CAT has always had a reputation of throwing up some surprise or the other. The nature of the test keeps undergoing a change and it is not what one would call a predictable exam. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is to ensure that it remains an aptitude-based test, a test that tests ones genuine skills and comfort levels in Verbal Ability, Quant and Data Interpretation, rather than a test that one can crack by only working for long hours a day.CAT 2011 was no different with the IIMs suddenly coming up with a notification that the exam would have only two sections, instead of three; and more significantly, that both the sections would be timed with 70 minutes given to each. Hence students could not navigate between sections, nor come back to the first one after the allocated time had elapsed.This is also reflected in the number and kind of questions that appear. Earlier, the CAT used to be a four-section exam, with close to 150 questions. The number of sections was then subsequently reduced to three, and the number of questions too kept decreasing. What is more, the test-taker was given an additional half-hour to do the paper-CAT is now a two-and-a-half hour test, as opposed to the earlier two hours. The number of questions stood at 75 (in 2006, 2007), 90 (in 2008) and around 60 in 2009 and 2011. While the same number of 60 questions was kept for CAT, these are now divided into two sections with a time limit for each question.What this means is that the level of difficulty of questions has increased. The focus is now not on mere formulae and direct questions, but also on reasoning and aptitude based questions, that test one's potential holistically. The candidate needs to have a good level of comfort with all the respective sections; reinforced by the presence of sectional cut-offs. Let us look at the trends for the CAT paper as a whole: CAT 2011 CAT 2010 CAT 2009 CAT 2008 CAT 2007 CAT 2006 CAT 2005 Number of Sections 2 3 3 3 3 3 3x2 Number Of Questions 60 60 60 90 75 75 90 Table from: Sidharth Balakrishna's book, ‘An Introduction to the CAT: Tips From An IIM Alumnus' (4th edition).Now let us look at how the various sections in the CAT paper have undergone a change over the years.The Verbal Ability SectionCAT 2005-2007 had 25-30 questions in the Verbal Ability section, while the 2008 CAT paper saw a larger number of 40 questions. witnessed a change in the English section with there being a larger number of questions, 40 instead of the usual 25-30. The CAT 2009 paper, which was the first time that the CAT was held as a Computer-Based Test, had an overall total of just 60 questions to be done in 2 hours and 15 minutes. There were an equal number of questions in every section (20 each). The same trend was repeated in CAT 2010. CAT 2011 saw Verbal Ability being combined with Logical Reasoning, and having 30 questions in all. The focus in this section has shifted from knowing difficult words and the rules of grammar to knowing when to use certain words (context-based usage) and a good level of comfort in English as a language. Questions pertaining to the rules of grammar are of less importance than earlier. As far as Reading Comprehension (RC) is concerned, the focus has shifted to inference-based questions, rather than direct questions. Questions asking the ‘tone' employed by the author or which statement the author is most likely to agree or disagree with, are becoming common. The answer is not to be found within the text, but ‘inferred' by the reader. Students must prepare well for these questions, for RC remains a very important component of the Verbal Ability section as a whole, and questions pertaining to this topic are to be expected every year.The Quantitative Ability SectionAlgebra and Arithmetic remain the most important components of the Quantitative Ability section. The questions have become more and more analytical and reasoning-based over the years, with direct application of formulae becoming rare. However, ‘sitters' (easy questions that can be solved quickly) can still be found in this section and the candidate must watch out for these. The number of questions in this section was between 25-30 in the CAT exams from 2005-2008. These reduced to 20 in CAT 2009 and 2010 in line with the decline in the overall total number of questions in the test. CAT 2011 saw this section being combined with the Data Interpretation section, with the total number of questions being 30. Data Interpretation and Analytical ReasoningVarious types of graphs and tables can now be seen in the CAT test and a greater number of caselets (sets of 4-5 questions with the same data) are to be found. Recent tests have required the candidate to demonstrate an ability to reason out things logically and use information to construct his/ her own table.As mentioned above, CAT 2011 saw this section being combined with the Quant one, with the total number of questions being 30. As in the Quant section, the number of questions in this section were between 25-30 in the CAT exams from 2005-2008; which reduced to 20 in CAT 2009 and 2010 in line with the decline in the overall total number of questions in the test.(An alumnus of IIM Calcutta, Sidharth Balakrishna is part of faculty of top management institutes. He has authored a number books on management: his latest book is called An Introduction to CAT: Tips from an IIM Alumnus (Pearson))
