The failure of Nokia…Why they couldn’t predict their fall

The failure of Nokia…Why they couldn’t predict their fall…over obsessiveness with the current strategy…Over dependency on Symbian…

Whatever may be…lets go to 2009 and find out the status of Nokia and the begging of the falling of Nokia

What I have written in 2009…

The genesis of tech boom of the past decade began during the recession of the early 1980s. Microsoft was born during the recession of 1974. Semiconductors came to market in the recession of 1957. Hewlett Packard was founded during great depression. Similarly the 2009 global downturn has inspired innovations. Innovation is relentless. It is impractical for companies to suspend their innovation initiatives during recession. Only innovation will help companies to face challenges and get opportunities in the post recession period. Those cannot innovate they are myopic and subject to elimination.

Mobile phone companies are finding it out hard and the worldwide phone sales plunged 14.5% from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 – down 9.4% on the same time last year, according to Gartner. Meanwhile smartphone sales increased  up 12.7% compared to the first quarter of 2008. Apple is doing well on the smartphone component, with the iPhone managing to get double market share and reaching 10.8%. It still runs along way behind Nokia, which accounts for 41.2% of smartphone sales (having slipped from 45.1%), and Blackberry which claimed 20% of smartphone sales. Here smartphones are still not looking good and only only make up 13.5% of all phone sales, but why are expensive devices weathering the financial storm as people otherwise curb their spending? For some, a smartphone is a phone that runs complete operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers. For others, a smartphone is simply a phone with advanced features like e-mail, Internet and e-book reader capabilities, and/or a built-in full keyboard or external USB keyboard

The future driver for a mobile phone is web and content. Market leaders like NOKIA accepting the challenge set forth by G1, Blackberry, and iphones. It launches its own Symbian Foundation, that is an open source software. The web now made by hand With NOKIA N96 and get ready to experience the power of ultimate convergence device today. NOKIA 5800 express music model is the first touch phone that launched in India. it is like the old dog is learning new tricks. NOKIA will soon unveil on online store for mobile application called OVI. Apple and RIM have already launched their application store. In india NOKIA has 190000 outlets 700 dedicated stores. It has tied up with HCL technologies to launch exclusive retail OVI outlets.

NOKIA was late in introducing touch screen technology and because of this Apple got the advantage. it could able to introduce N97 after 18 months of the introductions of iPhone . Synergy between device and services is the core concept for success. Nokia has planned to provide 20,000 applications to customers and already 160,000 developers are working with it. The Nokia 888 design has could attract the youngsters and can adjust to the recent developments in the market. In this mobile the technology support is that of liquid battery, speech recognition with flexible touch screen and touch sensitive body cover which lets the same understand and accordingly to the environment. It’s easy to carry as it can be bent and rolled and put into the cloth like a clip if not carry it around the wrist or as a usual phone. So this is one instrument that is form fitted for the youngsters. Provoke Design is Nokia’s main Design contractor and they have come up with future headset design of Nokia. They have created three concepts, Express, Share and Feel. The look of the Express design can be changes as per your preferences and tastes. The Feel handset is basically designed for couples as this pair helps in deep communication with touch replication. The share concept enables the cults to interact in a personalized code formed within their sub-groups. Another innovative design concept from Nokia, the morph concept. Featured in The Museum of Modern Art ?Design and The Elastic Mind? exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits to end-users. Developed by NRC (Nokia Research Center) in collaboration with the Cambridge Nanoscience Centre (United Kingdom), Morph is a concept phone that using nanotechnology which enables materials and components that are flexible, stretchable, transparent and remarkably strong. Scentsory is a mobile communication device that works with the senses of smell, sight, hearing and touch, giving users the ability to experience remote communication on multi-sensory levels. With the development of Scentsory, remote interfacing will become more biologically natural. The future of mobile communication is ready to take part in rich, multi-layered, multi-sensory experiences. In addition to basic audiovisual features, Scentsory is able to detect, transmit and emit smells. It can also radiate colours, lighting, and temperature from the caller?s environment. Green design from Nokia, this concept phone is almost entirely made of recycled materials, aluminum cans, old plastic bottles and car tyres for the rubber keys. The first prototype showed at Mobile World Congress show in Barcelone by Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. Although it is clearly that the inside chipset and electronics won’t be made from old tin cans, at least this ‘Remade’ Nokia concept phone will consume less natural resources and more energy efficient by cutting the power used to back-light the screen.

With the competition becoming high NOKIA is losing the market share.China and Korea market players playing the price card at the lower end. Nokia thus has little choice to make its phones more attractive by offering more services in every phone. Android, a cross platform OS for smartphones was released in 2008. Android is an Open Source platform backed by Google, along with major hardware and software developers (such as Intel, HTC, ARM, and eBay, to name a few), that form the Open Handset Alliance.

LET’S DISCUSS: HOW TO SOLVE A MARKETING CASE

A management case is typically a business situation or scenario where the consumer, the manager or the business organization as a whole facing a daunting task that requires discussion . This can be an interesting exercise to solve a management case. Case Analysis is a challenging situation where the problem lies any part of the company/product/competitors. The case can also be about a new opportunity to explore. It helps management practitioners to address some of the issues.

