Monday, April 30, 2012

Pizza makers Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza and others cut prices for higher sales

NEW DELHI/BANGALORE: Pizza makers seem to be doing a McDonald's as they go all out to woo Indian consumers with rock bottom prices in order to drive volumes and higher sales in an inflationary economic environment.

Last week, Yum Restaurants India-owned Pizza Hut rolled out 4-5 inch pizzas in select markets such as Gurgaon-NCR at entry-level prices of Rs 29 each - that's the lowest in the Indian market by any player and the lowest for any of 117 countries where Louisville-based $12 billion Yum Brands operates.

While category leader Jubilant FoodWorks' promoted Domino's Pizza is aggressively pushing its 'pizza mania' umbrella priced at Rs 39, home-grown Pizza Corner has launched a pilot 'my pizza' range in Bangalore with prices starting at Rs 38 for a 7-inch pizza each. And US chain Papa John is not ruling out dropping entry-level prices.

"Access to a wider base of consumers and driving volumes further is what led us to launch the new range," says Sandeep Kataria, chief marketing officer at Yum! Restaurants India. Pizza Hut has positioned its latest offering as a 'snacking option' rather than a full-meal.

It piloted the project in Chennai about a month back and is now in the process of taking the product national now across 30 cities Pizza Hut Delivery ( PHD) outlets have a presence in.

Yum Restaurants India, which plans to invest $100 million (Rs 522 crore) in India by 2015 and double its stores to at least 1,000, was made only the third country after the US and China with a standalone reporting division, starting November last year.

Last fortnight, Yum Brands, which runs the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chain, for the first time announced stand-alone results for India - 8% same store sales for its 400-plus stores.

For US chain Domino's too, India is its fastest growing country outside its home market, with a market capitalisation only second to its American parent. Without divulging specific details of forthcoming plans, category leader Jubilant FoodWorks' CEO Ajay Kaul says its 'pizza mania' platform is a 'runaway success and an industry benchmark'.

The listed Jubilant FoodWorks, with a network of 439 stores across 100 cities as of December 2011, posted 49% increase in system sales and 30% same store sales growth in the last-reported October-December 2011 quarter. Adds Kaul: "Domino's Pizza, over the last several years, has become synonymous with affordability and value-for-money propositions."

Jubilant Foodworks Ltd.

BSE

1171.75

-7.55 (-0.64%)

Vol:22189 shares traded

NSE

1172.00

-12.30 (-1.04%)

Vol:108768 shares traded

Prices|Financials|Company Info|Reports

The Rs 1,800-crore organised pizza market is growing at 20-25%, Technopak Adivisors says.

"These prices are required to cater to a larger segment of the masses and to increase transactions among those families for whom price is a limitation and for college students," says Joseph Cherian, global CEO of Global Franchise Architects (GFA), which operates 88 outlets across formats such as Pizza Corner, Coffee World, Donut Baker and Cream & Fudge Factory. Pizza Corner operates 58 outlets across India.

"It is a conscious business call by companies and is a good strategy given the economic conditions in India. The market is not as rosy, given high inflation and liquidity crunch. Companies would want to get consumers to try products and move them to higher price points," Sanjay Coutinho, CEO of Om Pizzas & Eats, says.

The company, which raised Rs 50 crore from TVS Shriram Growth fund in late 2010, runs 35 Papa John's Pizza outlets. It has not tweaked its entry level price point yet but does not rule it out in the future. Coutinho says the company is first focused on increasing scale and visibility in India.

Says Raghav Gupta, principal at management consulting firm Booz & Company, "So far, these chains have been able to attract consumers who have the income and the willingness to eat pizza. By lowering prices, they are trying to take it to the next level."

For multinational firms, India and China, the last bastions of growth, are critical markets which need to deliver to make up for sluggish sales in mature markets. Yum Brands' restaurant sales in China, which accounts for 40% of Yum's total profits, missed analyst expectations for the January-March 2012 quarter, triggering speculation about a likely slowdown in the country and turning the spotlight on India.

Gupta of Booz adds that since Domino's Pizza is increasing market share, "some chains are probably, in a small way, trying to counter their success."

These brands also compete with other players for share of wallet. Nearly 70% of consumers who eat out are below 35 years, Booz & Company's Food Services Retail in India report says. They patronise the Rs 7, 000-crore organised India food services industry.

