New

(Daily Information Capsules for all those who want to fathom learning in all its depths)

Date: 18th March 2004

(To be used by faculty members AND a copy to be kept for students reference in the Library too)

CONTENTS
The following pages contain:
1. 2. 3. 4. N e w s T r a c k e r : The edit will give you links to important and happening news, which you just cant afford to miss. Follow the link and read the articles suggested. P o o l o f K n o w l e d g e : A collection of definitions and meanings of terms from a selected field of study. S p e c i a l i z e r : An article by the gurus on Management Fundamentals. Q u i z : A GK quiz on Current Affairs, Brand Quiz and Companies Punch lines etc., to check your reading habits and to hone your memorizing skills!

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NewsTracker
Instructions: We suggest you copy-paste the link on the address bar of your Internet explorer. Avoid keying it through your keyboard because it might be prone to errors.

DIVERSITY AS COMPETITIVE EDGE

India is yet to recognise the edge that pluralism and diversity can give it over its rivals . A pluralistic political system breeds a certain eco-system of talent, accountability and freedom of speech that global business places great value on. Without these, the quality of human talent can't be pervasive. India has stumbled through six decades of democratic institutions. Despite their imperfections, we remain one of the few bastions of freedom in the world. We are a country with many languages, religions and customs. Diversity is key to any innovative process, which is the only guarantee of economic leadership in this century. http://www.businessworldindia.com/mar2204/arbor_mentis.asp

ROLE OF RELIGIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR COUNTRY

Sri Lanka is among the smaller countries of the world. Yet it is the only country where four major world religions - Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Christianity - are present, all together, and each with large numbers of loyal and active members. To say that we are a religious people is more like asking a question than making a statement. For what is it that makes a people religious? We shall not attempt to seek an answer to this question here. Instead, we shall limit ourselves in this article to the statement that the culture of our people is a religious one. Even here there are two questions. What do we mean by culture? What do we mean by a religious culture? Read the article to get these answers. http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=542dab434695d5b0

FROM A GLOBAL VIEW, MARRIAGE 'AMERICAN STYLE' IS NOT THE ONLY WAY TO GO
Amid all the emotional debate on the gay marriage issue, some academics are objecting to definitions of the "human institution" that appear to stray from the facts they spend a lifetime collecting. No matter where you stand on same-sex marriage, the writer says, be aware that marriage American-style is just one global variety among many. Still, what remains constant is the relative novelty of the romance factor: affection between one man and one woman as a motivation for marriage is not the rule, or even the ideal in many places. No matter what shape they take, marriages across the world generally transcend the relationship between two individuals. They enhance solidarity between two groups. A very enlightening article, which tells you about how different the concept of marriage, can be in different parts of the world. http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=00b3049f18fee6bfe9709afbfa8bdc71

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OSAMA LOGIC FAILS TO FIRE THE INDIAN IMAGINATION

If the identity of the two Indians arrested for the devastating Spanish bombings is true, it has underlined once again that the al-Qaeda has no Muslim link in India unlike many other countries. Although India is home to the worlds second largest Muslim population, the terror network masterminded by renegade Saudi national Osama bin Laden has evidently not been able to strike any chord in the largely moderate Indian Muslim community. India is home to some 140m Muslims more than those in Pakistan or Bangladesh but the community has scrupulously kept away from the al-Qaeda and its many affiliates that have made South Asia their base. But we need to know more to come to the truth. http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=5ab522b926c89d36

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Pool of knowledge
All the terms and definitions that have baffled you all these days. Get acquainted with them and solve all your queries.

Marketing:
Full-Line Strategy - the decision by a producer to offer a large number of product variations in a product line. Full-Service Advertising Agency - an advertising agency offering a complete range of services including marketing research; media planning; creative design of packaging and advertisements, etc. Full-Service Research Supplier - a marketing research firm which can offer a client a complete range of services, including problem definition or conceptualisation, research design, data collection and analysis, and reporting. Full-Service Wholesaler - a wholesaler offering a complete range of services including buying, selling, storage, transporting, sorting, financing, providing market feedback and risk-taking; also called a Full-Function Wholesaler. Functional Costs - costs associated with a specific business activity, such as selling, advertising, marketing research, etc. Functional Discount - a price allowance given to a firm performing some part of the marketing function for other members of the channel of distribution; also called Trade Discount. Functional Organisation - the organisation of a firm's business activities so that a separate division is responsible for each business function - production, finance, personnel, marketing, etc; the organisation of a firm's marketing activities so that a separate division is responsible for each marketing function - planning, research, sales, advertising, distribution, new product development, etc. Functional Wholesalers - agents, brokers, commission merchants, etc. who facilitate exchanges between producers and resellers and receive commissions for their services; also referred to as Functional Middlemen. Galvanic Skin Response - a physiological testing technique in which the electrical conductivity of the skin is measured to check the level of arousal caused by an advertisement. Galvanometer - a scientific instrument used in marketing research to measure the reaction of a subject in a study to an advertisement; the instrument measures the perspiration that accompanies the subject's interest or arousal. Gap Analysis - the determination of the methods and techniques used to fill the "gap" between corporate sales and financial objectives and the current long-range forecasts of the sales team. Gatekeepers - people within organisations who can control the flow of information to members of the buying centre.

