A study was carried on by Reputation Institute (RI) in 170,000 companies from 15 countries to find out how customers perceive governance of the companies from whom they buy brands and services. It was found that consumers prefer companies who work towards achievement of a social cause. Also, how companies treat their employees matters consumers’ impression about a company. RI is a global business consulting firm that helps big organizations to build their credibility with their people force. The result of the study was that the world watches organizations closely on their CSR theme. People are concerned whether organizations think of CSR as just a giveaway, or are they really concerned. Consumers watch organizations closely whether they treat their employees respectfully, how ethical they are in operations, and whether the company respects the ecosystem. Consumers prefer companies marketing brand with a cause.

Businesses have to handle societal changes by recognizing its magnitude in effect of its responsibilities for the future of civilization. Businesses do not exist in vacuum. Social responsibility has become increasingly important for companies over the last several years. Whether it is by empowering women, serving the environment, trying to end poverty, towards the cause of education, towards improving healthcare facilities etc. We are seeing more and more companies incorporating social responsibility into their overall business strategy. The social issues may be local, national, or global, but a concern for the health and wellness of others in society cannot be ignored.

For aligning the cause of the CSR, organizations need to match their brand with a cause. A strong alignment between organizational brand’s goals and the cause it wishes to support is very critical to the success of its CSR initiative. If the match is poor, the CSR programme ends up confusing consumers and it makes them feel disconnected. It sometimes even results into the brand’s values slowly falling off the radar. If companies want to look at how to get good value from investing in CSR they should look at aligning it with their brand.

A strong brand offers many different business benefits ranging from the ease of acquiring good talent at reasonable costs and often earning customer loyalty in enhancing their business. All these benefits translate into improving the brand equity. The Coca-Cola Company’s global commitment is to enable the economic empowerment of 5 million women entrepreneurs across the company’s value chain by 2020. It has given facelift to brand Coca-Cola.

An easy way to ensure that CSR matches the company’s vision is to check if there is a logical tie between operations of business and the cause. For instance, Lifebuoy soap and hand wash aims to improve health through better hygiene. This daily use product helps prevent disease and improve people’s health and well-being; ultimately, helping to save lives. HUL’s this product enjoys a robust market share. In another example, two divisions of ITC namely foods and greeting, gifting and stationery work with a strong CSR message. On purchase of Aashirwad, Sunfeast or Kitchens of India products, consumers invariably support issues such as water conservation and tree plantation. How does this happen? A percentage of the sales proceeds get channelized into these areas. Similarly, the sale of ITCs Expressions Greeting Cards helps the cause of SOS Villages that look after orphan children in India. Again, on the purchase of ITC’s Classmate notebooks, Re 1 is donated for the cause of rural development and children’s education.

P&G has been championing the cause of gender equality both inside and outside the company. P&G will expand its supplier development and sourcing from women owned businesses across the world. This imitative of P&G has given boost to millions of women in world.  In India, P&G hires 50% women into entry level management roles and they get promoted in their next assessments at the same progression as men. P&G was the also the first consumer goods company with a license to employ women in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  It employs 15% women managers in KSA across all commercial divisions including HR, Finance, Operations and IT.

Engage employees in CSR: Global consumers expect companies to do more than make a profit, but also operate responsibly to address social and environmental issues. For developing an authentic CSR programme it is important for organizations to engage their employees in the formation of ideas process. This is helpful in boosting employee engagement and thus helping retention. Some employees at American Express Corporation initiated CSR with the issue of restoration of Statue of Liberty. American Express is known for their smart marketing ideas.

Connect with consumers: Consumers like companies that make the world a better place. Today’s millennials (generation Y) are 66 percent more likely to buy from a company that not just sells a quality product but also gives back to society. Companies use social media platforms to create awareness for an effective cause and for attracting donations. It’s been observed when companies are not honest to their cause and not regular in their efforts, consumers overlook their products.

Partner with other organizations: Partnering with organizations for the CSR cause enhances the achievements of organizations especially when CSR is aligned with the brand’s vision and goals. It is the fastest way to generate more results and goodwill. However, it requires a clear intent and budget in mind to make it work. The process of choosing an NGO partner typically involves a screening process. This includes a credibility test, a field visit, and background checks. It also requires regular assessment from the NGO.

Gradually, organizations all over world are aligning their brand to a worthy cause.

Many must have noticed in some or the other parties some guys turning into quarrelsome jerks when they are drunk, while some other guys get all blubbery, saying things like “I love you, I missed you, you are such wonderful person man” to everyone. Such drunken guys and girls are sometimes pain; some burst out crying and sometimes there are guys who spill out secrets of others. Does the personality of people who get intoxicated reflect their true disposition? Does their real personality get unmasked because the alcohol makes it impossible to keep up the façade? Or does alcohol just do weird things to our brain, with mottled but not significant results?

Some people get very serious and philosophical when intoxicated. They sit in a corner looking at ceiling with a very serious face. Rarely people behave the same as their natural self when they get intoxicated. Does the behavior vary depending on the drink? Let’s say if they drink beer, wine or hard liquor? I have observed some of my friends become really happy when they have beer; some get into a lousy mood when they consume rum; and there are two friends of mine who start singing and dancing loud and glad to be alive when they mix drinks. I think generally, the person that comes out with the application of alcohol is that person’s “real” personality. It’s because alcohol lowers a person’s inhibitions, so whatever facades of their personality they would normally bottle up for fear of social unacceptability are just dropped due to intoxication. it’s usually the ugly opinions that people keep bottled up that tend to pop out when alcohol is consumed……everyone has a child hidden deep down, the child pops up and we get those expressions like “I love you, man” and those hugs and kisses.

Alcohol has been a part of the human diet for at least 10,000 years. In the U.S., over 65% of adults regularly have at least one alcoholic beverage a year. Typically, a low-to moderate amount of alcohol is defined as no more than one drinks a day for women and older adults, and two for men. One drink is usually one 1/2 ounce or 15 grams of alcohol, which equals approximately 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of 80-proof liquor. However, these guidelines are tailored by each individual.

However, alcohol tends to make your inhibitions go away. It makes a normally quiet person feel quite gritty and talkative. And, sometimes makes a decently normal person angry and asshole. One evident fact is that inhibitions are part of our genes, part of our personality, and also part of our learned behavior. We have read and sometimes seen famous personalities get into brawls after consuming alcohol.  Shahrukh and Salman (both Khans) had a huge fight at Katrina Kaif’s birthday. Both Sallu and SRK have worked professionally together and even been friends off screen. Both had moderate drinks at the party; SRK apparently said a few things out of line that did not go too well with Salman. It turned out to be an ugly fight. Some famous industrialists have has ugly fights in public after drinks.

After certain amount of alcohol is consumed by a person, his/her brain starts to release dopamine, the more alcohol the more dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical your brain creates to make you feel good.  It makes the body want to do things that is healthy for it. When a person consumes little more than normal drinks it will release so much dopamine that your brain can’t tell the difference between a good decision and a bad decision.

It is said drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts. Alcohol makes people do stuff they wouldn’t normally do. So you will see people driving at higher speed, picking up fights, singing, dancing, hugging others, passing unwanted remarks at others, doing all sorts of unusual things. Some purposely get drunk to do wrong things and say ‘sorry’ the next day with an excuse that they did all those ‘wrongs’ under the influence of alcohol.

Do you know corporate use drinking as trick? When a person gets drunk in a party, his/her boss observes the behavior. Many of his personality facets are observed by the boss, which were nicely under wrap till then. Few drinks make a person more confident, they gather more courage to express them better, and feel less accountability for their actions. Intoxicated communication is sometimes used in order to meet up certain targets or make plans in a group. A lot of confession is made under the influence of alcohol which is trickily used by the bosses.