Saket Kumar

pgdm2ndsem.

pg|11|42

Brand Update : Thums Up wants you to live the thunder

This summer , the iconic brand in the Indian soft drinks industry has made a significant change in its positioning. Thums Up, rightly said as India's most resilient brand, is now running a campaign which marks a significant change in its positioning.

Over the last few years, Thums Up has been promoted on the theme where the protagonist ( celebrity) would do anything for his Thums Up. In all the campaigns, the protagonist would do unbelievable stunts to get hold of this Thums Up. The brand lived up to its reputation of being a Macho drink was further reinforced by its powerful tagline " Taste the Thunder".

This summer, the brand owners decided to change the winning formula. The entire brand's communication platform has been changed. The protagonist now does not chase Thums Up. But rather, he gets so excited after having Thums Up that he begins to do the stunts. The brand although retains the tagline " Taste The Thunder" now has another slogan " Aaj Kuch Toofany Kartey Hain ".

It also seems that the brand has dropped Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador. The new ad features the Telugu super star - Mahesh Babu for the all India campaign.

What is significant in the latest campaign is that the brand's definition of context has changed. The protagonist now possess Thums Up and now he is seeking excitement outside the brand . In my opinion, now the brand is no longer the major focus or the goal in the plot. The ultimate goal of the celebrity is now something other than the brand ( like shortcut /time saving etc) . This is a very significant change in the brand's communication strategy and not a good idea. While the earlier theme of chasing a Thums Up was unique, the idea of doing stunts after consuming a soft-drink is an old idea. For example , Mountain Dew's campaign of Daar Ke Aage Jeet Hain has the similar concept. I don't understand why a brand like Thums Up chose to ditch its unique communication platform and adapt a also-ran communication theme. Who got bored with the old positioning ?

The only solace is that the brand still carries the iconic tagline " Taste the Thunder "

Amit Pratap Singh

PGDM 2nd sem

DLF to open Mall of India in Noida

DLF will open Mall of India in Noida, Sector 18, spread in the total built-up area of approx 27,07,575 sq.ft. and a gross leasable area of 16,00,000 sq.ft. To become operational by July 2013, it is touted as India's first mall to offer six floors of shopping and entertainment.
According to Pushpa Bector, Mall Head and Head- Leasing and Marketing, Mall of India: “The Mall of India is a very prestigious project not just for DLF but also for India. We are positioning our mall as a microcosm of India, the way it is perceived globally – young, vibrant, progressive, deep rooted in our traditions, and yet very cosmopolitan and international. It is not just its huge size that will make it special, but also a whole range of brands and choices that it will offer to the customers. Apart from world class shopping, family entertainment, and dining, the visitors will also enjoy art and culture along with a plethora of other services which will make Mall of India a complete family and tourist destination.”
The mall will be maintained and operated by DLF, while both interior and exterior architecture is taken care by Benoy. TBD will look after landscaping, security, and parking management of the mall. The lighting will be provided by Lichtvision.
There will be 13 lifts and 68 elevators in the mall provided by Thyssen and three entry and exit points. The number of stores in the mall would approximately be 500 with 14 anchors stores. Mall of India will have a food court called “Eat Food Lounge” spread across 13,271 sq.ft. with a 1,000 seating capacity. It will also house a five-screen multiplex provided by DT Cinemas Premium, spread across 93,517 sq.ft. with a seating capacity of 1,000. There will be three-level basement parking facility and the mall is also planning to provide shuttle service providing pick and drop facility to its customers.
Talking about the location of the mall, Bector said: “Delhi is mostly saturated in terms of land availability for a project of this size. Hence moving to a satellite town, conveniently connected with the city was a natural choice. Our catchment area is huge because it starts not just from Noida and Greater Noida but also touches east along with affluent South Delhi. Noida Expressway and metro connectivity will make the accessibility easier."
The Mall of India is a 100 percent leased mall. In the words of Bector: “The methodology will be in sync with the latest international norms of leasing, offering a customer a holistic mix of value zones, the best of indigenous brands on an exclusive floor called the 'Indian Boulevard' and international brands across two floors named as 'International Chic’. Superior entertainment for kids, multifarious foodcourts and dining options, casual leasing of exciting carts and kiosks will complete the leasing cycle.” The leasing process will start in July, 2012.
The mall is said to be country’s first Gold Leed certified building, high on energy efficiency and will be positioned on the tourism map of India like its befitting counterparts - Mall of Dubai and Mall of America. The project expects a footfall of 80,000 on weekdays and 1,25,000 on weekends.
On the competition from the other huge malls in the same vicinity, Bector said: “The Mall of India owing to its well planned leasing and marketing strategy including customer sensitive services and other offering will not significantly get affected by other malls in the vicinity. However, we perceive this as healthy competition and will be glad to be a part of a large, wholesome shopping and entertainment destination which has a huge catchment and potential.”
-Prakash Yadav
PGDM 2nd sem

