Blue Ocean Strategy for Hinduism

                                                                 
As a part of his idea of promoting Hinduism as a successful brand the author attempts to apply blue ocean strategy on Hinduism. For those who do not know what Blue Ocean strategy stands for, it should be made clear that it is a very revolutionary and innovative business strategy plan that attempts to capture the non customer segment of a brand by providing them value innovation. For further idea one can refer to the blog articles written by the author. Here goes the link:- http://themanagmentguru.blogspot.com/search/label/BLUE%20OCEAN%20STRATEGY


Three kinds of non customers for Hinduism1:-

a) 1st tier: - Hindus themselves who have some idea of Hinduism and also need of spirituality. They do follow some rituals but often due to busy schedule and lack of interest their own understanding is very stereotyped and superficial2.

b) 2nd tier: - A large chunk of agnostics, atheists, scientologists, religious humanists and people from other religions with very feeble religious inclinations. These people too have some spiritual inclination but find the current schools of religion as illogical, dogmatic and impractical.

c) 3rd Tier: - This includes religious zealots and fundamentalist from various religious faiths and hardcore atheists.



Value Innovation: - Hinduism the oldest religion of the world is also the most complex one. This complexity arises from the fact that there is not a single set of beliefs that is supposed to be followed rather there are end no. of different schools of thoughts that constitute the religion as a whole. It consists of thousands and thousands of gods, scriptures, chants, mantras, rituals, meditation techniques etc. Understanding Hinduism as a whole is not only tough but quite impractical. Hence in order to market it to its non customer base it is quite essential that rather than selling it as a whole only specific parts be promoted. Specific ideas those are relevant to the modern people. Hence an ERRC3 frame work will be applied:-

Eliminate:-

a) All types of social practices that promote social evils such as cast based discriminations, exploitation of women in the name of religion, sacrifices etc. Also scriptures directly supporting such ideas should be discarded.

Reduce:-

a) Priesthood: - though priesthood is important for religious conservation but too much reliance on priesthood can be detrimental. Many a times it had been seen that inspired by personal benefits they communicate wrong signals to devotees which leads to misconception. Also they are not hesitant of molding the meaning of scriptures for personal gain.

b) Rituals: - Hinduism is a highly ritualistic religion and many times there abundance eclipses the real knowledge and enlightening practices. Too much of rituals give it a paganic shape. Hence it also needs to be curtailed to some extent.

c) Things that raise superstition in the name of religion.

d) Emphasis on Hindu mythologies.

Raise:-

a) Stand alone practices like Yoga, chanting meditations, dynamic meditations etc.

b) Emphasis on higher levels of philosophies embedded in Hinduism.

c) Alliance with other related religious faiths such as Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism4 etc.

d) Emphasis on classical and logical ideas like classical advaita, Karmic theories etc.

e) Promotion of Hindu art crafts and symbols. Use of logos and symbols on apparels, desktops etc5.


Create:-

a) Professionally designed spiritual cum religious tour packages that will not only include touring religious places but also lot of yoga sessions, spiritual discourses, debates etc.

b) Hindu religion is a very symbolic religion where everything has a strong symbolic meaning but unfortunately over the period of time the symbols have taken the front stage and the real meaning have lost. For the marketing of religion to the intellectual circles it’s essential that the real meaning must be communicated. Exp: - Krishna is a mythological character but in reality it defines a kind of consciousness, a perfectly enlightened and pure consciousness but over the period of time the mythological dimension has completely surpassed the true meaning. Hence a large amount of discourses, lectures along with written documents should be produced to communicate the real meaning of symbols.

c) Strong emphaisis on liberal sides of hinduism which believes in individual liberty, freedom and openness.



(Note:-

1:- Initial focus should be to capture tier1 and tier 2 non customers.

2:- There knowledge lacks the intellectual dimension of Hinduism and is often restricted to visiting temple and following rituals.

3:- eliminate, reduce, raise and create framework. A blue ocean strategy framework used for giving new innovative values to the non customers.

4:- Emphasis should be only in showing similarity. This should not result in any controversy.

5:- Stuffs that can hurt religious sentiments should be avoided.

)

Business tourism: Current trend analysis

               
Business tourism is also known as "MICE" industry which stands for meetings, incentive travels, conference and exhibitions industry. Over the period of time "MICE" is becoming larger and larger as an industry, not only is it a lucrative business in itself but it has got great strategic implications since it influences investment and other businesses as well. It had been calculated that a one dollar investment in business tourism can bring revenue of 8-10 dollars in other industries. The following blog will take a look at the current trends in the business tourism:-



• MICE activities in a particular industry type are directly linked to the performance of that sector. If a particular sector shows boom then it can be concluded that there will be more number of activities in that sector.

• The present economic downturn had badly hit the MICE industry. It had resulted in cutting down of budgets for tours and travels hence reducing such events all together.

• Since the supply is more than the demand it is more of a buyers’ market. Buyers don’t prefer directly signing deals; rather they prefer matching various prices. More over in order to get economy of scale they prefer dealing with lesser number of suppliers.

• The customer base of “MICE” industry does not only consist of corporate sectors but also various kinds of national, international and government associations which keeps on meeting regularly. These associations consist of professionals from particular industry type such as Medical Science, Law, IT. In spite of economic downturn faced by corporate sector these associations have witnessed a decent growth which is a good signal for the “MICE” industry.

• Another segment that can provide a potent business for the “MICE” industry is the so far neglected “SMREF” segment. ( it stands for the Social, military, religious, educational and fraternal segments which is generally unaffected from the economic conditions)

• These days rather than conducting meeting at exotic resorts and city centers companies prefer dedicated conference centers which have all the dedicated services available at economic prices.

• Newer destinations like China and Middle East are becoming more and more popular for meetings and conferences.

Refernce:-
1> EIBTM 2009 industry trends and market analysis, 2009 , available at < http://www.iccaworld.com/dbs/eibtm/files/3464_eibtm_industry_report_print_2009_v6_notrim.pdf>

2> KPMG business outlook report, 2009

A brief introduction to Dubai's Strategic Plan 2015

fig 1: Burj Khalifa, Dubai, world's tallest building (source: worldpropertychannel.com) 

After analyzing the vision 2030 for Abu Dhabi, the author will now attempt  analyzing the strategic plan of Dubai, the second biggest emirate of UAE, known for being a perfect blend of economic dynamism and cosmopolitan charm. The strategic plan, namely Dubai 2015 #, had been devised in 2005 and aims to devise the future growth strategies and patterns for Dubai.

