papers, training of poll workers and other pre-election logistics, the commission said in a statement faxed to reporters. I hope that Pakistan takes a course similar to Nepal and moves towards peace and democracy.



Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Reliance retail finds an ally in Apple.


There are about a 100 million windows users who own iPods. Apples iPod sure has a fan following in India too and is becoming a cult brand. Microsoft recently launched the much hyped Zune player to rival iPod. There are now more than 3,000 accessories available for the iPod since it were launched on Oct 23rd 2001. To sell its products Apple came up with its own retail chain the Apple iStore. Reliance Retail’s new baby the Reliance Digital has tied up with Apple to launch iStore in India. I saw the second iStore coming up in Hyderabad which intrigued me to search further about it [me being a Microsoft fan]. Reliance plans to start 10 such stores across the nation.

Reliance Retail Ltd (RRL) will set up 150 outlets of ‘Reliance Digital’, its consumer electronic concept mega store, across the country by 2011. After inaugurating Reliance Digital in Banglaore, Ajay Baijal, president and chief executive - Reliance Industries (CDIT Business), said the company would invest around Rs 5-6 crore for an outlet covering approximately 20,000 sq ft. Baijal said the current market size for consumer durable, home IT and telecom stood at Rs 70,000 crore and expected it to grow to Rs 1.4 lakh crore by 2011. The company is eyeing around Rs 20,000 crore business in these segments by 2011, he said.

- www.financialexpress.com



Apple's Massive Glass-Cube iStore -A New World Architecture & Technology Icon

The Apple glass cube crowns an underground store at the hub of what is arguably the world's richest mile of retail emporiums. Having outgrown it's immensely successful SOHO store, Apple's new Fifth Avenue store near New Yorks Plaza Hotel, will introduce a 24/7/365 always open service concept in one of the world's defining lifestyle centers.


Find more about this Retail Landmark here

Sunday, December 23, 2007

What makes selling a service so damn difficult?

I feel that delivering an excellent product is far easier than delivering a reasonably good service. How many have you heard some consumer praising about a great service received? The chances are very few. As my marketing professor once told me that marketing is a very humane activity, I feel services marketing are even more humane in nature. As it’s so humane its natural to err. But we humans don’t accept when we err. When you visit a restaurant and you get the wrong dish, what’s the first reaction of the waiter? He’ll say I just gave what you ordered. Passing on the blame comes naturally to us. Businesses that accept the mistakes and try to fix it go along way. You always remember the waiter who goes out of his way and changes the dish and says sorry. Don’t you? Thus mistakes are opportunities. Your employees are the key to a better service. In supply chain it is said that the strength of the chain is determined by the weakest link. Same hold true for services the quality of service is determined by the most inefficient employee delivering the service.


Thursday, December 20, 2007

Shaken but not Stirred – Indian Auto Makers



Indian auto makers are on the roads to becoming world class with better product innovations and impressive launches. Maruti Suzuki’s launch of SX4 as the ultimate male machine is a blockbuster. It is designed by the team which has won awards for designing Swift. SX4 comes with great styling and comforts. It also has some very unique feature such as audio controls on the steering. It has a very muscular exterior. I feel Maruti is using the same strategy as Bajaj did with its Pulsar range [SX4’s tag line – Men are back]. Moving to a premium segment and giving the brand a sex appeal. I guess metrosexual is out and ubersexual is in.

The other Indian auto maker going global with product quality is Mahindra. Latest to join the Mahindra stable is the Scorpio V series powered by mHawk engine. The Scorpio V-series offers customers a dual advantage – a technologically superior, more refined and more fuel efficient engine, coupled with innovative tech features which will provide passengers with greater luxury at their finger tips.

Mr. Rajesh Jejurikar, EVP – Marketing & Sales, Automotive Sector, M&M said, “The primary driver for the Scorpio V-series is to surpass the latent desires of customers, with features which are intelligent, savvy and innovative and reflect his personality. The Scorpio V-series is an irresistible value proposition and heralds the arrival of the truly intelligent technology car”.


In SEARCH of PRIVACY

Our quest for knowledge many times takes us to that text box where we punch in our thoughts, questions, dilemmas, doubts, and even fears. I am talking about the search box. Have you ever thought their might be a brain behind that box snooping what you punch in. Internet privacy consists of privacy over the media of the Internet: the ability to control what information one reveals about oneself over the Internet, and to control who can access that information. Many people use the term to mean universal Internet privacy: every user of the Internet possessing Internet privacy.

