Carbon Markets
Ref: ET
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Monday, 7 October 2013
14th Day at Keran Sector : Pakistan in its true colors ... Dialogue or Response ??
PAKISTAN , if left to itself , is bound to fail , contributors shall be - Tahreek-e-Taliban ; Sectarian War throught the country ; the unrest in Baluchistan.
The ongoing military operations in the Keran sector of J&K is not only a challenge for the Indian Army to give an appropriate reply but also raises a question to the section of Indian diplomats who puts the theory of dialogue with Pakistan as the only way to move forward.
As humans are supposed to learn from hisotry, it is a proven truth that "Peace" and "Dialogue" are the two major blocks that are helping this human race to survive, prosper and progress. In both the world wars , Europe had seen the worst bloodbath of mankind but even though they were able to move out from the vortex of war , enmity and hatred. Today, the European countries have the most cordial relations among themselves and leading the world with the notion of peace and brotherhood. The entire outcome is the result of "Dialogue Process" .
But these two bigger nations of South- Asia , Pakistan and India with implacable mutual hostility , seems totally unaware of the recent history & are still grappling from more than six decades in building of cordial and peaceful relations among each other.
Losses in 1947 , 65 , 71 , 1999 has forced Paksitan to conclusively realized that it cannot score military victory over India and has roped in the terrorist elements to destabilize the Indian democracy or the so called peace process. Paksitan has its own infamous history in reverting to the Indian initiatives for peace - After Lahore declaration in 1999( after kargil ) , terrorist hijacked the Indian Airlines plane in December 91, similarly , Agra summit was followed by Parliament attack in December 2001 . And this time, the Manmohan - Sharif meeting in Newyork is followed by the infiltrations in keran sector. Is it a mere coincidence or a part of well thought strategy ??
In Keran sector , the amount of the ammunition seized is an inconvertible evidence of terrorist ambitions to unleash a wave of terror in the country in general and in J&k in particular. They are laden with lots of arms along with high energy food products .The most critical aspect of the incident is that the terrorist are not retreating but they are positioning themselves against the Indian army , this certainly reminds of the same strategy adopted in Kargil to hold the acquired post till the last. And any operation at this scale cannot be operated without the active support from PAK military.
If turns out to be another Kargil , it would be a big setback to the Indian efforts to bring peace through dialogue. Before things get worse, Indian Govt. has to come out with effective foreign policy formulation that not only takes a strong stand against Pakistan regime or military establishment but also sends a sharp signal to the world ( especially China ) that India will neither accept any terrorist activity on its soil nor revert to such activities with a soft hand. The territorial integrity will be maintained at all costs.
If turns out to be another Kargil , it would be a big setback to the Indian efforts to bring peace through dialogue. Before things get worse, Indian Govt. has to come out with effective foreign policy formulation that not only takes a strong stand against Pakistan regime or military establishment but also sends a sharp signal to the world ( especially China ) that India will neither accept any terrorist activity on its soil nor revert to such activities with a soft hand. The territorial integrity will be maintained at all costs.
Indian establishment cannot ignore the grim situation at LOC and should recognize the historical backgrounds to formulate Pakistan specific foreign policy to deal with a firm hand . Also, the fact that the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will give a big opportunity to Pakistan regime to put their state supported terrorists on the Kashmir border should be taken into account in all the policy formulations.
After all , Virtuousness has to be combined with harsh measures to maintain the "Sovereignty"
A wake-up call for CEOs...Connecting The Dots Contnd...
A wake-up call for CEOs
Urban world: The shifting global business landscape Contnd...
Corporate leaders can’t afford to be complacent about a change of such magnitude. In fact, we have seen all this before. In the 1970s and 1980s, Japanese carmakers began gaining global market share and, in some cases, outcompeted their US counterparts. More recently, South Korea’s Samsung has weakened Apple’s grip on the global smartphone market. In the decade ahead, this type of story will play out on a much bigger scale, and the rate at which newcomers topple industry leaders will probably accelerate.
Such up-and-coming companies could disrupt entire industries by designing superior products at lower cost, by bringing them to market faster, and by streamlining business processes. Many of these businesses, having been nurtured in difficult operating environments, are not only more agile than their counterparts from advanced economies but also prepared to invest for the long term, even if this cuts earnings in the next few quarters. Many new players will be setting their sights on expanding into international markets. Business leaders will have to monitor trends constantly to spot new markets and competitors. They need to meet three imperatives.