Five guiding principles of the strategic plan are as follows:

• Economic development: In 2000, Dubai intended to become a US $ 30 billion economy by 2010, but with a strong GDP growth of 13% (non oil gross domestic product or GDP growth of 15.1%) it achieved the milestone halfway itself, with a US $ 37 Billion GDP in 2005. With a per capita income of $ US 31,000; higher than developed states like Hong Kong and Singapore; it had recorded a higher growth than emerging giants like China and India ; even better than developed economies like, Singapore, USA and Ireland. Dubai had reduced its reliance on petroleum sector, with an annual contribution of 5% to the GDP, from 10% in 2000; had successfully diversified into various other alternate sectors like, construction, tourism, financial services, trade and logistics with service sector contributing 74% of GDP. The future of Dubai seems to be very strong with foreign investments coming into the Emirates, availability of plenty of land for construction projects, strong leadership, booming tourism sector etc. As a part of its 2015 plan it aims to sustain an annual growth of 11% along with achieving  a per capita income of US $ 44,000 and gross domestic product of US $ 108 Billion by 2015, annual increase of 4% in labor productivity, development of new sectors with strong competencies etc. The plan will focus on sectors like; tourism, financial service, trade, transportaion and storage, professional services and construction (where Dubai has relative strength and the sectors themselves have strong potential for global growth in the nearby future)and developing  enablers like; raising the productivity of economic sectors; raising the capability and efficiency of work force; science, technology and innovation capacity building; managing the rising cost of living index; improving the quality of lifestyle; building stronger and better policies; aligning laws and regulation with international standard. (dubai.ae, 2007)

• Social development: Social development is another area, where Dubai had made remarkable progress, with facilities like education, health and other social services to nationals at almost no price and plans seeking further investments in various social development sectors. The strategic plan 2015 aims; preserving the national identity of Emirate by, regulating the flow of immigration to maintain demographic balance, conducting cultural awareness programs, improving the proficiency of Arabic language etc; Increase nationals participation in work force and society by, equipping them with better educational , professional and life skills; improve the achievements of students and ensure all nationals have quality education by, implementing stronger education governance sector, enforcing better transparency and accountability for schools, improving the curriculum to meet international standards, upgrading teacher’s qualification and raising awareness towards education amongst the nationals; Improve the quality of health care service and status of health status of nationals by, improving the health sector governance structure, implementing better health insurance policies, encouraging hospitals to go for international accreditations etc; Ensuring quality social service be provided to meet the needs of population by, improving the social service sector governance structure, human resource development of the workforce, migrating the social service delivery model from “welfare” to “social development” etc; ensure equality and acceptable working conditions for the workforce and attract and retain required talent by, improving labor regulations, providing environment to attract and retain better talents, increasing awareness among the employers and employees regarding their legal rights etc; Enrich the cultural environment by, improving governance for cultural sectors, upgrading regulatory frameworks of cultural organizations, investing in infrastructure for conducting cultural activities, promoting cultural activities etc. (Dubai.ae, 2007)

• Infrastructure, land and environment: one of the factor that played a crucial role in Dubai’s success, had been its magnificent infrastructure and  in order to support its anticipated economic growth, it had further  plans to make huge investments in infrastructure, with main focus on, urban planning, energy sector, road and transportation and environment. Strategic plan aims ; optimizing land use and distribution while preserving natural resources by, optimizing existing land use policies, provision of medium and low income housing through govt. interventions, ensuring adequate facilities for community centers, enhancing the existing housing policies; provision of adequate energy, electricity and water supplies to meet Dubai’s growth demand by developing integrated policy frameworks, establishment of more installed power generation plants and desalination plants etc; provision of an integrated road and transportation system to facilitate mobility and ensure safety by, enhancing public transport and road networks, reducing private car transportation, implementing safety audits, installing modern technologies to cope with accidents, increasing awareness regarding safe driving ; maintenance of Dubai’s status as a safe, clean, attractive and sustainable destination by, updating and aligning environmental policies with best policies, increasing environmental awareness, integrating overall infrastructure development strategy with environmental focus to achieve sustainable growth and development. (dubai.ae, 2007)

• Security, Justice and safety: Dubai is one of the safest cities in the world, and the strategic plan emphasizes on the fact that, in order to achieve its ambitious plans , needs to built further upon the existing security and justice apparatus. Dubai wants to achieve its security, justice and safety related goals by; ensuring safety of every one that is nationals, residents and visitors; raising the standards of security force as one of the best globally; ensuring equality, quality, accuracy and clarity in judgment process; ensuring easy access of justice by all etc. (dubai.ae, 2007)

• Governance excellence: The govt. machineries, known for its speed of execution of projects, had played a very important role in the success story of Dubai. As a part of its strategic plan, Dubai wants to excel further in govt. excellence to bolster its ambitious goals. It intends to implement a wide range of initiatives including; implementing performance management mechanisms, streamlining strategy building across various departments, building capabilities for improved policy making, ensuring principles of accountability and transparency be streamlined across various govt. departments, linking budget to performance and priorities, transforming financial system of individual departments from cash to accrual basis, establishing partnership with private sector, implementing the latest technologies to enhance the performance, Establishing electronic complaint system for the govt. of Dubai, updating the human resource laws  across govt. organizations, implementing employee training and development system and performance management system across govt. departments etc. (dubai.ae, 2007)

# the plan was devised in 2005 and hence most of the data are with respect to 2005, at that time Dubai was enjoying huge capital influx and hence achieving these ambitious goals does not seem to be a big deal, but after the global economic crisis there was a dearth of foreign capital and many of the real estate projects have got scrapped or delayed. In the past two years its GDP growth had been in the range of 2.5%, and under such circumstances, achieving a US $ 108 Billion GDP by 2015 along with maintaining a annual growth of 11% seems very difficult, hence govt. authorities are planning to review and revise the economic components of the strategic plan, but the overall vision of transforming Dubai, by building upon the existing strong capabilities and resources is going to persist and will be executed with full vigor and motivation. The given blog is just an abstract of the strategic plans formulated in 2005, and in subsequent blogs , the author will attempt, analyzing the strategic approach used by Dubai in tackling the present crisis and keeping the plan alive, which depends more on the spirit than the stipulated time frame. (Rob Corder, 2009)

