The Market & Marketing Forum

Creating a Positive Professional Image

2011-10-21T15:00:00.000+05:30

As HBS professor Laura Morgan Roberts sees it, if you aren't managing your own professional image, others are.

"People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace," she says. "It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can accomplish."

There are plenty of books telling you how to "dress for success" and control your body language. But keeping on top of your personal traits is only part of the story of managing your professional image, says Roberts. You also belong to a social identity group—African American male, working mother—that brings its own stereotyping from the people you work with, especially in today's diverse workplaces. You can put on a suit and cut your hair to improve your appearance, but how do you manage something like skin color?

Roberts will present her research, called "Changing Faces: Professional Image Construction in Diverse Organizational Settings," in the October issue of the Academy of Management Review.

She discusses her research in this interview.

Mallory Stark: What is a professional image?

Laura Morgan Roberts: Your professional image is the set of qualities and characteristics that represent perceptions of your competence and character as judged by your key constituents (i.e., clients, superiors, subordinates, colleagues).

Q: What is the difference between "desired professional image" and "perceived professional image?"

A: It is important to distinguish between the image you want others to have of you and the image that you think people currently have of you.

Most people want to be described as technically competent, socially skilled, of strong character and integrity, and committed to your work, your team, and your company. Research shows that the most favorably regarded traits are trustworthiness, caring, humility, and capability.

Ask yourself the question: What do I want my key constituents to say about me when I'm not in the room? This description is your desired professional image. Likewise, you might ask yourself the question: What am I concerned that my key constituents might say about me when I'm not in the room? The answer to this question represents your undesired professional image.

You can never know exactly what all of your key constituents think about you, or how they would describe you when you aren't in the room. You can, however, draw inferences about your current professional image based on your interactions with key constituents. People often give you direct feedback about your persona that tells you what they think about your level of competence, character, and commitment. Other times, you may receive indirect signals about your image, through job assignments or referrals and recommendations. Taken together, these direct and indirect signals shape your perceived professional image, your best guess of how you think your key constituents perceive you.

Q: How do stereotypes affect perceived professional image?

A: In the increasingly diverse, twenty-first century workplace, people face a number of complex challenges to creating a positive professional image. They often experience a significant incongruence between their desired professional image and their perceived professional image. In short, they are not perceived in the manner they desire; instead, their undesired professional image may be more closely aligned with how their key constituents actually perceive them.

What lies at the source of this incongruence? Three types of identity threats—predicaments, devaluation, and illegitimacy—compromise key constituents' perceptions of technical competence, social competence, character, and commitment. All professionals will experience a "predicament" or event that reflects poorly on their competence, character, or commitment at some point in time, due to mistakes they have made in the past that have become public knowledge, or competency gaps (e.g., shortcomings or limitations in skill set or style).

Members of negatively stereotyped identity groups may experience an additional form of identity threat known as "devaluation." Identity devaluation occurs when negative attributions about your social identity group(s) undermine key constituents' perceptions of your competence, character, or commitment. For example, African American men are stereotyped as being less intelligent and more likely to engage in criminal behavior than Caucasian men. Asian Americans are stereotyped as technically competent, but lacking in the social skills required to lead effectively. Working mothers are stereotyped as being less committed to their profession and less loyal to their employing organizations. All of these stereotypes pose obstacles for creating a positive professional image.

Even positive stereotypes can pose a challenge for creating a positive professional image if someone is perceived as being unable to live up to favorable expectations of their social identity group(s). For example, clients may question the qualifications of a freshly minted MBA who is representing a prominent strategic consulting firm. Similarly, female medical students and residents are often mistaken for nurses or orderlies and challenged by patients who do not believe they are legitimate physicians.

Q: What is impression management and what are its potential benefits?

A: Despite the added complexity of managing stereotypes while also demonstrating competence, character, and commitment, there is promising news for creating your professional image! Impression management strategies enable you to explain predicaments, counter devaluation, and demonstrate legitimacy. People manage impressions through their non-verbal behavior (appearance, demeanor), verbal cues (vocal pitch, tone, and rate of speech, grammar and diction, disclosures), and demonstrative acts (citizenship, job performance).

My research suggests that, in addition to using these traditional impression management strategies, people also use social identity-based impression management (SIM) to create a positive professional image. SIM refers to the process of strategically presenting yourself in a manner that communicates the meaning and significance you associate with your social identities. There are two overarching SIM strategies: positive distinctiveness and social recategorization.

Positive distinctiveness means using verbal and non-verbal cues to claim aspects of your identity that are personally and/or socially valued, in an attempt to create a new, more positive meaning for that identity. Positive distinctiveness usually involves attempts to educate others about the positive qualities of your identity group, advocate on behalf of members of your identity group, and incorporate your background and identity-related experiences into your workplace interactions and innovation.

Social recategorization means using verbal and non-verbal cues to suppress other aspects of your identity that are personally and/or socially devalued, in an attempt to distance yourself from negative stereotypes associated with that group. Social recategorization involves minimization and avoidance strategies, such as physically and mentally conforming to the dominant workplace culture while being careful not to draw attention to identity group differences and one's unique cultural background.

Rather than adopting one strategy wholesale, most people use a variety of strategies for managing impressions of their social identities. In some situations, they choose to draw attention to a social identity, if they think it will benefit them personally or professionally. Even members of devalued social identity groups, such as African American professionals, will draw attention to their race if it creates mutual understanding with colleagues, generates high-quality connections with clients, or enhances their experience of authenticity and fulfillment in their work. In other situations, these same individuals may choose to minimize their race in order to draw attention to an alternate identity, such as gender, profession, or religion, if they feel their race inhibits their ability to connect with colleagues or clients.

Successful impression management can generate a number of important personal and organizational benefits, including career advancement, client satisfaction, better work relationships (trust, intimacy, avoiding offense), group cohesiveness, a more pleasant organizational climate, and a more fulfilling work experience. However, when unsuccessfully employed, impression management attempts can lead to feelings of deception, delusion, preoccupation, distraction, futility, and manipulation.

Q: How do authenticity and credibility influence the positive outcomes of impression management attempts?

A: In order to create a positive professional image, impression management must effectively accomplish two tasks: build credibility and maintain authenticity. When you present yourself in a manner that is both true to self and valued and believed by others, impression management can yield a host of favorable outcomes for you, your team, and your organization. On the other hand, when you present yourself in an inauthentic and non-credible manner, you are likely to undermine your health, relationships, and performance.

Most often, people attempt to build credibility and maintain authenticity simultaneously, but they must negotiate the tension that can arise between the two. Your "true self," or authentic self-portrayal, will not always be consistent with your key constituents' expectations for professional competence and character. Building credibility can involve being who others want you to be, gaining social approval and professional benefits, and leveraging your strengths. If you suppress or contradict your personal values or identity characteristics for the sake of meeting societal expectations for professionalism, you might receive certain professional benefits, but you might compromise other psychological, relational, and organizational outcomes.

Q: What are the steps individuals should take to manage their professional image?

A: First, you must realize that if you aren't managing your own professional image, someone else is. People are constantly observing your behavior and forming theories about your competence, character, and commitment, which are rapidly disseminated throughout your workplace. It is only wise to add your voice in framing others' theories about who you are and what you can accomplish.

Be the author of your own identity. Take a strategic, proactive approach to managing your image:

Identify your ideal state.

What are the core competencies and character traits you want people to associate with you?
Which of your social identities do you want to emphasize and incorporate into your workplace interactions, and which would you rather minimize?

Assess your current image, culture, and audience.

What are the expectations for professionalism?
How do others currently perceive you?

Conduct a cost-benefit analysis for image change.

Do you care about others' perceptions of you?
Are you capable of changing your image?
Are the benefits worth the costs? (Cognitive, psychological, emotional, physical effort)

Use strategic self-presentation to manage impressions and change your image.

Employ appropriate traditional and social identity-based impression management strategies.
Pay attention to the balancing act—build credibility while maintaining authenticity.

Manage the effort you invest in the process.

Monitoring others' perceptions of you
Monitoring your own behavior
Strategic self-disclosure
Preoccupation with proving worth and legitimacy

source: working knowledge @ HBS

The Seven Things That Surprise New CEOs - Author: Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch, Nitin Nohria

2011-09-15T01:42:00.000+05:30

Most new chief executives are taken aback by the unexpected and unfamiliar new roles, the time and information limitations, and the altered professional relationships they run up against. Here are the common surprises new CEOs face, and here's how to tell when adjustments are necessary.

Surprise One: You Can't Run the Company

Warning signs:

You are in too many meetings and involved in too many tactical discussions.

There are too many days when you feel as though you have lost control over your time.

Surprise Two: Giving Orders is Very Costly

Warning signs:

You have become the bottleneck.

Employees are overly inclined to consult you before they act.

People start using your name to endorse things, as in "Frank says…"

Surprise Three: It Is Hard To Know What Is Really Going On

Warning signs:

You keep hearing things that surprise you.

You learn about events after the fact.

You hear concerns and dissenting views through the grapevine rather than directly.

Surprise Four: You Are Always Sending A Message

Warning signs:

Employees circulate stories about your behavior that magnify or distort reality.

People around you act in ways that indicate they're trying to anticipate your likes and dislikes.

Surprise Five: You Are Not The Boss

Warning signs:

You don't know where you stand with board members.

Roles and responsibilities of the board members and of management are not clear.

The discussions in board meetings are limited mostly to reporting on results and management's decisions.

Surprise Six: Pleasing Shareholders Is Not The Goal

Warning signs:

Executives and board members judge actions by their effect on stock price.

Analysts who don't understand the business push for decisions that risk the health of the company.

Management incentives are disproportionately tied to stock price.