The marketing case can be a problem, a circumstance, a situation, a riddle, an example of a real client state of affairs. It can be an unspontaneous scenario, or a game—or a combination of all. It is an exercise that test our analytical thinking and how efficiently we can handle problem-solving questions. It is also a great opportunity for us to determine and decide whether consulting is actually right for us. We are expected to make concluding remarks with sound judgment as to which frameworks are appropriate and what components of those frameworks are most applicable to the problem at hand.

The frameworks are mere enablers that organize and guide our thinking. They are not the driving force behind the solutions and they certainly are not the solution themselves. The combination of our own intelligence, creativity, and preparation along with our involvement are the driving forces to solve a case.

Some of the frameworks we can use in marketing cases to solve are:

• SWOT analysis, TWOS framework,  
• Michael Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
• The Marketing/Strategy Concepts (4Cs like Consumer, Company. Competitors, Collaborators  and 4Ps) Marketing Mix Analysis
• Understand the Market, The Decision Making Units, Situation Factors, The Decision Making Process, Nature of Product, Product Use
• PESTLE Analysis
• Key Success Factors (KSF)
• Value Chain
• Financial Analysis (Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Financial ratios, Cash Flow Analysis, Time Value of Money, Net Present Value, Cost Accounting )
• McKinsey’s 7S Framework (Structure, Strategy, Systems, Styles, Skills, Staff, Shared Value)
• Strategic Groups
• Industry Evolution, Emerging Industries 
• Competitors Analysis
• Product Analysis (Positioning Map)
• Price Strategy
• Distribution Strategy
• Promotion and Branding Decisions
• Operations Strategy (Marketing Design, Competitive Advantage, Customer Needs, Corporate Strategy)
• Profitability Framework (Revenue, Cost)

Make sure you fully understand the question provided in the last section of the case and write it down, capturing all of the relevant details. Even if the frameworks are going to help you, do not try to force the case into a specific framework or use a framework verbatim like the 4ps or Porter’s Value Chain.

You can develop scenarios…You can refer similar situations if you have studied…Even though there might not be “a right answer,” there certainly are approaches that are better than others. Stay absorbed, Stay Connected on the problem at hand. Do not digress into detail that may not shed light on the issue just to sound impressive. Read the case properly and the information provided in the case should be the point of reference to suggest anything particular.Never bring issues that are not part of the case.

Let’s discuss Case Study WorkSheet

What is the problem of great importance? You can rank them

1________________

2.__________________

3.______________________

What is the reason of the problems?

What are the best options available to solve the problems?

1. Options advantages disadvantages
2. Options advantages disadvantages
3. Options advantages disadvantages

What is the best option?

1. The power of the option to solve the problem.
2. The impact of the option to solve the case
3. Legal points and other requirements to exercise the options
4. The cost or expenses involved in the option
5. The chance to apply the option efficiently and effectively

Build the scenario…

What is the plan of action/How to develop the plan of action.

you find the videos of William Ellet very interesting to know the case analysis.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

References:

https://hbsp.harvard.edu/casestudyhandbook/

https://wps.prenhall.com/bp_laudon_essmis_6/21/5555/1422312.cw/content/index.html

https://writingcenter.ashford.edu/writing-case-study-analysis

http://www.ibscdc.org/case-studies.asp

Humane Challenge and Technology Assisted Marketing

Technology has transformed the entire marketing dynamics in this decade. Changes are happening overnight and marketing workforce are facing equal challenges to adopt with the changes as they know these changes are inevitable to become competitive and thriving in this cut through competition both locally and globally. So how human beings are moving and gradually evolving in the marketing department with all the natural and man-made challenges entrenched with them. We are not slave to technology, yet we are not complete with this technology. Within the spirit of humanity how marketing is looking at technology as a pressure or responsive gesture in this world is the most difficult question to answer today.

1. This is a challenge of Digital Marketing or technologically enabled marketing
2. Can the marketing discipline catch the pace of technological advancement and the overlapping of many facets of technology in marketing processes
3. What would be paramount for the future of marketing: A technological robustness or a humanitarian side of marketing that understands the world better and contemplate for the sustainable development
4. How can industry prepare a marketing department in this technological enabled Marketing?
5. What are the adjustments industries and academia must bring to bridge the gap between the physical and digital interface in marketing functions?
6. What industry expect in a marketing graduate in this juncture?
7. How can we understand customers and how they understand the marketer?

These are some of the questions affecting both industry and academia. They are coming together to discuss debate and deliberate on many issues and they should suggest valid and pertinent points to new generation management practitioners and thinkers so that they can face challenges in the next decade.

Kabir Singh as a Brand and Radical Marketing

I don’t know why people like Kabir Singh, the character. He is not a perfect man…He is a big “zero” in anger management, alcoholic, chain smoker, drug addict and womanizer… Yet people accept him and spend three hours of their valuable time and money to pay attention to his story. There is something Kabir Singh in genuinely possess which draw the attention of the audience and make him the darling of the mass. I mean with all these negatives how a man can earn our admiration and consideration. Imagine if Kabir Singh were a Brand, would you still show the same kind of respect and inclination.

