MBA Guys - Blogs

Necessities and characteristics of a brand

ichkoguy — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 05:49:45 GMT

Brands live in the minds of consumers and offer instant recognition and identification .However, a brand is much more than just a tag for recognition and identification. Beside the physical product, a brand also has perpetual components which impart an invisible halo to it. A brand�s perpetual components are intangible associations and very strongly differentiate the brand in consumer�s perceptions. Brands are the basis of consumer relationship and bring consumers and marketers closer by developing a bond between them. In other words, brands serve as the connecting links between marketers and the consumers. The promise of a brand is consistent with reliable quality, service and overall psychological satisfaction. All this adds value to the product not only to for the customers but also for the manufacturer. Brands are the real wealth generators of the 21st century and determine the market value of the business entities.

Brands are built on clear differentiation of attributes, images, associations, meanings, and deliver value competitively. When consumers see a familiar brand on the shelf, which has earned their loyalty, they instantly understand the brand�s promise and feel confident about its quality.

The ultimate goal of advertising a brand is to build greater �brand equity�, which refers to the value inherent in a well known brand name. When a brand really has strong equity, it is a powerful competitive advantage. It can be sold or brought for a price that might be thought to be totally disproportionate to the book value of the brand. Equity is, in fact, the driver of a company�s bottom line and must be protected and nurtured .All attempts by marketers to improve product quality and service to consumers are steps aimed at increasing consumer satisfaction and are just the tools to create a loyal consumer base.

Different brands vary in their power and value that they enjoy in the market place.Some brands is largely unknown to consumers while others have a very high level of awareness in terms of brand recognition or recall. Some of them are quite acceptable to consumers and others are highly preferred from among the acceptable ones. And finally, there are those brands that command a high degree of brand loyalty among consumers. The consumer would go elsewhere to buy that brand. For example, it is claimed that an Apple computer user is fiercely loyal and would never settle for another brand.

High brand equity gives a company highly desired competitive advantages. The company�s marketing costs are lower because of high consumer awareness and brand loyalty. Consumers expect the retailers to carry the brand and give much leverage with channel members. High level brand awareness and loyalty offers some insulation against increasing competition in the market-place .It is interesting to note that many brands that were leaders 70 years ago are still the leaders.

�Brand� provides value to customers by enhancing interpretation or processing of information, confidence in the purchase decision and user satisfaction. A brand is what testifies a product line and makes it the darling for the consumers.

Slow but steady: MOM and ME-the new retail kid

ichkoguy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:58:49 GMT

Retail was one of the favorite words until the slowdown occurred. All hopes of making it big were dashed and millions of rupees in investment were washed away. There were big winners and even bigger losers. But at the same time, when there were other burning the tracks with speedy expansion plans, there was one start up in the retail space �which chose a different path with its �mom and me� retail outlet, it not only defied the age old strategy of establishing a name in the retail space through genetic grocery and vegetable business model, but also went slow at a time when everyone was grabbing opportunities at a scampering speed.

Although criticized for its strategic intent initially, it survived the crash, came stronger than most competitors and today appears to be gearing up for a rather different new year, with its plans to open 50 new retail outlets in 2010.The team of this organization believes that they can take the current count of seven stores to 57 without much head ache. Today �Mom and me� is betting big on the expecting parents, luring them with each offering and taking care than the �mom and me �brand becomes recognized for care and special offerings.

Like any other establishment on the rise �Mom and me� too had to face a number of challenges in the initial stages of their progress. Earlier they were not into retailing, and so the initial bottleneck of entering the industry was quite a problem. But they did their homework and research for two years before opening their first store. Therefore there were no major problems such as figuring out the right property, logistics issue and others. But there were some problems that crept up due to the format of specialized retailing that they. Since it was a specialized retail format, they were unaware of the accurate manpower requirement .Then figuring out all possible merchandise that an expecting woman would require required that they became extremely careful when it comes to choosing .the type of products that we needed to keep in our stores.

The other problem for �Mom and me� was its bigger competitors of the retail industry while establishing their brand. But that was a problem that did not matter much. The reason was that they had a much focused group of target audience that was unique. When motherhood starts various things are required and they were being offered less than one roof. Then pricing was also ban important factor and they did not keep our space prices exorbitantly high. Such strong bases were enough to promote and push �mom and me�.

