Historically, the Olympic Games have been an ideal forum for brands looking to strengthen their original global presence. Companies pay heavily for the privileges of being associated with the Games, convinced that no other event offers the unique combination of mass worldwide exposure and fostering positive values. However, certain brands do get global exposure without paying large sponsorship fees through unofficial links with the event. For instance, Adidas, the key sportswear sponsor was outwitted by Nike whose gear was primarily worn around the village and during the ceremonies. Managers wonder whether the huge amounts of money on sports sponsoring is worth it. Social media are a lot cheaper than sponsoring sports events, but as Jan-Benedict E M Steenkamp, University of North Carolina says, ‘No body owns them.’
Author: Shabbir Chunawalla
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Management 2.0
Gary Hamel, the management guru, is of the opinion that the pyramidal organisation structure is not conducive to innovation. Those in power are not ready to change. Only when the CEO changes, there comes a change in direction. Modern management originated at the start of the last century with the dawn of the industrial age. Let us call it Management 1.0. It was invented in Germany, Britain and the US. The present century will need its own new version of management. Let us call it Management 2.0. Formerly, organisations usedto innovate around products and strategies. Now organisations will have to innovate around the leadership and management process. This requires profound change — both at the individual and institutional level. The work will have to be distributed to the edges of the organisation. Management 2.0 could come from anywhere, the race is wide open.
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Salaries for E-commerce Executives
As e-commerce is gaining a foothold in India and expanding fast, the hunt for talent is vigorous. The existing players pay a chunk of senior executives compensation in ESOPs. Mostly, the compensation is long-term incentive driven. New entrants try to woo the small pool of suitable talent by giving a salary hike of 50-70 per cent. A digital marketing head is offered around Rs 50-60 lac, category heads about Rs 70-80 lac, operations/supply chain heads anywhere between Rs 60 lac to 1 crore. At the senior most levels, salaries may cross even Rs 6 crore mark.
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New Enabling Technologies
Digital business is being facilitated by new enabling technologies such as 3D Printing, IoT and smart machines. We have already discussed 3D Printing. IoT represents a network of devices connected to the Internet.
These are embedded with sensors and are mainly used to collect data. These can be controlled remotely. IoT can be used by incorporating it in a machine to minimise cost. Smart machines represent new mobile robots which can do an array of jobs, unlike the industrial robots which are often designed to do one type of job. Further smart machines also mean machines with cognitive computer systems, with advanced artificial intelligence. These can be used to perform complex tasks, traditionally performed by human beings.
The 3D Printing affects the Product Life Cycle theory. Before scaling up the production, a company can put short product runs with 3D printing.Later there will be traditional manufacturing. A 3D printed product can be made available even after the traditional manufacturing discontinues its production. In leasing decisions, there was reliance on depreciation. But thanks to IoT, companies can have data on the asset usage, and this enables a more realistic assessment of residual values. The workforce in future will be a hybrid workforce — people, augmented workers and smart machines.
The augmentation devices could be wearables such as Google Glass. A resource planner will have to find the right balance of workers and machines.
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The Honest Truth About Dishonesty
Dan Ariely, a behavioural economist has wriiten a book The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty. He says we like to think of ourselves as honest. Yet in reality we all cheat. Our behaviour reflects two conflicting motives — we want to feel good when we look in the mirror. Yet we also hope to benefit from cheating. The result is that we cheat just a little — not enough to dent our self-image. Very few people steal to a maximal degree.
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Apple Stores
Apple sells its products through Apple Store — 372 such stores worldwide. These outlets sold $16 billion in merchandise worldwide. However, employees enjoyed little little of that wealth. Most of its workers are non-engineers and non-executives. They are a part of the service economy. Their package is $25000 a year. The training is minimal. Employees do leave after a few years. The average tenure is two and a half years. Though they are a part of the sales team, Apple does not use the word sales to describe them. They are called specialists.
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Al Adil Group
Dhanajay Datar is the MD of Dubai-based Al Adil Group. The Group has a turnover of dirham 450 million. It proposes to set up 20 new supermarkets. Their existing supermarkets are of 4000, 5000, 8000 and 10,000 sq ft. They sell only Indian products — be it food, personal care, appliances or utensils. They want to enter markets like Bahrain, Kuwait, qatar and Oman. They have a brand called Peacock under which they sell flour, pulses, spices and dry fruits. They have a factory. They supply products to restaurants and 5-Star hotels. They have opened stores at Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
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Sales — A Low Esteem Function
Sales people are not held in high esteem. According to Shiv Khera, it is ultimately the conduct of the people that determines the stature of a profession. Most people in sales hate to call them salesmen. They prefer to say they are in marketing. Marketing never gets money, sales does.
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Scripting – Writing a Tight Scene in Films
According to Rajesh Mapuskar who wrote and directed Ferrari Ki Sawaari, how to write a scene that is really tight on paper was communicated to him by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. If you want to make scene 5 minutes long on screen, then write write only two pages of dialogues, which corresponds to two minutes. The remaining time can be used for the treatment of the scene. The tighter the scenes, the faster a film moves and the less time the audience has to think.
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Prosthetic-makers
Hyper-real prosthetics, made of new material such as silicone and high-grade foam latex are being used in films. There are hyper-real mannequins and life like body parts. The mannequins of silicone could, in the future, replace body doubles who perform stunts or nude scenes for actors. They make pregnant stomach prosthetic with foamed latex–silicone is too heavy to carry Dirty Hands is a prosthetic design firm based in Ahmedabad. Each full-body hyper-real mannequin costs more than Rs. 10 lac. The Ramsays were the first to make the use of prosthetics in a big way. They used rubber masks. Foamed latex became popular in 1985.