tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131859972024-03-13T09:35:09.085+05:30THE Y-AXIS by Rajesh KumarWith the composite fragrance of Subarnnrekha, Gandak, Yamuna, Damodar, Narmada, Brahmani, Shipra & Cauvery rivers!
Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-9792521029156487132021-09-24T01:07:00.199+05:302021-09-26T07:22:00.811+05:30Performance Marketing Exercise - Watching Fishes that Can Swim!<p style="text-align: justify;">The joke goes back to when we were engineering students. A highly respected professor, who inspired awe in Mechanical Engineering students had just finished teaching concepts of IC Engine and left for home in his car. The car unfortunately broke down near the hostel, and the professor had to arrange a mechanic. It was a strange sight of two types of experts - one who probably know all about the mechanics of a car engine but could not figure out what was wrong with his own car, and the second(mechanic) - who knew how to get the car started, but probably knew little about the calculations of valve timing or the firing sequence of cylinders. Paradox, isn't it? Digital Marketing today has exactly these two types of 'experts'. Unfortunately, the industry needs practitioners one can interweave conceptual understanding backed by hands on expertise on tools and techniques - knowing one of the two is not enough. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It is with this intent that we subjected students of Martech career track at Jagdish Sheth School of Management to a Performance Marketing Exercise that has just concluded. As part of a very popular Brand Management course offered by Prof Anand Narasimha, student groups had developed innovative concepts of brands just sometime back. </p><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Group<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Brand<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Target<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Descriptor<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Tagline<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Persona<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">1<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">KICKSPIRE<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Young amateur
sports enthusiasts who dabble in a variety of sports<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Shoe with
interchangeable soles<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Switch Soles.
Switch Sports.<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Versatile.
Sporty. Vibrant<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">2<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">MEASURE- IT<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Busy,
on-the-go people who have limited time for daily household chores<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tracking
device for daily essentials<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Measure it,
to remember it.<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Simple.
Convenient. Homely<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 2.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">3<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">PET LUXURE<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Pet parents
who like travelling and frequent getaways<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Travel
solution for pets<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Pet-Set-Go!<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Caring.
Comfortable. Committed<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">4<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">BLISS<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">People who
are ‘experience seekers’ when it comes to personal care products<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The 3-in-1
bathing experience<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Cleanse.
Exfoliate. Nourish.<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Pampering. Personal.
Sensorial<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">5<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">HANGOUTS<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Young people looking
to socialize and have a good time, on a budget<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Deal locator
app for pubs<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Tap to chill<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Fun loving. Socially
active. Pocket friendly. <o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">6<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">FRIZZON
BOTTELA<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Adventure
lovers who enjoy off-the-beaten-track outdoor activities<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Self-Refilling
water bottle<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Hydrate
Anywhere!<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Rejuvenating.
Adventurous. Explorer<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">7<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">HAIRISTIC<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">People who
constantly obsess about the health and looks of their hair<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The smart
hair brush<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The art of
smart haircare<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Healthful.
Stylish. Creative<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">8<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">VR MARSALA<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Food
aficionados who enjoy unique dining experiences<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Virtual
reality dining experience<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Dine around
the world<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Imaginative.
Immersive. Exotic<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">9<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">SMARTMET<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Bikers who
love to take long rides and explore their surroundings<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The smart
helmet<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Ride Easy.
Ride Safe.<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Protective.
Carefree. Inventive<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">10<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">SUITSME<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Frequent
leisure and business travellers<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">The
intelligent suitcase<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Sets you
free!<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Liberating.
Smart. Buddy<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;">The teams were regrouped for the Performance Marketing Exercise - to do a full simulation of launching the brands digitally from an absolute scratch. We asked them to imagine themselves as digital marketing heads of their respective brands. They decided their own objectives for their own brand, that involved wearing the marketing hat, and then structuring a digital mix that would lead to it. That in a nutshell involved setting up a screen responsive website with an intended user experience, creating social handles, and above all, creating matching content. They also integrated Google Analytics. Under the hood, the teams registered domains and bought server spaces. All but one teams setup WordPress based and SSL enabled websites. They further carried out audience research of Facebook ads and Google Ads, and even created email campaigns, that they ran to a limited extent. Some teams actually ran Google ads. As part of SEO efforts, these websites were submitted to Google <i>in the right way</i> using GSC and they were indexed in no time. We capped up the PME with a brief overview of Marketing Automation in the form of a demo.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The PME has lasted about eight weeks. In eight weeks, the teams were also able to demonstrate integrat the traffic data in Google analytics, including campaign specific traffic that they were able to trap using UTM. Here are the websites and the social properties of the brands(in no particular order). If you are lucky enough you might even find embedded videos featuring the students themselves!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Do check out!</p>
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody><tr>
<td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Group<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 150;" valign="top" width="150">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Brand<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Logo<span> </span><o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="190">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Website<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Under the Hood<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
<td style="border-left: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;"><b>Social Presence<o:p></o:p></b></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">1<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">KICKSPIRE</p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"> <img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="500" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0F6GVaSXmNbtV5YlbX_mHHX8hOL-yT9OZiPK54_uhqKws1rNcjjr9z3ciK2ruSJWmj0lfpSIkatHNLK2rOD3oJyaB1Z9l9lq9OdvGUBnUC-KL5GOr5s3vOF7y8odq_rnHGrhUEA/w94-h112/Kickspire.png" width="94" /></td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<a href="http://kickspire.co.in"><br />kickspire.co.in
</a></td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">CMS - WordPress Theme - DIVI ; Plugins - Duplicator, All in one SEO, Official Statcounter, SSL</p><div><br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/people/Kick-Spire/100059174856181">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/kickspire21/">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">2<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">MEASURE- IT</p></td><td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="512" height="80" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ME6zRCT0b_x8n7s65K4JOfbjaQHkOKWvn6jcFDqdE-kE_N3-waM3BCFNTn1zg3f44tCNbVNzltWC6PyhhBnMFcqTGD74mGTaaNhTZ3WhNjXOZ4Ok_zJJUmnrD70pyTn9YPa2eg/w143-h80/measureit.png" width="143" /></td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.letsmeasureit.com">www.letsmeasureit.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">SSL,WordPress, Elementor, Yoast SEO, Cloudflare, Contact Form 7, Duplicator, Statcounter</div></div><o:p></o:p><p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/Measure-It-102791825469502">Facebook</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CTd94mBoGTa">Instagram</a></td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 2.2pt; mso-yfti-irow: 3;">
