Our sweetest songs are those that tell us of the saddest thoughts. Fantastic! However, it is better to recall that every flower enjoys the air it breathes. It has been years since a few blokes last felt the soulful bliss. What followed thereafter was ennui?
Levin in Anna Karenina pondered whether we just live for the sake of belly. His belly was full by dint of legacy. So is it with most of us, which gives us time and space to think of the Godhead. The literature is endless. But it rarely provides the divine insight that is so naturally and obliviously present in a simpleton. Are we caught in a time warp?
There have been persistent efforts by all to get closer to the divine. It mostly takes us away from it. Few say love is worship. Few say work is worship and so on and so forth. To an idle adult this exploration is not essentially a quest but an escape route. Does the confession of this crime bring levity to soul? Few hope it does!
The luxurious quest for the divine is an anomaly. And the idleness has so viciously established its foothold in the prodigal but indolent spirit that a sabbatical is only a farce. The mental age is a deterrent. The fascination of a Yogic state holds true but the path is extremely difficult. The seasons immediately revolt and uproot the determined psyche. It is not only the ephemeral flower that wilts away awaiting or even completing the blossoming phase. The spirit fades into oblivion even when the body is living its sad course. To worsen the idleness there is a conflict between optimism and pessimism in which the latter rules the roost. Osho says that man is basically optimistic by nature. The belief that there will be the next breath is optimism per se. Life goes on with optimism. But it is true for the real life. What about the ‘plastic’ life?
What enormous strength is required to remain dispassionate amidst the whirlpool of plasticity all set to devour the human soul! Plasticity of this kind detests the freedom of human soul. And it is a monster few can escape.
Work keeps the soul away from many overwhelming confusions, which afflict the idle ones more. The confession has assuaged the injured consciousness a bit.
When one thinks of work, myriad images get conjured up in mind and one gets lost in the labyrinth of hierarchy. Someone else holds the reign and we are made a puppet of certain antiquated norms. They are antiquated because they can seldom rise above the lethargy of status quo. What gets lost in the process is the ‘I’ in one. It sounds contradictory when one says that there are so many layers of ‘I’ that even that is the genesis of labyrinth of ego. However, the latter one is destructive in nature as is based on the dead pattern of conformity. The former is constructive as it evolves from creativity. Both reside within the same soul and therefore create a confusion of likeness whereas they are poles apart.
Within a soul the latter exists parasitically at the expense of the former and the soul is led to believe that both are indispensable to each other. The difference is more palpable when there are moments of love and it seems that latter has vanished and the former has acquired even the better but morphed aspect of the latter-that of creative submission. This creative submission is different from servile conformity.
Love is the mother of all emotions. Even the painful longings have a ‘yogic’ detachment from the materialistic desires. This is the microcosm of the pinnacle of bliss- that of getting united with the divine. The divine flashes to give a glimpse. Thereafter the soul forgets the flash and complains that there is no sign from the divine despite persistent efforts to seek union with Him.
Monday, December 14, 2009
a patchwork of few cases
I found a floating patchwork of cases through which I am trying to find out the nature of the cases.
Traditional market allocates the available resources in the form of legacy. In this only the individual needful is produced and the surplus is exchanged with valuation and in comparison with some other product. This was earlier known as the barter system. Traditional economy had its loopholes they needed to plug-in like lack of currency exchange system, lack of quality products etc…
In this Asterix story, Gaulish village followed traditional economy paradigm.
There was the lack of common currency for them and the quality of fish sold in market was pathetic. As these both-market and trade- were replete with oligopoly, quality was a trade-off because of fewer dependencies.
On the other hand in a competitive economy there is no oligopoly and it encourages competition between different people to sell a particular product. With the emergence of competitive economy there came a paradigm shift in the ways the traditional market operated.
The comic story of Asterix and Obelix makes us understand the way capitalistic markets behave before and after they came into practice. Obelix and other folk members of Gaul used to hunt boars, drink magic potion, and lived life with gay abandon. The monarch of Rome planned to invade Gaul but Obelix thwarted his ambition by defeating Roman warriors. Julius Caesar then craftily employs Preposterous who taught at Latin School of Economics to teach the Gauls a lesson by his marketing strategies.
Preposterous falsely engages Obelix in manufacturing menhirs by doling 200 sesterts (Gaulish currency) initially and goes on doling increasing sesterts to engage him in always producing the otherwise dirt-cheap menhir. He gets the funding from Caesar. Ergo, there was an articial creation of demand by Preposterous and this made Obelix wealthy soon. Seeing his wealth others in Gaul started making menhirs and aborted their convention line of business (LOB). Very few were now hunting boars or catching fish in Gaul.
This infectious enthusiasm caught Rome and it also started producing relatively worthless mehirs. This spread to other countries too. There came a point of time when valuation for menhir got back to its realistic rate and then it led to an economic downturn. Menhirs were no longer in demand and those engaged in producing menhirs found themselves jobless. The economy of Rome and Gaul collapsed too.
The lesson from this story is that any demand, which has been artificially created or inflated, is bound to find itself plummeting in the natural course.
This is what is happening in the recessionary eras, especially in the recent one, perhaps the largest recession experienced after the Great depression in 1930.
Rome can be found analogous to America, which is reeling under a sub-prime crisis, created due to artificial demand for the housing bubble, which got bust. Gaul can be analogous to India, which has been dependent on American economy, but has managed to remain insulated and back to the original and happy ways very soon. Preposterous can be analogous to the economists at Wall Street who speculated greedily and took all sorts of wrong decisions leading to the entire world order thrown in the state of economic downturn.
This can be an interesting paradigm on how capitalistic system, with little checks and balances, can go awry. It also signifies how greed and incorrect understanding or manipulation of demand and supply can detrimentally damage economy on such baleful scales. Last but not the least, life of content and happiness is also a gift, which we fail to realize in our urban machinations.
Q1. How has Natureview succeeded in the natural foods channel?
Unlike the major players in the US yogurt selling brands-Dannon, Yoplait, and Beyers, Natureview used natural ingredients in its recipe for yogurt manufacturing, which became its USP in the natural yogurt foods market. As a best practice, it prepared yogurt from milk of cows untreated with rGBH , an artificial growth harmone misused by the major US brands talked above to increase milk production unnaturally. This best practice used by Natureview increased its shelf life to 50 days vis-à-vis 30 days of the top brands, enabling it to cut significantly on building multiple production plants. However, Natureview did not go for a trade-off with high quality and wow taste.
Therefore, Natureview’s yogurt became a big hit in the natural foods segment and facilitated it to liaise with big revenue churning natural food retailers like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, who also found its high quality and tasty natural yogurt immensely good as it was also based on creative, low-cost ‘guerilla marketing’ strategy. It offered higher margins over other dairy products. Over a period of time the natural food retailers became the niche and loyal customers of Natureview. The consumers were also loyal to Natureview’s yogurt as it was more health-supplementary. Besides, for more than a whopping 58% of US households, organic foods if lesser priced were in the highest priority. Natureview’s yogurt consumers rose in numbers majorly by dint of its excellent relationship and marketing activities synergistically with natural food retailers. By the year 1999 Natureview Farm captured 24% in the Natural Foods Channel and became the market leader in this segment.
