The Pumba Gazette (september Edition)

THE EDITORIAL Address, Innovation and technological advancements have contributed a lot to the society. We can see the implementation of scientific advancements leading to eradication of diseases and improving lives. With improved lives the average life span of an individual is increasing. However owing to the lifestyle changes problems related to age are cropping up. Today people suffer from ailments of age and a dedicated segment towards this is seen coming up which is orthopaedics. Not only does this aid the elderly generation but also promises a new opportunity to India as a country. These devices have contributed a lot to medical tourism. The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) is seen to help this by promoting healthcare tourism as a component of Brand India. Considering this we dedicate the September issue of The PUMBA Gazette to orthopaedics. In agreement with this, a survey has been carried out by the students to assess the number of joint replacement surgeries conducted in Pune and people hailing from the adjoining districts.

CONTENTS • Cover Story --JoinT Re(Place)ment

• Articles/Analysis

• Back to Society

• BT News

This issue also covers one of the 12 part series of the CSR activities undertaken by Lupin Pharmaceuticals headquartered in Mumbai.

• Candid Talk

A section upon the recent happenings in PUMBA has been also included. Your feedback and Suggestions are welcome at [email protected] “To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”—Victor Hugo Sincerely Yours, Chief Editor: Queeny Bubna, MBA-BT (Sem III) (The PUMBA Gazette Team) (The detailed project report shall be provided on enquiry. Kindly send in your enquiries at [email protected])

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--CSR initiative of LUPIN Pharmaceuticals

--Destination India

We also present an exclusive interview with Mr. Sanjay Lohani, all India marketing head of Zimmer India Pvt Ltd, on biomedical devices and an insight into this sector.

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--New Age Guides: Biotechnology Consultancy

We also bring to you an article on Biotechnology Consultancies which have been a word of the mouth quiet recently.

In the BT news section an attempt has been made to analyze the outcomes of medical tourism in India.

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--An Interview with Mr.Sanjay Lohani • PUMBA News -- Chapter Meet ‘09 -- A seminar by Ms. Jessie Paul

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JoinT Re(Place)ment Joint replacement devices form a very major part of the Indian Orthopaedics market. Maharashtra itself is among the regions in India where a substantial number of joint replacement surgeries take place every year. But the density of these surgeries is highest in Mumbai and Pune region in Maharashtra. The availability of specialized hospitals and surgeons in these cities has clustered this growing market, though a very substantial number of patients belong to places outside these cities i.e. from small towns like Satara, Solapur, Kolhapur etc. To understand the dynamics of this, a survey was conducted in Pune to find out the demand potential of interior Maharashtra (Satara, Solhapur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar & Aurangabad) for Orthopedic Replacement Surgeries. The major players in this joint replacement market are J&J (De Puy), Zimmer, Stryker, Smith & Nephew, INOR. These companies have a direct surgeon to surgeon relationship and it is completely the surgeon’s discretion to use a product of his choice. As these surgeons mostly perform surgeries in Pune so patients from all nearby towns flock them for surgeries. But it is not always possible for people from these towns to come down to the city for surgeries due to following reasons: 1) Mostly people of older age group (say above 50 years) require such joint replacements. It becomes difficult for them to travel long distances, hence most cases go untreated. 2) The cost of travel and stay for patient and their accomplice becomes expensive. 3) Post surgery, regular checkups and physiotherapy sessions are required which makes it necessary for the patient to travel to and fro a number of times. Considering the problems of regions adjoining Pune this survey was conducted to identify the approximate demand potential of these regions, which would help the orthopaedic companies to come up with plans and strategies to bring down joint replacement surgeries to these small towns. For this 25 major joint replacement surgeons were interviewed from eminent hospitals like Sancheti Joint Replacement Centre, Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, Sahyadri Hospital, Hardikar Hospital, Poona Hospital, Ruby Hall Clinic, Jehangir Hospital, & Military Hospital Kirkee. Small clinics and specialty units like Naik Hospital and Ranka Hospital were also surveyed. Out of the surgeons surveyed, 72% confirmed of performing joint replacement surgeries, among these around 22% of the surgeons performed trauma or spine or both along with joint replacement surgeries and 24% of surgeons performed only trauma. It was also observed that most patients from regions outside Pune came for joint replacement surgeries rather than trauma or spine. As far as the popularity of the brand of orthopaedic devices used is concerned, it was seen that seldom, a doctor was dependent on one particular company though some surgeons were loyal to a particular brand. The brand preference of surgeons can be depicted from the Fig 1.

