Worker, Artisan and Artiste

      Three men laying the bricks: In management experts talk about three types of employees. They are workers, artisans and artistes. We will distinguish the three types of employees with the help of an example. 

Three people were laying bricks. One management expert approached the first man and asked him “what are you doing?” The first man snapped and said “can’t you see. You *** ****, I am laying bricks” thus rumbling he continued setting the bricks haphazardly. This man is a worker, one who works with his hands only. These type of people rarely go up in life and always end up cursing their luck. One make his own luck. Only a bad musician blames his tools.  90% of all employees are workers.

When asked the same question the second man scratched his head and said “well I am part of a team that is building a straight wall” Thus dismissing off the management expert he continued in his pursuit of a building a straight. This type of employee is a Artisan, one who works with his hands and head. These types of employees are smart but limit their gamut operations to immediate work. Artisans like potters, carpenters, masons learn the trade over generations and become experts in narrow areas of expertise. 9% of the employees are artisans.

The third man wiped the sweat from his brow and his face broke into a huge grin “I am part of the team that is building a great university. Bright students from all over the country will come to this university. The university will impart quality education and turn these bright young people into entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs will set up industries and drive this country down the path of progress”. While this man was speaking there was pride in his voice and a quiet confidence. He was convinced that he is a part of the bigger scheme of things. This type of employee is an artiste, one works with his hand, head and heart. Only 1% of the employees are artistes.

      25 x 4: way of learning. There is saying in Sanskrit which goes like this. 25% of the knowledge will come from the teacher. 25% of the knowledge comes from library work.  Another 25% of knowledge comes from group work that is discussing with classmates and friends. The last 25% of the knowledge come from the mother of learning which is the real time practical knowledge that comes from working in the field.

Generally the teacher teaches only 25% of what is supposed to be taught. That is 6.25% of the knowledge. The students rarely do little or no library work, they do not have any work experience or do any group work. Effectively 75% of the knowledge is lost. Out of the 6.25% that is imparted by the teacher only 25% is remembered that is 1.56%. Out of this 1.56% is remembered only 25% of it will be remembered by the time the student comes out of the examination hall which is 0.39% of all the knowledge that can be acquired.

“Education is what you remember about a subject after you have forgotten what has been taught in the classroom”

New Products that did not do well in India Part II

Times of India is a news paper that is a television channel in print, Deccan Chronicle is the king of local flavor and the Hindu stands for the traditional old style. In this very clearly segmented and positioned south Indian english news paper market a newspaper that promoted all things for all  people stood no chance. Eventually Ramoji Rao pulled the plug and gave Newstime a decent burial that its deserved.

Soma: a soft drink venture from Ramoji Rao the media baron. This was a foray that was doomed from the start. Soft drinks need focused distribution strategy and a marketing plan. Even though Soma had a great taste but it was not marketed well and finally it was withdrawn from the market.

Sunfill: A product from the Coca-Cola Company. Coca-Cola is the market leader in the soft drink market. It very proudly says that there are places in the world where water is not available but there is no place in the world where coke is not available. Sunfill was a very unique product from Coca-Cola Company.

Sunfill was a powder that was marketed at Rs 2/- per packet in India. The consumer simply has to empty the powder into a bowl, add sugar and water, mix and presto a soft drink was ready for consumption. Sunfill, Coca-Cola thought would be a right competitor for Rasna the market leader in the soft drink concentrate market.

The reality bites were very different. Rasna was very aggressive as it was only in the concentrate business. But Cola-cola was caught between two worlds. On one side if it would concentrate on the soft drink market it could not focus on the Sunfill or the powder business. Second the margins on Sunfill were very limited and the salesmen did not give it a correct push as sales people for soft drinks and sunfill were the same. And the sales people pushed the sale of bottled soft drinks as it gave then more incentives.

The sale of Sunfill also meant that the sale of RBC (returnable bottled cola) went down. All the sales people of Coca-Cola were born and brought up on glass bottled cola business and they resented the concept of powdered soft drink. They were not given proper training on product differentiation and selling a bouquet of products.

Subsequently Sunfill was withdrawn from the market. But interestingly powdered soft drink is available in Ethiopia and Coca-Cola also market Tropicana in the powder form. But Sunfill is a prime example of a good product that was not marketed well internally in the company. It also needed a separate distribution network and a different marketing strategy. As it was not given a separate treatment it died a premature death in India.

What can be the take ways from the above examples? Companies should not enter into a business because they promise good market share and profits. They would have to think as how the new products would affect their existing businesses. Would the new products offer any synergies or would it affect their core businesses? Also it is worth to spend time on training and orienting the employees about the new products. The companies should always remember its core competencies and try to maximize the same.

New Products that did not do well in India Part I

Kingston Filter Kings: was introduced by VST (Vazir Sultan Tobacco). VST had earlier introduced a highly successful cigarette named Charms. Charms was a huge hit as it had a denim pack and it was the cigarette of the rebel. In the eighties it was considered very stylish to tap the charms pack and see a cigarette jump out. Riding on the Charms success Kingston was introduced.

Kingston was projected as the premier filter kings and it was positioned as the cigarette for the upwardly mobile. The promotion had Jamaican beaches, sun, sand and beautiful girls. All this made no sense to the Indians. Sun is available plentifully in India and getting tanned is never an Indian priority. Indians are naturally tanned. The beaches of Kingston and Jamaica meant nothing to the Indian whose ideas of the beaches were limited to Goa and Kovalam. As such there was nothing inspirational about Kingston and the brand died a natural death.

