I had the privilege of bringing the Prime Source Forum in Hong Kong (April 1-2, 2008) to a close. As in the previous year, the Forum had senior executives from companies based in the Americas, Europe, and Asia, as well as government officials and highly respected academics. The discussions covered wide-ranging topics, and with the variety of people on the panels, there was also some amount of difference in opinion. 8 issues came to my mind as key themes for the global industry, as I was preparing my closing speech, and I thought that those who were not present at…
As brands and retailers expand their operations nationally, they begin to look at consolidating their back-room operations. Typically finance is already centralised, but other operations such as store opening project management, logistics etc. are also centralised for smoother and more efficient operation. And then comes a big day when someone senior decides that the company should have a single toll-free or local dial number that customers from around the country can call. Of course, India is already acknowledged as the call-centre of the world, so this should be easy. Right? Wrong. Call centres that are operating internationally from India have…
Today is supposed to be celebrated as "Consumer's Day". I find that ironical, given a personal experience of poor service that occured yesterday whose effect is still lingering and will linger for another 2 weeks (with profuse apologies from 3 different people on the retailer's side, for the delay, bad quality etc etc). There is the saying: "Customer is King". But it does seem that the days of kings are past. Mahatma Gandhi went a step further and declared the customer to be God. But there may be problem with that as well - after all, how many people actually…
Prime Source Forum (Hong Kong) has become the 'must attend' annual event for the apparel industry, offering senior executives from all over the world the chance to meet and discuss current challenges and opportunities with their peers, providing also a meeting place where competitors speak freely to each other in the knowledge that many major issues can be resolved only through mutual understanding and common solutions. More than 50 senior executives from 14 countries will lead the discussions ranging over the challenges and opportunities confronting the industry in today's changing economic and political environment. The event will be prefaced on…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