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">3<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">PET LUXURE<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><img border="0" data-original-height="77" data-original-width="288" height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFoSVSlZqFcQssoJGrGyaR0sgggX0mLqvEvKaYi5opz4J9hlk_6o1K5TadXIlfyDewNLVISRV8v4SCeYMSHjcBc-8S0kP90AdLqlGjzHfixR0FawYS2DGibRtgqsKz3R6ldoMj6A/w187-h50/petluxure.png" width="187" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.petluxure.com">www.petluxure.com</a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Adobe XD with Quest AI, SSL</p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; height: 2.2pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SDDMH2022">Facebook<o:p></o:p></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://instagram.com/petluxure">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">4<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">BLISS<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLZl62R31loLj4lb_oBFDJfbQpV-D_s1VQOOW4Oed2Z1f40SFlPD9uLL1YXwUFqaRfMwWfYZOvC7cPWX40MaiU5bY6DEssnfnnbtautCIr-umRyJIFEx1LICyqJ-e3uJ5RAouPsw/w155-h155/bliss-logo-page.png" width="155" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.blissbathing.com">www.blissbathing.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Wordpress, DIVI 5.10, Yoast SEO,SSL, 10Web Social Photo Feed, Statcounter, CloudFlare, Duplicator</p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Bliss-104659025289310">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://instagram.com/bliss.bathing">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">5<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">HANGOUTS<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="212" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzWj5bIh4Hva0s_buJdxlyh9Dt7uSwBwMbzEZNCrIDTDDkZJIki70Tf83H7c-26jgeh5CMkI_vLS9B8AA6wdDSK21ReU7g6k5FoC43WbAO2_f4qn7ZWqqCdWraIIYHZcp1PIbLbA/w126-h128/hangouts.png" width="126" /></td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.gohangouts.com">www.gohangouts.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">WordPress, Themes-divi, wpbakery Plugins-smart sliders, SSL flexible SSL, contact form 7</p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Hangouts-106331141776153/">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/hangouts_pbb">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">6<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">FRIZZON
BOTTELA<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"> <img border="0" data-original-height="90" data-original-width="90" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFGMbNB1DrixZya7Sg8TU22njV92MFAMS-EL9E4C9P8uL_R7VxaELFYDOtJOJ1A6YaO-T-MmQFsq2kcXmZQ7wmVEdRQxSoFPCWLzXLWqXnsXxKEiQOIkIGYqgVTIbKcGOeS0vO9Q/s0/frizzon-bottela-logo-small.png" width="80" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.frizzonbottela.com">www.frizzonbottela.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">WordPress, SSL</p><div><br /></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Frizzon-Botella-239256208022898">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://instagram.com/frizzonbottela">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">7<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">HAIRISTIC<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="749" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1woh0FBnTYJ9zX2zaLvp2fogY91wgAZxYde0cUjV4s1zMjqkOUsiuAcDnJ16EMW4s534pjhMLAZtDeqE27imX2a3NqMkv9I6bBXLiGx-yeevHE8euPZYcfkbByPTpmyQpTb1eVw/w170-h99/hairtistic.png" width="170" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.hairtisticcare.com">www.hairtisticcare.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">WordPress, NicePage - Theme , plugins - Duplicator, Yoast SEO, Nicepage, Monsterinsights, SSL</p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href=" facebook.com/hAIrtistic.co">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://instagram.com/hairtistic.co/">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">8<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">VR MARSALA<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="669" height="46" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZC_pXuT5zF71S0mUtGwaageIuXJkXjuSUKEUPLhvKaAcf2M0n-GGzkOzokCzT22a_dwLZhjMDVLfwcziXebLtZuPezFr4kJihm4FqqaK_vgA3OEVPjcEK3hDkTWgxjJlKo2bP3A/w182-h46/vrmarsala.png" width="182" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.vrmarsala.com">www.vrmarsala.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">WordPress, Divi, monster insight, stat counter, SSL</p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072420969361">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/vr_marsala/">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">9<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">SMARTMET<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="1131" height="89" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG_cN8R-ujGtNPMONj4KyfuFYOeAdWBYeFytUFvUfhmmkKy965Y7V16GOn1A6Dd7sAi54qtoJ_JkWAXCGt1eEK8iRgZ_uiu4WS0RE3ar1BQo7p55rgCKtbDQkugRtTLbOYnQX0dQ/w95-h89/smartmet.jpeg" width="95" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.smartmets.com">www.smartmets.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">Wordpress, Dark press Theme, Plugins: Duplicator, Header footer code manager, Mobile menu, Statcounter, WP Encryption - One Click SSL & Force HTTPS, XML Sitemaps, Yoast SEO, SSL</p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 149.6pt;" valign="top" width="199">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Smartmet-104204538665166">Facebook</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="https://instagram.com/smartmet_jagsom">Instagram</a></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="border-top: none; border: 1pt solid windowtext; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 38.95pt;" valign="top" width="52">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">10<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 88.4pt;" valign="top" width="118">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;">SUITSME<o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><img border="0" data-original-height="110" data-original-width="180" height="76" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEj-dsE8m33fkkoq3GMWVVIyE1n-LOYtWFec_CWcQn9lWnznVJCaEFfb0ebk_mMfTq3dDVqBifmD1LctlLD9sg7GSWIEtIlp0vsk7mPw2M3c_G8Sv54xPookD3oDE15jAfqJrIGA/w124-h76/suitsmee.png" width="124" /><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 127.55pt;" valign="top" width="170">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://wwww.suitsmee.com">wwww.suitsmee.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180">WordPress, Elementor, Duplicator, All in One WP Migration</td><td style="border-bottom: 1pt solid windowtext; border-left: none; border-right: 1pt solid windowtext; border-top: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-left-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-border-top-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 134.7pt;" valign="top" width="180"><a href=" https://www.facebook.com/SuitsMe-105531898535557">Facebook</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.instagram.com/suitsme._sets_u_free">Instagram</a><br /><br /></td>
</tr></tbody></table>
Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-12258428054693913792021-03-24T14:40:00.000+05:302021-03-24T14:40:28.192+05:30Traditional Retail is the Next Big Business Transformation Story, and Oops! We almost Missed it!!<p><span style="text-align: justify;">For way too long, observers in
business transformation space have kept their telescope intently focused on
large, billion-dollar enterprises. The unintended consequence of this telescope
vision is that small enterprises, that are all around us, have been missed. We
can contend that maybe something akin of a ‘periscopic view’ that allows for a
360 scan of the neighbourhood is required to observe something remarkable that
is taking place next to us.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">However, to understand this in
proper context, we must step back and look at the waves of technology adoption
and its impact on the businesses. In the initial years of IT adoption, or
computerization as it was called then, was primarily a functional level
adoption in large organisations in the West, be it Banks (transactional data of
customers), Hospitals (patient records management), Manufacturing (production
planning or inventory) or Insurance companies (claims processing). It was all
about efficiency. In the next wave, organisations took to interconnecting
different department level ‘computerisations’ and removed several redundancies
under the larger umbrella of ERP – more efficiency. For instance, when a
customer placed an order for a car at a dealership, it was queued up in the
manufacturing system, which aggregated orders for identical cars and triggered
a batch order for the components from the downstream suppliers, often directly
posting such orders in the production systems of their suppliers (“external
enterprise”) and tracking the delivery of such components in line with their
production schedule. The third wave is the ‘business transformation’ wave,
currently underway, under which the businesses critically are relooking at
their business model itself, in the larger context of their internal and
external ecosystem and the available information technology. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has thus become possible, at least
theoretically, for instance, to operate a large hospital and have no doctors on
their permanent rolls but manage their operations using technology with a large
pool of generalists and specialists, who are available for deployment in the
external ecosystem, know their availability and call them as needed. This is
the view from the telescope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">The periscope, however, shows a
different view, particularly in traditional retail. India has very amorphous
retail - estimated one retail outlet per hundred residents, which is among the
highest per capita retail density globally. What’s more, the shops are much
smaller than those in the ‘matured markets’ - the West primarily – and
therefore, can stock much less inventory. Their working capital is very modest
too. This is only the product retail. Add the service retail – restaurant,
barber, pharmacy etc, one gets a significant addition to the numbers. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">Covid was supposed to be the doom
of physical retail and the windfall of warehouse driven ecommerce. It is this
layer that is surprisingly giving a stare-in-the-face to ecommerce, using at
least partly, the same tool that is the backbone of ecommerce – technology. It
is here that the silent business transformation that is taking place. First,
there is an integration with the suppliers. If the neighbourhood grocer is
falling short of bread in the middle of the day, they can call in more supplies
using phone call or WhatsApp (backward integration) – nothing spectacular here.