Vacuumizer: was one of the products that was marketed by ABC (Amitabh Bachaan Corporation) limited. Vacuumizer has a very unique promotional campaign. It did carpet bombing. In other words the entire commercials for the Sunday night movie on Doordharshan which that time had the monopoly of television viewers were booked by Vacuumizer. All the advertisements that were featured on that Sunday night were of Vacuumizer.

Inspite of the innovative promotion Vacuumizer failed. Vacuumizer was a product which could keep a product fresh for more than a month. The product can be kept in the Vacuumizer and the box can be sealed. The food will be fresh for a long period of time. For a country that is keen on fresh foods for obvious reason the idea appeared to be very alien. Vacuumizer was a product that came to India too early. If it were to be introduced now it would be a success.

Soy milk: This was a product that was introduced by Godrej. Again a product that came before its time. At the time of its introduction India still had not embarked on the mission of eating healthy food. Eating ghee laden food was the in thing (it still is!). So a product that promised a drink that is nutritious made no sense. And the taste too was alien and the product died a natural death.

Jelly drink: Product of Godrej again. Jelly-O met with cultural resistance. Indians are used to smooth soft drinks and a drink that had granules in it was not liked. And jelly-O had smooth and rubbery granules and the consumers gave it the kiss of death.

Newstime: was the English news paper introduced by the Telugu media baron Ramoji Rao. Ramoji Rao is the owner of the 4th most read Indian news papers and the most read Telugu newspaper Eenadu. Readers expected that Newstime would be successful too. The tagline of Newstime was “all things for all people”. Readers did not understand what Newstime stood for. In the modern world you can’t be all things for all people.

Coin in the paint –Out of the box thinking

Coin in the paint: This article shows the power of innovative thinking. This piece of action has taken place in Hyderabad, India. It is about a small paint manufacturer from Hyderabad. This was a small company that had excellent range of paints but had very limited liquidity. They were being squeezed out of the market by aggressive national paint companies. The company had a limited advertising budget.  And it could not spent money on promotion like the big companies. The company if it were to spend even 10 crores rupees (which was 50% of its turnover) it would not be enough as 10 crores is small change for the big paints companies.

The company needed to think out of the box. It approached a marketing research company and asked it to suggest a way to get a decent market share. The marketing research organization did not give any immediate solution. It studied the market.

It found out that paints marketing is quite different from the others products that are marketed. In most product categories it is the husband, wife, the children or the family together who take a purchase decision. But paint is not a glamorous product. The family does not play any role in the purchase decision. Then who takes the decision?

Study proved that the architect or the painter who make paint related purchase decision in the primary market (house being painted for the first time) in the secondary market (re painting) it is the painter.

So what motivates the painter? Of course quality matters but the painter is more bothered about the margin that is given to him by the distributor that is the most appealing aspect in the paint purchase decision. In other words the commission given by the distributor is pocketed by the painter and the MRP (Maximum Retail Price) is shown to the house owners. The motive of the buying decision is the margin of discount given by the distributor.

The market research organization came out with a brilliant campaign. It told the company to place 1 (one) gram gold coins in selective paint boxes. As expected this ploy proved to be a big hit. As it was not promoted publicly the paint majors were not aware what was happening. The news of the gold coins found is paint boxes spread like wild fire and all painters were buying the paints in huge numbers.

Next the marketing research organization suggested that the company should concentrates on the painter and his family. The painter ability to earn depends on the ability to paint as fast as possible. The company trained the painters in fast painting. They were given the latest tools and brushes. Once the painter was able to paint faster his earnings increased and he became loyal to the small company. Thus the company by its very unique customer relationship Management practices enhanced its brand image and ensured continual patronage from its target customers that is the painters.

Indian Restuarant

Going to USA is a thing that excites and frightens lots of Indians. It is proverbial Mecca of opportunities but most Indians are worried about the so called bohemian life style, the eating habits and the fact paced life. 

A suddh (ultra pure) Brahmin boy had gone to the USA to do his MS. This boy came from a family of Acharyas (a sect of pujaris who are the temple Brahmins). These Brahmins are very particular about madi (a ritual where the food is prepared after taking a bath and the lady of the house will not touch anyone when she is preparing the food).

The poor boy’s worst night mares came true. He was suffering as there is nothing that is pure vegetarian in the USA. Even vegetarian noodles will have a omlette on the top. Our boy was suffering. He was surviving on bread alone. One day he was travelling by the Greyhound bus and he saw a sign that made his heart sing. The sign said “Indian restaurant”. The boy rushed in.

What he finds inside turned his insides out. The restaurant had a huge steak which was being roasted. The restaurant was full of Americans and had a fair sprinkling of Native Americans who were having beer and beef streak. The Brahmin boy almost fainted. He staggered out of the restaurant.

Later a friend of his at the university explained him what the sign meant. “Indian restaurant” means a restaurant that is managed by the Native Americans. The Native Americans are called Indians in USA. The Brahmin boy was confused as the local population is called Indians and the Native Americans are referred as red Indians. This created such confusion that the poor Brahmin almost gave up eating altogether.