Reference:

1> Dubai.ae, 2007, highlights: Dubai strategic plan 2015, p-15 to 22, available at < http://www.dubai.ae/opt/CMSContent/Active/Shared/Files/DEG_docs/Dubai_Strategic_Plan_2015. pdf>

2> Dubai.ae, 2007, highlights: Dubai strategic plan 2015 p-25 to 29, available at < http://www.dubai.ae/opt/CMSContent/Active/Shared/Files/DEG_docs/Dubai_Strategic_Plan_2015. pdf>

3> Dubai.ae, highlights: Dubai strategic plan 2015, 2007, p-29-33, available at < http://www.dubai.ae/opt/CMSContent/Active/Shared/Files/DEG_docs/Dubai_Strategic_Plan_2015. pdf>

4> Dubai.ae, highlights: Dubai strategic plan 2015, 2007, p-35 to 38, available at < http://www.dubai.ae/opt/CMSContent/Active/Shared/Files/DEG_docs/Dubai_Strategic_Plan_2015. pdf>

5> Dubai.ae, highlights: Dubai strategic plan 2015, 2007, p-38 to 41, available at < http://www.dubai.ae/opt/CMSContent/Active/Shared/Files/DEG_docs/Dubai_Strategic_Plan_2015. pdf>

6> Rob C, 2009, Dubai’s 2015 strategic plan, arabianbusiness.com, available at < http://www.arabianbusiness.com/dubai-s-2015-strategic-plan-b-40713.html?parentID=325206 >

Crisis in Mass marketing and the advent of Interactive Branding

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
 The term “Marketing” might be coined in the dawn of 20th century but the idea was prevalent since thousands of years. Similarly customers are also not a recent phenomenon; they would have been active since the first transaction was made. In the past century the realm of marketing had undergone constant evolution as a discipline. In the initial days marketing was a push concept where there was a constant tendency on the parts of the firms to push their products/services to the customers. In 1953 with “Neil Borden” coining the term “Marketing Mix” (4ps of marketing that is product, price, people & promotion) marketing took a leap as a discipline. In 60’s Theodore Levitt came up with the theory of “Marketing Myopia” that for the first time attempted to consider seriously the customer factor in marketing. In the coming years the significance of customers kept on increasing in formulation of marketing strategy by individual firms, 4Ps of marketing got transformed to the 4Cs (Consumer, Cost, Convenience, Communication).In the 21st century with computers and internets penetrating to individual households coupled with a plethora of popular Websites, Social networking sites, E-portals, Online communities etc the realm of marketing is undergoing a new paradigm shift. Now the customer is not only the central focus of the marketing strategy but is also the most active player of the branding exercise conducted by individual firms.


The new age customer

The new age customer is very different from his/her previous counterparts. He is much more intelligent, confident and has much more understanding of various kinds of products & brands. A stereotypical new age customer 1can be assumed to be exposed to end number of media channels, is much more tech savvy and internet friendly. It can be assumed that the new age customer has a high sense of individuality and in this age consumerism buying for him/her is a very high involvement, fun driven process. There are across 1.96 Billion internet users 2 across the world. 90% of the internet users know at least one social media and every social media user is connected to 195 friends on an average.There are 133 million blogs enlisted in the blog directory “Techorati”.These facts explain the power and influence of the new age consumers. The probabilities are always high that a new age consumer is also an author with his own blog he uses to reflect his view points. He might also be a thought leader with his own friend circle in the social media sphere he can influence, a critic using these media platforms to criticize a product he doesn’t like and a brand ambassador using positive word of mouth in such social media platforms for something he likes. The strengths and skills that have been acquired by the new age customers cannot be discounted by marketers. These customers need to be involved actively in the branding processes.

Interactive Branding

American Marketing association(AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. In reality brand is much beyond that, brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot. These days with the help of Websites, E-manuals, E-brochures, Multimedia presentations, Clickable add banners interactivity between the customers and the firm increases many fold. While the customer gets a better brand experience the firm understands the behavior, interest and tastes of the customer in a better way. These interactive tools can also provide a good insight into the customer’s geographic location as well as demographic profiles.



Crisis in Mass Marketing

Given below are some of the statistics that describes the crisis in mass marketing:-

• Only 18% of TV advertisements create positive ROI.

• Average return on every one dollar spent advertising on mass media.

• TV advertising cost has increased by 256% in the past one decade.

• 90% of people who can skip TV ads do skip it.

• 65% of people believe that they are constantly bombarded by TV ads

• Only 14% of people trust TV advertisements.

• 56% of people avoid buying products from company who they think

Advantages of Interactive branding


With the help of better music, videos, texts and pictures it engages the customers more effectively.

• With the help of web2.0 platform there can be a direct communication between the firm and its customers. Customers can communicate their requirements, expectations, responses and of course judgment to firms.

• Web 2.0 platforms provide effective platforms for the customers & consumers all around the world to come together and collaborate.

• Clicks on web pages can be traced back to get insights about the profile, location, choices and behavior of customers.

• With the help of tools like “Google Analytics” large amount of data collected over a period of time can be analyzed and processed to derive consumer behavior pattern.

• These tools help in figuring out the degree of involvement of individual customers. Stuffs like time spent on web pages, comments posted, the no. of revisits made give a very clear cut understanding of individual customer’s involvement with a brand. This can help firms in profiling their customers.

• In comparison to regular mass media channels such as news papers, magazine, television commercials these web based applications and platforms are much more economical.

• In the time of economic downturns when the regular advertisement budget gets cut down, Interactive branding can provide economical and effective alternative.

Social Media

                                                                 
Social media websites like Facebook, Orkut, BlogSpot, LinkedIn, play a very important role in Interactive branding. Social media is cost effective, has a wide range and reach and can boost immediate sales by engaging the customers. Social media provides platforms for likeminded people to interact with each other irrespective of the geographical boundaries. One of the biggest advantages of social media is that it helps in communicating the right message to the right audience. Given here is a table that describes the influence some of the most popular social media websites with the help of latest statistics.