Second, the product or service retailer – they have adapted to deal with the
faceless customer (forward integration). WhatsApp a grocery list and get the
supplies at the door in no time. Nothing spectacular still. Get the payment
using a UPI based app. The restaurants have not caved into the ‘cloud kitchens’
but adapted and quickly reoriented to order aggregators such as Swiggy and
Zomato. The barber has become mobile <i>again</i> (roving barbers have been the
norm in India traditionally, but last few decades getting a haircut meant
visiting a barbershop). Only now, he uses technology to get connected to a
platform such as Urban Company, and offers doorstep service, and gets paid
electronically. Book shop owners, listed in multiple ecommerce
platforms(“multi-tenant”) in publishing centers such as Meerut don’t wait for
walk-in customers, but look at the screens for orders received from across the
country and race to pack them before the rider arrives from the courier company
to pick up the package. They go nowhere to collect the money -it comes into
their bank account through automated settlements. Suddenly, the retailer with
an adverse location has achieved parity with one who has a great corner
location. Why are we calling it has business transformation and not mere
technology adoption then? Because the retailer has made one fundamental change
to their businesses – redoubling the service component to themselves. It is
this twin adoption – technology and service component that has silently ushered
in our country’s best kept secret – the business transformation of retail.<o:p></o:p></p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-83724089724775758922021-02-28T22:47:00.003+05:302021-03-01T17:05:40.901+05:30Customer Experience is Deceptively Simple and Deviously Complex, but, Unavoidable Part of the Deal<p> Cornflakes are not very preferred breakfast in my house so very often we don't even have it in stock. So this morning when I told my daughter I am going out to get a pack, she insisted I get the plain flavour. She reminded me specifically not to get the honey flavour. I assumed this is because she did not like the honey flavour which I seem to have bought the previous time. </p><p>What happened next is quite intriguing. Not only did she pour cornflakes and milk in the bowl, she also poured a large spoon of honey on top. I asked her the reason - "that's the <i>right way </i>to eat cornflakes", she insisted. </p><p>The brand would read this act of pouring honey in cornflakes as potential demand for honey flavoured cornflakes - the agency would helpfully bring in the supporting data probably - but only one problem - <i>this customer cluster does not want it, they want to <b>experience </b>adding the honey to it!</i></p><p>Many brands still sell by deconstructing their physical product - CPU, RAM, Screen size type - or by price - "<i>our premium products are the cheapest in the market."</i> (what's worse, many marketers even invoke the term <i>price leadership</i> for it). What is lost here is that simple fact that consumer is looking for an experience.</p><p>So what are the start and end points of experience? A tea drinker often starts his 'tea experience' when the water is set for boiling, way before tea is actually made. In fact, after tea is served, it is not common to find the same person in no hurry to consume it, because he wants to prolong his tea experience, and drinking tea is just the incidental part of it! A friend of mine, connoisseur of the famous Hilsa fish educated me further by saying Hilsa experience in their household starts the previous evening when he and his wife argue which fish to get the next day and settle on the Hilsa! Alcohol consumers are probably worse - their experience starts when a guy in Bangalore calls up his friend in Delhi on Sunday - <i>"hey, I am reaching their Friday morning on some work - keep your evening free for a drink!"</i></p><p>Fortunately, brands have started focussing on the experience. So, can a brand design a customer experience? Recent research says <i>no. </i>Experience is an outcome(of say, a journey) and very individual specific. A brand can probably design an intended experience, not the actual experience. One can only aim that the gap between the intended experience and the actual experience is as low as possible. That's the harder part and calls for lot of creativity and time to build it and probably explains why brands often take the easier route, even though the brand has to eventually pay a price in the market.</p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-22863615839197990262021-02-22T22:30:00.001+05:302021-02-22T22:30:13.292+05:30Brand's Brand Ambassador Dilemma: Should Fortune Rice Bran Oil Continue With Sourav Ganguly?<p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://bloncampus.thehindubusinessline.com/b-learn/what-influences-brand-buying-decisions/article33627076.ece">This article of mine</a> is available on the Hindu Businessline. <a href="https://bloncampus.thehindubusinessline.com/b-learn/what-influences-brand-buying-decisions/article33627076.ece">Click here</a> to access it.</p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-49576556707086445762021-02-17T21:27:00.004+05:302021-02-17T21:27:39.027+05:30JAGSOM Student Journal<p> Very pleased to see the initiative from students at Jagdish Sheth School of Management in launching their journal, that they have nicely christened as <a href="http://www.jagsomworld.com">JAGSOM World</a>. </p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-90877532760747820862020-12-18T15:44:00.009+05:302020-12-18T16:33:39.011+05:30Convergence 2020: Live from the Conference Day One<p> Live blogging is fun, especially if the event is such intensely engaging. BTW, conferences are supposed to happen in large auditoriums or hotel banquet halls, aren't they? Fortunately, the answer is a no. This is the inaugural session of <a href="https://ifimbschool.com/convergence-2020/conference-theme.html">Convergence 2020</a> and there are over 150 attendees not visible in the picture, because they are online!!</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaiZG1WJ2Q_Cg9e-22GXH6AduW8leHXZ2z7fn30X4m5QE1HBl07FdowDwPtK4-XdGdXVYoLN74tpQFQYW3okP33lqnY-5tgUwP6fajtCKrCaZdVAxb31aC69sRPdT3ps0w80lnQ/s1280/Dr+Atish+Wide+Angle+View.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaiZG1WJ2Q_Cg9e-22GXH6AduW8leHXZ2z7fn30X4m5QE1HBl07FdowDwPtK4-XdGdXVYoLN74tpQFQYW3okP33lqnY-5tgUwP6fajtCKrCaZdVAxb31aC69sRPdT3ps0w80lnQ/w640-h360/Dr+Atish+Wide+Angle+View.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Dr Atish Chattopadhyay, Director, IFIM Business School, while speaking at the start of the event, brought the concept of Service as "seva", which he pointed our as worship, as believed in the eastern philosophy, as opposed to a transaction (or a set of transactions) in the West.</p><p>Dr A. Parasuraman, while introducing the event make the remark (I think he was quoting someone but I could not make a note of that), "Nothing is more practical than a good theory". He was underscoring the point that research is not an exercise in isolation, but it has to be take away for the practice. Such a telling point in few words!!</p><p>Two amazing keynotes in the morning session at Convergence 2020 at Jagdish Sheth School of Management this morning. The first by <a href="http://faculty.unibocconi.eu/andreaordanini/">Dr Andrea Ordanini</a>, who joined live from the University of Bocconi. What I liked was his skepticism against blind adoption of technology in service sector. To quote him, " Technology does not have to be adopted, it has to <b><i>integrated </i></b>into the organization, because the organization has people - employees and customers!" The second point notable point was that one can bring in technology into an organization, but if employees are not very much convinced on the need to use such technology, then the benefits of such technology will not be so great. Very strong note of caution against blind adoption of technology in service. If customers don't want to use self check in machines, get the employees to do it(Hey, Bangalore Airport)!</p><p>The second session was by Dr <a href="https://ehe.osu.edu/human-sciences/directory/?id=kandampully.1">Jay Kandampully</a>, who likened theory and practice to Vashistha and Arundhati - twin stars - revolving around each other. He also cited Kerala's famed boat race and suggested that research evolves if a group of researchers row the boat in unison! </p><p>I had the privilege to moderate the questions, and it was so much fun! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xV4qHr-MD-1rvolQGWj-PxvpTzKHE8DNxgtNo9ccnS6TC2beiTMhAcua2IabxYlKi2nmUX-gO53ZM6DHdw22iawfH7wBYZ4v7UmsijSAP5_Pswuc3O4aJQY8GX4lfrCftMVM_w/s1280/Rajesh+Q%2526A.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="1280" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0xV4qHr-MD-1rvolQGWj-PxvpTzKHE8DNxgtNo9ccnS6TC2beiTMhAcua2IabxYlKi2nmUX-gO53ZM6DHdw22iawfH7wBYZ4v7UmsijSAP5_Pswuc3O4aJQY8GX4lfrCftMVM_w/w640-h296/Rajesh+Q%2526A.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Hey, the paper presentations are beginning, I need to go and see!Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-40992876447426987032020-11-28T11:21:00.008+05:302020-11-28T13:00:12.732+05:30Winning Through Service Excellence: Theory and Practice - Convergence 2020 at Jagdish Sheth School of Management<p style="text-align: justify;">Conferences have meant different things to me at different times. Over a decade back, when my wife was working on her PhD, I was curious to know what is it that academicians and researchers travel across the world to speak and listen to, because I used to see her very excitedly prepare for such conferences. I was in the industry then, and my view was guided by industry conferences attended and organised. They were full of gloss - dazzling presentations, jargons being dropped and lapped up, dapper looking executives who were more found in the lobby than in the main hall, and the my-car-is-more-expensive-than-your-car glance that was noticed at the hotel entrance.It was my view then that it was only the travel and hospitality industry that gains from conferences!