Monday, April 23, 2012

Tata Motors is planning new marketing strategies to push Nano sales

The company aims to undo the 'Nano is a poor man's car' perception in the Indian market.

At the 2012 Auto Expo, Tata Group chairman, Ratan Tata admitted that there had been quite a few blunders in the way the Tata Nano was marketed and distributed in the country. To make the necessary correction and to boost the sales of the small car, the company is now gearing up to introduce new marketing and distributing strategies in the Indian market. The new strategy aims at reaching out to multiple segments of target customers and to undo the perception that the Nano is a poor man's car.

"Quite a lot of marketing activity is in place now - reaching out to the target segments, network strategy, handling the customers at the dealerships, tie-ups with various financiers." said Mr R Ramakrishna, the company's vice-president. "Every single segment is falling in place now." Ramakrishna added.

According to the company, a typical Nano buyer is relatively scared to go to a full-fledged car showroom and therefore, the company is setting up exclusive showrooms to sell Nano cars in Tier-III and Tier-IV cities across the country. Apart from the existing showrooms, Tata Motors has so far set up around 105 exclusive Nano showrooms and 250 special kiosks. Altogether, the company now has around 750 sales points where the Nano is available.

Deepak kumar

2nd sem

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

about six sigma

“The quality performance” is the foundation stone of all types of industries. The growth of an industry depends on its performance quality. So checking out of the performance quality of an industry is something which is inevitable. “SIX SIGMA” – The statistical representation, is a process of quality measurement, which helps the organization in the improvement of their quality.

Six Sigma is a systematical process of “quality improvement through the disciplined data-analyzing approach, and by improving the organizational process by eliminating the defects or the obstacles which prevents the organizations to reach the perfection”.

Six sigma points out the total number of the defects that has come across in an organizational performance. Any type of defects, apart from the customer specification, is considered as the defect, according to Six Sigma. With the help of the statistical representation of the Six Sigma, it is easy to find out how a process is performing on quantitatively aspects. A Defect according to Six Sigma is nonconformity of the product or the service of an organization.

Since the fundamental aim of the Six Sigma is the application of the improvement on the specified process, through a measurement-based strategy, Six Sigma is considered as a registered service mark or the trade mark. Six Sigma has its own rules and methodologies to be applied. In order to achieve this service mark, the process should not produce defects more than 3.4. These numbers of defects are considered as “the rate of the defects in a process should not exceed beyond the rate 3.4 per million opportunities”. Through the Six Sigma calculation the number of defects can be calculated. For this there is a sigma calculator, which helps in the calculation.

manoranjan kumar

pgdm 2nd sem

ESPN Star Sports launches Event Management Group in India

After recently winning the bid for media rights of BCCI, ESPN Star Sports has launched its on-ground division Event Management Group (EMG) in India. The company further announced that PepsiCo India has signed on EMG to manage its mega football league Pepsi T20 Football’s on-ground events in India.
As a part of the deal, ESPN Star Sports is producing and showcasing the Pepsi T20 Football tournament in a special eight episode series. EMG is also managing the School Quiz 2012 where it has roped in HDFC Life as the title sponsor. While on-ground initiatives around the HDFC Life School Quiz 2012 have already started, the on-air telecast of the quiz begin on 01 June, 2012.
The Event Management Group (EMG) manages and promotes premier sporting events around Asia. EMG specialises in creating, managing, promoting, consulting, producing and syndicating leading sporting events such as the KIA X Games Asia, KL World 5s and Guinness 9-Ball Tour. With over 1000 events in 11 countries, all events organised by EMG, are broadcasted across Asia through the ESPN and Star Sports channels.
Speaking on the occasion, Sanjay Kailash, executive vice president, ESPN Software India said, “EMG offers an exciting business opportunity in the India market. We can bring our deep international experience into play; create tailor-made events and offer interesting and innovative marketing solutions using multiple platforms. I am sure corporates will see lot of value in what EMG has to offer.”