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General Electric Strategic Business Portfolio Planning Grid - a portfolio analysis and planning grid developed by General Electric; it uses a two-dimensional matrix based on industry attractiveness and business strength. General Public - all of the people in the society in which a firm operates; within the general public there may be some who view its actions favourably and some who view them unfavourably. Generic Advertising - advertising a category or class of product rather than a particular brand, as in "Butter is good for you!", "Feed the man meat!", "Drinka Pinta Milka Day!", etc. Generic Brand - a "no-name" brand; a product that does not carry a brand name. Generic Competitors - products which are all different in type but are capable of satisfying the same basic want of the prospective purchaser. For example, the consumer may want to buy some new kitchen appliances but must choose between a dishwasher, a refrigerator and a microwave oven. Generic Products - unbranded products identified only by product category. Geocentric Approach to Pricing - an approach to global pricing in which affiliate or subsidiary companies supply information about local market conditions and the corporation then sets prices accordingly to maximise profits in each national market. See Adaptation Approach to Pricing. Extension Approach to Pricing. Geocentrism - the view that the whole world is one single market. Geographic Deployment - the deployment of a sales team on a regional or district basis as opposed to a product-type or customer-type basis. Geographic Market Concentration - a distinctive characteristic of the industrial market; the industrial market tends to be more geographically concentrated than the consumer market. Geographic Organisation - the organisation of firm's marketing activities so that a separate division is responsible for each of its major geographic markets. Geographic Segmentation - the division of a otal, heterogeneous market into relatively homogeneous t groups on the basis of area, district, region, state, etc. Geographic Variables - area or regional differences used to segment a market.

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Specializer Firang brands find it tough in India-I

Its a brand that lives up to its name Killer. This denim brand, from an otherwise pacific-sounding Kewal Kiran Clothing company, is actually muscling up the power to hit the Rs 100-crore mark and pit itself against global giants such as Levis and Lee. Irrespective of new entrants, big global names, and local players with similar capacities, ad budgets and price discounts, Killer has ambushed the competition. It has clambered its way atop a heap where the trade acknowledges it as serious contender a challenger brand. Similarly, consider the fifth largest Indian footwear brand in the world Liberty. In late 2003 the tide turned in favour of branded footwear but even with three of the worlds biggest names in footwear, Nike, Adidas and Reebok, operating in India, in addition to the presence of Bata, an MNC thats been around so long its often mistaken for a desi brand, it was left to the home grown Liberty to really cash in. Liberty chose to strike from a lifestyle and fashion platform and associated itself with India Fashion Week last year. According to Adarsh Gupta, executive director, Liberty, We realised that while our brand was way ahead in technology (ahead of even Bata, which didnt invest in technology for years), we were behind in retailing. We are addressing this today through our Revolution stores. Today Liberty is a Rs 200 crore company, second only to Bata, and it is the fifth largest manufacturer of footwear in the world. Its a story that many in the FMCG marketing world would be familiar with smaller, nimbler competitors, often with a price-warrior ethos, have challenged giant multinational brands in categories like shampoo, detergent and soap. But theyre not just about price discounting, its more about identifying and occupying niches that the more established players have ignored and using these footholds to vault themselves into the big league. If it was soaps yesterday, its apparel today what next, marketers may wonder, as more and more consumer categories seem to face a new brand battle. The rules of the game have changed; being No 1 today means thinking and behaving like a No 2 player. Today marketers have to deal with competition not just from within the segment, but from new categories that are vying for the share of the consumers wallet. In such a scenario, its interesting that players such as Killer and Provogue have managed to carve a niche and have been consistent to their positioning promise thus far, opines BS Nagesh, MD & CEO, Shoppers Stop. We are the No 1 brand (in volume terms) and sell 1.5 million units. Currently our turnover is Rs 80 crore, but with a growth of 40 per cent we are nearing the Rs 100-crore mark this year, claims Nikesh Jain, finance controller, Kewal Kiran Clothing. In the absence of any organised data that the industry commonly could refer to, one could dispute Killers claims to leadership but then, none of the global biggies have staked out that position either. What is significant is that the trade acknowledges the strides made by Killer. Net effect: challenger brands are rearing their heads, holding out the promise that things will get even more exciting for consumers. At another level, the Rs 50-crore Provogue brand is actually readying itself for the day when international brands such as Gap will come into the country with their retail ventures. The Chaturvedi brothers who own the brand set the ball rolling when all eyes were fixated on casual-wear and wrinkle-free offerings: they launched a range that did not include a single white shirt the bread and butter staple of any menswear brand. We came up with very bright colours, looked at evening wear and talked of fashion, much before fashion shows became de rigeur for any brand launch. Its true we made some mistakes in the process, but

