How to Set Up a Growth Group

During a recession, many organizations focus on the basics; but at some point, it's time to put growth back on the agenda. Special units focused on growth have worked for some of the most innovative companies. Here are a few guidelines to follow for setting up a growth group in your organization:

Make it a support unit - The group should help divisions, not burden them. Instead of the growth group launching new ideas, the lines of business responsible for executing the ideas should take ownership from the beginning.

Choose the right leader - The person leading the group needs to be well respected, well connected, and someone people feel comfortable turning to.

Don't overstuff it - It can be tempting to put someone from every department on the team. Instead, keep it a manageable size (around 6-8 people) and be strategic about who you choose to serve this critical function.
(Source: Harvard Business Review)
(Image source: Bizonics.com)

Three Tips to Avoid Wasting Time Online

If you are like most internet users, you've probably chastised yourself for wasting time on the web. Research has shown that our brains enjoy being distracted and that the internet feeds that distraction happily. To avoid wasting time online, try these three things:

Stay healthy - Getting rest and eating right makes your brain less prone to distraction.

Avoid known time wasters - If you've wasted too much time already on a blog or forum, don't go there again. Or, set limits on your time there.

Work smart - Working long hours can tire your brain and make you more likely to seek out distraction. If you have to put in a long day, schedule breaks in advance and know what you will do with that time.

(Source: Harvard Business Review)
(Image source: Landingnet.co.uk)

Small signs of recovery cannot shift the general gloom

When American house prices finally started rising in June last year, ending a three-year decline, homeowners and economists rejoiced. The steep plunge in values, about 33% nationally from peak to trough, caused widespread damage in the American economy and abroad. The stabilisation of prices turned out to be a precursor to broader economic recovery. Since bottoming out between May and June, prices have ticked upwards every month, while sales have risen from their recession lows. And yet gloom persists. The pace of foreclosures has not abated.

Worse still, the momentum now seems to be ebbing. Mortgage applications for purchases fell sharply in November, to their lowest level since 1997. Confidence among home-builders declined in November for a second consecutive month. And figures released on January 20th showed that new housing construction, which recovered from the record lows of early 2009 to plateau late last year, fell by 4% between November and December. The fear is that prices will soon start to fall again, touching off another round of pain for homeowners, workers and banks.

Government support boosted house prices by about 5% last year and the bulk of the support, are due to end in March. As their end approaches concern has grown, not least because the underlying fundamentals remain shaky. With many mortgage loans underwater, continuing job losses are pushing ever more households into default. Nearly 3m properties entered foreclosure last year, and filings increased by 14% from November to December. Foreclosures place downward pressure on house prices, contributing to a vicious cycle of economic pain.

The end of government support will put housing markets under great strain. It is a difficulty the American economy had better get used to.
(Source: The Economist)
(Image source: Dryicons.com)

Financial giants gather in Davos to fight fingerpointing

From January 27 to 31, 2010 the Winter Davos World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Conference will be held in the Swiss town of Davos. From the list of participants people can see those financial giants who were absent in the previous conference will come to this forum.

Analysts believe that at the critical moment when the government of various economies are preparing for drastic financial reform of regulation, these financial giants find it hard to express their own ideas, and the Davos Forum is to give them precisely the stage to fight for their own initiative, and try to push back torrents of financial reforms that will surely hurt their bottomline.

Two weeks before the official opening of the Forum, Citigroup, Swiss Reinsurance, Bank of Zurich and other financial giants released a joint report "Global Risks Report." To have a say is the first step these financial giants make to escape the blame of "causing the crisis but still enjoy high salaries".

The report warns that investors need to guard against a second wave of financial crises, and pointed out that the financial crisis and the collapse of asset prices in the United States and the United Kingdom and other developed countries will be one of the biggest risks global stability faces this year and the next few years.

The report also said that leaders must make the right choice to withdraw from the economic stimulus measures at an appropriate time in a progressive, reliable way to prevent a reversal in the momentum of economic recovery.