The question is…Do we find a brand having all the  qualities of Kabir Singh and yet liked by most of its customers …   

Kabir Singh is smart, good looking, Intelligent, honest, loyal to friends and committed to his goals in life. He loves to live life at extremes. He does not care about the rules of the society: any form of restrictions that is not rational and mere obstruction to lead a free and quality life. He can say what he feels…He can misbehave wherever he likes…He can cross all the limits … yet he labels himself as a rebel…As he says “I am not a rebel without a cause, not a murderer with a hand blade…” at the same time he is extremely possessive toward them whom he loves and cares. His love is his obsession and he wants to die for this obsession…he is honest to his self-esteem…He is honest to his job…Honest to his clients…Honest to anybody he accepts as part of his life…He is not conventional…

Did people liked his honesty…Did people like his spontaneity and impulsiveness…may be

The question is…Do we find brands resembling Kabir Singh, and equally hugely popular and unconditionally accepted by its customers … can you name few brands those fall in that category?

Yes almost all the cult brands that follow the Radical Marketing fall in this category.

Then what is radical marketing and what are those brands…

Few brands falling in this category are: Harley-Davidson, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Harvard Business School, Boston Beer Company

 They are different and they are loved…

1. Their senior management always mange the marketing functions
2. Their marketing department remains small, concentrated and don’t change the mind-set.
3. They always love to take customers response face to face
4. They are not biased with market research , always listen their heart not head
5. They recruit the passionate workers not the part timers (casual nature)
6. They genuinely love and respect customers and treat them as family members
7. They emphasize their customers to feel for each other and connected as a community
8. They change the marketing mix frequently
9. They are associated with ideas that are simple yet effective
10. They are honest to themselves and passionate about their growth

Similarly I find Kabir Singh is not affected by others and he has managed his life totally driven by his passion. He is clear about his life that he should be able face himself and he is not cheating anyone.  He has never shown any signs of fluctuations in his attitude. He is not shy to talk straight. He is very spontaneous. For him the real world is not what others are expecting, rather he has his own understanding of the world. He has listened his heart not his head. He was obsessive for study, friendship and love. He was not casual. His love for family members, friends and his girlfriend was wholesome. This transparency could force others to love him. That’s why anybody can forget the socially constructed rules and regulations, illusionary morality and love Kabir Singh. The noticeable part of Kabir Singh is that he himself does not endorse his life as ideal. Like a committed student, committed physician and surgeon he has never disappointed his profession. He is intensive and he wants us to ignore what we feel we can’t resist. This attitude of Kabir Singh is liked by the audience not ill defined misogynistic nature. If you are a preoccupied personification of ideal human being Kabir Singh is always open for you as a definition, clarification and criticism…But this is not going to change the love and affection for him…

Radical Marketing undertaken by most of the cult brands are always like the curious case of Kabir Singh.  We don’t know why they are loved…We can’t find a proper reason for hating them also…

The Journey of Marketing

Marketing concept has failed to ignite the new generation or new age management thinkers and practitioners to follow certain principles and ground rules while doing business. It is ill-shaped and ill-understood, because there are no minds that communicate the proper message. It is still suffering from the self-obsession syndrome. It never talked about strong principles to do business, customer treatment, principle to innovate, principle to manage natural resources, principle to treat and shape larger socio-cultural issues. It has never compelled the marketer to act, react and enact in a structured manner. It has talked about something from distance perspective not by involving the actual thought process. Marketing concept and its limitations in providing a proper direction especially in defining sustainability has made the larger intellectual discourse involving it for the last five decades irreverent and meaningless

Zero vs KGF: Over Confidence vs Hard Work

Marketing is always customer-centric. This statement is not new. But many forget the customers voice in marketing. This happens when you are gradually moving away from marketing and the self-centred approach is overpowering you. Yes, marketer is always facing the contradiction of his voice and the customers voice.

We all know the legacy of SRK. An legend in the cinema industry. He experimented in FAN…and this time his experiment is successful. But gradually his movies have gone beyond the head and heart of his beloved audience. in Zero without a story, he had taken the risk of entertaining the customers. it is like selling a product in a market where you find no need of that product. Mere VFX can’t help to win the hearts of customers. There was hardly a sense of reality in the story and this was the cause of disconnection with audience. Zero has not connected with the mass because we find a sense of restlessness in it. The movie is good in few positions but it is worst in maximum points.

Who is responsible for this failure?

A team that has not thought of failure, over confident, more concerned on digitally edited and adjusted work. In reality the team never cared for the audience. A self centered and over ambitious product failed in box office. If people say negative word of mouth has played a significant role in Zero’s failure , then who is responsible for this. Customer has every right to reject/negate a product.

Lets move to KGF … a complete package. This movie is a giant killer. Hard work…It connected the audience like love at first sight. as if the customer was searching for this.  It has a story that captures the audience attention…may be leading to the second part .The winner is south cinema, sandalwood.

Can a product go out of the hands of a producer: Issues of Autonomy and Accountability

There are many things we can discuss,  unfortunately we are helpless in discussing issues that have some connections with freedom and acceptance and respect. You might be wondering how this is going to affect the society. Yes it is society, that make a ploitical instance out of this freedom,we call Autonomy. And out of Autonomy we feel the inherent issue of accountability.

