| This week: The Indian furniture industry |
| The Indian furniture industry is estimated at approximately Rs 35,000 crore. |
| An estimated 85 per cent of the Indian furniture industry falls into the organised sector. |
| The share of the wooden furniture market is estimated at Rs 60 crore. |
| The world home furniture market is worth Rs 20,000 crore and during the past three years it grew at 20 per cent a year. |
| The range of indigenous furniture available in India includes both residential and contract system furniture, with an increased concentration in office nd kitchen furniture. |
| Currently, in India, manufacturers use a three-tier selling and distribution structure "" the distributor, wholesaler and retailer. |
| current imports are mainly from Italy, Germany, Spain, China, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. |
| It has been estimated that the top 784 cities and towns contribute 41 per cent to the total furniture consumer market. |
| A- and B-type cities together account for 33 per cent of the total market. |
| NUGGETS Selections from management journals |
| Since its founding, in 1995, Amazon.com's bold moves have often left observers scratching their heads, if not predicting the company's demise. Why open up an effective proprietary retail platform to competition from third-party sellers? |
| Why make tools that Amazon developed for its own use available to other website developers? (Why, for that matter, post negative reviews of your products?) Two HBR editors interviewed Bezos, the founder and CEO, to learn what's different about strategy formulation at Amazon. |
| They came away with the sense that the company's strategy and culture are rooted in a sturdy entrepreneurial optimism and rest on the single question of what's better for the customer. |
| Bezos describes himself as "congenitally customer focused." He knows that the buyers in Amazon's consumer-facing business want selection, low prices, and fast delivery "" and he's confident that won't change. "I can't imagine," he says, "that 10 years from now [our customers] are going to say, 'I love Amazon, but if only they could deliver my products a little more slowly.'" |
| The institutional yes An interview with Jeff Bezos by Julia Kirby and T A Stewart Harvard Business Review Read this interview at www.hbr.com |
| Tata Motors, India's largest car maker, has been in the news for the past month because of reports that it is interested in taking over Jaguar and Land Rover, two marquee brands that Ford Motor Co has put up for sale. |
| The Tata Group made a huge acquisition last year when it acquired Dutch company Corus for more than $12 billion, making Tata-Corus one of the world's largest steelmakers "" and some analysts believe that by pursuing Jaguar and Land Rover, the Tatas are trying to hit another home run. |
| But does it make economic sense for Tata Motors to take over these two iconic brands from Ford? What could Tata Motors do for Jaguar and Land Rover that Ford could not do? India Knowledge@Wharton discussed these questions and more about India's fast-growing car industry with Wharton's John Paul MacDuffie, a management professor and co-director of the International Motor Vehicle Programme. |
| Should Tata Motors buy Jaguar and Land Rover? India Knowledge@Wharton, September 20, 2007 Read this article at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/ |
| WHO BOUGHT WHAT September 2007 |
| Top online buys |
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| Top searches Source: eBay India (www.ebay.in) |
Strategic tools for the practising manager
KIT
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First Published: Oct 02 2007 | 12:00 AM IST
