SREI Infrastructure

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Investee: SREI Infrastructure

Investor: BNP Paribas

Investment Value: $180 mn

Subhash Mohanti, Vice President, Communications & Brand Development, SREI Infrastructure Finance, comments to 4Ps B&M, “The infrastructure sector in India is growing at a phenomenal pace and will require huge financial resources to maintain the tempo. With the government’s focus increasingly switching to the PPP mode, where more and more funding of projects will have to come from private routes, the obvious need is to increase the avenues of funds, and that too at competitive rates. Our association with BNP Paribas will help us access more funds at relatively cheaper rates, which will not only improve our strike rate in the infrastructure sector, but improve working margins as well. Also, the association will give us access to better systems.”

SREI Infrastructure was formed through a JV with BNP Paribas Lease Group (BPLG), which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the French bank. The deal envisages a 50:50 partnership in a new JV, whereby BPLG will bring in Rs.775 crore, of which Rs.375 crores will be utilised towards acquisition of a 50% equity in the new JV. The remaining Rs.400 crores will form the value of the businesses that will be transferred from SREI Infrastructure Finance to the new JV. Also, the entire asset finance division of SREI will get transferred to the new company, which will be held jointly by SREI. The new joint venture will merge the existing insurance businesses of SREI, currently operated under SREI Insurance Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of SREI. The parent SREI will continue to engage in equipment finance. Assets of Rs.15 crores and more will be done by SREI, while those below the Rs.15 crores mark will be done by the new JV with BNP Paribas. This apart, SREI has and will continue its foray strongly in infrastructure project advisory.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Cast with care...

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A peek into the HR initiatives that have helped Parsvnath Developers build sky high dreams, alongside skycrapers!

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs announcing Apple’s cellular foray early January. But this small 4.5x2.4x0.46 inch, 4.8 ounce touch screen based handheld has conjured up a storm that could easily weigh down Apple and cause it to lose millions if things go out of hand.

Linksys, under the Cisco Systems’ umbrella, has alleged that Apple has stolen Cisco’s trademark ‘iPhone’ name, under which it retails its net telephone (VoIP) based telephones. In fact, it is alleged that Apple had approached Cisco six years ago, pleading with the networking giant to give the trademark to them. “Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked permission to use Cisco’s iPhone name,” said Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Cisco, “There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.”

Cisco even alleges that Apple has set up a front company by the name Ocean Telecom Services LLC, to try wrangling away Cisco’s trademark. “It was interesting to discover that another US firm, Ocean Telecom Services LLC Ltd., submitted a trademark application for iPhone as a cell phone in September 2006. And on January 8, 2007 – the day before Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone at Macworld – Ocean Telecom submitted 7 more trademark applications for iPhone for categories such as clothing, entertainment services, periodicals, data storage, communication access services, accessories and retail store services. None of these trademark applications had been granted, but Ocean Telecom appears to have established prior claim to iPhone,” says Roger Grant, President & Chief Brand Strategist, Identicor Marketing Inc.

Apple’s lawyers refuse to comment on Ocean and term the entire lawsuit “silly”, saying that they are separate products and there is no infringement whatsoever. This is, however, an interesting debate from Apple’s end as a company that protects its own trademark even “pod” closely and has known to have insisted that even the podcast term should be Apple’s intellectual property and they would charge royalty for its use.

All the way in Canada, a company by the name Comwave, which has been retailing VoIP phones branded as iPhone since 2004, has threatened to take action if Apple enters the Canadian market.

Experts, however, comment that though Apple may have deliberately wanted to create such media frenzy, but has lost out. “The dispute with Cisco deflected attention away from the merits of the new product and refocussed the story on Apple, needlessly wading into another trademark battle. It costs Apple important marketing momentum in the crucial early days of a product’s life,” comments Grant.

Even so, the iconic company that rewrote the MP3 player industry with iPod, has the creative genius to come out with another one soon. Though the battle has cost the company to have developed a new convergence product name that would have perhaps become the iPod of the cellular industry. Watch this space for more on this battle and future of the Apple’s iPhone.

The real estate giant also lays a great emphasis on its second pillar of support – culture. The culture propagated at Parsvnath is ‘target-based working.’ Dhaka is of the opinion that improvements can only happen if targets are measurable. So everything that anyone is doing should be converted into physical activities and deliverables so that it can be counted and there should be a basis to measure the deviations and thereby take corrective actions. In terms of structure the company believes in following a ‘box-type approach’ that is also prevalent in many organisations.

