VGL GROUP Quarterly NEWS LETTER
September
2015
Contents 01. taNzaNia 2015 02. two iMportant new laUnches at lc 03. PESTLE analysis 04. Demandware 05. VGl inDia chronicle! 06. sUccess stories!! 07. Don’t react, responD 08. photoshop teaM at sts china 09. think retail: think BiG, GloBal anD aheaD! 10. ten GeMstone MUch rarer than DiaMonDs 11. synthetics pose a threat to natUral DiaMonD inDUstry 12. TeaM work- an experience at VGl!! 13. swachh Bharat Mssion 14. sts china UpDate 15. sts GeMs fUn BUlletin! 16. the iMportance of story tellinG iN eLectRONic RetaiL 17. achieVeMent!! 18. ManaGeMent coMMittee MeetinG - sept 2015 19. photoGraph sUBMissions
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Stone above photo - Pyrite Specimen
n
Group Philosophy Our Vision Be the Value Leader in Electronic Retailing of Jewelry and Life Style Products.
Our Mission We will, Build a learning organization with high performing people, Offer Low Priced high quality products, Delight our customer’s every day.
Our Core Values Team Work Honesty Commitment Passion Positive Attitude
Stone of Cover page photo - Tsavorite
VGL Group • October 2015 | 3
Tanzania 2015 geologist. I had two burning questions. First – just how rare IS tanzanite? ‘One thousand times more rare than diamond’ is what we currently share with our audience. And second –what’s the probability of finding tanzanite anywhere else on the face of the planet?
Becky Booker Studio Host, LC
T
ravelling to Tanzaniteone is something that I’ve dreamed about. Just a few weeks ago, that dream became a reality!
I left Austin on the afternoon of August 21st. Twenty-four hours and 8936 miles later I touched down at Kilimanjaro International Airport on the evening of August 22nd and was greeted by Vineeth Chandra. Videographer Russell
Offord from the UK joined us the next day along with Mansour, our driver, and we headed out to Merelani, home of Tanzaniteone where we met Prateek Kaushik. Our first order of business was to meet Robert, the site 4
| VGL Group • October 2015
Robert began the tanzanite story by sharing that Mt. Kilimanjaro is about 250,000 years old, much younger than the tanzanite bearing area which is about 580 million years old. The tanzanite bearing area is relatively near the surface, even though miners currently work as deep as 500 meters below the Earth’s surface. Formation of the tanzanite bearing site is connected to the East African Rift and the Mozambique belts. Tectonic movement of these layers over 580 million years lifted, buried and lifted the area again. During those movements, intense heat and chemical changes occurred, producing a one of a kind calcium aluminum magnesium silicate – tanzanite. Mining tanzanite is distinctly different than mining other precious materials. Tanzanite grows in pockets or ‘boudinage’ in a layer of graphite. The boudinage are sausage shaped ‘soft spots’ that seem to form randomly. Mines for diamond or gold, for example, can use or samples that will estimate the yield of gold ore or diamond crystals. Tanzanite production has no relation to the ore body or JW layer. There is no guarantee that digging up a certain amount of the JW layer will yield a set percentage of tanzanite. The entire lifetime production of Tanzaniteone is estimated to be about 80 million carats. Seems like a lot, but not when compared to 135 million carats of gem quality diamonds produced in 2014. Next, we prepared for our descent into the mine. We changed into the requisite jumpsuit, hardhat, headlamp and rubber boots, signed in and settled into an ore cart. Anton, mine supervisor, rode down with us. The cart rolled down tracks at about a 45 degree angle and after a few minutes we arrived at the working site. The humidity
increased and the temperature spiked about 10 – 15 degrees compared to the surface. Blowers circulated air through the site and the sparkle of graphite was everywhere! There it was – the boudinage – and suddenly I understood the name! ‘Boudin’ – sausage. And the pockets that held the tanzanite crystals did indeed look like their sausage shaped namesake. What an adventure to see the source of those beautiful purple-blue crystals! Back on the surface, we had lunch at one of the canteens which prepares 3 meals a day for all of the miners and staff. Bunkhouses are also available for those who stay on-site for extended periods. The next day we were joined by William, our security man and Andrew, our Tanzanian contact who served as navigator, interpreter, and our introduction to gemstone mines. Andrew and Mansour both took turns as our trip DJ, both providing music along the way while Prateek shared his mobile hot spot, allowing us to quickly share photos on Facebook. The seven of us were inseparable during an extended adventure that covered another 3000 kilometers of the Tanzanian countryside with stops at several gemstone mines along the way – Lemshoku for tsavorite garnets, Kwebemba (about 12 kilometers from the Umba River) for zircon, Kalalani for red garnet and Mahenge for spinel. We travelled through many small towns and villages and also the larger cities of Tanga, Dodoma, Singita, Eponko, and we also ferried across the Kelemburo River. Mining is done by traditional methods at every location. It’s a hands-on process where the gem bearing ore is blasted or chiseled out, sacked up and hauled out of the mine for the meticulous process of looking at each and every piece for potential treasure. There were small communities around each mine site, evidence of just how many families are directly affected by the mining industry in each location, from several hundred upward to approximately 1000. I experienced firsthand the thrill of going into the mines and holding rough gemstones that had been just released from the gem-bearing ore. It was an adventure I will never forget. But even more memorable were the people of Tanzania – optimistic, happy and hard-working.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 5
Interviewing the Masai HR
Interviewing the Masai HR
Mahenge Spinel
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Into the Wild
Pyrite Specimen
Mahenge Spinel Mine
Red Garnet Mine
T
R
Masai Women
e
Red Garnet
TanzaniteOne Campus
Sunset
Tanzanite Handmade Jewellery
Team
VGL Group • October 2015 | 7
Tsavorite Mine
Tsavorite Rough
Yellow Scapolite
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Zircon
Tsavorite
Z
Zircon Mining Team
e
Zircon Mining
Zircon Pit
VGL Group • October 2015 | 9
Two Important New Launches at LC It will take some time to truly see the results from this change, but so far we have received positive customer feedback. As we anticipated, the returns have gone up but we expect that will subside over the next few months. Thank you to everyone involved in making this change so quickly; it truly was a giant effort by many. Once again, the LC employees have proven their willingness and ability to pull together to make things happen so we can continually offer our customers Exceptional Quality, Exquisite Designs, and Outstanding Value!
Lori Hamilton
Director Communications, LC
• 30 Day Unconditional Money Back Guarantee July 24th marked an important day in LC’s history. Not only was this our first ever Black Friday event outside of November (this was our first Christmas in July week), but we also launched a long anticipated 30-day unconditional money back guarantee.