Those financial giants who missed the last forum will be at the scene and this has become a major highlight of this year's forum. Heads of Wall Street giants including Gary D. Cohn, president of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit, and Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan will attend this Forum. In addition, the major European financial institutions are also interested in attending the forum. Barclays Bank president Bob Diamond, chairman of HSBC Bank Stephen Green, Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann have all registered at organizing committee of the Forum.
(Source: People's Daily Online)

Organizational Effectiveness

Organizational effectiveness is the concept of how effective an organization is in achieving the outcomes the organization intends to produce. Organizational effectiveness is an abstract concept and is basically impossible to measure. Instead of measuring organizational effectiveness, the organization determines proxy measures which will be used to represent effectiveness. Proxy measures used may include such things as number of people served, types and sizes of population segments served, and the demand within those segments for the services the organization supplies.

To increase organizational effectiveness, winning companies create sustainable competitive advantage by aligning their talent and business strategies.

(Image source: Umkc.edu)

How to approach a colleague who is making Mistakes

In today's highly interconnected organizations, a colleague's mistakes can have a real effect on your ability to get work done. Address mistakes by approaching your co-worker, but do so cautiously and follow these rules of thumb:

Don't assume - You may think you know why your colleague is making mistakes, but don't jump to conclusions. Ask him open-ended questions to try to understand what is going on.

Offer help - Your colleague may be struggling with a short-term issue that is causing the mistakes. Offer help and support while he deals with the situation. This kind of support is often paid back at a later time.

Focus on the relationship - Good working relationships are essential to success in any organization. Be direct and honest about how the mistakes are affecting you, but do what you can to preserve the relationship.
(Source: Harvard Business Review)
(Image source: Whatmyworldslike.com)

Rupee rise to dictate RBI policy

The buoyant foreign capital flows in debt instruments since the beginning of 2010 could weigh on the Reserve Bank of India's decision on whether to raise policy rates. According to data available, foreign institutional investors had pumped in US$ 1.72 billion (Rs 7,900 crore) into debt instruments. In fact, these have overtaken equity flows, which stood at US$ 1.38 billion (over Rs 6,300 crore).

So far in 2010, the cumulative inflows -- equity and debt -- have been US$ 3.1 billion. As a result, the rupee has already appreciated around 1.28 per cent against the US dollar during the first three weeks of the year. The sharpest increase has been seen against the Euro.

FII investment in debt instruments has gone up, as they are trying to take advantage of the higher interest rate regime in the Indian market compared with those prevailing in the developed countries facing severe economic slowdown.

While Indian government bond yields have moved up from 6.05 per cent in April 2009 to 7.70 per cent now, the interest rates in developed economies are quite low -- in some cases, close to zero. Any increase in the rates could trigger a further inflow of foreign funds into the debt market.

The RBI's third-quarter review of monetary policy is due to be announced in this month end. So RBI has a work to do...
(Image source: Mutiny.in)

What worked in cost cutting—and what’s next

Companies were able to cut costs effectively through the crisis, executives say, but they’re less confident of their ability to contain or continue to cut them. Some companies are positioning themselves for longer-term success by planning the next round more strategically.

Executives say their companies have made effective and significant cutbacks in overall costs since the onset of the economic downturn in September 2008, according to a recent McKinsey survey. Even though cost containment remains a high priority, many respondents worry about the sustainability of the cost reductions and are only somewhat confident that their companies are adequately prepared for even bigger cost challenges, which they expect in the coming year. These are among the findings of a survey of 300 operations and other senior executives from around the world. They (McKinsey) asked respondents about the size and scope of recent actions their organizations have taken to reduce costs, the strategic motivations underpinning the moves, and executives’ views on the success and sustainability of cost cuts. They also asked respondents to identify the most significant risks facing their companies’ cost structures in the coming year and assess their confidence in the level of preparedness of their organizations to manage those risks.

While the results reflect a lingering environment of uncertainty and risk in the short term, they also show that some companies are making important strategic moves in cost reduction—among them, a focus on organizational effectiveness and capability building—to position themselves advantageously for the long haul.
(Image source: Safetynewsalert.com)

Three Tips for Hiring Former Employees

Former employees can often make successful rehires — they are known quantities and are familiar with your organization's unique culture. But bringing a former colleague back needs to be done thoughtfully:

1. Do your due diligence - You may assume you know what you're getting when hiring back former employees. But, you should go through a rigorous interview and screening process — just as you would for a new candidate — to be sure the returning employee is truly qualified for the job at hand.