Facebook:-

• The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
• More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) is shared each month.
• People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook.
• The average Facebook user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events.
• There are more than 1 million entrepreneurs and developers from 180 countries on Facebook

Twitter

• There are currently 110 million users of Twitter’s services.
•  Twitter receives 180 million unique visits each month.
•  There are more than 600 million searches on Twitter every day.
• Twitter gets more than 300,000 new users every day.

Over 60% of Twitter use is outside the U.S.

Linkedin

• There are more than 70 million users worldwide
• Members of LinkedIn come from more than 200 countries from every continent.
• 80% of companies use LinkedIn as a recruitment tool.
• LinkedIn receives almost 12 million unique visitors per day.
• A new member joins LinkedIn every second.

You Tube

• The first video was uploaded in you Tube on 23rd April,2005.By 2006 more than 65000 videos were uploaded every day.
• . YouTube receives more than 2 billion viewers per day.
• Every minute, 24 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube.
• Music videos account for 20% of uploads.

Implementation of Interactive branding

Interactive branding is relatively new concept and there is dearth of strategic models to implement it. One of the models that explain it is the “COCHA” model.

                                                             

• Concept: Any online material needs to have an appropriate concept. A concept that communicates the brand essence, tells the brand story well.
• Content: It should have a very engaging content with a right mix of text, images, videos, music, software, etc that can help users interact with it.
• Chanel: Rather than being a monologue medium (click ads) it should facilitate communication between the website and the users. This can be implemented with the help of social media, chat gadgets, e mail etc.
• Context: Should target the right customer at the right time and right place. Should fit their interest and use their language.
• Consumer: It should facilitate firms to extend and tighten the communication link with the target consumer base. Consumer bases can be defined with the help of profiles, communities, tastes, needs, motivations etc.

Conclusion

The new century heralds a new paradigm shift in branding. In the current economic crisis where advertising budgets are getting cut down drastically and mass media channels are losing its effectiveness day by day firms need innovative ways to promote its brand. Innovative ways that can engage and capture target customers in cost effective ways. Another important benefit of “Interactive Branding” is that it helps the new age customer to interact directly and collectively with the firms. The new age customers who are equipped with the best of media tools and gadgets and have much more knowledge in contrast to their previous counterparts just don’t want to have a passive role. They want active involvement in the brand building process. This further signifies the importance of “Interactive Branding”. Having said this it does not mean that regular mass media channels are not important, they are surely going to exist but the time has come where firms need to have a right mix of regular branding tools as well as innovative tools like “Interactive branding”

(Reference :-
1. Online media gazette.


2. WWW.slideshare.com

3. http://www.internetstats.com/

4. State of the Blogosphere 2009.

5. )

http://www.internetworldstats.com/

Evolution of marketing : from 4ps to Interactive Branding

                                                                       
The term “Marketing” might be coined in the dawn of 20th century but the idea was prevalent since thousands of years. Similarly customers are also not a recent phenomenon; they would have been active since the first transaction was made. In the past century the realm of marketing had undergone constant evolution as a discipline. In the initial days marketing was a push concept where there was a constant tendency on the parts of the firms to push their products/services to the customers. In 1953 with “Neil Borden” coining the term “Marketing Mix” (4ps of marketing that is product, price, people & promotion) marketing took a leap as a discipline. In 60’s Theodore Levitt came up with the theory of “Marketing Myopia” that for the first time attempted to consider seriously the customer factor in marketing. In the coming years the significance of customers kept on increasing in formulation of marketing strategy by individual firms, 4Ps of marketing got transformed to the 4Cs (Consumer, Cost, Convenience, Communication).In the 21st century with computers and internets penetrating to individual households coupled with a plethora of popular Websites, Social networking sites, E-portals, Online communities etc the realm of marketing is undergoing a new paradigm shift. Now the customer is not only the central focus of the marketing strategy but is also the most active player of the branding exercise conducted by individual firms.

The new age customer¹

 The new age customer is very different from his/her previous counterparts. He is much more intelligent, confident and has much more understanding of various kinds of products & brands. A stereotypical new age customer 1can be assumed to be exposed to end number of media channels, is much more tech savvy and internet friendly. It can be assumed that the new age customer has a high sense of individuality and in this age consumerism buying for him/her is a very high involvement, fun driven process. There are across 1.96 Billion internet users 2 across the world. 90% of the internet users know at least one social media and every social media user is connected to 195 friends on an average3.There are 133 million blogs enlisted in the blog directory “Techorati”4.These facts explain the power and influence of the new age consumers. The probabilities are always high that a new age consumer is also an author with his own blog he uses to reflect his view points. He might also be a thought leader with his own friend circle in the social media sphere he can influence, a critic using these media platforms to criticize a product he doesn’t like and a brand ambassador using positive word of mouth in such social media platforms for something he likes. The strengths and skills that have been acquired by the new age customers cannot be discounted by marketers. These customers need to be involved actively in the branding processes.

Interactive Branding

American Marketing association(AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers. In reality brand is much beyond that, brand resides within the hearts and minds of customers, clients, and prospects. It is the sum total of their experiences and perceptions, some of which you can influence, and some that you cannot. These days with the help of Websites, E-manuals, E-brochures, Multimedia presentations, Clickable add banners interactivity between the customers and the firm increases many fold. While the customer gets a better brand experience the firm understands the behavior, interest and tastes of the customer in a better way. These interactive tools can also provide a good insight into the customer’s geographic location as well as demographic profiles.

Note:- ( New age customer means well off customers from the developed and developing nation.


