Chinese investment fear haunts Indian Railways FDI plan

Mail Today Bureau   |   Mail Today  |   New Delhi, February 3, 2014 | UPDATED 11:49 IST

 

The Union Home Ministry and the Department of Economic Affairs have cautioned the government regarding relaxing the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms in the Indian Railways.
In its comment on the proposal of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), the home ministry, citing security concerns, said Chinese investments in such a sensitive sector should be viewed with caution.
The home ministry has pointed out that China is India's main rival on the economic front and the two countries have unresolved border disputes. Sources said keeping this in mind FDI from the neighbouring country in a core sector, like the railways, may pose a danger to national security. The ministry also clearly stated that Chinese investments should not be allowed in border areas such as Jammu & Kashmir and the North Eastern states.
The concerns from the two key ministries come at a time when there is already a divided house in the Rail Ministry over introducing FDI in the country's largest transport network.
The issue also came up for discussion during a General Managers' conference last month. Though the ministers seemed to be pressing for FDI in railways, the proposal did not garner much support from the Railway Unions that represent lakhs of employees at the lower level. In fact, some railway union leaders are of the view that FDI will lead railways into privatisation mode which will rob the system of its core objective- of being the most economic mode of transport in the country. Sources said there are even discussions over calling a strike to protest against FDI in railways.
Meanwhile, top government sources said that the MHA suggested the DIPP and the Ministry of Railways to set up a core group with technical and security experts to evaluate proposals in the sector. The Department of Economic Affairs has stated that the railway ministry should keep in mind the strategic and security sensitivity of remote locations while framing specific projects in those areas.
Mail Today had reported this issue in detail last Monday when Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chaudhury said, "The opposition to FDI is unreasonable given railways' current financial condition. We already have Public-Private Partnerships going on for a lot of our projects. We need money and FDI looks like the only way out to carry out projects which need at least 4.5 lakh crore investment."
The DIPP has circulated a final note for consideration of the Cabinet to allow FDI in suburban corridors, high-speed tracks and freight lines connecting ports, mines and power installations.
"It's too early to comment as things will shape up only post 2014 general elections," a senior board official said.

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marketing 4 Ps

The Marketing Mix and 4 Ps

Understanding How to Position Your Market Offering

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How to use the 4Ps,
with James Manktelow & Amy Carlson.

What is marketing? The definition that many marketers learn as they start out in the industry is:

Putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time.

It's simple! You just need to create a product that a particular group of people want, put it on sale some place that those same people visit regularly, and price it at a level which matches the value they feel they get out of it; and do all that at a time they want to buy. Then you've got it made!
There's a lot of truth in this idea. However, a lot of hard work needs to go into finding out what customers want, and identifying where they do their shopping. Then you need to figure out how to produce the item at a price that represents value to them, and get it all to come together at the critical time.
But if you get just one element wrong, it can spell disaster. You could be left promoting a car with amazing fuel-economy in a country where fuel is very cheap; or publishing a textbook after the start of the new school year, or selling an item at a price that's too high – or too low – to attract the people you're targeting.
The marketing mix is a good place to start when you are thinking through your plans for a product or service, and it helps you avoid these kinds of mistakes.

Understanding the Tool

The marketing mix and the 4 Ps of marketing are often used as synonyms for each other. In fact, they are not necessarily the same thing.
"Marketing mix" is a general phrase used to describe the different kinds of choices organizations have to make in the whole process of bringing a product or service to market. The 4 Ps is one way – probably the best-known way – of defining the marketing mix, and was first expressed in 1960 by E J McCarthy.
The 4Ps are:

• Product (or Service)
• Place
• Price
• Promotion

A good way to understand the 4 Ps is by the questions that you need to ask to define you marketing mix. Here are some questions that will help you understand and define each of the four elements:

Product/Service

• What does the customer want from the product/service? What needs does it satisfy?
• What features does it have to meet these needs?
  
  • Are there any features you've missed out?
  • Are you including costly features that the customer won't actually use?
• How and where will the customer use it?
• What does it look like? How will customers experience it?
• What size(s), color(s), and so on, should it be?
• What is it to be called?
• How is it branded?
• How is it differentiated versus your competitors?
• What is the most it can cost to provide, and still be sold sufficiently profitably? (See also Price, below).

Place

• Where do buyers look for your product or service?
• If they look in a store, what kind? A specialist boutique or in a supermarket, or both? Or online? Or direct, via a catalogue?
• How can you access the right distribution channels?
• Do you need to use a sales force? Or attend trade fairs? Or make online submissions? Or send samples to catalogue companies?
• What do you competitors do, and how can you learn from that and/or differentiate?

Price

• What is the value of the product or service to the buyer?
• Are there established price points for products or services in this area?
• Is the customer price sensitive? Will a small decrease in price gain you extra market share? Or will a small increase be indiscernible, and so gain you extra profit margin?
• What discounts should be offered to trade customers, or to other specific segments of your market?
• How will your price compare with your competitors?