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When HRD Minister Kapil Sibal dispensed with his charming smile and apologized to placard-waving legislators because a school book reproduced a 1949 cartoon depicting Dr Ambedkar astride a snail and being horse-whipped by Nehru to speed up the constitution writing process, we waived it off dismissively as the shenanigans of attention deficit politicians. But when Professor Ambikesh Mahapatra found himself in police custody because he circulated a cartoon suggesting that Mamata Banerjee plotted in Satyajit Ray movie style to "vanish" former nominee railway minister Dinesh Trivedi, the paranoid humourlessness of India's current political classes was just a little harder to see. The difference perhaps was in the blatant misuse of Section 66A(b) of the Information Technology Act to put a harmless academic in jail for cracking a joke.Is it true we have no sense of humour? Anyone who has watched the spectacle of Archana Puran Singh or Navjot Singh Siddhu falling about helplessly slapping the judges table in uncontrolled glee at the worst form of lame duck parody on national TV would not need convincing. Long after Laurel and Hardy went out of fashion, we still find it funny when a man slips on a banana peel and breaks his hip. Much of the time, we don't even know who the joke is on. When BBC Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson ran through India in December 2011 reviewing his cars as he joked about Indian food, loos and trains, we saw it not as him admitting his inability to adapt to our environment but as an affront to our country. It didn't strike us that fitting a potty into the boot of a Jaguar is a self-deprecating joke about the dodgy stomachs of Brits in India. Is the Delhi Belly a joke on vulnerable foreigners, or on the seat of India's government? Does it help or hurt that the Jaguar is an "Indian" car?Take another example. In January 2012, US talk show host Jay Leno took a potshot at republican senator Mitt Romney by suggesting that he had so much money he could live in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. It didn't strike us that Leno may have been suggesting that Romney was so rich he thought he was God. We were not delighted Leno suggested that Harmandar Sahib is the world's most opulent building. Leno could as easily have used a photo of Versailles. Absurdly, I can see us being equally upset if Harmandar Sahib's name didn't figure in every list of the world's prettiest buildings. Heads you lose I'm pissed off, tails I win I'm pissed off.The Leno outrage is especially hard to understand because the Sikh community is probably the most self-deprecating in India. It could be the religious thing though. Obviously, there are religious things the Sikhs will joke about and other things they will not. This is true of most communities. Humour is undoubtedly an elusive animal and very culture and context specific. There are hosts of subtle distinctions here, not readily apparent to those who have not been inducted into the intuitive side of cultural sensitivity. If you haven't lived the reality, you don't know where the line is. But then, you may ask: if we know that the guy making the joke doesn't understand where the line is, why can't we wave it off as poor taste and poorer judgment? The reason we can't see it is the reason that someone who has everything is still paranoidly defensive. When Shirish Kunder's tweeted "I just heard a 150 crore firework fizzle" on the commercial failure of the movie Ra One, the actor Shah Rukh Khan reacted with violence. This was not about good or bad humour, or having a sense of humour: it was about being hostile aggressive. The truth is we Indians are exactly how we appear in our Hindi movies: neurotic, insecure, hyper-sensitive and emotional. The subject of humour or lack of it is not even in the same frame. What is in the same frame though is the thin line between emotional inadequacy and criminality. When we react to a joke about our work, our life or our country with violence, we have crossed the line into criminality. That the police don't want to make a case out of every slap that finds a cheek in India is neither here nor there. Violence is criminal, whether it's a slap to a face or a knife to the gut. It's equally criminal to illegally deprive a college professor of his personal liberty because you don't like his joke. So, as I go back and examine the diabolical diatribes of Didi, I think that the danger in this intolerance is more than another side show in the eternal Indian politicaltamasha. I sure as hell am not laughing about the absurdity of perhaps India's most cultured state being ruled by itsnot most cultured citizen. I think we have a serious crisis here which we need to address as a nation. It comes in two parts. Part A of this crisis is our propensity to resort to violence when we get laughed at. This is a law and order situation and we need to treat it as such. If self-restraint is what we want, tut tutting the whole thing off dismissively is not the approach of choice. Retribution works, for those with something to lose anyway. Part B of this crisis is the existence of laws that are designed to abuse basic individual liberty. Section 66A(b) of the Information Technology Act which put Mahapatra in jeopardy is a very good example. It allows the state to jail people for three years simply for electronically sending "any information which he knows to be false, but