A QUESTION ASKED BY ERIC MANN ON LINKEDIN

How do you define brand equity?

“Brand Equity is an Intrinsic value of your business. Though not obviously visible in your balance sheet, there are institutions which are able to project the estimated Brand Equity Value of your business. Most of the small businesses do not realise the value of their Brand Equity and even some of the larger businesses often overlook to evaluate their actual business value by not considering their brand equity value.

Well frankly speaking we have never evaluated our brand equity since the Growth and Development is the prime focus on our Agenda as of now. Besides our end user exposure is far more less than the many other businesses and as such we may not have a worthwhile brand equity value. Brand Equity is always very high on our agenda even for our day to day decision making process, since we Aim to becoming a Well known and Prestigious business house in time to come.”

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA

QUESTION ASKED BY SUREN KUMAR ON LINKEDIN

Q : Being an entrepreneur in India is death wish

“Its story of Glass Half full or Half empty, depends on how you look at things. Look at Prominant Indians Like Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani, Tatas, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Azim Premiji, Gautam Adani, N R Narayan Murthy, Nandan Nilekeni, Jindals, Mahindras, Thantis, and scores of them who have thought otherwise and many of them have created a huge first generation business empires.

Opportunities have always exist all over the world at any period of time, but one should be able spot them and convert them to the personal advantage. Well to be an Entrepreneur could never be an easy task. Nothing comes to you on a platter. If one is Hard Working, Dedicated, Focused and Determined person, then only it may be possible to become a successful entrepreneur.”

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA

PREVAILING PAY PACKAGES

Q- FROM AN MBA STUDENT- slashed packages r really hurting...

In a booming economy any kind of Salaries are not high enough but when economy turn sluggish, companies do not hesitate to hand over PINK SLIPS to highly sought after employees. As long as the American economy was booming the top US financial institutions were seting up records of higher packages for fresh MBA recruites in India. Now since there is a huge mortgage melt down and a massive Credit Liquidation, millions of jobs are lost in USA. The buying power of the people in USA will drastically come down because of job losses and credit crunch.

The US economy will be heading for a major Deflation. This will result in a drop in demand, commodity prices and services cost which in turn impact the salary structures in USA. There several reasons that will limit the job opportunities and better pay packages to the aspirants from all across the world. The compelling reasons for USA to hire locally will be availability of many talented & experienced people , Political Pressures and Moral obligations to protect the jobs for Americans. Since American companies will have lots of choices locally and were largely responsible for offering very high pay packages, higher pay packages for fresh MBA recruites will be distant dream for a while.

Pay Structures generally move in tandem with the market conditions and looking at the present market dynamics, It is advisable to accept jobs at current salaries prevailing in the Industry.

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA

FUTURE DIRECTION

Q- FROM AN MBA STUDENT- What can we do after MBA...?

Well I am surprised to see a question like this from a MBA student. I believe that most of the MBA aspirants have clearly defined Goals and have already thought about their future plans well in advance. Anyway if you have not decided on anything as yet, the best thing for you will be to first of all take an honest aptitude test. Consult your faculty members and other seniors from your family after the test results. If you are very strong in a particular area then your faculty & family members will be able to guide you appropriately.

If I were you, I will take up a job with a repuetd firm after completing my MBA course. Most of the times MBA students from wellknown institutions are recruited at the campus itself. After about 4-5 years of specific job expereince, if one is not promoted adequately, best thing will be to look for a job switch. After about 10-12 years of Sector Specific expereince, generally a person is fully in control of Personal Finances & relevant Professional Skills. That will be the right time for one to take ultimate decision. If one is an Ambitious and has Burning Desire to do something of his/her own then a person can turn an entrepreneur or continue with the job as per the personal aptitude.

Entrepreneurship could be very rewarding and it gives the greatest job satisfaction. On the other hand if one is not temperamentally suited to entrepreeurship it could be the biggest risk and very painful. While taking decision after about 10 -12 years of stable job and great security environment make sure, your decision is not an impulsive one and you are not carried away by the success or achievements of your friends or co workers. Give it a proper time, discuss with your peers and well wishers, check your finacials and your ability to sustain even if you do not earn a penny for next 3 years. If you think you score is less than 90 % marks on your personal assessment then it is advisable to continue the same career path and work for gradually reaching to the top.

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA

HIGH GROWTH SECTORS FOR INDIA

Q- What are the top 5 or 6 key high growth sectors in India?

