MTC Global

KNOWLEDGE IN PRACTICE
E-bulletin: Volume- 3 Message from the Chief Editor
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Issue- 7 (Jan Mar 2012)

Volume 1, Issue 1

I take immense pleasure to release the seventh issue of our e-bulletin. The
Previous six issues of e-bulletins were great success and earned lot of accolades across different walks of life and well received by all esteemed team members of MTC Global. I sincerely acknowledge the support, encouragement and motivation extended by all the members of the team who contributed towards the growth of our Team. I am really grateful for the contribution made by all our team members. The restriction of page numbers limited inclusion of all the articles. The articles submitted would definitely be placed in our subsequent issues. Happy Knowledge Sharing. Prof. Bholanath Dutta Chief Editor: MTC Global- Knowledge in Practice Founder & Convener: Management Teachers Consortium, Global Cell: +91 96323 18178

Homepage: www.mtcglobal.org
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Title: Management of Management DepartmentA Road to Excellence ISBN: 978-81-922178-0-2 Pages: Approximate 500 Book Release Function: Officially the book will be released in a Grand Function Estimated time: By April End OR First week of May (Subject to little variation) Price: Rs. 425/There is a pre-subscription offer for the book at the price of Rs. 275/- inclusive of courier charges. Once the book is out in the market MTCians and associate college libraries can enjoy 25% discount.

1. MTC Global Award for Excellence2012. Deadline Extended01.05.2012. 2. The Venue for Sankalp-2012 is VIT, Jaipur on 01.09.2012. 3. MTC Global is the advocacy partner to CAMPUS INNOVATION award by Employability Times

SOFT SKILLS IN MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION

Sharu S. Rangnekar.
STICK & THE CARROT Motivation is one of the most important soft skill a medical administrative has to acquire. The traditional ways we can motivate people are very simple. The stick and the carrot, fear and money. If we tell a subordinate: I want this to be done by this evening otherwise please do not bother to come tomorrow, there are good chances he would do it. If fear doesnt work, then of course we can use money if the stick doesnt work, use the carrot! But money creates its own problems. The first and the most important problem is how much money is available for giving? The easiest way of giving money is overtime. But once a person gets accustomed to overtime, then he refuses to work in normal time. A worker said, Time is money, but overtime is more money! The more money a person gets, more he wants and the overtime keeps increasing. This managing-by-overtime creates its own problems and very soon you cannot manage without overtime. When money is not available for this overtime, the management goes out of the window. Then we have to think of something else to motivate people. There are three other things which are the motivating factors for: Sense of Identity, Sense of Importance and Sense of Development. SENSE OF IDENTITY First let us take Sense of Identity. Once a person feels that the organization is his organization, there is no reason for creating any further motivation. That feeling itself is a motivating factor. The best example of this is the housewife. We talk of bonded labour. Has anybody seen labour more bonded than the housewife? First to get up in the morning to get milk, last to go to bed. No holidays Sundays, festival days, everybody says: Extra dish is required today. So extra work. The one who works like this is not even born in that family. She was born somewhere else, brought up there for twenty odd years. One fine morning, afternoon or evening, we throw some rice at her, bring her to the house and say: This is your house. Very silly trick! But it works!! Within 20 days when she talks of my house, she does not mean the house she had been for 20 years but the house she has been for 20 days!!! And once she thinks that it is her house, we dont have to put standing orders: This house shall be kept clean at all times. She nags you, your children, your servants, to keep it clean. As we can see, the sense of identity is a very powerful motivator.