As a marketer I want my product to be under my control. I have developed it, I have nurtured it and I feel proud of it. I know it reflects my self confidence,my abilities to move on and my ego. My products are my strength. I feel powerful with them. So I don’t want to miss them. I need a complete control over  them even if the repulsive nature of the products will press me to leave them. But my point is that a creator needs tremedous amont of courage to free the creation to perform the way it needs to move ahead. This may be related with issues of Autonomy and Accountability…

Let’s be straight. Can educational institutions be given complete Autonomy and similarly can be expected high level of accountability from them?

The nation is the owner of an educational system. The political establishment is the watchdog, that understands the pros and cons of a good educational system. If the political establishment define education form the political thinking perspective  then the education system is unidirectional. the nation will always remain in the driver’s seat and drive the system. Here the system will move with political affiliation. This will happen because the producer in the form of government  has created a system which has no back bone to stand. It will demand Autonomy and Accountability is not assured.

How can educational system over turn the government influence,when the government has created this. Because to ask for Autonomy in higher education, institutions must leave the very idea of government. They need to be beyond the political influence. They need to be bigger than the political ideology that has created,controlled and crushed them.

So my observation is that let’s move beyond the control of the maker. Our new identity will make us more free,respecting actual Autonomy, and we are very much practicing accountability… in Western societies, educational institutions are the reflections of higher ideology, rather the political establishment follow them. So Harvad never asked for autonomy..No political system can give Autonomy to Stanford…

Pep Guardiola: A Leader and Transformer

This is a project report on leadership written in August 2010, when Spain won the FIFA world cup in South Africa. Yesterday when Manchester City defeated Chelsea to win the FA community Shield 2018, I remember the man behind the victory Pep Guardiola… 

Read my report in August 2010 …

This year Spain won the FIFA world cup with an exceptional performance by defeating traditional powerhouses like Germany and the Netherlands. This is more than an indication for ordinary fans to serious corporate thinkers. Fans are happy because a good team won the prestigious trophy by fighting hard and displaying sensational, attractive and dominating style of play. Corporate gurus are inquisitively content as they find a positive and passionate meaning has come to them by this bold and beautiful team display of Spain.

Spain is a country of tradition and people feel very passionate about sports. Football dominates the national dailies and the public is mad about their clubs. Winning world cup is like fulfilling a long cherished national desire and fans are happy because they feel Spain has done this as a great team effort not as any great individualist performance.

The recent success of Spain in football is definitely a case to examine in the context of understanding team and some specific related issues.

What is a team?

A team is a group whose individual efforts result in a performance that is greater than the sum of individual inputs. “What distinguishes a team from a group is the team’s commitment to its objectives, goals, and success. An efficient and productive team requires members with traits such as communication, motivation, creativity, trust, respect and leadership.”

Spain proved that they were more than team. “They are masters of the game,” Germany Coach Joachim Löw said after losing to this great team in the semi finals of the world cup. “You can see it in every pass. Take how Barcelona plays. They can hardly be beaten. They are extremely confident and very calm in the way they circulate the ball.” This confidence and cool style of display is born of familiarity. Each player seems to know where the ball is going to go when his teammate plays it because he has seen it go there thousands of times before in practice. The play maker Xavi Hernandez put it in a passionate manner, “this has been our responsibility since day one in South Africa. As a team, more or less, we made it.”

Mere individuals coming together and showing a temporary passion for unsecured and unsure goals and objectives will land them no where near success. Without proper communication a team is away from motivation and creativity, subsequently it loses trust and mutual respect, and then no great leader can save it from seeing the dark side.

Spain was one step ahead of others in framing a great team. They knew what they are doing for years and more importantly they have learned all these things bit by bit. Here comes the question how they become an effective team?

What influences a team?

Last week Joan Laporta, former Barcelona president pressed a comment that it is Barcelona which won the world cup. When you find more than eighty percent of the players of Barcelona are playing for Spain then he is perfectly all right. Barcelona has the tradition to honor the greatest players in the world. FC Barcelona is “more than a club” in Catalonia because it is the sports club that most represents the country and is also one of its greatest ambassadors. Also, for different reasons, FC Barcelona is “more than a club” for many people living elsewhere in Spain, who see Barcelona as a staunch defender of democratic rights and freedom.

Scope for free thinking and mutual respect determines team spirit. How many corporate houses give enough scope for free thinking and they really do counsel for mutual respect. People leave organizations because they feel their feelings and sentiments are not respected in a team.

FC Barcelona defends this spirit of humanity by upholding the higher human values. When the number of club members from outside of Catalonia and Spain is increasing daily and the club wants to respond to that show of passion for Barcelona. This has developed into a need and an obligation. And the best way for the club to do that has been to take a step further and become “more than a club around the world” as well. That is why the club has decided to contribute 0.7 per cent of its ordinary income to the FC Barcelona Foundation in order to set up international cooperation programmes for development, supports the UN Millennium Development Goals and has made a commitment to Unicef’s humanitarian aid programs through the donation of one and a half million euros for the next five years and now wears the Unicef logo on its shirts, an agreement that has made Barça unique.