Q2. What are the two primary types of growth strategies under consideration by Natureview?
Natureview is mulling over entering in supermarket channel and also over retaining its niche leadership presence in natural food stores who majorly helped it growing as big as it is now since its inception. The strategy was also to reflect and thereafter execute differences in business models, consumer audiences, and distribution systems per se in both channels.
Q3. How do the three options compare financially in terms of yearly revenue, gross margin, required investment and profit potential?
Option 1. The calculations using Exhibits 3 and 6 reveal that estimated profit using this option was approx $89100000 for Natureview not taking into slotting expenses in consideration. It leveraged a good shelf presence, besides incurring lesser slotting expense. It also had significant revenue potential as 8 oz cups represented the largest dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market. This segment was growing at a breakneck speed and Natureview was correctly positioned to capitalize effectively on this. Last but not the least, Natureview wanted to tap the first-mover advantage as there were rumors of its leading competitor in the natural foods segment was planning to make a foray in the supermarket channel. They currently generated a gross profit margin of 36%.
Option 2. The calculations using Exhibits 3 and 6 reveal that estimated profit using this option was approx $37500000 for Natureview not taking into slotting expenses in consideration. Despite 32 oz cups representing the smaller dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market vis-à-vis 8 oz cups, they currently generated an above-average gross profit margin of 43% vis-à-vis 36% of 8 oz cups. Besides, owing to this products longer shelf life Natureview had been able to capture 45% chunk in the pie of this segment and could easily have extended this leadership in 64 supermarket retail stores in supermarket channels. With only higher slotting expenses being the flip side, it was compensated by much lower marketing expenses pegged at $120000, which was only 10% of that projected for the 8 oz cups.
Option 3. The calculations using Exhibits 3 and 6 reveal that estimated profit using this option was approx $5770000for Natureview not taking into slotting expenses in consideration. This option seems to have its demerits superficially as it does not proffer higher profit and due to a host of other planning reasons. However, gross profitability of the line was 37.6% and the future growth potential was immense with 15% projected CAGR over the next 5-year and it could have lead to be yielding the strongest profit consideration of all the considered strategies.
Q4. What are the strategic advantages and risks of each option? What channel management and conflict issues are involved?
Option 1. Like mentioned before, option 1 leveraged a good shelf presence, besides incurring lesser slotting expense. It also had significant revenue potential as 8 oz cups represented the largest dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market. This segment was growing at a breakneck speed and Natureview was correctly positioned to capitalize effectively on this. Last but not the least, Natureview wanted to tap the first-mover advantage as there were rumors of its leading competitor in the natural foods segment was planning to make a foray in the supermarket channel. All this indicate that upside potential of Option 1 was immense.
The caveats were that the requisite quarterly trade promotions and meaty marketing budget incurred a lot of expenditure. In addition to this, sales, general, and administrative expenses(SG&A) were also a rip-off in this option 1. This could delay the break-even and could also result in lesser market share.
Option 2. Like mentioned in the earlier question, despite 32 oz cups representing the smaller dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market vis-à-vis 8 oz cups, they currently generated an above-average gross profit margin of 43% vis-à-vis 36% of 8 oz cups. Besides, owing to this, products longer shelf life, Natureview had been able to capture 45% chunk in the pie of this segment and could easily have extended this leadership in 64 supermarket retail stores in supermarket channels. With only higher slotting expenses being the flip side, it was compensated by much too lower marketing expenses. Launching a 32 oz cup in the supermarkets could make them stand in the competition of bigger brands and increase visibility and could also create awareness in the customers in the supermarket channels.
The risks as perceived by Natureview were that this multi-use size may be warily considered by new users. There was also skepticism over the credentials of the sales team’s competence in achieving full distribution nationwide within a year.
Option 3. Like mentioned in the earlier question, gross profitability of the line was 37.6% and the future growth potential was immense with 15% projected CAGR over the next 5-year and it could have lead to be yielding the strongest profit consideration of all the considered strategies. This option had perfect positioning in the core sales channel and had an easier distribution facility.
The risks were manifold. This option seems to have its demerits superficially as it does not proffer higher profit and due to a host of other planning reasons. Its foray in the supermarket channel could have risked the ire of natural food retailers more, who had enabled Natureview to stand to a position where it was now. It also lacked the requisite skill-set to enter the supermarket channel and was underprepared from marketing, sales, branding, and channel-partner arrangement perspectives.
Q5. What action plan should the company pursue? What changes in the current marketing mix, sales, brand, and channel partner arrangements do you recommend in order to implement the action plan?
Apart from mulling over which option to choose to enter in the Supermarket channel, Christine Walker, Vice President of marketing for Natureview Farm Inc., should start negotiating with Natural Food channels, their niche clientele and the ones who enabled to scale such heights from the company inception onwards as to how venturing in the supermarket channel with similar products priced 15% lower vis-à-vis natural retail channels will not dent the latter’s profit margin but will help them to understand themselves too how to effectively make a foray in a competitive market. The strategic cues derived from Natureview experience will also help them get a better hang of the shape of things to come, despite losing the first-mover advantage in certain variants.
That done, they can also offer the natural retail channels to enter in the supermarket channel in collaboration. For that both will need to do a detailed SWOT analysis of the feasibility of it and analyze whether it will lead to a definitive synergy or not.
Going for all the options in a piece-meal approach can be done by Natureview. However, it needs to raise the bar first wherever they find the Achilles Heel in marketing, sales, distribution, networking or any other underperforming department.
Skunk works can be done to forecast effectively with cautious optimism and staffing can be done afresh for it, if need be arises.
1. Why do so many countries want to get back on gold standard after World War I?
World War 1 turmoil brought economic upheavals across the entire world leading to swing in capital inflows. Gold became the international currency even in the backdrop of World War 1 turmoil. To fill in the money supply countries resorted to gold standards whereby they were able to go for ‘convertibility’ of notes into gold, which had become necessary.
2. Why did Sweden give up the gold standard in Sept. 1931?
Britain had a dominant influence on many other countries, which were recoupled. On September 21, Britain abandoned gold standard. Moreover, because of drastic fall in Swedish reserves gold continued to flow out of the bank and out of the jittery public. This lead to Sweden too abandoning the gold standard in order to preserve the domestic purchasing power of Krona using all available means.
3. Was Sweden helped by its statement that it would use “all available means to support the domestic purchasing power of krona “?
Sweden intended to impart the public definitive stand points for estimated future developments in prices and also to establish superiority of the new consumption index vis-à-vis other index series. The domestic purchasing power of the Krona was prone to fluctuations in the existing wholesale indexes. The development of new index was an important touchstone in the implementation of the price stability policy.
4. Why the Riksbank starting 1931 does, appear to be foreign on export rate stability?
Stable exchange rate was imperative at the monetary policy in Sweden post-1931 as it facilitated planning in both the planning and labor markets. Recommendations were made to increase rates when prices were rising and vice-versa. If it was not done it could have ramifications on real wages and on meeting immediate or pending liabilities.