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Things took a different turn when I switched careers and crossed over to academia. While conferences retained the fun quotient, they became an interesting hot-spot to meet the <b><i>real thought leaders</i></b>. White background slide presentations in very ordinary font and style suddenly started appealing more to me than the colourful ones I was used to seeing for decades. The focus suddenly, shifted to the content!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Come December(18-19), there is an opportunity to attend another conference, very rich in content, and this time virtually. The scale is much bigger, and the theme and the speaker line-up are not very commonly seen in this part of the world, which makes it very interesting. I also realize that I am now on the organising side, so very fascinated by the diligence and detailing that's going into <a href="https://ifimbschool.com/convergence.php">Convergence 2020</a>, hosted by my institution- <a href="www.ifimbschool.com">Jagdish Sheth School of Management (Previously, IFIM Business School)</a>. The theme <b>'Winning Through Service Excellence: Theory and Practice'</b>, appears considerably intriguing because of the linkage between theory and practice, which, unfortunately, often seem to be evolving with a little disdain for each other!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-AMBoIiuY1nZz0CbDAMkFTS9E2nK0-0zdmJM-8ZHvzj4hcREEoSYnemWCOj8u-Kx52Z8FSS5ae_E4grfCNDh1-z1yZHO7s7ATPJwotL7UYYLgeTVRtLUePwpr8nPkxWwaZKQ8A/s822/convergence-2020.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="592" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-AMBoIiuY1nZz0CbDAMkFTS9E2nK0-0zdmJM-8ZHvzj4hcREEoSYnemWCOj8u-Kx52Z8FSS5ae_E4grfCNDh1-z1yZHO7s7ATPJwotL7UYYLgeTVRtLUePwpr8nPkxWwaZKQ8A/s320/convergence-2020.png" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: justify;">The good part is that one can attend this event despite Covid, and without buying a ticket to the other side of the globe! So go ahead and <a href="https://ifimbschool.com/convergence-2020/registration.html">register</a>, while it is still open. In case of any queries, do reach out to my colleague, <a href="https://ifimbschool.com/convergence-2020/contact-us.html">Dr Sangita Dutta Gupta, Conference Convener</a>, or, leave a comment here.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-68617480795733657672020-11-15T20:37:00.007+05:302020-11-16T10:08:49.988+05:30Application Backup and Restoration Just Got A Notch Better With Kubesafe<p>A Disaster Recovery situation is the worst nightmare of an application manager. There are a zillion data back-up solutions available in the market, but at best they are just like insurance - you hope it would work in the event of a crisis such as cyber attack or crash, but one doesn't know for sure. The reality is that getting an application up is messy, once we add application configuration and application data to the mix.</p><p>With most applications on cloud these days, they remain exposed to the worst of internet threats. No airline can stop booking tickets just because their ticketing system went down. Neither can a retailer afford to lose billing on a Black Friday because the order capture or the inventory system is down due to an internal or external event.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmLTrrRu9REDvHFwbR2lEfF125HQp6Tj1Nk2YtCgUEzh7SZHxqJIHn3ojbLZ8LYgGqgxTdjvVMlxqGG3cJjUFDIfxvOP0I6L1IH1bwgeujwQV41zYFUdcEMcz-_tAvkKSbIIkSQ/s318/Kubesafe+logo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="87" data-original-width="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQmLTrrRu9REDvHFwbR2lEfF125HQp6Tj1Nk2YtCgUEzh7SZHxqJIHn3ojbLZ8LYgGqgxTdjvVMlxqGG3cJjUFDIfxvOP0I6L1IH1bwgeujwQV41zYFUdcEMcz-_tAvkKSbIIkSQ/s0/Kubesafe+logo.png" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That's where's <a href="https://www.kubesafe.io" target="_blank">Kubesafe's </a>innovative approach comes in. It not just takes snapshot of applications and configurations as one image, but in the event of an internal or external event leading to disaster, <a href="https://www.kubesafe.io" target="_blank">Kubesafe </a>restores the application and the configuration together. In terms of outcome, it means hours and hours of time saved in restoring an applicaton. </div><p></p><p> </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-54212795444958223552020-09-11T17:28:00.002+05:302020-09-11T17:28:39.961+05:30Corona and Medical Advice Dilemma - Do we know someone who knows?<p> One of the major challenges of Corona Pandemic is that one always feels the need to get informed advice on various aspects of preventive care from it. While the Covid vaccines are sometime away, what does one do, if we feel some anxiety about any other ailment that requires medical advice? Fortunately, we have Ayurveda and other forms of wellness advice to look at. <a href="https://doctorpankaj.com/about-doctor-pankaj/" target="_blank">Dr Pankaj Chansarkar is an accomplished Ayurveda Specialist, Holistic Healing and Wellness Coach</a>, who is just a video call away. </p>Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-84664383800205869402020-07-10T18:22:00.002+05:302020-07-10T18:22:45.289+05:30BreakthologyBreakthology is a venture of Tarunjit Singh Bachcher, a top organisation performance coach in India. Good to see the shiny new website of <a href="http://www.breakthology.com/">Breakthology</a>.Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-86995891387215044532020-03-27T22:30:00.003+05:302020-03-27T22:33:29.976+05:30Pranayama is for EveryonePrayanama benefits us in several ways. It regulates our body's processes, reduces stress, protects us from common respiratory issues, improves sleep and digestion and so on. It also makes one feel joyful. Learning Pranayama has two elements:<br />
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1. Some guidance from a practitioner who understands every human body is different<br />
2. Regularity, regularity and regularity<br />
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<b>The following instructions are to help you start your Pranayama journey.</b><br />
<br />
Some simple instructions to follow for Pranayama in the morning:<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>*Pre*</b><br />
<br />
Loose dress.<br />
Empty bowel<br />
Take bath if weather in your city is warm<br />
No tea/coffee or any food prior to this (last 4 hours at least).<br />
Two classes of water, at least 10 minutes before starting. Warm water ideally.<br />
Basic Yoga mat<br />
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<b>*During*</b><br />
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No aroma of food, perfume or agarbatti nearby<br />
Please open the window - fresh air/ventilated room is an important requirement.<br />
Don't wear watches or trackers etc.<br />
Turn off the fan<br />
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<b>*Post*</b><br />
<br />
Move/walk within the house for 10 minutes at least<br />
No tea/coffee or food for next fifteen minutes,<br />
The first meal after this should be what is best for you.<br />
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There are many varieties of pranayamas. I have trained to practice the following set of five pranayamas - Bhastrika, Kapaal Bhati, Anulome Vilome, Bhramari and Udgeet.<br />
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A word of caution. If you have any known heart issue, please do not practice the below asanas.<br />
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<b>Bhastrika</b>: Sit in the posture you see me in, with back straight and mouth closed.Close your eyes and gently deep inhale, hold for upto 2 seconds, and then completely exhale.<br />
Recommended count is 10, to gradually increase to 20 over 4 weeks. Then hold at that level.<br />
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<b>Kapaal Bhati</b>: Sit with back straight, jaws tightly resting on one another. Exhale forcefully, and inhale normally. Focus on the exhalation process and let the inhalation happen naturally. Concentrate on a distant object of your choice, an om symbol, or a red circle. Try to do one cycle per second. The tendency is to do it faster, which is not advisable.<br />
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Recommended count is 100. If you(particularly ladies) wish to pause at 50 for about 30 seconds and resume, that is okay. Every week increase count by 25 to take it to 300.<br />
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<b>Anulome vilome</b>: While sitting straight with mouth and eyes closed, right nostril is closed by thumb. Deep inhale from left nostril. Hold for a second and then exhale from the right nostril while closing the left nostril by the middle finger. Then inhale from the left nostril while closing the right nostril closed. Follow the sequence 1-2-2-1 or L-R-R-L, which would be one cycle.<br />
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Recommended 10 cycles. Increase to 20 over six months.<br />
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<b>Bhramari:</b> While sitting straight, close ears completely with thumb pressure, then place index finger at the junction of eye and nose. Remaining fingers to press the nose bridge. Mouth closed. Make the humming sound of a bee and in that process, empty your lungs out. Then inhale deep and again make loud humming sound and empty your lungs again.<br />
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Recommended: 10 cycles.<br />