However when compared to other players of the retail industry �Mom and me� had been relatively slow. This had been because the team of �mom and me� was not game for opening more stores without having sufficient support back up. Then there was no utility of distributing the financial equity of the company. However �mom and me� had been slow but very steady indeed.

MP MET - A hope

himanshusofttech — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:47:05 GMT

Devotion blend with hard work could make a person accomplish his or her goal in a paramount possible mode. No time limit could then prevent a person to achieve many things beyond his or her capabilities.

The same thing if applied for the students then it could be said that still anticipation for them is there if their vision is to crack MBA entrance this year and complete their MBA degrees. MPMET i.e. Madhya Pradesh Management Entrance Test which is specifically been conducted for Management colleges of Madhya Pradesh.

M.P. Professional examination board, Bhopal will conduct entrance tests for admission to AICTE approved MCA/MBA courses in institutions located in the state of Madhya Pradesh for the academic session 2010-11. All the candidates who are keenly interested to take admission in the colleges of Madhya Pradesh for Master of Business administration could appear for the examination but the examination has some of the following eligibility criteria, they are:

(a) The candidate should be an Indian national

(b) Candidate should be a graduate or post graduate with at least 50% marks (40% in case of SC, ST, OBC category of Madhya Pradesh) in aggregate of any UGC/AICTE approved Indian university or from a foreign university recognized by association of Indian universities (AIU) or institute recognized by the concerned university as equivalent thereto. The Bachelor�s degree must be of minimum three years duration after passing Higher Secondary (10+2) examination of (10+2) system or equivalent.

Candidates in the final year of any degree examination can also appear in the MET-2010/MCA-2010 on provisional basis. But such a candidate shall have to produce the original certificate of having passed/mark sheet of the final year of the degree examination at the time of counseling.

Date of examination: Sunday, 28.03.2010

MET: Forenoon session 9.00 a.m. to 12.00 noon

We can see the time left for the examination is too less that if prior studies have not been taken up acutely it is difficult to clear the examination with good score and get good college. But as said before the instinct to achieve anything comes deep from the heart then the word impossible itself changes to I M Possible.

So friends don�t loose optimism and strive to make the most of the time which is still been left with you. March further boldly and organize yourself.

Examination cities: Bhopal, Gwalior, Indore, Jabalpur, Rewa, Sagar and Ujjain

MBA in India Or Abroad?

himanshusofttech — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:43:56 GMT

Management education in India is booming. There are over 1,250 approved business schools, 1,25,000 full-time and 1,00,000 distance MBA students and 1,30,000 MBA aspirants taking the Common Admission Test every year.

The end-users, the recruiters seem to be facing a constant supply crunch, and are always on the lookout for the talent graduating from the top B-schools. Thus the MBA is a valuable commodity that insures a quick return on investment.

As far as higher education is concerned, the educational scenario has changed dramatically in India in the last decade. In the debate of an MBA in India versus abroad, as a student currently pursuing MBA in India, I believe that an Indian MBA scores over an international MBA on several counts. An Indian MBA can be good enough to put your career on the fast track. The top business schools in India -- IIMs, XLRI, FMS and Bajaj -- provide excellent all-round business education and placements. The effort required to clear the entrance tests can be enormous, but that's a small price to pay for a great future.

An MBA abroad is not necessarily a better option. Unless you are aiming for the top 20 business schools across the world, a top Indian MBA may be better. With increasingly larger number of aspirants looking at MBA abroad; what are the pros and cons of an MBA in India vs. MBA abroad? Is it worthwhile to get an MBA abroad?

The main advantage is the cost. An MBA from any good B-school in the US or UK costs anywhere between Rs 25 to 50 lakhs, whereas Indian MBA schools charge ten per cent of the same amount.

Secondly, when living abroad, you spend far more than you would in India, and as a result need to work there for at least a few years to recover the amount.Prime MBA destinations are the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The chances of employment are better in the U.S. and Canada.