saket kumar
pgdm2ndsem.
pg/11/42

Monday, April 16, 2012

Maruti Suzuki sees tough first half FY13 for auto makers

Maruti Suzuki expects passenger car sales across the industry will grow in 7-10% range in 2012-13 (April-March), more than twice as fast it grew in the last fiscal year, but still much slower than the 30% it accelerated in 2010-11.
Car sales in India were hit by expensive loans and fuel price hikes in 2011-12 and Shashank Srivastava, Maruti's chief general manager - marketing told CNBC-TV18 on Wednesday that the first half is likely to remain difficult for auto makers.
"I don't see the fundamentals changing at this point of time. The interest rates continue to be high. Fuel prices are actually high and rising. So I don't see a significant change in the basic fundamentals and I think the first half of this fiscal year is going to be tough for the industry," he said.
Industry watchers say the festive season post September coupled with a cut in interest rates will help car sales pick up pace.
Last fiscal year sales of India's largest passenger car maker slipped 11% from a year ago to 11,33,695 units as people shunned petrol cars and sales of its popular Swift hatchback were hit by a labour strike at its Manesar plant.
Its sales picked up in the last three months helped by the launch of new Swift and compact DZire and resumption of normal production at its plants.
The diesel variants of Swift, Ritz and DZire have been driving sales for Maruti Suzuki since petrol prices went up sharply last year and that trend is likely to continue this fiscal too, with petrol prices likely to go up again.
Maruti is boosting its diesel engine capacity. It signed a diesel engine sourcing deal with Fiat India in Jan and also announced plans to expand diesel engine capacity in Gurgaon in March.
Further, the company is launching a multi-utility vehicle Ertiga later this month, its first in this segment, and that should also boost its sales this year, feels Srivastava.
Maruti Suzuki, like other car makers, hiked prices from April, to pass on the hike in excise duty by the Union and several state governments. Srivastava said pricing action going ahead will depend on commodity movement.
Raw material expenses account for 77-80% of total costs, he said.
Below is the edited transcript of his interview on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Q: While numbers were still strong at over 1 lakh, there was some concern that it probably missed street estimates. Are there any concerns that you see cropping through either in terms of competition or any of the taxation changes?
A: The January-March quarter was pretty strong for us. We did 320,000 plus vehicles, which is significant in the sense that we required those numbers to achieve the 1 million domestic sales mark and we did that.
Yes, March sales were strong both in the industry as well as for Maruti Suzuki. We did our highest ever numbers, so did the industry. The industry was about 294,000 units, which is extremely high. The industry witnessed a growth of 20% growth in March. Of course it's helped by the fact that there were rumours around the Budget that excise duty will increase.
There was a last minute push because from April 1, the new road tax and registration kickstarts in some of these states. Also the fact that the last week was Navratra considered to be very auspicious. But I would say that it's like a storm before the lull because I don't see the fundamentals changing at this point of time. The interest rates continue to be high. Fuel prices are actually high and rising. So I don't see a significant change in the basic fundamentals. I think the first half of this fiscal year will be tough for the industry.

amit pratap singh
pgdm 2nd sem

Marketing Mix Kingfisher Airlines

1. Product
Kingfisher First (International & domestic routes) Kingfisher Class (International & domestic routes) Kingfisher Red – formerly known as Air Deccan (Domestic routes) Flying Chef

2. Price
Kingfisher Airlines being a premium airline adopts a premium pricing strategy Kingfisher Red its low fare arm adopts a low fare pricing The pricing strategy aviation industry is highly dependent on the behaviour of the crude oil prices, dollar rates and competition. Fuel at present accounts for 45 per cent of an airline’s total operating cost.

