Can the Mahatma be used as a marketing machine?

Sitting at the headquarters of Mont Blanc at Hamburg, Germany it must have seemed like a good idea. Like most other luxury companies, the manufacturer of expensive pens is keen to increase sales in India, seen as a vital market for the future. So how better to do that than to make one of Mont Blanc’s Limited Edition pens in honour of the most famous and recognisable Indian of all – Mahatma Gandhi.

Nor would they do it in half measures. They designed the pen in consultation with Tushar Gandhi, the Mahatma’s great-grandson who is a trained artist. And whatever one thinks about the propriety of the project, the concept they came up with is elegant. The white gold it is crafted from evokes the purity of Gandhi’s ideals and the thread motif that entwines it recalls the spindle that Gandhi spent so much time working to produce his swadeshi yarn. 241 pens of this kind were made, for the 241 miles of the Dandi March, and 6,000 cheaper fountain pens and rollerballs were made, also designed in a similar way.

Mont Blanc is a commercial company, but they knew it was important not to seem crassly commercial here. This again is where Tushar Gandhi was useful. It’s not clear who, if anyone, ‘owns’ the Gandhi brand, but by donating a substantial amount to the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation run by Tushar Gandhi Mont Blanc could make its good intentions clear, and still use the brand. The money would go to a project with impeccable credentials – a home and school in Kolhapur for rescued child labourers – and would be substantial.

At the launch of the Gandhi Limited Edition (LE) pen in September of this year, Lutz Bethge, the CEO of Mont Blanc handed over a cheque for Euros 101,000 (over Rs 70 lakh) to Tushar Gandhi. In addition, Entrack, Mont Blanc’s local partner committed to giving Rs 10,000 from each sale of the Memorial Edition pan, and Rs 50,000 from each Retail Edition. Assuming the former are the 6,000 cheaper pens, and the latter the 241 expensive ones that’s a possible income, if all are sold, of over seven crore rupees.

This is possibly less or on par with how much Mont Blanc would have had to pay a really big celebrity endorser, but it’s certainly a decent amount to pay a NGO. So why is it that the idea of a Gandhi LE pen strikes so many people as deeply dubious? Commentators bemoaned the way it seemed, with it’s over Rs 11 lakh price tag, to endorse a culture of greed in the name of a man who would have scorned it.

The Centre for Consumer Education in Kottayam went further and filed a petition with the Kerala High Court asking for a ban on the pen, alleging that it contravened the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950. Tushar Gandhi came in for special criticism, with epithets like ‘racketeer’ and ‘opportunist’ being hurled against him. He has been here before. In 2002 a controversy broke out with the news that Tushar Gandhi had apparently sold rights to the Gandhi brand to CMG Worldwide, a firm engaged in celebrity image management. (To contrast with the Mont Blanc deal, CMG was to pay $ 60,000 a year).

Then as now, Tushar Gandhi points out that the money was not for him personally, but for public works related to maintaining Gandhi’s legacy. He also contends that he never claimed to have ‘rights’ over the Gandhi name, but just felt some level of control was needed to prevent its misuse. At the time of that controversy it was alleged that CMG could licence the Gandhi brand to unsuitable products.

The outcry over this prevented the deal going through, but speaking to Brand Equity Tushar Gandhi points out that the same people who protested never do anything to prevent actual inappropriate usages of the Gandhi brand. For example there was an Australian restaurant that promoted their Handi Ghandi brand which included beef curry, or an American magazine that did a spoof exercise routine based on beating up Gandhi. “Who protested about this then?” asked Tushar Gandhi. The other point he makes is that anger over putting a value on the Gandhi brand is misplaced, because Gandhi himself was well aware of his brand value. “He would sell his autograph for Rs 5 which he gave to the khadi fund,” says Tushar Gandhi

The healing touch of true spirituality

The message of the Bible is – be virtuous and you will attain the kingdom of heaven. But can being good alone help us live happily when we step into the ever-demanding world of today with its numerous stresses and strains?

Despite our best efforts when we do not get a congenial environment, such as the right job to prove our worth, people in whose company we feel good, we become unhappy. This calls for an ability to be positive from within, even when our surroundings might be negative.