That’s right; we have completely rewritten our return policy and made shopping with LC even easier. Customers can shop with confidence knowing they have a 30-day unconditional money back guarantee, no fine print, no exceptions. This includes everything we sell – items sold on TV, the website Catalog, Rising Auction, and Clearance! 10
| VGL Group • October 2015
• Beauty Launch Another important, exciting new program is the launch of LC Beauty on August 25th. We are excited to announce Lifestyle Connection – Beauty Collection. This features makeup and hair products from famous Italian beauty expert, Mario De Luigi, and French hair expert Francky L’Official. The cosmetics will include lipstick/lip gloss, eyeliners,
foundation, blush, eyeshadows, among other items, and hair products include shampoo, hairspray, thickening crème, mousse, and much more. All hair products are guaranteed to improve hair’s texture, and volume, and give it a stunning healthy look.
LC’s Beauty Buyer Karen Wells says, “We are incredibly excited to be launching the LC Beauty collection! We have worked hard to bring our customers the best makeup and hair products to meet their everyday needs and help them accomplish the look they’ve always dreamed of getting.”
amount of work to do to ensure the website and new marketing materials were ready and included all of the important information (like ingredients lists) needed to carry these types of products. The Warehouse worked closely with our partner vendors to learn about storage and shipping requirements.
This too was a major accomplishment for the entire LC team. Bringing in a new product line involved each department. Special training on how to sell these items was given to the entire Production and Services teams. The eCommerce and Marketing group had a tremendous
These are two exciting developments that we were working on this summer. As we enter into the allimportant Holiday Season, we are excited to see what results will come from these new initiatives!
VGL Group • October 2015 | 11
PESTLE analysis entails scanning these economic environments to detect and understand the broad, long term trends. A PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding the ‘big picture’ of the environment in which an organisation is operating. Specifically a PESTLE analysis is a useful tool for understanding risks associated with market (the need for a product or service) growth or decline, and as such the position, potential and direction for an individual business or organisation.
KAS GAnKAndA HR Officer, TJC
What is PESTLE analysis? PESTLE stands for - Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal, Environmental. The term PESTLE has been used regularly in the last decade or so and its true history is difficult to establish. Various other similar acronyms have been used including ETPS, STEP, PEST, and STEEPLE (where the extra E stands for Ethical). The term PESTLE is particularly popular on HR and introductory marketing courses in the UK. PESTLE analysis is in effect an audit of an organisation’s environmental influences with the purpose of using this information to guide strategic decision-making. The assumption is that if the organisation is able to audit its current environment and assess potential changes, it will be better placed than its competitors to respond to changes. To help make decisions and to plan for future events, organisations need to understand the wider ‘mesoeconomic’ and ‘macro-economic’ environments in which they operate. (The meso-economic environment is the one in which we operate and have limited influence or impact, the macro-environment includes all factors that influence an organisation but are out of its direct control). An organisation on its own cannot affect these factors, nor can these factors directly affect the profitability of an organisation. But by understanding these environments, it is possible to take the advantage to maximise the opportunities and minimise the threats to the organisation. Conducting a strategic analysis 12
| VGL Group • October 2015
A PESTLE analysis is often used as a generic ‘orientation’ tool, finding out where an organisation or product is in the context of what is happening outside that will at some point affect what is happening inside an organisation. The six elements form a framework for reviewing a situation, and can also be used to review a strategy or position, direction of a company, a marketing proposition, or idea. The PESTLE model The PESTLE model provides users with a series of headings under which users can brainstorm or research key factors: •Political: what is happening politically in the environment in which you operate, including areas such as tax policy, employment laws, environmental regulations, trade restrictions and reform, tariffs and political stability. •Economic: what is happening within the economy, for example; economic growth/ decline, interest rates, exchange rates and inflation rate, wage rates, minimum wage, working hours, unemployment (local and national), credit availability, cost of living etc. •Sociological: what is occurring socially in the markets in which you operate or expect to operate, cultural norms and expectations, health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes, emphasis on safety, global warming. •Technological: what is happening technology-wise which can impact what you do, technology is leaping every two years, how will this impact your products or services, things that were not possible five years ago are now mainstream, for example mobile phone technology, Web 2.0, blogs and micro-blogs (Twitter),
social networking websites. New technologies are continually being developed and the rate of change itself is increasing. There are also changes to barriers to entry in given markets, and changes to financial decisions like outsourcing and insourcing. •Legal: what is happening with changes to legislation? This may impact employment, access to materials, quotas, resources, imports/ exports, taxation etc. •Environmental: what is happening with respect to ecological and environmental issues. Many of these factors will be economic or social in nature. The PESTLE process Before starting a PESTLE analysis it is important to think through the process that is going to be followed. Steps include: •Decide how the information is to be collected and by whom (a team approach is much more powerful than one person’s view). •Identify appropriate sources of information. •Gather the information - it is useful to use a template as the basis for exploring the factors and recording the information. •Analyse the findings. •Identify the most important issues. •Identify strategic options. •Write a discussion document. •Disseminate and discuss the findings. •Decide which trends should be monitored on an ongoing basis and what actions need to be taken. PESTLE analysis tips Some useful tips for carrying out a PESTLE analysis include: •DO get other people involved to gain multiple perspectives. •DO exploit any expertise and resources that are already available within the organisation. •DO use PESTLE analysis in conjunction with other
techniques, such as SWOT analysis (standing for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats - see our factsheet for more information), Porter’s five forces (see Useful links and Further reading below), competitor analysis or scenario planning etc. ◦Go to our SWOT analysis factsheet •DO incorporate your analysis within an ongoing process for monitoring changes in the business environment. •DON’T do this in isolation - a more effective result is obtained with multiple views. •DON’T jump to conclusions about the future based on the past or the present. •DON’T get bogged down in collecting vast amounts of detailed information without analysing and understanding your findings appropriately. When to use a PESTLE analysis PESTLE analysis can be used for business and strategic planning, marketing planning, organisational change, business and product development and research reports. It can also be used from a departmental or individual perspective to look at what you deliver, to whom and how you do it. To be effective a PESTLE needs to be undertaken on a regular or ongoing basis. Organisations that regularly and systematically do analyses often spot trends before others, thus providing competitive advantage. Business planning A PESTLE analysis is a useful document to have available at the start of a business planning process. It can provide the management team with background and context information about targets towards growth, new product development and brand positioning. The opportunities and threats identified can be fed into a SWOT process and strategies identified to avoid or minimise the impact of the threats, and equally strategies employed to build on the opportunities presented. Marketing planning As with business planning, a PESTLE analysis provides the essential element of ‘climate’ within a situation analysis phase of the marketing planning process. Product development It is often said that there are few ‘bad products’ but lots of wrong times and wrong places. As a PESTLE analysis provides a view of what is occurring in the external world, this will help when making the decision to enter or leave VGL Group • October 2015 | 13
an area of product development. For example, portable tape recorders are excellent devices, but a PESTLE analysis might show that socially and technologically MP3 technology is more acceptable. Equally, from an environmental point of view the manufacture of tapes requires the use of heavy chemicals and would be increasingly taxed and rejected by society.
Advantages and disadvantages of using a PESTLE analysis There are a number of advantages and disadvantages associated with using a PESTLE analysis. Advantages include: •It is a simple framework.