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<b>Udgeet</b>: Sit straight, eyes closed. Inhale deep through nose and then exhale while making the Om sound aloud. Please note that in this pranayama, the exhalation process is through mouth.<br />
<br />
Recommended: 10 cycles. Increase gradually<br />
<br />
After that move about the house for at least 10 mins. When things get normal post Corona, walk outdoors for 15-20 minutes.<br />
<br />Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-15484484697551486742018-10-11T17:43:00.002+05:302018-10-11T19:43:12.294+05:30Metis Talent Management brand new website goes liveLast fortnight was a joy, as we came to the launch of <a href="https://metistm.com/">Metis Talent Management's</a> website. Metis is a Singapore based organisation that advises clients on Talent Management with a primary focus on <a href="https://metistm.com/talent-development">Talent Development </a>and <a href="https://metistm.com/organisation-design">Organisation Design</a>. Best wishes to team Metis!<br />
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The other great thing is how folks at Metis approached this by going in for a full overhaul, including getting a new logo and brand colours. Do leave your comments on what you feel about the website and the logo!!Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-331963588560939962018-10-04T23:10:00.002+05:302018-10-04T23:16:29.673+05:30Rediscovering Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas<div style="text-align: justify;">
Of late I have found myself very obsessed with Alex Osterwalder's business model canvas. It seems to be all over the place - in workshops, training sessions, CEO talks in B-Schools and in generally every intellectually sounding talk!</div>
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Having heard this turn business model at the turn of the century when all sort of logic-defying business ideas were bandied about as unique business models, I had become programmed to turn an instant sceptic whenever this term was used in presentations. Thanks to this refreshing new approach, which appears as smooth as Swiss Chocolate, I found myself forced to look at the 9 blocks of Osterwalder's business model which seem to present a more complete picture. Of late, I have been part of few envisioning exercises myself and found this model very handy, though I do add my own spice to it, such as using colour code in that box which reflects significant innovation and is critical for the value proposition.</div>
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Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-63020732780268735152018-10-03T22:30:00.000+05:302018-10-03T22:31:17.248+05:30Marketing 4.0 by Kotler et al. A great mind expander For generations of MBA students who have grown up on the staple of the Marketing Management that so lovingly called just 'Kotler', the book, yet another one bearing Kotler's name, brings in a bagful of fresh air.<br />
<br />
<b>Marketing 4.0: Moving from Traditional to Digital</b><br />
<br />
If management or business books can be classified as instructional, conceptual, feel good and general read, this book qualifies as all four. Add to that keen observation skills of the authors as well as intellectual intrigue present in the book, the combination of which makes it a must-read for anyone who wants to be informed of the evolutionary directions in marketing.<br />
<br />
This book follows (not succeeds) “Marketing 3.0”, published by the same authors(Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiwan) in the year 2010. Perhaps the fact that Kotler is an academician and researcher par-excellence and Kartajaya and Setiwan happen to be practicing marketers, provides this book a unique perspective, one that is neither too academic in nature(and therefore lacking practical applications), nor lacking in conceptual constructs as books authored by practitioners typically tend to be.<br />
<br />
If the Kotler school of thinking in marketing has defined Marketing 1.0 as Product-Centric, Marketing 2.0 as Customer Centric, the eponymous book Marketing 3.0 took it further by identifying it as Human-Centric Marketing. Marketing 4.0 is the first book by these authors after technology has successfully invaded the field of marketing and has massively impacted both the brands and the customers. It, therefore, reflects the new reality in which the digital and physical facets of marketing are now getting increasingly unified. That is why this book is a compelling read.<br />
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First, this book brings out a new perspective on the oft researched and published concept of buyer journey. The McKinsey loyalty loop, now widely followed, brought forth the concept of customer’s role in brand advocacy, and how it is an outcome of loyalty. Though this loop focused on the conceptual elements of how the traditional buyer journey is sought to be leveraged by marketers, it has it stops short of describing elements of measurability as the customer progresses from one stage to another. The authors have used a new lens to look at this journey and provided two new metrics that measure success. PAR, or Purchase Action Ratio, look at the ratio of customers who purchase that brand, to those are aware of the brand. BAR, the Brand Advocacy Ratio reflects the ratio of those who advocate the brand versus those who are customers of the brand. Ideally, brands would like to see a higher PAR or BAR ratio. It surprises one, therefore, that the BAR can be >1, which means some non-customers can be brand advocates too! This has deep implications for the marketers, who not just have to satisfy customers, but stay engaged with a large number of non-customers too, as they hold influence over other potential customers.<br />
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The second aspect is that the book uses the concept of 5As (Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act, and Advocacy) to define brand archetypes as well as identify imperatives for marketers, namely, increase attraction, optimize curiosity, increase commitment and increase affinity. This model can be very valuable for the marketers in defining objectives of marketing campaigns, as they attempt to take customers across stages of the buying journey.<br />
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On the negative side, If there is one element that is felt to starkly missing, it is the variable called time, which is almost taken to be ‘I have no time’ or ‘I want now’ by buyers, customers and consumers in this digital era. Instant information seeking behaviour, or ability to purchase at the tap of a phone, or the overnight negative word of mouth wave spreading through social media and channels such as Whatsapp perhaps merit an examination too, for they hold huge significance for marketers and brands.<br />
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Whether this book is the final word in marketing? The answer is easily a no. Whether the concepts in this book will be obsolete very soon? Again the answer is likely no, because each of the 4 stages of marketing can be concurrently seen in practice even today, and therefore, true to the always evolving nature of marketing, there is always a plausibility of something new in the future which will co-exist with these concepts.Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-37083608774960440322018-06-05T11:00:00.002+05:302018-06-05T11:02:20.663+05:30Microsoft Acquires GitHub. My thoughts!The news came overnight of Microsoft announcing its acquisition of GitHub, something that was rumoured over the web in the last couple of days. I see a considerable outpouring of emotions in the developer community regarding this acquisition.<br />
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As someone whose first introduction (as a developer) to Microsoft was in the year 2001 learning what as beta versions of .Net development platform, I have passively watched the evolution Microsoft and other tech giants this century. I wasn't great at programming, but this experience, as well as subsequent ones, offered me a good perspective of the tech world.<br />
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My advice is, watch before you jump in joy at Microsoft acquisition of GitHub. The reasons are as follows:<br />
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<b>A.</b> Microsoft has a very questionable record about making meaningful sense with many of its big-ticket acquisitions. Cases in point - Skype(Loosely hanging in its portfolio, we used it a decade back, now we don't), Nokia(yes, the company we loved), Yammer(we used it then, we have forgotten it now, the interface anyway sucked), Linkedin( I mean what are they really doing about it? Has the user experience improved, or any new cutting-edge feature added, that couldn't have come without the MSFT edge?). Here's <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/acquisition-history.aspx">the official list of acquisitions by Microsoft</a>.<br />
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<b>B.</b> Microsoft as a company has a very dominant internal thought that Windows and MS Office is its core, and everything else is subservient to it. It is the legacy of Bill Gates days, aptly reinforced in Steve Ballmer's stewardship. So we see Yammer now bundled with Office 365, for example.</div>
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So what can we expect from this acquisition? First, integration of GitHub to.Net Development platform. A new service to facilitate code level collaboration between developers in a more seamless way. A possible addition to the service bundle when tech organisations buy to .Net developer licenses. <b><i>That's no doubt big, but then that's it.</i></b></div>
