How Should Countries Respond to Trump’s Tariffs?

If many of us thought that Trump’s first term was chaotic and polarizing, we are already beginning to see what Trump 2.0 is going to be like. With his campaign rhetoric of Making America Great Again and America First at his swearing in ceremony at the start of his first term, he had painted this… Continue reading How Should Countries Respond to Trump’s Tariffs?

Exploring the Connection Between Brands and Corporate Performance

While the connection between product sales or revenue and corporate performance is obvious and better understood in the world of business, the connection between brands and company performance is not so clear. This is because it is not a direct one. A recent post on LinkedIn and a comment to the post – to which… Continue reading Exploring the Connection Between Brands and Corporate Performance

Is Being a Pioneer Brand Good Enough?

The history of advertising and marketing is probably littered with scores of cases of companies and brands that began with a brilliant invention, but then petered out somewhere along the way. I have myself written about brands like Kodak, Nokia and Philips CDs in my older blog posts, and I am sure there are many… Continue reading Is Being a Pioneer Brand Good Enough?

Where is Brand Differentiation in Consumer Electronics?

In my previous blog post, I had written about the consumer durables industry and how it is cluttered and commoditised with very little brand differentiation. Well, the consumer electronics industry is one part of the large consumer durables category, and it is usually known to feature the latest technology in audio and video equipment, mobile… Continue reading Where is Brand Differentiation in Consumer Electronics?

How Consumer Durables Can Avoid Commoditisation

When you consider that the Indian advertising and marketing industry is exploring a new system of consumer classification based on ownership of consumer durables according to Rama Bijapurkar who has written about it in her new book, Lilliput Land, which I have reviewed on my blog, it makes sense to look at the state of… Continue reading How Consumer Durables Can Avoid Commoditisation

India in Need of Industrial Policy 4.0

Two most dreaded words in economic circles and think-tanks these days is industrial policy. It is frowned upon because it has come to be associated with all the negatives of government intervention. Politics, geo-politics, picking winners, wasteful subsidies and creating distortions in what ought to be a free market economy. It has become a term… Continue reading India in Need of Industrial Policy 4.0

What Makes a Well-integrated Corporate Brand

In today’s corporate world, well-diversified companies with interests in several businesses abound. It is part and parcel of most companies’ growth strategies. Yet, we also find cases of companies shedding non-core assets every decade or so, in order to improve their financial performance, but equally to focus on their core competencies. In fact, both sets… Continue reading What Makes a Well-integrated Corporate Brand

Brands and Competitive Advantage

Recently, I wrote on my blog that I had ordered a copy of Michael E Porter’s book, Competitive Advantage along with Peter Drucker’s Practice of Management. I have written about the first, though not as a book review because it wouldn’t have been fair to Drucker. As far as Michael Porter’s book is concerned, I… Continue reading Brands and Competitive Advantage