Getting a job in Australia and the U.K. is comparatively difficult. Even if you do spend Rs.15 lakhs doing an MBA abroad, you would be able to recover the money within a year of passing out; provided you have the grit and determination to do it. On the other hand, a student from a reputed Indian B-school always has the option to work at either place, since all premier B-schools have a significant amount of foreign placements taking place each year.

Also, Indian MBA courses have been expanding and growing significantly in recent years. MBA graduates from Indian B-schools have proved their mettle in the global working environment and are offered top positions in several organisations. Considering the purchasing power parity, initial expenditure (cost of the programme), initial placements, and growth in salary as inputs in decision, MNCs do not have to think twice before coming to India in search of middle and senior management talent. Irrespective of which school you get into India or Abroad, you need to prove yourself once you join the workplace. You need to market and sell yourself, having the MBA behind you.

Finally, Indian B-Schools are more open to non-experienced candidates than international B-Schools, and thus prove to be advantageous to most people. Applying for an MBA in a top school abroad usually makes sense if you have had an excellent career till now, have had all-round achievements to speak about in academics, work and extracurricular involvements and aspire for a international career in management. Hence, keeping in mind today�s scenario, I believe that an Indian MBA is the way to go.

Marketing activities in different organizational structure

ichkoguy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:45:18 GMT

Marketing activities, in some companies are divided along functional lines such as advertising, sales, marketing research, product planning, etc. The advertising manager looks after all promotional activities concerned with the company�s products ad services, including, budgeting, creation of ads and their production, media schedules and sales promotions, but excluding sales management.

Under the centralized system the certain basic functions are performed. These include Planning and budgeting, which is arguably the most important responsibility that is to be carried out before any sort of marketing activity begins including advertisement and other promotions. Even though the advertisement department prepares the budget, the higher management makes the final decision about it. The other function that is done is Administration and execution. It is done by the advertisement manager .He is the one who takes the responsibility for the correct administration and execution of the advertising. The other functions that are carried out by the centralized system are coordination within the company and coordination with the ad agency that might be hired for making an advertisement.

A decentralized system is followed in large corporations with many product lines and brands .Typically, the company has many strategic business units, or divisions, with separate manufacturing, research and development, marketing, sales, product or brand management departments. Each brand is assigned to a brand manager (also termed as a product manager) who is totally responsible for managing the brand ,including planning, budgeting, sales and its profit performance .The brand manager often has one or more assistant brand managers to help in the planning, implementation and control of the marketing programme.

Under the management system, all functions associated with advertising and other promotions are the responsibilities of the brand manager. He works closely with the advertising agency and other specialist service providers as they prepare promotional programmatic a multi-product companies, brand managers may compete with brands in the same product category handled by other brand managers within the company and not just outside competitors. Like P&G detergent brands like Aerial and Tide compete with each other for the market share.

There are some disadvantages in the decentralized system .Brand managers ,often lacking in training and experience, may develop a brand strategy without a deeper understanding of what the advertising and other promotions can or cannot accomplish, and how each should be used. Because of pressures to show profits, their focus is more on short term gains rather than developing long term programmes for the brand.

In this system, brand for managers are often involved in competition among themselves to gain top management attention for more budget allocation, leading to undesirable rivalries and, sometimes even disproportionate fund allocation. Individual brand manager�s successful persuasion may often influence budget allocation rather than the future profit potential of the brands. P&G considered these problems as serious and switched to the category management system.

Elements of ad that attracts

ichkoguy — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:21:05 GMT

An understanding of why people collect information can help advertisers in designing ads that will gain increased attention of the target audience. In general, there are four reasons for attending to different types of information.

Information that may be highly useful for a person, such as advertising messages about products or services that will help people make better purchase decisions. For example, consumers will tend to reduce cognitive dissonance by exposing themselves to favorable information about a product or service and the information that is stimulating. For example information about a new and exciting product should be interesting for the audience. No one would like to be exposed to dull and boring information.

People are quite agreeable to expose themselves to information that really has practical value for them, and product information is a practical need that advertisements attempt to fulfill.