Organisational change When looking at changing one function or department a PESTLE analysis can be a powerful tool for understanding the context in which the change is occurring and the potential areas of focus. Best used in association with a SWOT analysis, a PESTLE will provide information about potential opportunities and threats around labour changes, for example skills shortages. Using the PESTLE to look at factors outside the function but still inside the organisation can highlight factors such as: •political: who is in what position, their power, vision, goals and directions etc. •economic: financial implications, productivity etc.
•It facilitates an understanding of the wider business environment. •It encourages the development of external and strategic thinking. •It can enable an organisation to anticipate future business threats and take action to avoid or minimise their impact. •It can enable an organisation to spot business opportunities and exploit them fully. Disadvantages include: •Some users over simplify the amount of data used for decisions – it is easy to use scant data. •To be effective this process needs to be undertaken on a regular basis.
•social: what is and is not acceptable within the culture •technological: new computer systems or other new technology •legal: changes to employment law, recruitment, visas etc. •environmental: the space available, what can or cannot be moved where etc. In this situation, a PESTLE analysis can be thought of more as an audit. It is best used at the data capture phase as part of a pre-planning process of any strategic intervention.
•The best reviews require different people being involved, each having a different perspective. •Access to quality, external data sources can be time consuming and costly. •The pace of change makes it increasingly difficult to anticipate developments that may affect an organisation in the future. •The risk of capturing too much data is that it may make it difficult to see the wood for the trees and lead to ‘paralysis by analysis’. •The data used in the analysis may be based on assumptions that subsequently prove to be unfounded (good and bad).
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Demandware Areas of this modernisation included how customers searched and paid for items, browsed and bid online and live TV Auctions. Along with the modernisation of the website, they also wanted to relaunch our mobile app. They realised the way people shopped is always evolving, their findings showed many people bought online, mainly using mobile devices and tablets. As a result of this ‘shop on the go’ trend, their app needed to be just as good as their website, to stay up to date and in touch with their customers preferred way of shopping.
Jithu Pettan Head of Digital, TJC
T
his month TJC relaunched its e-commerce platform on Demandware – a cloud-based e-commerce platform.
Earlier this year, TJC decided they needed to be a strong contender along with other teleshopping and ecommerce companies in the market, and it was apparent that this could only be achieved by upgrading the platform from a content management system to a modern ecommerce engine; through an experience more seamless, streamlined across laptop, tablet and mobile without changing the ‘feel’ of TJC.
TJC’s Online Auctions is a feature TJC’s customers love, so why not improve this aspect of the company too? Like their sister channel in America (The Liquidation Channel) they needed to improve the way people bid in TJC’s Online Auctions. With the relaunch, their Online Auctions now have new features such as; Watchlist, Auctions Won, Bid History and Favourites which allows customers to login, bid and manage their Auction Account all from one page. After a seven month long collaborative project between TJC IT and Digital teams within the UK and India, Demandware and their implementation team, www.tjc.co.uk went live… just take a look at the Website and updated mobile app!
VGL Group • October 2015 | 15
VGL India Chronicle!
Tribal jewels of India by Anubhuti Arora:
Raj Singh
AVP Operations, VGL India
S
ince last newsletter release we have made some noteworthy strides in sales initiatives, physical infrastructure and process automation. Our operation and production teams have worked relentlessly become more and more efficient and goal oriented, all the while maintaining high standards in our Core Values of Team Work, Honesty, Commitment, Passion and Positive Attitude.
Two New Brands We have come up with a plan to launch two new brands on our TV Channels- Royal Jaipur and Tribal Jewels. We ran auditions to select two Co-hosts- Samridhi Patni and Anubhuti Arora who will appear alongside our TV hosts to promote their respective brands they are helping to build.
Royal Jaipur Collection by Samridhi Patni:
Jaipur is chiefly known for its tradition and royalty. Jewelry of Jaipur therefore reflects magnificence and grandeur. Detailed motif work, nature inspired use of leaves, flowers, peacocks and geometrical patterns are Jaipur’s jewelry trademarks. Royal Jaipur Collection will introduce world to culture and colour of Jaipur city and Rajasthan state.
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| VGL Group • October 2015
There are many remote and discreet tribes in India which follow their own style and tradition. Tribal jewelry is made from locally available material and tools. Jewelry is handmade, as a result of which has irregular shapes and sizes. This rawness gives out rustic and earthy charm from them. We for our collection have covered ‘Rabari’ tribe from Gujarat, ‘Dhokra’ tribe from Orissa & West Bengal, ‘Kunbi’ tribe from Goa.
Cab Stone Manufacturing Step Towards Automation
For improving quality, quantity and speed of production we are turning our processes automatic one by one. We have recently procured cab stone manufacturing machine for automating cab stone production. Big rocks to small rough stones to smaller cab stones is how gemstones for cab stone machine are arrived at. This machine can produce 1500 pieces of soft-stones and more than 1000 pieces of hard-stones every day. Final touches are given by hand for now, however, we have plans to automate same very soon.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 17
Diamond Cut Jewelry We discussed launch of Diamond Cut process in last issue of this newsletter and since then Diamond cut jewelry has gained some traction and orders are expected to grow.
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Old is Gold & New Stars! We have great experienced mind working with us who have contributed their unwavering time and effort to bring this organization to the level we are at. With their experience and guidance they have systematized practices and processes to make our operations run smoothly. We thank all these people for their stellar support and motivation.
Gold of our Team
Ramavtar Yadav
He has 16 years of experience in handing Jewelry & Gems manufacturing. His contribution towards company has been remarkable. He has initiated Silver, Brass & Steel manufacturing and is managing production efficiently.
(DGM Production)
He is associated with VGL for last 18 year. He is taking care of stone sourcing and has great expertise in understanding of stones.
Babulal Sahu (AGM Stone)
He is associated with VGL for last 9 years. He has expertise in gemstones and is taking care of stone manufacturing from rough stones to finished stones.
Anil Mantri
He is associated with VGL for last 16 years. He handled production, customer orders and is now managing quality control department.
Chandan Saha
(Sr. Manager - Stone Manufacturing)
(Sr. Manager Quality)
He is taking care of VGL unit HR since September, 2004. He has successfully managed complex situations like labor strike, legal cases & recession.
He is associated with VGL since September, 2009. He has exposure in product designing & development and merchandizing.
Swamit Kumar Das (AGM Merchandizing)
Jeetendra Tank (DGM HR)
VGL Group • October 2015 | 19
He is associated with VGL since December 2011. Is managing commercial department presently.
He is taking care of Life style products sourcing and development of new suppliers. He is associated with VGL for last 5 years
Padmesh Sharma
Nand Kishore Agarwal
(Manager - LSP)
(Sr. Manager Commercial)
He has over 5 years of experience with VGL. Is taking care of EHS, security & special projects like SEZ.
He is taking care of Photography process of Asian locations. He joined VGL in March 2004. He has worked for advancement of photography processes & infrastructure. Has shot various product documentaries for VGL Group.
B.S Chauhan
Sanjiv Arora
(AGM EHS & Security)
(AGM, Studio)
New Stars Added in Team
He is taking care of Life style products sourcing in home textiles and development of new suppliers.