It is easy to float through life when everything is going according to our wishes. It is tough to remain positive in a negative environment where lawlessness seems to have taken the place of law, and honest citizens have to constantly deal with crooks. To be positive at such times needs great effort and a strong will. How can this be achieved? By making spirituality an integral part of our daily lives.

Spirituality helps clear away negativity as we struggle with adverse circumstances. Spirituality means converting negative thoughts to positive ones. It calms the mind and heart and connects us with the Almighty – the supreme power – who charges us with love and blessings. This can only happen if we realise we are all part of Brahmn . It becomes easier to deal with the world if we realise this truth, as it helps us deal with everything from a spiritual perspective.

When we suffer a setback, a spiritually awakened outlook can be of great help in getting us back on our feet. It can help us release our emotional suffering by building a positive attitude, buffering our self-esteem, and by inspiring us to explore and use our abilities to the fullest.

The practice of spirituality entails constantly turning our minds towards that which is true and pure. We realise that we are all going to face negative circumstances and we will be able to overcome hindrances only if we have built our inner reserves of positivity. Being spiritual helps us recognise our limitations while simultaneously focusing on our strengths.

The best way to root out negativity is to focus on positivity. One way of doing this is to stop the poison of worldly afflictions from seeping into our hearts and minds, like Lord Shiva who stores the poison he has imbibed in his throat and does not let it enter his bloodstream.

An attitude of acceptance, that whatever is happening is with the will of God, helps restore our equilibrium. Only complete surrender to God can foster inner strength. If we could detach our consciousness from maya and focus it upon God, the Divine will bestow His grace on us. Maya’s attraction is an illusion that keeps us from knowing the truth.

Meditation is one way in which we can cultivate spirituality in our lives. True meditation means correcting our thoughts. Good thoughts are like a treasure that never allows us to feel drained and can provide valuable solace in trying times. Listening to spiritual discourses, meditating, turning our gaze inwards should be accompanied by being a positive influence in the world by helping others and rendering service with humility.

As the veil of clouds lifts, the moon appears bright and luminous in a dark night sky. Our lives, too, can become serene and joyful when the healing touch of true spirituality clears away the clouds of ignorance from our hearts and minds.

Sensex takes support at 17000; auto, metals up

Across the board continued in Indian equities Monday following rise in other Asian markets. Fund flows and disvestment initiatives by the central government took benchmarks past psychological levels.

“Global market trend continues to be good and our government is also lending a supporting hand in the form of accelerated divestment programme. Plans to raise funds by 3G auction, can keep the market mood positive. Any close above 5100 on Nifty, will open up the possibility of Nifty moving into new territory in couple of weeks

Auto demand is booming and this will help a lot of auto ancilliary companies, which are likely to perform better in coming quarters. Key auto ancilliaries stocks like - Sona koyoLumax, Gabriel, Clutch auto, Sobros, Omax, ZF, Denso etc can be accumulated gradually for longer term,” said DD Sharma, senior vice president, Anand Rathi.

At 12:25 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex was at 17,029.10, up 180.27 points or 1.07 per cent. The 30-share index hit a high of 17061.58 and low of 16893.11.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty was at 5052.75, up 53.80 points or 1.08 per cent. The broader index hit a high of 5065.45 and low of 4994.40.

“Trend deciding level for the day is 4987 / 16808. If Nifty trades above this level during the first half-an-hour of trade then we may witness a further rally up to 5030 – 5062 / 16950 - 17051. However, if Nifty trades below 4987 / 16808 for the first half-an-hour of trade then it may correct up to 4955 / 16707,” the report said.

BSE Midcap Index gained 1.41 per cent and BSE Smallcap Index moved 1.37 per cent higher.

Amongst the sectoral indices, BSE Auto Index moved 2.66 per cent up, BSE Metal Index surged 2.53 per cent and BSE Realty Index advanced 2.27 per cent. BSE IT Index was down 0.80 per cent.

Maruti Suzuki (3.95%), Sterlite Industries (3.11%), Tata Steel (3.07%), HERO HONDA (2.90%) and Sun Pharmaceuticals (2.87%) were amongst the top Sensex gainers.

Losers included TCS (-1.11%), Wipro (-1.01%) and Infosys Technologies (-0.79%).

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1752 advances and 758 declines.