When freedom and mutual respect becomes strong, it turns to obligation. A great team with strong passion for higher values feels deeply obliged. Corporate houses must create an atmosphere where the employees in a team must be feeling obliged to the organization and the greater social causes. This is the real cause of team shaping and sustainable growth.

How to nurture a team?

Barcelona depends on home grown players who join their football academy and feel strongly for the club to play and win. A player in Barcelona is no more an individualist; he has to be fitted in to the system. It is club and its values that matter more than the name and fame of a star player. Lionel Messi is a product of Barcelona Youth Academy and feels proud of playing for Catalan Club. The FIFA player of the year and undoubtedly the best player in the world feel passionate about the club as the club has taken care of his physical health when he required it most. Xavi Hernandez and Andes Iniesta are two names come close to every football lover’s heart. They are committed to the club because they know how they have leaned winning. Gerald Piqué, Sergio Busquets, and Pedro already play important roles for both teams. Unlike other clubs across Europe, FC Barcelona does not have a history of poaching young talented football players and they mainly focus in Catalan based players.  If one player goes, there is always another one ready to step up. Since 1979 La Masia has been the residence for the club’s youth players, but with the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper also fully completed, the boys will have a new modern home to train and live in.

Business houses must focus to develope a team when the team members do share some commonality. It has been proved that age and experience wise people work in a similar paced team and they feel easy to communicate and it does avoid unnecessary sense of superiority or negativity. To get good results from a team we must give them some time to find out their as per the team requirements

A team needs a leader /motivator/transformer 

Loved by his players, adored by fans Pep Guardiola has made quite an impression. If you consider the club is in Guardiola’s blood. As a player, He was always hundred percent motivated in games and training. Combining his passion for the club with tactical acumen and supreme man-management, Guardiola has brought the glory days back to Barcelona. As a Nou Camp ballboy turned midfield general, Guardiola was already a Barca legend – the local lad who rose through the youth system to win the European Cup as part of Johan Cruyff’s celebrated “Dream Team” and capture six league titles during seventeen years with the club as a player. Now he is realizing a long-held ambition to try to repeat that success as a manager. “He is a Catalan player who won the European Cup under Cruyff and the way he conducted himself was an example to every Catalan player for Barca.

“The team believes in his system,” De Boer, the former Barcelona and Dutch Captain confirms. Guardiola has not only won the hearts and minds of his players – he has also transformed them physically. To add to the talent he had, they now have the stamina to play the pressing game he wants. He’s got them fit enough to play that way. It is obviously very draining but, because they are super-fit, they can do it and they continuously harass other teams. People joke Pep Guardiola a Ballboy, a captain, a coach – from the Barca cradle to the grave. Guardiola’s search for the perfect preparation has seen other, more subtle, changes too. He may be strict, and demanding, but Guardiola has also gained respect.

When he is on the hot seat Barcelona is more than a team. Each and every one is important for him as long as the individual is committed and dedicated for the team. His team is winning not because the catholic dominance Barcelona public has the mercy and blessing of God, but it is their self belief and talent as a team to understand each other and play selflessly to win for the people who believe in them and feel proud for them.

A team needs a leader who understands the system better.

Another man who influences the Spanish players the most is Vincent Del Bosque, the Spanish national coach. He received the prestigious prize of Asturias award for sports on 22^nd October 2010. On that occasion he cited that the core values of the team as the key to success in South Africa. He said the team won the world cup by staying loyal to its rules of “effort, sacrifice, talent, discipline, solidarity and modesty.” He also emphasized that the players who won the world cup had been loyal to those principles and those fair play and honour. For him the team is beneficiaries of certain status of certain privilege and responsibilities that cannot be ignored. “We lead and give voice to a universal phenomenon (football) whose significance can not be denied, one which encourages us to strive to be better each day.

What does Spain’s victory in 2010 FIFA world cup teach us ? 

The present corporate leaders accept the above information as a success story with lots of inspiration to take and experiment in the organizational behaviour studies. A team always needs a leader and a leader must know his team members and the necessary accessories that more or less spell their part to confirm a success or failure tag. Conventional team building and team working concepts do emphasize the same sort of voice but time has come we should find new source of inspirations to feel fresh. Team’s members must view themselves as a group, they should show a sense of interdependency, they must be willing and prepared to back up others and at last members must provide and accept feedback. Last but not the least the team leadership is important

This case of Spanish victory in recent concluded world cup has raised few eyes about successful team formulation, development and dynamics. Suddenly the world recognized their passion for sports and team building fundamentals.

 

 

Corporate Selections: The chosen ones and the special ones

Every organization has this dilemma of selecting the best employees. There are conditions that demand and dominate the decision making while recognizing talents and hiring for greater organizational associations. Many a time the situation is a complete chaos and decision making bodies of organizations are confused to connect with the reality. The corporate selections remain unidirectional, unconvincing and under-performing. And results are far reaching, mostly compromising.

So how can you select the best ? is he/she is a special one or a chosen one.

A special one has those abilities no one can acquire. He/she is quite unique. In your entire career you only meet, interact and recommend few spacial ones. He/she is the surprise package of the day.  It may happen that his/her distinct unique qualities remind your weaknesses and lack of abilities. You feel content, complete and carried away when you interact with him/her.

