Address Change

Hense Forth Read new Articles At

http://www.tekno-world.blogspot.com

and

http://www.business-affairs.blogspot.com

Cola Contro

Is the pesticide level in Cola's high. Are the NGO's right or the companies being made a scapegoat. No one knows for sure. One thing which one can be sure about is vested interests. You can find them every where. People today have learnt to defend the wrongdoing. The art of lawyers and the bastion of politicians. What people are not bothered about is, go to hotels in cities and tea stalls, you can see dirty tap water being served. So that is the state of civic amenities in this country. Cola companies say they are being targetted and that the content of pesticides is less than in other sensitive products like baby soaps etc.
Say what, " Who gets caught proves to be the theif".

Data Aid your Business

Data about existing, past and prospective customer is a very big boon to business. It can be used to leverage the marketing efforts of the company, in designing customised communication to address the target audience and to forecast the success of a new product launch. The various categories of data are Prior marketing data, existing customer data, third party data and new data. Let us see each category in detail and see how it can be used.
For companies which have been in business for some years all the four categories of data are available. For newly formed companies only the last two categories are available for use. Past customers and existing customers are a great source of customer preferences, tastes, spending pattern and credit worthiness. If yours is a new company you could buy data about prospective clients from third parties or you could take up an exercise of new data generation like focus group, survey or test marketing. Using these new data generation methods one can measure customer perceptions, attitudes and spending capacity.
Customer and market intelligence data can either make or break company fortunes. It can hel you in growing your company's market share at a faster rate. You can use the past past data to identify trends and anticipating demand. Or you can use the information of existing customers to infer about their other needs. For example dat aabout new house purchases can be used to infer a demend for furniture and other durables in a particular locality.
"Play that data game real careful".

Are women weak?

Last year I read an article in the online edition of Eco-Times that women tend to fall in love with men who are powerful ( power as measured by money or influence) because they are who have the capacity to protect them and they can survive longer with them. Do you think that the love of women is conditional? Do you know of a female who loved a male for any other consideration than money.

Are women weak?

Last year I read an article in the online edition of Eco-Times that women tend to fall in love with men who are powerful ( power as measured by money or influence) because they are who have the capacity to protect them and they can survive longer with them. Do you think that the love of women is conditional? Do you know of a female who loved a male for any other consideration than money.

SEZ'a Not Panacea

According to A Michael Spence Dean of Stanford Graduate Business School. SEZ's create distortions in the economy and can only be transitory strategy. Once the necessary infrastructure and regulations are in place in a country, then there is no need for preferential treatment to attract FDI. In the long run the nation can progress only if thereis a balanced growth of all regions, Urban, Sub - Urban as well as Rural.

Delhi Sealing Issue

With 45,000 commercial establishments being affected it is surely going to hit the local economy. But I think the decision is correct. Already with increasing population spaces in cities look like Haat. With selling and buying taking place every where the same beleif is strengthened. Also small shops are breeding ground for criminals. Drug peddling and eve teasing to child molestation. Or is today survival so difficult that Indians are not bothered by these things. Or is it the fear of the Goonda Elements of the society.

Trial Room Voyeurism

In Infiniti mall , Andheri one such incident has come up. Last six months have seen increasing number of such harassment cases. REcently women objected to male security guards searching their bags. People go to the mall for better experience, but it is increasingly turning out to be as good as a Dadar's Phoolwali Galli exp. . Rude staff, rude security. These people seem to be following "Marketing by Insult", insult as a stimulator to purchase. I think the solution to the problem could be an entry ticket. If it decreases the footfall then atleast restricted access to some of the floors ao areas. Also employee background checks should be made compulsory. Ask a Mall Incharge, Who runs the Mall? Pat Comes the reply, "Employees".

Why Merge? Why Acquire?

