ORGATEC 2008 A report by: ARUN KURUVILLA
Koeln Messe, Koln, Germany 21st Oct -25 th Oct
The fair was centred around two aspects:
1.OFFICE & OBJECT 2. OFFICE & FACILITY
The fair had its focus on Furniture, Lighting, Flooring, Acoustics & also presented Seminars on Facility Management, Best office design awards.
The Orgatec Boulevard had an Architects lounge & a Video Box for screening messages.
This Report focuses exclusively focuses on Seating Business Portfolio.
EXHIBITORS:
Mostly european exhibitors with a small spattering of Asian ( Japanese & Chinese) maufacturers displayed the chairs.
KEY INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS OF SEATING were:
1. HERMAN MILLER,
2. INTERSTUHL
3. VITRA
4. RHODE GRAHL
5. KOKUYO
6. HAG
7. DAUPHIN
8. SENATOR
9. ITOKI
10. KLOBBER
Some of the other well known stalls were of:
11. Anji Liangfeng
12. Arredi SPD
13. Benithem
14. Camira Fabrics, UK
15. Euro Seating. Spain
16. Baijiang Seating
17. Lamm, Italy
18. Merryfair.
19. SOKOA
20. Kush & Co
21. Human Scale, UK
22. Connection, UK
23. Weisner Hager, Germany
24. Luxy, Italy
25. Boss, UK
26. Walter Knoll
27. Gabriel Fabrics,Denmark
28. Bene.
29. Wilkahn
30. Wagner – Top Star.
New Launches & Show Stoppers:
1. Company : HERMAN MILLER : Model : EMBODY
The Embody chair was the cynosure of all attention with its integrated spine and wide pan seat and arms.
Embody claims to let your body move. It has a new tilt technology. Embody's rotation points are within the seat and back, and the base of the back remains fixed relative to the seat; this encourages the body to move naturally into the most positive seated postures.
When you lean forward or recline, the lower back support remains constant--no adjustments needed; users of all sizes can easily assume and maintain a reclined position.
The Chair featured a new & unique Seat Length adjustment
The Buzz word from HM was that the embody “Mimics the spine”. The back they claim is "alive," adapting to the shape and movement and automatically adjusts shifting positions and supports people through the full range of working postures.
Though very bulky and not suitable for the Indian market, New Material used gives it a tech/ sci-fi look .The wide angle and spine makes it different and it was marketed very well with personal demonstrators flown in from the US , excellent pre-show publicity and large POP drops from the ceiling ensured high traffic and interest at the stall. Was also displayed in a variety of upholstery colors.
2. Company : INTERSTUHL. Model : SILVER
Interstuhl's Silver chair, designed by architect Hadi Teherani, featured an elegant aluminum build with transparent casters. The controls were integrated into the design, offering ease of operation.
The material intensive and meticulously engineered German chair was also supplemented by a stool that enriches the range. The Silver's conference chairs were also set in an ambiance to display excellence in the work place.
3. Company :VITRA . Model : AC 4.
Vitra showcased its capability of leveraging ground breaking designs through the use of top designers whose work and names were plastered across the stalls. It even had an image gallery showcasing Alberto Meda , Jasper Morrison and Arik Levy.
AC4 chair by Italian design star Antonio Citterio , was the main chair showcased. With its slender profile, AC 4 claims to be a new direction in the development of office and conference chairs.
The Task chair design has a structural sophistication in the backrest, which allows for a flexible range of movement but is visually concealed with meticulous detailing. The backrest is actually divided into three sections with distinct internal functions: The lumbar zone, which supports the lower back, transitions into a flexible zone for the upper back to sink into, followed by a section with stronger support for the shoulders.
The technical features of AC 4 include seat depth adjustment, automatic tilt tension adjustment based on sitter’s weight and a fine-adjustment device. The armrests have height, width adjustability. The conference chair, which does not have a lumbar support zone, is equipped with aluminum ring armrests.
4. Company : RHODE GRAHL. Models : Xenium & Balance.
A chair with two part back rests, the unique xenium and balance follows the movement of the back to both sides. Rhode Grahl claims that due to the two-part backrest the spinal column is supported without exerting pressure on the spine.
5. Company : Kokuyo. Model : 2000 Series.
Kokuyo had unveiled its new chair with air vein technology . The chair was fitted with air cushions that had compressed air which could be released from the lower hip area to the lower lumber area or vice versa. The company’s designer claims that this allows for better blood circulation by adjusting the chair to individual needs of users. The passage of air through vents is internally controllled though a simple knob arrangement . All other advanced features of the task chair such as adjustable locking and seat depth were offered.
This looked the best technology driven chair at the fair. However, the marketing of the chair was poor as the demonstrators were local germans who did not really understand the nuances of its working. The company also showcased several of its other chair offerings under the Agata series.
6. Company : HAG Model : FUTU.
HAG design had the FUTU being showcased. It had a new integrated seat mechanism with slender shape with no protruding levers. The design was minimalistic but trendy and young. The adjustments were rather simple. Futu was light weight and they claimed that the backrest contains no foam apparently to reduce environmental impact. Three different Scandinavian manufacturers were using the HAG platform to market the products including a Swedish company: RH.
Other Innovation & Highlights :
• Human Scale showcased its FREEDOM & LIBERTY chairs. The liberty mesh version was possibly the most aesthetically pleasing chair on display at the whole exhibition. However, The freedom was a more advanced version task chair particularly- its synchronised adjustable arm feature which operates at the press of a small button at the lower part of the arm, This was just awesome. The armrests come from the back of the chair and the Soft touch pads of the arms make the experience even better
• Klober had showcased leather upholstered chairs with fabulous stitching finishes. Their range was classic and elegant & showed high quality and individualized German engineering. Quality was the buzz word for the stall. They had used twin zipper systems which were pristine and went well with the product. They also had the launch of Itera chair
• Connection from UK showcased its IS chair. The Chair looked very much like Lets B from Steelcase and had a highlight of a removable seat and back pad which were clipped on and could be disposed/ re-furbished, when required. The range had a stackable vistor chair and a training room chair along with the task chair.
• Dauphin platform was used by different brands (Zuco, Trend Office,Bosse & Human Design) to market the products. The main chair being showcased was the 4+ chair & Lordo chair. These chairs had an automatic weight based tilt tension mechanism
• Gabriel Fabrics showcased its new Heat treatment Foam Fabrics.
• Bene Showcased the B-Move Chair which had simple adjustments , was sleek and attractive.
• Luxy showcased the Bea Chair which was stripped down and hung on display at the stall. The chair also had 3 push button roll over levers that operated the seat depth, tilt tension and adjustable locking. However, it was difficult to operate the roll over levers.
• There were a few suppliers from east european markets such as PROFI from Poland and from Slovenia and Latvia. These chairs were simpler but were good enough to sell in europe.
• Fabric innovation with nano technology was showcased by Microcare from the Netherlands. Heat Transfer and Acoustical fabrics by Recytex, Germany. There was also a german company that showcased hand movement accessories and usage of Gel in cushioning.
