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The sampling methodology and the survey instrument have been explained in detail, and the field work relatively recent, done in mid 2007. Not meaning to be xenophobic, it was still a bit sad to note that such a study got done because Konrad Adenauer Stiftung initiated and commissioned (and presumably funded) it. It is true that in India, we generally have trouble finding adequate funding for regular studies of this kind which tell us more about ourselves. If the quantum of data were proportionate to the quantum of our usage of the term demographic dividend, we should have had several more and larger youth studies in the public domain. One is not referring to country wide studies done for private companies that measure cola consumption or media habits or advertising preferences of young India; but of public domain insights on how young people think and feel about issues like those […]
However, competition is about to explode. Top management schools of the world will soon be in India, many are already here in some form or other. Singapore, China and Dubai are aggressively attracting campuses of the world’s best management schools. The IIMs, with their current level of wide ranging government control and interference on their operations and very limited degrees of strategic freedom could end up being marginalized. The poor pay scales and continuous attempts to “regulate” faculty activities, lead to difficulty in attracting high caliber new faculty. The poor quality of infrastructure relative to the newcomers, the severe controls and constraints in internationalizing their footprint of knowledge etc., needs to be addressed. This report focuses on each of these problems and suggests a way forward. On autonomy and accountability The best way to enable the IIMs to survive and seize the opportunity ahead is, to empower their present boards […]
Why are car sales zooming? Here’s an explanation. Because it is only the rich who buy cars – car penetration is a bit over 20% in the topmost quintile of Consumer India (i.e. the richest 20% of India), and 5% or less in the remaining quintiles. Car sales also come out of corporate pockets as much as out of consumer pockets in this segment of income. and Rich India is actually back to feeling comfortable – the stock market is back up again, and everyone is feeling secure looking at their NAVs climbing back. Banks are lending for car purchases again, corporate profits have been very good and tax planning time is near The economic typhoon seems to have mildly hit and then gone away, adding to an increase in level of this consumer’s confidence. Pragmatic consumption is back again, and a new car with a bank loan is a […]
An earlier set of columns discussed how India changes in insidious and tricky ways: it morphs, slowly changing from within, and keeps reshaping itself just like an amoeba. With each bit of outside matter it ingests, it changes shape a wee bit and, before you notice it, there is a whole new shape. The last column reflected on what modern Indian goods and services were looking like. This one is about consumer insights gleaned from a trip through Uttaranchal to Badrinath-Kedarnath, and one to Kolkata and Jamshedpur. The realisation from the Uttaranchal trip was that religiosity, cell phones and Maggi Noodles are three things that hold modern India together. Since the latter two are not part of our ancient heritage, we can heave a sigh of relief that we are evolving and not stuck in the past! The Kolkata-Jamshedpur trip had flight cancellations on account of an airline expanding too […]
He makes the case that that the large number of poor people that exist in the world actually represent an enormous and lucrative potential market, which businesses can profitably address, if they think innovatively about their business models and business economics. The message of “profit from the poor” has caused a storm of protest in certain development sector circles, leading to debates about whether the poor should be thought of as mere consumers or also as producers. The answer of course is that thinking of the poor as consumers does not preclude them from being thought of as producers. Some micro finance institutions see themselves as operating on both sides of the “poor as producer, or poor as consumer” equation. Their financial and business assistance enables the poor to be economically productive. And as they get economically productive, they can afford to pay for other things that they need, provided […]
We know of a person who got a call selling him life insurance from a company from whom he already has a policy. He asked whether the caller knew that he was already a customer, and she said she had no idea. She was presumably following the process laid out for her – get a bunch of cell numbers in this manner and call them and proceed using this script. Viewed from the customer’s side, he was really hassled. These were the folks who were supposed to pay lots of money immediately to his wife, if he died suddenly. And they didn’t even know he existed. The company’s response to this was to say “in a cold calling customer acquisition process, it isn’t really possible to control this duplication”. Anything more, like for example feeding the number and name into a computer and getting a call – don’t call verdict […]
“Taking Jugaad from grassroots to global. The good news is that India now firmly believes that Indians have an innate innovation streak and that it is something worth nurturing.” The world over, businesses are obsessing about innovation. The developed world worries about disruptive innovations coming from emerging markets and hurting them in their home markets; while the emerging world, despite all the domestic challenges they face, is trying hard to prove them right. But what actually is innovation? A good, simple, working definition is that innovation is about new and unusual ways of thinking which, when implemented, can solve the hard-to-solve problems; or more generally, can help improve the outcomes of actions, resulting in greater financial and / or social value. Really successful innovations, by definition, have a larger impact, and can help transform businesses, societies and countries. A combination of greed and fear has forced India Inc. to actively […]
This potential customer is 5th standard passed, poor, lives in Mumbai in her employer’s house, has some family in a distant village, and is acutely aware of her need for financial security and independence. Demographic data shows that there are many like her in our big cities. Indeed, they are the consumer segment that Kishore Biyani, Chairman Future Group calls “India 2” i.e. people who help “India 1” make the money that they do; a consumer segment whose thinking has been influenced by being in close proximity and observing “India 1”. This is a primary opinion leader segment even for the folks back in their village. We went to the nearest public sector bank branch. Somehow, we felt that compared to the others, public sector banks may be more willing to admit such customers, given that their owner, the government, is constantly espousing it. But obviously public sector banks have […]
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