RFID is conquering the last yard in retail

IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS

RFID is streamlining inventory management & improving customer service for retailers the world over

Amit Mukherjee,
Group Chief Information Officer, RPG Enterprises

Retail is one of the largest industries in India, accounting for over 10% of the Indian GDP and more than 8% employment. Industry analysts say that it is on a high growth trajectory with a projected $453 billion potential by 2011(E), fuelled by the Government of India’s (GoI’s) increasing focus on achieving 9-10% growth in GDP, and the growing consumer income level and aspirations. With such a huge demand and an operations-intensive supply side, Indian retailers are gradually realising the power of technology as a key growth enabler. Retail organisations are leveraging information technology (IT) to reduce costs, improve performance, and create competitive advantage. A key technology player would be Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID), which is proliferating rapidly throughout the retail industry. This is also good news to the Indian software players as they can now look inwards for business. With a broader market for RFID & more software players with expertise, it is also becoming viable for small retail players as well.

The retail fever gripped India in 2000, but the automation process started only a couple of years back. The main reason for the technology laggardness was the lack of scale. The industry was very nascent, share of organised retail was a miniscule percentage of the total market base and the retailers were still experimenting. As the industry grew by leaps and bounds, the high performance companies started rethinking the fundamental business processes and strategies that can be enabled by RFID - and started using these to differentiate them in the marketplace by developing cost-effective and efficient supply chain applications and capabilities.

Major impact on supply chain can be created through RFID - automated devices can keep track of a product from distribution centre to the store. This enables adequate inventory management and advance planning so that demand can be met timely. Proper planning would ensure economies of scale while a product is being ordered, better tracking would mean better control of shrinkage and therefore result in a lot of savings, part of which can be transferred back to the consumer. So RFID will also have a positive impact on consumers, as well. No wonder, global retail giants like Wal-Mart focus so much on RFID technology and they had in fact implemented such technology some twenty years back.

Even though, RFID adoption in India is comparatively new but statistics show that India’s growth in organised retail has been much faster than in the other matured markets of US and Europe. As the Indian retail players grow and acquire scale in operation and as they wake up to the benefits of technology and become more and more savvy, we will see significant investments in RFID adoption. It is difficult to forecast accurately, but within five years, investment in RFID would be to the tune of Rs.50-100 crore.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

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Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000

IIPM Programme :- SUPERIOR COURSE CONTENTS

Technical Specification

Camera: 2MP (1600 x 1190); Zoom: 3X Digital Zoom; Microphone: Built-in Face tracing with CMOS Sensor; Viewing Angle: 71 degree.
PRICE: N.A.

With definite conviction, this gizmo is only for notebook users, and this is palpable from the spring loaded LCD clip on the back. Like any other product from Microsoft, this one is scratch-resistant and has a brushed metal finish; no wonder the Microsoft LifeCam NX-6000 has enough to beckon the consumer. There’s more! And to protect the miniscule CMOS sensor from being drenched, the sensor has been placed behind a big piece of flat plastic. According to a Delhi based wholesaler, the gadget is, “Easy to handle and is brilliantly weather-resistant, all which makes this product different from those offered by rival Sony.”

Marketers’ delight: Easy to carry anywhere and its palpability will delight the customers.

Tester’s note: Pros – 2 Mp camera. CMOS sensor. Good protective casing and collapasible lens. Cons – Clasp restricts suitability to thinner notebooks. Frame rates drop at higher video resolution.

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Now IIPM's World-Class Education... for everybody!!
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...
4Ps Power Brand Awards 2007
When IIPM comes to education, never compromise
IIPM is A World of Career
Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...

?e? ?????µe t?? ap??t?s?!!!

Now IIPM's World-Class Education... for everybody!!

Strapped for cash, fighting to breathe, Novartis seems to be hitting blind by investing valuable cash in M&As

The Bible has one of the first references to Quo Vadis, aka, “Where are you going?” A question the world seems to be asking of the Swiss drug behemoth, Novartis, quite pertinently. Sectorally, the global drug industry is anything but in good health; and Novartis seems to be trying hard to combat this losing battle by diversifying – the recent $39 billion acquisition of a 77% stake (25% now and 52% between 2010-2011) in the eye-care firm Alcon (from Nestlé) a leading case to point.

Danielle Vasella, Novartis Chairman and CEO, is pretty clear that he needs to find newer avenues for growth; and overt reliance on precociously radical pharmaceutical is not a remedy he can rely on. Digest this. In 2005, Vasella doled out $13 billion to buy out cheap generic German drugmakers Hexal and Eon Labs. And in year 2006, Vasella splashed out $5.7 billion to acquire US vaccine maker Chiron in a bid to enter global vaccines market. On the positive front, the global vaccine market is expected to touch $20 billion in 2009 (more than 100% increase over 2004). And creditably, even Novartis’ generic arm, Sandoz, is No. 2 worldwide.

So what’s right with the Alcon deal? It’s the leading player of the $25 billion eye care industry. Claudia Lenz, Bank Vontobel analyst, told B&E, “Alcon...will undoubtedly become a profitable source of growth for Novartis once it acquires the majority sometime in 2010 or 2011.” Novartis already has a massive hold on the global contact lens business; and with Alcon’s globally sold glaucoma drugs and cataract surgery products (double digit sales growth), the company will also help Novartis tap developing economies, where Alcon’s markets grew 21%.

So what’s wrong with the deal? “This acquisition removes the financial flexibility of Novartis to meaningfully address its structural problems as the company heads for a patent cliff in 2012,” asserts Karl Heinz Koch, leading pharma analyst at Bank Vontobel. Even Morgan Stanley forecasted that Novartis, in the next four years, will be facing generic competition to approximately one third of its revenue sources. Add to this the hitting Bear Sterns assessment that clearly downgraded the deal as rank expensive.

If diversification were Vasella’s paradigm, one wonders why last year he sold off the top performing Gerber Foods to, hold your breath, Nestlé itself (for $8 billion). It’s a predicament he’s yet to resolve, especially at a time when cash at Novartis is disappearing faster than Elvis left the building! Quo vadis Mr. Vasella?! We know what his grudging response (in Greek, of course) would have been, “?e? ?????µe t?? ap??t?s? [I don’t know the answer!]” Elvis fights on...

Priyanka Rajpal

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

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

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
IIPM INTERNATIONAL - NEW DELHI, GURGAON & NOIDA
IIPM - Admission Procedure
IIPM, GURGAON
IIPM : EXECUTIVE EDUCATION
IIPM’s 36th Glorious Year of Academic Excellence
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...
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Why Study Abroad When IIPM Gives You 3 global Advantages!
IIPM Ranked No. 1 B-School In Global Exposre - Zee...