Movie Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The Pakistani Dream

Based on a novel of the same name by Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is everything and perhaps more than what you would expect from a Mira Nair film.

The political thriller begins with the kidnap of an American professor in Lahore, and after that there is no looking back. The entire film is set over a conversation between Changez (Riz Ahmed) and American journalist Bobby (Liev Schreiber).  The story unfolds through a series of flashbacks that are non-linear (and sometimes predictable) in which we see Changez’s journey from living the great American Dream to his return to Lahore after 09/11 attacks and his search for the Pakistani Dream.

The film is quite different from the novel when it comes to the story, and at times you feel it drags on. But where it scores high is the use of soundtrack. It began with a Qawaali sung by brothers Fareed Ayaz and Abu Mohammed which set the mood of the film. Apart from this, the presence of Om Puri and Shabana Azmi, however short their roles were, also helped in giving the film its distinct flavour.

Riz Ahmed has done a good job. I wouldn’t say brilliant as he lacks emotions at times when it is needed the most, but it was decent. Kate Hudson plays his love interest and could have well been forgotten if not for the lovemaking scenes. Liev Schreiber has a few comment s here and there, but other than that he is just the listener. In other words, what holds the film together is Mira Nair’s storytelling style rather than the performances. As in her other films, the settings blend in perfectly with the theme – from Wall Street to the typical teahouse at Lahore.

To conclude, the plot is superb, the direction is good, and the acting is good enough.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

Sausage or rat meat?

Food adulteration laws need more teeth to ensure safe food supply

Attention please: the next time you go out to buy mutton, be careful. You may end up purchasing rat or fox meat masquerading as mutton. Shocking, but it's true. Around 20,000 tonnes of rat meat have been sold in the name of lamb meat in the Chinese market so far this year alone. The truth came to light only after Chinese officials began an investigation in January, that too after around 20,000 dead pigs were found floating in a river. Since then, 904 suspects have been arrested and 1,721 factories across China, have been sealed. The Chinese Public Security Ministry revealed that meat dealers have made more than £1 million by selling fake meat packed as mutton and as related products. What is even more galling is that the scandal is not limited to China alone. Counterfeit meat is a common phenomenon across the globe.

 Mao Shoulong, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, highlighted in his report that “The United States and Europe can’t eradicate these problems either, but they are even more complicated in China.” The ongoing European horse meat scandal is a case in point. In many European countries like the UK, Sweden, France and Ireland, horse meat is being falsely tagged as beef. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland recently confirmed that Tesco’s beef burger contains around 29 per cent of horse DNA. In another report, Stellenbosch University stated in its study that donkey meat was found in South African burgers. The Dutch government too has started an investigation and has recalled 50,000 tonnes of meat (500 million burgers) sold as beef across Europe. In Japan, dolphin and porpoise meat have been illegally traded as whale meat. The Glasgow City Council's environmental services found in an investigation that butchers are selling beef as lamb.

The unnerving part is that the racket has been going on despite the existence of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act in almost every country worldwide. The Act is meant to ensure food safety and curtail food adulteration. But obviously, it has failed to serve its mandate. The 2008 Chinese milk scandal, which victimised around 300,000 people, is the most infamous among all. Even the ongoing meat scandal raises concerns on the credibility and effectiveness of the Act. Clearly, what is required is a holistic and global initiative towards combating adulterated food products. This scandal may not have caused major health problems, but it surely hurts the religious sentiments of many.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year

BBA Management Education

Ready for big-bang retail growth?

The government’s decision to liberalise FDI in multi-brand retail is being seen as a bold move to spur foreign investment in India. But allowing global retail giants in the country may not bring in the promised dividends.