However, Parsvnath has deviated slightly and has evolved ‘ball-type structure’. States Dhaka, “The advantage of using a ball-type structure is that it does not assume water tight compartments that a box-type structure demands. In this case whether there are two balls, three or ten, there is always a void that allows overlapping & sharing, allows for greater flexibility and chances of getting support from other people is also high.

Flexibility is not the only tool available to the employees of parsvnath. Another hallmark is empowerment. Each employee has the freedom to do his job (that is well defined) as he wishes to do, with only one string attached – the past and the present should not be affected due to this.

Parsvnath operates in an industry where there are no ready to eat cakes available so they need to recruit laterally. As the number of trained people – architects and civil engineers are in short supply, therefore, the company’s mantra to resolve this problem is through OJTs – On The Job Trainees. The HRs job is to identify people in the organisation who are good at what they do and appoint them as mentors. A charter too is floated for every employee every week, where they can express what they want to learn in the following week. This process is then followed up with a facility for employees to obtain those learnings and then a system to monitor how much of the learnings are reflected in an employee’s actual performance. The orientation towards learning is very high in Parsvnath but ironically they do not recruit the best of the people. The anthem for the organisation is to train the best and retain the best. Dhaka in his poetic way puts it as, “Jo mil gaya usse muqadar samajh liya, agar koyla tha to heera bana diya, aur heere ko nagine ki tarah tarash diya.”

Committment towards learning and development is complemented by an emotive style of leadership. Adds Dhaka, “Infusing in people a feeling that they fall in love with themselves gives them the drive to do more.” The mantra to follow is not to motivate each employee but to inspire. However, setting high standards and philosophies in an organisation are not adequate to address the problems that India Inc. is talking about – attrition. Till about a year ago the attrition figures for Parsvnath were 20%, but now they are down to 10%, which Dhaka confirms are healthy. In his opinion, “Attrition is as important as breathing space as it gives the company a change to find a still better person to fill that position.” Just like building blocks help build homes, or a residential complex, similarly each person helps to build a successful organisation. How beautiful the building would be will depend on the precision of these buildings and the technique that is followed to lay the foundation. Well, it just seems that with players like Parsvnath on the scene, the Great Indian ‘Real’ty Show is truly on and ready to convert our dreams into reality.

Edit bureau: Surbhi Chawla

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Open your ARMS...

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...and embrace the ICONS of today

An idle trumpet is a waste for this highest sounding member of the brass family. But, when played, everyone stops dead in their tracks to listen to its sweet melody. But if not handled effectively, the same trumpet can create cacophony. ICONS Communication believes in playing the trumpet to the hilt, what with its logo itself carved out of the instrument. It’s almost as if ICONS is sweetly announcing its arrival on the country’s ad scene.

When we reached this agency, we were promptly ushered in to meet Sumit Gupta, MD, ICONS Communication, who couldn’t stop talking about his association with ARMS (Advertising Research Marketing Solutions). And rightly so. ARMS has been in business for almost 40 years and was closely associated with ‘Malgudi Days’. The heritage must surely have their client list hooked, as it did for us. But not wanting to rest on past laurels, Gupta wanted to do something on his own and so he conceptualised ICONS in 2000.

He also did not want to simply restrict himself to advertising and so ICONS calls itself a brand custodian (and not just a brand architect), and takes pride in keeping the brand top of the mind from the time it enters the market till the time of purchase. For many agencies, the job ends once the ad is out, but for ICONS, the job continues even after an ad has been released. Their below-the-line (BTL) campaigns have made many brands household names. These extensions to the brands help them get noticed beyond print & electronic mediums.

But don’t you lose heart if your bank balance (or read ego balance) does not reflect a branded YOU. Most often the early adopters could fail to bite the bait as laggard markets testify. Sample these great examples where the initial signs showed nothing but classical failures...the pole opposite of what they have become now – titanic names in history! Socrates was branded, “An immoral corrupter of youth.” When Peter J. Daniel was in the fourth grade, his teacher, Mrs. Phillips, constantly said, “Peter J. Daniel, you’re no good, you’re a bad apple and you’re never going to amount to anything.” Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him ‘hopeless’ as a composer. Charles Darwin’s father looked down upon him and said that he cared for nothing but shooting, dogs & rat catching.

Today, his seminal work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), is something every educated individual has heard of! Walter Elias Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Leo Tolstoy, the towering Russian author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina, failed in his studies at college. He was described as “both unable and unwilling to learn.” Winston Churchill failed sixth grade and was considered intractable; his grammar drove everyone to despair for his future...and the long list goes on and on...