How can we create this feeling? Frankly, this is not a new problem that we are facing only in industry today. It is a very old problem starting with religion. How do people of a religion feel that they belong to the same group? We find that the trick used is physical work together. People working physically together get a feeling of identity. You go to a church. As soon as the service starts, people get up, sit down, sing together. This working together creates an identity. I saw a film on Haj. Muslims from all over the world go there. Each Muslim coming from a different country has a different cultural background. But once he goes there, goes around the holy stone so many times according to the rituals with everybody around him, he starts getting a feeling of identity. This is probably why all important Hindu temples are at the top of the hills. Tirupati, Sabarimala, Badrinath, Kedarnath, Vaishno Devi. The reason is people should climb together.
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In Japan, this idea is used in industry also very effectively. Firstly, everybody wears a uniform right from the chairman to the sweeper, same colour, same cloth, same uniform so that a visual identity is created. Secondly, as soon as the siren goes and the factory is started, everybody gets together, stands together and sings the company anthem. In India, we have problems in people singing the national anthem. Somebody has to put a record on and when the record goes on, people stand at attention as if they are paying respects in some funeral! If you ask somebody, Why dont you sing? he will say, With my voice, how can I sing? But if you start an arati of God, he will join. Why? The God is his. The nation is still on probation. We have not confirmed it. In Japan people are ready to sing the company anthem so identity with the company is already established. The third thing they do: as soon as the company anthem is over, over the public address system comes: 1, 2, 3, 4 they do physical exercises together for three minutes. What happens? Think of a sweeper sweeping the chairmans room. The siren blows the chairman and the sweeper stand together, sing the company anthem, do physical exercises together. The sweeper thinks: This chairman, I dont know how many levels he is above me. But he is still a part of my team; we have the same uniform, sing the same song and do the same exercises. SENSE OF IMPORTANCE Let us look at the second aspect: the Sense of Importance. Let us go back to home. Every wife feels she is very important. Without her, the house is going to fall! In the first year or two after marriage, she occasionally goes to the maternal place; but thereafter she does not want to go out. I remember the first time I was invited at Kathmandu, they wrote: Please bring Mrs. Rangnekar along. I told my wife, You have to come along, you are invited. She said, How can I come along?

Who is going to look after the house? Who is going to take milk in the morning? Do you think children will get up in the morning and take milk? In fact, do you think they will get up at all? They put the alarm on, I have to put it off and wake them up! And the servants have to be told the same thing every day otherwise they dont do anything. Children wont do that the house will be in a mess. Unfortunately the children heard it. They said, Nothing doing, Mummy! You go. For four days we were in Kathmandu, every morning she would get up and say, Let us book a trunk-call to Bombay. Find out what is happening. But thanks to P&T not one call went through! Fifth day we returned to Bombay, rushed home, opened the lock. She was expecting the whole house to be in a mess. Nothing was in a mess. But I am a management expert not for nothing. I told her, Good! We came on the fifth day. Another two days and the house would have collapsed! She was very happy. Always remember. Your wife goes somewhere, comes back after a few days and asks, How are things? dont say We enjoyed. Always put on a long face and say, We somehow carried on! This is important because of ego. In all spiritual discourses, we are told: Forget your ego. In management, we dont forget ego. We pamper and exploit the ego.

SENSE OF DEVELOPMENT The third important aspect is the Sense of Development the feeling of growth. I am working here, I am growing here, I am learning something new. This is a great motivator, particularly for youngsters. Youngsters of today are very ambitious. To the extent they feel they are learning they are motivated and ready to work. Whenever they feel they are stagnated, they are getting nowhere de-motivation comes in. CONCLUSION These three senses: Sense of Identity, Sense of Importance and Sense of Development are vital if you want to motivate people. When we are not going to use the stick and the carrot as the main motivators, these three motivators i.e. Sense of Identity, Sense of Importance and Sense of Development become vital and this is the way we can keep on motivating a group of people to work with us.

WHAT MAKES YOU AN EFFECTIVE MANAGER? Vijendra Kumar S.K.* This is quite tricky! There are umpteen numbers of theories on leadership, best managerial practices and enhancing peoples skills. Every concept, theory or a practice is supposed to have inherent limitations or handicaps (including what I am talking!). How ever, when we collaborate many concepts and practices using chunking procedure, we get some residue, which I believe is quite potent and impressive. There are many things we would like to change within ourselves, help to change in others and the organization, we are committed to. There is one psychological trait, which will encompass all these behaviors or concepts and stands alone as a distinct entity. The following Persian story will illustrate that. The mullah, a preacher, wanted to get some nuts for his wife, because she had promised to cook him Fesenjan, a dish prepared with nuts. In the joy of anticipating his favourite dish, the mullah reached deep into the nut jar and grabbed as many nuts as he could reach with one hand. When he tried to pull his arm out of the jar, it got stuck. As hard as he twisted and pulled, the jar would not release his arm. He cried, groaned, and cursed as a mullah really shouldnt. But nothing helped. After many futile attempts, he called neighbours for help. One of the neighbours said, I will help you if you do exactly as I say. Mullah promised to do everything. The neighbor asked the mullah to shove his arm further into the jar. This seemed strange to the mullah, for why should he put his arm further into the jar when he wanted to get it out of there? But he did as he was told. The neighbor continued, Now open your hand, and drop the nuts you are holding. This request upset the mullah. Reluctantly, he followed his succorers instructions. The man now said, Make your hand very small, and pull it slowly out of the jar. The mullah could do that, but was not satisfied. At that the neighbor took the jar, tipped it over, and let as many nuts roll out as the mullah needed (Courtesy: Nossrat Peseschkian). Well, the case may fit for testing logical reasoning or creativity but I see it in a different context. It can be your ability to delay your needs to be met, for getting the same needs met or changing the process to get the desired out come. Many of us become apprehensive and get stuck with our issues but do not solve them. The trait I am talking about is called Flexibility! A psychological component, which can help us reach any of our goals or heights. This is the core component in our Self, which helps us to adapt, change and still be free within ourselves and feel good. Get it checked and enhance it. Even if you do not want to change anything within your self, still it is O.K. to be flexible and at least change the belief, I do not want to May all of you progress towards becoming more effective as managers. *The author is Assistant Professor (Counselling &Guidance), Department of Science and Humanities, PES Institute of Technology, Bangalore,INDIA.
Can be reached at: shankrivi@yahoo.com