Open a newspaper and you see Tata tea makes an acquistion. Tata interested in Corus three times larger than its size. Wipro or satyam acquires oversea's. Have you ever wondered why? Companies want to grow. There is this insatiable desire to grow and surpass the shareholder's expectations or in the family businesses to increase personal wealth. According to researches spanning upto 15 years, it has been found out that 70% of the M&A's fail to create any value. Still so much activity? The reason can only be sanguinity or tax planning. But then these 30% companies which succeed in creating synergy are the ones who make it to the Forbes 500.

Growing Too Fast

Air Deccan doubled its plane capacity to 37 in one year. They are constantly making losses. Their balance sheet is in the red. Stock prices are down. Customer satisfaction is low. MD GR Gopinath says that there are teething problems which every successful company faces in the initial years of operations. some problems he faces are lack of Airport Infrastructure facilities and callous attitude of the government staff ( read buereucracy and red tape) . Also to keep costs low work has been contracted to agents which results in rude staff. He feels that with 21.8% market share his company is well poised to be the market leader in the coming years. His argument for fast growth is to confuse competitors. He believes the likes of LCC, Spicejet and Indigo are not having as mature a business model as Air Deccan.
" Well, hope you have a smooth flight".

Telecom Expansion Rush

23 circles 9 operators. Thats the current equation. Spice telecom a small player with 21 lakh subscriber base is looking to expand to 23 circles at a cost of $ 2.5 billion. BSNL is investing $5 billion on expansion plans. Idea cellular expanded from 8 to 23 circles. Looks like telecom sector is heating up. Consumers can expect dream offers. But the question remains, what about the quality of connections. Most operators ( 60 % ) are lagging in this aspect. There is this mad rush to acquire new customers with scant thought paid to servicing them properly. Call drop rates are increasing. This is only going to creat customer churn.

Marketing manrta," Churn only remains within the Market".

Rare Facts?

• MCX ( Multi Commodity Exchange ) of India is the largest commodity exchange of the world having a 10K ( 10,000) crore daily turnover.
• According to the PM services like health, legal, higher education and tourism have the sme growth potential as the IT and the telecom sector. Service sector contributes 50% to the GDP of the Country.
• Tata tea continues its Acquisition spree acquiring 33% stake in South African tea company Joekels tea packers weeks after acquiring the US Branded Flavoured Water maker Glaceau for $677 million. The latest acquisition is through subsidiary Tetley group. Murphy Advises digest the prey before continuing predating.
• Sixth Pay commission is formed to review the salaries of 33 lakh govt. employees.

Anti Pirate

The Vista O.S. and Longhorn Windows server will be protected by a new Anti-Piracy technology. This will reduce the functionality of the software after 30 days if the product is not activated in the stipulated time. Windows xp was also protected by this feature but the recent initiative is a more enhanced one. Microsoft has 90% marketshare in OS ( Operating System) market and OS revenue accounts for 30% of the total revenue of $44 billion.

"Damn the Pirates".

Profitable Balanced Regional Development

Microsoft and Hughes Network system have come together to set up 5000 high speed VSAT based broadband Kiosks in smaller towns and regions. Hughes already has 250 Kiosks under brand name "Hughes Net Fusion" spread across the country. The speeds expected are 256 Kbps. Enough to pop eye the rural Indians. Services would be in three categories internet access, educational programs and value added services.
"Milk India, Milk the cash cow".

How to handle Conflicts in Project Management

Any long term Project is subject to the vagaries of economic, political, social and legal environment of a country. It is also dependant on the trust between the parties involved. To make sure that such relatioships work on a long term basis, there are two ways. First is to share the economic rewards. If rewards are shared in a pre agreed manner both parties are incentivised to co-operate. The second way is to incorporate shock - absorber and safety-net clauses. Shock - absorber clauses are used to determine the course of action when circumstances changes requires renegotiation of contracts. safety net clause is used to decide the course of action in advance regarding the legal recourse tor arbitration proceedings if re-negotiation fails.
"For successful contract formulation, Anticipate trouble".