October-Birthdays and Celebrations

 Well, at least a few birthdays to remember.. my own, of course, and my brother's are both in October. Also my Father-in-law's, though he is no more. And my niece Anjali shares hers with Mahatma Gandhi. That's a lot of birthdays to handle in a month!

My birthday gift, an artist friend drew it.

Below, my Mom with my favourite niece Maya, a few years ago.

Mom's birthday, last year (2020)/My favourite food, below.

More favourite food- poha in North Karnataka style.

Below..birthdays make me thoughtful.

Below..more favourites..food for thought, and drink for thought.

October is also associated with festivities in India. Usually, we have either Dasara or Diwali or both around this time. Therefore, the Amazons and Flipkarts and many other retailers are in an overdrive, and try to sell as much as possible- the equivalent of the Christmas season in the West, for retailers.

Generally, there is an overdose of food and we feel its after-effects. Many traditional snacks were once made at home, including sweets like Karanji (similar to Gujiya in the North), Chakli or Murukku, and laddoos of some kind. Now, maybe retailers offer these too, on demand.

The pandemic in India seems to be on the wane right now, and maybe vaccination and natural immunity caused by the Second Wave played a role. Hopefully, a Third Wave will be mild or non-existent. The schools and colleges may get back to their normal mode of functioning, and maybe corporates too. 

Here's wishing all you readers the best of the festive season.

Presentation Matters

 I have spent many hours (years?) of my life listening to presentations made using a Powerpoint set. But that's not what I mean by presentation. I am broadly talking about communication. For instance, it could be just a way of telling a story. My grandfather told us one very effectively, and I still remember it vividly-about a rabbit scaring away a lion by pretending to be a bigger animal!

It could be the intonation, or images used-orally or on a screen, or board, or gestures, while communicating. In food shows, it's the plating that makes the food looks cool, because you can't taste it as a viewer, so you only have an image to help you imagine.

Packaging is a form of presentation. How you package a product can make a difference between someone buying it or not! Which is why smart marketers play around with packaging so much! How you display products in a retail store can also achieve similar results- good or bad.

In short, think about presentation. Whether it's yourself at an interview, or a on a date, or a presentation you make to a boss or a client!

Teaching New Courses

Teaching new courses for the first time is an experience. You don't want to do it too often, but you want to try it once in a while.

I mostly taught Marketing Research since I started teaching in Indian Business Schools-and still do. But at times I have taught Business Communication (YES!), Advertising, B to B Marketing, and a Seminar on Thought Leadership. At Indore, I started teaching two or three new courses- Digital Marketing (for several different programs), and for the Ph. D. program, Retailing and Tourism Marketing.

I learnt a lot from these, and that learning continues each time I teach the course. I like to experiment with assignments rather than just use cases- so I have tried Blogging, a Bidding game, and writing of emails as some exercises, besides a website design exercise in my digital marketing course. Live exercises and projects are good for learning, in my experience. Particularly when accompanied by presentations with Q and A. I can literally "see" the learning in many cases.

Fun and Education

When you travel, it can be fun and educational at the same time. You learn by simply being there, observing what is happening around and challenging yourself to do things (eating included) that you might never have at home. I get this feeling every time. Here are some pics from a recent Thailand trip. Got to Golf a bit, after attending a conference, and saw a great initiative to help blind people.

1. An efficient public transport system helps the economy- Huai Khwang station, Bangkok MRT.
2. Trying out putting as part of the IIM Indore Golf Academy (Thailand extension) is Jayasimha (below)

.

A training institute for the Blind Men teaches them massage. This (above) is a pic from the place, a great social initiative that makes them self-reliant. And below, learning about Retailing .. 😄

Musings on Retailing Industry

I was just wondering when we will have an Indian Wal-Mart that becomes the largest company-bigger than the Oil Companies and the Car companies. Maybe in 50-60 years?

What seems to be stopping the retailers is that our controls have given them too much protection for too long. And the great manpower crunch. There simply aren't enough qualified people in India to run large, organised retail stores- from the frontline staff to the managers. MBAs don't think it's a respectable thing to work for Retail Stores, because of "dignity of labour" issues. But though it is hard work which is mostly hands-on, it is exciting because growth potential is unlimited if you have the right model, as Wal-Mart showed.

In a supposedly saturated market like the US which already had a lot of entrenched retailers with a long history, Wal-Mart was the upstart which redefined the landscape, and put in place a strategy that used vast suburban spaces for cheap large stores and distribution centres, dedicated infotech solutions in the age before the internet, and Everyday Low Prices as opposed to an occasional "sale". We seem to have none of these in place yet. The food and grocery stores have the challenge of competing with the low overhead vegetable vendors, and low investment-better service kirana stores.

Maybe more local/regional models need to develop for the grocery retailer, but a national model is possible, for the apparel and other products, and at low prices, according to me. So far, only Big Bazaar seems to have addressed the price concerns.