5. Why was Sweden a pioneer in marketing and fiscal policies?
Sweden had a good pack of economists at the helm after the change in Social Democrats government. The emphasis was on the bigger picture by ensuring stable price for consumer goods. In lieu of it, the monetary policy makers pioneered to redeem beyond depression damages and thereafter ‘improve the internal price level and the needs of Swedish life.’ The stakes of the country were deemed higher than anything else. In this way, Riksband became the first bank to declare price stabilization as its policy norm with a floating exchanging rate.
Prima facie Tanishq, the jewelry division of Titan, the watch selling division of the famous Tata corpus, does not seem much too bogged down with any problem in dipping of sales even by comparative standards. It is uniquely poised as the numero uno in the niche upworldly mobile Indian with a market capture of 70% in the India’s total jewelry market, especially in urban market as it sells high-end gold and gem studded jewelry that is branded akin to western standards.
However, Tanishq launched an out-and-out plain god wedding jewelry GoldPlus in India’s smaller cities and rural locations by dint of research and development team’s strategy of implementing this as pilot in two locations initially for nine months and thereafter deciding further based on the performance metrics of the same within nine months, GoldPlus showed healthy signs of progress.
Tanishq, positioned by design as a western brand, has morphed latterly as a strategic rejig to cater to the conservative but modern Indian woman. Even as an oxymoron this segment exists in huge economies of scale. The brand still carries some baggage from its past. GoldPlus, on the other hand, is a new brand that is positioned to serve the plain gold wedding jewelry market. A variety of strategic, economic, organizational and brand investment reasons make the decision an important one.
REFERENCE: http://harvardbusiness.org/product/tanishq-positioning-to-capture-the-indian-woman-s-/an/507025-HCC-ENG?N=0&Ntt=Product+positioning
Tanishq or GoldPlus has ambitiously target a billion dollar sales by the year 2010. In India the consumer psyche is different in the jewelry segment as women in India are more enamored with gold, jocularly called the ‘behanji types’ and they value gold as ‘Streedhan’. Ergo, their capture of psyche was imperative for Tanishq to aggressively increase sales. In mofussil areas gold is an integral component and is wearable in many forms such as necklace, nose or ear rings, rings generally, nose pins et al. Women love to wear ornate gold designs as a force of habit. The audience analysis of GoldPlus should have been majorly focused on smaller town women. Tanishq was able to tap its niche market segment by dint of aggressive marketing like co-sponsoring gala fashionistas’ events like Femina Miss India contest, Milan Fashion Week et al and it also roped in Kolkata-based famous designer sabyasachi Mukherji as a brand endorser once. All these paid dividends. Nonetheless, not much was done on the girl-next-door front. A celebrity like Gracy Singh of ‘Lagaan’ fame or possibly Bollywood actor Vidya Balan with whom smaller town girls are better able to relate to vis-à-vis any sultry siren like Sheetal Malhar who appeared in a D’damas ad.
Buoyed by successes of watches in Titan, Tanishq was launched to tap similar potential in jewelry segment. Despite few failures initially in generating sales for Tanishq, it geared itself to meet the challenges by deciding to market precious studded jewelry under the Tanishq brand. As it happened in Titan’s watch segment, initially awareness had to be created by establishing service centers and by other means that electronic watches were actually better than obsolete mechanical ones and that indigenized Titan watches were the best solution. This strategy worked wonders and Titan became the numero uno within a decade beating public-sector HMT, its arch rival in this segment.
The Indian jewelry value chain largely remained initially an unorganized industry with more than 30 lakh ‘karigars’ or workers laboring hard to produce gold artifacts. The entire business paradigm was more focused on paying the karigars on a per gram basis as monitored by a head karigar. Less focus was given on innovating newer designs or styles. The skunk works in this case were not in place in Tanishq.
The development phase followed in Tanishq more so in urban areas because of other reasons besides quality standards and aggressive advertising. The consumers were willing to dole enough money in those areas for a fashionable cause like gold purchase. The years 2000 onwards witnessed a surge in profit booking for Tanishq along expected lines because of a slew of diversified products within the gold segment that Tanishq proffered. Tanishq rebranded itself from the year 2003 onwards that it was not just for the help English speaking fashion savvy modern women of India but also for women who had the eclectic mix of modernity and tradition. The perceived snob quotient of a typical Tanishq consumer was strategically alleviated and the other half of the society was imparted a new self-evolved transformed but grounded image of the Indian women in Tanishq ads.
Tanishq designed jewelry for the not-so-hit but critically acclaimed Oscar nominated fairytale bollywood movie ‘Paheli’ shot in the backdrop of rural Rajasthan, thereby envisaging again its changed focus on the market segmentation. The movie captured the lure of intrinsic psychological shifts in proclivities of a typical Indian woman, a motif that was supposed to lure the typical market towards GoldPlus. It tried to tap the majority of the jewelry market (well nigh near 85% and 42 million odd plus crowd). The positive effects shone as Tanishq stores had 80 stores spread across 60 towns across the length and breadth of the country.
Then came the paradigm shift from branding GoldPlus or Tanishq as ‘jewelry as adornment’ to ‘jewelry as investment’ considering that urban jewelry market was worth 24000 crore rupees vs 36000 crore rupees in the rural market. Moreover, ‘jewelry as investment’ market was alone worth 48000 crore rupees. Karatmeter, a machine that, in three minutes, measured the karatage of gold without destroying it, was introduced by Tanishq to authenticate the customer the genuine quality of gold and leverage the already famous Tata brand. It took care of the 18 carat gold segment alongside the more popular 22 carat segment and tried to spread the message that without a trusted brand one can be duped into buying a 14 carat gold considering it to be a 22 carat one. In the year 2000 itself more than 5000 women tested karatmeter and found themselves duped under under-karatage. The sales that year hit Rs. 100 crore mark and it inflated genuinely in the years to come.
Besides Bhaskar Bhat. Titan’s managing director and Venkat, head of Tanishq, marketing heads realized that the mark-up of 15% to 25% in Tanishq was not compensating for their stringent stands on the carat front in certain local markets. This also led to markup losses and to cut cost they put a moratorium on television ad costs by putting them on the hold.
Then ensued pilot project plans by Bhat in mid-2005 to launch GoldPlus outlets at two smaller towns- Erode and Ratlam. Supply chain costs were amply taken care of and multiple locations like these were shortlisted and the message was loud and clear for any average gold customer in these areas, “The tata name is like gold in India” and that “There is no company more trusted.”
Then again incentivization process by means of quizzes rewards, giveaways like car gifting on Diwali eve et al ensured rural market penetration of GoldPlus especially in Erode and not that much in Ratlam comparatively speaking. However, Ratlam experience provided Bhat with an insight into the failure of a model with no under-karatage problems.
So far it had been a smooth sail. Resentment started brewing hereafter as Tanishq staff got euphoric and started feeling that GoldPlus’ success in Erode was a flash in the pan and could not easily be replicated in 20 plus locations. Then again GoldPlus’ success anywhere was due to the principles that Tanishq imbued in it and it did not deserve further expansion as it could cannibalize the operations of Tanishq-its parent company. There was an inadvertent strain that developed between the two companies, which became the dilemma for the top brass of Tanishq.