Thus is the power of brand ‘Rejuvenation’ and YOU have it in you. Change your offering or change you target consumer(s). To emphasize the point, more recently we are all aware of the dramatic ouster and phoenix like come back of (y)our “ dada – Sourav Ganguly – a brand which a lot of it’s consumers would have passed off as a fallen wicket.

So, no matter who you are – a senior executive or the president in your company or even any ordinary employee – managing your brand is critical to achieving your professional goals and once you do that, you’d laugh your way to a brand new brand bank!

4Ps B&M research: Priyanka Rajpal

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Just doing it –without cricket?

No more! As Nike’s lured by the cricket ba(i)t


In a nation where cricket is almost worshipped, how can a sports accessories company survive without connecting itself with the almighty cricket in India? Brands from colas to computers have been built through this much hyped sport. But strangely, Nike never did, that is till now. The world’s leading sports accessories brand always paid heed to promote itself as a comprehensive sports brand and this was very much evident in their advertising strategy. While speaking to 4Ps B&M, Sanjay Gangopadhyay, Marketing Director, Nike India elaborates, “We wanted to establish Nike as a complete sports brand and at that point of time all our ads were targeted to create awareness. We did not want to limit ourself with just cricket. Rather our focus was on how Nike can influence people.” So to establish Nike as an inspirational brand the ad-campaigns focussed on all the sports with the tag line ‘Just do it’. However, the strategy backfired and the global leader in sports accessories was stumped in India by Reebok who commands a whopping 40% market share as against Nike’s 15% (Technopak Advisors).

So it was back to the drawing boards for the think-tank of Nike. Even though they might stoutly deny, but the fact of the matter is that the Indian market did prove to be a tough nut for the Nike marketers to crack. Affirms Dhunji S. Wadia, Managing Partner, JWT, “India posed a peculiar challenge to Nike. Though a global leader in sportswear, it was a late entrant in the Indian market. Its competitors, namely Reebok & Adidas, had a head-start over it and had built considerable consumer franchise. The Jordans, the Federers, the Nadals & the Rooneys also could not help Nike much in India as the brand’s traditional dominance in sports like basketball, tennis & soccer counted for little in this country where sport is synonymous to cricket.”

So, not daring to stay away for long, the swoosh finally swung in cricket’s favour. And in December 2005 Nike successfully stole the main show by becoming the official apparel sponsor of the entire Indian cricket team for a period of five years. However, the high point of Nike’s connection with cricket has been its first cricket-centric campaign, unleashed on the eve of the Cricket World Cup 2007. The core focus of the campaign was the celebration of gutsy cricket in India. Scenes of gutsy children playing cricket atop buses, in streets and other places, evoked strong emotions from the fanatic cricket fans. Explains Gangopadhyay, “The ad didn’t speak particularly about World Cup. It speaks about the passion of this sport and was aired at the time of World Cup. We didn’t want to come out with a ‘me too’ ad, which says go India, play India or any such think. We wanted to bring out the passion for the sport, which even a kid has and he will play cricket anywhere. The aim was to convey that cricket is in our heart and we just dramatised this to make it a memorable one.”


Adds JWT’s Wadia, “No communication in recent times has captured the soul of India like the Nike ‘Mean Streets’ campaign. The campaign, which was developed to both announce and establish Nike’s association with cricket in India, not only succeeded in increasing brand salience, but broke all communication clutter. Nike got the maximum free media coverage amongst all brands.” What’s more, even after India’s hasty exit from the World Cup, while others were busy doing damage control, Nike continued to bravely showcase the ad. But what’s more bewildering is Nike’s apparent mis-hit in the T20 World Cup. Looks like Nike ran out of fizz in the first shot itself.


Edit bureau: Angshuman Paul

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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When Bipasha fell ill

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The insurance company coughed up big bucks to cover the cost

After corporatisation, cheque payments, and pre-launch marketing, insurance is the next new thing in Bollywood. In the past, producers and film financiers have insisted on insurance against accidents or deaths for their movies, but now they are going the whole hog. Everything is insured – cast, crew, props, sets, err, the entire movie. Obviously, the premia depends on the budget and the stars. The bigger the stars, the more expensive the movie, the more the producers need to shell out for insurance cover.