Headlines that promise something free or provide useful information do well in attracting attention.� How to�.� approach, for example in the case of a microwave oven ad will attract attention because it explains how the purchase will make life easier for the working housewife. Often the ads of coaching centers that prepare aspiring students for CAT, CPMT, IIT, and many other professional and competitive examinations, ensure attention with this� How to�..� approach.

A new model in a familiar product category with really different but important features may need very little or no copy at all. Though it is widely accepted in advertising business that the ad �copy must be short and raunchy� to be read by the audience, yet there are exceptions because a truly informative ad requires a relatively lengthy copy.

Advertisers often use infomercials in the television medium in an attempt to communicate with consumers. These are usually 30 minutes long programmers loaded with large amounts of information dealing in depth about product features and benefits. However, this is quite expensive though it is rapidly gaining popularity and respect. A variation of similar very detailed ads in print is seen in Reader�s digest. There is a whole section in this magazine in which various products and services are featured. Each product or service may be described in one or more number of pages. Obviously such detailed advertisements are not meant for low involvement product categories.

There are situations when consumers �actively search� for information from ads in special interest magazines or consult others. For examples, a consumer planning to buy Inkjet printer or CD-writer would look for ads in computer magazines. An amateur photographer would consult photography magazines to learn about top-end cameras and accessories. Active search is more likely when uncertainty and risk are perceived to be high and the purchase is one of high involvement from the cons from the consumers` point of view. Such exposures are extremely significant because of the importance and relevance of the information to the consumer and the effect on product knowledge and the resulting attitude development.

Consumer behavior on advertising

ichkoguy — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 15:28:22 GMT

Promotion Planners need a basic of understanding of consumer decision making process and the factors influencing this process. Companies spend large sums of money on advertising and face a major challenge in influencing the purchase behavior of consumers is favorably towards their products or service. While the final goal is to influence the purchase behavior of consumers, most companies realize that purchase behavior of consumers is the end result of a long process of consumer decision-making.

Consumer behavior can be defined as the behavior people engage in when searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing off products and services that they expect will satisfy their needs, wants or desires. In case of certain products and services, the process is detailed and may include extensive information search while in other purchase situations the decisions are incidental and may require little or no information, as happens in the case of impulse purchases. Advertisers need to know the specific needs that consumers are striving to satisfy and how these needs translate into purchase criteria, how consumers gather information is used to select from among competing brands and a purchase decision is reached. Marketers also need to know when customers buy, where do they buy and influence of personality and lifestyle of the consumer on his or her purchase decision.

Situational determinants concern specific situations in which consumers plan to use the product or service .These situations are the specific usage situation, the purchase situation and the communications situation. These directly influence the consumers` perceptions, preferences and buying behaviors.

Usage situation concerns products that will be privately consumed and differs and differs from those that will be obvious to the public. Purchase situations refer to the environment operating at the time of purchase, such as sales promotion event, which may have a direct impact. The communications situation refers to the condition in which the exposure to an advertisement takes place takes place, such as viewing TV programmed with friends.

Situational determinants may enhance or decrease the potential success of an ad message. Assessing and understanding the situational influences that may be present, can increase the likelihood of communicating effectively with target customers.

Consumer�s purchase decision process is generally viewed as consisting of five distinct steps through which the buyer moves while buying a product or service. According to this model, decision making involves psychological processes such as motivation, perception, attitude formation, integration and learning as they influence a consumer�s general decision making process.

The buying process is mainly triggered when the consumer recognizes problem or need. The consumer senses a difference between his ideal state and actual state. There is a discrepancy between the desired state and the actual state and hence a goal exists for the customer. The cause of problem recognition could be very simple or very complex and can be influenced by both internal and external factors.

Non product advertising and its functions

ichkoguy — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:03:00 GMT

Advertising being a powerful communication tool is often used to influence special interest groups and sway public. Environment issues, population explosion, declining and natural resources, road safety measures, child labour, human rightsa, dowry, equalstatus to women and many other issues are examples for which mass media advertising has increased in recent years.