Bhat and Venkat were already perplexed over the complexities that could arise with the foray of other major players in this segment like DeBeers. Then again they had to penetrate other target potential locations. The stand-off, even if it was a minor one, between Tanishq and GoldPlus was totally uncalled for. Bhat and Venkat need to call a centralized meeting of all the employees of Tanishq and GoldPlus staffers to resolve any notional issues, if any. All must understand that they are not disparate entities but a part of Tata fraternity, a legacy which rare staffers inherit.
It was very complacent of employees of Tanishq to believe that they had captured the psyche of Indian woman, something which even Hindu gods dreaded of doing- in a lighter vein so to say. The behavioral attributes of Indian woman- rural or urban- was far more complicated than could have been dreamt of in heaven and earth, Ergo, skunkwork needed to be done more on this niche segment for Tanishq.
Bhat and Venkat ought to realize that India is way more diverse and geographically agrarian to justify two pilot projects and then draw a hazy conclusion, which most of us tend to do while we hit the black boxes. The franchisee model was 90% and should have been exploited to perchance over 100 kindred locations on a pan-India level. For a brand like Tata and with huge undisclosed money flowing in such kindred locations finding the franchisees would not have been a bottleneck. However, it is mandatory to have checks and balances by implementing standardizations of systems, which is a cakewalk for a company of Tata flagship.
Besides, companies like Mcdonalds have already proved that apart from imparting quality products revenues can be created by ways of renting franchising models as the legendary Ray Krock managed to do even after the age of 50 plus.
By any chance, in a country so diverse as India consumer psyche what to say of just a woman psyche becomes so different that a wee bit of punter attitude will only be tantamount to be a calculated risk, if practiced.
Innovation is still the prime mover for any company to succeed. GoldPlus is in the process of improvising on it. Here is a brief lowdown on how they are trying to do that:
GoldPlus, a mass-market jewellery brand from the house of Tata (Titan Industries) was launched at Bheemavaram and at 15 places across Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and has received resounding acceptance from the consumers. GoldPlus is targeted at semi-urban and rural areas and aims to herald standardisation in a largely undifferentiated market by establishing quality benchmarks.
The Bheemavaram GoldPlus showroom was inaugurated by Meera Harish, head, strategy planning, Titan Industries.
Promise of purity
Speaking at the inauguration of the GoldPlus showroom, LR Natarajan said, "Gold has tremendous historical, religious, cultural, social and economic significance across our country. However, the absence of standardised practices in markets often leads to a latent fear among consumers about the purity of gold. GoldPlus from Tata aims to create awareness about gold purity and thereby set new jewellery standards in Bheemavaram."
Harvest, marriages and festivals are the key drivers of jewellery purchases in Bheemavaram. GoldPlus aims to establish an emotional connect by participating in every gold purchase need of the consumers with the promise of purity.
Pure gold, sheer variety
An extensive range of over 5,000 designs in 22 kt plain gold and diamond jewellery will be offered in the showroom to cater to the needs of quality-conscious consumers of Bheemawaram. GoldPlus stands for purity and fulfilling promises, and in line with this, purity certificates would be provided for all GoldPlus jewelry products, which guarantees the purity mentioned with the ornaments.
Backed by Titan's experience
GoldPlus will leverage the design and retail expertise of Titan Industries to present market relevant offerings catering to local tastes and preferences. The product range, showroom ambience and marketing efforts will showcase the company's superior understanding of local consumers. Titan's investment in IT and retail will further enable GoldPlus to achieve cost-effective supply chain logistics, which will deliver greater value for our customers.
Innovative golden schemes for all
GoldPlus runs a monthly saving scheme called "Golden Future Savings Scheme", which offers buyers the benefit of getting more jewelry than what they have paid for. The scheme allows consumers to plan future purchases in advance and pay for them in easy instalments. An attractive gift would be available for all the enrollers.
REFERENCE: http://www.tata.com/company/releases/inside.aspx?artid=iEryTTxfKjE=
Tanishq needs to do legworks to revamp its marketing strategy in order to brace up to the challenge of changing business dynamics. It can be perceived as a double whammy or a synergy but will inevitably benefit the Tata corpus in the jewelry segment. Bhat and Venkat need to keep on reminding Tanishq staffers the good work that will simply propel their sales growth without doing anything extraordinary but by simply following the basics as they used to do earlier. Sometimes, out-of-the-box thinking is not required. In lieu of it, conventional tested model of success needs to be practiced further. Here is an example how Tanishq did it once. They can do it again and indefatigably so. Yes, they can!
High-end jewellery retail chain, Tanishq, is likely to see a 15-20 per cent rise in gold jewellery sales in the current financial year even if prices remain volatile, a senior company official said on Wednesday.
The jewellery division of Titan Industries Ltd. would be able to increase sales as the clients it targets are not very averse to high prices, C.K. Venkatraman, chief operating officer of Tanishq, said in an interview.
"Tanishq's customers are slightly above average in terms of income and quality consciousness, therefore less price-sensitive," said Venkatraman. "My sense is that volume growth for jewellery alone would rise by 15-20 per cent (in the full year)."
Sales of gold coins and bars could see an even bigger growth as investment-driven buying of the yellow metal catches on in the country, he said.
Venkatraman said consumers are more brand conscious from 10 years ago, when Tanishq began operations - a trend that could help boost its appeal.
"We have typically been getting stronger in the wedding segment," he said. "This has driven our sales significantly."
Also, the aggressive advertising and promotional activity undertaken by the company during April to June, could push gold sales further, he said.
In April-June, Tanishq's net profit fell to 55.8 million rupees from 92.4 million rupees a year ago.
Venkatraman said the decline was largely due to the increase in expenditure on brand building.
"We have made a lot of investment in advertising and marketing in the first quarter, which will pay off in subsequent quarters," he said.
Across India's bullion industry, high and volatile gold prices have affected trade with many dealers speaking of a sales drop ranging from 5 to 40 per cent last month.
Gold prices have risen significantly since the beginning of the year and have been quite volatile, touching a 26-year peak of $730 an ounce in May, before tumbling to $543 in mid-June.
On Wednesday, spot gold prices were at $648.1, a rise of 50 per cent on year.
Tanishq plans to open several new retail outlets by end-2007 taking their number to 100 from 82 now, Venkatraman said.
Tanishq contributed 32 per cent to the net profit of Titan Industries in the last fiscal year that ended on March 31.
REFERENCE: http://www.financialexpress.com/old/latest_full_story.php?content_id=136052
Violation of rules is consequential of lack of ownership. If a person is made to feel that he owns a particular task it instills a trust and he does the task better as he is the master of that task and is not enslaved in it. Once work at Wixom was over the workers were deemed redundant and small favors like mailing paychecks were not considered necessary.
The roles assigned at Wixom were extremely confined and there was no scope of power enhancement that could have triggered independent decision-making that majorly results in extra and positive contribution. The workers were doing the run-of-the-mill work leading to ennui. Fatigue in the speed of the line had majorly triggered half a dozen local strikes of United Auto Workers Unions members at other auto assembly plants in the past few years.
