The Shriram Empire

Coming to the erstwhile Shriram business, the group had dominating presence in traditional business like textiles, sugar and chemicals. DCM was undoubtedly the flagship brand of the Shriram empire. A simple proof being that there will perhaps be very few households in India that wouldn’t have tasted the flavour of Dalda Vanaspati or felt the breeze of Usha ceiling fans. Unfortunately, the Rs.600 million Shriram Group (valued at the time of Sri Ram’s death) couldn’t grow, add to or even sustain the above list of ‘generic brands’, because in and after the Licence Raj, the group tried to diversify into many unrelated businesses, which proved detrimental to the entire group’s focus and liberalization simply emaciated the group. However, the most direct cause for the demise of the Shriram Group was a severe capital crunch owing to inability of the successors to bring in more capital to fuel their innumerable businesses (following demise of the founder).

To read more on IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...,

Also visit:

• IIPM Publications
• Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative
• Business & Economy
  

Source: IIPM, 4Ps, B&E

Hurd caught in a hurdle?

Chairman & CEO Mark Hurd has everything going for him currently, except for the law

Hewlett Packard finds itself in the hornet’s nest, yet again. This time around, the company’s top brass is not being condemned for a strategic blunder like in case of the HP-Compaq merger (the infamous Carly Fiorina exit), but are rather being held responsible for being a bit too smart for comfort (legal comfort that is). The accusation – implementing the practice of pre texting; misrepresenting the identities to obtain information about others. The imbroglio reached such a stage that Patricia Dunn, who became the Chairperson in 2005, was ousted on September 22, for initiating the boardroom leak probe. This has given way to CEO Mark Hurd, who now shoulders the Chairperson’s post and (needless to add) the burden of high expectations from the company stakeholders. And these expectations are not without reason. When Mark became the CEO of HP last year, he faced an uphill task of reviving slumping morales and sagging stocks. He proceeded with stringent cost cuts and in the process, fired a whopping 15,300 employees (10% of HP’s work force) over a period of 18 months. Under his leadership, the services division churned out an operating margin of 6.9% (up from 4.4% in the same period for 2005) and contributed a whopping 17.76% to the net revenue of $21.89 billion of HP for the quarter ending July, 2006. Meanwhile, HP also acquired Mercury Interactive for $4.5 billion in July 2006, hence strengthening its position in the soft ware sector. For complete information on IIPM Articles, please click here... , Also visit: Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Source: B&E and IIPM Publications

PSU advertising

The print and radio ads (equally touching), have also been created by O&M. And the next TVC is almost ready, which gives a miss to the kid, but nevertheless explores a 15 year relationship between a banker and an old man. So, is convincing a PSU client as daunting a task as it is made out to be? “It is a perception that they are not as savvy. The only thing is; you have 25 people sitting in front of you, asking all kinds of questions, some innocent, some intelligent. It is like dealing with parents and grandparents and guess what? They crack better jokes than all of us,” laughs Sagar. For those who still believe that PSU advertising is boring and the recent campaigns of LIC and SBI were nothing but ‘delightful’ accidents, the latest Bank of India campaign will force a rethink!

For complete information on IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Please also visit: B&E and Arindam Chaudhuri Initiative

Source: IIPM Publication

Some other IIPM Editorial Articles:

• You've got an ‘AD'
• And now, Big Mac to grow southwards
• Garib Rath ready to roll out
• Netting in more users
• Anil Dhirubhai Group
• Banking on ‘emotions’
• Beauty with brains
• Mauritius beckons!
• Gerard calls this, the ‘wheel of life’ exercise...
• Dreams on Wheels
• Perform a SWOT on yourself...
• Gerard O’ Donovan, CEO, Noble Manhattan, who has coached thousands of executives…
• 'Bank mein sirf paise jama nahi hote, Bank of India, Rishton ki Jamapunji'

Media: A Manna?

Amidst all of Anil Ambani’s ventures, truly, it is the media and entertainment business that might surprise a lot of sceptics. Having acquired a 51% stake in entertainment major Adlabs last year, Anil has firmly established his presence in the sector. The film production and distribution company, after the success of Krrish, has another 7 Bollywood films lined up for distribution, and is performing well in terms of financials. Just in the quarter ending June 2006, revenues increased 57% q-o-q. According to Manmohan Shetty, Chairman and MD, Adlabs Films Limited: “Since so many new players have come, it is not only a quality benchmark anymore; it is also a financial benchmark that comes into play. We have a constraint to not do certain things because there is a constraint as to how much you can invest on something; but if given the choice, we would make cinema viewing experience as best as possible... Distribution, film processing & exhibitions are all individual profit units.” More recently, Adlabs Films has bought a 51% majority stake in Synergy Communications (led by Siddhartha Basu and famous for Kaun Banega Crorepati, India’s Child Genius, Mastermind India and a host of popular series). Add to that Anil’s plans to launch Adlabs Radio by the name of ‘BIG FM’ that will launch 45 FM stations with a common radio frequency of 92.7MHz, and you have another potential winner.

