PORTFOLIO APPROACH TO MANAGE INNOVATION

Portfolio is nothing but initiatives that the organization takes to build new products/ services or to bring a difference in the services it gives to its customers. The initiatives should be compared across dimensions such as stretch, strategic fit, risk, and potential return and resource requirements. By using different charts as lenses to compare initiatives, you can mix and match alternatives until you come up with the portfolio that's right for you.



There are four reasons why the organizations should use the portfolio approach to manage innovation

1.Risk Management :The portfolio is a risk management tool. If the organization have more innovation initiatives under way than traditional firms, and it is prone to stretch farther within each initiative, without an overall view of its innovation efforts, it could easily wind up taking too much or too little risk.

2.Visibility: The portfolio provides visibility that allows the organization's firm pace the introduction of new products and services. The organization should balance the introduction of revolutionary products with incremental improvements in others so as to maintain a steady flow. By having a comprehensive view of initiatives over time, it can avoid either overwhelming or underwhelming the marketplace.

3.Timing of New Initiatives: The innovation portfolio will time when the organization start a new initiative or transfer a completed one into manufacturing or the marketplace.

4.Discovering Synergies: The portfolio illuminates potential leverage opportunities among technologies, processes, products, and markets. This capability will enable your firm to get more for each innovation dollar while reducing development cost and risk, reduce complexity and free up people to work on tasks that generate greater customer value.


Source:100 ADVICE

FEEDBACK: How it has evolved??

Businesses since time immemorial have a tendency to follow the lifecycle of START-GROW-MATURE-DIE. But then, the trend changed with the evolve of technology, the lifecycle had a new face, START-GROW-MATURE-FEEDBACK-REGROWTH and then something called “Social Media” re-defined the way companies do business. The term “FEEDBACK” is not restricted to “WHETHER you are satisfied in my product/service?” any more…It has got new dimensions to it…

FEEDBACK is closely associated with INVOLVEMENT, PARTICIPATION and sometimes BEING THINKERS!!! If Fritolays plans to come out with a new Flavour, instead of involving the core research team, why not throw the question to the people itself who uses the product “LAYS” and then “RAJMA” flavor gets introduced. Gone are the days when customers were treated as the ones who gives feedback, they have become an integral part of business re-definition. With the advent of Blogs, Twitters, Facebook, it has become easy to reach and extract the untapped customer interest/ideas, I would not use the term “feedback” for the sheer reason that it helps in giving a new face to business. “Customer Conversations” are a key to successful business, nothing to do with feedback, but just mere plain conversations!!! Conversations are not just one-sided anymore where the customers used to get newsletters, read about profits/balance sheets from the newspapers/websites, it has become two-way. The “Conversations” have an enriching customer experience where there is an open platform to interact with the company and the topic can range from complaints, issues, feedback, general discussion on services/products etc.

No wonder “Feedback” is associated with TRUST and LOYALTY, an engaged customer can only provide a true feedback be it positive or negative because of the sheer trust he/she has in the organization and believes the organization will show the same loyalty by taking care of such feedback.

Businesses which die and are thrown out of competition are the ones who stick to the old ways of taking feedback from their customers coz it’s not FEEDBACK ANYMORE, IT’S AN ENGAGEMENT!!!

BEST PRACTICES: A KM Initiative

There is always a room for improvement and every organization has some measurement and benchmark placed to improve their policies and processes. The Best Practices can be treated as a KM initiative and a way to improve the policies and processes in an organization.It’s not something which is internal to the organization,but external to an extent that it involves the study of the practices across industry. Best Practices are certainly not absolute and it depends on the kind of organization and its services/ offerings. But few things for an organization to look for while defining the best practices for them are:

1. Internal Practices: Before you start looking outside, concentrate internally. If you are a start up, then check the measure, matrices and balances and see whether they are properly in place. Before you actually start on improving policies and processes, see to it that the basic requirements are met for any processes or policies. For e.g. a successful project management should fill the criteria of gathering exact client requirements, defect management, risk management etc. And, if you are already an established organization, how the existing practices have affected and impacted the organization as a whole in terms of performance and running of organization.

