Strategic Marketing for High Tech and Innovations

Learnt from Prakash Bagri

1. Moore's law applies not only to the Processing Power but also to the storage and connectivity. All 3 are galloping ahead and the prices are falling. 
2. Intel was initially chasing the processing power (Hz) "S Curve" and were finding diminishing returns and also finding that the pursuit will lead them to quickly hit the "heat barrier" which will need bulkier heat sinks and fans to operate the chips. They changed the "S Curve" just in time and went after chips running on lower voltage and hence wont need bulky heat sinks. This created Centrino which opened the laptop market in a big way.
3. "Feature Fatigue" is when you give so many features that the choice overwhelms and acts against itself

19 Rules To Live

1. Do more than you are expected to do and do it cheerfully. 
2. Marry someone whose talk and presence you like.
   It will remain in the old age. 
3. Dont  believe all you hear. Dont spend all you have.
   Dont sleep all you want.
4. When saying"I love you" mean it. 
   When saying "'I am sorry"; look the person in the  eye.
5. Be   engaged at least six months before you get married.
6. Believe in love at first  sight. 
7. Never laugh at anyone's dreams.
   People who don't  have  dreams don't have much. 
8. Love  deeply and  passionately.
   You might get hurt but  it's  the only way to live life completely. 
9. In  disagreements,  fight fairly. No name calling. 
10. Don't  judge people by their   relatives. 
11. Talk slowly but think   quickly. 
12. When  someone asks  you a question you don't want to  answer, 
    smile and ask, 'Why do you want to  know?'
13. Remember  that great  love and great achievements involve  great  risk.
14. When  you lose, don't  lose the   lesson. 
15. Remember  the three  R's: Respect for self; Respect for  others; 
    and Responsibility for all your actions. 
16. Don't  let a little  dispute ruin a great friendship. 
17. When  you realize you've  made a mistake,
    take  immediate steps to  correct   it. 
18. Smile when picking up the phone. 
    The  caller will hear it in your  voice 
19. Spend  some time  alone.

Quotes on Market Research

• Measure with a micrometer, mark with a chalk and cut with an axe.
• When giving a forecast give them a number or the time but never both
• Figures don't lie but liars figure
• It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. 
• he way to do research is to attach the facts at the point of greatest astonishment.
• Some people use research like a drunkard uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.
• Torture numbers, and they'll confess to anything.
• When we cannot express something in numbers, our knowledge is meager.
• There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics
• There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up
• Facts are available to everyone; it is interpretation and implementation that is key

How does their tribe thrive ?

More and more shops in Indian metros are looking like high street shops. They sell  expensive brands, products are displayed in fancy ambiance and the shops have attractive facades. They sell things like shoes, apparel, fashion, furniture and novelties. But the curious fact is that they do not seem to have too many customers who actually buy ! So, if they do not make much money; how does their tribe thrive?.

First, these shops do not invest in things that are on sale in these shops : the merchandise is funded by the vendors of the store. All that the shop owner provides in the real estate and the fancy interiors; the rest is provided by the vendors on credit. The vendors get paid well after the goods are sold by the store to its  customers in cash. In other words, the investment of the shop owner in the working capital is negative ! The shop owner in fact converts the financing provided by the vendors into real estate.

Retailing is actually a financial business. If you have an attractive shop, you can get many vendors coming to you areal estate is one of the few areas left where you can invest black money - of which there is plenty around and people who have it are looking for ways to use it rather than stash it. Hence funding is no problem. As stated above the working capital is fully funded. The unrealized returns - property appreeciation - is what everyone is after. Their only intention on a month to month basis is to break even : as long as salaries are paid and power costs are met; they are happy.

These store owners buy more real estate, buy more stock and use this higher clout to extract better price and more credit. Where does that leave the suppliers ? The suppliers have two choices - to become cost leader to compete with others, to become more innovative and different or to create a brand pull that will force the retailers to keep your stock. With decades of cost reduction, the vendors cannot really do much on costs. The pull creation is expensive. Innovation in the value chain is the real route left now to exploit.