According to Bruce Bartholow, author of “Alcohol Effects on Performance Monitoring and Adjustment: Affect Modulation and Impairment of Evaluative Cognitive Control”, alcohol doesn’t make you behave badly; it just makes you care less. For all of you trying to apologies or put right some unwanted words, the excuse, “I was drunk, I didn’t mean it” stop using this lame excuse at once. Bartholow, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Missouri College of Arts and Science, concludes that alcohol dulls the brain’s “alarm signal” that warns you when you are making a mistake. These dulled warnings are what lead to the loss of self-control we often regret after one too many.

So the next time when you are in a party, at a bar with friends, or at home taking drinks take a pause, when your brain signals that your body cannot take more drinks. Because that’s what drinking is all about: it is not a whirling, plummeting gamble of life. Don’t just throw away all your inhibitions and deliberately drown yourselves in a liquid.

Mergers and acquisitions is common practice in the business world. It allows corporate ambitions to soar. M & A makes its effects in the areas of corporate finances, management and strategy dealing, human resources, marketing, sales, R&D and infrastructure of the firm. In short everything changes in the corporate entity when it gets purchased by another corporate or it joins with another corporate.

Though the two are often mentioned together, a merger is very different from an acquisition. A merger involves two corporate entities joining forces and becoming a new business entity, with a new name. It usually involves two companies of same size and stature joining hands. An acquisition, on the other hand, involves one bigger business taking over a smaller company which may be absorbed into the parent company or run as a subsidiary. The company being taken over is referred to as the ‘target company’ in the corporate world.

In India the huge and most talked about takeover or acquisition last year was seen of the seven year old Bangalore based domestic e-retailer Flipkart acquiring the online portal Myntra for an undisclosed amount which industry analysts and insiders believe it was a $300 million or Rs 2,000 crore deal.

Another one was Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Limited, a multinational pharmaceutical company bought the Ranbaxy Laboratories. Ranbaxy shareholders will get 4 shares of Sun Pharma for every 5 Ranbaxy shares held by them. The deal is worth $4 billion.

Globally, the pharmaceutical industry saw a flurry of mergers and acquisitions this year, but the biggest one was of Novartis AG (NVS) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which agreed to swap $20 billion in assets in what amounted to major restructurings for both firms. Novartis bought GlaxoSmithKline’s cancer drug business, GSK took Novartis’s vaccine business, and the companies agreed to combine their respective over-the-counter and consumer drug businesses.

Facebook Inc purchased WhatsApp which saw the largest-ever purchase of a venture FB purchased whatsApp for $22 billion; $16 billion-price given at the announcement of the deal. So why did FB take this expensive plunge? As it touted at the time, WhatsApp — a free text message service — is about twice as large by user base as Twitter Inc. The M&As can happen for various reasons. Goldman Sachs was the top M&A adviser worldwide, with $623 billion worth of deals last year.

What’s considered most important in M&A is the post-M&A result which can be very exhaustive than imagination. Organisations must control effective and efficient management of merging corporate brands and their respective portfolios. Particularly for those that have an international standing. The management and building of each brand in the combined portfolio needs to be consistent around the world and needs to match its acknowledged role, the consistency needs to be maintained in every market. Still, since consumer behaviour may vary from market to market, the strategic position established for each brand in the mixed portfolio can only offer some general guidelines as no sure short solutions are available or can be offered for a successful venture raised out of the M&A.

Brand integration is priority after an M&A
The global positioning of a merged brand is quite complicated and exhaustive. Each market requires unique strategies. For sensible brand integration organizing human resources is very important. The efficacy of the merging brands and its success depends on how in fact the human resources are organised. Ford established a “Premier Automotive Group” (PAG) to be in charge of its premium brands right after the acquisition of Jaguar. Furthermore, when the company acquired Land Rover and Volvo (also premium brands), the PAG took the responsibility of brand integration.

Being equally fair to people is most important
Treating the employees with respect and fair financial benefits serves half of the problem. Given the fact that M&As often take place at corporate level, the issues regarding human resource including the necessary laying offs should be addressed first right after the announcement of the deal. These issues should be tackled rightly by taking assistance of the mature consultants or firms. The incorporation of human resources becomes an essential issue, one common response from the managers in the case studies being that groups of people embedded within particular cultures are difficult to integrate. In relation to brand integration, three important rules could be outlined from many case studies: the best people must be selected equally from both sides; people must be integrated rapidly and with sensitively; and in that order, respect and fair financial benefits must be ensured to all.

Training is crucial at this juncture
A brand acquisition comes along with its brand people, its marketing, its brand building methods, its brand ‘languages’ or terminologies and others. An essential part of brand integration consists in homogenizing all of the above – making people do brand building in a common way and speak a similar marketing or brand ‘language.’ This is a process which training can be an extremely useful tool. It’s easy for people in an organization to get caught up in the glamour of integrating two organizations. For the moment, that’s where the action is. The future shape of the company, including jobs and careers, appears to be in the hands of the integration taskforces. But if management allows itself and the organization to get distracted, the base business of both companies will suffer. If everybody’s trying to manage both the ongoing business and the integration, nobody will do either job well. This is where assigning responsibilities come in picture.

Marketing Management
Putting the customer at the centre of planning and analysis is most crucial. This begins by understanding customer profitability by segment and targeting identified markets. It requires a comprehensive evaluation of how well each brand in the portfolio compares to its key competitors in meeting the needs and preferences of these customers. A merger poses a unique opportunity to think about customers in a broader and more integrated fashion. Combining and analyzing both companies’ knowledge of their respective customer bases will provide a broader view of customer behaviour. This information can be amplified by new qualitative and quantitative research to understand category drivers and competitive positioning. Marketing research plays a very vital role here.  By developing a more comprehensive and integrated understanding of such issues as current and emerging marketplace dynamics, customer preference drivers and perceptions of brand equity, marketers can more effectively make decisions on how to structure and manage the merged brand portfolio. Optimize the brand portfolio.

The post-M&A organisation needs to conduct new market research in order to identify opportunities for the newly acquired brands and, moreover, to absorb and use the brand and market knowledge possessed by the acquired company.

In 1998, Mercedes-Benz manufacturer Daimler Benz merged with US auto maker Chrysler to create Daimler Chrysler for $ 37 billion. The merging was done for capturing the globe and to dominate the market. Things dint work out very smoothly after the merger. In 2007, Daimler Benz sold Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management firm (a specialized financial restructuring firm) for mere $ 7 billion. Chrysler was nowhere near Daimler Benz. What did Daimler Benz try to tell world? What lessons are to be learnt for this merger and later corporate divorce?

Many research studies have proved that rate of failures is 50 percent in M&As. One recent survey has also proved that the percentage of companies that failed to achieve the goals of the merger is 83%.  Once you have achieved integration, take the time to review the process. Evaluate how well it works and what you would do next to integrate each brand.

Coca Cola imitated RC Cola in emulating its diet cola product; Visa and MasterCard copied the credit card concept from Diners Club. The most famous example of imitation is: McDonalds took the fast food chain concept from White Castle. A good number of businesses/entrepreneurs replicate another one’s technology, perception, idea or strategy. But, when an enterprise imitates a product, idea or strategy it upgrades the imitation creatively by investing resources and skills. Enterprises just don’t imitate they disrupt the innovator by reducing the product cost, the differentiation, the look, the benefits etc. This exercise is very innovative. So, inventors create the technology, but entrepreneurs turn it into economic value.

In the entertainment business an imitation or copy is called as ‘remake.’ The Bollywood hit ‘Chachi 420’ is a copy of ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ (1993) or a ‘Pyar to hona hi tha’ is a remake of ‘French kiss’ (1995). Similarly, ‘A Common Man’ (2013) is a remake of Bollywood’s ‘A Wednesday’ (2008); ‘Fear’ (1996) is a remake of ‘Darr’ (1993). Some call it ‘inspiration’, many do it unabashedly. Music, screenplay, story, fight scenes, themes call it anything, in entertainment industry imitation or copying is passable.