GROWTH AND GREED HAVE LED MFIs IN INDIA TO THE PATH OF DECAY AND DOOM BUT NEED REVIVAL AND NOT EXTINCTION Dr. SN Ghosal No wonder growth and a passion to outreach poor at a faster rate would not have been questioned but for the fact that the same was associated with greed under the guise of commercial strategy considered inevitable for sustenance of any institution. It is true that India provides large space for growth of any institution that aims for poverty alleviation and attempts to provide universal financial accessibility in the country. However that should not have been considered as open sesame to loot poor and disadvantaged people by adopting opaque products and procedures to fund them and rationalizing the same by stressing that poor people need timely credit and the cost of such credit is actually immaterial for them. It is really very unfortunate that in India we have been sincerely concerned to provide affordable credit to the poor we have always erred in developing an appropriate institution that could really fill the gap. This has been happening for ignoring two basic facts. These are: Poor people are not aware and equipped to counter all types of market risks arising due to natural hazards as well as business hazards; Poor people not only need timely credit but also affordable credit.

It is unfortunate that over so many researchers have been made and many committees have been appointed to develop an appropriate institution to cater to the needs of poor people but nowhere above two factors have been taken into consideration with due seriousness and desire to comprehend. In fact in most cases it has been stressed that poor should be provided timely credit as they could afford to bear even reasonably high cost for the same. Perhaps perpetuation of money lenders despite all roadblocks provided handy evidence to such rationalization. No wonder therefore MFIs in India also strategise their business model based on the above rationalization and proved the same by maintaining a very attractive almost unbelievable rate of repayment despite charging not only comparatively high rate 0f interest but also levying various types of visible and not so visible fees for one reason or the other.

In fact the model proved so attractive that many investors both foreign and Indian vied with each other to build and fund these institutions as these became safe haven for investments by such investors. It obviously helped rapid growth of MFIs in India particularly in southern states but gradually in other states also as not only the return on capital was very high but also it provided highest level of safety as repayment of loan was almost 100% as has been shown in their audited financial statements. This double edged benefit obviously made these institutions not only attractive to private equity firms but also enabled they raise money by floating shares even at a high premium. One of the live examples is SKS recent attempt to raise capital through share market at a very premium rate and usurping the most of the gain by reselling promoters share. Indeed this proved to be an eye opener to people and then lot of hue and cry was raised to question the opaque procedures and products of these institutions, so much so that Andhra Government where most of the MFIs have been working, had to issue highly questionable ordinance to restrict and prohibit their charging high rate of interest and restricting banks to fund these institutions with an interest cap so that these institutions may not be able to charge high rate of interest from their borrowers . The ordinance do more harm than good and it is therefore very wise step taken by the RBI to appoint a sub-committee to go iinto the details of the malaise and recommend some healthy steps to restore the glorious past of MFIs so that these institutions could pursue their business much more efficiently and without in any way fleecing and or exercising undue pressure to collect their loans from their borrowers. In fact the most critical area that has to be examined is the cost of credit that these MFIs have been charging from the borrowers particularly when not only this is unbearable for their borrowers who are pursuing small business or farming wherefrom any high return is almost impossible and further to add fire to the fuel they are often subject to natural hazards beside market volatility both in price and volume of demand. It is therefore very much questionable to continue charging such exorbitant rate of interest and exploiting the gullibility and culpability of poor people who often have to ignore the cost of credit to meet their emergent needs. It would therefore be imperative to explore the feasibility of lowering the rate of interest so that poor farmers and traders to whom such loans are advanced could afford the same without undergoing any stress and strain. In this regard Mohd.Ynus in his recent book CREATING A WORLD WITHOUT POVERTY (2009) has aptly observed that there could be a methodology for the assessment to justify high interest rates charged by MFIs. He has elaborated the concept of interest rate premium as the difference between the interest rate charged and the cost of sourcing fund at the prevailing market rate. On that basis he has categorized MFIs of three typesGREEN, YELLOW AND RED.