A chosen one is a complete package. He/she has qualities you feel you have and you connect with his/her ideas in a common platform. He.she has done hard work and this hard work is quite visible in his/her approaches. You are not surprised here. But the problem with the chosen one is that he/she remind you that there can be at least a quality you miss while interacting with him/her. This makes the chosen one incomplete, invariably sidelined.

So what should be the ideal pick?

I can say that we must look for a combination of special one and chosen one. I will call him/her the complete one. He/she must remain the connecting points of both. I am happy if Mourinho was the special one and Moyes was the Chosen one. But for me Zidane was the complete one. He was special as a player and assistant . He was the chosen one by the authority who felt that his stature can manage the ego of many big egos in a team like real madrid. And he did wonder by wiwinni UEFA champions league. And Most importantly he was the lucky one.

Qualities of a good student of marketing

Learning has no limits. You can learn from every tiny element of this universe: you can find the most negligible as the most eligible. So what you require is a positive mentality. A strong will power and a strong believe in your ability. And you have a zeal to start and finish a task even if there are problems and visible impediments.

So what are the qualities of a good marketing student…

1. He has no fear of failure.

2. He has no fear in repeating things even if multiple attempts are resulted in failure. He resilient, rigid and rigurous.

3. He is confident…he is not confined to any prejudice.

4. He is determined and this is visible in his attitude. He will not rest until he finished his task.

5. Targets are challenges for him. He has no fear for targets. He accepts every challenge.

6. A good marketing student has high level of common sense…

7. He has no stopping…every task accomplished goes to planning phase. He keeps moving…

After following all these you can realize that a marketing student define success everyday…every moment…every second.

Why India said no to Tata Nano?

I am sure you will look at a Tata Nano with the same feeling of rejection what you had almost ten years back…nothing changed. As the last unit of Tata Nano has been produced in Sanand Factory, Gujurat the same question of rejection surfaces again. Ask the common man, you will be surprised to know the reasons of rejection.

1. Tata Nano was a concept car, a prototype of it’s kind. But it remained as a concept car till the last unit, couldn’t come out of that tag of concept or experiment.

2. There was a hype, promotion in media. It was a promotional success, yet the product was less emphatic. Had there  been a low profilepromotion and publicity, Nano could have got a slow but steady start. The fast and furious promotion killed the product with over exposure and over analysis.

3. The common man never wanted a car of less than 1 lakh…Did he ask for a car. Probably he wanted a better product in society than in his family. So he respected the concept of a car with possession and passion. Nano was neither fit for possession or passion.

4. Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mystry saga brings back the point of strategic decision making and strategic alliance. But Nano was not fit for any replacement and even not fit for auto aggrigators.

5. The name “Nano”was not a wise choice. It could have been “Tata Transformer”… It should have the power to transform the common to acceptable…rather it made the accepatble more common. The initial hype and booking belonged to the class not the mass.

Whatever may be the reason…It is fact that marketing of Tata Nano was a case of Marketing Myopia. There was over emphasis on product, narrowly defined Research and Development, lack of socio-cultural understanding of Indian consumers expections over a specialty product and so many publicity stunts.

This is a case of Tata’s desire to transform the business but they were destined to be transformed…

CR7 is moving to Italy: A lesson for marketing

I am not his fan. I don’t know why I feel sad for him as he leaves for his new challenge in a new league with a new team. He is making things easier for him,but difficult for others to analyze and accept. It is very agonising that a great league like La liga will miss the most charismatic and prolific striker of the game.

Is Lionel Messi going to miss him?

Is Marketing going to miss him?

Yes…Christiano Ronaldo as a brand will be missed. His fan following with Real Madrid will be missed. We will be missing a potential and natural crowd puller. Over all he will be missed on the field and off the field.

The departure of CR7 is an indication of many strategic changes made by Spanish Giant Real Madrid and these changes will definitely seal the fate of a league that may not be same if Catalonia league will be a reality and FC Barcelona will be no more to challenge in every aspect of marketing.

How football world and sports marketing will change post CR7 era…

1. Italian league will get lifeline.  An old market will get a new product to revitalize and increase sales. Italian league is missing starpower.

2. Messi will follow the same path and will move to any Milan clubs in next year so.This will shift the same rivalry in a different country with different marketing strategy. I am sure Messi will leave Barcelona and he will struggle to find an image in post FIFA and post CR7 era. If Neymar moves to Real Madrid, then Eden Hazard will move to FC Barcelona. And a new generation of world class footballers will take the game to new heights.

3. This can be tought as a case study of   managing product obsolescence.

4. If Florentino Perez is having a master plan, then this move will be anther case to consider. No product is greater than the market…a marketer must bring changes for a good cause. Dynamism is marketing.

5. Recent developments of Italian football need to be analysed. Study the ownes issue of AC Milan as another development.

6. CR7 is going to bring a new spirit to Italian football. As he has not moved to MLS ,I can predict a marketing strategy for him,and for the Italian league.

A game needs CR7 to fire all cylinders and bring some competitiveness.