The search engines that power our journey through the internet know a lot about us - from the operating system and browser we use, to the kinds of websites we typically visit. So what can the search detect? Data like at what time you search, products you have searched for, the news items, the video clips, the images and even the maps u have looked at. If anyone were to look at this information, they would have a comprehensive idea of ones lifestyle, interests and potentially even my movements as they even track the location from where you search. These companies always know some personal details about their users, which is provided during registration. This is what worries some privacy experts. They want to ensure that this information remains private and is not abused in any way.

Why do firms like Yahoo and Google collect this information? At the simplest level, the firms track our web usage so they can optimize our experience in the future. Cookies store preferences, such as language settings, and can also tell websites the preceding website we were looking at and site we go to next. These firms make money online by targeting advertising to users when a search is performed or alongside their web products. Yahoo combines non-identifiable personal data from account holders, with the web history from using Yahoo websites and services to create a detailed, yet anonymous, profile of a user. That data is then used to serve targeted adverts.


Google does not utilize a user's web surface history to target adverts unless the user has signed up to its personalized web search system. And it only stores personal information when it has asked a user's opinion. Rights group Privacy International rated the search giant as "hostile" to privacy in a report ranking web firms by how they handle personal data. The group said Google was leading a "race to the bottom" among net firms many of whom had policies that did little to substantially protect users.

Issues:

Economical – It is through this search data that Internet Advertising industry is growing at a very fast rate.

Social – There is a lot of unawareness amongst users about piracy issues.

Technology – As the technology regarding search improves day by day, it empowers these companies in mining more and more personal data.

Legal – There are very few countries that have anti privacy laws.

Ethical – In some case this data proves useful in tracking criminals and terror outfits. But who will decide how much of data can these companies keep with them and how they handle this data?



Sunday, December 16, 2007

Black Hawk Rescue Mission: Codename Bali


United we stand and divided we fall. It is the first time that the whole world has agreed upon something keeping aside our petty issues. Climate deal has been sealed at Bali. December 15th 2007 will go down as a memorable day in the planet’s history where we stood up to save our history! Al Gore’s vendetta against America and its president did bore fruits. Al Gore, the former US Vice-President, launched a very public attack on Washington blaming American officials for the failure of United Nations climate change conference. The United States had refused to sign up to emissions targets as the Bali conference on global warming earlier. Mr. Gore, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year for his work on climate change, was clear in his denunciation of President Bush’s attitude. America refused the proposal of EU and Brazil to cut greenhouse gases produced by industrialized countries by up to two fifths in the next 13 years. The emissions cut would have been non-binding and subject to future negotiation, but even this was too much for the US, which opposes any reference to specific numerical goals in advance of more detailed negotiations next year.

"I am going to speak an inconvenient truth: my own country, the United States, is principally responsible for obstructing progress here in Bali," – Al Gore.

When journalist quizzed James Connaughton, the leader of the American delegation about America's lack of leadership on global warming, he claimed the real problem was simply that other nations were disagreeing too much with America. "We are leading and we will continue to lead but that requires the rest of the world to fall in line and follow,"… [Nobody follows them and they consider themselves leaders….bullshit]. All that Gore is worried about is the pace at which things are happening. If leaders of this planet don’t take decision soon then it may be too late. But finally it’s over. US have finally agreed to reduce emissions.

20 Predicted effects of Global Warming

  1. Melting Polar Ice Caps
  2. Rising Sea Levels
  3. Receding Glaciers
  4. Decreased Snow Pack
  5. Water Shortages
  6. Drought
  7. Heat Waves
  8. Cultures threatened
  9. Populations at risk
  10. Economic devastation
  11. Changes in weather patterns and severity of storms
  12. Loss of islands and coastal land
  13. Increased flooding
  14. Species extinction
  15. Changes in ocean currents
  16. Increase in diseases and there ranges
  17. Shorter growing seasons
  18. Changes in forests
  19. Loss of ecosystems
  20. Loss of biodiversity

Know more about Climate Change

What will climate change do to our planet?

