“Indian consumer has surely come of age”

PETER BAKER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, H&B STORES, DABUR

Though retail outlets have mushroomed across the country, the industry is still in its nascent stage in India. However, for consumers it’s a gala time ahead...

Last year Dabur forayed into retail by rolling out ‘new-u’ stores with a focus on health and personal care products. And after one year, in a free-wheeling conversation with 4Ps B&M’s Angshuman Paul, Peter Baker, CEO, H&B, Dabur discusses the current state of affairs of the Indian retail industry and where they are...

Where do you think does Indian retail industry stands when compared to its global peers?
There are lots of differences. Indian retail industry is still in a very nascent stage when compared to its global counterparts. Logistic and supply chain is an issue which many players often ignore. I mean, abroad, much more emphasis is given on setting up a supply chain before opening a retail outlet but that doesn’t happen in India.

But compared to Europe or US, isn’t infrastructure a major challenge for Indian retailers?
Yes, that’s a key challenge as transporting things from one place to the other requires at least seven days and this delays the retail cycle. Moreover, to get your goods ordered much in advance, you also need to create a good storage system, which actually very few retailers do in India. I think when it comes to focusing on back-end operations, Indian retail industry’s standard would be just 50% as compared to 100% of global retailers.

Is skilled manpower a bottleneck for Indian retailers?
Earlier skilled manpower was a major challenge in India. In Europe the retail has been happening for more than five decades and people are willing to take this as a profession. But in India retail was just picking up and no fresher was willing to enter this industry. But now things are changing as Indians are realising the importance of retail industry. So, I don’t think that finding talent is a major challenge now.

Do you think Dabur has been able to address such issues?
Yes we did and that’s the reason we took so long to set up our first ‘new-u’ outlet. We did our homework, we were well equipped with everything. It was then we decided that now we should open our first store.

But didn’t you miss out big time as Fortis HealthWorld has already rolled out about 50 stores?
No, there are examples of players across various segment, which have entered five years late than any other players, but yet they are doing so well. The market is growing and there’s potential for many players. Health and beauty retailing is growing as the well-being market of the country is annually fetching an extensive business in billions.

Tell us about the current penetration level of ‘new-u’ across the country.
Right now we have nine stores. Three in Hyderabad, three in Delhi, and two in Bangalore. We would be opening 12 more stores in this fiscal and 30 more stores in the next fiscal. At the initial phase we believe in going slow. But we will be investing Rs.1.4 billion in retail and in next five years, & we would be having 300-400 stores. Right now we want to concentrate on selected metros.

In the next five years what changes do you expect in the Indian retail industry?
The next 12 to 20 months would be tough due to rising real estate cost. This might even force many small players to shut down their stores. Hence many small players will leave the market. But the next two years following that would be great time as the retail industry would be in its boom. From consumer’s perspective definitely there is much great time ahead.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

Associating with assests...

IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence

...seems to be the work mantra at Satyam’s BPO; Naresh Jhanghiani gives some highlights of the unique work experience at the company

“The Human Resources team at Satyam can actually predict the chances of an Associate leaving the company BPO using an in-house tool...”

Ever since India gained ground as the world’s leading BPO destination, several companies have set up shop to grab a chunk of the BPO-bite. From Indian majors to global giants, third-party providers to captives, the number of companies that comprise the BPO industry today is mind-boggling. If there is one set of stakeholders that has benefited the most from this boom, it is the people who run this industry. The best talents today have a range of prospective employers to choose from. How do companies keep Associates motivated? How do companies retain the best talent? The answer, in simple English, is ‘job satisfaction’. Only, creating ‘job satisfaction’ is easier said than done. A few time-tested thumb rules hold the key - understanding Associates and their needs better, adopting a proactive approach towards creating Associate delight, creating a high-energy workplace best suited to young Associates and creating an eco system of opportunity. Here’s what we, at Satyam BPO, have done to retain the best talents and keep them performing at top gear across their life cycle in the organisation.

At Satyam BPO, all employees are addressed as Associates. This is on the basis of the belief that being in the service industry, Associates are the most important asset for the organisation. As such, treating them as partners, rather than employees, bestows them with the pride that they are partners in a successful relationship, while putting the onus on them and to ensure that a successful partnership is created. This kind of an environment results in mutual admiration and in forging of successful long term relationships.

Satyam BPO considers Associates as the organisation’s locus point where all the policies and guidelines revolve around them. The Human Resources team can actually predict the chances of an Associate leaving Satyam BPO using an in-house tool called Proactive Retention Intervention for Young Associates.

Satyam BPO offers innovative learning opportunities to Associates through its Centre for Leadership Excellence (CLE) which specialises in behavioral training. The CLE team also conducts customised training programmes based on team requirements. We also leverage two learning schools – Satyam School of Learning and Satyam School of Leadership (SSL) for leadership and organisation development programmes. We promote internal job changes, enabling Associates to move laterally or horizontally to other teams and support functions. Satyam BPO’s SPRING program provides for faster growth opportunities to Associates.