Surprise Seven: You Are Still Only Human

Warning signs:

You give interviews about you rather than about the company.

Your lifestyle is more lavish or privileged than that of other top executives in the company.

You have few if any activities not connected to the company.

Implications for CEO Leadership

Taken together, the seven surprises carry some important and subtle implications for how a new CEO should define his job.

First, the CEO must learn to manage organizational context rather than focus on daily operations. Providing leadership in this way—and not diving into the details—can be a jarring transition. One CEO said that he initially felt like the company's "most useless executive," despite the power inherent in the job. The CEO needs to learn how to act in indirect ways—setting and communicating strategy, putting sound processes in place, selecting and mentoring key people—to create the conditions that will help others make the right choices. At the same time, he must set the tone and define the organization's culture and values through his words and actions—in other words, demonstrate how employees should behave.

Second, he must recognize that his position does not confer the right to lead, nor does it guarantee the organization's loyalty. He must perpetually earn and maintain the moral mandate to lead. CEOs can easily lose their legitimacy if their vision is unconvincing, if their actions are inconsistent with the values they espouse, or if their self-interest appears to trump the welfare of the organization. They must realize that success ultimately depends on their ability to enlist the voluntary commitment rather than the forced obedience of others. While mastering the conventional tools of management may have won the CEO his job, these tools alone will not keep him there.

Finally, the CEO must not get totally absorbed in the role. Even if others think he is omnipotent, he is still only human. Failing to recognize this will lead to arrogance, exhaustion, and a shortened tenure. Only by maintaining a personal balance and staying grounded can the CEO achieve the perspective required to make decisions in the interest of the company and its long-term prosperity.

source: Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

Pay your Undesirable customer not to use your Brand?

2011-08-23T18:11:00.000+05:30

Concerned that its image is being tainted by the rowdy stars of reality TV show Jersey Shore, fashion brand Abercrombie & Fitch has taken the unusual step of offering to pay them to not wear its clothes.

Specifically singling out Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino from MTV's TV show, who prominently wears Abercrombie apparel, the brand announced that it has offered compensation to the hard-partying star to cease wearing A&F products.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch commented: "We are deeply concerned that Mr Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans. We have therefore offered a substantial payment to Michael 'The Situation' Sorrentino and the producers of MTV's The Jersey Shore to have the character wear an alternate brand. We have also extended this offer to other members of the cast, and are urgently waiting a response."

Now in its fourth season, the popular reality show details the exploits of the loud and hedonistic cast as they carouse around the US state of New Jersey – clearly a lifestyle that Abercrombie & Fitch does not want to associate with its more ‘preppy’ image.

But will its move to pay off the cast from using its clothes save its brand from damage – or make ‘the situation’ even worse?

Unwanted advocates?

A&F certainly isn’t the first brand to attract unwanted advocates. Fashion brand Burberry famously became the uniform of choice with football hooligans and so-called ‘chavs’ in the UK, to the extent that some pubs and clubs banned customers who wore the label. At the time, the brand blamed a downturn in sales on its adoption by this unsavoury element.

While there was no high-profile star to crack down on, Burberry did seek to reduce the visibility of its distinctive checked pattern from its goods, including entirely removing its checked baseball caps from its line.

In a more recent example, retail outlets targeted by looters in the recent UK riots have had insult added to injury by experiencing a fall in brand perception as a result of their association with this unsavoury element.

With Adidas and Nike branded clothing featuring prominently in media coverage of the looting, both labels saw their brand buzz plummet, according to YouGov data. Elsewhere, Blackberry’s association with the rioters has been well-documented, with looters using its Blackberry Messenger to coordinate attacks. This has resulted in its brand buzz dropping from 7.9 to -6 since the unrest.

But in the age of endorsements, businesses are also very sensitive to the power and influence wielded by celebrities. Mike Spicer, CEO at Pulse Group, highlights: "Brands are much more aware of the impact that media and celebrity culture have created with the growing need for transparency in the public domain. Brands are now responding more quickly than ever to negative associations and are now choosing celebrities or programmes that are closely aligned to the brand values in order to present it in the most positive, and plausible, way."

A bold move

And so it is that Abercrombie & Fitch has chosen to address the negative perception that it believes it is attracting via Jersey Shore. And A&F’s announcement – even if it is done as a stunt – has been hailed by some as a very positive move.

Customer experience expert, and founder of consultancy smith+co, says: “For me it is a terrific example of a Bold brand in that Abercrombie & Fitch are very clear about what their brand stands for (aspirational lifestyle) and who it is targeted at (preppy teenagers). I think it's innovative offer is a real win/win for the brand because if the cast of The Jersey Shore accept the money NOT to wear its clothes it removes the potential for negative brand associations and if the cast do not accept the money and continue to wear A&F product it then becomes a continuing reminder that these people are not A&F target customers.

“In either case it draws attention to the brand and what it stands for. The trouble with most brands is that they are unwilling to make these strategic choices and want to be all things to all people and offend nobody. This is probably the first example of 'negative product placement' - i.e. we will pay you NOT to show our product- and it opens up all kinds of possibilities!”

Julian Reiter, MD of brand marketing firm Positive Thinking, agrees: “I think it’s a very brave and brilliant move – it certainly gives the story more talkability and raises an important debate about reputation being central to brand success and the decisions brands need to take to keep their marketing strategies on track. I’m sure it is a publicity stunt, and a hilariously clever one at that! There’s only one clothing firm one the lips of millions of people today – that can hardly do any harm, can it?”

Craig Wheeler, managing director at direct response and relationship marketing agencywdmp, believes that its move will strike a chord with many consumers.

“My ‘water cooler’ research indicates that I’m not the only person groaning at the prospect of Big Brother being back on our screens and frustrated at the number of reality TV shows filling an already dull TV schedule. So good on Abercrombie and Fitch for trying to protect the brand. It could be seen as a smart PR move, one that will certainly get the brand talked about and deliver column inches. Plus it might also create a positive impression of the brand by striking a chord with like-minded people who are tired of lacklustre reality programmes. At a time when society is taking a stand on a number of recent issues at least we now know that Abercrombie and Fitch are willing to do the same. I wonder if the marketing folk at Burberry wish they had done something similar a few years back.”

Backfiring on the brand

But not all reactions have been positive, and there are some concerns that the stunt could backfire on the brand.

“Companies should avoid negative stories and bad press as much as possible, and in my opinion, A&F has acted in a way that might benefit ‘Jersey Shore’, yet damage its own reputation,” says JR Little, senior consultant at brand agency The Brand Union.

“It's a risky move, regardless of how you spin it. If it is for PR purposes only, and it appears to be, it could raise awareness of the brand but it’s unlikely to increase sales. Americans don't like it when corporations pick on individuals. There will always be an Americana bias to support the underdog. In this situation, it appears that a corporation has picked on a guy who has every right to wear what he wants. Sure, his values might not match those of the company (hard argument to buy from a company with many controversies under its distressed-leather belt), but going on the offensive may make A&F appear to be a bully, and simply empowering 'The Situation' to speak out against them on TV and social media (as he already has).”

Raman Sehgal, owner of ramarketing, also believes that the label could be playing a dangerous game. “As a big fan of the A&F brand, I think this is quite a risky strategy. It's a very interesting move from a brand equity perspective but one that could backfire big style in terms of financial costs. Brands have to accept they can't control everything. The fashion brands that were given unwanted exposure by criminals in the recent UK riots highlight this point. They, like A&F, have to keep faith in their real target audience in that they will not be swayed by such fad shows and media exposure.”

Mark Blayney Stuart, head of research at The Chartered Institute of Marketing, agrees. “It's a strange reaction because trying to control how your brand is perceived is likely to be counter-productive. Better to take the positive effects that come from 'any publicity is good publicity' and don't worry about elements you don't like. Burberry has suffered from its 'chav' association. But the point is, you just have to be robust and get on with it. If Burberry had started paying people it didn't like not to wear its brand, it would have just made things worse (if it had any effect at all).”

He adds: “If it is a publicity stunt, it's a weary one. The problem with a story like this is that a conspiracy theory can be quickly read into it. When Gap changed its logo a while ago and then changed it back again, what was an almighty cock-up was being cynically supposed in some areas as a publicity stunt. Which in a way confirms our starting point; at the end of the day, any publicity is, on the whole, good publicity. Trying to influence what other people think about you, however, is doomed.”

Jessica Bower of brand development agency Sundance, picks up on this final point: "A&F and other brands would do well to remember that brands exists through how others see them, not always how the brand/company sees itself. That is the inherent challenge in managing brands."

Ultimately, of course, the impact of A&F’s action will only be clear once the dust settles. And while some – including Michael Sorrentino himself – leapt upon the news that the brand’s stock price dipped last week, experts have suggested this was more likely the result of other factors rather than its offer to the cast of Jersey Shore.

What is clear, however, is that this story has certainly attracted a lot of attention to Abercrombie & Fitch over the past week. And as Blayney Stuart emphasised: “Any publicity is good publicity.”

“They have both generated an enormous amount of press from this (more column inches than their PR company will know what to do with), as well as given themselves a huge platform to reiterate their premium positioning,” concludes Stuart Wood, executive creative director at FITCH. “Maybe they could pay me to stop writing about it.”

source: MyCustomer.com

top 10 half-witted holiday complaints of 2010! Enjoy!

2011-03-16T10:46:00.002+05:30

Half-naked women on beaches, sand that is too hot and beds that are too comfy all appear on a list of holiday complaints made last year.

Online travel agency sunshine.co.uk has compiled a list of what it considers to be the top 10 most absurd gripes of 2010, which includes that of a man who spend his holiday in Majorca. He complained that the number of bikini-clad women on the beach caused him and his wife to fall out because he was caught ogling at them "on more than one occasion".