• Meeting Rooms in the form of Isolation areas or bubbles were a new design trend. This was observed in SEDUS, VITRA, WILKAHN, BULO stalls
• SOKOA showcased a new chair TELA. This is the next in range to Sedna. The Tela is available in both cushioned and mesh versions and can come with a self adjucting body weight synchrotilt mechanism
• Colour scheme : Whites mainly combined with Greys & Browns. Stalls and products were combined with touches of Reds, Bright or Olive Greens
Friday 23 January 2009
Tuesday 8 July 2008
Managing Diversity- Challenges for Corporate India going global
Prepared & Presented by Arun Kuruvila, Jasmin Patel & Swati Wadhwani for GODREJ at AIMA YOUNG MANGERS COMPETITION, JULY 2008. Mumbai.
India’s Growth Story
India Inc. today is riding the crest of the wave of success and progress today. India's economy is on an ever increasing growth curve. With positive indicators such as a stable 8-9 per cent annual growth, rising foreign exchange reserves, a booming capital market and a rapidly expanding FDI inflows, India has emerged as the second fastest growing major economy in the world.
India's per capita income has increased at a rapid pace, from US$ 460 in 2000-01 to almost double to US$ 797 by the end of 2006-07. In 2007-08, India's per capita income is estimated to be over US$ 825.07. This growth rate will, consequently, propel India into the middle-income category.
By all indicators, the economy is vibrant, flourishing and growing speedily towards even better days ahead.
Interestingly, a significant aspect is evident by the broad-based nature of the growth process. While new economy industries like Information Technology and biotechnology have been growing around 30 per cent, significantly old economy sectors like steel have also been major contributors in the Indian growth process. For example, India has moved up two places to become the fifth largest steel producer in the world.
The Diversity in Indian Industry spanning Core Sectors to Information technology and Service oriented industries is very much an integral part of this growth story.
Globalization : a driver for Future Growth
For India to attain its full potential as an economic power, Globalization is being recognized as the driver for future growth for Indian industry. When a business goes beyond the national borders of its country, the complexity grows. This complexity is created by the sheer diversity of factors to be balanced and managed at every level. Beyond marketing, finance or production, a range of legal, political, cultural and sociological dimensions enter the picture.
In Context of Globalization, Diversity is Inevitable
Diversity is inherent to India’s culture: it almost epitomizes Unity in diversity
The earliest example of India managing diversity can be seen in the Administrative aspect in Indian Military & Public Services. Here the British took the principle approach of taking advantage of the cultural diversity to ensure unity. They effectively organized the military & state public services into regional specific cadres. For Eg: In the Unified Indian Army. This has ensured that the Army managed workforce diversity by building a cohesive unified fighting force under a single command. The civil service too took the approach with Indian Civil services being an All India service yet having state specific cadres.
The earliest of challenges experienced by Indian Industry also came in the form of integrating workforces that spread from across the country. The challenge lay in managing with different cultural and religious backgrounds among others.
Indian corporates have also had to tackle marketing challenges at a Nationwide level by adapting to different languages, market preferences etc effectively, yet at the same time considering India as a homogenous market for optimizing on scale.
Unity in diversity is a definite advantage in era of globalization, but its true potential is yet to be realized.
However we are now confronting unprecedented diversity at multiple levels as we emerge from regional/national challenges into global paradigms. We go beyond India to face diversity at the global level.
Globalization being the buzzword for growth, Indian companies -- big or small - after making a mark in the domestic markets are now reaching for the overseas destinations to tap new markets and acquire technologies.
The route to globalization is possible through Exports, Licensing of technology & knowledge, Multinational trading, Joint ventures, Mergers and Acquisitions: full fledged global operations
Ranking these in terms of the level of diversity encountered, if Exporting is at the lower end of the scale, diversity is most pronounced in case of Mergers and Acquisitions.
We chose to define diversity for corporate India in context of globalization, in terms of the peak of the scale – Indian Multinationals: Indian Corporates who aim for integration with global partners.
Recent trends and events signal a new level of participation by Indian firms in global business and its arrival on the global map.
It is a distinct trend of the year for India Inc: Indian companies are shopping overseas for acquisitions as part of a strategy meant to announce India's arrival on the global stage. In a bid to be competitive with their global peers, Indian companies have indulged in heightened global M&A activity
The recent transnational acquisitions made by Indian firms were spread across all major industry segments with varying deal sizes and structures. India Inc had 92 merger and acquisition deals, valued at nearly US$ 6 billion, in the first two months of 2008.. In fact, the year 2007 has been accredited as the year of mergers and acquisitions for corporate India. . As well as volume, both number and average size of deals also rose significantly. Indians bought up companies in Europe and the US, splashing out some US$ 33 billion.
Due to the rapid growth in Indian companies' M & A activity, India has emerged as the most acquisitive nation in emerging nations.
The spurt in India's M&A is the outcome of a number of converging factors.
· Government facilitating financing to give Indian companies access to resources for acquisitions, the reforms to capital markets like funding FDI through the external commercial borrowing route, and the removal of regulatory limits to debt that companies can raise, have facilitated bold acquisitions across sectors.
· Second, the far higher valuations of Indian stocks compared to the stocks of overseas companies — together with a stronger rupee — give Indian entrepreneurs a strong 'currency' to carry out acquisitions, even as acquisitions often are funded by cash and debt through off-shore special purpose vehicles.
Reasons for the deals varied from access to high growth markets, technology & knowledge, enhancement of own positioning in the value chain, obtaining economies of size and scale of operations to tapping of natural resource banks and leveraging international brand names for own brand building. India’s foreign acquisitions are testimony to the continued growth in the Indian economy and healthier Indian companies.
This clearly signals intense M&A activity forecasted in the future. More important, while preferred markets have been North America (38% of deal value in 2007) and Europe ( 52% of deal value) due to familiarity and comfort level with language and legal systems , it is observed that the deals are happening across a broader spectrum of industries and in more dispersed geographies.
Significantly, the profile of players is also forecasted to change — beyond the larger companies , mid-size and small companies are expected to participate as well.
It is evident that the small yet steadily growing group of Indian Multinationals are set to face the most pronounced diversity challenges at all levels.
A Multinational firm is characterized by: Advantageous scale economies, Manufacturing/sourcing/marketing bases across world markets, command of high resources and capacity to absorb big losses, capacity to leverage markets and cross-subsidize markets/products across countries, cost and differentiation advantages, and strength in production and technology.
However, becoming a genuine global firm is not just about these factors.
It is more about building a mindset aiming of taking on the challenges to transcend the barriers of language and cultures to leverage resources and create value, for maximizing organizational performance.
When a company goes global, it undergoes a turbulence and flux. There is an inherent instability. Corporations that embark on this growth trajectory will face churn and uncertainty amidst change.
4 Levels of Diversity Experienced for Indian Multinationals.
The Indian Multinational corporations shall encounter diversity at various levels: At the Individual, Organizational, National and Global Level. In this endeavor, success will come to those corporations in which the leadership is able to manage the Challenges of diversity at each level in an integrated manner.
