We say it change in Status!!

                                                          

When it comes to status

Are we Close to time when we will see BMW, Audi, Benz, Jaguar, and Accord on road as every 4^th or 5^th cars? Let me put my view on it and clarify it a little bit. 

India has come a long way from the Indian Mercedes, Hindustan Motors contessa to new age Mercedes Benz CLS AMG now being sold in 37 cities across India. 

If you ask someone of the time of 1985 or 1990 to count the number of cars, hardly he will be able to touch the figure of 3 or 4. Having ambassador used to be the social status those days and people used to flaunt their car whenever they used to get the opportunity. Kids used to follow these cars and used to say oh today I saw a car. That was also a time, than it was time for most selling car in Indian market. I thought you have already thought before I right, it was Maruti 800 to revolutionize the Indian car market. 

After Liberalization in India it was time to change or upgradation in status to say. Many foreign companies started to invest in India and started marketing their product in lucrative or under developed Indian Market. Suzuki was the pioneer to grab the opportunity and they did well in Indian market with product like Maruti-800, Esteem, Alto, Baleno etc. Honda and Hyundai were bit late entrant in the Indian Market. 

Time changes, Ambassador and 800 were out of market and market was upgraded with new launches like Santro, Wagonr, Ritz etc for mass market and for upper segment Honda City, Hyundai Verna were there. Those days Honda City and Verna used to target high segment of market or to say high income people. I remember when I was in Gurgaon in 2008-09 I used to see Honda City as like today we see Audi, BMW or Benz. 

If we compare today we will see demography of their (Honda City, Verna) target customer has changed and now their target lies in mid segment only.  The audience to whom they were targeting is taken away by BMW, Audi and Benz by launching entry level luxury cars under price tag of Rs. 25 lacks and Honda City or Verna is no longer aspiration cars for high income group. I remember 3-4 years back people used to wait to see BMW, Audi, Benz etc cars on road and today every second we can see these car and today people aspire to see Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bentley, Aston Martin, Bhugati in India not BMW, Audi, Mercedes or Jaguar.  These German majors like Mercedes, Audi and BMW which earlier belonged to high-end super luxurious segment are now perceived as affordable luxury in comparison to the entry of luxury cars like Bentley, Rolls Royce, Bhugati, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Ferrari. 

If we understand the market upgradation clearly than it won’t be surprising if I say days are not far away when BMW, Audi, Benz will become common man car in India.

Is Sony on the path of Kodak?

Is Sony on the path of Kodak?

Much has been written and discussed about Kodak in recent time for being bankrupt. Once most renowned company Kodak in photography is struggling to survive and relevant in the market. What went wrong that Kodak has become irrelevant in the market.....  And who is next??? Will Sony follow the same path? These are the question which runs through the mind of corporate thinkers and Sony c-suits persons. 

Sony, which once, defined Japan’s technological prowess, wowed the world with walkman and TV and shocked Hollywood with bold acquisition of Columbia Pictures, is now in the fight of its life. Today Picture looks gloomy. Sony has not turned a profit since 2008 and situation more worsening with time. The verdict of stock market has been more brutal with share prices coming down to the level of mid-1980. Looking over these examples its almost game over at Sony. 

What went wrong with Sony is a tale of lost opportunities. Lack of innovations and unable to adapt to the realities of global market place are the reason for today’s situation of Sony.  Sony has been turned unanswered by disruptive new technologies and unforeseen rivals like Samsung, Apple. Can we remember any bold innovation in last decade from Sony? Absolutely no. Companies like Apple are running on innovation as they understood the market well. Sony fails here to understand the market trend. Today, we can’t recall the product from Sony portfolio like we can recall from Apple.  These companies changed themselves with the time. Sony makes too many models, and for none of them can they say, ‘this is contains our best, most cutting edge technology’ Apple on other hand, makes one amazing phone in just two colours and says, this is the best. Sony needs to do something innovative to be relevant in the market to survive.

It will be interesting to see the new moves from new CEO Kazuo Hirai. Will he be able to turn the fortune of Sony in coming time?

It’s not only Sony which is reeling under pressure there are many companies which are struggling to change with market change and need or failing on innovation part. Nokia, once world leader in mobile devices, is struggling to maintain it’s market share and continuously losing it. 

