A long and patient queue.......

Standing patiently in a queue awaiting your turn to be served is not a virtue that Indians possess as a people. From bribing priests in temples, to creating six lanes when there is space for two on the road so that we can join right in the front of the queue, we have many tricks and strategies. Raghavendra Stores near Malleshwaram Railway Station in Bangalore offered a different perspective one Sunday morning. There were many people waiting to be served their breakfast from this small self service kiosk that is very popular. All of them formed a queue and there was reasonable order with no effort from the shop.

The reasons are not difficult to fathom. The quality of the food is really excellent. We had hot Idli Vada Chutney. The cashier and counter staff were being 'FAIR' serving on a first come first serve basis. The product was offering terrific value. The service providers were visibly doing their job very efficiently and at top speed. Waiting time felt reasonable. The neighbourhood having people who cared a little bit for others must have also contributed. It was nice to see a relaxed, long line of people waiting for their breakfast a day after I had dumped my shopping bag near the till at a nearby supermarket after shopping for 45 minutes. 

Drama of Coffee!

My article about how drama is used to sell coffee. if drama be the soul of retail, play on!
It is on page 37

http://www.saffronmedia.in/eMagazines/fnb/2014/FNBNov01152014/index.html

like always, your comments not just welcome, they are necessary for my survival as a author

Types of MBA - causing confusion. My article that appeared in the afternoon despatch and courier

Employability Deconstructed

The new buzz word in Indian education is 'employability'. With slowing admissions because of both overcapacity and poor value to students, those in education are being told repeatedly that most graduates are not employable and that until the education sector is able to produce employable graduates, students will find it difficult to transition into careers. I have not checked it, however I am sure there are numerous definitions for the term 'employability'.

There seems to be no clarity at a functional level as to what 'employability' is or to put it more accurately, what it actually consists of. Industry experts opine that there is a lack of skills, many mention 'attitude' as the problem. Academic circles discuss 'knowledge, attitude, and skills' and when one tries to get to know what knowledge, attitude or skills, then either there is a long list or none at all.

To break down employability or classify the various components, it is useful to look at 'employability' as a bundle of qualities. Knowledge; about oneself,business and industry, and domain,
Skills that include life skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, active listening and monitoring ability. Attitude; to career, to life in general and other human beings. career expectations and values need also to be right for someone to be really employable.

Sudhakar model of employability at the present moment looks like the list below.

I am now hoping my friend Vijay P will use this framework to write an article worth publishing in a journal. A lot of work on life skills has been done by the United Nations which can be one good reference. While there are no references here, most of the qualities listed have been proven by research as essential for 'employability'. Based on feedback I am happy to detail each of the dimensions.
Can we provide all of this to students who do not want to learn, have great expectations based on nothing and make transformational changes in the limited time a graduate or post graduate program offers? That is a question, primary, secondary and high schools need to ponder.
Look forward to feedback, as this is a topic where clarity is urgently needed for India! We should not end up doing the half bake differently, we need to do a good job on the whole.

The accidental keynote - Faculty Development Program at Surana College in Sept 2014

Good Morning. As teachers we have become experts at demanding obedience. Is obedience and conformance really important? Please think about this.

What is the first channel on your cable TV? Which one is set as channel No:1? Yes, Doordarshan. I am like the doordarshan channel coming and then you have a long list of speakers who are established as among the best in Bangalore.So, it will be a dull doordarshan followed by by some really wonderful channels.

I was wondering about how to engage a class of professors. Yes, remember when the Principal tells you that the faculty is absent and I do not want students loitering in the corridors, so, please engage the class. My situation is a bit like that. I need your cooperation more than anyone else.

I plan to spend the next half an hour talking about two things. First, to steal the thunder from speakers who will follow me, let me share my views about each of the topics that will be discussed today and tomorrow. 2^nd I want to share with you what I have learnt about teaching the post google generation.