An initiative by companies or hospitals to facilitate the travel of the surgeons to these remote locations would be a welcome change. When asked about if such an initiative will help them, 100% of the surgeons answered in an affirmative way. In fact they also support the proposal of satellite centres for surgeries in interior regions. The benefits the surgeons would reap from such initiatives would be over and above mere monetary advantages like more scope & functional challenges and recognition and social service. Also doctors emphasized that the price of products has to be regulated to tap low and medium income group people which actually reside in most of these regions. Thus, there is a prodigious potential in the Satara and Sholapur, Kolhapur, Sangli regions which the companies can tap. Not only it will be profitable from business point of view but will also serve a social cause and aid the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities of the company thereby boosting their goodwill. Compiled by: Minal Ambre, Neha Maliwal, Snigdha Sinha, Shraddha Bakare, Tejal Ladkat. (MBA-BT, Sem I & III)

The preference of products among surgeons was governed by three major factors first being ‘perceived quality’, 100% of the surgeons emphasized on quality of the product while choosing a brand; among them 96% considered only quality whereas the remaining 4% considered price and compliance before selecting a product. In Pune approximately 3000-3500 surgeries take place in a year. Considering regions outside Pune the incidence of patients from the four major regions Satara, Solapur- Kolhapur -Sangli, Ahmednagar & Aurangabad can be observed in Fig.2. Out of the 3000-3500 surgeries conducted every year around 30-35% surgeries are conducted on patients from regions outside Pune. Among the surgeries outside Pune, 58% is contributed by two major regions i.e. Satara and Solapur-Kolhapur-Sangli. Thus these two regions have quite a high demand potential and can be a very lucrative unexplored market for all orthopaedic companies. Though all surgeons operate within Pune, some of them also operate occasionally in Nagpur and Nasik region.

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NEW AGE GUIDES: Biotechnology Consultancies Time is money in the corporate world. The ideal way for companies to save both is to employ consultancy firms for advice and help before venturing into new projects. Such firms in biotechnology sector are an imminent field and offer a lot in terms of value. A solid strategic plan is the foundation of a good business plan. Biotechnology Consultancy (BC) directs and facilitates strategic planning projects for companies and for non-profit organizations. There are numerous companies who are making a mark for themselves in this niche segment. Some examples are biotechnology business consultants, Campbell Alliance, Bilcare Research and home grown Maharashtra Industrial and Technical Consultants, popularly called as MITCON pharmaceutical consultancy. These firms have been around for quite some time, but of lately their importance is being felt by everyone. They cater to different industries such as pharmaceutical, sugar and agro business, clinical research organization etc. They perform various tasks depending upon the clients but primarily help them in various ways. In today’s payer-driven environment, gaining the right level of market access can be very difficult. It is also critical to leverage that access to generate commercial success. BC helps clients secure their desired levels of market access and reimbursement, optimize profitability through better pricing and contracting, drive pull-through, and achieve commercial success. Bio consultants help commercial leaders to maximize the value of their products. Early in development, they help decision makers better understand a product's full commercial potential. Through expert market assessment and commercial planning, they help clients build solid foundations for commercial success. Bio consultants help them plan and manage flawless product launches and enhance revenue growth throughout the product lifecycle. It also offers the knowledge needed to properly assess opportunities and make the right decisions at the business development level. This is important to make the right deals at the right times, to locate the opportunities and make sound decisions quickly. Crunching numbers to design a sales force is no major feat, and several firms can do it. But it takes more than that to drive true effectiveness and maximize the return on largest promotional investment. It takes unique combination of market insight, sophisticated quantitative skills, firm grasp of the qualitative drivers of effectiveness, and proven ability to design, deploy, train, and optimize sales forces. This is done by these super specialized consultants.