2. Market Benchmarking: An organization cannot run in isolation. A lot of external factors impact the organization. It’s always advisable to research on specific practices and policies used by other organizations in the market who sell the same kind of services/ offerings. Not only that, you can also focus on the practices and policies which are generic to all the organizations. For e.g. Risk Management is very specific area while Resource Management is quite a generic one.

3. Involve your customers: Customers are the king. Always involve them while setting up the best practices in your organizations, take their suggestions and regularly inform them regarding the changes in process and policies in your organization. Publish Newsletters and let them know the practice areas of other organizations and how it differs in your organization. And, sometimes, involving your clients and customers can help you get the benefits of extracting information regarding the dynamics of other organizations as they are the one who works with different service providers.

4. Involve Industry Experts: Industry Experts are the one who have the experience of working in various organizations across the globe, working with acclaimed industry leaders and renowned organization. So, they have the knowledge of setting up the best practices for each and every kind of organization. Involving them would certainly help the organization in knowing the loopholes in the existing practices and the areas of improvement.

5. Documentation and Version Control: It might seem trivial but this is one of the important aspects of best practices in any organization. Proper documentation and version control helps in knowing the history and the changes that actually occurred in any practices and its overall impact.

Can we have too much KNOWLEDGE???

When it comes to Knowledge Management, too much knowledge can prove even more dangerous than having just a little if you want to share ideas.

Why is it that the more we know about something, the harder we find it to explain what we know to other people? Research evidence suggests that our difficulties aren’t caused by the amount and complexity of our knowledge but by our inability to accurately judge just how much other people already know.

In other words, we make life difficult for ourselves because we’re not very good at working out what goes on in other people’s heads. And, because the content of our own mind is the only reference point we have for understanding other people’s minds, we often struggle to appreciate just how different other minds can be from ours.

Bridging the knowledge gap

The solution is to create a metaphor that will make it easier for your listeners to make the journey from familiar territory (what they already know) to unfamiliar territory (what they don’t know). Thinking metaphorically forces us to take a step back from what we know and imagine seeing it from someone else’s point of view. This is because metaphors are created by answering the question, “What’s it like?”

However, when we know a lot about something we often find ourselves resisting this question because we’re worried that any answer to it will be simplistic and inaccurate. We are so in love with the detail and subtlety of what we know, we can’t stand the thought of misrepresenting it. When it comes to expertise, it’s often a case of all or nothing.

For example, there was a time when computers were the exclusive domain of experts who communicated with each other in the mysterious language of computer code. The great breakthrough in the design and popularity of the personal computer happened when the metaphor of the desktop replaced the barren landscape of the command line. Instead of being lost in an abstract world of code, the home user now found themselves in a familiar office environment surrounded by documents, paper folders, filing cabinets and wastepaper bins – a place where they could do business.

The desktop/office metaphor may have many inadequacies (for example, seeing a word processor as a typewriter wouldn’t lead a new user to look for a replace command) but without it, the computer revolution might never have happened.

Many computer experts doing innovative work today started life on the desktop and eventually burrowed their way down to the creative power of the code beneath it. Once we have a map of the unfamiliar territory and a feeling for it, we’re ready to revise our mental models and start making sense of the technical details. At this stage, we can hear the tune in all its glory – and we can even hum it ourselves.

- An article by Martin Shovel. Source:Knowledgeboard

Social CRM: Balanced Scorecard

I had previously written a post on SOCIAL CRM explaining what SOCIAL CRM is all about. Today, I will be sharing on what actually SOCIAL CRM means to companies and how should they percieve about it. While recently reading “The world is flat” blog, I bumped into “Balanced Scorecard for SOCIAL CRM” which I thought to share with you all.

From a financial perspective, how about measuring the profit through Improved Lead Management by listening to customer conversations, reminds me of “Tweets, Retweets” concept. Capturing the conversation happening between the organization and the customer in a system helps in better understanding and catering to their needs. A proper history/track of conversation is definitely a better way from turning lead-prospect, converting to an opportunity and then grabbing it.

The simple example of DELL India catering their customers in Twitters, listening to their problems, giving them solution…how about all those information flowing into SOCIAL CRM, the point being here the customer are not individuals but organizations.

