PRATIBIMB The Reflection of Management FINANCE | GENERAL MANAGEMENT | HUMAN RESOURCE | MARKETING | HEALTHCARE | OPERATIONS | SYSTEMS
LIBOR’s Labour’s Lost
By Anuj Narula and Prakash Nishtala, NMIMS Mumbai
Book Review of The Google Story
By Madhukara Holla , TAPMI
Exclusive Interview of Mr. Sanat Satyan
Research Associate, Equity Research - Oil & Gas sector, Nomura
Mass vs. Class: Branding for BOP Revisited
By Unnikrishnan Nair and Utkarsh Sachdeva, TAPMI
A Students’ Initiative Pratibimb | October 2012 | 1
Volume II, Issue XIV
October 2012
A Monthly e-Magazine
T. A. Pai Management Institute Manipal, Karnataka
About TAPMI T. A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) is a premier management institute situated in Manipal and is well known for its academic rigor and faculty-student interaction. The Institute has been recently ranked amongst top 1 per cent of B-schools in India and 4th in the South Zone by The Week Magazine. Founded by the visionary, Late Shri. T. A. Pai, TAPMI‖s mission is to provide much needed impetus to the task of building professional management capability in the country. In the process, it has also played a role in strengthening the existing educational and health infrastructure of Manipal.
Our Mission Team Pratibimb is committed to excellence in post graduate management education, research and practice by nurturing and developing global wealth creators and leaders. We shall continually benchmark ourselves against the best-in-class institutions. We shall foster continuous learning and reflection, achievement-orientation, creative interdependence, and respect for diversity with a holistic concern for ethics, environment and society.
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PRATIBIMB TAPMI‖s e-Magazine - is the conglomeration of the various specializations in MBA (Marketing, Finance, HR, Systems and Operations). It is primarily intended to provide insights into the plethora of knowledge that relate to the various departments of Management and to give an opportunity to the students of TAPMI and the best brains across country to exhibit their creative cells. The magazine also strives to bring expert inputs from industries, thereby bringing the academia and industry together. Pratibimb the e-Magazine of TAPMI had its first issue in December 2010. The issue comprised of an interview of well known writer Ms. Rashmi Bansal along with a series of articles by students and industry experts like Madhu Sudan Rao (AVP-Delivery, Mahindra Satyam) & Ed Cohen who is a global leader and chief learning officer who led Booz Allen Hamilton & Satyam Computer Services to the first rank globally for learning & development . It also included a hugely successful and engrossing game for finance geeks called “Beat the Market� to bring out the application based knowledge of students by providing them the platform where they were expected to predict the stock prices of two selected stocks on a future date. The magazine is primarily intended for the development of all around management knowledge by providing unbiased critical insights into the modern developments. TAPMI believes that learning is a continuous process and is not limited to the four walls of the classroom. This viewpoint is further enhanced through Pratibimb wherein students manage and contribute to create a refreshing learning environment outside the classrooms which eventually leads to a holistic development process. The magazine provides a competitive platform and opportunity to the students where they can compete with the best brains from various B-Schools in the country. The magazine also provides a platform for prominent industry stalwarts to communicate their views and learning about and from the recent developments from their respective fields of business which in turn helps to create a collaborative learning base for its readers. Team Pratibimb is committed in continuing this initiative by bringing in continuous improvement in the magazine by including quality articles related to various management issues and eventually creating a more engaging relationship with its readers by providing them a platform to showcase their talent. We invite all the best brains across B-Schools to be part of this initiative and help us take this to the next level.
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Director’s Message
It is always a pleasure to witness that certain efforts of the students are sustained and carried forward; Pratibimb is one such. The oft-beaten track, “We are here to learn,” ends up as a mere platitude when there are no visible actions and documentation. Whereas there is no dearth of actions at TAPMI, documentation is not something that many—other than scholars—choose to engage in; it is normally viewed as uninteresting, drab and a drudgery. TAPMIans have proved that they are equally capable of actions and of documentation without losing the intellectual flavour of it. Scholarship is too important a phenomenon to be left to scholars alone, especially in the field of management. As future practicing managers who will be engaged in rigorous action in different fields of business, TAPMIans have manifested both the penchant to produce research works and also get their counterparts in other leading business schools to contribute their thoughts to this endeavour. In this regard, TAPMIans have truly demonstrated the evidence for creative interdependence, an important aspect of TAPMI‖s mission. I sincerely appreciate the students and the faculty of TAPMI who have made Pratibimb a possibility through their scholarly works, co-ordination efforts and support. I wish the team the very best. Dr. R. C. Natarajan
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Editor’s Corner Dear Readers, UPA’s economic blitzkrieg perfectly coincided with a special event on campus. Described as “a true corporate event which had far too many variables to be managed” – Horizon 2012, the annual finance conclave of TAPMI conducted on 22nd September was a grand success. Mr Sushil Shah (Head – Banking and Finance, First Source) also adds that TAPMIANS have “displayed an excellent temperament in running the program, something which is critical in corporate careers”. Horizon 2012 saw the participation of eminent persons from the area of finance who engaged in panel discussions and guest lectures. Team Pratibimb would like to thank Nishith Maheshwari of PGP-2 who is an active member of the Finance Forum for sharing his experience in this issue and Jayakrishnan T R of PGP-2 who has sought an exclusive interview from fellow alumnus Mr Sanat Satyan (PGDM 2008, Senior Analyst, Nomura) on the sidelines of the conclave. At the Late Show with Dave Letterman, British Prime Minister David Cameron jokingly narrated how his government has ‘shamelessly’ leveraged the success of the London Olympics to bring in investors. Sankalp Parihar and Kirti Dua’s article Marketing Lessons from London Olympics looks at the event with a different view. Britain’s PR strategy may have worked at last and it is especially a refreshing change from the moribund Royal ceremonies. This issue’s Best Article Contest winners are TAPMIANS Unnikrishnan Nair and Utkarsh Sachdeva who have thoroughly analysed the BoP segments in India in their article Mass vs. Class: Branding for BoP Revisited - debunking common myths that marketers harbour. On behalf of our entire team, I wish to congratulate them on their wonderful piece. Teeming with variety, the October edition has a rich assortment of items. Second year student Madhukara Holla offers a spectacular starter kit to “the Google Phenomenon” in his review of the bestseller – The Google Story. Harsha Vatnani has shared her valuable experiences from the HCL Emerging Women Leaders Conference which she attended at NOIDA and Chandrakumar N, the key person who, along with his team, bore the herculean responsibility of hosting DISHA, TAPMIs annual HR conclave also shares his personal learning from the 2-day event. Team Pratibimb would like to thank Utkarsh Sachdeva. Utkarsh, PGP-2, has been instrumental in helping our team with deployment of a project management tool which has streamlined much of our processes. Our lead times have fallen thanks to his technocratic prowess! Stay updated, like our page to hear more from us at http://www.facebook.com/pratibimb.reflecting.management
We would like to thank all faculty members who have provided their valuable feedback to help maintain the standards we have strived to achieve. Also, send in your valuable suggestions or feedback to pratibimb@tapmi.edu.in Enjoy Reading! ~ Sushmit Sinha
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Editor in Chief Sushmit Sinha Marketing & Advertising Manish Mishra Design Abhishek Dubey Creative & Cover Design Namrata Mahapatra Communications Divyanshu Varun Anant Sub-Editors Abhishek Raghupungav Aditya Bhat Arun Stephen Devi Kailas Kannan Venkat Pallavi Prasad Rithwik Krishnakumar Publishing Vandna Soni Faculty Advisors Prof. Chowdari Prasad Dean (Branding and Promotions)
Prof. Vinod Madhavan Asst. Prof. , Marketing
Prof. Srivatsa H S Associate Prof. , Marketing
Prof. Vrishali N Bhat Asst. Prof. , Economics & Finance
Prof. Animesh Bahadur Asst. Prof. , Human Resources
Prof. Sanjay Choudhari Asst. Prof. , Operations
Prof. Mohan Kumar V Associate Prof. , Systems
Contents Indian Logistics The Way Forward – Challenges & Opportunities
7
LIBOR‖s Labour‖s Lost
10
Marketing Lessons from Olympics London 2012
13
by Md Umair Ansari & Rahul Jain, IIFT
by Anuj Narula and Prakash Nishtala, NMIMS Mumbai
by Sankalp Singh Parihar & Kriti Dua, Great Lakes Institute of Management
Mass vs. Class: Branding for BOP Revisited
16
Personalization: 8th P of Service Industry
21
Interview : Mr. Sanat Satyan
24
by Unnikrishnan Nair and Utkarsh Sachdeva, TAPMI
by Arpit Bansal, SIMS, Pune
Research Associate, Equity Research - Oil & Gas sector, Nomura
Disha 2012 : The Learning Experience
27
Horizon 2012: Money Matters
30
Book Review: The Google Story
33
Experiences at the HCL Conference
35
by Chandrakumar N, TAPMI
by Nishith Maheshwari, TAPMI
By Madhukar Holla, TAPMI
by Harsha Vatnani , TAPMI
Slideshare by Sahil Anand , TAPMI Pratibimb | October 2012 | 6
37
Indian Logistics The Way Forward – Challenges & Opportunities by Md Umair Ansari and Rahul Jain, IIFT
Logistics Sector in India: The logistics sector in India has today become a key performance indicator of the economy. One of the primary reasons for it is that years of high growth in the Indian economy has resulted in a significant rise in the volume of freight traffic moved. This large volume of traffic has opened up new growth opportunities in all facets of logistics including transportation, warehousing, freight forwarding, express cargo delivery, container services, shipping services etc. According to the World Bank‖s Logistic Performance Index (LPI), India is ranked 39th place among 150 countries of the world.