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I hope and pray that the dominant thought I have referred to above will not make it closed to the external ecosystem and let it thrive the way it is currently. But having seen the force of this dominant thought, I am not so confident. Having said that, I am not moving my code away from GitHub immediately.</div>
<br />Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-69502402749924491932018-04-22T09:20:00.002+05:302018-04-22T09:20:26.783+05:30Ideacopter's 'Marketing for all' mission.Since we started <a href="http://www.ideacopter.com/">www.ideacopter.com</a> at the turn of the year, we ventured into the unknown. But having a very exciting four months and we feel our mission of making marketing accessible to startups is more valid than ever. Marketing in general, but more specifically branding, digital marketing etc is practised in a very unscientific fashion in most startups. But the great thing is that all startups realize Brand is something they can't afford to ignore anymore, especially, if they wish to scale up. We at <a href="http://www.ideacopter.com/">Ideacopter</a> attempt to fill that gap. Let's see how the rest of the year goes.Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-83587828796116752232017-11-21T19:55:00.001+05:302017-11-21T19:55:12.881+05:30Becoming Culturally CompetentCompetence has been defined as the ability to do something successfully. It has been linked to intelligence. Therefore, one can say that becoming culturally competent requires one to be culturally intelligent. But what is cultural intelligence?<div>
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An outsider, who has a natural ability to understand and interpret an unfamiliar culture is said to be culturally intelligent. This can be very useful in today's world when people travel for work quite early in their career. A person who is culturally intelligent(and competent) does not judge things very quickly, rather, tries to get into the next layer of behaviour.</div>
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The Head-Body-Heart concept stated in the article "Cultural Intelligence" by Early and Mosakowski presents an interesting approach. The authors argue that when stepping into a new culture, one needs to build bridges using 'Head'(Cognitive issues), 'Body'(Physical dimensions such as dresses) and 'Heart'(emotional & motivational).</div>
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Further understanding can be based on the following characterizations of cultural intelligence profiles by the above authors:</div>
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<br /><b>Provincial</b>: Someone who is comfortable in working with people of similar background but runs into problems otherwise.</div>
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<b>Analyst</b>: The analyst methodically deciphers the alien culture through observations</div>
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<b>Natural</b>: Relies on intuition rather than systematic learning</div>
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<b>Ambassador</b>: Convincingly communicates that he has a lot of goodwill for the new culture</div>
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<b class="">Mimic</b>: Someone who has high degree of control over his action and behaviour using which he puts the hosts at ease.</div>
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<b>Chameleon</b>: A manager who completely acquires the culture of the new environment using the Head-Body-Heart concept.</div>
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A culturally competent manager is one who can adapt to different working styles native to different cultures. It is not just about behaving but also understanding the full context of behaviour of the local natives. It is a skill that no modern manager can do without.</div>
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Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-81573942105686717062017-11-17T03:30:00.000+05:302017-11-21T20:11:46.446+05:30Global Dexterity!In an age when employees are expected to move across countries for longer durations, or make short term travels across cultures, it is can often be very daunting to be afraid of cultural barriers. Indeed, one of the attributes of a modern successful executive could be the ability to move across cultures effortlessly and be an effective business executive, and without getting overpowered by the gaps.<br />
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Professor Sheryll Cashin <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/moving-toward-a-culturally-dexterous-washington/2012/08/02/gJQAcQIkSX_blog.html?utm_term=.c4d460713d57">describes cultural dexterity</a> as “the ability to walk into a room and be outnumbered by people of a different race or ethnicity and experience excitement rather than fright”.<br />
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<a href="https://www.kornferry.com/institute/530-cultural-dexterity-the-global-talent-solution">According to Korn Ferry</a>, Cultural Dexterity combines cultural knowledge, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills that can be adapted to achieve improved business results in any cross-cultural situation.<br />
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Culturally dexterous people are least prejudicial to other cultures. They are able to be themselves, at the same time, are able to integrate themselves with other cultures very effortlessly, and withdraw from it when moving to another culture.<br />
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This skill acquires great significance for leaders, and it must be inculcated in self from the beginning of one's career or even before.<br />
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<br />Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-60819134045085228332017-11-16T18:36:00.000+05:302017-11-21T19:56:36.806+05:30Leading Across Cultures!<div style="text-align: justify;">
As a team leader, nothing is more important than driving the team to success. It is easier said than done because different teams behave differently. One reason is team composition. The second reason is team culture. Team culture, at least partly, inherits from national culture, which serves as its context.</div>
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Workers in the US for example, while accepting the orders from a superior, may openly express disagreements, whereas, those in eastern cultures, will be more deferential and keep quiet, even if they are not in agreement. So, if a leader bred in eastern culture is transported to lead a team in the US, she/he may feel that the workers are arrogant. On the other hand, a leader from the US culture, if sent to lead a team in the east, may feel the team members are under communicative. Both situations are problems if common cultural grounds are not arrived at. </div>
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One also needs to be self-aware, in order to understand how one is likely to be interpreted in the other culture. What one culture may see as decisive, others may see as arrogant. Depending on the operating culture, a leader needs to adapt his style.</div>
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If not handled correctly, it can lead to the team getting demotivated, despite intentions to the otherwise. </div>
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Culture can vary across organisations as well. A good leader would be one, who understands the new culture quickly and adapts accordingly. Sometimes, culture can be a cause for organizational underperformance as well. In such cases, a leader has to play his responsibility of guiding the team through a cultural transition, while taking everyone on board</div>
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Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-14639932281468391432017-11-14T17:57:00.000+05:302017-11-21T18:04:35.068+05:30Cultural Issues in Strategic Alliances & Negotiations<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the greatest cross cultural successes in the business world is the Renault Nissan Alliance. If one reads the differences between the two cultures, it appears too good to be true. In fact, almost unreal.With <a href="http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/industry-news/renault/renault-nissan-mitsubishi-new-alliance-2022-plan/">Mitsubishi joining the allianc</a>e recently, there is another spice in the curry!</div>
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Despite the obvious contrasts in the French and the Japanese cultures, how do such alliances succeed? The large question is, what are the dynamics of cross cultural alliances, howsoever big or small they are? How does one negotiate in a culture that is markedly different? The Hofstede dimensions provide us a clue!</div>
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<b>Power distance</b> often tells us the how the communication channels may work. If Power Distance in that culture is high, there is no point in seeking a meeting with the senior most executive. It is unlikely that an appointment will be granted easily! Instead, it is advisable to work with junior executives initially, who will report everything in detail to the boss!!</div>
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If negotiating as a team, one must ascertain the <b>Individualism vs Collectivism</b> score of that culture. This helps in determining whether the decision will be taken by the senior most person(middle east, maybe), or the entire team(as in Japan). One can plan the discussions accordingly.</div>
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<b>Uncertainty Avoidance</b> scores tell us whether the other party is likely to keep things vague, or prefer to have clear stands. If the native culture is low on uncertainty avoidance(India!), it is okay to expect some vagueness and open endedness.</div>
