Auto Conclave 2010

Planman media hosted a special interactive session on May 28, 2010 focusing on a very contemporary and relevant topic in the automobile sector – ‘The fight between the urban and rural consumer’ – at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. As almost all automakers in the country are heading towards the Tier-II and Tier-III cities to generate a sustainable growth for the future, we decided to explore how strategies differ when it comes to convincing the rural consumer versus the urban consumer. The session was attended by industry stalwarts, media representatives, journalists and also members of the editorial team at Planman Media. The welcome address was given by Planman Media’s editor, Prof. A. Sandeep, where he questioned the importance being given to rural markets – as rural customers earn almost five times lesser than the urban customer, and spend much less as compared to the urban consumer. Pankaj Dubey, National Business Head, Yamaha Motors (India) was the first speaker, where he threw light on Yamaha’s rural strategy. Notably, after gaining a considerable position in the premium segment, the Japanese two-wheeler major has recently made its presence felt in the executive segment with the YBR 110. The next speaker Sanjeev Goyle, Senior Vice President – Marketing (Farm Equipment Sector), Mahindra & Mahindra, defended the rural consumer commenting that Mahindra & Mahindra has become the world’s largest tractor manufacturer last year, purely based on sales in the Indian rural markets. Goyle focused on how the rural consumer, both behaviourally and in terms of need based purchases, is different as compared to the urban consumer. At the same time, the subsequent speaker, P. S. Choudhary, Head-Marketing, LML, stressed on the fact that there were many similarities between the urban and rural consumer, especially while considering the automobile industry. Choudhary shared his 4A theory for rural India – affordability, awareness, availability and acceptance. The next speaker, Udit Bhandari, CEO, Indimoto, peppered his speech with research findings that differentiated rural from the urban consumer. The last speaker, Anuj Guglani, CEO, Ace Associates, provided hard statistics, research data and convincing figures that augmented the past speakers’ various points. The concluding session saw the speakers agreeing to disagree on how much advertisement spend should be invested in the rural segment.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Indebted and inequitable?

The lack of capital is a serious blot on India’s entrepreneurial growth story. Small and medium enterprises have a very faint idea about organised sources of finance, leave banks. It’s time for the establishment to look into this in an extremely urgent manner

Entrepreneurship. It’s a word that inspires much excitement, and symbolizes the aggression, dynamism and can-do attitude that most of us would like to be associated with. But then again, it’s an ocean that few dare to plug in.

To an economy like India, which has, unlike China, succeeded despite its political class, rather than because of it, entrepreneurship is a valuable enabler for its bottom up economic growth story. Right from the travel agency with a single computer office to software giants like Infosys and Wipro, the potential of entrepreneurship in our country is far more evident today than it was two decades ago.

Backed with a wealth of precedents, and with a resilient economy, one would like to believe that it’s an iterative loop with businesses being set up and scaling at a massive pace. We need both these things to happen at a ridiculously fast pace to solve India’s problems of wealth creation and poverty alleviation. There’s no dearth of talent, ideas or the will. But as B&E analyses after a considered study of various trends, the ability to raise capital, as well as the nature of the capital being raised, are two critical hurdles that continue to stymie the pace of Indian business.

Firstly, it’s the nature of capital. As Bloomberg’s League Tables for 2009 pointed out earlier this year, India’s capital raising pattern for the year was an amalgamation of change and consistency. QIPs emerged as a major route for raising capital, as Rs.341 billion was raised through that route. But overwhelmingly leading the pack, as usual were domestic bonds (debt), through which a massive Rs.1.45 trillion was raised. QIPs were followed by domestic IPOs (Rs.193 billion), overseas equity (Rs.155.13 billion) and overseas debt (Rs.83.55 billion) in the pecking order.