Call it a coincidence but the underlying irony was hard to miss. On the same day that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced his government’s decision to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail – signalling a red carpet welcome for foreign supermarket chains – a Washington-based web newspaper carried a detailed story on how Wal-Mart, America’s largest retail chain, has been displacing nearby businesses. The irony was that all along in recent months Singh’s UPA government was fighting to dispel similar concerns being voiced by the Opposition as well as UPA allies on allowing global retailers like TESCO, Carrefour and Wal-Mart to set shop in India. After failing to rally support for greater FDI in muti-brand retail, the UPA government eventually went ahead and issued the notification for liberalising FDI rules in the retail sector on September 20.

What has followed since (apart from the exit of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress from the UPA combine) has been a series of high decibel TV discussions and polarised debate over the pros and cons of FDI liberalisation in retail and how it will play out in India. On the one hand, we have the government and the Congress cheerleaders dubbing the move as ‘big bang reforms’. At the other end of the spectrum is the Opposition’s rhubarb decrying the move as retrograde and one which would spell doom for local kirana stores and render a huge chunk of our population jobless.

While some have argued that the government’s hurried push for reforms has been guided by the intent to divert the nation’s attention from the coal scam that saw the Congress-led government cornered, there are others that say that the latest push for reforms comes in the wake of the rapidly gathering perception about the government being stuck in policy paralysis. Reform votaries contend that allowing FDI liberalisation in retail will lay to rest the growing impression about the government’s policy inertia and will to bring in the much-needed foreign investment to India. But whether one chooses to call it a reform or a diversionary agenda, there is no gainsaying that this time around, unlike that of November 2011, the government is in no mood to withdraw its decision. So whether one likes it or not, FDI in retail is here to stay.

The politics that preceded or followed the decision to allow higher FDI in retail misses the key point. The crux of the matter does not lie in the kind of impact assesment that self-proclaimed pundits in the media, the government, the Opposition or the academia have been bruiting about. Also, the government’s defence that the move to allow foreign retailers in multi-brand retail will fix these issues is simply a case of wishful thinking and one that the policy fails to address. That’s because the bottlenecks that have impacted the retail industry in the past are likely to persist in the future as well.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2013.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman

ExecutiveMBA

“We are a boringly consistent company”

Saugata Gupta, CEO, Marico, Consumer Products Group

B&E: Recently there was a profit warning from your side to the investors. What were the reasons?
Saugata Gupta (SG): First let me clarify that it was not a profit warning but a guidance. We believed that with inputs costs having doubled, our earnings growth will not be in line with the expectations on the stock from analysts and the market and therefore we gave out a guidance. And we continue to stand by it. We are saying that over the immediate time horizon, given the kind of cost structure and input costs, and the fact that we have chosen to grow consumer franchises and get more consumers on board, along with volume growth, perhaps, the earnings growth will be a little muted in the immediate and near term.

B&E: Are you contemplating any price hike on any of your products given the inflationary pressure?
SG: We haven’t taken any price hike in the past 6-7 months. But as I said, if the need arises, we will go for it, but it will be very marginal in nature. We don’t foresee that in the immediate term, unless there’s more inflationary push, so no major price hikes.

B&E: Are you looking at any tweaks in the production chain to manage costs, due to the price pressures?
SG: We are obviously concerned about cost management, but at the same time, we’re not sacrificing in terms of investments, innovation and talent. Like any other company we will continue to explore opportunities for cost management.

B&E: You have gone ahead to explore new business opportunities in the personal care and food space, so any new product launches we can expect?
SG: We just recently diversified into the skincare category with Parachute Advanced, so its too early to talk about the category. We also have men’s grooming products in most of our international markets. It’s a category that is growing. We have launched a couple of new categories this year, so we are focusing on investing and growing these categories. In the food space too, we have got into the Oats space with Saffola (we are already the number three player), and are also test marketing a savoury oat. So as I said, we have enough on our plate, we believe in focus, investing in one or two products/ categories, and focus on growing them rather than going into multiple categories. At the end of the day if you have to create a strong franchise you have to focus on investing in fewer ones, rather than entering every space. Health foods is one category where we see a lot of growth opportunity. Our Oats product is available mostly in modern trade nationally and retails in the southern markets. And we are still in the process of further scaling it up.

