The fact that Farmville may soon be made unavailable on Facebook is certainly a bad news for over 80 million users hooked onto their virtual farms day in and day out – it is reported that the partnership between Facebook (evidently the world’s largest social networking site with close to 500 million users) and Zynga (the $4 billion worth gaming company and the creator of Farmville, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, YoVille, et al) is at rocks with Facebook revising the terms of agreement between the two parties. Under the revised agreement, Facebook will be reportedly entitled to claim 30% commission on the financial transactions made through the site for Farmville, where players spend real money on virtual items to move ahead and level up in the game. While it is believed that Zynga now has the resources and capabilities to leave the platform of Facebook and open its own portal, gaming experts claim the move will be a huge loss for Facebook as there is a huge chunk of users who’ve registered only for the game. Duh!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
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Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

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Mahendra Mohan Gupta, Chairman & MD, Jagran Prakash Ltd.
 
Jagran Prakashan Ltd. (JPL), the publisher of the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran has announced the merger of the print business of Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd (MML, which comprises afternoon newspapers – Mid-Day, Sunday Mid-Day, Gujarati Mid-Day, Urdu newspaper Inquilab & website mid-day.com) with itself through an all stock deal. Here, the immediate task for JPL would be to turnaround MML’s financial fate (MML has a debt of around Rs.35 crore). In the long run, while JPL will get entry into Mumbai, MML’s Inquilab (one of the largest selling Urdu dailies in India) will get a boost from JPL’s strong presence in J&K, UP and Bihar. JPL, which was trying to tap into the burgeoning English newspapers’ market through its Inext and City Plus will now have some new regions to explore. Further, JPL’s strong network will help Mid-Day to strengthen its brand presence and recover ground that was perhaps being lost due to resource constraints. As per IRS 2009, Mid-Day’s average issue readership has fallen to 4,17,000 in 2009 from around 6,63,000 in 2006.

As per analysts, synergies in marketing could bring in 10-15% expansion in revenue for JPL in the near future. Joint marketing and printing facilities, newsprint procurement, et al, will further bring down costs for both. But what still needs to be seen is how the cultures of the two entities will avoid conflicts, which generally occur during mergers.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
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Technology has become the USP of many players in the banking sector… An update on what’s the current scenario of tech-use in banking
 
Retail banking in India today is getting re-defined and re-engineered with the use of IT and it is sure that the future of banking will offer more sophisticated services to the customers with the continuous product and process innovations, with the change from ‘conventional banking to convenience banking’ and ‘mass banking to class banking.’ All these changes are really influenced by the changes in the political, economical, social, cultural changes of the country but above all, the business scenario is highly influenced by the changes in the needs and aspirations of the people. But today, the degree of such changes is so fast and more frequently experienced by them. Even the consumer status is changing from isolated to connected, unaware to well-informed, passive to active.

As the outreach is enlarged in the banking industry in India with the increased number of banks and wider network, the customer demands convenience, comfort, speed, cost-effective and quality services in the banking operations. In the recent years, the Indian banking industry saw a host of new generation banks entering the market with their innovative strategies. All these bankers are generally slim in structure but heavily use technology and multi-channel facilities to reach out to a large section of the customers. Technology has played a definitive role in facilitating transactions in the banking sector and the impact of technology implementation has resulted in the introduction of new products and services by various banks in India and enhanced the reach of banks from metros to tier 2/3 cities and rural areas.

At the same time, the payment services offered by banks to the common persons as well as the corporate bodies have improved substantially. This too is partly due to increased use of technology in service delivery and partly due to procedural changes necessitated in the wake of competition amongst the banks. With the introduction of electronic banking, banks are moving their focus of payments from the physical presence of money to the use of electronic money.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
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Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
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In this trend, the most recent one to enter the field is Medica Synergie, which is also perhaps the most (or rather, the only) professionally marketed brand in the social healthcare segment. Medica positions its brand on the twin attributes of accessibility and affordability. “It came into being because of a desperate need in Eastern India for an integrated, professionally managed healthcare company; also because this region is lagging way behind,” says Dr. Alok Roy, ex-COO, Fortis Healthcare Ltd. and now Chairman and MD, Medica Synergie.