This scenario brings to light a number of issues, particularly for potential start ups and SMEs (which account for 90% of Indian industrial units, employ 33 million people and contribute 35% to India’s exports) that are looking to scale up. An overwhelming reliance on domestic debt fuelled growth has its disadvantages; especially considering India’s relatively high interest rates. But even when lower interest rates are available outside, most Indian companies haven’t yet considered taking that route as the data shows.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Don’t do this

The proposed privatisation of water supply in Karnataka is a terrible way of solving the water crisis. B&E explains why

Exactly four months back, the fifth World Water Forum convened at Istanbul. During the seven days extravaganza, there was a high voltage scenario in the capital of Turkey. More than 30,000 delegates across the world participated in that conference and they discussed the value of ‘blue gold’ at this moment and its future. In and around the same moment, few important files were moving in between Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga, Belgaum Corporation and Karnataka State Government. There in Istanbul, few hundred global activists gathered in front of conference hall and protested against water privatisation, a new inhuman phenomenon. In contrast, in Karnataka, the stage was set and a red carpet was rolled out for privatisation of water supply in the three cities.

According to Government sources, the pilot projects conducted in few selected wards of the above three cities were highly successful. Now the time has come for a full fledged project. With the help of World Bank funds, the Government of Karnataka is now planning to privatise water supply in three cities. If everything goes according to plan, the project will be on very soon. In February, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development & Finance Corporation (KUIDFC) had invited consultancy firms for expression of interest in this project. More than 36 firms showed interest in this project and out of them around 12 have been short listed. Soon Urban Development Department will finalise the name of the firm on the basis of the World Bank guidelines. Then, that firm will prepare a project report for 24*7 water supplies to cover the entire Corporation areas of Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Gulbarga cities. The firm will be asked to give transaction support, including financial and institutional feasibility aspects, preparation of draft contract, bidding document and assistance in bidding process till award of the contract on PPP (Private Public Participation) basis. So, the stage is set, and according to sources, within two months Government will call for a global tender for this proposed Rs.735 crore project. Out of the total project cost, the private company will bear 50%, by means of World Bank loan, the State Government will invest 40% and the rest 10% will come from the local body.

Read more......

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)

Let’s not bring good ol’ Barack into this!

Recession tests companies to the hilt, but following some basic principles can help

If you want to learn the tricks of the trade in recession, the first rule of the game is, understand the economic difference between a recession and a depression. They say a recession is when your neighbour loses his job. And a depression is when you lose yours :-). Actually, the same rule applies for companies too! Till the time your competitors are getting rogered, it’s ‘fair play’; the moment the downfall hits you, it’s ‘Barack Obama must go’! But seriously, the National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession quite succinctly as the time when business activity (a conglomeration of factors like employment, real income and wholesale retail sales) starts to significantly and regularly fall! Generally, if the fall is more than 10%, economists term the extreme recession as depression! At a time when the IMF has forecast that the total hit due to the subprime crisis could well touch the gut wrenching mark of $1 trillion, it’s quite imperative that corporations globally develop strategies not just to survive, but to lead the market and to beat competition!

So what do the world’s most excellent CEOs do to tackle recession? The first question is, can you forecast recession itself? Nobel laureate and top-notch economist Paul Samuelson had claimed, “Economists have correctly predicted nine of the last five recessions.” In other words, it’s perhaps better to learn what to do when recession hits, rather than waiting in fearful anticipation year after year for recession to hit. The hilariously famous presenter Jon Stewart had sidesplittingly commented once, “Bush advisers have long been worried that a lagging economy could hamper the Republican Party’s re-election chances. They hope that the Cabinet shake-up will provide a needed jolt. If that doesn’t work, North Korea has to go!” Tackling recession doesn’t really require literally ‘bombastic’ strategies (as the ones Bush uses regularly, whether in Iraq, or now in Iran) but intelligent and simple tactics!

Read more.....

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

2012 : DNA National B-School Survey 2012
Ranked 1st in International Exposure (ahead of all the IIMs)
Ranked 6th Overall
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
IIPM – FLP (Flexi Learning Program)