Climate change: Ten ways to save the world

Related Articles: Black Hawk Down – I

Black Hawk Down – II

Global Warming – How big a concern




Saturday, December 15, 2007

Diversification strategy of two-wheeler giant


Indian 2 wheeler giant Hero Honda strikes a JV with German truck maker Daimler. Things are surely heating up in the 2 wheeler market. The times are changing for the manufacturers. Competition has intensified in last couple of years. India traditionally was a land of scooters [Hamara Bajaj], marks of an underdeveloped economy. Hero Honda came in with better products, its sleek bikes. They have always welcomed change. The winds of change are flowing once again. In recent times we saw 2 wheeler manufacturers like HH and Bajaj abandoning the 100 cc segment and going for premium segments. LML is penetrating aggressively into rural markets. Now I see a change in core strategy. Hero Honda is diversifying to new markets by going into a JV with Daimler for manufacturing of medium and light commercial vehicles. The focus being on the domestic markets and then on exports. Earlier Ashok Leyland tied up with Nissan and Eicher Motors partnered with Volvo. Currently Tata motors is the market leader with 67.7 % followed by Eicher. CV market is growing rapidly with the booming economy. These are signs of becoming a developed nation and this will increase the energy needs of the country even more.

Related articles: One 2 ka four


Friday, December 14, 2007

COUNTRY BRANDS

In marketing, we talked about national brands, local brands, private labels etc. Have you ever heard of country brands, country brands means a country (nation) promoted as brand, an unique identity.

Future Brand, a leading global brand consultancy conducted a comprehensive study of 2600 travelers, businessmen etc to find the best country brands of world. The key criteria for study were tourism, travel motivation, challenge and opportunity, living standards, business opportunity etc.

"A strong country brand provides an opportunity for a country to showcase its values across every government sector," said Rina Plapler, executive director, FutureBrand. "In this year's Country Brand Index we detail how multifaceted countries are as brands, and how they require specific frameworks, typologies and the use of considered semiotics."

According to this year's Country Brand Index (CBI), Australia once again earned the coveted spot as the world's top country brand, with the United States ranking second and the United Kingdom ascending to third. Other countries making the top 10 included Japan, Canada, France and Greece. The CBI also identified Croatia, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the top three "rising stars" -- those likely to become a major tourist destination in the next five years. Also making the list this year are Cuba, Iceland, and the Russian Federation.

2007 CBI Top Country Brands

1. Australia

2. United States

3. United Kingdom

4. France

5. Italy

6. Canada

7. Spain

8. New Zealand

9. Greece

10 Japan

This year's CBI touches on a variety of topics relevant to travelers and tourism professionals alike -- from the most environmentally oriented country brand (Sweden) to the country brand in which they would most like to do business (United States). The Index also takes an in-depth look at the "State of Brand U.S." and how it seesaws between a brand in decline and one that's becoming more powerful and popular on the global stage.

According to Rene A. Mack, president, Weber Shandwick's Travel & Lifestyle Global Practice, "A country's brand reputation is in itself a powerful currency. Reputation drives financial and business investment, sustainable growth and helps add fuel to the private sectors”. He also said that "A visitor is the most powerful marketer for any country brand. They import the destination and its products and experiences directly into their homes, offices and social communities, combined with the most powerful voice of all -- word of mouth."


Have a look at the ranks of country brands in various fields, as an Indian you found it distressful because we are nowhere in world top country brands. Fortunately we ranked 4th in one category i.e. art & culture due to our ancestors and their efforts.

Today we are proudly talking about our economic growth, business opportunities, verticals etc but looking at the country brand index I feeling very sad especially in few fields like ideal for business, nightlife, friendly locals and safety. Normally when one talked about western countries we always put forward our culture, family values, friendly attitude etc but according to this survey, I think there is a huge gap in our mindsets. We proudly believe in our cultural values but never accept or imbibe other cultures’ good things because we feel that it will contaminate us.

We proudly say that “we are proud to be an Indian” that’s true but others really don’t

Now time comes when we will have to prove that we were good in culture, heritage, values, business opportunities and we will be best.

Incredible India

source: http://www.countrybrandindex.com

Thursday, December 13, 2007

ETHICAL ISSUES FACED BY THE INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

ARTICLE FROM:

DEBASHIS CHAND
associate-UBS Hyd
India signed GATT (General agreement on Trade & Tariffs) including Trips (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) on 15th April 1994. This was indeed a turning point for Indian Pharmaceutical Industry.

This included:

1. A patent term of 20 years from the date of filing.

2. Recognition of Product Patents.

3. Importance of a product to be acceptation on working a Patent.

4. Compulsory licensing to be confined to special circumference like emergency or abuse of Patent Rights.

Let me first give a brief analysis of the Indian Pharma Industry before going to the issue-

· R&D expenditure of Indian Pharmaceutical Organization is still among the lowest in the world

· The cost of manufacturing, conducting clinical trial, and research are lower in India than US and other developed countries.