Idea advertising often generates controversies because many of the issues trigger heated discussions laden with emotions. There are those who do not favor use of advertisements for such causes. They believe that the message content in ads is too short and superficial to debate fully to present such issues. There are others who believe that mass advertising is the only way to present such messages before the masses. No matter what positions one takes on the issue of idea advertising. It is clear that the media ability to target narrowly defined audience will give more power to this type of advertisement in the coming times.
Marketing of services is on the increase as more and more specialists in different fields are available. We live in a complex society that needs innumerable services. For example, there is need for medical and healthcare services, educational services, childcare services, hospitality services, transportation services, repair and maintenance services, psychiatric and counseling services, domestic help and many other services. The need for a variety of services seem to be ever increasing.

Service advertisement is more than product advertising. What the service provider is trying to sell is basically the expertise in some field. Services are intangible and inseparable and there is no transfer of ownership. Service industries are so alike that it is difficult to meaningfully differentiate among competitors. Service providing companies keep on using a distinctive mark, theme, or slogan for years to develop a distinct identity and increase awareness and instant recognition among consumers.

Advertising fundamentals in cases of services remain the same as used in product advertising, though the views of many experts are different on this issue .Some basic principles require careful attention.

Quality of service is largely dependent on the quality of a company�s employees. Their level of training and motivation can have direct consequences. To make them feel an important part of the service, ads often feature real employees.

Service cannot be seen as products and hence should be personalized in some way. For this reason, many service ads make use of testimonials to evoke customer confidence. Some banks advertise the value of ATMs in terms of quick and round the clock service to the consumers.

To emphasize quality in service, ads should feature consistency and high level of service. Caterpillar, IBM, and others are well known in providing service. Many consumers in urban areas, other than metros hesitate to buy �Epson� inkjet printers because after sales service is not readily available. Customers show high concern for convenient, caring and professional services. These aspects should be highly noticeable in service advertising.

Communication and its characteristics

ichkoguy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:36:11 GMT

Communication is a process in which two or more persons, consciously or unconsciously, attempt to influence each other through some use of symbols. In any communication there are four basic components .These are a source, a destination, a medium and a message. The source, as the initiator or the sender of the message, may wish to communicate a feeling, an attitude, a belief, or some fact to another person or persons. To accomplish this, the initiator must find some way to �encode� the message that it will accurately convey it to the desired destination .The source may use words , pictures, symbols, some kind of familiar body language, or some other recognizable code or signal. Whatever the method, the important goal of the source or sender is to encode the message in a way that will maximize the likelihood that the receiver will interpret it in such as a way as to understand the intended meaning.

The source, or sender, must then find a suitable channel or medium through which to transmit the message (sent message).In marketing, the potential channel alternatives are many varied therefore, only after considerable deliberation, a channel must have direct access to the receiver and be relatively free from noise and distortion.

The sent message may reach one or more receivers. Rarely, if ever, the received messages are identical to send messages. Channel characteristics and the noise present in the system are important factors that account for this difference .For example, it is quite difficult to reproduce accurately colors and textures on an audio-visual medium and, in newspaper and for this reason, and the received message may differ from the original sent message.

The sender�s message, after being received by the target audience, is transformed into a perceived message. The perceived (decoded message) is the resultant of the receiver�s information processing activities. This leads to interpretation of thoughts or meanings by the receiver .Several factors affects decoding the nature of the relationship between the sender and the receiver. The sender and the receiver experiences, attitude values, biases and the context in which the message is perceived will influence the decoded message and also influence any meaning derived by the individual from it. Any actions or changes in the recover`s attitude will be the result of this perceived message.

The element of noise in the communication process refers to any type of unplanned disruption or interference that may hinder the communication. The source of noise may be other competing messages vying for audience attention .The sender may have difficulty in formulating the intended message, or there may be some flaw in encoding the message. The selected channel may itself be the source of the noise, such as distortion in a radio or television signal, or distractions at the point of reception. When we are watching our favorite program on television and a problem occurs in the signal transmission, it interferes with reception and lessens the impact of any advertisement commercial.

Working of an ad agency

ichkoguy — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:48:13 GMT

Competition among advertising agencies is intense .Most companies already have advertising agencies working for them. There are a few new entrants which may not be attractive for large agencies. Smaller agencies may be willing to work with such clients and hope to grow with them .Most new business for large agencies comes from clients who drop their agency and want to hire a new one or, in some cases ,want to hire a new one, in some cases, want to use more than one agency for different product lines. Agencies are always on the look out for new clients.