for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will." Every joke, parody, farce, wit, humour and lampoon is at some level false even though at another philosophical level, it may reveal a great truth. If you allow such laws to be applied, every philosophical insight you don't get in a joke is a crime and every halfwit too slow to get it is a complainant.Consider the impact of this law in the context of religious matters. Most opinions we have on the nature of the spiritual world could well be false. Most certainly, they cannot be proven to be true to a legal standard. Even the Sangh parivar doesn't make that claim. As I recall, the Babri Masjid argument was predicated on faith, not historic data. From a purely legal standpoint, if you send me a pious do goody email with a divine reference, as a practicing agnostic, I am entitled to be experience annoyance, inconvenience, insult or ill will in which case, please prepare to occupy Raja's just vacated cell. Conversely, if I send you an email premised on an agnostic world view, you are entitled to be annoyed and it will be my turn in the slammer. So too a Christian mail in Hindu hands, et al.This is not a law any liberal society can justify or defend.Any which way I look at it, if we are going to keep laws like this on our statute books, we are going to end up like those half past dead near cadaverous citizens in totalitarian societies who can't smile without fearfully wondering about the legal and political implication of doing so.(The author is managing partner of the Gurgaon-based corporate law firm N South and author of the pioneering business book Winning Legal Wars. He can be contacted at rcd@nsouthlaw.com)
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They are small, smart and socially responsible. They are dynamic, growing and profitable too. Most importantly, they are becoming a critical link between developing economies as they increase business links with each other.These are social entrepreneurs who are now growing rapidly across Asia and Africa. Supported by private and government initiatives, social entrepreneurs are now sharing ideas and business plans with each other to create sustainable and ethical international enterprises. The models by the entrepreneurs are market savvy but also replicable in developing countries.Indian social entrepreneurs have found an encouraging platform in an initiative supported by the Public Diplomacy Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. As part of "IndiAfrica: A Shared Future" outreach programme run by theIdeaWorks, social entrepreneurs from India are going to different countries in Africa and sharing business ideas with regional entrepreneurs.Some of the Indian entreprenuers who are taking their models to Africa include Harminder Sahni, CEO of Wazir Advisors who runs a village factory in Mewat region in Northwest India. In this model, village women are trained to produce garments in a rudimentary facility within the village. The work is structured in a such a way that it creates additional income for them without interfering with their family life. Garment companies get quality products at half the cost.Another such entrepreneur, Ankit Mathur, is co-founder and COO of Greenway Grameen Infra who has developed an affordable cooking stove for use in villages. He already sells about 1,000 units a month in India for Rs 1,200 and is now working on opportunities in Africa. Ankit won the Businessworld Young Entrepreneur Award, 2011. Similarly, Sairee Chahal co-founder of Fleximoms is helping young mothers in India find jobs that allow them to work from home. As African countries urbanise and the society changes, her model will find a lot of traction. Sairee says that the need to be financially independent is the same for young mothers across continents.Many African social entrepreneurs I met are developing opportunities and partnerships in India.The most celebrated of these is Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu, Founder and CEO of soleRebels, a young footwear company based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Bethlehem is walking the talk on being socially responsible and is a business success. She received the Social Entrepreneur of The Year Award at the 2012 World Economic Forum on Africa from The Schwab Foundation. SoleRebels maintains and monitors fair trade standards while manufacturing ecologically safe footwear that is now being sold online across the world.Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu is a leading Nigerian social entrepreneur and rural natural resources management expert, an Ashoka Fellow, and Rolex Young Laureate 2010. He is committed to promoting sustainable agricultural and environmental management.Lagos-based Ayodeji Megbope, is the CEO of No Left Overs a full scale women based catering service. She started with a takeoff capital of N1,000 (GBP 4, USD 6), but now generates employment for hundreds of women. And then there is Niyi Oguntoyinbo who has organised the taxi service in Lagos by launching Metro Taxi. It is a radio taxi service that trains employed youth to become skilled drivers.Entrepreneurs like these don't feel limited by the scope of growth in their own countries. They want to learn and share with the best minds from other developing countries. As linkages between African and Indian social entrepreneurs strengthen, they will form the benchmark for more such partnerships.These will be the foundation for creating the next generation of socially responsible global corporate giants.(Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at pranjalx@gmail.com)
