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 4^th 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

HIGH STREET DESTINATIONS

In last couple of months Indian retail industry is in news. Sometimes for innovative moves of Biyanis, political turbulence in northern India or for opportunities too. This time Indian retail and real estate sector both are in news due to the surge in cost of retail location and market .

Today India as the 16th most expensive retail 'high street destination' in the world as per the report of Leading real estate consultants Cushman and Wakefield. New Delhi’s Khan Market has been rated as the most expensive retail destination in the country with rentals of Rs 950 per square feet per month in the second quarter of the current year.

The shopping complex saw an annual growth of 35.7 per cent over the same period last year said the report titled 'Main Streets Across the World (MSATW) 2007.KHAN MARKET DELHI

“Khan Market is the biggest riser in the ranking of the world's most expensive shopping locations in terms of retail rents, moving up eight places from last year’s 24th position," the report said.

"Retail is going through a revolution in India, although a part of the increase in rents is due to lack of high-quality space in the right location," Cushman & Wakefield India national head (retail) Rajneesh Mahajan said.

According to JLL report, Indian retail & real estate industry will surpassed the growth rate of IT industry by march 2008.
The report said India also figured among the world's top 10 locations that witnessed highest rental increase in local currency terms.

• Connaught Place in Delhi is the highest gainer in Asia and second only to Chicago's East Oak Street across the world, with an annual growth of 87.5 per cent.

• Kemp's Corner in Mumbai also saw high rental growth of 78.2 per cent, making it the fourth highest riser of rental growth.

The world's most expensive shopping streets
(rank 2007 (rank 2006), location, rent €/m²/year)

1 (1) Fifth Avenue, New York (US): 11,983
2 (2) Causeway Bay, Hong Kong (Hong Kong): 9,688
3 (3) Avenue des Champs Elysées, Paris (France): 7,364
4 (4) New Bond Street, London (UK): 6,498
5 (5) Ginza, Tokyo (Japan): 5,459
6 (6) Grafton Street, Dublin (Ireland): 5,340
7 (7) Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich (Switzerland): 3,926
8 (8) Pitt Street Mall, Sydney (Australia): 3,905
9 (10) Ermou, Athens (Greece): 3,600
10 (9) Gangnam Station, Seoul (South Korea): 3,441
11 (=10) Kaufingerstraße, Munich (Germany): 3,120
12 (=14) Via Montenapoleone, Milan / Via Condotti, Rome (Italy): 3,000
13 (12) Preciados, Madrid (Spain): 2,880
14 (13) Orchard Road, Singapore (Singapore): 2,597
15 (17) Kärntnerstraße, Vienna (Austria): 2,400
16 (24) Khan Market, New Delhi (India): 2,236
17 (16) Strøget, Copenhagen (Denmark): 2,227
18 (15) Tverskaya, Moscow (Russia): 2,226
19 (20) Wanfujing, Beijing (China): 2,137
20 (18) Na Prikope/Wenceslas Square, Prague (Czech Republic): 2,040
=21 (21) Kalverstraat, Amsterdam (Netherlands): 2,000
=21 (19) Karl Johan Gate, Oslo (Norway): 2,000
23 (27) Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia): 1,663
24 (26) Iguatemi Shopping, São Paulo (Brazil): 1,596
25 (22) Bloor Street, Toronto / Robson Street, Vancouver (Canada): 1,584
26 (23) Rue Neuve, Brussels (Belgium): 1,580
27 (25) City center, Helsinki (Finland): 1,500
28 (=28) Váci utca, Budapest (Hungary): 1,440
29 (32) Lambton Quay, Wellington (New Zealand): 1,430
30 (30) Bulevardul Magheru, Bucharest (Romania): 1,380

The rate of real estate is increasing like BSE sensex of our country. I believe that best investment for your money is real estate because its only investment which can give you 200% return in a year. I personally saw a live example in banaglore- An individual who was residing in Whitefield, Bangalore (location famous for IT companies offices and highly expensive too). That individual was willing to sold his property in 50 lacs approximately, but due to some problems he was unable to sold his property. In 6 months, same property value increased by 80% and finally he sold the property in 82 lacs.

Do you have smaller amount don't get depressed you can buy flats, shops etc because rental are also increasing on the same pace as sensex and land prices.