According to him those MFIs could be classified as GREEN that are totally focussed to alleviate poverty and charge interest not exceeding 10% of the cost of raising fund to meet their operating cost and also ensure their sustainability. Whereas the YELLOW classified MFIs fix their interest rate for lending at 15% above the cost of garnering their funds from the market, to enable them to earn some reasonable rate of profit. Similarly he has classified RED categories are those MFIs who levy interest on their lending more than 15% of cost of raising their funds to lend as this way they actually strategise to maximise their profitability and lose sight of their core objective of alleviation of poverty. It is true that it is just a thumb rule basis of classification but it does provide a benchmark to assess the vulnerability of MFIs towards profiteering and moving away from the basic objective of lifting the poor to higher echelons of the society and not to succumb to poverty and remain trapped and chained for lifelong by the so called philantrophical and social ameliorating institutions. It would be shocking revelation that based on the above benchmark it has been established that: 1. Worldwide 3 out of 4 MFIs would fall under RED CATEGORY; 2. It is the operating expenditure that usually compels MFIs to levy high rate of interest and not just to earn profit. But it has also been observed that in the operating cost there are many hidden charges that actually inflate the cost; 3. So much so that it has further been found that even if profit is shown in the books of MFIs there would be revealing improvement in categorization of MFIs as stated above if hidden costs are removed from the operating cost of MFIs. It would be therefore justifiable to probe the hidden costs rather than raise hue and cry over the working of MFIs and issuing ordinance and or further regulatory norms or institution that may ultimately lead to extinction of MFIs and or restore licensing raj and adjunct corruption a galore in the name of poverty alleviation instead of developing as well as empowering the poor to earn their livelihood with dignity and self support.

In this regard it would be worth emulating the innovating experiments introduced quite long back by I.T.C. to assist the tobacco growers in adopting up-to-date methods of farming and apprising them all the latest soil and seed tests as well as market intelligence. In fact they established kiosks at villages having cluster of tobacco growers. This not only enriched the tobacco growers but also I.T.C. also by getting steady supply of tobacco of good quality and at fair price. Later on Unilever also followed similar approach to build up supply chain to outreach customers in villages. In fact such innovation and introduction of such digital infrastructure could also be introduced by MFIs as that would obviously reduce cost of operation and help in reduction of rate of interest for loans disbursed by MFIs as digital infrastructure could be used not only to channelize credit, money transfer, insurance, health support facilities and also help developing financial literacy to villagers to develop a transparent credit delivery model that could make universal financial accessibility a reality. Beside this there is genuine need to understand the inability of poor farmers, artisans, and traders to withstand the usual market risk beside the almost in built natural risk arising from failure of monsoon and or heavy rains leading to floods. Most of them also lack management acumen and access and comprehend market intelligence and for that reason it would be helpful if the funding institutions not only join hands to share the risks but also management of their businesses. To achieve this ATLEAST for some reasonable period there is need to form partnership in between banks and MFIs and cluster group of farmers, artisans and traders to develop management skill and ability to assess and assume risks with confidence and build reserve by pooling their savings and surplus earnings along with the ability to run their business on their own. It would be like venture capital investment by banks and P.E. funding institutions who would participate MFIs formed as detailed above as they could move out as and when the business promoters (group of farmers ,artisans, and small traders gain enough market experience to withstand market risk. None should have any misgiving with regard to the pioneering and innovative products and practices have been introduced by the MFIs in India over the years and that way they have been able to outreach large number of poor people even in far flung villages where banks would not have gone but through MFIs and perhaps to some extent through SHGs also. It would therefore be unwise to even think of winding of MFIs. It is therefore surprising to find the recent move by RBI and the state government of ANDHRA to suggest debt swaps to help poor borrowers of MFIs to switch from their high cost MFI loans to low cost bank loans. It is surprising also to find Andhra government to come out with almost annihilating ordinance for MFIs. It is true that it is very easy to kill an institution but very difficult to build one. After considerable experimentation MFI model could be developed to outreach poor and it helped at least partially to free the poor people from the clutches of moneylenders who have been virtually uncrown king in villages of India.