Insurance first started with Subhash Ghai’s Taal and later was adopted as a security by all leading film makers. This year, movies like Chak de and Saanwariya joined the list. Even regional films (including Telugu, Tamil and Bhojpuri) and TV serials are being insured. In fact, insurers have designed special packages for soaps, where annual revenue projections are used to finalise premium amounts.

Agrees Kabir Khan, director, Kabul Express, “We insured the entire film. Thankfully, we didn’t need to claim anything.” Says Anurag Basu, who produced Life In a Metro, “Film insurance is a must as life is so uncertain and unpredictable. Anything can happen – the stars can fall ill, the set can get burnt. I think my movie was insured for Rs 5.5 crore.” A source in Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision admits that “insurance is good if you look at it from the filmmakers’ perspective.”

Industry sources however contend that Ram Gopal Varma, despite becoming a virtual movie factory, doesn’t believe in insurance. They add that only one out of 10 Hindi films is insured. Hence, there is a huge untapped market given the fact that Hindi movies grossed over Rs. 5,000 crore in 2006. Explains Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee, CEO, Planman Motion Pictures, “Lots of people don’t opt for insurance even now. But I feel it is absolutely necessary.”

The other problem that producers face is the potential loss of profits or revenues due to criminal uncertainties. Even as the fates of stars Sanjay Dutt and Salman Khan hangs in balance, their films have been delayed because of either court hearings or time spent in jail. Industry estimates put the combined budget of their films at Rs. 500 crore and each day’s delay is a cost. However, insurers don’t offer insurance against such delays.

Despite such issues, film producers are slowly, but steadily, realizing the positives of insurance. For example, it is rumoured that Madhur Bhandarkar claimed insurance when his star, Bipasha Basu, fell ill during the shooting of Corporate. Insurers paid a hefty Rs. 45 lakh when a fire gutted the set of Black. Even the producers of TV quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati were paid when host Big B couldn’t shoot for some time because of his illness. The last word on the subject comes from Planman’s Bhattacharjee. “If I could get one thing covered as a producer, I would want to claim money for loss of time.” Who knows, insurers may well start considering this request in a few years’ time.

Neha Sarin

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Heaven is right here

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The Indian Hotels chain gives the true feel of Indian luxury in India & around the world... on land, in air, and yes, even on water!

Enter the Taj blindfolded and the distinctive fragrance is enough to assure you that you’ve started experiencing the grandeur of ‘Indian Hotels’ chain (you’re not billed for that). But to please your five senses with everything else about the Taj, your need to throw-off those blindfolds; and perhaps the first thing that greets you is an ostentatious lobby with the most elegant Indian touch, bathed in shades of red and cream. Added to the illumination (that gives you a sunset feel) and the chandeliers and water fountains all around; the Taj seems surely no less a wonder among all man-made places of abode. “I frequently visit India on business trips and always prefer to stay in Taj because Taj has got that true feel of India. It gives you that feeling that here is something, which is the best that India can give you. I also really like the dress code of the female employees – truly beautiful, truly Indian,” exclaims Emily Daine, a top-notch executive in an MNC in India. And the admiration is not limited to just overseas visitors, for even domestic visitors share a common thought. Not a coincidence it is though, for even we can testify that the Indian Hotels Company Limited has done enough to break into the list of 4Ps B&M’s 100 Most Admired Companies in India for the year gone by.

The hotel chain today gets counted amongst one of the largest hotel chains in whole of Asia with 59 supreme hotels, strewn across 40 destinations around the country, and offering services across luxury, leisure and business segments. A century after it all started, today what we can testify is that the growth ride has simply been phenomenal, as Girish Solanki, Analyst, Angel Broking, also remarks, “The Taj brand is a premium hotel brand in the country. It has been around for more than a century now and this definitely contributes to its admirability quotient.” And what about it being born under the Tata umbrella? “Well, being a Tata Group company, its corporate governance structure and norms are phenomenal. This has been a major factor contributing to its success, especially in the recent days...” adds Girish. Terrific ambience, exquisite services & food alright; but what about its financials? Does it promote the same degree of honour for the entity?

Well, the answer to that is simple – a thumping ‘yes’! The profits of the Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. during FY 2006-07 has risen annually by a walloping 76% to touch Rs.322.39 crore, as Anil Goel, CFO, Indian Hotels Co. Ltd. exclaims, “The good results are despite occupancies in cities such as Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad falling and significant investments, which we made in re-energising and re-positioning the Taj brand in the international market.” Sure enough, even in the face of falling demand in big cities (a favourite hunting ground for all premium hotels) and increased investments, if a hotel chain can report a three-quarter annual rise in net profits, it is a successful ride.