· Greatest asset or strength for the industry lies in the abundant human capital, with India having large number of scientists having specialization in fields like microbiology,genomics,etc. Any pharmaceutical industry needs employee from the field of Organic chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Analytical Chemistry. With a very well developed and diverse education system, India produces students who can meet these requirements of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry.

· Indian software prowness is a definite asset that will help pharma industry to develop new drugs in near future.

· Availability of funds is a major weakness for the pharma industry, with drugs requiring significant investment with no or little guarantee of success.

· Due to very low barrier to entry, Indian Pharma Industry is highly fragmented with about 300 large manufacturing units and about 18,000 small units spreads across the country.

Now the issue regarding the intellectual property rights and challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry-

- First direct consequence is that the TRIPS agreement has a clause for product patent, which is more stringent than the process patent, as now products which are patented cannot be manufactured, even by using a different process. It is a major setback, as most manufacturers used to do reverse engineering to manufacture many crucial drugs, but with the agreement, now they cant.

- The public outrage over the high prices of life saving medicines has also raised public awareness on the problem of access to medicines and the role of patents in increasing the prices of medicines.

- The obligation under TRIPS to implement high standards of intellectual property protection, including the 20-year protection for patent rights and the obligation to recognize product and process patents, will effectively eliminate competition from generic pharmaceutical producers and allow for increased prices of medicines beyond the reach of even more patients in the developing countries.

- The use of patents is an deliberate act by big pharmaceutical companies in developed countries who can afford huge investments in R&D , to retain their competitive edge .

- Patent protection is justified by the incentive for creative activity, innovation and research and development. This is seriously questionable as the tradeoff in this case comes with life or death consequences.

- With the very high cost of many drugs, access to medicines would become very difficult to majority of people in the developing countries.

- The bulk manufacturing of drugs in developing countries, by reverse engineering would come to a standstill.

- The two clause of compulsory licensing and parallel imports, that gives right to country to overlook the patent and manufacture the drug without holder’s consent comes with serious restrictions and is disturbingly manipulated by the heavyweights in the pharmaceutical industry in the developed countries.


Finally I want to conclude by saying, that the TRIPS agreement is seriously inclined towards private interests rather than the public interests, which should have been other way around. We cannot afford to take chances in this industry as the negative consequences is far more worse for this industry resulting in human losses, rather than only financial losses. This also shows the grim picture of how very few multinational companies acting in their vested interests can cause such public harm and ignore their responsibilities not only to the society but also to the mankind.

The situation calls for amendment of the TRIPS Agreement so as to ensure a proper balance between the protection of private rights and corporate interests, and the promotion of public interests that is public health.


Wednesday, December 12, 2007

CHINA: NEW DIGITAL DESTINATION

Today with all the advantages of scale, China is on the verge of becoming the world's biggest digital market. Viral marketing is going to become very hit in china in coming years. In asian countries after Japan, china is a real digital destination.

According to the statistical data of AdAgeChina, China has 500 million mobile-phone subscribers and more than 122 broadband users. And even though digital spending still trails in the market, it's growing fast as multinationals try out new interactive programs.

CEO of Youku, Mr. Victor Koo said that just a year after launching Youku already has reached 80 million video views per day.

Today number of social networking websites are used for marketing company blogs or individuals (Linked.in, facebook, My space etc).

According to analysts, China will be the No. 1 internet market very quickly, and online advertising will become a significantly higher portion -- 8% to 10% -- of the market. Today digital advertising accounts for only about 5% of all media spending in China today, but experts said that figure is skewed by local brands' scant interactive spending.


In AdAge china digital marketing conference, Dan Wong, NOKIA’s VP-multimedia sales and channel management said that “for some products in the upscale Nseries, we spend about 25% or 30% [of the budget] or sometimes higher on digital". Mobile is more advanced in China than in the U.S. but still faces obstacles ranging from budgets to figuring out how to use a new medium and measure its effectiveness.

In viral marketing, the professionals or multimedia marketing division should be very keen, energetic and have deep interest in innovating new ways to promote himself (company).


Like us, Chinese marketers were very much inspired by “American idol” and its Chinese reality-show imitators. With minor changes sponsors like Pepsi invited Chinese consumers to submit a 200-word script for a spot that would be shot with a pop star.

In such promotion sponsors got unbelievable response around 28,000 scripts poured in and 5 million people voted for their favorites. A 28-year-old schoolteacher won, and his spot was filmed and aired. The program become a huge success and turned the face of multimedia marketing in china.