Logistics cost is 13% of India’s GDP in comparison to 11% in Europe and 9% in the U.S. “ “
Growth in Freight Volumes in India Size of Logistics Industry in India: Various estimates put the total market size of the logistics sector in India to be between USD 90-125 billion. Sources also estimate that the logistics sector employs over 4 5 million people in India.
Country Wise Comparative Analysis of Logistics Sector Source: Thomas Weisel International Estimates; Agile Advisory; IIM.ac.in
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Why Logistics sector is important to India‖s Economic growth: Logistics cost is 13% of India‖s GDP in comparison to 11% in Europe and 9% in the U.S. There is no doubt that in India, an increasing demand is being placed on the logistics sector to provide solutions which are required to support future growth. Indian Logistics Industry Structure: The logistics sector in India operates in the following four broad segments, they are depicted in the chart below: Future Outlook of Logistics sector in India: The industry is expected to grow annually at the rate of 15 - 20 per cent, reaching revenues of approximately $ 385bn by 2015. Market share of organised logistics players is also expected to double to 12 per cent by 2015. Third party logistics (3PL) business in India is anticipated to hit US$ 90mn by 2012.
why the Indian logistics sector prefers road over rail for transportation of goods Important rail networks are oversaturated. There has been no significant capacity addition to Indian Rail since Independence (Refer the graph below) Rail freight tariffs are comparatively higher Transit times are long and uncertain Rail terminal quality is poor Less flexibility in carrying different types of Products Railway carriage not easy for industries which cannot provide full train loads
Comparative analysis of the Freight rate increase of Indian Rail over the years.
Source: Thomas Weisel International Estimates; Agile Advisory
Key Challenges of the Indian Logistics Industry Transportation related challenges: The predominant mode of transportation of freight cargo in India is roads. In India nearly 61% of the cargo is transported by road, 30% by rail and rest by airways, inland waterways and pipelines. This as compared to a 37% share of road in USA and 22% in China. This is a well known fact that movement of bulk cargo by road is always less efficient as compared to rail.
Issues plaguing the Road Transportation in India: The road movement in India has its own shares of problems. Those problems are summarized below: Coverage of road network is inadequate Quality of the roads is inadequate Expressway road network is in its infancy stage Delays due to multiple checkpoint Challenges faced by Air Transport: Given below are the strategic challenges of the Logistics Industry vis-a-vis air transport Rising Air Turbine Fuel (ATF) prices Ever growing congestion at Airports Delay in cargo handling and clearances Issues faced by Port Sector in India: Following are some of the key problems being faced by the port sector in India High turnaround times
Comparative share of Highway & Railway as mode of transport in Indian Logistics sector Why the Logistics Industry Prefers Transportation Through Road Over Rail : Following are the reasons
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Inadequate depth at ports Costal shipping is yet to take off in India
Challenges relating to the Storage Infrastructure: Poor state of Inland Container Depot (ICD) & Container Freight Stations (CFS) Poor Warehousing Facilities State of cold storages is poor Multimodal Logistics parks is yet to take off in
India
Indicator
Technology & Skill Related Challenges: The logistics sector in India has suffered a lot due to the low rates of technology adoption and poor skill levels.
India
Transportation
35%
Warehouse & Handling Inventory Packaging Customers & Shopping Transit Losses
9%
Technology cost
< 1%
China
Brazil
South Africa
Documents to Export (Number)
8
7
8
8
Time to Export (Days) Cost to Export ( US $ per container) Documents to Import (Number)
17
21
13
30
1055
500
17907
1531
9
5
7
9
20
24
17
35
1025
545
1730
1807
There is a substantial opportunity to save on transportation and In Transit Losses with the Time to Import (Days) adoption of technology
Constituents of Total Logistics Cost
India
Cost to Import ( US $ per container)
Comparative Analysis of the KPI‖s of the Logistics Industry of Emerging Economies Source: Logistics Performance Index Report 2010
25% 11% 6% 14%
Source: Logistics Performance Index Report 2010
Indian logistics Industry – The Way Forward: In the years to come, the Indian economy will be driven by sectors like manufacturing and retail. So for these sectors to contribute effectively to the economy, the logistics industry in India will have to improve upon its lacunae and deliver value enabling solutions. To achieve this, the logistics industry needs to focus on the following fronts:
Expand distribution channels and increase consumer reach Reduce operational cost & improve delivery time Overcome infrastructure bottlenecks & implement E-Infrastructure Efficient port utilisation and decreasing the turnaround time Increase investments in storage infrastructure i.e. warehouses & cold storages Organise the trucking operations on a pan India basis Adopt the latest technology Address skill gaps issues
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References Logistical
Bottlenecks in India: Government Interventions &Policy Initiatives – Dr Ram Singh – Assistant Professor, IIFT Delhi Logistics Industry: Global and Indian Perspectives – Subrata Mitra – Assistant professor – IIM Calcutta
LIBOR’s Labour’s Lost by Anuj Narula and Prakash Nishtala, NMIMS Mumbai
In 1598, William Shakespeare scripted the rib-tickling comedy “Love‖s Labour‖s Lost”. The world has seen an unprecedented paradigm shift by then. But, now, the history seems to repeat itself. This time around, Barclays comes up with an ad nauseam thriller, “LIBOR‖s Labour‖s Lost”. Prelude During the late 1984 and early 1985, the financial world felt an inalienable need to provide a standardized rate to facilitate the ever increasing usage of new financial instruments such as interest rate swaps, foreign currency options, and forward rate agreements, that‖s when LIBOR, or the London Interbank Offered Rate, was born. Countries that rely on the LIBOR for a reference rate include the likes of United States, Canada, Switzerland and the U.K.
“Right from LIBOR’s inception, it has enjoyed fame and acceptance in a world where change is the only constant.”
LIBOR is the average interest rate estimated by leading banks in London. The Banks charge this rate for lending credit to other banks in the London Interbank Market. For instance, a multi-national corporation (MNC) with a very good credit rating may be able to borrow money for one year at LIBOR plus four to five points. LIBOR is calculated and published by Thomson Reuters on behalf of the British Banker‖s Association (BBA) after 11:00 AM (usually around 11:45 AM) each day (London time) on a daily basis wherein they survey interbank interest rate quotes by 16 large banks. The submitted rates are, then, ranked and the mean is calculated using only the two middle quartiles of the ranking. So, if 16 rates are submitted, the middle 8 rates are used to calculate the mean. The calculated mean becomes the London Inter-bank Offered Rate for that particular currency, maturity, and fixing date. The rate at which each bank submits must be formed from that bank‖s perception of its cost of funds in the interbank market. It is published for various currencies and for maturities ranging from overnight to one year. BBA follows a typical, believed by many as immaculate, method for calculating the sacrosanct LIBOR for the day. LIBOR plays a much crucial role by not only providing information about the cost of borrowing in different currencies but it also actually influences it. LIBOR, the lingua franca of the banks helps them in figuring out what they should charge for not just home loans, but car loans, commercial loans, credit cards. Plot (LIBOR, Lie More?) So far the LIBOR‖s journey was a dream run. Right from its inception, it has enjoyed fame and acceptance in a world where change is the only constant. But, all was not rosy as it appeared. As every flick has its protagonist, this story had the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) as its saviour. In 2008, WSJ released a controversial study suggesting that some banks might have understated borrowing costs they
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reported for LIBOR during the 2008 credit crunch that may have misled others about the financial position of these banks. To obliterate gloomy economic scenario, banks showed lower than actual interest rates. The lower interest rates therefore resulted in lower LIBOR and thus heaved up the confidence and increased lending. As LIBOR is the average of the interest quotes by different banks, so rigging of LIBOR would have involved many banks. Why was the rate rigged in the first place? A close examination into the issue transpired that Barclays was itself facing rising interest rates; had it provided the same rates to BBA, it would have created an unhealthy picture on the bank‖s financial stability and liquidity issues it was facing would have surfaced. So, in order to protect its own interest Barclays resented on reporting (read rigging) lower rates so as to present a merrier outlook to the outer world. The rigging happened between 2005 and 2009, as often as daily. Creating a bang in the already turbulent banking world- thanks to Euro crisis, the WSJ report on rigging was welcomed with raised eyebrows and harsh criticisms. A fast-paced turns of events ranging from staunch investigations into the conversations of Barclays‖ CEO Bob Diamond and the Deputy Governor of Bank of England to the Barclays‖ public admittance of the rigging, the world witnessed abdication of three stalwarts of Barclays from the throne. Barclays Bank was fined a total of £290 million (US$450 million) for attempting to manipulate the daily settings of LIBOR. What‖s the big deal? Upshots on proletarian: If LIBOR is very high that means one needs to dish out more to avail the credit. If it‖s maneuvered towards a lower rate, it implies that your interest earnings on savings account would be subdued. Hence, in either ways, a manipulation would lead to common man‖s loss. As it is used as a benchmark for deciding various rates across numerous banks including central banks or even EURIBOR, so at a macroeconomic scale, it has the potential to create many ripples in financial assets worth $500 trillion. Mumbai Inter-Bank Offered Rate (MIBOR) - The Younger Brother In India, as the financial markets started developing,
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the need for a reference rate in the debt market was felt. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on 15 June 1998, developed the Mumbai Inter-Bank Offered Rate, referred to as MIBOR, on the lines of LIBOR. These rates are calculated by a combination of two methods—polling and bootstrapping. In the polling method, like in the case of LIBOR, the data is collected from the panel of 30 banks which has a mix of public sector banks, private sector banks, foreign banks and primary dealers. How safe is MIBOR? As MIBOR shares a similar DNA as that of its elder brother LIBOR, it might also have a little room to get manipulated. But, MIBOR has its own merits over LIBOR which makes it a bit safer. Firstly, instead of omitting 2 highest and 2 lowest rates as is done in case of LIBOR, NSE uses a statistical technique called bootstrapping to separate the outliers and determine the mean rate. It is expected to help against any attempt by the market participants to come together and influence rates. Secondly, though in a less extent, the very fact of Indian banking system being largely dominated by public sector banks makes one to believe that MIBOR could not be affected by private players to satiate their own interests. Learning from LIBOR scandal Prior to the exposure of scandal, proponents of LIBOR were too confident about its piousness. Promoters of MIBOR such as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should act proactively to tighten the possible loose links and to cover the undiscovered loopholes. The case in point is the possible switching over of MIBOR calculation to actual dealt rates on a trading platform. As India has online, screen-based trading of money market instruments such as call money, unlike voice-based markets in many countries, it makes sense to move to a transparent, actual screen based traded rate system which could capture actual MIBOR levels. Epilogue As the Shakespeare‖s classic had not only the King of Navarre involved in the promiscuity, he had an unflinching support from his three noble companions as well, on a similar line, even in this story Barclays is not forlorn, they reportedly, have support from many
other players (refer to Exhibit 1) of the game. The immediate action in the current context should be to identify the hidden miscreants and subject them to serious punishments. What we require today from regulators is not merely whipping fines on the perpetrators rather a system should Exhibit 1
evolve wherein there is no scope for manipulation at all. The world is now hopeful that one day, preferably sooner than later, the system should get clear of all the malpractices and the market participants can again reinforce their faith in LIBOR. The time must come sooner when we could say, “LIBOR‖s LABOUR‖s WON!”