2. Source: www.internetworldstats.com

3. Source: Online Media Gazette.
)

Abu Dhabi's economic vision 2030: brief discription

Computer image of Louvre Abu Dhabi, part of cultural district project,Saadiyat islnads, Abu Dhabi (source: ConstructionWeekOnline.com)                                                          
Abu Dhabi had made great strides in economic development, in the past few decades. Blessed with huge amounts of petroleum resources, the biggest emirate of UAE enjoys high, growth, per capita income and  fiscal surplus. In spite of the fact that Abu Dhabi has huge oil reserves which will last for another 150 years, it aims to diversify its economy to various other sectors and wants to build a more stronger and sustainable Abu Dhabi, both socio-politically as well as economically. The overall plan for this transformation had been named as, Abu Dhabi vision 2030 and the key think tanks involved in planning are, general secretariat of the executive council, department of planning and economy and Abu Dhabi council for economic development. The given blog is an abstract of the roadmap for the overall economic and social development goals, intended to achieve by 2030. # , $

Introduction

Abu Dhabi vision 2030, as the name suggests, is basically a long term strategic plan to transform the emirate of Abu Dhabi into a world class economy by, diversifying into various sectors, integrating with the global economy, optimizing govt. resources and investing in social & physical infrastructure. The govt. of Abu Dhabi had identified nine areas defining the social, economic and political future of the emirate: large, empowered private sector, knowledge based economy, transparent and optimal regulatory environment, premium healthcare, education and infrastructure assets, optimization of resources, complete domestic and international security, continuation of strong and diverse international relations, maintenance of traditions, heritages and cultural assets and strong contribution to the federation of UAE. (gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008)

Policy priorities, areas of policy focus and associated objectives (gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008)

There are basically two primary economic priorities, one to achieve economic development and second formulation of policies so that the benefits can be shared by every section of the societies. To achieve these two given priorities, there had been seven areas of policy focus:

Build an open, effective, efficient and globally integrated business environment: this includes, enhancing transparency, streamlining govt. processes, facilitating investment and modernizing business laws etc.

• Adopt a disciplined fiscal policy that is responsive to economic cycles: this includes diversification of govt. revenue sources (rather than depending on just oil revenue), optimize govt. spending etc.

• Establish a resilient monetary and fiscal market environment with manageable levels of inflation: includes enhancing regulations on banking sectors, leveraging monetary tools to contain inflation, developing less speculative financial markets etc.

• Drive significant improvements in the efficiency of labor markets: includes encouraging emirtaization of work force, expanding the base of skilled labor force and reducing unskilled labor, enhancing labor market process.

• Development of a sufficient and resilient infrastructure capable of supporting the anticipated economic growth: includes ensuring high level of energy production to meet future requirements, implementing safe and efficient transportation system, enhancing the availability of ICT (information communication technologies)infrastructure and encouraging its adoption, maintaining ecological sustainability.

• Develop highly skilled and productive work force: enhancing productivity of workforce with the help of high investment in training and education sector, optimizing the allocation of labor etc.

• Enable financial markets in becoming the key financier of economic sector and projects: includes increase in savings and deposits, enhancing performance of financial markets, encourage investments in economic sectors and projects.

Abu Dhabi’s economic policy priorities  (gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008)

• Building a sustainable economy: In the past few decades Abu Dhabi had made huge economic progress on account of its oil and natural gas reserves, in 2005 its per capita real GDP rose to $ 55, 200 and is considered as one of the richest nations in the world. In spite of such a phenomenal growth, there are structural flaws in Abu Dhabi’s economy; petroleum sector had been contributing half of the GDP with a non oil trade deficit of  21 Billion US Dollars  in 2006. Similarly more than half of the workforce had been working in the construction  and the govt. sector. Thus overdependence on petroleum coupled with concentration of work force make its economy susceptible to fluctuations in oil price. In order to achieve economic sustainability along with a balanced economic growth, it aims to diversify into various other non oil sectors with a focus on export. (An approach for export is necessary since an inward looking approach will not nullify the dependence on fluctuation oil prices, by making these sectors dependent on petroleum revenue for their  investment). Another area where Abu Dhabi is looking forward is diversification of its workforce by developing a vibrant SME (small and medium enterprises) segment. It wants to build national champions in the form of big enterprises and around the national champions, plans to build a cluster of SMEs. A vibrant SME segment will result in innovation and better productivity of work force.

• Ensuring, economic growth be shared among various sections of Emirate: Another area of action, is distribution of wealth generated from economic growth among every sections of society, ensuring strong social development and regional economic growth. It aims to achieve this by, investing in education sector, encouraging participation of females in the workforce, attracting skilled expatriate workforce and stimulating balanced regional growth with investments in various physical and social infrastructure. (especially in the western region which lags behind the Abu Dhabi and Al-Ain region)

Engines of Abu Dhabi’s future economic growth:

Hydrocarbon plays a very important role in over all GDP of Abu Dhabi and  will continue to do so in the nearby future. But along with it the Emirate also aims to diversify into other capital incentive and export oriented sectors in which it can have an advantage. (gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008)

• Petroleum :- Abu Dhabi has huge oil reserves; it is among the top five crude oil exporter and top twenty five natural gas exporters (it supplies natural gas primarily to the Asian economies). It is active in the entire range of petroleum business such as, exploration, production, transport, refineries etc. The major oil producing company in Abu Dhabi is ADNOC (Abu Dhabi national oil corporation), other entities active in the sector are IPIC (international petroleum investment companies), Abu Dhabi national energy, Mubadala etc. Due to low production cost and economies of scale Abu Dhabi’s petroleum sector makes a profitability of more than 15%, the global average. In its future economic vision also ,petroleum sector continues to be high up on its agendas. In the coming decade, ADNOC aims to upscale the crude oil production by 3.5 Million barrels a day with the help redevelopment of existing fields and development of new, smaller fields. It also aims to increase its output in other related areas with the help of investments in better technologies.

• Petro chemical: - Abu Dhabi is endowed with huge oil and gas reserves and also has a very well developed petrochemical industry, based on which it aims to target a higher pie of the hydrocarbon value chain. It has large current capacities in Ethylene, Polyethylene and fertilizer segments and plans to build further on it. It is also expanding its production facilities in China and other international locations so that it can position itself strongly to the global market, especially  Asian markets.

• Metals: - In this area Abu Dhabi has plans to expand into Iron, Steel, Aluminum production as well as other advanced materials. It does not have sizable metal deposits of its own, but has access to state of the art industrial cities with excellent infrastructure, low cost energy, world class transportation system and comparatively economical skilled work force. Moreover produce of the metal production unit canl be used as raw materials for the fast growing manufacturing sector of Abu Dhabi.