In my opinion Retail, IT, Energy, Bio Technology, Pharma, Auto, Metals & Mining sectors could be the high growth areas for next 20-25 years in India. High growth in the Energy, Auto, & Metals will be primarily because of the much lower per capita consumption of Energy & Metals and much lower per capita ownership of vehicles. IT, Bio Technology & Pharma will be the high growth areas because of the Highly Educated & Skilled manpower, this will be a great cost advantage resulting in lot of out sourced work from developed countries. The IT sector has not penetrated enough in both Public & the Private sector in India, but with the expansion of businesses in Banking, Retail, Insurance and several other growth sectors the potential for IT sector within the country itself will be pretty large. The Mining sector will automatically see a flurry of activity since the consumption in Energy, Metal and Auto sector will go up.

Indian economy at present is largely driven by captive consumption, but when Indian manufacturers and service sectors start exporting like China, Korea, Taiwan, & Japan and even if they are able to export 12-15 % of the GDP then the growth in the Indian businesses will unbelievably high. Other factor that will also boost the growth will be rising per capita income of the Indian population in the Rural and semi Urban areas. The per capita income in India will further increase due to the creation of millions of jobs as a result of the high paced growth expected in all the sectors of the Indian economy but particularly in the Retail, Energy sector in coming 2-3 years.

I therefore visualise that practically all sectors of the Indian Economy will continue to boom for the next 25-30 years but specifically above 6-7 sectors will project unforeseen growth in the coming years. From the 2009 on wards the Energy sector and Indian Economy as a whole will see a sea change due to the flow of Gas from the Reliance Industries. It will not only boost Indian Foreign Exchange Reserves but will also make Rupee much stronger against all the currencies of the world.

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA

CAN ENTREPRENEURIAL SKILLS BE DEVELOPED

Q-FROM AN MBA STUDENT -Can entrepreneurial skills be developed or perfected through an MBA?

Entrepreneurs did exist and flourished centuries before the MBA courses were established. Entrepreneurship is by and large an inborn quality of a person. A person can be a successful entrepreneurs if he or she is dedicated, focused, hardworking and has an ability to take great risks, think and act with cool mind even in most adverse circumstances. I have observed that generally most of the entrepreneurs are very ambitious and have great desire do something different. They are very innovative and passionate about whatever they do.

It would not mean that those who lack these kind of qualities can not make an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is like an art and it may come naturally as a gift of God but there are instances of many people making to the top by their shear determination and hard work. While there are instances of natural Singers or Painters or even Sculptors who start at very early age and become the best in their field by a natural gift with which they are born.

With an MBA or any other degree you can always Hone your entrepreneurial skills to perfection. Any form education helps you enhance your skills in multi dimensions & you are able to take very measured and balanced decisions even at the time of crisis like situations. Education makes you very level headed and develops many facets of your personality.

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA

RURAL MARKETING IN INDIA

QUESTION BY LUCKY LANBA - CAN ANY ONE SUGGEST HOW TO CAPTURE RURAL MARKETS

Dear Lucky Lamba,

You have not specified any product group for which you wish to have idea about "CAPTURING RURAL MARKET” but any way I will try to give you generalized information which may apply both to consumables or durable consumables. The Rural Marketing is different ball game as compared to the conventional urban marketing and has to be planned keeping in view of the target customers. Before about 10-12 years rural markets in India were targeted for Fertilizers, Pesticides, Agricultural implements, animal feeds, seeds, lower end and comparatively lower priced day to day consumables like detergents, soaps, biscuits, toothpastes, toothpowders, house wares etc. but today the rural markets are more demanding, The demand for motorbikes, cars, Jeeps, Mobile phones, Tvs, and several other appliances are finding a huge markets in rural areas.

While planning for rural marketing Consumer psychology, Spending pattern and rural consumer behavior has to be kept in the mind. Rural markets are still largely driven by the price factor and therefore most of the manufacturers introduce lower end or base versions of the products or the products which have become some what technologically outdated are selected for rural launch. The Product launches generally have to be as aggressive as urban market but only publicity media may be some what different. The product dealers or channel partners in rural markets are as important as in the case of urban markets and they are motivated by slab discounts, quantity discounts, foreign / local travels etc.

The publicity media which are predominantly effective in the rural area are Wall paintings, Hoardings, Print media, TV ads, Radio jingles, Stickers, Posters, Danglers, Local event participation and Festival melas etc. For publicity in rural areas You can not chose between one of the above but all these media are to be tried simultaneously. There has to be a bombarding of advertisements through these media at the time of the product launch. If the product is of reasonable quality in relation to the price, generally a product is able to penetrate the market with about a years high pitch publicity & concerted efforts and a proper marketing strategy. For capturing 8-10 % market share a company has to then continue for about a year or two depending on the nature of competition and other economic factors. This are just the general guidelines however for different areas different marketing strategy has to be implemented for optimum results.

CHITARANJAN NAGRECHA