References
The Economic Times, Monday, July 23, 2012, Mumbai Edition
Exhibit 1: http://chasvoice.blogspot.com/2012/08/ the-libor-cartel.html
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Marketing Lessons from Olympics London 2012 by Sankalp Singh Parihar & Kriti Dua, Great Lakes Institute of Management
Citius, Altius, Fortius. Think of Olympics and suddenly there is a gleam of happiness over your face, an amiable visage one which radiates and exudes only joy. It is an event that unites us, binds us, combines us to synergize and support our athletes; it is the ultimate test of human sporting capability and mettle. For fifteen days billions of people across hundreds of nations wait and watch with bated breaths as their favorite stars sweat it out with the best of the best. Each jump is an anticipated medal, each lunge another jewel in the crown, each maneuver another name in the annals of history. It is those fifteen days when the human mind is riveted to the television and newspaper scurrying from one medium to another to find out the latest medal tally or the progress of their favorite stars. Each outcry resonates the same emotion: What‖s the progress? Did we win? Have we qualified? What‖s the tally? It is this event when the world comes to a standstill to listen to this extravaganza when you have the best opportunity to market yourself. A brand would not gather more eyeballs at any other event or time than this. It is this small window, this small crevice when you can do wonders with your product and market yourself to new pedestals of success. Olympics 2012 cost London approximately $14.6 billion dollars. Notwithstanding the high cost, 11 MNCs paid $1 billion dollars as sponsor fees. These MNCs are Coca Cola, ATOS, Acer, GE, Panasonic, Samsung, Dow Chemicals, McDonald‖s Corp., Omega, P&G and VISA. Now if a company pays top dollar for such event it is safe to assume that it is betting its bottom dollar that the event would be a success.
“London 2012 Olympics was hailed by many as the best Olympics so far. “
And success it was. London 2012 Olympics was hailed by many as the best Olympics so far. Over 10,000 athletes from 204 countries took part and captured the world‖s attention. USA grabbed the highest number of golds, followed by China and Great Britain. London 2012 was called the first true Social Media Olympics, keeping in mind that Twitter, Facebook and other social media were in full flow and usage, both by advertisers as well as the common public which sent more than 150 million tweets in the span of 15 days. Chat rooms, Facebook walls, tweets, messages etc. were abuzz with Olympics. People were either discussing sports strategies, medal tallies, next competitions, prospects or quite surprisingly, advertisement and about brands. So what exactly were the advertisers doing during this marathon 15 day event? Official sponsors, advertisers, etc. all were busy creating a buzz around Olympics. Some were extremely successful, others not so much. So what were the chief marketing lessons from London Olympics 2012? Lesson #1: It is no longer just an advertisement Gone are the days when a simple and traditional advertisement before and during the
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Olympics‖ broadcast was enough. Or printing a simple pamphlet or securing a half page advertisement is a popular magazine was sufficient. Today it‖s it is no longer just an advertisement. Give the consumers or the people more than that. Create a mobile app, compose a catchy jingle, start an optimistic discussion, churn support for your athletes. General Electric did just that. It created a Facebook application that let users to work out like an Olympian. And not only that, it handpicked four sport stars that had the largest online fan following to create a campaign. Panasonic which has a relative low presence in online social media also created an online app that allowed people to superimpose their national flag on their pictures and some of the best pictures were then displayed on huge screens in the Olympic parks. Engagement is now necessary. Just an advertisement is passé. Lesson #2: Social Media is here to stay. Ignore it and perish. Social media is a giant today. If one wants to create a true buzz, a wild discussion or a enhance one‖s PR social media is the first step. Ushered as the first Social Media Olympics, brands were smart enough to realize the true value of social media. And rightly so, millions of fans follow their favourite stars and athletes on Facebook, twitter, etc. and anything said, portrayed or conveyed by these stars has an instant reach to millions. Truly an attractive medium for different brands that leveraged it to its full potential as evident by the following examples: 1.
2.
Jamaican sprinter Usain bolt famous for his World record sprints mingled a photograph of his with a refrigerator filled with the energy drink Gatorade. Thanks to social media he advertised it instantly to his 620,000 fans. Or take the case of Michael Phelps, arguably the greatest ever Olympian who is ardently followed by 5.4 million Facebook fans. Phelps, amidst his training and exercising updates sprinkles a mention of famous brands like Head and Shoulder Shampoo, Hilton hotels or VISA creating an instant ring in the minds of his followers.
Nothing helps a brand create a positivity around itself more than social media and with the number of users growing alarmingly in these social media sites, ignoring them would not only be stupid but even suicidal.