- Optimize sales networks. The growth of new businesses is not only a competitive threat to older ones but also gives suppliers and service providers a significant opportunity. B2B companies will need to assess how to organize themselves so they can sell to a much more diverse and dispersed customer base. To do so, they must rethink (and perhaps redeploy) their sales networks.
- Understand how customers and competitors are evolving. New industry hotspots will be sources of both competition and demand, so companies must track up-and-coming hubs in emerging regions. Hsinchu (in northern Taiwan) and Brazil’s Santa Catarina metropolitan district, for example, may not be household names, but they are already hubs for multiple billion-dollar companies in industries such as advanced electronics.
- Reconsider the headquarters configuration and the location of other core activities. Already, many businesses find that the traditional single-headquarters model no longer meets their needs. Companies such as Caterpillar and General Electric have thus split their corporate centers into two or more locations that share decision making, production, R&D, and service leadership. Unilever created a second headquarters, for global development, in Singapore, which now has key members of the company’s senior-leadership team.
A big opportunity for cities
Today, just 20 major cities host one-third of all large companies. Tokyo is by far the leading hub, with more than 600 large companies. Only nine other cities around the world are home to 100 or more of such companies’ head offices (Exhibit 2).
Sunday, 6 October 2013
Connecting the Dots Contnd...Rising Power of Emerging Economies!!
Urban world: The shifting global business landscape
Emerging markets are changing where and how the world does business. For the last three decades, they have been a source of low-cost but increasingly skilled labor. Their fast-growing cities are filled with millions of new and increasingly prosperous consumers, who provide a new growth market for global corporations at a time when much of the developed world faces slower growth as a result of aging. But the number of large companies from the emerging world will rise, as well, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). This powerful wave of new companies could profoundly alter long-established competitive dynamics around the world.
Our research shows that the emerging economies’ share of Fortune Global 500 companies will probably jump to more than 45 percent by 2025, up from just 5 percent in 2000 (Exhibit 1). That’s because while three-quarters of the world’s 8,000 companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more are today based in developed economies, we forecast that an additional 7,000 could reach that size in little more than a decade—and 70 percent of them will most likely come from emerging markets.1 To put this dramatic shift in the balance of global corporate power in perspective, remember that many of the world’s largest companies have maintained their current status for generations: more than 40 percent of the 150 Western European companies in last year’s Fortune Global 500 had been founded before 1900.
A Report By Mckinsey
Saturday, 5 October 2013
New Marketing Mantra: Lets Catch Them Young
New
Marketing Mantra: Lets Catch Them Young
In
an increasingly cluttered and tough market, kids as young as four are being
seen as the glue that can help brands get stickiness. Thanks to new age
parenting, categories like banking, insurance, cars and paints among others are
addressing the little ones hoping to grab a share of heart as well as wallet.
Some of these associations may even seem unintuitive or unlikely, but the
marketers are catching them young — not just as influencers via pester power
but as consumers
Even as the US first lady Michelle Obama uses her
preeminent position to push companies to market healthier food to children by
getting them to be a part of the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising
Initiative (CFBAI), at least some Indian marketers are attempting an entirely
different task: forging meaningful conversations with children.
The Indian child is no more a recipient solely of the very obvious pizza, burger, juice and candy category of messaging. As the market burgeons, becomes smarter and most importantly wields an influence like never before, marketers across categories are getting ready to chase this holy grail of opportunity.
At the vanguard of this movement are categories that are considered difficult to market per se and which have quite literally never used children before, except as wallpaper in a perfect television commercial family. We are talking categories like financial services (banks, mutual funds and insurance), automobiles, decorative paints etc. Equally interesting is the fact that apart from being used for their cutesy coefficient alone in the marketing campaigns, children are being put right at the centre of these categories.The urban phenomenon of new age parenting, wherein dual income families have to be reliant on their children to manage parts of their day and household on their own. It is bringing them into the purchase process more directly than before.In many cases, parents are quite gladly abdicating a number of the more complex buying decisions to their children, finding that the world has turned a lot more complicated as well as abundant in choice, bewildering the adults who grew up in simpler times.