B&E: You have forayed into international markets quite aggressively, how is the business doing for you? Any plans to enter more markets globally?
SG: Our internal business is currently contributing 23% of our top line and we will continue to focus on emerging markets, where there is long-term potential for growth and significant population with low penetration of categories. That will be our international business strategy. When it comes to acquiring more companies, our strategy is that as we grow (nationally and internationally), our growth will be a mixture of organic and inorganic and, as and when opportunities come, we will explore. In India, opportunities for acquisitions are much lower, and also the price earning multiples of earning is on the higher side compared to international markets, where more opportunities can be found. Also, in most international markets, we don’t have a presence and inorganic gives you a mass and a foothold to start.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

 

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

 

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Will they be Good at Crossing ‘Tablets’?

A number of low cost Giants are Preparing to launch tablets in India, Motivated by the way The Mobile Phone landscape changed in The Country. Is an Encore as Certain as expected

First there were desktops. Then there were laptops. Then there came mobiles. Indeed these devices made life simpler. But then, as smart phones, netbooks, media PCs, smartbooks, mobile internet devices and now tablets have come into the picture, life is not necessarily easier, neither for companies nor customers. For innovator companies like Apple, which rejuvenated the tablet segment in the first place, the challenge is to be able to milk innovation fast enough before competitors bring in substitutes and disrupt their pricing structure. Within a short span of launch of the iPad, competitors like HP, Blackberry, Dell, Samsung, HTC and Asus came into the fray.

Simultaneously, there are a host of Asian players who are looking to grab the opportunities in this new gold mine, and India will be very firm on their radar. After all, a precedent was set for them when Nokia suffered deep cuts in its market share from 60% in 2008 to around 31.5% by the quarter ending September 2010, thanks to players like Micromax, Lava & G’Five, who enhanced the value proposition by many times.

Now these players are set to enter the emerging tablet PC market in India with a price tag less than Rs.15,000. Delhi-based Lava Mobiles is on the verge of introducing its affordable tablet PC by September this year, which will be priced between Rs.15,000 and Rs.20,000. Micromax has plans to launch a tablet somewhere in July. Though initially these tablets might sound a bit expensive, prices will most likely fall. According to report released by the Boston Consulting Group titled ‘Swimming against the tide’, competition will drive down prices of affordable tablet PCs to Rs.9,000 by 2013. This is reaffirmed by S. N. Rai, Director and Co-founder, Lava Mobiles, as he exclaims, “Once our range of Tablet PCs is launched, we will keep working on the innovation side and therefore expect that the price will come down further to sub Rs.10,000 levels.” Zen, Olive, G’Five, Acer and Fly are expected to make their launches soon. But will customers, who pay for sub-Rs.5000 mobiles, show the same response to sub-Rs.15,000 tablets from these companies? According to Arshit Pathak, MD, G’Five, “Tablets from Apple and BlackBerry will be an add on for people who already own a laptop and/or a smartphone, but our product will be an independent device and will target people who don’t have any computing system.” They will look at students, SMEs & young professionals who wish to remain connected, have a better multimedia experience and don’t wish to spend on a notebook or a smart phone.

When the phenomenon called the Apple iPad took over the computing world last year in March, the immediate result was a fall in netbook shipments. In the nine months ending December 31, 2010, Apple sold 15 million iPads globally. Gartner estimates worldwide media tablet sales to touch 54.8 million units in 2011, up 181% from 2010, and surpass 208 million units in 2014. In fact, a recent study conducted by Accenture titled ‘Finding growth: Emergence of a new Consumer Technology Paradigm’ states that “while the growth rate of computers is expected to decline, the growth rate of tablet PCs is expected to be up by 160% in 2011”.

Read more....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Little Ventured Means Little Gained

After Resisting The Global Financial Crisis almost Unhurt, expectations are high from The Indian Banking Sector to help India achieve a Double Digit growth rate. But with The Industry still struggling to achieve a Good Penetration rate, The Question remains, Can it live up to The Mark?