Another who went to the Costa Del Sol was unhappy that his all-inclusive hotel provided too much buffet food because he put on 'at least 5lbs', while a third whinged that his holiday in Portugal had been spoilt because his hotel bed was "too comfy". As a result, he kept oversleeping when he would have "preferred to be up early and making the most of it".

A lady who had holidayed in Lanzarote with her family of four, meanwhile, moaned that the warm weather meant the sand became too hot for her children to walk down to the sea for a swim.

Chris Brown, founder of the website, said that, while the firm was happy to deal with any issues that arose, "we regret we cannot be held responsible for the temperature of the sand, weight gain as a result of the amount of tasty food on offer or the number of fellow English tourists in the vicinity".

The latter complaint referred to a couple who were disappointed by their two week holiday in Marmaris, Turkey, as there were "too many English people around" and they had wanted to experience somewhere "more exotic".

Other gripes included a man who had been to Tenerife but felt ripped off because the Prada sunglasses he had purchased from a street vendor for E4.50 were fakes, and another who felt "pressured" into making love to his wife when on holiday in Bulgaria because the couple in the room next door had made a lot of noise while doing so.

A lady who was intending to go on holiday with a female friend to Dubai was likewise irritated when they got to the airport in the UK without their passports because they had not been reminded to bring them and had not thought them necessary.

But a young woman who went with a group of friends to Ayia Napa in Cyprus was equally unhappy that the reception desk at her hotel was staffed on a 24-hour basis because she felt they were being "judged" for returning to their room at a late hour – even though the resort is renowned for its all-night party culture.

Finally, a male holidaymaker had a good old whinge at the fact that his plane flew too high because his fear of heights stopped him from enjoying his flight to Mauritius.

Is Marketing really a War? Or is it Management?

2011-03-16T10:41:00.000+05:30

There have been a number of books in recent years suggesting that successful business is like warfare, e.g. Mark McNeilly’s Sun Tzu and the Art of Business, and likening business leaders to successful generals. But while both business and warfare require leadership, the type of leadership required is very different. Leadership in battle takes place in extreme conditions, but leadership in business and commerce is not a life or death struggle.

However, successful businesses and successful military campaigns do have two things in common. Both require their leadership to select and maintain an aim. They also require the maintenance of morale amongst those who are to achieve the aim. Leadership provides the inspiration and direction but management provides the means of attainment.

While some think marketing is another name for promotion and communication, The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines the word as "The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably". It makes it quite clear that while the purpose of marketing is to produce profitable income, by satisfying customers, the nature of marketing is one of management. Thus successful marketing is about the efficient and effective management of investment and resources to produce profitable income by anticipating and satisfying customer demand.

Producing profitable income

So how should marketers go about managing their assets and investments to produce profitable income? Peter Drucker said that "if you can’t measure it you can’t manage it." While this statement may perhaps be simplistic; for those whose responsibility is producing income, then the demonstration of effective management will require quantifiable measurements of "inputs" and "outputs". In other words, effective marketing requires the measurement of those activities which directly or indirectly produce income, together with the amount of income produced

In small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), those responsible for producing the income may have very few staff, other than those employed in selling and sales administration. However marketers may be termed, whether sales manager, sales and marketing manager, or marketing manager, they may often have sole responsibility, with minimal assistance, for all the specialist areas of marketing, such as research, communications and customer relations. Marketers in small companies are usually fully occupied having to be involved in all the activities which assist directly and indirectly with producing income. Thus because few people are involved in marketing in SMEs, marketing can be more effectively controlled.

In larger businesses, where there are specialist marketing staffs, management becomes more of a problem. While marketing is about the effective management of assets and investment to produce profitable income, it also requires the effective management and motivation of people. Since Marketing has always attracted creative people, who generally do not like to be constrained by quantified objectives or performance measurement, their effective management can be difficult.

Until the advent of the desk top computer, virtually all businesses were managed through manual data systems and processes. To produce a sales forecast could take days of work, marketing and business plans could take weeks or months to prepare, and be obsolescent by the time they were complete. However, the developments in computer based automation have revolutionized business operations especially in marketing organisations. Those activities that previously took days or weeks to prepare are now done in hours or minutes. Where does that leave the marketing specialist? For the executive responsible for managing marketing resources the question must be, what do the people involved in the marketing department do that contributes to producing sustainable profitable income for the long term? How are they employed? Is their time used efficiently and effectively? Because so many activities are automated, are they fully occupied? What do they do all day? How do we know?

Become effective managers

One thing that the executive responsible for managing the marketing staff should do is to establish exactly the detail of each employee’s job. This can be done by getting them to write their own job descriptions, detailing all the activities for which they believe they have responsibility, and which they actually carry out. Making a comparison of their own job descriptions with their official descriptions can make interesting reading, as it will highlight job overlaps, mistaken authority, and gaps in performance and responsibilities. By ensuring that all staffs have clear job descriptions and objectives to achieve, managers have better control over all their resources.

Although marketing specialisms cannot easily be quantified in their direct contribution to income production, marketing managers must demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of their specialist staffs with quantified performance data. Both marketers and marketing organizations must justify their existence as well as their use of assets and investment. Those that fail to demonstrate their contribution and efficiency are likely to find that they are surplus to requirements.

Analysis of what is done by marketers and how they do it may invite radical change. While technological change has produced innovative ways to communicate with potential and existing customers, as well as produce market research, marketers must expect that similar changes to working methods and organisation are inevitable. Regardless of whether a company is large or small, their aim is to produce money, not just for shareholders but to benefit employees and invest for the long-term future.

If marketing is really about managing resources to produce profitable income, then the executives responsible need to become effective managers. Effective marketing management requires quantifiable performance measurement, with the ability to motivate specialist staffs to efficiently contribute to producing profitable income, for the future of the business.

- By Nicholas Watkis.

Facebook Deal - Tool to Customer Engagement?

2011-02-18T02:20:00.002+05:30

"Facebook itself already has over 200 million loyal people actively using its mobile service around the world, putting it in the ideal position to influence purchasing behaviour," suggests Justin Cooke, Chair of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) and CEO of digital agency Fortune Cookie. "It’s a very targeted marketing tool that will encourage users to build new relationships with companies or brands by making them aware of one another at the right time and in the right place, changing the face of brand/consumer relationships."

Facebook’s new Deals platform appears perfectly pitched for the customer sweetspot. Combining elements of increasingly popular location-based services such as Foursquare and social-buying initiatives such as the phenomenally successful Groupon, Deals allows users to find offers in their vicinity.

By using Facebook on a mobile device, users can look for special deals in their area, view what offers are being provided by firms they ‘like’ and also see what their friends have bought. Once an offer has been found, the user simply goes into the store to redeem it.

But it would also appear that Facebook Deals is also a very attractive proposition to brands. It not only enables merchants to target and offer deals to Facebook users to drive more business, but it does so without Facebook taking a cut of the margins – something that could have implications for the likes of Groupon.

How to get the most from Deals

Starbucks were among the first big brands to sign up to the scheme, offering 30,000 free cups of coffee to customers who ‘checked in’ at their various UK outlets. Mazda were also quick off the mark, giving away five cars every month for five months, as well as a 20% discount on certain models for those who check in.

Cooke predicts that most early adopters of Facebook Deals will be businesses that have "used sponsored listings on Google and created target advertising on Facebook". But Jefferies believes that there will be pressure on many brands to embrace Deals sooner rather than later. "Brands should consider acting swiftly on this opportunity – if people start checking in and expecting to see a deal but there is not one available they could quickly become dispirited about that brand."

So how can brands best approach Deals? Are there any potential mis-steps they can avoid, or winning tactics that can be deployed?

Jefferies believes that there are a number of things that brands need to be aware of before setting a Deal live. "The main one is tracking – we see the in store systems being able to track discount codes and take up across stores being a major factor for multi-site retailers getting involved. In addition to this, brands must ensure they can meet demand – if customers attempt to use a Deal and the product is not available they are likely to be disappointed. In addition, in store employees must be informed about all the deal basics and how to manage difficult situations that may arise, ensuring customer satisfaction is always maintained."

So will Facebook Deals be a runaway success?

For brands to really gain traction, there needs to be critical mass of people ‘checking in’. However there is still some reticence to broadcast individual movements on a regular basis. One reason being, phone batteries are cited as a key reason for reservations towards checking in on Facebook; enabling your GPS tracker can drain the battery.

Encouraging people to ‘check in’ means they are posting their destination and highlighting that they are out (or away from home or work). Some individuals may not be happy to allow partners, employers and burglars to constantly have a good idea of comings and goings.

The most serious concern, however, regards privacy – an issue that has consistently dogged Facebook. "Is there going to be a code of conduct for how Facebook and the promoters will handle personal data?Only recently Yahoo! warned us about default settings (a warning liked by 26,000 readers). Facebook’s default setting or the 'recommended settings' mean that your status, photo, posts, bio, favourite quotation, political views, family and relationship details are shared with everyone. Changing all to Friends only, and you're safe from the prying world, but not from advertisers for much longer.

Not everyone, however, is convinced about the validity of this concern. People who want to post their location have to opt-in and deliberately enable Facebook (and FourSquare et al) to do it for them.

Indeed, despite some concerns, Facebook Deals has on the whole been warmly received. Whether or not brands will embrace it remains to be seen – but when it comes to the Facebook factor, it certainly shouldn’t be short of businesses willing to at least give it a try. What is for sure, however, is that irrespective of whether Facebook Deals is a success, it represents a milestone in the development of location-based marketing.

Segmenting by Purpose or Job-to-do

2011-02-16T00:21:00.002+05:30

When planning new products, companies often start by segmenting their markets and positioning their merchandise accordingly. This segmentation involves either dividing the market into product categories, such as function or price, or dividing the customer base into target demographics, such as age, gender, education, or income level.