ORGANIZATIONAL
NATIONAL
INDIVIDUAL
GLOBAL
Language
Race
Gender
Attitudes
Skills
Motivation
Career development
Brand Equity
Internationalization
and Strategic Orientation
Organization Structure and Size
Ownership
Recruitment and retention
Work Culture
Corporate Communication
Cultural Dynamics
Political environment.
Macro Economic forces.
Regulatory/legal frameworks
Public Administration,
Infrastructure,
Financial Markets and policies
Communications
Ethics
Competitive advantage of the nation:
Geographical Time Zones
Climate differences
Geo-Political Factors
Demographic composition
The Dimensions or levels at which Diversity is encountered is described in Nested Model since the factors at work at innermost level ‘Individual’ are given its context by broader level of ‘Organizational’, which in turn is given its context by the ‘National’ level .The overarching context is of the ‘Global’ level. Therefore diversity comes into play at different levels in broader context of its outer levels.
Global: Diversity presents challenges to the Indian Multinational at Global level across nations in regard to
Geographical Time Zones: Operationally coordinating diverse / varied working hours and working habits across national boundaries and aligning with the demands of the parent company.
Climate differences: Extremities of weather, vulnerability to climactic phenomena like tsunamis, earthquakes
Political Factors: state of peace or war in the region eg: the impact of the political situation in Middle-East on its business scenario.
Demographics: Ageing nations vis-à-vis continents/countries with majority of population in younger age groups, impacting the economy of a region.
National
Diversity challenges the Indian Multinational at the National level, in terms of differences between the host country and India , with regards to
n Environmental and Cultural Dynamics: Each country’s beliefs, traditions, sensibilities, and cultural diversity forms a background to the business environment and business relationship. Despite advances in communication and transport bringing world closer, cultural diversity continues to grow. Language is only one aspect: its history, religious heritage, value systems have to be understood. Moreover, culture is not static, but continuously evolving. It forms a context in which other aspects can be viewed. The challenge for the global Indian manager is to keep up with the cultural dynamics at play.
n Political Environment: Diversity is fuelled by differences in the nature of government of the country, its conduciveness to business and the stability of the political environment.
n Macro Economic forces operating in both countries, like the exchange rate, the level of protectionism, the existence of price controls in certain sectors, the market structures, the level of domestic competition in each nation, create diversity.
n Regulatory/legal frameworks: Differences arise in areas like licenses, foreign exchange, modes of payment, documentation, invoices, shipping/air freight procedures, insurance regulations, safety norms and quality regulations.
n The global Indian manager is required to understand and balance Public Administration, Infrastructure, and Financial Markets and policies.
n Communications: Market Communications across different countries is full of complexity due to diversity and cultural dynamics in different markets. Advertisements and media campaigns are rarely transferable across global markets, which history has several instances to prove. The global Indian manager is challenged to retain the essence of the brand and message across diverse markets, while customizing the form, for effectively communicating the message.
n Ethics: The code of business ethics varies in degrees across nations: acceptable business customs in one nation may be considered a serious digression in another. While there is no universally accepted guideline to this issue, India Inc can take it on to be sensitized and gain insights by first-hand study and experience-sharing of business environments.
n Competitive advantage of the nation: varies across sectors and industries as well as countries. Attributes that shape a nation’s competitive advantage:
i. Factor conditions like availability of resources and infrastructure,
ii. Demand conditions like quality and volume of demand for the industry output,
iii. Presence of related and supporting industries,
iv. Strategies and structures of rival firms.
When national environment permits and supports accumulation of specialized assets and skills, encourages flow of information about products and processes, puts pressure on companies to innovate and invest, domestic competition drives innovation and improvement, the entire nation rises in terms of competitive advantage. Different nations display competitive advantage in different industries.
Organization
Diversity and its impact is encountered at the organizational level by the Indian Multinational through the following aspects:
n Brand Equity: ‘Will an Indian company be able to competently manage a Multinational?’ Competency & brand perception of Indian companies abroad was a concern area till recent times. A case in point would be acquisition of a Dutch manufacturing unit by an Indian corporate, giving rise to the question from stakeholders ‘Does Indian Ownership mean Indian (read ‘substandard’ ) quality?’
India Inc needs to develop holistic approach to become globally competitive.
The national brand needs to be developed before the organizational brand. When ‘Brand India’ becomes synonymous with high standards in multiple aspects, India Inc will be at an advantage.
n Internationalization and Strategic Orientation: International orientation of Indian Business needs to be improved. International activities need to be seen as strategic objectives by Indian Inc. It is advisable not to view corporate stgy as secondary to daily operations, but to consider it as focus area. The vision, mission and values of the two merging organizations requires alignment to have clarity on the core objective and purpose of the Indian Multinational and the way the objectives are to be achieved. India can meet this challenge by actively including global strategies in their business. Indian companies have management personnel and Board of Directors mostly comprising of only Indian nationals: it may be worth considering other nationals for different international perspectives. International strategic orientation is achieved by tailoring corporate strategy to suit market conditions, stronger focus on customer & market needs, leveraging resources across boundaries.
n Organizational structures and Size
Organizations in different countries have marked differences in structures and hierarchies, as well as flows of decision making.
The Indian multinational is often faced with a dilemma in context of ‘Parent company v/s acquired company v/s suitability to the industry/sector.’ Should Indian parent homogenize its original structure into the acquired company / take the middle path and strike a balance between both organization structures to minimize turbulence / be driven by the over reaching demands of the sector / industry for the most suitable org structure?
E.g. Matrix structure of Dual reporting work in IT/ITeS, Retail. Indian managers follow hierarchical structure, dictatorial management styles. They require maturity to adapt to different organizational structures
India Inc can deal with this challenge by being open to choose new structure, suitable to the companies, the markets and industry. Multiplicity can translate into strength. For transnational management of corporations, management of horizontal networks is taking over the traditional formulas to centralized management. Indian corporates can selectively decentralize some functions, maintain others under centralized control.
Flexible organizational structures are the need of the times, to suit market demands.
n Restructuring: We can manage restructuring by blending human concern with corporate objectives.
Mentoring will help bridge the leadership gap, to empower middle managers beyond functional and technical competencies to people skills and leadership skills, since de-layering and flatter structures would affect them. Training, Development and Counseling needs to be done at organizational level.
n Ownership: Indian corporates are viewed as being dominated by family businesses, characterized by single decision maker.
Leverage positives of family business approach, eliminate negatives: while fostering loyalty by security, encourage individual performances by drivers like performance pay, variable component, job rotation, mobility for growth opportunities.
Professionalism is an area to be developed in family businesses:
Ø Short term; objectively separate working of business from family interests.
Ø Medium term: transparency should increase in decision-making.