• Aviation, aerospace and defense :- the given sector valued at approximately 500 Billion US dollars is another growing fields where Abu Dhabi intends to become a global player, it has the basic infrastructure upon which it wants to develop further to become a global player.

• Pharmaceuticals, bio technology and life sciences: - Another interesting sector with a annual output of around 700 Billion US dollars, where Abu Dhabi wants to diversify. Presently the industry is at a nascent stage in the Emirate and requires significant investment. In order to be a successful player Abu Dhabi also requires putting considerable efforts in many areas such as, intellectual property rights, international trade agreements, drug testing facilities etc. One another factor that can be beneficial for the given sector could be the huge investment made by the Emirate state in health care infrastructure and education.

• Tourism: - Though still far behind in attracting tourists like its cousin Dubai (which is visited by some 10 Million tourists annually), tourism is another area where Abu Dhabi is making huge investments. It is investing in grandeur projects for building its competencies in various forms of tourism such as sports, business, cultural and lifestyle etc. Abu Dhabi has developed state of the art luxury resorts, shopping malls, golf courses, convention centers, and has invested in many extravagant projects like the Ferrari theme park and Sadiyat islands to attract various types of tourist segments. The govt. has an ambitious plan of attracting 7.9 million tourists by 2030, to accommodate this anticipated increase in tourists the Emirate state is also investing hugely in developing hotels, number of hotel rooms are expected to increase to 21,000 by 2013, 49,000 by 2020 and 74,000 by 2030. (AMEinfo.com, 2008) Not only is it making huge investments, in infrastructure but also in other bran building activities. The tourism board of Abu Dhabi namely ADTA (Abu Dhabi tourism authority) has opened offices all across the globe such as England, Germany, China etc and taking strong marketing initiatives to promote brand Abu Dhabi as a great tourist destination. The Emirate realizes the fact that not only tourism a great revenue earner, but also there are other benefits associated such as , enhancement of SME segment thereby leading to diversification of enterprise base, strong brand building for the Emirate state and earning of foreign capital.

• Health care equipments and services: - valued at $ 300 Billion in 2007, this another lucrative segment where the Emirate wants to expand. It intends to successfully compete in the market by developing world class medical infrastructure. Equipped with state of the art airline and airport facilities, it can be reached comfortably. Along with investments in state of the art hospitals, another area that needs attention is attracting talented medical professionals.

• Transportation, trade and logistics: Abu Dhabi had a long tradition of trade and  wants to carry it further. It has got huge advantage for becoming a trading hub because  of great infrastructure in the form state of the art ports, airports, airlines and road infrastructure and strategic advantage of being placed just on the cross roads of West and East and North and South.

• Education: - The Emirate has one of the most advanced educational systems in the region but with respect to international standards the sector is still in its initial stage. Given the fact that it wants to transform into a knowledge based economy, education sector is high up on its agenda. It is making huge investments in building new teaching facilities and state of the art research centers along with attracting some of the best talent in the education sector. Along with being a lucrative sector in itself, education sector will play a very important role in developing other core sectors by supplying highly skilled workforce.

• Media: - Media is growing at the rate of 25% in the Middle East region. Abu Dhabi intends to be a media hub in the gulf region by investing in advanced technologies in the nearby future and attracting the best talents with high pay package and high standard of living.

• Financial services- The financial sector in Abu Dhabi is expected to make huge strides in the nearby future. With further economic development there will be huge demand for a wide range financial services like commercial banking, investment banking, insurance, corporate and project finance services. Financial sector at the Emirate is open for foreign player enabling the infusion of more capital, talent and competition.

• Telecommunication: - Abu Dhabi intends to be a regional service center for telecom services. Telecomm is primarily a high tech and capital intensive sector that requires constant investment in keeping the infrastructure up to date. Abu Dhabi has advantage on accounts of its sound financial conditions, existing infrastructure and strategic geo graphical locations. Telecom sector will also help in its long term aim of diversifying its work force by contributing as well as requiring skilled work force and attracting highly skilled expatriate population.

• Enabling sectors: - In order to fulfill its ambitious plans of developing various core sectors, it will be investing in developing various enabling sectors like construction, food and beverages, machineries, electrical equipments etc.

Out of the 12 sectors. Energy- Oil and Gas, Chemicals, Aviation, Health care, Pharmaceuticals,
Metals and Hotels are global focus sectors where as Education, Media, Transportation, Financial services and Telecommunication are regional focus centers.

Measures of success  (gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008)

Abu Dhabi has ambitious targets for its economic growth and social development, which needs to be properly benchmarked and monitored. The overall plans will be benchmarked against some of the other transformational economies like Norway, Singapore and New Zealand etc. The entire future plan will be implemented in blocks of five years with every block having specific agendas for every sector. The salient features of its target are as follows:

• By 2030 it aims to increase its GDP fivefold.

• By 2030 targets, 64% of GDP coming from non oil sectors

• By 2030 targets an unemployment rate of 5%, thereby effectively achieving almost 100% employment.

• With increased productivity, Emiratization of workforce, achievement of full employment and diversification of economy, aims to increase the per capita income by more than 50% by the stipulated time period.

• National asset formation,  including investments and exports should increase by five folds and domestic investments should be doubled during the stipulated time periods.

• Abu Dhabi will protect itself from unfair trade practices and dumping by actively participating in international trade organizations like WTO (world trade organization).

• Today Abu Dhabi has a dependency rate (number of dependent members on an earning member) of 1:4, but  aims to make it 1:2 by 2030 with the help of huge investments in world class education centers and encouraging females to join the workforce.

# the plan was incepted in 2006 and finally the detailed roadmap was prepared by 2008, hence most of the data are with respect to the year 2005 and 2006.