Banking is understood in common parlance as a field that begins and ends with numbers. To begin with, we take a look at a few startling facts about the Indian banking sector:

Total assets of the Indian banking industry jumped by more than five times to $1.25 trillion in the last decade from $250 billion in 2001.

Total business of Indian banks has grown over threefold from $516.7 billion in 2004 to $1.72 trillion in 2010.

Total income of all scheduled commercial banks of India has risen from Rs.1.51 trillion in 2001 to Rs.4.94 trillion in 2010.

The BSE Bankex has climbed by 970% up since the beginning of 2002 as compared to 445% by the benchmark BSE Sensex.

A commendable performance indeed. But the question remains, more so for the fact that the country aims to remain as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, has the growth been satisfactory? The answer, considering that out of the 600,000 habitations in the country, only 5% have a commercial bank branch and just 40% of the total population across the country has bank accounts, is a certain no. And this, in essence, means that the development of the country’s banking sector needs to be taken forward in a much bigger way to serve the larger needs of financial inclusion through expansion of banking services. But are the banks in the country prepared to take up the challenge?

Considering the journey of the industry from the pre-liberalisation decade, Indian banks have come a long way from virtual nobodies to creating one of the strongest banking industries in the world, which managed to weather the last global recession almost unhurt. Factually, cumulative capital and reserves of banks in India that stood at $95 million, $4.1 million and $4.5 million for public sector, private sector and foreign banks respectively in 1980, now stand at $53.5 billion, $26.6 billion and $15.3 billion respectively. However, during most of these 30 years, the growth story was driven by various factors; from industrial funding to infrastructure funding. But the last decade has seen Indian banks really banking on retail banking to boost their bottomlines.

In fact, banks, in both the public and private sector, have moved beyond the traditional boundaries of what can be called plain vanilla banking, and have started exploring other lucrative areas like wealth management, private banking, credit cards, investment advisory services et al. Moreover, considering the initiatives, the cumulative profit of Indian banks is expected to double to over $40 billion in 2015; adding muscle to the sector to expand into the hinterlands. Interestingly, a majority of this growth is expected to come from the retail banking segment. But then, why is retail banking drawing so much of attention now?

As reports suggest, with a saving rate of 32.4% of their income, Indian households are among the biggest savers in the world. And the irony is that 53% of these households are still without any banking assistance. While this is a problem from the country’s perspective, it’s a golden opportunity for bankers. And no bank operating in the country wants to miss on it. So currently, every bank is busy in boosting their retail banking operations. But it’s not a trend very peculiar to India; the global trend is also moving in favour of retail banking. As Andy Mcguire, Senior Partner and Managing Director (London Office), The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reiterates, “The retail banking industry was battered by the global financial crisis. But in many markets, its resilience has helped to enable a turning of the tide that began in 2009 and continued into 2010. Overall, retail banking is on track to resume its stature as a reliable and profitable backbone for universal banking.”

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

How Karachiites are Fighting For a Brighter Tomorrow...

How ‘The City of Lights’ lost its Sparkle, and how Karachiites are Fighting For a Brighter Tomorrow...

In the wake of the previous Afghan War, drug and arms culture was introduced in Karachi. The drug mafia penetrated in Lyari that happened to be the most vibrant area in yesteryear, politically and culturally.

Gradually, land mafia, transport mafia and drug mafia became so powerful that political activism retreated and was replaced by the barrel of a gun. With growing penetration of drug mafia and bureaucratic capital, the social fabric of Pakistan’s society and Karachi in particular was destroyed, and sectarian killings became order of the day.

Class contradictions were also sharpened. On one hand were limousines worth tens of millions of rupees that plied on the streets of Karachi, on the other were hordes of jobless youth who had nowhere to go.

With population the size of Islamabad migrating to Karachi in search of jobs, the demography of the largest city of Pakistan started changing dramatically. No wonder Karachi now hosts the biggest Pushtoon population in Pakistan.