Unfortunately, neither way works very well, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, who notes that each year 30,000 new consumer products are launched—and 95 percent of them fail.

The problem is that consumers usually don't go about their shopping by conforming to particular segments. Rather, they take life as it comes. And when faced with a job that needs doing, they essentially "hire" a product to do that job. To that end, Christensen suggests that companies start segmenting their markets according to "jobs-to-be-done." It's a concept that he has been honing with several colleagues for more than a decade.

"The fact that you're 18 to 35 years old with a college degree does not cause you to buy a product," Christensen says. "It may be correlated with the decision, but it doesn't cause it. We developed this idea because we wanted to understand what causes us to buy a product, not what's correlated with it. We realized that the causal mechanism behind a purchase is, 'Oh, I've got a job to be done.' And it turns out that it's really effective in allowing a company to build products that people want to buy."

Christensen, who is planning to publish a book on the subject of jobs-to-be-done marketing, explains that there's an important difference between determining a product's function and its job. "Looking at the market from the function of a product really originates from your competitors or your own employees deciding what you need," he says. "Whereas the jobs-to-be-done point of view causes you to crawl into the skin of your customer and go with her as she goes about her day, always asking the question as she does something: Why did she do it that way?"

from :Clay Christensen's Milkshake Marketing as published in HBR

I am reachable at susmita@thesmartideas.in

Think the unthinkable: The radical marketing lessons of Whitbread

2010-11-11T11:13:00.002+05:30

Manager of marketing, who are charged with the responsibility of getting and retaining business to produce profitable income for their employers, need to consider both the long and short-term requirements of their employer’s business. Decisions that have short term positive results may have long term negative consequences, and visa versa.

As markets and businesses develop, so also do attitudes, legislation and technology change, as well as other factors, which may profoundly alter the marketing environment in which a business operates. Such changes can and should bring about a full re-assessment of the business and its future, which may produce some radical views and ideas for consideration.

During the 1990s the Government of the day introduced legislation generally known as'the Beer orders', to attempt to break up the control that the large brewing companies had over the pub trade through their tied public houses. This legislation severely limited the number of tied outlets that could be owned by a brewing company, and also required the remaining tied outlets to supply at least one beer from a different company, in order to improve customer choice and competition.

This change in the law was probably fundamental in a major reappraisal by Whitbread Group Plc, of its business and long-term future. Founded in 1742, Whitbread Group Plc was one of the largest brewing companies in Britain, with extensive interests in pubs, restaurants, hotels and leisure clubs. After careful reassessment of its business and future, and despite its origin and a long history of brewing, the company decided in 2001, to sell all its breweries and brewing interests to Interbrew, and the following year sold its pub estate, to Enterprise Inns.

The company is now firmly established in the hotel and restaurant market, and is totally divorced from its original business of brewing and pubs. Whitbread’s radical departure from its original business is a good example of a business assessing its long-term future, and radically altering where it would invest its assets and resources for the best sustainable return.

Think the unthinkable

Marketers and managers in charge of getting and retaining business should, from time to time, be prepared to 'think the unthinkable'. As businesses and markets develop and evolve, so the situation can arise where the founding work of the business may only provide short-term gains, but may no longer provide for a sustainable profitable long-term future.

Marketers should not be deflected by 'vision statements', from their prime objective of producing income for the business. Vision statements are generally inspirational, but lacking in objectives, have little relevance to the day to day delivery of the business.

It is also possible that vision and mission statements may get in the way of clear thinking, obscuring rational and perhaps radical thought and creative solutions to changing markets and trading environments. Regardless of what vision and mission statements may say, the only purpose of any business is to make money for the benefit of both the shareholders and the workforce. As businesses develop and diversify into areas away from their original roots, marketers must be fully understand from where their profitable income is derived, where costs are incurred and where investment is needed for both short-term requirements and the long-term future.

While it was still heavily engaged in brewing and the pub trade, Whitbread had already expanded and diversified into the hotel and leisure industries, which had great scope for long term growth. By contrast, Whitbread considered that the opportunities in volume brewing were in decline, and therefore the requirement by legislation to sell the majority of their tied public house estate, was a singular opportunity to reassess the company’s future both long and short-term.

The principle lesson for marketers is that their prime responsibility is to produce and maximise sustainable profitable income of the business while minimising costs, assets and investment, in order to develop and maintain the long-term future of the business. The key question that has to be asked is, "Are we in business to make a product or to make profitable income for the benefit of the shareholders and the livelihood of the workforce?"

Continuous analysis of the market environment and especially detailed analysis of the business’s performance within it, may frequently produce a requirement for 'crossroad' decisions, where there may be a choice between a short-term gain with limited future, or a long-term benefit for a sustainable future. Such decisions may be radical with serious repercussions. But sometimes thinking the unthinkable may, as with the example of Whitbread, be a road to a sustainable profitable long-term future which is, after all, the purpose of business and marketing.

(by Nicholas Watkis)

Composite Models of Brand Valuation

2010-11-11T10:48:00.000+05:30

A group of brand value measurement indicators has established itself parallel to the focus on psychographics values. Consultancy firms and academicians have proposed many composite models of brand valuation. The Interbrand’s brand valuation approach, AC Nielsen’s brand balance sheet and brand performancer, Gfk brand power model, Semion brand value approach and Sattler brand value approach are a few of the famous composite brand valuation models.
Interbrand consulting firm’s brand value system considers an earnings-based approach. The Interbrand model seeks to estimate the risk and inflation-adjusted benefits—the current and future earnings or cash flows—flowing from brand ownership. Under this model, the value of a brand is a function of two factors: its earnings and its strength. While the brand’s earnings are a measure of potential profitability, the brand’s strength is the measure of its reliability of its future earnings. The greater the brand’s strength, greater is the reliability of its future earnings and lesser is the risk. Since it is difficult to attribute all the earnings to the brand per se, adjustments need to be made to the earnings estimates.
In this model first of all the unbranded profit i.e., earning that would have accrued on a basic unbranded version of the product is eliminated and the historical profit at present day value is restated and adjusted for taxes. To calculate the actual brand earnings the profit attributable to other intangible associated with the business of the brand is deducted.
The model calculates the brand value by multiplying brand earnings with the brand earning with the brand strength multiple. This brand strength multiple is a function of multiple of factors like leadership, stability, market, internationality, trend, support and protection. These factors have been evaluated on a scale of 1 to 100 to calculate the brand multiplier. Some of the IT companies like Infosys, Rolta and Satyam are following a similar practice of valuation for their brands.
The seven determinants of the brand value are:
• Brand leadership—which stands for the ability of the brand to influence the market;
• Brand stability—the characteristic that has made the brand the inherent “fabric” of the market;
• Market—the structural attractiveness of the market, its projected growth, et al.;
• International presence of the brand—the brand’s attractiveness and appeal in a multiplicity of markets with a view to distinguish between regional, national and international brands;
• Brand trend—the brand’s ability to remain contemporary and relevant to the consumers;
• Marketing support—the quantity and quality of the investments made to support the brand and
• Legal protection enjoyed by the brand are the protection received from the legal system, patents, trademarks, etc.
Based on these parameters, Interbrand consulting determines the value of brand. Interbrand has given weighting to all these seven parameters like brand leadership has 25% weighting, brand stability enjoys 15%, market 10%, international presence of the brand 25%, brand trend 10%, marketing support 10% and legal protection enjoyed by the brand has 5% weighting.
Measurement of the seven variables, based on a detailed audit would determine a brand’s strength. This provides the discount rate that needs to be applied to the adjusted estimates of the brand’s earnings for determining its present value.
BV = Brand profit x Brand multiplier
The Interbrand approach while being valuable, especially in an acquisition and merger context, suffers from an accounting focus. This stems from the desire to ensure that the value arrived at is auditable. Further from a marketer’s perspective, the Interbrand approach does not explicitly measure consumers’ perception of the brand, which is critical for marketing decision-making, especially on brand extension.
Schulz and Brandmeyer, of AC Nielsen have used scoring model to develop a brand valuation model called “The AC Nielsen brand balance sheet”. The brand balance sheet relies on six criteria groups containing a total of 19 individual criteria that are deemed good indicators of brand value. The fundamental idea of the brand balance sheet is to relate a correlation between complex market environments, the significance of long-term brand cultivation and successful brand management. AC Nielsen felt that the brand balance sheet is not the absolute model for brand valuation and in search of better brand valuation model, it has developed an advanced model based on Brand Performancer.
The Brand Performancer attempts to deliver an integrative consumer and company-oriented brand valuation system. It provides tailor made data to the decision-makers for any specific information needed. The modular structure makes it possible to supplement gauges of brand value with analyses for the purpose of brand steering, financial brand valuation and tracking of brand leadership. The four modules are brand steering system, brand value system, brand control system, and the central element – brand monitor.
BV = [Annual sales of respective brands x Net operating margin x Relative brand strength x Perpetual annuity NPV discount factor]
One approach, which relies strongly on behavioral and image data in addition to financial values, is ‘Semion brand value approach’. He defines four brand values – financial value of the company, which is determined by earning before taxes and earning trends, brand strength that is determined by market share, market influence, marketing activities, distribution rate degree of familiarity, identity and potential, brand protection determined by product classification, brand environment and intern protection and brand image determined by consumer association, image position on market among consumer and vis-à-vis product.
BV = financial value x [financial value factor + brand protection factor + brand strength factor + brand image factor]
The market-oriented system of brand valuation, which combines a consumer-based perspective with a company-based perspective is proposed by Bekmeier-Feuerhahn model that operates on the assumption that brand value is derived from brand strength and brand earnings, both assessed on the basis of market prices. It is a comprehensive, integrative approach to build brand valuation that takes into account the special requirements of brand appraisal and yields a tangible monetary value.
The other well-known composite brand valuation approaches are Sattler brand value approach, Gfk brand power model and brand rating valuation model.