“In Business, Satisfaction makes you the loser. Never be satisfied if you want to be the leader”- SK

Mockery of Political System in India

Mockery of Political System in India

Why minister are made in cabinet? Just for resignation or political sack…..Most of ministers’ hands are tied by their senior authorities and they work only for political sack, they don’t have liberty to do work for the country or their respective field. If a minister tries to improve the situation his/her legs are pulled by their seniors or opposition just for vote banks….what the hell this politics is all about? Is Indian Politics going in right direction? Is there any concern of peoples’ voice and country? Do only votes is their concern? What is their concern????  Let me put some examples of political mockery in India……

Most recent case of it is Railway Budget. Dinesh Trivedi, Railway Minister, sent resignation next to the day he presented the rail budget in parliament. What he did wrong? Did he not follow the TMC Mamta Banerjee (who is considered as the worst rail minister in history)? Dinesh Trivedi, a person who tried to improve the Railway, has been sacked. Railway is going to be next Air India if it is not managed carefully. What Dinesh Trivedi did wrong that he had to resign just because he tried to improve the Railway. Do Ministers not have any liberty to improve their respective industry, they are handling?  Congress is running with the fear of government fall if they will not support Mamta Banerjee.  Is it good for country to change minister semiannually and also who are not having knowledge of that?  Of course not….Why these Rail Minister come only from WB just because TMC will withdrawn its support from congress and as a result government will fall….Do we not have good educated people who can manage well compared to these vote beggars.  Why these ministers are selected on vote bank instead of knowledge. There are lot many others such cases are present in our political history.

If ministers are controlled remotely by their senior authority members then I will not say it democracy

“Resignation is about taking responsibility, not preparing ground for votes”

Is Kingfisher Airlines a dying Brand

Is Kingfisher Airlines a dying Brand?

Open any news channel. Screen will definitely with lines like “Kingfisher is now king of cancellations”, can Kingfisher stay afloat in the market? What’s the future of Kingfisher? etc lines. Is it good for a brand which was most preferred in aviation industry in India?

In aviation sector, it’s the service which matters most and Kingfisher is failing to give that service to its customer, lot of flight has been canceled where passengers are not refunded for failed takeoff.  Kingfisher is not an airline of choice for the either travel agents or passengers and loss of confidence in the airline is the gravest challenge it faces today. In airlines if your seat factor is low, you can’t stay afloat your business longer, you have to quit and it’s the case that in coming time is going to happen with Kingfisher as passengers or travel agents don’t prefer it. Today Kingfisher Airlines pilot are looking for other opportunities and switching from Kingfisher to other airlines like Indigo, Spice Jet etc. Their most of aircrafts are not active because of not having pilot to run the aircrafts. If we compare the no. of flight operated by Kingfisher today are two and half time lesser than it was operating in November. So is it not the sign dying of Kingfisher? Today their financial has become from bad to worse.

Today Kingfisher is asking for bailout, FDI, outsourcing of ATF (which has been allowed), traffic rights etc, whatever they can ask they are asking for it from aviation ministry. At present it looks gloomy for Kingfisher to stay in business after doing so many mistake and I think Kingfisher airlines will be a past as even after  number of passengers are increasing 18% annually and they are failing to generate revenue….definitely a sign of bankruptcy  

Sandeep Koak Blog on Indian team

We need change

After seeing India’s game in Australia what cricket fans will think about team India. First question will be coming to their mind, is this team India which was first in Test Cricket ranking short time back? And the answer of course will be ICC ranking system is not justifiable.

What happened overseas to Indian team which is invincible at home turf? Are they not well equipped with foreign conditions? Do they not have experience of foreign turfs? Do they not have technique of facing world class bowlers? Such type of question will be raised again and again if we will continue to losing match. And question will be raised again and again on world class players. So one question in last which cover all the above questions is, why do we lose in foreign pitches? Some reasons that I think for lose of India.

For how many years we will bear the burden of senior players in the team when we have good young players sitting on bench and waiting for their turn. Laxman is flopped from last one year. Definitely he has world class technique, no doubt, but for how many tests we will lose due to his lack of consistence form. Will we still continue to lose tests like, what we are doing from last one year? One thing I noticed about Indian team is that this team is not eager to win. After losing test our player are going for picnic instead of practicing or preparing for next test. Is this the right spirit of a team, which wants to be world no. 1 in Ranking? One more thing is our team selection for any match. Why did India not opt for right team combination, playing Vinay Kumar instead of Ashwin or Ojha, anyone of them could have been a great success when we know that fast bowling is not our strength and especially the Perth pitch, which was supporting the off spinner like Virender Sehwag. There are lot many issues with team India which need to be resolved if India wants to win overseas.

I will say Indian team needs restructure and giving chance to youngster in spite of bearing the burden of senior players and judging the players on their current performance and conditions where team will be playing, not on their past performance what they have done for the country.