The Importance of Brand Positioning

(image source: http://garlicmediagroup.com/why-is-branding-important/)

Friends, I like to start my article either with story or fact. And many times I said where there is a truth there is a RAHUL. So, let’s start with one brutal fact that many of us were not born with the golden spoon. And I was also one of them. Once upon a time my father was a farmer and then gradually he turns into banker. In my childhood, sometimes my mom told that how they spent their life in their childhood as well as their beginning in SURAT city. My dad had seen different shades of the life. Gradually my father became financially stronger. And he had made up his mind that whatever he didn’t achieve in his life, he will provide to his children.

We all are very well aware that after 1990, many of us have seen the growth in Indian Economy. During that time disposable income were increased. And we used that income to buy some branded things. I know that I was using branded things during education whether it was pencil or a pen. I am also confident that my father had never used any branded things. But if we consider the current scenario then in this modern era we want all branded things. If I start from our morning routine activities then we want branded toothpaste, cloths, shoes, we people always prefer branded restaurant, saloon for, beauty parlors. I am always surprised that we want branded artificial nimbu pani whereas original Nimbu pani we prefer to wash our hand instead of drinking. We can say that anyone who was born after 2000, is called Brand Generation. Because I still remembered that when I was kid, I used to go Bhagal (One area in Surat where there are many retailers) to purchase my T-shirts. If I am talking about my daughter then she will prefer mall more willingly than that types of area because from her childhood she will see mall with branded stores. As she will grow, she selects branded goods.

Many of us are not aware that big branded stores like, Star Bazzar, Reliance, More etc, are not for us. They are targeting the generation who born after 2000. I still remembered that one of my client who was in Vegetable business. He was supplying vegetables to these brands with 10Rs kg where they were sold at 8 Rs. Kg. So when I researched why they were selling in loss. Then I came to know that actually they are targeting kids (who were born after 2000) because from their childhood they used to visit big malls and branded stores.  Hence whosoever is not concentrating on branding, they will not survive in near future. Sometimes I was surprised when company is known by his/her entrepreneur instead of brand. We have to make sure that brand image should be developed. If we are retailer then make a brand of your store like “Mcdonalad”, “Maa & Baby”, If you are the manufacturer then make a brand of your product like “APPLE”. 

As this generation will grow, they will prefer branded products. It means “sell of branded product will increase” and “unbranded product will decrease”. Many of entrepreneurs believed that if there business is not growing it which is called as “recession”. Actually it is not recession because somebody is selling and they are not. Customer is buying from others. Till yesterday they were gaining good customer attention. As competition increased they felt difficult to survive. If we want to check whether this is recession period then check your monthly expenses which you will notice to be increasing. Now people do not prefer traditional goods and traditional selling style. We have to change with the time. We have to work on increasing customer base service and how to create brand image. We have to work on it.

Remember one thing doing a business without knowledge is a superseded idea. Each Industry is getting organized. If you are not working on to build a brand, you are already out dated. 

The Real Reason Good Employees Quit

(Image Source:https://leaderchat.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/top-10-reasons-why-employees-leave1.jpg)

I am working as a consultant for more than 5 years and during that period I came across many entrepreneurs and employees, heard so many problems and worked on that. One major problem which I heard from many entrepreneurs is “Employees are quitting the job. No employee is ready to make his career with them. Today also I met one entrepreneur and  he was discussing the same problem with us. So, I took this opportunity to share my views on “Why Employees are quitting the job?”

During my consulting I have observed that there is an employee’s who has an incredible performance and looking at him we think that, "This is the one!"  Who has a bright future. They are smart, engaged, driven, and seemed to really love the job. We think, "he is going to be together with company!" and have a promising career. But then one fine day, they quit.

Why any employee is not willing to continue with  any organization and changing his job. Here are some reasons employees might quit a job

1.      NO VISION:

Many times I have observed that company does not have clear vision. In modern times where entrepreneurs like JACK MA had already planned his road map for more than 100 years. for ALIBABA and if we compare him with other entrepreneurs then we came to know that they don’t have any plan. They even don’t know whether after 10 years they will continue their business or not. There are few companies where employees are working for more than 5 to 10 years and reason behind that is they are great at communicating their vision all the way from the top down to the front-line workers.