Had it not been for philanthropists, tens of thousands of people in Karachi would have died of hunger. Social workers such as Abdus Sattar Edhi are not only feeding millions of people in Karachi, but are also running world’s largest ambulance service in the private sector.

But sadly enough, the fate of Karachi is decided by land mafia that has entrenched almost every political party and can trigger gang war and ethnic war in almost every nook and corner of the city.

Clifton, Hawkes Bay, Sandspit and other beaches that once provided solace to Karachiites are now eyed by land mafia. Similarly, heritage buildings too are endangered because Godfathers want to replace them with skyscrapers.

However, there is a silver lining! Despite threats, the civil society and the intelligentsia in the financial hub of Pakistan are adamant on resisting mafias and saving beaches, and to expose the vested interests.

Nobody knows how many years it would take to undo the wrongs of General Ziaul Haq, but one could find oasis in Karachi in the midst of anarchy, lawlessness and chaos.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Respect to his understanding of the Indian customer

Karl Slym, President & MD, GM India has spent close to three years in the Indian market. The times have changed him considerably, more with respect to his understanding of the Indian customer. Slym shares with B&E the decisions taken in the hard times and the strategy forward with GM’s Chinese JV Partner.

B&E: You have a good experience of working in the JV environment in the past as well but as far as the Indian market is concerned, we have seen many JVs not working in the past. What makes you so sure of the fact that the partnership with SAIC will go a long way?
Slym: I think that JVs are something that you have to embrace. Where there are no synergies and both are not seeing any potential benefits together, there is a problem. But if the planning upfront is right where both parties are seeking their own set of benefits and are able to make something better, which was not possible individually; you have a strong foundation on your side to start with. It is not a single point focus, but if it is done carefully, one may look at the benefits, which are huge in magnitude. Moreover, as we have already seen a lot of success with the partner in China, we are trying to ensure that we are able to replicate that success in the Indian market as well.

B&E: But you have had a bitter experience on the same with your partnership with Reva. What about your plans for the electric car market?
Slym: After the deal with Reva didn’t go through, we decided to go ahead alone in the electric car segment. We will show you an electric car in the first half of next year, which will be a small car.

B&E: You mentioned in our last interaction about your plans for the LCV market for end 2012. What is the latest update on the same?
Slym: We are now planning to roll out the LCVs much before that. It will still be in 2012, but it will be done at the 11th Auto Expo. We will roll out close to six products in total with 15 fuel variants in the next 24 months. We have a design centre here but at the moment, they don’t have a proper architecture, which is a vision for them to grow to. The way we work therefore is that we have global products wherein, let’s say, we pick up a Cruze from Germany and then we put it through our Indian R&D Centre. The centre makes sure that the ground clearance, suspension, horn and similar things are adjusted according to Indian conditions. We will follow a similar process for the vehicles from China. Needless to mention, we are aiming for a very high level of localisation that will be close to a level of 90%. Therefore, we are now signing up with new suppliers for the plans for the LCV market.

B&E: As you have decided to brand it under the Chevrolet umbrella, what makes you come to a conclusion that you will require a new infrastructure to sell commercial vehicles in India?
Slym: As everybody knows Chevrolet today, more and more people are accepting it as one of the most promising brands as well. A lot of energy and effort has gone into establishing the Chevrolet brand after we started with GM moving on to Opel and then finally landing right with Chevrolet. Moreover, when you know you are going to compete against a brand as strong as Tata, you don’t really want to take any chances with a brand which is completely new to the Indian consumer. By the time we launch, we could have reached new heights in terms of consumer confidence and there will be close to half a million Chevrolet cars on the Indian roads. For the different infrastructure, there are two entirely different sets of consumers that we are trying to address here with passenger cars and LCVs. And as both environments are very different from each other, it makes a lot of sense for us to have a separate infrastructure for them too. We have a possibility of sharing a back office for that but the final point of sale will be different from passenger cars.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

“We started with fewer products”

B&E: You have the highest retail presence and often in the same market you have more than one store. Doesn’t it end up in cannibalizing the sales of your products?