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Lesson #3: Strike an emotional chord with the public Yes, it‖s an ecstatic sport. Yes, Olympics makes nations proud and athletes celebrities, but nothing creates a connection more than emotion. That unrestrained bundle of joy that touches the sweet spot of your heart; one which creates a whiff of joy and evokes that wonderful tear of happiness, yes make your consumers emotional. Proctor and Gamble did exactly that and reaped rich benefits! Its emotional campaign ―Thank you mom‖ on social networking sites featured an emotional video showing different scenes: It starts with a line stating “They weren‖t born an Olympians.” Then come the emotional scenes: a young kid held by his mother as he stumbles to his first paddles in a cycle, a concerned mom bandaging her hurt child, a joyous mother playfully wrestling his son, a mom bathing her child in the bath tub. Next frame: Olympic participants taking part in corresponding events; a cyclist running at full steam, another participant bandaging himself before the start of the event, a wrestler grappling his opponent, a swimmer racing past his competitors. And then the emotional punch line stating that as P&G Celebrates this year‖s Olympic Athletes, they would like to remember the force behind these athletes: Their Moms. This is followed by scenes of emotional athletes hugging their crying mothers. Truly an emotive scene which indeed struck a chord with the common public and brought P&G enormous PR positives. This was evident by the fact that P&G was the most discussed brand in twitter and over 90% of the mentions of P&G were around its marketing theme. Lesson #4: Offset your challenges While branding and PR is an important as it can get one should be mindful that negative PR spreads like wild fire. And before one is able to douse the blaze, the damage has been done. Take the case of McDonald‖s which had negative press hounding it since the beginning of the games as it was the sole (exclusive) supplier of French Fries in the Olympic Venue. Plus the fact that most people resented a fast food company sponsoring an event touted to be the cauldron of the fittest athletes, McDonald‖s had plenty much to do to tackle the negative press. While a lot of people were talking about McDonald‖s it was mostly negative. McDonald‖s further failed to tackle this issue in twitter as it only had a corporate twitter handle and not a dedicated Olympics twitter feed. Result: McDonald‖s had just 300,000 views in Youtube in a
month compared to 1million views for Adidas. While on one hand, McDonald‖s failed to redeem itself in the social sites, Coca Cola (also termed unhealthy for the athletes and accused of being insalubrious to be sponsoring a sporting event) conjured a rabbit from the hat. Coke was enormously popular in the social media which contributed to over 85% of the brands mention during Olympics. Part of Coke‖s success was due to the musical events it had organized during the torch relay. One has to keep in mind that there was no way Coke could have marketed itself differently as healthy or done anything to change public perception in such a short time. Instead it chose to offset its shortcoming by sponsoring events where there was a large audience. Torch relays were not only witnessed by millions on roads by millions more on media. Sponsoring the torch relays created a positive mindset in the minds of the consumers. Lesson #5: Don‖t just be imaginative. Think outside the box is one of the most oft repeated clichés and it is true for a reason. Regular advertisements though wonderful slip past a consumers mind way too easily. Create an imaginative and compelling ad and people will remember, discuss, talk about it, disseminate on social networking sites and they spread awareness about the brand. Take the case of British Airways and its ―Don‖t Fly‖ Campaign. The campaign is a minute long video disseminated by television, social media and print which shows people packing their bags in the aero plane. The Boeing 777 then taxies the passengers on board across the streets of London through different areas as the excited passengers paint cardboards, miniature flags to support the home team. The ad ends with the plane coming to a halt at an Olympics stadium and a caption which says ―Don‖t fly. Come and support the Team Great Britain #homeadvantage‖. This churning up of national sentiment combined with the imaginative and counterintuitive theme helped British Airways generate a lot of positive PR. Lesson #6: Finish with a bang. The term ―Icing on the cake‖ or ―Cherry on the cake‖ sums it all. It‖s fabulous to have a great PR during the Olympics but at the fag end or an event when everyone is ready to wrap up and leave or when others are busy packing their bags be ready to deliver the knockout punch. Adidas the official Olympics
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sponsors did just that. Adidas‖ Team GB created a video with a multitude of Olympians lip syncing to Freddie Mercury‖s famous song “Don‖t Stop me Now”. The video was so popular that it was an online rage, a wildfire and within two days everyone was talking about it from Knighted personalities of London to musicians and others. There were 1 million views within 48 hours and everyone had just one thing to say apart from the closing ceremony: ―Have you seen the Adidas video?‖ Olympics are the pinnacle of sports and the perfect opportunity to create awareness about one‖s brand and product. Not leveraging such an important event would simply be fool hardy. The next stop: Rio de Janeiro 2016. Till then, au revoir. References
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b0959724-e6fc-11e1af33-00144feab49a.html#axzz24kLFinZR
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c7b1f694-f5b9-11e0-bcc2 -00144feab49a.html#axzz24kLFinZR
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/e7e9b3fa-d661-11e1ba60-00144feabdc0.html#axzz24kLFinZR
http://www.terminalu.com/europe/taxi-britishairways-launches-dont-fly-olympics-adcampaign/27405/
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/insight/london2012-olympic-games-marketing-lessons-extendbeyond-155229166.html
http://www.campaignindia.in/Article/311814,top-10marketing-lessons-from-the-olympic-games.aspx
http://www.warrenstrategies.com/blog/bid/206511/4 -Marketing-Lessons-Learned-from-the-Olympics
Image Courtesy: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/File:2012_Summer_Olympics_logo.svg
Mass vs. Class: Branding for BOP Revisited by Unnikrishnan Nair and Utkarsh Sachdeva, TAPMI
Dynamism in the New markets and the potential of the market – close to 4 Billion of the population, has been the main draw for many companies to cater to the newest of the multitude segment – defined as the BOP or the bottom of the pyramid by the legendary paper by C.K Prahlad.
“A look at the recent trends in the market and it is no surprise that leading brands have realized that ignoring this segment can be at their own peril “
1: The Economic Pyramid The major draw for this market has been the lack of geographical boundaries to cater to, with the population base spread across continents. Couple this with the following factors and this brings forth a marketer‖s dream domain – innovative and beyond straight forward understanding, requiring more than traditional text book strategies.
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Economic Constraints
Political Constraints
Infrastructure challenges
Product Constraints
Low Gross domestic product, low income, high inflation, import price shocks, reduced private capital inflows Political instability, poor governance, corruption & weak legal systems Lack of reliable electricity, poor distribution channels, unreliable transport Price Controls, Availability, Different set of needs
Beliefs
Ground Reality
They have less purchasing power and hence the market is volume driven and not margin based
The margin factor is not exactly right
They are not brand conscious
They are highly brand and value conscious
They are hard to reach
They are willing to pay premium for goods & services
They are unable to use and are not interested in advanced technology
They have sophisticated technology inclination
2: List of Constraints The lure of this market has thrashed the conventional ideology of given cost structures, product focus rather than functionality focus and the mentality of having innovations catering to the high end of the market. Therefore, in a market ridden with innumerous challenges, it has become a play ground for some ground breaking products and practises and business models that has redefined marketing as we know it today. The basic characteristics of the BOP segment have been largely described as follows:
3: Belief V/S Reality The Indian market is a prime example that has showcased how BOP segment has been largely misunderstood, especially on the brand front. HUL, Coke, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and desi-brands like Micromax, Brittania have all realized and evolved to cater to this huge segment. The basis for the branding exercise has been an exercise born out of necessity and out of the realization that the market is not exactly as understood in literature.
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4:Traditional 3A model of BoP Buying The 3A model above has been the basis of product purchase behaviour at the BOP level. However, brand recall and awareness seems an oft neglect paradigm here largely due to the non-availability of appropriate mediums to cater to these segments. However, based on the 11P marketing mix, and the PIRT (personality, image, reputation & trust) model and suggestions of a close relationship between brand attributes and corporate brand image has been suggestive of considerable impact on brand loyalty in the BoP segment.
5: The BoP Brand Strategy
Using this model, the companies have been trying to build the brand leadership in this segment based on several counts:Consumer Knowledge: This is captured through periodic research, helping to factor in mind shifts and tweaking the marketing strategies to cater to the people at the right points – an example was the triangular hanging packs of Frooti in the stores at affordable rates.
Long term vision: Brand extensions has been a major factor – helping to gather enough traction and then
diversifying to cater to multiple needs through the same brand- an example is the Tiger brand of biscuits that took the market from Parle-G and successfully went on to introduce affordable choco-chip biscuits and cream biscuits at price points not envisaged by others. Product Innovation: Quality was never an important consideration till the markets actually went on to show their preference for it rather than price – this was perfectly exploited or put to use by HUL through their Surf Excel Blue catering to quality detergents segment in BoP against their own Wheel brand, while Surf Excel Automatic was positioned as a premium
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brand. Quality Confidence: Quality platform has been an essential factor and its essential for continuing to command premium market share – a case in point is the Hero Motor Corp which has never tinkered with its quality offerings, helping to cater to segments with quality offerings and thus maintaining its numero uno position in the country. Multi-brand & Aggressive Branding Strategy: First mover advantage and a complete capture of the senses is an essential factor to cater and keep brand recall and this has been essentially the case as proved by HUL‖s multiple offerings that seem to be catering to virtually the same market.
6: Brand Evolution in BoP The significant shift has been in the context of moving away from low margin-high volume products to actual new products that command premium. 7: The Volume Game Disruptive innovation has become the new name of the game and it is not surprising at all if we have a good look at how disruptive innovation and BoP market actually functions. Hence branding has become more than just a name – it‖s a game play which involves survival through evolution and genesis.
innovation that cater to the duality of functions as well costs and fit in with needs across the segments incorporated with marketing initiatives that can never be found in text books.
8: Disruptive Innovation & BoP A look at the recent trends in the market and it is no surprise that leading brands have realized that ignoring this segment can be at their own peril â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a point brought into strict focus thanks to the relentless occurrence of recession impacting the markets that have always been the primary focus for marketers. The need has now shifted to value for money, and
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9: The BoP innovation trends
If Tata Nano is a product that redefined car making and business models, it is but a gentle reminder that the new world order will be dictated not by the high pointers but by the bottoms that support the structure in the first place.
References
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Branding at the base of pyramid: A Zimbabwean perspective by Tendai Chikweche and Richard Fletcher
Disruptive Innovations at the Bottom of the Pyramid Can they impact on the sustainability of today‖s companies? by BAIYERE Abayomi & ROOS Jaspar
Reality Check at the Bottom of the Pyramid by Erik Simanis
Raising the Bottom of the Pyramid: Strategies for Sustainable Growth by C. K. Prahalad & Stuart L. Hart
Shampoo, saris and SIM cards: Seeking entrepreneurial futures at the bottom of the pyramid by Catherine Dolan, Mary Johnstone-Louis & Linda Scott
Branding paradigm for the bottom of the pyramid markets by Rajagopal
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/ post/2010/01/12/Coca-Cola-GSK-Invest-In-IndiasBottom-Of-Pyramid-Consumers.aspx
Personalization: 8th P of Service Industry by Arpit Bansal, SIMS, Pune
Abstractâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;This article is about the enhancement of personalization in the service industry at an alarming rate. It also signifies why personalization should be 8th P of service Industry. It describes how Personalization actually satisfy the snob value of customer and create imprint in the mind of the consumer. Finally the game of personalization is understand by major players in Europe and middle east but there are some patches where this fact is still under cover. This article is based on my research and training in Le Meridien New Delhi. Every hypothesis has the relevant and proved data . INTRODUCTION The service industry is the industry which is growing worldwide. Day by day this industry mitigates the mistakes and luring the customer with innovation. Gap analysis is done to reduce the gap between what customer expect and what the industry is offering to them. Personal care or personal attention is demanded and very less offered or identified. Growing conventional wisdom in marketing argues that customer loyalty is responsible for large fractions of the profits of many service businesses. Constructs such as satisfaction, trust, customer collaboration, customer interaction, firm image, personalization, learning relationships, and so forth, have all been proposed as intermediate objectives, or as tools to build loyalty. Yet, to date, only some of these constructs have been measured and shown to be related to loyalty. This paper fills a portion of the empirical gap by showing that service personalization, indeed, affects loyalty, above and beyond the other explanatory variables.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The service industry is the industry which is growing worldwide.â&#x20AC;?