A little bird told me Dr Srikanta has chosen his second most favourite topic to start the FDP today. For the benefit of faculty from Kengeri campus, let me tell you that from what I have heard, his favourite topic is ‘discipline’. Classroom management starts much before the class. Not only can a lesson plan that details pedagogy, resources to be used, a board plan, and  a complete learning design make managing the class easier, it optimises time for both the teacher and student.

You will then hear about Mentoring. The gurukula system thrived on mentoring. Socretes was possibly the first recorded mentor to Plato who was his protégé. Understanding each student and the world around us, apart from having an attitude of concern and understanding are essential qualities of a mentor.

This afternoon Dr Sandeep Shastri will be talking about moving from teaching to learning. This means colleges have to move from institutions providing instruction to institutions that produce learning. In instruction paradigm ‘instructor’ is central and in the learning paradigm ‘learner’ is central. Learning is all about discovering, experiencing, and reflecting. Will the role of the faculty reduce? We need to listen to Dr Shastri for all this and more.

The final discussion today will be an open house, where discussions, team work and feedback are important components.

Tomorrow we start the day at the very top. Prof Mala Sridhara will talk about a psychological approach to student –faculty interaction. Whether it is managing a classroom, mentoring, helping someone learn or providing feedback, understanding the mental model of the student is extremely important.

Next, we have a holy man looking at success in a holistic way. As teachers, we are generally measured only by university results or number of classes handled in a semester. This may not be right for today. Similarly, only test scores to compare students is surely limiting.

I am hoping to be back on stage to introduce Dr.Karajgi who is going to talk about stimulating creativity. What has creativity got to do with examination results where we have predefined syllabus? We are teaching Business and Commerce not art or drama. Dr Karajigi can tell us.

The topics are vry diverse. Is there any link at all or is this some variety program? To me all these talks are well connected to my next topic which is about college for the post Google generation.

We are used to thinking that obedience and following instruction is great, but, is it relevant now? Let us look at the history of organized colleges.

Schools and colleges were built for the industrial era where productivity was important. Factories wanted people prepared to obey, comply and behave and a system was set up to mass produce such people. The industrial age is over, however, we are still creating students who can do exactly what their boss wants them to do.

Google has made accessibility of information and knowledge really easy. One does not need to go to college to hear a good lecture, it is easily available at khanacademy.com. Whether Modi is the 15^th or 16^th Prime minister can be found out in 3 seconds on the net and there is no need for a teacher to provide this information.

In the post Google era we do not need memorization or compliance, we need dreamers with plans to realise their dreams.

Students will come to college not to be fed information or collect likely questions. They will come to college to learn to make and keep commitments, to overcome fear, to take initiative, to work in a team, to learn to enjoy diversity, and to work to a plan.

As teachers, our role needs to change to creating a desire for lifelong learning, to be innovative,  and, to express themselves students need to be taught how to collect, analyse, and understand the loads of data on the internet. We can teach students how to make a good decision, we can teach them about how to deal with a fast changing world. The list is endless. Colleges will be required and faculty will play a important role in the lives of students.

The various talks we are having these two days are all linked to understanding the changes that are taking place. So, while appears disconnected, they are all aimed at preparing us for some new realities.

Teaching is emotional labour, it is digging deep to engage at a personal level. The involvement needed to be good teachers is only increasing.

I am truly blessed to be able to address teachers on guru poornima. Thank you all for listening to Doordarshan, and, thank you Dr Srikanta and Smt.Archana Surana for giving me this opportunity.

Wish you all a wonderful two days of learning and fellowship with colleagues.

Keynote address - Seminar on FDI in Retail - BVVS Commerce College, Bagalkot

Respected  Sri G,N, Karur, Prof L.S.Patil , Prof S.B.Gavimath,  faculty colleagues, students, ladies and gentlemen, Good Morning and Thank you very much for this opportunity. FDI in retailing has been a topic of discussion for ten years now. With every change in policy or Government the topic gets revived and becomes important. Today FDI in retail is a current issue and an important topic and I am blessed to have inaugurated a seminar on this topic.