Ø Long term: plan succession well such that interests of both the business and family are maintained.
n Manpower recruitment and retention
Assessing competency of people abroad while recruiting them is a major challenge of diversity. In India, an IIT/IIM stands for a certain level of caliber, but in different countries, there is no clear measuring scale for competence of manpower since different universities specialize in different subjects. Judgment / assessment of skill/competencies and fit to the demands of the role/organization is a difficult task.
n Work culture: Indian managers attitude toward sharing of knowledge and information, transparency in data sharing and decision making is low, causing communication gaps and showing lack of team orientation.
n Corporate Communication : Corp communication is a vehicle for transformation.A framework of understood and practised values and guiding principles to guide the behaviour of the people in the organization.
Its purpose is to provide control and direction . In small companies, personality of the owner-CEO is the personality of the organization, reflected in every decision. However larger organizations are more complex, layers increase, more diverse people. Only if values and principles are communicated clearly , can they be understood and implemented clearly.
Communication gets fragmented often Communication routes given low importance in the Indian context, especially bottom-up communication and diagonal communication across hierarchy and function. Non-involvement of workforce is another issue.
Sharing of information and transparency, are related to atmosphere of trust and loyalty.
If managed correctly, it can be used to integrate individual employees and groups towards a common corporate culture.
Individual
n Language is the most visible aspect of diversity, forming the basis of communication.
n Race: stereotyping persists, which must be transcended to arrive at a new understanding and build an integrated multiracial workforce. Proactive tolerance needs to be practiced.
In Intl work environments, our inherent cultural diversity is an advantage, but tolerance needs to be developed and differences not just tolerated/respected but creatively applied for maximizing performance.
n Gender: Address not only the composition gender diversity of the workforce, but also attitudes of the Indian manager toward evolving gender roles.
Different paradigms for Racial and Gender Diversity:
i. Discrimination and Fairness: Homogenization (melting pot) colour blind and gender blind
ii. Access and Legitimacy: Tolerate the differences
iii. Learning and Effectiveness: Value, respect and learn from differences, using learning’s to boost organizational effectiveness.
n Skills: Increasingly, with expanding avenues in education and professional opportunities, a diverse skill set and work experience is present in employees , challenging the manager to match skill sets and competencies with roles, to optimize the effectiveness of the organization.
n Attitude: A merger looks for a match on levels of Knowledge –skills – attitude for fit. While we assess Knowledge and Skills accurately, organizations tend to underestimate the importance of an attitude match. While selecting candidates for a partnership, attitude and level of buy-in should be an equally compelling factor, if not a deciding factor. It may be less important in Production/Mfg industries where critical success factor is Technology, but it becomes more important on the scale as we move to People oriented Service Industries where Key Success Factors are people, like ITeS and Banking. An attitude mismatch which could be managed in retail, could be fatal in these heavily people-oriented industries
n Motivation : At the Individual level it is required to balance individuals who have diverse needs with regard to motivation and approach towards work. The motivating factors range from financial reward, power, authority, recognition, to sense of service, developing a technical competence, work-life balance.
n Career Development following Restructuring: Every merger brings restructuring in its wake. While downsizing may not be necessary in all cases, a certain turbulence and churn is created in the organization, impacting individuals in terms of their job security. The challenge is to support the human resource to undergo the transition as smoothly as possible; to give cross functional exposure and training, and develop leadership abilities in middle management such that when organization structure is redefined, their roles are flexible. It is possible for the global Indian manager to handle downsizing in a mature manner. The imperative is to manage corporate communications, creating forums for discussion, and counseling.
n Conclusion:
In search for Indian way to bridge distances successfully and to develop business approaches which achieve & maintain competitive edge, concept of unity in diversity can translate into managing the diversity across various levels.
A single ‘one size fits all’ solution’ would be shortsighted, since we recognize that every organization deals with diversity in its individual situation, with unique nuances and intricacies.
However, we have endeavored to offer a framework for awareness and understanding of the challenges that arrive at different levels, which we believe is the first step towards evolving suitable action plans and solutions for India Inc to meet these challenges with competence and grace.
_____________________________________________________________________ References:
Harvard Business Review on Managing Diversity
The Promise of Diversity – Elsie Y.Cross, Judith H. Katz, Frederick Miller. Edith W. Seashore
Managing Corporate Culture- Karl Ulrich, RS Chaudhary, Kishan S Rana
Integrative management- Pauline Graham
Interviews with Aditya Birla Group, Godrej Industries.
India’s Growth Story
India Inc. today is riding the crest of the wave of success and progress today. India's economy is on an ever increasing growth curve. With positive indicators such as a stable 8-9 per cent annual growth, rising foreign exchange reserves, a booming capital market and a rapidly expanding FDI inflows, India has emerged as the second fastest growing major economy in the world.
India's per capita income has increased at a rapid pace, from US$ 460 in 2000-01 to almost double to US$ 797 by the end of 2006-07. In 2007-08, India's per capita income is estimated to be over US$ 825.07. This growth rate will, consequently, propel India into the middle-income category.
By all indicators, the economy is vibrant, flourishing and growing speedily towards even better days ahead.
Interestingly, a significant aspect is evident by the broad-based nature of the growth process. While new economy industries like Information Technology and biotechnology have been growing around 30 per cent, significantly old economy sectors like steel have also been major contributors in the Indian growth process. For example, India has moved up two places to become the fifth largest steel producer in the world.
The Diversity in Indian Industry spanning Core Sectors to Information technology and Service oriented industries is very much an integral part of this growth story.
Globalization : a driver for Future Growth
For India to attain its full potential as an economic power, Globalization is being recognized as the driver for future growth for Indian industry. When a business goes beyond the national borders of its country, the complexity grows. This complexity is created by the sheer diversity of factors to be balanced and managed at every level. Beyond marketing, finance or production, a range of legal, political, cultural and sociological dimensions enter the picture.
In Context of Globalization, Diversity is Inevitable
Diversity is inherent to India’s culture: it almost epitomizes Unity in diversity
The earliest example of India managing diversity can be seen in the Administrative aspect in Indian Military & Public Services. Here the British took the principle approach of taking advantage of the cultural diversity to ensure unity. They effectively organized the military & state public services into regional specific cadres. For Eg: In the Unified Indian Army. This has ensured that the Army managed workforce diversity by building a cohesive unified fighting force under a single command. The civil service too took the approach with Indian Civil services being an All India service yet having state specific cadres.
The earliest of challenges experienced by Indian Industry also came in the form of integrating workforces that spread from across the country. The challenge lay in managing with different cultural and religious backgrounds among others.
Indian corporates have also had to tackle marketing challenges at a Nationwide level by adapting to different languages, market preferences etc effectively, yet at the same time considering India as a homogenous market for optimizing on scale.
Unity in diversity is a definite advantage in era of globalization, but its true potential is yet to be realized.
However we are now confronting unprecedented diversity at multiple levels as we emerge from regional/national challenges into global paradigms. We go beyond India to face diversity at the global level.
Globalization being the buzzword for growth, Indian companies -- big or small - after making a mark in the domestic markets are now reaching for the overseas destinations to tap new markets and acquire technologies.
The route to globalization is possible through Exports, Licensing of technology & knowledge, Multinational trading, Joint ventures, Mergers and Acquisitions: full fledged global operations
Ranking these in terms of the level of diversity encountered, if Exporting is at the lower end of the scale, diversity is most pronounced in case of Mergers and Acquisitions.