He is associated with VGL for over 3 years now. He managed EcommerceUK previously and currently he is heading business process & planning division.
Fazayal Shadmi (Manager – Business Process)
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| VGL Group • October 2015
ST Rajesh
(Sr. Manager - LSP)
Bhupendra is looking after production process for betterment of current processes. He has introduced automated wax injecting machine and other new processes to reduce cost in wax process.
Raghuveer is looking after stone procurement & planning. He is on constant look out for new sources and vendors to increase stone availability and faster procurement.
Raghuveer Patnala
Bhupendra Singh Rawat (Deputy Manager Production Process)
(Deputy Manager Gemstones)
Aroop is taking care of loss prevention in production process. He is analyzing entire production process to eliminate extra cost involved in the process.
Vineeth is looking after stone procurement from domestic and overseas markets. He is also playing important role in automation of stone manufacturing process.
Aroop Kumar
Vineeth Chandra
(Production Loss Prevention)
(Deputy Manager Gemstones)
He is handling infrastructure and maintenance processes. Currently he is playing important role in development of our new factory in SEZ. He is associated with VGL for over 2 years.
He is taking care of merchandizing team for liquidation channel and is working on various events & theme based merchandizing. He has initiated product
categorization,
and
processes
optimization.
(Deputy Manager Merchandizing)
(Deputy Manager Operations)
He has over 2 years of experience. He is handling awards, suggestions, EHS & Security processes. Currently he is playing important role in development of our new factory in SEZ.
He has total 2 years of experience with VGL. Is taking care of stone purchase from domestic and overseas markets.
(Manager – Gemstones)
mix,
Saurabh Jain
Madhukar Dubey
Shubham Jain
product
Rahul Agrawal (Asst. Manager – Operations)
VGL Group • October 2015 | 21
Stone Buyer Hunt Program We have an ongoing hunt for stone buyers. People, who love to explore and source, apply and we evaluate them for our buying roles across the globe.
Vendor Meet We organized Vendors Meet recently which appeared to be very successful. We invited all our vendors from all locations for one day meet. They visited our factory and went through all our processes. Meet was to make our expectations clear and to listen to their concerns.
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Success Stories!! One I am going to discuss here is of Ramesh Meena who we hired in pantry for distributing tea etc throughout our floors. After many years in same role Ramesh felt jaded and dispassionate. He was inspired by our CMD’s address and approached us with the idea of moving to Jewellery production. We were first a little unsure but
Pushpendra Singh Vice President, HR
kept our hesitation to ourselves and moved him anyway.
I
n our quest to bring maximum job gratification we have moved employees cross functionally to jobs
He has since been a fantastic performer at his new job and is awarded highest achiever award in his grade.
employees felt they could grow and excel at even
more. When talking about our Core Values in our Morning Assembly on Mondays our CMD, Sunil Agrawal, has prompted our employees to change to other jobs if they are losing interest or Passion in current job. This has led to formation and implementation of our Cross Functional and Cross Country Assignment Policy. We have had several success stories of people who accelerated in their career having changed to other more ambitious and challenging jobs.
It has been a mutually gratifying journey. Providing employees with means to turn their Passion in a great career is a very thrilling experience.
“
It has been a mutually gratifying journey. Providing employees with means to turn their Passion in a great career is a very thrilling experience”
HR Workshop We on 13th and 14th of August took our managers to a two days one night HR workshop at Pushkar. Purpose was to reinforce importance of Goal Setting for Team. We had managers set SMART (Specific Measurable Achievable relevant Time Bound ) goals for teams they are managing. We also covered topics like ‘how to be objective in rating team’, Nine Box etc. Incidentally, teams also had a chance to bond cross functionally post session over dinner.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 23
Don’t React, Respond our husband not being kind enough, and so on. There will always be external events that bother us, but if we learn to respond and not just react, we can make things better and not worse. React in action : We are uncomfortable with what is being said or done, and we react. Our emotions take a central role. Our face heats up and our defenses are on red alert. In fact, some people on the other side will intentionally stoke the fires, especially when they know we will react. There is a downside to reacting. We
Ghanshyam Gupta AGM, Corporate MIS, VGL
let emotions without reason drive us forward. We lose control. Reacting is sporadic and emotional. Respond in action : Responding, though, is more
M
uch of our life is spent in reacting to others and to events around us. The problem is that these reactions might not always be the best
course of action, and as a result, they can make others unhappy, make situations worse for us. Why would we want to make things worse? The truth
is we often react without thinking. It’s a gut reaction, often based on fear and insecurities. Let’s take a quick example: 1. React: Your child breaks something. You immediately react by getting angry, perhaps yelling, upsetting the child and yourself, worsening your relationship, not making anything better. 2. Respond: Your child breaks something. You notice your anger reaction, but pause, take a breath, and consider the situation. First response is to see if your child is OK — is she hurt, scared? Second, realize that the object that is broken, in the larger view, is not that important. Let it go, adjust to a world without it. Third, help her clean up, make a game of it, show her that mistakes happen and that it’s not something to dwell on. Fourth, calmly talk about how to avoid mistakes like that in the future, and give her a hug. This choice presents itself to us all the time, whether it’s our mother nagging us, our co-worker being rude, 24
| VGL Group • October 2015
thoughtful. Responses contain reasoning. Responding is guided less by emotion and more by logic. Responding may be passive in nature, as we are going second in a series. However, a response is more active, and it can change the direction of an interaction. Are there ways to help learning respond rather than react? 1. Breathing: By focusing on our breathing, we will bring our thinking under control. We may eliminate thoughts that gear us up. 2. When someone says something you don’t like, take a deep breath before speaking: Often our initial reaction gets us in trouble, it causes the other person or people to also get defensive and react, and then the cycle whirls out of control. We can stop this by taking a deep breath and considering our response, and what the other person might be trying to communicate 3.3. Appreciate that everyone is different: Our friends, family, colleagues, and even our acquaintances we bump into as we go through life will all have had different life experiences to us. So the next time someone says something that you totally disagree with and you find yourself feeling out of sorts, ask yourself if you can appreciate that this person is different from you. Not wrong necessarily, just different. Because after
all, wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same? Recently, One of my friend had a heated argument with our Admin officer over car parking. Although it was a regular issue but it turned serious as neither was ready to listen to either. Problem stood as it is only because both were busy reacting to each other! Similarly, I saw a manager deal with his two subs. One was defensive and was putting this manager visibly off whereas there was other who listened and responded with a proper justification which settled this manager down. The act of responding requires – • One to look at the circumstance, identify the problem or situation, hear what is happening and reflect. • That reflection can be for a moment, five seconds, one hour, two days or longer. The time frame doesn’t matter. What matters is that you stopped and put an effort to think and suspended judgment. It is a conscious act and shows that you are willing to listen or observe. • This ‘gap’ between the circumstance and your behavior is what contributes to gaining a sense of control in your life. Once a person can identify that in responding they actually have a choice in the manner, he/she will start to realize that they are able to make better decisions. The key is that pause. If the situation requires an immediate action, then just take a deep breath first. This alone can help one gain a semblance of control and make one choose an alternative statement or action that can make a big difference in an outcome of a situation. Thus the upside of a solid response is an engaging conversation, all positive and all civil.
