At the outset let me mention the fact that in the title of this post lies a Freudian slip. The intended title was "Corporate Responsibility - Beyond Labels". But the new - unintended - title captures the thought perfectly. (And I'll come back to that in closing.) Third Eyesight was recently asked by a multi-billion dollar global consumer brand to facilitate a round-table discussion focussing on the issue of how to drive ethical behaviour and sustainable business models into their sector. This company has a well documented strategy and action plan until 2020, and their team was travelling together in…
A keystone of a retailerโs business is the loyalty that customers show in shopping at his or her store. Loyal customers help to sustain a basic level of sales and reduce the need for expensive broadcast-style marketing spending that the store may otherwise have to do in order to keep the traffic and business flowing. This is as true for chain-stores as it is for independent mom-and-pop stores. Therefore, as competition increases along with the number of stores selling the same products within a common catchment, retaining the loyalty of the customer becomes crucial, both in terms of strength of…
By Sangita Ghosh Images Retail December 2008 THE INDIAN RETAIL SCENARIO HAS BEEN WITNESSING SIGNIFICANT ADVANCEMENT WITH TRADITIONAL RETAIL FORMATS MAKING WAY FOR MORE INNOVATIVE AND TECHNOLOGICALLY EVOLVED FORMATS. ONE OF THE INNOVATIONS TO WATCH OUT FOR IS THE 'RETAIL KIOSK', WHICH TRULY MAKES BUSINESS SENSE FOR RETAILERS BECAUSE OF ITS COST BENEFIT STRUCTURE AT THE ‘POINT OF SALE’ ESTABLISHMENT PROCESS AND EASE AND CONVENIENCE FOR THE CUSTOMERS TOO. The concept of 'Kiosk Retailing' in the Indian retail scenario was virtually unknown until a few years-ago. Over the past few years, however, retail kiosks or mall kiosks have become an…
News items seem to be ringing the death-toll for offshoring (Here's one from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003574_pf.html.) Job transitions across borders are an emotive issue at any time, certainly even more so during times of economic upheaval such as now. But should the debate be about "offshore vs onshore" or about management competence? A management team whose effort isn't structured well enough to deliver on their customer's expectation of a good product (service included) could also find many things on which to pin the blame for poor service, including the geographical location of the support engineers, their native language or…
By Sapna Dogra Singh Business Standard New Delhi December 07, 2008 Lack of an apex body, along with the absence of time-bound deadlines, are being cited as reasons behind the poor implementation of the scheme for integrated textile parks (SITPs), which is the textile ministry's flagship scheme, according to industry experts. The objective of this scheme launched in 2005 was to create jobs and world-class infrastructure. However, so far, out of the 40 sanctioned parks, just four have become operational. "It is a grand plan but actual execution is very slow," said Devangshu Dutta, chief executive officer of Third Eyesight,…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