WHAT IS PERSONALIZATION ? Sometimes Personalization is also defined as the adaption of new policies or changes which can be customize according to guest but Personalization is nothing but adjusting or designing the things in order that the specific person who is landing to your hotel will personally like it. In service Industry people are eagle-eye (from cleanliness of remote of TV to groomed staff ) they actually notice each and every thing. So peculiarity in every task is expected. Even a centimeter of smile is also mentioned in manual of some 5 star Hotels when some employee escorting or welcome the guest hotels .
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ELEMENTS OF PERSONALIZATION There are three elements of personalization which are defined as :
So all the level 1 employees work on these elements so that they can get more business, Personalization is directly related to user. Suppose if some Gujarati family is coming to the Hotel then all the arrangements are done according to them. More variety of food should be available as Gujarati are fond of food. Gujarati channel should be made available to their room. This type of customization is actually implemented in â&#x20AC;&#x153;CIDADE DE GOAâ&#x20AC;?. This is the hotel who changed its target audience because there was oil leakage from the nearer port and people are getting rashes and skin disease if they are going in the sea water. So this hotel is very apt example of Personalization. Content refers to the interest of the people in service industry. Expected features in the hotel are about cleanliness of room, basic facilities and the privacy. But Hotel like Le Meriden is also caters about the guest health and entertainment. They have spa, gym, yoga , swimming pool, Jacuzzi jewelry shop , pastry shop , coffee lounge , all day dining restaurant , specialty restaurant , Bar and discotheque . So these kind of eminent facilities are basically to lure the guest and this actually builds the differential advantage among different 5 star properties.
Rules are actually designed not only for guest but also for the employees working in the organization. To satisfy the snob value some of the features are only
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avail to VVIP guest. Requirements , designs and facilities are change according to situation and people. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2013;s what called as flavor of Personalization. EMPHASIS ON KEY FEATURES It is being found out that there are categories where service industry wants to review or concentrate on guests. Now these are few categories where the whole set of 5 star hotels wants to differentiate themselves. These are some parameters on which employees wants to judge the guest experience.
Improvement in these areas would help the Hotel to retain its brand name as well as the customers. Across the world hospitality is the only industry where guest repeat behavior is very low. The factor like trust and comfort can be easily copied but not the Personal care. So marketing executive should always keep this in mind. These are the few parameters which are accessed in detail by the five star hotels to analyze more business. I have done a research and training in le Meriden New Delhi and this data is collected , analyzed by me and recommended by my teachers from the Institution. These parameters are further divided into small subparts that garner the view point of the guest. For example arrival is bifurcated into: 1.
Entry experience and lobby environment
2.
Doormen/Bellman service and check in experience
3.
Directional signage with secure environment
I have individual result for each question as well as coagulated graphical data also
Overall welcome
Bulletin, 134(1), 61-76.
Journal Article, two authors
Sanchez, D. & King-Toler, E. (2007). Addressing Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism . Consulting Hospitality Journal: Practice and Research, 59(4), 286-295.
Journal Article, more than two authors
Van Vugt, M., Hogan, R., & Kaiser, R. B. (2008). Personalization and marketing in hospitality .Some lessons from the past. American Author, 63(3), 182–196.
This is the data collected from the Le Meridien, New Delhi which has all the authentication proofs as well as recommendation. Sample size is kept to 100 for the calculation purpose. This data shows that how much peculiarity is expected in the decorum of Five Star property and how minutely each of these parameters are judged by the guest. CONCLUSION After this research we can say that hospitality business are booming in the country due to rich heritage value of India . Probably this is better opportunity to get our bags full of the Forex reserves. This is the business which have a great impact of word of mouth (WoM) . So to enhance the imprints in the mind of consumer Personalization is the best weapon to cope with. Referral from the consumer also helps to convert leads to potential account. All the traits and elements are shown in the article with facts and figures. This shows how Personalization is going to become the deciding factor for the consumers while choosing the Hotels and how it will affect the Hospitality business.
References
Journal Article, one author
Sweeny, K. (2008). Hospitality Marketing: an introduction takes a unique approach to outlining marketing processes in the hospitality industry.. Hospitality
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Magazine article
Kluger, J. (2008, January 28).Events at hospitality industry. Time, 171(4), 54-60.
Newspaper article, no author
As prices surge. European service industry. (2008, May 5). The Wall Street Journal, p. A9.
Newspaper article, discontinuous pages
multiple
authors,
Delaney, K. J., Karnitschnig, M., & Guth, R. A. (2008, May 5). Microsoft ends pursuit of Yahoo, reassesses its online options. The Wall Street Journal, pp. A1, A12.
Butterworth-heineman
Hospitality principles : Butworth –hineman (11th ed.). (2003). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. Robert D. Reid, David C. Bojanic Kidder, T. (1981). Hospitality Marketing Management Boston: Little, Brown & Company.
INTERVIEW Mr. Sanat Satyan Research Associate, Equity Research - Oil & Gas sector, Nomura
What are the current major trends in the global investment banking Industry?
TAPMI had an opportunity to interact with Mr. Sanat Satyan, Research Associate, Equity Research Oil & Gas sector, Nomura. In an exclusive interview with Jayakrishnan Reghunathan for Pratibimb, Mr. Sanat Satyan shares valuable insights on the current trends and challenges faced in global investment banking industry. Mr Satyan is a TAPMI alumnus from 2008 batch. Excerpts: [The views expressed are his personal and not views of Nomura or any other organization he has worked for] Equity analyst job @ an Investment bank is very hectic by nature and very demanding in terms of long working hours etc. What are the average working hours in an Investment bank? In the Indian investment banking industry for international banks, 12-14 hours is minimum. It is a 5 day work week but sometimes, if you are working on urgent reports and deals, you may have to work on the weekend as well. However, this is lesser compared to the domestic IB companies where you will have to work on Saturdays as well primarily because some Indian companies report their financials on weekends.
For 2-3 decades before the 2008 crisis, investment banks had not changed the way they had been doing business. They were doing exactly the same things that they were doing three decades earlier in almost the same fashion. Post crisis, the industry has seen some collaboration between regulators, governments and financial institutions. Banks have realized that one needs a better cost structure, efficient trading platform and timely client interface, more than anything else (even, leverage). I believe, from 2012 onwards, you are going to see a structural shift in how banks are going to service their clients and make money. Client interface is changing internationally as banks are shifting to online trading platforms, which is more cost effective and efficient. As a result, one will see more high frequency trading platforms coming up. As the industry recovers, these changes will more likely stay. What is your opinion about the industry trend of buy side firms reducing the dependency on sell side analysts by employing more sophisticated inhouse buy side analysts as part of cost reduction? What do you think about this from a buy side and sell side point of view? A sell side analyst is always a specialist on a particular sector and that is the value he adds to the buy side client. Internationally, roles that buy side firms offer as an analyst are mainly that of a generalist across multiple sectors and sometimes, even multiple asset classes. Although buy side firms may intend to develop in-house expertise for portfolio management roles, we constantly hear from clients about the need for more macro research and industry trend analysis from sell side. This is where the next â&#x20AC;&#x2022;bigâ&#x20AC;&#x2013; idea comes from! Now that all the major Investment banks are
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looking for more opportunities in emerging markets, can you please comment on the kind of job opportunities created as a result of this? The kind of opportunities coming to emerging market will likely be more towards assessing local knowledge and expertise. Salary cost inflation may make offshore units less attractive for some time but as banks move towards growth regions, it will be crucial to hire people who can provide effective corporate access. This can only come through local presence and networks, forcing one to focus on local equities. One important objective for all the major investment banks today is cost reduction. What do you think about this? We often forget that the global IB industry works on this model. In a bull market, it will hire and in a down cycle, it will lay off in the absence of deals. The last 3-4 years have been very tough on banks amidst tighter regulations and public criticism. Banks had grown to such a size that the only way to remain profitable was to shrink. This will change again once the market recovers. Also, one must remember that this is very sector-specific – banks are shrinking their headcount in sectors where they do expect any growth opportunities. How do global investment banks deal with competition from the domestic players in the emerging markets? What I hear from my colleagues, the competition is indeed very tough simply due to the large number of players. A company like Reliance Industries is covered by more than fifty brokers and if you are entering a market where there are already 50 players, it is going to be tough to make money, unless you provide differentiated research and calls. This is true for all firms in the market and not just international investment banks. One key differentiator for international investment banks in such a situation is the access it provides through global research and international investor base. What according to you are the skills which a company looks in an MBA graduate for the role of an Equity Analyst or a Sales/Trader profile? Besides technical skills (which is a given for this industry), the most important skill we look for is communication skills, which is crucial to this industry – you might have the best idea but if you cannot
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communicate, it is of no use! Technical skills like valuation methodologies and excel based modeling are also important. In recent years, the importance of additional qualifications like CFA and CA has also increased. Finally, a proactive nature along with being a team player is also considered. This industry is about idea generation on a daily basis so a little bit of financial creativity is always welcome.