Job empowerment often motivates the worker to walk the extra mile for the organization and there was simply no time for the Wixom management to mull over it as the only focus was on churning out cars at a breakneck speed unmindful of the future prospects (or lack thereof).
Hiring process at Wixom was not meticulous as it should have been. It was done just because there was demand for manpower due to rapid turnover and a major expansion of Wixom. However, foresight was missing as unskilled or incompetent workers did enough mistakes that were detrimental to Wixom’s success in the long run. For example, a few workers messed up with installation of color vent plates because they were colour-blind and there was no check-up for colour-blindness during the recruitment process. Most of the workers were dissatisfied with the wages they were receiving and the management at Wixom was blissfully oblivious of the resentment that was brewing within the workers. There were fair chances of it imploding, which was very harmful for Wixom. Leave aside poor wages, there was no incentive to perk up the motivation of the workers, which was already at an abysmal low. There was always the risk of the worker switching over to other company because of a pay-hike.
Besides, the work was mind deadening in the sense that same work was done day in and day out leading to no value addition. The unintelligible work killed the human being inside the workers and made them a ‘Robot’ aptly summed up in the command, “When you are at job, leave your mind at home.” Eventually, the efficiency in the worker was lost.
Handling diversified portfolios and exchanging duties can be the possible solutions of this malaise. Instead of a single job being done by the worker all throughout, different jobs in different time slots can be allotted to insure that the worker breaks free of the monotony. This can lead to higher efficiency and productivity of the worker.
Traditional market allocates the available resources in the form of legacy. In this only the individual needful is produced and the surplus is exchanged with valuation and in comparison with some other product. This was earlier known as the barter system. Traditional economy had its loopholes they needed to plug-in like lack of currency exchange system, lack of quality products etc…
In this Asterix story, Gaulish village followed traditional economy paradigm.
There was the lack of common currency for them and the quality of fish sold in market was pathetic. As these both-market and trade- were replete with oligopoly, quality was a trade-off because of fewer dependencies.
On the other hand in a competitive economy there is no oligopoly and it encourages competition between different people to sell a particular product. With the emergence of competitive economy there came a paradigm shift in the ways the traditional market operated.
The comic story of Asterix and Obelix makes us understand the way capitalistic markets behave before and after they came into practice. Obelix and other folk members of Gaul used to hunt boars, drink magic potion, and lived life with gay abandon. The monarch of Rome planned to invade Gaul but Obelix thwarted his ambition by defeating Roman warriors. Julius Caesar then craftily employs Preposterous who taught at Latin School of Economics to teach the Gauls a lesson by his marketing strategies.
Preposterous falsely engages Obelix in manufacturing menhirs by doling 200 sesterts (Gaulish currency) initially and goes on doling increasing sesterts to engage him in always producing the otherwise dirt-cheap menhir. He gets the funding from Caesar. Ergo, there was an articial creation of demand by Preposterous and this made Obelix wealthy soon. Seeing his wealth others in Gaul started making menhirs and aborted their convention line of business (LOB). Very few were now hunting boars or catching fish in Gaul.
This infectious enthusiasm caught Rome and it also started producing relatively worthless mehirs. This spread to other countries too. There came a point of time when valuation for menhir got back to its realistic rate and then it led to an economic downturn. Menhirs were no longer in demand and those engaged in producing menhirs found themselves jobless. The economy of Rome and Gaul collapsed too.
The lesson from this story is that any demand, which has been artificially created or inflated, is bound to find itself plummeting in the natural course.
This is what is happening in the recessionary eras, especially in the recent one, perhaps the largest recession experienced after the Great depression in 1930.
Rome can be found analogous to America, which is reeling under a sub-prime crisis, created due to artificial demand for the housing bubble, which got bust. Gaul can be analogous to India, which has been dependent on American economy, but has managed to remain insulated and back to the original and happy ways very soon. Preposterous can be analogous to the economists at Wall Street who speculated greedily and took all sorts of wrong decisions leading to the entire world order thrown in the state of economic downturn.
This can be an interesting paradigm on how capitalistic system, with little checks and balances, can go awry. It also signifies how greed and incorrect understanding or manipulation of demand and supply can detrimentally damage economy on such baleful scales. Last but not the least, life of content and happiness is also a gift, which we fail to realize in our urban machinations.
Q1. How has Natureview succeeded in the natural foods channel?
Unlike the major players in the US yogurt selling brands-Dannon, Yoplait, and Beyers, Natureview used natural ingredients in its recipe for yogurt manufacturing, which became its USP in the natural yogurt foods market. As a best practice, it prepared yogurt from milk of cows untreated with rGBH , an artificial growth harmone misused by the major US brands talked above to increase milk production unnaturally. This best practice used by Natureview increased its shelf life to 50 days vis-à-vis 30 days of the top brands, enabling it to cut significantly on building multiple production plants. However, Natureview did not go for a trade-off with high quality and wow taste.
Therefore, Natureview’s yogurt became a big hit in the natural foods segment and facilitated it to liaise with big revenue churning natural food retailers like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, who also found its high quality and tasty natural yogurt immensely good as it was also based on creative, low-cost ‘guerilla marketing’ strategy. It offered higher margins over other dairy products. Over a period of time the natural food retailers became the niche and loyal customers of Natureview. The consumers were also loyal to Natureview’s yogurt as it was more health-supplementary. Besides, for more than a whopping 58% of US households, organic foods if lesser priced were in the highest priority. Natureview’s yogurt consumers rose in numbers majorly by dint of its excellent relationship and marketing activities synergistically with natural food retailers. By the year 1999 Natureview Farm captured 24% in the Natural Foods Channel and became the market leader in this segment.
Q2. What are the two primary types of growth strategies under consideration by Natureview?
Natureview is mulling over entering in supermarket channel and also over retaining its niche leadership presence in natural food stores who majorly helped it growing as big as it is now since its inception. The strategy was also to reflect and thereafter execute differences in business models, consumer audiences, and distribution systems per se in both channels.
Q3. How do the three options compare financially in terms of yearly revenue, gross margin, required investment and profit potential?
Option 1. The calculations using Exhibits 3 and 6 reveal that estimated profit using this option was approx $89100000 for Natureview not taking into slotting expenses in consideration. It leveraged a good shelf presence, besides incurring lesser slotting expense. It also had significant revenue potential as 8 oz cups represented the largest dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market. This segment was growing at a breakneck speed and Natureview was correctly positioned to capitalize effectively on this. Last but not the least, Natureview wanted to tap the first-mover advantage as there were rumors of its leading competitor in the natural foods segment was planning to make a foray in the supermarket channel. They currently generated a gross profit margin of 36%.
Option 2. The calculations using Exhibits 3 and 6 reveal that estimated profit using this option was approx $37500000 for Natureview not taking into slotting expenses in consideration. Despite 32 oz cups representing the smaller dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market vis-à-vis 8 oz cups, they currently generated an above-average gross profit margin of 43% vis-à-vis 36% of 8 oz cups. Besides, owing to this products longer shelf life Natureview had been able to capture 45% chunk in the pie of this segment and could easily have extended this leadership in 64 supermarket retail stores in supermarket channels. With only higher slotting expenses being the flip side, it was compensated by much lower marketing expenses pegged at $120000, which was only 10% of that projected for the 8 oz cups.
