In a few months time, we will be launching an LCD with a hard disk, enabling consumers to record programming.

IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

There was a time in the late 90s and the early 21st century when it looked as if the Korean giants, LG and Samsung, might obliterate Indian brands and companies from the consumer durable market. Technology, financial clout and the ability to fight price wars were all on their side.

“We’ll takeover the low end laptop mart in India...”

...reveals Anirudh Dhoot, Exec. Director, Videocon Industries

Q. What plans for FY2008-09?

A. The last year (FY2007-08) has been positive for us across categories, particularly the LCD segment. Videocon showed a 37% growth over last year and this year, we’ll target over 100% growth, with specific focus on hi-end washing machine and refrigerator segments.

Q. Role of product innovation?

A. We are focussing plenty on our product portfolio, but any innovation will be related to consumer insight. In a few months time, we will be launching an LCD with a hard disk, enabling consumers to record programming. Alongside, we are working on other products also.

Q. Any new product segments that you plan to venture into?

A. It is time to be present across product categories. We already have a brand name and after sales network. Now the focus is on increasing portfolio. Within 6-8 months, we’ll launch laptops and mobile phones.

Q. Will these be a hi-end foray?

A. Hi-end is definitely more lucrative in the handset segment because of better margins, and that is also the way the market is growing. Our high end PDAs will be for a limited market only. However, laptops are a different story altogether. We will venture into the low end segment, with laptops starting at Rs.20,000 onwards. We want to take over the laptop market. We will be importing in the first stage, and in the second stage we will be manufacturing.

Q. Is your plant at Rudrapur in Uttaranchal now ready?

A. Yes! Once that state-of-the-art plant (built at an investment of Rs.300 crore) begins operations on Feb. 18th, we’ll achieve a variety of operational efficiencies. Our supply chain in the north will become stronger; for the first time we will be manufacturing microwaves in India and will also double our AC production capacity.

Q. What’s Videocon’s focus area now, besides laptops & handsets?

A. The hi-end market is certainly more lucrative. We are focusing on LCDs, hi-end refrigerators, ACs and microwaves. We plan to increase our base in microwave ovens with more models & better penetration.

“No threat from Indian players” says LG

Q. Do you see Indian brands making a comeback in the consumer durable segment?

A. It takes a lot to play in the consumer durables segment. You have to understand the Indian consumer and then translate that knowledge into relevant benefits. For the same, the investments required in terms of R&D and infrastructure are huge. Unlike LG, this is a challenge for players that you refer to.

Q. Videocon & Godrej have mega comeback plans.

A. Godrej Appliances seems to be changing, at least, in the way products are presented to consumers. Agreed that LG has to respond on a continuous basis in the market place, but our starting point is not what competition does.

Q. Which way does LG see the Indian consumer durable market headed?

A. Well, 5-10 years ago, in terms of value, the opportunity was lying at the bottom of the pyramid. Today, the pyramid is changing. To build leadership, LG targeted the mid and low end market; today we are back to hi-end. Globally, LG’s brand identity is getting refreshed. Similar, aspirational and premium positioning will now be done for Indian market.

Q. Key differentiators for LG?

A. R&D to address consumer needs; undertaking serious lifestyle research & superior products. We are now exploring new opportunities in built up systems i.e. diverse products can be combined and sold together.


With inputs from Angshuman Paul and Pallavi Srivastava



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).


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‘I am what I am’... Do you wanna know how?

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And even as you read this story, sportswear major Reebok will have gone on to unveil a new branding move, globally

Indians love Reebok. Indians love its eccentric punchlines. And India is head-over-heels when it comes to the adrenaline rush stimulated by any form of association with the British brand. However, the sad truth is – it’s only India! Necessary as this was, it is also worthy of mention that Reebok has made the most of what India could offer.

Today, it is counted as the country’s number one sports footwear and prêt-a-porter brand, leaving brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma and several of their ilk far, far behind. So while critics raise their voices over the ‘single nation’ success of Reebok, the more critical question is – how did Reebok actually change the rules of the game when it comes to the Rs.11 billion Indian sports footwear & apparel market?

To answer the question – a dexterous game plan, woven arduously for more than a decade and which took care of almost everything (right from its strategic expansion to superb positioning and reaping synergic benefits) has enabled Reebok India to milk super-colossal profits. So its not surprising that 13 years post-entry into the Indian soil, Reebok has increased its annual turnover by an impressive 500%! And who deserves credit for it? None other than the mastermind – Subhinder Singh Prem, MD, Reebok India Company, who revealed the challenges faced by Reebok on India and how it carefully changed its batting stance to 4Ps B&M.