3. Place
Kingfisher Airlines operates services to 80 destinations domestic as well as international. International operations started on 3 September 2008, with a flight from Bangalore to London. One of the reasons to acquire Air Deccan was to gain entry on to the international circuit, by gaining advantage on Air Deccan`s eligibility to fly international (as per DGCA rules) It also has plans to add several international destinations such as Bangkok, Hong Kong, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Lahore, Malé and Singapore in 2009

4. Promotion
Kingfisher Airlines as a brand is promoted in many ways When it was launched Yana Gupta was the brand ambassador Hoardings/ Press Release Kingfisher Airlines sponsors Mumbai ATP Open KF First sponsors Mtv Style Awards 06 Kingfisher kicks off Rs 1 billion campaign (On Launch of its international flight to London) Formula 1 team (Force India) IPL team (Royal Challengers) Red Pouch The colour “RED” King Club frequent flier programme Vijay Mallya himself is a brand ambassador for all his brands including Kingfisher Airlines

5. Physical Evidence
Kingfisher Airlines started its operations on May 9, 2005 with a fleet of 4 Airbus A320 aircrafts. Kingfisher Airlines was the first airline in India to operate with all new aircraft. On June 15 2005 Kingfisher Airlines became the first Indian airline to order the Airbus A380, to be delivered by 2014 Fleet size of 73 and 137 orders placed The planes have the best in-flight facilities that match world class standards

6. Process
KFs Tickets through ATMs The Roving Agent Web Check-In FlyBuy SMS Flight Updates Mobile Ticketing

7. People
Being a service industry it has two types of customers: External Customers (Passengers) Internal Customers (Employees) Kingfisher Airlines uses the term “Guests” for its external customers. Dr Mallya tells his crew to treat every guest “In the same way as if they have visited his home.” In an airline, Cabin Crew play an important role because they are the ones who deliver the service and therefore they are termed as The Walking Billboards of an organization.

Mayank Mittal

PGDM-2^nd sem

PGDM- 11/22

Marketing Mix Cafe Coffee Day

MARKETING MIX:

Product:

Café Coffee Day product mix constitutes a wide range of products that appeal primarily to Indian coffee and snack lovers. Products have a decided Indian taste to it – be it food or coffee. Most of the eatables have been adopted to meet the Indian taste buds like samosa, biryani, masala sandwich, tikka sandwich etc. Thus they have been trying to capture the Indian taste along with classic coffee.The best selling item in summer is frappe, which is coffee and ice cream blended together. The young people favor it. In winter it is cappuccino. Their merchandising includes funky stuff like t-shirts, caps etc.

Price: Considering that Café Coffee Day knows its major customer lies in the bracket of 15- 29,it has tried to derive a policy whereby it can satisfy all its customers. The price for a cup of coffee ranges from Rs.45 to Rs 80. From the time it first started its operations, there has been only minor changes in the pricing policy of Café Coffee Day. The changes have been more due to the government taxes than any thing else

Place:

The strategy CCD has adapted is to place a cafe in every possible location where some business can be generated.This is a prime factor in determining the success of a retail chain. Café Coffee Day looks to cater to their target market with strategically located outlets.

Their outlets are generally located in High Street/ Family Entertainment Centers, gas stations, near Collegesetc .

Promotion:

CCD is involved in all the areas of serious consumer passion like:

Television:Café Coffee Day held a contest around a very popular programme on Zee English calledFriends. All the six lead characters are shown often visiting a coffee shop.They have tied up with Channel [V]‘s Get Gorgeous contest.

Tie-ups:Besides that Café Coffee Day also tie up lot of the youth brands. So they have a contest going on with Levis,another one with Scooty, Liril, latest one with Airtel Friends.

Sales Promotion:Café Coffee Day uses special ‘Café Citizen Card’ for rewarding Café Coffee Day’s customers. It is a loyalty program to gain new customers and retain the existing ones.

Process:

The ordering and delivery process in CCD was earlier based on self- service. But now in most its coffee shops the waiter comes and takes away the order and delivers the order on table.

Physical evidence:

a)Logo , image, brand: Café Coffee Day has used bright red and green colors in its logo. RED stands forleadership , vitality,passion for coffee. The GREEN stroke harks back the coffee plantations that they own.Café is noticeably larger in the logo to denote that Café Coffee Day pioneered thecafé concept in India way back in 1996.The font looks as though the letters have congealed out of a liquid.

b) Architecture and Decor:Largely wood and granite based interior with young colours of today,like limegreen, yellow, orange, and purple predominate.

c) Literature:The literature provided by Café Coffee Day is indicative of its youthful image. The menus, posters, pamphlets are all designed to attract young and young at heart

People: People at Café Coffee Day believe that “People are hired for what they know but fired for how they behave”. Motivation and personal skill are laid emphasize upon. Their employees are like friend to the customer but at the same time they know about the international standards of hygiene and cleanliness and personal grooming.