SS: No, I don’t think so, we have huge portfolio to offer and we design two stores in the same locality in different ways. Say for instance, in one store the first floor has lifestyle products and second floor, sports goods. In the second store, the first floor has women’s apparel and the second floor, men’s; It might sound very simplistic, but this is indeed the strategy that helped us to run our stores in same locality, phenomenally.

B&E: What understanding of the Indian market did you have when you entered and what strategies did you adopt at the initial stage?

AJ: When we entered, we saw that the sports market in India, unlike any other country was largely male dominated and so we thought that it’s not suggestible to launch our entire portfolio. We launched only those products which pertained to the choice of the male customer and we also kept our offerings limited only to cricket and athletics.

B&E: Tell us more about your future plans in the Indian market?

AJ: We have entered the kids apparel segment and we would be entering into several other segments also, but not compromising with the brand equity of Reebok. Our vision is to establish Reebok as a most loved fashion and sports brand in India and we would be offering whatever a consumer requires to dress up for all possible occasions.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

The Afghan quagmire continues

Iran may be involved if the US opted for drone attacks in Balochistan and this is bad news for Pakistan

The 'war on terror' may or may not eliminate Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the tribal areas of Pakistan but it seems it would cost dearly to a state that is already headed towards fragmentation. Now that the 100-days-old Obama government has decided to expand the American covert war in Pakistan, far beyond the unruly tribal areas to strike at a different centre of Taliban power in Balochistan, where top Taliban leaders are orchestrating attacks in southern Afghanistan. “Mullah Muhammad Omar, who led the Taliban government that was ousted in the American-led invasion in 2001, has operated with near impunity out of the region for years, along with many of his deputies,” the New York Times reported. Citing American intelligence officials, it further said many top Taliban commanders remain in hiding in and around the provincial headquarters in Balochistan, while some Afghan officials claim that other senior Taliban leaders have fled to Pakistan.

What does this mean? If the US administration goes for drone attacks in and around Quetta, it would lead to collateral damage in the largely Pashtun belt of Balochistan. “For the last 62 years, Baloch people are displaced. Now if the Americans opt for drone attacks in and around Quetta, Pashtuns will be displaced,” Nawab Khair Bux Marri, veteran Baloch leader told B&E.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM - FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Everyone loves cop bashing

Allegations echo from Delhi blasts and Jamia shootout. Is India losing the communication war?

Did Inspector M. C. Sharma, Delhi Police’s sharp shooter, kill terrorists in Jamia Nagar on September 19 before being shot? You would have thought the answer to be a resounding yes, but be slightly confused with the number of counter claims that have come up since that fateful day. While Sharma is pretty much a martyred figure in the memory of many colonies in Delhi, the 'other' view puts question marks on the concept of policing – and perhaps the Indian state itself.

K. P. S. Gill, former Punjab Police chief and doyen of anti-terrorist operations in Punjab put it succinctly on TV: “In Inspector Sharma’s death, Delhi Police has been saved the blushes.” In other words, Sharma had to pay for his life to make the encounter genuine otherwise the police’s claims could be pooh-poohed outright. So is India losing the propaganda war? Is the country losing the battle of hearts and mind? Throughout the week of light and sound, one thing which emerged distinctly was that the country has to contend with twin scourges: the natural cynicism of the dyed-in-the-blue intellectual who will turn his nose to anything that is remotely official, and the questionable conduct of the police, during and after the blast. Both issues are inter-linked.

To take the view that a corrupt and criminal police force is operating on its own without the props of a degenerate political system – a system in which other sections of society are necessarily models of piety and truthfulness – would be to put the cart before the horse. There is a crying need for reform and change in the government’s Police policy.