In the mid-1990s, when Reebok made its debut on Indian pitches, the sports industry in the country was dominated by the desi Adams. This was an unwanted externality and thereby forced Reebok not to unleash all its products. Unlike other players, the product offering of Reebok was dominantly for the male consumer. Surprisingly, with the right pricing strategy, helped with a fair amount of commercials, Reebok expanded its arms handsomely across the nation. And the result? Well, a year hence, 20 Reebok stores had popped-up across India; some number to reckon with considering those were still early days for liberalised India, as Subhinder explains, “That might sound like a very small number, but read it in the context of other majors in the game hardly realising our presence till yesterday and suddenly today, (pop!) we’re a giant staring at them threateningly!

We started playing the expansion game (as it was proving quite a success for us) despite others calling it a mistake.” So has it really worked as Subhinder claims? Considering that today, Reebok’s presence through 600 exclusive brand outlets (as on December 31, 2007) is nothing short of gigantic, it really has! “We started spreading in metros and towns as well through tie-ups with retailers...,” adds proud Subhinder.

But it was also not all about blindly rolling out exclusive stores. Reebok also paid heed to finer details. For instance, a clear cut segregation of stores. No two exclusive Reebok stores in the same locality would be similar. And this distinction between two stores was done intellectually considering the tastes and preferences of the market available. Elaborates Subhinder, “In South-Ex (New Delhi), there are two big Reebok store. In one store the first floor has lifestyle products and second floor, sports goods. In the second store, the first floor has women’s apparel and the second floor, men’s, It might sound very simplistic, but this is indeed what helped us to run our stores phenomenally!”

Such expansion strategies indeed helped and this is where even the global big daddies (read Nike) missed out big time. And there’s more – intelligent ad-campaigns surely brought success to Reebok. “We never compromised with the sports brand image of Reebok while trying to connect with the masses. So even today, we show through our brand ambasadors like Dhoni, that there are two sides to a human being – one who’s a cricketer and the other’s the common man who plays street cricket with a Reebok denim,”defines Subhinder. But what about roping -in the sizzling Bipasha Basu? Well, logically, with women’s apparel contributing to 30% of its Indian turnover of Rs.9 billion for 2007, the signing made logic. Plans to make a splash into the Rs.130 billion ‘kids prêt-a-porter’ market are also in the pipeline.

Strangely however, Reebok still wants to keep a distance from creating a low-cost manufacturing hub in India, while global players are excited great guns about the same. Adding sense to the argument, Subhinder asserts, “Ever since we have become a part of Adidas, we have been able to leverage from the outsourcing synergy that Adidas has...” Now that’s called taking advantage of the $3.8 billion takeover by Adidas in 2006!

One reason why Reebok did well in India was because it understood the perfect way to establish itself as a sports brand in a cricket crazy nation – by associating with the game (of course!) and making it a desi brand; much before Nike, which associated itself with cricket in 2005. Today, Reebok is the leader with an exorbitant 50% market share, while Nike comes a distant second with a mere 15%! (as per KSA Technopak).

But are we not scared of complacency? Not exactly, as Reebok proved by roping in 9 Indian cricket team members immediately after Nike took the apparent lead by paying Rs.2 billion to BCCI for grabbing the jersey-rights of the team in 2005. All this said, what remains is the “why just India?” question. Well, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush... so they say. Subhinder isn’t bothered, and neither is Reebok. It has decided to concentrate on batting, can’t you see?


Edit bureau: Angshuman Paul

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).


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B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
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Is Rupert Murdoch eyeing India?

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If the deal goes through, the combination of Rupert Murdoch and Sameer Jain will create an invincible media entity in India. Sutanu Guru and Pallavi Srivastava analyse if it is a good or an ominous sign for India

Just imagine the following scenarios and please don’t hoot with laughter. General Motors or maybe Ford Motors draw up strategic plans to acquire Toyota in Japan. The big daddy of retail Wal-Mart pulls off a stunning coup and takes over Metro in Germany. And AT&T stuns everyone by announcing to the world at large that it has acquired a strategic stake in Vodafone and that Arun Sarin, the chairman of Vodafone will head the new entity. Breathtakingly unbelievable, isn’t it? You might say the scenarios are laughably unrealistic too. How can struggling or ailing American multinationals buy out formidable players that completely dominate their home turfs in Japan, Germany and UK respectively?