2.      Stagnation (360 degree development)

Now world is changing so fast. Still I remember that before some years in India we were working on 3G and just in couple of years we are on 4G and many companies  already started on 5G and 7G. No one likes stagnation then we can assume that our employee will not like to work same things. If they like then we must thank almighty to give such employees. Now our associates (employees) want to feel that they're still moving forward and growing in their professional life. They want to have something to aspire to. If we are not giving them then we also know that our competitor is also watching him. So, its better that we can plan one training calendar where we can upgrade their professional skills and give them an opportunity to work according to their skills.

3.      System and processes

Many times I heard from employees that they felt injustice with them. Because they were working since last 5 years and their salary is 20000 where the salary of new joinee is 22000. No one wants to stick around in a workplace that doesn't treat them fairly.  I am sure many companies are facing this problem. Some may be aware and some may not. So, for that we can ask our HR on how to guide them on a regular basis. Many companies don’t have any process for recruitment and performance appraisal. And just because of that it may be possible that a person who is an expert in buttering will get promoted where eligible will not. This type of discrepancy will lead to dissatisfaction and ultimately we lose our experienced associate. So, here I would recommend that we should have performance appraisal system and for that if require we can then take the help of the professional.

4.      No Work life Balance:

In today’s corporate world the schedule is not fixed so it is very difficult to manage both the life (personal and professional) together. During early days of business at that time entrepreneur sacrifices his personal life because he wants to build his empire. And now same he/she accepts from his/her employee also. It is acceptable for some days if he worked after working hours. Here still I recommended that never allow any employee to work before or after working hours.

According to a survey by Right Management, 36% of workers get after-hours emails from their supervisors. Some 9% say their bosses email them while they are on vacation and 6% say they get emails on the weekend. What will happen in this scenario, employees’ burnout faster and most will simply start looking for a new place to work- even while working for you. If you want to retain your key employees, it is essential you know what is tempting them to look elsewhere.

5.      Growth Opportunity:

Nowa day’s many employee believe that if they want a hike in their salary then it’s better to switch the job. E.g., there are 2 friends who joined “A” company on same date with same designation and with same salary. Their salary was 20000. After 2 year their salary was 24200 by 10% increments each year. Then one of the friends put his resignation and joined Company “B”. Here he gets 30% increment on his last CTC. That means his salary reach to 31460, where his friend salary was 24200. After completion of 6 years salaries were 32210 (who was continue with Company “A”) and 41873 (Who switched the job and joined company “B”).  After that again that person switched the job to company “C” with 30% hike. And now his salary turned to Rs. 54435.  Differences between those 2 friends are 22,225 Rs. This is the calculation for 6 years. In such situation there is a change where our employee will definitely get de-motivated and will try to search better opportunity.

In this type of situation also, If PMS will implement properly then I firmly believe that employee can earn a salary that he wants.

These are the main reason I believed and other reasons could be,

6.      Wrong people are hired or promoted

7.      Employees creativity, not channelized/engaged.

8.      Lack of recognition

9.      Relationships with coworkers​

10.  Organization’s financial stability

11.  Employers Don’t Honor Their Commitments

12.  Employees contributions aren't recognized

The best way to retain your employees? Ask them what they want and work with them to make sure everyone gets what they need. 

Book Summary : Blue Ocean Strategy

SYNOPSIS

This book challenges readers to rethink traditional incremental innovation approaches. Typically, head-to-head competition is the norm for increasing market share, but this book teaches readers that there is a better way to compete and win. Based on a study of 150 strategies in 30 industries, the authors make their case for using innovation instead of fighting for position in a competitive market. Readers will learn that strategic success depends on creating a “blue ocean,” a market space that is uncrowded and primed for growth, by investing in innovation that brings more value to customers.

“Blue ocean strategy challenges companies to break out of the red ocean of bloody competition by creating uncontested market space that makes the competition irrelevant.”