Lenovo Group turned its sponsorship of the Olympic Games' longest torch relay -- stretching across 31 provinces and 113 cities in China over three months -- into a more earnest version of "American Idol." The marketer partnered with Google to invite people to send in nominations explaining why they should get to carry the torch.

More than 6,000 people entered, said Deepak Advani, Lenovo's chief marketing officer and senior VP of e-commerce. "We picked 18 finalists who posted their videos on YouTube on why they should run the torch." One student lobbied his entire university for votes, he said.

Coca cola, international brand used web as promotion channel to penetrate deeper into the Chinese market. Have a look at the article ==>

Here at this point if we compare India with china, we are very far from it in mobile penetration, we have penetration of 21-24% nearly 250 mn subscribers half of china. In digital marketing or advertising we are also far behind due to poor infrastructure and immature mindset to understand and convey such message to the public.

source: Adage china digital marketing conference

Sunday, December 9, 2007

INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR IN INDIA: CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Indian retail & real estate sector of India are like ‘choli daman ka saath’ type of storyline. In last union budget of 2007-08, government provided huge support and backup to these sector esp. real estate and infrastructure sector. Today when I was reading a report on real estate industry I found a critical analysis given by C & W (CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD INDIA) on every move and budget allocation of government for these sectors.

Infrastructure industry was accorded important space in the budget through extension of Bharat Nirman Scheme and the 31-per-cent increase in fund allocation to this scheme is expected to generate employment in semi-urban and rural areas, which can increase income levels of working people in these areas and increase the potential demand for housing finance.

Metropolitan cities like Mumbai and Delhi are poised to witness quality infrastructure development due to the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi and the promotion of Mumbai as “the world-class financial centre”. Government is providing various facilities like Tax holidays for five years in hotels and convention centres in NCR. Approval of Real Estate Mutual Fund (REMF) a perfect move to motivate investors toward real estate industry.

Critical Analysis of Union Budget 2007-08 with Cushman & Wakefield consultancy

Golden Quadrilateral Project

Government plan of action: It is nearly complete and there is considerable progress in the North-South, East-West corridor project, which is expected to be completed by 2009. NHDP-III, NHDP-V and NHDP-VI are in advanced stages of planning or implementation.

C&W analysis: The completion of these projects will improve connectivity and boost cargo movement by roads. Moreover, this will lead to improved access to major consumption centres and create opportunities for development of newer growth corridors.

The following will also be a likely impact of timely completion of these projects:

• Expanding the existing manufacturing bases

• Creation of warehousing and logistics centres

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

Government plan of action: Till date,538 projects with a total cost of Rs 23,950 crore have been sanctioned in sectors such as water supply, sanitation, transport, road and housing in many cities spread over several states.

C&W analysis: JNNURM is perhaps one of the most ambitious urban infrastructure programme and its having the potential to act as a growth catalyst for India's most important cities.

Public private partnership (PPP) model

Government plan of action: The budget announced the launch of the US$5 billion infrastructure financing initiative by Citigroup, Blackstone, IDFC and IIFCL. Government also proposes to promote the flow of investment to the infrastructure sector by Real Estate Mutual Fund (REMF).

C&W analysis: India requires approximately US$320 billion for infrastructure during the eleventh Five Year Plan. Such initiatives will create the necessary finance pool for speedy implementation of critical infrastructure projects in the country. Infrastructure projects require long-term funds and policy support in the form of tax and other concessions.

Tourism Infrastructure

Government plan of action: The budget proposes to increase the provision for building tourist infrastructure from Rs 423 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 520 crore in 2007-08 nearly 20% increase in total budget.

C&W analysis: This move is to encourage tourism in India and will eventually help the hospitality and other tourism-related sectors.

Gems & jewelery

Government plan of action: The budget proposes to bring down the duty on cut and polished diamonds from 5 per cent to 3 per cent; on rough synthetic stones from 12.5 per cent to 5 per cent; and on unworked corals from 30 per cent to 10 per cent.

C&W analysis: Such a move will provide impetus for Gems and Jewellery parks and Special Economic Zones.

E-Governance

Government plan of action: National e-governance programme funding increased to Rs 719 crore.

C&W analysis: This move will increase transparency in the real estate sector as it will allow easy access to land records as well as simplify procedures for property registrations, property tax, and land title checks.