There is always a fear among the sales force of losing their clients to other sales people in the same organization because of the targets and other factors but then there is a loss of information which happens in the process because of the fear. If I as a salesperson approach some customer and some conversation happen between me and him which I think can help other sales people who are targeting similar clients, why not share it with them and what better than a SOCIAL CRM which can help in the process ensuring free flow of ideas/discussions to others sales force. SOCIAL CRM can act as an incredible tool in forming an association among sales force and a platform for them to innovate and discuss ways which can help to improve and peform better.

And, when customer behaviour/conversation/insight is tracked, then definitely it guarantees a higher satisfaction among customers and that in turns ensures customer loyalty and retention.

Balanced Scorecard

Financial: Improved Lead Management, Improved Brand Image,Higher Cross/Upsell, Higher Profitability


Internal Business Processes: Innovation via Employee Ideas,Internal Social CRM enablement,Technology enablement

Customer:Higher satisfaction and retention,High service quality, high loyalty

Learning and Growth:Targeted Products, High Innovation (both made possible due to customer behaviour and insight)

IFFORT-YOUR GATEWAY to Social Media Consulting

Iffort is an India based web strategy & social media consulting firm that plans,
creates and executes a thorough road-map to deliver tangible value for its clients and their stakeholders.

Co-founded by Daksh Sharma, Iffort is the "IN" thing in the field of Web Strategy and Media Consulting.Iffort's value principles are built on working together with organizations of different scales & processes to define their overall objectives and help them leverage the social web in the right manner. The offerings span across businesses which lie in the WAP (Web Adoption Pyramid) framework.

Iffort's end-to-end web marketing activity covers the following:

1.Corporate Blog Strategy
2.SEO/SEM
3.Social media marketing
4.General internet marketing (Collateral creation and Email marketing)
5.Viral campaigns/ Viral applications
6.Corporate website (CMS migration)
7. Community strategy

If you think, your business needs a competitive edge, then look no forwards because IFFORT is the one stop solution for all your needs.

Truly, IFFORT is YOUR GATEWAY to SOCIAL MEDIA AND WEB STRATEGY!!!

www.iffort.com

Contact@iffort.com

SOCIAL CRM: The "IN" Thing...

CRM has always been a fascination for me. So, after all the buzz CRM has created focussing on the “constructive” interaction between a customer and a company, something else has taken a centerstage now. A new thing that has added a zing factor to CRM is “SOCIAL“. So, how different is SOCIAL CRM is from a regular CRM system??

The difference between these two is just one word, social. Social brings a new element into CRM because now instead of just dealing with data and information we are dealing with conversations and relationships. These conversations and relationships take place not just from company to consumer but also from consumer to consumer. The social CRM can be used by marketing and sales teams to listen to conversations, craft appropriate messages, join in immediately with customer conversation and offer them value in terms of information and solutions.

Social CRM has the ability to:

* Convert content to conversations therefore humanising a company so that customers regard the organisation as a trusted peer.
* Extend conversations into collaborative experiences, putting the customer at the core of a company’s strategy.
* Transform these experiences into meaningful relationships based upon real customer engagement.

Social CRM will help generate marketing intelligence, providing the marketing department with insight that will assist your company to source better leads and reduce customer support costs through self-helping communities.

FORMULATION Models

There are various models that can be used to assist in the formulation of strategy.I would discuss three broad categories of formulation models:

1. Matrix based Formulation Models
2. Nmemonic Letter based Formulation Models
3. Issues/Themes Models

Matrix-Based Formulation Models

These models take two variables, one variable being placed on a vertical axis and the other being placed on a horizontal axis. This makes possible to plot various options, products, companies and so on. Variables can be dependent or independent. They need to be important issues that are of relevance to the strategic situation being considered. Scale can be any of any parameters either a matrix can have three scales like "high", "medium", "low" etc or even 2 scales like "high" and "low". Plotting of variety of things like products/services, companies or even strategic choices can be done on a matrix which can be represented as bubbles, dots or enhancements. The size and shading of these can be used to show vital information.

Keep reading STRATEGYAAN for more FORMULATION MODELS..

OPERATIONAL Alignment- Continued

3. Degree of business strategy and IT alignment:HIGH and Use of Technology:HIGH(B):It means the business has a clear view of where it is going and how to innovate, identify and deploy technology to contribute to business success. The challenge for a business is to maintain this initiative to avoid falling into the place where the degree of business strategy and IT Alignment is low. Both the Balanced Scorecard and the 5 Views Model will be used continuously and reviewed to ensure that a business can maintain its competitive lead.