No sooner an innovation ensues and becomes successful; it is out there for imitation. Many emerging and fast-growing nations have progressed from being almost pure imitators be it technology or processing. They have added value to the original products very skillfully and have grown better products.  Japan followed that path after World War II, as did South Korea a decade or so later. Even if Japanese companies are often accused of taking part in imitation warfare, it should be acknowledged that their international market success actually stimulated many European and American enterprises to study the skills and capacity behind their results in order to re-engineer their procedures and critical processes. It is without doubt that imitating a product is easier than imitating a process or a procedure. Today, China appears on a similar course. When a new product/service gets diffused, it possibly goes a stage further than its originality, this happens because people do not just invent things, such as mobile or computer, they come up with ideas for new services that consumers need and ways of providing them in a product. For example, the mobile phone shrunk the market of cameras and radios.

Many flourishing entrepreneurs have grown their businesses by reproducing what someone else has done, only bettering it by enhancing it further. Imitation is thus much trickier job than we imagine. Imitation may be extended to products and services generated by the innovator, as well as to its technologies, procedures, processes, organizational models and market strategies. What has globalization done? It reduced barriers to trade and has spread innovation. If a country opens itself to foreign imports, its domestic companies are likely to come under pressure from more sophisticated competitors. That’s upsetting, but the competition can also push the domestic companies to upgrade technologies by imitating domestic or foreign rivals. That can ultimately make them more productive in their own right by way of incrementing an existing product.

In some cases the duplicate stands out because of its quality; at times, the price of imitation is lesser than the original product. Hats off to Mark Zuckerberg; he copied the social networking idea from Friendster – the social gaming site of 2002 and Myspace and Linkedin in 2003. But, Zuckerberg’s Facebook became a super duper hit because Facebook focused on real personal information and social connections, leveraging a genuine network effect, starting with college communities, while MySpace did not. Facebook developed several features such as the news feed and photo tagging, which were novel and kept people coming back to the site. And, Facebook built a developer and technology platform for other social applications becoming the leader in the social networking on Internet.

Similarly, in the early 1980s, the two Steves who had founded Apple Computer – Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak visited a computer research center run by Xerox in Palo Alto, Calif at “Xerox PARC,” as the laboratory was called. One of their friends who worked at Xerox took them on a historic tour. The two Steves spotted an odd computer at PARC called the ‘Star’. Practically nobody remembers the Star these days, but the guys from Apple gave it a place in history. It made such an impression on them that they decided they had to make a computer of their own that worked the same way. And, that’s how Apple was born.

Imitation concerns not only products, but also strategies, organization models and processes that bring market success to the innovator. For instance, activities related to competitive intelligence and benchmarking are undertaken to assess the market drive capacity of rivals or excellent enterprises from other industries in order to copy them. It is feasible to imitate an innovation by modifying marginal elements, developing a different design, reconfiguring the product, using new alternative materials or using different manufacture processes. From this point of view, the English coffee-shop chain “Costa” represents a marginal imitation of the innovator “Starbucks.”

Imitation does not necessarily entail clones of goods, or illegal counterfeits. The fact is that, the imitation can also be legal and very positive for the firm development. In the globalized markets consumers identify different categories of imitations. They are product pirates, forged clones, or knockoffs, design copies, creative variation and technological leapfrogging. Bogus and pirating are pure duplicating imitations and are illegal. Counterfeits are copies that resemble an original brand name but of low quality. In contrast, knockoffs are legal products, closely copying the original products in the absence of copyrights, trademarks and patents but sold with their own brand names at far lower prices. Knockoffs often present a better quality than original products. So, when it is legal, duplicative imitations are a bright strategy for the firms with low wages and mature technology.

In fact, design copies, market adaptations, technological leapfrogging, and adaptation to another industry are creative imitations. It requires lot of improvement. Design copies follow the market leader but live on the market with their own brand name and specific engineering features. Product adaptations are therefore innovative, with improvements inspired by existing products. Technological leapfrogging gets advantage with newer technology and enables the imitator to leapfrog the innovator. Imitating an original product or design and taking it to another industry takes on the application of innovations in a certain industry for use in another. In general, creative imitations are focused on generating imitative products, but with new features.

Outsourcing was introduced in Japanese companies and in ‘keiretsu’ alliances in particular, with the creation of very close relationships between companies and suppliers. Outsourcing spread after the Second World War, becoming a key global policy in all industrialized countries in the 1990s.

Numerous firms have created superior innovations that have revolutionized lifestyles of people all over the world; Frigidaire introduced refrigeration systems, Carrier brought air conditioning, Otis is synonymous with elevators and Nestlé with powdered milk. An original product or service can give the firm the first-mover advantage. Such firms do enjoy the leading position, and firms can enjoy skimming prices and generate profits; they can even go for low price strategy to rapidly acquire a high market share by which way they can raise barriers to the new entrants.

Global breakthrough product innovation generates new, formerly non-existent product classes, with innovative products and price levels that have no comparison among alternative products.  Dell Inc. and Wal-Mart have demonstrated the value associated with their business models. Dell and Wal-Mart’s business models are unusual, advanced, and require supporting processes that are hard for competitors to replicate – at least in the U.S. Elsewhere, new entrants have adopted key elements of the model and pre-empted Wal-Mart, as Steven Tindall has demonstrated it so ably in New Zealand with ‘The Warehouse’. But, the fact needs to be appreciated that both Dell and Wal-Mart have also constantly adjusted and improved their processes over time. Similarly copying Google’s business model is very difficult. The business model developed around Google’s product/service innovation required heavy investment in computing power as well as in software. Google writes its own software and builds its own computers. This is remarkable. It takes advantage of its considerable computing power to count words and links, and to combine information about words and links. Inventors must thus make ‘copying’ impracticable.

Finally, customers don’t just want products; they want solutions to their perceived needs. They are not concerned about originality or replication of a product or service. This fact has made imitation not only more bountiful than innovation; it is actually more established road to business growth and profits.

The consumer behavior analysts have noted through many studies that ‘Country of Origin’ has become a significant phenomenon in today’s marketing practices. The words ‘Made’ and ‘In’ conveys the strength of the product.  The label ‘made’ on the packing label of the product refers to the manufacturing aspect of the origin of a product. It is often related to legal certifications, the technologies involved ingredients and techniques as well as work ethics and safety standards. And, ‘In’ refers to the origin and the geographical dimension of origin such as the location of the manufacturing process and the source of ingredients. ‘Made In’ therefore suggests information and associations that are both tangible and intangible. The ‘Made in’ tag helps consumers to make rational and emotional decision both.

In its 2005 “Year of Ideas” issue, The New York Times Magazine listed nation branding among the year’s most notable ideas. The way a country is perceived can make a significant difference to the success of its trade, business, tourism efforts, as well as its diplomatic and cultural relations with other nations. Simon Anholt coined the term ‘nation branding’ in 1996 and since then he has been working with governments to help them plan the policies, strategies, investments and advance which lead their country towards an improved profile and reputation. America has become the largest and most powerful brand in the globe; it virtually shapes the world in almost all dimensions such as national governance, policies, exports, people, tourism, economic and social status etc. In the fast growing global village nation’s branding is considered as big as federal mega-projects. Steve Silver and Sam Hill, both marketing experts define nation branding as most complex (brand) positioning problem; how can we brand a nation? A nation is as big as a Meta brand inclusive of numerous mega brands. There are so many mega activities of in a nation such as political governance, commerce, education, human resource development, environment, foreign affairs, infrastructure, environment, tourism, culture and heritage and most importantly the national character. The study of national character refers to anthropological studies after World War II.

The Japanese are known as law abiding people; the Americans are known for their grit for freedom – freedom of speech, freedom to pursue their own interests, freedom from bullying, freedom of religion, freedom of movement within the country, freedom to associate with whomever they please. The Chinese are known for their orientalism; the French are known as arty.

