CEO pay too high: Brand guru

Salaries of Indian CEOs were disproportionately high, warned international brand expert and thinker, Erich Joachimsthaler, founder and CEO, Vivaldi Partners.

He said the CEOs should be given incentives according to their achievements.

"The incentives should be in proportion to the risk they undertake for growth. They should not just be stewards of growth," he said.

Advising Indian companies not to imitate China's brand development model, Joachimsthaler said, "India should not be like China, populating the world with low-cost products."

Instead, he advised brand managers to use global and local symbols in harmony to build a powerful identify for brands in domestic and overseas markets.

For example, Coca-Cola conveyed the image of a thirst-quencher powerfully, yet used completely local imagery, he pointed out.

Speaking at seminar organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Joachimsthaler said India should adopt a demand-first-innovation-growth model, whereby companies along with designing products according to local needs, should look forward to tap the global market.

Further, currently the country was in a pivotal position in the world market with advantages like strong business process outsourcing (BPO) base and membership of Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC) transnational group.

Also, India should explore its own treasures and assets as the country had a strong intangible knowledge base and adopt a "outside-in" rather than "inside-out" view.

"If you do not position yourself right now, you might be taken over by some one else. You need to be pro-active in global arena" he said.

"India is not positioning itself, but being positioned by people with little knowledge of brand-building and economics," he warned.

Giving examples of brand like Nike and Starbucks, he said the two brands exemplified that even with low advertising budgets, brands could be firmly established.