|
|
|
|
|
       
|
VIEWPOINT "India has labour cost advantages" That's what Andreas E. Zielke, leader of McKinsey's European automotive practice, believes. Excerpts:
Do non-Asian auto MNCs in India need to take another look at their strategy? Yes, they will have to look closely at the markets they serve and at the volatility in the overall market. It will be dangerous to say that India will be just like Europe with only the numbers being different. Does it make sense for an automobile manufacturer to get into downstream activity? All car companies are eager to have direct contact with the customer. Most of them don't own retail networks. Getting into downstream activities like used cars or service will enhance access to the customer. It will help them find out when a customer wants a new car. What about industry consolidation? There isn't much appetite left for further consolidation among original equipment manufacturers. However, traditional car companies will make way for new types of players. They may be specialists in manufacturing or able to manage demand fluctuations. You may not find everything from components to product development to manufacturing to marketing under one roof. Where is the Indian auto components industry headed? India has labour cost advantages. Some labour-intensive products are suitable for production in India. Many Tier-ii companies have attractive profitability levels. But growth is higher for Tier-I companies. -Suveen K. Sinha Q&A
He's worked for the Tata Group in India for 25 years, collaborated with Peter Senge, and been part of Arthur D. Little's global think-tank. Now, chairman of BCG in India, 58-year old Arun Maira's new book Shaping the Future, due out this November, deals with the challenges of leadership. On the challenges facing leaders: All leaders face the challenge of directing organisations through more rapid and less predictable change. Increasingly, they have to coordinate the actions of many people and organisations over which they do not have clear authority. As things have opened up in terms of barriers, old lines of demarcation that defined the confines within which an organisation worked are now getting wiped out. In this situation, leaders have to learn the art of using resources they do not actually control. On what makes a leader in the 21st century: Leaders are those who act first in ways that others then wish to follow. Leaders are those who want to make a difference. One has to recognise the context in which you are making the difference, which is different from the context in which leaders in the past made the difference. So if you are going to pick up leaders from the past, and (learn from) 10 things they did, you may not succeed. Leadership in the Indian context: The petroleum industry is going to undergo radical change with the dismantling of the Administered Price Mechanism (APM) next April. If you were to look closely at the large public sector companies in the sector you would realise that BPCL is much better placed than even the private sector companies. How did this come about? At the heart of it is the role played by the CEO. Most people don't even know the CEO. He is not high-profile person, but he has had a profound effect on the organisation. It's not a matter of characteristics of the CEO; it's what he does that is important. A lot of management literature has talked about characteristics but that is of no use. It is what leaders do that has the results and not their characteristics. On the relevance of earlier leadership models: Traditional approaches to leadership are still useful but are not sufficient. If you are looking for relevant models today, then some models which had lot of currency till recently have to be questioned because they have been successful in a context which is changing now. BODY DOUBLE
There's Goldent for Pepsodent, Viodex for Iodex, and Click Plus for Clinic Plus. Counterfeits all, they belong to a category that, according to a study by ac Nielsen, account; for Rs 3,000 crore of the Rs 60,000 crore market for Fast Moving Consumer Goods. Thus far this year, ficci's Brand Protection Committee, a loose collaboration of 14 companies, has conducted about 50 raids. It offers rewards for informers and has retained the services of Delhi-based private investigation firm IDSs to locate companies engaged in the manufacture of fakes. ''We will act against unscrupulous manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers,'' says Ashok Chhabra, Director, P&G. Predictably, the largest FMCG company in the land, HLL, is the most affected. Some of its brands lose up to 10 per cent of their sales to counterfeits. The company is hoping for a groundswell of public awareness to help its cause. ''We want customers to be vigilant and come to us when they discover they have picked up a fake,'' says Ashok Gupta, General Manager (Legal), HLL. It isn't just companies that lose out to counterfeits; it's customers too. BPC claims some fake products contain harmful ingredients. And while companies are getting smarter-Marico, which owns the Parachute brand has moved to innovative packaging that is difficult for the unorganised sector to replicate-so have counterfeiters who use packaging machinery from Korea and Taiwan. And some say the Indian small entrepreneur lacks manufacturing expertise! -Vinod Mahanta NEWSPAPERS
Hard times call for innovative solutions. With a perceptible slow down in the Rs 4,350-crore-a-year print advertisement market, newspapers are striking alliances to extend reach, readership and revenues. The latest to do so are The Statesman (TS) and the Business Standard (BS). Their deal, covering a five-year period, involves TS carrying four pages of BS' business news section in all its three editions of Kolkata, New Delhi and Siliguri, six days a week, starting early December 2001. "It is a syndication deal, with BS masthead," confirms a source at BS. Even though both the newspapers refused to give out details of the revenue sharing arrangement, information available with BT indicates that 70 per cent of the revenue from advertisements carried on the four business pages will go to TS. A fifth to BS and the rest to the space seller of either TS or BS. ''For us it is a means to add perceptible value to our title,'' adds Ravindra Kumar, Director & Managing Editor, The Statesman. For TS, which is slipping on circulation, 1,74,047 (ABC: Jan-June 2001) compared to its regional rival The Telegraph (2,72,973), this is part of a strategy it has kicked off to remain in the reckoning in its all-important Kolkata market, which is getting increasingly competitive, with even The Times of India launching an edition there two years ago. TS is launching a new edition from Bhubaneshwar in early 2002, and adding a few printing centres in West Bengal to better distribute its Kolkata edition. ''We'll try to bring circulation revenue centre-stage, and may even look at increasing the cover price, currently at Rs 1.50,'' adds Kumar. But the point is can two stragglers make a leader? -Shailesh Dobhal
|
|
Issue Contents Write to us Subscription Syndication INDIA
TODAY | INDIA
TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS
TODAY | © Living Media India Ltd |
 |
 |