Option 3. The calculations using Exhibits 3 and 6 reveal that estimated profit using this option was approx $5770000for Natureview not taking into slotting expenses in consideration. This option seems to have its demerits superficially as it does not proffer higher profit and due to a host of other planning reasons. However, gross profitability of the line was 37.6% and the future growth potential was immense with 15% projected CAGR over the next 5-year and it could have lead to be yielding the strongest profit consideration of all the considered strategies.
Q4. What are the strategic advantages and risks of each option? What channel management and conflict issues are involved?
Option 1. Like mentioned before, option 1 leveraged a good shelf presence, besides incurring lesser slotting expense. It also had significant revenue potential as 8 oz cups represented the largest dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market. This segment was growing at a breakneck speed and Natureview was correctly positioned to capitalize effectively on this. Last but not the least, Natureview wanted to tap the first-mover advantage as there were rumors of its leading competitor in the natural foods segment was planning to make a foray in the supermarket channel. All this indicate that upside potential of Option 1 was immense.
The caveats were that the requisite quarterly trade promotions and meaty marketing budget incurred a lot of expenditure. In addition to this, sales, general, and administrative expenses(SG&A) were also a rip-off in this option 1. This could delay the break-even and could also result in lesser market share.
Option 2. Like mentioned in the earlier question, despite 32 oz cups representing the smaller dollar and unit share of the refrigerated yogurt market vis-à-vis 8 oz cups, they currently generated an above-average gross profit margin of 43% vis-à-vis 36% of 8 oz cups. Besides, owing to this, products longer shelf life, Natureview had been able to capture 45% chunk in the pie of this segment and could easily have extended this leadership in 64 supermarket retail stores in supermarket channels. With only higher slotting expenses being the flip side, it was compensated by much too lower marketing expenses. Launching a 32 oz cup in the supermarkets could make them stand in the competition of bigger brands and increase visibility and could also create awareness in the customers in the supermarket channels.
The risks as perceived by Natureview were that this multi-use size may be warily considered by new users. There was also skepticism over the credentials of the sales team’s competence in achieving full distribution nationwide within a year.
Option 3. Like mentioned in the earlier question, gross profitability of the line was 37.6% and the future growth potential was immense with 15% projected CAGR over the next 5-year and it could have lead to be yielding the strongest profit consideration of all the considered strategies. This option had perfect positioning in the core sales channel and had an easier distribution facility.
The risks were manifold. This option seems to have its demerits superficially as it does not proffer higher profit and due to a host of other planning reasons. Its foray in the supermarket channel could have risked the ire of natural food retailers more, who had enabled Natureview to stand to a position where it was now. It also lacked the requisite skill-set to enter the supermarket channel and was underprepared from marketing, sales, branding, and channel-partner arrangement perspectives.
Q5. What action plan should the company pursue? What changes in the current marketing mix, sales, brand, and channel partner arrangements do you recommend in order to implement the action plan?
Apart from mulling over which option to choose to enter in the Supermarket channel, Christine Walker, Vice President of marketing for Natureview Farm Inc., should start negotiating with Natural Food channels, their niche clientele and the ones who enabled to scale such heights from the company inception onwards as to how venturing in the supermarket channel with similar products priced 15% lower vis-à-vis natural retail channels will not dent the latter’s profit margin but will help them to understand themselves too how to effectively make a foray in a competitive market. The strategic cues derived from Natureview experience will also help them get a better hang of the shape of things to come, despite losing the first-mover advantage in certain variants.
That done, they can also offer the natural retail channels to enter in the supermarket channel in collaboration. For that both will need to do a detailed SWOT analysis of the feasibility of it and analyze whether it will lead to a definitive synergy or not.
Going for all the options in a piece-meal approach can be done by Natureview. However, it needs to raise the bar first wherever they find the Achilles Heel in marketing, sales, distribution, networking or any other underperforming department.
Skunk works can be done to forecast effectively with cautious optimism and staffing can be done afresh for it, if need be arises.
1. Why do so many countries want to get back on gold standard after World War I?
World War 1 turmoil brought economic upheavals across the entire world leading to swing in capital inflows. Gold became the international currency even in the backdrop of World War 1 turmoil. To fill in the money supply countries resorted to gold standards whereby they were able to go for ‘convertibility’ of notes into gold, which had become necessary.
2. Why did Sweden give up the gold standard in Sept. 1931?
Britain had a dominant influence on many other countries, which were recoupled. On September 21, Britain abandoned gold standard. Moreover, because of drastic fall in Swedish reserves gold continued to flow out of the bank and out of the jittery public. This lead to Sweden too abandoning the gold standard in order to preserve the domestic purchasing power of Krona using all available means.
3. Was Sweden helped by its statement that it would use “all available means to support the domestic purchasing power of krona “?
Sweden intended to impart the public definitive stand points for estimated future developments in prices and also to establish superiority of the new consumption index vis-à-vis other index series. The domestic purchasing power of the Krona was prone to fluctuations in the existing wholesale indexes. The development of new index was an important touchstone in the implementation of the price stability policy.
4. Why the Riksbank starting 1931 does, appear to be foreign on export rate stability?
Stable exchange rate was imperative at the monetary policy in Sweden post-1931 as it facilitated planning in both the planning and labor markets. Recommendations were made to increase rates when prices were rising and vice-versa. If it was not done it could have ramifications on real wages and on meeting immediate or pending liabilities.
5. Why was Sweden a pioneer in marketing and fiscal policies?
Sweden had a good pack of economists at the helm after the change in Social Democrats government. The emphasis was on the bigger picture by ensuring stable price for consumer goods. In lieu of it, the monetary policy makers pioneered to redeem beyond depression damages and thereafter ‘improve the internal price level and the needs of Swedish life.’ The stakes of the country were deemed higher than anything else. In this way, Riksband became the first bank to declare price stabilization as its policy norm with a floating exchanging rate.
Prima facie Tanishq, the jewelry division of Titan, the watch selling division of the famous Tata corpus, does not seem much too bogged down with any problem in dipping of sales even by comparative standards. It is uniquely poised as the numero uno in the niche upworldly mobile Indian with a market capture of 70% in the India’s total jewelry market, especially in urban market as it sells high-end gold and gem studded jewelry that is branded akin to western standards.
However, Tanishq launched an out-and-out plain god wedding jewelry GoldPlus in India’s smaller cities and rural locations by dint of research and development team’s strategy of implementing this as pilot in two locations initially for nine months and thereafter deciding further based on the performance metrics of the same within nine months, GoldPlus showed healthy signs of progress.
Tanishq, positioned by design as a western brand, has morphed latterly as a strategic rejig to cater to the conservative but modern Indian woman. Even as an oxymoron this segment exists in huge economies of scale. The brand still carries some baggage from its past. GoldPlus, on the other hand, is a new brand that is positioned to serve the plain gold wedding jewelry market. A variety of strategic, economic, organizational and brand investment reasons make the decision an important one.
