DDarn! They’ve DDone it again!

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When I meet B. S. Lali, CEO, Prasar Bharati (a state run holding company looking after the operations of Doordarshan and All India Radio), the first impression he gives me is of an extremely shrewd and intelligent strategist – a commodity rarer in government departments than Stephen Covey’s management manual. Lali surprisingly gives a cryptic response to my query on DD’s stupendous current leadership, “India is a diverse country and we want to cater to that diversity keeping the integrity of the nation intact through our programmes. We put forward information, education, and entertainment along with the former two.” Patriotic answer? Yes! But the reason for DD’s leadership? Umm...

Though the figures are all but undeniable. The reach of DD is un

Though the figures are all but undeniable. The reach of DD is unmatched, as per the AMap report. Out of the 112 million TV households in India, 68 million (60%) are cable homes possessing access to satellite. The remaining 40% (Non Cable & Satellite) receive only Doordarshan terrestrially. DD also has its own DTH service called DD Direct Plus, which is free of charge and through various channels is expanding its reach. Seeing consternation, Lali reveals more, “We have been constantly innovating our contents, ways of presentation; we’ve hired new anchors et al to gain back the audience. Moreover, we are constantly working on the contents of our programmes with new subjects and good producers.” DD has begun gaining ground at prime time throughout the week, despite direct competition from a whole array of popular shows on other GECs. The most effective shows in its artilleries are Air Hostess, Kashmakash Zindagi Ki and Kisiki Nazar Na Lage, which have ripped the pants of competitors.

By airing programmes according to the audience taste, even viewership ratings are rocking, though Lali is dismissive about TRPs, and sarcastically says that they misguide advertising clients, “A TRP meter does not exist in any of the six lakh villages or six thousand blocks or in most of the six hundred districts of the nation. TRP is primarily driven by the amount of business that can be generated for the advertisers,” and not vice versa! And are prospective advertisers influenced by the ‘new’ DD? “DD, with its current programmes and unmatched reach, is definitely a good proposition for advertisers,” confirms an energetic Aditi Mishra, General Manager, Lodestar Universal!

Evidently, DD seems to have found its groove again, and frankly speaking, it’s purely because someone up there had the sense to change back to the standard strategy of presenting ‘interesting’ programmes with ‘attractive’ presenters. God, if only Air India also realises this sooner than later... And hey, just for information, Krishi Darshan is in its 43rd smashing year of running, and is shown everyday at 6.30 pm (right before the super shows of Sanskrit Samachar and Yog Vigyan!!!)... On second thoughts, I seriously hope TAM got it right... Never mind...

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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“We want to be a billion dollar business in India”

The great Indian IT dream has surely taken a hit post the Satyam fiasco; but Adobe India remains optimistic about its ambitious plans. The top gun reasons...

4Ps B&M: Explain the corporate governance measures that are taken care of at Adobe India?
NG: We are one of the most ethical business houses not only in India but across the globe. We have all the practices and policies in place to ensure a clean business. However, I can’t comment on a particular policy but I can assure you that we follow everything that the law requires us to follow.

4Ps B&M: In an interview, Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO of Adobe had said, Internet and Mobile are the next frontiers for Adobe? So by when do you plan to launch it on all your devices?
NG: Yes, but we don’t generally give dates. We are working on our plans. Over the coming years, you will see more and more of Adobe’s AIR platform on multiple devices. In fact, recently we have launched an open screen project which opens up some of the Adobe’s core technologies. We are also working on to develop applications that can work on various devices.

4Ps B&M: So, do you have any competition at all?
NG: There are companies which give competition to us in various parts but there aren’t many companies which compete with us head-to-head or face on. Microsoft has Silverline Technologies and that’s fitted against Flash platform. Google has some technologies which try to achieve, what we achieve with Flash and AIR. So, Google has the potential. But, we have been in business for a long time and as such have more developers and more content than anybody else in the world.

4Ps B&M: Google has been able to take on Microsoft in some areas. If you think Google has the potential, do you think you should be taking them as lightly as you seem to be taking them?
NG: We don’t take any of our competitors lightly but keeping in mind that Google is also a great partner (we will also be distributing their Google toolbar with our products) we don’t have reasons to fear. But yes, we have to be careful about all our multiple projects. It’s that actually almost all the companies can’t claim Google and Microsoft to be their competitors and still be in the business. At the end of the day, we don’t compete with Google directly.

4Ps B&M: But since AIR is the future for Adobe, and if Google comes out with a technology like AIR. Do you think you can stop them?
NG: If we compete with Google, it will not be head on, as our business model is very different from Google’s. While Google makes money by getting content and then distributing this content and information to third parties, we make money by providing tools and technologies to people. So, there are more opportunities in entering partnership with Google rather than competing with them.