This new age parenting is leading to many drastic shifts and realisations that are of immense relevance to marketers. Research conducted by Kotak Mahindra Bank showed that the new-age parents are fretting over the fact that their children are being spoilt due to the 'little emperor and latchkey' syndromes. They look for ways to teach children the value of money and the discipline related to handling it. In addition, research also indicated that when it comes to long term financial planning for their child's future, parents seem to find most financial products too complex to comprehend or engage with, leading to total inaction, with over 70% of parents doing nothing. Shares Karthi Marshan, executive vice president & head - group marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank, "On combining the intersection of these insights, the bank came up with a souped up financial product for children, one that educates them about money, one that makes their parents' job of saving for their education etc. simple, and one that rewards the mother-child partnership via meaningful offers targeted at the kids." Launched in June this year, the kid-specific product has already ramped up the acquisition rates for minor accounts by 800%- 1000% on the back of this campaign. In this case, adds Marshan, “The bonus is that every account comes accompanied with a parent account, so it helps the mainstream business as well.” So reaching out to the kids is not all child's play, it makes solid business sense as well.
Marketing consultant Harish Bijoor attributes it to the fact that "The parent has a down-ageing syndrome on display and the child has an over-ageing syndrome, and the twain meet in purchase decision making behaviour that is often skewed towards the child." Kansai Nerolac for instance has a kid's range of paints on offer, which though currently small in terms of business contribution, is going to be an important component of the overall basket. Elaborating on the reasons, Sukhpreet Singh, vice president - marketing & sales (decorative), Kansai Nerolac shares, "Kids are becoming more autonomous with an increasing say in family decisions, and we see them being integral to the buying decision." Today, they are even the 'reason' why consumers buy brands like cars, insurance, holidays etc.
Brands want to involve and engage the parent through the child in the hope that the messaging will strike a chord. Ipsos has validations based on ad pre testing studies that indicate that the presence of babies and kids can help increase the visibility, persuasion and overall effectiveness of an advert provided the context, product and objectives are appropriate. Of course this is relevant for the confident marketer who believes that as long as the brand finds itself in the consideration set of the parent through the child, the hard sell can happen later.
Not just in communication or at the product level, but viewership trends are showing a similar shift, with kids exercising an influence even on consumer electronics, apart from the aforementioned categories says Juhi Ravindranath, vice president, ad sales, South Asia, Turner International India. In fact, the latest findings of a proprietary study conducted by the Cartoon Network shows that 2 in 3 parents, on an average, say that they may or definitely would consider their child's opinion in purchase of non-traditional products. As kids' channels are the most lucrative platform, this genre has seen a surge in unconventional advertisers. Another reason for the increase is a co-viewing pattern between kids and parents.
Brands are taking the route of edutainment to create the conversation with kids, as is the case with the recently launched first ever indoor edutainment theme park KidZania in Mumbai or the online ecosystem for kids Worldoo. Shares Viraj Jit Singh, chief marketing officer, KidZania, "The concept of edutainment is becoming a great platform for brand building. For parents to allow kids to be receptive, they must believe that brands are adding value to their children. This engagement is an emotional experience and so has a longer and deeper impact." In addition, the experiential elements of the brand make it come close to the child in a very involved manner to create memorable associations. The theme park brand, that has launched its first outlet in India and 14th outlet globally, is designed just like a city — except that it is scaled down to size for children — and represents public services, private services, media, retail, restaurants, etc. in the form of establishments or activity zones. These establishments are made in conjunction with the brand partners. The idea being that kids can come here and build, smell, create, examine, prepare, design, paint, deliver, buy, and sell brands through relevant professions that are educational and complement school curriculum, adds Viraj Jit Singh.
Of the 20 plus brands associated with KidZania, there is Yes Bank that has installed a fully functional but kids-only branch in order to instil the nuances of financial literacy and the importance of saving money. Hyundai has established the first kids driving school targeting the age group of 4 to 14 and in the process propagate road safety and responsible driving as well as talk of the safety features of its cars. Birla Sun Life Insurance has taken over the employment centre at KidZania that revolves around identifying one's skill sets and pursuing that occupation. Recalls Ajay Kakar who had visited the KidZania premise in Dubai some years ago and had found it a great brand association opportunity with the kid at the epicentre, "Getting into the consideration set of the parent, through the child is a good strategy, in a financial services category. In fact, it is often the best way to a parent's wallet."
Birla Sun Life Insurance has had an ongoing association with parents through kids, with their website notjustjobsbutpassion.com that essentially acts as a guide in helping the child (and the parent) find his or her real passion through an online scoring mechanism. Shares Kakar, "Within 13 weeks from the launch, the website had generated 341,921 visits and 149,279 unique visitors. Out of these, 46,691 visitors took the simple test and on an average spent three minutes here. Of these, there were 14,885 (32% approximately) registrations."