The country of origin (COO) specifically matter to the customers because every country has its reputation and the association between the product and the country’s expertise matters while buying products. For example Italy is known for designs, North Caroline for furniture, France for fashion and wine, the USA for entertainment, India for spices, Germany is famous for cars. Today’s consumer understands legal and safety issues sharply. Consumers today look at the ‘made in’ label with many perspectives. The ‘made in’ dependent on a combination of many factors – from heritage, to design and physical manufacturing, skilled labour, infrastructure, market intermediaries etc. Hence manufacturers can leverage a lot on the country of origin as one of their competitive advantage. A company needs to be physically present in the country; the design and patents need to have emerged from talent in the country, or the brand needs to have factories or parts of the production process in the origin nation. In the past, when it was  enough to ‘borrow’ associations from a country for pure marketing purposes, today consumers not ready to accept country of origin as a choice driver unless it is bona fide.

Successful brands contribute to nation branding. Of the world’s 500 largest stock-market-listed companies measured by revenue in 2014, among the Fortune 500 companies 28 are headquartered in Germany. Well-known global brands include Mercedes Benz, BMW, SAP, Volkswagen, Audi, Siemens, Allianz, Adidas, Porsche and DHL. Thus, famous brands strengthen branding of a country. Similarly, brands across every category, like Apple, Cadillac, Clinique, Coca-Cola, Ford, Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Ralph Lauren, Starbucks and M&M’s have made the USA a strong nation brand. These corporate have made Germany and America leading nation brands.

The concept of branding is viewed as ‘cultural diplomacy’ of nations. It is a somewhat new way of looking at a nation, but every nation is already a brand. Every nation is perceived in the minds of people living differently in nooks and corners of the world. Some countries are known for good things, some for bad, and others have mixed insights. Based on the different perceptions, nations in the world interact and do business with each other, either contributing to its development or encumbering it. For example Africa is associated with civil war, Iraq with suicide bombings, Pakistan for terror bombing, India for scam and Cuba with Fidel Castro’s dictatorship (though he is dead). On the other hand, countries such as the US, Canada, Germany or France, are perceived positively for decades for their sound political and economic development. Nation branding is based on the underlying hypothesis that every nation can make a good or bad brand depending on its efforts. The important thing to realize about branding a nation is that one of its ingredients is the escalating value of something that is found already within that nation.

Consumers in developing countries like India, China, and Brazil still tend to prefer brands that come from other countries. Global supply, manufacture and export of goods began to accelerate in response for lower prices and greater choice of goods. Companies became international or multinational and the rise of an affluent middle class in the USA, Europe, India, China and UAE demand more sophisticated marketing. Due to rise of consumerism, categories of goods and services became more sharply defined. And, most brands started crossing the borders of their origin. With all the great business strategies, advertising, marketing and intelligent supply chain strategies even today in the 21^st century for most of the brands, their place of origin and heritage continues to be a key part of their appeal and differentiation. Their name, identity, design and symbolism of logos or trademarks become synonymous with their country or place of origin.

We should realize the fact that Brand building in emerging markets is a difficult task. As the rapid growth in an emerging market gives millions of consumers new spending power, they eye for and are encouraged by their counterpart in developed countries to buy established brands. Marketing efforts in developing countries is very multifarious.

In 2003, when Mahindra & Mahindra launched a smartly designed sport-utility vehicle called the Scorpio, CNBC India, BBC World’s ‘Wheels’ program, and others chose the vehicle for the

‘Car of the Year’ awards in the SUV category. That was not a small achievement: The made-in-India automobile won top honors ahead of global best sellers such as the Mercedes-Benz-E-Class and Toyota Camry sedans. To M&M, which manufactures tractors in several countries as well as vehicles targeted at India’s semi-urban and rural markets, the awards signaled that it could finally take the world’s automakers head-on. Even as the Scorpio successfully battles multipurpose vehicles like Toyota’s Innova and GM’s Chevy Tavera at home, M&M has started marketing the SUV in South Africa, Spain and many other countries.

As a nation, Singapore’s stunning rise from third world to first world in a matter of 30 years was spearheaded by an intensive and rigorous closely-coordinated programme of nation branding. Today, brand Singapore attracts the investments, business, trade, tourism and talented human resources from all over the world which is helping it further to become more flourishing nation. This state is internationally known as a vibrant, safe, corruption-free place to do business. Name any of the great businesses of the world; everybody wants to be in Singapore! The vibrancy and liveliness of the nation in its culture and the fine art attracts more and more tourists. In global surveys of quality of life, Singapore regularly tops the charts.

Nation Branding is catching up rapidly: the brand must be accepted internally first, i.e domestically, meaning throughout the nation, by all stakeholders. Only then can it be effectively promoted internationally.

A Brand Ambassador is someone who, at the most elementary level, symbolizes a brand in a positive way; he/she embodies a brand. The brand ambassador communicates the message of a company to consumers or people who would be interested in buying the company’s brand after learning about it. Thus, BA puts a human face on the multi-million dollar corporations because consumers associate with them more effectively.

The affinity consumers have for certain celebrities can greatly influence their purchase decisions. People perhaps feel that, “If the product is good enough for her, its good enough for me.” This philosophy is often the force behind advertisements for makeup, skin creams, lingerie, banks, eatables, beverages and attire. The brand ambassadors infuse confidence in the consumers to use a product/service. Essentially, the celebrity’s testimonial adds instant reliability to a small or big brand.

That’s why brand ambassador is a part of the company’s marketing and sales team. Celebrities endorse for products in lieu of heavy money. Therefore, they automatically become responsible if the brand turns out to be spurious/bogus/contaminated. It’s simple, before endorsing a product it’s their responsibility to check the credibility of a product/service. In the recent Maggi Noodle’s fiasco, the Uttar Pradesh Food and Drug Administration’s decision to recall packets of Maggi Noodles for reportedly having monosodium glutamate and lead more than permissible limits, film star Madhuri Dixit, who endorsesMaggi’s brand of ‘nutritious’ oats noodles is in trouble. The Haridwar FDA has issued her a notice  seeking an explanation as to how the noodles are nutritious, and on what the basis Nestlé is making such a claim. If she fails to respond within a fortnight, a case could be filed against her, according to officials of the FDA.

Can ambassadors simply shrug off their responsibilities when the brands endorsed by them turn out unauthentic?  Misrepresentation of products, especially in the food sector, is a serious issue, and not as silly  as many would like to believe. In February 2014, last year, the Central Consumer Protection Council, under the leadership of former Union Food Minister KV Thomas, decided  unanimously to propose laws to hold celebrities endorsing products also liable in cases of misleading advertisements. The rationale behind this decision of the CPCC was that celebrities had considerable influence over consumer choice, and that there must be some form of liability for the endorsements being made.

In US, Kellogg’s popular Rice Krispies cereal had a crisis in 2010 when it was accused of misleading consumers about its immunity boosting properties. The Federal Trade Commission ordered Kellogg to halt all advertising that claimed that the cereal improved a child’s immunity with “25 percent Daily Value of Antioxidants and Nutrients — Vitamins A, B, C and E stating the claims were “dubious.” Ironically, just a year prior, the company settled with the FTC over charges that its Frosted Mini-wheats cereal didn’t live up to its ads. The campaign claimed that the cereal improved kids’ attentiveness by nearly 20%, and was shot down when the FTC found out that the clinical studies showed that only 1-in-9 kids had that kind of improvement and half the kids weren’t affected at all. Now, we just cannot imagine this kind of strictness and vigil in the Indian administration. Our laws are indistinct and lack spirit to take up firm steps.

There is a notion that brand ambassadors can’t generally be tamed. The ad agencies do speak in favor of their models. When the going is good, everyone wants to be party to the success, but, when the going gets bad you can test the actuality of people. The celebrities behave larger than life. They should be held guilty for false advertisements because they exploit their fan following and their popularity. The fans revere them so much; they follow their personal lives and their styles to no end. Tiger Woods was a brand ambassador for Gatorade, Gillette, Accenture, AT&T, Gold Digest and Tag Heuer. After his plentiful extramarital affairs were revealed, the majority of these brands discontinued him as they found it difficult to continue him as their brand ambassador.