Medica Synergie has launched what it calls Operation Buddha, an exercise covering 30 thousand families (approximately 100,000 people) in the vicinity. The centre provides each of them with a card and these people can then visit the healthcare centre for consulting on any of their health problems for a nominal charge of Rs.5. Where follow up action is required for treatment, like an operation, it is at cost price – without any profit. The management is aiming to become one of the leading players in eastern India and to set up 10-12 hospitals. The management believes their core competence lies in being “Integrated Healthcare Providers”. They are into health delivery [hospitals – building, managing, running] public health, pharma retail as well as health architecture – a total, integrated healthcare centre. Medica is attempting to set itself apart on multiple parameters other than price and best in class healthcare professionals. The interiors have been developed by Sunita Alexander, and offer a warm, feel-good, cheerful, odourless, eco and environmentally friendly ambience! They have carefully chosen friendly attendants to guide and help patients and visitors 24x7 in every possible manner. Care has been taken to institutionalise ultra transparent billing procedures and availability of complete information to customers. They also provide flexibility to customers on paying their bills through EMIs; the tested route that revolutionised sectors like automobiles, real estate, consumer electronics & tourism in India.

Dr. Roy tells us that he is a firm believer of ‘Employee Empowerment’ in thought, word and deed. “To us, it’s not fashionable tokenism or a slogan that is politically correct in the corporate sense of the word, but remains the core driver of Medica.” He remains convinced that employees are the public face of social healthcare and their empowerment – via guidance, inspiration, motivation, self-belief – has to be a given for effective results, be it image, productivity or even profitability – like Yunus’ Grameen Bank.


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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After FMCG, auto, real estate and telecom, now it’s the time for consumer durable players in the country to enter the slugfest!
 
Summer in India looks a lot different this year, at least when it is about the so called ‘short’ commercial breaks, which always hit your road just when you’ve got too engrossed with your daily soap or cricket match on the idiot box. Strangely, the colas are nowhere to be seen – at least relatively. Instead, there are a number of celebrities posing with refrigerators or demonstrating the features of air conditioners, TVs too. Yes, there’s a war brewing north, south, east and west of centre, and it’s worse than last year.

The reason is quite obvious. Encouraged by the reviving economic conditions in the country, manufacturers of consumer durables in India have enormously increased their marketing budgets to makes sure that no stone is left unturned to woo the consumers. The size of their budgets is spectacular, if not numbing. For example LG India, the subsidiary of the Korean consumer durable major, has earmarked a total of Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.700 crore for Marketing and Rs.300 crore on R&D) for this year alone. The company confirms its strategy of placing the Indian market on its priority list.

The rejoinder is not so dissimilar in the case of Whirlpool, which has geared up for massive below-the-line (BTL) activities and is currently hosting various events (like in-store demonstrations, point of sale materials, trade and consumer promotions et al). In terms of marketing though, the figure is nowhere close to LG’s behemoth power. As per Whirlpool, it has plans to shell out around Rs.60-70 crore during this year with the focus of trebling the sales volume of its ACs.

Even Hitachi India, a major in the air conditioner segment, has raised its marketing spends by nearly 35% as compared to last year and is aggressively escalating its presence in Tier II and Tier III towns through a 25% to 30% expansion in its distributors network. But the question is, what’s so different this year that was not there the previous year? Why is there a more than significant jump in various marketing expenditures of players?
 