4. Degree of business strategy and IT alignment:LOW and Use of Technology:HIGH(D): There is a chance that the business is spending too much on technology and also that it is not getting any measurable benefit or contribution towards its business strategy. Many new start-ups either started or ended up here because of combination of poor business models and bleeding-edge technology solutions.

There are additional drivers pertaining to Planning, Funding and Communications from Operational and Strategic point of view.

Planning

Operational Fit: Responsive to business unit requirements, prioritize by business unit, IT plans reviewed by the business, IT infrastructure approval linked to funding

Strategic Fit: Involves all key business stakeholders, Single, well-integrated business plan

CONTINUED....

OPERATIONAL Alignment

Businesses aim to enable strategy through the proper use of IT to support business processes. The Operational Alignment Matrix allows a consultant to test and position a business within this framework. The axes of the matrix are first, degree of business strategy and IT alignment, and second use of Technology. The first axis defines the degree to which a business has established a strategy and the level of alignment expected to deliver it. The second axis determines how businesses will make use of technology to enable business processes so that they can deliver their products and services.

To give a bigger picture, a business may see a particular technology as being a fundamental differentiator of its products and services in a marketplace. There are 4 situations:

1. Degree of business strategy and IT alignement:HIGH and Use of Technology:LOW (A):It means the business is forward looking and has a clear view of where it is going and why. The technology is enabling the strategy, but probably not driving business change and process improvement

2. Degree of business strategy and IT alignement:LOW and Use of Technology:LOW(C):As long as the business recognizes that it is here and why, then there is no problem, although clearly there will be many opportunities to improve on both strategy and enabling technologies. The Scorecard model will be of particular help here, to develop and focus a business strategy and provide the drivers as measures to develop an IT strategy in support of the vision.

Keep reading for the next 2 situations.....

ENTERPRISE 2.0, What is IT??

Everyday, we hear about a lot of new terminologies that raise our curiosity level to know more about it. After Web 2.0,the new buzzword in the market is “Enterprise 2.0” which surely connects to Web 2.0.So, what really is “Enterprise 2.0“?

Enterprise 2.0 is the term for the technologies and business practices that liberate the workforce from the constraints of legacy communication and productivity tools like email. It provides business managers with access to the right information at the right time through a web of inter-connected applications, services and devices. Enterprise 2.0 makes accessible the collective intelligence of many, translating to a huge competitive advantage in the form of increased innovation, productivity and agility.

Enterprise 2.0 takes the original concept of the Web, using websites to feed content to visitors, and turns it upside down. Instead of a one-way conversation-your company talking to the site visitor-Enterprise 2.0 lets you implement a multiparty conversation to share information and manage knowledge inside and outside the organization using blogs and wikis, social networking and tagging, rating systems and the like. The link among these tools is the ability of the individuals involved to participate and to control the process while they work together, share information and create networks of people with similar interests.

Remembering LEHMAN after a year

Last September, something unusual happened which brought a turbulence in the world economy. The major stock markets hit an all time low, fear gripped the investors minds, recession everywhere and the list of negativities continues. It’s been a year and time to relook at the major events, impacts and lessons learnt straight from the LEHMANIAN BOOKS.

The economists believe that it was capital inadequacy and not liquidity which was a major factor for the failure of Lehman Brothers. A risk management framework should be in place to identify and implement risk mitigation measures to reduce the likelihood of future credit and liquidity-based losses along with addressing the complexities of a changing regulatory landscape.

The firm should increasingly focus on these areas to mitigate the likelihood of future market and credit based losses.

* Understand and monitor counterparty, market and credit risks.
* Increase the operational effectiveness of collateral effectiveness.
* Measure and monitor liquidity risk.
* Understand the importance of transparency of internal controls surrounding the safeguarding of assets.

A central lesson from Lehman Brothers is that prime brokerage clients should understand not only where their assets are being held, but also the contractual provisions and legal remedies that exist should a prime broker or other counterparty default. Assets may not be held at the legal entity with whom the prime brokerage agreement was executed, and may have been transferred to other legal jurisdictions globally. Investor protections and bankruptcy/insolvency laws differ depending on the legal jurisdiction in which assets are held at the time an entity either files for bankruptcy or otherwise becomes insolvent.