Consider the following. The National Police Commission created by the government in 1977 had submitted eight detailed reports during 1979-81 with comprehensive recommendations covering the entire gamut of police work. None have been implemented to date.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM - FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

GLOBAL BUSINESS: JOB CUTS

US slowdown is affecting employment across the globe, but the financial services sector leads the rest

Leading the race is America’s largest bank – Citibank – which posted an overall loss of $5.11 billion for Q1, 2008 and plans to ‘do the pink’ to as many as 9,000 workers (it had 21,000 job cuts in 2007). Royal Bank of Scotland announced in April that 7,000 employees could hit fleet street soon enough. Loss making Merrill Lynch, too, revealed plans to axe 4,000 jobs globally. The Confederation of British Industry announced last month how this quarter would see over 10,000 job cuts in UK’s financial sector. The Challenger US employment report shows that US, in January & February 2008 together, had a killing 147,077 job cuts, with the global financial sector taking up a significant majority (22,056 in February itself). Globally, firms like UBS, JPMorgan Chase & Co. are all ‘pinking’ it.

What about the near future? Ian Stewart, associate director of Deloitte Research revealed in a recent report that “Over half of (global financial) companies plan to slow down hiring and almost 40% are considering cutting workforces.” Did you hear about the world tour Aerosmith undertook last year? Do you know that they’re planning to do it again? Uhh

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

 

Snack foods business

ITC is using every strategic resource it has in his arsenal to make a mark in the snack foods business. ANGSHUMAN PAUL takes a look

Tactic No 2: Leverage conglomerate efficiencies & advantages

Consider these facts. Thanks to cigarette operations, ITC’s food products are showcased in 2 million outlets, including paan shops, compared to competitor Unilever India’s 1.5 million. “But it’s not only about the tobacco distribution network. Even when it comes to procurement, ITC had planned for the future through the e-Choupals network. Unilever never had the patience to create such a model on a long-term basis,” points out Mahesh Joshi, Associate (Institutional Equity), Edelweiss Securities.

In fact, ITC now hopes to expand its procurement business and provide the back-end supply chain to other food chains. In 2007, it roped in Japan’s Marubeni, which will help ITC access the former’s warehousing & logistics skills. And that’s not all. ITC uses its paper company to provide cost-effective and attractive packaging for its products. It borrows chefs and recipes from sister concern Welcome Group Hotels for Kitchens of India. “I think for a long sustainable economy & business, whenever any business houses enter a new arena, it should be totally prepared in all possible ways on its own resources,” says renowned economist Amartya Sen.

Tactic No 3: Take care of the other Ps

ITC Foods has been careful in choosing its brand ambassadors, Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar. “A brand ambassador has to very convincing to push your products, and both our brand ambassadors have helped us capture the market,” feels Naware. However, others say this is not critical. Explains Richa Arora, General Manager (head-marketing), Britannia Industries, while explaining why Britannia did not continue with Sachin Tendulkar, “It’s not that he was not successful, but somehow we felt that our brands can be promoted without a strong brand ambassador.”

When it came to pricing, ITC didn’t sell its products at lower prices than those of its competitors; rather, it increased the quantities. It was similar to the strategy pursued by the two cola giants who, instead of reducing their prices, increased the quantities served in a bottle. The idea was that price slashing is perceived as a sign of weakness, and adding quantities increases the customer’s value perception. Even on the distribution front, ITC has ruffled feathers. Delhi-based dealers contend that ITC gives them 4-5% higher margins than Kurkure.

However, in the near future, ITC itself will face competition on all its successful fronts. Players like Reliance Retail and Wal-Mart will set up as efficient, if not more, backend operations over the next 2-3 years. They’ll perhaps have lesser retail outlets, but surely more floor & shelf space as they plan small & huge malls & supermarts. In some ways, Reliance Retail has already started playing the price warrior game.

