The Austin American-Statesman asks: Is a purpose-driven company more likely to profit? The idea is that, no matter what product or service you are selling, successful companies often have a deeper purpose beyond making a profit. It's a moot point or loaded question or just a load of [fuzzy-thinking], depending on your point of view. We're likely to get sucked into a debate about whether businesses should just focus on business (i.e. making money) or should they be governed by a "higher" purpose than that. Someone wise once wrote: we need to break away from the tyranny of "or." Having a…
By VISHAL KRISHNA Businessworld Issue Dated 14-20 April 2009 Kishore Biyani took on a huge debt to expand Pantaloon Retail very quickly. Now the slowdown has made his life difficult Rapid rollout of new stores has been Future Group founder and CEO Kishore Biyani’s major focus area. In the past two years, the country’s largest retailer has thrown open 7 million sq. ft of new shopping space across 24 formats in over 63 Indian cities, often at the rate of one store a day. The day BW met Biyani, 26 March, was another of those days. He was preparing to…
The recession is taking a toll on the business models of premium and luxury retailers. According to the Los Angeles Times, faced with sales declines at their full-price stores, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom are lavishing more dollars and devotion on their outlets which are performing better than their traditional stores. According to Robert Wallstrom, president of Off 5th, Saks Inc.'s outlet division, "These days, customers are saying they want a brand, customer service and a deal." Outlets may just be the lifeboat needed by some of the brands to get through the current downturn, with the mix…
The organic movement has touched a variety of products, including clothing, cosmetics and home products. Possibly the most emotive area is organic food, because food products are directly taken into the body while other products have a limited and external contact. In a sense, before the appearance of industrial agriculture and the application of synthetic nutrients and pesticides, all farming was organic. In fact, the traditional Sanjeevan system of India dates back several millennia. Even the existing organic farming movement has been around since its founding in Europe in the early-1900s. This was initially treated as fad and its proponents…
We're all for new business ideas and guerilla marketing tactics. However, it is a fact that some work, and many don't. Here's one idea that raises some question marks. It's a business called freepapercups.com that provides free paper cups to offices carrying the ads of other companies who pay for the cups. The company's proposition is that everyone wins - the recepient office saves on paper cup expenditure, coffee service providers get a new tool to save their customers money (and for themselves to possibly gain some share or the revenues?), and the advertiser gets to penetrate a previously untouched white-space. Who…
Speciality Restaurants expanding into high-margin QSR and cloud kitchen spaces - @devangshu shared his perspective on the opportunities and realities of managing a diverse "house of brands" in the food service sector #India #strategy #diversification
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