$ It is just an abstract of the overall plan, there had not been any analysis done by the author

References:-

1> Gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008, executive summary , The Abu Dhabi economic vision 2030, p-5, available at < http://dpeols.adeconomy.ae/dpe/ADVision/english/economic-vision-2030-executive-summary-mandate2.pdf >

2> gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008, Required policy priorities: areas of policy focus and associated objectives, The Abu Dhabi economic vision 2030, available at < http://dpeols.adeconomy.ae/dpe/ADVision/english/economic-vision-2030-the-vision.pdf >

3> AMEinfo.com, 2008, Abu Dhabi plans tourism makeover, available at < http://www.ameinfo.com/186749.html >

4> gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008, economic priorities of Abu Dhabi, p- 23 to 41, available at < http://dpeols.adeconomy.ae/dpe/ADVision/english/economic-vision-2030-section-1.pdf >

5> Gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008, Engines of Abu Dhabi’s future economic growth, p- 113 to 119, available at < http://dpeols.adeconomy.ae/dpe/ADVision/english/economic-vision-2030-section-3.pdf >

6> gsec.abudhabi.ae, 2008, Measures of success, available at < http://dpeols.adeconomy.ae/dpe/ADVision/english/economic-vision-2030-section-4.pdf >

Brief introduction to business tourism

                                                          
In the coming blog the author will like to give a brief introduction to business tourism. Business tourism one of the key components of the overall tourism industry comprises of both inbound as well as outbound tourist who visits a place for business purpose. It consists of conferences, meetings, exhibitions, outdoor events etc.


Salient features of business tourism:-

• Since business tourism involves top ranking executives from business it is of high value both in terms of service expected as well as in terms of yield.

• It is active throughout the year.

• It can stimulate investments in a region.

• It can boost leisure tourism. It had been seen that 40% of the business visitors to a destination do return to the destination along with their family. ( Corporate expenditure survey report, 1998)

• Top quality infrastructure and other facilities are needed in order to business tourism to flourish.

• Generally business tourism does not have any side effects on the local ecosystem. Hence it is considered as a very sustainable form of tourism.

Types of business tourism:-

• Conferences and meetings: - Conferences and meetings constitute a major part of business tourism. It includes Annual general meetings, sales meetings, training courses, management meetings, business presentations.

• Exhibitions: - exhibition provides a friendly platform where seller and buyers can meet cordially and deals can be finalized. There are basically three types of exhibitions, public exhibitions where the exhibits are sold to general public, business exhibition where the exhibits are sold to a narrow set of business customers often coming from a particular industry type and business/public exhibitions where the customers are both business houses as well as general public.

• Incentive travel: - are the tour packages provided by business to its employees and external sales agent as rewards.

• Corporate events: - it consists of a wide range of events such as client entertainment programs, vendor entertainment programs, incentive travels, meetings, conferences etc. the definition of corporate events are very wide and often overlaps with other types of business tourism.

• Outdoor events: - primarily consists of wide range of outdoor activities such as car shows, Christmas fairs, music concerts, culture and art festivals, firework display etc.

Factors influencing business tourism:-

• Sound infrastructure, availability of top quality hotels, transportation, communication network.

• Frequent airline service.

• Moderate climate.

• Investor friendly government.

• Availability of big conference halls along with meeting rooms and hotels in the nearby vicinity.

References:- Business tourism briefing, Available at < http://www.businesstourismpartnership.com/pubs/briefing.pdf>

Branding blunder that Vivek oberoi does:diffrent offscreen and onscreen image

Well it had been a week over here at Sheffield and the author is off to write his second blog & the topic is related to one of his favourite areas of interest: Indain film industry.
The author intends to talk about one of the most talented but most wrongly marketed Bollywood actors Vivek Oberoi, the kind of roles that he plays and the kind of media image that he maintains. One must understand that in a nation like India where both films and actors are adored heavily,every actor is a brand in himself.Every actor has both real as well as latent brand value that can be cashed in the form of asking price for films, stage show charges, endorsements etc.Media plays a very important role in deciding the exact brand value of these actors in the eyes of there customers that is the general public. Many a times there are actors like Ritesh Deshmukh,Arjun Rampal who are over rated in the media and then there are actors like akshaye khanna and vivek oberoi who are grossly under rated.*

Though the author does not intend to go into very details of every actor but will like to point out a very big blunder that Vivek as well as other actors do too often: Maintaining an altogether different image on and off the screen.One must admit that though these days actors in Bollywood are experimenting a lot with there roles, but in spite of that there is a specific kind of roles for which every one is known for. For exp:- Ajay devgan is known for playing serious roles,Salman Khan is known for playing roles of strong headed guy, roles that require throwing lot of tantrums and attitude,Sanjay dutt is known for playing mafia kind of roles and Sahrukh khan for romantic roles.Though Vivek himself had played so many different kind of roles but primarily he is some one who had always been appreciated for rough and rash roles. Be it the role of a dreaded criminal in shoot out at lokhandwala, an aspiring gangster in Company, and the no non sense young guy of Road.Vivek is some one who looks best when he has to play an earthy character, a character which does not reside in some fancy world but comes from the world of darkness,some thing that exemplifies the baser instincts of the human character.Even in his upcoming film Raktha Charitra where he is playing a south Indian feudal lord he is looking magnificent.He is some one who is always associated with grave and grey kind of characters, but when it comes to his off line life he has altogether a different image.He pretends to be too good and humble. Here the problem arises. People in India have a fixed image for every actor, they love to see them in that only. If an actor is rash and grave on the screen then they expect the same off the screen too.If he is a goody goody kind of guy on the screen then the same is expected from him off the screen too. The author is not saying that there is any harm in being a good boy but in case of vivek oberoi it creates an identity crisis. At one hand when he plays the role of a gangster and on the other if he tries to flatter Salman Khan in some media conference then it's obvious that normal public will find it tough to relate with him.He must understand the commonsensical fact that a hero who plays the role of a bhai or a gangster is not expected to plead in public, to try impressing some one knowing the fact that the other person do not even care a damn. Based on the type of role which he does ,Vivek really needs to change his way of behaving in public.There is no harm in showing humility but the essence of a mafia should not be missing nor should the style.The gravity with which he plays his role should not be found missing.The silent arrogance needs to be there not only on the silver screen but also in the real world. After all a brand is what the world perceives you.
(*:- Views are personal in the particular case)

The Arab community: what they have and whta they dont have

Well the author has reached united kingdom for his student exchange program and beside enjoying the English autumn one very important purpose he is having is to interact with the international community and to have a first hand experience of their culture, beliefs and their strengths and weakness with respect to the global business framework. Today the author is going to write on the Arab community:-

Strengths
1> Relationship based business: In the Arab world relationships matters the most. In contrast to their European or American counterparts where two negotiation parties have the tendency to shoot directly to the main agendas, the Arabs give a lot of emphasis to relationships. Business is never discussed initially. Initial time is always devoted to relationship building and once the relationship is built business follows. In the Arab world gestures have a great importance, customs and tradition play a very important role. And it is these gestures that do help a lot in building relationships.

