I had never thought of India as an intimidating place for doing business, until I met two people in the same week who called it just that. Painful, yes. Confusing, yes. But frightening? Really? The World Bank has consistently placed India... Read More.
"Sir, we are conducting research on xxx industry," and the phone goes dead. Having done primary research myself for more than a year now, I am quite used to people refusing to answer, banging the phone down, ignoring calls despite fixing... Read More.
Understanding the local business culture is an important pre-requisite for doing business in any foreign country. If you google Indian business culture, you’ll find dozens of articles on the cultural sensitivities that foreigners need to have for doing business in India.... Read More.
Emerging markets like India are the preferred destination for a variety of organizations - private equity firms looking for investment opportunities, corporations looking for new markets for their products, and asset managers looking for higher returns on their investments. But doing... Read More.
I am not going to repeat the “great” India story. Notwithstanding current problems, PE investors understand that India will grow substantially in the long run, and an under-served population of well over a billion makes this a market that cannot... Read More.
Recently when I purchased a new car, the service executive at the shop asked me to sign a blank customer feedback form, that too before I got the delivery of the car! Being a research analyst and knowing the importance... Read More.
Today, as global and local economies struggle to grow, traditional sales and marketing strategies are proving less and less effective. Companies are less motivated to take on new vendors or try new services, decision making is agonizingly slow, and pricing... Read More.
There is no business in this world that can afford to ignore the voice of their customers. Time and again businesses have relied on Voice of Customer (VoC) studies to improve bottom line profitability, drive top-line revenue growth, come up... Read More.
CSS and VOC - Two popular methods for customer feedback. The challenges to human communication are well documented. If communication between individuals can be so challenging, then what about communication between two organizations of at least a 100 people each! Clients usually... Read More.
Recently my elder cousin who is not internet friendly made her first e-commerce purchase from a popular e-commerce portal (Flipkart). She was delighted by the cash-on-delivery (COD) option provided by them because she wouldn’t have to depend on her husband... Read More.