REFERENCE: http://harvardbusiness.org/product/tanishq-positioning-to-capture-the-indian-woman-s-/an/507025-HCC-ENG?N=0&Ntt=Product+positioning
Tanishq or GoldPlus has ambitiously target a billion dollar sales by the year 2010. In India the consumer psyche is different in the jewelry segment as women in India are more enamored with gold, jocularly called the ‘behanji types’ and they value gold as ‘Streedhan’. Ergo, their capture of psyche was imperative for Tanishq to aggressively increase sales. In mofussil areas gold is an integral component and is wearable in many forms such as necklace, nose or ear rings, rings generally, nose pins et al. Women love to wear ornate gold designs as a force of habit. The audience analysis of GoldPlus should have been majorly focused on smaller town women. Tanishq was able to tap its niche market segment by dint of aggressive marketing like co-sponsoring gala fashionistas’ events like Femina Miss India contest, Milan Fashion Week et al and it also roped in Kolkata-based famous designer sabyasachi Mukherji as a brand endorser once. All these paid dividends. Nonetheless, not much was done on the girl-next-door front. A celebrity like Gracy Singh of ‘Lagaan’ fame or possibly Bollywood actor Vidya Balan with whom smaller town girls are better able to relate to vis-à-vis any sultry siren like Sheetal Malhar who appeared in a D’damas ad.
Buoyed by successes of watches in Titan, Tanishq was launched to tap similar potential in jewelry segment. Despite few failures initially in generating sales for Tanishq, it geared itself to meet the challenges by deciding to market precious studded jewelry under the Tanishq brand. As it happened in Titan’s watch segment, initially awareness had to be created by establishing service centers and by other means that electronic watches were actually better than obsolete mechanical ones and that indigenized Titan watches were the best solution. This strategy worked wonders and Titan became the numero uno within a decade beating public-sector HMT, its arch rival in this segment.
The Indian jewelry value chain largely remained initially an unorganized industry with more than 30 lakh ‘karigars’ or workers laboring hard to produce gold artifacts. The entire business paradigm was more focused on paying the karigars on a per gram basis as monitored by a head karigar. Less focus was given on innovating newer designs or styles. The skunk works in this case were not in place in Tanishq.
The development phase followed in Tanishq more so in urban areas because of other reasons besides quality standards and aggressive advertising. The consumers were willing to dole enough money in those areas for a fashionable cause like gold purchase. The years 2000 onwards witnessed a surge in profit booking for Tanishq along expected lines because of a slew of diversified products within the gold segment that Tanishq proffered. Tanishq rebranded itself from the year 2003 onwards that it was not just for the help English speaking fashion savvy modern women of India but also for women who had the eclectic mix of modernity and tradition. The perceived snob quotient of a typical Tanishq consumer was strategically alleviated and the other half of the society was imparted a new self-evolved transformed but grounded image of the Indian women in Tanishq ads.
Tanishq designed jewelry for the not-so-hit but critically acclaimed Oscar nominated fairytale bollywood movie ‘Paheli’ shot in the backdrop of rural Rajasthan, thereby envisaging again its changed focus on the market segmentation. The movie captured the lure of intrinsic psychological shifts in proclivities of a typical Indian woman, a motif that was supposed to lure the typical market towards GoldPlus. It tried to tap the majority of the jewelry market (well nigh near 85% and 42 million odd plus crowd). The positive effects shone as Tanishq stores had 80 stores spread across 60 towns across the length and breadth of the country.
Then came the paradigm shift from branding GoldPlus or Tanishq as ‘jewelry as adornment’ to ‘jewelry as investment’ considering that urban jewelry market was worth 24000 crore rupees vs 36000 crore rupees in the rural market. Moreover, ‘jewelry as investment’ market was alone worth 48000 crore rupees. Karatmeter, a machine that, in three minutes, measured the karatage of gold without destroying it, was introduced by Tanishq to authenticate the customer the genuine quality of gold and leverage the already famous Tata brand. It took care of the 18 carat gold segment alongside the more popular 22 carat segment and tried to spread the message that without a trusted brand one can be duped into buying a 14 carat gold considering it to be a 22 carat one. In the year 2000 itself more than 5000 women tested karatmeter and found themselves duped under under-karatage. The sales that year hit Rs. 100 crore mark and it inflated genuinely in the years to come.
Besides Bhaskar Bhat. Titan’s managing director and Venkat, head of Tanishq, marketing heads realized that the mark-up of 15% to 25% in Tanishq was not compensating for their stringent stands on the carat front in certain local markets. This also led to markup losses and to cut cost they put a moratorium on television ad costs by putting them on the hold.
Then ensued pilot project plans by Bhat in mid-2005 to launch GoldPlus outlets at two smaller towns- Erode and Ratlam. Supply chain costs were amply taken care of and multiple locations like these were shortlisted and the message was loud and clear for any average gold customer in these areas, “The tata name is like gold in India” and that “There is no company more trusted.”
Then again incentivization process by means of quizzes rewards, giveaways like car gifting on Diwali eve et al ensured rural market penetration of GoldPlus especially in Erode and not that much in Ratlam comparatively speaking. However, Ratlam experience provided Bhat with an insight into the failure of a model with no under-karatage problems.
So far it had been a smooth sail. Resentment started brewing hereafter as Tanishq staff got euphoric and started feeling that GoldPlus’ success in Erode was a flash in the pan and could not easily be replicated in 20 plus locations. Then again GoldPlus’ success anywhere was due to the principles that Tanishq imbued in it and it did not deserve further expansion as it could cannibalize the operations of Tanishq-its parent company. There was an inadvertent strain that developed between the two companies, which became the dilemma for the top brass of Tanishq.
Bhat and Venkat were already perplexed over the complexities that could arise with the foray of other major players in this segment like DeBeers. Then again they had to penetrate other target potential locations. The stand-off, even if it was a minor one, between Tanishq and GoldPlus was totally uncalled for. Bhat and Venkat need to call a centralized meeting of all the employees of Tanishq and GoldPlus staffers to resolve any notional issues, if any. All must understand that they are not disparate entities but a part of Tata fraternity, a legacy which rare staffers inherit.
It was very complacent of employees of Tanishq to believe that they had captured the psyche of Indian woman, something which even Hindu gods dreaded of doing- in a lighter vein so to say. The behavioral attributes of Indian woman- rural or urban- was far more complicated than could have been dreamt of in heaven and earth, Ergo, skunkwork needed to be done more on this niche segment for Tanishq.
Bhat and Venkat ought to realize that India is way more diverse and geographically agrarian to justify two pilot projects and then draw a hazy conclusion, which most of us tend to do while we hit the black boxes. The franchisee model was 90% and should have been exploited to perchance over 100 kindred locations on a pan-India level. For a brand like Tata and with huge undisclosed money flowing in such kindred locations finding the franchisees would not have been a bottleneck. However, it is mandatory to have checks and balances by implementing standardizations of systems, which is a cakewalk for a company of Tata flagship.
Besides, companies like Mcdonalds have already proved that apart from imparting quality products revenues can be created by ways of renting franchising models as the legendary Ray Krock managed to do even after the age of 50 plus.