Promotion

• Where and when can you get across your marketing messages to your target market?
• Will you reach your audience by advertising in the press, or on TV, or radio, or on billboards? By using direct marketing mailshot? Through PR? On the Internet?
• When is the best time to promote? Is there seasonality in the market? Are there any wider environmental issues that suggest or dictate the timing of your market launch, or the timing of subsequent promotions?
• How do your competitors do their promotions? And how does that influence your choice of promotional activity?

The 4Ps model is just one of many marketing mix lists that have been developed over the years. And, whilst the questions we have listed above are key, they are just a subset of the detailed probing that may be required to optimize your marketing mix.
Amongst the other marketing mix models have been developed over the years is Boom and Bitner's 7Ps, sometimes called the extended marketing mix, which include the first 4 Ps, plus people, processes and physical layout decisions.
Another marketing mix approach is Lauterborn's 4Cs, which presents the elements of the marketing mix from the buyer's, rather than the seller's, perspective. It is made up of Customer needs and wants (the equivalent of product), Cost (price), Convenience (place) and Communication (promotion). In this article, we focus on the 4Ps model as it is the most well-recognized, and contains the core elements of a good marketing mix.

Responsible Reading: Marketing Management

Seems every marketing book claims to offer the silver bullet—the marketing secret that guarantees incredible success. I’ve read 100′s of marketing books—including some great ones—but there are no shortcuts, folks.

To be a Responsible Marketer, you need a strong grounding in the fundamentals.

You won’t learn them in a three-day seminar, and probably don’t have the time to return to college, so what do you do?

Read Marketing Management by Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller.

Amazon’s description is spot on:

Kotler/Keller is the gold standard in the marketing management discipline because it continues to reflect the latest changes in marketing theory and practice.

Topics covered include brand equity, customer value analysis, database marketing, e-commerce, value networks, hybrid channels, supply chain management, segmentation, targeting, positioning, and integrated marketing communications.

For marketing professionals who place special emphasis to creativity and imagination in marketing management.

At 816 pages, this book is huge, but don’t let the size fool you. It’s filled with diagrams and case studies that make it an easier read than many textbooks. This book will back-fill the things you don’t know and give you a great foundation to build on.

Though it’s expensive ($120 at Amazon with a $53 discount!) I’d suggest owning a copy to use as go-to marketing reference (I do).

If you are serious about Responsible Marketing, you should read it, at least once, cover to cover.

So, if you could recommend just one good foundational marketing book, what would it be?

Market Your Way to Growth: 8 Ways to Win

"Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value."
                                                       -Philip Kotler          

Market Your Way to Growth: 8 Ways to Win ... new book

  

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

The United States, the European Union, and other developed countries now face years of continuing low economic growth, so low that job creation will fall far short of the growth of the workforce. With the developed world facing an excruciating slow-growth economy, successfully competing for a limited customer base means using creative marketing strategies.
Market Your Way to Growth shows you how to survive these rough economic waters. The book details nine megatrends that will offer new opportunities throughout this decade, including a global redistribution of wealth, urbanization, an accelerating green global economy, rapidly changing social values, and more. Evaluate your business's readiness to navigate this shifting economic landscape using these eight growth strategies:

• Build Your Market Share: Outperform your competitors and grow your market share.
• Develop Enthusiastic Customers and Stakeholders: Attract fans and develop dedicated supply chain partners.
• Create a Powerful Brand: Design a powerful brand that serves as a living platform for your organization's strategy and actions.
• Innovate New Products, Services, and Experiences: Develop a culture of innovation and think freshly about new offerings and experiences.
• International Expansion: Identity international macro and micro markets of high growth and enter them successfully.
• Acquisitions, Mergers, and Alliances: Grow via attractive partnering opportunities through acquisitions, mergers, alliances, and joint ventures.
• Build an Outstanding Reputation for Social Responsibility: Improve your company's social character to win more respect and support from the public and stakeholders.
• Partner with Government and NGOs: Successfully bid to provide services and products that governments all over the world need.

These are the most perilous times since the Great Depression, yet growth is still possible. Learn how to implement these proven strategies, and achieve growth rates that your competitors will envy.