4Ps B&M: What about getting ads, does it fit in your business model somewhere?
NG: That’s a very interesting area and we are working on it. We have already run a pilot with Yahoo! last year. It was aimed at inserting ads into a PDF document. So, it is pretty attractive to us as we have a high reach. Our products are available on almost each and every system in place on earth. So, it gives us an independence of putting forward right kind of ads to the user. And if we can do that in a way that adds value to the advertiser, publisher and user, there is surely an opportunity for Adobe to build its business.

4Ps B&M: What is your dream for Adobe India?
NG: Our ultimate goal is to create a business in India for Adobe. And if it can be a billion dollar business, it will be a great achievement. That’s actually harder done than said as there are not many billion dollar software businesses globally.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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Death knell for PRICE WATERHOUSE?

IIPM set to beat economic slowdown

The Satyam debacle and the spectacular failure of Price Waterhouse to detect the scam has many worried in India Inc. After all, the audit firm is considered to be one of the global Big Four and is the auditor for 46 out of the BSE 500 firms. Some of the well known companies whose accounts are audited by Price Waterhouse are Moser Baer, Max India, Maruti Suzuki, NDTV, HCL Technologies, United Breweries, NIIT, TV Today, Marico, Kesoram Industries and GMR Infrastructure to name just a few. Big time names like Vijay Mallya, Kumarmanglam Birla, Deepak Puri, Pronnoy Roy and Shiv Nadar could face embarrassment because Price Waterhouse audits their firms and everything about the firm is now under suspicion.

Take just one example of GMR Infrastructure to see how otherwise normal entries on books start looking suspicious. In the quarter ending June, 2008, GMR reported a revenue of Rs.885 crore. In the same period, it reported ‘General and Administrative Expenses’ of Rs.71 crore and fuel consumption of Rs.384 crore. In the next quarter ending September, 2008, revenues declined marginally by about Rs.40 crore to Rs.846 crore. And yet, admin expenses went up by Rs.9 crore and fuel consumption declined by a whopping Rs.111 crore. It does appear suspicious, doesn’t it? Incidentally, the former Cabinet Secretary of India (no less) T. R. Prasad has resigned from the board of GMR after he was de facto sacked from the Satyam board. There are credible reports that Prasad is likely to be questioned as investigators unravel the scam. Who knows what skeletons will tumble out then? But one thing is for sure: his future as an ‘independent’ director is as dead as a dodo.

Yet another individual whose career as an entrepreneur might turn out to be short lived because of the scam is Teja Raju, the son of Ramalinga Raju who runs Maytas. Like Satyam, Maytas (Satyam spelt backwards) has seen a meteoric rise and has bagged projects in excess of Rs.10,000 crore in a short span of time. That includes the prestigious Hyderabad Metro project. But there are clear indications that Maytas is inextricably linked with the Satyam scam and it does appear to be a matter of time before Maytas also unravels, as fresh skeletons are dug out by investigators.

But the most telling taint has fallen undoubtedly on Price Waterhouse whose future looks to be in peril. Of course, add the name of the guru and master of good ‘corporate governance’ and Harvard professor Krishna Palepu who earned about Rs.3 crore as an independent director and ‘consultant’ in governance to Satyam. Talk about delicious ironies!

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

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

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Now Penny-wise isn’t Pound-foolish

1500-plus IIPM students placed across the country with 44 bagging international offers

Even before the slowdown hit Indian shores, marketing honchos of India Inc. had devised a new strategy to save their dimes in advertising. Companies like LG, Britannia, Maruti, Suzlon et al went dizzy with their maniacal urge to air one corporate ad after the next. The idea was simple. Rather than talking about individual brands the plan was to bring out a slightly longer ad that showcases all the well-known brands that they offer. Besides, it also helped them make star-studded statements about their corporate identity. In hindsight, the move enabled companies to save on precious air-time that they would have spent in talking about individual products/brands. This is what we call getting wise… penny wise!

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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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IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
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Pepsi-BBDO Break-up

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After an association of nearly 50 years, Pepsi has ended its relations with its ad agency BBDO in the US. TBWA is the new agency to handle the account. The company offered that it wants to revamp its brand communication across multiple touch points. Thus it decided to shift the agency to infuse a fresh thinking into the brand Pepsi.Losing Pepsi is surely a blow to BBDO. As per Advertising Age's 100 Leading National Advertisers report PepsiCo spent $162 million on brand Pepsi in 2007. Now that surely is a big blow, especially in the recession times when business is already low.

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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.
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