By any chance, in a country so diverse as India consumer psyche what to say of just a woman psyche becomes so different that a wee bit of punter attitude will only be tantamount to be a calculated risk, if practiced.
Innovation is still the prime mover for any company to succeed. GoldPlus is in the process of improvising on it. Here is a brief lowdown on how they are trying to do that:
GoldPlus, a mass-market jewellery brand from the house of Tata (Titan Industries) was launched at Bheemavaram and at 15 places across Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and has received resounding acceptance from the consumers. GoldPlus is targeted at semi-urban and rural areas and aims to herald standardisation in a largely undifferentiated market by establishing quality benchmarks.
The Bheemavaram GoldPlus showroom was inaugurated by Meera Harish, head, strategy planning, Titan Industries.
Promise of purity
Speaking at the inauguration of the GoldPlus showroom, LR Natarajan said, "Gold has tremendous historical, religious, cultural, social and economic significance across our country. However, the absence of standardised practices in markets often leads to a latent fear among consumers about the purity of gold. GoldPlus from Tata aims to create awareness about gold purity and thereby set new jewellery standards in Bheemavaram."
Harvest, marriages and festivals are the key drivers of jewellery purchases in Bheemavaram. GoldPlus aims to establish an emotional connect by participating in every gold purchase need of the consumers with the promise of purity.
Pure gold, sheer variety
An extensive range of over 5,000 designs in 22 kt plain gold and diamond jewellery will be offered in the showroom to cater to the needs of quality-conscious consumers of Bheemawaram. GoldPlus stands for purity and fulfilling promises, and in line with this, purity certificates would be provided for all GoldPlus jewelry products, which guarantees the purity mentioned with the ornaments.
Backed by Titan's experience
GoldPlus will leverage the design and retail expertise of Titan Industries to present market relevant offerings catering to local tastes and preferences. The product range, showroom ambience and marketing efforts will showcase the company's superior understanding of local consumers. Titan's investment in IT and retail will further enable GoldPlus to achieve cost-effective supply chain logistics, which will deliver greater value for our customers.
Innovative golden schemes for all
GoldPlus runs a monthly saving scheme called "Golden Future Savings Scheme", which offers buyers the benefit of getting more jewelry than what they have paid for. The scheme allows consumers to plan future purchases in advance and pay for them in easy instalments. An attractive gift would be available for all the enrollers.
REFERENCE: http://www.tata.com/company/releases/inside.aspx?artid=iEryTTxfKjE=
Tanishq needs to do legworks to revamp its marketing strategy in order to brace up to the challenge of changing business dynamics. It can be perceived as a double whammy or a synergy but will inevitably benefit the Tata corpus in the jewelry segment. Bhat and Venkat need to keep on reminding Tanishq staffers the good work that will simply propel their sales growth without doing anything extraordinary but by simply following the basics as they used to do earlier. Sometimes, out-of-the-box thinking is not required. In lieu of it, conventional tested model of success needs to be practiced further. Here is an example how Tanishq did it once. They can do it again and indefatigably so. Yes, they can!
High-end jewellery retail chain, Tanishq, is likely to see a 15-20 per cent rise in gold jewellery sales in the current financial year even if prices remain volatile, a senior company official said on Wednesday.
The jewellery division of Titan Industries Ltd. would be able to increase sales as the clients it targets are not very averse to high prices, C.K. Venkatraman, chief operating officer of Tanishq, said in an interview.
"Tanishq's customers are slightly above average in terms of income and quality consciousness, therefore less price-sensitive," said Venkatraman. "My sense is that volume growth for jewellery alone would rise by 15-20 per cent (in the full year)."
Sales of gold coins and bars could see an even bigger growth as investment-driven buying of the yellow metal catches on in the country, he said.
Venkatraman said consumers are more brand conscious from 10 years ago, when Tanishq began operations - a trend that could help boost its appeal.
"We have typically been getting stronger in the wedding segment," he said. "This has driven our sales significantly."
Also, the aggressive advertising and promotional activity undertaken by the company during April to June, could push gold sales further, he said.
In April-June, Tanishq's net profit fell to 55.8 million rupees from 92.4 million rupees a year ago.
Venkatraman said the decline was largely due to the increase in expenditure on brand building.
"We have made a lot of investment in advertising and marketing in the first quarter, which will pay off in subsequent quarters," he said.
Across India's bullion industry, high and volatile gold prices have affected trade with many dealers speaking of a sales drop ranging from 5 to 40 per cent last month.
Gold prices have risen significantly since the beginning of the year and have been quite volatile, touching a 26-year peak of $730 an ounce in May, before tumbling to $543 in mid-June.
On Wednesday, spot gold prices were at $648.1, a rise of 50 per cent on year.
Tanishq plans to open several new retail outlets by end-2007 taking their number to 100 from 82 now, Venkatraman said.
Tanishq contributed 32 per cent to the net profit of Titan Industries in the last fiscal year that ended on March 31.
REFERENCE: http://www.financialexpress.com/old/latest_full_story.php?content_id=136052
Violation of rules is consequential of lack of ownership. If a person is made to feel that he owns a particular task it instills a trust and he does the task better as he is the master of that task and is not enslaved in it. Once work at Wixom was over the workers were deemed redundant and small favors like mailing paychecks were not considered necessary.
The roles assigned at Wixom were extremely confined and there was no scope of power enhancement that could have triggered independent decision-making that majorly results in extra and positive contribution. The workers were doing the run-of-the-mill work leading to ennui. Fatigue in the speed of the line had majorly triggered half a dozen local strikes of United Auto Workers Unions members at other auto assembly plants in the past few years.
Job empowerment often motivates the worker to walk the extra mile for the organization and there was simply no time for the Wixom management to mull over it as the only focus was on churning out cars at a breakneck speed unmindful of the future prospects (or lack thereof).
Hiring process at Wixom was not meticulous as it should have been. It was done just because there was demand for manpower due to rapid turnover and a major expansion of Wixom. However, foresight was missing as unskilled or incompetent workers did enough mistakes that were detrimental to Wixom’s success in the long run. For example, a few workers messed up with installation of color vent plates because they were colour-blind and there was no check-up for colour-blindness during the recruitment process. Most of the workers were dissatisfied with the wages they were receiving and the management at Wixom was blissfully oblivious of the resentment that was brewing within the workers. There were fair chances of it imploding, which was very harmful for Wixom. Leave aside poor wages, there was no incentive to perk up the motivation of the workers, which was already at an abysmal low. There was always the risk of the worker switching over to other company because of a pay-hike.
Besides, the work was mind deadening in the sense that same work was done day in and day out leading to no value addition. The unintelligible work killed the human being inside the workers and made them a ‘Robot’ aptly summed up in the command, “When you are at job, leave your mind at home.” Eventually, the efficiency in the worker was lost.
Handling diversified portfolios and exchanging duties can be the possible solutions of this malaise. Instead of a single job being done by the worker all throughout, different jobs in different time slots can be allotted to insure that the worker breaks free of the monotony. This can lead to higher efficiency and productivity of the worker.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