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<b>Long Term vs Short Term Orientation</b>: When meeting a client in an alien culture for business negotiations, it is important to ascertain his country and organisational orientation on this score and plan accordingly. For example, if the alien culture is very short term oriented, a 5 or 10 year long plan may be of little interest to the client.</div>
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<b>Masculinity vs Femininity: </b>In a business negotiation context, this parameter is extremely significant. It helps plan gifts, for example. In high masculine environment, the gifts need to be ego touching. Example, one can plan a better gift for the boss than the rest of the team. However, in high feminine environment, same gifts may work well, despite the hierarchy.<br />
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By knowing this aspect one can ascertain some aspects of communication and behaviour. In <b>High Context</b> cultures, one can expect a lot between the lines, and therefore body language has to be observed very closely. In <b>low context </b>culture, one can expect direct communication.</div>
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Keeping these factors as part of the negotiation or alliance plan can remove unwanted anxieties, and make the discussions productive.</div>
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Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-67616773016389138812017-11-03T22:22:00.004+05:302017-11-21T14:45:13.961+05:30Working in a Multi Cultural World<div style="text-align: justify;">
The days of a single culture teams have gone into history.Modern international trade exchanges have given rise a highly intertwined business across countries. Take a look at the Boeing 787 aircraft, where the<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Boeings-787-Dreamliner-Is-Made-Of-Parts-From-All-Over-The-World/articleshow/23908456.cms"> parts come from no less than 15 countries</a>, possibly even more. Teams have become 'virtual' and ever connected. Though this has resulted in a humungous amount of cultural exchange, the downside is that with teams working 24X7X365, cultural issues tend to have a direct bearing on the productivity of teams - a challenge no global organization can ignore. Teams are often formed for projects and dissolved when the project is over.The result is that the <a href="https://toggl.com/stages-of-team-development">Bruce Tuckman's famed stages of teaming</a> - Forming, Norming, Storming and Performing are often compressed and teams expected to be in the performing stage from the initial moment. </div>
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Organisationally, one is expected to subsume individual goals into organizational goals but there is a problem with this premise. The organization measures every individual's performance of their specific KRAs and not just project outcomes. If we add country-specific behaviour norms into a diverse team, the challenge becomes much more complex.</div>
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It is, therefore, extremely important for a modern manager to be aware of the pitfalls of ignoring cultural behaviour norms among its team members, as well as his self-culture. To assume cultural homogeneity can be the biggest disservice a leader can do to his team. C.Carey Young, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140701122054-2314829-the-7-habits-of-highly-effective-multicultural-teams/">in this article</a>, lists out the following 7 effective components of a cross-cultural team. </div>
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1. Learn, understand, respect and leverage the cultural differences.</div>
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2. You cannot over-communicate, but only in the right way.</div>
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3. Build a team of ONE.</div>
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4. Make a culturally correct decision.</div>
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5. Foster cohesive relationship and build trust.</div>
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6. Resolve conflicts quickly and peacefully.</div>
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7. Play to win</div>
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Today it is no more enough to be functionally competent to be a successful business leader. One needs to possess the cultural intelligence to navigate through the nuances of cultural diversity prevalent in a team. It has also given rise to a business leader, who is culturally grounded in her/his own culture, but is equally sensitive and understanding of the cultural diversity in the team and adapts accordingly. For example, being judgmental too soon in a culturally diverse team can be quite detrimental. A good business leader, or a team member, has to hold judging individuals till they understand the culture they come from. </div>
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So what are the red flags of working in multi-cultural teams?</div>
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First and the foremost, assuming a single culture is the biggest red flag. The second one is an expectation that everyone should follow the same behaviour template. The third one is tolerating any form of insults or barbs on a team member's culture. </div>
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A good practice for managers is to be aware of the cultural aspects of countries or regions their team members come from. She/he should also ensure that if possible, cultural sensitization sessions are regularly organized for everyone.</div>
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Ignoring cultural issues can give rise to team conflicts, often to the detriment of a collective outcome. The 4 behavioural models in conflict situation are (a) Bulldog(Parochial, persistent and attacking), (b) Chameleon(Lacks credibility and authenticity), (c) Ant(Hard working but they bite) and (d) Rabit (They scoot at the sight of conflict).</div>
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In fact, everyone has possibly all 4 of the above characters and they get expressed in different situations.</div>
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My personal strength on the cultural diversity dimension is empathy. Due to years of corporate experience in diverse teams, I have realized that the person is not the name as his job role, but in reality the product of one or more cultures.Therefore to effectively deal with a team member or client from another culture, one needs to understand the culture a bit. At the same time, one should not make an exhibition of it, unless very sure-footed, else there could be issues. </div>
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Some behavioural rules in building relationships, trust, respect and personal connect in team members could be:</div>
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Communicate adequately </div>
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Communicate in detail. Go into specifics of what you expect or what you understood</div>
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Set real expectations. When others assign work to you, it is a good idea to repeat your understanding.</div>
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Upsetting a colleague by not accepting a timeline for a deliverable is better than agreeing for it and not delivering it later on.</div>
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Facetime is better than emails or calls. Use Videoconferences or web conference tools such as Skype or Google Hangout to see your colleague(s) and be seen to them.</div>
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Asking, telling, nodding, hand gestures all have different interpretations in different cultures. For example, 'Do you want to call him now?' can elicit different responses from 2 respondents, one talking it as an instruction to call someone and carrying it out, and the other simply responding, "No, I don't".</div>
Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-78391853146717342672017-11-01T14:11:00.000+05:302017-11-21T14:45:25.520+05:30Geography of Thought: Big Picture vs Minutiae<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is not common to hear a corporate debate in which one colleague, usually the boss(Person A), in an effort to win the argument against a reluctant colleague(Person B), says, " Come on, look at the big picture". The subtext is that Person B is looking at only one small part of the problem and trying to solve only that, whereas, according to the Person A, the problem needs a holistic view. It is a corporate tradeoff, that many have encountered so many times.</div>
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This very much is an issue in intercultural communication and behaviour. We have seen Americans who start the discussion this way:</div>
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"Let's come straight to the point. This happened because the engine chamber overheated "</div>
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The discussion is centred around a small problem, which is isolated from the beginning and everything else is turned 'external' or extraneous.</div>
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Then one sees colleagues from Japan and China, who labour around a broad area for very long, and then coming to the point ("Overall, the car has come out nice. The engine power is also in the expected range, and so is the fuel efficiency. The riding comfort is also good and the vehicle is quite safe on the Indian roads. However, in my personal opinion, the engine lining is not interacting with the surface properly, whereas the rest of the engine is operating fine").</div>