 In creating this blue ocean, readers can avoid fighting for incremental competitive advantage and market share in what the authors call “the red ocean.” Red oceans are the overcrowded, bloody, cutthroat arenas where companies struggle to stand out and compete amidst shrinking profits. Readers will learn that this approach inhibits value innovation, causes price wars, and limits profit margins, creating a marketplace that prevents sustainable, profitable growth. By creating and capturing their blue ocean, readers can get out of the red ocean and stand out by focusing on innovation that creates a whole new market.

SUMMARY

The blue ocean strategy is based on the alignment of the three strategy positions of value, profit, and people. Readers will find that this approach of value innovation, a process where a company introduces new technologies designed to achieve both product differentiation and low costs, is far more effective than merely pursuing innovation for its own sake. By creating a demand, rather than competing for limited demand, companies can stop fighting a fight they have little chance of winning.

“Value innovation requires companies to orient the whole system toward achieving a leap in value for both buyers and themselves.”

The systematic approach of the blue ocean strategy is founded on principles that can create a great leap in value that can make competitors irrelevant. The principles are comprehensive, easy to learn, and easy to implement for a new start-up or an existing business that wants to push the boundaries in a red ocean within their industry. Blue ocean strategy provides a clear four-step process to help readers redesign their market.

Step 1 — Reconstruct the market boundaries. This step involves rethinking assumptions about the size and scope of a particular market. By understanding where the competition is operating and what they offer, readers can find opportunities to create a blue ocean for their business. A prime example of this type of thinking is the consistent growth of the grocery chain Aldi in Australia. By challenging the assumption that they had to compete directly with their established competitors, Aldi found their niche by offering about half of the lines of products that were typically offered. This value innovation approach resulted in the chain opening an average of 30 new stores annually.

Step 2 — Focus on the big picture, not the numbers. By using a strategy canvas, a central diagnostic tool and an action framework developed by the authors for building a compelling blue ocean strategy, readers can determine the demand of a particular niche. It graphically represents, in one simple picture, the current strategies and potential prospects for a company.

Step 3 — Reach beyond existing demand. By focusing on non-customers and why they aren't a customer yet, readers can begin to figure out what innovations would result in more value and a broader market. By challenging the assumptions of demand in their industry, companies can begin to discover ways to create demand with value innovation.

Step 4 — Get the strategic sequence right. Building a blue ocean strategy includes four keys:

• Buyer utility, the extent to which customers can see the value and ease-of-use of a product, is the foundation for creating a product or service that is unique in the marketplace.
• The pricing structure must target large consumer groups. By appealing to the largest customer base with pricing that is seen as a value, readers can differentiate themselves and access a larger market.
• Costs of production must be low enough to ensure a healthy profit consistently. By focusing on reducing waste and increasing efficiency, the bottom line becomes healthier.
• Adoption, implementing practices that minimize customer effort and frustration, is critical in making it easy for customers to buy. By reducing or eliminating obstacles for customers, readers will find that customers are much more inclined to try a product or service. 

“What are the alternative industries to your industry? Why do customers trade across them? By focusing on the key factors that lead buyers to trade across alternative industries and eliminating or reducing everything else, you can create a blue ocean of new market space.”

Case Study

Cirque du Soleil, the largest theatrical producer in the world, uses circus styles from all over the world to present themes and storylines in their performances. Cirque's performances have been seen by more than 150 million people in over 300 cities since their creation twenty years ago, and their success can be attributed to creating a blue ocean. The circus industry had been steadily declining over the last few decades, and Cirque knew that it couldn't succeed by offering the traditional circus experience. Instead, they intentionally designed their performances to appeal to a completely different audience. Their target audience is adults who can, and will, pay higher prices for a unique entertainment experience.

By understanding the current state of the circus industry and rethinking the traditional circus customer, Cirque was able to create a demand for a different experience, effectively eliminating traditional competition in the industry. Using the principles of the blue ocean strategy, they were able to reinvent the circus experience and create a whole new market in a declining industry. By refusing to compete in the existing red ocean, Cirque found a profitable niche and a unique product that put them in a position of market dominance. 

Key Takeaways

• Don't try to outperform competitors
• Create a new marketplace to make competitors obsolete
• Creating value innovation is the key to creating a blue ocean strategy
• Value innovation must include differentiation and cost control elements

Readers who adopt the blue ocean strategies in their own companies will find ways to finally get out of the cycle of traditional competition. They will learn how to innovate their products and services in ways that create broader demand and unique marketplaces by focusing on what customers want and making it easy for them to get it.