The topic is important for many reasons. Existing stores, consumers, suppliers, nearly everyone is impacted by FDI in retail. The impact is on both the economy and society as a whole. The size of the retail market is forecasted to grow from rupees 23 lakh crores in 2011-12 to 47 lakh crores in 2016-17 according to an ASSOCHEM survey. This makes Retail a very important part of the economy.

There is a huge untapped opportunity in the retail sector, thus having immense scope for new entrants, driving large investments into the country. A good talent pool, huge markets and availability of raw materials at comparatively cheaper costs are expected to make India lead one of the world's best retail economies by 2042.

We are a nation of shopkeepers with 11 shops for every 1000 people, 97% of the number of stores in the unorganized sector. Retailing has been growing at a hectic pace thanks to continuing urbanization, growing middle class, and macro-economic growth. Organized retailing is also having a steady growth and is possibly accounting for a major part of the sales growth of retailing in the last couple of years.

The possible impact of international retailers coming through the FDI route is like many things in life: a mixed bag.

Positive impact of FDI in retail

The major advantage of the large retailers is that they have access to efficient supply chains, which can reduce prices for customers. Many jobs within the retail industry and with those providing support to organized retailing will be created. Sales associates, people greeters, store managers, back-end positions across the supply chain in purchase, vendor development, accounting, mall maintenance, food technology, support services like Interior designers/decorators, packaging design and supplies are some of the new employment opportunities that have started to emerge. Large international retailers will bring greater professionalism and global best practices in all these areas. Large scale employment will be created by allowing FDI in retailing. It is estimated that 1 crore jobs including direct in retail and indirect like in the supply chain, packaging sectors can be created during this decade.

The farmer is likely to gain by reductions in wastage, and better realizations for produce. Good farmers might get access to foreign markets too, through these global retailers. Contract farming reduces risks and improves realizations and mitigates credit needs for farmers.

Small and medium enterprises that supply ‘private label’ products to big retailers will find opportunity without the large advertising budgets required for brand building.

Supply chain efficiencies will benefit society at large. Better Post harvest technologies will result in lesser wastage and fresher fruits and vegetables. A good cold chain will be very useful to reduce seasonal imbalances and reduce geographic distances for fresh produce.

According to Wal-Mart, “Wal-Mart’s impact on local business is based on the philosophy of operating globally and giving back locally. Studies show that new businesses spring up near Wal-marts and existing stores flourish as they take advantage of the increased customer flow to and from our stores. ”

 Kenneth E. Stone, Professor of Economics, Iowa State University; Georgeanne Artz, Extension Program Specialist, Iowa State University, and Albert Myles, Extension Professor, Mississippi State University, in their 10 year study of the impact of Wal-Mart on smaller cities; which probably is the basis for Wal-Marts statement, developed two primary conclusions that are worthy of note. 

“The entry of a new super center in a community can have dramatic implications for existing merchants. Two general rules-of-thumb summarize the economic impacts of a new super center on local merchants: Rule-of-thumb 1: Local merchants that sell merchandise different from the super center or other big box stores tend to fare well and may gain sales as the additional traffic generated by the big stores spills over into their stores. Rule-of-thumb 2 is not so pleasant: Local merchants that sell the same merchandise as the big stores will probably face a reduction in sales because of the difficulty in competing with major chains.”
Competition will only benefit the customer. While many, including large Indian retailers have confused low prices with greater value, International retailers will hopefully provide better value. We can definitely see better customer service, greater depth of merchandise, more convenient store timings, better packaging, and reduced rejects at these multinational retailers.
It is likely that much of what has happened in other countries in the evolution of retailing will repeat itself in India. Different formats will co-exist. It will be a long time before the handcart vendors of fruits and vegetables will disappear, specialty stores, halwais, and services like dry cleaning will continue to grow. Kirana shops that accept the new reality and reinvent themselves will survive and the inefficient ones have to go.

For the Government purely from a tax collection point of view organised retail which includes international chains are a great advantage as small shops do not maintain proper records and many do not pay all the taxes. In terms of compliance and cost of tax collection, large stores will be preferred by governments.