2. Communicate - Be sure the rest of the organization, especially those employees who were candidates for the position, knows the reasons for bringing back the employee.

3. Brief the returning employee - The employee will need to know what the current situation is at the company, with special attention paid to what has changed since her departure.

(Source: Harvard Business Review)
(Image source: Nevermindthemanager.com)

Jyoti Basu - The left lion is no more with us

Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu died in a Kolkata hospital last Sunday at the age of 95.

He had resigned from active politics in 2000 but continued to guide the communist movement in India till last day. He was a man of immense charisma, and one whose faith in the people was unflinching. He lived a full life, characterised by struggle and by successes in government that few other political leaders in India have been able to match.

We can truly say - THE END OF AN ERA....

(Image source: Ganashakti.com)

Nothing like an In-Person Meeting when talking about Pay

Some 78% of companies have increased their electronic communication with employees over the past two years, and many are planning to use more social media in the coming year, according to a Towers Watson survey of 328 companies globally. But 73% of employers still think staff meetings are best for informing workers about changes in business performance, and 58% still prefer face-to-face meetings when it comes to talking about pay.

(Source: Towers Watson)
(Image source: Guidepointglobal.com)

'Next Practices' and not 'Best Practices'

Companies today are facing an overwhelming competition, demands from customers and society and many more .... and meeting all of these demands can be overwhelming, leaving little time for the purpose of being in business – generating wealth.

Companies to need to look beyond current 'best practice' to the 'next practice' that is essential to surviving and prospering in the global economy.

While globalization opens new markets and opportunities for businesses, it also brings new competition from often unforeseen places. These competitors conduct business in different ways, some of which better meet the needs of the global market or even a company’s local market. In addition, new markets bring new requirements, some mandatory and others based on consumer demand. Regardless of their source, meeting these requirements and providing substantiated proof of this accomplishment can be a daunting task.

In today’s business environment, four areas stand out as critical: Innovation, Value Generation, Cost Reduction, and Requirements.
(Image source: Mwace.org)

Prof C.K. Prahalad on 'LEVERAGING INDIA'

I am one of those lucky persons in getting a chance to hear Prof C.K. Prahalad live in a recent forum at IIM Ahmedabad campus. The topic was 'LEVERAGING INDIA'.

Prof C.K. Prahalad proposes that businesses, governments, and donor agencies stop thinking of the poor as victims and instead start seeing them as resilient and creative entrepreneurs as well as value-demanding consumers. He proposes that there are tremendous benefits to multi-national companies who choose to serve these markets in ways responsive to their needs. After all the poor of today are the middle-class of tomorrow. There are also poverty reducing benefits if multi-nationals work with civil society organizations and local governments to create new local business models.

He also discussed on the need of providing 'Mass Education' with the use of IT so that it can reach to the remotest village and this will help to develop 'Monetised Skills'. Population is a factor and so more and more good cities to be built and they should be well connected with the best of the infrastructure.

Another important focus area which the prof discussed is the approach on ‘Sustainable Development’.

He concluded by saying that we should follow 'Next Practices' and not 'Best Practices'.

It is really good to be a part of such forums and seminars.....

(Image source: Rrindia.com)

Wrongly Labelled

The economic downturn has made it harder to speak sensibly of a region called “eastern Europe”

IT WAS never a very coherent idea and it is becoming a damaging one. “Eastern Europe” is a geographical oddity that includes the Czech Republic (in the middle of the continent) but not Greece or Cyprus (supposedly “western” Europe but in the far south-east). It makes little sense historically either: it includes countries (like Ukraine) that were under the heel of the Soviet empire for decades and those (Albania, say) that only brushed it. Some of those countries had harsh planned economies; others had their own version of “goulash communism” (Hungary) or “self-managed socialism” (Yugoslavia).