The Indian Hotels chain today has a capacity of over 10,000 rooms in the country – the highest in the country. The group has also launched several tourist destinations in the country in partnership with the Indian government during the past year. It was indeed a clever move on its part, selecting potential tourist destinations and building resorts and hotels there, while the government took charge of developing basic infrastructure – roads and railways. And what about the go global mantra? Well, over the past two years (and more so in the current calendar year), it has also taken the inorganic route to take the ‘Indian Hotels’ brand to the international markets and presently has 17 hotels abroad; the most recent of course being acquisitions of The Campton Place (San Francisco) in April 2007 & Landmark Hotel (Boston) in January 2007. Explaining its expansion strategy, Goel elucidates, “In India we will grow our business at all price points — high-end luxury, five-star hotels, four-star gateway hotels and the Ginger brand of budget hotels. However for the international market, our strategy is to focus on the high-end luxury market.”

With its newly opened Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Mauritius, winning accolades – bagging SpaAsia’s Connoisseur Collection of the World’s Finest Spas for 2007 award, top company award at the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) American Express Award 2006 & the SENSES Wellness Award 2006 – Indian Hotels is on a song. And that is not all. With the launch of Taj Air (an air charter company), Indian Hotels promises a highly customised experience even on air! Land & air covered; what about water? Well, it has an answer there too! With Taj Yachts (2-3 bedroom luxury yachts), it has ensured that all three elements conjure up the magic to make Indian Hotels a name to reckon with & a brand to admire!

Edit bureau: Pallavi Srivastava

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Less leadership could be best

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“No seed can grow if it is dug up and examined every week.”

Classic text-book description of management characterizes it as the process of leading and directing various organizational activities – often a business and its various resources like human, financial, material, intellectual and so on. It’s said to encompass five basic functions, such as planning, organising, leading and co-ordinating. But years upon having taken that last leap – over the threshold of those uber BSchools, as managers, most, more often than not, find themselves at the epicentre of a constant grapple, a struggle to last either for a lifetime or for their respective jobs. “Today’s managers often need guidance and advice in figuring out what to do but can’t – or won’t – spend lots of time reading long treatises on each of these domains,” to quote Jeffrey Pfeffer in his new book What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management.

Twelve times author and co-author, Pfeffer’s is a name that stands tall in the field of Organisational Theory and Human Resource Management. As always, lending a breath of fresh air with in-depth analysis in a pattern comprehensible with utmost ease by the neighbourhood grocer, this Stanford Professor, in his latest offering, traverses like a wise old grandfather through a wide array of subjects that influence one’s daily work-life. Though, at heart, he stands all for people. Whether its ‘people-centered strategies’ or ‘creating effective work-places’, ‘it’s people, not software, that build customer relationships’, says Pfeffer. No wonder in cutting employees’ benefits when in red, he sees short sightedness, ‘it seldom fixes anything’.

“Education, as I understand it, during more than three decades as a business professor, is not telling people things they already know nor providing themselves with ideas they necessarily agree with. Education is concerned with helping people see and understand things in different ways, mostly helping them think and ask questions to uncover some fundamental insights.” And it is these grounded and exceptionally well argued insights that make it differ from an existing hoard of jargons that usually infest bookshelves, making it a delightfully inquisitive experience for the dilettantes, whereas, always a pleasure for those familiar with Pfeffer’s past works, The Knowing-Doing Gap, Hidden Value, The Human Equation, and Hard Facts being other well-known and frequently read titles.

Also, in a way, this book begs to differ if you are hoping for a chapter to chapter, classroom spoon-feeding style. Structured it is, but can be picked up from any chapter (preferably the one closer to your liking), be it Organisational Strategy or profound expositions on Leadership and Influence; in every chapter lies an overview of what is precisely to be done and what not with enough guidance for further personal analysis and research.

To not be afraid and stand out, an antithesis to Collins’ Level 5 Leadership, to a constant focus on the importance of human interaction, Pfeffer’s brand new essay immediately finds itself in the ‘must read and constant reference’ section, particularly for those stuck-up managers restlessly waiting for the next big change in their careers or monotonous work lives in general. Though at times, partly subjective on certain principles, Pfeffer tends to dismiss negative consequences of certain lenient policies.

Nevertheless, a great read, definitely for those over-fed with ‘Management Vani’. “It’s a collection of management insights and data designed to help you do your job more effectively.” As simple as that.