Agencies gain new clients through various ways. New clients are often got as a result of recommendations from existing satisfied clients, media representatives, and often by smaller agencies. This requires maintaining good relations with outside parties. Fresh clients can also be acquired through solicitation .The top man calls on prospects and seeks accounts. Most large advertising agencies have a new business development group responsible for seeking out and establishing contact with new clients, make cold calls, write request letters and follow up on any lead. The objective of the business development group is to create opportunities so that the agency receives invitation for companies to make presentations. This can be done through presentation. Through presentation, the agency may succeed in selling its services to new clients. The agency describes its experience, its personnel and expertise, procedures and demonstrates its outstanding work.

The presentation may be speculative requiring an analysis of the prospect�s marketing situation and purpose a tentative ad campaign. The purpose is to indicate what kind of advertising campaign they create if they had the account. Such presentations are expensive and involve great amount of time and preparation. Without any assurance of gaining the business. Many ad agencies are disinclined to welcome and participate in such events as they believe that agencies should be selected on account of experience and quality of services they have provided to previous clients. The quality of relationship between client and agency is important and requires that both parties should work hard to develop the right kind of relationship.

The business of advertising is unique in the sense that its prosperity and future growth is very closely linked with the success of its clients. Good clients develop a sense of partnership with the agency. They trust and respect the agency�s expertise, are honest with it, and ask for its best thinking and not to settle for safety and mediocrity in creating ads.They trust and respect the agency�s expertise, are honest with it, and ask for its best thinking and not to settle for safety and mediocrity in creating ads. They ask the agency to encourage their personnel to visit client�s business premises and interact freely with client�s personnel in the concerned departments.

The agency must be briefed terms of what is required by the client before any creative work is done. The client must come up with clear answers to three questions before briefing the agency.

Effect of advertising on consumer demand and competition

ichkoguy — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:04:55 GMT

It is generally agreed that the effect of advertising and other promotions is an increase in aggregate consumption but to what extent it effects consumption is a highly debatable issue. Besides advertising, there are other important forces such as technological advances, level of education, increases in population, level of income, changing in lifestyles, etc., that exert a powerful influence on aggregate consumption. It is because of favorable market conditions that demand for personal computers.

Internet, cellular phones, CD players, microwave ovens, quartz watches, personal care products or services and others have expanded at a rapid pace. Advertising, by itself, could not have produced any significant effect in the absence of favorable condition. One can easily see the advertising has not been able to reverse the decline, in the sale of many products such as gramophones, manual type writers, cigars and large sized cars., etc. Advertising can help stimulate demand of new products by communicating relevant communication relevant information and facts. Once the market is growing because of favorable conditions, marketers generally compete for shares of this growth .When the market is mature, or declining, they compete to capture each others market share.

Not every consumer has the same taste or preference for products and services. Marketers attempt to differentiate their offers in terms of price, features, benefits or psychological factors and, as a result of this, consumers have options of different sizes, models, colors, features. Advertising offers consumers a right to choose. In this process, the brands that deliver more satisfaction to consumers become dominating a certain product category. As soon as better products are introduced and effectively advertised by marketers, the preferred products or brands lose their position, making way for newer better products.

Some critics claim that advertising restricts consumer choice because large companies use the power of advertising to limit consumer opinions to a few well known brands. They argue that advertising is used to achieve product or service �differentiation� and, because of this ,products or services are perceived as unique or better than others .In this manner, advertising restricts the choice of alternatives to a few heavily advertised brands. In certain product categories, such as soft drinks, beer etc. only heavily advertised brands dominate the market.

Economists are critical of advertising because it creates a �barriers of entry� of smaller firms which have fewer resources, and cannot match the power of large firms with huge advertising budgets. High costs may inhibit their entry and brands of large probably benefit greatly from this barrier. This result in less competition and consequently higher prices. Smaller firms already operating in the market find it difficult to compete against industry leaders and are often compelled to leave the business. For the instance, with the entry of Pepsi and Coca Cola, domestic soft drink companies had to abandon their businesses. This is how advertising affects competition in the most basic way.