We Learn, We Grow, We Listen, We Respond. Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settle and the water is clear?
VGL Group • October 2015 | 25
Studio Team at STS China
Before
Sanjiv Kumar Arora AGM, Studio
I
n my recent visit to China we remodeled our Photoshop processes which we believe will make it more systematic and efficient. We provided training
to team there on how to achieve desired output or goals. We are seeing improvements since then. We have
started communicating more and more for constant flow of information between India and China to stay tuned on new updates in technology and user requirements. Regular communication is also helping with feedback and suggestions that are very useful in improving quantity and quality of output. Teams too are feeling more engaged and productive. Our concerted efforts will not just sustain it but grow on it.
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| VGL Group • October 2015
After
Think Retail: Think Big, Global and Ahead! A team of Experts was chosen from the Buying and Finance Department. The team was mix & match of experienced people who know VGL Group Business as well as people who earlier worked across the world in the Retail domain. The key stakeholders were Nitin Dugar, Ankur Sogani, Reeta Sharma & Deepak Sharma. The active team members who were involved in the requirement gathering were: Michele King, Karen Wells, Robert Sleeper, Suraj Prasad, Satendra Singh, Jennifer Sims, Megan Lurvey, Avinash
Manoj Sharma
Project Manager, Corporate IT
Sharma, Anurag Maini, Khushiram Tak & Rajith Shetty During the visit the requirement was discussed and jotted down and further these requirements were discussed with the other locations of VGL Group.
D
uring May, my visit at Liquidation Channel was planned for Merchandizing Management Application.
This new software is related to
company vision of thinking deeply in terms of Retail
perspective and map the same with our existing softwarers.
visit at LC were: 1. LC Inventory Dashboard enhancements 2. Warehouse movement changes in WMS software Appreciate the support of the LC Business team over there. Learned a lot from seniors and my LC IT Team
The purpose of the visit was mainly to discuss the requirements
The other requirements which were discussed during my
of
the
Merchandizing
Management
Application like Product Hierarchy, Event planning, Purchase Order screen from Retail perspective, On
colleagues over there. Special Thanks to Charlie, Jose, Prasanta & Poonam (Poonam was a employee of IT) for their guidance time to time, during my stay at LC.
Order Report etc.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 27
Ten Gemstone Much Rarer Than Diamonds 8. Tanzanite The catchphrase you hear tossed around about tanzanite is that it’s 1000 times rarer than diamond, which it very well may be, considering that it’s found almost exclusively in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, and in limited supplies.
7. Benitoite
Marisha Gupta Asst. manager, ecom, VGl
P
eople say that diamonds are rare. I will discuss gemstones that are rarer. Here, I present to you a collection of ten of the rarest gemstones on Earth.
10. Painite In 2005, The Guinness Book of World Records called painite the world’s rarest gemstone mineral. First discovered in Myanmar by British mineralogist Arthur C. D. Pain in the 1950s, for decades there were only two known crystals of the hexagonal mineral on Earth; by 2005, there were still fewer than 25 known specimens
9. Alexandrite Alexandrite is renowned for its strange optical properties – it can actually undergo dramatic shifts in color depending on what kind of light it’s in. Its color-changing properties (and its scarcity relative to diamond) is due to an exceedingly rare combination of minerals that include titanium, iron and chromium.
28
| VGL Group • October 2015
This striking blue stone has only been found, as its name suggests, near the head waters of the San Benito River in San Benito County, California ( some sources say it has also been unearthed in limited quantities in Japan and Arkansas, but that these specimens are not “gemstone quality”), and is also the state’s official gem.
6. Poudretteite The first traces of poudretteite were discovered in the mid1960s in the Poudrette quarry of Mont Saint Hilaire, Quebec, but it wasn’t officially recognized as a new species of mineral until 1987, and wasn’t thoroughly described until as recently as 2003.According to some sources, it’s likely that few people will ever encounter a poudretteite specimen in person, and many will likely never even hear of it.
5. Grandidierite This bluish-green mineral is found almost exclusively in Madagascar, though the first (and, presumably, only) clean faceted specimen (described here) was recovered from Sri Lanka. Like alexandrite and tanzanite, grandidierite is pleochroic, and can transmit blue, green, and white light.
4. Red Diamonds
2. Jeremejevite
Technically speaking, red diamonds are diamonds, but they serve to highlight the fact that that diamonds actually come in a range of colors. They are, in order of rarity: yellow, brown, colorless, blue, green, black, pink, orange, purple and red.
First discovered in Siberia at the end of the 19th century, gemquality crystals of jeremejevite (i.e. minerals large and clear enough to be cut to shape) have since been recovered in limited supplies in Namibia. Pictured here is jeremejevite that has formed in a rare clearcrystal form, the largest faceted jeremejevite on Earth.
3. Musgravite This mineral was first discovered in 1967 at the Musgrave Range in South Australia, but has shown up in limited quantities in Greenland, Madagascar, and Antarctica. The very first specimen that was actually large and pure enough to be cut to shape wasn’t reported until 1993, and, as of 2005, only eight such specimens are believed to exist.
1. Red Beryl Red beryl (aka bixbite, “red emerald,” or “scarlet emerald”) was first described in 1904, and while it is closely related on a chemical level to both emerald and aquamarine, it is considerably rarer than both. The mineral’s known distribution is limited to parts of Utah and New Mexico, and has proven exceptionally difficult to mine in an economically feasible fashion. As a result, some published estimates say rubies of similar quality (rubies being a rare gem, themselves), are roughly 8000 times as plentiful as any given red beryl specimen.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 29
Synthetics pose a threat to natural diamond industry But the diamond industry is stepping up action and technology to protect against the mixing of synthetics and natural diamonds in the market. In a corner of the trading floor on the Israel Diamond Exchange, one of the world’s largest diamond markets, in Ramat Gan near Tel Aviv, a worker operates a new machine developed by the Gemological Institute of America, offering to test any diamond if a buyer is unsure of its origin.