The Customer gains 

Another dimension is that most of the value created by the International retailers is actually pocketed by its customers in the form of lower prices. According to one recent academic study, when Wal-Mart enters a market, prices decrease by 8 percent in rural areas and 5 percent in urban areas.

 With FDI or large international retailers, consumers can expect greater transparency about products, better replacement/warranty policies, and best of all a much more pleasant environment to shop in. Car parking space, one stop shopping, everyday low pricing, appealing product display, wide range of products, what else can the consumer ask for?

 But then, too much of a good thing must have a price!

Negative Impact of Big international retailers

The greatest fear about FDI is that small Kirana stores will be out of business soon, putting millions of ‘dukandar’ families in crisis. Remember that many of these families have run shops for generations and might not be trained or prepared for anything different from ‘dukandari’. The fear is well founded. Researches in many communities in USA, and in Poland have established that big box retailers do kill many small retailers. Organized retailing also means much lesser people are required per unit of sales (efficiency!), which will cost society at large, in terms of unemployment.

 The study carried out by Kenneth E. Stone also confirms the negative impact for those shops carrying the same merchandise. What does a typical Kirana store carry? Rice, Wheat, Dhal, cooking oil, some local condiments-all well suited for large discount department stores.

That price will be less is also likely to be a misnomer, especially if one goes by the experience in Food-world and other such chain stores. Usually the big box retailers will have a ‘loss leader’-a popular product at a low price, well-advertised to attract shoppers. Everything else will either be on par with small stores or more. People see the prices for the few popular items and assume that all prices are low. In course of time these large retailers will invest in more people, interiors and supply chain so much that they begin to become inefficient, passing on the burden of higher prices to consumers.

Recent studies on contract farming in India have brought out many issues in terms of pricing, large scale movement to genetically modified fruits and vegetables and higher density of plantation.

Another aspect of FDI is the increased use of ‘private label’. Earlier I had mentioned the benefits to small manufacturers, but there is also the aspect of a very large buyer exploiting small manufacturers. Whenever ‘private label’ is discussed it is only as greater margin for the retailer, never as lower prices for the customer.

After the entry of large scale Indian organised retailers, employment has been created and this may grow if FDI is allowed, however these are really low paying jobs being created whereas one entrepreneurial class is getting into trouble. Are creating servants by killing small business owners is another way of looking at the employment issue.

In the USA over a short period of 50 years traditional mom and pop stores established over 400 years have been systematically replaced with chain stores. In India traditional retail has been around for a couple of thousand years and organised retailing is growing at 25-30 % per annum taking share from traditional retailers.  This is an extreme view according to many; however such a view does exist.

It is a good topic for debate

Having seen the positive and negative aspects, it appears clear that this topic is worthy of debate as both those for FDI and those against have good arguments. It all depends on the vision and objective one chooses for the nation.

India is probably the only place we have categorised retail into Single brand retail and Multi brand retailing and quite separately media and e-com companies are trying to categorise online retailing as distinct while the government view is that online is not different from brick and mortar as far as FDI policy is concerned.

Initially cash and carry wholesale was allowed and many brands like Metro cash and later Wal-Mart did come in. Later single brand retail was allowed and some brands did enter through this route. In the last days of the UPA government, the parliament resolved to allow FDI in multi brand retail, however none of the large multi-brand retailers have applied for permission to invest. Even before the 2014 elections the BJP as a party and each its leaders, Smt.Mamta Banerjee,  Sri.Nitish Kumar,  Smt. Jayalalita, had all spoken about reversal of the FDI decision after the election. In recent times Smt Nirmala Sitaraman the commerce minister has issued many statements clarifying that the Government stand is not in favour of FDI in multi- brand retail for now.

Challenges for the Retail industry

One of the biggest challenges for the industry will be that of skilled manpower and it is a great opportunity for educational institutions. Skill based programs to create manpower for the retail industry will be needed in a large scale.

Supply chain will continue to be a challenge because of infrastructure shortages, poor quality of roads and the large number of intermediaries especially in the agricultural sector.