For complete IIPM Research & Publication Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

Source: IIPM Publication and Business & Economy


Some other IIPM Editorial Articles:

• RIL is presently selling gas...
• ‘Energy’ Booster
• Growth in motorcycle market
• Recently, a group of senior lawyers and business executives ...
• The Cost of Capital: An International Comparison
• The chameleon changes its colour again
• Iraq war kills one more…politically
• Sydney Opera House
• The average rent per day in five star hotels in the city towered to as much as Rs.11,000...
• Don't walk out of your home
• Justice Jackson’s eloquent words at Nuremberg...
• Reservoirs of Lucre
• Toyota was a change agent
• Superman Returns
• Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commissions
• Wal-Mart’s International Growth
• ‘Rags’ to Riches

Online Sale of Gift Vouchers by various companies... (IIPM News Article)

With festivities on the anvil, various companies, equipped with newer innovations, are jumping into the fray. Leading the way is the home appliances major, Whirlpool, which has kick-started its seaon in the state of Kerala and is targeting sales of Rs.500 million during the Onam festival, and will be wooing the non-resident Keralites with gift vouchers. States Tamal Kanti Saha, Vice President (Sales) of Whirlpool India, “This is the first time Whirlpool of India is targetting NRIs for the online sale of gift vouchers.” Last year, the company recorded total sales of Rs.1.5 billion, out of which, gift vouchers alone contributed a whopping Rs.380 million. To cash in on the festival season, Electrolux Kelvinator Ltd. (EKL), the Indian arm of the Swedish major, AB Electrolux, is also making its intentions clear. EKL recently launched its ‘Onam festival plan’. States Madhav Nene, DGM Marketing, EKL, “The company is targeting a revenue of Rs.150 million during the festival in the state. Last year’s earning during Onam was Rs.90 million.” When it comes to campaigns and promotion, who can miss out the two Korean majors, LG & Samsung, to be breathing fire and waiting to deliver their trademark Korean punch once more. States Girish Rao, VP Marketing, LG Electronics, “Our festival season has commenced with the onset of the Onam festival in Kerala, where we are targeting a turnover of Rs.1.4 billion; a growth of 30% over last year.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri, Source: IIPM Publication

The Real Estate Prices :: IIPM Editorial

Firstly, this fall in real estate prices would affect employment and investment as the construction sector will hold itself back. Secondly, it would have a significant impact on the US & Euro banking system, which had outright financed this boom. With interest rates around the world going up, not only would money supply immediately be curtailed, but banks might also find more and more customers turning bad. But most worrisomely, the price depreciation in housing itself has happened only because consumer demand, and subsequent spend, on housing has gone down (and will continue to do so in the coming year). Ergo, due to the multiplier effect, consumer spending in other sectors would also cascadingly come down, thereby debilitating economic growth significantly. Well, numbers are even scarier. According to IMF, a 10 percentage drop in housing prices in the US could wane consumer spending by 0.5% to 1%, but most terrifyingly, it would bring down the US GDP growth rate by a whopping negative 2% within a year of such decline. Considering the fact that US still plays a major role in the Euro financial system, one can only imagine the cataclysmic impact the above would have on the Euro area. But strangely, no central bank, either in US or Europe, seems to be specifically worried about these issues.

For complete IIPM Editorial Article, please click here...

Source: IIPM Publication, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri

The first Green Revolution (IIPM Editorial)

In 1968, when the first Green Revolution was carried throughout India, the states of Punjab and Haryana benefited the most. Surprisingly, today these very states record some of the highest number of farmers’ suicides. If the figures given by the Agriculture Minister are something to go by, then farmer suicides have remained stable in the last few years, the average being 14-16% of active farmers. But is stability a parameter to decide that things are under control? Recently, Pawar said in an interview to a news channel, “Farmers’ suicides are normal things.” However, such statements from the Union Minister do not in any way undermine the urgency of reforms in this backbone sector.

For more on IIPM Publication Article, click here...

Source: IIPM - Business& Economy, Editor: Arindam Chaudhuri