We chose to define diversity for corporate India in context of globalization, in terms of the peak of the scale – Indian Multinationals: Indian Corporates who aim for integration with global partners.
Recent trends and events signal a new level of participation by Indian firms in global business and its arrival on the global map.
It is a distinct trend of the year for India Inc: Indian companies are shopping overseas for acquisitions as part of a strategy meant to announce India's arrival on the global stage. In a bid to be competitive with their global peers, Indian companies have indulged in heightened global M&A activity
The recent transnational acquisitions made by Indian firms were spread across all major industry segments with varying deal sizes and structures. India Inc had 92 merger and acquisition deals, valued at nearly US$ 6 billion, in the first two months of 2008.. In fact, the year 2007 has been accredited as the year of mergers and acquisitions for corporate India. . As well as volume, both number and average size of deals also rose significantly. Indians bought up companies in Europe and the US, splashing out some US$ 33 billion.
Due to the rapid growth in Indian companies' M & A activity, India has emerged as the most acquisitive nation in emerging nations.
The spurt in India's M&A is the outcome of a number of converging factors.
· Government facilitating financing to give Indian companies access to resources for acquisitions, the reforms to capital markets like funding FDI through the external commercial borrowing route, and the removal of regulatory limits to debt that companies can raise, have facilitated bold acquisitions across sectors.
· Second, the far higher valuations of Indian stocks compared to the stocks of overseas companies — together with a stronger rupee — give Indian entrepreneurs a strong 'currency' to carry out acquisitions, even as acquisitions often are funded by cash and debt through off-shore special purpose vehicles.
Reasons for the deals varied from access to high growth markets, technology & knowledge, enhancement of own positioning in the value chain, obtaining economies of size and scale of operations to tapping of natural resource banks and leveraging international brand names for own brand building. India’s foreign acquisitions are testimony to the continued growth in the Indian economy and healthier Indian companies.
This clearly signals intense M&A activity forecasted in the future. More important, while preferred markets have been North America (38% of deal value in 2007) and Europe ( 52% of deal value) due to familiarity and comfort level with language and legal systems , it is observed that the deals are happening across a broader spectrum of industries and in more dispersed geographies.
Significantly, the profile of players is also forecasted to change — beyond the larger companies , mid-size and small companies are expected to participate as well.
It is evident that the small yet steadily growing group of Indian Multinationals are set to face the most pronounced diversity challenges at all levels.
A Multinational firm is characterized by: Advantageous scale economies, Manufacturing/sourcing/marketing bases across world markets, command of high resources and capacity to absorb big losses, capacity to leverage markets and cross-subsidize markets/products across countries, cost and differentiation advantages, and strength in production and technology.
However, becoming a genuine global firm is not just about these factors.
It is more about building a mindset aiming of taking on the challenges to transcend the barriers of language and cultures to leverage resources and create value, for maximizing organizational performance.
When a company goes global, it undergoes a turbulence and flux. There is an inherent instability. Corporations that embark on this growth trajectory will face churn and uncertainty amidst change.
4 Levels of Diversity Experienced for Indian Multinationals.
The Indian Multinational corporations shall encounter diversity at various levels: At the Individual, Organizational, National and Global Level. In this endeavor, success will come to those corporations in which the leadership is able to manage the Challenges of diversity at each level in an integrated manner.
ORGANIZATIONAL
NATIONAL
INDIVIDUAL
GLOBAL
Language
Race
Gender
Attitudes
Skills
Motivation
Career development
Brand Equity
Internationalization
and Strategic Orientation
Organization Structure and Size
Ownership
Recruitment and retention
Work Culture
Corporate Communication
Cultural Dynamics
Political environment.
Macro Economic forces.
Regulatory/legal frameworks
Public Administration,
Infrastructure,
Financial Markets and policies
Communications
Ethics
Competitive advantage of the nation:
Geographical Time Zones
Climate differences
Geo-Political Factors
Demographic composition
The Dimensions or levels at which Diversity is encountered is described in Nested Model since the factors at work at innermost level ‘Individual’ are given its context by broader level of ‘Organizational’, which in turn is given its context by the ‘National’ level .The overarching context is of the ‘Global’ level. Therefore diversity comes into play at different levels in broader context of its outer levels.
Global: Diversity presents challenges to the Indian Multinational at Global level across nations in regard to
Geographical Time Zones: Operationally coordinating diverse / varied working hours and working habits across national boundaries and aligning with the demands of the parent company.
Climate differences: Extremities of weather, vulnerability to climactic phenomena like tsunamis, earthquakes
Political Factors: state of peace or war in the region eg: the impact of the political situation in Middle-East on its business scenario.
Demographics: Ageing nations vis-à-vis continents/countries with majority of population in younger age groups, impacting the economy of a region.
National
Diversity challenges the Indian Multinational at the National level, in terms of differences between the host country and India , with regards to
n Environmental and Cultural Dynamics: Each country’s beliefs, traditions, sensibilities, and cultural diversity forms a background to the business environment and business relationship. Despite advances in communication and transport bringing world closer, cultural diversity continues to grow. Language is only one aspect: its history, religious heritage, value systems have to be understood. Moreover, culture is not static, but continuously evolving. It forms a context in which other aspects can be viewed. The challenge for the global Indian manager is to keep up with the cultural dynamics at play.
n Political Environment: Diversity is fuelled by differences in the nature of government of the country, its conduciveness to business and the stability of the political environment.
n Macro Economic forces operating in both countries, like the exchange rate, the level of protectionism, the existence of price controls in certain sectors, the market structures, the level of domestic competition in each nation, create diversity.
n Regulatory/legal frameworks: Differences arise in areas like licenses, foreign exchange, modes of payment, documentation, invoices, shipping/air freight procedures, insurance regulations, safety norms and quality regulations.
n The global Indian manager is required to understand and balance Public Administration, Infrastructure, and Financial Markets and policies.
n Communications: Market Communications across different countries is full of complexity due to diversity and cultural dynamics in different markets. Advertisements and media campaigns are rarely transferable across global markets, which history has several instances to prove. The global Indian manager is challenged to retain the essence of the brand and message across diverse markets, while customizing the form, for effectively communicating the message.
n Ethics: The code of business ethics varies in degrees across nations: acceptable business customs in one nation may be considered a serious digression in another. While there is no universally accepted guideline to this issue, India Inc can take it on to be sensitized and gain insights by first-hand study and experience-sharing of business environments.
n Competitive advantage of the nation: varies across sectors and industries as well as countries. Attributes that shape a nation’s competitive advantage:
i. Factor conditions like availability of resources and infrastructure,
ii. Demand conditions like quality and volume of demand for the industry output,
iii. Presence of related and supporting industries,
iv. Strategies and structures of rival firms.
When national environment permits and supports accumulation of specialized assets and skills, encourages flow of information about products and processes, puts pressure on companies to innovate and invest, domestic competition drives innovation and improvement, the entire nation rises in terms of competitive advantage. Different nations display competitive advantage in different industries.