2> Good negotiators: Arabs have always been traders. Trade had been the life line of Arab economy, as a result of which it had been seen that they are not only good sales man but have great knack for negotiations too.

Weakness
1> Continuous hardworking ability is missing in them: in contrast to their other counterparts they do not have the ability put continuous effort. They do put a lot of effort when needed, but cannot continue it for a longer period of time and this is something that really kills there prospect as strong professionals. In the modern world of business sustained effort is really needed if one wants to succeed. For this flaw of there even the Arabs can't be blamed completely. lot of credit goes to the environmental factors of the Arab world also. The weather had always been hostile in the arab land.So it had been some how tough for them to continue putting hard work. More over economies of countries like Bahrain have relied on stuffs like Pearl, fish etc. For these things one does not need to put continuous effort. One needs to work hard only when needed and then after the harvest can rest for large time.

2> Lack of awareness in brand building activities: Though the Arab world is really growing very fast but still when it seems as if they are not yet very well versed with modern business practices. One of them is there disinterest towards long term brand building practices. When ever the Arab invests in some brand building activity they want a very quick result. But practically this is not the possible. Modern brand building takes a large amount of time. It's not something that can be done in a very small time.

(Views here are based on the authors own understanding of the Arab people, his readings on the Arab world and his interaction with people who have worked in the Arab world.)

Why is Rahul Gandhi not appropriate for the post of PM?

He has the killing Persian looks, is one of the most media savvy street smart politicians and is touted as the PM in making by many. The author is talking of none other than the scion of Gandhi family Mr.Rahul Gandhi. Though Mr. Gandhi is considered as next PM who can lead India to newer heights, the author has got strong opinion against him.
(To be very frank the author will like to make it very clear that he does have reservations for the Gandhi family and Congress regime but today the discussion will be solely on objective facts)

Author will also like to make it clear that:-

1> Mr. Gandhi cannot be deprived from the post of PM because his original name is Raul vincy:- Though Mr. Gandhi is from Italian origin but that does not mean he cannot be the PM. As long as the person is capable and efficient enough to carry on the responsibility even an Alien will do.

2> Mr. Gandhi cannot be the PM because it will affirm that India is a monarchial democracy:- Well author will like to reiterate that India just needs a capable and efficient PM, it does not matter whether he is a Monarch, Autocrat, Plutocrat, Socialist, Communist or anything else.

Now the point comes why cannot he be the PM

1> What kind of experience he has?:- when Dhiru bhai Ambani launched his sons Mukesh and Anil he didn't give them the profile of a Ceo, they were initially inducted as normal management trainees, once they gained ample experience senior profile where given to them. The same must hold true for the PM's office in India, the job requires very high degree of capability and experience and cannot be executed by any neophyte. If Mr. Gandhi is really serious to execute this great duty with full efficiency then he should have taken some portfolio in the current ministry and tried to learn how things really work. If he thinks that just because of the Gandhi surname ruling and administration is a part of his DNA then probably it’s a blunder that the nation might has to bear.

2> Mediocre academic background: Though academic background is not a prerequisite for the post of PM, but having a good background is an added edge. In spite of all the rumors that Mr. Gandhi has degrees from big foreign universities, the fact is that he had been a below average student who just managed to pass during his St.Stepehens days and could not even get a post graduate degree.

3> Lacks aggression and eloquence: since the past six years Mr. Gandhi is visiting the parliament as a MP. But hardly there had been a single incident where he would have shown some courage or eloquence which is the prime requirement for a leader.

4> Is unaware of realities: Born and brought up in a situation of paranoia and isolation he is devoid of the ground realities of India. In Narendra Modi’s words he is like a fish born and brought up in a captive atmosphere of an aquarium.
(Views are personal)

Branding: the 360 degree edge

Today author intends to write on a very important field of marketing and branding known as 360 degree of branding. It should be known that between any brand and its target audience there happens to be many touch points, there are many media channels through which a target audience can get to know a particular brand. It can be the regular once print media, TV, radio, hoardings, live shows and demonstrations, emerging once like web medium or even something unconventional as theatre or street plays. Often it had been seen that just one or two medium is used to promote a brand but when a company decides to use each and every one of the available medium, when it tries to communicate at each and every one of the touch points then this approach is known as 360 degree of branding.
It is quite evident that 360 degree of branding is an expensive as well as time consuming approach and cannot be used too often, but it becomes extremely essential when a brand has to be launched in the market. Whenever a brand is launched it needs a very high degree of recognition. If all the existing media channels are not used then the chances are very high that the nascent brand might not get the amount of exposure it should have got to be successful. One must understand that whenever a brand is launched the very first thing which it needs to be successful is awareness among the general public. Once the awareness sets in and people began to start making perceptions for the product then only the final selling can happen. If the general awareness itself cannot happen at the first go , perception for the brand let alone final sales is never going to be realized. So it’s very essential that whenever a product or a brand is getting launched companies rather than choosing one or two media channels must go for a 360 degree kind of approach where the newly evolving brand can be communicated through end no of media channels. A point that has to be considered over here is that often 360 degree branding does not end up in huge sales figure ,the reason being that communication efforts get diluted over a large no. of channels but it does provide a huge amount of brand awareness that can be capitalized over a period of time in making sales.
One reason the author intends to write this blog is that often start ups are not willing to spend much on brand promotion. Rather than going through the 360 degree frame work, now day’s entrepreneurs prefer just one two media channels in which the web medium predominates. Given the rate at which web penetration is increasing day by day the importance of the web medium along with the social networking sites cannot be discounted but at the same time it will be fool hardy to neglect other regular channels like the TV, radio, newspaper, magazines ,hoardings etc. Every medium has its own importance; every medium has its own takers. So it is in the interest of startups that they should try utilizing whatever touch points they can in order to create brand awareness for their newly launched product. One must understand that for a newly launched product branding should be wide spared covering as much audience it can cover.