Another platform is Worldoo, which creates engaging experiences for kids as it offers activities, interaction and content, all in one place. Its founder Monish Ghatalia says, "Brands are excited as they feel this is a place where they can spend time and engage with kids." They have a paint company and an insurance firm coming on-board. The involvement with the kid's space in these unlikely categories is taking various shapes and associations. For instance, Bajaj Allianz has developed an on-ground child property — Bajaj Allianz Junior Football Camp, which has recently completed 4 successful seasons. Through this campaign, talented kids are selected and sent to an international football training camp organised by FC Bayern Munich in Germany and on their return they get a scholarship. As a part of the process the brand visits prominent schools and clubs in cities across the country to discover young talent. Elaborates Rituraj Bhattacharya, head - market management & product development, Bajaj Allianz Life, "The brand decided to utilise this platform to interact with parents and to highlight the potential of the kid's future in football."
The kids market is at a cusp with the brood finding a role in not just their space but even in other categories which are not theirs directly. The bottom line — maybe the youth market is starting ten years earlier than most companies would like to believe.
The Indian child is no more a recipient solely of the very obvious pizza, burger, juice and candy category of messaging. As the market burgeons, becomes smarter and most importantly wields an influence like never before, marketers across categories are getting ready to chase this holy grail of opportunity.
At the vanguard of this movement are categories that are considered difficult to market per se and which have quite literally never used children before, except as wallpaper in a perfect television commercial family. We are talking categories like financial services (banks, mutual funds and insurance), automobiles, decorative paints etc. Equally interesting is the fact that apart from being used for their cutesy coefficient alone in the marketing campaigns, children are being put right at the centre of these categories.The urban phenomenon of new age parenting, wherein dual income families have to be reliant on their children to manage parts of their day and household on their own. It is bringing them into the purchase process more directly than before.In many cases, parents are quite gladly abdicating a number of the more complex buying decisions to their children, finding that the world has turned a lot more complicated as well as abundant in choice, bewildering the adults who grew up in simpler times.
This new age parenting is leading to many drastic shifts and realisations that are of immense relevance to marketers. Research conducted by Kotak Mahindra Bank showed that the new-age parents are fretting over the fact that their children are being spoilt due to the 'little emperor and latchkey' syndromes. They look for ways to teach children the value of money and the discipline related to handling it. In addition, research also indicated that when it comes to long term financial planning for their child's future, parents seem to find most financial products too complex to comprehend or engage with, leading to total inaction, with over 70% of parents doing nothing. Shares Karthi Marshan, executive vice president & head - group marketing, Kotak Mahindra Bank, "On combining the intersection of these insights, the bank came up with a souped up financial product for children, one that educates them about money, one that makes their parents' job of saving for their education etc. simple, and one that rewards the mother-child partnership via meaningful offers targeted at the kids." Launched in June this year, the kid-specific product has already ramped up the acquisition rates for minor accounts by 800%- 1000% on the back of this campaign. In this case, adds Marshan, “The bonus is that every account comes accompanied with a parent account, so it helps the mainstream business as well.” So reaching out to the kids is not all child's play, it makes solid business sense as well.
Marketing consultant Harish Bijoor attributes it to the fact that "The parent has a down-ageing syndrome on display and the child has an over-ageing syndrome, and the twain meet in purchase decision making behaviour that is often skewed towards the child." Kansai Nerolac for instance has a kid's range of paints on offer, which though currently small in terms of business contribution, is going to be an important component of the overall basket. Elaborating on the reasons, Sukhpreet Singh, vice president - marketing & sales (decorative), Kansai Nerolac shares, "Kids are becoming more autonomous with an increasing say in family decisions, and we see them being integral to the buying decision." Today, they are even the 'reason' why consumers buy brands like cars, insurance, holidays etc.
Brands want to involve and engage the parent through the child in the hope that the messaging will strike a chord. Ipsos has validations based on ad pre testing studies that indicate that the presence of babies and kids can help increase the visibility, persuasion and overall effectiveness of an advert provided the context, product and objectives are appropriate. Of course this is relevant for the confident marketer who believes that as long as the brand finds itself in the consideration set of the parent through the child, the hard sell can happen later.
Not just in communication or at the product level, but viewership trends are showing a similar shift, with kids exercising an influence even on consumer electronics, apart from the aforementioned categories says Juhi Ravindranath, vice president, ad sales, South Asia, Turner International India. In fact, the latest findings of a proprietary study conducted by the Cartoon Network shows that 2 in 3 parents, on an average, say that they may or definitely would consider their child's opinion in purchase of non-traditional products. As kids' channels are the most lucrative platform, this genre has seen a surge in unconventional advertisers. Another reason for the increase is a co-viewing pattern between kids and parents.