Organization
Diversity and its impact is encountered at the organizational level by the Indian Multinational through the following aspects:
n Brand Equity: ‘Will an Indian company be able to competently manage a Multinational?’ Competency & brand perception of Indian companies abroad was a concern area till recent times. A case in point would be acquisition of a Dutch manufacturing unit by an Indian corporate, giving rise to the question from stakeholders ‘Does Indian Ownership mean Indian (read ‘substandard’ ) quality?’
India Inc needs to develop holistic approach to become globally competitive.
The national brand needs to be developed before the organizational brand. When ‘Brand India’ becomes synonymous with high standards in multiple aspects, India Inc will be at an advantage.
n Internationalization and Strategic Orientation: International orientation of Indian Business needs to be improved. International activities need to be seen as strategic objectives by Indian Inc. It is advisable not to view corporate stgy as secondary to daily operations, but to consider it as focus area. The vision, mission and values of the two merging organizations requires alignment to have clarity on the core objective and purpose of the Indian Multinational and the way the objectives are to be achieved. India can meet this challenge by actively including global strategies in their business. Indian companies have management personnel and Board of Directors mostly comprising of only Indian nationals: it may be worth considering other nationals for different international perspectives. International strategic orientation is achieved by tailoring corporate strategy to suit market conditions, stronger focus on customer & market needs, leveraging resources across boundaries.
n Organizational structures and Size
Organizations in different countries have marked differences in structures and hierarchies, as well as flows of decision making.
The Indian multinational is often faced with a dilemma in context of ‘Parent company v/s acquired company v/s suitability to the industry/sector.’ Should Indian parent homogenize its original structure into the acquired company / take the middle path and strike a balance between both organization structures to minimize turbulence / be driven by the over reaching demands of the sector / industry for the most suitable org structure?
E.g. Matrix structure of Dual reporting work in IT/ITeS, Retail. Indian managers follow hierarchical structure, dictatorial management styles. They require maturity to adapt to different organizational structures
India Inc can deal with this challenge by being open to choose new structure, suitable to the companies, the markets and industry. Multiplicity can translate into strength. For transnational management of corporations, management of horizontal networks is taking over the traditional formulas to centralized management. Indian corporates can selectively decentralize some functions, maintain others under centralized control.
Flexible organizational structures are the need of the times, to suit market demands.
n Restructuring: We can manage restructuring by blending human concern with corporate objectives.
Mentoring will help bridge the leadership gap, to empower middle managers beyond functional and technical competencies to people skills and leadership skills, since de-layering and flatter structures would affect them. Training, Development and Counseling needs to be done at organizational level.
n Ownership: Indian corporates are viewed as being dominated by family businesses, characterized by single decision maker.
Leverage positives of family business approach, eliminate negatives: while fostering loyalty by security, encourage individual performances by drivers like performance pay, variable component, job rotation, mobility for growth opportunities.
Professionalism is an area to be developed in family businesses:
Ø Short term; objectively separate working of business from family interests.
Ø Medium term: transparency should increase in decision-making.
Ø Long term: plan succession well such that interests of both the business and family are maintained.
n Manpower recruitment and retention
Assessing competency of people abroad while recruiting them is a major challenge of diversity. In India, an IIT/IIM stands for a certain level of caliber, but in different countries, there is no clear measuring scale for competence of manpower since different universities specialize in different subjects. Judgment / assessment of skill/competencies and fit to the demands of the role/organization is a difficult task.
n Work culture: Indian managers attitude toward sharing of knowledge and information, transparency in data sharing and decision making is low, causing communication gaps and showing lack of team orientation.
n Corporate Communication : Corp communication is a vehicle for transformation.A framework of understood and practised values and guiding principles to guide the behaviour of the people in the organization.
Its purpose is to provide control and direction . In small companies, personality of the owner-CEO is the personality of the organization, reflected in every decision. However larger organizations are more complex, layers increase, more diverse people. Only if values and principles are communicated clearly , can they be understood and implemented clearly.
Communication gets fragmented often Communication routes given low importance in the Indian context, especially bottom-up communication and diagonal communication across hierarchy and function. Non-involvement of workforce is another issue.
Sharing of information and transparency, are related to atmosphere of trust and loyalty.
If managed correctly, it can be used to integrate individual employees and groups towards a common corporate culture.
Individual
n Language is the most visible aspect of diversity, forming the basis of communication.
n Race: stereotyping persists, which must be transcended to arrive at a new understanding and build an integrated multiracial workforce. Proactive tolerance needs to be practiced.
In Intl work environments, our inherent cultural diversity is an advantage, but tolerance needs to be developed and differences not just tolerated/respected but creatively applied for maximizing performance.
n Gender: Address not only the composition gender diversity of the workforce, but also attitudes of the Indian manager toward evolving gender roles.
Different paradigms for Racial and Gender Diversity:
i. Discrimination and Fairness: Homogenization (melting pot) colour blind and gender blind
ii. Access and Legitimacy: Tolerate the differences
iii. Learning and Effectiveness: Value, respect and learn from differences, using learning’s to boost organizational effectiveness.
n Skills: Increasingly, with expanding avenues in education and professional opportunities, a diverse skill set and work experience is present in employees , challenging the manager to match skill sets and competencies with roles, to optimize the effectiveness of the organization.
n Attitude: A merger looks for a match on levels of Knowledge –skills – attitude for fit. While we assess Knowledge and Skills accurately, organizations tend to underestimate the importance of an attitude match. While selecting candidates for a partnership, attitude and level of buy-in should be an equally compelling factor, if not a deciding factor. It may be less important in Production/Mfg industries where critical success factor is Technology, but it becomes more important on the scale as we move to People oriented Service Industries where Key Success Factors are people, like ITeS and Banking. An attitude mismatch which could be managed in retail, could be fatal in these heavily people-oriented industries
n Motivation : At the Individual level it is required to balance individuals who have diverse needs with regard to motivation and approach towards work. The motivating factors range from financial reward, power, authority, recognition, to sense of service, developing a technical competence, work-life balance.
n Career Development following Restructuring: Every merger brings restructuring in its wake. While downsizing may not be necessary in all cases, a certain turbulence and churn is created in the organization, impacting individuals in terms of their job security. The challenge is to support the human resource to undergo the transition as smoothly as possible; to give cross functional exposure and training, and develop leadership abilities in middle management such that when organization structure is redefined, their roles are flexible. It is possible for the global Indian manager to handle downsizing in a mature manner. The imperative is to manage corporate communications, creating forums for discussion, and counseling.
n Conclusion:
In search for Indian way to bridge distances successfully and to develop business approaches which achieve & maintain competitive edge, concept of unity in diversity can translate into managing the diversity across various levels.
A single ‘one size fits all’ solution’ would be shortsighted, since we recognize that every organization deals with diversity in its individual situation, with unique nuances and intricacies.
However, we have endeavored to offer a framework for awareness and understanding of the challenges that arrive at different levels, which we believe is the first step towards evolving suitable action plans and solutions for India Inc to meet these challenges with competence and grace.