As we have heard that proper infrastructure is basic mantra of success of any country and according to union budget 2007-08, our dream will come true.

RELATED POSTS:

HIGH STREET DESTINATIONS


Saturday, December 8, 2007

The holy grail of 'Brand' - as old as it can get


The oldest etymological association of the word 'Brand' can be found in the epic poem Beowulf meaning 'destruction by fire'. The meaning of the word Brand has changed through the ages. It was used to describe criminalized people, as a disgrace or stigma in the 16th century.


Advertisement for sale of negro slaves


The idea of marking things, people, or animals by burning identifying marks onto them is clearly an ancient one. This was done to identify the ownership of things, people(slaves) [ a close cousin of people branding could be tattooing ] or animals. During the 19th century in primarily the United States, hot irons used for marking livestock and cauterizing wounds were called brands, and later cattle and other livestock were also referred to as brands. Originally the word brand meant anything hot or burning, such as a fire-brand, a burning stick; by the European Middle Ages it commonly identified the process of burning a mark into a stock animal with a thick hide, such as a cow, so as to identify ownership under animus revertendi. In the American West, a branding iron consisted of an iron rod with a seal-like mark which ranchers heated in a fire. A brand blotter was a thief who stole, and removed marks of ownership from, cattle.


The origin of branding livestock dates from 2700 B.C. Paintings in Egyptian tombs document branding oxen with hieroglyphics. Ancient Greeks and Romans marked livestock and slaves with a hot iron. Hernando Cortez introduced branding from Spain to the New World in 1541. He brought cattle stamped with his mark of three crosses. There has never been anything to take the place of a visible brand as a permanent definitive mark of ownership and deterrent to theft. Livestock people say "a brand's something that won't come off in the wash."


- http://www.cowboyshowcase.com/brands.htm


Pears soap was the world first registered Brand in he 19th century. Around 1900, James Walter Thompson taught the first lessons in branding to the world, in an early commercial description of what now is known as 'branding'.



Malboro Friday



April 2, 1993 - this day has historic importance for branders. It was called the death day of brands. It was on this day Philip Morris announced a 20% price cut to their Marlboro cigarettes to fight back against the bargain brand competitors who were increasingly eating into their market share. As a result, Philip Morris's stock took a major dive, along with the share value of other household brands including Heinz, Coca-Cola, and RJR Nabisco. Fortune magazine deemed it "the day the Marlboro Man fell off his horse"

Investors interpreted the price slash as an admission of defeat from the Marlboro brand, that Philip Morris could no longer justify its higher price tag and now had to compete with generic brands. Since the Marlboro man was an image that stood since 1954, it was considered one of the biggest marketing icons, investors reasoned that to see the Marlboro icon give into a price war, the marketing itself must be ineffective. As a result of plummeting stock value in major American brands, 1993 marked a slight decrease in U.S. ad expenditures. Companies began investing in promotions rather than advertising. In 1983 in the U.S, the average expenditure on marketing was 70% advertising and 20% on promotions, by 1993 it had made a complete turn around, to 70% on promotions and 20% on advertising.

It was the only decrease to occur since 1970. At the time, this event was regarded as signifying "the death of a brand" and the advent of a "value-minded" consumer generation who pay more attention to the real value of products and not the brand names. This view soon proved to be incorrect, with the rest of the decade's economy being dominated by brands and driven by high-budget marketing campaigns.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlboro_Friday


Apart from all the examples I have given above can there still be an instance of branding that is still older than 16th century. Something that older than the concept of products and yet binds people emotionally. Can you guess it? I am talking about territories, empires, nations, and countries. This is something man started marking the day he was born. Its an animal instinct, every animal does it. If the def of brand is

"A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings", as defined by the American Marketing Association.


Humans have been marking their territories through ages. 'Logos' and 'Designs' have been in the name of Flags. 'Symbols' have been as War markings. Doesn't a country's name bind its people emotionally as a brand does? So shouldn't a country be a brand? And all that its culture creates be its brand portfolio? I think this is the oldest instance of branding and yet there is no mention of this in any book of branding, which I have read. This is what lead me to write this post. And yes marketers have started recognizing countries as brands click here to find more.





Friday, December 7, 2007

IT INNOVATORS: A NASSCOM INITIATIVES

Indian IT industry is well known across globe because of its cheap labor, quality service and English speaking resource pool. Today, if we look at world map various new destinations are coming up with same qualities which Indian IT industry have like resource pool, cheap labor, English speaking professionals etc. According to the recent Mc Kinsey report on IT destinations, it gave 2*2 grid of quality and cost for new IT destinations like Vietnam, Russia, China, Brazil etc.