In India in 2012, actress Genelia D’Souza was summoned by court for allegedly making false promises through ads and brochures for a real estate company in Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh High Court demanded her explanation as brand ambassador for a project called ‘Anjaniputra’ located close to Hyderabad Deccan when the project seems to have gone bust. This is the latest in how society and the laws in India are dealing with the extremely doubtful advertisements. It is a matter of time before similar questions are raised by other consumers who are swayed into investing in products or services, by fraudulent advertisements endorsed by celebrities who are supposed to also be role models.

The Home Trade scam of 2002 had the celebrity endorsement  of three big celebrities, Sachin Tendulkar, Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan. Having created not a single product, the company made away with thousands of crore rupees of investor money, and celebrity-endorsed brand building  was a crucial part of their operation. Activists have also been speaking out against ads for sauna-belts, medicines, Hanuman-chalisa yantra and gem-stones on TV screens.

How can celebrities vouch for the authenticity and effectiveness of that product with great confidence without checking them? Like with politicians, an advertisement and the celebrities involved in it can simply be voted out. They can be thrown out in disgrace. This message is clear; the company and ad agencies cannot work on the premise that the consumers are fools. They better learn to respect their constituency, i.e. the consumers.

Due diligence should be exercised before making of an ad. All stakeholders must share their responsibilities. The three stake-holders in ad making are advertiser, advertising agencies and the media. Let’s understand this straight: in advertising, there’s a big difference between pushing the truth and making false claims. Most of us have some or the other time in our life been victims of false advertising. Are we going to take it lying low or question the companies to change their marketing policies? Can we allow the companies to continue to prioritize profits over the consumers?

In progressive countries like America and Europe companies need to face harsh penalties. Companies are made to pay up the consumers for cheating them.
Dannon’s popular Activia brand yogurt lured consumers into paying more for its purported nutritional benefits when it was actually pretty much the same as every other kind of yogurt.

In Canada and America law suits were filed against Dannon for falsely touting the “clinically” and “scientifically” proven nutritional benefits of the product.  In spite of the company got a famous spokesperson, Jamie Lee Curtis, for the supposed digestion-regulator, some customers didn’t buy it. Do you know that a class action settlement forced Dannon to pay up to $45 million in damages to the consumers? The company also had to limit its health claims on its products strictly to factual ones.

In another case, hundreds of car owners were extremely disappointed to find out that Hyundai and Kia Motors overstated the horsepower in some of their vehicles. In 2001, the Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation uncovered the parody, which for some models was as much as 9.6 percent more horsepower than the cars actually had. A class action lawsuit in southern California claimed the companies were able to sell more cars and charged more per vehicle because of the false claims. In the end, the auto powerhouses had to pay customers; the settlement estimated to be between $75 million and $125 million.

In India, to protect rights of consumers the process of filing complaint and finding resolution needs a drastic improvement. Strict guidelines should be made and law suits must be resolved in minimum a week’s time. Then, we might find respite from getting cheated recurrently by companies, their advertisements and savvy brand ambassadors.

Marathi theatre has always been regarded as one of the most culturally rich theatre traditions in the country. Right from the 18^th century the Marathi theatre has been present. It seems King Patwardhan of Sangli requested novelist Vishnu Bhave to write an evocative play for entertaining his guests and Bhave wrote ‘Sita Swayamvar’ which was performed on November 5, 1843, in that princely state. It was inspired by Karnataka’s folk theatre form of Yakshagana.

The Marathi stage has evolved in Bombay (now Mumbai) because this city has always been a business city; it had the infrastructure and money which helped the formal performers to grow. Because of the majority Maharashtrian workers community in the city who lived in the chawls the free time was used to practice dramas, keertans, pravachans and powadas. The artists used to practice in whatever space was available to them; sometimes varandahs, staircases and the open grounds. Lavanis such as “Mumbai Nagari Badi Banka, Jashi Ravanachi dusari Lanka” by Patthe Bapurao and Annabhau Sathe’s “Mazi Mumbai, Arthat Muumbai Konachi” were super duper hits those days. People flocked to the theatres to watch these lavanis.

Maharashtra has had long theatrical tradition, one of its early references is found in cave inscriptions at Nashik. Marathi theatre started flourishing in the middle of the 19th century. It includes forms like Sangeet Natak (Musical drama), Tamasha (folk dance), Ekpatri prayog etc. It continues to have a marked presence in the State of Maharashtra. Marhathi theatre is not famous outside Maharashtra; maybe because Marathi as a language is quite difficult and a lot of stress is laid on the richness of the language by the writers; the gamut of Marathi dramas ranges from humorous social plays, farces, historical plays, musical, to experimental plays and serious drama. We have seen the likes of Annabhau Kirloskar, P. L. Deshpande, Vijay Tendulkar, and Mahesh Elkunchwar, Bhalaji Pendharkar, Raja Paranjape, Annabhu Sathe, Vinda Karandikar, Arun Sadhu, P. K. Atre, Daya Pawar etc who were known and are known even today for their par excellence.  But, there is one big problem in staging a drama and continuing it for long time. We find Marathi dramas live a short life span, though some of them have great content. They are forgotten easily. Perhaps it is because Maharashtra faces multiculturalism and therefore the Marathi theatre takes a backset. Most importantly, Marathi theatre faces many political and social undercurrents. There is a sea change in terms of quality and context which are changing like never before. The conditions today cannot be compared to the previous decade.

Marathi Theatre can be described as never-ending energy; live moments, live interaction, superb dialogues, and great backdrops of stage, superb background music scores, and a strong tradition of 150 years which can never die. Besides, Marathi dramas are sharp, witty and very rich in content. They make you think even hours after you’ve watched a show. Marathi theatre is evolving with newer ideas, newer concepts and much more experiments. The new breed of directors is experimenting with forms of theatre. No other place in India has so much of ‘commercial theatre’ like that in Maharashtra. If you have three movie shows in Plaza, the theatre bang opposite to it, Shivaji Mandir, has three shows of plays on the same day.

The various genres of Marathi scripts are also a reason for people to watch plays. Comedy, serious depiction of the society, political satires, musicals, romantic, tragedy, rags to riches stories and mission – it has it all. Marathi theatre fascinates its viewers with its large variety.

The cultural connection of Mumbai and Pune with its regional theatre shows that the stage is not dying, it is experimenting and it has long way to go. It has managed to carve a special niche and that’s reason enough to say that there’s plenty of hope for the art in the state of Maharashtra.

Both cinema and drama are based on story. Both drama and cinema depend primarily on performers who resent and communicate the story to the audience. A stage play or a screenplay is like reading a novel. Dramas are livelier and thrilling as you see the actor’s performance right in front. The audience can clap and applaud the actors on the stage. The actors also in response give their best dialogue delivery, voice modulation, gestures thus bringing in more energy in the theater. Drama is on the spot. There are not takes and retakes; it delivers effect on the spot therefore it connects with the viewers more honestly. Drama is more difficult for an actor.

Both drama and cinema share certain common features; they both use sets, props, costumes, music and other sound effects. Communication is the essence in both drama and cinema. Even in the silent era, films relied heavily on human speech that was understood through contextual instinct; a combination of gesture, facial expression, and lip reading; and inserts of printed, projected text. If a drama is dull or boring viewers crate a commotion whereas if a cinema is boring they simply walk out of the theatre. Bothe cinema and drama have their fan following. Everybody cannot enjoy drama; an audience that has been raised on films, do not enjoy dramas.

Marathi theatre has come a long way. While Gujarati, Hindi or English theatre is ‘merely weekend theatre’, catering to the thinking and upper class, Marathi theatre is all about the masses mainly because of the way it gets people to relate to the script. Mumbai and Pune are hubs of Marathi plays. In Mumbai and Pune, there are these niche classes of people who usually do not miss watching a play every week. Mumbai is the economic capital and Pune is the cultural capital of Maharashtra state. There are at least 15-20 theatres in Mumbai which host only Marathi plays right from Prabhadevi to Thane: Rabindra Natya Mandir, Shivaji Natya Mandir, Ranga Sharda, Dinanath, Gadkari Rangayatan and many more theatres are witness to the love Mumbaikars have for this art form. And in Pune: Bal Gandharva Rang Mandir, Tilak Smarak Mandir, Bharat Natya Mandir, Sudarshan Hall, Moreshwar Hall, Yashwantrao Chavan Natya Mandir etc are famous for Mrathi drama lovers. Mumbai and Pune showcase the love for performing art relatively much more, compared to other cities like Bangalore or New Delhi which relatively have fewer auditoriums.