 

 

 

The Entrepreneur need to be a Marketer

Long time ago I had a discussion with one of my friends regarding setting up a restaurant. He was a man of money, courage and risk taking ability. Yet he was more concern for this new business venture. He had a plan.

1. The restaurant has to be the best in the town by having best food
2. It must be having the best chef
3. It must be having the best support staff

This can’t be the plan to succeed in this competition. What he missed was the touch of marketing… 

I could remember the movie The founder (2016) a biopic which was directed by John Lee Hancock showing us the journey of Ray Kroc, a salesman working with , McDonald brothers to start a food chain or restaurant in southern California in 1950s. 

I want to discuss the scene that presents the inner mind of a entrepreneur who understand  marketing… (courtesy: http://www.imdb.com)

Dick McDonald: I just have to ask you one thing. Something I’ve never understood.

Ray Kroc: Alright.

Dick McDonald: That day we met, when we gave you the tour…

Ray Kroc: Uh huh. What about it?

Dick McDonald: We showed you everything. The whole system, all of our secrets. We were an open book. So why didn’t you just…

Ray Kroc: Steal it? Just, grab your ideas and run off, start my own business… using all those ideas of yours. It would have failed.

Dick McDonald: How do you know?

Ray Kroc: Am I the only one who got the kitchen tour? You must have invited lots of people back there, huh?

Dick McDonald: And?

Ray Kroc: How many of them succeeded?

Dick McDonald: Lots of people started restaurants.

Ray Kroc: As big as McDonald’s?

Dick McDonald: Of course not.

Ray Kroc: No one ever has and no one ever will because they all lacked that one thing… that makes McDonald’s special.

Dick McDonald: Which is?

Ray Kroc: Even you don’t know what it is.

Dick McDonald: Enlighten me.

Ray Kroc: It’s not just the system, Dick. It’s the name. That glorious name, McDonald’s. It could be, anything you want it to be… it’s limitless, it’s wide open… it sounds, uh… it sounds like… it sounds like America. That’s compared to Kroc. What a crock. What a load of crock. Would you eat at a place named Kroc’s? Kroc’s has that blunt, Slavic sound. Kroc’s. But McDonald’s, oh boy. That’s a beauty. A guy named McDonald? He’s never gonna get pushed around in life.

Dick McDonald: That’s clearly not the case.

Ray Kroc: So, you don’t have a check for 1.35 million dollars in your pocket? Bye Dick.

Dick McDonald: So if you can’t beat’em, buy’em.

Ray Kroc: I remember the first time I saw that name stretched across your stand out there. It was love at first sight. I knew right then and there… I had to have it. And now I do.

Dick McDonald: You don’t have it.

Ray Kroc: You sure about that?

Ray Kroc: Bye Dick.

So What is the success story of McDonald’s…The founder was there to take risk and he knew business is not all about what the ordinary humans do. Business is all about the ideas that stay loyal to you and you have the courage to connect that idea with the customers. Indian entrepreneurs are focusing more on operational side of business. They are less focusing on marketing…What is the restaurant represent? what values drive the restaurant ? Who is the customer and why he would pay for? What is the point of differentiation? What is the branding strategy? What is the communication strategy?  If  someone is passionate about business, he/she should ask these questions to the business world “How can I be the best in the eye of the customer…How can I be satisfying the ego of the customer…”. Only a marketer can find solutions to this…  

Marketing Research

Why we should conduct research?

This is a valid question for you, if you are inquisitive.  If you are critical to many issues that affect you partially and specifically then you are at the right place to ask questions. If you feel life is hardly questionable,then don’t look at research and a career involving reserach activities.

We should conduct research

1. To question the world that has accepted many things with and without verifications. As things are changing there is a scope for asking again and again…

2. Things are complicated …Relationships are complicated, so finding everything under a given circustance is equally questionable.

3. Research is a movement…moving closer to a problem identification and solution.

4. Research is active mind looking for changes that may change the fate of many.

5. Research is entertainment if you feel you have a solution…let’s find the problems.

Marketing Simplified: Temple City becomes Smart City

We have been familiar with the branding of Bhubaneswar as temple city. Majority will accept that this tag was quite appreciated in multiple forums. More than six hundred small and big temples make the state capital a unique place. Temple city as a concept justify the city.

Recently, the smart city concept has  been over mounting the temple city concept. Many will accept that smart city concept is a marketing strategy. This is part of city rebranding. This is all about infrasrtucture, development and growth. This is a new form of marketing, keeping the future in front of present and forgetting the factual past.

So what you find in smart city Bhubaneswar is a point to marketing. This includes the selling of a city’s expectations, branding the product people are desiring and advancing to a competitive environment of urbanism.

So marketing is always progressive, persistent to new ideas, and hope for future. This can be called a creative approch to reconnecting with a target audience that value it and identify with it and feel that it is really possible.

What is Management Philosophy?

What is Management Philosophy?

Why the MBA course covers some subjects and why there are few subjects left over?

Do our approaches to MBA is westernized and what extent Indian cases and scenarios have been used to infuse in management study?

Cross-cultural issues, technical improvements, consumer expectations are some of the points do confuse modern manager.

Has every manager need to develop his own philosophy?

