Reflections

UNDERSTANDING THE SMARTPHONE MARKET The market for Smartphones in India is one of the most talked-about in pink papers as well as white sheets alike, with regular articles on top and budget smartphones making headlines all too often; yet, paradoxically, it is the least understood outside the trade, i.e. those of us who are actually in the handset trade. For the pink sheets and white sheets, it is the Apples and the premium phones that matter, or the budget smartphones with a range of online as well as offline offerings being highlighted. This is a very simplistic look at one of the most complex markets in my experience, which spans telecom services, data, insurance, FMCG/D  - for a number of reasons, some known and some unlisted insofar as my reading goes. The pace of technology development is one of the well-understood reasons; as is the pricing factor. These are just of the factors that make this market such  a fascinating yet complex study. The speed of change m...

This week saw the epochal movie Pink hitting the movie halls and cineplexes, a movie that stands out as one of the most hard-hitting movies to come out from the Mumbai film industry. This is a movie that looks at deeply ingrained attitudinal problems embedded in our society, problems which have eluded quite a few reviewers on this movie; I attempt to place my viewpoint on these ignored aspects in this review. This is a movie that is, to my mind, more about Men than Women; we need to see the story from this angle and engage with the highlighted problems in a deep introspection THE PLOT The plot is simple : three ladies meet 3 or 4 boys at a rock concert, share a drink or maybe two, go to dinner, and end up getting molested. A feisty one responds, and cracks a bottle right slam-bang on the “ gentleman’s ” head, and the three run. So do the four “ gentlemen ”, but then the nightmare starts for the ladies, as the threats and the intimidation starts. They are wrongly accused ...

FMCG : PATANJALIED!!!!! {PART – 3} The Feasible Strategic Alternatives At the outset, let me clarify that I am not an FMCG player; my interest in the Patanjali case study emanates from the unique marketing riddle it presents; and its close similarity in some ways with my Trade Telecom Handsets, wherein two challengers have upstaged the established player/s. Being a keen student of Brand responses to attacks in my trade, I could see ready parallels and deep learnings to be had from the studying the rise of Patanjali, and the current responses of the attacked incumbents i.e. the established players. As I have gleaned from my FMCG friends, the current responses include launching brands or sub-brands around the health parameter, Ayurved, etc; these are clearly not going to be adequate. I don’t deny the need for such variants in the product lineup, but these cannot be the core response for obvious reasons, as we saw in the previous two parts of this article. We need to go deep...

This is an article written by Mr Amitabh Sinha - Director - Finance & Investment, SME Chamber of India | Director, Start-Ups Council of India | CEO SMEConfex, reproduced here with his permission. I welcome Mr Sinha to my blog, and hope to see other articles as contribution. My comments on his article are highlighted in shaded green boxes… The Four Horsemen of the Indian Start Up Ecosystem Amitabh Sinha Director - Finance & Investment, SME Chamber of India | Director, Start-Ups Council of India | CEO SMEConfex I was asked recently why Indian Start Ups are unable to capitalize their potential. There is neither an easy answer, nor a short one. But having been a regular and active part of this ecosystem, I feel, there is definitely an answer. I am not planning to come at this from the regular routes of dollars and innovation definitions or that much abused but little understood term called ‘disruption’...