The amount of theatre that is being done on the commercial as well as parallel stage in Marathi cannot be compared to any other regional theatre today. It is facing some technical, political and financial problems today, which I am sure, will be sorted out sooner or later. The Marathi theatre scene is the most happening in the whole of India.

Industry analysis is a strategic tool designed for market assessment to provide a business with an idea about complexity of a particular industry. The industry analysis involves reviewing the economic, political and market factors that influence the way the industry has developed and is performing.  Major factors include the power exerted by buyers and suppliers, how competitive the market is and the likelihood of new entrants. Small as well as big businesses often spend a large chunk of time planning their firm’s operations. Majority of that time is spent planning initial operations and expected financial returns. Once the business is in progress, business owners continue the planning process to ensure their venture remains profitable. Industry analysis is an important part of a business planning. This analysis often looks at the external factors that can affect a company.

Industry analysis enables a company to develop competitive strategies to survive in a market and using the forces in its favor. The key to developing a competitive strategy is to understand the sources of the competitive forces. By developing an understanding of these competitive forces, the company can:

• Emphasize on its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).
• Elevate its position in the industry.
• Clarify areas where strategic changes will result in the greatest payoffs.
• Emphasize areas where industry trends indicate the greatest significance as either opportunities or threats.
• Trim down weaknesses and threats by using competitive advantages.

Everything that goes on in the industry and the external factors affect the businesses existing businesses. Therefore a better understanding of the industry helps a business survive better. More understanding of the industry highlights chances of prosperity for a business as it has more advantage and protection. While preparing a business plan the general industry economics, participants, distribution patterns, factors in the competition is described to portray the survival and growth of a business. The internet has created an enormous impact on the state of industry information. Finding information isn’t really a problem anymore. Today at click of button, loads of information is accessed by anybody. The Internet has brought in a lot of transparency. Two decades back, dealing with information was more of a problem of sorting through it all than of finding raw data. Today, there are websites for business analysis, financial statistics, demographics, government policies, trade associations, suppliers, buyers, supply chain managers – you name it and just about everything and you will have access to all that is required for making a business plan and industry analysis.

For making an accurate industry analysis you must know:

Industry participants: You should know who else sells in your market. You can’t easily describe a type of business without describing the nature of the participants. There is a huge difference, for example, between an industry like broadband television services, in which there are only a few huge companies in most of the countries, and one like dry cleaning, in which there are tens of thousands of smaller participants. The participants in the industry have their own style of running their businesses. The leaders in the industry call the shots. The procedures in the industry can change suddenly, which in turn can challenge operations of many smaller companies.  Today we see that the fast food business is composed of a few international brands participating in thousands of branded outlets, many of them are franchised. We have a gamut of local, national and multi-national chains evolved and the scenario which looks very competitive.

Economists talk of consolidation as an encouraging economic parameter; we see smaller participants disappearing from the market and a few large players emerging. In accounting, the majority of the world’s auditing services are performed by only four accounting firms. Known as the ‘Big 4’, these firms completely dominate the industry, auditing more than 80 percent of all US public companies. In addition, these mammoth organizations advise on tax and offer a wide range of management and assurance services. They are Deloitte LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and KPMG.

The last major change to the fortunes of the global accounting firms followed the collapse of the Enron Corporation which was audited by Arthur Anderson. In the outcome of the collapse, the accounts company was found guilty of criminal charges relating to its business practices. Although the conviction was eventually overturned, the damage to its reputation meant Arthur Andersen was unable to recover and eventually sold most of its business to members of what would come to be known as the Big 4.

Distribution Pattern: Products and services can follow many paths between suppliers and users. One needs to know how distribution works in an industry. Each sector has its distribution pattern set. One needs to see whether in a particular industry retailers are supported by regional distributors, as is the case for computer products, magazines, or auto parts. Does an industry depend on direct sales to large industrial customers? Do manufacturers support their own direct sales forces, or do they work with product representatives? Brilliant marketing logistics covers physical distribution plus managing marketing channels. The importance of transportation to economic growth and productivity is undisputed. Transportation confers place-utility and time-utility to products and services.  At the macro level, progressive transportation modes contribute handsomely to the national economy. At the micro level, techniques have been developed and refined for determining the economic impact of transportation programs and projects. It has been observed that there is a shift in hiring services of contracted and third party transporters by many organizations.

Some products are almost always sold through retail stores to consumers, and sometimes these are distributed by distribution companies that buy from manufacturers. In other cases, the products are sold directly from manufacturers to stores. Some products are sold directly from the manufacturer to the final consumer through mail campaigns, national advertising, or other promotional means.

In many product categories there are several alternatives, and distribution choices are strategic. Encyclopedias and vacuum cleaners are traditionally sold door-to-door, but are also sold in stores and direct from manufacturer to consumer through radio and television ads.

Technology can change the patterns of distribution in an industry or product category. The internet, for example, changed options for software distribution, books, music, and other products. Cable communication is changing the options for distributing video products and video games. Distribution patterns may not be as critical to most service companies, because distribution is normally about physical distribution of specific physical products such as a restaurant, graphic artist, professional services practice, or architect.

So far the pharmaceutical companies used to sell medicine stocks directly to 5000 odd stockiest and distributors, they in turn sell the products to 10000 wholesalers and the wholesalers then sell them to six lakh retailers. This trade practice has been existed in the industry for several years and All India Organization of Chemists & Druggists (AIOCD) was directly controlling this arrangement disliked by many pharma companies and patient community.

Industry sources said that the new order in the pharmaceutical trade is going to be in place in Maharashtra to start with. The representatives of the pharma trade and industry had a meeting with the Commissioner of Food & Drug Administration last week and he is understood to have told the industry and trade that no wholesaler should be denied direct supplies of drugs by the manufacturer. Denial of drug supply to any wholesaler would amount to restrictive trade practice and will be in violation of the Drug Price Control Order and Competition Act attracting penal action. The new distribution system will be enforced by other states also shortly. Drug manufacturers are not however happy with the new distribution system as they may have to deal with a large number of wholesalers now onwards and that may add to additional costs.

Competition: It is essential to understand the nature of competition in your industry. This is still in the general area of describing the industry or type of business. Explain the general nature of competition in this business, and how the customers seem to choose one provider over another. What are the keys to success? What buying factors make the most difference? Is it price? Product features? Is it service? Support, training, delivery schedules what is it? Are brand names important in the market? Which are the leading brands, why are they leading? What positioning strategies have been used by the marketers? So you see there is so much to find out about the competition.

The market is determined by supply and demand. Creating and maintaining relationship with customers is become an inseparable part of business. The concept of CRM is viewed differently in different sectors of business. Customer relationship or customer care is not just being polite to them – it is looking at the entire customer experience – or walking in the shoes of the customers. This journey starts before you even meet your customer, the trick is to forget all that you know or think you know about the market. Start thinking why your customers would want to buy your product? How it would solve their problems? How the substitute product would satisfy their needs? How you product reaches them in time? With companies offering technology-based solutions for everything, customer care has become more important than ever before. Sales literature and indeed entire campaigns are based on describing the technology, usage, power of the product, marketing channel details, price points etc.

In the computer business, for example, competition might depend on reputation and trends in one part of the market, and on channels of distribution and advertising in another. In many business-to-business industries, the nature of competition depends on direct selling, because channels are impractical. Price is vital in products competing with each other on retail shelves, but delivery and reliability might be much more important for materials used by manufacturers in volume, for which a shortage can affect an entire production line.

