Business Management

The malignant effect of the virus has taken over the lives of more than one lakh Indians. The statistics we see in the government portals just manifest the number of people directly affected by the virus. It is out of the question to put a figure on the number of people indirectly affected by the virus. One of the biggest victims of the lockdown is street vendors who earn their bread and butter on daily basis. These vendors have been non- operational for months and today with unlocking coming into the picture, people prefer to order online concerning safety. This ultimately made these vendors neglected with no ray of hope. The shortage of resources and non- affordability occludes these vendors from entering the digital space or even offering home- delivery. Recently, the government has partnered with Swiggy-India's largest and highest valued online food ordering and delivery platform to take these vendors online. The government’s decision does give solace to these vendors as th...

Social media and news channels are littered with photos and videos which shows that social distancing norms have become a joke in India. We rarely get to see scenarios where the rules have been adhered to. During this unprecedented times of pandemic where social distancing is the only vaccine available at this point, here is what fellow citizens from the northeast part of our country are doing. Can you imagine a shop without a shopkeeper-  are we even able to imagine that level of honesty? Such that a customer comes, takes what he or she wants, puts the money in a box as per the price tag displayed- No bargaining, no hassles for change, and complete social distancing which is the need of the hour. This is not something which is a new concept, faith in humanity has been prevailing in Mizoram since 30 long years now Travelers traveling along the highways of Mizoram and Manipur would find these unmanned shops which are called ‘Nghah-loh-dawr’ ( shops without shopkeepers ) in the Mizo-...

                                                                     Dear Corona Warriors, Where we all are worried about the health and well-being of our near and dear ones, we are aware that you have a family too. Thank you for prioritizing duty over family! Where we all are busy displaying our Culinary and Barbery skills all over social media, we are aware that you have not had a single drop of water in the past 8 hours and shaving your hair off just to minimize the spread of infection. Thank you for caring more about us than yourself! Where the world is on the verge of surrendering itself to this dreadful war, we are aware that you are there to save us even at this point. Thank you for showing us hope that we are going to make through these tough times and shine brighter! While so...

                                       A time when the entire world is fighting against Coronavirus and the cases are multiplying with every passing day, a very notorious case has been registered in Bombay High Court which is not the need of the hour. HUL that markets Lifebuoy has filed a case against Reckitt Benckiser that manufactures the Dettol's product line for negatively portraying lifebuoy soap. Amidst Corona crisis, WHO along with all the Central and State Governments are appealing to all the citizens across the globe to wash their hands frequently and practice social distancing. Lifebuoy and Dettol, both have been depicting their products as germ killers over all these years. One will agree that their Unique Selling Point coincides. At a stage where washing your hands frequently, is the most important thing to do, Dettol came up with an advertisement on the 12th of March...

Reading about Meesho’s journey reminded me of Arthur Ashe ’s lines- Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. A Business model that sounded like a marketing gimmick during its infancy is today the first Indian company to be backed up by the social media pioneer Facebook. A couple of months ago Facebook made an equity investment of 25 million dollars in Meesho. Founded in December 2015, what acted as a catalyst to make Meesho reach these heights in this short period remains a burning question. In a country where Ecommerce is still facing resistance, a person seems to be living under the rock if he believes that Ecommerce is booming and is profitable. If one checks the quarterly reports, it is clearly visible that crores and crores are wasted or lost due to problems like taxation policy, online payment safety, misuse of free return and cash on delivery facility, etc. After all these efforts the result is- Netizens do not trust these online platforms ...

     Each one of us would unanimously agree upon the fact that we are usually skeptical about drinking water quality in public utilities. Gone are the days when we used to get down at a railway station and refill our reusable water bottles in those drinking water taps, these days most of us would prefer to get a bottle of packaged drinking water. What drives us to get a bottle of Bisleri is the conception that it is safe for drinking with added minerals. The irony is there are also people who use these packaged water even for their household purpose since they are the ones who run out of time to fill water for drinking and household chores.      According to a 2011 Harris poll, 90% of pet owners think of their pet as members of the family. A couple of days ago on the Eve of Valentine’s, there was a beautiful image all over social media, of a lady celebrating Valentine’s day with her adorable pet. Have you ever thought of a packaged drinkin...

We all are aware of multiple brands which were the king of the market at one point and then saturated in a way never imagined before- One of the classic example being Nokia Any company cannot keep offering the same product for a long period of time. A research conducted by Forbes states that 'Customers are no longer Brand loyal.' They are absolutely comfortable in hopping from one brand to another, looking for what additional benefit they may get from this move. Nokia too had a strong team to invest in innovation and they too were doing complete justice, but the only thing that went wrong was they were not able to deliver quick changes as per the changing customer's needs. When Samsung and Apple came up with a more attractive option, Nokia started losing its market share to them. Talking about the other end of the tangent, if you understand the target customer's needs, you can set an example like the way NIRMA outshined even at its infancy when   HUL's Surf...