Is flexibility in approach is the right philosophy?

What is Indian approach to management?

Where and what aspects Indian managers put more emphasis?

How far the management theories are generic?

What extent the management theories are relevant or timely?

How far critics are entertained inside the classrooms?

How far new ideas and new concepts and new theories have been communicated?

Is management as a science has developed or not?

How far the infusion of ideas in management education balanced the international management?

Is management as a subject or discipline is moving from a state of disorder to order or vice versa?

How far managers think as a freeman and how far organizations provide scope and freedom to nurture a philosophy that defines and defends business.

We must say that Peter Drucker has rightly pointed out efficiency and effectiveness…

 

 

 

Journey of Marketing Philosophy and the Practice of Sustainability

Marketing Researchers in late 70s have raised the fundamental differences between marketing concept and stakeholders’ concept. It is doubtful that a company committed to marketing concept, may or may not be committed to stakeholders’ concept especially to the extent of practicing sustainability.  It has been found that by emphasizing innovation as part of marketing concept, we have only enlarged the size of the market by adding more customers and bringing customization into the equation. But it is questionable how many innovations in the last three decades have addressed the concept and practice of sustainability. For us marketing concept has paid the price for two reasons, first of all it has been projected as the core management philosophy, which is not right and secondly corporates and organizations have developed low-grade marketing practices to defend this. These substandard marketing practices have repeatedly neglected sustainability issues and contributed significantly by opening a huge gap within the marketing philosophy that predominantly preached the customer-centric approach. The question is who are determining the bases of marketing practices in the organizations. Do we find major innovations that has happened in last five decades that talk about sustainability? Do we accept aim-less, short-term customer gratification oriented innovation as a part of marketing orientation? Is customer really the center of marketing concept?

Demanding Quality Management Education: Realize Your Role

When we talk about higher education, certain things come to our mind. Higher education can lead to better employment or better living conditions. Higher education can make you socially and economically sound. You may find higher education changing your own understanding of issues generally ignored and unaddressed by the general mass. It make you a complete human being. You realize your importance and you take the challenges to ensure the society to acknowledge the thought process you accept and determine. So higher education transforms you to a complete, dedicated and responsible citizen.

The role of higher educational instructions are equally important to propel the message of social transformation within the objective of individual growth and development. India has not yet understood the importance of having quality higher educational institutes which deliver the larger objectives of holistic knowledge assimilation and acceptance of progressive cultural changes. Irrespective of this functional limitation we have talented and equally determined youth which dream to be successful and committed to deliver in their respective fields of specialization. In this context management graduates of this nation do show a lot of promise and hope.

The question of right approach to management education has been raised in different forums under different circumstances with different objectives associated with. But, whatever may be the level of argument, the hard reality has been the up-gradation and acceptance of new technological and advanced form of pedagogy to encourage a new form of dealing to this discipline. So here the management education requires the overall understanding of its stakeholders’ aspirations and a sense of adjustment. Quality management institutes have already stated this change process and the results are really amazing. Online projects, online discussions, case study method of analysis, management games, simulations, using online forums for ideation and collaborations, research oriented class room assignments, professional presentations, career enhancement certification programs/courses (Capstone, Loma, Markstat, English-Pro, Six-Sigma), industrial visits, Guest lecturers series and foreign students exchange programs are defining this new facet of management education. So these dimensions that enrich management education ensure maximum student participation and involvement. This also empower the benefited management graduates and put them in a different league.

So it is indispensable to know and enquire about those management institutes which have taken the advanced stages of management study revolution and already mentoring the students to reach a new height that is expected and demanded by the society and the nation.

Quality management education is your right, but you have to be equally demanding it.

What is Marketed?

What is marketed? It means these items or points can be used in a exchange process…

1. Goods-(physical goods) Cars, Television sets (which can be touched)
2. Services- (working within for the companies) airlines, hotels, beauticians (mostly intangible, inconsistent, requires involvements etc.)
3. Events- (time based events) Trade Shows, Artistic Performance, sports events like Olympics
4. Experience- (create, stage and market experience) Walt Disney’s Magic kingdom
5. Persons- (celebrity marketing) SRK, Virat Kohli
6. Places-(tourist spots and special places) Cities, States and Company head quarters
7. Properties-real estate and financial properties
8. Organizations- (organizational activities) Philips “let’s make things better”
9. Information- encyclopedia, magazines
10. Ideas- (the basic idea) “In the factory we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope”

What about something like:

– Apps and websites

These are pointing out some of the developments in digital platforms. So Market place and market space has its advancements in the field of marketability.

 

Marketing Concepts: Exchange and Transaction

Exchange – “Exchange is the process of obtaining a desired product from someone by offering something in return.”

Transaction – “transaction is a trade of value between two or more parties.”

Exchange and Transactions

Exchange, the core of marketing, involves obtaining a desired product from someone

by offering something in return. For exchange potential to exist, five conditions must

be satisfied:

1. There are at least two parties.
2. Each party has something that might be of value to the other party.
3. Each party is capable of communication and delivery.
4. Each party is free to accept or reject the exchange offer.
5. Each party believes it is appropriate or desirable to deal with the other party.