_____________________________________________________________________ References:
Harvard Business Review on Managing Diversity
The Promise of Diversity – Elsie Y.Cross, Judith H. Katz, Frederick Miller. Edith W. Seashore
Managing Corporate Culture- Karl Ulrich, RS Chaudhary, Kishan S Rana
Integrative management- Pauline Graham
Interviews with Aditya Birla Group, Godrej Industries.
Monday 12 November 2007
STRATEGIC MARKETING –PART II
STRATEGIC MARKETING – Best Practice to Next Practice (PART -II)
Then came Michael Porter’s book on Competitive Advantage Strategy which had a major impact. Most of
Michael Porter’s thoughts come from an old school of thought viz. value chain. The strategy mainly looks at:
· Low cost advantage
· Differentiation
· Focus
Following the competitive advantage strategy, came Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersma book, The Discipline of
Market Leaders: Choose your customers, Narrow your Focus, Dominate your Market, on the argument that
one must find the ‘discipline’ to choose one from among the following ‘value propositions’ while letting the
others slide to “minimal threshold performance levels” :
· Operational Excellence
· Innovation (supported by the next level of technology)
· Customer Intimacy
Marketing Leadership according to Dr Sheth is a matter of corporate choice and it depends how one wants to
measure the leadership position in the market. Thus, it could be
(a) Number based
(b) Proven excellence
(c) Perception
(d) Demonstrated thought leadership
These are category imperatives and variants are possible. The key basis of market leadership for an
organization should be the capability to make other firms in the same industry follow it, be it in new product
introduction, distribution coverage, price changes, etc.
From Market Share to Share of Mind was the next step in strategic marketing evolution. Here the focus
moved towards not just being a market leader in terms of market share but on capturing the consumer’s
share of mind, wallet & heart.
Dr Jagdish Sheth then spoke about his famous contribution – The Rule of Three. In this model, a volume
driven vs margin driven strategy is evaluated. Dr Sheth propagates that financial performance is marked by
return on assets and should be evaluated against market share. He coined the term “The Ditch” where return
on assets (financial performance) & market share are both low. On the right side of the ditch are volume
driven companies whereas on the left side is the margin driven. The product/market specialists are those
who serve niche markets with overall market share sometimes as low as 1%. The right side of the ditch are
full line generalists whose market share generally range between 10% to 40%.
According to him, only a few competitors will survive and the mature market will normally have monopolistic
competition . He observed that in such a market, the No.3 competitor is generally the most innovative. It then
moved from competition to customer market philosophy.
A new concept came about later which can be coined as “Customer Centric strategy”. Here the approach
shifted from product centric to being customer centric. Product centric meant that a supplier interacted only
with a client’s purchase department and not with the user/s. Feedbacks were received by a different service
dept. In a Customer
- .
Interionews 3
Centric scenario, the process ensures that all departments of the supplier & client were in constant touch with
their counterparts in the same function be it Information Systems, HR, Logistics, Contracts, sales, marketing
or service teams. This ensures that the product/s evolve/s for the requirement of the client. Eg : P&G has
over 200 employees in all departments working in sync with Walmart, their largest client.
Then again came Dr Sheth’s contribution of the 4 As of Marketing which is an alternate framework to the 4 Ps
and is highly complementary to it but gives a different perspective:
• Acceptability x Affordability x Accessibility x Awareness
• This is a customer perspective framework of the traditional 4 Ps.
If you offer a superior product at a lower price in a customer friendly manner, you will always win in the
market place. Here he remarked that most companies are good at creating acceptability and awareness value
but not so good at creating affordability and accessibility value. He also remarked that not only the economic
background but also the emotional background of the customer has to be considered. How can you sell more
to the customer today by cross-selling, up-selling, being a one-stop shop and so on.
The evolution curve of strategic marketing then moved on to Relationship Marketing:
• The concept of relationship marketing takes a step towards looking beyond transaction i.e. from
transaction value to lifetime value.
• This involves strengthening the emotional bonding with the customer.
• The concept takes a step away from ‘share of wallet’ to taking a ‘share of heart’
Finally, comes the Share of Heart model. Here, he spoke of the SPICE i.e.
Emotional bonding with
– Society
– Partners
– Investors
– Customers
– Employees
• Value to investors = Value to society X value to partners X value to customers X value to employees.
Rational relationship with customers is not enough. Marketers must also nurture an emotional relationship
with customers to gain a differential advantage. Finally, it is not enough to just win the share of heart of
customers. It is equally important to win the share of heart of employees, the community, suppliers and
investors.
Dr Sheth also spoke on Indic Inc. Goes Global – Roadmap for Success where the roadmap outlined by him is
as follows:
* Have a banker in your pocket
* Scale up through going global
* Dominate domestically
* Earn quality recognition
* Invest in design & research
* Enhance productivity through processes
* Create world class brands
This article is penned by Doreen Rosario with inputs from Arun Kuruvila.
[
Then came Michael Porter’s book on Competitive Advantage Strategy which had a major impact. Most of
Michael Porter’s thoughts come from an old school of thought viz. value chain. The strategy mainly looks at:
· Low cost advantage
· Differentiation
· Focus
Following the competitive advantage strategy, came Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersma book, The Discipline of
Market Leaders: Choose your customers, Narrow your Focus, Dominate your Market, on the argument that
one must find the ‘discipline’ to choose one from among the following ‘value propositions’ while letting the
others slide to “minimal threshold performance levels” :
· Operational Excellence
· Innovation (supported by the next level of technology)
· Customer Intimacy
Marketing Leadership according to Dr Sheth is a matter of corporate choice and it depends how one wants to
measure the leadership position in the market. Thus, it could be
(a) Number based
(b) Proven excellence
(c) Perception
(d) Demonstrated thought leadership
These are category imperatives and variants are possible. The key basis of market leadership for an
organization should be the capability to make other firms in the same industry follow it, be it in new product
introduction, distribution coverage, price changes, etc.
From Market Share to Share of Mind was the next step in strategic marketing evolution. Here the focus
moved towards not just being a market leader in terms of market share but on capturing the consumer’s
share of mind, wallet & heart.
Dr Jagdish Sheth then spoke about his famous contribution – The Rule of Three. In this model, a volume
driven vs margin driven strategy is evaluated. Dr Sheth propagates that financial performance is marked by
return on assets and should be evaluated against market share. He coined the term “The Ditch” where return
on assets (financial performance) & market share are both low. On the right side of the ditch are volume
driven companies whereas on the left side is the margin driven. The product/market specialists are those
who serve niche markets with overall market share sometimes as low as 1%. The right side of the ditch are
full line generalists whose market share generally range between 10% to 40%.
According to him, only a few competitors will survive and the mature market will normally have monopolistic
competition . He observed that in such a market, the No.3 competitor is generally the most innovative. It then
moved from competition to customer market philosophy.
A new concept came about later which can be coined as “Customer Centric strategy”. Here the approach
shifted from product centric to being customer centric. Product centric meant that a supplier interacted only
with a client’s purchase department and not with the user/s. Feedbacks were received by a different service
dept. In a Customer
- .
