Vkreate-Group B3- Source- Economic times

Headline: Over 6,000 bookings received for Safari Storm: Tata, Jan 18, 2013

 

Tata Motors has received over 6000 bookings for its latest upgraded entry level SUV Tata Safari Storm, after launching the variant in the Northern and Eastern markets in October 2012. Since then Tata also launched it in the Southern and Western markets especially looking at the figures where the Tamil Nadu market constitutes about 17 per cent of the company's total SUV sales.

 

Implications: Priced at a competitive price of Rs 9.95 lakhs (Ex-showroom Chennai) it has been launched to compete in the entry level SUV segment in order to try to reclaim its No.1 position in the SUV segment from Mahindra Motors.

Headline: Glaxo Ties with Biological E to develop 6-in-1 Combo Vaccine, Jan 30, 2013

·         World’s fourth largest drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline has teamed up with Hyderabad-based vaccine company Biological-E for early stage R&D of a 6-in-1 combination paediatric vaccine to help protect children in India and other developing markets.

·         This move will strengthen the multinational giant’s(GSK) position in the Rs.1800 Cr Indian vaccine market.

·         This joint venture will enter phase-1 trial in the next two years.

·         GSK will combine its injectable polio-vaccine and Biological-E will combine its pentavalent vaccine (of tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis-B and haemophilus influenza type-B).

·         If successful this will be the first of its kind vaccine developed for India.

Headline: Philips exits shrinking home entertainment business, Jan 29, 2013

·         Philips Electronics agreed to sell its audio and video business to Japan's Funai Electric Co for 150 million euros ($202 million), quitting a traditional sector to focus on its more profitable home appliances and healthcare operations.

·         With consumers going online for music, films and games rather than buying CDs and DVDs, Philips decided to get out of home entertainment even though it was profitable last year, Chief Executive Frans van Houten said, adding that the business was shrinking and "margin dilutive".

·         In future, the consumer division will focus on appliances such as shavers, toasters, juicers and coffee makers.           

Headline: Coke brings ‘Parivartan’ in Rural Women’s Life, Jan 29, 2013

Coke’s vision is to create 5million women entrepreneurs globally by 2020. Parivartan programme trains women retailers in rural markets; it is the first of its kind in the soft drink industry. Coca Cola’s move is similar to HUL’s Project Shakti.

·         Parivartan is conducted in classroom and mobile classrooms in rural and semi urban markets, which are provided with seating areas, presentation zones, audio-video and on-board trainers.

·         Each retailer who signs up for Parivartan is trained by Coca- Cola for some 10 days and upon completing the programme gets a certificate of completion from the company and insurance of Rs.1Lakh for accidental death or premature disability.

·         In addition women who don’t have existing refrigerator are supplied with solar power operated coolers- a Coca Cola innovation called eKocool which has a capacity to store and chill close to fifty 300ml glass bottles.

This move is progressive though it requires consistent efforts to build scale in the long run. This initiative will not only help low literate women to support their families economically but will also help Coca-Cola in breaking the ice in new markets.

Headline: Mobile Number Portability effect? Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Rcom are focusing on loyalty programmes to retain high net worth post paid subscribers, Jan 29, 2013

·         The largest telecom service provider of the country – Airtel tied up with a premium designer Satya Paul and surprised post paid subscribers with Rs.5000 gift voucher, offered select post paid consumers passes for the recently concluded India England cricket series.

·         Vodafone, for its post paid users has an ‘Earn and Burn’ programme that is open to premium to cardholder of Stanchart and HSBC; this helped Vodafone to add 1.3Lakh new users last year. It also has ‘My Delights’ that offers best deals and discounts on restaurants, health & beauty and travel.

·         Rcom has specialised call centre offering personalised services. It will soon roll out discounts on leading brands over 330 categories in collaboration with Martjack Exchange, a digital commerce channel that connects consumers with suppliers and retailers.

·         Idea was the first to promote MNP through its ‘No Idea, Get Idea’ campaign that highlighted the company’s strength in network coverage, customer service delivery.

This all is more relevant to telecom brands where the cost of switching is low with the advent of MNP. These strategies are used by companies to retain their consumers and to attract new ones.

Headline: BMW to work with Toyota Motor to produce midsize sports car, Jan 25, 2013

Summary: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, the world's biggest maker of luxury vehicles, will work with Toyota Motor to produce a midsize sports car, expanding their cooperation amid industry efforts to limit development costs.

BMW and Toyota, the world's biggest manufacturer of gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles, will also set up partnerships to create fuel-cell systems, lightweight materials and lithium- air batteries, the companies said on Thursday.

Review:

v  BMW will supply diesel engines to Toyota and the two collaborate on lithium-ion batteries and other fuel-saving projects

v  Joint technology development allows carmakers to share spending on vehicles and recoup investments quicker as parts are used in more models. Therefore, this helps in saving money.

v  Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, and Ford Motor Co. are the only producers among the region's Top 10 that don't have large-scale cooperation agreements on technology or models.

v  Other collaborations include:

Ø  Daimler with Renault for Smart small car

Ø  BMW's Mini brand shares gasoline engines with Peugeot

Ø  Fiat  announced a final deal to build a new Alfa Romeo roadster with Mazda Motor Corp.

v  The collaboration with BMW allows Toyota, Asia's largest carmaker, to expand its European lineup of diesel-powered vehicles. For the German carmaker, the partnership paves the way for the company to team up with the biggest producer of hybrid vehicles, as it seeks to fend off VW's Audi, which has a target of taking the global luxury-car sales lead from BMW.

Headline: Audi India reaches out to tier-II cities as it races to emerge number one luxury car maker by 2015, Jan 25, 2013

Summary: Luxury car makers continue to make a beeline to tier-II cities as growing prosperity in these places continues to drive growth. After Mercedes Benz and BMW, the German luxury car maker Audi has set up a dealership in Lucknow.

Review:

·         Even before opening it has seen 50 cars being sold in the Lucknow-Kanpur region

·         The response has been encouraging as customers see value and aspiration in an Audi.

·         They target selling 25cars a month from Lucknow and Kanpur.

·         Audi India which has 25 showrooms in the country would open 9 new dealerships in 2013 of which most would be in tier-II cities

·         The rising aspirations and prosperity in tier-II cities has led Audi India to open more dealerships in tier-II towns even as Audi India targets emerging as the number one luxury car brand in the country by 2015. 

·         Audi India continues to record impressive sales with 9,003 vehicles being sold from January to December 2012 against a target of 8,000 units. In the 2011 calendar year it sold 5511 units.

Headline: Aircel launches free roaming service

Aircel today launched a product that offers users one rate for voice, SMS and data in home circles and on roaming. ‘One Nation, One Rate', offers one rate for voice, SMS and data in home circles and on roaming on Aircel network, the company said in a statement. Aircel is trying to bring innovation in terms of their services being offered in order to gain percent hike in  customers retention as well as attracting new subscribers. Aircel users in Delhi can avail the service for Rs 39, while Mumbai subscribers have to pay Rs 32, the statement said which clearly indicates that the strategy that they have adopted comes with a service price of 39 rupees.
 The product will offer voice - (Local/National) calling at 1paisa/second in home circle as well as on roaming on Aircel network, while incoming calls on roaming will be free.
SMS will be charged at Re 1 for home circle as well as on roaming while data users will be able to carry the home circle rate on roaming, the statement added.

This move by Aircel is a deliberate effort to compete against telecom giants like Airtel and Vodafone who still have not ventured into pricing schemes in roaming.