Young CEOs occupy drivers' seat in Tata companies

Two decades back, many in Bombay House, the Tata Group headquarters, thought that Russi Mody, Darbari Seth, Ajit Kerkar and Sumant Moolgaokar would be there forever. Those who replaced them thought it would be difficult to change the way the group functioned. Both were wrong.

The fiefdom of the old guard which thrived under the legendary JRD Tata’s more than half-a-century stewardship of the group came to an end, acrimoniously in some cases and smoothly in some, after Ratan Tata took charge in 1991. Not only did Ratan Tata throw the old guard out, but also brought in young blood.

“It probably was looked upon as a group where a lot of elderly people worked and one which was hierarchical,” says R Gopalakrishnan, executive director, Tata Sons and a former vice chairman at the then Hindustan Lever. It was against this background that Ratan Tata stated in the mid-1990s that there was a need to have young CEOs. “It has taken some time to get the process right and for this policy to have an impact.”

What would have been once a laughing matter in the Tatas, is now a reality. Young men are becoming CEOs.
Men in the Tata Group rarely retired. So, the younger Tata’s first target was to ease out men from the socialist era and bring in an age limit where it was compulsory to retire. That saw the exit of men such as Russi Mody, the popular chairman of Tata Iron & Steel Co, now Tata Steel, Darbari Seth, the powerful head of Tata Chemicals, Ajit Kerkar who built the Taj Hotels brand as the head of Indian Hotels.
Now, meet Brotin Banerjee. He is 35 years old and heads Tata Housing Development which is pioneering low-cost homes, a near impossible event two decades back. After joining the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1998, he had stints at Tata Chemicals and Barista Coffee.

New gadget and new product / Micro Projector

Micro Projectors, Mini Projectors, Portable projectors, Pocket projectors, Tiny projectors, Miniature mobile handheld projection devices, Pico pint-sized Optical digital projective devices.

inbuilt optical micro projector modules, Connect to iPods, MP4 players, laptop computers, digital cameras, DVD players and other video output devices as a personal portable handheld Mobile Projection Devices.

Features:

Low power consumption.

Ultra compact dimension.

30,000 hours life time.

Adjustable focusing mechanism.

640*480 high quality image output.

Build in 1Gb flash and MicroSD card reader.

Build in speaker.

Build in rechargeable Li-ion battery.

Specifications:

Parameter Specification Unit

Dimension 105*58*26 mm

Weight 180 Gram

Power Consumption 0.9 - 1.5 W

Resolution 640*480 Pixel

Brightness 6 - 10 Lum

Focus Mechanism Manual

Projection Angle 50 Degree

Operating Temperature Range 0 - 40 oC

Storage Temperature Range -40 - 80 oC

Light Source Single Chip White LED

Battery Capacity 1900 mAh

Battery Operation time (Approx) 1 Hour

Input Signal Composite A/V (3.5mm Jack)

Input Power 5 Volt

Supporting format MP3/WMA/OGG/WAV/AVI/WMV/SMV/

BMP/JPG/GIF/TXT/HTML

Output 3.5mm Stereo Headphone Jack

Noise 25dB

Data Connection 5 Pin Mini USB

Time to tighten belts

Later this month Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will travel to Pittsburgh and meet with the heads of government of the G20 nations. Among other things, they’ll talk about when would be the best time to start tightening fiscal belts around the world. For over a year now, as rich nations slipped into recession, their governments have thrown money around and dropped interest rates to stem the slide.

This seems to have paid off: the global economy is pulling back from the brink. Even Fed boss Ben Bernanke now believes that the US is back on the road to a slow recovery. Many people believe that all countries should tighten their belts together: a “coordinated exit strategy,” if you like jargon. For India, that would mean keeping interest rates low and money supply trotting along briskly for some more time, maybe for as much as another year, while the west limps back to normalcy.

That would be a big blunder. India’s economy is very different from the developed ones. There’s no reason why India’s policies should move in lockstep with the west. The Great Recession taught us that India’s economy is far, far more resilient to shocks than many supposed. Yes, the contraction in the west hurt some export-oriented industries, but even that shock seems to be easing. Maruti Suzuki, the 800 kg gorilla of India’s car industry sold 40% more cars in August this year compared to August last year.