Edit Bureau: Shashank Shekhar

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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When IIPM comes to education, never compromise
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Flying the ‘real’ times

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The Kingfisher-Air Deccan consort demystifi es much for Indian aviation…

I’m penning this piece aboard what I believe is the grandest thing to have happened to our country’s aviation ambience after liberalisation and in the wake of that veritable ‘opening of the skies,’ which enabled a whole new world of populace to sample the experience, ease and expediency of flying, in a deliciously ironic way at once exponentially reducing – and increasing – the notion of distant ‘privilege’ that has long since prefixed sitting strapped atop a plane.

So, while I revel in the luxury of this lavish airliner... oops, I mean Kingliner, in the backdrop of the just declared 26% stake acquisition in Deccan Aviation by Dr. Vijay Mallya’s United Breweries Holdings, resulting in the creation of an entity that will wield authority over a share of approximately 38% of India’s domestic aviation sector pie, I feel a hark back to the soaring developments in the very dynamic (dynamic it is in every context, or call it aerodynamic if you would!) vista of this industry would only be appropriate. A decade ago, when the air wasn’t as thick with competitive activity in our skies and the wallets went thin more often than not, so far as ticket pricing was concerned, a select audience of air travel kept itself content with barely half a handful of operators (but of course, a significant few among them made no bones about underscoring the elitist aspect associated with this act).

A few years into the new millennium witnessed what will truly go down in our country’s corporate, consumer and societal history as a revolution, in terms of the magnitude it spawned and the impact it disseminated across the periphery of a strata that was, let’s say it best, only ‘waiting in the wings’ for a lift off. As an armada of low-cost carriers marched into the blue, they ushered in a direly required whiff of fresh air in an industry that was way over the threshold of complacency and unleashed the aspirations of an entirely unattended segment of audience by promising an opportunity to savour much beyond their staple diet of rail and road at a price well within their means.

And while the likes of Air Deccan, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo went about cementing their space of mind and market in the consciousness of consumers, giving full-service players a battle for their buck, another two years down the line, somewhere amidst the freebies and the euphoria, the present was begging for a reality check… in one word, consolidation.

Given the increasingly iffy scenario for low-cost operators of late, with untenable pricing and selling-below-price mechanisms gradually catching up with market fundamentals, perhaps, it was only a matter of time before a semblance of pragmatism dawned.

The acquisition of Air Sahara by Jet Airways two months back, the merger between state carriers Air India and Indian Airlines in February this year and the latest Kingfisher- Air Deccan combine are all indicative of the phenomenon of integration that every airline worth its mettle is realising as the path ahead – a trend of functional effectiveness that rings in sync with that prevalent in the global aviation market.

And while many may argue that the heydays of the average flier may have scraped the beginning of their end, with more realistic pricing models being evolved by the likes of the Mallya-Gopinath amalgamation, that’s definitely not to say that all of it may be glum. In fact, any of it is probably better in the long scheme of affairs, when you consider the implications of a host of low-priced airlines biting the dust due to infeasibility of operation and the market leaving itself vulnerable to monopoly all over again. Quite the contrary, with mergers of the sort that have manifested themselves recently, the portents of healthy competition blink bright on the horizon.

Of course, the regulator needs to ensure that connivance is kept afar. The idea of enhanced infrastructure and lesser duties on jet fuel reducing the pricing yoke on airlines, besides increased foreign direct investment in the aviation industry will further lend impetus to economies of scale being leveraged by the more modest players, sparking off a greater growth trajectory. Well, like the familiar sign at a place we’ve all been frequently reading - Work in Progress…!!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative

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DHFL - Changing rules. Changing lives.

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BRAND : DHFL
BASELINE : Changing rules. Changing lives.

4Ps TAKE : This one probably deserves the award for being the worsthome loan ad ever. The concept revolves around a coconut (you better believe that!) – which is supposed to symbolise how difficult it is to get home loan sanctioned from a bank. Very tough, you see! Next, we see DHFL flashing numbers: helpline numbers that would help you get a loan super fast. Now, instead of talking about how easy it is to get a home loan sanctioned – and despite DHFL’s tall claims, we all know that in this age of quick service and advanced mechanisms, is it actually REALLY easy to get a loan (and isn’t that what ICICI says: by the time your cup of tea is over, your paperwork is done?) – wouldn’t it have been so much better to project a different brand proposition? No storyboard, no appealing visual and a very sad communication: this one gets a whopper of thumbs down.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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IIPM - Admission Procedure
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