Already unreliable in 1989, the label has stretched to meaninglessness as those countries’ fortunes have diverged since the collapse of communism. The nearly 30 states that once, either under their own names or as part of somewhere else, bore the label “communist” now have more differences than similarities. Yet calling them “eastern Europe” suggests not only a common fate under totalitarian rule, but a host of ills that go with it: a troubled history then; bad government and economic misery now.

The economic downturn has shown how misleading this is. Worries about “contagion” from the banking crisis in Latvia raised risk premiums in otherwise solid economies such as Poland and the Czech Republic—a nonsense based on outsiders’ perceptions of other outsiders’ fears. In fact, the continent’s biggest financial upheaval is in Iceland (see article, article), and the biggest forecast budget deficits in the European Union next year will not be in some basket-cases from the ex-communist “east” but in Britain and in Greece. The new government in Athens is grappling with a budget deficit of at least 12.7% of GDP and possibly as much as 14.5%. European Commission officials are discussing that in Greece this week.

None of the ten “eastern” countries that joined the EU is in so bad a mess. They include hotshots and slowcoaches, places that feel thoroughly modern and those where the air still bears a rancid tang from past misrule. Slovenia and the Czech Republic, for example, have overhauled living standards in Portugal, the poorest country in the “western” camp. Neither was badly hit by the economic downturn. Some of the ex-communist countries now have better credit ratings than old EU members and can borrow more cheaply. Together with Slovakia, Slovenia has joined the euro, which Sweden, Denmark and Britain have not. Estonia—at least in outsiders’ eyes—is one of the least corrupt countries in Europe, easily beating founder members of the EU such as Italy.

Three sub-categories do make sense. One is the five autocratic ’stans of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). They scarcely count as “Europe”, though a hefty Britain-sized tenth of Kazakhstani territory (some 200,000 square kilometres) lies unambiguously in Europe. Kazakhstan also this year chairs the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a Vienna-based post-cold-war talking shop. But none of the ’stans has become a member of the Council of Europe (another talking shop and human-rights guardian, based in Strasbourg). That shows the problem. The definition of “Europe” is as unreliable as the word “eastern”.

The ’stans vary (Tajikistan is poor, Kazakhstan go-getting). But all have slim prospects of joining the EU in the lifetime of anyone reading this article. That creates a second useful category: potential members of the union. It starts with sure-fire bets such as Croatia, and other small digestible countries in the western Balkans such as Macedonia. It includes big problematic cases such as Turkey and Ukraine and even—in another optimistic couple of decades—four other ex-Soviet republics, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia and Azerbaijan (the last, maybe, one day, on Turkey’s coat-tails).

The third and trickiest category is the ten countries that joined in the big enlargement of 2004 and in the later expansion of 2007. They are a mixed bunch, ranging from model EU citizens such as Estonia (recently smitten by a property bust, but all set to gain permission this year to join the euro) to Romania and Bulgaria, which have become bywords in Brussels for corruption and organised crime respectively. Eight of them (Romania and Bulgaria are the exceptions) have already joined Europe’s Schengen passportless travel zone. Most (Poland is a big, rankling exception) also have visa-free travel to America. All (unlike EU members Austria, Cyprus, Ireland and Malta) are in NATO.

Some worries remain constant, mild in the countries in or near the EU, more troubling in those in the waiting room and beyond. Exclusion and missed opportunity from the communist years still causes anger, as does near-exclusion from top jobs in international organisations (another consequence of the damaging “eastern Europe” label, some say). Toxic waste from that era, such as over-mighty spooks and miles of secret-police files, create openings for blackmail and other mischief-making, especially where institutions are weak. Lithuania’s powerful security service, the VSD, is in the centre of a political storm, but worries about lawlessness and foreign penetration ripple from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

Four countries—Poland and the three Baltic states—worry a lot about Russian revisionism (or revanchism). Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are concerned too, but more about energy and economic security than military sabre-rattling. Yet elsewhere, in the former Yugoslavia for example, such fears seem mystifying and even paranoid.

The new and future members also share capital-thirstiness. All need lots of outside money (from the EU’s coffers, from the capital markets and from foreign bank-lending) to modernise their economies to the standards of the rest of the continent.