IBM unveils analytics that understands social media slang

2010-05-14T19:45:00.001+05:30

IBM has unveiled a new business analytics tool that allows organisations to derive useful customer data from the slang and emoticons used by consumers on social networks.
The SPSS Modeler text mining and analytics software aims to enable organisations to scour the internet for feedback on products and services, uncovering and analysing information from social media sources, such as social networks and blogs, to provide a more accurate view of what consumers are saying.

Recognising that each industry has unique priorities and its own vernacular, the new software analyses trends and captures insights from industry-specific terminology.

Within these domains, the software includes new semantic networks with 180 vertical taxonomies (from life sciences to banking and insurance, and consumer electronics), and more than 400,000 terms, including 100,000 synonyms and thousands of brands. This allows customers to draw better links and understanding between sentiment and products without having to spend time building their own definitions.

Character-based Segmentation, by Ian Stockley

2010-05-14T19:38:00.000+05:30

Imagine you are an online fashion retailer. Two of your customers both shop with you on a regular basis, both buy the same pair of shoes and the same dress online. From this information you can safely assume that these two customers will also share the same tastes when it comes to coats, bags and jumpers and again will buy these products through your website …right? Wrong.

Simplistic as this example may be, it highlights the problem with the way many retailers currently segment their customer data and subsequently target their communications. So what can be done to overcome these problems? The answer might very well lie with a fresh new method called character-based segmentation.

Typical segmentation works by either segmenting customers’ behaviour by using simple RFM variables (Recency, Frequency & Monetary value), which effectively shows your best and worst customers. Or at the next level, using FRAC variables (Frequency, Recency, Amount and Category) to then separate your best customers over the various products you sell.

The obvious problem with this approach is how do you differentiate between your ‘best’ customers or indeed, your ‘worst’? Do you just assume all your ‘best’ customers share the same characteristics, tastes, attitudes, preferences and market to them in the same way or do you find a more sophisticated segmentation process? One which is capable of identifying the distinct segment groups within your ‘best’ customer base?

And it’s here that character-based segmentation really comes into its own.

Character-based segmentation: an introduction

This emerging method puts a great deal more variables into the pot than traditional segmentation processes. In addition to transactional data, which tells you what people are doing, character-based segmentation also incorporates two other important and powerful sources of information. Firstly, unlike traditional techniques, it draws on enhanced personal and derived consumer lifestyle data to add that extra level of detail about how individuals behave and engage with brands. Such details might for example include the consumer’s previous purchases of multiple brands, their reading habits, musical tastes or their preferred media channels for engaging with individual brands. The third and final source is external digital data, which includes sources such as web browsing data andemail engagement. These additional sources of information provide vital information about what consumers are thinking, their personalities and their preferences.

When you bring all these different sources of data together and analyse the results, distinct and highly detailed customer segments soon define themselves. In this way you get multiple groups of your best customers and multiple groups of worst customers. But importantly, each group has a unique personality and characteristics, based not just on transactional data but individual attitudes and preferences. Understanding what your customers look like and how they think outside of the context of the brand, provides an enormously effective weapon with which to shape your marketing communications strategy.

The character-based segmentation maximises engagement and forges strong connections with both customers and prospects, allowing the most compelling creative ideas to be developed. With this detailed picture of your customer base, key strategic or creative insight is revealed that otherwise is very likely to be missed. By identifying these key differentiations segmentation adds so much more value to the bottom line, often as much through the creative variations used as in the increased ability to add further discrimination in the data selection.

It becomes possible to tailor all aspects of your marketing to the specific demands of each group, from the communication channel and message to frequency and offers. Importantly, each segment is appended to named individuals, moving from marketing based on assumption to marketing based on facts. The effectiveness of your communications is dramatically improved with increased response and conversion rates, reduced costs and long lasting connections with your customers made.

More than online retailers

The detailed insight gained from character-based segmentation can be transferred across the whole organisation, from the marketing team to sales, buying and customer service. As a retailer if your buying team knows there’s a distinct segment of your customer base that has a high propensity to buy specific designer brands on a regular basis, then your purchasing strategy can be adjusted to include more products that are likely to be of interest to this group of customers. The whole organisation moves from a product to customer focused orientation. Character-based segments can be brought to life for a whole company by using and sharing visualised, engaging descriptions of the character segments across departments through use of intranets and interactive media. This provides the collateral to deliver a customer driven focus for a brand in a way that is so often talked about but so rarely delivered by companies.

Character-based segmentation is by no means limited to online retailers. It can be equally applicable to any brand or market sector. If we took the travel sector a customer that goes surfing for a week in Spain and then follows it up with a two week winter holiday in Egypt could be placed in two segments by typical segmentation methods: 'Budget travel in Europe' or 'Adventure travel further afield'. While this method might be able to identify destination preferences it will not explain the underlying reason why the customer is travelling.

Character-based segmentation would understand the personality who is after adventure in holidays, whether it be near or far afield. A tailored marketing message selling a selection of holidays to this adventure seeking individual would be very different to the message that would be created on the back of knowing only that they had spent a certain amount on holidays in both Spain and Egypt.

In today’s environment the most mutually beneficial brand relationships are built on detailed customer understanding. Success comes to those companies that take the time to understand the needs, preferences and life stage of their customer and treat them as individuals. It’s no longer enough to know what your customers want; you now need to be able to understand why they want it.

Newer online brands such as ASOS are moving this way and households brands, particularly those who have seen such success with loyalty cards will be following close behind. Character-based segmentation gets to the very heart of the customer decision making process, uncovering key drivers of behaviour to allow brands to make real connections with their customers. In the complexity of today’s multi-channel world, such a step-change in approach to customer segmentation has never been more timel

Tribal Marketing

2009-10-20T00:46:00.004+05:30

The concept of ‘tribes’ isn’t a new one by any stretch of the imagination. Over a decade ago, for instance, Bernard Cova was talking about tribes and how people’s need to recreate new connections would impact marketing. But technology – and more specifically the internet – has now matured and penetrated society to such a degree that this tribal behaviour has now stepped from the pages of sociological textbooks into the real world.

Dr Marie Taillard, assistant professor of marketing at ESCP Europe business school, and a former colleague of Bernard Cova, explains the need to be in social groups. “A lot of my training is in evolutionary psychology and our forefathers needed to learn from each other in order to survive; in order to find food; in order to protect themselves against dangerous risks in the environment,” she says. “That is what we are doing now basically – we are learning from each other - where is the best place to find the right food, the right goods? What is going to make us feel warm and protected? And so on.”

As predicted, this change in social structure is having an increasingly large influence over the relationship that tribes have with businesses, as illustrated by Michael Bayler, co-author of ‘Promiscuous Customers: Invisible Brands - Delivering Value in Digital Markets’. "Consumers use social media to filter, resist and reject irrelevant or uninteresting messages, so the tribal consumer is quite happy, amusing himself in his own digital sandpit without having to give attention to advertisements in order to get media the way we used to,” he says.
“He can also get extraordinarily relevant and relatively trustworthy current information without paying for it and, again, without really consuming advertising. So the question for marketing is how do you get behind this line, to engage with the lost consumer, and how do you get invited back?"

Nonetheless, whilst there is definite agreement that the issue is of enormous significance, there is no unanimous line on how businesses engage with the tribes. ‘Tribal marketing’ remains more art than science.

Godin has suggested that tribes mostly consist of what he refers to as ‘sheepwalkers’ – people who have been raised to be obedient – and that there are tribes looking for people to lead them and connect them to one another. Marketers, Godin has suggested, need to be leaders.

Godin’s idea of ‘leading’ tribes has struck a chord with many readers, who have found the message inspirational. But others are less convinced. “Tribes often don’t have a leader,” says MyCustomer.com's Jennifer Kirkby. “Within a tribe there is reciprocity, which doesn’t suggest leadership. Firms may set up communities in an effort to lead them, but there may not be a leader.”

From Taillard's own observations of social communities, she has noticed several behaviours that characterise tribal interactions. “It is usually very democratic,” she suggests. “And you see different experts for different types of practices. For instance, you’ll see someone become the expert at greeting new members and they’ll always come up and say something nice when someone joins in. And then you’ll see experts on certain types of content. But to say that there is a leader in a tribe, or to suggest that leader might be the firm or the brand owner, is just not what I see.”

An alternative view
One alternative view of tribal marketing is that rather than leaders, brands must become the facilitators of the conversation - the provider of the platform. “In a recession, businesses should be focusing on the value proposition and the quality in their value proposition,” says Kirkby. “A value proposition can be built around being a platform and if it is to be a successful platform, the glue holding people there is often experience or emotion. Jeff Bezos once said that Amazon was a platform. eBay, Google and Facebook are all platforms. They facilitate conversations and this is what marketing is, in essence.”

“Creating a platform – an online place that is user-friendly and promotes democratic interactions – is where I think things are going,” agrees Taillard. “Sometimes these things will happen on the actual official site, but sometimes they will happen on another site and brand communities often will branch outside from the official website. Even then they should be encouraged. But I do think it is probably preferable to host them on the corporate website and to let them be as transparent as possible, meaning accepting negative comments about the brand.

“If we as marketers try to leverage these communities too aggressively and try to manipulate them in any way then the risk of backlash is absolutely huge. So I see our role as marketers as being purely one of facilitators and very hands-off - just creating a platform and possibly creating a set of rules for consumers to be able to engage on that platform, ultimately letting the communication flow between the customers.”