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PVK Mohan may be underweight in financial sector stocks, but the last few days has seen him adding frontline banking stocks to his portfolio. In the same breath, he has trimmed his position in automobile stocks despite being overweight on the sector. The reason: valuation. "We are picking up stocks with strong balance sheet and secondly stocks which leaves some upside for us. Though sectors like IT, pharma and consumer are doing well, the stocks don't come cheap," says Mohan, Head, Equities at Principal Mutual Fund.Speaking to Businessworld, Mohan feels the Indian market is lacklustre because it lacks conviction and that is the reason why there is no participation. Though global crisis has been a cause of concern, he feels it is rather the policy paralysis in India that has restricted the upward movement in the market. Mohan is of the opinion that though all headline news in negative, Indian market will remain rangebound within a narrow band over the short-term and doesn't see it break the recent lows in the near-term as most of the negatives have got discounted in the price. However, a clear trend will emerge only in end June and starting July after the presidential election in India and a clear picture emerging on the monsoons.Meanwhile, in this unfriendly environment, he feels investors with one year view should stick to frontline companies as the risk-reward is favourable towards large-cap than mid-cap stocks.Excerpts from the conversation:Do you think it is a great time for investors to invest in equities? And why?It is a challenging time given the Euro-Zone crisis, slowdown in China and back home a slowing economy, sticky inflation and lack of policy push. However, valuations are not demanding and offer a good entry point for long term investors notwithstanding the near term volatility.With rupee at its all-time low, what is your view on the currency and its impact on the equity market, economy and inflation? What are your concerns for the Indian equity market?The rupee has been impacted by India's large deficits – fiscal and current account. It was expected to weaken but the sharp depreciation in such a short time has been a negative surprise. A weak rupee adds to inflationary pressure, especially on oil, as we import the bigger part of our requirements. The concerns for the Indian equity market are a slowing economy, sticky inflation and lack of policy push.What is dragging the market and what is your overall view on the equity market for the next three to six months?A challenging outlook for the global economy due to Euro crisis, slowdown in China, a slowing Indian economy with a large deficit and a political environment which has made policy making challenging. I see the market remaining rangebound in the near-term with the Sensex not breaking its recent lows as well as it's not going to see much upside until the global situation improves.Do you think the RBI should be interfering in the currency market? Do you see any rate cut happening in the near-term and by what per cent and why?We would expect the RBI to intervene in case of sharp volatility or significant movements in short periods of time. Given the stickiness of inflation and lack of steps to contain the large deficit, we believe there would be no rate cut in the near term. What is your view on the overall financial market? Do you think the crisis in Europe as well as the US is behind us and why?The overall financial markets are under a stressful phase due to the challenging global environment. The Euro-Zone crisis is far from over and we need to monitor the situation in the period ahead for further developments.What is your view on gold and crude oil?Given the challenging global environment, we would expect commodities to be under pressure. However, gold prices are also influenced by currency movements which are difficult to predict.In current market where will you advice investors to invest? (Any short-term strategy). Don't you think it's better to be sector and market-cap agnostic in this market or stick to the large-cap stocks. What's your view? In the current environment, we would recommend investors to take a long-term view of the market. A large-cap fund is suitable for investors, whereas looking for portfolio stability and steady returns, whereas investors looking for slightly higher returns and with a longer investment horizon — say beyond three years — could consider a mid-cap fund.At Principal Mutual Fund what has been your current strategy in investing in equities? How much of an inflow are you receiving in a day? Of which how much are you investing in equities? If you are investing in the equity market which are the sectors that you are purchasing stocks and which ones you are avoiding? We remain focused on identifying companies with good growth prospects over the next 2-3 years, available at attractive valuations. In the current environment, we are slightly more bottom-up in our approach given the macro challenges. Sectors that we are overweight include pharmaceuticals, auto & auto ancillaries and media. Sectors that we are underweight include metals, cement and energy.Where are you investing your money in this market?I continue to be invested in the market, largely through equity mutual funds.