But the usefulness of the “new member state” category is clearly declining as the years go by. Oxford University still has a “New College” which was a good label in 1379 to distinguish it from existing bits of the university. It seems a bit quaint now. Poles, Czechs, Estonians and others hope that they will drop the “new” label rather sooner, so that they can be judged on their merits rather than on their past.
(From The Economist)

Earth could soon be wiped out by the explosion of a star

The star, called T Pyxidis, is set to self-destruct in an explosion called a supernova with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT.

Although the star is thought to be around 3,260 light-years away – a fairly short distance in galactic terms – the blast from the thermonuclear explosion could strip away the Earth’s ozone layer, the scientists said. T Pyxidis is really two stars, one called a white dwarf that is sucking in gas and steadily growing. When it reaches a critical mass it will blow itself to pieces.

It will become as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy put together, they said. The Hubble space telescope has photographed the star preparing for its big bang with a series of smaller blasts or “burps”, called novas.

Earth could soon be wiped out by the explosion of a star – but soon could still be a long way off so do not have nightmares...

(Source: Paksiasat.com)
(T Pyxidis Photo: NASA)

Evaluating Brand Awareness

How many persons can point to a brand’s field of competence – the products and services which it envelopes? A brand without awareness is voiceless and lacks meaning. If a brand has an emotional connection with the consumers and if it is the first to spring the mind when asked about brands in a certain product category, then this brand has a real awareness. This is achieved not by simply repeating the name in the advertisings but by creating appeal and interest. Here comes the brand communication, it should immediately develop a relationship between the brand and consumers. Then a charismatic brand is said to have been built.

A charismatic brand has a prominent position in its category, have the highest price premiums- up to 40% more than generic products or services. It has a dedication to aesthetics, because it has the language of feeling. Don’t you think so?
(Image source: R2relations.com)

Reverse Innovation

Reverse innovation is a term referring to an innovation seen first or likely to be used first, in the developing world before spreading to the industrialized world. Reverse innovation refers broadly to the process whereby goods developed as inexpensive models to meet the needs of developing nations, such as battery-operated medical instruments in countries with limited infrastructure, are then repackaged as low-cost innovative goods for Western buyers.

The process of reverse innovation begins by focusing on needs and requirements for low-cost products in countries like India and China. Once products are developed for these markets, they are then sold elsewhere - even in the West - at low prices which create new markets and uses for these innovations.

Typically, companies start their globalization efforts by removing expensive features from their established product, and attempt to sell these de-featured products in the developing world. This approach, unfortunately, is not very competitive, and targets only the most affluent segments of society in these developing countries. Reverse innovation, on the other hand, leads to products which are created locally in developing countries, tested in local markets, and, if successful, then upgraded for sale and delivery in the developed world.

The reality is, developing countries are not following the same path and could actually go ahead of developed countries because of their willingness to adopt breakthrough technologies. With smaller per capita incomes, developing countries are more than happy with hi-tech solutions that deliver decent performance at a comparatively low cost - a 50% solution at a 15% cost.

Examples of reverse innovation can be found across various industries and geographies.

(Reference: Wikipedia and Docstoc)
(Image source: Clipartguide.com)

Ideation

Ideation is the process of creating new ideas and there are hundreds of techniques for generating ideas. ‘Idea’ is understood as a basic element of thought that can be visual, concrete or abstract. Several large companies, like Dell or Best Buy, have opened up this process to their consumers, inviting anyone to raise new ideas for possible company products. Everyone realises the importance of innovation as a key driver of business success and posits new ways to encourage and nurture it in today’s business environment.

Ideas are the bedrock foundations of companies. Great companies lead with great ideas, but the big question is 'how do great companies develop those ideas?' To have a shot at success, an idea needs to fulfill a need, and it needs to be backed by the technology that can make it happen. The purpose of any new idea is to show value and benefits. Any idea which at an early stage suggests large benefits is always worth hearing and pursuing. The benefits must, however, be made very clear.

There should be a process to make this happen....which is not easy and also not that difficult.
(Image source: Creativityland.net)

The Decade in Management Ideas from Harvard Business Review

Tis the season for "year's best" lists — and even, this year, for "decade's best" lists. A few of HBR editors (Gardiner Morse and Steve Prokesch) took the opportunity to look back on the past ten years of management thinking and are ready to declare the choices for the — well, why not say it — most influential management ideas of the millennium (so far).