Stories and the self identity
So two potential avenues for tribal marketing are vying for attention – one in which leading the tribe is the chief goal and one based around organisations providing the tribal platform. But there’s still room for a third stream of thought relating to this as well.

“I would go beyond saying that tribal value is built around facilitating conversations,” suggests Bayler. “I don’t think people have a problem with conversations. I think the thing that the modern consumer is most interested in doing is telling stories on a day-to-day basis about themselves.”

This ties in with the work of sociologist Lord Anthony Giddens, specifically his book ‘Modernity and Self Identity’ – which pre-dated the internet – in which he wrote how globalisation and the increasing reach of the media would impact people’s sense of identity to the extent that in the future a large amount of social activity would be devoted to validating and refining one’s sense of self. In a world where Facebook is a cultural phenomenon, Giddens’ predictions seem eerily accurate.
“Time and time again, when I look at the really successful transformational modern marketing campaigns like Lynx and Dove, you’ll find that they have a couple of things in common,” Bayler continues. “One is that the brand is taking ownership of the dialogue around a particular subject area – for example, in the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. They are also very pragmatic and a lot of them are about utility more than they are about entertainment.”

Engaging with tribes
Bayler points to Nike+, a successful ambassador for the Nike brand in the passionate running community, which is focused on users sharing stories about their feats. Also, high street adult chain Anne Summers with its Anne Summers Parties - a slightly different take on an all-female Tupperware party - that also brings people together to share their experiences.“It doesn’t sell a whole lot - the average sales at an Anne Summers party is a few quid - but think about this as enabling people to tell stories about themselves and to redefine their identity under the umbrella of a brand,” adds Bayler. “So for me, it is not just about conversation or facilitating conversation. It is about enabling people to tell stories about themselves and about each other. And I think that is an immensely potent vehicle for brand engagement.”

Whether tribal marketing should be focused on facilitating the conversation, leading the tribe or enabling users to tell stories about themselves, the debate relating to the dynamics of this field will inevitably roll on. But one matter does have unanimous support: that tribes are now a part of the social landscape and organisations will need to learn to engage with them if they are to be competitive.

“Brands have no choice,” concludes Bayler. “If they want to follow this consumer behind the line, they have to engage with the tribe. In order to engage with the tribe, they need to do something very interesting, which is moving from talking to consumers to talking through consumers.”

Entering Indian Market

2009-09-10T13:30:00.003+05:30

The last decade has seen India encouraging foreign direct investment (FDI) in almost all sectors including manufacturing, insurance, telecom, software, trading etc. This has lead to many international giants setting up operations in India, or entering into joint ventures with many Indian companies. It has become easier for international companies to trade in India as foreign exchange controls have been relaxed. Indian companies have also been allowed to raise money / funds from international markets and also invest abroad. Trade tariff levels have also been reduced for facilitating trade.

International companies can set up business operations in India by forming a new company, through wholly owned subsidiaries or joint ventures.

Private Limited Company
According to Section 3(1)(iii) a Private Company is one which
· Has a minimum paid-up capital of one lakh rupees.
· Restricts the right to transfer its shares (any restriction that enables the directors to maintain minimum limit of two members and the maximum limit of 50 members, shall serve the purpose).
Limits the number of its members to 50. This number does not include employees of the company and the ex-employees of the company who are still members of the company.
Prohibits the subscription of shares or debentures from general public.
Prohibits any invitation or acceptance of deposits from any person except its members, directors or their relatives.

Public Limited Company
According to Section 3(1)(iv), a Public Limited Company is a one which:
Is not a private company.
Has a minimum paid-up capital of Rs five lakhs.
Is a private company which is a subsidiary of a public company.
A public company cannot have less than seven members. There is no restriction with regard to the maximum number of persons who can acquire the shares or debentures of a public company.
The shares and debentures may be quoted in stock exchange and are freely transferable.

Opening a branch office
· Foreign companies engaged in manufacturing and trading activities abroad are allowed to set up Branch Offices in India after prior approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the following purposes:
· Export/Import of goods
· Rendering professional or consultancy services
· Carrying out research work, in which the parent company is engaged.
· Promoting technical or financial collaborations between Indian companies and parent or overseas group company.
· Representing the parent company in India and acting as buying/selling agents in India.
· Rendering services in Information Technology and development of software in India.
· Rendering technical support to the products supplied by the parent/group companies.

Foreign airline/shipping Company
· Branch Offices established with the approval of RBI, may remit outside India profit of the branch, net of applicable Indian taxes and subject to RBI guidelines .
Opening a project office
· Foreign companies planning to execute specific projects in India can set up a temporary project/site office in India for carrying out activities only relating to that project. The Government of India has now granted general permission to foreign entities to establish project offices subject to specified conditions.

Opening a liaison/representative office
· A Liaison Office could be established with prior approval of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The role of Liaison Office is limited to collection of information, promotion of exports/imports and facilitate technical/financial collaborations. Liaison office cannot undertake any commercial activity directly or indirectly.

Dont Confuse Value with Profit: Tom Peters

2009-09-08T16:06:00.003+05:30

For a guru of excellence, 2009 is hair shirt year for Tom Peters. "I had the chance and I remained silent – I could have screamed a lot louder than I did," says the co-author of the best-selling 'In Search of Excellence' and a dozen more. "What was going on around us was a level of wretched excess which in hindsight, one can say, 'I should have been blowing whistles'."

This criticism of unfettered capitalism seems particularly pointed coming from a man regarded as one of the world's leading business thinkers – and a prescient one at that. In his book on leadership published in 2005, he wrote: "We fall back, in these crazy and chaotic times on the command-and-control model of leadership, a model that no longer accords with how dynamic leaders actually operate." He has also written many times that we live in an age where businesses confuse 'value' with 'profit'.

We are all to blame....
Is he being too harsh with himself for not speaking out against the greed of the Big Money Corp? "In a court of law I can trot out the right words to be declared 'Not Guilty' but I find myself, and my fellow 'gurus' must share some of the blame, as must the business schools. Though we can't be held responsible for man's greed gene which has been evolving for tens of thousands of years, those of us who have pulpits should speak out." In these turbulent times, Peters thinks it ever more important to hammer home the fundamentals of business, that never change. This, he says, is despite the revolution in networking communications. "The five-year-olds who are growing up with social networking tools as second nature may change the whole business game in 20-25 years. At 66, I am definitely an old 'old guy' but these days you are an old guy at 25!"

Servant leadership
Being in his seventh decade has not stopped Peters thinking new thoughts. Many of these came out of an invitation to be the keynote speaker at the commemoration on the life and work of Peter Drucker a few years back. "One of the many things I came across was Greenleaf's book on Servant Leadership which I had first seen 25 years ago but hadn't really taken on board. In the situation we are now facing, the notion of an organisation which exists only to serve and a leader who exists only to serve those in that organisation is a damned good starting point. I use that fundamental idea around which to weave my current presentations."
Blanchard's notion of corporate worth extends far beyond stark profit and asset value. "Leadership should take into account the needs and concerns of everyone in the business and not just think that profit is a worthwhile goal," he says. Indeed, he has often suggested that profit should be viewed as the reward that organisations receive for being a good corporate citizen in the community.

Peters, the realist, recognises that many successful business leaders haven't yet got the point about their true servant role. He describes - in an unprintable way - the nature of those who abandon their organisations in these times, lured by promises of fat golden hellos and seven-figure bonus packages. "Leadership is a sacred trust – that is not extreme language. Leadership should be seen as an honour – you have an astonishing responsibility to those in your care." When he sees leaders abandon that trust – by quitting, retiring or making large-scale redundancies, Peters feels that they have failed in their duty.

Leading through the recession
These are times, he says, to try the souls of businesses. "To state the obvious, one's mettle is tested in difficult times. But I want to avoid like the plague that motivational speaker's nostrum: 'This is a time of great opportunity – get on your feet!' There is a strong bullshit part of this but I do believe you can treat this recession as one to be gotten through and one in which you can dig deep and think about the people to whom you are responsible. It is a chance to inaugurate a period of significant renewal. It is bloody immoral if you don't."

Peters calculates that few leaders under the age of 50 will have experienced a tough recession like this one. Despite this, he is optimistic that change will come - "I find that people are more open now to new thinking in running business," - and he feels that acceptance of the new regulatory regime agreed at the recent G20 summit is a key indicator of this sea change in the way we operate the capitalist system.

So who are the businesses and leaders who we should be using as role models? Are there any out there we should be watching? "There are indeed, but you and I have probably never heard of them. They are the guys leading small organisations who are getting through this crisis. They get up in the morning, go to their hardware store, restaurant or brokerage, help their clients, serve their community and help those seven people who work for them.

"Richard Branson and Jack Welch may have a lot to teach us, but there are an enormous number of effective and humane [he emphasises this word] leaders operating small organisations. 99% of them never make it to your website or the pages of my books."

Is this the right time to invest in Indian Real Estate?

2009-04-18T20:55:00.001+05:30

This issue, I am answering a question about real estate investment, which has been asked by Ms. Rajni from Jaipur. She wants to know is this the right time to invest in Real Estate? And if so, then where?

Dear Rajni,

Thanks for asking your question. I think quite a few people might be having this same question in mind, but are confused about the answer, more so after reading all kinds of reports in the newspaper. Let me try and help.

Based on my experience in Real Estate industry in India, almost all real estate developers were, so far, earning a ridiculous margin of ~30%. Nowhere in a developed nation, does a developer earn such a huge margin – typically there the margin varies anywhere between 8 – 12%.

Therefore, what the global recession & meltdown has caused is that it has actually brought the Real Estate pricing in India to a more realistic level. However, it is also to be understood here that the Indian developers, who are so used to taking the Indian customers for a ride, for so long, will still find out some very ingenious ways of fooling people.