A lot of fun along with serious work is an everyday affair at Satyam BPO. In each process there is a Chief Fun Officer (CFO) who is responsible for driving fun at work initiatives within their assigned processes. Connecting with the Generation ‘Y’ is a pre-requisite for successful HR professionals. Handling a young group of go-getters can be interesting and needs to be handled deftly. It requires experience to keep them engaged. A long-term holistic view is taken to undertake and succeed in the same. Satyam BPO provides Associates an opportunity to incubate themselves before taking on larger responsibilities. Satyam BPO considers Associates as partners in organisation, and this relationship drives mutually beneficial success patterns.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
Now IIPM's World-Class Education... for everybody!!
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
4Ps Power Brand Awards 2007
When IIPM comes to education, never compromise
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

Ad cauldron bubbles with ‘change’

IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

So why was JWT’s creative intelligence not good enough for the Oswals? After all, clients globally die for long-term and mutually rewarding partnerships with their communication agencies. Advertising veteran Jagdeep Bakshi, who has just been elevated as Global Business Director-Unilever in JWT believes that account reviews happen because “clients think that they are getting good ideas, but not great ideas. And that if they change partners they can get great ideas.” But he adds that is not the way to enhance brand communication. “The right way is to motivate your current partner to churn out better ideas,” he explained to this magazine. But clients think differently: “Monte Carlo is now moving beyond woolen wear and we needed to think of something new and different,” a source in Monte Carlo told 4Ps B&M.

Another client that recently changed its long-standing relation with its advertising agency is Emami. It shifted its brand Navratna Oil account from Publicis Ambience to Mudra. In a guarded e-mail reply to our questionnaire, Emami spokesperson Harsh Agarwal said that an agency change is sometimes necessary to challenge established mindsets. “Thinking styles and structures need to be broken down and re-invented. This disruption often leads to the genesis of breakthrough thinking,” he says.

The writing is on the wall. Once citadels of creating and nurturing brands together, the client-agency relationship is deteriorating faster than you can say Daag Acche Hain. The developing situation – easily attributable to the fast changing complex business environment – is a far cry from the pre-1992 haydays, when long-term communication strategy meant 5-8 years, and short term meant 2-3 years. Now clients (read: companies, both MNCs and domestic biggies) want results and they want them quick. Long-term means a quarterly review and short-term means ‘get me results this week dude, preferably tomorrow!’ And if you can’t deliver results ‘yesterday’, I’ll just as easily walk over to the next guy in line. Agencies have certainly lost the high-pedestal they once enjoyed, when clients perceived them as creative demi-gods; and didn’t dare de-construct their mumbo-jumbo for fear of hurting their fragile egos and arty sensibilities. “That time is over,” sums up Sushil Pandit, hotshot of The Hive, a Delhi-based ad hot-shop.

Being in one of the world’s fastest developing markets, brands in India are stepping on the accelerator to carve their place in the consumer’s mind, before competition walks away with full glory. In a business world full of heavy-duty jargons like brand equity, fragmentation, shakeout, globalisation, convergence, spiral effect, et al, clients are no longer one-dimensional. And as marketing pressures rise, they have brought most of the brand communication blitzkrieg – including research, data mining, consumer insights, even communication strategy – under their own tutelage, with the result that agencies de-graduated from being marketing partners to first communication consultants, then to advertising consultants. The blast of media fragmentation - has further fragmented even advertising into layouts or scripts or digital campaigns, as clients hire specialised digital agencies for their digital needs now.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
Now IIPM's World-Class Education... for everybody!!
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
4Ps Power Brand Awards 2007
When IIPM comes to education, never compromise
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble…

IIPM, GURGAON

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble…” so sang the Shakespearean Witches of Macbeth. Were they talking of advertising agencies? asks 4Ps B&M’s aditi prasad

They were once comrade-in-arms for a common cause. Today, they are simply up-in-arms – against each other. The bubbling cauldron of client-agency relations in business has overflown and come full circle, from a time when advertising agencies were partners in growth for the client, to them being relegated with a tag of mere script-shops in the 21st century marketing landscape. Worse, the client-agency imbroglio seems to be deepening at a time that Indian creativity is winning accolades globally. Indian advertising romped home with no less than 23 metals - a first! - from the prestigious Cannes Advertising Festival earlier this year. Back home, if winning awards are a matter of much back slapping among agencies, they are simply adding to discontent among clients, who believe that the focus for most agencies has shifted from ‘how do I add more value to my client’s business’; to ‘how do I make better ads and win more awards’.

Sample this: Two months ago, after a 15 year relationship, Oswal Woolens Mills’ flagship brand Monte Carlo showed the exit door to its agency JWT India (incidentally, JWT’s metal tally at the 2008 Cannes was the highest among Indian agencies) and hired rival McCann Erickson instead to handle the Rs.20 crore Monte Carlo creative business. The account review set tongues wagging in the advertising industry. After all, through the years, JWT’s creatives had helped Monte Carlo become the market leader in the woolen wear segment. Some cried foul play; others hung their head in silent resignation, certain that this was just another indicator of skyrocketing client ambitions and their sometimes unreasonable ‘ivory tower’ expectations.

Monte Carlo is not an exception. According to Spatial Access, an India-based media auditing firm, just between January-December 2007, over 485 accounts totaling a billing of approximately Rs.5,493 crore came up for review in the Indian advertising and marketing fraternity, with FMCG brands leading from the front (54 reviews), closely followed by media (53 reviews), real estate (38 reviews) and apparel (26 reviews) players. Clearly, something’s brewing. Of course, some key movements are coming from global realignments (Wigan & Kennedy won the global creative account for Nokia, so their Indian counterpart benefited), but overall the rising break-ups in the fraternity, smack of the inherent suspicion and simmering resentment that has scratched away the surface calm of client-agency relationships.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS
Now IIPM's World-Class Education... for everybody!!
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
4Ps Power Brand Awards 2007
When IIPM comes to education, never compromise
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...