Policies should be implemented to manage capital market risk across the enterprise. This may include re-tooling or developing and implementing robust models to measure market, liquidity, and credit risk. Models and tools should be linked with effectively designed governance practices to establish risk appetite, and to monitor, manage, and report risks.

Valuation models should be appropriately stress tested to provide senior management with confidence that a complete and accuratepicture of the firm’s financial position is visible on a daily basis.

Truly said, a structured Risk Management Framework in place can help firms to weather the financial instability. Do, we want another Lehman to happen?? The answer is certainly NO.

Social WORKING or NETWORKING???

I happened to come across an interesting subject called “Social Working” and I must say it was gripping enough for me to spend some of my time to go through it and also read the comments.And, being Twitter the center of discussion, I couldn’t help but start TWEET on it.

For me, social working is working with “like-minded” people with whom we share common interests and there is a mutual benefit.Simple. So, if I socialise with my team, that’s because probably our objective and work environment is common. If “x” person visits my blog and follow me, that means I and those “X” persons share something in common, might be our interestes, style of writing or a mere liking for me. Social Working is beneficial when information in any form reaches between the members uninterrupted and there is no loss of information.

Taking the discussion to the next level, do Ch1blogs and Twitter fulfills it?? CH1blogs surely does it. But, I have my reservations on Twitter. Though being a tech savvy and having used numerous social networking sites like facebook, orkut, twitter never seemed to attract my attention and there are reasons for it.

My observation on Twitter says that its an application only for certain amount of people with a certain purpose to fulfill. So, if today, Priyanka Chopra is using Twitter and has already gathered 20,000 fans, then it’s not at all a shock for me. For a celebrity like her, her fans would be interested to know her min by min updates.Twitter is a great advertising tool.So, for budding entrepreneurs and people who share knowledge, it’s a great place for advertisements and notifications.

Though I am not quite aware of the statistics of Twitter, but how many of the people would have time to update it frequently except when we are enjoying our holidays and hooked up to a computer or lazying around in office and tweeting with unknown people? Why would I like to allow some unknown people to follow me when I am not sure about their background or not aware whether we share some interests or not. I am sure TWITTER is not a tool to befriend anyone. May be it would work in a corporate environment where people within same platform would like to listen min by min update of their team members but again here too, why would people from other team would like to know about the update of some other person in some other team until and unless they share some common interest.

Twitter is a great concept but definitely not an answer to “Social Working” or “Social Networking”. Social Networking happens when socialization happens with a certain amount of interdependency which Twitter fails to fulfill.

Social Working or Networking is successful when the correct person sends correct information and it flows to the correct person. And, if there is a mismatch and these three are not in sync, then the whole idea of social working or networking fails.It’s just not the information flow but also the visibility of information which is important. And, there is always a chance to block and ignore a person if you do not want to be socially connected to that person.

So, are we socially on the right path??

Principles of CHANGE Management

Two to three decades back, probably, Stability was a major goal for most of the organizations and shareholders expected nothing more than predictable earnings growth. But the scenario has changed drastically, market transparency, labor mobility, global capital flows, and instantaneous communications have blown that comfortable scenario and have forced the management of most of the organization to face a new challenge called “CHANGE“. Successful companies, as Harvard Business School professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter in 1999, develop “a culture that just keeps moving all the time.”

This presents most senior executives with an unfamiliar challenge. In major transformations of large enterprises, they and their advisors conventionally focus their attention on devising the best strategic and tactical plans. But to succeed, they also must have an intimate understanding of the human side of change management — the alignment of the company’s culture, values, people, and behaviors — to encourage the desired results. Plans themselves do not capture value; value is realized only through the sustained, collective actions of the thousands — perhaps the tens of thousands — of employees who are responsible for designing, executing, and living with the changed environment.

Long-term structural transformation has four characteristics: scale (the change affects all or most of the organization), magnitude (it involves significant alterations of the status quo), duration (it lasts for months, if not years), and strategic importance. Yet companies will reap the rewards only when change occurs at the level of the individual employee.