Therefore, when you are looking at buying a real estate property, please ensure that:

1. You have done enough study about the financial condition of the developers in the market before you have zeroed on a couple of them
2. You need to read the brochure and all documents carefully, more so the fine prints, and show that to a lawyer who deals with real estate. More often than not, a developer only sells a bare shell apartment without even the door frames or switch boards, but the buyers don’t understand that as they are given a very different picture by the developer in the form of brochure and model apartments.
3. And most importantly, do proper due diligence of the project, ownership of land, viability of completion as mentioned, financing structure, etc.

Now, going back to the question - is this the right time to invest? Yes, it is. But not without a proper negotiation. All developers shall give you additional 10-15% discount on price quoted by them if you can negotiate well, without any changes in the payment terms.

But what are the markets that you can invest into? Based on the question I am assuming that you are looking at Real estate as an investment and not for residential purpose. In that case, Bangalore is looking quite good. Sobha developers, and I strongly recommend them, has come up with some new projects that fits perfectly into our bill. Chennai, particularly the OMR side, is again a good option – all major developers here have slashed prices like anything. Gurgaon is also a good option, so is NOIDA. I would suggest that you stay away from Delhi though, since the land price here would be quite high.
Another good option is Kolkata - this is one city which is not much affected by the recession in terms of its real estate, though some segments like Rajarhat, New Town, is quite badly hit. Areas to invest would be South 24 Parganas, or along the Hoogly river.

Among the 2nd tier cities, Bhubaneswar is a good option. Leave Cochin, but can bet on Trichy. Jaipur is avoidable, but Indore is a good option.

360 degree Marketing

2009-01-09T22:03:00.002+05:30

360 degree Marketing is all about creating a unique brand philosophy. It’s a way we merge our left brain rationale with our right brain creativity to nurture or establish a story around your brand targeted at all touch points of your consumers. Whether you're a business-to-business player or a clicks-and-mortar partner, or you're just trying to win your strong customer loyalty, the first and, probably, best step for you to take is to dig into your history. May be you have a golden store house somewhere that can be used to create your full 360-degree branding. A story that will keep your customers connected to you.

360 degree marketing is actually the evolution of "cross-channel" marketing - less about media integration and more about a consumer-centric media strategy. It not only includes a heavy online component, but also television, radio, print, events and other offline media.

The Online part of this holistic marketing strategy aims at engaging experiences to both educate and excite consumers through creative utilization of internet and mobile marketing space – interactive website, SMS and On-line Gaming (remember the STORY I mentioned earlier). However, the challenge here being designing a piece of creative that will work within the context of highly divergent media environments and managing these divergent media as well.

In today's market, consumers' self-service access to information means that messages must be consistent and coherent. Great creative is only a small piece of the puzzle. And there are clear signs that marketers are rising to the challenge of managing the complexity of the world and delivering much sought after accountability back to the board in the process.

Without doubt, 360 degree marketing is challenging: it is hard to keep track of creative work, oversee increasing numbers of agencies and ensure messaging is consistent and up-to-date across the board. And it cannot be managed effectively using the poor tools and processes still endemic across marketing departments.

Nonetheless, turning away from 360 degree marketing is no more an option.

For more information, please visit www.thesmartideas.in or send me an email at susmita@thesmartideas.in

Pichku!

2008-11-05T20:19:00.001+05:30

This is from the bakery near my office where I frequent sometimes for a bite. I went there for tea today and I see that Maggie has packaged their rich tomato sauce in a new manner - in a plastic squeeze pouch with a toothpaste tube like thing on top through which you can squirt it out. The thing has a photo of Javed Jaffery on its cover, with a manic grin on his face and holding on to a huge tube of sauce, squirting it out merrily. The product is apparently called "Pichku" - have you seen it?

There's this story by Saki in which a particularly tasteless breakfast supplement is given the absurd name "Filiboid Studge" and a wonderful marketing campaign started around it till it quite becomes the rage, and the owner makes a killing. Because it is so tasteless, housewives take particular demented pleasure in pressing it upon their husbands in the morning. If they would lose their appetite at the sight of that, in the evening they would be served a warmed up mess with the words "Your filiboid studge that you did not eat this morning." Ads were created where sinners were shown roasting in hell, with the ominous line:"THEY cannot have their filiboid studge anymore". You ought to read it.

Talking of advertising, another book to read is Dorothy Sayer's "Death must advertise" - it IS a crime thriller but since Peter Wimsey has to masquerade as an advertising professional in it the book has its moments.

Anyway I am getting beside the point. To think up a name like "Pichku" for a sauce squeeze tube is something ... the implications are legion.

It can be used as a readymade graffiti tool.

It can have a ready market in bloody films - anyway they use ketchup for bloody scenes, this is such a convenient way of achieving the bloody effect with not a drop of ketchup wasted - I am not sure applying it out of bottles is as economic.

The name would also appeal to kids who have a penchant for making a mess of sofas and car seats and walls - something like an amateur effort at graffiti.

Nestle is quite a reputed company - to convince them to name a product Pichku must have taken some doing.

Wonder how long the board of directors laughed when the name was first uttered and when they started taking it seriously and came round to the view that it could be a name for this product.

Or was there a pin drop silence of which an advantage was taken to hasten the decision?
Was it referred to the Swiss parent company, or was the decision taken about the name at the regional level?

- Contributed by Atrijit Dasgupta, Bangalore

Interactive Marketing - who is the customer?

2008-10-13T19:26:00.001+05:30

Marketers are accustomed to taking a generational look at their customers in order to find out the most fitting media mix, creative treatment, and call-to-action. This analysis matters even more for those who are in interactive marketing. Young consumers (Gen Yers and millennials) interact with digital media in a fundamentally different way than their older siblings, parents, and grandparents. Here is a closer look at Interactive Marketing:

· Gen Y is redefining the future of interactive marketing. Gen Yers internalize technology like no other generation -- giving more credence to investments in interactive channels. Compared with other adults, they're more than twice as likely to be Creators of original content (31% versus 14%) and Joiners of social networks (54% versus 22%). Like all adults, they regularly use portals for email and search but are more likely to tap other portal resources, like calendars (18% versus 11%) and video search (18% versus 7%). There are reports available on these from Forrester - The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2008 and Benchmark 2008: Gen Y Comes Of Age -- both must reads for any interactive marketers who needs quantitative insights to plan campaigns and grow the overall digital budget.

· Teens multitask more than ever. Anyone with a 16-year-old knows that, at this age, relationships eclipse almost everything. So it should come as no surprise that young consumers, ages 12 to 17, engage in all sorts of social activities while engaging with traditional media channels. Did you know that younger teens multitask more with video games while older teens are more likely to multitask while listening to music and interacting with their peers? Both groups have a tendency to multitask while doing homework (sorry teachers!).

· Social media requires new rules of engagement. Since young consumers -- with their different expectations -- love social media, marketers must become fluent in the language of these tools. In the case of blogs, marketers must answer the questions, "Will we allow posts that criticize our products?" and "Do we want our customers talking about our competitors on our blog?" With desktop and Web widgets -- much more popular with youth than adults -- the question is: "How can we leverage widgets for marketing purposes?"

For Those Of You With Other Customer Segments
Not all of you market to millennials or Gen Yers -- exclusively or even primarily. There are marketing tactics that appeal to other generations. For example, mobile email has specific appeal to Gen X (the average age of consumers who use mobile email at least monthly is 37). Marketers can ready their email programs by asking subscribers about their mobile preferences and understanding how email renders on mobile devices.

The Mind of the Strategist by Kenichi Ohmae

2008-08-30T00:04:00.002+05:30

To begin with, in the book “The Mind of the Strategist”, Kenichi Ohmae emphasizes that it is a particular state of mind that helps in building successful business strategies. The good news is that this state of mind can be acquired and practised to reach its full potential!

Kenichi Ohmae has divided the book in 3 major parts. In first part, which he calls the “Starting Point” or “The Art of Strategic Thinking” he talks about Analysing the problem or the issue, as faced by an organization, into their constituent parts to clearly understand the particular character of each element. This will help us in understanding the “Four Routes to Strategic Advantage” –
1. Key Success Factor in the Business
2. Building on Relative Superiority
3. Pursuing Aggressive Initiatives
4. Exploiting Strategic Degree of Freedom

In the second part, called “Building Successful Strategies” Ohmae writes about the “Strategic Triangle” or the three major constituents of any business strategy. These are:
1. the corporation itself,
2. the customer
3. the competition.

In terms of these three key players, strategy is defined as the way in which a corporation endeavors to differentiate itself positively from its competitors, using its relative corporate strengths to better satisfy customer needs.
The Part three of the book called “Modern Strategic Realities” deals with Environmental influences and how to cope with strategic changes of the present days. Ohmae writes about four strategic changes visible at present:
1. From labor to capital intensity
2. From multinationals to multi-locals
3. Shift from fixed-cost to variable-cost game:
4. Foresighted decision-making

Ohmae also talks about a Five-step process to achieve these strategic changes:
1. The business domain must be clearly defined.
2. Extrapolate the present forces into the future on the basis of cause and effect with a logical hypothesis as to the most likely scenario.
3. Only a few of the many strategic options must be chosen and once the choice is made, people, technology, and money must be deployed very boldly and aggressively towards them.
4. The company must pace its strategy according to its resources.
5. Management must be ready to change the basic direction of the business if changed conditions demand so.

Ohmae believes that it is the combination of analytical method and mental elasticity, which makes strategic thinking extremely relevant to the problem of strategic stagnation in any organization.

The only aspect which I found missing in the book is the Strategic Alliances with suppliers and other business organizations, the two most important strategic decisions for an organization doing business at present.