Prithvi Raj Singh Executive, Merchandising, VGL
D
iamonds are a girl’s best friend – but only if they are natural. That is the message mining companies and luxury jewelers are keen to instill
in consumers as the diamond trade faces a growing challenge from the production of synthetic diamonds. Global diamond jewelry sales are worth more than $72
De Beers is owned by Anglo American and is the world’s
billion a year, according to the World Diamond Council,
largest supplier of rough diamonds by value. It has just
and jewelers like Tiffany and diamond miners led by De
developed an Automated Melee Screening instrument
Beers stress that a jewel mined at great expense, and
that can test large parcels of small diamonds at a rate
often with great risk, is much more valuable than one
of 360 stones per hour.
made by man. But it can be hard to tell the difference. Synthetic
Depending on whom you ask synthetic diamonds trade
diamonds can be manufactured in a laboratory to the
at 20 to 50 percent less to the natural stones. In the
extent that they have the same properties as natural
past two years reports have popped up of undisclosed
ones, raising the risk that a synthetic product could one
mixing, breeding a level of mistrust within the diamond
day inadvertently end up in a luxury jeweler’s showroom.
supply chain. Chemically, physically and optically they are the same, said Tom Moses, chief laboratory and
Synthetic diamond production is still small: annual output of gem-quality rough synthetic diamonds is less than 350,000 carats, a fraction of the 125 million carats of natural gem-quality rough, according to India’s Natural Diamond Monitoring Committee. Synthetic diamonds are increasingly used for industrial purposes, and higher quality lab-produced diamonds are used in jewelry. What worries the industry is their use in jewelry without disclosure. 30
| VGL Group • October 2015
research officer at the GIA, which grades and evaluates
And they were not “ordinary” synthetics, but included
diamonds. The only difference is how they are formed –
“impurities,
one underground over a couple billion years, the other
introduced in the synthetic production process not to
in a lab over two to three days. The GIA has discovered
make the stone more beautiful but solely to make the
undeclared lab-grown diamonds, Moses said, but
stone look more natural,” the institute said.
which
were
apparently
intentionally
“fortunately, it’s a very small number of instances.” Lisa Bissell, chief executive at New York-based Pure Rapaport, however, cites a case in China when someone
Grown Diamonds, a leading distributor of lab-produced
obtained an authentic GIA grading report of an existing
diamonds for jewelry, said the synthetic diamond sector
diamond and created a synthetic diamond to match it
was still in its infancy. Her company recently changed
exactly. The industry has experience of having to protect
its name from Gemesis to highlight that its stones were
the market. Conflict diamonds, or “blood diamonds” –
synthetic not natural.
diamonds produced in countries such as Angola or Sierra Leone that have been used to fund violent conflicts –
“Differentiation or disclosure is the base of the diamond
have been a particular and much-publicized problem.
industry, of which we all are equal participants,” she
International pressure on governments and the diamond
said.
industry to take action to eliminate conflict diamonds
Part of the appeal of lab-produced diamonds, she said,
from international trade has had some success, although
is that consumers can be sure they are buying diamonds
the problem has not been wiped out entirely. Tackling
that are “sustainable, certified and conflict-free.”
the undisclosed mixing of synthetic diamonds may be
Traders of natural diamonds say sentiment will always
an even bigger challenge because the product is so
set their product apart.
sophisticated. De Beers itself is involved in synthetic diamond “How can you trust your supplier? What is your supply
production, strictly for industrial use.
chain like? The issue isn’t just if the diamonds are involved in human rights abuses anymore,” Rapaport
It owns Element Six, which makes synthetics for uses
said. “This whole idea of trust within the industry, this is
such as synthetic diamond sensors in radiation therapy
now being raised to a much higher level than it ever was
and synthetic diamond cutters for oil and gas drilling,
before.” One case that caused a stir was in 2012 when the
and says the stone’s exceptional hardness compared
lab of the International Gemological Institute a certifier
with other materials and its high resistance to thermal
of diamonds, like the GIA – in Antwerp uncovered in a
shock, among other properties, make it an ideal
parcel of about 1,000 small diamonds believed to be
industrial material.
natural, but more than 600 of which were man-made.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 31
TEAM WORK- An experience at VGL!! ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL!!
What Is a Team? A widely understood and interesting concept in teamwork is: • T - Together • E - Everyone • A - Achieves • M – More
Karan Jain
Executive, Internal Audit, VGL
W
hen we join Vaibhav Global Limited, we are made to undergo the formal induction process wherein we are educated about the company, its people, processes and business outlook. Right from the beginning we are told about the Core values of the company which our CMD has defined for the conduct of employees. These are Teamwork, Honesty, Commitment, Passion and Positive attitude. These values are not only visible on the walls of the company but also can be seen in the way people work in the various departments. I joined as an executive in the Internal Audit Team in Corporate Finance & Accounts department recently. We are 6 member team led by our team leader Group Internal Auditor Mr. Unnat Gautam. Speaking of team, I would like to share my views and experience about one of our core values “Teamwork”. Also, there is one vital part of teamwork which I have understood, whether in dealing with a personal or business situation. I realized that it is extremely important to show respect to our teammates on every level. There cannot be smooth sailing and resolution when there is an apparent lack of respect among team members. Every member is different in his ways. They all have experiences in their lives that have given them unique opinions and perspectives on different situations. Thus, the base of our team is in respecting the work and views of each other.
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| VGL Group • October 2015
The concept of ‘Together Everyone Achieves More’ itself conveys the importance of teamwork at the workplace. Company leaders have recognized the benefit that comes from having employees work in formal teams. This has been the culture at VGL which I have experienced in a lot of ways. Specially, within our Internal Audit Team, our routine tasks are based on Teamwork, whether it is assisting the external auditors such as ICFR, Internal Auditors, or solving their queries by coordinating with the various user department, or even if writing an article for a Newsletter. I would like to mention few examples on Teamwork from the assignments in detail: • RCM Audit: Earlier our Internal Audit Team assisted external auditors for framing up the Risk control matrix for various departments in which various controls regarding company operations were identified. In the RCM report, various fail controls were identified within the company. So, IA team took the initiative to rectify the same. We teamed up with the concerned departments for which controls were lacking, assisted them in the process of rectifying the gaps. Now, all such controls are rectified and same are being reviewed on regular basis by our team. • ICFR Audit: Due to the requirement of new provisions incorporated in The Companies Act’2013, VGL-India appointed third party auditors for the testing of financial controls within the company. Since this was the first time for us as well as the auditors in our company, this task needed to be understood by everyone which made it challenging to get finished within the time limits. At Phase I of this audit, process controls and risks needed to be identified at each department level which required the platform of understanding between those auditors and user departments. So, this was very well supported by our IA team.
We acted as a bridge for the task. As a team, we helped the ICFR auditors in conducting their audit by addressing their issues, providing & arranging them information, facilitating the meetings with the respective department and assisting them in walk-through of processes. Thus in a way we teamed up with the ICFR auditors and also with the user department wherever necessary. As a result, the task was finished smoothly within time.
about 70 champions were identified at VGL India level. It was well supported and guided by the experience of Mr. Unnat Gautam, Mr. Rakesh Patni and Mr. Rajendra Khowal at each step. It was amazing to see the teamwork among the Special Team and VGL Champions for about 16 departments including approximately 40 sub-processes in 10 days period in Phase I.