Then, how about this one? Rupert Murdoch decides to forge a strategic partnership with the Times of India (TOI) group with the long run ambition of taking over India’s biggest, most aggressive, most predatory, and most successful media group. Unthinkable? Impossible? Yet, believe it or not, 4Ps B&M has exclusive information that the Times of India group led by the inscrutable Sameer Jain, and News Corp. led by the even more inscrutable Rupert Murdoch have been negotiating for a while to see how the two can forge a strategic partnership-or even a downright de facto takeover of The Times of India group.

Without a shadow of doubt, there is a buzz in the market about what Sameer Jain and Rupert Murdoch are planning together and what impact it will have not just on the Indian media scene, but on the the country as a whole. Rivals and potential rivals are watching this tap dance with fingers crossed. Says Ashish Kaul, Executive Vice-President, Zee Networks, “I am aware that Rupert Murdoch has been in talks with TOI for quiet some time to buy some stake in the group, but I really don’t know that anything has been confirmed officially on that front. I think its fairly possible that TOI sells some of their stake to Murdoch. In the past some time TOI has been facing stiff competition from other print media companies. Today TOI (which is 200 years old) has a circulation of 6,40,000 and a two year old Daily News & Analysis (DNA) has a circulation of 4,60,000, which is very close to TOI.” For all you and we know, Kaul might be exaggerating a bit since DNA is a newspaper promoted by Zee along with Dainik Bhaskar.


In fact, there are many in the media industry that are highly skeptical of a possibility of Murdoch taking over BCCL, the company that owns TOI. Says Yash Khanna, Executive Vice-President, Corporate Communications, Star India (owned incidentally by none other than Murdoch himself), “I feel that there is no truth in the news. I don’t think Murdoch will be interested in the print media in India. The restrictions in print media in India are too stringent.

Foreign investment is not allowed more than 26% and one has to have a local editor. In such a scenario even if he buys stake in TOI what will he do with it?” Well known media critic Sevanthi Ninan too has a similar view. “I am not aware about this deal. However I don’t think that the Jain’s would be interested in selling out their stake. They have been looking for bringing in foreign investment through equity,” she says.

Part of the reason why some industry insiders are skeptical about the possibility of Sameer Jain selling out to Rupert Murdoch are the scenarios that we invoked at the beginning of this article. Just as Toyota dominates the auto industry in Japan, Vodafone dominates the telecom market in U.K, and Metro dominates the organised retail space in Germany; The Times of India group straddles the media sector in India like a colossus. Forget how exaggerated some of the claims made by the Times of India group are and consider the following: The English language newspaper The Times of India is the largest selling English newspaper in the world with a claimed circulation of about 2.4 million copies. The Economic Times is claimed to be the second largest selling business newspaper in the world. The group’s Hindi daily Navbharat Times lags behind leaders like Dainik Bhaskar and Dainik Jagran, but is still rated as one of the top Hindi dailies of the country. To pre-empt the newspaper DNA, the group has launched the Mumbai Mirror tabloid in Mumbai and some other major cities. The tabloid is distributed free with The Times of India. In collaboration with the Hindustan Times, it has launched the tabloid Metro Now to pre-empt the launch of Mail Today, a Joint Venture between UK’s Daily Mail and India Today group. The Times of India has also tied up with BBC for the magazines in its stable, the bestselling Femina and Filmfare.

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).


Read these article :-
B-schooled in India, Placed Abroad (Print Version)
IIPM in Financial times (Print Version)
IIPM makes business education truly global
The Indian Institute of Planning and Management (IIPM)
IIPM Campus

ZEE BUSINESS BEST B SCHOOL SURVEY
IIPM awards four Bengali novelists

The Hindu : Education Plus : Honour for IIPM

IIPM ranked No.1 B-School in India, Management News - By ...

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Moneycontrol >> News >> Press- News >> IIPM ranked No1 B-School in ...

IIPM ranked No. 1 B-school in India- Zee Business Survey ...

» IIPM ranked No1 B-School in India :: Education, Careers ...

The Hindu Business Line : IIPM placements hit a high of over 2000 jobs

Deccan Herald - IIPM ranked as top B-School in India

India eNews - IIPM Ranked No1 B-School in India

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