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Such variation in behaviour is a major workplace issue and often causes conflict.</div>
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I think the key is in not being judgmental and in being patient and observational. </div>
Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-38834159787597678602017-10-28T21:18:00.000+05:302017-11-21T14:45:13.955+05:30Communication in Multi Cultural WorldChallenges in communication have persisted in a multi-cultural environment since much before <i><b>presents </b></i>became <b><i>gifts</i>, </b><i><b>inclines</b> </i>transformed into <i><b>ramps</b></i>, and way long before <i><b>lifts </b></i>took avatar as <i><b>elevators</b></i>.It gets quite an aggravated challenge when a single medium of communication is used, such as only voice call or written email.<br />
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<b><u>Communication Mindmap</u></b><br />
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Today's cross-functional, cross time zone and multi-location teams make collaborative working quite a challenge. In most occasions, colleagues in different locations don't meet frequently and that lack of face time compounds the problem manifold. Worse still, even the most common forms of intra-organization communication - email and telephone calls - are devoid of visuals, as well as tactile elements. Due to this missing visual/tactile component, body language elements, that often provide a context to the words, go completely missing. The consequence is that communication gets distorted and messages misunderstood.</div>
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For a client-vendor communication, such issues can cause completely unwelcome problems. One approach to avoid such issues is to rely on video communication channels such as videoconference, Skype and Google Hangout, that allow the users to see as well as listen. The advantage of such channels over email or teleconference is that one is able to see the facial expressions, the body posture, and the hand movements, and therefore, the chances of accidental misunderstandings are somewhat reduced. </div>
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Another technique is to begin a conversation with a 'small talk' (an unrelated to the business agenda item), that gets everyone familiarised with each other's communication style and personality, before getting onto business items. </div>
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<br />Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-58041536667321229482017-10-23T19:14:00.002+05:302017-11-21T14:45:06.444+05:30Face and Authenticity<div style="text-align: justify;">
Does WYSIWYG(What-you-see-is-what-you-get) work for humans?Why has having-a-face or 'losing a face' become such an important metaphor in today's society? Do we live only for such acquired or perceived prestige of prestige or face?</div>
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Frankly, at the workplace, it is often a difficult choice. If you have lead a team and conducted common weekly reviews with your team, you would come across folks who are performers and are consistently looking to excel. And then there are those who don't and get regularly pulled up. It surprises sometimes that there are folks who are pulled up for work take it easy in their stride. And then there are those, mostly high performers, who require to-be talked with purposefully injected 'downgraders', else they withdraw into a shell at any negative feedback.<br />
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As humans, we tend to take negative feedback personally, when we have 'invested' ourselves heavily into the success of a project. Maybe this is the reason the 'critical' folks in a team, who often reach that stage of relevance or importance to a team by their past performance, often take such feedback as a loss of face. They even express deep embarrassment at their own work output at times, asking for more time. And they do it privately. Some individuals even have the temerity to defy the managerial deadline for a deliverable because they feel they need some more time to polish a document or refine a marketing creative, rather than release a deliverable they are not satisfied with. The manager's dilemma is whether to make an example before the team by providing direct and public feedback on operational issues or do it privately. With personal experience, I have seen that a call on the office intercom, even if the team member is a few steps away, often is very helpful. And if there is an unavoidable public feedback, it is time for the manager to take the team to lunch! The 'face' has to be dealt with, you see!!</div>
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One also comes across organizational leaders for whom any divergence of opinion is hard to accept, even when their own exposure or knowledge on an issue is a limitation. Such leaders tend to take such differences personally and easily brand such 'expressing' team members as rebels, without factoring in the intent behind such outcomes. Many of them, having worked in manufacturing environment have an inability to handle such divergence, and tend to put down such divergence of opinion by organisational force. They seem to be inheriting their perspective from the old master-slave or owner-servant midset, even if that is not a valid organisational paradigm anymore. They tend to misjudge and have to be communicated using downgraders, lest they treat it as a personal insult to their status, whether ascribed and/or achieved!</div>
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It is often very prudent to know the culture of the organisation as well as the background of the individual to be on the right side of things. The culture of the organisation inherits from the location of origin(Sillicon Valley, Seattle, Boston, Baden-Wurttemberg, or Mumbai, Kolkata etc) as well as industry(IT driven, manufacturing, healthcare, etc), size(2 member startup, 100K Steel Company) etc. One can ignore such aspects only at tremendous cost. My views. What do you think?<br />
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Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13185997.post-90109176983017904022017-10-17T15:24:00.000+05:302017-11-21T14:44:48.025+05:30The Culture Map as an Organisational Enabler<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, why should we even attempt to map something so contextual as the culture, especially, national culture? Is there anything such as international culture? What about the impact of culture within a nation's boundaries? How does this impact business operations within an organization and between organizations? How does one ensure not falling in stereotypical traps when leveraging cultural context? The topic is unavoidable in today's business environment where multi-level supply chain runs across several countries. For example, the Singapore office of an American company could be overseeing sourcing from China, Korea or Japan, maybe even Vietnam. Maybe the software running on sourced products run Indian developed software. So, which should be the dominant organizational for maximum effectiveness and efficiency in such cases? </div>
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The answer is simple. Today, every organisation has a basal culture, which is a product of their historical evolution, if the company is old. Then there is a local culture, wherever the company operates. The only difference between two companies, headquartered in one city but operating in nearly identical markets is the extent to which these cultures-local or basal - dominates.<br />
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In some cultures, particularly cultures trust quotient is a function of task based or functional transactions and in others it is more on the relationship based. In my professional experience of working with people from different cultures, I realize(and advocate to my team) that one can achieve wonders if conscious of this aspect, and feel lost completely otherwise(<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rawnshah/2014/10/06/the-culture-map-shows-us-how-we-work-worldwide/#5fc0c20a5bcb">Read this excellent Forbes article</a>). Typically, Asian cultures such as India and China tend to be relationship based and there is a tendency to 'unpeel' the individual's personal life, nature, roots etc quite early in the journey of acquaintance. In such cultures, spending social time together can have a positive impact on the business relationship. However, it is other way round in the Western Culture( USA, Germany and the UK), where the focus is on professional relationships. It would be dumb, to a US business acquaintance to go on a Tennis tournament in the very first meet. Most probably, such an offer would be declined. But going to a Camel or Horse race in the middle east can be considered a great gesture and act as a business enabler!<br />
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It is, therefore, very important to have an understanding of acceptable behaviour in the culture. Even within a culture(such as India) it is important to be mindful of such landmines. Proposing to take a client in Chennai to a non-veg speciality restaurant without ascertaining her/his veg preferences is like shooting self on the foot. And proposing a Punjabi client to a veg restaurant without doing so is equally disastrous! In other words, one must know the 'default' settings of a culture, but validate them every time, lest one fall in the stereotype trap.<br />
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Rajesh Kumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17653216008905158347noreply@blogger.com0