Another challenge faced by organised retailers has been that of the number of clearances required to start a store. Many government departments are involved and it becomes very difficult.

Retail is not considered an industry and so getting funds from banks and financial institutions is difficult.

All these challenges are for organised retail and will continue whether or not FDI happens in a big way.

What is likely to happen in the future?

There are many books on how independent retailers can survive the onslaught of big retail chains. The way is through better customer service, personalized service, unique product assortment by identifying niches in the market (and there must be many considering just the sub-cultures that form a city/town), and most importantly improve efficiency in purchasing and managing inventory professionally.

Research opportunities

The opportunities for research in this area are plenty and important. Potential impact of FDI in multi-brand retailing, impact of FDI in single brand retail, e-commerce, operational issues in supply chain and retail marketing including branding strategies, location selection in India, Product standardization and regional product variations, Changing consumer behaviour is in itself a  large untapped area for research. We see consumers buying behaviour is changing, consumer expectations are changing, customer decision making is changing with pester power of children taking control in many categories, the number of areas is really huge and I am happy this topic was chosen for today and wish it will encourage research in the area. I wish the seminar every success and I am sure all of you will have a wonderful two days. Thank You!

Dr.G.P.Sudhakar, www.gpsudhakar.blogspot.com

Choosing the MBA experience - My views

http://www.thestatesman.net/news/71592-the-deciding-factor.html

Talk at Deeksha -Kengeri campus- to Pre University students

Welcome to Surana College. I wish all the new students all the best and can reassure the parents that they made a good choice.

You are between being a caterpillar and a butterfly. On one hand you are dealing with physiological changes, then you have to meet the requirements of parents and finally you are having to deal with your own thoughts that go all over the place at this time.  In a situation like this, I request you to spend the next two years of your time doing the PUC course thinking about 4 things.

• Self Discovery
• Self Discipline
• Living Life
• Developing right attitudes and habits

This is the time to understand yourself. Try to spend some time discovering your strengths. Build a dream and detailed plans to achieve dreams.

All research on the criteria for success has always emphasized that 'self discipline' is the  essential requirement for success. You can be successful only when you are able to to do all the important things. One additional benefit of self discipline is that it gives us time for ourselves. When we are disciplined, we will have a lot of time for all the things we want to do.

'All work and no play makes jack a dull boy' I am sure you have heard this. Do not think this PUC course is your whole life. A mind works best when it is in a healthy body. We can and must have regular physical activity. Find time to catch a movie or socialize. Please have a life!

One of my friends and motivational speaker Ram Sheshu says 'Repeated thoughts becomes an attitude' and 'Repeated behavior becomes a habit' We have the power to change our thoughts. We need to have the right attitude. Everyone can not win the same race. We must win our own race and not bother about running their race. Everyone cannot get into IIT not because they are not good enough, only because we have a process of rejection rather than of selection. Develop an attitude of doing your best and not getting worried or parlysed when something does not happen the way you wanted it to happen. Be positive all the time, each of us is unique and there is place for everyone to be happy. Just see within your family itself, even the most successful people have failed sometime or the other. How we respond and react to setbacks is really very important.We need to reflect on our failures and learn from them and then move on.

I have two requests for the parents who are also here. 1. Don't think of your children as achievement machines, let them bloom in all aspects of life. 2. Try to use only positive language at home. Ban expressions like 'you cannot' 'no,no,no' and 'it is not possible' from home. Do use such expressions and do not allow the child to say such things. 

Wish you a wonderful stay here and I am sure all of you will do very well in whatever you choose to do. Have a great day and smile often!

Irreverent Communication - Is it wise? Does it help increase sales?

Cheeky  Communication instore may not be common, however it is there and is worth exploring. why would a store resort to this and does it work?

Communication such as these can be put up only by stores that do not belong to large corporate chains with central advertising departments. The quirkyness can only come with a real 'freedom' of expression. Such a freedom, in my opinion,  comes only with being the owner and being very confident about customer walk-ins.