Tips to Managers ( People and Performance)

• Fix the problem, not the blame. It is far more productive, and less expensive, to figure out what to do to fix a problem that has come up than it is to waste time trying to decide who's fault it was.
• Tell people what you want, not how to do it. You will find people more responsive and less defensive if you can give them guidance not instructions. You will also see more initiative, more innovation, and more of an ownership attitude from them develop over time.
• Manage the function, not the paperwork. Remember that your job is to manage a specific function within the company, whatever that may be. There is a lot of paperwork that goes with the job, but don't let that distract you from your real responsibility.
• You get what you pay for. Yes it is an old saying, but it is still true. Whether you are paying for machinery, software , advertising, or people you ultimately get what you pay for. Always buy the best you can afford. Quality always comes through.
• Don't DO Anything. Your job as a manager is to "plan, organize, control and direct." Don't let yourself waste valuable time by falling back on what you did before you became a manager. We know you enjoy it and you are good at it. That's why you were promoted. Now you need to concentrate your efforts on managing, not on "doing".
• Anyone can steer the ship in calm waters. What will set you apart in your career is how you perform during the tough times. Don't become complacent and relax just because things are going well. Plan ahead for the downturn.
• You have to make a difference. The group you manage has to be more effective, more productive with you there than they would be if you were not. If they are as productive without you, there is no business sense in keeping you on the payroll.
• Delegate the easy stuff. The things you do well are the things to delegate. Hold on to those that are challenging and difficult. That is how you will grow.
• Don't get caught up in 'looking good'. "Work happily together. Don't try to act big. Don't try to get into the good graces of important people, but enjoy the company of ordinary folks. And don't think you know it all. Never pay back evil for evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honest clear through."
• Leaders create change. If you lead, you will cause changes. Be prepared for them and their impact on people within, and outside, your group. If you are not making changes, you are not leading.
• Practice what you preach. To lead, you have to lead by example. Don't expect your people to work unpaid overtime if you leave early every day. Don't book youself into a four star hotel on business trips and expect your employees to stay in the motel off the freeway.

Kotler's Book is an encyclopedia and not a textbook

Batch 31 participants asked me yesterday they cannot find the MVG model anywhere in the prescribed textbook of Kotler. I had to tell them that, while it is a standard and up-to-date textbook on marketing; it is so wide in scope and meant for so many difference audiences that any one audience finds it bewildering.  I told them that is why I have created a superstructure that will enable you to understand how everything is "connected" to each other in marketing. While the word "MVG Model" is my own creation, the underlying concept is universal that the output is a function of 3 concepts Market, Value Proposition and Go To Market and that they are interconnected. If you ponder a little it will become clear that the output of your marketing activity - whether measured as sales, market share, price realization or profitability - depends on

1. Market : This involves analyzing how many customers, their needs, their readiness, their behavior, their habits, the prices they are willing to pay, competitors and their activities, collaborators and their activities .. and choosing your target customers. There are 5 chapters relevant to analysis are 3 (Env scanning), 4 (Market Research), 6 (Analyzing consumer markets), 7 ( Analyzing Business Markets) and 21 (Global Markets). There are 2 chapters relevant to choosing target markets are 5 (Customer Value) and 8 (Segmentation and Targeting) 
   
2. Value Proposition : This builds on - and is linked to the choice of the market - because you cannot create value (product, service) unless you know who the customer is, and who the competition is, and unless you are clear what the positioning is. There are 3 chapters 9 (competition), 10 (Brand equity), 11 (Positioning). Once you decide value proposition, you can work out product specifications and pricing and there are 4 relevant chapters are 12(products), 13 (services), 14 (pricing) and 20 (New Products)
3. Go-To-Market : The value proposition needs to be taken to the right places where customers are searching for you (gathering) - or you need to search for the customers (hunting). You need to prospect, contact, communicate, convince, close and transact and set up mechanisms for doing so. There are relevant 5 chapters are 15 (channels), 16 (retailing), 17 (communications), 18 (mass media), 19 (personal selling)        

I am Fear - that's who

"I am fear. I am the menace that is invisible to the eye but sharply felt by the heart. I am the father of despair, the brother of procrastination, the enemy of progress, the tool of tyranny. Born of ignorance and nursed on misguided thought, I have darkened more hopes, stifled more ambitions, shattered more ideals and prevented more accomplishments than history could ever record. I assume many disguises. I masquerade as caution. I am sometimes known as doubt or worry. But whatever I'm called, am still fear, the obstacle of achievement. I know no master but one. It's name is understanding. I have no power but what the human mind gives me, and I vanish completely when the light of understanding reveals the facts as they really are, for I am really nothing."