No one have any doubt that ordinance and restrictive laws generally lead to corruption and ultimately to collapse of all initiatives and innovations of entrepreneurs. This is perhaps exactly what is happening particularly in ANDHRA PRADESH where most of the successful and large MFIs have been nurtured and grown by socially motivated entrepreneurs with proven knowledge and expertise in management. It has therefore rightly been opined by KUSHIK BASU- CHIEF ECONOOMIC ADVISOR of GOVT. of INDIA- that over-regulation of MFIs would not be helpful for its growth. According to him these institutions need to be regulated to develop more transparency in their loan contract with the borrowers and it should be done to the point that they go out of existence. Similarly RBI , DEPUTY GOVERNOR has also opined that banks can easily bear cost of financial inclusion but the absence of a delivery system causing the main stumbling block for them to go ahead with a strategy for financial inclusion. In view of this it is rather surprising that no one is considering a marriage of commercial banks with MFIs as that would have easily solved the present crisis and banks aspiration to achieve financial inclusion. The marriage could be based on the model of regional rural banks with some modifications to provide participation of farmers, artisans and traders whose farms and firms would be funded and managed. It could be 50% by MFI promoters,3o% by Banks funding the MFI, 10% by the state Government and 10% by borrowers. It is an established fact that MFIs have done some yeomen service to the disadvantaged poor people by creating this new paradigm of unsecured loan services for them and in the process also helped them to avail growing economic opportunities, enhance their income, enabling them to meet their all consumption needs rather helped them to improve their living standard and consumption pattern and more importantly reducing their vulnerability by maximising their earning and providing much needed support service health, insurance, and education. So much so even World Bank has admitted that MFIs fit squarely into the Banks strategy. As th Banks mission is to reduce poverty and improve living standards by promoting sustainable growth and investment in people through loan,technical assistance and policy guidance. It has admitted that MFIs contributed directly to this objective. In fact having realized the importance of MFIs , the WORLD BANK has taken a major initiative to develop these institutions by forming a CONSULTATIVE GROUP to ASSIST THE POOR (CGAP) in 1995 and also has established MICROFINANCE MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE in 2003. CGAP acts as resource centre for MFIs, where it incubates and support new ideas, innovative products, inducts and develops cutting edge technology, novel mechanism of delivery of financial services and provides well defined practical solutions to challenges and problems encountered by these institutions. It has already developed a dossier on best practices and on key principles that need to be adopted by all MFIs to achieve sustainable growth with defined social mission assigned to these institutions.

Even ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK has also emphasized that access to serve poor is more important than the cost of fund to outreach them. It has therefore emphasized that the key point is to develop sustainable institution to outreach poor. The underlying logic is that donations, grants, subsidies and loan waiver just demoralize the urge and passion to grow and also could be made available up to a limit and thereafter growth should be self fuelled and propelled. It would be therefore imperative that private capital must flow to this sector and that too at faster rate to quench the unmet demand of these people for long period. It is true in the process many flaws may creep in as has been recently observed inn Andhra but such flaws are curable and for that state intervention through demoralizing enactments are not at all necessary instead a better oversight system could prevent occurrence of such unhealthy practices. In fact MICHAEL MEDWED in his recent book THE 5 BIG LIES ABOUT AMERICAN BUSINESS has rightly observed that when successful people and institution earn more money it does not mean less of anything, and in fact means more growth, more investment, more jobs. Creating wealth does not cause poverty, it brings progress. According to him there is no such thing as obscene profit. It is therefore nothing wrong to earn profit and achieve growth by deploying such profit. But what went wrong is the coercive method adopted by some MFIs to collect repayment of loans to achieve almost nil non performing asset status to glorify their achievements and thus presenting an illusory image before the funding and investment institutions. It would be therefore helpful if MALEGAM committee appointed by RBI arrives at some positive conclusion and recommends an appropriate model as detailed above and as has been rightly observed by ANIL KUMAR CMD OF IFCI LTD., THAT GIVEN THE STRONG PUBLIC SECTOR IN OUR COUNTRY, IT IS POSSIBLE TO LOOK AT A HYBRID MODEL OF A BANK BEING JOINTLY OWNED.