Use of Vedic Mathematics in CAT

himanshusofttech — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:42:40 GMT

To gain success in competitive exam of CAT, you need to be excellent in calculations. Calculations need some guidelines, expertise and tips through which you could solve the mathematics related questions easily and quickly. Vedic Mathematics can play a very important role in solving mathematical questions faster than traditional method of solving calculations.

The name Vedic Mathematics is given to the olden Indian method of arithmetic. It is rediscovered by Swami Sri Bharati Krishna Tirtha. According to his theory all mathematics is based on 16 principle that are used to solve the complex mathematical calculations easily and quickly with 100% accuracy.

In CAT examination students have to solve the mathematical problems very fast with accuracy and with the help of short cut methods of Vedic Mathematics, they can easily and quickly solve the complex addition, multiplication and division based questions. Here are some examples that explain that how you can solve mathematical problem faster and easily with the help of Vedic Mathematics.

Example l: What is the product of 105 x 105?

Answer-

Phase 1 - In Base 100, both numbers exceed the Base by 5 and 5 respectively.

Phase 2 -Add the 5 to the 105, giving 110 / _ _ which gives us half the answer.

Phase -Then tag on the multiplication of those two excesses,
which is 5 x 5 = 25

Phase - Therefore the answer is 110 /25 or 11,025.

Example 2: Multiplying by 12 through shortcut Vedic Method

Answer-
12 X 7

The first thing is to always multiply the 1 of the twelve by the number we are multiplying by, in this case 7. So 1 X 7 = 7. Multiply this 7 by 10 giving 70. (Why? We are working with BASES here. Bases are the fundamentals to easy calculations for all multiplication tables.

Now multiply the 7 by the 2 of twelve giving 14. Add this to 70 giving 84.
Therefore 7 X 12 = 84

Now try another: 17 X 12

Answer-

Remember, multiply the 17 by the 1 in 12 and multiply by 10 (Just add a zero to the end):
1 X 17 = 17, multiplied by 10 giving 170.

Multiply 17 by 2 giving 34.

Add 34 to 170 giving 204. So 17 X 12 = 204

Lets go one more 24 X 12 Multiply 24 X 1 = 24.

Multiply by 10 giving 240. Multiply 24 by 2 = 48.

Add to 240 giving us 288 24 X 12 = 288

There are various other useful tips and techniques in Vedic Mathematics through which you can solve the various types of complex mathematical problems easily and faster in order to get success in CAT examination. To know more other formula and tips of Vedic Mathematics you should take the help of book �Vedic Mathematics� written by Swami Sri Bharati Krishan Tirtha

The Revolution of Online Education

poojadev — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 06:30:33 GMT

Online education is convenient, engaging AND has been experiencing a remarkable surge! Right now online education is the most favorable way for people to:
[LIST=1][*] Start[*] Change, or[*] Advance ..... their career.[/LIST] Are you one of the 3.2 million who are pursuing an education online from a distance education college or university? Or are you still skeptical? Clearly you are not alone. As the popularity of online education soars, recent high school graduates, young adults and working adults alike are all enjoying its rewards.

With a degree - you will easily attract better jobs, which will undoubtedly provide you and your family with an improved lifestyle and personal growth.

Online education is so flexible and convenient that it allows for everyday real life situations like jobs, family commitments and living too far away from campus. Think about it - no commuting, no parking, no showing up for class at a specific time and place.

ALLTERE Life Varsity offers different levels of degrees, diplomas and certifications in variety of curriculums from various universities in worldwide.