Due to increased regulatory requirements such as the Basel III norms on liquidity, leverage etc. which will limit the scope for more risk taking, how do you think this can affect the investment banking business? Talking about the regulatory requirements let me give you an example. The FSA in UK aims make sure that an investment bank does not mis-sell products, does not make securitized products so complicated that a client cannot understand it and that there are effective penalties for both. Globally this has become a trend now as regulators have become more coordinated. This has indeed made certain functions in bank more difficult (e.g. proprietary trading). In hind sight, industry experts now say that this is good for the industry. Besides lowering risk appetite and complex products, banks will also learn to focus on quality. Shrinking sizes will help the industry has a whole to become more efficient and hopefully, less competitive. Regarding the recent developments in the industry about few major banks making huge losses on derivative deals, do you think there is a scope for improvement in risk management systems which are currently in place? I agree that risk management systems at banks had failed but it was not because they were wrong. Such events occur when certain people learn to manipulate the system and even banks are not ready for it. Today, the FSA has even admitted that ―LIBOR‖ is broken but it is helpless, given the large volume of instruments quoting it. Every bank has checks and balances in place to ensure that such events don‖t occur but it seems that this is not enough. It is important to maintain trust with customers and banks have now started to invest more internally to ensure that ―compliance‖ is maintained. People interacting with clients/customers are more held responsible now for their actions – and regulators have started taking strict action for any misuse. However, I still believe
there is a long way to go for the industry in this regard. During recession, some of the major Wall Street banks were accused of selling junk investments to investors. Do you think there is a high need for ethical concern in this Industry? In an ideal world, everybody will be ethical but I believe it is more of a human nature and not restricted to a particular firm, industry or region. As a general rule the industry right now works on the principle of “Buyer Beware” and there is a lot of effort being put in to essentially change this thought process. As industry participants realize that their malicious actions are detrimental to both themselves and the industry at large, we can expect people to ―become more ethical‖. One quick and effective solution (agreed by regulators) is strict penalties (both financial and professional) through restitution and prohibition. How was your experience at TAPMI and how is it helping you in your current role? I had worked with ING Vysya Bank for two years before joining TAPMI in 2006 which helped me understand the importance of several subjects that were being taught in the classroom. Some of the subjects which we studied are still very relevant such as Corporate finance, valuation, Security analysis and Portfolio Management etc. However, the industry is changing rapidly and it is also important to keep oneself up to date. Working on real like case studies of contemporary events (like a small summer internship project every month in your syllabus) is something that will be helpful to a finance student of today.
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Disha 2012 The Learning Experience by Chandrakumar N, TAPMI
They say everyman is a sum total of his experiences. If that were the case, I have to be immensely thankful for Disha which has enriched me with a wide array of meaningful experiences. I went through almost every emotional state - from jubilance to depression, pride to disappointment, and stress to relaxation. I interacted with illustrious men and experienced the proud feeling that one gets when all things go exactly as planned. So what am I talking about? I am talking about Disha, the Annual HR conclave held in T. A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal. It is the second biggest HR conclave in India and is held in the second week of September. For Disha, we call senior level HR executives from various companies for a round of panel discussions and guest lectures in our campus. It is a platform where our students get a chance to interact with corporate honchos from big companies and the executives meet the students from TAPMI and get a feel of our college and its activities. This year Disha was held on September 8th and 9th. I am Chandrakumar N., a second year PGDM student in TAPMI. I am a part of the HRFORUM, the committee which makes it all happen and I was the Event coordinator for Disha 2012. Who all were the guests of Disha? This year we had the following guests coming to Disha 2012.
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As the chief guest for inauguration, we had Padma Vibhushan Dr. M. S. Valiathan, Ex-vice chancellor of Manipal University and National Research professor of the Government of India. What are the personal lessons for me from Disha? 1. The higher the stature of a person, the humbler he is. This was something I found out after talking to n number of executives who held roles from assistant manager to president. Of all the people I interacted with during Disha, the most humble was Dr. M. S. Valiathan. He is a Padma Vibhushan recipient, National research professor and has been a part of planning commission for many 5 year plans. I, along with a member from HRFORUM, had gone to invite him for the inauguration ceremony. Before the meeting we were intimidated and were a little nervous as we had never interacted with a person of his stature. But we were pleasantly surprised to meet the kind and wise gentleman. Instead of the allotted 10 minutes, we ended up spending an hour discussing various problems of the country, what needs to be done to make it a better place and the steps to be taken to improve the Indian Education System. I still cherish the pleasant intellectual conversation we had with Dr. Valiathan. The other guests who came for Disha were equally humble and easy to talk to. These guests held roles like President, Vice President, Head HR etc. But interactions with each of them were like
the ones with our college faculty. They were friendly, cordial and pleasant. 2. A team needs to gel well before any results can be expected of them. Tuckman's stages of group development says that every team that is formed will have to go through the following 4 stages for it to grow, to face up to challenges, to tackle problems, to find solutions, to plan work, and to deliver results.
Before we actually started the work for Disha, we took all the members for a nice dinner outing. We played some team building games, interacted and got to know each other well. This and many more of such informal meetings led to a good rapport among the members. Once the team members are comfortable with each other, it is much easier to work with them. This accustom phase can be used to bypass the Storm stage, which is usually the unpleasant stage where team members confront each other and differences are resolved. So you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2013;t have to tolerate the team members because now, they are your friends. 3. Democratic way of leadership is not the only way. According to a HBR Article, Leadership that gets Results by Daniel Goleman, there are 6 types of leadership
I think one stage, the storm stage can be replaced by a better one, accustom. So it can also be
The article goes on to say that, the most effective leader is one who is well versed in all these types of leaderships and uses each of them like an expert mechanic uses different type of tools for different situations. Before Disha I knew only one way and that was democratic. For every decision I used to get a group consensus and carry forward. But during the course of Disha I have picked up a few more styles of leadership; pacesetting, affiliative and authoritative being the prominent ones. Team Disha comprised of 18 people. Each of them highly motivated, intelligent and smart individuals but none same as the other. Each of them had their own reasons to be a part of the team, their own ways of thinking, and their own definitions of success. So how do you deal with each of them? You deal with them individually. For motivated smart members who need a friendly
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figure who just needs to tell them what needs to be done, I used to delegate the entire responsibility. For humble hard working members who needed a little more guidance in their task, I put on the role of a coach. For members who just needed to know their share of work, I put on the role of an authoritative figure. Though these tools which I have acquired may still be blunt, nevertheless they are priceless and will definitely come in handy in the future. 4. It helps to have a lot of friends During Disha, I had a lot of help from non-members of Disha whether they are my classmates or faculty or the support staff. Having a friendly relation with people definitely pays off. There were many instances where the support staff of TAPMI voluntarily came and gave suggestions for improving Disha. And there were always friends and well-wishers who were there to help whenever I needed it. On the whole, I would say that Disha has taught me many things. Some lessons about operational efficiency, some about human behaviour and some about me as a person.
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References ď&#x201A;ˇ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Tuckman's_stages_of_group_development
ď&#x201A;ˇ
Daniel Goleman, Leadership That Gets results, Harvard Business Review, April 2000
Horizon 2012 Money Matters by Nishith Maheshwari, TAPMI
It is said that the people you encounter while at University are among the most diverse and interesting you will ever meet and that probably you will stay in touch with a number of them for many years afterwards. I discovered the same at TAPMI, with its unique college system of numerous student run committees responsible for different functions of college. Being a member of the Finance Forum from my first year; gave me a strong sense of being part of something big and also provided a platform through which you meet and work along with a lot of people, many of which will become your friends for life. The main objective of the Finance Forum is to
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increase the financial knowledge of the batch. In order to achieve the same the Finance Forum is responsible for conducting numerous events throughout the year. The flagship event of Finance Forum is its annual conclave - â&#x20AC;&#x2022;HORIZONâ&#x20AC;&#x2013;. A student run initiative, the conclave aims to bring together finance professionals from investment banks, commercial banks, mutual fund houses, credit rating agencies, business houses as well as academicians, alumni, and students to discuss recent trends and emerging issues in the industry, the challenges and opportunities they present and the way ahead. It also acts as a forum for budding entrepreneurs and students in the field of finance to interact with
eminent business leaders. This year Horizon was held on the 22nd September; and I, Nishith Maheshwari as the event coordinator and a member of Finance Forum- the committee responsible to visualize the event from conception stage to the D-Day, had an experience which is truly difficult to pen it down in a few words. It was an event which the entire team nurtured from its roots. It was like giving birth to a child, a one day event for many but a 6 month nurturing time for few. The planning of Horizon started from March, a month before we leave for our summer internships. It was this time when you use all your financial skills that you have learnt during the first year to prepare a budget for the event and get it approved by the college authorities by justifying each and every expense. It was when the entire team was busy with their summer internships in different cities across the country, the crucial stage of the event took shape coining the event theme and getting in touch with corporate speakers and sponsors for the event. It was a challenge to keep the entire team informed at the same level and at the same time coordinate within the team and external agents and ensure smooth functioning. This is when we as a team realized the importance of IT systems in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2013;s management.