Source: http://youexec.com/book-summaries/xjsk37/blue-ocean-strategy

Is it possible to compete with Google as a Startup?

In 2004, Google was already a goliath when it comes to data. It had money, servers, network infrastructure, leadership, brand power and everything else. However, over the next decade and more they desperately watched the upstarts Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and others compete happily among themselves not even noticing Google’s presence.

Google desperately tried Google videos and then had to concede defeat and buy Youtube. They failed at Orkut, Google+, Buzz. They tried with billions in pocket, but failed to even be considered a viable competitor in that category. They had an answers tool that was the ugly, unused cousin of Quora. They had the Knol to compete with Wikipedia and you would just laugh it out. They had Wave in a clueless way that Slack just perfected. They had location tools and so many other categories where they pushed out.

Instagram came with a photo app and in months made Picasa look like a ugly dinosaur. Most importantly, Whatsapp came in the category - messenger - that was the heart of all the major tech companies. Google had its chat and same with Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook etc. However, Whatsapp treated these existing messengers like flies squatting on a wall just shooed away by the majestic WhatsApp. And their competitor is Telegram and the traditional silicon valley majors all looked totally incompetent and out of the picture.

Dropbox, Box and plenty of examples to fill a whole book.

Dozens of companies have successfully competed and not just won, but made Google look like a dinosaur that could not be even considered a player.

And these are in areas where Google considered as their core competence.

Then there are plenty of areas like robotics, wearables, AR/VR or something as simple as RSS readers - where Google played reluctantly and was quite easy to beat.

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I have worked both in large companies like Microsoft in teams competiting with startups [and with all our money we played like distant, losing cousins]. And I have worked in successful mid sized startups in gaps that big companies could have played. And in smaller startups competing.

Big companies often fail against determined startups because:

1. Information passing is very slow. In a startup a key piece of information gets passed around in minutes and gets acted upon in days. In a large company, it gets passed through the hierarchies often lost. Even if it is critical, it fights with other firefighting priorities of leaders and after everyone gets to a meeting table eventually [like in weeks/months] there is a groupthink.
2. Large companies are like large ships - too slow to turn. At Microsoft, we were capable of producing much better operating system. However, we couldn’t because it would break backward compatibility, cannibalize some product of our partner or some team or mess with some lingering weak point of one key leader.
3. Budget constraints hampering decision making. Large companies have annual budgets and targets. They cannot change stuff everyday. Thus, in very fast moving areas they would find budget allocation completely screwedup. Wall Street would also help distract the large companies and have them chase some some pointless number.
4. There is an information asymmetry. Large companies are quite public and it is quite easy to get a lot of information. For instance, we know every nut and bolt of our large, competitor robotics company. However, they are unlikely to have even noticed our presence [too small to bother yet] - leave alone anything technical. By the time the big companies notice, it would often be too late. That is how two engineering founders produce a search engine that would beat biggest goliaths.
5. It is easy to get PR and free publicity. It is often easy to get positive publicity for a startup. Large companies have to pay $$ to get positive publicity. And everyone will be ready to jump on them the moment large guys fail. Nobody decent likes to jump on a small guy falling.
6. Regulatory, legal or social hurdles. Big companies get very well noticed by the regulators and press. At Microsoft the first day my manager told me to never look up any patents or any open source code. Even accidentally having something wrong enter could ruin billions. That hampered productivity. Whatever Google does is also watched by every government. What startups like ours can get away with, cannot be done at Google. In new markets with uncertain rules it is thus easy to be a startup than the Google whose lawyers would warn against getting into grey areas. By the team the engineering team at Google wins the lawyers in those grey areas the startups would be 3 steps ahead.
7. Motivation. At startups everyone’s life is at stake if we don’t win a deal. People work with a zeal when put in a corner. At large companies the motivation is substantially low. Even if you don’t win the deal your meal is guaranteed. And on the other hand, if you win you might get a promotion and more sunlight at best.
8. Lost direction: Large companies often can lose their vision or purpose. Even motivated workers would find it hard to find the direction to move. Rather than moving in one direction they will clumsily move everywhere. At one point in Microsoft we had 3 different Dropbox competitors and no one knew all the different pet/R&D projects happening across the company.
9. Priorities. Large companies are either very distracted with too many product divisions or at the process of cutting out their key business segments. Both are great for startups. Unless you are competiting with a core priority - like search/advertising for Google or OS for Microsoft, your buddy at Google might not get the priority resources or the A-team to compete with you.