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Since its re-entry into the country in 1993, The Coca-Cola Company took a little over 18 years to invest $2 billion (about Rs 9,000 crore) in India. During his recent India visit, Muhtar Kent, chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company told the media that the company would spend an additional $5 billion in India by 2020 (Rs 28,440 crore at current exchange rates). The investment includes everything from refrigerated trucks to plant upgradation and marketing with bottlers chipping in with a part of the investment. Why does India take away an unfair share of investment in The Coca-Cola Company's scheme of things? If you go by The Coca-Cola Company's worldwide commitment along with its bottling partners to invest nearly $30 billion over the next five years, India takes away more than 10 per cent of that share. But when it comes to sales volumes, at a little more than 600 million unit cases of non alcoholic ready to drink (NARTD) beverages sold by the company in the country, India accounts for only 2.24 per cent of the 27 billion unit cases that The Coca-Cola Company sold globally in 2011.Kent justified the decision to spend in India by saying: "We are absolutely confident this is the right decision, given the vast growth opportunities here in India." What are these growth opportunities that he's talking of?If you consider the per capita annual consumption of The Coca-Cola Company's products, India sits at the bottom of the barrel with a per capita consumption of only 12 (That translates to one serving of about 240 ml per person per month). In China, that number is 38. In Kenya, it's 40. And the global average is 92. "All of this explains why we believe this business has near limitless growth potential," says Kent.Despite that low per capita consumption, India on the strength of its large population, delivers more volume to the company than say Turkey, South Africa or Russia that have per capita consumption numbers of 173, 247 and 73 respectively. In the Eurasia and Africa Operating Group of the company, where all the four countries belong, India contributed more to the volume share than the other three.Then, for the last five consecutive years, the Indian market has delivered double digit growth to Coca-Cola. The country which was placed 16th in terms of overall volume contribution to the company six years back is now the seventh largest market for the beverage giant. Kent says the India business aspires to be among the Top 5 countries by volume in the entire Coca-Cola system. As of now, India seems to be moving in that direction. In the last ten years, according to The Coca-Cola Company's estimates, India's per capita consumption has trebled from 4 to 12.
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To write this article in the time I've allowed myself requires self-management. And it is fairly easy. But if I were to ask an entire team of people to write it and still produce a coherent argument, I would have my hands full. Why? Put simply, because it requires a dramatic shift in focus in one's thinking and actions. One has to move from the goal of self-motivation and self-achievement to that of setting a goal, actions and motivations for a team of people outside oneself – a team that accommodates many different personalities, each requiring their own brand of guidance and motivation.This is the new manager's dilemma, and one that is crucial to solve in any business. New managers are an integral part of an organisation. They become middle managers. They climb the ladder and some go on to become CEOs. But what they learn as new managers is what they carry with them throughout their leadership careers. It is the value they continue to bring to the workplace. Not investing in them, therefore, is a long-term error of business judgement.Unless they gain the skills they need to lead at management level, new managers will go on to become poor middle managers and ultimately, poor CEOs. The point is that bad leadership, whether at the top, middle or bottom of the organisation, is bad for business.Consider these findings by the Performance Solutions Group, published last year. Only 38 per cent of employees think their leaders have a sincere interest in their well-being. Only 47 per cent think their leaders are trustworthy. Only 42 per cent think their leaders inspire and engage them, while 61% question whether their leaders deal effectively with poor performance. Only 42 per cent think senior management encourages the development of talent.A workforce that feels this way about its leaders is no asset. And they reflect uncomfortably on the level of support and training given to their managers' leadership skills. These leaders picked up poor skills along the way and it shows – not only in poor performance from badly led teams, but also in the area of staff retention. Talented staff will not stay in a poorly managed environment: as Marcus Buckingham put it, "people join firms but leave managers".Most people coming into a management role for the first time don't know what to do. They are paralysed with apprehension. Their knees buckle under added responsibility. Fear of failure haunts their every decision. They feel isolated and cornered; caught between the heavy demands of business and the needs of their worker friends. It's a hard shift to make, the change from getting results alone and motivating a team to achieve results. For some, this shift takes a long time. And this can cause flow problems for companies, no matter their size. However, it can be avoided by two things. One: get in early and develop new managers from the word go. Two: don't make someone a manager if they don't have the "edge" that it takes. Often, it is assumed that the person who is best at the job or the most experienced will make the best manager, but experience or skill in a specific area does not automatically translate to management skill. Unilever found this out the hard way. They had been promoting people to management positions as rewards for loyalty. Eventually they ended up with 36 tiers of management. That much bureaucracy is good for business like a