1. Shareholder Value as a Strategy - The notion of producing attractive returns for investors is as old as investing, but this was a decade when the pursuit of shareholder value eclipsed too much else. Increasingly sophisticated tools and metrics for value-based management pushed the consideration of stock price effects deep into operational decision-making, and made sure everything pointed toward bonus day. By 2009, even the man most known for focusing on value was saying it was a dumb idea. "Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy," Jack Welch proclaimed. "Your main constituencies are your employees, your customers and your products."

2. IT as a Utility - The current mania for cloud computing is the latest step in a long process by which enterprises have dispensed with their proprietary glass houses and begun buying computing capabilities as services. One impetus was the Y2K scare, which forced attention onto those onerous legacy systems as the new millennium dawned.

3. The Customer Chorus - Through a range of technical and social developments, customers' voices grew louder (whether collectively in ratings systems like Amazon's, or individually through viral kvetches like Dave Carroll's "United Breaks Guitars") and companies found ways to listen. It's a true megatrend: the steps along the way have felt gradual and natural, but collectively they change everything.

4. Enterprise Risk Management - Sounds crazy right now to say that the last decade was notable for risk management. But especially after 9/11, companies saw the sense of bringing the many and various pockets of it under the same umbrella. Newly empowered chief risk officers looked for trouble spots on a landscape ranging from financial hedging to pirates on the open sea.

5. The Creative Organization - The decade saw a general revolution in the way many organizations came to view their source of competitive advantage, and a commitment to finding ways to produce creative output more reliably. Even before they embraced "design thinking," managers were encouraging collaboration, drawing on diverse perspectives, and engaging whole workforces in "ideation."

6. Open Source - Purist geeks will be quick to point out that the term open source and some very substantial achievements came in the late 1990s, but here we pay homage to the spread of that model beyond software code. Was it only in 2001 that Wikipedia was born? And how many things have been wiki'ed since?

7. Going Private - Cheap debt reignited the LBO scene just as post-Enron reforms created real disincentives to operate as a public company. As the decade wore on, private equity's playbook for turning around businesses was increasingly held up as best-practice management. Now, ideas like, ahem, leveraging up don't seem so wise, but private equity's devotion to strategic focus and demanding governance might endure.

8. Behavioral Economics - Okay, by now, you're all shouting "that's definitely older than 10 years" and you're right. But talk about a set of ideas whose time has come. In the prior decade, can you remember when someone with Steven Levitt's profile had a breakout bestseller? Or when someone modifying the word economist with "rogue" (or "rock star") could keep a straight face?

9. High Potentials - Consulting firms and other deeply knowledge-based businesses knew this all along, but in the past decade the rest of the corporate world woke up to the fact that some managers are more equal than others. Formal programs were established to identify, cultivate, and retain "hi-po's". Executive coaching, a perk often provided for the anointed, experienced explosive growth as an industry.

10. Competing on Analytics - Decades of investment in systems capturing transactions and feedback finally yielded a toolkit for turning all that data into intelligence. Operations research types, long consigned to engineering realms like manufacturing scheduling, got involved in marketing decisions. Managers started learning from experiments that were worthy of the name.

11. Reverse Innovation - The bigger story here is the maturation of the concept of globalization, particularly with regard to emerging economies. Most big corporations in 2000 saw them primarily as a source of natural resources and, increasingly, cheap labor. Then, as rising employment fueled the development of middle classes, cities in India and China came to represent valuable markets. Now, these non-US consumers are coming to the foreground. Firms like GE and Microsoft are doing R&D in emerging markets, optimizing on those preferences and constraints, and then bringing the results back home.