Brands are taking the route of edutainment to create the conversation with kids, as is the case with the recently launched first ever indoor edutainment theme park KidZania in Mumbai or the online ecosystem for kids Worldoo. Shares Viraj Jit Singh, chief marketing officer, KidZania, "The concept of edutainment is becoming a great platform for brand building. For parents to allow kids to be receptive, they must believe that brands are adding value to their children. This engagement is an emotional experience and so has a longer and deeper impact." In addition, the experiential elements of the brand make it come close to the child in a very involved manner to create memorable associations. The theme park brand, that has launched its first outlet in India and 14th outlet globally, is designed just like a city — except that it is scaled down to size for children — and represents public services, private services, media, retail, restaurants, etc. in the form of establishments or activity zones. These establishments are made in conjunction with the brand partners. The idea being that kids can come here and build, smell, create, examine, prepare, design, paint, deliver, buy, and sell brands through relevant professions that are educational and complement school curriculum, adds Viraj Jit Singh.
Of the 20 plus brands associated with KidZania, there is Yes Bank that has installed a fully functional but kids-only branch in order to instil the nuances of financial literacy and the importance of saving money. Hyundai has established the first kids driving school targeting the age group of 4 to 14 and in the process propagate road safety and responsible driving as well as talk of the safety features of its cars. Birla Sun Life Insurance has taken over the employment centre at KidZania that revolves around identifying one's skill sets and pursuing that occupation. Recalls Ajay Kakar who had visited the KidZania premise in Dubai some years ago and had found it a great brand association opportunity with the kid at the epicentre, "Getting into the consideration set of the parent, through the child is a good strategy, in a financial services category. In fact, it is often the best way to a parent's wallet."
Birla Sun Life Insurance has had an ongoing association with parents through kids, with their website notjustjobsbutpassion.com that essentially acts as a guide in helping the child (and the parent) find his or her real passion through an online scoring mechanism. Shares Kakar, "Within 13 weeks from the launch, the website had generated 341,921 visits and 149,279 unique visitors. Out of these, 46,691 visitors took the simple test and on an average spent three minutes here. Of these, there were 14,885 (32% approximately) registrations."
Another platform is Worldoo, which creates engaging experiences for kids as it offers activities, interaction and content, all in one place. Its founder Monish Ghatalia says, "Brands are excited as they feel this is a place where they can spend time and engage with kids." They have a paint company and an insurance firm coming on-board. The involvement with the kid's space in these unlikely categories is taking various shapes and associations. For instance, Bajaj Allianz has developed an on-ground child property — Bajaj Allianz Junior Football Camp, which has recently completed 4 successful seasons. Through this campaign, talented kids are selected and sent to an international football training camp organised by FC Bayern Munich in Germany and on their return they get a scholarship. As a part of the process the brand visits prominent schools and clubs in cities across the country to discover young talent. Elaborates Rituraj Bhattacharya, head - market management & product development, Bajaj Allianz Life, "The brand decided to utilise this platform to interact with parents and to highlight the potential of the kid's future in football."
The kids market is at a cusp with the brood finding a role in not just their space but even in other categories which are not theirs directly. The bottom line — maybe the youth market is starting ten years earlier than most companies would like to believe.
Wednesday, 2 October 2013
What India Needs ....Ordinance to protect convicted legislators Or growth , employment , education , health services , a safe land to live
It seems that the politicians have concurred transcending the party lines to negate all moves by any other institution to promote and bolster the Indian democracy.
By Shobhit Anand
After expunging the political parties from the ambit of RTI and allowing the person in lawful custody to contest elections , the cabinet has moved the ordinance for the President's approval , to protect the convicted legislators from disqualification from Parliament or state legislatures by bringing an amendment to section 8(4) of Representation of the People Act 1951.
Public outcry and the last moment censure from party's vice president Rahul Gandhi has forced the cabinet to rethink over the need of ordinance . Sections of civil societies have denounced the cabinet move to protect the convicted legislators, in tune with the recent supreme court judgement declaring the section 8(4) ultra vires of the constitution.
Attempts by judiciary to bring more transparency and accountability among various institutions are facing constant opposition from the Parliament by means of bringing an amendment. One must ask , instead of putting efforts on the policy implementations to create and support the environment for growth , why the Govt. is eager to protect tainted politicians.
Such instances nurtures the raw idea that the Govt. finds it hard to sustain without the criminal elements.
By Shobhit Anand
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