When it comes to distribution for pre-launch or in-line products in retail, specialty pharmacy, or hospital environments, the expertise of bio consultancy comes to rescue. In pharmaceutical and biotech industry distribution is much more than getting the right products to the right places at the right times. It also entails building effective working relationships with the right channel partners, capturing useful insights from the mountains of channel data that are available and moving products smoothly and profitably. Biotechnology Consultancies designs research studies, carries out the research activities, analyzes the data collected, and writes final reports involving primary research such as customer surveys or focus groups, interviews of key opinion leaders to identify significant market trends, competitive intelligence gathering and analysis and market size and segmentation analysis. Such organizations make the job easier in many more ways but on flip side there may be certain barriers for small and medium enterprises. Few things to be kept in mind before jumping onto any conclusion, the pace of their development has been a bit slow as compared to the whole biotech sector. These firms have been there for about 2 decades or so, but their number is quite low. This indicates that most of the businessmen don’t find it very lucrative business but then positive side of the coin that in future there might be many new comers. These firms are dependent on manufacturing units or new projects and such new projects cannot come up throughout the year, even project extensions are not very frequent. Again affordability is an issue, as it is not possible for all startups to take their help as they already lack in funds and making sum investments diversification for advice may not be feasible. One thing to be kept in mind here is that biotech sector is a capital intensive sector and a new entrant in this field may not always find it useful to take the help of these consultancies just because of sheer budget constraints. So, in such a case a bit of promotions and advertising may help these consultancies to effectively register themselves in the mind of their customers. The advice or help of these consultancies makes the job easier for new entrants but this doesn’t always guarantee hundred percent success, there may be at times that in spite of all the advices the venture may not end up fruitful. Barring a few of these issues these consultancies are doing quite well in USA. As far as India is concerned, a number of such firms have come up in recent times and making a mark for them. With the Sensex soaring and good times in view for the biotechnology sector, the flourishing of biotechnology consultancies is not far behind.

Compiled by: Nivedita Singh (MBA-BT, Sem III)

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Back to society: CSR Initiative by LUPIN Pharmaceuticals. At the heart of Lupin’s Corporate Social Responsibility model lies the unique idea of convergence. Lupin, one of the leading pharmaceutical companies of India headquartered in Mumbai, is making its presence felt not only in diseased and sick people but also the lives of people of Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Lupin through its NGO Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation (LHWRF) has provided physical facilities in about 600 schools, which include construction of school buildings, classrooms and toilet. It has provided drinking water facilities in around 700 villages, constructed low cost houses, and built internal roads in more than 200 villages. LHWRF has helped around 55,000 families cross the poverty line and upgrade their economic status, besides providing training programs in agriculture, animal husbandry and rural industrial vacations to another 1.8 lakh families. For a most vulnerable section of society, the foundation has started five schools exclusively for child laborers, who receive free education, get a monthly stipend of Rs.100 and mid day meal in its Basti Shiksha Program for primary school students from slums, who are attending schools, but are unable to read and write, it has provided special tutors and five libraries for supplementary reading. Under health programme, LHWRF organizes regular medical camps where patients are treated free of cost. In area of AIDS, Lupin focuses on four high risk groups: truckers, migrant workers, MSM (male having sex with male) and IDU (intravenous drug users) through awareness and counseling, condom distribution (manually and through dispensing machines installed in public places), HIV testing and financial aid for treatment. Lupin recently came up with an innovative project called SWASTHA SAKHI in which training would be imparted to 56 sakhis for 9 months. This includes precaution of communicable diseases, safe and hygienic delivery, child nutrition, woman’s empowerment, formation of SHGs, education, holistic rural development, animal husbandry and rural industries for women. These sakhis act as a link between the local public health centers and the villagers.As a special drive to ensure women’s participation in the developmental activities and to empower them, about 3,500 Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been formed in the adopted villages with the active involvement of around 53,000 women. Apart from this, there are around 1300 Common Interest Groups (CIGs) working in the villages, through which income generation activities are being undertaken on effective and sustainable basis.

The foundation, with the help of UNDP-MINES, has installed 195 solar domestic lights & 15 street lights in 5 villages in order to promote alternative energy sources. Lupin organizes a seven day course on bee farming. The outcome of this initiative that farmers who were earlier earning a few thousand rupees a year are now making around Rs.4 to 5 lakhs per annum from bee keeping alone, highest being Rs.10 lakhs per annum. Lupin’s model is simple. It first creates a local body at the village level, typically 11-21 members strong, depending on the size of the village. The village chooses the members of the local body; it’s mandatory to have women and schedules caste and scheduled tribe representation on it. This local body figures out what is of priority there, which could be providing drinking water to creating village infrastructure to income generation activities. LHWRF insists on participation of the villagers in whatever projects in executes; it could be money, land or labor. There are countless men whose wives did not die during child birth, thousands of children who went to school and lakhs of families that earn a decent living, thanks to LHWR. A development program that today covers a population of around 18 lakhs. Special thanks to: Mr. Dawra, Lupin Pharmaceuticals