Market leaders: The market leader is dominant in its industry and has substantial market share. If you want to lead the market, you must be the industry leader in establishing an innovation friendly organization, developing new business models and new products or services. The market leaders usually have the cutting edge technologies. They offer superior solutions to the customer’s problems. And, most importantly their products are well differentiated. Market ledgers have an edge over the other players in the market. They make the strategic changes and changes in the policies.  The following graph shows strengths and challenges in the construction sector of India.

India is on the verge of witnessing a sustained growth in infrastructure build up. The construction industry has been witness to a strong growth wave powered by large spends on housing, road, ports, water supply, and rail transport and airport development. While the construction sector’s growth has fallen as compared to the pre-2008 period, it has picked up in the recent past. Its share as a percentage of GDP has increased considerably as compared to the last decade. To put things in perspective, the total investment in infrastructure – which in this case also includes roads, railways, ports, airports, electricity, telecommunications, oil gas pipelines and irrigation – is estimated to have increased from 5.7% of GDP in 2007 to around 8.0% by 2012. The Planning Commission of India has proposed an investment of around US$ 1 trillion in the Twelfth five-year plan (2012-2017), which is double of that in the Eleventh five-year plan.

Besides Indian Railway Construction Limited (IRCON), National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), Rail India Transportation and Engineering Services (RITES), Engineers India Limited (EIL), in private sector M N Dastur and Co, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), L&T and GVK are leaders.

Industry reports are prepared by the following:

Government Agencies: They prepare and compile various industry reports to judge the overall economic health of the nation. Examples of these are reports by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Research Firms: These firms conduct market surveys and compile different industry reports and sell them to companies and government organizations. These reports are purchased to facilitate decision making. Firms such as PWC, Ernst & Young, IMBR are famous for preparing industry analysis reports.

Individual Companies: Different companies in an industry prepare industry reports for their own use in order to facilitate decision marking and internal management. These industry reports are generally not available to outsiders.

An Industry report consists of the following elements:

Industry definition: An industry report includes a comprehensive definition of the industry, mentioning what the industry includes and what comes outside its purview.

Major industry players: It mentions the names and other relevant information about major companies that generate the largest revenue in the industry.

Market share: The report presents a breakdown of the different markets of the industry and its share in each market.

Historical and current trends: These trends include the facts and figures (such as revenue, sales and profits) of various companies in the industry. Historical trends in the industry are generally presented for five to ten years and the current trend pertaining to the prior financial year.

Employment statistics: It includes an account of the total employment figures and distribution in different companies within the industry. Key statistics also include the composition of men and women in the labor force.

SWOT analysis: This is an overall analysis of the industry in terms of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Achievements: It mentions the significant milestones and achievements of the industry. This could include new innovations in the industry or the industry’s contribution to social-economic development.

Outlook: The report includes the prospects of the existing companies in the industry as well as the scope for new players.

An industry report contains graphs, charts and tables, generally supported by written commentary. This enables even non-professionals to get an understanding of the industry.

Some important insights such as low cost production structure (compared to the industry cost structure) could be through economies of scale or other operational efficiencies, strong technology capability, location to customers (if close, time to deliver to market will be relatively fast and shipping costs will be low) and sustainability of the business if taken into account in analyzing the industry will be of great help.

It is critical that you understand what an industry’s key success factors are; the only way to discover them is to do a thorough industry analysis.

In globalized markets successful innovation has become a key driver for revenue growth, competitive margins and, in some cases, even for survival of the business. The ability to bring innovation to market swiftly, efficiently and ahead of competitors is becoming ever more significant. An efficient product launch requires incorporating great workable strategies and coordination among multiple functional areas, including product design, procurement, planning, manufacturing process, sales and marketing. In addition, as organizations increasingly leverage core capabilities of other companies, innovation has to be delivered through virtual networks, working with partners in a collaborative environment to bring product and services to market faster, smarter and cheaper. Today’s markets are swiftly altering leaving no room to even think. Cannibalization is a glaring reality and it’s better to accept and survive with it. The CEO of Apple Inc, Tim Cook says “Better to eat your own than have your own eaten by others”. That’s Apple’s philosophy on product cannibalization.

Market cannibalization refers to a situation where a new product “eats” up the sales and demand of an existing product. This can negatively affect both the sales volume and market share of the existing product. Market cannibalization occurs when a new product encroaches on the existing market for the older product, rather than expanding the company’s market base. Rather than attracting a new segment of the market and increasing market share, the new product appeals to the company’s current market, resulting in reduced sales and market share for the existing product.

Creative destruction cannot be avoided. When Joseph Schumpeter coined this term in 1942, he was damn sure that the future is all about impatient, over competitive ‘destructive creation’.  Though, Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction was as the renewing of society through cycle of innovations, which would lead into higher levels of economic development and welfare. He also mentioned then that creative destruction would create discomfort and loss to the existing players while newcomers would benefit and increase value creation for broader society.

Organizations now not only need to integrate internally, but also externally with suppliers and customers, creating end-to-end supply chain processes and capabilities which differentiate on product and customer requirements. Successful innovation is of tremendous benefit to the organization while launching a new product. If the company can launch the product early in the market, it leads to the chance to acquire greater market share in introduction and growing phase of product life cycle management. Product launching time is also very important for success of product. Customer psychologies, customer need, number of competitors in the market, price driven by the market are most critical and important parameters for success of products. And, cannibalization is however accepted by organizations either internally or externally.

Market cannibalization can have a negative effect on a company’s bottom line, forcing an existing product’s life to end prematurely because sales shifted to the new product, rather than tapping into a new market as intended. At times, market cannibalism is used as a strategy if the company wants to increase its market share, and hopes that the introduction of the new product will harm its competitors more than it will harm itself; for example, when Apple introduced the more feature-rich iPhone and iPods that ate up sales for its lower-end iPods, including the Nano, Shuffle and Classic series. In marketing strategy, cannibalization refers to a decrease in sales volume, sales revenue, or market share of one product as a result of the introduction of a new product by the same producer. While this may seem innately negative, in the context of a carefully planned strategy, it can be effective, by ultimately growing the market share, or to please the consumers by meeting their demands. Cannibalization is a key consideration in product portfolio analysis. For example, when Apple introduced the iPad, it killed the market of the original Macintosh.

Another instance of cannibalization is when a retailer discounts a particular product. The tendency of consumers is to buy the discounted product rather than competing products with higher prices. When the promotion event is over and prices return to normal, however, the effect will tend to disappear. This temporary change in consumer behavior can be described as cannibalization. Though, in business this concept is known by different names in sales and marketing. What is happening in e-commerce? Some companies intentionally cannibalize their retail sales through lower prices on their online product offerings. More consumers than usual may buy the discounted products, especially if they’d previously been secured to the retail prices. Even though their in-store sales might decline, the company may see overall gains. The game of ‘volume’ leads to increase in sales with help of e-commerce.

Cannibalization happens even when companies – particularly retail companies, open shops too close to each other, in effect, competing for the same customers; e.g Nike or Bata having many outlets in an area for shoe markets. Cannibalization becomes an important issue in marketing strategy when an organization aims to carry out brand extension. Hindustan Lever’s Lifebuoy soap’s brand extensions are Lifebuoy Plus, Lifebuoy liquid and Lifebuoy Gold, since these brands have been positioned at different segments. Similarly, Amul butter, Amul ghee, Amul cheese, Amul chas and Amul chocolates are various brand extensions of regular Amul Brand. Companies make brand extensions in the anticipation that they can earn on the equity of the successful brands. Normally, when a brand extension is carried out from one sub-category; e.g. Marlboro Gold cigarette to another sub-category such as Marlboro Light, there is a possible occurrence of a part of the former’s sales being taken away by the latter. However, the strategic intent of such an extension is to capture a larger market share of a different market segments.

