Strategic tools for the practising manager

KIT

THIS WEEK: THE JEANSWEAR MARKET IN INDIA

The branded jeanswear market in India was worth approximately Rs 2,100 crore in 2006, with about 35 million consumers in India purchasing over 44 million pairs of jeans.

Men account for the bulk of consumption at 76 per cent, followed by women (17 per cent) and children (7 per cent).

About 80 per cent of the jeanswear in India is branded.

The primary consumer group is the 16 to 25 age group, which buys denims largely for emotional connectivity.

The secondary target's "" 25 years and above "" purchase decisions are also influenced by emotional appeal, but largely by the functional purpose of jeans.

The domestic jeanswear market is growing at 10 per cent a year. Moreover, domestic demand for denim is better than international demand.

The super-premium subset (Rs 2,000 and above) is strengthening with increased brand presence. It is currently dominated by non-Indian and domestic "designer wear" labels.

The potential of the under-Rs 300 jeanswear segment is massive and largely untapped. The estimated valuation is about Rs 2,300 crore, which is greater than the size of the total branded jeanswear market.

NUGGETS
Selections from management journals

A conundrum for content providers on the Internet has been what price to charge for access to information or entertainment. On September 19, The New York Times announced it would no longer charge for online access to selected articles; two days earlier, Internet service provider AOL announced it was realigning its business to garner revenue from advertising instead of subscription fees.

For these and other providers, what pricing model will sustain a business when a large block of consumers believe information over the web should be free? Marketing and technology experts at Emory University and its Goizueta Business School explore the issues.

End of paying for information on the Net?
Knowledge@Emory,
October 10 - November 13
Read the article at http://knowledge.emory.edu/

A decade of globalisation-fuelled competition has opened the eyes of senior managers everywhere to the strategic benefits of price sensitivity management (PSM). Too often, however, the evolution in the way executives think about purchasing hasn't translated into results.

A small number of purchasing groups, however, are achieving sustainable cost reductions in nontraditional areas and using market insights gained alongside suppliers to enhance the activities of their organisations as a whole. Some use purchasing as a springboard for innovation.

Successful purchasing groups tend to adopt a more rigorous approach to talent, create higher aspirations for themselves, and carefully align their sourcing efforts with the strategic goals of their companies. These pioneering organisations are laying the foundation for a better approach to procurement "" one that average performers ignore at their peril.

Inventing the 21st-century purchasing organisation
The McKinsey Quarterly, 2007 Number 4
Subscribe to the article at www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca once noted, "You can have brilliant ideas; but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere."

In their new book, The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas, Wharton legal studies and business ethics professor G Richard Shell and management consultant Mario Moussa provide a systematic approach to the problem Iacocca identified.

Using relationship-based, emotionally intelligent persuasion to secure both individual and organisational buy-in, everyone from CEOs and entrepreneurs to team leaders and mid-level managers can sell their ideas "" a skill that everyone needs to learn if they want to be effective in their organisations, the authors say.

'The Art of Woo': Selling your ideas to the entire organisation, one person at a time
Knowledge@Wharton, October 17, 2007
Read the article at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu

In this conversation, management guru Gary Hamel and McKinsey's Lowell Bryan discuss the need for companies to innovate management practices to better cope with and thrive in a business landscape marked by fundamental technological change and globalisation.

The conversation builds upon the work that Hamel and Bryan explored in recently published books, Hamel's The Future of Management, and Bryan's Mobilizing Minds, which he coauthored with McKinsey partner Claudia Joyce.

The authors discuss how traditional management models do not enable businesses to adequately respond to today's competitive forces.

In a new environment that places a premium on collaboration and talent, they view old organisational structures as impediments to innovation and creative strategy. Hamel and Bryan explore the need for executives to balance revolutionary management thinking with practical experimentation to find new, innovative management models.

Innovative management: A conversation with Gary Hamel and Lowell Bryan
By Joanna Barsh
The McKinsey Quarterly
Read the interview at www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Even with recent product recalls on manufactured products, China's influence is growing. According to Jeffrey Rosensweig, associate professor of finance at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and director of the Global Perspectives Program, the Chinese economy packs a "one-two punch: the world's largest population also has maintained the fastest economic growth rate during the past 30 years."

This growth means good news to many American retailers and consumers, though the growing American debt financed by China is cause for concern. Finance and marketing experts at Goizueta examine the issues and discuss the positive and negative aspects of China's growing economic dominance.

Exploring the impact of China's growing economic status
Knowledge@Emory,
October 10 - November 13
Read the article at http://knowledge.emory.edu