12. Sustainability - More than anything, the first ten years of the 21st century will be remembered as the decade that businesses went green — if only in their marketing to a public highly attuned to Al Gore's inconvenient truth. We're not cynical on this point, however. The efforts we see by companies large and small to reduce their carbon footprints and other environmental impacts are sincere and effective, as far as they go. But ten years from now, as we revisit this exercise, forgive us if we declare 2010-2020 to be the decade of sustainability. "The idea was in the air before 2010," we can picture ourselves writing. "But this was the decade when it really took hold."
(Image source: Dreamstime.com)

Significance of sensorial practice in branding

Today, the world has stirred to go from an industrially obsessed economy to a people-driven economy that places the customer as the king. Each foremost brand is going ahead to sell life style perception in run to race in another way. They understand that the new market prospects are not based on compressing costs and rising profits but are in novel deliberation. Inspiring and novel views are now surpassing resources as the main principal of development. The accomplishment is actually done by accepting people’s emotional requirements and it is achieved by emotional branding.

Due to application of emotional branding with your products the brand consist with its long-term value. It is all regarding to sensorial feelings. The appearance of the six senses cannot be ignored in the business environment.

E-Retailing

Today, shoppers’ tendency to buy things has changed to exploring product facts online and then buying offline. Since shoppers grow to be convenient combining in store, catalogue and Internet shopping experiences, retailers must flawlessly incorporate those channels or be prepared to lose the string of their purse in proportion to more alert rivals.

The Online Retailing story tells that the Internet is playing a key role in revolutionising the shopping experience in many ways – on and offline.

With the help of Internet, customers have enabled themselves and given themselves the understanding to evaluate old items, find new ones, communicate with other shoppers and even find low-cost items, and for all these they don’t take pains to walk to a store near to their residence.

The fast going and growing world with on-the-click-shopping forces retailers to design new policies for capturing customers. To attract fresh consumers and to keep and redouble rapport with old ones, retailers have to satisfy customers. For this every retailer has to acquire a level of organisational and technological integration that new researches point out.
(Image source: Squidoo.com)

B2B for Apparel Retailers

I am from B2B industry so thought of sharing this interesting topic of ‘B2B for Apparel Retailers’ which I read sometime back published in McKinsey Quarterly.

B2B marketplaces are exploding onto the scene, signaling a transformation of the procurement landscape. This expansion is producing a land grab by new entrants who seek to revolutionize supply chains and by incumbents who are determined to halt disintermediation.

The retail industry is no stranger to these trends – more and more apparel segment business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces have emerged in recent years. In response, both retailers and branded manufacturers are scrambling to determine what procurement or supply-chain benefits marketplaces are offering and how they can capture those benefits.

Apparel retailers and branded manufacturers can gain significant value from employing the right combination of B2B marketplaces. The opportunity to increase earnings could range to 70 percent over time for some apparel retailers and brands. This opportunity reflects the sector’s historically slim net margins and the critical importance of supply-chain efficiencies to margins. The magnitude of the opportunity will depend on an apparel retailer or branded manufacturer’s sophistication, scale, automation, and degree of collaboration with suppliers.
(Image source: Techcommunicationtips.wordpress.com)

Making Highly Productive Team

For the world-class results in corporate environment, you have to build an enhanced team to face the challenges in a world of cut-throat competition. In current scenario high competitiveness is found in all business, so it is essential to focus on best activity of team building. It has been witnessed that joint efforts has always attained and generated better results.

If the team is appropriately trained, then teamwork will positively get triumph in all the industry functions. Winning team synergistically harness their members' talents and energy, to make 1 plus 1 equals to at least 3 (or often much more). In short, when a team is working well, the total is far greater than the sum of its parts.

To achieve a common goal of success, it is mandatory to adapt such process. It is fact that team-building activity has to be conducted for increasing the skills of team members and to sharpen their communication ability.

At every place of working, usually people discuss about team building, experiencing as a team member etc. However, very few are there who know about creating better team work experience or how to make-out productive. Being a member of a team is just part of something biggest than an individual. Team building is much to do with knowing of the company’s objectives or goals.

In a team oriented atmosphere, an individual contributes to the whole success of the company, and works with other team members to attain the objectives. Although an individual is concerned with a specific task and to a particular department, he has to unify with other team members from different departments to achieve overall targets.

One has to find out overall functions of teamwork since the task of creating an enhanced team to achieve a specific target. If the team enhancement actions are not matching up to the set target, then self-analysis would be helpful to tell you “why”?
(Image source: Bridsystems.com)