blood clot is good for the heart. They ended up having to downscale to a final six tiers, which was not only time-consuming and labour-intensive, but also undermined the company's credibility in the eyes of its employees. People should be promoted because of their competence, and not simply because they have been with the organisation a long time.This competence can also be cultivated in the new manager. Investing in new managers leads to sustainable efficient leadership. Empower them to empower the workforce. Help them cope by giving them the tools they need; the business language they need. If you're going to promote someone into a management position, do it properly and with a view for the long-term productivity of the company. Give them the confidence to lead and manage effectively.And it starts by building their character. Teach them how to ask themselves: how can I manage myself better? How can I be authentically me? How can I work with other people? How do I listen to other people? How do I understand the assumptions they're making, and the one's I'm making? How can I work with the diversity of the group?Then, show them the ropes, the nuts and the bolts, the crankshaft and the pistons. A new manager needs to understand how to have the conversations that now come with their title. They need to understand business terminology – they haven't really been exposed to it at that level before. Enable them to ask intelligent questions in the boardroom, and to understand the answers. They'll need to know and understand basic finance, value stream management, operations, marketing, strategy and innovation.New managers are a strategic link and they need to be strengthened. To throw them in the deep end alone without development or investment in their abilities to lead and manage is to undermine the entire chain for a long time. (Jenny Carter is the Course Director of the New Managers Programme at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business (GSB))
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Every big business today was once small, this sentence very simply captures the scaling up challenges that growing businesses face. Scattered across regions, these businesses are connected in their aggressive approaches and their desire to succeed. Yet not all businesses manage to and often the differentiator between the ones that do and don't, is the way they market themselves. But marketing is a tricky business, especially for growing businesses. You have to ensure intelligent, innovative and optimal use of your resources to build that desired level of brand equity. While small businesses suffer the disadvantages of not having enough time, money and resources; embedded in their nature is also the fact that being small, they are more agile, flexible, adventurous and experimental.The technology space offers these enterprises the perfect channel to use innovative and flexible approaches to make their presence felt and eventually attract the attention of customers and investors. Its time growing businesses move beyond cash flow and budgeting, and refocus the fundamentals of marketing to understand how they can bring structure and success in this new world of marketing online. Explained below are 6 marketing tips for these businesses that could be of immense help while they embark on their scale up journey. NetworkingNetworking is one intangible, yet invaluable asset to have for all businesses; more specifically for growing businesses. It gives a business the arms and legs to get things done. The ability to communicate effectively, build and nurture winning relationships and expand a network is absolutely essential in today's business world for increasing possibilities. Technology has a huge role to play in professional networking. Web 2.0 has bridged geographical boundaries via the evolution of social networks and gives growing businesses an opportunity to connect with all influencers across the world. It is with this insight that Dell created the Dell Women's Entrepreneur Network (DWEN). DWEN is a global network celebrating some of the wonderful and amazing accomplishments that women in business are achieving and nurturing discussions around new opportunities, expanding geographies, sharing best practices and strategies to grow their companies. This community is connected year round on the LinkedIn Women Powering Business group and meets once a year. Elevate Your BrandA great company begins by offering great products and services; this is essential in today's business environment. However, brand equity is how businesses truly differentiate themselves from their competition. Growing businesses should take these steps to build their brand equity: •Ask what is unique about them vis-à-vis their competition? •Listen to their customers and build a relationship with them •Think beyond the purchase - Start building their brand before the customers start purchasing their products and/or services •Integrate their customers into their social media activities Foster an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Culture50 per cent of people who search online share recommendations with friends and family and often write positively about their purchases online. SMBs need to: •Make it easy for "Spiders" to access and crawl •Include keyword-rich content •Include quality inbound links from trustworthy, high traffic web-sites Use Their E-commerce Platform for More than Just SalesWhile making sales from their website, it is important that SMBs capitalize on their e-commerce platforms to:•Listen and engage with customers to better understand their wants/needs•Develop and optimize robust promotions, online demand generation, merchandising and search programs to drive traffic and conversionsIf one doesn't know one's customers, one doesn't know one's business. That's why I encourage my team to interact with customers at every opportunity. For us, if a growing business needs a server, there are hundreds of partners that could sell them one. However, we want to focus on providing the best infrastructure possible for each customer. To do that, we need to deeply understand each customer's needs and priorities and