The Manager's Perspective

"Mahatma Gandhi once said: 'at first, they ignore you'; these were the times when I was being ignored."

"It's important that at this stage you be ignored. Because spotlight at an early time of your lifecycle does not give you any extra advantage but certainly puts you at a great disadvantage."

"Gandhiji said: 'then they laugh at you.'

In 1992, Mittal said he applied for mobile licence -- India's first attempt to provide mobile telephone services.

"I felt we had the passion to deliver India's first mobile phone services. Many thought otherwise. We threw our hat in the ring."

........................

"Then the juggernaut (Bharti) started rolling," he said. "Then they fight you. Then the big fight erupted in the telecom arena. They had ignored us, they had laughed at us and the fight had begun. And we were willing to fight this battle out because it was truly the mother of all battles."

Mittal said the company believed that "if the business is about people and customers and not about money and technology, it thought it can win the war."

"After three years of fight, we came out fairly successful out of this. As Gandhiji said, those who try hard with lot of passion, eventually win."

posted by Dr. Gonzo  # 8:21 PM 0 comments

1. India along with Hong Kong and China is the largest market for pirated music in the world. More so, because one simply doesn't know the mind-boggling size of the piracy.
2. The sets are being sold in the major cities at the moment all of which have free to air FM stations.
3. Worldspace isn't really poor man's fare. The special festival offer at 1999/- for one of it's low end receivers (subscription charges were applicable after 6 months, almost as much as the initial cost), speakers were extra, was what pushed the company into blinding limelight. The offer that was initially to last till November last year still continues unabated till date. I personally think it was not a great deal. And yet, the seemingly frugal indian customer swallowed it.
4. An overwhelming majority of those 1999/- sets were given as gifts. (Much like Gillette razors are given these days. The ones getting the gifts do not eventually realize that they are getting into the trap of more and more).

posted by Dr. Gonzo  # 8:06 PM 0 comments

The station is a rage with listeners in the area

It was a perfect idea. In impoverished Bihar state, where many areas lack power supplies, the cheap battery-powered transistor remains the most popular source of entertainment.

"It took a long time to come up with the idea and make the kit which could transmit my programmes at a fixed radio frequency. The kit cost me 50 rupees (just over $1)," says Raghav.

The transmission kit is fitted on to an antenna attached to a bamboo pole on a neighbouring three-storey hospital.

A long wire connects the contraption to a creaky, old homemade stereo cassette player in Raghav's radio shack. Three other rusty, locally made battery-powered tape recorders are connected to it with colourful wires and a cordless microphone.

The radio station is a repair shop and studio rolled into one

The shack has some 200 tapes of local Bhojpuri, Bollywood and devotional songs which Raghav plays for his listeners.

posted by Dr. Gonzo  # 7:46 PM 1 comments

Question 1:

In a small paragraph define your concept of Marketing.

Question 2:

Your firm sells educational services to the public, in terms of science exhibits, theatre that plays science films and live exhibits of different marine creatures and fish. But unfortunately, business is not going as targeted. You have very limited financial resources, and a weak sales team. What steps you take to develop your business into a successful one. Illustrate with calculation.

Question 3:

How do you measure your marketing success in terms of sales? Please state methodology and steps.

posted by Dr. Gonzo  # 10:08 AM 0 comments