Such in-store communication gives the store a distict identity ( positioning), improves recall and helps customers have a smile, which is one way to increase spend levels I believe.

Cheeky, irreverent, non-conformist.......whatever you call it, it is powerful, personal, and proficient.

Am sure you have seen such communication. Do share your pictures or examples here.

IKEA - Helping customers buy....more?

IKEA has many interesting facets of customer experience management including providing names of the designers for each item of furniture, providing restaurant facilities at reasonable prices within the store and simple and easy to understand info-graphics throughout the store. The understanding of customer path to purchase ( to use Shopper Marketing taxonomy!) is impeccable. IKEA has insights in every minute detail of what is happening to the customer at the physical store and in her mind as she goes through the store. The most interesting part is that, everything seems obvious and based on simple common sense.  As an example,when you want to buy furniture you need to measure furniture and space you have for it at home, or that 'matching' is important in decor.........obvious and simple common sense.

My visit was to the store in College Park, Maryland, USA. I am limiting this post to one component of the experience which has to do with the leaflet and purchase planner so that I can describe in some detail these shopping aids, rather than providing a general overview.

On one side of the leaflet is a map of the store which is divided into a showroom, market place and self service. The showroom is full of displays in well designed bedrooms/kitchens/drawing rooms to help customers see the products 'in use'. The market place is much like a departmental store for knick-knacks and smaller items and the self service floor is much like a large warehouse where one can pick up packed and ready to assemble furniture.

The leaftet maps out the various departments and in a fun and clear way explains the shopping process to the client including post purchase activities.

The leaflet has space for planning the purchase. For example you see a table you want to buy displayed in the showroom. Write down the product code and where it is available in the self service area so it is easy to pick up on your way out of the store.  A shopping list with details of what price, which aisle located is a real support and memory aide.

I found the measuring tapes (made out in-expensive paper) and short pencils a real simple, obvious, and comon sense giveaway that adds tremendous value. I saw many using the tape to measure furniture items and also the pencil to write down details.

 

IKEA has really planned the store, and so many small details to maximise shopping pleasure and provide for the retail therapy that it is difficult to believe. Food at reasonable prices and free coffee for loyalty card holders,  customer printing additional loyalty cards ( super naming as 'family card' ) to help co-shoppers in the family .....the list is very long. The single point I want to make is that 'god is in the details' holds very true for customer experience management. Planning for every small touch point and executing with clarity and flawlessly are key.

Culturally relevant retail formats? The 'Grandhige Angadi' in Bangalore

A key differentiator between retail formats has been the merchandise mix carried. Generally speaking
Super Markets focus on food and consumables, wheras a speciality store could be a jewellary store, a Footwear store or an apparal store.

In Malleshwaram and in Basvangudi, which are the older residential areas in Bangalore, there is a niche format called 'Grandige Angadi'. The literal translation would be 'Perfumary Stores', however the format is the greatest example of how 'scrambled merchandisng' can be a profitable and sustainable format.

 

At Mr T.V Sampangi Ramiah's shop which was started in 1934, the merchandise mix consists of a eclectic mix of perfumery used for religious ceremonies, herbal medicines, niche food products ranging from the Jaggary balls in the picture, candied gooseberry, dry fruits , uncommon herbs,vessels used in religious ceremonies from child birth, marriages to Hindu funerals, and, the fast moving 'Puja items'; which are essentials for Hindu festivals which occur throughout the year in India and surely more often in Malleshwaram. Observe the storage of many items in polybags, as the frequency of sale for many of the items may be very low, making it neccessary to make merchandise 'bright and shiny' even after years on the store shelf.   When asked about his merchandise mix Mr. ampagi Ramiah said 'When you cannot find it in any other shop in Bangalore shop, you can find it here'

 

The shops next to the 'Grundige Angadi' sell Vermilion and Turmeric both items which are available in many qualities and the orthodox Hindu will use only the best quality as offering to the gods.

The wheel of retailing theory does not seem to have impacted these shops with scrambled merchandise, even as they might have started as shops selling Perfumary and moved into culturally specific scrambled merchandise.