No single methodology fits every company, but there is a set of practices, tools, and techniques that can be adapted to a variety of situations. What follows is a list of guiding principles for change management. Using these as a systematic, comprehensive framework, executives can understand what to expect, how to manage their own personal change, and how to engage the entire organization in the process. The principles to cater CHANGE MANAGEMENT are listed below:

1. Address the “People Issues” systematically.

2. Embracing CHANGE should start at the Management level.

3.The Transformation programs should involve all different level of organizations.

4. Creation of a Vision Statement Document and articulation of a formal case for change.

5.Ownership by leaders willing to accept responsibility for making change.

6. Communicating the right message (Top to bottom) and Feedback.

7.Assessing the cultural landscape.

8.Prepare for the unexpected, assess the risks.

Interesting, I will write on these principles in detail in my next post on Change Management and let me know the feedback whether this post is gripping enough or not.

Implementing CHANGE Management

The process of implementing change in an organization lies in bringing changes in people's actual behaviour and in the values, beliefs and attitudes that underlie this behaviour. The following are some of the most commonly used implementation techniques:

1. Direct communication involving, where feasible, the entire workforce, but in groups of manageable size at a time so as to facilitate exchange of viewpoints and provide opportunities for feedback.

2. Role Modelling: Leadership comes in, as top management sets an example by behaving in ways that are consistent with the standards and behaviours that the new organization seeks to reinforce.

3. Written Communication: A whole arsenal of newsletters, posters, stickers, badges etc, all carrying the messages associated with organization change, help to reinforce motivation to change.

4. Appropriate human resources policies that support the desired changes including revised performance criteria and methods of performance appraisal, revised renumeration systems.

5. Investment in Training: Training not to impart skills but also to influence attitudes and values.

Implementing Change Management means the actual business of redrawing organization charts, rewriting job descriptions, drawing up a new incentive scheme is a relatively small, albeit vital, part of the process

KUDOS to STRATEGYAAN: Rated 6.7 on Blogged.com

Dear Ashutosh,

Our editors recently reviewed your blog and have given it a 6.7 score out of (10) in the recreation category of Blogged.com.

http://www.blogged.com/blogs/ashutosh-boses-consulting-blog.html

We evaluated your blog based on the following criteria: Frequency of Updates, Relevance of Content, Site Design, and Writing Style.

After carefully reviewing each of these criteria, your site was given its 6.7 score.

Please accept my congratulations on a blog well-done!!

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Marketing Department
amy@blogged.com
http://www.blogged.com

RECESSION synonymous with IT

I have been hearing a lot about recession in India, job cuts everywhere, panic all around etc. What recession mean to the people of India?? Even I have been a victim of recession in the early 2008, the reason, quite same to that of everyone, my ex-company which used to work for US Clients suddenly didn't have any projects. The sceanario is quite same everywhere. The problem is more external rather "UNITED" more than Internal. Even if there is a rise in the GDP growth, govt. focussing on more investments in the Railways sector, a confident political scenario beaming but this doesn't help.

I somehow feel that the word "Recession" is synonymous to IT. It's all about how Lehman and GM getting bankrupt, turmoil is the financial industry esp sub prime crisis taking a toll on India's IT health, market dynamics in US directly affecting the IT market dynamics in India. There's a saying which goes, if US sneezes, India catches Cold which is very true.The Indian IT companies are so very dependent on the US market ranging from Banking, Retail, Healthcare etc, that if there is even a slight variation in the performance of those sectors in US, the Indian IT companies performance too varies. Suddenly, they are left out with no projects, big companies loosing out on major chunks, people losing their jobs and ITS RECESSION everywhere in India!!!

US is not the only reason for the recession in IT companies in India. The other thing which affects is "CAUTION". Fear grips the world market because of certain incident affecting the world economy for e.g Sub prime crisis and then other financial companies in the world get alarmed and take more precautions to stop such incidents in the future. This "Caution" leads to shrinking of budget,putting hold to some on-going projects and plans and take a strategic shift from transformation to settlement. In this scenario when the whole world sits and takes a close watch rather than focussing on their future plans, it too affects our IT economy.

The problem is not how and where Recession started, but how and what to do so that it doesn't affect us in the future!!!