Kodak is best known for photographic film products. Its famous USP is “Kodak moment”. During most of the 20th century Kodak held a dominant position in photographic film, and in 1976, had a 90% market share of photographic film sales in the United States. Kodak was synonymous with the film. Do you know that Kodak had to struggle financially in the late 90s, as a result of the steady decline in sales of photographic film due to market transitioning to digital photography? But, despite having invented the core technology in film, as a turnaround strategy, Kodak focused on digital photography and digital printing. The lesson is that cannibalizing one’s own products can be a good thing, if it allows a business to prevent competitors from doing so. A good business is the one which can take flexible decisions and flexibly spin.

Marketing is all about reaching out to customer the maxim “When you are in Rome, speak Roman” describes fact of marketing. Despite having multiple laundry brands such as Cheer, Daz, Dreft and Tip,  P&G successfully introduced a custom laundry brand in India called Tide Naturals. It’s a unique product that suits the needs in the Indian market. P&G makes sure that when they enter a market, they adopt marketing approach that suits the local’s taste and tradition. They adopt appropriate yet diverse strategies. They realize that if they use the same marketing vehicles and distribution arms it’s hard to bring new benefits to different customers. By introducing Tide Naturals they cannibalized their existing laundry product’s market share.

The fact is companies must come to grasp with their cannibalization concerns, because getting overly defensive can restrain powerful growth strategies. If an opportunity is large enough, somebody is going to find a way to grab it; it is therefore a smart move to seize the opportunity than the competitor does. In the long run, survival matters.

Importance of product positioning

There are a variety of definitions of product positioning, possibly the most common is: identifying and attempting to occupy a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing accurate marketing mix strategy i.e. product, price, promotion and place (distribution).

 Positioning is an essential part of launching a product in the market. Positioning simply revolves around image of the product and its company. It creates a position for self in the minds of the customers and hence the term “positioning” is used. The fashion in which a product portrays its utility and its benefits in the minds of customers makes a difference in its standing in the market. Positioning strategy can change the perception of the product. A product stands out amongst an array of products on a shelf.

 Horlicks: it’s one of the leading malted milk drinks. Do you know that Horlicks came to India with British Army during end of World War-I; Indian soldiers of British Indian Army brought it back with them while returning home. It was given to the soldiers as a diet supplement. Punjab, Bengal and Madras Presidencies became early adopters of Horlicks and lot of well-to-do Indians adopted it as a family drink from early 1930s to 1950s. It was invented in 1873 by James Horlicks, the brand has been available in India for almost above 85 years.

 Glaxo Smithkline (GSK) has changed the positioning strategy of Horlicks as per the changing times. From being a drink taken only during convalescence the brand has repositioned itself since the seventies as a ‘great family nourished’ drink. It became a sort of status symbol in upper middle class and rich Indian families.  India, even today is by and far, the biggest market for Horlicks, here it has traditionally been marketed as ‘The Great Family Nourisher’.

The Indian formulation for Horlicks is slightly different than in most other countries; in India it is manufactured from cow milk whereas in other countries it is manufactured from buffalo milk.   Horlicks has added many new flavors in India such as vanilla, toffee, chocolate, honey, and elaichi. The current line-up of flavors includes original (malt), chocolate and elaichi and the latest offering is Kesar Badaam.

 According to an Economic Times Survey of 2004 Horlicks is the leading health food drink in India and as the “Most Trusted Drink Brands.” It enjoys more than half of the health food drink market. GSK has used brand rejuvenation after regular intervals by giving it a different packaging, product alteration in terms of flavors, new advertising tactics, a sturdy distribution and comparable pricing. Horlicks is going strong in India in spite of tough competition from Boost, Complan, Bournvita, Viva and Maltova.

 Horlicks jars occupy a visible position in many Indian and Bangadeshi households. The former sturdy glass jars are used to stalk grains, massalas, and sugar even today. They are so strong that they have lasted for over 2-3 decades in some households. Isn’t this one of the strengths of brand positioning? I recall this in my childhood women would buy Horlicks every month for two reasons one for nourishing their children and two for decoratively storing their shelves.    Successful segmenting, a focus on the target markets, innovating the product regularly as per changing taste of consumers, tinkering the product packaging design and shape has helped Horlicks’s positioning in the market for over eight decades. Most notably, its consistency in maintaining product quality and strengthening of essential nutrients has won over the trust of generations of mothers. The brand gives guarantee of nutrition and growth that all mothers seek in for the kids. With its superior taste and constancy in quality it has become the adorable brand among kids and mothers.

Positioning matters in how a product is defined by the marketer, what it does – its benefits, what it means and its effects in short, it must inspire the consumers. For a good positioning inventive and stimulating marketing communication is a must. Of course, the positioning involves product packaging and design aesthetics, pricing, performance, references and the media vehicles used for its promotion. Positioning therefore exists in the customer’s minds. People do not like to change a product if it matches their taste and comforts therefore, positioning must exhibit product’s relevance in terms of its usage, benefit and its credibility.

Ray Ban sunglasses have been reining the market for ages. Ray Ban had created its trade mark convincingly; its craft, its usage, its design and the price – it’s positioning is based on quality consistency and craftsmanship. It was the first brand of goggles which introduced the U.V and the post-red secure glasses in all the designs and gold plated frame in aviation segment. This added to its firm positioning. Post World War I the aviation sector saw a boom. The 1920s was a decade of remarkable advances. As a result of which air traffic grew tremendously. With the development of new airplanes that could fly higher and higher came altitude-related problems. Pilots were suffering from headaches and nausea because of glare and the great distances that they had to navigate. In 1929, General MacCready asked Ray-Ban for a new type of air force eyewear that would protect pilots from glare at high altitudes while at the same time ensuring a clear field of vision. The company took up the challenge and succeeded in developing a new pair of glasses with lenses that could block out a high proportion of visible light. This marked the birth of Ray-Ban’s first, green-lens ANTI GLARE eyewear. In 1936 the first model went on for sale to general public. They were featured in a plastic frame with the classic Aviator shape.

 The Ray Ban glasses come in various shapes and sizes; perhaps that’s why you see them protecting most eyes in the world. The product offers good quality, warranty and after sales service and hence people trust its credibility. You will see hoards of people using them while rock climbing, on beaches, while jogging or walking. Wearing Ray Ban glasses has become fashion trend. The elegant yet conventional glasses are sold all over the world. Its whole body styling defines the design and style contention into a conventional manner. Ray Ban sale comprehends the luxury and royalty; it adds to the dignity of the user. It comes in five variants of color shades. It offers feminine and elegant glasses for women. Its classic appeal with delicate frames, great colours and profiles are awesome. They are so elegant, that females can simply flaunt them. Ray Ban stands tall while giving tough fight to Maui Jim, Versace, Oakley, Persol, Tom Ford, Burberry, Prada, Revo and many more brands.

Product quality is the major aspect in positioning of a product. It consists of intensity and consistency of the quality, how it is perceived by the customers and the appeal. The features both physical and intrinsic characteristics contribute to its benefits. The design of the product adds to its appeal.

The brand name, logo, needs serious thinking by the marketer. The brand name contributes to positioning exercise. The power of the brand name cannot be underestimated.

Packaging helps handling of the product. For example in the example of Horlicks; its glass jar helped the positioning of it. People got so used to using the jar for storing household items that women would insist on buying Horlicks for collecting the jars.

Labeling incorporates the written information about the product and usually is printed on an adhesive sticker. Label is an identity of a product. It helps business promote their product and catch people’s attention. It is beneficial to consumers as it gives information about ingredients, price, manufacturing date, which help customers distinguish goods from one another.

The elements listed above add to the competitive advantages of the product; good and consistent quality, features, design, packaging, labeling and after sales service help in strategic positioning of a product. The positioning needs to be done by placing it within an obtainable category.

Before I finish, positioning idea must be clear in terms of both target market and degree of difference in advantages suitable to different segments. The target market should be clearly demarcated and identifiable in terms of demographic or geographic parameters, or a combination of both. When marketers cannot resist offering the product besides targeted market, the clarity of the communication becomes blurred; the value proposition of the products narrows down. This situation can create threat to the product’s existence in a market. Clearness, Constancy, Credibility, and Competitiveness – all 4 Cs are the inputs to successful positioning.