World’s Top ten locations for % rent rises in local currency June 2006-June 2007

1 East Oak Street, Chicago: 100.0%
2= Ansal Plaza, New Delhi: 87.5%
2= Connaught Place, New Delhi: 87.5%
4 Nevsky Prospekt, St Petersburg: 81.8%
5 Kemps Corner, South Mumbai, Mumbai: 78.2%
6 Rodeo Drive (Beverly Hills), Los Angeles: 71.4%
7 Greater Kailash I, New Delhi: 57.1%
8 Fort/Fountain, South Mumbai, Mumbai: 55.2%
9 Direita/Itapetininga, São Paulo: 54.0%
10 Visconde de Pirajá (Ipanema), Rio de Janeiro: 53.8%

SUGGESTION: check out the best place, location and buy some land surely prices of land will increase. Otherwise you will murmur this proverb---" Ab pactave kya hott jab chiriya chuk gayi kheth" means Dont think about what happened in past because the time is gone buddy..

Source: www.holland-re.com

www.indiaretailing.com

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Rupee Appreciation & its impact on Indian Economy

From 2003-07 Indian market is booming in leaps & bounds, today after China India is 2^nd fastest growing economy of the world with a growth rate of 9.4% in the first quarter. It’s a “trillion dollar country surpassed Russia & has become world’s 10^th largest economy, today (till 30^th march, 2007) Indian forex reserve is around $200 bn.

Now the hot bubble floating in every Indian’s mind is “Rupee Appreciation”. From July,2006-May,2007, value of rupee has highly appreciated by 10.7% from Rs 46 to Rs 40.56. There is a big dilemma in everyone's mind, will the rupee appreciation adversely effect our economic growth or is it an indicator of Indian growing economy?

Indian import & export growth rates in March & June 2007 were 34.8% & 18 % respectively which reduced from April 2007 by 6% & 5% respectively.

In our B-school, it’s a hot issue from various perspectives; academics, market growth & placements also. Every friend of ours is discussing about it.

Major reasons of this bubble are:

• Huge foreign Investment in our country

• FIIs Inflow

• ECB borrowings

• Slowdown of US economy

In our country there is 70:30 ratio of import & export respectively (data from commerce dept.) in which major export destinations of India are OCED (USA, EU, Japan) and Brazil & other Asian countries but a large chunk is exported to the OCED countries.

According to an industry analyst - “Every 10 paisa appreciation in rupee negates one dollar upward movement in international prices”

From Importers point of view:

“Rupee at nine years high”-

• Oil companies are highly benefited- more than 80% of crude oil is import gulf and other countries.

According to IOC manager’s statement: “for every Rs1 appreciation crude oil price dip by 2%”

• Recent acquisitions made by Indian companies’ i.e.

· UB group- Whyte & Mackay

· TATA steel-Corus etc these companies are benefited.

• International borrowing (from US banks) by Indian companies.

• Beneficial for country external debts because 10% increase in Rs reduce the debt amount by 10%.

Suppose:

US bank/agency-------------------$100 (2006) ---------------------àIndian company borrowing in Rs term= Rs 4600

Given: $1= Rs 46 (July, 2006)

US bank/agency<-------------------$100 (2007) ---------------------Indian company paying in Rs term= Rs 4000 +interest

Given: $1=Rs 40 (June, 2007)

Here company is getting profit of Rs.600

• Consumer electronic goods, imported apparels etc will be available at cheapest price.

From Exporters point of view:

Around 30% of the exports will surely be affected at one hand. According to commerce ministry report (Oct, 2006) around 86% of export & 89% import deals invoiced in USD. So, in this case exports houses will suffer badly.

Major exports houses of India are:

• IT & ITES industry i.e. (Software, hardware & BPOs), Manufacturing industry (Steel pants, automobile industry, Textile etc), Tourism Industry, Pharma Industry (i.e. Ranbaxy, Cipla etc),

• Hospitals have (cheapest surgeries compared to US hospitals etc), FIIs etc

• Manufacturing Industry: This industry has also suffered as mainly the customers are US companies. But as the raw material is also imported mainly(about 70%) in USD, the import actually has offset the losses due to export to some extent. The loss has forced the industry to cut it workforce by 11,000.
  

• Hotel companies (Taj Gvk, ITC hotels etc) are set to loose as 50% of their revenues are in dollars.

Govt. initiatives to protect exporters:

• Tax incentives, interest reductions, reduction in service taxes

• Export duty reduction & waive custom duty
• Forward contracts will also be beneficial for exports to protect themselves from losses.

Conclusion-

Currencies	Year (may, 2006)	Year (July, 2007)	Change %
Rs in terms of USD	46.2	41.05	11.12%
Rs in terms of Euro	59.05	55.35	6.26%
Rs in terms of Yen	41.1	33.20	19.22%
Rs in terms of Pound	86.55	82.20	5.02%

According to the given above we can conclude that rupee is appreciating with all currencies given above which reflects that Indian economy is doing very well, though it carries with it certain demerits (mentioned above). But these demerits can be worked upon and transformed into a blessing for the economy.

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