As per latest reports, the Indian AC and refrigerator markets are expected to surge to 3.2 million units and 6.2 million units respectively by the end of 2010. Considering the buying patterns witnessed in India, a major chunk of the sales would take place in summers, that is, during the April-June quarter. This makes it imperative for the durable players to ramp up their production levels in both the product categories and set higher growth targets for this quarter. Moon Bum Shin, MD, LG India, says to 4Ps B&M, “For ACs, we have a current production capacity of 1.3 million, which we intend to scale it up to 1.5 million with an investment of Rs.80 crore.” He further adds that his company is now targeting to generate a revenue of Rs.3,000 crore from the refrigerator category this year.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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After going through high spirits (literally) at the Goafest this year, almost everyone belonging to the ad-frat is back on their feet since the rumours of favourable voting have been doing the rounds. As per the Abby rules, jury members are required to abstain from voting for any of their own agencies work. However, it is rumoured that Mudra, Leo Burnett, Taproot India and O&M have flouted this rule due to which the managing committee of Goafest (AAAI & Ad Club Bombay) is considering rescinding Abby awards won by these four agencies. “These developments have put the authenticity and pragmatism of the awards into jeopardy,” says an industry source. Although, Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT and Chairman, Goafest has assured that investigations are on (“While it is true that the committee, in conjunction with Ernst & Young, is investigating cases of judges voting for their own agencies’ work, no decision has yet been taken on the action related to the issue,” he said), yet the credibility of the Goafest awards, considered equivalent to the much coveted Cannes ceremony in the national context, is certainly going to be questioned.

Swati Sharma

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
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Aly Shariff
MD, Premier Inn India

As I love to travel to new places, my favourite destinations in India are Kerala & Darjeeling. Internationally, it would definitely be Cape Town in South Africa. However, with my family, I always love visiting Maldives. It’s my favourite family holiday spot as we have a great time whenever we are there. When it comes to business travel, it definitely has to be Mumbai, as it is a happening, vibrant and candid city. I have a passion for photography, so whenever I am travelling, I just cannot do without my five cameras and my favourite pair of binoculars.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Big blockbuster drug brands that once promised billions for big pharma are fast entering the generics zone. The victims are many and their brand pipelines are dry!

What’s it with patents in the pharmaceutical industry? You spend billions in dollars and months in time, manage to come up with a ‘protected’ branded formula that has the potential of earning you a few billion bucks, and then much before you have derived complete pleasure out of your R&D efforts, other competitors who have been eyeing your revenue basket for years together, start relishing the fruits of your risks and sweat drops. Unfair, as many say; fair enough feels the US Federal Drug Agency (USFDA).

Today, the biggest of names in the world of pharma have their back to the wall when it comes to the future of some of their best-selling patented drug brands, with a hard-fought battle against generic drug makers ahead of them. And life has already become difficult. Take Pfizer for example – during the past ten years, the acquisitions of Warner-Lambert (in 2000 for $90 billion) and Pharmacia (in 2002 for $60 billion) proved to be glorious moments (the first deal gave Pfizer a control over the world’s no.1 selling $11.4 billion-a-year drug Lipitor, while the latter helped it pocket its now third-bestseller Celebrex, which earns $2.5 billion-a-year); but CEO Jeffrey Kindler, the very same deals are now giving nightmares of a dry drug pipeline.

While its patent right over its largest revenue earning brand Lipitor patent will expire a year later, its third-largest selling drug Celebrex will go generic in 2013; combine these two, and you are talking about an erosion of $11.74 billion in the drugmaker’s annual revenues per year (as per research by Evaluate Pharmacy, the loss of revenues, post-patent expiry for a formulation, is estimated at 85%). Market reports suggest how by 2014, generic drug companies would be staging a grand stampede on 14 of Pfizer patents, representing 70% of its sales revenues; there is clear and present danger for Pfizer.

Kindler is running a hard to win race against time, and for the near future, there seems to be no new blockbuster brand that can heal Pfizer’s wounds, not even its most recent $68 billion acquisition of Wyeth. Viagra, which is the drugmaker’s $2 billion-a-year earning brand is also going off-patent in 2012. In the very first week of its launch in April 1998, Viagra had received 4.3 million prescriptions by medical practitioners. By the end of 1998, more than 200,000 doctors had written 7 million prescriptions and the brand was being marketed across 40 countries. Very few drug brands in history had attained such widespread use so quickly. Come 2012, and Viagra’s dream run will end, with generic brand makers launching cheaper versions of the formula. “Pfizer has a number of downward revenue revisions. You have to believe board members are scratching their heads,” says David S. Moskowitz, Analyst at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group Inc. In short – a $50 billion-a-year Pfizer to about a $15 billion-a-year skeleton; and that appears a possibility!