this holds overarching relevance for small businesses.Embrace Social mediaFor small businesses, two of the easiest, and most effective ways to get engaged in social media is to blog and be active on Twitter. Blogs are a great sounding board, engaging key audiences in fast and honest conversations. Restrict all business-talk to an offline platform and make sure to get across one's personality and opinions. Yes, one can attract negative comments – but one can respond openly and transparently by answering questions and updating a personal blog. Micro-blogging (i.e. Twitter) allows companies, large and small, to send out regular chunks of news or insights easily. Even while expanding one's small business and hiring new recruits – Twitter and Facebook can be great ways of getting the word out there. Linkedin is also an extremely useful tool for B2B businesses and/ or for addressing audiences in the B2B space. The platform suits business dialogue and facilitates many business conversations. The addressable audiences on Linkedin are also widely spread out. For example, at Dell we've micro-targeted audiences via relevant communities to reach out to women entrepreneurs, CIO's and SMB's; and with results to show. In an effort to innovatively reach out to maximum SMB's, Dell created a ‘More Growth' community that since its creation 120 days ago, has connected 11600+ members from 6000+ SMBs in over 400 towns and cities in India. Measure Your SuccessSet measureable objectives for the company's marketing efforts and track their progress. To do these growing businesses can: •Leverage free programs such as Google analytics •Measure web-site and blog traffic •Track the number of mentions about the company These are simple and straightforward practices and using them will help growing enterprises showcase their brand promise and create an increased level of attractiveness towards their brand. However, it is often in the intricacy of implementing simple practices that companies go terribly wrong, which makes the above suggestions critical. (Vikas Bhonsle, General Manager, Medium Business, Dell India)
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In an interview with BW's Mahesh Nayak, IFC's South Asia's Ayaan Adam talks about why fund raising still continues to be difficult in India (and emerging markets), upcoming trends in the PE industry and where and why IFC is likely to invest money Why are private equity players in India finding it difficult to raise money? Aren't limited partners (LPs) confident in investing in Indian markets?Appetite for emerging markets private equity in general has been muted —although in 2011 it has shown a positive trend — with $26 billion raised, it is still lower than the peak of $40 billion in 2008.Fund raising for Indian PE in 2011 hasn't recovered to the $8 billion levels of 2008 either. "A lot of liquidity constrained LPs had reduced allocations to emerging markets PE. Within that allocation they have also favoured some of the larger markets and this is, in some part, also driven by the level of exits.IFC has run counter to this trend and as an LP has been happy to develop a deep PE investing program in India and South Asia focused on GPs who are small and/or new and focused on expansion capital largely in the SME sector. We have announced commitments to 7 strong funds in the past nine months and are looking to further develop our presence in the region in the coming year. Apart from the SME focus we have also made commitments to funds investing in the low income states and funds that address climate change issues.What trend do you see in the coming year for the overall private equity industry in India?Indian PE has evolved from a venture capital (VC) oriented market to a quasi-public model and latterly a more operationally focused environment. This shifts away from pure multiple expansion to a focus on earnings improvement is what we expect to see more of. India has a wealth of trained professionals who are functional experts. PE funds that combine this pool with the entrepreneurial energy of the Indian promoters are better able to foster earning growth and therefore control exit outcomes - irrespective of market volatility.Though IFC acts both as an LP as well as a general partner (GP), what has been the expectation of IFC as a LP? What are your expectations from GP when you invest in India dedicated funds?We look for three things. Firstly, does the fund have a team and investment strategy that is compelling and able to deliver strong returns? Our PE funds portfolio at the global level has a 10 year track record in excess of 20 percent at the net level.Secondly, we look for development impact of these PE funds in terms of increased access to finance, jobs created, impact on low income states, impact on climate change, promotion of South-South linkages.Thirdly, we try and ask what value does IFC bring as an LP? If having IFC as an anchor investor helps a GP mobilise more capital, improve governance standards and adopt Environmental and Social standards, then we feel there is a role for us to play in fostering such GPs in countries where we operate. Our investments are usually in first and second time funds and at the smaller end of the market.Why are we seeing desperate exit(s) in India?Indian PE — like a lot of emerging markets PE — is a young asset class. From a low base at the turn of the century, the size of the market (funds raised) grew very rapidly on the back of some very strong exits. The expectations based on that initial set of exits remains but the pool of capital is much bigger and the public market conditions are different. This pool of capital is, of course, not uniform and we see the ecosystem developing in a positive way with a greater number of full and partial exits from the small funds to the larger funds.Which are the markets that IFC would bet its money? And why?IFC is very active in lower income countries and in frontier markets. We see our role as a counter cyclical capital provider and our track record shows that we have generated top quartile returns globally precisely because of those attributes.
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