Mayank Mittal

PGDM- 2^ND SEM

tata latest news

Sensex volatile and Tata Engines, HUL, Tata Energy up

Indian marketplaces shifted returning into the good geography amongst movements monitoring company pattern in Oriental marketplaces. FMCG, automatic and real estate shares obtained, while oil & gas and PSU dropped. The Sensex was dealing up 14.78 factors at 17,236.92 with 15 elements getting. In the intervening time, the Effective was dealing greater by 8.80 factors at 5,243.20 with 26 elements getting. The 30-share standard catalog, BSE Sensex began out with a obtain of 37.12 factors at 17,259.26, whereas the wide centered NSE Effective began with an increase of 19.70 factors at 5,254.10.

Sensex Movers
In the Sensex I T C provided increase of 13.03 factors followed by Tata Engines 10.48 pts, Hindustan Unilever 8.35 pts, Condition Financial institution of indian 7.51 pts and Wipro 3.96 pts.
on the other hand, in the Sensex H D F C Financial institution provided drop of 11.09 factors followed by Infosys 10.26 pts, Oil & Organic Gas Organization 7.3 pts, Tata Precious metal 2.6 pts and I C I C I Financial institution 2.15 pts.
Market Breadth
Market depth was adverse with 1,068 developments not in favor of 979 decreases.

Deepak kumar
pgdm2nd sem

Marketing Mix Reliance communications

7 P’s of marketing for Reliance Communications

Product

Reliance mobile always faced the problem of weak network. So to correct the major have invested over Rs 300 crore to upgrade to NGIP (Next Generation IP) network. Product has to sell itself. Now they are launching about more than 1100 network towers to provide more coverage to its customers.

Price

There are many ways to price a product. The pricing policy/ strategy vary in various situations. In case of Reliance mobiles they have priced their product at a very low price & they also come up with new plans.

Place

Another element of Marketing Mix is Place. Place is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which goods and/or services are moved from the manufacturer/ service provider to the user or consumer. Reliance Mobiles do not find it very difficult to find the distribution channel because they are the old players and distribute their product in India.

Promotion

Another one of the 4P’s is promotion. This includes all of the tools available to the marketer for ‘marketing communication’. Reliance has recently started doing heavy promotions.

Physical Evidence

Physical Evidence is the material part of a service. Strictly speaking there are no physical attributes to a service, so a consumer tends to rely on material cues. As Reliance mobile provide various rental plans.

People

Reliance always valued their customers. They provide a very cheap call rates affordable to the lower class.

Process

Process is another element of the extended marketing mix, or 7P’s.There are a number of perceptions of the concept of process within the business and marketing literature.

Mayank Mittal

PGDM- 2^nd sem

PGDM/11/22

Infosys hit by slew of downgrades post Q4 earnings

Infosys lost 0.3 per cent to Rs 2,394.50, extending losses from a 13 per cent plunge on Friday after a slew of analysts downgraded the stock following its lower-than-expected revenue growth outlook on Friday.

CLSA downgraded India's No.2 software services exporter to 'Underperform' from 'Outperform,' with a 12-month target price of Rs 2,630.

Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank cut the stock to 'Hold' from 'Buy', with a revised target price of Rs 2,400, while Macquarie also downgraded the stock to "Neutral", but with a target price of Rs 2,450.

"Mishaps on the HR front, a protracted re-organisation and continued operational slip-ups, all in the past 18 months has invariably raised the bogey of Infosys is losing its magical operational excellence," said CLSA in its report.

Deutsche Bank said Infosys' rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro were "best positioned to deliver value" given clients in the sector are facing budget constraints on their spending.

At 10:05 AM, shares in Infosys were trading at Rs 2406.00, up 0.11 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Analysts said that the biggest disappointment was Infosys' revenue guidance for the next year, which is taken as a benchmark for the IT industry as a whole.

Infosys Ltd, India's No.2 software services exporter, posted a 27.4 per cent rise in quarterly profit on Friday, but forecast lower-than-expected revenue growth for the current fiscal year due to an uncertain global economy and currency volatility.