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the important thing is that we are still around and being retailed out of every major outlet in the country. We are gunning ahead with our own stores (48 as of now), have carried our platform forward and are consolidating on it, says an upbeat Nikhil Chaturvedi, managing director, Acme Clothing. In his forthcoming book Brand Switch, Jagdeep Kapoor, managing director, Samsika Marketing Consultants, discusses two scenarios: One in which a growing category attracts challenger brands; the other when a stagnant category sees challenger brands crop up. While in the former, the entrant adds to the growth, in the latter case, the sensitivity of existing brands to even a small challenge is very high, as they are not growing. Anyone can follow a leader, in fact, the leader itself often starts cruising on auto-pilot and begins to react. A good market leader is proactive, learns to identify when a new player, albeit a challenger, could often kickstart a sleeping category, or is a welcome addition to the market, feels Kapoor. Kapoor gives instances: Kelloggs kick-started the sleeping category of cornflakes and existing leader Mohun Meakins benefited; in telecom, Reliance IndiaMobiles entry let an already growing mobile market make its quantum jump. Hence, he feels that those brands that only crop up to snatch market share stand a lower chance of survival than those that not just gain market share, but also develop the category. The latter challengers are always more welcome and, therefore, stand a better chance of survival. In fact, Challenger brands are not necessarily the number two or three brand in the category they operate in. Challenger brands are deemed thus because of their mindset. For instance, Asian Paints is a challenger brand since it operates with a challenger mindset: constantly redefining consumer expectations, says Suhel Seth, co-CEO, Equus Red Cell. So its not as if Lee or Levis are fading out. On the contrary both vie for the No 1 spot in the premium segment of the market. Having said that, Suparna Mitra, business head - Lee, Arvind Brands, is upfront and realistic about sizing up to market reality: In the popular segment (below Rs 1,000) which has Killer, Spykar, Numero Uno, Lee Cooper our estimate is that Killer is the largest brand. But Darshan Mehta, president, Arvind Brands, has an interesting insight: He feels that smaller companies are much faster, to cash in on immediate trends in the market. They have far, fewer processes and often have the ability to personally address their dealer/consumer reactions. To be continued further.

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Quiz!
DIRECTIONS: For the following questions, choose the correct. Q1. Bakul Dholakia has been in news recently with which issue would you associate him? (1) Stamp Paper Scam (2) Taj Corridor Scam (3) IIM fee reduction (4) None of these Who is the author of the book The future of competition? (1) C.K. Prahalad (2) Sumantra Ghoshal (3) Michael Porter (4) Shiv Khera Which company has been advertising with Times of India for full-page cover sheet ads with the master head intact? (1) OPEC (2) GAIL (3) ONGC (4) None of these Grey India is a company, which deals in .. (1) Housing Finance (2) (3) Consultancy (4) Kiran Majumdar Shaw is the CEO of which company? (1) IndiaCorp (2) (3) Kinetic Engineering (4) Advertising B.P.O. Biocon HCL

Q2.

Q3.

Q4.

Q5.

Q6.

UBCE Unsolicited Bulk Commercial E-mail is popularly referred to (1) SAP (2) SAD (3) SPAM (4) SPAN What percent of public sector companies reported losses of Rs. 81,015 crore in 2003-04, the highest ever? (1) 25% (2) 50% (3) 75% (4) 98% Amar Bose owner of Bose Corporation announced plans to expand its retail present in India. What does Bose Corporation deal with? (1) FMCG (2) Electronics (3) Automobile (4) Software What does FICCI stand for? (1) Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (2) Federation of Indian Communication and Channel Industry (3) Federation of International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (4) None of these

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Q8.

Q9.

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Q10.

FRAMES is an annual convention organized in which field of business? (1) Entertainment (2) Advertising (3) Marketing (4) Banking With which company would you associate B.V.R. Subbu? (1) Maruti Udyog Ltd. (2) Toyota Motors (3) General Motors India (4) Hyundai Motors India Devandula Project of irrigating drought prone areas is being executed in which state? (1) Andhra Pradesh (2) Orissa (3) Rajastan (4) Tamil Nadu Camry is a product of which company? (1) Toyota Motors (3) General Motors (2) (4) Ford Hyundai GIANT Pantaloons Apparels Computer Components

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Q14.

Name the supermarket owned by the RPG group? (1) Shoppers stop (2) (3) Westside (4) What does the company Kobian manufacture? (1) Music systems (2) (3) Shoes (4)

Q15.

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Answers
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Ans.(3) Ans.(1) Ans.(3) Ans.(2) Ans.(2) Ans.(3) Ans.(4) Ans.(2) Ans.(1) Ans.(1) Ans.(4) Ans.(1) Ans.(1) Ans.(2) Ans.(4)

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