Journey of KM in Tata Steel

Last week, I attended the KM Community Meet in Infosys organized by Cognizant Technology Solutions in Chennai. No doubt, it was an informative session and the AVP-KM of Infosys spoke about the KM initiatives that Infosys have adopted down the years and how successfully the initiatives have repead benefits in the organization. I came across another organization Tata Steel who decided to embark on formal KM initiative in the year 1999 and yes the results are there to see. Please click the link below to know more on




Knowledge Management in Tata Steel

RECESSION Bug on INVESTMENT

Recession everywhere, no jobs, less pay package, cost cutting, phew!!! It’s time for basics, putting a cap on your expenditure and think about some serious investments. Where to invest, well, here goes the answer:

•Bond Funds
Now is an especially good time to consider bonds, some planners say — perhaps for as much as 20% of assets. The percentage of corporations defaulting on their debt obligations is on the rise as the economy slows, the risk to investors is particularly low for investment-grade bonds. Moody's says the default rate on these products is less than 1%, compared with the 7% default rate on much riskier high-yield or junk bonds. The risk associated with investment-grade bonds is further minimized in a broad-based corporate bond fund. "If you hold an investment-grade bond fund, your exposure to defaults is pretty low," says John Puchalla, a Moody's economist. "But if you start buying individual bonds, you start raising that risk."
Investors with a greater risk tolerance — and much deeper pockets — may even want to consider buying into a junk-bond fund. Recent history has shown that junk-bond investors have earned their best returns the year after the junk-bond market bottoms out.

•Exchange-Traded Funds
For those investors itching to play the stock market again, planners say now isn't the time to try to pick hot stocks. Instead, they suggest buying shares in several exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. That way, they can participate in any early rally in stocks without being overly exposed to any single company's poor earnings performance. In the past few years, ETFs have grown in popularity with individual investors because they're cheaper and easier to invest in than traditional stock index funds.

•Money-Market Accounts and CDs

Finally, financial planners say that in a recessionary environment, investors shouldn't be ashamed to keep some extra money in an interest-bearing money-market account — especially if they're investing money they'll need fairly soon. He also suggests investors stash some money in six-month or one-year bank certificates of deposit, which on average pay a 2% higher annual yield than a money-market account. The bottom line is diversification. And that's a valuable lesson investors should keep in mind even when stocks are again heading due north.

For more, read SMART MONEY

Power of Ideas: SELLING your IDEAS

Now that your idea is ready, what’s next??? Well, it’s time for selling your ideas, the big task ahead i.e. approaching angel investors with your idea. As long as the idea is in your mind, it’s a piece of thought, the moment it comes on paper it becomes a blueprint of our business. And, when it’s business, it’s serious. So, how to make your plan eye catching for the investors?? What are the points to be covered which gives a strong foundation to your business?? Well, here are some points that needs to be covered on the paper:

1.Value Proposition of your Idea: Every unqiue idea sells and every generic idea fades. So, the first and foremost thing to cover in your plan is the business model and it’s USP.You should be clear enough of the market you would be catering to, geography segments and any validation that supports your business idea. If you have charted out a framework for your business, mission and vision statement, then it would be a value addition to your plan and good enough for the angel investors to believe your thoughts.

2.Sales/Marketing Strategy: The idea is viable, it’s unique and have potential to grow. But, the next question arises, how to sell your products/services and acquire customers? Mind you, without a good sales/marketing strategy in hand, business die. You might be very good in ideating but if you don’t know how to sell your ideas, then you are not a good businessman. Prepare a clear sales/marketing strategy for your proposition along with the expenses (advertising,branding and others) and growth model for your business.

3.Competitor Analysis: Your idea is unique and saleable but what about the existing players in the market? A good competitor analysis always supoorts your plan and help the angel investors to know the differentiation points of your business. Support your plan with the exisiting players in the market, SWOT analysis, unique features/ parameters of your products/services. DO mention the entry and exit barriers too.

4.Key Financials: Every start up/ business has a key question to ask i.e. when do we breakeven??? And that’s also the interest of the angel investors too. Present a proper plan of the funds required for your business, allocation of funds, capital required projected P and L Account, Balance Sheet etc. Good numbers support good business.

5.Risk Management: Risk Management is the key to everything right from a business survival to its downfall. It’s an important point that needs to be covered in the business summary. Risk Management includes risks that you either foresee or are already facing in your business and explain the same and do make a point to add risk reduction strategies too.

Interesting?? Well, keep reading STRATEGYAAN for more…