The best thing about this book is that though it was written way back in 1982, most of the concepts talked about here are extremely relevant even today. Some of these concepts are competitor-based strategies, key success factor, functional strategies, relative superiority, position relative, critical issue, competitive advantage, aggressive initiatives, tunnel vision, flexible thinking, strategic triangle, planning units, back corporation, economic environment, strategic response, strategic change, etc which are considered key elements of modern market strategy. Therefore, it can be said without any doubt that this book is more relevant today than may be when it was published!

A Peek into a Cult Brand

2008-08-29T23:58:00.002+05:30

“Cult” brands don’t just happen... they require certain ingredients for success -
• To belong: To become more individual
• they feel they are different from others
• To reinforce something about themselves
• For a sense of purpose
• For a sense of community

Some of the attributes of a Cult Brand would be Differences, Love, Community, Interaction, Tension.

Such brands communicate love not through the product, but through the limited clan of people who take pride in owing such products, by creating a common philosophy which they can all believe, or, through interactions. Simply, such brands are not for everybody! Like – a Mac vs. a PC

A sense of community is of the utmost importance – there has to be strong believe that it’s not shared by everyone! It could also be a doctrine that can be articulated, or a strong belief that “I am more complete in this community”. Therefore, in one hand it does “Polarizes” through “Us and them”; while on the other, it gives an opportunity to rub together with like minded people.

The E-Bay Cult
• It’s a code of conduct built on trust
• E-Bay’s philosophy is right on line
• You take responsibility to abide by it, and to make sure others do.
• Keep people rubbing together
• Mutual responsibility to keep the cult alive

How Harley became a Cult Brand
• Harley is for the “rebel inside”
• Harley is not for everyone – polarization is good
• Harley is different – sound, symbols,
• German/Japanese brands don’t have the “attitude”
• #$@&* Off, I already have enough friends – T-shirt

Which is that Indian Cult Brand you can think of?

“Insumers” – the new market segment

2008-08-16T17:42:00.001+05:30

In US, ~ 23 million people run business from their home, while ~ 10% “telecommute” from their home with their employers sitting across the globe. In India, the numbers could be interesting as well, particularly when lots of companies are allowing their employees to work from their home in order to save precious fuel, electricity, or simply to allow more work-life balance, or during maternity / paternity leaves.

These telecom users have very distinct communication requirements since they are using these services for both personal and official uses, and there could be a good opportunity on the part of the telecom cos, or ISPs, to customize offerings to such users. The “Insumers”, as I would like to call them, since they are not “con”summers, are growing slowly but steadily into new market segment and service providers who can customize offerings, keeping in mind their specific requirements, could very well reap the benefits of an innovative first mover.

To create a market value for this “insumer” segment, the telecom companies need to focus on having a dedicated insumer product strategy with the right mix of product offering, service features, etc keeping in mind the very unique home users.

The insumers could eventually turn out to be an attractive marketing messaging board for the business world.

Is there a differnce between Marketing & Sales?

2008-07-21T18:07:00.002+05:30

There were a few requests during my previous post to explain the differences between Marketing & Sales.
To understand the difference between marketing & sales, one has to first understand what is marketing & what is Sales, which I am afraid, is not something that can be talked about in such a limited space and time. Therefore, I am trying to give below an outline of what constitutes marketing – its old and new concepts, and what constitutes sales.

According to Prof. Philip Kotler (the unquestionable Guru of Marketing until recently when he was dethroned by new age experts like CK Prahalad, Jagadish Seth, Nirmalya Kumar, W. Chan Kim, Jerry Wind and likes), Sales is something you do to push whatever you have produced to the customers; while marketing is a pull strategy where you attract customers to come and buy from you by creating a product which actually satisfy their needs (understanding the customer need and creating a product to meet that need). Marketing is, therefore, a Pull Strategy while sales is always a Push Strategy.

According to traditional concept of Marketing as propagated by Kotler, it consists of 4Ps:
1. Product – the actual offering
2. Price – at what price it is offered
3. Place – where it will be available and how (distribution, etc)
4. Promotion – advertisement, PR, etc
Though this 4P concept has formed the beginning of marketing as an art and science in modern world, the new breed of marketing gurus and expert has, quite rightly, asked a few difficult questions about this definition. Of these, the most important ones are;
1. Where is the “customer” in the definition?
2. How can one talk about price without understanding cost?
3. Is not competition important for all marketing decisions?
4. What about competencies that one has picked up over the period of time?

Faced by such challenges, Kotler created a new framework - holistic marketing – focusing on “whole consumption chain, the life-space of the customer and the surrounding competitive environment.” He, therefore, converted his 4Ps into 4Cs:
1. Customer Value
2. Customer Costs
3. Customer Convenience
4. Customer communication

If you notice carefully, in all these definitions of marketing, the emphasis is always on “Product” and not on “Services”. In fact, Services Marketing was considered a completely new discipline until CK Prahalad along with Venkat Ramaswamy, proved in their classic “The Future of Competition” that the product and service definitions are a passé. They said that Marketing lies in competitive advantage through meaningful customer experience. That means companies should innovate a process that enables every customer to create the product or service experience she wants (customer co-creation). Think of I-Pod.

Prof. Jadish Seth has a completely different view on what marketing should be in the present day’s context. He advises the marketing departments to do away with their old wisdom, and instead expand its role. So far companies’ marketing departments have focused on only one stakeholder – the customer; but now they should focus on 6 more. Here are the 7 new stakeholders of marketing as per Prof. Seth
1. Customers
2. Employees
3. Investors
4. The community within which the company exists
5. The suppliers
6. The media
7. The government

The ultimate result that a marketer looks for at the end of her marketing exercise is how excited she could make her customers about her offerings (product and/or services) and how she could convert that excitement to actual money terms. The moment a customer has taken her wallet out and handed over her cash or credit card, the sales take place.

If you keenly notice this whole cycle you will understand that marketing and sales should be discussed together and not as silos, though one concept of marketing is that it should make sales redundant.

Smart iDeAS, India Innovation PE Fund & Fin Models

2008-07-09T13:49:00.002+05:30

Smart Ideas:
There are 2 new things happening at SMART Ideas, 2 very exciting things actually.

SMART Ideas is bridging the gap between a PE fund and some truly deserving companies who need the right financial support to leapfrog to the next level.
SMART Ideas is also collaborating with a Finance WizKid and budding entrepreneur Anand Kumar, who will give training on various Financial Modeling and teach all finance & non-finance professional on how to effectively use spreadsheet to build plans and interpret a Fin Model.

Investment @ SMART Ideas
We at SMART Ideas would like to hear from entrepreneurs who have successful business models and would like to replicate the model beyond known territories. SMART Ideas represents a newly launched Indian Innovation (technical & nontechnical) PE fund which is looking for investing with such innovative companies with replicable models.
Please send details to me at thesmartideas@gmail.com

Financial Modeling & Training
Is financial modeling a dreadful word for you? Are you thinking of letting go the greatest offer in your life because you are scared of financial modeling? Or, are you among those who never thought a trainee’s job at the multinational bank will be to play with numbers on an excel spread-sheet? Or, may be you are that young executive at a retail or fmcg or IT or Real estate company, who is lagging behind in career only because you don’t understand those numbers?
Trust me they are not as difficult as they look. You only have to learn what to look for and how.
There are many big companies across the globe who spend a fortune getting financial modeling experts teaching their people some funda or too; but the bad news is that there is no such experts available in India. The nearest you can get one is in Singapore.

But the good news is that Anand Kumar, a Finance expert with several years of experience with some of the finest finance companies in the world and a good friend of mine, has come forward to help and train any and every body to make them finance savvy. Initially he is going to operate from 3 different locations – Gurgaon, Mumbai & Bangalore. And he has chosen the platform at SMART Ideas to get the ball rolling.

See this space for some more info on this.

B Schools & what they teach

2008-06-06T18:49:00.001+05:30

I was part of an interview panel for an upcoming business school couple of weeks back. This was a mock interview session before they actually go in for their placement in the next few weeks. This interview was for the students who were majoring in Marketing and had come from diverse background. The interview panel consisted of a HR professional, a Personality Development Expert and a Marketing Professional (that’s me)

When the first 2 candidates came for in the interview, we started talking about the projects they have undertaken, key learning from such projects and how have they applied their marketing knowledge and learning into this project. Seeing them fumbling with answers, I decided to check their basic understanding of the discipline. Therefore, when the 3rd candidate came in, I asked him what’s the difference between Marketing & Sales? And that’s where the trouble started. No one, not a single student, can tell me the simple difference. It was a shocking experience for me and for the other two panelists. And we were at a loss at how we should continue with the interview.

Back home, when I started analyzing the situation, I understood, that the students have failed to answer even the most basic questions, because they have not been told at the beginning of the course what is expected of them at the end of such course. Also, the curriculum was not in tune and the exams merely tired to test their memories. Therefore, the fundamentals of a business school were challenged. As an aspiring business school from Bangalore, I was expecting that these would be the main concern area of the school and they would have spent most of their time and energy in planning the courses and its teaching methods.
I called up the dean of the school, discussed about my observation and talked about my suggestions.
The big dilemma that I faced post this experience is :
1. What is the future of these students, who have spent lacs of rupees?
2. Should we have a qualification process for a business school who wants to set up a shop here? At the end of the day, they are not delivering what they are supposed to do.

I asked almost all these students why they want to do MBA in Marketing. Everyone, without exception, said that because they like to interact with people! An answer which could be acceptable before someone joins an MBA school, and definitely not when he / she is graduating from one.

Personal Branding

2008-05-19T16:57:00.001+05:30

Do you think, apart from Corporate, Product/Services branding you need a Personal Branding as well?

If you think yes, what are the reasons for that?