Exports are a big driver: the west is suddenly discovering the virtues of saving money and small, fuel efficient cars that were made for the thrifty Indian car buyer are now bestsellers overseas. India’s domestic demand also seems to have held up well. Hero Honda, the market leader in motorcycles, grew August sales by 37%. It didn’t need the export market to get there. All it needed was for lenders to come out of a panicky freeze and start lending to desi motorcycle-buyers once more.

India has an enormous appetite for infrastructure, everything from roads, ports and power to schools and water supply. A research report from Goldman Sachs, published last week, reckons that India will need $1.7 trillion to fund all this over the next 10 years. That’s a huge sum of money, but the report goes on to say that Indians can fund it out of their own pockets. Unlike the US, where the savings rate was zero in 2008, and has climbed back to about 7% today, Indians save a lot.

The savings rate is already over 35% of incomes and Goldman reckons this’ll rise to 40% in another seven years. Don’t be surprised by this high number, it seems to be fairly common in Asia: Singapore’s savings rate has been around 40% for the last 26 years; China’s since 1993 and Malaysia’s from 1996. Even if 15% of these savings go into funding infrastructure, it’ll add up to about $600 billion. Then, of course, there’s the government, which wants to hike spending on infrastructure to 7% of GDP from today’s less-than 5%. That’ll bring in more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

Developed countries have relied on consumption to drive growth. Over the next 10 years or so, India will rely on investment and savings to grow. But to get there, we need policies that protect our own interests, not chase the latest global fad. The main threat to savings is inflation, rising prices that eat into the value of every rupee saved. And if India stays on its easy money track for much longer, prices are likely to explode.

Wholesale, or producers’ inflation, which was supposed to stay negative till October turned positive last week, earlier than expected. Anyone who shops for food will tell you that there’s only one way that prices have moved in the last one year: northwards. Prices of vegetables are up over 40% in a year. Pulses are about 25% costlier and some varieties like tur (also known as arhar) are up more than 80%. Fish is more expensive, and ilish, the queen of every Bengali table, now costs about 40% more than what it did last year.

For some foods, there are specific reasons for prices to go up. Tur for example, suffered from a bad harvest, but high prices today have encouraged farmers to plant more for the next season, which could see a glut and falling rates. But that doesn’t explain why every single price is shooting up. It’s not just food that’s getting costlier, all commodities are. From a low of $37 per barrel, crude oil now trades at $71; gold recently hit $1,017 per ounce, a level way above its historical trend of around $300 per ounce. Iron ore, copper and zinc prices are also soaring.

The one factor driving this price surge is the tsunami of cash, pumped in by governments to rescue economies, that’s finding its way into speculative markets. High cost gold affects the jewellery business, but ever-rising food budgets could bankrupt families. No democracy can live with soaring inflation for long and in India, the political tolerance for high inflation is very low. That’s something Manmohan Singh and his team need to remember when they talk “exit strategy” in Pittsburgh.

The US and Europe might need to stay on their easy money fix for much longer. Their banking and financial systems are still digging their way out of rubble. Unemployment continues to increase, though at a slower pace. It could take years to restore jobs already lost and create new ones. For India, which never went through a recession, the problems are entirely different. We need to invest for the long term. To do that, people need to have the confidence that inflation isn’t going to vapourise their savings. If each family has to spend more for the same meal, savings will shrink. If companies find raw material costs going up alarmingly, they’ll cut back on investments for the future. India has to start its fight to control inflation. The only question is when?

One option is to wait till headline, producers’ inflation, hits 5% or so. But waiting for that to happen could have a huge cost: consumers’ inflation, already at 12%, could surge even higher as policymakers play the fiddle. The only sensible option is to start right now, without waiting for other nations to start tightening their belts. India’s weathered the global crisis relatively well. It now has to move fast so that prices are tamed before the rest of the world goes into a high-inflation spiral.

CONCEPT OF DEPARTMENTATION

nDepartmentation is a systematic process of parcelling out the responsibility for operations to subordinates. It is the process of grouping employees and activities into various departments. Division of labour creates specialists, who need co-ordination. This co-ordination is achieved by putting specialists together in departments under the supervision of a manager. Departmentation is the organization wide division of work into various manageable units or departments.