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DESTINATION INDIA… Medical tourism also called medical travel, health tourism or global healthcare is an emerging concept whereby people from all over the world visit India for their medical and relaxation needs. It describes the rapidly-growing practice of travelling across international borders to attain and meet health care needs. Over 50 countries have identified medical tourism as a national industry however; accreditation and other measures of quality vary widely across the globe. Factors that have led to the increasing popularity of medical travel include the high cost of health care, long wait times for certain procedures, the ease and affordability of international travel, and improvements in both technology and standards of care in many countries. The reason for India being a favorable destination is because of its infrastructure and technology which is at par with those in USA, UK and Europe. It began when South East Asian people started noticing the value proposition that India had to offer. It also has some of the best hospitals and treatment centers in the world with the best facilities and world-class expertise. There is also a gamut of services provided and the treatment costs a fraction of what it costs in USA or Europe. In India the waiting time is almost nil as compared to that of USA and UK being about 9-11months for orthopaedic surgeries and about 12-14months for neuro and cardio surgeries. This is due to the outburst of the private sector which comprises of hospitals and clinics with the latest technology and best practitioners. Even tele-consultancy is available for expert opinion and transmission facilities. India is also churning out an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 doctors and nurses each year. Moreover western patients usually get a package deal that includes flights, transfers, hotels, treatment and often a post-operative vacation giving way to medication with tourism. Most common treatments are heart surgery, orthopaedic treatments, cosmetic surgery, neurosurgery, fertility treatments, cancer treatments and dental care. Orthopaedic treatments include hip and knee replacement, minimal invasive surgery, cartilage and bone transplantation, spine surgery, limb sparing surgery, Illizarov technique, limb lengthening, Birmingham Hip resurfacing techniques which is still unavailable even in the US. A wide range of spinal surgeries including fixation, stabilization and fusion are regularly undertaken. Medical Institutions in India like the Apollo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Bombay Hospital, Leelavati and Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai and the Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Trauma Sciences carry out replacement surgery using the most advanced keyhole or endoscopic surgery and arthroscopy. It is also estimated that foreigners account for about 12 per cent of all patients in these top notch hospitals. Companies like Indicure, MedInIndia, JD healthcare etc. provide customized patient care management services for medical tourism and home health

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There is a major disparity in the costs of surgeries in India and other countries like USA, UK and Europe. For example, Madras Medical Mission, a Chennai-based hospital, successfully conducted a complex heart operation on an 87-year-old American patient at a reported cost of $8,000 including the cost of his airfare and a month's stay in hospital. The patient claimed that a less complex operation in America had earlier cost him $40,000. Savings vary worldwide and by procedure. A knee joint replacement costs about $5,000 in India whereas; in the UK a similar surgery using the same implants and medical consumables costs around $16,000. Similarly, rather than paying around $24,000 for hip resurfacing in the UK, a patient can get the same procedure by spending around one-third in India, including surgery, airfare and hotel stay Likewise, if a liver transplant costs in the range of $125,000 to $145,000 in Europe and double that in the US, a few Indian hospitals, such as Global in Hyderabad, have the wherewithal to do it in around one-fourth of the cost in Europe. Broadly, patients can expect 25%–75% less rates than those in the US. Savings for a hip replacement ranges from $30–$50k while those for a heart valve replacement range from $20k to $45k. This market is currently valued at $20 billion annually which is expected to double by 2010. Government and private sector studies in India estimate that medical tourism could bring between $1 billion to $2 billion into the country by 2012. The reports estimate that medical tourism to India is growing by 30 per cent a year. In 2008 more than 200,000 Americans visited India for healthcare with the number rising at 15 per cent a year. India could earn more than $1 billion annually and thus create 40 million new jobs by subcontracting work from the British National Health Service. The only challenge in India is the hurdle of legal formalities that people have to undergo. In addition there are problems related to airport facilities and other such problems. However, if the government does its share then this industry is sure to reap ample benefits in future. Healthcare tourism is hence likely to be the next major foreign exchange earner for India as an increasing number of patients, unwilling to accept long queues in Europe or high costs in the US, are travelling to the country to undergo surgery. This can generate large chunk of revenues and it is vital to tap the potential of this industry as early as possible and to make India the leader in this segment.