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By the time we were back to the campus in June, a lot of thing had started to move. The central theme was coined, the brochures were ready, and we were in touch with more than 30 companies to confirm their participation and were in advance stage of discussions with almost a dozen sponsors. The entire senior team comprising of 8 members was now excited to recruit the junior team. The new batch joins the college in July and TAPMI has a structured process by which the different committees select their junior members. Finance Forum being amongst the most sought after committees in the college had more than 100 applicants and it was a challenge to select the best 10 members from so many applicants. It was this stage which gave me the first hand experience of judging personalities on the basis of their resume and a short interview, followed with detailed discussions with the team on their observations and opinions. After long discussions and a lot of reasoning the junior team was selected. With the junior team now selected and the team size now growing to an 18 member team, it was essential to quickly identify roles and functions for all the members to ensure proper functioning and accelerating a lot of activities as the crucial day was only 60 days away. This is when the application of various organizational theories and structures gained
importance as I tried to figure out a mechanism to ensure quick ways to ensure that the individual members gel well as a team. We had a dinner outing,
can spend spare time from their busy schedule to participate in the event. It was also very nice to find a lot of friendly alumni who offered to help and get
Delegate
Company
Designation
Dr. Manoranjan Sharma (Chief Guest)
Canara Bank
Chief Economic Advisor
Mr. Arijit Mukherjee
Anand Rathi
Senior Vice President
Mr. Hariprasad
Centrum
Vice President – Treasury
Ms. Lavanya Ashok
Goldman Sachs
PIA
Mr. Rohan Mathew
ICRA
Senior Manager
Mr. Sushil Shah
First Source
DGM, Solution Design, Asia
Mr. Shomitro Goswami
Astal Capital
CEO
Mr. Sanat Satyan
Nomura
Senior Analyst
played some team building games which ensured a high level of interaction and everyone got to know each other well. Once the team was comfortable with each other it was much easier to work. The next few days were a rollercoaster ride with tasks getting done and again undone on account of unforeseen situations. It was the final run up towards the event and the work increased manifold times with every passing day but with proper distribution of work it ensured smooth functioning. It was a job where you have to visualize not only your activities for the day but the work of all the individual members of the team and of the team as a whole. You also need to be a quick thinker for unseen circumstances. I particularly faced two challenges- managing my time and managing the timing of the event! It is always difficult to find a date when most corporate speakers
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involved. With so many committed enthusiastic and experienced members of Finance Forum, Horizon 2012 with a central theme ―New Economic Order Post Crisis: Political Reforms, Regulations and Inclusive Growth‖ started with full swing in the morning of 22nd September as corporate guests from the finance sector showered the wealth of financial knowledge to enthusiastic students of the Institute.
BOOK REVIEW The Google Story by Madhukar Holla, TAPMI
Title: The Google story Author: David A Vice with Mark Malseed Publisher: Pan Books, London 2005. Pages: 316
An awe inspiring success story, a hub of innovations, a legion of geeks and a mandatory search engine!! Google paints a colorful vibrant picture as a company, as an essential web tool, as a culture and as a phenomenon. In the age of never quenching thirst for better speed, better quality, Google not only keeps up its pace but also aspires to be a step ahead. So what is this Google phenomenon? What sets aside Google from the rest? Who are the actors in the Google Odyssey? How does Google make money? How is it to work for Google? David A Vice, a Pulitzer Prize winner, an eminent journalist and an MBA from Wharton, finds out and in this intriguing book, narrates the story of Google. Vice, who has authored the fiction thriller novel â&#x20AC;&#x153;The bureau and the moleâ&#x20AC;?(2002) and has worked as a business journalist for Washington post has instilled in his book the elements of both these genres. The book, hence comes across as an easy to read business Biography with emphasis more on narration than on bare statistics and technical analysis, catering to a large number of readers with scant knowledge on the technical aspects of search engines and its algorithms.
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The book starts off with the Google founders, Brin and Page, receiving a grand reception at a school, where they speak to the kids about how it feels to be a part of Google and its culture! The book then breaks away into a chronological narrative, along its way, presenting the personal history of various people involved in the journey and captures various highs and lows that the company faced, the role of Eric Schmidt and others, the Google economy and its presence and much more. The book also narrates the challenges that Google faces, including Microsoft and Google‖s expansion in China and trademark infringement troubles. There are some thoroughly enjoyable light hearted chapters like “Burning Man” and “Charlie‖s place” too! So does the book do justice to its claim to give the inside story of the “Hottest Business, Media and Technological Success of Our time”? Not if you are looking for those technical jargons flying around or if you have insatiable appetite for in depth business analysis of Google‖s unparalleled growth! But this book has in it a humane insight into how the Google culture evolved, who were the perpetuators and how various events and people helped in the creation of an empire we now know as Google! Every chapter of the book is a story in itself dealing with a completely different aspect of the Google story, but, the Google culture, which is the underlying theme throughout the book, is well inscribed in each of the chapters and keeps the reader in sync with purpose of the book. The author succeeds in his narrative technique juxtaposing the story with anecdotes and opinions of various people, making the book not only an enlightening read but also a thoroughly enjoyable one. And for the thrills, there are extra features like candid photo gallery, a playboy interview of Brin and Page, Google search tips and GLAT (Google Labs Aptitude test). While the interview and photographs give an exciting insight into the candid face of Google, Google search tips are quite handy and with GLAT you may end up with a job in Googleplex (Google headquarters)! And lastly, the book inspires through its efficient narration and subtly drives the point “Don‖t be evil”: the Google w(c )atchphrase! The book also illustrates the power of innovation and a “healthy disregard for the impossible” and has a lesson or two in it for all of us!! The lack of a concluding summary at the end of the book gives a feeling of an abrupt end. But with the Google story going strong and with many more chapters left, maybe the author is justified leaving the story where it stands and not conclude! All in all the book delivers and the timeless aspect of its subject makes it a mandatory entry into your bookshelf!
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HCL Conference Emerging Women Business Leaders by Harsha Vatnani, TAPMI HCL had organized a conference about emerging women business leaders on Friday, 7th September 2012. They invited top 2 women leaders from 30 MBA colleges across India. The selected candidates were also to receive a Pre-placement Interview (PPI) from HCL technologies. Having watched the colourful posters of this conference on the noticeboard, and it being an exclusive opportunity for girl students, every girl in the college was excited about the same. Moreover the most important term of an MBA program is the one in which placements happen, and to be able to get a PPI from one of the top most IT companies, this appeared to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. When the placement team briefed us about the selection procedure we knew that the competition from all the peers was immense. After the briefing we had to put up our application in a very long Google document, specifying our grades from 10th class onwards to the last semester of MBA. We also filled in details of our leadership capabilities and related achievements. After 2 days of the anxiousness, when we saw our names in the Congratulatory headline, it was a very happy moment. To be able to represent college for something was like a dream come true. Afterwards we set out to complete the formalities of taking permissions for our travel and booking tickets, and we waited for the D day to arrive. We had bags packed a night before, ensuring that we had put in our best formal clothes for the good first impression. After attending the morning classes, we flew from Mangalore to Delhi on 5th September. When we reached HCL technologies in Sector 126, it felt extremely good to be standing in front of gates of the office I had worked in just 8 months before. Although my old colleagues had since then moved to other project locations, but the anticipation of seeing
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someone familiar was always there. The security guard guided us to the venue. We registered our names at the reception and were given satin tags with our names printed on it and the organizer gave us our table positions. It was the first time that I had the pleasure of attending a round table conference. We were given the day‖s schedule and it is worth mentioning that each session was timed to the T. Mr Naveen Narayan, global talent acquisition who was also the host of the event, gave the welcome address. The second session was by MrPrithvi Shergill, Chief HR office. Since I am doing major in HR, I was looking forward to this session the most. He told us that he had joined HCL technologies about four months back and accepted the offer because of HCL‖s employee first customer second philosophy. His “would be” subordinates were asked to give feedback on him, before he was successfully hired. This was the perfect example of Employee first being in practice. There was another interesting session on Women and Innovation by Ms. Srimathi Shivashankar, Global Head Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainability . Personally, I don‖t see connect between innovation and women in particular and when Ms. Srimathi started her speech with this very line, I was even more interested to hear her thoughts. She gave some statistics about how women lead management teams have better ROI than men only teams and encouraged us to strive for the leadership positions in our organizations. During the tea break we had the opportunity to directly interact with the speakers and also the 60 other students who were representing India‖s top 30 B schools. At my table were students of NITIE, K J Somaiya, ISB and Welingkar. The arrangements for tea and lunch were extremely well done. There were many varieties of breads, colourful salads and fruits. We had a good experience of a 5 course meal.