Bangalore-based Infosys said on Friday consolidated net profit for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 rose to Rs 2316 crore ($449 million) from Rs 1818 crore a year earlier. However, Infosys missed the Q4 dollar guidance.

The company expects its dollar revenues to grow 8-10 per cent for the year ending March 2013 to $7.55 billion to $7.69 billion.

"The year ahead looks challenging for the IT (information technology) services industry, with slow recovery in the global markets," said S.D. Shibulal, chief executive officer of Infosys.

"We are executing our Infosys 3.0 strategy which is meant to deliver high quality growth in the medium to long-term. We are making investments and have put in place a structure to deliver on this strategy," he added.

Shibulal also said that Infosys for the first time did not meet the lower end of the guidance in the January-March quarter. He also expects client budgets to be flat to marginally down.

Saket Kumar
pgdm2nd

About 5 s

What are Five 'S'
Five 'S' are derived from the first letters of the words
SEIRI means Organisation or sorting
SEITON means straighten or prepare correctly
SEISO means Cleanup or Cleanliness
SEIKETSU means Standardisation
SHITSUKE means Discipline
They are five integrated parts of House keeping or work place Management.
When were they introduced?
According to Takashi Osada author of the Five 'S', they have been there from a very long time. But we were not aware of them. If we look around the place, whether it is home or our work area we can always find lots of room for improvement.
What benefit we get by practising Five 'S'?
A clear work place is high in Productivity
A clear work place is high Quality
A clear work place helps in Cost Reduction
A clear workplace ensures Delivery on Time
A clear workplace is Safe for people to work.
A clear workplace will bring high Morale.

How to introduce Five 'S'?
Step 1: Tidy up first (active Five 'S')
Step 2: Making a habit of Five 'S'
Step 3: Taking Five S to a higher level. (Preventive 5S)
Details of Step 1
Preparation : Recording the present situation
Process 1: Eliminating unnecessary items
Process 2: Fixing Storage places
Process 3: Consolidating daily cleaning procedures
Process 4: Maintaining spotless workplace
Process 5: Visual control in the workplace
Finally can you see the improvements?
Details of Step 2
Preparation : Photographing the new look at the workplace
Process 1: Controlling stock level
Process 2: Making it easy to use and return things
Process 3: Making clearing and checking habitual
Process 4: Maintaining spotless workplace
Process 5: Maintaining standards throughout the organisation
Finally has 5 'S' became a habit?
Details of Step 3
Preparation Evaluating the factory where 5 'S' has become habitual
Process 1: Avoiding unnecessary items
Process 2: Avoiding disorganisation
Process 3: Cleaning without getting dirty again
Process 4: Prevents degradation of the Environment
Process 5: Systematisation Training
Finally has your factory become a first class 5 S factory.
Can five 'S' be carried out in office?
It can be and should be implemented in office as well as at home. Modern offices are easy place to implement them. But still we may face problem as people have individuality and their own style of functioning. This makes standardisation difficult. Takashi Osada suggest 'ONE' as best campaign. i.e one location for keeping things
One day processing.
One file.
One hour meeting.
One page memo.
One minute phone call.
One copy filing etc.
Organise periodical audit and evaluation performance. Fix targets.
Arrange competition at various levels (Inter and Intra).
Have proper knowledgable evaluators.
Collect statistical data.
Create a museum room.
Ensure continuous improvement.
How to make Five S to work effectively?
Top management support, but it is not necessary whatever top management accepts will be supported. We have to create a conviction.
Planning stage:
Have a budget. Give wide publicity. Announce a date. Ensure all the materials needed is available. At the initial stage take up one area. Ensure that it does not lead to problem. First step is 'SEIRI' Send away the unwanted. Second step is finding out the reason. Clean up and create a tidy place. Next step is keeping it that way. It may some times call for change in the layout. Final step is micro level improvement
Implementation stage:
Form a Five S council and decide the co-ordination. Prepare the working system which should include evaluation criteria, awards etc. Make it known to all. Have teams for improvement. Like for everything, management plays a crucial role. Take photographs before carrying out changes. There are some problem areas. Identify them. Have special attention for that.
manoranjan kumar
pgdm 2nd sem
pgdm/11/21