Compiled by: Nikhil Goyal & Tejal Ladkat (MBA-BT, Sem III)

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The Global Players Have Injected A Dose Of Professionalism In Device Marketing... Mr. Sanjay Lohani, Head, Marketing (India) of Orthopaedic Company – Zimmer (USA), has an experience of nearly 14 years of MNC general management, marketing, sales & business development across medical devices & pharmaceutical sectors. Sir has

worked with renowned companies like Baxter Healthcare (Mumbai) as Sales Manager – Western India, Edward Life sciences (Mumbai) ICI Pharmaceuticals (Chennai) at various levels. The PUMBA GAZETTE team had the opportunity to catch up with Sir and obtain his views on the upcoming segment of biomedical devices. Q1. Pharmaceuticals and medical devices being similar where do you think the difference lies in marketing strategy? Pharmaceuticals and medical devices though two seemingly similar fields are actually quite different. Pharmaceutical industry is a huge industry with hundreds of fragmented players whereas the device industry is relatively small and has restricted number of players. In layman’s terms, devices are often used by interventional doctors or surgeons which are very- very few in numbers while the pharmaceutical industry has the comfort of huge number of customer (doctor) base. The Pharma marketing relies more on representatives who can effectively communicate the benefits and limitations of the drugs (emphasis mainly on kinetics, metabolism, and eventual disposition in body) they are selling. Medical devices, on the other hand, are more hands-in, as far as both the doctors and the patients are involved, thus it relies heavily on close knit relationships with such few customers (doctors). It heavily relies on hands-on demonstration and in-Cath Lab/Operation Theatre (emphasis on interaction with body and possible failure modes). In other words, technical support and service of the sales person plays a major role as far as the devices are concerned whereas theoretical product knowledge, good communication and ability to differentiate oneself among the clutter plays a major role in Pharma marketing/selling. Q2. When did you enter into medical devices sector? I have been associated with marketing of medical devices for last 10 years and have worked for reputed multi national companies which are global leaders in the field they are in. Q3. From the time you entered the sector and now what is the major difference you notice in this segment? Ten years back when I entered in the Device segment, big Indian distributors ruled the roost. They were the ones who had close relationships with the surgeons/doctors and would import devices as per their needs. In last few years, as the market in India is becoming attractive, more and more global players are setting up their own shops in India, slowly taking the relationships away from the distributors. These global players have injected a huge dose of professionalism in device marketing.

Q4. How do you anticipate the future of the medical devices industry by 2012? India's growing population of over 1 billion presents a great market opportunity for the Life Science or Device companies. With the liberalization of Indian economy and its willingness to adapt to the new technologies, time to market devices in the Indian market is now. Also, India's large pool of talented scientific and technical manpower, low R&D cost and lower cost of manufacturing has made it an attractive destination for sourcing. In next couple of years as the affordability, awareness and access of the huge middle class population of India improves, the device industry is all set to relieve the morbidity and mortality of the said population and likely to increase the quality of life as well as lifeexpectancy. The industry will continue to deliver a strong double digit growth in coming next few years. Q5. With the life span of an individual increasing, orthopaedic surgeries are on a rise however the cost is beyond the reach of an average Indian. What can be done to make medical devices affordable for the average Indian? In last 5-6 years, the affordability of Indian middle class has consistently been improving which has made the access of treatment involving medical devices within the reach of a large section of middle class. For poor class of patients, I am aware of many Government hospitals which do not charge the patient for the hospital and surgeon fee. For last many years we have been hearing a lot about insurance sector gaining ground, but so far their coverage is way below the expectation. But it surely holds a big promise. Q6. Medical tourism is gaining a strong foothold in India with more and more people coming to India for surgeries related to replacement therapies. What are the major benefits India offers in this respect? Good that you have asked this question! It is still more a dream than reality. I believe India is far off than realising the true potential of medical tourism. So far only a few big corporate hospitals have been able to attract patients (that too, from the markets like Middle East and Africa). For India, to be a successful medical tourism destination, we need to have better systems, facilities, results and focus. Q7. What is the technological innovation you have carried out at Zimmer? At Zimmer, we believe in making available technologically superior devices to improve quality of life of patients world over. In India, we have strived to make available these technologically superior devices almost at the same time at which they are being introduced in developed world, that too at a price in-line with the existing devices for similar disorders. An example is the Gender Knee which is a knee designed specifically for women anatomy. We were the first country in Asia to make available this knee for the ailing arthritic women in our country. It has been accepted very well by the Orthopaedic community. Their confidence in us keeps us focusing on our vision which is to be the global leader in enhancing quality of life for orthopaedic patients worldwide. Compiled by: The PUMBA Gazette Interview Team

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companies as being mature, champions, challengers and laggards, which in turn helps forecasting the success that could be achieved for a product; she threw light on how not just small firms but also large and established ventures can and should go for this versatile marketing trend.