•THE VSOP TASK: We have Vaibhav Standard Operating Procedures in place as written documentation of the work performed at various departments at VGL. But from quite some time, a task was pending to be executed regarding the updating of the VSOPs. The main problem was the lack of ownership of the task among the users. Recently, this task was taken up by our CIO Mr. Charlie Curnow and he asked about the business processes. Under this, a Champion scheme was taken in which every department was asked to identify a Biz Champion who will help a special team to execute the task. This Special Team was responsible for the creation of VSOPs. It was a consortium of 4 people with 2 members each from Corporate IT and our Internal Audit Team. Also,
Thus, it can be understood that Teamwork is the essence of any task. At last I would like to conclude by saying that when you look at each team situation as an opportunity to learn, you will find it much easier to work with co-members better then strangers. Ask questions and choose to learn from those who have more experience. Even a leader can learn from team members because so many people have such diverse backgrounds and key users in their own field/ area. Mold yourself into an expert by watching others do what they do and learn from them. Keep an open mind at all times, and utilize each member of the team for their unique perspectives.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 33
SWACHH BHARAT MSSION An initiative that our Prime Minister took but did we?? our country our home?! We are the same Indians who when traveling/living outside India would take utmost care not to drop even a toffee wrapper on the roadside. We are the very ones who love to keep our own house clean but wouldn’t mind dumping our wastes into our neighbor’s compound.
UnnAT GAUTAm
AGM, Group internal Auditor, VGl
A
clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150 birth anniversary in 2019, said Shri Narendra Modi as he launched the initiative “Swachh Bharat Mission” at Rajpath in New Delhi. On 2nd October 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission was launched throughout length and breadth of the country as a national movement. Shri Narendra Modi himself initiated the cleanliness drive at Mandir Marg Police Station. Picking up the broom to clean the dirt, making Swachh Bharat Abhiyan a mass movement across the nation, the Prime Minister said people should neither litter, nor let others litter. He gave the mantra of ‘Na gandagi karenge, Na karne denge.’ Shri Narendra Modi also invited nine people to join the cleanliness drive and requested each of them to draw nine more into the initiative.
By inviting people to participate in the drive, the Swachhta Abhiyan has turned into a National Movement. A sense of responsibility has been evoked among the people through the Clean India Movement. With citizens now becoming active participants in cleanliness activities across the nation, the dream of a ‘Clean India’ once seen by Mahatma Gandhi has begun to get a shape. But the point is most of us are aware of the above initiative and we all have discussed it at some point. But actually how many of us have taken the initiative on our own and done something for our society. I am sure not most of us. We do have excuses like this is the job of the authorities and government, we don’t have time etc. But then why do we complain if we are not willing to do so. Is the garbage in our society dumped by government? Only we are responsible for this. When our houses get dirty who cleans them?? Ask yourself! Isn’t our society, 34
| VGL Group • October 2015
Talking about all this, I would like to share my personal experience with you, which is related to our colony I am staying at 52, Shanti Niketan Colony, Opp. Ahinsa Park, Barkat Nagar Jaipur and a well-developed garden is just in front of my house named “Ahinsa Park”. But for last 10 years the area beside the perimeter wall of the garden was used for garbage dumping. Not only our colony residents but even some of other adjoining colonies residents were used to throw garbage there. It was not just an eyesore and emanated awful stink but was also breeding ground for many kinds of germs. We approached local and state level government authorities like Councilor/ Corporator (Parshad), MLA, NGO’s & A Club (which is run by senior citizens visiting park), but no one took interest to resolve it. We 5 residents then came together and planned to execute this task of cleaning area around the park by ourselves. We had pick up truck, sweepers etc arranged by our own efforts. This picture here will show you how it looked before and looks after. Apart from my contribution to the initiative of “Swachh Bharat Mission” I have also shared this story to make you all aware about our core values, which we have put in this task: • Teamwork: We made a team and worked together to clean/ get clean the place. We made team of both young and old people. Decisions were taken unanimously. • Honesty: Everyone was honest with each other. • Commitment: Everyone was committed about his duties to execute his task. We made 6 joint teams of young and old who gave services for 3 hours a day to prevent people from dumping garbage at the site. • Passion: Everyone was passionate about his work and gave his best efforts to clean the place. • Positive Attitude: All of us stood united and positive even when our plea got rejected and did not buckle down in face of pressure from administration/ police/ ward authorities. I would like to welcome you to visit this site, hope you can also make the difference and can contribute in PM Narendra Modi’s passionate dream of “Swachh Bharat Mission”. I have already shared this story on JAM and have also prepared a Facebook page where you can find more pictures of progress. If you want to visit, please go
through below link. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swachh-Bharat-Abhiyaan/889079164513502 India is our country, our home and it is our responsibility to keep it clean and tidy. Carrying your garbage/waste wrappers half a kilometer with you till you can find a dustbin to dispose it off wouldn’t cost you much of energy or trouble. Just like one doesn’t spit on the walls of one’s own house, it is our moral duty not to spit on the public property of our country. Our surroundings and our way of life is the impression foreign tourists carry from India. We should all be ambassadors of our country.
“Miracle does not happen, together we can make it happen”
VGL Group • October 2015 | 35
STS China Update
Salil Sud
VP Operations, STS Gems LTd.
N
i Hao team VGL. The second quarter at STS China was filled with it’s share of activity. Some of the key highlights of this period were as followsWe had the buying teams from the different locations vist us. We have taken some major new initiatives to upgrade our infrastructure and strengthen our quality control and warehousing facilities. We had two big HR team activities, our annual team outing and our annual Sports Day.
Starting the Buying trips, the first to come this quarter was the Lifestyle team from LC Austin. We were happy to host Deepak Sharma, Karen, Michelle and Robert who were over to do their Autumn Winter buying for the Beauty, Fashion Accessories, Home Décor and Home Textile Categories. We had a fruitful trip with the teams covering some 9 cities in the 10 odd days that they were here. The next to visit us were Ankur from LC and Amit from TJC followed by Julie, Yi Shi and Zahid from TJC UK . Again all very constructive and fruitful trips, all the buyers put in their 100 % and have ordered products all the way up till Christmas. On the China merchandising side some good coordination by Sherry, Jacky, Cindy, Fanny, Victor, Kammy, Annie and their teams. The second key highlight this quarter was the decision to set up our own independent office cum warehouse facility in Yiwu. With the growth of the NJP categories the Yiwu region is becoming more and more critical for the group. This facility in Yiwu would service orders placed not only in the Yiwu region but also Hangzhou, 36
| VGL Group • October 2015
Ningbo, Juji, Shanghai and Beijing to name a few key cities. Basically the entire belt from Yiwu upwards till Beijing in the north and Shanghai in the east. To give you some context Beijing and Shanghai are 2.5 to 3 hour flights from the Panyu office and just an hour and a half by fast train from Yiwu making thing logistically very practical from a QC and consolidation perspective. This region is important for all our categories but most importantly is the Hub for Home Textiles, Fashion Accessories and Home Décor. In the past we were dependent on a 3rd party to do our Quality Control, warehousing and container consolidation. With this facility coming into play we will be taking all this in our own hands. I am confident that this new facility will drastically help improve the quality control process and our supply chain efficiencies with better warehousing and container consolidation. Credit for this idea and implementing the same goes to our GM operations in China, Yatin Kharbanda. Lastly as mentioned we had two major HR activities this quarter. The team outing which was an overnight trip to a beach resort in Shenzhen. This idea was proposed by the China Senate committee. Was a great trip some highlights being, HR team building activities, a lovely barbeque on the beach, a midnight Karaoke event that highlighted some hidden talent, floating candle lit wish lanterns released in the midnight sky, fun activities on the beach and a lot of camaraderie. The second HR activity was the Annual Sports day. Again a fun filled event organized in a beautiful indoor stadium which was a part of the infrastructure used during the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou China. The entire office, some 100 plus people, had been divided into 4 teams competing against each other. The day was filled with fun activities like Badminton Tournaments, Group Skipping competitions. A four stage fun relay and Tug of War to name a few. We had some great sportsmanship on display along with team spirit, fun and frolic. The day ended with the winning teams being given commemorative certificates. Great effort by Rex, Fany Lou and the entire HR and Admin team. That’s it from the China desk for this quarter. Signing off with a commitment that the team in China is geared up and will give its 100% to support the group in fulfilling its objectives and executing all the new initiatives that we have taken up.