The case is the same with many other patented drug brands, as Luis Hector, Analyst, Credit Suisse says, “The current scenario reflects an acknowledgment that insufficient drugs have moved onto the market.” AstraZeneca’s rights over two billion dollar drugs are set to die out fast. It will lose patent rights over both the $4.5 billion-a-year earning Crestor and the $4.9 billion-a-year Seroquel brand by 2012. Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa, which garners $4.9 billion in annual revenues, will expire by 2011. The list of patent expiries of products is long, with names like Advair (owned by GSK, with annual sales of $7.8 billion), Plavix (Sanofi-Aventis & Bristol-Myers Squibb, $4.9 billion), Singulair (Merck, $4.1 billion), Cozaar (Merck, $3.3 billion), Levaquin (J&J, $1.8 billion), Zometa (Novartis $2.1 billion) and many more – all brands over which exclusive marketing rights would have been lost by 2013!     


For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Has today’s advertising kept pace with scores of Indian women emerging from the shadows to seek their rightful place in society? 4Ps B&M presents various views

Journalist Mahua Chatterjee fires the first salvo. She believes that despite all the blah-blah and ra-ra in the media, women like her were still an aberration, an exception. “However, our tribe is on the ascent and definitely a quantum leap from our mother’s generation. Advertising’s essential agenda is engaging, convincing and catering to its target group, which for most part, is still steeped in tradition. So, you get what you get. Sure, there are exceptions – like the insurance ad where the granny cosies up with her husband and later, gets blackmailed repeatedly by her chaalu grandson – which is wonderful, but alas, nowhere enough. We could do with a lot more courageous, adventurous, risk-free and exciting advertising that reflects today’s woman with both drama and chutzpah. Can the ad guys do it?”

Film-maker Aparna Sen – whose latest movie The Japanese Wife released to rave reviews – while talking to us, conveys her huge disappointment. While she salutes the crafting and slickness (of advertisements), she is convinced that most of these efforts are blatantly one-dimensional. “North Indian, fair, urban, advertising seems to be fixated on this stereotype! How and why is there practically no sign of the southern, eastern or north-eastern woman? Don’t they exist? If at all they feature, it’s either in caricature form or tokenism! Such a pity.” Kolkata-based media personality Rita Bhimani disagrees and reckons that change indeed is in the air. “Sure, there will always be stereotyping, catering and pandering to connect with the masses, but within categories – cosmetics, healthcare, bikes and automobiles – there has been a lot of quirky, funny and interesting ads portraying today’s woman with large quotients of fun, energy and enterprise.”

Masscom expert Tiyasha Ray begs to differ. “Most of the stuff that pans out is totally regressive and out-of-sync with the here and now! I guess it has to do with ‘Adville’ not mustering up the required guts and ability to effect a breakthrough and content to bogey along a familiar comfort zone as also women themselves being quite content to be seen in that light. Generations of conditioning have programmed them to think in a certain way. Today, they believe that perhaps, this is the way we need to be perceived and what’s all this feminist hoo-haa about?”

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM makes business education truly global
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm - Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri (IIPM Dean) – ‘Every human being is a diamond’
Arindam Chaudhuri – Everything is not in our hands
Planman Technologies – IT Solutions at your finger tips
Planman Consulting
Arindam Chaudhuri's Portfolio - he is at his candid best by Society Magazine

IIPM ranked No 1 B-School in India
domain-b.com : IIPM ranked ahead of IIMs
IIPM: Management Education India
Prof. Rajita Chaudhuri's Website

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