PUMBA News CHAPTER MEET

The rationale behind this arena of marketing is that as the champions strive to keep the challengers away, with money becoming scarcer each minute, and every company claiming to have spent more on marketing their product; it was time that a cost effective yet highly efficient marketing technique was sought. When times are tough and finances are less, author Jessie Paul has come up with just the right solution ‘No Money Marketing’. As Mr Narayan Murthy puts it, ‘No Money Marketing’ is a perfect tool for both fresh and experienced entrepreneurs.”

Chapter Meet is an annual event of Department of Management Sciences, University of Pune (PUMBA) organized by the Alumni Cell. It is a conglomeration of alumni in an effort to generate holistic growth and development of the institution. It is a formal meet dedicated to professional interaction with the alumni and held in 5 cities viz. Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. The agenda for this year of the meet was ‘Networking’. The turnout for the meet was overwhelming with around 365 alumni visiting the meet. Pune and Mumbai saw blending of the senior and junior batches. The discussion in all the cities gave a new approach to networking. In Students-Alumni networking mentorship was discussed at length. Also the importance of professional networking sites like LinkedIn and Twitter was highlighted for better communication between students-alumni and alumni-alumni. It feels proud to say that the alumni still have ties with their alma-mater and possess the élan to go out of their way to guide and support the fellow juniors.

A SEMINAR BY MS. JESSIE PAUL

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t often happens that when industrial

biggies come down to campus and interact with young minds, they do not reach out to the shy yet enthusiastic approach of the students. But then that was surely not the case on September 25, when Ms. Jessie Paul, Chief Marketing Officer, Wipro technologies came down to PUMBA and munificently interacted with the students. Ms. Jessie Paul is an IIM-C alumna, previously associated with Infosys and then iGATE technologies, has 15yrs of experience in services marketing and has worked as the Global Brand Manager for Infosys. She believes that since 1998 India has set a fairly large footprint in the global IT industry. She was rightly awarded the Chairman's Award in 1998. She’s also a popular blogger and has recently launched her book ‘No Money Marketing’ which largely focuses on how small enterprises as well as bigger ones in these times of downturn can actually go for marketing and branding with whatever limited resources they have. She spoke on frugal marketing which is currently taking on the marketing world with a reassuring speed. While classifying

Ms. Jessie Paul highlighted the fact that most Indian companies do not hold such a phenomenal market share that their needs to borrow from the market have ceased. Just as new upstarts take on big established market players, even global stalwarts that enter Indian ground are novices in their own right. Barclays in India is a perfect example. While explaining the different upcoming forms of marketing Ms. Jessie stressed upon the benefits of executive marketing; which, according to her is the smartest way of building trust and branding what the company offers at the same time. An apt example would be that of Dr. Vijay Mallya who saves the UB group millions of rupees just by being the face of the company himself and not some hired celebrity. She briefed the students on the Flat World trends where digitization that is people buying products without having seen them, is not new. Where anyone with basic blogging skills can reach out to millions and commend on every other thing that they see without having the credibility to do so. Where advertising is cheap indeed but the marketing team has to take the pain to convince the popular bloggers and their followers to positively cite their products. She emphasised on the fact that information however cheap is not sought after; it is the insight which triggers the interest of potential consumers. She pointed out how even we as students do not read all the free newsletters we subscribe to but instead a blog which can very well be the writer’s personal opinion about a particular product or service is bound to catch our eye. The best example for this would be of CSE director Sunita Narain crying foul over soft drinks of the Pepsi brand containing harmful pesticides; her case got wild media coverage and brands like coca cola are actually trying to resurrect their tainted image by going in for water conservation campaigns. She then summarised the changes in the marketing approach of the flat World. It is extremely important to target the decision maker, influence him who can influence others. Build a brand blueprint and leverage your resources towards realising it. When maximum profits are what a company seeks executive marketing is the way to go. It is absolutely fine to be a contrarian, break rules; use controversies in your favour, add a personal touch when you can broadcast for free. It’s all about hub and spoke models after all. Although it is necessary to define your audience narrowly, own the ecosystem, create your own marketing channels, focus on insights and go online; sustainability is something that stands high in the long run. With companies going green, by and large it is inevitable that a company not doing so will get wiped out from the horizon. The basics of marketing have not changed it’s just the outlook that has seen a sea change. It’s a mind-game after all...

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