A couple of days ago there was an article which stated that India has been put under the HESITATOR category in accepting Electric Vehicles. Electric vehicle has less than 1% of market share as of now. Is it only about the Consumer Buying Behavior-Resistance to change or is there something beyond that? The entire automobile industry is going through the worst slump in two decades, Is Electric Vehicle the need of the hour? And the question goes on and on…… One of the biggest concerns in this country is the ’Rising prices of petrol and diesel.’ A middle class family’s dream of getting a car or using an owned one is always hindered by this. EV seems to add more fuel to the fire considering its maintenance charges. Poor Air Quality Index across the nation has grabbed adequate attention but when measures are taken to prevent and overcome such problems, it results into something like what happened with the notorious ODD-EVEN scheme in the Capital. ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ has created enoug...

    One of the biggest challenges FMCG market faces is Brand parity. You need washing powder you have 100’s of options right from Nirma to Surf excel. You need talcum powder you have Cinthol, Navratna, Ponds, Santoor and the list goes on and on….In this dynamic market what makes Lifebuoy stand out from the crowd? Is it its pricing or advertising?     It all started from ‘ Lifebuoy hai jahan tandurusti hai wahan ’ and then Bunty, tera sabun slow hai kya? Everyone vividly remembers these commercials as it made a special place in our hearts. One of the most interesting and catchy commercials of all time. Lifebuoy’s ‘Roti Reminder’ campaign at Kumbh mela can be declared as a pioneer in innovative marketing. Where other brands are limiting themselves to internet based mediums to bring innovation in their marketing strategy, lifebuoy went one step ahead by doing something which you would have never expected when you sat to have your meal at Kumbh. You open your Roti [...

         A Homemaker without an MBA degree is 1000 times better than what we are with multiple degrees. They effectively performed POSDCORB [Planing, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating, Reporting, Budgeting] even before Luther Gulick formulated it.     Who can teach you planing better than the one who plans the entire monthly budget and irrespective of the degree of financial emergency the family faces, she is ready with the money you need at that point. In this world where our plans are like chinese products [short term], every plan of her is bound to be long term.       Every item in the house is always well organized, right from the spoons you use to shoes you wear. Everyone of us knows 'Even if we search for something for hours we wont find it but if we ask our mom she is going to bring it in 0.00001 second.        Nobody in this world will lead you in the right direction the way s...

   Patanjali maybe slowing down in the market today but there is something different about Patanjali that can make it bloom again.      Patanjali has Ramdev Baba, probably a strongest brand ambassador you could think of when it comes to a brand like Patanjali based on ayurveda. Ramdev Baba is a synonym of Patanjali. As soon as he comes and talks about using swadeshi products everybody develops a feeling of 'Be Indian, Use Indian'      Nothing could be compared to Ayurvedic solutions for any health concern you have. Patanjali is potraying a healthy ayurvedic option for all your problems. In its advertisement Ramdev Baba himself is heard saying 'Aapke twacha ke nikhaar ko chin liya hai in chemical products ne tabhi toh hum prakruti ke adbhut bhandaar se leke aaye hai Patanjali ka natural skincare range' [ Your skin’s   glow has been lost due to these chemical products and hence we have brought these natural options for you by mother nat...

   The evolution of profit from being the only objective of a business organization to one of the many objectives is clearly evident in today’s market place. Today, in order to survive it has become mandatory for an organization to look beyond profit and with a bird’s eye view it needs to consider various other factors directly or indirectly associated with it.    3P's of Triple Bottom Line- PROFIT, PEOPLE and PLANET is gaining importance with every passing day. One of the most distinguished feature of these 3P's is that they cannot be ranked as per the degree of importance because all three are at par if one rates them. All these parameters are equally important to analyze the perpetual succession of any organization, be it a Sole Trading Concern or a Joint Stock Company. Ignoring any of these P's can lead to downfall of any operating firm.    Businesses are excogitating the unfolding, along with the desire of making huge financial gains they are a...

     VUCA, an acronym coined by US army to describe the world they were facing post-cold war is highly relatable if one compares it with the business environment prevailing in 21 st century. Gone are the days when the environment in which a business is operating is stable, controllable and certain. Today a Managing Director sitting in his cabin has to be always cautious since he is clueless what is going to happen next. Nobody in this world even a person with amazing psychic cannot predict what is going to happen in next micro-second or in next century, the world is VUCA-Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.       Like every coin has two sides this VUCA world also comes with plethora of opportunities and at the same time challenges, which one could never imagine of. No wonder it’s a hard nut to crack, if a business wins it conquers the throne, the key point here is what they do to gain such a good command over all these odds. Only thing...