Advantages of Online Education
[LIST=1][*] Save commuting time and expenses[*] Some employers view distance learners as self-motivated and independent[*] Those that already have a job have the opportunity to 'learn while you earn'[*] Easy to find "hard to find" classes[*] Convenient and flexible[*] Allows interaction with students from around the country[/LIST] Contact : [EMAIL="ao10@clubforeducation.com"]ao10@clubforeducation.com[/EMAIL]

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Conclusion : Drawing of ad messages

ichkoguy — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 05:41:49 GMT

It is an important issue for advertisers to decide whether the message should allow the audience to draw their own conclusion about the product or service and message should draw a firm conclusion for the audience. Research shows that drawing a firm conclusion or leaving the conclusion drawing to the audience depends on the type of product or service, and the nature of advertising situation. Highly educated audiences prefer to draw their own conclusions and are quite likely to be irritated when the ad messages attempts to explain to obvious or draws simple inferences. They make it with the wrong kind of inferences of failing to draw any conclusion from the ad message, in such a situation stating a conclusion may be necessary. Another factor to be considered is the level of audience involvement in the products, category or service. It is also most suitable for highly personal ego intensive �feel� category or service. For highly personal ego intensive �feel� category of products, audience are most likely to resent ads that draw conclusions. Research had found that a highly involved audience, open-ended ads that did not draw any conclusion was more effective than closed ended arguments that did include a specific conclusion in ad message.

Sometimes conclusion drawing may be effected by the complexity of the product where even the highly educated audience may need assistance. For example, in the present conditions in our country, many highly educated people in certain disciplines may not be fully conversant with the complexities of computer. Another aspect of conclusion drawing is directly related to the advertiser's objectives. If the ad is expected to trigger immediate action from consumers then the message should draw a firm conclusion. For instance, a number of ads prompt consumers to take immediate action and include some sales promotional incentive.

As, repeated ad opposed to this if the objective is to create long term effects ,repeated ad exposures using open-ended messages give the audience a chance to draw their own conclusion. A good number of ads for leading computer brands, autos, highly visible personal products, etc., use open-ended ad messages. A famous ad of a leading computer education institute read �A starting salary of Rs.27 lakhs? What exactly do they teach you here?� The sub headline of the advertisement read �Where exactly can you get the real global advantage? The audience is left to draw the conclusion by answering the posed question, acceptance or rejection to the offer.

No one can deny that how open ended or exact these advertisements might be it must contain visual or verbal elements worth producing an impact. A good number of ads use very little written information and mainly focus on visual elements to convey the message. Not only do the pictures used in ads convey meaningful information, but they also reinforce the ad claims Verbal messages can be powerful and can make us laugh, cry, or feel terrified. Some ads become cult because of their verbal or visual elements.

Dual Specialization in MBA

himanshusofttech — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:17:47 GMT

Now a day�s most of the business school is offering dual specialization in MBA keeping in view industry requirement and employability prospect. Some of the popular dual specializations that most of the institutions are offering are Marketing and Finance, Marketing and Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management and Information Technology. Current global recession has forced industry to appoint candidate who is having multi tasking ability. There is huge demand in the industry for the candidates who are having multi skill and who can perform diversified jobs with equal efficiency. MBA degree with dual specilisation solves this purpose.

MBA degree with dual specialization offers great exposure and benefit to students. It provides vast knowledge to students regarding distinct stream as well as develop the ability among the student so that they could perform different task simultaneously with equal efficiency.

The time has passed when industries were looking for expert for particular field, now candidates having multi tasking abilities are in great demand.

Student should select their dual specialization keeping in view their inner interest and employability perspective. The most demanding and appealing dual specialization is Marketing and Finance. Statistic shows that more than 75% jobs are in BFI Sectors (Banking, Finance and Insurance).For marketing of the financial product student must have knowledge regarding financial management like dividends decision, stock market, working capital management, portfolio management and security and technical analysis.

In securities and technical analysis students gets knowledge regarding different securities, option and sensex analysis.

In working capital management and portfolio management students learn regarding management of investment fund for maximizing return on investment. In marketing specialization student gets knowledge regarding different subjects like consumer behavior, sales and distribution management, service marketing, industrial marketing etc. Marketing is the back bone of any organization whether it is big or small because it is the department which generates revenue for the organization.

Marketing create demand in the market by creating awareness about the product, convince the customer for purchasing more and eventually satisfy the customer by offering superior value to them. Marketing starts with identifying need and want of the customer and ends with customer satisfaction by offering the product that meet with the need and want of the customer. It is advisable to students that they must keep marketing in their dual specialization because it increases the scope of the job. MBA degree with dual specialization increases the horizon of the students and enhances the probability for getting better jobs in terms of better salary package and growth opportunities.