Posts Tagged ‘MBA’

Starbucks–Why the Starbuck’s Logo Hype ?

January 11th, 2011

Howard Schultz, the owner of Starbucks has a story worth telling. He is a master at what he does and he brought it several key concepts to the marketing world.

He figured out that by providing speciality coffee, he could charge the customers a premium and change the attitude of traditional coffee which was considered “cuppa Joe” , thus bringing in the concept of customer engagement . Unlike the other companies running during the 1990, he outwardly rejected the franchising model and decided to spend the profits and marketing resources on its stores, employees and thereby improving the customer experience.

This lead to word of mouth publicity of Starbucks and created a more powerful brand which has dominated the coffee business ever since its launch. The customers promoted the brand free of cost through word of mouth and the there is a sense of customer ownership of the brand more powerful than any other brand.

gaplogo.jpg

There are examples of companies where logo change did not work – Gap who changed its logo had to revert back to its original logo within a week after massive criticism on twitter and Facebook. So much so, the company even tried a failed attempt  to crowd source the new design to the customers who were annoyed by Gap’s initiative to change the logo.

How the customer would be associated with the new logo is still to be seen.

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How to save yourself from being cheated by Investment agents

January 10th, 2011

In case you want to avoid losing your hard earned money, here are some tips to keep in mind when dealing with Investment agents who try to sweet talk you into buying insurance or other financial policies.

1) Don’t sigh blindly on the documents : I understand that reading 20-30 pages of policy documents are a cumbersome job and even educated people prefer to just sign at the cross marks which the agents point them to. Yet this is one of the easiest ways for agents to cheat and sell you an entirely different product compared to the product advocated.

2) Understand the features of the policy: Read between the lines and ask questions. Find out the different charges that eat into your principal at various stages of policy – inception, policy life, and exit. Some agents may try to evade the question or falsify the information and it is the buyer who has to do his own “home work”.

3) Don’t follow the herd: Don invests just because of past performance and expects the performance based on past performance: Just because a mutual fund has given double digits returns, the past is not a correct way to predict the future. This sour fact was realized by many individuals who put their money in high return mutual bonds not realizing that during the recession these will be the most badly hit funds, wiping out the entire principal.

4) Free advice is not “free”: The agents get paid based on each policy they sell. The commission on any ULIP plan in India can be anywhere between 30- 50%. Amazingly, this commission is indirectly deducted directly from the buyer’s pockets. One strategy that the agents also employ is providing a discount of 10-20% on policy, knowing they lure the buyer into the trap of buying a policy who thinks he got a great deal.

5) Expecting magical returns: Magical returns also mean high risks. Understand where your money is being invested – the companies, the sectors, and the percentage of money “actually” being invested.

Surely, by following these small and basic tips, you can save yourself from the pain of running after agents who are known to sell and run looking for new prey.

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Role of individual in transforming citizen service delivery

January 10th, 2011

In the implementation of any e- govt project in the public sector, the role of the personnel is of the utmost criticality. By individuals, I mean the end user who is delivering the services to the citizens. E.g. the immigration officer is the end user who is delivering the immigration clearance service to the citizens at the airport. The quality of service provided by this immigration officer will be translated into the end satisfaction of passengers. Thus, When IT projects are implemented, the success and failure of the project is highly dependent on the overall satisfaction of the end citizens. The immigration officer can have the most optimally implemented IT services to verify the credentials of the passengers but his understanding and efficiency of using the system, but more importantly the way he interacts with the passengers would lead to the overall satisfaction of the passengers.

This is where there is a need for the immigration officer needs to shed the “old way of doing things” and adapt to the “new technology” and bring customer.

Some of the challenges of these personnel are

· Lack of Awareness

· Lack of training

· Resistance to change from traditional ways to doing things

· Resistance to process transformation and trying to force process translation.

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Process Translation Vs. Process Transformation

January 10th, 2011

Process translation is the methodology used wherein the existing process is analysed, and automating some part or the entire process. Thus there will be no change in the process steps and is useful to improve the efficiency of some steps which if done manually were consuming a large amount of time. These steps, after automation, reduce the time taken for the entire process thereby improving efficiency.

Process transformation, on the other hand, is an analysis of the "AS – IS" process and "TO- BE" process, analysing the gaps and transforming the process to a new process using process reengineering using ICT (Information and Communication technology).

An example of process translation is the Electronic Voting machine (EVM) used in India. The EVM sold purpose is to make the casting of vote process more efficient by replacing the traditional paper votes by storing votes in digital form. Once the votes have been casted, these machines are then physically transferred to a common location where the votes are then counted. All the steps except how votes are entered into a voting machine remain the same, thus leading to no change in structure of process but only making a node in the process more efficient. I must stress again that the entire process still remained the same and no new sub processes were added or removed from the original process. Also the activities done by the various stakeholders during the entire process remained unchanged.

On the other hand, Process transformation would have been in case the polling system process would have been made online. In this scenario, the role of stakeholders change – The voters need not go to polling booth, the policemen need not transfer the votes collected to a new physical

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Line Function Vs Staff Function

September 13th, 2010

HRMThere are two main types of functions of the various divisions of any organization.

  • which directly add value , called Line function
  • which indirectly add value, called Staff Function

Line function are » Read more: Line Function Vs Staff Function

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10 reasons for doing MBA!

March 11th, 2010
management blues

management blues

Master of business administration is one of the most sort after course for people who want to create wealth. People from all backgrounds: engineering, science, commerce, pharma and even doctors are slogging to get into the b-schools which promise sky rocketing salaries. This is one course which attracts even the experienced people, working at top positions. What is behind this maddening charisma?
1. It gives you a platform to jump manifolds in the organization hierarchy.
2. It gives you the much desired two years break from the corporate life.
3. It gives you a ray of hope when you see that the scope of growth has shrunk in your current organization.
4. It gives » Read more: 10 reasons for doing MBA!

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Freeman or Friedman

July 19th, 2009

Once Vioxx was the largest selling drug in history. It was manufactured by Merck & Co. since 1999. A very potent drug, very effective painkiller and was easier on stomachs. In short it was a revolutionary drug! In 2004 during some clinical trials, it was found that Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks. Its competitor naproxen was hard on stomach but had no visible side effects on heart.

In 2004, 50,000 people sued Merck for damages caused by the side effects of Vioxx. In 2005 Merck was found liable in the firt case. In all Merck paid $ 4.85 billion as damages to the affected people.

Now, Let us see the better half of Merck! In 1980 Dr. Mohammed Aziz accidently discovered that the drug Ivermectin (highly potent parasite killer in animals) is the solution for River Blindness. River Blindness is an endemic with 13 million people affected and another 21 million at risk. It is prevelent in African and some Latin American countries. Dr. Aziz’z discovery helped Merck to develop the drug Mectizan which was extremely effective for this disease. Merck, after finding that the target segment for Mectizen were so poor that they would not be able to buy this medicine at $1.5. It approached many countries to fund distribution of this pathbreaking medicine. Finally Merck made history by taking a project, one of its kind. It distributed the medicine to millions of people in the risk zone free of cost. This corporate governance portrayed by them have proved the world that pharma companies do care for mankind. » Read more: Freeman or Friedman

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