One of the interactions we had was with the Head of HCL‖s Campus relations and we came to know that he had met our Director Prof. R.C. Natarajan, just a day before. Having found a personal connect he made us feel home by asking questions about our travel and gave us some pointers on how best to spend another day in Delhi. Post lunch we had a talk with HCL Technologies CEO Mr. Vineet Nayar. True to his reputation Mr. Vineet was straight forward in his approach. He pointed out that innovation is non-existent in India owing to reasons like old-school education systems, people not having high self-esteem and Indians generally being risk-averse people. He stressed on the fact that women need more guts and conviction to work their way towards senior roles because of many constraints they face. It was a small session of 20 minutes but left the biggest impression on us. He shook us mentally and helped us to think that as women we create barriers for ourselves. Once we decide that we want to achieve certain heights in the career, there would really be no ceiling. In the hindsight I think that such a session was scheduled perfectly just after the lunch, to remove any post lunch fatigue that the participants may have had. In the session on Transitioning to a Global Mindset, Mr. Ed Cohen, CLO HCL Technologies, talked about the differences between the interdependent and independent cultures. The differences are attributed to
Causal relationships/Circle of trust Positional authority
Decision making time Society of abundance versus deficit Different meanings of punctuality Complexity of Yes/No
Difference in way of handling problems
I enjoyed this session the most because of the way it was delivered. Ed cohen included funny anecdotes about his stay in Hyderabad and the difficulties he and his family faced because of the culture differences. In the session on Gender Intelligence, Ms Rangini Manian, CEO Global Adjustments talked about neuro-biological differences in men and women and
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consequent difference in their behaviours. She also cited Nielsen study of “Most stressed women in the world” where Indian women were found to be the most stressed people. She pointed out that women should follow 3 simple steps for success
Go from No confidence to Confidence and learn to say “ I can” Give yourself permission to be imperfect Leverage your natural and learned skills
She came across as very friendly and down to earth person. She had an aura of success yet humility around herself and after her session each one of us felt proud for being the women leaders. We also attended panel discussion on career choices for MBA graduates. Before the close of the program, we were awarded Certificates of participation and given T shirts as a souvenir. Attending HCL‖s emerging women‖s conference was not just a great achievement but an overall great experience for both of us.
Slideshare by Sahil Anand, TAPMI
Sharing slides whilst shifting tides “The idea of taking an idea and making it come alive, there‖s something very powerful and very fun about that.
You dream it up and you build it and you put it on the site and millions of people use it. That is a very satisfying business.” -Rashmi Sinha
Rashmi Sinha Co-founder & CEO at Slideshare
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Do you want to get the word out about your product or service? Do you want your slides to reach people who could not make it to your talk? Are you a teacher looking to share your lesson plans? It only takes a moment start uploading now, and let your slides do the talking. The world will take notice, as confidently presented by the management team of slideshare. With 60 million monthly visitors and 130 million page views, slideshare is amongst the most visited 200 websites in the world. It was voted amongst by the World's Top 10 tools for education & e-learning in 2010. Launched on October 4, 2006, the website is headquartered in San Francisco, and has an office in New Delhi. It is a Web 2.0 based slide hosting service and users can upload files privately or publicly in the following file formats: PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote or OpenOffice presentations. Originally meant to be used for businesses to share slides among employees more easily, it has since expanded to also become a host of a large number of slides which are uploaded merely to entertain. Although the website is primarily a slide hosting service, it also supports documents, PDFs, videos and webinars. It also provides users the ability to rate, comment on, and share the uploaded content. SlideShare's biggest competitors include Scribd.com, Issuu and Docstoc. SlideShare has attracted a number of people around the globe. Some of the biggest institutions including The White House, NASA, World Economic Forum, State of Utah, O'Reilly Media, Hewlett Packard and IBM are among the regular users of SlideShare. In February 2011, SlideShare added a feature called â&#x20AC;&#x153;Zipcastsâ&#x20AC;?. A Zipcast is a social web conferencing system which allows presenters to broadcast an audio/video feed while driving the presentation through the Internet. Zipcasts also allows users to communicate during the presentation via an inbuilt chat function. Introduction to the management Rashmi Sinha, the CEO and co-founder of SlideShare is responsible for partnerships and product strategy. She was named amongst the world's Top 10 Women Influencers in Web 2.0 by FastCompany. Jonathan Boutelle is the CTO of SlideShare and came up with the initial idea behind SlideShare. He wrote the first version of the site. Amit Ranjan, the COO heads SlideShare's development team in India and focuses on product management, content and community. On May 3, 2012, SlideShare announced that it was to be acquired by LinkedIn. It's reported that the deal was $118.75 Million.
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In a press release to announce the move, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner said: "Presentations are one of the main ways in which professionals capture and share their experiences and knowledge, which in turn helps shape their professional identity, these presentations also enable professionals to discover new connections and gain the insights they need to become more productive and successful in their careers, aligning perfectly with LinkedIn's mission and helping us deliver even more value for our members. We're very excited to welcome the SlideShare team to LinkedIn.” Some noteworthy facts
In 2009, the official website for the US President (Whitehouse.gov) signed user agreements with eight of the world's leading social media websites. SlideShare was one of them. SlideShare is regularly used by the Whitehouse and many other US govt departments. SlideShare finds reference in hundreds of published books on internet, Web 2.0, technology (search "slideshare" on Google books) CEO Rashmi Sinha was recently named amongst the world Top 10 Women Influencers in Web 2.0 by FastCompany. In 2009, Playboy Magazine named her one of America's Top 10 "Sexiest" CEOs. Current employees: 55 Some first servers: Ash, Dia, Celina, Bipasha (named after Indian movie stars) Exact Google search for "I love SlideShare": 40500 results
"SlideShare's mission is to build the world's largest social content network" SlideShare's vibrant community consists of professionals, educationists, businesses, non profits, governments etc. And it has popular applications on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. They continuously look for smart, talented and motivated employees who will grow with SlideShare and make valuable contributions in a fast paced environment. A career with SlideShare offers Global Scale: Chance to build one of the world's largest websites Innovation: Create innovative technology solutions to solve user problems Progression: Our team is still small, so your career growth will be faster Culture: Our technology centric, geeky culture will rub off on you Workplace: Fun, high energy environment References:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/259202/linkedins_slideshare_site_blocked_in_china.html http://www.slideshare.net/jackmortonWW/presentations http://www.slideshare.net/features?src=meetings http://blog.slideshare.net/2010/12/26/a-year-of-innovation-at-slideshare/
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Introduction `Does the stock market overreact?' De Bondt and Thaler in 1985 gave start to a new wave of thinking known as behavioural finance. Weak form inefficiency of the stock market was discovered by them after analysing how people are systematically overreacting to unexpected and dramatic news events which were surprising and profound. The Efficient Market Hypothesis as proposed by Fama (1970) asserts that the stock prices reflect the relevant information. The asset prices follow a random walk path i.e. they are merely random numbers. The study conducted by Caginalp G. and H. Laurent (1998) by the predictive power of price patterns finds patterns and confirms that they are statistically significant even in out-ofsample testing and report. The pattern of the stock index might help in predicting some of the effects of the various events. The calendar anomalies tends to exist which goes against the efficient market hypothesis. The researchers have used Gregorian calendar to investigate the calendar anomalies. There are various countries and societies which follow their own calendar on the basis of their religion. For example, the Hebrew calendar is followed by the Jewish society, which is strictly based on luni-solar, the Christian society follows the Gregorian, which is based on solar, and similarly Hindu and Chinese follow their own. The Hindu calendar is called “Panchanga” and it is based on both movements of the sun and the moon. The festival of “Diwali” is typically occurs at the end of October and beginning of November. The special ritual called “Mahurat Trading” can be observed on major stock exchanges like NSE, BSE, NCDEX to name a few lasts for about an hour. It is performed as a symbolic ritual since many years. It marks a link with the rich past and brokers look at it on a positive note. It marks an auspicious beginning to the Hindu New Year. The investors place token orders and buy stocks for their children, which are sometimes never sold and intraday profits are booked, however small they may be. Thus, it is widely believed that trading on this day will bring wealth and prosperity throughout the year. It is interesting to observe the behaviour of trading activities during the period preceding and succeeding Mahurat Trading. The purpose of this study is to know the effect of the festival prior and post diwali on the the returns.
Econometric methodology us on: compounded daily percentage change in the share price I have measured stock return as the Join continuously index (S&P CNX NIFTY) as shown below: pratibimb@tapmi.edu.in Rt = (lnPt – lnPt-1) x 100 …………………… (1) Visit: http://www.tapmi.edu.in/student-life/pratibimb/overview/ Where, Rt = return at time t Pt, Pt-1 = closing value of the stock price index at time t, t-1. Team Pratibimb I have used S&P CNX Nifty as it has got the most liquid stocks in its portfolio. Further, the National TAPMI Stock Pratibimb Exchange | October is largest 2012 | 40 in terms of Market capitalisation and Volume. I have used the data of the P. B. No: 9, Manipal - 576104, Karnataka