FUTURE OF BRANDING Prof. Bholanath Dutta

Brand management holds the key in the modern markets. In a world where products are multiplying and becoming more and more similar, management of brands is critical for survival of the products as well as the companies making them. A big, strong brand is always be the best protection a manufacturer has to protect his franchise. The classic definition of a brand from the Harvard Business Review over 40 years ago is as follows: A brand name is more than a label employed to differentiate among the manufacturers of a product. It is a complex symbol that represents a variety of ideas and attributes. It tells the consumer many things not only by the way it sounds (and its literal meaning if it has one), but also more important by the body of associations it has built up and acquired as a public object over a period of time. The net result is the public image, the character of personality that may be more important for the overall status (and sales) of the brand than many technical facts about the product.

To attempt to glimpse into the future it helps to glance back at the past, to identify the genesis of brand design. It all began, allegedly, 5,000 years ago in Egypt, when branding was more about making an impression on an animal to denote ownership rather than in someones psyche. Greek and Roman potters used brand marks to identify the maker, and by the 12th century, crusaders were designing heraldic marks for their shields, tunics and tents to establish individual identities. But these designs were mostly concerned with the identification of the sender rather than the perception of the receiver.

Even early 20th century brand design was more arts and crafts than industry, serendipity often playing a greater role than strategy. Shells name and symbol were based on the founders sentimental memories of his fathers antique shop (which sold decorative sea shells) rather than on what would become the companys fossilbased products. By the mid-20th century the advertising industry, led by Madison Avenue, had a whole new canvas on which to develop brands in a truly emotive way. Television brought the potential of sound and movement to often-inanimate objects, and provoked organizations into thinking about themselves and their products in a whole new light. Modern brand design probably began in 1950s US when Thomas J. Watson Jr. contacted industrial design consultant Eliot Noyes about the visual disarray of his company, International Business Machines (IBM). He realized there was a disconnect between his vision for the company as it entered the electronic era and its dated architecture, interiors and array of trademarks. Noyes brought in Paul Rand to create a cohesive new look, and in the process Rand created the now famous IBM logo. But this marks the start of contemporary brand design not because of Rands logo, but because it was a holistic approach, and focused. The traditional perception of branding has been shortsighted and has cast brands as being cynically manipulative. This is due to an overly skewed attention to one group of stakeholders, namely shareholders. It is time for brands to prove their worth to consumers, their guidance to employees and business partners and, because of these activities, their value to shareholders. The main reason why brands have been developed in the first place has to do with competition and subsequent increased consumer choice. However, contrary to popular belief, consumers do not desire choice per se. Choice is mainly a mechanism that allows consumers to obtain the products and services that they want at a price that they want to afford. As peoples wants, needs and budgets differ, choice functions as a way to fulfill the requirements of different consumers. Brand provides specific consumers with specific rewarding experiences. Experiences that make consumers happy to part with their money and make them satisfied in the process.

Brands will increasingly need to balance on the tightrope of modernization and tradition and need to prove themselves to sophisticated consumers. Product brands will be provided with service enhancements that bring consumers into increased contact with employees, conversely service brands will decrease their human contacts with consumers through further automation of services. Consumers increasing power over manufacturers and retailers, which is a function of competition, spending power and technological developments, mean that they will increasingly require more real-time gratification from brands. From ordering a customized car from the comfort of their homes to the immediate effectiveness of drugs, consumers expectations will need to be met with more urgency than ever before. The increased focus on consumers means that employees and business partners need to be instilled with a clear sense of the brand to be able to deliver on the brand experience. In addition, they will need to recognize the differences between consumers and tailor the brand to meet differentiated brand experiences for different consumers segments and ultimately individual brand experiences for individual consumers. In the future brand to success the following areas need to be focused:

Building emotional connection with the stakeholders will be a key factor for successful branding. Brands will focus more on creating/engineering the total customer experience Customer-relevant innovation will be a key success factor Outstanding customer service will also be a key success factor More and more, brands will need to stand for something to survive Strong brands will not only stand for something, they will also provide forums for people who believe in what the brands stand for One-on-one marketing will become more and more important The Internet will also become increasingly important as a brand building vehicle For larger organizations, customer relationship management (CRM) will become a critical success factor Fast, flexible and agile organizations will increasingly win in the digital age The viral spread of information will increasingly expose organizations for what they really are integrity and consistency will be key Managing buzz will be an essential brand management activity

Stay Connected Prof. Bholanath Dutta Founder, President & Convener: MTC Global www.mtcglobal.org/ president@mtcglobal.org Proof Reader and Technical Editor: Ms. Paramita Chaudhuri