If we follow the grid, today we are ‘BEST’ in both cost & quality but other countries like china, Vietnam are not far behind us in it. So to differentiate our self from them we will have to think differently. Today, other major hindrances to our position are:

High attrition

Rupee Appreciation

Talent crisis

Salary hike

High Attrition: In India after BPO industry software industry have higher attrition of about 25-30%.

Rupee appreciation: In last one year of time, our SMEs lost huge amount due to rupee appreciation issue.

Talent crisis: According former NASSCOM Head Mr. Kiran Karnik and Mr. Narayanmurty, only 30% of engineers produced in a year are useful or can be suited as per companies’ requirement. So there is huge gap between talent required and talent available in our country. If it will continue in same manner for time being, this problem will surely affect our position.

Salary Hike: Today, due to resource crunch professionals used to demand more salary after one or two year of time, to be there in same company. According to one report, nearly 30-35% hike they (IT professionals) demanded.

Recently NASSCOM has taken an initiative for various professional educational institutions and universities that they introduced the syllabus as per industry demand which help companies and students to match the right thing with prior knowledge.

Another initiative taken by NASSCOM is nation-wide search for innovative companies. It’s conducted for the fourth time in India and positioned as an annual feature on NASSCOM’s roster of activities, unveiled a wide spectrum of young enterprising companies and some of the large companies that are making waves both at home and overseas.

These companies have managed to stand out and differentiate themselves in highly competitive, often adverse market conditions and carved a niche for themselves using breakthrough technological products and novel market initiatives.

There is list of TOP 100 IT INNOVATORS 2007


INNOVATION IS KEY TO DIFFERENTIATE & SUCCESS.

Related Posts:

10 secrets to work in IT industry

Asian users demand for Softwares

Rupee Appreciation



Wednesday, December 5, 2007

GLOBAL WARMING – HOW BIG A CONCERN

Global Warming is one of the most disturbing international issues going on in the minds of every human on earth, as animals have been blessed with the exception of using their brains, which sometimes becomes a burden to dealt with by the humans. Humor on its way but global warming is a phenomenon which enlightens the fact that owing to the emission of few hazardous gases into the atmosphere, the temperature of the environment of the whole planet is rising. This is not a good sign as the creatures on this planet; especially the humans can in no way be adjustable to such high extent changes in the environmental temperature.


It has been researched and found that if such emissions do not begin to decline by the end of 2015 at the most, the chances of humans to restrain the climate change within the two degrees of ‘safety line’- which basically is the level of warming below which the impacts though severe are tolerable- would highly diminish on a daily basis. Hence comes these few demands by the science of today - the peaking of emissions within eight years, worldwide cuts of 60 per cent by 2030, and 80 per cent or more by 2050. Above this two critical degrees, our chances of crossing “tipping points” in the earth’s system – such as the collapse of the Amazon rainforest, or the release of methane from thawing Siberian permafrost – can undoubtedly become much higher.


Despite this urgent timetable, the activities ongoing still heave the path with heavy traffic of such gas causing activities. Power companies are still drafting blueprints for their new coal-fired plants. The skies over England are still seen to be criss-crossed with vapor trails from aircraft travelling some of the busiest routes in the world. As a result of such irresponsible actions of humans around the world global emissions, far from decreasing, remain on a steep upward curve of almost exponential growth.


Now when attributing the cause of this widespread phenomenon on the factors that led to it, the most prevalent thought that emerges is whether human beings are responsible for this problematic situation. Independent experimental measurements demonstrate that the increased CO2 in the atmosphere comes from burning fossil fuels and forests. The isotopic composition of carbon from these sources contains a unique “fingerprint.” So are the humans at blame when talking about this fatal warming creeping up?


It is true that the climate of Earth has exhibited wide swings ever since the geologic time due to natural processes. However, scientists have reasonable qualitative explanations for most of the significant variations in climate over geologic time; and they largely attribute it to specific processes, not to unknown internal oscillations. Many of the major climatic changes can be traced to changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun (Hays et al. Science, 194, 1976, pg. 1121). Others can be linked to specific events (such as the impact of a comet or meteorite or the assembly or breakup of supercontinents) that led to large changes in the concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases. Developments in studies in the recent times (the past millennium) have enabled the scientists to quantitatively attribute the major temperature fluctuations to changes in solar activity, volcanic eruptions, and human-produced greenhouse gases and particulate pollution. These natural processes can not explain the current warming though.