From the Back Cover

If you think that companies can't grow in a low-growth economy, Market Your Way to Growth will change your mind. Most companies anchor their growth plans in one or two strategies, often adopted before the world became so globalized and technologically-advanced. Companies now need to examine all eight strategies that might promise fresh growth. Is your company innovative? Is your brand as strong as it could be? Are your customers satisfied and loyal? Are you able to wrest share from competitors? Have you moved into China, Brazil, or some higher growth markets? Have you done acquisitions and built new alliances? Have you been winning new customers by showing your deeply felt values? Have you partnered with governments and NGOs on new projects? See what dozens of other companies are doing to achieve higher growth in a low-growth world economy or industry.
A large number of CEOs, senior executives, and scholars have endorsed this book. Open the book and see what they say.
Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, India
Shumeet Banerji, CEO, Booz & Company
Ram Charan, business consultant and coauthor of Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done and other bestselling business books
Jim Collins, author of Good to Great and Built to Last
Marshall Goldsmith, the #1 executive coach and author of bestsellers, MOJO and What Got You Here Won't Get You There
Wenbo He, President, China Baosteel Corporation
Qian Sheng Jin, CEO, China (Yanliang) National Aviation Hi-tech Industrial Base
William R. Johnson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, H.J. Heinz Company
Robin Li, cofounder, Chairman, and CEO, Baidu, Inc.
N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus, Infosys, India
Hermann Simon, Chairman of global consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners and author of Hidden Champions of the 21st Century
Prijono Sugiarto, CEO, Astra International, Indonesia
Xiu Guo Tang, founder and CEO, SANY Group
Peter F. Volanakis, former President and COO, Corning Inc.
Shi Wang, founder, Vanke Group
Katharyn M. White, Vice President of Marketing, IBM Global Business Services
Guang Quan Wu, CEO, AVIC International
Hang Xu, CEO, Mindray Group
Yuan Qing Yang, Chairman and CEO, Lenovo Group
Rui Min Zhang, founder and CEO, Haier Group

About the Author

PHILIP KOTLER is one of the world's leading authorities on marketing, and his writing has defined marketing around the world for the past forty years. He is the author of Marketing Management (14th ed.), Marketing 3.0, Ten Deadly Marketing Sins, and Corporate Social Responsibility, among others. He is also the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. The Financial Times ranked him the fourth most influential management guru, and the Wall Street Journal ranked him the sixth most influential business thinker.
MILTON KOTLER is Chairman of Kotler Marketing Group USA, headquartered in Washington, DC, and Kotler Marketing Group China, headquartered in Beijing and recognized as the #1 marketing strategy consultancy in China. He is also author of A Clear-Sighted View of Chinese Business Strategy and a frequent contributor to the China business press.
If you think that companies can't grow in a low-growth economy, Market Your Way to Growth will change your mind. Most companies anchor their growth plans in one or two strategies, often adopted before the world became so globalized and technologically-advanced. Companies now need to examine all eight strategies that might promise fresh growth. Is your company innovative? Is your brand as strong as it could be? Are your customers satisfied and loyal? Are you able to wrest share from competitors? Have you moved into China, Brazil, or some higher growth markets? Have you done acquisitions and built new alliances? Have you been winning new customers by showing your deeply felt values? Have you partnered with governments and NGOs on new projects? See what dozens of other companies are doing to achieve higher growth in a low-growth world economy or industry.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. -- Albert Schweitzer ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us. --Jim Rohn ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of attraction that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to do to be successful. If you admire successful people, you create a positive force field of attraction that draws you toward becoming more and more like the kinds of people that you want to be like. --Brian Tracy ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Every evening, write down the six most important things that you must do the next day. Then while you sleep your subconscious will work on the best ways for you to accomplish them. Your next day will go much more smoothly. -- Tom Hopkins ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- To attract attractive people, you must be attractive. To attract powerful people, you must be powerful. To attract committed people, you must be committed. Instead of going to work on them, you go to work on yourself. If you become, you can attract. -- Jim Rohn ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Recipe for success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing. -- William A. Ward ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work. --Unknown ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- The road to success is always under construction. --Unknown ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- Listen a hundred times, Ponder a thousand times, Speak once!" -- Unknown

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love

so much words,just words if u want,i could love u. but no one gotta know. if u wish it we could fill it. the void we both show. i could bring your heart to pieces i could make you feel so good in side i would show u, hope u dont wanna mess this up so go on let the sparts fly be who u want show me whats in side you dont have 2 fell the same. the way i do or pretend to. i'll write letters to your heart, but i wont tell u who am i i'll make u fall in love. im unspoken,my name dont exist,i'm just a fairytale, that never ends. can u show me a piece of ur heart direct me to where you are, couz i dont wanna forget this feeling inside. i wanna hold on tight to what may never be. i wanna hold ur hands, i wanna fall into ur arms just a kiss goodnight IS THAT TO MUCH TO ASK !!!!! i dont wanna think i wanna let myself go, i wanna know everthing bout u ur real heart desire. what makes u smile or cry i wanna burry myself to ur love, i wanna lose control i'm just lost in heven above. no 1 can take ur place, my love 4 u would never be replaced. ur my first and i wish u could of been my last. just like a heart wanting a touch, just like a love that wants so much. so kiss me upone my everthing, let me know if ur still here. take me, let me breath my last breath in ur arms