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links  
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Filmmakers chase the ‘Long Tail’

Reaching out to the perfect audience in newer ways…

Typically, the months leading up to summer are quite dry at the box office when it comes to new films. Studios and producers are busy devising strategies for the big budget summer releases and rarely, if ever, look at the mass audience during this time. Of course, independent movie makers, a kind underrepresented in India but quite a force out west, look to make the most of the opportunity. So, last week you had movies like Nandita Das’ Firaaq, Raja Menon’s Barah Aana or Little Zizou, Sooni Taraporewala’s little Parsi flavoured oddball before that. Director Samir Karnik, who had made Heroes, is confident about the movie theatre’s future, “People still love going to the cinemas and like watching movies on the big screen.” But in the same breath he says, “It’s not easy for everyone to afford a movie in the theatres, that’s the reason they find the easier way and watch movies on the net or otherwise.” That begs the question: Are there ways other than the silver screen to reach out to the targeted audience?

Of course, there are the usual rounds of the festivals and even direct to DVD releases but in this age of media driven by people power (think YouTube, Facebook etc.,) shouldn’t filmmakers, producers, studios and distributors be also thinking of ‘alternative’ channels of reaching out? Even if in limited numbers, they actually are. Director Wayne Wang (Maid In Manhattan) premiered his film The Princess of Nebraska in 2008 in the ‘You Tube Screening Room’ whereas Steven Sorderbergh plans a simultaneous video-on-demand release for Che

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
 

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links

IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face

Time Dilation Down South

A uniquely fused culture and legacy makes Pondicherry a place where time seems to come to a standstill, or better yet, rendered irrelevant

Pondicherry (now rechristened Puducherry) may appear to be a quaint place, but many worlds thrive inside this town at the southern frontier of India. An amalgamation of architectures, heritage that is unique and a ‘hub’ for the real art of living – yoga; all this makes Pondicherry a must see on any visitor’s itinerary. It would not be wrong to call Pondicherry the place where time stops, or at least dilates anyway. Its laid-back streets and people, the lovely beaches stretching endlessly against the backdrop of heritage architecture and a spiritual overtone make it the perfect ‘getaway’.

In Pondicherry you can lose yourself and suspend the ‘rush’ of life as you soak in the unmistakably ‘French’ vibe leftover by the occupiers of this maritime territory who ruled for almost three centuries. Pondy, as the place is referred to affectionately by the locals, has a history that stretches back thousands of years. In the early years (about the 1st century) it was a trade route for Roman merchants, followed by the Arabs but it was the Europeans, beginning with the Portuguese in late 15th century who saw the strategic significance of this town. The French followed, and even the Dutch and their periods of rule over the territory developed it, and briefly even the British Empire took over. It finally integrated into India (as a Union Territory) in 1954 when the French relinquished control, but they had left behind a rarely seen fusion in architecture and culture. Pondicherry has two distinct quarters – the French and the Tamil ones. And it has gorgeous beaches – those that seem to spread endlessly; any place having beaches named ‘paradise’ and ‘serenity’ has to be good, and once you have visited them you’ll know why.

Once you are done admiring the tree lined boulevards and the beaches, and the French War memorial, the 19th century lighthouse and The Church of Our Lady of the Angels on Dumas street it’s time to turn the spiritual button on because no trip to Pondicherry is complete without a visit to the Aurobindo Ashram or Auroville – a community that was conceived as a utopian paradise by the Mother, the spiritual successor of Sri Aurobindo and designed by the French architect Roger Anger. People live there in ‘communes’ and sustain themselves through handicrafts, agriculture and developmental projects. The ideal of living in the communes is that ‘one must be a willing servitor of the Divine Consciousness’ and that’s how it has been for the past four decades at this institution conceived as ‘a symbol of the Divine’s answer to man’s inspiration for perfection’. Given its strong pull as a yoga hub, which houses two of the world’s leading yoga institutions – the Aurobindo Ashram and the ‘International Center for Yoga Education and Research’ (also known as Ananda Ashram), Pondicherry plays host to the International Yoga festival every January, when yoga practitioners from around the world descend here.

Read more.......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri's Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM's Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri - A Man For The Society....
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links