Contrary to the current worries, the Earth’s climate for the past 2 million years had been characterized by ice ages lasting close to 100,000 years, punctuated by relatively short (10,000- to 30,000-year) warm periods or “inter-glacials.” The shift from glacial to interglacial is caused by changes in the Earth’s orbit around the sun amplified by natural feedbacks involving greenhouse gases. The Earth entered the present interglacial only about 10,000 years ago.


However it is argued that in the absence of a large quantity of human produced carbon dioxide or even such sources which could produce this gas, the Earth can, at one point of time, be believed to swing back to the glacial period or the ice age. However with the extent of warming reached, this seems to be unachievable even in the next thousands of years.


Scientists had been able to understand that the greenhouse gases were warming the planet as early as in the beginning of the 19th century. They also understood that the rate of increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide could lead to this global warming on time scales of decades to centuries- which was much shorter a time span that had led to the fluctuations related to ice ages and interglacials. This was the time when the global temperature actually began rising and humans were blamed to be interfering with the climate through their activities. In the middle of the century, that is around 1950s however, the rise in the global temperatures unexpectedly started to show a downfall. This instead diverted the attention of the scientists towards botheration regarding the global cooling. However somewhere within the scientific literature, the botheration regarding global warming was still beaming.


Many scientists of the time were arguing that whatever be the cause of the cooling, natural or otherwise, it would be eventually overshadowed by the warming effect of carbon dioxide. In 1979, the National Academy of Sciences warned that a doubling of carbon dioxide would increase global temperatures by 1.5 to 4.5oC (Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment, NAS Press, 1979) and shortly thereafter a recommencement of the aloft trend in the temperatures was detected.

Over the past quarter century, scientific delve into on the global climate change has intensified and programs on an international scale have been organized. More and more data are included in computer models that are capable of recreating past trends and more precisely predicting future scenarios.

Currently however it had been said that the main reason for this global warming has been the pollution which is caused by burning of coal, which produces tiny particles or aerosols that result in blocking the energy from the sun. Now when this factor was found out, the aerosol emissions were controlled to a large extent but greenhouse gas pollution continued to increase, the cooling effect of the aerosols was overwhelmed by the greenhouse gases, and global warming resumed. Thus the only quantitative and internally consistent explanation for the recent global warming includes the intensified greenhouse effect caused by the increase in CO2 and other greenhouse gases.


The U.S. National Academy of Sciences—the independent organization of the country’s most renowned scientists established by Congress to advise the nation on scientific and technical issues—has concluded:
“The scientific understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action.”

True as it is in all the aspect. Since this is a factor that has affected the nation or territory of not a single or a group of countries but the planet on the whole, the solution for it requires an integrated effort on the part of our national leaders and assistance by the scientists of the various countries as well. Thus the concept of ‘Carbon Credit’ came into being. With the advent of rising temperature figures on the planet, regulations regarding emission of carbon dioxide into the environment became very strict. Companies, industries and countries on the whole were given the maximum quota of the amount of the gas that could be expelled by them into the environment.

This was a very control measure which could have been taken by the regulators, undoubtedly. However statement of orders is never a problem, the difficulty comes only when it comes to the implementation or the execution part. This is what happened here as well; there were companies which had a set requirement of expelling a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the environment. They could reduce it only to a certain possible extent only; this way it was the same for the industries and countries as well. Now there are few firms or countries which required extra emitting capacity than was allotted to them. So they started trading in this field as well; other countries or firms which had lower emissions were contacted and business for contracting or selling out the extra capacity, which was the difference between the allotted quota and the actual emission, for the same was promoted. This was where the nations required prompt decision making to allow such business between the companies, industries or the countries for that matter.

Conclusively, it is known that the level of understanding of the climate system that the scientists have, is sufficient to provide qualitative models for most global or hemispheric climatic variations over geologic history and quantitative models for variations over the past millennium; but this understanding needs to be correctly tapped so that feasible and effective measures to combat the worrisome situation could be found. Also it could be said that the Earth’s climate may return to ice age conditions in thousands of years, but this does not preclude devastating effects from global warming over the next few centuries.

Above all, all the known natural explanations for the current global warming trend have almost been eliminated by direct observations; and finally the human-intensified greenhouse effect above all provides the only quantitative explanation for the current warming trend and requires effective national support across the boundaries to get proper and adequate redressal.



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