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Tips to compete with large companies:

1. Go for speed. Since large companies too slow to move, find market areas where speed is the essence. Essentially you will be the jetski against an ocean liner. You cannot carry more weight than the ocean liner but can always race it. Rather than going headon, just zoom around it as the marine engineers on the big ship wonder what is going on.
2. Go for the grey. In new technologies there are often very grey areas that is not clear whether it is legal or illegal. Startups can get into those gaps as large competitors cannot afford to follow. The risk would simply be too large if things turn out to be illegal for the large corporation. Startups often plead innocence or in the worst case die. Still worth it.
3. Don’t stand against the bulldozer. Go for the niche. It would be suicidal to build a garden variety search engine against Google. Rather pick areas that are too small for Google to notice. That is what Bill Gates did to IBM in selling DOS. If you are as big and fat as Google you might find it hard to bend down to notice your toes. The gap between the toes are way too big for small startups to penetrate. And we can multiply like rabbits - they cannot.
4. Don’t poke the bear. The information asymmetry is your advantage and it is good for you to be not noticed by the big competitor. Until your game is top level, don’t do stuff that would make the executives queasy and insecure. They might not compete with you, but can be mean and kill you [Netscape!].
5. Play the underdog. People love underdogs and play that well. Instead of being assholes if the startup founders start being likeable underdogs, there will be atleast free PR. Media could not wait to write a success story of David vs the goliath. Everyone would like to see Google fail or be embarrassed.

All said, it is statistically unlikely for anyone to win Google in any product category. But, where is glory if you are not doing statistically unlikely things?

Writer of this article: Balaji Viswanathan

source:https://www.quora.com/Is-it-possible-to-compete-with-Google-as-a-Startup

Why doesn't IRCTC allow people to choose seats?

Why IRCTC does not allow you to choose seats?

Would you believe that the technical reason behind this is PHYSICS.

Booking a seat in a train is far more different than booking a seat in a theatre.

Theatre is a hall, whereas train is a moving object. So safety concern is very high in trains.

Indian railways ticket booking software is designed in such a way that it will book tickets in a manner that will distribute the load evenly in a train.

An example to make things more clear : Imagine there are sleeper class coaches in a train numbered S1, S2 S3... S10, and in every coach there are 72 seats.

So when some one first books a ticket, software will assign a seat in the middle coach like S5, middle seat numbered between 30-40, and preferably lower berths (Railways first fills the lower berths than upper one so as to achieve low centre of gravity.)

And the software books seats in such a way that all coaches have uniform passenger distribution and seats are filled starting from the middle seats (36) to seats near the gates i.e 1-2 or 71-72 in order from lower berth to upper.

Railways just want to ensure a proper balance that each coach should have for equal load distribution.

That is why when you book a ticket at the last, you are always allotted an upper berth and a seat numbered around 2-3 or 70, except when you are not taking a seat of someone who has cancelled his/her seat.

What if the railways book tickets randomly ? A train is a moving object which moves around at a speed of around 100km/hr on rails.

So there are a lot of forces and mechanics acting on the train.

Just imagine if S1, S2, S3 are completely full and S5, S6 are completely empty and others are partially full. When the train takes a turn, some coaches face maximum centrifugal force and some minimum, and this creates a high chance of derailment of the train.

This is a very technical aspect, and when brakes are applied there will be different braking forces acting at each of the coaches because of the huge differences in weight of coach, so stability of train becomes an issue again.

Good information worth sharing, as often passengers blame the Railways citing inconvenient seats/ berths allotted to them.

Writer: Bimal K Barik, Principal Consultant at OpenText Corp.

Source:https://www.quora.com/Why-doesnt-IRCTC-allow-people-to-choose-seats