STS Gems Fun Bulletin! First stop was lunch, we had our lunch in mixed group and it was fun to know more about people from other teams. Whole afternoon we had team building sessions as we set out with theme of Trust and Teamwork. After the team building session, we all decided to go swimming at the beach, had the barbeque party at the beach front, karaoke and dances at night time, stroll at the beach till dawn. everybody was so happy that few people slept as most of us were at the beach front enjoying sound of waves and bright starry sky.
Anubha Choudhary
Asset writing supervisor, sTs Gems Ltd.
S
TS Gems limited had a blast last June 2015 because we had a one night beach outing for the entire company at Xi Chong, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province China. All employees were very excited that we were getting a chance to spend time together in a noncorporate setting and enjoy summer season. On the first day, we all gathered on the ground floor of our office at 7:30 am and from there we set out in two big buses. All employees were so excited that no one arrived late. It was a long fun drive because employees rendered songs after songs and did stand-up comedy, yes… surprisingly.
On the second day, we all went to experience the sunrise and rainbow at the beach, it was really awesome to experience such phenomenon. Then we went for island hopping and seashell picking and had breakfast at the beach front. We took a morning walk on the beach and some swam a bit before we started back for home. We concluded this trip with much fun, and renewed love and trust for one another. These type of activities help improve team dynamics and trust besides increasing individual commitment resulting in positive synergy.
STS Gems limited held a sport festival on August 22, 2015. 1, The game…badminton craze for the whole company and Part 2 – fun parlor games.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 37
Part 1: two divisions were created, man and woman mixed badminton doubles and women’s badminton doubles. Many colleagues of ours took part in this colorful event and that same day, we again…became kids…players poured their hearts out for the love of the game. Players were at their best during elimination round, they hit hard, ran back and forth the badminton court and dived to the floor as they tried to outplay each other. The heat was up as finals entered into the picture because this is the stage where you separate boys from men and girls from the women. The game was played at a high level of intensity, leaving no room for errors. But in the end, somebody has to win and others, well…better luck next time. Here are the winners who did shine like stars during those triumphant moments:
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Man and Woman mixed badminton doubles badminton doubles 1. Jerry Li & Rita Huang - Our champion 1. Chasy Chen & Yen He - Our Champion 2. Victor Rong & Elva He - 2nd placer 2. Janet Chen & Meilian Feng – 2nd placer 3. Salil Sud & Crystal Mo - 3rd placer 3. Sally Xie & Shirley Wang – 3rd placer 4. Jason Liang & Jo Sun – 4th placer 4. Yan Li & Xiaomei Jiang – 4th placer
Women’s
Part 2: fun parlor games such as chicken run, relay race, a group of 10 jumping rope and tug of war were prepared as games. The entire company was devided into 4 Groups, Group 1 - Green, Group 2 - Orange, Group 3 - Red and Group 4 – Blue. Everyone participated in these exhausting, but fun games.
Group event results: 1. Group 1 Green team – Our Champion, 1st placer at chicken run (tied with Group 4), 1st place at rely race, 2nd place at jumping rope and 2nd place at tug of war. 2. Group 2 Orange team – 2nd placer, 2nd place in chicken run (tied with Group 3), 2nd place at rely race (tied with Group 4), 3rd place at jumping rope and 3rd place at tug of war. 3. Group 4 Blue team – 3rd placer, 1st placer at chicken run , 2nd place at rely race, 4th placer at jumping rope and 1st place at tug of war.
4. Group 3 Red team – 4th placer, 2nd place at chicken run , 3rd place at rely race, 1st place at jumping rope and 4th placer at tug of war. After the games, everyone congratulated everyone for what their respective group had achieved. It was not about who won the games, it’s all about how you played the games. Team work on display at its best! Tired but smiling faces and joyful hearts were on display that day. We are all hoping to have more of such events! STS Gems Limited………YOU ROCK!!!
VGL Group • October 2015 | 39
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| VGL Group • October 2015
The Importance of Story Telling in Electronic Retail
Melon Li
Story writing team, STS Gems Ltd.
M
aking a product and selling it are two different things. If we are not sure about the tastes of our customers or we are not emotionally connected to our customer while selling our products, then all efforts made in creating the product can be in vain. That is why Storytelling is a critical part of our business model. At VGL, we are not just selling products, we are in the business of spreading happiness and smiles. Reason, our products are often presented as gifts to others or are a special purchase for oneself. In the TV shopping and electronic retail model, unlike ground retail, customers cannot touch and feel a product so it becomes very important that we communicate the key features and highlights of these to the end user. By using more relevant selling points, not only will our
products be appealing, we also create an attraction for customer to buy the same. When description vividly mirrors the piece, it creates an impulse to buy and makes them pick up their phones and order. Good selling points can connect customer’s feelings with products which makes the product more of a meaningful belonging than an ornamental accessory, like a reminder of happy moments, special feelings and memorable experiences. For example, a gift for Mother Day has the relevance of appreciating and acknowledging your mother that she is special and is a small way of showing your gratitude for all the sacrifices she has made. Storytelling in electronic retail is the art of good salesmanship. Key attributes or story points help make the connect between the show host and the customers in their living rooms.
VGL Group • October 2015 | 41
VGL Group Half Yearly Management Committee Meeting (MCM) September 2015
42
| VGL Group • October 2015
Great participation and discussions resulted in solid plan of action for H2 in recently concluded management meeting at Jaipur. We are all set to make a solid come back!
VGL Group • October 2015 | 43
Achievement!!
JNA Awards 2015 presented Vaibhav Global Ltd.
Another feat to be proud of! JNA Awards 2015 presented Vaibhav Global Ltd with the honor of E-tailer of the year as we featured among Top 3 nominations in the category.
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| VGL Group • October 2015
Photograph Submissions Anil Mantri
Dinesh Yadav
a Marisha Gupt
VGL Group • October 2015 | 45
a
Rahul Sharm
h
Ravinder Sing
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| VGL Group • October 2015