Interionews 3
Centric scenario, the process ensures that all departments of the supplier & client were in constant touch with
their counterparts in the same function be it Information Systems, HR, Logistics, Contracts, sales, marketing
or service teams. This ensures that the product/s evolve/s for the requirement of the client. Eg : P&G has
over 200 employees in all departments working in sync with Walmart, their largest client.
Then again came Dr Sheth’s contribution of the 4 As of Marketing which is an alternate framework to the 4 Ps
and is highly complementary to it but gives a different perspective:
• Acceptability x Affordability x Accessibility x Awareness
• This is a customer perspective framework of the traditional 4 Ps.
If you offer a superior product at a lower price in a customer friendly manner, you will always win in the
market place. Here he remarked that most companies are good at creating acceptability and awareness value
but not so good at creating affordability and accessibility value. He also remarked that not only the economic
background but also the emotional background of the customer has to be considered. How can you sell more
to the customer today by cross-selling, up-selling, being a one-stop shop and so on.
The evolution curve of strategic marketing then moved on to Relationship Marketing:
• The concept of relationship marketing takes a step towards looking beyond transaction i.e. from
transaction value to lifetime value.
• This involves strengthening the emotional bonding with the customer.
• The concept takes a step away from ‘share of wallet’ to taking a ‘share of heart’
Finally, comes the Share of Heart model. Here, he spoke of the SPICE i.e.
Emotional bonding with
– Society
– Partners
– Investors
– Customers
– Employees
• Value to investors = Value to society X value to partners X value to customers X value to employees.
Rational relationship with customers is not enough. Marketers must also nurture an emotional relationship
with customers to gain a differential advantage. Finally, it is not enough to just win the share of heart of
customers. It is equally important to win the share of heart of employees, the community, suppliers and
investors.
Dr Sheth also spoke on Indic Inc. Goes Global – Roadmap for Success where the roadmap outlined by him is
as follows:
* Have a banker in your pocket
* Scale up through going global
* Dominate domestically
* Earn quality recognition
* Invest in design & research
* Enhance productivity through processes
* Create world class brands
This article is penned by Doreen Rosario with inputs from Arun Kuruvila.
[
Thursday 28 June 2007
Strategic Marketing - Best Practice to Next practice(part -1)
STRATEGIC MARKETING – Best Practice to Next Practice
This article is penned by Doreen Rosario with inputs from Arun Kuruvila,Sr Marketing Manager,Godrej Interio.
Godrej & Boyce co-sponsored a two-day National Marketing & Media Convention on Strategic
Marketing – Best Practice to Next Practice - under the aegis of the Bombay Management Association onJanuary 19 & 20, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. The two-day event saw several eminent speakers fromthe marketing, media and academic field share their thoughts, experiences and practice. This write-up focusses mainly on Dr Jagdish N Sheth, world renowned marketing guru and Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the University of Illinois, U.S.A. who was the key-note speaker at the above convention and was honoured with the Life-time Achievement award by BMA for his contribution in this field.
The subject chosen for Dr Sheth was Evolution of Strategic Marketing : Future challenges &
Opportunities where he historically chronologicaled the origin and evolution of the same. He mentionedthat a lot of marketing theory comes from practice as marketing is an applied, contextual field.
He spoke about the various following marketing frameworks/models:
· 4 Ps of Marketing
· SWOT Analysis
· Strategic Portfolio Management (BCG Model)
· Competitive Advantage Strategy (Porter)
· Customer centric marketing
· 4 As of Marketing (his contribution)
· Relationship Marketing
· Share of Heart Model
He also mentioned that strategic marketing & marketing are blurring their boundaries even as organizations became more and more market driven.As per Dr Sheth, Marketing, as we know it today, traditionally began with the 4 Ps of Marketing i.e.Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It was Prof. Richard Lewis who first started talking about the 4 Ps.
The first text book around the 4 Ps was published in the 1950s by Jerome (Jerry) Mc Carthy and later it was Kotler, the marketing genius, who publicized, exploited and took this concept to the world.The 4 Ps of Marketing all started with P&G’s strategy to reposition Ivory which was a bathing bar tocompete against Levers Lux which had captured the (niche) market by smartly positioning itself as a facialsoap against Ivory which was P&G’s growth engine (as well as had dominated America and the world then)and as it was imperative to get the buy-ins of every functional head in order to reposition itself in the wake of competition from Lux which it could not do due to certain ‘disconnect’ between the functions as per theorganization structure existing then. Thus, Camay came into being and to directly compete against lux.
Brand management as a concept emerged. Internal marketing as a forerunner to external marketing alsocame about and product manager as a co-ordination and resource gathering function came into practice.
This article is penned by Doreen Rosario with inputs from Arun Kuruvila,Sr Marketing Manager,Godrej Interio.
Godrej & Boyce co-sponsored a two-day National Marketing & Media Convention on Strategic
Marketing – Best Practice to Next Practice - under the aegis of the Bombay Management Association onJanuary 19 & 20, 2007 at the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. The two-day event saw several eminent speakers fromthe marketing, media and academic field share their thoughts, experiences and practice. This write-up focusses mainly on Dr Jagdish N Sheth, world renowned marketing guru and Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the University of Illinois, U.S.A. who was the key-note speaker at the above convention and was honoured with the Life-time Achievement award by BMA for his contribution in this field.
The subject chosen for Dr Sheth was Evolution of Strategic Marketing : Future challenges &
Opportunities where he historically chronologicaled the origin and evolution of the same. He mentionedthat a lot of marketing theory comes from practice as marketing is an applied, contextual field.
He spoke about the various following marketing frameworks/models:
· 4 Ps of Marketing
· SWOT Analysis
· Strategic Portfolio Management (BCG Model)
· Competitive Advantage Strategy (Porter)
· Customer centric marketing
· 4 As of Marketing (his contribution)
· Relationship Marketing
· Share of Heart Model
He also mentioned that strategic marketing & marketing are blurring their boundaries even as organizations became more and more market driven.As per Dr Sheth, Marketing, as we know it today, traditionally began with the 4 Ps of Marketing i.e.Product, Price, Place and Promotion. It was Prof. Richard Lewis who first started talking about the 4 Ps.
The first text book around the 4 Ps was published in the 1950s by Jerome (Jerry) Mc Carthy and later it was Kotler, the marketing genius, who publicized, exploited and took this concept to the world.The 4 Ps of Marketing all started with P&G’s strategy to reposition Ivory which was a bathing bar tocompete against Levers Lux which had captured the (niche) market by smartly positioning itself as a facialsoap against Ivory which was P&G’s growth engine (as well as had dominated America and the world then)and as it was imperative to get the buy-ins of every functional head in order to reposition itself in the wake of competition from Lux which it could not do due to certain ‘disconnect’ between the functions as per theorganization structure existing then. Thus, Camay came into being and to directly compete against lux.
Brand management as a concept emerged. Internal marketing as a forerunner to external marketing alsocame about and product manager as a co-ordination and resource gathering function came into practice.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
